#I added an image id so you can see/hear what it says

[moodboards-or-cheese]

Seeing as I was already making flashcards for my PSAT prep class, here’s a picture of the front of a card, ft. my horrid handwriting

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Jouno's "Death" and Characterization

Actually I'm adding onto my thoughts about Jouno's death scene because it really is brutal, even compared to the earlier "deaths" of the arc.

[ID: A screenshot from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. A vampirized Akutagawa bites into Jouno's shoulder. Blood spatters on Jouno's face, scrunched up in pain. End ID.]

I binge-read the manga very quickly on my first read, and so I think there was a lot that I kind of overlooked, especially when it came to Jouno and his characterization. I found the guy interesting, but I wasn't as invested in his character as I was with some of the others.

But even then, his death shocked me with how... cruel it was. And going back and really paying close attention to his character, it hurts a lot more.

[ID: A set of three images from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. In the first, a speech bubble says "You have what it takes to join the Decay of Angels." Jouno's face is carefully neutral and he says nothing for a panel. In the next, face still neutral, he says "What are you saying?" In the second, a panel of Jouno, bound and smiling in prisoner's garb, is overlayed by Fukuchi saying "Jouno, you were originally an executive in a criminal organization. Seeing the good prospects in your ability and that sense of hearing, I recruited you six years ago, for the sake of this day." Jouno lifts an eyebrow with a small frown on his face and exhales a small puff of air. In the third, Jouno, smiling, says "Yes. From the start, I've known no pleasure but that of tormenting others. Besides, you even said it, that you initially recruited me for the sake of this day." His smile looks a little tight. End ID.]

Looking at Jouno's face here... I'd honestly say he's a bit hurt by this turn of events. He has a very similar background to Dazai. This is the equivalent of Dazai being told that he was only hired by the Agency because they actually wanted him to take up the mantle of the Demon Prodigy again, but this time for their benefit. Because that's his true nature, right?

Jouno was only recruited... because he was never believed in. He was Fukuchi's little criminal pet project, one that didn't go as he intended at all - and Jouno dies for it, only shortly after he starts to get accustomed to the idea of himself as a good guy (even if he's still... morally ambiguous, to be diplomatic about it lol).

But yeah, let's take a second and look at Jouno's particular brand of cruelty - that sadistic streak where he wants to hear the suffering of others... and how easily this was overshadowed by one old woman's quiet gratitude. Fukuchi remembers the beginning of this scene... but he's left unaware of the aftermath of it and how Jouno changed (fitting, for the man forever caught up in the war; who still lives like he's on the battlefield). Jouno is largely self-preservative - it seems likely that, given his criminal background, you stayed alive by asserting your power over others, and Jouno does this by striking fear into others and deriving pleasure in that reaction - but it pales in comparison to appreciation, which Jouno states makes the sounds of fear like silence. The old lady is such a small thing really, but it apparently left a huge impact on him.

I think it's quite a decision made to characterize a guy who is hyper-sensitive to sensory input as being strongly affected by the kind of reactions he gets from others. Jouno compensates with fear and intimidation, but he actually wants to be appreciated. Whether Jouno genuinely cares about justice as an ideal is up for debate still, I believe, but we can be positive he likes being liked far more than he likes being feared. So, while Jouno thought he was appreciated for his pursuit of justice under Fukuchi, and had come to the realization that he prefers helping over harming - his role with the Hunting Dogs was always a cage. Jouno was likely essentially drafted - he joins or he is probably sentenced to capital punishment. Obviously, he takes the offer - as Jouno does not want to die (again, remember he's self-preservative!). Now he's stuck as a Hunting Dog due to the intense monthly surgeries to maintain their bodies, but he's made a pretty sweet life for himself - Jouno is powerful, respected, feared, and he basically gets to act however he wants so long as he is ostensibly pursuing justice (a corrupt cop, really)... only for him to realize he actually does want to help more than hurt, and to then have it be revealed that he was never expected to change for the better from the very beginning.

He was drafted due to this expectation Fukuchi had for him, and when he did not live up to this expectation... his exits are blocked, he's set on fire to stop him escaping, then stabbed from all directions, like one would trap and corner a threat that needs to be contained, or a wild animal. There's... some pretty significant dehumanization to that.

It gets worse though, because Fukuchi is right about Jouno being different from the other Hunting Dogs, but he's off the mark on what's different about him exactly. The difference is largely in that even though Jouno took precautions in case he couldn't make it out (having Aya follow him), he is not devoted (or solely devoted) to that ideal of justice that drives the rest of the Hunting Dogs, nor was he at all intending to sacrifice himself or accepting of that fate.

[ID: A panel from the Bungou Stay Dogs manga. Jouno wears a concerned expression, a sweat drop on his cheek. His hair flies up a little as he moves across a background of dark lines for dramatic emphasis. The sound effect is a shudder. End ID.]

"Be strong... there's nothing to worry about/Don't panic, it's all fine" <-The words of a man who is very much trying not to panic (also Yuki Kaji did a great job in this scene - chefs kiss. The voice acting in the anime is so so good). Jouno's mental narration grows increasingly more desperate in his attempts to escape, even as he outwardly continues that show of pride and bravado, concluding with his "wish" to hear Fukuchi's later suffering - which is what he does to avoid letting others see vulnerability in him.

All the other people who died to Fukuchi had some kind of acceptance around it - Akutagawa sacrificed himself to allow Atsushi to escape and was accepting of that; Tachihara had no intention of a sacrifice play but was prepared to die rather than be turned by Bram, and found his resolve through a mix of the Mafia's and Teruko's influence. Jouno was not ready to die at any point in this fight, nor was that ever his intent.

About Jouno's dynamic with Tecchou: I find it really interesting that the closing and opening lines of the chapter where Jouno slashes at Fukuchi and "betrays" him are things like "at heart there is one intent" and "if there is evil, cleave it" - while they're really just the external hooks for the audience, not any character's thoughts or anything, I do find it intriguing that this sounds a lot more like Tecchou's philosophy than anything we'd seen of Jouno up to this point. In this way, I think Tecchou (and Teruko as well!) has had far more of an influence on Jouno than even he cares to admit.

And I think it's really good that Tecchou appears to be there for Jouno - he's got conviction in his capacity for justice as strong as a samurai and the ability to call him out and believe in him like that of a best friend. While Jouno's death is brutal, it actually validates Tecchou's belief in him - but this is not something anyone else really seems to see in Jouno, perhaps even Jouno himself until that moment. It recontextualizes their interactions: Jouno is the challenger. Tecchou just seems to kind of humour him, really. He doesn't treat Jouno like a threat or an obstacle. He's completely unafraid of him, either simply not reacting to his goads and threats, or calling him out on his bs when he takes his cruelty too far. It's like Tecchou's socializing a feral cat sometimes hjfhdbjvh

But remember that Jouno's grandstanding and desire to instill fear is likely self-preservative. Jouno sees Tecchou unafraid of him and goes "why is it not working??? He must think he's stronger or better than me, or else, he's just really stupid. I need to prove myself stronger than him so he doesn't think he can gain the upper hand on me." And meanwhile, Tecchou is just like "ok buddy let's go get some lunch. I like spending time with Jouno even though he's apparently mad at me for something idk what." Because Tecchou's lack of fear isn't actually because he's cocky or an idiot, or because he doubts Jouno's skill or strength - far from it. He knows full well how dangerous Jouno is. He just thinks "Jouno wouldn't do that". And it's that simple to him. I honestly believe Jouno hasn't quite figured that part out yet, and that he's reading his dynamic with Tecchou entirely wrong on his end. It's the epitome of that rival dynamic where one takes it super seriously and the other is just like "cool man anyways wanna hang out". Anyways I really hope their reunion is given some attention, when it happens.

You might've noticed I said "when it happens" and also that I put death in quotes at the top there - I actually have a question for all of you since I just thought of this on my re-read. Jouno was stabbed multiple times but since he's a Hunting Dog with advanced healing and enhancements I sincerely doubt that actually killed him. Then he was bitten... but the vampires seem to turn really quickly, and we see Jouno's thoughts for a while afterwards. Jouno didn't actually die in that scene, as it's stated he's "near death", and he's captured and taken somewhere by Akutagawa. It's highly likely he was just turned into a vampire, as he was bitten (perhaps his enhancements make the vampire ability take longer to get a hold), but I'm kind of wondering now if he wasn't "taken with them" for some other purpose and Fukuchi has him captured or comatose or something. Well, whatever happens... I hope he comes back to the manga at some point soon (though probably at this arc's conclusion if I'm being honest).

[somefanchick]

-Deuce’s Winter Break-

(This story is from Deuce's perspective during the events of book four. I only know information from the English server story and events so sorry if anything is terribly out of character. This fic is platonic and is cannon for my female Yuu-sona, but I do just call them Yuu in the story. Yuu uses she/her pronouns. Hope you enjoy! Ps. There is a little bit of cussing. Found the pictures in a post by @ naruryun, they are not mine.)

“We should trade Magicam IDs now that you've got a smartphone,” Ace pulled out his phone and began typing out Yuu’s account in the search bar, “Y'know, in case something comes up.”

I smiled as I pulled up the app on my own phone, “Oh, good idea. I'll share mine, too.”

Yuu’s ID was a play on the fact that the headmaster called her “Beast Master” after we got back from the dwarf’s mine. I could always tell she was secretly proud of that title. 

Ace finished adding her, “Feel free to hit me up if you get bored over winter break.”

She smirked, which was her form of a smile, “Thanks, I'll do that.”

“Man, you take everything I say so seriously Yuu,” Ace chuckled, “I was joking.”

I glared, “Then it was a lame one,” I then turned to smile at Yuu as I added her, “Anyway, feel free to reach out if you need anything at all,” I quickly tucked my phone in my pocket and grabbed my bag, “My mom's probably waiting on me, so I'd better go,” I began walking towards the Dark Mirror, “Happy holidays guys.”

I could hear Ace behind me, “Yeah, I'll do the same. See you next year!” I could hear him running to catch up with me, but I was already whispering the name of my street and stepping into the murky abyss.

It was hard to see my mom among the other kids meeting their families. Children cheering as their older siblings came home from their schools, parents hugging their grown babies and fussing over their bags of laundry, and the students basking in the attention that coming home brings. 

I looked through the crowd and found my mom. My grandmother always said I was the spitting image of her. She had straight, navy blue hair cut into a bob, blonde streaks weaving into a larger mass of hair.  Her eyes looked gray in the afternoon sun, but I knew they were really cyan. 

She caught my eye and lit up, “Deuce!”

I ran over to save her the trouble, “Hey Mom.”

“Let me get a look at you,” Mom gently grabbed my face and moved me around, “I can barely believe that’s my son.”

I pulled back and put my hand behind my neck, “I guess I’ve changed a bit since I left.”

She smiled, “You have no idea how proud I am of you.”

I flushed under her gaze, “Let’s head on home.”

She giggled, “As long as you tell me all about school.”

I gathered my bag under my arm, “Fine.”

Home was the same as it had been when I left. A small apartment with blankets piled on every chair and letters piled on the kitchen counter. I set my bag in my room and then moved to the kitchen, where Mom had begun fixing dinner.

“I’m making folded egg sandwiches,” Mom had her back turned to me, “Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” I sat down at the dining table, “So what do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Mom moved to the stove, “I haven’t heard anything from your teachers.”

“Well I’m doing okay in class, but that might just be because Trey, Riddle, and Yuu help me out.”

“Who are they?”

“Well, Trey and Riddle are in Heartslabyul with me. Trey’s the vice-housewarden and he’s like the dorm mother hen. He’s done most of the tutoring, but Riddle helps him sometimes. Riddle’s the housewarden and he’s ridiculously strict.”

“Oh really?” Mom started grating cheese, “And who’s this Yuu person?”

“Yuu is one of my-” I tried to think of the right word. Our group never calls ourselves ‘friends’, but that seems to be the only word to describe how we are. Yuu calls us “Dumbass Beasts”, but I don’t want to tell my Mom that.

“She’s one of my best friends.”

I could hear Mom’s eyebrow raise, “‘She’? Isn’t Night Raven an All Boys school?”

“That surprised me too, but Yuu’s an exception to a lot of rules,” My phone vibrated with a message, I spoke as I went to pull it up, “She doesn’t have magic, she’s only half a student, and she isn’t even from this world.”

Mom grabbed the bread from the breadbox, “I’m going to need you to explain all of that.”

“I wish I could.”

The message was from Yuu; Cater has been tagging me in his old photos for the past two hours. How did he even know I got a Magicam account? I couldn’t help but laugh. 

Mom scooped the folded eggs onto the bread, “At least explain the ‘half a student’ comment.”

“Well,” I sat my phone back on the table, “Since Yuu doesn’t have magic she and this monster named Grim share a single enrollment. But Yuu’s in charge of him since she’s the Ramshackle dorm prefect.”

“Ah,” Mom set the plate down in front of me, “Is that all your friends?”

“Nah, I’m friends with Ace too,” I got up to get something to drink, “He’s one of my roommates.”

“Ace Trappola?” Mom began making her own egg sandwich, “I think his father works at your grandfather’s company.”

I poured a glass of orange juice and made my way back to the table, “The four of us have done a lot in one semester.”

“Like what?”

“Well Ace and I challenged Riddle for his title.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” I took a sip of my juice, “Ace got in trouble for eating Riddle’s tart and then it became a huge deal. Riddle ended up overbloting.”

I swear Mom’s eyes bulged out of her head, “Overblot!?”

“Yeah. Yuu led all of us into battle to keep the other student’s safe and to keep Riddle from destroying himself. But that was only the first overblot.”

“The first?”

“Yeah don’t worry about it,” I took a large bite of my sandwich, “Yuu always has it under control. Even if she’s just directing us. It’s amazing.”

Mom sat down next to me, “Do you have a picture of your friends?”

I picked up my phone, “Not unless you count pictures Cater took while we weren’t expecting it. And then posted on Magicam with a dozen hashtags.”

“Maybe you could ask Yuu and Grim for a picture? I’d love to see them.”

“Sure,” I opened up Yuu’s message, “It’s not like they have much else to do at school.”

“At school? Did they not go somewhere for winter break?”

“They didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Mom set down her food, “Invite them to come here in spring. I’d be happy to host them.”

I chuckled, “Alright,” I texted Yuu; Hey my mom wants to see a pic of you and Grim. Mind sending one?

It took a moment for Yuu to respond; Yeah sure. Just let me get the weasel.

I set my phone down, “She’s gonna send a picture of her and Grim.” 

“How sweet,” Mom took the moment to begin eating. 

Our conversation dissolved into specific stories and the basics of our lives apart. It was weird how I felt so at home, while only feeling like a guest in the apartment. My Mom gushed and worried in waves as I talked about the Spelldrive tournament and the final exams. It was sweet to see her so happy about my actions. About who I was. I had given her a son to be proud of.

I spent the next day with my mom, meeting with other family and shopping for the holidays. But that night my phone lit up with a message from Yuu; Trapped in Scarabia, I’ll explain later. 

I was up all night, waiting for my phone to buzz again, but the only notification I got was Ace messaging me to ask if I had heard anything else from Yuu.

Eight AM came around and I chugged two cups of coffee before heading out on a walk to keep my mind off of Yuu’s vague and semi-terrifying message. 

“Hey Deuce!” I froze in my tracks, turning to see my old ‘pal’ Hatter, his lackey Coney trailing behind. 

Hatter was the leader of the delinquents I hung out with in middle school. He called me his equal until I went straight. His appearance hadn’t changed; hair bleached a platinum blonde, green eyes that constantly had a crazed look as they dashed from victim to victim, a trailing black jacket with copper buttons, and of course his iconic evergreen tophat with the price tag sticking out the brim. 

Coney matched the jacket, but he had his own brand of insane to portray. His hair was bleached to a honey blonde and his brown rabbit ears stuck out of his head with copper piercings along every furry edge. His black eyes always seemed to be watching Hatter, as if he was waiting for the signal to attack. 

“How have you been, man?” Hatter wrapped his arm around my shoulder as if we had only been apart for a week or so, “Coney here was just saying how much he missed seeing you on that blastcycle of yours. Right Coney?”

Coney nodded like his life depended on it, “Yes! Yes!”

“Look guys,” I made an effort to move out of their reach, “I’m not-”

“Aw,” Coney stopped nodding, “Are you not fun anymore?”

“What?”

“Sounds like you hit the bullseye Coney,” Hatter began messing with his brim, a signal to change their approach, “I guess you were serious about that ‘going straight’ thing.”

“I am,” I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, “And I have to go.”

“Go?” Hatter came closer, backing me into an alleyway, “But we just reunited!”

“I’m not like you guys anymore,” my hand gripped my phone in my pocket, praying that it would buzz again, “I have friends who need me right now.”

Coney’s hand drifted towards a bright blue dumpster, “You think you're better than us?”

“No way mate,” Hatter smirked and whipped his own magic pen out, “Tea Party!” My arms went flying up, my phone and other valuables making a mad dash for Hatter’s and Coney’s open hands. Hatter caught my phone and looked at the message, “This ‘Ace’ fella is.”

My heart sank, the message wasn’t from Yuu.

Coney looked over, “Oh what’s this? You and this ‘Ace’ are talking about a girl?”

“What did he say?”

Hatter smirked, “Oh? So this ‘going straight’ thing is for the eye of some lovely lady. I’m hurt.”

“No,” I marched forward and grabbed my wallet from Coney’s hand, “I’m becoming a better person for myself. I want to be an honor’s student and I’m doing a damn good job. Yuu is just a friend.”

“Sure,” Hatter rolled his eyes, “I’ll believe that,” he changed his voice to mock mine, “‘Look at me, giving up my freedom for some stupid dream of being an honor’s student.’ No way. You’re not built for that Deuce.”

My phone buzzed in his hand.

“I used to respect you Spade,” He put my phone in the ribbon of his tophat, taunting me, “Now look at you. You’re a fucking chump.”

My phone buzzed again. Something inside of me snapped like a dry twig. I could feel my body heat from the inside out, old mussels returning to their place. I didn’t reach for my pen. I just punched the bastard.

Hatter went flying back into the wall, clearly expecting to have to taunt me longer before I took action. Coney didn’t hesitate to pounce on me, knocking me to the ground under him. He fired off punch after punch, leaving the taste of blood on my lips. I kicked him off and into Hatter, aiming to get my phone back. I had to see if it was Yuu. 

It all turned into a blurr. A barrage of fists coming from all directions. All I focused on was Hatter’s stupid tophat.

I got the phone back and backed away. No one followed me.

All of the messages were from Ace.

Yuu hasn’t explained. What does her text even mean?

Should we go back and check on her?

I’m going. I don’t know what’s happening but it sounds like trouble. Meet me at the bus stop in town in two hours if you’re joining me.

I cleaned off in a park restroom before running home to pack a duffel bag. Mom was immediately understanding and packed me a few sandwiches for Ace and me. She smiled and reminded me that Yuu was welcome to come back with me, as well as telling me to text her when I was coming back. I nodded and gave her a hug before running out the door.

The two hours were up and I met with Ace at the bus stop.

Ace was pacing, waiting for the noon bus, “Who just messages that they’ve been kidnaped and then doesn’t respond for twelve hours!? Yuu’s going to be the death of us.”

“Calm down,” I hid my own anxieties, “This is Yuu we’re talking about. If anyone can handle being ‘trapped’, it’s her. Plus, Grim should be with her.”

“You say that like that’s a good thing.”

“Fair enough,” I kept going, “But despite the fact that it’s Grim, he can still fire off spells. Plus he’s pretty good with fire magic. Maybe we’ll arrive to see Scarabia in blue flames.”

“Again, you say that like that’s a good thing.”

“It’s the best thing I can think of.”

The PA system cracked to life, “Bus to Night Raven terminal is now boarding on platform three.”

“Come on,” I grabbed my bags and began walking, “Our friend needs us.”

[describe-things]

sigh.

@lunapegasus on January 5th 2024 tagged a post I created an image description for with:

prev it's really nice of you to add the image desc. and everything but maybe don't tell op what to do?

The tags I add to posts that I make descriptions for:

Please copy and paste into the original post for accessability, no credit needed! It should just stay in plain text like it is now, without being put in italics bold or color, and go directly below the image, and above the caption. Image descriptions are for the visually impaired and blind, the way subtitles are for the deaf and hard of hearing. A plain text image description in the body of the post itself is more accessible than just ALT text. The image description should not go under a read more as that is inaccessible, and if you change your URL or delete the original post, everything under the read-more will be lost forever.

In the nicest way possible, @lunapegasus, this is the fastest way you could have possibly said you don't care about disabled people besides flat out saying it :(

Did you even read the tags? Do you not understand why I take the time to write these, and why I ask people to add them to the original posts? Have you never seen the posts of people who need these descriptions begging artists to add them so they can enjoy art of their favorite characters along with everyone else? Have you never seen a single post by a disabled person begging to be included?

I am not ordering anyone to do anything when I add image descriptions to their art, my tags are there so that people know they can add the ID to the original post, because many people think "stealing" image descriptions is rude, and so that people know why they are created in the first place.

Image descriptions are accessibility tools that allow disabled people, especially those who are visually or cognitively impaired, to interact with art on the internet.

I take time out of my day to make art more accessible to other disabled people because I care about other disabled people and want to help artists who don't know how or why image descriptions are made in the first place.

Please do not act like I am bossing people around or being rude by adding image descriptions to other people's art and asking people to add them to the original post so that the internet can become a slightly less hostile place for disabled people to exist.

If you wouldn't react this way to any other accessibility tool, don't act like this in regards to image descriptions. It's just showing you have no regard for disabled people who need these tools, and is incredibly disrespectful and hurtful to see, when I spent so much time yesterday writing image descriptions for other people's art that I barely got time to draw any of my own, and ended up hurting my wrist doing so.

Come on, please. Think before you tag things like this.

Disabled people use the internet too, and it is completely uncalled for to act like we're being demanding and rude by asking for the bare minimum, while we are doing all the work for you in the first place and literally hurting ourselves in the process :/

[street-light-poetry]

ID in read more + as always, you can find this poem (and 393 others) on my patreon

TITLED

Walk up to her; fuzzy,

doubled - already, though her image

remains a bit late, shivering

yet stuck in sticky gauze. This is not

about her.

She wears a dress

of all-foaminess;

you remain free to picture

whatever you like. Only, remember,

the main tones are tender: spring blue, lilac,

a charming pink; green, of course, all around,

as the newest leaves unfold gaily. The light,

the light: is golden, is fresh; is clean, is a lover's gaze;

fills in, conveniently, the blanks.

This is not about her. Nor is it

about her. (Pay attention.)

You should not fear

such beauty. Isn't innocence,

isn't purity ideal feed

for your tired mind?

Remember: your mind exists. So does imagination.

All the pictures were true. Sleep, now, gently

cradled by her full arms,

among fragrant flowers - which she carries,

that much is certain.

(On the alert). This is not about her. Nor are there any flowers

in your story. Nor is there any story

in your mind. Nor is there any mind

within her. Ad lib. You understand. (I hope you will.)

A trellis covered in bindweed

(white, delicate) opens on a lovely perspective. Behind are the hedges,

the labyrinth (oh! nothing to be afraid of - fear is a game:

you play the part of the knight errant,

valiant, and pure-hearted; worth, in the end,

will triumph; but even the trial will leave you

barely disoriented. Whet your appetite, mostly. Hear the bell

and run back in).

(This is not about initiation. Nobility is irrelevant)

You would be seduced by the enchantments

that a slender girl wove; a jar of air and light only,

and what brilliant company for a solitary soul! Such would be your fate. A river

singing nearby. Unfortunately,

This is not about her, nor confinement;

You would cry for violins, ignorant

of a single strung melody.

(Don't let yourself be distracted.)

A bowl of quartz, carved into

a many-sided shape, filled with water. Under the light

the water spills and turns but never drops. And mere sight

of the water's light, its double on the wall (are you with me still?)

shall suffice to quench your thirst forever. However -

Someone must hold the bowl.

Let me rephrase. The second she enters the space

filled with light, sees the fluid crystal - you lose. Unreal again.

This is not about her. In the meantime

Scholars quarrel over your oldest name,

your typical attributes

by which to say, with leaden assurance:

"There, such was the sentence: revealed, unraveled".

This is not about the scholars. They will write on your throat (certain).

This is not about her.

Think, quickly, understand

before thirst kills you: this trial

never takes long.

[evildoombringer]

hi nakamura (i'm. not entirely sure which name you prefer to go by,,)

i. don't really know, personally, the depths of hurt that came from min leaving can't claim either. to understand what your going through right now

you both seem really close. it was always funny, to  read ur asks that you'd send i remember reading the "happy morning" one you sent and it had like this image of a smiling kid for some reason, for like a solid 5 months i just thought "oh cool, so that's what they look like:0" before i looked back and thought, "huh wait. they always added (very funny,  mind you) meme/pics to their asks. was that pic a meme too-?" and only then did i realize lmao

looking back on his responses, i can almost hear the amused tone or, however min would react. lol it was nice to see him talking to people who cared about him

im. not really sure what to say, without coming off as like.. pretentious.? but. if i can just assume for one second, from the asks they'd answer of yours, to everything i hear about min from all the people who know him, i. i. assume he really cared for you, and. i assume you cared for him as much.,

i dont. know your situation, at all. min had. already made up his mind when i even found his blog. so, just. i hope you'll be able to make a decision, you'll be. happy with

the future could get better. it could get worse i can't really see which one it'll be. i don't understand how close you and min were, at all but know. you arent alone im not sure, if you need to. understand or know someone to be there for them,but from the looks of it, min was. never really alone if he had you. so,i hope you also know your not alone there'are people here for you

im sorry. this is probably, meaningless to you in hindsight i just. yeah. in the end, whatever you choose is your decision but. your not alone im sorry if this comes off as assuming.  please. feel free to ignore this ask, if it oversteps in anyway or is just uncomfortable. i know sometimes one might just want- to vent and let it all out and the to have that acknowledged or responsded to might be. uncomfortable i. hope i didnt come off that way

but .yeah,

nice to. meet you by thw way. O(∩w∩)O (im sorry the kaomoji is so out of place jhsjsh i just remembered that one ask u sent hh)

hi custard

it hurts that he's gone, obviously, and i just haven't been on Tumblr for a minute, so seeing everything again is having a terrible effect on my psyche (ill live though haha). im just super weird about him and i realize that uhh nobody really knows that. but I'm super . . weird about him and uhhh yeah and um i regret everything lol

im surprised you thought i was a young chinese boy :sob: but. i understand how you could make that.... mistake.....

did you know the :smile: :sob: thing is a discord reference? :sob: is 😭 and :grimace: is 😬. if you're on a phone and u type the emoji out it should probably pop up, and the same thing happened on discord so he. um would do that when posting on Tumblr too out of habit, and i guess it eventually became a Min-Pal staple haha

and yeah he definitely cares about me, and im mad at him because he cares about me and left me his emails and shit to take care of and he did that because he knew im. weird and needed more than old messages and tumblr posts and i . m glad he did do all that and i love having some stuff to hold onto like his Spotify but. it's just upsetting i guess, since you know, id rather have him.

its really funny seeing how other people view him, to me, at least, i guess since i got to see not just him being bad-pathetic but him bad-bad in general (and I'm not going to explain further than this, as i, despite claiming to find it funny, am happier than not that he died with a t least a somewhat positive. Uh. Perception.)

idk I'm not like, a great persoj, and i did Just let him die instead of going to unimaginable lengths. and I regret that everyday, but he was so steadfast. he just didn't care anymore , and he had me to talk to but it was like he didn't care about trying (because once he decided he'd died, what really mattered past that?) Ssorry this is all so congested and contradictory and I make no sense

and, id love to believe you when you say stuff like "you're not alone" but it's terrible because I really am. like it's out of personal fault, but even the people I feel as though I could go to for help, I coukdnt bring myself to,, not when it's anything Too serious,, not to mention the fact I just got dumped because he said I was 'unhealthy' (after 10 months of reassuring me that its ok if I am cuz he'll help... but that's. A whole different thing and has nothing to do with min and I'm just bitter and bringing him up out of.... bitterness.)

and im glad u left the ask mikey i really am

idk it's just kinda sweet. now I feel more like angel and saki..... Auuuhhuhhh

i don't know what to do in any regard currently though so I think I'm just gonna continue mourning something that's been gone for a year now. Someone. and being bitter and upset, and reminiscing and trying his memory into music I like (and emailing my bf. [not considering him an ex] [email cuz he blocked my number] obsessively until he decides to take me back)

[expirydateofficial]

Expiry Date(Chikn Nuggut Infection AU Fanfic Narrated by Slushi)

Chapter 2 - Shapes

Read Chapter 1 here

Read Chapter 3 (Part 1/2) here

[Image ID: (Note : The original dialogue was coloured so y'know who was speaking, but that's kinda impossible here so I've added a few more sentences here and there, that way, you'll get to know who's talking!)

The gate screeched and heaved with pain.

Silence.

For my friends. For Sody.

Streetlights kept the flooding darkness at bay, their lights sung melancholically alone. Gaps of alleyway toyed with us. It was torture. I felt my heart pressing against my chest for every sound, every change. I can't hear any birds, any wind.

What if I'm too late? What if I am responsible for them turning into those... zombies? They might have been looking for me, and.. Sody. He- he must have been so terrified. What if- when I return home, I would see.. I would see... something else.

Because of me.

His final moments.

I felt my paws glued to my rifle.

"Hey, um, yeah.." C'mon, Slushi. Think of something to say stupid.

"Yeah?" Milkshek asked.

"Y'know... I guess I had just noticed but, why was the door unlocked?" I squeezed a question out.

"Oh that." Milkshek responded. "I was waiting for the mailman to arrive." She turned to Old Pea. "My man bought me this silllyyyyyy plushie of Evil Cannibal Guy. But I guess...

...it's not arriving now."

Old Pea caressed her hand tightly.

It almost seemed like everything was normal for a while there.

"I.. remember Evil Cannibal Guy, haha. That was such a cheesy movie." I dragged.

We turn the corner. Pitch black. But this was the way I went. I heaved and stepped first.

"Hold on, Old Pea has flashlights." Milkshek said.

Turning on flashlights felt like screaming to everything that hungers, that we were here. I tried to glimpse beyond the shouts, into the void beyond.

Nothing.

I heard everything, sighs and swallows and the force in my chest, the crunching of dried leaves and grass beneath our feet.

Occasionally, a vague shape in the distance would arise only to reveal themselves as something not scary at all.

Dumpster.

A flowerpot.

Pipes.

Electrical box.

It moved.

IT MOVED.

I instantly primed myself. I felt my paws glued by sweat. A light moved to it.

Nothing.

"Slushi. You saw that thing move, right?" Milkshek whispered shakily.

I smelt it, a faint sweet scent in the air, like that disgusting liquid medicine for kids.

"It's ok." I replied, trying to sound reassuring. "I won't let anyone be hurt."

I waved my flashlight wildly.

Nothing but tufts of grass between concrete and white walls.

The noxious stench of flowers, diarrhoea and rust grew and grew. It was approaching.

I opened my arms to contain Old Pea and Milkshek. I need to be brave for their sakes.

"I see it." Old Pea declared.

He shone the light on a shape close to us.

Clothing bloated and writhing within, dark fluids stabbed their way through the fabric. Strands of skin overstretched over large dark bubbles growing popping and growing again. Froth seeped from the tearing seams of flesh and towering, flowing, weaving into each other and into the abyss.

Looking at it makes my head hurt.

Old Pea raised his hand to motion us to pause. I understood why.

"If we shoot too close, the goo will splash." I translated.

Old Pea nodded.

The sting in my throat rose again, I tried not to puke as hard as I can. That... thing. It was advancing at such a soft pace that it was almost like a statue.

Dead silent. That thing was dead silent.

"I'll make sure the thing behinds us stays behind us." I turned to face it.

We paced back hurriedly, my back rubbed against them a couple of times from walking too fast.

Suddenly, I crashed into them. They had stopped.

I turned around.

White concrete wall.

Dead end.

I heard Milkshek's voice.

"Up there?"

I turned around, Old Pea was pointing towards a window on the wall.

"I'll help you two up there." Old Pea replied.

The scent grew and grew. I turned. A shape in the distance.

It was already here.

End ID]

Read Chapter 3 (Part 1/2) here

[maidenmelanie]

I’m a Reddit lurker, and one of the places I like to lurk in is the Lost Media subreddit. I find the idea of lost media fascinating, but this one mixed with my love of metal so I had to give it a little search. I had a long weekend so, why not? Sadly I wasn’t able to find the video, but I will compile all the findings here in case someone is more search savvy or has possible connections. Feel free to share this wherever.

Anyway, this weekend a post was made to the Lost Media sub asking about Chuck Schuldiner’s last interview. A quick breakdown, Chuck was the singer and guitar player for the metal band Death. He sadly passed away in 2001 due complications from a brain tumor. This last interview with him took place in 2000, and there are multiple threads and comments discussing when it was shown, where it was uploaded, and how long the interview may be. I found several comments stating that Chuck’s nephew said the interview was an hour long. I guess it was possibly cut down to fill time constraints.

There is this very low quality clip from the interview, lasting 17 seconds. In the clip Chuck is talking about money. A user in the comments (obi-wannabekennotbi2418) transcribed what he’s saying.

"Everyone's... A lot of people been really good about it so far... uhm... ran into few problems here and there... and uh... you know when people especially when they hear you are in a band they assume you have a lot of money, that's unfortunately not true you know..." (There was a bit more at the end, but it’s hard to make out and the user didn’t have any luck)

https://youtu.be/18LWHP9m7JI?t=537  (8:57 - 9:24)

This tribute video has a longer version of the clip slowed down without any sound. It shows that it was possibly shown on an MTV News commercial cut-in. You can see Brian McFayden speaking followed by a clip from the interview. The date posted on the clip is 1.18.00 and says it was filmed in New York. After viewing plenty of MTV commercial spots and watching plenty of the channel in my youth, it was common for MTV News to do quick cut-ins like that followed by interview clips.

On MTV’s website, there was clearly a link to a video in this article and on the sidebar, which you can see in the screenshot above. This was probably the clip we see above which seems to feature more of the interview. I tried everything to get the page to load, even finding the old page that the Real media player was hosted on. Sadly the video has been fully removed from their servers. This would have been the direct link to it: http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/utils/playmedia.jhtml?id=1442580

I’m also adding a Wayback Machine link to it as well.

The two images I used in the banner were also taken directly from MTV’s website as they were used in multiple articles.

If the interview was an hour long, it’s possible MTV News was planning on showing it during one of their “Special Report” which was longer segments of their program. And this is where I hit a wall. Sadly I think unless someone has a recording of the interview saved somewhere, we will never see it.

I don’t know why I felt compelled to search for this. Maybe it’s just that I love metal so much and Chuck was a brilliant musician and seemed like such a nice guy. Combing through the news updates on EmptyWords.org left me feeling angry about the entire situation and sad that he was taken from us way too soon. Anyway, if you read this far, thank you and if you go searching, hopefully you have better luck than I did.

RIP Chuck.

[accessibleaesthetics]

Hi there, I would love some advice for describing images please! Firstly, is there a preference for it to be in the body of the text or in the alt description? (This is for when I'm OP). Secondly, is there a preference for how quotes are given? I've not used a screen reader so don't know how they read punctuation marks, and quotation marks in particular (I guess this might vary too). I've used - The title reads: "Example article title". I can appreciate there won't be a way that's perfect for everyone, but I'd like to know what will make it more accessible for as many people as possible!

This is going to get a little long, so I'm going to put it under a read more. However, as usual, I invite people who use screen readers to share their experience in regards to both of these questions.

The preference varies a lot, to be honest. I personally prefer either having the full description in the alt text if it's short and sweet or an overview of the description in the alt text that ends with some form of "see image description in body of text for full details" if you can't describe everything necessarily in 200-300 characters or less. In those cases, you would then put the full ID as an image description in the post. This allows someone using a screen reader to get an idea of whats in the image and be able to decide if they want to hear more about it.

I tend to stray away from only using an image description since multiple screen reader users have told me that they will simply skip a post entirely if the images don't have alt text.

Of course, my preference isn't by any means the rule of thumb. This poll about length and placement of image descriptions gives some idea of the variety in preferences among Tumblr users. I think it is also worth noting that, as far as I know, some screen readers will not let you navigate alt text the same way you can text. It's very possible that some screen reader users will need to listen to alt text on a single image all at once, and then listen to it all again if they miss something. This makes long detailed alt text less than ideal for those users. Of course, that might not be as true with Tumblr since alt text added via the default editor is accessible as an image description as well, but it's still something to keep in mind.

There is also some evidence that Tumblr's alt text is not fully accessible to some users, though looking at the comments of the post, it seems like the majority of people answering that way actually mean that the presentation of alt text is less than ideal for them, such as the text being smaller than they'd like or the Alt Text button not being as obvious as they'd like. The expandable image description feature is not fully compatible with some older blog layouts either.

In terms of your second question, you're right that punctuation varies from screen reader to screen reader! I know that, at least with JAWS, quotation marks will be read as "left quote" or "right quote" if the verbosity settings are set to high, but otherwise they are not read. Using something like VoiceOver, quotation marks won't be read regardless (unless there is a way to navigate character-by-character like there is in JAWS and I just haven't discovered it yet, then it's possible that VoiceOver might be able to read it too). I'm not sure how NVDA handles it, but since JAWS tends to have the most user customization options of most screen readers, I think there's a good chance NVDA doesn't call them out either.

I'd say if the quotes are very important to the meaning, you might want to consider replacing them with text, such as saying: "this program is [quote] accessible [end quote], but what does that really mean?" You'll notice that I used quotation marks there too, and that's because I think it helps visually, even when it's not essential to the meaning. Adding a colon or comma before the quote can also force the screen reader to pause, making it more apparent to screen reader users where the quote functionally begins since that tends to be how we indicate it in natural speech.

Check out Why Don’t Screen Readers Always Read What’s on the Screen? Part 1: Punctuation and Typographic Symbols for more information one how screen readers deal with punctuation and other symbols.

[thralloftimegaming]

November Gamedev Progress

AHhhhhhh! Another month over!? I have no idea where it went :(

I hope you're all doing great! (Cross posted from Patreon; https://www.patreon.com/posts/74059613 please go there if you want to see all the images without clickign, tumblr doesn’t like the size :’( )

Calander

Changed the total number of Months from 13 to 12, added Seasons which last 3 Months. Seasons have weighted Weather so more Snow in the last one (Winter?), more Rain in the second one! (Spring?). Trying to come up with some other Weather events that wont be too disruptive. It was really foggy a few days ago so now I wanna try and code that X'D

Saving/Loading

This is the big one, what I spent most of this month working on;

I've set up a Save/Load system! I'll slowly give all the different major objects their own part but currently I've got Trees/Grass/Rocks/some system stuff all being recreated correctly in a loaded world!

So in this gif I start a game, save (note the debug come up), quit to title (lacking a title XD), then start a new game; it's a different map! Then I quit again and load the saved world! <3 <3 <3

Got the first batch of Buildings stored! Buildings that Craft Items and those that Convert them all set!

And also Benches and their tops work! This was an extra bit of challenge, since instead of just replacing a Bench with say the Distiller, I update it with a SubType, so I've added a check and a loop to the load code. If it creates a building with a SubType it will do a second go of the Creation code and it gets upgraded to a Distiller!

There's still more to do with the Save system, I've been taking it slow to ensure that I don't mess anything up. Saving the customisation of Buildings that are made out of multiple parts like Houses is gonna be a challenge. I have an idea of how to do it, it's just getting it to work will be a pain.

Also saving the ownership data, say for a Goblin and it's Home/Work, or a Pet and it's Nest. I can't save the object ID between games so I'll have to use the object type and it's coordinates.

LAST MINUTE ADDITION!

Got Buildings Saving their Carpets/Rugs, should be able to store the Wall/Floor colours and Building Part placements (like Beds) the same way! But I am tired, and hungry, so maybe for next months update? :S

Bugs

LOADS of little fixes here and there, such as;

Fixed a bug were Item shadow's were clipping underneath flooring and snow.

Snow and Flooring now use the -bbox_top so they have a lower depth priority, and I added an offset to Item's depth (forgot I had to add it to the bounce code!)

Fixed a bug where Dry Grass wouldn't be recreated when Loading a game.

Fixed a bug where Dry Grass wouldn't spawn on Beaches.

Fixed a bug where loading a game would make fully grown trees sprout a new one each time you loaded.

Fixed Tall Grass not spawning in Swamp Biomes.

Updated the Culling System to properly cull Buildings that are made out of multiple parts, previously it just didn't cull them. Now when the main part gets culled all the other parts get culled into a part list that later gets checked when the master is unculled. Getting this to work with the Save/Load system though is gonna be a PAIN!

Fixed a bug where Houses would move when you saved and loaded :S

Visuals

Set up Flooring to give you a slight visible y offset, so it's like you're actually standing on something higher!

[gif wont post] https://i.imgur.com/87neQlA.mp4

Makes it more distinctive to Paving!

OOoo! This is better!

[gif wont post] https://i.imgur.com/UOUdl8B.gif

Swapped the offset on Paving for one on Flooring, and adjusted the Depth on JUST Flooring, so now you can stand behind the raised floor! :D

Got Snow set up for working on Roofing, noticed some issues with my Roofing autotiling, so I think I need to remake that from scrap. :(

OK! Scrapped that Roofing because the thinner sections were giving me a massive headache trying to autotile. Made a much simpler one which was about all I could draw without tearing my hear out or the mouse out of the computer.

and it also works with snow! https://i.imgur.com/xiVyvDM.mp4

Might need to adjust the height a bit more, so trees and the statue don't clip through?

Adjusted the offset for drawing roofing, and changed the Create/Destroy selector to more accurately show that you are over roofing, looks better to me.

I also extended the height of the extra bit of Roof drawn on lowest so it connects with Walls, I might change that and instead put it as part of the Wall itself so it's like the wall is taller?

Lighting

I keep messing with them, I think this is better? Did some rework with how darkness works and layered up all lights so there's three levels of brightness from each source.

https://i.imgur.com/wFejNV4.mp4

All in all not a bad months work!! XDXDXD

(apparently the feet should be here by the 4th?)

Thanks as always to my supporters and to you all reading this.

I hope you all had a great month, keep being awesome everyone!! <3 <3 <3

[acreaturecalledgreed]

Hi its that one anon again, for the Multigender asks, I humbly request uh

4,5,6, 7,8, 19, 24, 28, 29

...is that too many numbers.?

hello nonny you are a-okay i just wanted to respond on my laptop b/c im gonna do a lot of writing now cracks every bone in my trash body lets do it

4) When did you first hear about being multigender?

my memory is very not great and i honestly do not recall any specifics, but id ballpark 2014ish was around the time i was realizing "oh i dont have to slide b/t genders, its okay to be more than one at once"

5) Are there any terms under the multigender umbrella that you identify with? (like bigender, trigender, genderfluid, omnigender, multiflux)

i genuinely like pangender and omnigender very much. again, greedy.

6) Do you identify with any umbrella terms that can encompass being multigender, like "trans" or "nonbinary"?

yes! i personally consider nonbinary to be trans, and i am both. i call myself a nonbinary trans man (which is true) when i want to give ppl a not complicated answer.

7) Are your genders more fluid or more static?

i suppose it'd be accurate to say my genders are static in that they dont really shift from one to another but i also do not like the description of "static", it makes me think of stagnancy, and my gender is not stagnant- it gets added to and expanded rather often, its edges extend and recede like a tide

its like. pointillism. i am a painting and every dot is a part of the image

8) Are your genders more separate or blended together?

waggles my hand both kinda, hard to explain, again its the "pointillism" thing

19) When in a situation forcing you into one gender, what do you do?

so i did answer this one before but ill rehash in a briefer way

on non queer spaces i just deal with it and feel bad but theres no point in pushing it b/c i find most people just dont get it or dont really try to and im Very Tired

in queer spaces people forcing me to be just one of my genders is genuinely heart wrenching and makes me feel deeply unwanted, because they only want this specific part of me and not just. me.

24) Do you do (or have you ever done) anything to express pride, privately or publicly, in your multigender identity?

not really, no. its not that i do not want to. i just have trust problems around people and i struggle to have faith that people will not be shit. and privately, i just dont feel a need to justify it to myself, yaknow? i casually incorporate my identity and queerness into all i touch and create, and i think that counts as pride.

28) Are you open/out about being multigender?

anyone who knows me even a little knows im a gender clusterfuck, and i have long since stopped bothering to pretend im any flavour of cis. if people get weird about it its my intent to challenge them then and there. if you wish to be transphobic you must look me in the eyes and know that i am a person and say it and see how brave you are then.

29) Are you open about some parts of your gender identity, but not others?

the more abstract parts of my gender i tend to really just talk about with other trans ppl but mostly just b/c it can be hard to explain to cis ppl "yeah one of my genders is like, a shark, but longer" whereas if i say the same thing in a trans heavy server ppl are like "oh god samesies"

[just-a-leech-boy]

This isnt the essay tbh. I'm just thinking out loud. Idek man. End of the fucking world. We're all doomed

I am very hung up on the fact that two main modes of human expression: language and visual art, have been automated, and more importantly commodified.

I go to university. From personal observation of my fellow students, the use of chatgpt to do incredibly simple essay work is endemic. Literally every single person in my history class last term used it to write summaries of the reading. Even people who I know are smart, have said they used chatgpt to create outlines for essays. I don't understand the purpose of this; surely you are able to think through an outline for an essay? Surely this does not need to be automated. Chatgpt is cheating, to me. You cheated. You didn't have the thoughts you were meant to have. You let a computer do the thinking. Why are we here?

I think there is essentially a move away from thinking itself, especially with the fact that addiction to short form video content is completely real. I think people my age, but especially people younger than me, are mostly unaware of its addictive nature, and essentially everyone has no means to break free from it. I remember when I was a kid, and how my brain worked then, how thinking felt before I was addicted to my phone. Do the children now, who were given the internet as babies, even know that it is different?

I think it's the end of thought. No one wants to think. No one wants to read, no one wants to write. No one cares if things are good, they care if it's fast, or if it makes money. I think now with AI we are set on a path towards the degeneration of human intelligence and creation, all in the name of capital.

...

Okay next bit is gonna be like, shittily written cuz it's less clear in my mind.

People always say that AI lets them have a "more efficient workflow". Id be interested to hear if these people actually work less than they did before they started using AI. Or do they just do more work for the same amount of time and the same amount of money? Or is it just that they're able to do more work for more money, for the same amount of time? I never hear anyone say, "ai has given me more free time". Wasn't AI supposed to free us for more important things? Like writing, and art, and talking to people?

A lot of stuff people are using chatgpt for is just insane dystopian shit that makes my head explode. On Reddit one of the top uses was making up bedtime stories for their children, praised for its "novelty". The fuck??? You have allowed the connection to your child be automated by a machine. That machine does not love your child. It did not choose those words to make them smile or laugh. You could not, out of love for your child, spend 5 minutes, pondering a bedtime story?

One major reason there was backlash against the Vietnam war was the fact that it was being photographed. The photos of the horror of war were enough to move a generation. Now, photos of war and of atrocities are just part of doomscrolling. Our awful little habit. We basically see children dying every day, multiple times a day even. I think this in itself is unnatural. I don't think it's possible for a person to feel empathy for anyone on their screen anymore. There is just an oversaturation of images. I do not think we were meant to live in this way.

This is what I mean when I say it is the end of any meaningful human connection. There will be no exchanging of thoughts, of empathy. We will not have thoughts, we will not have creativity. We are slaves to the machine and to techno capital and putting things on the Internet so ads can be put beside them. That is the only reason we are here. Is to look at our screens and make money for other people. Not to think, not to love, not to make anything at all.

...

Anyway yeah uhhh. I think. It's the end of the world. But in a slow and pathetic sort of way, where it's fine really, but I just think. Maybe nothing will ever be real or beautiful ever again.

Okay that was a lot of words sorry.

If you think otherwise, please tell me your thoughts because i do not think there is much hope for this.

There's a big essay in my head about the perception of reality, social media as it is today, ai, and something about nihilism and empathy. I think uhhh. The end culture and human connection. Idk

[animeomegas]

ahh youre so good at character and world building!! if your ocs were in a show id watch it 10/10🤧

do you have any tips on that? ive been wanting to start a blog surrounding ocs and things like that but creating anything beyond personality is so hard😭💔

thank you for sharing your ocs with us btw! theyre so interesting i would commit various acts of violence for both hadrian and matthew

Aww, thank you so much!! That makes me so happy to hear ♥♥♥ Hadrian and Matthew are both so dear to my heart, so I'm glad they have people to protect them hehe.

Why don't I tell you my process for writing OCs and their stories? Hopefully something in my process will be able to help you! And if you do ever start the blog, let me know, I'd love to see it <33

So, here is how I make the original stories and characters:

One: Setting

I always start with the setting I want. Something I like, something interesting! For the sake of this list, I'm going to use an example that I'll write on the fly so you can see how it works.

So, let's go with a magical university! A secretive and incredibly prestigious and hard to get into magical university.

Two: The love interest

Next I choose a love interest that fits with the setting, I don't worry about plot yet! Feel free to rely on tropes and character archetypes here because you'll be adding more depth to the love interest later.

So, who fits the vibes of a magical university. Let's say a prodigy third year! He's aloof, cold and arrogant, not to mention wickedly smart. Those are the basics we start with.

Three: The MC

Now, we think about who could get close to someone like this? I picked someone very prickly and cold who isn't going to be open to much conversation, so how do I make an MC who will be in a situation to force interaction?

He ignores the other students, so she can't be a student and a teacher would be immoral and weird, so who is she?

What about a journalist who specialises in magical theory but can't do magic themselves? The university is allowing one journalist behind their doors for the first time in forever to report on the inside of the university and demystify it a little. They pair her up with their prodigy student to shadow his lessons and get an idea of life there through the eyes of their best student. She has to interview and shadow him, so they have to interact! Done!

Four: Ask a random question

Next, I ask a random question that sticks out to me from the premise and use it to start crafting my plot.

The question that sticks out to me here, is why was the MC picked to do this incredibly important and ground breaking role? Yes, she's talented at magical theory, but there must be people older and more experienced who can do the same?

Now, I answer to question:

The university specifically wanted someone young. They wanted someone at the beginning of their career that they could easily silence if they tried to expose secrets or frame the university in a way they didn't like. They also wanted someone who would be more easily intimidated into following the rules they set and bowing to the wants of the university and figured someone young would be more likely to be like that.

Five: Follow on questions

Now I expand on that question. Why are they opening their doors at all then? And why are they so obsessed with the image they're portraying?

Well, they want a good public opinion on them. People are wary of them, despite respecting the prestige, so they want people to think more positively of them while still maintaining the healthy respect. Why?

What if there was a secret faction to the university that held a good chunk of the upper staff and post graduate students? What if they were so arrogant that they thought they should be the ones running the country? What if they wanted to stage a coup, and this was their method of making the common people more receptive to them to lessen their fight?

Six: The plot

So, what we have here then, is a secretive and elite magical university which is trying to humanise themselves by opening up information to the public for the first time, but is doing so in a heavily controlled and paranoid way. There is a powerful secret society hoping to stage a coup, comprised of some of the most brilliant magical minds in the world, including many teachers and post-graduate students.

MC and the aloof but brilliant third year start to uncover the secret together because MC asks all the right questions as a journalist and the aloof student can never leave a question unanswered.

Boom, there is your over arching plot!

Seven: The bullet point list

Then I just make a bullet list of random thoughts I have to flesh it out, like this:

Student was going to be poached next year after he joined the master's programme. He was important to their cause and they are unhappy that he's pulling away and interacting with an outsider.

The story is told in a combination of normal prose, the articles that the journalist is writing, and the student's diary entries.

Most students look down on the journalist because she can't do magic, but she is so good at magical theory, she rivals the prodigy.

There's a teacher that was thought to be trustworthy, but actually isn't and is a big believer of overthrowing the government and allowing magical people to rule at the top where he thinks they belong.

Etc. etc. etc.

Then, by the end, I have enough of a fleshed out story to pick a scene and write it! While I write that scene, I try to flesh out the characters and their backstories, but you said you were okay with personality, so I'll leave that bit to you!! But feel free to ask any more questions if you want to know how I design backstories and personality x

I hope that helped in some way!! If you ever want to bounce some ideas off me, I'm more than happy for you to do so, either through my inbox or in my dms! I have been told that I am very good as a soundboard for plot writing haha.

Have a good day, anon!!

[classifiedinterests]

making the supernatural fandom more accessible

hey fellow spn fans!! what if we all teamed up to make the spn tumblr experience more accessible?

it sucks that some of the best posts this fandom churns out are completely unreadable to bloggers who use screen readers (or heck, even to people whose wifi sucks so that images never load).

take the amazing scripts that we’re currently so pumped about -- imagine you use a screen reader (if you don’t), and you hear fellow fans going completely feral over content you can’t access. you want to be in on the hype! but you have zero clue why everyone’s screaming about windmills or whatever, because the scripts getting shared are un-captioned screenshots.

...and then there are posts that are just. walls of text! which is really difficult for certain neurodivergent folks to read, such as those with adhd. being aware of that when making original posts (or comments) and adding more paragraph breaks -- and possibly even spicing up the text by bolding important parts, etc. -- is an easy fix for that!

so. here’s my proposal: each one of us commits to whatever level of effort is possible for us (given each person’s unique time, energy, abilities, etc.) in the joint effort to improve accessibility.

Level 1: the ID hunter.

when you go to reblog any spn post that includes images (whether that’s gifs, screenshots, fanart, etc.), check in the notes to see if someone else has added an image description already!

if they have, reblog from them so that the image description spreads further.

"BUT what if someone added the image description before certain commentary was added to the post, and i wanna reblog the post with those extra comments?”

Well, i can’t speak for everyone who creates image descriptions, but i for one don’t care if someone copies & pastes my ID so that they can add it to their own reblog. i don’t care that my blog’s no longer connected to the image description i wrote -- so long as the ID is spread, i’m happy!

Level 2: the copy-paste monster.

when you love another fan’s tags enough to add them to the post -- do so by copy & pasting them, not by screenshotting them!

for your own posts or comments: if you’re sharing, say, a quote from an article or a fanfic or a tweet, do so by copy & pasting the quote instead of taking a screenshot.

if someone else has already shared a screenshot from an article, fanfic, or tweet, and you have a link to the original, do the extra legwork to go to the source, copy and paste, and make an ID.

Level 3: the fandom angel.

If you have the ability, time, and energy to type out image descriptions for spn posts that don’t yet have one, please do it!

If even just a few of us commit to creating even just one ID per day each, that will add up!

And, of course, if you’re making your own post, give it an ID right there in the original posting, if you’re able! I understand that not everyone has the spoons (/time/energy/ability) to do this, and that’s okay. But those who can, please do!

Tumblr now allows you to put alt text on images, so you can do it that way or the old-fashioned way of just including your image description in the text of the post.

Not sure how to write an image description? This post offers some truly comprehensive advice on how to write IDs for various types of content, from photos to fanart to charts to screenshots of text.

By the way, I’ve seen folks ask that you don’t put the ID under a readmore. Keep it easy to access!

Nervous that you’re not gonna write an ID right? First off, practice makes perfect -- you’ll improve with time. I’m pretty sure that an imperfect or incomplete ID is better than no ID at all -- hopefully someone else will come along to reblog with any necessary corrections to whatever ID you write!

Level 4: the man of letters (gn).

You’re going above and beyond what this post advises -- you’re also out there coming up with and implementing other ways to improve accessibility!

Maybe you’re a blogger who uses a screen reader yourself, with more you want to add to this post from your own experience.

Maybe you’ll choose to seek out bloggers who use screen readers themselves -- or who have other accessibility needs -- so you can learn straight from them what their needs are.

Maybe it’s something else! I don’t know, but I do know this post is incomplete -- so please, share your ideas for other ways we can all work together to improve our fandom.

None of us has to do everything, but most of us can do something. If enough of us take even just small steps, we can create a more accessible fandom. Who’s with me?

If you’re in, please reblog this post so word can spread!

(I’m closing this by tagging some bloggers whom i’m hoping might be interested in helping me spread this around, because i am Not A Big Name in this fandom and can’t do it by myself! Let me know if you want me to un-tag you.)

@sunforgrace​ @castiellesbian​ @plantdadcas​ @jenderstudies​ @youchangedmedean​ @meadowdean​ @winchestersingerautorepair​ @phoebenatural​ @steveyockey​ @bedlund @seraphcastiel​ @marcusantonius @marynatural​ @redwing​ @t4tdeanwinchester​ @spn-brainrot​ @lobotomycas​ @samdyke​ @deanwinchesterforbatman2k21 @themanwhowouldbefruit @4x01​ @thatisahotsoup

[monsterenergysimp]

Permanence

corpse husband x fem!reader 

summary: you meet corpse on a stream and you’re surprised when he reaches out to you 

warnings: cursing, mentions of tattooing

word count: 1.9k

notes: This is proof read but could have missed some stuff. This is my first corpse fic and my first time writing fanfic since I posted that super cringey book on wattpad when I was like 12 or something. I’d appreciate feed back so please reach out to me :)

main blog @itsmysleepover

read part 2 here!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You were cleaning up your station so you can get home and stream. You loved your day job as a tattoo artist but you also really enjoyed streaming. It started as a way to promote yourself as an artist and the shop you worked at but it eventually became a really fun way to destress at the end of the week (or day if you were really itching to stream). “Hey Y/N was that your last client?” your boss, KC, asked as she walked to the front of the shop and put new flash drawings on the walls.

“Yes ma’am!” You said back excitedly. You finished cleaning your station and tossed your black gloves in the trash. “And you can’t trick me into staying and taking walk-ins,” you joked with her. She rolled her eyes and walked back into her office “It was one time,” she said as you slid on your jacket. As you walked out your phone buzzed in your pocket and you checked to see who had texted you. It was a message from Sean asking if you were free to play Among Us with him and some other streamers. You replied that you were on your way home right now and totally down. You were excited to see who was playing this time around since their Among Us streams are super entertaining and have gotten really popular.

On your way back you tweeted and posted to your Instagram story that you’d be streaming soon and set up all your stuff once you made it home. After a few minutes, you had a couple of thousand people watching. You entered the discord chat and Sean spoke up. “Everyone this is Y/N she’s sensitive so be gentle.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you guys and I’m not gentle, I'm ruthless,” You say into your mic and notice the chat calling you a liar. Everyone was in the lobby waiting for the game to start. “You sound way too sweet to be ruthless,” Corpse said. The countdown started and you were imposter with Charlie.

“This should be fun,” you told the stream. Yout tried playing strategically but after such a long shift your brain was mush. You saw Poki in nav and killed her then vented into shields. Not long after the body was reported and you were sure you were going to get voted out or at least sussed.

“Where was the body?” Felix asked. “Nav and I didn’t see anyone near there so whoever is imposter must have vented,” Corpse responded. Felix spoke up again. “I think I saw Y/N walk that way and I haven’t seen her since.”

Shit, shit, shit shit. “I’m in shield right now so-” you said trying to defend yourself but Charlie spoke up. “I was doing tasks with her earlier and I saw her walk into shields so she’s safe but I’m still not sure about Rae.” Everyone discussed a bit more and some people, including Corpse, voted for you but Rae got the majority vote and was ejected. You released your breath and kept playing being extra careful.  

“Okay, guys that was super close. Corpse knows and is out to get me,” you said to the chat. You were eventually voted off but one round later victory was written across your screen with your ghost and Charlie’s avatar. “Good game guys,” Corpse said.

“I told you guys I was ruthless!”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat at your station doing nothing because a client had canceled a four-hour session. You were listening to music and sketching some stuff but you were bored out of your mind and you didn’t want to leave in case you got a walk-in. The music got quiet as you received a twitter notification saying someone had messaged you. You reached for your phone and saw you had gotten a dm from Corpse.

C: hey :)

You didn’t know what to respond. You were mostly confused as to why he decided to message you out of the blue. Did he want something? But what would he want?

Y: Hii! This is sudden

C: was i bothering you?

    shit sorry!

Y: Youre fine I wasn’t doing anything rn

C: how has your day been

    i dont usually do stuff like this

Y: Im glad you did im doing better now I was so bored

C: what were you doing that was so terrible

Y: NOTHING! thats the problem :(

C: im sure youll find something to do

You stared at his message. Unsure what to respond.

Y: Im gonna give myself a tattoo

C: what?

    NO!

You tossed the needles you used for your tattoo into the sharps box. “Oh my god you didn’t,” KC said. She noticed the wrap on your calve from the tattoo you just gave yourself out of boredom. “It’s not my fault I didn’t have anything else to do!” You said trying to defend yourself. She sighed and just shook her head. “Just go home business is slow today.” It was raining so the shop probably wasn’t going to get a walk-in anyway and you didn’t have any more clients for the day. It was only 2 pm but you drove home and after making lunch for yourself decided to stream. You weren’t expecting too many people so it was bound to be super chill. Your leg felt sore reminding you of the tattoo. You snapped a quick pic of the fresh jack-o-lantern on the side of your calve and messaged it to Corpse.

Y: [image] it came out nice!

C: thats  super cool actually

    i was concerned why you would just give yourself a tattoo but i found your instagram and       youre super talented

Y: Thank you!

For some reason, it felt strange to just have that be the end of your response.

Y: Im about to start streaming if you wanted to watch

    [link]

C: ill be watching ;)

What’s that supposed to mean?

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat in your apartment watching tv, hand lost in a bag of Doritos, and scrolling through twitter. You had stopped paying attention to the anime playing on the screen since you’ve watched it a hundred times and knew you wouldn’t miss anything. It was Saturday and you usually take those days off. Take the time to do chores or meet up with some friends but today you felt like not doing any of those things. As you continue your endless scroll (not helping the twitter addiction you told yourself you’d try to get a handle on) you got a message from Corpse.

C: wanna talk?

You looked down at the message unsure of how to answer. It was a simple yes or no and the obvious answer was yes. You and Corpse had started talking more regularly. You still didn’t have each other’s phone numbers but it was fine. Your conversations weren’t too big-- just you sending him memes, tiktoks, and telling him how much you liked the songs he would drop. Or him complimenting a tattoo you did. Sometimes he’d message you during streams telling you funny stuff his fans would say in the chat and you’d do the same. You learned a bit about each other but nothing too deep or serious. Like how you two lived a few cities away and you both really liked Donnie Darko. When Sean first invited you to that game out of everyone else there you were most excited to meet Corpse. He’s just so sweet and funny. Of course, you’d love to talk to him but you were also itching to talk to him and the last thing you’d ever want to do was make him uncomfortable.

Y: Yeah id love to talk

Here goes nothing.

Y: Wanna facetime or something?

     No pressure or anything it could even be a regular call

     I think facetime is just my default lol

You sent those last two messages quickly after you had sent the first. You wished you could know what he was thinking. It was killing you to think you had turned him off from talking to you completely. You put your phone down on the couch and went to wash your hand of Dorito dust. When you got back from the kitchen you turned off the tv and tossed yourself onto the couch.

Still no message.

Why am I so fucking stupid?  

Just as you were standing up to stretch from sitting on the couch all day your phone buzzed. You reached for it fast and looked to see that it was him. You became super excited still not even knowing what the message said. It could have told you to never talk to him again for all you knew.

C: sure lets facetime

    xxx-xxx-xxxx

You had his phone number. You added him to your small but growing contact list and called. You sat on your couch waiting for a response when he finally picked up the screen was black. It didn’t upset you; you kind of expected it and didn’t care what he had to do to make himself more comfortable during this call.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was raspier than usual.

“Did you just wake up?” You asked and looked at the time. It was about a little past noon and you had only eaten Doritos all day. Shit, you should probably make a decent meal.

“Not that long ago but yeah,” he responded and giggled. That giggle.

“Well, I’ve eaten nothing but Doritos all day while rewatching Ouran High School Host Club, so you’re welcome to join me as I make myself something to eat.”

“Sounds like fun; what are we eating?”

“I don’t know yet,” You said as you stood up and made your way to the kitchen. You opened the pantry and looked. You noticed a can of diced tomatoes and reached for it then checked the expiration date. It was still good. On your counter were some onions and garlic. “How about some tomato soup?”

“Sounds delicious.” you smiled at Corpse and your phone screen not knowing if he was also looking at his screen or not. “You’re really pretty-- you know that?”

“Thanks, but you don’t have to--”

“I’ve already told you what an incredible artist you are so many times I bet you’re tired of hearing it, but you already know what a talented artist you are.”

“That is very kind of you Corpse,” you said to him bashfully as you chopped the onion and opened the can of tomatoes. “But once again you don’t have to reach so far to compliment me.”

“I’m not reaching you are talented and beautiful and--”

“I thought I was pretty.” You could hear him chuckle with a smile on his face. “You’re both,” he said. You could feel your face getting warm from blushing.

“Fuck you you’re making me blush. My face is all hot and stuff.”

He laughed at how flustered you got. “That’s the cutest thing ever.”

You didn’t know how to respond so you just put some olive oil in a pot and tossed in your onions. It became silent but it was a comfortable silence. You turned the stove on and watched the flame for a few seconds. “If it was dark we could pretend we were together and having a bonfire or something,” you said to the phone as you turned the camera to show him the flame (still not 100 percent sure if he was looking at you or not).

“I’ll put it on the list of things to do when you visit me someday.”

[theradioghost]

@just-kent-ing-around

Hi sorry I want to know about the secret whales!??!!? 🥺 WHAT DO YOH MEAN THERES 24 SPECIES?????!

hear that? that's the sound of my final excuse DETONATING

(disclaimer i am not an expert i encourage you to research this yourselves if you find it interesting. pls don't blow up another of my amateur science posts and leave me suffering from notes years later knowing it is still spreading accidental misinformation)

this post is. long. a whale of a post. here is your courtesy readmore. (also i have added embedded alt text IDs to the images in this post but I am unsure how that interacts with readmores so if that is a problem for anyone please let me know)

whales are divided into two groups: the mysticeti or baleen whales, and the odotoceti or toothed whales. the difference between them is, and this may be complicated: baleen whales have baleen and toothed whales have teeth.

so let's dial in on the toothed whales. first we have the Physeteridae. in the modern day this consists only of the sperm whale which is a terrifying animal in its own right (fun fact: another difference between the two whale types are that toothed whales are the ones that echolocate and in theory sperm whale echolocation could be loud enough to kill humans at close range) but my passion for paleontology burdens me with the knowledge that they are simply the last of a long line of very large very carnivorous animals which, to be clear, I adore every single one of. there is also Kogiidae, which is the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale, irrelevant to this discussion but very cute.

now, just about everything else in the odontoceti is what we would call a dolphin or porpoise, from orcas to freshwater river dolphins, making up several other groups. HOWEVER. there is one final group of toothed whales. and it is what i call:

the secret whales,

ZIPHIIDAE.

there are at least 24 species of ziphiid whales, aka the beaked whales. this is one third of toothed whales and a quarter of all whale species. i say at least because we just don't fucking know. they're WHALES and we DON'T KNOW.

here's a little tangent: have you ever seen a beluga in person? i don't know that most people understand quite how large belugas are until they see one. belugas are five feet long when they are BORN. as adults they are between 12 and 18 feet long. I can say from experience that it is also hard to understand how big that feels except in person. they are not dolphin sized. neither are ziphiid whales.

CC 2.0, image by Chris Huh

Cuvier's beaked whale here is one of the more common and well known species.

here's another tangent: if you look at lists of newly described species of land animals, you may notice that it has been quite a while since there's been any really new ones that were particularly big. sometimes we realize that what we thought was one species was actually more than one -- for example, the tapanuli orangutan -- but truly new large land animals? you pretty much have to go into the 20th century for any of that. incidentally, here's a saola. it's an incredibly rare, incredibly shy bovid that lives in an isolated region of Vietnam and is probably one of the last large land mammals to become known to global science.

CC 2.0, photo by Bill Robichaud

no one has photographed a saola since 2013 :(

contrary to this, it's pretty well known that we know jack shit about what's in the oceans. there's a lot of stuff in there and we haven't seen most of it. but WHALES? not fish, not squid, not weird squibbly stuff way down in the dark, but WHOLE ENTIRE WHALES?

i call beaked whales "secret whales" for two reasons. one, popular culture is pretty much entirely unaware of their existence. two, even if we all knew that ziphiid whales existed, there's not ... that much more that we even know about them for the most part? like, we can make some general assumptions, especially based on the two or three species that are more common and well known relative to the rest of the group. these facts include that they are very cryptic (shy and avoidant of humans; this is one of my favorite jargon words), maybe live in small groups or alone, they spend their lives in the open ocean, and they eat squids and other cephalopods that they catch by deep diving.

and the thing is, these guys are so weird!!!! only the males have teeth and they use them for jousting so almost all adult males are coated in scars! pretty much the only images of any of them are blurry pictures of their backs barely above the water, paintings/art, and pictures of bones! almost everything we know about them we know from dead ones found on beaches! the cuvier's beaked whale dives deeper and longer than any other mammal. three kilometers deep. 1.8 miles. four hours on one breath.

when i say there are 24 species that's absolutely an estimate. we keep finding new ones. the seven-meter-long Sato's beaked whale or karasu was described in 2019 and had its first definite confirmed sighting last year. in late 2020 some scientists near Mexico thought they'd made the first ever live sighting of a Perrin's beaked whale and then realized that no, this was a WHOLE OTHER NEW BEAKED WHALE. before 2012 there had been exactly three specimens found of the spade-toothed beaked whale, two skulls and a jawbone, meaning no one knew what they looked like and no one immediately realized that a pair which had beached in New Zealand were a totally unique discovery. please note that this 2012 news article says that there are 21 species of beaked whale (it also contains a pic of the deceased whale so click at your own discretion).

anyway, my favorite species of beaked whale is the strap-toothed whale, because I believe they are the most what the fuck of whales. here is a picture of a male strap-toothed whale skull.

CC 4.0, photo by TexaSim.

yes, the teeth keep them from fully opening their mouths. no, that doesn't seem to cause them problems; beaked whales seemingly use suction feeding, so these boys can just slurp up the squid just fine. those spikes on the tips of the teeth are so they can still use them to scratch the hell out of one another.

unfortunately, while it's nearly impossible to tell the population sizes of any of these whales, chemical pollution and oceanic noise pollution seem to be real dangers to them, as well as deep sea fishing and whaling in east asia. one major reason i share these whales with unsuspecting passers-by every chance I get is that if no one knows they exist, no one is trying to protect them.

anyway. now you're burdened with the Forbidden Whale Knowledge. i hope it has added a little bit of wonder to your world.

as a bonus, here is a picture of a True's beaked whale that is one of the rare images to show what these animals really look like in full.

CC 4.0, photo by Roland Edler (and my eternal gratitude to him and his coauthors for making this photo free to use)

someday i'll run out of excuses not to talk about the secret whales and you'll all descend into the same mental spiral that I do every day of my life