#I remember growing up and I would read a bunch of different tumblrs dedicated to astrology

[rosicheeks]

I am a Virgo but I absolutely love how bubbly and sometimes goofy you are 😍😍😍🙏😘

Ok ok ok why did you say ‘but’ though

[bigjimbopickens]

Hi! I wanna say I love your art first of all! I just read the message under your last post about Kevin’s art video and you said you’re mostly self taught - I’m curious about how you get into that? I’d love to learn to draw but have no idea where to start!

Sorry for getting back to this so late I am not as active on Tumblr. And yes, I am mostly self-taught because of my circumstances growing up. To those who don't know, I am SnowfallWarning/Big Jimbo and I am currently an animation student. I do 2D animation, concept art and character design and I graduate this year (hopefully). I am disabled both physically and mentally which is why I mostly do digital art. I have a coordination disorder (dyspraxia) and am blind in one eye but that doesn't stop me. For my entire childhood I was discouraged from drawing as I apparently wouldn't go anywhere with it or that I was terrible. Where I lived most of my life had no opportunities for someone like me so I had to leave to continue pursuing art. Because of the poor access, the only things I had was notebooks, school supplies and an old iPad mini to draw with growing up. I learned everything I currently know now from using those. I don't know what got me into drawing still, may have been Warrior Cats and dinosaurs. Like what Jose said in Kevin's video, art comes from the soul. It is human expression and we've always been doing it. Anyone can be an artist and we all start somewhere, trust me. Here's some stuff I usually tell people because I do get asked this often (I'm also not the best teacher): 1: Experiment. Find what works for you. Be messy with it, not every piece needs to be perfect. If you are a digital artist then also trying different programs can be helpful too. Maybe you're better at drawing landscapes, characters or abominations that defy God. 2: Use references if necessary. Not sure why for a while it was considered "cheating" to use references. Everyone in the industry uses references, I would know. If you also want, you can try tutorials but I found I learn more from references. 3: Take inspiration. I'm always adding things I see in other people's art to my own style if I like it. Though try not to copy them. 4: Tracing. I believe tracing is okay for learning purposes. It's how I learned to draw humans after doing exclusively furry art for years tbh. I tend to stick to real-life references for this, this is a great site for practice: https://line-of-action.com (if you're not okay with nudity then do remember to turn that off). "But where do I even start?" Grab a piece of paper and pencil (or open a blank canvas on a digital art program if you prefer that) and just start doodling whatever. If you have an idea then go for that as well. Every class I've had in college so far has started with drawing and rendering a bunch of shapes to see where everyone was at and to get a feel of our styles. So maybe try that too. Draw random shapes with different materials/brushes, colour them in and add details like shadows and highlights. I know it seems ridiculous but I do it every once in a while to experiment and try different methods. You probably won't improve overnight. Hell, it took me 7 years to get to where I currently am. A lot of people quit because they think they're not good enough when pretty much every artist is only proud of about 10% of their work. Definitely the case for me. Not every piece is going to be a masterpiece and the imperfections can be what makes it special, so please don't be so hard on yourself. Don't be discouraged because other artists may be better than you either, they've probably been doing it for longer. So please, if you are dedicated enough, keep trying. I'm sure you will get somewhere :) So basically, - Use whatever material you got and draw what comes to mind, even if it's terrible it is a great start. - Experiment with your style and/or materials. - Reference, take inspiration and trace for memory. - Don't give up but do take breaks to avoid burnout. - Try not to be intimidated by other artists, we also don't really know what we're doing tbh (and just as afraid of you as you are of us).

I hope that all made sense and was somewhat helpful :)

[clambuoyance]

Hey Clam ! every since you started posting more about dc ive wanted to get into it but i dont know where to start, do you have an tips

well the advice ive heard everyone say is just to pick up a comic and just start reading, which is honestly pretty much what i did. there’s a lot of different continuities and writers and characterizations, and thouuuusssands of comics so your approach to reading em shouldn’t really be “im going to read every single comic ever” bc that would be a very tedious feat.

i’d suggest picking a character you like and looking up their reading guide! sometimes people on tumblr compile them or you can find sites that are dedicated to it, but they list out comics to read.

i also sometimes just want to read single issues so ill google things like “when did tim meet dick” and then it’ll tell me what to read 😗

it ends up with me falling down a rabbit hole bc ill look up a character’s guide, start reading, meet another character in it i like and then look at their history and start reading their comics and then i find anotherrr group i want to read about lol

there’s also not just comics! there’s a bunch of shows and movies too. they’re separate entities just as some comics are pretty divorced from each other, but some of dc shows i like are Teen Titans (2003), Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Harley Quinn, Young Justice (but i only watched the first one and a half seasons) annnnd i havent seen this one in years so i literally don’t remember anything about it but people say Batman the animated series is good :) and people dont talk about this one much but i have good memories with the Green Lantern animated series too.

Oh wait how could i forget. Lego Batman. the movie and the games. Lego Batman the movie slaps, you should give it a watch. and the games were a Gigantic part of my childhood 😭🙏 so i guess ive kinda had some sort of growing database for dc knowledge since i was a kid.

sorry this ended up just being me rambling about different things but i guess i’d say dc is a large collection of stories and media and characters so you can start anywhere you’re drawn to, and eventually you’ll find yourself learning how to navigate it all.

[meruz]

Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? 

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha. 

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at isellhotdogs@gmail.com.

<33333333333333333333333333

[whumpbby]

Hi! So this is kind of a random ask, but I know you have beta fish, and I’m considering getting one. I’ve had beta fish in the past, and despite educating myself on how to take care of them they haven’t lived very long, so I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me. For my past beta fish, I keep them in a five gallon tank (for clarification, I never had more than one beta fish at a time. So I didn’t have multiple of them in the tank don’t worry—they just all lived at different times in the same tank) that had a filter with a pretty low flow on it. I never saw any of the fish have problems swimming with it on. I always used a highly rated water purifying product for the tank water (I forgot what it’s actually called) and I never had any sharp plants that would hurt their fins. I fed them a little every two days because I heard that feeding them everyday was bad for them. Do you happen to know what I was doing wrong? It was frustrating for me because I put a lot of effort into keeping them alive and healthy and then I would see people who kept them in small half gallon bowls have their fish outlive mine. It’s been a couple years, and I want to get another, but I don’t want to accident hurt/kill another one. How do you care for your beta fish? Do you have any advice? Sorry about the rant, but I follow you for your Jason content and happened to stumble upon some of you fish posts and need help. Thanks so much for reading this, and if you do end up offering any advice, I want to thank you for that too!

Hi dear, sorry if I took long to answer - tumblr notoriously does not inform me of messages>> 

I understand your pain - especially that the situation with bettas is very frustrating. They tend to suffer from quite a few genetic defects (they are prone to tumours, for example) and are a very abused fish in the aquatic industry.  Oftentimes by the time they will get to a caring and dedicated owner, they’ve already went through a lot:0 We just don’t know how healthy the fish is before we got it. 

I am by no means an expert, I have lost a few babies since I started the hobby a couple years ago and I can only assume what a few of them suffered from:( One thing that seems to work is leaving them and the tank alone for as long as you can once it’s all set up and cycled and running - apart form the regular maintenance. I am a chronic fiddler who needs to change and add plants, filters, etc, so I constantly have to hold myself back form doing things to the tank. My sister has the same betta for a second year now and the only thing she does with her tank is water changes once every couple weeks - and both him and a thousand of cherry shrimp that live there thriveXD 

Some things I nowadays pay attention to that may be useful, however, are:

- water temp has to be consistent, on the warmer side. I keep mine at 26-27C (I don’t know how much that is in F, sorry>>). To that effect the tank needs a lid - it will trap the warm air, protecting the betta form inhaling cold air then they come up for a breath. They labyrinth breathing organ is quite sensitive to that.

- I feed my boys twice a day, so I am not a part of the ‘feed them little’ club. I give them a little pinch of the good flake in the morning (Bug Bites is nice) and a 3-4 granules of a King Betta or a pinch of a protein-rich micro pellets in the evening. A betta breeder I talked to a couple times advised that it’s better to feed the boys a couple times a day in small quantities rather than once - keeps their digestive tracts working and they can avoid constipation. Constipation happens often with bettas and is a headache to solve. I leave frozen bloodworms for special occasions and just rotate the dry foods for variety.  

- I change water every week - and every other week make sure to vacuum gravel the substrate. In the planted tanks I vacuum only about 2-3cm of the top layer to not disturb planting substrate below and not to suck up any shrimp, so it’s a gentle operation. In the gravel where there is no growing substrate I go deep - the reason being that I want to free any possible air bubbles stuck underneath where bad bacteria may grow. 

- Pick a filter and stick to it. I was very bad at that, but I finally managed to hotwire a combo that seems to work so I will stick to it;) If you can stand the noise, I advise a sponge filter - it’s so easy to clean and manageTT If you can’t stand the hum of the air pump and the bubbles, I recommend a matten filter - or hotwiring an internal filter to a sponge filter - like so - instruction in German, but the visuals are very self-explanatory;] I used gel superglue to connect the filterhead to a sponge filter and now all I have to do once a month or rarer is to pull the sponge off and squeeze it few times in the used tank water! And sometimes clean the showerhead from algae;] It saves you so much money on the cartridges (corner sponge filters are a couple £/$ and last years) and provides extra filtration. My shrimps also eat off it;] 

- get a snail. Seriously, I have a snail in every tank - a single nerite will do best for a 5gal. They don’t breed in sweet water, don’t grow large and will keep your glass clean for you - I have not cleaned my tanks’ glass since... ever>> Joe I and Joe II do it for meXD They also provide company for the betta and something fun to look at. And he will scarf uneaten food form the gravel. 

- I assume you know about the nitrogen cycle, so I will not bore you here about bacteria and such. But a best chance of saving the betta form stress when you get him home is a cycled tank. You can get an ammonia testing set - or, if you find that a bit intimidating (I do for some reason) you can go to an aquarist shop and they will check your water for you. My local store in town does it for free. I am not sure about big box stores, tho. If you see something being wrong with the betta, check water and see if it needs to be changed asap. 

- water changes are mandatory and have to be regular. A 5gal is a convenient size - I am using a 5l bottle left over from mineral water as a measuring tool;) This way I know I am always changing roughly 1/4th of the tank’s water. It’s very easy to see how much water I removed and how much I have to put back in - I can control the water temp and add dechlotinator/vitamins etc before it goes into the tank, so I do not shock my critters with too hot or too cold water. The rule I practice is leaving the dechlorinator in the bottle for about 10 mins before pouring it all into the tank. 

- you don’t have to be intimidated by planted tanks:) A little bunch of anubias on a stick is often enough to start with and a good look for a tank, in my opinion. It also makes for a more natural space for the betta he will certainly appreciate. The less fancy stuff the better - I got my first natural rocks form the side of the road (ofc I boiled the life out of them before they got even close to the tank) and they are usually quite cheap on amazon. A stick with a plant and a rock and some small-size gravel is often enough to look good. The plants will also help with eating up nitrites and keeping the water healthy.

- goodness, what else. Medicaiton. Ok. I have tried many meds for my boys and once the fish is in a bad way not much will help, form my experience :( My med set consists of Melafix - I add it to water according to instructions whenever I see my betta without appetite or acting off. It’s a mild anti-bacterial mixture that does not affect snails/shrimp. If that does not help, I use eSHa 2000 or eSHa Exit - they are two very comprehensive meds that deal with a variety of problems. I have never used aquarium salt, but some people swear by it - there’s no specific reason I don’t use it, I just never got around to it.  

This is all the chaotic advice, but things to remember (I am not trying to be condescending, I just don't know how much you know;]) are: cycled tank, regular water changes&filter maintenance, consistent temperature and quality food. Bettas are hardy little suckers, but sometimes they are also frail in ways we can’t see until it’s too late. I am already seeing a tumour growing on one of my boys and there is nothing I can do about it except giving him the best life I can - he is still going strong, but I know he will probably not last to the end of the year. It’s a hobby that sometimes seems thankless, but if you do everything right, even if they leave early, at least you’ve given them a good and peaceful time before that:)

If I you have any more questions or just want to share woes, feel free to message, I will do my best to answer:)

[wolfgrowlwrites]

Tribe of Rushing Water Analysis

Since people were curious both on my thoughts about the Tribe of Rushing Water in Canon and how I’ve rewritten them in my fic Ties that Bind, here’s the massive post on it. If you read this entire thing, thank you.

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Alright so I’m not much of an internet funnyman but I was an English Major and someone with a hyperfixation on the Warrior Cats series so it’s time to analyze the Tribe! The following post will include Spoilers for Watership Down (yeah the rabbit book, I’ll come back to this) and I will speak openly about the Warriors Series as a whole with the assumption that the people reading have already read the books in question. The goal of this is to discuss the Tribe’s narrative placement in the story, and what I’m doing with them in my rewrite.

Now Warriors was originally just going to be one book, and then six, and then first three books of the second arc. The weird effects this has on the narrative and tone is best explored elsewhere, but I bring this up because Midnight, Moonrise and Dawn were meant to be a trilogy ending the series. And this trilogy was based on nothing other than Watership Down, all of which is important to consider when we talk about the Tribe. The Tribe was meant to only appear briefly, which means there was no need for fleshing them out, and they are the Warriors parallel of Cowslip’s Warren.

For those of us who haven’t read Watership Down, it is a story about a bunch of rabbits who have a prediction of the destruction of their home and set out on a quest to find a new one. (Sounds familiar right?) One of the dangers they run into along the way is what originally appears to be a friendly warren run by a rabbit named Cowslip. The rabbits immediately find themselves on edge, as while this warren is exceptionally friendly there is the underlying evidence that something is wrong. When they ask questions the natives to the burrow deflect and dance around answering, and while their customs seem similar, they’re different enough to be unsettling. Behold, I’ve described the Tribe in Moonrise. And like the Tribe, the fact that Cowslip’s Warren is hiding is that there’s something extremely dangerous hunting them. Cowslip’s warren is being maintained by humans who are actively snaring the rabbits, and the Tribe has Sharptooth who is also hunting them. In fact, the snares almost kill one of the traveling rabbits, while Feathertail does end up dying to Sharptooth.

(Thank god I’m doing this on Tumblr not Twitter, god this thread would be unbearable.)

(For those who have read Watership Down, Brook is probably supposed to be Strawberry.)

So narratively, the Tribe are there to be a hinderance to the traveling cats who seem friendly and similar to them but have a danger to them that will put the traveling cats at risk. That is the role they’re meant to play, and as the series was meant to end after Dawn, the Erins didn’t need to flesh the Tribe out really beyond that.

But then money and the publishers spoke and the series continued and we returned to the Tribe except uh… huh. Honestly I kinda don’t want to get into this because it’s the same thing every time. The Tribe, who when we first meet them are described as huge and able to fight eagles, and are well adapted for life on the mountains, have encountered some problem and only the Clan cats can save them. Rinse and repeat. And as someone who has attempted to figure out the Tribe’s Allegiances, if you thought they were bad about remembering details for the Clans oh boy. For specific citations of the Tribe needs the Clans help, oh no, please see Moonrise, Outcast, Sign of the Moon, and Tawnypelt’s Clan. Sign of the Moon in particular because a Clan cat straight up choses the Tribe’s new leader. Can you imagine how the Clans would react if a Tribe cat tried that?

But it’s okay right because of the whole time-travel thing which means that Jayfeather actually founded the Tribe and named the first Stoneteller. I could write an entire essay on how much I hate this plot point, but that’s not the point here. The more important part is that some how the Tribe went from names like Stone Song, Half Moon, Lion’s Roar, Clear Sky, Gray Wing, etc. to names like Brook where Small Fish swim. I, as a white guy, don’t want to touch the racism there, I’m pretty sure other people have explained it better than I can, but the short version is that a group named the Tribe with names like Jagged Rock where Heron Nest comes off like a stereotype for Native Americans, at least from my white American experience. So, uh, solid yikes on that one, especially when those aren’t even the names they use (because of course not they’re a fucking mouthful) which gets to the world building point I’m gonna touch on instead.

The Ancients become the Tribe but somehow the names grow so long that they all have to go by nicknames that… almost resemble what Ancient names were to begin with? I understand this is because the Tribe’s naming convention got established before the time loop thing, but honestly, there is no reason they should’ve been named like that and in fact more reasons why they shouldn’t have. Between the racism and then from a writing perspective, what is the point, of having names like that if they’re never used? Like narratively it makes no sense from the start, and the Time Travel plot only makes that more obvious.

All that said, I actually super adore the Tribe! I wish they’d been handled differently in a lot of places but they had so much potential to be cool that got lost along the way. So thus, we come to my rewrite. If you’re just here for Tribe Analysis you’re free to go, but if you’re here for how I’m rewriting the Tribe than settle in.

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In my rewrite the Tribe has Ancient names from the get go, because it makes more sense and allows for the Tribe to serve its original narrative function, that is, a place similar to what the Clan Cats are used enough to be comfortable, but different enough to be unsettling. The Tribe has ancestors not unlike StarClan but I have the Tribe’s worship working very differently. Stone Tellers are raised from birth to serve as a guiding force for the Tribe because they are the ones that can speak to the ancestors, and every full moon, when the Cave of Pointed Stones glows, they lead their tribe to speak with their ancestors, in something not unlike a gathering, but it is meant to be a form of remembrance, as they are sharing news with their ancestors instead.

The Tribe has very extreme views of their ancestors, refusing to take the Tribe of Endless Hunting’s name in vain. It is also believed that a Tribe cat that has passed cannot move on to the Tribe of Endless Hunting until a final task has been completed. This task is something the cat would’ve wanted to do while alive, but didn’t get to, so now one of their family, or a close friend, does it in their place. (To a reasonable extent, for example telling someone that the cat who died was in love with them, not settling down with them to raise a family because that’s what the dead cat wanted to do.) Those who have not moved on linger as ghosts. They don’t have stars in their pelts, and they don’t have the ability to see the future to warn their Tribemates the way StarClan or the Tribe of Endless Hunting do. They are capable of speaking to those who can see them, usually Stone Teller, but otherwise they tend to simply watch and wait for someone to help them move on.

The Tribe believes that the future is chosen by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, to challenge their omens is the most heretical thing a cat can do. The current Stone Teller decides a cat’s future when they are born, Cave-guard, Prey-Hunter, or rarely, the next Stone Teller. Those kits are taken by the current Stone Teller once they’re old enough to be weaned and raised in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Their name is chosen by the current Stone Teller and stripped from them when they become the next Stone Teller. Stone Teller is meant to be the ancestor’s conduit to the living and an impartial leader to the Tribe. However, not every leader can live up to those expectations, and should the Tribe begin to doubt the current Stone Teller’s capability to guide them, they can make a new cat leader. This cat would do the job of leading the Tribe, while Stone Teller continues to serve as the medicinal and spiritual leader. This rarely happens, and when it does it is rarely so clean cut, as no one particularly enjoys admitting they’ve made a mistake and need to be replaced as leader.

The Stone Teller is assisted in leading the Tribe by the head of the Cave-Guards and the head of the Prey-Hunters, these are seen as the cats that are best at that job and capable of quick decision making and good judgement calls. They often work together to organize hunting patrols and discuss issues in the territory, often presenting Stone Teller with their solutions alongside problems.

Honestly the Tribe won’t be playing a very large role in my rewrite as a whole, but since they have an entire arc dedicated to them, I wanted to make sure I had them well fleshed out. There’s a few details I’ve left out because this is long enough, but if you’re curious about anything I’ve said either about the Tribe or my rewrite, hit me up.

[violetosprey]

Is possible to even have a healthy relationship with a yandere? 🩸 🔪

Hey there.  I’m going to go ahead and assume this is a question regarding fictional yanderes because that’s what this blog focuses on.

Now people who’ve read a little into this tumblr before know I tend to lean more towards the “romance turned horror” kinds of yandere stories where the yandere in question is definitely the antagonist.  In those, yeah those won’t be healthy relationships being shown (I don’t call it horror for nothing).

Despite this, the answer to your question I’d actually say is: Yes.

Remember, you said “healthy,” not “normal.”  There IS a difference.  While yandere behavior can get a little strange and excessive, that behavior itself might not ALWAYS negatively impact the overall relationship.  And yes, while there are plenty of yandere who definitely don’t exhibit healthy boundaries a relationship needs, it’s not impossible to adjust a yandere so that the relationship between them and their S/O is not only enjoyable, but also functional.

What is a healthy relationship first of all?  Well it’s kind of odd for me to be answering this since most of my important relationships are more familial or platonic.  But the same rules should apply here I think.

The participants in a relationship should:

-        Have good communication

-        Be there for each other

-        Give healthy space when necessary

-        Stand on equal footing (respect wise definitely)

-        Be able to compromise

-        Not harm one another mentally/physically intentionally

Some of those ideas kind of blend together but I think you get the idea.  Now already just from that you can spot why yanderes can potentially be a bad suitor.  We’ve seen yanderes who stalk, ignore/fight back against rejection, kidnap and straight up murder for their cause.  Doesn’t really scream “dream boyfriend/girlfriend” in the most realistic sense.  

The big thing to remember though is not all of the extremely negative behavior of a yandere CAN have is mutually exclusive to yanderes.  Meaning, you don’t have to have a yandere character whose knife crazy or even all that threatening honestly.

One obvious thing to do is just tone down a yandere character. You can keep a lot of crazy lovesick stuff they do: take secret photos of their S/O, have a big shrine, talk endlessly or almost exclusively about their S/O, glare at the opposition (there is a BIG difference also between a character who has threatening thoughts vs. one that ACTS upon said threats), etc.  Again, this certainly would make the relationship seem weird from the outside due to how enthralled the yandere is.  But as long as the behavior there is not really too disruptive for either the S/O OR the yandere in their daily lives, it doesn’t necessarily make it bad.

If the behavior exhibited by the yandere doesn’t cause the S/O extreme mental stress or disrupt their daily routine (like school, work or even pastimes), then no harm no foul.

This may be because the S/O is unperturbed by the behavior, or actually is very into it.  Of course, for a healthy relationship the S/O needs to reciprocate the yandere’s feelings. That’s super obvious to state I know, but I need to emphasize that because one of the biggest reasons a yandere can end up as the antagonist of a story is because the S/O doesn’t WANT to be with the yandere.  There can be many reasons for that, but a rejected yandere can take a “no” very badly.

I should also mention that a receptive S/O ALONE is not enough to declare the relationship automatically healthy.  There are people for instance who stay in a relationship with…well someone who they obviously shouldn’t.  Hence why toning down some of the yandere’s behavior so they’re not outright dangerous for the S/O to be with is still a huge factor here.

Oh! I know it’s always common to first and foremost consider the S/O’s safety when we’re talking about yanderes.  But just for fun I should also state it TECHNICALLY is possible for a yandere’s relationship with an S/O to be unhealthy more-so for the yandere rather than the S/O.  Most people probably don’t even consider this (I don’t).  But if for instance the yandere is the type of character that is just so incredibly focused on the needs and happiness of the S/O, their behavior may become self-destructive.  For instance, they quit their job to follow the S/O around all day.  They get extreme anxiety they can’t overcome whenever they’re apart from the S/O.  Or they won’t EAT or SLEEP because they’re too lovesick to literally think about their own needs.  Fun fact, that last one came to mind because I was watching a bunch of random episodes of “Archie’s Weird Mysteries” that I used to watch when I was younger.  That’s probably the strangest reference I ever made, but that show is the only reason I even know what the heck Riverdale is supposed to be about.  But yeah, there was an episode where one of the girls wanted to get Archie to love her more and it makes him so lovesick he literally starts neglecting his own health.

So yeah, not a topic tackled often, but a healthy relationship for a yandere and an S/O should be for both ends.  If they’re well written characters, they should be able to stand a bit on their own when apart from the S/O.

In the event anyone was curious if you could have a healthy yandere relationship WITHOUT toning down the yandere…well I think that really depends on how an author writes the story and characters as a whole. With fiction, you can get pretty creative with the scenarios.  Not just with the yandere, the S/O could be a rather “unique” character themselves.  I don’t really have any good examples off the top of my head, but the relationship could be something where any other normal character wouldn’t work with the yandere, but something about the S/O makes them a perfect match.  This may be due to their personality, backstory or even special abilities they have.

You can also set up outside conflicts that make the relationship with the yandere seem a lot more endearing than it normally would.  Bringing up Future Diary (again), remember Yuki thought Yuno was initially cute but was rather unsettled by some of her behavior.  If it was kept in the normal school life setting, he probably would have kept running away from her.  But the main plot of Future Diary was a survival game that he was not ready for initially.  Yuno’s dedication to him while there are other characters out for blood suddenly made Yuno GOOD for his health.  It was safer for him to be with her, and then this gave the two an opportunity to actually bond overtime under these unusual circumstances.

It’s never a bad idea to give some time for the bond to grow. In a fictional story, the audience will have an easier time warming up to the characters as a couple if they’ve been able to see who they develop together.

Otherwise, you could start right off with the characters already in a relationship.  I know I’ve seen some comedies where this is the case, and it’s always fun to see how the two characters interact in a daily routine.

That’s all I got for now. Hope that works!

[aemonded]

 tagged by @anathenma WOO GIRL <3

rules: tag 10 followers you want to get to know better

name: Lauren

gender: Female

star sign: Virgo Sun || Leo Moon || Leo Ascendent, which basically means I have the usually quiet reserved personality of an analytical, organised virgo on the fact of things, am usually the goofy, chill friend amongst my friends, and don’t like to take anyone’s shit, but if I am disrespected, I’m a sensitive six foot flower and withdraw from the world until I can get over it. xD I don’t like conflict.

height: 183cm/6 feet 

age: 27 (YIKES XD)

wallpaper on my phone: (I had to check XD) A calendar of May 2020 stylistically arranged around ribbons

house: Slytherin

ever crush on a teacher: Both my parents and my uncle are teachers and consequently I knew every teacher in my school as actual human people and not ‘crushes’ growing up. So no. XD

coolest halloween costume: I went as the Starbucks logo one year when I was eight, a gigantic Lady Luck die one year with a top hat covered in poker chips and cards. I had some good ones I made: I was creative as fuck when I was 9-11 especially, and I had to be, because I was already around 5′7 and people assumed I was just some weirdo dressing up to get candy (Hearing ‘AREN’T YOU A LITTLE OLD TO BE TRICK OR TREATING’ at eleven CRUSHED me XD)

Favorite 90s tv show: 

Okay. So there’s one’s I watched actually as a child of the 90s, and ones that were just always ON in the 90s that I ended up watching. It’s debatable whether these are actually good NOW. XD

That being said, the background ones were Saved By the Bell (ZACH MORRIS IS TRAAAAassssh~~), Boy Meets World, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond.

As a kid, I loved the Aladdin Animated Series, The Hercules Animated Series, CHIP AND DALE RESCUE RANGERS (Which didn’t really hold up sadly but still has the best theme song of all time, fight me), and Timon and Pumbaa.

One I rarely caught but really liked was All That, The Wonder Years, Sabrina the Teenage Witch- occasionally Fresh Prince.

Out of all of these, I still have a super fond spot for Saved By the Bell, especially with the ‘Zach Morris is Trash’ series on Youtube (Seriously, go watch it. It’s fucking hilarious and basically breaks down how much of a serial killer in the making Zach Morris is XD). The clothing is ridiculous and no one really dressed like that in the early 90s outside of commercials and TV (unfortunately). Maybe one shoddy item out of the bunch. Meanwhile Saved by the Bell is like LETS PUT IT ALL ON. XD It was terrible once they got to college, but it was stupid and fun and made me feel ‘cool’ watching it because I was like three and being like, “YEAH, IT’S BRIGHT AND THESE PEOPLE ARE COOL AND I CAN FOLLOW THE PLOT. I’M MATURE.” XD It’s literally still the only one of these I actively watch now in the form of Zach Morris is Trash, so I’ll go with it. xD

Last kiss: Never had a consensual kiss. Make of that what you will. xD

Have you ever been stood up: Nope.

Favourite pair of shoes: 

I have terrible plantar fasciitis from sports, so I’m a shoe snob, and have to have properly fitting/constructed shoes. It depends on what I’m doing in them, really. I got a pair of trail running shoes for trail running during COVID, but they’re not the most aesthetically pleasing. I’d say the best mixture between comfort and style are either a good ol’pair of black ankle boots with a slight heel (so I can be 6′2 and intimidate people with my height muhahahaha), or more practically on a day to day basis, I have a pair of Reeboks that are 90s-styled with pastel pink and blue triangles on the side. They’re pretty dope. xD

have you ever been to vegas: No, but my parents have. Basically, they said you tire of shopping after two days, and then you’re just stuck inside hotels and shopping malls there. If you’re not a gambler, drinker, or have a ton of money to splash out on stage shows, I don’t think it’s particularly worth going.

favorite fruit: Mango or raspberry, but they’re super-expensive in the land of Maple Syrup so I usually don’t get them any other way other than frozen in smoothies.

Favourite book:

 I could never choose a favourite book. It’s literally like choosing between children. It’s my microcosmic version of Sophie’s Choice. xD Tasteless joke aside, it’d honestly depend on the occasion. There’s a huge difference between entertainment reading, literary exploits, and educating yourself through books as a whole. 

My ‘plane’ book (which I’m terrible at flying, so that was a joke), as in, an easy, fun, instantly rereadable read to read on the plane when I used to have super long fifteen hour flights to Australia, was always Mario Puzo’s ‘The Godfather,’ because I also had a huge crush on Michael Corleone. 

But it’s also not the ‘best’ book and literally spends an inordinate and honestly disturbing amount of time on the fact that this poor woman in the story (which thankfully in the film, it gets cut down), but the bridesmaid Sonny Corleone has sex with, and how you see his wife indicating his ‘size’?

THAT’S LITERALLY AN ENTIRE SUBPLOT OF THIS BROAD’S STORY I SHIT YOU NOT BECAUSE NOTHING IS ‘BIG’ ENOUGH FOR HER AFTER HIM AND THEN YOU FIND OUT SHE HAS A MEDICAL CONDITION AND GOOD FOR HER SHE’S ABLE TO FIND LOVE AGAIN BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK MARIO PUZO XD IT WAS A LOT OKAY.

(Footnote: I also suffered through his horrific sequels because I love Michael Corleone and will take him in any form he comes in, even horrifically written Sicilian backhill exploits that were never told to us in the original book and were clearly just written because Puzo needed another pay check but I digress.)

Horrific subplots aside, I really enjoy The Godfather for its sheer pulpiness. The book is essentially what Andrew Lloyd Weber is to musicals. xD (Yes, I come with musical theatre burns. Fight me.)

In terms of a piece of literature that I think is amazingly well done? Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Stupidest thing you ever done: 

Um, maybe when I was at Cambridge I tried to dye my roots to match the rest of my ‘blonde’ hair at the time, and it turned out bright orange? And because it’s Cambridge, they had this super-strict attendance policy, so I was literally trying not to hyperventilate because it was running close to class (which was across campus) and I was trying to find some way to remedy my hair without it falling out/ someone asking about it. So, I grabbed a toque-cap-thing despite it being literally one of the hottest summer on record in the UK (It was like 35 degrees, it was MENTAL), and had to sprint to class all the way on the other side of campus from my college dodging dodgy tourist groups blocking the sidewalk while I went. Then when I sat down inside, I had to be weirdly rude and wear my hat inside the lecture hall even though the professor was looking at me (it was a specialised program in German Literature) like, “Are you going to take that shit off?” xD THEN I tried to dye it back to brown, and it literally looked like mud mixed with a runny egg had exploded on the top of my head; it was AWFUL. XD So FINALLY I did my research and found a salon, but by THAT point I had done 250 pounds worth of damage to my hair (WHICH IS LIKE 400 DOLLARS CANADIAN AT THE TIME), and I almost had a heart attack and thanked my lucky stars that I had money put away so I could give my parents the ‘parent price’ when they asked why they hadn’t seen me on FaceTime or Skype for like, three weeks, and I replaced my face with a photo of John Cleese from Fawlty Towers, which they tease me about to this day. xD

The other dumbest thing I ever said was when I was so desperate for friends in grade six when I moved to a new school (and because being American was ‘cool’ at the time, apparently), I told everyone I was a dual citizen because my mother LITERALLY GAVE BIRTH TO ME ON THE BORDER CROSSING WHAT. XD And bless this poor bespectacled girl named Mara (who was actually a little class friend of mine), who just said timidly in the back, “That’s not how citizenship works.” xD It basically came out of attempting to be cool and failing, but I’m still SO embarrassed about THAT one that I’d never admit it to ANYONE besides shouting it out into the Tumblr black hole. xD I’m still embarrassed to THIS DAY.

All time favorite shows: 

 I’ll go for the original run of The Twilight Zone, which has some schmaltzy episodes (I’m really not a fan of any of the episodes entirely dedicated to the Space Race or the weird cowboy fanaticism of the fifties/ sixties, or anything that’s overtly like “ALIENS DID IT SO THERE”), but I LOVE their psychological horror episodes or Dystopian episodes. It’s when Rod Serling’s writing and narrative voice is the strongest and most prophetic, and the twists are usually the best. Other shows have tries to imitate it, or reboot it, but I really think the original, due to Rod Serling’s unmatchable voice, in every sense of the word. There’s lists of some of the greatest episodes, but I remember LOVING the episode ‘A Stop at Willoughby.’ The twist literally made me clap my hands in horror and delight, it was amazing. xD

Other than that? Off the top of my head, Mad Men and Band of Brothers, even though I haven’t rewatched either in ages.

last movie you saw in theaters: 

Oh God, before all THIS hit? Probably Rise of Skywalker. I get agoraphobic and itchy if a movie theatre is too busy, and we only have really pokey sort of ones nearby that you’re guaranteed to see someone you went to high school with (terrible), so now that I can properly drive I go out to the big redneck theatre out in the boonies. I miss living in Montreal though, because when you live in a big city like that downtown (and can actually afford to live there), you could see blockbuster movies at like ten in the morning. xD Which would be AMAZING because I’d go to see any of the early Avengers/Marvel movies when they opened, the day of opening, and it was literally me, one old man who fell asleep halfway through and sat near the back, and maybe an elderly couple on a morning date to the movies. xD I get really annoyed with obnoxious movie-goers, and I’m really picky about just being completely absorbed in the movie, so I tend not to go unless I’m guaranteed that space. 

tagging: Anyone who wishes to tag me back so I can learn about them <3

[the-prophet-lemonade]

do you have any advice on getting a story to be seen? i made an ao3 account not too long ago so no one has seen my fic at the moment but i was wondering if you had any tips on that, or would i just have to wait?

hello! i can’t claim to know what makes a fic popular as it’s 99% luck, but i can speak for the remaining 1% that has worked ~reasonably~ well for me in the past. 

i think there are three key elements to getting a fic “seen”: marketing, branding, and presentation, and they’re all very important. this post got very long, so please find everything under the cut! i hope it helps :-) 

i. marketing

fic marketing may seem a bit narcissistic if you haven’t done it before, but trust me on this: it’s the best way to attract readers and you deserve to promoted your story as something you worked hard upon!

drumming up hype for a fic is great. you can do this by posting on social media, providing sneak peaks on your twitter, involving yourself in the fandom community and discussing your wips with other fans, and just generally being excited about what you’re creating. engaging with other people’s writing is also a great method to help boost your own stats … get involved with reading other work and leaving comments for other people, because they will be more likely to return the favour! when someone comments on my fics, i often go and check out their profile and see what they’ve written, as it’s highly likely we enjoy the same things! 

making promos is one of my favourite ways to engage with people about fics. once i post a fic/new chapter to ao3, i also crosspost promo posts with links and graphics to my twitter and tumblr. you will need a good hook to get people interested, but also an eye-catching image that summarises the story pictorially can be a great asset (you don’t even need photoshop, just a nice moodboard will do!). when using images however, it’s always important to think how the image size will appear in tumblr’s dimensions and on your own blog … make sure it’s not stretched or the resolution too low, and create something with a good visual flow i.e. the title appears first, then the necessary information, then any teasers or extracts. you need to make your fic post stand out on someone else’s timeline, which may already be filled with a bunch of other fic posts, jostling for attention. make it neat, clean, informative, and professional.

make sure to use the tagging systems efficiently for your chosen social media platforms: only the first five tags count on a tumblr post, so choose them wisely (i.e. use the key fandom tags first and save your personal blog tags for after), and only two hashtags count on twitter before it’s marked as spam, so go for the ship tag!

creating your own fic tag on twitter can also be fun, and i’ve seen a lot more people doing it lately too. you can encourage people to tweet along with a specialised hashtag and then you can find their reaction and engage with them later, which once again expands your fandom circle and will increase engagement on tweets associated with your fic.  

another trick i’ve learned is utilising time zones and understanding the demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach. i am very careful to post my fics at certain times of day in order to reach key people e.g. i will try to hit either europeans or americans during the evening, as this is when most people are home from work and wanting to read fic. as a european myself, especially involved in fandoms with high levels of european fans, i usually post during the early evening for CET time zones i.e. 7 or 8 pm and i tend to find this works for me. 

with tumblr, i often delay my promo posts so that i post when it’s likely to get maximum interaction (you can see when your blog is most active using your tumblr analytics) … use your queue if need be! 

i also take care in reblogging/retweeting my promo posts at certain times of day too. i will usually bump the post just before i go to bed, so as to grab americans in their early evening, and then i will bump it again in the morning when i wake up, to catch australians and west coast americans still awake. i then usually keep bumping my promos once a day for two or three days on my social media to cast a wide enough net to catch as many people who might be interested, as not everyone checks their timeline every day and social media swallows up posts so quickly, especially tumblr which is not built for original content creators to do well (lol). i will usually bump a promo post 5 - 7 times before retiring it and this is a model that’s worked well for me in the past, especially for droplets, which would get 500+ notes per chapter!  if you’re anxious about this, know that most people will only see your post once or twice because tumblr moves fast and swallows posts up very quickly, and sometimes people need reminders to read if they decide to save things for later when they have more time

ii. branding

the benefits of branding mainly come from experience, so it’s a tricky thing to utilise if you haven’t published fic before … but there are still tricks worth trying! 

certain fic writers will attract readers to new fics just because their name is attached to it, and people know the sort of story they’re getting, they know how it’ll be written, the sort of tropes that will appear, that sort of thing. obviously, building up this sort of brand requires publishing a lot of work, and so it must be said that practice makes perfect: the more you write and publish, the more your fics will be seen and your audience will grow. people will regularly see your username in the tags on ao3 and be more inclined to click on you as someone who reliably produces good content. it’s important to remember that everyone starts from the same place and works hard to improve their craft; success doesn’t just come overnight (unless you’re in the right place at the right time) and any creator will tell you that compliments to their talent aren’t what matters, but instead, it’s compliments to their dedication and hard graft. 

another key thing about branding is how you present yourself online. the most important thing in my opinion is cohesion across your social media platforms e.g. having the same username on ao3 as you do on tumblr/twitter/wherever you promote your fic. having an easily navigatable blog with working hyperlinks and archiving of your fic work is also great. basically, building a clean interface for people to engage with your work is vital! having the same icon and username across all your social media makes it so much easier for readers to navigate between your fics and your promo posts … basically, the easier you can spell something out, the better

branding is mostly to do with how you advertise yourself, rather than the particular fic, although much of it overlaps. get your name out there by engaging with other writers and making friends and appreciating their work! this is often the best way to get inspired, plus you get to meet some amazing people. i recommend trying out for zines and big bangs and writing challenges, as these are good ways to show your work to already-established audiences. also, make yourself available by interacting with commentors or by opening up your inbox on tumblr to anons. try linking your social media and your inbox as hyperlinks in the authors note of your fic

iii. presentation

this is really fundamental and is often the main reason people will close out of your fic and not read to the end. people want to read fics that are easy to digest and have had care put into them. this includes a lot of things:

correct tagging i.e. are the tags coherent and not just rambling? are there appropriate trigger warnings in place? have you unnecessarily tagged every side pairing under the sun, rather than just the main relationship?

grammar and spelling. goes without saying … people are more likely to read things that look professional and have had care poured into their preparation. make sure you know how to use speech punctuation. revise how to use commas. avoid epithets (especially racially-aggravated ones). get yourself a beta if you’re worried, because betas are godsends!

paragraphing. so many people will close out of a fic if it isn’t correctly spaced. double spaced paragraphs look best on ao3 and i often won’t read a fic if the paragraphs are too long because it hurts my eyes to read. make sure you’re starting new speakers in new paragraphs. new ideas deserve new paragraphs. basically, every time the “camera” changes, you should be starting a new paragraph. not just a new line. 

summaries. i see so many fics on ao3 with summaries that are either apologising for being bad at summaries or apologising for a fic being bad/being a first fic, and like … stop this! own what you have written, no-one else will have written it the way you have and you should be proud of it. if you’re saying in your summary that it’s a bad fic, i’m not going to click on it as a reader. instead, utilise your summary to get people hooked … good hooks can be written a load of different ways, but the best ones i see often involved a snippet from the fic as a taster, and then a couple lines of blurb. get people excited! 

titles: i’m personally more likely to click on a fic where the title is either (a) correctly capitalised or (b) is clearly chosen for its aesthetic or meaning (i love long lower case titles with parentheses lol). choosing a memorable title is really helpful, especially one that can be shortened or abbreviated for social media (e.g. for hashtags)!

all this being said, traffic on ao3 is a crytpid at best and obeys little in the way of rhyme or reason. you can put blood, sweat and tears into marketing your fic, but sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time (writing for the right niche) is what does it, so being a fic writer requires a lot of patience. first and foremost, write for yourself. write what you want to read and enjoy doing it, because if you get sucked into obsessively checking stats, it’s only going to disappoint when you don’t achieve what you want to achieve. 

just keep persevering and keep writing and appreciating each and every person who takes time in interact with your fic and its promos … because ultimately, all it takes it that one reader to fall head over heels in love with your fic for everything to change. for now, just be proud of your work and keep writing!

[buckyywiththegoodhair]

Good Hair, Better Fics (Best of 2017 Edition)

We made it y’all - the last day of 2017. It somehow feels like this year dragged on for far too long and flew by all at once. Through it all, there were countless fics that made this this year a bearable one. Fics that deserve to be placed in the spotlight alongside authors who deserve all the thanks in the world. 

In order to do just that, I’ve listed a bunch of fics below and decided to include my reactions to each one. This is gonna get long.

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Salvation | @marvelingatthewonder​

Amberly, I don’t know if you’re going to see this or not, but I need you to know that I never got over the excellence of this fic. Never. And I don’t thing I ever will. You showed us the relationship between the reader and Bucky not through their words, but through their thoughts and actions. And that moment when Bucky realized someone out there could care about him? I’ll never forget the way my heart sang.

Faithfully | @avengerofyourheart

‘Faithfully’ is a song that owns m heart. It’s one of those songs where, if it comes up on a shuffle, I’m not allowed to skip (not that I’d want to). So, when I saw you wrote a fic based off of the song with Rockstar!Bucky? I was floating on clouds. And I continued to float on those clouds throughout the entirety of this well-written fic with an even better plot. Now when I hear this song, I think of this fic and you.

Cheap Thrills | @avengerofyourheart​​

Gosh. I remember reading this fic and practically dancing in my seat. I had to refrain (probably because I was around people), but when I get too happy to put into words, dancing is my go-to option. That’s what your writing and this wonderfully fun fic did to me. 

New Beginnings | @redgillan​​

The realism of this fic was killer, Maisie. Whenever I think about it, the first thing that comes to mind is “bittersweet”. The second is “what if?”. You gave us the perfect combination of both when hitting ‘Post’, sharing this gift with the rest of us and making the conscious decision not to write a sequel. Happy endings aren’t guaranteed and knowing that the reader and Bucky just missed out on what could’ve been a beautiful relationship alongside the hints that all of the friendships you wrote about don’t make it out unscathed was something tangible. Something I could relate to and i thank you for that.

When Everything’s Made to be Broken (I Just Want You to Know Who I Am) | @cassiopeiassky​

My darling, Cass. In my eyes, this isn’t a Tumblr series. It’s so much more than that. It’s a novel that I’ve been lucky enough to find for free online (even though I’d be more than happy to pay to have this on my shelf). The depth of each and every character you’ve included is impeccable. The emotions you write about are raw and real and I feel them. Whenever I start a new part, I kid you not when I say that my heart starts and stops, clenches and thumps away happily. This is what you and your writing do to me.

Roses | @rotisserierogers​

You broke my heart, Kumi. I’m not sure if you’re aware of that, but you did. Your writing and this fic did that to me. “Is it possible to win a girl’s heart in a day?” I’m convinced that the answer to this is yes because it took approximately 1.3k words for you to win my heart and then proceed to break it.

ocean eyes | @whothehellisbella​

Angelic Isabella, you stunned me with this fic. Not because I was surprised you could write something so beautiful (you do it on the regular), but because of how perfect it was. Finding the right words is never easy, I’m sure every writer is fully aware of that, but you somehow managed. You wrangled the English language as if you were a farmhand and it was a wild horse and you made it bend to your will and calm down under your touch. I don’t know if this makes sense so, if it doesn’t please know this fic meant the world to me. And it really is something I could read every day without growing tired of it.

Lovebug | @thewinterswimmer​

I have never forgotten this fic. I will never forget it because it is one of the best things i have ever read. You evoked every possible emotion out of me. When I say you took my breath away, I hope you know that’s not an exaggeration. I could feel the time and effort you put into this and I hope you know how appreciative I am of it.

The Ink of My Heart | @theassetseyeliner​

This was easily one of the most unique fics I’ve ever read. I was intrigued by the concept and you kept my interest for the entirety of everything you wrote. Also, you made me realize something I never realized before - I would very greatly appreciate having a tattoo artist!Bucky in my life.

Intertwined | @theassetseyeliner​​

Erin, my love. I am a sucker for royal!au’s and this one in particular was so damn adorable. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw the word count for this. It was the perfect length with all the best details and all the most fluffy things going. Just writing about it now makes me want to go back and read it and I think I’m going to do just that.

Home | @spee-iderman​

These days, people make it a habit to refer to things as ‘soft’. You yourself used it in your summary for this fic. And, let me tell you, you did not lie. In this world you created around Bucky and the reader, everything is soft. If I had to compare this fic to an object, it’d be a blanket or a fireplace or anything else that could be used to keep me warm because that’s exactly how my heart felt while reading it. Warm and happy. 

If I’d Stayed | @soldatbarnes​

Nikki, my love. This fic. THIS FIC. What you did with it was you took my heart, which I willingly handed over to you, and smashed it in the most beautiful way possible - with your words. That ending where he’s at her tombstone and he thinks about her refusing to let him go off to war without taking his last name because she wanted him to know she was waiting for him, no matter what?? Killer. You’re much more talented than you give yourself credit for.

Flirt | @soldatbarnes​​

This fic is exactly what I wish would happen to my shy-as-hell self. You captured the whole shyness, being a terrible flirt thing to a tee. I couldn’t just sit back and read this. I had to sit back, read it, and nod along like crazy because I knew exactly where the reader was coming from. And the fact that I couldn’t stop nodding? Well I’d say that speaks volumes about your abilities as a writer.

Hearts Entwining | @lovingkatsuki

Jade, there’s something about your writing. Something I struggle to put into words every time I come across one of your fics. Something I’m struggling to do right now as I think back to how I felt while reading this fic. But here I am, convinced that this will be the time that I finally find a way to properly express myself. I’ve never been to a ballet, but I can imagine that people keep their eyes trained the stage with bated breath as delicate excellence unfolds right in front of their eyes. Hopefully what I just said makes sense because that’s how it felt to read this. 

roygbiv | @marvelous-fiction​

The idea to use colors to describe a person’s feelings is such a brilliant idea and I’m certain that no one could have done this as well as you did. You made me look at the colors in a whole new light and you did it so beautifully. I could feel the love that the reader and Bucky had for each other. And you accomplished that in 1,100 words - I hope you know how impressive that is.

The Five Times You Caught Bucky Blushing | @mindingmyownbusiness​​

Elizabeth, this series of yours is the definition of adorable. I remember sitting at my kitchen table reading through the whole thing with the biggest smile on my face. You know there’s the whole notion of people having ‘feel-good’ things (shows, movies, books, etc.) that make them happy? That’s exactly what this fic was to me.

open letter | @bookybuns​​

Heartbreak is such a complex subject. How does one write about it in a way that is relatable? Understood by an audience who have (potentially) experienced this very emotion, all to varying degrees? Well apparently you, my darling Blade have the answer to this question. You wrote this piece, gave us the juxtaposition of happiness and pain and somewhere in between it all, took my heart with you. And of course, you accomplished such a feat in the most stunning, eloquent way possible.

Bring It to You | @thewinterswimmer​

When I think back on this fic, I remember how well you portrayed Bucky and his general tiredness. You didn’t spend much time describing him and yet, with the small amount of words you did dedicate to him, wow. I felt his exhaustion, which made it that much better when the reader came to save the day. And your descriptions of the reader and Bucky together? Holy hell. I haven’t reread the fic since reblogging it, but I still clearly remember your description of the look in his eyes when he was looking at the reader. And the fact that I remember that really is a testament to your writing.

Like Rose | @viollettes​

Being a beta-reader for your writing was one of the easiest tasks a person could do entirely because there were rarely any corrections that needed to be made. Other than a spelling error or two, everything you wrote was spell-bounding and this fic is no different. It’s an interesting concept really, to take comfort out of a movie that was built around a tragedy. But that’s what you always did, isn’t it? You saw the beauty in everything and I admire you immensely for that.

Steve Rogers x Reader

Two Weeks | @viollettes​

The emotions you were able to evoke with your writing were always out of this world, babe. I will never forget the way my heart ached while beta-reading this for you and knowing that your personal experiences inspired it. You molded something beautiful out of something heart-wrenchingly terrible. You were always good at that.

“Dating Pre-Serum Steve” | @aubzylynn​

I still remember the moment I read this headcanon you had written. It showed up on my dash and I was intrigued. That intrigue quickly gave way to love and admiration because holy hell, you had written something so damn beautiful and amazing. After I finished reading it, I had to stop for a few seconds and take it all in while also reconciling the fact that, unfortunately, there is no pre-serum Steve for me to love. But if you somehow find a way to write one into existence, please remember me.

Wrong Number, Right Person | @4theluvofall​​

There was so much cuteness in this fic. So damn much. Enough to keep me smiling the entire time I was reading it. I love them getting to know each other before actually meeting. I love meddling Tony. I love the nervousness that sets in for the reader after she sends something close to her heart to Steve and fears his response (so relatable!). You gave us all the best things with this fic, truly.

Christmas to Remember | @avengerofyourheart​

ANIKA. YOU BROUGHT BACK MY FAVORITE MINI-SERIES AND I FLIPPED. Not only did you bring it back, you slayed. In this case, the things that were slayed were: my emotions, heart, and soul. But slayed in the best way possible because everything about it was pure gold.

Autumn | @viollettes​​

The last thing we spoke about was this fic and your writing. I can’t imagine a better final conversation to have. This fic was a reminder that hope is out there and I’ll carry that message (and you) with me in my heart. Always.

The Lonely Tree | @sarahwroteathing​

This series took my breath away. Just thinking about it has the same effect. This was a masterpiece, from start to finish. I was also hooked from the very beginning, entranced by your writing style and ability to make me feel like I really was in the story. And don’t even get me started on your portrayal of artist!Steve seriously, don’t - we’ll be here all day.

Peter Parker x Reader

the six stages of falling in love | @parkerstcr​

My darling, May. It is my hope that, at this point, you know how deep my love for this series and your writing is. There’s something beautiful and insanely poetic about the way you write. To say it ‘flows well’ would be the gosh dang understatement of the century. It does so much more more than flow. It soars and it makes me feel like I’m flying right along with it.

enough | @parkerstcr​​

You do angst well. Like too well. Like give my heart a break well. Luckily for me, you did give me a break and let this one end on a high note even though the path to get there was real rough and I didn’t know if I was going to make it out with my heart intact. 

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Stole the Show | @writingruna​

“Pulled at my heartstrings” is an overused expression. You hear it so much that it begins to lose its meaning. For me, that expression gained back all of its meaning after reading this fic. I’m pretty sure my heart was begging me to stop reading this fic because of how much pain it was in. When it comes to angst, you don’t play around and that’s something I’m grateful for. 

Eggsy Unwin x Reader

Know No Better | @ughjoekeery​ 

You know that saying “the best of both worlds”? That perfectly describes this. You gave me Bucky. You gave me insecure Eggsy. You gave me the amazing level of writing that only you can produce. You gave me everything I could ever want and so much more. 

Safe Haven | @ughjoekeery​​

When I was rereading this, the first thing that came to mind was “we found love in a hopeless place”. That’s what happened between the reader and Eggsy. That poor man found the love that he deserved and you gave me Roxy. You are a true angel, a queen, and I’m so thankful to you for writing this and giving me the good stuff my poor soul needed especially after the trash that was Kingsman 2.

[honeyalchemist]

Grimoire Organization!

So here’s a post about organizing your grimoire in preparation for the 2018 Grimoire challenge if you’re doing it or just need a little starting place!

As for the challenge, we’re coming very close to the start date! I hope all of you are ready! I know some of you are really wondering what exactly the grimoire challenge is, so let me break it down a little bit.

The Grimoire Challenge is, put simply, a way to fill up your Grimoire! If you’re worried about filling up an expensive journal with stuff you end up not liking, feel free to use a cheap notebook or even go digital as a rough draft! As for a more in-depth explanation, it’s a way for new witches or witches that don’t delve much into the craft to explore new parts of the craft! We’ll focus on many types of divination, spells, crystals, herbs, astrology, and much more! Each day of 2018 will have at least one prompt! (most days will have 2). I hope everyone’s excited and ready to go into a journey of witchcraft with me!

Also! Note, this will be edited in the future, so please keep referring back to this as it grows and you need more help!

So first, you’ll need to cleanse your Grimoire! There’s a LONG list of ways to cleanse things! I suggest not doing any that include fire or water. I personally will be using one that involves a sigil for cleansing!

Next, I suggest blessing your grimoire! A written blessing can go on the last page or the page after your property page (basically saying “This grimoire belongs to x” or whatever you prefer!), or pretty much anywhere you’d like! It would be best to create one yourself or use a blessing that has a lot of meaning to you!

Here’s something I find really important: a sigil to keep prying eyes away! There’s many you could choose from or even make your own! I personally like these ones!

(courtesy of WolfOfAntimony)

(Courtesy of Sylvaestria)

[Please check out their tumblrs! They’re lovely!]

Next, create your table of contents or index! These will be very important in the future, especially if you’re doing the challenge! Make sure these pages can be easily understood when referred to in the future!

The following are prompts you can use to make your Grimoire more personal to you! 

1. A dichotomy of sex and death 

2. Aspread for your ancestral shrine 

An entry that must be read in a mirror 

A spread devoted to the three items someone would need to summon you from the dead and gain your wisdom 

Create a magical map of your mind 

Dedicate an entry to your favorite poem Make an entry about strength with your nondominant hand 

Make your own water blessing 

Where do you go to heal when you meditate? 

Write a dedication to your body as a temple. 

A spread devoted to what colors you are. 

What is your beauty ritual? 

What do you do when you really cut loose? 

Record the results from body scan meditations. 

Vent! 

Write a spell for releasing your bad habits. 

What is balance to you? 

What do you really love about yourself? 

Make a mandala with your priorities, having most important at the center 

Make a tarot spread for mental health. 

Make a "cure what ails you" potion (probably tea) 

Make a ransom note for the return of the reader's original beliefs. 

Make a window page to reveal what's on the next page. 

Make a page devoted to leaf stamps. 

Make a pocket for recipes. 

Create an entry that can be seen upside down and right side up. 

Make an entry that requires 3D glasses to read. 

Burn a hole through a page. 

Create a magical ink spell 

Create your ultimate temple. 

Write a love letter to your grimoire as if it was a living human. 

Write a diary entry as if you were some natural phenomenon. 

What are your most precious items? 

Do you believe in ghosts? Have any experiences? 

What is the smell of night? 

What does smoke feel like? 

Take a tooth brush dipped in paint and run your finger over the bristles to splatter the paint. Connect the dots - what do you see? 

What is a song that wakes you up? 

Plan your dream garden. 

Bury some treasure - list what was in this treasure box, when it was buried, and hints to find it in the future. 

Create a color palette and LATER create an image of yourself using that palette. 

Dedicate a spread to your favorite myth - in the form of a comic strip. 

Trace your hand, fill in the trace with things about you. 

Here are some more page ideas, but I strongly suggest you have these!

How to Consecrate

How to Bless

How to Cleanse

How to Ground

How to Meditate

Here are just some ways I believe you can connect with your Grimoire. (which you should most definitely do the days leading up to the challenge if you do it lol)

Sleep with it under your pillow.

Take it everywhere you go (if you can do it safely)

Talk to it (lol I actually mean it). Spill your heart out to it, tell it about your day, cry to it (and on it if you want). 

And finally, some tips and tricks for other parts of your Grimoire.

Don’t be afraid to go digital or have a rough draft. In truth, the Grimoire challenge is especially helpful in finding out what path of magic you would like to take. Going digital or having a rough draft can help you find out what information you like to have in your grimoire and what you wouldn’t, as well as keeping your grimoire organized and neat if you plan on having it as such.

Do your absolute best to keep your grimoire organized. A disorganized grimoire is about as helpful as a bunch of scattered papers when trying to look for something specific.

Cleanse your grimoire regularly! Your grimoire is definitely a place where negative energies can attach and end up hurting you. Cleansing regularly (like at least once a month) keeps your grimoire neutral and reduces risk of energies interfering with your magic!

Don’t be afraid of messing your grimoire up! It may be only for your eyes and any mistake you make is just another thing that makes your grimoire unique and yours!

If you go digital, write down everything, especially if you’re doing research, that way when you edit your grimoire or make it physical, you can have everything you need and you can pick out the unnecessary bits. 

Remember that a grimoire doesn’t have to be a single book. You can have several books (I definitely do) that can continue your grimoire or have different purposes. (i.e. a book specifically for divination, one for research, one for sigils, etc.) Just remember, KEEP IT ORGANIZED.

That’s really it for now. If you guys read ALL that, thank you! I hope this was helpful! Please feel free to reblog with other tips or message me with them to add them to my post!

With Love, 

Honey Bee.

[philosworkbench]

Yes And, A Good No, and the Dangers of Wing-Walking

I did a weird thing for an improviser to do today. I declined an offer.

“No” is something people say every day. Kids say it a lot. I don't have kids; I had cats, and they would often say something very much like no. But in improv, we're taught to say yes. Specifically, when someone on stage with you says something to define the shared fictional reality, we call that “making an offer.” When that happens, you're supposed to accept it and heighten it as far as it will go.

If your scene partner says that you're both monkey space pirates and it's time to capture the frigate of the talking bananas, well then you just better put on your monkey space suit, pull out your monkey space cutlass, and get ready to fight! Is it ridiculous? Of course, it is. (I mean how are you going to pull out your space sword after you’ve already put on your space suit? Stupid monkey pirate!) Nevertheless, you Yes And! It's banana hunting time! Take no banana prisoners! Eat all you kill! #YOLO #LivingThatMonkeySpacePirateLife #blessed

There was this guy with an interesting online tool for facilitators --  bizarrely enough, a different online tool than the one I talked about yesterday. (I’m networking a lot, y’all. And by y’all, I mean cold vastness of Tumblr.)

This guy was ready to make me his U.S. distributor-partner for his product. No buy-in, all commission, and the ripest territory on the planet. Perfect side hustle, if not a full hustle for the right person.

I said no.

It f*cking terrified me.

Beyond the pros and cons of the opportunity and the reasoning for my decision, what most intrigued me was my emotional reaction. I'm not destitute. My spouse and I are okay, even in the midst of COVID. Why did it freak me out so much to say “no”?

Honestly, I think there are a lot of reasons. Here are the ones that kept me up tonight.

Yes And is great medicine if you have the disease it’s meant for.

If your team or entire organization has become a stalled, “no but” culture, work on Yes And. When you and/or the system has become so stable that it's stagnant and momentum towards a vision has become inertia towards change, work on Yes And. When you need to shake things up and create opportunity for positive disruption, work on Yes And.

Cut to 20 years later.

I’ve done Yes And. I’ve taught it a lot. I’ve seen what happens when a room of people have to make a decision and their only experience running things is from a career spent in improv. It has come to me as no surprise that the hypocrisy of the improv community was laid bare by the #MeToo movement. A healthy respect for no is crucial.

This is when some improv people tie themselves in knots. “It’s not that we’re asking people to say ‘no’ to each other, but to say ‘yes’ to themselves.” Fine. Whatever looks good in your Bullet Journal. Even if improv didn’t need a worldwide reckoning around consent, it would still need to learn how to say a “good no.”

A Good No means Listening to your Full Self

To explain this, let’s go back to why we try to break people of “no” when they first start taking improv classes. It’s because their “no” at the time is usually based in fears.

I’m afraid of looking stupid so I say no to anything my partner says -- I just can’t risk it

I’m afraid of not understanding what’s happening so I say no to anything too crazy

I’m afraid of not being funny so I say no to anything to too normal

And, if you squint enough to read between those lines, you’ll see similar fears that show up in almost every meeting at work:

I’m afraid of looking less valuable so I say no to my peers’ ideas -- they might keep mine from being recognized

I’m afraid of putting my name to something that fails so I say no to innovation -- or at least no until we have all the necessary data (because by then the opportunity will have passed and we can blame a lack of good intel)

I’m afraid of not making a name for myself so I no to the simple, no-frills solution that will work, but that no one will notice

These are the bad noes. (These are not the Glengarry noes.)

There’s nothing worse than watching an improviser try to improv while fundamentally afraid of the art form and uncomfortable with themselves. Improv and all theater begins with a fearlessness around “nakedness.” Don’t really get naked when improvising. We get too many letters. Instead, take Peter Brook’s advice from The Empty Space:

“The creative actor also longs to cling on to all he’s found, he too wants at all costs to avoid the trauma of appearing in front of an audience, naked and unprepared—still this is exactly what he must do.” (Brook, 1968, p.142)

It sucks to be naked like this while doing bar-prov in front of a bunch of drunks at 12am, so we teach Yes And. It’s probably not so much “be more naked on stage,” but more, “it’s awkward to try to cover yourself on stage so we’re all going to just keep covering each other. Trust that your partners are there to keep the grossest parts from hanging out.” That’s Yes And.

When improvisers understand that, you start to see them use “no” again. But now, it’s not an awful, awkward, scene-halting “no.” It’s authoritative, exciting, and directional. A good no can be the best yes and. It doesn’t stop the motion, it transforms it.

Back At Work: Good Noes are Good News

Time to read between the lines again, to see how this translates from improv to the boardroom -- by which, of course, I mean Zooming with your team members while you all pretend to be wearing pants.

Once we have a foundation of Yes And, and our default setting is to rally around each other and support each other. Then, revisiting No makes sense. You can bring your full selves to it. You’re not making the “no” choice out of fear.

This is great news because then you can say no with complete candor but also complete support. You can say, “here’s where I’m at right now.” People know where you stand and can factor in your real, honest feedback. If the team knows that everyone on the team gets what “Yes And” means, they can hear “no” in a whole new way.

So why was I so upset about saying “no” today? Like everyone who's ever done therapy, I blame my stepfather.

The First Law of Wing-Walking

Amazingly, it is not, “you don’t talk about wing-walking.” You apparently talk about it a lot, especially while your stepson is growing up in your house.

My stepdad was in Organizational Development. (So, I guess you could say, I’m a “legacy,” or whatever. #NBD) 30 years ago, he would often say, “Matt, remember the first law of wing-walking:

Don’t let go of what you’re holding onto until you’ve got hold of something else!”

Years on the couch. (For other stuff. Not for that.)

I’m in a lot of transition right now. I’m trying to launch a new company. I’m trying to do right by the companies I work for now. And COVID feels like a bad time to be dreaming big, but I am.

But I don’t feel I am holding onto anything. I’m just keeping a ton of different stuff in reach. I haven’t “burned my boats,” and yet, they are drifting further and further from shore. Without me.

I have a beautiful vision for my future, but I haven’t gotten anyone to buy it yet.

And then comes this guy, and he has something to hold onto.

Getting Lost in the Role

One of the best moments in a long-form improv is when you find a truly interesting character that you can consistently play from scene to scene. You “have” them.

The audience is intrigued. You feel good at improv when you play them. And, best of all, you get to stop thinking about who you are for a while. All of your anxieties about “am I good at this? What should I do next?” have to leave a message at the beep. You’re somebody else now. And they’re busy.

But what about when you’re decidedly not getting lost in the role. You just feel “lost.” That’s kind of where I am at right now. Not as bad as the “upside-down,” but definitely the “in-between.”

And here’s this guy, and he has a branded polo shirt with my name on it if I want it.

But I don’t.

I want a branded polo shirt with my own company’s name on it.

And yes, in his mind, I could have absolutely built my own company while I did this for him as a sideline. There were plenty of Yes And reasons why this would have been a great partnership. He helps facilitators. I help facilitators. Except I’m not really helping facilitators yet. I just want to.

Whose Thing is it Anyway!?

So, now I think I can finally come to the point. Sometimes you have to pass up good things.

When you are not sure of your path forward or not confident the path you want will happen, the universe will sometimes send you lifeboats. And you may not realize you’re only saying yes to it because it’s a lifeboat. It’s better than flapping around in the water.

But is that a good Yes?

Is it going to bring you closer to your path forward? Or will it give you hours of distraction so you’ll have the perfect excuse not to move forward? What will you say when you look back?

“Yes, I really wanted to have my own monkey space pirate ship, but while I was building it, another monkey came by and offered me a chance to work part-time on his ship. I figured I’d get back to mine eventually, but I just kept doing so well on his. His is awesome now! As for mine, I don’t know. Maybe when I retire.”

Just writing that has me shaking a little, like an honest-to-god baby panic attack. Not a full-blown attack, but one you would serve around on a tray at a cocktail party.

I was terrified of saying no today because of all the fear of passing up a good thing.

But now, as I reflect on it, having spent the last 1700+ words ruminating on it, I realize that what’s f*cking terrifying is taking a good thing when it’s not actually your thing.

Don’t get me wrong; many of the best accomplishments have been the work of dedicated people working diligently for other people. If you see an organization with a mission you believe in, that treats you right, and treats the world right, jump on that.

But if you know you need to now do something on your own, even if it fails miserably. If you need to pass up the good thing so you can have the space to create your own, do it.

Say a good “no” to the stuff that isn’t truly for you. 

Even when it’s terrifying.

[deadlyunicornsofspace]

My Podcast Idea: take 2

okay, so this is the second post I’ve made about it, because my first was all over the place and I missed a bunch of stuff. a few points to make first though so the rest is easier to read.

1) I won’t cover everything I’ve figured out in case I ever do make this into a real thing, and I don’t want to tell you guys everything that happens right now

2) I'm going to call humans two different things, humans (obviously) and deathworlders. the reason for this is that Aliens don’t refer to humans as humans, simply because that is not what they named them. Aliens refer to this insane species as “deathworlders”

3) I am going to refer to the main human character as TH (tiny human)

Okay now that I’ve covered that, time to talk about the rest of it.

Premise

So basically, the first idea I had was just this human being raised by these aliens who don’t know that this kid is a human, and humans are some mythical creature in that universe. obviously a lot has changed since then.

First off, I have TH actually living on this spaceship for most their life (Specific age isn’t hugely important, but I've decided that they've been on it since they were about four) and they can’t remember anything from before they were on the ship. 

The spaceship basically has the entire internet on it (Minus all the viruses I guess) up until the ship was sent into space. (So like when Tumblr has already loaded a whole bunch of posts, but then your internet crashes and you can look at all the already loaded posts but not any new ones) So TH knows a whole bunch about earth, they’ve seen tv shows, read books etc etc. so they know they’re human and a lot about earth. (However of course their perspective is skewed of course because they learned everything from the internet)

So I have no idea how spending all this time with no other humans around is going to affect this kid (obviously they’re going to be fucked up from lack of human contact) then I decided I didn’t want this kid to be completely alone (Because come on, the podcast doesn’t even start until they're fourteen, that’s like ten years alone) so I gave them robots. the robots are on the ship with them, they take care of stuff, but they also have AIs so TH can sort of talk to them, but still not the same as having real humans around. 

On that note, if you know anything about psychology and how this might effect them, please message me or something, I don’t want to mess it up I’d love to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about

okay, so next event is first contact. so TH lands on this planet. (I can’t decide if it’s a crash landing or not, because it seems weird not to have it be able to land, but I’m also pretty sure they were expecting it to be flown by someone trained to do this you know?) So anyway TH is on the planet and is found by this pair of aliens.

time for the Obvious Problem.

communication. because, don’t get me wrong, whilst I love Voltron, the whole meeting aliens and of course they speak English, why wouldn’t they? is kind of ridiculous. I can only assume that the castle has a translator (Which does raise the question of why English would be in their data base, or any human language for that matter, but that is a long post for another time and on my main account.) so I need to figure out this language barrier quick

So after a long time of pondering, I figured it out. All aliens have translators, because while the optimal world would be where everyone spoke everyone’s language, it’s not happening. so when they meet this strange species they’ve never seen before they open up their translator and try to translate what they’re saying, and it works, TH seems to speaking a strange variant of an archaic language that they cannot identify the planet of (Yes I realise this is shady af, but I'm going to have an explanation for it, but not in this post.) So they’re just about barely able to communicate the bare essentials. 

so they manage to get across that they’re friendly, and that they’re going to going to help fix their ship etc. the issue is that they seem to have a really old version of English, so they use the ships data base to update their translator. now do you remember what I said earlier about the internet not being the best way to learn stuff. these aliens cannot tell fact from fiction, they do not know the difference between slang and not. 

So that’s gonna be a real wild ride

Anyways, back to plot

So TH is going to stay with Aliens while they fix up ship and figure out what’s going on with them

At one point I think they’ll be telling TH about deathworlders, maybe TH will be telling them about horror stories and stuff like that and they jus, “Oh, you mean like deathworlders?” and they just, “What the heck is a deathworlder?” and there I could have a spooky campfire stories sort of scene.

They start talking about what they want to do

TH says they want to find other humans and figure out where they came from

Aliens want to explore space

anyway long story short they find this map with a whole bunch of places marked down

they cross reference it with a map of all the planets they know of and some of the marked places are planets, both inhabited and not, and some are in unrecorded territory

Long story short they go fuck it, and leave in TH’s spaceship to explore the cosmos. Idk if they’ll pick up others to join their crew along the way

I definitely want them to have a person on their crew that is a human conspiracist. like how we have conspiracies about aliens, they have conspiracies that deathworlders exist

anyway along the journey they’re gradually going to piece together that TH is a deathworlder. theres gonna be a whole bunch of little bits that Ima put under another section.

“The real conspiracy was the friends you made along the way”

Anyway that’s pretty much all I've got for plot to share with you, so

TH is a deathworlder?

early clues:

TH has an astounding pain threshold. Like they injure themselves and it sounds excruciatingly painful and like they should see a doctor if what they say is anything to go by, but insist on just walking it off

Their ability to multitask is astounding, like they’re doing three things at once while also consuming their daily required nutrients

TH threw a piece of paper into a bin while not looking and acted like it was no big deal WHAT THE ACTUAL

As they start to question it: 

“Dude, you said deathworlders digest poison to build an immunity and weed out the weak”

“YOU HAVE PEPPERS GROWING IN YOUR GARDEN!”

“They’re for flavour.”

“THEY’RE POISONOUS!”

“I thought you said that deathworlders are so eager to fight they even fight their own genetics”

“PUNCHING THINGS AND SPRINTING IS NOT SOMETHING YOUR SPECIES SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF”

“and?”

“YOU HAVE ENTIRE RITUALS AND CEREMONIES DEDICATED TO THEM”

About the world

so basically whenever what I am going to refer to as the alien government (AG)discovers a likely place for an inhabitable planet to be they send out an exploration squad to see is there is one, they then send another group to go visit the planet and speak to them and ask if they wish to join their big group of planets, idk what to call it.

Nobody ever refuses, because why would they? 

Communication and transport is established and they are now a part of their clique. 

so all of the aliens are very peaceful

so the priority in tech is communication, transport, and exploration. 

there isn’t really anything in the way of weapons

it’s hard to get clearance to explore

Well more specifically it’s hard to get clearance for an exploration ship. TH’s spaceship is a loophole, because they aren’t a part of their government so they can't stop them.

which is why the aliens wanted to explore so bad, because no proper exploring is really done, it’s all just science and there should be a planet here, check it out.

you can get little ships for singular planet use about as easily as a car, but they’re effectively just used as cars because that’s the kind of thing they’re made for. you can also get ships for interplanetary travel, but only through established routes. that’s kind of the equivalent of getting an airplane.

That’s all I can think of to put in this post, I’d love to hear back from you guys with your thoughts, as I said, if you know anything about psychology and how TH might be affected by their situation please message me or something, I need help. also just feel free to message me, about this, about anything to do with my whole blog, or anything at all. or if you just want to talk. 

see you guys next time! And hey,

you’re beautiful

[radramblog]

Album Discussion- Billy Believe

My dumbass only left an hour to write a blog entry on the day I’m trying to dedicate to doing album discussions, before I have to go to work. So this might be a tad more hurried than standard.

Stuck in the Sound are a French rock band that have been around for like, 15 years? And in that time they’ve solidly not really broken into the mainstream, possibly outside of France itself (They do perform in English, to be clear). They’re probably best known for their music videos- “Let’s Go”, as an example, has over 100 million views, and while none of the others really match that they’re clearly where a lot of effort is going.

But we aren’t talking about the videos, we’re talking about the music, and in this case, the 2019 album Billy Believe. No I don’t know what that refers to. Anyway!

This album opens on Forever Days, and as usual, we want to figure out what the deal is from that opener. It’s kind of, a very minor-keyed love song, I think? There’s something that feels a little off about some of the background instrumentation, even as the main of it is relatively standard. If I’m honest, as an opener this song leaves something to be desired. It’s solidly ok, not really demonstrating the potential I know the band has- particularly in the vocal space. It’s a mid fucking song, man.

Serious, on the other hand, is one of my more liked songs on the album. It’s not an especially technical one, but it’s just got this excellent vibe- very chill, very uplifting, would recommend. The band clearly thought this one was worth the time, as well, because this one did get a video. As opposed to the name, the song is not especially serious- its airy, and I’m not just saying that because the video is on a plane. It’s got room.

Third song up is See You Again, a bit chunkier with that lower, groovier line. I do like the melody this is based around, that little tempo shift or whatever you call it. Where one part of it is like twice as quick as the rest? It’s been way too long since I studied music theory, I’m clearly unqualified for this. Aside from that, it’s largely inoffensive, nothing particularly special. Better than Forever Days, but that’s not the biggest bar if you ask me.

Our next song is Break Up, which feels very early 10’s alt-pop. Something like Magic! or F.U.N. would have put up. A bit more low-key than those, which I think is for the best, because those tracks often ended up relentlessly irritating. This song is very loose, somewhat quiet, but not really pensive in the way I’d like it to be. I’d also be interested in the song, like, going somewhere, but it’s perfectly content to remain in its vibe, which is fffffiine. It’s fine. Song’s fine.

In case you couldn’t tell by the youtube link, Alright is another single, and it’s extremely tense. This song is actually just loads of fun. It’s cycle of tense and frantic build up and energy as it grows to a climax, as the lyrics yell “just remember! That your life is shit!” and it just cuts back into this gorgeous little piano line and it’s really chill and pretty for a while. It’s this duality that really sells the song, and it helps that both areas would be really solid on their own. This is probably the best track on the album, if you ask me.

Wait, this has a video? I don’t remember this song. The Rules feels like the “rock bottom” song from some kinda rock opera, which I don’t know if the album has really earned, but I guess it isn’t trying to. Seriously, though, this is the song for when you’re pulling your face-heel turn by cheating on your partner. I hope that never ends up being relevant in my life.

Actually, this would make a great Bond theme. This song’s pretty solid, all things considered.

 Unlovable is a depression mood. This song feels the level of discordant that those sorts of emotions usually tend to. And then I read the lyrics and, uh, what the fuck is going on here. Theres a bunch of music references, and it’s clear that both people are shitcunts, and I don’t even know. I’m pretty sure the awkward grammar is just for the meter of the song, not because English isn’t their first language- they’ve only been writing songs in it for over a decade. Back to the song, though, It’s kinda grungey? Which I think is a step back to their roots, considering (and I haven’t listened to it so don’t quote me) it’s called Nevermind the living dead. It’s a bit of an odd one, but it’s fine.

So, Petit chat, is…a chiptune? At least, that’s how it opens, a pretty fun way to open a rock song, to be honest. It’s pretty short, too, but it’s a real fun track. Honestly, I think this is what Stuck in the Sound is best at, these sort of frenetic rock songs with some fun instrumentation and a fair bit of yelling. It’s a solid track!

For the curious, petit chat is like, a term of endearment, it’s like “darling”, but also very close to the substantially more literal ma petite chatte, which means pussy. And not the pawed kind.

 The next song, Action, has a featured vocalist by the name of Holybrune, who I’ve never heard of outside of this. Honestly, this song feels kinda weak even with the added vocals. It feels like it’s trying to be sort of dramatic/quiet in different parts, but the energetic bits are just lacking. I feel like there’s almost an instrument missing here or something, the gap doesn’t feel intentional. Almost unfinished? I don’t know. It’s pretty meh.

The next song is actually the first single from the album, Vegan Porn Food, and it is one I could never possibly recommend to someone based on name alone. Which is a shame because the song fucks. I know I said before that high-energy was the band’s strong suit, but this is a grungy, murky delight. It only gets more strained and desperate as it goes, even with the brief moments of levity in there. It’s a shockingly dark song for the band, and the album in general, in a way I genuinely did not expect- I remember when this single came out, being the first from the album at all, and I was really excited to hear a whole album like this. For better or worse, Billy Believe is not that- and I guess this would probably overstay its welcome at 11 tracks length.

Our penultimate track is Radioactive God Explosion, which opens by yelling its title just so you know its serious. It’s pretty apocalyptic, but also doesn’t seem to take itself very seriously, and to be fair, I’m not about to take a song named Radioactive God Explosion seriously either, we already had that song. Much like See You Again, there are parts of this I really like, and the remainder of it is passable enough that it makes the grade. The riff is lots of fun, and frankly yelling RADIOACTIVE GOD EXPLOSION!! OH NO OH NO is fun as fuck. This is the second least listened to track on the album (on spotify), and I don’t think it deserves that.

(The final track, Riots, also has a video. In fact I hadn’t seen it, it’s their most recent one. But, Tumblr’s only letting me attach 5 Youtube vids to this post, so you’re going to have to find it yourself. It’s REALLY good! And also pretty gay happy pride month folks. Break Up also had a video but I completely forgot about it oops)

Riots is the closer, and it feels very final. As RGE was the silly apocalypse, this one genuinely feels like your end of the world sorta shit. It’s regretful, and defiant, and pained, and honestly really good. I don’t even remember having heard this song prior to today, and I kinda regret that. It’s great! Like I feel like I’ve missed a lot by not having had this song in the old playlist for this whole time. Shit man, new fave.

And that’s the lot of them! Overall, Billy Believe kind of confirmed what I had feared about Stuck in the Sound in general- ultimately they are a singles band more than an album band, and that’s not a great place to be in Indie Rock. With that in mind, the highlights of this album are extremely high, and if nothing else you should watch the videos- both the music and visuals in them are just great.

Also one of the guys in this band looks exactly like a friend of mine but older gruffer and French and its fucking weeeeird

[nana-writes]

Lor, a monk tiefling - their back story

[2nd repost - tumblr is acting up sorry]

system - 5e d&d

world - dm’s homebrew so don’t worry about not recognising names and whatnot. key points: elves are known for being racist af, tieflings are universally hated/deemened as per usual and this whole backstory happens in the ‘human’ continent, which is mostly consistend of humans but does have some representation of the other races.

(DM: text) means it’s a note for the dm. This text is pretty much what i sent him except trimmed a bit here and there and less ‘formal’

Lor has never met their parents (they aren’t too bothered about this tho, life goes on and they have far more pressing issues). As a toddler, too young to remember it, they were left on the steps of a monastery near the Elolham village. The monks took them in and raised them. There were other kids there too, orphans and abandonees, of various races and ages, but no other tieflings, and the monks weren’t exactly used to taking care of kids so they simply raised them under the same regiment all monks lived in - i.e. they train, worshipped, cleaned, worked and studied like apprentices (albeit adapted to their ages and levels). This included, once the kids reached the age of ten, getting their first, body length tattoo, showing their dedication to Aemhert, human god of Death and keeper of Reapers, and his holy mission of guiding the souls of the dearly departed - a single, simple, flow-y line, black ink that doesn’t show to well on their deep blue skin; it start just under their heart, curls up to the collarbone, in the middle of the chest, where it splits to go over their shoulder and meet again at the top of their spine. It goes down the spine till the small of their back where it splits again to curl around the waist till it meets their thighs, comes down the thighs all the while curving so it’s in the back when it gets to the knees at which point the line comes down in a somewhat straight line, following the natural curvature of the calf, till it ends right about where the Achilles tendent is. Where the tattoo splits to go over the shoulders it also splits to go down the length of both their arms, on the inside, circling the wrist at the end so as to end on the back of the hands. Every time the line splits or comes together once again there is a small diamond-like shape, as well as in the back of the knees, the ‘back’ of the elbows and at the end and beginning of the line (under the heart and in the shins).

Lor wasn’t particularly good friends with any of the other kids except for Myram, a half-elf boy a couple of years older than them (i thought making him an elf would be funny and would play well with their initial naivité). They spent a lot of their free time together, playing make believe and reading fantasy stories in the library, making their own up when the small collection of books the monks owned quickly ran out, daydreaming what it would be like out there, beyond the monastery and it’s ploughed fields, and slowly but surely starting to make a plan to escape together… And then one day Myram leaves in the middle of the night, without telling Lor a thing. (DM - Two possibilities in this case: Myram could have been somehow forced out and didn’t have the chance to tell Lor anything; or they never really cared for Lor, they were just a distraction from the boring and annoying days in the monastery and yeah maybe Myram thought they were kind of cute but they would be no help at all, only a hindrance, if he’d brought them along so he didn’t. I’ll let you pick whatever did happen. Either way Myram can easily pop back up again later on in the campaign if you want him to).

Having their only real friend, who’d always promise they’d be together through thick and thin, whom they looked up to, with whom they’d made plans to leave together, abandoned them like so wasn’t easy on Lor and it didn’t take long till they too left the compound, shortly after their 12th birthday. Their dreams of adventures and wonders where swiftly destroyed, however, as they quickly learn that the world is not kind to tieflings, no matter how young they may be. This definitely puts a hatchet in their innocence and naiveté, which Myram’s departure had already taken a hack at. They do manage to make their way into the nearest city, Beltove. After a few missteps and misshapens they learn to keep their head low when need be (more often than not) and learn that the skills they trained at the monastery can be adapted to a urban setting as well. They start taking odd jobs here and there, as a runner, servant in this tavern or another, as a fetcher, whatever precarious occupation they could find.

Then one day, about two years after they’ve first moved to the city, they notice a poster calling for the arrest of Ibef, a low-level thief that mostly pickpocketed out of the busy market, targeting tourists, merchants and locals alike, and offering a reward for his delivery to the law. Lor realised they recognised the drawing of him because they’d run a couple of messages and deliveries from his house. So they loitered around the area for the next week or so, learnt Ibefs general schedule and one night, when Ibef left on his evening walk, Lor sneaked into the house and waited till he was asleep. Once Ibef was out they injected him with a powerful toxin and Ibef never woke up again. Lor, figuring they were too small to drag a body through the city + that would look weird, brought the captain of the guard (after much persuading) to the house. Turns out they wanted him alive so the captain only payed them half the price of the reward, but he was kind of impressed with Lor’s performance and told them to stop by the station again if they wanted to, there might be other jobs for them. And that is how Lor became an urban bounty hunter for the law.

They ran a bunch of other jobs, none too formative except for two, one targeting Adra, a tabaxi known mostly for stealing from the high class, and Elasalor, an elvian head of a mafia. (DM – leaving it up to you if you wanna come up with other NPC’s they might have caught and who could hold a grudge)

Adra was a job that to this day no bounty hunter has collected on. Lor attempted to catch her – and her handful of underlings, street urchins that Adra taught now and then, people just like Lor had been four years ago – but Adra, unlike every other one of their targets up to now, was aware of Lor and their methods and always managed to stay one step ahead – Lor mostly survived on anonymousity and people underestimating them. One evening, while Lor was attempting to stalk out one of Adra’s hiding places they ran into Oriana, a female tiefling who would later become a friend and more – even if they did not meet under the best of circumstances. Oriana was one of the street urchins Adra had taken under her wing and the reason they met at all that fateful evening was cause she was running interference.

And in a bigoted world you tend to find your own, so they start hanging and they aren’t friends, not really, just together cause it’s easier to find boarding like that, it’s easier to stay safe on the streets and to put food on the table, and over the course of the next year they find themselves becoming friends, and later lovers. Adra does become aware of their building relationship and grows to be somewhat found of Lor, sentiments bordering on the same motherly affection she showers all her lil’ apprentices with.

Elasalor was a different case, an odd one from the very start. Instead of finding this job listed in the courthouse as per usual, someone – whom they later learnt was a runner for The Onyx gang – brought the proposal to Lor. It was unconventional, and sort of not what they usually did but damn the reward was more than the police force had paid them in the last two years together and yeah, maybe getting involved in the brewing gang war wasn’t the best of ideas but it’s not like they were asking that much of them and Oriana and Lor had been talking about moving out of the city lately – this could be just the right boost to do so.

So they took the job – and everything went to shit. It was meant to be a simple job, only a couple of names that they need to cross out, and if possible, get the ledger that would be kept in the house of the main guy for a bonus. Lor planned it out, knew when the three of them were meeting, knew they would have dinner and so had sneaked in earlier to poison their bread and seasonings, hedging their bets on the three thugs eating anything with bread or seasoned so they’d be knocked out by midnight. Lor would then come in, slit their throats to make sure they were in fact dead, and look for the ledger. But when the tiefling made their way into the house, through a back window in the second floor they’d left ajar earlier in the day, and down the hall to where the three men should be fast asleep in the arms of Aemhert, they were instead confronted by two bodies on the ground (instead of the three they were expecting) and three others waiting for them, weapons drawn.

Now, Lor wasn’t (that) stupid and knew when things had gone south so they attempted to flee. It wasn’t easy and they sustained a bunch of injuries, fighting back some but mostly focusing on running away, which they managed to do eventually. Lor later learnt that the three enforcers they were meant to target were meeting with Elasalor, the elvian regional leader for the Hatchets, who’d obviously brought protection of his own. But for now all they know is that that elf looked like the leader, and he did not look happy and neither did the two other surviving members and Lor is pretty sure they are following them so they take the long way around and a trip that should be only twenty minutes takes them three hours but they eventually make it home, only to leave Oriana a note and leave for Eoni’s house – a sketchhy halfling cleric that lives on the outskirts of the slums and everyone knows will look the other way and patch you up for some coin.

The elf and his henchmen, however, do not realise that Lor has left the apartment shortly after sneaking in through the window. And so they follow them in as dawn cames, to instead find Oriana getting up for the day.

Lor comes back to their shared apartment that evening, after a day spent healing and recovering at the cleric’s house, to find the apartment trashed by the vestiges of a recent fight and Oriana dead on the ground. The whole scene is brutal and horrific, all of it a clear message to Lor – her horns sawed off to be of a similar size to Lor’s and the whole scene horrific and clearly a warning – Oriana’s horns, long tall things that looped only once, had been hacked at and sawed until they resembled the height of Lor’s. Lor sticks around only long enough to pray over Oriana’s body, pack the bare minimums before taking the next shipping vessel out of Beltove, which happens to lead them to the next port-city, Talra. They keep a broken off piece of Oriana’s horns on a string around their neck .

(DM: so a couple of things here – I’m leaving it up to you if the person hiring Lor, who I imagine to be someone quite high up in the Onyx if not the leader themselves (Pogram; human; late 20s, early 30s; born and raised in the city), knows about Elasalor being there. If so I imagined that said person would be hoping for a double deal – either Lor does their job & gets offed or Lor does their job & kills the elf too. As for why they would want Lor dead, maybe Lor had previously captured people from the Onyx gang? Sort of leaving it all up in the air for you to do with as you want.

Second thing: Lor booking out of town like that – if the murder was ever properly or minimally investigated they might be considered at least a person of interest if not the main suspect.

Third and last: you know how Lor keeps a bit Oriana’s horns on necklace around their neck? What if Elasalor does too? I was thinking he might do so either out of some masochist pride in the victims he’s taken or as remembrance of someone who got away – Lor. Either way I sort of assume the piece of horn isn’t the only keepsake Elasalor has.)

I couldn’t make it fit into the narrative structure all that well but Lor has mixed feelings on their religion. They still worship Aemhert but they’ve spent their whole time in the city attempting to forget about their time in the monastery and pretend none of that ever happened cause why deal with the past when you can just forget it? This means tattooing over the monk tattoo along the years. They still, however, have their monk robes with them.

Part of the reason why Lor still feels such a strong connection to their god is that, growing up in the monastery surrounded by mostly human species, the depictions of Aemhert were the first and, for a long time, the only time that Lor saw anyone that looked like themselves – they shared the same solid  gold eyes and whiteish blond hair.

I will have a full description of how Lor looks up later tonight/tomorrow! (with tattoos descriptions and maybe some drawings included… :P)

EDIT: More about Lor - stats and physical description

[aegyo-chan]

1/8 It’s not late; I know you’ll get back to me sooner or later. Plus, I had to go to work anyway. It was an interesting day might I add. A 5th grade student in my building pulled the fire alarm today and when asked why he did it – I kid you not – said “because there’s a fire in my heart”. At least this I what the teachers and staff were told. Yes, what he did was wrong and he caused a lot of panic within the school, but his answer was kind of funny now that I think about it.

2/8 I wonder what he’s watching or who’s teaching him this kind of stuff.I’ve been a fan of many boybands. Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, The Jackson 5 (I have their logo tattooed on my body), New Edition, New Kids on the Block, Boys II Men, 3T, 98 Degrees, All-4-one, 112, Jagged Edge, Bell Biv DeVoe, 5ive, Otown, Blackstreet, Hanson, and now every kpop boy band. There is more that I didn’t list, but we’d be here forever if I did3/8 I didn’t half ass this either – I have at least 25+ boxes of boy band merch that I’ve collected over since I was really little. I wish I could remember the title of the anime – I went looking for it, but couldn’t find it. What are you favorite animes? I relate to you mom, okay? My hands, nose, feet, and ears are always so cold. People starting getting me reusable hotpacks as gifts and I’m super thankful. My mom is a huge kpop fan herself so if she didn’t support me, that would be wrong lol. 4/8 She has a kpop/disney/doctor who tumbl believe it or not – her ult bias is Siwon. We have gone to 2 concerts together and will be going to 4 more this year (probably more but those 4 we have the tickets for already). Yes, I’ve watched the exorcist many times :) and some of the other films in the series as well. I don’t know why they fascinate me because I don’t even believe demons exist (I’m an atheist and they are too religious for me) but I just want one to be real. I want to talk to it.5/8 I want to see the world through it’s eyes. Growing up, I was always into the creepy, horror, and dark things; my favorite time was and still is halloween and not for the candy, parties, or cheap costumes. I loved the idea behind real horror, real pain and suffering - the stuff that would make any normal person run for the hills. I also loved skeletons and skulls, demons, ghosts, vampires. I loved haunted houses with broken candle chandelier and rusted wrought iron gates.6 /8 old gothic churches covered in dust, spiderwebs, and unknown writing. I loved killer clowns, blood and organs, and just the idea of possession, black magic, and psychopaths in the woods at night. Coffins and tomb stones. I loved the way black worked with red. I just - it’s hard to explain. This isn’t something I’ve tried to explain to someone before - most people just are like you like horror? Cool. I like fantasy and we move on. It’s always been with me, I guess.7 / 8 Vixxs Voodoo Doll & Hyde are some of my fav mv in kpop as cheesy as they were. Along the same lines of horror but not demon, Cross genes Play With Me. I love that mentally insane asylum concept - it excites me . Same with there video for Black or White – they kill themselves in different ways and it’s fun. One beats himself with a bat after a car crash, one drowns himself in a bunch of blood, one nails himself into a coffin, one stabs himself, etc. I’m sorry if I’ve scared you.8/8 I am not a creepy person – I promise. This is the side of me that tends to stay quiet. You remember I’m a good person, yes? I looked up Shane and Ryan and they were eating food. I don’t know much about them, but I’d love to be the Shane to your Ryan

Lmao that kid. He probably did it as a prank but his answer was really funny. The person that got that answer to their question though, why did I picture the mean girls principal? they must be quite done with the kid. Did he get detention? 

Okay so watch how many times my jaw drops while I read your messages.  WOW so many boy bands omggggg I barely know probably 3 out of those. I am so curious now I really want to see your room. You must have quite the collection! You like tattoos? Do you have just this one or more? Does it really hurt a lot?My favorite animes are (or used to be) the mainstream ones like Bleach, Death note and Naruto but I did try to watch as much as I could like, my memory is failing me atm. I used to have a myanimelist account to keep track actually. Bleach was most favorite one, I made my first tumblr dedicated to an OTP from the show, sadly they didn’t end up together, even though they were hugely popular together. :(

Oh wow! your mom is so cool!!!!! she even has a blog! wow that’s amazing!!! which concerts are you guys going to together? did you go to any of BAP’s together? does she have a bias in BAP? 

okay so I am so amazed. I never thought I’d talk to a person who was fascinated with demons and all things scary so much. I have friends that love to watch scary movies in the dark yes but you’re so amazing! Wanting to see the world through a demon’s eyes oooh. I do believe some supernatural beings exist (not ghosts though) but I would never want to interact with one like live your life dude and I’ll live mine and we won’t bother each other. I like fantasy too haha but I love listening to people talk about their unique passions and interests. Vixx really shone in those concepts, I couldn’t watch the gore in it though without wincing a bit and OMG don’t even get me started on Black or White I couldn’t even focus on the song!!! why were they killing themselves?? and that guy drowning himself in his own blood was so disturbing to watch! Cross gene really acted well in that mv but for someone as queasy when it comes to gore as me..it was a challenge to finish that mv. 

You’re a good person ^^ You have very unique ways of looking a things for sure but it’s good. I’m sorry I can’t comment much though because I’m completely on the opposite side of the spectrum but hey opposites attract! hahah they host a series called buzzfeed unsolved, discussing unsolved murder cases and then visiting supernatural sites, it’s a relatively not scary at all series compared to all that you’ve watched but I get creeped out and lose sleep over it all the time. 

WE SHOULD DO THAT AGAIN! It was so much fun! whenever you’re free again let me know. I wanna chat and hear all about that Minhyuk dream too!