#I'm vagueing about the alt text person

[vonneschlecht]

OH MY GOD TWOMEN

we've moved past the dehumanization of transwomen and onto an entirely new species name

trans. women. trans as adjective. this is 2014 discourse.

(truly how do you manage to remove the word women from the phrase entirely and make it Two Men how do you fuck up that badly)

[maureen-corpse]

All the news that's fit to print from r/fountainpens

So, I alluded yesterday to drama about fountain pen retailers and then I promised in the notes that I might write about the drama. And by golly, I'm going to do that!

First, caveats: I am not deeply involved in r/fountainpens (I only read and never post). I have seen some people talk about a related Discord server, which I am also not a part of. I am generally not deeply involved in the fountain pen community at large. I did join Fountain Pen Network at some point but I haven't posted in years. So, I was not involved in any of the interactions I'm going to talk about, and because some things have been deleted or only talked about, I'm going to be going off of my recollections. Remember, witness testimony is not always reliable! And witness testimony of witness testimony? Goodness gracious.

Also, this may get long, so buckle up.

Now, let's get started.

This is about the Goulet Pen Company. The Goulet Pen Company (GPC or Goulet) is a Virginia-based online seller of fountain pens and related paraphernalia: ink, paper, accessories, some glass dip pens, an occasional rollerball, etc. GPC also features a lot of useful educational tools, such as videos about pens and their various types and the handy Nib Nook, where you can compare the writing of different nibs with most variables removed. Goulet isn't really unusual for this; JetPens, for example, has guides as well. English does love alliteration, though, it has to be said. Go read Beowulf.

Goulet has also been producing a podcast, or as it is more commonly known, the Goulet Pencast, for some time. The main face of the Pencast is Drew Brown (along with Brian Goulet). Now, here's the big thing: Drew is no longer with GPC. The Pencast took a brief hiatus, and people who follow it were concerned, and the most recent episode confirmed that Drew would no longer be a part of the Goulet Pen Company or the Pencast. Drew is a much beloved figure. I personally never got into the Pencast (listen, the episodes are long!), but I saw him in product videos and never saw a reason to dislike him, so I'm sure that the Pencast was a way people really got to know and love him.

Now, Brian and Rachel Goulet, in the most recent episode, did not go into detail about why Drew was no longer with GPC; they confirmed his departure and expressed their sadness. Many r/fountainpen users would like to know more, and so they began speculating. Some came up with benign or not actually that fun for subreddit drama reasons: maybe Drew just moved on. Maybe there was a dispute over pay. Maybe Drew or a family member had a health issue he needed to leave to focus on. Other things were proposed: maybe it was actually a difference of political opinion--Drew seems to lean more liberal whereas the Goulets seem to lean more conservative.

At some point, someone pointed out this portion of a Goulet newsletter that had been sent out (apparently in August):

(transcription in alt text)

I admit: To me, this reads like a pretty typical "Hi we are a small business in the southern United States so here are three vague paragraphs about our life so that this marketing material we're sending has that personal family touch" thing.

However, some redditors latched on to the bit about them being on the startup team for a new church, and that fueled some of the speculation that Drew left Goulet because of political differences.

Now, here's where the Lockening began: someone figured out what the startup church was, probably using known facts about the Goulets (their location in Virginia and the date of the first service noted by Rachel above), and they found the startup church's parent church. And they found a podcast put out by that parent church and they hurried to r/fountainpens to post screenshots of a transcript from that podcast where the speaker compares homosexuality to murder. In the sense of "glorifying sins" or whatever, not saying "killing a man is the same as fucking him." This is the kind of rhetoric I see a lot, so I don't really get surprised and appalled by it the way some folks do. Anyway, the issue then became: do the Goulets espouse these beliefs?

Well, not to worry: someone else found a statement of belief from one of the churches and posted that! (No, I don't recall if it was the parent or the startup, and sadly, I don't have a screenshot.) Anyway, yes, they weren't big on homosexuality, and they were fans of male headship of the family. So fun. There was, interestingly, a line about how complete agreement wasn't necessary for membership in the church.

We don't actually know, still, if the Goulets espouse these beliefs. They're part of the launch team for this church, but I've seen people go to pretty big extremes for churches they don't share beliefs with simply because they like a style of worship better. People put blinders on all the time for things. (Am I making excuses for the Goulets here? I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to be a North Carolinian saying something nice about Virginians for once. I still don't like how they drive.)

Someone also pointed out that fairly recently GPC did advertise products in Pride Month. I don't think it's something they do consistently and the instance someone referenced was in 2022 or something, but that's not a long time ago.

Anyway, that thread was quickly locked, and as far as I can tell, has been deleted. This has not stopped other redditors from making new threads to try and discuss the Goulet Problem further, or to decry the actions of the mods, or to recommend queer-friendly fountain pen stores. These threads are also being locked.

An added bonus is that now without that thread for easy reference--even if it's just locked that means it can't stay at the top for discussion--some people now think Brian was on a podcast saying homosexuality was identical to murder. So! It's a mess! The fountain pen users are pretty cranky. I think that's where we are now, and I think that sums it up, for the most part. I welcome corrections and additional screenshots if people have them. 🫡

And I have not even gotten into the Noodler's thing here. And you know what? I don't think I will.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Glugreng

My apologies for posting a bit later than usual -- I was on the road most of the day for eclipse-viewing purposes, so it's already nighttime as I start this. (Update: and also Firefox crashed multiple time over the process of writing this post.) Anyway, we've got another vaguely-described bird, but one that I think has some interesting details.

If anyone isn't sure what this post is about, you can find an explanation at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. If you want to see the entry from which the artists are working, here is the link:

And in general you can see all of this stuff as it posts at the tag "maniculum bestiaryposting", assuming Tumblr's search function wants to show it to you.

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) continues to post very impressively-rendered beasts. Here, since the only physical detail we have about this bird is "white", they've decided to take inspiration from the fact that it is kept by royal households. Medieval nobility did keep birds, usually for falconry, so here we have a raptorial design. And look, it's caught a fish! Good work, bird.

@pomrania (link to post here) observes that cataract-curing excrement is probably pretty valuable and worth collecting, so here we see a bowl with a dollar sign placed under the bird's perch. Honestly my favorite part of this is the very intense, extremely-close-up eye contact depicted in the middle there. Something about the bird needing (or just choosing) to get really up in one's personal space in order to do the curative "looking in the face" thing is charming to me.

@kaerran (link to post here) also went in the direction of "what kind of bird would be hanging around royal households" and landed on peafowl. There are a couple really clever design decisions here: it intentionally has very visible eyes so it's extra clear whether it's looking at you, and the "burning off the sickness" thing is represented as the feathers from its train being shed. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went in an interesting artistic direction, I think: since the entry was very clear that the Glugreng is "white all over", she rendered it entirely in thick white paint -- I think the texture is quite cool. Also I love the crown-collar-thing; SweetlyFez notes that she's only seen that in heraldry, and I think that is the only place it really appears. (I've seen at least one piece of marginalia that had an animal wearing a crown as a collar, but I'm like 80% sure that's someone's heraldic device being put in the illustrations for whatever reason.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) jumpscared me a bit with this one. More very intense eye contact, but this time directed at the viewer. They also made the connection royalty -> falconry, and drew a bird of prey. For more details on their thought process, please see the linked post. I like the very intense eye contact conceptually, but also I keep scrolling down so it stops Looking At Me.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has again drawn something that makes me smile -- the art style is of course amazing, and the straight-on view of the pelican just looks so charmingly goofy. They note that pelicans have "so much convenient space to store all your pesky illnesses," and now all I can think of is a medical version of that "Put Baby In Pelican Mouth" post. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) was inspired by the bestiary's decision to state that the bird is "white all over" and "has no black parts" in the same sentence. Weirdly specific, right? So they decided to explore in their post why this repetition might be necessary -- regular readers of these posts may recall that Strixcattus writes modern-naturalist-style reinterpretations of these animals. I'm not going to tell you what they came up with. Go read the linked post. Do it.

In fact, you should read all the linked posts, and consider following any or all of the wonderful artists who choose to participate in this weird little exercise.

All right, Aberdeen Bestiary time. A couple people said in their entry that they think they know what this one is, and I am excited to learn what their guesses were.

Now, since this artist tends to draw raptors in a very standardized way -- this just looks like their eagle but all white -- it's probably not possible to recognize the bird in question from this illustration. However, of course, there's a much larger problem in the way of recognizing this species:

This entry is the caladrius, which does not exist. It's another one of those mythical critters that didn't really catch on in the modern era -- or a strange misunderstanding of a real animal, like the salamander was, but honestly those aren't so much distinct categories as far as I'm concerned.

On the other hand, if you have similar Internet Experiences to me, you might have recognized it just now -- as soon as I saw the Aberdeen Bestiary illustration, I had a moment of "hang on, is that..."

The above is from the 2015 article "Two Medieval Monks Invent Bestiaries" on The Toast. You can check it out here:

(The author is now Daniel M. Lavery, but the byline on the linked article still says "Daniel Mallory Ortberg", probably because The Toast has been defunct for several years so nobody is updating these things.)

Anyway, the "bedbird" is indeed the caladrius. I was able to find the image from the Two Monks article by looking through the gallery attached to the "caladrius" entry on bestiary.ca (which has 94 examples, so it's clearly reasonably widespread). The bedbird comes from British Library MS Sloane 3544. And... I'm going to leave it up to y'all whether you think this should end with the "i've connected the two dots" gif or that quotation about the mystery no one thought was a mystery. It's late, goodnight.

[ursaribbon]

Pokemon Scarlet OC

(not sure if the alt text is too long or not on the first image. i would appreciate it if someone with more experience with alt text gave me some feedback!)

Likes and reblogs are appreciated!

This is the character/OC I've been playing as in Pokemon Scarlet! Here's her info:

Name: Senpai (I named my character this as a joke and now I'm committing to it for the OC)

Pronouns: pronounfluid (any if not indicated)

Age: 16-17 during the events of the game

Personality: HEAVILY based on mine (obviously). Laid-back, internet funnyman, lover of wordplay and dad jokes, swears regularly

Champion Assessment Team:

Sylvia the Skeledirge

Pawmetto the Pawmot

Tokyo Drif the Drifblim

Wheezell the Floatzel

Griddy the Gogoat

Rocky the Annihilape

Also Actively Training:

Eegl the Talonflame

Oliver the Arboliva

Unnamed Event Bronzor

Unnamed Event Shiny Lucario

Ruff Ruffman the Rockruff

Virgin Maree the Ampharos

Unnamed Pokemon HOME Reward Scorbunny

Unnamed Pokemon HOME Reward Grookey

Unnamed Pokemon HOME Reward Sobble

SPOILERS FOR SCARLET/VIOLET UNDER THE CUT

Fun Fact about her and Arven:

Starting somewhere around the second or third Titan, Senpai will often call Arven "big guy" when addressing him while speaking to him; they will also jokingly call him "big buddy" in response to being called "little buddy".

In the hypothetical Japanese version, also starting somewhere around the second or third Titan, she will ALMOST ALWAYS refer to him as 「ペパーちゃん」 (Peper-chan), even, for example, when talking to...

Classmates who only vaguely know him or know of him (such as Nemona before The Way Home or any of the other students who have classes with Arven--if Senpai happens to know they have classes with him--or students who are in classes that Arven and Senpai have together),

Geeta (when it is confirmed that she probably at least knows of Arven upon Senpai's completion of the initial Academy Ace tournament, since she attended the tournament, likely watched Senpai's battle with Arven, is closely associated with the Academy, and is implied to have some sort of connection to Professor Sada)(NO SPOILERS FOR THAT LAST PART IF IT'S BEEN CONFIRMED),

The teachers, and/or

Director Clavell.

Uhh I guess some hypothetical Japanese honorific stuff for Penny and Nemona:

Nemona:

She would probably want Senpai to start using just her name (ネモ Nemo) without honorifics upon his completion of Victory Road. He would say ネモさん (Nemo-san) up until that point. He would just call her "Nemona" in English.

Penny:

Senpai would say Penny's name with -san (ボタンさん Botan-san) at first, but would start saying ボタンちゃん (Botan-chan) after The Way Home. He would also use -san for Cassiopeia. He would just call her "Penny"/"Cassiopeia" in English.

[1moreff-creator]

(01) Levi Fontana - First Trial (DRDT-Milgram AU)

Hey there! We’re officially starting the First trial, and it’s Levi’s turn! With his Voice Drama: Minimalism, and his Music Video (concept): Torn Stitches! As well as the voting at the end (I'm using Tumblr one week polls to not overcomplicate things). I’ve decided (for now at least) not to do post-MV interrogation questions because… I don’t know what to do with them? They would just be a bunch of headcanons for the most part, so I don’t think they would be too important. I might make them later, but not now. 

Anyways. Below is a vague, not entirely serious attempt at a thumbnail for this "video" (ID in alt text). The sprite is from the official gallery of course. 

CW murder and blood (description of a fight). Not afiliated with either DRDT or Milgram.

One clarification I should have probably made in Undercover: all of these prisoner’s backstories are set in the US, because that’s where the DRDT characters are from (minus possibly Teruko). This isn’t really important for Levi, but it may come up later so.

Also another thing I forgot! The idea for this AU came from this post by sunlit-haru! Thanks for the brainrot buddy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voice Drama - Minimalism

(Keep in mind this Es’ personality isn’t the same as canon, but rather it’s loosely based on a certain DRDT character)

*Footsteps*

Es: [Upbeat voice] Hello, Prisoner Number 01! It’s nice to meet you. 

Levi: Hm… Interesting. The uniform is designed to impose a sense of authority, that much is clear from the cape and the hat. The dark clothing enhances the effect, with the gloves-

E: Uh… what?

L: Oh! Apologies. Your outfit is quite intriguing, and… well, observing that kind of thing is a bit of a nervous habit of mine. 

E: Uh… huh. Well, that’s… nice! *Shuffling* Do you like it? It’s a bit more dramatic than what I’d usually wear, but I guess it’s fitting.

L: Oh? What is it you usually wear?

E: …

L: Warden?

E: Oh! Just call me Es! What’s your name, anyways? It would be kinda awkward to just keep calling you Zero One or something. 

L: … Oh. Right, where are my manners? Levi Fontana, a pleasure.

E: Nice to meet you Levi! Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself? 

L: Well… I’m XX* years old. I work as a personal stylist in a pretty large company. Uh, I’ve lived alone for a while now, and, uh...

*(Note: DRDT characters are all of an unspecified, adult college age. Understand Levi is saying a number here, I’m just not committing to a specific age)

E: …

L: …

E: …And?

L: Well, not much else. I’m not a very interesting person, I apologize.

E: No, no! That’s all very interesting! But, well, there’s… how do I put this. There’s something in particular I was hoping you'd bring up? Something I feel we… kinda have to talk about?

L: Is that so?

E: Well… this is an interrogation, you know? And here in Milgram, there is a particular aspect of your life that we’re sorta more interested in, you see.

L: Oh, the murder?

E: … Yes, the murder. 

L: I imagined. You have mentioned everyone in this prison is a killer, yes? That TV-cat thing has repeated the same a few times.

E: [Oddly serious] It’s a dog, actually. 

L: … Really?

E: *Clears throat* Like you said, all of you have taken lives. Interrogating these situations is the fundamental purpose of Milgram. 

L: I see. And you know we are murderers without a shadow of a doubt? I would find that quite impressive.

E: Milgram has deigned you murderers, and I have full faith it is right in its assessment. 

L: Very well. In that case, yes, I am a murderer. 

E: … Just like that?

L: Well, yes. I killed someone. That makes a murderer, does it not? 

E: Uh, yeah, but… you seem oddly calm about this.

L: Am I? I suppose this is not quite how most people would confess to murder. But if I’m frank, I cannot bring myself to pretend to be sorry for what I did. 

E: Oh! That’s… huh.

L: …

E: I mean, why? Why do you not regret it? Surely killing someone is something no one would ever want to do, right?

L: Perhaps that’s how you view it, but… well. The person I killed had to die. It’s as simple as that. 

E: … Well, that’s a- That’s a pretty simplistic view, which is fine, I suppose. Isn’t that a bit cold-hearted, though?

L: I have been told that, yes. Hm... I suppose I should watch the other prisoners to learn how normal murderers should handle themselves.

E: Huh? I don’t think… Wait, why is that your first instinct?

L: Oh? Well… I have never been very good with my emotions. It’s usually better if I simply act the way normal people act. 

E: That doesn’t sound healthy.

L: Perhaps. It… hasn’t always worked out very well. I thought if I acted more like my family… ah, I probably shouldn’t talk about that kind of thing.

E: Hm?

L: Yeah, ignore that. 

E: Uh, if you say so... But that’s still quite a bit to unpack there. 

L: Is it? 

E: *sigh* Alright, listen. I have a lot to say about… that, but we have only a limited amount of time, and I still don’t know anything about your murder. 

L: Hm.

E: Look, Levi. I am not here to merely condemn you for what you’ve done. I am here to decide if you are Forgiven or Unforgiven. But as of now, I have little to make that judgement. If you just explain what happened, I'm sure you'll be able to convince me to Forgive- augh!

*Chair being pushed, something falls*

L: Es? 

E: Ugh- *Shuffling noises* Stand down. I am fine. 

L: Are… you certain?

E: [Noticeably more serious] As I was saying. To make a proper judgement, I must be deeply aware of the intricacies of your crime. Explain yourself. 

L: Wait. Why did you just-?

E: Irrelevant. Zero One, explain yourself.

L: … Alright, I suppose? But unfortunately, it is probably for the best if I refrain from speaking of my crime. 

E: What- What do you mean, Levi?

L: I am… not good with words, either. I fear by attempting to explain myself, I will only make things worse. From what I understand, you will be able to see directly into my mind? I believe that would be the best way for you to truly understand what I’ve done.

E: Really? You know you won’t have control of what’s shown, right? For all you know, it could show things as worse than they actually are! Don’t you want to clarify things now that you can?

L: You speak as if I have full control of my words. Frankly, I fear that my temper might flare up if… if I think about that piece of shit for too long. 

E: !

L: Oh, apologies! I did not mean to... *sigh* See what I mean?

E: Oh! No, you just… startled me is all. Why don’t you tell me more about this, uh, piece of… the person you’re talking about?

L: …

E: …Why are you looking at me like you want to kill me?

L: Ah. Apologies. That anger was not directed at you. As I said, it is difficult for me to talk about… about him without growing angry. And that’s- that’s something I have been trying to work on.

E: I… see. That’s a shame. 

L: It is not important. I have always been of the opinion that actions define people better than words ever could, especially when it comes to me. That video will probably show you the circumstances of my crime much better than I ever could.

E: Hm… I understand! But, without knowing what it’s going to show, aren’t you worried I might not Forgive you for it?

L: Hm… If I am frank, I do not yet know how to feel about this… Forgiveness you speak of.

E: Oh?

L: Well, I believe I did the right thing. I am not sure your words would change my mind. So, I am not worried about what you think of me. 

E: Uh… do you even know what happens if you’re not Forgiven?

L: I do not. Can I ask what the consequences are?

E: …

L: … Do you… not know either?

E: I mean, it could be pretty bad, you know? 

L: That’s not very convincing-

*Machinery whirs*

L: Hm?

E: Oh. Looks like we ran out of time. The extraction machine is starting. 

L: I see. 

E: *sigh* Very well! I’ll keep your words in mind! Let’s see what your actions say about what kind of person you are.

L: I suppose that would be fair. 

E: In that case. 

Prisoner 01, Levi Fontana: sing your sins!

(Oh wow I actually wrote a full VD. I mean, I think it's shorter than normal VDs, but I ain’t writing all that. Hope that was good enough)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trial 1 Cover: Panda Hero by HACHI

(Because I am unburdened by the laws of the land (copyright), I can give these people any song to cover I want! Hehe. I’ll keep it Vocaloid only, you know, for fun. Probably imagine the covers in English, since the songs in the MVs are written to work in English)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music Video - Torn Stitches

(So obviously I’m not going to actually make a song, I am not a musician to any extent, but I will make lyrics. Text between brackets is explaining what’s going on musically. Text in parenthesis are author’s note. Text in italics and citation thingy are lyrics. The rest is a description of the video)

(Also because no one has to animate this I get to go a little wild hehe)

[Silence]

The video opens on a shot of Levi with a black background, wearing a plain white shirt, leggings and shoes, standing with a hand on his chin and his eyes closed. He’s surrounded by clothes racks full of similar white shirts. The shot widens through a doorway, showing the room Levi is standing in is lit up by bright blue lights, and its floor is made up of white tiles (like the thumbnail room). A small sign is visible over the doorway. It reads “For self-expression.”

[Drumsticks are hit against each other as an opener. The classic “1, 2, 3, 4”]

Levi opens his eyes. On beat with the drumsticks, the lighting in the room changes around him, along with the sign on the door.

Orange lighting fills the room as the sign reads “Streetwear.” There are several shirts and pants spread across the ground.

Then it’s red lighting alongside “For the family.” Mannequins (like the ones you'd find at clothes stores) without clothes surround Levi.

Purple lighting, “Work clothes.” Desks replace the mannequins. 

Finally, it switches back to blue with the “For self-expression” sign. 

[The music kicks in fully. Imagine… Oh it is hard to describe music when you know nothing about it huh? Just- vaguely punk rock, somewhat fast paced. Metaphorically, it sounds like someone’s anger boiling just under their skin. Think of the beginning of Kotoko’s cover of Anti-Beat extended across most of the song. Does that even fit the genre I said? I have no idea]

Still with blue light, there’s a shot of his back as he quickly puts on the light blue polo shirt he wears in canon. A pop-up appears, pointing at it with text reading:

Blue Polo Shirt

Casual, simple, pragmatic. The color could speak of a calm and reliable person, but it may come off as too cold by itself.

Next, a shot of his hand as he puts on a black fingerless glove.

Black Gloves

Stylish accessory which signifies a person of action. Black is easy to combine with other colors for good aesthetics. 

We see the top half of Levi’s body as he walks forward, a title card appearing to fill up time. The camera focuses on his feet, wearing black boots, as he steps though the door. It lingers for another pop-up to appear.

Black Boots

Stylish. Useful for people who walk a hard path.

[The music slows down to let the lyrics take center stage. Again, I’m sorta using Anti-Beat as a basis]

The sun rises in the East, But I can feel none of its warmth.

We’re still in the same room as before, except the lighting has changed to orange. Levi looks at several blank mannequins wearing different clothes and facing different ways. The shot focuses on three of them, and pop-ups appear for their clothes.

Light Green Dress

A welcoming color that may be worn by a friendly, calm person.

Yellow Shirt

A warm and happy color. The user might be going through a joyous moment of their life.

Blue Denim Shorts

Simple, safe choice, for someone who may pay attention to their appearance, but doesn’t think about it too much.

Black Tank Top

Sporty, good for athletic people. Safe choice, but may sometimes represent someone’s despair.

White Shorts

Perfect for going on a run in the warmer parts of the year.

It switches to another two.

Pink Dress

Simple and upbeat. Good for more cutesy aesthetics.

Orange Shirt

Warm, inviting, happy. Incidentally, it’s a complementary color to blue.

It’s hard for a heart to beat, (I) When it is frozen as a rock (II)

(I) The lighting changes to purple as we get a front-facing shot of Levi walking past a desk. A mannequin sits on the other side, and a pop-up appears on its clothes.

Suit and Tie

Professional, but uncomfortable. This particular user really needs the work, but they do not like it.

(II) Then, we see him next to another mannequin. Levi is staring at this one, which is facing a clothes rack. A pop-up appears on its clothes, but also on a green hoodie in the clothes rack.

Neon Yellow Hoodie

Apologies, this one is too hideous to analyze.

Light Green Hoodie

They’re going to pick this one. It’s better for their aesthetic.

Yet…

We get a close-up of Levi sighing.

[The music begins building up, with fast drum beats in between lyrics. The lyrics themselves are quick and abrupt]

I have to make it work

Now with red lighting, Levi is sitting at a table, eating spaghetti. He’s no longer wearing gloves.

Next to him sit two teenage boys (not mannequins) with short hair of the same color as Levi’s, though their eyes aren’t drawn. Plates of spaghetti are also in front of them. The one on Levi’s right (our left) is wearing the following shirt, with another pop-up.

Heartbreaker Shirt

His favorite. 

Meanwhile, on Levi’s left, the other boy’s shirt looks like this, with the pop-up:

Party Shirt

His favorite. 

For the ones that even I can love

The scene switches to the head of the table. On it sits an older man with glasses and a grey shirt with black stains. 

Glasses

He’s smart.

Grey Shirt.

His favorite.

The boy with the Party Shirt is still somewhat visible to the man’s right. To his left, another teenage boy, this one with hair covering his eyes and hunched over in his chair, who has this shirt:

Theater Shirt

His favorite.

A middle aged woman sits to that boy’s left, across from where Levi would be. She has long brown hair, and like the other two, her eyes aren’t drawn. She’s wearing bronze, reddish earrings shaped like camellias, and a black dress.

Bronze Earrings

A gift from my father. She likes them.

Black Dress 

Her favorite. 

The things they feel and I do not

The camera focuses on one last person, but only their smiling mouth and shirt are visible.

Skull Shirt

His favorite. 

I’ll take them all and with them sow…

Back to Levi, the table disappears, but he’s still sitting. The lighting has changed to blue, and now he’s only wearing the blue polo shirt (and grey pants). The two boys which had been next to him have changed into clothes hangers holding their shirts. Levi looks around confused, before his gaze lingers on making eye contact with the center of the screen. 

[Chorus! The instrumental kicks it up a notch. The lyrics are very growly, leaning on Levi’s deep voice to give them some power (what am I saying again?)]

A patchwork heart beating along! (I) Can’t collapse, now keep it warm! (II) Even if it’s freezing, I’ll just fix it, make the passion thaw! (III)

(I) The camera flips, and this is shown:

The heart pumps with the beat of the song. 

(II) Back to Levi, who quickly turns to the shirts on the clothes hanger. His expression still looks a bit aghast.

(III) The camera focuses on the Skull Shirt on a hanger, zooming in. It turns back to Levi, who becomes more serious. He nods. 

A patchwork heart beating along!  Can’t collapse, now keep it warm!  Even if it’s freezing, I’ll just fix it, make the passion thaw! 

As the chorus repeats, Levi grabs the shirt he was looking at. Then, we get a few frames of him sowing things just off screen. Shots of needles, thread, that kinda stuff. 

[There’s a small instrumental part to keep the energy from the chorus for a bit longer] 

We get a full shot of the heart, which now looks like this:

Then, we see Levi smiling looking at it. However, he then frowns. 

A patchwork heart beating along!

The camera focuses on one of the black sections of the heart, the one which before just had fire. Now, the full symbol the Skull Shirt had is seen; skull and fire. 

[More instrumental for a moment]

Levi looks on perturbed. Suddenly, he startles and turns around. 

[Back to verse music]

All lives yearn for a yarn to spin, (I) Yet I fear I’m losing the thread. (II)

(I) Purple lighting. The same mannequin as before, wearing the same neon yellow hoodie, is holding out the green hoodie from before for Levi to see. 

(II) We zoom in on Levi’s face, as he turns to the side, and frowns a bit.

The mirror used to build up what’s “me”, I see it now, it starts to break.

Without overhead lighting, we see a full body mirror showing a completely different scene, which becomes clearer as we zoom in further. On our left, we see a mannequin wearing a grey hoodie, an orange spotlight shining on it. On our right, the boy with the Skull Shirt looks animated, his mouth open as if talking to the mannequin. His hair is the same color as the others’, except for red highlights (think the blond part of Mikoto’s hair). There is a red spotlight on him. A pop-up appears pointing at the mannequin’s hoodie.

Grey Hoodie

Commonly used by villains.

Yet…

We further zoom in on the mannequin’s right hand, which is stained by a splatter of black liquid.

[Chorus build-up again]

If I could get it right

The purple lighting returns as Levi looks back at the mannequin with the yellow hoodie. He nods, and we get a close up of him snapping his fingers. 

But there’s little that I can do fine

The mannequin now has blush on, wearing the green hoodie with a yellow shirt underneath. It’s also wearing a deep purple skirt. A pop-up.

Proposed Outfit

At least I’m not bad at this. 

Even smaller things feel like they’re too much

Red lighting, on a shot of Levi’s back. He turns around, but we can’t see his face. The shot switches to show the back of the “skull shirt” boy, again lit up by a red spotlight. We also see as the back of the grey hoodie mannequin from before, hand still stained and still lit up by an orange spotlight. The boy is talking to the mannequin again, gesturing towards it, but now he’s wearing a grey hoodie which is hanging off one of his shoulders. His hand is stained by a splatter of black liquid. 

It just feels like there’s no helping my…

The shot zooms in on the stained hand. 

We get a close up of Levi’s mouth, red lighting still noticeable. He snarls.

[Chorus again]

Patchwork heart beating along! (I) Can’t collapse, now keep it warm! (II) Even if it’s freezing, (III) come on fix it, make the passion thaw! (IV)

(I) We see the heart beating to the beat again, once more with blue lighting, and now it looks like this:

(II) We switch to Levi sitting, looking slightly up as if staring at the heart, expression serious. 

(III) We get a different shot of Levi, now hunched over while sitting on a chair. His expression is still serious. Something out of focus is covering the foreground, and Levi turns to look at it. 

(IV) The camera flips to the thing he was staring at. It’s the purple sleeveless jacket he wears in canon, as well as his canon set of purple gloves and his pink tie. Pop-ups!

Purple Jacket

My favorite. Reminds me of work.

Pink Tie

Stylish yet professional. Reminds me of work.

Magenta Gloves

Comfortable. Cover a lot. Remind me of work. 

A patchwork heart beating along! (I) Can’t collapse, now keep it warm! (II) Even if it’s freezing, (III) I’ll just fix it, make the passion thaw! (IV)

(I) We switch to the purple boots he wears in canon. Levi’s out of focus in the background.

Purple Boots

Comfortable. Remind me of work. 

(II) We get another shot of Levi looking at the clothes, with a contemplative expression. The heart can be seen beating in the background. 

(III) Close-up of Levi sighing.

(IV) Another shot of the jacket and gloves, except now Levi grabs them. 

[Unlike last time, the music doesn’t linger, but rather switches to a bridge. The music is still pretty energetic, but less powerful than in the chorus]

Perhaps it would be better… (I) To give up and let it be, (II) Worse to burn rather than freeze (III)

(I) Levi contemplates the clothes he grabbed. 

(II) We cut to him putting an arm through the purple jacket. 

(III) The jacket is now hanging off one of his shoulders, as he’s putting the other hand through the hole where the sleeve would be. Before he fully puts it on, he looks to the side. 

But still, I would regret it… (I) Abandoning them all, (II) Let the core of my soul rot (III)

(I) We see the grey hoodie mannequin again. Still lit up by the orange spotlight, still with black liquid on its hands. Skull Shirt boy is also there, again lit up red, again talking, again with a grey hoodie hanging off his shoulder, again with stains on his hands.

This time, though, the other three boys from the table scene are also there. They’re all lit up by red spotlights, and they all also have grey hoodies hanging off one shoulder. Heartbreaker Shirt and Party Shirt have similar talkative expressions, while Theater Shirt is hunched over with a placid smile on his face.

(II) The screen splits in three zoomed in shots of the new boys’ hands. They’re all stained with black liquid. 

(III) Back to a shot of Levi’s face with blue lighting, he seems to be staring at the other boys with a concerned expression. In the background, a clothes hanger with a grey hoodie comes into focus. 

So, instead… 

We get a close-up of Levi’s chest, and we see his mouth as he sighs. The jacket falls off his shoulder. 

[Pre-chorus music again]

I have to make things right

Close-up of the clothes hanger with the grey hoodie, and Levi grabs it roughly. As the music-only part plays, we get a shot of his back at an angle as he looks at the hoodie, his jacket fully off.

Protect them all, just one last time

We see Levi putting on the hoodie. First one arm, then the other. He puts on brass knuckles. Pop-ups:

Grey Hoodie

…

Brass Knuckles

…

We focus on his head as he throws the hoodie over it. The lighting fades into orange. 

Doesn’t matter there’s no going back

The shot focuses back on the mannequin with the hoodie, orange spotlight still there. The camera is shaking. The shot goes back to Levi, who is walking at first, but then starts running. 

After all, there is no saving my…

There’s quick flashing between Levi running with orange lighting and the grey hoodie, with a background that slowly turns white; then the thumbnail image; back to the grey hoodie; then a shot of Levi’s back as he stares at the heart with blue lighting. The Levi that stares at the heart is wearing his canon outfit (purple jacket - gloves - boots).

[The music goes silent, a preparation for a beat drop]

The video slows down as we focus on the grey hoodie mannequin. The camera “blinks” and the mannequin turns into a human; a scraggly man with an uneven beard and short black hair, wearing the same grey hoodie. He's facing away, but turns around as the camera closes in. The environment changes; the colored lighting disappears, and we are now in an alleyway. 

A shot of Levi from the man’s back, as Levi braces for a right hook.

Patchwork heart (I) beating along! (II) Just once more, weather the storm! (III) Even if it’s freezing, I can’t fix it, it will never thaw! (IV)

(I) A close-up of the man’s stomach, as Levi’s punch connects with his gut. 

(II) Right as the punch connects, the scene switches to one of the heart’s stitches, between the Party Shirt and the Theater Shirt. Levi’s hand is now grabbing those stitches, and he pulls on them. The camera follows his hand as he rips them from the heart, blue blood splattering all over.

(III) Back to the alleyway, the man shoves Levi away. He throws a left hook at Levi’s face, but Levi ducks to his left and throws his own left hook at the man’s stomach. 

(IV) The scene again switches to the heart, with Levi grabbing the stitches between the Skull Shirt section and the Heartbreaker section with his left hand. The shot quickly switches to Levi’s face, which is splattered with blue blood. He frowns. Back to the heart, and Levi’s fist clenches.

Ripping, bleeding out a song! (I) Break it now, (II) then have it sown! (III) Patchwork heart beating alone! (IV) I will keep on living, (V) even living with my stitches torn! (VI) 

(I) Again, Levi rips out the stitches, causing blue blood to splatter.

(II) Back to the alley, we get a close-up of the man falling to one knee from pain. Levi raises his right fist…

(III) Back to the blue lighting, black background and heart. Levi’s holding up loose threads with blue blood on his raised right hand.

(IV) Back to the alleyway, we get a shot from the man’s back as Levi punches him in the head with his brass knuckles, recreating his Undercover killshot. The man spits out (red) blood. 

(V) A shot of Levi from behind his ankles, the man’s body lying still in the background, blood under him.

(VI) The shot pans up quickly, switching back to the heart scene as “stitches torn” is sung. We get one good look at the heart, which is now fully blue, but filled with gashes where the stitches used to be. 

[The music begins winding down for the ending]

The shot pans backwards to let us see Levi’s back, the heart beating more slowly and not with the beat anymore. He’s wearing his full canon outfit. There’s a glitch effect as the heart disappears, and the lighting changes to orange, but Levi’s outfit doesn’t change. The room is completely empty, but there’s (red) blood splatters on the floor.

My stitches torn!

The lighting changes to red, and while Levi’s clothes don’t change, the room is now completely barren. A few moments after, the lighting changes to purple, the same desks from the beginning surrounding Levi who, you guessed, hasn’t changed clothes.

The shot zooms in on Levi’s back, as he sighs.

[The music fades out, save for one last lyric]

Patchwork heart beating along!

He turns around, the screen glitches again as he does. The lighting is now white, and the background has changed to the wall with the height marks of one of the Undercover cells. Levi’s clothes change to the Milgram uniform, and he holds up his Undercover prisoner card. A final pop-up appears on the uniform.

Strange Clothes

The outfit of a murderer

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MonoTV: I see you’ve made it to the end of the post!

Es: Huh?

M: Now, it’s time to hand out the verdict! Make sure to think carefully, you only have one vote, and one week to decide how you’re gonna vote!

E: Wait, who are you talking to?

M: Will you make the right choice? Or the wrong one? 

E: Uh…

M: Trick question! There is no right choice! It’s just a choice!

E: Hello? Is there anyone there? 

M: With that, it’s…

VOTING TIME!!!

[katsigian]

Context and Dispelling Misinformation

There was a vaguepost shared within the cp77 fandom by another person and it really needs some context and clarification. This is the only time I will talk about this and after I share this, I am moving on with my life and not returning to it.

I am going to say this first: do not use this a reason to attack others. This is not drama or discourse and once I share this, I will be moving on and not adding more to it. Do not take this as an attack or an attempt to stir up shit, because it is not in any way, shape or form. All this is, is to clarify a vaguepost that concerns me and other people who have the same concern as me.

This vaguepost was directed towards me and a post that I had made in a small, private server consisting of people I considered to be my friends. The basic context of this is; I made a post expressing my feelings of loneliness and isolation and it was completely misconstrued and then vague-posted about in a very invalidating and hurtful way. The post in question invalidates all the other people who have also expressed their feelings of being left out and unwanted before. Because I am not the only person who has talked about feeling like they don't belong in the fandom. Are all of those people 'whiny asses' too? (Check alt text for description of images)

My post had absolutely nothing to do with this person. I did not mention them, I did not refer to them, I was only expressing something that I had been worrying about in a channel dedicated specifically to offering support in my small, personal server. I genuinely do not know why they felt the need to make this vague post and say the things they said in it.

Also, nowhere in my post did I make any mention of being concerned about the number of notes. I did not say or imply anywhere that I'm scared of losing notes or reblogs. Because I'm not worried about that. What I said was that I'm scared I won't have a place to belong because I've always been an outsider. I'm not part of any cliques or groups and I never have been. I don't think it's me being a 'whiny ass' to want human connection and to want people I can talk to and be friends with. Is it stupid of me to want friends? Is it stupid of all the other people who have expressed similar sentiments?

I vented in my small, cp77 based server called Red Dirt to people that I believed were my friends about something that's been worrying me since late 2022. I wasn't aware that being vulnerable in front of my friends was "attention-seeking, whiny ass" behaviour and I didn't know that I'd be seen as annoying for getting something off of my chest. I genuinely thought that the people in that server were people I could trust and people I could be open with hence why it remained in the server.

This post invalidates a lot of people's feelings and it's just plain hurtful to name-call people for wanting human connection. It's not just me who has been open about feeling left out and ignored. I'm not the only person who has expressed that they feel unwanted and like they don't belong anymore in the fandom. Another person very recently has expressed similar sentiments and had valid concerns. Another vague-post by the same person was made in regards to that and was again, very invalidating and hurtful. It's ironic that this person, after targeting someone who has never done anything wrong to anyone, stated "stay kind" as if them hurting a large group of people was kind and peaceful.

Going forward, all I'm asking for are two things; some compassion and empathy for people who are struggling in the fandom, and to not resort to ranty, targeted vagueposts as a means to try solve personal-level issues. Vagueposts don't solve problems. We have seen this multiple times in this fandom. All they do is open up the doors to harmful assumptions and allow for misconstruing words/intentions into something they are not. This kind of misinformation creates more problems than it fixes.

[polarpace]

#10 - antpelt

WOOOO IT'S DESIGN TEN!!! this is a big milestone for me, as my goal was to get to this number before the end of the year :D

i haven't been able to draw at all for about a week, so i decided to start small and warm back up with a simpler design.

before i start talking about my thought process with antpelt here though, i need to go on a little tangent for a second!

i decided to take a look at all of my warriors designs side-by-side recently, because i was afraid that their silhouettes weren't distinct enough from each other - something probably not helped by the fact that four of the nine cats i had completed at the time are related. seeing them together quickly proved this wrong, but it made me realize other problems with my previous designs (which were confirmed by friends who i brought this up to for extra critique):

not enough variety in facial structure (including muzzle, nose, eyes, and ear placement)

not enough variety in body structure, particularly along the back and rear

so, going back into designing warrior cats, i wanted to try to immediately address those two issues. which, again, starting off with a simpler design gave me the best angle to approach that from.

i based antpelt here off of a cornish rex, a breed that has wackier proportions than the Generic Cats that i usually use as reference. they seem to usually hold themselves in a very different way, with the arch of their backs being super emphasized. plus their butts are just. very flat LOL which is a big change from how i normally seem to draw them.

their faces are also extremely triangular, which i did my best to emphasize in this design. i sort of tried to make bristlefrost and flipclaw's facial structure similar to this back when i did those designs, but i feel that it doesn't come across as well in retrospect.

i wanted to include a bit of ant influence into his design too, which i put into his ears, curved fangs, and tail. his natural stance is to curl his tail inwards, which is my attempt to have it resemble the abdomen of an ant.

ALSO ALSO this is my first time drawing a cat with a spirit alt, specifically for the place of no stars! i'm not sure if i want to commit to doing this with EVERY cat - especially since i'd need to go back and add it to a few - but with this simpler design it felt less intimidating. his hackles are raised when dead because he's ready to FIGHT.

i'm definitely not the first person to portray it in this way, but my headcanon is that the dying wound of a cat that goes to the place of no stars appears as an empty, gaping hole that sometimes seems to shift... deaths that are more vague, should i draw cats who fit that descriptor, will manifest a bit differently.

thank you for reading this block of text if you did. as a reward, here's a WIP where i turned off his eyebrows layer.

[tarmac-rat]

THE NIGHT CITY GLOSSARY

Seta; 27 years old; Wayward NJ Daughter; ♐️ ; Italian-American/Ukrainian-American; Been playing the game since 2020; Platonic SilverV Truther; #1 Johnny Silverhand Bullier; Temperance Ending Conspiracy Theorist; Reader of many books and haver of many opinions

This tagged post indexing this blog is honestly long overdue. Back in my day, people used to go onto blog pages and look at tag lists there. Oh well.

Below, you'll find a list of all the things I've tagged over this blog, including personal tags, character tags, linked works, and the like. I'm not putting this under a Read More-- frankly with the amount of time it took to create, you all get to stare at it. Seta's got LOTS of content, baby!

____________________________________________

Tag List:

SETA CORNER:

Aldi speaks - Main posting tag for anything I create: text, image, and beyond Aldi memes - Main posting tag for jokes, shitposts, memes, and image edits Aldi writes - Main posting tag for writing and WIP-posting

SETTING:

Cyberpunk 2077 - Main tag for the game itself Phantom Liberty* - Items tagged specifically for the DLC* *Spoilers for PL are no longer tagged, so please proceed at your own risk

OTHER V'S AND ORIGINAL CHARACTERS:

V (general) - Tag for any Vs that are base-game Male or Female V, and not specific to any user. Other People’s V’s- Tag for any individual, unique Vs posted to Tumblr. This is a massive catch-all tag for all OCs tagged with V-tags, so there's a lot in here; I don't organize my M! or F!, specific names, whatever. We are all equal under my tag, baby.

MY V:

Riley Aldana DOB: December 10th, 2052 || Birthplace: Flagstaff, AZ || Lifepath: Nomad || Height: 5'9 / 175 cm || Hair: Electric Blue || Eyes: Neon Green || Sidearm: Malorian Overture || Vehicle: Yaiba Kusanagi CT-3X || Status: Still alive, very tired

- A tag featuring photos, writings, drawings, memes, and info about my own V, whom I love and adore and would rub in everyone's faces if I had the time for it.

CHARACTER TAGS:

Johnny Silverhand

Jackie Welles

Judy Alvarez

River Ward

Panam Palmer

Kerry Eurodyne

Alt Cunningham

Rogue Amendiares

Hanako Arasaka

Evelyn Parker

Viktor Vector

Goro Takemura

Nibbles

Songbird

Solomon Reed

____________________________________________

Fics*: *All my Cyberpunk fics range from T-M ratings, are Gen, focus on platonic relationships, and don't feature sexually explicit content. Please read the tags on each fic for more information specific to that particular work.

Rain in the Desert - My work-in-progress longfic that I started planning before the game came out, started writing 5 hours into gameplay, and published 1 month after the game's release. This fic is my ultimate baby, and while some of the writing doesn't hold up as well as I'd like (it is three years old, after all) I'm still relatively happy with it. Despite appearances to the contrary, I AM still working on it. I'm just slow and my writing/editing process is a nightmare.

The Last Lost Continent - A spur-of-the-moment rewrite of Boat Drinks but with some plot adjustments more befitting of my specific V. Namely-- she can't swim.

The Wheel of Fortune and the Hanged Man - A rewrite-turned-character study of the Hellman interrogation to more align with my V's canon.

____________________________________________

Playlists:

SilverV Playlist but it's just Vibes and Vague Associations - My ultimate Johnny and V playlist, chock-full of songs that I think fit their general arc over the game (not specific to my own V and Johnny's relationship arc). There are songs here for romantic SilverV, platonic SilverV, and whatever labels are found in-between. This is the playlist that gets updated the most, generally.

Rain in the Desert - A companion playlist of sorts to my longfic. This is my oldest CP2077-centered playlist and the only one where the songs are in a specific order.

The Wheel of Fortune - My playlist for Riley specifically, and the twin playlist to The Hanged Man. Leans more EDM/techno.

The Hanged Man - My playlist for Johnny specifically, and the twin playlist to The Wheel of Fortune. Leans more rock 'n roll/punk.

____________________________________________

Additional Information:

Been Good to Queue Ya - My queue tag. This baby runs on varying intervals and is chock full of all that good Cyberpunk-related stuff. I generally reblog based on a queue system these days save for special occasions, and I give this queue a good shuffle every now and then, so posts at the bottom probably won't stay there.

[[FAQ FOR "NIGHT SKY" POST]]

Also:

Please don't use my photos, memes, etc. without at least asking me. I'm generally pretty amiable to letting people use my stuff with a shoutout, but I will be pissed if I find my stuff being paraded around without a heads up.

Please don't tag any of my writing or photos featuring my specific V and Johnny as 'SilverV'. They aren't a couple. I am very vocal about this.

I'm in a few Discords but I'm not entirely active there. If you tag me specifically, though, I'll usually come running.

Feel free to follow my main blog @setaflow for more general posting. Followbacks will generally come from there. I also have some ancient Cyberpunk posts on that blog if you dig deep enough.

[ocean-sapphics]

what are ocean sapphics? & flags!

'ocean' is the umbrella grouping term for presentation labels that lesbian & bi/pan sapphics can use regarding femininity, masculinity, and androgyny.

these terms were initially coined by strwbryfemme on twitter, using their gimmick account sapphicimagines back in january of 2022. both accounts have since been deactivated and therefore this thread is long gone. i found them in an old flag hoard album on my camera roll recently and decided to respectfully reupload them in case anyone else would enjoy.

NOTE #1: i will not be putting the rest of this, admittedly quite long, post under a ‘read more’ cut due to the fact that all the information would be lost if someone decided to reblog it and the original post ended up gone sometime in the future. you would not be able to view anything under it, since whatever is there can only be seen on the original page. i apologize if you have to scroll a lot because of this, but that’s unfortunately one of the many inconvenient ways tumblr works.

NOTE #2 (MUST READ): i felt it would be best to swap their usage of 'pearl' to mean masc, not androgyne. this is because these chosen words feel unbalanced in their meanings to me. 'ocean' feels too broad and vague to cover just one category (hence why i made it overarching instead), and doesn't fit its place in the hierarchy of the theme. it'd be like saying, for example: 'cat' is fem, 'animal' is masc, and 'dog' is androgynous; instead of saying 'cat' is fem, 'dog' is masc, and 'furry' (lmao idk ok? bear with me) is androgynous. i then turned what was previously 'pearl' into 'coral' as a replacement, since that made more sense from my perspective. if this confuses you while reading the tweets below, i have put my corrections for the labels/flags in alt text, which you can click on each image to access. if that doesn't help, feel free to ask questions. i tried to make this as easy and least complex as possible, so i apologize if that didn't work.

NOTE #3: if cat (strwbryfemme) and/or atlas (ilikegaycookies, who designed the bi flags btw) finds this and would like me to take it down, i will do so upon request, directly or indirectly, and also delete this blog. i intend no disrespect to either of you and i'm posting this because i like your ideas and don't want them to rot and be forgotten anymore than they already have. i edited the words themselves because i thought they would fit better, but i can also revert them back to their original versions if need be.

with that out of the way, let’s get onto the flags first!

sapphic:

lesbian:

bisexual:

information (REMINDER THAT I HAVE RE-COINED A COUPLE OF TERMS. READ ALT TEXT TO KNOW WHICH WORDS TO SWAP OUT WHEN READING THE SCREENSHOTS!):

any and all help with IDs/PTs are appreciated! i do not have the spoons to write them out as of now due to the rest of the work i'm putting into this post, but if someone wants to volunteer then i can put all the text into a rentry (or multiple) and edit it here to make the images more accessible to disabled readers. thank you!

here is some more stuff i would like to add (please also read these too if you are interested in claiming, or even if you are not on board with all this):

you should keep in mind that i am a white tme bi sapphic who knows my history and claims 'butch', so i will not argue about butch/femme discourse because i strongly support the terms not being lesbian-exclusive. however, it should be understood that i still know my place and privilege regarding other applicable aspects and do not wish to offend anyone or start discourse here. this post is simply a reupload and attempt at re-suggesting cute terms for personal use only, entirely by choice. they are not designed to be forced on anyone or become mainstream, especially not to replace femme/butch/futch or even the infamous doe/stag/tomcat. you do not have to like these or agree with them. you are allowed to dismiss the idea and move on as it wasn't made to erase or hurt anyone. please hold anyone who does spread these in bad faith accountable, thanks.

with that being said, it is my opinion that we should grant their wishes for wanting to keep this series exclusive to the sapphic community. i do not personally consider either of these individuals to be overall 'bad people', even if we disagree on some things heavily. they still deserve respect for the positive contributions they have made to our community, which is why, again, i will remove all of the above without hesitation if asked by a credible messenger.

one last thing to be reminded of ─ if anyone else ends up playing around with the theme of these terms + flags, for any given reason (such as designing pan/trans/enby/etc. versions), please do not use the word 'fish', especially if you are also white, as that already exists within a Black-exclusive context to be a cultural identity adjacent to 'femme'! i will not speak or give an opinion about what to do or not if you are Black, as i'm sure you will be able to take it from there.

this is not necessary to read, so you can stop now lol ─ anyway, thank you for your attention, and enjoy! reblogs are appreciated, and comments will be listened to. if you have any complaints directed towards the content itself, then i unfortunately cannot help you with that as said content is not really mine. however, i will try to respond to stuff related to my act of reuploading and/or adjusting the terminology. remember that i self-identify as butch and am critical of coining ideas with a similar purpose to doe/stag, but obviously i am not against it. as long as you can understand my point of view, your opinions will matter, even if they (respectfully!) dissent. have a lovely rest of your day/night!

[burins]

The wonderful @suedeuxnim asked me about where libraries in Gotham might be, and because of the person that I am, I gave them an entire map with notes. I thought other people might find it interesting! Images are described in alt text.

I used Jersey City's libary system as a model for the number of branch libraries here, assuming a vaguely similar level of funding and population size. Obviously I don't have census tract population data to place these, so I'm going off my gut and also the supremely helpful maps over at Batman Gotham City. This is also assuming that Barbara hasn't made direct eye contact with Bruce and made him donate tons and tons of money to the library. in which case all of this goes out the window lol

Central branch! This is in Old Gotham, and is probably a beautiful 19th century building built with Gilded Age guilt money a la the NYPL Central Library or Boston's Central Branch.

I put one branch in Chinatown that also serves the Upper West Side. Depending on when it was built, this branch might be in the UWS instead of Chinatown (I don't know anything about the development patterns of Gotham and I suspect neither does DC.) Its being further south in Chinatown would also allow it to serve Tricorner Yards, though it seems like that's probably newer development.

The Gotham U branch near the park might seem like overkill, given that presumably Gotham U kids are going to use the Gotham U library and not a public library, but otherwise there's no library on the entire northwest side of Gotham, and even with usage patterns, city planners do like to have the libraries spread pretty evenly throughout the city.

Exception: I did NOT put any branches in the Fashion District or near City Hall, because in my experience those are shopping districts where very few people actually live. However it's possible that there used to be a branch here before retail development/zoning pushed residents out and the branch closed.

Definitely at least one branch on the Upper East Side. if I was a Gotham City planner and had more money, I'd probably put one on either end of the UES, since this seems to be where a lot of people live. In this case I am assuming Gotham is underfunded because all their money goes to police helicopters, so we only get one.

Burnley/Crime Alley branch! This branch is either chronically neglected and underfunded OR someone's pet project that got a ton of grant money and attention, and now staff struggle to maintain that level of programming as the grant money runs out.

Finally, another branch up in Otisburg. This one I'm kind of iffy on but also it seems like people live up here? And it'd be a hassle to get down or across town to other branches. This is probably a smaller/bare bones branch, definitely not open on weekends.

[lemony-snickers]

welcome back, anon. your ask is very long & mentioned an ao3 author by name who i'm not sure would want to be associated with my blog, so i've taken screenshots of the ask and blocked the author & title out. ask & answer below the cut. (text id in alts as usual.)

anon, i'm sorry, but it's too early for this. some bullet points:

your ask was not motivational, it was pretty mean (or, perhaps, "blunt and negative," to use your phrasing). and while you are entitled to your opinion of me, whatever that is, i also don't understand why you would want to follow someone you find that annoying.

if you are genuinely trying to help in future, an example of someone essentially telling me the same thing in a more motivational way is the ask i received from super-kame-love yesterday which identified the same problem and also provided a resource to try and combat it. you'll note from their ask they never called me names or used demeaning language. if you're trying to be helpful, this is a better blueprint.

to be clear: those screenshots i included in my reply yesterday are not of negative comments sent to me by someone else. they are of posts i made on a private side blog on tuesday after receiving your first comment & the comment someone else (i assume someone else, anyway) sent me accusing me of sending your ask to myself for attention, which, when combined with your ask about how nagging & attention-seeking i am, made me feel like total & utter garbage. like everyone in the world felt the same way about me & hated me for it.

i use that sideblog as a vent space and you have no idea how fucking dark it gets there. i don't need anyone to leave me negative comments because anything even remotely unkind you or anyone else thinks about me, i guarantee i have already thought of & told myself a thousand times over in much crueler language. i seem sad all the time? yeah, i am sad all the time, i suffer from crippling depression & anxiety which ruins my life & i am in treatment for.

you keep repeating how much more popular smut is. you do know that i write smut, right? that the whole reason i started this blog was to write & publish smut? maybe i don't write the kind of smut you like, but i do write it.

and while sure tiktok can be used to promote fanfic (i mean, i guess? idk.), most of the people i am comparing myself to do not, so you can stop telling me about tiktok. i don't use it and i have no interest in it.

if you think i'm just "sad to gain attention," then maybe you shouldn't follow me. it doesn't seem like you enjoy following me very much if you feel the need to send these long asks about all the things i am doing wrong. i'm sorry to have confused you with the screenshots, but i am pretty uninterested in cointinuing this dialogue if i am honest.

the fact is, what you see of me as lemony-snickers is only one tiny fragment of my life. a vague citrus-shaped snippet. when you call people names (and yeah, calling me a nagging girlfriend counts, i think), it has repercussions. i'm an actual person with actual feelings that were actually hurt by what you sent. it would have hurt regardless, but it had a huge & negative impact not only on that particular day, but spiraling through the rest of my week, because of things happening in my life that you didn't see.

and lastly, anon, if you aren't leaving comments or supporting creators that you enjoy by reblogging their work, you are part of the problem. and to tell someone to stop being sad about interactions when you specifically make the choice not to interact is pretty tone deaf, honestly.

[subby-sage]

About me: I'm post-top surgery and a little over 2 years on HRT, and I'm very happy with the way I look. Taking erotic photos of myself gives me gender euphoria! I have a few kinks, mostly exhibitionism.

Mastodon (I'll be posting sexier pictures than Tumblr allows, and more consistently/sooner): https://kinky.business/@subbysage

Boundaries (a little long - most importantly, I'm not your sub):

Things that will get you insta-blocked: ❌ You're under 18 ❌ You re-upload my content anywhere (boosts and links are fine!)

Things that may get you blocked (if I like you, I might spend the necessary spoons to ask you to stop first): ❌ Bringing up impact play/discipline ❌ Acting as if I were YOUR sub (trying to assert control, kink-type degradation/praising like "good slut", using titles like "pet") ❌ Initiating DMs just to chat or sext (private compliment replies under posts are fine - I’m just not here to find a relationship/hookup/RP partner)

Things that may get you ignored/eventually muted: ❌ Suggesting actions (ex. "you should use that dildo") ❌ Asking me to show my face (I don't plan to, my goal is anonymity) ❌ Telling me about fantasies including me, even if they're very mild and vague ❌ Exchanges with the goal of flustering me ❌ Using terms for me/my body that I haven’t used for myself

Guidance on interaction: I’m here to show off and be told I’m pretty. Likes, reblogs, and follows make me happy! (Including spam-boosting/liking - you can go through my "my pics" tag, tagged on this post for convenience.) If you’re trans, nonbinary, GNC, etc., that’s a bonus. Please be 18+, though.

Replies/tags with simple compliments are also wonderful! Things like "your [body part] is so hot here", "hgldjfdsg", etc. (Please avoid fantasies, even if you’re vague.) Guidance on wording (hopefully the emoji markings work):

✅ “Cute”, "pretty", "handsome", "hot", etc. ✅ Pointing out if I look masculine and/or genderfucky ✅ “Enby”, “[queer/trans/nonbinary] person” ✅ Any body part terms I’ve used in any alt text or captions ❌ Explicitly binary-gendered terms like “man”, “mommy”, “boypussy”, etc. ❌ “Cunt”, “breasts” (in reference to my body)

[illnessfaker]

ppl who get on others' case for not captioning images annoys me so much (especially in the context of disabled spaces?? the person i'm vagueing is sighted btw) like yes ppl w/ screen readers deserve accessibility there's no arguing that and if you always have the mental and cognitive capacity to caption a bunch of images then good for you it's appreciated and it's important but expecting other people to have the same capabilities as you do and saying there's no excuse for it is like, the antithesis of disability advocacy?? +saying "use alt text or you're ableist" but not talking abt guidelines for accessible image descriptions or pointing to resources that talk about it. how much are you helping exactly if you don't bother to do that.

ppl who have impairments resulting in difficulties with cognition, language, vocabulary, etc. are not going to be especially helpful when it comes to accessible image captioning. like the person who said this is autistic & like...you know one of the main things abt autism is communication difficulties, right. this includes describing things to others.

[heliopauseentertainments]

For WIP Wednesday, I've got a tidbit from that Megatron/Thunderclash fic prompt in my inbox. I'm still formulating most of the plot, but here's a chunk.

Feat. Nightbeat! Unfortunately, the formatting broke, so italics and bold are not present in this preview.

Since escaping their original universe, the Lost Light’s crew had been in a bit of an adventure slump, at least in Nightbeat’s opinion.

An entirely new universe and for the first few months, they’d encountered nothing.

Well, asteroids and rocky planetoids that they could exploit for resources, but nothing noteworthy, nothing interesting.

So functionally… nothing.

No great mysteries worth turning his mind to.

The closest had been when Riptide had misplaced the datapad he used for a personal journal last week and had been convinced someone had taken it. Nightbeat had been fired up for uncovering some long-hidden interpersonal dispute. Unfortunately, it had simply turned out that Riptide had put it in his subspace—rather than on a nightstand as usual—and forgotten it was in there.

A classic case of “checking in the wrong place.”

Slumping against the table in Swerve’s, Nightbeat leaned on his hand, watching at Nautica fiddled with something on her souped up quantum wrench.

Major mysteries had seemingly all dried up.

They’d found Luna 1. Check.

The Ark had been found. Check.

There had been a third one, one that had been incredibly important and difficult to solve. Something about an alt-mode. He knew it had been solved. Nightbeat couldn’t really remember what it was. The fact that it was missing was almost a new worthwhile mystery on its own, but he’d already solved another case of missing his own memories before. It would probably be similar, rather than novel, and therefore less interesting.

Quasi-check.

He’d come back to it, keep it on the back-burner, so to speak.

Nightbeat opened his mouth to ask Nautica to explain the difference between fermions and bosons again, not because he hadn’t understood the first time. Rather, he wanted to see if reviewing the evidence would give him some new thread to pull on, some new yawning void in understanding to fill with truth.

The raised screen on the bar’s wall flashed on before the words could leave. Today’s issue of the Lost Light Insider was on. As usual, it was narrated by an automated, generic voice simulation software to protect the producer’s identity.

Nightbeat turned his head to watch, mouth still agape from his aborted conversation.

The Insider was usually just an exercise in yellow journalism, but at this point Nightbeat would take just about anything if it would give his languishing mind the jolt it needed.

“It’s a sad day for all the bachelor Crusadercons.”

A picture of a brightly-polished Thunderclash, smiling with his usual genuine warmth, was thrown up for the viewer’s perusal. Bold text reading “OFF THE MARKET?” was plastered on top.

“Sources close to Thunderclash have indicated that the Greatest Autobot of All Time and founder of the Thunderclash School of Heroic Arts might have a new love interest.”

That sort of headline had an obvious follow up question—

“The identity of this lucky, lucky individual is unknown.”

Finally.

A mystery.

Petty and ridiculous but he’d do it.

“I’ll take the case!” he said, to no one in particular, but vaguely in Nautica’s direction.

“Hm?” Nautica could be heard setting her wrench down. “Sorry, what was that, Nightbeat? I was distracted.”

“I’ve got a case!”

“What case?”

She hadn’t even been listening, which was unsurprising. Nautica had never cared for the Insider either. Nightbeat had just been at his wits’ end.

Nightbeat simply pointed at the screen, still displaying the earlier image as the narrator repeated the initial details with different phrasings to pad for time.

Nautica frowned at him, disapproving.

“Is it… really any of our business, Nightbeat?” No, but that was separate. “Just be happy for Thunderclash and—“

“I’m not unhappy for him! I’m just desperate for a case!” Nightbeat slapped the table before standing up to get started. “Sure, ‘who’s frying Thunderclash’s circuits’ isn’t exactly epic, I’ll take it.”

[a-captions-blog]

[Image descriptions, taken from alt text: 1. Black and white comic with simple digital drawings.

Text: I didn't want anything when my mental health was at its worst just to stop hurting Panel 1: A silhouette of a person with earbuds in sitting in front of a laptop in a dark room. The laptop casts light. Text: I slept and watched youtube for a long time

Panel 2: repeating tile of a silhouette in bed and a silhouette watching a laptop with earbuds in. The linework is white on a black background and begin to fade out in the bottom right corner. 2. Black background.

Panel 1: Panel is in the shape of negative space the light from the laptop makes. The person has dot eyes and is watching the laptop screen with earbuds in.

Panel 2: Same panel but further down the page and slightly to the right.

Background fades to white towards the bottom of the page. Panel 3: A view from behind the person watching the laptop to show the screen. A video is playing of three people sitting in a row with a geometric pattern behind them. It's a shot from Dimension 20's Ravening War.

3. Panel 1: The top half of the person sitting in darkness. They have no features except for two dot eyes staring straight ahead. Text: This makes me feel something.

Panel 2: A pencil on a surface.

Panel 3: A hand reaching into frame over the pencil. Text: I want to make art about it

4. Panel 1: The person drawing in a sketchbook with the pencil. A paper emerges from the side with the vague portrait of a girl with a hood. It's Karna from The Ravening War. Underneath the first paper is a second piece of paper with a little radish man running. It's Raphaniel from The Ravening War. Text: You're so cool, I want to do cool stuff too

Panel 2: The person with dot eyes smiling and talking with a person with square glasses, a short ponytail, shorts, and a t shirt. She is holding a paintbrush with paint on it while they stand in front of a mural on the wall of plants and flowers. There are two paintbuckets on the ground behind them.

Panel 3: Two onigiri on a square plate. The one on the left has an egg yolk on it and the one on the right has a bite taken out. Text: This tastes SO GOOD, I want to have more sometime

5. Panel 1: 3 pieces of comics stacked on top of one another and slightly offset. In the composition of the page on top is the text: I want to make a story that goes this way Panel 2: A book with a thin bookmark sticking out the bottom and a tassle sticking out the top. Text on the cover: I want to finish this book Panel 3: An open laptop with several tabs open in the screen. It's open a tab that says DROPOUT and more text: I want to watch the next seasons of these shows

6. Text: I still get scared sometimes I'll stop wanting things again but I'm learning to trust I'll always have something to say The person is smiling and drawing on a large tablet. They have their earbuds in and they connect to an open laptop to the right. Watermark beside the laptop: @yeehawpim \End descriptions]

I feel like wanting things has been important to being happier for me

[flecks-of-stardust]

time and time again i see how accessibility is just a passing thought in people’s minds and time and time again i have to resist the urge to throttle everyone i see