#Seeing as the mobile one is basically blank

[excali8ur]

I love ur theme

:0 Thanks

[lanabuckybarnes]

Kitty Cat

Bucky is compromised during a mission, sending him back into the mindset of the winter soldier. When he makes a break for it he ends up back at your house. Who will help him revert?

The winter soldier is the reason your cats sleep in the bed.

Pairing: Winter soldier (Bucky Barnes) x Reader

Warnings: I swear an awful lot in my writing, so swearing, Winter soldier (he needs a warning), I used DeepL for translation on a single word.

Word count: 1.7k

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

The whole mission was a complete and utter shit show, Sam has been injured almost instantaneously and Steve had been reluctant to continue the mission without him.

Bucky on the other hand was keen to get this whole situation over and done with and there was only one way he knew to finish it. He offered himself up to complete the mission alone.

“It’s not happening” Steve shut him down without question, he wouldn’t have another valuable member injured.

“It’ll be quick and simple, especially if I go alone” Bucky was almost pleading with the blonde to let him go.

Truth be told Bucky just wanted home. He was missing the warm atmosphere that surrounded him when he snuggled into his wife and their two cats. They’d been in Budapest for a month tracking the gang and now that they had their scent he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

“Fine but if it gets hairy you get out” Steve huffed. He knew Bucky was correct, that they’d be here for another long month if they lost this trail.

Bucky should’ve listened to Steve’s words.

The place was empty, eerily empty, far too abandoned to be a base of operations. No, something was up. His eyes squint at the sudden bright light blinking on in the room, the soft buzzing sound coming from it almost doubled due to his enhanced hearing.

Bucky had heard it before he saw it, invading his senses were buzzing, screaming, gunshots. It was a trap and it was working. He could feel his consciousness slipping from him as he kneeled on the floor.

His frame flopped to the side and everything went blank.

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

The sound of the door closing softly had pulled you from your sleep, ‘Bucky’s home’ you thought excitedly.

Bucky hadn’t came in to say hello, it was basically tradition now for him to announce his arrival with a peck to your cheek and a groan as he rolled into bed with aching bones.

In fact, there was no sound at all.

“What the hell” you murmured under your breath, flicking your legs out of from under the covers into the cold air and pulling one of Bucky’s oversized graphic shirts over your body.

Making your way down the hall you could see a figure, tall, wide and tussled short hair. It was Bucky.

“Buck?” You throw his name into the silent air. ‘Bucky’ turns his head sharply towards you, icy blue eyes staring at you, through you.

No, not Bucky, your heart fluttered in fear.

You could hear your phone vibrate from the room but his eyes had you glued in place, you could truly see why people quivered in fear of this man even if he was only fixing you with a glare.

The mobile continued to ring, he didn’t move an inch, neither did you. You knew it would be foolish to attempt to run, the knife holstered to his hip would sink through your flesh before you’d even turned in the opposite direction.

Movement from the corner of the room caught his eyes. ‘The cats, shit!’ your mind raced, watching as his eyes turned to them.

“Please, don’t, you stepped forward finally.

He wasn’t paying attention, watching the white ball of fur stretch her back seemingly far more entertaining than your pleas. She meowed at the large figure, stepping from the chair and sauntering over to his thick boots. His eyes never left her, not for a second, even when the she rubbed her fluffed head against his leather clad ankle.

“Кто?” (Who?) his low voice was almost hard to hear with his head facing the ground but you caught it.

“Alpine” the white ball of fluff perked at the sound of her name before continuing her onslaught of his boots, tiny paws scratching at the toes.

“Alpine” he tried the name on his own tongue, it sounded nice, it sounded familiar.

Just as he was getting familiar with the small white cat another, much darker one plopped down from the same chair. He glanced up at you with question dancing through his orbs.

“Zanzibar”. The black cat seemed wary of his threatening presence, choosing to observe him from a distance rather than join his white friend.

The Winter Soldier, you’d heard so much about him. A killer, an emotionless assassin who would end life without a question. Age? it didn’t matter when you were his mission you weren’t getting out alive, those icy blue eyes freezing you in your spot would be the last thing you’d see before your death.

This wasn’t the man you saw standing in your sitting room, the man you saw was cautious, almost scared to make movement. He may have been a killer, but not now, not as his body crouched down to pet the white cats head with a gloved hand, not while he picked the bundle of fur up in his large hands and into his arms.

He was human.

A pained groan pulled you from your thoughts. Looking at him you watched as he clutched a free hand to his head, his body swaying slightly.

“Are you ok?” You stepped forwards instinctively, placing a hand on his metal arm, as if it were your husband.

“Come on sit” you pushed his large frame to the chair, his body sinking into the comfy material with a thump. His breathing had quickened, the pain in his head increasing. Like someone was crawling up along his neck to the front of his skull, their fingers digging deep into his brain. The cats, seemingly unbothered by his pain perched themselves around his wide body.

Watching him, you could tell he was going faint. His skin had paled to a sickly white, those ‘emotionless’ hues of blue dulling with sleep and his muscles relaxed— you had to get him to bed before he woke up with a stiff neck and an attitude.

“Bucky?” You tried softly but received no response from the barely conscious human, you were out of ideas, no one had told you how to address him in this state of mind. In your defence no one had anticipated this situation at all. Suddenly it clicked.

“Soldat” you spoke more firmly this time, it was almost scary how quickly his head bobbed up at the name— the dark look accompanying the Winter Soldier fought tooth and nail to return to his eyes but he was losing.

Your soft hands wrapped around the tough vibrainum cautiously, hoping that he didn’t swing around and grab at your throat. “Bed, Soldat”

He grunted, wobbling to his feet. But not before grabbing both cats in his meaty arms. Despite neither of them being very small he made them look like balls of soot or dust in his embrace— it was quite endearing to watch as he stomped into your room behind you.

You let him walk past you as you shut the door of the master bedroom, quickly jumping into the bathroom to splash some water on your face and pet down your disheveled hair. You had to be dreaming, right? There was no way such a thoughtless man would spare you and the lives of your kittens, yet he treated them as his own. The cold shock soaking your face confirmed, or rather confused you, you couldn’t believe that you were thinking of how much a dream would make more sense than what was going on now.

Your questions only deepen when you emerged from the joint bathroom and gazed over to their large bed. The Winter Soldier, sprawled across the white silk— boots and all. On his chest lay Alpine, her small paws stretched over who she thought was her daddy’s chest, the black kitty rested curled on his side beside Bucky’s, no, the Soldat’s meaty thigh with his large palm resting on top of the cat like it was a blanket.

You weren’t getting any sleep in the bed now.

As you admired the sight before you, stealing a few pictures for evidence, a knock came from their front door. You froze, looking over the soft features of the Soldat’s face, looking to see if he’d heard it too. Thankfully whatever had happened to him in your living room had knocked him out.

When you got to the door Sam and Steve busted in, dressed head to toe in their costumes.

“Where is he?” Steve questioned, a phone in hand with a small red dot in the centre. They’d tracked Bucky’s phone to find him here.

“He’s in the bedroom” you replied before squeaking and reaching out to grab at Sam, you’d noticed his body turn in that direction. You had to stop him.

“He’s under control”, you breathed, trying to stop yourself from becoming too loud. Both men’s faces contorted in bewilderment. The Winter Soldier? Surely you’d witnessed the same brutality they had.

“What are you talking about?” Sam found his words first, shrugging off your tight grasp and folding his arms under his pecs.

“I don’t know what happened but… he saw the cats and just broke down” you stumbled, trying to find the correct words to describe what you’d witnessed, even if in truth there was nothing to describe what you saw.

“What?”. Steve couldn’t help the way his words laced with doubt, you couldn’t blame him. Maybe he thought you were trying to protect the Winter soldier, or protect them from him.

“I’m not joking”, she retorted then your eyes widened along with your smile. The photos. Yanking the phone from out of nowhere, the first thing that pops up was the picture you’d just taken before they arrived

Sure enough, Bucky’s body lay sleeping on his back; legs and arms spread wide with a kitty close by and the other sprawled out over his abdomen.

“Well I’ll be damned” Sam whispered, Steve didn’t even have the processing power to shout at him for his language.

After that night, Bucky had finally awoke. You’d explained the whole situation and let his soft fingers trail over your body to confirm the Winter Soldier did not harm you, then the teasing began.

The joke would forever be on you though. The cats had finally got a taste of the bed and they weren’t prepared to give it up so easily, the Winter Soldier had indeed harmed you in one way— he’d harmed your inability to sleep close to your man without both cats slotting themselves somewhere they didn’t belong.

-

Hello!! I’m back with more fluff before I dump all my smut on you again.

The first part of this had been sitting in my drafts for about a month and I finally got round to finishing it.

I hope you enjoyed.

[saetoru]

✩ ‧₊˚ ✩。underneath the stars (looking for a sign)

synopsis. al-haitham thinks waking up beside you feels like a dream—well, until it doesn’t

— word count. 4.1k (how did a drabble get here sobs)

— contents. pining al-haitham, honestly it’s mutual pining lol, gn! reader, implied one night stands, consumption of alcohol (both reader and al-haitham) reader is a matra, al-haitham is acting grand sage, it’s basically the “avoid my crush after i accidentally sleep with him until he corners me” trope lol, confessions, brief angst and then a happily ever after, sfw + fluff, not proof read—this was entirely written on tumblr drafts through mobile app. yeah. we raw dogged this bad boy lmao

— notes. if you knew. how many wips i have with him. you would be astounded :,) he’s all that matters anymore

al-haitham wakes up to a bed much softer than his, red flag number one. there’s also a weight on his chest, red flag number two. red flag number three, however, doesn’t make itself apparent until he opens his eyes and sees you.

oh. not good. you’re covered in the sheets, but you’re clearly…topless, and a quick glance at his own torso tells him he’s also not clothed. oh. double not good.

but there’s also a small voice in his head that’s cheering and patting himself on the shoulder—he’s managed to fall into the bed of the very person he’s been quietly pining over for months, what more can a guy possibly ask for?

but unfortunately, his mini celebration in his inner thoughts is disrupted when you open your eyes at the disturbance from his movement—and before he can get even one word in, you shriek. rather loudly, too—it makes him wince at the sound (he’s always had sensitive ears.)

“what are you doing here?” you gasp, “and why haven’t you got a shirt—wait. why haven’t i got a shirt on?”

“well, it seems—”

“you slept with me?” you gasp again, cutting him off as your face twists in disbelief, “while i was drunk?”

“i was drunk too,” he points out, frowning at the accusations. al-haitham is a respectable man, and more importantly, he cares about you too much to take advantage of your inebriated state like that. “it was a two way street.”

that seems to calm you for…approximately two seconds before your face twists in horror again.

“al-haitham,” you wail his name in despair, slumping onto your mattress in defeat, “this is the worst thing we could have done. do you realize that?”

oh. you regret this—the voice in his head suddenly stops cheering. it deflates, in fact.

worst thing. is this really the worst thing? al-haitham thinks you both have always gotten along rather well, and he’s always taken your slightly stuttered words and nervous chuckles as a testament to holding the same attraction he holds for you. but maybe he was too quick to assume you feel the same, and your words now feel like a boulder on his chest. they’re heavy. soul crushingly heavy, in fact—but he keeps the blank expression on his face ever so easily.

“yes, it seems a bit inappropriate for coworkers to have an entanglement,” he agrees after a moment, making you whine at his word choice.

“you don’t have to call it that,” you huff.

then, out of sheer curiosity (and absolutely nothing else), you take a quick peek from the corner of your eyes at his chest. in your defense, his shirt leaves practically little left to the imagination, and when else will you get the opportunity to see his (very impressive) chest? a peek won’t hurt.

you’re thoroughly impressed when your eyes catch his sculpted pecs. his eyes are thoroughly unimpressed when they catch your gaze.

“well, what would you like to do about our predicament?” he asks flatly.

acting uninterested is the hardest part, he realizes. here, you’re within reach for his arm to curl around you, and yet somehow, there still feels like there are miles of space between you in the sheets. it’s a bitter reality, he thinks, one that stings a bit more than he’s ever really imagined.

al-haitham has witnessed lots of rejections in his time. whether it’s at the akademiya where he is the unfortunate witness of a rejected confession, or in novels he reads of unrequited feelings. he however never thought he’d land himself in the same situation—even if he hasn’t technically confessed to you yet. but your reaction definitely feels like one, and he’s smart enough to deduce that if he did confess, you wouldn’t take too kindly to the idea.

sure, it’s a bit unprofessional for the acting grand sage to have a relationship with one of the akademiya’s top matra that he works with rather frequently, but al-haitham is only the temporary grand sage. technically, after this, he will be going back to being the scribe who makes himself scarce on a regular basis. and it’s not very unprofessional for the scribe and a matra to be romantically involved, he’d like to argue. most people meet their significant others through the akademiya in the first place—why should he be any different?

but one glance at your face tells him you’re rather unhappy with this situation. he thinks he can hear a crack where the boulder resides on his chest.

“i think you should leave,” you mumble, chewing nervously on your lip, “and don’t say anything about this to anyone. especially not cyno.”

“noted,” he says blandly. you turn away, letting him have the privacy to rise out of bed and dress—which he does as slowly as possible, just to drag out the feeling of being in your bedroom for just a while longer—before he says clears his throat. “i’ll be seeing you,” he says.

“sure,” you nod awkwardly, “see you at uh…see you at work.”

with that, he walks out of your bedroom, and sees himself out. as soon as you hear the front door shut, you turn and scream into your pillow—the same pillow that happened to be under al-haitham’s head for the entire night, the same pillow that smells like his shampoo.

you think for a moment how you can never wash this pillow case again—and then, when you realize just what you’ve thought, you scream again.

you might just be entirely screwed.

—————

“and where have you been?” kaveh is waiting in the kitchen as soon as al-haitham enters.

great.

kaveh has a talent for making himself available to chatter away into al-haitham’s ear on the most stressful of days. whether it’s to greet him with complaints about having no help with cleaning after a long day of work, or to bang on his office door and demand an explanation for rejected funds as he does paperwork, or to ask where he’s been after he’s been wounded rather harshly by the one person he’s ever felt romantically inclined for, kaveh is always there at the worst possible timing.

leave it to kaveh to sour his mood more.

“i don’t see how it’s any of your business,” al-haitham mutters, grabbing the glass of water on the table and chugging it to help with the slight hangover he nurses—it’s evidently not his best morning in more ways than one.

“hey, that’s my glass,” kaveh scolds, “get your own.”

“it’s actually my glass. from my grandmothers set,” al-haitham corrects his roommate, “and i pay the water bills. so it’s my water too.”

“you—” kaveh shakes with frustration. it would pull a bit of an amused grin on al-hairham’s face if he wasn’t in the worst mood possible. “nevermind,” kaveh huffs, crossing his arms, “where were you—wait, is that a hickey?”

“no,” al-haitham says instantly, pulling his cloak higher to cover his neck—but kaveh beats him to it, reaching over and inspecting his skin. he seems to light up as soon as he realizes it is, in fact, a hickey on al-haitham’s neck.

“it is a hickey,” he grins gleefully, gasping in sheer disbelief that al-haitham seems to have some sort of life outside of work and home, “this can’t be. did you pay someone to get into bed with you—”

“just because some of us can afford such services doesn’t mean we indulge in them,” al-haitham grumbles, which earns an offended gasp from the blonde, “and i’m not obligated to tell you where, or with who for that matter, i was—”

“was it that matra you’re always standing around with?” kaveh grins knowingly, cutting him off.

the mere mention of you must make his face fall—which is new, because al-haitham has always been good at hiding his emotions on his face. but kaveh seems to have realized he’s overstepped, because his smile fades just as quickly as it comes.

“it doesn’t matter,” al-haitham mutters, “it was a mistake.”

“a mistake? but you’ve been pathetically pining for months, anyone with eyes can see—”

“i’ll be going to work now,” al-haitham cuts kaveh off, “make sure you pay this months rent on time.”

with that, he turns, making his way to his room to shower and then be off to the akademiya—where he equal parts hopes he doesn’t see you, and equal parts hopes he runs into you just to catch a glimpse of you again.

—————

you haven’t seen al-haitham is six days—correction: you’ve avoided al-haitham for six days. admittedly, it’s becoming increasingly difficult seeing as he is the acting grand sage, and you do need him to approve of your reports from recent investigations—but then you remember how six days ago, in the darkly lit corner of the street on your way home, you both kissed.

(and yes, it was a drunken mistake—neither you nor al-haitham value public displays of inappropriate affection between coworkers, but that doesn’t erase what happened.)

perhaps it would be easy to laugh it off as an impulsive action the both of you took while being under the influence, but then you both stumbled into your house. and then your bed. and then a kiss turned into more…and then next thing you knew, you’ve been awakened to a very unclothed (but still very handsome) al-haitham next to you in the mattress.

you should be mature and face him—people can sleep with people and not let it mean anything, proper adults would simply brush over this and never look back. but al-haitham is a bit of a difficult scenario.

he’s handsome—painfully so, with those sculpted muscles and those soft strands of hair that fall perfectly over his face. but more than he is easy on the eyes, he’s a charming individual. at least to you—you think the majority of the akademiya would have to disagree.

but al-haitham is kind, he greets you properly, holds doors open for you, and he often notices when you’re tired just by looking at you before giving you extensions on reports. he’s caring, you can tell because he’s helped people more than once, and while he claims it’s for the sake of his own convenience so he can avoid extra trouble, you know that he doesn’t have the heart to turn away from those that need him. more importantly, al-haitham is disciplined—it’s something all matra such as yourself can appreciate.

he seeks out knowledge in the most moral of methods, he never crosses limits or abuses power even when he holds the ability to, and he never takes advantage of the authority he may hold over others.

he’s wonderful, you can’t help but think—and admittedly, his hands also have very attractive veins that make you sweat a little. but that’s not the important part, of course. the important part is how perfect his character is, if you take the moment to understand it. and you like to think you understand it—much more than most at the akademiya.

except romancing the akademiya’s grand sage isn’t the best look for a matra—especially if you want to climb up the ranks soon. you don’t want rumors spread to undermine your hard work…or worse, be accused by the general mahamatra of taking your position as the grand sage’s lover to your advantage for work gains.

cyno is a strict individual—you’d hate to get on his bad side. and just as you think about how awful it would be if he got the wrong impression, he walks right up to you.

with that serious look on his face—why does he always have that serious look on his face?

“grand sage al-haitham requests you in his office,” he says. you don’t detect any suspicion in his voice, and it seems like a perfectly normal statement, but that’s the thing about cyno. he’s too good at not letting his movements be read, too good at cornering caged animals before dragging them by the ankles out in the open, exposed and vulnerable.

you gulp. “did he say why?” you ask, “i’m a bit busy.”

“no,” cyno shakes his head—and then he looks at you oddly, “you don’t seem busy.”

“well….this report won’t write itself,” you chuckle nervously, which only makes his brows furrow in confusion.

“wasn’t that due two days ago?”

fuck.

“yes….but al-haitham gave me an extension.”

“he seems to give you a lot of those,” cyno points out, unimpressed.

well, that’s great, you think. surely, there is no other matra as good at losing composure and making things more obvious for themselves than you.

“i haven’t been feeling well,” you say quickly—which isn’t the worst excuse, seeing as you’ve hardly shown your face at the akademiya for the last few days.

cyno seems to buy it too, because he nods in understanding before giving you a concerned look. “you shouldn’t push yourself, you know,” he lectures, “being sick snot fun.” you blink, and he looks thoroughly amused with himself. “get it? because when you’re sick, you might have a runny nose? snot? and—”

“right,” you nod, “i’ll be seeing the grand sage now. i wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.”

at least you know cyno has not made any….inappropriate assumptions if he’s making jokes, as painful as they might be. you’re not sure if you’d rather face al-haitham or continue to listen to the general mahamatra’s interesting sense of humor, but the closer you get to the grand sage’s office, the more you want to turn back and find cyno again.

but you’re an adult, and adults do adult things sometimes, and sometimes they’re not the most ideal, but the only way to handle such situations is the adult way—to be mature and not let things get in the way of being professional. easy enough.

at least, you hope.

—————

“you called for me, grand sage?”

ouch. al-haitham has now been reduced to grand sage, not just al-haitham. he looks at you for a moment, and he tries—really, he does—to seem unbothered, but his brows crinkle before he can stop them.

“i did, yes,” he says, looking at you.

you look lovely—which, you always do, even when you’re nervous. he can tell you are because you have that habit of chewing on your lip when you’re nervous, and he hates that he makes you anxious enough to do that right now.

al-haitham has always hated the gap between him and everyone else—not because he enjoys being close to others, but because it’s burdensome to always seem like a pretentious asshole. being interpreted as one over the years has left him quite numb to what other people think….but that’s not the case with you, unfortunately. he wonders if you’ve ever thought he was an asshole, or if you’ve ever felt that he acts like he’s better than you are. he hopes you’ve never talked to him and thought he’s condescending like kaveh insists he is—he hopes you find value in his honesty and find him insightful.

he thinks you might have at one point, if the way carrying conversation with you is so easy is of any proof. it feels natural, talking to you. your voice is smooth, especially when it reads over mission reports to him in his office. your laugh is even smoother, though—it’s soft, and honeyed, it sounds like something he’s been missing his whole life.

everything about you feels like something he’s been missing his whole life, like he was born to be with you by his side, and he’s been empty without you all along.

you clear your throat, handing him papers as you pull him from his thoughts and say, “here is the report for that last investigation,” you say quietly, “i apologize for the untimeliness. it won’t happen again—”

“that’s not why i called you,” he cuts you off.

al-haitham is a straightforward man. he’s watched many confessions, and he’s read about many confessions, and he’s even thought about how his own confessions might go should he ever find someone he finds interest in.

but this isn’t interest. al-haitham is not interested in you—he needs you. to call this a confession might be incorrect, he thinks for a moment, because this almost feels like he’s about to plead for you to give him a chance.

“oh,” your voice is small.

you think you have an inkling of an idea of what he’ll bring up, and you contemplate running out of his office and begging cyno to tell you a few more of his jokes….or a few dozen….maybe a few hundred to be safe.

“we should talk about that night—”

“well, there’s not much to talk about,” you say simply, “you and i are consenting adults, and we happened to be heavily under the influence, which caused a lapse in judgement. it’s a bit unprofessional, sure, but as long as neither of us say anything, and as long as we manage to keep a professional atmosphere between the two of us, there shouldn’t be any—”

he cuts off your (rehearsed in the bathroom mirror many times) speech as he clears his throat. “i….” the words are caught in his throat.

for a lifetime of straightforward honesty and blunt words, it seems like now of all times he can’t seem to speak.

“you…?” you motion for him to continue.

“i enjoyed it.”

you sputter. his eyes widen as he stumbles over his words when he realizes what he’s really said.

“grand sage,” you gasp, “i think that’s hardly appropriate for—”

“n-no, i meant i enjoyed you,” he says quickly, making you furrow your brows.

“and what does that mean? because—”

“i enjoyed being with you,” he croaks. it’s a good thing kaveh isn’t here to witness this, because as a self proclaimed expert at love (which al-haitham would have to disagree), kaveh would have an absolute ball watching this. “i don’t….i would prefer if we didn’t pretend nothing happened,” he mumbles, “if you feel the same, that is.”

everything about al-haitham is hopeful. from the way his eyes watch your every movement as they stare at you, to the way he clutches the pen in his hand tightly in anticipation of your response, he’s hopeful. you can tell.

you can tell he’s hopeful you’ll say yes, that he’s hopeful you’ll say you feel the same way as him, that he’s hopeful he’ll see you again in a setting that’s not just for work and mission reports and investigation details.

he’s hopeful you’ll say yes to his pleading eyes and fill that empty spot beside him that’s been empty for far too long.

and it feels like swallowing lead when you sigh heavily and watch the hope crumble.

“al-haitham,” you mumble, “this wouldn’t be very wise, you know?”

“and why’s that?” the hurt in his face is almost tangible.

he’s not foreign to rejections, he’s witnessed them his whole life. he watched that haravatat scholar that declined the amurta one outside of class that one year. he read about that main character that found self respect and declined the toxic love interest in that novel he read last summer. he’s declined his own fair share of confessions by random scholars that stare a bit too long at his chest and arms for his liking.

but for some reason, he never imagined it to feel like this. like being with your for one second longer might just burn his skin, but being away from you might leave him cold and numb. al-haitham thinks that if you walked out that door, you might just take every bit of warmth he’s ever known from him—but sitting in front of you, in front of your sorrowed expression and sympathetic eyes….it might be too much heat for him to handle.

“well, you’re the grand sage, and i’m a matra—”

“acting grand sage,” he corrects, “it’s temporary. i’ll be back to being the akademiya’s scribe in a short bit.”

“but people talk,” you insist, “and i’ve worked hard to be a respectable matra, and i wouldn’t want anyone to think i’ve slept my way to the top. plus, the general mahamatra is technically my boss, and he’s very strict—”

“the general mahamatra and i drink at taverns together quite often,” he says pointedly, “he’s well aware of how i feel.”

“you told cyno?” you gasp, shooting him a sharp look, “i asked you specifically not to—”

“he’s known of my feelings before that night,” he assures, “evidently i’m not very subtle.”

“well,” you hum, biting back a smile, “no, you aren’t.”

he raises a brow, tilting his head in confusion. “you’ve known?”

“al-haitham,” you chuckle, eyeing him fondly. something about the way your smile is so bright makes him clutch his pen tighter. “you aren’t the most social, you know. but you always have something to say to me.”

“that doesn’t always mean anything,” he mumbles, blush rising to the tips of his ears.

he’s endearing this way, you decide—when he’s flustered and almost pouting and flushed a bright shade of pink. you think for a second that maybe, if you kiss him for a bit in the comforts of his office, no one will ever have to know.

“but it does, doesn’t it?” you tease.

“and if you’ve indulged it all this time, am i safe to assume it means something to you too?” he asks, raising a brow.

you should say no. sleeping with the grand sage and kissing him in his office and maybe even going on dates and possibly holding hands is hardly a good look—but the scribe….well, maybe the scribe is a different story.

“ask me again when you’re the akademiya’s scribe,” you say, biting back a smile, “perhaps my answer will be different then.”

“i see,” he nods, biting back a smile of his own, “i suppose the grand sage isn’t everyone’s type, huh?”

“no,” you chuckle, “i suppose not. but the scribe….well, he’s rather charming.” you walk up to him, lean down and press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth as you mumble, “i don’t mind waiting for the scribe.”

“well, lucky for you, you won’t have to wait too long,” he hums.

he watches you leave his office—and then he decides that when he clocks out at five pm sharp later, he’ll go straight home, tell kaveh that he is, in fact capable in the field of romance, and demand this month’s rent.

—————

“haitham, we’re out of eggs,” you pout, poking your head out of the fridge, “will you bring some on the way home today?”

“we would have eggs if kaveh didn’t use all of mine,” al-haitham grumbles, glaring at the blonde who gasps in offense. 

“and you help yourself to my beer, don’t you? i deserve a few eggs,” kaveh huffs. 

“well, make sure you pay this month’s rent on time. we’re going to buy some more furniture for our room.”

this time, kaveh turns to you in disbelief—you find it amusing how he seems to still find it improbable that anyone would like to spend longer than five minutes with al-haitham, let alone share a bedroom.

“are you really sure you want to do this? what could you possibly see in him? he’s the most aggravating individual i’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to,” kaveh eyes you in concern as you walk over and press a soft kiss to al-haitham’s forehead, earning himself an unimpressed glare from the scribe and making you giggle. 

“he is a bit aggravating,” you agree with a teasing glint, pinching al-haitham’s cheek as he scoffs, “but i think he’s just nice to me because i sleep with him.”

“that’s gross,” kaveh wrinkles his nose, “you had better not be doing anything i can hear from my room—that would be traumatic. although, it must be more traumatic for you,” he says with sympathy.

“if you don’t like it, you can simply move out,” al-haitham, shrugs, wrapping an arm around your waist. as much as you love your boyfriend—and you love him quite a bit, you can’t help but mourn the fact that constant bickering will now become a staple in your daily routine. 

“are you threatening me?” kaveh gasps before he turns to you with his finger pointing to al-haitham, “do you see? this is your future, i hope you know that. he’s much more unpleasant to live with, i’m warning you in advance—don’t say i didn’t try.”

“well, i’m sure he’ll be on his best behavior for me,” you grin, eyeing al-haitham playfully as your fingers weave into his hair, “otherwise, i’ll have to come sleep in your room when i’m mad at him.”

you think, for the first time ever, kaveh and al-haitham seem to agree on something as they both share a look of dread at your words.

pov: you write 3.8k words of build up for a plot just so you can write the last scene 😭

no bc literally i meant to write this as a drabble just so i could write that last scene bc i thought of it and giggled but then the plot just kept going and now we’re at 4.1k words like w h a t

[cripplecharacters]

Writing Intellectually Disabled Characters

[large text: writing intellectually disabled characters]

Something that very rarely comes up in disability media representation are intellectually disabled characters. There is very little positive representation in media in general (and basically none in media meant specifically for adults or in YA). I hope this post can maybe help someone interested in writing disabled characters understand the topic better and create something nice. This is just a collection of thoughts of only one person with mild ID (me) and I don't claim to speak for the whole community as its just my view. This post is meant to explain how some parts of ID work and make people aware of what ID is.

This post is absolutely not meant for self diagnosis (I promise you would realize before seeing a Tumblr post about it. it's a major disorder that gets most people thrown into special education).

Before: What is (and isn't) intellectual disability?

ID is a single, life-long neurodevelopment condition that affects IQ and causes problems with reasoning, problem‑solving, remembering and planning things, abstract thinking and learning. There is often delay or absence of development milestones like walking (and other kinds of movement), language and self care skills (eating, going to the bathroom, washing, getting dressed etc). Different people will struggle with different things to different degrees. I am, for example, still fully unable to do certain movements and had a lot of delay in self-care, but I had significantly less language-related delay than most of people with ID I know. Usually the more severe a person's ID is the more delay they will have.

Intellectual disability is one single condition and it doesn't make sense to call it "intellectual disabilities" (plural) or "an intellectual disability". It would be like saying "they have a Down Syndrome" or "he has autisms". The correct way would be "she has intellectual disability" or "ze is intellectually disabled".

Around 1-3% of people in the world have intellectual disability and most have mild ID (as opposed to moderate, severe, or profound). It can exist on its own without any identifiable condition or it can be a part of syndrome. There is over a thousand (ranging from very common to extremely rare) conditions that can cause ID but some of the most common are;

Down Syndrome,

Fragile X Syndrome,

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,

Autism,

Edwards Syndrome,

DiGeorge Syndrome,

Microcephaly.

Not every condition always causes ID and you can have one of the above conditions without having ID as long as it's not necessary diagnostic criteria to be met. For example around 30% of autistic people have ID, meaning that the rest 70% doesn't. It just means that it's comorbid often enough to be counted as a major cause but still, autistic ≠ intellectually disabled most of the time.

A lot of things that cause intellectual disability also come with facial differences, epilepsy, mobility-related disabilities, sensory disabilities, and limb differences. A lot, but not all, intellectually disabled people go to special education schools.

Intellectual disability isn't the same as brain damage. Brain damage can occur at any point of a person's life while ID always starts in or before childhood.

"Can My Character Be [Blank]?"

[large text: "Can my character be [blank]?"]

The difficulty with writing characters with intellectual disability is that unlike some other things you can give your character, ID will very directly impacts how your character thinks and behaves - you can't make the whole character and then just slap the ID label on them.

Intellectually disabled people are extremely diverse in terms of personality, ability, verbality, mobility... And you need to consider those things early because deciding that your character is nonverbal and unable to use AAC might be an issue if you're already in the middle of writing a dialogue scene.

For broader context, a person with ID might be fully verbal - though they would still probably struggle with grammar, what some words mean, or with general understanding of spoken/written language to some degree. Or they could also be non-verbal. While some non-verbal ID people use AAC, it's not something that works for everyone and some people rely on completely language-less communication only. There is also the middle ground of people who are able to speak, but only in short sentences, or in a way that's not fully understandable to people who don't know them. Some might speak in second or third person.

Depending on the severity of your character's disability they will need help with different tasks. For example, I'm mildly affected and only need help with "complex" tasks like shopping or taxes or appointments, but someone who is profoundly affected will probably need 24/7 care. It's not infantilization to have your character receive the help that they need. Disabled people who get help with bathing or eating aren't "being treated like children", they just have higher support needs than me or you. In the same vein, your character isn't "mentally two years old" or "essentially a toddler", they are a twenty-, or sixteen-, or fourty five-year old who has intellectual disability. Mental age isn't real. Intellectually disabled people can drink, have sex, smoke, swear, and a bunch of other things. A thirty year old disabled person is an adult, not a child!

An important thing is that a person with ID has generally bad understanding of cause-and-effect and might not make connections between things that people without ID just instinctively understand. For example, someone could see that their coat is in a different place than they left it, but wouldn't be able to deduce that then it means that someone else moved it or it wouldn’t even occur to them as a thing that was caused by something. I think every (or at least most) ID person struggles with this to some extent. The more severe someone's disability is the less they will be able to connect usually (for example someone with profound ID might not be able to understand the connection between the light switch and the light turning off and on).

People with mild intellectual disability have the least severe problems in functioning and some are able to live independently, have a job, have kids, stuff like that.

What Tropes Should You Avoid?

[large text: what tropes should you avoid?]

The comic relief/punching bag;

The predator/stalker;

The "you could change this character into a sick dog and there wouldn't be much difference";

...and a lot more but these are the most prevalent in my experience.

Most ID characters are either grossly villainized (more often if they have also physical disabilities or facial differences) or extremely dehumanized or ridiculed, or all of the above. It's rarely actually *mentioned* for a character to be intellectually disabled, but negative "representation" usually is very clear that this who they're attempting to portray. The portrayal of a whole group of people as primarily either violent predators, pitiful tragedies or nothing more than a joke is damaging and you probably shouldn't do that. It's been done too many times already.

When those tropes aren't used the ID character is still usually at the very most a side character to the main (usually abled) character. They don't have hobbies, favorite foods, movies or music they like, love interests, friends or pets of their own and are very lucky if the author bothered to give them a last name. Of course it's not a requirement to have all of these but when there is *no* characterization in majority of disabled characters, it shows. They also usually die in some tragic way, often sacrificing themselves for the main character or just disappear in some off-the-screen circumstances. Either way, they aren't really characters, they're more like cardboard cutouts of what a character should be - the audience has no way to care for them because the author has put no care into making the character interesting or likable at all. Usually their whole and only personality and character trait is that they have intellectual disability and it's often based on what the author thinks ID is without actually doing any research.

What Terms to Use and Not Use

[large text: What Terms to Use and Not Use]

Words like: "intellectually disabled" or "with/have intellectual disability" are terms used by people with ID and generally OK to use from how much I know. I believe more people use the latter (person first language) for themselves but i know people who use both. I use the first more often but I don't mind the second. Some people have strong preference with one over the other and that needs to be respected.

Terms like:

"cursed with intellectual disability"

"mentally [R-slur]"

"moron"

"idiot"

"feeble-minded"

"imbecile"

is considered at least derogatory by most people and I don't recommend using it in your writing. The last 5 terms directly come from outdated medical terminology specifically regarding ID and aren't just "rude", they're ableist and historically connected to eugenics in the most direct way they could be. To me personally they're highly offensive and I wouldn't want to read something that referred to its character with ID with those terms.

(Note: there are, in real life, people with ID that refer to themselves with the above... but this is still just a writing guide. Unless you belong to the group i just mentioned I would advise against writing that, especially if this post is your entire research so far.)

Things I Want to See More of in Characters with Intellectual Disability

[large text: Things I Want to See More of in Characters with Intellectual Disability]

[format borrowed from WWC]

I want to see more characters with intellectual disability that...

aren’t only white boys.

are LGBT+.

are adults.

are allowed to be angry without being demonized, and sad without being infantilized.

are not described as "mentally X years old".

are respected by others.

aren't "secretly smart" or “emotionally smart”.

are able to live independently with some help.

aren't able to live independently at all and aren't mocked for that.

are in romantic relationships or have crushes (interabled... or not!).

are non-verbal or semi-verbal.

use mobility aids and/or AAC.

have hobbies they enjoy.

have caregivers.

have disabilities related to their ID.

have disabilities completely unrelated to their ID.

have friends and family who like and support them.

go on cool adventures.

are in different genres: fantasy, romComs, action, slice of life... all of them.

have their own storylines.

aren't treated as disposable.

don't die or disappear at the first possible opportunity.

...and I want to see stories that have multiple intellectually disabled characters.

I hope that this list will give someone inspiration to go and make their first OC with intellectual disability ! This is just a basic overview to motivate writers to do their own research rather than a “all-knowing post explaining everything regarding ID”. I definitely don't know everything especially about the parts of ID that I just don't experience (or not as much as others). This is only meant to be an introduction for people who don't really know what ID is or where to even start.

Talk to people with intellectual disability (you can send ask here but there are also a lot of other people on Tumblr who have ID and I know at least some have previously answered asks as well if you want someone else's opinion!), watch/read interviews with people who have ID (to start - link1, link2, both have captions) and try to rethink what you think about intellectual disability. Because it's really not that rare like a lot of people seem to think. Please listen to us when we speak.

Good luck writing and thank you for reading :-) (smile emoji)

mod Sasza

[whumpdoyoumean]

Whumptober #28

A/N: This is set post-season 4 and so has vague references/spoilers for that.

xxx cctv

Lamb stares out at the team from behind his desk, a blank but somehow still deadly expression on his face. They've all been standing here, crowded in Lamb's office, for a silent and uncomfortable minute while they wait for him to explain why they've been summoned.

"Where the fuck is Cartwright?" he finally says.

Louisa has to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "He's probably just running late."

Lamb's lip curls. "Hmm. It's as though he doesn't value his employment here."

"I can try calling him," Louisa says, already pulling out her mobile. Lamb tsks.

"Don't bother. It's not that important, and if it were, it may be for the best that he's not here, anyway."

"So..." Roddy ventures after another length of silence, "if it's not that important then why've you called us all in here?"

Lamb snorts. "I don't fucking know anymore." He gestures lazily toward the door. "You can go. I'm sick of looking at all your faces."

"Fuck's sake," Shirley mutters under her breath as they all shuffle out into the hall, and it's hard to blame her.

Ever since, well, everything ��� with Frank, Coe and Patrice, Bad Sam, Cartwright Senior, Marcus...The mood in Slough is grimmer than ever. She'd never say it, but Louisa thinks she probably wouldn't be surprised if River just decided to stop coming to work.

They've just gotten out of Lamb's office, Shirley slamming the door behind her, when Louisa's mobile buzzes in her hand, at the same time that Shirley's chimes. Roddy's goes off too – a high, breathy moan emanating from his back pocket. Louisa and Shirley both make faces.

"Grow up," Louisa says at the same time that Shirley says, "You're foul!"

Roddy shrugs. "You're both just jealous that I've got a girlfriend."

Louisa sighs, shaking her head, and pulls up the email that just came in. The subject line reads, in all caps, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS THIS.

"What the fuck? 'You're not going to want to miss this'?" Shirley says, and Louisa's gaze snaps up to her.

"Is that what your message says?"

Shirley makes a face, turning slightly and holding her phone closer as if Louisa were trying to spy on her. "Yeah?"

"I got the same one," Louisa says.

Coe holds his phone up, the screen facing out. "Me too."

"It's a phishing scheme," Roddy sighs, sounding bored.

Louisa ignores him and opens the message. "All there is is a link."

"Definitely phishing," Roddy says. "You don't click on strange email links. Everyone knows that; this is basic stuff, babes."

"The same phishing link to all of us at the exact same time?" Louisa raises an eyebrow. "You don't think that's a little bit weird?"

"Fuck it, I'm opening it," Shirley says and then, a few seconds later, "Oh, shit."

Louisa thinks, for a second, that she's joking, pulling Roddy's leg, but then she looks over and sees the pale, wide-eyed expression on Shirley's face. Whatever she just opened, it's serious.

"See?" Roddy is saying, the smirk evident in his voice. "I told you, you stupid--"

"Roddy, shut the fuck up!" Shirley snaps, then looks at Louisa. "You'd better open it."

Louisa is already clicking the link.

The video is the slightly grainy black-and-white of CCTV footage. She recognizes the place; it's only a few streets from Slough. River is there, standing on the corner waiting for the light to change.

"What is th--" she begins, but the question dies in her throat and she nearly drops her phone.

The footage shows River crossing the street, making it halfway through the crosswalk before a car speeds into frame and collides with him. He goes up onto the hood, his body cracking the windshield, before rolling back onto the ground. And then it gets worse, because three people get out and it's immediately obvious, by the masks and gloves, that they aren't getting out to help. They drag River into the car before it takes off again.

"Oh, my god."

Someone had targeted River specifically, had known his route to work and timed it so that they would be nearby when he used that particular crosswalk. They'd hit him deliberately, knowing that the cameras would catch all of it. The fact that they'd been able to get a hold of the footage and send it to the Horses' emails speaks to a level of planning and access that makes Louisa feel sick to her stomach; whatever they've got in store for River, it can't be good.

She turns, is about to yell for Lamb, when his office door bursts open. Louisa can tell by the look on his face that he's seen the footage, too. Likely anything that's crossed her mind has crossed his, too. He looks ready to bust heads.

"Ho, get down to your office, now. Find me that car."

Roddy blinks. "What--" He looks over Louisa's shoulder at her mobile, where the video is playing on loop. "Oh, shit."

"Move!" Lamb barks.

Roddy nods, hurrying toward the stairs. "On it, boss."

"There are other people in that video, which means witnesses. Someone will've talked to the police. Guy, Dander, go down to the station and get whatever information you can from them. I wanna know everything they know. As soon as you two are finished, come straight back here."

"Right," Shirley says with a wide-eyed nod, heading for the door. "Louisa, you coming?"

Louisa forces herself to look away from her mobile, darkening the screen and shoving it into her back pocket. Even though she's not watching it anymore, the video keeps playing in her mind, the image of River being hit by the car and then dragged away stuck on repeat.

"Yeah."

"Guy," Lamb says, and Louisa turns. He fixes her with a serious stare. "I'm trusting that you can stay focused. That footage was sent with the intent to rattle."

Of course I'm fucking rattled, Louisa doesn't scream. She thinks it, though, and it's obvious that Lamb can tell.

"If I get the sense that your head's not on straight, I'll bench you without a second thought," he says.

"I've got it," Louisa says. It takes everything she has not to hiss it through grit teeth.

Lamb doesn't look fully convinced, but nods. "Go on, then."

xxx

River doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't know where he is, or who brought him here or why. He doesn't know how long he's been here, either, since he's been unconscious for bits of it. What he does know is that his right leg is fucked. There are other aches and pains throughout his body – bruising and scrapes from where the car had hit him, and where he'd hit the pavement. But his leg is by far the worst, a sharp, sickening throbbing from his knee down that makes him want to crawl out of his body. He hasn't broken a bone since that time he fell out of a tree as a boy, but he remembers the incident well enough to be able to recognize this particular kind of hurt.

He also knows, from the tiny red light blinking high on the wall across from him, that he's on camera. And whenever there's an especially nasty jolt of pain, he remembers that someone is watching, and he grits his teeth and doesn't make a sound.

xxx to be continued...

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you should make an OC.

You should make an OC. Specifically a Spider-Sona. Like now. Preferably yesterday. [A MEDIUM-LONG essay about OC's, fanfiction, and how to enrich and better your writing skills in literally every sector. Throughout this essay I reference my two characters Disco-Spider and Inca-Spider as examples of the way OCs can be used.]

_________________________________________

"But no one cares about OCs -"

OKKAYYYY??

IDK about ya'll but fandom is NOT my final destination no siree

I feel like a lot of the time we get so caught up in posting and notes we forget that for many artists and writers on this platform - fanfiction is not the true end goal.

Many of us write and draw fanart for years -

But the fact of the matter is if you want to be an author someday, if you want to be a graphic novelist, an animator, etc, etc - You're going to HAVE to make OCs.

If you want to study English in college or publish books - you're gonna have to write an OC at least once. If not hundreds of times.

If you want to study art - chances are at some point you're gonna have to fill a portfolio with original pieces, including some of OCs.

If you want to do something with your writing, if you want to get better - or make a career out of your art, you HAVE to make OCs at some point.

And this is especially true for fanfiction writers.

You can get very very very good at writing in your specific fandoms, you may have the emotions of the characters on point, and the ability to describe the scenery.

But if you don't know how to create and design a character - if you don't know how to worldbuild, or come up with scenarios without the help of characterai and ChatGPT - you won't be able to write a book.

If you're an artist and you don't know how to draw an original character from scratch, how to match colors, how to draw certain skin tones, certain hair, wheelchairs and mobility aids, how to design a character from looks, to clothing - it's going to be so hard to expand your art outside of fanart. You'll always be beholden to the notes and popularity of your particular fandom.

Do it - even if you've never written or never draw before. Even better.

That's why I CHAMPION Spider-sonas so much. They're basically OCs on easy mode.

Can't write backgrounds yet? Here's a bucket on canon events to pick from? Can't draw faces? Blank mask with eyes.

Hell, if you're really really new about it - just pick a character and make a slightly different variant. Make a Hobie of your own, make a Peter variant. Make a Mary Jane variant. Pick a something you like and turn that into a character.

Can't write? Just fill-in the 'My name is [blank], I was bitten by a [blank]' script that Miles does. Can't draw, just draw out a basic shape of a body and color-out the suit, no fancy pose needed. That still counts!!

Make a self-insert. Make yourself fit into the story, design your suit, write out how you fight crime, how you'd act at the Society, meeting Miguel or Miles.

That's still character design, that's still worldbuilding.

We always hear people say 'Make art for yourself' and yeah that sounds nice - but people also misinterpret it.

Make art for yourself doesn't just mean making art that you personally like.

Making art for yourself also means making art that develops your skills even if no one gives a fuck. It's about making art as practice without the intention of it being 'completed', making OCs that never get used, drawing locations you see or writing a random ass short story then shoving it into your Google Drive forever.

Making art for yourself means making art that invests in yourself.

It means making art that interests you, challenges you, or helps you develop.

And making OC's helps develop your fanfic writing skills.

In may fandoms we begin to fall into these routine 'tropes' between characters and their personalities. This is usually known as the 'fanon' characterization.

Because when you have a set amount of characters and people, there's also a set amount of interactions and relationships between those people.

Writing OCs and having those OCs interact with canon characters allows you to dig deeper into sides of the canon characters we'd never otherwise see.

That's why I wrote Disco-Spider Diane like I do. Often, we see Hobie characterized as the chaotic, rowdy, confident type - which is perfect characterization for him. But in almost all of his interactions - he's the wilder, bolder, extroverted one. I wanted to put him in a situation where for once, he was the calmer one. I wanted to explore more grounded and chill sides of Hobie, one where he's the one grounding the other, and thinking logically - because in canon, we're hinted at a side of Hobie who's way more methodical and slow-paced and willing to stop and wait it out and play it off. And I wanted to see that. I wanted to explore what he'd do if he was faced with someone just as chaotic, who put on a cheeky ironic act - just the same as him.

Because no other characters serve that purpose in canon.

If there are elements of a character or concept you think are interesting but outright ignored by canon and fanon, you can create an OC to explore those parts.

For Disco-Spider: I wanted to explore how someone like a militant Black Panther would handle being Spider-woman, when Spider-people are usually shown as pacifists - what that would look like or how it'd shape her morals based on era, etc. For Inca-Spider: I realized there were so many culture based Spider people like Pavitr and Spider-UK. But none for indigenous communities, and NONE from countries that only existed in other universes. So, I created an indigenous character from Tawanti - a country that's located where Peru would be for us.

You can give a canon character a sibling, to explore how they'd interact with family. Give them a partner that acts totally different than their canon partner, write how that'd change the way they show love.

OC's make your original writing better, AND your fanfiction writing too. They can help you understand canon characters on a deeper level.

And sure, nobody likes your OC. NOW.

But every single character you write about, is someones OC. Every character you write about was once treated that way. Once upon a time, Dean Winchester was just some rando character in the pilot script of a show that hadn't picked up yet. Probably no one gave a fuck until CW picked it up.

The writers had to not only make him and develop him - they had to BELIEVE in him enough to pitch him to a TV show channel to make people care.

That's always the first step. Believing your character's story is worthy enough of being told and presenting it as such.

ESPECIALLY if your OC represents a demographic you don't see represented. Cause yes if there isn't any black women in canon then I'll Thanos this shit and do it myself.

Make OCs.

Write them. Draw them. Even if it's bad. Who the hell cares. Big Mouth is on Netflix with multiple seasons, have you seen that show?? 'Ugly' art is not a crime.

Make piccrews, fill out OCforms or take quiz's as them. Write little blurbs of them hanging with canon characters then post it in the tag.

You don't need a huge Spidersona sheet or a long long fic explaining their backstory. They can just be there.

MAKE OCs.

Make them to explore more in your fanfiction, make them so future you can write that novel or draw or that comic or sell those prints or whatever it is you plan to do.

Make it so your fanfiction AND original writing can grow stronger. It isn't just about notes and content and follows.

Make an OC. Make a Spidersona. Literally you have nothing to lose but your chains.

"Nobody cares-"

Oh they'll care when you pop out with that 6-book publishing deal. They'll care when you're designing big characters for movies. Cause that's how it happens. Watch.

ANYWAYSSSS if you made it this far I hope this inspired you to at least play around with the idea of OCs and Spidersonas in general.

Here's Hobie.

BYE.

If you want to make a sona and are kinda lost on where to start, lemme know!! Because I think they're amazing starting places for those who have never written or drawn before. Or if you have a sona but want to develop them further.

I haven't seen a guide to spidersonas and i wonder if that's something some people might want/need.

Seriously if I can even get one person into writing or drawing I'll be over the goddamn moon.

MAKE OCS PLEASE.

[sophieinwonderland]

Hey, I have a question. How do we access Headspace? Or, well, how do I access headspace? I’d like to see it for myself someday.

The thing about headspaces is that it's actually a surprisingly complicated beast. And what one system means when they refer to a headspace might not be the exact same thing as another system. I tend to divide these into surface in deep headspaces.

The surface headspace is simple . This is basically just multiplayer imagination. That's not to say that things can't feel incredibly real within the headspace. They absolutely can and they do happen, at least within the brain. But it is created by the imagination, like a sort of Holodeck in your brain.

If you would like to build a headspace for your system and work on immersion, then I have some links below that can help with that:

The deep headspace however is the type of innerworld that you go to when you're not conscious. When somebody else is fronting then the idea is that you will go into this inner world in the back of your mind and just hang out there until the next time you're ready to front.

And this is where things start to get tricky.

Because we don't really know what causes this, mechanically speaking. It may be possible that a headmate does indeed go into the inner world whenever they are not fronting. But it's also possible that they might not be doing anything. The human mind is very good at making up stories to fill in blanks when they can't remember something.

This is most commonly seen in dementia where somebody might be in a different place without knowing how they got there and then when asked, their brains will create memories. The memories will feel real as if they actually happened and the person might swear that they really did. This is called confabulation.

So if your goal is to access this type of deep inner world, under this hypothesis, it might be possible that what you are really wanting is for your brain to create memories for what happens when you aren't fronting.

I am always really hesitant to try to answer questions like this because I don't actually know the answer of how to get into a deep inner world. If a deep inner world is actually a place you go to when unconscious then the optimal method for accessing will likely be different than if it is just your brain creating memories to fill in blanks of where you were.

So if this type of inner world is what you're wanting help with, I'm sorry to say that I can't really give you any information on this.

[synchodai]

HotD Episode 7 Live Reaction

But if you close your eyes, does it always feel like nothing's changed at all. But at least there be dragons.

I stiil don't like that Seasmoke fell in Addam's lap. Addam should have been the one to actively claim Seasmoke. I just really don't like HBO's insistence on "power is better wielded by those who don't want it."

"I may appear lowborn but I know much and more of service." Those two statements shouldn't have a "but" between them.

Maester Orwyle continues to be the surprise MVP of the greens.

The Master of Laws Iron Rod getting dialogue? The rumor mill works fast in Westeros.

I like that the nobility are putting so much resistance to lowborn claiming dragons. If there's anything that threatens highborn, it's social mobility.

For "20 years the lords of this realm levied insults against my sons," Jace confirmed to be 20. So he's just one year younger than Aegon? Now that wouldn't make sense because Rhaenyra wasn't even married during Aegon's first nameday during that hunt episode. Good to know Jace has been aged up though. He, Aegon, and Cregan are probably all in the same ballpark age.

I love Addam's acting, he's almost as expressive as TGC. But why are the interaction scenes on this show so short? "The family doesn't know how to communicate their feelings" yeah, yeah, but at least write down for them to have SOMETHING to say. Corlys came to this room literally just to say 6 words.

They should have given Oscar Tully red hair to make him stand out from the Riverlords. The scales on his armor are cool, but there should be more to visually signal that this kid is basically a petty king.

The camera following it's actors from the back is kinda...not doing it for me. I don't wanna see their hunched backs, I want to look at the sets and their faces.

"We honor the old ways." Most of y'all don't, though? Only certain houses in the Riverlands worship the Old Gods, one of them being the Blackwoods who are being accused of going against the "old ways." What do the HBO writers think the "old ways" mean?

Out of all decapitations on this series, this one had the least punch. Music and sound design did all the heavy lifting.

STOP SHOWING THEIR BACKS I DON'T WANNA SEE THE ACTORS' BACKS ANYMORE

Also, I can't imagine how this war will end if the Blackwoods aren't black loyalists. With Daemon executing their House head, I don't see them being that enthusiastic about supporting Rhaenyra anymore. Are they just gonna replace Benjicot with Oscar? And Aly is just...gone now? Who's gonna stop Cregan Stark then?

Again, we're just letting whoever inside the king's room even when he says they can't come in? Guards really suck on this show.

Alyn's voice is like honey. I could listen to this man read audio books.

And they just let the Targaryen princess run off like that? The guards on this show really suuuuuuuuck.

Poor Rickard Thorne dragged into Alicent's impromptu camping trip.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEY JACE, LOVE CLASSIST JACE. LOVE AEGON'S DREAM CRITICAL JACE. EEEEEY JACE AWARE THAT WHEN RHAENYRA DIES PEOPLE WON'T ACCEPT HIM. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Finally some character drama and juicy interpersonal conflict that makes sense with characters clearly stating their stance through dialogue and we don't have to fill in the blanks as the audience. I was so starved. They actually made what was in the book better with this one.

I like Hugh the Hammer's new storyline, sue me. It's a cliche call-to-adventure fantasy peg, but I like it.

"I need more dragons to end bloodshed." Rhaenyra, what do you think dragons do? Rhaenyraaaaaaa

Beautiful Vermithor shot. And of course they leave all these innocent poor people to the mercy of a merciless behemoth. Ugh, beautiful, blood sacrifice, cruelty, impressive sfx, yessss.

CLAIM THAT DRAGON. CLAIM THAT DRAGON. DO IT NAMED CHARACTER, you have a name and backstory so you can do it!

"Come on!!!" Vermithor: Well...when you put it like that, I suppose.

Nana Silverwing! She looks gorgeous.

WAIT, WHY DID THEY TAKE HER TO KING'S LANDING??? WHY IS KL AND DRAGONSTONE LITERALLY 5 MINUTES AWAY

[autumnslance]

Hi! I’ve been trying to make an introductory post for my WoL, but when I tried doing so freeform it ended up overly long and full of rambling. I’ve searched for templates all over the internet, but the only ones I can find are in the general style of D&D character sheets that include irrelevant information about stats while not properly dedicating space to the actual character traits. I saw the format you used for your OCs, and it seems to be about what I’m looking for. Is there any chance you could provide a blank template along those lines for me and others who might have the same problem?

Funnily, while I keep them all similar, I didn't have a template before now. Also reminds me I need to do some updating and revision on my own OCs, it's been awhile and they can use a refresh for character and plot updates.

I recommend making static pages over posts; easier to track and edit. I am a stickler for organization, so keep my pinned post to the bare basics with links to the profiles and other pages, to keep from stretching the post to a mile long, in part, and to keep the info where it's easily read and relevant. Also because mobile app view won't show one's theme and links, and the pinned post is more likely to be seen and accessible than a sidebar or menu.

I have tutorials on how to set a custom theme (and access full blog features) as well as how to create those static blog pages. Tumblr may have made some updates since, but the gist is the same, and the Help pages have newer details if necessary.

I do urge keeping colors and format simple, accessible, and reader friendly, including screen reader friendly. A row of asterisks or tildes as a separator line are usually individually read out by screen readers, as is the code used to make those fancy hard-to-read gothic letters folks use for "aesthetics." In a lot of my profiles, I split sections with images of the character (which should also use alt text if we're trying to be kind and inclusive, and it's to the point of a profile page anyway).

I think I will put the intro and template here in the post under a cut, and then in a Reply Comment add a link to the Google Doc version, cuz of how Tumblr is about external links. An actual blank copy-pasta is on the GDoc, what's below has some thought processes for each section for guidance.

This a pretty modular template, that can be added to or subtracted from as needed. Move descriptive blocks around as they seem more or less relevant for your OC, substitute things that make sense over things that don’t; this is just a starting point!

I see these as broad strokes; a quick introduction and general overview of your character, meant to give an at-a-glance idea of who they are. It’s handy for other writers and artists, and even oneself for keeping track of some details. I recommend practicing succinct writing here; these blocks should each stay between 100-300 words or thereabouts. Use links to other pages and tags to point toward longer details and stories (and keep them handy for yourself!). It also makes it much easier when you want to revise things when characterization marches forward, or if you want to retcon something entirely.

But these are all just my opinions and ideas on how I approach OC profiles after making them in some form or another for about a quarter century. Make it as long or short as it needs to be, change it up, go nuts, I ain’t your mom, and so on 😉

-

Statistics: The basics; barebones, at-a-glance stat blocks, handy for quick reference. Can be added to or shortened as needed. If a stat starts to word wrap on a standard screen, trim it and move that extra detail to the “Description” paragraph below the list.

Race: (for FF14 fantasy possibilities) Nationality: (or Ethnicity, whatever works. Where are they from, as that helps shape them?) Height: (both feet/inches and centimeters are handy here) Eyes: Build: (I prefer this to weight, as that’s ridiculously variable depending on one’s build, which is more important visually anyway; are they broad, stocky, skinny, muscular, stringy, etc) Hair: (color, type, texture, preferred lengths and styling) Skin: (sometimes I fold scars into here, if there’s nothing too outstanding) Scars: Voice: (how do they sound?) Nameday: Age: (depends on your personal timeline for your OCs, but I recommend an age range over specifics; mid-20s, 25-35, late teens, a little over a century, etc. Less updating and fits with the handwaved time bubble anyway) Disciplines: (what are their main job[s]? The adventuring or professional skills they’ve learned?) Hobbies: Birthplace: Current Home: Occupation: (Their actual day job, different from or part of their disciplines?) Signature Items: (A particular weapon? A piece of jewelry? Always wear a specific coat?)

Description: A very short "immediate impressions" type description; what would someone "on the street" see when meeting/looking at your character on a typical day? Taking some of the info from the stats but then how you want those barebone facts to be seen; is the OC elegant, or rough? Expensive clothes or simple attire? Any particular smells, or sounds? I recommend around 100 words.

Biography: Very brief, general overview of the backstory that led them to the point where they become a story protagonist (adventurer, the WoL, or other roleplay archetype). Don't have to go into great detail, keep it short and simple; it's a blurb that sets up how they got here in broad strokes. I think my longest bio is around 300 words, and it probably shouldn’t go over that here.

To get more details, one can always link to specific stories, or to a tag. I have multiple OCs, so I might make my tags something like "Aeryn Backstory" or "Iyna Lore" or "Punchy History" or some combo thereof (I usually try to keep them consistent though for ease).

Persona: What face do they present to the world? How are they perceived by the public, acquaintances, coworkers, family, actual friends? Some of these answers will be the same, some may change depending on if and how they code switch in various social situations.

From there, what lies underneath the surface? What are some general internal attitudes, traits, feelings?

A hundred words for outward demeanor and another one hundred for innermost self ought to cover the general broad strokes.

Romance: If so inclined, details about the OC's relationship details; sexual and romantic orientations, relationship history, current situations, how they view and approach intimacy (or not!).

Links to relationship tags or stories or art can work well here, too.

Echo: Does the OC have an Echo at all? Is it a "typical" Echo, or do they have some special abilities, some things they're better at than others? How does it affect them, how do they feel about it?

This is another section that may be a free space section to remove or swap to something else relevant to the character.

Hobbies: The stuff outside of work and heroics. Ways they relax, special interests, side jobs, things they enjoy, and so on. This can be an expansion of the listing in the stat block, or you can cut out one or the other to avoid redundancy.

Companions: What’s their chocobo like, or do they have another favored mount? What pet(s) do they have? Are they practically a Disney Princess? Have a familiar? Do they prefer arcane entities? Technological constructs? Or do they eschew companions entirely?

How to find the OC in game: This is where I list things like realm and data center, and addresses for the FC house and personal house or apartment. Not necessary if you don't want folks to go looking.

Links: The links can be scattered through the post in relevant sections, or gathered together here. I tend to put my basic tag for the character, if I have an aesthetic tag for them, their story tags, any links to art references or other miscellaneous items I want easily found for myself and others. I often put this close to the top if a profile is longer and I want those links to be quick referenced.

OOC: Any particular notes one wants to make about the character from a meta perspective. Can also be combined with the Links.

[partywithponies]

Old Man Gene Hunt headcanons (for a "Alex returns to 2008 post-series 2 and meets a 74 year old Gene" AU that I may or may not do something with one day):

(Under a cut because this got long and I might as well have just written a fic)

Generally very lonely. The charges against him were dropped, but Ray, Chris, Shaz, Viv, and the gang all never fully believed he didn't shoot her on purpose, and he never bothered making new friends or getting close to anyone else

Has a tiny ridiculous dog (a very fluffy pomeranian in my head) called Sundance who he insults constantly but secretly dotes on

Unofficially gained possession of all of Alex's belongings when she "died" in 1982, couldn't get the energy to sort through and get rid of them, so just took most of it with him whenever he moved and still just has most of it in boxes in his flat and his lockup in 2008

Also still has the quattro in his lockup, and looks after it and keeps it in good condition, but doesn't really drive it out anymore

Currently drives around in a really shit transit van that he bought as a "project" with the intention to fix it up and sell it on, because a concerned neighbour told him he needed a hobby, but he got bored halfway through so now it's half painted and just has a lot of odd pieces of wood and engine parts in the back. Also has a mattress in the back because he drives out to the muddle of nowhere and sleeps in it sometimes, when he's either avoiding people and doesn't want to be bothered at his flat, or is just avoiding being alone with his thoughts at his flat (he doesn't have an office to sleep in to achieve this anymore)

His hair is thinning but fairly long, because he can't often be bothered getting it cut

(He genuinely isn't doing very well mentally and hasn't been for a long time, but if ever anyone voices concern or suggests he get help, they receive a barrage of verbal and sometimes physical abuse, so most people have given up on him)

EXTREMELY Grumpy Old Man when it comes to modern technology. Owns a laptop and a mobile, but point blank refuses to learn how to text or use the internet until he meets Molly and she becomes determined to drag him kicking and screaming into the 21st century (she's the one person he won't just tell to piss off. He's actually surprisingly soft for her)

Also owns a gun, very illegally. Does a lot of very illegal things these days

Is actually still surprisingly very strong and fit, for a fat old man who drinks and smokes even worse than he did before. Has drunk himself into the hospital a few times but always bounces back

Shortly before retiring in the late 90s, saw younger Alex at some kind of police conference, recognised her instantly, realised Alex had been telling the truth, and became a little bit unhinged. Just kind of obsessed with her. Moved back to London (had been working in Birmingham at the time) just to be closer to her, and basically stalked her for the next ten years, telling himself he "just wanted to keep an eye on her" and "just wanted to make sure she was okay", but after that first conference never actually let her see him

Gets into a lot of fights with criminals who hurt or threaten Alex, and at one point in the early 00s beats up and hospitalises an abusive ex-boyfriend of Alex's, getting him to leave her alone. Alex never figures out what happened to the ex to make him suddenly stop bothering and threatening her

Is actually the one to find Alex and get help after she's shot. Was keeping an extra close eye on her because he knew it had to happen soon, and when Layton took her, he knew where to look, and just went to where he first saw her

Didn't intend for her to see him after she wakes up again, and when they do end up meeting by accident (he was called into the station to give a statement on something at the same time she happened to be in visiting her colleagues for the first time since leaving hospital), he pretended he didn't know her, because he thought Alex would be able to move in quicker and ultimately be happier if she thought it was all in her head

By the time he realised that this had actually made everything so much worse, and that she was rapidly deteriorating both mentally and physically and looked more and sick and miserable every time he saw her, he still didn't say anything to her, because he thought if he said anything now she'd be really really pissed off at him

Only finally decides to talk to her when things have escalated so far that Alex's boss and Evan have both become so concerned that they've decided to get Alex sectioned, and Gene, upon hearing this, immediately "rescues" (kidnaps) Alex, only explaining everything once they're already on the road, and the two of them go on the run together

(They're both severely mentally unwell broken people, but they've decided they're going to look after each other now, so it's okay <3)

(Alex knows she should be super pissed at him, but right now she's too relieved to worry about that)

Gene is honestly confused and bewildered that Alex wants to be with him not only in the sense of wanting to stay on this impromptu roadtrip with him, but also in the biblical sense, given that he's 39 years older than her now and not in great shape, and she's still gorgeous even considering she hasn't really been looking after herself, and at first tries to nobly resist her attempts to seduce him, but she's quite persistent and he gives in quite quickly

(Yes, they fuck in the van)

Molly is at first a little weirded out by how old and weird he is when she meets her mum's new boyfriend, but she gets on really well with him and soon loves him. She gets on better with him than she does Alex (she's struggling to adjust to how different and damaged her mum is now and frustrated by the fact people keep pretending everything's fine, and they argue a lot, but they're trying)

(She's in her troubled preteen era, unstandably. very angry at the world, keeps getting in fights and bunking off school and getting in trouble. she finds Gene a kindred spirit and a sympathetic ear when she needs to rant, because he understands that people trying to comfort her or get her to talk about her emotions is just going to make her angrier)

Gene and Alex eventually come home and move in together and reunite with the quattro (very touching, that's their baby), and Molly gradually moves in with them full time (whenever Evan or Molly's dad try to take her away, she just runs away back to Gene and Alex anyway, so they might as well let her)

Evan is fucking furious. He doesn't trust Gene at all and is convinced he's manipulating both Alex and Molly. Evan becomes practically apoplectic when Gene and Alex become engaged

Gene and Alex are still both very confused and exhausted by everything and both aren't 100% sure they're not just completely mad, but eventually come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter at the end if the day if any of this is really real, as long as it feels real and they get to face it together

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep2: Drone

Usually I hate Borg stuff, but this one always gets to me. It's like an accidental baby acquistion trope fic, but if the baby were a super advanced future Borg.

When the transporter scrambles up Seven's pattern with the Doctor's mobile emitter during an emergency beam out, her Borg nanoprobes assimilate the emitter, and end up creating a super advanced Borg drone from the extracted DNA of a passing crewmember. (Thank goodness they didn't kill the poor crewman this time! I always get nervous when background crew get featured- it's usually the precurser to death.)

The Doctor is very anxious to have his emitter repaired, to the point that he wakes B'Elanna up with a videocall to her quarters first thing in the morning to get her to go check on it (rude) and he doesn't go away when she ends the call, he patches it through to her bathroom while she's getting dressed! (Ew, has he ever heard of boundaries??) He dismisses her when she's angry at being intruded on, saying that it's okay for him to basically spy on her while she's naked, because he's a doctor. Um, no?? That's harrasment, actually! Jfc! I don't care if he's a hologram, it's creepy and unnacceptable. But every rude thing the Doctor does is presented as funny and harmless- meanwhile, I don't recall a scene where he spied on a half naked male crewmember taking off a slinky nightgown in his quarters for comedic effect. This is just gratuitous female nudity we didn't need.)

When they check in on the emitter, they discover it's become part of a baby Borg growing in a maturation chamber in the science lab. They decide to keep it, and see if they can teach it human ways. When it steps out as a fully grown drone, blankly awaiting instructions, Seven of Nine attempts to communicate with it and teach it how to be an individual. It- or he, since it's a human male underneath it's Borg implants- imprints on Seven like a little duckling to a mother duck. He even follows her when she attempts to leave, and she has to reassure him that she'll be back later, like a parent to a toddler- it's so gosh darn cute!

The whole episode is so gosh darn cute- idk how they managed to make a Borg adorable, but they did. He's so innocent and curious, and has such cute interactions with everyone. (And I noticed for the first time that the actor who plays the drone here is the same guy who played the german officer in 'The Killing Game'! He's so good in both roles- the guy has got range!) His advanced technology makes him a useful addition to the crew, but more than that, he truly is a blank slate. Without ever having been connected to the Borg hive mind to direct him to assimilate and destroy, he chooses to be kind and to be part of Voyager's crew, despite his curiousity about the Borg. When his back up proximity tranceiver activates, it tells the Borg where he is. He wants to meet the Borg, but when Seven and Janeway tell him what the Borg are, and how much they don't want to be assimilated, he chooses Voyager. (When Seven tells him that Voyager is her collective, it's such a big growth moment for her, and shows how far she's come in the past year.)

When the Borg catch up with Voyager, the drone protects them, beaming over to the Borg ship, and destroying it by interfacing his more advanced tech to direct their ship to fly into a nebula and collapse their hull.

The drone, (who'd chosen the name 'One') is rescued, but gravely injured. He refuses to let the Doctor operate to save his life, knowing the Borg will come after him for his advanced technology, and knowing that his very existence puts Voyager in danger- if the Borg find him, they'll be more powerful, and so they'll never stop chasing Voyager. So, he does what he has to do to protect Voyager, and lets himself die from his injuries to save them, since he was just 'a mistake'. Seven pleads with him to let the Doctor try to operate, but he tells her she will adapt to life without him, and he dies a few moments later. Seven is very shaken- she'd grown attached to having another Borg around, and grown close to him as she helped him assimilate knowlegde, taught him how to regenerate, and how to interact with the crew. It's hard not to cry with her here. Then when she goes and turns off the alcove where he regenerated next to her? Heartbreaking!! It really humanized Seven to have her be the one to care for another person, who was like her in so may ways, and she obviously felt his loss keenly, despite it being the only way to protect them all. The Doctor is probably just happy about getting his mobile emitter back though.

Tl;dr: A tropy story that's been used in Trek several times, yet still manages to tug at your heartstrings and make you sympathise with Seven and the young borg drone who becomes like a son to her.

[seithr]

top 5 blazblue character designs

YIPPEE BLAZBLUE

I feel like my tastes are known but I still will take this chance to gush a bit about the characters and design philosophy of em that Ive always been real fond of :)

No particular order here or else I'll be here all night formatting on mobile. More under the cut!

HAKUMEN it goes without saying I LOVE HAKUMEN'S DESIGN SO MUCH. The taloned tabi, the silhouette of wide pants and closefitted shinguards/torso. The faces/eyes scattered across his armour while the face is totally blank—made more unreadable and inhuman by the slats of neck guard. Fox-ears built into the helm shape to feel both animal and mechanical like antennae...and obviously the longass hair to sell the "tailed" look.

I remember reading really early on into liking BlazBlue—I can't remember the source, come maul me if I'm wrong—I read that Hakumen as a character and design was made when Mori was in middle or highschool, the idea of "what is really cool," and much of those ideas stayed. I not only really respect that and think its charming as someone who still likes MY own designs from that time, but, as it turns out, middle schoolers are still right. Hakumen is very cool. Augh. Fucking? Time travelling fox-robot samurai who's here to kill his brother to save him and also himself because his old self wanted to do the same thing for the wrong reason and thay thought disgusts him. Also him and Tsubaki in general make me start to choke (positive). God ok I have four more guys to discuss. Yes i also like Susanoo but I feel like thats a copout, I like that he's both animalistic and brutal martial arts as the God of War. Anyways CONTINUING

VALKENHAYN R HELLSING I will admit that he is an old man in a suit and that speaks to me but that he's one of the strongest beings alive as a old man in a suit ohh. And he's a werewolf ohhhh. Shifting just his body parts to kick and rip with his claws, quickly leaping back and forth between a normal bone-breaking jab or knee or biting and snarling—the dance between raw force and refined precision and a brutal tear's always been sooo cool to see and think about. I also think his ribbon in his hair moving to his wolfy tail is very cute. A man of sharp extremes from refined to flashing his fangs, human and wolf, cool and very cute. I like him :)

TSUBAKI YAYOI her uniform is so nice uruururururugh. Big cape and the way it drapes around her in combat like wings... Her sword and buckler/Izayoi looking so unique for being a "basic sword and shield for the hero"-type of deal! The eye on her hat's always been really striking too—the only "cold" colours being her and her uniforms eyes.....................Sparing a glance at Hakumen's recurring red eyes for no reason here. Knightly angel women and her flower-like "tassets" hanging off her clothes. Its a uniform which plausibly feels like it could be a uniform—she doesn't have anything uniquely "hers" or "for this female character" while still being really standout and clean. Her design's just really good guys. You can do so much.

Really want to mention her masked look too at least really quick here. my girllllll...

RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE well of course I really like his design. Yeah him being here is partially obligation because I love his character a lot but both things inform each other in the end. Mr Grim Reaper, Enemy of the World, red-and-black with a demon's arm on one side and a rebuilt one on the other. His big red coat and the oversize shoulders! The massive baggy pants—I love the silhouette he has. Blood Scythe/Aramasa/His sword transforming and able to clack around and shift's just. Always been such a cool design. Seithr-powered man, devil-smoke powered man, ashes of your own old dead self-powered man. Ragna is fucking cool auauauuuaghrhg.

And it DOES only make it more charming that he has a good heart, has a bit of a Kicked Puppy charm about him if you can pardon uhh that implication. He is just some fucking guy and he likes barbecues. He is sweet and cares for stray cats. His dad is a cat. He blows up the government regularly. He's a rebel who visually looks really clean if "intentionally trying to look like someone you should think is cool", which is both dork-charming and cute and also actually yeah cool because it's not a visual mess.

I like that his arm underneath is all belts and bandaged—Bloodedge only wearing half his coat for example is such a good look and it shows his clean black shirt underneath, which feels a lot like... Under that big eyecatching rebel coat of his (personality), Ragna's... Ragna, I don't know. I hope that makes sense. Knowing his personality makes me like his design a lot more than if I didn't I think.

As mentionned in Hakumen's block of text however: I already really like chuuni-ass designs, so combined in Ragna he makes me unwell entirely.

And last (I am running out of images allowed per post :((((( )

Kitty peepaw. I am cheating slightly here. I like the Kaka Kittens' big hoods too and think they're very cute and very eyecatching and I adore them always—the kittens especially being stompy little things that travel in packs are really cute. I love that Jubei, actual strongest thing in the world, has the oversized paw sleeves too. There's cat claws bigger than his body stored in what looks like emo kids' oversize hoodie sleeves. He's so simple and still the imagery of that coat gets reused several times over and it looks good every time. Orange kitty peepaw. AND he has an eyepatch, how can I not like eyepatches.

There are my 5 favourite BlazBlue designs :> Sorry if them all being C series or smth is boring wauh. I can spend as long as I want thinkinh about it but I do always seem to come back to these guys, give or take one change depending on the mood. Unchanging faves are Hakumen and Tsubaki for sure and forever though.

[cripplecharacters]

hello! so, i currently have an oc in the works. i dont have much for his character yet, and hes kind of a blank slate at the moment, however, whilst trying to develop him i had the idea to give him a disability; its something i dont do with my characters very often, and i feel like it could give some depth and realism to his character. however, i..... dont know where to really start with it? i have the vague idea that i think id like him to have crutches, so some sort of leg disability, but just going off that its been hard for me to find any condition that feels quite right. im unsure about making him an amputee either; seemingly the "go to" for anyone who wants to make a physically disabled character. i want to try and represent a disability thats less fetishized by the general public, and looking through this blog here its definitely apparent that a lot of people are tired of seeing basic half amputee characters with overly functional prosthetics; i wanna avoid that. sorry this has gotten a bit rambly, but basically what im asking is,, do you have advice for what i could use as just. a general starting point in this? im terribly uneducated and lost at the moment and id love some help. thank you :]

Hi!

It's great that you're interested in writing a disabled character (with care)! I'm always happy to see more writers/artists/creatives do that.

You mentioned wanting to give him crutches, which is cool! Mobility aid users in media make me happy. However, you mentioned crutches as meaning a leg disability, which isn't always the case — and while I don't have statistics on it, I believe that most crutch users do not use them for leg-only problems, and a lot of them have the not-so-fetishized conditions. Here are some suggestions of what you could give your character, which hopefully gives you some ideas. If you need, you can get back to us with a more specific question after you figure out what exactly your character has! :-) (smile)

Cerebral palsy — probably the most common reason for using crutches in non-elderly people, and the most common (physical) disability in younger people in general. If your character has diplegic (meaning lower limbs affected) CP, he could use crutches and if he has hemiplegic (one arm and one leg affected) CP, then he could use a single crutch or a cane. Cerebral palsy is generally extremely underrepresented when compared to how many people have it IRL! Just be aware that there is a lot of research involved just about the condition itself — multiple types (spastic/ataxic/dyskinetic), different kinds of body involvement, tons of different mobility aids and orthotics to learn about. There is also hereditary spastic paraplegia, which is not the same as CP but similar and progressive.

Spinal cord injury — the general assumption is that all people with spinal cord injuries are fully paralyzed below the neck or waist, and that's not the case. If your character has an incomplete SCI on any level or just a very low level injury, he could be using crutches or switch between a wheelchair and crutches. It's essential to research SCIs to have them be more than “legs don't work, but that's literally it”. SCI can come with severe nerve pain, spasticity, atrophy, and a lot of other things. Worth noting that spinal cord injury could be traumatic, but could also be congenital (spina bifida) or illness related (polio, transverse myelitis, spinal stroke, or cancer, for example). You could think that it's overrepresented in media, but SCI is generally just used as a “default condition” for why a character is in a wheelchair, and a lot of these representations are unfortunately very shallow.

Paralysis — in the monoplegic sense here. Much more rare than the rest of the things here, but your character could have a single paralyzed leg, largely due to nerve damage. Could be traumatic or illness-related (e.g., cancer, infection, or multiple sclerosis).

Stroke (and other traumatic/acquired brain injuries) — stroke can cause a million different symptoms and depending on what happens to your character exactly, he might need crutches! A big portion of stroke survivors deal with hemiplegia and could use a crutch on their non-affected side, for example. Some kinds of stroke might cause your character to have troubles with balance and require a mobility aid to not fall. Of course stroke will also cause other symptoms for your character (it wouldn't be too realistic to only have him have problems with his legs) for example speech issues, headaches, or seizures. Stroke can happen to anyone, and it wouldn't be weird to have a younger character with it. Very common in real life but very rarely represented in fiction.

Limb difference — you can definitely write a character with a limb difference or an amputation without fetishizing it! The main concern with the fetishization is the concept of the robotic limb that works just as well as or even better than a meat leg, and thus the character is “fixed”. But your character could just… not use a prosthetic. A lot of congenital amputees, people with limb differences, or with high level (above knee) amputations might do that. He could also have a leg length difference, which could cause him to need crutches (for example, Morteza Mehrzad has one of his legs significantly shorter after a pelvic injury, and he uses crutches among other mobility aids).

Chronic pain — very broad category for too many specific conditions to count. Neuropathy in the legs and/or lower back could be a reason for using crutches, for example. Unhealed, or poorly healed past injuries. Arthritis in knees or hips. Hypermobility that makes him unsteady or dislocate joints. Pain in bones or muscles where he can't fully weight-bear.

Gait disorders — another broad category (sorry). Your character could have problems with his gait and need aids for that. It could be caused by dyspraxia (I have it), ataxia, progressive muscular dystrophy (there is a lot of different types), Parkinson's disease, or a lot of other things! Could also be injury related.

And of course you could have multiple characters that are disabled to make sure that there is some variety :)

I hope that the above list gave you some ideas for your character :-) (smile) if you have more questions, feel free to send another ask

mod Sasza

[wanderersrest]

Iron-Blooded Orphans Context: Gundam's Thematic Ties to Capitalism

Surprise! I'm going to be talking about Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans soon!! If you're wondering why I talked about something that wasn't at all giant robot related recently, it's because my next project was going to be something involving Iron-Blooded Orphans. And when you cover IBO, you know it's going to go to dark places.

So, in this context post, I'd like to take a quick minute and explore how the concept of capitalism plays into the stories of the other entries in the Gundam franchise. Mind you, this isn't going to be super comprehensive, nor is it going to be a look at every single series. This is more of a surface-level skim on how capitalism informs the stories of Gundam, taking a look at three specific entries (well really two entries and the entirety of the Universal Century) and how the concept of capitalism affects them.

And do note: this post is not about how the need to turn a profit in a capitalistic society necessitates the need for Gundam to rely heavily on merchandising.

We got that? Good.

The Real Cost of War: Universal Century Edition

I think it's hard not to start with the Universal Century, seeing as how the Universal Century is the firs timeline. But even as early as the original Gundam, we have the idea that the Principality of Zeon originally became independent from the Earth Federation (which, may I remind you, is a one-world power at this point) due to exploitation at the hands of the latter. This is where the basis of "both the Federation and Zeon are bad" comes from: the fact that the neoliberal Earth Federation made a lot of its profit off of the backs of the space colonies. It should be noted, however, that there are a couple things that keep this from being a "Zeon good, Feddies bad" deal though.

First is the co-opting of the colony liberation movement by the Zabi family. Now, I know that a big part of this is based on speculation of what happened to the original founder Zeon Zum Deikun (and I mean this in that this part of backstory is intentionally left blank, and even The Origin manga still leaves room for interpretation when it covers Char's backstory), but regardless of whether or not Deikun died of natural causes or was assassinated, his death caused a power vacuum that allowed for the Zabi family to take over. And the Zabi family were not exactly all about achieving their goals through peace when the events of the original Gundam begin.

Second, and this is tied to the first, is that ZEON DROPPED A COLONY ONTO EARTH. In my experience, it's been hard to make the "both sides" argument due to this one fact alone. It doesn't matter about what Deikun would hypothetically do at this point. It also doesn't suddenly mean that the Federation is equivalent due to the rise of the Titans in Stardust Memories and Zeta Gundam (though the Titans are basically another Zeon) What matters is that Zeon, under the direct control of the Zabi family, cleared out a colony using lethal force and then dropped said colony onto the Earth.

Now, let me be clear here: Operation British does not absolve the Federation of any wrongdoing here. What we're shown of the Federation does not paint a picture of good people out doing the good fight, though I will say that certain entries in the Universal Century timeline (namely the novelization of Gundam Unicorn) end up twisting itself into knots in an attempt to play the "both sides" argument. It's this last point that is most important when it comes to contextualizing Iron-Blooded Orphans.

There is nothing wrong with trying to show the moral grayness between factions in Universal Century Gundam, but there is the albatross of Operation British constantly hanging over the head of the timeline. And, to be fair, that's by design, as the Federation started out as a nebulous neoliberal one-world order that, while overly bureaucratic, kind of meant well (but just barely), whereas Zeon is modeled after Imperial Japan with the aesthetics of Nazi Germany. Oh, and this part is important to know when it comes to Iron-Blooded Orphans, so keep that in mind.

Also, to really remind people that Zeon are, in fact, worse, there are at least three instances of post-One Year War Zeon remnants trying (and in some cases succeeding) to drop a colony onto Earth. You have:

Operation Stardust, where the Delaz Fleet tried to drop another colony onto the Earth but are stopped at the last minute. This is also the event that makes the Titans a reality.

Haman Karn's Neo Zeon dropping a colony onto Earth during the events of ZZ (I think?).

Char Aznable's Neo Zeon trying to crash Axis into the Earth.

And none of this is even getting into Anaheim Electronics, who is basically playing every side of the Gryps Conflict for their own personal gain first and foremost.

Not in My Back Yard: Future Century Edition

Moving on, let's take a look at Future Century's Mobile Fighter G Gundam. As I've talked about before, capitalism plays a central role in G Gundam. And as a quick refresher, I specifically mention how G Gundam's way of portraying war is through showing how the space colonies were made as an attempt for rich people to flee the ruined Earth. A lot of that was because of the Gundam Fight, and as a reminder, only the rich were allowed to go to the space colonies.

To be more blunt about it, none of the powers-that-be really care about the Earth, which is why Earth becomes the place where the Gundam Fight takes place. It's why THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA plans to use the Devil Gundam to destroy humanity.

Speaking of the Devil Gundam, it should also be noted that the only governments that want the Devil Gundam prior to the finale are the ones that want to use it for their own self-gain. The fact that most countries know about it by the end of the Shinjuku arc just go "eh, not my problem" and only really begin to panic about the Devil Gundam when it appears in space is really emblematic of a kind of NIMBY-style logic. Specifically, the kind where the things happening in your back yard only matter "because it's your back yard."

War For Fun and Profit: Ad Stella Edition

Really I could be here all day talking about how each and every timeline approaches capitalism as it pertains to war, but I'd like to close this post out with Gundam's most recent offering: the Witch From Mercury. Just like in the Future Century before it, the Earth of the Ad Stella timeline is in ruins due to the use of Mobile Suits. And just like the Future Century, duels between the war machines that are called Mobile Suits are used to settle debates. But whereas G Gundam's focus was how humanity has a responsibility towards fixing the Earth due to all of the damage they have caused through things like war, both real and imagined, G-Witch hones in squarely on how these hulking weapons of mass destruction are being used for a game.

And that game is politics.

The whole purpose of Mobile Suit duels in The Witch From Mercury is so that the children of these massive business conglomerates can attain more leeway by winning the hand of the head business' daughter, Miorine Rembran. And may I remind you, these conglomerates are all in the business of making Mobile Suits designed for war, and the one time we're shown Mobile Suits that were designed for anything but war (like say, as a testbed for potential medical technologies), it all ended with the original developers getting gunned down in a black ops mission.

Conclusion

I just want to repeat what I said not too long ago: I really could go on about how capitalism affects each and every Gundam series. To be fair, there is a basis for this in real life, as a lot of capitalism goes hand in hand with imperialism. And where there is imperialism, there is bound to be conflict. And this is where I will leave you, as next time, we will see what happens to those who are but an afterthought under the wheels of capitalism.

[readmypaws]

Hello folks of Tumblr,

Some of you are new here, so allow me to help you get started here. This tutorial is for mobile users cause im too lazy to log back on on PC rn...

Anyways,

Lets start with the simple part, how to navigate this place. Ive been here a year and it cam still feel likenan enigma sometimes but here are the basics:

1. Your feed is going to be made up of 90% of what you follow. Tumblr doesn't really have an algorithm perse, but more of a "heres is someone that someone you're following follows" or is stuff in the same tag. You can actually completely turn off what little algorithm there is in the settings if you like.

2. If you like a post, like it, but if you do just that, you'll never see it again. If you truly love a post, you need to repost it. Reposting it adds it to your blog, and you dont need to be stingy with reposting!

3. Scared something doesnt match your blog but you still like it? Well fuck it, reblog that shit! We love variety here

So thats the basics of looking at posts, but I can guarantee you that no one here, not even the p0rn bots dont post here. So I'm gonna teach you how to do that!

1. You will notice a blue button that looks like a pencil, click that and itll take you to the post creator.

2. Now the page is pretty blank, but that means you can do whatever you want with it! At the bottom of the screen (or if your keyboard is up, top of the keyboard) you'll notice 7 buttons. From left to right they are:

text formatting, the second is links, third is gifs, fourth is images, fifth is uh... I don't really know tbh lol, sixth is polls, and the seventh is uh... I also dont know that does lol.

Feel free to go crazy with these! Have fun :)

3. After writing your masterpiece, an autistic 3am rant about cheese, or a shitpost you're gonna wanna share it. If you immediately post it, it wont be seen by anyone except those who follow you. If you want people to follow it make sure that:

YOU TAG YOUR POSTS!

There is an add tags button above the toolbar, you gotta type what tags you want. Dont stress about making them completely match your post or what the "meta" is, its Tumblr, there is no meta for the platform that is just neurodivergent queer people lol. Share to wherever the hell you want so long as its somewhat connected to the post :). Add as many (up to 30) as you want! I recommend 5 at minimum. You can even write your posts as just tags!

So thats your post done! Thats the jist of Tumblr, theres also customizing your blog but I'll deal with that later :)

Have fun here!

[sonicenvy]

So I was poking around through my followers list and I noticed that there are a few of you who have no title, no profile picture, no custom site and no bio who do have enough likes to make me think you might be a real person and not a bot. If you are indeed a real person, please read this post.

If I click on you and your blog looks like this:

you look like a bot, yes even if you have a substantial amount of likes.

It is very easy to make yourself look human, and because I'm feeling helpful and chatty today, I'm going to show you how to do that, with screenshots. I even went on this site in safari where I don't have dashboardunfucker set up to take these screenshots, so you know I'm feeling good today.

Step 1:

In your sidebar go to "account" highlighted in blue below:

Step 2:

Select your blog in the drop down. (There are a bunch of blogs on mine because I have multiple junk side blogs.) For the purpose of this exercise I made a brand new blank one called imtotallyabot56789.

Step 3:

Go to "blog settings" in the right hand sidebar. This will take you to a new page.

Step 4:

On that new page, select "edit appearance".

Step 5:

Get to editing! I've highlighted for you the 4 most important things you need to change to not be a bot.

Those things are:

your icon

your header

your title & bio

you banner/bio colors

Some notes:

Your banner can be a .gif, a .png or a .jpg. It is best at a 16:9 ratio. I can't remember how big mine was, but a little bit bigger is better so that it displays decently on desktop and on mobile.

Your icon/profile picture should be a square. I think it displays at 128x128, but I don't know for sure. Use a bigger image than that though. Mine is apparently 886x886 at 72 ppi. Don't pick a photo of yourself unless there's something interesting about it (ie: you're in cosplay or something) because a regularass photo of a person looks like a bot as well. If you don't know what to pick, you can head over to picrew and use an icon generator there to create an icon. There are a lot of fun options. If you want to design your own and don't have photoshop or something like that, check out photopea which is an in browser photoshop clone. Have fun with this -- pick a character you like or a pretty image. Like whatever you want just don't stick with the default one. Use either a jpg or a png.

Your title doesn't have to be that deep. Or descriptive. A lot of people use lines from books, music, poetry, tv or movies for theirs. Mine is related to Elizabeth Warren ("Nevertheless She Persisted"). I've previously used "Death Cannot Stop True Love" and "This could be a little more sonic"

Your bio also doesn't have to be long or, like describe anything super detailed about you. The beauty of tumblr dot hell is that it is one of the more anonymous social media sites out on the internet. You could literally just put something like "Fandom Lurker". Just have something.

The banner/bio colors just change the color of the border around your header image/icon "background" and the accent color.

Step 6:

Some additional basic (optional) things to do:

Enable "Custom Theme". This gives you an actual website rather than the dumb little tumblr dot com/blog/yourblognamehere thing that you get by default. The advantages to having an actual yourblognamehere dot tumblr dot com website are numerous. I made a whole post about that with instructions on how to do that. (note that the screenshots in that post were made before the tumblr layout change that was tumblr staff copying twitter's homework). A big benefit to having your own site is that it is easier to find tagged posts on a site because the default search that tumblr has on the /blog/yourblognamehere thing is hot flaming garbage and pulls posts that don't have that tag whilst also missing ones that do. with a yourblognamehere dot tumblr dot com site you can simply go to yourblognamehere(dot)tumblr(dot)com/tagged/mycooltag and see all the tagged posts. Dooo this. you know you want to doooo this.

2. Open your ask box and turn off tumblr affiliate links. Asks can be fun. They can also be terrible. You can always turn them off later if you decide that people are being mean to you. Personally I have not had that problem in the 12 years I've been here. Maybe it's just the relative obscurity of this blog? who knows. glad for that though.

3. Add some featured tags.

This is a newer setting but I think it's fun. If you make posts (or reblog lots of posts) you can add a few tags that you use very often to this as little shortcuts for people visiting your blog.

Whew! That's all for today folks! Thanks for coming to my tumblr how to for newbies talk. I'll probably post another tumblr for newbies chat at some point.

with love and light,

💚 your local internet crazy lady slash tumblr oldtimer

Be kind to yourself and someone else today!