#Would be fun to make a proper post about this but I'm too tired lol

[meramu-meramu]

I've actually wondered before how well Giorno's speech pattern is even conveyed or understood, like in general across the multiple localizations, to non-Japanese speakers. Iirc a lot of the English tls don't even take his keigo into consideration, sometimes for valid reasons like lack of space for speech bubbles or lack of reading time in subtitles. However, if translated, I do think that because of the differences in how polite English versus polite Japanese is utilized, he's a lot more likely to come across as arrogant in English whereas in Japanese there's instead this odd contrast between his assertiveness and his humble politeness that really stands out. Tbh I've sometimes wondered if this is why so many English speakers call Giorno boring, like, idk, there's an argument to be made that he's more strange and unpredictable to jp readers. Also?? I forget how they phrase it but whole thing about Giorno being withdrawn or whatever that the other characters keep commenting on, I feel like that's definitely one thing that's a bit lost in translation.

Also in jp I feel like the times he's NOT polite stand out way more. Giorno spends the whole white album fight speaking to Mista in perfect keigo, life or death situation but he is still conjugating those verbs! But at the very start of part 5 he quite rudely tells the girls bothering him to "get lost" lmao

[whiteraven90]

hello, I hope you're having a good day <33 I saw your recent post on my dash and I was STUNNED at the animated scene! It's insane to me I get to see your characters animated. Feeling blessed to be alive to see it, I am not exaggerating. You know, one of these times where you wake up and things are a little bumpy in your life but there's one thing that shines brightly you didn't know it could give you so much excitement? Yeah, that kind of thing ((:

I took my time for the past hour to reminisce over your blog again. It is one of the places I really love scrolling through and reading your writing. I had a question, if you don't mind me. The way you have improved is truly admirable. I know this might not be an easy ask to say "hey, how did you learn how to paint", so I'll ask this instead: I don't know how long you've been working full-time in art, but when do you make time for studies / drawing for fun? If it's not too much to respond to, how do *you* study? I remembered your posts with your redlines and wanted to ask how do you go about those, or if you switch your routines based on your needs (sketches vs speed painting backgrounds etc). The notes there were very interesting, seeing the mental exercise.

Pretty sure you have a fKTON of stuff on your plate, so please don't feel obligated to respond quickly or even at all. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my message and for all the time you take to respond in general. Love reading your responses <3

Take care, ok? <3

I'm glad the animation made you feel better! I'll put the answer under the Keep Reading thingy.

I'm not entirely sure... I think I don't study as much as I should/could. I mostly learn as I go. Standalone studies are helpful, I'm just drawn to doing things that are more fun/satisfying to me or things that actively progress my creative goals. Imperfect illustrations for my stories, and incomplete research for worldbuilding! Many people learn faster than I, and those people do a lot more studies than I, but I have no info on whether they have more fun than I. Dopamine is rocket fuel, so it's important. :)

I'm always on the lookout for reference pictures, but I study almost only when I have a practical goal in mind, I guess. Studying is part of my job too, I think? As an indie concept artist I'm supposed to build a hoard of references and pull several new/sensible things out of them, and I think part of this process is understanding the material, and revisiting even what I already know. Illustration is similar. If I'm commissioned to draw an anthro alligator, it's time to study gators. It's not separate from work.

I mean, straightforward version: I wake up at 03:30, make coffee, and start working for myself until the paying work starts, lol. Brain is fresh before noon, and tired late in the evening just like everyone else's. It also helps that the city more or less shuts up at 4am.

The studies with the redlines... I do them when I fancy drawing characters or creatures but feel out of shape. I can get discouraged, feel like I forgot how to draw. I sketch if I plan to sketch, and paint if I plan to paint or want to study colors Drawing live models helps. Studying videos of people and things in motion. Hopping down rabbit holes about how/why things work (e.g. flintlock, Davy lamp, mansard roof). Drawing from refs. Hoarding refs. Trying different mediums (e.g. charcoal, 3D, etching). Small screenshot of one of my ref boards for the animation; I'd say I studied it a lot. How clothes move, what are good clothes, how do good clothes move, lion/tiger + human + eagle anatomy (from specific angles during specific motions if/when possible), how to dive roll, proper sprinting form, how to survive falling from a great height, spearfighting, pole vaulting, poledancing, lighting, colors, environment, kicked-up sand in motion, spear types, emu/cassowary/griffon vulture feet, etc. I didn't draw studies, unless you count the animation itself (I would).

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

I finished the second episode of Heartstopper last night (wanted to post about it yesterday, but I was too tired from work), so here are some of my thoughts in no particular order for you now.

Good on Nick for checking up on Charlie after what happened. I found it odd, though, that he seemed more emotional about it than Charlie, but I guess they're in two very different places, mentally. One being 'why do I seem to like this guy way more than my other friends?' & the other being 'omg stop being so nice to me, your straight!' lol. Plus, I get that everyone deals with stuff in their own way & poor Charlie is probably so used to being mistreated that he might just be repressing the full weight of how his feeling as a copeing mechanism. It was also probably very cathartic to finally tell someone everything that happened between him & Ben (as I'm guessing he kept most if not all of it a secret from his friends & sister).

WE FINALLY MEET NELLIE!!!! And she is as cute as I'd hoped (though for some reason I expected her to be a different colour).

Sorry, Charlie, but Tori's right. Your hair looks exactly the same. Also, love that they kept the gag from the novel about her scaring him with her, always showing up suddenly without warning.

Nice to see that the outfits are on point for our boys so far with the plaid/black jeans (trying to impress someone, I see Charlie) & T-shirt/joggers (also what product is Miss Nelson using coz Nick's tops look soft as hell).

Wait, what season is it supposed to be because it looked really sunny when Charlie was walking to Nick's house (I know he was wearing a coat & hat but Charlie is always cold) but then suddenly it's snowing? Idk when Alice first came up with this story, but as a Brit, I haven't seen proper full on Snow since I was probably around eight years old. But hey, maybe in the Heartstopper universe, global warming doesn't exist.

I don’t care what anyone says, I will never get the fun of a snowball fight. If I go somewhere with a friend & they start throwing stuff at me, I'm leaving! Also, picking it up with your bare hands? One, it's been on the ground 🤢, and two, where are your gloves? Do you not feel the cold? Snow angles do look fun until I think about how my entire behind would be frozen/damp. Sorry if that makes me a "stick in the mud", I don't care 😝.

Damn, that is one photogenic dog & and aww, they already look like a couple. Also, give it up for Nick's freckles, the real star of the show 👏.

Omg, being in the same group as someone you hate must be so hard, but I get why Nick can't really say anything about what Ben did, at least not right now. Also, what is up with that Imogen girl? Mind your damn business.

I think it's good we get to see Elle longing for a bond with other girls that she just can't get from her male friend group. Makes her transition feel more fleshed out (for lack of a better word), you know?

Yay, we finally meet Tara & Darcy & they're exactly how I thought they'd be (except I imagined Darcy with brown hair for some reason). Ooh I didn't know Elle was artistic. I wanna decorate pencil cases now. Tara's pink puffa coat is so cute. What is up with adults dictating how long kids' hair can be? Like who gives a fuck! Also "gal pals" had me 😆.

Oh, thank god, it's just misinformation. For a second, I thought Tao was making shit up just to make Charlie get over his crush. Are kids really like that, though? I can't imagine kissing someone once & having people insist, I'm madly in love with them to this day, like move on already.

Ok, I officially really like the gay teacher, lol.

Love Charlie's sweater & Nick's coats are also very nice. Where are these kids getting their clothes? Coz I'm embarrassed by most of the stuff I wore as a teenager.

The big hoodie moment should be cute, but I just can't help thinking about how skinny Charlie is, which makes me ☹️.

Ok, so I didn't care much for the leaf animation in the first episode, but omg, the little fire crackles when Nick was trying to hold Charlie's hand? Screaming, crying, throwing up!!!!!!! & the hug before he left? Fucking crops watered for life, bitch!

Was digging Elle's outfit, very 70's vibes.

Ah, so their "secret" is out. Also obligatory: 🗣 LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GO 🗣

Can't wait for the next episode, but I practically passed out after watching episode 2 (manual labour is hard, kids 😭), so maybe I hallucinated, but did that Imogen girl ask Nick out? I thought she was daiting Ben? Or is that a different girl?

PS. I found out Aled won't be in the show, which I accept & the only reason I haven't talked about Isaac is because he hasn't really done much yet

[bryce-bucher]

Midwest Lost Post #5

Stepfather:

For the past month I've been pretty busy, so I've mainly just been focusing on working on Midwest Lost whenever I have a chance. In this time I finally got the character model for the stepfather mostly complete and in the game. In this fight he is "unwinding" after work so he's ditched his pants and put on a bathrobe, but he was too dejected to change out of his work shirt. He's an abusive guy with a messy life, and he often takes his anger out on whoever he thinks he can have power over. Unlucky for the protagonist, this often means he's the target of his rage. Luckily for the protagonist, he has a big ass sword.

The Face:

For a while now I've been pretty concerned on how I am going to handle face textures in this game. I need the characters to be expressive for the various cinematics and for certain emotional beats to hit properly, but creating proper detailed faces is a bit of a wild west territory for me. Because of this, I decided to try an experiment. Recently I've been trying to learn how to paint properly using a VR painting tool called Vermillion, It's proven to be a really powerful and relaxing way to paint, so I was wondering if it would be feasible for me to paint character textures in it. At my current skill level I honestly thought it wouldn't work out at all, but surprisingly it did!

As you can see here, I spent a good 4-5 hours painting this face texture in VR. It looked pretty horrible until like the last 40 minutes of the process or so. I guess that's how its supposed to go, but it really surprised me that it came together at all.

After I got that base texture completed, I exported it and touched it up a bit to better fit the model. I then added a pair of eyes and eyebrows on top of the texture in Affinity Photo. They are a lot more cartoony / simplistic than the base texture so that I can change them out and create new expressions easily. I was honestly unsure if that would clash too hard with the painted face, but I think it looks pretty good. This was a really fun process, and It's got me excited for the amount of opportunities it has afforded me. Character creation is my favorite, but until now I really never thought I'd be able to paint the more detailed organic aspects of certain characters / animals. Oh yeah I also painted his knees in the same way lol, but I think going into detail about that would be redundant.

Heavy Attacks:

The last major thing I did recently was finally implement some heavy attacks. Rather than have separate inputs for light and heavy attacks, the attack button causes a light or heavy attack to occur based on whether or not you are currently holding the stance/strafe button. The heavy attacks I decided on are meant to be able to close in a considerable gap between you and the enemy, so that you can get in there more easily after slowly strafing around. Alternatively, you can just use heavy attacks whenever as long as you just press the strafe and attack buttons at the same time, so really they are for whenever you feel as though you can afford the wind up and cooldown of the animations. But yeah, as you can see in the gif above, the heavy attacks currently take the form of a two swing combo where you can lunge forward with the sword pointing outwards and then follow it up by swinging it back over your head and slamming it down. I think they are pretty satisfying to use as of now, but I might consider extending the combo in the future.

Conclusion:

That is all 4 today. I really want to get more work done on all of these games. I'm really tired of being stuck in the same debug scene in all of them. Hopefully this year I can dedicate more time to all this, and maybe I can make a second scene for one of them lol. Next time I post one of these it will probably be midwest lost again, but if not I'll be working on J(a)SON next. A big part of me being busy this month is that I'm actually attending GDC alongside Quinn K. If any of u mutuals out there want to meetup at GDC lmk.

[steakout-05]

drawing my Craig fan design for REAL!!!!! + stupid little doodles

earlier i made a post talking about how i was planning on making my own canon where Crarry could still feasibly exist (as well as having other story beats and whatnot) and i mentioned how i refined my Craig design a little bit from the last time i drew him. i finally got around to actually drawing a proper full-body sketch of him and what he's supposed to look like!!! i think i drew his eyes a little more far apart than i intended but. whatever.

he's my skrunkly. he's my baby. he's got perpetually bored resting face and a phd in Pocketbeasts lore. he's got messy hair and a few stray whiskers as he tends to forget his own personal hygiene, what with being a hardworking scientist who usually doesn't show his face and all. i redesigned his eye to have more of a prominent scratch on it that warps and distorts his pupil, as i felt like that'd be the most fitting for his facial scar and the type of injury he has!

and for fun i'm gonna do a general timeline of the evolution of how i've drawn this design over time, because it's actually changed quite a bit since i first drew him back in 2022!! (click for better quality)

god it is. so weird looking back at that first design. it's so..... why is he so square shaped............. lol

now, in terms of differentiating this Craig from Canon Craig, i've thought of giving him some slight personality enhancements that i've always thought would fit him. i haven't seriously thought about it yet (i am tired) but here's some basic little traits i want to make more apparent in his character:

Logical Knowledgeable Creative Naive Perfectionist Fearful and Cowardly Not a very high self-esteem; Afraid to take charge Easily exhausted Not physically strong; Makes up for it with his quick-thinking skills Easily irritated when presented with inaccurate/false information Easily embarrassed; Tends to erase memories when this happens Reliable Honest Earnest Nerdy; LOVES to infodump about any given special interest he has Focused, sometimes to a fault Detail-oriented Introverted

this will likely be expanded on and developed more, but these general personality traits are quite fitting for how i headcanon Craig to be as a person!

i love how whenever i get attached to a character or even just really like them, i always bestow my best headcanon onto them in high regard: the autism headcanon. gonna try to keep this short so i don't infodump for 12 hours but the major autism traits i like to imagine Craig displaying are issues with social skills (unaware of many cues, accidentally says things in an inappropriate way/unintended tone, takes things literally, misconstrues sarcasm as genuine statements), a speech affect (monotone affect), low empathy (doesn't feel what other people feel and has trouble reacting to and feels uncomfortable with certain emotions), has special interests (robotics and engineering, Pocketbeasts, cats, and he loves infodumping about them!!), stimming (rubbing the back of his head when uncomfortable, fidgeting with and studying a particularly intriguing object or tool very closely, doing little puzzles that make little clicky noises that are very pleasant to listen to), experiences sensory issues (joint pain, eye strain, sensitivity to loud and sudden noises, despises certain tastes and textures, often experiences shutdowns), has a strong need for a solidified routine (sudden routine changes can cause distress for him, as he needs more time to process his surroundings and has a strong need for structure in his daily life), a few motor control issues (he's quite clumsy and has issues with spatial awareness, causing him to bump into stuff. this has unfortunately resulted in him bumping his thigh on the edge of a table way too many times.) and a few other things i've probably forgotten about. a lot of these are inspired by a few of my own traits as an autistic guy myself. the dude's like a combo of Data, Barclay and Geordi mixed into one dorky nerd (apologies for any non-trekkie followers who don't know who those characters are :skull:)

Craig seems like the type of person who, once you get him started, will infodump to you about his special interests for HOURS and he still wouldn't even be done yet. just like me fr. also tiny little Craig getting his face smooshed

get squoshed idiot

this is an older sketch i did when i was still finalising Craig's design along with doodling other stuff on the page. this was a little expression test of Craig blowing his face up with chemicals because 1. i thought it'd be funny. and it was. and 2. i've never really drawn him with big wacky expressions before, and i LOVE drawing big wacky expressions lol. it will be a rare sight to see Craig making a face like that but it'll still be funny nonetheless lol

no comment. only moob. i feel the same way about barry tbh HAHAHAAH what who said that

i fucking LOVE the Yababaina music video so much, it's absolutely insane and fun to watch, although it does put my eyes out of focus when i look at it for too long. heavy eyestrain and seizure warning for anyone who wants to check the video out, it's extremely fast-paced and has a lot of bright saturated colours. here are my three boys drawn doing that little handholding thing Miku, Teto and Zundamon do in the video. also first drawing of Prince Runingunin!!! he's so silly <3

that's everything i have today. i'm excited to draw this version of Craig more and make more art of him and Barry together!! just sucks i have to sorta swerve around canon with a convoluted solution but whatever. i like diverging from canon and making stuff up into my own thing anyway lol. blond nerd craig my beloved

[thejournaluser]

HELLO stranger! welcome to my posts- or blogs- or whatever! i still dont know how to use tumblr or how it works!!! this is basically my randomness stuff, take it as you will. i might do blogs just to post poems and stuff, but ye. Enjoy your time here in my acc!

account announcements log:

(jan 26) made lots of poems before making this account. might post them all but it takes a while ughghghg

(jan 27) im starting to write my thoughts here as well. oh well, might as well make fun here in this account LOL

(feb 4) might wanna post stuff about my ocs. dunno why but i thought i wanted to be famous but eh seems illogical

(feb 11) i might write random shitposts because im THAT out of ideas and full of boredom. mega spoilers tho-

(feb 15) hiya peeps. not feeling the ups right now, just the downs. it'll go away eventually but right now i'd rather feel the emotions than bottle them up. i'll be back soon.

(feb 19) hi y'all. im back from the downs and im currently in a valley in between (istg if any beasts would appear i would-) anyway time to do my usual

(feb 20) woah, did not expect my writing prompts to be getting attention lol. might do those just to get some hearts and all. enjoy the stuff btw!

(feb 22) did NOT expect for my post to get this much attention lol. this account was supposed to be a dump for my creativity BUT im glad people are enjoying it. Thank y'all for staying!

(mar 3) might not be up for it but uhh i wanna do story prompts with a side of shitposting. i already did a sample a few hours back here

(mar 5) i dunno anymore. should i turn this posts of mine into a public confession? i mean, no one might read it lol.

(mar 6) lore???

(mar 19) i decided to write something today. a small project, really but due to some trouble i did in school, it inspired me to write it. enjoy.

(apr 6) hello. i'm still alive. anyone alive, still? i stopped the project for now. i'm so burned out.

(apr 12) tasked my friends and fam to give me one word only. and from that one word, i'll have to make a story prompt out of it. enjoy my silly ideas

(apr 13) aight guys. i might make one sentence writing prompts soon.

(apr 17) introducing The Rooftop, a once-planned short story turned into a long series. hope u guys enjoy

(apr 24) hi guys sorry for not posting anything in a while. school's anniversary week and it's absolutely draining now that instead of going home at noon, i now go to school in the evening. i basically live inside the school now

(apr 27) IM BACK! but i'll still be gone in a few days. still have a lot of things to do and too tired to make story prompts.

(may 12) i have to make to make an announcement in may cuz i don't wanna miss a month just in case. also, to make sure i actually did say something interesting: here's my most popular post

(may 22) ok uh im kinda having a slight anxiety attack rn due to drinking three cups of coffee in one sitting

(may 22, pt2) ??? aight, sorry for the past announcement. it was me freaking out. anyway, im fine now and just listening to music to calm myself down. ngl it's getting hot now with three layers of blanket i just put myself in.

(may 26) on may 24 i think... i called, and they hung up.

(may 27) sorry for making the last announcements too personal. anyway, i noticed that i've been reading a lot lately and been getting into different fandoms thanks to this website. might make a blog dedicated to making reviews. dunno

(june2) wassup. birthday and graduate here. and also a fellow pride month celebrator.

(aug 15) woah, been gone for quite a while. anyway, hi.

(oct 8) literally didn't make a single update on september lol. hi hello welcome to another update on my announcements log. so let me give you all a proper update on what's been going on:

i am now officially a college student (yippee), and the workload is so oh my god. all current projects i have will either be on hiatus or dropped. such as The Rooftop, which I'll be honest I have not even realized existed until i read my past updates. anyway, yeah, hi.

(nov 27) FROM NOW ON, ALL MY RAMBLINGS WILL BE TAGGED AS #journaluserambless (yes, double S)

[protagonistheavy]

Not more than ten minutes into playing more TotK after writing my previous tumblr post about did I discover the steering wheel objects you can attach to things lol. So that resolves one of my biggest worries, mostly. It's still pretty frustrating to be juggling so many awkward physics in a lot of cases, I've come close to losing tons of progress just because building something was tedious + the execution had to be so specific.

Otherwise though yeah Im surprisingly still having quite a bit of fun just putting together all the scraps and pieces the game has left lying around. Lots of the sky islands in particular are just little puzzles like this, figuring out how to use the items around you to get to a higher point or to another island. I've already come across a few "repeat" islands, which is unfortunate but not totally disruptive -- "repeated" in the sense that it uses the same general layout or puzzle situation, but given a little variety of what zonai items you're given.

My goal right now is to get all the parts+batteries necessary to make an RV lol. I want Link to be big truckin' and haulin' across Hyrule. I say this but it also does majorly suck that, at least where I'm at now, there's no way to save anything you build or create. The moment your game has to reload, it despawns all your creations. Pretty lame but I guess that's understandable.

I do wish dying wasn't so, so frequent... I feel like this game much more quickly thrusts tougher enemies at you from that start than BotW did. I mean I remember BotW being punishing too, but jesus fucking christ, every single thing in this game one-shots you for the first 20 hours. It's so obnoxious that you are not permitted ANY mistakes unless the game mercifully spares you with a one-quarter heart. So many times I get swarmed by enemies with spears and I feel like I have zero options but to run away -- which sucks because running away, like, ALWAYS WORKS, you can cheese so many fights by just kiting enemies.

One last note is about dungeon design. I've only completed the Water Temple but I'll say that the dungeon itself wasn't as much fun as the build-up to that area. I quite enjoyed the "pre-temple" obstacle course that takes you to the temple proper, but the actual dungeon itself was surprisingly straightforward. The boss was also a far cry from the BotW bosses lol, and the aesthetics do not match the divine beasts at all. But it's passable, had cute puzzles. My biggest complaint: I accidentally walked two steps faster than Sidon and entered the temple before he did, which left me exploring these puzzles... without Sidon there to solve them. That was REALLY annoying to have to re-enter the dungeon so that it would "start properly."

But I am still very much enjoying the game. Re-exploring Hyrule is a blast, there's enough different with it that it does not feel like trekking the same place as before except for a few nostalgic strips of land where I can go "ohhh yeah I remember doing this here!" which just feels nice. And there's also the fact that uhh just in general, I didn't explore all of BotW's map anyway lol, I completed the map itself but there were tons of places and corners I looked past, so this is a great chance to see more of what was made. And even if I do get tired of Hyrule, the Sky Islands and the Depths are both totally new areas, even if they're a bit bland, they still have a lot to offer and are totally fun to go back and forth between.

[siodium]

AFA!!! i haven't been to an event in so long and i was so excite about the idea of going that i couldn't sleep properly lakjsdklajs but it's ok my soul has been healed by bootiful cosplayers and merch ✨

luwi and i bought tickets for friday online and i thought that would allow us to skip the queue bUT NO we still had to queue for an hour before we could get our entry wristbands :// we got scammed

there were sooo many ppl in line to collect the wristbands and it didn't seem like they controlled the number of ppl going into the event hall so i mentally prepared myself to become a canned sardine the moment i enter but it was actually really spacious inside?? i didn't have much trouble walking around at all O:

my budget was particularly massive this time round bc i'm now a proper working adult (i earn money... to spend it!!) and there were no events for the past two years so i got to save up!!

still can't believe that some stuff i wanted were already sold out on the first day (இ﹏இ`｡) before 2 pm too????

anyways i'll post my humble haul soon!! pls look forward to it

we had a super late lunch at mos burg and i decided to do some accounting bc my dumbass was so engrossed in the shopping that i didn't even realise i was walking around with loose cASH in my hands in between the merch i bought and i was afraid i might have dropped something (i didn't,, thankfully)

also went on sunday as best jeanistinumaki with luwi as yuta~ her yuta is actually very hansum!! in a pretty boi way but still ♡♡♡

first time having so many ppl ask me for selfies aslk;asjdklsa i'm,,, shooketh,, must be the Luwi Effect

i was trying my very best to maintain a (sleepy) poker face throughout the event (Fake Face Tattoo Problems™) but it was so weird not smiling for pics HAHAHAH

found a merp!! idk the chara but very shuai 😙👌 haven't seen coopa in forever i hope he still remembers chi

tfw your bro just wants to be bros

decided to go chill at the sky garden for some fresh(???) air and to get better lighting for selfies lol

i'VE NEVER SEEN THAT MANY PPL IN THE SKY GARDEN BEFORE

a gojo coser came by and asked us for pics?? the way he asked was so cute (ಥ◡ಥ) he said something like "my students! would you like to take a photo with sensei?" aw

one of the things we wanted to do was to make tiktoks LMAO but we're too paiseh to do the thirst traps/dancing ones soooo

obligatory dorito chin/chad face bc we're cosing hansum jujutsu boisss

luwi and i managed to smuggle ourselves into the event hall with the wristbands that we acquired from merp and hf (thanks!!) when they were about to leave

absolutely had to show ban our coses in person before we changed out (・ε・｀) mission completed successfully

and since i was inside i decided to also do some last min merch shopping in case i missed something

i stuck around to wait for ban and midori to pack up so we could go have dinner together~~~ it was ramen and ramen bois share everything y'know

i was so tired by the end of the day but it was fun so worth it!!!

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 19 Part 1: Visiting Rausten

"The Scared Stone of Renais has been destroyed."

"L'Arachel, the princess of Rausten, proposes that Ephraim's army should head to Rausten's palace."

"The last Sacred Stone is still sealed away in Rausten."

"The army heads towards the palace, following behind L'Arachel, who is happily returning home."

Side note: The Japanese spelling for "Rausten" (ロストン) looks almost like the spelling for "Boston" (ボストン), except with the "bo" replaced by a "ro".

If they ever remake this game with voice acting, I propose that they should have L'Arachel speak in a wicked strong Boston accent. It would be very good.

"Uncle! I have returned~!"

(If you're not familiar with everything in the game's setting, L'Arachel's parents are gone--dead I believe--and her uncle is acting as some sort of Regent until she takes the throne.)

"Ah, L'Arachel! You've returned safely!"

L'Arachel reminds her uncle that there really was no chance of her not returning safely.

"There is no way righteousness would ever lose to evil!"

Another side note: I'm wondering how this part of the game plays out if you've gotten L'Arachel killed in battle. She takes on a big role in the story around here.

I did get the heir to Jehana (Joshua) killed, but you also don't see much of Jehana on Ephraim's route, so it didn't make a big difference.

L'Arachel introduces her guests to her uncle.

Eirika uses very proper language to introduce herself as "someone who has come as a messenger / representative / envoy from Frelia".

Ephraim, on the other hand, uses "ore" for "I" when he introduces himself.

lol

"Ore" is a very masculine, very casual form of the first-person pronoun, and his usage of it especially stands out when contrasted with his sister.

They catch L'Arachel's uncle up on the situation, and he mentions that recently the monsters in the Dark Woods have been increasingly active.

He notices how tired they all look and proposes that they take at least one night to rest.

In another scene, Tana comes to check on Ephraim because she's noticed how down he is ever since they left the volcano area.

She says, "This is the first time I've ever seen you with such a sad face..."

"I'm sure my brother is worried about you...As am I..."

It's very cute how, despite the icy attitude Innes shows towards Ephraim, and how competitive he is with him, he still considers him a close friend of a sort.

Ephraim warns Tana that she shouldn't get too friendly with him and Eirika. He says, "Even though we're allied now, Renais and Frelia are different countries. Who knows what might happen from here on out? Our alliance might break at any time..."

Tana tells Ephraim not to worry about that, and she promises that, no matter what, she will always be friends with Eirika and Ephraim.

"Feh feh feh..."

Uh oh! Enemy soldiers appear and take out this guard!

Oh, it's Riev! One of Grado's generals still isn't dead!

"Feh feh feh...Humans cannot hope to win against darkness."

Fortunately, some other guard isn't taken out and comes to warn everyone that they're under attack.

Ephraim has recovered a little due to his talk with Tana, and he reassures everyone that he is fine, and can fight with all his power.

So I think I mentioned it in some previous posts, but some of these late-game maps have really big deployment limits (though it goes back down to normal again for the last couple of maps). This is one of them. And with 17 units allowed, I can finally bring Myrrh to get her some levels, and Knoll to have fun with summoning.

Rennac is also coming to pick some chest locks, and all of my usual combat units are showing up as well, including units like Seth who hasn't been fielded in a while.

The army came around a bend in the road, and the Palace of Rausten rose up in front of them. Inside it was their last hope, the last remaining Sacred Stone.

Vanessa was once again having Titania walk alongside Lute and her horse. Vanessa turned to Lute, who was again engaged in a book, and told her, "Lute, look! It's the Palace of Rausten!"

Lute looked up. "Hmm, typical Rausten architecture," she said. She returned to reading.

"That's it?" Vanessa said. "That's all you have to say about it? You sure are hard to impress, aren't you?" She smiled, though she didn't really expect Lute to say much more, she still enjoyed teasing her.

Without looking up from her book, Lute responded, "I will have more to say once I get a better look at it, just like was the case with Grado's castle."

Vanessa remembered some of the sketches Lute had taken of Grado's castle. Lute's handwriting was atrocious, and her drawing skills were not particularly amazing, but she knew what details to look for since she had read up on all of the special features of different architectural styles, so she was able to capture some of the spirit of the buildings.

"Hey, Lute?" she said, an idea suddenly coming into her head. "You're always sketching buildings, and flowers, and bugs, but do you ever sketch people?"

Lute didn't respond for a moment, but Vanessa saw her finger tracing to the end of a paragraph in the book she was reading. Vanessa had noticed that Lute always went to the end of a paragraph before responding, so she didn't rush her.

Lute looked up and towards Vanessa, "No. I am not much of an artist. My sketches are for informational and recording purposes, so I have not ever drawn people." She considered for a moment and then continued, "I am not sure I could do a satisfactory job, as much as I hate to admit it. Usually, the purpose of portraits is to present the subject in a flattering way, and I do not think my skills would be up to the task."

"You should draw me sometime!" Vanessa wasn't sure where this idea came from, but somehow she liked the idea of sitting for a portrait by Lute.

Lute suppressed a grin. "I suppose drawing a person would be good practice in case I ever want to make medical diagrams of cadavers in the future. I should really work on my technique for drawing human bodies."

Vanessa shot a playful frown at Lute, "Gods, you're horrible, you know that?" She closed her eyes and put one hand to her forehead dramatically. "Comparing me to a cadaver! The nerve!"

Both of them laughed, Vanessa heartily, and Lute in her own refrained way.

"This is fun! I don't even care that we're in the middle of a war!" Vanessa thought. She felt relaxed. She felt like she could be herself in a way she usually couldn't. Then she heard a familiar voice from behind.

"So this is where you got off to!"

It was Syrene. Vanessa felt a slight palpitation of nervousness. How long had Syrene been there?

"Oh! Captain!" Vanessa blurted out, immediately realizing that Syrene was going to call her out on being overly formal again. She turned to see that Syrene had ridden up behind the two of them on her Pegasus.

"Captain? Again with the 'captain' thing!" Syrene said.

Vanessa felt herself blushing. "Sorry! It's just such a habit! Last time I saw you before this war...I..."

Syrene frowned. She sensed the nervousness in Vanessa again. Why was it so hard for them to just get along like sisters, like they used to?

But now wasn't the time for that. Syrene had a message to convey. "Sorry to interrupt, but you need to meet with Prince Innes and Princess Tana. I came to pass the message along."

"Oh, thank you," Vanessa mumbled. "Um, I'll see you later, Lute." She paused, then remembered, "Oh, and you too, Syrene! We were going to find time to have a meal together. All three of us... Right?"

Vanessa still wasn't sure why Syrene wanted to do this, and it felt awkward to her somehow, but she had promised. "And why should it feel awkward anyway?" she thought. "I'm going to have a normal meal with my sister and my friend! There's nothing awkward about that!"

Vanessa urged Titania forward a couple of steps and then took off into the air. Lute watched her fly off, until she heard a voice, "Hi, Lute! Do you mind if I walk with you for a bit?"

"Oh, Linder's Pegasus lady...that is, Syrene, is still here" she realized.

Lute looked at Syrene. "You may walk with me," she responded.

"Wait, did that sound condescending?" Lute thought to herself. She didn't want to upset Syrene. Syrene was Vanessa's sister, so Vanessa would be upset if Syrene got upset, right? Lute felt uncharacteristically concerned with how she was presenting herself.

"Thanks! I only just joined this army, and I don't know many people yet, so it's nice to have someone to talk to!" Syrene smiled at Lute.

Lute tried to smile back, but it felt awkward. She had never gotten the knack for putting on a smile when it was expected. She hoped she didn't look too strange.

She was finding the transition, from talking with Vanessa, which was pleasantly easy, to talking with Syrene, who she still didn't know well, to be very difficult.

"Oh, what's that book you have there? Vanessa told me that you read a lot and have a good memory!" Syrene pointed at the book in Lute's hand that she was resting on her horse's back.

"Yes. I am able to remember everything I read in books. I have been able to do this since I was a child." The conversation was tiring her out already. Lute usually got through conversations by not caring too much about what the other person thought of her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had to make a good impression on Syrene. She didn't want to disappoint Vanessa. "Oh. You asked what book it was. It is a book of Frelian social customs. I have been reading it recently because Vanessa is from Frelia, and I wanted to learn more about the place she is from."

"Oh?" Syrene said, raising an eyebrow. "Have you learned about any interesting customs that are different from Renais? Wait, you are from Renais, right?"

"Yes. I am from Renais," Lute paused. She wanted to answer Syrene's question, but what was a good answer? All of the information she had read was interesting! This kind of question was always difficult to answer.

"Well, I thought that it was interesting that, in villages in western Frelia, the husband and bride at a wedding are supposed to break a bottle on the house that they are going to live in. It seems that the tradition started at the fishing villages on the coast and spread from there..."

"Wait, you don't do that in Renais? Really? I grew up in a village that does that. I always thought everyone did that!"

Lute was a little thrown by being interrupted. Usually Vanessa just listened to her when she was explaining what she had read in a book. She wondered if she should continue with what she was saying or respond to Syrene's comment in some way. It wasn't really a question, so it didn't demand an answer, but would it be ok to ignore it and keep talking about the original subject?

Lute was saved from making a decision by Syrene speaking up again and asking an actual question. "So what do people do for weddings where you're from?"

Lute started to close her eyes to access her mind library. She hadn't ever specifically researched weddings where she was from, but she had seen some weddings in her village...and she had heard information about them elsewhere too...probably...

Then Lute opened her eyes. She remembered all the times she had been told it was rude to close her eyes while talking to people. She was supposed to look at them.

She looked at Syrene's face, but she found she couldn't drudge up any information about weddings. "I...am not sure..." was all she managed to get out.

Syrene laughed. "I guess you've never been to a wedding in your home town then?" Syrene paused, then narrowed her eyes. "Actually, speaking of weddings, I hope you don't think I'm nosy, but has Vanessa told you about anyone she's interested in?"

Interested in? What did Syrene mean? Where did this question come from? Lute still wasn't even done talking about what she had learned in the book. This conversation felt like chaos!

"I do not know..." Lute said unsure of herself. "Vanessa has not said anything like that to me."

"Hmmm," Syrene frowned. "I thought as much. She's too serious to be thinking about things like that!"

Syrene sighed, and then continued. "My sister is not good at showing what she feels. She's the kind of person who, even if she really likes someone, she might not ever tell them!"

Syrene gently tapped her pegasus and pulled up very close to Lute's horse. Lute noted how little effort she actually needed to expend to get her mount to do what she wanted. A Pegasus Knight captain's skills were impressive indeed!

"So, Lute. Are you sure you don't know what I'm talking about?"

Syrene was close. And she had lowered the volume of her voice. There was some sort of meaning in what she was saying, but Lute couldn't figure out what it was. She didn't like the feeling.

Lute felt paralyzed, unsure how to respond, and unsure of what Syrene was even talking about. She stared at the neck of Syrene's pegasus, unable to bring herself to look at Syrene's face. What was she supposed to say?

"I saw the talisman you gave Vanessa last time I talked to her. And now that I've seen this book you're reading... Was that talisman intended as a pegasus pledge?"

Lute stared blankly for a moment. "Pegasus...pledge? I am not familiar with that term."

Syrene's eyes opened wide. "Oh!" she said. "By the stones, have I totally misread this situation?" She laughed nervously. "I'm sorry, I thought that you knew all about this since you're reading about Frelian customs!"

Lute still couldn't follow where the conversation was going, but she did manage to answer, "I only just began researching about Frelia. I have not even finished this book yet."

Syrene nodded and said nothing for a moment. "Lute, do you like my sister?"

Lute thought to herself, "Finally, a straightforward question!" She finally felt like she knew what Syrene was talking about.

"Yes, I like Vanessa," she answered.

Syrene furrowed her brow and seemed somehow unsatisfied with the answer. "Ok, but in what way?" Then before Lute could respond, she continued, "Are you two just friends, or...?"

"We are friends...yes," Lute answered. She felt like there was something more to the question, but she wasn't sure what. And at this point, she was really ready to be done with the conversation. She didn't dislike Syrene, but the whole conversation was exhausting.

Syrene nodded. A shadow passed over them, and Syrene looked up at the sky. A fellow pegasus knight raised an arm in some sort of symbol.

Lute had previously read about some of the arm signals pegasus knights used in battle, and she felt frustrated that she didn't recognize the meaning, but she was too tired from the conversation to think more about it.

"Oh, I have to go," Syrene said. "Um...Lute. Does that book have any information about Frelian Pegasus Knights and some of our ceremonies and customs?"

Lute remembered seeing a chapter titled something like that. She hadn't read it yet, but she knew it was in there. "Yes. I believe so."

"Good. You might want to read that part." She got ready to take off into the air, and then she took another look at Lute. "I hope it didn't feel like I was grilling you, but...well... Sorry. I'll see you later!"

And with that, she took off.

Lute sighed. Finally, some quiet time to think on her own.

...

About an hour later, as the army was approaching the entrance to Rausten Castle, Lute had made some progress in the chapter about the culture of Frelian pegasus knights.

It was fascinating! Obviously, the pegasus knights were Frelian, and they came from different cities, towns, and small villages from all over Frelia, but because they typically lived and worked together for long periods of time, they had a sort of culture of their own within Frelia! The author of the book had written this section after spending half a year living with a unit of Pegasus Knights deployed in the northern mountains of Frelia.

Lute turned the page and read the next part.

The typical Pegasus Knight will live with her unit for most of the year while serving the King and people of Frelia. Most knights only have the opportunity to return home a handful of times a year while they are in service. As a result, many delay marriage until after they have separated from the Pegasus Knight Corps, although some of the most talented who wish to continue as Senior Pegasus Knights to train the next generation are given special dispensation to bring their husbands and even children to live in special barracks for families. It is the custom for the husbands in these relationships to be the ones who primarily handle the household responsibilities, such as maintaining the home and educating their children. This is a pattern of household division of labor that has not been widely recorded outside of the context of Frelia's Pegasus Knights, to my knowledge. However, given the importance of the Pegasus Knights to Frelia, and the respect they are afforded within Frelia's society, the husbands of such Senior Pegasus Knights express pride in forgoing other work for the sake of supporting their wives.

Another unique custom among the Pegasus Knights that I personally encountered during my time living with the unit, but which seems not to be widely known outside of Frelia, is the custom of the "Hippolytas" as they are known. These are Pegasus Knights who forgo marriage to a husband and instead enter a relationship much like marriage with one another. There are many unique ceremonies associated with these "Hippolyta Marriages", but two primary ones are that, each Knight must gain the trust of the other's steed and be able to ride them without issue. The explanation given is that, if the Pegasi do not get along with both Knights, then that is a predictor of a bad match. However, there may also be a practical reason for this tradition. Seeing as these Hippolyta Marriages are recognized and respected by the Frelian military, and the Hippolyta spouses will be deployed together at all times until they retire from military service, the two Knights in the marriage are expected to be able to split all duties relating to their steeds.

Once the ceremonial flight on each other's pegasi is completed, the couple will typically exchange decorative jewelry, often pendants or bracelets, known as "Pegasus Pledges"...

The pieces came together in Lute's mind, and she realized what Syrene had been saying to her.

"Syrene was asking if Vanessa and I are in a romantic relationship, wasn't she?" She felt her face grow hot, and she felt embarrassment at not having understood.

Lute also found herself thinking back to what she had heard from Ross about his aunts... She had never heard of anything like that in her own village, but Ross was from a village much closer to Frelia, and if this book was right, then this was a common practice in Frelia...

Lute closed her eyes and tried to gather her thoughts. What did this all mean? How did she feel about this?

She wasn't used to focusing on her feelings like this. She much preferred facts. They were solid and unchanging, not like slippery feelings that would change on a whim and never stay still!

"I need to think about this," Lute resolved to herself. She closed her eyes and added some notes to her mind library.

Next time: Checking out the map

[rival-the-rose]

Today Laika and I took the biggest baby step towards scooter joring: actually running with a scooter! It went so well, I honestly wish I'd had someone to video it bc I'm so proud of her 💖 I really think this will be useful in her conditioning and we both had a lot of fun! The rest of this post is a training journal type thing and it's not terribly interesting, please feel free to hit "j" to skip.

THINGS THAT WENT GOOD:

-as expected, Laika is not afraid of the scooter or the noises it makes. She started a little bit when we went over a curb and everything jostled but settled back down immediately

-her "detangling" commands worked well but she still needs a fair amount of hand luring if the leash isn't providing pressure in the correct direction. She continues to not understand chirality but tbh me neither bud

-her gait transition cues worked!!! I did not anticipate that at all, I worked on those very briefly months ago but she picked up canter* within one or two steps of the command! This is going to be really useful as an indicator of her energy as when she got tired she would no longer canter even with a lot of encouragement.

- her "wait" command is... Good enough. She mostly still bases it on if I seem like I'm slowing/stopping rather than the command, but she's very tuned in to what I'm doing so it works well.

- directions are a mixed bag. "Gee" is right on the money, "haw" is a little laggy and more based on my telegraphing. "Over" (side/half pass to the left) is 100%, "closer" (side/half pass to the right) might as well not exist apparently lol. We have a specific part of our daily walks where we use "over" a lot, so I think intentionally adding a time where we use "closer" would fix that. I'm not sure what's going on with "haw" except that my partner apparently only turns to the left when walking her bc she likes saying "gee".**

- zero issues with squirrel chasing/being distracted by other dogs. Very much had her working brain on!

- cheese worked great as a reward during high activity. I usually use kibble for training but she tends to swallow those whole and then cough them back up if she's too active, cheese apparently can be swallowed whole with no issue.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

- I also need a lot of conditioning and to remember my inhaler lol. I think I went right to the limit of my endurance but only really took the edge off her energy lmao. I also need to work on my form/biomechanics but that mostly only affects me so I'm not too worried about it

-i also need to wear gloves bc the vibrating sensation thru the handle bars is Bad

- at this point she's primarily choosing a loose leash heel to the left, occasionally out in front when cantering. I'm fine with this bc I want to build up her muscle+get a proper harness before I ask her to pull anything, but I did expect that she would be out in front more since that's her preferred position while walking. However, she's only ever pulled from a heel before and she's never had cheese reward for being out in front. So I'll need to work on positioning as well as letting her know it's ok to pull in the new harness

-related to the above, the six foot lead is a little long for a heel position but about right for out in front. I definitely don't want one of the eight foot bungee leads but I think a six foot one would be ok.

- "wait", "closer" and "haw" as noted above

Overall, very very fun!! A great option for when I can't take her to the dog park to run and hopefully will help her get back to a higher level of fitness!

*I use a terrible mix of horse, livestock, and dog terms sorry. I'm sure there are ppl talking about training specific gaits in dogs but I'm doing it horse-wise.

** I use gee and haw backward for synesthesia reasons. Gee is closer in color to left and vice versa for haw, so that's how I use em bc Laika doesn't know the difference and I literally could not remember them the "right" way around. Will this bite me in the ass at some point? Possibly but I hope it's funny when it does

[myth-carver]

Brief thoughts on c3e1 and the new folks........

Overall: Eh, it was okay. CR has a winning formula with their style of actual play, they're almost always a joy to watch onscreen and that was no different last night, but I came away feeling more like I was watching a oneshot or another ep of ExU rather than the new Critical Role campaign proper. Not super into the new cast and very disappointed that literally half the table is reused people we've seen before -- I enjoyed ExU's cast but that was sold as a separate thing and seeing them here is jarring, especially absent the rest of the Crown Keepers. Between reused characters, all the new permanent changes to the format, not even being 100% certain who in this cast is going to stay or later go at this point... It just kinda feels weird :/ But I'm excited for the Marquet setting and it took me a really long time to warm up to the c2 cast too, and it's early days yet. So I'm willing to have my mind changed, and fortunately for me, I'm more a fan of the cast themselves than any particular characters they've played anyhow. Taking a wait and see approach overall.

Imogen: She seems sweet, I love her character design, I'm very partial to purple hair lmao. Other than that I don't find her that interesting so far but Laura is a good RPer so she'll probably be fun to watch. Maybe she'll be able to join Orym in stewarding the group's brain cell lol.

Laudna: Marisha's doing an accent??????? She sounds amazing and I love the performance. Laudna certainly has a lot of intriguing stuff going on, I enjoy a character with mysteries to dig into. She doesn't inspire me fannishly but I'll look forward to finding out what her deal is. I'm ngl I'm super disappointed that all three of our girls this time are really femme though.

Ashton: Kintsugi earth genasi is an absolutely inspired concept that I hope Taliesin patted himself on the back for a lot because he Earned It. That said, aggressive punk with anger/authority issues is a trope I find super super annoying and he's already rubbing me the wrong way constantly :/ I hate that I'm just not into the only human-adjacent nonbinary character on the main cast, it really sucks. It's also driving me crazy how much the colors of his costume intensely do not match his green and purple and gold body even slightly lmao, it's really unpleasant to look at.

FCG: This is now an FCG hate blog, lol not really but holy shit I hate this character so much, Mr. Riegel I'm literally already tired of your joke character after less than 1 episode idk how I'm going to endure a whole campaign of them. Liam why would you do this to us 😩 a lot of people seem to love them a lot so lmao I'm anticipating for me this is going to be a Caduceus situation where my resentment of the character increases due to never being able to get away from posts about him. I don't want any more robots on my fantasy show, if I wanted robots I'd go watch an actual play of a sci-fi tabletop game instead...

Orym: Best boy from ExU returns, which is cool since I super wanted to know more about him in ExU, but wow does it suck they decided to actively make ExU a worse show by not going into half the cast's backgrounds and leaving it literally an incomplete story to accommodate bringing these cast members into c3. If that was the whole purpose of ExU why not just announce that instead of being coy like this??? The way ExU ended left a really bad taste in my mouth and honestly dampened my interest in seeing more of these characters. That said though, my love for Orym at least somewhat remains and Liam is usually the cast member whose character taste matches my own the most, I look forward to seeing where he takes Orym in the future. Also, if our speculation about his OOC origins during ExU turn out correct, cool to have the first gay male character on the main cast.

Dorian: Other best boy from ExU and a surprise appearance by Robbie! All three of the ExU folks I thought meshed with the CR style amazingly and it's fun to get to see him again. Very curious what dirt FCG apparently seems to have on him. And I wonder when we finally get to learn his real name... 👀

Fearne: I overall don't like Ashley's RP, which I know is ironic because I love Yasha so much lmao. But I feel like Fearne is, of everyone Ashley's played on stream, the character that seems to most match with her personal style and comes most naturally to her, it's fun to see her RP with such confidence. She's really good at invoking the fey vibe, both the sweetness and comedy and the undertone of menace. That said, Fearne's general behavior hammers my secondhand embarrassment squick absolutely like crazy lmao and it's going to be rough to have to watch that for an extended period, I find her frequently almost painful to watch tbh. I'm excited that a fey in the main cast means we'll be seeing Feywild stuff though!!! Maybe even my eladrin warlock's old patron Lady Elmenore 👀

Bertrand: Sorry man I didn't care about you in the oneshots and I still don't lmao, too obnoxious for me. It heavily seems like he's here as a guest though -- I just hope this doesn't herald something weird like Travis finishing his appearance and then bowing out of the cast, please bring a second character when you're done being an NPC Travis don't go away :(

[lovee-infected]

I'm about to start my own (twst) writing blog and I'm going around writers that I follow for some advice q*q could you give me any wisdom on what I should do when starting a writing blog? thank you!! I love your works and you're one of the writers that inspire me

Aa thank you baby I'm so happy to hear that I inspire you!! First off, good luck with the new writing blog! I'm glad that more authors are joining the fandom and wish you all the best with your works! 💞💖💞 Other than trying to keep your blog organized by creating a proper masterlist, choosing a suitable aesthetic, having a set of rules and making sure to tag all of the warnings and necessary mentions (gender of reader, n/sfw or trigger warning), I tried to come up with some useful advises that might help!

1) Keep up the great confidence!

First and the most important thing about a writing blog, is to be confident and strong. Look, you shouldn't be afraid of posting your works and sharing with the redt of the fandom, even as they're not as perfect as you want them to be. The more you write, the more you learn! And you'd grow to be better and better as you continue to share your works! Not even the greatest authors had been any perfect on their first days!

2) If you're accepting requests, try to set a limit

Being overwhelmed with asks is never pleasant, if you just open your inbox to face 500 requests you'd be to be terrified and confused and even lose your passion to work on any of them because of the stress and not knowing where to begin from. Try to set a limit based on your personal limits, how many requests do you think you can have at the time without stressing out because of how much they are? 10? 20? 50? 100? 200? Doesn't matter! If you feel like you're fine with huge numbers like 200 and 150, it's totally fine! If not, remember that setting a character limit would not only reduce the possible chance of stressing out and overwhelming anxiety but it'll also help you manage your inbox better and easier! You can start taking requests again just as soon as your inbox in cleared!

3) Try to treat yourself every once in a while!

Working on requests can be tiring and sometimes, boring. It's great if you enjoy working on requests no matter what they are but remember to write for your own pleasure every once in a while too!

Even if you have like 100 requests laying in your inbox, feel free to write self indulgent fics or something that you'd like to write even if it's super odd an irrelevant to your normal writings! Remember that you deserve to read something you enjoy just as much as the others do, so don't forget to bless yourself with that beautiful writing of yours ;) Remember that it's your blog, you are free to do everything that makes you happy or anything that you simply enjoy doing ^^

4) Remember that no matter what, toxicity always exists and it's not your fault

Look toxicity is very common to be found social medias, especially platforms like tumblr in which anonymous function exists. Even celebrities and world-famous artists might get attacked over pretty silly stuff every once in a while so it's something usual to happen! I wish you never receive any potentially harmful or rude asks or messages but if you ever do, best would be to block or simply ignore them! People in this platform can be ridiculous sometimes lol, there are people who DM creators just to spam hate and block the creator whom they spammed after wards lol, so don't even bother t waste your time with such people!

If anyone comes to your inbox/DMs/comments to say something harsh or leave a sharp critique, best would be to ignore them. Even if you like to answer or respond to reply to them tey to be chill and not take them seriously. Remember, even if they didn't like your content they could've just scrolled down without bothering to read your work, so if they had the guts to come and spam you with nonsense just because they didn't like your work, it's their fault! They didn't have to read, and it doesn't even matter if they liked your work or not! It's their problem and all, so remember not to let these kind of people get to you at all!

5) Take it easy with writing

Don't push yourself too hard, remember that not everything you write is supposed to be *perfect. This is even more serious when it comes to requests, thousands of unexpected ideas might pop up in your inbox and it makes it quite confusing to choose what to write or do!

First off, don't be any shy or anxious about rejecting the requests which don't follow your rules or come when you aren't accepting requests. Those who violate your rules aren't worthy of your time and work!

Secondly, keep this is mind that you aren't expected to be able to write everything! Sometimes the requests are hard to write, the idea seems odd or hard to understand, or sometimes you just don't feel comfortable or don't want to write it all, which is okay!

You always have the right to take/drop whichever of your requests and you don't owe anyone anything for this, it's your own blog, your work, and your content. Don't ever force yourself to write something which you don't like to write!

6) Your health is always the top priority

Remember that no matter how popular you are, how many followers you have, how many requests are left in your inbox or how much people are wishing to get more of your content, you're free to stop writing and put this wrong at a temporarily (or even permanent) hiatus.

Sometimes you just don't feel like writing, then don't write. If you feel like you're being too busy with work/family/school and anything please don't force yourself to write! Remember that your real life matters always come first!

Also, you might even need a break from writing without necessarily being really busy or sad, sometimes you just need to take a break from everything, and it's totally fine to do! Take as much time as you need and stay healthy during your breaks. It'd be even better if you don't even think of any new ideas/Aus while you're taking a break from writing so you can fully set your mind off stuff! Doesn't even matter if followers/readers are going to appreciate this or not, it's not about them, it's about you. Remember that your good readers/follwers who understand that authors are normal humans and not writing machines would surely understand if you need to take a break too!

7)Keep yourself motivated!

There might be days when you can and have the time to write, but something's holding you back. You feel like procrastinating over and over at some point lose the motivation to write. First off, that's a really normal matter to see as many of us have to struggle with laziness sometimes lol, but there are some useful tips to keep yourself Motamedi and hyped while you're planning to write! A bit of challenge would not only make it a lot more fun, but is also a good way to keep yourself motivated and inspired!

First, try prompt lists! They've always got plenty of useful ideas and inspirational quotes to use and are absolutely amazing to give you new ideas for a writing!

Second, try to challenge yourself by simple stuff like setting yourself word limits, trying to see how much you can write in an hour, use some suggested words in your stories (ex: Banana, train, knife, turkey) as a small challenge! You can also try small events (like milestone or holiday events) to celebrate on your blog with stuff like: Prompt list requests, CYOAs, character interaction and other new stuff that gives you a better motivation tp write instead of just having to work on the same, usual writing requests over and over.

Also, I suggest putting an specific hour for writing/ checking on your blog in your daily schedule as this is also a way of avoiding procrastination, instead of writing 10 requests a day and not writing anything for two weeks, try to set an schedule like writing 1-2 writings everyday! Remember to put your real life activities in the schedule too so you won't have to go through any trouble to find a balance between your real life and running a writing blog!

8) Remember the crediting/copyrights

I'm just adding this here because I can see quite a few of writers using uncredited art for their stories and it's been much and less of an issue lately ^^;

First off, the arts/headers used in your writing. Make sure not to use any uncredited card or anyone else's edit without their permission, otherwise it's nothing different from stealing the work from the original artst!

If you're going to leave a link to the artist, make sure to check on them and check if they allow reposts with credit or not. If they don't, don't use their art. If they do, make sure to give them a proper credit with a link to them! (:

Editors too on the other hand spend a very long time making their edits and and aesthetics, so not copying their work is just as important as not stealing art from the artsits!

Pinterest is filled with uncredited art and if there's a pinterest art who is not linked to the original artist, putting the empty pinterest pin link would be useless and steal counted as stealing art.

9) Stick with your own writing style!

Writing style is like signature, everyone's got their very own and unique writing style. From the way you portray characters to what elements you use as the story develops, you're totally different from each and every of other authors in this fandom!

You may sometimes wonder if your writing style is any good at all while you look at other creators writings and feel the difference, and I gotta say: It doesn't even matter what others are doing! All that is important, is you.

Don't try to change your style to become close another writer's style, your own style is great as it already is! Even if you aren't yet that experienced with writing and feel like your writing could be better, remember that your writing skills will indeed improve as you continue to write and read newer and newer stuff, so don't worry about it!

Each and every writing style has got its own beauty, not everyone may totally enjoy your style at first but and as you continue to write, you'd get to learn what makes people enjoy your writing even more or how you can attract new readers with your writings, your style will change for the better as you write!

Though it's totally fine if you feel like there are writers who inspire and motivate you, remember that you won't have to be them in order to improve! You don't need to be just like them to be great! Even if you do have some issues like being a non-native speaker which can make it quite hard for you to write, you'd automatically learn and have most of your errors fixed as the time passes. I made LOTS of mistakes in my first writings but I hardly ever make any mistakes now because I'm used to it! Though it was a bit late I finally recognized my mistakes and corrected them! And I'd continue to correct more of my mistakes as I continue to write!

10) It's very good to have different writer mutuals

This one is rather optional, just a small recommendation! Though there are many writers who might recommend this as a rather important factor for running a writing blog, I'd say that this isn't necessary as there are still well-known tumblr authors and even twst authors who gained attention to themselves on their own and not with the help and support of any mutuals or writer friends, so it isn't impossible to be successful even without having any mutuals!

The thing with having mutuals is that it makes everything easier. A totally new twst blog can gain around 100 followers on its first without even posting anything more than a writing and a list of rules only because of being supported and boosted by well-known blogs while a for normal blog without any support or boosting, it may take up to 2-3 weeks or even an entire month to gain that 100!

Also, getting to talk with different authors (especially those who are more experienced than you) is motivational and heartwarming, you can feel like you have a team to belong to. You can discuss different writing ideas/issues/blog chores with them and see what they may think. You can even have their support with new ideas if you feel stuck/unmotivated while writing a piece!

I didn't have any mutuals on my first days either and I admit that this made things a bit hard, but it didn't hold me back from continuing to write! Yet I admit that it's surely very useful to have a couple of writer friends around you whom you can share your ideas with! Mutuals support each other, reblog each other's works and give each other a better chance of having their works read by more users, which is quite amazing and helpful!

11) Go for it and don't give up!

Remember that no one, not even the greatest writing blogs have been perfect on their first days. They weren't well-known back then either! And they wouldn't have been any successful today without being hard-working and strong. Leaving up to the previous 10 rules is the hardest part of having a blog, and it's all about not giving up!

Do not try to judge your writing and talents based on the amount of notes your posts get or how many followers you have, because these aren't ever going to show your true worth and talents! But I assure you, if you continue to write even through your hard days, your unmotivated days and your sad days no matter how hard it's supposed to be, everything will change. The more you write, the higher the chance of having new people find and read your works would be! Keeping up the hard work and believing in yourself is the key to achieving anything you may wish for, even having a successful writing blog!

As you continue to write, you'll get more readers, more notes on your posts, more followers and more people who enjoy your content!

Hope that these are helpful, wish you all the greatest and good luck with your writing blog!!💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞

[ducklingdraws]

My Idea for a Scooby-Doo! Reboot

So a while back, after noticing that Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated was on Spectrum On Demand, I decided, "Hey, I'm gonna rewatch this show." I don't know why I did it, because I rarely ever rewatch shows. I'll watch reruns, but never have I actually decided to rewatch a television series. But, I did it for Scooby-Doo.

And frankly, I had forgotten how good the show was. It's honestly really dark, while also being absolutely hilarious; and in its humor, the show actually does really unique things with the Scooby-Doo gang, with the biggest example being this show's version of Fred Jones. It's wild. But in my opinion, the thing that really makes this show what it is...

...is its story. I feel like the story and characters are fuel for this show in a way that feels different from other shows, somehow. I don't really get it, but that's the way I see it.

So, seeing as there's all these serialized cartoon series nowadays, and Scooby-Doo is always getting rebooted in one way or another, I figured... what if I rebooted Scooby? If I had the opportunity to reboot Scooby-Doo and the only Warner Bros requirement was "just make it," what would I do with it?

Without further ado, this is To the Future, Scooby-Doo!

First up: The Premise

To kick things off, I'll discuss how the show is set up. This version of Scooby-Doo is set in the future. Technology has become more holographic and stuff like in the movies, but fashion hasn't evolved to be nothing but latex bodysuits yet. Flying cars are real but not very widely used, and clothes can tell the time.

On the biological side of things, prosthetics are holographic as well, and incredibly easy to attach. It's almost like having your original limb. Food is healthier while also being more environmentally friendly, and animals have been genetically modified for a very long time. They have been allowed to mate, which has eventually lead to many domesticated animals being able to speak!

The main setting is a large port town known as Port Intrigue, where all sorts of goods are traded, and many people lead peaceful lives. It's a nice place, and a lot of the economy is structured around it. There are other important trade cities like it, but Port Intrigue may be the most powerful.

It's also probably the weirdest, because in true Scooby-Doo fashion, no one can just "be a criminal." Heck no! Where's the fun in that?? If you're gonna try and get money through illegal fear tactics, you've gotta do it in style!!

And for some reason or another, the police get a little help with solving a lot of the more, uh... colorful mysteries. Help from a group of kids attending Intrigue High...

Next up: The Scooby Gang!

So here's the big part! All of my redesigns of the classic gang! Let's kick it off with:

FRED JONES

So this version of Fred is definitely toned back from various recent versions of Scooby-Doo, particularly the DVD movies and Mystery Incorporated. He's a lot more laid back, and has a sort of "cool guy" persona.

One day a long time ago, his parents, 2 great scientists, didn't pick him up from school, and apparently they mysteriously disappeared. So since then he's been living with Shaggy. At Intrigue High, he is in the theater program as a Tech, so he's good with pulleys and ropes and other various behind-the-scenes theater things, which makes him really good at making weird Rube Goldbergs - and traps, whenever the need arises. But when would Fred ever need to build a trap?

NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS

...Y'all can excuse the scribbles in the lower corner, right?

Anyway, this version of Shaggy is just as uptight as he always is, but instead of that only being attributed to mystery solving and creepy ghoulies, it's evolved into some much, much greater!!!

He's the mom friend now.

Y'know, telling everyone to watch their eating habits and be careful of opening soda cans because so help me if you scratch yourself...!

Long time ago he lost his arm so now he has one of those cool prosthetics. The trauma of losing it though has made him extra cautious, and a bit of a scaredy cat. Of course, he's willing to do whatever it takes for his friends, just like the Shaggy we all know!

He still likes to eat and is a bit of an amateur chef, participating in the culinary club at Intrigue High.

VELMA DINKLEY

This is my rendition of Velma Dinkley. She's still the smartest one of the group, and good at technology, but is also a boxer! She's not just strong, but also strong willed!

The Dinkley's have a long, long history of scientific endeavors, and Velma's father is a great scientist as well! Though really, it's more of a hobby for him.

Velma lives with her younger sister Madelyn (who some of you might remember from Abracadabra-Doo) and her father, Victor.

This Velma is snarky, yet quirky. She's got a real go-getter mentality, which everyone can't help but to respect.

DAPHNE BLAKE

Daphne Blake is a bit of a softie. She was never very forward with making friends, but developed a clique of her own with Fred, Shaggy, Scooby and Velma.

Her house used to be the gang's main hang out spot, but after the kids moved on to high school, they haven't been over to her house at all.

Daphne likes to draw, and really wants to be a fashion designer. In fact, she's a part of Intrigue High's costume design team for the theater program!

SCOOBY-DOO

Scooby-Doo has been part of the Rogers family ever since he was a puppy, and Shaggy was a little kid. The two have been basically inseparable their whole lives, with Scooby even attending school with everyone else.

He likes belly rubs, scratches behind the ear, and food. So in other words, he's the same Scooby we all know and love! Still fearful, but dedicated to his friends, including...

MEASLES

Shaggy and Scooby may have been buds since they were little kids, but before Shaggy, Scooby had Measles.

Since they're both GMO animals, they both have the ability to speak human language, which they would use to try and get food. Eventually, Measles was able to get Scooby into a good home with the Rogers family. Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Rogers couldn't afford to take care of Shaggy, Fred, a dog, and a cat, but Measles promised to visit Scooby whenever she could, or that they'd at least see each other around. And she's kept that promise! Even to this day, the gang will sometimes find her in random locations, like... the Theater Program's costume box?

Measles has a lackadaisical, yet somewhat snarky personality, but definitely cares for her friends. It just may take a while to show it.

Last up: Everything Else

Uh, hm. I guess this is the generalization of the show.

Well, it's a giant celebration of Scooby-Doo. The gang wears different outfits, rarely wearing the same one in consecutive episodes. And each outfit would be pulled from a previous Scooby series (yes, including *shivers*... Get a Clue).

Also, other characters from previous series and Scooby media are not only in the show, but play decently sized rolls. For example, I already mentioned Madelyn Dinkley, but there's also Red Herring from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, or Mayor Nettles and Sherriff Bronson Stone from Mystery Incorporated (they're married from the start this time!). Even the dreaded Scrappy Doo makes his return at (what I imagine to be) the start of Season 2, hopefully to redeem himself and not be relegated to a tired joke about "lol Scrappee sux XD"

Flim-Flam is back too, but is rebranded as Frida McScam, the fast talking troublemaking free spirited girl who takes everybody's crap and spins it in her favor (and also might be psychic).

Scooby's family tree is mentioned, and his parents even have a major role in Season 1.

Just a whole lot of Scooby-Doo trivia and stuff. Stuff that I imagine the people working on the show would be way, way better at remembering and putting to use than I am!

As for the overarching plot?

Well, what futuristic setting would be complete without aliens? I imagine the aliens would be a race of owl creatures known as the Willawaw (another Scooby reference because I hope this show is FULL OF THEM). Basically, these aliens are the bad guys, both in the show proper, and in a lot of the show's backstory. They're like myth villains, or greater scope villains, or something.

I was even thinking like, when the gang ends up running, rather than using a recyclable run cycle from a side view, everyone could have brand new running animations, like to distinguish them all as unique. Although I guess that's what the running cycles were... but the chase scenes are a lot like Mystery Inc, where they were a lot more action packed. It could be great! And of course, everyone would use the classic running style at some point throughout the show, because that seems to be tradition for Scooby-Doo.

This was a really big post! But if you read all of it, thanks a million! I hope you liked the small amount of art within, or just the idea in general! Maybe I'll even draw my reimagined takes on the other characters some day. But for now, I'll leave at this.

[phanbliss]

i'm asking out of a place of wanting to understand, so please don't assume i am accusing you or attacking you, but regarding a post you reblogged recently, it was an ask where templeofshame claimed that if dnp weren't together it would be kind of like "baiting" us but i really don't think that's fair? they haven't EVER said or pretended to be in a closeted relationship, only been friends that joke a bit about their occasionally romantic tendencies, i have friends who think me pt.1

this ask is long due to there being several messages, so i’m putting it under a cut. the post in question: x

me and my best friend are together when we’re really not. we’ve said so, but eventually just stopped denying the claim while occasionally joking about it. i think its unfair of us to act like they owe us something? they don’t owe us a “coming out” (i agree with op tho that coming out has issues of it own, but its the most relevant term) neither do they have to tell us if they aren’t together. 

however we perceive their relationship is our business, and as long as we aren’t toxic about it pt. 2  then really we shouldn’t care about ppl calling us “silly shippers” cause shipping them isn’t weird or rude, i, myself, truly believe they are together, but i don’t think that they owe us anything. they are real people with their own complex lives that we may not understand, heck, that THEY may not understand and they are just living their truth. for whatever reason, they may feel that they don’t want to tell people that they’re in a relationship (if they are in one) pt. 3but neither do they feel the need to (and in my opinion, shouldn’t feel the need to) explain and clarify their status to us.

 it isn’t in any way baiting or manipulation. if we decide to invest our lives and our time into writing fanfics and making art then that is our choice! they are obviously fine with it so long as it isn’t shoved in their faces, but they don’t owe us clarification, maybe i’m misunderstanding something, i just don’t think it’s fair to say that they are being manipulative pt.4simply by being themselves? 

they are their own people with their own reasons for keeping private or not telling us. they have never pretended like phan is real, have even denied it in the past, never made merch or something that has catered to shippers specifically. they have simply let us be (even if dan was quite rude about it before, but i believe he has improved a lot over the years) and made some quips about it. they choose to share parts of their lives with us and however pt5 the phandom reacts to that is our “issue”. 

in summary, i believe that it is unfair to say that if they aren’t together it means we have been baited and manipulated and “wasted our time” because i really don’t think that’s fair to the good times we have had while shipping them. they are real people that owe us nothing about their private lives and can hide or reveal as much or as little as they want. i do believe that some people DO “queerbait” irl, especially ytbrs, but dnp have never pt.6acted fake or overly romantic to seem like they’re in love, their bond, in my opinion is genuine, and whatever we read into that is valid, but it doesn’t mean that they owe us an explanation. 

i think i should end this now, but before i go, know that i do NOT intend this to be a dig at anyone, just wanted to share my perspective and ask your opinion about what i’ve just shared. i just see ppl acting like dnp could qb us and it kind of makes me think. have a nice day, take care, peace out! end 

ooof anon, i appreciate that you sent this to me, but i’m really not the right person for it! i’m not one of the smart people in this fandom, nor one of the cool ones, so discussing things with me over anon is not as fun and rewarding as sending an ask to one of the popular people haha. but i’ll reply with my thoughts anyway!

we’ve had discussions about this on IDB before and my opinion hasn’t changed since the last time i said anything on this subject.

TO BEGIN WITH:  i in no way believe they are consciously encouraging the shipping to make money. they are two people in a long term relationship that navigate a difficult world of being queer, being popular and trying to stay private.

1) “me and my friend” - while i definitely appreciate and understand that, we have to try to not compare dnp to ourselves if we want to make a proper point. i could say that me and my friend x haven’t talked in 2 years but i still consider them a friend, which doesn’t mean that it’s the norm for everyone - same goes for the “me and my friend” arguments concerning dnp. i don’t mean you necessarily, i mean things i’ve seen over the years. “me and my friend always say i love you! we live together! we spend all our time together! we’re platonic!” - that’s awesome but it doesn’t mean anything about dnp

2) i don’t think @templeofshame acted like dnp owe us anything. i took it more as like at this point, dnp admitting to having been platonic this whole time (lol i’m laughing while typing this) would have been a form of queerbaiting. templeofshame never said they owe us a “coming out” or anything like that

3) you have to remember that their audience is largely queer. to a lot of the younger fans, they are some sort of role models and maybe even eye-openers when it comes to their [fans’] own sexuality. they are most likely aware of this and definitely accept it.

4) the biggest thing i guess i should explain is why i believe that them having been platonic this whole time would have been some form of queerbaiting and… and there is no way to put it while still being nice? so forgive me, this is my opinion and i’m not trying to start drama.

they DEFINITELY benefit off phan. they have since the start (or at least dan). back in their younger days, people didn’t really ship them as much as assume they were a couple, that’s how they behaved and most people would jump to that conclusion. when shit hit the fan (vday + general life stress) and dan started lashing out, shipping got real hard. and dnp could have left it there, could have left shipping as that elephant in the room that we’re not allowed to mention, but no

slowly, gradually, they went back to accepting shipping. they haven’t denied anything in years and in many ways they encourage it. and really, no one will make me believe that they - as in the joint brand of dan and phil - would be as popular as they are without the shipping. lots of people watch them for their chemistry and hear of them through phan. they themselves no longer shy away from it - see tatinof fanfic scenes, their fanfics in tabinof, all sorts of things i’m too tired to mention - lots of recent things from this year.

so yeah, i believe they are very aware of phan and accept it, and if they accepted it while being two bros in ~other relationships~ or ~perpetually single~ then yeah, i would feel it’s wrong. not because they said something outright but because 9+ years of certain behaviors are as good as admitting to it. 

they are basically out at this point, both as not being straight and being a couple, and i’m happy they got there on their own terms.

bottomline - i firmly believe they’re together and all that is missing is an actual confirmation - which we don’t ‘need’ - but if they weren’t together, we’d be right to be upset by this point.

idk if this answered your ask but i’m really tired and as i said, i’m dumb so you’re better off asking someone cooler than me hah :)

[teamsharoncarter-archive]

Hey dude, I'm sorry if my tag give you negative impressions and it triggers problems god knows you don't want to experience. It would be hard to accept different opinions on tumblr because we're communicating in a third medium, misunderstandings are bound to happen. If people in the fandom are actually making your life hell and actually personally attack you, I'm offering ears to your story. I know how shitty people can give anxiety and maybe sharing it can ease your burden. That if you want to

I have calmed down now (who knew chores could clear your mind right?). Also, I want this ask and answer to be public so people know what happened and don’t send either of us hate or whatever. (That’s happened before so it’s for mine and your protection). But if you feel uncomfortable with that, I will gladly delete this post and send it via submission.

Hey I want to say thank you, for apologizing. I would also like to apologize. I was already in a beginnings of a manic episode that I felt in me, and when that volcano just erupted, I “spewed the lava” onto you and you didn’t deserve that so I’m sorry about that. I’m trying to do better with it. And I probably should have been more clear, I will work on that too.

Yeah the five years of being on here were hell. (In fact I have a post labeled “Five Fucking Years [link]” that is the summary of the hell - but no where near explains exactly what I’ve had to deal with.) My blog archive on this one only shows 3 years, but I had two different blogs—and a failed remake for this blog—until I remade into “teamsharoncarter” (tsc is like, my tenth url on this blog omg).

I kinda ranted about the Five Hell Years of Fandom below, it’s kinda long, so it’s under a read more.

So my Fandom Life started way back in 2012 on fanfictiondotnet, and 2013 on tumblr.

First thing negative I ever had happen to me, is that a person reported and had my fanfic deleted because I “falsely advertised on the fanfic summary” as stated on the last review before my fanfic was just Gone. FFN didn’t even warn me or back it up at all. And because people badgered me for an update because I wasn’t Spitting Out A New Chapter Every Hour, the demands made a deadline for something that wasn’t supposed to have a deadline made me worry that people would hate me if I didn’t Immediately Post Now, so I posted One Paragraph chapters that were rushed and gross, because I thought they just wanted quantity, not quality. So then I started getting Hate Reviews because it was rushed and not “proper length for a chapter.” (Thank God for James Patterson for his One Page Chapters that taught me, who cares if it’s one page? You wrote down what you wanted in the story without somehow jamming it into another chapter.)

Imaginary deadline made me anxious like a school deadline, which made me feel bad for not posting anything for months which lead to more anxiety which lead to feeling like crap everyday for not posting which eventually lead to spiraling depression.

So I left fanfictiondotnet behind me. And did a dumbass decision to join tumblr. I’ve seen other authors on FFN talk about visiting their blogs and chat with them and stuff, so I thought it would be a fun place to hang with fellow fans.

I was right for a little bit.

Then I reblogged a post that upset one of my few followers. Next thing I knew, I was getting sent messages about how I’m a menace to society for liking this one couple or something (like if I remember correctly, it was a think it was thalico - about 7 months before Nico was confirmed gay). And so because I said “fuck off” because like, 13 years old, why do you wanna worry about that stuff when all you want is fun right? So whenever I got a message from them, I’d delete it. I’d block them over and over again, because either they were using friend’s accounts or a different computer, I’ll never know. After they were Proven Right that their headcanon was canon, they were like “see! i told you!” as if it was okay for them to constantly harass me because their headcanon that a character was gay was confirmed.

What made me finally leave that blog was that I kinda got into a fight, like we did, but they twisted the words I was trying to say, which I got irrationally angry at, and they vagued me, and also not so vagued me, (which is why I don’t take kindly to that anymore) to their followers, which lead to hundreds of anons in my inbox about how I should die and should kill myself. I tried to tell the person, but they had me blocked after they vagued me, and so I had my friend tell them, but all they got was a laugh in the face about how I was childish for trying to stop what I deserved.

So I deleted that blog, remade another one, where I would just reblog, not comment, not have ask open, not post personal opinions, nothing. Just a simple reblog blog. That didn’t work either because I started to feel lonely, and the only follower I had was my sister.

So I tried FFN again, new account, new fanfic ideas, new ships, new identity, and put a link to my blog on my bio and decided to open up my ask for any convos my readers wanted for the fanfic—specifically things like theories for the next chapter. I even made sure to have three chapters ready, so I would post one chapter per week, which gave me time to write the next one, to give a nice flow. Which was a big mistake. I started to get the same “UPDATE!” messages, so I would post the next chapter anyway because I have a compulsion to please people, which restarted the spiraling because I no longer had the cushion to have more time to write. I though the update demands would shut up if I gave them three in the same day. But then, I also got hate reviews for my fanfics in my ask. About how everyone was Out Of Character or Not Together With Their OTP. And so I deleted the accounts and just started over again.

With this blog.

I started not talking to anyone but the few friends I made on my previous blog. I reblogged a lot of gen stuff, then as a month went by with nothing, no sign of hate, I decided to reblog shippy stuff, I changed my icon to my OTP.

Which upset practically everyone.

I was sent not only that I should die or kill myself, but death threats and rape threats and just weird ass shit. I get sent messages that my otp/fave character was abusive (steve/tony, fave character is tony) and that I was an abuse apologist and that I should be filled with concrete to they could “smash me into a million piece or sculp me into a human being with more decency”. So since then I just would, block anyone who I saw was even a little negative toward the things I loved, because I thought, if I put up the barricade now, they can’t get me later. But then I started showing love to other ships and characters and it would just start all over again. And then people I already had blocked would somehow find my posts, screenshot them, post it making fun of it without removing my url, then send hoards of people after me. And when asked to stop, they laughed at me more.

I changed my url, and saved the old url with a redirect to a “not found” page so they thing I deleted and I was save for awhile.

I posted a picture of me as sharon for halloween - I didn’t have a white catsuit, but I did have a vest like Sharon did in CW so I wore that (2 people recognized who I was trying to be) - and then I got this ask: “You are ugly. So is Sharon. [link]” and yeah my answer was basically “wow anon lol pathetic hate”, it still got to me?

I don’t know what has made me stick it out with this one for so long. Maybe because I have a lot of followers now, maybe because of the friends I made, maybe it’s my “fuck this fuck you i’m staying” spite. I don’t know. I just know that I’m tired.

I’m tired of defending myself and the fiction characters I love. I’m tired of constantly being told by my own invasive thoughts and by real people, that my life doesn’t equal that of a fiction characters. That fiction characters are somehow worth more than me, a living breathing human.

[ntasher]

sorry to rain on your parade but the writers of Sherlock were never queer baiting us, they said it numerous times that they never intended to make it canon. it's not their fault that you were so delusional lol they didn't even have to queer bait because the fans were already doing a good job themselves by making up all sorts of theories and then forcing people to believe in them. i'm not trying to be rude, i just get annoyed by these posts :)

I see where you’re coming from but I don’t think you really understand what queerbaiting means. Here’s what it says on wikipedia: “The term is used to describe a tactic where a queer relationship or character is hinted at to attract/appeal to the queer market, and then is denied, either modifying the character’s behavior (making them enter an opposite gender relationship), playing it off as a joke (sometimes a recurring joke or trope), or denying the assumptions (in interviews, panels and such) without modifying the character’s behavior.” 

Yes, it is better that they denied it instead of being vague about it and leading us on, but the problem here was also that Mofftiss often lied about stuff because they didn’t want to “spoil the surprise”, they even reminded us on several occasions that we shouldn’t trust them and never take their word for it, so can you really blame people for not letting it go?

As for the fans who forced others into it, I partly agree with you. Luckily the people I follow were pretty chill about the whole thing and understanding of those were either afraid to believe or just didn’t see Johnlock more than a platonic thing. But I went through the Johnlock tag a few times and I saw people get really nasty towards those who warned them that it might be queerbaiting and I didn’t approve of that at all. I also wasn’t a big fan of the constant reassuring “it will happen, i guarantee it, we can trust them, you have to believe” like I think that was kind of irresponsible to do since nobody knew for sure if it would happen (and now it turned out that they were in fact wrong). However, in the end the writers are still the ones who are to blame for this because they were the ones who planted this idea in our heads, they were the ones who wrote all the scenes where it was implied that John and Sherlock were more than just friends, and while we may have misinterpreted some of them, these are just a few that were very explicit:

Mrs Hudson saying “There’s another bedroom upstairs if you’ll be needing two bedrooms” when John first came to 221b. Obviously that implies that she thought they were gay and she already knew Sherlock well at the time so there must be a reason why she assumed this

when John and Sherlock went out to dinner and Angelo (the owner of the restaurant), who also knew Sherlock, assumed they were on a date and Sherlock never denied it. In the same scene John asked Sherlock if he had a girlfriend and he replied with “Girlfriend? Not really my area” and when he was asked if he had a boyfriend he just went “No” without adding anything else to it. Also John’s reaction went something like this “Okay. You’re unattached. Like me. Good.” (sorry if these aren’t the exact quotes I just don’t feel like looking them up)

Mycroft saying to John “Yesterday you moved in with him and now you’re solving crimes together. Might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?” Yes, I know this was just a joke, but they still put it in there even though they could’ve easily avoided it because it didn’t serve the plot or the conversation in any way. They choose to write these scenes and then wonder where we get these crazy ideas from.

“I’m glad no one saw that. You ripping my clothes off in a darkened swimming pool. People might talk.”

“We’re going out tonight” - “Actually I’ve got a date” - “What?” - “It’s where two people who like each other go out and have fun” - “That’s what I was suggesting”

“Are you jealous?” - “We’re not a couple” - “Yes you are”

How basically the entire wedding in The Sign Of Three was more about John and Sherlock than John and Mary, Sherlock repeatedly comparing his and John’s relationship to John and Mary’s

Janine saying “I wish you weren’t… whatever it is you are” and Sherlock replying with “I know”

In The Reichenbach Fall when the press were speculating whether their relationship was more than platonic (which, again, Sherlock never denied even when he was directly asked about it)

These were just off the top of my head, I could also talk about all the times they were longingly staring into each others eyes but I know that people would say that it doesn’t mean anything and that I’m just reading too much into it. 

I could also go into how hurtful it is to say to people that they’re being delusional because they saw a bit of themselves in characters and were hoping to finally get proper representation, but I’m too tired to go on and besides its not like anyone is actually gonna read this lmao, I just needed to get some of the stuff off my chest.

Also sorry for the late reply, I just knew it would take some time to answer this and I was quite busy these past few days