#also on a completely unrelated note /gen

[wawataka]

me seeing the 194716th au where reigen adopts mob (mob has his own loving parents (what about ritsu (reigen can barely take care of himself)))

[a-is-for-arson]

My type: Human versions of the mane 6

[darlinguistics]

'its just IMPOSSIBLE to not be addicted to your phone nowadays its UNREALISTIC-'

heres some advice to being less chronically online. for gen z (and younger??) who dont even know how to start thinking about it and have only heard shitty advice from older adults who just genuinely do not get it, from a fellow gen z and my experiences so far.

*these are personal and may not all 100% resonate but its still good prompting to start thinking about things! PLEASE feel free to add your own stories/advice in the notes! support your fellow humans, dont gatekeep what youve learned, lets have these conversations! and no negativity/pessimism please <3

first thing is to make it a less scary thought, a more concrete idea and not a hypothetical. it doesnt have to be all-or-nothing, cold turkey, a huge announcement and a fundamental shift in your personality. the internet will be in your life for the rest of your life, this is an ongoing relationship you are trying to make healthier thats all! and it takes one step at a time and some self-compassion, but a true effort nonetheless. 'dont you think thats a bit too serious-' if youre my age you quite literally grew up and developed online, it is literally part of your psyche the way your childhood is, it IS serious, you deserve to treat it seriously.

dont save your login info/dont stay logged in for social media accounts, having to manually log in when you want to go on like youre on some elementary school chrome book is a really healthy and clear boundary to have between being logged off and logged on.

-> bigger challenge - uninstall it on your phone in general, only log on on your laptop/pc if applicable for you!

if youre motivated to, try to work on your posture too. i only say that because most of our bad posture is at least partially related to being on our phones a lot, and when i started wanting to fix my posture, completely separately and unrelated from trying to break my phone addiction, it made it easier to lose interest in my phone since i didnt want to ruin my progress with my posture. it made me start to have a mindset like 'well if you cant do this on your phone with good posture then dont do it' and 'if youre on your phone so long your posture starts to cave in, youve probably spent too long on your phone anyway'

listen to music more. its easier for me to kinda write off my phone and do other things if i just open music or a podcast or long youtube video on it. i know we all love long video essays, but i recommend music more specifically for me at least because im less inclined to pause music or scroll while listening to it for some reason? whereas using a show or video or podcast for white noise, im way more likely to also be scrolling on my phone and that is my activity lol. music for some reason i dont want to interrupt and instead of being on my phone i can clean or do something productive on my computer etc

this one is sooo hard but try to fall asleep with some distance between you and your phone, even just a couple feet. mine stays on the desk next to my bed which isnt that far but its better than on bed like it used to be. when you wake up you probably wont feel like reaching for it right away if its far and even better if you have to get up for it because then at least you stand and move your body first thing instead of looking at your phone first thing. and try to get more and more of your morning routine done before touching your phone over time.

-> for me, i started by just trying to at least wake up a bit in bed before touching it, then stand up before touching it, then stand and stretch, then going to the bathroom first, making coffee first, feeding the cat first, etc. its surprisingly helpful to have a specific chore/task in mind that is The requirement so that everytime you do it you get a lil dopamine rush for unlocking your phone from yourself lmao. when the weather was nice i used to make my Requirement being outside first before going on it and i LOVED that. esp as it got easier and i started doing more and more before going on it and finally walking outside with coffee and my phone felt like such a pleasant little reward.

find a hobby that uses your hands. example: i really need to get back into knitting because when i did it regularly so much time that wouldve been on my phone was spent knitting with music/podcasts/shows/(even online lectures! when i felt productive lol) playing. its the same amount of physical relaxing - barely moving lol - but uses a longer attention span and a much better dopamine hit than scrolling, i literally MADE things.

-> you might be thinking, 'but mindless knitting isnt better than mindless scrolling is it?' but that mindless feeling on your phone is just that, mindless. the mindless feeling you get when doing something like knitting is actually closer to a flow state, which is actually incredibly good for you, like a fulfilling nutritious meal as opposed to 'empty calories' or whatever

get a widget for your homescreen that shows your screen time. i have one and of course it doesnt always stop me but seeing that time go up all day the more i use it and the pride of keeping it low is really helpful

practice grounding. in general.

spend more time on anonymous activities and have more privacy and less attachment with your 'persona' - what i mean by that is, i consider things like scrolling through tumblr (for me personally!) to be relatively harmless because i dont try to like,, brand myself here. if youre a tumblr regular you know the jokes - 0 follows, 0 notes, screaming to the void, moots you dont talk to, blorbo pfp and urls, fake names everywhere, and we're having fun! basically targeting the 'everyone is famous now' thing with this one - embrace being a nobody with no personal stakes here

-> personally ive never kept up with having social media accounts that are actually just, me irl - like a facebook or main instagram, like a locals account yknow? but i think it goes for that too - stop spending so much time trying to further personalize your online presence in the hopes of it representing you perfectly - because it never will, and it shouldnt, and you shouldnt aspire for that. your social media presence is lighthearted and incredibly surface-level, treat it like that! thats not me bashing social media either, having that mindset will make it more enjoyable bc youll be using it as it should be used!

do following/followers or camera roll/files or app purges. this is also a soft launch type of way to practice easing into a better mindset. aside from just literally getting rid of junk, the process of trying to judge whether or not you need something is good practice in mindfulness! even if you dont delete everything you feel like you maybe should, thats fine, youll do other purges in the future too. eventually youll get better at parting with things and realizing when things that feel good in a moment are actually bad for you. and it forces you to regularly check in on your more long-lasting parasocial relationships online and how theyre serving you or not

speaking of parasocial - for actual friends, if theyre irl, think about how much you interact with them online vs in person and why you think that is and how it affects you. maybe youll wanna see them more irl if possible (i promise its better for your friendship), maybe youll realize you dont need to keep tabs on them anymore (old high school acquaintances lookin at you). for celebrities and fandom things - try to think about the bare minimum content from them you could do with. you dont have to unstan all your faves and stop enjoying things - but do you need their notifications on? do you need to have a stan account? do you need them on all the platforms? do you need to have all that saved content of them? are there aspects of this that you love that could be found elsewhere?

if youre of the genre of online where you just cant help yourself from getting involved in big discussions or discourse and arguments - i recommend journaling when you get upset by something online, articulating your feelings without the idea of someone ever reading it and without the goal of 'winning' or being the most correct and logical or even the most sympathetic and morally good. take away every audience aspect of it. what is this really about for you, and why would strangers online deserve to hear your personal well-thought out opinions? why would your thoughts deserve to be simplified and misconstrued and underappreciated the way they would be in this discussion? is there even an outcome to this where you feel truly satisfied? are their people who are more worthy of hearing your thoughts who arent part of this audience? is this a conversation that is best held online where so much communicative nuance is inevitably sacrificed?

in the end these are all just practices in remembering how in control you are. and that goes for if any of these are scary or too difficult sounding too! these all become less scary if you remember that as soon as anything becomes too uncomfortable or painful, you have all the power to stop doing it, make a change, and try again later. so much of advice for quitting bad habits can be intimidating because the pressure and the shame that would come from failing scares you out of the possible benefits of trying - just go ahead and kill that shame from the jump. of course youre going to fail! you are going to have setbacks! thats part of it! you have agency in this, always. the internet is not inherently or completely evil nor good. build trust in yourself to make the calls on when it is serving you and when it isnt on a case-by-case basis, and then give yourself permission to learn through trial and error.

and remember you are worth all of this effort. i believe in us <3

[youjustfeelthemforever]

ALRight bestie, can i get uhhh context??? i only know like 2 guys from the incorrect quotes yall are messing around with, who are these guys???? <- wants to know how to picture em lol

also been so fun readiing the shenanigans hahaha

OKAY SO

Uhhh Chrumblr server RP got kinda out of hand haha and now we've got this whole plot and an ever-growing cast of characters that currently consists of

Nia Rosewood - Chaos's oc, everyone's little sister (one is younger than her and that's irrelevant haha)

Venatrix - Vixen and Chaos's shared oc, angry murder girl.

Nightwing, aka Dick Grayson - The big brother, nobody knows his true identity but they get why he's hiding it.

Grillface and Sploto - Kirbe's ocs. Creachers. Sploto is a very cat-like in manner kirbe and Grillface is a thief of a waddle dee.

Arrio McKay, aka Spellblazer - You know the Best Boy (>:D). Did his best to avoid letting people know he was a superhero but ultimately failed when he set his hands ablaze and threatened to light Peter on fire (they don't get along).

Peter Parker, aka Spiderman - Classic Gen-Z, opposes murder (as do a few others), a certified little shit. Doing his best to hide his superhero identity. Hates Arrio as much as Arrio hates him (LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT PETER CAUSED THE INCITING INCIDENTS OF THEIR INITIAL CONFRONTATION).

Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil - Might as well be Peter's dad. Blind but has heightened senses. Helping Peter keep their cover as heroes.

Lieutenant Strike - Moob's Star Wars oc. No-nonsense clone, extremely confused with all these Earthlings. (Why don't they know what a holo-map is??? Are they stupid???) Perhaps not as perpetually angry as she seems to be.

Raoul de Chagny - Terrified sobbing French man who loves his wife.

Christine Daaé - Terrified-but-better-at-hiding-it French (actually Swedish tho) woman who loves her husband. Often tries to stop fights between Peter and Arrio, usually fails (by no fault of her own - those two are wild).

(Note from blog author: Raoul and Christine are under the protection of the entire group. Hurt them and suffer the consequences.)

Maddox Darling - Christi's Star Wars oc. Due to time shenanigans I don't understand (lmao), is friends with Strike in the future. Strike is extremely confused.

Basically the plot is these characters all showed up in a small town in the middle of nowhere with no memory of how they got there, and now they're trying to figure out where they are and how to get back to their respective universes without killing each other (looking at Peter and Arrio). Also some of them are starting to realizing that they may or may not be fictional, but those who were elsewhere at the time of the discovery still have no idea.

So uh that's basically it I think? It's kind of a lot but we're having a blast lmao. People keep joining and adding characters and it's really chaotic and fun haha.

Also, completely unrelated but WE GOT ANOTHER ONE BOYS (you know what I'm talking about heheh)

[charmikarma]

charmikarma's homestuck fanwork rec list

will be updated as i work my way through more things i like :) check under da cut

notes: parentheses indicate the focus(es) of each work, and works with explicit content are marked [E]. gen means there's no specific ship or character focus.

Canon Compliant or Canon-Adjacent Works

Karkat Goes To A Convention, Act 1 by Cole (gen)

i have two pitches for kgtac. here they are:

if you ever find yourself missing homestuck in the old days before postcanon, or even just the old days of homestuck fandom, you should read karkat goes to a convention immediately.

this is the most homestuck thing i have read since homestuck.

act 1 of kgtac is completed, and is the main draw here. act 2 is currently ongoing and is pretty much completely unrelated to act 1. i think it's alright. but act 1 is absolutely a must-read.

Detective Pony by sonnetstuck (dirk)

do i even need to explain this one? it's detective pony. it's a great character study of dirk. i'm sure you've all heard of it. if you haven't read it, go do that now. please.

Jade Route by SPICYYETI (jade)

jade route is a post-epilogues comic following meat!jade who is trapped in a body controlled by calliope. it's a take on the "ending" that the epilogues don't offer. i think it's pretty clever - it does a great job of using the medium. also, it's about jade :) may or may not have had an impact of some size on how i personally read jade.

AU Fics

Crossfire by HappiKatt (gen; dave)

ok, this series only contains one fic (for now). it's called "the calm is terrifying when the storm is all you've known." ok i literally could not put this fic down. it has the best hook i've ever seen. a proper fucking novel. and some of the best character writing i have EVER seen for the whole strilonde family. augh it's so good. and the art is really good too (YES IT'S ILLUSTRATED).

The Eurydice Suite by callmearcturus [E] (gen; davekat)

inception au. some of the coolest action and plot stuff with an ensemble cast i've ever read followed by the best davekat fic i've ever read. really cool stuff.

Catacombs by oxfordRoulette [E] (jadekat; dirkjohn)

another series. it's a d&d-like au. very tongue in cheek about this fact at times. the real draw here is the third fic in the series, Vanitas Vanitatum, which has stellar dirk and john writing. you could read it on its own, but the first two fics are also QUITE good, are about jadekat, and the second one sets up vanitas beautifully, so... you should read all three??? :3c

Miscellaneous

Homestuck Made This World by Ranged Touch (analysis)

hsmtw is a readthrough/analysis podcast whose goal is not to analyze homestuck on its own terms, but to challenge it and put it back into its historical context. it's not the easiest to listen to as a homestuck fan - the hosts are very critical at times, and i don't always agree with their opinions on things that happen in homestuck - but i think the analysis about what homestuck does, tries to do, and is responding to is very important, especially for people who weren't there for homestuck's original run. which... includes me! i read homestuck in 2014. i missed most of the most important homestuck historical moments. in any case, hsmtw changed the way i look at homestuck and other media. highly recommend, at the very least for understanding homestuck's historical context

Sugoi Quest for Kokoro by death420 (gen)

well well well well well well. well. 🤔 well. if it isn't ratchet and fuckin CLANK

DORITOS & FRITOS by bb-panzu (davejade)

good video. has davejade. i'm not an artist or anything but i think there's some kind of artistic genius happening here. it scratches my brain just right.

[mikaharuka]

Relentless Seduction - Official Post

Heyo y'all! So... this is a bit new, if you aren't aware, I'm a major fan of Ace Attorney and love the Wrightworth (Narumitsu, Mitsunaru) ship! In fact, I had brain-rot years ago, but was only a reader at the time. One of my friends, Momo (@axolotlsupremacyowo), is a talented Ace Attorney writer (go check her out!), so when I stumbled across the Narumitsu Day exchange a couple weeks ago, I told her about it.

So... of course, she enabled me to join with her, and here I am now. And because the stars aligned, Momo was the one my fic was for. To top it off, my perpetual vampire brainrot persisted, so here I am now! That's right, I actually wrote a Narumitsu vampire AU. And not just that - I ended up creating yet another world I'll write for again in the future. Guess things go out that way sometimes, huh? No regrets XD

...oh yeah, also, this was the other fic I did the Harlequin Romance summary thing on, alongside Flora Fati. This was a wild ride!

Title: Relentless Seduction

Author: Mizuka

Rating: Teen

Category: M/M, Gen

Word Count: 4120 words

Notes: I ended up creating another world - the Summer Night Verse

Summary: (...part of this challenge was the summary - that is below)

Unrestrained. Unrelenting. And completely unreal! When prosecutor and vampire hunter Miles Edgeworth's best friend and colleague Mia Fey goes missing one day, he’s determined to find her. Only an ominous sigil marks her disappearance - the same symbol that marked his father’s death years ago, and he will not… cannot lose Mia too. With Mia's younger sister, the spirit medium Maya Fey, and his junior colleague, Klavier Gavin, working with him, they try to find Mia in time. Unfortunately, their only lead is The Borscht Bowl - a haven for the vampire-obsessed, run by a charismatic, mysterious, handsome man... Bar owner Phoenix Wright knows that there’s more to the gorgeous visitor than the formal suits and briefcases. In fact, his protégés Apollo and Trucy are sure that the newcomers are tied to Phoenix’s closest friend and longtime regular, Franziska von Karma. As the crew dives into the seedy shadows of the mystic world, unraveling the mystery around Mia’s disappearance, Miles and Phoenix turn to each other, discovering a sizzling hunger that won’t be sated… but will their connection survive the dark truth?

[Based on Relentless Seduction by Jillian Burns]

Tagging because I think you might be interested? @mrsmungus, @udaberriwrites, @magma-saarebas19, @aislinnstanaka, @writingpotato07, @lena-hills, @tsunderewatermelon, @bleepbloopbotz @axolotlsupremacyowo, @kayedium-writes, @sliebman10, @oceangirl24

[mannatea]

Light Does Not Stay, a Final Fantasy IX ‘fic

Chapter: 3/3 COMPLETE Word Count: 13,536 Summary: [1771] When Burmecia attacks the small Alexandrian town of Steenvorde, Adelbert Steiner’s life is turned upside-down. Pairing/Characters: Adelbert Steiner, Original Characters Warnings: Relatively minor violence, description of death, war. Rating: T Genre: Gen, Family, Friendship

The title is the link to Ao3 for Chapter 3.

Notes under a cut:

Welcome to the end of this little tale, the first in (checks list) probably 30 of them.

The obvious first thing to talk about is the concept of luck. I think it’s in the Omni Opera where Beatrix mentions that when Steiner beat her in the duel in 1789, she began to view him as a personal rival. I don’t always subscribe to things that show up in extra material (sometimes those things are just bad, you know what I mean?) but this fits in nicely with one or two canonical scenes. The important thing to note, here, is that even though it’s stated that Steiner just “got lucky” with his win, when Beatrix talks about this, she makes it very clear that that she doesn’t really believe in luck—making luck not an objective reason for Steiner’s win, but his own interpretation of that event.

This is a fun little character bit for Beatrix because it tells us how this loss pushed her to grow stronger, and who she chose to measure her own worth and skill against; this also makes her relationship to Steiner feel a little more complex—like she really is trying to one-up him all the time, but it’s not due to some personal vendetta so much as a deep-seated desire to improve herself. Remember, she thinks that Steiner won the match because he was a more skilled opponent. (This shows us exactly where her self-worth lies, but that’s a conversation for another day.)

Anyway, this idea of luck—and of Steiner’s opinion that it is largely to thank for his win against Beatrix—paints him in a humbler light. He bested Beatrix in that duel but he can’t believe he did it on skill alone; something happened in the match to make his win seem at least partially rooted in luck.

I’ve seen all kinds of fun interpretations of what “luck” might entail in this match: from Beatrix having recently lost her eye and therefore also her depth perception, to her knocking off his helm at the start of the match only to step into it later, giving Steiner a very lucky win, and honestly I think everyone’s ideas are great! For this series, however, I wanted to play with the idea a bit more—beyond just…that specific contest or duel or whatever we want to call it. Like, what would lead Steiner to believe that luck was the reason for his win—outside of something you might see in a physical comedy show, of course?

Acorns are considered by some to be lucky, but I started this story with the idea that it was just some silly childhood thing Adelaide subscribed to that her brother sort of just…got dragged into by proxy and by circumstance. (By luck, you say? Heheh.)

I’m not really trying to do some kind of overarching commentary on luck the way I did with Luck of the Draw (a completely unrelated story), but I’m also not really asking the reader to buy into the idea that Adelbert Steiner is A Lucky Guy. I’m almost going for a kind of middle-of-the-road take. Think: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor kind of lens. I guess you could call that a Venn diagram where one side features luck and the other genius, and the overlap is where the big, life-changing things happen.

Final Fantasy is a world that contains magic—like any fantasy world worth its salt—but I’m not writing this theme of luck with the idea that oh, the acorn is lucky and it’s the reason for Adelbert’s survival. I’m not asking anybody to suspend their disbelief with luck and magic. I’m a more grounded person and I want to explore luck specifically in situations where it isn’t the only component necessary for the literal or proverbial “win.”

In other words: luck will be returning in the future.

--

Another theme that will come up a lot is this idea of things Just Making Sense. I didn’t stutter in my first chapter’s notes when I said that I’m writing this story with ADHD and autism representation in mind. Honestly, Adelbert Steiner strikes me as a very obviously autistic man, and I feel like exploring that will be good for my soul. And maybe for yours, too.

While I’m at it, Beatrix also exhibits some symptoms of autism as seen specifically in women. Obviously we’re still a long way off from seeing her (she is some years younger than Adelbert, after all) but I’ll get there, eventually. Expect to see it explored.

Steiner as we see him in the game is a very energetic and dutiful person. He tends to see things in black and white, and struggles quite a bit with nuance. Similar to Beatrix, he’s spent a lot of his life in the military and if there’s one thing militaries tend to hammer into soldiers, it’s this idea that you’re not your own person. You exist for a greater good, a greater purpose. You’re a cog in their machine and you’re not meant to have many thoughts or needs or even considerations of your own. You’re meant to simply obey.

This might sound similar to the same rhetoric heard in a lot of religious organizations. You’re right. 😊

This rhetoric works really well, which is why it’s employed for organizations who aren’t just the military, but I wanted to explore a bit of how exactly this worked so well on Adelbert in particular. In this story, we see him in the immediate wake of loss and chaos, and he draws some comfort from the organization of the military. It’s easy to understand; there’s no nuance there. Ranks exist and a chain of command exists; these are things even he can pick up on (as a child with very little understanding of nuance and social norms that might exist outside of what he’s grown used to).

Adelbert at this age has never had any control over anything that’s happened in his life. He doesn’t really get choices or to make real decisions for himself. He’s just kind of…pushed around by circumstance—like any other child, really. And that’s not going to change for him anytime soon. I mean, look at him in the game: that’s a man whose only real choice in life was to, you know, join the military. His whole character arc is about finding an identity for himself (and learning to make his own choices and decisions).

(SORRY I LOVE IDENTITY IN LITERATURE AHHHHHHHH.)

Anyway, Adelbert as a young’un longs for structure and security and purpose—and in the end, the military does offer that to him—on a silver platter, no less. It’s very easy to see how he gets sucked in and spends many more years of his life serving others.

--

The Ultimania Guide mentions Brahne’s father dying, and since he is referred to as a king (and Brahne is crowned Queen while her mother is still alive) we have to assume that the line of succession went from Brahne’s father to Brahne to Garnet, making Brahne’s mother the Queen Dowager until Brahne was of age. (And this would make Brahne’s husband a Prince Consort, naturally.)

--

There’s a lot more to Roland and Cynthia than what is seen here, but I’m sure you guessed that (because I trust that my readers are clever).

I realized way too late that the Roland in my brain looked like an older, more grizzled Anduin Wrynn. But like. Shorter. Because Cynthia is almost a head taller than he is. Heheh.

Anyway, I wanted Roland to be the focal point of the Alexandrian Knights—where he becomes a kind of inspirational figure/mentor to Adelbert at this crucial point in his life. Cynthia matters, too (I like to imagine she cuts a striking figure) and to some degree, Colonel Missy also “matters”—but we all know that Adelbert eventually goes on to become captain of the Knights of Pluto, which he forms himself. I thought having a male captain for him to kind of look toward for future inspiration would be a good idea. I’m not just thinking of inspiration in the form of him having saved Adelbert’s life, either, but also in the way Roland treated him kindly afterward—like someone who mattered.  

Roland is a kind of exemplary knight for Adelbert to try to emulate later.

Which means he’s definitely making a return someday.

--

I had a lot of options for where to send Adelbert and Adelaide next, and honestly, it wasn’t an easy choice to make. I could have sent them to an orphanage together or to relatives, but at their current age, it just made sense to send them somewhere that could influence and inform their futures.

In weaving Adelbert’s backstory, I almost went with an older sister (to keep Adelaide around, of course, and to give the characters more freedom, since she could be old enough to take care of him/remove them from unsavory situations), but I ended up going with what you see here because there’s just something about his character that is very “older brother”/responsible child vibes to me. Maybe I’m just projecting, since I myself am an oldest sibling, but I love writing about oldest sibling trauma.

I let Adelaide be just a year younger because the sibling closest in age to me is a year younger than me, and that’s a sibling dynamic I actually haven’t written a lot of yet. There’s great potential for that more “equal” dynamic here, though, with the two of them being sent to live with Aunt Ida and Uncle Nicklaus and their cousins.

As to how that life will pan out for them—well, you’ll have to tune in to the next story to find out!

Until next time.

[summitclan-chronicles]

Hi! I have a few questions:

How many applicants will be accepted this round?

Are the cats designs going to follow realistic/semi-realistic design rules, or not at all?

Will the rp be kicked off with the clan as a group of completely unrelated cats, or will relationships be formed?

Also, is the rp going to start with SummitClan already established, or only just coming together as a clan?

Hi!

25 people will be accepted, to start!

Yes, cats follow a "realism with pizazz" rule! I've already answered another ask about this, but to demonstrate here's a photo of Summitclan's leader, Arrowseeker, next to a real cat with her genetics:

The clan has existed for a few gens now, and most cats have family in the clan. There are a few cats with only 1-2 relations, or none at all, though! This can be due to their family dying out, or them joining as loners, or some combo of the two.

Note: I will only be allowing a select few people to have cats with this few relations. Everyone needs to have 3 relations minimum, or more!

[warmhealerr]

18+ - Minors Do Not Interact.

Adult content sometimes. Even if it weren't the case I just don't want minors here. My Instagram is not my Tumblr.

I am Barnabas, though you can also call me Barney! I use he/they pronouns interchangeably.

I'm a hobbyist who writes and draws. I am currently deep in a DND phase kickstarted by BG3. I am fond of all things Gith- peoples, though Githyanki especially. I also love Deep Gnomes, and undead, go figure.

I am otherwise writing The City Of Dust aka TCOD (name to be changed) which I might post about from time to time. It has been my personal passion project for 7 years now.

If that information matters to you I am a French in France who stays awake at ungodly hours and wants out of here HAHA.

BOUNDARIES/"DNI"

I feel childish adding more to this section for some reason but it is necessary, so might as well get on with it.

I know how to curate my online experience like any other, and I also love dark media and kink, but I genuinely politely ask that you do not follow me (assuming you've read this) if you post or reblog fetish incestuous content. I like quickly checking and/or following people's blogs when it seems we've common interests! There's only so much curating I can do when someone with no specific warnings anywhere on their account does not tag it, which has been a more common occurrence than I'd prefer. This also goes for adult/minor fetish content. Please and thank you.

No gen AI.

I otherwise block whoever I please for reasons completely unrelated to former points. My blog history and bio might give you insight as to what. I also do not like people who revel in being the most shocking, mean spirited, judgemental and edgy in the room.

Finally, petty intercommunity validity discourse is the bane of my existence.

TAG INFO AND MORE UNDER THE CUT

NOTE 1

I suffer from serial social media liking disease. Apologies, I don't mean to spam/be obnoxious.

NOTE 2

I am ND and very mentally ill. My casual everyday (like you are reading right now) writing might be noticeably overcompensating, too cold, too warm, far too descriptive, or redundant alongside suffering at times from poor punctuation and vocabulary (though that is also on the fact English is not my first language). I am well aware though I'm trying to avoid awkwardness, sorry about that.

TUMBLR STUFF

ASKS

I welcome any ask no matter its content (that includes asks of an adult nature).

TAGS

I am God awful at tagging things even though I have been using Tumblr for at least 5 years now. I am especially forgetful when it comes to character or ship tags. This is an attempt at changing that.

#rambling for when I talk about... Nothing.

Feel free to request ship or character tags (as I usually forget them) in my ask inbox. My ship tag format usually goes #x/y.

I usually do not tag suggestive content (I just don't think about it, this blog is already 18+). I will tag explicit adult stuff with #nsft.

Content warning tags will use a single word, like #gore. This is to avoid typing gore cw instead of cw gore (for example) in case someone doesn't have that former tag iteration blocked.

I usually do not phobia tag (I might sometimes tag specific living beings like #bugs or #spiders. It is for archive navigation purposes but perhaps you could find it useful to hide them).

Feel free to request CW tags in my ask inbox.

MY TAGS

#myart for my visual art : from sketches to fully rendered, anything goes. I describe my rendered art for the visually impaired, and/or comprehensive visual clarity for an easier analysis. I usually do not describe sketches especially if posting a bunch of them.

#my writing for any kind of writing I put out. I don't write lots of polished stuff though. It's mostly summaries, script drafts and ideas I use to communicate with myself first, and then other people. It's hardly literature imo.

My individual OC tags go "#charactername tag" for easy navigation purposes.

"#Fist of the Comet" additional tag for Ta'rath post BG3 campaign

"#underdark siblings" for Joufos/Oulmat/Zilkon, their other family members and Oulmat's patron.

#TCOD for TCOD (until name changes).

I will add more tags here once relevant. Thank you.

[tss-storytime]

FAQ Storytime Big Bang

The Basics of the Bang

What is a Big Bang?

A Big Bang is a challenge that encourages writers to create long stories (15k minimum) within a certain time frame and artists to create works to pair with those stories. Basically, the fandom gets a lot of long stories and awesome art all at the same time! Every writer gets fanart, every artist gets inspiration, and everyone gets to enjoy the final product. 

Is this Big Bang limited to a certain pairing, genre, or rating?

No. Most ships, except incest, and gen stories are welcome. Likewise, AUs, crossovers and fusions, all genres and all ratings are also welcome, including NSFW fic and art (but it will need to be clearly indicated as such so that no one ends up partnered with someone whose work will make them uncomfortable) So long as the primary focus of your story is Thomas Sanders and/or the Sanders Sides, you are good to go!

How do I sign up? Will there be an email or a message so that I'll know that I've actually gotten through?

You can sign up via the google forms linked at the bottom of the pinned post! It’s via google forms so you should receive a confirmation message on the site once you hit submit. We’ll also post a list of everyone who has signed up about a week before sign-ups close.

Roles

I am both a writer and an artist, would I be able to sign up for both or should I just sign up for the one I'm more interested in? 

You can absolutely sign up for both if you think you can finish both! You can even sign up for more than one story as a writer if you think you can finish more than one.

Can I sign up as both an artist and a beta? 

Absolutely! You can sign up for all three things if you think you can manage them!

I want to participate but am not a writer or an artist. What can I do?

Please consider signing up as a beta or offering to cheerlead creators you follow. Writers and artists need and appreciate all the support they can get!

Writing Requirements

What’s the minimum word count?

15,000 words. This is a six-month challenge, from Feb 1st to August 1st, and you should use all the time available to you. So start writing as soon as you sign up, and make the most of all the time you have!

Can I write more than one story?

You may, but please note that the deadlines and word counts hold for each story you submit.

Does my story have to be completed by the end of the Big Bang? Is it okay if I get past the 15k mark but by the time August rolls around it's still going?

The story you upload in August should be complete on its own. You can definitely write a sequel and continue to explore the characters and the setting in future stories, but the one uploaded for the challenge should have a beginning, middle, and end and have its main plot threads resolved.

I’ve started a fic that I’d like to turn into a submission. Can I do that?

All works should be created specifically for this challenge. However, if you are working on a prequel/sequel piece to something you have already written, that is acceptable, as long as you link to the piece it comes before/after in your submission and it can be read and understood on its own. 

That said, so long as you have not posted any of your fic, you may use it for the challenge (this means don’t post chapters or large portions on your tumblr/AO3/etc. until your posting date. You can use your usual feedback methods so long as it’s not open to people you’re not personally conversing with).

Can the writing thing be chaptered, or does it necessarily have to be a very very long oneshot?

It can be a oneshot or chaptered, either are fine as long as you meet the word minimum and have the fic complete and posted in its entirety by your posting date.

Does the work need to be a 15k words chaptered story or can it be several short stories set in the same universe following a loose timeline? Or just oneshots unrelated to each other but with something in common for each one shot? 

It should, if possible, be one story. Several snapshots from the same universe that have a unifying theme and follow a timeline would qualify under that - it’s all part of the same life story - but unrelated oneshots would not.

Does my story have to be beta read?

It’s highly encouraged, but not a necessity. However, there will be a list of betas you can ask to beta your fic.

Art Requirements

I’m an artist, not a writer. How do I participate?

In May, artists will get to choose among anonymous summaries the writers submit. They will be posted about halfway through the challenge and artists will be given time to read through these and submit their top three choices. Once they have their assignment, they should work with their writer so that the finished product is something they both love.

Does the art for the project have to be digital or regular? And how massive of a piece is it?

The piece of art does not have to be digital or traditional - so long as you can get traditional art scanned, you can definitely use pencil/pens/markers/paint/etc.

As for how massive, you should expect to do one or more illustrations for the story you end up with. If you’re creating a large full color painting - either digital or traditional - you’d only really be expected to do one. If you’re going to create uncolored lineart, maybe two or three, etc.

The same goes for other pieces of art. If you’re doing moodboards, you’d probably want to do more than one, the same with playlists, etc. Just think of what you’d like to receive as the writer for the length of story they’re creating. You’ll also be working with your writer directly, so you can coordinate with them once you’ve been assigned to each other to see what will work best for both of you!

What exactly do they make for the story? Can it be anything, like for example a comic of a scene in the story, or like a ‘cover art’ for the fic? 

Basically, yes. You’ll work directly with your writer, as they’ll need to give you access to their rough draft and plans so you can gain inspiration, so the two of you can work together to see what would fit best and is most exciting for both of you. But you can do any of those things. A comic, cover art, a single scene illustration, chapter headings, character portraits, whatever most inspires you and moves you!

The artist sign-ups are for drawings, paintings, moodboards, photomanips, playlists, and likely more if you can make a convincing argument to us and your writer! Writers are also indicating if there’s any kind of art they don’t want to receive you can be certain the person you’re paired with is more than happy to get your type of art for their story!

Beta

Are beta readers assigned to writers, or would the writer have to reach out to them? 

There will be a list of people who offered to beta with details of their preferences so you can contact them directly or ask for someone in the discord. If you’re having trouble finding someone, you can reach out to us and we’ll do our best to match you. However, we do want to avoid matching up everyone individually.

Do beta readers work exclusively with one writer or are they expected to beta multiple works if multiple writers reach out to them? 

That’s up to the individual beta! If you wish to work with only one person, you can let us know once you have arranged things with them and we’ll take you off the list. If you wish to work with multiple people, you can do that, too. Just remember not to stretch yourself too thin!

Can we have our friends edit and look at our story if they are not a part of the Big Bang? 

Absolutely! You can use any beta/editor/cheerleader you’d like. Just be sure the story itself isn’t up for general viewing until your posting date. But someone doesn’t have to sign up to be an event beta to help you edit. The beta sign-ups are to help writers who don’t already have someone to look over their work. It’s also a great way to make new friends :D

Check-Ins

What does check-in mean?

Since the sign-up period is quite long, there will be regular check-ins to be sure anyone who signed up way back on Feb 1st both still remembers signing up and is still interested in participating. This is a long challenge and people do move fandoms/have life things happen.

What if I’m not available/busy during a check-in?

You don’t have to have a particular amount done by a check-in, it’s just to let us know you’re still working on it. We’ll also make a post and send out messages/asks about a week before the check-in date as a reminder - both on tumblr and on discord - so as long as you’ll be able to shoot a quick “yes, still working!”, you’re good! 

You can also check in early, it’ll be done in the same manner as the sign up - via google forms that are posted about a week in advance of when the check-in is due.

Collaboration

What if there was an uneven number of participants like 40 artists signed up but 80 writers. What would happen then? 

Initially there will be more writers signed up than artists but by the second check-in some of those writers will duck out (quack) which usually evens things out a bit.

That said, in some years, several artists have volunteered to create art for more than one story, and we will put out requests for more if it’s incredibly unbalanced. There will also be pinch hitters to jump in in case we need to replace an artist later into the event.

Alternatively, if we have many more artists than writers, multiple artists will be assigned to the same story. No matter what, every writer who finishes will receive art!

What's a pinch hitter? 

Someone who is willing to jump in to create something they otherwise wouldn’t have because someone else backed out. In a Secret Santa, these will usually be people willing to write a story if one of the participants doesn’t, for example. In this case, we will likely ask for people who would be willing to be ready to jump in as artists if a writer’s partner isn’t going to finish, or disappears, or something like that. Hopefully they won’t be needed, but their willingness to step up makes a challenge of any kind run much more smoothly!

How much should you share with your partner?

You’ll share your draft with your artist, but not with anyone else. You should be ready to show them everything you have once they get assigned to you, and to send them updates - that way they’ll be able to gain inspiration from all parts of the story. Many teams use Google Docs and Drive to make it easier to collaborate.

In May, we’ll post the summaries writers supply for the artists to choose among, but those should just be two or three paragraphs at most, basically what you’d read on the back of a book to get you to buy it.

Is a title required for the summaries that will get posted for the artists?

Nope! If you have one, it will be posted with the summary, but no worries if you don’t - and no worries if it changes between then and posting!

Posting

How will the works be posted? 

There will be a schedule for the month of august for when which works will be posted so that all works are spread out and get the attention they deserve without overwhelming people. Works can be posted on AO3, on your own tumblr, or wherever you feel most comfortable. The work should be posted in full somewhere. If it’s on tumblr, just @ this blog on your post(s) so we can reblog it here, if it’s exclusively somewhere else just @ this blog on the post with the link.

Can you post all of your fic on one site, but post it at different dates for another? For example, could I post the whole thing on AO3, but then post daily chapters on Tumblr?

Sure! As long as the full fic is available online on your posting date and not before, you can post it in another place however you like!

As writers, are we allowed to post teasers of our stories on our blogs to let our followers know what we’re working on, or do we have to hold all the content until the very end? 

So long as it’s just a teaser and doesn’t go up until after the summaries have been claimed and artists assigned, yes. Summary claiming is anonymous to be sure everyone’s story gets the same chance among all the artists so please don’t indicate which summaries is yours/what you’re working on in detail before that publicly.

[dragonprincebigbangmods]

Rules and Requirements

Code of conduct

By signing up for this challenge, you are committing to produce and fully complete your work by the deadlines provided to you, and to stay in contact with your partner/partners as well as the mods. Communication is essential. If you have problems making one of the deadlines or communicating with a partner, please contact the mods as soon as you are able so that we may try to assist you.

Please note that ALL pairings, as well as general/non-rom stories, are welcome and encouraged! Intolerance of other pairings, rude behavior, and harassment of other participants will not be tolerated. Harassers will be perma-banned from any participation in The Dragon Prince Big Bang Challenge, present or future, and may also be banned from the Discord server.

Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated.

Requirements

Authors

Authors are expected to communicate with their artists, including sharing their progress with them on a regular basis.

Authors must produce and complete an edited, polished work with a minimum of 10k words. This work must not be posted publicly or have been posted publicly in the past, in whole or in part, until the author’s promotional post or designated posting date.

Authors may co-write with another author, but the minimum wordcount of the finished product will be increased to 15k words.

Authors may write a solo fic and collaborate on a second fic, but the wordcount minimums apply to both.

Authors may write a maximum of 2 stories, which can be any combination of solo or collaborative fics.

If writing multiple entries, the stories must be completely unrelated. (i.e. no Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban in the same Big Bang year).

Fic must involve the characters of The Dragon Prince universe. All pairings (or lack thereof) are welcome, as are crossovers, AUs, and gen fics.

It is strongly recommended that all fics have at least one beta/editor. It is not necessary to have one to participate, but fresh eyes are always a boon, and we will have a listing of volunteer betas you can contact should you have difficulty procuring one yourself.

We will accept works of all ratings and subject matter, but you must provide clear ratings and warnings. NSFW works should be properly tagged and/or put behind a readmore where applicable.

We will accept works in any language with the caveat that you might be paired with an artist who may be interested in your story but unable to read it, and that you will be expected to communicate frequently with your partner so they can create their project.

The fic selection process is specifically designed to keep favoritism and ‘pre-planned’ partnerships down, and you are expected to not give out any public details about your fic (on your blog or Twitter, for example) before the selection process. SO KEEP IT SECRET, KEEP IT SAFE.

The mods assign author/artist partnerships on a first-come, first-served basis. They are not predetermined by the participants.

On your posting date, you may post your works on any platform so long as you provide a link to the mods.

Stories must be posted in their entirety on the group’s assigned date. If a story has more than one chapter, it may not be spread out over the course of several days — all chapters must be posted on the assigned date (although they may be posted throughout the day, so long as the final chapter is up by midnight EST).

If you are collaborating with another author, BOTH of you must sign up. When you sign up, please indicate who you are collaborating with. If you’ve already signed up, please edit your sign-up form to reflect this or email the mods.

If you feel the need to drop out, please contact the mods ASAP so we can make sure the transition goes smoothly for your group, as your artist(s) may desire author reassignment and will need time to start another project.

Artists

Artists are expected to reliably communicate with their authors, including discussing project content and sharing progress regularly.

Artists are required to create at least one fully completed piece of artwork, but are free to produce more if they wish.

Artwork is not limited to drawn/painted media. Graphics, AMVs, fanmixes, original compositions, food, photographs, sculpture — anything goes! If you are unsure, ask a mod.

Any artwork using/manipulating images you did not originally create (aesthetic/moodboards, photo edits for fanmixes, etc.) must be properly sourced.

Artists may sign up to collaborate with another artist, but the minimum requirement is increased to TWO complete works of fanart.

Artists may sign up to work solo on one story and collaborate on a second, but the fanart minimums still apply to both.

If you are collaborating with another artist, BOTH of you must sign up. When you sign up, please indicate who you are collaborating with. If you’ve already signed up but wish to collaborate with someone else instead, please edit your sign-up form to reflect this. If you’ve already signed up to do art solo and wish to additionally collaborate with someone else on a different story, please sign up a second time and indicate who you are collaborating with.

With increased interest in musical/voice-acting collaborations, you will be required to sign up as a group. If you are planning on working in a group of three or more, please email the mods at dragonprincebigbangmods@gmail.com. The mods understand that there may need to be some flexibility involved depending on the story. Any late group additions will need to be approved by the mods. One person can sign up for the group as the main point of communication.

If you would like to work on more than one story solo, you will have the opportunity to choose additional stories once claiming-time comes around.

Artists will claim their top 5+ fics when summaries are posted, and the mods will pair artists with authors on a first-come, first-served basis until everyone is partnered. So be on top of things if you want to create fanart of the fic you really want!

The mods assign author/artist partnerships. They are not predetermined by the participants.

Artists may run into opportunities to work on stories in languages they aren’t fluent in, but if you are still interested in working on the story, we can pair you up — the author is expected to explain the story to you so that you can create your project.

We will accept works of all ratings and subject matter, but you must provide clear ratings and warnings. NSFW works should be properly tagged and put behind a readmore where applicable.

On your posting date, you may post your works on any platform, so long as you provide a link to the mods.

Your artwork must be posted in its entirety on the group’s assigned date.

If you feel the need to drop out, please contact the mods ASAP so we can make sure the transition goes smoothly for your group as your author may need to be reassigned another artist if you were the only artist for that story.

Restrictions

Maximum fics: authors are limited to a maximum of two fics in any combination of solo or collaborative.

We will do our best to accommodate date change requests up until seven (7) days before your group’s posting date. Any rescheduling after that will automatically be considered a late entry.

Extensions will be rare, limited, and only considered official when conducted via email correspondence. Participants may only request one extension per fic before being counted as a late entry. That said, the mods consider extensions on a case by case basis, so do not hesitate to get in touch!

Penalties

All late entries post on the final day of Resbang, and will be listed at the bottom of the masterlist.

Honorable mentions are individual projects that were completed despite their group being unable to post. For example, if an author needs to drop the project near the end of the season and the artist has already completed their work, we can list the artist’s work in “Honorable Mentions.” Inclusion in this category is 100% voluntary.

Communication

Participants are expected to provide contact info to both the mods and their partner(s) that they use and check frequently.

All participants are expected to communicate with their partners on a regular basis. If you are having trouble getting in touch with your partner, please contact the mods so that we can assist.

While participants are encouraged to contact the mods via the Discord server with thoughts and questions, all official communication regarding scheduling, etc. must go through the mod email (dragonprincebigbangmods@gmail.com) to be considered binding.

[discotenny]

Jakurai anon here 💖

Ramuda's hair is also a perfect match to the current gradient of the modern shibuya 109 signage!

I have always wondered if his ribbon was meant to represent the old one even though it wouldn't exist by the time he was created, he is shubiya incarnate, after all, and the original signage and branding for shibuya was was iconic.

(also a completely heacanon thing I know isn't real but... red string of fate ribbon for gen and dice..<3)

JAKURAI ANON U R SO REAL U R SO RIGHT !!!

I never actually noticed that Ramu shares the gradient of the 109 🙈🙈 but it’s such a cool detail !! Since that’s the case I think having the red be a callback to the original sign color isn’t too out of the question 🤔🤔

Reference for both eras of 109 here for those unfamiliar

I wonder if any of the other charas have design elements like this in their appearance tbh. A lot of their character design goes into their personal characterization but other than Ramu I think Sasara is the only other chara to have callbacks to his division in his design 🤔🤔 I say this cause my personal headcanon is that Sasara’s dark/light green hair is reminiscent of the roofing to the Osaka castle structure.

Reference for Osaka castle here for those unfamiliar

LIKE DO YOU SEE THE VISION ???

For a final related / unrelated note I think it’s nice thinking that MTC’s blue color could be a reference to the fact that Yokohama is a port city by the Pacific (ignore the fact that the blue is supposed to contrast to BB’s red and that Osaka and Nagoya are also ports 😣😣😣)

Pretty picture of Yokohama here cause I regret not visiting it when I went to Japan

Regarding the ribbon the red string of fate is a really cute theory ehehe. I had a dumb thought where I was like

“Oh Ramuda’s the only character to have red in his design that isn’t Ichi and his bros, Kuko, and Rei. Maybe it’s to tie him into the fact he was so impactful to Ichi’s life through mindhacking and such!!”

Before I remembered that Doppo and Rio are both gingers 🤧🤧🤧

Insert all the pretty art that Kazui (Hypmic chara designer) made for the anniversaries for references.

[theclosetedskeleton]

MUHAHAHA HAVE ANOTHER FISH

also on a completely unrelated note I LOVE YOU SOSO MUCH<33!!!/GEN/QP

OMG SILLY FISH !!!

AND I LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH AS WELL <3333/GEN/QP

[heytheredeann]

Whumptober, Day 25 - "You better start talking”

Tags: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, (well not a major one but still), Sci-Fi Elements, Immortal Napoleon Solo, Hurt Napoleon Solo, Napoleon Solo Whump, Temporary Character Death, Gen or Pre-Slash, Developing Relationship            

Notes: For the "You better start talking" prompt from day 25 of Whumptober. Also, this was inspired by this ask. ...the title is SO dumb but LISTEN I hate titling things and I wrote that in the draft as a joke and I just...........don't want to come up with anything else, it's too late, I like my dumb little title now LOL This is part of a series of stand-alone fics exploring the same general premise in different ways, because it has a lot of potential for whump. You don't need to read the others to follow this, though I'd say that the first fic in the series might have the most in-depth explanation of Napoleon's situation. Also, as always in this series, the CNTUAW is just because I'm not sure if I should tag MCD, none of the other major warnings apply. Enjoy!

.

He mistakes the buzzing under his skin, the weird tingling sensation on his face, for adrenaline fading out after his – almost – fight with Illya, leaving him a little shaky and dizzy now that they are heading out to settle this in a way that will piss both of their handlers off and will leave both of them alive and breathing.

It was, after all, a risky thing that he did there—sure, even if Illya had decided to shoot him in the face right after getting his watch Napoleon probably wouldn’t have been dead for long, but he still gets skittish at the thought of dying, and it makes him a little nauseous, to think of Illya not caring enough to falter on his way to executing his orders.

Or maybe he’s nauseous for completely unrelated reasons, because he is getting a little too dizzy, the world swaying as his knees grow weak and heat rises to his face.

Faintly, he can hear Illya calling for him, but he can’t form the words to answer, he can’t swallow either, actually, because his mouth has apparently been stuffed with cotton and his tongue feels swollen, his head is thundering and he can only be overwhelmed by panic, thinking what’s happening, what’s happening, what—the world tilts, and he’s vaguely aware that Illya likely caught him, because he could feel hands interrupting his fall and the impact against the ground is gentle. It doesn’t make much of a difference, because he’s grown all the more nauseous and he still can’t speak, and the pain in his head keeps growing and growing, until it explodes and takes his breath away, stealing everything around him in the process.

When he next opens his eyes, he’s flat on his back, his ribs painfully cracking under the pressure as Illya gives him chest compressions. He falters when their eyes meet, gaping at Napoleon like—well, like he just came back from the dead. This is just fantastic.

Just great.

He isn’t even sure what the fuck happened: sure, he had been having a bit of an occasional headache after their little encounter with Alexander Vinciguerra, but it seemed okay, a bit of a concussion, he thought—no matter, the very disturbing fact that he just dropped dead without much of a warning – in front of a witness, fuck – will have to wait, first things first—

“Ow, Peril, get off, please,” he grimaces, because Illya is still on him and his chest really hurts—well, at least he apparently put effort into those compressions. Very sweet. Sweetness with his ribs as a casualty.

Though Illya is still staring at him with eyes so big they will probably try to jump out of his head any minute now, he’s quick to scramble off him, never interrupting his staring as Napoleon pushes himself in a sitting position with a wince.

Okay.

“Well, not sure what happened there, but thanks for the rescue,” he says, lightly, and hopefully that will be the end of it.

Of course it isn’t.

[More on Ao3]

[raccoongamejournal]

Pokémon X Chapter 2: Into the Woods

Next stop: Santalune Forest! Where I am joined by Shauna, who offers to heal my Pokémon as needed (that's nice). Time for some encounters!

On the second encounter, I catch a kakuna who I name "Parenthesis", followed by a caterpie who I name "Small Harold". Then a panpour, which I was not expecting at all, who I decide to name "Bobathon". I have a feeling he might be useful later.

I see where the other kids are waiting off to the right, so I stay on the left side and try to level up my team while catching more pokémon for a bit...which includes a pansear that I name "Jimothy Jr" after a pansear (and later simisear) who was a key part of my team for most of my Pokémon Black run (until I got reshiram), particularly for the Elite Four.

One quality-of-life improvement I'm noticing in gen vi (as compared to gen v) is that pokémon gain xp even when an encounter ends in a catch. This is a small thing but it's very nice in the early game.

Also, completely unrelated (but I'm just jotting down notes as I walk through the tall grass, so there isn't much of a narrative at the moment anyway)...

...that's an...interesting...ability name that gets even funnier whenever it activates, since it flashes a message saying "Batman's Big Pecks" on the left side of the screen (couldn't get a screenshot). It just makes everything more surreal. It's a useful ability though.

After a bit, I caught a pansage to complete the trio, who I named "Glorfindel" because I named a plant that once and well...plant monkey pokémon. I'm going to add him to my party once I get access to the boxes, since I'll probably want a grass type on my team to deal with any annoying water types since I have a fire-type starter.

Just when I think I've seen all the pokémon in these grass patches, I find and catch a pikachu who I name "Volta" (after the Crane Wives song). And then find another right after, who I decide to catch as well and name "Banana".

Thesaurus then surprised me by evolving into a kakuna. I forgot that happened that early, he's only level 7.

At this point, everyone on the team is at least level 7, so I think I can go actually check out the plot now. This will probably be a recurring pattern.

"The plot" turns out to be just the other 3 kids making their way through the forest too. Shauna gives me a Paralyze Heal, which is quite nice to have. Batman then beats up Youngster Joey's scatterbug and fletchling while some funky battle music (I love guitar-heavy battle tracks) plays in the background.

Making my way further along the forest path, Calem gives me another Pokéball. Basil then tries to take out Lass Anna's pikachu, but its Static ability is a bit of a problem, so I use Browser to finish things off, since throwing Embers at it doesn't set off Static.

Is now a bad time to mention I found two of them earlier?

Lass Lise is the next trainer battle, but her caterpie and bunnelby are no match for my team (more specifically, Basil).

At the end of the path, Calem shows up, along with the other two. As a group, we then head to Route 3. Calem wants to go on ahead to Santalune City's Gym, but I think I'll stay on Route 3 for a bit with the others (I want to find more pokémon). He gives everyone some useful tips before he leaves, though.

Preschooler Oliver (why are preschoolers just out wandering around? this feels unsafe?) is the first trainer I see on Route 3. Basil takes out his caterpie and I switch to Agent Jones for his azurill. I then catch an azurill of my own, who I name "Rubber Duck". This is the first fairy type I've caught in the game, which feels significant enough to point out since this game introduced fairy types. I then catch a bidoof who I name "Fromage".

No thoughts. Head empty.

Speaking of friendly normal types, the next pokémon I see is a dunsparce who I name "George".

Since it's again after 1am at this point (sleep is important. but also pokémon), I think I'll end this entry here and pick up with the rest of Route 3 (and beyond) next time.

Stay safe everyone, and see you next time.

[bluebelly-sun-serpentine]

If I could give any advice to instructors not included above, as someone with a lot of experience in UX design (I got my BA in an unrelated field quite late as a result of long-term health issues), it would be this:

• if using Canvas or some other online platform to present class materials to students (even, say, Google Drive, or Box) do what you can to reduce friction and create a clear but simple structure for the class site with your syllabus in an easily accessible place (don't make them click through a bunch of stuff to find this). This means:

• class materials (files, attachments, links) students might frequently reference should be in an easily accessible place, not under several submenus/through several hyperlinks. This is the most important guiding principle, and should be how you design not just your canvas site but also each module. A lot of instructors have the tendency to copy their own byzantine file structure straight into Canvas/whatever, and that's bad for you and bad for your students, because you will constantly be fielding stupid questions from students who can't find that thing because you've put it in the place that makes sense for your brain, rather than in the place that requires the least thought and fewest clicks for the most people. I once had an anthro prof upload our class materials into google drive, with each photo for morph studies in its own separate folder, within a folder, within a folder, within a folder (this was some matryushka shit, it just kept going), so you had to click in and out for each one rather than being able to view the collection in totality or slide through the photos, and if you had to step away or you got signed out it would take you forever to find the right photo again. You cannot do this shit to your students. They will not look, they will email you. Just because I drove myself to insanity finding everything on my own doesn't mean a 19 year old with a tiktok addiction is going to have the same dogged patience.

• Do not upload a poorly scanned reading that students have to rotate because every third page or so is upside down or otherwise oriented incorrectly. Do not upload readings so poorly scanned they are illegible. Just because I reformatted your PDF doesn't mean a 19 year old who has no idea what a file system is will do it. Gen Z got very little computer training. It's not their fault, and it's probably not yours, and I am sorry, but you will have to adjust. Fortunately, adjusting will also make your work more accessible to disabled or chronically ill students who do not have time for your bullshit for genuine pain and exhaustion reasons. I know you are trying to reduce the cost of class materials for students, but don't be surprised when students struggle to get through readings they have to first manually reformat in, like, Acrobat or something.

• if you have some kind of overarching formal expectations for certain assignments (how you want them to take notes, what style guide you expect them to use, etc.) do not wait for them to ask you. Make this clear in the syllabus or a doc linked in the syllabus.

• please for the love of god, if you are writing documentation/rubrics for technical assignments (and this goes for GSIs/RAs/TAs, too) clearly state your goddamn deliverables. Don't say do this step and this step and this step and then forget to tell your students what they need to upload and then be shocked when they email you "hey, do you want us to turn in a screenshot, or do you need it in this format, or are you looking for the data in a spreadsheet." It's not going to be self-evident, because, in fact, your standards are not the same standard every other instructor has, so your students cannot assume you want the assignment submitted in a specific format if they haven't been told a) what they need to demonstrate they've learned/completed and b) in what format that needs to be uploaded. CLEARLY STATE YOUR DELIVERABLES AND DUE DATE. You know, like, you could even have a section at the beginning or end of your unnecessarily long-winded and poorly formatted doc headed DELIVERABLES and that alone would probably help a lot. I promise you, you will have less contempt for your students than you currently think they deserve.

I was not 18-23 while doing my undergrad, so I had some sense of what was stupid 18-23 year old bullshit and what was you guys doing your jobs really poorly. Your students are annoying most often because they are young people and young people are annoying to anyone not basking in the glow of great knees and new sex, not because they are dumber or even that much lazier than you were as a young person. I was concerned about their timidity and lack of engagement at times, but I was also not that surprised by it, because the quality of the education I received did not at all times inspire confidence.

A lot of "do better" tweaks to your pedagogy will save you time and heartache. Your students will take you more seriously. Your end of year reviews will go better. You'll have more time for research, or art, or cat pics (IN THE LONG RUN). Sometimes you may think you are saving yourself time by making a student do something you should have done yourself (like properly formatting your PDF or clarifying deliverables for an assignment). You are making, what, somewhere between twelve and 300 students complete a task that could have been completed once, by you? Every extra student that has to do that work for you is a student who can fuck it up or misunderstand and send you a pointless email as a result. Do the task once.

A lot of this stuff isn't, IMO, just a result of the "crisis of adjunction." Tenured and tenure-track professors couldn't even be bothered to properly plan their classes and provide syllabi in the the first week (let alone day) of classes at the "world class" institution I attended.

I think it absolutely does have a lot to do with apps like Canvas, which it seems like instructors aren't taught to use in effective and standardized ways (causing confusion for students on the front end, but also frustration for instructors on the backish-end) but honestly, I think it just has a lot to do with contempt for the student body and the amount of time most instructors are spending on discourse on twitter (or bluesky, or threads, or tumblr or whatever) vs, you know, actually planning your classes. I literally follow you all joking about how you're procrastinating on your syllabi and and class planning in favor of doomscrolling and cat pics. You cannot hide from me.

My favorite instructor was a boomer lecturer who had all his modules up day 1 of class, super clear syllabi (took several of his classes), and actual expectations for his students. He'd never completed his Phd but had been teaching most of his professional life and he really wanted to make sure his students internalized things – in stark contrast to a number of profs who used endless easy Canvas quizzes as a way to pass as many students as possible. He had frustrations with his students (I later read for him and he advised on an honors thesis, so we got close and I was privy to some of them) but never contempt. He cared about his subject area, cared what students thought about it, was interested in disagreement, and wanted to make sure we'd be set up to use newly acquired skills independently in the future.

My least favorite were a team of Gen X tenured professors co-teaching a class they'd clearly devised as a soap-box for some poorly explored ideas they hadn't bothered to properly workshop into an actual class. These dudes were full-on winging it the entire semester (they had no idea what the readings for a majority of the semester were going to be, and they had vaguely "planned" several intense multi-day field trips w/ van travel during a pandemic but didn't set anything up for them until days in advance). They clearly thought their students – who, while young and naive, approached the hastily scraped together readings and field days with a lot more critical thought than the profs clearly had – were beneath them. These two men were frequently dismissive, defensive, and blasé during discussion. They really thought they were going to blow our minds just bloviating without any prep. You cannot do this. I don't care if you have a PhD; you are not smart enough for this, and your students will know it. The class did not return in any subsequent semesters (they got nuked in their end-of-semester feedback forms), but I had other experiences like this with tenured profs, interestingly mostly with white Gen X men (although I'm not sure if that's indicative of a wider trend, it seemed notable to me at the time).

Sometimes college professors like to hop on my posts lamenting the sorry state of syllabi these days and joke about how they haven't thought that far ahead in the course themselves, or talk about how they struggle to complete a schedule for their students.

With all due respect, that's your job. If you can't do your job, you should have a different job. If you need help, ask your colleagues or your department chair or *someone* because I know that professors aren't given a hell of a lot of education on how to educate, so you probably *need* help.

But every single time I make one of those posts I get anywhere from ten to thirty messages, replies, reblogs, and asks say "oh man, that's exactly why I had to drop out of school; I couldn't keep up with the assignments because I didn't know when they were due until the week they were due."

I have been a college student in three separate decades, and "not having a schedule of assignments in the syllabus" is new to my experience. That shit didn't fly in the 2000s or 2010s and I think it likely has to do with professors being overly reliant on apps.

AT A MINIMUM your syllabus should have:

Contact information (including preferred method of contact) for the professor

Office Hours

Grading Policy

Assignment schedule.

Your assignment schedule doesn't necessarily need to have the exact page numbers of every reading or a full assignment sheet for each project, but it should have things like:

December 1st - Major Project 3 second draft due December 9th - Quiz 10 December 12th - Major Project 3 final draft due December 15th - Final Exam

If you end up presenting a more thorough schedule with readings and homework later, that is acceptable to present a week or two into the semester but it is absolutely insane to me that students these days don't know what homework they're going to have to get done over Thanksgiving break during the first couple weeks of class.

If I had three professors at once who didn't give me a schedule, how on earth would I know if I was going to have to read three chapters of a novel, take a midterm and turn in two stats homework assignments, and complete a history research paper the same week that I'm planning to travel to see family? If I'm aware of this from the beginning of the semester I can make sure not to pick up extra shifts, or I can plan to leave a day later to accommodate the midterm, or I can start working on the paper early to complete it before the due date but if I don't know what's going to be due when, I'm going to have a big problem.

If you don't give your students a schedule you are communicating that you don't care about their schedule, and that you think it's their responsibility to contort their life (and their job, and their other classes) around your class, and honestly my advice to students in that situation is "drop in the first week and pick up another class". That's actually part of why I recommend signing up for one more class than you can really manage - if you get a professor whose class looks like it's going to be a disaster because they don't have a schedule, you can bail before the withdrawal period and get a refund for the class.

I'm only in one class this semester but the professor's response has fully dropped me into "Fuck it, I guess I'll fail" mode and I don't even know if I can pull myself out of my current D grade because I don't know how many assignments we have left in the semester.

This is a shitty way to run a class. If you can't do better than this, you shouldn't be running a class.