#also this is what happens when my internet disappears for a whole day

[blu00u]

Ah yes

The one who gets drunk as hell and the one who doesn't drink at all (not like he can but still)

Best bros

(HELP WHY DOES ALDWYN LOOK SO YOUNG)

[bibibbon]

Loved the idea of dabi having to coach Shig... except I can't see him helping Shig at all...they are frenemies, emphasis on the enemy part.

But jokes aside....this make me think how Izu doesn't fit in any group or in any arc. I know I started this with a silly joke but ...when it comes down to it...Izu is not important, not really. There no connection to him nor an attempt.

Shiga in MVA got an army and the entire arc felt smth fro ANOTHER MANGA. There no mention of Izu. "Oh you wanted people to talk his name in every conversation" not that, I wanted people, the villains in this case, to recognize how powerful Izu is as it seems only the villains give credit to Izu.... but it's like he doesn't exist.

Shiga got an army and does .... nothing!

Shiga got money and does.... Nothing!

What happened to Daika is glossed over. We don't even know if Izu saw what happened in Daika (by tv or internet)

And it's a pattern since day 1. Izu is not allowed to really have connections, to bond with people...to grow.

MHA is a story where the mc is sidelined in his own story for no reason and he still gets blame in the story and fandom.

Hey @mikeellee 👋

I see where you're coming from with the whole Dabi and shigaraki are enemies first and friends second but in a situation where shigaraki is well more developed and actually proves and earns his title as the league of villains leader while utilising the MVA resources I feel like he would help Dabi with his revenge.

Hmm the point you bring up about izuku is interesting for sure. To me him not fitting in or not making genuine connections with other characters feels like an unintentional writing mistakes by horikoshi.

In the earlier parts of the series it's evidently clear that shigaraki was really interested and amused by Izuku. The guy literally had a picture of izuku, watched the sports festival and went to izuku for advice (the mall scene) he also showed interest and regarded Izuku's opinion about why people listen to stain and not him. Before shigaraki got the league Izuku was the closest person he could talk to and that simply disappears after he gets the league which is weird because shigaraki doesn't ever get a proper arc that shows him and the league bonding or becoming close rather he just promises them that he won't take away things they like as long as they work for him. Shigaraki in my opinion also doesn't earn the role of leader in the league neither does he do much to earn their trust which is why his line of caring about the league felt so underwhelming to me.

In the earlier arcs izuku and shigaraki had some built up but that was sidelined and even when shigaraki had resources to conduct research on izuku and maybe even reach out he chose not to. The MVA had a lot of potential and it's a shame that horikoshi doesn't tie izuku into it especially because it's not only shigaraki that's interested in Izuku but also toga. The two of them could of looped and included Izuku and we also seem to forget that izuku strangely has a lot of parallels between the villains just in general!!

In my opinion the whole shigaraki and izuku sharing memories thing was a horrible plot point and was used to rush the build up between shig and izuku which was almost non existent at this point. One of my problems with it is that it really doesn't show much of anything from Izuku so all it did was have Izuku learn about shig and not shig also learning about izuku.

Outside of the league Izuku's relationships in general aren't really any better either in terms of development. Izuku could of had a great relationship with various characters but they were either sidelined, not developed enough or overall horribly built.

A lot of the time Izuku only receives recognition from loved ones when he does something for them as evident in the vigilante arc. Also due to the lack of academia and academic/ filler type arcs in the series there really isn't a huge bond with Izuku and the rest of 1A

[kaija-rayne-author]

Hugest of sighs.

I really hate it when I can feel a special interest dying.

It's like watching something you've loved and put your everything into for however long get smaller and smaller in the distance. Until it disappears in a puff of smoke.

I can feel it happening with Dragon Age.

It's actually managed to hang on for a long time, so I guess I should just... wish it a fond farewell and let it go.

I was going to write a less acid filled version of my editorial critique/review about the gameplay preview to send to the devs, but why?

I don't get the kind of interaction I need on posts like my Dragon Age posts to help me keep the special interest alive.

The devs aren't going to listen to some internet rando like me if I did waste my time writing it. Not even if I'm actually a professional editor and this is in fact my job that I'm pretty good at.

They don't even toss me a heart on responses to their posts. And they probably wouldn't read it even if it did happen to make it through all the stuff they probably get on their feeds, anyway. Valuable professional editorial critique or not.

Before I stepped way back from social media I could easily get thousands of @ in a day. I know what they must be dealing with.

I have other things I should really be spending my time on.

Sadly, my special interest in Dragon Age has been on life-support since I saw the gameplay preview.

My DA gaming group has gone from a couple hundred people, most of whom weren't active, to waaaaay more people than I'm comfortable being social with. (I have since muted most of it and withdrawn from anything I'm just... not interested in anymore.)

I honestly feel the new look for Solas killed Solas for me. (Given I'm solavellan that's saying one hell of a lot.) For a bit there, I was hoping he'd grow on me. But apparently, I haven't been inoculated with that particular style of virulent mould yet. So it hasn't happened. Every time I saw a picture I just... cared a little less.

Where once I had the fires of a volcano inside my heart for this franchise, nothing but ash in a breeze remains.

It's always possible that something could happen to reignite my passion for it. It's happened a few times before for faded special interests. It could also be my depression talking and I'll feel completely different tomorrow. That's happened too. (So far hasn't happened in the threeish days since I wrote this. It's probably not the depression.)

But... After seeing that gameplay preview, and listening to the Q&A, and reading the Game Informer post... it may just be time to call Time of Death. As someone who loved the first three, and who absolutely marinated myself in the lore, I frankly feel betrayed. (I mean... Varric with a beard? Really? There were story significant reasons he did not, in fact, wear a beard, did they forget that? Like they forgot his bloody hair colour?)

So long, Dragon Age. It was fun while it lasted.

I truly do hope people enjoy the blathering posts I did about it when passion filled me.

I hope people truly do enjoy the new game. There's too little joy in this world and I hope with all my heart it gives you as much joy as you can handle. I'm just a little sad it won't for me. I'll always have the first three, which I do legitimately love to pieces.

I'm not even crying or upset. I just... don't care anymore.

From a professional standpoint, that's always a danger when you change a piece of media too much. There has to be a certain amount of continuity to it so it feels the same. Without that?

You lose obsessed people like me.

You lose the older gamers who loved what Dragon Age was.

And absolutely, yes, fiction does need to change. It's an integral part of the whole thing. If it doesn't change, if it doesn't adapt, it dies just as quickly as if it changes too much. I like to see change in media. It's needed in so many ways. Change can be hard to adapt to, of course. Or in some cases impossible. Shrugs.

There's a professional balance to these things. It wouldn't surprise me if I have a bit of savantism when it comes to editing and writing. I just seem to deeply understand how it all works in ways others rarely see. Looking at a novel or a game or a show from an editorial perspective is very much like looking at a 4d puzzle for me. I can instinctively see what works and what doesn't.

It's just that, in my honest professional opinion, they tried to change way too much to appeal to a different set of gamers than those of us who are a little older and have loved the feel of the first three games.

It's not the change itself I object to. I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks that DAO was the best DA ever. I've loved them all for different reasons. But they all still felt like Dragon Age. Even DA2, which a lot of people hate, still felt like a fantasy RPGish adventure. (I enjoyed it for what it was. I'd've liked to see what it could've been with more time, but for what it was, they did a great job and it was an enjoyable game).

DA4? From what we've seen so far, it doesn't even remotely feel like a fantasy RPGish adventure game. It feels like a cheap star wars/FFXIV/Fortnite knockoff designed for a much different type of gamer. (Which was actually confirmed by Epler in the Q&A. They did, in fact, design it more for younger players than those of us who have been waiting for it for however long.) Professionally, I believe that was a mistake that may cost them.

The darkspawn alone are a bloody travesty. WTAF are those things? And yes, I've seen the 'lore excuse' that it's the red lyrium making them look like bad halloween deco. I'd buy it if they were kinda spiky and had red lyrium growths and stuff like the red lyrium infected creatures in DAI. But it's like they forgot their own canon.

I dunno. It really just doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure that no matter how beautiful the backgrounds and some of the art they've just... lost me.

I guess I write these kinds of posts so others in the same boat as me know they aren't alone.

You aren't imagining it. While change is in fact good and necessary to a certain extent, they've changed it so much trying to appeal to a different market that it really doesn't feel even remotely like Dragon Age anymore.

[cammiluna]

i also posted this on instagram and because those are supposed to have pics attached, i drew this quick portrait of my vtuber sona! XD

----------

These last few weeks were kind of a disaster in terms of preparing for the top surgery (what i had to describe to my cardiologist as "bilateral double mastectomy for transgender people").

Once my insurance approved it, they only gave me a 3-month window for the approval, and my surgeon gave me a 10-day window to get necessary stuff required for pre-op clearance- an EKG, Labs, charts, and a clearance letter saying I'm fit for surgery.

The problem here was that after years of ending up with the most awful primary doctors in all of Puget Sound, I decided to go with my employer's Teledoc service, so my primary doctor is now remote.

So I went on an almost 2-month long search and lots of back and fourth between Teledoc's staff and many providers to see who can give me what I need for these clearances. My primary doc won't give me the clearance because she can't physically check my heart and lungs (and she also disappeared for a week so many communications were passed around nurses, took full business days to get responses for, and forgotten), so I was directed to try urgent care facilities, but none in my area offer pre-op clearance checkups because of the liability of something went wrong.

Nobody else on internet searches had the same problem I did, which made this harder to figure out.

So then I took it to myself to reach out to a heart hospital to see if i can get the ekg there at least. It was a 2-week process getting a referral and appointment because the thing with heart hospitals is that America is the heart problem capital of the whole planet. my referrals took a week to get filed and i was hung up on twice because the hold time to get anyone went past business hours.

Today stars that 10-day clearance frame. My new cardiologist saw my paperwork and got my clearance letter, EKG AND labs done in an hour.

I have 9 days to make sure they reach my surgeon with my primary's chart notes.

I'm hoping this all goes well! <3

As for the fundraiser, I made enough to pay back the $1000 deposit i had to fork up when i made the appointment, and the remaining $2200-ish will go in my credit card since there's no way I'll be able to get that much before the payment deadline on the 1st.

Anything further coming from the campaign will be used to for living expenses during my unpaid time off for recovery and to pay off the $2200-ish debt I'll be putting on my card. I appreciate all the help and support and shares my campaign has gotten! this has been a very sudden thing to have happened to me! even if the GFM dies, i can't complain one bit! <3

[tarasmithshifts]

𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃 & 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐑

ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴅʀ: my name is tara smith, but i'm known as 'azrael'. in 2016 with my friends, kitty and jj formed a band we called 'utopia' and we started on youtube and soundcloud by doing covers, and when we got more popular, we made our first original song. it was called "SOS" and it went viral on soundcloud and very popular on youtube. we got recognision, and it opened the door to music industry.

ᴍʏ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴅʀ: kitty (lily buckley), jj (jack hart), billie eilish, willow smith, conan grey, harry styles and a lot of more!

ꜱ/ᴏ: billie eilish

ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜʏ: we debuted with an ep called "CANNIBAL" as we watched "the show"Hannibal" while writing and it was a huge inspo for this ep. it was also a success, we went on small tour in venues. first in america, then in europe.

⍣ ೋ we went super popular after we released our first single from our first album called "LOST IN OUR PAST" (2019). it was a huge success. album was full of 70s beats, vocals, etc. we were nominated for multiple awards and won all of them. we became one of the most successful artist of the year, and later even in decade. Our tour sold out in few minutes, and so that's how we did our first world tour. we performed at grammys, the biggest festivals like coachella etc. we won grammys for best album, best group, best group performance, best single & song of the year. we weren't ready for this kind of success, critics after all called this album a "renaissance of 70s music" we became pioneers of group music then, we mixed modern pop, 70s & 80s. we did covers of old songs, and on our tour performed with multiple artists, like tears for fears or stevie nicks. at the time me and kitty got together.

⍣ ೋ after the success, we had multiple fights in the band, but we were still making music together. I started to make solo music, but only for fun. we got to work with conan grey, and we made a song "killing me”. in 2021 our band needed to split up, as jj decided to left.

⍣ ೋ it was a huge case, fans protested, wanted to know what happened, but we decided to stay quiet. everything was clear, jj wanted something else from life. he started to work as a "ghost writer"

⍣ ೋ after band has split up, i called my managment that i want to release solo music. i didn't want to give up on music because of this situation. week after official announcement from band, i posted info about my first single of my solo album "GLOBAL DRUGS"

it was a huge success, i didn't think that i would go on world tour and sing in stadiums again. i brought kitty with me.

some of fans favourites

⍣ ೋ in december 2022 after i finished tour and came back to u.s., my agent called me that he wants to meet me and kitty. we met 2 days later in new york, in a studio we recorded first ep as "utopia". when we came in, first thing we saw was jj talking to some people in the studio. well, we were so back.

⍣ ೋ in march 2023 out of nowhere we dropped our second album called "WE ARE STILL HERE" and people went CRAZYYY. we had no idea how this album is gonna shake the whole internet and critics. it was completely new - it was jazz, 70s, soul, r&b. something that people claimed we didn't fit. but here we are :)))

⍣ ೋ in may 2023 i attended my first ever met gala, and there, in an interview i confirmed that this was the last project of ‘utopia’ for now. i said “we disappeared out of nowhere and left you all without any information. this is something like a goodbye, but we do not confirm that it will last forever. it depends on our feelings.” i also confirmed that i will release music as solo artist and that kitty will join me as a drummer

⍣ ೋ in may 2023 a week after met gala, i showed the world my summer tour, and except the festivals of course, there were 4 stadium concerts, “bonus” ones, only in europe. Paris, Barcelona, Berlin and final one in London. that’s the time when me and kitty broke up, after, as media called it “London accident”. (there will be another post about it, but basically kitty got herself into alcohol and drugs, and during the London show for almost 2 hours we couldn’t find her, and when my team finally found her, she was completely not contacting with the world around her, and it was not the first time.she couldn’t perform and i didn’t want to cancel the show)

⍣ ೋ in september 2023 i started dating harry styles, but only to january 2024 - we realised that we would love be each other besties than lovers 🤭 (bc in this dr he is a little younger and one direction split up later than in cr, his album “Fine Line” was released in 2024, and “Harry’s House” in late 2025)

⍣ ೋ in january 2024 i confirmed my second solo album, that will release 15/03 🫶

⍣ ೋ after release of this album, me and billie were spotted in public, spreading dating rumours, which we confirmed some months later

"ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ, ᴜᴛᴏᴘɪᴀ" - pinterest board

[kadextra]

I’ve read quite a lot of orv over the past few weeks when I could, adding onto this long post as I went on so….. here we go!!

(warning major super ultra mega spoilers)

previously

-

Starting with the fight between dokja & joonghyuk during “a story that can’t be shared” episode.

At first after reading that battle I was really confused of what yjh’s intentions were, I’m gonna be honest. 😭 did he really want to kill dokja or not, or was it a plan he and sooyoung cooked up? that’s what it sounded like when they talked about it so??? why did he start smacking the fourth wall?? I had to read this part multiple times, and even look up interpretations on the internet that night to understand it. but I finally did! :3

dokja was just an incredibly unreliable narrator there, that’s why it was challenging to figure out yjh’s true motivations. dokja normally is unreliable so that’s normal, he thinks he understands people better than he actually does. and his mind was also in an even worse state after consuming that Eden good and evil fruit & practically losing it when he thought sooyoung died

joonghyuk never wanted to actually kill him- he had read the record of 1863rd turn, and the fight was all because he wanted to know the truth if dokja had given up on them & the 3rd round. if dokja did, then joonghyuk was prepared to give it up too (meaning: die. kdj didn’t even realize that was happening)

thankfully joonghyuk got the answer to the question he wanted, he didn’t die, he will live and reaffirmed himself as a “former regressor”. ough <3 he knocked dokja out and was attacking the fourth wall in hopes he could break through it and learn more of dokja’s thoughts.

very cool and emotional fight overall!!!!! reread it like 8 times I enjoyed figuring it out

-

And then I cried.

That whole goodbye conversation between dokja and sangah was beautiful…. so wistful about what things could have like been for all of them in another world…. and how even if things don’t go the way you expect, you have to live. at the end of the day everything is all about love… T_T I love her

then it came in with the double whammy of tears with THIS

HE WAS CRYING!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭 AND IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY 😭😭😭😭😭

-

The kaizenix scenario starting had me giggling and incredibly entertained because PRINCE RICARDO is here!!!! literally sat there laughing in total disbelief at the sudden reincarnation fantasy story that came out of left field 😭 help my orv changed genres

laughter abruptly stops

wtf

the party members have already spent several years in this place before dokja got here and they all lost their egos after being weathered away by the march of time, hopelessly waiting for him? 🙂 heewon and hyunsung forgot each other??? that scene absolutely tore my heart out. pls do not separate them. SOOYOUNG WAS THERE FOR 50 YEARS! CRAZY! she wrote a novel too. ended it the same as twsa🥲

“It’d been better if I sacrificed myself instead” kim dokja you better shut up

but at least everything turned out well in the end for this arc so I am happy :,)

-

And the good and evil war started!! I watched the resident problem son go home and visit his parents- the literal gods of the underworld! (I love that this whole thing between these three has happened)

ofc dokja had his parents gossip about his love life there too

💀💀AKDJFKFLGLRNWKFKGKAJEDM I CANR BREATHE

but the reveal that it was Hades who discovered dokja from the very beginning and watched him together with Persephone. they really loved and wanted to adopt him all along didn’t they, best mom and dad for our prince 🥹 and even though dokja has hated the constellations, he cares about them and doesn’t want those two to disappear aughfhghghgh.

-

HEEWON UNLOCKING HER CHAOS JUDGE FORM AND MURDERING TONS OF DEMON KINGS AFTER LEE HYUNGSUNG’S SACRIFICE. “Sympathy? Utterly disgusting.” SHAKING. EDGE OF MY SEAT. I love you jung heewon 💖 she is so cool and my eyes are leaking 😭

after that whole mess finally the entire Kim Dokja’s Company has assembled together again including an unconscious lee hyunsung but at least he’s not dead like I fully believed for a hot minute <3

naturally though they can’t have good things and the apocalypse dragon revived anyways against their best efforts, because the seekers of the end are all a bunch of insane people. that thing is powerful enough to kill constellations with a flick of its tail 💀

mom and dad came to help <3 but I got really anxious reading because everybody by this point was exhausted or hurt too badly or to block the third wave.

I had no clue how they’d resolve this chaotic situation it was not looking good

it was looking so bad in fact,

KIM DOKJA. PULLING THIS AGAIN

WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU LIKE THIS SIR

it’s always in situations where I know he has to do it or literally everybody horribly dies but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it!!!!!! (that’s a lie I was super hyped) still. grabs him with my fists.

Going to ramble a bit here, but the way orv introduces new concepts is so natural and interesting. from the walls, to how stories can talk to you, now to the existence of “chaos” as the void/between of good & evil. it’s the first time I have been hearing this term explained in the story, yet it feels like it’s always been a fact, because it connects so well to what I already know. like of course the outer gods are beings originated from chaos, what else would they be? chaos in mythology was the origin state it makes total sense

being the demon king of salvation means to save people no matter what…… screams cries throws up

“That man is the world I wish to save” BLEW ME AWAY. such a hard line oh my goodness. I love you jung heewon 💖

and all the monologues from dokja in the void space between the indescribable distance and apocalypse dragon, slowly withering away but holding onto life because he wants to live 😭 he sacrificed himself, but it’s different this time because he asked to be saved. he took that action while putting full faith in his companions to do their best to save him. he wants to live. “will to live” even became a stigma 🥲 I can’t do this

-

Son Wukong my guy finally descended into the scenario and its as epic as I always hoped, hayoung was so smart for that. the monkey king himself helped fight off the fog clones and made a way for the trio go save dokja, so awesome. heewon boosting the other two forward, and sooyoung finally boosting joonghyuk.

joonghyuk following the fragments of dokja’s broken star in the pitch black darkness was an incredibly beautiful imagery for a scene, I saw it vividly it makes me want to draw it so bad. and the stuff yjh was desperately thinking during that got me teary eyed, of course. all I do while reading this story is get emotional damaged

but before yoo joonghyuk could reach dokja, someone else reached him first.

honestly felt my heart freeze over while reading that part.

but LETS GOOOOOOOOO FINALLY secretive plotter reveal!! I’ve been waiting for this for so long!!! It’s not future dokja, it’s future joonghyuk!!! :D I’d kinda suspected it to be him ever since the 1863rd round happened tbh so this feels great

I really enjoyed their fight, secretive plotter is insanely strong even with a time limit and was toying with joonghyuk, but joonghyuk never gave up and pulled out all his power to try and save dokja. in the end he was defeated but that was an amazing fight to see

sadly the group is without their beloved dokja again, not because he died this time but because he’s kidnapped 😔 man if it’s not one thing it’s something else, I feel so bad for them

-

and that is currently where I am! the most recent stuff I had read last night, just in time for me to see the webtoon adapt dkos death this morning. haha happy dkos death day 🎉🫡💥🎊🥲

I’m pondering a lot on the reveals in these chapters, some things still don’t feel fully answered to me so I’ll have more to say soon when I continue reading. VERY excited can’t wait to know more :D

[gothicprep]

even better, re: the cut: the ‘I think my husband is trashing my novel on goodreads’ article is the first of a NEW advice column by the same author of the disastrous ‘lure of divorce’ personal essay from last week.

lol i was debating talking about emily gould when that essay came out, but i figured "nobody cares about your weird interest in gawker media lore" and decided against it. but i'm going to interpret this as permission to just go crazy on main.

context for readers who don't know: emily gould, on valentine's day, published an essay that's ostensively about divorce, but it's actually about a lot of other things. not even *a* divorce, because she decides against getting divorced at the end of the essay. i wouldn't bet on anything that comes after the end of this essay, but that's a separate question.

it's probably important to establish who emily gould is for what i'm about to say to make any sense: she was a media darling in her 20s. she was one of the first people to get Very Famous from blogging, an editor at gawker, and probably the best known writer there during the mid to late 2000s. very american apparel indie hipster sleeze era personality. could probably be described as a "literary sex symbol" insofar as the literary world has those things.

there were two things that she was famous for in this era. one of them was this post she put on gawker about how she had broken up with her boyfriend and it was a massive success. if you comb through old archives, people were talking about this like it was the brangelina split. i want to say this was a dam breaking moment for a particular kind of personal branding/internet personality that involved revealing things about your personal life, which eventually took over more broadly and gave rise to the culture we have now online. the other thing was this very unfortunate appearance she had on larry king live or something after she'd been taken to task for the "gawker stalker" feature on gawker, where people would send in tips about celebrity sightings around the city. someone sent in a tip about jimmy kimmel being drunk and obnoxious in a bar, and because kimmel is the world's biggest baby, he flipped out and went on this whole tirade about how it was a threat to his safety. in reality, he was just mad that someone saw him drunk in public and said something about it. kimmel and a few other guys confronted her about this on larry king. she looked like a deer in headlights and either wasn't prepared/hadn't been prepared for what was coming. like kimmel told her she was going to hell on live television. mess. there was also some really public drama she had with lena dunham but i don't really remember the details.

she never really disappeared between then and now. she's been writing for the cut for a while, which i guess you could say is her aging into a different kind of women's journalism. she's published a few books, but she hasn't really found her footing since her breakout success in her 20s didn't turn her into the established writer she probably hoped she would be. there was a time where it seemed like she was positioned to be this generation's joan didion, but that didn't end up happening.

so that brings us up to this essay, which was preceded by the last little bit of gossip that i need to get out of the way, even though she mentions it in the essay. in her personal newsletter, she made a crowdfunding request for money to "taking an infinite hiatus from hetero marriage and monogamy. they are a trap for women, full stop. sometimes a trap can be cozy. mine was, until it wasn’t." she does mention she's having a manic episode. she's upfront about the fact that something is going on with her.

anybody who's at all familiar with gould and her financial challenges must question the wisdom of giving money to this, but she presents it very much in the spirit of "men are pigs. men are trash. divorce that man now." and as we learn later, gets money from lyz lenz, who has a book out that's basically the feminist case for divorce and being a single mom.

so gould is not just neck deep in this divorce literature, but producing it to some extent. maybe a crowdfunding request isn't truly a literary form, but it's written in a persuasive way that fits with other writing in the liberate yourself through divorce canon. but the valentine's day essay, while i don't think it's great, i do think it's interesting how it breaks from form. it's not an anti-man personal essay, and these always are. so it was nice to read something a bit different. well, maybe not different, but retro.

i've never been a fan of gould's work, but it did get me wondering "what itch are people trying to scratch when they read essays like this?" because it's like the reader wants them to be an explicitly moral fable, but they want it to be racy and spicy. like one of those mid century pulp novels with a painting of a woman on the cover looking kind of slatternly with a lot of makeup on. it'd be called something like "wild trash" and the subtitle would be "she couldn't wait for her divorce". it's smut about a woman who's sinning gratuitously and flouting society's expectations. and usually with these books, there'd be some kind of cosmic comeuppance for her where she'd get syphilis and die in a pauper's prison or whatever.

and i think people come to stories like this because they want to read something like that. you're gonna read about a woman who was debauched and all the naughty behavior in graphic, titillating detail. and at the end, you get served up a nice, neat conclusion. her husband divorces her and finds love with a kindergarten teacher from iowa. so it flouts the "rah rah divorce him" essay and the pulpy personal essay that some people want. if you're going to write a 3,000 word apology, at the very least, it is a novel take on it.

but i think what the problem is with an essay like this is that it's very... dated in its style. the expected thing with personal essays in the 2020s, the thesis of them usually boils down to something about what a great person the essayist is. most of them do this. that's why you get privilege disclaimers in them – the point of the essay is how the essayist is sensitive and kind and wonderful. even when there are flaws, they're overcome, or something systemic lead this to happen. a flawed woman is because patriarchy made her thus.

to give a better example of the kind of thing i'm talking about, you'll see an essay in the atlantic or new york times magazine and it follows the same formula. Woman Has Personal Life Grievance. Step Back. Here's Why This Is A Big Issue In Society, Bolstered With Statistics. Here's Why If This Woman Was Black Or Poor Or Gay Or Trans, It Would Be Even Worse. Back To The Personal Anecdote... you know what i mean? it's a very well established formula, but you can't have that with "also i'm a dirtbag". once you're talking about society and societal issues of which you're just a little representative – because those are the stakes. it has to be universal – you can't just be talking about yourself.

and then there's this question of personal writing more generally. you aren't a fictional character, you're yourself. and whether you want it to be or not, every personal essay is going to function like a cover letter. it's presenting you to the world. and i don't like these, but i don't want gould's style of personal essay to come back either. it straight up ruined a lot of women's lives who wanted to get their foot in the door in media, got $75 from xojane to write something lurid about their personal lives... and their career never took off. so now this is just on the internet forever.

this old piece in slate sheds a light on just how exploitative that whole thing was.

"don't make life decisions based on emily gould's writing" is useful advice for more reasons than one.

[cherrymangos]

FFXIV UPDATE! Another long one, so there will be many screenies under the cut :3

First up: I attempted to do the fall guys event! But my internet disconnected me and I could not compete so alas, that shall have to wait :(

Does anyone know for how long this event will last, and if it'll come back yet again?

Moenbryda :D

These DPS queues are ROUGH. While queueing for the hard versions of the 3 primal fights, I had 3 separate tanks drop and I ended waiting over an hour combined. I miss my healer queues

I got recognized during the Shiva fight :)

And now... it's Haurchfaunt time <3

Also, the foreshadowing sure goes crazy in this game

And if you've been following my journey, I'm sure you're wondering where my Hyur Vash has gone... Alas, I received one too many free fantasia's and became an au'ra. frankly it was a spur of the moment decision but i have an extra fantasia for when i want to become vash again so not all is lost :]

here are some screenies of my new WoL, whom i consider to be transmasc <3

anyways back to what you're here for... during the hard version of the Titan fight, i fucked up. a LOT. like, died 5-6 times. What can I say? It was late, i was tired, and i'd completely forgotten the mechanics because it's been so long T_T Also I got incredibly unlucky and was the only player to be targeted by that one move that entombs you in rock, so I had to wait for my party to bail me out. And yet somehow by the end of it, I still ended up getting a player commendation.

Quite frankly I wanted to refund it to whoever gave it to me, because that was the WORST performance I've put forth yet.

Anyways. I once again got cock-blocked and had to FINALLY finish the crystal tower quests. So uh. Yeah. Got eaten by a dog. Killed by a giant floating eye. Watched Graha take a nap and remembered I won't be seeing that guy for a long time. You know, the good stuff.

I also now have over 4 days worth of time put into this play through :)

And while I was shopping around at Revanant's Toll, another Au Ra popped up next to me and our chocobo started running into each other. When I exited my menu to get a better photo they stopped :(

Bye Moenbryda :( I wasn't terribly sad to see you go in all honesty because you did not get as much screen time as I remembered. I teared up a bit but didn't end up actually crying and the whole funeral felt a bit awkward because like, what do I actually really know about you...

And in today's episode of Minfilia continues to make me mad:

That's wonderful Minfilia! A shame I can't confide in anyone myself because you forbade me from telling the others about Midgardsormr yoinkin the blessing of light! Who's MY pillar of strength huh?? It's even better because Alphinaud says this:

Just wielding me like a weapon and I got no say in the matter :(

anyways... Hi Estinien! Quite frankly I don't remember how my last Dragoon quest left off because it's been a minute, but didn't you disappear? After being possessed or somethin? I'm VERY excited to play through Heavensward as a Dragoon. No other expansion has unique class dialogue do they?

Now for a speed run: got accused of regicide. Wanted to punch Teledji in the face. Wanted to punch Ilberd in the face. And I'm already missing my fellow scions... Hope I get to see you minor characters again because I'll be for real, I don't remember what happens to you!

ok so funny story... ive hit the photo limit. So uh. there will be more screenies in a reblog

[randomscpventblog]

Honestly it really saddens me that when I look back at my scp album (I make albums for every main fandom I’m in) all that comes to mind is how much mental distress the whole of the fandom caused me, my friends, and so many others. Seeing as Bright is still my comfort character everyone’s insistence on completely erasing him triggered my OCD so badly that I spent days, if not weeks, archiving everything in pictures, google docs, and files that I would check repeatedly multiple times a day and I was well off compared to others who suffered much worse mentally, I still have an unanswered ask in my inbox from an anon who wanted to unalive themselves due to feeling like they lost their comfort character(Bright) and I still have no idea how to respond to that.

I literally joined the fandom because I was under the assumption that since it was a Creative Commons community this type of drama and erasure wouldn’t happen since there was no company or person being directly financially compensated for anything. So I figured no one would have an issue supporting anything on the wiki but it appears I was wrong obviously. The whole Bright can’t be separated from his author argument is still absolutely ridiculous as well as anyone can engage in disgusting roleplay with any character.

But back to the fandom, the wiki users and Scp content creators dropping the character and acting all morally superior was incredibly gross and performative considering most of them were around when AdminBright was still active on the wiki and had nothing to say or qualms about using the character until AB was banned and people started turning it into an issue. Then there was DJK, who still has allegations of sleeping with a freshly turned 18 y/o and attempting to provide them with alcohol, who decided to use the lists deletion to try and get clout with his own character. Which so many people decided to switch over too completely ignoring the fact that DJK was complacent in ABs predatory behavior on the wiki and that DJK himself also has allegations against him. The only silver lining to Shaw is that one of AB’s victims is working with DJK which in its own way is odd considering how they were brought on to work on Shaw with DJK who as previously mentioned also has allegation’s of predatory behavior against him.

The fandoms response wasn’t much better you had people switching over to Shaw which they only used as a rename instead of as their own character which was what the victim wanted as they don’t want Shaw simply being a repaint of Bright. You had people here on Tumblr demonizing Bright fans for not being able to move on from the character like they were, because they somehow assumed that just because they were able to detach themselves from the character that everyone else could too, completely ignoring the fact that most Bright fans are young, mentally ill, and/or neurodivergent. Those same people would use the excuse of trying to protect the victim’s feelings and mental state’s, again completely ignoring the fact that their causing thousands of other people so much pain and distress all over using a character. Then you had people fear mongering and accusing Bright fans of potentially giving AB new victims with their usage of the character which makes no sense considering AB has completely disappeared from the internet and I doubt them flaunting the fact that they created a niche character on the internet is going to be impressive enough to get them any irl victims.

All in all this has to be one of the most distressing fandom experiences I’ve ever had, and I’ve been in a lot of fandoms. Literally the only good part was the friends I’ve made along the way, and they were the only reason I remained in the fandom for so long. Due to this experience this will be the last fandom I’ll ever join that’s a community lead fandom, because for as bad as your usual fandoms can be at least people understand how to separate the work from the company’s that create them.

[uncreativeuser27]

Hello! I haven’t posted anything for…a while now lmao but I HAVE been drawing. So, allow me to dump all my art in this post so I can disappear off the face of the Earth again because composing a good post is too much effort for my pathetic brain to handle /hj

I’ll try to put them in order of when they were made, but I’ll also group them into categories. The date as well as my signature can be found on all of the drawings (if you care lol)

This is a drawing I did for a friend of mine. It’s his original character, Mad Snake. Normally, I don’t like taking requests, but I genuinely enjoyed drawing this guy, so I didn’t mind it. He was a step out of my comfort zone, and I liked how he turned out!

Now, the Jaiden pieces! The first one was my idea that Jaiden started performing for Las Casualonas (but, like, as a singer or stage personality. She never actually did anything spicy). I also thought she and Melissa could have a really funny dynamic. Like some sort of rivalry for the audience’s attention/love.

The second picture, as it obviously states, is what I headcannon Jaiden looks like working for the federation. I had fun with her scythe (and if you pay close attention, you can see a little something in the reflection:])

And the third one is of Jaiden stretching w/ her wings. It’s also the most recent of this entire batch. Basically, I finally came up with a way that I liked to draw wings and had a sketch in my sketchbook of that pose, so I drew Jaiden. Her shirt intentionally comes down low in the back to make space for the wings, and her hands are out of frame because I didn’t want to draw them. Also, that one only took me about 2 and a half hours, where most of the other took from 6-8 hours, so…lol

The next pieces are an original work from 8th grade an the redraw two years later. It was an assignment that we had to read a novel and then make a trailer for it. I asked to make a drawing instead, and thus, this creation was born.

I changed a little bit, like putting two of the characters in the trees instead of a fading color behind them. Overall, they both took me three days and I’m really happy about how the redraw turned out.

This is Imp. Yes, he looks like SomethingElseYT, but I don’t care. I love him, and I was already attatched when I realized. I made a whole spread in my sketchbook for him (I ran out of images, so I didn’t include it here. Maybe another day) Also he serves no purpose other than being something I can doodle on random things and places. He doesn’t even have hands

This next one is a self-portrait in an outfit that I really liked! The original had my full name, but I blurred it for the sake of not wanting my full name on the internet (I’ve probably screwed up somewhere, but at least I’m trying :’)

And this last one is meant to be part of a collection, but I only made for Kenny. I want to draw all of the main four in South Park as teens, but I haven’t been able to think of poses and stuff for the others. It willl happen one day, but for now have this I guess

So, yeah. That was all the art that I wanted to share but haven’t had the motivation to actually put together posts for all of them. Hope you enjoyed my little display lmao

You probably won’t see for the next, like, couple of months because I’m really bad at posting. So, take this as my going away gift :D

[name-s-are-not-important]

Woah, the anon who got mad over a story a stranger writes in their free time and posts on the internet for free, was hilarious actually. I almost laughed.

To the point: Your answer to their ask inspired me to ask my own question - would you like to maybe share some historical inspirations that lead you to create The Iron Song the way it is? Or maybe drop some more historical facts; the one about ages of royals' marriages was really neat.

Wish you a nice week, love your stories, byeee~

I laughed too, what a beautiful scene.

Oh wow, I love this question…. You have hereby opened Pandora's box, dear questioner, for this is a subject I love and could rant about endlessly. So, get ready, here's the short version :) (Thank you so much for this question!).

Alternate versions of a story when we change one detail in the whole course of events. This is a construct that has fascinated me for a long time, and which, as part of an ‘exercise’ in history and social theory repetition, I have long used. We take one event out of a process or add an event that wasn't there. What impact will it have if we leave the rest. In this case it was a change of two elements, i.e. Halt's disappearance became a more important event than in the canon because…. well… and this is where my undying love of fantasy and quasi-mythological stories reappeared, hinting at a magic-fantasy setting, but with ‘canon-ish’ realism. No dragons, but with magic. The second element to be knocked out of the sequence of events is Caitlyn's death. Caitlyn is fine and the second most important character besides Halt. What's happening politically, socially, plot-wise now that we have a strong princess who is, to put it lightly, pissed off at what happened to her dear brother. We have a mother who will fight for her child no matter what, we have a sister who will stand up against her brother to protect her brother. We have a princess for whom the nation will go to war, in an age of sexism, misogyny, patriarchy and a prevailing religion that despises women. How did this happen?

I love the role of women in history. I hate the version of history we are taught in schools, kings without mothers or wives who ruled and killed and died, and women in general were there but are not. Hundreds of books in ‘medieval’ realities wonderfully replicate this pattern. One female character per plot and that's enough. Absolutely no RA book would pass the Bechdel test. Not a single one of them. We have so many guys all birthed by women. We have a princess heir to the throne, a bunch of couriers, a queen, a queen mother…. and none are important enough to get even one scene with another woman to talk not about a guy. So my story will be half about Caitlyn, half about Halt. The sequel to ‘the Iron Song’ is already about Caitlyn. That much I can reveal. She is the main character. Give me more strong female characters who are strong beyond the fact that they say they are different from all the girls and are so much more masculine that they can deserve to be cool.

Erasing queer love in the pages of history. We know that history hates queer lovers. A few couples have managed to survive this hatred. We know that Achilles killed Hector only to avenge Patroclus. The grief of how many other Achilles was never recognised as their official reason for changing the course of history? How many Patroklos were buried in oblivion by books written before clerical historians, altered centuries later, censored and castigated? And how many women, queer women, have never moved beyond being ‘dear friends’ with their loved ones? I wanted a story where every important character would be queer. A story about a civil war heroes who met on two sides of the barricade, in love with each other and forced to fight each other. Soldiers who gave up the option of a comfortable life just to be with each other even a few days longer, in danger but together.

Again women, but this time mothers. Such as Eileen, but also such as Caitlyn, and such as Rosalind, and such as Siobhan, and such as several others whose names the plot has not yet given us. Women who was never cared about and whose names we don't know or remember because no one considered them important enough to be recorded in history.

The tragedy of civil wars. My country's history is littered with uprisings. For more than a century we did not exist on maps, trapped under the occupation of three other countries. When ww1 erupted, people called to serve in the occupying forces were pitted against each other. Shoulder to shoulder with the people who had occupated them, but against their neighbours who already belonged to another country. Brothers against brothers, acquaintances, friends. All because someone in power decided the fate of hundreds of thousands. The canon speaks of civil war, but from the POV of a king betrayed by a baron. I like Duncan, I love Duncan, but he was not the person most devastated by the war. He lost his wife later, but saved his daughter. Thousands of people went to fight for him and never came back…. In the history of probably every country there are plenty of dates marked with the notation ‘war’. The king died, long live the king. How many hundreds lay in the ground splashed with the blood of other hundreds is irrelevant to history. What matters is that the king is still there. And if he is gone, another one will be put on the throne.

Religious trauma. Yes, generational, and that of mine a little too. Without going into private details, the topic of religious trauma and its impact on society and the formation of social, behavioural and even legal norms is something that has interested me for a long time. This time I created a new religion, just for the purpose of this story. I was not inspired by any existing religion and if there are elements in common with any, it is a work of chance. This religion was meant to be the most atrocious form of violence against the most innocent, so that the full extent of the revulsion of what kind of person still supports it can be seen. The idea of cutting a child with a knife to rub an infusion of herbs and incense into the wound is meant to horrify and disgust. We experience this religion from the POV of people who have been harmed by it. Directly, like Halt and Óengus, or indirectly, like Caitlyn, or by stories in general, but still, like Crowley. And then we get into the head of someone who was so sure of his faith that he would sacrifice everything and everyone for it. Religious fanaticism, especially mixed with politics, its social effects, the propagation of religion by fire and sword, or in general the idea of religion being imposed on someone by force for the grace of a deity…. all this I wanted to show as horrifyingly as possible, before looking at it from the perspective of the people who grew up with it in a less cruel form than Halt, and the people it gave power to.

Family trauma and violence within the family, especially a high-profile one. Children in good clothes and in a rich home. Screaming behind closed doors. Now it is talked about, but so many centuries of these cries have passed and no one listened to them. In the records we find references to the fact that some king there was ‘eager to anger’. That is to say, he probably beat his wife, children, servants and anyone else who got near. And all of these people had stories that were not told.

8. Brothers but enemies, enemies but brothers. My beloved concept. Right next to unreliable narrator and haunted narrative.

9. Military history, especially medieval history. I love it. It makes my blood boil when I read the ‘bigos’ made by many authors who write about the ‘Middle Ages’. For non-Slavic: bigos is a dish made of cabbage, bacon and sausage, but it was often made with whatever you could find in the pantry after a week's work. A heavy, indigestible, not-so-good-for-your-belly-even-if-smells-yummy bigos. Such is the ‘bigos’ of military history, weaponry, military formations, armour, castles, architectural styles, ways of fighting and commanding an army that is made into many books. I fell in love with ken-jitsu at one time, and then fencing because of it. My country also has a very long history of knights and one heavily-armed cavalry, of which some misunderstood patriotism people are veeery proud. Anyway, this is the knowledge that everyone remembers from the most famous historical movies. It didn't help my special interest in the military through the ages to not develop.

10. The 10th, and probably last, eves of major historical changes. We remember dates when things changed. But how did it change? Well, the king changed. Why? What was happening one, two, ten years before? Sometimes some teachers tell us, and praise them for that, but generally it's just about remembering dates and events. But history is about people. People made it happen. Someone once hit the table one too many times and changed the world. Someone else hit him and there are two political parties with the same idea but great hatred towards each other. Someone else risked everything to protect his family. Who was he in history, a traitor, a hero, a fool or a loving brother/husband/son? Or maybe it all depends on whose song we listen to….

And now 3 funfacts, if anyone made it all the way here - congratulations!!!

The most known type of armour, the full plate armour appeared in the late Middle Ages (14th-15th centuries). It was composed of metal plates joined by leather straps to shield the knight from the blows of swords, lances and arrows. It weighed approximately 20-30 kg. A tunic with an embroidered coat of arms, the knight's family mark, was sometimes placed over the breastplate. Armour was bloody expensive, so if someone could afford it, they were rich and important, and unlikely to fight with a sword against just anyone. The heavy cavalry as a formation was mostly made up of men from noble families, serving in it was a great honour. For all the rest, there was room in the terrified, poor, dirty and poorly armed crowd that was trampled and murdered. In addition, this beautiful armour had one veeery important function - to prevent it from being pierced by a sword. A knight wielding a sword did not hit another knight in full armour with a sword, because this would not be very effective. Against each other, knights fought with lances. The sword was for the hoi polloi. And NO ONE, I repeat no one, rode into battle with their head uncovered. All the epic scenes of taking out a sword against a huge army and knights with bare heads, dishevelled hair and madness in their eyes…. it's as if we took away the soldier's bulletproof vest and sent him in swimming trunks instead.

The whole theme with the heavy cavalry is different in ‘The Iron Song’ but for reasons of social change initiated by religion. Claíomh Deartháir are a religion of warriors, and have controlled the state for three hundred years, training their commanders and dictating political terms. They have introduced quite a few changes. Some of you may have heard the opinion, dating back to the golden ages of chivalry, that one who has the heavier cavalry rules the world. Let's just say that Claíomh Deartháir agree.

Contrary to popular belief, people in the Middle Ages were as concerned about hygiene as they could be. In historical sources, one can find information about city baths available to everyone. The poor and peasants had designated places by rivers and streams where they could wash. The nobility enjoyed oils made from flowers, herbs and fragrant spices. A tiny nod in this direction is, of course, the scene at Araluen Castle where Crowley, brought up in a more poor, farming family, has the opportunity to come across the strange-smelling oily soap-shampoos that Halt was given by the medic. Previously, as a soldier, he preferred the traditional bathing methods for this social stratum. Halt sees nothing strange in this, having been brought up in other realities.

The strangest medieval footwear comes from Kraków (Poland). These shoes are ciżemki, flat with a short upper with an incredibly long ‘nose’. They appeared in the trade around 1330 and became very popular in Western Europe as cracoves or poulaines. The length of the top lengthened and shortened as fashions changed to reach a length 60 cm longer than the foot at its peak. Often the tops of shoes were decorated with additional elements. They were associated with promiscuity and decadence, so much so that at one point the Church issued a decree on who could wear them and who could not. An English poem from 1388 said that because of the long tops of the ciżemki, men were unable to kneel during Mass. The ciżemki fell out of favour around 1480 and did not reappear on a mass scale until the 20th century.

(To take care of the facts and not to rely on AuDHD's sometimes unreliable memory, all facts have been described based on online sources)

And if you'd like more rants, I have a whole lot more :)

Anyway, thank you so much for the opportunity to share this. You've made my day!

You have a great week too, thank you so much!!!

[mythropigman]

ABOUT ME PLEASE READ

👇👇👇

: my name is Ponchos with the s, and I tend to sometimes change my name a lot so call me either Boris or ponchos if that ever happens, in the mean time that's me, and I'm a young artist (14 levels) and I'm just here to make jokes and make people enjoy my art and stuff like that and me in general

What I allow/accept/do✅

- Take asks and requests

- repost my art (credit me)

- can use and even copy my art style (just credit me as the original artist for the style)

- use my brushes if I ever show them (no credit)

- use my art as banners, highlights, pfps, edits, etc (credit me)

- you can use my art as reference to your art or other things

- you can draw my ocs don't ask for permission go crazy with them (just credit me as the creator of them)

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What I won't allow/accept/do❌

- I won't take bs from people who talk crap about me

- personal questions (unless I give you permission)

- stupid questions like "why do you follow this artist" or stuff like that if yk

- Karens

- people who come up with assumptions without knowing the full picture

- ofc claiming my art as yours (if I find out I won't get mad I'll just tell you not to do it again)

- draw nsfw +18 kind

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This blog:

: my blog is 15-16 plus but not nsfw kind of art

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This artist

: I'm a nice and kind guy, when people make mistakes both towards me or others I do my best to help them out and I'm a very forgivable person (I forgive people very easily if they say sorry and admit what they did was wrong) I'm a joker, I make a lot of jokes that most people won't take enjoyment in so when I make a joke you find offensive just remember it's a joke there is no need to start up stuff cause everyone does it (but if it really hurt you emotional dm me and I'll stop) I will post randomly, I'm always on the internet but I gotta get interest into drawing something before doing it (I'm sorry but I can't force myself) so I'm active but at the same time not (?) But not the kind I disappear for a whole month or week, just for a day or two but besides that. I'm also a Christian, I learning christian so I'm still in the young stages of that, and I'm bi :|....yeah.

Okay that's it good talk🤫🧏

Note this is my persona

[captainclickycat]

My actually-controversial internet opinion is that people need to stop being dicks about people who let their cats go outdoors. No, really.

So this isn't even me saying "don't try to persuade people to keep their cats indoors". I think educating people about that is absolutely a worthwhile goal. There are many good and solid reasons to keep your cat indoors. I also do not want to play a game of Traffic Roulette where I have to just accept that my little friend might one day just get hit by a car and die or wander off and disappear forever and I'm supposed to just be cool with that happening. And yeah, I fully agree that it's weird and annoying that this is somehow considered an unreasonable stance to take about your beloved pet. I also understand that concepts like domestic cats making a considerable dent in bird populations and potentially spreading viruses are issues that should be seriously taken into account and not just brushed off as "oh well, what can you do."

However.

So first of all, let's imagine a scenario here. Let's say that someone sees all these arguments on the internet, and they think "hey yes, they have some very salient points. Maybe I should start keeping my cat indoors from now on."

...so they try to put this into practise. They make sure all the doors are shut, seal off all possible escape routes, and do their best to convey to little Billy that he doesn't get to play in the garden anymore, for his own safety.

And Billy doesn't like that. He gets stressed and bored and restless. He spends a considerable amount of time just standing in front of the door yelling his head off, obviously desperate to go out, even though they're doing their best to entertain him. He gains a troubling amount of weight. He starts over-grooming himself to the point where he has bald patches. They try putting him on a lead, but he obviously hates the lead and spends the whole time chewing on it or trying to wriggle out of it. It's clear that this transition is causing him a not-inconsiderable amount of distress.

So obviously, Billy's human is very concerned by this. They understand why it's not a good idea to go back to letting their cat roam around unsupervised outdoors, but they can also see their cat is severely stressed and struggling to adjust and they wouldn't have the first idea of how to make it better. Furthermore, this person has grown up with cats themselves, and the notion that it's unethical to let cats go outdoors is completely new to them. And it's not just a new idea, it's basically the antithesis to what they were always taught. From their point of view, for the vast majority of their life it was considered cruel, maybe even a little irresponsible, to not let your cat go outdoors.

As in, if you said to someone that you wanted to keep your cat indoors all the time, they would basically react in the same way they would if you said that you wanted to try to feed your cat a vegetarian diet. Like oh gosh, of course I respect your decision, but don't you think that maybe that's going against their nature and it would be a lot healthier for them if you let them go out. And as much as the judgemental Tumblr crowd don't like to admit it, those people also think they're looking out for the welfare of people's pets. They're not thinking "oh well, I'm just not going to bother doing the extra work it takes to look after an indoor cat; I'd rather just leave it all in god's hands and if something happens oh well", they're thinking "My cat's happiness and wellbeing matters more than my personal anxieties, that's why I'm not going to be overprotective and instead I'll let them have their outdoor enrichment time."

Anyway, sidenote...so I realise this has turned into a tediously long post, and I have a habit of rambing at length in a slightly annoying way when I latch on to a topic. That being said, in this case it really is important to me that people actually read the points I'm making before trying to debate my post with me. So I'm going to request that if anyone wants to argue or even just generally debate with me about this topic, they preface whatever they're saying with the word "Obelix". As in, "Obelix: I disagree with you because blah blah blah." I'm not promising I'll engage with you even if you say the code word, because that's not actually my job, but I'm definitely going to ignore you if you don't say Obelix. Also if you message me on anon. Sorry if you're just doing it because you're shy or whatever, but if I have no idea who you are I have no reason to assume good faith and I'm not going to listen to you.

Anyway! All that aside. When it comes down to it, transitioning from letting your cat roam to keeping them indoors is a big transition, and will involve some very specific - and potentially expensive - accommodations. That's not to say it's not a worthwhile endeavour, but as much as shouty motherfuckers on the internet might be loath to admit it, there's a lot more to it than just "Oh my god, if you would take the time to ACTUALLY TAKE CARE OF YOUR PET, this WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM!!"

And when you actually consult more official sources (such as your local vet, or registered animal welfare charities) the response you get is often liable to be a lot more even-handed. A lot of sources will outright advise you to let your cat have time outdoors if keeping them inside is proving stressful for them and all other possibilities have been exhausted.

And again, that doesn't mean that every argument for keeping them indoors is null and void, or that these issues can't be worked around or accommodated!

What it does mean though is that I think maybe it's time to ask yourself what you really hope to achieve by going on the internet to say over and over and over again that they're the scum of the earth, that they're a sadistic animal abuser, that they secretly hate their cat because they let it go outdoors. And, ultimately, to consider the possibility that when people are presented with the options of "listen to a professional vet, or registered animal welfare charity" or "listen to a snarky tumblr post written by some stranger", they're not actually being all that unreasonable if they choose the former.

If you want to persuade more people to keep their cats indoors, you can actually do the work involved in giving them the information and resources that might make it a feasible possibility. Talk them through the reasons for doing it in a level-headed way. Give them links to reliable sources and websites that talk them through all the ways that they might be able to make this a feasible possibility. Keep a clear head and take the time to patiently explain to them why it's a better option, even if it seems like it should be obvious, even if you feel strongly about it, even if you personally have been presented with these ideas and it seems a little unbelievable that it might be someone else's first time being presented with them. Yelling at people about how awful they are for not just knowing this from the beginning might feel cathartic for you, but there's no guarantee that it's going to have any concrete effect other than getting you written of as a judgemental arsehole.

Stop being a dick.

[niuniente]

on the whole kudos/comment thing. I'm an artist and I havn't posted art on instagram in 2 years, that is both og art and fanart. its not worth the 2 mins of my time to post after only to get 10ish odd likes from mostly people ik irl when I can just send it off to my friends and get wayyyyyy more personal and happy responses. yes creatives are not entitled to engament but don't be surprised when they disappear

if its not worth your time to comment then its not worth THEIR time to post.

I'll admit im a hypocrite saying this as I don't comment all the time (mixture of no internet when reading and good old mental illness leaving me with blank brain fog) but I stil try. its not a matter of which is good enough or conveince but if its a good day for me. speaking of trying while I'm here I freaking love dhd, started following from she ra but I love your orginal stuff and you're so sweet. <3

I hope people stop being rude in your ask box

Yes, I hear this a lot. Also, it seems people are willing to discuss about things with their friends or fandom fellow groups but not give the same comments to the person who created that thing. I have a personal experience of this.

Years and years ago, I used to write fanfic with an url no one knew about. It was my secret little account. I was a part of a fandom group for the said fandom I was writing these fics about. The group was lovely and active, and they openly loved to discuss about fanfics and fanart.

Whenever I wrote a fic and posted it, the very same day someone within the group noted the whole group about it. Those who wanted to read the fic went to read it, and then they eagerly discussed about the fic with each other; what did they like about it, what thoughts they had, if they had any metas or ideas of what would happen in the next chapter, how the fic had made them feel like and what was their favorite part of each chapter.

I followed these conversations without anyone knowing they were talking about my fic. It made me happy to see that what I had written was well received, and people waited for more!

Did any of these people leave me a comment on the said fic they were gushing about? No.

So, the lurker me knew that my fic was well received and liked, but the author me didn't know, because no one said anything. All the conversation was held in a private place among readers but the author was not included in it.

It would have been really easy for any of these fans of the fic just copy the same thing they had said in the private group and post it to the author me under the fic. Very easy support and a very easy way to let the author-me know that yes, this is what we wish to get more! I only know this because I was lurking in the fan group and saw these conversations.

Another experience I've got and it still keeps happening is that if I join a Discord group or any event group, there are always people who know me due FUZZY. They say that they read the comic and loved it. I have no idea just how many people actually read FUZZY, know it and liked it, because the majority seem to be lurkers who I encounter at random like this :D It's always a surprise when it happens, a happy one mind you! I don't know how many readers and fans FUZZY actually had but I think no one can really ever know the full scale of their fans and influence.

I've got IG which mainly operates now as an art gallery for those who wish to see just my art (excluding long comic updates due image limit). Engagement is small in IG and Twitter, where things are fresh for 20 second and then they are forgotten - albeit IG's positive side compared to Twitter is a better search system where you can go through old posts and like & comment them (no, it's not creepy, why the hell giving support for someone would be creepy when we talk about supporting fandom people).

[kithtaehyung]

re: people being upset by reader in window (and nothing to do with the ask game in which we all need to go to church)

i think the downfall of reader inserts is that everyone wants to see themselves in the character. but we're all different people, so that's not possible. and people tend to get really upset when reader makes choices that are different than the ones they would make because it ruins their immersion. (i also think that there's a lot of projecting going on when folks get that upset by a choice or action but that's not the point here).

to me, reader's feelings and behaviors are in line with the background we have of them throughout the whole series. yoongi too. healing isn't linear. reader is still going to have insecurities and their own past heartbreak is still going to get in the way. that's true for ALL of us. and yoongi's own past in regards to relationships (or the willful lack thereof) is also not going to disappear. it's been made clear throughout the entire series that whatever yoongi and reader have is new to both of them. yoongi's past has fueled reader's insecurities due to her own past (fuck off jungkook and all partners following him) many times up until window, and that's very reasonable. and then, on this trip, there's also the fact that reader and their brother have their own family stuff regarding the holidays which puts them both in a bad mood. AND THEN on top of that yoongi and reader's entire relationship is a secret. they have to hide, and that's not easy either. it can be really easy to forget what reader knows about how yoongi feels when their reality does not line up with what happens between the two of them behind closed doors.

i'm saying all of this because i don't want you to keep thinking that you weren't thinking things through enough or that you posted too quickly. i want to make sure you know that what you wrote DID make sense for the storyline and that it WAS in line with everything else that has happened throughout the series. people are entitled to not like how things played out, but from the little you've said about the feedback you got, they did not approach you kindly about it. the anonymity of the internet can make some people act with so much less respect than they would if they were talking to you face to face.

and i want to reiterate this again: i've ALWAYS found that when i really dislike something about another person, it's because i see that exact trait/behavior/etc. in myself. and i do think that's true for all of us. reader inserts are the ultimate tool for projection, and when being faced with something they don't like or don't resonate with, people react strongly. you're not the first author i've seen this EXACT thing happen to. at the end of the day, i wholeheartedly believe that it's not personal and that it doesn't actually reflect on your writing or your choices. reader inserts are a double edged sword in that they are as inclusive as possible but for that very reason it's just not possible for every single person who reads to be represented.

take as long as you need to feel comfortable with posting. i understand why it got to you, it definitely would have gotten to me too. thank you for showing up for us anyway 🫂 i hope you had a wonderful time in korea!!!! and that you have so much fun with yoongi AGAIN. thank you for being you 💕

WHOA Nicki when the hell did you send this?? Holy shit I didn’t see it until I actually clicked my inbox!

But damn.. thank you for saying all of this. I don’t really have anything else to add other than that because I’m extremely grateful. If it did make sense then I feel LOADS better because the things people were saying made me feel like I genuinely messed up my own characters. Ngl it hurt for days (but yeah, this was a long time ago and I’m better now!)

And thank you for the commentary on these characters, too🫂 I love that they are human and complex and don’t always make the best choices. While it’s frustrating to readers, trust me when it’s frustrating to me too and I’m writing it LOLLL but I want it to be realistic and/or not ideal.

We have a long way to go with their journey. I’m in no rush🤍

[eldrbraus]

here we go again.

TWISTED WONDERLAND BOOK 7 CHAPTER 3 SPOILERS.

a small summary with the most important parts and not a dialogue translation. once again, dont trust me a lot on the dialogue parts as this is more of a general summary of what happened. also its a live reaction for the most part so its not exactly super coherent.

·we begin the chapter on idias room, and... ortho is calling him on his phone?

·idia is extremely confused because ortho is supposed to be with him at the nrc but apparently ortho is in the rsa...? hes a student there and its the day of the opening ceremony for both schools, huh! so apparently ortho is alive now. cool cool cool.

·this has to be a dream.

·idia is just as confused as we are honestly, it takes him a while to understand whats happening but everything seems to fall into place after a while

·oh he got a message from crimson muscle ;; they talk about games and something and basically still talk about how they are both going to an event tonight but wont connect the dots www

·they play all day until night and then idia puts on his robes and holy shit hes actually going to the ceremony himself and not by tablet lmao

·idia finds malleus on his way to the mirrors chamber and... malleus has his gao gao all grown up? even when the dragon cant technically do that, its weird. the both of them nerd a lot about the game and apparently idia and malleus have a really good relationship

·yeah this is most definitely a dream because malleus actually went to the ceremony and took the diasomnia students himself instead of lilia ww

·idia comes back to the dorm after all of that and talks with ortho again. apparently rsa is pretty similar to nrc [roomates are the same, theres dormleaders...], except people are actually nice in there www

·we switch pow to yuu/grim [yuu had the sleeping beauty vision just now, aurora was almost stung by the needle]

·they are in a different room in the ramshackle dorm? but they remember the whole thing with the overblot, unlike idia

·they are trying to get out but... apparently cant and now all the furniture is alive. what.

·if this is yuus dream im going to ask myself what the fuck was yuu smoking before they fell asleep honestly

·oh grim ate... something? [grim stop eating random shit i beg of you] and became a gigant but came back to normal after a little while

·yuu says that all of this made them remember what mickey said and... mickey appears ww [a friend told me that the music when mickey appears is... kingdom hearts music? no idea i didnt play the game]

·apparently yuu and grim are on mickeys... dream? dimension? no idea

·they all talk about a little bit of everything, about how yuu is trying to go back to their world, and apparently mickey doesnt have/uses magic so he also has no idea why the room is alive rn. ok great.

·mickey says that he only goes to that world when hes asleep, and now yuu is worried about that because if this is a dream... where the fuck is their body? in diasomnia still?

·a phone rings? and mickey disappears because hes waking up :(

·a lot of blot appears and theres like... a new type of monster and this mf has 50k HP help

·grim is slowly getting out of magic and wants to protect yuu but he cant, poor kitty

·holy shit silver appeared and rescued yuu and grim with... his UM! it got revealed! the name is “Meet in a dream”

·we switch pow to... ortho! who apparently is sleeping in his body BUT hes also on the internet because his consciousness is not tied up to his body ww. we kinda predicted this one

·ortho is trying to wake idia using all the devices on his room but nothing works. he goes around the island and everything is dark, full of thorns and blot and everyone, even the animals, are asleep :(

·apparently even time has stopped??? malleus is op as fuck, even ortho is worried about that

·he tries to contact STYX of course but all communications are just cut off from the exterior... my poor son is all alone

·he says something about an... anthena???? that hes gonna use to get into STYX... internet ig??? lmao something like that. he uses that to go to STYX via the internet apparently ww

·aand we switch pov to STYX where a man with a helmet is kind of nervous, with all the personel. so they do know about the whole thing already, huh

·holy shit they are saying everyone might be dead lmao. so negative-

·oh wait another character appeared, this time a woman with a helmet saying that they musnt lose hope just yet. im betting my everything they are idias parents.

·YUP. THEY ARE. damn the mom is a catgirl ww

·its a shame their heads are covered up

·ortho arrived! [its a call, ortho is not physically on STYX] god this is so cute we get a lot of famiy talk, the mom was so worried about both shroud brothers ;;

·ortho explains everything and something something, apparently the parents said that they should wait for malleus magic to run out but then they remembered that fae get their power from the nature so malleus magic could last forever and it could even EXPAND EVEN MORE. shit.

·they want to contact Briar Valley! cool, lets see those fae folk.

·ortho says “nam fam i got this” and that his parents need to make him new gear, and the mom refuses dsfkjbnsdjfknd she says its too dangerous but ortho said he would take the cerberus with him if they dont do it. bitch if that was my mother i would be SO grounded. the mom agrees after ortho disappears but shes that she will remember this ww

·some time pases and the gear is ready so ortho comes back and the mom yells at him that he shouldnt have hang up the call because you cant hung up your mom like that WWWW.

·the mom told ortho to not tell idia about the fact that she can get into idias pc anytime she wants [because she used that to get the new ortho gear blueprint], but he tells her that idia will know the moment ortho appears in front of him with his gear WWWWWWWWWW why are they so funny help

·orthos mind gets into the gear and hes now physically in STYX on his new body... aww the shroud hug and the parents tell him that both of the shroud brothers are their children even if ortho is an android and to be careful im going to fucking cry.

·we are back to silver/yuu/grim pov and after silver helped them, they are just... fucking falling down from the sky what the fuck

·silver made an spell so they fall to the ground without dying ww

·they are in diasomnia now, and silver says that this is all a dream but that he doesnt know whos person is. apparently he has seen mickey before on his dreams, which he finds weird because his UM can only make him go to the dreams of people he knows

·smth smth about exams, not really important

·silver comments how he cant choose the dream hes going to end up in, but that he can find out because a bird (?) flies next to the host of the dream, and... soon they find sebek with a bird (?) so this is sebeks dream

·silver is taken by sebek to a party they are doing because lilia and malleus finally choose where are they going in their fourth year...? grim asks if this is the farewell party for lilia again, because of the whole “he doesnt have magic now” and sebek is super offended that grim thinks lilia doesnt have magic now WWWWW

·malleus is going to do his fourth year to the country of heroes (?) and lilia to the country of the crimson dragon, silver asks lilia if he would go back to their house once his fourth year is done and lilia says of course because thats his home ;;

·silver cant take it anymore and said that this is all a farce, a dream... and that he would like for lilia to go back to this house with him but he doubts lilia will be alive by then holy shit silver ;;;;;

·he tells sebek to remember everything and that this is not reality but no one listens to him. he keeps going on this and malleus completely loses it uh

·he screams that he knows the three of them are awake and that they shouldnt try and ruin (?) the dreams and 

·sebek goes to defend malleus and challenges silver to a fight! nooooooo my son ;;

·while they fight sebek begins to remember everything and finally sees malleus overblot so he stops

·the four of them wake up and fight overblot malleus once again, but once again they lose and... silver asks the three of them to hold his hand (sebek complained about it but did it anyways), screen goes black

·apparently malleus tried to make them sleep more deeply so they wouldnt wake up this time, and its working because silver is having a hard time trying to use his magic... but the ring that lilia gave him is shining in the dark! so he follows that and

·the four of them appear in a forest... wait its the sleeping beauty forest! so this has to be briar valley!

·suddenly soldiers appear, with masks... they are 100% fae because they are talking in a language only sebek understands ww

·PAST LILIA APPEARED IT HAS TO BE HIM BECAUSE HE IS SMOL AND HAS THE RED-BLACK HAIR HELP [he has a mask so we cant see his face!]

·he told them “shut up, humans” so mean.... its confirmed that they are on lilias dream...

and the fucking chapter ends. HELP. how am i supposed to wait months for more this was so shorttttt ;;

and lilia looked so good in that outfit FUCKKK I NEED MORE.