#and a 3rd that is yet to be named. this is also all still subject to change but thats where we are rn

[altruistic-meme]

🤩 🦅 and 📚 for the writer ask thing bestie <33

hiiiii avie <33

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write? ohhhh thats hard. i've found i really like writing Erik and playing with his personality and perspective on things since it's much more open to interpretation since we don't see him much. but i also have enjoyed writing Andrew despite the Many Challenges i face with keeping his characterization right :')

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants? that depends a LOT on the fic and what kind of fic it is.

when it comes to oneshots, not usually unless i have a very specific plan in mind for it. ex. when i first wrote "(why is there) joy in this poison" it was a oneshot, and i wrote lots of notes and background information for it as well as outlining it. but "LVOE." had no outline or plans at all, and i just sort of started writing to see where it would go.

when it comes to chapter fics, i've been trying to do more outlines just so i have a full picture of where the fic is going as well as any major points that i know i have to reach to get to the end. i didn't used to though :') one of my biggest chapter fics, "the beginnings just another end" i had a lot of ideas for random chapters and vague knowledge of how it would end, but no coherency or outline. "(why is there) joy in this poison" as a chapter fic has got a pretty good outline and...... several documents of notes and such. and the parallels au has got a loose outline for dare(d), as well as some notes and quite a few specific scenes planned/half-written, and NSTK has got some outline and scenes sort of placed in order.

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career? i've debated it every now and then but idk. it's not like a huge dream of mine, but my friend wants me to try since i write anyway, i may as well get some money from it ya know? which i get that. who knows, maybe someday i will.

~writer asks~

[bet-on-me-13]

Captive AU

So, the GIW has been around for a while.

Ghosts have been a problem for centuries, the US Government wouldn't have waited until the 21st Century to figure out a way to deal with them, so the GIW has been around for years. And the general Public knows about them, it's a common household name like the FBI or the CIA. They are simply seen as another government organization doing its job, no need to care about the Ghosts they capture, they're Non-Sentient anyways.

Over the years of their existence, they have acquired their own little prison full of Ghosts. And among that collection of Ghosts, 4 stand out.

Because they are somehow Ghost-Human Hybrids.

The first was captured a while before the others. A College Student studying Ectology had been admitted to the Hospital after a Lab Accident, where he had been diagnosed with an, as of yet, unknown and incurable Disease. He had Green Boils popping up all over his Face, and he was in excruciating Pain.

The GIW had sent a team to investigate, and they had found that the College Student was slowly transforming into some type of abomination. He was still partially human, but he was also partially a Ghost. They had him declared Dead and shipped him off to a Blacksite Facility to be experimented on.

...

The Second One came about 10 years later. Coincidentally, it was very similar circumstances. The very same pair of scientists who had been acquainted with their previous subject had just admitted their 5 Yr old son into a local Hospital. He had been in a Lab Accident that had stopped his Heart for a few minutes, and out of curiosity the GIW had sent a Team to investigate.

And what did they find, but a perfect recreation of their favorite Test Subject.

They declared the Child Dead, and sent him off to the same Facility they kept the other one in.

...

The 3rd of the Hybrids was actually created in a GIW Lab, 3 Years Later. In an experiment to see if the Hybrids condition could be recreated, a GIW Scientist had taken the DNA of the 2 existing Hybrids and had cloned them.

Of the Test Batch of 15, only 1 Subject survived. It was deemed only a Partial Success, because while they did manage to create a New Hybrid, it was Unstable and prone to melting if overexerted.

They placed it in the same Containment Unit as the other 2, and left it at that. No more Cloning Experiments had been conducted afterwards since the project was deemed an overall Failure.

...

The 4th and Final Hybrid was found in Gotham City of all places, 2 years later.

A GIW Operative had been visiting Family when their Van's Ecto-Detector had gone off. Soon after that they found the Subject in an Alleyway, seemingly disoriented from its recent awakening.

DNA testing had revealed the Hybrid to be deceased Jason Peter Todd, the adopted Son of Bruce Wayne who had been killed 6 Months Prior while studying in Ethiopia. By the Scientists Best Guess, an Anomoly in Space-Time had caused a Natural Portal to open right on top of the Teenagers Corpse, fusing his Deceased Body and nearly formed Ghost into One.

They shipped the Teen off to the Blacksite, and placed him in the same Containment Unit as the others.

...

So now the GIW have 4 Hybrids, all created from different circumstances, all different ages.

One was formed from the Slow Death of a College Age Student, after a Lab Accident had flooded his system with Pure Ectoplasm.

One was form from the Instant Death of a 5 yr old Boy, after a Lab Accident had flooded his Body with a dimensions worth of Ectoplasm.

One was created in a GIW Lab in a Cloning Experiment. She was created to be 3 Yrs Old upon Birth, and was Unstable as a Result.

One was created from the Fusion of a Long Dead Teenage Corpse and a nearly formed Ghost, in a random Space Time Event that forced both together.

...

All the Halfas are basically a Family together. Vlad is the oldest, at around 35, and takes the Paternal Role.

Danny and Ellie are the Kids, and are 10 and 5 respectively.

Jason is the Oldest Child, and takes his Older Brother role very seriously. He is 15 when he is brought in.

They all take care of eachother, through all the experiments and tests the GIW force them through.

One of the most common experiments is to have them battle the other Ghosts in Captivity. Although that is just a thinly veiled dog fighting ring that the GIW scientists like to Bet on. Sometimes they are put up against eachother, but they refuse to fight until they are electrocuted into submission.

They were also forced to Push all of their Powers to their Limits every day, just so the Scientist can see how they are growing. This had drained them, since they only got the absolute minimum amount of Ecto to survive off of, and they were forced to use it all up every day.

This goes on for 3 more years.

...

Until the day when the GIW messed up.

During one of their Constant Dog Fights, they had made the mistake of putting two Electricity Core Ghosts against eachother. The resulting battle had created an Electromagnetic Wave that fried all systems in the entire Facility.

It was a Disaster. Dozens of Scientists were killed when the Door Locks failed to contain the captive Ghosts, and even more were injured when a few of the Ghosts managed to break into the Armory on Base.

It was only hours after the whole ordeal was Finally quelled that they realized that their most Valuable Test Subjects were missing.

Vlad, Danny, Jason, and Ellie had taken the chance to run away during the commotion. Vlad had unfortunately been injured during the escape, and Ellie had been forced to use her powers causing her to destabilize a little, but all in all they had managed to escape on one piece.

But now they were fugitives on the run from the Government, with an injured adult and a sick child.

Jason had an Idea though. While he didn't have very clear memories of his life, a side effect of his late resurrection, he did remember that he used to live in Gotham. And they all remember researchers grumbling about how their scanners always malfunction when they passed nearby Gotham.

So, Jason led his little Family to the most Familiar place in the city he could think of.

Crime Alley.

[astrobiscuits]

Predicting your future children's personalities and gender using Childress (30117) persona chart

Kind of a part 2 of my last post

According to derivate astrology (only for Childress persona chart):

1st house - personality of 1st child

5th house - personality of 2nd child

10th house - personality of 3rd child

12th house - personality of last child (not related to derivate astrology, but still worth mentioning)

[Don't forget to check the ruling planets of the houses for more details about your future child!!]

Determining the gender of a child works the following way (not taking into consideration modern planets):

Zodiac signs with high likelihood of boys (or masculine girls): Aries, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn

Zodiac signs with high likelihood of girls (or feminine boys): Taurus, Cancer, Libra, Pisces

Zodiac signs with high likelihood of androgynous child: Gemini (50%-50%), Virgo (leaning into feminine), Aquarius (leaning into masculine)

We are going to use 2 examples to further explain this method of predicting children

This is Meghan Markle's Childress persona chart

Her 1st house ruler is Saturn, which indicates that her first child is likely to be a boy. Saturn is retrograde in 9th house, which means that he's likely to implement old, abandoned customs of his family in his life (including returning to the Royal family). Additionally, Mars is on the cusp between 8th house and 9th house, which indicate themes of agression & selfishness to be strong in his personality. Meghan's firstborn is a boy named Archie, with Saturn conjuncting his MC and Sun conjuncting his ASC in his Natal Chart.

Her 5th house ruler is Mercury, which indicates that her second child is likely to have an androgynous personality. Mercury is situated in 5th house under the beams of Gemini Sun. This indicates that while her second child has the tendency to express itself as more masculine, it will be overshadowed by his older sibling, as this child's personality is quite weak and not as remarcable. Meghan's secondborn is a girl named Lilibet and she's a Gemini Sun and Aries Moon (so more masculine), but her Moon is in her 8th house, which is an uncomfortable position for the Moon, as it can't express itself that well. Her Moon is also conjuncting Chiron.

While both siblings seem to have a common ground (both of their ruling planets are in air signs), their planets don't aspect each other. They are similar, yet they likely won't have a close relationship. Meghan's firstborn has a stellium in 9th house (which is located in the upper half of the chart, traditionally ruled by the Sun), while her second born has only Mercury and Sun in 5th house (which are located in the lower half of the chart, traditionally ruled by the Moon). This means that Archie will likely lead a public life, full of intense events, while Lilibet will likely lead a private life, full of important events, but not as intense.

This is my mom's Childress persona chart

Her 1st house ruler is Mars, which indicates that her first child is likely to be a boy. Mars is located in 3rd house, conjuncting IC. This means that her firstborn is likely to attend a unique school or be interested in studying an unique subject, which will change the "bloodline" so to speak. I'm a Scorpio Sun, Aries Moon (so heavy masculine energy), and Uranus is one of my most dominant planets. My parents sent me to a school where all the subjects where taught in German, despite living in a completely different country (and a small town too!). When i was in high school, i discovered my passion for astrology. Neither of my parents are interested in astrology; i inherited this passion from my grandmother (Aquarius is traditionally ruled by Saturn, which is the planets of elders).

Her 5th house ruler is Jupiter (ruler of Pisces), which indicates that her second child is likely to be a girl. Jupiter is located in 11th house, conjuncting Saturn. This means that her secondborn is likely to have a black-and-white kinda personality. Sometimes they might overindulge when using technology, hanging out with friends or doing charity work/volunteering, other times they might abstain from it. My younger sibling is a boy, but he has a Pisces stellium in 12th house (Uranus is also part of his stellium). He's been playing video games for hours on end since he was very young and he still does it even now (Saturn indicates longevity too). He loves new technologies, but also old ones.

While Mars and Saturn are in both air signs and air houses, they are trining each other too. This means that me and my sibling are very similar, while we also have a close relationship (which is true). Saturn person is more likely to be the glue in this connection, while Mars person is more likely to mind their own business, but they will pay attention to Saturn person when they seek him out. My brother initiates convos with me waay more often than i do with him, but i love listening to him. When i initiate convos with him, it's more on a whim.

[cerisesakurainspring]

Hello, may I please ask for headcanons for Inarizaki reacting to Omimi having a long distance gf, she's a foreigner in an all girls school

Thanks for the interesting concept request! Hope you like this one:)

For some reason, this prompt reminded me of that Juju Stroll scene where Megumi was being hit on.

I think that;

Kita - already knows. He knows everything.

Ojiro - still thinks moitié is the name of the girlfriend

Ginjima - goes along whatever Atsumu thinks of the girl

Suna - thinks she's just a fan. He doesnt really care though.

Kosaku - whispers “did he threaten you?”

Riseki - proud of his senpai

Akagi - created a whole ass scenario in his head as to how they were “forced to date” each other. Who threatened who? Shares the same braincell as Kosaku.

Atsumu - in disbelief. Is jealous and thinks he should also be handsome enough for a foreign girl to have a crush on him

Osamu - thinks Omimi’s cool for dating a foreign girl. Also slightly jealous.

°°°°°°°°°°

“Where’d you three run off to again?” Aran’s raised eyebrow and slight lift of his lips betrayed the serious tone he was pretending to portray on his kohais. 

The Miya twins were running towards them, Suna trailing casually behind. He wondered what the second year trios were up to again.

“Omimi-senpai is being hit on!” The blonde Miya raised his pointy finger towards the gym exit doors.

“Someone’s hitting our senpai?!” The brown-haired wing spiker rolled his sleeves and clenched his hands as if readying himself for battle, “Let’s go as back-up!”

“Tone it down, Ginjima.” Kita interrupted as he finished folding his uniform. Once he put it neatly inside his gym bag, he looked up at Atsumu to inquire further. “Is Omimi speaking to a foreign-looking lady?”

The setter nodded his head eagerly and grabbed Suna’s phone from his hand. “Look at this, captain!” He pointed at the photo of the 3rd year middle blocker conversing with an angelic looking girl. The whole team gathered around him to look at the subject of interest, curiosity dancing in the air.

“Uh, should we worry about Omimi-san or the girl?” Inarizaki’s libero remarked as he stared at the unfamiliar figure in the photo.

“I think her name is Moitié.” Aran stated. “She is Omimi’s girl-”

“Speaking of the devil!” Osamu cut in as two figures entered the gym. The girl’s shy but gentle smile rendered them in awe.

Not for long though because Kosaku ran up to his senpai and coddled his arms, “Omimi-san, where’ev you been. You promised we’d have dinner tonight!”

“Yer still sleeping over at ours right?” Atsumu jumped up behind Omimi’s back and wrapped his legs around his waist. Osamu followed suit and clung onto his legs like a koala would to a tree.

Suna wasted no time and took excessive photos at varying angles. These will definitely be in the yearbook he mused to himself.

Kita sighed and approached your giggling figure, “Y/N-san, please pardon my teammates' behaviour. Although it is nice to see you again.”

“It’s all good Kita-san. I find it amusing.” You smiled warmly and nodded your head at Omimi. The latter smiled softly and grabbed your hand.

“Everyone, meet my girlfriend.”

A resounding consecutive gasps echoed in the gym, their mouths left agape with surprised whispers shared between a few.

Atsumu pointed his finger between the two of you accusingly. How is it that he himself, blessed by the gods for his fine and attractive features, does not have a girlfriend yet and his stoic but, yes, still good looking senpai does first?

Two big oh’s resembling that of a donut hole was all Suna and Osamu could muster.

Akagi was also still deep in thought when you spoke up. “Hello, pleased to meet you all!”

“It is nice to finally meet you in person, Moitié-san.” Aran extended his hand for a handshake but Omimi choked on his saliva as you laughed at the possible misunderstanding.

“Moitié is an endearment that means ‘my other half’, Y/N is my name, Aran-san.”

“Oh.” The color in his face drained from embarrassment. “Oh. Oh, I always thought that was your name because that’s what Omimi has on his contact list.” The sudden realization hit him like a truck, he almost would have been isekai’d to a fantasy world where he’d be reborn as a talking tree. “Oh. Omg I’m sorry.” Aran put up both his hands on his face from awkwardness.

“Did Omimi-senpai threaten you?” Kosaku whispered to which you laughed at what you presumed was a joke.

“No, silly. We met at a cosplay convention last year and have kept in contact since then.”

“I’m not sure if I should focus on the fact that Omimi-senpai is dating a foreigner or that he went to a cosplay convention.”

“I cosplayed Zoro from One-Piece.” Omimi said matter-of-factly so simply as if telling a grade schooler that 1+1 is 2.

“YOU COSPLAY?!” Inarizaki’s team were all astoundedly in disbelief at the surprising fact. All except for Kita.

Of course, he would know. It’s one of those things Omimi would talk over a hot cup of tea.

[delta-gambit-au]

SYNERGY

“We were a good team. They knew the best strategies and they listened to my ideas with an open mind. It was the recipe for their success, earning a nice promotion within the company and making me proud. Being the talk of our co-workers was the cherry on top.” — Spam

It takes effort to create something that was never seen before. It takes guts to keep pushing forward with that never before seen idea that is not aligned with any of the current trending standards. You know that people will not take it seriously, but that shouldn’t deter you from delivering more and more of it. In time everything will click into place, and you will be glad that you haven't stopped when you started to hesitate along the way. It’s daunting, and at the same time, discouraging. But moving forward is the only way, the only path. I think the Addisons of my AU has shown me a lot of that, that ideas can’t bloom if they aren’t sown before, even if they look ugly and dull at first. To keep nurturing them alone is very hard, but one day the effort will pay off and no regrets will come to bite you back.

Anyway, the backstory of Spamton and his Addison co-workers has a very storied past. Slowly I’m gleaning some of what he was, how he got to know his friends, why the White Addisons are a dying breed and why he was forced to change his name and his own archetype to stick it to the system. You might be surprised of all the stuff Spam needed to do in order to survive, but for now, concept arts of ideas and research is all what I have to share about that.

I’m weaving a very deep story behind the origins of Spam and the forces controlling the market of Cyber World and the life of the Cyberians, and why the law forbids any direct contact with Lightners (that was before Kris and friends dropped by). Spam here is just a number, subject #451, one of many. All look the same. All do the same. All have no interests beyond the success of the company in which they grew up to become another white-collared walking utility. Everything would change when he receives an invitation to a cyber-grill to meet with one of the marketing groups he was assigned to. It was the beginning of change, and the start of his voluntary corruption. That's as much as I can say 👀 Oh, also I found out while sprucing their profiles that Sears and Spam share the same birthday day, 3rd of May, though Sears is 5 years older than Spam as they were born in 1973 😅They are the oldest of the Addison group, and that makes them the butt of jokes sometimes.

I need to explore some art-style in order to give substance to this part of the plot and tweak its world-building, which will be unlockable flashbacks in the visual-novel. There's also a new character villain I'm trying to breath life to who appears during the epilogue of the first season. I hope people will like to see a new villain Darkner. He's also another walking DAEMON like Spwatchton but this one works for the LOCAL-SYS whereas Spwatchton is one of the undercover rebels.

Sorry if my content is coming out slow or half-baked. I'm still concept-arting and being nagged at the same time by RL more often than not. Yesterday I had yet another doctor appointment to go to and this week should be my ophthalmologist...

I also... joined the Art Fight of this year... My first time doing this. Though I'm not sure if I'll be able to be very active, I'm going to fill everything with Addisons and other Darkners from my AU to force myself to make their character profiles and see if anybody would do fanart of them (who doesn't like to get fanarts of their OCs? 😅)

As of other updates, we are expecting a final interview with a good company next week that seemed pretty interested in us as we fit their profile well. Fingis crossed! 🤞

[docholligay]

Shamash Answers: Miscellaneous round one

3rd place, for actually making me laugh, one point:

Piranesi! Clarke’s prose and narrative structure makes me want to do something drastic, like fly to UK and propose.

GIRL YOU DID NOT PUT YOUR NAME HOW WILL I FIND YOU?

2nd place, for recommending a book I will probably read, 2 points

I finally decided to sit down and read (really, liste to) "Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution" by Mike Duncan. He's one of my favorite history Podcasters and while he probably is a pop historian, he's one of the better ones. And it helps that the subject matter is insanely interesting. One of the biggest patriots and essentially George Washington's adopted son had a fascinating life at the forefront of essentially the political movements of his era. He's complicated and hypocritical and yet still a hero and not….all of which is presented in well researched and an easy to read way.

@shavedjudomonkey

1st place, for making me hear the intense rant you have at a character while still actually making the book sound interesting:

Annihilation by Jeff Vandmeer. Firstly, I find a story that can be sci-fi, fantasy, or both interesting. Usually stories are pretty obviously one way or another. Second, any sci-fi/fantasy that doesn't feel the need to over explain itself is awesome. (This is a big part of why it's genre is so wonderfully muddled.) And, finally, it's accidentally very funny, to me personally. So, very early in the story, the narrator says, "I'm just going to call people by their jobs because there's no point in learning their names, since they die so fast." And then story goes on and those people are still alive. And still alive. And still alive. They are alive for way longer than one would guess. And it got to the point where you start side-eyeing the narrator like, girl, you just forgot their names, didn't you? Just straight up, gun to your head, you could not tell us their names. She realized she'd have to tell her story, she panicked and went, "Oh…yes… Those people whose names I totally remember. But they're not around that long so let's not bother with those, let's just call them by their job." (I don't actually think this is how you're supposed to take it, I think it's supposed to be a character beat, but also she totally forgot their names.)

@madegeeky

[autumnwhistles]

Middle Of Nowhere — Full Lyrics

As promised, here are the first lyrics to the first song in my Last Life Musical concept album (“Middle Of Nowhere”) a few hours before its release!

The song is split into two parts – the overture (which isn't strictly an overture since there's also singing, but still is a mainly instrumental section meant to introduce future themes), which isn't heavily plot relevant but does talk a little about what happened in the 'world' preceding this one (aka 3rd Life); and the main song, which introduces us to the Last Life world through the eyes of the chorus, who are Watchers narrating the events (as I'm basing it on Martyn's canon).

Normal text is for chorus, bold is for players, and italics are for lyrics happening at the same time as each other:

-Overture- Ludo ludete,* Ludo ludete, Ludo ludete! [Intrumental] Oh, gone, the kingdom fallen on the mountain Bare, the sands, their cacti alone Flowers razed and castles left abandoned Now we stage another show! So build up the frozen north! A south that shall fall to flames – Renew and repeat the game!  [Instrumental] -Middle of Nowhere- There is an old, old tale to be told, Of green like the spruce, of crimson and gold. Of crystals and curses, lives swapped and sold, Stories we’ll now behold. There is an old, old song to be sung/Look to the frozen north! Of victors that lost and victims that won/Look to the south in flames! Bonds forged in fire lie shattered and dull/Look to the fallen fort! All cast aside for one/Come on and play the game There is a land, in the middle of nowhere. It was too long ago there, Since last stories arose. So the tale is told, of the middle of nowhere: Watch and witness the show there, As our appetite grows! There is an old, old world to be moulded, Flames to be doused and craters unfolded Forests to spread, dark shadows to sprawl-/ Look to the names! Herald the cue!  Red leaves to mark the colours of the first to fall/Rise, rise anew! There is a call, and flocking, they come, Like moths to a flame or clouds to the sun! Ships to a whirlpool yet struggling still- Look to the trees! Look to the hills! Look to them, all the same/Look to the peaks, Helpless to play their game/Good for defence, style’s just pretence/Gather the sand, gather all the cane you can! And look there, could be a home, let's form a plan!/Ahhh Six, five, four, three, two, one! Look to their land, in the middle of nowhere!/There is an old, old right to be fought for: lives to be lived, and not lived for naught – Through the wants and the woe there/To laugh, be alive, defend our pride, Herald what must be done/To cause chaos, to protect, to attack! Best all in this land, in the middle of nowhere/Strike one! Strike two! You're done! You're through! Take your friends for your foes there/No time for mercy Till a champion has won/when the only thing that you can do is- Four for the traitor, four for the pawn, Six for the swindler selling the dawn; Five for the wolf and three for the mole, Two for the witness outstepping his role. Four, the enigma and expert alike, Three, the beholder, avoiding the strike; Two for the martyr, six for the moon, Two for the fierce-hearted cynic, untombed! [Instrumental] Three for the hero, four for the dame/There is an old tale, now soon to come, Six for the self-dubbed master of games/The stage has been set, the bell has been rung, let curtains soon rise, let lights dim as one! Two, for the king with no subjects to call/The audience trembles, anxious to know what joys and disasters they shall be shown in- Two, the canary, destined to fall.../-all, when the curtains fall... Caught in this land, in the middle of nowhere. Will it still end in woe there? Will it all come undone?/Did you hear that sound?** So many feelings so grand can arise from the middle of nowhere!/Did you hear that voice?** But – let our stars lead the show there, Heeding: our will be done!

(all lyrics and music by me)

*(hopefully) "play the game" in Latin (imperative for multiple people) **the player who sings this is Martyn – but listener Martyn is NOT canon, I am going by his lore. It's a setup to the fact that the voices speak to him (they're probably letting him hear some to mess with him), and also a way to move the musical to his perspective for the next song.

[lenkusov]

dude i got so much knowledge of a lotta aspects of, like, everything that I should totally start offering my services as a fanfiction writing consultant or some shit

Seriously between being a terminal Car Guy™ who's been wrenching since I was old enough to understand "righty tighty lefty loosey" and driving touge since I was old enough to reach the pedals since I lived on the mountain (and driving dirt kart almost as long as I've been doing competitive rifle shooting, both in 3rd grade for the record) along with having borderline encyclopedic knowledge of Initial D canon and actually-encyclopedic knowledge of all the gay shit, I think I am qualified to consult on this stuff

Seriously there's glaring errors that I have to mentally edit out in LITERALLY EVERY FANFIC I READ and if I charged, like, $5-10 for a basic edit/preread I could definitely afford my drinking habit slightly better, just to do something I'm gonna do anyway. I just wish my real name wasn't on my Paypal account...

Also I'm a licensed whitewater rafting guide in the state of North Carolina (I do not live in North Carolina), a classically-trained but non-practicing blacksmith, have about 50% of an engineering degree, I'm forklift certified, more knowledgeable about respirators and first aid than the people doing the trainings at work last week, know more than anyone in my company except Bruce the Engineer about what we actually make, and I'm an actual IRL eunuch but I don't think those are applicable to most circumstances, but in case they are, I'm ready

I still ain't found the main quest of life yet but I've done the most random-ass hodgepodge of sidequests you will ever fuckin see so if you need to Know Something it's kind of a coin toss as to whether I got knowledge on the subject

[starmonsterrr]

Introducing: Undertale self-insert #102480124 • (Update 2.2 - Star Form redesign!)

HELLO PEOPLE

I may have disappeared for a maybe long while

And that is because of 2 reasons:

Ink appreciation server

running @ink-selfship-shenanigans (surprise surprise it's me)

Except there is a 3rd one and that is,,,,,,, I MAY have been working on a little Undertale AU,,,,, and then made an OC out of it,,,,

The AU will get it's own post and i'll reveal as much info as needed at the moment to explain who even is this new character that will be one of my faces on this blog (because i'm gonna have 2 OCs representing me. yeah- second one's design is still W.I.P (nevermind this is future me i finished the design but i might make a separate post for it))

And HERE IT COMES

(NOTE: RELY ON DOPPELGANGER FORM REF'S SOUL REF INSTEAD OF THE STAR FORM'S. ALSO THE STAR FORM DESIGN REWORK IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS)

A FURRY. What's cringier (affectionate /gen) than an Undertale self-insert in mid 2023? A FURRY Undertale self-insert that can shapeshift (WOW OP WHAT A MARY SUE) and exists for SELFSHIPPING

YEAH

THAT'S IT

TH- THAT'S THE CREATURE

And speaking of selfshipping if you scroll in my blog for a bit you might notice that i very much like Ink

and also reminder that I run a blog that has the purpose of feeding Ink simps

So uh I think you get what i'm trying to say

It might take me a little while (or until i get asks about it) for me to open up about the selfship shenanigans, but meanwhile, here are some bits of explanations and stuff!

which AU is this menace from?

OuterRenaissance. It's still being fleshed out (asks would help a lot), and I plan to later on make an outcode expanded version, and even have some basic stuff for that version. But in simple words it's Outertale but in addition of the space themes, i added themes of the Renaissance historical period, as it brought great advances to science; including astronomy!

what the flop is a star-born monster????

I have a post explaining exactly this!

(also, Io can shapeshift out of this appearance because shapeshifting powers)

Backstory???

Its AU died (destroyed by Error), and it almost did too, but i possessed it and fused my soul over time with its own using my creator powers and it is now technically a walking corpse puppeteered by me so I can interact with the UTMV, while also forcing it to change its form into the Doppelganger form; giving it the ability to, well, shapeshift. Also ink snas selfship shenanigans i haven't properly written yet (yooo two walking corpses that love eachother!!!!!1!!!1). that's the fewest words i can put it in

IS THAT A 'THE STARRY NIGHT' REFERENCE???

Yes. Yes it is. and fun fact: the ship between Io and Ink is named exactly that. The Starry Night. how clever of me, i should get a prize

Does it have a personality?

Yup. I just don't know how to describe personalities, but here's an attempt at that.

Io is a passionate artist, but struggles with some degree of perfectionism driven by the pride of its art skills which are, by far, its best ability. It also tends to be (sometimes dangerously) kind-hearted at others. It might act one of two ways in social spaces: kind of awkward, not talking much, OR ABSOLUTE MENACE as in SUPER SILLY. No in-between.

Also, it is a quick learner, and could be considered quite intelligent. Thing is ... It carried over speech from the Renaissance time period and is still adapting to modern words. A bit of an overthinker too, which can lead to communication issues, and tends to plan elaborate strategies to perform the simplest of things...sometimes not even following them.

Pronouns/gender identity?

Io, like me, goes by it/its pronouns and identifies as non-binary! (Subject to change as I occasionally explore my gender identity)

And here's some trivia to finish this off!

Io, due to being puppeteered by me; a Creator, also has the powers of one, but either doesn't use the powers at all or uses them in subtle ways to try and steer things to its/my favour. It may sometimes disguise it as "art magic" shown in these doodles i made a bit ago:

also. autism. i'm autistic and because i take control of this critter i'm dragging it into the spectrum.

And I think that's everything that comes to mind right now! Thank you for listening to this bunch of rambling that i did not beta read prior to posting.

[alihberg]

Ooo care to info dump about T'akar and her crew?

Oh my, I completely forgot about this in my drafts. I'm so sorry!!

(I'm still working out a few of the characters, so this info dump might be a tad incomplete)

T'akar is an Iridonian Zabrak and the leader of a ragtag team of idiots that call themselves bounty hunters.

She grew up mostly fending for herself, which often led to theft and mischief. She doesn't particularly care about the law as much as following her own morals.

T'akar is stubborn, clever, and a competent fighter.

Mejoi, or often reffered to simply as Joy, is a Twi'lek pilot (original ik).

So, I might've lied when I said T'akar mostly fended for herself. She did in fact also fend for Mejoi as they've been friends since early childhood.

Mejoi is a bit younger than T'akar and she's the closest thing T'akar has to a sibling.

Mejoi is highly impulsive, an optimist and an adept pilot.

---

T'akar meets an engineer with cybernetics when she's about to buy a ship. The engineer points her in the direction of a far better ship and she ends up becoming the 3rd member of T'akar's crew.

This character is still very much a work in progress so I don't have anything else on her for the moment.

She does swear a lot though.

(I haven't properly drawn this man yet so this is the only pic I have. I drew it on my cracked phone screen so it's not great but it's something)

While chasing a bounty, Mejoi stumbles into a Mirialan (more like falls on top of him) and much to his dismay, he gets dragged into the chase.

Not only did Mejoi fall on him tho, she also fell for him. His name is Auru and he's such a chill dude.

Auru is force sensitive (though he lacks training), calm, and head over heels for Mejoi.

The crew was about to finish a mission when their bounty abruptly collapsed. Cause? Blaster bolt to the chest.

A sniper took out their bounty.

His name is Kayvon Tog and he's a Togruta.

He started out as a mercenary/assassin who took out the crew's bounty before fighting them and pulling a disappearing act.

After joining the crew he became T'akar's closest confidante and they often spar while discussing important or deep subjects.

Kayvon is grumpy, loyal, and a highly proficient fighter, with and without weapons.

(Kayvon is the most developed out of all of them and there's so much more to his character but this will have to do for now. I will happily elaborate if anyone's interested to hear more about him though. He's also the only one with a fully fledged backstory.)

---

The last crew member is far smaller than the rest but just as important.

She's a loth cat (that is yet to be named).

Mejoi found her on a mission and promptly adopted her. No one complained, the crew absolutely loves her.

Kayvon pretended to be indifferent towards her at first but then T'akar discovered him sleeping with the furry little creature curled up on his chest, looking more content than she'd ever seen him before.

T'akar's crew are as competent as they are chaotic (very).

[alpinelogy]

15 QUESTIONS

Thank you for the tag @63historian <3

Are you named after someone? Nope!

When was the last time you cried? Uh.. sometime this weekend I guess? I am a crier haha

Do you have kids? Nope and I don't want to for several reasons that would probably count as oversharing

What sports do you play/have you played? Oh boy. Ballet (kindergarden through 3rd grade ish), horse riding (kindergarden through 6th or 7th grade ish), athletics (three or four years in elementary school), tennis (3rd grade all the way through highschool), bouldering (after athletics until end of middle school). Along that I've been cycling, skiing, and ice skating since I could walk and I still occasionally boulder. Also my sister is trying to get me into inline skating

Do you ever use sarcasm? yeah. And I have yet to figure out how to translate it to text

What is the first thing you notice about people? How they style themselves I guess? Or like, how they carry themselves adsfg. Hard to explain I guess. Its the vibes

What's your eye colour? Blue

Scary movies or happy ending? Happy ending always

Any talents? Art, writing, generally anything creative I think

Where were you born? A wonderful place in Europe if you ask tourists, a slightly weird and fucked up place (affectionate) in Europe if you ask me. But we do have a pretty castle so that's a win I guess

What are your hobbies? Writing, video games, reading. Baking whenever I can

Do you have any pets? Nope :((. I want a cat tho (or even better: two cats)

How tall are you? 155. I am pocket sized

Favourite subject at school? History, Czech/English (whichever one was more literature heavy), Math

Dream job? Marrying rich Something to do with history most likely. Need to convince my parents that a history degree is not as bad and also: I love research asdfg

Tagging uh.. @landoisokay @autumn816 @ocontraire @argentinagp

[the-fandom-hero]

Tumblr, how do I boop? (Beyond here is more of my Au: Twisted AU! Just some character stuff I came up with, designs, and a new guy ^^)

Anyway, I did quite a bit for the Twisted Au! They all have names now and I might start writing some on here!

(1: Luck, T!Chase)

(2: Austin, T!Anti)

(3: Loki, T!Henrik)

(4: Xai, T!Jackie)

(5: Luci, T!Marvin)

(6: Riley, T!Jackson)

Added with the 6 above is a new one! I wanted to put all my changes into one post/wait till I have enough changes so I'm not making one post over a little change!

His name is Tavin!!

Tavin also has a pet frog, I haven't done him yet.

Splooch is a pet slime that Tavin found one day, he scooped them up and Splooch hopped onto Tavin's head with cheerful gurgles and thrills. They saw Tavin's horns and wanted some of their own so that's what they did! Replaced cat ears with two little horns.

The frog is another story I haven't made yet.

Here's some more about the characters!

Luck [The Father] - He's the most closed-off one out of them all, the most distant yet also the most caring. He's the one who they put in charge as the 'Father' of the group (that and He's the best chef.) If one of his 'kids' were to get hurt from outside forces, then you're better off dealing with one of the other kids he has because, boy oh boy would he set off like a firework. Despite that, and despite being cold and distant to everyone, if one of his 'kids' came to him, woken by a nightmare, scared by a noise, feared someone or *something* was watching from the dark corner of their room, he'd comfort them in what way he found best to comfort that person. His biological brother is...

Xai [Eldest] - He's a 'Justice Demon', his sense of justice, as per his entire species, is horrid and dastardly. He has no problem with killing if it means Justice. He may be tough, but if it came down to running or fighting someone while another person, who someone ELSE cares about, then he'll wrap his strong tail around that person he put behind him and bolt off without another thought. He's nice.. very rarely ever is, even to those he'd put his life on the line and risk death to save. Yet he still loves and cares about his 'Dad' and the others, he just struggles to show it as much as he struggles to 'read a room' and pick up on social cues.

Loki [2nd Eldest] - Out of the rest of the group, Loki is by far the smartest. He leaps at opportunities to learn more about something or teach someone else the same thing. He takes as much advantage of just how smart he is as he can, and if he meets someone else who's just as smart, if not smarter, he leaps at a chance to encourage that person to go out and use that smartness they have. He's normally in his room writing stories, being an incredibly creative soul. He loves his books, his stories, and the tales he tells all through the paper and pencil he wields in his hand. His biological brother is Riley.

Luci [3rd Eldest] - He loved magic as a kid, and he still does. Having a cat tail as a Demon makes it difficult for him to make friends, so when a stranger with a needled tail stepped in to "back off" his bullies then he quickly jumped at that opportunity for a friendship. He loves anything that has to do with magic and he loves the things and ways that Loki teaches. He's picked up more, much faster when Loki teaches the subject to him. History? He knows it like the back of his hand. Math? He can help a college student nearing their last year of graduating.

Riley [3rd Youngest] - The sweet bean, he's always willing to try and lend a helping hand when he can! He loves tailoring, crafting clothes for those who need them the most and his 'family'. He's the shyest out of the bunch, yet the sweetest and kindest when you get through his scared shell. He built his wings that are on his back so Tavin wouldn't feel so alone, he is an angel that fell.. fell down to Earth through a cloud, achieving his deer antlers with crystals all tangled on them. His brother, though a Demon, is Loki.

Austin [2nd Youngest] - MISSING

Tavin [Youngest] - He's the first Demon to have feathered wings, though he's never able to fly from them decaying so much. Not even Luci's magic can hold them together long enough, but that doesn't seem to bother Tavin much at all since he mostly plays with his two pets.

I'm really excited to write about this AU, except I also really need to work on it. Not the characters necessarily but the world they're in!

I might as well do it mostly in Minecraft or the Sims 4, it's my best way to get a visualization down and figure it out the best!

[allinmymincl]

sage teller penned by sam for nepofm.

TRIGGERS: mentions of death, very brief and vague.

basics. full name sage william teller gender cis man pronouns he/him age twenty - two dob january 3rd, 2001 star sign capricorn hometown manhattan, nyc occupation music journalist, nighttime radio show host

biography. sage william teller was born and raised in new york city. he’s the eldest and only grandson of william teller, famed record producer of the 60s & 70s known for lending his talent to some of the biggest hits of the era : from disco to blues to most notably rock n’ roll. william teller died young in the mid - 70s, burning out quickly after years of hard partying alongside music legends, many of whom would share his fate before long if they weren’t already gone.

sage is related to william through his father, who is the sole offspring of the record producer and his widow. being born into music royalty naturally granted sage ( and soon his younger sister too ) things like a spot at the best performing arts school in new york city, one of the most enviable inherited record collections in the world, and, of course, backstage passes to any concert he’s ever wanted to see. 

although he excelled in his music courses and could chatter on about the subject for hours and hours on end, sage is, ultimately, quite shy. often referred to as ‘ stage fright ’, to this day sage insists that he simply doesn’t like to be stared at and, come on, who does ? the only real problem with discarding the rockstar dream was that sage was just never very good at anything else he tried his hand at : academics, sports, art, poetry ( never speak of it ). his shyness rendering his circle of friends perpetually sparse, he at least had the time and space to figure himself out during those crucial teen years. knowing for certain that he wanted some kind of career in music led him to direct some questions to his dad, who had followed in the footsteps of his own father and now works in the music industry, albeit he leaned more into the business side of things.

aided by his technical knowledge and background in music, sage started up a music blog as a teenager where he rated, critiqued, and shared his overall thoughts on music both new and old. although it quickly gained a large following which he was able to maintain for a while despite remaining completely anonymous on his blog, the offers to write articles for popular music publications that eventually started rolling in were most likely arranged by his dad. sage accepted most of the offers nonetheless, and spent his last two years of high school and first two years of college ( journalism, princeton ) building a reputation for himself in music journalism.

an internship during the summer before his third year of undergrad studies was his first introduction to radio and he was drawn in immediately, fascinated by the fast - paced, ( and importantly for him, completely anonymous ) yet allegedly dying field. he got behind the mic of nyc’s most beloved classic rock station and instantly fell in love. it had never been easier for him to express himself, to ramble on and on and on about the thing he loves most in the world and share his favorite pieces of it, simultaneously standing on the world’s stage and hiding away from the prying eyes that have followed him for his entire life.

he almost quit school to pursue his chosen career full - time, but his mother implored him not to, and, well, he suddenly felt bad about the fact that they’ve never been very close. he had never been very close with anyone, in fact – not even his dad who he has so much in common with, or his mentor at the radio station who gave him 9pm - 5am time slot and all of the career advice he’d gathered throughout his many years in the industry.

one mini not - even - quarter - life crisis later, sage had met a lot of people, trudged into work hungover but also still a little crossfaded at 5:30pm on a tuesday or two, but he hadn’t really made any new friends. he did meet a girl, though. and he fell for her, because she was fun and exuberant and she liked him.

she probably wasn’t really ready for commitment, which sage wasn't entirely clear on, and so he proposed soon after finishing college. and was turned down. the only serious relationship he’s ever really had, and the only break up with a real sense of finality to it that he’s ever gone through still gets to him even though months have passed. he only recently brought himself to return the ring he bought for her, as accurately reported by nepoupdates.

nowadays, jive talkin’ teller is a quite literally the most recognizable voice among those nyc night owls who happen to also like led zeppelin and half - stoned ramblings about the greatest guitarists of all time. his skills, his resume, and his family name lend much credibility to his opinions in the eyes of the public ( so if anyone has a musician muse that they want sage to talk shit about on his show lmk ). he’s been credited with starting a radio renaissance of sorts, which makes him really happy because there’s nothing that he’s more passionate about than radio.

personality. he’s on air from 9pm - 5am and sleeps like a rock, so no matter how close one thinks they are to him, if he’s their emergency contact then it’s in their best interest to simply not have any emergencies between the hours of 7am - 3pm because he literally will not answer even if it’s his day off. he’s still painfully shy in person to anyone he’s never met before, but if he’s comfortable with someone then he’s never shutting up, especially not about music. a little judgmental, and pretentious, and definitely a music snob, but sage insists that he’s got the best taste and he just has a lot of passion ; both love and hate. however, he's a patented Man Of Few Words and is often regarded as being emotionally distant because of this. he still doesn’t have a lot of friends, and often tends to be off in his own little world where music stopped being made in 1978 for some reason.

[leonawriter]

I did actually finish the book earlier, and - I have to say, it was a good read. The character of Akechi was very human, and very emotional; you could tell when he got tricked, and when he was offended or taken aback. Likewise, the friendship between him and Inspector Namikoshi is clearly visible.

Lupin is... fascinatingly handled. There are a lot of ties and call-backs to previous Lupin stories, and you can really see that Ranpo was respecting the source material much like someone who really respects the canon of a series nowadays, but still writes fic because they’re disappointed in some way... and for Ranpo, that was the blatant white nationalism inherent in Leblanc’s work, and yes, he used those words, putting them in Akechi’s mouth. At one point Akechi exclaims in dismay how Lupin is well known for not killing, yet is still subject to the same “white nationalist” disease of others of his kind (I’d find it, but the book is out of reach), and referenced how in another of Lupin’s adventures, he’d killed Moroccans without much of a care.

In short, the whole story was a showcase of how in spite of the character being beloved and sparking off the Phantom Thief ideal, the author - and thus through him, the character - isn’t immune to the prejudices of being part of a privileged majority who sees themself as higher than others.

At the same time, Lupin is still a beloved phantom thief character; as such, if he were to be arrested it would be like saying “my detective can do what Sherlock- sorry, Herlock Sholmes could never do, and is better than him.” It’d be hubris of the highest degree! So Ranpo manages to have Akechi win against Lupin in such a way that although he gets the stolen goods back, and the Lupin’s new girlfriend has to go back to her family, but on the other Lupin gets away with his life and his freedom. Akechi gets the legal win, Lupin goes free to steal another day.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole deal with Lupin’s girlfriend, Fujiko having to go back home; on the one hand, she clearly liked her boyfriend, and we don’t know how she’ll be stuck back at home under her family’s eye, but on the other hand Lupin in the story is racist and looks down on Japanese people, and liking one girl doesn’t mean he’s cured of being racist toward her. For all we know, Akechi saved her from being used and left further down the line. 

Ever since I saw her name, I made a connection to the Fujiko of Lupin 3rd, and it makes me wonder if, even if they’re not the same person - or even directly connected to each other in a meta, narrative sense! - perhaps the later Fujiko was this Fujiko’s granddaughter, or someone who named herself after a forebear she looked up to. It’s possible, after all. 

In terms of Persona 5, it was really interesting to see a lot of parallels with Goro Akechi’s story, even if just in the beats and themes of it. The Gold Mask can be both the Phantom Thieves but also the Black Mask; at one point Kogoro Akechi is literally in a “black mask” as an “occidental devil” and... huh, sounds familiar, right? Some situations play out in familiar ways. I have to wonder if the people coming up with the story read the book; it’s probably a well-known one over in Japan purely because Akechi’s almost as popular as Holmes over there in terms of pop culture, and Japan also loves Phantom Thieves. I still find it fun to imagine scenes of the book but with Goro Akechi instead of Kogoro, temporally displaced, annoyed, and confused.

I’m rather curious now how other books of Ranpo’s about his Akechi will compare. I have the Early Cases, but The Fiend With Twenty Faces is supposedly Ranpo’s way of creating a version of Arsène Lupin without using that name earlier on, and I’m wondering how similar and how different the two are.

All in all, the pace was fast, the narrative was fun, and it did a good job of keeping the tension and suspense going. It was a fun read, and I’d rec it. :)

[lord-tekron]

Got your attention? Good, now it’s time for some behind the scenes talk of The Springlock Paradox; today’s subject is as promised: Dave Miller

So, to discuss Dave Miller, we must first discuss two thing: When The Springlock Paradox began development, and what was there before Dave Miller. The Springlock Paradox ended sometime after FFPS and before UCN, bookwise The Fourth Closest had yet to come out. We had many questions, not alot of answers. Remnant was a thing that was casually dropped and never elaborated on, Henry had casually murdered everyone, it felt like an end of an arc. This was when a foolish fool was toying around with one off gags, and one of those gags was the idea of William still being alive, albeit being a bit less than who he was

Armtrap was the name that was coined, and Armtrap sparked what to do with him in The Springlock Paradox. All the other animatronics where burned and damaged, but William? He got it the worse, reduced to nothing but the remaining arm he had left as Scraptrap. Despite that though, all it takes is that one arm to bring back something that should stay dead. 

Then, came a bit of a hiccup in development. If I am going to have this William come back, and all that is left of him is his arm, what does one DO with him? Well since nothing was ever explained about remnant, I decided to go a bit ham with the idea. 

So yes, the original ideas was to have him be a pile of Remnant. But something was wrong with this, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was until more work on it, and that was simple; Remnant Afton was too human looking. At this point I feel any human appearances would be completely lost, he was a monster, and while I liked him being a slime monster, he shouldn’t be a humanoid slime monster. And as such came the design of “The Remnant Beast”

Faceless. Amorphous. Silent. It actions could only say so much, and even then it is questionable what those actions were trying to say. And that’s when another idea I hinted at applies “Is it still him in control, or someone else?”

And that is when the divide happened.

The plunge into the vat of remnant wasn’t just his soul corrupting it, it was also him basically overdosing on remnant. And then William Afton was split into two from that, the two halves that make him. The Monster known as Springtrap, and the lingering bit of humanity, one that went under the false name Dave Miller.

Now THIS was an interesting aspect to think about, the human that was William, one that feels guilt over what he did, one that felt shock about reuniting with children he once lost, one that wanted the atone for the past despite not knowing what to do or where to start. This isn’t his 2nd chance at a new life, that was Springtrap/Scraptrap, this is his 3rd chance. And while he may not be doing a flawless job, you can tell that he wants to try and is at least doing what he can.

I also want to give a shoutout to his Frankenstein body. I knew that it wasn’t enough to just have a blob and an arm, and when I had the arms ripped off on that one Afton Bot, a lightbulb sparked of him building a body from the bits and pieces of Afton Bots. Special shoutout to Ooftroop once more for the fanart of Dave Miller that REALLY shows off the amalgamation of parts that I would never do with my more “simple and cartoony” style. I won’t tag them though, this is mostly focused on my stuff and I don’t wanna pester them with a constant reminder to finish reading the comic (I’ll wait for them to finish the timeline before I do that :V)

It also reminds me of the hilarious gag I did of him being unable to talk until Chapter 9 where he steals some spare eyeballs and a mouth. That is just comedy right there. But it also let me do alot of other stuff in hindsight, letting him emote, letting him actually talk, letting him show change. And the bit where Charlie being the first to figure it out and forgiving him (despite him not WANTING her of all people to forgive him or feel bad for him) felt powerful to me. A big risk at the time, which is saying ALOT given what modern chapter have done. 

That being said, I do wanna give a bit of bad news. I HATE Chapter 26 - Nightmare Countdown. Specifically the dream sequence. If I could go back I would do something much better instead of just doing a poor man’s “Pink Floyd’s The Wall”

If memories serves, the reason the reference was made was because of The Nostalgia Critic did his “review” (or whatever the hell it was) of The Wall and my cocky little brain was “Well if he can do that, so can I!” and MMMMMM it needed either to cook way longer or just be replaced with a different music number, cause I don’t hate any of the other music numbers that I do except for Nightmare Countdown’s. If someone out there wants to make it better, go right ahead, here are the keys, either make The Trial work or make a better dream sequence.

That being said, it did create two things. The Worm and the scene where Charlie comforts Dave about his fear of relapsing. 

The comfort scene is obvious, but the worm was a bit of unintentional genius on my end. The Worm was just cause of “The Trial” lyrics of having The Worm be The Judge. But it also made a callback to something most people wouldn’t realize until they reread the comic like I do from time to time.

“But once in a blue moon, the worm can somehow outsmart the falcon.”

Dave, was never, the worm. While Springtrap compares himself to a falcon in the analogy, it is actually him being the slimy creature, the thing that wriggles in your brain and suggests evil things. And while it outsmarted the falcon once, it now is reduced to nothing...

Then again, blue moons aren’t as rare as you would think they would be.

[rivercityrabbitsbro]

God there's a short list of things that immediately fill me with frustration-induced-rage, and one of them is how I put a lot of thought into what I'm doing almost always, and the willingness of people to immediately assume I'm just dumb/careless/inexperienced.

For example, I will often phrase an email or request in a specific way as to show that someone's request was lazy and pushing the work off on to me, and a 3rd person often comes in and goes "You know we can just [do the work that that person was trying to push on to me]" like I don't know that.

An account manager sent an email with a client name as a subject line and "We're marketing this and being asked for details on all claims over $10k" Which lines of coverage? (there's like 10) Over how many years? (we've had them for 20 years) What kind of details? (the description or how the claims played out?) Do you have a list of those claims? When do you need it by? All things I asked, in more words, copying others in the dept bc they'd be involved.

My exec responds: We could just pull up the most recent loss reports in the file and check them

Yeah I know! I literally was doing exactly that as I was drafting my email because I like to give myself ammo when I'm making a point. I am obviously not going to wait for the response bc that hinges my work on when someone else gets me something. I could also check her files to see who specifically is asking to see what specific lines of coverage they're asking about. I could never speak to this person and still find a way to get every piece of information I'd need!

But the point of my email was not "I don't know what to do", the point of my email was "You are asking me do you a favor (implicitly on a short timeline), but you can't even do me the decency of providing the information I need to do so, therefore lengthening how much time I have to spend on this favor for you"

Like, the sales side of the company does this to us CONSTANTLY, and my dept just throws up their hands and goes "it's no use fighting it they're gonna make us do it anyway" and it's like.......haven't we been trying to prove how busy we are because quantity of claims doesn't begin to show our workload? Wouldn't correspondence showing how much work is being offloaded onto us by lazy managers go toward proving that? Like yes we might end up doing the work anyway, but the exchange is important.

And not just for paper trail reasons! It's helpful for in-person communication too! Because when someone comes complaining that something's not done yet, it's not just me listing off excuses and "I haven't had time" in a vacuum, it's me going "Well you didn't say it was an urgent request and you didn't actually provide me the list of things you need updates on, so I haven't gotten to it yet because I need an hour to set aside to compile the initial list". Whether or not I sent back questions on this SPECIFIC request, a history of me going "Sure I can do that, [itemized list of questions that are almost always the same]" on requests in the past is something I can defend myself with when allegations come in that I'm not doing my job.

And wouldn't you know it! An allegation was made recently that I wasn't doing my job, and this helped me defend myself.

Oh boy oh man it's almost like I'm not paranoid or "looking for problems", I'm just trying to lay the groundwork to defend myself and maybe even improve things down the line. What a concept!!!