#and vagueposting about bad takes feels like a good way to do that.

[mothbeasts]

3, 8, 12, 16, 18

3 (screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr) :

oh this is hard i've seen MANY bad takes in my time on tumblr dot com. my personal favorite bad take that i've seen with my own two eyes was someone shipping solaris with juniper while also claiming that the fabricator was like a sister to her just because the specifics of that one go so deeply against my own personal interpretations (and what i feel we learn about all of them in canon) that it makes me physically ill. which is probably a me problem but y'know

8 (common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about):

got this one in another ask and will be answering it there :]

12 (the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them):

branching out for this one and saying hive knight from hollow knight. he's my favorite underrated background character and i think everyone should like him now. unpopular not in the sense of "everyone hates him" but more "hardly anyone knows and/or thinks about him." he is so strange... guy who devotes his entire life to his queen and then dies about it after getting the plague. his last act is to kneel in front of her corpse. something is so deeply wrong with him. i think he's fascinating.

16 (you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) ):

hmm. gonna have to go with "prism adopting agent phoenix post-ieytd3" for this one. i just don't see it personally.

18 (it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...):

solaris. end post.

[olderthannetfic]

Okay, I need advice: I'm in a very tiny fandom (like less than two dozen active people and everyone knows each other) and one of the women in it is kind of freaking me out.

We became mutuals because we had some good discussions on some of the characters we liked, but I soon became sort of uncomfortable with a lot of her online behavior whereas simultaneously she's DM-ing me more and more.

She's one of those people who's a hardliner on the issues she cares about (mostly feminism- and SA-related) while talking over people when it comes to issues she doesn't care about (mostly racism and related things). And I see a lot of her trying to intrusively police how other people talk/act, derailing people's posts, arguing with people online over the most stupid shit (where not even her own opinions come off as overly coherent - this week she'll argue something along the lines of "men are evil" and the next she'll argue that people are "demonizing masculinity" - I'll add for clarification that she's not a TERF and supports trans rights but boy... Does she sound like one sometimes) and then digging through people's profiles to find and publicize minor transgressions and bad takes, passive-aggressive vagueposting, and going into mental breakdowns over the most innocuous of online interactions.

TBH she scares me. As someone who suffered through toxic people getting overly attached to me, I genuinely sometimes get a physical reaction when I see her lashing out on the dash.

And she keeps initiating conversations! And sometimes I don't reply or bring the conversation to a natural closure and she keeps at it, or sends me random fics of hers to read that I don't have the heart to tell her don't interest me or whatever. And recently when she disagrees with something I reblogged she direct messages me to rant about it - with a lot of sort of indirect language because she doesn't want to offend me but I can see the intent. The last couple of times I replied politely because I cared about clearing misunderstandings on the topic but next time I'm just gonna tell her I dislike it when she does that.

I really want this person to stop interacting with me, to be honest, and all my polite hints to the effect go unnoticed. But the fandom is so small I feel awkward and uncomfortable about unfollowing or blocking her. I don't think she's too bad of a person, she just comes off as very... Mentally ill, I guess? And since I've tried to be polite so far I feel like it might come out of left field for her?

TBH I feel like something about her behavior also triggers some kind of freeze/fawn reaction inside of me that I don't often get and consequently don't know how to deal with.

So I need impartial advice because I don't see the situation clearly myself

--

To summarize, a person who is a walking red flag wants to be friends, and you can't easily ghost her because the fandom is small.

I think you have to accept that there is no low-conflict way out of this.

That's what's holding you back, right? You don't want more drama and you know it's coming. I think you already know in your heart of hearts that you need to get away from her even if it's a pain in the ass.

Step one is to stop responding to her DMs. That will probably make her reach out more, but you should keep not responding. If she escalates and attacks you over it, block her.

The more you offer reasons or try to gently hint, the more that will encourage her. I don't think that's true of everyone, but I do think it's the case here. This is both because it doesn't sound like she's good at perceiving or respecting boundaries and because she inspires a bad lack of ability to assert boundaries in you.

I agree that it's unfortunate that you can't stand up for yourself or tell her plainly when she's out of line, but since you can't and that probably won't change any time soon, you'll need to protect yourself a different way. Sometimes, we just have to avoid people who are bad for us even when it's an us problem. (And here, whoaaaa red flags, so I don't think it's just a you problem anyway.)

There are many sad, lonely, needy people in the world. Some of them are officially mentally ill in some way with a diagnosis. Some just need things they aren't currently getting. That sucks...

But it's also not your job to fix.

[oscconfessions]

[sent at 18:07 8/18/24 (PDT, M/D/Y)] WARNINGS: what some might consider ‘proshipping’, aka bad relationships that should never happen in real life and far, far, far too many words about them

btw i’m sending this here cause most people that follow me don’t like ONE so this way people who like it are more likely to see it and people who don’t might make even more vagueposts about me yippee kicks my feet :)

not enough lairy asks on here. i think they should be worse :) the kidnapper x victim dynamic is Interesting it adds an entire new level of emotional turmoil. it sucks for liam so so bad. So Bad. both ways- if it’s unrequited and if it isn’t. airy has a certain obliviousness about him that’s interesting. it definitely doesn’t absolve him of a single thing but it’s interesting. liam hesitating to actually kill airy, he wants airy alive, despite everything. characters growing to care for each other despite the baggage between them……

hm. it’s just! airy isn’t malevolent, and despite all the bad he did he Has an Excuse. an /excuse/. he needs help, definitely. needs to escape the plane, needs human connection.

airy could definitely develop a crush on the first person he actually gets to know, while fucking stuck there. he’d probably act slightly creepy about it. clinging onto liam worried he’ll leave, watching him as he sleeps, watching him as he does literally everything, following him like a lost duckling. he just likes to watch. he just likes being around liam. airy has shown a lack of knowledge for the concept of consent that could be very very bad. i’m not going to get into that lest i be ipbanned - there are some things about it i don’t want to talk about anyway - but it’s there, he doesn’t understand why he should care for others’ wants, he thinks that if it’s a “good” thing then he’s fine. either he justifies the kidnapping in his head or doesn’t realize it’s a kidnapping at all or doesn’t remember kidnapping people is bad actually. he thought they would like it. he thought he was doing something good. he just disconnects from the possibility it could ever be bad ever because - wasn’t it good? come on? maybe even liam’s almost murder slash murder attempt doesn’t provide the necessary reality check which is. bad.

the idea liam likes airy despite it all…. it’s interesting to me…. because of course feelings don’t have to be logical, of course you can be endeared to someone despite their flaws, despite what they did. yes i understand he was kidnapped. these things can still apply! and it would suck so bad for him because of course liam is aware of what airy did, not only to himself but to his friends as well. to bryce, to scenty. he doesn’t /want/ to be attracted to airy. he knows it’s horrible and knows bryce might hate him for it, he probably hates himself for it too! i imagine he’d toss and turn about it, thinking, what if i don’t actually believe airy’s bad, what if, in my heart of hearts, i believe it was okay. what if i’m too sympathetic to him. what if i don’t give him what he deserves. he would get sharp or avoidant with airy or both. airy is like a danger. he’s worried he can’t control himself properly when it comes to airy. he’s worried he’s like a ticking time bomb. he’s worried he’s a kidnapper-sympathizer. he’s worried this makes him a fundamentally horrible person. he’s worried that airy should be dead and he likes him anyway.

i imagine some sort of airy doesn’t die au where they’re forced to cohabitate. liam has to get used to airy and the way he stares into distances. airy takes this opportunity, unfortunately. he’s probably very touchy. if liam won’t touch him, he’ll touch liam- he /needs/ it like he needs water or food, after all this time without anything. he needs to hear liam’s voice. he wouldn’t let liam get avoidant. and even if liam hates him that doesn’t matter to him. liam, of course, simply has to Deal. unless he starts using that desperation to manipulate airy which- i can see it. offering himself up in exchange for airy being nicer to the contestants that are still down there that he’s still covertly figuring out how to escape. like, ‘if youre nicer to them i will let you hold me’, just to disambiguate so you fucks don’t immediately think of the worst everr…. liam learning how to deal with airy, learning to manipulate him. maybe gets an unfortunate enjoyment in it that he would never confess. i like my toxic ships two sided. regardless they just get used to each other in general, how to interact, airy probably gets less weird, comes alive. stops walking around like a ghost, even if he may be.

liam likes seeing airy smile more and act like he’s real regardless of romantic inclinations, and hates himself for that. starts going out of his way to make airy smile in an act he would never admit to himself, never put into words. airy just needs liam’s arm around his shoulder to steady him. he just needs to sit next to airy at the computer so airy doesn’t commit atrocities, that’s all. he asks to help with the reeds to get stronger and beat airy with the axe, in the future, definitely. it’s all completely fine and normal. maybe airy notices and maybe airy tells him he’s glad liam doesn’t hate him anymore, and liam sits there, feeling so horrible about himself he’s nauseous. sits by the river and thinks (i like to think that before liam would take airy out to sit by the river and watch the sun rise and now this feels like a mockery, and now he feels lonely, no other word for it). romantic inclinations have compromised him after all. he shouldn’t be the one here.

the thing is, regardless of how liam feels about airy he’s still unfortunately forced to hang around him, even if just so he doesn’t kill people. so even if liam hates him or loves him or hates him and also loves him(- which he does, at times) he still has to watch him. eventually he works through his feelings, simply because he must.

anyway airy is completely content with liam’s existence. if liam ever gets closer he savors it. he falls for liam’s manipulation- if it exists- so easily, never questions any of it. he’s happier. he’s happier than he’s ever been in years. :(

i like to think, through slow erosion, liam gets through to airy. maybe at first it’s just ‘this would make me happy’. or just ‘if you do this i will do that’. i like to think eventually airy catches onto the idea of morals. it has to sink in. eventually it does. eventually airy realizes what he’s done. eventually he asks liam if he should let go of the contestants, and then asks liam what they should do now.

liam’s succeeded and it’s just through. being there for airy.

they probably go to san francisco and figure out how to live together and then bryce gets in touch with liam and liam accidentally slips airy lives with him now and bryce asks him if he’s a kidnapper fucker as a joke and then liam smashes his phone. you know, normal things

oh right i accidentally made them good. fuck. anyway imagine liam under the duress of airy being a kidnapper, having to deal with his attraction. there’s something about liam having to deal with his own attraction too. maybe liam starts hurting airy as a punishment for what he’s done. maybe he never stops. maybe he enjoys it. maybe he manipulates airy and finds a way past his guard to help the contestants without his knowledge and likes it, and likes how airy will let him do almost anything.

and you KNOW, you KNOW if liam hurt airy airy would soak it up, because any touch is better than nothing. at least liam wants him. if this is the only touch he will impart, airy will take what he can get. he needs the attention. he likes the way liam smiles when he’s hurt.

airy just wants people to be happy even if it’s the worst ever……

also just. airy hurting liam and liam hurting airy in an infinite cycle. airy keeps encouraging what liam does to him. and maybe liam wouldn’t have done it in any other circumstance but that’s then and this is now- and he can’t justify it further except airy deserves this, right? it’s not about whether airy likes it. (it’s not about that he likes it. it’s not about how whenever liam starts airy asks for it and he asks for it in such a way that liam can’t help but-)

airy encouraging liam’s hatred.

the way airy is in general it’d suck for liam so bad……

anyway airy eroding liam so that they’re perfect for each other (derogatory)

.

[yuseirra]

vagueposting about onk 163~~~~ no real spoilers about the content!!! but I'll keep it under a read more still

good news is, I will still be able to draw hikaai till next week, I survived yet another week again~

If the rest of the remaining chapters are like this, they will never be able to handle the themes this work handles in good depth. There simply isn't enough space left, 4 chapters were the boundary/margin for me to imagine things could be wrapped up in a somewhat sufficient manner, this work tackles things that are quite serious and big and deserve good room for discussion-

It can't do that this way. Moreover, the direction of the writing feels so off to me. I don't agree with what it's trying to make of or convince me of... I'm too distracted of what's been happening in the other parts of the plot to resonate with it. I didn't come here to see Aqua trying to strangle his dad and...feel nothing much over it. It doesn't click to me as what's right, but maybe I read the work wrong, then it's on me... but I really didn't like seeing that scene!! It was terrifying and cruel!! and ugly!!! I don't like seeing people trying to kill each other and weren't they BOTH the victims in that case? Didn't they both care deeply for Ai and got traumatized because of it? Why did they end up trying to hurt each other like that? I felt there's some greater evil behind it all never being tackled at, blaming and killing one individual over it(and he REALLY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING YET!!!) is such a convenient and easy way out as well as it being...unable to resolve anything, wasn't Kamiki really right about that? Killing someone as helpless as he is wouldn't solve anything? He didn't say anything so wrong!!! I actually agree with him on that one.

I think it'd be better/best if they devote everything that's left to Ruby and Aqua in this case and just leave AI and her bf be and don't touch them at all if they're going to handle things like this...it's not going to work out.

I'd rather they do a deliberate, amazing job with two characters with depths than do mediocre-janky with many... I would have had my faith if there were like 8 remaining chapters but with only 3 now, no, it's impossible, the writers are such capable people and they can make wonders, I appreciate what they do and have done but I don't see it happening. In that case, I rather they just leave things be, then at least there'd be some room for me to try and make sense out of what's there than having something half-baked and unfulfilling as a resolution. They can still make Aqua and Ruby work, but with more characters being thrown into the picture? Oh..; If they were ever going to bring Ai and Hikaru in depth they need at least two at a minimum, but there is no way they'd have enough chapter space left to give them a proper chance

Ah, I can live another week to draw more hikaai UGH, UGHH.. I guess I am relieved to an extent since yet again, nothing important has been brought forth, nothing is explained, there wasn't ANYTHING new, if they're going to make the rest of the chapters like this one too, then I never thought I could say this but I feel I can write that ship better. They gave us a really good ingredient to cook with, so I can cook out a good meal, now what I want is for the ingredients to.. remain fresh or at least at a status quo. These characters deserve to be given a more.. proper discussion and space dedicated to them, I just don't see why the writers wouldn't choose to do it because it'd be wonderful if they did...

If things stay the way they are, I can still manage, I can still draw lots of fanarts! If it gets worse than this, then I'd have a hard time, if somehow, like a miracle, something really great can happen about them(I'm still not letting this hope go entirely because Ai is such an iconic character) it'd be great!

Not..a bad chapter but to have this be the one that takes up an entire chapter when there are only like 4 left...I felt so unimpressed... could have been okay as a standalone but even still, I don't agree with the sentiment it's trying to convince me of. Yes Aqua, you are a fool. A big dummy. Now go back to Ruby and live. This manga will definitely flunk if you die. I'm not worried about your life's sake at all because you're the main character and you won't die. You go and live a happy life pal, you can do it, go confess to Kana too because god you've been holding out so long with that and it's going to get stale

Your dad doesn't have the luxury to have even his story discussed adequately and I'm concerned about him, I would never make that choice as a writer, so I want to believe the two really good creators responsible for this to do it but there seriously isn't any space left for that to be a reality, if they're going to not handle it with care, then I rather they just leave it be as it is. I just don't see it being left as it is either but... that might be better for his sake, oh, they're not giving him and Ai justice rn. They should, but there's just too little space left. In that case, they should prioritize wrapping Ruby and Aqua's story at least.

[cdroloisms]

I just came across your post about vagueposting and I think I agree with it, but the situation you most likely wrote it about is hardly a "vagueposting" because you could say who it was about after reading it literally one time and that person got jumped and insulted in the anon ask anyway so discussing it in person could be safer...

I'm reeeally sorry for bring up a past situation, but I don't think it's a good idea to write nasty things about another person and specific details about how they interact with the fandom and their post, say things that will help to easily identify a person and at the same time insult them or say how you think they feel about the characters or the story based on your feelings about their one take that you didn't like and then call it's "vague" because there is no name in the post. I mean, It can lead to bad consequences, it literally did in that situation.

And yes, I do think people have the right to discuss bad takes or takes they don't like, but there's a way to do it without giving away every detail about the post and the person who wrote it so everyone knows who you're talking about, and if you're not good at being vague, just discuss it in a private chat.

this ask is old but i was busy last week, so forgive me for the late response. i was debating answering it at all, but i dont want myself to be misunderstood, so just. to clarify under the cut.

i'll agree with you that the post/situation in question wasn't vagueing. now, i don't know exactly the difference between the number of followers i have and the number of followers that the blogger in question has, and when it comes to the number of active dsmp followers i think both of us have even less of a clue. that being said, both of us frequent much of the same circles, so i think it's fair to say that many of my posts will end up being exposed to a very similar audience to his, and so therefore this response about the situation you're talking about will be just about as clearly traceable to a specific person as the post he made that started the situation in question. just as a general observation.

if i'm understanding your ask correctly, while vagueing a take is fine, the vague shouldn't be clearly identifiable if you're going to speak badly about it or disagree heavily. to which i have to ask what, specifically, is defined as clearly identifiable? i think most takes in this fandom can be pretty easily traced to a person, even if that person is not the only person that believes in that take--just as an example, c!tommy as a butterfly pinned behind glass was a take in response to the c!sam and c!dream stream after techno escaped, and grew to be a pretty prominent theme to the point of a zine being modeled after it, but i can also trace it to a pretty specific tumblr post with a name attached. i also think that that same statement probably isn't true for many fans who maybe joined later on in the fandom. i mean, i'm aware that i'm being pedantic here, i'm aware that the situation in question created conflict specifically due to it being within dreblr and in a space where multiple people would've seen both posts and felt ensuing awkwardness bc they know both people either on a personal or acquaintance level, but i mean the same applied ages ago whenever strategist-interpretation and trauma-interpretation c!dream apologists felt like going at it again on the dash.

in this scenario specifically, what made the situation clearly identifiable was the nature of the take that was being discussed. the main identifying detail was the take that the asker was asked about, imo, and i mean ... yeah i mean. most takes that haven't blown up pretty heavily do end up being tied to one or two people? i mean, staged finale is a take that can be tied to three people who argued in favor of it the most before the rest of dreblr got on board only in late 2021. i simply don't think that a take that maybe only one person has argued for (which, i dont remember the statistics of the take in this situation, so i dont remember how many notes it had or how many people in total may have expressed public agreement towards it, honestly) is exempt from discussion when it is posted in a meta or analysis space as an analytical piece, which i do think applies to this take from what i remember about it and how it was tagged.

and back to the discussion of what's acceptable as far as directly responding versus vagueing, i mean, a lot of the discussion i've had on my blog (abt discourse etiquette in General in meta spaces on dreblr moreso than this specific situation, largely bc i did want to avoid commenting on a situation that 1) i really had no business in and 2) i have reason to be biased about. the main reason why i'm talking abt it now is bc hopefully enough time has passed for feelings to be less fraught and bc i want to make certain thoughts of mine clear, in case they weren't clear enough in my original posts abt dreblr and whatever) revolves around both direct responses and vagueing having their reasons as well as pros and cons, and both will likely continue to exist in analysis spaces and generally i don't think it's productive to really comment on what people can or can't do on their own blogs. in this scenario, i don't think "vagueing about one specific person in a way that may be clearly identifiable to parts of their audience" is uniquely unacceptable? a direct response very clearly would make the person in question identifiable -- outside of how it's kind of impossible to make a post vagueing someone in a way where No One has Any Idea who you might be talking about without making the post like, incoherent inherently, if vagueing (not identifiable) is okay and directly responding (identifiable) is okay, then why is vagueing (identifiable) not okay?

now, i understand that any situation where the person in question might be identifiable, some people may take the open disagreement as permission to harass them. and obviously, harassment sucks. part of the whole point of opening up this conversation on my blog was bc i worry, with the way that a single conflict between dsmp opinions has kind of rippled through dreblr recently and the responses to this "situation," that an environment is being created with too much of a forced global consensus that punishes people for stepping out of the status quo in both opinions and behavior, which is obviously bad for the whole community, and was looking to voice some of that and have a conversation on solutions. and i understand that in this situation, a lot of your problem with the blogger has to do with his general attitude in discussing the take and his statements on the person who made it. now, i think you have every right to find his statements offensive and disagreeable and to unfollow and/or block him. that being said, i am not exactly a PR agent, and i want to reiterate that what people do on their own blogs isn't my business and i don't think it should be my business. or uh, anyone's business, for that matter. i don't think that everyone "in dreblr" is beholden to keeping to a certain person's standard for "acceptable" disagreement and "acceptable" sharing of their own opinions on their own blog as long as they're not inciting harassment, which entails, like, actively encouraging harm to happen yk. i mean, you can think that the blogger was being rude or an asshole and prefer to never see him again, that's fine. that's your prerogative. but i mean, i'm not gonna tell the guy how to interact with the fandom on his own blog, haha.

to be clear, im not telling you what you can or can't do on your own blog either. if you wanna make a post about how his posts contain harmful rhetoric, how he's an idiot, or how he's rude bc you disagree with his public posts on this situation or on the dsmp as a whole, i mean, i'm not gonna handwring over it and tell you that you're not allowed to do that. it's none of my business, and i like to think i'm not that hypocritical. and honestly, i think that in a space where we're talking about analysis, commenting on harmful rhetoric happens often and should happen often when it happens -- literally anyone can make an analysis post that has harmful rhetoric, and sure it's fiction and no one has to answer to the analysis police for making a bad analysis post, but i've also been in this space and seen enough truly mind-boggling amounts of parroting takes about torture that make people sound like CIA psyops to go "well saying that someone's analysis post contains harmful rhetoric is really rude" pfft. again, i'm not saying i'm immune to hypocrisy, but i've certainly malded enough times in public about the shit people have said in this fandom to take issue with that. now, getting a little less into the strictly-analysis side of things, i understand that insults like calling someone an idiot may not sit right with everyone, to which i say. block to your heart's content. but c'mon man i've called people idiots before i'm no saint 😭😅

anyway. i hope this clarified some things, anon. take issue with whatever and whoever you like, honestly, whether that's me, the person that i just not-vagued for the last however many words, etc etc -- again, your prerogative. and i agree, it's a shame the situation devolved into stuff like insults in both bloggers' inboxes when it really didn't have to be like that like. at all.

[shock-micro]

Hi, I'm Mira, a silly robot on the internet! I'm... frankly, a lot of things, so I'll bring them up as necessary. To start, I'm transfem and robokin! This much should be clear. It's who I am!

I used to mainly do Minecraft stuff, trying to make the game live up to its visual potential while staying within the confines of the vanilla game's engine. Now, I don't do that as much, but it's still a fun game to mess with. Take a nice sunset from those days!

My interests are mostly gaming-related, but I've tried to dabble in art occasionally. I like all sorts of games, like Zelda, Pokémon, Minecraft, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Rain World, Cassette Beasts, Risk of Rain, Ultrakill, Bug Fables, In Stars And Time... the list goes on. I like more than that, too, and I'll keep adding more as I play more games!

I get very excited over things sometimes, so please bare with me if I ramble a lot about stuff! This includes: vagueposting about games I've become obsessed with, ranting about music or game design in something, and more!

Feel free to send me asks whether we're mutuals or not!

I do have a sona, designed by a good friend of mine, @quantumpickle! I don't quite have a reference sheet, but I don't really care if you get it inaccurate- I love seeing how different people interpret the design. Whatever you do, though, don't forget the body fat- it's a reflection of who I am, at the end of the day. If you want a good picture of what I look like, look at Pickle's amazing work:

My posts are mostly reblogs, but I always end each session of scrolling with a post of my own, to know where to end next time I log on. I try as best I can to keep this account safe for work in both reblogs and original posts, though I am an adult. I will say something if this ever changes.

I am plural, sharing a body with a rabbit girl named Moon, a zoroark named Zoey, a wasp named Aspen, and a roach named Yui. They'll chime in every once in a while, with Moon being represented by her blue text and formal language, Zoey being represented by her red text and general attitude, Aspen being represented by her orange text and her demeanor, and Yui being represented by their purple text and their cadence. You can call us "Team Berry" as a collective!

Hello, all! It's Moon. It's always a pleasure to be here! I do love an opportunity to talk to all you folks, even if I'm not usually there to respond.

heya, it's zoey. not sure how often i'll use this thing, but it's good to keep options open, y'know? ✌️.

hey guys, i'm aspen! not sure how i got here, but it's quite a treat to finally learn how you giants live! i'm always open for conversation if you send me an ask.

Greetings. I am Yui, from the same place of origin as Aspen, though a different region. Fate works in mysterious ways.

I do have a partner, and I will always talk about them given the opportunity, but I carry a certain form of love for all of my close friends. The people I know mean a lot to me.

I love the simple things in life, from food, to nature, to the contrast of light and dark in both a literal and literary sense. I often find myself overwhelmed by everything that goes on in the world, but I find comfort in knowing the bad stuff is only a few bad people out of a beautifully diverse species.

If you couldn't tell, I generally prefer looking on the bright side and finding something to love about things rather than staying miserable all of the time. I don't get out much, and so I'd much rather give people that light to hold onto than spread the same old bleak story that you've heard from countless other people, regardless of how important it is to share. Change is built on hope, after all.

Change is something I believe in, more than any normal god. It's all around us, from the seasons, to the stars, to the rain, to the fleeting emotions of ours. I believe in our ability to change things, that we can all make a positive impact on our own lives, the lives of others, and the world. I believe in our ability to change ourselves, and that people shouldn't be afraid to become who they want to be. I believe some level of change is necessary for a happy life, and I strive to leave every day as a better version of myself.

Normally people put a DNI in their bio or their pinned post, but I don't really care to do that. If you're a bitch, I'll block and move on. I don't care how you use a label, or where the other folks in your head came from, or whatever other queer-adjacent drama is the hot topic, I accept you regardless. I'm ace, I still love my partner, I can love anyone, I use it/its pronouns, I'm robokin, I've got four other folks in my head and I don't know how they got here, do you really think I'd hate you for being you?

That's actually an important point- even if I do think something someone's done is unforgivable, I believe that bad people are still people. In some ways, that makes things better, they have lives outside of what they commit, but it also makes things worse when you realize someone woke up and actively chose to perpetuate genocide. Some people are genuinely that bad, others are just misguided and can be helped. Ultimately, it's not my job to "save" anyone. I just try to provide a light of kindness when I can.

Wow, that was long-winded for a post that's just supposed to describe me. I suppose that's in-character for me, though. Agree with me or not, I don't really care, as long as you're respectful. I hope you've found this post helpful in understanding who I am as a person, long-winded as it is. Have a good one, whoever and wherever you are.

(...now how do I pin this?)

[crimmson]

i'm about to vaguepost about playing helldivers 2 because i'm feeling zesty. I have cramps and no patience.

I play helldivers 2 for fun. do not have the audacity to metagame at me while also being the single biggest source of teamkills every time I play with them.

and this isn't specific to them because i love y'all but a solid 75 percent of my helldivers 2 friends do this, but the person I'm mad at also does this, see previous statement about teamkills:

say words when you are throwing your fucking stratagems perhaps?? perhaps say you are throwing a giant nuclear bomb of death near us so we have time to make an attempt to get clear?? like yes silly accidents happen, that's part of what makes helldivers 2 so fun. I laugh my ass off when shit goes sideways. yes, it is genuinely funny when your teammate gets ragdolled and drops their Big Explosion Button right on the team, and I cannot emphasize enough how much I am not being sarcastic. it is genuinely the funniest shit.

but that is completely different from what I'm talking about. I need people to stop shutting down all your fucking lines of communication and going silent every time a fight gets hectic. SAY WORDS. PLEASE. I can at least work with SOMETHING better than I can work with NOTHING. like literally even just making weird noises works because i literally have learned what those noises mean and honestly it's great shorthand. and even something simple like "danger close" is great. but I cannot fucking interpret dead silence.

also open your fucking ears sometimes maybe. I have to assume this is connected to going silent when you're focusing. but nothing pisses me off more than me saying I'm gonna go take out an enemy structure, I have the equipment, I get all the fucking way there, and then they just fucking show up and do it instead. like oh. Okay. so nobody was listening to me at all actually, or did not care. i'm giving fucking status updates the entire time, and half that time I'm being ignored. and i guess it only bothers me because i'm always fucking listening and absorbing everything as everyone is running around and giving their own status updates. Even while i'm fighting for my fucking life in some trench. so i just cannot fathom why it's that hard for other people to fucking listen to me. i'm not saying that's right or fair on my part, but it's happening.

realistically I can forgive a lot of the above when it's literally anyone else except this one person, because I know my other friends' playstyles and personalities so I can adapt pretty well, and everything else just sort of makes up for it, and I don't mind it. But with this one person I lose my fucking mind and i just sit there grinding my teeth because it's also compounded with 500 other things that has nothing to do with the game but I am just always at like 50% Annoyance Capacity with them by default.

i think a good tldr is this game is really great and showing who works well under pressure and who doesn't, and jesus christ some of my friends are really really bad under pressure. and i know this and i love them. and then there are the people who are not my friends, and I cannot forgive them for this.

christ anyway I just don't mesh particularly well with this one person's playstyle but they always fucking show up and I can never seem to play with any of the people I want to play with, WITHOUT that one person. and i'm trying not to be a huge bitch about it but jesus christ i fucking miss playing with some of the other people and other group comps. but I have to be nice and fucking tiptoe around for reasons.

[neyafromfrance95]

i'm so sorry to see that you're being vagueposted about for your sylki takes. it may be true that how you see sylki is a bit different than a certain section of the fandom, but that doesn't at ALL mean that you shouldn't be allowed to have your own takes! fwiw, i followed you bc i actually agree with and really enjoy ur perspective on sylki. i was getting frustrated with how many people seem to view this ship in a super heteronormative way and want sylvie to basically become a housewife, and i was so glad to find a blog that felt the same way. this fandom has become tiring tbh with how many people are now freaking out that sylvie hasn't immediately started having lokis babies in s2, and i really wish that people would at least leave room for others to have their own opinions!

this! that section of sylki shippers do not leave any room for you to have your opinions! they act like a fanon police controlling what you say in your posts on your blog!

and god forbid that what you say opposes their own hcs and takes, if you commit this unforgivable sin of having a take that is different from theirs, you better be ready for some good old online group harassment! they will make you feel like you are not welcome in this fandom, they will make sure that you are hurt, they will alienate you and force you out!

but no, you are the bad guy for jokingly calling a fandom in general "vanilla" and saying (after several disclaimers that it's your personal opinion) that when it comes to canon, you don't think that sylvie should be all about being loki's housewife.

at this point i honestly hate this fandom. there are some decent sylkis out there and i love the ship itself, but a big portion of the fandom has simply sucked all the joy for the series out of me. i wonder if they realize what the consequences of their behavior could be? back when i said (in my blog) that i don't think sylvie having babies is a compelling completion of her story in canon, and this bunch came to my blog to harass me for my takes, i was in a very *very* bad place already, and the space that was supposed to be my escape pretty much turned on me and added up to an already depressing state i was in.

and bfr anyone says that it's just a fandom wank, let me tell you that these people know how to be really cruel, whether they realize it or not, their behavior is simply cruel. they don't just argue in favor of their opinion, they shit on you personally, get aggressive towards you personally, make you feel like you "can't sit with them", ect. it gets really creepy and ugly.

and the thing is, i never addressed anyone specific in my posts, i never said *this* person and *that* person have shitty hcs/takes, i never even vaguely hinted at a distaste towards the hcs/takes of someone specific, but they accuse me of pointing fingers. when i said that i didn't think canon sylvie having babies would work, i never said anything about sylki babies in fanfiction, yet people accused me of pointing fingers at the fic writers. and they would come to my blog, harass me in the replies and asks, and talk about how despicable i am in their own blogs, and it went on and on for a while.

thanks for your nice words, anon, they are uplifting. and to those who can't stand me so much, don't worry, i'm going to leave this fandom once the series is finished. i hope you are satisfied that being a shitty, gatekeeping, narrow-minded, egocentric person worked for you! but don't ever feel entitled to complain about how lokius shippers treat you.

[vanillahub]

2, 3 & 17

@commandsir

Munday Asks: Salt Edition [Accepting]

2. What are your unpopular opinion(s) of the fandom you’re rping in?

// SW fans learn the difference between forcing something onto you, and someone just stating an opinion. You're not a bigger fan for preferring one version of the canon over another, and same thing goes to the lesser of a fan argument. And don't even get me started on the whole crusade about "morality in fiction". Nobody is more morally righteous for watching the latest shows, or not.

The holy grail that we call source material is nothing more than a, collection of answers to the questions you may have. Disney's SW and Legends' come with their own different sets of answers. Trying to intimidate someone from enjoying one thing, is such a low move. And to me it tells me that many people, likely feel SO insecure about their beliefs/HCs/takes. That they feel like they have to act this way, in an attempt to "protect" themselves.

As an adult that's approaching her 30s, I've been far more drawn towards the more mature version of SW. I haven't been getting the most satisfactory answers from the new canon, and as such, I'll keep turning to Legends. At the same time, I don't treat the old Legends stuff as the holy bible, it isn't. I don't like everything about it, in the same way I also enjoy some changes brought by the new canon.

3. What rp trends are you so over and can’t wait for it to die?

// Can we just go back to calling ourselves RP blogs? The whole shtick of 'This blog is a study of: X, Y, Z subjects that the RPer thinks it makes them look big brained for knowing uwu' doesn't look good, and imo it looks 1000x worse when the blog has little to no IC/character building done, and it is nothing but shitposts or generic aesthetics/musings.

It just makes the people behind those blogs come off as unnecessarily pompous. Especially when it is blatantly obvious, they don't know what they are talking about, because they are applying concepts/ideas wrongly in their fundamentals.

And I'm going to say it: anyone trying to pass that off as 'a joke' or how 'it wasn't meant to be taken seriously uwu' are just coping, because they likely realised how silly it all looks and sounds, but they convinced themselves this is better.

17. What are your opinions when someone makes negative posts constantly on their rp blog?

// I've had to deal with people like that many times in the past, and I've learned that it is best to just avoid those people. They are draining in every sense of the word, and my experience/time in communities has largerly improved, since I started filtering those people out.

To me, negativity can come in various forms.

There are obviously the people who are heavily tied to discourse, who are simply unable to drop a subject and move on, and they made hating a character/subject/part of a franchise's source material part of their personality. There are also people who overshare, every little bad thing that happened to them, and dump onto their mutuals/followers super personal shit that was never meant to be publicized. And they do that not out of malice in most cases, but because they are seeking out coddling and comfort in social media engagement (If anyone hits this point, they NEED to seek professional help.). And there are also people who are just unable to keep shit to themselves, or lack a circle of friends, to comment on every little thing others are doing. You know, the people who go 'oh ew. Imagine shipping/liking X Y stuff' or 'Oh what did I do? Why did I lose a follower? >:('. Now this is just vagueposting, which is targeting someone.

And before anyone tries to point fingers at me because, I support people doing whatever they want in their blogs. I also equally support people improving their online experience, and leave if they feel like they've had enough of something.

[zinkleberg]

retrospective & starting over

This is a bit odd to say the least but it’s been 8 months since I posted that original “Cyberpunk Fandom Rant” Twitlonger, if anyone’s memory is good enough for that lol. If not, that’s fine, and tbh I want people to forget about it. Keep reading for more ranting lol. The link to the original post is here.

Given the time that’s passed and how much my life has changed, I’ve sat around and thought about last year in detail. This is mostly for myself, so bear with me (or don’t, nobody has to read this), I don’t necessarily disagree with what I wrote back then but I also feel like I would’ve gone about it differently had I written it now. Many of the individuals I was aiming at in that vaguepost I don’t personally have a strong opinion about anymore. Ofc life happens, things move on and so do people, but as time went on I realized that no amount of posting and complaining was going to fix anything so I’m confident I wasted my energy back then and any other time I complained about fandom drama online; preaching to the choir basically. For what it’s worth, I didn’t really know what I actually hoped to accomplish with those posts. I was mostly just disheartened to know how things were going and felt obligated to do something about it, however I didn’t really take an afternoon to think about it. Do I believe some of it needed to be said? Yeah, sure, and I still believe there’s issues with this fandom and all fandoms like it but I’m basically at this point in my life where I can’t be asked to care that much about it anymore. I don’t believe any of the people I had in mind while writing that post are intentionally bad people, just people who made mistakes, same as me. I said time and time again back then that drama didn’t matter to me but it definitely did, I had nothing better to do, and now that I do have something worthwhile to do I see how silly it was to actively engage and spark issues where there were none had I just let the problems sort themselves out. If there are people who still agree with what I or Silvay said back then that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinions. If you ended up hating us for those things that’s also fine, I can live with that. I think, now, I’m simply doing what I believe is right and correcting past mistakes where I feel I was steered one way or another by other influences aside from my own better judgment.  At the end of the day, if anyone wants to talk I’d be more than willing, if not that’s also fine, I do still believe communication is the key to success but how you choose to communicate (or not) is up to you. 

[botched-lineart]

There's something that's been weighing on me.

I feel like the only reason I'm not seen as a notoriously narcissistic flaky failure is that I've never had a bigger following than 200 people who occasionally pay attention to what I do.

Because like. I disappoint people all the time. Daily, even. I'm selfish with my time, only make what I impulsively want to make, sit around being jobless on my parents' dime...

It's not cute. I feel like a vile creature trying to pretend to be a decent human being. And I can't even pretend all that well.

Some of my mutuals and discord acquaintances follow this blog and may even take the time out of their day to read this post and... There are so many things I could say. I'm sorry for being a chronic ghoster and for never following through on my promises. Sorry if I hurt your feelings by barely reacting to something you made or failing to pretend to be interested in a collaborative project because it wasn't exactly the way I wanted.

But I'm not sorry?

God, it feels horrible to say, but it's true.

"But Rocket, if it's sooo hard to say and you feel really bad, why are you vagueposting about it instead of working on yourself?" Because like I don't know what to tell you, man. I've been kind of an asshole my entire life. No matter how many years I've spent in therapy or obsessively dissecting every facet of myself, combing for flaws that I think other people might see in me, my actual pattern of behavior is iron clad.

When I look at myself on a deep, fundamental level, I know that I care more about what others think of me than about having real integrity.

I'm a fucking narcissist. It isn't cute, quirky, relatable, or something I can easily train myself out of or fix with the right meds. I have a deep, cloying pathological need to be seen as excellent. Cool. Admirable. But I know the truth about myself better than anyone else. If you cut me, I bleed green. I'm envious to my core.

I work hard, in my own way. The skills I have are things that I've been practicing my whole life. I started writing stories when I was four. I think I first drew fanart even earlier. I've never paid for attention or begged for exposure for my work. I've never intentionally posted ragebait or blindly chased viral trends just to feel important. Hell, I haven't even whined about how entitled I feel in public until now.

But that's the thing - I do feel entitled!! I want to reblog every single one of my drawings with a big fat PAY ATTENTION TO ME in the caption. Look at me!! I am being excellent over here!! I've been on this bitch of an internet since I was in first grade, so where the hell are my flowers??

I don't feel pride and joy when my peers get their big break. I feel disgusted at myself for not being good enough to be in their place. And I have to spend hours, days, weeks, months, years burying that feeling so deep that no one would notice how sweatily I'm typing out a simple "Nice job, dude. Happy for you."

I have no excuse for this. It's villain shit. But it's the emotional reality I live, and I hate pretending like I'm more passive and friendly than I am. It's fucking exhausting sitting by, politely toiling in my dark corner and occasionally looking up to see everyone around me living their best lives in the sun. I'm done pretending like that doesn't make my blood boil.

And I hate that I feel that way. I know that's not how a friend feels about friends. Right? Like, I've been learning about being supportive and courteous since before I knew how to talk, and yet it has never come naturally to me. I'm a bad friend. A sweaty, slimy, envious worm pretending to be something that I'm not.

And saying that out loud is terrifying. Because friends, if you read this and I've let you down and now openly admit that I only feel superficial remorse, like.... What more is there to say? You don't need someone hot and cold and fake like that in your life. And I wouldn't blame you for walking away and never looking back.

But God, it'd tear me apart. I think that's the thing that people don't understand about narcissists. You only glimpse us acting cocky, suave, confident, and cool because there are people to admire us while we crowd surf. Once we're alone, all of that ego is gone. No matter how authentically we worked to get that admiration, none of that is intrinsically valuable to us.

Your attention is all I care about in my heart of hearts. Not you. Not me. Your eyeballs as they watch me.

I don't want to sugarcoat it. By pretending to be better, I'm straight up being two-faced. It's better to just own being a full-on villain than sneak into people's lives as a covert friend.

"Rocket, who cares? You have maybe five friends on a good day and a microscopic following compared to most lousy assholes on the internet. You're being verbose and grandiose and showing your entire ass on camera for what?"

Attention. Duh. Narcissist, remember?

Like I can't even deny that while I write this for my own sanity's sake and the disillusionment for my friends, on some level I want someone to come pat my shoulder and say, "It's okay, Rocket. You may be an energy vampire to your social circles, but we forgive you. Please don't slink away, we love you!"

Uuuuuuugh.

Don't let my pathological need to be liked and called a good girl soften your opinions. Fucking tell me if I'm being a flaky bitch and it's hurting your feelings. It'll ruin my day and fuck my ego up so bad, but push on! Grab your sword and hold it to my neck!! Because I'm a fucking villain and violence is the only answer!!!

[halflingkima]

Recent Reads

I'm not usually one for monthly wrapups or whatever – if i think a book is good, i'll recommend it; if i think i a book is bad i'll yell about it. most of my reads are middling so it's unworth it. but february was a struggle month so i figured i'd commemorate what i did indeed read cuz it feels like a read nothing and that is false. i haven't done any Official Storygraph reviews yet so instead of forgetting the entire experience, i thought i'd document it here in the meantime.

What's Your Vibe by Kat Majik: Milo is demisexual and works in a sex shop; Stevie is bisexual, agoraphobic, and a sex shop customer; the two negotiate a relationship while feeling out the edges of their own identities.

Best book I read this year so far. Cute fluffy romance with a queer friends group and without shying from the scrutiny (including self-inflicted) that demisexual & bisexual people handle on the regular. as a demi bisexual semi-agoraphobic, this spoke to me. Also, iirc, there was no sex in this, which was so deeply refreshing. the inciting incident is that the demisexual character experiences immediate physical attraction and has a bit of a crisis. were this not written by a demisexual, the focus would be on milo exploring sexual experiences, but it simply was not. as a nearly 30yo virgin, reading a book featuring a 30yo virgin was, to be frank, healing.

this is also the book i made a vaguepost about while i was reading it cuz i am lowkey afraid the author may find me through such vagueposts.

When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson: Cousins Mark and Talia – both gay – find themselves in Ontario on pride weekend and take a spontaneous road trip to Vancouver pride.

This was my zipbook for the month (if you're in california, ask me about libraries' zipbook programs!), and ngl, I regretted it a little bit. This was pitched to me as a cousin/bff road trip and that is absolutely not the story here. This is a family drama centering on the queer teens of the family. It was clearly a hand-off where one author wrote each pov. The plot is strange and pointless. It is absolutely not a road trip book. Nothing interesting happens, glad i got it thru the library instead of buying it myself.

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral: Teenage piano prodigy Glory has gone missing from inpatient care, where she was admitted after uncontrollably playing Chopin's Chopsticks.

this was in the free bins at work and i found it intriguing. it was published in 2013 which i think is its downfall. the format is cool and innovative. it's like a graphic novel, but using photography and mixed media (like newspaper articles & report cards). the beginning implies a sorta mystery/thriller/missing person story, but it's more of a (traditional, played-out) romeo & juliet deal. i think it could've been produced today and it would've been way more interesting and better executed, given the general popularity of and respect for graphic novels in general.

Paper Girls, Vol. 6 by Brian K. Vaughn: With the girls split across the timestream, they must survive, find their way back to each other, and return home in one piece.

I powered through this in january and i gotta say, it's nothing special. the timeline got predictably confusing, but the narrative doesn't do anything to help you with it. i was also disappointed in the ending even though it wasnt as hopeless as it couldve been. still disappointing in general. i've also seen this on "good sapphic rep" lists and i'm not sure i'd agree with that. ngl, i think i've already forgotten most of the series, let alone what happened in which volume.

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy: Emmett wants a career as an openly gay country singer, and his first step is performing at a country superstar's amusement park; Luke was brought up hating country music, but his concerns over his mother's illness lead him to reluctantly take a job at the amusement park.

This was pleasantly better than i expected it to be. i thought it struck a perfect balance between pride & the gravitas of coming out, big dreams of stardom and small dreams of the future, young love and adult themes, and ultimately, realism & camp. there was a clear dolly parton insert character here, and yes, the characters meet her in person. but honestly, bc it's balanced with some southern-style casual homophobia, it didn't feel too outlandish for me. the fact that this book remained steadfastly YA while not shying from discussing things like terminal illness & coming out in the south really impressed me.

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce: Alanna of Trebond steals her twin brother's knighthood commission, disguising her gender, and uses her powerful healing to help her fellow knight, the prince.

i started this series (of series) in junior high and never finished it cuz it wasn't published yet lol. i've always wanted to revisit it so i finally began again and i gotta say. i had thought i'd forgotten most of what happened but no; not much happens at all in this book. the prince got sick and i was like aw hell yeah the story's getting started and then it was over. that was the climax. thank goodness it's in audio now cuz idk if i'd have the patience to reread the series otherwise.

Tea Leaves by Jacob Budenz: A collection of queer short stories leaning into the witchy, the horror, and the speculative.

I was so hoping this one would be a success, but it fell apart pretty quickly for me. Mostly, the stories just drag on far too long. There are promising premises and the writing style isn't untenable, but almost every story needed a heavy editing hand.

The Lawrence Brown Affair by Cat Sebastian: An agoraphobic inventor hires a new secretary and finds himself falling in love, not least because this secretary helps him cultivate a relationship with his young son.

I found myself moderately invested in this one. i liked the couple, but wasnt rly invested in the characters on their own outside of the relationship. this also felt a little piecemeal plotwise. single dads are in my tropebox but that doesnt rly come up until 60%ish. so far, i've largely preferred sebastian's sedgewicks series over the turner series.

Mister Invincible: Local Hero by Pascal Jousselin: Mister Invincible is the only true comic book superhero – his powers allow him to use the format of comics themselves to save the day.

This was a very cute read! It read just like a sunday comics strip, like beadle bailey or garfield, but elevated to an deliberately meta level. I picked it from a branch of my library knwon for artsy books and this one fulfilled.

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire: Everything has returned to normal at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children after the twins escaped; until a dissolving girl falls from the sky, demanding to see her mother Sumi – who is a recently murdered teenager.

I've seen this one talked about mostly as the most disappointing of the series - it's fine, but ppl tend to agree its the weakest. after i tricked my own damn self into disappointment with the previous one, i found this a delight! i especially loved that we visited multiple worlds.

Rizzio by Denise Mina: On the evening of March 9th, 1566, a conspiracy to assassinate David Rizzio, private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, took place.

I likely would not have been as disappointed had i known any specifics about this piece of history going in. i expected some espionage, a focus on rizzio as a main character. instead, he was dead by page 20, and the rest of the book sprawled on, debating how mary could keep her crown. had that been the book that was pitched to me, i likely wouldve still picked it up! but i wouldve had more accurate expectations.

Bloody Jack by LA Meyer: Orphan Mary Faber finds herself aboard a ship of Queen VIctoria's British navy, masquerading as a boy – Jacky.

I've been wanting to get through this series since junior high and after rereading this one... i remember exactly why i never did. its the driest piece of historical fiction wrapped in a difficult accent. most disappointing now is how tragically heterosexual it is. i dont need every genderbend story to be explicitly about transness but it does seem weird if its never addressed; and I'd also prefer if 15yos weren't swearing marriage vows ngl. I'm gonna read the second book, but i may throw in the towel after that.

[tyltos]

Standing on the outside watching fandom drama is wild. And the thing is, "fandom drama" typically usually only happens in a couple of small but loud groups. In my experience it's the same handful of people that either cause it or complain about it. I tend to identify those people pretty quick and unfollow them at the first whiff of drama, cause as much I may like their other content, I don't need other people's petty arguments in my life. And it turns out, I only have to unfollow a few people to have my fandom experience be drama free and full of good feels. It's not hard to find people to be weird about your blorbos with, and that's great.

But once in a while, someone I am following will put out a vaguepost about fandom drama that completely sailed by me, or when browsing through tumblr I'll find a post from someone else that has a new username that I don't recognize but is obviously That Drama Causer that I unfollowed a while ago, and they'll be complaining about the toxic fandom and perpetual hate once again.

And it all sounds so fucking dire and unpleasant, and I can't help but feel bad for them because it doesn't need to be that way guys. It really really doesn't. It's like watching y'all light yourselves on fire and run circles around a full water bucket.

So here's a splash of cold water from Diogenes: Chill. Let it go. Let people be wrong or weird or fucking unethical. They have no effect on your life. They only have as much power over you as you give them. Be your own kind of weird. Do what you enjoy because you enjoy it and don't let anyone take that from you. Just chill.

[yuseirra]

**Onk spoilers**

Ah, I saw 160 in full....;; HAHAH omg I got spoiled haha sooo, Vagueposting? a bit here.

It's a very interesting chapter, and I'm pretty content upon seeing how it is.

But I'm really, really confused on where this is going to head, this particular one is definitely the one that has me shook, either this, or all the depiction in the entire movie arc is wrong. On that regard, I feel there is higher chance that the previous chapters are right and Kamiki's being a really, really good actor right here. It's about time we see him being a genius liar and an actor that's taught Ai all about acting.

If that isn't it, then I'd have to know just what is this guy's motive. If what he's doing in 160 is an act, he's making it seem so convincing. He does look very evil, but I have no idea just why he would do all this if what Aqua accuses him's all true. For what reason would he be doing what Aqua says he's done? That's never explained, so we're stuck and we STILL have to wait.

I really don't think his past were all lies... And I don't think 154 would have been a lie either. But I can accept it if the story somehow makes sense out of it, I WOULDN'T like it, and my ship will totally flop, and I don't think the story would have a better message like this, but if they do a good job with the story and make a good development SOMEHOW, then sure. I'm not sure how that can happen, but if they can.. Then I can live with it, but I would like it better if this is all an act.

My guess is that Kamiki's lying out of love the way Ai's done, trying to make it seem like he's a monster beyond redemption but it does make it SO confusing. Because he's not the one doing most of the talk, Aqua is. So it's really hard to make out what this guy's feeling. His expressions do not change as much except for one really...strong panel he gets and that does look pretty powerful. Is he trying to make himself seem like the bad guy or is this really his true colors? If it's the latter, then just what was him in 154? 154 is not the lie. That's... Just a hunch I have.

But no worries, no matter what happens, I think Ai will get what she wants. She's the one that'd have all her wishes come true! So Ai will be fine, I really wonder just what they will do with Hikaru. If what Ai's wanted for him still stands(he's really scary in this chapter) then he may be saved.

Is what's been claimed real though? How DOES Aqua know what's happened? Is that an imagination of his, or what's REALLY that's been taken place? This is so weird...I mean, the chapter itself looks good, but I'm not sure where all this is coming from. I'm really not sure whether to believe this entire chapter or not. I need like 4 more to decide what's right and what's false, and I don't think 154 is one that can be overruled no matter what in terms of the entirety of the message of onk as a whole(that's just my take) sooo,

Very interesting. So confusing as well. Episode Aigis came by at just the perfect timing. I'm going to consider my thoughts a bit and watch from afar...

But I think I can still indulge drawing cute hikaai stuff till things clear up for the best. If what's discussed in this chapter is true, then he IS irredeemable, (and everything I drew could be way off, sure, I can take that) but I feel like that's just what kamiki wants to appear as anyway. Aqua'd be playing into his hands since Kamiki wants to die in Ai's place if what I've speculated about him's true.

One more thing I want to say: no matter what the heck Kamiki did(or not), Ryosuke and Nino are irredeemable freaks, I don't want to see any of what they've done be justified in this piece of work. That is not the way to go...and I'm sure the author would feel so too. Please don't make them look like the victims?? It's so wrong!;

[daenerysstormreborn]

I think it's always better to just do this stuff in private like on discord, but doing a screenshot with the OP removed is better than engaging, in the end no one is wasting their energy on changing their mind and seriously hearing other points of view on silly fandom stuff. Keep in mind if the post was in the tags though people will still be able to figure out who it was easily

Hmm yes the problem with doing this in discord is that servers tend to be for like-minded groups and it contributes to the echo chamber problem. Any server I’d join (and I’m not in any asoiaf servers) would likely all agree with me and that’s not really what I want. But I guess most people who follow me probably also agree with most of my takes so posting a screenshot isn’t any better.

There are plenty of things that honestly I WOULD and DO seriously engage with other points of view on when it comes to media interpretation, and my mind HAS changed on things as a result. But maybe you don’t mean “serious discussions of meta and analysis” when you say silly fandom stuff. Silly fandom stuff to me would be like “is the Tully hair color ginger?” because auburn is definitely not ginger but it’s not clear if true auburn is the hair color George actually had in mind when writing—he seems to have been thinking of something a bit closer to ginger than auburn. But the real application of that to the text is limited and ultimately it doesn’t really matter.

But something like “is Tyrion a villain?” or “who is the girl in grey?” or other things that take serious consideration and bear weight in the plot and major themes, I think may be worth discussing.

Really my entire line of thinking comes from realizing that I’d much rather have someone engage with my post directly as long as they’re doing it in good faith and not just mocking. It’s okay to disagree with me and even if someone doesn’t change my mind, being presented with an alternative perspective enriches my experience.

And sometimes people are just factually incorrect and I care about correcting misinformation and would want to be corrected. For example: I’ve previously (not on this blog, back on my main a long time ago before I even created this blog) said that there was no way George would consider a certain pairing that I find particularly distasteful. But I have since learned that he said there’s “definitely something there” and has ship art of the two of them on his wall in his home. I was wrong. Boo. And I’m glad someone corrected me. Likewise, one of my sort of vagueposts was about someone analyzing the show to point out how Jon certainly didn’t love Daenerys in the show. And well, the actors had shit chemistry and didn’t sell it. But the poster was praising the actors for conveying Jon’s true feelings. However, the script indicates that Jon did love Daenerys through to the very end. It wasn’t a matter of subtle acting. It was BAD acting coupled with bad writing. This isn’t a matter of opinion. I probably seem biased because I like Jonerys (in theory) but this is about what the script states. Whether OP didn’t know that or just didn’t care, it doesn’t matter. Misinformation bothers me. I just didn’t know how well it would’ve been received if I’d engaged with the post directly. A Dany blog popping up in the notes to say “hey, you are wrong” may not be very welcome because not everyone is as open to this kind of discussion as I am. Which isn’t to say I think they should be. I do think it would make the fandom better, but I also understand that some people just want to post what they like and engage with people who agree and that’s just as valid as my desire to challenge my own interpretations and opinions.

Anyway point is that I just wish it was easier to present differing perspectives without it leading to drama or getting blocked and I wish I had a way to know who is okay with being engaged with like that and who isn’t. Thanks for the input!

[oonajaeadira]

Ok you ignore me if this is way too specific or doesn't mesh with your plan but I am here for PATS, an ask: you suffer an unexpected emotional day something bad and need an appointment, though he is booked he senses the urgency in your request and allows you to come much later than he should. You cant stay composed during the massage and he winds up letting you sleep past the timer. Again ignore at all. I awoke feeling sharp apparently.

Hello, love.

I've been thinking about this question a lot. Now, you weren't the only one to ask about an emotional day or sleeping past the timer. And then there were some other asks that I've been stewing over that started to bleed into my daydreams around this answer. (What happens if you miss an appointment? How would he react to the idea of you moving on? How does he treat a silly injury? Does he take tips, and what for?)

I hope you don't mind that your question became a magnet for so many variables.....

Sleeping Past the Timer After an Emotional Week (GTTT PATS)

FANDOM: Calls - Apple TV (PATS is a character from ep. 3. “Pedro Across the Street.” This is not RPF.)

Warnings: smut under the cut

It’s not like you to be late. And half an hour isn’t just late, it’s worryingly absent, especially without a message. Were you another client, he might be irritated. Or maybe he’d just turn off the porch light and enjoy his unexpected free evening with a jack-off session or two, a good stout, and some mindless TV. But it’s you and this is concerning. It isn’t right. He’s pretty certain by now that it would take something monumental to keep you away from your Thursday night appointment.

He checks the portal. Nothing.

After a purely performative moment of hesitation, he clicks through to his bookmarks and pulls up your social media.

Nothing much other than some shared articles (varying subjects, all posted without comment) and one vaguepost about “not being made for this bullshit.” It is this post that captures his attention and he focuses on it for a moment. Something’s going on.

The street outside his house where you normally park your car is empty, but he can feel himself getting hard, like a part of him knows what it should be doing right now. Instead of taking care of that, he’s gonna put it on hold, just in case, making one last ditch effort by sending a message through the portal.

“Just checking in. Not like you to miss an appointment. Let me know if you need to reschedule.”

An hour goes by. Two. He sits, hands off, half-hard, passively watching some documentary on octopuses and has to switch it over to the local college game when they get to the section on mating.

It’s not often that he leaves his laptop open while logged into the portal, so he’s surprised when he hears an unfamiliar notification–the live chat function.

–I’m so sorry! Omg this week has been hell and i didn’t even realize it was thursday I’m so so sorry pedro. It’s probably for the best. Not in the best mood. I won’t be late next week i promise. I will probably need you a lot by then

–Hey. Don’t worry about it. But if you’re that stressed, then you probably have a need to come by. You’re still welcome here tonight. We can get some of that out of you for tomorrow.

–Thank you so much but i can’t. I have a really early day. There’s been a lot of sudden changes at work and it’s been really rough. I’m so sorry

–Are you working late tomorrow? Do you have plans?

–No thankfully just me and a bottle of wine and a weekend ahead i’ll need it

–If you want a rain check, I have an opening tomorrow night.

–Really?

–Of course. Come by at 7. Let’s make you feel better.

He begins palming himself through his jeans, anxious to confirm and get this ache over with.

–I’ll be there thank you

With one hand, he punches in an appointment confirmation into your profile while the other works at his belt and zipper. No need to leave things marinating tonight. Looks like he’s cooking alone. And he’s starving.

He'll cancel his Friday night plans in a few minutes.

________________

He has to breathe through disrobing you, try not to rush it, savor the unwrapping. He knows how much you like it–the way you close your eyes, throw your head back and just give in to him, just gorgeous–and he usually enjoys it too but… Something in him is pushing to get to the point, make sure you never forget another appointment again.

It’s when he sees you wince as he lifts your arms over your head that his focus truly snaps back to the task at hand and his erection takes a back seat so his fingertips can slowly explore your shoulder. He manipulates your arm to get under the shoulder blade, presses in through your ribcage on one side, down to your hip, listening to you breathe, registering any hitches in your intake, until he lands on a spot midway and asks you in a smooth, calming rumble if it’s tender.

You nod, and your face begins to crumple. The tears come hard and heavy. Ashamed, you tell him you’ve been lifting boxes all week and it’s not really what you’re made for. Something about a merger, your business moving locations, your management expecting you to pack up your own office, tons of files, heavy boxes, running out of time, and in an effort to get it done faster, you’d pushed the capacity and weight of what you could lift…and this just happened today because you weren’t thinking, weren’t managing right, how stupid you feel.

“And the stress doesn’t help,” he breathes. The tears make little sparkling fairy tracks down your cheeks in the low light and you’re just on the edge of truly breaking when he presses himself against you, shushing into your neck. “We’re going to take care of it tonight, okay? We’ll work on it. Then I’m going to make you feel good. Fuck this week. You don’t have to work tomorrow, right? Breathe here…”

Your breath is brave, long and stuttering, he runs hands over your bared torso, indicating where he wants you to focus your breath. You shake your head and his length pulses against you. But otherwise he keeps it cool, calm, steady.

“Good. No rush then. Let’s just take our time and see if I–if we–can get this week out of you. Table. Face down.”

Your injury is first priority and he turns his back to the clock, making sure to concentrate on getting the muscle groups around the strain to relax. But you’re still clenched. Thoroughly oiling his hands, he just moves them over you in smooth, firm waves, reading you, mapping you. You’re holding onto something. Something about being here isn’t as relaxing as it should be.

“Is there something else going on, preciosa? Other than the move?”

“What?” The muscles in your back tighten.

“Your office. Moving.”

And they loosen again. “Oh.” There’s a long enough pause that a “no” would be an obvious lie.

He helps you to flip onto your back and settle, sliding his hands under your shoulders, using your weight to help press down into his fingers, tilting your head back. But this time you keep your eyes closed as you explain that the main office is moving several hours away and you need to make some decisions about your job, about keeping it, working remotely but dropping to part time, or following the move.

His fingers curl, rake hard against your shoulder blades, pulling greedily, almost as if he can drag you inside him.

“That’s a hard decision. What’s keeping you here?”

Your eyes float open, meeting his.

Everything external goes on autopilot. His hands keep working, wrapping beautifully around your spine and neck, smoothing them out, smoothing everything out, his face a perfect mask of clinical neutrality. But inside, he’s in a sudden fucking panic. He’s slipped there. Shouldn’t be asking questions he doesn’t want the answers to.

“I like it here.”

“Mmm.” He hears himself, neither affirming nor judgmental. Indifferent. Professional.

But he has to lay your head down gently and step away. To oil his hands again. He takes his time.

After that, no more questions, no more talking. He concentrates on making you feel elastic, relaxed, brand new, fingers exploring through every inch of flesh. Here too, he takes his time. Fuck the clock.

In the bed as well, time is taken. You’re so pliant for him, healed and wanting and so very very present. He can’t bear to take himself out of you, even to change positions, just keeps you to himself and tries not to wonder how many more sessions you might be around for.

You do that thing you sometimes do, wrap your arms around his neck, hold on tight, whisper in his ear to tell him how beautiful he is, insisting how ready he must be to come right when he’s fucking the hardest, right when he’s trying to hold on for dear life, and you just cut through and break his restraint, his body rebelling and choosing to listen to your voice instead of his own.

If you leave, you’ll take that power with you.

You haven’t fallen asleep this hard and fast since the first session. You’re dead to the world by the time he returns with a washcloth and you stay so while he gently cleans you up.

He sits on the bed a while and looks at anything but you, long enough to tell himself it’s okay to break another rule. Just for tonight. The clock says he’s indulged, he’s gotten more than his fair share. So he’ll give you your due. You’ve had a rough week, it’s the least he can do.

Is what he tells himself.

________________

When you wake, the room is strange.

Because you’ve never seen it in the daylight.

You bolt upright, eyes immediately going to the side table. The glass of water is there. The clipboard is there. He is not.

On top of your form, there’s a folded paper. A note waiting.

“You needed the rest. Thought since you didn’t have anything to rush to this morning, I’d let you have it. There’s cold press and cranberry juice in the fridge. Box on the counter’s got some stuff from the corner bakery. Have some. Orders. I’ll know if you don’t. Door will lock behind you. Have a better day.”

The tightness in your back from the week is gone. Completely obliterated. He really knows his stuff.

You uphold your end of the agreement and down the water, glancing at your assessment form.

“Regular time next week. I hope.”

________________

Once he hears the front door close and your car start and pull away, he emerges from his bedroom and moves through the treatment room, resetting the side table and stripping the bed before padding down to the laundry closet and throwing the sheets in to wash.

On his way back out through the kitchen he stops to assess the bakery box to learn which of the confections stole your fancy. Ah. He doesn’t exactly grin, but feels the corner of his mouth pull a little. That’s his favorite too.

There’s a folded piece of paper sticking out from under the box. His note to you.

You’ve written your own on the other side.

“I feel wonderful this morning. Thank you for breakfast and letting me sleep. And letting me cry and get it out. You always know exactly what I need. I know you don’t take tips, but please let me. I really appreciate it. I’ll see you next week for sure. I’m not going anywhere.”

You always know exactly what I need.

There’s a number of bills tucked into the fold.

A tip. Payment for a job well done. For going above and beyond the contract.

He stares at the money.

No, this is good, he tells himself. The cash feels grounding. Realistic. Correct.

Transactional.

It’s good.

But something won’t let him just put it in his wallet.

Instead, he folds it back up into the note. Grabs a pen. Scribbles one word on it and slides it into a drawer before getting on with his day.

“Perspective.”

___

___

NEXT (Full 10K one-shot)

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