#borrowing this one from a tumblr post I can't find right now

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 14.01

CAT1RB4426-01081995-15032024

what I think happened in:

Case 14.01, the case of "Snake Shack" or "Squirrels aren't rats (the snakes don't care)."

In the nineties The Magnus Institute, Manchester, has been offering some kind of 'enrichment program' for 'gifted kids'. They would conduct a series of test to see if the kids qualified for the program or not. Some kids were rejected.

About 50 km south of Manchester, a bunch of their rejection letters had been stabbed pinned to the wall with a knife. Location: security/storage room of the loftily named Resounding Reptile Emporium in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. This is not the most interesting thing about this humble pet shop.

On first of August 1995 its proprietor, Anthony Walker, called a pest control company -Elima Pest Ltd., claiming that he'd seen a rat in the break room.

Elima's employee, Alyssa Beck, upon arriving only found evidence of a squirrel (droppings and the squirrel itself – alive, but either injured or poisoned).

It is unclear if there ever was a live rat there, or if Anthony couldn't tell rodents apart. The second option is more likely, especially since Anthony was… let's say, unwell.

For some time now he'd been constantly hungry, but unable to finish any regular meal (most of them ended in the trash). He tried to make do with sweets and snacks, and he might have eaten a pack of frozen mice, normally reserved for the reptiles.

He also developed some kind of rash on his neck, irritated from scratching. His overall mental state wasn't great either. When instructed to temporarily close the shop, he became agitated and tried to explain about his burden, grabbing Alyssa's sleeve to get her to listen. This resulted with a small accidental (?) scratch on Alyssa's arm.

When after cursory inspection Alyssa let him re-open the shop and retreated to the back rooms, Anthony tried, very insistently, to sell a snake to a pair of customers – a man and his daughter (and her cute goose plush). Maybe it was his pushy attitude that made the girl cry. It was definitely his random attack* on the father that made both of them run out the door (good for them).

Two things happened during Anthony's clumsy attack:

he broke the glass cabinet with lizard food, releasing disproportionally large amount of crickets.

he fell over and vomited REALLY excessive number of snakes. We can only hope he was already dead at this point.

Alyssa, who watched the incident on a CCTV screen in the back room, managed to call the police. She also tried to call her dad, who didn't pick up the phone. She left him a heartfelt goodbye message on company's dictaphone. She started feeling swelling and itching in her throat just before the snakes found a way into the room she was hiding in. That was the last anyone ever heard from her. No body was recovered.

There are two separate trails to follow here:

1) Anthony, Magnus Institute and ‘gifted’ kids:

*to start with, I’m not entirely sure if Anthony was really attacking his customers. His ‘lunge’ over the counter might have been an attempt to grab the man’s sleeve (like he earlier did to Alyssa), which he overshot, loosing his balance, because he was already dying; or he was thrashing around uncontrollably, reaching out for help, because he was already dying.

Another question is how conscious he was during that episode, and why was he so desperate to make a sale? Was it a) an instinctive behaviour of a man turned into a snake incubator, who might not even understand what he was doing or why, or b) desperate last act of man who'd been given an ultimatum: do this thing, or something horrible happens to you. I'm leaning towards option 1 for now.

Now, Magnus Institute (ARG data): After comparing the kids' birth dates and their approximate age when they were tested, I believe that MI started their ‘program’ around 1994/95 and ended it in 1998.

There were two young Walkers on MI's list: Ruby and Aaron. At the time of the incident Ruby was just 14 days short of being 8, and Aaron was a 15 days old baby. They might be unrelated, but I don't believe in coincidences in TMA universe. (Michaels don't count).

Anthony had a whole 'bunch of rejection letters' from them. My guess is that he was Ruby's and Aaron's father. He wanted to get Ruby in on the program and brought her in for testing several times, and that was where he came in contact with whatever it was that turned him into a snake-man. The fact that he was angry about Ruby being constantly rejected (you don't normally stab a letter if you're calm about it) might have contributed to his reptile problem. (I'm so furious I'm gonna explode! Into snakes!)

For some unfathomable reason, somebody, possibly the kids' mother, brought Aaron to the Institute to be tested after Anthony's death. Lady, your man dies in highly strange and mysterious circumstances, and you take your kid to a place known for dabbling in strange mysteries? The heck? Ah well. Maybe she just went, 'oh, it meant so much for Anthony to get Ruby accepted there, this is what he would have wanted.' Hopefully little Aaron didn't catch anything deadly when there.

2) Alyssa and her dad:

Is Alyssa's dad a supernatural expert or survivor? She said that he taught her and told her about things that made her certain that he not only would believe her, but he might have saved her if only they could talk before the snakes got her. She told him not to blame himself. What is it that he knew or could do that might cause him to feel guilty about not picking up the phone at the crucial moment? Who are you, Mr. Beck Senior?

one very minor gripe: did Alyssa call the police, hang up, try to call her dad, then call the police again? We know she called the police immediately after Anthony first 'attacked' and unleashed the crickets. Then, presumably after she saw the snake vomit, she called her dad. And then, when he failed to answer, she started recording her final message, and she started it with 'I can still hear the police operator on the phone'. I guess maybe she wanted to update her first call. Something on the lines of 'hey, I just called about a violent shopkeeper and crickets? Well, it got so much worse now, guys!'. RIP, Alyssa. You did your best.

What happened to Alyssa? Anthony is almost certainly dead, but she wasn't found on the scene. She had already been infected (the scratch) and feeling effects of it (swelling/itching in her throat). She might have been gobbled up, or she might have been carried away into the nearby marshy nature reserve on the backs of the snakes, or she might have fled there on her own after undergoing some kind of transformation. (My moneys on nr 3).

People to look out for in future episodes: Snakes Alyssa, little gosling girl (all grown up) and Beck Senior on a revenge quest.

[readbyred]

may i request how the dps boys would react to realising they have a severe crush on a, preferably shy, reader! tysm <\3

Oh, I've been waiting for dps requests! Sorry for my late replies everybody, I got demotivated again because tumblr deleted a few of my x reader posts (and a few others). But I'll try to not let that happen again if I can even help it

I think Knox would have such a silly time trying to approach you. Because we all know he’s awkward, but determined at best and, well… pushy at worst. I'm trying to go with the version I saw in a play, because thankfully they cut out the party scene which means he’s still delightfully insufferable but not awful. Anyways, he would jump on every occasion to talk to you. And then just. Stand there. He’d try to give you flowers and poems, everything really. But he loses brain cells every time he’s around you. At least you’re both equally stressed about social interactions. He gets a little braver when you give him a smile or any other sign you like him. Not less awkward, but a bit more motivated to go for it. His main problem is that he can't read you well and despite being big on feelings and all, he still has a hard time actually talking to you. Clumsily, he showers you with over the top things, that most would find cringey but you think of as endearing. And if he thinks there's a chance he’ll lose you, he’ll confess right away. I think he is brave and pretty open about feelings. Just stressed out

With Neil, it's not an issue at all that you're shy. He’s more so taken aback by his own strong feelings. Because he wasn't expecting to fall this hard. But give him like five work days to process and he’ll be all in. I feel like he would take his time to confess but he’d make it known that he cares about you. He’d be checking up on you every time he can, bringing you coffee, asking to practice lines together, go to the movies in town. Even before you two start dating you just wake up and half of his sweatshirts are in your drawer (he likes to borrow you his clothes if you’re cold) and your desk is littered with poems he shared with you. He’s a gentle lover, but he knows what he wants and when the time is right Neil has no problem confessing

It's much funnier with Cameron because this boy is in panic mode 24/7. At first he legit thought he was sick because he always felt dizzy and distracted around you. And he’s a traditionalist. Everything has to be perfect when you’re around. Like he beats himself up about every little mistake he made around you. But also makes a point to treat you RIGHT. If you’re shy he might not know how to approach you at first, because he’s not sure if you’re even interested. And how to make you like him. After much teasing (mainly from Charlie, of course) he gets fed up with his friends and decides to make a move. It might not be the most romantic when he does, but it's sweet and genuine

Another one that would take time to confess is Meeks. He’s pretty quick to accept that he’s crushing on you. He’s like, yeah obviously they are amazing, now what do I do with that? He tries to give you things. Small things. Like maybe he could borrow you a book that you’ve wanted to read for a long time of buy you a coffee/tea if you’re out in the town. He doesn't explicitly say that he liked you but it's easy to tell and he’s not one to be shy about it either. So when you guys do get together, you already know his more… romantic side

On the contrary, Charlie takes time to process his feelings. He had crushes before, but real feelings (strong ones at that) aren't the norm for him. Sometimes he catches himself losing his cool around you and it messes with him so bad. He would probably ask Knox for advice. Which is a bad move. But he figures that at least his friend is more familiar with having those sorts of feelings. Nothing much comes of it because I can't imagine Knox giving him any good advice on the subject, but after he was able to talk about liking you, he decides to just go for it. Well, in small steps. Primarily because he’s just not an intense guy, but also because he’s surprisingly mature when it comes to respecting your levels of comfort. Doesn't mean it gets boring though, it's Charlie we’re talking about. Once you get together there's not a one dull moment with him by your side

With Todd, it might be difficult at first. He’s overwhelmed by fis feelings and has a tendency to talk himself out of making any sorts of moves. Why would you like somebody like him? He tells himself he doesn't have a chance, surely. It only confirms his suspicions when you don't take initiative. It's only after he’s been moping around for a few days that Neil approaches him about it and proceeds to give him shit for not doing anything to let you know his feelings. He’s like, bro, so you care about them so much that you’d rather not have them in your life because you want them in your life so much??? Make it make sense. So with Neil's encouragement, he tries to at least talk to you and see where it goes from there. Still shocked when you end up returning his feelings. You’re in his poems now, even if it's not very obvious (he's not as straightforward as Knox, so it's not ‘i love (yn) and I want them to be mine’ kind of deal). This is the only one where I'm sure you might have to make some sort of a move. Todd’s like a spider - he’s more scared than you are and if he could, he would just silently hang out in the corner of the room you’re in. But he gets a little braver after he starts feeling more secure

Lastly, Pitts is not as bad as Todd, but still takes his time. He’s comfortable with liking you and he knows what he likes, but he’s not in any rush to make things official. So any time he has any chance to talk to you, he does and just wants to see how things go from there. He jokes around with you, asks to come study together, tries to be close. He does care, just in a more chill way than some of the other poets would. If you two have been talking for some time, he would have no problem asking you to go out with him, doesn't make you feel pressured or anything. If the others are cool with it he will do his best to have you come to their meetings at night as well. So you do not only get an awesome boyfriend out of it, but also a great friend group

[ruporas]

apologies if you've already been asked this but do you have any favorite trigun fics? i absolutely adore your art btw!

thank you!!! and i've answered this on insta, but i don't think i've ever shared on tumblr... i'm not good at reading fics, esp long ones, because my attention span is pretty bad, but from the ones i have bookmarked, i'll share some that i like in no particular order

hills like white elephants (meet me halfway) - adlvnam

pairing: vashwood word count: 1.1k, sfw, vague post v.10 spoilers ‘I read a story once,’ Vash says, unsure. ‘I’m kind of thinking about it right now.’

i like a lot of adlvnam's fics, i find them very unique and creative in their execution, and their writing is wonderful! this was the first fic i've read from them and it's stuck with me ever since. others that i like from them are in manus tuas (no spoilers) and vox dei (warning for post vol.10 spoilers).

stay - Anonymous

pairing: vashwood word count: 2.3k, sfw, no spoilers “Hold up,” Vash groans. He presses his free hand to Wolfwood’s mouth and shushes him. He’s probably going for a stern look, though between his poor attempts to stop grinning like the biggest idiot this side of the planet and the way he’s patting him, it’s hard to take him seriously. “Stop laughin’. Where’s the keys?” “What keys?” Wolfwood tries to ask, muffled by Vash’s hand, and his tongue is a little thick and slow in his mouth so… something comes out, but it’s probably not very wordy. Word-like. Not a sentence, probably. (or, wolfwood and vash get drunk, bicker, and then share a bed together.)

i enjoyed the mundanity and silliness of this fic and i think about it from time to time... i think fics where one of them or both drink together are pleasant to read.

Last Summer - varilien

pairing: vashwood word count: 741, sfw, no spoilers You are what you love.

tags on this one are "sunrises, morning routines, coffee, sentimental" which caught my attention. very sweet and beautiful.

Rain - Kokohamstar

pairing: none, wolfwood centric word count: 768, sfw, major spoilers - post v.10 Ever since he was a little kid listening to Bible stories, he dreamed of the day the world would be washed clean and wondered what the rain would feel like on his face.

as most wolfwood centric fics, it was a gutpunch and melancholic, but still soooo.. augh.... the last paragraph really does it for me.

water bucket blues - fathomfive

pairing: vashwood word count: 3.7k, sfw, major spoilers, post trimax Vash the Stampede goes on the record about a friend he once had. Also about card games, cats, family, and some other things. "Start with a piece of the whole, Meryl said. It doesn’t have to be the first piece. Start with a specific. That’s what they mean when they throw around the words human interest. I know the pieces. Believing they make a whole is another thing. But she’s a broadcast professional and I trust her advice. Maybe if I can figure out how to tell one piece—like the story of Wolfwood as I knew him—I can learn how to tell the others."

i love vash pov fics and i love it when it's first person and this one in particular hits because it's his pov and he speaks, honestly, openly, telling a tale that he can't really flub because it's about the people he loved. i love how grounded this fic is in the present of max, i love how vash grows within the 3.7k words, i love how he moves forward with the world he's living in. this fic makes me teary if i think too much about it... it's really wonderful.

it’s a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world - goldenglitz

pairing: vashwood word count: 3.9k, nsfw, no spoilers Vash has the lung capacity of a man who’s cried for 150 years. It isn't like Wolfwood takes more than he gives — but like with most things, he barely keeps up with Vash. He works his body to the limit, even as his lungs burn and his legs and arms give out under him. They fuck like they’re on borrowed time. All of this makes it so easy — so much easier than just talking. Wolfwood would sometimes rather pull new and interesting noises from Vash with just his mouth than do anything else with it. Their own dialect: moans, groans, and four words. “Yes” — “Please” — “Vash” — “Wolfwood.”

i love all of their vashwood fics, they only have 3 but they're all lovely and has a sort of characterization to both vash and wolfwood i don't see often. definitely one of my faves, especially when it comes to explicit vw fics.

i think these are all the ones i'll share for now!!

[luckynumber-8]

♡ ~ HOBBIT TRAUMAS (AND HOW YOU TAKE CARE OF THEM) ~ ♡ (4 Hobbits X Reader Preference)

a/n: No one would escape an adventure like the Fellowship had unscathed, especially not if you were an innocent, good-hearted, fun-loving hobbit.

My take on the traumas the 4 hobbits would have after the adventure, and how you, reader, help them deal with that.

P.S. -This is my first-ever writing post in Tumblr... and also my first-ever posted fanfic-type-thing! It's just a bunch of headcanons right now - maybe I'll take one of the ideas and turn it into a drabble or something later. Feedback is the best thing ever, and I would love to get any that anybody has!

P.P.S. - Shoutout to @wordbunch, who's LOTR writings I absolutely adore, and whose post formatting I basically used as a cheat sheet, because I'm a totally clueless newbie. So thank you! I hope that wasn't out of line for me to borrow 😕

Frodo

Sometimes he can still feel the crushing weight of the ring pulling on his neck or weighing on his chest, and you catch him absentmindedly rubbing one of these spots

So you, you special person, find some excuse to give him a neck rub or a back rub

Because you absolutely cannot stand seeing him trying to hide his discomfort like this

You know openly calling him out on it will just remind him of all that happened to him, so you have become a Master of Subtlety and Distraction

Whenever you catch him staring into the distance, you know it is Time to Remove Frodo From His Own Head

So

Distractions ensue 

Namely:

Surprise hugs

Randomly launching into stories or rants that you know he won't be able to help listening to 

(Because the sound of your voice is not-so-secretly one of his favorite things and he will listen forever)

Offering to read to him (we all know this is Book Boy, so what better than having his favorite tales read aloud by you?? His favorite narrator??)

You make him cups of tea as he writes his book

When he sees you smiling in the doorway with a mug in one hand and the scent of his favorite leafy brew drifting out of it, it just makes his day because…well, you.

You just think of him too much and he can't handle it lol

Sam

Never

Ever 

Ever

Try to put this poor boy around spiders

Ever

(yes I love this HC, idk who came up with it and I can’t remember where I saw it but it’s basically canon in my bran now)

He cannot stand them, not even in the garden anymore. You can see how he stiffens and twitches every time one of those ugly eight-leggers scuttles across his path and instantly know how much restraint he's using not to kill it on the spot.

Spider in the house? It's all you, Y/N

You know he would try to face it down for you and you alone

But you can't stand seeing him go all cold and shaky at a little garden spider 

So you often remove them before he can even notice because peace in the house is a nice thing to have

He also has alarming levels of self-doubt sometimes because of how he thinks he's misjudged things in the past

But luckily for him, he has you

You are there to support him and are always advocating that he is strong and makes solidly good choices

And you know what? You are his world, so he believes your every word. 

He drinks those affirmations up like there is no tomorrow

And you are happy to continue on as his supplier till the end of days

Merry

Personal HC that when his arm is burned after stabbing the Witch-King, he gets phantom pains not dissimilar to Frodo's

It's almost like nerve damage - he'll be fine one minute and drop whatever he was holding the next, or his hand will start twitching in weird and sometimes disturbing (to him) ways

This is Mr. "Nothing-Bothers-Me-And-I'm-Fine", so naturally, it bothers him quite a bit that one of his appendages refuses to follow orders on a regular basis

It's something that he tries to hide from you - pretends it's not there, BARELY jokes about it.

If Merry Brandybuck ain't joking about it, you aren't either.

Sometimes you hear villagers mentioning it in hushed whispers, and you (badass) shut them up before a single one makes it back to Merry

Because you know that's what he'd do for you, so you absolutely do it for him.

And you know he secretly appreciates that you don't fuss over it, because he doesn't want to feel different or incapable. It helps, for him, that you treat him like just the same person he was before (because he is duh) and nothing has changed and he doesn't want or need to be coddled.

Not saying you do, but you might sometimes give this particular arm a little extra love and affection. Massaging his hand, tracing circles on his wrist, and just letting him know how dead cool you think his scar is.

Because, really…how many people have changed the fate of Middle Earth and have something to prove it?

Your Merry does, that's who. And you'll never let him forget how amazing and brave he is.

Pippin

Pippin is constantly awake in the dead of night

Because he's haunted by wild nightmares 

And you're the first and probably one of the only people he would turn to for comfort

So guess what? You're up too, holding him close to you in the dead of night while he tries to calm down

Sometimes he tells you what the night mare was, sometimes he keeps silent and just wants to lay next to you. You know he'll tell you in his own time if it's right to.

This little hobbit is such an empath, he really took to heart EVERYTHING that happened on his journey

And he thinks that way too many things were exclusively his fault 

Gandalf's death? His fault.

Merry getting hurt (because he got them separated and wasn't there)? His fault.

Boromir's death (because he didn't know how to fight)? His fault.

Again, you know better than to push, but you know the content of a lot of his nightmares revolves around his contributions being insignificant, his actions causing people's injury (or death), and how badly things could have played out because of him. It worries you, how much brainspace he gives to these things.

So you keep him close to you. I mean that both literally and figuratively. He's not shy about taking the physical comfort he needs (honestly I don't think he's aware of the concept of personal space), but he gets tripped up trying to talk about his own feelings

So you just give him his space, all the time he needs, and bottomless snuggles 

Because contrary to what he thinks, a lot of things went right because of him, and you can't tell him enough how much he means to everyone (and you. most importantly, definitely you.)

Thank you for reading, if you made it down this far! I hope to post some actual writing soon, if I can find the time to sit down and put my Writer's Cap on. I am considering opening requests! At this point I don't know who will see this r how it's going to do, so we'll see how things work out :)

[felice-jaganshi]

Alastor X OC

His pet

Chapter 2/?

-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Charlie was in a panic after her meeting with the council of angels, so Alastor decided to keep their new guest a secret till he was done with his current plan. He informed Nifty and Husker to be gentle with the new guest if she woke up while he was gone, as he had plans for her.

He took Charlie to cannibal town and Vaggie went to see Carmilla.

Husker's curiosity got the better of him, and he went to knock on her door. She answered through the door, “who is it?”

He was surprised by how gentle her voice sounded, but he also knew not to make assumptions about a demon just because they sounded soft and weak. “Name's Husk, I'm the barkeep. Alastor told me to check on you.”

She called out from behind the door, “I'm fine! Um, if you have a shirt or sweater I could borrow though? My own got shredded recently. And I… I don't exactly have any possessions at the moment.” She sounded nervous.

“Uh, gimme a sec and I'll see what I can get ya.”

 Husk was a bit unnerved by this news. So he went down to bug the others while they were fortifying the place. “Hey, Angel Dust! You got any spare sweaters?”

He gave husk a weird look, “nothing in your style whiskers, why? You got a kink you're ready to share with the class?”

He groaned, “ugh, fuck no! Alastor brought some new sinner here last night while we were gone, and she said her shirt is too ripped up to come out of her room! I thought if anyone had something she could use it'd be you.” 

Angel frowned, “her shirts all ripped up? Alright, I'll be back, everyone.” He went upstairs and got a fluffy pink sweater from his closet, then looked at her door, right next to his. There was already a sign that said “Zariah”. Angel knocked on the door. “Hey, you the new girl?” He called. “I brought you a sweater.” She unlocked the door and peeked out at him, “ oh, hello, I'm Zariah. Oh, you're so pretty!” She opened the door more, covering her chest with her tail. He smiled and handed her the sweater. “Thanks doll, you're a cutie yourself. So, Al picked ya up off the streets? How did your shirt get torn?” He invited himself into her room.

She turned and frowned, “I was going to change… my shirt is all bloody. He found me in an alley and brought me here to heal.”

“Oh, don't be shy. I'm not into women, so don't worry about that! Hey, when Charlie gets back, we should work on customizing your room!” He laid down on her bed. She sighed and went to her bathroom and changed in there. When she came back out she smiled, hiding her old shirt in the bathtub for now. “I'd love that! So far everyone here has been so kind.” 

Angel smiled and sat up, “well I'm glad you think so. Hopefully you know how to fight? Because a war is coming our way, and I can't promise who will survive and who won't.” 

She looked shocked, “a war?! With who?! I'm not a fighter!”

He sighed, “then why the hell did Al drag you into this? Heaven is gonna try and fuck our shit up. We're gonna try to fight back. Apparently angel's can be killed.” 

She looked even more terrified, “th- the exorcists are coming?! Here?! I- I- oh fuck, oh shit! I'm gonna die!” She fell to her knees and began shaking. Angel came over and hugged her, “hey, hey, calm down. It's just another extermination. You'll survive. We'll find a place to hide you, okay?” She took a few deep breaths to calm down.

“O-okay… I… I know how to heal, like, healing powers. I can be a medic, maybe.” 

“Healing powers? No wonder Al picked you up!” He smiled, “Come on, let me introduce you to everyone.” he got up and took her hands, leading her to her feet and out to meet everyone else.

Eventually, Alastor, Charlie, and Vaggie returned with their reinforcements, and Charlie was excited to see everyone there, but…

“Oh! Who's this new friend?” She smiled and approached Zariah. She smiled, “hi! Alastor brought me here yesterday, I was really badly hurt and he said this was a safe place. I hope you don't mind. I'm not really a fighter, but I want to help protect everyone here from the exorcists!” 

Charlie smiled back and hugged her tight, “that's great! Thank you so much, whatever way you can help will be appreciated!” 

Zariah hugged back and purred, happy to be accepted so easily. Alastor blinked in surprise, “my dear, is that purring?! How adorable!” As she let go of Charlie, Alastor reached over and pet Zariah's head. She purred even louder and her ears twitched a little as she leaned into the affection. “Thank you! I pride myself on being cute!”

After a moment, he pulled his hand away, “hm, enough of that silliness.” He then wandered off towards his radio tower. It took him a little bit to realize she was following him. He stopped in the middle of the hall, “did you need something from me, dear?” He looked over his shoulder with his constant smile.

“Oh, I was curious where you were going? Everyone else is working to learn to fight with the angelic weapons you all brought. But since I'm not a fighter, I don't know how to help or where I'll be safest to hide if Adam shows up…”

“Oh? A safe place for our little fox to hide? Follow me, my dear.” He led the way, and she followed close behind. 

“Okay, I like the way you call me ‘dear’ all the time. It feels nice.” She smiled brightly, feeling so safe here in the hotel. 

He brought her into his radio tower. “Most demons are too scared to approach my radio tower. Just know, if the On Air sign is on, do not enter or knock. Or else I will be very cross with you.” His eyes glowed just a little in warning.

She nodded, still smiling softly, “yes sir!” She looked around. “When I was alive, there was a podcast made to sound like an old fashioned radio broadcast. It was my favorite thing to fall asleep to. Cecil was an amazing radio host.” She reached out towards the radio panels, but didn't touch. 

Alastor raised an eyebrow, “I see. So you enjoy radio?”

“Oh yes! Mostly FM stations, music is in my blood. But I enjoy radio talk shows and stories as well. As long as the voice is soothing. Yours is really nice. When do you do your shows? And what kind of shows are they?” She was so chatty now that she felt comfortable with him.

“Why thank you for the compliment, my dear. My broadcasts vary depending on my moods. Sometimes I'll just report on the tea around the rings, and sometimes… I'll remind people why I'm not someone you cross.”

“Hm. Have you ever read stories? Like Listener submitted short stories?” She looked at him with a head tilt. He chuckled,

“My dear, you are the first to dare to suggest any adjustments to my radio show.” His smile had a dangerous quality to it, but she didn't budge other than turning her head the other way.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Hm… no, I like how bold you are. It's refreshing. I'm used to fear from most who interact with me… how about we make a deal? Hm?”

“A deal? What kind of deal?”

“During the battle, you may hide in my radio tower if things get too intense. And in exchange, any time I need healing, you must provide it for me.” 

“Hm… any time you need to be healed, I will gladly give you healing. And how about, any time the on air sign is off, I can hide in here if needed?” She held out her hand.

He raised an eyebrow, surprised that she'd counter offer. “Hm, fair enough.” He took her hand and the whole room went green and wind swirled around them as the deal was sealed in magic. She looked around in shock, before fixing her hair from her face.

“Whoa, that was cool!” She laughed a little. “I didn't know you had windy powers too!”

“Actually, that's just the side effects of making a deal with a powerful demon.” He smiled, waiting to see if she'd show any signs of realizing what she'd done, only to realize she was rather innocent to how this whole thing worked.

“I think you and I will be very good friends…” He chuckled. 

He reached out to ruffle her hair again.

“Hey, I just fixed that!” She laughed again, and his smile softened. He had begun securing her as his new pet.

(If anyone knows how to link the other chapters the way others do, please message me or comment!)

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Drama CD - Hijikata Biyori Track 32 Eng translation

I'mma back! Well, not really. This was scheduled to get posted... and I'm going to assume that I'm too tired right now to check tumblr.

oh well!

enjoy!

Hakuoki Hijikata Biyori Track 32: Confrontation

Translation by KumoriYami

Toudou: The weather's really nice today.

Hijikata: Oh, if it isn't Heisuke.

Toudou: Ah, Hijikata-san.

Hijikata: What are you doing in a place like this? Have you wounds recovered?

Toudou: Didn't I say that those injuries weren't a big deal? But you all kept me at headquarters and didn't let me do anything. Everyone was making a huge fuss about about nothing. Because I have so much free time now so I thought I would go read. I'm heading over to the book rental store to borrow some books now.

Hijikata: Heisuke reading? Ha, that really doesn't suit you.

Toudou: That's terrible, what do you mean by that. Speaking of which, I'm definitely studying harder than Hijikata-san now.

Hijikata: Haha, is that so. Where's the rental book store? Toudou: Ah, it's right around here. Hijikata-san, if you have time, why don't you come too?

Hijikata: Yes. It seems I don't know thta you knew of a good rental bookstore. Lead the way.

Toudou: Ah, leave it to me.

(arriving at the rental book store)

Hijikata: This is the place?

Toudou: Nn, the proprietor here is a nice guy. Uncle! I'm here to return the book I borrowed the other day!

Hijikata: There are no other customers saide from us. It doesn't look like this place is popular. Is this rental bookstore really that good?

Toudou: That's why it's good. You can focus on finding the book you want to read.

Hijikata: I see.

Toudou: Now then, wht should I borrow today. Oh, this looks pretty good.

Hijikata: Hm? What, isn't this "Otogi-zōshi" ?

Toudou: What, is that bad/isn't that good?

Hijikata: I won't say it's bad, but shouldn't you read something bit more useful? For example… how about this one?

Toudou: Ah?

Toudou: Huh? Which one? Hijikata-san, you'd actually read something so old-fashioned? How are you so popular at Shimabara when you're reading books like this?

Hijikata: Hey, Heisuke! What do you mean by old-fashioned! Reading the classics is more educational than anything else. You should read books like this.

Toudou: Ah, if you say so, I'll read it.

(coughing)

Hijikata: Hey, is there someone else? Sorry, I thought that there was no one else here…

Kazama: You guys can't even decide what books to read? How foolish.

Hijikata: Ah! That voice... is Kazama?

Kazama: You force your values ​​on others, and speak as if you know everything. It seems you don't even know the basic common sense of reading.

Hijikata: Huh?

Kazma: A book is something you have to choose and decide the value of for for yourself. Are you not able to understand that?

Hijikata: If you don't have a standard to determining value, you can't decide what is good, and whaa is bad. The values ​​that you decide on yourself are the ones that you can impose on others. That's why it's important to listen to other people's opinions on values.

Kazama: And that standard is the classics… is it? How pathetic.

Hijikata: What did you say?

Kazama: Your unquestioning belief in old things lasting for a long time is exactly how you all live your lives, clinging to the dying shogunate, though I don't mind praising you for your blind loyalty.

Toudou: Hey, you've been eavesdropping on us from the start and then spouting nonsense here? In the first place, if you want to decide on what books to read, then the method for making those decisions will vary from person to person, right? Isn't it fine to listen to other people's values and then mke your own decision?

Kazama: Ha, I've heerad that often. But even that opinion is not yours.

Toudou: Then what are you saying! Wouldn't it be better if you had someone teach you how to say things?

Kazama: There's no need for that. I was just teaching you how to speak in a way that's appropriate for you.

Toudou: Stop it!

Hijikata: Heisuke! Don't fall for his provocation. If you want to pay him back, use your katana. The next time we meet.

(Hijikata and Heisuke leave)

Kazama: This is why country aand cowardly samurai are such a pain [not sure what to put here. the JP here is 田舎の犬侍 apparently. the cn version just says 'country samurai']. Proprietor, I'll be borrowing this.

---end---

notes: 『御伽草子』 or "Otogi-zōshi" are "a group of about 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period (1392–1573)."

source: wikipedia

[firespirited]

I think it's a slightly amusing coincidence that the guy with a Nazi fetish was collaborating with a man named Herr Gott.

At this point I'm not ruling out Herrgott being a pseudonym or him writing all the 'vibes-based' junk since James was the one doing 'research' (to his credit he was somewhat good at collecting smart people's work).

But I'm hijacking your ask to clear up two misconceptions that have been bothering me:

(big mess of sources and further reading under the readmore)

1- The nazis and fitness essay (one I actually watched and disagreed with) cites multiple sources and is an attempt to retrofit current "masc for masc" grindr culture onto AIDS era fitness "healthy" gay culture (see Gaston as a stereotype) onto multiple a-historical "gay nazis" revisionisms including The Pink Swastika book and a columnist

I think they got the nazi and fitness nonsense from a scholarly sounding source who's just an oxbridge columnist who's into reclaiming nazis. They're famously good at making nonsense sound like a thesis - see Boris Johnson's upcoming book about Shakespeare and his time as a columnist, see the entire Telegraph and various Terf Observer columns: fully trash but written in academic lingo, even queer academic lingo!

and... here's the source: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150324-hitlers-idea-of-the-perfect-body it's the BBC oh look, what's this "Alastair Sooke is art critic of The Daily Telegraph". 🤔🤔🤔

There's a case that the "no fat no fems no chocolate no rice" gay dating culture could possibly be tied to the healthy vs unhealthy infighting during the beginning of the AIDS era but that's a nuanced take that gets smashed to smithereens by lumping it in with gay nazi myths. It also needs to be examined with the attitude to dating apps in general and dating by physical preferences instead of letting chemistry happen by finding people whose goals and outlook match your own.

Terrible essay, terrible premise, some pull quotes from interesting places. Here's an essay about desirability in men, googling "masc 4 masc culture" will get you plenty of articles, you definitely want to look for asian and black writers here because woof they face a lot of racist nastiness under the guise of 'just preferences'.

and here's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_of_Finland (he's a very important gay artist, he also did some gay erotica with nazi uniforms whether you think that's an act of defiance, reclamation, tasteless or evil is up to you. art is not always as straightforward as it might look, we'd have to ask him what his intent was.)

-----------------------------

2- The second is "the exciting gays died of aids" concept, good vs naughty gays concept. Again, we're dealing with a mishmash of both modern rewritings, quotes by survivors taken out of context, and gay infighting at the time, which included some spicy takes about dangerous sex by gay men fighting to save gay men.

The lack of research and public education led to chaos, the grief led to anger. Beautiful people said some vicious things. There are several older gay men alive right now who don't have sex not because they're asexual but because there's trauma. It's worth unpacking quote by quote because expanding on it without original context was terrible reading comprehension and reckless rewriting of history, and to be honest, a little defamatory. I can't find a bibliography of the video(s) yet so not sure what to debunk).

There are plenty of tumblr posts railing against out of context quotes which is taking James + Nick's bad reading at face value instead of seeking out the source. Outrage at a thing James and Nick made up which was never a real take.

to paraphrase "My well-known exciting boundary-breaking gay friends are dead and the art world hasn't bothered to seek out more undiscovered talent to replace them, choosing the safe classic establishment folks who may also be gay given the field. I'm pissed you didn't care about saving them, I'm pissed you didn't care about finding a new crop of people who push the envelope." that was the sentiment behind this sort of quote even if folks became more conservative (or got into legal messes later)

I'm going to track down the various quotes and give you the full context because this matters. Again: beautiful minds saying horrible things, fighting between gay activists on how to survive or how to live under the gun. This is something that cannot be flattened to "boring gays survived" and it's an insult to the people who said things in grief and fear. I have not watched this essay (or maybe it's two that use this boring vs danger gays concept) but I have a good idea of what out of context quotes might have led to it, this is my wheelhouse. but TL;DR would be my faves are problematic because activists are passionate messy people. They outed people, they said outrageous things for the press, they screamed murderer and got restraining orders against them, they made taboo art, they mingled with nasty people.

OKAY, incoming link dump:

here's a 6 minute short on act up

here's a full doc: United in Anger:

Larry Kramer, Shulman, Fran Leibowitz and many others deserve to have their views examined with full context, not turned into crappy tweet sized quotes.

basic sources from wikipedia:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/nyregion/larry-kramer-and-the-birth-of-aids-activism.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/05/13/public-nuisance

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/fran-lebowitz

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/arts/the-impact-of-aids-on-the-artistic-community.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wojnarowicz?useskin=vector

https://archive.org/details/losswithinlossar0000unse

https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781849352857

http://didierlestrade.blogspot.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tatchell

https://archive.org/details/womenaidsactivis00banz

------------------------------

Thankyou to

DHLawrence_sGhost's thread https://www.reddit.com/r/hbomberguy/comments/18biiof/comment/kc9qa6p/

and TerraJRiley's transcript archive https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts

--------------------------------------------

I'm going to allow reblogs on this again with the disclaimer that I don't have the full works stolen for these particular essays but the perfect body in gay culture and the good vs bad gays concepts have precedent that got flattened in those video essays and deserve quite a bit more exploration and that includes controversial sources. You will have to do some dialectical reading (agreeing and disagreeing with an author and figuring out how to weigh up the pros and cons of their individual arguments even though they get some things horribly wrong, deciding what was 'of a time' or reading the work of people who became reactionaries later in life).

[bowtiepastabitch]

.

I'm genuinely having such a moment. I saw one of those posts, really well meaning just a "I was backpacking in europe exploring all these cool cities for ten hours a day last year and now I'm disabled and can't get out of bed" and I'm just.... really sad. I never got to go backpacking in europe or explore cities and ruins on foot or anything I just skipped straight to disabled and can't get out of bed. I worked part time and then I worked full time and then I started uni and got disabled (but I'm still working because what other choice do I have). I've never left the north american continent, and the sicker I get the more expensive it gets to potentially do so because doing it cheap means doing it inaccessible. I got exhausted from walking around a grocery store today. Half my friends on instagram are in fucking Europe right now, spain or france or italy or whatever the fuck having a great time. One of the kids at the place where I teach is going on a two week london/paris vacation later this month and she's in fucking middle school. Meanwhile, I'm getting paid 8/hr to teach math and algebra and precal for parents who can afford to send their kid to a fancy tutoring center and even though I only work a couple hours a day I spend the rest of it resting and laying down and barely having the energy to scroll my tumblr dash most days. I'm so fucking tired. I pay money for doctors to tell me things I already know but if I don't then I can't prove I deserve my accommodations and even if I do I still feel like I'm fucking faking it to be lazy. I know the "1 in 3 adults in the united states has this that or the other" is supposed to make me feel less alone but instead it just makes me feel like I'm exaggerating and should be able to at least keep up with a good chunk of people my age but I just fucking can't. I can't do this. Maybe if I was fucking middle class and didn't have to work to live or if I was able bodied and could work a normal job, or if I had rich parents and could do the things I wanted without having to struggle for them things would be different but I have fought so. fucking. hard. for everything I have. I'm alive because of the work I put in to pull myself back from the edge over. and over. learning to keep myself alive until I could learn to want to be alive. working my fucking ass off to get into a good uni with a good scholarship far away from home so I could move out of my abusive household and get a good education. I've worked so fucking hard for every single thing in my life and now my body won't even cooperate and let me enjoy it and I'm so fucking exhausted. My memory's not working very well and my body gives up on moving from the couch half the time and I've got vague all over pain that never quite goes away and I can't sleep and I can't wake up and I can't talk to people without being awkward and weird and I can't save up my money and fly to europe. And because I made myself so sick in high school I've got a horrible nagging fear that it's somehow my fault in some way which is honestly maybe a worse explanation than "I'm being a whiny baby about things that a lot of people have dealt with better" and it fucking sucks. Plus I'm living with my parents for the summer because every single thing I applied to for the summer rejected me, so my mental health is wonky and I've got all kinds of little trauma things popping up from time to time but also they're getting better about some things sometimes so I feel immensely guilty to complain about them. And also they're helping pay my medical, even if it is coming out of the rent I paid to them during my medically necessitated gap year. So I again feel guilty bitching about them too much. And my car doesn't work anymore so I have to borrow or ask for a ride anytime I want to go somewhere and I don't have any close friends that live near me anymore anyway. And it doesn't matter because I'm fucking disabled and I can't do cool fun adventure shit and I can't find the energy for big creative projects and I can't fly to europe.

[intolerancecare]

Chapter ????

It's been a while since I posted an entry here in tumblr. I'm starting a new chapter in life. So far, so good. I feel productive. I like the big space at work and the smaller private place that I now have. Let's hope for the best. I ain't gonna be the best, I know so let's leave it to the weather situation of the current fate.

By the way, I saw new posts from the genius who seems to be guided by a map that I don't seem to have. Not fair. He looks like a blind man. Anyway, I think the name Aaron is the name of my grandparents' neighbour. A son of a retired photographer. The one with a travelling book like the sister's pants. The one that my father borrowed, then passed to my kuya that he said he passed to another genius and I don't know who have it now.

Aaron looks like one of our distant cousin who visits during family occasions. I find her mother beautiful. We don't always play together because I often play with my cousins, but I remember when I was seven, after my kuya has stopped teaching me how to ride a bike, he took the initiative to continue what my kuya has started. I thought maybe he'll replace him because kuya had become busy with school and his other activities. He's always busy with stuff like this. This is probably so passe for him. Another anyway again, I don't know what happened to Aaron. Somebody else is already staying at my grandparents' house. I hope they are happy. Last I've heard her sister was taking a psych course for college. Back then, when somebody says psyche, I feel kind of guilty because maybe they meant me, now, when I hear psych I get angry, they're crazy.

Now my cousin is already married and I bet he is busier than before. I wonder who my Aaron is now? Who would be like him? You see, I really can't find one around. Hey, hey stupid. I am lifting you. Don't throw stupid crumbs. It might lead me to that gingerbread house. I already witch. K?

Today is my Kuya's birthday. I think it's him who have an Aaron, a new friend maybe? K. Epal. It's not friday right?

Thank you for inspiring me to make this semi-for-him blog. I was feeling lazy lately.

I don't like the way I write today. Why?

[steamworksfairy]

Hello!!!

I'm steamworksfairy! Or Steamfairy on a03. I write fics such as The Bane of Strength, The Perfect Lie, ect. I have quite a few so feel free to check them out if you're an Arcobaleno fan! I mostly focused on Verde and Skull so you can expect me to ramble about them a lot. Also please be careful as ratings for my fics vary. If you choose to read one then read the tags and make sure you are reading one that is appropriate for you :3

I'm kinda new to Tumblr because I'm a strange creature that lives under a rock (/j). So you know currently going through the first post jitters. This is pretty much just going to be rambling a whole lot...

Anyways, I decided to start a Tumblr in order to keep readers updated on my stories. As well as interact with fellow khr fans and share all of my Verde and Arobaleno headcannons. Maybe I'll even talk about few ocs and aus I have.

I think that's it for now so I'll drop a headcannon before I go!

Headcanon:

This one is for Verde/Arco.

Okay, Verde is tall, right? Like the tallest? So he can't really steal his fellow Arcobaleno's clothes, but they can steal his. Which annoys him because he may not seem like it, but he'd like to be able to borrow their clothes and look all cute and domestic. All he has is Colonnello's jacket, but that is regularly stolen. So he's forced to quietly feel left out/envious of his fellow Arco. Until, one day at a thrift shop, he finds it! He finds an old Immortal Skull shirt from Skull's days as a famous stuntman in HIS size! Naturally, he buys it, washes it, and shows it off. When Skull sees him wearing it for the first time, he blushes so hard and showers Verde with kisses and snuggles. The other Arco, mainly Reborn, are jealous and try to steal the shirt. However, Verde refuses to give it up and protects it with his flames and a state of the art probably over the top security system.

Okay, gonna post this before I lose my nerve!

[circular-time]

Most of this makes sense to me— I realize Tumblr has always struggled to be profitable, and an unprofitable website goes away.*

I understand why you're brainstorming ways to help creators become more visible. That's a good thing. However, Tumblr's USP is the chronological timeline and users feeling in control of what they see. We've already seen the new redditors coming in and complaining that Tumblr is refusing to let them customize their feed — they're stuck in "For you" hell and can't escape it.

I can see new users starting out with that as the default, and being able to change to "Following" as their default view once they've settled in, but if you enshittify Tumblr so we keep getting dragged away from what we're here for, it's just enraging and aggravating.

Believe me, I know. I've had the bug for years where Tumblr keeps making me follow random users, and in the four of five years i've fought it, I think I've kept only one of those unwanted blogs shoved drown my throat. As a disabled user, having to scroll past extra content I'm not here for is literally a pain.

So how else can we help new users?

The number one way is to fix Tumblr search so it turns up relevant, satisfying results. That would help tremendously.

Another possibility is to borrow a page from Livejournal (and reddit) and make easier for people to create blogs or channels dedicated to specific interests, fandoms, hobbies, etc, Instead of forcing content down users throats, make it easier for them to find content.

And a third, huge possibility is to let people submit posts on their own blog to be reblogged, instead of submitting trxt/artwork to someone else's blog. this would allow newbies to get involved in drawing prompts, challenges, or to respond to invitations for different types of creations, without having to give their content to somebody else, it would bring eyeballs to their blog, and it would connect visitors who land on the "hub" blog to many others — by choice rather than brute force.

Other possibilities: give new creators blaze credits, give other people blaze credits for reblogging art/posts by new users, make a concierge/reception desk/helpdesk for new arrivals.

another note about spam — I may be wrong about this but who actually read notification emails now? Most of us are bombarded with hundreds of emails a day. It goes right into the spam folder. is that really a good use of your resources? Then again, I sank abot 10 years into SEO, and finally decided the ROI for most of it was bunk: search engines, and the way people find things on the web keep changing so you are always optimizing for the algorithm of three years ago. Instead, concentrate on making a good website with lots of good content that people can find related to their interests. 

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[valcuda]

Info Dump Part 3: Carrot Man! (Part 1)

How did it take me this long to do an info dump on Carrot Man's story?

I only really talked about him in Part 1, and I kinda forgot what I said in that despite just reading it so I wouldn't, so I'm just gonna go over everything again.

Carrot Man's IRL Origins

SGA

Carrot Man's story has it's roots in something I created in 2nd grade. It was the idea for a game that I called "Gameventure", before "Super Game Venture" and finally "Super Game Adventure" or SGA for short. (I was addicted to acronyms as a kid, hence why I called myself "TMH" TheModHead)

The only thing that really stayed the same with SGA through all the years, was that it was a flatformer, with a stickfigure as the main character.

Anyways, SGA is when it finally gets interesting, as I created some characters for it, and wanted to tell some simple stories with each game.

Here's a drawing I made with all the characters a while later. Ignore Potato Man, Carrot Man, that blue thing, and the mug, they weren't part of it at the time. (I just don't have any artwork without them) From left to right, they are: Random Facer, Eanie, Fleepy, Pinky, Bluey, Miney, Floopy, and Pencil Kid.

Anyways, one day, my sister shows me a character she created named "Potato Man", and he fit the artstyle perfectly! So I had this idea that maybe I could make a game with him, and his arch enemy would be "The Uncool Carrot", Carrot Man, whose goal was to be cooler than Potato Man, who was the coolest person in the galaxy. Carrot Man's design is basically identical to how it was when he was originally created. In this series, the SGA characters would occasionally appear, helping Potato Man defeat Carrot Man, or sometimes even being playable characters getting antagonized by Carrot Man.

Now then, for my Freshman English class, I ended up drawing a comic called "Random Facers Random Origins", which explained how Random Facer became part of the SGA crew. I have a digital remake of it that I might release, it's not very good cause I made it before I was good at writing or drawing, but some might find it interesting. (I was going to release it in this post, but Tumblr won't let me attach PDF files). (Also I forgot to mention this, but that mug appears in this comic cause one of my friends, who I had to borrow a marker from, had me create them. Their name is Rootbeer Man in the comic)

In this comic, I introduced a new character, "Magi-Facer", who was the 1-off antagonist. He's the blue thing I told you to ignore. However, I had the idea that, in the next comic, Carrot Man and Magi-Facer would team up! They'd be constantly bickering, only staying together cause of their mutual goal to defeat Potato Man.

I then realized I could have Potato Man team up with Random Facer! And then came a massive change!

Adventures of Potato Man

During my freshman year, I began developing the story more and more, and realized the "SGA Crew" weren't very interesting, so I ended up cutting them down, and focused on Potato Man!

Here's what the crew looked like after this!

Potato Man, Random Facer, Pencil Kid, Rootbeer Guy, Magi-Facer, and Carrot Man!

This version of the story is SO developed! There was an actual story with an ending to it!

I also have a TON of artwork from this era, so here it is!

(I should note that I redacted my name from the last 3, it's especially noticeable on the Space Carrot one.)

Anyways, I forgot to mention that, Carrot Man is a fucking idiot in this version of the story. He's constantly messing up, constantly bickering with Magi-Facer who's just as dumb, and seemingly can't do anything right! However, he does have a dynamic with Magi-Facer. Carrot Man is the one who comes up with ideas, like a mech or a space station, and Magi-Facer uses his magic to make it a reality!

As I developed this version of the story, I ended up focusing more on Carrot Man and Magi-Facer, cause Potato Man is completely mute. I don't know why I did that, and it's a detail that remains in the story to this day for some reason, but this made it hard to make him interesting.

So, the story ended up following Carrot Man and Magi-Facer, two villains who want revenge on Potato Man, turning good, and helping save the last of humanity.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention a critical part of the lore! And this part is still mostly canon!

Long before the events of the story, the humans sent out Voyager 1, which ended up reaching a highly intelligent race known as the "Pencils" (This was to explain Pencil kid, before turning serious.), they ended up replying, and became friends with humanity, before creating the Galactic Union, uniting other intelligent species in the galaxy. Unfortunately, humanity began to grow lazy. They all decided to stay on Earth, and they polluted the atmosphere. They asked the Pencils for help, and they gave them the tools to help themselves, but they refused. Eventually, they went to war with the Pencils, making both species go extinct, with Earth becoming inhabitable.

Fortunately, 2 Pencils survived! Pencil Kid, and Jeffery Benstalk. Rootbeer Guy found Pencil Kid, and began taking care of him, keeping him secret from everyone else. (I should note, Pencil Kid was mute as well) Jeffery Bentalk lived on an unknown planet, where he made plans to revive humanity.

The reason they hid, was due to unorganized "Space Pirates", who'd potentially kill them. They were also the people Potato Man was fighting prior to Carrot Man and Magi-Facer

Eventually, Jeffery would team up with Potato Man, and later Carrot Man and Magi-Facer as well. They'd then go onto the inhospitable Earth, and find a young child in cryo sleep, they'd then decide that Carrot Man and Magi-Facer should take care of them. They'd then try returning home, realize one of them had to stay, and Jeffery would trick them into leaving him.

End of that version of the story!

This would've been what I wrote, if it weren't for...

TheModSeries

This story is a can of worms I'm not gonna open just yet. Just know, this story let me develop Carrot Man on his own! It gave me an excuse to put him in a show I was watching, and I developed him in that show by himself!

This slowly turned Carrot Man into a serious, intelligent, and stern person. He built robots modeled after himself called "Robo-Carrots", they basically Amazon Alexa if it was an android, and this was before I even knew what those were. You'd say "Robo-Carrot!" and the nearest, non-busy one, would come running up to you, awaiting a command.

Post TMS

This intelligence meant Carrot Man didn't need Magi-Facer anymore, he was dead weight. So I scrapped him!

I then continued to develop the series, but mostly Carrot Man. He was now a genius! And the story was now meant to be a comic series again, so I had ideas for scenarios and such, most of which would never get used.

There was one character however, who actually made it to the current version of the story! One who originates from the SGA time period!

He was: THE DIGITIZER!!

His game was gonna revolve around him turning physical objects, into digital data! I absolutely LOVED his design, so I brought him back! He'd be Carrot Man arch nemesis! He was:

Proxy Swift!

It says design not final on that, but it never changed.

He was a rival scientist, wanting to kill Carrot Man... for some reason I never wrote in this version. He was part of the Space Pirates, who were now organized in this version!

His main weapon was "The Digitizer!", which would send out a beam, that would turn things into digital data, before sucking them up! I didn't develop him much in this stage...

The Adventures of Carrot Man

At some point, I realized Carrot Man was 1000x times more interesting than Potato Man, so I made him the main character.

This version of the story is very similar to the current version, in fact, the previous version of Carrot Man's story falls under this umbrella. As such, i'm not really gonna go into detail.

However, Proxy now started as Carrot Man's best friend, before the Space Pirates attacked the Space Carrot, burned Proxy, and he came back a villain, believing it was all Carrot Man's fault.

This is also the version of the story where Carrot Man burned to death!

This version of the story still had Jeffery Benstalk, and Pencil Kid. After Carrot Man burned to death on the Space Carrot, Jeffery saved him, modified his brain so he'd be hyper intelligent, and sent him back to continue his life. At the end, he'd team up with Potato Man to defeat the head of the Space Pirates, tying into TheModSeries as well! Which I've cut due to scrapping TheModSeries.

There's just one of bit of art from this period left that I want to share, a background I made for my PS Vita! (And never used cause I use default on everything for some reason)

Despite having Random Facer and Magi-Facer, this was from this era! I still really liked Random and Magi-Facer, and I'll still occasionally draw them!

---

Okay, that is a LOT more than I was expecting to write! I think I'm gonna have to make a part 2 of this, cause I'm tired of writing.

Part 2 will most likely be shorter, as I don't really have much left to talk about with Carrot Man.

Anyways, I'll see you there hopefully!

I leave you with an old drawing of Carrot Man from the "TAP" Era!

[Dreams by the Creek - Redacted Name Edition]

[nathank77]

4/22/24

2:37 a.m edited..

So after a thorough investigation of fb, you can't hide your tags if the post is public if it's someone else's post. All you can do is untag yourself.

You only have full control over your posts. I mean you have control over your tags but I know you're not removing and re-adding your tags. I tested it with my multiple fb accounts bc I had to know. I'm actually a, "victim," of the metaverse/keyword data tracking. I went on my computer and searched first name last name family reunion, bam its there. First name last name ex husband's name bam.

So If I haven't terrified you and made you think I'm a complete psychotic mess, I mean you probably were waiting for me to make this discovery. Although I'm going to be real.

You're scared of me, you think I'm a crazy stalker, that I'm insane and you prob only come to my tumblr to make sure you and your family are safe.

I probably scared the shit out of you posting about your divorce, I could only imagine. I didn't type in info to find the photos, Elise. All i typed was your first and last name and fb constantly changed what was tagged under your name... and I thought you were communicating with me bc when I searched things up about tagging and fb I couldn't find direct answers.

Anyways If you aren't scared of me, I'm sorry I lost myself. I guess I'll check your actual fb occasionally like once a month or something. Cause that never changes and generally that's all you have control over. Unless you want to untag and re-tag yourself which isn't realistic.

I feel like a fucking idiot.

Wake up by silverstein really fits right now. I can only imagine what you see when you look at me.

As of this moment i have this:

1) your pose change

2) the fact you haven't blocked me or rejected it- which could be a way to protect yourself from me...

3) it going from everyone to friends the day before i went to the brass mill mall.

4) it going from friends to everyone the day before i went to the west farms mall.

5) your bio and profile picture changing the day after I posted about your divorce from your ex husband and how it appears he left your daughters without a father. And I posted shape shift the day before.

99% of this could be circumstantial. I mean the pose the day you blocked me is a little hard to believe unless you're protecting yourself... I don't think it was circumstantial...

The friends to everyone and back I mean it could be a way to say I'm reading...

Either way my intentions were good and fb really played with me. You never did.

I hope you don't see a psychotic crazy guy you need to protect yourself from. I'm not coming for you. I wish you'd come for me though.

I don't expect anything from you. I never expect to see or hear from you again. I can only imagine how I look. Over here like this post changed. Omg you posted this. Christ I want to jump off a bridge.

The worse part is only bc I have psychosis am I beating myself up over it- I would have assumed you could control individually what shows up when someone searches you...

Yet that doesn't matter. I'm sorry I can only imagine what you see when you look at me.

I'm sure you think I'm a psychotic stalker. I'm sure you don't see me as the boy across the Webcam anymore. I'm sure at this point our eye contacts only means one thing to you- I don't see Nathan behind those eyes anymore.

I'm sorry you met me. I'm not sorry I met you. You're still a poem earth wrote to keep me alive. Although I'm sure I'll never hear from you.

"I saw the light, I went to hell

But the devil never looked my way"

"Flatlines now I've lost my tomorrow

I've paid the debt of the time I've been borrowing

Nothing can save me

There's nothing in the mirror

Now all I am is a dead reflection"

I'll assume you are protecting yourself and you think I'm insane.

All I am is a dead reflection- I went to hell (psychosis) but the devil didn't look my way- bc I only ever meant to love you even if loving you meant never knowing you.

I truly hope you're happy and I hope I didn't terrify you. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.

Goodbye Elise.

[thebrokefilipino]

Setting boundaries

[TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of suicide, depression, anxiety, and financial trauma]

To celebrate my first post here on tumblr, I'll talk about my one recent achievement that's been long overdue - setting boundaries.

"Can I borrow $"?

"Can you please find me $"?

"I promise I'll pay it back by the end of the month"

"Help me find money please"

"I don't know what do anymore"

"I'm gonna leave. I don't know what to do anymore"

"I'm begging you, help me find $"

"Fine. I'll just leave and never come back"

"I wanna kill myself"

"I'm gonna kill myself"

"Please find me $"

These are the messages I have been receiving from my mom since 2019. Even now while I'm writing this post, I'm getting texts similar to these. The worst part? It doesn't even end there. It is much much worse when she gets home. She would smack tables, walk so loudly, scream, make a show of packing bags, etc. What used to happen was that I would cave in and loan money form others under my name and my reputation. She would promise that she'd pay me back and when the due date comes one of three things happen:

Pay me back

Pay me half or less

Not pay me at all and would make me look for more money (this happens the most often)

I have lost friendships, left jobs that I loved, had bad episodes of depression and anxiety, and sacrificed my needs just to help them.

Fast forward to 2023 and I have had ENOUGH. I am now neck-deep in debt from numerous banks/persons. She knows this and guess what? She's STILL doing it to me. But like I said, I am now setting boundaries.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any more money. I can't ask anyone for money anymore because I'm not paying them back since you're not paying me back. The amount of debt I am in can affect my work and it's possible that I wouldn't be able to transfer jobs because they do a background check. I hope you understand what you did to me."

This was the last message I sent the other day. I haven't uttered a single word to them. One might say that I'm being bratty, but the amount of verbal and financial abuse that I got from my parents now outweighs the small amount of pity and patience I have for them.

They have absolutely traumatized me. Sounds of someone approaching and opening our door makes me jump. Getting notifications speeds up my heart rate. I am now TERRIFIED of (unknown) phone calls.

I refuse to let them dictate my life now. Cutting them off has been the easiest and hardest thing to do. Easy because right now I just feel numb from everything that's happening. Hard because cutting toxic relatives out of your life is not common in my culture (plus the fact that they are still my parents and I love them).

Whatever happens, I will accept. If they leave or kill themselves, I will not blame myself or anyone else. This is their fault. This is the karma they get from being horrible people.

[absurdtamsin]

Grass script key post!

As it has been requested, here it is! I will also be submitting this script to omniglot.com later, just to see if they find it interesting. 😆

I created grass script as an alternative way to write English because of two reasons: I find the Latin alphabet visually boring (if efficient...), And I prefer vertical scripts over horizontal ones. So...this 5-6 year project was started because I wanted something more aesthetically pleasing to write with, that could reflect the beauty of not only the words but also their meaning.

So I started with the question: what do I find aesthetically pleasing in writing? What kind of writing styles look like art as well as functional writing to me?

Turns out, I like curves and circles and flowing lines and writing systems that look 'organic': shapes that borrow from natural forms. I was weeding a garden and then took a walk out an abandoned grassy lot when inspiration hit: weeds and grass and other bits of light, dried wild plants being caught by the wind, and slowly drifting to the ground. The basic shapes for letters, rooted in a single, curved, downward stroke, were born then.

But I also wanted something that I could eventually learn to write relatively quickly if I wanted to, and that could be written with more than one writing tool: pen, pencil, brush, marker, stick in the dirt or sand, etc. So I decided to stick with simple curved lines, dots, circle, leaf and drops. But I also needed each letter to be recognizable at a glance, and later, distinguishable even in messy-looking clumps and combos.

Then I needed to find a distinctive 'look' for it. And it turns out the 'look' that I like the most is an awful lot like Chinese characters. Chinese characters are, however, also blocky and square, which led me eventually to one particular variation of them called 'Nushu' , a more organic and plant-like variation of it. Go check it out! It's gorgeous, and its influences on grass script are very noticeable.

But enough stalling!!! Here's the key that was requested, with additional info and tips.

First! The consonants! :

I'm sure the basic stroke used is obvious: a curved, diagonal line downward, with the distinguishing letter-features being mostly on top (with noticable exceptions) and a long stroke downward directing the flow of writing. This feature is a combination of wanting a very vertically oriented script that would lead the eyes downward, and an imitation of wild grass stems and leaves with seeds/buds or bent tips to give each letter as unique a shape as possible.

It also helps with the 'stacking' writing style, giving each letter a curve to follow by the previous one.

Stacking is not, however, the only option! Lots of letters can also 'cross' each other in certain ways:

Which in turn lends itself to part of its original inspiration: handfuls of long, wild field grasses clumped together, falling down wildly when dropped in the wind. There are obviously more letter combinations than this, but I think this illustrates the basics well enough to follow...

The vowels, by contrast, are essentially diacritics who's size and orientation can vary according to the needs and space available between consonants. It's actually not unusual for me to write out the consonants first, and add in the vowels afterwards because of their visual simplicity and variability:

'a' is simply 3 dots in a triangular formation, with how spread out or close together they group being variable.

'e' is just 3 dots aligned, again with some variability in spacing being flexible.

'i' is essentially either 'leaf' or 'drop' shaped, and can be oriented in any direction.

And 'o' and'u' being a simple circle and single dot, there isn't much variation to be had, but as a rule the single u dot tends to be larger than that of the dots of a and e.

How to fit them into good looking grass script? There are two basic ways: following the curves of stems, and 'nesting' them into the 'bends' or corners of letters and letter combinations:

Which brings us to actually writing words! As you may have noticed from the above crossing consonants, the letters stack diagonally downward in a 'top-left to down-right' fashion. As in a previous post, the general rule when reading or writing is 'left before right, top before bottom's, essentially following the flow of the stacking. Since we want to keep the writing vertical rather than letting it go diagonally ad infinitum, we need to limit the number of letters wide that any given word can go. I find that 3 is a good guideline for this, though of course this script was designed for narrowness, so it varies between words...

As you can see, the letter 'm' adds a bit of a complication to this, and therefore also adds variety of possible aesthetic shapes and flows to each word. Another good guideline is to make a point of continuing downward as much as possible in these words, even if it means you can't follow through each curved stem or use the usual 'stacking' method.

So you might end up with several possible combinations and letter placements for each word, with only aesthetic choices being the final decider...

Here's two ways to write 'grass script' as an example, with stacking and crossing choices happening in each word, as well as vowel orientation :

Only thing left is punctuation! And punctuation is where two simple features a shoved together in various ways to make lots of different marks. Two dots, and a long, straight line:

Obviously not a complete punctuation list, but because grass script was created for both aesthetic and simplification purposes, it still remains limited, with only the important being here.

Now, since tumblr mobile won't let me add any more images than 10, I'll reblog this post and add a few examples of text in the reblog.

Hope this was both informative and enjoyable! Toodles!

[nerdy-emo-royal-dad]

Just in case anyone was still waiting on that "Big writing project" I've kept up on my pinned post for a while, I'm now announcing that I've dropped it for a couple of reasons.

A) School is really really hectic now B) I'm engaging in and writing for multiple other fandoms now, which I started 'cause Sanders Sides has been a bit . . . inactive C) To borrow a TS quote, my heart's just not into it anymore.

I'm definitely still waiting on new episodes from Thomas, but while there aren't any I just can't find the inspiration (and time) to write anything for Sanders Sides. Perhaps when another episode comes out again, but no promises. I've written a nice amount of fics for the fandom. I enjoyed reading every single prompt and writing every single work. They'll forever be available on Tumblr and Ao3, but I don't think any new ones will come any time soon.

Rest assured that everything I'm doing right now are things I love doing, and I hope you guys are also doing things you love, too! Until the next episode, folks! Love ya and take care 💙🖤💙🖤.