#but in longer words

[ellierenae]

write unpublishable things. it's good for you.

[a11eya]

“hey. look at me.”

“no,” you say, looking away, hating yourself for being petty and insecure.

bakugou reaches over and cups your chin with his hand, using his fingers to gently squeeze your cheeks so your lips puff out.

“stoooop,” you say, trying to wriggle out of his grip, annoyed. he leans forward and kisses you.

you try to resist for all of two seconds before giving in, softening against him as he rubs a hand up and down your back. if you were a cat, you’d purr.

“jealous, huh?” he says, leaning back to give you a satisfied little smile.

[muddthebugg]

Star-Glitter Spires

A prompt with the words "welcome, impulse, night", I really enjoyed this one! Honestly tho, it's just a coincidence that I've posted it on Halloween, it's not necessarily themed to the holiday. Just when I finally decided to finish it!

. . . . . . . . .

Length: 1540 words

Characters: Riggnarok, Succoria

Summary: "Spires loom in the distance, grand and glittering like one has taken the stars themselves and embed them into cloud-ripping mountain flesh. It is much unlike the land from which they came."

[CW: Suicidal Thoughts, Ideation, and Intention]

"Go."

Her thralls look upon her in shock and confusion, still startled both from her abrupt presence and the foreign world they find themselves trapped in.

Spires loom in the distance, grand and glittering like one has taken the stars themselves and embed them into cloud-ripping mountain flesh. It is much unlike the land from which they came.

"I said go!" She stomps her hoof, rising to terrifying height with rumbling bellows. "I cast you thralls unto this world! I have no further use of you!"

Still they linger, widened eyes and pricked pupils flitting between her, their binds, their others, and the world beyond.

The warrior snorts in something nearing pity; it is a wonder the wretched things have built such a society for themselves in the land she has seen beyond. Not a single demon spotted amongst their masses, merely every shade of human she has ever witnessed and more. Though her pity soon gives way to frustration, and her patience runs out.

She stomps on their dragging chains, baring her dagger (how she misses the familiar helm of the Separator in her grip) and breaking the metal binds in one stroke.

"Sniveling, whimpersome things!" She snarls at them, lips curling back, "this world will welcome you as its lost children, grant you your wildest desires, now get out of my sight!"

Then, they understand. They flinch and shield their half-naked forms from her burning-marrow gaze, scattering among the strange trees and off into the night's forest. One lingers for but a moment, just long enough to look back at her with a strange stony calm. Then, with a whip of wind it turns back from her and darts off with its fellows.

When the wretched things are gone, when she is surrounded in foreign chitters and calls, she finds her head tilting back to find the stars again.

The stars. They are there in plenty, but so very strange. Boasting colors and shapes she does not recognize from any of her previous travels, or from historic tellings. She cannot see the hungry gaze of the First And Most Terrible King. She cannot see the endless swirl of the Beckoning Eye. Her soul howls for its loss, and she howls in turn.

. . .

She wanders for a small age in and of itself. Unknowing of what to do with herself. Beside the most basic things: eat, drink, sleep, and wander, she is a hollow thing.

So when she finds a cave, she figures it's as good a place as any to die. Dark, as her forebears, the First Ones, preferred it. Cold, as it was before the flame beast Ormagöden. Lonely and cast off, as her failures demanded she should be. There is none around worthy of killing her, so she will allow time to take up the job instead.

She settles herself there, shedding her armor, her bindings, until she is as naked as the moment she hatched. This is the last offering she can give, one last asking for mercy before her oblivion. May the pain in her wasting be repentance, and her final breath her only plea.

. . .

The growls of her belly echoes for the last time, giving way to deafening silence. She doesn't remember, truly doesn't know how long she has been here. She doesn't actively know much of anything outside the senses that trickle back into the furthest of all caverns.

Water, from a source nearby, except it smells...strange. Even the air, the taste comes off far more bland than she is expecting, let alone used to. And the creatures, all crying and screaming their stake on this cursed world. Some have dared to approach her cavern only to meet a sad fate; crushed into a paste in her grip and tossed out of the dark and gaping cave-maw. Unwanted visitors stopped appearing after that.

Soon she grows so weak that she can no longer stand, and she knows her time draws near.

. . .

She can hear something strange, something that disrupts the cadence of noise she had grown vaguely familiar with. After a moment, three distinct scents makes her notice. Burning fat-flesh, burning wood, and—

...and one of those wretched things. She knows who it is—The One Who Paused.

There is little left to wonder about; clearly it has come for revenge, to take the life of the Tainted Coil's greatest warrior. It is no secret the wretched things hold no sentiment for the anything of the Tainted Coil,  but to be killed by a sneaking thrall of all things would be an insult on her matriliniage, something deserving of a cloven skull.

Unfortunately, she has let herself grow weak. So when the wretched thing tries to sneak into her cavern and take her life, she holds herself upright and bares her natural weapons.

"You, wretched thing! Whimpering thrall! You dare approach me of your own right?"

Its face twitches at the sight of her, then turns to a cold expression she has seen before.

"Ha! You are either stupidly brave or immensely stupid!"

"You are my enemy's greatest warrior," it speaks like she hasn't just insulted it. "I have come to battle to you to the death for all of mankind...." It falters, staring over her frame.

"...But you look sooner ready to die."

She cannot but help a glance down to herself. Where a strong belly once was, full of strength and power to cast her voice over mountaintops, it was now concave and meek. Hollow.

"So I am. And what will you do about it?"

The tiny thing scrunches and shifts into a battling stance, holding its makeshift weapon: some strange looking dagger or spear? Either or, it was pitifully small.

"Ha!" She tosses her head, wonderfully amused. "You think that I would allow for a mere thrall to take my life?"

The warrior lowers her head, marrow-eyes glinting in the torchlight, "Perhaps I have been to lenient with you creatures, then!"

"I am no mere thrall!" It growls, stomping its cloth-bound foot upon the cavern floor. It isn't particularly effective.

"Is that so?" She peers closer, past the haze of starvation, tongue flicking. It was hard to tell humans apart regardless; they all looked the same outside of their colors. But this one... it was particularly familiar somehow.

The flame of its torch flickers wild a moment, and a flash of memory scatters across her eyes.

Ah.

"Riggnarok..."

"Hn," it lowers itself even further at the name. "even the Coil's greatest warrior has heard of little me?" It taunts her with that pitiful brittle-metal thing it boasted as a weapon.

Again she snorts, "You certainly aren't insignificant as the rest of your kind." The demon shifts back, waving at nothing.

"The Coil had to open up the Cursed Sea to get you wretched things to destroy yourselves for us." It isn't a pleasant memory for her. She can still hear Aetulia's sorrowful keens.

"Though, I suppose, a great warrior would be well worthy of killing another... so, take my life or leave me to time." Finally, she settles where she lies, exhaustion settling in like the heavy dregs of sleep.

Riggnarok pauses, startled at her words.

"Kill me. Bring honor to your wretched people, win your day." One wing flicks tiredly out to where the cave-maw looks upon the glittering spires.

"You must have seen this world by now. See how it welcomes you and shuns me. So earn it, and bring it to your peoples."

Again that squishy face folds in several places, and the thing seems displeased.

"I am almost dead," she continues, turning onto her back showing her belly, giving in, but never begging, "and it is better to go out by the bloodied hands of a warrior than by the patient hands of time... even if those hands are wretched."

Finally the thing reacts, "Hn! Perhaps for you horrid demons!" It huffs and straightens up, head low. "But there is no honor in killing you like this. Like a Razor Elk in a famine."

"You dare?" She shoots to her hooves on impulse, swaying hard to one side.

"Weak as I am, I could swat you with one gesture! Snap my teeth over your puny head and you will be no more...!"

"And yet," Riggnarok nearly whispers, "I am still here." Its arms cross, weapon set away, looking unimpressed.

"If you wish to die by my hands so badly, then we will fight. But not with you this..." It has the gall to look disgusted, "...pitiful husk of a warrior."

She flashes her fangs, not taking kind to the run of insults. Yet, even then, she concedes.

"...fine. So be it. I accept your terms."

Riggnarok hardly blinks at her before turning around and leaving the cave-maw.

The demon snorts a surprised noise, "And where are you going, Wretched Riggnarok?"

"Even those of the Tainted Coil need food, do they not?" It doesn't even bother to turn and face her as it speaks, disappearing around a bend. Only its voice echoes back, "I'll be back in a few hours."

And then its scent fades, and it's gone. She is alone again.

For a moment, Succoria thinks she misses the warmth of that small fire.

[noodles-and-tea]

OH MY GOD I NEED TO EAT YOUR ARTSTYLE, CHEW AND COMSUME IT,

Your Jayvik art means MILLIONS to me, there's something so cozy and happy about how you draw the boys that makes me want to consume more of your art MY GOD 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

All the loves to you and your art 💜💜

Thank you so much!! Please enjoy the snack!

[princesssarcastia]

oh WAIT A MINUTE we've all been getting it wrong. in a magical AU, Eliot Spencer isn't the one with healing powers or immense strength—he's the psychic.

"it's a distinctive____" no the fuck it isn't. he just KNOWS. but people get uneasy when a guy just KNOWS stuff, so eliot learned a line that keeps everybody calm, gives everybody just enough plausible deniability to keep the unease at bay.

he's always got that extra bit of knowledge to help him out. not more than he can handle, not like some kind of savant in more ways than it's possible for one human to be. nothing flashy. it's not that eliot's never lost his keys before. it's just that he always, always knows where to find them.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

FYI artists and writers: some info regarding tumblr's new "third-party sharing" (aka selling your content to OpenAI and Midjourney)

You may have already seen the post by @staff regarding third-party sharing and how to opt out. You may have also already seen various news articles discussing the matter.

But here's a little further clarity re some questions I had, and you may too. Caveat: Not all of this is on official tumblr pages, so it's possible things may change.

(1) "I heard they already have access to my data and it doesn't really matter if I opt out"

From the 404 article:

A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”

So please, go click that opt-out button.

(2) Some future user: "I've been away from tumblr for months, and I just heard about all this. I didn't opt out before, so does it make a difference anymore?"

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?” Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.”

It should make a difference! Go click that button.

(3) "I opted out, but my art posts have been reblogged by so many people, and I don't know if they all opted out. What does that mean for my stuff?"

This answer is actually on the support page for the toggle:

This option will prevent your blog's content, even when reblogged, from being shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models.

And some further clarification by the COO and a product manager:

zingring: A couple people from work have reached out to let me know that yes, it applies to reblogs of "don't scrape" content. If you opt out, your content is opted out, even in reblog form. cyle: yep, for reblogs, we're taking it so far as "if anybody in the reblog trail has opted out, all of the content in that reblog will be opted out", when a reblog could be scraped/shared.

So not only your reblogged posts, but anyone who contributed in a reblog (such as posts where someone has been inspired to draw fanart of the OP) will presumably be protected by your opt-out. (A good reason to opt out even if you yourself are not a creator.)

Furthermore, if you the OP were offline and didn't know about the opt-out, if someone contributed to a reblog and they are opted out, then your original work is also protected. (Which makes it very tempting to contribute "scrapeable content" now whenever I reblog from an abandoned/disused blog...)

(4) "What about deleted blogs? They can't opt out!"

I was told by someone (not official) that he read "deleted blogs are all opted-out by default". However, he didn't recall the source, and I can't find it, so I can't guarantee that info. If I get more details - like if/when tumblr puts up that FAQ as reported in the 404 article - I will add it here as soon as I can.

Edit, tumblr has updated their help page for the option to opt-out of third-party sharing! It now states:

The content which will not be shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models, includes: • Posts and reblogs of posts from blogs who have enabled the "Prevent third-party sharing" option. • Posts and reblogs of posts from deleted blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from password-protected blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from explicit blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from suspended/deactivated blogs. • Private posts. • Drafts. • Messages. • Asks and submissions which have not been publicly posted. • Post+ subscriber-only posts. • Explicit posts.

So no need to worry about your old deleted blogs that still have reblogs floating around. *\o/*

But for your existing blogs, please use the opt out option. And a reminder of how to opt out, under the cut:

The opt-out toggle is in Blog Settings, and please note you need to do it for each one of your blogs / sideblogs.

On dashboard, the toggle is at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/blogname [replace "blogname" as applicable] down by Visibility:

For mobile, you need the most recent update of the app. (Android version 33.4.1.100, iOs version 33.4.) Then go to your blog tab (the little person icon), and then the gear icon for Settings, then click Visibility.

Again, if you have a sideblog, go back to the blog tab, switch to it, and go to settings again. Repeat as necessary.

If you do not have access to the newest version of the app for whatever reason, you can also log into tumblr in your mobile browser. Same URL as per desktop above, same location.

Note you do not need to change settings in both desktop and the app, just one is fine.

I hope this helps!

[shhroomer]

omg kahl broflobster !?

[merrigel]

I want it back = I drag its dead weight forward

[nhyhu]

idk when this progress shot is from lol

[originalartblog]

Part one here, part two ↓

Dazai is very eager to get to work today idk...

[gay-impressionist]

france is burning.

667 people were arrested last night. they are curfews in place. public transport is partially closed at night.

nahel, a 17-year-old, was shot tuesday by the police during a traffic stop. he wasn't violent or armed, he wasn't a threat. but he broke the law and tried to drive away, so the cops killed him.

and now france is rioting.

there is a video so the government isn't trying to deny the facts for once. but the minister of the interior (in charge of the police) still insist that the police shot less people since the 2017 law on public safety.

but an analysis of police statistics by Le Monde, the most read newspaper in france, says otherwise. when the police shot on average 250 people each year in the five years prior to 2017, that number became 297 after 2017. for shots fired specifically on moving vehicles, the average used to be 119 and it's now 150. before 2017, there was an average of 0.06 deaths per shot. now it's 0.32.

more than ever, the police shoots to kill.

so france is burning.

[twentyonefirstmates]

i just cannot stop thinking of jon trying so hard to grieve for the real elias after he Finds Out because elias died scared and alone to the same power that destroyed jon, because elias was also forced to watch his own body become entirely alien to him as he became Something Else, because elias and jon have both been tortured and Changed by the same man, because jon might be the only person in the world who understands what happened to him and is definitely the only person in the world who cares.

But also, jon can't think of elias' face without having to choke back a scream, cant utter elias' name without wanting to cry, cant think about elias' body without the feeling of being watched, worms burrowing into his skin, the agony of not being able to remember his friend's face, his mind being broken, hellish flames on his hand, falling from a great height, a knife against his windpipe, plastic fingers against his skin, dying, coming back wrong, darkness beyond everything hes ever known, dirt in his lungs, losing everyone hes ever loved, strings controlling his every move. He cant grieve for elias without grieving for himself. And he know, he knows, he Knows that none of it was ever elias' fault. Elias was just some poor stupid idiot who ended up in an evil place and had his life stolen by an evil man, just like jon. Jon knows elias never actually did anything to him, but he cant forgive him for the things done by his body. He wants to grieve, he tries to grieve, he does grieve. But he can never grieve properly for the man who was lost because he is inseparable from the man who took him.

[canisalbus]

What if I told you that RoobrickMarine went and wrote an entire novella starring my 16th century dog couple? It's very canon-adjacent, well researched and thoughtfully put together, has inspired me a ton during these past months and it's now publicly available at AO3. I highly recommend it.

✦ Separation ✦

[dredgesnails]

everyone keeps going wow i can't believe mumbo is so suspicious of the two most loyal life series members but you also have to remember his life series experience so far has been grian threatening and then succeeding to kill him while the southlanders fall apart and then dying to lava while butlering for grian and falling off a cliff because he was upset about a tower building contest that grian had a hand in and then dying to the warden that grian and etho brought to the surface. so like. he's not had the best track record

[okthisway]

[ping-ski]

hihi!! i got the COOLEST opportunity to be a spot artist for @LMKFanzine aka Megapolis Mania! and guess what? LEFTOVER SALES ARE OPEN NOW!

run along now and go check it out! we all worked super hard on it <3 https://lmkfanzine.bigcartel.com