#for some the term is interchangeable

[starry-bi-sky]

how do you clone a fey? that's trick question; and fey love those!

@the-navistar-carol (<333) brought up a good point while I was talking about my changeling danny au with her -- Dani! How would she exist in this au? Danny's a changeling - a fae. How would Dani, a clone of him, be created? How do you make a fey? Not through any means that Vlad is doing; you can't make a fey through unnatural means, considering the Fair Folk are nature. And Vlad's not a fey himself -- he's a halfa, even if he could make a fey, it's not in his best interest too. He's a powerful ghost, but even the weakest fae can overpower the strongest ghost. He won't want a clone of Daniel to be more powerful than him.

(In a three tier hierarchy it goes Ancients -> Fae/Mythos -> Ghosts. They all live in the Infinite Realms, but on different Planes. The fae live above the Ghost Zone in the Fey Wild, while the Mythos live beside the Wilds or down in the ghost zone depending on where they are. Places like the Frozone, the Athens Acropolis, and other such large islands climb throughout all three Planes.)

(While Ghosts can travel into the Fey Wild, its generally advised against as the ectoplasm tends to manifest differently there due to close contact magic. It can make it rather disorientating for a ghost, and as human spirits, the Fae living there would jump them faster than they could blink. So unless you're willing to play mind games with 'steal thy name eat thy face' fae, most ghosts keep out of the way of the Wilds. Fey can travel down into the Ghost Zone, they just don't bother.)

That's of course, not taking into account if Vlad even knows Danny's a fae himself. Vlad doesn't ring me as someone who really cares much about ghost culture or the going ons of the GZ. He might be aware that fae exist, but the moment he realizes he can't use them for personal gain he just doesn't bother with them. The risk is greater than the reward, and he'd rather not get eaten. But lets assume he's aware by now that Danny is fey, and has to take that into account while cloning him.

So, how does Dani exist? Good question! Honestly; i'm not sure. She might not exist at all, or if she does, she's more halfa than fey. Vlad would need a lot of human dna and ectoplasm to balance out all that fae magic. He manages to steal DNA from Jack and Maddie to do it, and since Jack's fey ancestry is very dormant its much easier to use alongside Danny's DNA.

In turn, it results in a little girl whose more human-ghost hybrid than clone. With that little extra boost in fey magic making her not a fey, but still relatively powerful. Dani is less of a clone and more of a lab-grown little sister. It's a rather tedious, complex process that has Vlad tearing his hair out trying to figure out. But he does eventually figure it out.

[a-polite-melody]

I’ve seen this “anti-transmasculinity theory is rooted in Black feminism while transandrophobia isn’t” pop up a few times lately. Where is that coming from? And why do people think trying another word, even one supposedly backed up by something, is going to change how people are viewing the conversation, as if we haven’t tried that before?

[lunamay3]

I’m aromantic because I don’t experience sexual attraction. And I’m asexual because I don’t experience romantic attraction.

Anyone who has an issue with that can just deal.

[princessponies]

Tagging what region you're from is not necessary but feel free to.

[rxttenfish]

dont get me wrong, i hate the trend of villain backstory movies and shit just as much as anyone else, but i swear i have yet to see anyone talk about them and why theyre bad that doesnt just default to "some people are just ontologically evil and trying to understand why evil happens or what justification leads people to evil actions, let alone treating those who do evil acts as people as much as anyone else, is a farce and evil people are just subhuman who must be punished for it."

like. have you considered maybe its just that theyre bad because theyre continually bloating old IPs instead of taking risks on new ones, and weakening what came before for it. maybe we can go for this as an explanation, that its messy storytelling driven from profit, before we start going for "theres simply a class of people who are evil and whom you, dear viewer, will Never Be, Assuredly."

[marzipanandminutiae]

Hot Take

museums should label 19th-century women’s clothing primarily by formality (except in the case of garments with specific purposes, eg. “cycling costume” or “nightgown”), not by the 10,000 different terms they might be called at the time

my reasoning is that the current hodgepodge of terms, while technically accurate to the period:

1. reinforces the myth that middle- or upper-class women used to always change their dresses many times a day No Matter What, rather than what seems to me the primary-source-supported reality- that they changed situationally, as necessary

2. promotes unnecessary disconnect between the past and the present. we have varying degrees of clothing formality today, just without specific terms for each one. they had garments that could serve for multiple purposes and be dressed up or down with accessories back then. but because we don’t talk about an “afternoon dress” vs. a “ball gown” and they didn’t talk about the dress code for a party being “nice casual” vs. “dressy.” there’s this false idea that our systems of clothing changes/formality are Totally Different. which is really not the case, I think

3. even they couldn’t agree on what to call each individual outfit! I’ve seen fashion plates in magazines where the textual description and the label on the image give the same dress different names

this post brought to you by: Marzi Has Seen Too Many Gowns Labeled “Evening Gown” On Museum Websites Apparently For Their Formality When In Truth They Do Not Have The Single Factor That Usually Made A Dress Strictly For Evening At The Time (namely, revealing more skin about the chest and arms) And Therefore Would Have Stood Just As Well For Formal Daytime Events

[dullanyan]

(this poll is mostly about wheat-based pasta/noodles, but it can be including egg or rice or bean, etc noodles if you want!)

i know it can depend on the dish you want it for in some cases, but for the sake of the poll lets just go with your most preferred texture!

[zerohallows]

Task 11 — The Comment Section: Write ten comments your character has left around the Internet.

Featuring Aspen & Skye Hallows

[kaurwreck]

That's not how war crimes work. Fukuzawa was not a combatant or within any command structure. War crimes are also instruments of international law— Fukuzawa assassinated only Japanese leaders.

Mori, meanwhile, was committing unusual acts of torture on members of his own unit. He didn't commit any war crimes within the jurisdiction of international law necessarily, assuming he didn't do the same to foreign combatants or civilians, but framing him as a doctor who "served in the military" to contrast his behavior with Fukuzawa's assassinations is narratively dishonest.

(I'm also not sure how any of it is bizarre— Mori was weapons trafficking as an underground doctor, and the Agency is extrajudicial by design.)

Yeah it’s bizarre the Port Mafia is ran by a Doctor, albeit an underground one and the Agency by a former assassin. But I find it so much funnier to recall that Mori served in the military while Fukuzawa was off committing war crimes.

[darkandstormydolls]

PSA to all historical fiction/fantasy writers:

A SEAMSTRESS, in a historical sense, is someone whose job is sewing. Just sewing. The main skill involved here is going to be putting the needle into an out of the fabric. They’re usually considered unskilled workers, because everyone can sew, right? (Note: yes, just about everyone could sew historically. And I mean everyone.) They’re usually going to be making either clothes that aren’t fitted (like shirts or shifts or petticoats) or things more along the lines of linens (bedsheets, handkerchiefs, napkins, ect.). Now, a decent number of people would make these things at home, especially in more rural areas, since they don’t take a ton of practice, but they’re also often available ready-made so it’s not an uncommon job. Nowadays it just means someone whose job is to sew things in general, but this was not the case historically. Calling a dressmaker a seamstress would be like asking a portrait painter to paint your house

A DRESSMAKER (or mantua maker before the early 1800s) makes clothing though the skill of draping (which is when you don’t use as many patterns and more drape the fabric over the person’s body to fit it and pin from there (although they did start using more patterns in the early 19th century). They’re usually going to work exclusively for women, since menswear is rarely made through this method (could be different in a fantasy world though). Sometimes you also see them called “gown makers”, especially if they were men (like tailors advertising that that could do both. Mantua-maker was a very feminized term, like seamstress. You wouldn’t really call a man that historically). This is a pretty new trade; it only really sprung up in the later 1600s, when the mantua dress came into fashion (hence the name).

TAILORS make clothing by using the method of patterning: they take measurements and use those measurements to draw out a 2D pattern that is then sewed up into the 3D item of clothing (unlike the dressmakers, who drape the item as a 3D piece of clothing originally). They usually did menswear, but also plenty of pieces of womenswear, especially things made similarly to menswear: riding habits, overcoats, the like. Before the dressmaking trade split off (for very interesting reason I suggest looking into. Basically new fashion required new methods that tailors thought were beneath them), tailors made everyone’s clothes. And also it was not uncommon for them to alter clothes (dressmakers did this too). Staymakers are a sort of subsect of tailors that made corsets or stays (which are made with tailoring methods but most of the time in urban areas a staymaker could find enough work so just do stays, although most tailors could and would make them).

Tailors and dressmakers are both skilled workers. Those aren’t skills that most people could do at home. Fitted things like dresses and jackets and things would probably be made professionally and for the wearer even by the working class (with some exceptions of course). Making all clothes at home didn’t really become a thing until the mid Victorian era.

And then of course there are other trades that involve the skill of sewing, such as millinery (not just hats, historically they did all kinds of women’s accessories), trimming for hatmaking (putting on the hat and and binding and things), glovemaking (self explanatory) and such.

TLDR: seamstress, dressmaker, and tailor are three very different jobs with different skills and levels of prestige. Don’t use them interchangeably and for the love of all that is holy please don’t call someone a seamstress when they’re a dressmaker

[doomvoidjelly]

people can be aromantic and not asexual. People can be asexual and not aromantic. Holy shit I wish people didn’t use those terms interchangeably.

this applies to real life, of course, but I see people in fandom do this all the time. A character can be aromantic coded and not asexual coded and vis versa. not every aspec coded character is aroace and I wish more people recognized that some characters are better read as aroallo

[sabertoothwalrus]

some of you have to get a lot better at not reblogging stolen artwork.

Even if it's credited, that doesn't rule out if art has been posted without permission, which is REALLY important nowadays with the rise of AI. If you claim to be against AI because it steals from artists, then you can't be ok with regular old art theft.

Personally, the main reason *I* don't like my art getting reposted is because I lose control over what happens to it. People are less likely to find the links to my store (and right now, every purchase counts), someone else might steal and it repost it somewhere else, and on top of that, now I have to worry about my art getting AI scraped because someone uploaded to some other website.

Sure, plenty of artists are ok with reposts. but for the time being, I think it's safer to avoid reblogging artwork that wasn't posted by the artist themself.

(and an obligatory reminder for those who aren't aware: "reblogging" is the built-in way to share art on tumblr, and a "repost" is uploading the artwork onto an entirely new post. these terms are NOT interchangeable.)

[prokopetz]

I'm sure this is one of those "your experience is not universal" things, but I find that, while various terms for penises are more or less interchangeable in prose, I wouldn't use them to describe the same things in art. An artist who draws dicks is fundamentally not working within the same idiom as an artist who draws cocks, whose work is in turn is distinct from an artist who draws peckers, and so forth. Some artists draw plain old penises, to which no colourful nomenclature need apply – and sometimes, if you're very lucky, you'll bump into an artist who draws what can only adequately be described as a schlong.

[lizardsfromspace]

One of the interchangeable ghouls running in 2024 is talking up his plan to tie voting rights to passing a civics test & it's amazing watching people discuss this in neutral terms

A lot of the response to this is "oh, that's great, next let's restore civics education in schools", but the entire point is that they're not going to improve civics education. The age range gives a hint: this is a ploy to disenfranchise young voters, by, presumably, demanding they pass a test the state won't train them for in order to get rights granted by the states. It's like saying "oh, yes, literacy tests for voting makes sense, it'll really inspire the South to educate black people". It uh. Didn't. And I think many of the people agreeing know that and support it bc it's disenfranchising, but some seem to just agree bc it's "COMMON SENSE" and they're not digging any deeper?

This would be a civics test authored by a far right administration, to be clear. The tests we give immigrants are already propagandistic nonsense, imagine that in the hands of the "slavery taught people valuable skills" crowd

Also, his amendment would allow young people who can't pass the test to vote if they join the military. This is a "service guarantees citizenship" amendment

[drchucktingle]

autistic expression in a neurotypical art gallery

this morning i thought i would talk about AUTHOR VOICE specifically when it comes to AUTISM. as autistic author i have learned to turn the dial up and down when writing characters. rose from CAMP DAMASCUS is basically exactly where i rest on spectrum and this shows in a few ways

in roses internal monolog you will see that she uses phrases like ‘my friend’ to talk about folks where neurotypical buckaroos might just use first name. or with her parents she will think of them in FIRST NAME instead of ‘mom’ or 'dad’. this is way many autistic buds THINK

to explain this trot I will say it is not a way of disrespect or anything like that, it is simply that these terms are TECHNICALLY all correct and interchangeable. socially, autistic buds often learn to mask by pinpointing WHEN to use these words that logically the same to us.

in CAMP DAMASCUS i left these things in to create character, but if you go back in my writing you will see it. in TINGLERS this is because they are honest in PUNK ROCK way. unfiltered expressions. in earlier novels its admittedly just because i did not realize it was unusual yet

point is, ROSES internal dialog in camp damascus is neurodivergent and i CHOSE not to change her thought process in this way, because we are BOTH autistic. this can be a risk because some neurotypical buckaroos will read it and just think ‘what a strange way. this is bad writing’

camp damascus reviews are actually very good it is a very well received book by any measure, but you will see some folks kind of making fun of these traits (i do not think they would do this if they knew it was authentic autistic way BUT we cannot educate EVERYONE on this trot)

POINT IS i am now faced with an artistic choice in later books. do i write with my AUTISTIC voice even though some neurotypical readers find it awkward? in technical sense some readers WILL think each book is better if i eliminate my autistic tendencies in later edits

my advice is this: character voice IS SO IMPORTANT, but a big part of writing is finding the place between YOUR voice and your CHARACTER voice where both are authentically existing in some way. like acting, you are always bringing something of yourself even when you 'disappear'

when writing BURY YOUR GAYS i did not plan to make misha on the spectrum, but misha is part of me and i am on the spectrum. what i have realized over time is that ALL OF MY CHARACTERS will have these traits in some way because i wrote them, and i will never disappear completely

so when edits came for BURY YOUR GAYS and misha, i took that dial and i turned it farther towards neurotypical than i did with rose, BUT I DID NOT TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY. in literal sense, i left some of those ‘my friends’, because i will always bring MY VOICE to my art as well

i am proud of being on the spectrum. while my voice may not hit every convention of ‘good writing’ it is authentically ‘MY writing’ and i think that is more important than any outside checklist for ‘correct literary expression’. and guess what THE RESULTS ARE IN, MY BOOKS DO WELL

so if you are an artist getting feedback or reviews, consider which parts you can LEARN FROM and grow and change, and which parts are just AUTHENTICALLY YOU. because while your honesty may defy conventions and seem unusual to some folks, IT IS OFTEN WHAT MAKES YOUR ART SING

feel free to turn that dial marked 'YOUR TRUE VOICE' up and down when it makes sense. i do this all the time. but i have long since decided i will never turn that dial OFF completely. your voice is your POWER buckaroo, dont be afraid to sing with it

[euniexenoblade]

I've said it before, but as a bitch that knew/was friends with multiple of the "original" "baeddels," the fact that term is still around is weird because it's not remotely used like they used to use it. Some trans woman gets called a baeddel and I look at her blog and her politics will be nothing like the baeddels, or dorks call girls baeddel and "terf" interchangeably but those are two specific ideologies that have nothing in common.

The ideology of those baeddels doesn't even really exist anymore, so few people actually remember what it actually was, now most people just know it either as a slur or the post nothorses wrote up that's full of half truths or outright lies that are sourced back to his own articles he wrote other places and terf blogs from long after the groups implosion.

But transandrodorks need to keep this idea of the baeddel alive. They need everyone to believe in the all encompassing tranny that hates transmascs more than anything, that somehow is simultaneously a terf AND supports trans women, that somehow infiltrated the ENTIRE LGBT community, cuz the minute that facade falls people would realize they're just cyberstalking, harassing, misgendering, policing, and attacking trans women. These same people who are so scared of the "baeddel" themselves preach "sex based oppression" and accuse trans women of being sexual predators and constantly use the word "degenerate" to describe trans women - nevermind that each of those things are terf and Nazi oriented ideologies. "But it's in an effort against the dreaded baeddel!!" They also preach forms of transphobia transmasc and transfem both go through, just to then say "this is a transmasc specific issue and no one's talking about it" when people *do* talk about it and have been for years and years and years you just refuse to read it cuz it's feminism and not super manly oppression or whatever and by reading it you'd have to acknowledge your current ideology is misogynistic.

None of these dudes scared of the "baeddel" have ever actually met someone with that ideology. It's just a stand in for "trans woman I hate," or better yet, if you replace their useage of baeddel with "faggot," you find that the meaning of their words doesn't change. And that gets to the crux of it. We talk often about the bully shifting his vernacular to get away with it, or about bullies getting into social justice and just recreating the bullying using the words of the oppression dynamics - and this is what it looks like. Dudes punching women and when called on it "uh she hates transmascs" like, even if that were true, that doesn't make your actions ok. You're still a bigot.