#have a readmore function and tag us!

[say-duhnelle]

Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck youuuuuuuu

Hello, Tumblr. 

If you joined us before November 2022 and predominantly post on web, you will be familiar with the two post editors—the legacy editor and the “new” web editor (formerly known as the “Beta editor”).

Beginning May 15, we’ll gradually be working to remove the legacy editor as an option for creating new posts. New posts created on web will be created in the new web editor. We hope to complete this change by July 15. 

This change only affects accounts created before November 2022. Newer accounts already default to the new web editor.

This will not affect posting on the apps because we switched to this new editor on the apps about four years ago. If you use the apps, you’ve been using the new editor all this time!

This will not affect what you can include in a post, only how you get there: You can still include all the different types of media in a post, only now, you’ll do that via the new web editor’s content blocks instead of selecting a post type from the post type bar at the top of your dash. So, if you’re halfway through a text post, and you decide that what this post really needs is your pet reptile, then click on the little red image icon in the post editor, select an image, and voilà. Lizard boy steals our hearts.

If you still prefer to post on web using the legacy editor, please keep reading because the rest of this post is for you.

How can you prepare for this change?

Once we have completed this update, you won’t be able to create posts using the legacy editor. You will be able to edit posts made using the legacy editor, at least for now. 

Start using the new web editor ahead of the switch. This will help you help us troubleshoot any issues you might encounter. It’ll also mean you’ll already know the ropes before the switch is final. 

Talk to us. Send us feedback. Especially if you’re switching from legacy to the new web editor. We want to hear about your experience: Are there any specific workflows or features in legacy that you want to see in the new editor?      

If you use a theme, make sure to check whether it supports posts made using the new web editor, and update it if that’s not the case. 

For those of you trimming reblogs: @rpschtuff has created an incredibly detailed master post that gets into the nitty gritty of that practice in the new web editor.

XKitters: XKit Rewritten was explicitly designed with the new web experience in mind. This means that you will need to use XKit Rewritten when creating posts in the new web editor.

That’s all for now. Remember, you can always get in touch with us. If it’s regarding the new web editor, then Support is the place for you. If it’s about something else, @wip is your guy.

[corrodedbisexual]

The ultimate shadow ban survivor guide

I've seen multiple people I follow, or their mutuals affected by shadow bans lately (makes me wonder if it's @staff's attempts to fight bots going totally haywire). As someone who survived a 2-month-long shadow ban on my main this winter, I thought I'd make a post.

First step of being shadow banned: calm down and take a breath. A shadow ban is just a stupid glitch in tumblr's anti-spam system. You're not losing your blog. You're gonna need a whole lot of patience, and deal with inconveniences, but it's fixable.

Read the incredibly useful post All About Shadowban by @that-damn-girl. It outlines the symptoms quite well. The only thing I'd point out is "your original posts won’t be visible to your followers either" - afaik that doesn't happen. Everything you post and reblog will still be visible to your followers, and also they can interact with your posts - like them, reblog them, reply to them.

Just like the post says, contact support. I recommend using a different email than what your banned blog is registered to; not because your ticket won't go through (mine actually did, as I found out when they finally replied), but because you might not receive an email confirmation for your ticket (it's somehow tied to the anti-spam thing, I think), and you're going to worry and try to send more tickets, like I did.

Now wait. And wait, and wait, and wait. They are SLOW. I've seen some miraculous 1-day unbans in the #shadow ban tag, but most people, like me, wait around a month for support to reply. Those are the same guys going through thousands of bot reports every day in addition to user tickets.

If you're going to wait, might as well keep blogging. Now if this is your sideblog that's shadow banned, consider yourself lucky. Make a new temporary sideblog, use it to post your original stuff so it goes into tags (mind that it might take a few days for a new blog to start showing up in tags). Reblog everything to your shadow banned blog so you still have all content in one place and your followers see it. If it's your main that's banned, you can still do that, but there's the extra pain of not being able to reply to posts or send non-anon Asks, since that is only done from main. Might need to register a separate account for that.

Some more fun facts under readmore.

Fun fact #1

Trying to send support follow-up emails in the request confirmation email isn't going to do anything to speed up the process. But I did tweet at them using this tumblr support summoning picture by @cornmayor and offered a raccoon blood sacrifice to resolve my issue when it was like a month with no response. This is what they replied.

3 hours later I got an email that my shadowban was lifted. I honestly don't know if it was a coincidence, but I mean, this is tumblr staff. Maybe they do accept blood sacrifices.

Fun fact #2

If you're wondering why my shadow ban lasted 2 months if I got a support reply after 1 month, well. It's hard to say exactly how their ban/unban system works bc support replies exclusively with pre-written template sentences, but basically they fucked up. The first time they told me my blog has been restored, I gained pretty much all functions back, except that my posts were still not appearing in tags. Which means probably that being hidden from tags is some kind of different flag on your blog that they forgot to remove. So I had to send a follow-up ticket and wait another month.

My advice is, when they tell you it's fixed, don't take that at face value, go and check all the functions you'd lost (replies, messaging, asks, tagging, appearing in notes, getting mentioned by others).

[percy-and-rachel-events]

[ID: Perachel Bingo July 28th to August 3rd. A 3x4 bingo square with the following prompts: Underwater Kiss, Names Have Power, "Rachel was so much easier to be arorund than some other girls I knew," Tag: Good (Girl)Friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Beach Date, Hairbrush, Meeting the Family, High School. Oracle & Greek god AU, Protectiveness/Comfort Person, "She looked like a million drachmas," and Restoring the Wild. Underneath the bingo square is the note: works with Percy and Rachel's platonic friendship are welcome.]

More info below:

This event is open for any type of fanwork: fanfics, fanart, mood boards etc! Anything you can think of that you make/compile yourself.

The ao3 collection to add your works is here. In case the link doesn't work: Perachel Bingo Week 2024 (Perachel_Bingo2024)

This event is also open to people who ship Percy and Rachel romantically, or prefer them to be friends. As such, there are prompts that can be interpreted or easily altered to fit romantic or platonic means. For example beach date could be a romantic date or just Percy and Rachel hanging out as friends. Another example, the tag "Good Friend Rachel" can be used platonically while the tag "Good Girlfriend Rachel" can be used romantically.

If you want your work to be featured on this blog, tag me (@percy-and-rachel-events), and make sure your content follows the rules: 1. the focus must be on Percy and Rachel, 2. no Percy and/or Rachel bashing and 3. any nsfw content must be tagged and hidden below the readmore function.

Timeline for the event:

Prompts posted: June 9th, 2024

Creation period: June 9th - July 27th, 2024

Posting period: July 28th - August 3rd, 2024

Ao3 Collection closes/end of event: August 10th, 2024.

I'm leaving the ao3 collection open an extra week just in case there's anyone scrambling to finish after the event technically ends.

If you have other questions, you can check the F.A.Q. here, or drop me an ask! My inbox should be open.

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

Don't want to be that person but Rabbit is a great writer and their werewolf stories are hugely intriguing. But people scrolling the tag are complaining on discord etc about having to wade through long walls of text when Rabbit posts. And it's a damn shame because their stories are great. I get tired sometimes of the usual x reader stuff. The supernatural stuff Rabbit writes scratches that itch. But the style of posting is killing interest. I don't know if you can have a word in their ear or something. If they modelled their posting format on yours pretty sure they'd gain readers if Rabbit just used readmore function. I know some writers who post long fic without readmore and argue that its to attract readers by having the story out full length but seriously it's not working. People will block on sight just to not have that blog in the tags 😔

I’ll see if I can show her. She’s in a different country and her app automatically converts to “read more” after a certain length.

But I know she’s only received one inquiry about this which is how I found out about the “read more.” So instead of complaining on discord, why aren’t people trying to help her? I am saying that in the nicest way but text makes it impossible to decipher a tone. I mean, I’ll talk to her and see if her app has the same options as mine but people should have gone to her with screenshots or something. Thank you for letting me know.

@lazyneonrabbitt

[mika-0730]

I've been doing a bunch of thinking around a lot of things since starting my leave and thought it was time to make a new intro post after slightly changing up my URL and thinking about who "I" am.

Intro time!!

I'm Mika! 30s poly transbian (she/her)! This blog will be NSFW, so keep that in mind when following/viewing. I'm typically kinda noisy, happy-go-lucky and klutzy, a failwife office lady who loves to make delicious food and gets easily flustered. I'm the type who could help lead a ransomware recovery event, but can also forget what i had for breakfast and can barely function on a day to day basis.

Content will be explicitly for ladies and enbies (and whatever Identity you have between those), men are welcome to hang out but don't be weird or you'll get a block.

I lean more femme x femme and t4t, but can be a good bit flexible around that.

I'm a Switch, though I'm unsure if domme or sub leaning, depends on my mood. Definitely top leaning, but not opposed to bottoming for people i trust. Haven't had many opportunities for that, so i can't say whether i do or don't love it.

This blog will be my main one, including general NSFW content. Lots of art, cooking, titties, and things i find relatable. I'm chronically disabled with fibromyalgia and a few injuries, so you'll probably see some posts around that as well.

I do have thoughts on a lot of the hot topic trans rights, sexuality, and gender things, but i probably won't talk about them too much. My general philosophy is i won't judge you for them, and i hope we can be civil around what we agree and disagree on.

If i unfollow you, it's me saying "i think we're cool but I'm not a big fan of the things you post for one reason or another. Still down with having you around"

If i softblock you, it's me saying "i think you're fine but not a person i really wanna be around. If you wanna follow me back you can, but i might not interact with you too much"

If i block you, you can eat shit and fuck off.

If we're mutuals, feel free to ask for my discord, flirt, send me a random message, down for all kinds of interactions with friends (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

I have a side blog for more personal NSFW talk, and heavier kinks, but I'm not sharing that one. You'll know it when you see it, and if you really want it I'm not opposed to giving it out to certain people

@screams-of-the-siren is my vent blog now, where I'm going to try and keep my diary like readmores and frustrations

You may come across my alter, @one-moof-too-few , who's still generally developing. They've been through a hard time getting me to a safe place over the past near two decades, but they're generally friendly if a bit distant.

Tags ever growing, but below

#Relatable!!! - things that i find relatable

#art - art i like

#cuties - people i find cute

#my loves - my absolute favorites, the ones i would do almost anything for and would let do so many things for me

#mikachuuuu 💗💗 - Hatsune Miku art

#Lewd Posts - stuff i find NSFW. More sex based rather than nudity, but poses can make a massive difference in my thoughts

#Tech tips - things i find useful

#capitalism is a disease - politics tag. Some flavor of communist, can get along with anarchists okay, but if you're a Rep, Dem, or a libertarian you can fuck off. Certified genocidal joe and nancy "let them eat ice cream" hater, and no I'm not voting for a genocidal maniac who made me seek asylum from Texas while in full control of the house, Senate, and Whitehouse.

#Silicon Valley can eat my ass - the tech news i absolutely hate, typically around startups and capitalism based tech

#Tech Tips - things i find useful in technology, especially around accessibility

#i should remember this - shit i should definitely remember, wherever it being motivational or advice, that i definitely will not

#chronic pain

#fibromyalgia

[chenziee]

There have been many posts like this but my two cents for people coming here from twitter and who've never used this hell site (affectionate):

Reblog content, likes or replies don't do anything to spread the posts because there is no algorithm for your dash (THANK GOD)

You can make as many sideblogs as you want if you want to separate your interest so your followers from the hello kitty fandom aren't subjected gore and body horror (this is entirely up to you tho, there are both the people who throw all their posts on one blog and the people who have 4729 hyper-specific blogs)

Use tags for your ORIGINAL posts to show up in searches

You can also use tags to help organise your blog (you can search by said tag on blogs) and so people can filter them if they need to (ESPECIALLY triggers and spoilers - for these, try to use a generaly accepted tag and not something unique to you to make other people's lives easier)

Also put compliments and just ramble in tags if you want, overwhelming majority of creators read them and they make them stupid happy

On desktop, @new-xkit-extension is your best friend

Pornbots are tumblr's "looking for a part time job?" and they're a part of the package. Just report, block, and ignore

You can hide your likes and who you follow from people visiting your blog in user settings

You can also manage filtering, set if you want to see "sensitive" content (marked with community labels), notifications, if you want people to see if you're online, manage your blocklist and a bunch of other stuff in user settings - I recommend you take the time and look through everything in there

There is no spoiler/blur image option but you can use the read more/keep reading function (on mobile, just put :readmore: on its own line)

[queenpolyweek]

QUEEN POLYWEEK 2023: COMING TO YOUR CITY!

Welcome to the annual event of poly!Queen featuring our favourite Brits as special guests. No entry fee, no small print. Just a celebration of your creative outpour!

WHEN AND WHERE?

From 5th through 8th May! (Fri-Mon)

Post your fanfic to our Ao3 collection Queen Poly!Week 2023 and @ us on tumblr on any of your creations so we can reblog and share! Additionally, you can use the tag #QueenPolyWeek2023.

WHO IS WELCOME?

Anyone! We applaud any form of artistic creation and will take a good look at all of the entries. Fanfic, art, mood boards, edits, playlists, you name it. You have an old sketch you’d like to include? Do! A fic idea miraculously fitting one of the prompts? Share! Write an epic or a haiku, we’ll love both! As long as it focuses around polyamorous Queen, it’s welcome here.

Note: if you would like to stay anonymous during the event, worry not. We’re here to answer any (further) questions in our inbox, respecting your boundaries. Ao3 and tumblr Asks both have an anonymous function, easy to be utilised. Discreetness is a given.

Find this quick guide on how to post anonymously on Ao3. If you prefer tumblr, you can always DM us and we will share your creations on your behalf, top secret.

WHAT IS POLY?

We want the event to be respectful towards all, which means being mindful of the nature of polyamorous relationships. That being said, any pairing that includes three or more partners is more than welcome. See more information and guidance, kindly provided by last year’s organisers.

Our rule: your work must circle around a minimum of one of the Queen boys.

OT4 is a classic. But it’s not a must.  Feeling ambitious and you’re good at juggling multiple characters at the same time? Throw in the roadies and maybe even canon lovers and see where that wild road leads you. Or maybe you’re more of a OT3 person. If you want to write a Dom/Debbie/Roger, you totally can. Draw that Brian/Tim/Crystal you've been thinking about for ages now. It’s called niche for a reason.

However, be mindful of your audience. Focus lies on Queen and the entourage.

Note: platonic or friendly themes are naturally as strongly encouraged as romantic ones. Give us a solid poly narrative to feast on and we’re sold.

PROMPTS?

You bet. We have fashioned a few amazing categories into prompts for each day, there to inspire or give direction if you're lost for ideas. Follow them, don’t follow them, combine different days or all six at once — the world lies at your feet.

Day 1: Fri, 5th May

London/Trident Studios

When you’re young and you’re poor and you’re crazy

Style: Urban fantasy

Poly prompt: Last one to join

Hanahaki disease*¹ AU

Moving a piano

*¹ need a crash course in Hanahaki disease to refresh your memory?

Day 2: Sat, 6th May

Countryside/Ridge Farm Studio

Couldn’t sleep at night ‘til you were mine

Style: Magical realism

Poly prompt: Polyamory negotiations

Bakery AU

Getting sunburnt

Day 3: Sun, 7th May

Munich/Musicland Studios

We’ll give you grounds for divorce

Style: Cyberpunk

Poly prompt: Feeling left out

Zombie/(Post-)Apocalypse AU

Receiving flowers

Day 4: Mon, 8th May

Montreux/Mountain Studios

We went to Bali, saw God and Dali

Style: Noir/Mystery

Poly prompt: Confusing people with unorthodoxy

Art dealers AU

Feeling old

ADDITIONAL RULES?

To ensure a fun environment surrounding this event, we kindly ask you to mind the following set of rules:

Support creators! They provide you with their lovely skills and do it for free. Make an effort to leave kudos, comment, like, reblog — play your part in keeping fandom alive.

Tag your work appropriately! If necessary, include trigger and NSFW/18+ warnings. Ao3 provides you with their information and tagging system upon creating a new draft. Find this helpful guide for more detailed explanation.

The same applies to tumblr posts! By manually adding a :readmore: cut on mobile or clicking the "Add read-more link" symbol that appears on the far right of an empty paragraph on desktop, you make sure readers can evade any triggers or NSWF/18+ content. Please also use this function if you post a longer fanfic.

Do not engage with hateful feedback! You don't owe them a minute of your life. If you find ugly comments under your work, delete them. If you feel you want to inform us about it, please do and we'll support you through it. For prevention, Ao3 has options for comment moderation and visibility to users under "Edit My Works"/"Post New" > "Privacy". You can always choose to moderate your comments. 

As the audience, do not supply negativity of any sort! We do not tolerate hateful feedback or comments about anyone involved in the event (i.e. creators, Queen and associates, specific pairings/tokens). Do yourself a favour and read tags and warnings before opening any work. If necessary, click away. Don’t Like, Don’t Read is an easy way to coexist in fandom. Self-govern your consumer experience on any such platform and your life will be less stressful, promise.

Do not interact with NSFW/18+ content if you're a minor! If you want to consume it regardless, we can’t stop you. However, please do not leave any comments or feedback, or otherwise announce your presence to the creators as it might make them feel uncomfortable.

We encourage all of you to participate. No need to feel shy to share, after all, it’s a judgement free zone! Don't worry if you don't manage to finish your contribution in time, we also accept late entries. The Ao3 collection will stay open for a while and you can always find us here. Just don’t forget to @ us!

If you don’t have time to create, you can still participate in the event as a patron of fine arts. Trust us, your feedback is as important part of the successful event as are all the creations. 

We wish you all the motivation and inspiration! Have fun and be active!

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us!

Hosted by @carrrothead-vol2 and @of-streetlightfancy

[disabirbity]

Okay, on the people arguing on this post. Users who are arguing have blocked us so we're going to leave them be, but we're going to make this clear for anyone else following us.

More under the readmore, it's just an explanation of what we did + our intentions--if you're not interested in discourse then don't look. This will be our first and last post on it.

This was not an advice post. It is not advice at all. Having someone come onto our post and say "be careful with this advice" was absolutely out of nowhere because we were explicit in talking about OUR experiences--and we really don't like anyone coming onto posts about how we work and function being refuted with "not for everyone though!". That's like us saying we're dysphoric about our hair and having people come onto the post to say "not everyone is!!" when we didn't imply that.

We never said "everyone needs to do this" in the op. We never said our way is the only way. We never said "this is the solution for everyone". We shared our experience. The response that "this isn't good advice for everyone" doesn't even apply because it's not even advice. We're sharing our experiences.

Yes, we assumed the responder didn't have psychotic symptoms because they had nothing about it on their blog and seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the fact that we were sharing our experience, and explicitly talked over us saying "not for everyone though! this can be bad advice"--which doesn't even apply to what the post was, as an explanation of our personal experiences. People without our disorders come onto our posts all the time and say what they as abled people think is right, or how we're being too dangerous or scary--something familiar to a lot of people with psychotic disorders. Which this did read as. Assuming was wrong, we will admit that, and we're sorry we assumed based on that.

Just... That aside, the responder didn't make it clear that this was a "this doesn't work for me", all they said, was this.

That lead to us writing the tags we wrote and while we were wrong to assume the responder didn't have psychosis, I have to make the point that we never claimed our post was anything other than personal experiences, and we had received no indication that the responders comment was meant to be experience-based either.

What was said in the tags was based on our assumption, yes, which sucks of us. I'm not denying we made a mistake with that if the responder has psychosis--but the point is, the post we made seemed to be fundamentally misunderstood so we reacted the way we did.

I felt the need to explain this properly because people are just arguing now and going on about how we're horrible for "shouting down a 14 year old psychotic person and infantalising them"--when we didn't even do anything like that, we made a few comments in the tags that boiled down to "let psychotic people have their conversations"--once again, based on a bad assumption, but we did not harrass. If the original comments intention was to share personal experience, that wasn't clear in the slightest and being 14 doesn't protect you from being corrected or questioned.

Our only intention with the OP was to share our experiences as a psychotic person, that's it. We cannot read between the lines in the slightest due to autism and in the reply it was not clear what the intent was at all, because it didn't say it.

I'm going to not post about this now, but I'm pretty annoyed at being accused of harrassing kids when we did literally no such thing, so I figured making a quick post would be important.

[luxarrow]

✧ ⁀➷ 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐰

✧ Common rp courtesy at all times. no god-modding & no meta-gaming. please don't poke me constantly for replies. this is my hobby! hate, racism, homophobia, transphobia are not welcome here! drama exists in every rp fandom and I will block accordingly based upon evidence. I appreciate a heads up but I'm pretty observant and can establish my own boundaries. icon border & divider by ©

✧ I am semi-oc friendly which means I would like to see informational links/posts about the oc in order to have an understanding of who they are. I love shipping with ocs if the muses have chemistry! This blog is crossover friendly, multiverse, and multiship which means all interactions and relationships are independent and separate of each other.

✧ Please don't reblog my headcanons or comment different or opposing opinions on them directly. there are places for debating/comparing interpretations with canon and it is not on my headcanon posts. NOTE: my muse is a god and is all-powerful, immortal, and omniscient. I won't bend my muse to fit yours, however, I will never control/overpower your muse without your permission or without telling you what Lan could possibly do, inflict, bestow, or unleash upon your muse. 

✧ Romantic ships are hard with a god like Lan. I don't mind mortal x immortal ships however the mortal must be age appropriate i.e no minors. mature, dark & toxic themes, and adult sexual content may appear on this blog and will be properly tagged. I may ship up to two (2) versions of the same muse but that’s not a goal. it’s a maximum to keep me from feeling overwhelmed. exclusives is not something I actively desire but it is an option. I am really only willing to grant exclusivity to those I chat/plot with regularly and feel comfortable with. however, exclusives can be dropped when effort becomes one sided. that being said I really love shipping but it's not the focus nor the goal with every interaction. mains are also available. 

FOR YAOSHI / ABUNDANCE EMANATORS / ABUNDANCE BLESSED(CURSED): Lan will hate you and 99.99% will be toxic. Ships will require plotting and chatting to establish comfort, boundaries, and overall chemistry between muns. It's not off the table, but it's on a really high shelf. Pathstriders of Abundance are more open as pathstriders can change paths, but Lan Don't Trust Like That and side eyes pathstriders of Abundance. 

✧ Mutuals do not need to use icons or format text aesthetically in order to rp with me. I write in varying lengths but mostly mirroring my partner's length. I do not mind if mutuals reblog rp memes or prompt lists from me directly. I do not believe in reblog karma. i also do not mind if mutuals reblog/like my character musing or aesthetics.

✧ I tag triggering content as tw_____ // and I do not need anything tagged on my behalf. I tend not to post spoilers within a week from event releases but if I do I will always properly tag it and place under a readmore.

✧ my discord is available upon request for mutuals. the anon function is for rp purposes only. any ic answered asks can be turned into threads at any time and you never need to ask permission. i absolutely adore unprompted asks or starters.

ABOUT MUN  Heyooo~! my name is shrimpy! i fry the rice! 29 y.o with she/her/hers pronouns. I'm bisexual & hispanic/latine. timezone is est- gmt-5 and I work full time with children in healthcare so please be patient with me! i'm mostly active on weekends but i'm always on discord! i hope my rules weren't intimidating. i am very chill. 

HSR UID: 601239985 NA GENSHIN UID: 649854130 NA

[a-mag-a-day]

Hi @barkingcrows sent a long ask and because it's an unsustainable format, I'm posting their ask under the cut

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

HELLO AND WELCOME TO MY FAVOURITE EPISODE! i love you mag85. its not even really the pre- or post- statement that i love (though when jon amends his opening, you can HEAR the 😒 in his voice and its lovely) but its the statement itself. i simply love it So Much. theres something about it that stuck out to me and i dont quite know what

(cont. under cut)

i adore the tone the statement is given in. the statementgiver sounds almost hysterical in a falsely composed manner. think : the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart. they sound like theyre moments away from begging you to believe them and begging you to tell them you understand. like theyre trying their damnedest to make themself understand just as much as theyre trying to make you understand…… a bit like helen in her first statement, even. but far more gone than her. helen is still holding onto logic as her lifeline, refusing to let go of logic and reason for the sake of staying sane. 85’s statement giver went mad long ago, and doesn’t care about why or how it doesn’t make sense—they just know it doesn’t make sense and there’s nothing more to it. they’re looking back at it all with a “i can’t fucjsking believe this happened to /me/” lens, sort of. i think so, at least

the contradictions are a fun thing. they make the statement stand out and grab your attention back even if youre doing something else while you listen. in order to wrap your head around it, you have to pay attention. It starts out simple, eases you into the senselessness. after all, if it threw you in headfirst then you wouldnt know what to make of the statement. it would make no sense because youre looking at it through the wrong lens, defaulting to applying rules to it that simply dont apply. “Because nonsense is what it is. It is playfully impossible. He cannot be not there. But he is. He was. And so am I. I did not meet him on the staircase as well.” it takes a second for you to make it make sense, but then just trading out every “i did not meet him” for “i did meet him (its just that he was the man that wasnt there)” and suddenly it makes the senselessness make a lot more sense, and puts you into the correct mindset for this episode.

but it only stays simple for a short bit, quickly upping the absurdity more and more until its depicting batshit stuff that you cant even understand by backwards logicing out of it. but by now youve accepted that this statement giver’s story is not one that is meant to make sense, and you can listen to the impossibilities without it breaking your immersion at all. In fact, it enhances it. a fun example of that is: “My father said nothing, as I had taken him up the stairs an hour before, and he now lay dead in his chair, his heart unsuited for the expedition. [...] Eventually, after almost an hour descending the spiral, he keeled over in his seat and lay lifeless. My mother got abruptly to her feet, and told my father that they were leaving. My father got to his feet, and silently followed her out.” its senseless! its plenty comprehensible, but it just doesnt make sense! are the stairs metaphorical or literal? did the dad die in a dream and wake back up? if he died on the stairs, how did he get to the chair? did he die and his corpse got up and walked out? the listener doesnt know! jon sure as hell doesnt know! and i really doubt that even the statement giver knows! its not like theyre there, anyways. no use in figuring out the hows and whats and whys of events when theyre hardly a who or what themself.

i feel like it sort of raises the question of if there was ever a man not there in the first place that the statement giver fell victim to, but that’s the point, isn’t it? there was no one there. “The stairs were real. He wasn’t there, but the stairs were.” note the word choice. ‘real.’ not ‘the stairs were there,’ but that they were real. is it possible to do something like this to yourself? the man who was not there became real as time progressed, yes, but any delusion can become real to someone if they believe it sincerely enough. mix the Literally Supernatural spiral into that and you have one hell of a trip. is it possible to lose yourself in a poem so much that you lose your own self? have you ever considered this statement being largely metaphorical? turned literal only by the spiral finding a new plaything? they say that he did not offer them to join him on the stairs. so is that to say the man who was not there did not offer simply because he was not there, or that the statement giver’s spiral (heh) was self-inflicted? “He didn’t come back until I made… a horrid mistake. I called to him. I stood on the landing and shouted at him to go away. I asked him if he was there. I demanded he show himself. All utterly impossible, of course. I was shouting at nobody but myself, and so it was into my own mind that my curses and pleas burrowed and nested.”

personally, i think it makes for a more interesting statement if it’s litera; there is, in fact; a man who was not there tormenting the statement giver. but for it to be metaphorical would make for a much more interesting question

“I walked and I walked. And then I didn’t walk, and that got me moving much faster.” i just like this line

“He had sworn at me as he tried to climb them to the top, telling me I was no son of his, and I was trying to agree with him, but if I could have done so, then he would have been wrong.” THIS line. if there’s one thing i want you to take away from this rambling essay of a loveletter to mag85 then it’s this line. i want everyone to look at it and just. think about it i guess??? it’s my favourite sentence in this episode. something about it is so interesting and i really don’t know how to put it into words. “I was trying to agree with him, but if I could have done so, then he would have been wrong.” GOD i love that ?!!!??!?? its so good

i love the twist on the poem at the end too. changing it to “i was a man who wasn’t there”

i don’t think enough people talk about just the statement for this episode, so i’ll leave off my thoughts on the post-statement banter. not to mention that this post is already far longer than it should be HAHA. i love georgie and season three is very eventful, but this statement by itself should be highlighted more often when it has such an interesting premise <333

finally, while i’m here: i would absolutely recommend listening to The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie after listening to this episode. or whatever cover you prefer of the song—i personally enjoy Nirvana’s most. The Man Who Sold The World, just as mag85, was at least in part inspired by the poem Antigonish. (and the timeline would allow for mag85 to potentially be partially inspired by both the poem AND the song, but i don’t believe that is confirmed or denied anywhere.)

it’s a great song and i never have a reason to talk about how this episode was actually the thing that introduced me to the song

thank you for bearing with me as i rambled about the episode i can never find a good reason to ramble about!

[parakeetpark]

Uh oh. Essay in readmore time

What's so frustrating is that for almost all of my life I didn't know I had adhd, and only found it out 5ish years ago

During ALL of my studies i was intensely freaked out and even when i got a grip on some of my mental health shit at uni, importantly I was still unaware of the adhd. And only had some professional tell me about their suspicion about it AFTER I could have received any support in my schooling.

And I have been working damn hard over the last half a decade to learn about myself and the way I work, and be kind to myself and open minded, and learnt from many many different people with adhd how they function - especially through advice on here bc much of Google is shit, and learnt what does and doesn't work for my personally.

I slowly unravelled and found myself. To a point where I'm actually functional and content in myself.

So now i find myself in the most intense, stressful period of my life since then. Grieving and finally understanding what people meant when they spoke about grieving a very close loved one. How nothing feels real even.

And I've found myself so extremely wired from having to do a very vast array of tasks all crammed into a short space of time with a close deadline - exactly the same conditions as during my studies.......... where nothing ever helped.

Yet. In the last thirty minutes I've unwound because I instinctively KNEW what to do. I found myself following all the things i taught myself about my adhd, and now I'm like 70% more chill???? Huh?????? Noticed suddenly that I've been using my ADHD self knowledge for the past few weeks and coped remarkably well because of it.

It's shocking because imagine what i could have done if I had ANY help with my adhd EVER in my life from the adults who were supposed to notice in my entire childhood. Like HUHHHHHH, I am shocked. Imagine how I'm here as an adult using 5 years of learning adhd related advice and stuff I learnt through self awareness .... and feeling better.

SHOCKING!!!!

PS - long ass tags that immediately ramble away from my initial post and go into something positive and that made me feel fluffy inside. You've been warned

[his-saiko]

It's More Fun in the Philippines

Mga Kababayan... TURN UP!

Mabuhay, Madlang People!

Ako'y iyong host para sa pagdiriwang natin ngayon, Alfi, mula sa Perlas ng Silanganan, Pilipinas! [I'm your host for this event, Alfi hailing from the Pearl of the Orient, Philippines.]

Tinatawag ko ang atensyon ng aking mga kababayan upang makisama sa kasiyahan. Handa na ba kayong matuklasan ang kanilang mga gawa? [I'm calling for the attention of my fellow people to join in the fun. Are you ready to see their works?]

Iwagayway na ang bandera! Rock en' roll hanggang umaga!

Rules:

Alam na. [You already know.] This is to celebrate Pinoy pride. Wag muna natin isipin ang ating mga problema at magsaya. [Let's stop thinking about our problems first and enjoy.] Anything Pinoy from food, songs, and culture(pop or not), we just have to share it.

Actually, no matter who you are if you have knowledge of our culture you can join in. Just be sure you're above 18.

Fandoms: Bungou Stray Dogs, My Hero Academia, Tokyo Revengers, Jujutsu Kaisen, Honkai Star Rail, Haikyuu, Genshin

Artwork and/or written. SFW, NSFW, DC. Any genre (fluff, angst, crack, etc. Please tag appropriately.

No word limit for written works but please use the keep reading/readmore function when it exceeds 500 words

You can only apply for one(1) character per fandom. First come, first serve. I will only allow two(2) works for one character with both art and written counted.

I'll be having categories for this just send in an ask if you want to join: Galerya, Konsiyerto, Kainan.

Galerya will showcase artworks and other nonwritten works.

Konsiyerto will exhibit written works [both with and without song prompts]

Kainan will feature both works centred around food.

Format: Have a brief description of what the centre of your work is. (e.g. Adobo - one of the most common dishes in the Philippines, etc.) If you're going to use a song prompt, strictly use original Pilipino music (OPM) and Filipino artists. *ahem* Bruno Mars *ahem* Songs sung in English are okay. Please credit the artist. Songs cannot be repeated.

Deadline: August (in celebration of "Buwan ng Wika") but really within this year. Pinoy pride 24/7/365. Later submissions can be moved to next year's event (planning to make this yearly 🤞🏽 hopefully)

Send an ask if you wish to join. You can only DM me for changes and updates in your work/s. Tag me @his-saiko when your work is done and use the hashtag '#iwagayway ang bandera 🇵🇭' and I will reblog and link your work on the masterlist.

Masterlist

*NSFW/DC content will be marked as 🌶

Galerya

Konsiyerto

@his-saiko - Ikaw Lamang (Draken Ryuguji)

Kainan

© 2023 Alfi. Do not replicate. Reblog to motivate.

[mokutone]

🌿🌱 Mokutone Masterpost 🌱🌿

Hi! Welcome. This post will function sort of as a FAQ and will be updated as such. You don't need to read it, but if you've had these questions, here are my answers:

"Do you take Commissions?"

Not yet! I do, however, have a Ko-fi, where I'll do some little thank-you doodles!

"Do you have a shop?"

No, not at the moment! I am considering it though...

"What materials do you use?"

By far the questions I get asked the most are about this, so this will get very long and I'm going to put it under a readmore. I will address the papers, inks, watercolors, dip pens, brushes, and other materials that I have used.

I also answer questions about my materials under the "my ninja tools and scrolls" tag, and give art technique advice under the "my jutsu" tag. Yes it's silly, but this is a Naruto art blog. this is what we all signed up for.

Mostly, this will be a list of my traditional materials. I will address the paper, pens, inks, and various types of watercolor that I use!

📄 PAPERS: 📄

—Strathmore 400 Series Heavyweight Drawing Pads 100lb/163gsm. (these numbers refer to the weight/thickness of the paper. thicker paper is less likely to buckle) ———> This paper is extremely cheap (a 9"/12" pad is often under 10 dollars), takes inks EXCELLENTLY, but it's a much lighter paper, and it will buckle under watercolor. For this paper, it's good to only paint small sections, to paint very slowly, or to paint with the paper taped down to another surface.

—Fabriano Hot Press (Hot Press means the paper is smooth, not rough) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> I use this paper the most because it's fairly cheap to buy in bulk, while still being good enough quality that my picky watercolor teacher approved it, Lol. I can usually find a 9"/12" block of it with 50 pages for about $20 if i look hard enough—and the paper is hardy enough that if I'm careful, I can paint on both front and back of the paper. Bad for archival purposes maybe, but great for having fun and not spending more money. [Example]

—Vision Cold Press (Meaning the paper is rough and textured) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> My watercolor teacher said this stuff was garbage, but...I don't really care! It is DIRT CHEAP and YES it buckles a little despite being thick, and YES it feels like cardboard in your hand, and YES it ONLY comes in coldpress, but the texture is grainy and even and nice... and like. when I say dirt cheap I mean dirt cheap. I used to get the 6"/9" 30 page pad for like 6 or 7 bucks. [Example]

—Arches Watercolor Pad/Block, Hot Press, 140lb/300 gsm ———> This is that expensive shit. I got a pad of it for a class back in college, and I dip into it now and again—I also bought a little bit more when there was a sale recently, a 12 page. It's 100% cotton, and it takes pigment based watercolor REALLY well, but it's not so good about dye based (I'll discuss the difference between those later) [Example]

🎨 WATERCOLORS: 🎨

DYE BASED:

Dye based watercolors, because they are based in dyes instead of pigments, are not lightfast. They are not archival. If you expose them to sunlight, they will begin to fade, and some will fade rapidly. That said, if you hoard your art in a dark place once you've documented, go hog wild! The fact that they're all liquid already makes them really easy to use.

—Ecoline Watercolor [Liquid] ———> These are a little watery, but they are cheap and easy, and I used them for the majority of my early watercolor art on this blog!

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are expensive, and sold in small quantities. They are, however very bright, like that label isn't lying! They're super concentrated! I have not actually run out of any of the ones that I bought (at a store closing sale bc otherwise they're too expensive lol) because they only use a small amount at a time

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Synchromatic Transparent Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are also expensive, and also sold in small quantities. They aren't really made for paper either. They're fine. Probably not worth it though!

PIGMENT BASED:

—Black Sheep Art Supply's Pans And Half Pans! [solid watercolor] ———> These have been very enjoyable for me to work with!! They're very bright, affordably priced, and the paints are from a small business, as well as being handmade and from the first Black-owned art supply store. I've had wonderful experiences ordering from this store, and I wholeheartedly recommend them!

[EDIT: apparently the shop is on a break or something! oh well]

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus [liquid watercolor] ———> These are liquid watercolors, like the dyes, but they are archival and somewhat light-fast, which means they can be exposed to moderate amounts of sunlight without fading. I haven't gotten to use them much yet, but they seem fine. You do have to shake them a lot to mix the pigment in. They can also be a little difficult to rewet, and may appear somewhat flaky.

—Turner Professional Artists' Watercolors [tube/semi liquid] ———> These are watercolors stored in tubes, you know, the traditional way! I used these for class, back in college. They're cheap, but well pigmented as far as cheap watercolors go. If you're really on a tight budget, this is probably the best pick.

—Holbein Artist' Water Color [tube/semi liquid] ———> My best friend (the one who got me into naruto!) gave these to me! Usually they can be very expensive. They're very high quality, and gorgeous. I'm so enamored with them and touched by the gesture that I use them very rarely, I don't want to lose them! They're special to me!

✒️ INKS: 🖋️

I only use permanent inks which will not bleed (much) when water is applied, due to working in watercolor. This list will reflect that

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay Black India Ink ———> I use this the most frequently. It's a little shiny, but not too bad, and it is completely waterproof once dried. Of the Ph. Martin inks, it's the cheapest by far, and a 1oz bottle (which lasts me months) can be found for about $5. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Matte) Ink ———> Very waterproof, does not shine much at all. If you record your art with photography rather than scanning, this may be useful to you! Unfortunately, it's about $10 a bottle. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Hi-Carb) Ink ———> Very waterproof, very shiny. I don't use this much because I don't like my ink to shine, but it can be very nice with the right application. Unfortunately, it's also about $10 a bottle.

—Yatsumoto Sumi Ink ———> you can get this stuff cheap. Like, you could get a 12oz bottle of it for like $12. That's very cheap. Unfortunately it's not completely waterproof, and if you agitate (rub the brush vigorously) over the ink, it may seep into the watercolors. If you're careful though, this won't be a huge problem. It's also good for ink-only work.

—Liquitex Acrylic Ink ———> This is also very waterproof, but it also takes longer to dry than the other inks, so I find myself smudging it a lot. It's also about $7 for a 1oz bottle, but about $20 for a 5oz bottle, so if you're committed to the ink, it can be cheap to buy in larger sizes.

—Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black Ink ———> Expensive. Really more of an interesting find than a practical ink for me. This is mostly waterproof, but a very thin ink, and you can feel the nib get scratchier when drawing with it. That's not a bad thing, it's just a textural thing. It's produced in a similar way to medieval inks, with iron and oak-galls, and because of this it has some interesting properties: When first applied to paper, it's a pale or sky blue, but it darkens rapidly as it dries, becoming almost black over time. It runs the rusk of corroding metal pen nibs due to its chemical makeup, and so nibs which use this must be washed extra thoroughly.

✍️ PEN NIB HOLDERS: ✍️

—Speedball Sketching Pen Set: ———> Easiest to get your hands on. Comes with two nib-holders and 6 different nibs to try out, available at most art stores, and usually around $10. It's also not bad quality—I don't use the tiny little nib-holder any more, but I use the standard black one all the time.

—Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder, Model 40/ Model 36 ———> My Favorite. Thank god it has a little rubbery thing around it, because I grip pens hard 😭. It is able to hold standard-size AND small-size nibs. Occasionally, I find that some "standard-size" nibs might not fit, but I've never had this issue with the small size nibs.

Honestly, those are my favorites, but it's really hard to go wrong with pen nib holders. If they fit comfortably in your hand, and they hold a nib, they're good!

🖋 NIBS: ✒️

Nibs are difficult to acquire. They can be expensive too.

— Speedball ———> If you want to get a variety of nibs to experiment, this is my first recommendation. They have a wide variety of nibs to experiment, and find out what your favorites are.

—Tachikawa Pen Nibs ———> They've got less robust options than Speedball, and a little more expensive too, but they're very good nibs! The G-Nib is the standard nib used in comic making, and especially for lettering. It's a very stiff little nib, so it doesn't flex too much. This makes it pretty reliable, and especially good for lettering/writing.

—Manuscript Leonardt Pen Nibs ———> A lot of options for everything from caligraphy to cartography to sketching, also a little expensive—what is notable is that their pen nibs tend to be on the more flexible side, allowing the artist to get a lot of line weight variance. This is bad for lettering, but fun for drawing! They also have pens shaped like hands. Neat.

—Brause Pen Nibs ———> These were always super expensive where I was. I got a few. They come in this dorky plastic case with a sliding top, and I kinda wish they didn't bc that's a whole lotta plastic for something that coulda been stored in cardboard or paper, lol. I now use the cases to hold perfume samples. They're good pens, they're just expensive and the packaging is dumb.

—Whatever the hell is on Etsy. ———> People love to sell vintage things on etsy, and pen nibs are no exception. Often, you can find random samplers of pen nibs, or collections of pen nibs for sale. Sometimes you can find a whole box of one kind of pen nib, often times with a lot of nibs in it. I once bought one of these for like $45 and i don't even regret it because it's got a shitton of nibs and I realllly like using them. It will literally last me the rest of my life.

🖌 Brushes: 🖌

I don't have a lot to say about brushes! Ultimately, if it makes a mark on paper, and you like the mark it makes...I think that's a good brush.

I've been told you should go for ones which hold a shape, I think, and don't spread out in a big puff. Ones which use animal hairs are apparently best, but they are also very expensive. Generally, with watercolors, you will want to use "round" brushes, especially for beginners. If you want to experiment, I recommend Filberts, but there are also sword/dagger brushes if you're painting something like grass. Mostly I use:

—Creative Mark Mimik Kolinsky: ———> As the name implies, these are meant to mimic (synthetically) brushes made from Kolinsky fur. These are nice and I like them. They're cheap, but hold their shape well, and feel good in the hand. —Creative Mark Mimik High Performance Synthetic Squirrel Hair Watercolor Brushes: ———> What a name. I find these to be just as good for me as the Mimik Kolinsky, but a little bit cheaper. As long as ur careful not to treat them too roughly you'll be fine.

—Princeton Watercolor Brushes ———> Good. Expensive, but good. They have a variety of synthetic + natural materials, they are well made, if you have a little money to throw around + want a brush which will preform very well but will not destroy your bank, this is a solid brand. I've used ones from their Velvetouch, Mini-Detailer, and Heritage collections before, and enjoyed them all very much.

Additional Supplies:

—Porcelain Palette ———> I highly recommend using a porcelain palette instead of a plastic palette, both because I like to cut down on plastic when I can, and because the porcelain palettes are just....so much more convenient. The glass-like coating means that they will be easier to clean, whereas all of my plastic palettes over the years have gotten permanent stains. They're a little harder to accidentally knock around because they're heavier, which probably isn't a problem for most people, but I can be kinda clumsy. I can't tell u the number of times I've sent a full plastic circle-palette of watercolors flying lol

[voradtras]

i've seen this character playlist challenge post resurfacing lately so i'd like to expand on the idea and create a more fully-fledged, more difficult challenge that'll hopefully expand your music horizons beyond the usual tumblrcore/fandom music taste

the challenge

create a character playlist of at least twenty (20+) songs without using the artists and genres listed below* in under an hour

("below" meaning below the readmore)

the restrictions

no artist can appear in the playlist twice

you must have at least three (3+) distinct genres in your playlist

you must include at least three (3+) artists with less than 100,000 listeners on spotify

you must include at least three (3+) songs that are primarily in a language other than english

you must include at least one (1+) hip hop/rap song from a non-white person (be creative with this! rap has a diverse range of sounds from doja cat to dr. dre to death grips)

you must include at least one (1+) song thats from a reasonably obscure and/or underground genre (this does not count to your 3+ distinct genres requirement)

some of these restrictions can be met simultaneously (e.g. a spanish rap song fulfills both the non-english language requirement and the hiphop/rap requirement)

feel free to reblog with your playlist in either the tags or the caption! i'd love to see what people come up with :)

restricted artists/genres are below the readmore

restricted genres/categories

video game osts

musical theatre/showtunes

steven universe songs

five nights at freddys songs

disney movie/tv songs

hazbin hotel/helluva boss songs

homestuck songs

anime ops/eds

anything made by lin manuel miranda

anything made by at least one of the beatles

anything produced by jack antonoff

all kpop groups and artists from SM, YG, JYP, and HYBE/big hit

restricted artists

when in doubt, use ctrl-f or a similar find/search function

mother mother

lemon demon/neil cicierega

my chemical romance

fall out boy

panic! at the disco

imagine dragons

bastille

linkin park

paramore

derivakat

billie eilish

mitski

marina

mountain goats

penelope scott

cavetown

florence and the machine

halsey

oh hellos

crane wives

sleeping at last

ajr

will wood

ricky montgomery

hozier

jack stauber

twenty one pilots

idk how but they found me

coldplay

lana del rey

taylor swift

harry styles

glass animals

conan grey

tally hall

cigarettes after sex

arctic monkeys

machine gun kelly

eminem

phoebe bridgers

bo burnham

olivia rodrigo

beebadoobee

mumford and sons

melanie martinez

lovejoy/wilbur soot

beach bunny

mac miller

joji

weezer

ac/dc

nine inch nails

ajj

the weeknd

david bowie

they might be giants

vampire weekend

the chainsmokers

car seat headrest

joy division

maneskin

cosmo sheldrake

led zeppelin

guns and roses

radiohead

the national

cage the elephant

tegan and sara

black country new road

mxmtoon

bill wurtz

muse

rob zombie

the white stripes

oingo boingo

major lazer

zedd

iron maiden

gorillaz

metallica

marshmello

mori calliope

corpse

tones and i

glaive

all time low

simon and garfunkel

lewis capaldi

arcade fire

slipknot

foo fighters

girl in red

death cab for cutie

of monsters and men

ghost

tramp stamps

sufjan stevens

depeche mode

chvrches

oasis

system of a down

rammstein

porter robinson

[shu-bullshit]

NSFW both is and isn't allowed in the most goddamned annoying and poorly enforced rules I've ever seen. Basically the nastiest written erotica you've ever seen? Allowed. Photos/videos/pics of real naked people? Not allowed at all. NSFW art? completely arbitrary what will and won't be flagged, even with a Mature Content warning/filter tag. It's so annoying and it's basically a gamble. Most people I know have been using the readmore function as a way to game the system or use "NSFT" (not safe for Tumblr) instead of "NSFW" as a tag, among other tricks.

Thank you so much for the info! Unfortunately mine is still hidden with these measures :( we'll see whether I can make it one day

[sick-ada]

CICADA AGENTS MASTERPOST

bc i keep forgetting that i havent actually put much abt my agents on my tumblr and i need to expose the max number of people to my blorbos as i can

going under the readmore cause this is gonna get longg

(this has been in my drafts for over a month)

CB-808 (agent 8, she/her) and Bubbles (agent 8 AGAIN, a SECOND TIME, CAN YOU TELL EIGHT IS MY FAV, he/him)

they're "twins", meaning they both woke up without any memories, saw that they were the only two nearby who looked similar (being the only non-sanitized octolings in the metro) and assumed that meant they were twins

they do all of the tests in octo expansion as a duo! this makes some tests easier (like girl power station) and others much harder (like the one with the dualie squelchers and the grindrails, since they have to share the weapon between them)

this kinda fucks with the computer systems and all their mem cakes are blended (lmao) together. they have to work together to figure out whose memories are whose, to varying success levels

very very very codependent. theyll get anxious if you take the other to another room where they cant see each other. proto (cap3) convinced them to do one test separately and CB got so worked up she punched the side of the carriage and permanently dented it

they didnt try a second time

ON THE TOPIC OF CB DENTING THE METAL: shes freakishly strong, in an artificially-modified way rather than a very-strong-but-normal way

after the splatoon 1 campaign, elite soldiers deserted en masse since nearly all of them were at the concert/final-battle, leaving a gaping hole in the octarian military. in an attempt to fill that gap as quickly as possible, volunteers were "purposed" to become enhanced super-soldiers

(ill probably make a dedicated post abt it when i remember but "purposing" is what they do to make octarians (the stubby tentacle guys) into all the different forms you see in-game. debateably ethical to begin with, SUPER unethical to do to actual octolings)

im bad at timelining but she signs up to this when she's like,,, 13. still kinda blobby

functionally, what it did to her was make her freakishly strong (she breaks the handles on doors ridiculously often) and about 50% more resistance to enemy ink. girls a tank. however, she has trouble regulating her strength and therefore cant superjump accurately since she overshoots her target every time

it's also super painful. she permanently lost her voice from screaming too much and cant speak any louder than a whisper, but she knows octarian and inklish sign languages so she gets along fine

her name is CB-808 bc that was the serial number printed on a livestock tag in her ear

BUBBLES ON THE OTHER HAND. not physically fucked up. mentally though................

his parents were some of the elites who deserted after hearing the Inkantation (in my headcanons it's something that can be resisted, but only temporarily). he wanted their approval more than anything so them leaving him was devastating

hes not actually a dude he just think he/him is a cool set of pronouns. heard someone say "him" once and absorbed it into his gender

he lied abt his age to become a scout/reconnaisance (how you spell that??), even if nobody was really gonna check given the situation after splat1

where CB is built like a tank, he's tall and lanky, and also scarily smart. combined with his lack of filter he'll literally just stare at you for 5 seconds before saying some shit like "oh i see. youre scared of us because of our competence and your perception of our alleigances compared to urs"

captain 3 is scared by him more than CB. as they should be.

his name is Bubbles because he has circular markings on his upper arms and CB is not very good at coming up with names (shes an amnesiac teenager give her a break)

theyre both 15 during octo expansion, and 20 by splatoon3

after reaching the surface they move in with flora (4) and his roommate bola (oc) to form the Leftovers Squad, an inksports team and maybe-gang

these two are wonderfully terrible influences and teach the two of them how to defy authority n shit, it's great, ill talk abt it more in their specific sections

CB mains the dynamo but plays it like a splat roller because she's so strong she can swing it with about that speed. Bubbles mains the e-liter and has nutty aim. the kind of duo that makes people realize theyre ex-soldiers

both of them are too obedient to authority, leftover habits from the military even if they don't fully remember their time there. CB is much worse in this regard, since she was more heavily conditioned to follow orders and Bubbles is observant enough to realize when theyre being taken advantage of

FLORA (agent 4, he/she used interchangeably)

part of the Leftovers Squad! a young punk squid that revels in rebellion and violence and showing people what's what

almost entirely deaf. he had pretty bad hearing to begin with, but loud raves without ear protection worsened it significantly. his hero headset functions as hearing aids but he doesnt usually wear them unless he's on NSS missions or patrols or w/e

came to inkopolis when she was 14, but it wasnt intentional. her parents were the kind of awful perfectionists that expected their children to be equally as perfect, so decided to leave flora in inkopolis bc she did awful in school

he was taken under Bola's fin (get it it's a fish pun theyre fish im hilarious) and became enamoured with the adrenaline-fueled, bloody-mouthed rush of fighting, in and out of inksports

the best way i can describe her is "violent for the sake of violence and gleeful about it". she starts a fight with someone twice her size just for the fun of attacking and taking a beating. probably something wrong with her. i love her with every fibre of my being

has absolutely zero respect or trust in authority -- especially adults, which includes Marie since she's 19 in splat2 and he's only 16

still goes along with her whole "hey go save the zapfish" spiel because A) she cant actually hear what marie is saying B) marie gave her some free fancy hearing aids so she GUESSES she has to return the favour somehow C) she wants to fight some octarian soldiers D) she wants to steal her own zapfish (she succeeds, it gets a tank in Leftover Squad's living room) and E) she thinks itll be REALLY funny to fuck with marie

shes right btw. its hilarious

she only follows orders when it's funnier than disobeying them. she puts zapfishes back in levels she wants to complete a second time. she teaches octolings how to play poker (and how to cheat at poker). she lets a squee-g splat her "to see what it feels like"

if callie wasn't missing marie would NOT put up with his bullshit, but alas.

respects agent 3 even less than marie, when they meet, since at least marie has a sense of humour

he's the one who suggests that CB and Bubbles move in with him and Bola after Octo Expansion. less out of his own goodwill and more out of a combination of morbid curiousity and a sense of "bola has a habit of taking weird inkfish under their fin, walking in with two soldiers will be really funny"

gets hypnoshaded 5 years post-splat2 (during the splat3 campaign) and has to be rescued by the leftover Leftovers (lmao) and Off the Hook. octavio doesnt really convince her to put them on, theres no realistic way he could do that, so he physically overpowers her and puts the shades on

he gets rescued tho! so it's all good and absolutely no interpersonal issues come from it i swear (lying)

Bola (they/them, not an agent)

another member of Leftovers Squad and, arguably, its leader

is about as comfortable with violence as flora (read: very comfortable) but, unlike him, doesn't enjoy it for its own sake. when they do a violence, it's for a specific aim and a purpose, even if that purpose seems inane or petty

theyre the leader of the leftovers mostly because theyre the only one with a goal or any sort of purpose. also because theyre by far the most charismatic of the bunch but mostly bc theyre the only one with any direction in life. the other three are happy to just help with that

(calling it a purpose is doing it too much justice, it's a grudge. a massive fucking grudge against Squidforce as a brand and an institution and a company. they want that thing obliterated)

when they first came to inkopolis (they were like 12), they werent a citizen of inkadia so they had no ID and weren't allowed to do official Squidforce battles, so they went to unofficial/illegal/unregulated turf wars to make some cash

this got shut down by squidforce

they decided "no. fuck this. fuck you, im gonna fuck every single one of you over, die." and swore vengeance about as dramatically as a then-13 year old could. luckily, bola was a very dramatic, kinda blobby 13 year old

they met flora when he came to inkopolis and introduced him to the concept of You Can Just Fight These People If You Don't Like Them

would have agreed to housing CB and Bubbles if Flora had just asked but this is fine they guess

theyll be the last to admit they have a compassionate streak, but they have a soft spot for the underbelly of inkopolis and everyone who lives there, most of which are underrepresented or downtrodden by the system that squidforce upholds

theyre an octoling but not an octarian (citizen of octaria, the nation that lost the great turf war and now lives in the domes) like CB and Bubbles are

instead, theyre a weird subspecies of octoling that went back in the water while the "normal" species of inkfish stayed on the surface. they still have most of the same features as an inkfish, like the shapeshifting, but have more aquatic adaptations like gills and razor sharp teeth and being able to swim in water unharmed (ik inkfish dying in water is only dubiously canon but for my headcanons normal inkfish dissolve like ingame if they fall into water)

they also have sepiism! better described in this post this means their ink/tentacle colours are limited to blacks and browns. their subspecies is more prone to this colour mutation than other inkfish since black is a pretty good camoflague colour if youre in the deep ocean. idk i wanted an excuse to make them look cool dont think abt it too hard

they absolutely despise proto (captain 3). aint no world where theyd trust the militaristic authority figure that orders around the two ex-soldiers theyre trying to teach how to be independent

not to mention the grudge they form against the captain after the hypnoshading incident that i will elaborate on i PROMISE its in the next section

aFTER I TALK ABOUT THE LEFTOVERS SQUAD AS A WHOLE. IF I CANT ESCAPE THEM NEITHER CAN YOU

when they meet, post octo expansion, the twins are 15 and the punks are 16, so theyre 20 and 21 respectively by the time splat3 rolls around

flora gets squidnapped just after splat3 campaign (which lasts like a day for reasons that will be evident once i get to neo 3 and "little" buddy), so proto and the squid sisters are in alterna monitoring the situation and doing cleanup while it happens. this will be relevant later. foreshadowing is a technique where--

a couple months after the twins move in, CB discovers inksports and makes the biggest saddest puppy dog eyes at the rest of the squad until they agree to making a league team together. it's also called the leftovers

CB and Flora love it because they enjoy physically fighting people (CB likes that she doesnt have to be permanently hurting people during it, Flora would like it better if there was a lil permanent injury tbh). Bubbles enjoys it because his sister enjoys it and also because he enjoys using his big brain to do sick predicts and snipe people from across the map where he's nice and safe. Bola only joins at first because telling the ex-soldier, who theyve been trying to convince that you dont need peoples permission to do things, "no" would be counterproductive. they hate every moment they have to fight in a squidforce battle. but then once the team gets well-known they realise that squidforce cant get rid of them anymore and uses their platform to absolutely troll the shit out of squidforce

like when they go on interviews and stuff they constantly mention how shitty squidforce is and "yeah i personally prefer [smaller organisation]'s inksports, they have way better maps and modes, squidforce just has a monopoly so..." and squidforce cant do shit bc theyre the charismatic face of this popular new team and itd be bad publicity

CB and Bubbles dont have real IDs cause theyre amnesiac teenagers who made up their own names. flora and bola get them fake IDs that claim CB stands for Courtney Blitz, making bubbles into Bubbles Blitz

CB often gets called Clam Blitz. CB does NOT appreciate this. Bubbles thinks it's hilarious and only answers people who call him "Blam Blitz" for like a week

Bubbles mains the E-liter but likes lots of different anchors, CB exclusively plays her "splat roller" (a dynamo swung really fast), Flora learnt how to play every weapon from the splat2 campaign and can play basically anything (but usually goes for something close-range so his bloodlust gets put to good use. heavy weapons tend to turn into bludgeons in his hands) i dont know what bola would use tbh. i wanna say a splatana but this is set mainly in splat2 so they wouldnt have those. if anyone is still reading this far pls make suggestions in the notes 👍

CB and Bubbles dont have any sense of money (in my hcs, the domes work more on a communal property + bartering system) so they have no reason to object to pearl giving them inordinate amounts of money. bola and flora have to have a conversation where they ask whether pearl is their sugar daddy. this is agonising for everyone involved.

they used the money to buy an unreasonably large bed that they all sleep on together bc theyre my ocs i make the rules

i promised it was proto next. here *throws them like a javelin through the screen

Proto (captain 3, they/them)

i shld probably start at the beginning for them bc their actions through all the games are the catalyst for a Lot of plot

they were raised in calamari county, their parents were friends with callie and maries parents so they hung out a bunch when they were kids. basically the third squid sister, though they get way too bad stage fright to become idols like the other two

hanging out with those two so much also meant a lot of exposure to cap'n cuttlefish. proto idolised him to no end, decided they wanted to be just like him when they grew up

when the squisters went to inkopolis to become idols, proto became their manager. they were also recruited alongside callie and marie into the NSS when craig decided to reform it. ive never actually watched a playthrough of splat1 so i dont actually know how the plot works other than "craig is there and then callie & marie are there" so the next part is probably gonna be more canon parallel than canon adjacent

also because im just making up random shit about splat1. thats probably also a factor

in this version of canon, the octarians dont steal every zapfish you grab at the end of the levels, only the ones used for the boss levels. all the rest are ones owned by the octarians, mostly bred in captivity cause where tf else are you gonna get the power for running the domes

proto isnt an active agent in splat1, it's callie and marie who go in and do the fighting while proto is the one coordinating them and making plans. their plan is to steal all these extra zapfish to strain the domes' resources and then perform the inkantation during the final confrontation to make the maximum number of soldiers (especially elites) desert, all so they become incapable of stealing more zapfish or launching a retaliatory strike

and cap'n cuttlefish approves so surely that means that this is a good plan and any suffering caused is a necessary evil and it's not like this paranoid old man has any biases or grudges that would impede his judgement. surely not

side note: instead of inner agent 3, CB and Bubbles have to fight inner agents 1 & 2. inner-callie targets CB and inner-marie targets Bubbles because i think the roller-charger parallel is cool

the plan works! elites and soldiers desert in droves, neutering the octarian military capability, and octaria has to focus what resources it has on not starving (which it barely achieves, theres a famine regardless) rather than attacking back. it also creates the conditions for bubbles' parents to leave him and for CB to undergo the extremely painful and inhumane procedures to become an enhanced supersoldier but proto doesnt learn this til octo expansion

the squid sister stories proceed basically like canon, but proto dedicates themselves to agent work while marie focuses on the radio and callie focuses on acting. theyre out investigating the metro with craig when callie gets squidnapped so they dont find out until octo expansion finishes (like a few weeks after she gets rescued)

SPEAKING OF OCTO EXPANSION. PROTO IS THERE THE WHOLE TIME

they dont fight CB and Bubbles, theyre a terrible fighter and a bit of a wimp (and those two are kinda terrifying), instead they watch when they get overpowered and captured by a squad of sanitized octolings (those two got sent to investigate since people kept vanishing when they went that way). they still get the same "youre down here because of me" guilt since they chose to watch rather than intervene

they later got into the metro proper and found those same people but like super amnesia'd and a little traumatised already, even if theyre not sure how much of that was already there, and then they get even MORE fucked up because the metro is fucking Like That

also guilt bc they dont actually help with the tests beyond advice thru the comms. can never have too much of that

they get CB and Bubbles out of the blender by removing their special limiter and spamming splashdown on the top til it breaks, getting exhausted and passing out afterwards, letting tartar control them

the hole in the ceiling gets made by CB throwing a bit of broken blender really hard

usually they would get their ass kicked by either CB or Bubbles, let alone both at once, but the two of them are so exhausted and fucked up and a little injured that the fight is closer than anyone would like. the fight ends when CB grabs them by the ankle and slams them into the floor. think that one scene from the avengers with the hulk and loki

unfortunately, since CB is way too scared and full of adrenaline to properly regulate her strength, she completely crushes their ankle and lower leg. since it doesnt splat them, they dont respawn, and everyone is too preoccupied with destroying the NILs statue to get them to a hospital, the leg wasnt salvageable and they had to get it amputated below the knee

theyre an ambulatory wheelchair user, after that. sometimes crutches instead, but they tend to go for the chair in alterna bc crutches and ice do NOT mix trust me on this. i only had crutches for a couple months but i fell on my ass SO much

anyway they reconnect with callie and marie and things are fine and good and theyre totally not avoiding the twins because marina kept updating them on relevant files she found during OE and theyre struggling to reconcile the idea that these are enemies with the undeniable truth that nobody has had a greater negative impact on their lives than them.

probably would be worse if marina told them the twins were 15. good thing she doesnt!

oh yeah i forgot ages. proto is 17 in splat1, 19 in splat2/OE and 24 by splat3

anyway yeah in their efforts to avoid the twins so that they dont have to think about the wide-reaching consequences of their past actions, they dont actually leave them with any way to contact them while they go check out the Crater. itll only be a quick mission, right? no need to worry about it

alterna happens

then they and the squid sisters come back to cuttlefish cabin to find it completely empty, then discover that flora is still in the hospital after having the shit kicked out of him because he was hypnoshaded and they didnt have any low-tide ink because marie wasnt there and they couldnt contact her and they tried and they tried and why didnt anyone answer and

theres a big cool dramatic confrontation where CB and Bubbles reveal they got all their mem cakes and know exactly who proto is and what they did and would have forgiven if they had been honest but now they cant trust their captain and formally quit the NSS

honestly theres more stuff for proto after this but i ahvent actually figured it out yet.

personality-wise, theyre overconfident in their own abilities and underconfident in the abilities of everyone else, they struggle to give control of anything over to someone else. because why would they allow someone else to be in charge when they know that their own plans are automatically so much better?

as they learn about the actual consequences of their splat1 plan via CB and Bubbles' descriptions of their mem cakes, this confidence falters a bit. they spent so long with that plan being one of their greatest achievements that they cant reconcile with the reality that it had devastating consequences for innocent people

this is not at all helped by Flora, who makes no secret of his opinion on proto. at first he's just fucking with them for the sake of fucking with them, the same way he does for marie, but it gets more antagonistic when proto reacts with genuine anger rather than the good humour marie does. flora absolutely does not take kindly to people trying to exert authority over her so she aims to piss off proto at every opportunity

it is very easy for flora to piss proto off

OKAY I HIT THE CHARACTER LIMIT ILL MAKE A SECOND POST FOR THE REST