#i don't often get angry on main or angry on the internet

[eldergrim]

@rjalker

I would like to put my two cents in on this conversation and point out just how wrong you are for what you insinuate, believe, and push. Now obviously, we do not know each other (and God willing we never shall). But from what I can tell by the way you respond to posts you are not a very nice person. You’re obviously a toxic Far-Left believer. 

First off, not once did @somelonelywordmonger bring up the word minorities or even directly address minorities in general. Secondly, saying that they are a “white supremacist” is racial profiling. You do not know what they look like, you do not know who they are as a person. You sure like to talk out your ass about the greater good and unity if you’re turning around and racially profiling people. 

I’ll be the first to say that I am caucasian. But I use my privilege to help others as much as I can. However in case you have forgotten there are other minorities beyond race, and I happen to fall into many of those. So my reach is not very great, but I help no matter what. Because that is what being a good human is. 

Next lets touch on “You will be unequivocally supporting genocide if you vote blue no matter who in 2024.” Well…I’m waiting… Who will you vote for then? Trump? RFK Jr.? Or will you be dumb and just not vote. The majority of Democrats do not support the war on Palestine. I myself find any and all wars abhorrent. So when you say “...if you vote blue no matter who..” Who the hell are you talking about? Especially since the only Blue option IS Biden. Also I do call Biden Genocide Joe, and I do hate his guts but the reality we live in is that He wouldn’t make things worse in the US. Sure he is not really making them any better but who do we have to blame for that except the majority Republican offices. How about turning your extreme attention to reforming Trump Supporters, or Far-Right politics; instead of attacking someone who is on the same damn side as you. 

That whole paragraph about you getting angry with “Democrats destroy us slower” is really not a nice light on you. Need I remind you who started the COVID19 debacle in the first place. Trump. As for the police, I am a staunch supporter of defunding the police and ACAB, but can we really put all the blame on a single president when this has been a systematically corrupt institution since its conception? As for Palestine, yes we can put full blame on Biden for that. And I encourage continuing to pressure the man about his mistakes while handling this crisis. But the world doesn’t revolve around Palestine. This is a critical moment in the US and if it is not handled with the thought and care is requires we are fucked. Honestly I’m surprised you didn’t bring up Ukraine, or Sudan, or Yemen, or the Congo, or literally any other country that is being silenced and slaughtered. You want to preach about standing up for what matters, how about you get your facts straight first. 

Voting Blue is not voting for white supremacy. It’s voting to avoid democide or another Civil War. Life is messy, and there are times when you can’t avoid making hard decisions. But you seem to haven’t yet experienced or matured enough to realize this. So honestly next time you decide to bully someone on the internet just to preach about your “oh-so-great morals” do some more fucking research. Grim out.

It's shitty, it's terrible, it's outright awful. We have a choice but it isn't really a choice. And now, the best option for us is to stick to the liberal proverb, "Now is not the time." Our best option is to vote blue. Our best option is to maintain the fragile status quo. Hear me out. If we maintain the fragile status quo and then get Democrats into the positions on the Hill, we can turn our focus to more productive avenues. We rally together and strengthen our positions. We use what remains of our democracy and fight to get people like Jasmine Sherman (for instance) into positions of power. They need money, they need their voices amplified, and then we can stand a real chance of thwarting the two-party system. Democrats piss me off because a lot of them aren't truly representing what I feel, and I know it is the same for many of you. Republicans are worse because they would sooner see us locked up, dead, or worse, before making any meaningful contributions to our society. Biden is worrying me with his present struggles. But he's all we got right now to at least keep things teetering on the edge. We need to avoid plummeting, and voting for something other than Biden right now will increase the likelihood of us plummeting. But if we vote for Biden, we can double down on our efforts to swing our seesaw away from the edge of certain doom. Things like this take time, and I'm facing my own struggles, but if we all bring what we can to the table, we can surely make it work. I hate that I have to vote for Biden, that yet again, "blue is the choice," and so on. But it is all I can do right now to try and fight back against the destruction and total fascism that looms on the horizon. The red horizon. Please vote for Biden. Don't let the conservatives win. At least the Democrats are destroying us slower than the Republicans. The Democrats buy us time.

[ladyloveandjustice]

My Top 12 Favorite Anime of 2024 (and more)!

We had a lot of good anime in 2024, so here's the list of my top 12 favorites and some bonus great anime as well. If you get tired of clicking the review links, check out my anime overview collection for all of them here.  

You can also check out my post about my favorite manga from 2024 here and my favorite books of 2024 here.

These are in no particular order!

Delicious in Dungeon (a.k.a Dungeon Meshi)

Dungeon Meshi  is one of my favorite stories period, and easily my top anime of the year. The basic premise is that Laios and his party of adventurers need to travel through a monster-infested dungeon rescue his sister. Rather waste precious time earning money for food, Laios decides they should just eat the monsters they encounter as they travel. But then that simple plot spins off into so much more...

The story combines cooking and adventure animanga expertly. It has some of the most impressive and fascinating worldbuilding I've ever seen, top-tier varied character design and a great plot. It's also funny as hell, and I love its main cast of nuanced eccentric weirdos with all my heart. Even the characters who have five minutes of screen time feel like you could watch a spin-off series about them.

It's not just about food, but the cycle of life and death, about hunger of all kinds, about ecosystems and societies and finding solace in the monstrous...there's a lot simmering under this story!

So, go ahead and eat up! And read my review here for more!

Mayonaka Punch

Canceled YouTuber, Masaki, meets a pathetic lesbian vampire, Live. Live agrees to help Masaki launch a new YouTube channel, but in exchange, Masaki has to let Live suck up all her blood when they reach 100 million subscribers.

 This is the kind of stuff I watch anime for. This is what dreams are made of.

Do you support women's wrongs? Are you craving some women who are loveable shitheads? Do you want a great ensemble comedy about five disaster vampires wreaking havoc and a cynical human along for the ride? This show has all that, plus some down bad lesbian vampire shenanigans! But there's also a lot of growth for the main character, and the show has a lot of pathos in how it explores how the internet and its outrage train can do a number on one's mental health.

It's a ton of fun! See my full review here!

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Being a magical girl is no longer the domain of teenagers, and has evolved into an actual career dominated by adult women. Kana becomes a magical girl for a scrappy start up company, and tries her best to navigate working life.

It's the magical girl story about adult women I've been craving for years! Magical girl media often explores the struggles of adolescence and growing up, and this show takes us to the next step by using magical girls to explore what it’s like to be a young woman entering the working world. The focus is one Kana struggling to grow her confidence and accept support from her workplace, but it also has a lot to say about companies exploiting their workers, prizing efficiency and growth over actually taking care of their customers, and it shows how the world could be better than what it is right now. Check out my review here for more detail!

Girls Band Cry

After being bullied, Nina drops out school and ends up starting a band with four other girls, including the woman whose music saved her at her darkest moment. Nina's determined for the band to stick it to the people who once looked down on them. GBC features some wonderfully messy and entertaining teenage girls, actually incredible CGI animation and great music. Nina, the lead, is allowed to be angry and obnoxious and powered by spite, but the narrative sympathizes with her and loves her spirit, even if she sometimes messes things up. All the girls have rough edges and raw emotion and a great dynamic with each other. They also flip people off a lot.

It was kind of screwed over by streaming, but don't sleep on it! See my review here!

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 7) 

Anime's sweetest boy and his horrible cat (affectionate) are back, and it's time for more yokai adventures! I’ve already talked at length about how this series is special–check out my series review/ Rec post for the series here. I also did an article titled The Courage to Speak: Mental Illness and Recovery in Natsume’s Book of Friends that goes into more in-depth analysis. The story is sweet and charming and sometimes heartwrenching and very important to me.

It's yet another season of lovely, bittersweet yokai tales that tug on your heartstrings, the characters continue to heal and grow in slow but satisfying ways. It just feels so nice watching this series again and letting the love, comfort, and catharsis wash over me. See my review here.

Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction

A giant mothership is hovering over Tokyo. The aliens have done nothing, not even leaving their ship, but Japan and America are already trying to blow that UFO up, and show off who has the best weapons, causing many civilian casualties along the way. Meanwhile, two girls are just trying to living their lives.

This anime goes hard on criticizing the military industrial complex, Japanese nationalism and imperialism, American imperialism, xenophobia, mistreatment of immigrants, rich people, and conspiracy theorists. That means it's often devastating and visceral, but it also follows some fantastic weird girls and their ride-or-die soul bond, as well as other charming, funny teenagers who are just trying to live in a world falling apart around them. You can also look forward to some plot twists that recontextualize everything you know!

You should also see my review for some content warnings and a really important message about episode order if you want more detail, you can read it here.

Senpai is an Otokonoko

 Makoto is an "otokonoko" ( a term that means crossdressing boy) and he's figuring out his relationship to gender, and hiding his interests from his mother. A girl named Aoi confesses to him, thinking he's a girl. But he reveals the truth, she's ecstatic about it, much to his shock. Meanwhile, Makoto's best friend Ryuji is also crushing on him...

It's tough to be a queer kid in a world full of rigid gender roles and insidious homophobia, and this anime shows the unfairness of that struggle. But it also shows the joy of finding those who accept and understand you, and of slowly becoming comfortable with who you are. The show knows how to make you really roots for these great kids, and it's really good at tugging the ol' heartstrings. See my review here for more!

A Sign of Affection

The anime follows Yuki, a shy girl who's been deaf since birth, and Itsuomi, a world-traveler and polyglot, fall in love. They both live in very different worlds, but as their romance blooms, they're eager to learn more about each other.

A Sign of Affection is shoujo romance at its sweetest, with soft colors, gentle blushes, tender moments, and plenty of warm fuzzies. The animation is beautiful and the show treats Yuki's perspective with care and delicacy as the story goes on. It also have a great focus on communication and consent in a relationship. Read my review here! 

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

In this world, people have the ability to shapeshift into yatagarasu, the giant three legged ravens from Japanese mythology. Prince Wakamiya, who's next in line for the emperor, is thought to be an incarnation of the powerful "Golden Raven", so the four women chosen as his bride candidates (each who carry the hopes of their respective provinces) compete fiercely for his hand. Yukiya, a canny young boy, has been pulled into being the prince's attendant, and both Yukiya and the women soon find themselves pulled into a deadly web of mysteries and political machinations.

Yatagarasu is a tightly woven tale of political intrigue, featuring lots of palace folk plotting against each other, multiple assassination attempts, spies, fascinating worldbuilding and use of mythology, well executed plot twists, and complex characters. Yukiya is a very likeable little trickster with a heart of gold, and he works well as an audience surrogate who has to keep up with all this weird court drama. In the first half, the story focuses a lot on on women contending with rigid roles and how that leads to both enmity and empathy between them. But disappointingly, most of those characters are dropped or have their roles reduced in the second half of the anime, which is a shame.

Overall, this anime is a story that hooks you with it's story and it's dark, majestic atmosphere and never lets go. It's just plain good, and pretty underrated, so I'd suggest checking it out!

The Apothecary Diaries (Episodes 13-24)

The second half of The Apothecary Diaries was somehow even better than the first half, crafting a compelling ongoing mystery and delving into MaoMao’s backstory. There were quite a few big thrills that made me gasp aloud. MaoMao, the world's best poison-obsessed detective, pulled off some show-stopping feats and she remains an incredible, endearing character. Especially now that we’ve learned she has a killer evil laugh. Check out my review of the first part of The Apothecary Diaries here and slightly more detail on this run of episodes here.

Dandadan

 Another one you've probably heard of, it's the story of two kids- Momo, who was abducted by aliens and Okarun, who was cursed by a yokai. Now they have to break Okarun's curese while aliens and yokai are hunting them!

Dandadan is an anime bursting with absurd action and humor, and it has a boppin’ soundtrack and amazing animation from Science Saru. It’s wildly weird in the best way, and the characters are hilarious lovable losers. It's also the rare example of a battle shonen that actually treats its female lead as an equal to her male partner, in screen time and in battle. I adore Momo with all my heart- she's fun, she's bombastic, she's badass, she's everything.

However, the main problem I have with the show is its pattern of putting Momo in sexual peril. I go into more detail about this and the show in general in my review here.

Train to the End of the World

 A story about four girls and a dog traveling across a weird, warped version of Japan to find their missing friend, Train to the End of the World is wild. I absolutely adore bizarre anime about equally bizarre girls, and this delivers. We see the girls encounter a cult with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen and even zombies on their journey. The dynamic between the different characters is great, and the dialogue is snappy. If you appreciate wild and weird zaniness that also has a lot of heart and great friendships, give this show a try. My full review is here.

Bonus Anime- some other stuff you might want to check out!

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Despite an extremely goofy title Cherry Magic quickly became a surprisingly grounded, thoughtful and heartfelt BL romance worth watching. See my full review here.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!

Rishe has lived seven lives, had lots of adventures, and in every single one of them, she has been killed as result of the world war started by the emperor of a neighboring kingdom. Each time Rishe dies, she's sent back to the moment the crown prince of her own country broke off their engagement (she's actually pretty happy about it). But in her seventh life, the future Emperor sees her, is instantly smitten by how cool she is and proposes to her. Rishe decides she might as well enjoy life chilling in the palace before things inevitably go to hell.

7th Time Loop has a fun conceit, and it features a vivacious, badass heroine who's a joy to watch. Having lived as a commoner in most of her past lives, she's ready to use her smarts to help people--whether it's going undercover to help a maid who's being bullied or addressing illiteracy among the servant girls. Whether she's beating up kidnappers or politically maneuvering, she's learning and growing and kicking ass. While her love interest is a bit too broody for me, I do deeply relate to how Rishe's badassery clearly turns him on. The antagonists and plot are sometimes a bit silly, but it's always a good time. A josei anime about an awesome gal is just what the doctor ordered.

Acro Trip

A silly show about a magical girl fangirl who's recruited to an evil organization by an incompetent villain,  Acro Trip is a lot of fun, and I recommend it to any magical girl enjoyer. I also recommend it to anyone who loves pathetic failguys and girls. Our "villain" Chrome is the most hilariously pathetic of them all. You like bad boys? Well this man is literally bad at everything. See my full review here.

Whisper Me a Love Song

 I have to give a shoutout to the only textual yuri anime that came out this year--it's production basically completely collapsed, but it's still watchable and the story is a sweet and solid girl band romance. At least consider giving the manga a shot if nothing else! See my review here!

[ashen-char]

dating amber freeman - hcs

ship: amber freeman (scream) x gender neutral reader

warnings: toxic behaviour (jealousy, possessiveness, etc.), swearing, mentions of canon violence/violent tendencies. this is the more tame of the amber hcs though

notes: this took a while! i was debating on whether to do amber during the movie, or a very toxic nsfw leaning take. those will be separate hcs. thanks to @certifiedpuppyslitter for the help! requested here

✦ amber is alone in her old creepy house a lot. she despises how lonely it feels and often has you over to ignore how empty it is

✧ her parents divorced when she was really young, and her dad got custody. a hotshot lawyer, he's always away, and she's always been distant with her step-mom. amber doesn't like letting people get to know her

✧ amber was a total daddy's girl. she loved to argue even as a kid, loving how people would say she's just like him - whip-smart and could win any argument. she even wanted to be a lawyer to be like him

✧ but he was less and less present, and eventually she stopped hoping he'd be around more. stopped trying to impress him, realising that her accomplishments don't mean he'll say he's proud of her

✧ he's always away on business trips which is why she can invite everyone over as much as she does

✧ parties, sleepovers, movie nights, you name it

✧ amber is very lonely deep down. only child, she doesn't let her best friends truly know her

✦ because of her parents, she had to grow up very quickly and take care of herself

✧ so she's got a lot of surprising skills. really self-sufficient. she cooks amazingly, and likes cooking for you because, as she says "cooking for a single person kinda sucks"

✦ she'd scoff if you ever said she was clingy, since amber likes to act all tough and independent

✧ but it's the truth, amber's happiest when you're spending all your time with her

✧ if it can't be in person, she sits in vc with you on discord

✧ whether amber gets to yap away about her beloved horror movies or the latest band she's into, or listening you talk about your day, or even silence

✧ amber just likes that you're there on the other side

✧ and amber loves to sleep on call

✧ she'd get angry when you leave, even if your phone dies, accusing you of leaving her alone

✧ (but she's kinda easy to win back, all you have to do is promise to watch stab with her, or set aside some time to be "all hers")

✦ speaking of discord, let's be real. amber's a loser

✧ she spends her time on reddit and discord, and on occasion places like twitch, tumblr, or 4chan

✧ it's not her fault! she was online at a very young age cause she was so alone

✧ trying to make friends, trying to fill her time so she wasn't so bored, trying to connect with people. amber was totally on omegle as a kid

✧ she's always arguing with strangers on the internet about her stab theories and how bad it's gotten, how derivative the sequels are, or ranking her favourite killers

✧ she's a mod on r/StabUnfiltered, a smaller subreddit off of the main stab one because she kept getting her comments or posts removed there for being too "inflammatory" or even "trolling" for her hot takes

✧ amber would stop in the middle of hooking up because she was bidding on stab memorabilia on ebay

✧ she'd be pissed all day and it'd be because she lost an auction, or some twitter idiot had a bad take on ghostface motives

✦ amber is on letterboxd 24/7, clocking in like it's a job

✧ whenever you two watch a new movie together, best believe amber is reviewing that shit like she's a critic

✧ and you're the type that just enjoys watching movies for the experience. amber absolutely gets heated at you when she asks what you thought about a movie she thinks is 1/5, and yo shrug and go "eh it was fun i guess?"

✧ but amber lets you off the hook when you kiss her and tell her that you enjoyed it because you enjoyed spending time with her

✦ she's also a loser in love. honestly, she's a bit of a simp for you

✧ love is the one thing where she doesn't try to pretend she's tough

✧ amber has these sweet nicknames for you that she peppers in all the time, ranging from babe, love, hun, sweetie

✧ she's pretty touchy. amber holds your hand under tables or under blankets, rubs your back when she passes you, absentmindedly plays with your hair

✧ amber loves teasing her friends about their relationships, like chad and liv's lack of a sex life, but she'll defend you like a knight if they even try to tease her back

✧ and best believe they tease amber about how whipped she is over you

✧ if you invite her somewhere, even when she's hanging with her group, she'll ditch them in an instant (well, not in an instant. she does always tell tara where she's going)

✧ she flips everyone off if they tease her about you, but internally she's smiling. she loves that they talk about you in relation to her, loves being brought up as a couple

✦ you painted the portraits of amber that she has up in her room

✧ by the next time you came over, she already had them hung up on her walls, bragging to her friends that you did them and how talented you are

✦ possessive

✧ when you dress up for her, she shows you she appreciates it

✧ BUT she also doesn't want anyone else to see you like that

✧ she'll whisk her jacket off and drape it over you, insisting that no one else deserves to even look at you

✦ protective af too

✧ she'd wrap her arm tighter around your waist if people are walking too close, with a fierce glare if they almost bump into you

✧ amber would watch your drink like a hawk at parties

✧ she'd insist on going with you to places if you want to go anywhere at night, and she'd definitely tell you to stay over if it was dark out

✦ gets jealous easily

✧ no looking at other girls, no following other girls on social media

✧ you're in for a huge fight if you dm anyone else, even if it was for something fairly innocuous like asking where they got their outfit

✦ oh and she loves to argue. you swear it turns amber on to fight

✧ she jumps at any excuse for it

✧ "why did that girl smile at you? how do you know her?"

✧ "why are you on your phone? i'm literally right here"

✧ she'd accuse you of ignoring or forgetting about her, then give you the silent treatment

✦ amber gets pissed off when you spend too much time with your friends

✧ and honestly, considering how close she is with her friends, it's hypocritical

✧ like, amber still has sleepovers with tara but god forbid you say you're hanging with any of your friends one on one

✧ amber will be at your door in an instant, claiming that you two made plans and that since she's here, she may as well hang out with you two

✦ sometimes, you don't really get why amber likes you

✧ you can't keep up with her horror movie rants like her friends, or even those weirdos she's always arguing with online

✧ like, amber's dream is to go to film school and she's so passionate about it that you wonder what you're even adding when you just go "you'd be amazing, baby" and "that sounds awesome, of course you're gonna make it"

✧ you try to be supportive but you feel bad that you don't really understand her 100% of the time

✦ when you ask her why she chose you, amber looked at you like you were being ridiculous. because the answer is obvious to her

✧ she likes you because you make everything easier. being with you is one of the few things that can make her mind go quiet

✧ like, yeah, she loves horror but even amber can be drained by how obsessed she gets with things

✧ you make her feel normal. you make her want things other than violence and pain

she doesn't want to throw her life away so bad when you two make plans for the future

✧ she admits that you're the reason she even thought about film school in the first place

✦ amber never really thought of life outside of woodsboro until you started bringing up universities, or apprenticeships, what next year could bring

✧ that's the first time amber actually thought about what she wants to do

✧ and she's wicked smart, so you were surprised that she didn't already know what universities she wanted to apply to

✧ AP classes, honor roll, college scholarships, you name it

✧ but when you ask about her plans, amber just shrugs and says she'll go where you end up going

✦ she can feel like a regular girl when she's around you, instead of all the pretending she normally does

✧  cheesy teenager shit that she always thought she was too good for

✧ dates to the local bowling alley, sneaking out, sharing a shake at the diner, going to the mall, camping, baking brownies for your birthday since she knows you prefer it from cake

✦ with you, amber can feel less damaged. less above it all

✧ she didn't think she was capable of a genuine love like this before you

✧ you make her think that she could be a decent person if she tried, that she's not defined by the monster that she could be

[ilikecrowns]

Closet

Alessia Russo x f!reader

Reader has liked alessia for as long as she can remember, alas it has always been unrequited, as alessia appears to be straight. That is until one day the news spreads something that she wasn’t ready for.

based on this request here

1k words (sorry it’s so short, i might make a part two)

warnings- none yet again! (i’m good at this)

　　　　　　　･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+

Watching Alessia in training everyday with the most adorable smile that's somehow always present on her face, completely and utterly destroyed me. There wasn't a hand I wanted more to hold, or hair I wanted more to softly stoke whilst laying besides her. Eventually, I decided it was best to get over her.

After all, she was straight, and would never ever want to be with me.

A sharp knocking on the door broke me from my pitiful state as I sat alone on my sofa, long past midnight, caressing a bowl of cookie dough ice cream. The only person I'd ever expect to turn up at my front door was the postman, and even then I probably see him far too often (my online shopping addiction is a matter to discuss on another occasion).

After shooting up from the sofa and practically spilling the whole semi-melted bowl of creamy heaven, I found myself standing at the door. Times like these make me realise a peephole is definitely worth it.

With no other way of knowing who on earth was banging on my front door at the devil's hour, the only thing for it was to open it up.

And there, looking in all her beautiful blonde glory was the one woman I swore to forget.

Alessia damn Russo.

"Hey...." she sheepishly smiled, clutching her arms in a feeble manner.

"Alessia," I stood there shocked, like a prey about to get pounced on. However, this predator was the most stunning, kind and adorable animal you'd ever see.

"I'm... i'm so sorry. I really hope i'm not interrupting you. It's just... I just," she started hyperventilating at this point, tears spilling down her cheeks faster than my hands could catch them.

"Less, it's okay, calm down, what's going on?"

"Someone... someone found me... found me kissing someone at a bar and and and-"

I raised my eyebrows, wondering where on earth this was going. I couldn't hide the sharp pain to my heart I felt as the words 'kissing someone at the bar' gave me, but right then I needed to be there for my friend.

"-and they took a pic and it's everywhere on the internet and now everyone knows, y/n/n, they all know!!"

I just looked at her completely bewildered.

"Everyone knows what, Less?" I never knew kissing someone at a club was the biggest deal in the world, but I guess some crazy fans certainly would find it to be the next focal point of their lives.

"Just... just look." she sobbed again, holding her phone out so I could see the picture she had up on it.

It was Alessia kissing a woman.

Rather awkwardly, I must admit. It looked like the poor thing didn't know her lips were attached to her face and that hands were absolutely not ever allowed anywhere near the person she was practically eating alive.

I raised my eyebrows, not sure whether to laugh at the hilarity of the awful kiss, or stay composed and empathetic for my 'former' crush.

"Honey...." I start, putting a hand onto Alessia's shoulder and offering her a warm smile, "Everything is going to be okay. Have you actually LOOKED at what people have said? You chose the right career to be gay in by the way, good job."

She gasped as soon as the word 'gay' left my mouth.

"Gay? I-i'm not..." she stopped, trying to find the best words as to not offend me, "I really really really just don't want everyone to know."

"What's the main reason behind that, Less?" I grabbed some tissues and dabbed at the tear stains around her eyes, followed by guiding her to my sofa.

"Because!" she exclaimed, getting up almost immediately after sitting down in an angry flourish.

I was almost astonished at the fact I'd completely glossed over the fact Alessia had kissed. a. girl.

"Lessi? if you wanted practice, you could have just asked me, by the way. That kiss looked painful..." I tried to make light of the situation, however soon after her meltdown it may have been.

She stopped her pacing, and turned to look at me.

A sharp blush instantly rose to her cheeks, followed straight after by a curious glint in her eye.

"You... you would do that for me?"

"I-"

"OH MY GOD Y/N I LOVE YOU!" her crying completely ceased, and she grabbed my face into her hands, planting a deep passionate kiss on my cheek.

All I could do was sigh to myself. If only she knew what she was doing to me.

The talented striker then gulped an entire glass of water in less than 10 seconds- which to me was hella impressive- and hastily applied about five layers of lipgloss to her lips.

"Alessia... I don't think this is a very good-" she shut me up with a messy, rushed and extremely, well, awful, kiss.

My eyes shot wide open, not in a million years had I expected my crush to kiss me and for me to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"God, Alessia, please tell me you didn't drink the entire bar," I face palmed, now finally realising how unbelievably drunk she must be to even consider doing something this bold.

"No no I just had a few, now sit still i'm not done!" She shut me up yet again with another bruising kiss, this time she tried sliding her tongue into my mouth which I absolutely was not having when she was so out of it. Plus, I was pretty afraid she'd eat me alive.

I gently pushed her off me, raising my hand to wave it in front of her still closed eyes and puckered lips face.

"Right, it's bed time! We will talk more about whatever the hell just happened in the morning, but for now, you need to rest. And for the love of god never get drunk again."

I wasn't sure how much I meant that last sentence, because no matter how painful that kiss was, I still got to experience what I’d dreamt of for years.

[nightlyrequiem]

Would it be possible to get Valeria with a homebody writer (specifically romance writer maybe) partner?

This is totalllly not self indulgent at all, but I feel like the scenario you write where she broke into the readers house (which I loved btw) and becomes her stowaway would probably be the only way they meet lol, it's also possible that she could see the writer in a coffeeshop somewhere and have a meet cute but that doesn't really seem like her style to me :(

Feel free to change this up in any way you want I'm just throwing my ideas out from my mind palace

Yeah, I feel like meeting Valeria would be a little difficult unless it was some kind of home invasion type of scenario. Meet Cutes aren't her style sadly

Tags/Warnings: Kidnapping, WLW, Reader Gets Knocked Around, Fangirl Valeria

Meet Cute

Human error is unavoidable, like misspelling a word or grammatical errors. Even with a proof-reader, things are bound to slip past notice. Mistakes will be made eventually, no matter how careful a person is. You're tossed to the cement floor harshly, pain blossoming in your ribs from the impact. The sac over your head prevents you from seeing anything. Your ears ring, making it impossible to make out the low muttering of male voices.

No one is truly aware of how quickly things can change. Having four walls and a door often provides one with a false sense of security. Of safety. You thought you were safe. You were a bit reclusive. Preferring to be inside where the variables of life are easier to control. Even in a city like Las Almas. The environment that night was perfect for writing. Dark and slightly stormy. You were curled up on your couch, laptop in your lap with inspiration flowing from your pores. The first draft for your latest sapphic romance novel was almost completed.

Without any warning your front door was kicked open. The locks proving to be completely useless. You screamed and fought as masked men stormed inside. However, it was a short-lived battle. One punch to the temple was all it took to take the fight from you.

You're not given any time to catch your breath or get your bearings. Your grabbed by rough hands and dragged somewhere else. You're lifted and placed into a chair, hands tied behind you. Footsteps fade as the men leave you bound and blind. The only sound now being your own breathing and the frantic beating of your heart.

Waiting is the worst part. The dread of what's to come will never compare to what will actually happen. You're never going to finish your book. The second in your series. Your readers will never get to know what happens to the two main leads. Maybe it's your writing that got you here. You had gotten death threats before. As well as other types. As was the risks of writing the things you do. The situation almost reminds you of the story you posted to the internet when you were too young to be on it. A flawlessly witty girl is kidnapped by a stereotypically masculine guy. They fall in love.

You doubt there will be any love here though. Love doesn't flourish where death and decay feast. Finally, you hear footsteps approaching. Firm and confident. The door slides open and people enter, the room becoming heavy with tension.

"You thought you'd get away with stealing, hm?" A woman asks. You frown. You don't recall stealing anything. "Thought you were smarter than me?"

The bag is ripped from your head, and you recoil at how bright the lights are. You blink at the sight of the visibly angry woman in front of you. Reeking of violence and danger. Maybe it's because of all the questionable romantic leads you've written but there's something alluring about her. Though her being attractive doesn't make you less frightened.

She almost looks as confused as you feel. Brows furrowed into a frown. She says your name, which doesn't bode well for you.

"... I didn't steal from you." You say softly. Hoping to pacify the situation. "At least not knowingly, if I did I can replace it or give it back." You promise. The woman doesn't respond, just continues to gawk at you.

The silent staring is beginning to get uncomfortable. The two men she brought with her exchange confused glances. Clearly something isn't going the way it should.

"You wrote Stardust." She says finally. Your face warms with embarrassment. You're proud of what you write but it still feels... weird to have people talk about it. You furrow your brows. You didn't think a woman that looks like her would be in your audience.

"... Yeah, I uh, did." You nod awkwardly.

She puts her gun back into its holster. "I have all your books." She says. Surprising you.

The woman turns to the men beside her. 

"This isn't the right woman you fucking idiots! I even gave you a picture how did you mess up?" She hisses at them. You almost deflate with relief at those words. A mistake. A simple case of human error. "Get out." She snaps. The men nod and leave quickly. Ashamed or afraid that they messed up. She turns back to you with an appraising eye.

"... Do you like them?" You ask.

Her brows furrow. "What?"

"My books." You clarify nervously. 

She walks behind you.

"One of my guilty pleasures is romance," She starts. "it's a nice escape from the grueling, bloody reality of my life."

"That's... nice." You reply. She didn't really answer your question.

"I'm picky though, I'll drop a book easily if the characters do something I think is stupid."

Oh. She's probably going to chastise you for writing idiots - which admittedly, you have. In some of your earlier books. The ropes loosen, freeing your hands.

"But I like the way you write people." She praises. "They're realistically stupid."

You bring your hands to your lap and inspect your wrists. The soft skin is a little red.

"Oh, thank you." You say, blinking gratefully. She walks back in front of you.

"This was a misunderstanding." She says, voice soft and placating. You look at her and wonder if this is a trick. You rise to your feet.

"All good." You smile. Though it's actually not all good. You're shaken. Your home was broken into and you were kidnapped. However, saying that might not bode over well.

"... So is Stardust getting a sequel?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at you.

She has a very intense stare. You have to look away because staring into her dark brown eyes is starting to make you uncomfortable.

"I'm in the process of writing it, actually." You tell her. "Well, the draft."

She continues to stare at you. "Do you think you could add me into the book?"

You frown. "Yeah, sure I could do that." You nod reluctantly. This woman scares you and you'd hate to disappoint her.

"I shouldn't tell you my name, but I just love you and your writing so much," She admits. "I'm Valeria."

You nod.

"Valeria." You repeat. "Nice to meet you, I suppose."

Valeria nods and cracks a small smile. "Great. Why don't I take you home now then?" She says, herding you towards the door. You try to protest against that, not really wanting her to know where you live. Though considering her people had taken you from your home in the first place, she probably already knows. Your words fall on deaf ears. Valeria is determined to escort you home safely. Wanting to spend a little one on one time with her favourite author.

[ilsolefiesta]

the unpleasant thing about asteroids

hello-hello, long time no see! this month has been crazy, but here we are again. today I want to talk about an important topic that might make some people disappointed or even angry with me. some might say that I don't understand astrology at all.  the issue I want to raise is the total madness surrounding various asteroids and their persona charts. take it easy, it's not more than a fun addition to "real" astrology. 

however, the fact that people have become suddenly obsessed with finding their Aphrodite asteroid in order to check if they are necessarily extremely beautiful... (note: guys, Aphrodite is simply the Greek name for Venus, which was already occupied...)

or Boda, for example. how will my wedding look? c'mon, Boda was only discovered in 1938. unlike the main planets and objects which have been observed since ancient times, and some for at least 200-400 years, modern asteroids discovered recently may not actually have any patterns yet. and the names are mostly given according to astronomical standards and the imagination of those who discovered them. sometimes, I come across really bizarre and far-fetched facts that are presented as genuine astrological observations. and many people become really disappointed when they don't find Fama in their 1st house/Leo/5 degree. do you want me to create a similar "100% true" fact right in front of your eyes? if asteroid Mr. Spock (2309) forms a conjunction with your Venus, then "Star Trek" is destined to be your favorite movie. (well, the asteroid actually gets its name from the discoverer's cat)  absurd, right? another example: there's an asteroid named Tomhanks (12818). oh. my. god. it falls to my 1st house! (I'm not kidding, btw) does it mean Tom Hanks has a great influence on my life or personality? I couldn't even remember his face until I looked up a photo...

want more? my best friend has a slightly unusual internet nickname. she calls herself "Stasik", which is a diminutive of a Russian boy's name. she has her own funny story about how and why she chose this nickname, and it has become strongly associated with her personality. guess what? exactly. there is also an asteroid called Stasik (4131) and it makes me feel cringey even to write that I've checked it... well, this name is literally a part of who she is, so there must be some connection, right? it's just in her 9th house. that's all. NOTHING special. I want to emphasize one thing: I'm not against asteroids, and I use them myself often. however, there is a point where it can become a strange form of self-made astrology with even less evidence than traditional astrology. everyone has the right to believe what they want, but my opinion is like that:

some asteroids, such as "Starr" and "Glo", don't necessarily make you a star, even if they are in a harsh conjunction with your ASC. and the absence of these asteroids in "important" houses doesn't mean you lack star potential. btw, why is "Glo" associated with popularity, actually? why can't it simply represent the fact that you smoke a tobacco heater of the same name lmao? I hope you understand what I'm saying. astrology is more complex than people think, which is why it's easy to manipulate facts. that's okay, but please stay rational. I always say this, but astrology can help provide insights, but it shouldn't define or rule your life. 

take care and thank you for reading! Picture credits: mine

[lastoneout]

Something I've noticed that is like...concerning but also just really annoying about online discussions about basically any topic these days is something that probably already has a name but that for now I'ma call "death of nuance via strict binary thinking" which leads a lot of people to get very angry over the idea that two things can be true at once, or that bringing up someone else's problems does not overshadow or invalidate your own, or that you can uplift a group of people without tearing down another.

Because like, I've had this happen on several of my posts now, where I say a generally harmless, factual statement, and several people rush in to either outright accuse me of saying a different, more extreme statement or annoyingly "correct" me to fix the supposed ~dangerous implications~ of my words, which I'm not gonna lie is as infuriating as it is confusing.

I can't make a post about how sugar is one of the main things the human body runs on and thus trying to remove it entirely from your diet is dangerous and harmful without people showing up to be like "are you saying it's okay to eat an entire bag of sugar by the spoonful??" and "well if you ate nothing but oreoes and ice cream that would make you sick" even though that doesn't contradict or really have anything?? to do?? with my original statement??

I can't make a post talking about the issues men(trans or cis) face under the patriarchy without people showing up and getting mad at me for "making feminism about men" despite the fact that the majority of my feminist activism DOES center women and taking a moment to explore the ways the patriarchy harms us all in no way harms women. And I can't make a post pointing out that marginalized men, especially black, disabled, and fat men often have malice read into their very existence and maybe that's bad without people showing up to get mad at me for saying marginalized men are incapable of harm which is not what I said at all.

And this one is a bit different but still one I see a lot, which is an over-correction seeped in the idea that we can only uplift one group at a time, or if x group is good y group must be bad. Like I am all for pointing out that there's nothing wrong with not wearing makeup and having body hair and not wearing deodorant, and women who live like that are fine and valid and can still be seen as sexy and desirable, and yes there ARE things to critique about the beauty industry for sure...but then that manifests into thinking women who do shave and wear makeup and deodorant are ugly or weird or brainwashed and should be mocked, which..no? Or when the dialog shifted to talking about fat people being hot suddenly we had a lot of people acting like skinny women were ugly and weird when that actually doesn't help with fat liberation AT ALL.

(Also just to clarify I think the occasional joke about these topics is okay given how much mockery fat, hairy, and non-feminine women get BUT there is a point when you go to far and some groups of people are racing over the line.)

And like yeah you could say the internet has always been this way but there's been a real noticeable uptick in progressive leftists coming at complex issues with this kind of no-nuance thinking, when it used to be something I really only saw from conservatives. I'd see stuff like "well feminism is bad because men also have problems" and "oh black lives matter? are you saying other lives don't??" and "oh you think drug addicts aren't inherently dangerous well what about the ones who DO hurt people" or "we can't talk about trans women's issues that would take away from talking about cis women's problems" and "we can't have a fat character that's glorifying ob*sity" and we used to MOCK them for that shit. This was seen as RIDICULOUS and was generally considered a conversation ender because it's clear the people doing it aren't actually interested in having a conversation they just want to yell at you for something you didn't say or pull a huge "I am uncomfortable when we are not about me" which just...ough please stop.

So seeing like actual progressive people pull this shit is really weird and it happens so often I legit can't ignore it anymore. I don't really have a solution, but I just feel like some of us really need to wrap our heads around the idea that just because someone said one thing doesn't mean they're saying this other thing too. Which, when you put it like that, sounds like the kind of thing you learn in kindergarten but I digress. Someone saying it's okay to eat sugar, your body actually needs it, isn't necessarily saying it's okay to eat so many oreoes you get sick(or excluding diabetics or being a corn lobby apologist or whatever the hell else people on that post are accusing me of). Someone bringing up the ways the patriarchy hurts people who aren't women isn't making feminism about men or saying women don't have problems. Trans men talking about their issues isn't implying anything about trans women just like bisexuals or asexuals talking about their issues isn't taking space away from allo gay people. Someone talking about how assuming marginalized men are threats when they're just existing is bad and gets innocent people killed isn't saying OJ Simpson did nothing wrong.

Two things can be true at the same time. Nuance is important and making space to talk about one thing isn't taking away from someone else. There's no contest, no slippery slope so dangerous we can't even state facts, no pie you have to fight over. Oppression isn't a math problem where whatever you do to one side of the equation must be done to the other or a scale that can't be balanced. This kind of thought process isn't productive and will not lead to a better, more equal world. Just one where someone else is wearing the boot.

Just...idk please just stop coming onto posts assuming the worst, doing bad faith readings and then getting pissed about something the person didn't say, assuming someone else getting a seat at the table means yours is in danger, being so desperate to be a good ally that you start doing lateral violence and calling it punching up, and just full on stealing conservative talking points and argument styles and trying to make them progressive.

We're supposed to be better than this. That's all I've got really, we're just supposed to be better than this. And while I don't always engage with people like this for obvious reasons, I'd like to think they aren't beyond saving and maybe this post can change a few minds. You guys aren't wrong to be angry and want to help and protect people who need it, but this is not the way to go about it and it never will be.

[sparklecarehospital]

If Barry Is a self insert for you, And Barry is vegan, Are you vegan?

I am not vegan. Barry was *originally* a self insert when I first made him, but now he's just a separate character I project on and relate to/kin. It's weird, but most of the characters I project onto/kin are basically nothing like me in personality or the way they behave and interact with others. The things I project are varied and complicated and it's not as simple as "this character is exactly like me" because none of them really are.

A lot of them are often act angry (like Ally for example), but in actuality I'm an extremely quiet and sensitive person that has a tendency to let people walk all over me. I think in a weird way I use it as some sort of outlet for the fact I'm tired of feeling like so weak and want to be stronger and able to get angry when I'm mistreated (which has been... often) but I'm not great at feeling anger in general about my circumstances or sticking up for myself. Weird way of venting I guess? Idk what to call it

I think the main OC kin I have that actually acts the most like me is probably Cream, and even then she has some traits that are a bit removed from myself and I don't even consider her a self insert or anything. I have ARFID and I'm objectum and I have the same sort of excitable nature. Sly is most like me in terms of things she does, being a furry artist and loving old internet/nostalgia stuff and her intrusive thoughts and dysphoria. Eve is most like me in terms of most interests and trauma (AND EVEN THAT IS VERY FICTIONALIZED). It's complicated!

[voxofthevoid]

I enjoy reading your opinions and rants about how fandom evolution, the repackaging of purity culture, and the social media landscape has created some questionable and awful behaviors amongst readers.

Maybe it's because I'm a newish(?) follower, but I haven't seen many posts of how the same factors affect fandom authors. (This isn't targeted towards you, but more so general fandom spaces, so to speak). I respect your opinion, so I'll just ask.

1. What behaviors that you see other fandom writers do that gets under your skin? 2. Any thoughts on the social-mediafiction on fanfiction culture as whole? I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance, Vox!

I'm glad you enjoy my ramblings ❤

I don't tend to get into these discussions often, mostly because of a lack of time and energy, but sometimes, some post or event really gets me going—and they come in clusters a lot of the time. I have talked a bit about author behaviors too, but I think most of those posts are quite old—as in, pre-pandemic for the most part, with a few scattered across the last two years or so. They were largely related to bigger discussions on other, fandom-focused blogs I follow.

Re your questions, I can answer them as one because people treating fanfic sites, especially Ao3, like social media and/or hustle culture is my main pet peeve with fic authors.

At the center of it is monetization. That grinds my gears like nothing else. I'm not talking about authors having a tip jar on their blog or someone in a desperate situation taking commissions. But there's this increasing tendency to turn writing fic into a career, not by shifting to original fiction but by monetizing fic itself, and I view that as being fundamentally antithetical to fandom culture. Online fandom is a gift economy—a free exchange of passion, to put a pretty spin on it. That's both one of its defining features and most appealing aspects. There's no barrier to entry, aside from possessing a functional internet connection. Your age, geographical location, financial status, or any such factor doesn't affect whether or not you can participate in fandom, as a reader or a writer (or an artist in general, save for money-intensive stuff like cosplay). Monetization puts a rather sizeable wrench in that, especially when it comes to practices like posting a few chapters for free and putting the rest on Patreon.

Also, frankly, money changes things. All those issues I've talked about regarding entitlement and purity culture will be compounded when there are financial incentives to writing and posting fanfiction. You already have people who think fic writers exist to cater to them personally; now, imagine how people like that would act toward someone they've given money to, whether it's a systematic plan like Patreon or something more voluntary like tipping. Yes, the majority of people who pay writers aren't like this, just like the majority of fic readers in general are lovely people. But we've all also seen the damage that small toxic minority can do. Similar principles apply in relation to purity culture. People are already shit-scared of writing "problematic" topics because there might be witch hunts and doxxing; if they become reliant on fandom as a source of income, creativity will be further stifled (and sanity will probably go further downhill, let's be real). This is already an issue with original publishing, and I'm only in the periphery of those discussions.

Clout-chasing and comparison are two another issues that already exist in fandom and will be worsened when money's in the equation. Venture into r/Ao3 or r/Fanfiction, or any such space for discussing and venting about fandom and especially fics, and you'll find no shortage of people who are angry, sad, discouraged, disillusioned, or otherwise upset about getting less engagement than others in the fandom. To be clear, I'm not denigrating anyone for being sad about posting into the void in general; I'm talking specifically about the disappointment and jealousy arising from comparison. If "I only got X kudos even though Author A got XX kudos for posting the same trope" becomes "I only got X dollars even though Author A got XX dollars for posting the same trope," I'm going to yeet myself into the sun.

And this is the tip of the iceberg. I'm brushing very briefly (hah) on the impact growing monetization can have (and is having) on fandom's social dynamics alone. The legal grey area is a whole other beast. The ethics can be a debate of its own. The specific matter of people posting Patreon and Ko-fi links on Ao3—a volunteer-run, fan-funded platform that explicitly disallows monetization for both legal and social reasons—and then whining when they get penalized could be its own essay. I've seen motherfuckers straight-up argue that Ao3 is taking away their right to profit from their labor.

Seriously, I could talk about this forever. I have bouncing thoughts on specific aspects, from the proliferation of for-profit digital zines to the treatment of one's fic readers as future book buyers, but this post is already too long. I also have pet peeves regarding author behaviors unconnected to monetization, though those are also mostly related to clout-chasing and competitiveness and other nonsense that treats being a fic writer as akin to being an #influencer. Plus, there's no clean split between authors and readers in fandom, so a lot of the stuff I've said about readers being dicks generally arises from fellow writers.

Okay, shutting up now 🤐

TL;DR: Treating fandom like social media or a source of income is a bad idea. Don't do that.

[stolentrekblr]

Some FAQs

"I feel compelled to tell you I am pleased/angry/don't care about this!!!" I am not telling anyone how they should feel about this. While my blog title is a touch incendiary, I am tracking down the posts I find in the wild and tracing them back to their original poster. It bugs me when screenshots get reuploaded here when the original posts still exist, so I'm doing my best to track them down for you. I also wanted other people to know when their posts/art/edits/words officially escaped containment. While I'm personally irked by the behavior of taking without consent and/or credit, that doesn't mean you have to be. Your response is valid :)

"Why only Star Trek?" Focusing on Star Trek alone is already a massive undertaking. If I could do more, I might, but I am most active in the Star Trek Tumblr sphere and more capable of identifying and tracking down the original post.

"Can I send you something I found/my own post that was reuploaded?" Please do! I am but one person with a questionable attention span, and this is an ambitious undertaking. Tumblr may be the incubator of the Internet, but its search function makes finding things challenging. There is no way to automate this process that I know of.

"What's your issue with this particular Data page?" Initially, I didn't have a problem with this page. My Facebook friend had sent me a couple memes from it, so I liked the page and moved on. I assumed the page runner was just another Trekkie who made memes and reposted art. As time passed, I noticed that many of the memes that lacked credit were coming from Tumblr and from mutuals who had no idea their words/edits/art had migrated off the platform. I mentioned to a couple artists that their work had been reposted and none of them had any idea until I'd mentioned it. I noticed the page was uploading peoples' edits without credit and taking captions verbatim, and that bothered me personally. Two of my posts were lifted in a row, and I had made a couple posts on my main ( @thresholdbb ) about it. It eventually hit a point that I decided this endeavor needed its own dedicated space.

Maybe it's because I spent my entire professional career in education, repeatedly citing all of my sources and teaching students that plagiarism is wrong. Maybe it's because consent in all spaces is vitally important. Maybe it's because the page runner repeatedly solicits money via subscribers, not to mention the "Gift" button that appears in the corner of every stolen picture. It seems disingenuous to present content as your own and also profit from it. On some level, I think the page runner knows what they're doing is at the very least morally questionable/dishonest/wrong, since they do not like or reblog any of the posts they re-upload to their page. (Believe me, I spent a long time trying to track them down before starting this blog.) Far as I can tell, they do not make original posts here, but I cannot confirm this. They make a few original posts on their Facebook pages (I think there's something like 7 that all have the same MO), but they are mostly selfies soliciting money. Like do what you need to do to support your family or whatever, but stealing from people in this way is not cool IMHO.

While it is the nature of meme culture to spread them around without credit, these posts are regularly being taken from a community in which I actively participate.

"Why would they watermark my post?" From what I can gather, straight up screenshots can get nuked because they go against some term of service, but I'm not a super active poster on Facebook and cannot confirm.

"What's your goal with all this?"

Awareness - now you know if a post has broken containment, if your art has been reposted, if your edit has gone uncredited, and where the original post is so you can reblog and add your own tags for OP to read. I'll often see a post in the wild and want to add my comments on my own blog but then can't find it, so I'm doing that legwork as much as I can for the tumblr community

"What if my blog has a do not repost disclaimer on it?"

It seems reposters don't particularly care, but I do. Even when art is reposted with the username/link/credit, the two can quickly become separated if your work doesn't have a watermark because of how some people tend to repost. Let me know you have a disclaimer and I'll add it to the repost report. If you have merch or a tip jar associated with your work, let me know and I'll add that too.

"I'm concerned about Meta's AI"

You and me both. I'm not wild about the fact that tumblr users have no say in what happens to their words, art, and images on another platform. Here they at least gave us the illusion of choice that we could opt out of LLM training, but that disappears once it migrates to Facebook and other social media platforms. People's art being fed into these algorithms without their consent is a concerning trend

"Can I reblog the post and delete your screenshot from it?" Please do! Let the original post be free! In fact, I encourage you to get rid of my reblog completely.

"Why are the posts delayed?"

This page runs on a queue system because I'm not allowing this pursuit to take up my time and mental space every day

"What's your Facebook name?" Must really suck when someone is anonymously taking screenshots of your posts, uploading them somewhere else, and you don't have a say about any of it. On that note, what's your Tumblr name? Mine is @thresholdbb :)

"Why not make your own monetized page?"

I don't want to. I want to post, connect, and nerd out about Star Trek, not profit from my incessant posting. I could and might have moderate success, but it's a lot harder when the posts are original and haven't been vetted by another user base before reposting. I like the Ferengi, but I don't want to emulate them. Besides, even the Ferengi followed the Rules of Acquisition. As a side note, there is already questionable legality over profiting from a copyrighted franchise such as Star Trek, but I am not a lawyer; I'm just some brainrotted tumblr user

Also as a side note, reposters sometimes take uncredited memes and images from Tumblrs that do have monetized FB pages/tip jars that post all original content

Overall, the Trek community has a lot of good will, but in my experience that typically comes with a strong sense of justice. I'm just out here spreading the word

[dayfaresthenight]

Alex's Bio

Name: Alex Davis Alt Names: "Trollmaster". (LEL Get pwned xDDD)

Special Titles: Puppet, Old Friend. (for being a puppet he is pretty off-handed honestly, kinda weird but I don't mind haha)

Username: Trollmasterlol351

Nicknames: Troll, Alexy.

Chronological Age: 17

Age: 17 (juuust one more year!)

Pronouns: He/him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Gender: Cis Male

Species: Human, "Vessel" (i don't know what a vessel is LOL)

Disorders: Conduct Disorder, Chronic Nightmares. (what??? nightmares? i don't get nightmares!!! xD)

Physical Disabilities: Weakness in Left leg (Recovering!!!)

Religion: None. (I consider myself open-minded, though!) Grade: 12th

Lives in: [REDACTED] (I don't give out my location to strangers on the net xD), Also Daisys House! Languages: English, LEET SPEAK, Various Ciphers. (Marble Hornets taught me well!!!)

Height: 5'12 (I AM 6'0 I AM 6'0) Race: Paleish in Vessel, Cacussian in Real form (NOOO STOP LEAKING MY PERSONAL INFO WHOEVER YOU ARE DX) Ethnicity: English-American Accent: Rather Light and Chipper, although deepens when angry.

Powers: Exceptionally Emotionally Resilient, Respawning (In-Vessel Form, or When in Daisy's house in general), Memory Connections (Considering I'm always with the guy in armor when in here, I can see basically whatever he sees!) Weaknesses: Short Temper when Provoked, His Guilt, Killing his Puppeter. (...haha these people really are weird LOL)

Weapons: The nearest chair he can huck at someone, Linked Swords. (1v1 me on Sword fights on the heights i'd win 100% xD)

Alignment: Chaotic Good (I... Really do try my best, despite everything.)

Text Color: This!!!

Main Hobbies: Gaming, Collecting (pokemon cards!!!)

Favorite Food: PIZZA!!!!!! Favorite Flower: Daisys xD (daisys are pretty cool but in all seriousness I like sunflowers a lot too!!!)

Scent: Blueberry Bodyspray. (Gotta dress to impress!!!)

Handedness: Right-handed

Blood Color: Red

Awareness: VERY Aware [Effect: Positive] (...)

Birthday: January 23rd (THE BIG 18 IS COMING UP!!!!)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Facts: I am totally an elite haxer who was taught by 1x1x1x1x1x1x1x11 himself!!!!! Used an exploiting script once and thinks hes a hacker now. Actually pretty good at games, even if he overestimates himself 99% of the time.

Special Interests: Pokemon, Mario, Retro Games, Retro Internet. (RETRO IS THE BEST)

Stims: Fast Talking, Jumping Around.

Stimboard: WIP Moodboard: WIP Fashion Board: WIP Comfort Objects: His Old Gameboy Advance.

Family: Claire Davis (Mom!) Gregory Davis (Dad!)

Friends: DAISY! (Best friend), Courtney, (Close Friend), Jose (Friend), Everyone else in the Friend group (Friends!), Lancia (Friend)

Romance: N/A!!

Enemies: Zandeeee (Maybe? Idk, she doesn't seem to really like me), The NPCs (Most of them are just not really nice to her...), The Cultivator (That mushroom can rot in hell for what he did to my friend.)

Patrons: Ozymandias (He is the one who brought me here. I don't think he has good intentions, but I'm still grateful to him and stuff!)

Pets: Claire (my cat!!! I named it after my mom because she is cool xD)

Brief Personality: Alex is on the surface a very kind person. Energetic, and always pulling various pranks in an attempt to entertain and cheer up his friends. Whenever there's a chance to pull someone's leg, he'll be the first one doing it. Despite that though, Alex never tends to take his pranks too far- and is extremely supportive of his friends when they need it. He struggles a lot with his own emotions, and in general, isn't really good at conveying how he feels.

Alex is fiercely protective of those he cares about, and he will immediately throw himself into the line of fire just to protect them. He is very rebellious, and this often leads him into situations that are severely out of his weight class.

Brief Backstory: Alex is a relatively regular person, at least compared to most in this place. He was born in 1999 to his parents and grew up in a relatively middle-class lifestyle. Although his family had some hard times, he generally grew up well taken care of.

He discovered the internet and Roblox at a young age and immediately fell in love with it. He finally had a group of like-minded people who could tolerate his shenanigans, which made him quite happy. He never really had many friends growing up, so he deeply cherished this friend group.

One person, though, he latched onto more than the others, and that was Daisy. Daisy was always there to come on and play with him and was one of the few people Alex would settle down with and talk about stuff with. Someone, he didn't feel the need to impress or entertain.

Despite that though, he was rather oblivious to Daisy's own troubles, something that eats him up to this day. Maybe if he had just noticed sooner, maybe if he had just told his mom he was worried about her, maybe...

...But the past is the past. Everyone's gone their own ways, and Alex is starting to feel that loneliness that he thought he had escaped start to creep back in. The memories are coming back, and it's starting to haunt him.

Why can't he just forget? Why can't-

Knock knock.

...He opened up the front door...

"Would you like me to bring you to your friend?"

...

Maybe it's never too late to make amends, to... make things right.

[lunarnekomancer]

Okay, so. I've recently been really, really, really into Dandy's World (yanno, the Roblox game). There's many toony, intriguing characters, but the one that has caught my eye from the very start and has been holding it captive since August, when I started playing (what the hell dude give it back) is...

Astro! After all, I can't help being a sucker for moon-themed characters. They speak to me on a level unavailable to mere words.

Wanting to know how people characterize Astro, I scoured the internet for headcanons and theories, just to gain the slightest insight into how people perceived my darling moon man. It was not a very, ah, fruitful search.

You know what they say: if you want a job properly done, do it yourself. Thus this post. yayayayayaya (feat. projecting. like. a *lot* of projecting. And also me desperately trying to explain how badly I relate to this gloomy, tired waning cresent. If I am getting awfully verbose, please bear with me. I'm just excited.)

- First of all, it's quite strange that I don't see that much headcanons for autistic Astro. Some traits of his really resonate with my own autistic traits. (I also headcanon him as predominantly inattentive ADHD but this is more projecting than 'I have a point actually' but it's not entirely projecting either? I don't know man I'll try elaborating later). I also headcanon Astro to have problems with anxiety (probably canon) and depression (might be canon-ish, if you read his Twisted description).This will all hopefully be elaborated on later in the post.

- Aroace! His relationships are actually QPRs :3

- He's fairly sensitive to others raising their voice. Not only is Loud and Uncomfortable, it also gives him the gut feeling of 'oh shit are they mad?? are they mad at me oh shit oh shit' and it's fight or flight from there.

- He's not the best with his own (and to some extent, others') emotions. He can get random, inexplicably strong emotions out of seemingly nowhere, eg. guilt, sorrow, anxiety, etc. However, people consider him quite an understanding Toon as he's fairly good at listening to others.

- His blanket is weighted.

- His circadian rhythm is beyond salvageable (well, if Toons have circadian rhythms). This is due to staying up all night to ensure the Toons have good dreams, and a lot of long day naps. A lot.

- Intense sensory input tires him out. This includes bright lights, highly saturated colours, crowds of people moving & stamping around and talking at the same time. Which is why the Astro's Room map exists. It serves as a place of refuge for him when all the snap and noise and colour of the rest of Gardenview get to him. If he can't go back to his room when things get too much for him, he will sometimes curl into a ball mid-air as to ensure he doesn't touch anything, even the ground. The toon handler photo actually relates to this. I headcanon that Astro was supposed to take the photo in a more isolated area, without flashlights and the public surrounding him. But the Gardenview higher ups just. Didn't give a shit and made him take the photo at a large publicity event, intense sensory input and all. This is why Astro's handler looks pissed, as he was angry for Astro's needs being unaccommodated despite being a main. It took quite a long time for Astro to unwind and destress from the event, with help from his handler and some other toons (mostly the mains).

- Speaking of Astro getting mistreated by Gardenview, young Astro was a massive crybaby and got so much flack for it from the Gardenview executives. The photography headcanon mentioned above was caused by said executives think that 'he had to toughen up somehow'. He has not grown out of being prone to tears but he's growing accustomed to holding it in until he's alone until he starts breaking down sobbing.

- His stims include fidgeting with his nightcap and blanket, hand flapping (he often does this without knowing), rocking himself and pacing. Pacing is by far his favourite + most common. He also has one that involves him doing a small jump in the air and slowly floating back down (similar to his ability animation).

- He can definitely sleep while standing up.

- It's pretty much canon that he has psychic powers, but I headcanon that the specific powers he has include telekinesis, some degree of precognition and levitation, not to mention his power over sleep and dreams. The precognition thing is a large reason for the guilt that consumes the mind of his Twisted version and Toon version (albeit the latter being on a more minor scale).

(TW for self harm in the next point)

- Sometimes he overexerts himself with his powers on purpose. This leads to symptoms like vertigo, nausea/vomiting and extreme lethargy and depression. His Twisted form is permanently stuck in this state.

Now, time for some lighter headcanons!

- He's really intelligent and can be quite logical and strategic. Hell, he'd have figured out what Dandy was doing with the Ichor even without his powers. (HE'S ALSO A NERD. THIS IS COMING AFFECTIONATELY FROM SOMEONE WHO IS ALSO A NERD. HE'S MOST LIKELY A SPACE NERD THOUGH BUT I ACCEPT NERDINESS OF ALL SORTS)

- He has plenty of catlike mannerisms. I will not elaborate.

- The blanket he carries around has been with him since his conception. It used to be way too big for him so you'd just see a baby Astro towing around a cape of a blanket. (He'd trip on it sometimes, but he usually stands back up unscathed).

- There's probably numerous forums out there made by grown up fans of the show discussing 'what the fuck is Astro'. Some might just consider him an anthropomorphic moon, but others disagree and continue debating because 'what kind of moon has SIX LIMBS' (side note: if i were Astro, I'd only ever show my hands when I'm flipping someone off. Rest assured that I will use all four of them)

- Assuming that Moonflower was canon at some point + resulted in marriage/engagement, Dandy probably proposed with an armillary sphere ring. However, I headcanon their current relationship to be highly strained or even borderline abusive (pov: manipulative ahh abuser Dandicus) due to the Ichor situation. Despite Dandy's efforts to hide the degradation of their bond, other toons have already noticed it. Vee was the first to know and is slowly persuading Astro to let go. (okay if anyone jumps at me for mischaracterizing Dandy, I wanna clarify that I see him as kinda... morally grey? Grey-ish? Like he might have had good intentions but stuff happens and he ends up hurting and manipulating others)

- If the Toons knew about Pokémon, there'd be a running gag that Astro was one. Specifically Lunala.

- Has read the DSM at some point. I don't know, I think he'd read it out of sheer curiosity, just as a 'mmm interesting 👁️👁️'

- Given the right topics, you find him becoming Shelly in terms of enthusiasm and knowledge.

- Sweet food connoisseur.

Okay. I promised you a part on AuDHD Astro. Nobody asked, yet you receive nonetheless. My verbosity does not improve here so you can guess what's coming. Spoiler alert: I go off topic. Very, very off topic. (This isn't me trying to diagnose Astro or anything, it's more or less relating my own relationship with my disabilities with a silly fictional character that speaks to me.)

- The first thing I saw in Astro was the... melancholy? Hanging over him like it was his default state. (also fun fact this was also the reason that lead to me buying Razzle and Dazzle for my first purchased Toon) I also saw the physical obscurity, the way he hid his body behind a tightly-wound blanket, the way part of his face was always in shadow. I've always been somewhat reluctant to be fully perceived. Maybe that why I enjoyed the Moon, something that erratically switches between 'i will gladly be dissected to bits and put on display' to 'for the love of God, don't acknowledge me'. The desperate feathered want for understanding clashes with the deep-rooted fear of the pain that comes with rejection and once again being seen as too 'weird', too 'off', too 'difficult', too 'sensitive', too 'anxious', too 'logical', too much yet too little of everything, paradoxes and all. It was ridiculous, but Astro seemed like he'd know, what it was like to never get a hold of the middle ground that others seem to navigate with ease. I laid my eyes on him, and I decided that I would buy him one day. One day.

- Once I had taken an interest to Astro, I consulted the Dandy's World Fandom wiki to scrape out any information I could get out of the site. I learned that he was shy, that he was stealthy, from his dialogues and the way he shies away from the camera, hiding behind his handler. He was tired often, and would sometimes doze off during excursions. He did not like loud spaces, and has the tendency to talk with many pauses, perhaps to think out what to say next. He enjoyed reading, and in his conversations, he is confronted by another toon, to which he responds by backtracking and apologizing. Yet he does not seem to be entirely without backbone. All these traits coagulate into a foreign yet oh-so familiar persona, while my mind pokes and prods at me, saying 'look, that's you'. His traits, my traits, my traits that came as a package deal or a cause-and-effect with my own disabilities (the dislike of noise and light and the attention it tends to entail, the exhaustion, the apologies that I have gotten many an amused 'you haven't done anything wrong' for, the withdrawal of the needs and wants of the self, see Vee's comment of 'You need to start worrying about yourself more' the being told that you made to be great but still act like a wallflower, maybe out of fear or other incomprehensible reasons). I can never put it all into words, how Astro, a cartoonish character from a Roblox game, has this much significance to me. It's ridiculous, yes, but it's still true.

In short: *blasts Astro with the self-projection + 'he just like me fr' beam*

(Also, if you managed to get through all of this, wow. I'd never expect someone that's willing to wade through my projectile-word-vomit, but here you are. Thank you for reading it all; it means worlds to me :D)

[manicpixiefelix]

Felix's milkshake (his blood) brings all the vampires to the yard, it's just naturally irresistible and makes them go feral but Vampire Reader fends them all off. They know better than to lay a hand on Felix Catton lest they incur the wrath of his lover.

He proudly wears the bite marks from them like badges of honor.

Okay so I literally am so in love with this AU rn you don't understand I have been working on the world building for the vampires for most of last night (it's not all put together but it's getting there) and this is all VERY TRUE.

Felix also knows that not only is he kind of irresistible to vampires, but he's kind of a cocky mf because he's pretty much resistant to all attempts from other vampires to enthrall him in any way.

For a whole bunch of lore/world building reasons that I can get into if you'd like me to, but won't bore you with here, the reader is naturally a very powerful vampire, and their bloodline/family specialises/has a lot of power in enthralling/magical manipulation. So Felix knows so clearly the feeling of a vampire trying to enthrall him, and therefore is able to VERY easily shrug it off. The problem for other vampires is that most other's best/strongest attempts at magically manipulating him are at the same level as the general aura the reader puts out in their day to day life that draws in everyone around them, without even being conscious of it, without even actively trying. It can also subconsciously intensify with the reader's mood; their excitement can intensify their aura and make the people around them feel a kind of high depending on how strong theyre feeling said emotion; it can be overwhelming and even sickening the first time it's experienced, but can become quite addicting. This aura can also shift and essentially repel everyone around them if they're particularly angry, but that doesn't happen often.

The reader had to actually try to not give off an alluring aura that accidentally draws people in and endears them to everyone they meet. But when they turn on their charm and actively use their power to enthrall someone, there's no human, and even very few other vampires, who can say no to them.

Felix, who is essentially the reader's familiar, though they dispise the term the way he hates them being called a dog in the main fic, is an absolute anomaly of a human to other vampires. Both because of his blood being damn irresistible, and the fact that he's somehow immune to most attempts to be magically coerced in any way. He, of course, is incredibly proud of this fact, and takes great pride in the reader and their abilities when he's allowed to. He's quietly mad their bites heal so quickly. He loves going to vampire friendly night clubs in the city with just the reader, rather than their whole friend group, because he gets to actually indulge you in your vampire side and indulge himself in being Yours in front of an audience. You can be clingy and protective and possessive, and so can he; humans throwing themselves at you, begging to be bitten, but Felix, who's still pretty intimidating as far as humans go when he wants to be, looms over you, hands on you, doesn't even have to say that you're spoken for to get the message across.

There's definitely Vampire based forums on the 2006 version of the internet, and there's also definitely boards dedicated to speculating about the two of you, and your sightings around the UK. (Humans in the know specifically will go out of their way to attend a club they know you're at just to get high off your aura. Felix learns this and doesn't exactly know how to feel about it.)

[askagamedev]

Especially with so many projects that were never announced probably getting canceled right now due to layoffs and studios dissolving, how risky would it be for devs to keep personal copies of their work/builds?

I always thought NDAs were generally time limited, and at least that way the work wouldn't be entirely lost for ever. Is that even something devs generally want?

There are certain things that studios and companies can ask us not to do but have a real hard time preventing, especially if the company is going through a death spiral process. Keeping a personal copy of stuff I worked on, especially in an age of remote work, is one of those really hard-to-prevent things. If the company or studio is going under, almost everyone is losing their jobs and the motivation to maintain operational security is very low. Nobody in security cares when their main priority suddenly shifts to finding a new job. In these situations, leaked stuff happens a lot more often since there's little motivation for enforcement.

It's much harder for workers who are let go from a company that remains alive, since breaking NDA would result in being liable for a bunch of damages. However, if I don't disclose anything and just keep stuff private, the studio cares a lot less about whether I have those files. They don't really do much forensic analysis of the workstations of former employees, they mostly just wipe them clean in order to protect the company from potential liabilities from accidentally finding left-behind personal files of the former workers.

The thing about old game projects (especially for cancelled games) is that there's really only so long that the old stuff is even viable. The inevitable passing of time will decay any knowledge of the project and its workflow. If we release information and development stuff about games that were cancelled, say, two console generations ago, it is unlikely that the current IP holders and leadership would be super angry about it because so much time has passed. This is considerably different from releasing information about a game that was cancelled this year, where things are still raw and legal action is still a very legitimate threat.

The main benefit to holding on to old projects is primarily for personal education. There's a lot to be learned if one can go back and study the way things worked on an old project. How did they set things up and why? How can I learn what decisions my seniors and leads made, and why did they make those decisions? How did they solve these problems? Can I use those same techniques? There might be some element of internet influencer points if old stuff gets released to the public, but that typically gets glossed over the way trivia is treated. In my opinion, the real value in old project assets is in the educational content it can provide.

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[weekendviking]

Researching stuff.

Adding links here to methods for finding out things, because on the modern internet, actually finding out accurate information is now uniformly obfuscated by the relentless enshitification of search functions, proliferation of search engine optimised content mills, nation state level intentional misinformation and propaganda programs, and of course, these days, all the crap sources above are endlessly enriched by the output of generic Large Language Model plagiarism statistical bullshit engines, both image and text (And video and Bot and so forth).

Finding academic and peer reviewed Journal Articles - they haven't quite fucked google scholar yet, so it's better than the enshittified google or bing or <insert enshittified search bar embed here> whatever.

So I generally hit up Google Scholar for whatever subject, author name, paper title or similar that I've gleaned from whatever article or mention or wikpedia page sparked my interest. Often that gets me what I want, as there's often a link to a pdf of what I need within those search results. Yay.

If that doesn't work, then I start escalating, usually via the methodology here described at Logic of Science's blog:

They wrote it down so I don't have to. Excellent. Although some of the links in there have degraded. So the main ones I'll put here:

And then there's the pirate nuclear option, Sci Hub. Because it makes the big publishers and corporates really angry, don't use sci hub from a work or academic 'net access environment. Also it necessarily moves around a lot, so I generally search up where is sci hub now, to avoid going to a link that's expired or may now be a honeypot/trap:

Also, look out for content mill generated fake journals. I usually check here:

The other thing that's getting harder is finding out whether an image is misattributed or just plain fake. So right click and save the image, and then go to images dot google dot com, which is nowhere near as good as it used to be, but still not entirely enshittified, and click on the wee camera icon to the right and upload the image, and look through the results. What you find is _All_ the places that have posted that image, page after page of them. Scroll through - click on the ones that seem to be the oldest, check who's posting them. What you often find with viral outrage images is that they are _not_ what you think, especially if the image is a bit old, a bit bitrotted, or there's something else wrong - the clothing isn't right for the country/culture/time being outraged about, or something like that. Sometimes you find out that it's true, but most of the time you find out that it's wrong, that someone has just done a quick search for an image that roughly matches the outrage or the politics they want to push, added some outragey comments, and shared it, and enjoyed their flamey fire. I've been doing this for decades, ever since I started using a browser capable of image searching, mainly because I was outraged at people posting fake geology memes. But it works just as well on finding anything else.

And of course, if it's to a website, see if the wayback machine still has it cached:

[gloomysoup]

i have been taken over by nickelback once again so here comes another edition to the nickelback chronicles

todays edition brings us back to the 2017 album feed the machine, which seems to be a very steddie secrets-coded album based on previous editions. (the song is Must Be Nice btw)

corroded coffin is well established in the industry. they have a lot of fans, but it is more common in pop culture that they're made fun of due to certain songs that gain popularity (think photograph memes). their fan base regularly gets shit from others, but it's never caused problems. at least, not until someone comes after eddie's family.

in the age of the internet, people are increasingly open about their opinions. eddie's tough. he can brush things off with ease. he doesn't often take things to heart.

it starts with a collection of photos.

Steve and the pups got papped, bad. Eddie hadn't even been with them. Luckily, Eddie had insisted that they have a security detail when going out somewhere more public. For safety. Steve didn't really like the idea, but he agreed. He knew Eddie wouldn't have insisted so heavily on something unless it was important to him. His family's safety is important. So, when paparazzi was overwhelming them, cameras flashing in their faces, the pups upset and clinging to Steve, Eddie was grateful that their security managed to get them somewhere safe. Eddie was pissed when the photos were released online. It was clear in every frame that Steve had been uncomfortable, and the pups were scared.

Arguably, Eddie probably should've waited for the band's legal and social media teams before saying anything, but he was infuriated. He could barely hold back all the things he wanted to say.

His response came in the form of a long twitter thread from his main account. In it, he ranted about the absolute disregard the paparazzi had for privacy and consent. He went off about how angry he was that they violated his family, without him even being there. There was absolutely no reason for them to go after his family like that, and then to post those photos all over the internet like it was nothing. He was disgusted.

The post blew up. Eddie was asked about it in an interview with the band a week after the photos broke.

Eddie's hands shook as he looked at the man interviewing them.

"I don't think I have ever been so... infuriated in my life, and I've been hunted by an entire town who didn't understand." He shook his head. "I was in a meeting with a producer when my husband called me, in tears, because of those assholes. I wasn't even there. They had no reason to do that to my family. They do not deserve to be treated like animals in a goddamn zoo just because of my career. They're just fucking lucky that no one got hurt, because if anyone had laid a single hand on my family, I would not hesitate to track them down and prove an entire goddamn town right."

"Don't you think that's a little dramatic? Obviously it wasn't right, but that's their job, isn't it?"

Eddie's response broke the internet immediately upon its release.

"No. I don't think it's dramatic. I think I have every right to be angry that my family's privacy was violated. I have every right to be angry that their safety was at risk. If I do much as see someone with a camera pointed at them again, I will not hesitate to show them exactly what I think of their 'job'. I will do anything to protect my family, and I will not apologize for that."

The internet was divided. Many people agreed with Eddie. It was cruel. His family was put in danger. His response was perfectly understandable. Others thought he was taking things too far. They didn't understand just how harmful the paparazzi could be. One such person made it a point to call Eddie out. He was some up and coming artist that was gaining popularity among the younger crowds. A nepotism baby like no other. His mother was a popular actress, his father a well-known label executive. He trashed Eddie for being old, out of the loop, a hot-headed mess. He insulted his family based off the photos the paps had released.

Eddie barely gave a public response to the kid's statements. In fact, his social media went oddly quiet. For six weeks, not a single person in the band posted anything. Fans speculated on what happened. Some wondered if Eddie had finally snapped. Maybe this had been the last straw. The band was breaking up, or going on hiatus. Something. Their comments and concerns went unanswered. A few people even managed to track down the socials of people close to the band, sending DMs and asking if they knew what was going on. Nancy got the worst of it, seeing as she was the easiest to track down with her relatively active social media. Still, no response.

It was a random Tuesday morning when the band account finally posted something. Fans were expecting an official statement declaring that the band was parting ways. Instead, it was a cryptic video clip. A dark screen. Music playing in the background. A single line uttered before it cut off completely and a date filled the screen.

Stick your diamond ring where the sun don't shine

No one knew what it meant until the day arrived. The band released a new single. Must Be Nice. The lyrics are chalk full of references to common children's lullabies. It was very obvious to everyone what the song was about. Still, there was no official statement. Not until the band's tour, at least.

Eddie grabbed the microphone from the stand a couple songs into the first show. He took a drink from the cup sitting by Gareth's drum kit before taking a breath and looking out at the crowd. He got everyone to quiet down before he started talking.

"I'm sure by now you've all heard about what happened to my family a few months back," he began. The crowd booed. Eddie laughed, his eyes darting to side-stage where Steve was standing. "In case there's some people out there who haven't, my husband our pups were ambushed by paparazzi while I was in a meeting. Their safety was put at risk. Their privacy was violated. The photos were released on the internet, and I was the one to receive backlash for being upset. For being angry." The crowd screamed. "That's the thing about being 'famous' or whatever the fuck. No one cares. No one cares because they assume that we all signed up for this shit. Like the world deserves to be let into every single piece of our lives. The amount of people who wholeheartedly believe they had a right to invade our privacy and stalk our families is astounding, truly. And then there are people who grew up having everything handed to them. Who think they have a right to speak on a matter that doesn't involve them. Who only have careers because of who their daddy is. So this next song is dedicated to the fucker who had the absolute nerve to trash my family on the internet while he sat in a house paid for with Daddy's money. This is Must Be Nice."

The videos of his speech launched them back into the mainstream, if only for a few days. The internet was overrun with discourse, everyone arguing over who was in the right and who was in the wrong. It ultimately led to a public apology from the kid, and paparazzi learned to stay away from Corroded Coffin.