#i don't think anons get notified when something is answered ? so might just leave those be

[genericpuff]

I'm curious - how many unanswered asks do you have in your inbox? Or do you just delete the ones you don't plan on answering?

do you feel good anon

do you feel good about yourself with this question

targeting me like that

geeeeez

ok but more seriously LMAO i have an embarrassingly large amount of unanswered asks but i do read all of them <3 a lot of them honestly are just from folks like, sharing their anonymous opinions about either LO and LR, with the odd one about comic advice, sharing webtoon recommendations, and other things of that nature!

In the case of the LO asks, it's stuff that often has already been spoken about at length before so I don't really have anything to add (but trust me, I'm usually in total agreement, if I heavily disagree with a take I'll usually try to respond to it but it's rare that that's the case because most of the takes are just things like "wow the art in this panel sucks" like yep it sure do LOL) and often it just feels like my inbox is just like, a comment box for people to get their feelings out anonymously and honestly that's fine, I just also can't really respond to every single one unfortunately, but I do read them and I love y'all's takes!

With LR asks, y'all are way too sweet to me and send me just the kindest things about LR, and I hope y'all know that even if I wind up not getting back to your ask about it, I do read everything you send and appreciate so much the amount of support you've all shown for this project since I took it on <3 A lot of those asks are literally my version of "do it for her" where I read them and it reminds me of why it's so worth doing what I do :') <3

Whenever people recommend me other works to read, I add them to a list and I am currently trying to tackle it :) (honestly that list isn't as big as you'd think, a lot of the recommendations are for the same stuff, like other Greek myth retelling comics or otherwise just bad webtoons that people want me to suffer thru LOL) I just recently finally got a physical copy of Song of Achilles and while it's slow going, I'm gonna be sharing my extended thoughts about it, either in a big Tumblr post or maybe a video if I can motivate myself to do it 🤔

And of course, the comic advice asks... these ones admittedly I do tend to actually move into my drafts because I really, REALLY do want to respond to them, but I'm also not someone to half-ass responses to questions like that. That is a bit of a bad habit on my end because it often means I'm spending crazy amounts of time going over topics that can be researched, but I also just really love talking about comics so it doesn't feel good to get a comic advice ask and just leave it at "idk just start" like yeah, do that, but also I want to pass on all the things I WISH I had known when I was first starting out and I'm glad people see me as someone to learn those things from! So when it comes to those asks, don't worry, I'm picking away at them <3 (but also man, I should probably just like... put together some kind of hitchhiker's guide to comic making or something huh LOL)

Anyways! I do have a lot of unanswered asks and honestly, I'm not really one to delete them, even if I don't get back to some of them it is still nice to read them in their own little curated space separate from my main blog, it's kind of like a personal comment section between myself and those of you who took the time to write <3 The only asks I tend to outright delete are ones that are just like, way too bad faith to even want to give any attention to, or bot spam lmao But for the majority of y'all who have sent genuine asks to my inbox and never saw a response and worry that I might have ignored it or deleted it, I hope you can have reassurance in knowing that they are all still there and even if I can't make time every day to respond to them, receiving all your personal takes about LO and your amazing feedback and kind words about LR is something I'm always excited to see whenever that little notification pops up in my Inbox tab. I see you and appreciate you <3

[twotangledsisters]

Update.

First, I just want to thank everybody, I didn't want to re-blog an answer each individual post because; I don't wanna spam people?

So very quickly:

Thanks to @frozenwolftemplar cause your always so gentle with your words and the (like that festival with the sculptures that go 🔥🔥🔥) got me laughing. Also, I'd love to see more fics in different styles? I love when writers experiment! (same for any artists, I get so excited when an artist I follow tried out a new medium!)

Thanks to @nyleeu-e especially cause, knowing you also went through like, going into tumblr not logged in (might of misunderstood that) and found out the same thing brings my social anxiety down a lot. Cause... I just start overanalising soooo fast and end up thinking the worst, but I love your blog, there's nothing problematic going on? So I guess that kinda reinforces what a lot of people have said about it being a tts thing.

And @batata-doce-com-farofa of course thanks for the king words and yeah, the tags, a lot of people have suggested it's along those lines.

I'm not sure if in the past I've been very lucky to be in chills fandoms. I've been extremely ignorant to drama that was happening. Or times have just changed and in the time I was in uni unable to really be in a fandom interacting the way I am now, I was caught off guard by this change...

A friend also reminded me on the phone about how I use a 'mute' feature, so I don't block people unless it's absolutely necessary, I just have a feature which stops posts showing on my dashboard and stuff. And I do this mainly because, I may not like a certain ship or dynamic but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy other content from people? Also, I don't know if that person is reading a fic of mine on ao3 and there going to one day try to reach out on tumblr and find out their blocked and a have panic attack...

And saying that, I realize the fact my mind goes over this whole thought process as to why not to block someone, probably say a lot about my own socialy anxiety.

I think as well this hit me hard because I did a post a while back being like 'I have this paranoid feeling I'm invading the tts fandom space', and this felt like tumblr screaming that paranoia was correct...

That and there were a few people who's fanfics I interact with on ao3 who had me blocked... So... That's fun.

Plus, I've actually had a few hateful anon asks recently that I've been ignoring and kinda hoping/assuming it's all one single person... But there's always that bit in your brain that says 'what if it's a bunch of people!' But I have had A LOT more positive anonymous asks in my inbox (plus I value shy people and I think people who don't have a tumblr account can only ask anonymously so I wanna leave them on for fic readers who aren't on tumblr?)

Rambling, sorry.

I reached out today to my doctor and I'm going to get an 'emergency' meeting to get my anxiety meds checked cause... Something's not working. I've also been pulled aside by another doctor over weight loss the other day so, maybe that's something to do with my anxiety? (It'd be kinda nice if it was, like, two stones one bird?)

I should probably fully step away from the internet but, cause I work from home and my friends live 2 hours away... Tumblr, fandom, it all kinda becomes my social interaction between friend visits? Like, I'm an introvert but, it's nice to not be completely alone. I'ts hard to say if the internet does more or less for mental health some days...

I'll definitely be a bit less active on here while I reign in my anxiety.

None of this will affect Ao3, I am always like 40 days ahead of schedule!

I'll probably just log into Tumblr when I'm going to post something (like if I finish an animation, probably won't be doing all the works in progress stuff...) but if anybody wants to chat just pm me and I'll sell you my discord, that's on my phone so that notified me even when I'm not logging into tumblr!

I also have some anon asks in my inbox to do with animation suggestions, I've seen them! Except for one they're all great ideas I'd love to get around to! It just takes time I'm afraid, but I promise they've been received.

So yeah...

Huge thanks for all the kind words.

I think I'm going to go take a nap.

So I just made a huge mistake because... I was browsing tumblr from my ipad and didn't realize I wasn't on my usual account, and I was on the tangled the series tab and there was soooooo much content!

I was thrilled and then I realized...

It's not that there was a lot of content today.

It's that half the fandom seems to have me blocked.

And I don't know which fandoms rules I've broken to earn my exile...

But yeah.

I'm feeling.... Honestly, extremely, extremely unwell right now.

Like... I don't know what I'm going to do.

My instinct is delete tumblr, NEVER EVER EVER comment on a fic ever again because that's the only negative interactions I've had... And just.... Disappear off of tumblr (not ao3, I don't think my fanfics are the drama and I'm too deep into that rabbit hole)....

But obviously I'm writing this literally as I am made aware....

I'm just feeling extremely shitty right now.

And as though all my social anxiety is correct and most people hate me and.... Yeah.

I think I'm going to just go make a tea and watch some cartoons.

I wish I knew what I did...

I feel like I mostly just post animations and jokes and... I try to interact with the community but maybe I shouldn't have tried to interact.

[peninkwrites]

mafia au you say?

I made a moodboard for this au idea before posting anything about the au, so here's the gist!

OKAY.

So. Two sections of sorts. The Before Times and the Now. With an eight year gap in between. The factions have changed over that time. Before times, the majority of the city was occupied by the Arctic Empire led by the Crowfather, but when a rookie cop, Dream, commits himself to a war on organized crime (for reasons unknown) once an attempt is made on the Crowfather's son's life, Phil breaks down, takes his kid and his ally Technoblade, and flees. In that power vacuum left behind, Schlatt takes over with ruthless abandon. The Before Times have a few character focused prequel fics at present, but I'll have more plot stuff for it later!

(I'll put my shitty maps in here too for reference) (Yes I called the region under government control pig land. ACAB and all that.)

So at the beginning of the fic, the Empire has been divided up between Schlatt and the Badlands, with a lot of violence over some turf in the middle, but the real prize is West of the river, a much more upper class part of town which the cops keep careful control over. The arrows indicate borders shifting/where each group hopes to expand. The only other party of relevance is Puffy, who has a small strip along the docks from a deal with the Badlands, she is the one who runs all the drugs and booze in the city (city is in a prohibition type beat) after she quit the force.

The plot will start out with a few bangs, people going missing and dying and meeting and betraying each other, fun stuff like that, but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll talk characters instead– some of them will be important enough to have stuff from their pov, especially earlier on the list, but I don't know for sure yet who I'll focus on!

Tubbo: Just turned 18. Son of a mob boss. (Schlatt. I am sorry.) He's a ruthless little genius, but he hates the way things are run right now. His dad has put Tubbo and everyone he cares about in danger. Schlatt has made enemies, behaved recklessly, but it's Tubbo who will be left to pick up the pieces and try to keep everyone safe. The moment he can, he's going to change things for the better and strike down anyone who gets in his way. His friends include Tommy, the proud street rat, Niki and Ranboo, sister and brother who run a bakery/speakeasy together, and tentatively Schlatt's lawyer Quackity (they're foxhole buddies. friendship means survival)

Quackity: Schlatt's lawyer. Has an... interesting relationship with the guy (ew) but he's got a Plan. He's gonna get the fuck out of there and start up a casino with his boyfriend Karl (who sells counterfeit watches lol I had to) but you can't just up and leave the mob. So he's keeping his cards close to his chest for now, and when he sees an opportunity, he'll get out. He'd never admit it, but part of why he's sticking around is because he won't leave Tubbo alone with that piece of shit.

Sapnap: Grew up in the mob life because his father, BBH, led the Badlands, but left it the moment he turned 18 because he didn't want to live a life of crime. He wanted to help people, so he became a cop (please laugh. laughter is appropriate. Sapnap starts out wearing clown shoes.) it ended messy with his dad, as he basically completely cut him off. He joined the police academy with his best friend Dream and never looked back. (he joined eight years before around the same time everything changed.) Karlnapity is endgame.

Sam: Used to be a top dog in the Badlands before he pussied out– I mean had a moral crisis. Police captain after Puffy went awol. very canon-esque. Strong moral compass, but also such a fucking idiot. He lives on the nicer side of town with his boyfriend Ponk. Who works at Eret's museum and volunteers in the evening to give medical care to the homeless (aww isn't that sweet)

Ponk: Ponk is a fence who runs their operations out of Eret's basement. They're also Schlatt's doctor and sneak over there after dark to try and keep the stupid bastard alive. But they want out. They're tired of lying to Sam and working for someone they find morally reprehensible. So they make a deal with the Badlands– if they give them a way to get into the police station without breaking in/getting caught, the Badlands will protect them from Schlatt when they leave. So they steal Sam's keys (police files? haven't decided yet). One more job, then they go straight. For Sam. They're well liked across borders, but will that be enough to keep them safe?

Wilbur: Son of the Crowfather. Grew up in the city alongside the Empire kids, kids Phil took in, Fundy, Jack, Niki, Ranboo, along with a less close... rivalry? friendship? with the Badland's kid Sapnap. Then all of the sudden things got bad and when he was 18 or 19 his dad took him and ran, leaving all of his friends behind. (The other Empire kids were safe, they had no known affiliation with the Arctic Empire, Fundy squared away to become an accountant, Jack had already sort of separated him from the empire and had a job at a hotel, and Niki had her bakery to support herself and Ranboo.). Wilbur, going firmly against everything his father taught him, wanted to return to the city a new man, a musician who was down for a scheme or two, but definitely not the son of a mob boss. His first night back he runs into two people: his old friend Sapnap, who has degraded himself into working for the man, and Tommy. This annoying random kid who was kind enough to help him find Niki's speakeasy– The Secret City.

Tommy: street rat. refuses to tie himself down to an organization and heavily frowns upon it, tolerating Tubbo's family ties, but refusing to join anyone. He likes the freedom of it all, even if it gets lonely at times. He used to work with his buddy Eryn, the two of them planning pickpocketing hits and breaking into hotel rooms to sleep for the night, until Eryn decided he wanted to be a part of something more and joined up with the Badlands. He still spends most nights breaking into hotel rooms, his favorite being one which belongs to Jack Manifold, who hates his guts but also has never been able to catch him until he's already sneaking down the fire escape. 17 at the start of the fic. Helps this stupid tall fuck with a guitar find Niki's place because he's just ASKING to get mugged. Has no idea they'll one day consider each other brothers.

(the rest are more minor characters but boy do i have a lot for them lol)

Puffy: Basically in the Before Times she was the police captain that trained Sapnap and Dream when they were rookies. Her son Foolish is taken hostage, because ofc the mob want the police captain in their pocket, but she doesn't know who took him. The rest of the department/higher ups basically go "ya we can't do anything until they make demands good luck lol" so she goes. Okay. Fuck you guys. And takes her and her two little rookies to go look for him. The Arctic Empire are the most powerful players on the board at the time, but it's not them. The Badlands offer to help Puffy get her son back if she agrees to come work for them. She does. The police force basically were gonna leave Foolish to die. First she plays both sides, keeping an eye on Sapnap for Bad, undermining the police force, but Quackity the lawyer owes her a favor and helps her retire peacefully when the pigs start to catch on. She works for the Badlands for a few years, becomes a drug lord, starts her own little empire. Becomes the Godfather. (get it. bc Foolish is her son. the Godfather.)

Dream: A driven little bastard. In the before times, he and Sapnap joined the academy together. For reasons I will not yet explain, Dream makes it his one fucking mission to get all organized crime out of their city. He's ruthless. He's not committed to justice, he's committed to victory, damn whoever gets caught in the crossfire. He is supposed to play a major role as a villain, but I might make his whole deal more off-screen/reduced if I can.

Badboyhalo: was the second most powerful mob boss in the Empire days. Proud of his work, until his son left the family and basically went "you're dead to me." Bad had a crisis of faith. He cares about his family more than he does power, so he gives up some of his territory to Puffy, and asks Skeppy to run things for him. He's going to open up a diner (with a hint of money laundering ofc) and live a Normal Life in the hopes that one day Sapnap will come back to him. His peaceful retirement is an illusion. He could return to his former glory on a whim, but he'll wait for Sapnap for now.

Phil and Technoblade: Not too much to say here, they won't be active for the majority of the story, but Philza is The Crowfather. Insanely powerful. Even after he left the city to take over another one, he left behind some of his Crows to keep on eye on things (crows are people/spies, not birds lol) and Technoblade. He is Phil's enforcer and his right hand. He wears a pig skull mask because he's a notorious cop killer.

Eret: RICH. Runs the museum. Partially blind. Gives off an aura of being naively above all of the crime running rampant in the city. But she knows Everything. She is fiercely protective of her staff, which includes Ponk, museum curator, HBomb, her chauffeur/general guide, Fundy who runs the museum finances (aw an accountant just like his mom), and Foolish who has no idea what he's doing but Eret hired him as a favor to his dad Puffy.

Eryn: Was a street rat running around with Tommy, left him for a few years to go sailing with a crew as a little cabin boy. Came back with some cool scars and stories, tried to work with Tommy again but found he still wanted to be a part of a 'crew' of some sort, so he joined the Badlands. Now a spy with... let's say limited loyalties. (Tommy will always come first, but other than that...)

Niki: runs a bakery which is mostly a front for her speakeasy. Ranboo isn't really her brother, but she looked after him when she was alone on the streets until Philza took them under his wing. She just wants to make bread and a safe haven, but her speakeasy is right in the middle of highly fought over territory. She's used to being threatened or bullied by idiots trying to claim her fucking business. She doesn't blame Tubbo for his father's bullshit when he comes to collect dues, but she will keep this place running or burn down the city with it. Her speakeasy is open to everyone. No conflict, no sides, no guns allowed.

Ranboo: he's just a shy little dude. Didn't ask to be involved in this shit, but when one of your best friends ends up being the son of a mob boss you gotta roll with the punches. He's got a scar and a not-so-mysterious backstory.

Skeppy: this man is terrifying. A force to be reckoned with. When Bad stepped down, he stepped up. Has a soft spot for Bad and Bad alone, even if he doesn't understand him giving up everything for his son, he wants to help him and has the power to do so. (until, on the night of the first chapter, he mysteriously goes missing...)

Foolish: Found trouble in his youth, violent troublemaker in his early teens, but his dad is super protective of him from that one time he got kidnapped when he was like 14. He's a bit clueless about how the every day world works as he went from an absent father to basically being bubble-wrapped 24/7, so he starts working at Eret's place. He's buddies with Ponk and Eret, loves his job at the museum, not very good at it yet. Has a slight propensity for violence that his dad has made him outgrow, but will protect his friends.

Jack: Runs a hotel. Former Empire kid. Will lose his mind (he's moments away from Snapping) and end up helping Tubbo with his whole deal. Cares a lot about his friends. Sometimes wants to strangle Tommy.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head! And this was me trying to avoid spoilers lmao.

If you managed to read all this, thank you!!! I am always happy to talk about this au and maybe even some sneaky plot stuff but right now nothing is written yet! I am trying to figure out how I'm going to write it, I might write a bunch of fics each centered around different characters, but chapter titles with correspond to where in the timeline it takes place. Something like that, bc I don't think I can make this into one huge fic, and if folks are interested in a specific character/storyline, they can pick and choose what they read!

But again, i already have many wip I am in the middle of. But god does this au tempt me.

***UPDATE***

Part 1 of the series is now posted!

[a-dragons-journal]

Okay, I have a question... A close friend of mine invited me to a discord server for ppl who think they can physically shift, and are *horribly rude* to anyone who claims they can and can't or tries to tell them that p shifting isn't real...and I don't want to leave the server bc it notifies them all that I leave and they'll spread lies about me. What should I do? And how do I get my friend out of there?

As far as how to get you out: if you’re scared to actually leave, just mute it, move it to the bottom of your server list, and never open it. Functionally the same thing, but they’ll have no way of knowing other than the fact that you don’t talk. If it were me, I probably would leave, but that’s me, and I understand why you might not be comfortable making that choice. I would posit that if they’re relatively open about p-shifting, which it sounds like they might be, they probably don’t have enough of a good reputation to be able to effectively tarnish yours, but that’s up to your judgement.

Regarding your friend: You may want to ask them quietly in private about why they believe in p-shifting - and when doing that, my best advice is to be genuinely trying to understand their point of view, because it’s easy to come off as condescending otherwise. Ask them why they believe these people, what evidence they’ve seen, how they know that evidence wasn’t faked, why the group gets so aggressive when people express doubts, etc. A lot of the time if you keep asking questions that gently point out the flaws in the logic (or, better yet, that require them to point out the flaws in their own logic in order to answer the questions), that’s the best way to make those flaws apparent to them without them getting defensive, in my experience.

Depending on your relationship, you may be able to actually open with “Hey, I’m kind of worried about you and this” and express it as a friend being concerned rather than having to skirt around it with the curiosity-questions routine, but I don’t know how close you two are or how well your friend would take that.

In either case, but especially the second, take every opportunity to de-escalate and try to prevent conflict from arising. “I” language instead of “you” language (ie “I’m worried this might be unhealthy” instead of “You’re putting yourself in an unhealthy situation”), appeasing or even apologetic language, paraphrasing back what they’re saying to you (with optional additions of “am I understanding that right?”) to show you’re listening and understanding, all the conflict management tools. All of them. People in a situation like that are primed to be defensive about it by the group themselves, and it’s likely they’ll have had the idea that “outsiders” can’t be trusted with this information drilled into them as a part of that - you should not be aggressive or judgemental about it; that’ll only make them defensive and unwilling to listen to you at all.

As much as I hate to say this, it’s possible that you aren’t going to be able to talk them out of it - at that point, you kind of have to make a choice between either:

going “I’m not honestly sure I’m convinced about this, but I’m still your friend and I want to support you” and being willing to not talk about it further and just be there for them as a friend, which has the benefit of them having a potential way out and someone to talk to about their doubts but the downside of you still having some tie to this group, or

actually cutting ties with them and saying “I’m sorry, but I can’t be around a group of people that has toxic behaviors like [x y z], and I’m scared they’re going to bully or harass me through you for not wanting to be around them”, which if they’re aggressive enough in responding to your attempts to express concerns may be the best thing for your health and safety.

Other than that... I think all I can add is that you may want to do some research into cults and how to get out of them/how to help other people get out of them, which isn’t something I’m an expert in.

I wish you luck and hope you both get out of this situation safely anon <3