#i doubt that people will even read this post but... ultimately this is for me

[alexandriteobscuraarchive]

((I'm going to keep this succinct because if I say everything I want to say I know I'll just end up feeling frustrated (to put it both kindly and lightly) and I, ultimately, want to go forward on a positive, healthy note. That deserves to be the focus and drive rather than any deep seated frustration or upset.

With the exception of one thread (and the applicable tcol threads that are being moved over to my other blog or have been moved already) I'm going to be dropping all interactions here and permanently archiving this blog.

This probably disappoints some of you but I've dealt with all of this long enough. This blog isn't a safe, healthy or good place for me to be in; in all honesty it hasn't been for over a year now, and no matter what I do to express myself, no matter how I try to accommodate others either ic or ooc, no matter what I offer or suggest, no matter who I speak to or how I reach out it just..... doesn't matter. Despite all efforts on my part I've either been ignored or, worse, sent hate message after hate message for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend. And that's not fair. That's not fair and it never has been fair and I'm tired. I've put up with all of this for far too long when I could be somewhere better instead, like my new blog, or just..... anywhere else besides here. I hate to say that, I really do, but it's true and I should've realized that sooner and maybe I shouldn't of fought so hard, I don't know.

I'm tired of not being listened to and that includes listening to myself and so I'm going to leave and do what's best for me even if it feels a little 'too late' for comfort.

I will continue to rp on this platform (and maybe that's stupid of me; who knows) but I don't know when I'll be making a new variety blog. Creating a new blog from scratch is an incredibly stressful thing for me and I've already had to do exactly that incredibly recently as everyone here knows but..somehow I'll do it. Somehow. I know I'm going to and I know that I'll be musing pretty much all of the characters featured here (like Danny, my eternal beloved bias, he'll undoubtedly still be the face of the blog lol) and I know that I'd like to see some of you there and that I still want to write with you it just..... can't be here. Not anymore. I don't know when I'll make a new blog but... hopefully it'll be soon. It'll be a completely different url and such, I can tell you that much. I'll also be even more severe about who I follow and who I don't for reasons I..... shouldn't need to go into if anyone has been paying attention.

My inbox is completely disabled and my IMs are disabled as much as they can be so please don't attempt to contact me here. If you want to interact/write with me in the meantime you can find me on my other rp blog @constellationcrowned and if you want to chat ooc, potentially get a link to the new blog whenever I make it, etc, that's what discord is for. If you already have my info that's great and if you don't (and so long as we're mutuals) you can ask me for it privately on the appropriate blog. If I'm slow to respond to people regardless of connection please don't be offended and understand that this is incredibly hard for me to do, process, etc, but it's necessary if I want to not only continue writing but to continue enjoying writing on the whole. I have my tcol blog to help with that, thank fuck, but I still love the muses here and want to write them too.

It was fun while it lasted and I hope to see some of you on my new blog (and if not that's okay too, I understand if there are hard feelings or things you can't reconcile and I won't hold that against anyone) and you know where to find me in the meantime. I'll update this pinned to something more general/concise whenever I have things set up. I hope things go better next time.))

[godtier]

it amuses me how ppl will make PSA posts about how such-and-such platform uses "AI" and tells you to be Very Angry about it via context clues, but then the same ppl will happily reblog AI "art", even when it's very easy to tell and/or it takes two seconds to look at the damn comments on a post to find that it's AI generated, or that the very OP of the post tagged it as AI art, or answered an ask like "yeah I use a generator for the pics," or puts "I use midjourney to make the pics" in their profile on mobile, etc etc etc

I guess it's easier to screech about how an option in a program that you can turn off/disable within seconds and that won't actually do anything more than what your autocorrect or grammarly or siri or alexa or google assistant or photoshop filters have already been doing with/harvesting from your data for years now (spoilers: you've been using and training "AI" algorithms for longer than chatGPT has been mainstream! yes, it's basically the same concept!) than it is to do a few seconds of reading or double-checking to ensure you're not reblogging art theft and tagging it as "photography" 🙃

[sonicboomseason3]

a brief recap of what has been going on with the sonic movieverse in the past several months:

paramount has come out in public support of israel

keanu reeves, a man who has publicly rubbed elbows with none other than benjamin netanyahu, reportedly gets cast as shadow for the upcoming third movie

james marsden, the guy who plays tom, got exposed as having written a letter of support for a convicted pedophile

there's fucking??? zionist propaganda in the knuckles series???

kind of connected to the last point but adam pally, the guy who plays wade, is evidently pro-israel too

this is a complete and utter joke.

EDIT AS OF 4/30/24: if people see this version of the post, i'd really appreciate it if you reblog it instead of the other versions, as it's the most updated one with all the information that i want included. thank you :]

you know, it's been a few days since i've made this post, and some of you (not most) are staying determined in defending/justifying/giving the benefit of the doubt to keanu for that photo with netanyahu, whether it's because "it was a decade ago," "him being civil to someone he ran into at a party one time doesn't mean anything," "he's probably just silent because his pr managers won't allow him to speak up," etc. i've made my thoughts on the matter quite clear by directly responding to these people, but at this point, i'm tired of both seeing them in my notes and repeating myself, so take this as my final word on the issue.

i can't help it if you don't think the photo with netanyahu is damning, and i'm done engaging with everyone going out of their way to tell me that. i obviously disagree, especially after finding out that 1. the host of the party, arnon milchan, is a former israeli spy who has a history of developing israel's nuclear program and promoting apartheid in south africa (information that had broken out a few months prior to the party and thus would've been fresh news around the time keanu chose to attend) and 2. keanu has been caught hanging around at least two other weirdos, but if you don't find any of that to be cause for reasonable concern, then there really is nothing else i can say afaik.

with all that said, i'm beginning to realize how strange it is that these people's first instinct when seeing this post is to start debating about keanu's political stances without ever acknowledging any of the other bullet points. you guys realize that this isn't just about him, right? i know tumblr reading comprehension is known for being piss-poor, but like… you realize that i was trying to make a point of how there are MULTIPLE terrible things that have broken out about the people and company involved in the sonic movies, right? and yet, a lot of the people leaping to speak on keanu's behalf in my notes are completely ignoring the parts where i bring up paramount, pally, etc. all in favor of zeroing in on the singular point about keanu and making bad faith assumptions about me for holding him accountable. really makes one wonder where your priorities lie if, in a post that talks about so many other things, me accusing an a-list celebrity with, according to google, a net worth of almost $400 million is where you draw the line and apparently the only thing worth your acknowledgment.

ultimately, what i'm trying to say is that the intention of this post was just to gather up everything that i had been hearing for the past several months and put it all together in one place. there were a bunch of people who didn't know about at least one of the bullet points before seeing this post, and i'm glad that i could help inform them, that was what i was hoping to do! but as for the keanu thing, i've said pretty much all i can say for now, and i don't want to derail the original post even more than i may have already. unless something new comes up, i'm done talking about him.

[grimmusings]

Given the recent resurgence in purity culture and anti-villain sentiment on Tumblr, this feels like a good time to talk about censorship and bullying. This is not a call-out post for anything that's happened recently, just some commentary on what, to me, is a disturbing trend and some general guidelines for how to conduct yourself in fandom spaces.

Essentially, it boils down to this: You have the right to not interact with anything you choose in a fandom. You don't have the right to make that choice for anyone else.

Do you know why AO3 doesn't have content bans? It stems from anti-censorship beliefs and First Amendment rights, and it also comes from a long history of watching things like this go down in fandom. The thing about banning one kind of content--or that kind of mindset--is that it hardly ever stops with one thing, until fandoms are so scrubbed from anything that has the potential to be problematic that they collapse under any perceived threat to their rigid moral standards. If you doubt that, consider how it's taken less than a month for this to jump from Marvel to include other groups of villains and fandoms. Guaranteed, it will not stop there. (And that's to say nothing of how, historically, censorship leads to silencing marginalized groups, but that's a different post.) Conservatism is insidious and takes a lot of forms, but censorship is ultimately a conservative, even a fascist, action.

The fact is that what you enjoy reading or writing is actually no reflection on what kind of person you are. There's even an argument to be made that exploring darkness in fiction a) makes you a more empathetic human and, b) makes you better-equipped to handle those topics in real life (but that's another post too). I don't care what you want to write on your own blog. I don't care how controversial your muse or your ship is or if you write the darkest of dark fic out there. I may not want to write it, engage with it, or even see it on my dash, but I'll defend your right to write it.

Writing fascist characters (HYDRA, Empire, Death Eaters, etc.) doesn't make someone a Nazi any more than writing Hannibal Lecter makes them a cannibal or writing the Punisher makes them an advocate for gun violence. Saying they are breaks one of the primary tenets of roleplay: that mun does not equal muse. It's widely accepted in the roleplaying community that we don't agree with our characters' views, and we would never in a million years condone the things they do in real life. That rule doesn't go away just because you personally don't like the character.

So let's talk about what to do when you come across writing you don't agree with.

What you have a right to do: Feel however you feel about it. Ask for tags and readmores (they have a right to refuse). Decline to explain or justify why it makes you uncomfortable. Decide not to associate with people who write that thing. Blacklist. Unfollow. Block. Add to your DNI list. Vent about it in a safe space with your friends. Take a step back from the internet. Remember that the people on the other side of the screen are real, actual humans, while characters are imaginary. Embrace the fact that engaging in fiction is optional, and you can choose to stop any time you want. Trust that grown adults have the basic media literacy to understand the difference between reality and fiction. Remind yourself of the first rule of fandom, the one AO3 is built on (Don't like; don't read). Recognize that it's perfectly valid to not want to engage with something, but that expecting other people not to write it at all isn't your call to make and can lead down a dangerous path.

What you don't have a right to do: Bully or doxx other writers. Shame them for their choices when they don't agree with you. Demand explanations or justifications from them. Gaslight them into thinking nobody else will write with them if they continue to write this thing. (You don't speak for the entire fandom. You are a very small minority making a lot of noise.) Create call-out posts. Participate in witch hunts. Send anon hate or death threats. Make people feel unsafe in their own spaces. Police other people's content.

If you descend to bullying someone because you don't like what they're writing, you don't have the moral high ground. I can't believe it needs to be said, but real bullies are worse than fictional antagonists. Bullying and censorship are far more alarming threats than people who enjoy exploring dark topics in their writing. Nobody's asking you to like it, agree with it, or even look at it. And if you don't? Now is the perfect time to say nothing about it, block, and move on. Rest assured, we don't want you on our blogs any more than you want us on yours.

[fairyminnie444]

𝕷𝖆𝖜 𝖔𝖋 𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

> READ THIS BEFORE ASK <

му ρσѕтѕ ✮⋆˙

your subconscious is simpler than you think it is

you are NOT persisting if you are checking 3D and waiting for you DR!

you don’t try to manifest

Embodying the reality of your imagination

Manifesting is instantly

how should I see the role of other people in my reality?

ENDING the cycle of main frequent doubts that arise in our minds once and for all

“At your command”

EIYPO explained for you to understand and absorb

do you sometimes have that feeling that you NEED TO DO SOMETHING/TAKE ACTION to receive what you want?

“BIG” manifestations

What’s the “secret”?

Why You Can Change Your Physical Appearance and Overcome the Limitations of Biology

Why Others’ Manifestations Can’t Block Yours

I already know everything!! How do I apply this to my routine?

The “Sabbath State”

Yes, it’s perfectly okayyyy if you forget or get distracted by your routine.

affirmations to make it easier and “faster”

the ultimate post u need to LET GO

understanding your EGO so you don’t let it hold you back anymore

how to feel your desire in a natural way even if it seems unlikely?

even a negative view of circumstances can lead you to a positive one

manifesting $100,000 is as easy as manifesting $1

you already understood that! you are already there!

𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕟𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕔𝕚𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤

manifesting is supposed to be fun, light and easy!

~bad moments~ along the way happen, instead of ignoring them how to deal with them?

Act like the GOD you know you are.

Breaking Free from the Need for Proof

࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ𝓐𝓢𝓚𝓢 ࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ

i want to increase my height

what if my desires stay in imagination ans never externalize?

can we manifest multiple sps?

time travel (2)

What if others also try to manifest my celebrity sp…

how do you/did you convince yourself that manifesting/LOA is real

dealing with the 3D when it comes to using LOA (living in the wish fulfilled)

doubts affect my manifesting?

How does one take a very famous person « off the pedestal » in order to manifest them?

I want to change my birth name but i have to sign documental stuff

How I could live in the end when revising smth that if materialized would totally change my live in the 3d?

SPEC method

will it still manifest what we want even if we don’t have a clear picture on it?

I need help with my imagination.

how do i know if it's just taking its time or if i'm doing something wrong?

Can you go deeper into days/weeks of the 3D not changing and how to persist throughout the whole day when you're doing things?

What are your thoughts about getting back people who have p@ssed away? REVISION

YT Channels (sub, meditations, mentors)

I want to manifest the absence of something I've been experiencing for a long time (health and wellness related).

work on my self concept / deal with people who criticize or make me feel drained

simple breakdown to help you manifest your SP even if it feels delusional right now

trying to manifest a modeling career

manifest changing appearance and dna, but i also want to change my past to always have been this appearance and my parents too

everytime i think something is "never going to happen" or "hmm i've never seen xyz" it ends up happening?!?!

How can I manifest when I absolutely don't believe that I can?

how can i use daydreaming and listening to songs while manifesting?

someone asked me about my sp. what should I do in this case?

why is consuming more information about this law considered to be coming from lack when doing something in the 3d that "opposes your desire" not considered to be coming from lack?

I have too many things to manifest so what should I do? advice to me in harsh way

struggle with is my celeb sp and my dream job

how would you manifest hectochromia eyes?

EIYPO everything like a puppet and me it’s master pulling the strings? Does it mean that “ancestors,” “angels,” etc. are not existent, only me?

Why Some Manifestations Work Effortlessly

advices for manifesting with mental disorders

can manifest such extreme beauty that everyone in a shopping mall turns to look at me. Even though I'm not the standard and I'm common

I’m manifesting a new face, but visualising it doesn’t make me feel anything?

how do i make sure that happens for certain? i'm scared it won't

What do you think about manifesting being immortal?

+ tips on manifesting a bf/significant other

struggling with feeling the feelings and believing that it’ll happen.

I can never manifest anything related to MONEY purely

date with the guy I like However, I am a very physically insecure girl and I am too scared and nervous.

i dont know what i did wrong, i really thought this would work, i was sure about it but it didn’t and i can’t helped but feel discouraged

I have a fear that some of my manifestation will dissapear

If everything we are seeing in the 3D is assumptions we made through our life, why does sometimes when we are like 100% sure of something and then we figured it is not?

was confident, my affirmation was "no matter how and what, i have all A's" but alas i did in fact not get all A's.

i WANT to see a people who actually manifested things that changed their past, their reality

i wanna manifest more lenient parents

I’m religious so I believe in a higher power/god, but I do still believe in my own power/ Will this hinder my manifestation process because I believe in a higher power?

What am I doing wrong? SP related

how can i.. like manifest or just "undo" it??

I want to manifest my natural hair color being blond, but i have black hair and also my parents, do i have to detail everyone in my family who is blonde for my new genes?

I feel like I can't anymore, that I'm giving in… I feel stuck

i’m really confused in the living in the end thing and others things in my manifestation

I simply want to be like those people who are successful in curing their illnesses

what do you recommend me doing to change my birth year while not ignoring the reality and still living in the end?

Can our negative thoughts manifest if we think them for a long time and then stop thinking them?

How to use chatpgt to clear doubts and manifest

Tips for beginners

why do some people's jokes manifest if they don't assume those jokes are true?

how to stop paying attention to old failed attempts

How do you deal with hopelessness or desperation.

i’m scared that my fears will manifest itself and it’s out of my control

waiting mode

I feel guilty wanting to manifest

࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ PART 2 ࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ

[worstgenerationloser]

,, Who the hell is FireFist?! ''

Synopsis... Unable to resist the temptation of an internet argument, you accidentally end up dooming yourself by responding to "FireFist." Now, he's obsessed with pissing you off.

Warnings... There are crude comments and remarks, profanity, internet harassment, ... Be advised of this as you read!

Fic Masterlist here!

Tags: @neospade ; @lilink ; @bluetokie ; @kanekisheart ; @ren-ni ; @hauntedlunaa ; @mylifeisamess ; @euriiverse ; @j014xio ; @fruitncandy ; ; @ally-wow ; @spyderst4r ; @kiberrymatcha ; @valkyrie-8

A/N: I know there was a super long wait but surprise surprise i have gotten rather busy and straight up forgot to post this...

Everyone knows the internet is dreadful at times with differing opinions and hateful comments towards one another, some people trying to turn themselves into the embodiment of peace and happiness on their social media pages despite being the literal incarnation of evil… Now, you won’t try and say you’re all sunshine and rainbows, but maybe you get a little defensive when it comes to the things you like, and that may or may not lead to a few arguments in comment sections. Which is exactly your current predicament.

The notification wall on your phone's lock screen displayed one notification from Instagram. There was no doubt in your head that it was the guy who had become the reason for your most recent internet argument.

FireFist replied to your comment: “ dont care, didnt ask. “

Three tips for dealing with internet trolls, and you managed to break the most important one. Everyone says not to engage but you can’t resist the temptation, and that is a bad habit you’re eager to break; but it can also wait for another year or two. Naturally, your anger gets the best of you over an Instagram comment, and you click on his profile again to see if there’s something to use against him. Unfortunately for you, his account is private, and he has five followers, so there is zero chance of you sneaking in even, on a burner account. Just your luck, you had no fuel for your fire besides the fact that “FireFist” had terrible opinions regarding music, and his username sounded like a shitty porno. Despite that, you began to type away, forgetting whatever it is you were doing to try and come up with a comeback.

You replied to FireFist’s comment: “then why r u still responding lol thats sad.”

Not even a minute later, his reply lit up your phone screen.

FireFist replied to your comment: “i can say the same for you LMAOO u want me so bad!!”

Okay, they are just trying to rile you up. And unfortunately for you it was in fact working alarmingly easily.

You replied to FireFist’s comment: “i wouldnt touch u with a 10ft pole, ur probably infectious”

He replied quickly that time, too.

FireFist replied to your comment: “sounds like u rllyy wanna touch me bcz u keep responding to me… its ok to say u want me”

The asshole twisted your words. Do you get defensive, insult him more, or block him? Blocking people is for pussies, and that definitely makes you a hypocrite because you have blocked so many people you reached the limit more than once, but you feel such intense hatred for this internet stranger today that you don’t want to block them. For a while, you try to figure out what to say back without sounding too offended… Ultimately, it's a losing battle, and you can’t figure out where to go from here. Your heart is racing and you feel anxious but you don’t stop to think about why you’re doing things like this despite the reactions they give you.

Then, your screen lights up again. Moving slow as a snail, your hand shaking from anxiety picks up your phone. Yes, it was who you’d expect.

FireFist replied to your comment: “don't be shy, im open minded ;)”

That sets you off. Really bad. Clenching your jaw uncomfortably tight, your hand clicks on his profile, then the three dots in the corner. There, that bright red text greets you. 

Block.

Are you sure you want to block FireFist? They won’t be able to…

After seeing that text a thousand times over, you just don’t care anymore. You blocked him, and you aren’t expecting anymore of his odd messages anytime soon. Simmering in anger alone in your bedroom, you’re interrupted by a knock on your bedroom door. It’s probably your roommate, Franky. He’s an eccentric guy with electric blue dyed hair that he styles differently every other week, a ridiculous amount of confidence in himself, and that’s not even mentioning his weird obsession with cyborgs. You are sure in another life Franky is living out his cyborg dreams, still having his outbursts of energy.

“Y/N! Wanna come to the pet store with me? I gotta get a new filter for Jinbe!” Franky yells obnoxiously loud through your door. Jinbe, his pet fish who he swears has the spirit of a whale shark, but to be fair, that fish is pretty badass. 

“Sure! Let me get dressed!” You yell back, tumbling out of bed towards your dresser. Your phone can wait! All you need now is to throw on a little something that won’t make you look like you have a bleak life.

“Hm? Were you cooking? The smoke alarm is going off!” Nonchalant as ever, Franky gently pushes open your bedroom door. Wait, why is he holding Jinbe’s tank in his hands? Disregarding his question you stupidly focus on the most irrelevant thing, before your eyes widen in shock. Without an utterance of any words, a string of noises escapes your mouth.You throw yourself out the door, dashing towards the kitchen. Okay, fixing your temper is now number one on the bucket-list, if it allows you to make a mistake this big then maybe it’s a problem.

And with that, you manage to subject yourself to a few months of signature Franky-style teasing. The whole situation is so absurd, even you have trouble trying to wrap your head around why you got so worked up… Looking over at your roommate on the couch next to you, something tells you that he's about to offer some clarity.

“Y’know… You spend a little too much time online. Seriously, you have no idea how many angry DM’s I get from people you argued with in a comment section or whatever. Kinda tiring.”

Franky blurted out loud, cleaning the salt from his chips off of his fingers with an obnoxious sucking noise as the loud crack of a can of cola follows along. It had become a sort of biweekly tradition for you and Franky to sit on the couch and put on some sketchy movies which if the law asks, you legally acquired. Despite him having literally no reason to, he took you in when reality hit you right in your soul upon moving to this town; Franky even invites you places and offers to buy you things when you’re short on cash. He does still annoy you, but it’s in more of an older brother way instead of the way a regular old roommate would.

“There’s no room for you to critique me. I haven’t seen you drink a drop of water since we started living together four years ago.” A rather extensive sigh highlights your softened speaking voice, though only Franky picks up the dash of sarcasm found in your words. He always ends up parroting words and promises you utter to yourself, it’s annoying but you guess he’s just gotten to know you excessively well. You don’t really like being told what to do anyways.

“Hey! That’s a completely separate matter! I am my own person. But–...” Tapping his chin, Franky licks salt from the corner of his mouth after he trails off for a moment. The blue light from the T.V screen makes his hair look luminescent in a silly way and that’s all you can focus on.

“I have seniority over you. I showed you the not-so-local scene, hidden gems, and I let you stay with me dirt cheap! I also know that I’m practically your only friend. Maybe listen a little, because sometimes I worry about you like my own family.” 

Well, he’s got you there. You have definitely neglected your social life— yourself in general. After turning eighteen you bought a lottery ticket, won a decently sized prize; realized that you didn’t wanna live with your parents forever— and following the scent of freedom you landed yourself in this stupid town with a significantly less amount of money, and barely a plan. Eighteen is still very much teenaged, so you thought you would maybe be able to work things out after only having maybe $400 left and the brand-new car you got with your lottery money… No apartment lined up, not thinking of the fact you would have to buy furniture or get a job, just living off the adrenaline rush that came with a change of scenery. It’ll be four years since you moved here in a month or two, and sometimes your life feels just as messy at times.

Looking over at Franky you feel eternally grateful, he would laugh if you ever told him something like that to his face, so you keep emotional words to yourself. With a permissive nod, Franky settles back onto the couch and stares right at you.

“I know you're technically an adult, but I can't forget the eighteen-year-old girl I saw sulking in the streets. It's fine if you wanna be introverted, but you don't go outside if you aren't shopping or going places with me. Plus, being angry at internet strangers is terrible for your mental health. I’m not super into these corny talks, just try and do something without being mad all the time. Start a blog, take up video gaming, things like that.”

Franky leaves you with his words of rare wisdom, he turns the volume up on TV without looking back in your direction. Taking his advice into consideration, you tune out the noises coming from the television and start reevaluating the choices that have led you to this point. 

Pros; you got Franky and a cheap place to stay that isn't a total shit hole.

And the cons… It's best if you ignore them for now, you'll end up on a downward spiral, and not the good Nine Inch Nails album kind of downward spiral.

There's barely any luck when you try to make small talk with the cashier at your local supermarket, and online 90% of the time whenever you voice your opinions it makes somebody angry— the other 10% is when you're upset with someone else's opinion... When you put things like that you start to wonder if you're the problem. Socializing without Franky would be the first step towards becoming a better you! Starting off small is the key to success in your case.

“Okay, now let's just relax and forget all about my blog. Gotta wait for some likes… But I guess here they're called hits.”

Closing your laptop, you sit back in bed. There's an odd rush of adrenaline running through your veins, something's telling you that this is going to be a success. Here you're going to make some cool mutuals, engage in friendly conversation, and hopefully if someone thinks highly enough of you— you’ll get yourself a fan. That's wishful thinking, though. If things go sour you have to abandon this platform forever. The moment you get comfortable and reach for your phone, a soft knock sounds at your door, and you already know it's one of the only people you maintain a relationship with and live with.

“Y/N? Just wanted to make sure I didn't overstep earlier. I know you've never had an issue with it before, but I tend to overthink. You also know that. Tell me you aren't upset so I can post Jinbe on my story with a clear mind.”

Without even seeing him, you can tell by his voice that he's got his face pressed against your door. 

“I’m not!” You shout aloud, getting back into a comfortable position.

“Are you sure?”

“...I’m sure.”

“Okay, but are you sure that you're sure?”

“Rest assured I’m not upset with you in any way or manner, Franky.”

“...Alright, but are you confident?”

He's doing the thing again. Angrily, you walk towards your door and fling it open— but Franky is already scurrying to his room, giggling along the way. His joy is infectious, and you forget about your worries and previous annoyances. Today was productive enough in your book; Franky made some burgers on the grill earlier and invited a few of his more sociable and interesting friends, mentioning how bummed he was that some girl… Whatever her name was, couldn't come over. Even if they weren't there for you it was still nice to have a few laughs with new faces. Then you got in some sun and just let your thoughts drift away; until the creation of your blog, which is still in the densely populated space of your brain.

You forgot all about it until you were dressed up the next morning, scurrying to open your laptop in a daze. More anxious than ever, the color blue highlighting the numbers over your notification's inbox reading “99+” damn near killed you. You move your mouse over to your profile picture in the corner, and check out your post, a simple photo of your outfit with less accessories than usual.

800 hits total. 12 comments. 46 reposts. And your post was added to a few collections, you'd say maybe 20 people did so. That leaves 722 likes. 

Something tells you to check the comments, and after skimming through them, you're comforted when you see nothing negative. You felt comfortable saying this since he hopefully wasn't omniscient, but you're glad you didn't see that FireFist dude in your notifications. Honestly you can't even explain to yourself why he came up just now, but he did. He pissed you off a great deal, so it's valid you're still thinking of him. The positive comments distract you more than that asshole does, though. Starting from the top you begin to read.

NamiLuvsMoney: “def not my style but super cute <3”

When you checked her profile, you saw that she seemed to have amassed a large fan base doing the same as you. That wasn't even mentioning how beautiful she was in her profile picture, so much so that you followed her immediately after verifying it was really her of course. Your eyes move on to the next comment.

SuuperCyborg: “i need my belt back”

It's Franky, you nearly forgot you gave him your blog handle. He doesn't post much but he has an introduction on his page, you follow him after giggling at the familiar profile picture which was the same on each social media page of his. It was the one a show photographer took of him spraying cola everywhere with his hair in a huge Mohawk, there's a few of his friends whom you barely remember holding him up and laughing. It makes you want to go to a punk show with him.

The next comment is just a thumbs up emoji, and the person who commented has no profile picture set. Checking their profile, they only seem to repost historical things. You block them under the assumption bot interactions will mess with your blog's engagement, you did so well on this first post, and you don't wanna ruin that. Goodbye to the blog titled “Bookmark”, it's a stupid name for a blog but FireFist is worse. 

SaDbo: “this outfit reminds me of my little brothers friend. he's pretty kickass and I kinda want his closet, but his eyes are intimidating sometimes. i think you wear it better 👀”

Oh, you've made it. After scanning his profile obsessively, your ego experiences a massive increase. This hottie complimented your outfit. This gorgeous blonde man? Stay calm, racing heart. When you dig a little more you see that he reposts a bit of everything, and you find yourself a little curious about him. Any sane person would follow him. Anybody. Franky would give you a round of applause right about now.

The page suddenly refreshes on its own, and there you see it now placed at the top of the column of comments.

FireFist: “i see you!"

FireFist: “did ya miss me?”

His comments were immediately deleted, but apparently this website didn't allow you to block people on new accounts, so you decided to send this guy a DM in hopes of maybe getting him to fuck off. Preparing an angry DM you try not to sound too aggressive to risk your following of 78 people, which is still pretty impressive if you do say so yourself. Enough about you, more about your aggressor.

“this is really creepy of you to do”

On the other side of the screen, you like to think this guy is old and greasy, maybe even divorced or something. Again, his profile is bare. Nothing at all, just a black profile picture.

“you're the one playing hard to get babe”

His response came quickly, like he was waiting for you to message him. When you read his message and see he called you “babe” that makes you think it would be for the best if he wasn't an old man. This wasn't your first time being harassed online, but this was the first time someone found an account with an entirely different email address linked to it, not to mention there was no indication that it was you. Every other profile is bare, besides your close friends' stories.

“youre harassing me???? on the internet? do you have any hobbies?  no sane person has this much free time”

“how did you even find me, my user is completely different” This bizarre situation is gonna leave you with long lasting paranoia regarding social media. Three dots pop up and fade in and out in the bottom corner of your chat, showing that FireFist is now typing.

“yah i knew you would have a fuckass handle like this bcz wtf does this even mean”

Is your handle really that cringe? The essence of social media is that you can do things with less cares than usual, so you begin to think letting your imagination run wild and ironically choosing your username was a mistake. Does everyone know its satirical?

“youre one to talk, FireFist”

Another message of yours trails behind. The typing begins, but then it stops. And it doesn't pick back up after that. You refresh the page over and over whilst not even blinking, itching for a response so you can say something else without seeming obsessed— but it never comes. Guess that's the end of it. 

At least that's what you thought at the time. Fifteen minutes later is when it happened.

“Y/N! Who the hell is FireFist?!” Franky’s yelling is close, and then your door swings open with such force, the brass doorknob comes crashing into your drywall at record speeds. When the door lightly swings back and forth and lets out of the wall, there's a circular hole from where the doorknob made contact.Damn this shitty house and its fragile walls. To make matters worse; when you look up at Franky he seems angry.

“Shit. Did he do something?” Your anxiety is killing you to the point you barely manage to speak to Franky. Is it wrong to think that this is kind of scary? It's just some dude online, but he's everywhere now. That means the chances of seeing him in real life are slim… You think.

“Something? Did he do something?” Franky hangs his head, his hand gripping the side of the door while he seethes in his anger.

“He trashed my base in Cyborg Utopia! Uh, why are you so nervous anyways?” Then comes Franky’s dramatic outburst, and suddenly the tension in the air dissipates a bit. But you can't shake the feeling that this isn't the last instance of him popping up places.

“Huh? Oh, well— er…”

Maybe you shouldn't worry Franky. He would probably end up embarrassing you by making a few thousand angry posts about him if you told him you had a new internet… Stalker? FireFist falls into that category you suppose. You choose to keep quiet about it all. Franky looks at you expectantly, but you just shake your head. Don't worry about it. His eyes betray him and showcase his momentary worry as he walks away, shutting your door softly.

Wait a second.

“Hey! My wall, asshole!” You scream and stand up, shouting closer to the door so Franky could hear you a little louder.

“Not my problem!”  Franky yells back even louder than you.  The slamming of the front door is heard all the way from your room, followed by the sound of your roommates' noisy, beat up motorcycle speeding off. It's almost twelve in the morning, and he's off again.

Fuck, the week isn't even over. A stalker, a hole in your wall, and an odd sense of loneliness. You do still need friends, after all.

[utilitycaster]

Hi, would just like to say thank you for writing up so much meta on campaign 3, it is keeping me sane seeing similar thoughts to what I’ve had written down coherently.

The last couple asks you’ve answered have got me thinking about how campaign 3 ended up like this (indecisive characters, weird nonsensical themes, only setpieces and maybe a ship or two being memorable) and I remember hearing that c3 was described by Matt as ”Pulpy” and I keep coming back to that and thinking that there was never even meant to be a big decision. From what I’ve read of old pulp fiction dnd novels it's pretty much “here’s the big bad go defeat/seal/slap them on the wrist, have fun on the way there with several cool setpieces and romance!” and I wonder if there was even meant to be a god debate at all or if it was just picked up in the middle of the story by the cast. It could explain why the characters wouldn't fit the story if this wasn’t meant to be the story.

Cause a character who goes with the flow is fine in those books and a character who only looks into what is thrust upon them works, but it feels like somewhere it tried to be more and just fell apart.

Because even now the story does feel pulpy but just held down by a narrative it isn’t handling well. 119 was a great episode and having the Raven Queen show up in the middle to give boons is an incredibly cool beat that would be memorable as hell but for it to end up as another god debate just sucks. But the rest of the campaign sort of does that with cool beats that end up dragged down in one way or another so its not unique I guess

I know you talked about the “pulpy”ness of c3 a while ago and was wondering if you had more thoughts now that we’re in the endgame for the campaign

I do - this is all rather speculative but in some discussions with other people one possible explanation that's come up is that Matt genuinely didn't expect the characters to be so hesitant to save the gods or stop Ludinus or sympathize with the the Vanguard, and has kind of pivoted to make a campaign that accomodates those doubts...but in doing so sort of fucked his end premise of "we must deal with Predathos". Which, you know, makes a lot of sense! What if Hearthdell was intended as a glimpse into why people might join something like the Vanguard to introduce an element of complexity to a party that (quite reasonably I might add) had said "these people are a fucking scourge on Exandria" but instead served to fan the flames of "well the gods didn't give me things when I asked so yeah we should let them be eaten"? What if the fetch quests to the Shattered Teeth or the scouting mission were like the quest for vestiges - something that the party desperately wished to do to achieve a deeply felt goal - and not something they had to be nudged along to do every step of the way? What if the party went into the final confrontation with any consensus or intention? Because then yeah a pulpier "you're taking on the Big Bad Ultimate Threat...but your MOTHER is on THEIR side" a la vintage superhero comics plays out much more coherently. I cannot stress enough that the cultural touchstone Matt brings up about the campaign is the 2012 Avengers film. Regardless of some posts I've seen (which tend to assume anything the cast has ever read/watched/played is an influence, which is. incorrect) that is your starting point.

The thing about all the "take a third option" and "status quo" talk surrounding this campaign is...this post is actually a good description of how it plays out in real life. Like yeah there's a lot of political constructs within the world that are stupid and unjust! However it is unproductive, naive, and idiotic to act as though just because you don't like them they aren't part of a complex system that needs thoughtful dismantling (at least, if you place any value on human life) or worse, that they simply don't exist because they shouldn't. Sometimes you genuinely do have two choices and neither is ideal and if you do not choose between them because you're holding out for a better option the choice is made for you, and often, it's the worse one. Sometimes there is in fact a problem caused by something stupid that you cannot undo in time to solve said problem, and it is selfish and childish to say "well I think this shouldn't be a problem" and leave it at that. You will fail in your endeavors if you do this. People will see that's your approach and stop listening to anything you say.

Bells Hells feel like that to me and it's not even entirely their fault. I think because Matt had such a clear endgame in mind in the sense of "face off against Predathos" and the party was so ill-suited, and the early pacing was genuinely already bad, he's sort of tried to pivot away by following every dumb idea Bells Hells have to perhaps funnel them towards that endgame. And this is a problem too, because it means the plot doesn't push back on them and they do not grow as people, which means that a lot of us are getting tired with their shit. It's telling that most of Bells Hells' loudest defenders are the "well, if you're traumatized, you're excused from all responsibility for your actions ever :)" types within the fandom because like, part of why people are sick of Laudna's shit (for example) is that it's like ok I agree you shouldn't have an evil wizard in your head but you do, so like, what are you doing about it. And because she hadn't done anything about it and because they had to get to Predathos we had our Deus Essek Machina situation, which to be clear, not mad about, but it also means Laudna never really learned or grew from this. And to be clear she's not alone; part of the frustration around Ashton is it seemed like they DID have a revelation around shardgate and then immediately discarded it.

There's many more factors I'm sure but just to sum up:

Matt has a very clear overarching plot in mind [and, also, probably was creating a campaign for characters who see point 3 had more realized worldviews and goals and investment in their communities]

Matt does not give the cast much guidance in creating characters for that plot; "pulpy" is really tonal and not even genre

Cast, having played characters specifically designed for the "complex and morally gray and must be from the continent the campaign is set on" campaign last, turn to wacky and go-with-the-flow types

Overarching plot kicks in; characters do not behave as expected

Matt tries to embrace/encourage this by getting the party to follow what they want to do

Go-with-flow/take no responsibility party doesn't know what they want to do

endless loop of a DM trying to adjust the direction of flow to a directionless party instead of imposing a direction/Cast trying to take direction cues from a DM who keeps throwing more options at them in the hopes one will appeal to them which turns into a "what do you want to do" "I don't know what do you want to do" situation.

[burningcheese-merchant]

A Thought About Shadow Milk Cookie

I actually meant to make this post months ago, but I sort of let it fall to the wayside for the sake of other things. Now Blue Gatorade Cookie is coming out tomorrow and I'm like "ahhh shit I'm late" lol. Consider this a sequel/accompanying piece to the Burning Spice Cookie post

Shadow Milk always gave me a bit of the impression of being a Victor Frankenstein type. If you haven't read the book (please do, it's fantastic), then this quote sums up both the character, the story, and my perception of Shadow Milk pretty well:

"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."

Knowledge is power. Knowledge is freedom. Equally so, perhaps even MORE so, knowledge is fun. It's fun to learn new things. And with all of this in mind, Shadow Milk did his best to pursue the knowledge he so championed, and share it with the world, whatever it was. You give a man a fish and he eats for a day; you teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. So Shadow Milk made it his mission to teach all men to fish. To teach them to read, to cook, to sew. To teach them magic, to teach them science, to teach them whatever filled the gap between. Perhaps he even went so far as to become a close associate of a certain academy, if not outright being its founder (Blueberry Yogurt Academy theorists, where you at lol). Anything to achieve the ultimate goal of inspiring others to learn and thrive as he does.

But as I said, knowledge is fun. There doesn't necessarily need to be a reason for it. Maybe Shadow Milk never actually needed one; even if there was no one left to teach, he could always teach himself, for he was always his own greatest student. And so whenever he had time, he read every book he could get his hands on. Practiced every spell. Sang every song, recited every poem, memorized every bit of meaningless trivia. Anything and everything to feed his endless hunger for more knowledge. Because it was... fun. It was freeing, to have those little burdens of doubt lifted from his shoulders, however inconsequential they actually were. And - however much he was able to admit it, to himself or to others - it made him feel powerful.

Until he started learning things no one else had before. That no one else could. That no one else should.

Maybe he learned how to peek into people's minds, and saw exactly how vapid, selfish, stupid and cruel so many of us really are beneath the façades we wear. Maybe he uncovered secrets that accidentally tore apart families, scandals that threw governments into chaos, acts of betrayal that may have started wars. Maybe one day, he learned the ultimate truth of the world; who and what cookies were really supposed to be, and what their makers really thought of them. (Not too far off from White Lily, really.)

In his desperation for solutions as well as some semblance of self-comfort, Shadow Milk just kept on learning. Kept searching for answers. Kept acquiring more and more knowledge. Because it was all he ever knew how to do. It was all he believed himself to be good for. But it was never enough. Not only did he never truly find the answers he sought - whether it be because they never existed in the first place, or because whatever he found only made him ask even more questions than before - but he just kept going down more and more rabbit holes. And he couldn't stop himself-

No. That's not true. Of course he could. He just didn't want to. Because knowledge is power, and deep down inside, he was always power-hungry. And besides that, he was just so curious. Morbid curiosity can be a terrible sin. Perhaps a small part of him, one he never wanted to give credence to, relished in being smarter than everyone else. And maybe that same part of him was also hubristic enough to believe he could learn whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to, just because he could.

Perhaps Shadow Milk tried to sound the alarm, so to speak. Share those great and terrible truths he uncovered with the world. But nobody listened, no matter how much they believed in and respected him otherwise. Because the truth is stranger than fiction, more often than not, and there's only so much strangeness people can tolerate. Knowing this - knowing how foolish people can really be, how quick they are to shun the truth to protect their own feelings - he looked for another answer, like he always does. Shadow Milk always had a fondness for theatrics; he wasn't just a scholar, he was a poet, a playwright, an artist. And thus, it was with these talents and loves of his that he tried to teach people what he knew. He wrote stageplays that became famous. Fantasy novels that became bestsellers. Poems and essays that were read aloud in classrooms. Everything he could throw at the wall with as much panache as possible. Because that's who he is, and that's what people are more likely to listen to. People like bread and circuses, so he gave them a whole bakery and performed every circus act himself.

But it was never enough. Those threads of truth he so carefully wove into the tapestries of his work; no one felt them. Those easter eggs he hid; no one found them. Nobody ever saw what he saw, whether he snuck it into the picture or plastered it right in the center. And so Shadow Milk came to realize that no one ever actually wanted to know the truth, no one ever actually wanted to learn anything, no one ever actually valued knowledge. All people cared about was what they could personally gain from it and nothing more. No higher purpose of any kind. Just what conveniences and inconveniences them.

And what's the point in helping people like that? How do you teach the unteachable?

Shadow Milk likely became bitter (or sour, because lol milk). Maybe he slowly began turning truths against people. Hoarding people's secrets and spilling them randomly, just out of spite (and discreetly, because he wasn't looking to be caught, and nobody was smart enough to catch him anyway). Making puppets and plays depicting people at their absolute worst, and watching them all smile and clap because they fell for it. They fell for his jokes. For his ruse. They didn't notice he was mocking them without a shred of irony or remorse. The only art Shadow Milk became interested in after he succumbed to despair was telling cruel jokes at others' expense and painting pictures for all the Dorian Grays of the world so they can keep lying and pretending they're good and that they're worth something. Because lies are all people really want to hear, right? Because it makes them feel better about their miserable lives?

I'm sure Shadow Milk tried to turn back, even if only once, for just a minute. He's smart, he's wise, he knew what the end of that road looked like. Maybe he sat up all night just arguing with himself about it. About the nature of his work. The meaning of the knowledge he acquired. The meaning of knowledge itself. What was he doing this for, really? What has he EVER done this for? Was it really for others, or for himself? What if he gained all the knowledge in the universe, then what? What would he do after that? What if he did manage to convince people, what then? What if they panic? Turn on each other? Turn on him? Were they really better off not knowing?

Was he just slowly talking himself through that door until it was closed and locked? Did he do so knowingly? Did he delay the inevitable for... for what? Did he even know that?

All the knowledge in the world didn't save Shadow Milk from falling to darkness, nor did it save anyone from the chaos he chose to wreak afterwards. Maybe knowledge never saved anyone from anything. What is knowledge, anyway? What is truth? What is deceit? The more you know, the more you realize you don't know anything at all. Maybe truth and deceit are one and the same. Maybe reality is only what you perceive it to be. Maybe life is a joke. Maybe people should just have fun. Lie all you want. Tell truths just to drive wedges and shatter hopes and dreams. It doesn't matter. It's all the same. There's no way out.

TL;DR: Knowledge is power, but power corrupts. Perhaps not all truths are worth knowing, after all. Be careful with what you learn, and what you know. And be careful not to believe yourself to be smart enough to dictate what truth and lies and knowledge are to others, for no one truly is. That kind of hubris will only lead to disaster.

(I'm sorry if some of this sounds weird or doesn't make full sense. I wanted to get my thoughts out before the update to see if it turns out that anything I say has official merit lol)

[theunsinkableship1]

CONFOUNDING FEELINGS, HANGOVER & WHIPLASH

Yesterday, the fandom was overwhelmed and overjoyed by the long-awaited interactions and photos of Luke and Nicola together.

Many who had left the ship found themselves drawn back in, unable to resist the sheer magnetism between them. Even journalists and casual observers took note, their undeniable bond, their effortless chemistry, their natural ease. It was palpable. It was REAL.

But of course, this "bundle of joy' as Mona Kosar Abdi as described couldn’t last forever in these tumultuous seas. Just as we were basking in the glow of their interactions, Nicola posted a photo with Luke, tagging him and captioning it: "That’s my buddy right there."

To that, I say, of course, Nicola, we never doubted that. Funny enough, my brain read it as “That’s my hubby right there.” But to each their own. She is truly hilarious.

And then, in a curious move, she followed on Instagram the long-presumed, now presumably publicly acknowledged girlfriend. Well well well , I thought she wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole. Even more intriguing? The follow was reciprocated. Why now, after all this time? What has changed?

Given the timing, right after their highly analyzed and overwhelmingly affectionate public reunion, it could be an attempt to reinforce the "just friends" narrative they’ve been pushing lately.By following her, Nicola might be signaling that there's no bad blood, easing tensions, and discouraging further speculation.

The SAG Awards had the fandom and even casual observers buzzing about their chemistry. This move might be a way to counterbalance that a not so subtle effort to diffuse speculation before it spirals further.

Something might have changed behind the scenes. Maybe Nicola and Luke had a conversation, and this was a goodwill gesture on her part. Alternatively, it might not be about Luke at all, perhaps Nicola and the presumed girlfriend have had some form of interaction that led to this.

If Nicola and Luke are working to maintain a particular public narrative, this follow could be part of that strategy. It’s a small but significant action that makes it harder for people to claim animosity or hidden tensions.Given that Luke’s presumed girlfriend also followed back, this might have been coordinated or at least mutually understood.

The timing makes it impossible to ignore, especially when paired with the fact that Nicola had never done it before, despite all the previous speculation.

This move feels less like an organic change in dynamics and more like an attempt to frame the narrative in a specific way. It’s too perfectly timed to be purely coincidental. Whether it’s meant to provide cover, show grace, or hint at a deeper story remains to be seen. But as always with Lukola, actions speak louder than words, and their body language at the SAG Awards told a much different story than this follow does.

We can all take our best guesses, but ultimately, we are in the dark about what’s really going on.

That being said, it’s not that surprising in fact that is the narrative that Lukola has been pushing lately. Maybe it’s their truth now.

And do I believe them? Let’s just say this: Publicly, I will. Because I try to respect them as much as I can in this predicament and because I cherish their bond.

But privately? I’m a die-hard Lukola. It will take far more than this to make me stop believing in what I’ve seen, not just through the years, but especially after witnessing them together again. Maybe this is why we don’t see them together often. Because when they are? It’s a lot. It’s overwhelming, even for those just watching.

And if you don’t understand what I mean? Just look at people’s reactions when they interact. It’s not normal. It’s something so special that it transcends the screen.

Honestly, if I were one of the significant others, I would be extremely worried. Of course, we can’t know what’s truly going on in their other relationships, but from an outsider’s perspective? There is a lot to be insecure about.

And let’s be clear about one thing, I don’t know but for me were not just friends. That is a secret de Polichinelle, something that has been an open secret all along. But for whatever reason they described themselves as such lately. Ok then! Please don’t say that we are crazy, our love could be blind, but I doubt that it’s also deaf and if you don’t get what I mean maybe you shouldn’t dismiss things easily. The idea that those of us who have followed this closely, who have connected the dots, tracked the patterns, analyzed the timelines would fabricate this for our own amusement or out of delusion? That’s deeply mistaken.

Sure, some theories might sound wild, but there is a real foundation beneath it all. Far too many inconsistencies for everything to be dismissed, too much smoke for there to be no fire. Thus, the cycle continues.

If they believe what they’re saying, then so be it for now. Ultimately, I think that they know what’s best for them.

Everything will unfold in time. They must have their reasons, and I don’t doubt that.

But one thing I do believe is that for their sake, we should support their friendship. If nothing else, that has always been the solid, concrete foundation they can build upon. No matter what happens, their connection is something worth preserving, something worth protecting.

And here, in this little corner of the internet, I’m still keeping faith. I’m still willing to wait.

Because if there’s one thing these recent events have proven, it’s this: Hope is still alive.

As Nischelle Turner said: " I love a happy ending, I need a happy ending.”

Tighten our grip and stay the course. This is a long journey.

[sevsbestfriend]

I usually write fics here but I just wanna rant rn.

Sometimes I got to old posts and stuff, either to get new ideas or just see what the fuck is going on with the other side of the fandom.

The people coming to James defense or crazy, like on one hand they are like 'oh he was only human, he grew as a person otherwise how would lily love him?'

We literally have cannon confirmation that the fucking prat didn't stop hexing people, he just learned to hide it better. Sirius and Remus confirmed this when they called Severus a 'special case'. I don't give a shit about them saying he attacked first, you better believe I am attacking first if I come across a guy who has stripped me naked in public when I didn't do shit to him. (Or the other guy who tried to get me killed by bloody werewolf) Like wtf are you even talking about at that point???

Also, Harry comes across a detention report of them hexing another student in their 7th year. So uhm...yeah.

Then they are like 'oh Severus hates him so his memories are biased'

Did you morons even read the books?? Pensive memories are unbiased, any manipulation is extremely apparent as we saw in Slughorns case. So NO they aren't biased that extremely uncomfortable read of SWM? it's fucking canon in its truest sense.

Also, how in the ever living hippogryph does a guy who strips people naked for fun change so much that he becomes head boy??

It's pretty simple, he doesn't. He learns to hide it better and given the fact that this person has always been given the benefit of the doubt, it is very easy for them to their nature.

Dude had a map that showed him everyone's real time location and an invisibility cloak, he could damn well harass anyone in isolated corners of the castle if he wished. Which is exactly what he did.

Also, these people love to claim how 'lily only approved of him cause he changed.'

To that I say, Who the fuck is Lily?? Mother Teresa??

How is she the ultimate decider of what is good and bad and at the same time, completely right in dating someone who stripped another student makes after a year (or 2) of the event??

Don't get me wrong, she doesn't owe Severus anything, really, but seriously this is just ridiculous. Like if I was a woman, I would be genuinely terrified of someone like that, especially when they got away with no real consequences what so ever.

James was a prick with a very good PR team for friends and teachers. That's really it, it is often said that good looking people can get away with a lot of things and James is just a prime example of that.

---_---_---_---_---_---_---_---_

Also...BRAVE?? Dude had 2 cheat items and the advantage of a Pureblood upbringing and was still too PUSSY to face Severus alone. Yeah..what a real Gryphindor that one. Scrams bravery to you doesn't it? He did this all the way till 17, so yeah he definitely was super important in the order right??

---_---_---_---_---_---_---_---_---_

Dumbledore invested quite a bit in the Marauders with his blatant favoritism and letting a werewolf in the school risking his own position as a headmaster.

And...they all turned to be bloody useless. With only James being useful because of his participation in the birth of Harry Potter.

Sirius in his madness derailed a murder investigation for a fucking decade.

Remus, I genuinely can't remember anything substantial Remus did, except for letting someone he believed was a murderer into Hogwarts and never telling Dumbledore that they were Animagus to begin with.

---_---_--_---_

Seriously, the most useful person in the war had to literally beg on his knees for the man to use him. Even fate was like, for fucks sake, just give this guy a chance already.

[sugoi-and-spice]

Chapter Thirty-Two - One Step Forward and Three Steps Back

Summary: Tomura Shigaraki was her dad’s boss’s son. He was the creep that stole girls’ underwear and tried to grope her in his room. But it’s not like he could get her Dad fired just because she wouldn’t sleep with him, right? …right?

CW: Quirkless!AU, Explicit Smut, Dub-Con, Coercion, Blackmail, Cheating, Sexual Guilt, Humiliation, Unhealthy Relationships, Power Play, Hate to Love, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slow Burn, Racism (New, This Chapter) Suicidal Ideation, Psychiatric Wards, Forcible Sedation, Depiction of a Suicide Attempt

A/N: I'm alive!!! Thank you all for your patience during my bigger than usual gaps between chapters. As I've said in a few posts here (as few and far between as they've been) this has been a pretty crazy Winter that's left me with very little energy to write. I just had to take ANOTHER sudden trip to Florida only five days after I got back from Philly. Rip my sleep schedule TT_TT But I never stop thinking about Play Nice! So I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and thank you all again for your constant support. ❤️

Read Full Chapter on AO3

[excerpt]

She had to admit, Iguchi went above and beyond the call of duty as far as friends go. 

The rain had only gotten heavier by the end of their talk, but he still drove her home to Setagaya, stopping at a Uniqlo on the way there so that she wouldn’t be walking into her house wearing his oversized clothes. He even paid, since her wallet was trapped back with the rest of her possessions in Shigaraki’s room. It was definitely necessary, she could only imagine the ridiculous explanation she’d need to come up with for walking into her house this late at night, wearing some boy’s clothes without any shoes, after hours of missing her parents’, no doubt, countless calls. But it still felt like more kindness than she deserved at this point.

Never before had she felt so guilty over a knit sweater and yoga pants.

Luckily, she wasn’t in quite as deep of shit as either of them might’ve expected. Her dad was away on a business trip this week. And while her mom certainly wasn’t happy to be up so late waiting for her daughter, nursing a cup of tea at the dining table, she did at least take her explanation of “losing track of time at Shigaraki’s and losing her phone at school” at face value.

Or maybe she just noticed the puffiness of her daughter’s eyes and sunkenness of her shoulders, and decided to postpone the consequences to a day where she didn’t look so utterly broken.

Given the fact that she went straight to covering her with a blanket and pouring her a fresh cup of tea, she had a sneaking suspicion that it was the former.

They sat in silence as they sipped their tea, the same brand she’d just left cold at Iguchi’s, she noticed with a sad smile.

She looked up to her mom across the table. The woman was clearly bothered. She wanted to ask her daughter what the hell was going on. Why was she getting in so late? Why was she spending so much time away from home? Why was it that every other time she saw her, she was either crying or about to cry?

Why wasn’t she talking to them anymore? 

But she didn’t push. After all, she was a good mom, and an even better person. Understanding beyond belief when it came to isolation and hurt in particular. Because she’d gone through a world of it.

“People like you, like your father… They mean the world to those of us who’ve been broken.”

The similarity between her mom’s past and Shigaraki’s was definitely a line that she’d drawn before. They both came from foster care, both didn’t like to talk about it. Because of that latter part, it was something she never told either about.

She definitely considered telling Shigaraki, particularly the few times that he’d opened up about his past, but ultimately, it didn’t feel like it was her story to tell. Especially given the fact that she really didn’t know a lot about it. 

Regardless, there was definitely something similar about him that her mother had managed to pick up. Whether it was the exact shared experience or a worldview more nebulous, she wasn’t sure. But it was clear that she held a lot of sympathy for him. And an understanding that she just couldn’t fathom on her own.

An understanding she needed.

“Hey mom…”

Her mother looked up, unable to hide her eagerness to tackle whatever her daughter was struggling with.

“Yes sweetie?”

Her hands tightened around the mug, letting the warmth seep in, hoping that it could give her some strength.

“I… I need to ask you about something…”

Continue on AO3

[applestorms]

two ways that i think you could potentially read this panel (and o!ciel's reaction to his brother coming back more generally):

OPTION 1: o!ciel has given in, fallen for the allure of the power that holding the title of Earl Ciel Phantomhive has granted him. he has gone on w/ this revenge plot (revenge for himself, as he specifically states during EWA, not his dead family) for long enough that he has essentially given up on all of his old familial attachments.

nobody matters except Him now, and maybe the people he can use to get what he wants (sebastian most notably, but perhaps also the other servants, so long as they stay useful). it is the Title and Power and Status that he holds dearly here and that he wants to retrieve, everything associated with the Earl name and his job as the queen's watchdog that he has so painstakingly worked at over the last three years. he wants his land and his life back, and he will do anything and shove anyone down to get that power back.

OPTION 2: o!ciel does not see the undertaker-revived bizarre doll r!ciel as his real brother. rather, o!ciel sees undertaker's revived r!ciel as a fake-- an imposter, if you will. amogus.mp3. and not only that, but this particular ciel is an even worse copy than he is in his eyes, less deserving of the name Earl Ciel Phantomhive than o!ciel himself, who at least can truthfully claim his right as the original ciel's twin brother. he doesn’t just want everything associated with the name, but the name Itself in the case.

when undertaker's true identity as a shinigami and plot regarding the bizarre dolls is first revealed on the campania, o!ciel is visibly disgusted by the very concept:

similarly, earlier (in the timeline) when he is first making his deal with sebastian, one of the first things he catches sebastian off guard about is seeing straight through his lie about the possibility of bringing his brother back from the dead (ft. one of the best seb faces ever):

note o!ciel's wording here in particular: "In other words, it's impossible to bring the dead back to life. You are incapable of turning back time."

even at what is essentially his absolute lowest point in the entire series, when minutes earlier his despair and onslaught of emotion managed to summon a literal fucking demon, o!ciel still has absolutely no doubts that his brother is Dead and going to stay that way. his first act in tethering sebastian here is motivated by this clarity of mind-- in fact, this is one of the ways in which o!ciel and sebastian are completely in agreement imo, and why undertaker himself works so well as the ultimate antagonist of the series, since he is essentially perverting this natural order that both seb & o!ciel are so attached to, one where death is Final and Absolute and Complete.

in other words: just the same as his twin, o!ciel Will Not settle for any fake brothers. a replacement, particularly one created and raised and under such horrendous circumstances, is entirely unacceptable.

honestly, i think there's at least a little bit of both of these options in o!ciel's claim to the Earl Ciel Phantomhive name up in that first panel at the top of this post. but personally, i definitely lean towards the second one holding more weight-- o!ciel is not someone who we see showing all that much respect or care for all the Earl rich boy bullshit, other than through the connections and power it grants him in the process of enacting his revenge. hell, in his whole angry spiel before this, he even explicitly calls the job itself "bothersome":

certainly, he calls r!ciel, "the real one," here. but more notably, i think his internal logic is revealed more by this other line-- "No one suspected me as fake! For three whole years!"

o!ciel might not be the "real" earl ciel phantomhive, the one born to the name and the title, but he is certainly a better, more deserving fake than this bitch that has had the audacity to drag himself out of the grave three years after his destined end. thus it is o!ciel alone who deserves this name and title and everything associated with it-- nobody else.

[astrolook]

Decode the Universe: Why astrology and tarot are the ultimate power couple! #3

Leo - July 23- Aug 22 : Saturn / Jupiter / Mars in Leo

Saturn in Leo - The Strength - "Grace under pressure… but also, I will outlast you."

Saturn in Leo people has been through everything - still standing.

These people tames chaos in a single look.

Wants to scream? smiles instead.

Dignified AF - handles drama with class.

Has the patience of a Saint.

Would rather suffer than betray their values.

If saturn is afflicted, their pride is immovable. emotionally stoic and expects too much. Slow to forgive and trust. Not health conscious - high/low blood pressure can be seen with this placement.

Jupiter in Leo - The Sun - "Larger than life, brighter than the sun—yes, I was born for this."

These people are always shining without trying.

Confidence through the roof. If I had 10% of their confidence, I would have been in mars, not blogging.

Go big or go bigger.

If you are around them, everyday feels like a celebration.

If sun is afflicted, it would give them a galaxy sized ego. Dramatic AF. Overpromises everything and under-delivers the same. Can't take criticism. Believe their own lies.

Mars in Leo - King of Wands - "I don’t chase. I command."

People just listen when they talk.

Somehow both charming and terrifying.

Self-doubt? Never met him. Fearless AF.

They are protective like a lion.

Dreams? Big. Goals? Bigger.

If mars is afflicted, either a control freak or just leaves. Has ego the size of a solar system. Would go to extremes to win. Their way is the only option.

Virgo - Aug 23 - Sep 22 : Sun / Venus / Mercury in Virgo

Sun in Virgo - The Hermit - "I need space… to analyze everything."

Sun in Virgo people fact-checks everything.

Contemplates life while doing laundry.

Forever upgrading—mentally, emotionally, and probably their diet.

Gives advice like an ancient sage.

Has dry humor that hits too hard.

Alone, not lonely.

Has trust issues and small talk feels like a chore.

If sun is afflicted, they overthinks everything to the point they can’t even pick a toothpaste without a google research. Emotionally unavailable and silently judges your grammar. Might look calm but spiraling inside.

Venus in Virgo - The Magician(again) - "Romance is nice, but have you tried efficiency?"

These people are persuasive without being pushy. It’s an art.

If they give you a gift, it would be custom-made.

If they choose you, it’s for life.

Acts of service > cheesy grand gestures.

Glows up quietly. One day you blink, and they’re thriving.

If Venus is afflicted, these people are prone to have skin and food allergies. Could be too picky. Calculating in love and relationships. Hard to impress.

Mercury in Virgo - Knight of pentacles - "Precision + Patience = Success. Now, let me triple-check that."

Every word comes out of their mouth is calculated. No surprises.

Will notice everything—even your misplaced comma.

Slow? Yes. But never sloppy.

Actually remembers what you say. Even from a year ago.

These people are super practical and a secret perfectionist.

If mercury is afflicted, they will take forever to make a decision. Can't handle chaos and zero spontaneity.

I'll write about Libra and Scorpio in the next post. Stay tuned!

Curious about your birth chart and what it's really saying about you? 🌟 Slide into my DMs for a personalized astrology reading, and let's unlock the secrets of your stars. ✨ Don’t forget to check out my pinned post for pricing details! 🔮 Let’s make those cosmic connections happen! 🌙🌌

[musicalmoritz]

Fanfic Etiquette

Hi

I was looking at the bookmarks on some of my recent fics and I found two that were made in very poor taste

First off, *read

Secondly, this is what people mean when they talk about poor fanfic etiquette. Public bookmarks are visible to the authors of the fics you’re leaving them on, you should be conscious of that when leaving your thoughts. AO3 is not GoodReads, it is not the place to give your criticisms unless the author has explicitly asked for that (and even then, you should do it in a polite way). I promise you, no one appreciates your commentary. Readers aren’t dying to know what Green_Rabbits1610 thought of a certain fic, they’re gonna read it anyways based on whether or not the tags+summary seemed interesting to them. It’s not the same as leaving a book review, because people don’t need to rely on opinions from others to decide if they want to read a quick 3k fic. Unlike with books that can take days, even weeks to read, if you read a 3k fic and dislike it, you haven’t rly wasted much of your time. And also saying “eh” isn’t really a review in the first place so I’m not really sure what they’re trying to accomplish here

And also. Out of sheer curiosity. Why are ya’ll bookmarking fics you dislike??? I don’t even bookmark every fic I hardcore love, I save it for the ones that really stand out to me. If I don’t bookmark them tho I still leave a nice comment to let the author know their work was appreciated. And most importantly, if I dislike a fic, I recognize that that is my problem and not the author’s. I complain abt it privately to my friends and move on with my life. You see I have been on ao3 long enough to know that ao3 authors don't give a FUCK if you dislike their work, in fact it will only encourage them to write more. The most common thing I've gotten hate for is non-monogamy and guess what I keep writing anyways? Non-monogamy🥳

Anyways, I genuinely don't mean for this post to come across as a rant or crashout or anything like that. Yes, I'll admit I was annoyed to find these, but my goal here is ultimately to educate people on fanfic etiquette. I'm going to give these wannabe critics the benefit of the doubt and assume they're new here. I hope that if they find this post, they can learn something after hopefully suffering a bit over it (jk!!! jk)

On a totally unrelated note this has given me motivation to finish my Terukaneaoinene series

[canete16]

About Act 2

Hello everyone!

If you’re reading this, I imagine you’re also aware of our latest project and its current progress — around 50% of the main adventure has been publicly available for a few days now. If not, you can always download it from this link → https://pastebin.com/z5H5ze2Y, or keep reading and leave it for later. Whatever you prefer :P

I’m suuuuper happy with how the story is unfolding and with all the help and support I’m receiving practically on a daily basis. I feel like, besides myself, there are many people deeply invested in the development of Seven Symphonies, even outside of the dev team.

Testers, artists, players... along with all those who share their impressions and thoughts about the hack while we work quietly behind the scenes. To each and every one of you, a billion thanks. You are an incredible emotional and motivational support, and there’s nothing more beautiful than trying to give back all the love every time we release new content to rekindle your passion and excitement to keep sharing and inspiring others.

But the truth is, I don’t think I’ve lived up to expectations this time — I feel like I’ve let you down. Working silently, as comfortable as it may be, comes with consequences. Consequences we’ve paid for as a team, but above all, you’ve paid for them too.

The post announcing Act 2’s release got significantly less visibility than we expected compared to previous ones. There are several external factors that would be easy to blame (parallel releases, a smaller exposure window without Fangames Direct, 2nd parts are never as successful…), but doing so would mean missing out on the lessons we can learn from this (beyond better timing and respecting the ranks :S). A few things came together, but I prefer to focus on the ones that are within my range of action.

That learning centers around something that’s entirely my responsibility as the person managing the project’s social media: I needed this bump in the road to realize that it’s not enough to be consistent with what truly drives me — creating — but that it’s even more important to be consistent when it comes to sharing.

Since Act 1 was released, I’ve neglected our main showcase, the Twitter account, for various reasons. It’s been inactive for too many of those days, and I’m now very clear that this can’t happen again, especially with Act 3 and the final release coming up. Since I like to take things philosophically, I think it’s actually a great stroke of luck that this scare happened now and not when it truly matters.

Which is why I now have a question for you:

What kind of content would you like me to share/post through the Twitter account while the project continues to develop in parallel?

Would you like weekly scans of individual scenes while keeping spoilers to a minimum, like other fangame accounts do? Would you prefer I don’t reveal anything at all and instead post content related to the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon universe? Or even about the Pokémon world in general?

I already have several “section” ideas that could help not only keep the account active, but also highlight the work of others in the community — something I feel I should be doing much more of as well. Please share with us any suggestions or ideas you have — they will be heard and taken into account, no doubt.

Maybe I’m being overly dramatic with all this, and it’s just a mix of coincidence and unnoticed cause-and-effect. But believe me when I say the sheer brilliance of the project we’re shaping — both technically and narratively — deserves all the care and concern I can give. I have full confidence in the artistic superiority it will ultimately hold over its older sibling, and I intend to give it every tool and space it needs to shine.

Therefore, by the time this post is published, the Twitter account name will change to PMD Seven Symphonies / SE0, and the @ will now be @Canete_PMD. I think Special Episode 0 has already given us a lot — its premise was flawless, and even today it spreads like wildfire. From now on, we’ll focus where it’s needed most and try to make it easier to find both the project and us. It hurts a little, but I trust it’s the right decision (the @ change, though — yeah, it was time to get a normal one xD).

And with that, I’ll sign off. To you, who made it this far: there are incredible things written in your Destiny. If you don’t believe me, just wait till you can keep climbing ;)

Thanks for reading — truly, with all my Soul. And with all my big ass Ego, too. <3

[stargirlygirl]

you don’t like writing for raf but he’s your fav?? Make that make sense…

assuming this is you btw^

i could ramble on and on about why i don't like writing for him, but it basically boils down to the complexity of his character.

i've heard the theory that rafayel is the unity of opposing forces, and his myths are about defying fate, no? rafayel is like the taijitu - the yin and yang. he is the co-existence of two contradicting forces and perhaps even more.

he's this flippant, absolute flake when it comes to thomas's events; he's an incredibly talented artist who can get carried away in his works; he hates humanity, but is clingy and begs for mc's attention when she shows it to a cat and not him (tailwag moment). and this is because mc is the love of his life, the reason he sacrificed his people. raf is a lover at his core, but he can be dramatic and eccentric and the rest of it, too.

he's submissive before he is dominant. he is the sea god, but his evol is fire. he tells mc to leave, but proceeds to fall off the couch to make her stay. rafayel is a contradiction to himself, but somehow, the contradiction is united.

infold have created this incredibly complex character who is ultimately a whole. his character is not splintered or in opposition with another part of him. the parts that do contradict each other are somehow glued together, still working in harmony to make rafayel the man he is.

furthermore, i've been playing otomé games on and off for seven years, and in every single game i've played, there has never been a li that comes close to raf's complexity or personality.

for example, from the li's in both ikémen sengoku and ikémen vampire, i would say that rafayel is a combination of yoshimoto and charles (from each respective game). i won't get into it, but these two li's are starkly different and given the same situation, would make incredibly different choices.

and it's because i haven't achieved the skill level necessary to accurately represent a character with so many contradictions, but who is seemingly consistent, that i don't like to write for rafayel. he is my favourite because of how complicated he is, his dramatic and sassy nature, how he lures you in like the siren he is, and how he ultimately makes mc feel so loved because she is his reason for existence.

when a fan reads fanfiction, they deserve to read a piece that is consistent with the character's personality and predictable reactions. we often see raf react with his signature dramatic flare, but how far does that flare go? when does that flare turn into concern or yearning? what if xyz factor is at play, would raf still respond dramatically? or is he whipping out that low business voice? or is he whiny and needy? i'm not at a stage yet where i know the answer to these questions. and i don't want to misrepresent the man that raf is. that's why i'm leaving his fics to the writers that understand him and can execute him well.

as i've said in a previous reply to an anon, the only reason why you framed this question so rudely is because you can hide behind your anonymity. if your username was attached to this post, then i doubt you would be asking me to 'make that make sense' and instead express a genuine curiosity for why my love for raf but decision not to write for him are in opposition.

i hope you can understand now why i've made this decision.