#it’s 1 am so I hope I wrote something comprehensible

[peculiarbob]

Today I finally watched The Silence of the Lambs. I knew the plot, I knew who Hannibal Lecter was, and I knew about all of the twists because my mom loves this movie and she’d talk about throughout my childhood. But only now that I’ve seen it I can fully appreciate it. I think one of the things that surprised me was the feminist themes throughout the movie. Clarice was a strong and well written character. She was a young, pretty, and feminine woman trying her best to succeed in a field dominated by men. Crawford was kind to her but still treated her differently because she was a woman. The only person who treated her as a complete equal was Hannibal. He was kind to her. It wasn’t a gender thing, he gave her his respect because she treated him respectfully. Which leads into the second thing that caught me off guard, Hannibal Lecter was charming (in a way). He’s very obviously intelligent in every way. The way he spoke was very intentional and it made you listen to every single word he said. There’s something so interesting, and a bit endearing, about him. He’s so insane that he’s sane. I’d love to watch the rest of the movies and read the book one day.

[sineala]

I subscribe to the newsletter of an author I like who wrote a book about 9/11 and the War on Terror and the security state in the US and how it led to the election of Trump, and it's all very serious but apparently the author is writing an Iron Man comics series. I don't read the comics, and a lot of what I know about them comes from your fic, so I'm honestly not sure how much fanon vs canon knowledge I have. 😂 But the series sounds like it might be interesting I think? The author talked about it in his newsletter today. (This link should work. Probably.)

https://www.forever-wars.com/iron-man-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-succession/

I am actually really excited about this run! I try not to get excited about new Iron Man runs because chances are high that my hopes and dreams will be crushed, and I know that just because someone writes, say, stunningly excellent non-fiction, it is not a guarantee that they will be great at writing fiction at all or superhero comics specifically (cf. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Cap), but judging by everything Spencer Ackerman's been saying in interviews, his run sounds like it's going to explore a lot of interesting themes.

The post you linked links to an AIPT podcast that he was on a few days ago to talk about his new Iron Man run. For those of you who don't listen to podcasts (this is also me), the Iron Man subreddit has what seems like a fairly comprehensive summary of the interview, and I am really looking forward to the run. Issue #1 apparently hits stores on October 23.

But I will tell you why I am actually now really excited about this run. It's not relevant to anything about the comic itself. I am nonetheless very excited.

Last month, after he was announced as the new Iron Man writer, in order to hype up his run, he posted an offer on his blog: if you add the run to your pull list, and you email him proof that you're pulling his run and include a snail-mail address, he will mail you some cool Iron Man stickers.

I eventually got around to doing this last week. I was assuming he didn't actually pay attention to any of these emails so I dashed off a couple sentences about how I was looking forward to his take on Tony because he'd posted a photo of the Iron Man comics he was reading for research and several of them were among my favorites. And then I went off to get bagels.

By the time I had come back with bagels, twenty minutes later, he'd written me a very nice reply substantively engaging with the content of my extremely off-the-cuff message -- geez, if I'd known he was going to be actually reading them I would have put a lot more thought into it, you know? It was very kind and I was not expecting it.

He spelled my first name wrong in the reply, despite it being in the email header and also the name I had signed the email with.

This happens to me a lot. I have a first name that is very common in a lot of languages, but none of those languages are English. I'd say there's a 50-50 chance that a native English speaker will spell or pronounce my name wrong. This is unfortunate, because I live in the US and mostly interact with native English speakers. (My wife @lysimache immediately knew how to pronounce my name. I mean, it wasn't why I married her or anything, but I feel like it was a big plus on a personal level.)

If I have to give my name for something, I will reflexively spell it. The second-to-last time I voted, they'd switched voter lookup to you giving them your name rather than you giving your street address, which was a surprise that filled me with dread. My wife was in line ahead of me and she was completely finished voting by the time the poll workers had finished correctly spelling my name. (The last time I voted, I just handed them my ID, which is not required in my state, but I really wanted this to go faster.) I went to the doctor last week, and when they called my name in the waiting room, they said it wrong. I corrected them. They said it differently wrong a couple minutes later. I corrected them again. They said it wrong again. At that point I gave up.

(If I could think of a name I liked better that I was absolutely sure that most people could spell and pronounce, I would change my name. I still have not found one.)

So, you know, I'm used to it. It happens. Frequently. I was not at all surprised that he spelled it wrong.

He then emailed me again to apologize for spelling my name wrong. Like, immediately. One minute later. He said he was sorry and he knew a lot of people with a similar name.

Dude. Nobody does that. Nobody actually apologizes. Especially not in an email to a rando like me. He did not need to do that. At all. I was not expecting him to do that. He did that. I was honestly touched. No one bothers to do that. But he did.

I got my stickers in the mail yesterday.

I have redacted the portion of the note that has my name in it, but he absolutely spelled my name correctly.

Mr. Ackerman, sir, I hope your comic sells a million copies.

[shizunitis]

hello, i ended up stalking your blog for like a few hours, you have a fascinating mind and i am slowly acclimating to the terrifying bags of skin and fat that roll tenderly and peacefully through this fandom.

i was wondering if you could provide a list of some of your favorite svsss aus? thank you for your service, and god bless the skin beasts. there is no one on this world who is intolerable by both heaven and earth.

good morning and welcome!

i'm glad you've met the bingcreatures. they're beautiful, plump babies we love dearly. i hope they can bring joy to you, in time.

also, i'm going to not think about what my blog looks like from an outside perspective. please forgive, just. so much. or you're welcome? my interpretation of your opinion of me hinges entirely on how much thought you're willing to put into shizun's ankles and bingge's whole thing, which i won't ask about.

i didn't have a lot of time to compile a list even approaching comprehensive, but! i did my best to think! i'm in the middle of my christmas-themed lying down and thinking time, which is taking a lot of energy. hyperlinks included, because i'm so great at technology, you're so impressed.

from tumblr users:

the master post to system possession au by artsarasp

first post to the asshole roommate binghe au by allpiesofourown

first post to a wonderful dragons au by sinn-bee (nsfw sketches)

the scum disciple’s self saving system au comic by kimbapchan (link to the comic on ao3)

part 1-2 to bingyuan reverse transmigration au by piooojo, which i've been in love with since i first saw it last year and i really really love a lot

AU fics on ao3 i quickly grabbed from my bookmarks:

(with my bookmarker's notes because they're my favourite passages ever)

bingqiu ballet au, “songs of a wayfarer” by foxflowering

Shen Yuan, Binghe wrote, a secret in the margins of some dilapidated English workbook, is very beautiful. He’s so beautiful, I don’t know what to do with myself.

bing-ge stuck in bingqiu’s reality replacing bingmei for a bit au, feat. exasperated shizun, “benign deviations” by benwisehart

“I would never leave you alone here with the likes of me.” “So you admit, then, that you’re a menace,” Shen Qingqiu said in an exasperated tone. “That was never in doubt,” Luo Binghe said, stretching.

binghe passing the time until shen yuan is reborn, feat. sigmund freud, “but until then, tragedy” by tshirt

"He was-- he is everything to me." "Including..." Dr. Freud paused a moment. "Mother?"

(could be considered canon divergence, but that's a kind of au, and i do what i want)

tianlang-jun lives just long enough for binghe to see him die and swear vengeance on yue qingyuan for it au, “forgiveness is beyond our reach” by anonymous user

“Although his attitude might be harsh sometimes, he’s ultimately a good child,” said Yue Qingyuan’s voice softly. “Is he, now,” said Shen Qingqiu’s voice coldly.

bingge comes sniffing around shen qingqiu’s peak while bunhe is yet to be abyss’d, “through the eye of a needle” by funeralstrut

Luo Binghe, what do you want from me?

(my forever favourite. im so normal about it i promise i swear i make normal human noises whenever i think about it and don't just whine pathetically towards the sky)

and of course this list ends with my shizun becomes the human emperor of the demon realm au, which i put so much time and effort into and have posted just, sooooooo much about. it should be your favourite. please. im desperate

i hope you find something to your tastes here!! i'm terrible at compiling things, but i did try my best. maybe. it's the end of the year; all my energy was left in august, when the sky had light and everything was less suck-y. at least we still have shizun...

[deathdetermineslife]

how do you manage to get any followers or friends in the selfshipping community? is it just luck?

for months i’ve been trying to interact with others and follow people, engaging with stuff like ask games and hosting reblog games, but when i try to share any artwork or i reblog an ask game myself, its radio silence. like even in small discords i get ignored so bad

i don’t say this at all to be guilt tripping /gen, it’s genuine curiosity at how this stuff even works. like am i doing something wrong or is the community just like this?

here is my comprehensive and lame guide on How To Get Selfship Followers

step 1 - posting

so a lot of my posts are either kinda general or fun. folks I will not lie to you. these are all stupid shit that come to my mind on a day to day basis. for example, today, I thought, "man I'm such a loser I'm not in college like all my friends r" and then I was like "omg wait. i could make a post out of this" so I did that.

you also kinda gotta be conistent. so i try to post at least *something* everyday. even if its a reblog, tho, I don't reblog a lot of things other than ask games.

another thing with posting is that i do try to make a lot of community based content. so idk if yall remember but in the beginning of my account, I did the "things you can do if you have xyz f/o". i did like,,, I think almost 100 of those ?????? it was a lot. then I started making templates and I made some ask games and ofc I post a lot of general like,,, imagine stuff. oh also polls. people seem to enjoy polls.

step 2 - be positive

this is the big thing. as most of yall (hopefully) know, I do not fw proshippers !! but I don't talk about discourse unless its directly brought up. not only this, I put a big focus on just,,, being nice idk. like id like to think I'm a pretty down to earth person.

if you make a template and people tag you in it, say something nice! reply to peoples art, send in asks, things like that. i try to do my part in being nice. i also just like hearing about peoples selfships.

when people post promos and have the little "rb to be moots", reblog! when you come across someone having a bad day, maybe they made a vent or something, reply with a simple "I hope you feel better <3" or "your f/o loves you <3". things like that, ya know?

step 3 - have fun

genuinely. i post as much as i do because I like it. i didn't go into this thinking "oh... yea... I'm gonna get selfship famous..." like no I just wanna ramble somewhere bc none of my close irls r selfshippers.

you wont get popular or get followers because you grind out posts. literally one of my biggest posts on this account I wrote while I was half asleep one night and wanted to test out queuing on my account.

and in that regard, it is partially luck. i don't control what posts people do and don't like. sometimes I write up imagines and no one sees them. sometimes I write up a post saying "lol go kiss your fake boyfriend ooo smoochie smoochie" and that does numbers

step 4 - interaction

im only in two servers. one server (which was the first public server I think I ever joined ???? i could be wrong tho,,, bad memory blehg) that I don't own and then my own 18+ server. i don't think being in servers does anything,,, considering I'm only in one that isn't mine. i think its more like ,,, sticking to one or two places ?? like just being consistently in an area you're comfortable in.

i guess you gotta just find the right people ??? and like I mentioned, be friendly, but ya know. also I guess tags too? idk if you look at any of my regular posts I have 8 million tags on them. idk if that actually does anything or not because its kinda hit or miss sometimes.

i was gonna say something else but i forgot. see look listen I dunno how I got here but this is what I do ,,,, effectively nothing. also with the being kind thing, maybe this is how I am bc I'm pagan but I think that if you expect kindness back you wont get anything. sometimes its just nice to be nice. eventually you gain a reputation for being a nice person. you kinda have to not want that tho? like I don't see myself as particularly like ,,, super kind ,,,??? i just do what feels right.

step 5 - uhhhh idk im just rambling now

i guess i also went into this kinda like. damn sometimes this community is a cesspool of absolute meanie pants. i don't wanna be a Meanie Pants and just post my thoughts and the things I think about. i guess how I see it too is, I kinda like ? idk I think all these things anyways why not post them? kinda feels like a waste not to.

also ive been told my posts are pretty recognizable bc of how I format them ? my dividers and such. also tagging all of my imagines and stuff with my 🥀📜 emojis. i guess that helps too? because that's how I recognize certain accounts. "like oh there's them I recognize their dividers and their tags".

also you kinda gotta like,,, not let hate get to you. like have fun with it? i know that's hard, but, that's what you gotta do. when I get printer ink (bc. a hoe does NOT like buying printer ink) im printing out that fucking 8 mile long hate message I got sent. but also that's just the kinda person I am. like people being a dick and stealing my posts and telling me to swallow a glock 9mm doesn't upset me, im more like,, confused more than anything because never in my life have I ever sent hate to anyone. also I have had this "I do not care because you're some loser on the internet and you being an ass wipe is no where near as bad as the shit people have done to me irl" attitude.

TLDR; i dont think youre doing anything wrong because I don't exactly know what I'm doing right. i just... do... and sometimes, "just doing" is enough. maybe its luck, maybe I've been blessed by the tumblr algorithm and I've somehow figured it out, or maybe the community is just genuinely that bad and they pick favorites. maybe its all of the above! who knows. i try not to worry about it. i think at the end of the day, as long as you're having fun posting about your f/os and selfshipping, that's what matters.

alright thats all see ya. if you have any more questions feel free to ask however I fear I cannot answer them </3

[bluemooniegif]

is Sigma 3 years old?

anon asked: Asking very seriously, please don’t get mad… It’s probably (definitely) my fault for having bad reading comprehension, but why do people say Sigma isn’t 3? I really thought he was… What am I misunderstanding? I don’t want to embarrass myself by claiming that he’s 3 if he actually is not. Thank you in advance!

so the reason people think Sigma is 3 is because of a misunderstanding with how The Book works, and I'll try my best to explain here: 

The Book essentially connects all possible universes. so, think of all the times in BSD when if a character had made a slightly different decision, the story would be completely different- that's an alternate universe. and as far as we know, they go on to infinity. 

 The Book also contains writing that details everything that has happened so far, in a novel format. so, when a character gets their hands on it, if they want to change their world they must continue writing the story in the same format. this means that they need to take into account the characters, lore, and setting when they write. 

once the change has been written into The Book, it appears that it just magically appears into the canon universe, but that's not true! The Book takes the information from an existing alternate universe, and it is sent to the canon universe. so for example, when the DOA got hold of a page, they wrote a plot-twist into the story: the ADA is actually the terrorist organisation responsible for the recent acts against Yokohama. this didn't require for the actual ADA members to be swapped out; instead, the world's understanding of their role changed. the understanding is what was swapped. 

I hope that makes sense so far.. anyway, onto Sigma! 

we still don't really know why or how Sigma was taken from his home universe- maybe this is something we'll start to learn as we dig into Fyodor's past? but anyway, based on our understanding of how The Book works, it makes sense that Sigma was taken from his home and abandoned in a new world. 

even if we didn't understand The Book, I'd argue this point because: 1. he's a grown man, and so far we don't have any evidence of kids who mature freakishly quick; 2. he constantly laments that he wants things like a family and a home; I personally see this as his subconscious aching for his past; 3. back on the grown man thing, Sigma acts with the maturity of an adult, which is yet another thing we don't see just magically appearing in BSD- characters have to work for it

so in all, it makes more sense that Sigma was transported from his universe into canon, rather than magically appearing out of nowhere 3 years ago! 

[Smile or comment on the answer here](https://retrospring.net/@bluemoonasks/a/112109519607837076)

[babyblue711]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag, my darling @itbmojojoejo 💙

1. How many works do you have on ao3(or masterlist)? - I've only ever uploaded to Tumblr. I have 4 stories total (but all have multiple parts).

2. What’s your total ao3/tumblr word count? - I literally never counted until now - 66,700 (plus an additional 3500 in the works)

3. What fandoms do you write for? - Mostly just Ewanverse (Salad Days, High Life, and TLK) but I have recently dabbled in HOTD (Modern AU Aegon & Aemond)

4. Top five fics by kudos - I'll just do top 3 with the most notes since I don't have many fics: Temptation Part 1 (Ettore/High Life - DD;DNE), Surrender Part 1 (Aegon Modern AU), Redemption Part 1 (Will- Salad Days)

5. Do you respond to comments? - YES! It is the BEST part of writing!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? - I'm a sucker for happy endings. Temptation was definitely angsty but the ending of Part 2 of Surrender could also be considered a different sort of angsty (wiggles eyebrows).

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? - Definitely Redemption (Will - Salad Days) but I'd say Devotion (Osferth - TLK) is a close second.

8. Do you get hate on fics? - No, I think I would crumple and cry if I ever did!

9. Do you write smut? - My fics are porn with little plot 😈

10. Craziest crossover? - Haven't considered but now you got me thinking!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? - I sure hope not.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? - Not to my knowledge

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? - No, I think that would be difficult to blend creative ideas but kudos to those that do it!

14. All time favorite ship? - Call me crazy but I happened upon the most beautifully written fic on ao3 with the most unusual pairing but I instantly fell in love - Aemond x Aethelstan (TLK): A Red Dawn Rises by Avonne. Give it a read!

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - I literally fell hard for Aethelstan when writing Devotion and I tried my hand at writing for him. I do not think I will finish his story but I dearly love the character.

16. What are your writing strengths? - The smut! It comes most naturally despite never writing smut (or anything actually) until I published my first fic last summer.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? - Comprehensively telling a story without needing a ton of words to do so. I am working on keeping my fics shorter while still conveying a complete story without going overboard!

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? - I like it but I also need to know what they are saying so I can follow along.

19. First fandom you wrote in? - Ewanverse - Will from Salad Days

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? - Devotion is my personal favorite, there's just something calming and sweet about Osferth and his story flowed from my brain effortlessly.

No pressure tags for funsies/to help you procrastinate (sorry if you've already been tagged): @myfandomprompts @arcielee @sylasthegrim @thekinslayed @theoneeyedprince @inthedayswhenlandswerefew

[raayllum]

hey I have some thoughts and theories on season six that I want to post but I feel like they’re kind of in cohesive and all over the place and rambly and I’m not really sure the best way to get them across especially when I’m more of a brainstorm type of personof like 10 different ways something could go I’m not really sure how to organize it or make it comprehensible to the average Tumblr scroller do you have any tips for this? because I want them to get reach cause I do feel like I’m contributing something but sometimes I think what I’m saying makes no sense at all or no one’s going to read all that you know. or, TLDR: Do you have any tips on making meta in general since you seem to be the main producer of it in the fandom ha ha, your input would be invaluable

So I actually did start writing a post a while ago about well, a kind of how to guide for writing meta, but it felt very self-gratuitous so it got semi-banished to the drafts although I still might finish / clean it up and post it someday

That being said your ask does make me realize that your query is not something I had considered going over, approaching it from more of a "here's how to train your brain to notice things that can be fun to write meta about" > organizing said thoughts, so thank you for bringing it to my attention! I hope some of this advice will be useful, and it may even have some overlap with other thoughts I had planned

The most useful way I've found when it comes to meta is treating it like an essay, with an introduction, body paragraphs / sections (and sometimes headers), and a conclusion of some kind when warranted. This means looking for similarities or main ideas with possible consistent threads (i.e. avenues Aaravos' evil plans could go might be split off into branches, each one detailing a different avenue). So that would be my best advice when it comes to organization.

However, most concerns about "not making sense" comes down to thinking through what context you have to provide for your audience to understand what you're discussing, depending on the length and depth of the leap / analysis. Are there any symbols being drawn upon we will want to explain in more detail before theorizing how they relate to the show? Are there any smaller details or scene summaries to include when putting these things together?

For example, when I wrote a meta about Rayla being the metaphorical light to Callum's darkness (pre-S5), I first had to establish why I associated her with light, drawing from visual examples from S1, S2, and S4, as well as the "Dear Callum" letter. Callum's side of things was more straightforward with dialogue in the text. Then I could take it one step further and talk about why this light-dark duality indicates that she will likely save him from possession after possibly leading to the fall in the first place. But I had to go from a bottom-top approach in steadily building the layers rather than starting from the top and working my way down, as for more symbolic matters in particular, that can often be confusing.

Although sometimes more simplistic, consulting the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, and why) can likewise be useful in meta in terms of 1) tracing where certain ideas are coming from in the text, 2) what is being posited/suggested, and 3) why these things might be conflated, and 4) who might be involved. Obviously meta tends to be more "what" heavy, particularly when its predictive, but it's kinda like explaining why one character might be more involved in one plot line than another, etc. There's going to be a Why to that Who, and those things both combine to form the What (otherwise known as theory or just plain analysis).

And don't be concerned about if people are gonna wanna read it. I find most people in TDP fandom are pretty down to theorize even if they may not necessarily write a lot of it down themselves (and often have cool ideas/contributions too!) and I am the king of making things overly long, yet people muscle through anyway!

That's about it for me without more specifics (a character study vs foil vs theme vs prediction are all kinda different in their own way) but I would love to hear more if you'd like to message me off anon or if you have more thoughts/questions you'd like to leave in my inbox once that's opened back up! Have fun theorizing, have fun writing, always feel free to break longer metas up into smaller bite sized ones as you go, and I look forward to seeing them int the tags!

[mihai-florescu]

i also told half my friends about that poll and it was like, kind of doubly insulting of a comparison because i watched II when i was like 13 and am actually familiar with it. and it getting so many votes was kinda shocking to me (beyond the size/prominence of enstars' fandom playing a part) because 1. i still thought object shows were relatively niche or obscure and didnt know there were enough fans to give it so many votes in the first place and 2. the entire story is constructed so badly that there isn't even like a story to talk about. if you asked me about the plot of II i'd have to explain the history behind its existence and then how there is no concrete plot because the writers are hobbyists who don't know how to make a comprehensive story. it's so bad, it was already bad enough but then sometime way in they introduced a plotline about a corn version of steve jobs stealing alien eggs to fuel his iphone production line. his name is steve cobbs. this was meant to be a total drama esque show, what are the writers on?

anyway i dont have to explain to you how greatly interesting wataei is but i hope you know my pain at that poll. discussing enstars is getting to talk about themes and ideas and how they interplay and contrast and parallel between characters, it's stuff you can chew on. discussing inanimate insanity is just talking about the 3 simultaneous ideas they had for a show that they tried to write and failed horribly each on an individual level and also it all just clashing egregiously in tone. they wrote an entire spinoff alternative show because they knew they couldn't salvage it and were sick of making it.

so yeah even as a former fan of inanimate insanity in my childhood they just ... it's not a comparison you can meaningfully make, it's like comparing a delicious pudding to nickelodeon gak. you can do it but what's the point? they aren't the same thing, you have to talk about each in a totally different way.

also lightbrush isn't even canon because there are no romance plotlines in II (thank god). i really shouldnt have felt so strongly about the poll as i did

It's all such a fever dream of an event... but i somehow feel like the enstars fandom on tumblr is very small compared to other social medias (good. Well, either this or i live in my beautiful bubble of very lovely followers & very lovely people i follow. It's most likely the latter). Yet i cant imagine it's smaller than the ii one... but i remember it breached containment and ii fans were promoting it on twitter. At some point it became less of a "looking at it objectively" and more of a "we should win because...we should?" on both sides. For us it actually made sense tho. Were the lightbrush fans writing thousands of words and bringing dozens of screenshots to compile a measly showcase of maybe 10% of their ship's canon relevancy like i was? (Or we were, probably, i dont think i was the only one but i only focused on doing My Part, didnt really look at what others were doing. My discord name is still "brave wataei warrior" to this day after that event) No. They couldnt. We all knew that. Which is why the whole thing was baffling and infuriating. They just wanted to win for the sake of winning something despite the objective evidence. Haha lack of objectivity in the object show fandom *badum tss* thank you thank you im here all day.

[roipecheur]

Do you like omegaverse?

A secret, third option!

(Cut for length and nsfw text)

As a fandom phenomenon:

I did read the original J2 fics that kicked off this whole trend some years back

It's been interesting to see how it's evolved over the years. I was in SPN fandom back when it first became popular, and then I wasn't really in fandom and didn't read omegaverse for years

Take into account that is one person's perspective from the fandoms I was personally in, I have not done a widespread review of all things omegaverse

(I actually just checked the Journal of Transformative Works for an article on omegaverse as a trend, and didn't find one for the term omegaverse or by searching alpha AND beta AND omega, which is a little surprising to me)

In any case

Early days: cis male alpha/cis male omega pairings. The omega would have a self-lubricating asshole and smell irresistible to the alpha when they went into heat. Mentions of cis female omegas, but the focus was usually on the m/m pairing. Mentions of female alphas, but usually cis female alphas that milked the omega cis male's dick with a super pussy that like, locked down or something in a reverse of knotting. Sometimes cis male omegas could get impregnated and sometimes they were infertile and just had heats

Current trends: I've noticed way more intersex omegas. Alphas going into rut in addition to omega heats #itsequality. Mating bites. Family units as packs. Sometimes, psychic bonds come with mating bites and/or packs. Inability to physically leave someone you've just mated with. A lot more variety in how irresistible the heat/rut smell is and exactly what someone may want during their cycle, e.g., omegas going into "I want to nurse and cuddle my baby" mode instead of sex mode, alphas fighting each other to blow off steam. Alongside that, variety in how intense a heat/rut is, on a scale of mildly annoying/distracting but manageable to removing someone's higher brain functions and leaving only instinct. More omega/omega or alpha/alpha pairings. The concept of transitioning, where someone can go from alpha to omega, etc.

I think betas have remained mostly the same throughout, although I do remember something where betas had a kind of "glue the pack together" function in a newer fic rather than just being "regular humans" as in older fics

In wider culture:

The omegaverse lawsuit

Omegaverse fucking with AI datasets

This shit is hilarious and I genuinely hope we never stop

Common critiques:

1, Omegaverse is just reinventing sexism minus the women / it's so sexist that it's managed to remove women from a story about sexism

2, It's codifying top/bottom into gender

Honestly? Maybe sometimes? But it really depends on the story, and there are a lot of different versions out there, so I find this reductive

The one (1) omegaverse fic I wrote aligned both alphas and omegas more closely with the queer community than the sexism allegory while making it clear that they were also their own thing

Also, omegaverse started out as an excuse to write weird, kinky porn. A lot of it still centers around weird, kinky porn

Sometimes your hindbrain wants what it wants, "your kink is not my kink & that's ok", and you aren't trying to unpack the full implications of a world where this is real

Or, you want to put these bitches into a situation, and an omegaverse where character A benefits as an alpha and character B suffers as an omega is just an interesting situation

Like. I generally think it's whatever

Slash fandom has also been accused of sexism and gay fetishism in a variety of ways that are not exclusive to omegaverse, and I am keeping that can of worms firmly closed right now lmao

Weird sex and sex mechanics:

I love when people get weird with it. Omegaverse did not invent this, like I'm sure there were some 1950s sci-fi writers creating man-made alien pussy beyond our comprehension

Ovigonopods of Love: a Strange Horizons short story from 2001, featuring underwater bug sex involving three different sexes and metamorphosis, on the subject of weird sex that definitely predates omegaverse

My issue with og omegaverse, and part of the reason I didn't read it for such a long time, is that it doesn't get weird enough

Listen. Uh. Gonna talk about scat here, but listen.

If your asshole self-lubricates, you are unavoidably gonna shit yourself. Especially if you're getting your ass stretched by a knot and stuffed with an industrial amount of jizz for days on end. Some people can suspend their disbelief when reading omegaverse involving self-lubricating assholes, and godspeed, but I personally cannot

I think if you're going to imply ass babies, you may as well go all the way and give the guy a cloaca ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That being said, I do like intersex omegas for much the same reason. I can wrap my brain around it. I know where the babies are coming from, and I'm not reading through a fic and trying to blank out the horror of some poor guy pushing a baby out of his ass

I'm not even opposed to anal knotting! I've read an alpha/alpha fic like that and an alpha/omega fic. If an asshole can take a fist with proper lube and stretching, it can take a knot, and I accept that. It's the self-lubricating and days of fucking during a heat that get me

Story development:

One thing I don't like about omegaverse is when it's used as an excuse to throw the ship into intense feelings and fucking without doing any of the work to show me why this ship works

(And I don't mean PWPs, there are some good omegaverse PWPs in the same way there are some good sex pollen ones, or aliens/gods/demons/fairies/magic made them do it)

BUT. You cannot have two characters who maybe didn't even like or know each other suddenly be in love because they shared a heat and rut and now they're mated. I just won't buy it, but I won't buy this in soulmate AUs or any other kind of fic, either

What happens after the heat/rut induced fucking? Are they stuck together because of a mating bite? Is this for societal reasons or because it physically hurts to leave, or both? Or do they separate immediately after? Is it weird when they meet again? How? Did they have a relationship before this? How does it change that? How does it change their relationship with other people, especially if this is in the pack bonds version of omegaverse?

Worldbuilding:

If it goes beyond a PWP, I do have questions

From an evolutionary standpoint, why are there alphas, betas, and omegas? Can betas have babies with each other, or are omegas the only ones who can get pregnant?

If betas are infertile, their evolutionary role could be to protect and provide for alphas and omegas when they would otherwise be vulnerable in heat/rut and when they're carrying and raising children

But if betas are infertile, why are there male and female betas?

If betas can have babies, it's possible that alphas and omegas have more babies and that there is an evolutionary tradeoff between that and between your heat/rut making you more vulnerable and the time and energy costs in having more children, which could lead to the two different modes of human reproduction

Either way......why does your society have a binary man/woman gender system rather than a ternary alpha/beta/omega gender system?

Possibly because you can't tell someone's designation by looking at them and because people hide their scent, and maybe also because most people are betas with alphas and omegas being in the minority

On a similar note, how common/rare are male omegas and female alphas? Have you basically reached a point where there is no sexual dimorphism? What is the reason for this?

Where did the terms alpha, beta, and omega even come from? They honestly sound really formal to me, and the one (1) omegaverse fic I wrote differentiated between these as more modern terms and the terms people used to use, which in modern times were more widely considered slurs

In conclusion, do I like omegaverse?

[iced-squid]

do you have any information about your ocs anywhere?

i'm crying, i can't believe someone asked.

now about the hidden iceberg of OC lore, the problem is,,, i just have so much, i don't know where to start.

I've been going back on forth on how to present information about my OCs for a long, long time.

The short answer is: Someday soon, I'll make more posts here that explain character backstories and the like. I've been trying to piece together the logistics of it for a few weeks now, after seeing how other OC artist accounts manage their lore.

The longer answer (my issues with the logistics): My OCs started off as characters from stories I wrote throughout high school. I am now no longer in high school, but I'm workshopping stories I've written and expanding on them, so it becomes rather difficult to condense character information down into something concrete and comprehensible when things are evolving.

OC information I can currently provide:

I have two stories from which I draw characters frequently, The Chaos Magnet and The Ink Glass. I use my tumblr account primarily for The Chaos Magnet characters, but you'll see my two Ink Glass characters pop up from time to time, usually in the form of a mermaid AU (they're the queerplatonic sapphic ones). The Ink Glass was originally written as a critique of industrialization in a fictional Victorian-esque, steampunk-inspired setting, so it's difficult to articulate in the form of drawings. (I'm not great with backgrounds.) The Chaos Magnet is more of a YA found family type of thing where there's a magic weapon system. I first wrote it at the height of my moral ambiguity phase and Percy Jackson craze. The original draft was in first person (in a Kane Chronicles fashion) and was very much 180,000 words of pure insanity. It's now in third person and marginally more balanced.

The plot of The Chaos Magnet circulates around Gladiolus (Glade, like the air freshener) Gideon, Wyn Halford, and Archibald (Arch) D'Auvay. Respectively, they are the short brown haired girl, the dark-haired guy with goggles, and blond dude whom I have not figured out how to draw yet.

It is a "save the world" type of story at its core, but I'd like to think my OCs make it spicier by being human disasters.

If you are interested, I am leaving the draft for first five chapters of The Chaos Magnet here. I'm sure it's riddled with mistakes, but it's readable! (i hope.) It introduces almost the entire main ensemble of characters.

if you read this far, thank you!

and special thanks to you, anon, for the ask.

[darkpoisonouslove]

for the writing ask game!

💫 what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

🦋 what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

💫 what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I love it when the commenter lists specific things that they like/caught their attention (and possibly tells me why they liked them). It really helps to know which parts of my writing work and if I'm conveying my ideas comprehensively enough. It's also nice when a comment sparks a discussion about some headcanons or worldbuilding. Other people's ideas/understanding of canon elements can be fascinating to hear about!

🦋 what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Answered here.

🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

Engaging with other fans is awesome because it can spawn theories, headcanons, discussion and the like. It can motivate people to create or help them overcome their fear of sharing what they've already created. It can also make you feel seen and understood by other people who relate to/love the same characters as you. And all of that usually leads to wonderful, strong friendships. It's the foundation of fandom because that's what we're here for. You can be a fan just fine on your own, closed off in your bedroom. But it's the engagement with other people's ideas and interpretations that makes the experience so much more fun and more fulfilling. Interactions with other fans can multiply the joy and satisfaction that you get out of creating for your favorite piece of media and that just makes fan life a 1000 times better.

I myself am very anxious in social situations but when I read a fic or see some other fan creation, I remind myself that feedback makes such a big difference for creators. It makes it almost impossible for me to not leave some comment. (I don't know super much about art so it's harder for me to comment on it but I try to at least compliment the piece when I reblog it.)

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

I already talked about the Griffin draws Faragonda to her side (instead of vice versa) during the CoL times AU and I haven't made much progress since then but it's always on my mind.

Because chapter 1 is such a fucking mess, I have turned the first part of it into a mix of five different lectures on magic courtesy of Valtor. It takes place on Oppositus where I've created a legend that parallels Griffin and Faragonda so closely that Griffin is instantly feeling dread when she first hears about it.

I think I finally managed to use the chaos with their emotions to my advantage and tie it into the theme of the first chapter. I am planning on including an older idea of mine in which when things are too hard to say, Griffin and Faragonda say the opposite of what they mean and the other one knows what the truth is. (I wrote out a ficlet with the idea here - under number 31.)

I think I'll just have to start writing it, though, because the outline has become too much of an unsalvageable clusterfuck at this point. I was hoping I could figure some things out before diving into the first draft but it looks like chapter 1 at least won't agree with me. To be honest, I am kind of anxious about starting this because it will require a lot of careful maneuvering with the characters' feelings and motivations and it will be quite long. I don't think I will be able to motivate myself to finish it all before posting but posting every chapter as I write it will probably mean long hiatuses in-between. I am unsure of how to proceed but I'll mull over it once I've done the first chapter.

Send me ((REAL)) fic writer asks

[orioncore]

I wanna talk about Hikaru more bc I think she's very neat

he enrolled in yumenosaki during the ! era, and joined the producer course alongside anzu and the other 3 producer ocs my friends made, quickly becoming friends and working together to help out however possible (I'm very unfamiliar with the ! era though so don't expect much content in regards to that haha)

Hikaru is semi-secretly a vocaloid producer under the online name lightcatcher! He wanted to be an idol when he was young but his fears got the best of him whenever he tried to sing in front of an audience and he was barely able to squeeze out a few notes

during his first year he is similar to anzu, being quiet and polite, but he learns to open up and be more outgoing especially with all the other idols beginning to rub off on him

he is a big fan of valkyrie and is heavily inspired by their music and aesthetic (I don't know if they ever find out why nazuna actually left or not, we'll see)

Hikaru is in the handicraft club, and makes outfits for himself on occasion (hiding idol uniform concepts in his sketchbook)

despite being a student at Yumenosaki, she still had quite the interest in the idols of Reimei and Shuuetsu (he has very limited information on the Reimei revolution but is aware of it)

he is a BIG fan of Eden as well (and may or may not have a celebrity crush on a certain viper) (poison strategy awakened something in him /hj)

in !! era, he becomes a lot more outgoing and even snarky to his peers, but overall still reserved

she joins cospro and works there as a producer, not really assigned to a specific unit yet, and then crazy:b happens.

he is assigned to work with the new unit and is. Worried, to say the least

main story stuff happens you get the point eventually Hikaru grows attached to them and gets pretty sad when rinne runs off

oh and as all this happens she also begins to work with the other units of cospro, but more with 2wink rather than Eden and valk (sadly I am not a 2winkP so I can't really go into their potential dynamic). Hikaru begins to be seen as a better producer as time passes, and he gets trusted with harder jobs

idk when this would happen, probs after main story 1, but ibara sends them off to work with Valkyrie for a live and Hikaru freaks the fuck out

he knew mika a little bit during his 1st year but otherwise only has fan knowledge abt the two, and he nearly reverts back to his very quiet and polite persona in the presence of shu (I mean why wouldn't he when all of Valkyrie's production team gets scared off constantly). he does however see this as a chance to prove himself and the live ends up going very well! he gets to live another day under cospro! a similar thing happens with Eden as well, and she gains a lot of confidence, but still

eventually stuff happens and he begins to work with Eden and Valkyrie a lot more often, trying to balance his personal hobbies with work and school (he gets teased by rinne about him having favorites)

wow I wrote a lot I'll end it here for now haha

I hope this is like. comprehensive LMAO

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

1.) The funniest part about this is how I haven't even written a Harrymort fic in a very long time cuz I've had no inspiration for it or HP in general. Also, if you consider it pedophilia to write about two consenting adults taking 200,000 words(and several years in-fic) to finally realize they like each other, then there is no hope for your reading comprehension. Stick to 3rd Grade Level stuff, pls. It'll save all of us the trouble.

2.) Dave is no slave. He is a dumbass. He is racist. Sexist. Homophobic. A liar. A cheater. A thief. A bum. Dave spent 1 1/2 years doing nothing as we dealt with homelessness. I wrote over 1 million words for pay to keep us in motels that entire time while he claimed his leg was too injured to work. And spent every day demanding to know, 'did anyone give us money yet?' cuz he wanted sweets. Dave got us into this mess by opening his mouth over things not his business. Dave lied about every step of the way here. He's literally being blackmailed cuz he thought he met a chick online who could lead to a quick fuck and instead was dumb enough to tell her all his personal business and now she's holding the well-being of his daughter and grandkids over his head if he doesn't pay her.

3.) I am the only person here who can take care of my mom 24/7. I'm literally her personal caregiver. I clean the house. I cook the food half the time. I am her legs for everything she can't manage. I'm also in terrible health and desperately need to see several doctors but every time we bring it up, Dave makes excuses over MOM'S van cuz he knows she can't defend herself and I can't see well enough to get a license. I haven't had my teeth looked at in 8 years and I haven't had an eye exam in 7. Dave bitches about having to take his own child to the doctor and was even willing to get in trouble with the school over not having her medical paperwork up to date. Mom hasn't been able to get her meds in over a year cuz Dave prioritizes ice cream over medicine and bitches when she won't give him money for snacks.

4.) I am Visually Impaired and Hard of Hearing. I cannot see and I struggle to hear all the ime. I am also colorblind. Stoplights either look off, or always yellow. I can't tell distances. I can't see details in things just a few feet away. You want me to actually do something, when I actively do what I am capable of. I'm not capable of much and the health conditions have piled on more and more.

5.) How you can dick ride for a man you don't even know is beyond me. How you can hear all this shit about him and think he's a swell guy and not a literal useless scumbag who can't even be bothered to keep his kid and grandkids safe from strangers on the internet, idk.

6.) How anyone could call Dave the innocent in this situation is laughable. Fuck the disabled woman he's betrayed countless times despite telling everyone they're fiancés and in love when he wants sympathy from people while he cheats with strange women he meets on Facebook. Fuck his daughter and grandchildren whom he has put in danger all for the sake of cheating. Fuck all the connections he's ruined in his life cuz his greed and obsession with racing put everything at risk. Fuck the fact that he can't even help us actually do the moving ANY of the times we've had to move because of him.

He's just a poor wittle man who can do no wong ever. T_T He's just so sad and hurt. He needs the big stwong Anon to come in an save the day. T_T

Sometimes you can just tell an incel wrote something, and this whole Anon was red flags from one side to the other. People who throw around the pedo accusation over a ship they don't like always end up being pedos themselves too. It's like clockwork. How bout you turn that finger back in your own direction, hun? Seek mental help and perhaps someone someday will finally give a damn about your existence. ^-^

Maybe if your daughter got up off her ass and helped out more especially in the past while instead of sitting around writing pedo fic about harry potter and Voldemort then you'd have got everything moved on instead of leaving till last second

She has no excuses

Dave is working his ass off providing for you all , for his faults and you begrudge him the slightest thing. If he left you'd all know about it - wouldn't know Ur ass from your elbow but u keep whining about him while being happy to take his money and see him slave for u. Yeah he's fucked up but fr he is a man under pressure he is gonna fuck up and do crazy shit that man is heading for nervous breakdown

Why doesn't your older daughter go to work instead of sitting on her big ass writing shit and playing video games 24/7. Why don't you apply for disability and keep trying cos I know it's hard. Bethy when she is bigger is gonna be hit with picking up the slack if I drive Dave off so u need to start looking for work too or disability so money is coming on

U wannabe a trad wife ok that's fine but when Ur man is cracking up etc you can't stay at home cleaning house etc id love for you to be safe and so do all that housewife stuff but you're in a crisis so you gotta toughen up and get working or more importantly your daughter has to

Ok, Coward, let's me take the trash out. @helly-watermelonsmellinfellon doesn't write pedo fics. You are either virginal and can't find anyone willing to touch you or you are jealous that you lack the talent to write. Frankly, I think it's both. Who would want to deal with such a vile piece of work like you?

Let's get something straight, you illiterate jackass. Dave is not my man. We have a child together. That's it.

Dave pays rent. I pay everything else. Oh, would you look at that. I PAY EVERYTHING ELSE. Do the math, dimwit. I don't take a damn dime from him. He does take money from me. Based on how you are trying to make it sound like you know Dave, it makes me wonder is you are the sleezeball that has been illegally blackmailing him.

And I don't know where you think you can come on Tumblr of all places and attack me and my family. You don't know jack shit about us. What you have read on Tumblr is just a drop in the bucket, you worthless piece of filth.

You send me this message trying to talk a big game but you hide behind the cloak of anonymity. You're too chicken shit to put a name to your comment. You're a nothing but a sorry ass joke that no one will ever take seriously.

Grow up, wonder skank.

BTW: Dave and I were never married. I detest marriage. I also detest cowards like you. So go pound sand.

@helly-watermelonsmellinfellon have at the bitch. I would love to see you tear this coward to shreds.

@mister-tom-a-dildo-lover

[quicksandblock]

MCYT Demographic Survey Part 2 RESULTS

IT’S TIME!!!

Once again, thank you so much to everyone who participated! 1,654 people total responded to this - about four and a half times as many respondents as the first survey. It’s honestly incredible. I’m so happy the rest of you are as interested as I am in this stuff :D

The increased turnout is also why these results are being posted two days later than I’d intended. I want to give a HUGE thank you to my friend @quincepastey​ and my sibling @orestes-swimming​ for helping me out, and by helping I do mean they did basically all of the technical stuff for me, because my knowledge of spreadsheets was not up to the task. So thank you to Cupid for organizing all the data from questions 3 and 4 into something comprehensible for me, and thank you to Kal for making the charts! They are absolutely the MVPs and everyone reading this should go check them out. Thank you guys so much <3

Reblogs of this post are very appreciated. It would be awesome if the info about the results could reach everyone who submitted a response, so if you reblogged my first post about this survey, please consider reblogging this one as well!

For your convenience, here’s a link to the results of the first survey I did six months ago. Now - on to the results!

Question 1: What is your age range?

Compared to the results of the first survey, we can see that things have changed a bit! Specifically, the fandom has shifted just a little bit older. The solid majority of the fandom is still in the 15-17 year old range, but it’s gone down from almost half to closer to 40%. Almost a third of the fandom are ages 18-20, up from close to a fifth six months ago. 21-25 year olds have increased from about 10% to about 14%. And the youngest segment, 13-14 year olds, have gone from almost 20% of the fandom down to 12% - the sharpest change of all.

Finally, nearest and dearest to my own heart, there are now 26 whole people in the fandom aged 26-30 and 9 people aged 30+. Old Squad is growing, folks. We are... the 2% 😎 Special shoutout to the person who said their 15 year old kid got them into the fandom. I hope you know just how cool you are.

These results are interesting, but it’s also impossible to say how accurate the data is. This survey and the previous one were only posted on my blog, and they only reached a wider audience through the reblogs of my followers. So do these changes reflect actual changes in the demographics of the fandom as a whole, or is it just that my followers (and the people who follow them) have shifted older? To try to avoid this bias in the future, I may reach out to some well-known younger bloggers and ask them to reblog the next survey I do so that I can reach a more even audience.

Question 2: What is your gender?

Apologies for the small text, but there were so many unique write-in answers that I wanted to include them all. You may want to open the image in a separate tab for better quality.

In contrast to the age question, the gender spread of the fandom has remained pretty much the same. About half the fandom is still female, the nonbinary crowd has increased from 20% to 25%, 7% of us are male, almost 7% are genderfluid, and about 5% are agender. Just like last time, most of the write-in responses fell into the vague categories of either genderqueer or questioning.

No surprises on this one! The fandom continues to be overwhelmingly female and queer. Next time I think I’ll include genderqueer and questioning as options to try to catch some of those people into a formal category. All y’all are so valid, especially the person who wrote in their gender as “soup” <3

The results for questions 3 and 4 will be under a cut, because I don’t want to completely destroy people’s dashes.

Before I get into the last two questions, a couple notes. First, I want to explain how I came up with the list of creators, since a lot of people were either excited or disappointed by the fact that a few different people were on there.

On the last survey, this question was a write-in, and I had to transcribe and collate all the answers by hand to come up with the actual number of people who followed each creator. For this survey, I simply took the list that came out of the previous one and pasted it in! I also added a few people who no one wrote in six months ago but who are much more prominent now (Ranboo being the biggest example). So if you were excited to see your favorite small creator listed as an option, they were there because someone wrote them in last time! And if you wrote in your favorite small creator here, they’ll be an option on the next survey. The list is entirely crowdsourced and it will expand with each survey.

That said, the same also applies for more controversial creators. Specifically, I’m talking about CallMeCarson. Several people questioned my decision to keep him on the list - and to be honest, I considered taking him out. But in the end I decided to leave him in as an option for the sake of completeness and consistency with the previous survey. I want to emphasize that this is not me condoning his actions. But for the sake of the data, I felt that it was best to leave him in.

That said, let’s move on to questions 3 and 4!

Question 3: What creator(s) do you primarily follow?

So, it’s harder to compare with the previous survey on this one, and that’s purely because on the previous survey I didn’t have the help I did here. The chart I was able to make for the results back in October was frankly trash. Also, the fact that I split “followed creators” into two questions - primarily and casually followed - definitely throws things off. However, we can still do a certain amount of comparison!

The most obvious change is Ranboo. He straight up was not on the previous survey at all - I think he’d been streaming for less than a month at the time. Now, about 55% of respondents listed him as someone they primarily follow. The Dream SMP itself has also jumped dramatically. Previously, about 5% of people wrote in Dream SMP. That has increased to over half. Quackity has gone from less than 2% to about 30%. Karl has gone from 4% to 30%. Phil has gone from about 8% to a little under 50%. The SBI have jumped from 11% to over 40%.

Techno has gone from about 50% to over 60%. Tommy has gone from 45% to over 55%. Wilbur has jumped from 43% to 55%. Tubbo has remained steady at about 38%.

Dream has apparently dropped some of his following percentage-wise, falling from 50% to about 35%. However, George, Sapnap, and the Dream Team itself have all jumped from 10-12% to almost 30%.

I’m not going to go over the rest of the list, because that would just get way too long. However, I will drop a link to the spreadsheets of data for this survey and the previous one, so anyone who wants to can do some comparison of their own!

Question 4: What creators do you casually follow?

I won’t do as detailed of a comparison on this question, because there’s nothing to compare it to - this question wasn’t on the previous survey. However, it’s interesting to see how many more people follow Fundy, Nihachu, BadBoyHalo, Captain Puffy, Eret, Awesamdude, and Jack Manifold casually rather than as a primary favorite. Out of the top twelve, Karl, Quackity, Phil, and Tubbo are the only ones who don’t have a major discrepancy between the amount of people who follow them casually versus primarily.

I would be curious to hear people’s thoughts on why that’s the case! Personally, I would guess it’s a combination of each of their approaches to lore on the Dream SMP, the frequency and times of day that they stream, and the people they tend to make content with and be associated with by the fandom. I may go into that more later, but this post is already very long, so I’ll hold off for now. Here’s a link to this question’s spreadsheet for anyone who wants to take a closer look!

...And that’s a wrap! Good grief, this got long. Kudos to anyone who actually read the whole thing because I know my attention span would be challenged. I’m already thinking about the next survey - a couple people suggested that I add in questions about orientation and nationality, and while I want to keep the survey pretty tight in its scope, I am considering it. It would be even more data to process but it would be interesting to know!

I would love to hear people’s thoughts on these results! I’m only one person, so I know there’s interesting stuff I must have missed. Please, please feel free to reblog with your thoughts and observations! A lot of work went into this (both from me and from Cupid and Kal! Thank you guys again!), so I’m really hoping to hear what people think about it :D

I plan to reblog this and reply to some of the things people wrote in at the end, so stay tuned for that. And once again: thank you all for your interest in this project of mine <3 See you with another one in six months!

[classifiedinterests]

making the supernatural fandom more accessible

hey fellow spn fans!! what if we all teamed up to make the spn tumblr experience more accessible?

it sucks that some of the best posts this fandom churns out are completely unreadable to bloggers who use screen readers (or heck, even to people whose wifi sucks so that images never load).

take the amazing scripts that we’re currently so pumped about -- imagine you use a screen reader (if you don’t), and you hear fellow fans going completely feral over content you can’t access. you want to be in on the hype! but you have zero clue why everyone’s screaming about windmills or whatever, because the scripts getting shared are un-captioned screenshots.

...and then there are posts that are just. walls of text! which is really difficult for certain neurodivergent folks to read, such as those with adhd. being aware of that when making original posts (or comments) and adding more paragraph breaks -- and possibly even spicing up the text by bolding important parts, etc. -- is an easy fix for that!

so. here’s my proposal: each one of us commits to whatever level of effort is possible for us (given each person’s unique time, energy, abilities, etc.) in the joint effort to improve accessibility.

Level 1: the ID hunter.

when you go to reblog any spn post that includes images (whether that’s gifs, screenshots, fanart, etc.), check in the notes to see if someone else has added an image description already!

if they have, reblog from them so that the image description spreads further.

"BUT what if someone added the image description before certain commentary was added to the post, and i wanna reblog the post with those extra comments?”

Well, i can’t speak for everyone who creates image descriptions, but i for one don’t care if someone copies & pastes my ID so that they can add it to their own reblog. i don’t care that my blog’s no longer connected to the image description i wrote -- so long as the ID is spread, i’m happy!

Level 2: the copy-paste monster.

when you love another fan’s tags enough to add them to the post -- do so by copy & pasting them, not by screenshotting them!

for your own posts or comments: if you’re sharing, say, a quote from an article or a fanfic or a tweet, do so by copy & pasting the quote instead of taking a screenshot.

if someone else has already shared a screenshot from an article, fanfic, or tweet, and you have a link to the original, do the extra legwork to go to the source, copy and paste, and make an ID.

Level 3: the fandom angel.

If you have the ability, time, and energy to type out image descriptions for spn posts that don’t yet have one, please do it!

If even just a few of us commit to creating even just one ID per day each, that will add up!

And, of course, if you’re making your own post, give it an ID right there in the original posting, if you’re able! I understand that not everyone has the spoons (/time/energy/ability) to do this, and that’s okay. But those who can, please do!

Tumblr now allows you to put alt text on images, so you can do it that way or the old-fashioned way of just including your image description in the text of the post.

Not sure how to write an image description? This post offers some truly comprehensive advice on how to write IDs for various types of content, from photos to fanart to charts to screenshots of text.

By the way, I’ve seen folks ask that you don’t put the ID under a readmore. Keep it easy to access!

Nervous that you’re not gonna write an ID right? First off, practice makes perfect -- you’ll improve with time. I’m pretty sure that an imperfect or incomplete ID is better than no ID at all -- hopefully someone else will come along to reblog with any necessary corrections to whatever ID you write!

Level 4: the man of letters (gn).

You’re going above and beyond what this post advises -- you’re also out there coming up with and implementing other ways to improve accessibility!

Maybe you’re a blogger who uses a screen reader yourself, with more you want to add to this post from your own experience.

Maybe you’ll choose to seek out bloggers who use screen readers themselves -- or who have other accessibility needs -- so you can learn straight from them what their needs are.

Maybe it’s something else! I don’t know, but I do know this post is incomplete -- so please, share your ideas for other ways we can all work together to improve our fandom.

None of us has to do everything, but most of us can do something. If enough of us take even just small steps, we can create a more accessible fandom. Who’s with me?

If you’re in, please reblog this post so word can spread!

(I’m closing this by tagging some bloggers whom i’m hoping might be interested in helping me spread this around, because i am Not A Big Name in this fandom and can’t do it by myself! Let me know if you want me to un-tag you.)

@sunforgrace​ @castiellesbian​ @plantdadcas​ @jenderstudies​ @youchangedmedean​ @meadowdean​ @winchestersingerautorepair​ @phoebenatural​ @steveyockey​ @bedlund @seraphcastiel​ @marcusantonius @marynatural​ @redwing​ @t4tdeanwinchester​ @spn-brainrot​ @lobotomycas​ @samdyke​ @deanwinchesterforbatman2k21 @themanwhowouldbefruit @4x01​ @thatisahotsoup

[dainty-fingertips]

a forever thing. ||kars x fem! reader

wrote this one a few weeks ago bc a friend said i should write something with kars,, ended up being too long and i don’t think she ever finished reading it;; also, spoilers for if you haven’t finished battle tendency !!

word count: 2233

summary: training alongside caesar and joseph, you end up being kidnapped by the remaining two pillar men after the death of esidisi. a closet bookworm, you end up spending most of your time cooped up in the library of the rundown hotel, though most of your time is spent thinking of the leader himself. after kars drops some undeniable hints, you decide to test the waters.

trigger warnings: none :)

||

          Being taken for a sort of ransom by aztec gods wasn’t exactly on the agenda today. 

          After Joseph had killed Esidisi, the remaining two were -- as expected -- on edge. Wamuu, the youngest, and Kars, the eldest. You could grasp a fleeting understanding on why they chose you specifically, but nothing enough to make complete sense in your brain. It could have been Caesar, it could have been Lisa Lisa, but no. As of now, they were treating you quite well, actually. You figured Wamuu was the only reason you weren’t bound by rope and eating out of a dog bowl right now. Instead, you were perched upon a plush reading chair in a rundown library, clad in a comfortable robe (thanks to Wamuu, you weren’t stuck in your sweaty outfit from before). You had planned on touring to Switzerland one day after the war, but being trapped inside a rundown hotel with no real access to vitamin D was really taxing your health (mentally and physically) and never intended to be something you spent your time doing while here.

          In your rough-skinned hands, you held a worn copy of In Search of Lost Time. Your reading comprehension had improved over the past few weeks, at least. A rough knock on the door pulled you from your thoughts. “I’m here.” You said calmly, hoping it was the younger Pillar Man. Of course your desires were not met. Kars stepped into the library, his headscarf absorbing some of the light from the candle lit on the table next to you. He eyed you in what appeared to be mild distaste. “Why are you awake?” You looked up from the book with an odd expression. “What do you mean?” You asked him. The god huffed softly, motioning to the boards on the windows. “The sun has gone down. Are you not tired?” You pulled your gaze over to the covered windows. “...Oh.”

          You had failed to notice the absence of flittering rays much earlier. “Wait, what time is it?” You mumbled to yourself. You looked at the grandfather clock on the wall to your right and your expression dropped. “It’s 1 am.” he mumbled, crossing his arms. You pursed your lips and quietly closed the book. You uncrossed your legs and set it back on the shelf. Kars watched you slowly make your way back and forth. “What about you?” You asked, wrapping your fingers around the candle tray. He stared at you. Were you asking why he was up? “What do you mean?” He asked with a sigh. “You’re still up, but you aren’t tired.” You stated while approaching him. He didn’t move. “I’ve told you this. Neither me nor Wamuu need sleep, human. Es-” He stopped himself mid sentence and his cold expression seemed to falter for only a moment. You had learned, in your three weeks here, that the pillar men deemed it inappropriate to show emotion to anyone other than family members or mates. 

          Kars had never slipped up around you before. 

          The gears in your brain began turning. Kars wouldn’t show something like that to Wammu even, at least that’s what you’d been told. Why, even if for a split second, would he let you see that? Did he see you as someone close? The mere idea was laughable. Kars’ cold exterior soon returned, though. Simply brushing aside the sight, you continued to listen to him. “Esidisi didn’t need sleep, either.” He continued, his voice almost strained. Was Kars trying to hide his pain? You looked at him with soft eyes. Kars seemed to get minorly flustered and removed his gaze from you.

          You sighed gently and gazed cautiously into his blooming red eyes, the simple sight of them making your stomach twirl a bit. He made you feel floaty when he looked at you. Your cheeks flushed and you looked away. You saw in your hazy peripheral that he had furrowed an eyebrow. “What?” He asked hesitantly, looking back at you. “Hm?” You couldn’t look back at him. “I was just wondering about something, that’s all.” You begged that the bluff worked on him, but you knew that Kars was smart. He didn’t respond for a few seconds, his eyes flickering across your face and body, looking for a hint of something in your body language. 

          He sighed and motioned for you to follow him. You stood there and glanced at him curiously, his back turned and footsteps echoing. He turned his head to look at you. “I’m taking you to your chambers. Come.” He said with a bored expression. “O-Oh, right.” You whispered. You jogged up to him, but slowed your pace once you were next to him. “What was it?” He asked. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked at him without moving your head. “What?” He sighed through his nose. “You said you were wondering about something.” Your mouth opened to the shape of an O. “Right. I was just curious, uh, Kars. Do you think you could sleep if you tried?” You queered hesitantly, avoiding your original thought of Kars’ sadness. You looked back ahead of you. Kars gazed to his right, thinking. “An odd question, human. Why do you ask?” You shrugged slightly. “I dunno. Curiosity, I guess.” Kars aired out a small ‘hm.’ and inhaled sharply.

          “Curiosity is a dangerous fault in humans. No matter how long I sleep, that will forever remain a constant.” You cocked your head to the side a bit, working up the courage to turn to him as you both walked. “What do you mean?” He looked down at you, a strand of his hair tufting out slightly. “It’s what got that damned Joestar wrapped into this mess. If not for him, we wouldn’t need to deal with this. Our mission would be far less… complicated.” You nodded your head. “And that’s been a forever-thing?” He squinted his eyes. “A what?” 

          “Well, that’s what my dad used to call it.” You said with a gentle chuckle. “Y’know, a forever-thing. Something that’s been around for forever. Literally and figuratively.” 

          “A forever-thing?” He pressed.

          “Mhm.”

          “Humans and their idiotic names for simple terms.” he spat.

          “Oh really?”

           He scoffed. “Yes.”

          “Then what would you call it?” You joked, putting a playfully heavy emphasis on your words. Kars groaned, but deep inside his old bones, he felt something. He could admire beauty when he saw it, especially for a human, but this was getting out of hand. You were completely oblivious to the fact that Kars had taken an especial liking to you, which he was grateful for. His cold demeanor felt almost immoral around you. You were similar to that Joestar boy, but you were somehow more tangible. He could… stand you, sure, but he didn’t know why. He had been surrounded by nothing but cold glares and serious attitudes his whole life, and he magnified it in the way he lived. It’s what earned him the highest rank in what now remained of the tribes, being merely him and Wamuu. 

          Though, having you around was a strangely acceptable change of tone. He began finding himself seeking out your attention, like 10 minutes ago. You weren’t in your bed, so he came looking for you where you normally sat; the library. You were propped in that chair, now claimed as yours, with your knees to your chest and a book in your hands. You seemed almost magnetizing, you seemed almost… well, he wasn’t sure. He’d never felt this way. Why did you grab his attention? You held him in your fingers like putty, rubbing him in all the right ways. Maybe, because of you, his opinion on the human species wouldn’t be so dire. Maybe, in your toothy grins, your glittering eyes, and your gentle hands,  you would change his mind. 

          Only then, did he realize you had taken his hand in yours.

          He quickly pulled it away. “Don’t touch me.” He spat, eyeing you. You chuckled and shrugged. “Sorry, force of habit. Whenever my dad was deep in thought, I’d grab his hand to pull him back to Earth.” Kars scoffed, rubbing his hand as though trying to get the feeling of your rough hands off of him. They were hard and calloused from training, he presumed, though it added to his simple adoration. He had never met a woman like this. His eyes lingered back to your hands for a moment before looking back ahead. “Well, I’m not your father.” You simply smiled ahead and didn’t respond.

          Kars let his hands fall to his sides and the two of you make it up the set of stairs to your room. The door sat closed, and you looked at Kars. “Would you mind, Kars, if I told you something?” You questioned casually, entering your room and looking at him from the inside. He nodded once and silently asked you to continue. Your face grew warm and you looked to the side, unable to look at him for a moment. “You…” You began, unsure how to tell him. He raised an eyebrow. “I what?” He said. You knew he was an impatient man when it came to things like this; you had heard it from Wamuu whenever he’d bring you food. “Spit it out.” You sighed and looked at him, your gaze wavering and nervous. “You aren’t half bad, Kars.” You said with an awkward tone of voice. You knew you were treading on thin ice, but you didn’t know when you’d actually be able to tell him alone.

          Kars’ stance was unmoved. The meaning behind your words didn’t fully strike him until after the two of you silently stared at each other for 20 seconds. His face, twisted in mild confusion, soon loosened up. Realization clubbed him like a wooden baseball bat behind his knees. His maroon eyes darted across your face and his lips parted slightly. “What -- What are you saying?” He said quietly. He was sure his brain was playing tricks, but your face, it seemed so fearfully genuine. Sweat accumulated on the back of his neck in his headscarf. Kars was a god; the most powerful pillar man. He was above this. Why did… Why did it feel wrong to act that way around you? Why did he feel almost guilty when he acted superior?

          You stood motionless. “I mean, y’know. I enjoy… your… your company.” You stumbled over her words. Were you being intimate with him? He’d never seen this side of you. You noticed Kars slipping up on his own standards again, as well. His surprised emotions were clear as day, etched cleanly into his chiseled features. His fangs poked out onto his lower lip, a simple protrusion which you had wished you didn't find cute. You genuinely thought that Kars was attractive.

          Then again, who wouldn’t? He stood tall, around 6’8”. He towered over most all he came in contact with, but that was simply second nature to you now. You were used to craning your neck to get a better look at those blood-red eyes that almost seemed to despise you. A dark loft of his hair would make its cameo every now and again. He’d always get flustered whenever you’d mention it, telling you that he didn’t need the approval of a human. He’d then, a minute or so later, slyly tuck it back in. It’s not that he didn’t know, of course; it’s just that he only cared enough about it if you took the time to tell him.

          Wamuu had noticed his growing infatuation with you and the thought brought him a smile. After sitting down with Kars and listening to him do nothing but wax poetic about you earlier tonight, he told him to go find you. Maybe take a walk with you, if he felt like it. Kars kindly took up the offer; it seemed you had humbled him in that department, too. Normally he wouldn’t bother taking anyone’s advice, but here he was. Pulling him from the crevasse of his rushing brain was your hand, humbly wrapping your fingers around his.

          Kars stared at his hands, fingers being separated by your own, in blatant shock. “You aren’t as bad as I thought you’d be.” You whispered, barely audible to him. He locked eyes with you and without thinking, going against everything he’d ever stood for in the past, he curled his fingers around yours as well. You smiled softly and looked down, avoiding his gaze. Kars’ lips pulled back together, his lips twitching, desperately wanting to smile. “I suppose.” He said hesitantly. “Why are you being nice to me?” He soon asked, turning his gaze back to your face.

          He pulled his hand away, taking a step back. “I…” You murmured, retracting your hand as well. He looked between his fingers as though he’d touched gold, small glittering remnants still freckled along his palm. “I don’t know.” you finished with a heavy sigh. He closed his hand into a fist and looked at you with nervous confidence. “Well, if there’s nothing more, then I will take my leave.” He said quickly, nearly stuttering his words. He turned on his heel and began going the way he came. You gazed at his back as he swiftly left the hallway and sighed in disbelief. You had just grabbed his hand.

          Kars, it seemed, had fallen in love with the enemy.

          The enemy, it seemed, had felt exactly the same.