#like I've got a bunch but I would not advocate it to most people like it won't look professional whatsoever and you have 2 be okay with tha

[stellastra-scribbles]

Finally completed the outfit reference for Jayna Stiles, a half-elven NPC follower from Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Outfit breakdown (or "outfit onions" as I like to call them lol~)

I really like Jayna Stiles and her backstory + goals of becoming a technological healer. I'm also a sucker for 19th-century fashion and I have an unhealthily large collection of reference books and a bunch of files saved from online museum collections (I've got about 22+ gigabytes of refs downloaded from the Library of Congress alone haha I need more hobbies).

More unrestrained detailed design ramblings below the cut~

Back on track, I really just wanted to design Jayna an outfit that suited her character more than her in-game sprites while also being practical for travel/adventuring.

Individual layers. I pulled most of her colors from her default outfit.

Since Arcanum's starting year is 1885, I usually picture the "modern" sense of fashion in big cities like Tarant and Caladon taking cues from real life 1885-1890s western fashions (to give myself some leeway with references). Smaller towns can be a bit more dated, but I try not to go back further than the 1870s in most cases.

However, for a character like Jayna, who hails from Dernholm, I gave her clothing from references dating back to the 1850-1860s. I did this because Jayna says in her recruitment dialogue that "[her] parents weren't wealthy people, and [she doesn't] make much money here in Dernholm," so I took this to mean that she likely wears clothing to last, wearing hand-me-downs, makes her own clothes, and mending it over the years rather than buying new clothes.

Given that Dernholm (+ the Kingdom of Cumbria in general) isn't in the best state when the game starts, they may be behind the times and the latest fashions take longer to reach Dernholm.

Gar: “Alas, poor Dernholm! Once home to the legendary Dragon Knights, it has fallen on hard times since Praetor became king some 60 odd years ago. He despises all technology, and I think he's recently become sour on magick as well.”

Herkemer Oggdoddler: “For two generations Cumbria languished as an economically abused and technologically impaired backwater in the shadow of Tarant. Its once fine capital, Dernholm, has become a ruin.”

Layer 1 - Chemise + Open Drawers. I deliberately drew the drawers as fairly loose so as to not expose her without having to redraw the pose or resort to "Barbie doll anatomy."

Various resources demonstrated the chemise being tucked into the drawers or worn fully untucked/loose, but I drew it as tucked-in for the sake of reference visibility, so perhaps either one works in practice.

Layer 2 - Corset + Socks/Stockings. I picked a more "contemporary" (1880s) design for the corset as I imagine it would be a more custom-fitted garment. Plus, anyone who has ever worn bras will attest that a bra that properly fits is comparable to a good pair of shoes: never cheap out on it because if you take care of it, it will take care of you. Perhaps that same logic can be applied to corsets in ye olden days and historically-inspired fantasy settings.

For Jayna, despite the simplistic design, it might be one of the few luxuries she can afford for herself given the necessity of the garment for bust support.

Layer 3 - Trousers + Shoes. I was inspired by vivandières and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who typically wore trousers beneath their skirts. Dr. Walker was a "surgeon, women’s rights advocate, abolitionist, and spy, [and] the first female U.S. Army surgeon during the Civil War." Since Jayna is an aspiring technological healer, I feel like an allusion to Dr. Walker and her practicality was appropriate.

Layer 4 - Petticoat. It's just something to fill out the skirt volume a tad. I considered adding a corset cover in this layer but I did like having the upper outline of the corset somewhat visible in the shirtwaist layer to illustrate her living situation (aka she doesn't have one or just has a poor-quality one). As a modern-age woman, I think this this all already looks like a laundering nightmare to wash by hand.

Layer 5 - Shirtwaist + Outer Skirt. I really like the shape of the 1860s Garibaldi blouse's sleeves (I think these are bishop sleeves? correct me if I'm wrong...) and the stripes allude to some 19th century nurse uniforms. I initially went for a plaid pattern but that was a pain to draw and using a pre-existing plaid brush/pattern just didn't look as good as I wanted it to be.

Layer 6 - Sash + Pistol Holster + Bag. Given Jayna's goals of becoming a tech healer, I took design cues from vivandières, who were 19th-century women attached to military regiments, with a few known vivandières being nurses (like Anna Etheridge).

However, rather than lifting the vivandière look completely, I imagine Jayna would attempt to replicate the silhouette with her own clothes. The bag is a bit of an amalgamation of various 18th-19th century hunting/frontier bags, so I apologize that I don't have a direct reference image.

---------------

Of course, in the end, I did take some liberties with the outfit so it's not completely historically-accurate, but that's okay since Arcanum is a fictional universe.

I guess I should've prefaced that I'm no expert on historical fashion, just a casual enthusiast who thinks "ooh old dress is pretty!"

I just wanted to see how far I could go before I had to make some concessions, such as:

Jayna's hair is short and worn loose while irl Victorian women typically had long hair and wore them up (there were documented exceptions of course). Many portraits for both female player characters and female NPCs across all in-game races show short hair and loose long hair, so let's just assume that 19th-century Arcanum has more relaxed feminine hair standards compared to the real-life 19th century western world. Also, irl 19th-century rural women did sell their hair for money, so maybe there's something to apply to the world of Arcanum with that. Or maybe the short-hair craze just hit Arcanum a few decades early *shrug*.

I initially planned to give her gloves, but many resources show vivandières not really wearing them, preferring to go barehanded.

The clothing colors may be a bit too saturated for the era I took inspiration from, but I wanted to stay somewhat faithful to Jayna's original sprite colors.

I did simplify some garments down for the sake of me having to draw enough layers as it is lol. Sorry if the lace wasn't fancy enough or that she doesn't have headwear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sometimes you just wanna finish a project and be done with it.

hoo boy, that was a lot

Thank You For Coming to My TED Talk :)

Now go play Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura~

[joesalw]

All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music.

True. She's currently jumping fences with rep as well. Making it out to be a goth punk moment and using trendy words like 'female rage'. The album has the most romantic songs she's ever written. C'mon now. The whole record is electropop with some R&B elements thrown into the mix.

She portrays 'Lover' as her social justice warrior era. 'If I was a man, then I'd be the man'. Yeah, we've seen it Taylor. Miss 'me becoming a billionaire is good for the world because I'm a woman'. She makes herself out to be this 'feminist girl's girl' when in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. She's not a feminist and she doesn't want to be the woman that's advocating for women's rights and leads the path for the future generation of women. She wants to be the man at the top. Her motto is literally 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, greenhouse gases'.

Another thing is her queer allyship. She's mentioned it when and only when it was profitable to her. During her tour she hadn't said a thing when the number of states signed anti-trans bills and the state of Tennessee where she says she lives *according to her own documentary* banned drag. I don't think she said anything about the anti-abortion legislation either. Her activist era started and ended in 2019.

Don't get me started on her position regarding the BLM movement. She only posted something because her own fans started calling her out and then declared that she's 'ferociously anti-racist'. She positioned herself as an advocate *by herself* and then immediately dipped when it stopped being as profitable. If you don't want to be dragged for your silence about social and political crises, don't proclaim yourself as an activist. Simple as that.

I've also seen the video on Youtube about TS being a narcissist (someone posted it on your blog earlier I think). And the guy in the video brought up her guitar teacher. So I looked him up and found an article where he talks about his experience with the Swifts which he got sued for later. According to the man, Taylor's mother was interested in him teaching her daughter how to play country music and was just a stage mom in general. And TS says that she'd been begging her parents to allow her learn how to play guitar and that she's self-taught. She wants her success story to be a rags to riches so bad I can't even.

She's a woman with an extremely fragile ego where millions of people could be praising her and a single negative comment would set her off. She can't handle any form of criticism, break ups or inconveniences like a grown woman simply because she doesn't have enough emotional intelligence to do so. Her being surrounded by yes men also doesn't help the situation. If i were her, I'd rather invest in a good therapist rather than 2 PJs. She drowns herself in work and relationships so she doesn't have time to go inwards and sit with her thoughts.

I kinda feel bad for her, honestly. She's been in the industry since she was 15 and her success was almost immediate. She doesn't know what the world's like because she's been sheltered her whole life and then had other people do things for her. I don't think she has many real friends as well. By real I mean people who aren't afraid to tell you the truth and are able to call you out in your face. Instead she has a bunch of people who appease her afraid of pissing her off and ending up on her bad side and as a result her vanity grows and she completely loses any sort of perspective whether in her friendships, romantic relationships or maybe even her own family.

I also wonder what she thinks about her fandom pirating her concert film instead of paying to rent it. I sort of hope that her fans are starting to wake up to her conning schemes. I mean, you've already made a shit ton of money from the theatre release, why charging 20$ more to RENT IT?Not even buy it. Or is it another narrative about how 'no one can own my work but me'?

This woman sells well but her cultural impact is almost nonexistent. She hadn't done any good for the world causes or inspired several generations of performers like Michael Jackson has with his philanthropic endeavors and incredible performing skills. The artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake (bleh) and The Weeknd were hugely influenced by MJ. These artist create their own unique legacy and impact on their communities. Especially the ladies. Gaga's been an avid LGBT+ advocate since the beginning of her career and created a foundation that focuses on issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development. She also participated in anti HIV and AIDS campaigns, spoke against immigration laws in the US, contributed to 2011's earthquake and tsunami relief campaign in Japan. Beyoncé's a huge advocate for the black community and black women especially which always finds its way in her work and visual art in particular. She's been platforming black culture and history for her whole career (2016 Superbowl and Coachella performance are the brightest examples of black american culture and releasing her Lion King album to showcase African artists' excellence). She also has a foundation where she provides black youth scholarships, clean water for communities abroad and housing to families in need in her home state.

What exactly makes Taylor Swift's cultural impact? Thousands of tons CO2 emissions? Music labels putting a clause in the contract so the artists can't re-record their material for 10 years now instead of 5? Making several versions of the same CD or vinyl so the sales are bigger? Mind you, that's all excessive plastic and paper. Some countries and US states are banning gas stoves. Her position regarding artists being paid during the early days of streaming (when the platforms were launching with a free period tial) was right but no one really benefited from it but her. She was shitting on Apple Music, then they offered her money, filmed an ad and released her 1989 Tour DVD exclusively on their platform. She shat on Spotify, then when LWYMMD came out, she was all over their biggest playlists all of a sudden and recorded Spotify Singles later on. Spotify's always promoted her every release like a motherfucker shoving her in every corner of the platform. Especially for the past 3 years. She doesn't have any memorable outfits or unique style to be called a fashion icon either. She's not a trailblazer she thinks she is. She is only popular because a lot of people *mostly ww* who peaked in high school see themselves in her. She's average in everything she does, her writing topes are also the same (only now she started using compound or uncommonly used words to mask it) but she's extremely commercially successful so that those people can see themselves in her. She doesn't have unique music style or chameleon-like discography like Gaga, Bey, MJ, Madonna, Shakira, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus or Nelly Furtado. She doesn't have a unique singing voice like Bjork, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Janis Joplin, MJ or Bob Dylan. She's no instrument prodigy either. And swifties say that 'Michael couldn't play any instruments'. Well, he was an exceptional beatboxer. She can strum 4 guitar chords and play basic piano, that's it. She doesn't have an outstanding dancing and/or vocal skill.

What is she gonna be remembered for? Her numerous relationships with famous men? While that might be misogynistic or sexist to some degree, she's the one who makes her relationships the centre of her music and public persona and brings them up even 10 years after they ended. Her public feuds with men and women that she can't get over years after? This woman is certainly can hold a grudge and is extremely vindictive. The leader of a parasocial cult that blindly defends her bigotry? I believe so. I don't think I've ever seen a fandom as toxic and as hive-minded as swifties. And again, it's Taylor's own creation. She's the one that constantly says 'look closely for the easter eggs' in her content making her fans theorize on every aspect of her life, or 'if you're very loyal I might invite you to MY HOUSE and you can listen to the new album early, we'll take pics and I'll bake you some cookies'. Of course they'll follow your any order. I'm glad I escaped.

Oof, I'll stop here. That's a very long one already

sorry hehe

.

[on-partiality]

Okay, so I'm absolutely curious:

I don't know if you've been asked this already, but how would you rank the Founding Fathers (from the ones you like the most to the ones you really don't)?

Sorry for taking forever I got sick and then I had school camp but here's how I'd rank them:

1, Alexander Hamilton: I've studied him the most out of the main founding fathers so I've grown rather attached to him. I still acknowlege his flaws like the fact that the trading charter he worked for when he was younger also sold slaves, the fact that he was sexist just like the typical 18th century man and that he did cheat on his wife. But even with all of those, he's my favourite of the bunch.

2. James Madison: when creating this tier list type thing I realised that I really don't know much about Madison that's why he's higher in the list (because I've studied him so little compared to the others, I don't know as much about his flaws and problematic actions as I do the rest of the bunch) I've read a lot about him doing silly things and supposedly being a good husband but the fact that he got along so well with Jefferson throws me off because I really don't like Jefferson. So yeah, I'd say I'm pretty neutral with Madison.

3. John Adams: I haven't studied him as much as the other founders (still more than Madison though) so I find it difficult to have too strong an opinion on him. I like his stance on slavery and the fact that he never owned any, however, I don't like his thoughts on women and men without property (and just generally the requirements he wanted to make on who should and shouldn't be allowed to vote) and I don't believe he was a very good father from what I've read about how he treated his oldest son, I also don't like his personality.

4. Benjamin Franklin: I know that no one is going to agree with me on this one but something about him just grosses me out, probably because I'm semi-sex-repulsed and hearing about the way he was with so many women makes me want to gag. Additionally, the comment he made about old women being the same in the dark grossed me out heaps. I get that he technically wasn't that bad and he freed his slaves and invented so many things but his personal life throws m

5. George Washington: Look, he did some HORRIBLE things, he owned many slaves, his treatment of Native Americans was terrible and I completely disagree with most of his political views... But I really like him as a military commander and a soldier and I like his personality a lot and that's why he ranks higher than the next person on this tier list, I don't agree with most of his actions. I don't support racism or genocide. But also I have far more fun studying Washington than I do the next founding father on this list.

6. Thomas Jefferson: child rapist, owned more slaves than any of the other people on this list (I think) and was really weird with his pets. He advocated for religious freedom and he was smart, I'll give him that but I don't like his personality, I don't like his political views and he was very hypocritical. Really, with his views, he wouldn't have even liked himself and he didn't do enough to make me like him. He's still interesting to study but I find it far harder to empathise with him than I do the men listed above because I really just can't see him as anything but vile.

Bonus!: I would put Aaron Burr between Adams and Madison because while I agree with most of his views and he's really fun to study, I like Hamilton a little bit too much to rank the man that killed him higher than 3rd.

(note: I wrote this on like an hour of sleep, this may be the worst amrev take ever)

Edited, 24th of February: Got reminded of this post's existence thanks to a comment by @c0ckmuncher pointing out how inaccurate one of these takes was and checked it again and safe to say I'm never posting anything late night ever again, the rankings have now been changed to better suit what I actually think of these men

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Primarch Sexuality Headcanons

Inspired by this post in which I got very excited to see someone else advocating for an ace-Fulgrim so I'm gonna list my view on the primarch's and their various sexualities.

May do a follow-up on the various captains and other Astartes in the Legions, though that post would get pretty huge pretty fast. I have a lot of opinions.

I invite others to share their perspectives if they have them. For full disclosure, I am coming at this as a homoromantic asexual who is VERY sex-repulsed, so that is, naturally, going to tinge my own perspective.

In Legion order:

Lion El'Johnson - Demisexual or grey-ace, uncertain about romantic interests. I haven't read too much on the Lion, and I know it seems to be popular to make the lad gay, but I don't quite get those vibes from him. I think he prefers women.

Fulgrim - Asexual panromantic. As was said in the thread linked above by the Consortium-human, definitely for aesthetic attraction. He is a peacock in the most literal way possible and I think he'd like his romantic partners to maybe be similar? I can definitely see him dressing them up ostentatiously.

Perturabo - Love the iron hermit, he's definitely a demiromantic asexual. Definitely sex-repulsed. Others would say aro but I could see him being romantically interested in someone if they took the time required for him to see them that way. I don't think gender would matter too much, but I think he'd have a more masc preference.

Jaghatai Khan - Grey-ace or Bisexual king. He's not someone who actively looks for relationships or flings but isn't opposed to them either, if he finds the person attractive.

Leman Russ - Exists in a quantum state between "homosexual bear" and "omnisexual bear". On the one hand, I can see him with basically anyone, but on the other, he gives that rugged sort of "passes as straight lumberjack, is actually gay as hell" type.

Rogal Dorn - Asexual... demiromantic? It's either demi or heteroromantic. Preference towards women or femme-presenting people. Probably sex-repulsed if not sex neutral.

Konrad Curze - Aromantic asexual. Has never had the interest. Has never wanted the interest. Pretty straight forward.

Sanguinius - I feel like it'd be cliche and also wrong to say demiromantic asexual. Aspec for sure. Maybe homoromantic? Maybe biromantic? He's tough to put a good finger on in terms of vibes.

Ferrus Manus - This is a gay man. Homosexual aromantic. I do not think he'd be very into a romantic relationship.

Angron - Heteroromantic asexual. If he ever had the true capacity for romance, anyway. The Nails probably stole it from him.

Roboute Guilliman - This one is tough. I want to say something aspec, as I said before maybe demi or grey. I don't think it's hard ace for him. In terms of a romantic orientation... Tough. I think he'd be interested in trying a date with a man, but I do want to say heteroromantic. Not closing himself off to the possibility of also being into them, but if he is bi-or-panromantic, he still has a preference for femme-presenting people and women.

Mortarion - See, most would probably also assume asexual, and I would maybe agree, but I've always had a thing in the back of my mind where he's just straight. Heterosexual man. Nothing wrong with it. He may be aromantic or just not interested in a relationship.

Magnus the Red - Aromantic asexual, I will say this with my full chest. Not opposed to a relationship, potentially, but would rather sex not be involved.

Horus Lupercal - I've seen some people say he's a bisexual disaster and while I can see where people are coming from, he's always had big asexual vibes, someone who's up for sex if his partners want it but is also just as fine without. Pan/omniromantic for sure though.

Lorgar Aurelian - Asexual for sure. I am consistently flipping between a bunch of different romantic orientations for him. I think he'd be an oriented demiromantic, but on the other hand. Hmm. He's tough. I saw panromantic and I think that is correct. May have a more masc preference though.

Vulkan - I feel like demisexual kinda cheapens him since everyone has flanderized him into being the "friendly" primarch, but it does feel fitting after everything I've read on him. So demi it is. Romantically... tough. Part of me wants to say aromantic. Another part wants to also put him as heteroromantic. One of those two.

Corvus Corax - Heterosexual, probably. I can definitely see him as a Castlevania-Dracula-"if you hurt my wife I will scour the lands and make sure your souls are damned for eternity"-type.

Alpharius/Omegon - It's a mystery, OooOooOO! I'm not gonna cop out like that. Based on what I've read, I see heterosexual aromantic. May be open to experimenting with men or androgenous people, but solidly prefers women as partners.

Bonus Round:

The Emperor of Man and Malcador are gay lovers. I have seen the light. I have read The End and the Death. They are homosexuals.

[forvalkyrie]

been watching chicago med and i’m either on s3 or s4 BUT i am starting to absolutely despise natalie manning and her character (ill put it under a readmore because i got a lot of words and she absolutely disgusts me)

First off, I know that she's an ER doc specializing in peds (though, maybe its because of how fast I watched everything but I never saw any epi specifically say that but its there whatever).

My disgust comes from how 1)she approaches people that aren't physically/mentally/emotionally prepared to have children and 2)how hypocritical she is. So lets get into it:

Her approach to her patients with children: I appreciate her dedication to childcare– whether this be giving the child the best of care or advocating for their rights when the guardian/parent(s) aren't listening. The thing... some of the things she's done or said are so surface-level, that they don't account for what happens after they leave the ER. Take the epi where she accidentally got a mother and her baby separated because she suspected child abuse due to a stained hematoma from child birth. Her medicine was sound, of course— anyone would suspect child abuse in that scenario. What I didn't like, and this patient (abbrev. pt) rightfully called out, was her judgemental ass. Like listen, I've worked in the medical field for years and even if you are judgemental towards something, you should NEVER let it affect how you treat/care for pt. Nat says she judged teh mom for being a single mother raising her child but... babygirl, you're a GD doctor. Your mother-in-law literally watches your kid FOR FREE. Your husband died from war– you know exactly who he is! That single mother was literally working two jobs just to support her and her baby. She even said that she doesn't know who the dad is so clearly she can't just "drop" the kid off at grandma's. People literally do the best that they can in the situation that they're in, whether purposeful or accidental. Whether or not they make sense is a wholedifferent thing. Like the other epi where the pt's older brother was a sociopath and the parents decided not to institutionalize him. As outsiders, ofc we'd be on Nat's side about taking him away from hurting his brother. But that's the thing– we are outsiders!! Nat's saying all this stuff yet if put in the same situation, she'd likely do the same thing as what those parents did and continue to keep him around. The decision to have kids is already an unfortunately loaded question but what about after? She has little to no care of her pts past the exit. This can get longwinded so if anyone wants more lmk otherwise imma stop here for this.

Hypocrisy: She's a straightup hypocrite. Early seasons, she followed most of the rules. She wasn't Will, ya know? But what got to me was how the show writes her cases. Ex. she had changed a treatment plan that Will was against because she didn't think it was that. Mind you, Will's under fire from that DNR incident. Before the autopsy, Will is rightfully angry that she switched treatment plans, despite her trying to justify it. Never change a treatment plan! Even with disagreements, shit will happen. There are contraindications, there are escalations, there's a bunch of different things that can happen even if the change is small. Not only was Will trying to be a good doctor, he was also trying to be a law-abiding, rule-following doctor. What about the time when she fought tooth and nail to use an experimental, not FDA-approved (not even a multi-stage study) drug to treat a cancer pt. Ofc, Will is furious that she's adamant on the switch and lo-behold, the pt dies. Now, this concoction could've worsen the cancer right? Except, rather than writing it so it either didn't have an effect or had a miniscule effect, the autopsy revealed that her concoction actually shrank it a few cms. Aint no fucking way that it did that-- mainly because there were no clinical trials documenting it. I mean, GIRL, WHAT ABOUT THE SIDE EFFECTS? Medicine isnt a magic potion unforunately. The time when she went off on that skivvy priest and his 14-year old wife is also on my list. She yells at Will or whatever doctor about professionalism but her attitude towards him (though RIGHTFULLY SO) was peak unprofessionalism. I mean there is a lot of bureaucracy in almost any institution, whether profit or nonprofit, but when anyone else breaks it, they get serious consequences. When Nat does it, its just a damn warning. Hell! What about when they induced a death-appearing coma to the guy that was abusing his wife? Shittt son, I'm surprised Will agreed to that given his DNR incident. God forbid that pt actally fucking died-- they both would've lost theirmedical licenses.

I just have so much to say! She gives me 'popular in HS' vibes since she is "always" right, rarely gets any true punishment/consequences and yaps of unprofessionalism to other people when she literally does the same thing. What crossed it for me and its the reason why I'm writing this now is when she snapped at Dr. Charles when she cut the dosage in half for a bipolar pregnant mother. You mean to tell me that YOU were in the right because you don't have time to keep up with every new psych journal? You literally specialize in peds– youre supposed to keep up with any and everything child-related, including pregnancies! Chief! God forbid there's new research and because you dont have fucking time to do some research (or at least keep up with medical literature), you end up killing a pt due to ignorance.

Maybe its how the writers are writing her but she's just... DISGUSTING. As a self-identifying female, I'm all about feminine/female power but this? Nah chief– Maggie is better written than she is and she's "just a charge nurse"!

[leonawriter]

It's fascinating and kinda funny to me how P4 is one of the only ones where I'm like, "yeah sure I get that the developers may have intended a certain route more than others, but I simply cannot see any that would actually stick or work."

If we just go with the girls (putting Yosuke to one side, and treating Naoto as one for the sake of "well, the canon game does, and gives her a romance route"), then we have - from the party members, at least, who Yu wouldn't be literally lying to by omission about the existence of the TV world - Yukiko, Chie, Rise, and Naoto. Marie is also added in Golden.

(bear in mind this isn't that serious, and even on the ones I don't really agree with, if I think there's potential I won't outright dismiss it.)

Just going with the base game?

Yeah sorry but I cannot see Yukiko or Chie as anything other than lesbians. Like - even if we ARE just going with the basic Japanese societal read on this, it isn't even that far fetched for them to see girls fooling around with those sorts of feelings as kids. Yeah, it's something they see kids "growing out of" but it Exists.

Another point against Yukiko is, to me, that she's kinda... the story ties her down. She is stuck in Inaba. Her SL even has her choose this, in that once she finishes high school she'll go into learning how to run the inn properly.

Personally, I find it difficult to imagine Yu being "the Inn Manager's husband," although that's just me.

Chie... same as above, tbh. Although, ironically, I can see them working out better due to Yu being canonically a mystery solver, and Chie joining the police, under Yu's uncle. it's not... an infeasible match.

Rise is one of my preferred ships for Yu, but the thing is? In spite of how much she flirts with him, the moment she goes back to her Idol lifestyle, that kinda... all goes down the drain. Being an idol means having absolutely zero private life, or personal life, and there's no space for a boyfriend (or girlfriend). Anything they might have would have to be put on hold for her career, until either her publicist figures out a way to sell it, or until she stops being an idol altogether.

Naoto... uh... is to me a big "not interested" and "does not work out" because a) her "romance" route sucks from what I've seen, and b) the game heavily implies she and Kanji have a Mutual Interest, so my perspective is that when the player has Yu romance Naoto, you're breaking them up before they could even get started. How cruel.

Marie... well. I'm gonna be honest that when I went through the P4G playthrough I watched, I didn't really like her, but that's because she reads as the kind of emo scene kid that she really kinda is. But, like... she effectively fits with her contemporary (2011 and thereabouts) age group, and she's literally got the appearance of a 15 year old (give or take a godly length of lifetime for erased memories). Sure, she's a... massive spoiler, but you can take the way Yu acts in bringing her back to her senses to mean that feelings might be returned. Doesn't stop her [redacted] spoiler nature, though, and it doesn't stop people from treating her like marmite, because you either love her or hate her.

So, basically? To me? We have two lesbians who are Orientation Incompatible, one teen idol who will have to pretend nothing's happening in public, someone who's currently interested in someone else, and someone who was originally a resident of the Velvet Room he wasn't in a lot of contact with after he left Inaba, iirc.

That SURE IS an eclectic bunch of misfits, most of whom are gonna have a hard time dating him. And that's with me playing devil's advocate for a few!

After all that, and if you decide you don't want to just push past the issues they'd have or come up with your own way it'd work, you're left with either the non-party members (and remember: Yu does not tell them about the TV world, as far as I'm aware) and the guys.

Kanji is interested in Naoto. Like, canonically still blushes around her in the January/February content. I'd say not impossible but you'd have to compete with Naoto in his head.

Teddie is... well... he's Teddie. Mentally closer to Nanako's age - and that's based on how they act around each other, as much as anything. He's more the little brother of the group.

And then. Then, there's Yosuke. Yosuke "Hey, Partner, remember my scrapped romance route" Hanamura. Who seems to understand Yu and is the first to go to him most of the time, who came from the city so they can bond on that, who gets Yu. Which isn't even me trying to just go "Yu/Yosuke propaganda!" but I am just looking at them and being like. "Wow. That sure does work out nicely if you ship 'em."

All this because I'm sure I've seen two different people at totally different times suggest that Yu's "intended love interest" was Yukiko when... my gut reaction was just "what? what? no. absolutely not." And yet when I'd try and think who would be (at least in the base game), I'd come up a blank.

If it's not a teammate and we're excluding the guys, I'd actually go with Marie. Although I wouldn't say that's because I believe in the ship, so much as "well, there's objectively nothing wrong with it, or that I'd say would get in the way." Which. Well. Is more than I can say for a lot of the others. Plus, even though I don't ship it, the idea of a guy whose Persona even in future instalments is basically a nuke with Myriad Truths pairing up with someone like her, does have a certain "battle/badass couple" vibe to it.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Archon war anon

Very fair on the roman apartments thing! That was more of a "If I had to make this as we can see it work, how would I do it?" than anything serious. There's enough space around there that I would doubt the people there would have felt the need to cramp into living space like that. I'm also just mentally trying to insert towns everywhere I can for the sake of my many competing god territories story, so that influences how far I'm willing to stretch.

The viewpoint does say scattered, and you're right, that scattered isn't what you'd use for "fled together with the adepti".

On the Geo Diaries/Zhongli's story quest, you are very right on that. But another theory that it made me think of, for the mora-house at least, is maybe that story comes from Zhongli's original people before he joined Guizong? Drawing from the stone tablets book again, he supposedly raised Mt. Tianheng out of the water and had some people there on Shanhui Rock/Fort. Maybe the mora-house story comes from further back than the founding of Liyue Harbour? Given that he apparently had Shanhui while with/before Guizhong, and she set up the ballista to defend it, I think it'd make sense for there to be some sort of earlier settlement that maybe got renamed when Morax took all of his people there after she died. This doesn't work out so well for the many gods thing, but it does play into the "Morax had control of most of Liyue" thing pretty well.

I refuse to believe that people had to relearn how to build stones after getting to the harbor though. That's so useful, and the kind of thing that I think is both basic and widespread enough that I can't really see it getting lost.

The scattered theory, even as a non-canon thing to play with is pretty fun! I was plotting out more of the war in a pre-write brainstorm yesterday and ended up writing it in? Not as far as I think you've been advocating for, but I wrote that Morax kind of dumped his surviving people on his allies and adepti and went off to rampage on his enemies for a bit. And none of his allies or adepti had the resources to take all of his surviving people, even though a bunch died when Guizhong died, so they ended up a little scattered.

:) thank you for the replies, this is so much fun! ily too!

this is fun, yeah! i love rambling about liyue history

i guess it is possible that the account of the mora house comes from a long long time ago? and that it just got for whatever reason repurposed for the founding of the harbor? since the guy explicitly speaks of it in the context of building liyue harbor. it would make sense, i could never really get this idea into my head since i, too, had always been of the opinion that the liyue migration must've happened relatively shortly after the fall of the assembly, so them having to relearn how to make houses would make no damn sense. even if it had been generations between the assembly and the harbor, that's still like- like you said with the stones, i don't think people just forget how to build a damn house. but then zhongli just says that it's true???????????????? idk man. again i know he's a little shit but i don't think he purposefuly spreads/actively perpetuates misinformation of that type. (i've come to the realization that all the misinformation he seems to not care about enough to try and make an effort to correct revolves around himself. like he will correct misinformation on other subjects but seems to care very little about misinformation surrounding morax/rex lapis. i might just be missremembering though)

[dearfuturehusbandblog]

Autobiography

Dear Future Husband,

I recently reconnected with a friend from middle/high school. We got to schmoozing over text and last week I went to her place to hang out and chat for a while.

She's currently going through a lot and there were certain things we were able to relate to each other about.

While we were schmoozing I found myself saying "ok, yeah, so let me tell you _____ but it's a whole story" and after a while I was like "I'm so sorry everything is such a long story!" and she said "no, it's great! you should totally write a book! I'm hooked!"

The thing is, I've actually tried. I've started multiple autobiographies and it's so hard for me to focus my story because there's so many outlandish things that have happened, especially things that were supposed to be simple like getting my ears pierced as a kid turned into a whole ordeal, and I just haven't been able to keep it on track.

But maybe it just needs to be vignettes. Chapters kind of like these posts are.

Except that even here I feel like there's not enough backstory and I have to backtrack constantly...

I don't know.

Maybe it's just not worth it.

Who would read it, anyway? Literally one friend? lol

Most of the time I write just to get things out.

I have this belief that "a diary is for oneself, an autobiography is for others", which is to say that there has to be a takeaway from one's story for it to be worth writing it into a book.

But I don't know what the takeaway from my story is.

That I suck at everything? That God likes to create little punching bags, one of which is named LivelyHeart? Don't judge a book by it's cover?

I literally don't know what anyone can takeaway from my life except that maybe someone out there can relate and feel less lonely because they've been through crap too. But that's why blog sites exist in general, no? People share TMI on social media too.

So if it's not a book to learn something from or for entertainment, what is it for....?

On a sidenote, Meaningful Minute just posted this podcast with a young woman who was born with a disability called TAR, so a bunch of her limbs are wrongly proportioned and she has basically no arms and I'm jealous.

I'm jealous of the support system she had and still has today.

I'm jealous of how the schools she attended bent over backwards to accomodate her disability.

I'm jealous of her emunah and strength.

Because I had "hidden" disabilities. And everyone couldn't care less about my struggles.

She said she never experienced bullying in her childhood.

I did.

She had friends in and out of school.

I didn't.

She had/has parents who are such strong advocates for her.

I don't.

She understands she may never get married but she still has hope that the right guy is out there for her.

I barely do.

She says Hashem is her best friend.

Well, He's not mine.

And it's insane to me that I should feel any kind of jealousy for someone who has the struggles she does.

She told that mashal of if everyone put their problems in a big bowl and got to pull out someone else's to try on for size, they'd always want their own back.

Yeah, I don't know if that's true. I think mine feel familiar because I've lived with them so long, but there are people who don't live with the kind of dysfunction I have and I would much rather struggle with something else than walking on eggshells around the people who are supposed to love and support me unconditionally.

Because everything comes with conditions. And I'm so sick of it.

I saw another video recently where this girl who used to be in Hollywood and had a short-lived music career before ending up with a serious drinking and drug problem described some of her struggles and how her sobriety is going, and she said the one thing that saved her was a friend who was her unconditional support system. Because every time she failed and ended up on substances again, her friend was there to pick her up and say "no, we're doing this again, and we're going to get you clean."

I don't have that in my life.

I'm addicted to despair and nobody can pull me out of it.

And it's so damn hard to do alone.

So if I wrote my story, wouldn't it just depress people? Wouldn't it just make them feel bad about their lives too? Focusing so much on negativity just invites more negativity, doesn't it?

I don't know.

I just hope at some point God decides I'm worthy of feeling love and support in my life.

It would be really nice to experience that for the first time.

It would be really nice to experience you.

-LivelyHeart

[goldeneyedgirl]

Look! You hit me in two of my weak spots with baby-verse: first because I l-o-v-e hybrid (I got to know your fics because of that one back in 2020?? 2019?? idk) and because I also love babyfics (which is a fact I'm not particularly proud of, but yours is the only real good one I've read in a while). My question is actually about the dynamic Rosalie-Olie, because Rose is a character who has a difficult story with babies, and I think the way you write her is so cute and honest with her character. In the story, is this whole thing a healing experience for her or would you say it's more painful? And how her relationship with Alice changes (if it changes) with that? (Also I have to add that I'm loving FicMas so far, it's like the ultimate Jalice event on this fandom in my opinion)

Anon! Thank you so much for enjoying Hybrid. That is the most self-indulgent fic to date and for a while, it felt like everyone was politely ignoring that so it always makes me SO happy that Hybrid has a fanbase? It's unhinged, it's meant to be a bunch of fun, I love that people want to read it.

And thank you for the incredible comment about baby-verse. I am indifferent to kidfics, honestly, and most of them are terrible. Baby-verse spawned mostly out of frustration and spite about the state of baby fics and how deeply unequipped Alice and Jasper are to be parents in any universe. It would never be a choice they made for themselves, and I think if you want to stay true to them as characters, you need to recognize that. But that's a rant for another day.

SO, about Hybrid!Rose. It's really both? I think that it reopens a very raw wound for Rose, but in a way that allows it to heal stronger. She'll never have babies, but she gets to watch her favourite brother's son grow up and be a part of that? It's very bittersweet and complicated for her, definitely.

This is a version of Rosalie that thinks Alice is erratic and childish and has a bad temper, and she has no idea why Jasper is so in love with her. Rose is not a fan at all; she just tolerates Alice better than Bella because Alice isn't human and giving up a Normal Life to be with Jasper, and because Jasper isn't making his relationship with Alice a family priority - Jasper would actually prefer less family involvement.

And then Alice walks in holding this beautiful baby boy that looks so much like Jasper, Rosalie knows instantly that this is her nephew. In that first moment, it's love at first sight. Rose will die for Oliver without a second thought.

The pain comes later, and Emmett does a lot of heavy lifting there, letting Rose hurt and emote over the fact that life isn't fair and reminding her that she needs to find the good in the situation. She can grieve her own dreams and celebrate Oliver at the same time. No one in their family is going to begrudge her for hurting, but she cannot place her suffering or her healing solely on Oliver's shoulders. (And Rose does support Emmett through a similar thing - that it fucking hurts that the one family member who has expressed his lack of interest in children suddenly has a healthy son.)

It takes time - Rose desperately wants a distinctive place in Oliver's life, and she knows that having a friendship with Alice is necessary to that, so Rose tries. She's polite and friendly, and tries not to offer unsolicited advice or abscond with Oliver when Alice is at the Cullens. She's intensely aware that Jasper needs to bond with his son before she gets to bond with her nephew, and that Alice makes all the decisions whilst Jasper is still coming to terms with being a father.

Most of the time, Rose is successful, but sometimes she gets a little pushy - especially when it comes to things that would keep Oliver closer to the Cullens. Rose is a big advocate for Alice and Jasper to immediately get married, and a lot of that is seizing the opportunity to have Oliver in the house full-time. Alice is not interested in marriage - she's only eighteen and she has her own family, and she and Jasper are still working through their issues - and honestly, Emmett's relieved because he doesn't think Rose is ready to have the baby around 24/7.

But Alice and Rose do slowly form a friendship. It's a basis of mutual respect - Rose respects the fact that Alice is now apart of the family, that she's a capable mom and a good partner for Jasper. Alice respects the fact that this is really hard for Rose, and change doesn't come easy for vampires. And they both adore Ollie and want him to have a happy, normal childhood. Alice does trust Rose with Ollie in a way that she doesn't trust anyone else at the beginning - a mutual understanding of the maternal instinct, perhaps? And as Oliver grows up, Alice and Rose end up being friends on their own merits - they both like fashion, they both like fast cars, and they both have loud and clear opinions.

Oliver is also very, very close to Auntie Ro and Uncle Em - he grows up with both of them dropping any task to play with him, with special sleepovers, with having Rose and Emmett spoil him and love on him so much. So as much as Rosalie will always mourn not being a mother, being able to be there for Ollie's childhood is healing.

(And thank you. Ficmas started as a bit of a silly thing, I am so glad that everyone enjoys it. Definitely thinking of mixing it up for 2024 with an actual request form so I can see What The People Want.)

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

who is cherrypraline? who is raccoon advocate? and what is with the leaks? I've gone for 10 days and now I can't understand the byler tag now😔 please explain to me

Hey! So cherrypraline is a notorious troll who appeared on the Byler tag last summer. She always acted erratically and chaotically and was very publicly anti-Byler. One of her most famous actions was making a “Byler shit list” where she listed the names of several prominent Bylers at the time including @will80sbyers I believe and said they were all part of a cult. It was wild times, and it was so over the top that you couldn’t take her seriously because she was clearly a troll and it was even somewhat funny at times. She also posted a bunch of “leaks” at the time, and I don’t remember the specifics, but as many on this tag have pointed out, most of them were very false. I think there were some that turned out to be correct, but these were the ones that came from Reddit and not ones she secured herself.

As part of her trolling, she would break up her anti-Byler posting by occasionally saying pro Byler things or things against Milkvan, which made people very confused and contributed to no one really understanding where she was coming from. Sometimes she would say that she wanted to be a Byler but Byler was unrealistic. Other times she would say that Will was toxic. All these things made her quite an infamous and controversial figure, but it certainly made a name for herself. And then, like most of the chaos of summer 2022, she disappeared entirely.

Recently she returned, which caused more confusion since she was a blast from the past AND many of the people on the tag currently weren’t around during the height of trolling or forgot how crazy she really was.

To make matters more confusing, she now claimed to be a Byler and to have changed her ways! She posted, “Mike Wheeler is straight? Tell him that” which got a lot of reblogs on here, from myself included. She stood against the sloppy second anons. She posted thoughtful takes overall, and while she still had her trolling vibe, the energy definitely was different. She said she was frustrated by the homophobia she saw on the Reddit. She was one of us now! Or so she claimed. Even with this changed heart and brand new cherrypraline, she still occasionally said some confusing and contradictory stuff. She even said, and I’m paraphrasing, “Let’s face it. Byler is boring compared to the other ships, and I say this as a Byler. No one would ship it if there wasn’t mystery built into it and if people didn’t want M1leven gone.” But overall, she had changed.

Recently, there have been rumors spreading in the ST fandom of “leaks,” but mostly it’s been people asking about the so-called leaks instead of posting them. I think some fake ones have been circulating, as well as someone who apparently has been right before saying they sadly saw a spoiler/leak but not posting the actual leak. It would seem that in the midst of all this, cherrypraline seized the opportunity to make herself the main character of the tag and insert herself into the chaos. She claimed to have received new leaks, which covered a wide range of topics on S5, and in terms of Byler vs. Milkvan, she claimed the situation was still murky and ambiguous with Mike still dating El but the show hinting at Mike liking Will. She also said something about a Call Me By Your Name ending. I’m simplifying things, but that’s the gist.

Many Bylers called her out as the troll she has always been, but since she had “changed her ways,” many Bylers believed her. People started sending her asks about her “leaks” and she kept responding to them, saying she had gotten them from a mysterious “source.” On and on this discourse went. Now of course she did this last summer, and her leaks were wrong. But cherrypraline gaslit us and said, “No, my leaks weren’t wrong. And I am not a troll.” She also compared herself to the infamous anti-Byler villain swiftlynatalia and said that while SN was an idiot, she still was right about many things.

Finally, @raccoon-advocate (a Byler blog on here) finished quietly gathering receipts that exposed her inconsistency even further. These receipts can be found here. They showed that not only was cherrypraline a low-level troll, she had said some extremely homophobic things in the past, and she wasn’t the gay ally and proud-Ronance supporter she claimed to have always been. They also raised new questions about her age, since her Tumblr account said she was 19, but in a tweet she made last year, she claimed to be 31. So which one is it? What are cherrypraline’s real beliefs? And what will she do next? It seems like we’ll never know the answer, cause shortly after this incriminating exposé, she deactivated her account. May she rest in peace.

[kharmii]

In the area where I live there are really only a handful of people still wearing masks its either leftist teen pupils or Karen looking women. Leftism and all that nonsense really didn't take off in the area I live even if the greater country cares a lot about leftism.

At the very least they are easy to recognize and here and are rare to spot in the wild and even easier to avoid.

Personally I never caught the virus. And I highly doubt the vaccine helped with that. I am usually preferring to stay at home and I think I am one of those people being immune to this whole thing from the get-go (and I worked in retail for the majority of the time, working with young children who sprayed their sneezes all across the room when they were too young to have memorized sneeze etiquette.)

But this isn't about me it is about weirdos still wearing masks and I chuckle to myself each time I see them. Hon things are looking good right now and no mask can help you save brain cells since you all kick them out when you joined the leftist cult.

It is comforting to live in an area where most modern day leftism is rejected or ignored... Makes me feel like real life really only has a handful of lunatics advocating for this bs and common sense still has a big space there.

I hope in the upcoming years all this nonsense will eventually die out and we have a new nonsensical trend people do that is less harmful than the current one.

Only just recently did some of the hardcore mask people stop wearing them at work. There are still a few people around, and I mostly see them when I'm out shopping.

I never got Covid either, or if I did, it was so mild it was hardly noticeable. Some people reported losing their sense of smell for a few days or having a scratchiness in their throats. I had that a time or two. It might be a mix of genetic luck of the draw and goodish lifestyle choices. I don't always eat the best, but I stay physically fit. I don't smoke or drink.

The thing is...I'm not the same person irl that I am trolling on the internet. I'm actually sensitive and considerate, and some people have even misinterpreted me as being shy. Years ago, at work, someone released a baby raccoon caught in a trap crying for its mommy, and a bunch of people assumed it was me. I was like, "What?! I didn't even know it was there!" (If it was me, why wouldn't they assume I still had it stuffed in my shirt like MY BABY RACCOON NOW!!)

If the people I worked with were decent, I might have suffered wearing the mask for a bit when asked, even though it was stupid, pointless, and ineffective, and I don't like wasting my time with stupid, pointless crap, especially if it comes with an uncomfortable sensory experience. My job is physically demanding, and I can't have restricted breathing. Someone sitting at a desk all day might not be capable of understanding that.

When Covid hysteria first hit, I still had a committed stalker, and I was working around a bunch of low lives who'd cackle around me like hyenas. Almost every day, I'd have to listen to this nasty, nasty woman mutter under her breath, "Huhuhuhuhuhuhuh.....you can't make comedy like this up!" every time I'd get harassed by the stalker guy.

-So then when someone accused me of 'dehumanizing them' for not wearing the mask, I went off. I've been dehumanized constantly my entire life, -sometimes by my own family- and nobody has ever given the slightest damn. I don't want to hear about how (so-and-so) lives a cushy, pain-free life and still feels 'dehumanized' because they belong to some 'marginalized' group, or because someone around them isn't towing the line to follow some group-think political agenda.

Again, if I thought people would actually die if I personally didn't wear a mask, then I'd wear one. If I was surrounded by decent people who treated me well, then I'd wear one out of consideration for their anxiety. -But I'm surrounded by narrow-minded goobers, some of which clearly don't believe their own bullshit and only were doing it because they cared too much about what other people thought. A couple people might have even got the vaccine for that reason.

Side note: I'm feeling a smidge pissy today because someone started drama at work after a long period of peace. About once a month, I'll heat up fish in the break room, either salmon or rainbow trout over rice. Keep in mind, the break room isn't a place where people hang out. Workers will heat up their food, grab their drinks out of the fridge, then go off and eat somewhere else. The only time we had people hanging out in the break room was when we had the two office workers shirking their duties and going in there to hide.

Around Christmas, the stalker guy made some comment like, 'Someone didn't like how you heated up fish yesterday.'

I replied something like, 'Someone can fuck right on off...'

Now today, I get a note in my workstation saying, 'Stop heating up fish in the microwave. Signed: Everybody :-)

I hung it up on the wall with a reply, 'If you don't like it, get a job at McDonalds where the food smells good. I only eat fish once a month. Get a life.' *circles the word 'everybody'* 'Like I've ever cared.'

I can't count how many times I'd be surrounded by dirty rotten low life scumbags cackling around me with an attitude like, "Everybody has decided....(this and that) about you."

As if I'm going to be like, "What?! You mean 'everybody' has an issue with something I'm doing?! Well then, I guess I'd better goddamn well change!"

This is that impossible standard of perfection I'm always going on about. Nobody cares that I'll clean out the microwave every so often, or bring in plastic cutlery everybody is free to use, or that I'm one of the few people who puts napkins over my food when I heat it up, so food doesn't splatter all over the microwave. I heat food up every day (fish once a month, every other kind of food the rest of the month). Nobody notices or gives a damn about anything positive I do. They have to find something to pick a fight about, and it's always something that's not that big of a deal.

[writemywaytoyourheart]

how do you feel about writing about members ? Does it ever feel weird to you ?

Not really ?

I've kinda answered this a few times before but you might not have seen it so I don't mind saying it again 😊 before I start, I want to make sure the anon that sent this knows that I am not assuming anything about you, you might not disagree with me at all about fanfic and this was a genuine question just bc you were curious. You might not be judging or assuming things about me or fanfic writers. But some people are, so I'd like to address that and or them.

This is my experience, I am not saying this is how all fanfic writers view this or how they feel about this. This is me as an individual and what goes on for me in my brain.

I am not hating/judging other writers/readers in this post. These are my personal preferences and why. Someone might have a wonderful point to say as to why I'm wrong also. I think most writers on here are wonderful and have no ill intentions.

BTS is my inspiration. I think lots of fans can say that. They inspire me personally in lots of ways; to be a better person, to love myself, to advocate for people, to have big dreams. Lots of things. I also happen to be a writer.

Artists use them all the time for their artwork. They make them into cool mythical creatures or as different characters in different ways. And they are praised for their hard work and beautiful outcomes. I think fanfic writers aren't nearly as appreciated and even judged for the same reasons artists are praised.

My characters are just that. My characters. If you read my works, you'll see that it is obviously not an attempt to copy the idols and/or assume how they would act in a story. I don't know them in real life, and I never will.

But I do admire them and how they treat people from what I've seen. I also will occasionally throw in cute things they've said or done just for funsies and comedic relief.

Again, I do not write smut, so that is a boundary I do not cross in my own personal thoughts. For all I know they couldn't care less if people write smut about them, we don't know, and we most likely never will.

We as readers, writers, and fans in general should keep in mind that these are real people and not the characters we read or write about or just dolls dancing on a stage. Perhaps they would react the exact opposite from what we think! We don't know.

Another thing I've mentioned is that I will not write the members as abusers. Yes, I'll write them as fictional beings such as vampires, but that's very different imo. I will never portray the people I love as something they are not when it is in that way.

I'm not sure if you've read my works, nonnie. but if not I hope you give them a chance. Sometimes I think people come over from random blogs and send these messages to a bunch of writers to try and catch them off guard. I've got nothing tho lol, like I said I don't write things that in my opinion are crossing any boundaries. And some people might disagree.

But please don't assume things about me and just send these messages bc you see I'm a BTS writing blog and want to put pressure on me to defend myself. (This is also to past asks and asks I've seen other writers get this is not directed at this specific anon).

I always say that at the end of the day, if BTS were to ever read my works, I'd want them to feel honored and appreciated that they were used for such inspirational and wonderful characters. That they would be proud of the work I used them as inspiration for. I use them because I truly see them as wonderful human beings that I'd like my characters to be like.

But again, my characters are not the members. Take AFTH for example. Jungkookie in real life is not a hitman and is not cold to people. But he has inspired people not to give up, to fight for something they love. Lotus/JK in my story has that trait.

I'm not sure why people get so up in arms about people using them as inspiration, for putting them in a story. I really don't see that as long as certain boundaries are not crossed, why we can't bring comfort to everyday people that gain hope or a break from this stressful world by being in an awesome story with someone they admire and love.

Some people need this little break in life. They look forward to coming home and forgetting that wretched day they had by curling up and putting themselves into a story with someone they look up to. They get to be the center for a moment, they get to be the one that someone loves and takes care of, the one that someone wants around all the time. They get to be the hero, they get to break only to be built up even stronger than before. They get to lose things only to gain so much more. They can escape.

Why can't we just let them do this without judgement? Why can't we let them read or write these things without labeling them or shaming them or accusing them?

Cheese and crackers y'all 🙄

I really think we all need to take a step back and look at ourselves and really think about why we are judging people. Is it valid? Or are we projecting our own insecurities on them when they don't deserve it?

I'm talking about me too guys. I'm human and I make automatic assumptions that I really wish I didn't sometimes. We are all humans and we all make mistakes, we should just keep trying to better ourselves every day. If any idol ever says they are not comfortable with something, I personally will stop immediately if it involves me.

Yeah, so again, I just think we should leave people alone if it's not necessary to call them out. And sometimes it is.

But can we please let fanfic readers have their special thing? Can we let them escape for a moment? Please and thank you.

ILY 💝

-chip

[lovequinn]

i cannot break my tradition so here is the annual mushy new years eve post

(first a quick sidebar: i started doing these end of year posts in 2018 i think? i tried to go back today and find all the ones i'd written previously and it just really sank in how different everything is, both internally and externally. obviously i was very aware of that to a degree already, but actually reading the way i spoke about myself and my life is so out-of-body. i was 20 when i wrote one of these for the first time; i'd just dropped out of college, i was grasping on to anything and anyone that made me feel like i belonged or gave me any sort of direction. it's bittersweet to see, because i was trying so hard to be happy when i wasn't, and i wish i could go back and tell that person that it's gonna be fine. i like making these posts because i like to think it's a way of writing to that version of myself and saying hey...here's how we're doing now.)

2023 was, personally, the best year of my life.

this was the year i woke up one morning and said fuck it, i'm tired of not doing what i need to do to make myself happy. i'm tired of being scared to make the decisions i want to make. i'm tired of using "i'm still growing up and figuring out what i'm doing" (i wrote about this a lot in january here) as an excuse to not take the leap and figure it out on my terms.

this was the year that i embraced myself and my identity fully for the first time, even if it's something still ever-changing. it took me until 2022 to acknowledge and accept that i wasn't a cis woman, but i still clung to making myself okay with she/her pronouns in addition to my preferred they/them and avoiding using the word "trans" at all costs. 2023 is the year i started to wear the trans label with pride and i slowly, surely, shook away the parts of me that were afraid of change. i'm still working on that daunting concept of letting other people have insight into the most vulnerable parts of who you are, and i feel like i always will be, but i am millions of miles ahead of where i was twelve months ago when it comes to being confident about what i want and what i need in that respect.

a lot of that is due to the people i surrounded myself with this year. i have had the immense privilege of forming friendships with some of my heroes, and conversely, of watching some longtime friends become heroes. the people that i hold closest to me at the end of 2023 are people who i got to watch advocate for themselves and for others all year long, be that through picket lines, through strength in their personal life, through layoffs, through championing for marginalized people in media, etc. i am so lucky to have the chance to learn from these people and how they live their lives every day. and i find myself lately waking up grateful that i feel cared for and loved by the people i've chosen, in ways i didn't know i could be.

2023 was the year that i connected with the things i love more than i've ever gotten to before. entirely gone is any lingering shame i had about enjoying media, fandoms, stories. getting excited about stuff is cool, actually, and life is short. i had a conversation with an actor i admire and adore so much who said that it's incredibly stupid to pretend to be inhuman and above having things that bring us joy, and i took that to heart. i got to do things like attend premieres and work on promotion for things i'm obsessed with, and i was unabashed about my love for what i choose to consume. this fall, one of the first people i saw after making a terrifying cross-country move was my idol growing up, who i'd crossed paths with a bunch already earlier in the year. that person told me how proud they were of me (and followed up later with a message repeating that) and in a way, that made my teenage self feel so, so proud of me too.

in that vein...this was the year that "i know i would be happy moving to LA, but that's a pipe dream for someday" quickly became closing my eyes, taking a breath, and making the leap. most of the process still feels like it was a blackout, honestly. out of nowhere i had suddenly packed my entire life into a car, left the only place i've been my entire life, and drove 41 hours on my own to an apartment i'd rented without seeing and a roommate i'd never met in person. it was the best decision i've ever made. something that had always felt out of place finally clicked into where it was supposed to be. i adopted a cat on impulse two weeks after moving and with that as the cherry on top...i just truly have spent the last several months finally feeling that wholehearted fulfillment other people talk about and that i never totally understood.

there's so, so much more i could write about, from trips to disneyland, to parties, to relationships. but this is getting so long already, so i'll just add some pictures below and leave it at: i am so thankful for 2023. i am so excited for 2024. let's see what it brings, good or bad.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

Re: the tax break thing, it was very shitty of all of them but the one who gets the biggest side-eye is Roger, considering he was the most political of the bunch and he liked to give off punk-ish vibes

Not to mention Sun City, like you said earlier

----

This is such a bold take, anon, one that few in the fandom will voice.

And it's a take I agree with lol. Yeah, they were all ignorant and privileged in these situations, but you can understand on an intellectual level why people who were apolitical and uninformed would do the tax evasion thing or not think their performance could hurt people (I should quickly mention that other celebrities like Elton John also broke the embargo, though). But when you claim to be a political person and are the most informed out of the group, you have a lot less of an excuse. I've spoken of this many times, but it's why it's so ridiculous and dishonest when Roger stans act like he was ever an activist. He wasn’t! And he never claimed to be tbh. He's hardly ever used his platform to support a political opinion besides something as basic as "fuck Nazis" and something as try-hard as "gangsters are running this world." He wasn't even the one advocating for AIDS victims in the "one week later" interview--that was Brian. And Roger hasn't talked about gay people nearly as much as Brian over the years, if ever, despite his best friend being a huge victim of homophobic smears in the press. Roger has only talked about the press being awful to Freddie in general terms without ever having publicly talked about the prejudiced, political aspect of it all, and this is supposed to be Mr. Political?

There's a reason why Briam got the Ally Award and he didn’t, not because Roger is bigoted, but because he quite simply hasn't publicly talked about LGBT rights really much at all, but Brian has. I know this has gone off a bit, but it’s all to say Roger's political awareness is vastly overstated in this fandom.

[utopians]

hey james utopians im so bored please give me a legally ambiguous and slightly dangerous adventure please urgent (its the adhd)

OH MAN UH. hope it's nighttime where you are bc these are mostly nighttime activities. none of em are wildly exciting but I can't advocate for anything genuinely risky here with a clean conscience too many young teens following me

find a local public school and climb up on the roof. make sure there's a way to get back down afterwards and double check there's no janitors around bc from experience that's the most awkward confrontation you're ever going to have

if you can drive get yourself to the closest golf course and hop the fence I can't express how magical it is to wander a golf course at night they're so much bigger than they look from the outside

just setting old papers on fire can be cathartic it becomes legally dubious if you do it in a place you do not own. be real careful with this one but like a big parking lot should be safe enough if there's no wind. be prepared to Get Out Of There don't set anything you can't put out in a matter of seconds I had to jump a fence to avoid confrontation the first and only time I did this

randonautica is an app that generates a random point to walk or drive to? not legally dubious but it can be a good time to just wander around if you're feelin aimless

once again not legally dubious but my friend dex recommends going out and trying 2 catch animals which sounds like an absolute blast. maybe not as prudent in the winter but you never know!

[gxddessliving]

sorry if this was asked before, but how did you manifest exactly to "never worry about money again"? what affirmations did you use? and what kind of (if any) income(s) did you manifest? or did you just got a bunch of money without working etc. thanks in advance! <3

hey! so okay i felt a little shy at first about sharing details of my money based success stories because I know there are people who are like "wElL wHy DidN't YOu jUst MaNifESst a T0n oF EndlESs MoNey ???" but really, that is not my desire in this life. It all boils down to what you desire! My affirmation literally was "I never have to worry about money again" lol , idk if you came from the law of attraction and subliminal community like I did, but they were big big advocates on "DON'T USE NEGATIVE AFFIRMATIONS" and only when learning about the law of assumption I was like ??? um, chile anyways so.. 😂

Remember our affirmations are all about intention, so what that affirmation meant to me was firstly a lumpsum of money (I'm not from the US btw but in USD this value is around 7million) as well as always getting opportunities to make endless passive income through successful investments and business ventures. I've invested in a Social Media Marketing company owned by an old acquaintance of mine (she also believes in the loa as our governing way of life!) and will be opening a fast food outlet and beginning an event committee. I also believe money just comes to me unexpectedly and was gifted $500 USD as an early birthday gift by a great aunt of mine I NEVER EVEN MET IN PERSON. Money lasts wayyyy longer for me than the average person now and when I tell you, next to the millis- that has been my most fun experience so far because I remember before learning about the law, I used to say "money never lasts with me , it always finishes so quickly" and deadass see my money disappear in a matter of days in the 3D now I can see just how toxic that self concept was lol because though I've done A LOT- my money really miraculously seems untouched and that made me feel so powerful, actually seeing the old story transform into new life.

When it comes to my day jobs, I really love what I do and money is not my main reason for embarking on them but instead pure passion. My current salary in USD is around $1,300USD a month and the salary for the job I'll be starting after graduating with my first degree would be $2500USD (plus paid expenses such as phone bill, gas, travel, etc.). I plan on raising my salary amount in the future but for now I'm beyond happy! I'm able to do everything I want to and more.