#like genuinely if you have shared that one i have 0 respect for you. like that just. is not how things work in the real world when you

[gibbearish]

every time i see discourse about fundraisers go by on here im just fully struck with the realization that not a single one of you people have either taken a cybersecurity fraud prevention course or bothered to take one singular second to consider the website youre on. this is the broke bitches website. none of us can afford to fund our mutuals' grocery bills, much less entire evacuation funds, and CERTAINLY not FAKE evacuation funds taking advantage of genocide victims. all this shit abt how people are deliberately choosing not to fund every post that passes their dash because they hate palestinians literally just does the work of actual scammers for them by laying the high-pressure sales tactics groundwork, and the "do you guys have any idea how hard it is to keep coming up with new attention-grabbing fundraiser posts?" ones just ring EXTREMELY hollow because YEAH! YEAH I DO! and so does everyone i follow! and everyone they follow! because all of us are FUCKING BROKE and surviving on crumbs! i just saw one that said "i make sure to keep $40 in my wallet at all times so i can give $20 to any panhandlers i see, this is the same" and its like!! good for you, thats very nice, but like!!! you need need NEED to take a step back and realize that /being able to do that/ is a position of privilege, not the default setting to be a good person. i wont discount that some people do ignore fundraisers specifically because of racism because Of Course, but like. a) yelling at them isnt gonna make them stop, or more accurately yelling at /everyone else/ isnt gonna make those people stop, and b) trying to apply that as a blanket motivation for everyone just. realistically doesnt work. not donating is a nonaction, it is the literal default status, and while in specific situations you can use CONSISTENT absence of SPECIFIC actions to track a person's motivations SOMETIMES, broadly speaking that just. doesnt work.

there are 8 billion people on this planet. most of them will never know you exist. of the ones that do, most will not be able to help you. of the ones that can, most will not be on the broke bitches website passing the same communal $20 around. consider your audience and stop shitting on fellow poor people for having the gall to need to be careful with their money. and if you are genuinely only posting your fundraiser to tumblr, like. im sorry, but you need to anticipate not reaching your goal and prepare accordingly. theres a reason the last big scam scandal people talk about actually getting the money is like. all-or-nothing era, as a website none of us have the funds to make that kind of thing happen anymore or the security to risk it. a fundraiser not meeting its goal on here is not a personal sleight against whoever made it, its just how life goes sometimes. and it's unfair and it sucks and we should help however we can, but. sometimes you just arent able to help someone else, and continuing to feel responsible serves only to torture yourself. and blaming OTHERS serves only to move that guilt from yourself off onto another person. i imagine that has to be where a lot of the vitriol comes from, is people who cant afford to donate more getting pissed at people they see as having the funds but choosing not to share them, but again, sometimes you just are not able to achieve the goals you set out towards, through no fault of the specific parties involved.

people on tumblr choosing to buy groceries rather than potentially donate to a scam are not your enemy and are not the ones facilitating a genocide. we're all victims of the same horrific system, the question is just how that system manifests its influence on each of us. poverty kills just as thoroughly as a bomb. everyone is just doing their best to survive, and as much as we like to pretend that everyone should be a perfect selfless angel that puts others before themselves no matter what, humans are by default a selfish species, and it is a lot easier to say what youd do in theory than actually do it. and there's a reason you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping the person beside you, youre of no help to anyone if youre too dead to do anything.

[fallow-hollow]

haiii :D anon who requested courting rituals with kabru here !! i meant to imply somewhere like southeast asia , ( although i could totally see kabru being from an area near the himalayas or something , like nepal , since he shares a name with one of the mountains ) but i intentionally tried to specify it reallyy vague so anyone could relate ! (๑>◡<๑)

but to be fair , i dont really think dungeon meshi really mentions the southeast much or even at all ?? (｀_´)ゞother than the mention of toshiro being from the eastern archipelago , so i'd imagine reader would be from one of the various scattered islands there towards the south ? :0

( also if you need an example , some traditional courting where i'm from is something like meeting the parents and asking for permission to pursue , handwritten letters , meaningful conversations , various gifts like flowers , and serenading ! plus just genuine respect and a willingness to wait ^_^ even though im pretty sure kabru would get a bit impatient sometimes ehehe )

i know it sounds like something pretty simple but even the little things can go a long way ٩(^‿^)۶ !!

suitor

…ft! kabru x male! reader

…tags! courting, mentions of marriage, meeting reader’s family, reader is from an unspecified place outside the island, dancing, mentions of having kids

…word count! 2025

…notes! tried to make these imagines broad but not extremely so, and some of these courting gestures do have a little kabru flare to them because he’s like that. feedback is greatly appreciated, because i want to make sure my writing is accurate to each request!

Kabru isn’t someone I’d see dating casually. Sure, he frequently uses his charm to sway people’s opinions and get them on his side, but I don’t think he’s really been in a proper relationship before at all. So if Kabru’s pursuing you, it’s for keeps.

Family is a really important thing in courting/marriage culture all around the world, so trust and believe that one of the first things he does is try to get on good terms with your family members.

Don’t underestimate the man, he will somehow deduce the mailing addresses of your immediate and extended family and immediately started getting in contact, saying he was a friend of yours and telling them about the time spent with you. Pretty quickly after that, your family starts sending you letters telling you that you should’ve told them about that lovely young gentleman you’d met sooner.

“Kabru?”

Arms crossed, you did your best to remain steadfast even as your companion looked at you with soft eyes and a gentle smile.

“Yes?” His response was laced with false innocence, but you knew he knew. He just got a kick out of hearing you say it yourself.

With a sigh, you would slump your shoulders and ask, “how did you find out the mailing address of several of my family members?”

“Oh, that was just a coincidence,” the man lied. “Remember when one of your packages got misdelivered to the tavern? The return address happened to stick in my memory, and I got curious to learn more about your family. After all, they contact you quite a bit, and I was curious about your relationship.”

Despite your lack of a headache, you rubbed your temples with your index and middle fingers to express your exasperation with the man. Kabru was great, he really was, but sometimes he confused you greatly….

“You could’ve just asked, you know that?”

The close-eyed smile he gave you in return let you know that you probably hadn’t gotten through to him much.

“I just thought it would be a nice surprise, don’t you agree?”

He might not express it much outwardly, but deep down, Kabru is really worried about being good enough to obtain the blessing to pursue you. That’s why he tries to cover as many bases as possible to be the best possible suitor for you.

When he does get to meet your family in person, he does as much preparation as humanly possible to make it all go perfectly. He studies up on local politics, sports, and cuisine in order to be able to make good conversation with your family.

I think Kabru also rather likes kids, so he’s extremely good with any younger family members you may have, which is likely to score points with your parents and other adults in the family. Kabru loves hearing the funny things kids say and seeing what sort of things their vibrant minds come up with, so he’d do things like play pretend with them. He’s also pretty physically fit, so he could play a sport or outdoor game with them too.

Even if he appears perfectly calm on the inside, he was absolutely scared shitless when he asked your family for permission to pursue you. He would assure them that he’s very much prepared to be with you in the long term, and even came prepared with things like savings for marriage or even a dowry if that’s something that is typical in your region.

Overall, Kabru is a polite, poised, and extremely well educated young man, so he’s someone that pretty much any parent would want as a son-in-law. Hearing their words of approval was like lifting the weight of an entire city off his shoulders.

“I was so worried,” your partner would admit after the fact. Completely unable to wrap your head around such a thing, you said the first thing that came to your mind.

“How could you be? You’re perfect, Kabru. If anything, I was worried you’d have something better to do than settle down with me.”

Those piercing blue eyes bored into your skull, looking at you as if you were the most insane man in the world for having said such a thing.

“How could that be when you’re perfect too?”

The question left you in such a shocked and flustered state that you hardly noticed him move into you felt both his hands holding one of your own, thumbs resting almost reverently on top of your ring finger.

“It’s almost embarrassing now to admit that at one point in time, I didn’t see a future for myself. I guess that was because I hadn’t seen you yet?”

A ‘pfft’ sound escaped your mouth almost instantly. “Oh, no need to use your smooth lines on me.”

Both thumbs pressed down on your finger ever so slightly, in the place where perhaps a ring might go.

“I mean it, I really do.”

Whether it be providing for you or taking care of a home, Kabru does his best to learn anything he needs to no one order to be a good partner. The man actually isn’t very good at taking care of himself, so him learning housework and cooking for your sake really goes to show just how devoted he is.

In fact, on one of your dates, he surprises you by presenting you with a dish he cooked himself — one from your homeland. Even if it’s not perfect, you can tell he put so much love into it.

“The arrangement of it is kind of messy, I know….” Seeing Kabru of all people acting sheepish was certainly a rare sight. As strange as it was, thinking about the implications of such a thing made you feel all warm inside. He really cared for you that much, huh……

“It’s not the appearance of it that matters, it’s the taste.” You were quick to reassure him, smiling as you took the necessary utensils in one hand. “Besides, knowing that you tried so hard for me is more than enough. I mean, I hardly ever see you cook for yourself.”

There was no way Kabru could deny your statement, so he could only nod and look to the side. Instead of directly addressing your correct assessment of his skills, he pivoted into an adjacent topic. “Cooking has always been a gesture people perform for the people they care about. All over the world, it’s something that connects families and couples… it’s only natural I should try it, regardless of my skill level.”

Your partner’s explanations of his acts of service, despite sounding like they came right out of some textbook, never failed to charm you. At its core, it was yet another reminder of how hard Kabru worked to understand how to be a good partner for you.

“It means a lot to me,” you reassured him, lifting the food to your lips, not quite eating it yet. Kabru did his best to keep his expression stone still to hide his anticipation as you inhaled the scent of the dish, making a small humming noise in reaction that he couldn’t help but overthink on the inside. Was it good? Bad? Did he not use enough spices? Too many spices? He knew he should have triple checked the recipe…

While the tallman was overthinking, you readily accepted the labor of love into your mouth, deliberating on its texture and flavor as you chewed. A sharp exhale escaped you immediately after swallowing, after which you would chirp with delight,

“It’s really nice!”

Kabru’s shoulders relaxed for the first time in the date. Mission accomplished.

I imagine Kabru keeps a journal not only about daily events, but also about people, so sometimes as a gift you might get one of the pages of his journal that has an entry about you. Sometimes the page may also contain little doodles or sketches of you, many of which were when he was admiring you without you noticing.

Kabru’s got a pretty nice singing voice, actually, and he seems to speak multiple languages, so he may try learning songs in your language to sing to you. It’s as smooth and romantic as you’d imagine, but if you start singing along with him, you can see him start to melt the second he hears your voice. You really are his weakness.

Another thing — dancing! Kabru has likely had ballroom dance lessons, but other types of dance are ones he’s more unfamiliar with. If you ever know a regional dance you want to teach him, he’ll be happy to learn, albeit super embarrassed at his own clumsiness. Being able to romance you with honeyed words and picture perfect gestures is something he prides himself on, but you reassure him that he’s just as charming even now.

A chorus of ‘sorry’s followed almost in time with the rhythm of your own feet. The man responsible for said chorus, however, didn’t seem to have much rhythm of his own yet, and was feeling rather bashful as a result.

“It’s rare that I get to see you clumsy, Kabru.” There was a teasing lilt in your voice that the other man immediately read into, despite his best judgment. Logically, he knew that you would never say something intentionally cruel to or about him, but when he was always so eager to have your favor, it was hard not to worry.

Another apology escaped his lips, after which one of your hands left its assigned position to rest under his chin. The movement of the rest of your body stilled, focusing only on getting the one you loved so dearly to face you. Blue irises were met with not a trace of malice, only the truest of endearment.

“It’s fine, Kabru.” The affection in your voice paired with how insistently you pitched these words to him gave him the strength to smile and nod in understanding, his own paranoid be damned. Resolving his habitual apologizing sated you, though you were certainly not done loving on the man that you called yours.

“Honestly it’s nice to be able to teach you things firsthand. You spend a lot of time reading about things, probably to surprise me, which is great, don’t get me wrong — but I like this.”

The little head tilt you did without thinking drove him wild on the inside, but he did his best not to show it. It would be so easy to kiss you like this.

“I like being able to feel like I can teach you something, even when you know as much as you do.”

Considering it made you this happy, Kabru might start asking you to teach him things a lot more often. For once, the thought of putting the situation in someone else’s hands made him feel warm inside instead of uneasy.

“Yeah, I like it too.”

Fashion may not be one of Kabru’s biggest interests, but the sight of you in any culture or region-specific clothing that you like always has him in awe of just how dashing you look.

This goes double if it’s your wedding and you’re wearing a traditional outfit, maybe even something passed down in the family. You might as well just kill the man then and there, really.

Speaking of marriage and family, I think Kabru would actually really like adopting a kid some time in the future, as long as everything is stable and such. Kabru himself was adopted, so the idea of becoming a home for a child who may have lost the home they had before is a concept rather close to his own heart.

Future used to be something Kabru fought desperately to create for all of humanity while never, ever considering his own place in it. So much changed after meeting you — he could actually see himself having a future now. Being an important character in a story instead of just the person telling it to somebody else.

More than anything, you saved him. He doesn’t tell this to anybody other than you, but as you lay together at night, he insists he wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.

[nobody-nexus]

What Your Fav TADC Ship Says About You

(Note: This is NOT to be taken seriously. It's just me having fun, so please respect that ^^ Also I'll be giving a 1 to 10 rating on how much I personally like the ship cause why not?)

Caine/Moon - You love The Addams Family and/or Who Framed Roger Rabbit AND the ship of tall pretty lady and short goofy man (10/10)

Caine/Pomni - You love the inherent romanticism of NO awareness at all times x too MUCH awareness at all times (8/10)

Caine/Jax - I dunno WHAT you're into, but it's the straightest gay thing I've ever seen (2/10)

Caine/Kinger - You love old man yoai but oddly enough in the most wholesome way possible (6/10)

Caine/Gangle - You're a rare bunch, but you took that ONE fact about Gangle drawing Caine a lot and ran with it (5/10)

Pomni/Ragatha - You're either pro-yuri to the MAX or you like two people so mentally ill it goes right back around into being healthy (10/10)

Pomni/Jax - You are either very comfortably heterosexual, into height difference relationships, or both (8/10)

Pomni/Gangle - You fully believe in the inherent romanticism of fucking sobbing together (9/10)

Pomni/Zooble - You either can't decide on Pomni's sexuality and wanted to still ship her with someone from the shore or you just want them to smoke weed together (9/10)

Ragatha/Jax - Be honest for a moment here, you very much want to bang at LEAST one of these two, if not both of them (0/10)

Ragatha/Gangle - Calling you out to say that hurt/comfort IS YOUR COMFORT (that and/or you like their ship name) (9/10)

Ragatha/Zooble - Another rare site, but you are SO MUCH in love with that one meme that goes "Someone will die" "Of fun" (1/10)

Jax/Gangle - You were told at least ONE TIME by your mom that the kid that was bullying you at school secretly liked you (1/10)

Jax/Zooble - You believe in the inherent romanticism of hating each other SO much that it turns into making out and sharing a cigarette (10/10)

Jax/Bubble - You are a fucking MEME LORD and you aren't even TRYING to hide that fact because YOU KNOW YOU ARE (10/10 meme wise, 1/10 genuine ship wise)

Gangle/Zooble - You're very much into weeb x goth aesthetic pictures most likely found on pinterest (7/10)

Kinger/Queenie - You either only ship canon or you just love what they can be in canon and can't wait to learn more (5/10)

Kaufmo/Pomni - You have at least one AU where Kaufmo isn't abstracted and he actually interacts with Pomni (2/10)

Kaufmo/Jax - You're just in it for the meme potential filled with the most 'no homo guys' jokes (1/10)

Kaufmo/Gangle - I swear y'all hide in the wild SOMEWHERE- I'VE SEEN YOU (1/10)

Moon/Sun - You like Steven Universe (6/10)

Pomni/Ragatha/Jax - You either want to be Pomni, or you can't decide on which ship you like more (2/10)

Pomni/Ragatha/Gangle - You believe in THE yuri of all time (9/10)

Hope you like all of these

[minx-scribbles]

LISTEN I NEED MORE OF FREAKY NERD ARMIN PLSS

part one | part two pairing: nerd!Armin x nb!reader

at school one day, you go to his desk that he usually sits in at third period, but he isn't there. so you get a little curious and look through his big piles of papers and heavy books

you find one journal not like the rest. it has many different penciled doodles and it's smaller, hand-held.

you flip to a random page and what you read surprises you...

you never knew Armin Arlert had such a potty mouth :0

it was intriguing to say the least. every detail seemed to be thought of so carefully

the way he described you made you're whole body heat up in anticipation... was your dream coming true?

you've liked Armin since you guys were kids, but he never gave off the vibes that he liked you... maybe he was just that respectful

your thoughts would be interrupted by Armin gasping behind you, with the reddest face you've ever seen

you'd tease him yes, but you would ask if he actually liked you...

he would finally have the guts to ask you out on a real date, since you've basically have seen what his thoughts have consisted of

he'd take you out to the local farmer's market, buy you some flowers, and walk around with you at the local park, watching the fireflies flicker and listening to the trickling stream

at some point, you guys would decide to go back to his place, and he would make the best dinner ever. Literally this man is a chef on the low

sitting down in his apartment and eating the meal he made for you, drinking a bottle of red wine (that's his parents lol), and listening to your guy's favorite songs...

after cleaning up together, you decide that this man proved himself to be a gentleman, so you make the first move and kiss him right there in the kitchen

the kiss is soft and genuine. after pulling away, you guys look at each other, the twinkle in his eyes were so comforting

he kisses you this time. he is slow, but it seems to be calculating. he doesn't want to overstep any of your boundaries (and mostly just trying to savor every moment he has with you)

you would bring your hands up to his soft hair, running your fingers through the thick mop

Armin loves his hair being played with, maybe a bit too much because he get's excited and the sweet little kisses you guys shared turned into a heated make out sesh

your adventurous hands continued to make their way around his upper torso

you'd feel his arms, his chest and his neck... everything was so soft that you could keep touching him forever

his hands would get the courage to roam your body too. he would start with your waist, then getting riskier by bringing them down to your ass

Armin is very vocal, he will let you know what he likes and also tell you what crosses his limit

so this man will definitely whimper, whine, moan, and groan to his little heart desires

you start kissing his neck and feeling the vibrations from his whimpers fuels your fire and you leave little hickeys - little enough that you could barely see them

Armin leads you to his room, wanting more privacy for you. he takes you to his bed and he asks you again if this is what you really want

you reassure him, but he still seems to be unsure. so you smile at him and continue where you left off in the kitchen

leaning over him so that he is the one laying on the bed with your legs on both sides of his torso, you take his hands and put them back where they belong, on your hips

he doesn't move them from this spot for a good 2 minutes while you guys are making out and getting hot and bothered. but he gets excited, you could feel it, and he starts to knead at your ass with his digits

this makes you moan and it drives him mad, flipping you guys over so than he has the upper hand

he kisses your mouth, chin, neck, chest, going over your nipples with open mouthed kisses, and continuing to go down until he stops at your navel, looking at you again with questioning eyes you nod and help him take off your lower garments, excitement buzzing through your muscles

Armin's brain is moving a million miles per second, trying to remember how his fantasies played out. but he throws it all away and he focuses on you

he makes his spot between your legs, giving you eye contact the whole time because he wants to see every beautiful expression you make, especially the fucked-out one

he doesn't start slow with giving you head, hell no, this man goes in full swing. he wants to taste every bit of you

you grip onto his hair in shock, gasping at how fast he could move his long tongue

you could feel your legs start to shake after a few minutes of ecstasy, but Armin's arms lock over your thighs, keeping them down and out of his way

you continue to tug at his hair and moan out his name, and he is loving every second of it. he was too tight in his slacks at this point without missing a beat, he takes off his pants

you notice but you were enjoying the feeling of his tongue on you that you couldn't get any words out

right before you could feel yourself reach your climax, you don't feel the heat of his face anymore but the cold air

you open your eyes and you see Armin on top of you, with both hands on both sides of your face and without his pants, what a sight to see, and his face glistening with your slick and his saliva. you could've came at the sight

Armin notices you staring at him and he gives you a half smile with a blush dusting his pretty face

Armin wasn't the biggest that you've been with, but man was it the prettiest and the perfect size. it was light with a pinkish blush on the tip and a little precum - it made you want to give it a quick kiss and a kitten lick

and you did, and the response from Armin was exactly what you wanted. His arms shake and he lets out a broken moan

but he stops you from continuing, "I can't hold it in much longer, let me be in you, please" he begs

you don't deny him his pleasure and lean back down to where you were originally, letting him take the lead again

the suspense intensifies as Armin catches his breath and gives you a long, passionate kiss.

While you are distracted, Armin slowly presses himself into you. There was minimal pain, from the saliva and slick preparing you

Once he is balls deep, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and so do you

you guys sit there a while so your body can adjust and the pleasure creeps up from your toes to your chest and you squirm below him, "please move" you moan into his ear, resting your hands on his shoulders

he doesn't hesitate, taking his hips back and thrusting himself back into you, the both of you moaning simultaneously he stays at his steady pace, enjoying every ounce of pleasure that you are giving him

"god, you feel so good baby"

but it doesn't last long, you start to get antsy and you nibble on his ear and meeting his thrusts, showing him you are ready for more

Armin takes the hint and starts to hit the right spot, making your eyes roll into your skull and letting out an airy sigh

the speed of his hips surprise you as you hold onto his broad shoulders, nail indentations will definitely paint his skin in the morning

the both of you are very close to your climaxes as you can hear both of your breaths start to hitch in your throats and you can feel his thrusts start to get sloppy - but they never stop hitting your sweet spot

he holds his climax in until he sees you make a mess on him, your body convulsing and twitches under him while you moan out his name over and over again

once he feels you stop trembling, you feel Armin pull out and let himself spill all over your stomach with a loud groan, his pupils blown out

you guys lay next to each other for a while, catching your breath before he goes to grab a towel and some of his clothes for you

"lets do that again" Armin says with a giggle while he cleans you up

[yuurivoice]

Hi Yuuri I just wanted to say I miss Howell. That’s all I hope you have a good day😊

I do too! There's still a lot about him I want to know and figure out. I was able to delve into him a bit more (and get some much needed closure) with some friends. I don't think he's really a character that I want to do various iterations of in different worlds and campaigns, because it's that specific story of his that I love. If it's removed from that world and story, I'd rather have another shot at a new character.

I was able to salvage a couple of relationships out of the rubble from the entire ordeal surrounding TnD, and I've got no beef with anyone who wasn't literal human trash, so Howell's place in my heart is unscathed in terms of being attached to a really shitty time and situation.

Reflecting on those days, that shit was a nightmare scenario. Obviously my own emotional turmoil pales in comparison to the literal criminal and victim in our midst, don't get that twisted because those most directly impacted by one asshole's actions should be the primary concern. It is a hell of a pill to swallow having something that dear to you go up in flames in such a public and grotesque way.

I don't blame anyone who feels any type of way about how it was handled and the aftermath of it. The truth of it all is, one person's really fucked up actions had widespread effects on a lot of people. The radius of that bomb was no joke.

Howell is very dear to me, and those Sundays were genuinely the favorite day of the week for me over that time. The backlash, anger, resentment, and then emptiness of it all really took its toll, as I'm sure it did on everyone caught in the blast zone.

The bad guy got got in the end, and I'm thankful for the folks who made sure that happened.

That year as a whole was really difficult. That wasn't the only heavy thing I had to work through that year. There was a stretch of six months that were probably the worst of my adult life in terms of interpersonal turmoil. The universe really took a bat to my kneecaps.

Saying ALLLLLLLL of that to say, if I had lost my love for Howell, it would have taken a significant toll on me creatively. I would not so freely share the parts of myself it takes to create the stories and characters I do now. I can pretty confidently say that something like Echoes or Shattered would never happen.

I struggled mightily with BitterSweet Chapter 3 for that reason. It was hard to want to carve out pieces of myself to share with the world, and certainly very difficult to work with anyone else out of fear that their bad actions could rob me of my passion even more.

But I learned a lot, and over that time I also think I was able to show my community how serious situations get handled while I'm at the helm. I hate that me and the team have been on the frontlines of a few really serious community PR nightmares, but I do think we've been able to exhibit an ability to treat things with maturity, respect, and direct action.

So Howell means a lot to me. We've been on two journeys, one fictional, and one real...and boy we've gotten our asses kicked more than a few times.

There is a chance, albeit a small one, that there's a DnD story to be told with Howell and some friends, for the world to partake in. Don't know if it'll happen, but the chances aren't 0%...

[tf2-headcanons-polls-confessions]

How good is each merc at cooking?

Merc Cooking Scale

Soldier 0/10

Everything he makes is poison. Or radioactive. Or stone. Or some combination.

That is, if there’s even anything left of anything after he’s done

Many, many, many, wild explosions have happened. Stuff that’d make Demo amazed.

He is banned from the kitchen.

Sniper 2/10

This man lives off instant meals.

He’s just the kind of guy who learned how to make what he likes and has stuck to that.

Not only that, but he would absolutely suck if he tried anything else. He’s not interested in learning, either.

He will eat plain wild game to survive if need be. He's got such bland tastes you can't convince me otherwise.

He does not like trying new food.

Medic 3/10 

 I don't trust him.

Pyro 4/10

They’re actually a pretty okay cook when they can focus! They enjoy helping around the kitchen.

Usually, they enjoy finger food that doesn’t require a lot of prep. They make those faces/pictures out of platters.

They are an excellent sweets maker. But when working with complex savory stuff things get much harder for them.

And when the stove is involved... well...

Somehow, though, their damage has never been bad as Solly’s.

Engineer 5/10

Man can cook a solid meal. He doesn’t, usually, but he enjoys it when he does.

His cooking is always super greasy.

His meals are also pretty limited. Really only knows how to make meat-based stuff like bacon, BBQ, eggs, chili, and roasts.

He’ll try his best if you can't/won’t eat meat but it's not the best.

His breakfasts are so good though.

Heavy 6/10

He’s actually a very decent chef but is brought down by the limited resources he had growing up

He’s had to find pretty much every way to cook a bear there is. His family and him are tired of bear meat but to fresh mouths it’s delicious!

He’s slowly learning how to include more variety in his cooking. Sandwiches were an easy introduction and are now his favorite food.

Cooking has become a hobby of his but he’s limited by his own pallet.

His cold meals (meals that don’t involve stove/oven/crockpot/etc., not literally cold food) are very good!

Spy (7/10)

He knows how, of course. He can make plenty of gourmet meals if need be like any respectable gentleman.

The problem is he hates actual doing it.

He can make a bunch if specific fancy meals very very well. They are delicious. They are beautiful. They are perfect.

But he can only make those things. He’s got absolutely zero creativity in the kitchen and could not tell you the basics of cooking.

He can follow a recipe but won’t bother to learn why you take the steps you take in it.

Demo (9/10)

He’s actually got a very similar story to Heavy but without the lack of resources.

He’s a mixologist. He’s a chef. He’s Husband Material.

After he went to live with his parents again, cooking became favorite chore.

As they got older, it also became an obligation. One he fulfilled with love and service.

He loves cooking for other people. He won’t ever really do it for himself. He likes sharing his meals much more than eating/preparing them.

It’s the social aspect for him.

Scout 10/10

Scout? How’s Scout so high up? It feels like he shouldn’t know how to do more than make toast, right?

WRONG.

His oldest brother is the best god damn cook in all of Boston. You bet your ass he spent his childhood eagerly observing him and their Ma.

From the time he was old enough to grip a spoon was eager to help out and prove himself.

He’s an excellent chef—and a resourceful one. He can make a gourmet meal out of five bucks.

Everyone is absolutely SHOCKED the first time he cooked for them. Spy accused him of ordering it from a restaurant to fool them but he was too genuinely knowledgeable/passionate about it.

His chicken meals are exquisite.

[tamaruaart]

Appreciation time for your mutuals!

LETS GOOOO

@camhues Amazing OCs, BEAUTIFUL ART- (I am married to Ling) Absolutely love all the stories she has for her girlies! Cam is honestly so wholesome big sister vibes (I also think Cam was actually one of my first moots lol!)

@doppel-doodles Bro, BROO- My long lost chaotic raccoon sibling. Absolutely love all the OCs, Mengtao is SUCH A CUTIE PATOOTIE 😤😤 Gosh, I wish I could play cotl so we could both fangirl together, but I'm BROKE- Anyways ye, GO READ STRAYS AND THICKER THAN BLOOD I PROMISE YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

@lallxrona / @intpandlgbt My sista from anotha mister- AMARA GIVE ME A CHANCE. PLEASE. Absolutely love all the OCs, that's a given- Love the lore as well! Jadeflower and the Jada and Beam duo- They give me LIFE. They were there for me in my darkest moments 💪😔

@itsalice3940 Alice. Bestie. Are you the sweetest person on earth or what??? Ming is such a cutie, I'm also very intrigued by her ancestor 👀 Also, Liana, home girl- The way you simp for my two idiots (Khio and Tharos) is embarrassing- /lighthearted

@yingjiaoyue AGHHH I LOVE THIS COMIC SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭😭 Genuinely such good writing. Jiao Yue is an absolute queen, I would treat her better than stinky emo monkey and Disney channel villain wannabe (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）(also the whole 'two Syaorans' situation is so funny to me-)

@littlethingsrae even though we don't really talk much, I genuinely really love Rae's stuff! The characters, I LOVE JIN- Also Jin and RedSon are so CUTEEEEEEEEEEEE 😔

@brave-little-rat-girl my FIRST ever moot :0 Absolutely love all the stuff, Ayla is amazing lol- The art is also extremely well done! They nail the LMK art style PERFECTLY-

@vanilachai Another moot I don't talk to much :0 I love all the OCs though <3 Also I think it's funny how we share the same nickname lol-

@hahawasabi AGHHHHHHHHH- (affectionate) Doppel's opa, with all due respect, you have raised a monster- Also, I am genuinely so thankful for that time you helped me with Filipino surnames <3

@glitch-pep MOJ HRVATSKI BRAT/SESTRAAAAAAA WOOOOOOO- Kak si mi bestiće lol? Nismo odavno popričali- Svejedno tvoj blog je moj safe space <3 (Ovo nitko drugi neće moći razumijeti lololololo 😭😭)

Now, I have like- A LOT OF FREAKING MOOTS- So I couldn't fit all of em in this post :'D Anyways, if you're one of the moots who didn't get mentioned- I'M SORRY BESTIE 😭

[cupidspup]

I had an anonymous person ask me some questions about pacifiers, how to get then discreetly and stuff so here's my answer!! :D

Hi! Firstly I wanna say I really admire you asking around for advice and good job for that it's very brave! ໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ I'd like to say that we as the agere community are very focused on educating others but are also known to take care of others in the community and it makes me so happy that you trust me to help educate you! And to everyone who sees this yes, I am more than willing to answer any questions you may have :> this is my personal blog and safe space but I love chatting and I love helping others too! (Just know if it's advice or questions I'll answer when I do have energy :3) As a person whos nuerodivergent and has social/general anxiety i know it can be really hard and scary to do things! anywho! I'm real happy you asked and I'm happy to answer!

Yes, I do use a pacifier! I actually have a little collection if anyone ever wants to see hehehe૮( ˃ ꒳ ˂)ა anywho! Yes it is genuinely comforting and soothing to me! I usually regress between the ages of 0-6 but usually I'm very very small. I also tend to want a reason to be quiet and just use my random noises when im small too! It also makes me feel better about myself and my self esteem! I think I look cute with it and since I live with my partner/cg/little he thinks it's cute too ૮(˶˃ᆺ˂˶) The feeling of it generally feels full if that makes any sense? Everyone uses pacifiers for their own reasons but these are mine! If you're more of a chewer I definitely recommend getting a teething ring especially the ones with water in it (please be careful!!) It's a lil difficult to puncture a pacifier but not impossible either!

Still relating to pacifiers from above ^ please don't ever let anyone shame you out of having a pacifier or a teething ring or anything really, it hurts to know you have been ૮ ◞ ﻌ ◟ ა if it soothes you and isn't a problem to anyone else then there's absolutely nothing wrong with it and at the end of the day, it's your regression not anyone else's. You don't owe anyone anything ever (of course basic mutual respect but still you know what I mean-) pacifiers and teething rings and such are all your choice! Never let that become someone else's choices for you!!

As for obtaining one!! A lot of places on instagram offer discreet packaging! I can recommend my favorite places to buy if you guys ever want recommendations!! But anywho!! When I was a minor living in an unsafe home I did one of two things: given the money to a trusted person and had them send it to their house or another person's house that I trusted OR bought it and sent it to a safe person's house! Of course I told the person what I was doing and I did it with their permission!! They would give it to me when we saw each other :3 please do not use pacifiers meant for real biological babies though!! They will hurt and possibly damage your teeth! If you do ever resort to that (which is highly not recommended) please use it very minimally, do not fall asleep with it and only use it for absolute emergencies. Same goes for other little gear such as sippy cups!

If you don't have a safe person you can tell and have some sort of situation worked out with them I am very very sorry and there isn't much I can do to help :< but!! What I can do is tell you what I did before I had any little gear! I would typically suck on the knuckle of my index finger! Just yknow, curl my finger and suck on that! Of course please don't do that too hard or bite it was only something to soothe and keep myself satisfied for the meantime! :]

That is all I can say for now! I hope everything I said cleared up stuff for you and I hope you can get into a better household soon!! I know it can be hard but know that your regression is a sacred thing, protect it and share it with people you trust 🩷 that I'd the best advice I can give you as an adult regressor (who has many regrets 💀)

With that said!

You are loved and you are cared for, you're always welcome on my blog :]

𓂋

- ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ Kewpie

[angelthemanspanker]

13, 16 and 22 for the ask game??

13. Worst blorbofication

I'm gonna assume this is basically fandom flanderization and say I feel a certain personal animosity for any interpretation of Drusilla that removes the danger of her. Like having her be so out of it that the Scoobs could just wander up and start chatting and she'd be perfectly civil bc she's just so crazy she doesn't even know they're her enemies, or just writing her as being just a tall hot child who's nice to everyone bc she doesn't know better and wouldn't even think to hurt anyone if Daddy didn't say so. I think people get tripped up by the fact that we don't see her away from the Whirlwind or just Spike very often and she's VERY affectionate with them and pays most of her attention to them rather than their food, but with humans she is very much a dangerous vampire who gets genuine delight out of torturing and killing people and lets not forget killed a Slayer. Respect my girl she didn't kill all those people for nothing

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

why are there so many fics where Xander gets powers. the fuck is he gonna do with those he has work in the morning

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I'm not sure if this is a fair answer bc it's more that I've never seen anyone talk about it but the buffyverse vision mindscape is. So fascinating to me. Slayers get prophetic dreams but once there's two they seem to share them. Doyle and Cordelia and Birthdayverse!Angel all pass around a link to "the visions". Drusilla has "the sight", which seems to be different in that its always on, she can always see beyond herself, she can see the stars through the ceiling during the day. Lorne can feel when Cordy is about to have a vision and presumably gets similar glimpses of the future when he reads people. Buffy's spirit guide knows she's going to die and what will lead her there. When Faith and Buffy are both unconscious on the verge of death they can have a full blown conversation in a psychic space thats in one or both or neither of their heads, they're not sure, and while she's there Faith even feels that Buffy is going to die in 730 days but neither of them can make sense of the jumbled info as Faith got it ("Miles to go, Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0"), like Cordy sometimes gets visions she can't understand. There's something about how it seems like all the glimpses into the future come from the same place ("the visions"). Slayers have a natural link to it they can access unconsciously in dreams or consciously for a cryptic warning from the spirit guide in the desert, agents of the PTB can be tuned into it for a few agonising moments at a time to get the bare minimum info they need to act on, rare people like Dru and Lorne can passively perceive some aspects of it, it's just so MUCH. And it's ALL THE SAME THING they all just perceive it differently. I obsess.

Thanks for the ask 👏

[cy-cyborg]

I'm seeing a lot of people here and on other platforms getting angry at people who have come from Tik Tok (and youtube to a lesser extent) who refuse to say words like death, racism and anything relating to heavy topics. Sometimes they won't even say the names of minorities either.

Any I get why this is frustrating and just not a good practice. The people criticising these folks are absolutely right, we need to get comfortable saying these words and discussing these topics. Not to mention the fact that self-censorship can cause issues for people who are legitimatly triggered by those topics (e.g. due to trauma), But as someone who spent a lot of time on Tik Tok and youtube before coming here, I think there's some vital context missing here.

I'd say a good 75% of the people on tik tok, and by extention, people who have moved elsewhere from Tik Tok, using words like "unalive," "r#pe," "sewerslide" or whatever else aren't using it because they're uncomfortable with the topic. In fact, it's quite the opposite. They want to talk about it, but Tik Tok's content moderation is so wildly strict that they can't. Even saying the words would get you flagged by the algorithm, ESPECIALLY if you had captions enabled or the actual word written in text from the in-app editor. This was especially true for people from minorities trying to talk about issues affecting their community or even just themselves (hence the hesitation to even say the minorities name sometimes).

This isn't just some conspiracy theory either. Tik Tok staff admitted to doing this intentionally on several occasions as a way to "keep the peace". I remeber when I first joined, it came out that they intentionally limited views on videos of visibly disabled people, both to prevent bullying but also because "some users find that content disturbung." I couldn't even show my stumps in videos without my videos getting stuck on 0 views at best or account warnings for "inappropriate content" at worst. I got DMs from several people after my video about disability pride month in July asking why their comments wishing me a happy disability pride month got removed, when I went into check the filtered comments, they'd all been hidden for "bullying". The same thing was happening with people commenting and saying the word "autism." And that's just the disabled community. I know similar stuff was happening in other communities too.

Most of the time, you had to speak in coded language to get your point out there. It's not that they're uncomfortable with it, it's because the videos would be dead in the water if they didn't. Getting the message out using these "toned down" replacements was better than not getting it out at all.

"OK, but this isnt tik tok, they shouldn't do that here" yeah, I agree, but for a lot of kids, Tik Tok was their first real experiance with social media, it makes sense that they're going to assume other platforms will be the same. YouTube is just as bad, if not worse, in some respects. Tumblr even has its fair share of censorship issues, too (e.g. queer people's posts being flagged as mature for seemingly no reason). It's not a stretch to make the assumption they'd need to continue the practice of self-censorship here, too.

This isn't to say that NO ONE is using the censored words to avoid hard topics/because it makes them uncomfy, but in my experiance, those people assume this is the best thing to do because everyone else was using it. They don't stop to ask why. They just repeat it, which in turn contributes to making them umcomfey with the real word.

I'm not saying don't pick people up on this stuff. We NEED those words, and we need to be more comfortable with them so stuff like the above situation doesn't happen and become a self-perpetuating cycle. But it started from a real, genuine need to censor ourselves to even get the message out, and I think it's important to keep that in mind. It's not just kids being "too sensitive."

[the-traveling-poet]

💌🧃🎲🧸🏜️ for the asks game <3

Thanks for the ask anon! Love you guys🤎

(I trauma dumped in this one I’m sorry.)

💌~ “How many unread emails do you have right

now?”

According to the notification badge on my email app, 9,452 unread emails. I haven’t opened the app in 3 years? Besides looking through Amazon order notifications.

🧃~ “Share some personal lore you never posted about before.”

More lore huh? Aight, bet.

I was raised in the country. Like farmers. Farmers who have 0% social life. And I know a lot abt wildlife, hunting, animal care, survival, and crop management because of it. Was taught to swim, build fires, first aid, animal care, self defense, and farm work before I was 5yo.

I can smell rain 30mins before a storm rolls in but I can’t figure out when someone’s genuinely being friendly to me. Being treated with genuine respect and kindness isn’t as easily understood to me as skinning a deer for its meat in the dead of night.

🎲~ “What stops you from writing more in your free time?”

Stress!!!

I get so stressed out over my family, (even tho I place them first in my life…) and then I get stressed that no one will like my fanfic visions.

Even tho I know I’m writing “The Rose” for my own personal style of target audience. I’m guilty of fearing the public’s response to my passion :)

🧸~ “What's the fastest way to become your mutual?”

Don’t be a dick.

Don’t be homophobic, don’t be transphobic, don’t be sexist, don’t be ableist, don’t be a hatful human being.

Also, don’t tear down other people for having their own unique opinions on fandom topics. That just makes you look like a fucking pathetic child. And I hate those who tear down others for having opinions. I’ve had to live in a home that has done nothing but that to me all my fuckin 21 (almost 22) years of life. To see it online amongst people I used to be moots with? Fuck off with that. Grow up and accept that everyone has fandom opinions lmaoooo.

🏜️~ “What's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?”

Ngl, it’s the ones that go; “Love this/love your writing! Pls keep writing! I’m invested!”

I’m not used to verbal praise. So any time I receive it, online or offline, I save it in any way I can so I can go back and stare at it while crying.

It means a lot to me, and anyone who’s ever commented something even remotely similar on my pages before, thank you. You don’t even know what you’re doing for me when you say those things. You’re healing my inner child who got her childhood taken away from her at an early age.

Feel free to ask more questions here!

[mxanigel]

Things I'd like to know about my fellow writers

Tagged by @marythegizka and @illusivesoul, thank you~

No-pressure tagging @druckkugelschreiber @captastra @dr-paine @poetikat @ruthvelyan

and @arendaes @anderstrevelyan @milesmentis @korblez @saraptor (prompts for copy/pasting below the cut)

Last book I read: Aside from textbooks or science papers, uhhh… a volume in the 86 series. I think. I can't wait for work to calm down in a month so I can read for fun again~

Greatest literary inspiration: Most recently, NK Jemisin's worldbuilding and ability to weave rich tales within those worlds and complex rules. The Broken Earth trilogy really, really appeals to the scientist in me.

Things in my current fandom(s) I want to read but I don't want to write: In Attack on Titan, anything Historia/Ymir but particularly stories where Ymir lives. For Dragon Age, I want happy and cute f/f fluff. (I want to get back to my Anora/f!Cousland pairing, but I just can't seem to keep it fluffy, lol.)

Things in my current fandom(s) I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: ahahaha other than the Levi/Hange/Shion (OC) longfic that's devoured my creative output? Historia/Sasha which still could happen and some of the awkwardness between Neri and Alistair after they reject his advances during Origins.

You can recognize my writing by: Queer characters with self-confidence issues who still strive to handle the responsibilities thrust upon them. Also lots of dialogue.

My most controversial take (current fandom[s]): Hmmmm. AoT-wise, maybe that I headcanon Hange as aceflux? (They're obsessed with Titans and monstrous things in general, but that doesn't have to imply that they're wildly horny for monsters. Or in general.) With respect to Dragon Age, it's not exactly controversial, but I genuinely adore DA2 and all of the companions in it. Yes, all of them.

Top three favourite tropes: These are the three that first came to mind rather than my ultimate favorites, but: 1) kabedon~ (I will include one whenever I possibly can); 2) a character caring for their beloved who's been injured or fallen ill or being the one cared for (bonus points if a love confession hasn't happened yet); 3) grump + sunshine pairings.

What’s your current writing mood? (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): Probably a 3. I had a months-long super productive phase, and then Day Job took over my life. Now I'm lucky to write more than a hundred words a week; this next chapter does not want to cooperate with me.

Share a random frustration: That I get hung up on kudos and comments. Brain, please please please just let me write for the sake of writing.

-----

Last book I read:

Greatest literary inspiration: 

Things in my current fandom(s) I want to read but I don't want to write:

Things in my current fandom(s) I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: 

You can recognize my writing by: 

My most controversial take (current fandom[s]):

Top three favourite tropes: 

What’s your current writing mood? (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut) 

Share a random frustration:

[taegularities]

i mean this in the nicest way possible because i truly love you, but i wish writers in general wouldnt try to force reader engagement. i often reply with feedback, but at the end of the day, you should be writing because you want to, not because you want validation. i dont know if its just me who feels this way, but when writers constantly mention needing feedback or they wont write/will stop writing a popular series, it feels like a threat. i dont want reading to feel like a chore, where i need to constantly be validating my favorites so they dont get taken away from me. i love you and your writing and i wish my likes were enough. sometimes i, as a reader, dont feel like engaging/leaving notes. sometimes i just want to read and move forward. i feel like many writers have turned appreciative comments from readers into an obligation.

again in no way is this meant to be hateful towards you, i feel like this can apply to many of my favs. i just needed to get it off my chest and hopefully assure you that we like your writing, even if there's less engagement. if you disagree with any of my points, please tell me/ask me to clarify. i dont want to hurt your feelings and i would love to hear from the writer's side!

hiii! no worries, thank you so much for being respectful and wanting to hear my opinion, as well. i know some people let these things out in the rudest manner possible, so i appreciate that <3

so, the reason i haven't been writing atm is because i lack the time and energy to write :') this year has been crazyyyy busy, so i just don't get to it anymore – and since i've been away/less present for a while, i guess i also drifted away from tumblr, too, and then felt like people might've forgotten about taegularities, and then i wasn't sure if the effort would still be worth it (i get insecure at times, but that's a me-problem). now, the reason i (and many other writers) have this worry is bc writing requires an insane amount of energy and brainpower – when i tell you that so many of us actually slave over just a scene or even a paragraph for ages 😭 (example: the last cmi update was far shorter than what i usually drop, but it took me days to just edit one scene). we ache to write all the time, but life also gets in our way – i barely get time to sit down and work on my fics these days… so when i do get time, i want to put it out there into the world and then see the reactions, too… i write for myself, ofc, but for you guys, too, so i can share that joy; or else i'd keep the fics in my docs, right?

and in that sense, when we write something in the rare free time that we get and that we hope others will love just as much as we do, we do seek some sense of validation, even if that sounds odd. it's like – imagine you studied for a test for like 2 weeks, but then don't get the results you hoped for (which might be a weird example, but effort-wise, it's similar, even if fics don't affect writers' lives in that sense). i know there are many who just write and don't care for feedback (even tho i've seen even those who say this be sad about reader engagement which – very valid), but i think that most who expose their soul and heart like this, do want to see people enjoying it/speaking about it/hyping it up. every creator, be it in the movie, music or art industry, loves to see reactions! and think about it – most writers get so genuinely excited when someone sends an ask that doesn't say more than "i loved this so much!! you're such a good writer!!" which is insane?! like, i know that i do – i get so happy and remember these comments 5ever, and it's a 2 sentence review as opposed to thousands of words. the effort here is unbalanced, but we still love it so much. and you don't need to write an essay, you never never do!! i swear, it's always enough to even get a few words or sentences <3 which, in the end, isn't a lot to ask for, you know?

i'm not saying i will stop writing my series. i would stop if it got 0 reactions OR if my life stood in its way too much; i'll keep loving what i write and write out of joy, no doubt. and tbh, i don't care about notes either. like, i remember "ruin you" getting way less notes than cmi but GOSH we had so much fun back then bc of the interaction and the craze made me so happy hahaha and yeah that's what it's essentially about – community. does that make sense? it's tumblr where likes don't make a post circulate – reblogs do, so yeah, unfortunately, likes are not enough :( i wish they were. i totally get what you mean, though. even feedback shouldn't be an obligation, but if you truly like somebody's work, it never hurts to send a tiny message. it really means the world to us when something we adore and are so proud of – creating art, sharing our heart, wanting everybody to see this love – is met with so much joy. and it's fics, you know – we love love love writing, but it's something that can be read. and we want people to read it and we're legit sitting there like "👀 and?? aaaand?" lol it's so nice to know when someone truly appreciates something… ofc you don't have to comment on my stuff, but i promise feedback makes a difference. it's why so many do leave :/ i hope that made sense!! once again, thank you for being respectful!! i love you, too, and am truly grateful that you're here and enjoying my stuff!! <3

[fancyfade]

What're your favourite Babs and Dick moments?

honestly any time they have fun teasing is always good :P (link1, link2)

I also know there was a cute scene in a Nightwing comic where Dick walks up and kisses her and is like "Just cuz i was happy and I wanted to share" and that was so wholesome.

Also whenever they have 0 self awareness about their own respective complexes, like Dick trying to convince Babs to take a day off in prelude to Joker's Last Laugh and Babs is like "you don't get it babe the fate of the world HINGES on me having no work-life balance (link)" or like the IDEA (but not the execution) behind some of Devin Grayson's writing where Dick is wearing himself to the ground and Babs wants him to take a break. But the actual execution of Devin Grayson's writing there was so lacking like it was portrayed as Babs being sad she wasn't getting more attention and being jealous of the women he interacted with, which is sexist writing, instead of like. her genuinely wanting him to take some time off for himself (like dick was for her earlier), so. that was not a favorite moment (or even a good moment) but I think them each having 0 self awareness about their own complexes and workaholic-itude but wanting the other one to relax is fun.

[jen-with-a-pen]

If people aren't comfortable reblogging fics to their blog (which I am not, due to a personal history of being doxxed and humiliated to my irl friends and family), are comments sufficient enough engagement or would you rather that reader not engage with your work at all?

I feel like that came out sounding passive aggressive but I truly mean it as a genuine question and am just not sure how to rework it to sound less snarky! I see this discourse on and off from different fic writers and respect both opinions and think everyone should be able to curate interaction with their fics as they see fit.

Hi, anon.

I've been thinking carefully on how to respond to this. I can tell you're not trying to come off as snarky– which i say as someone who can't read tone for shit most of the time and whose own tone can come off aggressive or bitchy when I don't mean it to be.

I'm gonna address your ask as thoroughly as I can, if that's cool. Sorry if it's a long response. I'll put a cut in so I don't interrupt feeds ✂️

First, I want to pose a question to your question, which I mean genuinely with no spite whatsoever: why are you on Tumblr if you're not reblogging or don't even reblog?

As I've stated in other replies to the post I made a few weeks back, from the way I see it, Tumblr is literally built upon the foundation of sharing creations and content. There is no dead-set algorithm here like there is for Instagram or TikTok. Sharing is, quite fucking literally, caring here. We are able to form communities of all sizes because we share things. Reblogging is essential to the upkeep, and quite frankly the existence, of fandom and communities. Without sharing, our communities crumble and become ruins. We are actively seeing this as we speak: many mutuals and authors I follow are starting to quit writing due to passive, demanding consumption patterns and 0 engagement.

I know you probably know this, but I thought I'd restate it for answer's sake.

To answer the meat of your ask, I will pull from both personal experience and mutuals' experiences and input.

In my own personal opinion, if you are solely commenting on fics and are not engaging in anything else (no likes, no reblogs, etc.) then I personally think that Tumblr is not the site you should be on and, frankly, you should go sign up for AO3 if that's all you're going to do.

And I mean this earnestly. If all you want to do for engagement is commenting, then AO3 needs you because sharing does NOT affect authors nearly as much over there as it does here. In fact comments on AO3 are the literal equivalent to reblog on Tumblr: we don't get any and when we do it's like finding an oasis in a never ending desert.

Now in terms of what mutuals and other authors have said on the matter, it seems the consensus is that commenting without reblogging is a case-by-case basis. I'm going to quote a mutual of mine here:

"...if someone is commenting on my work but not reblogging… I'd say it's case by case. If it's just MY fics they aren’t reblogging, then it'd be a problem, but if they don’t reblog ANY [fics] I'd be more okay."

Another mutuals also put it this way:

"... I feel like there *is* both sides in this sense; yes comments are nice and engaging even though they aren't the preferred and most helpful way to boost writers..."

I feel like both of them put it into words where I struggled to. I will also say that I do agree with the point being that if you're not gonna reblog ANYTHING– no art, no content, no photos, no other fics, nothing– AND your profile adheres to the guidelines set forth in basic Tumblr etiquette (not looking like a bot and not a minor) then sure, comment away.

The verdict, in summary with my opinion and mutuals': it depends on your behavior and your interactions with other works and content.

I hate the word content but I couldn't think of another one.

But, my question still stands: why are you on Tumblr when you don't even participate in the basic fundamental function of this site?

I also wanted to take the time to address the other part of your ask regarding the doxxing and people finding out your identity.

It has been very widely known for (close to) two decades now that Tumblr is the place where you can have an anonymous identity. Truly. I've been on here for the collective half of the last decade and have been on the Internet for a little more than half my life, now, and Tumblr and fandom are literally the biggest and best places where you can be someone else. You can be completely anonymous.

The common denominator, however, is you.

The amount of information you have on your blog is what you choose to put on it. If you state your real name, your state and city, have one of those (imo stupid) carrd things or whatever, then honey– and I mean this in the nicest way possible, truly– that is on you. I know for a fact (from good and bad experiences) that you have all of the power in the world to annonymize yourself while still maintaining yourself on the Internet. That make sense?

A couple of mutuals made very excellent points regarding this:

"...I have a best friend irl who has Tumblr and is so close to the fandoms I'm in, and she doesn't know I write here. I am anonymous on here. I'm suprised she hasnt connected the dots because my aesthetics are the same in real life..."

"...I personally think its pretty easy to be anonymous on tumblr. Especially since usually all we ask is you have that you aren’t a minor at the top of your blog..."

"...it's really easy to be anonymous on the internet [...] you can be an ENTIRELY different person on the internet..."

From that last mutual, I'll paraphrase and go off of another point they made: the fact that you do want to participate and comment negates your ENTIRE arguement because someone– anyone– can find you and your blog through said comment(s).

Your digital footprint is what you leave behind. So if you have your city and state and grade and real name and all this other shit in your blog or carrd or whatever, then you are the only one who is responsible for having put said information out there.

Hell, I've been mutuals with some people going on 2-3 YEARS at this point and the only other things they know about me is my state, general city vicinity, my cat, and what I do for a living. That's it. And we span from early twenties to married with a kid or two.

We are in charge of what we share and I implore you– as someone with a certification in legal information technology– to please educate yourself on your Internet privacy and digital footprint. Please take the time to think about your actions and the information you have online. I STILL do this to this day, even after getting certified and being on the Internet for half my life.

I am sorry that you've gotten doxxed in the past. Truly, I am. It's a horrible act and I hope you never have to experience that again. Please know I am not being dismissive of that nor trying to blame you for said acts.

But it all comes down to you at the end of the day. In general, it's you, your actions, and the consequences of your actions. And if you happen to be a minor, then I strongly urge you to rethink your decisions and maybe step away from social media and utilize critical thinking in order to asses your situation and who you surround yourself with, both online and offline. I wish I had someone to tell me that when I was 14– fuck, even when I was 18.

And I mean it when I say AO3 might suit you more than Tumblr. If any fandom site has more capabilities to be anonymous than Tumblr itself, it's AO3.

Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for you. My DMs and ask box are always open and I am open to more commentary on the matter and related ones so long as it is civil and respectful. I refuse to stop having this conversation.

Thank you for listening ❤️

[earthgrudgefear]

Itachi for the ask game !!

YESS it is hard for me to talk about itachi because i have complicated feelings and i'm whatever the opposite of eloquent is but here it goes !

favorite thing about them: ok i know everyone and their mom's favorite itachi thing is that ough he's really the good guy NOPE. i like when he's crazy. i like the moments where you see him crack. i like that he genuinely believed ruining his brother's life was the Right thing to do. i like that the cycle of violence didn't end with him. i know that sounds fucking insane but listen,

least favorite thing about them: it is the fans. itachi fans are so bad. you get the ones who are like "HE SOLOS MADARA. HE COULD KILL GOD." and then you get the ones who are like "he's my sweet baby 🥺 he's innocent and never did anything wrong 💔" and both of them are so Painfully Off Base and are ignoring like the Actual complexity of his character it makes it Insufferable to exist in fan spaces

favorite line: OH it's when he first talks to kisame and he says "anyone who has raised their hand against a comrade, even once, never dies a decent death. remember that." and kisame says "which means you and i are both worthless" and it's one of my favorite interactions of any characters of all time

brOTP: nagato, easy. and by extension konan

OTP: kisaita. they break my heart for real. they're so painfully similar. villages so corrupt they force them into a place they can only kill their way out of. then the split happens where itachi stays loyal to konoha while kisame would watch kiri burn. kisame seeking truth while all itachi does is hide behind lies. like there's such poetry in them.

nOTP: increasingly i am tired of seeing him with d*idara 😭 (censoring that cause i don't know how to shut up, skip to the next bullet if you don't care what i'm on about) i feel like That scene is out of context too much. he only ever saw itachi as a threat. he had no Respect for what itachi did, he was Angry. he was humiliated and outdone by this guy who wasn't even trying. like yes at first it was awe but when it didn't mean anything to itachi, that changed. he literally trained himself to Kill itachi. he was SO mad and really so HURT fighting sasuke because of how Little sasuke cared about him (0% btw) and how he KNEW that look from itachi. so yeah. it's. i don't like it very much at all

random headcanon: ugh. i always had this thing with him and kisame, since itachi has no option but to lie and kisame is NOT for that, they have this rule that itachi Won't ever flat out lie to him, he'll put on the act for kakashi or sasuke or anyone from his old home, but not kisame. omissions of truth maybe, but he's as open and honest as he feels he can be. which over time becomes, Incredibly Honest. to the point of kisame knowing that when he goes to face sasuke the intention is, that's the end.

unpopular opinion: i think i hit a few in the rest of this post, not gonna lie.

song i associate with them: sleep my chemical romance. they're not like tremors they're worse than tremors they're like these terrors sometimes i see flames and sometimes i see the people that i love dying i can't ever wake up

favorite picture of them:

ok i actually had a different picture that came to mind but i've been dying to share this one and it's already saved on my phone so for now it's this one.

OKAY!