#might add more to these thoughts later idk

[creatingblackcharacters]

Some of my thoughts for your conversation about inaction towards antiBlack/racist behavior in shared online spaces (particularly fandom).

1. "I dont see it / I dont go here" - this was my first thought/defensive reaction and in reading others responses I think its a shared one.

Tumblr is perhaps unique in how purposely you can shape your experience and limit what you interact with. Blocking someone just cause is fully acceptable and expected here.

So, when Ive seen depictions of 'Black' characters that made me go, "Mmm idk man" its been my policy to just block and move on. Less chance of seeing a racist in the tags I like in the future *shrug*

Now on other sites perhaps there is some consideration that could be given to not wanting to boost something racist via interaction...but that's not how Tumblr works. Furthermore your reminder that seeing things go unopposed is the problem hit me like a frying pan to the face. Because...yeah duh.

We know the 'social rules' of this platform, you report/block the porn bots, you dont spam tags for engagement (or report if you see it), add image descriptions, reblog things you like etc. Would it be so hard to leave a simple comment on the things you want to see be changed?

2. "What if I do it wrong/I dont know this fandom/Not my place to speak?" - I firmly believe the main reasons people dont meaningfully engage with posts here or on other platforms is two fold: Responses and Outting.

If you were to post a mild comment saying for example, "Hey, feels kinda weird how you're only talking about this Black character being violent in this show. Why dont you check out this blog post by CBC, a Black artist who really digs into this topic more?"

Now you are expected to 1. 'deal' with whatever that persons response is and 2. Anyone an see and respond to what you said.

I think we generally expect random stranger interactions on the Internet to be unpleasant but, like if we are putting the focus on caring about Black people in out spaces...shits already 'unpleasant' for them.

Its time to start firing fireworks off in our neighborhoods to keep the rents low so to speak. You, non-Black folk (i.e me), dont have to wage endless comment battles with someone who wont listen. Just stating what you are seeing is enough, its marking that post for other people coming along. Forcing the question, "Y'all are we cool with this?"

As for messing up/having a record of things you said someone else might take issue with later on. Yeah but thats already happening whenever you reblog anything.

If you actually spoke out of turn just say, "Im sorry thanks for letting me know" and move on with your life. Otherwise folks on here will actually harass you over your shipping preferences so your rolling those dice already. Why not do it for something better worth it?

3. A Note - Genuinely thank you for posing these thoughtful question and just honestly expressing your frustration/hurt. It helped me think more deeply about some old habits.

Thank you!

Hm. And you're welcome

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Heya, in the spirit of the holidays coming up I wanted to ask about gifts from/for Chase and First! Maybe like what would be the very first gift to each other would be and their reactions? Or maybe the type of “gifts” they give and how often?

Idk why but I’ve had the thought of First giving something handmade and Chase going absolutely 🐉 feral for one reason or another hahaha

Happy Holidays!

Happy upcoming Holidays to you too!!! <3 I know you probably didn't intend to do it, but you sent this ask on the eve of My Immortal Soul's first ever post's anniversary, and honestly it just made me so happy because it was a perfect ask to recieve!

Also! Ironically enough I have a fic in WIPs where there is a (one of the firsts) gift exchanged between them, so I actually already have quite a few headcanons about this! ;3

Out of two of them Chase would be the one sorta main giftgiver, so to say (for obvious reasons, lol, that rich asshole)! Not only as a tactic to make First drop his guard around him initially, but also because of his own need to... show off? Flex? Sorta? The types of his gifts would be generic at first, and something that could be considered more of a courtesy items and not necessarily gifts (like for example, sharing a bottle of expensive alcohol together, but clearly intended for First). But over time, they would gain an undertone of 'providing' and comforts that Chase can offer to First (as his potential 'Master' at first and later on as potential 'lover'). Like maybe food and clothes, maybe weapons! And as their relationship develops, the gifts also become more personal, like for example, Chase might use magic to add personal details or protection in things he gives to First. Overall, it would be less likely that Chase gives some trinkets without any use to First - as a practical proud person, he would make sure to make his gifts both useful and use them as opportunity to show off. (Not to mention the whole underlining 'let me take care of you/become mine to take care of' vibe of the whole thing, hehehe AND a whole slew of possible hidden meanings behind any gift).

And First... well he is too independant and proud to accept the gifts most of the time. So more often than not, Chase uses underhanded methods to gift them (which also kind of backfires sometimes lol).

Also, for some reason I think that the most common gift Chase would end up giving would be food (which is important to Chase). Not only its something First would not reject as vehemently (because wasting food for First would be criminal!!! he was taught better than that after his life on the road), but it also would satisfy Chase's need to provide and show off how well he can care for First if he joined him. And they can also spend time together, eating and drinking - bonding! (And also I just see Chase feeding First who sometimes doesnt fucking eat, that goddamn workaholic lol).

And I absolutely agree with you about First most likely gifting something handmade and Chase going feral about it (ladskjdsajk LOVE the imagery you put into my head)! Not only because First has less opportunity to acquire something 'bought' so to say and expensive, but also because I headcanon First as an incredibly crafty person. Mainly because of his weapon arsenal and Ninjanomicon!

Maintaining and upkeeping the weapons of the suit mainly falls to Ninja, we saw it in the smoke bombs episode and the one about the sword (and not to mention that they canonically do not magically return to the suit). And yes, while the sword came from the blacksmith, who is to say that originally ninja himself was not responsible for first swords? I absolutely headcanon, that the original arsenal was created by the Norisu Clan themselves, which meant some, if not all of the siblings had the ability to work with metal/materials for weapons. And the Ninjanomicon! If we ignore the canon time paradox (which i absolutely fucking do lol) - the art of book binding would be an incredible skill to have, which would require the ability to work with many things, from wood and paper to leather and twine! And aside all of that, living on the road and establishing a whole ass village would require a lot of different rudimentary skills, that I absolutely can see First possess. So, not only First can probably create something from wood or metal, he can bind a journal or a book and make other trinkets and useful things that one can use! He can probably even sew - keeping clotes in working conditions on the road is a very important thing after all!

The crutch comes of course in the question if First even would create something for Chase! xD

I can kinda see him making something to gift back Chase, after the immortal gave him a gift first. Perhaps not wanting to be 'indebted' to Chase, First would make something of equal value (to the best of his ability and his much more limited resources). He would also try to make them useful and more or less practical, but not as super grand as Chase's (its not his style).

But I can also see, closer to the end of their aquintances (when both of them are deep in the feelings lol), First making something less useful and more of a sentimental value to gift to Chase before they went their separate ways.

Also I have to be honest, aside from gifts, the more precious present each could give the other would be their time and attention. Chase might be immortal and have all the time in the world, but he rarely wastes time on something not important to him. And First Ninja is the opposite - sometimes he doesn't have enough hours in the day for everything he needs to do, so his time is too precious to waste. If he sets aside a moment of time for Chase, for whatever reason, it really would speak volumes.

Aaaaaaa this was such a great ask to get, thank you so much anon!!! <3<3<3 it really makes me excited to work on the next fic! UwU

[loser-user-noaccuser]

Thinking about this one

[zaacataac]

I need to go to bed but I was struck with a Percy Reed headcanon and I need to write it down lest I go insane. (The post ended up being pretty long so I put it under a cut)

Percy's aromantic. He's not aware of this, and honestly, he probably would have trouble accepting it if he was. This can partially be attributed to the fact that he deeply craves romance. But also he grew up in an extremely amatonormative environment and generally believes, because of this, that the most prominent relationship that someone can have in their life is a significant other and eventually spouse. He wants to be someone else's most important person, and believes that in order for that to happen, that relationship, by default, has to be romantic. This also works in the inverse, so when someone is very very important to him, more so than the rest of his friends, that relationship by default has to be romantic. It's also pretty apparent that he didn't have any super meaningful (and healthy) relationships before he died.

All of this combined is what led to his relationship with Diggory. He felt an attachment to them that felt deeper than how he'd felt with other friends in the past because it was actually substantial, so naturally assumed that his feelings for them were romantic. Additionally, he wanted to establish the relationship that he had with them as the most "important" relationship that they're in, because they were the only person that he felt truly saw him for who he was. In his eyes, he had to be their boyfriend because if he wasn't, they might develop a relationship with someone else that was closer than the one he had with them and then that would mean that the only person that he'd felt a deep connection with didn't actually care about him as much as he did about them, because they're his most important person, but he wouldn't have been theirs. Obviously, the best way to prevent this is by achieving boyfriend status.

Now, I'd like to restate that he's not aware of all this going on under the surface. He doesn't know that he thinks of relationships like this, it's pretty subconscious and he fully believes that his feelings for Diggory are romantic because he doesn't really have anything else to compare them to.

[bread-is-my-life]

I'm being silly today. Drop a ship (from whatevs fandom is in the tags on this post) to my asks and I will draw it! (Sfw and no proships only :D) Also if I have a personal beef with a ship I might not draw it sry lol

[monarchamos]

I know nothing about ur pokemon au tell me about Chuuyas team pls- i wanna know the poke-parallels between his team and Dazais

Ah!!! i'm glad you asked!!! :D

In this AU, Dazai is the strongest of Yokohama's Gym Leaders. He specializes in Ghost types! His team consists of a Dragapult, a houndstone, a spiritomb, a froslass, a mimikyu, and a lampent! here's so fun(debatable) facts about his team!

he used to be an admin for the Port Mafia, so he still has like. a big fat kill count. So that's where the Spiritomb comes from. yeah.

Dragapult is usually the one dragging dazai out of his attempts. It's been with him since even before Dazai joined the mafia, so it's his signature pokemon

His mimikyu likes playing with children. Dazai often leaves it with Kyouka and Kenji to play with whenever the gym leaders get together

Dazai found Lampent when he visited Lupin after Oda's death. It was hanging around the alleyway, and he decided to catch it.

froslass is always freezing him. yk like james in the pokemon anime with all of his pokemon. bc he's pathetic like that. Dazai caught froslass on a mission with Kunikida, shortly after becoming a Gym Leader. (yes this froslass is the nightmare of all of his challengers).

Chuuya tried so hard to convince Dazai to catch a Greavard. Dazai eventually relented, but only because he could name it chibi. eventually he got actually attached to it and evolved it to Houndstone

Chuuya, on the other hand, is still an admin for the Port Mafia

His team consists of flying types. This is because, as his brother Verlaine is French from Kalos, got Chuuya super into sky battles. he prefers sky battles, but he's obviously just as formidable in normal battles. In Chuuya's team he has a corviknight, a skarmory, a honchkrow, a mismagius, a talonflame, and an oricorio (sensu style)

Honchkrow is his signature pokemon! it's been with him since he was in the Sheep

the oricorio, believe it or not, is actually from Kouyou and not Dazai, despite the ghost typing. its usually the pokemon to drag chuuya away when he's overworking himself.

the talonflame was gift from Verlaine! yk. as an apology. for killing the flags. Chuuya raised it from an egg. Verlaine battles with it every once in a while to see how it's doing. the battle's just an excuse to spend time with his little brother though

Corviknight was a gift from Adam as well.

Mismagius used to be Dazai's, but he left Chuuya its pokeball when he left the mafia so its his now :P

Chuuya had to add skarmory to his team during the DHC but ended up bonding with it and now its a staple in his team

Back when they were in the mafia, soukoku were often paired up for double battles on missions.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Hrmm... Revising my game and I feel like there's still sooo much writing left to do, for something that probably won't even amount to much, so.. I do want to narrow my focus more (especially given my health problems seeming to get worse/less energy the past few years), but I'm not sure how would be best to...

I currently have 5 characters as the Main ones with full planned questlines and such, with each character having 6 quests you can do for them. But I haven't really started the writing for the 5th main character. So then I was thinking, if I were going to write 6 full quests worth of content anyway... is it better to allocate that time on just doing a Complete 6 Quests for ONE single character, OR would it be better to do something like.. choose THREE side characters and do 2 quests for each of them? So that people have a wider variety to interact with and sort of sample around (of course with the idea that, once the first version of the game is released, IF people actually care about it enough to make it worth the effort, I would then add additional content to complete those 3 characters stories as well)

-

SO... If you were playing an interactive fiction sort of game centered around talking to & doing quests for a cast of characters (like there's no larger plot, more it's just about interacting with people, every character kind of has a self contained story, the focus is just learning about them and the world and exploring the area) --- Which would you rather have?

(and of course it would be stated up front which characters have only partial questlines, so people don't expect them to have full quests like the others and then get disappointed, or etc. etc.)

Basically, is it better to just focus in specifically on having one fully complete questline? Or for there to be a few stories that are not complete yet, but have more initial options available?

[assortedcraziness]

Should we split the blog up?

Explanation: this blog has sort of devolved into a junk drawer of everything we want to keep separate from our respective mains. It’s feeling a little messy lately, so should we change things up?

Answer key below:

A) Stay the same

B) This one stays agere, make a new nonhuman blog

C) This one stays nonhuman, make a new agere blog

D) Different idea! (Put in the tags or comments please!!)

E) PLEASE start tagging your stuff better. (shiny button that makes you bald)

[n4mless]

THEORY TIME

So we know the federation experimented with hybrids. And Cucurucho is a talking bear(or at least I think, can’t remember if they confirmed it). So couldn’t he be a federation experiment?

It could explain they workers as well. Having enough traits of humans to feel emotions and have connections, but being loyal to the federation(also them not having names or faces or the ability to speak).

Also since Walter Bob had a family and Elena had a partner. It is possible that the federation made weird humanoid bear creatures, some escaped from the federation and now have families and stuff.

Cucuhurcho was also named by the islanders(if I remember correctly) and could also explain Jaidens lore about seeing two Cucuruchos at the same place.

I don’t think they can be robots because they consume drink and food and have blood(they corpses around the island of workers had a bunch of blood.

I also believe he is an experiment because I don’t believe that important federation people would be on the island. The islanders have tried(and succeed) in killing workers before. And also just from real life the people making big decisions sit inside a safe and warm office away from the bad stuff, delegating work to those below them. And while cucurucho does this as well, I refuse to believe he’s the boss of the federation.

[the-n3w3st-g1rl-g1rl]

monster food is already different to human food (does not pass through a monster's whole body, does not spoil, etc.)

but then there's also ghost food (like the ghost sandwich blooky offers you). so like I guess there's sub-categories of monster food for different monster types sometimes?

humans are capable of eating some monster foods (Frisk can use consumable items and Chara lived underground for a while so they had to be eating something). but no one other than incorporeal ghosts can eat ghost food (even if they were a ghost but they now have a body)

ghosts might be able to eat other types of monster food (didn't Napstablook have a flier for the spider bake sale? so maybe they can eat that)

just wondering if there are other types of monster food and what sort of properties they might have…

[asherasgayagenda]

My wha gift for @imaroyalmess!! I hope you enjoy your atelier girls baking their (not-so) secret gifts for their mentors (who toootally aren’t hiding behind the staircase rn. nope). They were so fun to draw and color <3

Thanks to @agathes for hosting this event!

[waywardsalt]

actually why the fuck do i tend to be nervous/insecure about my ganonbeck fic trending a little darker than the other two ganonbeck things. who wants all of the same stuff variety is good. i literally started writing and posting fanfic for the sake of creating the stuff i couldn’t find and providing for people who may want something like that.

[cowplantfarmer]

Herding outtakes pt.2

[tfisathoughtfulnickelbakeryfire]

People who grew up in the 90s and 2000s culture of "I must be a stick figure with boobs to be considered even remotely attractive to someone or have any worth as a human being" and don't think it was a particularly harmful way to exist when they look back at it were so lucky to have been considered hot by those standards.

[davertmanfriend]

Alright I finally have an idea on what to call this au of mine it's called: the newhome au. Real original, i know.

So uh... I've been thinking about homestuck. And it's characters in general. And trolls in general. And I thought "who had it the worst?" And it's obviously karkat and Feferi.

I think of them because if sgrub or sburb never happened, they both would've died when they became adults. Karkat is a mutant blood, a troll who wouldn't make it far, and I feel he can't hide from troll kind for forever.

Feferi, she's a fuchsia blood, meaning she has to do a death battle with the condesce, aka the fish Hitler who has always won every fight before Feferi. The odds of winning that fight are very low.

So wow, we have two very sad rare blooded trolls who will die when they are eventually adults. And I thought, "How could I fix this?"

And I give my idea of an au, which i think is totally original, but if it isn't, well great minds think alike.

(No clue what to call the au)

Basically I imagined taking karkat and Feferi to earth to live. But where and who to live with?

First karkat

That's right, karkat Egbert is real. I do this because I feel it wouldn't change karkat much, but also dad ebert would love his alien child, along with John. And John? John would love a brother, no matter the species.

Now Feferi....

Feferi Harley! Not much of a surprise, really. If John gets a brother, Jade gets a sister, right? I think this could work only if Grandpa Harley would be like, "Oh cool, and alien grub with my baby. Well, it's as docile as a fossil, so why not adopt it? Worst case scenario, i get a cool thing to taxidermy."

I feel like jade and Feferi could frolic freely and happily in the fields of their island, watched over by bec.

But hey, why stop here? Why not a troll sibling for every beta child?...

Rose lalonde gets!...

Nepeta lalonde! I did this because... well, they are a cat family, the lalondes. Don't tell me that roses mother would look at a cat like grub looking thing and say "ha lol that baby has a grubby cat near it. Lol their both mine now."

I also added nepeta to the lalondes because... in pesterquest, it's said her hive burnt down, and now lives in a cave, that's a sad enough reason to put her in care of the lalondes.

But then there's Dave! Who could match his skills, and keep of with bro? Who would be chill enough to grow up in Texas with an insane man and a puppet? Who is has terrible parents and is strong?

VRISKA STRIDER!

Honestly I think it could work. Dave is a cool dude, enough to be chill with vriska at times, but has enough spine to tell her off and keep her in line, both are strong enough to fend off bro, or at least not be utterly killed by him.

Plus if bro saw vriska, he'd be like "ah shit, that fucking grub thing is next to my bro... eh it seems chill, and like a winner. Dave bro could learn a slight thing from it, but the grubs to smug. Better teach it as well."

I chose vriska because her mom sucks, that spider can burn in hell. So I traded it for an insane man in Texas!

I think it did swell with this idea, ans i had to get utterly down because I thought it was fun.

[cosmicanamnesis]

OOhhh I would love to hear about your hate for the Scarlet Letter!! I read Wide Sargasso Sea from the list in the post and it was okay. Written like a classic so not always the easiest to understand. And I had to read it for a class, which usually make me dislike the books more. Crazy as I am getting a degree in English and literature classes are my favorite.

see that was the only one on the list i'd never actually heard of so i might have to look into it. but yeah i was in the "I'm Here For English/Art/Choir And Nothing Else" camp in school. most of the classics we had to read i either threw my whole ass into (see: The Grapes of Wrath) or i'd give it a couple chapters and then sparknotes it from there (sorry Great Gatsby. baz luhrmann made a very entertaining movie out of u tho)

anyway this song is called I Will Raise Nathaniel Hawthorne From The Grave Just To Kill Him Again (under a read more bc this literally does not matter nd if u liked The Scarlet Letter u can just scroll right on by)

fair warning: this is not a scholarly essay, this is a shitty opinion piece that i'm writing while drinking cheap shit that might maybe qualify as whiskey. that's what you're getting here.

anyway.

my beef with TSL has... frankly very little to do with the actual content of the story, other than the story is just dead fucking boring.

puritans as a subject are boring, esp if you grew up as a person being persecuted by The Church(tm) in modern america (i say, making my first unfounded broad sweeping generalization of the night). like, yeah, No Shit they were religious extremists, have you seen the legacy they left? in that way i can understand how the contemporary or modern reader is supposed to feel sympathetic towards hester. the story is presented like "look at these crazies, look how they treat their women and their community," as if we're not doing the same shit in a different font to this day. pick a point in american history, you'll find hester and pearl there because as a society by and large we have barely progressed.

not to mention the focus of the story is on hester's relationships with dimmesdale and chillingworth more than, yknow, her own development as a fully realized person (rather than a representaion of Theoretical Complexity; a person can be both Sinful and Virtuous). because she isn't one. neither is pearl. pearl, willful and impish, is the personification of hester's sin. pearl is a prop.

does that all make the story timeless? yes, in the worst possible way.

hawthorne explores what it means to be ostracized in the most, like, affluent white boy way. like a frat bro doing shrooms and discovering empathy, hawthorne wrote the scarlet letter to show the concept of Sin And Consequences in a way that other affluent white guys might actually pick up on and say hey yeah that is a little fucked and make them realize other people are, in fact, people. if you are not in that specific demographic (which i can only hope was a purposeful target audience to teach them that message and not hawthorne himself realizing this for the first time) the philosophy is pretty fuckin weak. or. not so much Weak as it is Shallow, but ultimately it's both.

all to say, i was pretty clearly not the target audience here, and i think i have a pretty valid reason to not give a fuck abt TSL. that is not the reason why i so passionately hate this book.

the town i'm from has a pretty significant mormon population. i don't know if you know anything about mormons, but basically, LDS tradition has rules clearly outlining under what circumstances a person is meant to be shunned by the church. one of those conditions is apostasy, when a member officially leaves or is forcibly removed from the church and is declared an apostate by the temple. why do i know this? my best friend for a long time went through this process when they were 16 and living with me because their family kicked them out for being queer. not too long after this, TSL was assigned reading, and the class i was in was like 80% Assorted Christian denominations, the major one being... ding ding ding the fucking mormons.

so. put yourself in my spot. you are having Teacher-Lead Discussions about the topics and morals in TSL and on one side you have queer kids, atheists, Intelligent Troublemakers, etc, and on the other side you have a Protestant Army led by a Mormon Vanguard. nothing will make you hate a book like a dozen kids with absolutely no self awareness.

that segment pretty much boiled down to

"wow can you believe how CrAzY the Church(tm) used to be? :P"

"uh... yeah... you haven't changed."

"WHAT? pshhh OUR denomination is Nothing like /that/, women can wear pants outside of church activities now!"

"ok how do you feel about adultery when one's husband is presumed dead?"

"well. uh."

so to conclude: the Scarlet Letter is a very shallow criticism of early american puritan doctrine and the way that it's treated as a deeply profound classic is more of a reflection on the modern White Patriarchy than it is on the Puritans. and dont get me wrong, i think it's a pretty good subject for a high school lit class, if for no other reason than it teaches kids to recognize how morals and ideals are passed down even over hundreds of years. its a perfect example of that.

book fuckin sucks tho