#not even in mcyt territory

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Aint no way Cellbit just whistled to Whistle

[ender1821]

hey so. what if Gem calls Pearl a clingy/crazy ex. yknow. like Scott did

[twilight-skies]

First thoughts as follows:

1. They used the mobs who only attack when you intrude their territory and steal from them to be the invading hordes of villains, when they could’ve used the entire species named “Pillagers”

2. They whitewashed Steve so that he could be played by an actor who doesn’t even look like him in any aspect. Is that a sweater

3. Dumb jumanji plot when they could’ve used minecraft as the setting and worldbuilding and based it on characters who are from that world. (Humans from our world…who meet a native?? Why not either make it about that iconic character, maybe his origin story of his first journey through the game, OR another group of characters who’ve just freshly spawned and Steve leads them along as a veteran mentor??)

4. Several years ago an entire cast of potential characters was introduced into the game. And they didn’t use them

5. I have three novels sitting on my shelf that would’ve made amazing movies if they wanted to put minecraft in theaters. I could write a better story for the essence of minecraft and I have.

6. If you’re gonna make a world out of Minecraft, don’t put the blockiness in the living things—or at least make it subtle. A wolf whose fur has square shapes in it only when you do a closeup? When you squint at a bee, you realize it’s the shape of a rectangle?

A world where the trees are made up of block shapes and the land is shaped by straight, sharp lines? That’s an aesthetic. Or, even, something like this, where the land reflects the flat terraced environment. Just…make it subtle. Trees and fence posts and ropes that, in our world, would be round, just happen to have sharp edges forming cubes in this one.

This? Green screen hell nightmare fuel

7. Why not use Minecraft’s own iconic music in the trailer

8. These writers have clearly never taken a single look at the years and years of mcyt storytelling and fandom that displays exactly what we as a player and fanbase would’ve wanted out of this

9. If the movie doesn’t conclude with these guys fighting the dragon then what’s even the point

10. Why have the piglins enslaved the ghasts

11. Why do the protagonist actors need to be the only non animated things in this movie

12. Why didn’t that llama spit at the end

13. THE LANDSCAPE IN THE ABOVE SCREENSHOT DOES NOT EVEN RESEMBLE COMMON MINECRAFT TERRAIN GENERATION

[tubbytarchia]

@mcyt-yuri-week day 2 Royalty/Knight, for which I had a very basic idea and then spiralled fully into AU territory without meaning to... Gem is a dragon huntress and it turns out the princess is a secret dragon shifter haha oops!! More thoughts under cut

Gem is a knight who serves the kingdom via hunting dragons to make ends meet, accompanied by a "hound" dragon, raised from birth to hunt other dragons and obey humans - The kingdom's "gift" to her to aid her. (Because how the hell is some basic solitary knight gonna hunt dragons without any help)

One day she spots, ambushes and follows this moth-like dragon that she's only heard of in rumors before

(the little butterfly tail is to distract or lure teehee)

In an attempt to escape the dragon weasels itself into a small cave but Gem's dragon quickly sniffs it out, only for her to come face to face with the princess. Naturally she's like "oh shit you're the princess this is awkward" (also no dragon shifters have been known to exist) and ofc she's not going to kill her then. Not only is there the moral dilemma of killing an innocent human but she also hasn't much to gain from it. Instead she just needs to figure out a way to get Pearl back to the kingdom and try to treat her injuries as well as think up an excuse for why Pearl would be in such a sorry state. She assures Pearl that she won't rat her out even though Pearl is convinced she will because it's valuable intel. Gem could probably swindle a lot of money out of this. But Gem's way too panicked regardless because her life is as good as over if anyone finds out that she harmed the princess

Gem is kinda brash and grits pleasantries through her teeth whenever she's talking to royalty so being stuck with the princess is hell (and somehow almost as concerning to her as the fact that she just discovered a dragon shifter) meanwhile Pearl is trying to get her to drop said pleasantries and appeal to her in an effort to stop Gem from revealing her to anyone (even though Gem wasn't going to regardless but Pearl's equally as panicked as Gem)

Also the hound awoo (I didnt mean for it to have almost the same bodytype as Pearl dragon oops)

And I guess idk!! Im a sucker for any monster shapeshifter forbidden romance plot etc man. That shit makes me weak. So this can just transpire into some little adventure/discovery story. Pearl struggles to accept that Gem doesn't want to rat her out and in trying to appeal to her, she quickly becomes genuine when they hit it off and Pearl finds newfound yearning to leave her princess life behind now that someone knows about her secret. Gem is actually working for the kingdom because something is being held against her, but she leaves duty and goes awol (and becomes wanted oops) to venture out with Pearl to help her find what she's looking for because Gem feels eternally guilty given their first confrontation. Pearl's wings also need to heal for awhile so that's further reason for Gem to aid her. Maybe she also likes Pearl a bit. Just maybe. Idk could be anyone's guess.... Would be crazy if she did

[adhdo5]

MCYTblr in 2020-22: Tag your crit [character] critical or we will start killing. Do not maintag your haterisms or you break the terms of the ceasefire. Anything in the tag is fair game to open the essay battle. Be ready to fight and kill for anything you're brave enough to fucking maintag. The territories of various MCYT subfandoms are sacred ground and if any of them overlap negotiations will last until the territory lines are clearly demarcated again. If you even THINK about tagging any of your posts with "Minecraft" it's FUCKING OVER for you.

MDZSblr: I hope Jin Guangyao kills himself #mdzs #cql #the untamed #jin guangyao #jgy #meng yao #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #artists on tumblr

[fallingstarsandthemoon]

CRK x MCYT AU: Life Series (playable) Gem Mermaids

Asks/Fanart is appreciated, make sure to give credit when using the designs/AU!

yk what that means. FISH.

Lizzy/LDshadowlady, (Berry Soda Cookie,) despite being an Ancient, also fills in the space of Sea Fairy Cookie. It was only fitting that I made the mermaids of tearcrown Life Series members. I didn’t know who to put as the rest of the gem mermaids, so have the main two. (And before y’all ask, Rubies and sapphires are pretty close as gems irl and can come in a variety of colors like green and yellow.)

More info/lore below the cut:

Scar, or Abyssal Ruby Cookie (formerly Gold Sapphire Cookie, the youth of the Gem Mermaids,) is the AU equivalent of Black Pearl Cookie, first the joy and light of the Tearcrown equivalent, now residing at the bottom of the Duskgloom Sea as its sovereign and destroying every ship that dares enter the territory. Despite his spiteful and sadistic nature, he still has a little bird friend that comes around every now and again…

Moon Pearl Cookie is the eldest Gem Mermaid, Matriarch, and General of the AU’s equivalent of Tearcrown. Despite her hard and strategic exterior, she has a kind heart more valuable than the very gem on her head and cares for the safety of every resident in Tearcrown. Her loyal dogfish Till is a huge help as well.

(Fun fact: Till is one of the only creature outside of the Duskgloom Sea allowed in or out, because he’s too small and fast and cute for Abyssal Ruby to kill and will bite him if AR even tries to attack him.)

The Almighty Sea has been deathly silent since the Dark Flour War. The very same timeframe where it all went wrong…

[imhereformysciencefriends]

@mcyt-yuri-week Day 1: Break!

Read on AO3 here

Forest elves were known to come in many shapes and sizes. Gem was a willowy, slender, waifish, faun-looking elf, herself, with pointed ears and delicate antlers and bright red freckles that matched her hair, and thin, unicorn-like hooves and legs. It did mean that brushing her hair meant brushing her hocks, too, but it was such a natural part of life she didn’t even think about it. Despite her slim form, she wasn’t actually particularly tall, nearly every aspect of her small in one regard or another (except her hair, which was wild and curly and bright flashy red).

But she did have big aspirations! Many of her glade were content to build where they’d always built and live how they’d always lived, but Gem was curious about the border where their forest ended, where it rode up against strange lifeforms ethereal and odd. Gem was sure that as an elf, and a faunish one at that, it was a little rich for her to call something else ethereal and odd, but it was true!

At the edge of their forest, right across a broad river that served as a natural border, weird, brightly colored plants grew, moved in ways that plants shouldn’t move, and Gem swore she saw a ruin in there somewhere.

Now, she wasn’t going to try and stake a territory in the alien landscape. She was a braver elf than most but she would not be doing that, no thank you! She’d just set up her base across the river from it, still in her glade’s cozy ancestral home, shoring up the border of their territory (not that the river needed much help. In terms of forest edges that were in danger of being deforested, this one was generally considered one of the safer spans of area).

And go exploring! Sometimes.

Once she’d made a cute, cozy little cottage for herself, fussed around with her garden a bit, and gotten up some of her favorite pieces of art, she had to finally admit that she was stalling. It wasn’t that she wasn’t curious about the strange place! She was! But it also… seemed kinda dangerous, you know?

But it was time to put on her big girl tunic and see what was goin’ on over there! She cinched her leather underbust around her waist and tucked a couple thin vials of health potion into the sturdy straps, laced up her greaves and gauntlets, corralled her hair back into a loose, low ponytail, and set off! Worst comes to worst, she’d down a health potion and dart back home. Of all the elvish traits she’d inherited, being quick hooved with a keen sense of when to get the heck outta somewhere were amongst her strongest. 

But things were off to a good start! The landscape here was beautiful, oh! So much of her wanted to take clippings or seed pods back home with her, though the rational part of her brain knew she should proooobably know a little more about what she was dealing with before she did that. But oh, the pinks and the oranges, the bright vibrant yellows despite autumn still being a ways away, the strange, moving vines and roots that did not radiate any malice or intent. It was gorgeous! 

Now she felt a little silly for taking so long to come out here! Eee, she wished she was a better artist, she wanted to show everybody back home how lovely it was here! 

And the ruins! Definitely human, though Gem didn’t know of any human civilizations that had lived so close to her glade on this side of the forest. It must be a very old ruin indeed! She pranced through them, light on her hooves, giggling to herself as she went. 

The ruins were very, very old, so Gem was quite surprised when she found herself caught in a modern trap.

She yelped as tension snapped around her, a net of string clearly recently-fashioned hoisting her from the earth and leaving her dangling a solid four or five feet above ground.

“Hey!” she shouted, struggling instinctively. Oh this was silly! Now she was glad she was alone! Imagine! Her! An elf! Caught by a simple snare like this! Oh if anyone in her glade saw her like this she would never live it down! 

But a modern trap meant a modern inhabitant. Gem’s blood chilled at the realization, and she then redoubled her efforts to get out. She didn’t know what kind of creature would have the mental acumen and dexterity to make a trap and was crazy enough to live here, but she! Didn’t! Want to know!

She yanked at the strings. It was well-crafted, likely spider silk, and Gem’s palms burned where she pulled and struggled. She kicked at it with her hooves, actually managing to snap a couple pieces here and there, but the net was intelligently made and did not unravel entirely at the loss of a few supports. 

The bad angle wore at her stamina and the rising panic didn’t help at all. Especially since the plants, which had previously laid about so docile, even friendly, seemed like they were moving towards her now! 

“Stay back!” she shouted at them, for all that she knew plants could neither hear nor “think” in the way that people thought. As she might have expected, the slow waves and wiggling of vines and roots went without dissuasion. She sank her teeth into the woven string, gnawing at it with her sharper canines, but the progress she made was frankly pitiful. It seemed she’d snapped all the weakest points, and all that remained was outside her ability to escape. 

Finally, she wore herself out, and hung there, limply, trapped in the net as a fly in an actual web. It was hard to breathe as deeply as her body wanted, all folded in half like she was, one hoof and hock sticking out between the netting with one of the strings biting painfully into her skin, but she was too tired to try and wiggle it back in. She was mortified, too, red faced from exertion and embarrassment both. And one of her antlers was stuck and trying to move her head made the hornbed ache!

It was hard to tell how long she hung there. Not enough time for her to fully catch her breath, but enough that when she heard approaching footsteps, she instinctively turned to look. It pulled on her antler and she let out a small, high pitched noise, wriggling in her bindings once again.

“Oh!” came a woman’s voice, “Hyello!”

“Hi,” Gem said, half-breathless and irritable. “Let me down.” 

“Well I almost wouldn’t need to!” The woman spoke with a strange accent, one Gem really hadn’t heard before, and she hung aggravatingly juuuuust in Gem’s peripherals. “You went and broke my trap! Not very polite of you.”

“What’s not polite is leaving me hanging here in a net!” Gem shouted, struggling again. 

The woman laughed at her, the jerk, but thankfully gave a, “I know, I know, I’m just messin’ with you. Hold still, here, hup!”

Movement, the net swaying, and then there was the release of some mechanism and Gem and the woman both dropped to the ground, the one on the outside of the net landing nicely on her feet. 

“Ow,” Gem deadpanned, far less amused with this situation than her captor/savior.

“You’re an interesting looking stranger. Are you from here?”

“I’m from across the river,” Gem said, accepting the help to sit up and detangle herself from the net. “I was just exploring. Are you from here?”

“No,” she said with a bright shrug. “I am living here now though, I suppose. I’m researching the area.”

Gem grunted and started trying to unhook the webbing from her antlers. As she did, she surveyed her new… whoever this was.

By all accounts, she looked like an ordinary human woman (and what indignity, an elf caught in a human trap!). Long, pale brown hair that hung halfway down her biceps. Thick, sturdy-made green overalls and a well made cotton shirt beneath. Big, sturdy stompin’ boots. Everything the woman wore (and netted, apparently) seemed to be fashioned for durability.

…Gem had been staring at her strong arms long enough she’d made out fine little hairs on her skin. Probably should look somewhere else. 

“Thanks,” she said, less irritable now that she wasn’t strung from a tree, “for helping me down.”

“Awh, sorry for snatchin’ you up in the first place! I’m trying to catch one of the little scuttlers, the one I’ve been researching got out and it’s been awful trying to get it back again.”

“Scuttlers?”

“That’s what I’m calling them! Here, come inside, I’ll show you my research lab.”

Now, Gem was an adult woman. She was smart enough to know it wasn’t always wise to follow a stranger to a secondary location. Especially after that stranger had already caught her in one trap.

But this stranger had also let her out of the trap. And she was a pretty woman. Surely pretty women had no nefarious purposes. And besides, Gem, like, owed her or something. It’d be rude not to go.

“Sorry again about your trap,” she mentioned, glancing at the broken remains before following.

“No worries! It was getting old, anyway.”

“Mm. Hey, what’s your name? I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

“Oh yeah! I’m your friendly resident Pearlo! Call me Pearl,” she said cheerfully, whirling around to outstretch her hand.

Gem took it in hers, strong, callused human fingers clasping firmly around dainty elvish ones.

“Call me Gem,” she echoed.

“Hey, listen to that! Gem and Pearl, we get one more and we’ll have a whole jewelry box.”

Gem laughed, and noticed that Pearl had not released her hand in order to resume walking her inside. They were holding hands now. Pearl didn’t even seem to notice it, so it was probably natural and nothing important to her. It should’ve felt natural and unimportant to Gem, too, she’d held lots and lots of hands before and it had never meant anything particularly special.

But, well, you see, Gem was not immune to Pretty Lady. 

She followed her into one of the ruined structures, which was not so ruined on the inside, and listened as Pearl discussed her research. The “scuttler” was some sort of guard dog for one of those ancient underground cities, barking whenever passerby tread too loudly and alerting the alarm system, and eventually a huge beast. Gem listened with one cheek propped up on her fist, watching Pearl walk about her laboratory with the occasional “mhm” or “oh really?” to keep her going.

It was when Pearl said a particularly silly joke with a toss of her hair and a cock of her hip that Gem realized, “Oh, you’re trying to impress me!”

Pearl shocked still, mouth hanging open and eyes blown wide, and Gem giggled to see her blush.

“No, no,” she rushed to follow up, “keep going.” She tilted her head so her bright curls spilled over her shoulder and smiled with a flutter of her eyelashes. “It was working.”

[the-somwthing]

Welcome to my little meta analysis essay called

Why do we misremember Flower Husbands as being “nicer” than it was?

Disclaimer: I’m not here to talk about whether or not FH is “toxic” or anything like that. It’s just a fact that many old fans rewatching FH POV and new fans who are watching it for the first time after seeing fan content tend to be surprised at how they actually behaved in the series compared to how everyone remembered them being back in the day. This will NOT go over whether or not I think FH is unhealthy or whatever and instead just discuss why I believe this phenomenon has happened.

So, if I try to make this a fancy well written essay, I’ll be here all day, so I’ll just get to the point. 3rd Life came out during the DSMP era of mcyt. MCRP has been around for ages, but the DSMP style of RP (which I’ll be calling “smp rp”) was pretty much popularized by DSMP, mostly towards the end of 2020. For reference, 3rd Life started early 2021, so there’s about a half a year between these two events, and DSMP kept going for years so 3rd Life was absolutely happening during the golden era of DSMP.

But what does DSMP have to do with this? Well, it sort of created this idea of “lore” and only specific things being “canon”. You can make fun of me for the way I worded that, but you know what I mean, DSMP was weird about that stuff. I don’t really blame them as it was kind of a new style of RP they accidentally spawned, but still, it was a confusing time for SMPs.

3rd Life was actually less like DSMP and more like the modern SMP RPs, where there’s no (known, lol) scripted events and the fandom itself deciphers what is or isn’t “canon” rather than it being told to them, with mostly everything being considered canon. HOWEVER, I do believe that DSMP’s style did still affect the fandom, specifically with the topic of this essay, Flower Husbands.

But why would it only really affect Flower Husbands? Now we get into a rough topic: shipping discourse. Back in those days, shipping in the mcyt fandom was heavily frowned upon. Moreso than it is today (I know it’s still around, but it was a lot worse the earlier we go lol). I’ve even seen old relics of ppl saying flower husbands should only be portrayed as platonic cuz it’s wrong to ship them, despite their team name literally being husbands. But more importantly, for A LOT of people, flower husbands was the One Ship people felt “allowed” to ship, BECAUSE it was canon. So they would allow FH and shun every other ship.

My point isn’t actually that, with it being the only “acceptable” ship everyone tried to make it more wholesome, though I suppose that could be a contributor. But my ACTUAL point is where all the things I laid out finally close in on each other:

Ships were a Dangerous territory in mcyt fandom, and ships being “canon” was something a lot of people weren’t prepared to deal with. People don’t want to get too close to RPF territory, but back in the day their ideas of c! vs cc! wasn’t as great, so they default to the DSMP Rule of “if it’s stated to be roleplay, then it’s canon to the characters, if not, it’s noncanon and just the CCs hanging out”.

You see where I’m going with this? When trying to follow this rule for a character relationship where they don’t explicitly state what is or isn’t RP, they hear “we’re married” and instantly mark that as canon to the characters since it clearly isn’t true to the CCs, and tend to block out anything else, otherwise you’re risking it not actually being true to the characters. Especially when it’s things like Scott saying something mean about Jimmy; that directly contradicts the “these characters are in love” thing, so it must not be canon, right?

But wouldn’t people still remember that these things happened, or did they actually straight up not process any of it? My answer to that is: of course everyone was paying attention, but with the context that it’s the CCs playing a video game, all of the teasing and other behavior seems WAY less serious. It just looks like average friends playing a hunger games smp together. And as I explained earlier, the fandom was ONLY processing this as a CC thing, so Scott’s treatment of Jimmy never stood out because that’s just how it is playing games.

Back to DSMP, I’m not active in that fandom anymore but I’ll see snippets sometimes, and I’ve seen the claim that beeduo was actually boring in canon and the fandom was the one that made it interesting. I feel like this is exactly what happened with FH. Nobody was actually expecting anyone to go hard into romantic roleplay, so the fans just take whichever pair says they’re getting married and fill in the blanks themselves. And that was normal back then, it wasn’t fans making stuff up for no reason, it was kind of expected of us.

So yeah, I personally believe that this whole confusion about FH is a result of its time. Whether you want to finally look at the actual substance of the relationship rather than following weird rules about what is or isn’t “canon”, or you believe that since FH was from a time where romantic RP was confusing and weird it would make the most sense to take into account the time period it came from and ignore the less appealing bits in favor of the fanon, I don’t really care honestly. But man isn’t this an interesting situation.

[rosegoldorigins]

MCYT Halloween Gift Exchange 2024

For VoidRatWrites!

Happy secret gift exchange @voidratwrites! I hope you like this! :D

@mcyt-halloween

Notes:

Boo! I hit you with the fluff! (And a dash of angst like sprinkles on a sundae)

I don't know how spooky this is >~< I got carried away playing with your prompts so forgot this was a spooktober fic.

Prompts:

DreamSMP - SBI (Dark SBI optional) - Fae AU - Shapeshifter Tommy - Give some power back to Tommy. Don't let him get bullied.

Title- You Got Too Close (And That's Not Fair. I Fell For You)

Summary- Shapeshifter Tommy got himself in a mess with the Fae.

He could admit it was his fault!

The forced contract was expected. The love and care they gave him was not...

Maybe that wasn’t such an issue for humans. Tommy wouldn’t know, he didn’t masquerade as one often, but as a shapeshifter he get into deep trouble fast just by shifting into the right form and passing security.

-----

Tommy’s problem as a shapeshifter was he was always so curious.

He’d done it again. He’d slipped past initial impressions and modified his form to copy exactly what was in front of him. Even… even magic.

This was his biggest con yet he thought as he met the eyes of a fae. His bright pink hair and sharp red eyes made the world around him look more vibrant when Tommy stared at him head on.

Tommy was doing that too… He imagined the powerful creature was seeing a dazzling blonde fae with mesmerising blue irises, light shifting around him to highlight all his best angles.

Tommy wasn’t a fae. He wasn’t anything even close to a fae and though the ancient being before him could sniff his kind from a mile away Tommy was fooling him. He’d copied too perfectly. His magic smelled the exact same.

Tommy grinned flashing his sharp teeth. The fae sighed rolling his eyes as elegantly as royalty.

“How did you get in here?” Techno asked.

“I’m a mastermind!” Tommy teased. “A stealth artist and a-“

“Thief.” The fae supplied.

“I haven’t stolen anything!” Tommy refuted.

“Not yet.”

“I ain’t no thief!” Tommy shouted throwing his arms out and making magic sparkle around him.

God that didn’t happen for lesser fae, he checked in on Techno and saw his eyebrow raise. He’d noticed too. Tommy was ‘powerful’ by fae standards.

“I came to see what all the fuss was about! A ball? And I wasn’t invited?!” He acted appalled.

“You are nothing here.” Techno turned his head away dismissively. “You hold no land and no title why would I invite you?”

“I’ve got titles! Plenty of titles!”

“Like?” Techno tilted his head just enough to catch his eye over his shoulder.

“Like- like I’d tell you.” Tommy crossed his arms.

He knew anything he said would catch him out. Fae social classes were nothing like a dragons or racoons. You didn’t fight like a savage to get what you wanted, you spun tales and found loopholes to break your enemies apart.

Techno scoffed walking away.

“Hey!” Tommy shouted. “I wasn’t done talking to you!”

Techno ignored him as he traveled smoothly down the hall.

“You’re being rude!”

The fae froze like a spell was cast over him. As Tommy caught up the tension in Techno’s shoulders fled and he looked him over meaningfully.

“Apologies.” He said automatically.

“You don’t mean it.” Tommy bared a fang with a hiss.

The fae blinked at him, surprised by the feral sound. He turned slowly and bowed slightly keeping his eyes on Tommy.

“I am sincere in my apologies…” Techno said carefully. “I merely felt your lack of cooperation in the conversation was…” He considered his next words.

“Lack of cooperation?” Tommy spat. “What on Earth are you talking about?”

“Your titles.” Techno replied testily. “You didn’t share them.” He stood with a flourish of his hands. Tommy was jealous on how he could settle his clothes and hair so easily, even his copious amounts of jewellery didn’t jingle unless he commanded them to.

“Look Techno.” Tommy glared at him. “You didn’t greet me properly when I entered your territory, you called me a thief and you’ve been dismissing me for months now on the basis that I don’t meet your standards.”

He could feel his eyes heat up as magic fizzled in the air, this wasn’t something a shapeshifter was able to do. Sure he could copy visuals, pick up culture and language in a cinch but magic was always meant to be basic. This wasn’t basic. The fae’s eyes widened minutely. Tommy was presenting as powerful.

“Have you ever considered that my lack of cooperation stems from your behaviour?” Tommy growled. “If you treated me nicer maybe we wouldn’t be butting heads all the time!”

The fae bowed deeper making Tommy’s magic fizzle out in shock.

Techno never bowed… Sure the small one he’d done before was given to a million fae to appease testy lords and ladies. Even his swift dry apology was commonplace but a deep bow?

“I atone for my sins.” Techno said hurriedly. “It is a dishonour that I couldn’t pick up the strength of your power. You are clearly remarkable-”

“As all the others.” Tommy huffed crossing his arms. He taped his finger with a frown. He didn’t like this new behaviour in the fae, Techno bowed to no one… least of all a shapeshifter.

Techno looked up in surprise. Tommy’s magic was gone. He’d let it disappear into the aether.

A shapeshifter’s magic only worked for short sharp displays. It was all visual. All a lie. Techno straightened.

“Are you…” He cleared his throat. “Would you like to join me?” He waved down the hall.

Tommy’s eyes widened as he looked to him.

“I was heading to the training grounds.” The fae said awkwardly. “Balls were never quite my thing…”

Tommy lit up. “Sure big man!” He bounced up beside him. “Lead the way!” He laughed.

The simple earing in his right ear jingled at his swift movements. Techno’s eyes drew to it for a moment.

“Alright…” Techno began walking again.

“How good are you with a sword?” Tommy asked. “I’m the best.” He puffed his chest out.

“Really?” Techno deadpanned. “Do you not know who I am?”

“Enlighten me.” Tommy teased. “The legends have slipped my mind.”

Techno was widely popular for his strength in battle. He bowed to no one because he could kill faster than a fae could mutter a curse. Tommy knew all this. The fae was dangerous and for some twisted reason it drew Tommy in more than it warned him away.

 

Tommy got what he wanted. He was fighting the fae known best for his bloodshed.

If Tommy thought too hard he couldn’t pinpoint why he wanted it so bad. Why his curiosity urged him to test the boundaries of the strongest creature alive.

Tommy threw Techno’s attack off, swinging his sword and deflecting every blow.

The fae was smiling. Tommy couldn’t remember ever seeing him smile. Not with other powerful fae, not with the High King or even with the soldiers he trained.

Tommy forced Techno’s steps to slide back and he twirled around his opponent to test his reflexes.

The fae was fast, smart, he didn’t take the bait and body slammed Tommy as he got too close.

Tommy kept his footing even as the fae charged forward and he saw the glint in Techno’s eye that he was enjoying the challenge.

Tommy was enjoying it too…

As the fae fought harder his magic turned his aura red. Techno’s hair turned darker, his eyes shifted colour and his clothes looked like the spilt blood of a thousand battles. Even his jewellery shifted in tune to his fighting. Tommy grinned latching onto his power to soak up every piece of magic he could take.

He didn’t realise how it was turning him red too. His eyes and hair changed, his clothes moved with him like a second skin as his sword shone brighter and his teeth turned sharper.

Techno was delighted and Tommy matched him like every shapeshifter was naturally inclined to do.

As the battle progressed the strength of their magic grew. It burst in waves with each hit of their weapons drawing in curious souls.

They gained an audience…

Tommy taunted and bantered parrying the fae’s sword and striking at his openings. Neither of them got hit and it made Tommy wonder how he fought a little too well for his experience.

The realisation made him stumble and Techno took the opening enthusiastically.

Tommy was thrown to the ground and he gasped as the wind left him.

He’d been hit with a magical attack not just a physical one so his form disappeared in a moments notice leaving him raw and open.

He heaved looking up to meet those red eyes that offered him such a tantalising challenge. The fae was shocked and disgusted.

“Shapeshifter.” He growled.

“Tech-“ Tommy wheezed. “I’m-“

The fae marched towards him grabbing the collar of his shirt and lifting him up.

“You dare deceive me?! Do you know who I am? What I’m capable of?!”

“Yes, yes, I do.” Tommy grabbed his wrists weakly. His powers were still feeding off Techno’s. He could feel his form rippling just as the fae shook him.

“Stop that!”

“I can’t!” Tommy gasped. “I’m sorry, I can’t…” He bowed his head.

Within a moment he was the same fae as before. Blonde hair sparkling unnaturally, blue eyes aimed at the floor.

The audience around them were chattering and hissing at the imposter among their midst. Techno had to kill him. This was a display now. A public execution.

Techno rattled a growl as he pulled Tommy closer to his face. The shapeshifter flinched at his hot breath and sharp teeth.

“Why did you do it?” Techno asked quietly.

Tommy shivered as he shifted his grip on the fae’s wrists. “I don’t know…” He closed his eyes helplessly.

“Give me a better answer than that!” Techno hissed in offence.

“I-“ Tommy’s shoulders curled up. “I got drawn in!” He shook his head. “It’s stupid, stupid. I knew it was dangerous. I knew you would get angry!”

“Then why did you do it?!” Techno insisted.

“Because of you!” Tommy admitted. He met the fae’s eyes and his breath caught. The red reminded him of a vampires and it so enticingly held his attention like a thrall. That was the power of the fae. Their beauty enraptured you until it was too late. Until you were too close.

Tommy was too close…

“Me?” Techno replied flatly.

“You… are the best of the best.” Tommy said slowly. “You are the strongest and the most fascinating. Even from a distance…” He swallowed. “I guess I got tricked didn’t I?” He chuckled. “Fell for your charm like every other stupid human.”

The fae narrowed his eyes. “You really are a thief.” He said.

Tommy exhaled losing the adrenaline in his body. “Yeah…” He agreed. “All I wanted was your attention.” He grit his teeth. “I got what I wanted…” He tilted his head to bare his neck.

Tommy had shifted into many creatures in his lifetime. Simple animals, magical entities and proud predators. There was a universal language amongst all of them even when Tommy acted as prey.

Techno’s eyes widened at his submission. Fae were too proud to ever bare their weaknesses for the world to see.

His grip on Tommy’s shirt tightened then within a blink he stepped forward and warped into the castle.

Tommy spluttered. “What- How?”

“You aren’t after my magic…” Techno said curiously. Tommy swallowed as the fae looked him over. “And you have no bad intent…” He said in surprise.

“I-“

Techno dropped him to the floor making him gasp.

Tommy watched as Techno moved to the window. He looked over the crowd in his courtyard, all angry and growling at each other.

“I’m sorry…” Tommy said weakly.

The fae hummed tilting his head as the door burst open.

“Techno!”

Tommy whipped his head to the newcomer. It was the fae’s brother.

Wilbur met Techno’s eye then when their expressions flashed in silent communication he turned his sharp gaze to Tommy.

“Shapeshifter.” He growled in disgust.

Tommy dipped his head. It wasn’t surprising the fae hated shapeshifters, nearly every species disowned and exiled him from their ranks.

The fae’s feet entered his vision and he bowed his head deeper making Wilbur scoff. “Have you no pride?”

Tommy flinched and looked up. “What?”

“I heard you bared your neck to my brother and now you bow your head to me? If there’s one thing you should know about the fae is we hate weakness.”

Tommy looked carefully to Techno then flicked his eyes back to Wilbur. “You… want me to fight you?” He asked.

“I want you to defend yourself.” Wilbur corrected with a hiss. He threw his foot forward and Tommy dodged staring up at him with wide eyes from the floor.

“That’s better.” Wilbur nodded. He turned to Techno and joined his side. “So why is he still alive?”

Techno scoffed looking Tommy over. “He is… strong.”

Wilbur rolled his eyes at his answer. “Always so easily impressed Techno.” He walked over to the window. “Dad’s not going to be happy about this.”

Tommy looked between them in confusion.

“I think dad will be quite happy actually.” Techno jabbed at his brother.

Wilbur shrugged as he kept watching the commotion outside. “You’ve made a mess for me to clean up.”

“You enjoy the work.” Techno sighed.

Wilbur grinned. “Maybe I do…” He conceded. “But I didn’t ask for more fuel to the fire.” He slid his eyes to Tommy. “You’re going to be the talk of the century. I hope you like popularity.”

Tommy shivered.

The door opened again and in came the High King. Tommy bowed his head swiftly freaking out that the most powerful creature in all of fae kind was in the same room as him.

“Your majesty.” Techno mocked as he crossed his arms.

“Techno.” The King said amused.

Wilbur made a dramatic bow. “Evening dad.” He cocked his head. “Wonderful day for some drama don’t you think?”

Tommy paled at the two princes greeting their father. Tommy knew Techno was a general and one of the most highly respected fae in all the land but a prince?

“What do we have here?” The King asked towards Tommy.

“A shapeshifter.” Wilbur bounced over to his brothers shoulder. “And guess who wants to keep him?”

“Keep?” Tommy couldn’t help blurting out. He tensed at the High King’s eyes on him but he was too busy looking to Techno for a sign this was a misunderstanding.

Techno was watching him closely. “You think I’d let you go?”

“You think I’d accept being kept?” Tommy spat. He could feel his magic flaring again. Three powerful fae were in the room and Tommy was matching their energy. His eyes turned black and his aura turned red as his hair floated around his face. “I’m not an animal.” His voice echoed with power.

“Really?” Wilbur hummed. “I thought that’s what your species were well known for,” He smiled. “Filthy little animals that steal and cheat and lie-“

“Wilbur that’s enough-“ The King interrupted.

Tommy shot his hand out throwing a burst of magic at Wilbur’s face. The fae grinned as it flew towards him, Techno’s hand reaching out and intercepting the blow.

Tommy’s eyes widened as he looked to Techno. The fae was shaking his hand out with a frown at him. “So you are using my magic.” He said.

Tommy bared his teeth. “I’m using my own actually.” He growled.

“How does that work?” Wilbur asked curiously.

Tommy’s spine straightened. He was appalled they were having this conversation. He moved his eyes to the High King then pouted at Techno.

“I’m leaving.” He declared.

“Be my guest.” Techno waved his arm out.

Tommy stood and balled his hands into fists. Something was off here. Fae were all about tricks.

“Before you go…” Techno said idly. “I believe you owe me a deal for your deception.”

“I don’t owe you anything.” Tommy growled.

“Don’t you?” Techno acted surprised. “You entered my land without stating your true nature, you sparred me in my own court and used my own magic against me.” His eyes turned dark as he glared at Tommy. “You’ve caused me a mess that needs to be dealt with.” He waved outside to the fae that would be gossiping and jeering at Techno’s behaviour. He should’ve publicly executed Tommy. That was tradition for a non fae infiltrating a court. It was an insult.

Tommy frowned and thought it over.

“I suppose…” He conceded. If he gave Techno his deal there would be no debt. Tommy wouldn’t be hunted down.

It was risky to make a deal with the fae but it was riskier to leave indebted to the prince.

Tommy straightened and let the magic he’d gathered settle properly into his form. He was as honest and deceiving as Techno now. They were on even ground.

“What do you propose?” Tommy asked carefully.

Techno grinned sharply. “Will?” He tilted his head to his brother.

Wilbur happily stepped forward. “We want your name.” He held his hand out. “Just to start easy.” He said innocently.

Tommy frowned at him. “You can call me Tommy.” He replied.

It wasn’t his True Name and Wilbur could tell. He pouted in disappointment.

“Is our deal fulfilled?” Tommy asked.

“Oh heavens no.” Wilbur smiled. “There should be terms. Give and take on both sides no?”

Tommy glared at him. “Your next words will be under contract.” He warned. “Don’t ask for things that do not relieve my debt.”

Wilbur giggled giddily. “Said like a true fae.” He stepped closer. “Well then… Tommy.” He said for emphasis. “The terms are as follows, you get to keep your life and we clean up the social mess outside,” He smiled. “for your returned presence at the castle for as long as you deceived us. Do you agree to those terms?”

Tommy pinched his lips thinking the deal over. Wilbur was a master of words. It was well known that if you wanted to succeed in your end of a deal you went to Techno not Will.

“I do not agree to those terms.” He decided.

All the fae in the room tensed, eyes glowing with magic.

“Instead I offer new terms.” Tommy appeased. “I will stay only for as long as I deceived you.” He stated. “Afterwards I am free without pursuit.” He gave Techno a meaningful look. “During my time in this castle I do no have to do anything you say.” He narrowed his eyes at Wilbur. “I am independent with no influence or magical sway. I will be safe.” He carefully looked to the High King. “And I will be treated with respect. You will protect me from any dishonour fae outside our agreement give me. And in return…” He sighed. “I will help clean up the social mess I’ve made.” He met Techno’s eye. “Do you agree to these terms?” He asked.

Technoblade smiled at him then passed a look to his brother.

Wilbur nodded and Techno stepped forward with his hand held out. “I agree to those terms.” He said.

Tommy took his hand and their contract locked into place. Tommy could feel it in his magic. He was bound to the terms he’d set. He couldn’t leave before his three months was up.

“Great.” Tommy withdrew his hand and rubbed it on his clothes. “It’s an honour and all that.” He rolled his eyes.

Techno scoffed.

“Do I get a room?” He checked.

He technically hadn’t asked for one so it was well within their right to make him sleep on the floor. Then again… would that be a breach of ‘treating him with respect?’

“Ha ha! Already so demanding!” Wilbur laughed as he flourished his hands. “These next few months will be a treat!” He gave a pointed look to his father.

The High King was watching Tommy closely, it was the most terrifying experience to exist under his gaze.

“I suppose I have some basic guest rooms you could use.” Techno drawled. “But don’t expect anything lavish.” He warned.

Tommy crossed his arms. “Wasn’t planning on it.” He scowled at Wilbur. “Fae don’t like shapeshifters after all.”

 

Turns out the fae really liked Tommy. Techno was fascinated by his magic and fighting, Wilbur was interested in how Tommy used his shifting abilities and Phil liked having something new going on in his court. They’d never had a shapeshifter stick around.

Tommy expected scorn and vitriol from the High King and his sons but they didn’t struggle at all with the terms he’d set. They respected him, they defended him against other fae and they made no move to hypnotise or cast a spell on him.

Tommy was having to adjust to them looking after him. They sought him out and gave him all he needed, they gave him entertainment and taught him a thing or two about how fae worked. It was nothing like how he expected things to go. The ‘social mess’ he was tasked to clean up was fixed swiftly in his first week of staying with them. Wilbur knew exactly how to cut arguments off and the power of Phil’s status left no room for the fae to budge on the family’s decision.

It wasn’t up for debate… a shapeshifter had entered their ranks and Technoblade had struck a deal with the critter. No one knew what the deal was but they were smart enough not to stick their noses where they didn’t belong.

Tommy’s only responsibility was staying on Technoblade’s territory until his time was up. It was exceptionally easy and he was waiting for the other ball to drop.

He was enjoying himself… and when he enjoyed himself that’s when things went bad.

 

The last month of Tommy’s stay was the best he’d ever experienced with a group that wasn’t his own species. The fae gave him passing pats, messing with his hair and pulling him into side hugs. They each had a special bond with Tommy and the boy had grown more in his skills and identity than he’d ever done in his whole time on earth.

He was missing them even as he still spent time with them knowing it had to end at some point.

He couldn’t live as a fae… he wasn’t one. (And they knew that. They were immensely accepting of his shapeshifter abilities. He got to be whatever he wanted, when he wanted.)

Tommy couldn’t gather the words to say how he felt. How he yearned to stay with them. How he wanted to keep having what they gave him.

The time came when his contract was up and Tommy left with a swift goodbye. He couldn’t handle doing it slow. He didn’t want to drag out the pain.

They didn’t follow him. Tommy knew they couldn’t but it still stung. This was his decision. Could he risk going back? Could he risk learning that the past three months was a ruse? That they’d never actually cared for him?

Tommy lasted a week. It was all he could do before his loneliness consumed him. He snuck into Techno’s room.

“Techno.”

Techno looked up and locked eyes with him immediately.

Tommy bobbed his head, dropping from the ceiling and shifting from the lemur he’d been to the fae he often presented as.

“H-hey.” He fiddled with his hands nervously.

“Hey.” Techno smiled.

Tommy didn’t know what to say further than that. He wasn’t able to spy on them and gather courage after observing, the fae would be able to sense him too easily. This was the only way he could get answers.

“How… how are you?” Tommy tilted his head so he was looking past his fringe at the fae. He knew he shouldn’t be here, there was nothing owed between them, sticking around was begging for another mistake to strike.

“I’m well…” Techno said slowly. It was a tell that he was lying. Techno was trying to find a loophole.

Tommy stiffened and looked up at him properly.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Techno chuckled waving his hands. “It’s a small problem. Should take no time at all to fix.”

Tommy nodded dropping his shoulders. “That’s good.” He sighed. “Can I help in any way?”

Techno’s lips pinched. “You already are…” He admitted.

Tommy frowned.

He was already…? Oh.

“Did you… were you missing me?” He asked.

Techno snorted looking him over fondly. “You could say that…”

Tommy smiled and stepped forward. “Right.” He said with more confidence. “Because the great Techno, Fae of Blood and War doesn’t have feelings like that.” He joked.

Techno embraced him as soon as Tommy was close and he melted dropping his head onto his. “No.” He agreed. “It’s nothing like that.”

Tommy snickered hugging the fae back. “It was a week loser.”

Techno squeezed him and growled lowly. “That’s only as long as you were able to keep away.”

“Hey!” Tommy looked up at him indignantly. “That’s not-!”

Techno gave him a look.

Tommy coughed avoiding his eye. “You’re only kinda close.”

“Right.” Techno replied amused. “Because the great Tommy is unpredictable.”

“Exactly!” Tommy shouted. “I’ll hear no further slander!”

The fae chuckled, his voice ringing with power. “It’s good to have you back Tommy…” He looked the boy over. “You-“ He swallowed.

Tommy met his eye and saw something conflicted swirl within them.

“I want to give you my True Name.” Techno said.

“What?!” Tommy stepped back. “Techno no-!”

“Please.” Techno closed his eyes as Tommy left his arms. He opened them to smile at him sadly. “I need to know you can call upon me if you need. Even if you never want me around… I need you to have access to me.”

Tommy’s body trembled at the thought. Such devotion meant Techno wasn’t tricking him. The fae didn’t even ask for a trade. He wasn’t asking Tommy to return the favour, Techno only wanted him to have access to him.

“I-“ He said.

Techno held his hand out and Tommy placed his hand in his automatically.

“Tommy…” Techno exhaled. “I am giving you my True Name freely and without pain.” He looked up at his face. “It’s Technoblade.”

Tommy felt the fae’s magic wash over him, Techno’s True Name was his now. His to own and his to use.

“I’m giving mine in return under the same conditions.” Tommy stated. Techno’s eyes widened in surprise as Tommy tightened his grip. “It’s TommyInnit.”

Tommy felt his magic recede for just a moment to fill Techno up. The fae rolled his shoulders realising what Tommy meant when he said his magic was his own.

They were both red fae but there was a contrast.

Techno’s power was born from bloodshed and fighting, Tommy’s power came from fighting too but it was a different form, a type of survival that every shapeshifter was familiar with. Desperation.

Tommy could shift and steal like his life depended on it because it always did. He could mimic to look exactly like Techno and he could become a carbon copy of any fae in the court so they would accept him.

Tommy had been shifting his whole life and never found acceptance. Techno was the first one to show him what that felt like.

“TommyInnit.” Techno smiled.

“Technoblade." Tommy grinned back.

“I can't believe…” Techno shook his head.

“I guess Wilbur is going to have a field day with this.” Tommy joked. “He always said we were like brothers.

Techno pouted. “Can I own your name for a little longer without him having it too? He’s going to be such a pain about this.”

Tommy held back a laugh at Techno’s pettiness. He really was a fae no matter how much he said he felt disconnected from his kind. How long did he expect to have the sole privilege of owning his name?

“I guess a few more moments can’t hurt.” Tommy shrugged.

Techno pulled him into a hug and held him tight. “Can you stay?” He asked weakly like he expected a rejection.

“Mm.” Tommy pretended to think about it. “You do realise I just signed my True Name over right? I think that’s a pretty big hint that I’m staying.”

Techno pulled away slightly to look at him. “You… you don’t want to run away?” He asked.

“Why would I?” Tommy shrugged. “What’s a shapeshifter got out there that’s better than in here?”

Techno smiled sadly. “Freedom?”

Tommy gripped his arms and kept his gaze steady. “And a whole world aiming knives at my back.” He reminded.

Techno’s face fell. “You’re so strong Tommy…”

“But I don’t have to be when I have you.” Tommy said.

Technoblade blinked. “I suppose not…” He thought back to all the fae that had tried to kill Tommy. Wilbur and him had beheaded every last one of them.

“So I’m staying.” Tommy smiled. “And truthfully…” He looked away bashfully. “I’m glad you want me too. I thought…”

Techno snorted and bumped heads with him. “We all fell for you pretty fast Tommy… None of those three months was a lie.”

“That’s good to know.” Tommy leaned more into Techno’s embrace. “I was kinda worried.”

Techno squeezed him. “That’s fair.”

“But like you told me before…” Tommy reminded. “None of us are monsters.”

“No.” Techno chuckled. “Not me and certainly not you.”

Tommy hummed in disbelief. It would take some time to unlearn the hate he’d been given but at least he had the fae to help him.

“I love you big brother Techno.” He joked.

“I love you Tommy.” The fae replied. He was wholly serious when he said it.

Tommy hugged him tighter to let him know he returned the sentiment.

He loved his new family even as he struggled to get the words out.

He couldn’t wait to share his True Name with the others.

-----

I hope you enjoyed VoidRatWrites! :D I loved your prompts and I feel like we like the same DreamSMP/SBI stuff! Let me know what you thought! I tried to keep it short and sweet ^-^

[As always this story is purely for fun and to progress my writing skills in a topic I enjoy. These are my characters and have nothing to do with the content creators]

You can find more of my work on AO3! (I'm still new to Tumblr so I haven't posted much here)

I appreciate all comments and interactions! <3

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: georgeeehd

today's interviewee is reese/georgeeehd/lmanburg/tommyofcolor! dreamlying member, mcytblr og, and the person who discovered that dream wasn't registered to vote. below is a transcript of questions and answers!

Q: What was your experience in wider MCYTblr?

A: I don’t have much experience with wider mcytblr. Maybe I used to reblog Grian stuff on my main blog, before all this DSMP shit. There wasn’t much of a Dream community when I started posting, much less one for DreamNotFound (surprisingly, Dreamnap was the popular ship of the two early on????? so bizarre to me), so I dug out my microcosm immediately. There was never a wider myctblr for me.

Q: What was your experience in critblr/dreamlying specifically?

A: The notion that dreamlying is the spawn of critblr is interesting to me, because I agree with you now, but I wouldn’t have at the time. Critblr was a tumblr community. Dreamlying was a friend group, predating critblr. I considered myself dteamblr for a really long time— I never felt aligned with the critblr movement because that was always Jason’s territory, really. I don’t mention it to nitpick or to scold, but like, I’m into this archiving thing, too, so I wanted to opine on how we label these groups. Maybe there should be a distinction made between what we considered ourselves vs. what we actually were.

My experience in proto-critblr was pretty cushy because it was all mine. Me and my contemporaries had a following, we were respected, we had smart things to say, we were funny, established, etc. Think, “The School of Athens.” I definitely grew a bit of an ego with how popular I was, which I’m sure will come across in this interview, haha.

At times I felt a little unchallenged, like people were only agreeing with me not because I was right, but because I was saying anything at all. At the same time, I was incredibly defensive and insecure, so the little pushback I might have gotten would bother me terribly. I was probably overreactive and mean. I was fifteen then, and I’m nineteen now, so there’s lots of things I would’ve handled differently, if I could.

In terms of my experience with dreamlying, I like what Ozzie had to say. We were all just very, very good friends. There’s not much else to it. In my first discord server, “dream lying” was a hidden messaging channel where we could critique Dream Team freely. “Dream lying” was supposed to parody the phrase “dream truthing.” So we were basically this tiny little secret society, at the start. There was no way we wouldn’t have hit it off.

Q: Are there any events that stand out to you?

A: A lot. Too many. Some are more personally relevant than historically relevant, and I don’t really know where to draw the line. The voter registration fiasco was a big one, but there were other smaller things… I was always in some fuckin’ controversy or another! The magic 8 ball says, Ask again later.

Q: Was being in MCYTblr an overall positive or negative experience for you?

A: Undoubtedly positive! I don’t even know where to start with this question. I met a lot of wonderful people that I still keep in contact with today, right? But beyond that, I feel like being in this community helped me grow a lot, like, personally. I was thinking and writing a lot. I learned so, so much, about people, about the internet, about fandom, about myself. It was such an expansive experience.

I guess I should mention that my time with mcytblr was incredibly stressful. My involvement in the fandom weighed heavily on my mental health. I felt very watched, and I still do. At my worst, I was hospitalized. (I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t mention my mcyt-induced mental hospital stint in my mcyt interview.) None of that really moves me, though, ‘cause it was all just part of the experience, and I find it all pretty funny, looking back.

Q: A few people have mentioned the account mcyttruth in relation to you, specifically around a callout post. What happened there? [I had misremembered-- I meant to ask this to Jason lmanburg, not Reese lmanburg.]

A: The mcyttruth callout wasn’t about me, but my discord server, dteamblr 2. I was not as involved here— at this point, critblr was in full bloom, and this server was like a rendezvous for people who liked dreamlying and modcord blogs (modcord was another friend group, like dreamlying, but critblr-based).

Regarding that callout specifically, I don’t know. Probably, there were too many r-slurs, too many jokes about hating Ranboo, the usual. There were a lot of callouts (for me or for people I was friends with), and I never really took them seriously. I mean, honestly, the url “mcyttruth” alone is derivative. Do you know how many times I’ve read the words “mcyt” and “truth”? Everything about this is a blur to me.

Q: I suppose I would ask-- given the current events surrounding many of the creators who were popular in 2020/2021, do you feel that dreamlying has been vindicated in their criticisms of creators?

A: Yes, but I would have said yes in 2020, because who these people are was as obvious to me then as it is now. Our criticisms weren’t like, headcanons that we made up to be mean, they were plain old observations. Wilbur was openly mentally ill, creepy, and generally dismissive of other people. Not to say that there aren’t good things about him either, but, of course this is the kind of guy to make his girlfriend clean up after him. There’s a million cautionary tales about guitar stringers with floppy hair under a beanie, whiny song lyrics, and a masturbatory approach to self-loathing.

Dream’s not this person anymore, so that’s not why I bring it up, but think back to when his old Reddit account was exposed for being active on r/The_Donald. That was everything we were ever talking about! That was Dream being exactly who he was— a young white man from Florida. I love Dream, always have, always will. Acknowledging that he is/was a whole person with flaws and unsavory politics, I think, is truer fanhood than the idolization everyone puts him through.

You use the word “vindicated” to acknowledge that we were heavily criticized ourselves. Most of that was on the basis of privacy— you know, whether or not it’s okay to speculate on people’s personal lives. It doesn’t matter that we were “right” so often, that we still are, and always will be, because people will focus more on the original sin of having speculated in the first place.

I used to love vindication because it made me feel smart, like I could see things that no one else could. Now it just makes me sad. I don’t think it has anything to do with smarts, nor would I care if it did. I think people just don’t let themselves think that far. You know, “I don’t want to make assumptions,” “It’s none of my business,” “It’s not that deep,” etc. Maybe there’s no instinct to look deeper at all. It really just makes me sad.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add/have archived?

A: I’d like to ask everybody to stay critical. The hivemind response to recent events have shown me that this fandom remains as shallow, unthinking, conformative, elementary… as it was four years ago.

Thank you for conducting these interviews in the first place. It's nice hearing everyone’s voices again.

[memryse]

talk on the dash about the state of hermitblr and yeah i agree i think this fandom is like. really obsessed with validation and appearances which i guess comes with the territory of a lot of us being adults/older teens and liking minecraft youtubers and subconsciously feeling weird about that not being an accepted thing. which i think is fine and normal to a certain degree i certainly fall into that trap sometimes but sometimes that morphs into shutting anything and everything down for the sake of appearing Nice and No Discourse and Not Like The Other MCYT Fandoms and being absolutely vehemently fucking defensive of every single little thing

idk i have a lot of feelings about the cat poll because i do feel culpable for everything that happened there, there wasn’t really any talk about the creator in the notes at all until my reblog. logically it was not my fault when all i did was make one reblog that i deleted after a few hours and certainly did not call for any kind of harassment, if anything i had people in the notes telling me i should be More mad but. there’s not really anything i can do about that and any apology would be more to assuage that feeling of guilt rather than making things better for the person who actually suffered the harassment at all. but seeing it all happen did seriously make me think about how fucked up this fandom can be, watching it morph so rapidly from “they said this cruel thing, that’s really fucked up” to me realising they already spoke about it and thus deciding to leave it alone on my end to the reblogs just going up and up and up and the op speaking about it again and it becoming “let’s win this to spite the op” (personally not sure how that one works exactly) and spreading it to twitter specifically encouraging people to make accounts to join the poll and again “spite the op” and also with very little regard for scar, The Actual Owner Of The Cat, potentially seeing any of it or whether he’d want anyone acting like that over HIS cat. like that is just actual targeted harassment over some kind of moral crusade over a stranger’s cat. and idk in a vacuum i don’t think anyone would be in the wrong per se for finding the initial comment upsetting but eventually it just became more about punishing the person

but then on the other end of the spectrum there’s no real room for discussion about certain topics within the fandom either because of a desperation to not repeat 2019 and not be like twitter because we have to be Better and Nicer and Not Do Discourse but in a shocking twist of events this has resulted in a fandom that is still Really Fucking Toxic and lets certain genuinely wrong things slide for the sake of keeping the peace but when something bad does get addressed it turns into a swarm of harassment and death threats that nobody will ever own up to being responsible for. i like to think i manage to stay on the good side of things by only being sporadically active to begin with (aka having other interests and a life) and generally leaving most of my opinions to private conversation until i feel the need to write a thinkpiece like this every so often but even then it’s exhausting looking in sometimes

[starscatteredsky]

Do you have any tips for timber wolfkin? :)

Tips for timber wolves!

pt: Tips for timber wolves! end pt

practice vocals! wolves have way more various vocals than just howls, and even their growls have multiple different sounds and meanings! there’s lots to learn!

make/commission a therian mask!

make/get gear!

practice quadrobics!

find someplace outside to claim as your territory!

go on lots of walks and hikes in nature!

try out long distance running or track and field!

snack on jerky or other fun foods to tear!

collect wolf plushes to have a pack

wear lots of silvery clothes

use chewellery!

lead life with loyalty!

hope these are helpful!! -👾

[image description:

a DNI banner with the background being the promotional image for Little Nightmares 2. The writing reads:

"DNI: radqueers, proshippers, radfems/TERFs, antikin/antitherian, homophobic/ ableist/ anti ACAB/ transphobic/ rasist/ antisemitic/ xenophobic/ antitheist/ anti athiest/ bigoted in any fashion, NSFW/sh/ed/cringe centered blog, fakeclaimer

Before you interact: We are pro mspec gays/lesbians, anti endo/tulpa "systems", enjoy MCYT/DSMP, pro self diagnoses with extensive research, multiple alters are punks/ anarchists"

end description]

[quaranmine]

The whole "How was Mumbo human before" makes me think of Mumbo basically being fed a ton of human meat in his formative years (shapeshifter being not very human-like in their true form or so). Which is... a dark thing to realize. But hey, at least it happened and you dont remember because you were too young, right, RIGHT??? Anyways, uhhh, dont know how to segue into this, but probably just have anyone asking that question just make Mumbo's brain emit a Windows bluescreen noise

HELLO???? I love your dark headcanon yeah sure let's get into this territory. Minecraft cannibalism. Do you think he tries to come to terms with this and shares with his friends and Scar (vex) just thinks it's normal

I also believe that shapeshifters are not super human-like in their true form. Which is a not even a mcyt headcanon, I think it goes back to me having an OC circa 7th grade who was a shapeshifter. I mean, why should they look human? They could be anything, so they don't have to have any recognizable default look.

Is it cannibalism if he's not human? I don't think it'd fit the definition. Or, in a world where there are lots of forms of intelligent species (avians, other hybrids, etc) is it always considered like cannibalism to eat another person? Are shapeshifters predatory to people? Or were Mumbo's caretakers just really screwed up?

I actually think that the predatory angle is fun and a little scary from the angle of "uncanny valley exists for a reason." Except poor Mumbo doesn't know anything about that and just assimilates into human+other culture. Or, on the other hand, his caretakers were just messed up and wanted him for whatever reason to appear human. Maybe it's safer to blend in with humans and they did it for the greater good. Or maybe they hoped Mumbo could trick people by passing as human for some reason that never came to pass because he ended up being on his own at a young age.

Anyway. Um. I'm not sure this fits the vibe of the current fic well enough to be actually incorporated as Lore(tm) but it'd make a funny joke from the dark comedy angle. However as general mcyt headcanons go it's a Fun one to explore!

[ilexdiapason]

Repostober Day 20 - if you like it...

“Hello,” slurs Scar, “you wouldn’t happen to know where a man such as myself… would find… an eligible bachelor to spend a little bit of time with?” Grian blinks. “Oh, you are plastered.” or, the "you got so drunk you asked your husband if he was single" trope, but with added mumbo being 100% done with this nonsense.

We're back into MCYT territory today with the most popular "old work" on ao3 user GoodTimesWithScar! I don't think I ever made a promo post for this one when it first came out, but it found its wings anyway, being almost at 10k hits at time of post scheduling. It doesn't need much introduction, I don't think - the summary pretty much speaks for itself. It's funny, it's silly, it's light-hearted, and it even caught some discourse because Scar stands up at one point and someone was affronted that I would write an ambulatory Scar in this AU where he's a twenty-something who's married to Grian and rooming with Mumbo and Cub. If you've never read this one, I hope you enjoy it - and if you've seen it before, I hope I can remind you of how you did enjoy it before!

[goldenpinof]

Twitter fans saying smut is problematic not only because dnp might see it, but also because the minors might see it.

vs

Ficbook being forced to block all gay and lesbian smut for russian users because of our "lgbt propaganda" laws which were all implemented under the slogan "protect children".

The parallels make me want to rip my eyes out.

From my experience twt fans tend to be younger and probably some of them come from mcyt, which also has younger creators and understandably different boundaries (which twt people tended to ignore btw). So it explains a lot, but man, sometimes baby queers say the dumbest and most harmful shit without even realizing it. And they say it with their full chest too.

twitter needs to flag nsfw content then. not to harm someone who posts it but to not put it on minors' timeline. and if twitter is capable of flagging "harmful" tweets, nothing is stopping them from doing the same with smut. also, there are minors here as well. not as many as on twitter, but they are here. if people post smut they usually say "18+" or something similar in their bios (both here and on twitter). so if you're a minor and see this, get the fuck out of there. unless you're totally okay with nsfw content (which would also be fair, don't tell me none of you weren't reading 18+ books when you were 14-17, it's individual).

i know it wasn't your point, but that's my point on twitter. and i haven't seen many people making it a problem about minors, but i saw some.

what's happening in russia and soon will happen in Belarus is a completely different issue. and honestly, i'm just tired of it. i hope both governments set themselves on fire. and with russian drones falling on Belarusian territory, this may come faster than we all think, lmao.

[queensparklekitten]

Rating: NOT CUTE!

While Minecraft and MCYT fans living in close proximity often leads to some overlap and intermixing, and interactions between the two CAN be positive and beneficial for both, MCYT posts should NOT be tagged as #minecraft! This ranges from distressing to actively harmful for base game focused fans (who will be referred to as Minecrafters in this for simplicity, even though most MCYT fans are also heavily into the base game), as Minecrafters need their own space and will understandably grow distressed at heavy presence of MCYT posts in their tags, as this prevents them from accessing things they need for proper enrichment and, while often not intended as such, is still essentially an attempt at taking over their territory- and will likely be responded to as such.

If your MCYT fans are crosstagging their posts as #minecraft or otherwise invading your Minecrafter's territory, you likely either have too small an enclosure or your MCYT fans are not properly socialized with Minecrafters. This should be remedied as soon as possible, as otherwise it will most likely lead to your Minecrafters and MCYT fans fighting each other, which can cause major damage to them both!

If you see Minecraft and MCYT fans fighting a lot, you might assume this is a natural occurrence, but this friction does not exist in the wild. Look to 2015 and before- this infighting rarely if ever occurred, Minecrafters often watched YouTube, and MCYT fans were treated as no different from Minecrafters. This is the natural state of Minecraft and MCYT fans in the wild. Heavy fighting between Minecraft and MCYT fans is brought about by artificial stressors such as the aforementioned crosstagging and territory invasion (which, again, is the direct result of small enclosures or isolation), Twitter discourse, cringe/purity culture, and many subtypes of MCYT fans being mistaken at a distance for another species that resembles them but is actually highly dangerous to their well-being as well as to that of Minecrafters.

If you're keeping Minecraft and MCYT fans in the same enclosure, make sure it's large enough for firm territory to be established without it feeling cramped for either of them, and try to keep the above listed stressors to the minimum you can. You should probably also make sure your Minecrafters are socialized enough with MCYT fans to, at the very least, recognize that there are too many Minecraft YouTubers for all of them to be problematic.

I'm going to have to go soon so I can't say much more, but yeah be sure to keep MCYT posts out of the #minecraft tag for the good of your cube-crazy creatures!