#of course you should do your own research and PLEASE correct me

[identifying-cat-phenotypes]

question!! does a cat's eye color have any impact on what their phenotype would be, or is it a separate thing? if it's separate, do certain phenotypes tend to have certain eye colors (ie black self with green eyes), or is that also totally separate?

It depends. A lot.

For the most part, we don't really know EXACTLY what causes the differences across eyes (well. obviously its pigmentation and refraction. but outside of that? we have basic ideas but nothing too concrete)

We know a lot of cats have similar (yet changing!!!) eye colors due to a common ancestor. However, they aren't really linked to each gene. Well, except for the albinism locus, DBE (including the variations), and white spotting. But it isn't about that right now.

(If you're interested in cats, I suggest reading the linked material. Includes some silly studies about cats. Love them. <3)

In to summerize in short: not really. The slightly longer answer? No, but sometimes? It's dependent on a ton.

signed with invisible ink, mod robin

[shotosjupiter]

I BLINKED AND SUDDENLY I HAD A VALENTINE!

𖤐 sypnosis... you ask them to be your valentine <3

࣪𖤐 note... super fluffy! and al haitham being a little shit

𖤐 ft. tighnari, al-haitham, ningguang, kazuha, and ayato

𖤐 TIGHNARI blinks at you as you stood in front of him, holding out pink and orange tulips. you had researched them, of course, ensuring they represented love. he cocks his head to the side, as you exclaim, a broad grin stretching on your face, “be my valentine, nari?”

he nods slowly, but surely. despite his quieter reaction, you can tell from the subtle twitching of his ear and the slow pink blush creeping up to his cheeks that he’s pleased. tighnari clears his throat and offers you a bouquet that was tucked behind him, waiting for your arrival. he grasps your hand, gently but clearly asking, “and would you be mine?”

“yes! yes, i would love to be, nari.” you lean forward and press a kiss to his (turning) red cheeks.

𖤐 AL-HAITHAM raises an eyebrow at you. “i thought we were already each other’s valentines.” it sounds more like a statement than a question.

you make a face back at him, “no dummy, you have to ask. that’s how valentines work! what if i already had a valentine?”

“… but you don’t.” he responds, deadpanned.

you gape at him and his pure audacity. “i could! i could- i could be going on a valentines date with that guy right over there!” you gesture towards the general area of microbiology shelves where there’s a few scruffy students, busying themselves.

al-haitham glances back at the scholars, and turns back to you. he huffs out a sigh and turns back to his book, annotating something in the side pages as if this conversation wasn’t something he could be bothered with.

then, a note with a doodle of the two of you and a question: will you be my valentine? check one: yes or yes.

you grin, scrambling to write an answer back.

𖤐 NINGGUANG has already planned everything out since new years. she takes valentines seriously and is not to be played around with in such matters. she had committed your work schedule to memory and had taken the day off to dedicate herself to this mission.

she left a trail of rose petals going from your hallway all way to your shared bedroom. there laid the same petals, shaped into a heart. she had cooked your favorite meal, with the dining table set with even more flowers and your favorite drink. lastly, was a small gift of matching charm bracelets that laid upon the table, waiting for your arrival.

when you had arrived, you had rushed to her side after seeing all the decorations and effort put into this. you cupped her face into a searing kiss and then left a series of kisses all over face. ningguang giggled, pleased to see your happy reaction to her proposal. you grinned at her shyly and offered her her own set of flowers and a small cor lapis necklace you had gotten specifically made for her, asking if she would also do the honor of being your valentine. (spoiler: she said yes.)

𖤐 KAZUHA was a man who had to face a hard decision. which poem should he present you with to ask to be your valentine? there were simply too many choices, too many words, and yet, still nothing had the correct wording he had wanted. what was he to do?

it was one of the few days before valentine’s day where he was sitting by his desk, pushing his brain to find the perfect words to present you, when you came and sat right next to him. you grinned at him slyly, “i have something to show you,” and slid a decorated piece of paper towards him.

it was a poem. a beautiful poem asking him to be your valentine. kazuha looked up at you and smiled with laughter and gentleness in his eyes. “you had beat me to it - but yes. i would love to be your valentine, dove.”

𖤐 AYATO is similar to ningguang in which he had a plan prepared in the back of his head for a couple of weeks now. he had bought a necklace with the charm in the center being a sapphire surrounded by silver. the problem was trying to figure out when to present it to you and ask.

luckily, you managed to unknowingly offer him a solution when you asked him if he would like to take a walk with you around the estate. he nodded calmly, while internally his heart soared at the opportunity. the jewelry box was sat in his pocket always, waiting for the opportunity. now he just had to speak the words.

as the two of you walked, the sakura bloom petals billowing around you, creating an evermore romantic environment. you were chattering about the latest house gossip thoma had told you when ayato stopped and grasped your hand and turned you around pulling you into the net of his arms.

he stared at you for a moment as you fixed him with a questioning gaze in response to his behavior. he cleared his throat and showed you the sapphire necklace he had gotten before gesturing, “may i?”

you nodded and turned as you felt his cold hands delicately clasp the necklace on. the brush of his hands elicited goosebumps to raise by your neck before you heard the raspy whisper, “would you- will you be valentine, darling?”

you turned, a pleased smile on your face before leaning into kiss him slowly. you cupped his face gently, letting his soft lips come together with yours. you broke away from him for a split second to whisper back, “of course i will.”

[ashdreams2023]

In the shadows

Summary: you’ve always stayed in the back, letting others in the spotlight till he came along and you felt suffocated

Harry James potter x reader

You got fifth place on the class in potions, it was an achievement but not one to brag about, hermione granger was the top of your year as always, there was no surprise there but the third place person made you swallow a bitter taste.

Pansy had asked for your help this past week and going on with that you thought you could help both yourself and her but no, it ended up with you correcting her homework and explaining basic concepts you’ve literally taken in first year.

By doing so you had little time for your own self and ended up staying up late to catch on then came to class sleep deprived, snape was not pleased with you looking half asleep in his class.

You weren’t terrible of course and it wasn’t like anyone would notice if you failed, except for professor snape.

As you gathered your things from the table to exit the door you felt a tab on your shoulder, you mentally prepared yourself to deal with another case of pansy.

To your surprise it wasn’t her but none other than the boy who lived himself, Harry Potter gave you an awkward smile before he spoke "hey, sorry to bother you but I know you’re smart and I could use the help before I get another troll" you blinked at the boy.

"Why didn’t you ask granger isn’t she one of your best mates?" You said closing your bag and swinging it over your shoulder "she’s the smartest girl in our year I think her help will be more valid than mine"

Harry shook his head blushing "she’s smart yes but…"he looked back at his friends then back at you "since they started dating study sessions just became awkward you know what I mean?"

You paused then felt your cheeks burning "I don’t know if I’m who you should ask though"

Harry sighed "please, I promise I’m a quick learner I just need extra help on our new assignment" you thought about it for a minute, one assignment wouldn’t hurt and Harry didn’t always fail potions, he used to score Acceptable and sometimes an E.

"Fine, meet me before supper in the library"

"Thanks you’re the best!" You inhaled sharply at his words and went to your next glass.

That’s how it began, the most ordinary person in the school started tutoring the great Harry Potter, everyone thought he was just using you but in all honestly, Harry wasn’t that bad of a company.

He paid attention to what you said and participated in research instead of depending completely on you alone to do all the work.

He teases you about being into tarot readings and helps you with DADA "you need to point your wand this way and focus on your target, your smart you can do this" those simple words also did things to you, the way he praised your intelligence and didn’t make fun of you for messing up.

"You did it! You’re brilliant just a perfect piece of work you are" he immediately blushed after saying that, realizing he might have went too far but by the way you smiled shyly at the ground it appeared to have the opposite affect.

"Thank you, you’re a good teacher…" Goodness you were awkward.

By the end of the year you could only hear your heart bounding whenever he’s too close, your face burned and all you could think about is your next study session.

Then Ginny kissed him.

After winning the quidditch cup for Gryffindor she kissed him in front of the whole school and your stupid crush made you want to shout and protest about it but you didn’t, you just couldn’t.

And what made it worse is he skipping your study session together, to celebrate the win…he’s probably making out with his new girlfriend now, why would he care about a nobody like you?

You skipped dinner and on your way to your house’s dormitory you got stopped by him in the middle of the hall.

Your wrist felt so fragile in his rough hand, even with gloves on, his hands stayed quite rough from holding onto the broom for a long time.

"Why didn’t you come to supper or the after party?"

You wanted to cry "….I wasn’t invited." What a lame excuse, he probably thought you’re pathetic.

Harry frowned "you don’t need an invite, anyone can come and celebrate you know we share the password after a win for anyone to celebrate with us before it changes next week" you in fact knew that and you hated how dumb you looked right now.

"What’s really the matter?" God why does he have to ask so many questions like he actually cares? You didn’t want to talk or look at him, it just made you more upset. He refused to let you go when you tried to pull away, your eyes were soon no longer able to hold back the tears. They ran down your cheeks like rivers "please let me go, I don’t want to talk to you right now" Harry’s green eyes softened but he didn’t let you go and instead pulled you closer towards him, leaving inches between your faces.

"Am I the reason your crying right now? Did I say or do something before now that upset you?" You shook your head, this was dumb you should’ve stayed in the library until everyone was done eating then went with your house.

"Liar, I hate liars you know that! Tell me what I did wrong?! I’m confused god damn it!" The infamous potter temper was kicking in and you knew how bad those were.

"It’s stupid…I’m…it’s just that…Ginny" you choked on your words, placing your hand over your eyes in a desperate attempt at hiding your face.

Harry didn’t say anything for a long while which made you believe he was so annoyed with your whining that he’s lost for words, but then he warps his arms around your body and holds you in a tight embrace.

You froze then hesitatingly looked at him, he’s looked down at you with those brilliant green eyes that held so much kindness "I’m sorry…I should have done this from the start" he leaned down and kissed your temple.

You stared at him both confused and embarrassed.

He chuckled " I’m sorry you saw that, I didn’t except Ginny to do that but if you hadn’t noticed I didn’t kiss her back…I don’t like Ginny like that"

Your heart bounded hard in your rib cage "why are you telling me this?"

He licked his bottom nervously "because I like you, like a lot and not just as a friend but like you in the way that I want to do this every time I see you" he learned down and pressed his lip’s against yours and you melted against them.

"Harry I-"

"No, please I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to, can we start over?"

You’ve lived in the shadows of people’s lives for so long that it seemed impossible for you to be a person worth mentioning but Harry, Harry made you feel like somebody, you were standing next him and not in his shadow, for once you were worth more than what you thought you were.

"Yes, please."

[etheries1015]

Sorry, I overread it (It's currently 10pm where I live, I've been up since 4am, and my anxiety is kicking. Requesting things from people I never requested before is hard >.<)

May I request Riddle, Kalim, Idia and Malleus reacting to finding out their crush is trans-masc? Either by reader telling them or them finding out by accident

Never apologize for asking questions and sending asks! Please take care of yourself, get lots of rest, water, and sustenance <3

Finding out you're trans-masc

Featuring: Riddle, Kalim, Idia, Malleus

WARNINGS (please read): I'm a cis woman and I CANNOT stress enough that I may not be able to portray this as well as someone who actually identifies as such! I did do research ahead of time to make sure I try my very best to capture the essence of someone who identifies as trans-masc, but everyone's experiences are different. If I, in ANY way shape, or form, used incorrect terminology/representation or mistakenly offended anyone, please educate me so that I become more knowledgeable and can build my understanding. Other than that, I hope I did well in writing this for you to enjoy <3 Thank you for your time and for the request <3

Riddle

The topic came up during the first time you had gone to an Unbirthday party. Being misgendered by Riddle, you spoke up gently to inform him of your disposition.

"I'm...well, I don't use She/her pronouns." You shrugged. Riddle pursed his lips in frustration at his own confusion, he hadn't met someone falling under the LGBTQ umbrella before, he was incredibly sheltered and closed-minded for a long time due to his mother's teachings.

"I see..." Riddle nodded, "Then, please explain it to me so that I may not make the same mistake twice." He was eager to learn more about people and their experiences, especially learning about someone he found himself becoming more and more attached to.

Spends an entire night reading upon such topics- he was very quick to adapt and correct people around you whenever he found they did not address you properly.

"Does it bother you?" You had asked him once out of pure curiosity, and his response was with furrowed eyebrows and confusion.

"And why should it? It does not matter what you identify as. You are still (y/n). You are not your gender, and not your sex. You are..." He blushed deeply, you smiling to urge him on. You knew about his crush on you, of course, yet he seemed to be far too shy to admit it yet.

"You're..." He hesitated, "failing this class. G-get back to studying! quit getting distracted with silly questions or it's off with your head!"

You loved seeing him open his mind to many different concepts and treat you no differently than anyone else (minus some favoritism, hehe <3)

Kalim

It was actually Jamil who brought it up in conversation. The topic of "LGBTQ" came up, of course, Kalim understood the basics of people who identified as gay, however when the term "trans-masc" came up in regards to you, he was incredibly eager to learn more.

"Trans-masc? I thought they were (y/n)?"

"Kalim- no-"

It didn't take long for him to easily come around to the new terminology. You maybe gave him a 10 minute crash course before he accepted it face value.

"I see...so one day you're going to be by my side not as a queen, but as my royal spouse!" You were flabbergasted at his brazen comment. With a red face, you hadn't time to react before his hands were already around you in a deep hug.

"Haha! Oh, right! The pop club has a new song, wanna listen to it?"

He loves you no matter what. The most understanding and unconditionally in love person to exist, the definition of sunshine

Might overshare sometimes. He will bring it up sometimes to other people (if they misgender you) and give THEM a crash course on it! You love that he is so passionate about you, though. xoxo

Idia

He knew. He is chronically online, he knows all about it. When he first met you, he even asked what your preferred pronouns were.

I don't really know what else to say for Idia, he honestly doesn't care who you identify as. You play video games with him and give him love, that's enough for him!!

Can take it incredibly seriously If someone misgenders you or tries to bully you about your identity, his hair turns a fiery red and he turns gives them a whole one hour lesson while belittling that person calling them as intelligent as a soggy piece of bread.

The other person is crying by the end of it, but honestly nobody deserves to be treated disrespectfully like that.

actually how he confessed his crush to you, lol. In a fit of rage to someone who wasn't being very kind... "How dare you treat the one I love like that, you stupid normie piece of-" Realizes his mistake, face turns red, turns to you (whos face is also red)

"ummm.....Nevermind!" He runs away, but there was no getting away from you heuheu

even though he can be shy and kind of tsundere in public, he can be really passionate and will defend you at a moments notice and educate other people who are, as he puts, less than him.

In private? Sitting in his lap playing video games

Malleus

Actually, learned this from Idia. It was during class when the topic of LGBTQ came up, and when speaking among the students he over heard Idia telling ortho about your disposition as trans-masc.

Immediately came to you

"Child of man, what is 'trans-masc' and why did Idia use this term to describe you? Could you elaborate?" You two decided to take a stroll around the forest where you spent hours talking about all sorts of different people and the terms they used, explaining to him about dysphoria and how you discovered that the pronouns you were born with just didn't sit right with you.

Nods in understanding, but ends up purchasing a bunch of books Idia and Lilia recommended to him to increase his understanding.

Even though there are indeed things he will never be able to sympathize with properly and understand, such as the effects of dysphoria, but he will respect you full heartedly and not treat you any different despite still growing to learn about such topics.

All in all, it does not matter what you identify as. He finds himself completely enamored with you, loving how you teach him new things about anything and everything with humans- he will treat you the same as you treat him- impartial due to status, class, gender, pronouns, human or fae. He knew you were the one he wanted to rule Briar Valley next to one day- as his lovely spouse.

~~

I hope I was able to answer your request satisfyingly <3 Please let me know if anything needs to be changed and I shall update accordingly, I myself am always learning and growing every day! Please be kind <3

[thenightfolknetwork]

Hello. I'm, um, not entirely sure how to talk about this. I hope it's okay if I misspeak. I'm a human, right, so I think that needs to be clear more than anything, but I've been very involved in the creature community for years now. I live by a great big lake and I always liked to walk down the shore late at night or early in the morning, you know, just to try and get out of my own head, and one night ages ago I accidentally tripped over someone's jacket and twisted my ankle. It was a gorgeous fur jacket, too, not like any kind of fur I'd seen in a jacket before, but just stunningly soft and thick as Hell.

Now, of course I didn't take it, that'd be awful, but also I had just hurt myself in kind of a nasty way and so it wasn't like I had anything else to do but sit by the shore next to the jacket and waited, and yeah, a few hours later one of the lake seals popped its head out of the water, looked at me for a good long while, and then...well, I mean, you know how the rest of the story goes, I'm sure.

Anyway, it's been a few years now and I've become really close to this family. I didn't really know anyone in my town before meeting them and I'm not on speaking terms with my own folks, so in a lot of ways these people have become my family, and it's an honor that they trust me to keep guard of their cloaks and such when they go out. But I've got this problem, right, and it's just...over the years it's felt less and less like I fit in with other humans. All my friends are nightfolk now, my family hates me even more because they're bigots--in this night and age, can you fucking believe it--and it's just like every night I get further and further away from the shore.

I'm just scared because...I don't *want* to stop drifting away. I've had dreams of joining them down there in the lake, practically every night for months on end. I've tried doing research into methods of joining the community but I don't want to become a vampire, I don't fancy any lunar-aligned nonsense, nothing has felt right except selkies, but I can't decide if I'm just self aware enough that I need a push from an outside viewer to try and accept something I already know full well...or if no, actually, that little voice in my stupid head that won't go away that keeps calling me a fraud, an invader, an appropriator--what if the reason it's not going away is because it's right and I really don't belong?

Just...please be honest with me. Am I a complete asshole for spending hours every day trying not to just outright beg my family--sorry, chosen family--to help me sew myself a cloak, or is there something to this?

First of all, reader, please rest assured. As long as you are speaking from a place of kindness and a willingness to learn, you don't need to worry about using all the correct terminology. I always try to listen generously when people come to me in need, and I encourage our followers to do the same.

Unfortunately I can well believe that bigots like your biological relatives still exist. I'm glad you've been able to extract yourself from their hateful society, and have found comfort, support and kinship among the nightfolk.

You say there is a little voice in your head calling you a fraud, casting doubt on the validity of your feelings. As much as you might want to push it away and stop your ears, I want you to listen to that voice, just for a little while. Pay attention to the language it uses and what ideas it seems to have about the world.

And then ask yourself: is this my voice? Does that sound like me? Or does this sound like a last, desperate, wriggling remnant of the people I've worked so hard to distance myself from?

Every one of us is raised with a narrative, a story about the world and our place in it, and how we should treat the people around us. We're told that story by our parents, by our teachers and schoolmates, by television and books and a million other sources. The story is so vast and so all-encompassing, it takes an enormous effort to be able to see any single part of it clearly.

Imagine, then, how hard we have to work to realise some of that story is untrue, or harmful, fed by hatred and fear. To start untangling ourselves from the rotting, strangling roots of the story we've known all our lives, and start planting something new and fresh and honest.

It sounds to me like this little voice is one of those lingering strands of the story you were raised with – one where liminality is nothing to admire or strive for, and where you cannot be trusted to know your own mind, and your own needs. It's time to tell yourself a better story.

You've found people who honour you with their trust and who make you feel supported and loved, as you deserve. You admire them, and want to be like them. None of this sounds “stupid” to me.

This is not a decision to be taken lightly. By all means, take your time, and talk your feelings through with your family. But I think you already know what story you want for yourself, reader – and for what it's worth, I think the world will be better for its telling.

[For more creaturely advice, check out Monstrous Agonies on your podcast platform of choice, or visit monstrousproductions.org for more info]

[marciaillust]

How long does it take for you to finish drawing?

I'm an artist (beginner) and i unconsciously set unrealistic goals for myself and need a reminder of how long it takes to complete a drawing, Thanks.

Hi! In the context you presented it in, that is a really interesting question, so I'll try to approach it thoroughly. I hope I won't make you roll your eyes too much.

Where to start, where to start... I guess the first thing I should say is that there is a difference between time I spend preforming the action of <drawing>, and the time I spent <working> on a particular piece. The first would be counted in hours, the second one - days. I'm a big believer in slowing things down, and giving things time - going through options, gathering research and references, taking breaks every 1h of sitting and drawing - and seeing things through until I achieve the goal I set at the beginning of the process.

The goals are usually different each time: "quick design", "character exploration", "analysis of an artist's linework and experimenting with the knowledge gained", "creating an aesthetically pleasing image", and so on and so forth. Of course I don't write these down like it's a school assignment, but knowing in the back of my head what I'm actually doing helps me manage my expectations. I also enjoy being conscious of why I create - when I was younger regardless of what I was doing I had the thought "AND IT MUST LOOK GOOD AND PRESENTABLE! BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL LOOK!" ...and I think that obsession is the cancer of creative process.

Since the goals for each picture are different, the time I'll spent on achieving each one will be different as well, because the "satisfactory results" lay in different places. For example, the Marcile sketchpage was created in one afternoon, and took approximately 3 hours. The goal was to play around with a brush that has no opacity forcing my lines to be more decisive. I did that and so it is "finished". There's nothing else I want from it.

On the other hand, the cover of Asterism took about 10 days to create, the goal of which was to make "an aesthetically pleasing cover picture taking colour inspiration from the works of (specific list of artists)". I took my time designing it so that it looks aesthetically pleasing, made sure the anatomy is "correct" (a nebulous statement when it comes to stylised humans), took my time masking, and picking colours, and shading. I wanted it to "look good" to my own eyes so if something was not working I would go back, change it, alter it, move it around... that's the wonderful thing about personal art, you can take as long as you like making something satisfactory.

The funny thing is, with what the Asterism cover actually is (a cellshaded image), it could have been done probably in 4 days by the me 4 years ago. But that person was willing to sit 8-10 hours a day to draw with no breaks, she had little social life, and treated herself as a little circus seal performing tricks so that people clap around her, and the clapping was soooo nice because it meant that people remembered her and she mattered. And it worked for her! For long 10 years! Until her arm gave out, and the reality of never being able to draw again became more tangible than ever, and it's been following her like a fog ever since for the past 4 years. The me today works about 4 hours a day and every hour I take about a 30 minute break. I also don't post half the stuff I draw. There is also another aspect that dictates the speed of creating and that is familiarity with the subject matter. The less you know something, the fast you'll draw it! But as you get to know the intricacies of the process, and see all the building blocks, it will start taking *longer* because you will start accounting for every block. But then you'll eventually get familiar with the blocks and so the time spent on a picture will go down again! The cool yet overwhelming thing about art is that, there are always hundreds of building blocks. Form, composition, ambient occlusion, saturation, hue, light balance, line form...... and those are just the *some* of the generalised *categories*. And each category will have it's own subsection of building blocks! And then those blocks will interact with each other to create completely new area of expertise! This is crazy! Marcille sketch page took me only 3 hours to create because I am already quite familiar with linework - I have drawn 3-4 comicbooks worth of linework. This also means I am familiar with believable anatomy, more or less, which got utilised in the Asterism cover - the main bulk of linework got created during a 3h livestream. So.... what's the answer.... "It's all relative" is so unsatisfactory and probably not what you looked for. But you can draw something in 3 days and kill your body over it. Or you can become an expert in a field and dish the same picture out effortlessly in 8 hours. You can also split that 8h block over multiple days bringing you back up to 3 days. You could even add a whole day of visual research which might make your picture only marginally better. And even if we calculate it in terms of raw working time, pen-to-paper, like a self-inflicted capitalist tumor, that time can fluctuate still due to personal visual library and knowledge base. If I asked Tom Fox how long it takes for him to create his sketch pages his answer would probably be downward of 30 minutes. Yet I need whole 3 hours to create something *less* anatomically correct than him. And so here we are at the end of this perhaps unnecessary essay. And all we learned is this: it depends. Dry, not nuanced tl;dr, my personal timings: single sketch - 30mins; single linework pic 1-2h; Cellshaded illust - 16h; Rendered illust: 20-25h.

[kismetologyy]

Since you asked for some lu x reader headcannons, I think Time and Hyrule would be fae like in the way they court their beloved. Giving them foods, playfulling tricking them, trying so desperately to get their beloved to break any of the fae rules so they can have a reason to have them to themselves.

Oooh a very special request! <3

And also, I don't know anything about fae, so I'm really sorry if I get anything wrong🙇‍♂️

But what I'm guessing is that they kind of act like fae and have their special sort of rules(?)

And what I've gotten from my quick research is that if you break one of these deals/rules, you have to serve that fae for a specific amount of time (please correct me if I'm wrong I would love to know more)

I can edit this any time anyway, so let's start!

——————————————————————

Hyrule:

• I feel like he would be a little shy at first, but also a bit mischievous

• LOVES giving you his favorite berries and other things from the forrest

• doesn't really mind dirty water since he just grew up in a cave

• would be pouty for a really long time if you were to be impolite

• you would probably have to serve him for as long as possible, but he would still be nice most of the time

Time:

• I feel like he wouldn't be an actual fae, but would still hold up the rules in honor of all the faries he's met

• he can be a bit mischievous, so of course he would do anything to get you to break the rules

• loves teasing you about the fae traditions and all, but never reminds you of the rules

• good luck if you don't wanna be his servant for the next 1000 years🙏

• likes to give you more objects rather than food, like a shiny stone or a nice flower or something

I'm sorry if this is too short, but I don't want to add too much without knowing anything😔

But thank you for your request! It's a nice change from what I usually do

Let me know if I should add something specific! I'm always happy to hear your own headcanons and opinions!

— <3

[susiephone]

Or, a crash course in checking your sources. Because we've all seen some absolutely bullshit stuff spread around the internet, and Tumblr definitely isn't immune to it.

It can be hard to sort out the fact from the rumor from the propaganda when a story is actively developing, especially one that is fast-moving and has a lot of voices coming in from all sides, but it is vitally important that you check your sources before spreading a claim.

It's easier to verify or disprove a claim about something that's purported to have happened in the past, so, admittedly, checking stuff that's purported to be happening now is a messy, confusing process. All the more reason to err on the side of caution.

I am not a journalist or professional researcher or historian or anything like that, so this is all coming from a layman who does their best to be informed. If I get anything wrong, or anyone more qualified has something they want to add, please let me know in the notes.

Why should I check my sources?

Because you should care whether you're spreading propaganda or not.

Because sometimes in the heat of the moment, when emotions are running high, it's easy to be misled.

Because every time you spread misinformation to help your own cause, even - or especially! - if that cause is righteous, it becomes a ding on your credibility, and the credibility of your cause.

Because when you don't, a journalist loses their wings. Probably. Fact-check me on that.

How do I know when to check my sources?

If you don't recognize the source, check it.

If you hear a claim and think, "Wow, that is so cartoonishly evil," or, "That's so absurd I'd think it was far fetched if it was in a movie," or, "It's weird no mainstream outlets are reporting on this," check it.

Now, a claim sounding too bizarre or evil to be real doesn't always mean it isn't--I mean, half of what I hear about George Santos sounds like an SNL sketch and it always ends up true. But check it.

If the claim sounds like something a Nazi would want you to believe, check it.

If a claim is only being spread by one or two small sources, check it.

How do I check my sources?

The following sites are great resources for fact-checking.

PolitiFact. Ranks claims on a truth-o-meter and provides context for what's true, mostly true, kinda true, and made-up.

Media Bias/Fact Check: Publishes lists of fact checks from other credible sources, and ranks media outlets on their bias and trustworthiness.

Climate Feedback: Verifies claims about science, especially climate change.

Lead Stories: Verifies claims as they develop, especially stuff spreading on social media.

Here is a list of sources Media Bias/Fact Check considers to be the least biased.

What are some red flags to search for? / What are some questions I should ask myself?

Does the claim only come from a handful of small sources?

Do all those sources only cite each other?

It bears repeating: does this claim sound especially sensational or over-the-top? I know it sounds basic, but when you're furious at somebody (be it a person or a government or a system), it can be easy to believe every horrible thing you hear about them. But just because someone is awful doesn't mean every rumor about them doing awful things is true, and you still have a responsibility to keep your criticism accurate.

Who provides funding to the source? Do they work off of grants, reader donations and subscriptions, government backing, private donors? Do they not disclose their funding at all?

Has the source been caught spreading false info before? How long ago was this? Did they issue a correction in a timely manner? Was the journalist who spread the false claim fired or otherwise reprimanded? Does it seem like it was a mistake, or was there an agenda at play? Has the source taken steps to reestablish credibility?

Who benefits from me believing this?

Okay, I did all my fact-checking, and I'm really not sure if this claim is true or not.

Then don't share it.

If more information comes out and it turns out to be true, then go ahead.

But if there's doubt, don't share it.

Okay, sure, but the claim sounds like it could be true, and-

"Could be true" and "is true" are not the same.

Fine, but the person or government it's talking about has already done so many awful things, even if this specific rumor isn't true-

DON'T. SHARE. IT.

I am going to come to your house and bite you.

Further information.

How to fact-check like a pro.

The Psychology of Fact-Checking.

What is fact-checking?

Misinformation (YouTube video)

And there we go! If anyone has anything to add, go ahead, but I will be monitoring the comments and will be blocking any nonsense.

There's enough misinformation spread by bad actors in our current media landscape. Please don't make their job any easier.

[syscultureis]

Hi!!

So, I'm a singlet so please forgive (and correct) any incorrect terminology! I had some questions about writing a character who is a system. I completely understand if you can't answer all of these questions, but I'd really appreciate anything you have the time for!

Can alters interact with each other? Ex. If one alter is fronting, can the other alters communicate with them and each other? Additionally, in what situation would a perosn shift? What does shifting look like? I've heard of alters co-hosting as well, so how many alters can co-host at the same time?

2. Can alters communicate with each other pre-system awareness?

3. Are fictives common, and is there an average amount of alters a person with DID has? If I met a person with DID, what is the likelihood of them having a fictive alter?

4. I think viewing neurodivergence in fantasy/dystopian worlds is a very interesting concept, and I was wondering if creating a character who has DID and the ability to shape-shift would be offensive?

In this scenario, as they shift from one alter to another, they might also change their physical appearances? Would that be rude? The character wouldn't be villianized in any way, and neither would their shape-shifting. I just wonder if someone with DID would look at this character and think of it as awesome representation, or an offensive caricature.

5. Are there any lesser known ways DID affects someone's life? I've heard of memory loss, and social stigma of course, but I was wondering if there's anything else I should consider.

If you (or anyone else) has any additional information for me, I'd be more than welcome to receiving it.

Thank you for responding/taking the time to look at this! I really appreciate any advice I can get, and I know this ask can be dating with how lengthy it is.

:)

1) yes, alters can communicate to the alter that is fronting. It's not always perfect and can sometimes be confusing or very easy to write off as the frontiers thoughts. I assume Shifting means Switching, where the alter controlling the body/fronting switches to a different alter being in control.

A lot of different situations can cause that depending on the system, but stressful situations are a big one for a lot of systems

2) yes, often people assume it's their own thoughts and they're just "talking it out with them self", or it's an imaginary friend, or something similar

3) introjects aren't uncommon, but it's also still very likely to meet a system with no introjects at all. Average alter count depending on the source you find can tell you anywhere from 6-16. When writing a character I would recommend considering what traumas you think would've caused a split, or what situations would require a different alter to take care of to help you decide system size for characters

4) personally I think that would be super cool, but I can't speak for the whole community. But I do think as long as you're respectful with the actual disorder itself it's okay

5) not knowing who you are for days at a time, thinking about thinks and genuinely feeling nothing about them because of emotional amnesia, struggling to think on days that have heavy dissociation. Also other alters spilling your secrets ;-;

* we don't speak for the whole community, we encourage you to also do research outside of Tumblr as we are not professionals

[charlottesbookclub]

should we talk about the interlace on gwayne's horse's armor?

since I spend altogether too much time looking at stills and gifs of gwayne anyway, I figured I might as well share some observations I have about the really interesting visuals that are happening with his horse's armor

this is part art historical analysis, part gwayne meta, and part "let's look at some gorgeous images under the guise of doing visual analysis" so if that's your thing, please read on! if not, that's also totally fine – I get that this is hyperspecific and also a symptom of my very serious gwayne brainrot, so I'm putting everything else below the cut! 💚💚 (also it's quite long – sorry! 😅)

okay I want to be upfront about my qualifications and my shortfalls here: I'm an art history phd student and so basically all I do is visual analysis of objects. I've studied a number of medieval manuscripts that feature interlace (which is where I'm going to draw most of my knowledge from here), and I've taken a seminar (an advanced graduate course) specifically on medieval manuscripts, for which I wrote a research paper entitled "From Kells to Celtic: The Aesthetics of the Book of Kells Illuminations as a Marker of Irish Identity." HOWEVER I am NOT a historian of armor, so I will be taking my knowledge of interlace on other objects and applying it to the armor we see in the show

a short intro

so, the first thing that struck me about gwayne's horse's armor is that it's really different than the other equestrian armor we see, even amongst the other men who came with him from oldtown. to be honest, my guess is that this was likely done in the show to help him stand out and also show that he is a special and precious princess (which he is btw 😌😌) who needs fancy armor for his horse. I'm not sure if further thought went into it than that (but maybe it did! I'm happy to stand corrected here!)

however, the catastrophic levels of brainrot I've developed over this man have compelled me to read much further into it than that, which I shall now proceed to do with great enthusiasm! ☺️

first, let's look at the armor:

it's hard to find really detailed close-ups, but it's clear that the armor is incredibly intricate. not only do we have this very complex interlacing, but certain designs are marked out with different colors and internal patterning, making the whole thing even more visually interesting and complex

while interlacing is used across a vast range of time, cultures, geographical regions, and artistic mediums, given both the visuality of this armor in particular and knowing that westeros is based on medieval europe, seeing this interlace instantly called to mind a style that we today call "insular fusion" (I'm not going to go into all the specifics of it here because that's a post all its own lol 😅). it's a style perhaps most famously exemplified by The Book of Kells, but it is found throughout many different objects of the same period (ca. 700-900 CE)

now let's look at some fucking interlace hell yeah!!!!!!

from The Book of Kells (ca. 750-810 CE)

from The Lindisfarne Gospels (ca. 698-721 CE)

and two non-manuscript examples:

Animal Head Post from a Viking Ship Burial (ca. 825 CE)

and a later example, but one of my favorites:

Wooden Portal of the Urnes Stave Church (ca. 1050-1070 CE)

do we see the vision??? are y'all picking up what I'm putting down???

"okay, charlotte, I see the similarities, but why does this matter?" you may be asking yourself (or maybe you aren't idk), and the answer is: this type of interlacing had some super fascinating meanings and uses, some of which I think we can apply to gwayne! 💚💚

let me break it down from least to most potentially related to gwayne:

the aesthetics of interlace as an identity marker

use of interlace in a religious context

interlace as a status symbol

the protective potential of interlace

and now let's go into detailllllllll!!!!!

the aesthetics of interlace as an identity marker

I bring this one up because it's what I focused on in my personal research on the topic of interlace, but I also think it's the least relevant to gwayne. my argument in my paper was that the aesthetics of the interlace in the Book of Kells have been thoughtfully and intentionally re-used throughout history and into the present as a clear visual marker of identity that draws a narrative back to the production of the Book of Kells. however, in terms of the show, we have very little indication that the particular style of interlacing we see on gwayne's horse is associated with any larger identity concepts. it doesn't seem to be associated with house hightower, as none of the other men with gwayne seem to borrow this motif, nor do we see it associated with alicent (as far as I can tell from the little looking I've done, but I'm more than happy to revise this!). for it to make sense as some form of identity marker, it would have to be clear what identity he's visually referencing, and since his use of interlace seems unique, I think it's doubtful that it's part of a larger visual invocation of identity

use of interlace in a religious context

part of what makes insular fusion so interesting as a style is that it is indeed a fusion of a number of different regional styles, including vine scrolls from the mediterranean, triskeles from the northern british isles, and zoomorphic (meaning "in the form of animals") interlace from northwestern mainland europe. although insular fusion is used to decorate christian objects (like gospel books and churches), its component parts are much much older and have connections to various pagan religions that significantly pre-date christianity. obviously it's impossible to be 100% certain of the exact significance of interlace in any of these religious contexts (there are no written records explaining it), but scholars have a few guesses

one suggestion is that interlace in some way represented the spirit world/the world of the gods, or perhaps even a point of connection between the human world and the world beyond. although the religion of westeros is obviously different than any of the real-world religions that used interlace in this manner, I do still wonder if there could be a religious connection here. it's pretty clear that gwayne's mother was quite religious, and alicent is as well. although we don't totally know gwayne's relationship with religion, we could certainly guess that it's at least a little bit important to him, given the beliefs of the women in his life. I know that the most common religious symbol in westeros tends to be the seven-pointed star, which is not something I see on the interlace on the armor, so I'm not sure how far I would want to take this hypothesis, but I did want to put it out there for anyone who might have further thoughts!

interlace as a status symbol

as I mentioned to in the beginning, I do think it's likely that this particular type of armor was chosen for gwayne's horse because it does come off as a bit ostentatious. the manuscripts with interlace that I mentioned above were hugely expensive and time-consuming projects, and only the most affluent religious communities could afford such luxurious gospel books. given the level of detail on the armor, I have to imagine that the same is true in the world of the show. in some ways, it's a mode of conspicuous consumption; a demonstration of the hightowers' wealth and influence. there's a reason gwayne's horse's armor stands out: because it's meant to. it's meant to set him apart, even from the other soldiers who came with him from oldtown

now this next part is just my own conjecture, but I also wonder if the armor is meant to speak to a more artistic sensibility on gwayne's part. after all, equestrian armor is a very functional object with a very clear goal: to protect the horse. from a purely functional standpoint, the interlace does nothing to serve this purpose (and may actually hinder it a little??), it simply adds a complex visuality to the armor. aside from just flaunting the wealth that must have been expended to commission such a piece, it also suggests that it was crafted by artisans who had both functional and aesthetic goals in mind while creating it. whether it was gwayne himself who directed the commission or not, it seems significant that he chose to use this armor that doubles as a kind of art piece. he does seem to be someone who enjoys the finer things in life, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had an artistic appreciation too, and was using this armor as a way to demonstrate that (or perhaps even just as a way to show his own personal artistic taste/preferences)

the protective potential of interlace

technically, I think "interlace as a status symbol" is the most likely reason for the armor being the way it is, but this one is my favorite theory, so I'm putting it at the top. circling back to the religious uses of interlace, another theory of its religious significance is as a mode of protection. some scholars think that its creators believed that the weaving, intertwined lines of the interlace would confuse and trap evil spirits. building on this theory is the fact that complex interlacing was often used at transitional or liminal points, such as the beginning pages of a gospel book or on the doors of churches. the idea here is that the interlace wields its protective powers at these key entry points against any evil entities that might try to enter sacred or protected spaces

interlace as apotropaic (a fancy technical term meaning "protective," often used in reference to magic or magical practices) seems particularly poignant for an object that was literally going to be worn into battle. now, I admit once again that there is little canon evidence to suggest that interlace is thought of in this way in the world of the show, so I'm running with this theory more because I like it rather than because I think it's legitimately based in canon. but I just think it's very sweet that gwayne's horse would be adorned with this complex interlace that seems to be woven with protective powers. even if gwayne (or others) didn't literally believe that interlace had those kind of powers, the fact that he still made the choice to invoke the idea of protection against harm and evil is a lovely thought. (it makes me think of how people today still might carry a rabbit's foot or have charms against the evil eye, even if they don't actually place stock in the beliefs surrounding those objects. I just think it's cool that generations of cultural belief still imbue these objects with a kind of magical aura). I just like the idea that he (or someone else?? otto? alicent? his mother?) chose armor that might have been associated with protection against harm

and now I'll finally wrap up!!

whew that was a lot! if you've read this far – thank you so much!! I'm honestly not even sure if these thoughts were coherent, but I kept thinking about this when I looked at that interlaced armor, and I just had to get the ideas out of my head lol

but I'd love to hear what others think about this topic! I'm certainly not an expert on the matter, and I'd be super open to hearing if others have different interpretations!

if nothing else, I hope you learned something cool about interlace! (and also just how far I have descended into madness over this man that I am writing pages-long analyses of his horse's armor 😅🤪)

[junkratsjunkertown]

Hello! Can I get a healer S/O with Sigma or junkrat, who is always worrying about his safety and such.

Of course. I did both and Junkrats is under Read More. I used actual Build-a-Bear stuffed animals from their website. I also did the research for Junkrat because I wanted to get the terminology right and checked multiple sources for pain relief. If I got anything wrong or if I should add something to Junkrat’s please let me know and I will correct it because I want the information to be correct.

Worried Personal Healer

Sigma

You’ve known Sigma since the day he arrived at Overwatch

You were always worried about his health

Both his mental health and physical health

You always requested to be a part of every mission that Sigma was assigned to

Jack knew how you felt about the older Astrophysicist and knew that you wouldn’t talk to him if something bad happened to Sigma

You did heal the other team members on the missions, but your main focus was Sigma

Sigma is very thankful to have you in his life and let’s you know that everyday

He knows that he can go to you if he needs someone to talk to about his problems (even though he does go to therapy)

He returns the favor by protecting you during missions

He knows that your office and your room are safe spaces because he’s a little paranoid that his room might have hidden microphones and cameras

You also carry around fidget toys for the older man to use during meetings, therapy, or anytime he’d like to use one

You ended up making him a Build-a-Bear for his birthday

You made him the Online Exclusive Piglet Gift Bundle with Sound

You wanted to use your own voice for the sound but decided against it because you knew if you did he wouldn’t keep it in his room

He loved the gift so much because Piglet reminded him of you because you are shorter than him and you always worry about him

Junkrat

Junkrat is a different case because he is so used to only having Roadhog caring about him and his health

You ask him how his prosthetic arm and leg feel each time you see him

You give him medication in case the Phantom Pain gets unbearable

You also let him and Roadhog know that there are other options to relieve the Phantom Pain in case neither of them have painkillers and if you’re not around or on vacation

On missions you constantly make sure that Junkrat is alright

You have always been concerned with his usage of bombs to fly through the air

You let him know that you do know someone who can fix his prosthetics whenever they become too damaged for him to fix

You also let him know that he does need to clean his Residual Limbs often just in case there are any sort of cuts or other injuries

He only showers for you because he knows that you worry about his physical health

It takes him a while to fully open up to you about his past and why he only talks to Roadie about his feelings

But he does go to you when he needs to talk to someone and Roadie isn’t available

You keep bomb plushies (they don’t explode but some of them do make explosion sounds.)

You and Roadhog end up making Junkrat two stuffed animals from Build-a-Bear for when he misses you two when you both or one of you are busy, on vacation, or on a mission without him

Roadhog made him the Online Exclusive Pinky Pig and you made him the Strawberry Cow Scented Gift Set

For the sounds of the plushies you both recorded your own voices. Of Roadhog was the voice for the pig

He loves both of them

[johnnyslvr]

I wanted to try shifting around a year ago but it never worked, could you give me some tips please??? Thank you 💗

Shifting tips !! °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

from someone who has minishifted >_<

(Please ask me questions, I love talking with you guys :3)

I would just wanna start off and say that these tips have helped me minishift, your journey may be different so if these don’t work please don’t feel discouraged. At the end of the day you either shift or YOU give up.

Starting point 🗝️⋆｡𖦹°‧★

Do you truly want to shift?

Do you intend to wake up in your Dr? Attempt to shift and know that your Dr is where you are going to go. What I’ve seen most people who want to “shift” are still afraid of the concept, you can’t trust yourself that you will shift if you still don’t know if you even want to shift.

Shifting Tips 🗝️⋆｡𖦹°‧★

TAKE BREAKS , take breaks if you feel you aren’t getting anywhere. Whether it means for a day or two or for weeks. Don’t over stress yourself if you truley don’t feel like shifting. I know we get elicited and want to shift every night, but if you feel drained it’s okay to take breaks. ꩜ .ᐟ

DONT OVERCOMPLICATE IT, you dont have to drink 2 gallons of water a day in order to shift. Or make sure your 100 step shifting method is perfect. Do what you feel is right. ꩜ .ᐟ

EASE UP, I know we feel we have to do so many methods, and have to have a perfect method in order to shift but that’s simply not true. I have minishifted by just not following my method anymore and just doing what I feel is correct. Don’t force yourself to do something you feel isn’t right. Do what you like. ꩜ .ᐟ

ITS EASY, don’t make shifting to be something hard. The more you convenience yourself it’s hard the more difficult it will be for you. Shifting is all about mindset, what you say becomes your reality. The more you complain that “shifting is hard” the more hard it will become for you. ꩜ .ᐟ

WE ALWAYS SHIFT, everything we do causes a shift out of us. For example take your hand and grab anything, you have just shifted to a reality where you have grabbed that thing. Where then is another reality where you didn’t. Every decision you make causes you to shift. Even in “failed attempts” where you don’t wake up in your Dr, you still shifted to a reality where you tried to go to your Dr. Shifting is as simple as breathing. ꩜ .ᐟ

GROUNDING, you are already in your Dr. Your DRSELF is still YOU. You should focus on grounding yourself to be at your Dr already. You can shift at any moment, even as of right now. Learn to ground yourself, to get to the feeling of living in your Dr. ꩜ .ᐟ

ROBOTIC AFFIRMING, omg such an underrated way to affirm. When you have free time just affirm, say your shifting affirmations like “I’m a master shifter” “I shift realities whenever I want” “I can go to my Dr whenever.” Just say these over and over and over, when your cleaning your room, when your outside, whenever you want. Just repeatedly affirm over and over. ꩜ .ᐟ

RESEARCH ON YOUR OWN, don’t take everything you find on TikTok(shiftok can be so bad with all the misinformation.) Find your own things about shifting, do research on your own time, you don’t have to understand everything but knowing more will always feel comforting. ꩜ .ᐟ

PRACTICE A METHOD, shifting is a progress. Of course you can shift on your first time but it’s not so common due to how much were attached to our cr. The more you practice a method the more you get the hang of it. If you feel a method is working for you, trust your intuition and practice that method. Do what feels right to YOU. ꩜ .ᐟ

FLIP DOUBTS, flip negatives to positives. Every time you have a thought about shifting like “I can’t shift” turn it positive, think “why do I think that if I shift with everything I do. You always shift, you just have to make it to your Dr. ꩜ .ᐟ

These are the end of the tips!!! I can make more if needed but I’ll feel I’ll end here. You guys can talk to me whenever!! Feel free to ask any questions, my inbox is always open!! ⋆˚✿˖°

I love you all, happy shifting 𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི

[vacayisland]

Hiii! Not a request but a question, I hope that's alright!

Seeing your writing has made me pretty inspired and I've been wanting to do trolls fics of my own! I've been struggling a lot w some characters, though, especially Floyd

My question is how you figure out their personalities and way of speaking enough to write for them? Unlike the others, we don't really see much of Floyd outside of his brothers TwT so I'm just not sure how to get his character right, but I feel like you do him justice! Feel free not to answer btw!! Hope you're doing well ♡♡

I actually really love answering questions like that, or generally any writing-based question; as long as I help people get inspired to write or help them in their creative journey, that’s what I am here for after all!

So, personally, my way of writing tends to be a little different than other people’s (at least I think it is) but my way of researching characters tends to be the same. So I’m going to try and do some sort of justice of explaining this! Bear with me please and if you have any other questions just ask me.

With characters like Floyd, I tend to find him easier to do. Both because I focused a lot on him during the movie and when it first released, and because he has such little screen time. Of course that’s both a blessing and a curse, because not many will realize that Floyd has a slightly sarcastic way of humor (or at least I didn’t the first few times watching the movie).

Yet with any character you would want to research on them! And that’s a little easier written than done but this is what I did for JD (who was harder for me to grasp on):

When I first saw the movie, I thought JD was what he was first presented as. A rude bastard who didn’t know when his family was upset and pushed them to do things anyways. And while he’s a little bit of that he’s actually a lot more.

Unlike Floyd, JD gets a bunch of screen time that writers should take advantage of! If the background, if you watch JD, you can see the little things that make him not fully a jerk. Such as the upset look he gets whenever a brother goes to Branch first instead of him, and yet how he tries to act like it didn’t bother him. Showing no matter how much of a hard ass he was he does actually are about his brothers in his own weird way.

I also looked upon different sites and saw what they described his personality as. Then I watched the movie, picked what I thought to be true, and honestly that’s what I go on. It’s kind of always changing because no matter how ‘cannon’ you’re trying to write a character there should always be a little self influence of you in them.

Not saying to completely derail a character and make them not cannon, but have fun with it. Take aspects of their character as you wish and just keep practicing and rewriting lines until you feel like it’s correct.

But JD is always harder for me to do, so that’s why I want to do him more. The more practice the better.

For characters like Floyd, who have minimum screen time, I find easier because they don’t have a stricter personality box. From what we see in the movie, what I’ve gathered from websites and other writers (reader other people’s work! They might actually inspire how you write a character a lot), Floyd is sensitive yet witty. He’s smart and caring.

That’s our base line, four traits that are easy to write because they don’t have much to them. THEYRE just traits! Then we can take a few of Floyd’s voice lines to base how can mimic speaking like him; And he speaks a little like Branch but a little on the nicer tone to people he actually cares about.

I don’t know if that makes sense or if it actually helps at all, but it’s a weird process. It’s all about how do you make yourself most comfortable playing and writing the character. Do we much research as you need, take your time! There’s no rush to publish fan fictions, there’s no rush to do anything.

Remember to post only what you’re proud of and what you enjoy. Writing is a process that gets slightly easier the more you practice it, and sometimes it gets harder. But just enjoy it along the way and write only when it feels right. :)

But happy writing and please tag me in any post you publish! I’ll love to read your work.

[arcsigils2]

Hello !

I did some of your suggested readings on sigils (admittedly not the entirety, but I perused the Wikipedia pages including the one on gnosis in chaos magic as well as the introductory article in the third link.

When comparing those sources to the instructions you provided, there was just one thing that confused me (not trying to contradict you, I'm assuming that you're the most educated one here on the subject) - the concept of the sigils being "actionable". The sources I read all seem to suggest that the sigil is a way of casting a conscious desire into the unconscious (and thus farther away from the ego and lust) and letting this unconscious power act in our lives absent of our own conscious intervention -- and that we should even try to forget that we called upon a sigil in the first place. Wouldn't this then mean that engaging in actions towards realizing our desire would be going against the point of the sigil itself (this might also explain the wealth of discourse on this blog about tattooing them)?

Or do actions need to be taken to help along the realization of the sigil alongside its normal means of activation?

Thanks for taking the time, I look forward to doing more advanced research but in the meantime I wanted to try making some right away!

Good Job! You realized that, and I just wanna congratulate you on that for a little bit. You did your work and now you realize something, and you question it, and the process is making you a better mage. <3 <3 <3 :D

First of all, you are correct!

my methods are different from the primary school of thought regarding sigils, because I think of them more like magic circuits, or 2 Dimensional rituals and spell-bottles. Why leave everything to the universe if I can optimize my magic.

trying to make yourself forget about a thing you want very quickly is very difficult! (lets assume that) You want a sigil that can increase the chances of you getting a job because you need to pay the bills and not freeze and starve to death, like, you think you can really forget about it? Forget about the bills and the need for money??? of course not.

I added the Actionable part because sigils should not be the only way for you to get the thing you want, you should not rely on Magic alone, and even if you do use magic, you should have a clear goal and method for it.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: It helps prevent people asking for really dumbass sigils.

Secondly, I personally think we need to increase the probability of a sigil activating as much as we can.

and for that, please read all of these: https://runesoup.com/tag/sigils/

have fun~ :3

and Good Luck! :D

[paper--constellations]

About, Intro, Expectations

Howdy! This is my first post on Tumblr! I intend to use this blog to spread resources, awareness, anecdotes, and all sorts of other helpful information regarding life (and subsequently navigating it while being neurodivergent). While I don't have a mascot or consistent theme for visuals quite yet, I'm choosing to start posting anyway and figure that out later.

About me: I'm neurodivergent (AuDHD, anxiety, a few other flavors) and I'm LGBTQ+. I'm a tech enthusiast and enjoy reading, watching YouTube, listening to podcasts, and watching anime and other good shows.

Why I'm making this: I had a rough childhood and left home completely unprepared to be an adult. I had no discipline, no expectations, no idea what life would expect of me and zero clue about how things worked. It felt like everything was stacked against me, and it became unbearable because I had nobody to ask. I was floundering. I'm fairly stable now because I've learned to adapt and grow as a person, but I think it's very unfair that a lot of people are going to end up in the exact same position as I once was in. I've taught several friends how to do basic tasks, and it's frustrating to find out how much people just don't know. Nobody deserves to flounder and feel hopeless, no one deserves to feel like a failure because frankly nobody talks about these things early enough. I don't care about balancing a checkbook, but creating a secure password for my online accounts? Searching for somewhere to live and how to tell I'm not being ripped off or worse? What my rights are in the workplace? That's the kind of thing I want to talk about, just things that would have been helpful when I was starting out. Of course, I'll talk about a lot more, but it's a start. I want this to be a handy guide for folks who have questions or just no idea where to start learning.

I have no plans to paywall any information because I'm not a guru, I'm just some guy who happens to obsess about finding answers, living well, and not getting screwed over.

Bit of an aside, and I'm not sure why I feel this is necessary, but I'm based in the USA so of course my tips and views will be skewed accordingly. What works for me may not work for you, use your best judgement. Please don't steal or repost my work, hyperlink to it instead. If you need to take unedited snippets, please contact me first. Nothing I say should be taken as gospel, do your own research first. I may get things wrong, and I'm open to corrections. I will also be tagging my posts so they can be sorted by category and more easily parsed.

That being said, let's do this!

[clairelsonao3]

🔥 + self publishing vs traditional publishing romance

Thanks for the ask!

Wow, okay. Let me preface this by saying my feelings on publishing are extremely complicated and evolving by the minute. I spent almost two decades dealing with the traditional publishing industry in different capacities (including working in an agency in NYC), and up to and including a canceled book deal (not for romance per se, but rather a memoir that incorporated romance), and it's safe to say it was so frustrating and demoralizing it came close to killing off my interest in writing altogether. I continued at it for so long because I had it so deeply drilled into me -- including during my MFA and even earlier than that -- that trad publishing was the only correct and proper way of publishing and anything else was suspect and "less than."

That's obviously changing. Publishing my work serially on Ao3, which I did as an experiment to basically attempt to pull myself out of a severe depression (which I'm sure was due, among other factors, to my frustrated writing career), has changed my outlook on self-publishing considerably.

So has being on writeblr, where so many talented writers have explored self-publishing successfully.

So has reading and buying more excellent indie fiction that I may not have even realized was self-published, it was so professionally produced, edited, and written.

So has realizing that many of the most currently successful romance writers started out self-published, including writers of boundary-pushing and genre-defying romances that probably wouldn't get a second look from traditional publishers, who understandably need to play it safe. (My current WIP most definitely falls into this category).

So has realizing that traditional publication is no guarantee that you will get any help with marketing or publicity outside of the basics (and most romance novels, because they're exclusively published as ebooks, don't need much help in that department anyway).

That said, I can say that personally, I plan to self-publish my current project for two reasons: a. self-publishing is looking increasingly viable to me and b. because I'm currently writing a book/series that has no realistic chance of ever being published traditionally.

That also said, there are romance writers who probably SHOULD attempt to publish traditionally, namely, if they have written extremely commercially viable manuscripts (which again, I have not). These are increasingly fitting into narrower and narrower niches, though, I feel. (e.g., if you're writing a historical, your MMC better be a Regency duke, and if you're writing contemporary, your story should either be a. a light, fluffy, frothy romcom about rival cookie bakers with nothing dark in it whatsoever, or b. a "dark romance" about two miserable, twisted, abusive, toxic people who slowly destroy each other's lives until the last chapter where everything somehow turns happy. (There's many other subgenres that are popular of course, but those are the main ones I'm familiar with). There doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground for those of us who fit nowhere into those categories -- for example, who prefer to read/write about healthy relationships, but in extremely dark settings 😂.

That ALSO said, trad publishers (GOOD trad publishers -- let's assume for these purposes I'm not talking about vanity publishers, fly-by-night startups, or even outright scammers, which will often do a considerably worse job than what you can do yourself or outright rip you off, so PLEASE VET CAREFULLY - the SFWA website is a great place to get more info on publishing scams) can do a few things that might very much appeal to some writers: they will edit and design your book for free instead of you shelling out money from your own pocket (and high-quality editing and design is often not cheap), and they will get it into bookstores. However, again, if you do your research, you can get the same high-quality editing and design you would get at a trad publisher; and since most romances nowadays are sold outside of bookstores, so it's up to you how useful you think this is. (I'll add another caveat that right now, I'm also working on a YA romance, for which there is still to my knowledge NO market for self-publishing, because teens don't buy ebooks. I'm not sure why, but they don't. So if you're writing YA, I'd say it's trad pub or nothing, because only trad publishers have the marketing and distribution resources you'd need to get your books on store shelves and achieve any substantial sales.)

Addendum A: I have not yet personally self-published with Kindle Direct, Ingram, or any other popular method, so I can't offer any opinions on those. There's a lot of good information out there, though, including from other writeblrs who have been down that path, if you're interested.

Addendum B: There's also the issue of royalties, which I also don't have enough experience with at this point to be able to discuss thoroughly.

But watch this space because I'm sure I'll eventually be sharing more about my self-publishing journey.

That's all I can think of for now, and I hope it's useful! I have Feelings and Opinions on this, so I might come back later and add more to this answer.