#or well everyone we can see in bot mod

[animentality]

Dude I'm so confused

Why are the redditors refugees here-

Whats up with the tag 196

AND WHY IS EVERYONE BEING SO NICE WITH THE TWITTER REFUGEES CAME WE GAVE THEM HELL (almost)

The Reddit refugees are here because several subreddits have gone private in protest of reddit's new policy of charging third party developers for access to its API.

Hence the term reddit blackout.

196 specifically was a very queer friendly subreddit that had one rule: that you post before you leave. 196 is trending because those Redditors have come here and they're basically sharing their memery here instead as they protest reddit's greed.

As for why we're welcoming them when Twitter refugees were seen with a little more irritation, well.

Think of the culture similarities.

Tumblr and reddit have far more in common than Tumblr and Twitter.

Twitter is about clout and manipulating algorithms and discourse in 280 characters or less. It's about bad takes that reach the right people and it forces you to see things you don't want to see and it's crawling with the worst people imaginable and you're forced to see them, all the time. They also brought bad tagging and 2016 Tumblr discourse with them, because Twitter culture really involves starting fights for clout and braindead opinions that no one really wants to come back to Tumblr culture.

There was a time when Tumblr did the same thing, but worse, with more words...but nowadays, it's really calmed down.

The worst people...went to Twitter after the porn ban. Ironically, it made the site less toxic and hostile.

But then they came back.

And it was like...hm. no thanks. Stay back where you came from.

But Tumblr and Reddit have much more in common.

Both have a more streamlined way of customizing your online feed. You can choose what subreddits you see on your home screen, just like Tumblr only shows you the content of your followers, on your dashboard, and in chronological order rather than what's trending. You can join a very specific weird niche group of freaks with a shared obsession, and not care about the rest of the site at all. You also don't have a character limit on either site, which lets you ramble more and share weird detailed stories.

Reddit might have karma, but like Tumblr, the majority of people are lurkers and not posters. It also allows you to downvote bad opinions, and moderators who have to adhere to certain guidelines of behavior, which means a lot of banning disruptive people.

Granted, sometimes their mods are power hungry, but. You know.

It does more to control its users than Tumblr do, and that's a good thing in terms of keeping toxicity and illegal shit off its subs.

Reddit also has a way more leftwing attitude than you would think.

It has a reputation for being full of incels but I honestly think that's outdated.

It's cleaned up its act quite a bit since the old days.

I see way more vile shit from Twitter and TikTok. Like seriously.

Twitter is crawling with conservative bots and propaganda machines and just outright inflammatory lies. TikTok literally has the worst comment sections I've ever seen, like edgy teenagers cracking racist and misogynistic humor and acting like it makes them different and special. Its algorithm also spoon feeds you garbage and is designed to be as addicting as possible.

At least reddit's culture, while chauvinistic and regressive in certain subcultures, is mostly on the tech positive, atheist libertarian side.

It can be a little pretentious and caustic about certain subjects, and a little full of itself. Some reddits are also very male leaning and disregard female concerns in favor of moaning about how men have it worse than anyone else on earth.

But for the most part?

...well.

I welcome them here, because if they left reddit in protest, then we always support protests. But 196 specifically is also a queer subreddit, and we support that even more.

Plus they're funny as fuck.

What's not to like, really?

You should welcome them with open arms too.

[slenbee]

Bot spam, adverts, communities, and you.

Hi everyone! I'm Bee, and today I'm writing this post to let others know of some ways to help combat Tumblr's current bot issue happening inside communities.

First, here's an index of this post:

Ways to help stop the bots from invading your communities.

How to spot a potential bot account and a bot invasion.

What a bot community looks like. (So you can report it!)

Long post under the cut with pictures and instructions on what to do if you want to do this or want others to maybe do this, so click read more and let us continue!

-----

To begin, here is the first step should absolutely take towards keeping your community free of bots.

1 - Deny them access.

If you own a community on tumblr?

Set it to request/invite to join.

It's that easy! How do I do this you ask?

Navigate to community settings > down to Joining, and set it to:

This means that anyone can request to join, but it's up to the admin's and the mods to accept those invites. If a blank blog* requests to join, you can easily deny those and just accept those that seem like real people. (&I'll explain what a blank blog is in a bit.)

If your community is small (say less than 500 people with less than 5 invites a week), this shouldn't be too bothersome if you remember to check it once or twice a week or so. :)

And if you're a member of a community that has an active admin:

Ask the admin to set it to request to join!

While this may not be the most ideal way of handling this issue, it never hurts to ask, right? You could always make a poll and see if others vote/feel the same way and maybe they'll change it, too. But, remember, it's up to the admin's discretion on if they want to actually do this. If they don't, then sadly you might have to either deal with it or make your own community if the admin/mods neglect to do their jobs. :(

Note: Staff are working on developing ways to help community admins better moderate their communities. This isn't just a 'we'll have to suffer through it' issue. It's just going to take time, is all.

Until we're given the tools to stop them, this is the only way that we (real people) are going to keep bots and blank blogs* out of our communities until tumblr staff comes up with a concrete way to keep them out.

-----

2 - How to spot a (possible) bot and a bot invasion.

Most bots now'a'days are what I like to call 'blank blogs'.

These type of blank accounts are also widely used by scammers. So if you're an artist and you get a DM from someone asking for a commission of their pet/son, yes, you are about to get scammed!

You can read more about this scam by clicking this link here.

While there have been a few mistaken users who have been caught up and mistaken as as a bot, once I removed them from my community they DM'd me back after I'd requested them to do so, and I explained to them how to change their profile banner, add a description, ect, and told them how reblogging worked on tumblr (as they honestly didn't know how the site worked), and we were all good after that!

My rule of thumb: Humans should do human things on the human website. If you don't, you aren't human.

Blank blogs (presumed to be bots,) are blogs that look like this:

Note the following with these 'blank' blogs:

No change in their background image. No change in their icon. (Just the default.) Generic randomly generated name or 'keysmash' name.* No posts or reblogs. They had 0 liked posts. Yet they were following dozens of people.

*These names can also be 3 English words slapped together to make a username. This is also a common tactic used by scammers (as I'd mentioned prior as well) as mentioned previously.

If you get a DM/ask from a blog like this (or ANY blog) and:

They ask for a commission of their son/daughter and/or their pet. They say 'hey pretty' and try to hit on you. (romance scam.) They try to offer you money to buy your art as a NFT (also a scam.) They try to sell you crypto or get you to invest. (obvious scam.) They try to sell you a product or service. (phishing scam) They try to get you to go off tumblr to a different website to 'talk'. They say they're a sugar daddy/mommy looking for a 'sugar baby'. They offer you some sort of free money. (nothing's free. it's a scam.) They offer you a job position or say <company> is hiring. They try to sell you HRT. (yes.. that's 100% a thing they're doing.)

It is all 100% an attempt to scam you.

Bots will sometimes join communities just for the sake of having people to target. Communities are full of people, so communities with more people are more likely to be targeted and joined by bots.

That's also why bigger Communities get more bot ad/p0rn ad spam.

Here is what a bot invasion looks like:

All blank blogs (I checked!) with no sign of human life.

All with random jibberish names, all joining on the same day.

-----

3 - What a bot community looks like. ....So you can report it!

I'm mentioning this part because I know there will be people who get curious and browse tumblr to find 'new things' and 'new interests'. And I'm here to point out what are the biggest and most obvious signs of bot made communities and/or communities made to scam.

Note: Do not join these communities, and do not, under any circumstance, click any of the links that are featured by these communities. They could very well take you to a phishing website or even something that gives you a virus. If you want to report them, just view the community, click the . . . at the top right corner and report it for spam unless it's doing something illegal. then report it as such.

Again. Don't let curiosity kill your phone/PC/Tablet. It's not worth it.

-----

The search.

So again, say you're new, and you like money. So you search 'money' in the tumblr search and then view communities.

As of right now, you'll see communities like this:

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to point out the obvious as to which one of these was made by a bot/scammer.

So let's turn out focus to good ol 'Juwa 777 Download APK '

(Again. Do not actually go and download this.)

Things to note:

It only has one member. The admin. And viewing the admin? It is a blank blog.

The only post on this community... is an advertisement.

Thus it is pretty safe to say, a bot / scammer made this community.

Here is a second example further down the list:

Again, things to note:

One member (admin), blank blog, one post that's an advertisement.

Now here is one that's more 'tricky' as it has more members.

But the content itself is an obvious scam.

I won't show the members as a few are porn bots, but they follow the same theme of nonsensical names or 3 english words slapped together. They may reblog posts (usually porn...) or post things (again.. porn), but they're still bots.

If you see communities like these, make sure you report them. Just note if you report too many too fast (usually after 3) you'll get a 'oops try again later' bug for some reason and you'll have to wait to report more.

-----

So in conclusion: If you don't want bots, just don't let them in.

If you can't handle accepting invites, make someone a mod (who you trust) and let them help you accept new member invites. Divide the load and we can keep out the bots and keep our communities safe and clean until something is done about them.

Until then, please make sure to share this so others know what to do, and if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them in the comments. :)

-Bee

[tinydefector]

The Rung transfluid headcanon 😵‍💫 I already drink those daily 🤭

Could I offer up Sunder as being the new Monster Ultra flavor: Fantasy Ruby Red?

Oh the amount of headcannons I have over the transfluid atm is insane. I'm working on a Swerve fic for it atm. I wasn't actually expecting ,y silly shit post to get so much traction over the bots XD

So where I am in Australia energy drinks are limited in what you can find and today I'm in one of the cities so gonna see what lovelies I can find.

I had to go look up that monster and kinda went down a rabbit hole for Sunder and Rung

--------

Firstly. Rung

The first time Rung gets oral from you, it's just to blow off steam after a day, which just didn't turn out well. Man gets put through the ringer a lot with watching everyone else's mental health that sometimes he forgets to look after himself.

He's lent back in his chair venting softly one servo on the back of your head optics half lidded as he just watches, after all you had offered to help with stress relief after hearing a rumour from another human on board.

Rung is extremely high strung, so when your lips and fingers rotate between teasing his spike and pressing your face into his valve, he begins to figure something up.

It's only once he overloads and he's there optics closed debating getting up to clean up that he can still feel you eagerly cleaning up the mess.

And he just gets fixated on watching as you lick up his spike, transfluid covering your tongue and lips

He thinks its a one time thing until two days later he has you back between his thighs working him up for another overload and when he pulls you away because he doesn't want to make a mess and the protest you put up. Begging to taste him again

It is eventually a subject he takes to not just the medics but also the scientist, quite worried about the effects of it since Transfluid is. A by product of Energon. He learns that.

___

-no it isn't harmful to humans the same way energon is.

- aslong as you can limit your human on how much they consume as it can eventually give them energy sickness if they have to much 5-6 litres in a 24 time stamp

-the human body needs time to flush it out. Because it works very much the same as energy drinks if you have to much it can stop your heart or give you cardiac problems

-it's quite additive and companionable to human caffeinated drinks, and when the bots realise that there us a full meeting about the effects.

- energon seems to get converted into a very similar thing to taurine which is an amino acid containing sulphur but alot of the minerals and nutrients that Cybertronians live off from their treats, food sources and energon what adds in all the other things.

-Perceptor and ratchet discovered that Transfluid is better for human consumption than energy drinks not by a lot but more the fact you can consume more of it with less problems.

- and each bot seemed to have different 'flavours' and it becomes a full thing of asking their partner what they taste like. And eventually the 'flavour mods'

________________

And on the Case of Sunder I present to you these monsters as an offering as well.

So we have

Sunder : rehab strawberry lemonade/Ultra ruby red

Overload : rehab recovery watermelon

Senator shockwave: rehab green tea

Elita one: rehab pink lemonade

Chromia: rehab protean

Wheejack: rehab tea + lemonade

Wings : rehab gojo tea

Let me know if you would like to be added to tag list (tagged for every fic)

[shadowgast-recs-weekly]

A couple of changes

Hey all!

We've passed a couple of big milestones recently (Our 1000th rec! 5000 likes on tumblr! 69th themed week!), which seems like a good time to make a couple of changes!

The first, and biggest one: We're opening up recs to the general public! They'll work similar to the way that the gen recs and the not-quite-rarepair recs work - read the rules, prove that you've read the rules by submitting the password that's embedded in them, and then submit the rec. It's not foolproof, but it keeps bots away and hopefully convinces people.

We're doing this because, to be honest, two of the three people who are involved in this reclist aren't all that active on the discord this reclist is associated with, and I (Opera) think the reclist can be better if it has more voices involved, which means expanding the reccing pool.

Because of #1: 

2. We're changing the rules slightly. 

So, this reclist is anonymous. Unless you mention who you are in the comments of the rec itself, then we have no way of knowing who recced it.  Which in some ways is great! But it also means that when there's a potential issue, we can't send a quick DM to maybe clear things up.

One of the reasons why I was so hesitant about opening this up to everyone was that people tend to give people they share a community with more grace and good faith than randos, and because when there was an issue, I could put a message in the discord and - well, it didn't feel great, but at least it felt less like a call out post than putting it on tumblr where everyone can see it.

So, this is going to take some trust, but this is what we're going to do:

a. We will not allow any rec that is deemed, without a questionable doubt by the mods to be racist, transphobic, or mean spirited towards the work itself or the other works in the fandom. If the part that is racist, transphobic, or mean spirited can be excised without deleting the entire rec, we will do so. Otherwise, we'll remove it.

To be clear, we will still allow works that feature racism (for example, characters dealing with fantasy racism) or transphobia - it's that the rec itself should not be.

b. We will also remove any rec by author request. I've been hesitant to do this in the past, and we're not really equipped to ban any author from being recced, but will be willing to do so on a case by case basis.

c. When making a change, the default will be to make a change quietly. If you notice something's up, you can DM @operafloozy or @theusualjasper and we will let you know privately. I'm all for transparency, but announcing that someone was being weird on a rec on tumblr (where it can't be easily contained) is probably going to lead to bad feelings all around.

d. We're going to ask that everyone take things with as much good faith and grace as possible. I really, really don't want to remove anything, and this is asking folks who don't know the mods to trust us. I also don't want this reclist to become a vehicle of bullying or transphobia, but also I don't want people to get paranoid about their rec not being good enough or secretly transphobic somehow.

3. Also, we're putting the first ten themes back into the randomizer to be picked. It's been nearly two years, and we're down to only twelve unpicked themes. After ten weeks, we'll add the next ten themes back in, and so on.

Those themes are:

Cozy

Getting Nerdy About Magic

Professor Widogast

Culture Differences

Canon Divergent AU

Featuring Essek's Parents

Featuring Verin

Scourger/Evil AU

Featuring Astrid/Eadwulf

Wild Magic

[noonaishere]

Online/Offline [C.S] - seventy-eight | sharing screens and secrets

“Hello?” Quack asked as you clicked the ‘Answer’ button on the screen.

“Can you hear me?”

“I can.”

You didn’t talk to Quack much via voice, but every time you did you thought she sounded so youthful. You were pretty sure you were around the same age, considering when she started modding for you, but she always sounded so much more cute than her business-like demeanor in texts would have you think.

“Okay, so I’ll share my screen now.”

You clicked over to what she was showing you.

“So, my friend did a bunch of digging, a little hacking, a little asking favors, and this is what she found. Well, the stuff we can legally use in court, anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess we can’t use hacked content as evidence, since hacking is illegal.”

“Mhm.” Quack pulled up a Twitch vod channel that seemed devoted to you.

“What the fuck?”

“This guy is… forget head over heels, he might just be spinning ass over tea kettle down a rabbit hole of love for you.”

There were videos with titles like ‘JGG is the best!’ ‘I’d lick JGGs boots clean if I could AND say thank you!’ ‘JGG loves me?’. 

You noticed the dates of the videos. “--Wait, is this the bottom of the page?”

“Yeah, this is all his old shit. If we scroll up, you can see here…” Quack scrolled up and stopped, her mouse hovering over the upload date of a video. “This is the day you had Morn guest the first time.”

The title was ‘JGG CHEATING ON ME???’ 

Quack clicked on it and clicked to about the halfway point of the video. The background of the video was the stream where you and Morn played together for the first time and he made you play Minecraft with him after everyone left, accompanied by a voice over by the channel owner.

“I just don’t understand-- I’ve been supporting her all this time and then she has this guy on to stream?” His voice broke as he sobbed. “I have spent so much money in her chat, she owes it to me to not invite another man on! I was lenient with Keeho, because they knew each other since they were in high school, but who the fuck is this-- this-- MorningStar? She could invite me-- or anyone else in the chat to play and she invites this man she just met! Whoring herself out for him while he simps after her like a beta cuck with no balls! She’s a--”

Quack stopped it. “I already listened to it once and it doesn’t get better.”

Your hand had been over your mouth in shock as you listened to his rant. You pulled it away. “No, uh… yeah-- I…” You trailed off.

“Are you okay?”

“...What the fuck?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“And he’s the one who’s been leaving all the comments?”

“Yeah, he’s been using a bot farm to do it. My friend shut it down.”

“Tell her I said thank you.”

“I will.”

You were quiet for a few moments as the words you just heard rang in your head like the tinnitus from hearing loss. “Wait… he said he’s been supporting me all this time...”

“If you’re about to ask if I know who he is, I do. Are you ready to see?”

“No, but, yeah.”

Quack clicked a link in the description of his About Me which led to some kind of affiliate link farm page you didn’t understand, then a link on that page, and another, and another, until she opened two in new tabs.

“Okay… I think I need you to take a deep breath before I show you this.”

“Is it that bad? It’s not Morn, is it?”

Quack chuckled. “No, it’s not Morn. But you’ve met the guy before.”

“What?” You whispered.

“Please take a breath.”

You did as she asked, exaggerating it so the microphone would pick it up and she could hear.

“Okay… this is who he is online.” She opened the first tab.

‘TheNicestGuy’ was the channel username that stared you in the face.

“What?” You whispered again. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah.”

“But… he’s been in my chat for forever and never said anything shitty before… has he?”

“Mmm…”

“Has he done something and you didn’t tell me?”

“Normally he engages about as much as most people. Maybe not excited as other chatters like Yuta or Tree, but now I’m thinking that he might have been doing that to mask how he really felt.”

“Wearing sheep’s clothing.”

“Basically. Ever since Morn showed up he’s been doing a lot of ‘dot dot dot’-ing, and I thought it was weird but I don’t talk to him so I wasn’t sure what it meant.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

You thought for a few moments. He never seemed weird or out of sorts at all to you. He seemed about as normal as any of your other chat members, like Namhae. 

“Are you ready for the next one?”

“Now I really am scared.”

“It’s…” Quack trailed off.

You sat in silence for a few moments.

“I’m not going to lie. It’s going to be scary.”

“Great...” you said, voice shaking.

“But I have to show you.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Are you ready?”

“Just do it.”

“This is who he is offline.” She clicked the second link. It was a LinkedIn page. His profile was him smiling brightly in front of a mottled light blue background, the kind of picture a professional takes so they can use it on their social media.

You knew the face.

You knew you knew it.

It was the face of the man who had been showing up to the café for the past few months, and who chased you and San through the downtown area.

Of course you knew his face.

The stalker.

Tears pricked at your eyes as your brain spat out every time he had shown up in the café like a search engine finding every instance of a search term across the internet, and a torrent of anxiety and dread followed behind it all like a dam breaking old concrete and drowning everything in the valley below it. 

“I’m going to throw up.”

“Are you okay?”

“No… is that it?”

“No. This is his old account.”

She opened another tab and navigated to it: it was the page of the guy who took the picture outside of the café you used to work at.

“...Oh my god.”

“I know.”

“Oh my god!”

“I know.”

“How are you so calm right now?! That’s my stalker! He followed me to Seoul!”

“Because when my friend sent me the CCTV footage I got a good look at him, and when she sent me this last night, I recognized him immediately. …I spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to tell you.”

You stood up from your chair and went to pace, but your head was yanked back by the headset wire. 

“Are you okay?”

“I-- I-- I just--”

“I know.”

Tears rolled hot over your cheeks. “What the fuck, Quack? What the fuck?”

“I know.”

“I just… I… I’m sorry for crying.” You fell back into your chair, your legs weak from how the information shook you. You sobbed loudly and inhaled. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for crying.”

“Don’t apologize. Please don't apologize.”

“I just… I can’t believe a person who’s been following me for forever in my chat has been following me in real life! I--”

“Please, Cat, breathe.”

“I-- I can’t! I’m freaking out!”

“Can you call someone? Morn, maybe?”

“No, I can’t…”

“Why not…”

“I just can’t!”

Quack was silent as you cried.

You shoved your headset off and screamed until your lungs exhausted, and you slumped over your desk. Pulling your arms over your head, you laid like that, cheekbone pressed into the desk's hard surface and held yourself, knees pulled up as high as they could go under you. Even if Quack said something to you, you wouldn’t be able to hear it.

This was the worst possible thing that could be happening: he was the weird donor, the cafe picture, the influx of comments calling you a whore, the watching you in person, the chasing you in the dark-- he was all of it. He thought you were his, was that it? He thought he could own you - should own you - just because he donated sometimes? Streaming was a tip-based job; that's like saying that the waiter owes you sex because you tipped 30%. The dates on his page showed that he'd been fixated on you for a long time, but why the sudden ramping up? Was it because you refused his donation months ago? You could never take that much money from someone, it was the kind of amount that made you owe people... was that what he wanted? Did he want  you to owe him so... so what? So he could try to convince you to do something for him? Or...to him? You felt sick all over again.

You cried until the panic subsided and you could finally breathe normally, and when the feelings of terror and horror had finally finished washing over you, it was replaced with something else.

You sat up and grabbed the tissue box nearby and blew your nose. You grabbed another one and dried your eyes. You inhaled deeply and put your headset back on.

“You still there?” You asked.

“Yeah. Are you okay?”

“No.” Your voice was level now. You looked at his face on your screen. “I’m so mad.”

“Mad?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you were freaking out.”

“I’m done freaking out… I’m mad now.” 

You looked at the picture for a few moments, Quack not saying anything. You weren’t sure what this feeling was, anger? Vengeance? Something in you congealed into a feeling that burned through your tired bones until they were ash, and what grew back in their place was so much more disconnected to the situation and the feelings of sorrow and hurt.

You knew what it was now.

Rage.

“This guy has been disrupting my life for what? Months now? At both of my jobs?” You asked.

“Mhm.”

“He followed me through a move and chased me and my friend around downtown.”

“Yeah.”

“I just feel so mad. I’m so angry, dude.”

“Yeah… that makes sense.”

“I’m just so fucking angry.”

“...What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know… I want him to suffer, because he’s been making me suffer this whole time.”

“Understandable.”

“And like… I want to know why, you know?”

“Yeah.”

You sat in silence.

“You’ve known me for a long time, right Quack?”

“I feel like this is going somewhere... yes.”

You chuckled. “You know I’m not a bitch, right?”

“You’re one of the nicest people I know. Definitely the best boss I’ve had so far.”

“Well thank you: You’re my best employee.”

“I’m your only employee.”

“There’s other mods now.”

“Yeah, but I’m basically their manager and you’re my boss.”

“Have they been working out well?”

“They’re great.”

“Have you heard from Namhae at all?”

“No. I should probably ping him and see what’s up.”

“I hope he’s okay.”

“Yeah, same.”

You nodded, looping your fingers in your headphone cord. “But like… this guy ‘NicestGuy’-- fucking ironic name; why do men who act like shit think they’re god’s gift to the world?”

“A-men.”

“But this guy… he makes me want to be a bitch, you know? All that unhinged, surprising rage that men act like women have but really it’s only surprising to them because they weren’t listening to us the first forty times we told them to leave us alone.”

“Relatable.”

“I… I want to talk to him.”

A beat of silence as she processed what you said. “Cat, are you sure about that?”

You thought, your eyes boring into the pixels that made up his picture on your screen. He looked like a perfectly normal guy, the kind of shmo you’d walk past down the street and never have a second thought about. And yet, all that surface-level normalcy was hiding something so terrible.

“Yeah. I need to ask why. And I want a confession out of him that he did it. I want something the police can’t ignore.”

“You want him to confess?”

“Yeah. I want him to fucking say he did all this and I want to record him and I want him to go to prison.”

She was silent for a moment. 

“Quack?”

“Yeah-- sorry. I was wondering if it would even be possible.”

“Do you think it is?”

“Yeah, I think it might be.”

You nodded, not that she could see.

“I'll tell you what: I’ll talk to my White Hat friend about it, and I’ll see if she has any advice, like, legally.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Oh and, don’t tell Morn about this at all.”

“Why not?”

“He might freak out.”

“Shouldn’t he? The guy was stalking you. What if he wants to help?”

“I have some other friends that can help.”

She sighed. “If you say so.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll let you know what she says.”

“Thanks. And Quack?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad we met all those years ago. You’re not just an invaluable employee, you're a really great friend as well.”

Quack chuckled. “You better stop that or I’ll ask for a raise.”

You laughed. “You’re actually overdue for a raise, I think.”

She laughed again. “We can talk about it when all this is over.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

She ended the call.

You stared at the picture of your stalker. ‘Seo Byungchul,’ his page said. You looked at the smile on his face and wondered when he took the picture. Was it before he was stalking you? It had to be after he started watching your stream, by the age he appeared to be and how long you could remember him being in your chat. You wondered what he was thinking about when he took the picture. You wondered if he thought he was a good person. You wondered if he went to work every day, safe in the knowledge that none of his coworkers knew he was stalking a streamer both on the internet and in real life. You wondered if he stalked anyone else.

Hey Nero,

(I’m not sure if I should call you Nero or not anymore lol)

I’m just letting you know that I’ll be sort of unavailable outside of streaming for a bit. I have some irl shit I need to take care of and it might get a little rocky for everything outside of streaming. 

I’ll definitely let you know when I’m available to edit again though.

See ya round,

Cat

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Send an ask or leave a comment if you want to be added to the tag list! 🧋

@rachs-words • @stayatinykatsy • @dinossaurz​​ • @conwunder​ • @tinyelfperson​ • 

[starlightiing]

Come Join the F1 Family Server 💕

It's Race Week!

We are a group of about 145 people who are very loving, open, and easy to make friends with. If you're looking for a crew to run with, consider ours! Lovers of all drivers, teams, ect are welcome here! Between us, we do not all like each other's drivers, but we know how to behave. (Healthy debates always welcome, but no fighting please!)

We have:

All qualifying and races are guaranteed to be streamed. Practices are usually streamed as well. I typically feed the chat with the radio transcript messages from multiviewer. We have a specific spot for post race chatter so people who missed the race won't be spoiled.

There's a dynamic schedule in there for all events that translates to your timezone without you having to lift a finger!

F1 Fantasy is played in there, and there are channels for streaming games as well (F1 games, or others. Our resident artists sometimes stream art as well!)

There are spots for news, rumors, pets, memes, fanfic/rpf, general F1 discussion and off topics. We even have a sprint writing bot!

There's threads for other sports and other motorsports as well. We often times will stream other sports as well.

No mics or voice chatting is enabled for now. This can be unpredictable and make some people uncomfortable, so all chatting is done via typing/texting.

We have movie/show/youtube nights often as well, where we just get together as a little community and hang out and watch stuff.

An interactive game section where you can play a fishing mini-game, help us grow Nyck de Trees, and more!

Everyone is welcome. As long as you promise not to viciously bash drivers and treat everyone with respect, we got you.

Safety is a huge priority for us. We have 5 mods and between us, someone is always active to keep spaces safe. The server is locked until rules are agreed to, and we have measures in place to limit who can join the server based on age of account, account safety, ect. If your discord account is new and it won't let you in, message me directly and I'll see what I can do.

If you've been looking for someone to share races with, to make friends with, to discuss live events in a live chat with, come hang out with us 💕 you can even mute us until race days if that's your preference!

[britt-kageryuu]

The stream starts with a gift box in the center.

Donnies model moves in with Shelldon from the sides.

Donnie: Well members of the Bale, let us welcome River.

The box vanishes to reveal a teal cartoony robot softshell turtle, they look similar to Shelldon, but slightly flatter shell with little glowing 'spines', a longer neck, and a more conical shaped head. She has a 'Paper Fan of Doom' aka a Harisen fan lightly floating next to their shell.

Donnie: This is River. Use she/they with them.

River: Hello Everyone! (Their models tail is wagging fast.)

Donnie: They will be popping up during B, M, and Red streams, along with group streams. As I mentioned in a past stream she has the ability to ban people by hitting the chat box, yes, we gave the chat box collision just for this.

A notification graphic pops up reading '[placeholder] has been knocked out for [number] seconds!' And another that reads '[placeholder] has been sent to the great beyond!'

Shelldon: My little sibling can also perma ban you! So watch what you say!!

Donnie: If she detects a bot, spammer, or is commended to by a mod, or my brothers, she with knock you out, or block you from ever interacting with the stream again.

River: I will do my best, and hope to do my job effectively and efficiently!

They wield the fan and smack the 'Camera'. She swims of screen with a laugh.

Donnie: Well now that we've got that announcement out of the way, we will do a short poll for which game we will be playing today.

Chat has just been going nuts with cutes, emojis, and some quick messages saying 'I want to be hit by the cute robot turtle!'

Shelldon seems to be monitoring the chat a bit closer.

Shelldon: Hey D, can I bop a few people?

Donnie: Sigh, Shelldon we knew there was a calculated risk when designing River, just let them decide how to deal with this herself. Welcome to the life as a Big Brother! Dry Laugh.

Shelldon is now kinda pouting, and decides to not read paid for notes from those he took note of earlier.

Chat is still a chaotic mess through out the stream. Especially when River decides to peek in to 'see how things work'.

Masterpost

[zkbigbang]

Hello! I'm interested in joining the BB as an artist, but tumblr's recent move to partner with ai companies has me concerned about using tumblr as a place to post my artwork going forward. Would posting the finished art on tumblr be a requirement, or would it be okay to simply post to ao3 instead?

Hey, anon! Your concern is completely understandable, and I hate that AI is something we have to think about at this point. And for the record, use of any AI text or art generation is contrary to the purpose of the Big Bang and isn't welcome in this event. We'll be updating our event guidelines for this year to reflect that soon.

I did talk it over with the rest of the mod team, and for now, we are still requiring that art be posted to Tumblr. We want everyone to be able to see our participants' work on a common platform, and for better or worse, Tumblr is the platform that works the best for us. AO3 is amazing, but it's not a place where people tend to look for visual art, and any images you see on there (aside from profile pictures) have to be hosted on another site anyway since the AO3 servers aren't set up to handle image hosting.

However, we have no problem with artists taking other precautions to protect their work. In fact, we would highly encourage it. You can opt out of Tumblr's third party sharing under the visibility section of blog settings on web, which should theoretically block AI companies from using your work - we opted out of third party sharing here on the event blog as soon as I figured out where the button was, but it's hard to say how much that will protect the people we reblog from. We'd encourage everyone to opt out on their personal blogs and sideblogs to be safe. And as an extra precaution, you can always run your finished art through Glaze to cloak it from any bots that might be trying to mimic your style as well as Nightshade to poison the bots before posting. We're running this event for the human Zutara fans who want to spend their time and effort with us. If a few AI generation models get hurt along the way, that's a bonus!

PS: this information mostly applies to visual art - we do welcome other types of art in the Big Bang, but posting requirements and precautions against AI may vary by medium. Let us know if you have any questions!

[tavyliasin]

Making the Most of Discord - Fandom Server Layout

As I've had more than a few positive reviews of my delightful House of Hopeful Sinners (aside from the fun fake reviews we put together for the post in my pinned advertising the space) I figured I might use the setup to help demonstrate the potential ways to use the features when making your own server.

This is by no means saying "this is the only right and correct way to set up a server" it's more of a "this is how I manage it and it has worked really well for our purposes, feel free to use what we learned from it in your own spaces!"

I'll put different headings below the cut as we go so you can skip to what you need, and a little shameless self promotion right here for our creative focused 18+ NSFW Baldur's Gate 3 Fandom space~ CWs - Screenshots show mention of NSFW topics and titles. There are no details but some of the topics are words that would be on CW lists.

Rules, Ownership, and Mods

Starting out your own server is exciting, and we don't like to sit here and think "we're going to have problems", but it really is best to try and anticipate issues and put rules in place to prevent them. This is really going to vary based on the kind of place you are running, but as long as everything is clear your users can feel confident in the space. Nothing can damage a community more than a disagreement that is blown way out of proportion or an incident that gets out of hand. None of us are immune to mistakes, either, so being prepared is the best first step!

Make Your Rules Clear

Ambiguity in the rules is a very easy stumbling block. Keep your rules nice and clear, as specific as they need to be, and make sure that your moderation team are happy with the rules and how you would like them to be enforced when needed. I strongly recommend using a reaction role bot with your rules post so members agree they have read and understood the rules before entering the main server (more on roles and bots later!)

Choose Your Mods Wisely

Temptation might be to choose mods from friends, and that can be a good way to go! However, even with the best intentions, not everyone is going to mod in the way you would like them to. It can often be better to be a little more selective, and either offer the position to people who have mod experience already or use an application form with some questions that will help see if the mods will uphold your server values the way you prefer.

It can also be helpful to cover different time zones if your server is international, and having enough people will mean that nobody feels pressured or guilty if they need a break for any reason. Remember too that mods are volunteers, if you're the owner then final decisions and responsibility will come down to you in the end.

Age Restriction and User Safety

If you want to host NSFW content you need to be aware of user safety. Your most basic tool here is to set channels as age restricted. This is technically enough to cover you legally as the user has to manually confirm via a popup that they are old enough to view the content.

Personally? I prefer spaces that are explicitly 18+. I ensure this in HOHS by having people specify to a mod what year they were born. People are less likely to lie to someone directly than they are to click away a popup. This said, I do not recommend taking IDs or personal details due to Data Protection laws in various countries (as well as your members' rights to privacy, should they wish it). Verbal confirmation of the year of birth is fine. If you find someone is underage later, you can kick/ban them.

If your space is open to all ages with only some 18+ channels, you may want to verify birth year with users before they get a role to access those channels.

The reason for this is twofold. First, obviously, is safeguarding minors in online spaces. Although we are all well aware that minors access unsuitable content on their own, it shouldn't be encouraged or openly allowed, particularly with socialising with adults. The second reason is that any adult discussing NSFW topics with a known minor - even from an informal educational point of view without any unpleasant behaviour or intention - is very much at risk of ending up on a watch list. I'm very serious on that one. I have friends who have seen entire Discord servers and all their members in real legal trouble and on offender registers because the server knowingly allowed minors to participate in NSFW content channels.

So. Keep all of your members safe, check when you need to, and set up your channels and rules in the way that suits your space.

Categories and Basic Layout

Layout and Category Names

Your top category should be your welcome area if you have one, with your rules and whatever channel you want people to arrive in first at the very top. It can be tempting to put your admin section at the top, but this can make it more awkward to make your server invitations. Each category should also be nice and clear as to what is found there, so members can find the channels they want even when all the categories are collapsed.

This is how I arrange my welcome area, which is several channels which all technically contain rules (Contract Signing is the main rule list which users are directed to manually when we verify their age and give them access - more on that later!) but I personally prefer to make it easier for people to find things separately rather then being overwhelmed in one long channel. Use the layout that works for you!

A lot of servers also prefer to have separate categories for NSFW content, which is a very good way to run things if you want to have specifically separated content for peoples' comfort. You won't see that in the HOHS channels though as we are set up to be NSFW by default, and there is essentially only one pure SFW chat channel.

Naming Channels and Server Maps

I also personally prefer easy channel names. Whilst fun nods to fandom things might be an aesthetic/flavour choice, it may not be as helpful for your members to know where a piece of content or conversation belongs~ Having a map with a brief description of each channel's purpose will also help members to navigate, especially in a larger space.

Whilst it can be nice to use symbols or emojis in your channel names to denote the content (particularly using the 18 symbol for NSFW areas) this might make it a lot harder to link the channels in your server map or for users to link the channel to say "let's move our chat to this channel" when the topic changes, or "there's more on that topic over here". Emojis can work at the end of channel names with less interference, and honestly is something I am considering for aesthetics, though it's a lower priority.

Text Channels, Forum Channels, Voice Channels, and Threads

This is a big one for organisation so I'm going to go over them in sub headings one by one!

Text Channels

These are your bread and butter basic chat channels. They're wonderful for discussions and general chat, but in my opinion their weakness is in content sharing. Things like fan creations can get lost quickly when people respond to them, so you risk either discouraging the chat about a piece of work or losing work in the sea of conversation.

You can, of course, use slow mode in text channels so that users can only post once in each period of time. For extra busy servers, or open public servers, this can be a useful tool in spam prevention too!

Messages can be pinned in text channels which is handy for instructions, references, or other important information, but you are limited to a maximum of 20 pins and they might not be obvious to all users.

There are other ways to refine your text channels. For example, you can select whether people can post images, voice notes, files, and links into a channel. This is very useful if you need to prevent spam in a more important channel, or if you do not want to moderate the use of voice notes (more on those later).

For things like WIPs, some people like to have a slow mode so one new post every 6 hours and contain the discussion on that post to Threads. This can be helpful for some setups and work well, but it may still make older works harder to find so it's better just for more regular progress rather than a library of works.

Threads

Threads are essentially a side conversation within a text channel. They're fantastic for certain purposes like discussing an item that was shared, or containing a long conversation on one topic, and particularly things like discussions on lore and research that people might want to come back to at a later date without having to search through a text channel.

Text channels have a setting for how long threads will remain visible in a channel list.

After this time, threads are still available within the channel from the threads tab, but won't show up in the channel list until there is new activity inside the thread. Below is what threads might look like when active in the channel list - we use them in HOHS for Kink Specific Chat which means that only the people who have joined the threads will see them when they're active, and allows for people to choose which of those in depth conversations they want to be a part of. Informed Consent, really, and I keep a list of links to the threads in the CW list channel so people have an easy reference to find the content they do want to engage with more.

But these could be used for anything you like, from character specific chats to off-topic discussions, and you have the choice in your role setup to allow any members to create/use threads or have them only created by your mod/admin team so you have more control if you don't want a lot of threads popping up that are harder to moderate. This is how our kink specific topics appear in the channel list, but they are only visible here to those who have joined them. Like text channels, users can mute threads at any time and they won't get the white dot of new activity, or users can also leave threads if they want to leave that conversation entirely. Threads can be locked by moderators or put into slow mode too, so you do have options for control where needed.

(I also just want to note that the Feminization topic thread is not in the slightest bit transphobic or problematic, though it is here because not everyone is comfortable with that content and we respect that in this house~ HOHS is a very LGBTQIA+ positive and inclusive space)

Forum Channels

These are my absolute bread and butter for sharing fanfiction, art, and resources. Forums are newer to Discord, so it might take a bit of learning and convincing for more experienced users to get used to them, but trust me on this one; when you have Forums set up they are a much better way to display and discuss creative works.

The reasoning really is that works are searchable, taggable, and people can confidently discuss a work without worrying about clogging a chat channel.

Forum posts can look a lot like threads in the channel list, and have a similar timeout method for how long they stay in the channel list with no new comments/activity in them.

This is an example if how I've arranged the HOHS FanFic "Library" - I have covered the names of most of the fic post titles for other users' privacy and left my own visible as the examples for you. Similarly to Threads, only the posts that a user has interacted with will show up in their channel list, so you don't need to worry about everyone's channel lists being swamped with forum posts that aren't relevant to them.

So here, each of the speech bubble headers is the Forum Channel title. When you're actually in a forum channel you (or any member) can refine how the posts are viewed. Here's some of the art share channels. I have covered the images to protect the works, as I do keep strict rules that art must have a link to the original artwork on a public share by the artist unless the artist is the one posting (ie, no sharing paid patreon only works or things the artist has not made public) so that proper appreciation can be shown to the original.

So this is in "Gallery View" where each post appears as a square with an image preview if there are images. You'll also see tags on the posts - these are a great way to find works and sort through them! You can have up to 20 tags available, and members can apply up to 5 tags to a single post. The tags can then be selected in the gallery menu to show works with that tag on them. This is what I have under "Main Character Art"

You can choose the emojis, and you are able to use your server emojis for these tags too if you like! Unfortunately though this is going to be a tedious part of setting up forum channels, you can't copy them over.

As an example of tag filtering and List View of a Forum, here's the Villain Fic Forum. So again we have those friendly grey boxes to protect the privacy of other members, but I've left my content uncovered for you~

Here you can see I've selected the Haarlep filter, so it is showing works with the Haarlep tag starting with the most recent. List view shows a shorter preview of each piece, and I hovered over the +1 part of the tags on the third post to show you how the extra tags can be seen. The most recent comment is displayed in the preview as well.

So essentially this way people can share their art and fics without worrying they'll get lost. People can also discuss each work in its own post without a long list of threads, and browse older additions based on the tagging system or searching by title in the top bar.

I think that mostly covers forums other than the setup of them which is relatively straightforward - similar to text channels you can use slow mode for both new forum posts and/or comments on forum posts, and the tags can be whatever you want them to be. Just remember you have a maximum of 20 tags for each forum channel and a maximum of 5 per post.

The only other thing is when you are adding tags there might be errors if you have made any other changes to the channel - save those changes with this button before trying to add tags!

Voice Channels

The last area to look at is Voice Channels. These are going to be harder to moderate, so you may want to consider what your community is like and what you want and need from voice channels.

Voice channels come with their own chat channel attached which can be useful for those who don't use a mic, those just dropping by who haven't joined the voice (so you can see here I'm not actively in the VC but I can open the chat window), for sharing images/links that you're discussing in voice, and similar.

Some people prefer to have a separate text channel to chat in alongside voice, which can be better for when you're streaming or running activities, because the attached text chat takes up a part of even the popout window for the voice/streaming/activity.

There are more options like stage channels where you can have a limited number of presenters and the audience are muted. This is great if you want to host talks or specific events and watch parties!

Lots of options so you can age restrict the channels as needed, as well as setting user limits. When a voice channel is active you can also set a status to it. You can choose if members are allowed to do this or only certain roles, but it's a good way to let members know what's going on without joining.

You might need to be cautious with the quality and settings on these if people have difficulty participating with connection quality.

Again, moderation is going to be a concern in a larger or open server, so make sure you have rules established and that members know who to contact in case of issues. But when used well, voice channels can be a lot of fun and even comforting or inspiring for members to get together and play games or work on creative pieces alongside one another. You can even host watch parties with some services.

Roles and Permissions

Roles are going to be the backbone of your member organisation. Beyond the usual Mods and Member roles, you can use them for a number of different organisational and interactive features within your server.

The Order Of Roles

The function of roles will go in the order you have them in your server. This determines where they show up on the member list (it is optional to have roles separate like this), the image that will show up with a member's name who has the role (this is for level 2 and 3 boosted servers), and the colour of a user's name who has the role.

So here even if a Haarlep's Helper Mod had the Swinger of Swords role, their name would be that red tone. Similarly if a user chose both Healer of Souls and Friend of Nature, their name would be Yellow because Healer is the higher ordered colour.

Role Colours

The main thing to remember with Role Colours is to ensure that they are easy to read for people using the default light or dark mode of Discord. Those who pay for Nitro may have more options for background colours, but most members will use the defaults. You will see examples when setting the roles that can help you determine if the colour you have picked will work. The default list are balanced relatively well to have contrast to show up in a readable manner for you, so it's more the custom colours that you might have trouble with.

So that standard dark red is pretty clear on both, but this custom blue is somewhat painful on the dark mode version:

Similarly this pale yellow is perfect on the dark mode, but against the light mode background it's almost invisible.

Commonly Used Roles

Some of the most commonly used roles are for pronouns, so users have an easy way to know how to refer to their friends in chat. Some servers like to assign a colour to these for a quick visible reference. I've used images with them in HOHS

So this is also in the order so that the highest role is the one that appears next to the name (you can only have one image icon unfortunately), and hovering over the image will also show the role name.

This is just one way you can make use of the roles for your members~ I'll go over making it easy for members to choose them a bit lower down but I would like to mention one of my favourite uses of roles:

Optional Pingable Roles

These are some of the more basic alert roles I use - members can opt in, and some of them are able to be pinged (notification tag) by any members. So people can use "@ Beta Reader" to ask for those with the role if they're available to help read and edit a WIP, and the admin/mod roles can alert members to server changes with the Server News Alert role.

One way I really like to make use of these for member engagement is character based pings which are perfect for fandom servers like ours~

These are just a few, I've got them set up for a lot of characters, and allowed anyone to mention the roles. I encourage members to use them for both fics and art, so people with the role know there is new content for their favourite and where to find it. With the bot setup, people can remove their role at any time if they find the notifications overwhelming.

So this is an example where I used them for a fic, tagging the character roles. We do the same when sharing found works and art, which means those looking for the content don't miss their favourites.

Role Permissions

Your roles can all be customised to have global permissions, and each channel can have its own permission overrides where needed too. So for example you might want a role to be able to post images and files in most of the server, but you might not want that role to post them in a specific channel that you want to keep as text only.

It takes a while but properly setting up each channel will give you better control over the content to reduce the moderation work in the long run (ie, you won't need to ask people not to put things in the wrong places).

A Note On Voice Notes

Voice notes are going to be a very personal preference thing. I generally prefer not to use them, because users may not be able to listen to them at the time which makes moderation more difficult too. I have also seen issues arise from the use of voice notes, especially when people post them with no context note of what to expect.

So, personally, I disable voice notes in my server. I have seen them well used in other places, and they can arguably be an accessibility feature, however if you leave voice to text and text to voice enabled then those who need to hear or use voice instead of typing should still be able to interact as they need to.

I would generally advise asking members to leave at least a few words with their voice note, for example "replying to [username]" or "impression of [character]" or "discussion of [topic]" so that people know what to expect when they hit play. It's entirely up to each of us how we run our own spaces, however, so choose the best option for you and your server~

Helpful Bots and Setup

Bots can help you get the most out of your server without too much hard work once they're all set. These are the ones I personally use and recommend for different features, but there are a number of options out there to choose from!

Reaction Roles

If you have roles, this is the easiest way to allow people to choose and assign them for themselves and change them when they wish!

So this is using Carlbot https://carl.gg , which I have renamed "The Archivist" for a theme in our server. There are a lot of functions to Carlbot, but the most commonly used are these reaction roles.

It's relatively easy to set up, but you will need to manually type or copy the emoji code for the reacts you're using for the roles. There are a few other settings you can play with there too, like only allowing those with certain roles to pick up a new role.

It's also a great one to have people confirm they have read your rules to access the main server if you role lock your main channels to the member role.

Starboard

One fun feature that Carl (and some other bots) have is Starboard. This is a way for members to highlight their favourite messages on the server and look back at those moments! You can choose how many star reactions are needed for a post to go there, then they will automatically be sent to your starboard channel. You can also choose whether or not to include NSFW marked channels, so if you want Starboard to be SFW only that is an option. One that I didn't take for HOHS given that we are NSFW by default~

Ticket Bots

This is one of your easiest moderation tools - you can use a bot like https://ticketsbot.net/ which will allow users to raise an issue privately with ease. The command is often /open to bring up a new ticket which mods can then join - it'll show up as a thread for you. It doesn't take too much setup on the dashboard and there are other options, but this can be a lot easier than asking people to DM a mod directly.

Automated Messages

Carl and other bots can send automated messages on a schedule for you. This can also include notifying certain roles, so if you want to have a weekly progress check-in set up for creative communities, or even self care reminders a couple of times per day, that's all very easy to get running and can help you to keep the community ticking over with engagement on a semi-regular basis.

Post Embed Fixing

Meet one of my favourite content bots - Keto (Click here to add it to your server). This one takes site links to Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and others and puts a proper visible or playable version in the server.

This is so useful particularly for TikTok where the standard Discord setup will show you a still image with a play button on it.

You can see here that the bot automatically takes the link and converts it to a playable video (which is a still image here, but you can see the buffering bar on there). As with other bots, I gave it a nickname in the server for flavour and fun~

Good Gods That's A Lot Of Work

I know, right? Setting up a server isn't something you can do overnight, not if you want to have a larger space. Often servers will reorganise as they go, making more space as they find what their needs are, but if you can set up how you want it from the start, that can make things a lot easier so people don't have to adapt and adjust as much to a change.

Any Questions?

I think I covered pretty much everything other than the very basics of server setup, but I am more than happy to help any of you with questions about the setup, use of forums, channel layout, and anything else you need with your Discord organising~

And as always, those who share our values are welcome in my House of Hopeful Sinners~

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Hi mousy! It's been a while since I came to bother you<3

A few days ago I was creating a quick Lance token for a bot, but I got curious that while reading (And even the AI itself mentioned it) That Lance is arrogant personality.

That stuck in my head for a while, because while that kind of personality gives the bot more emotion(? Actually in canon he's never shown himself that way, I've always seen him too calm (He literally is the image of the doggy no enemies).

On the other hand the way I see him is someone too confident, to the point where he feels confident to come to your farm at 6am to be friends.

So I wanted to ask you (Because I may be forgetting some detail and you are a certified Lance simp to me) What dialogues or events make Lance come across as arrogant¿ Or is that just a headcanon that has become normalized/popularized in the fandom?

Have a good day! 🐻‍❄️

Hey hey, Shiro! 👋 Always glad to see you in my askbox! ☺️❤️

About Lance bot... ah, well, to be completely honest with you, I don't know what's up with Lance bots anymore, because I'm no longer interested in those chatbots we used to play with (like two years ago, I think?). It was fun and everyone had a good time (me included!), but after a month I got bored of it, and now with all this AI "art" and "writing" I'm getting more... annoyed. I don't mind others having fun with chatbots, just not my thing anymore.

But! About your question (also lol "certified Lance simp", I'll take that, thank you 🩷) - I don't remember a single dialogue or event from the Expanded mod where Lance showed himself to be even the slightest bit arrogant, either in character or actions. Mystical - yep, flirtatious - of course, but arrogant? That's actually Isaac's thing, thanks to his new Dessert Festival dialogue (I used to think he was more calm and just stoic).

Even when receiving dislike/hate gifts Lance apologizes (apologizes!) and politely declines, even in his breakup/divorce dialogues with Farmer he always remains calm and, though clearly heartbroken, civil when speaking (not a doormat, but just mature and intelligent enough not to waste more time and energy with ex). Lance is not a person who puts himself above others, displays arrogance, or tends to speak in a dismissive tone.

His coming in at 6am I count more as not arrogance, but the fact that Lance was guessing when Farmer as a, well, farmer would wake up. Sure, we can pick on his 'schedule', but I don't think you can't get much out of it.

Arrogant Lance is purely a popularised headcanon in the fandom (at least here in Tumblr community). I think Seharuuchan and Nimilla were the first to draw Lance more as arrogant in some specific headcanons, + general headcanon that since many people agree (though I honestly don't remember) that Lance is from some noble family of adventurers, the possibility that he might act arrogant because of status/rank in Castle Village is assumed. But then again, as you said, that's a headcanon.

So yeah - our beloved Lance canonically a noble knight who values the lives of others, never allows himself to swear or behave inappropriately, with a good heart, smart and brave! Not an ounce of arrogance ( although it would be fun to see such a character trait in Lance's future events).

[victoriapokefashion]

Introduction Post

My friends had their own Rotomblr blogs, and like, Onyx has been asking me to make one, so might as well

I'm Victoria. I'm a fashion designer, pokemon Performer, and elite trainer located in the Galar region. Pleasure to meet you all ;). I'm just here to show of the lovely designs I've made and the like.

Of course, we can't forget about my team

Aren't they just sweethearts? Of course I could talk about them all day, but I don't want this post to be too long. But expect to Earl and Arthur the most, since they're the ones most curious about my little blog (good taste for both of them, obviously)

Rules/Things to know

Not really sure rule, but yeah, I restarted Calli's account. I also renamed her Victoria, because it fits better. Old blog had bad vibes and I didn't really feel like I was roleplay8ng her, because she can actually be a little rude and bitchy, and I was too scared to be mean lol. Also, a lot of stuff about her canon changed, and it felt weird roleplay on her old account. But, I'm leaving it up, and it's @pokedesignercalli if anyone wants to see it.

Anyways, actual rules!

-NO NSFW. While Victoria is 18, the mod is not, and is still a minor. I also want this blog to be accessible to everyone, and other than a maybe a couple of suggestive jokes, this blog isn't going to be NSFW or take any NSFW asks. That includes gore! No gore in my inbox please!

-Requests might not always be awnsered right away since this is a side blog, and I'm not always drawing fashion stuff. Please he patient if you can 🙏

-If your blog has the default tumblr logo, no posts, no description, or just posts porn, you will be blocked. I apologize to any real people there, but it's just to prevent bots from taking over my account (like last time)

-Idk shit about fashion irl. I just do things that I think look nice. There's not going to be anything groundbreaking here, lol

-This blog is run by the same person who runs @quillpokebiology , @historianofgalar , @gym-leader-onyx , and @pokemonpetfinder , and all these blogs take place in the same universe. My main art blog is @mintaikk and my main blog is @mintaikcorpse if you're curious about this as well.

[lazeecomet]

Ok I gotta vent about something.

There is this kid in the community discord server I moderate who is kind of annoying in the most kid way. He's 13 or 14 and has FOMO. Well call him M. He always want to know what the injoke means so he can do it too. He tries to insert himself into conversations he doesn't fully grasp.

He is desperately trying to fit in but in the most annoying way possible. It feels like he is trying to copy people and parrot their actions which comes across as very non genuine, rather then bring his own personality and interests. He's been in the server for 3/4 of a year and even though people have brought up the topic of music multiple times today I learned he played the marimba.

This is the setup for where I am going to vent. I was fine with all that previous stuff. There is a running joke that one of the server members (gonna call them A) is patient 0 for the spread and conversation to furries within the server. And on top of that there is an injoke where I have 100% accuracy in predicting if someone will turn into a furry.

Someone posted a video of a "how to make a fursona" in off topic and my reaction was basically to roll my eyes and be mildly annoyed that the conversation came back around to furries again.

M made a comment about how he was having to try so hard to resist watching the video. My reaction to that was 'RIP. If you have to restrain yourself you might actually be a furry. we lost another one to A's furry conversion beam.'

And usually when I make that joke people deny it. Being a furry is "cringe" and I openly make jokes about furries (mostly A because they can take it and have given me a lot of ammo over the years). It's only several months later do they show up with a protogen profile picture or something and prove me right

I estimated 8 months. it was like 5 minutes later where he flipped and decided to be furry. He then started to try and turn off topic into a place to workshop his fursona. I told him that this was NOT the place for that. He made a thread and I'm annoyed with it.

But I really don't think he's all too serious about this and just doing it to try and fit in. It doesn't feel like an expression of a personality but only a surface level understanding. He wanted a fursona commissioned without having any references or any ideas of what his species was. When he eventually did pick one he wanted other people's ideas on what color pattern it should have. All the while he was trying to get other people to do art for him (everyone refused) because he was bad at drawing. I doubt his sona has a backstory or even a description. And this is just the start

He's been trying to turn the thread into a furry zone. He petitioned the mods to add a furry bot to the server (denied) then to have furry themed custom commands (denied) and then settled in trying to start furry themed discussions. He is also rather taken back by how horny some of those discussions turn and how quickly they do. I keep having to join the thread to moderate and then leave it so I don't get pinged by it

And this is the part I am really annoyed with. This is a PG-13 community server for a videogame. The channels we have forster the convos that will happen. There is no NSFW channel. If there was people would feel like it would be OK to post that. By the same logic there is no furry channel. There are a lot of furries in the server, but giving them a channel will result in furries doing what furries like: roleplay and photos. The furry baseline for SFW is not the same outside the community and I could easily see a RP lean into eRP or photos become explicit. And I don't want to have to sift though that.

So I am very annoyed at this one kid who is being a furry to fit in (and kinda missing the point of having a sona and being a furry in the first place) has created a thread where he is trying to foster furry centric conversation but can't handle it when it inevitably leans horny

I am gonna shutter that thread in a week. He should have his sona worked out by then and I think by that point everyone else will be kind of tired of his shit

[malevolentmadnessmixup]

✨ FAQS! ✨

Do we have to join the Discord?

Y E S. We know, another server, but you don't have to stay in it after the event is over. We need a central location to share information, do check-ins, and answer questions. It'll be fun! It'll have cool bots. Join us. >:)

Why is this an 18+ event?

The Mad Mods are over 18, and we don't want to be legally responsible for anyone else. The Malevolent fandom is, in our opinion, not one for minors in the first place. This isn't a slight against the potential maturity of minors, but in our humble opinion if you can't see a Rated R movie, you don't need to be writing/drawing/voice acting/etc for KiY tentacle smut or Arthur's suicidal ideation. Sorry. :(

Why do you separate NSFW options if this is an 18+ event?

The fact is, not everyone is into NSFW! NSFW doesn't only include sexual content, but violent and potentially triggering content as well. We want everyone to have the option to engage with the event the way they want! If they don't want to possibly get paired with a NSFW topic, they have that right.

What are the final submission requirements for this event?

ALRIGHT. This is a relatively short event, like a BB-lite. We are also slotting carefully between several other Malevolent fandom events (looking at you BB, Yuletide, and Anniversary) so we want to keep it reasonable.

The minimum word count is 3k, the maximum is 20k. We aren't going to be rules lawyers if you're at 20,100 but like, keep it tight. Anything under 3k is not accepted, push yourself! This must be a fully realized work with a beginning, middle, and end, appropriately tagged, and reasonably error-checked. One-shot style only (if you turn it into a series later that's your business but your work should be able to stand alone.)

The minimum art submission is one complete piece, the maximum is three. We do not limit the kind of art you do except no podfics or bookbinding (you just won't have time if you're collabing the way you should). Physical art/cosplay is acceptable but be aware you have a short window and the writer is writing at the same time as you are making your art. You will have to take nice photos of your work as well. Know your limits.

Why didn't you use my (insert fandom/trope/AU) submission in the event list?

Here's the tough love: We are under no obligation to use your suggestions. We love them. We long for your delicious ideas. But sometimes they don't work for what we're trying to do, and we already have something of a list compiled. Here's a short, non exhaustive number of reasons of why we might have left it on the cutting room floor:

Too common, too overdone in our fandom, too niche, too much explaining, too close to canon, too subtle, too NSFW (impressive), too triggering.

We also do NOT do crossover AUs or tropes specific to fandoms (we can do a high fantasy AU, but not a Witcher AU, feel me? We can have a comedy relief punching bag but not a Red Shirt.).

We will probably never have an amnesia trope because, surprise, that features in the canon quite heavily, AND it's been done a lot by fanfic already. This event is for pushing boundaries!

If you have that absolutely wild, perfect, worldbuilt, detailed, weird as fuck AU that you REALLY wanna see?? Do it! MAKE THE ART YOU WANNA SEE!! Just don't expect to get it in this event. (Been there. Sorry.)

Why don't you have a beta tag?

Cane is all the beta we need.

We don't offer betas because this is meant to be a more relaxed event, even if it is a more CRAZY one! The writing submissions are fairly small and don't require any standard of polish or 'skill'. It's too much work for the mods to keep track, frankly, and we don't think ya need the hand holding! If you would like to use a beta, we will have a channel for #beta-requests on the Discord where you can put the call out for one!

What if I get a trope/AU I don't like?

First, we ask you to really think about this assignment, an be sure you can't transform it into something more interesting for you! But if so, everyone gets one (1) courtesy reroll, no questions asked. We don't want anyone to feel really stuck or uncomfortable. Subsequent rerolls are on a case-by-case basis (mostly if we messed up and gave you something you shouldn't have gotten for xyz reasons).

What happens if I have to drop out?

Firstly, we hope everything is okay in your life! We hope you would only drop out from an unavoidable extenuating circumstance, our of respect for your partner who you have been working with. If this must be, we wish you the best, and we have pinch hitters standing by to step in with their crazy ideas to fill the gap! You will be expected to release your trope/AU assignment to the pinch hitter, no matter how far along you were with it, our of respect to your partner who will not be reassigned. You are welcome to continue your unfinished work to post privately outside of the event!

What if my partner drops out!?

DON'T PANIC!

This is part of why this event is so limited in scope. This is a big challenge, to collab and follow two trope restrictions is a lot to recover if one person leaves. If your partner has to drop out we WILL assign you a pinch hitter, even possibly one of the mods (though we are reserved for extremely last minute cases). No matter what, you WILL have a finished product, even if it posts late. No whacko left behind!

I'm having (x) issue!

Okay! If you aren't having fun, that's a problem. The entire point of this event is to have a good time. Is this a challenging art format? Potentially! Is this supposed to be a difficult or stressful event? HELL NO! Please contact a mod with your issue after checking that it hasn't been answered or fixed here, in asks (tagged #mmm faq), or on the #questions-and-solutions discord channel. But before all that: take a breath. Repeat to yourself that you are an independent, powerful, brilliant creator and a valued part of this fandom. Release the breath. You've got it. Maybe problems can be solved with a bit of confidence and a fresh outlook. We'll help you fix whatever else.

[thenewfuture]

Hello everyone, Mod Freeze here! Recently I’ve been getting questions about what limitations and abilities the anons can perform as therapy bots. So I thought I would do my best and give an extensive answer on the matter.

Now as stated previously and if you didn’t already know(for some reason…), this blog treats anon askers a little more differently compared to the other big names out there. Instead of being ambiguous, bodyless voices that pop in every once in a while, the anons here are a part of a experiment created by Miaya Gekkogahara, and by extension the future foundation, for an app that consistent of therapy bots(you, the askers) to promote other’s mental health and wellbeing in the ongoing times of the Tragedy.

Now the first question you may ask if, why is this? Why be so different? Well I thought it would be interesting to change up the formula and see if I can preform my own unique spin on things. And also a lot of the time I found it kind of hilarious and also weird that the anons were just these….bodyless voices around the world that knew almost everything about the cast and would constantly talk frequently. “Why yes mysterious voice in my head, I will gladly trust you and answer all you need to know!” See how weird that is? Not putting any stories down of course, I just thought I would head in a different direction from that. I decided on therapy bots because in the wake of the apocalypse going on, many would be struggling with their feelings and mental health. And to try and regain some hope in the public, Future Foundation would create this app that others would use to seek help. And a common thing most would have on them is, their phones. The only real limitation of this process is talking to characters that have the app on their phone, some characters do and some don’t and to talk to the ones that don’t, a character that does have the app has to be in vicinity of them. So there you go, the origin of the therapy bot AI anons!

So now that we know what you are: let’s go over what you can and cannot do as a therapy bot.

#1. Functions and Limitations

Now as one can expect, as a AI who resides in phones and other various electronic devices, you cannot physically interact with the cast. No patting on the head, no hugging, no handshakes, and no summoning items from beyond the cosmos. Now of course if you still do send those, it’ll be like sending them a message of you interacting them kind of like most people do with their online friends and or roleplaying with them.

Now what you can do as therapy bots is…just about everything else, play music, show artwork, talk and ask questions, and occasionally look stuff on the internet. Of course, as stated in the rules, asking or telling characters certain plot points is a no-no and will generally result in them not getting it and instead having the message be glitched out like this:

H̵̨̛͙̗̫̫͙̺͎̫͙͎̰͉͍͚̮̲̋̌́̊̌̊͊̽̈́̈́̿͑͂́͌̕͜ę̵̧̛̱̦̰̭̬͔̜̥̺̱̝̘̠̭͔̰̳̂͗̄̑͆̒̅̋͑̾̂̂̽̐̾́̂͘͘͘ļ̷̛͙͍̣̥͍̼̖̩͙̙̻̬̜͔̪̫̳̪̼̾͗̈̒̽͛̒̈́͂̋̆͆͒̓̌̇̽l̷̨̟͉͈̥̪̲͓͇͕̗̱̳̙̤̪̤͙̑̊̅̌̃̐̽́͗́͂̓̀̊͛̂̀̀̐̓̚ð̶̡͚͉̝̱̞͍̠̙̝̮͙̗̪̱̮͚̰̦̣̺̀͒̌́̈́͒̊͑̓̈́̂̓̌͋̅̎̽̂̆͠.̵̨̨̢̨̛̬͉͉͚̪̜͖̹̼̳͎̟̋̊̀̋̈́͑̄̀̽̇́̅̿̈̐̈̐ͅ ̸̨̢̧̞͖͎͓͈̱̦̞̰͉̪̥̭͇͙͓͗̓̅͋̿̋̀̔͋̾̅̊̈̌̆̂͊͘͜Ļ̴̧̨̹̟̙͇̲̱̦̖̦̖͔̬̙̖̭͉̊̍͑̃͛͋̌́̊̈́̀̔̽̆̋͐͘͝͝ͅę̵̛̰̳͓̟̩̗̯͉̙͍̜͕͔̯̤͈̂̆͊͑͂̅̿͒̂͌̈́̾́̈́͂́͗̊͐͘͜͠†̶̨̡̧̟͔̻͙̪̤͖͉̖̰͓̬̥̼͋̌̓̄͗̏͗̀̄́̽̎͗̔̂̊̑͝͝͠ͅ ̸̢̧͚͍̙͔͖̝̘͎̳̗̰̣̱͖͖̬́̏́́̌͗̈́͂̈́̍̒̇̐̆͌̆̾̈́̆m̶̡̡̳͈͙̳̞͈͇̠̳̘͙̗͕̦͕̪͔̿̓̔͊̈̉͒͆̔̆̂̓̋̽͑͛͊̚͝͝͝ę̶̳̻̮͔͔̤̺̭̫̮̦̼̩̘̘̯͍̂̀̅͑̾̄̾̀́͗͊̿͒̀̍̒̚̕͘͝͠ͅ ̵̢̨̖͍̘̥̣͕̼̠̮̙͕̘̠͈̗̝͒͂͒̿̓̀̂̽͐̈̓̇́͗̈́̓̈́̄̿̾͠§̸̛̻͉̳̮͕̖̳̺̗̳̩̦͖̹͉̥̲̲͓́̈́͛̓́͌̇͗̅̈́́̓̒̊͗̋̊͗̚͘͜þ̵̛̛͇͔̺̮̞̫̩̘̘͉̞̘̤̱̼͔̹̩̟͉͓̐̍͐̇͑́̊̋̇̄͊̋̽͛͘͝͠ð̵̡̡͍̬̼̟̤͔̺̮̹͈̻̖͖̹͛͆́͛̂̅͗̏͋̽̓̓͊̚̚͜͜͝͝ͅï̸̢̛̮͔̮͖͈͈͕͇̪̫̮̱̠̘̣͎͚̞̈́̿͋͋̈́̑̆̂̌́͊̍͑͑̓̕͝͝͠l̶̨̡̢̞̺̝̠̻͖̠̬͕͕̪̠̹̗̹̔̇̍͂͋́̉̈͒͐̓̒͒̆̎̔̅̔̕͜͜͠͝ͅ ̶̨̢̨̲͍̰̞̗̳̗̭̦͚̱̗̦̹̣͇̟̖͒̔̾̋̎̈́̍̂͊̐̍̑͒͒̄̎͠͝͠͝†̴̡̛̻͍͉͖̯͖͎̥͎͎͔̦̩͍̟̯͚̈͌̓̊͑̌͆̔͗̈̋͆̈́̋̈̉͝͝͠͝ḩ̴̡̬͙̲̻̦̱̻̫͎͍̳̼̺͎͍̜͙͑͐͐͋̑͋̆̄̽̈́̆͑̄̀̍̅̅̀̏ę̶̢̢̡̛̥̜̥̣̻̬͖͍͇̪̜̘̼̠̬̪͔̂̊̆͛̂̆̎̿͌̏̑̓̈̈́̚̚̚͝͝͝ ̵̛͈̦̖͖̠̠͚̪̣̩͕̯͍̗̳͚̂̑͆͂̓̒͂̓̏̄̋̆̍̑͋͂͘͜͠ͅþ̴̡̹͉̬͍̬̩̳͉̹̘͇̲̯̰͖͍̾̀͊̀̔͒͛̋̅̅͌̈́̒̔̾̚͜͜͠l̴̢̧̤̳̫̹̗̯̼̰̮̮͍̮̲̗͓̓́̓̾̍͗̌̉̏̔̓̆̈̎̌̿̓͘͘̕͝ͅð̵̡̛̻̘͖̼̣̗͈̰̝͙͍̬̜̟̒̏̽̀̾̔͆͒͗̈̀͛̐̓̊̚͜͜͝͝͝†̶̛͈̬̦̱̹̻̼͓̞̥̪̟͉͈̲̤̗̥͂̂̊͛̉̒̃͋̂̎̓͒̈́͆͒͘͝͝͝ ̴̨̩̥̯̻̙͙͇̘͓̘̙̙̦̮̹̰̥̰͕̙̊͒̓̾̅̊͌̇̿͂̓̒͆̍̊́̍͛̇͆͠£̷̢̧̳͉̳̣̝͔̜̜̫̱̖̤͙͚̩̻̣̬̒͐̑̒͂̊̃̈͋͗̑̂̀̎͗̎̇̈́́̕͝ͅð̵͚͕̝͈̗̝͙̳͔͓̹͖̯̠̩̥̆͊̈̎̃̎͗̋̈́͒͑̆̍̅̍̽̂̓̇̚͜r̵̨̢̦̪̯̟͍̲̭̜͍̼̝̞̦̙̫̣̦̥͖̒̀̍̊́̿̿̀͊̃̉̐̀̕͘̕̚͝͝ ̴̧̧̨̡̮̝̯̲̫̤̬͓̭̠͉̜̭̮̦̯͔̐̈́̀̑̿́͊͊̎̐̑̎̎͆͋̈́̚̚͝¥̸̡̧̰̮̲̟̰̙͙̜̫̭̖̥̹̈́̈́̎̐͂͛̃̂͛͆̈́̓̃̔͋̑̐̕͜͜͝ͅð̵͇̜̥͈̮͙͉̦͍̮̟̦̭̳͈̝̣͔̓̒̀̆̐̋̓̌̋́̓̉̅̎̀̍̿̚͜µ̸̧̨̣͔̘̗̝͉͓͚̝̬̜̯̼̱̳͚͍̣͂̍͋́͋̅͋̑̐͑́̈́̓̂̔̑̓͜͝.̶̧̢̡̢̢̬̹̤̦̗̫̹̭̭̤͈̹̦̠̊͆̃̍̓́̽̈̐̄̐̌̉̒̿̋̈́͝͝

But merely searching up others on the internet and learning more about them isn’t a crime. If just to see where they are in the universe; that’s all fine. One more thing, you aren’t allowed to “hack” into secure servers and obtain anyone’s personal assets. It happened once with Kyousuke and he got mad about that, and so that ability has been patched out.

#2. Other AIs/Robots and You

There is an exception to the previous rule about interacting with characters. Interacting with your fellow robot/AI companions. Chiaki, Usami, Alter Ego and many other AIs coming soon will be able to receive gifts from you and can be interacted with physically. You appear to them as orbs not unlike the anon icon for Tumblr and your own personal icon. And once again, you can interact with these AI characters in any electronic device or space. But, I bet you’re here for the big question so let’s get on over to it.

#3. Dreamscape

Hajime has been seen talking to Izuru multiple times already and the anons have interacted Izuru already in some capacity. Now, being the AIs you are, why is that the case? Well the answer’s simple…..

…to move the story forward.

As this is an ask blog, anons have to be used to ask questions and such and move the story forward, with you the story stops and we cannot progress in some cases. Such is reality. But that’s a boring answer, let’s see if we can come up with an answer now.

-Reason number 1: You are imagined there.

When asking Hajime or Izuru or any other characters in the dreamscape; you’re not actually there. Hajime or the dreamer is most likely dreaming you there. Some studies show that using an electronic device before falling asleep can still be running through the mind and affecting how the patient sleeps. In such cases, because Hajime and the others were using the app before falling asleep, there is a chance that they have dreamed you there subconsciously. I suppose in these circumstances you can physically interact with a character or summon items if they did that, but that is one possible answer.

-Reason number 2: Simulated Projections.

Some time ago, one person proposed a headcanon that explained other blogs and mentions of alternate timelines where the results of the AIs running countless simulations. I liked that idea and considered it canon to this story. Now adding on to this headcanon could propose an answer as to why you can see the dreamscape sequences. Sometimes characters can talk in their sleep and one of the functions of the therapy bots is to monitor the sleep of their patients. Combing the two gives us another possibility to explore. The dreamscape isn’t real either, and its another simulation. 

Now I know that is itself mind-fucky but let’s give it some thought. The idea of Hajime for example having a possible nightmare, sometimes mentioning Izuru in his dreams results in the possible projection of his dream in which you can talk with. These projections are ran and processed with a 99.82% accuracy of what the patients dream was like, and since can be helped in the real world when they wake up.

So there you go, that should about wrap this whole debacle up. I will link this section in the rules as long as to the pinned post on the front page. If you have any questions feel free to explore this post and the rules again for clarification. Now until then, bye now!

[tuathadanan]

TÚATHA DÉ DANANN - March Update & Report.

Hello everyone,

it has been quite a while since we made an official announcement, since most things are currently happening on Discord, but we felt obligated to report the newest changes here as well!

✦ FIRST CHANGE: SOFT ARRIVAL SYSTEM.

At the beginning, members would have to wait for their characters to be approved to write. We have changed this and decided to implement the Soft Arrival System. Characters on the waitlist, that have now the Status PENDING, and have been reacted with a green checkmark, have been approved to the group and sorted into a room.

Once we collected a fair share of members that have passed the soft arrival process, we will make or usual Major Arrival Announcement, and any pending characters will be listed for all to see who new has joined, while some have snuck in in the meantime.

We implemented this system solely to not keep people waiting, while our schedules could be very stuffed with other matters.

✦ SECOND CHANGE: TUATHA SOCIAL.

Tuatha Social is basically the In-Server Microblogging Platform for the citizens. Every member can make their own account and post their In-Character activities, pictures, poetries, and whatnot.

✦ MINOR CHANGES:

February Activity Check: Since February has been quite a difficult month for some of us, we decided to sleep on it and resume it for March.

Spring Cleaning: Once in a while we do a little spring cleaning on the server and remove DMs and threads of people that have left or muses that have been dropped.

OOC Bot Arcade: Mod Anemone is working on bringing some game bots in the server. Nothing too big, but still worth mentioning.

Updates on the Character and Canon Caps: The current character cap is 15, while the canon cap has been raised to 5.

Ship wall: The ship wall has been made interactive and is now a google doc! Members can add their own ships if need be, add planned ships or hinted/inofficial ships and more!

✦ FUTURE PLANS:

New Event: I don't want to spoil too much about the new event, all I can say, however, that it will be a little darker than usual, and it will also be a little lore-related. More about that when the time is come. The event is set to come online sometime in the Month of March.

New Area/s: One area is currenly planned. It is not going to be a residental area, but more of a nice hangout spot.

More lore-related events: Tuatha Lore has been in the making for months now; and we want to implement more things while at it.

✦ FINAL WORDS:

We have been sitting still for a while and enduring some rule breaks in our server for the past couple of weeks. While we do not want to point our fingers at anyone or get too much into the context, it left a little aftertaste in the tongues of members and Mods alike, and Mods are therefore obligated to no longer disregard such behavior of our members.

We Mods try our best to not turn Tuatha into a non-toxic environment, yet we do not endorse any potentially or alleged toxic behavior of anyone who is part of the group.

Things can be discussed and communicated, but it is wrong to assume that communication happened, when there is no trace of it whatsoever.

While we heavily rely on communication and proper plotting between members, we wish to ensure that if any negative behavior of any of our members regarding that or other issues should be addressed to the Mods immediately.

Thank you very much, and enjoy your day!

[fan-burns]

Robots 2

Chapter 13: Rodney’s POV (TW for Hunger pains and hints at starvation)

I hadn't even gotten out of bed when I heard my phone ring. I knew what it was. It was the same bi-weekly call that I always hated. I picked up the phone, knowing exactly who was on the other end. 

“Hello, Sir…I  take it my exam is ready?”

“Vhy yes it is!”

Doctor Veyizmir.

“I’m very pleased with your results.” He went on. “You passed zee Citizenship test vith a flawless score, meaning that you are zee perfect model citizen. I hope you maintain zat score for your future test next…vhenever it pops up next, and for the countless others to come. As for your physical exam, well…I zink you already know what I have to say.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “I know…I’m a modded freak and I can’t fix it.”

It was true. Hidden by my gloves are these…things. I still have no idea what they do, but I know they do something! Whenever we tried to remove them, the tools either broke or flew into the walls! They have to be some sort of weapon, or a torture device! Who knows what that freak used me for! 

Maybe it was a way to spite me in case he did get his aft kicked out of the big chair, because now I’m stuck with this creep fiddling with my hands every other week. Maybe Bigweld does have an ounce of mercy, considering that he put these things in my hands and not anywhere else.

The Doctor tried his best to sound soothing, but it only made things worse. “Yes, yes. Ve’re vell aware of zat. But It isn’t zee end of zee vorld…yet. So long as you obey my orders, you’ll be allowed to live and make a living out of yourself, just like all zee other cattle in zee herd. You’ve been very good so far, vhat with covering zose zings vith gloves, but until vee can figure out how to turn zem off you have to continue seeing me every other veek. If you miss an appointment, I’ll have Zee Guard summoned to your shop to force you dovn here. You vouldn’t vant that for yourself, do you?”

“Of course not, sir. It’s bad for business and myself.”

“Good, good boy. See, if everyone vas like you, ve’d have the vhole vorld under control by now. You listen, and you obey. You follow your shepherd vell, and so in turn you're rewarded vell.”

Again with the creepy animal references. Did this guy have his circuits shorted out by a dog or something? 

“I do have some other news zough.” He exclaimed. “About your…enhancements. I zink I figured out vhat they were used for, and it’s quite fascinating. Vould you like to know, or-”

“No. No I don’t.”

If I want to know what these were used for, what I was used for, then I want to hear it from the bot who made them, not from him.

“Oh, you’re good at this. zat was a test, and you passed zat as well! Truth be told, I have no idea vhat they do yet. I’m still trying to figure out zeir purpose!”

…Or I could just be lucky as hell and guess that this is one of his signature surprise quizzes.

“You see, zee more you know about your Modifications, zee more likely you are to succumb to zeir influence, and in turn you succumb to Bigweld’s influence. By saying no, you’ve proven your loyalties yet again! I’ll be sure to reward zis behavior…how does some extra oil in your care package sound?”

In order to control the prices and the lack of fuel, Ratchet decided to supply stores and shops himself. To keep it fair, he stores the fuel himself. If you don’t pass your Citizenship test, become an Outmode or a Modded, you’re denied access to fuel until otherwise stated. Dr. V is known for throwing in extra fuel for his patients if he feels they deceived a treat. The more cooperative you are, the more fuel you’ll get from him. 

“I’d appreciate that, sir. I could always use extra.”

A lightbulb must’ve gone off in his head, as I heard him gasp over the phone. “Oh zat’s right, you’ve got a Petrol based engine! Oh, you poor zing, you must be starving!”

Really? What was your first guess? I swear he gets a kick out of stuff like this. “Yeah…I’ve been holding off on some of my rations lately. I was running on fumes all day yesterday.”

“Oh, aren’t you a trooper? You’re vell on your way to being zee model citizen at this rate! You don’t bother vith vorthless friends or social gatherings unless Ratchet’s involved in zem, you put vork before yourself, and you fulfill your purpose to perfection! you might as vell be the face of the city!” 

Reluctantly, I replied. “I’m honored that you think of me like that, sir, but I still want a full tank.”

“Doesn’t everyone? You vant my advice? Keep doing what you're doing now. No friends, no full tank, no Mods, and most importantly of all, no questions.”

No questions. None. That’s the way Ratchet wants it. “Understood sir.”

“Good boy…I’ll be seeing you next Vednesday at six o’clock, first zing in the morning. Enjoy your new freedom, Copperplate.”

“Praises go to Ratchet.”

Click!

Man, I hate that creep. I fell backwards onto my bed. I still had a few minutes before I opened, so I think I’ll just lay here for a bit.

Bored with nothing else to do, I looked around the room. I had to get it repainted into the city’s colors, just like everything else in the city. Dark red walls, gray floors, and some lighter grays for accents. Was it depressing? Maybe…but Ratchet wanted everything like this, so it must be good for us somehow.

The room was simple enough. A bed, with some dressers next to it and a window above the bed. Of course, due to the other building next to mine, the window was about as useless as an Outmode. At least I can get some air in here.

A desk was shoved in a corner, with some junk and clutter on it. Beside that were the boxes of products that I had ordered a few days ago. The computer I used to take said test sat on top of it, standing guard of the radio beside it. Opposite of it was the dresser where I’d store my other personal upgrades, if I had any. It’s completely empty save for a box that I keep extra gloves in, just in case the pair I’m wearing gets damaged while I’m fixing something. Beside it were the stairs that led down to the shop, and to the other side of the closet was yet another poster. This one, however, was a constant reminder of who ruined my life by modifying me. Bigweld.

The poster was red, with Bigweld’s cursed insignia in the center of it. I even customized it with a set of darts lodged into it. While most of them were off target, three of them hit their mark…I was never really good at darts. 

Public enemy number one! You know what he did! A special announcement from Ratchet Industries.

I know damn well what he did to me, I have the scars on my hands and the creepy meetings to prove it. Already tired of looking at him, I rolled over on my side to face the poster on the wall closest to me. It was a poster of a cartoon Ratchet with shades on him in front of a dark green background. A bunch of money was raining from the sky, with light green rays announcing its arrival. 

It’s a hussle sweetie! Get a major in business at the newly renovated Ratchet University!

I sighed as I rolled onto my back again. I’d been thinking about applying there, but I was having second thoughts about it. I barely had the money to buy fuel for myself…I use most of it for the shop. Your business was your life here, it’s your purpose. I may be number one on the block, but anyone hardly comes to this district…They’re too busy elsewhere. If I was better at running a business, I’d be more successful and more fulfilled in life. Better business, more money.

It’s what Ratchet is always talking about. It’s what everyone is talking about. That’s how important it is to us, and to me! You can’t even imagine a life without a purpose! It keeps us away from doing dumb things like drugs or getting roped into Bigweld’s evil schemes!

“Work keeps you sane, so you must work! This is the way of our savior Ratchet!”

I could practically hear that crazy preacher outside the shop already. I got lucky yesterday, that guy didn’t even show up once! He was probably busy with-

“Your Citizenship test proves his love for us, so let us embrace him!”

Yeah, what he said. See, that guy is smart, he…wait a fucking minute. 

“Open your shops! Open your hearts for the Lord who has saved us from the tyrant snake! Failure to do so is to fall into the jaws of the serpent!”

FUCK. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK-

I bolted out of bed and fell down the stairs, landing face first to the ground. I keep forgetting how fast I am with these legs, oh my Cog! 

Am I going to die just because my doors were locked?! 

Scrabbling up and frantically grabbing the keys from the counter I tried to unlock the door. I nearly slammed into it as I tried to insert the key into the hole. My hands couldn’t stop shaking, and my arms felt as though they were made of air, making me drop the keys more times than I’d like to admit. If I don't get this door open, I’m screwed!

I finally had a firm grasp on the keys, and I placed them in the keyhole. “C’mon you little…WHY DON’T YOU WORK?!”

After scrambling for what felt like hours, I finally heard the small click of the door being unlocked. I felt my body loosen up and I let the relief wash over me. Without a moment to lose, I got the door unlocked just in time for those lunatics to get here. I leaned my head against the glass as I tried to calm myself down. Going from 0 to 60 in a minute tends to take a lot out of you, especially if you're low on fuel.

On the sidewalks was The Congregation, the robots who take thanking the city’s hero to a whole other level. You see, there are five different districts to Ratchet city to keep it organized. Each district is dependent on how much money it makes. The Center District, aka Ratchet Industries, is where the most amount of money is made and is the smallest of the five because of that. The Outmoded District, for obvious reasons, doesn't make any money, and it’s just a place to house bots until they do. You get the idea.

What does this have to do with The Congregation? Well, each district is required to have The Congregation march around to ensure that Bigweld can’t spread his influence and to keep the peace. Only problem with this is that whenever they do come around, they have about as much power as Ratchet, and they’re allowed to do whatever they want. They can close or force your business open, they can call The Guard on you, and to make matters worse, they can even pull you into court and have you Outmoded. You don’t want to be the poor soul who gets on their bad sides. 

They were all awful, but I especially hated their so-called leader. There was only one robot in charge of the whole thing…and his name was Crank Cassey. Out of all of them, he was the worst. He’s in charge of both The Congregation and the churches in all of the districts, making him as loyal to Ratchet as you can get. He’s spoiled for it too, as he gets the most bonuses out of anyone in the city. When it comes to loyalty, he puts me in second place…and I hate being second.

I can’t even begin to imagine how much fuel he has stored at his place. He’s probably got it all. Petrol, Diesel, Ethanol, hell he probably even has some High Grade shoved in a corner somewhere on a shelf…just wasting away when it could be used out here…when I need it more than him! When I’m just as loyal as him, if not, even more so! The Doctor even said it himself, I am the model citizen here! Not him! Why should he get everything?! He gets everything while I’m here doing…doing…Wait, what was I doing again? 

I shook my head to try to bring my focus back. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard from the fall. I should probably sit down for a bit and-

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Nevermind, I guess I’m not allowed to relax today. 

I must have been standing at the door this entire time, because I’ve only just noticed Crank ponding on the glass door. He had his black Congregation vest on as per usual, then again I’ve never seen him without it. He held a small book, aka The Ratchet Bible as I like to call it. Around his neck was a silver medal with Ratchet’s logo on it, the symbol of power letting everyone know he was in charge. I hated that medal. It was just water to the wires at this rate. He has oil, he has power, and he has a respected purpose. What doesn’t he have? A wife?…Actually that last bit might be true, now that I’m thinking about it. 

He pounded the glass again, “Hey! Why isn’t your shop open?! Did you sleep in again, Copperplate?!”

I opened the door for him to enter. It was so simple, but at the same time it was so satisfying. “Of course not! Not after last time. I was in the process of opening when your splendid valor caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting The Congregation to be here until tomorrow.”

I stepped to the sign and flipped it around, proving my point. “See? All is well!”

Mic drop, crowd cheering, in your face Crank shaft, suck it!

He looked at me with a scowl on his face as he wheeled himself in. “I would certainly hope so, Copperplate. I would hope so.”

He brought the book to his other hand, opening it to a page. He cleared his throat and began to recite whatever scribbles he wrote down. “According to City Law, each and every loyal citizen is to have their place of business visited by The Congregation three times a month. On behalf of Ratchet Industries, and on the behalf of Ratchet himself, we are here to ensure your loyalties as per the usual…”

Here we go again, same old same old. I mean, if this is how life is supposed to be, then so be it. If Ratchet wants this to happen all the time, then who am I to argue with him? I mean I can’t just argue with the guy about this! As much as I would love to knock this guy down a few thousand pegs, I’m not going to become an outmode just to do it!

“…So, in honor of him and of his crew, we set out on our hallowed quest. Our quest to find any and all of Bigweld’s henchmen, and to finally cut the head of the serpent that dares to wrap itself around this glorious and sacred place!”

Oh, he’s still going? Ok…go off I guess.

“So, dear Copperplate, how have you kept Ratchet inside of yourself?”

And now for the fun part...listing off everything you’ve done since the last visit. I replied as I always do. “Well, I’ve been serving my purpose. Not much else to do around here.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yes, well, you are in The General Goods District, known only for being second only to The Outmoded. You don’t exactly live in the Luxury District. What else have you done?”

“I’ve completed my Citizenship Test.” I explained, pretending to ignore the insult for both our sakes. 

“Great!” He exclaimed, “That’s the greatest thing a citizen can do as of now! What else did you do?”

“I’ve been helping out Jack with his shop after it was ransacked,” I recalled, “And in return he helps me out with mine.”

“That was a week ago, wasn’t it?” he noted, “How bad was the damage?”

“Bad. Bare shelves bad. They took just about anything valuable. To make things worse, no one knows how they got in.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, The Guard couldn’t find any sign of forced entry anywhere. Windows weren’t damaged, the door was fine, and nothing was damaged. Super bizarre. It’s got the whole district on high alert.”

“Very interesting Copperplate…” He said in an intrigued tone. “Is that everything you can think of?”

“Everything that I’ve deemed relevant.”

Crank shifted his vest and adjusted his medal. “Fair enough! I’ll have to leave here shortly, but before I do, we have to recite your pledge.”

He held out his book, and turned it to the page with The Five Commands. “Just place your hand on this book, and recite your pledge as you always do.” 

I did as told, just like I do every other time he’s here, and I began.

“For the sake of this city, and everyone in it, I have committed myself to Ratchet and the rebuilding of his great empire. As a part of this rebuilding, our great leader Phineas T Ratchet has established a bond with us, a bond so great not even death itself can break. With this bond, the tyrant serpent was bound, banished and now sleeps underground, waiting for a chance at conquest that shall never happen. He sleeps in vain, as the bonds that hold us shall hold him down. Try as his legion of slaves may, the chains will never bend nor ever break so long as the true king stands.” 

“To establish this bond even further, our gracious lord has offered us his Commands. These Commands shelter us from the ruins of the world, and with them that very same world shall be rebuilt anew.”

“The First Command is to never stray from the savior’s gaze. The world outside of the city is in ruin, as the serpent had ordered it to be as such when he was in control of the world. To disobey is to condemn oneself to horrors beyond this land.”

“The Second Command is to never stray from our savior’s command. What he says is law, and as there is no other law, there shall be no disobedience. To disobey is to condemn oneself to the torment of choice.”

“The Third Command is to respect The Congregation’s command. They are the extension’s of our savior’s command, and are therefore his will as well as his force. To disobey the order is to sentence oneself to death or downgrade.”

“The Fourth Command is to respect The Guard’s command. They are our protectors, and are the extension of our savior’s love, and are therefore his mercy as well as his malevolence. To disobey the order is to sentence oneself to death or downgrade.”

“The Fifth Command is to dedicate oneself to their purpose and bond with our savior. One's purpose is an extension of one’s life, and are therefore one and the same. One’s bond with him is an extension of one’s love, and are therefore one and the same. To deviate from one’s life is to betray yourself and your savior.

“With these commands, we are being led to the promised future free of the serpent for eternity. With these commands, we are united as one. With these commands, I give my vow.”

“I, Rodney Copperplate, solemnly swear that as a loyal citizen of Ratchet City, I refuse to ever serve Bigweld for as long as I live. I cast away my fabricated life and embrace my true self, for it is true and rightfully just. I swear to uphold the Five Commands until my demise. I will cheer when the world is reclaimed, and weep when the serpent stirs in his sleep.”

“With my life, I pledge myself to the city, and in turn pledge myself to Ratchet, for eternity.”

Crank finished the final line, “Enjoy your new freedom, Copperplate.”

“Praises go to Ratchet.”

He closed the book once I removed my hand. “Well done! Not many can recite it word for word, did you study?”

“I mean…kind of? I have a poster of it like everyone else, and we do this so frequently, so it’s just natural to me.” 

For once, he actually laughed! It was a small chuckle, but it was still a laugh in my book!  “You’d be surprised and disappointed about how many get it wrong. We may have our differences, but between you and me, you’re by far the greatest example of a Ratchet City citizen yet!”

Keeping up with my signature “Customer Service Face”, I shook his hand. “Thank you, sir. I hope our district was up to code and pleasurable for you and your comrades!”

He gave a hearty laugh at that, as if I suggested something ridiculous. “Oh please, you’re right next door to the Outmodes! This place is lucky that it hasn’t been taken by them yet! It’s a disgrace to live here!”

“I…suppose that’s one way to look at it.”

I felt a scowl form on my face. Normally, I’d never drop kick anyone smaller than me, but right now that action was very tempting. Especially considering he lives next to our district. 

He elbowed my legs and went on, “Oh don’t be like that Copperplate! I’m only trying to keep it lively here! Your district may try my patience, but I’m no Bigweld. I don’t spill fuel over small things!”

Fuel…That’s a funny word for you to use, sir. Considering both of our circumstances. 

He fiddled with his vest one last time before he looked up at me. “Well, I must be off now. I don’t want to keep the other Districts waiting for too long. Keep up the good work, Copperplate! Praises go to Ratchet!”

He left my shop to join the others, and I waved back, “Praises go to Ratchet!”

Once The Congregation was out of sight, I slammed the door shut. Finally, he was gone…I  can drop the act now. 

As he sped away to lead the others, I felt myself become weak. I held myself against the wall, afraid that I was going to fall over at any moment. I shouldn’t have skipped refueling myself yesterday. I haven’t even had my first customer yet and I’m already on fumes. 

Carefully, I made my way to the counter, and knelt down to the mini fridge in the hidden shelf. Opening it, there were only a handful of oil cans left. Like I said, I burn through fuel a lot faster than anyone else that I know. It’s because of those damned mods, I’m sure of it. No normal robot should be consuming this much fuel in such a short time frame!

I hate drinking more than three cans per day, but I can’t keep doing this to myself. I grabbed two of the several that were in there and began to drink. I haven’t even finished the first can before I felt myself getting stronger. The strength was small, like a tiny rush of pure energy had suddenly entered my body. I finally felt like I could do something, but I had to restrain myself. Only two cans. No more than that. 

As I finished the first can I looked at the second one on the counter. I didn’t even hesitate to grab it, and it was gone within seconds. That brilliant rush of power came to me again, but I quickly pushed it down. Forcing my hand, I kept myself from reaching for more, and I shut the fridge with my foot.  I had to restrain myself…it’s what Ratchet wants, so therefore it’s what I want as well. There’s no debating that.

I’ll be rewarded for this…I know I will. I just have to keep going.