#or why the mods allow that sort of thing

[papermint-airplane]

In case anyone was still wondering why I left r/sims3

[ailesswhumptober]

Prompts for AI-less Whumptober 2024

As promised, we're bringing you the official prompt list of AI-less Whumptober 2024 today!

We have 31 days of excellent whump prompts, with three prompts per day to pick from, fun themes, and 10 alt prompts to play around with. We hope you enjoy! Additional info + plain text versions of the prompts can be found under the cut.

FAQ and Rules

What sort of content can I create for this event?

You can create whatever you want (fic, art, edits, etc). Any fandom is allowed, as well as OC stuff. NSFW is allowed, but please tag your content accordingly! The only thing not allowed is AI-generated content.

Do I need to make 31 things to participate?

Oh heavens no! You can make as much or as little content as you like, skip days when desired, or combine prompts (so for example, write something that covers a prompt from day 1, 2, AND 3). You don't have to do the days in order either, go wild! To be considered a 'completionist', you only have to make sure that at the end of the month, you've covered 31 prompts from 31 different days, but whether you do that in 31 works or just 1 is up to you.

What are these alts about?

If none of the three prompts of a particular day are your cup of tea, you can swap them out for an alt prompt of your choice.

What are these themes about?

Just a little bit of extra fun for the mods. Like last year, we'll be handing out various badges for people participating in the event. A full list can be found here, perhaps there is a special badge or two for people who can't be completionists but who do manage to finish every single day of a specific theme ;)

How do I tag and is there an AO3 collection?

It suffices to tag your work with #ailesswhumptober for us to see and reblog it! Please also tag nsfw, since we'll be using that tag too. Tagging the day is optional but does help the mods along.

There is an AO3 collection to add your fics to here.

That should be all. If you have any additional questions, check our pinned or hit us up in the ask box. Or join our discord maybe, whumping can be a great group activity!

---

Plain text versions of the prompts:

October 1 - Torture Tuesday

public torture/public use, stress position, “If you cry, we’ll go easy on you.”

October 2 - Whumperless Wednesday

Unfortunate fall, car accident, “Don’t move. You’ll be okay.”

October 3 - Trauma Thursday

Shared trauma, survivor’s guilt, “It’s not your fault.”

October 4 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Painful transformation, non-consensual body modifications, “You’re a monster.”

October 5 - Sensory Saturday

Overstimulation, migraines, “I can’t take this anymore.”

October 6 - Surprise Sunday

Multiple whumpees, self sacrifice, “I’m the only one who can do this.”

October 7 - Medical Monday

Field medicine, running out of supplies, “Hold on, we’re going to have to improvise.”

October 8 - Torture Tuesday

Rope burns, gagged, “You’re so much prettier this way.”

October 9 - Whumperless Wednesday

Hypothermia, heatstroke, “You look pretty pale.”

October 10 - Trauma Thursday

Self worth issues, pushing away a loved one, “You don't need to earn this.”

October 11 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Hallucinations, truth serum, “Why would you even say that?”

October 12 - Sensory Saturday

Isolation, sensory deprivation, “Can you feel me? I’m right here, whumpee.”

October 13 - Surprise Sunday

Whumpee using themself as bait, defiance, “Take me instead.”

October 14 - Medical Monday

Seizures, concussion, “See if you can follow my finger with your eyes.”

October 15 - Torture Tuesday

Waterboarding, removing body parts, “Don’t break down on me yet.”

October 16 - Whumperless Wednesday

Drowning, hostile environment, “I don’t know how anybody could survive that.”

October 17 - Trauma Thursday

Abandonment, misunderstanding, “Why did I even think you cared?”

October 18 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Mind control, possession, “Everybody will end up despising you.”

October 19 - Sensory Saturday

Disassociation, losing a sense, “I wish I could get you back.”

October 20 - Surprise Sunday

Enemy/Stranger to caretaker, accidental de-aging, “I’m absolutely not qualified for this shit.”

October 21 - Medical Monday

Drugged, ambulance ride, “This will make you feel better, okay?”

October 22 - Torture Tuesday

Forced (to kneel/watch/hurt somebody else), whipped, “Do not look away.” October 23 - Whumperless Wednesday

Fever, passing out, “Hey?! Stay with me, okay?!”

October 24 - Trauma Thursday

Deconditioning, relapse, “It’s normal that you need more time.”

October 25 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Humiliation, betrayal, “How could you?!”

October 26 - Sensory Saturday

Electrocution, burning, “This is going to sting.”

October 27 - Surprise Sunday

Before vs after, Alternate universe, “Well, there’s a first for everything.”

October 28 - Medical Monday

Internal bleeding, needles and stitches, “I didn’t think the wound was that bad…”

October 29 - Torture Tuesday

Ownership, branding, “Everybody will know that you’re mine.”

October 30 - Whumperless Wednesday

Poison, delirium, “You’re not making sense.”

October 31 - Trauma Thursday

Panic attack, facing a phobia, “You need to get out of here!”

Alt prompts:

1) Pistol whipped

2) Co-dependency

3) Animal bite

4) Zombies

5) White room torture

6) Shock collar

7) Pulling teeth

8) Kidnapping

9) “You always make everything worse!”

10) “If you weren’t around, I’d be long dead by now...”

[sonysakura]

🚫 My Sonic Big Bang 2024 Experience

...Or how a few months of my life were severely negatively impacted by someone else's bad management. See for yourself.

Proof of the rule they're speaking about being actively hidden from the participants to this day: FAQ – archived link, screenshot with "Who can participate?" on top, screenshot with "explicit" word search, screenshot with "nsfw" word search; Master Guide – screenshot with "explicit" word search, screenshot with "nsfw" word search; server rules – long screenshots of General Server Rules and StH Big Bang Specific Rules: Mar 12 and Jul 01, screenshots of Strike Policy: Mar 12 and Jul 01, long screenshot of General Guidelines, long screenshot of Collaboration Thread Guidelines.

I feel like this is extremely unfair 😭 One moment I was participating in the event I dreamed about for years, and the next moment I'm thrown out into the cold when I did nothing wrong. I need to get it off my chest...

Below, more about my experience with the event, though it ended up a little vent-y, a detailed (and verified!) record of what exactly happened in private thread #48, the aftermath and some fun facts I discovered or want to share:

First things first! Yep, I signed up for Sonic BB as a Writer back in January. I didn't talk about it outside of my server 'cause I wanted it to be a surprise – when I roll out a lo-o-ong illustrated fic without a warning. I'll admit, I always wanted to participate in a Big Bang for this fandom, it was a dream of sorts. And still, before sending my form in, I carefully read all of the Master Guide and the FAQ both. Seeing as how for my neurodivergent brain the rules and regulations are important, that's what I usually do for events, and this one wasn't an exception. Confident that I understand what the event would require of me, I signed up.

First month of the event went well. My questions were answered (even though I wondered why some of the things I asked couldn't have been in the Master Guide from the beginning), I wrote my fic summary and submitted it without many problems, etc. There was a small hiccup at the very beginning of March when I noticed how strict the management seemed to be (no changes or adjustments allowed), and my anxiety got the best of me, so I asked the mods if there's a plan in case a collab team doesn't work out: screenshot of my message in #writers-info-and-questions, pulled from my Discord data; screenshot of my detailed explanation in DMs; screenshot of Mod Joy's reply. Here are the most important quotes from his reply:

I understand wanting to plan for the worst case scenarios, but I would caution you not to freak yourself out over what all could go wrong! There are some absolutely lovely artists in this event who are excited to work with the writers. Odds are, things will go off without a hitch.

We are highly encouraging that no one drops out after the assignments, especially writers, unless due to extenuating circumstances.

We want to make everything as fun and stress-free for everyone. Know that we will be around to moderate threads and dissolve any tensions that arise,..

In short, I was placated with reassurances of careful moderation, not dropping writers and ✨positivity✨. I decided to stay and challenge myself since originally BB is meant to be a challenge and all...

For those of you who haven't participated: the way it is supposed to go is that writers submit short summaries of their stories, these summaries are stripped of the writers' names and given to artists to pick through. The artists then have to list their Top 10 stories to illustrate during the claims period. After the claims, private collab threads are made for each writer and their artists with a couple of mods. So no one else could see what happens in these threads.

Now flashforward to March 11th and the threads being created. Obviously I don't have screenshots of that due to being kicked off the server without any warning and before any chance of communication, unable to delete my personal information or save anything that might be used against me which was a case of poor management at best and a deliberate move at worst, so I'm retelling as faithfully as possible. It also has been verified by [artist 1] and according to them, this is exactly what happened.

My fic was in the 4-8k range, and I got two artists. I was asleep when the thread opened, and they talked about how excited they are for my fic before I came in. Both of them are 18, young but adults. I’ll call them [artist 1] (they're cool), and the other one is [artist 2]. Both artists seemed to talk to me normally.

Oh, I have to point out that there were hmm, Mods Chaz, Joy, Summers and Frostios in my thread. I think only four of them, but I know for sure Mod Summers was reading our conversation at least in the beginning because I noticed my fic's Warnings saying "None" (the original summary I submitted had Warnings: Discussion of Homophobia, Slight Internalised Homophobia), and I pointed out that there are warnings, though I don't know if they were lost just now or weren't in the sheet available to the Artists either, and whether they were actually lost or mods didn't consider it a big enough warning to keep... I still don't know. Mod Summers just silently pinned my message.

I mentioned how I'm in one of the Asian timezones geographically, so I might be awake or asleep at unconventional times, and they told me their timezones (I didn't ask!), so I figured I can make a timebuddy chart for easy tracking what time it is for everyone. Made one, sent the link to the thread, Mod Summers asked me if I want it pinned, too, and then a couple of hours later (I think?) [artist 1] came and said it's very helpful. This is my evidence for at least Mod Summers probably reading the conversation that followed but also maybe not. I think all of the mods were online or at least visually online when it was happening.

This is where I reveal that the entire conversation happened in like... one afternoon 🥲 Roughly 7 pm to 2 am for me.

Back to the conversation itself. There were a few questions I had so I started with them, basically 1) if they've read my fics before (explained that I'm asking so I know whether I need to tell them about my writing style and Sonadow dynamics I write); 2) do they want me to send in scenes as I write them or they want a full draft; 3) if they have any immediate questions for me. Question 1) is what we need. Both of them said they've never read my stuff before, and that they don't have any questions now but they want art to be as close to text as possible, so they will ask in the future. This is how it went down after (as per my memory, artist rendition I guess):

[artist 1]: I haven't read your fics but I'd like to! Your Ao3 is the same as your handle? [no link]

Me: It isn't a requirement, you don't have to! But that's right. I have to warn you though that I usually rate my Ao3 profile as 18+ when I link it, though 33/36 of my Sonic fics are rated G and T, and I feel like a warning is in order anyway so people don't accidentally stumble upon something they don't want to see and know what to avoid/filter out. [I didn't post any links or encouraged the artists to read my profile, just made a warning to be cautious]

We go into discussion of how long I have been writing, [artist 1] shows no problems with knowing my Ao3 has 3 Mature fics, I describe what series my fic will be for [the series is completely SFW, and even then I didn't post the link to it] and go into details of how I write Sonadow dynamics in my fics without mentioning the NSFW ones obviously, we speak about Question 2).

[artist 2]: [replying to my warning about my Ao3] ooohh so you write gore sometimes?

Me: Nah, I don't actually, I'm pretty uncomfortable with it tbh, so no, I don't. Some blood and a quick description of Maria's dead body is the most I have ever done 😅 All the angst I make characters go through is emotional rather than physical!

[artist 2]: oh I shouldn't have assumed, sorry. It's just the first thing my mind went to

Me: It's okay! I've been a medical student at some point and I think I've just had enough of that - one of the main reasons I'm not a doctor but a linguist.

[artist 1] gets excited about this for some reason, and we chat about it for a moment.

Normal conversation continues like...

Me: Okay, where were we

[artist 2]: i wasn't paying attention errr

Me: Me neither! But it's Question 3)

I go into saying how them wanting to draw as close to the text is 💯 what I wanted to hear because for me my texts are an extension of my soul, I'm fragile about them, and I'd prefer the art to be exactly according to it blah-blah-blah, I describe my thoughts about a plan of work for us and how I'm going to share pieces of my fic according to their respective wishes.

[artist 1]: Sounds great!

[artist 2]: yeah, sounds good

[artist 1] says something else which I just react with an emoji to, and I start getting ready for sleep because it's almost 2 am, and I have to get up at 6 am.

Nothing else was said in the thread. That's it.

I got to bed and as most people nowadays I check my phone one last time. I see [artist 2] requesting a mod they can DM to, but I don't think much of it…

So 6 am. I wake up and again, as most people nowadays, I check my phone. I went to sleep in a good mood, seemingly in good relations with my artists, excited for the collab and having a solid plan everyone agreed to, so I eagerly open Discord to see if they wrote anything new in the thread. I see no Sonic Big Bang 2024 server.

I will not go into too much detail about my state, but I have an extremely acute reaction to stress very similar to a panic attack that lasts for hours. So with shaking fingers I open my DMs to see the message from that first screenshot I started my post with. The following exchange with me learning about the hidden rule happens the next day. Unfortunately, before that I still have to go to work for a full day in that very same mental state, oof. Plus I have no breaks on Tuesday... I go back and forth all day with my friends about how shitty this situation is, and one of them asks me how [artist 1] reacted. I say that I don't know, but they still follow me on Tumblr so I go and message them, and from what they tell me, it sounds like a mod pretended to them that I was removed because of an existing rule that's stated somewhere. They didn't argue with that, and that's understandable of course.

At home, I notice one of the event mods blocked me.

It is difficult to explain what's happening in my mind without going into details of what my [disorders] are, but things that are unfair, things that are injustice put my brain in a loop until all wrongs are righted. I'm ranting about it to friends, and I think about it day and night. On March 14th I vent about it in the tags of a related reblog, and this is the only instance of me talking about StH BB on my blog. Next morning I'm blocked by the event blog and over the next 2 weeks – by two more mods, while another mod speaks to me passively-aggressively in a shared Discord server. Then I'm shown a screenshot where one of the mods claims I offered my Ao3 to my artists (I didn't) and implies everyone who writes NSFW is dangerous. And then I receive a hate ask about the event, calling me "creepy"... All this time, my brain is still stuck in a loop, and let me tell you – it's not fun. It doesn't help that my first reaction to everything that makes me feel bad is always to assume I'm at fault for everything, and seeing how hostile people are to me, I'm drowning in self-blame. Without going into any more detail, it takes me 2 months and a lot of help to somewhat recover, so I finally send my reply to Headmod Chaz and receive one back:

If you got to this part, you know that half of Headmod Chaz's reply is simply untrue since there were no "multiple instances", and in any case I was never asked to keep quiet about my ban (and why should I?). I sent another reply a month later expressing my confusion and wondering when the messages will be removed (only my intro was removed). As of today, that reply is still ignored, and the messages aren't removed 🤷

And this is the entirety of my Sonic Big Bang 2024 experience. Now for some Q&A:

Why did you wait so long to make this post? I didn't want to put any participants under fire, particularly my friends because I'll admit, the mods seem like petty people. And also I was worried about throwing shade on other participants (people associating their works with this) or spoiling the event for people who were genuinely having fun with it. Thus, I waited until it was over!

Is this a callout post? According to definition as "public criticism or asking someone to explain their actions", I think it is – in terms of calling out bad management. It is definitely not a call for harassment. There is a reason I censored some names and left vague who reported me, blocked me, was hostile to me or spread rumours about me. Please don't bother anyone, and if the mods decide to engage with this, they can post their own statement.

Aside from the above reasons, why make a post at all? Two reasons: a personal one and an altruistic one. Firstly, I hope to get closure this way since I still feel like I was unjustly thrown away when I was just being a dutiful person. Secondly, while Headmod Chaz said they will be transparent about this rule next time they run an event, as you can see they fully ignored my suggestion of doing it now, and in general keeping a rule hidden to such an extent where you lie in your FAQ is pretty shady... I don't trust them not to do it again next year.

Is it okay to reblog the post/reply to it, what about sending an ask or a PM? I turned off the reblogs, but you can still reply or PM or send a non-anonymous ask (anonymous asks will be deleted because I want to be able to answer privately). If you decide to be negative or call me names, however, be prepared to be blocked by IP or username.

Finally, fun facts as promised 🔥

There are other participants out there who have had negative experiences with BB or were made uncomfortable by the way it was managed, but I'm not going to speak for them;

There was this whole thing with hypocrisy and possible favouritism;

Despite the mods insisting on ME being quiet about my ban, it's now known that they shared information about it outside the mod group;

Out of 6 mods: 5 have me blocked, 2 were passive-aggressive with 1 of them going as far as verbally lash out at me in DMs, and only 1 mod gave me a somewhat human apology before blocking me (not pictured in screenshots);

I saw 3 NSFW writers and at least 2 NSFW artists participating in BB just by scrolling through my dash, without seeking them out, and this is not counting people I noticed in the server prior to me being banned;

Some people are posting Mature and Explicit extras and sequels/prequels to their BB stories already;

The artist who reported me seems to have dropped out anyway;

There's a joke reason why I'm making a post, too: I have to earn being blocked from the event blog since they said they did it because of multiple instances of me talking about my removal;

For this post (and because one of their staff members is a former Big Bang mod), I was forever banned from participating in Chaos Quill Collection projects;

I'm actually grace and most of the time write my characters as aspec, and I'm exploring what sexuality and intimacy mean for me through writing, so this situation felt a little... like gatekeeping;

My fic was #48 under the title Chao Care 101, and I want you to give me a high five if you had it among your top choices 🖐

Originally, I wasn't going to complete my BB fic because it made me feel bad, but now I've decided I want to reclaim it, so I'm writing it now. Almost 8k words at the moment. It will be published. And it will be illustrated;

Meanwhile, what good came out of this disaster is Sonic Supernova 2025, and I recommend you all to keep an eye out for this inclusive Big Bang-like event 🌟

[greenplumbboblover]

[WIP]: Lyralei's Pose Player Addon Fixes!

All credit for the original Pose Player Addon goes to VirtualArtisan/Misukisu! This mod is simply an enhancement to their amazing work, building on the foundation they created.

Ages ago, @nocturnalazure sparked a discussion about Pose Player Addon. While the current changes may not fully align with her original ideas, I wanted to share what I’ve been working on so far! 😊

Side Note: Noctie,when I first wrote that, I didn’t actually have a Sim I wanted to pose like that yet, but lately I've been trying to and it's SO FRUSTRATING! Argh! :p . So rest assured, I’m definitely looking into adding this feature now!

Current Features

It will now remember what poses your sim has done this gameplay session! This way, you can re-pose them into a pose they did 5 poses before the current one.

Poses Are Now Automatically Sorted!

We all know how looooooong it can take when loading all the poses from pose list. So, what I've added, is the additional option to only show poses based off it's category!

🔧How it works under the hood:

If you’re familiar with XML, you’ll pick this up in no time!

Each category (let’s use Emotion as an example) is associated with specific keywords. For instance, the Emotion category might include subcategories like Happiness, Sadness, Anger, etc.

Here’s what the XML for Happiness looks like:

<keyword_emotion> <name_category>Happiness</name_category> <keywords>happy, happiness, smile, smiled, smiling, laugh, laughed, laughing, jump, jumped, jumping, cheer, cheered, cheering, clap, clapped, clapping</keywords> </keyword_emotion>

As shown in the (highlighted in blue) keywords line, I’ve added a list of terms. These keywords help determine whether a pose belongs to the Happiness category. The script scans all installed poses and checks if their name, description, or pose key matches any of these keywords.

Of course, I’m still fine-tuning this feature, as some keywords (like jump) can have different meanings depending on the context.

But without further ado, here it is in picture form!

Ignore the weapon poses, I still need to debug why that's being added, but overall, in this case, it's got "shyness" poses! :)

And the best part?

You can create your own custom categories, and the script will automatically detect them! 🎉

I’m currently working on some default categories for those who prefer a plug-and-play solution or don’t feel comfortable diving into the technical side of things. But if you enjoy customizing your workflow, the flexibility is all yours! 😊

What I'm adding before release:

Adding the option to seamlessly use both “look at” and “facial expression” together.

Adding the option to see the categorized lists, but for non-pose list poses.

Adding an in-game Category maker, so you don't have to edit the XML. It will mean you need to replace the XML file in S3PE yourself. But I can always make a quick How-To for guidance 😉

A better "look at" system. TS3 actually comes with a system where the sim can "look" at something by turning multiple sections of their bodies. Here's the full list:  Torso ,Head, Eye. Currently Pose addon only allows Eyes to look at things.

Merge two poses together. This way you can use one pose that's specifically made for facial expressions, while the rest is handled by, say, that sitting pose you want to use!

... And of course anything else that sounds like a good idea by other pose player users! 😉

[thelocalcoyote]

So I dunno if anyone’s noticed this or not, but I’ve been trying to make my own designs for the voices lately, and I haven’t been very satisfied with my results so far. More specifically, I’ve been working on (aka struggling with) my Smitten design. I asked myself, “what could be wrong with him? Why doesn’t it feel right?”

And you know what I answered myself with?

“Ma’am, that’s a literal dog.”

(I tried my best at making a ref sheet, but I haven’t really ever made a real one before, sorry it’s pretty chaotic, sorry. Not that it’s really needed-this whole process is meant to help me edit the design, anyways)

(More thoughts under the cut)

So apparently, I somehow made Smitten into a little creature equivalent of a little lap dog or smth. And that’s the problem.

It’s not that I think he looks bad. I actually think he looks super cute like this, I’m happy with that part. And I still think it fits his character pretty well, too-he’s a loyal, silly, fluffy, loud little guy who wants nothing more than to spend every waking moment with the person he loves.

So at this point, you’re probably wondering, “Coyote, just what IS your problem with him then?”

Well, I don’t think he’s exactly husband material. And that’s kind of an essential factor to a Smitten design! (it is to me, ok?) Like, I think people would start to get very concerned with me if I called him my fictional husband and I pulled out a picture of a bird dog. And it’s not like a cool usage of a quadrupedal design, like I’ve seen some people use, he’s just, like, a modded Shih Tzu. I don’t think me (or most people) are comfortable with the idea of trying to romance a modded Shih Tzu.

But at the end of the day, I’m kinda conflicted about the whole thing, because I lowkey love his design? It’s really funny and cute, I can picture all sorts of humorous drawing ideas with him, and I can so easily see it fitting the bill character wise. But I just need him to be attractive.

I think at the end of the day, I have to edit his design so as to allow him to stand upright. Just enough for him to feel closer to human than dog. Should I do that?

if anyone has any ideas, I’m always open to art advice! And this goes for anything here, whether for specific feedback about the design, or just drawing tips in general. Or just talk to me. I like talking. Please talk to me about this. I crave interaction. Please.

Uh but thanks for reading my post, sorry for rambling so long, hope you have a wonderful day!❤️❤️❤️

[dukeofankh]

Trying to find progressive masculine community is so exhausting.

I've flipped through local men's groups, trying to find places to explore masculinity in a chill, progressive setting. First of all, they mostly seem to be modelled after AA, and like, my gender isn't a debilitating addiction, it's part of my identity actually, but also, the invite and description of the event have maybe a short paragraph tops actually waving vaguely in the direction of what the purpose of the group is, and then ten to twenty paragraphs breaking down the rules. One spent longer talking about the hand signals he would use to direct conversation than he did describing what the conversation would be about. Another had a full paragraph explaining that if the group thought you were evading what they thought your "real" problem was, they'd probably "call you to take accountability". Like...I don't even know who these people are yet and they're already letting me know that they view it as their right, no, their duty, to bully me into seeing things their way. Like, this is in the invite.

...and this warning is there instead of any sort of breakdown of like, I dunno. Whether you should be a feminist to show up. Whether it was a safe space for queer men. What the hell they wanted to talk about. Joining a men's space is on some level inherently submitting yourself to the authority of the leaders of that group, and you don't usually get a particularly clear breakdown of what the values and goals of those leaders are, because on some level the answer is always going to be "whatever I want"

And like, unfortunately you do need to filter men to build a men's space. You do need to remove or chastise men who act in ways that are toxic or disruptive or misogynistic. If you don't things turn into an MRA chapter pretty quick. But the sort of emergency powers that leadership takes on as a result of that...just kind of naturally end up reproducing masculine heirarchies.

MensLib, the only online community of progressive dudes talking about masculinity that I'm aware of, is...on Reddit. So there is a moderator system. In theory, a moderator is there to...moderate. This is a space where people are going to be talking, and mods are there to make sure things don't get too toxic or off topic.

The issue is that, on some level, that is technically a leadership position. In a sub trying to rehabilitate masculinity. So you've got a bunch of folks who view themselves as the leaders of this bastion of goodness standing against the depredations of the misogynistic internet, guiding the hapless smooth-brain neophytes towards The True Way.

In practice, this looks like 95 percent of the posts submitted for the subreddit being rejected. That isn't hyperbole. On average, the sub has about one new post per day. Almost all posts directly relating a personal experience are deleted immediately, in favour of articles written about masculinity in traditional media publications, which are considered more trustworthy than the sus lived experiences of the guys in the sub. The post I wrote here about the effect of purity culture on male sexual shame that's sitting at about 15K notes was based on a 10K word post I wrote for Reddit that was deleted because "I didn't cite any sources to prove that there is a link between purity culture and male sexual shame, or that my experience was anything more than anecdotal". I get comments deleted on a regular basis, and after paragraphs of protesting in modmail that my comments are both fully in line with feminism and not against the rules, the mods have just finally told me that the rules don't actually drive their actions as a team. They delete anything they feel leads the conversation in a direction they personally feel is unproductive. The rule cited at the time of deletion is really just the broad category of why they decided to hit the button that says nobody is allowed to read what I wrote.

The issue is kind of twofold. First of all, progressive men do not trust other men. A good dude knows that he, individually, is a good person, but literally any other man external to him is on thin ice. Do you really want to tie your wagon to that guy? Do you trust him, really? How do you tell the difference between a guy criticizing an article because it's factually incorrect and criticising it because a woman wrote it? Probably best to play it safe and delete it. Weight of the odds, he's probably a misogynist, right? This is the internet.

And thats the other half of it. If you view yourself as part of the leadership of The Good Guys, and you're getting hatemail from incels and facists all day, you get to the point where most of the time people challenge your authority it's because they're a terrible person. It is very, very easy to get to the point where someone challenging you is seen as evidence that they are a bad person. And now someone is challenging you (and therefore bad), in an environment where you are in charge, and you have a "make your opponent disappear" button.

I know. A Reddit mod was rude to me and now I'm butthurt. It's petty and stupid. I'm just feeling like there's nowhere else to really go, and I'm pretty despondent that literally every space I've seen that even looks like it might be for progressive men has the same deeply hierarchical structure and constant status-oriented squabbling as patriarchal spaces.

[crushedsweets]

I need more of ur ben interpretation I luv him /p ☹️☹️

I think that early on in my timeline, Jeff Ben and Toby sorta formed a trio. And 90% of the time it was Jeff and Toby picking on ben until Ben would hack Toby’s phone and send a very risky text to Natalie. Eventually that trio falls apart and Toby connects better with nina nat and kate, while Ben and Jeff remain a duo

More Ben HCs under the cut, CW for mentions of murder, mutilation, suicide (but it’s nothing graphic)

I think Ben also helped Toby get over his fear of ghosts…

Also. I forgot to mention it in my other Ben post. But the guy who killed him and dressed him up like Link also stitched his ears into a point. Jeff thinks it’s sick and was thinking abt getting it done himself cuz Jeff is super into body mods (especially later into the story.)

I think Ben really genuinely sees Jeff like his older brother and he has an easy time ignoring the evil ass stuff Jeff does cuz… ben is a vengeful spirit who drove people to suicide cuz he was mad so he dgaf. But the difference between them is that Jeff does not give a single shit about hurting people he deems friends, while Ben does care. Jeff can’t hurt Ben so it doesn’t affect them directly, but when Ben starts seeing Jeff treat everyone like shit and stabbing Nina and getting into really bad fights with Toby and stuff.. he’s kinda like hmm… hence why he lets Toby kick Jeff’s ass, but he’s very firm on not letting anyone kill Jeff . Otherwise he’s leaking all sorts of shit to the authorities

It’s been so long since I’ve really talked deeply about my AU so I also just wanna regurgitate old Creeped lore. Ben is Really useful to the proxies cuz he can wipe police reports, files, CCTV footage, online forums, etc . WHICH IS WHY the proxies aren’t allowed to kill Jeff - cuz Ben said he’ll stop helping if they do.

Also this is totally just a plot convenience thing and makes no sense but I like to pretend ben is like a Wi-Fi box for the forest, hence why people can still use their phones miles into the woods away from society LMAOOO

When I have free time I wanna figure out a more specific meeting between Ben and Jeff. I’m thinking the cop that’s investigating Jeff’s case also covered Bens case and kept the cartridge that Bens Soul got trapped in. Maybe Jeff stole the cartridge after killing the cop and that’s why Ben started being like Hey. Give it back.? I dunno I gotta check my timeline to see if I can make this work LOL

He’s a cool kid I think. I really like him in my AU I wish I worked with him more…

[wisteria-lodge]

I LOVE the version of Lucius in your fic Prison of the Phoenix. He's different from a lot of portrayals I've seen. Why did you decide to write him how you did?

A lot of the fun of writing a book-accurate fix-it fic comes from taking the events of the book, and removing JKRs (simplistic, misleading, sometimes just weird) narrative framing. Slytherins = baddies, Gryffindors = goodies, you know. 

This is especially fun with Lucius Malfoy, who just like… isn’t very evil? Chamber of Secrets is his most villainous book, and I’ll get to that, but otherwise? He tries (unsuccessfully) to get the animal that attacked his kid killed. He donates to hospitals (but in like, an evil way.) He is a hilariously incompetent Death Eater, and then he's Voldemort’s punching bag. 

That’s kind of the point of Lucius. He looks the part. He commits to the aesthetics of the thing, with the hair and the peacocks and the snake-wand-cane. He likes the mystique of walking into a room and knowing that you know (but can’t prove) he’s a dark wizard. It allows him to be… kinda lazy. He can coast on his family name, money, reputation, privilege. I really think that if you sat Lucius Malfoy down and asked him to walk you through all the wizard-supremacy talking points he wouldn’t be able to do it. He’ll toss around words like “mudblood” and “mudblood-lover” no problem, but in the end he doesn’t really care. Lucius is not a true believer. The way the world is set up benefits him tremendously and he doesn’t want Voldemort back. That’s just text:

“Use your brains, Ron,” said Bill. “If they really were Death Eaters… I bet they’d be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they’d ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives… I don’t reckon he’d be over-pleased with them, do you?”

Lucius and friends had too much to drink at a sporting event, put on the old outfits (again with the aesthetics) and started levitating muggles. Which obviously isn’t GOOD, but they’re not killing or torturing, or furthering any kind of agenda. It’s important that Barty is so insulted and pissed off by the way they’re basically playing Dark Wizard that he casts the Dark Mark to “show [them] what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it.” Which kicks off most of the events of the book. 

Prison of the Phoenix is going to have a companion, parallel fic told from Harry’s POV (tentatively titled Harry Potter and Malfoy’s Suspicious Interest in Werewolves.) Lucius does show up in that one, and I was honestly surprised by how much more frightening and intimidating he is when filtered through Harry’s perspective. Because with a Severus POV… when Severus is used to spending time around Voldemort, Greyback, Bellatrix, honestly Dumbledore and Sirius Black…. Lucius is not scary. Lucius wants to buy presents for his son, go to high-profile events with his beautiful wife, and wear a variety of snake-themed accessories and extravagant hats. 

I wanted a kind of college-roommates-who-stayed-friends feel for the Severus + Lucius relationship, because they are friends. Sirius calls Severus Lucius’ “lapdog,” and Narcissa calls him Lucius’ “oldest friend.” Lucius is also part of the welcoming committee when Severus is first sorted into Slytherin. He’s five years older (I think Jason Isaacs is the only Harry Potter adult the same age as the character he plays), which would have affected the dynamic between him and Severus a lot in school. Personally, I think it makes sense for Lucius to be a little protective of this brilliant half-blood kid with no money. And as an adult, there’s some guilt mixed in there as well. Severus probably would not have been sucked into the Voldemort thing nearly as deep or nearly as fast if it hadn’t been for Lucius, and the war kind of destroyed him. Lucius remembers a younger Severus who was modding potions, inventing spells, coming up with cheeky nicknames for himself, and that person is gone. That’s a big part of the reason he’s so invested in the Severus/Remus relationship in Prison of the Phoenix. Something about Remus has managed to wake up parts of that younger Severus, and Lucius thinks that’s fantastic.

I also think Lucius might be the character who knows Voldemort the best. He’s one of the only Death Eaters who Voldemort calls by their first name (Bellatrix, Severus, and Draco are the others) and he’s weirdly familiar with his “slippery friend” Lucius, addressing the whole speech about how/why he returned to him, for some reason? Anything that helps Voldemort make sense as a person I’ll take, and to me it makes sense that young Tom Riddle charmed Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius’ father, first. The dates are right, and he’s exactly Tom’s type - rich, pureblood, probably easily flattered (let’s be honest) and sitting on a pile of magical artifacts. It’s very Hepzibah Smith vibes, is what I’m saying. And rich, posh, popular seventeen year olds don’t join cults. But if Lucius’ father was already in a cult… 

It also makes sense to me that Tom Riddle got sort of stuck when he killed Marvolo Gaunt, and made his first horcrux at sixteen. He has this fascination with sixteen year old pureblood wizards (so Barty, Draco, and Lucius would have fit this profile.) He sort of wants to be them, but also sort of wants to break them? It’s messy, and complicated. It’s creepy and compelling, that Lucius is aging but this spectre that’s dominated his life isn’t. 

And so when Lucius gives Ginny the diary in Book 2… it makes sense that he’s just trying to get rid of it. He was just at Borgin and Burkes selling dark artifacts, but knows that the diary is worse. He needs to make sure it can’t possibly be traced back to him. So he gives it to the daughter of the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. (It is an enchanted muggle artifact, after all.) If Arthur Weasley finds it and deals with it, fine. If Ginny is discovered with it in a way that blows up in Arthur’s face, also fine. If it does get to Hogwarts and does open the Chamber of Secrets - well Draco is going to be fine, and it might undermine Dumbledore. If it was really important to Lucius that the diary rid the school of muggleborns… he would have given it to Draco and had him use it. Or given it to Draco, and told him to leave it somewhere for an enemy to find. But Lucius doesn’t do that, because he doesn’t want Voldemort back and his politics just aren’t that important to him. 

The one trait I did give Lucius is being an unrepentant wife guy. (And I mean… it doesn’t contradict anything. There isn’t anything in the books to suggest that he isn’t a wife guy.)  EDIT: I cannot believe I forgot the little "it's going to be okay" wrist squeeze Narcissa gives him right before he passes Voldemort his wand. This meta does a fantastic job getting into who Narcissa is, and I am officially justified in writing them just as googly-eyes about each other as I want. Also going full Gomez and Mortica makes them a better foil for the Weasleys, and the (not typically on the same page) Arthur and Molly.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Hey, Is this accurate?

The dirty secret about Invictus is that it's a military charity started by the UK's ministry of defence, which is why UK's Allies send their wounded military to participate, as the MoD of each country work together. It remains under the governance of the UK's MoD, and that's why UK and other countries conjure up the millions required to put up the games.For inexplicable reasons, Harold's faux military record is used as the perfect PR front for it.I suspect it's one of Cabinet office's great ideas whereby they know regular govt/ department funding will be questioned by parliament and subject to all kinds of prohibitive laws, but using the money for charity allows them to roll out all sorts of programmes under the guise of Invictus....same MO as USAID.

Before he tied himself to Markle, Harold once said that he would head up Invictus for afew years because it was going to be wound up.

Somewhere before or during Megxit, a decision was made to make Invictus independent of the Royal family's PR efforts to present it as a foundation in it's own right. MoD reorganised it and cut off or enfolded other dependant charities eg Help for Heroes and Endeavour Fund.

Perhaps as a result of being cut off from all his other posts, plus ELF being on the board of Trustees, Harold saw the advantage of staying with the new Invictus after all.

A mutual benefit.

The day MoD decides to cut Harold off, it will be a unilaterally decision at MoD and having any mates on the board won't help him

We saw this in action with Help for Heroes whose board was filled with Harold cronies and yes men. Once MoD cut them off, nought Harold could do. And he is such a disloyal person that he didn't plead for them to be kept on by the MoD

This is the LSA post being discussed.

Honestly, without being able to see the source myself to dig into the user history to determine their legitimacy or accuracy, I can’t tell. I can verify that some of this info is correct:

Invictus Games is backed by the Ministry of Defense and British government leadership.

Harry is the face of it. Both his PR and the Royal Foundation were used to launch the organization.

The Royal Foundation pulled their support after William booted the Sussexes and Invictus Games was spun off into its own charitable foundation at that point, predominantly backed by the military and the MOD more than the BRF.

I’m not sure about anything else and like I said, without knowing the source, there isn’t much I can do.

From where I sit, the dirty secret isn’t that the MOD is propping Invictus up, though, because that’s very well known and it really is only due to the alliances that there’s as much international participation as there is - but that’s not unique to IG. That’s typical of all war games; it's allies getting together and training together. The only thing different about IG from all the other war games allied countries do is that it also includes veterans, not just active duty military service members.

To me, the dirty secret is that the UK - whether it’s the MOD or ELF or the BRF or Harry, it doesn’t really matter - stole the concept from the US. It's literally a copypasta of the DOD's Warrior Games. The only tweak is that they made it international with multiple countries participating because the UK's military is far too small (specifically compared to the US's) to have that kind of diverse friendly competition. And they papered over the copypasta by blasting us with Hero Harry PR.

I don't know enough about the Help for Heroes organization to be able to comment on that piece, either. What I do know is that Help for Heroes got hit hard by COVID, they struggled to bounce back, and the Royal British Legion got the tap instead. Did they struggle because the MOD pulled their support? Was it because they didn't have Harry as patron or sponsor anymore? Was it the lack of a royal affiliation? I don't know and again, not knowing this source or being able to do my own fact-checking into this, it's not something I'd trust as accurate.

Lastly, I'm very skeptical that "as a result of being cut off from all his other posts, plus ELF being on the board of Trustees, Harry saw the advantage of staying with the new Invictus after all." That would imply Harry has a) a brain and b) smarts. Which we know he has neither because of the mess he's currently in: most of his money lost on lawsuits, a wife who's cheapened his reputation, ostracized by the UK, and cast out by his family.

Harry stuck with Invictus through all this time because they let him walk all over them. They let Harry use them as a personal PR tool. And not just Harry - Meghan too, despite the public criticism.

Which is also a flaw, or a hole in the LSA anon's report - if Invictus is truly backed and operated by the MOD, and they're using Harry or Harry's PR as a front...then why aren't they controlling the Sussex shenanigans? Because the more the Sussexes act out, the more the Games become about Meghan, the more people that walk away from Invictus, the more criticism there is. And the less people there are, the less cover there behind the scenes, so the MOD's involvement - especially to the extent that the anon posits - is bound to come out.

But that said, we all know that Harry is absolutely failing as the IG patron. I suspect the MOD fills in where he can't, and that's why all the host countries have been very close allies - US, Canada, Germany, the Hague. And I suspect that's why Birmingham ended up getting the 2027 bid; IG had to fall back on their government/MOD connections and optics for that much government intervention usually goes down better when it's on home soil.

Either way, we'll find out. Invictus really doesn't have much longer - the Games always run way over budget, which doesn't bode well for international partnerships. Then factor in that Birmingham too is having their own financial problems and it's really looking like Birmingham 2027 is probably the end of Invictus Games, unless there's a huge injection of new attention, new donors, and fresh PR, and what better, easier way to get all that than from the patron's successful reconciliation with his father, The King?

I mean, it's either that or the MOD fully takes over and absorbs Invictus into their apparatus as DOD has Warrior Games.

I don't mean to be totally pessimistic about it, but...just something to think about. Why else would Charles or BP be talking about Birmingham 2027? It's two years away.

[morallygreychaoticneutral]

The Evolution of Passion: Midnight Kiss.

Hmmm, definitely busting out the "Vampires Kiss" tea for this one. (hibiscus, rose, ginger, cocoa, black tea, rooibos, chai spice and cayenne for bite. It's red, sweet, metallic and oh so good.)

I got an ask (truncated) from danmeiljie " thoughts about what happens in the woods in act 1, and how he initiates with his partner in the graveyard in act 3, But i was curious if you made any connections to his emotional journey and how that's reflected in these different sex scenes and his role in them. Thoughts about vampire physiology and how that might affect his behavior and choices and abilities during sex depending on diet as well."

These are not shallow subjects so be prepared to go deep. You know, Gale bond depth. *snort* I'm going to break these up for length. There is a thing as too much you know.

WARNING: Game Spoilers, Topics of Sex, Abuse, and Adult themes/Language. Not underage appropriate.

This is not fact, just opinion based off my own and game experience. As always, how anybody cannons their relationships or behaviors is perfectly right! No blame, no shame, it's your game.!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offering a tryst in the woods is a planned move. There is nothing more behind it than getting Tav on his side by using a tactic of seduction to create attachment. He doesn't trust that you won't help him without some sort of incentive. Nobody helps without compensation. Tav is simply a means to an end here. And , in his mind, his only value is found in his body.

And more often than not, at his own expense.

Ooooof. I feel you my moonlit love. I really do.

But it's always worked before, right? Why not now, right?! Get them hooked on his sexual talents (" I'm a consummate lover.") and he will have someone blinded enough to hide his nature and fractured personality behind. This is for survival not pleasure. Emotionally, he is unavailable.

The positions used also reflects this. More so if you let him lay Tav in the grass. If you have the right mods, you will see him offer a kiss and then immediately crawl over to roll Tav onto their side to take them from behind. This position makes sense as it puts him at an advantage. From behind he can control the situation to an extent and it allows him to detach from the situation by avoiding eye contact. Relying on muscle memory to get the job done. Routine.

If you want to get really deep, the position itself could reflect his inner world. Demonstrating how "unseen and unsafe" he feels inside.

But don't fret choice one pickers! It's the same if Tav rides him to the ground. It's a dominating move. He is beneath them. Once again on his back for the thousandth time and in a vulnerable position where in he has been made to suffer countless times.

However, Tav does two surprising things here. They show acceptance of his vampiric nature by offering blood to him. That majorly adds to the experience as a whole I have no doubt. And shows trust in him by allowing him to take it from the same submissive posture he was just in. Tav is now the vulnerable one. Naked and unarmed beneath him by choice.

Forget T & A have you seen clavicles?!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the first option. It is still a positive experience for him. But I truly feel the second option makes the tingling's of feelings happen sooner for him obvious reasons.

Now, here is how I think his plan and feelings start to unravel that night regardless of what sexual encounter choice was made.

First, given that he is now free and fed better than he has ever been. It is my head cannon that his erections are now stronger and easier to achieve than he is used to. And Tav is the first one he experiences this with.

Wait! I know, but stay with me on this...

How would being starved of the very thing you need to run your entire body not complicate that function. Normal sized cocks need a little over half a cup of blood to fill properly. And that half a cup has to come from somewhere else in the body. If he was only fed a diet of rats a bugs that's only two tablespoons of blood a day if he wasn't refusing it. Less than that if you factor in decay from the rat being dead and putrid. And even less than that being kept in his body if he was being tortured.

And what a perfectly on par thing for Cazadick to do. Demand your slaves go and whore themselves out to bring you back food, but deny them what they would need to NOT have to struggle to do it. What a fucking nightmare! Literally!

So, to combat this Astarion would either know a spell to help him or he has figured out how to re route what blood he had to where he needs it, when he needs it. Sounds uncomfortable and exhausting.

But now, he can feed whenever blood is available. Tav, animals, villains, kobolds, Wyll (wink) . There is now enough blood in his system to not only run all basic vampire functions but also allow for spontaneous arousal.

He's not starving and not struggling to be interested. He's comfortably hard and simi engaged. How novel!

Next, Tav treats him like a seven course meal and not a McNugget. Or rather a McStarion in this case. And yes, his milkshake brought an alarming amount of people to the yard. But that's a different topic.

It would be so easy to just proverbially throw him in your mouth and mindlessly nom nom nom till you are suddenly at the bottom of the box wondering if you ate anything at all.

No. I think Tav took him up on that tasting offer to the fullest existent due to him saying "I'd much rather we got to experience each others FULL portfolio of talents once again." Tav was respectful of his known boundaries and made sure he got as good as he gave. He didn't get hurt. And he more than likely got something out of it he's not used to. Real pleasure. And, if Tav let him bite them, he also got something he has always had to beg for and it cost him nothing. And even if he did think it came with a cost, it was a a fair trade for once.

I feel like this is also supported in the morning when he says ..

"Delicious as you were, I didn't want to go too far."

You could take this as the flirt it sounds like. Or, you can read into the fact that he never actually faces Tav when he says it. To me it's him realizing that this manipulation is going to be much harder then he anticipated. And he is realizing that there is a real possibility to actually go that far. Oh shit...

You are his first blood and first truly pleasurable partner in centuries.

How dare you! He's supposed to be controlling you!

On to the next encounter...eventually. Life has been demanding my attention lately. Rude..

[gerry-the-archivist]

boss makes a dollar i make a dime i— idk i do this shit on company time

hi i’m gerry and i hate my fucking job <333

(how gerry became archivist)

huge big red unreality warning for this entire blog!!

asks are temporarily closed

check the linked post to see why

(ooc, rules, and info under cut)

hey yall it’s me @iiinkos finally got around to making the gerry blog :) i also run the rp blogs @a-thousand-little-things (my 3 avatar ocs) and @sonja-artefact-storage (previous head of artefact storage)

uhhh yeah most of it’s gonna be shitposts or ask rp stuff

info:

this blog doesn’t have a real place in the timeline. it sort of exists with gerry as the archivist, and shit goes down sometimes.

ooc or // = out of character

info on gerry’s connection to the eye

sometimes i rp as the assistants— jon, martin, tim, and sasha. their texts are different colors

jon is green

martin is blue

tim is orange

sasha is purple

prentiss attack timeline

gerry hates on elias monologue

plot relevant posts will be under the tag #archives lore

rules:

- you can flirt but it won’t really go anywhere because both me and my version of gerry are aromantic! i’m also unwilling to rp a relationship, sorry

- no sexual content please! mod is a minor

- it’s perfectly fine to interact with old posts, i don’t mind

- magic anons allowed except during big lore shit

- ur always welcome to jump into an rp, or start one, or interact with old ones, or just generally interacting! i don’t mind :)

have fun! :D

mod uses they/them

[creatingblackcharacters]

I have a question AGAIN! (I feel like I flit about your inbox a lot, mb) But lately I've been,, thinking of something. I'm into Greek myth and I know you're decently familiar with it, and there's just been something bothering me.

I don't remember the last time I saw an Ares who wasn't dark-skinned or Black/Black-coded. In theory, I think it's fine to make mythological characters look like whatever, but it sort of bugs me. I feel like a LOT of artists make him Black, and I just can't help but see the correlation between the god of war who has a somewhat adulterous relationship with the goddess of love and lust, being depicted as a Black man, when Black men are already stereotyped as violent, thuggish and over sexualised.

But when I consider this, I also feel like Black Ares is somewhat embedded in the artist community, to the point in my head it would almost feel like whitewashing if i happened to draw him and NOT make him Black, although the connotations Black Ares carries makes me uncomfortable. And there are probably Black artists out there who like Ares and want him to look like them! ig it's sort of just a weird conundrum, where I kind of wanted to hear mods opinion.

I will admit that my view of Greek Classics fan spaces is heavily biased by my continuing disgust for their rampant antiblackness and the different forms it has taken (dare I say, like a hydra), and I very rarely willingly choose to jump in to see creations- so if it reaches me, it reaches me (literally every time I share a Good Piece, my for you gets filled with Mediocre to Racist pieces). So I cannot say that I've always seen Ares as Black as a pattern, bc I don't see his art much at all.

HOWEVER, you are not wrong in your concerns! Remember, while there is nothing wrong with having a Black character be "problematic", the reasons WHY people are more comfortable choosing certain problematic depictions to "allow" Black characters to be, versus others, can make quite plain what types of messages people either believe, or are willing to ignore and let slide.

Why is it easier for you to see this character as Black, versus the others? Did you think about what you were doing, with this depiction? Did you add any depth to it; were you trying to say something about this, were you trying to subvert something (and failed)? Because, if we go with that depiction of Ares (of the bad things) there are SO many symbolic reasons him being white works very well.

Now I've been in that space and... Well, as a Black creator, it is clear they aren't gonna listen to my ass, and I'm not trying to Matrix dodge all those inane bullets from people determined to enjoy their racism. Nonetheless, it's worth a shot! Try seeing what happens if you speak up, if you question.

Also, when you create your Ares pieces, the same thought process applies to you! If you don't want Ares to be Black because of those negative connotations, who do you want to be Black? Why is that better? Is there a way for you to understand his story for him to be Black, without being stereotypical (which, yes, I could also do). The Black artists creating Black Ares have probably thought about this.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

So we know the farmer has magic as they could see the junimo before the wizard event, I wonder if grandpa maybe saw the begin of magic in his grandchild, something that will grow to be so strong even stronger then his magic. However he remembers that ministry would take them away the moment they find out how much potential this small child has, instead of informing them he instead place a spell to kinda seal away their magic till they are ready (or asked a friend of his to ensure that their magic is contained till they are ready) The moment the wizard gave them the forest potion it basically open a typhoon of magic the farmer was holding in! So how would the many other wizards and adventures react to finding out what grandpa did and now they have a adult with even raw magic power to blow up the town at the wrong sneeze

Yes yes yes that's what I've always liked to imagine, you're so right, dear anon!

I've written about this before several times, because I love this headcanon and it's what I think is a good explanation for why the Ministry of Magic, who practice such a tradition (stupid tradition btw, and makes me feel sorry for Morgan), taking children with a "gift" away from their parents, couldn't see that power in Farmer? After all, according to Magnus and Lance, Farmer has an innate talent, they perform spells perfectly the first time, they can handle magical relics (although they're not trained by anyone to use these things), a strong connection with forest spirits, the ability to see the real appearance of elves (If we're also talking about Ridgeside Village mod) and some special connection with gems? (from East Scarp, Sword and Sorcery specifically, but it's just my OCs headcanon). So either Grandpa himself (or his one mystical friend) was able to hide Farmer's magic at a young age to allow them to control their own destiny (whether they want to be mage or not), rather than being torn away from their family and sent by some old farts at the Ministry to the other side of the world.

Though I can play devil's advocate here too, since an adult who can't use their own magic (especially one as strong as Farmer's) is essentially a walking bomb, and the Ministry is thus preventing a magical disaster. That said, I don't see the point of forbidding children from having contact with their family (at least a few times a week), because to me it looks like just some high ranked wizards/witches wanting to be assholes to 8-10 year old kids. Morgan then said that they were sort of allowed to send/receive a letter from their family, but still not enough.

Also lmao, "to blow up the town at the wrong sneeze," reminds me of that video of the sneezing hedgehog (WARNING: loud).

Anyway, thanks for the ask, and have a wonderful day 😊💖

_________________________________________

SVE adventurer/mage's reaction to the fact that Grandpa hid his grandchild's magical talent from the Ministry of Magic:

Magnus Rasmodius:

Magnus tilted his head slightly, hiding his gaze. Farmer's grandfather wasn't the only person who tried to trick the Ministry of Magic. The old wizard had seen how desperate parents hid their children, begged on their knees not to take their babies away, even fought for them, but what could an ordinary man do against a wizard. He himself had to write the third refusal to Morgan's parents... Magnus does not agree with some of the rules, but you can not leave children with the gift of magic without a teacher, because the child can accidentally bring trouble to themself and others, and ordinary people can not handle this. But Farmer's grandfather was probably the first who managed to hide it successfully. And how did he do it.... One way or another, Magnus is obliged to report it to the High mages. Though given the Ministry's strong interest in Farmer, he thinks they've already figured it out. Meanwhile, Rasmodius will keep an eye on his unofficial apprentice to make sure they don't get into trouble.

Jadu:

Is it true...? Jadu caught wind of the rumors that swept among the older wizards (he wasn't eavesdropping! It just... happened). Generally speaking, the young wizard has his own opinion about this rule.... But could have serious problems if someone finds out about his "free" speech. Jadu was such a child himself, and spent more than one night crying in his new room, not understanding why he was taken away from his mom and not allowed to talk to her. Maybe now, having grown up, he can understand the reason, but deep down he carries a grudge against some of the higher mages. But what will happen to Farmer now? If their magic was hidden from the Ministry's eyes before, what will they do to them now, as an adult? Taking them away by force is a bad idea, and since Farmer's power is as high as Camilla and Magnus said, it's only going to get worse. So they'll probably go for the carrot instead of stick... Farmer seems like a good-natured and decent person, and Jadu wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them.

Isaac:

On the one hand, Isaac doesn't really care what the mages have going on with that stupid Farmer. The Ministry wants to prevent a goddamn disaster, and that young idiot's acting like a spoiled brat by refusing to cooperate? Then stop coddling them and get some sense into them, for Yoba's sake! Isaac, on the other hand, despised some of the Ministry's dumb and abusive rules, and kidnapping (yes, kidnapping, and don't try to say otherwise) children from their families to be trained by someone they don't know was one of them. At this rate, it wasn't the first time the Ministry of Magic and the Order had to deal with renegades, studying and contemplating revenge for a broken childhood... He didn't trust Farmer and their family though, for only Ministry's level wizards could cast a spell that hid their magic. Something is fishy here... Isaac just wants to protect Castle Village and its people. Naturally, even to that annoying Farmer he wishes no harm, but if Isaac has to choose between one and the other, the adventurer will choose the safety of his home.

Camilla:

Camilla already knows about it. Sort of. Of course, none of these old farts from Ministry would tell her about that unusual situation with Farmer and their incredible talent in magic directly, so the charming witch had to get the information herself. And what she found intrigued her. No, she couldn't find anything the archives, but... Not only were there no reports or records of Farmer, it was as if someone had simply destroyed any mention of them. Hmm, interesting... One would have to keep an eye on Farmer to see if they themself know anything about it or their Grandpa's actions. The Castle Village witch can understand the old man's motives and sympathize with all those children, but the higher mages are right about something too (not everything, and she's not afraid to express it). Hm? The destructive power of their magic? No big deal, Camilla is sure it'll be fine! Farmer is pretty good at controlling their own mana flow already and is quite the good fella. Especially under her watchful eye, everything will be okay, hehehe~

Alesia:

Alesia doesn't usually get involved in the affairs of the Ministry's wizards and witches, obeying Camilla and the Order unconditionally, but in the time she's lived here in Castle Village, there are a few things she doesn't understand or accept, and one of them is this arrival of mages after children with a discovered "gift". No, the kids need to be trained so they don't accidentally injure or even kill those around them with magic, but after a few conversations with Jadu and some other adepts, the sniper realized that if you're taken away, they close all contact with your family until you reach a certain age and pass the mandatory exams. Which, in her opinion, is unnecessary and even cruel to children. But the fact that Farmer is now a danger to themself and the valley, the place where she was born and raised, is not good either. Given that the Ministry sometimes reacted to problems.... overreacted, Alesia hopes that the Ministry won't make any drastic decisions towards Farmer and will peacefully provide them with training to control their magic. Maybe, Magnus can help them...

Lance:

Lance remembers well the moment in his childhood when his parents sat him down and explained that he would soon be taken away to study spells. And though little Lance was sad to leave his home nest, he took it calmly, and the teacher turned out to be a very kind and good man. And as soon as Lance said goodbye to his family, he heard a shouting from the neighboring house, where two children were being taken away from their screaming parents almost by force. The same adventurers and the same mage as had taken him away.... The pink-haired understands Farmer's grandfather act, as on the part of parents and relatives, some strangers are just taking away their children. However, the huge uncontrollable flow of mana that Farmer has accumulated and ready to explode isn't good either. But he's sure that Magnus and Marlon will help their friend and apprentice in this, besides, Farmer has shown their abilities to Lance pretty well too. And maybe the Ministry will finally revise some of the rules, because the people are starting to get more outraged...

[fatphobiabusters]

I just want to say thank you for running this blog. I've been struggling with issues regarding my body and how it looks and my BMI being very high and stuff, and while I won't lie, the thoughts are still there, being able to go to the blogs I follow and look through this one and others like it helps a bit. I've always struggled with how I view my weight and how I look, and having people to look to and note that yeah, I'm not alone in looking how I do, that I am ok the way I do look right now, I am not Bad in any sense for how I look and eat, it helps. It feels oppressive the amount of things that exist out there that feel so shaming on the person, of how they look, they just need to change the way they eat and diet and all of that, it makes me feel like I'm in the wrong for how I am, when a lot of my weight comes from genetics and my chronic illness and medication, things I can't change. So again, having this blog helps a lot. Knowing I'm ok. I'm not bad for how I look. It means a lot <:)

I'm really glad that this blog has been able to help you! I feel lucky to be able to mod for this blog and help so many people like you. Your ask helps me feel better, especially on days when fatphobia really wants to get me down. The people like you who follow this blog are proof that we aren't alone. There are fat people who know we deserve better than how this world currently treats us. There are fat people who understand that our hardships are unjust.

I remember last year being so surprised when I met somebody who's been fighting this fight for 20 years. They put forth the work that allowed me to carry on the torch. The work that you and I are doing now to make a better world for fat people will eventually pave the path for the people right behind us reaching out their hand to continue to carry that light. Any efforts you do, even just mentioning fat liberation to people, is planting a seed for change. There are days when I feel like I haven't done much, but here you are to remind me that my efforts truly have created good in this world.

And I have to remind you that no matter your situation, no matter why you look the way you look and have the body you have, you will always be deserving of kindness. There's nothing you can do to make yourself deserve oppression. You don't have to have any sort of excuse to exist with a fat body. I promise you that. Your body is good because it's the body you exist in, and it's the body that typed this message I had the pleasure of reading today.

-Mod Worthy

[kalpeavaris]

what would you say is the best way to start a fanfic? And where is the place I should post it to get the best reception?

I started quotev a while back making fan fictions and posting them, but they never really stuck with me even when one did get super popular (..unfortunately, I WAS one of those Wally darling fanfic writers…..) . I deleted literally all of those pages, and, while that’s kinda sad and I do wish I could read them now, they were super cringe and had, like, no plot to them. I was totally winging it.

I know you do some writing of your own, and I wanted to see how exactly you plan yours/your stories out. I consider myself an intermediate writer with room for improvement, but the burn out is awful and I haven’t written anything for myself in years.

thank you!! ❤️

So, the best place to post fanfiction for me personally has always been AO3 due to their regulations making it easier to post fanworks even with heavy topics - and I find their layout options very easy to use, even as a total beginner at posting your written works online. They also include original works under their term of "fan works", which makes it easier to just post any story you got on there instead of like, for example, split them between websites dedicated for Fanfiction & original works.

I see way more interaction on AO3 than I did on any other writing-focused website I used to post at (e.g Wattpad), way more people commenting and giving their thoughts, theories and feedback on stories, which is why I post my stuff exclusively on there. :]

As for planning your story out, I got a few tools I like to use. Now, I am not in no ways a professional writer or anything beyond a hobbyist simply doing what brings their crippling autism joy, but I have found some things that helped me improve my writing by a ton in just a few months (my, I sound like one of those dating coaches LOL)

Here's some of my tips:

Get a comfortable writing program that you feel good in. I know it sounds obvious, but trust me, having a writing program you enjoy layouting, drafting and writing in makes it so much more fun to explore your stories/worlds even if you're stuck in a more tiresome part (such as layouting your world or planning chapters/plot points). I, for example, use Scrivener. It is a paid program (though I put on my pirating hat for this one) and made for professional writing such as script writing for TV and movies, novel writing and essays, but it functions well enough for any hobbyist in my humble opinion. Google docs is a free alternative most folks know & love, but I came to struggle with it's performance and tools a lot and never quite got into add-ons/mods for it. Since a lot of my stories already exceed 200-300 pages each I found the website lags a ton and I have to split up my documents instead of keeping it all organized in the same file. Scrivener also allows for you to sort your documents and chapters in individual files, which makes it even easier to work with when your chapters get long or you're writing plot points as their own individual little page & merge them in the end. Here's how my Scrivener usually looks like for writing fanfiction. I make use of the ability to organize my chapters, title them, give them little notes and have them all on one page to not lose the red thread of everything, LOL.

Plan your story ahead through worldbuilding & acts. If your story isn't a "just go with the flow" or "villain of the week" kind of structure, making acts and drafting out the detail first is the key. Otherwise you can easily get lost in your own writing, which happened to my first MD fanfictions such as "Synemy" and "Bluejay's Feathers" where I either overshot arcs/chapters way too quickly - ending up with shallow characters - or didn't know when to end a story, ending up with 40+ chapters but little story or arcs being told and no ending in sight for the characters. Sure, this can absolutely work! And I'm not saying it is a bad thing, but I personally do not enjoy writing these stories anymore which is why I started to re-write them currently. What helped me immensely was the use of "Acts" for my rough draft. This is what the Acts look like for my Poppy Playtime fanfiction, for example:

And here's the rest of the acts template I use:

Use prompts! Don't be afraid to look up scene prompts, ideas for characters, the world or situations that could happen. Sometimes you get struck by inspiration by reading other people's ideas and it can help especially during a writer's block and/or burn out. Don't be afraid to simply just write something and trash it later, or break up written scenes into smaller sections, repurpose them, whatever - some of my best scenes were originally coming either from prompts (e.g "what would your character do in this situation?" or "Character A and B experience this, what could happen?" prompts) or after watching a movie/show and analyzing plot points. Some of my work even started out from a simple question I asked myself - what would happen if? What could happen when?

Ask for feedback - it's worth it's weight in gold. Beta- and alpha readers are your best friends, and it never hurts to ask people if they'd be interested to read your works, even if you don't intend to post them after all. I mainly do alpha-reading, meaning I generally don't beta-read something and offer worldchanging feedback, I moreso write feedback on what stands out to me, what plotpoints and scenes I really love and how I interpret the written work. I might be an avid reader & writer, but I do not consider myself settled in this hobby enough to offer constructive critique for other people's writing for the time being. There's still a ton I need to personally improve on before I can say I'm ready for beta-reading. But both Beta and Alpha readers are very valueable tools to see what a person reading your story found interesting, outstanding or exciting to see. Tropes, scenes, scenarios, characters, portrayal, dialogue - there's so much to review in a story. This can also help to outline if your story confuses or intruiges the reader, helping with the draft and outline especially if it's beta reading feedback you recieve before the story is posted.

Don't be afraid to shift and don't be scared of big edits. They will inevitably happen. I used to fear having to re-write chapters, toss around events in the timeline or even having to cut content in a written story, but sometimes this can help slim down a story and narrow it down onto the important aspects. Mistakes happen, and sometimes edits are necessary to keep the story's flow, but they're nothing to be feared. In the end, it's a fan work you're creating with your own personal motivation and it's not a huge novel waiting to be published. Don't fear messing up or not getting the draft right the first, second or third time. I needed 4 different drafts before I had a cohesive storyline for my biggest project at the time, and I took weeks between each draft. If there's passion, there will be a product of it sooner or later.

[oblivionbladetd]

I see what she is trying to say, "Boy, it sure would be nice to play my favorite bit of the game again!" Like, fair, valid even. But out of box 0 hours? Press button, obtain dopamine, I fuckin guess.... I am already dreading a game designer having to make the most shallow brainded press button to win (optional) game that could realistically support this method. Games have a hard enough time with as many plates in the air as they have already. Though as much as I am overthinking this i suppose we should mention the elephant in the room.... Lily mods the fuck out of her games, something like a save data editor would do what she wants easy.

Gotta say, though, I love the defense at the bottom. "Video games are the only medium that doesn't allow it" how to fuck are you reading books? Cracking it open in the middle and winging it? It's a "Well I can" sort of argument, but it kinda defeats the reasons you presumably chose to read the book. Yes, I can take the pages of hamlet and shuffle it like a deck of cards and read them right to left AND bottom to top. It's a thing I CAN do.... but why? What is even the point? I'm not reading hamlet anymore, really.

Though I do have to say as the guy that covered her list thrice. Lily making a blip of a good point and smothering it in bullshit? Must be a day that ends in y.