#same on discord I have to read everything

[20dollarlolita]

Research Boards

This is a post mostly for the Pattern School kids, but it's easier to find things on the tumblr than on Discord, and maybe someone else will find this useful, so here we go.

Anyone who is interested in sewing their own lolita fashion is aware that there's not a lot of lolita-specific patterns out there. Because lolita fashion clothing is also very highly detailed, even if you're following a lolita-specific pattern, if you don't build it to look like lolita, it will probably still not look like a lolita garment. To make sure that you don't throw a ton of energy into a garment that doesn't work out, you need to research existing pieces, to draw inspiration from (or directly copy) their design elements.

However, when I go onto Lolibrary.org and say that I want an OP with either short sleeves or princess sleeves, I end up with just under 300 pages, with about 25 results per page. Let's be honest: I'm not going to go through 7500 individual dress listings, and if I do, I'm certainly no going to do it more than once. What I need is a way to filter these listings into 40-50 of the most relevant images, and I need to be able to look at them all at once. I need a research board.

I want to make a dress out of this pattern. The fundamental elements of lolita fashion are there: there's an option with puffed sleeves, the center front with the tucks is similar to a lot of things I've seen before. However, if I just make this dress exactly as instructed, it's not going to make a lolita dress. We know this because their model picture was with a dress made directly as instructed, and it's not lolita.

In order to make sure this reads as lolita, I need to research pieces with similar construction, and see how those dresses handled the way those elements. I'm not just looking for pieces I like; I'm looking for anything that's constructed the same way as the element I'm looking for.

In the dress pattern that I have, there is a proper armhole (top row). In lolita fashion, it's common to have the top of the sleeve elastic, and have there be no constructed arm hole (bottom row). Almost every lolita OP I've made has used the elastic sleeve method. I'm not as familiar with the proper armhole sleeve (in the context of EGL), so I need a lot of references for how this is constructed.

So let's go over how this works really fast:

Identify the elements of the garment that you want to research. Generally, I pick the things that will be the most difficult to change in a pattern. Getting rid of that arm hole will be a pain, so we're just going to be living with it.

Collect as many images as you can of garments with that design feature. You're not just looking for images you like. You are collecting everything. Remember that you can look at things beyond Lolibrary, and that it's actually helpful to do so. Go on Google Images and search up "short sleeve lolita dress" and see what comes up. If you feel like you've reached the end of one search, it's time to change your search parameters. In Lolibrary, I find that the best way to do that is to narrow the search. You can make it only show you certain brands, or exclude all of Jane Marple a certain brand. Generally, I will adjust parameters until I have a result that's 30 pages of results or fewer. It only takes like 15 minutes to scroll 30 pages and harvest the most relevant results. Then, I change the search terms, and start again. On Lolibrary, the most recently-submitted pieces are first in the search results, so the only way to find older pieces is to narrow the search to something you can reach the end of.

Place all your collected references onto one image. Make all of them easy to look at in one time. You can absolutely do some forms of design here. I tend to keep my designs pretty free-form, but I will usually have some vague sense of why I put stuff where. Sometimes, I will collect references that look like what I want to make at the top of the board, and ones I don't want it to look like at the bottom of the board. Sometimes, I'll arrange the pieces more by the release date. Sometimes they're based by color, or by putting similar pieces next to each other, or just by vibes.

Keep going until you've filled up your image. The advantage of putting all of these in one location is that you have an easy visual guide for when it's time to stop adding things. Your background is still showing all over the place? Add more items. Oftentimes, we find the best references at the point where we push beyond the place where we'd normally give up.

Look at the pieces on the board, and start drawing your conclusions.

Start by looking at the whole picture. Take your image board and look at your general trends.

What brands are you seeing the most often (the fact that Baby and AP use little frames, MM uses the same wallpaper, sketchy websites like Milanoo will put their watermark on the image, etc, makes it easy to tell from a distance if you have a lot of those brands)? What colors are you seeing? What substyles are you seeing? Looking at trends like this is

If you want to make a sweet lolita dress, but nearly all of your designs that have your construction element are gothic designs, this is information you should know before you commit to cutting your expensive fabric. Sometimes, when you see a general trend that's very different from your vision, it's a sign that you need to find a new pattern. In this case, we can see that this specific detail (armsceye instead of elastic shoulder) had a lot more reference for older pieces and for more classic pieces. I hadn't actually noticed that trend until I made this board.

Then zoom in. What do your favorite images on your board have in common? What do your least favorite images have in common? Is there overlap? Do your least favorite and your favorite items share design traits? Why do you like that trait on some items, but not others? Learning what you don't like, so that you have a reference of how to not construct or style something, is as important and useful as learning what you do like.

Check your whole board one image at a time, and see what looks the most like your pattern. Yes, everything has your chosen sleeves, but what garment with your chosen element looks the most like your pattern? How similar does that garment look to the rest of the items on the board? You do not need to make a copy of this garment with your pattern, but if a lolita garment with nearly the same construction as yours shows up, you absolutely should know that.

Now, for this case, I made one mood board, and thought I had everything I needed for this dress. I knew how I wanted it constructed, and I had references that backed up my design decisions.

But then I had to go and fuck it all up, because guess what?

I decided to make it all white.

So the thing about making it all white is that white-on-white has the potential to be the most boring colorway known to mankind. I also know for a fact that many all-white garments use fabrics that are inherently detailed: satins, organzas, jacquards, etc. I have white linen-blend cotton and an Ikea curtain. This means that I need to look at what successful shiro pieces look like, and arrange them based on fabric.

In this board, more OTT pieces are on the bottom right, and pieces out of less shiny fabrics are on the top left. Items that I liked the most for this project are right next to the technical illustration, and pieces away from my vision are closer to the edges. I also usually will scale pieces I don't like to be smaller images, and pieces that I really like will be larger.

However, there's also a lot of small images in this board because I still had too much space showing by the time that I felt like I was done. When researching anything, it's important to not stop too early.

The dress with the long sleeves in the top right corner, was the first one that I looked at and could really visualize making with my pattern. I found that about 15 minutes into the search. The one on the right most was one I didn't find until I was right about to give up. I'm very glad that I found it, because it's very close to what I am looking to make. I can honestly just steal all of the styling and make that dress out of this pattern.

Once you have your research board, you're ready to actually make your design. If you're a sketchy person, you can sketch. If you're not a hella sketchy person, you can bust out a croquis or just a stock photo and draw your design on top of a template. If you're very much not a DIY art person, you can grab your favorite images off your mood board and slap them together, or just circle your favorite parts. Keep the rest of the mood board handy, because you want to have something to reference when you're building or buying things. Fabric store doesn't have your dream fabric? Well, you've got a page full of backups. Math made one ruffle too short? Good thing you've got a page with a lot of different ruffle proportions. When you have a research board, things that would be huge setbacks become minor annoyances.

(TY to Brittany for the rainbow dress image)

Once yo'u've got your images of what you want to make, if you want, design boards are a great next step. (I'll do a post on that but basically a design board is like a research board, but instead of 40 different garments that you could be inspired by, you have 40 different things inspired by one garment. Okay that makes no sense so just stick around for Mood Boards Pt 2)

Anyway, that's my favorite way to research before I adapt a normie pattern into a lolita garment. Knowing how to adjust the pattern is one thing, but knowing what fabric to get, what lace to get, where to put the lace, what ways to potentially style my finished garment, and a lot of other stuff is the best way to make sure I don't fuck up my nice fabric or waste a bunch of time on something that won't work right when it's done.

FAQ (okay no one has asked these yet, but I'm predicting that y'all will):

Do I need to make a separate mood board for each design element? No, and you probably won't do it anyway. It's very possible to get all of your major design concerns into one board. If that's the case, I recommend sort of arranging your board so that you've got each element in its own corner of the board. This just makes it easier to keep track of what elements you need to put more research into, as well as explain to other people what you're trying to do.

Why do I actually need to do this? First of all, because it's important to know what you're looking at. Researching beyond the bare surface level is the secret to DIYing something in a fashion as picky as lolita.

Secondly, it helps you work in a collaborative process with other people. Showing someone your mood board when asking for help can let them know what your level of understanding with the situation is, which can much more easily get you help. In addition to talking with other people who wear lolita fashion, you can show a research board to outsiders and people who don't understand the fashion at all. You can show it to a fabric store employee and ask for help finding fabrics with a similar inspiration, and you don't need to give a lolita101 speech when you do so.

In the specific context of 20dollarlolita Pattern School, which is a project I'm working on both here and in its own dedicated Discord server, it also shows that you've done research. No one at Pattern School is getting paid to help you, and no one is expected to spoon feed you research images while you decide if they do or don't match your artistic vision. If you come to the party with, "this is what I found, these things match my artistic vision, and these things don't fulfill my artistic vision," you're much more likely to get feedback you want. It also shows respect for the labor that other people put into helping you.

Plus, making a research board is free. It costs no money. If you're currently waiting to have the money for your first coord, or you're jumping into your first handmade piece, you can spend several weeks just slowly assembling a board that shows your personal likes and dislikes in the fashion. "Hello, I'm trying to buy my first dress, and here's my research board with my favorite colors and styles," is so different from, "Hello, I like lolita, and I don't know what a stubstyle is, but I don't like green." You can start building a dream dress board (or dream closet board) right now, even if you don't make your first purchase until 3 years from now.

Put your ideas into pictures. It lets you communicate with other people. It lets you communicate with yourself. It lets you communicate with the past and with the community.

Are you really going to leave the FAQ section with just two bolded points? Okay so I'm confident that I had something else to say, but that thought has gone rogue and is missing at this point.

[silver-grasp]

when I say I'm a pathological backreader I'm not joking I spent all day scrolling back through over a week of my tumblr dash bc that's how long it's been since I've been logged in. don't care for it at all frankly it's not good for me but here we are

[ninashiki]

i feel like almost everything in utena has sort of already been extensively discussed in the last two (almost three) decades of utena's existence (not that there aren't new interpretations to be made, there always are) besides black rose arc (mikage+mamiya+tokiko). which is why they're so much fun to think about. i think the need to read between the lines makes it unfortunately easy to misunderstand or look past obvious stuff if you don't pay attention, but to me it's always been really obvious that mikage's arc is a literal representation of the erasure of queerness in ohtori (society?) by akio/everything he represents. and that's so fucking tragic! nemuro was never able to find a name for his desires. he lived and died as a puppet in the shadows.

[jan-ala]

there's some truth to this. in the next hundred years, i think the internet will progressively become less of a 'place' and more of an underlying technology like how bluetooth is now. i have to imagine that this is the underlying premise brought up in boardroom meetings about smarthome bullshit.

but at the same time, it's also kind of just getting older and casting off the illusions you grew up with. what did we actually do on the internet in 2003? instant messaging, reading, proto social media (neopets type stuff), flash games learning skills to present information online. what do people actually do on the internet now? instant messaging, reading, social media, javascript games, learning skills to present information online.

the internet addicts are on discord and tumblr and reddit and x the everything app, and all of that is as anonymous as ever, at least superficially. try bringing some tumblr in-joke into the real world and you'll see how unaligned your two social lives are.

the main differences are :

ubiquitous platforms

monetization

algorithmic feeds

omnipresence of video

smartphones

each of these horsemen carries their own sort of plague, but they were all kind of inevitable. if we rebuilt the web starting from usenet today, we'd still end up back here in 20 or 30 years.

the web could never do much that couldn't be done offline, we were just twelve and tricked by the zeitgeist of the era. the most novel thing i used it for back then was piracy. plus ça change.

by and large, it's always been a rent-seeking endeavor from ISPs and webhosts and service providers and content creators. realizing that is what radicalized me into going back primarily to pen and paper.

it's always been one world, we're just old enough to have both eyes open now.

It's weird how the internet used to be a different world and now it's just the same world.

You used to live a second secret life online. There was no integration between online and irl. Now the line often blurs.

[shepcdr]

i've been so incredibly scatterbrained as of late and i gotta get my butt back to writing. it's been my goal to talk and write with everyone i'm mutuals with, but the last time i properly reached out to all my mutuals was in february... just to help me organise my thoughts and jump back on that train, i'm putting this out as a plotting/starter call !!

aka i'll run into your dms, strike up plot ideas — or revitalise old chats that i've forgotten about — and write you something. does not matter if we already have threads or not. and if i've already been in your dms and forgot about them, feel free to treat this as a 'jude im in yr DMs' reminder button... or if i promised to write you smth and then didn't... 😅 or if you want to poke me abt a certain thread you're specifically waiting on. feel free to remind me here!!

i will crawl through my mutuals list eventually and reach out again to everyone regardless of whether you like this or not, but i'll start with these!

and re: my writing style... i occasionally try and wing it! love to see where a thread goes, love to send out memes and get them (though i'm trying to limit myself on both until i catch up with drafts again). but overall, i do lean more plot-oriented and would love to throw down ideas or at least introduce ourselves and then determine a simple setting/basic starter thread idea before getting into it!

we don't need to talk about everything and plan out the entire world/rship, but i like to have possibilities to swirl around in my brain, and shepard can be such a closed-off character in the start that it helps a lot ... + the fact that he has such a specific narrative arc emotionally and mentally means he can seem entirely a different person depending on which game of the trilogy we're talking. it helps to know which one you're most interested in writing within, and what we vibe with best — and, if your muse knows shepard throughout the trilogy or at least throughout m.ass effect 1 and 2, that change is something they have to navigate, and i'm always super down to help explore that!

[sunbunnyyy]

i know i just got here, but seeing all of the laughably bad takes from both sides of the spectrum is convincing me that no, i don’t actually need to be on social media again.

[mayo-is-an-instrument]

I made a boo oc!! I'll make more drawings to use them for when I start making "serious" YouTube videos :3

[joosts-girl]

Drawing Joost for college but not being able to share the drawings on Tumblr

[subjectsix]

I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[ms-demeanor]

Do you have thoughts about the changes to Firefox's Terms of Use and Privacy Notice? A lot of people seem to be freaking out ("This is like when google removed 'Don't be evil!'"), but it seems to me like just another case of people getting confused by legalese.

Yeah you got it in one.

I've been trying not to get too fighty about it so thank you for giving me the excuse to talk about it neutrally and not while arguing with someone.

Firefox sits in such an awful place when it comes to how people who understand technology at varying levels interact with it.

On one very extreme end you've got people who are pissed that Firefox won't let you install known malicious extensions because that's too controlling of the user experience; these are also the people who tend to say that firefox might as well be spyware because they are paid by google to have google as the default search engine for the browser.

In the middle you've got a bunch of people who know a little bit about technology - enough to know that they should be suspicious of it - but who are only passingly familiar with stuff like "internet protocols" and "security certificates" and "legal liability" who see every change that isn't explicitly about data anonymization as a threat that needs to be killed with fire. These are the people who tend not to know that you can change the data collection settings in Firefox.

And on the other extreme you've got people who are pretty sure that firefox is a witch and that you're going to get a virus if you download a browser that isn't chrome so they won't touch Firefox with a ten foot pole.

And it's just kind of exhausting. It reminds me of when you've got people who get more mad at queer creators for inelegantly supporting a cause than they are at blatant homophobes. Like, yeah, you focus on the people whose minds you can change, and Firefox is certainly more responsive to user feedback than Chrome, but also getting you to legally agree that you won't sue Firefox for temporarily storing a photo you're uploading isn't a sign that Firefox sold out and is collecting all your data to feed to whichever LLM is currently supposed to be pouring the most bottles of water into landfills before pissing in the plastic bottle and putting the plastic bottle full of urine in the landfill.

The post I keep seeing (and it's not one post, i've seen this in youtube comment sections and on discord and on tumblr) is:

Well-meaning person who has gotten the wrong end of the stick: This is it, go switch to sanguinetapir now, firefox has gone to the dark side and is selling your data. [Link to *an internet comment section* and/or redditor reactions as evidence of wrongdoing].

Response: I think you may be misreading the statements here, there's been an update about this and everything.

Well-meaning (and deeply annoying) person who has gotten the wrong end of the stick: If you'd read the link you'd see that actually no I didn't misinterpret this, as evidenced by the dozens of commenters on this other site who are misinterpreting the ToU the same way that I am, but more snarkily.

Bud.

Anyway the consensus from the actual security nerds is "jesus fucking christ we carry GPS locators in our pockets all goddamned day and there are cameras everywhere and there is a long-lasting global push to erode the right to encrypt your data and facebook is creating tracking accounts for people who don't even have a facebook and they are giving data about abortion travel to the goddamned police state" and they could not be reached for comment about whether Firefox is bad now, actually, because they collect anonymized data about the people who use pocket.

My response is that there is a simple fix for all of this and it is to walk into the sea.

(I am not worried about the updated firefox ToU, I personally have a fair amount of data collection enabled on my browser because I do actually want crash reports to go to firefox when my browser crashes; however i'm not actually all that worried about firefox collecting, like, ad data on me because I haven't seen an ad in ten years and if one popped up on my browser i'd smash my screen with a stand mixer - I don't care about location data either because turning on location on your devices is for suckers but also *the way the internet works means unless you're using a traffic anonymizer at all times your browser/isp/websites you connect to/vpn/what fucking ever know where you are because of the IP address that they *have* to be able to see to deliver the internet to you and that is, generally speaking, logged as a matter of course by the systems that interact with it*)

Anyway if you're worried about firefox collecting your data you should ABSOLUTELY NOT BE ON DISCORD OR YOUTUBE and if you are on either of those things you should 100% be using them in a browser instead of an app and i don't particularly care if that browser is firefox or tonsilferret but it should be one with an extension that allows you to choose what data gets shared with the sites it interacts with.

[14dayswithyou]

Some long-term followers may have noticed this subtle shift already (especially those who are in the 14DWY Discord server or have read this post), but I figured I'd make it official.

I'm no longer associating myself with the yandere VN community.

The TLDR is that the energy here really fuckin SUCKS!! And I don't want to be part of something so hostile and needlessly competitive.

The constant infighting and epicaricacy between communities is deeply upsetting, and it's very disheartening to see aspiring developers cancel their projects because of the unwarranted backlash and harassment they face.

Some entitled folks on here reeeeally need to understand that constantly harassing others for updates, encouraging developers to belittle others to make themselves/their project look better, complaining about a project not meeting the expectations you specifically put in place, attacking other communities because of the parasocial relationship you share with another developer, getting mad that you chose to ignore important PSAs or warnings and faced the repercussions, or even sending in hate messages on anon because you're bored are not things you should be doing — let alone be proud of.

I try to avoid bringing up these topics as it's not the vibe I want to have on this blog (nor do I want to negatively contribute to the Streisand Effect and blow things out of proportion), but I'm genuinely getting tired of being on the receiving end of all this harassment and negativity, seeing it happen to others, and watching other indie developers encourage such vile behaviour. I'm done.

For those wondering what this means for "14 Days With You": for the most part, everything will still continue like usual. I've said this from the very beginning, but 14DWY is just a passion project I pursue whenever I feel like it. It's something I do for fun as a hobby — not because I want to publish a well-known game or turn it into a career. I've been on Tumblr for over thirteen years now, and it's taught me how to grow thick skin, so everything that I'm yapping and yammering about won't stop me from working on 14DWY.

However, this does mean that I won't be as interactive with other developers or their communities anymore; many ill-natured people have ruined this for me.

Because of them, I'm no longer able to voice my opinion on other games without some opinionated rat whispering in my ear about how the developer is "problematic" or that I could get cancelled for simply following them on Twitter. I can't interact with certain games without its parasocial community becoming hostile or gatekeepy towards anyone they don't like. I've seen communities belittle and devalue promising demos because in their eyes, nothing can compare to their favourite game (or their favourite developer). I have been harassed, bullied, and doxxed by other communities and have seen the same thing happen to others as well. I've heard about the developers who weaponise their community's loyalty to attack and drive out their competition. And I've witnessed more than enough developers expressing how badly they want to take a hiatus due to how much unwarranted negativity they receive, but don't want to disappoint their community by doing so.

By saying all of this, you can understand why I dislike being here so much, as well as why I no longer find any enjoyment in interacting with the yandere VN community.

Many people here — fans and developers alike — are so needlessly pushy about their standards and personal opinions being the norm, and if anyone else goes against them, they'll purposefully try to ostracise and bully them out of the community. This place isn't as laid-back or inclusive as it used to be, and I don't want to be associated with a community that acts so hostile and aggressive towards anyone who shares a differing opinion — nor do I want to be part of a space that caters towards developers who'll tear down others in order to have a moment of relevancy.

We're all doing our own thing and making our own games; it shouldn't be a competition. But if you see it as such, then I urge you to take a moment to stop and rethink your actions — or, at the very least, understand how it's affecting you and others around you.

So until there's a reasonable change and people can go back to being less... demanding, hypercritical, and gatekeepy about who interacts with what, I'll be stepping away and continuing to stay in my own bubble, as I have for the past two years now. I've already unfollowed everyone associated with the yandere community many months ago, but I think I'll just unfollow everyone entirely now for my own peace of mind. I will also no longer be interacting with any yandere VN communities (aside from close friends), nor will I be as public with my interests from this moment on. Everything on this blog will be strictly related to 14DWY like usual, and I will continue to block and report any spiteful "anons"/burner accounts sent my way and delete their messages.

Again, this isn't really much of an announcement — it's more so just paragraphs of me bitchin and moanin 🫶 — but I wanted to get this all out there instead of leaving things unsaid and having people come to their own conclusions as to why I've suddenly become less active, less optimistic, and why I've stopped engaging with a majority of the yandere community in the last two years.

So, yeah... ^^; If there's anything I want y'all to take away from this entire post, it's to be kind, open, and understanding towards everyone — developers and communities alike — and to spread support rather than negativity. It's what I want my own community to be known for, so please be mindful of how you treat others online.

And if you find yourself being surrounded by constant toxicity and negativity (be it from friends, mutuals, or even other developers or communities), please don't feel ashamed to step away or cut them off entirely. Put yourself and your mental health first. I also think it'll be good for me to leave all this negative energy behind and continue to kick off 2025 in a better light, so if y'all need to let out any frustrations of your own, feel free to go ham in the replies (obviously, be kind and civil though jghsjg T_T)

[panictimesfour]

i find it funny how my social media platforms vary in content/people. like on tumblr i'm getting random stuff on my dash and barbenheimer content on my for you (and way too many people thirsting for cillian murphy...). instagram decided i'm a diehard league of legends player. my friends on discord are gamers who don't like to talk to me or step outside their rooms, and my friends on snap are nonexistent.

it's just funny. i don't really know why.

[clockwayswrites]

Danny in Metropolis part 4

oh look, gave in, masterpost

by HH discord vote, wrote on this while waiting for my nerve test today (good news, nerves good. bad news, hands bad because ?????. other news, OW) which was nice because this is very soft and I was very nervous about it all. Apparently I had another chunk not posted here too so have a decent bit!

-

“Yeah, well, you just met—saw? You just saw my parents. They’re just sort of like that. Everything always becomes dramatic,” Danny said, some of his humor fading as he talked about his family.

“I’ll remember not to come over for dinner,” Conner said with a purposefully light tone.

Danny snorted. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t subject you to that horror. Easier to just eat out anyways.”

“And yet you don’t eat lunch,” Conner pointed out.

Danny ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, school lunches aren’t exactly appetizing.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Conner agreed after a beat. Him and Dad might still have some issues that they were working through, but Clark made sure that Conner always had a lunch to take to school, no matter how busy he was with a story. The only times there wasn’t a lunch is when Clark was off world for three or more days.

Conner wondered if Dad would mind making an extra one.

“Anything you hate?” Conner asked curiously.

Danny gave a little shrug. His fingers twisted restlessly against Conner’s. “That’s a complicated question.”

“I’m okay with complicated answers.”

“Turkey and chicken, but only if it’s the whole bird. Hot dogs. I guess all meat can be iffy a lot, depends on the day. Tofu. Um, plain broths and Jello at this point. Anything fake cherry favored. Lime Gatorade,” Danny listed off in a rush.

Conner blinked. “Okay.” He’d do his best to remember that.

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Like, I think that’s actually not that hard to work around. And you can remind me if I forget anything, but, like, I’ll try not to,” Conner said. He gave Danny’s hand a reassuring little squeeze.

Danny stared down at their clasped hands like it was the most confusing thing.

Conner tried not to worry too much about it. Danny could be odd like that.

The shop was actually a pretty nice one. Maybe it was a little too hipster, but it was a coffee shop. The music could be worse and the spray painted art on the wall was actually pretty cool. There was no one waiting, so Conner pulled them up to the front where they could easily read the menu to make their choices.

He nudged Danny gently with his elbow. “They have some vegetarian stuff, if it’s one of those days.”

“The beetroot sandwich is damn good,” the heavily tattooed barista who was waiting on them said.

“Yeah?” Danny said, looking over that on the board. “I’ll do that, I guess, and a large iced coffee.”

“Whole milk, skim, or oat milk?”

“Oh, um, whole is fine,” Danny said.

“Same drink for me, but I’ll do the avocado BLT,” Conner decided. He went to pull out his phone to pay, but Danny beat him to it, holding out a credit card.

“My treat, since we couldn’t work at my place,” Danny said quickly.

Conner huffed. “Fine. But next study session is my treat then.”

“You two can go ahead and have a seat, I’ll bring your stuff over soon,” the barista said with a smile as they handed back Danny’s card.

Conner followed Danny’s lead over to a comfortable looking pair of armchairs around a low table. They were forced to finally let go of each other’s hands to sit, and Conner tried not to pout. Now that he knew Danny would let him, Conner figured he could find another excuse to hold Danny’s hand if he worked at it.

Danny pulled out his sleek, new laptop and set it open on the table. The assignment was already open on the screen, glaring in the large, red text that Mrs. Simmons liked to use for all of her assignment headers. It was especially bold on the black background of the dark mode that Danny seemed to keep everything in.

Under every poet’s name, Danny had typed a sentence or two about them. It was far from academic writing (some of it was actually hilariously blunt), but it actually had some really useful information.

“Damn, Danny, you call this only a little?” Conner asked as he scanned over the notes.

Danny fidgeted in his seat. “I mean. Just like I said, I'm not good at English work and I don't want to be why you get a bad grade.”

“Hey,” Conner leaned over and bumped their shoulders together, “it's just a grade.”

“Yeah, try saying that in my house with two doctorate already and a third on the way with my sister,” Danny muttered.

“Well, good thing we aren't in your house then,” Conner joked. When Danny rolled his eyes, Conner reached out and tapped Danny’s hand, getting the other to look at him. “It’s just a grade, Danny, but I'll do my best to make sure that it's a good one, okay?”

Danny’s smile was a little wobbly, but at least it was there. “Thanks.”

“Course. Tell me what you've done so far.”

His smile turned shier, but Danny started to explain that he’d wiki searched the poets and also scanned whatever there most famous poem was. He didn’t really know how to talk about the poems, but tried to write a word or two about them. As they went through the list, it was clear that Danny already had some he didn’t like, by the way his nose wrinkled as he talked about them, scrunching up his freckles. He also had some good points about some poets that they shouldn’t do as two white guys. Conner didn’t know if he actually really counted as a white guy, not with Clark, but he figured since socially Clark was seen and raise as one, it fit as much as anything.

(Not like Conner could talk about the whole half alien clone thing anyways.)

[chipper-smol]

ISAT 2025 Art Bang!

After the telephone game lot of people told me that they were interested in joining another project just like it so here we are!

Sign up is available here!

There's a project server invite at the end, you're not required to join it but please don't feel anxious to join! The previous participants have created a very kind community 'v'

The timeline!

What is an Art Bang?

An art bang is meant to create a BANG of fanwork in the fandom! You (and as many authors who sign up) come together to write fanfics from scratch. The fanfic can be an idea that you’ve been wanting to write for a while and just haven’t gotten the motivation to, a fanfic you haven’t been able to continue but want to, or it can be an idea someone else suggests when you join.

Halfway through the writing process authors will be paired up with artists who have read a summary of their work and want to draw for it. When everything is finished, everyone will release their fanfic and fanart in the same week in an explosion of fanworks!

More info below the readmore!

How does it work?

Step 1: Authors sign up and start writing on June 28th. Authors CANNOT add any words to their official word count until after June 28th.

Step 2: After about a month, Authors submit a snippet or summary of their fic which is presented to the artist participants anonymously.

Step 3: Artists choose as many fics that they’d be interested in drawing for and I organize and pair up everyone together.

Step 4: Authors finish up writing, Artists finish up drawing.

Step 5: Works are scheduled to be uploaded to Ao3 and/or Tumblr!

Rules/Expectations

If you use generative AI or AI “assistance” I will trap you in a timeloop ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

AI anything is not allowed under any circumstances and will get you immediately banned from this project and any future projects.

All fics must be uploaded to either Ao3 or Tumblr

Spoilers for ISAT and SASASA:P are not reinforced in the Discord server

Authors

Authors must write at least 10k words in total.

Authors can write as many chapters and fanfics as they want.

Can be about anything! It can even be a continuation of a previous fic that you’ve lost motivation on, but you still must write at least 10k words in total.

Can be any rating! General Audiences to Explicit are welcome 

Authors who want to write Explicit fics must confirm they are 18 years or older.

Artists

Artists must create at least one finished artwork. 

If artists want to create something like an animation or animatic, they can check in with me and we can decide together what is a reasonable finished goal.

Artists can create artwork for multiple fics.

Artists who want to draw for explicit fics must confirm they are 18 years or older.

Can I share snippets of my work before the artist claims?

Preferably no, artist claims are made anonymously so that works are picked without any bias.

10k words seems like a lot?

Altogether, yes, but this challenge extends over 2.5 - 3 months, that’s roughly 3k words a month.

Can I write multiple fics?

Yes, but one of them needs to reach the 10k word mark.

Do explicit fics mean nsfw/sex included things, or is it general heavy themed ones?

Both. Nsfw/sex and general heavy themes.

How 'high level' do the art pieces need to be? i dont want to just do simple sketches of course but how complex should they be?

Since you'll be given a month+ to work on your piece, at the minimum it should be a polished piece. IE Lineart, color, shading

[edenspoem]

requesting fluffy period sex with Jackson Ellie!!

i’ve been thinking about this for ages lol but just imagine Ellie hearing that orgasms can help period cramps, maybe she randomly reads it in an old trashy magazine or she overhears two other girls talking about it while in town. anyway, she wants to help her gf of course, wants to make you feel better. you’re apprehensive at first and a little shy/embarrassed but Ellie’s like “do u really think i care about a little blood?” because obviously that girl does NOT care abt blood. maybe she even likes it a little…

𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄. ★

note from author: you know i will use any excuse to write jackson!ellie + period sex. especially fluffy sex. with a hint of freak. make sure to hit that like button and subscribe. for more gay sex. drabble length. wrote this in a day (and on my period) so excuse the simpler style. oral + fingering (if you have a problem, keep it to yourself. nobody gaf). not a lot of plot. 18+ interactions please. mdni. wc: 1k. join the discord!

To think, that you were brought a dream.

In the hands of a girl.

You must be blacking in and out. It rushes over your skin: the exhilaration, the sensation, the indent of fingers squeezing your bra-padded breasts, the sweat sticking to her lilac bedsheets. She traverses you like written text. Wrists, shoulders, hips, thighs, the beginnings to a place you feel the need to hide. When the shape of her head intrudes itself there, her intrepid fingers—they follow, and spread the pages for a translation tender and filling. Something she can't put down; you scoot your hips away, and she pulls you right back in.

She reads you.

You feel sedate lengths of softness tread through the channels under your abdomen, where it cramps—and the pain fleets. You forget all about it, until a finger eases inside, and you yelp with all the breath hitched in your throat. “Wait, Ellie!” You shut the heart of your thighs, enclosing her wrist. The ever-so soft junction.

She cocks her head. “What's the matter, babe?”

“You'll get blood on your fingers.”

She read about it in a grayed-out, faded Cosmo; it roped in the young generations, for generations, concerning them with relationships and the sex life of women—menstruation. It fucking sucks, but it sure doesn't have to; she can soothe you right here on the bed you're burrowed up in.

The Jackson local library has an answer for everything.

Ellie promised that after a serenade on her guitar, a hundred kisses, and a whisper of strawberry wine, she would help you out. Tongue and hands.

The practiced grooves on her face snap when she laughs, and she slides up your crotch to have a more face-to-face, respectable consolation. Don't get her wrong: muzzling something incoherent into the plush of your thighs is exciting—and it lets those embarrassing, inhibition-numbing sentiments trickle out until she gets as red as her hair—but she wants you to hear her this time. Cold fingertips melt into your waist.

Your skin is on fire.

“Do you really think I care about a little blood?” She questions, with a voice cornered and hoarse and teasing, tracing mindless circles into your belly. Your reason isn't reason enough to Ellie, it seems.

You glance around for something to convice her. “Well—I don't want to get blood on..”

Ellie disregards you with a head shake and reburies her shoulders under the open perspective of you. Arms entangle you again. “Mh-mm, don't worry about that.” And she, being clever with her peach lips, kisses you here, there, in those self-same distracting places that make you trance out and miss a couple beats, then tense up when she invites her tongue, slips it down and..

Die. For a breath.

Strands of her hair crumple under your grip. Catch under your fingernails.

“Fuck, right there.. right there, Ellie.”

It felt more alight than usual; thick, hot, catalytic presses with her tongue pushing your folds and pinching that bud of nerves—you almost tug her down harder. She can tell you wanted to. It elicits an affirming, quickened pace of her tongue and squeeze of your thighs. Her eyes are fluttered shut, and she looks like a quiet, satisfied heaven.

Her thumb enters below her mouth.

She pulls back—like a vampiric portrait—and cleans her lips, and you bear down for it to return. The thumb inside stills you with a slow pumping.

“See, babe?”

Ellie slides out that thumb. Sucks it, lips pulling over the tip, for you. Humming at your taste like she's about to come herself.

“I don't care. I fuckin' love it.”

Not a second ticks, where you get to process the overwhelming tingle up your nape—or the numbing sound of your heart pounding, and Ellie is already stuffing her face right where it was. She takes you without question. Spreading your thighs apart, she lines up her wet tongue with your wetter entrance and laps your clit, making the swollen bud catch, drag and flick into place: an addicting loop. It feels so perfect against her heart-shaped mouth. Soon, you forget that cramps were the thing that initiated this and delight pours from your throat.

You catch her groping herself to the sound.

She managed a clean job. Blood stains the swell of her chin, to the tip of her nose in lithe blotches, but you knew that would happen. Of course, with her pressing her entire mouth against your hole to wag her face in your mess—you had laughed through a moan when she did—who could guess differently?

It's Ellie: so, of course.

She was smiling when your cries of release came crashing. You shuddered, rode it out on her mouth, and the corner of her lips just curled into your heat.

Fucking idiot.

When you glance down, the little ligatures of humiliation poke at you again; you begin to close your legs. But the indents on your hips from her hold grow deeper. It inches you back open.

She steals the opportuinity to slot herself in that space.

Ellie swipes hair from your face with the backs of her fingers, lingering. “You did so fuckin' good, babe. That's all you needed, huh? I know, I know. You can thank me later,” she boasts. But all you can focus on is her jean-covered thigh against you.

Quiet as the room, you gasp, but it still prompts her to look in the same spot and nudge off you.

She scoffs. “Psh—it'll come right out. Nothin' to sweat over.”

She is too nonchalant for your heart.

You shift in your pool of sudation, rolling out little grunts. Her touch coheres your movements. “Where did you even learn this from?”

“Uh,” she sounds, gaping open mouth. Ellie would nick herself in the knee if you figured how devoted to you she is in passing time. It takes up more than that, if were being honest. She feels better when you perceive her as your genius and generous girlfriend—so she'll keep it that way. “Just, kinda.. thought that I should do it. Yeah.”

You would refute if you were half as awake as you were before Ellie sapped your whole stamina bank out. Thanks, babe.

“Totally.”

“Mhm, I'm the best.” Sarcasm manages to seep through regardless, even when she tries. You laugh at it.

Ellie blacked out within the hour—before you could—sound asleep in the repository your sprawling lap provides, halfway down the bed in an entanglement. You followed in syrup-like tandem—but not without your fingers in her scalp, and a whisper of words. Sleep fought you for this moment.

“You're the best, idiot.”