#separated by bad internet (mine)

[justliketheseed]

Playing sky in a bad Elphaba cosplay and I had a cute encounter with another player who is familiar with wicked

[thingsidrawgohere]

Alright. I'm calling it done before it kills me. This is Second Head. It's an Art Book containing instances of the phrase "second head" in fanfics found on AO3. I'll explain much, MUCH more in the cut.

So when I say 'art book', I mean this is an intrinsic piece. I have no motivations aside from personal amusement and interest in outcome. A lot of money was lost/transmuted into free frustration in this project and I have no claims, obviously. I will prolly be the only person alive to read this.

THAT SAID. I have noticed in my years reading fanfic, there's a few linguistic shibboleths that arise in authors who also have experience in the mines. I think there's not a soul alive who hadn't wandered across a 'ministrations' when reading Narutos oral sexing. There's- Hold on. Here's some pix.

There's an impulse, I think, to in-group even when performing a creative act. A feeling that there are certain ways one Should go about the act, by virtue of seeing it performed that way. Especially so when 'training' at the act is often just Doing. Double Dog Especially when the act is exclusively for oneself with very little oversight. Which is to say, we make what we see and we make what we think we should make. At least, at first.

Now, I've been noticing 'grew a second head' (to insinuate surprise) in fanfic for some time. I've never seen it used Outside of fanfic. (Edit to add: I am not making the argument the phrase is from fanfic. Nor do I Believe it is from fanfic. Jesus Hopping Christ, people. That's not what this project is about.) That may speak to my own bad habits but it got me curious. So a friend and myself downloaded a mirror of AO3 from July of 2024. He did some code- Stuff to scan the mirror for "second head" and of the ~13 million works, ~70k (English) results were returned. That's a rounding error, honestly, but Far FAR more than I expected.

This book is 401 such examples that I personally selected for a variety of reasons. The number itself was arbitrarily chosen. Each page is separate fic, the roughly 300 words around our key phrase.

I don't think repetition or mirroring is a negative thing. I think it's quite charming. Nor do I think it's a sign of a 'bad' artist or 'bad' art. I think it's a signifier of personhood, of belonging, of enthusiasm. Of culture shared and wishing to share. I think it's real sweet. I always smile when I catch a 'grown a second head' in a work.

And it's really fucking funny when it's John Sherlock getting a sloppy toppy. Bless.

Edit: Fixed a very VERY funny error.

Edit: I am not making the argument that the phrase is exclusive to fanfic or, fucking forbid, FROM fanfic. I'm stating this Again because we skim here. Also- If you would like slamdunk my ass by stating the phrase predates the Internet or your GenX parents use it, please use 'sailboat' in your comment so I know you're specifically trying to kill me.

Edit Edit: You know what? Fine. I DO think this phrase came from fandom. I think ENGLISH came from fandom. I think YOU came from fandom. I think EVERYTHING came from fandom. The Sun, the Moon, the Seas- Fandom. Specifically Sonic Mpreg. The second head was Shadow the Hedgehog crowning. Congrats!

[hg-aneh]

Hi! I absolutely love all of your art and I’ve been fallowing you for awhile! There’s been some rumors that you ship Muriel x crowley?? Which I guess is an odd paring but nothing terrible wrong with, I was just curious if you do ship them.

Thank you for all your wonderful art <3

okay, i want to preface this by saying that I've already been harassed over this to the point of being called a lowkey pedophile and having every little move of mine scrutinized and misconstrued to sickening extents (this harassment spilled over to my partner too, and it was horrible)

so all anyone would do by doing this again would be repeating history, among other things that have to do with fucking up my already frail mental state

now.

onto the meat

yes, I ship it

no, I do not see Muriel as a child, kid, teenager, or anything of the sort and I find it personally distasteful to think of doing so because infantilizing autistic traits rubs me the wrong way (p e r s o n a l l y)

you can do it if you want to, I have worse things to worry about than a random person on the internet thinking something of a fictional character, just don't try to push your headcanon onto me just because you perceive it that way or because it's a popular dynamic that you find fun

adding onto this, i want to add that i will never and i mean fucking NEVER post anything related to that ship outside of the very specific private Xitter account i created for it

(and my personal facebook, on a friends only setting)

any Muriel & Crowley content outside of that account is all platonic and bla bla you get the gist. I can separate things, what a talent.

Now, I'm being overly paranoid and explaining myself to exhaustion over this for a very good reason and it's because last time someone found out about it ((yes we're going full circle to the beginning of this little bible)) they treated it as some sort of GOTCHA moment about me being a pedo ((and if you didn't know this already: I fucking despise children with my whole being, I'd rather be forcefed alligator shit for my whole life than be with one of those creatures for a single day))

It got to the point of that person making extremely hurtful videos about me and their little friend group comprised of goober eating toddlers joining in on the "Hater" train or whatever the hell that new cultural trend is called, as well

It was hell, that whole experience fucked me up BAD and i feel silly for saying this but it was genuinely traumatic! So- I apologize if I'm sounding confrontational here, anon, but like, this is the type of thing you have to do to keep yourself safe now, it's gone to that point and I'm in hysterics now because what the fuck

Lastly, I'd like to say this one other thing

Muriel is played by an adult actress, they are canonically the same age as Aziraphale and Crowley and are also an eldritch creature just like them

The fact that they're nice and bubbly and happen to have autistic traits doesn't suddenly make them a fetus. I have friends with the same personality type as them and I feel like it'd be dumb to treat them like zygotes knowing they're adults with body hair and debt

Again, if you see them as one, I'm literally no one to judge, I'm 1.49, you're better off taking judgement from a stupid lone penguin in the saharan desert.

But don't fuck with others for thinking otherwise, it's not a moral issue to disagree with a headcanon, please. 🥲

[amelie-sama-blog]

homegirl. bffr.

chawty over there made an essay of 31 minutes talking about the "ROMANTICISATION" OF VIOLENCE in a popular BL manhwa.

looking into the comments also almost made me have an aneurysm. "romanticisation" and "normalisation" of xyz gotta be the most popular buzzword in the anti world, cause i saw it at least 20 times and i barely scrolled. what i also saw is them shaming the author for making such a vile, disgusting, morally unacceptable story, "normalising and romanticising" violence, toxic relationships and rape, and that "fEmAlE BL aUtHoRs nOrmAliSiNg rApE sHoUlD bE a WhOle cAtEgOrY oN iTs oWn aT tHis pOiNt".

girl. be for reeeeaaaal for a second. i read BL manga, lots of it. and i didn't even know about this manhwa until i saw this in my feed. i knew the name cause i saw it somewhere, but uhm, in which world are you living? is someone actively forcing you to go on the internet, go on a BL manga site, search "jinx", click on the link, click on the first chapter, read for a bit, DISLIKE IT, and then CONTINUE TO READ EVERY CHAPTER OF THE WHOLE THING?

i doubt it. i doubt it very much. "if you don't like it, drop it" ALWAYS WORKS. anything else is you admitting that you read shit you don't like just to get mad about it.

uhm, wake up call girlie, fiction is exactly *THE* TOOL to "have fun" with toxic relationships or other dark themes. imo, she BETTER have fun with it if she's creating fiction! and i also bet that the author knows damn well what she's doing.

if this "actually terrifies" you, you shouldn't be on the internet. there i said it. I SAID IT.

if the reality that fiction is on a separate plane from reality and thus it can be anything you want, terrifies you, then respectfully, go on youtube kids and age restrict your own device. because your media literacy is literally in the gutter, and your ability to curate your online experience, is non-existant, as well as the basic understanding that people can like shit you hate.

hmm... i wonder why that is... hmmm.... i wonder why people are soooo adamant about avoiding terms such as "rape" "toxic" "noncon" "dark". now hear me out, MAYBE... just MAYBE, it's because liking dark themes in fiction has become completely unacceptable these days, and every single piece of media one consumes must be inspected thoroughly by the anti-police to be approved for consumption. and thus, people make loopings in their own heads to justify their media consumption and trick their minds into believing that what they're reading isn't "that bad".

because... if it IS bad... then boy do i have bad news for you: it means you're a filthy filthy human that just "promoted rape culture", "anti-victim mentality", and "propaganda for sexual violence", and is thus deserving of death threats and equal to an offending rapist or pedophile.

their words, not mine:

but noooo, that has nothing to do with it.

all jokes aside, the way anti culture and censoring is becoming the default, and heavily policed and enforced under fear of ostracisation, THAT truly makes me sad. remember everyone:

thought crime is not real.

thank you for reading all of this, i didn't plan for this to reach essay size but here i am. i hope this was a good read and soothed your proship heart <3

[madewithsilk]

I cannot believe I still have to address this in the big 25. But here I am.

A recent fic of mine, toxic Ellie x Virgin Reader, has been bringing controversy in my own replies? No, you will not find any comments, I deleted them because this is my blog. Anyways, we are all adults here. If you’re not, it is not my job to parent you or be responsible for you on an internet website. And as adults, we should be able to separate fantasy from reality. Again, if you can’t do that, I am not responsible for you on an internet website. Let me inform you guys of something, Tumblr is an anti-censorship platform. Tumblr will not take down or be against anything I write as long as I am properly promoting it. All my fics are properly tagged and warned. So you are quite literally wasting your time on my page for no reason. Frankly, get the fuck off Tumblr if you are pro-censorship. Censorship is a far right-wing talking point, so it’s embarrassing most of you pretend to be progressive.

Next, I do not promote the stuff I write about. It’s not real. Yes, it is gross, it is inhumane. Life is often gross and inhumane. Fantasy exploring that which is gross and inhumane is nothing new. Just because it is written from a perspective of glorification does not mean you are supposed to interpret it that way. Authors do not owe you labels of bad™️ and good™️. You should have your own moral compass to acknowledge writing something does not mean promoting it. And truthfully, I want to know where what you consider eligible to be written about or what isn’t eligible comes from. You’re okay with murder, burglary, kidnapping, etc to be written about and enjoyed yet you condemn anything that leaves your viewpoints? Again, right-wing talking point. Who is to decide what is wrong or right enough to be written about? It’s a slippery slope as most would describe it.

Next, people are not voluntary in what they get turned on by on paper. Fantasies and kinks people like to read about can form from trauma/repressed trauma responses, intrusive thoughts, and mere human reactions. Someone quite literally told me it’s the same as cutting and this is what I’m talking about. You are incapable of separating real from fake. Cutting is real, it’s physical, and you can physically and mentally be affected by it. Fantasy is not the same. Authors are not responsible for your triggers. Get offline, find real help, and stop blaming others for what they can not handle about yourself. And if you truly hate what dark content creators write about, block them. Your lack of fandom etiquette is showing. Anywho, this is it for now but I’ll probably add some edits later.

here i leave you one of my favorite tiktokers with a better explaination than mine: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT29svCkE/ & https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT29n7sCQ/

[suzukiblu]

WIP WEDNESDAY GAME

Slimmed-down post/rules, but originally taken from @/kedreeva.

It’s WIP Wednesday! No specific theme this week, just a few random picks either suggested or inspired by Ko-fi peeps and a couple dealer's choice picks that I've been vibin' with for the past week or so but haven't really had as much dedicated time to focus on as I've wanted.

Here’s how it works:

I will post the file names of five WIPs, and will also post a snippet of new content from one of them to get the ball rolling.

Send me an ask with the name of one of the listed WIPs and I will write you a minimum of three sentences in that WIP in response!

Multiple requests are fine, but please send them in separate asks. Just a little easier for me to fill them that way, and also easier for people to read through the WIP tags smoothly later.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

WIP names:

the one where Kon's soulmark isn't fake (( chrono || non-chrono ))

Circe makes everything worse (( chrono || non-chrono ))

the one where Clark is trans and Kon is not (( chrono || non-chrono ))

mirror mirror (( chrono || non-chrono ))

interdimensional whoring for Timkon (( chrono || non-chrono ))

snippet from “the one where Kon's soulmark isn't fake”:

He really doesn’t wanna let Superman down, though. Not even over, like, stupid little shit like that. Like–he doesn’t wanna disappoint him, he means. 

Which, yeah, Superman probably wouldn’t really care if some random-ass mouthy fuck of a reporter working for a shitty media company got decked on live TV by his actual favorite mouthy fuck of a reporter, just . . . it’s not really, like–all that Super, if Superboy just lets it happen. Just . . . yeah. Bad form or whatever, he doesn’t know. 

. . . also, probably thinking the memes would be funny is not all that “Super” either, considering. Though they definitely would. Like . . . just objectively, okay? Superman can’t be disappointed in him for just thinking that Lois Lane decking an asshole who works for assholes on live TV and the inevitable internet response to that would be funny. Because it would just be so fucking funny, seriously. 

Definitely there’d be some choice reaction gifs to mine, if nothing else.

[soupbowl18]

“𝒞𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒, 𝐼 𝐻𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝑀𝓎 𝑀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒪𝓃 𝒴𝑜𝓊…”

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚˚ ｡⋆ ♡ ༘˚

Sero Hanta X ChildhoodFriend!Reader

AFAB!Reader, SMAU BNHA/MHA, Quirkless AU

‎‧₊˚✧ Synopsis ✧˚₊‧

You haven't seen your long time crush best friend since you were ten. Both of you moved and you haven't seen each other since. You wondered if it was ever possible to see him again, until...ping!

Warnings! Mentions of weirdos on the internet

All Chapters

↤ Previous Chapter | Next Chapter ↦

˚. ✦.˳·˖✶ ⋆.✧̣̇˚.

Ahh yes, you finally turn thirteen. Your mother thought it was finally time to own your own phone.

“Now y/n, this phone is not a toy obviously, so take good care of it” “-uh huh” you say, not even looking at your mother. You were too excited to listen to your mother now that you’re already setting up your phone. “And you can have social media and I trust you enough not to talk to weirdos on the internet. This is your phone and you deserve privacy so I’m not going to look through your phone. Although, I will have a tracker on your phone. I need to know where you are all times.” Even though your mother doesn’t like that you’re not looking at her, she knows that you’re listening. “It’s not like I sneak out mom” “Yeah but I don’t feel like texting you to see where you are” You both giggle. “Thanks mom, I’ll take care of this phone” you say as you give her the tightest hug.

The next day, you return to your middle school, secretly showing off your phone to your friends since your school has no phone policy.

“Have you gotten Captures yet” Asked your best friend Unasaka. “What’s that?” You asked curiously. “A social media app that you can chat with people and like their pictures” she said, eager to make you an account. The only social media platform you interacted with is YouTube and Roblox but you’ve never made an account to interact with their pictures or chat with them. “I’m not sure if I want to jump on that social media bandwagon, I’ve heard about those weird people on those platforms” you tried move on from the topic but your best friend keeps wanting to convince you. “You can always private your account. You can choose who can chat and like your post. Just look at mine, I only have my friends and family.” Pulling out her phone, she shows her followers. You see your friends and other recognized faces. It’s not a bad idea, but that doesn’t fully convince you. “I’ll think about it girl. If I do make an account, can you write down your username?” Unasaka quickly pulled a pen and paper from her book bag. She quickly wrote it down and handed it to you. You guys spoke a little more about the presents of social media since you’re a bit new to it. After, you guys head separately to your own homes.

You thought about it after dinner, maybe it’s good to keep up with your friends. You can see that they’re out having fun and you can chat with them. The thought of texting your friends was cool to you. You went up to your room and started downloading the app Captures.

Once you made your account, you put your phone down, waiting for your friend Unasaka to follow you back. You can’t wait to share your little life with the world and chat with all your friends. That’s what you think social media is. Posting and chatting but you were unaware the dark side of it. It was already eight-thirty pm, you had to go to bed soon. You do your little night routine, thinking of all the things you can do now that you have a phone.

Little did you know, there’s someone waiting on the other side.

.

.

.

A/n: NO ONE TELLS YOU HOW ITS KINDA HARD TO MAKE A FAKE PROFILE AND PHONE SCREEN. Anyways, we’re just getting started. Next few chapters is their how friendship continued during middle school and how readers feelings blossomed.

Tags list:

@phtmmsqrde

[papayafiles]

i have a draft from ages ago that goes "god i wish i could time travel ten years into the future to see how many world championships lando norris has won" but the more i think about it, the more i think that if i did, via some crazy scifi shenanigans, end up in the future, i would do everything possible to avoid finding out the wdc results. and it's the same reason watching a replay of a race where you already know the results never hits as hard as waking up at the crack of dawn to watch it through a laggy grainy livestream, frantically livetweeting or liveblogging every lock up and overtake, heart in your mouth, the rest of the world falling away, fully locked in on 60 laps of cars just vrooming around and around in loops. because a huge part of this sport is the anticipation, the hope and the faith and the possibility. the not knowing is painful, and the thought that my driver's entire career could pass without that coveted championship—that i could follow him for years into the future, and never get to watch our wildest dreams come true—literally haunts my nightmares. and i know it's a possibility—it happened to so many promising young drivers, due to circumstance or luck or timing or talent or skill or any combination of the above (see daniel ricciardo)—and i know that becoming a world champion is such a rarity, but despite all that, at this moment in time, i'm convinced that lando is a future world champion.

and i think that kind of belief, the whole i don't know where it came from or how i ended up here but i believe it so absolutely this is borderline religious, is a part of what makes being a sports fan so much fun. it's what makes this such a special, magical, incredible experience. getting into sports is the last thing i thought i'd do; i spent my entire childhood not really getting it, because if this is just a game, then why are people losing their heads over something that's not even real? and i have a whole separate monologue about exactly why i think sports are so compelling to so many, which i won't get into in full now, but one of the best parts of it all is getting to believe in something that much. having faith, holding faith, keeping faith over time: the odds are stacked against literally every athlete, because this whole career path is so treacherous and random and slippery; so many things could go wrong so fast, half a tenth of a second and it's all over, but i'm still here, and i believe in my driver always. that's been proven through his past results, obviously, but it's also: i chose him, or he chose me, or some cosmic combination of events occurred circa austria/silverstone 2023, and now i'm in this for life.

i honestly feel so bad for people who have never experienced this kind of fan/fangirl experience—and really, i see it a lot, particularly with the whole internet irony epidemic we're in, people who make fun of fans of any celebrity for being sooo parasocial and cringey, for feeling such magnitude of emotion over someone we don't even know, who has no idea we exist, etc etc etc and it's like: i really don't think that's the point? of course the version of lando who lives rent free my head is different to the real 24 year old british adult man probably fast asleep in his monegasque bed rn. when i blog about him and i call him my little guy and my future world champion and my favorite person in the world, that's a version of him who exists in the gray space between the real person, his public media personality, the fervors of my f1/lando norris obsession, everything i've read or written about him, every image or video i've seen, every night i lay awake dreaming about him, etc. and that version of him is my guy. the experiences that led me to the place and the person i am now, one inextricable from the past year-and-a-half of living breathing and loving this sport so much all my friends know i'm a die-hard fan, is special and is mine and is more important than a simple "lol she thinks she knows this millionaire." i lay no claim to the man himself, but this experience, these emotions, this faith, this community and these memories—they're all mine.

one of these days i will watch him cross the finish line in abu dhabi in first place, and i will hear his uncontrollable screams of joy over the radio, the way his voice goes up higher when he's happy and his accent comes in stronger and he suddenly sounds young again, and he'll thank the team back at the factory and he'll thank will and he'll thank his parents and his siblings and his family, and i'll be sitting over my laptop in my lando hoodie sobbing into my hands, and he'll pull into that first place spot and climb out and stand on top of the car that brought him there, and he'll put his fists up in the sky and i'll watch him, and the entire grid will come around to hug and congratulate him, max and oscar and carlos and all the rest of the drivers who love a story and love a new champion and love him, and then he'll take off his helmet and his hair will be all crazy and there will be symmetric balaclava lines on his face, his ears will be flushed red, and he'll be smiling so big and wide, all wild, infectious joy, jenson or nico or hell even david coulthard will do the post-race interviews and they'll ask him how he feels and he'll respond with something that will be plastered on my twitter timeline and then i'll watch him raise the trophy on the podium with this sense of elated disbelief in my chest, and i'll log on here and say "is this real IS THIS REAL" and "i can't believe this is REAL" and "oh my god. oh my god this is actually happening THIS IS REAL MY DRIVER IS A WORLD CHAMPION" and the national anthem will play and he'll throw his head back still grinning and still happy all golden and glowing and radiant, having won it all, and i'll cancel all my plans to cry on the internet about it. it'll be miami 2024 all over again, but magnified and elevated on every single level. and i don't even want to time travel forward and find out for sure when that moment will come, because honestly, i'd rather not rob my future self of the unbelievable feeling when it finally hits, when lando norris world champion passes from the realm of daydreams and manifestations and uncertain tremulous maybes, to certainty, reality, the undeniable truth. to: this is the timeline we're in, and god am i glad, god is it the best one. all those years of waiting and hoping and dreaming and fearing, holding this so carefully in the palms of my hands as if it's a possibility i can make true, somehow, if i just think about it hard enough, delicately enough, cheering him on with everything i have, and now. and here. the champagne pop on the podium, the alchemy playing on repeat, he's getting sprayed from every direction, that ginormous world champion trophy, the shine of his reflection in the gold, the instagram post, the message of gratitude that i'll want to get tattooed onto my eyelids, the tribute video and his name engraved in the annals of history, the entire mtc roaring his name, grandstands of flouro rising to their feet, lando norris formula 1 driver race winner world champion, my guy forever. i want it all. i can't wait i can't wait i can't wait but i will, i'll wait as long as it takes, and this is real to me, to me it's already been written, i'm just waiting for that chapter to arrive. because it will.

[enden-k]

I've been following you since before you started Genshin, back when you were doing Fate/Grand Order art. I've stuck with your art as you've jumped from fandom to fandom, and I love your style so much... BOTH old and new style. But I think the fact that you are just so nonchalant about deleting anything old you ever make to the point of encouraging others to like your own content JUST so you can delete it is just too much for me. I've seen you encourage that at least twice now. That is actually discouraging for people when it comes to engaging with content. Someone liking a piece and engaging with it increases it's chances of deletion? I can't understand.

Yes, sure, it's your work. You do it for free. At the end of the day it's your choice what happens to it. But it pains me to see you delete anything old, even works of yours I enjoy. I'm considering unfollowing, as much as I want to see you continue on your art journey even when it jumps to fandoms unfamiliar, because I can't get attached to your work when I have no idea when it's going to disappear from the internet forever at any point.

??? im not encouraging people to like my old stuff so i can delete it, and people liking my stuff doesnt increase its chance of deletion. i tend to joke to hide the fact that it actually DOES make me a bit nervous but there is STILL plenty of my old things on tumblr, twitter and pixiv. most of the stuff i deleted were old ass replies to make navigation easier. and most of the art pieces i deleted are ones i either made while in very bad mental space or because i connect unpleasant memories of certain people with it (im not vagueing anyone here, we go separate ways)

i also sometimes just forget about things i meant to delete later or find pieces that make me feel uncomfortable/embarrassed and i have every right to delete those. im still insecure about my art and i get uncomfortable when people compliment me too much bc it still feels undeserving. it always was like this. sometimes its so bad i just want to delete my entire blog and never pick up a pen again. its not often anymore that i react like this but sometimes i get this violent reaction when i see "faulty" old art of mine i feel very embarrassed about. perfection is bs ofc etcetc but when it comes to my own things i get embarrassed when people see my faults or rlly bad art and i dont want anyone to make fun of me again, to laugh at me for making a mistake or being bad at something ever fucking again.

you want to see my old art? here you go. its still here. its all here.

if you want to unfollow me, please, go ahead. people can do whatever they want and im not forcing anyone here to stay. do whatever feels right and comfortable to you, thats the most important thing.

[cravingpepsimax]

HI i am also an autistic nerd that loves critique and i agree w/ u. but i feel like i also get why ppl get defensive about it. a lot of proshippers have been unfairly critiqued for what they write, and struggle to separate that from well-intended, well-thought out critique. also rsd makes ppl's kneejerk reactions (often defensiveness) come out

but the thing is, if you disagree with someone's critique and dont want to engage with it, you can also just scroll past. you have to understand that other people like to see opinions that differ from their own. as long as they aren't butting into someone else's blog or fic to criticize it, ppl can discuss negative opinions, bc that is fun for a lot of people.

i have rsd so i also have a knee-jerk reaction to critique, but i also think that seeing opinions that differ from mine make me a better writer! in the right headspace, i can digest someone's negative feedback and apply others' opinions to my own work. i can understand that different people can interpret a character differently based on their lived experiences and what resonates with them. and, most importantly, none of those interpretations are necessarily right or wrong. you can like or dislike it, or personally believe that it's poor characterization, but there is no objective right or wrong. thats the thing about art - there is nothing objective about it. people inevitably interact with it in a different way. and sometimes, that way is by seeing it as a whole and picking out what you like and dislike about it.

i feel like the less confidence you have in your own work, the more likely you are to react with offense or dismay. when you rely on other people's positive feedback to want to write, negative feedback feels like the end of the world. i can say that bc i used to be like that, before i started drawing/writing for myself instead of other people. wanting positive feedback isn't bad, per se, but being unable to function without it isn't healthy or sustainable in the long run.

so, yeah. it isn't a personal attack for someone to dislike a characterization that you like - it just doesn't jive with them, and that's okay. and theyre allowed to talk about it, because negative opinions are allowed to be expressed too. if you cant handle seeing those opinions, it isnt a personal failure. it isn't your fault, but it also isnt their fault for having those opinions. they arent trying to hurt you. they just want to freely discuss their opinions, positive or negative, and i would think proshippers/profic ppl should be able to connect with that, even if they are used to being targeted by bullies. sometimes, seeing a post, even a tactically worded one, will make you feel bad, and it isnt anyone's fault. there is no ill intent. life happens. people discuss what interests them. sometimes, you won't like that, and thats fine. but you shouldn't make them out to be the bad guy for it.

and ik fandom is a lot of people's safe space where positivity trumps all, but it isnt like that for a lot of people. if you want fandom to be your protective bubble, you can restrict yourself to only those who share your opinions. but you also have the right to agree to disagree, and other people have the right not to want an echo chamber. if you treat a whole sphere of the internet like your own personal bubble, you will be sorely disappointed when it pops.

woof that was long... i really am not trying to start shit with anyone - that is the last thing i want to do 😭 but i wanted to share my opinion on this bc i am a critic at heart and that is not necessarily a bad thing

i agree with all of this!!!

"toxic positivity" is an overused term, but i think its use here is justified. i've also got rsd, and sometimes, receiving critique can feel really bad, too. my dad's a writer, and i always feel scared to show him my work bc i rlly respect him and hearing him criticize my stuff can rlly hurt LMAO

but. like. i recognize that as an issue. and i certainly don't get offended when i see people criticize a trope? i didn't make that. in fact, i find critique of tropes more helpful than anything -- they provide a perspective that i might've never considered that i can now add to my own works.

the emotions of proship discourse only amplify this -- i'm critiquing depictions of fictional rape. it doesn't matter that i'm not calling people or the fiction itself evil, it doesn't matter that my critiques come from a place of actual fiction analysis instead of a bizarre appeal to emotion -- i'm critiquing depictions of fictional rape. antis do that. i'm doing an anti thing. doesn't matter that the anti thing i'm doing doesn't have all the shit that makes the real anti thing bad.

i do think this toxic positivity is one of the main reasons antis have become such a problem recently, though. antis don't really care about the harm of proshippers, they think it's gross icky bad. but they can't just say it's gross icky bad. you can't express dislike!! that's being mean!!!!! you can ONLY express dislike for morally bad things!!!!!!!! so, they come up with moral reasons that don't actually exist.

people can dislike things. they can express that dislike without going "that's just my opinion tho!!!" a million times to avoid people going "shhh let people enjoy things". they can express that dislike without going "and that's why liking this makes you the devil".

[madnessfromthemountains]

Growler

Yesterday, we lost a very dear cat. Growler was never my favorite cat, but she eventually did become affectionate with @firebreathnchkn and I.

I don't know what her early life was like, but some #)*%#%) declawed her and then probably another one abandoned her in an apartment when they absconded on their rent. The landlord, an acquaintance of mine fed her and took care of her for a few days.

He eventually convinced me to take her (I had three cats already) and I brought her home. She was traumatized by the long drive and hid from me for months (I kept her in a separate room). Eventually she came out and let me see her while she ate, but growled the whole time to let me know she was a tough kitty. Thus I named her Growler, because the "grbubble grubble grubble" was terribly cute.

Then one month my internet died died and my landline was in her room. I spent a lot of quality time on hold with the phone/internet company every day and eventually she came over and sniffed my hand. I held very still (plz don't bite me!) and after that the ice was broken. She let me pet her and eventually I loosed her into the house. She hated the other cats but mostly ignored them if they let her alone.

She still wasn't really friendly or affectionate but gradually let me pet her and pick her up for a moment or two. I eventually got her to the vet for shots, which was traumatic all around. At the time I still had indoor/outdoor cats. As she was declawed I wouldn't let her out in general, but one day forgot and left the door open. She wandered out and fortunately I noticed her and was able to herd her back inside. She had no actual interest in the outdoors, really.

(I think she was looking out at a deer). That spot on the chest/windowsill became her spot one day when I put a blanket there randomly. That was where she chilled and watched the house and occasionally the outside.

About the time @firebreathnchkn moved in she became sitting-on-laps sociable.

Her health has gotten spotty in the last couple years. We found she had hyperthyroid and medicated her for that (mostly with pills in pillpockets) and then eventually she started having seizures. More medicine, which she was not good about. Tooth problems (which helped), but she was clearly a very old cat with associated problems. She started having trouble grooming and needed a lion cut (since she was also not easy to groom).

As far as I could tell, she loved the lion cut. Her window is a chilly spot, but we figured she was always overly warm from her hyperthyroid.

She was a mouth. Always meowing, would hold conversations with me or hubby, especially at dinnertime (or any time within three hours if we went in the kitchen).

She also loved hiding in a cat tower in "her" room, which became @firebreathnchkn's office. When he worked, she would hang there with him for company.

Here she is patiently waiting for dinner. Glaring into the sitting room.

She had a lot of physical problems in the last year, mostly related to trying to fix her bad digestion (constant diarrhea, puking and terrible smelling poo). We made her more comfortable with hydrolyzed dry cat food and Vitamin B shots and an antibiotic powder for her food. She didn't take that very well. She also had arthritis (at least partly due to being declawed -DON'T DECLAW YOUR FUCKING CATS). We got her on Solensia, which I highly recommend. It helped her immensely.

Then last month our dear vet found a mass in her abdomen. At her age, we weren't going to put her through any cancer treatment, so we set about making her comfortable.

She'd been sinking all month and last night we came home from my PT to find her limp and unable to walk more than a few steps. No interest in food. She seemed conscious but just flopped over every few steps.

It was time. We took her to the emergency vet and let her go. The vet agreed it was time.

Goodbye Growler. We already miss you yelling for your breakfast and dinner and sitting in your window. You were always easy to take to the vet and very good company in your own grumpy old lady way. May your next life be easier. You sure deserved it.

One last picture, from 2020. It took me a long time to even seen the lovely crescent moon on your back, kitty. You would have been named Luna if I'd seen that earlier. Looking forward to being haunted by you, fuzzball.

[dnfao3tags]

Monthly Fic Roundup - December 2023

an end to an...interesting year ! and the beginning of hopefully even more interesting one

make sure to leave some love because thats what fuels this fandom :]

— no more fucks given 2023 daily fic advent by alisonsomething, dizzy, Scoops (consciousness_streaming)

not entirely dnf but has a whole bunch of goodies! check them all out.

— calico by indigoh (teen | comp. | 22k)

On the eve of Dream's 24th birthday, Patches goes missing. And it's all George's fault.

— sticky situation with you by boneblanket (expl. | comp. | 5k)

In the beginning of spring, half a year into living together, their relationship still toes the line between routine and rupture. George isn’t bothered by it, but he isn’t satisfied either. He isn’t the only one struggling.

Part 1 of heaven knows

— you play it back (time moves too fast) by jack_not_found (teen | comp. | 6k)

winter weather foils dream's plans for their first anniversary, but george refuses to let that stop them from celebrating

— give you my wild by furculaed (teen | comp. | 6k | mpreg)

When George thinks of kids, he thinks of the dinner table.

— WARNING: no lifeguard on duty. swim at your own risk by sappymix1 (teen | comp. | 10k)

Dream is a witch new to LA and George is a cursed siren he finds living in a swimming pool.

— hit the brakes my mistake by cqfnce (teen | comp. | 5k)

dream and george are soulmates- best friends since they were young, but separated by an ocean. meeting in person is all they've ever wanted- but will it change their friendship?

— to new beginnings by hardtofindneuro (teen | comp. | 33k)

George tells his family he's dating Dream to get them off his back. Then, Dream shows up at his doorstep.

— The Best Bad Idea by gottagetshiver (teen | comp. | 13k)

in which Dream tags along with George to his family Christmas where George finally opens up about his first kiss, he and Dream try and fail to help with readying the house for the holidays, and Dream endears himself to anyone within earshot. Oh, and they have to share George's childhood bed.

— i built a home for you, for me (a place i don't feel alone) by brokenlikeastitch (teen | comp. | 28k)

Dream and George's Christmases together over the years.

— All About The Wedding by sageafk (expl. | comp. | 10k)

Dream usually uses George's name to avoid doxxing at hotels and restaurants. But the hotel calls and says they need to know why the name on his card and reservation are different, and Dream panics and tells them that he and George are married.

— make a scene (it's your set) by dangergranger, shadeofblue (jarofhearts) (expl. | wip | 51k+)

George goes partying, sleeps with a guy named Clay, and takes an adorable selfie with his cat that kinda breaks the internet. A few days later, Dream enters the picture.

— when the clock hits zero (will you be mine) by justcallme_m (teen | comp. | 15k)

Dream meets George at a New Year’s Party and falls hard in one night.

— Arizona Green Tea by pondsofkoi (teen | comp. | 20k)

george has a crush on the baritone captain

[hamsternostalgia]

Hi, same anon yet again lol. I really appreciate your perspective and your in-depth replies! I'm curious as to what you mean when you say the push for huge cages has led to misinfo on dwarf hamster social dynamics. I'm glad you mentioned keeping most of your campbells in groups, I've never owned them myself but I've always been very skeptical of the claim that dwarf hamsters should never be kept together, especially considering the only study I've seen used to support that was incredibly flimsy and based solely on internet polling (lol). I frequently see people claiming that dwarf hamsters "gain no benefit from social interaction" but I've yet to see any evidence for that claim, and it seems like bs to me that a member of a species that displays social behavior in their natural habitat would gain no psychological benefit from it. Are they more likely to fight in a huge enclosure because they can get territorial if they set up separate spaces too far apart from each other? And how much does sociability tend to vary between dwarf hamster species? Also, sorry for spamming your inbox with these long-ass asks lol

I did the same thing as last time sorry

Hi, same anon yet again lol. I really appreciate your perspective and your in-depth replies! I'm curious as to what you mean when you say the push for huge cages has led to misinfo on dwarf hamster social dynamics. 

Honestly it MOSTLY comes from people being unwilling to do the process to bond them, because it includes using small cages for a period of time. I’ll use the progression a friend of mine did when she got a group of 6 campbells from a great hamstery in 2020ish.  She started with a 10 gallon for about a week with 1 hide, one water bottle, scattered food, and a boat load of chews to keep them occupied during that time. Once she was positive they were nesting together and no one was having territory dispute, they were moved to a 20 gallon, and the process continued.  I believe she had them in a large niteangel bigger world - so 40x20 iirc? At the end, and once in that final habitat they could begin to have a wider variety of enrichment including wheels - one of the absolute last items you give a colony because it is USUALLY the biggest source of argument.  It helps to only have 1 wheel, especially if it has a very wide track and an open face, so everyone can run together if they so wish, that way no one can scent one wheel enough to begin to mentally start to see it as theirs and theirs alone.

I'm glad you mentioned keeping most of your campbells in groups, I've never owned them myself but I've always been very skeptical of the claim that dwarf hamsters should never be kept together, especially considering the only study I've seen used to support that was incredibly flimsy and based solely on internet polling (lol). I frequently see people claiming that dwarf hamsters "gain no benefit from social interaction" but I've yet to see any evidence for that claim, and it seems like bs to me that a member of a species that displays social behavior in their natural habitat would gain no psychological benefit from it. Are they more likely to fight in a huge enclosure because they can get territorial if they set up separate spaces too far apart from each other?

The difference can be literally night and day between a solo and a group.  I’ve personally found cage aggression towards humans to be highly reduced in colonies (more common in rescues, but cage aggression can pop up in private lines so I had to breed it out and am currently doing it again with a new outcross from a breeder), and for some hamsters who did well in cohousing situations to act genuinely depressed when alone.  I had a male (named Sour) who I owned in 2022, who’s brother passed of diabetes at about 3 months old.  He was NEVER the same alone, and at 18-19months old I paired him to a 3 week old freshly weaned boy (named Umami) and he was himself again.  During his year alone he chronically smelled bad, was low energy, and I didn’t see him groom himself even once, but within weeks of introducing that baby his odor had reduced wildly and he started looking clean, so either he or the baby was cleaning him a LOT.  That male ended up passing at about 22 months, where I found his boy grooming him in their nest.

 I also mentioned the mature male who DOESN’T really care about cohabbing, and he will still be petted out alone since I just don’t think he’d be as happy as he would be getting 1 on 1 with people. 

 And how much does sociability tend to vary between dwarf hamster species? Also, sorry for spamming your inbox with these long-ass asks lol

The two most social species are Campbells Russian Dwarf Hamsters (phodopus campbelli) and Roborovski’s Dwarf Hamsters (Phodopus roborovskii), who both live in large family groups in the wild, in captivity robos tend to do fantastic in pairs and groups (even large groups) while they often socially flounder and are much more fearful when housed alone. Campbells usually do best in pairs or small groups, I personally wouldn’t suggest groups larger than 6 even for highly experienced homes, and generally recommend a trio of campbells males for a first time cohab experience, for the same reasons people usually recommend trios in rats and mice.  You can definitely GET TO big habs with them, but since they get so much of their enrichment via that social interaction.  they also tend to be cage content in a more moderate size compared to lone campbells.  Winter Whites (phodopus sungorus) tend to be more 50/50, especially depending on the breeders goals.  They will live in opposite sex colonies fantastically, but some breeders find them to prefer solitude while others find them social, and this usually varies by country.  I personally believe there may be different wild caught groups in these different line’s histories, especially since we know theres several catch events that have trickled into the pet trade.  This is entirely ignoring the concept of hybrids since their existence is likely (with at least one study to back that up) much less prevalent than big organizations would have you think. Hybridization is SO hard, takes so long, and ends with so many sterile hamsters that almost no mill will dare to spend the money on producing a new hybrid line, only confirmed hybrid line in the USA being the ‘sunfire’ winter whites, which had red-eyed argente bred in to make a variety of color combos.  They’re notorious for awful temperaments because the hybrid event happened when people still saw REA as an immediate ‘that hamster will be bitey’ due to the first line being aggressive.  We have perfectly friendly REAs now, but outcrossing again would mean another 10+generations of losing money to shoddy fertility while re-stabilize it, and its slow progress to not lose the color when outcrossing to other winter whites.

Once again ur asks r making my week never stop being curious <33333

[ghoulangerlee]

I have some thoughts about everything going on on ghost twitter right now, under the read more just in case:

It's not my place as an adult to discredit a minor for saying they felt they were assaulted by a man in his 40s.

It's not my place to accept any apology from said man for this because I was not affected personally by this.

It's not anyone's place to discredit a minor for revealing something that has been eating away at them.

It's not anyone's place to bully a minor and demand they show proof (how? how can you show proof of inappropriate touches without revealing yourself, a minor on the internet)

It's no one's job to protect other people's children sure but when you have a minor and then multiple other teenagers coming out to say they were made to feel uncomfortable by his actions, you listen and you listen to this carefully.

I don't know if anyone was in the Rooster Teeth community 4 years ago when one of the main personalities of Achievement Hunter got outed to be a predator, predating on underage fans and young fans and using his position as a content creator to solicit favors from them and all the other horrible things he did, but it started exactly as this did. A minor posting their account on twitter, being dogpilled by people not wanting to believe their fav could do something so bad and then slowly others started posting theirs. And then more and more and more.

At the end of the day you believe the victims. Coming forward about something like this, especially when it involves someone who has a following is not easy. Having access to a bunch of young fans as a 40 something year old man is not something to abuse by being weird with them and making them uncomfortable by flirting with them or being "sweet" to them. I don't care if you've never had proper PR training as a celebrity even minor, you don't DM fans that's fucking weird as hell with your position of power over the person you're talking to.

Even if the person accused is your fav and you don't want to believe it.

With that being said, for now I'm extending my pause on having Swiss in any of my fanfics going forward. I respect those who still want to consume and create fan stuff around him and who see him as their OC, but, with so much of him being ingrained in Swiss's character (look-wise, stage personality wise), I cannot under good conscious continue to write him for now.

Again, mad respect to those who can separate him from who's behind the mask, but this is a grievous sort of thing I cannot personally do. I don't make it a point to support people who have been accused of doing something so heinous. I mean I fucking orphaned and deleted over 40 fanfic of mine because I used to write about the characters portrayed by the two people at RT outed as disgusting people.

This is not like me being on my soapbox lmao this is just me stating my own opinions. Feel free to make your own. If I lose followers or mutuals over this, whatever.

If this all turns out to be not true then sure. I'd rather support a victim that may be lying than support someone who turns out to be a predator. I'm not doing that shit again because a few short years ago, I wanted to believe my favorite internet guy wouldn't do something so horrible.

But here we are.

Anyway, if you got this far <3 thanks for respecting my boundaries on this <3 believe the victims and take care of yourselves!

[eyeslikewatercoolers]

Before I go, here's the last few pieces that I need to settle.

Whether you consider me an internet friend or that user that deserves all the hate in the world, I'm still going to say my peace.

I'm not sharing the user's username in this. They have exposed me publically, but I won't be doing the same. People still deserve privacy and dignity, no matter how much they try to hurt others.

First off, the haters-

I'm assuming you were sent here by [READACTED], or, you felt the need to 'teach me a lesson' yourself. Either way, welcome to this (now) dead blog.

I never really got the chance to share my side of the story about what happened. I shared what an anon told me more about something Plane said since [REDACTED]'s post that I reblogged had misinformation. This person answered my ask by bringing this to the public, and saying that I was a fangirl that blindly supports a misogynist. (Note- I've never interacted with this person before, and neither of us follows each other.)

I then brought this to private messages, as I felt like it should have been handled since the beginning. I attempted to explain to [REDACTED] that I was upset that they took my ask and used it to air out their grievances. I explained that I respect their opinion, but I felt like they had cherry-picked the information by taking the joke out of the context of the source.

They kept bringing up how this conversation was about my blind loyalty to Plane, and did not acknowledge what I had to say at all. I eventually left the conversation, telling them that I was not taking anything of value from it.

I left with a sarcastic comment, before blocking and moving on.

But I did look later on my alt account, out of curiosity. Here's some highlights of what they said about me:

-I am an insufferable pick-me

-I am a victim/martyr

-I am a fangirl of Plane and I want her to notice me/fuck me (Note: I found this particularly offputting to say, especially since I am an out lesbian)

Later, I received an anon that called me a raging misogynist for Plane being my fave. (Note, again: Plane isn't my fave, I just said I am a fan)

I decided to move to a private account and transfer my fics to a separate account. I wanted a fresh start after all this.

And now, moving on to friends/supportive readers/just those that are curious-

Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks to those that check in on me when I say I'm taking a break, or just want to chat. I cherished our chats about ships we like or brainstorming a fic idea.

I love my supportive anons. I smile to myself whenever I see someone who responded to an ask game or asked for my headcannon of something. I really appreciate coming in to say hi, whether its a good or bad day.

I told a few of my mutuals my new account, and some have already followed me there. I'm happy to continue seeing you on my dash.

I'm keeping this account up, but I won't be using it. I have a lot of fics on here that I would hate to see deleted. Maybe someone reads one for a source of comfort, or discovering a new pairing. Or maybe a queen will find a fic of mine and share it to their socials

Unless it wasn't obvious, the last part was a joke.

Goodbye to eyeslikewatercoolers, nobody will ever take this bomb-ass username.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here <3

-Erin

[sweetmariihs2]

Look at what arrived today 🫶🫶 (there's still more on the way but they didn't arrived yet)

Unfortunately there's only one page where Cedric is in, in the Wassailia magazine. Today I discovered that each magazine revolves specifically around that theme, so in a Wassailia themed magazine there will only be Wassailia themed activities. I don't know why I thought that there would be activities unrelated to the main theme. All of the Wassailia magazine pages are related to Wassailia, the same way that in the costume party magazine the activities all talk about this topic. I guess it makes sense.

In my country there's only 5 available magazines to buy. Two come together (these ones), other two also come together, and there's one that I'm almost DYING to put my hands on that it's the Cedric's apprentice magazine and it's available to buy separately.

Also we got an extra content about what happened to Cedric in the first Wassailia episode! He probably spent his whole holiday in his workshop. Sofia came to visit him and she gave him a snow globe as a gift and he loved it💗

That's the only image of him that we have. I don't know if I should share the whole magazines because I'm afraid of being accused of piracy😭😭😭

But I don't know, the magazines are from 2016 and it's a hell to find their content. I literally had to buy them to see what's inside! And you can say "well if the fans want to see what's inside then yes they should buy it," but it's really difficult to find, and I know that there are people out there who really wanted to own them but they can't since it's not even selling anywhere anymore. I don't know about your contry but in mine there were just 5 available and I bought all of em, and that's because I searched for hours. While I do have some of them and I can share, which is something that I saw some other magazine owners refusing to do.

And I really don't blame them, since some posts that I found were indeed from 2010's and at that time those magazines were still being produced. They wanted to support the artists involved and that is honestly a very noble thing to do! That's why I'm torn too, because I'm an artist myself and it would be nice to have my work properly sold and not just shared everywhere with absolutely no remuneration.

But yeah, after years since those posts were published, now I'm in the STF fandom and searching for all possible Cedric content and merch I can find on the internet and it's being such a torture to search for these magazines since they're not produced, commercialized or even remembered anymore. Some of the images I have are so poorly photographed and framed, poor lighting, bad quality camera, and I can't even know the context behind the illustrations because most of the time there is no information or even the complete image! Which makes me a little mad because if at the time the magazines were being produced, if fans had saved images or shared the magazines, we wouldn't have had so much trouble finding them today. It is obvious that after years on the market, products are being destroyed and becoming more scarce. The main audience for these magazines are children and the magazine encourage children to cut, paint and doodle, so many copies of these magazines simply ended up in the trash or are completely torn up. It's the correct way to use them after all.

It's almost lost media, but luckily there is still someone somewhere in the world who has them in their entirety after more or less 10 years since they were published. Many of the collectors from 2016 today may not even have their collections anymore, as was the case with a blog that unfortunately lost its collection in a flood and which had some of the magazines. I am literally so amazed by the fact that I have discontinued and untouched products in my hands, and in my language, which is even more unlikely to happen. There's only three left to arrive!

I think I should share these images while I can, as later there may not be any more copies available to buy or even view. If fans are no longer going to be able to buy it because of its rarity, then I at least think they should see what's inside. And the rarity it's not even because they're coveted products, it's just that they're forgotten! People care so little about them that it's starting to disappear and no one will care enough to sell or share it, as is already happening now. After all, it's just a silly Sofia The First activity magazine, but it's very important for us fans, at least the few who know about its existence. And all the copies available for viewing or sale don't even pay the artists anymore, as it's been around for many years and these products are surrounded by resellers. There is no longer any way to buy from the artists hoping that they will get a return, because they won't, the 2010s are over and so are the magazine publications.

I'm really thinking about sharing them, but I'm afraid of being misinterpreted or accused of disrespecting those artist's work. Disney it's literally not producing and selling them anymore at all, and they're really hard to find to buy, so I guess that sharing while I can is a viable option, and it's an act of kindness for other fans, who won't go crazy wondering what's inside knowing that no one has ever shared it and they won't ever do. I really wish 2016 fans had shared it at that time because today we would have images of copies that are no longer available for purchase. Real rare stuff!

So yeah, please tell me your opinions about this... I'm really afraid of doing something I shouldn't and disrespecting those artists in the process. But at the same time, well... they're not involved in this anymore. So I don't know.