#since then i've moved on from mcyt but

[snoopyreadsliterature]

really disappointing.

[echotunes]

Do you like writing? Are you an MCYT fan? Do you sometimes struggle with getting that one character's dialogue to sound just right?

Well, I have a solution:

Echo's MCYT writing cheat sheet doc!

Featuring notes on 80+ CCs ranging from Hermitcraft, Empires SMP, and the Life Series to QSMP, this Google doc has now been in the works for nearly two years (since November 2021!), currently comprises 18k+ words, and still receives tweaks and updates pretty much every day.

Contents of each CC's section on the doc (which are in alphabetical order!) include:

Commonly used words/phrases - adjectives and adverbs! Exclamations! Filler phrases and words! and other turns of phrase that make their speech distinct from others

Sentence structure - including transcriptions of example sentences that help get an idea of how exactly someone tends to say (and stumble over) their words!

Interaction with others - do they use nicknames? Which ones? What little phrases do they tend to say in conversation?

Typing - how do they type in Minecraft chat? What emoticons do they use? Do they send one long message, or several short ones? Should it be all lowercase? Do they use apostrophes? and more, with example screenshots!

In-game movement - how do they move their cubito? Do they shuffle around on the spot while talking, or stand still to look someone in the face? How expressive are they? Do they shift for emphasis, or nod? etc!

and other random characterisation notes - any fun facts about their character that you might want to keep in mind while writing!

There's also some bonus content outside of the specific character sections - links to general writing resources, recaps and summaries and quotes from the series the CCs on the doc have been involved in, as well as notes, conversation transcripts and clips I've compiled for some specific character dynamics!

(Important disclaimer: This isn't a 100% comprehensive guide - I'm just one person, and this is entirely comprised of notes I take while watching, so it's never going to be perfect or fully accurate. It also varies a lot on its level of detail for each CC, because I watch some people more than others, and in the case of QSMP there's language barriers involved, too.)

But I do think it can be pretty helpful. So if you're struggling, maybe consider giving this doc a try - you might find something useful inside! <3

[windfighter]

The secret was to not be interested at all in the empires crossover haha ^^' I tried watching one video and it was overwhelming so I just stuck to whatever other thing I was obsessed with at that time :P I think it was vault hunters??? I don't remember when the crossover happened, just that it made me go "I don't actually need to be subscribed to 18 hermits". Plus Beef kept working in his map-area instead of joining the crossover so I was still getting the hermitcraft content I was most interested in!

I did watch one HHH from the empires server but the only non-hermit I remember from that is fhwhip? something like that? There was someone else too but it's like a year ago and my memory just barely stretches 10 seconds back :P

I am really good at not learning stuff if I'm honest. All my life people have tried to tell me about Zlatan and I'm so uninterested in sportsball I've only really learned that he's probably a football player, possible an ice hockey player? It's pretty much the same thing. This is from a country where Zlatan is everyfuckingwhere. I blame the autism making me uninterested in celibr... cileb... famous people.

so uh... managing to not learn about one person out of fifty billions on the internet is actually surprisingly easy when compared to that xD

I don't think I've seen Scott on the VHSMP-server??? But I also haven't seen Ryan much so maybe he is there and I'm just not watching the right streamer to see him. It's very possible! I don't have interest in following all these streamers, Cleo, Brry and Iskall (and occassionally one of the Tangos) are more than enough. Did you know there are TWO Tango? It confused me so much at first and I thought Tango of the Tek-variety was gonna start working on vault hunters xD (would like to see TekTango try VH but I'm not gonna bug him about it, he's busy)

#YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE JOE HILLS DEFENDER OF THE GAYS CLIP??? BLASPHEMY /j

I mean.... I've heard OF it because everyone in the hermitcraft-tag was talking about it, but not one single person actually shared it so I actually haven't seen it :$ (or if they did share it they also tagged it as MCC because Scott and I have that tag blocked just to I wouldn't get MCC-content when I was looking for Hermitcraft-stuff) I have seen it illustrated a bunch though, but uh... that only taught me Joe murdered someone for talking shit about the gays and not that the one getting murdered was named Scott x3

#ACTUALLY HOW AM I EVEN NOT TALKING ABOUT THE OBVIOUS: THE FUCKING LIFE SERIES

I uh... skipped that one too. I watched the very first episode and Grian went "In this series we're all working together to stay alive as long as possible" which I thought sounded really nice and wholesome and interesting (because I was interested in how to best stay alive in a hardcore world), but then in the very same episode he murdered Scar, they commited arson, and it was instantly every man for himself so I rewatched Team Canada play Sky Factory for the third time instead :P I've avoided the life-series since then ^^'

Listen if something is advertised one way and then actually is the complete opposit way I consider that False Advertising and will avoid it :P

(nowadays I know it's a deathgame which I'm also not interested in so like, it's good to see them have fun but I'm not gonna watch it when there's so much content I'm actually interested in out there x3)

As a community can we stop bugging the hermits that has expressed disinterest in MCC about participating in it and start bugging MCC about letting the hermits that has expressed interest in participating finally join in?

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

The differences in cultures and behaviors between different fandoms is so fascinating to me, I love just musing on the various differences

Back in my Warrior Cats phase on scratch there was barely an single fanart of canon characters, everything was original characters and original clans.

During my time in the Genshin Impact fandom people would play with the various canon character elements to make new characters but there wasn't quite the level of wholly divorced from canon stories there.

There was shipping tho! An absolutely unhinged amount of shipping. Every single character who wasn't a literal child had at least one, maybe two default/mainstream ship partners that most people shipped them with, then a handful of rarer ships as well

Then I moved to Dream SMP 'cus I heard that it had a lot of platonic relationships that were so popular that they made it into the top 100 ao3 ships multiple years in a row, and I was getting pretty romanced out by Genshin at that point so it seemed like a perfect choice.

And it was! Dream SMP had the best platonic relationship representation of any fandom I've been in before or since. But it has the dark flipside to it, where the reason was partially because the fans were freaking off the rails toxic and hostile to the mere suggestion that any character might ever be attracted to another

The Hermitcraft and Life Series are better with platonic relationships than Genshin Impact, but nowhere near as good as DSMP, with the return of a handful of mainstream ships, but not the pressure to have a ship for every single character

Then there's the fascinating ways MCYT fandoms had every characters' designs and even species up in the air and it's common place to just make any random guy part any random animal, which is incredible fun

But then OCs in the MCYT fandom are a whole other thing, as they tend to come most in the Warriors style where they come out of fanmade servers and tend to be fairly divorced from canon most of the time, only generally inspired by the setting

And now in the Magnus Archives fandom we've got the canon ships, with one specific one vastly dominating the whole fandom to even more extremes than any singular Genshin ship ever reached, which I've gathered is a pretty common experience in other fandoms but this has been my first time actually experiencing it first hand

And TMA has a similar thing with Warrior Cats where it works really well as a set of world building that can be shoved upon other fictional characters for some fun AUs, which was never really a thing with MCYT (though I think it kinda was with Genshin Impact, to a degree, where people would draw other characters in Genshin splash art style and assign them Visions and all that.)

Warriors is by far the most extreme of these, up with My Little Pony in terms of how you're almost guaranteed to see at least one fanart of the characters in any fandom drawn as warrior cats/ponies

And then there's the popular AU types! Genshin Impact was chock full of highschool AUs. Dream SMP had Foster Family AUs and Superhero AUs galore (especially with SBI), but it also had a smaller Humans Are Space Orcs / Alien AUs phenomen that I've not been able to find again in my other fandoms since. I never read enough Life Series and Hermitcraft fanfic to get a good grasp on their popular AUs, but various flavour of Modern AU with the characters assigned random jobs seemed common, and they had a lot of Superhero AUs spawned by HoTGuY. TMA is mostly everyone is happy AUs, like No Paranormal Nonsense AUs and Happily Ever After Post Canon AUs, but also a whole heckin' lot of Time Travel (usually fix-it fic) AUs, which is something I never really saw in the other fandoms

I don't have a good ending to this post as there's no real point to it, it's just me babbling about fandoms

[420technoblazeit]

hi i just wanted to say i wasnt on tumblr during the mcyt/dsmp 2020-onward era so i never did end up following any blogs from that fandom and dont see them on my dash. i've put that fandom deeply behind me and grown a lot but seeing your pfp on my dash always warms me a little. techno was my main pov for everything and i still miss him. no need to reply to this, just thank you for keeping it ig. its nice.

aw hey this is such a sweet ask! i've also moved away from that fandom since then. i think it's nice keeping this pfp though i miss techno a lot too. i was considering changing it when the news abt him passing broke so keeping it kind of felt like holding on for just a little bit longer. idk i got really attached to this pfp, i don't think the original artist is even active on this social media anymore but it and my username feel intrinsically linked to the existence of this blog. i dont think ill change it anytime soon

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

Yes! The ways the mechs and mcyt handle narrative have always been so similar to me but I've never been able to put it onto words. Would Love to hear what you have to say on the topic (after you have had a good sleep)

HI, it's time for me to get insane. Thank you for sending this ask cause now I have an excuse to maintag the post, lol. Also, I'm going to be using the term MCYT interchangeably with MCRP (Minecraft roleplay) for my own sanity. You'll know what I mean from context clues, I think.

So, hi, anyone who doesn't know about The Mechanisms. This post is going to be about some meta analysis tools that popped up in the Mechs fandom when it exploded in popularity back in 2020-2021. Due to the nature of both the Mechs and MCYT (which I'll get into in a moment), these concepts are generally very helpful for meta analysis of MCYT as well, and I think you guys would love them.

First of all, what was The Mechanisms?

The Mechanisms, originally known as Dr. Carmilla and The Mechanisms, was a band that formed in the late 2000s. It had a rotating cast of members, though most of the stuff you can easily find from them (such as their albums) was made when they had 8-9 consistent members. The Mechanisms officially released seven albums and one single before the band broke up in early 2020. The reason this band is similar at all to MCYT comes from a few things- the characters the band played, the stories the band told, and the archival aspect/age.

Because the Mechs were not a regular band, it was also a storytelling experience. Each Mechs album tells it's own self contained story (except for the Tales to be Told albums, which feature songs with their own stories that don't tie into the album at large). But furthermore, each Mechanism is a character. All the members of the band had characters they played, acting as a band of immortal space pirates moving through the galaxy on their ship, The Aurora.

The similarity to MCYT here is, of course, the characters. It's not always as simple to tell the difference between MCYT characters and actors as it was with The Mechanisms, seeing as (a lot of) MCYT doesn't start with the acting/roleplaying intention that the Mechs started with. But nonetheless, they share the understanding that even though this isn't a play or a TV show or whatever scripted medium, and that even though these characters (sometimes) share similar/the same names as their creators, they are, ultimately, characters the creators are putting on in order to tell a story. Whether that story is something more connected to the base characters (less roleplay heavy servers, Mechs backstory beats) or a story where the characters themselves are filling a role to tell a new story (more roleplay heavy servers, Mechs filling in for characters on the albums to tell their stories), there is always a story to be told.

There is also, as I said, the archival aspect. Archiving is massively important to both The Mechanisms and MCYT. It's definitely a lot harder with the Mechs than with most MCYT stuff, since the Mechs are a whole lot nicher, but that is not to say it's easy for either group. Archiving is vital to keeping both fanbases, and both sets of characters, alive, and there is only so much archiving you can rely on the creators of either to do. Those of you who take this task on are genuinely so awesome and I love you.

Alongside the archiving aspect (and as such, the lost media aspect), there's also the age of the Mechanisms, and (similarly to MCYT), the large number of people involved in the project, which results in lost and oftentimes conflicting canon beats. Mechs lore was not a strict, planned out thing. Large swaths of it were made up on the fly or forgotten down the line and rewritten or just made to work because the story needed it. As such, a lot of Mechanisms meta analysis had to reckon with the fact that the story was often telling you two or three or more things that could not be true at once nonetheless were, or was telling you something with the assumption that you knew something else, but that something else is now impossible to track down. So, sometimes, you just had to pick and choose, or try to reconstruct that lost knowledge. Similarly, varying POVs and gaps in time or gaps in story result in a similar concept for MCYT analysis- sometimes it doesn't really work if you take every piece of lore into account, so you just can't, even though every piece of lore is equally canon; or sometimes, a specific source is lost and you have to trust the memory of people who saw or were involved in the source instead.

Now, what is narratomancy? And how is it relevant to meta analysis of MCYT?

Narratomancy is the name for a few concepts of meta analysis that popped up when the Mechs fandom exploded in 2020-2021. The term was coined by @lucky-sevens (who, unlike anyone else I bring up in this post, I feel comfortable tagging because they're inactive, lol, so this won't clog their notifs), but the credit for various concepts under the umbrella of narratomancy can go to a ton of people. Personally, I'm going to be heavily referencing one post in particular by @/gunpowderedtim when it comes to the four main pillars of narratomancy, and how they are relevant here. (BTW I know OP of that post has shifted at least a bit to the MCYT fandom as well, so if you see this and would like me to tag you properly, please let me know!)

(EDIT: I was informed in the replies that lucky-sevens did not, in fact, coin this phrase, but they can't remember who specifically did. Alas another Mechs thing lost to time.)

Narratomancy refers to the general concept of the narrative as a thing within the Mechs universe. The narrative, a story that wants to be told, is an (at least semi) sentient creature that is bending the universe to its will in order to be told. This living narrative helps to explain and work through some of the problems or plot holes in the narrative, and understanding this helps a lot for meta analysis, or even just understanding the story. As stated above, I'm going to be breaking down four main pillars that the post above identified, and how they may be relevant to MCYT meta analysis. Not all of them are going to work- these were concepts made up for The Mechanisms, after all, and for all their similarities, it's not a perfect 1 to 1. Let's get into it!

Pillar 1: Universal Story

This is a pillar that has one really important and relevant concept, but I do have to bend a bit of it in order to make it work. Namely, what we're calling "the universe" here. But it's still quite important. You'll see.

As mentioned up top, The Mechanisms were originally called Dr. Carmilla and The Mechanisms. Dr. Carmilla (both the character and the creator) eventually left the Mechs to do her own thing, tell her own story, but the story of the universe at large is still hers. She's still got her name in the title, she's still the one who created the original lore, so to the universe, she's still the main character. She might not be the main character of any given story, even any given story she participates in, but it's all her universe in the end. As such, both her stories and the stories of The Mechanisms are canon, but they might not be strictly canon to each other. Because ultimately, The Mechanisms were the universe's vessel for telling stories, and sometimes the stories they told made for a weird concoction of conflicting canon, so you just had to accept that these conflicting canon beats were both canon, but which one was canon depended entirely on which story you were looking at, which one was trying to be told, who that story specifically was about (this is a concept that'll come up again later).

The reason this is a bit less relevant to MCYT in that, if a roleplay server is being well run, you (hopefully) won't have a main character in this way. And even if you do, that main character is not always going to be the creator of the server/universe, ala Carmilla. But again, it's not irrelevant, because I think this can be applied when you're looking at individual POVs of any given event or server.

Every character is the main character of their own POV, even if they might not be the main character of any given story beat or event. They have their own lore and story to tell in that POV, and when you sit down to watch their POV that is the story you'll get. It just so happens that said story might have things that are canon to it that are not canon to other POVs, that cannot be canon to other POVs, and you as the fan have to reckon with that. Sometimes these things might be small or not something that's gonna really throw you, like the conflicting Magic Mountain lore in this season of Hermitcraft. Other times, these might be really big things, like Martyn's Watcher lore in the Life Series.

But either way, while the idea that there is a Universal Story that has a clear main character doesn't really apply to servers, it certainly ties in to the idea of POVs. And furthermore, the "all of these stories are canon, but not strictly canon to each other" idea that comes along with Universal Story is a really vital thing to keep in mind when it comes to MCYT.

Pillar 2: Casting Call (Narrative Role Filling)

There are two main parts to Casting Call. The first is that The Mechanisms have a role in the stories they tell, even the stories that are not their own, like the album ones. These roles are often trope heavy, or based on pre-existing characters that the Mechanisms themselves have similarities too. The second is that the Mechanisms slot into these roles not necessarily because they want to, but because they have to in order to make the story work. Because the narrative wants them to help the story along to the ending.

This is definitely more relevant in roleplay heavy servers, but it still comes up on just about every server out there. While for the Mechanisms, the divide is between "the character I am" vs. "the character I am playing so the story gets told", the divide for MCYT tends to be a bit more "the person I am" vs. "the character I am playing so the story gets told". This divide (and people's inability to understand it) is the reason why MCYTs so often have to give the "Remember, we're all friends in real life and anything that the others weren't comfortable with wouldn't be in the videos" disclaimer. Everyone involved in this story is playing a character to move the story along, and that character may be totally removed from their real life person (such as Scott playing Xornoth in ESMP s1) or pretty similar to their real life person, but dialed up so they can tell a story, get a reaction (I don't know any of these people in real life, so I can't confidently pin someone down for this, but you get what I'm talking about).

Regardless, there is a story to be told, even if that story isn't thought out in advance, and that requires people playing the villain or the damsel in distress or the knight in shining armor sometimes in order to get it done. And, tying back into Universal Story, who is playing which of these roles can change as the canon of each POV changes (such as in Third Life, where who is filling the "villain" role depends entirely on which POV you're watching).

Pillar 3: Story Echoes

Story Echoes are a very Mechanisms based concept, because unlike everything else here, they are explicitly canon. This concept refers to the fact that The Mechanisms' stories "echo" throughout the universe, or repeat over and over again. It's in different places and different times, but these stories are out there, over and over again.

This one can apply to MCYT, but I have to admit, it's a stretch and a half. Ultimately, the way this applies here is in the fact that there's no such thing as an original story. Every story borrows from or is inspired by or is similar to another story out there. It's the nature of story telling. The first example for MCYT that comes to mind is fan Life Series, stories that take the mechanics of the Life Series but put them somewhere else, somewhen else, with someone else. However, Story Echoes are explicitly the same story repeating over and over again, which isn't really the case with this example. As I said, it's a stretch, but I didn't want to skip over this pillar entirely.

Pillar 4: Narrative Imperative

And the final pillar, Narrative Imperative, also referred to as Narrative Flow. Despite this one also being explicitly canon to The Mechanisms, it is also very relevant to MCYT, and in my opinion, the most important concept on this list for MCYT meta.

Narrative Imperative is explicitly canon in the Mechs universe when it comes to how The Mechanisms heal from injuries or death. As discussed in this post from the official Mechanisms tumblr, that healing factor functions at "whatever speed the story wants it to". This concept of "sometimes stuff just happens because it must for the story, even if it doesn't make sense or actively contradicts previously established canon" has been brought up before when we were discussing Universal Story, in respect to lore, to roleplay based story beats, for both groups. Here, it's more discussing a fact of the universe at large, a fact of how the Mechanisms function. And while the general concept of Narrative Imperative can be applied to literally any conflicting lore thing in any MCYT server or story (it's flexible in that way), I think it works best when talking about how game mechanics tie into the story.

What does death mean for this character? What does death mean for this character when on this specific server? What does death mean for this character on this specific server in this specific moment? What does logging off mean for this character, on this server, in this moment? What does voice mod or discord calls or chat mean to this character? What do skin changes mean? What does the Player Heads mod mean? What does sleep mean?

There are a million mechanics you can ask these questions about, and you can get a million different answers to each of them. Death can and does mean wildly different things on different servers (see: a Hardcore series like Naked and Afraid versus Hermitcraft). But it can also mean wildly different things on the same server to the same character at different points in time (see: the concept of "canon lives" on DSMP). Death, and numerous other game mechanics, mean whatever the hell the story (and the universe and creators involved) wants them to mean. You just have to take it in stride, the rules aren't clear because if they were, there wouldn't be enough freedom to tell a story.

Even on servers where it seems like the rules are clear, like the Life Series or other death games, death doesn't always mean what the rules say it does. Take glitch deaths, for example, like Loony's (almost) glitched death in season 1 of Deceit SMP. He glitched into a wall and should have died, but Legundo was allowed to cheat (use creative) to save him, or, had he died, been allowed to use cheats to bring him back, for fairness' sake. But this doesn't only apply to glitches- take one of Scar's off camera deaths in Third Life. I don't have the source for when Martyn talked about this on hand, but Martyn has mentioned that Scar technically died earlier in Third Life, when Martyn just snapped one day when Scar provoked him, killing Scar in a short, boring fight. There was nothing technically illegal or unfair about that kill, like with a glitched death, but when all was said and done, everyone agreed it just sort of... felt bad. That it didn't feel like a good story. So, the death was overturned, and the server went on as usual. The rules may have been clear here, but sometimes rules get in the way of a good story, so they're disregarded, simple as that.

MCYT stories are not being told in spite of their medium but in harmony with them. And as such, that means that sometimes, the narrative rules above all, and narrative imperative says that this mechanic is going to work like this, at least for now, at least for me. It might not ever work like that again, for me or for anyone else on the server, but it works like that in this moment, so you take it as is.

So, yeah, there's my essay! My final thoughts: Go listen to The Mechanisms. Go listen to Maki Yamazaki (Dr. Carmilla). I hope you enjoy these four concepts and keep them in mind when you are analyzing or playing the space of MCRP, because I think they are really helpful things to keep in mind. Have a good one.

[discourse-evolved]

Oh it's been a while since I've broken this bad boy blog out of the sewers.

But hey, let's talk about the mcyt fandom.

Truly, joining Twitter in 2021 was one of the worst steps back for my mental health that I had in a while. Did I meet a ton of really amazing, incredibly talented writers and artists, much easier than I ever did on Tumblr? Yeah! Sure! But I also experienced such an incredibly deep sense of anxiety when every fucking move I made was potentially aired to hundreds of people, which made me realize why I hate Twitter so much.

Scrolling through Tumblr I don't feel any sense of legitimate fear if I like a post to go back to it later, because no one else can see that and accuse me of liking a potentially "problematic" artist or blog. I can spend some of my downtime scrolling through the intriguing, silly mess that is my dashboard and go back to that post that I felt was sus later to see what it was really about.

I understand that people are always nervous about interacting with people that they don't agree with things on. The problematic ones, the ones with weird and uncommon kinks, the ones that make people uncomfortable, but the sheer amount of rampant paranoia I saw within the mcyt fandom on twitter in 2021-2022 felt like the end of fandom as I knew it.

And with a fandom like mcyt, I get it! Dealing with real people and the characters built off of them and especially with content creators who are SO deeply entwined and connected to their audience is much more difficult terrain to traverse when it comes to the taboo.

But seeing the way that so many people got so caught up in wild witch hunts was pretty fuckin terrible too. An errant ao3 bookmark, an off-color comment, an idea from people who weren't familiar with the fandom at large and the content creators' different specific boundaries, and they would be attacked en masse.

I fuckin hated it. I hated it so much. But I couldn't say anything about it, even if I didn't agree with the person myself, because defending someone against the mass dehumanization from the rest of the fandom would mean that I went down with them.

And that, at its core, is something that deeply concerns and scares me. Because at the end of the day, who and what is fanfic, even problematic ones, hurting? No one who doesn't read it. And with a site like ao3 with tags and warnings and summaries, that should be happening less and less, if people just use it properly.

I'm not saying there weren't weird people in the fandom that I would prefer to not to interact with myself, and I'm not going to say that I people should be forced to interact with people who make them uncomfortable.

But, I am saying that far too many people in that fandom were ready to dehumanize anybody who stepped even slightly out of bounds, which is something that no one deserves.

I could really go on and on about this topic and the purity culture that exists within the mcyt fandom, but by god I'm not mentally ready for that rn. Just remember that weird people are people too and don't deserve to die because of fiction that they thought up/made art of/wrote down.

[pickastitch]

i lied i do have a fic for @mcyt-yuri-week

day 3 qpr/aromance. hc s9 gempearl

words: 670

“Gem, what does romantic attraction feel like?” Pearl questioned in the middle of them building up their megabases. They have spoken about them both being aromatic before, and the other found out that Gem was frayromatic while Pearl was completely loveless when it came to aromanticism.

Gem took a minute to think before saying, “It's having the desire to kiss someone, the ability to spend an infinite amount of time and never get tired of them, the wanting to be a life partner, in my experience at least.” Pearl just hummed in response as they continued on working on Gem’s base but couldn't shake the feeling that she had some of those wants for her closest friend without it being explicitly romantic.

After a little bit, they went inside for a water break. Pearl was sitting on top of the dining table while Gem sat in a chair next to her, drinking from a simple glass. She felt herself observing her and took note of all the small details of her, opening her mouth to comment on one, specifically Gem's lips, but quickly closed it, realizing how awkward it would sound.

Gem must have noticed cause she looked over and gave a questioning eyebrow lift. Pearl was caught, so she sighed and answered, “This is going to sound weird, but I was just looking, as one does, and noticed how nice your lips look.”

In response, Gem just laughed, “Wh- wha? Thanks?” It wasn't judgemental or anything she was just caught very off guard. “Your lips.. look good.. too?”

“Okay this is going to sound worse, but-”

“Pearl, I think we've passed that point. That awkward ship has sailed.”

“I suppose. I don't know, just the concept of platonic kissing- is that a thing?”

“I mean, I suppose so,” thinking for a moment, “I guess that is how I would describe some of my older feelings for you”

Now Pearl was curious, “When?” Gem had confessed her romantic feelings when she initially had them and took the rejection fairly well, but they never really talked about it after.

“Well when I start befriending someone I have a crush on, my attraction just goes into this limbo for a bit between romantic and platonic. I've thought of that but never had exact wording for it.”

“Well why don't we try it now?” Pearl suggests as she guides Gem out of her seat and places her in between her legs. Gem stood just a bit taller compared to Pearl sitting, so Gem took her opportunity to hold her face and lead her lips to her own with a light experimental kiss. That only led to both of them wanting more as Pearl tilted her head a little and kissed her back even more intensely.

After they finally pulled apart from one another, “Woah,” was all Gem had to say. Pearl, out of breath, did her best to laugh at the reaction as she pulled her up on the table. “You should've brought this up earlier. That was amazing,” Gem muttered, laying her head down onto Pearl's shoulder.

“Thought it would ruin our friendship”, she admitted as she wrapped her arm around Gem, pulling her even closer.

“No point in friends if you can't kiss them every once in a while,” she joked.

Pearl took notice of the word friend, “Are we friends?” Not in a hurt way, but more so in a curious way.

“Well since I want to kiss you more than every once in a while, we could arrange something.”

Pearl couldn't help herself with an, “Oh?” alongside joking suggestive eyebrow wiggles.

Completely disregarding her usual antics, Gem moved on, “Like something between a friendship and actual romantic relationship?” she suggested.

“Well what would you call me, girlfriend, best friend?"

“I think I'll stick with Pearl. You're my Pearlo.”

Unraveling her body from Gem, she commented, “Alrighty, nice break, we gotta get back to base building,” Pearl said as she poked at Gem, “That means you gotta get up.”

“Mmm, maybe for another kiss?”

[chillychive]

Suppose it's time to mention this AU to finally give me the motivation to start posting it... or at least bits of it.

Star Trek Life Series AU (season 1)

Some general information:

This will (hopefully) be a fic posted on AO3. To make it feel more Star-Treky, it'll be broken up into seasons and episodes. It'll have Trek like nonsense with better planning and character consistency. It'll feature Life Series, Empires, Hermitcraft, Evo and possibly other MCYT characters. NOT RPF. Some of the species mentioned will be real Star Trek species, others will be made up by yours truly to fit the design of the character. It'll be an ensemble style story, like TNG. Knowledge of Star Trek is NOT required in the slightest, but it might enhance your reading- it will have hidden references/have some episodes based on real Trek episodes.

I've been working on this for genuinely a year, and I'm overhauling the original idea as well. At the minute it's 13k words and a whole lot more planning.

PLEASE send asks if you're curious. I have SO MUCH MORE but I didn't want this post to be too long.

With that out of the way, let's get on to the main characters:

Pearl

Species: Human and Risian Department: Tactical Rank: Lieutenant Design Notes: Pearl's Risian tattoo is fading. Otherwise her design is fairly similar to your average human Pearl. Significant Relationships: Grian, adopted brother (same age), Gem, roommate turned best friend turned partner in later seasons Other: Most of the story will follow Pearl. She grew up at Starfleet academy with Grian, her parents taught there, and her dad still does. Her mom is dead... or is she?

Grian

Species: Human... that is until Evo... Department: Tactical, Bridge Crew (until Evo) Rank: Lieutenant Commander (maybe) Design Notes: Fairly standard Grian, is a human (until Evo) Significant Relationships: Pearl, adopted sister (same age) BigB, academy friend Impulse, friend, Joel, roommate Other: Grian is a prankster. He was promoted to bridge crew literally only hours before the ship left starbase for the first time. He grew up on Earth at Starfleet Academy, with his parents, both of whom taught at the Academy. *his parents are not the same as Pearl's- they grew up together at the academy since their parents were friends, and they basically grew up like siblings- they often forget they're not actually related, by blood or legally* He's an accomplished pilot, but actually has tactical station on the bridge. A few months in, he is assigned to lead a mission to a new planet... and a few months later when the ship returns for rendezvous, he's not among the landing party. He's presumed dead and will not return to the story until the finale. The shuttle they take to the planet is called the "evolution"

Gem

Species: 1/2 Bajoran, 1/8 arkarian, 1/8 ktarian, 1/4 an unnamed species Department: Botany, with a LOT of Tactical training too Rank: Lieutenant/Ensign Design Notes: Gem has a very complicated design. She has the bajoran nose ridges, paired with a barely noticeable version of the ktarian spikes plus faint arkarian ridges on her head. She has small antlers-like structures on her head, that have little fungi things on the end that occasionally move around in response to signals from certain mushrooms. Her pupils are massive and look out of proportion with her eyes, and in bright light she can barely see. The reason for this is because the unnamed species' DNA isnt very compatible with the other species- they have vestigial eyes, which makes Gem's eyes very weak and very sensitive to light. To compensate, she wears a shaded visor and takes breaks often. She also has very light bones (thanks to her unnamed species DNA), which leaves her susceptible to breaking bones easily. Let me know if you want more information on that species. Significant Relationships: Fwhip, twin brother Pearl, best friend/roomate/partner later on Other: Her combat skills are top tier because originally she was told she couldn’t do security training because of the fragility of her bones + her eyes, so she basically went “okay bet” and then learned how to avoid getting hit perfectly. She’s fantastic at dodging and was soo good that security training couldn’t say no to her. She made it through the academy with top notch security training, and then decided to instead go into botany, designing better ways to grow plenty of different plants. She also often gets pulled into security forces when needed as her botany isn’t a 24/7 job. This is especially true whenever they go anywhere with a low light level as that doesn’t affect her as much as it does many of the others, since she’s used to dim light.

this isn't a complete list, so lmk if theres anyone else you're curious about and I'll explain!

thank you for reading if you made it this far... this got longer than intended, and i only got through the 3 main characters...

[headsnhearts]

I'm gonna combust I've met TWO whole dollification enjoyers other than myself today!!! As a hello offering: jleo with puppet master Cleo and their pretty marionette Joe,,, so many potential uses for the armor stand magic book -⚾️ (my mcyt blog is darkoaklogs but I'm too shy to share my main rn)

Welcome welcome~ Always happy to see more dollification fans, since it's so unfairly niche.

As for Joe and Cleo! Good taste for doll kink, I'd say. This one got a bit away from me.

~

Jleo dollification, dom/sub dynamics with dom!Cleo, brat taming, and some references to exhibitionism but it's not a huge focus

Joe is a spirit who's able to possess different objects or bodies as hosts. Cleo normally makes them a human-like body and Joe made the puppet himself, but they have a few special ones in reserve.

One is a life-sized wooden doll, with intricate details carved into the surface and lovingly varnished. It's more an art piece than an actual body that Joe inhabits frequently; the limbs are thin, made delicate by the carving, and the joints are loose, so Joe struggles to hold a proper pose with them. Cleo made it a while ago while trying to find the best non-organic material for a body, but they've never gotten rid of it, for one specific reason.

Cleo likes time to herself to think. Joe also likes Cleo's time to think and will make that their problem at a moment's notice. When that happens, they pull out an armor stand book and set off to put him in his place.

First, she binds them to the wooden doll body. Beautiful but weak—a step shy of being a china doll.

What Cleo does next depends on how forgiving they feel.

Mercy is taking Joe for a walk with the armor stand book and leaving them behind in the shopping district or another hermit's base, unable to keep pace when she leaves. Either another hermit will take pity on the poor lost doll and help them home (or inside for some fun), or a mob will get them and they'll drop out of the body when they respawn, no worse for wear.

But when Cleo really feels like putting Joe into his place?

First is changing the doll's clothes; it's been so long since she's played with her doll, so a fresh outfit is in order. Whether she uses the armor stand book to pose them like a mannequin or simply manhandles him out of his clothes varies. Joe can't resist either way.

Dolls don't have opinions on what they wear, so Cleo picks by herself. Definitely something lacey and impractical that would be hard to move in. And dolls are made to be nice to look at, so the outfits she has are pointedly revealing. Frilly doll dresses with teasing hemlines, heeled boots and thigh-high stockings, even just lingerie—there are options.

And then Cleo takes their doll for a walk. No book this time, just a collar snapped around Joe's neck and a leash. There's a tag on the collar that says "If lost, return to Cleo," with a little heart etched underneath it.

Now her doll better not fall down and mess up those nice clothes unless they want to be punished <3

[blackboxtheater]

Oh writer of two of my favorite fics ever-

I was rewatching Pearl's secret life eps in search of Mumbo clips (since honestly, Mumbo cuts a fair amount of things out of his vids) and only just now saw one of the cutest and funniest thing yet he's done-

"See you in the next one" becomes a trumpet

-Mumbo

Anyways, Hiiii, want to also say again how much I love your fics and writing :>

God he's such a WEIRDO (said with all the love and affection in the world)

And thank you! I know I've been less active because my MCYT obsession is currently going through a lull, so for your ongoing love and support, here is a snippet from my drafts for a future House of String chapter that takes place after Pearl moves into Mumbo's season 9 vault with him.

Moving in with Mumbo is fine.

Mostly.

Trying to beat Decked Out and not get murdered by Gem is taking up all of her energy and nearly all of her brain power, so its easy to come back to the vault each day thinking of nothing but scraping together a meal and collapsing into bed.

But occasionally the close quarters inside the vault and lack of any discernible privacy becomes painfully apparent, and that fact that her new roommate is that attractive and right there crashes over her like a ton of bricks.

Like right now when she looks over from a Decked Out maps she's drawing to watch Mumbo padding across the floor barefoot and fucking dripping wet. Okay, so just his hair is wet. But he’s running a towel through it and when he reaches his hand up to do that his shirt rides up a little and that’s a dangerous path to let her mind and her eyes wander down so she snaps her eyes up to his face.

Except that's no better because she can see every drop falling from his hair and where it lands on his white tee shirt.

She wants trace her fingers over his shoulders as she counts each drop.

She wants to dig her fingers into his wet hair.

She wants to be so close that she is surrounded by the scent of the body wash and shampoo that she can smell from all the way over here. 

She wants to know if he tastes like steam and the spearmint toothpaste that sits on the bathroom counter next to hers.

She wants to-

“Is there something on my face? Did I nick myself shaving?”

His question slices through all those thoughts.

Fuck. She must be staring. 

“Wait did I catch the mustache?"

He must take her silence as a bad thing, because there is genuine concern in his eyes as he runs a hand  over his jaw, throwing the towel over his shoulder in the process.

She almost has a coherent thought formed in response until he steps even closer, hitting her with another wave of the smell of his shampoo.

"Is it uneven? Did I make it uneven?”

Watching his hands move over his mouth make the urge to reach out and touch him almost overwhelming.

But the echoes of the past are louder. It was a lifetime ago that she almost gave in and kissed him back in season 8. Back in the ender pearl stasis chamber, with his hair just as floppy and wet in that moment as it is now. But back then it wouldn’t have ever occurred to her that she might one day be sitting in Mumbo’s base, scratch that, living in Mumbo’s base because it was the place she felt the safest on the server. And honestly, maybe the place she felt safest anywhere at all.

If she had given in and kissed him that day, then this day probably would never have happened. She would have kissed him and maybe hooked up and then they would have fought or had a falling out or Grian would have discovered them and everything would be so different than her life now. She wouldn’t be here if she made that mistake then, and she sure as hell isn’t going to kiss him now and risk whatever might happen in the future.

She won’t.

“No, your mustache looks fine." She finally manages to settle on, and when the relief floods his eyes and he leans back, its easier to think clearly again.

"It looks perfectly Mumbo.” she adds with a smile before turning back to her map, and she doesn’t look back as the sound of his footsteps and the smell of his shampoo drift off into other corners of their home.

[mcyt-as-birds]

Hey!! I hope I'm not bothering you but I just found your blog (love your blog it's amazing) and, as a fellow mcyt enjoyer & bird enthusiast, I just have to ask you what birds you would assign to Niki, Quackity, Ranboo & Jimmysolidarity, based on their character/personality/looks? I'm just asking because I'm making a mcyt harpy AU and you seem like someone knowledgeable in birds and generally like a cool person so I hope I'm not intruding on your time!

So far I think Niki could be a flamingo (despite looking pretty they're pretty tough lol but I'm having second thoughts on that), Ranboo could be a long bird w long legs (maybe some kind of stork or stilt i dunno), with Quackity I'm torn between a Loggerhead Shrike and a Goldeneye Barrow's duck (or any duck bcs well, it's in his name lol. I actually can't decide if I should go for his dsmp character or general mcyt persona) and Jimmy I have no frickign idea (maybe a canary??? I've been thinking about this for days and I have no clue lmao).

Anyways hope you have a good day/night and once again love your blog :]

AAAAAAA so sorry I didn’t see this ask until now!!!! I’ve been absolutely going through it lately since moving but it’s getting better and I’ve successfully seen and photographed a bunch of new lifer birds so like win!!

So, absolutely depends on which SMP for these characters but if we’re going DSMP for niki, ranboo, and Quackity then these are my assignments;

Niki: my first instinct for niki is American kestrel (Falco sparverius), but she also fits one of the jaeger sp pretty well. Personally I’d go with Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus) also known as the arctic skua. They’re incredibly skilled aerialists that are called “parasitic” because they pursue other seabirds until they give up their catch and leave it for the jaeger. Girlboss of them. Jaeger is also a German originating word meaning “hunter” so it’s double cool! They look like this! They remind me of marble a lot.

Quackity: I’ve given him two assignments before, but both were for QSMP!Quackity which is very different vibes to DSMP!Quackity but I think they’re generalized enough to still work. The first one, for a General Vibes quackity is the ferruginous duck because duh, duck, but also They Have Secrets. And Know All Of Yours. Just look at those eyes! (Only males have the bright yellow eyes btw.) Barrow’s goldeneye IS a good choice as well so if you wanted to I’d say go for it! I also think ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) is a great choice personality wise because they are Mean Little Bastards to each other and others rip.

Here’s a male ferruginous duck! Oh god what does he know

I am, however, a HUGE fan of hummingbird!Quackity particularly for the small size->bigger aggression of some species. It’s so unexpected! There’s also large parallels with how they have to constantly be on the move and eating insects and drinking nectar, with some species needing to consume up to three times their bodyweight each day just to survive! It reminds me a lot of how DSMP!Quackity is always trying to do Bigger and More Things and just never stops, ever, ultimately to his own detriment when he can no longer keep up. Again rip.

Anyways the species I assigned him before based on coloration of the art is the violet sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus) which is one of the larger but less aggressive emeralds. HOWEVER they do end up completely intimidating other species away from feeding flowers just from their size and General Vibes. They’re also cool as fuck so I won’t be changing that. But if you wanted something more aggressive then I’d go with ruby-throated hummingbird.

Here’s what a violet sabrewing looks like!

Ranboo: This is a bit of a tricky one, because it would be extremely easy to go “black and white bird boom done” and I don’t think that’s like bad but there is More To Him. Past assignments I have given him include swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) for a miss beloved design, purple-crowned fairywren (Malurus coronatus) for a general streamersona/r800 ranbrand, and violet-backed starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster) for r800.

But if we are going purely DSMP!Ranboo, I have two different ideas.

Personality: killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Design: secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius)

Personality wise, the killdeer fits mainly because of its well-known predator responses “broken-wing display/injury feigning” and “ungulate display.” The former is where the adult killdeer will pretend to be injured (and thus, an easier target) in order to lead predators away from their nest and chicks. Then, they’ll lose or frustrate the predator until they give up and it’s safe to return to the nest. The other predator response is what I affectionately call the “fuck it, we ball” response, where the bird lowers its head, raises its wings, and charges at the predator. It is frequently fatal. I don’t think I have to explain why it’s so Ranboo coded but if you need evidence look up anyone threatening Michael lmao. Also you probably didn’t want to hear that much about them but listen I love them so much they are so cool and baby.

They look like this when doing the broken wing display! They also just kind of have the panicked deer in headlights look that I feel like he embodies.

The second option, the secretarybird or secretary bird, is even funnier looking but fits the aesthetic so well and honestly some of his strange and unsettling vibes. The secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is the largest bird of prey by height and length. They are almost entirely terrestrial and hunt their prey by—get this—stomping it to death. I’m not kidding. They have been described as “what you get when you mix an eagle, a stork, and a bad hair day” because of the stupid little feathers on the back of their head. They kinda look lights on but nobody’s home sometimes. Drumroll please for this absolute fucking creature (affectionate)

Yeah, I wasn’t exaggerating. Why do they look like that.

Jimmy: is an extremely difficult one, tbh. Everyone assigns him canary which, like, fair—but honestly it does not fit his personality or his design, and only really works for life series!Jimmy. And they don’t even give him a specific species! (Although ppl usually mean domestic canary without saying it.) No hate to people who do this and the canary in the coal mine symbolism is cool I just have Opinions and Propaganda and I’ve been Enabled.

I have assigned him one bird before, the eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) and I kinda stand by it for the content creator, but it doesn’t fit his general minecraft sona.

To figure this out, we must go even deeper. Into the deep dark, mind the wardens. You probably didn’t want this but Too Bad you’ve activated my trap card and now you have to suffer.

Jimmy is a peculiar character because he is very dear to everyone, but also the butt of every joke—and he likes it that way! He’s a key player in many important events in storylines, but also the most often discarded. His luck is terrible, yes, but it can be argued that he brings about misfortune for others more than he himself experiences it. This is across hermitcraft, the life series, and empires.

So I propose this to you and the general fandom:

Jimmy is a snowy albatross.

The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans) previously described as the wandering albatross along with the Amsterdam, Tristan, and Antipodean albatross sp, is a bird that is heavily steeped in superstition. While generally considered a bird that would bring sailors good luck, to harm or kill an albatross was to bring about the sea’s wrath upon the entire crew. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner kills an albatross that is being cared for by the crew. The crew became very angry with him, believing that he had called upon bad luck, and forced him to wear the albatross around his neck. This is where the metaphor “an albatross around his neck” comes from, symbolizing an unwanted burden causing anxiety and distress. At the end of the story, the mariner learns to care for all the sea creatures and his releases from his curse, but is forced to walk the earth for eternity and tell his tale. This is where the albatross has also become a symbol of past sins, regret, and atonement.

Jimmy personifies these qualities so much, along with hidden power, vulnerability, and unconditional love SO MUCH I need the fandom to see my vision so bad. Albatross Jimmy propaganda!!!!

They look like this

And the chicks are so cute it’s not even funny.

I could go on and on about how Jimmy is so albatross coded it’s not even funny and facts about them AND I WILL LETS GO albatrosses have specialized wing anatomy that allows them to lock their shoulder in place and fly hundreds of miles without flapping their wings even once! They also follow ships and will eat anything and everything presented to them, including garbage, and will gorge themselves on food until they are so bloated they can only float on the water. They can live for over 50 YEARS, the oldest known lasyan albatross (and bird in general!) is a female named Wisdom who is 70 years old and still kicking! They are often considered silly or ugly birds by people unfamiliar with them but are very beloved by those within the birding and research communities and snowy albatrosses are one of the most researched bird species in the world! They are fiercely loyal, highly protective, and also absolute little goofballs. Like Jimmy. They are also social birds, with a huge range of vocalizations and displays LIKE JIMMY they are kind of bad at survival (but mostly human threats) and need a lot of help LIKE JIMMY (please protect your local albatrosses) and they are very loud LIKE JI—[*I am forcibly yanked off the stage by a shepherd’s hook in cartoonish fashion*]

[justalilpearlie]

Introduction/Fun Pearlie Facts

Was abt time I did one of these.

Hello everyone, my name is Pearl, Pearlie or Sam/Sammy if you're feeling like it. Friends also call me Martini sometimes.

I am a minor, my labels... we dont talk about them (fem presenting ftm gay/mlm + trying out gendervoid and verinix + bigender??) uhmm and I go by He/She, tho mostly He/Him by strangers- I can She/Her myself and close friends/mutuals are allowed! (I also go by neos: Void/Moon/Sweet/It/Fluff/Love/Fizz/Paw)

I'm from Argentina, born and raised, never moved. Speak fluent english and spanish.

I got the 'tism and the adhd, aswell as BPD and a few other things I wont list right now! But yeah I'm psychotic (ooo scary word.. lmao)

- -🌄-📀-🌙- -💚- -💛- -✨-🌄-✨- -💛- -💚- -🌙-📀-🌄- -

I'm an IRL of many, mainly c!Pearl (mcyt), Samuel Emily (fnaf [games canon]) and Shin Tsukimi (yttd). If you don't like it you can leave, block me, or whatever, cause you aint gonna change my life or how I am. I'm in therapy, which unlike random hate and harrassment online, does help me :)

I like to roleplay, draw, sometimes make playlists or moodboards.. And my biggest interests right now are Life Series (+ evo + new life), Empires1(+ a bit of e2) and FNaF! (i dont rlly like the books tho lol..)

I use kin tags for reach cause I'd love interaction from any fellow lifers or empires ppl, hermits aswell!! Tho I havent finished s8 or s9 yet...

Fictionkins, therians and traumagenic systems all welcome!

- -💥-🐺-🌙- -❤️- -💛- -✨-💥-✨- -💛- -❤️- -🌙-🐺-💥- -

DNI prefferably:

- Basic DNI criteria (proshippers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, TERFs, ableist, etc)

- Endos/non-traumagenic "systems" DNI. block me if u want, i wont argue abt it in the comments/reblogs. or interact if u want but im not gonna follow u back or anythin shrugs.

- reality checkers or anti-IRLs DNI. I aint "romanticizing" shit, I'm existing and living my life, if thats a problem to you too bad cause my psychologist aproves of what I'm doing, since I aint harming anyone and I myself am doing dandy.

- anti-kin also DNI cause most of my friends are fictionkins and if you talk shit abt my fellas idk i wouldnt like having u around much

CCs interact at your own risk. This is my domain, cyan man & moon lady. /hj

- -🪸-🐸-🌙- -💙- -🩵- -✨-🪸-✨- -🩵- -💙- -🌙-🐸-🪸- -

"Disclaimer"

- I talk about MajorMoon (Scott x Pearl) a LOT, if u didnt notice by the acc theme. These are my romantic memories, its a gay ship, not woman/gay man, so if it makes u uncomfortable or u hate it or whatever then ur probably not gonna like my content lmao. COUGH, consider joining us if you do like what you see... /nf We're a small comunity of supporters.. just me.. and a few of my peeps... that was a joke, sir. /ref

- This isn't roleplay, its my main acc where im ""unapologetically"" myself, but if u do wanna rp life series/empires u can always shoot me a dm and maybe I'll give u my discord.

- I talk about myself (c!Pearl) using 3rd person in many posts tagged with main fandom tags. This is to cause less confusion to casual fans slash ""normies"" (lhj) that well.. don't know what IRLs are! Also that way I feel safer and don't have to worry as much abt getting harassed and such for my identity.

- -🌸-⛰️-🌙- -💚- -💙- -✨-🌸-✨- -💙- -💚- -🌙-⛰️-🌸- -

Special People Mentions!! fps = * (1 or more.. wouldnt say in a priority sorta order but. more or less yea)

Family! <3 🌼@pehpurr* SISTER!! super duper cool, her art is great and you should check it out!! YOU. You're the brightest little girl (i say like ur not older than me) I'VE EVER MET ACTUALLY! You're so passionate and loving I freaking adore you!! I love you so much Scar, you're one of the best things to ever happen to me, Kanny &lt;3 ⚙️@gentlexmadman DAD!! you are my daaaad, you're my dad! woogie woogie woogie! ANOTHER amazing artist! mr "I know that guy-", very funny, Henry "Autism" Emily... the copper king, my father. Speaking to you is always comforting. Love you so much papa, you're amazing :)

Simply special <3 ☕@insomniac-coffeehouse** You're all simply so very special to me. I love spending time with you guys and playing stuff together, you mean a lot to me and I'm so glad I met you. I hope we're still close for this year and many more! You're incredibly talented, not only at art, at everything you do. You spark joy in my brain and my heart <3 From the bottom of my heart, I'm in love with the hope you bring to this world. 🍊Jack***, oh my dear Jacky, where do I even begin, sport... you really are my other half. Mi media naranja if you will. haha.. I love every second we spend together, I love your voice, I love your eyes, I love your smile, your laughter. I love your use of words, the way you speak, your humor, your seriousness and goofiness. You stiff fuck, you were made for me and I was made for you, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You're my everything, mi vida, mi luz, mi estrella. Mi amor, mi mundo. <3

New friends! 🍓@strawberrystarfield I know we met fairly recently but you're all incredibly fun to talk to, your art is also amazing, your accent is real pretty (cough for a bri-💥), you're real sweet and I love reading all your thoughts and critiques about things :} (love ya Aspen /gen) 🏜️@fagdykegtws My right hand man! I know we just met through the rarepair server but oh my god we're in the same brainwave!!! You're so fun to vc and chat with and you got the best ideas ever fr fr, love ya Chewy, you're real sweet even w how lil i know you ;)

That's it folks, love yall and see you around!

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: umbie

today's interviewee is umbie, who was a member of ebblr from march 2021 onwards. i would like to once again ask everyone to remain impartial and respectful-- this blog is a place for all MCYTblr history, which includes parts of the fandom that were more controversial. that said, let's begin!

Q: Since I realize not everyone knows-- would you mind explaining what exactly ebblr was, to the best of your ability?

A: Ebblr is an abbreviation for Enderbees Tumblr. It existed as a network of undiscoverable blogs where folks shipped and truthed beeduo romantically. It ebs truthing started at the beginning of 2021, late 2020 on plate's blog gayminecraftmen, who you did an interview with, then moved to jason's blog on mcytruth, and later decentralized into a collection of blogs rather than being headed by any one person. It also became a place to discuss mcyt shipping and truthing in general- we didn't ship minors with adults, but things like techza, techbur, benchtrio shipping. character or irl, we didn't discriminate. The core of it was ebs, though.

There was also stuff like neurodiversity and gender truthing. really anything thats gauche to talk about on main.

Q: What was your general experience in MCYTblr? What was your general experience in ebblr specifically?

A: Mcytblr was very... enveloping, is how i'd put it. Easily the strongest hyperfixation i've ever had. It was also pretty frustrating at times. 2021 ebs was the height of the /p era, when the characters were off getting minecraft-married and the outside fandom insisted on them being platonic. We felt crazy. Ebblr started from blogs like mcytruth and gayminecraftmen, but I think the reason it blossomed into its own independent community was because ebblr addressed a need that mainblr, at the time, did not. I think it's facinating how in hindsight the fandom has ever so slowly turned around on the romantic c!beeduo, and now it's just kinda normal.

Being in ebblr was rewarding and enriching, but also very anxiety-inducing. We had pretty strict rules around interaction- keep your blog invisible, no cishets (lol), no nsfw, no outside reblogs. It started about after the first blocklist as a way of avoiding harassment, but developed into a moral thing later on. We existed in a kind of grey area where we understood that what we were doing was weird, but we wanted to be as inobtrusive as possible. In the early days, i made an effort to follow everybody. The community was that close-knit. Whenever a member of Ebblr accidentally reblogged an ebblr post to their mainblog, i would hop onto an alt and message whoever I needed to clean up the leak so none of our posts escaped.

Q: In critblr and dreamlying, there was a culture of "doxxing", or otherwise finding personal information about creators. Was that also true for ebblr?

A: Nope! That's one of the primary differences between critblr, dreamlying, and Ebblr. One of our rules was to keep our posting limited to things the creators released on purpose. That didn't stop us from being invasive, though. We diligently kept records of our "proof." We would obsess over details, and considered anything said on social media, stream, or twitter space fair game, even if better judgment was that they're not things the content creators would want talked about. It wasn't a monolith. A lot of folks didn't truth at all, and only wanted a space to post art or fics of pairings that were unacceptable on main. I also tracked planes during the meetup times, but jury's still out on whether that constitutes doxxing. I also had enough sense not to post about it directly. While most of us were uncomfortable with outright doxxing and distanced ourselves from those who did, we sure could walk the line.

Q: You said in your initial messages that you coined the term "critblr". Could you elaborate on that?

A: Dlying existed before ebblr, but Critblr did not! Critblr started out as a subsect of ebblr.

Critblr was conceived of in a discord server i shared with a couple friends that joined at the same time as me! It was meant to exist as a solution to formalize a growing rift within ebblr. There were blogs that were more involved in things like discussing doxxes and criticizing content creators and mainblr/maintwt opinions, and there were folks who were exclusively interested in shipping and/or truthing. Ebblr was upset with negativity and complaining, and the blogs who would become critblr didn't care for the shipping. It started as a place where you could discuss things you couldn't discuss on main, but people's needs became different. I remember the poll to name it. I suggested and vouched for critblr. Since the server's been since deleted, you're unfortunately just gonna have to take my word for it, but i'm part of the reason it's not called truthblr and I'm proud of that.

Q: This has actually been really clarifying for me; I knew ebblr and critblr were similar and intertwined, but I didn't know the specifics! I suppose, knowing that, what are some things that you remember about critblr in specific?

A: i understood critblr as a sort of anti-mcytblr. whatever opinion was widespread and popular on main, critblr was the place where you could find someone with the opposite opinion. it was a haven of haters, trolls and gossips, and it was really fucking funny. they loved having rivals- back in the summer of 2021, they/we had a "war" with fltwt. (at least in terms of what jason was up to. i have no idea how its developed now.)

honestly a lot more of the ire of critblr was directed at mcyttwt than it was on the ground at mcytblr. (although in 2021 the boundary between critblr and ebblr was still pretty loose and even as an ebblr main i was aware of all this, i'll say critblr for ease of communication)

another note about eb-critblr. it was extremely white. some of the rhetoric bouncing around on critblr at the time was kind of in the vein of "arent these twitter kids so sensitive for being upset with schlatt"

i think i also want to make point about how a lot of the truthing was kinda unserious. sometimes people dont have clips or evidence or info sometimes truthing was just projecting onto a content creator and feeling it in your heart. The instinct to truth, i think, came from a place of wanting to relate to the streamers. See yourself in them, their relationships, and their mental struggles. still, It was soaked in irony- there was this sort of untouchable jester attitude, and the less seriously you took yourself, the better. I think people cared a lot, though, and that ended up being the problem. There was a lot of pressure to be certain, which is fascinating coming from a space built on speculating on incomplete info. im sure other people in ebblr had very different experiences than I.

Q: Would you mind explaining what fltwt was?

A: fltwt came into being in summer 2021, when ranboo got doxxed. jason mcytruth had already stopped caring about ebs by now, so most of his and his associate's energy went into researching, exposing, and clowning them.

you need to understand that they were like. an abberation to us. we had been doing good honest truthing and shipping in our private corner since the new years, and here these twitter chucklefucks were throwing doxxes around and using them to truth with. they were like our evil twin. we hated them so much.

[all names have been redacted for privacy]

the reason my url is glowfr0g in this is because i changed my url after this interaction, but i have screenshots with my url as umbie aswell. we were SERIOUS.

since beeduo stopped hanging out like a week into the summer because of the doxx, the truthing in the community diversified a lot. one of such truthings was Clemtruthing- or transfeminine tommy truthing. fltwt straight up stole this from us, screenshotting and circulating our posts, and now theyre more known for it than we were. the blog mentioned here, [REDACTED], deactivated over this.

i think at one point fltwt was doing a popularity tournament and mcytruth was entered in as a contestant? but what i did here was hardly the only example of eb-critblr butting heads with fltwt. the demographic was largely bored twitter ranboo fans. yknow the "im literally neurodivergent and a minor" meme? that was popularized because of THEM. also that text interaction is dated july 30 2021

fltwt was, partially private i think? but overall not well organized at all and a lot of people on there were attention seeking. i have no idea how much these subtwts were actually invested in ebblr or critblr, for all i know it was extremely one-sided

Q: Was it an interesting experience to be in a niche community that regularly experienced "containment breaches" and blocklists? How did that affect the community's growth?

A: I kinda appointed myself the manager of the containment breaches! I had a whole process. If a mainblr blog reblogged a post, i would contact them on my umbie blog. Since they reblogged it, they were probably a lurker and i could ask them directly to take it down. However, if any of the mainblr blog's mutuals reblogged a post, i would contact them on an alt instead from the perspective of a concerned bystander that just wanted you to know that you had accidentally reblogged one of those posts from those weird shippers. Worked every time. I took pride in it.

There were really only a few blocklists? The first blocklist, what most people would know ebblr from back in the early days, got ebblr so much attention that's how most of the folks within it found out about it (including myself.) There were one or two scares after that, but nothing serious. I only ever got on one, and that one wasn't shared publicly. We still made a big show about having everyone temporarily change urls though. We didn't really want to be well known. Anybody who knew about ebblr understood that it was for the best of both communities if people kept quiet.

Q: How did the "boundaries" discourse affect your community?

A: we danced around with boundaries. Back when we were making fun of main for platonic marriage, a lot of us were loud about the fact that neither of them had called it a platonic marriage until the fans started doing it. We weren't technically breaking any stated boundaries, but i think part of why we were so loud about it is because we knew on some level that it was a cope. When the boundaries were finally stated and the truth that we were being weird all along was unavoidable, it was fucking DEFCON 1. A lot of people left ebblr over it, and a lot of people were like "wait, you didn't know we were breaking boundaries?" The community had boundaries, but they were not the same boundaries as the content creators.

Q: Were you ever involved in any main MCYTblr events?

A: nope. we wanted nothing to do with main mcytblr. We stayed aware, though, and made fun of them whenever things went sour.

Q: Do you think being in ebblr was an overall positive or negative experience?

A: mixed. so mixed. so incredibly mixed. The anxiety of me or my friends getting exposed or discovered kept me up at night. I was constantly conflicted about whether or not i was doing the right thing while also reassuring people that we definitely were. Our proximity to the darkest parts of minecraft fandom means i've seen and learned things that I wish I hadn't. When Beeduo went no contact it was uh. It Was Bad. It Felt Bad. We Felt bad, and I felt partially responsible. it's hard to know if that's true.

At the same time, I've met some of my best friends on there, ones that I keep in contact with to this day! Being on ebblr taught me a lot of critical thinking- I now understand that twitter isnt right about everything always. Being known and liked as Umbie helped me safely built up a sense of identity there that has brought me into the best chapter of my life so far, and experimenting with pronouns was also really really nice. For all the late nights and callout posts and blocklists and moralism and bullshit, i think i will be chasing the high of the vindication that i got when ranboo came out on twitter for the rest of my life.

You can call us a lot of things, but you can't call us incorrect on that front, and as truthers go, that's kinda rare.

[umbie was kind enough to also send me the following image-- this is the "enderbees" flag, seen in the yellow/purple rainbow, as it appeared on Karl Jacobs's stream of 2022 r/place! You can also spot the L'manburg flag, the Snowchester flag, and one more I can't identify.]

[mcytblrconfessions]

I somehow was pulled into spontaneously watching a6d's newer videos post his "return" today and,, kinda having low key feelings right now. I used to watch the muffin trio's videos and read fanfic on wattpad about them way before any of the drama happened. And then at some point the drama did happen; I don't even really remember exactly what it was or if I was even as intense in the muffin trio's fandom anymore. I *probably* wasn't anymore, but I definitely saw all the "A6d is my friend" tweets and,,, yeah, I honestly still don't know completely what I feel about it all. It wasn't my apology to pass judgement on, so I kind of just. didn't pass judgement and went with the general opinion, so I never developed any strong feelings (both in support and against) about him from it fjjsjsjsjs

It was fun going back to his videos today though. I feel a bit bad about it because it feels like I'm glossing over what happened (seeing as I haven't looked back at Twitter and. don't even remember exactly what happened), and again it's not really my thing to pass judgment over (<- probably has adhd but not autism. so). Skeppy and Bad have both made videos with him since and I'm tempted to fall back on that ig. This is really not a well typed out thought thing but it is cathartic and will have to do I suppose <o>

(Also this is really stupid but I have been wanting to find something mcyt related to make myself listen to French so that I can get better for my french class and hopefully if I move to Canada, and A6d's Being French could solve my struggle at finding something my brain agrees with. I have tried multiple qsmp people, but it's so hard for me to watch the long streams and I just. personally am not attached to nor interested in the storyline from what I've osmosis'd)

[archaxwii]

Omg its been AGES since I wrote a vore fic it's so fun why'd I stop lmao

Sorry its not mcyt I've been struggling with writing that lately so here's some S/D/V vore of my darling Shane and my oc Ember!

Warnings: Contains fearplay, mentions of digestion (none happen), safe, soft, nonsexual vore, and slight injury and blood, and alcoholism but it's Shane so that's a given

"Another one, Shane?" Emily asked as she dragged away a recently drained mug.

He gruffly nodded and she whisked away. She'd long since stopped trying to convince him to quit his nasty habit, despite her obvious disapproval. 

Work was a slow, boring slog today, and with Morris looming over his head like a stormcloud after messing up a palette while stacking it left him stressed and tired. Luckily the Saloon was relatively empty today,only his fellow alcoholic Pam was with them, and she was near passed out like usual so there was no one to chatter endlessly and increase his migraine. Even Emily seemed to notice his dour mood and left him alone.

She brought over his next beer and he was swift to gulp it down. He was around 4 (was it 5?) in and it was already getting late. He was also quite hungry but he was already racking up a tab at the Saloon so he didn't want to add any food to his bill.

He sighed as he finished his beer, burping quietly from drinking too fast. He slid the mug back to Emily and paid for what he'd drank that night.

Shane gave her and Gus a half hearted wave and he stumbled out of the bar into the cool night of fall.

He trudged home, hands in his ratty jacket pockets and occasionally staggering off the path. Maybe he had drank 5...

He was brought out of his hazy stupor by a high, squeaky voice. He blearily looked around, it was just outside Marnie's ranch, but he saw no one.

'Oh right...the tinies...' he looked down and sure enough there was a very grumpy farmer looking up at him. Looks like one wrong step and he would've squished the poor fella, no wonder he's pissed.

The farmer had moved in at the beginning of spring and while living all by himself as a tiny, and making his own fortune, he'd managed to fit himself into the village pretty well. A lot of people in town liked him.

Shane was not one of those people.

Shane didn't like anyone in this town, except for Jas (and maybe Marnie), and he especially didn't like little firecrackers who were so bright and loud despite how tiny they were. Even if he did bring Shane some delicious gifts.

"Sorry, little dude, didn't see ya there." He huffed, intending to continue his short walk home.

"Hey I didn't walk here all the way from the mines in the freezing cold just for you to almost step on me! You could stand to watch where you're going jerk!" The little farmer yelped.

Shane grit his teeth. He was already in a bad mood and this was not helping. He was hungry and his house was right there.

He bent down and picked the tiny up, much to his dismay, bringing him up to his face.

"Hey keep your paws to yourself asshole!" the farmer growled, but the fight left him as he sank into the warmth of Shane's hand. Shane did notice he was shivering and his skin cool to the touch. It must be miserable walking around in the fall and winter.

"Look man, it's freezing can you just take me home? It's not that far away!" The farmer pleaded. Shane could see his icy eyes glimmering to gain sympathy.

Unfortunately for him, Shane wasn't in a sympathetic mood.

A low, mournful growl erupted from his stomach. Longing for something to fill it. The farmer seemed to recognize what was about to happen right as the idea popped into Shane's head.

"O-or you can just set me down! It's not that far I can probably make it! Please let me go I promise I won't bother you anymore!" Hm, a tempting offer, but now that his hunger had been rekindled he was hellbent on making a meal outta this farmer.

"Don't worry, kid, I've got a place that will warm you right up." He grinned. He brought the farmer to his mouth and lapped his tongue right across his face.

"Ack- your breath is disgusting!" He rewarded that smart comment with sticking the upper half of the farmer right in his mouth.

"Shane! This isn't funny, let me go!" He shouted, legs kicking furiously. Shane hummed as he slicked up the farmer. He had a savory, smoky taste to him that was absolutely delicious. Wanting more he pushed the farmers legs inside, now sealing him completely in his mouth.

The farmer thrashed angrily on his tongue, trying desperately to get a holding but Shane was quick to pin him to the roof of his mouth. Swallowing down saliva that had already pooled there.

Shane's stomach growled again, sensing the meal not too far away, and he figured it was time to finally fill it.

"Shane, I swear to Yoba, let me go!"

'If you say so.' He thought cheekily before swallowing heavily.

Ember yelped as he was shoved headfirst into his hot, tight gullet. A wave of dizziness washed over him as he was now almost completely vertical.

Another swallow pushed him a few inches lower. Another and he could hear the slow but heavy pounding of Shane's heart.

He whined at the sensation, going from the freezing air to this sweltering, crushing heat was melting his brain. He could feel his own heart rabbit-beating in his chest with fear.

Another wave and he dizzily thought about how much he loved learning about the digestive system in college, how fitting for him to die becoming apart of it. For some drunkard town loser no less.

Another swallow and he was met with a tight junction, a final one sealed his fate and his slid into his permanent resting place.

He yelped with disgust as he processed the stench of the stomach he resided in, months of nonstop drinking hadn't been kind to the organ. A pool that covered his legs must be the last dredges of what Shane had drank before meeting Ember. From what he could tell it was only beer by the unpleasant scent, but that was likely to change swiftly.

The drunken man sighed and patted his belly, and he yipped with fear as the stomach tightened around him, only for it to return to normal as Shane belched unapologetically. Shane chuckled, causing light vibrations to shake the chamber.

'What an awful way to die." He thought bitterly.

He growled, turned around and slamming his fists into the wall behind him." Let me out of here! You're gonna let me die cause I was rude to you one time?! If I did that I would've eaten you months ago!" He snarled furiously.

Shane huffed, patting his stomach condescendingly." Shame ya couldn't, aye kid?" The encounter had sobered him up quite a bit, and he was feeling much better with something filling him. He padded the short distance home and wandered to his room with no trouble. Marnie and Jas were almost certainly asleep by now. That just meant he had plenty of time to spend with his little cargo.

He shucked off his shoes and Joja jacket and slumped into bed, resting a hand on his belly.

"I swear I'll gut you Shane, don't tempt me!" The farmer threatened. He considered being nice and telling the tiny that he wasn't planning on digesting him, and he'd simply let him out in the morning after he'd had his fun, but he was enjoying toying with the little thing too much.

"I'd like to see you try, kid." He huffed as he absently rubbed his belly with a smirk.

"Alright, I warned you!" Shane winced as he actually felt a spike of pain in his gut.

"Ghh-what?" He grunted, tightening his grip on his stomach.

"I told you I just got out of the mines! No respectable miner goes in without a sword, dumbass!" Dammit, he conceded he literally asked for this. Karma was such a bitch sometimes.

The pain blossomed uncomfortably across his abdomen." Ack- I wasn't gonna hurt you kid! I just wanted to mess with you!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Not gonna hurt me?! I'm in your stomach dude!" The farmer shrieked. Shane already felt like he had a hangover.

"Yeah and I can stop myself from digesting you, it's a giant thing, don't you know that?!" He said gruffly.

The farmer was silent for a moment.

"No...I'd never met any giants before I came to this town, I always stayed in tiny circles." He admitted.

"I thought you went to college?"

"Well students weren't really eating each other there!"

"Heh, your college sounds lame we used to do that all the time."

"You're gross dude."

Shane grinned but winced at another wave of pain." I know, but I'm not evil, I really wasn't gonna hurt you, I'm..." he sighed deeply," I'm sorry for scary you, kid, and for being such an ass to you." He murmured regretfully.

"You should be!...I'm sorry for stabbing you." The farmer apologized." I thought I was gonna die, in my defense." He added on.

Shane chuckled and gritted his teeth at the spike of pain that followed." Fair enough, I should probably go see Harvey, he's gonna be pissed at me wakin' him up so late." He sighed.

"Eh, I've had to be brought in late at night several times, I'm sure he's used to it by now." The farmer said nonchalantly.

Shane groaned, rubbing his stomach to alleviate some of the pain." Welp, this is gonna be an awkward conversation."

—

Harvey was disappointed in Shane for toying with the poor farmer and said so to his face. He asked if Shane had learned his lesson to which he'd sheepishly nodded, now painfully sober.

He'd also learned his tiny companion was named 'Ember' as well. He'd never bothered to learn the little farmers name since he tried to stay away from him as much as possible.

Harvey gave him some painkillers and antibiotics that would heal the wound within a few days, but he'd been told to stay off drinking until then, much to Shane's displeasure.

When he'd been asked if he wanted to be released Ember had actually stated he wanted to remain for the night.

"I feel bad for hurting you, and I don't wanna send you home with an empty belly." He remarked as they walked back to the ranch. Shane raised an eyebrow." You don't have to force yourself to stay in there for my sake, I can heat up some frozen pizza when I get back home."

Ember was silent for a moment.

"Well...I kinda like it in here..." He whispered so soft Shane could barely hear.

A dumb grin plastered itself across his face." What was that?" He asked.

"Grr, I said I like it! Once you get over the smell and the gross wetness it's...almost relaxing in here." He admitted reluctantly.

Shane was surprised to hear a real confession out of the farmer. He rubbed his stomach as he made his way back home. Again.

"Yknow you're not the first tiny I've heard say that, you're not even the first I've heard say that about me. Sometimes I wonder what all the hype is about." Ugh, why did he admit that? This guy wasn't his friend!

Ember also seemed surprised, judging by his silence."...Well, it's nice and warm, and it's cozy, and hearing your uh- your heart and lungs blocks out the white noise of my head. It feels like a good place to fall asleep...oddly safe." He described hesitantly.

Shane hummed." Mm, that does sound nice." When's the last time he actually felt safe anywhere? Now he really wished he could experience it. He refused to say that out loud, though.

Soon they were back in the ranch and he flopped back onto his bed for a second time that night. Hopefully no sharp pointy things would interrupt his relaxing.

He jumped at a soft sensation from within him.

"Oh! Sorry, did I hurt you?" Ember apologized.

"No, what was that?" He asked, wanting to have the feeling back.

"I just felt like I should make it up to you somehow, figured rubbing your belly from the inside might feel nice." Shane flushed a little from embarrassment, and was grateful it would be too dark for Ember to see from inside.

"It- uh- it does feel nice, you can keep doing it, if it doesn't bother you." He answered shyly.

Ember raised an eyebrow. This man was completely different to the rough, mean predator that had devoured him earlier, where had this soft side come from?!

He went back to gently rubbing the rough, battered walls of the stomach.

Ember could audibly hear Shane sighing contently from the woosh of air rushing out of his lungs. A small smile spread across his face.

"Ahhh, thanks kid." He patted his belly fondly, and drifted into sleep with ease, having the best nights sleep he'd had in years.