#so I won't be clogging up your dashes

[theinfinitedivides]

the next time i hear someone say that asexuals can't get married bc marriage is for 'procreation' and 'what are they going to be doing if they're not having sex/planning to have children in the future' i will deck a bitch. literally lay them out in the middle of the street and f*ck them up istg—

[berrys-main-blog]

Alright, so I wanted to have a blog where I can occassionally post shit about my life outside of roleplaying. Sooo you guys might start to see more posts on this blog. Feel free to unfollow if ur not interested.

[caeca-iustitia]

I really would like to write more variety in terms of the eras of Vincent you may see on this blog from time to time.

I have a document with a list of 9 potential versions of Vincent that could be picked from at any given moment.

This ranges from them as a child to them far into the future.

If you would like a randomly selected Vincent as a starter or in your inbox then let me know.

For those that wish to, at some point, choose a version of Vincent then I will include the list below the cut so I don't take up more dashboard space.

Child Vincent/Morticia - Ages 5 to 8

Preteen Vincent/Morticia - Ages 8 to 12

Teenage Vincent/Morticia - Ages 12 to 18

Pre-ShinRa Vincent - Ages 18 to 23

Turk Vincent - Ages 23 to 27

Post-Hojo Vincent - Ages 27 to 57

AVALANCHE Vincent - Ages 57 to 60

Post-Omega Vincent - Ages 60 to 92

Far Future Vincent - Ages 592 to 604

[heywriters]

how to make a tumblr post (and get notes!)

Have never seen any post discuss these exact things, so i'm sharing my insights with y'all*

Use images. They don't have to be good or spectacular like this extremely coherent thing I just made. They just need to catch the eye break up dashboard monotony.

The gif search feature is an unreliable wild card at best and a NSFW eye gouge at worst, but it gives credit to the op of the gif

If you're an artist your whole post is your images, so skip to the links and tags section of this post because the rest won't help much.

-> Image Descriptions

When making a post that contains images, hover over an image and click the meatballs icon in the lower right corner of the image. Click "update description" to add a description. It isn't always necessary, but it is very courteous for a variety of accessibility reasons.

-> Text

Break up your text. Run-on sentences are standard here, lack of punctuation too, you can really do whatever you want, but avoid massive blocks of text. unless you've got a really incendiary opening line and the entire center of that granite chunk of text is actually comedy gold, hard-hitting tumblr journalism, or one of those zany confessional posts that can be followed up by the drive thru meme

break up

your text.

and go light on the ALL CAPS. save it for emphasis or when you're feeling very unhinged or saRcAStiC y'know how that goes, i don't need to explain it. this site has a very dry tone to its posts so caps are rare. also periods

Bullet points and numbered posts are good and fine. The "Chat" post option is used less often these days, but different groups found uses for it so it sticks around.

Titles Matter

they help break up text and put people at ease. they are best for informative, mature posts but can make you look like a square in more relaxed conversations. sometimes they are also great for emphasis in a comedic sh*tpost (censorship is entirely up to you, btw. you don't have to censor much on tumblr except titties and genitals).

Tumblr automatically shortens long posts now, but etiquette asks that you tag #long post if you want to avoid clogging up someone's dash. It don't matter too much though, this is the "color of the sky" site, so get used to posts being too long

That being said "READ MORE" is a fantastic feature. Use it when you want some level of privacy like "hey, only click below if you want to hear about my problems" or "click below to read my 18+ fanfic." Read more is also great in case you want to delete something forever. If a reblogged post has a read more, but op deleted the og post, that content is gone (readmore has to be on the og post at time of posting for this to work, btw; edits to og post do not span all reblogs)

the other bells and whistles like colored font or italics are helpful in improving text, but we don't really rely on them. every mode of looking at this site alters those aspects somehow so we often ignore them

-> Links

Hint: People don't want to click links. We don't know where they're taking us. Most of us are on our phone and don't want to open another tab or leave the app to go on the browser. We're cozy here on Tumblr and do not wish to be whisked away (unless it's a rickroll)

Don't leave the link thumbnail to do all the work, like so

add a little sneak peak info, maybe your favorite line from the article or a reason why it's important for people to know the info on the other side of that link. Sell it!

When you're adding a link into a list, i.e. no large thumbnail just a line of text leading you to another site, try not to copy/paste the link as is

"https://......"

No one wants to click on that it's gross and scary. It's screams "meh, i'll click later if i feel like it." If the build up to the link is too good to resist ("if you want to save the orphaned puppies here's the link") then that http mess is sufficient.

Otherwise, dress your links up a little by including the title or a description of what the link goes to:

Or, if it's an informal post where you're just popping info in to back up whatever insane thing you just said, just write something like "link here" or "(x)" and hyperlink it.

-> Tags

artists, writers, and other creators: leave a tag on your creative content that makes it easy for blog visitors to see it all at once. e.g. "My work" and we click on that while on your blog and see only your works

You can have up to thirty tags on any post. All will make your post show up in searches and followed tags (it used to be only the first five tags that got you traction). However,

Please. Do not tag everything you can possibly imagine being relevant to your post because

It's called tag spam and it's against TOS

Everyone here hates that

No one is going to check all those tags ever. Someone might search one five years from now and accidentally find your post hanging out in the ether and they'll still ignore it.

Your imagination is wicked tiny because I guarantee the perfect tag is going to be something indecipherable and seemingly niche.

Follow popular tags (or at least be aware of them)

If yours is an off-the-cuff post and you don't have time to find out what a niche group is into then wing it, sure, idc. this is also the shitposting site do whatever you want

Don't put your hate in the fan tags. This is the unapologetically-like-dumb-things site and your negativity is not wanted. You can still complain, just avoid tagging to get the attention of the fans of whatever you're complaining about. That enables pvp and even nonfans will know you deserve the backlash

-> Audio & Video

clickable by nature because we all love noise and moving images so there's no special way to share posts like this. just post them with good tags and maybe a one-liner, and they'll sell themselves

Tip: it's nice to add descriptions to these too but it isn't common

Protip: if the audio is the best part of the video (e.g. a baby burps REALLY loudly and it's hilarious) please caption or tag "Unmute!"

-> mkay bye

that's all i can think of right now. will update later if i remember something

---

*this is year eleven of my time on tumbles and i studied marketing in college for like six of those years and have been applying that bupkis to tumblr ever since. every post i see that gets no traction and every lovely artist that goes nowhere on here bothers me so deeply and i sincerely want y'all to succeed <3 <3

+ If you find this helpful and want to support my blog, I have a ko-fi!

+ If you're concerned about my mental health from being on Tumblr so long and want to contribute to my "get better" fund, I have a ko-fi!

[daughter-of-sapph0]

the reason this website works while others fail is because the main dash is in reverse chronological order and only shows posts by people you choose to follow.

algorithms never work. a computer will never know what someone wants to see more than the actual person. it might give you some content that people can turn off their brains and consume for a few hours. but tumblr doesn't have "content". it doesn't have family friendly short form tiktok videos for people to scroll through for hours. it doesn't have arguments about petty internet drama where people tell each other to kill themselves for disagreeing like twitter does. like, sure those things can exist on tumblr but they aren't the main point of tumblr.

tumblr isn't content. it's conversations and art and writing and music and pictures and movies and experiences and people's lives being shared with their close friends. the reason this website works is because of the fact that their is no algorithm.

algorithms do not work for a website like tumblr. I only want to see the posts and reblogs from people I follow. the people I follow share similar interests to me and share and create posts that I know I will enjoy. even if there's a blog that posts one thing I really like, if the rest of their blog is stuff I have no interest in, I won't follow them.

staff says that the current model unfairly rewards popular blogs.

first of all, rewards them with what? clogged notification? that hardly seems like a positive, and I should know.

secondly, so what? no one cares if anyone is popular or not. follower counts aren't public. blogs don't get popular. certain posts get popular.

also thirdly, their solution to the "popular blogs" issue is to introduce an algorithm which will either:

just promote the posts of blogs with lots of followers, therefore making the "problem" they're trying to fix bigger

recommend posts from smaller blogs who do not want the attention and will end up getting "ew why am I seeing this garbage" on their personal vent posts

completely ruin the whole reason people follow tags and tag their posts in the first place and will end up thinking that non-fandom posts that aren't tagged from fandom blogs should be shown to people in that whole fandom (see point 2)

show posts to people who have no interest in them, such as showing posts about photography to people who only use tumblr to talk about video games, or vice versa

will end up promoting posts by fascists and terfs that staff still will not ban

the whole idea of an algorithm is a fucking stupid idea to implement on tumblr, and I hope that all the executives who decided to push for the idea get fired.

@staff @wip @changes @support this as a warning. no one on tumblr wants an algorithm. you can check the notes on your recent post, and it's all unanimous. people will leave this site en mass if you implement it.

you will not gain more users with an algorithm. anyone who would ever use tumblr has already jumped ship from twitter and reddit and tiktok. all those websites are currently failing because of poor executive decisions, and trying to make tumblr like them will be a death sentence. the only reason people join tumblr is because it isn't like every single social media website.

if new users wanted something similar to twitter, they'd join one of the dozens of twitter clones that will be shut down in a few weeks, like threads or bluesky or whatever the fuck they're called. people don't come here because they want twitter. people come here because they want tumblr. and an algorithm will fundamentally change and ruin what tumblr is

you will not gain users from an algorithm. but you will certainly lose them. it is a terrible decision that no one will like.

[brb-on-a-quest]

Tumblr should really let you pin multiple things as a blog introduction. (I wish).

Anyway, hi, hello, (new friend?), I'm Brb/Birb/(real name redacted). I'm an almost graduated student from the general land of cornfields and more cornfields. There's not much around, that's why I'm here, lol. (Also I've met a bunch of cool people, so now I think I'm kind of stuck here - come join us!).

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

If you happen to be a New Person Who Has Found Me (Hello!) and You Want To Talk to Me, I don't bite, I swear. I am a Birb with the heart of a Golden Labrador Retriever. Feel free to Tag Me in any tag games or haunt my inbox. <3 Come say hi! i love friends.

((Art by the amazing @mayamohini jfkfjjfkjgjgjgjfj it’s gorgeous)

(my "character sheet" that is based on my real life attributes--yes, I did roll all of these numbers. I use canva a totally healthy amount sometimes)

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

Anyway, more information y'all should know: This is the main account; I do have a sideblog. I reblog a lot of friend's nonsense, post a lot of my own even more nonsense, kind of have a whole "I want to be a hobbit living my best life somewhere not here vibe" I think. You will also see posts about things I think are wholesome/sweet, writing, psychology, fantasy, whatever fandom I'm in (or a friend's fandom),....just general nonsense I suppose. I do post some amount of life stuff when relevant or whenever I find things funny. Although the pic above is an owl, I am probably more akin to a magpie with much reblogging of things I find "shiny" to add to the chaotic mess that is my tumblr dashboard.

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

@brb-on-a-side-blog is also me! This was created to hopefully separate original writing content from the rest of the reblogging I do so it doesn't get buried in theory. This may not work out in theory as well as in practice, but I promise to reblog the cool writing stuff to my main blog if you don't want to have it clogging up your dash :).

There are other ones but as I am currently not using them it seems futile to put in an intro post.

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

Tags to help sift through to find me in the hoard of posts!

#brb-rambles: Original thoughts about something (or at least as original as I can be).

#brb-(insert part of moots name here): interactions between me and said moot! I'm actually really not great at this but will get better and I forsee mass post editor being a BFF if I do this.

#brb-life: original content relating to my life/thoughts.

#brb-writes: original writing content (this will be potentially moved to sideblog).

#brb-memes (i make memes sometimes).

#brb-library: posts that are either really funny/really struck me so I'm going to save them to print out

#brb-adventures: the hopeful travel tag for some upcoming trips (either the grocery store or New York who knows).

#brb-learning-things: Things I have learned (although it's from my school/classes so questionably but I reason sourced; if it's not, I'll include source link/some kind of citation).

#brb needs a laugh check: I am joking. Please do not take me seriously.

#brb vs the call of the academia: school posting?

#brb-asks/#brb-report:s hopefully new ask tag if I can remember to add them.

#dear north canada love south canada (and associated tags I will not be typing out here) is a fun series I have with @igotthisaccountunderduress (she's absolutely cool, check her out). Again, that won't cover all the posts but again, vibes).

[templeofvengeance]

☽ Welcome to the Temple of Vengeance! Greatest of the Great Gods, Khonshu, presiding. ☾

☽ Inbox: Open ☾

[Indie RP/Ask blog for Khonshu from the MCU's Moon Knight. Set after the show ends by default, but also open to other verses. Open for questions or threads! More info on the blog, or under the cut for mobile users.]

Updated: 11/03/24

Laws of the Temple

☽ BASICS ☾

- MUN STUFF: My name's Kew! She/they, well over 21. No triggers. I don't have DID, any attempt to portray it is based on the show/comics. I only speak English fluently and any other language will be google translate. Please forgive any mistakes!

- MINORS BE WARNED: I'm not going to be super strict about weeding out minors since I don't expect things to get NSFW around here, but the show Khonshu is from does explore some darker themes for a TV-14 show. I dunno. You've been warned.

- GENERAL RP ETIQUETTE APPLIES: Don't make actions for my character without asking, don't assume past relationships/deep history without asking, don't read my character's mind (unless your character is a telepath, and even then I don't know if that works on gods), etc. - GENERAL CONTENT WARNING FOR: Descriptions of violence, religious stuff, swearing, emotional manipulation, a.bleism (especially surrounding mental health stuff.) I’ll try to tag other things as they come up. - FEEL FREE TO REBLOG MEMES FROM ME. It actually helps me remember to send stuff out. You can also reblog art/headcanons, pretty much anything except RP threads if you're not the other party!

- NOT PRIVATE, BUT SELECTIVE: I sometimes don't follow big multimuses back since I have pretty strict tastes in fandoms, and I don't want to clog my dash with characters I don't know. That doesn't mean I don't want to roleplay with you though! As for selectivity, I reserve the right to say no if things just don't click writing-wise.

- SPOILERS FOR MOON KNIGHT EVERYWHERE. There will be untagged spoilers for both the comics and especially the show. I highly recommend watching the Moon Knight TV show if you haven’t seen it! It got me into comic books and made me interested in the MCU. - That said, I haven’t seen all of the content in the MCU, not even a third of it, so I’m sorry if I get any lore details wrong.

- KHONSHU IS AN ASSHOLE. Nothing he says reflects my real views about anything. If he’s mean to you, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you or you’ve done something wrong.

- FOR OTHER MARC/STEVEN/JAKE MUSES: By default, I'll play Khonshu like he's connected to your Marc/Steven/Jake. If you want it to be dimension-hopping shenanigans (which I'm super down to do, especially for ones more heavily based on the comics) you'll have to let me know! All these interactions will be on different verses, and I don't plan to have Khonshu be 'mains' with any muses.

- FIGHTS: With extremely rare exceptions, I'm just gonna say no to fight threads with Khonshu. Partly because he's incorporeal and really can't be hurt or hurt anyone else directly. Mostly because fighting other muses has always stressed me out. If it's something you really want to do, we can talk about it. (This doesn't mean your character can't attack Khonshu ever, it just means it probably won't work.)

☽ MUSE INFO ☾

NAME: Khonshu OTHER NAMES: Chons, Bloody pigeon, Silly old bird (He accepts none of those) PRONOUNS: He/him HEIGHT: Varies, usually around 8-10 feet tall. WEIGHT: N/A (Incorporeal, like a ghost) AGE: Has existed since the dawn of time, so who knows.

- KHONSHU is the Egyptian god of the moon, vengeance, healing and time, among other smaller things. While he is enormously powerful in theory, he’s mostly unable to affect the physical world without use of a mortal AVATAR, dubbed his MOON KNIGHT. Those who agree to be his Avatar are granted superpowers and near-invulnerability, in exchange for agreeing to carry out his mission: Bringing vengeance against those who harm his travelers of the night.

- Khonshu is also somehow a billions-year-old grumpy baby who flips over trash cans when he doesn’t get his way.

- By default, Khonshu's current Avatar is JAKE LOCKLEY, and only Jake Lockley. But, he can also be played before the events of the show, when he (technically) has the triple threat of Jake Lockley, MARC SPECTOR, and STEVEN GRANT.

- Jake will make occasional cameos on this blog, but I wouldn't call this a dual muse. (You can request him in asks if you want.)

- Normally, only his Avatar (or Avatars of other gods) are capable of seeing/hearing Khonshu, but let’s say this blog is a holy space where he can answer your prayers questions. (In threads, we can always BS a reason your character can see Khonshu.)

- This Khonshu is HEAVILY BASED ON THE TV SHOW, which means he lacks a lot of the harsher history his comic book counterpart has. That said, as a god, he is aware of the multiverse and has at least a rough idea of what his counterparts are up to. You can ask about comic stuff, he just might have a different opinion.

- Some comic lore has been added/built upon, namely his fraught history with his father, AMON-RA. (This probably won’t come up much, but it does inform a lot of how I play the character.)

[book--brackets]

Welcome to the now various book competitions I run!

Current Competition (Best Childhood Book #5) Masterpost

Hello! This initially started as Best Childhood Book, but I now also run Best Childhood World and Best Fantasy Book. Competitions run on a schedule of BCB > BCW > BFB with submissions opening occasionally to fill spots.

Since we need some clarification, the definition of childhood book in this competition is as follows: a book people read in childhood that must be for a YA age group or younger and has chapters. There is a difference between “children’s” book and “childhood” book. ANY book that met those requirements could be submitted, as I am striving to keep my personal opinion out of this competition for the most part. This definition will not change for the foreseeable future.

This masterpost will be updated with links to all the polls regularly, and each poll will last 7 days. If you vote, reblog if you can so more people can vote, and feel free to campaign for your personal favorite if you want!

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR CHILDHOOD BOOKS (320/320)

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR CHILDHOOD WORLDS (192/192)

SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR FANTASY BOOKS (298/320)

Please submit with the name of the book and the author. Check the lists to see if anything has been submitted before trying yourself. If a book is part of a series, it will be listed under the series name (i.e. The Lightning Thief > Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Golden Compass > His Dark Materials). You can find the current list of childhood books here. A world will be listed with its series, and you can find the current list of worlds here. You can find the current list of fantasy books here.

Poll links and rules under the cut

Help decide parameters for submissions with some fringe cases: recently published YA, adult books lots of children/teens read, retelling worlds

First Competition (here)

Second Competition (here)

Third Competition (here)

Fourth Competition (here)

BCW First Competition (here)

BFB First Competition (here)

Rules/Guidelines

3 books per submission!

Submissions for Childhood Books

Must be a middle grade or young adult book

Must have chapters

Must be able to be found on Goodreads

Submissions for Childhood Worlds

Must be the setting of a middle grade or young adult book.

Must be either a whole other world (i.e. Narnia, Panem), a setting largely separate from our own world (i.e. Hogwarts, Camp Half-Blood), or a specific setting within our own world that is invented for the purpose of that book (i.e. 221B Baker Street, Ferryport Landing)

Main characters have to have visited this place

Cannot be somewhere that already exists in our world outside that book

Submissions for Fantasy Books

Must be listed as 'fantasy' or some fantasy subgenre within the first three genres on Goodreads or Storygraph

Must be able to be found on Goodreads

Must have chapters but can otherwise be for any age range

Polls

Be respectful (no hate, no harassment, I will block you)

I'm totally okay with spam reblogs; if you want to subject your followers to seventeen copies of a poll, you do you

If you're trying to get my attention about something, @ me or submit an ask, there's no guarantee I'll see all the reblogs

In preliminary polls, if a title gets less than 2% of the vote it will be removed from the list

Propaganda

Submit it to me as an ask; I won't be reblogging personal posts or reblogs of the polls

Promote the book you're supporting; it's okay to poke fun at the other books, but please don't attack them or the authors

Only ONE (1) propaganda post per user per book. I really don't want to clog people's dashes with sixty posts about voting for a single book

Asks

Be respectful, not just to me but to all the people who will end up seeing that ask when I post it

If you're asking about a poll or a rule or anything else, please check and see if it's in this post or elsewhere

Try to keep things focused on the competition/books

Competition Hall of Fame

Childhood Books First Competition: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Childhood Books Second Competition: Animorphs by K. A. Applegate

Childhood Books Third Competition: Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud

Childhood Books Fourth Competition: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Childhood Worlds First Competition: 35 Portland Row from Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud

Fantasy Books First Competition: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

[wizardsvslesbians]

We got a whole bunch of new followers lately and with them a whole bunch of asks in the askbox! I don't want to clog up people's dashes with responses so I'll address them in one big post here. If I don't mention your question I'm probably saving it for a future Q&A episode.

First of all, to everyone who said nice things about us - thanks! We love to be praised.

Next, book recommendations! Thanks to everyone who sent them in, we always appreciate it.

-We won't be covering the Baru Cormorant and Hexarchate sequels, in the former case because Isaac hates the first book too much, and in the latter because Alexis loves the first book too much.

-The Spear Cuts Through Water is on our to-read list! We'll give it a nudge.

-To the person who recommended we read the Left Hand of Darkness - first, bless you - second, it would make a great bonus episode. (Lee, how you feeling?) If you'd like to read some of Isaac's thoughts about it in the meantime, here is a post.

-To the author of Many Drops Make a Stream, who decorously mentioned their book without outright suggesting that we cover it, in the course of saying nice things about us - we'll read it!

Finally, to the person who sent us a pair of asks about what we meant by liberal democratic politics potentially being "smarter" for wizards vs lesbians books at the end of the episode on the Valkyrie - I had to go back and listen to the whole thing to figure out what you were talking about! We record these things months in advance sometimes and so timestamps are helpful if you want to argue with us. Alexis is broadly uninterested in getting into political fights on here but Isaac likes that kind of thing, so you can hit him up at some-triangles.tumblr.com with your grievances. Alexis is interested in talking about the Hexarchate books (or the Foreigner series) if anyone wants to.

[tommykinard217]

Okay I looked through it and despite my sleep deprived state, I think it's pretty good!! So, as inspired by @agentnatesewell, a short little fic about Mason making Marcus some tea! It'll be under the cut so it doesn't clog up your dash!

Mason stared at the many boxes and containers of tea in deep annoyance. Who the hell even drank this much tea? And why? Tea was bitter, too strong even at its weakest brewing, and tasted like actual dirt and leaves to Mason. 

But, it was Marcus's preferred drink of choice. He constantly drank the stuff, and with a pretentiousness Mason usually only saw in Nate. 

It, apparently, had to be loose leaf. Brewed at a specific temperature, and for a specific time, and with honey and never sugar. 

Granted, Marcus never actually enforced that when other people made him tea. The few times Felix or himself had tried had his detective hiding a wince at the taste before smiling cheerfully and thanking them. He never wasted a cup either. 

He didn't know why Marcus didn't just tell them that their attempts tasted like shit, but well. That was Marcus. Always sparing people's feelings, always smiling and ensuring others that he's fine when he clearly wasn't and why won't he just be honest.

Mason blinked. Right. Tea. 

Honestly the only reason Mason knew how Marcus actually liked his tea was because he had overheard him explaining it to Nate, literally the only other person on this planet who'd probably be able to understand.

And Nate did. He often made Marcus a cup of tea whenever Marcus was coming home from a particularly exhausting day. The steaming hot drink seemed to completely drain his detective of any stress, as he sighed happily and sipped slowly. 

And Mason. It's not that he felt jealous, exactly. Nate had a bond with Marcus just like they all did, just like he did. (Well, not just like he did). He didn't care about that. Nate could make him tea every day of the week. 

But Mason just wanted to do something too. He wanted to ease some of that stress for Marcus too, if he got the chance. 

So there he was. Staring at the immense shared collection of teas that belonged to Nate and Marcus. 

“Do you need help?” Nate had asked, somehow managing to sneak up on Mason. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts about Marcus that he hadn't even noticed Nate enter the room. 

How did his detective keep managing to do that to him? Occupy his thoughts to the point of pure distraction. 

He mentally shook the thought away and focused back on Nate. “Why do you think I need help?” Mason asked, somewhat defensively. 

Nate simply chuckled, looking at the teas as if contemplating which one he himself was going to drink. “No reason. Marcus should be arriving home soon, however, so I was going to prepare his tea. Would you like to help?” 

Mason sneered, though it lacked the heat it should have. He should have known Nate would be able to see right through him. 

“Might as fucking well, since I'm already here. Though I don't know how much help I'd be. It's just tea.” 

Nate sighed, as if Mason had just told him something heartbreaking. “It's not just tea. At least not for Marcus and I. But regardless, it's hardly that complicated.” 

In fact, Nate seemed to come to the conclusion that Mason was in fact going to be brewing Marcus's tea for him, not Nate himself, as a smile came to the taller man's face. “I'll give you the instructions, and you can follow through. Eventually it'll become second nature.” 

Both knew that at the end of the day, Marcus's teas would be primarily made by Nate. He had more patience for shit like that, but both knew that Mason at least liked having the option of being able to do this for Marcus. 

“Grab the peppermint tea on the middle shelf, it's his favorite. You'll want to use two teaspoons and use this particular infuser.” Nate instructed, pointing out or handing Mason the things he needed. 

“Then, you'll set the kettle for 212 degrees. This kettle in particular allows for such specific temperatures.” 

Mason dutifully followed the instructions, but not without a roll of his eyes. What the fuck did it matter if it was 212 degrees or if it was 205? 

“Then, you'll need two teaspoons of this honey.” Mason ended up squeezing way too much into the mug, but oh well, a little extra wouldn't kill Marcus. 

“And then let it steep for 10 minutes. Marcus likes his tea on the stronger side, but any longer will make the tea bitter.”

Unfortunately they had both gotten distracted by Felix, and the tea ended up being brewed for 15 minutes instead of the preferred 10, but again, well. Shit happens. 

After the 15 minutes though, almost as if right on cue, Marcus had entered the warehouse with his usual cheerful greeting. 

Nate and Mason had a silent argument of who should be the one to deliver the tea to their detective. Eventually though, Nate relented and grabbed the mug, bringing it into the living area where Marcus was already curled up on the couch.

“Nate! My hero!” Marcus shot up, smile brightening up the entirety of his face. 

Mason couldn't explain why his heart suddenly felt like it was racing at the sight, but Nate gave him a knowing look. Whatever. 

As Marcus took a sip of the tea, he sighed happily, settling further into the couch. “Thanks, Mason. This is perfect.” 

Mason blinked, confused as all hell. “You told him?” He said accusingly to Nate. 

Nate looked just as confused as Mason and shook his head. “Not at all.” Nate turned to look at Marcus. “How did you know?”

Marcus laughed, taking another sip. “Mason usually doesn't come with you when you hand me my tea.” Marcus turned to face Mason this time. “Plus, Nate makes my tea exactly the same every single day. I'm not even that precise when making my tea. So, not too difficult to figure out.” 

Another sip, another indulgent sigh of enjoyment. “This is great, Mason. Seriously. Thank you.” 

Mason suddenly felt his throat lock up strangely at the grateful, warm smile Marcus gave him. “Whatever.” He said, voice gruff. 

He wouldn't be making it a habit, not wanting to take something away from Nate and Marcus, but he wouldn't mind being able to get that smile out of him every now and again either. 

[tommos]

28 op drop review 🤍

okay so disclaimer, i'm not a review blog or anything so don't expect an insane review from me here but i'm a silly louie who wants to talk about 28 op hehe

contains quite a bit of images so i'll put an under the cut to not clog ur dash!

so i ordered two items from the shop, i got the green cap and the ecru track jacket in size medium. the cap was $45 and the jacket was $110 with tax i think i paid around $190 with shipping (i'm not proud of spending this much lmao but i got paid the day before so it worked out for me in this case, but for future drops i won't be spending this much most likely)

the green cap

so first off, the QUALLLLITTTYYYY!!!!! this hat feels VELVET SMOOTH. it's so soft. like i love it so much already omg? the embroidery on the front is a light green color which complements the dark forest of the hat itself as well. the embroidery looks a little tilted but it's not very noticable.

here is a photo of the tag from the inside with the 18 logo

and another plus of the hat is that the back of it is a metal clasp and not a thin metal piece or anything, its seamless and i really like that!

the texture of this hat feels really great from a neurodivergent pov as well because normally hats like this give me bad headaches and feel weird on my head from the texture and pressure of it on my head but this hat is super soft and the bill of the front doesnt push hard at all into my head so thats another win

2. the ecru track jacket

here she is... in all her glory. honestly first impressions is that its really high quality feeling, like the stitching is even and the material of the jacket (both cloth and track material) are both really soft which i don't normally expect from a track jacket? if that makes any sense? the stretch around the wrists and the bottom of the jacket are not too tight. the length of the jacket is not too long too, it stops right at where my hip bones are and i am 5'7 and got a medium, so i'd say it runs true to size which is nice as well since i'm wary of things i can't try on in person.

the triangle logo and the sewn on 28 patch there are two side pockets that are very very long, which gives plenty of room for comfort and they also have zippers so you won't lose your phone or anything you put in there

here is a close up on the material as well and the double zipper the jacket has

and here is a close up of the tag on the inside!! note the little 'LT' inside

overall the jacket and the hat are both really nice and i recommend them both if you're on the fence at all about them!!! they're super comfortable and eeee i love them thank you louis

[ariaste]

Hello hello! If it’s all right with you, I would like to vent for a moment: Back in the day, I used to be really into BBC Sherlock. I know it was bad, but it was “Be Gay (solve) Crimes” and I couldn’t resit. One of my favorite parts of the fandom was reading fan metas. I enjoyed reading your ridiculously long meta! I am not very clever and I enjoy reading people noticing things that I can’t. It’s fun watching people passionately pick up clues and put them together.

I don’t think I’m the only one getting superwholock flashbacks lately. Sherlock also tried an unreliable narrator in S4 and it was an absolute shit show. People thought thought the finale was fake, it was so bad. TBH, the entire show was a dumpster fire that thought it was more clever than it was. Moffat was a good writer for single episodes for DW, but a garbage show runner. And they called us crazy for picking up what they were putting down.

But Good Omens gives me a spark of hope. It is unashamedly queer, fun, drinks its respecting women juice, and, unlike moffatiss, I think Neil and the crew may actually be clever enough to pull something big off. I adore the Discworld series and Sir Terry, and I have faith Neil will to do right by him.

Good Omens is restoring my faith in nerdy queer fiction and reminding me why I love fandom so much. Please keep up the crackhead theories. I love them 💕

Thank you, that's very kind!

(Ended up writing a very long reply about the response to my essay and also about queerness in media. Idk why i am writing such long posts these days SORRY LOL. Anyway I'm putting it all beneath the cut so I can tag it without clogging people's dash or the tag pages)

It does make me sigh a little when I see people scornfully comparing my long essay to The Johnlock Conspiracy or saying that they're having Sherlock flashbacks, because the both the contexts of the shows and the methodology of the theorizing are VERY different. To my mind, a more direct comparison of methodology would be the Gravity Falls fandom's "Stan Has A Secret Twin" theory. Writers and showrunners DO like being sneaky and clever from time to time, and many of them are much better at it than Moffat is.

But whether or not my theory is right or not is... kind of irrelevant to me? I wasn't out to force anyone to agree with me, AND writing it was a really fun way to spend a weekend, AND I'm proud of the work I did and the story I told, AND it felt good to have a satisfying workout at the Brain Gym. So even if I'm proven utterly and completely wrong, I won't feel like I wasted my time. :)

Good Omens is a great show, and I am SO HAPPY to see it (and other shows!) embracing queerness, sharing the fans' enthusiasm for the story, and honoring and respecting the fans' love rather than punishing them for it. As more and more time goes on, I think we're going to see more and more shows like that, because some of the people who grew up reading tumblr discourse are going to be showrunners themselves one day, and they'll have learned serious lessons about what it feels like when the audience is met with love rather than disgust and disdain. In fact, we're ALREADY seeing more shows like that than we had 10 years ago! There is so much canonical queerness on-screen these days that the me of 10-15 years ago is ASTONISHED and feels wealthy beyond counting. Of course, there is so much further to go, but man... when i was a kid, we had to walk uphill in the snow both ways just to see two dudes making sustained emotional eye contact, and we were grateful for it. (Jokes but also.... kind of real tho)

We've seen the exact same thing happen in scifi/fantasy publishing in the last seven or eight years, too! (Went off on a long tangent about Queerness In Media from an insider perspective, continuing below a cut so I don't clutter everyone's dash)

Even as recently as 2013--ten years ago--you might not have even been able to get your book published if it was openly gay. Hell, you might not have been able to get an agent to represent it, even. It would have been labeled "unmarketable" and passed over; if it DID get published, the queerness would have been camouflaged and downplayed and hidden in the marketing as much as possible--you wouldn't have known by looking at the cover that it was queer, you wouldn't have been able to tell by reading the back cover that it was queer. In literally 2016, seven years ago, a few months before I got my first book deal, I remember having a conversation with a friend and being very very worried that if I wrote books as queer as I wanted them to be, I would be "pigeonholed" as "ONLY writing Gay Books", that I would be passed over for any of the publisher's marketing budget and publicity efforts, that I would be sidelined and ignored... In 2016, I thought I was facing a choice of writing stories with more "mainstream appeal" OR writing the books I wanted to write and potentially undermining the rest of my career.

That didn't happen, thankfully, because in the next couple years there was this incredible explosion of queer scifi/fantasy. You see, ten to fifteen years ago, a truly stunning percentage of my colleagues -- writers, editors, publicists -- were writing and reading fanfic, and they carried their tastes and story-hungers with them as they grew up and got Real Adult Jobs at publishing companies. And suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a lot of us came of age all at once and there was this absolutely enormous wave of queer SFF that in my opinion has brought us into a new golden age of the genre: The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, The Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, The Tensorate series by Neon Yang, Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, the Birdverse books by RB Lemberg, The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickenson, The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, Reforged by Seth Haddon, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson, Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell, The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin -- and these only the ones I could remember off the top of my head in 30 seconds, and I have a flavor of ADHD that makes my brain go blank when people ask me to think of specific examples of things! It is harder for me to think of a SFF book published in the last 7 years that ISN'T queer.

And then almost exactly a year ago, my book A Taste of Gold and Iron came out with THIS COVER:

Which. Is not so much a step forward in openly queer SFF as it is a fucking gauntlet thrown down in challenge. I cannot impress upon you strongly enough how much I would not have gotten this cover 10 years ago, and that's if the book was even accepted for publication in the first place. This cover SCREAMS gay fantasy romance. There is no attempt to hide it or camouflage it. It is advertising exactly what it is, right up front.

I got the absolute privilege and honor of having this cover--and I do consider it an incredible honor--because of the work that all my colleagues put in with their own work. Each queer book that got published wedged the door a little wider for the next one, and then a little wider still for the next one, until finally someone could get their foot in the door and squeeze across the threshold, which opened it a little wider again. So when I look at this image, I don't just see a beautiful cover that I am delighted to have on my books--I see an entire history of slow, steady progress by so many incredible writers who risked damaging their careers just to drag us to a point where a book as gay as this one could get a cover as gay as that one and STILL get the full and enthusiastic support of both the publisher and the audience. And the most incredible honor and the most humbling privilege out of all of this is the fact that the success of this book meant that the door was wedged open another little bit, that I got to contribute in this small way to the efforts of everyone who came before me, so that ones who come after us will find the door flung wide -- or that there's no door left at all to block the way, because we've collectively torn it down.

So yes, @eyona, I think that having your faith restored little by little is a very good thing, and I am delighted that Good Omens is doing that for all of us. And what's even better is that even if Good Omens doesn't play out exactly how we want it to, that's... kind of okay? Because there is always the next one, and at the very very least, Good Omens is wedging the door open further so that the next one can have an easier time of it. We don't have to walk uphill in the snow both ways just to get a moment of emotionally charged eye contact anymore. We don't have to starve anymore, not like we used to back in the bad old days. And that alone is a wonderful thing. :D

[welcometololaland]

hey friends!

just wanted to hop on and say that i hope you all have a fantastic new year and a great start to 2024 💜

i'm gonna be taking a little bit of time away from tumblr in the first few weeks, maybe month of the new year. not totally gone/hiatus just a little bit less active, so i wanted to let y'all know so you don't think i'm like...ignoring your amazing snippets or tags or whatnot. i still love reading them and i'm still around, i just might not be as active. actually, i think this is good for you because i won't be clogging up the dash as much hehe. but please don't think i'm ignoring you!

feel free to reach out on discord to chat if you like and i'll be back in full swing sometime in feb (i think)

tagging some people under the cut who tag me in from time to time just for the fyi

@rmd-writes @celeritas2997 @strandnreyes @lightningboltreader @reyesstrand @cha-melodius @affectionatelyrs @inexplicablymine @orchidscript @ramonaflow @carlos-in-glasses @carlos-tk @three-drink-amy @kiwiana-writes @iboatedhere @indomitable-love @heartstringsduet @birdclowns @alrightbuckaroo @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @freneticfloetry @happiness-of-the-pursuit @lemonlyman-dotcom @liminalmemories21 @redshirt2 @louis-ii-reyes-strand @hippolotamus @bonheur-cafe @theghostofashton @cricketnationrise @herefortarlos @thisbuildinghasfeelings @daisymae-12 @a-noble-dragon @alltheprettyplaces @fitzherbertssmolder

[withacapitalp]

How come "books are books, shows are shows, do whatever you want w characters" doesn't apply to B*lly? Not trying to start drama, just genuinely want to understand. Is it because he's a bad guy I can't reshape him into something I'd like and ignore what's "canon?"

Oh boy Nonnie okay I'll try to be really clear but it probably won't come out super legible. I'm putting it under a read more because I don't wanna clog up my dash w a long explanation (which knowing me it's going to end up being) I also want to say that all of this is MY opinion. I'm no one's ultimate judge, I'm just a guy on the internet who writes stories.

All that to say, this is why I think that fundamentally the idea that Eddie's sexuality and Billy's racism can be manipulated in fandom on the same level is really flawed.

Overall I think that the point of fan fiction is personal enjoyment. Ultimately you're creating something with yourself as the audience in mind. If not, then I don't really get it. So, for you, maybe it can mean that. Do I personally agree? No, but I can't stop anyone from creating something and putting it online. That's the whole point of ao3, no bars, no barriers. When you start putting that kind of wall in place, a slippery slope starts to form, so even if I would never personally partake in some forms of fanfic, I get why it's important to have a place where any kind of fic can exist. Back button exists for a reason, block button exists for a reason, curate your own online experience.

I'm not gonna be the person who says like if you like Billy you're a garbage person, because like that just isn't true? The two aren't automatically associated. Do I think that people who want to erase that part of Billy should maybe examine that urge? Yeah, but I think we all need to look inside and see where systematic racism might make us think things are more acceptable than they should be. I also can't understand people who want to give Vecna a redemption arc, or the people who think Sn*pe was just misunderstood. Regardless, we're all works in progress, and 90% of people to me are capable of learning more and growing and seeing where they might be working with a bias. I know I definitely have my own too.

I personally just will not give him redemption of any form or reshape him, because to do so seems to be disrespectful from my point of view to real life people. I'm not a person of color, Billy's racism is at the forefront of his character, so for me to reshape that and erase it in a fanfic feels like I would be ignoring a serious thing and pretending like that never happened, when it exists in our society in a major way. There isn't a point where Billy's racism ever gets resolved. In fact, the whole thing gets dropped completely in s3 which seems like a really terrible oversight by the Duffers. It's used as a plot point when it was convenient, which is messy and wrong.

But All of that is just background to your real question here which I believe is this-

Why is it okay to change a character's sexuality, but not their bigotry?

For me, I don't really like to equate the two? I think that the idea that someone's sexuality is a 'flaw' that needs to be reshaped is kinda problematic, and we also don't actually know Eddie's sexuality. Everyone can say what they think till the cows come home, but at no point did we get 'Eddie is confirmed gay, straight, bi, etc. etc.' EVERY single interpretation of Eddie's sexuality is someone shaping canon as they see fit right now.

With Billy he is confirmed racist. He is 100% undoubtedly a racist. Not even someone who used to be racist who learned and repented. He was always racist and tried to commit a hate crime against Lucas (I would argue that he did, because holding a twelve year old up against a wall and threatening to kill them because they're black and they dared to want to get to know your sister feels like a hate crime to me) The only reason he didn't seriously hurt Lucas was the fact that Steve stepped in. That's it. He was going to assault a child for his race.

To compare ignoring that to playing with a character's sexuality feels....mm I just strongly don't agree. I don't exactly have words to explain, but I really don't.

I think there are things you can change about characters easily. You can change their sexualities, their ages, their genders, their backstories, but to fundamentally erase something like that just doesn't line up for me.

No call out here Nonnie, I appreciate that you wanted to ask and be open, but this is my question for people who want to change Billy that way- What is it about Billy that is so compelling that it feels necessary to change that part of him? Why is Billy the character you *need* to write for?

Jonathan is a fantastic big brother who has a ton of issues and was abused by his father. If you're having the hankering to try and examine a flawed big brother, he's right there.

Eddie is an outcast (and strongly implied that he comes from an abusive home) and if you're looking to try and write about that, he's right there.

Steve is the character that has actually GONE through the redemption people always try to give Billy. He said slurs and did bad things, and almost immediately went to make amends for them when he was able to acknowledge he did the wrong thing.

Billy never even apologized. He hadn't changed by the time he died, and no I don't think sacrificing himself was some major change. I think that a villain can be tragic without needing to retroactively make them a better person. Billy is a flawed and broken person. Yes that probably relates mostly to the way he was raised and the fact that his family was violent, but that doesn't excuse it. The Byers have an abusive home, and at no point does Jonathan act the way Billy does. I think they're really good foils to each other on what can happen with a big brother.

Anyways this was a really really long answer nonnie, but I hope I got it across why I really disagree with that stance. If anyone was offended or upset, know that wasn't my intenion, and feel free to let me know.

[rillette]

to you, what is hal jordan? (would love to read your rambles about him)

oh boy! umm i wrote like. too many paragraphs whoops! under the cut so i dont clog up the dash

hal is a little goody two shoes square that has been absolutely dragged through the mud by life and geoff johns. he's the type of person that people make fun of for being a little too straight-laced; he doesn't cheat, he doesn't lie (except to himself), he won't even jay-walk. He's so incredibly genuine and honest about everything that he assumes other people are just as honest as he is, making him a bit gullible. Part of this honesty is why he's so painfully bad at keeping his ID secret. man can't lie to save his ass!

Hal's a people person, he loves being friendly and meeting new people, but he's also a bit shy and introverted. type of guy to be acquaintances with a lot of random people but never really reach out first unless they're a friend. he's also the type of guy to ask the groupchat about major life decisions bc he doesn't trust his own opinion. hal holds himself in very low esteem, mother fucker is his own public enemy #1. he's only happy and relaxed when he's certain that he's fucked up yet again. someone get this guy a therapist!

hal is also incredibly unfortunate. whatever can go wrong will go wrong and he'll end up homeless and jobless yet again, scrambling to regain control over his life. hal is really good at picking himself back up and starting over again from scratch. he's also really smart!! i know it's popular fanon on here to potray hal as like the dumb himbo punchline, and yeah he can be ditzy and dense but the guy is really fucking smart physics/mechanics-wise. he's got a degree and everything! he's also incredibly responsible??? i genuinely dont know where the trope of hal being irresponsible came from. hal would not be a really fucking good test pilot if he was irresponsible. if you want a green lantern punching bag, g'nort is right there. we need more g'nort content anyways.

he's also great with kids! the man has like a billion nieces and nephews! he was taking care of helen! where did helen go, dc! bring her back or else! also i think it's important to note that there is a distinction between hal and GL. he's a lot more confidant as GL than his is as hal. it's the type of confidence he really only has when he's flying planes.

Hal also desperately wants to be accepted and approved of by authority figures. this informs the relationship he has with the guardians. he's also under a lot of external and internal pressure to fit in with his peers. part of this is bc hes #autism coded and part of this is bc he's just not a masculine manly-man! dc please his closet is glass. please.

[catgirl-catboy]

Okay, I've finally read up on the Welcome Home situation, and here are my thoughts since I clogged up your dash asking about it!

@botanicbones provided me with the links to the relevant content, thank you! :)

As someone who works in comp-sci, my first thought is this is the sad reality you live in. If you post pictures of your house, people can find out where you live. Hell, if you post pictures of anything near your home people can. I do not intend to victim blame here, just to stress the importance of internet security. Once information is out there, you can't take it back.

This is a crazy invasion of privacy by fans. Stalker behavior. You do not go into someone's fucking house.

That being said, I think the creator made a questionable choice by being so open with their emotions on the subject. Instead, I would have told the internet at large that this sort of behavior is not fucking okay. I would have filed a lawsuit, money permitting.

As for the NSFW situation, I think the creator made a bad call from a good place. Not wanting kids to come across adult content is reasonable, but I don't think the creators should ever have a major say in any fandom. It erodes the boundaries between creator and fan, which is already seen to be a problem in this case.

Instead of telling everyone to hold off on posting, they should have just made a tag up on the spot. #welcum home. Thats what I call a job well done.

While their mental state to NSFW content wasn't explicitly stated, it was highly implied.

All in all, this seems like a really naive person that might be new to fandom. I don't think they made good choices, but I also don't think they intended to cause bullying. That being said, I won't willingly join a fandom where the creator doesn't respect the fans space and vise versa.