#so it was nice to read a post from someone with a similar experience in that regard

[cheriladycl01]

hello me again…. Just read silent treatment LOVED it…would love another Fernando x reader one shot where she’s a normal person and goes to her home race silver stone, as a fan gets paddock passes from the team, she’s a fan of Nando's, but is really respectful and not all in his face about it, however when she meets him he’s really rude to her and upsets her before storming off.. maybe bad qualifying or something.:: you make up the ending would prefer a happy ending with serious grovelling maybe.. again angsty but fluff too please ❤️🥰

That’s kinda fucked up - Fernando x Fan! Reader

Plot: you’re the biggest Aston Martin/ Fernando Alonso fan, however when offered upgraded tickets from the team after seeing your art work on a banner, you want to meet the team, but it doesn’t go the way you think.

You’d been into f1 most of your life thanks to your dad who also been a fan since he was a kid. But he’d never had time to go to a race since the 60’s when he was a kid and now he was getting much older and you didn’t know how much longer he’d have left before travel wouldn’t be an option.

You spent a year saving up money from your freelance job of making art that got put onto phone cases, t-shirts the whole lot and you were getting quite a big influx of customers. Ones that now had started to ask for custom pieces.

Finally you had the funds and brought two grandstand tickets to the Grand Prix. You’d waited until your dad’s birthday in March to show him the tickets and he was unbelievably happy.

In celebration of going and deciding you’d film the whole experience of going and seeing a race. And you’d announced it on your shop that you’d be closing down for a few days during the Silverstone weekend but you’d for sure freebies to hand out at the race.

You had made matching outfits for you and your dad that resembled each of your favourite drivers. Your dad absolutely loved Lando Norris and would probably attempt to try adopt him if possible. He just loved the young drivers Charisma and openness about his struggles in F1.

You’d really loved Fernando Alonso. You were in a similar age range to him and just liked that he’d been in F1 for as long as he had. And he was a champion which for you anyway always helped you pick who was your favourite.

You’d made a massive mural of Fernando and Lando in your back garden and posted it on your various social media. It didn’t go viral. But both McLaren and Aston Martin had seen which led to Aston Martin reaching out to you asking if they could show you and your dad round the paddock.

Full experience, you were sent the tickets and everything while they completely refunded your grandstand tickets.

You and your dad were put up in an incredibly nice hotel right near the track and the morning of media day an Aston Martin had pulled up outside the hotel waiting to drive you and your dad to the track.

“Never did it this way when I was a kid” your dad laughed in disbelief. He couldn’t stop smiling at every little thing that was happening. You were driven into the paddock and could see fans excitedly waving at your care clearly thinking you guys were someone important, when really you were just your average girl who’d gotten incredibly lucky.

Once you got there manytesm members met you and handed you supplies. You’d spoken ahead before time that they wanted you to do some chalk art (that they’d been given permission to have done outside the front of their motorhome. So while your dad was busy drinking cocktails, eating fine foods and being shown the car by the mechanics you were hard at work under the British heat making a mural of the two Aston Martin drivers.

As you were crouched down, drawing the Aston Martin car behind the heads you’d drawn out as bases a familiar voice prickles at your ears.

“And what do we have hear?” The voice asks and you turn to see the camera immediately blushing and going red.

“Hello Martin” you smile shyly, a hand coming up to wipe the chalk from your face and try to look more presentable for the camera.

“Ah you know me?” He asks curiously with a hint of a teasing grin on his face.

“Everyone knows you” you smile back getting more confident as the conversation flows. He asks about your work and what you’re doing to where the camera pans to your art and you explain that how you’ve entered the paddock because of the kindness off Aston Martin.

He eventually leaves after you show him the way you draw and what you’re planning on doing to finish it today.

It was an odd feeling having all these people come up to you asking about what you were doing and who you were here with. And they were even more shocked seeing your bubbly and energetic dad start to brag about you and how you worked so hard to get these tickets for the pair of you!

The same day, Lance had walked out the paddock doors just as you’d finished up his fade and helmet. Many photographers were around picking up the interaction. He’d smiled at you and spent a good while talking about the drawing and asking about your work. You received many compliments and he gave your and your dad signed caps.

Your dad was beyond happy. And despite being a die hard McLaren fan spent the rest of Thursday strutting around the paddock in the racing green hat.

On the Friday you had taken a break from drawing and decided to walk with your dad through the paddock. You’d gotten loads done, a track walk with a few others, a meet and greed with Tina, the F1A driver who you’d also decided to draw into your mural.

Then the moment happened.

As he walked past your dad’s old hands started to shake in anticipation as he saw Lando in his bright orange team gear. Today your dad had been bold and was wearing his Papaya merch despite being hosted in Aston’s Motorhome.

Lando slowed a grin on his face as he saw your dad who was almost in tears at the sight of the young Brit.

“Woah, you really suit Papaya sir, not many people can pull that off” Lando offers coming up to your dad who isn’t saying anything just watching him awestruck.

“Dad, do you have something you want to give him? And ask him?” You nudge your dad his LN4 tote that you were carrying for him. He’d asked you to make something really special that you could give to Lando that was personal and would be a memory for both.

“Yes yes only if you have time!” Your dad asks looking up shyly at the young driver.

“Always have time!” Lando grins back, and then he looks seeing the sweat growing in your dad’s forehead.

“How about we take a seat over there!” Lando points at the bench that’s a little out the way of the hustle and bustle of the paddock but still close to everything.

He nods and Lando guides him over.

Your dad hands the piece of jewellery and art you’d made that had some of your dad’s input on it. Talking to him about the fact you made it and he thought of the design. Lando … being Lando swore he’d never take the bracelet off.

Your dad asked if he working mine signing his cap that he was wearing, a spear in the tote bag to protect it and the mini helmet.

Lando was an absolute gem signing it all for your old and still shaking dad.

It was even better when a Spanish voice greeted the three of you. Carlos Sainz the current Williams driver, had come jogging over pulling his friend into a hug before introducing himself as if he wasn’t one of the most notable people here.

He complimented you on your art saying his girlfriend had commissioned some earrings from you that she’d worn to a GP earlier in the year.

Your Friday was probably one of the best days on record that you’d ever had in your life. And you’d had some really good days.

Then the Saturday came, it was a really good day. Apart from the fact that Aston Martin didn’t have control of the cars in the sudden downpour that had occurred and made qualifying very difficult for the Canadian and Spanish driver on the team.

It was the first time you’d seen Fernando, and it was as you were doing some more art since the Thursday and Friday art had washed away.

He stormed out of the garage and nearly slipped on one of your chalks.

“¿Qué es esto? ¡Mujer estúpida! ¡Hay cosas que estorban!” He shouts and you jump not having understood anything but his done. It had gone higher meaning he’d asked a question at the start, what the question was you hand no idea.

“I’m sorry?” You ask cocking your head to the side but he storms off before you can even start to hear him out.

The interaction had been filmed by other fans in the paddock and when you saw it on socials that night and saw everyone sticking up for you, you felt better for yourself but worse for Fernando.

As much as it sucked being shouted at by your literal idol in F1, you also understood what it was like to have a shit weekend and one little thing tip you over the edge.

Not that it excused his reaction but you understood! You’d been seeking him out for the rest of the day, and all of race day on Sunday. But it eventually was his seeking you out. He’d found you doing your last mural on the track once the race had finished waiting so that the F1 admins could get a cool picture.

You’d decided to draw all the cars in the place they finished. Which the F1 admin loved the idea off!

Fernando had walked across the track, finding you sat on the P6 position drawing out his Aston Martin.

“You’re er good at that” he says making you jump. You look up at him with a small smile.

“I’m glad you’ve taken the time to appreciate it. Now that you aren’t angry over your Saturday result” you say continuing with your art.

“I’m sorry for how I behaved, I should’ve been kinder” he admits shuffling awkwardly.

"It's okay, honestly. I get things not going your way... the rain ruined my art too. You never got to see my mural of you" you say looking up at him and thats when his gorgeous smiles crosses his face.

"Admin actually took me out before it got washed away. I saw it but you werent there. Lance told me what I'd done wasn't very nice" he says and looks down.

"I knew he was right, thats why i came" he offers and you nod.

"You wanna put your mark on your spot?" you ask, holding out a green chalk for him to sign next to his car.

"Sure, if that's alright with you" he offers taking the chalk off you and kneeling down.

"Oh no, here have a knee pad. I don't want to be the reason your legs arent working next weekend!" you laugh, pushing the spare pad over to him that he changes his position.

"I can see why they invited you to come. This is brilliant" he smiles and you thank him again. You didn't expect him to stay while you finished up the next few cars that you were drawing and it the sun was starting to set by the time you were complete with the 10 cars. The F1 admin came out with a drone flying over and taking pictures of the work you'd done. You and your dad waved up at the drone from the shot as theyd brought him out to you.

"I'm sure ill see you in the paddock again" Fernando says before walking away and back to his motorhome. You share a confused look with your dad before a shurg of your shoulders.

Even if you didn't, this weekend was one you wouldn't forget ever.

Taglist:

@littlebitchsposts @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[earthmoonlotus]

:/

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Zutara, romance novels, and the female gaze

Okay so I’ve been thinking about the female gaze a LOT so I checked out a subreddit about romance novels, despite never having read one. I came across this meme (which was initially a Tumblr post and then got posted to Instagram and then to Reddit and I’m now bringing back to Tumblr — Internet telephone, pls never change):

And…what is The Southern Raiders, if not a platonic grovel? Katara’s pain is central to the episode. It’s central to Zuko. Zuko asks Katara what he can do to make up for his betrayal; she demands the impossible. He reads between the lines, cockblocks her brother to get the necessary information, and then waits outside her door overnight (which he also did for Iroh, the one person we know for sure he loves). He basically makes himself a receptacle for her rage, and he holds space for her by coming with her on her revenge quest and carrying their bags and not saying a damn thing about what she should and should not do beyond like…asking her to rest. And obviously the grovel works! She forgives him and then they’re thick as thieves, bantering and fighting and saving each other’s lives, etc.

On a different note, I’ve been told that enemies to lovers is one of the biggest tropes in romance novels, similar to YA lit and fanfic. Here’s something else I found in the romance novel discourse:

And…yeah. In TSR, Katara really does show Zuko her worst self, because she doesn’t feel the need to perform for him. She doesn’t feel the need to perform moral perfection OR cold blooded vengeance. She bloodbends in front of him and he just goes with it. She doesn’t kill Yon Rha and he just goes with it. He doesn’t treat her any differently afterwards. Maybe they talk about it off screen, but I kind of like the idea that they don’t, because Katara doesn’t need to explain anything. And it’s so interesting, because some people in the ATLA fandom have a totally different read on TSR. They think Zuko was encouraging Katara to get revenge (by what, keeping his mouth shut?), and that Aang is the one who acts as her moral compass. I believe that either Bryan or Mike said in the DVD commentary that Aang is the angel on her shoulder the entire time. And this interpretation does make sense if you see it from the male gaze, where Katara as an object of affection is acting in an angry, irrational, threatening way. But if you see it from the female gaze, you recognize that actually it’s probably the most emotionally taxing experience Katara has to go through, and she doesn’t owe it to be nice or perfect to anybody. Katara’s formative trauma literally comes to a head, and she has to make a decision — no, a discovery — about who she is in relation to the tragedy that defines her life and even her identity (as a waterbender, as a parentified child who becomes the mom friend, as a genocide victim), and she’s accompanied by someone who trusts her judgement and validates her feelings.

I’m not saying TSR is explicitly romantically coded, but when it conforms so well to romance novel tropes…is it any wonder that so many people thought “yes this is her man?” And then he takes lightning in the heart for her and reaches for her when he’s literally dying, I will never be normal about that either

[clairdelunetarot]

Addressing an Ongoing Issue Before My Return

I have noticed strong similarities between my content and this person's ever since I created my blog, and just a few days later, this person @/hermetiqa changed the aesthetic of theirs. I know i am a small blog with less than 400 followers and i disappear a lot. I have had sad experiences with plagiarism before, people have stolen my work (tarot and non tarot), and even if this isn’t exactly that, it’s really frustrating when someone with a bigger blog starts taking a lot of inspiration from you, never acknowledges it, you block them, and even after being blocked, they come back and keep doing it.

There’s no problem with being inspired, the issue is the context and how often it happens. Especially because this person changed their aesthetic after I opened my blog, along with their masterlist. I only found out now that they kept going because some friends outside my tarot blog told me. My last post was in November and guess what? So was theirs. I don’t know them, and they don’t know me. But the vibe here for me stinks bad. There’s also one thought that crossed my mind, even if it sounds silly: their blog has been around longer than mine, so what if I come back and they do it again? I won't feel comfortable because they made it weird. They could have said: oh and this masterlist was inspired by clairdelune. Like, they have paid readings, and are gaining money out of people. If you are having a business at least be transparent and support newcomers with their small business too when there's something you like or something you take inspo from.

PSA: I don't want anyone to give me advice on how to proceed, I just want to vent about this and not feel like I'm crazy. Even if it doesn't seem like it, this takes A LOT of time and days. Making tarot readings for a lot of public is draining because of the energies, and then decorating and coming up with something to make it look attractive is also draining. It's not a crime to get inspired, but the way this person has handled it has made me angry and feel a very bad energy around it.

For context this was their blog before:

It was simple, cute, straight to the point with three pictures. When you went down to read your pile, no section of "signs" with mbti or astrological placements where there. I love mbti, i checked their readings superficially and never noticed them referencing them. Here, you can see it for yourself:

then here's where it all started for me. This is what their masterlist looked like before:

Now this is what it looked like after taking inspiration from me and not even changing the roman numbers. Just changing small details but the essence is there. That's the difference with inspo and copy. You can take inspo from someone but the essence is going to be yours. If they did not change a few little tiny things, this would be confused with mine.

Mine is the one on the right.

After this I blocked them. My thought process was: If they are a big blog and can do this with no one raising their eyebrows, It's safe to say they could even take inspo from my pictures and even readings. I don't know them, I don't know if this could be a one time thing or something that can continue, or worse: something that can enter plagiarism. I was hoping this would be enough for them to never see my blog again. But no. It kept going. At least they haven't copied what i write as I am aware.

Now, this can get tricky because unlike plagiarism, this is more inspiration based. Which is not a crime, but again, this being done heavily, with no acknowledgement whatsoever because i am a lesser known blog and after getting blocked? Not so nice and too much to be coincidence. Check the dates.

Same months, and this one took two weeks because before that, they posted another reading in between. I mean, putting floating png objects is not a trademark. But after I blocked them for what they did with my masterlist it pissed me off. Right now, them gaining more interactions with their post after this and with no acknowledgement is what did not sit well with me. It is hard to be a new blog in the tarot community and opening a ton of ask games for people to then unfollow you when they get their energy and reading from you and never interact with your blog again. Specially when this was a chance for you to get some money for college. But then again, seeing the strong similarities gets tricky, but you can see the inspiration.

Mine:

Theirs:

They never posted that section before. You can see it in their readings before, right? So when I started posting it too, guess what? they did it too. You know, it doesn’t feel fair that even after blocking them so they would leave me alone and find someone else to get inspired by, they still have this recurrent thing with me and might keep doing it with anything new I come up with. Because i stopped posting readings, the last reading I posted was the same theme (romantic partner) and with strong similarities as mine. I have not posted ever since. The one before that for me was future spouse related and theirs too. You know what's crazy? Mine got a lot of trouble and issues with the aesthetic I had to pull it down. This person's energy is so down heavy it made me put down my reading.

This can be called speculation, but we are in a spiritual community and I believe this could not be a coincidence and their energy towards me is not a good one. You can check the date. All in november. This is also a warning for other tarot readers, if you are sensitive like me with people's vibes, beware when opening a tarot blog.

They don't just do it with one thing and move on, they keep doing it with several things even after not being well received by my end, and it becomes annoying and it literally made me put my own post down.

I just want to leave this here before closing this blog and moving on, because honestly this hasn't been my year and I know it’s just starting, but little things like this don't give me a good vibe to keep running such an open blog to any audience. The energy is so draining and I want to do impulsive things like deleting my posts. Because I start thinking back to times where people straight up stole my work or envied it and posted it as theirs and I don't want that happening again.

Again, please, be mindful with your comments. If you have something rude to say, keep it.

[raconteur-wanpi]

I know you like Reiju- thoughts about how Sanji sees her in others? i realized while rereading Dressrosa that she and Viola are actually very similar characters, having to unwillingly become a villain to save themselves and their family, working for a person and a cause she hates because she doesn’t have another choice, and I thought maybe Sanji might’ve seen that in her too.

Oh absolutely! I think about how often Sanji sees Reiju in other people constantly, especially women under the control of violent men.

There's a really good post going around, talking about Sanji's treatment of Nami and Robin, when they each respectively "turned" on the Strawhats in Arlong Park and Enies Lobby. He says something along the lines of "a woman has her reasons to lie"; he shows a lot of understanding towards their need to project themselves as "villains" in order to save what is dear to them.

And yes, part of it is the way he perceives women in general, but part of it is also the sister he grew up with. A girl who had to lie and perform cruelty in order to be spared from violence, the violence that Sanji himself was a victim of. He was ABSOLUTELY shaped by that experience, and the way he perceives """cruel""" women.

Viola is a really good example of this, too, yes! And he doesn't do this with every woman he meets either! He's able to read them and tell. He didn't do this with Black Maria for example, there wasn't any performance to her villany. So it's not just a "Sanji-ism". You're definitely onto something.

Pudding is another good example, of course. But to me, an element of this I've never seen anyone talk about is how Sanji treats children.

Yes, on the one hand, he treats all of them pretty nicely, and even when he's rough, it's in a similar way Zeff would have been on him. Think of his lines about the children of Elbaph, how they were "raised with love and care" and how he gets mad at Luffy for berating them for that. But despite that, he can be a bit more rough with young boys; think about how he clashed with Momonosuke often. He wasn't afraid to call him a little brat or scold him.

But Sanji with little girls? He's so protective. The way he acted around Toko specifically, is kind of ingrained in my brain. There's that little extra bit of animation in the anime, where he holds her head close to his chest when she cries to comfort her. I can't help but wonder if he sees his sister in her. They're nothing alike in personality, yes, but when Sanji knew Reiju, she was also a young and resilient little pink-haired girl who was living in fear. Idk, maybe it's a reach, but it's an interesting reading to me!

And as always, let me clarify that I don't think Sanji doesn't have feelings of frustration about Reiju's treatment of him. But that inner conflict is probably exactly why he understands women who are similar to her so much. If she had protection back then, maybe she wouldn't have been afraid, and thus she wouldn't have been forced to treat him that way. It's a weird mix of self-preservation and love for the one person that was, in limited ways, kind to him. In the end he is definitely grateful to her, and he does see her as the only family he actually has left in Germa. And part of me wonders if he feels guilty that she was left behind, and maybe the way he acts towards those who remind him of her, are a way to retroactively thank someone he wasn't able to.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello Miss Raven!!! I need a bit of help... And maybe you could help? Perhaps?

I've noticed that in the English translation, they gave Leona this sort of... speech pattern? Style? Idk how to call it, but basically that thing where in his text they tend to replace the words ending with -ing to just -in'. But he doesn't do it in every word I've noticed.. In most, yes, but not all of them. And sometimes they make him say 'n instead of and and such. And a lot of wanna / gonna / gotta instead of writing the full thing. (And sometimes I think I've seen him use "ya" instead of "you", but that one's a bit less common on him from what I can remember)

I think this is a very interesting bit of characterization and I really like it! However, I struggle to implement it whenever I write him in English, since it's not my first language. I find it really hard because I never know when it's too much and when it's an acceptable amount... I never know when to replace the ing → in' while not making it too exaggerated 🥲🥲 I can't manage to make it feel, idk, natural? So I tend to prefer to ignore that aspect of his "speech style" entirely in fear of making him sound weird... Which is a shame, because once again, I think it's a very interesting detail, but I just never seem to get it quite right.

So, I wanted to ask... Since I think your interpretation of him (how you write him in general) is very good, and since I think you're a native english speaker too lol, is there any easy what to remember when to apply such "mannerisms" when writing him or similar characters? Or am I overthinking too much and should I just put it wherever I think it fits nicely? Or do I just put it in all the words ending with -ing with little exceptions?? 😭 I know that this type of written speech is used to represent how someone Says those words, like... spoken. But since I'm not surrounded by people who speak the language, I can't really go about it in that way either 😭 (as in "oh, I'll just listen to people around me and figure it out in that way!")

Okay, so 💦 I want to take a second to remind people (both Anon and my general audience) that I'm NOT open to telling people how to write. Asking for general advice ("how do I get over writer's block", "how do I get inspired", etc.) or about my own experiences is fine, but I'm not comfortable telling others how to write specific Twst characters, OCs, or what to do with their own art. So just know what whatever advice I provide in this post WON'T be me telling you to do X, Y, or Z to arrive at the "correct" answer. At the end of the day, it's only my own interpretation, and to pass around my interpretation as though it is gospel or the "most canon" would be incorrect to say. I understand that some may hold me, my takes, or my writing in high regard, and therefore view me as some kind of fandom authority or someone whose opinion holds a lot of weight. However, I've repeatedly stressed that this makes me uncomfortable and I want to discourage this behavior as much as I can.

Now then, Anon makes a lot of salient points. Every character has a unique way of speaking and their own quirks and mannerisms. There's the very obvious ones like Epel's dialect, but also more subtle things like how Leona (in English) drops the "-g" from the ends of some "-ing" words, how he sometimes uses "'n" in the place of "and", how he tends to use "wanna"/"gonna"/"gotta", and how he sometimes trades "you" for "ya". These are important things to pay attention to if you're trying to capture a character's "voice"! (Yuurei-san has an interesting series of posts about the Twst characters' speech patterns!) Most likely these localization choices were made for Leona's English dialogue in order to reflect his informal manner of speaking in Japanese. For example, he often uses ねぇ~, elongating some of his words sarcastically. If you have access to Twst EN, I'd suggest opening it up and listening to how Leona voices his lines (while you read the English text). If you don't have the game, you can probably still find voice clips on the Twst wiki(s) or on Youtube. That may help you get a sense of his cadence and how he words things. You also need to think about how you write his dialogue and the details around it. Is he mad or annoyed? Maybe tired or just not feelin' it? Consider how mood factors into whether or not Leona chooses standardized or colloquial English. Sometimes he adopts an overly formal and princely tone in some instances, like when he's presenting himself at the book 7 farewell party, so you have to consider situations where he uses formality sarcastically. Again, it really depends on the context. This will require a lot of thinking, judging, and putting yourself in the character's headspace. You won't get it perfect the first time (or even the times after); it'll take lots of trial and error to find something you're happy with.

[dredgen-dumbass]

(Disabled) player's guide to making D2 more accessible

because so far (correct me if I'm wrong) I haven't seen one on here, & maybe (hopefully) it'll help someone.

Alright, to get it out of the way, I'm disabled. I have neurological damage from a tbi, and more recently another concussion, and among many many other things it makes gaming a lot more complicated. It can (unfortunately) be difficult to find advice for disabled gamers online that isn't just "get good" or "then gaming isn't for you", so I figure this might be helpful, since it was for me.

I can't speak to other conditions, so this is more about adjustments for specific symptoms, but I can only really speak from experience. That said, I've had to learn quite a bit, so it's sharing time :)

(I play on Xbox. Some settings aren't the same between platforms, just a warning. For that reason, some of this post is going to be xbox-specific.)

This is divided up into menus & subjects of bullet points are bolded to be easier to skim.

Controller settings - (and explanations for some of them in case y'all don't know)

Test out different look sensitivity. The default is 3, I moved mine up to 5. I have issues with spacial awareness and saccades dysfunction, and this has made it easier for me to keep whatever I'm looking at on-screen.

ADS sensitivity- if you don't know, this is the speed when you aim down sights. The default is 1, I have mine reduced to .5, and I've found that the larger difference between the look & ADS sensitivity can really function as having two look settings available when using a weapon that doesn't have a very extreme scope.

The default sprint-turn scale is 0.4, I bump mine up to 0.8 for similar reasons to the look sensitivity increase. (Turning this up makes you turn faster, turning it down makes you turn slower.)

Alternatively, if you have more issues with overstimulation/visual clutter/quick movements/etc, you may want to turn everything down a bit to slow down your camera, but that may make combat harder to keep up with, especially pvp.

Axial & radial deadzone. This helps with stick drift. Stick drift is a pain for everyone but if you have fine motor issues, tremors, arthritis, etc, it's even worse. Finding what works best for your hardware will help make sure you're compensating less, which puts less strain on your hands.

I've seen people recommend turning off controller haptics for the same reason- the vibrations make you grip the controller harder and can cause worse strain. Personally, I leave them on because the sensory input helps balance out the awareness issues, but maybe it's for you! (this one's a system setting, not a d2 one.)

Video settings

Brightness can be important if you have issues with eye strain. I would recommend changing this relative to the lighting in the room, not just your monitor. Turning it up may help with visual issues with the tradeoff of risking overstimulation. Again, all of this is very dependent on the person.

Motion blur- Evil, evil, evil, turn this off. Visual problems or not, it's harder to follow things on-screen with it enabled. Combined with any garden variety problem with eye movements or cognitive strain it's even worse.

Chromatic aberration- I turn this off. It's a nice vfx, but it can wind up just being added visual stimulus and if that's a problem for it's worth losing. It can also make the radar harder to read. Not worth it (personally.)

Film grain- off for the same reason. It's a smaller change, but a clearer view is worth it if it helps you.

Sound settings

If you have problems with your hearing/auditory processing, I highly recommend turning the sfx & music drastically down compared to the dialogue, and then just turning up your system audio.

Personally, I often play with music entirely off, but I know that can be a very boring experience to a lot of people, so take that as you will.

(my current settings: sfx 8, dialogue 10, music 1)

if you're playing with an Xbox party or in a discord call, etc, I really recommend messing with the mixing settings there when you first get on to balance out peoples mics, regardless of processing problems.

Gameplay settings

HUD opacity- I turn mine down to high, the default being full. Just another thing that makes it easier to keep track of stuff.

Radar Background Opacity- Opposite here. If you have problems with spatial awareness you're probably relying pretty hard on the radar instinctively, so the clearer it is, the better. I play with mine on medium, you may want to play around.

Subtitles- Are on by default, so that's nice. Let's check out their settings menu for a moment.

Turning on show speaker name can be really good for hearing/auditory processing issues.

You can also change the color for the speaker name/caption text if the clearer contrast will help you.

The best background style for visibility is box, but it won't look as nice. Another trade.

Background opacity may be easier to lower if you switch to box, since the faded style isn't even. A lower background opacity may help you follow things on-screen at the cost of caption readability

If you don't need captions but do need to reduce visual clutter, try turning them off!

Colorblind mode is, obviously, helpful if you're colorblind, but I have also heard it recommended because the color changes can help improve contrast. Not one I've tried, but worth including.

Full auto firing/Full auto melee- Does what it says. Turning this on might help in the same way as turning off haptics/messing with deadzones, ie by changing how much you need to click. You can still fire normally with it on, so if anything it just gives you another option.

Reticle location is slightly below the center on d2. I prefer to center it, though it takes some getting used to. More helpful if you frequently switch between other games that center theirs.

Neutral/targeted reticle color- The defaults are white and red respectively. I prefer black for targeted because I feel like it makes it easier to see what I'm actually aiming at, but you may want to leave it for contrast. To each their own.

Other

Brief overview of Xbox accessibility settings

Xbox has a narration setting. I would assume anyone who needs it is aware of this, but just in case.

If you need more assisted play, there's controller assist where you can combine two people's input

Turning off haptic vibration (as mentioned) is in accessibility -> controller

You can make the on-screen keyboard larger!

There are party chat settings for both text to speech and speech to text

There's also game transcription!

Games that have the function can also do their own read-aloud. I don't know if/how this applies to destiny

Mono output for audio may make things easier to understand depending on your audio setup

There's also high-contrast mode for both dark or light

Colorblind filters are here, too

Night mode! You can change how much it dims/filters your device. If you have problems with blue light or eye strain, or have to limit screens for medical reasons like me, this setting is a lifesaver. The filter will affect how your games look, but personally it's worth the tint. Same is available on most PCs.

Hardware, etc.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller is highly customizable and great for anyone with physical impairments that make the standard Xbox controller difficult to use. Find it here.

I've seen thumbstick extenders recommended for arthritis, might also be helpful for similar conditions

If you have arthritis/fine motor issues/muscle weakness/tremors/etc/etc/etc controller grips might make holding a standard controller easier

If any of those are the case for you, then you might also benefit from a lightweight controller (or playing with a standard controller plugged in & removing the batteries for a lesser weight adjustment)

evilcontrollers also has one-handed controllers and a one-handed controller customizer much like the standard controller customizers

evilcontrollers for hardware accessibility in general

If you play on PC and have muscle or joint issues then you may want to look into different keyboard/mouse shapes. Lightweight, vertical, and ball mice are all options, though there's apparently some argument about using them for gaming. I've also seen good reviews of the Azeron keypad from people with muscular/joint problems. There's also split keyboards, wave keyboards, one-handed, etc etc etc.

If you have problems with auditory processing I would HIGHLY recommend gaming with noise-cancelling headphones. (Hell, do everything with noise cancelling headphones.) I would recommend these for everyday, but they also work pretty well for gaming. The mic is mid, but it works well enough, and there's multiple sound modes + active noise cancelling.

Other other (oh no I forgot these, editing now)

Compression gloves !!!!!

Pause and do hand exercises after a while

20/20/20 rule for eye strain

may come back and expand this as I think of more things

There is a lot that Bungie could do to improve the game's accessibility without causing an imbalance with abled players, but I'll save that for another post. Feel free to reblog this with any other advice/anecdotal stuff/whatever, I'm considering this as opening a discussion.

I don't know of any clans specifically for disabled players but I'm sure they exist? If anyone has recommendations for community stuff, please do throw that in.

As always, my dms are open. Being a disabled gamer can suck sometimes and if you need a space to vent w/ someone who gets it, I'm your guy. If you're just curious how it impacts gaming, I don't mind being asked, I just don't feel like posting about myself that much unprompted.

I think that's all for now. Happy gaming :)

[gouraminnow]

One Piece / Straw hats with a Reader who struggles with ASI (Autistic Self Injury)

Warnings: Self harm, primarily

ASI is sometimes referred to as Non-Suicidal Self Injury, and it's typically not done deliberately the way "standard" SH is. It can be because of both under or over-stimulation, or sometimes it can just be a form of stimming that happens to be physically harmful. This isn't exclusive to autism, it's also common w/ compulsion based disorders such as OCD.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional of any sort I'm just a guy who has it. My experience is not universal and most of this will be based on how I experience and deal with these problems.

POST THAT CATERS TO ME BEFORE ANYBODY ELSE HERE WE GO!!!

In all honesty One Piece is so chock-full of quirky and frankly weird people that I don't think an autistic person would phase most characters all that much. Not saying ableism wouldn't exist at all, but like. Franky is here. I don't think most lower-support needs autistic people would even be noticed by anyone other than some of the doctor characters and I don't think high-support needs people would be treated badly (By the more... decent characters, anyway). I mean hell I will always go to bat for autistic Luffy hcs, as well as Robin and Usopp to a degree but ANYWAY!

Before everyone is used to it, the site of you doing it (while upset especially) has everyone scrambling to grab you and stop it from continuing. There is… a good chance this upsets you even more, having your new crewmates suddenly swarming you... it takes a bit of back and forth, explaining that this is just normal for you.

Luffy is the one I thought of first... I've always been a biter. Whether it's nails or biting open the skin on my hands it's one of the forms I personally struggle with a lot. Now I may think Luffy is autistic but this does NOT mean I think he'd immediately understand/get it. Obligatory "autism is a spectrum" spiel, a lot of us butt heads if we have conflicting symptoms/struggles. Luffy is sympathetic, and worried about you, but he's also very blunt and there's a good chance he'd argue with you over it. What are you upset about? Clearly something's wrong, if you're doing this. What do you mean you don't notice? You're bleeding. Doesn't it hurt? This is bad for you. He's worried, so just cut it out already!

You tell him it's just an impulse you don't think about, like wiping your nose or tapping your foot. It doesn't really hurt until someone points it out, or if you accidentally do something really bad. His brows screw up, and he stares at you very intently. He says if you can't stop, then he WILL help you the next time it happens. You're a little put off, and have the suspicion that he doesn't really get it, but... well, he clearly means well. It's nice that he worries about you, and that even while ignorant in some aspects of his concern, he doesn't belittle or blame you for these behaviors... ultimately, you feel pretty okay about how things went.

Until the next time he sees you doing it, he launches across the ship to shove his nasty, grubby-ass hands into your mouth. "It doesn't hurt me!" he exclaims, while you try to cuss him out and avoid gagging on his stupid, rubbery fingers. "You need to bite, so bite me! This way hurts nobody, shishishi!" You shriek, the two of you toppling over onto the deck. Sanji or Nami smack him over the head to get him off of you. It wasn't what you'd call helpful, but... if he's out on deck or in the room with you, there's a little self-check you run through to make sure nothing your doing will warrant... that. So maybe it does sort of work?

Luffy has a similar approach to other forms of ASI too. Skin picking and hair pulling? Hitting yourself? Yeah he's going koala mode(animal that clings. Not the character) and wrapping himself around you, restraining your limbs. Which unfortunately has a high chance of making the urge worse, if it's compulsion based...

Now, Chopper has heard of this, and read about it, but he hasn't actually seen it in person yet. The first time he sees you doing it, it's shortly after you've joined. He goes to meet with you- every new member gets a check-up just to make sure everything's in working order! He finds you in the aquarium bar, absentmindedly gazing at the fish... but when he calls to you, you turn, and reveal the bloody mess of your hand- nails chewed far past the quick. He freaks out, which probably freaks you out, which attracts the attention of the others, and...

Yeah. That could've gone better. It takes a bit for you two to calm down. There's a chance he might think this is a more standard form of self-harm, and feel guilty because you're so unhappy you'd do this to yourself... when he learns the actual reason, he... still feels pretty guilty for not noticing or considering the possibility sooner. But he's the one who briefs everyone else on the details, possibly even you if you don't know you're autistic or why you do these things. I don't think these types of diagnoses or the terminology surrounding them are well known in the OP universe, so there's a good chance you don't have clue what your own problem is. Either way, everybody knows now.

Chopper lays down the basics. There's the passive SH you don't even notice, reflexive the way scratching an itch or brushing away hair is. Then there's the kind that you do because you're upset or overwhelmed in some way. It's not so simple as just stopping. You need other outlets when you feel the urges start up. He works with you to try and practice healthier grounding and coping strategies, and the others fall in line.

Nami isn't great about it if she sees it before Chopper tells everybody what's up... means well, but scolding you or grabbing you directly does not help the urges go away. She means well, but she's used to the other knuckleheads and their more... deliberate brand of dipshittery. Much more patient once she's been told the details, whether from you or Chopper.

If Nami catches you picking at your skin, it's pretty common for her to hand you a tangerine to peel. It's similar enough to skin, she reasons, it might be a good alternative. And then you can eat it afterward instead of chewing on yourself. It's a two-in-one solution! Both of you fail to consider how easily citrus juice gets inside a hand-wound though... after the first incident, it's a solution for picking at any other body parts. You can hang out in the map room with her for a little bit of peace and quiet, as long as you don't distract her. She might explain some of her work to you if you're interested.

She'll smack around any of the others if they upset/overwhelm you, whether it's actually enough to start up the sh. Her yelling might not help, but it is nice to feel supported... she'll get you jewelry to fidget with instead, and take you clothes shopping for things that don't set off sensory issues(AND look flattering, of course). Her and Robin will paint your nails. The dried polish is another better peeling/picking alternative to skin and hair. Nami adds the prices of the jewelry and nail polish to the debt of whoever accidentally sets you off.

Robin is a little better about it. If you hit yourself, or bang your head against another surface, she'll use her power to summon hands that cushion your blows. If she sees the scratching, hair pulling, etc. she asks you about it- the question usually enough to ground you and realize it's happening, if you aren't already.

She's good at redirecting you. Has you come relax somewhere quieter with her if you're overwhelmed. Works with Nami in regards to the clothes and nail polish, but also has good chapstick recommendations, since chapped lips are a big problem for lots of people with dermatillomania.

A relaxing person to be around in general (unless you're offput by her morbid comments) and is good to talk to. You admit you feel a bit ridiculous having these issues on a crew chock-full of such accomplished individuals. Childish, even. She chuckles, asking how you can say that living on the same boat as Luffy, of all people? You're hardly the only person here with self-destructive habits and it's far from your only defining trait. And though for differing reasons, both her and Brook commiserate with you regarding the loneliness and feelings of isolation a lot of autistic people face. The struggle of not understanding or being understood in turn...

Insists on you joining her and Nami while they relax, on occasion. Makes Sanji dote on you too, if you aren't a woman and he isn't already.

Speaking of Sanji, he's also good at redirecting you. The kitchen is his domain, but if you're in a rut and it'll help keep your hands busy without overwhelming you, he'll give you something to do. Help chop, help peel, here the eggs are done boiling so be a dear and help with the ice bath, won't you? Won't let you chop onions or chilis even if you insist you'll be fine.

And if you're a chewer/biter, he always has some sort of snack to give you. Finds you chewing your knuckles and shoves some Hors d'Oeuvres at you. Takes care to figure out which textures you like vs. can't handle as well. If you're hitting yourself, he sticks some thick oven mitts on your hands. It's not... perfect, by any means, but it's better.

Zoro hears the way you talk about some of it. The feeling of some sort of tense, uncomfortable energy that fills you, and the desperate need to get it out. Tearing at yourself, hitting yourself, banging your head against something to try and alleviate the feeling. He... thinks he sort of gets it, actually. Not in the same way but he gets antsy and weird if he doesn't get to do something active for too long. Is it something like that..? Passively mentions that weight training might help. It's worth a shot, and you're free to come join him if you'd like to try. And you think it over. Maybe the straining of your muscles would provide a similar and healthier form of relief, while also achieving something productive at the same time... so you make your way up to the crow's nest one day, and he's happy to see you there, truly!

But... Zoro has come a long way since he first joined. He knows he's stronger than you, but misjudged just how big the gap was. He walks you through the proper postures and stances for lifting, only for you both to face a bit of a rude awakening...

You can't lift any of his weights... both of you feel a little awkward, to say the least. And you're a bit disheartened. He makes a plan to get a beginner's set for you, but Usopp and/or Franky probably beat him to the punch and build a training set.

Usopp and Franky work together. Or, well, more like they both get the idea to design fidgety little devices for you, and Usopp nervously tells Franky that they probably shouldn't double as armable explosives or mini missile launchers. There should probably be a clearer line drawn between something you absentmindedly fiddle with and a weapon of mass destruction. He nods earnestly. That's a good point, bro... Guess they'll just make em both separately! SUUUPERRRR!!!!!!

If you have hair pulling issues, Usopp suggests some sort of bandana to cover and pull your hair back like his, just as an added barrier between your hands and your scalp. On top of that, he insists on wrapping bandaids on your fingertips to make picking of all sorts much harder, and makes little finger-caps with Franky when the bandaids also interfere with more regular tasks. For hitting, with Chopper's advice, they make padded gloves, vests/coats to wear that help cushion the blows. They make more covert options too, like chest guards that can be worn under normal clothes. They run their drafts by you, making sure they're not uncomfortable to wear.

Franky's "SUUUPEERRRR!!" is just as likely to become a stim as it is to be overwhelming, honestly. He fashions some noise-canceling headphones for you. When Nami learns about these, she wants her own pair, too.

Brook is always ready to help sooth you with music, but sometimes the elegant notes of a violin can become a pitchy whine to you if you're already overstimulated. It just depends on the situation. It can get to him if he accidentally makes things worse for you, but he tries not to take it personally.

But it often does work. If he's not adding to a racket and things have quieted down, sometimes starting up a song will have your hands fall to your sides without you realizing you were hurting yourself in the first place. He's very giddy about it when he pulls this off but tries not to be obvious. Subtlety isn't exactly his thing, though.

He makes a joke from a place of concern- that if you keep tearing at yourself like this, you'll end up a skeleton just like him. If it bothers you, he'll never make a joke like it again. He isn't trying to be cruel, he just likes to deal with things by being silly. If you do like it, and he gets a laugh out of you, it becomes a running gag. "You know, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But as much as I would enjoy having another skeleton on board, this really isn't good for you..."

[pomefioredove]

fav twst writer btw!!! i read your posts religiously

can i ask for octavinelle + silver, ruggie, & epel (my 3 favs) with a reader whos prince rielles sibling, same year as them obv, and is based off of ponyo?

thank you so much!! my knowledge on ponyo is somewhat limited, hope this turned out okay nonetheless

summary: prince rielle's sibling type of post: headcanons characters: ruggie, azul, floyd, jade, epel, silver additional info: short, platonic or romantic, not proofread, reader is gender neutral, reader is not yuu

𝐑𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐡𝐢

the whole "merperson" thing goes completely over his head

you're royalty, you like him, and you're not making him work his tail off for the time of the day?

oh, he's hooked

...pun not intended

it might even get to the point where he starts doing nice things for you out of his own free will!

if only to stay on your good side, but hey, it still counts, right?

𝐀𝐳𝐮𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨

Azul, ironically enough, sees Prince Rielle as an airhead

...and for good reason

based off what he remembers of Rielle, he's a hopeless romantic, insanely gullible, and always has his head in the clouds

...and he can certainly see the family resemblance in you

though, at least you're... kind of endearing, and have some impressive magic skills to back you up

maybe he'll hold off on scamming you for now

𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡 + 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡

the two have a vaguely similar impression of Rielle, though, unlike Azul, they try not to make assumptions based off of family resemblance

(they've had their fair share of that between the two of them)

after all, Prince Rielle has many siblings

all varied in personality

and you're quite the curious one, aren't you?

with quite an appetite

the duo always welcomes you inside the lounge with open arms, eager for a piece of Coral Sea nostalgia you always seem to offer...

𝐄𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫

Epel supposes he knows what it's like to feel out of place

...even if you do seem to blend right in

he's almost jealous of how eagerly you adapt to life at school when he's been struggling since he got here

and your magical abilities are nothing to sneeze at

which is especially impressive to him, considering that you're actually smaller than he

he would never in a million years ask for advice from someone who's been walking on land for less time than he has... but... maybe, if you want to chat, he'll be around

𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫

he'll acknowledge your magic is rather impressive for a first year student, and he doesn't doubt your abilities for a second

he knows better than to underestimate the cute and friendly type

Silver is also somewhat familiar with Coral Sea culture... though, his knowledge may be a little outdated, since it comes from his father

oh, well

this might serve as a valuable learning experience for him, anyway

...while he's presently awake and listening, that is

[bibibbon]

Hey bibi! I was lurking around some mha subreddits and found a post trying to say that bakugo redeemed hinself and bakug haters just can't read, but then I discovered this chain of comments on it you might want to see.

Back before I joined tumblr, I was a pretty common lurker in mha subreddits. And one kf the most common defenses of bakugo was "you haters are just projecting your past experiences onto bakugo! You need to get over it." It'z nice to finally see somebody tear that dumbass argument apart so thoroughly. Bravo to these commenters, bravo.

Hi @suchusoid 👋

I personally avoid reddit at all costs and have also begun to do the same thing with Twitter simply because of the bad experiences I have had on those sites and the type of takes I have seen as well.

However, it is nice to see people having these types of discussions in other fandom spaces especially because of how popular bakugo is and how much his character is praised so seeing people critique it and form their own opinions and have discussion is really refreshing.

For the most part, I have always disliked discourse that centres around allegations of people 'projecting' an idea or interpretation they have simply because for the times I have seen it used it's just used as a way to discredit people who have an interesting and somewhat plausible point and for a matter of fact I think that people who have went through similar experiences or are well versed within the subject of the discourse shouldn't have their voice be discredited. For example, people who actively speak out about bakugo's treatment of izuku and were bullied when they were younger doesn't make their take or interpretation or ideas any less valid because of their past experiences I would go on to say that it makes them more valid and allows them to further go ok and critique the way horikoshi presents bullying and the effects of bullying on characters such as izuku as we see bakugo's behaviour slowly have little to no affect on him when in the beginning of the manga it was something constantly brought up and highlighted.

Furthermore, it's due to this that people then go on to make fanfictions and other posts talking about the possibilities of this theme being handled better and how it could be handled better which then goes to promote other writers and other individuals to produce, critique and strengthen their media literacy skills.

At the end of the day, interpretations of characters and the story are SUBJECTIVE! These are things based on personal experiences, beliefs, and views that the individual consuming the media has, which is why there are multiple takes that can coexist or why fandom discourse exists in the first place. Also, I am begging for some of you to develop some critical thinking because the number of times I have seen someone say something along the lines of a character "chose to" do something so we shouldn't be upset at it and accept it is bewildering. First of all characters are puppets that the author play with to illustrate a story and second people are allowed to critique a character or storyline if said storyline doesn't match with the themes of the story or if they just personally dislike it and can logically back it up with evidence.

This heavily applies to the discourse surrounding how bullying was handled with izuku and bakugo in general and how izuku is never given the time to introspect, think and develop like he was given in the earlier arcs of the story and this shift in rhr narrative can be easily seen and makes many uncomfortable especially when bakugo is presented to be 'redeeming' himself. However, even with all of this izuku never gets the chance to even introspect about bakugo's apology or even respond to it instead Izuku's autonomy is taken from him as All Might literally speaks for him saying that he believes that izuku has forgiven him. What annoys me most is that in the final act we see more people's opinions about the situation surrounding bakugo's treatment of izuku than we see Izuku's direct thoughts about bakugo's treatment towards him

[almostthirty-diaries]

YOU NEED TO GET A HOBBY.

A list of all my hobbies to inspire you to get yourself one too.

Journalling - This is something that is so integrated within my daily routine these days that, I don't even really class it as a hobby anymore. It's more a thing I need to do within the day. But that's because, I'm an obsessive person, and it makes my little brain feel like the sparkle emoji, any time I know I have written a little something for myself. But a normal person can enjoy journalling too. It comes in many forms, and is so personal to the individual that, you really can make it anything you want it to be. 

Photography - I've enjoyed taking photographs ever since I was old enough to understand how a camera worked. I remember going on holidays when I was younger and being the dedicated 'holiday photographer' with a little cheap disposable camera. Digicams are making a comeback and so is physical media, so there's no better time really to pick this up as a hobby. Make it whatever you want it to be. Go and see the world through a lens. Take a picture of your pet. Photograph the sunset. Enjoy everything. 

Videography - On a similar note to the photography hobby, videography is a fun one too. These don't have to be shared anywhere but can be as an extra element if that is something you would like to do. Ive made videos on and off for over 10 years (ish) now. I'm obsessed with the home movie feeling. The nostalgia of being able to watch everything back. And between old media and new, it's fun to find an edit that brings both together when creating a video. 

Sudoku - I used to never say I enjoyed these but now, I don't care. I LOVE DOING SUDOKU PUZZLES!!! I know these are not for everyone but anything you can close your mind off to technology is a good hobby to incorporate into your life. And I am very competitive with a sudoku puzzle. Not with anyone else, just myself. There's something so lightweight and self rewarding about finishing a puzzle. 

Reading - One of my biggest and most prominent hobbies within my life. And I'm sure a lot of people already have this as one of their hobbies too. People go wrong seeing reading as a blanket where everyone is under the same one. No. Reading is very individual. Yes the act of reading is all the same but, what you read, how you read and when you read, will be very personal to you. And once you find the reading routine that works for you, it's unstoppable. 

Writing - Another hobby that is very individual. But even if you never share a single word with someone else, writing is such an effective hobby. You can be writing something completely make believe and out there but, it will stimulate and help you mentally. Even writing this post is making me feel like I'm getting something out, and off of my chest. Even though I'm not really. And you do not have to share your writing. Keep it to yourself. But write, and see what happens. 

Gaming - A fun one for all. And one that you can definitely make into whatever you want it to be. There are such a wide range of games out there that you can choose from and have fun with. This is the type of hobby that will pass time on very quickly and allow you to experience a little bit of escapism. The one thing I would say about this hobby is not letting it over run everything else. It can become very addictive and that can become unhealthy. 

Drawing - I feel like drawing is something that everyone can enjoy but not many people do because they are expecting too much from themselves. And I myself have been guilty of that before, too. If you are drawing for a hobby, which is the intended purpose here, your drawings don't have to be anything special. They can be literally scribbles on paper. But they are for you and whatever you want them to be. This is also a nice hobby that you can use if you are wanting to learn a new skill. Some artists are just born but all artist come from practice. Everyone has to learn, and that could be you. If not, you can just keep the scribbles simple. But have fun. 

Puzzles - I wanted to add this to the end of the list because, even though a couple varieties have been mentioned by me already, there are so many more puzzle varieties out there and I just wanted to be able to say this. Doing puzzles are not only a good way to pass time, and a good  hobby to have but they are also stimulating for the mind. Some examples include: wordle, mini crosswords, Rubik's cubes and so many more. These can be physical or digital. You can even find little brain teaser puzzles in many shops and online. There are so many different ways you can use this hobby to your own personal advantage.

[23swife]

OUR CELEBRATION — FIVE HUNDRED PLUS

i am so completely blown away and thankful you guys enjoy my writing and for ever making this account because of how incredibly nice everyone is! mutuals especially, i’m honestly so surprised i talk to this many people i would have guessed i’d just write a little and keep to myself but honestly the nicest people ever on this site/in this fandom. thank you so so much for making this experience incredible for me— so this is me giving back

There’s so many amazing authors who deserve the absolute world for the effort they put in their fics that we get to read. For my celebration, here’s a little challenge to all the SPN authors (or those who want to start writing SPN) out there. i saw someone do something similar, so, all you need to do is:

— send an ask with one of these playlists and a number from 1-40:

Rock, 90s, dance/electronic, indie, upbeat, R&B, 2000s, Hip Hop, Country, Romantic, Pop, Rap. If you’re feeling indecisive choose my ‘On Repeat’ playlist and a number. (I do listen to Arabic music so if that’s something you can’t write with, send in 2 numbers incase the first one is Arabic).

Sample

.・゜-: ✧ :-

GUIDELINES (please read before sending asks) :

— you must be off anon and must be 18+ to write NSFW. — this event is supernatural exclusive but you can do crossovers or SPN RPF. — if you don’t like your song we can change it, no problem. but i want this to be a challenge so try your best! (but of course still no pressure) — it can be character x character or x oc or x reader — tag @rubyvhs in your post and use #laila’s 500 celebration — one song per person (but if you finish it and want another one of course that’s welcome)! — I’ll reblog all the amazing works and make a masterlist by the deadline. —deadline for sending an ask: Feb 1st, 2025. — deadline for all fics is March 1st, 2025 (if you can’t get to it in time, no problem, just let me know please). — not a guideline but I’ll write just one myself (using a number generator for ‘on repeat’ as a starter<3) — all i ask of you, as a reader and anyone who follows me, is to please interact with the fics, whether these ones or any ones that pop up on your dashboard that you enjoyed, it’ll mean a damn lot to the author is you leave a comment or reblog with how much you liked it.

[morteraphan]

Hello, Forgive me for this sudden question, I hope it is appropriate. I think you might have some experience.

Straight to the point, I would like to know how you (how to) grow a presence online as an artist. The algorithm is really bad in this era, and it's hard to get someone to see your work if you are a nobody.

I have been on social media for 5 years and tried all the methods I could. everything. I could. At one point got so desperate for attention started clout chasing for an audience, which ended up regretting and deleting an account with 9k random people. It is impossible to grow an art account by just posting. And I personally don't think engaging with others is a good way now, the art community used to be nice, but now people are all just so... different.

When I am drawing alone, I enjoy the process, and I want to show my art to others. I don't have people to share in real life, so social media is the only option. Yet ironically because of the algorithm mostly (and my very unlucky fortune), I don't have anyone to see my art. Literally no one. ( maybe only that one/two guys, which I'm grateful) I am just so tired of trying and failing again.

Sometimes when I see artists get all the attention and support, I can't help but feel jealous. Especially those who live on their ocs and can get people to engage with their oc universe. I envy them because I want to share mine as well. I don't crave much and don't need a thousand people, I just want my work to be seen and make myself feel worthy. It's true they say 'Don't care about popularity do art for yourself' but it's hard.

It has been a vicious cycle, and it has seriously affected my mental health. I used to be a super active artist, yet now I realise I don't like drawing that much anymore. I don't enjoy the only hobby I like, drawing. Because I know no matter how much effort I put into the artwork, no one is going to see it. Even though I like to draw, I can't bring up /finish larger works like I used to. When I think about drawing, it feels like a chore without a reward (external validation).

What I think upset me the most, is when someone managed to see my work on social media, they only spam likes and not follow... ? Because I only have like 10 followers. I don't know how to react anymore.

I have a dream to become a comic artist. I am afraid no one will see my work because I am not a well-known artist. I am so disappointed about everything. I just wish there was someone who could truly appreciate my efforts, and support my work so I may feel I have a purpose to keep on creating.

I am so sorry this turned out to be a long vent, I never told anyone before, I hope someone can hear my inner thoughts as an artist struggling to survive. 🙏

Uh, anon, I'm so sorry to read this. I understand what you're saying and I agree that the internet is a very cruel place for artists right now. Too much competition, algorithms that make it impossible to get seen, AI crap, etc.

Unfortunately, I'm not the kind of person who can tell you how to be successful. I have always been very bad at it myself. I have been posting for over 15 years - and only now have I started to interest more people in my characters (and still, I regularly see artists who are much more successful than me, and who are 10-15 years younger than me). Probably, my first success was the designs of anthro characters, but even when I returned to drawing people, I lost a lot - followers, patrons, mutuals. Of course, I don't complain and am very grateful for what I have. And I'm grateful to those people who support my work. It's just that I'm really not the kind of person who makes successful decisions in my own promotion.

From what I can see, people like fanart, fandoms, some crossovers, DnD. I don't suggest drawing what you don't like - because this will only lead to burnout. But maybe if you find some interesting niche for yourself, you will be able to find people with similar interests and start building your social circle. It's sad that there are no art forums left now, because it was a cool thing. Sometimes I even think about starting my own little forum lol. But still, there are places like Bluesky where artists are now building a new community and helping each other in promotion.

If you want to draw comics - start right now! Draw comics, use hashtags, use all available platforms. Don't try to think of something global, start with something simple and something that will bring you joy. People like comics because they often help to reveal the character better than illustrations. For example, drawing silly little strips really helped me, I started them as a rough sketch after a migraine, and now it is one of the pillars of my art.

Anyway, sorry if this didn't help you at all and my message was useless. I myself am a person with burnout and a very gloomy outlook on the future, and I'm learning to love drawing again like before. I wish you success in your art and don't lose heart - sometimes the path can be very difficult and long, but if you do something for the soul, in the end it will bring results. ❤️

[schrodinger-swriter]

C, I, K, L, P, and Z for Angel? <3

C, I, and Z for Angel

Some of the letters have already been done in a previous post, so you can find them there!

Apologies for the short author's note once more, I feel a little under the weather :C

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy, Anon!

CUDDLING:

The fluff of his body makes for a very comfortable cuddling experience, just as long as you don't pull yourself too close.. enough to feel his body underneath it all. Boney, he's very thin. However asides that, cuddling is quite nice! I doubt you're going to be holding him in a death grip, aha! Pretty warm, too, so there's an added bonus in that. Similar to some points in the last post, a lot of cuddling might turn into something more... steamy... until he either learns boundaries, learns to not be fake around you, or better reads the difference between something innocent and something.. not... perhaps a mix of all three. Likes being little spoon, but won't protest if asked to be big spoon every now and then.

INJURY:

A part of his mask slips when one of you are injured. When it's you, you can see some of the worry in his eyes. He's going to try to play it cool, but there's still an urgency in his movements as he tries to stop the bleeding coming from a gushing wound.. Extra hands make things easier when you need to apply pressure. Tries to play it cool the entire time, during and after. Good luck trying to talk to him about it. Likewise, if he's the one injured it's going to be rather hard trying to bring it up with him and talking. In private he is miserable, but the second someone else is around he's putting on his act and pretending it doesn't bother him. Please ignore his wincing, at least until you two are alone...

ZZZ:

He sleeps all sprawled out over the bed, he has probably stolen the blanket at least once or two... perhaps he's even forced you off the bed in his sleep.. his long limbs would make for good... means to push you.. yes that's worded right/j

Tosses and turns a lot, especially if he didn't use any sleeping aids that night (ex. sleeping meds). Perhaps you could invest in a weighted blanket to help him be more still in his sleep. Does not snore, though.

[cripplecharacters]

oh yeah another question abt intellectual disability: what do people with moderate id speak like? i assume they wouldnt be perfectly articulate but i know making them talk like cavemen would be bad too. i do want it to be clear that they have language difficulties, but im not sure how to do that realistically. so what kinds of grammar errors are actually common? would it make sense to have them mix up words with similar pronunciation, or have difficulty discerning the differences in implications between words with similar meanings (like "pretty" vs "attractive")? do people with id ever 'imagine context' the way people(well, me) do when half-asleep where the brain mishears a statement as something completely unrelated? would spatial and situational awareness be impaired? also this is kind of a different question but if you can give advice on what to do with game mechanics for an id character in an rpg, that would be nice! i already have the stats figured out for every character and theres no stat that i think would be strongly affected by id but in terms of depicted fighting style and other mechanics maybe thered be some stuff informed by it (i cant do anything too complex though, im using rpg maker vx ace). idk! im spitballing here. main thing i need to know is how to write dialogue for a character with id ^_^

Hey, we have a post somewhat about this that you might find useful, I'll try to go over the other questions below.

Keep in mind my ID is mild (and on the milder side of that) so my answer will be all second-hand knowledge from talking to people with moderate ID in my SPED years.

A lot of it will depend on what condition causes they have. People with Williams syndrome have very “normal” verbal skills majority of the time, and you can't really tell in my experience. On the other hand if they're autistic you can potentially guess from the tone of the voice e.g. they speak in a very loud and monotone way. People with Down syndrome are very likely to have a speech disorder, someone with cerebral palsy might slur their words, etc.

A lot of people with ID might be less talkative than your average person (there's definitely exceptions). So your character could use shorter sentences, simple sentences (in the grammar sense), prefer to use other forms of communication for things that don't require speech (e.g., nodding instead of saying “Yes, I agree”, or doing a thumbs up, etc.), or have to be prompted to actually answer/take part in the conversation.

I personally don't recall ever hearing the “mixing words with similar pronunciation” in someone's actual speech, maybe unless they learned the language from reading rather than hearing it. If that's the case, then ID could affect their speech more than if they didn't have it, otherwise I'd assume that the character might have brain damage or is maybe hard of hearing and simply mixes them up because they can't recognize/hear the difference between them.

Mixing words based on specific meaning makes much more sense in my opinion (probably because I do that myself). Synonyms or words that might make sense in one context but not the other are the worst. Your example here is great. When someone has ID they might take away the wrong meaning out of a word and use it incorrectly because of that. E.g., their parents used to take them camping to a forest with lots of bugs, they don't like bugs, they can later call something “foresty” to mean “with lots of bugs” even if it doesn't have much to do with an actual forest. This might make more sense for a character with more severe ID (or if they're just young) but using “attractive” when you'd normally say “pretty” makes sense for someone with moderate ID in my opinion.

Something that can also affect speech of someone with ID is word repetition. Not really in the echolalia sense (though it can be that too) but just using stock phrases that get repetitive over time. I try to edit it out from my posts, but you can still kinda see it. For some people it will be ending most sentences with the same word, for someone else it will be starting two paragraphs with the same three words without realizing even though they're right next to each other or overusing “maybe” and “if” to start sentences.

As for the “imagining context” while mishearing something, I'm not sure if I know what you mean by it, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't do it.

Situational awareness is definitely impacted for all people with ID but to different degrees. I don't know if it's part of the diagnostic criteria, but it might as well be. When the person's ID is mild it might look like someone who's just kinda unaware of what goes around them, maybe don't recognize that they're doing something that could end up badly. The more severe the intellectual disability the more obvious it is, the person might elope (wander off) and not be able to find their way back, not be able to use cooking utensils safely because they don't recognize the risks in real time (not really in the “not realizing that the knife is sharp” way if they have moderate ID, more like “not realizing that you need to be careful when putting things on hot oil, or you can get burned”), assuming that people are automatically safe to be around, things like that.

Spatial awareness doesn't affect everyone, but one of the biggest comorbidities of ID is dyspraxia, which does affect it a lot. There are people with mild ID with severe dyspraxia, and severely ID people with no dyspraxia. It varies.

Unfortunately I have never played any RPGS, and I'm not really familiar with the mechanics. Here's an old ask about intellectually disabled characters engaged in combat, hopefully it's useful?

If you want some real-life resources for hearing how intellectually disabled people talk, I really recommend this playlist. It's a bunch of interviews with people with Down syndrome and you can see that they're all very different from each other despite having the same disability.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[empressofthewind]

Hey there, Meronia fan! Do you mind if I ask for Meronia fics recs? And, do you have any fav ships (from any fandom) that the dynamics remind you of Mello/Near?

You can't imagine, how excited I am to find your blog. Let's just say in my older anime/manga group who love Death Note mostly ship Lawlight & Matt/Mello, anti Meronia and are Near haters. So when I said I love Meronia, some blocked me and said I was the weird one. So, I never said it again. But now, after I got out from that group I feel better. Then finding your blog with amazing Mello and Near's metas, I'm so happy! Thanks for your blog...

Thank you very much!!! I'm so happy to hear this :-) in my experience most people on Tumblr are pretty normal about Meronia, and it's SO easy to block/filter users who aren't.

Unfortunately re: ships with similar dynamics, I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'll put this post in the ship tag; I'm sure someone else will have an answer!! In terms of fic recs, I've actually set up my bookmarks page on AO3 to function like a rec list. I have 36 fics there each with a little blurb and I'm constantly updating it, so hopefully a decent amount that you haven't read! I'll pick 10 of them to link here for easy access (ordered by rating in case you can't/don't want to read the mature ones):

the roof by @lightningblade | 3692 words | Rated T

This is a college AU focused on the development of Mello and Near's relationship through a series of encounters on a rooftop. The writing is GORGEOUS, the progression is masterfully done, and it removes the element of the rivalry without removing the core of what makes Meronia such a great ship! There's also a companion piece up as of yesterday which I'm still recovering from (very very positive).

Dear Mello by @tzviaariella | 4158 words | Rated T

This fic is written during the canon timeline through a series of emails. It's an AU where Mello survives, originally written for the 2023 Meronia Zine but also posted on AO3 (which is what I've linked here). The format is really creative and I'm OBSESSED with the way Mello and Near's dynamic is written. The petty back-and-forth is very entertaining and in-character, and there's a certain familiarity and fondness underlying it that I adore. There are also a few artworks throughout which is a nice treat!!

How to Get Any Guy to Fall in Love with You by Sick_head_Sweet_heart | 7025 words | Rated T

This one has such a late-2000s fandom classic feel to it that I'm surprised it's only a few years old??? It's set at Wammy's House, in which Matt gives Near advice on how to make Mello fall in love with him. The dynamic is insanely cute and I'm obsessed with the way Matt and Near's friendship is characterised here. Them scheming together is something I need more of in fics!!

The Mihael Factor by spiritcrimson | 16 chapters | Rated T

One of the longest completed works I've ever read for Meronia and I have been DYING to find something like this ever since. It's a talent agent x singer AU, and it's literally everything I could have asked for in a longfic. A unique idea, compelling progression and a fun antagonistic dynamic that blossoms into a really sweet romance. It's a slowburn but it doesn't drag on at all, and the ending is SO well worth the wait.

3 + 1 by @squidish | 2423 words | Rated T

x + 1 fics are a favourite trope of mine, as is the general concept of Mello and Near behaving inappropriately in the workplace, and this one combines both of those perfectly. The premise is 3 times Mello and Near got walked in on by one of the SPK members, and 1 time they were caught by the whole group. The writing is SO delightful and there are several lines in this that are permanently lodged in my brain. I find humour in writing immensely difficult to pull off so I'm always in awe of authors who can integrate it naturally, and squidish's writing is a great example of that! (Worth noting that this one is slightly more mature than the other T-rated fics here, so I've put it closer to the M & E section; however the smut scenes are not explicit)

it's friday, i'm in love by @neallo | 2676 words | Rated M

You could read literally anything by neallo and it's guaranteed to be good, but to keep this list short, I've included one angsty fic and one lighthearted fic so you can pick the vibe. This one is more lighthearted, and it depicts a very tender moment in which Mello shows up at Near's door drunk and dances with him in the kitchen. This is a prequel to a bigger AU focusing on a casual relationship between them, but it also holds up as a standalone fic! It's unbearably sweet and there are many lines in there that made me audibly laugh.

Speculation on Demisexual Sex Drive by SayHiDestery | 4069 words | Rated M

The smut scene in this fic is so intimate and perfect, I'm melting just thinking about it. It's an established relationship fic in which Near has PTSD and has certain struggles with intimacy, and Mello guides him through it. It's quite slow-paced and takes its time to linger on the small details, which I absolutely adore, and the writing itself is vivid and beautiful. It also features demisexual Near!!

Winning the Game by clearmain | 4134 words | Rated E

This one is a PWP set mid-canon, immediately after the raid on the SPK. I'm a huge sucker for bold & bratty Near and that's EXACTLY what this fic serves. The way this introduces elements of rivalry and competition into their relationship is excellent and makes this fic feel faithful to their canon dynamic. It's a compelling push-pull with an open but hopeful ending that very succinctly captures the complexities of their relationship.

A Certain Hush by BlueberryAsh | 5434 words | Rated E

One of the first fanfics I read for Meronia and I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed my life. This fic has had SUCH a massive influence on the way I view and write the ship. It's a little glimpse into Mello and Near's relationship immediately after getting together. It's really cute and sweet in a way that feels authentic to the characters, and I'm incredibly impressed by the way it manages to give just enough backstory for their relationship to make sense without getting caught up in the details. Genuinely a masterpiece!

i want to hold you (hostage) by @neallo | 4 chapters | Rated E

The aforementioned angsty neallo fic! This one is an exes AU set during the canon timeline, and it is, as you can imagine, a very fraught dynamic done SO incredibly well. The tension is absolutely delicious and there are earnest moments littered throughout that are guaranteed to have you tearing up. Brilliant setup, brilliant writing, brilliant dynamic; just an absolutely stellar fic on all counts!!