#tbh I could never understand how to be a youtuber either...

[beautifullychaoticworld-blog]

Should I join Tiktok? Is it worth it? 

[checkeredflagggs]

Glazed and Confused

Pairing: Lando Norris x Potter!Youtuber!reader

Summary: when lando fails to make a simple mug, fans direct him towards your YouTube channel

a/n: I took 1 hr long class on pottery and quit. Don’t like the feel of it, have mostly forgot literally everything about it so…🤷🏻‍♀️

a/n 2: I really struggled to get lando’s voice down and don’t really think I did. Oops 😬 will work on that for next time (also plz ignore that changing of the handles. I try to keep them accurate but again I’m not on those social media platforms so…)

a/n 3: I tried to make sure that this reader was never gendered or given a race — there’s one photo near the end that depicts 2 white smaller hands but I think that is the only time. Please let me know how I did, if you could

Pottery Made Easy has posted

potterymadeeasy

liked by user1, user2, and 2316 others

pottermadeeasy: my newest video (mugs and bowls, pt 2) is now up! In it I show you ways to add a little flourish and decorations to the pieces you made from part 1!

view all comments

user1: thank you your majesty! Easy to understand and so so easy to follow!! (unlike my professor 🙄😬)

user2: right? If they either stopped mumbling or spoke up…

user1: might be asking too much of someone born in the 1800s 😭🙄

user2: unfortunately

user3: god your work is so gorgeous. Do you sell anything?

potterynadeeasy: occasionally! I’m based in Monaco rn and a friend owns a shop and sometimes they let me use a shelf or 2

user4: ohh! I’m in France. Plz plz plz make an announcement when you will next have some ready! I’d love to own a piece

potterynadeeasy: of course lovely 😊 vague plans are to have some ready in the next week or 2!

user4: seriously?!? Marking the calendar right now!

user3: you have no idea how jealous I am right now…

potterynadeeasy: dm me! I might be able to ship it to you depending on where you are!

user3: faints bless you

user5: landonorris here! They might be able to help you

user6: be so for real right now. It’ll take a miracle to help landonorris

user7: I hate to be a negative nancy but…yeah. That latest stream was bad bad landonorris

user8: I dont even know…that clay flew… landonorris

user9: would hate to be his cleaner…

lnupdates

liked by user5, user6, user7, and 1,897,455 others

lnupdates: some of our favorite moments from Lando’s latest stream where he was attempting to make a ceramic mug…bowl? It was certainly an interesting one to watch

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user5: interesting is one way to put it. Tragic is another

user6: no but really…that was. I legit have no words

user7: he needs to watch potterymadeeasy! I love their videos

user8: oh? I haven’t heard of them

user7: they’re a Monaco based potter that has a lot of simple how to videos!

user8: just watched one of them! And god their voice…🥵

user7: oh my god right?!?

user5: but are they gonna be enough to help lando?

user7: well they certainly couldn’t make it any worse tbh

user9: you got this lando! Pottery isn’t something easy to pick up - you just gotta keep trying!

user10: yeah! There was definitely some improvement by the end

Twitter

Private DMs

landonorris

liked by oscarpiastri, charles_leclerc, maxverstappen1, and 2,790,469 others

landonorris: progress! these ones were mostly standing. I’m not done yet though - catch me tomorrow night giving it another go

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user11: those looked good! Most definitely an improvement!

user12: he’s almost there! It’s literally just the little things now

user13: oh how far we’ve come! In less then a year he’s gone from flying clay to something that could generously be called a bowl

user14: and an “artistic” vase!

oscarpiastri: definitely better then last time

landonorris: mate…

oscarpiastri: you don’t pay your cleaner enough

landonorris: mate!! get out of my comments

charles_leclerc: keep trying! Maybe one day you’ll get there

landonorris: yeah say goodbye to your Christmas present

charles_leclerc: 👎🏻

alex_albon: will be there! And will definitely be recording - gotta have proof 😂

landonorris: is it national bully lando day here or something?

user15: yes

user16: yes

oscarpiastri: yes

charles_leclerc: yes 👍🏻

georgerussell63: yes

alex_albon: yes!!

maxverstappen1: yes

danielricciardo: yes!

carlossainz55: yes!

landonorris: you freaking muppets!

user17: ok but am I the only one who noticed he kept looking to the side and like beaming?

user18: no but I thought I was going insane? Like he was so soft?

user17: yeah! definitely getting the feeling he wasn’t the only one there. Just who are you looking at?

user18: dare we say little lando norris has a partner now?

landonorris

liked by potterymadeeasy, oscarpiastri, carlossainz55, and 2,723,944 others

landonorris: haha! I did kt! A mug a vase and a bowl!! On to the next step - glazing! And you muppets didn’t think I could do it

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user19: woohoo! Congrats lando! Those look so so good!

user20: and those glazes are gonna be fire when they’re done. I use the same brand and colors he did and they turn out AMAZING

user19: ok don’t be shy drop the names plz

potterymadeeasy: those look great!

landonorris: thank you! Had a great teacher 😉

user21: ariana (potterymadeeasy) what are you doing here?

user22: thoughts are being thunk

user23: unthunk those thoughts right now

user22: sorry…thots are being thunk rn

user23: nurse she’s out again!

user21: really? Under my comment thread?

user24: I’ve connected the dots.

user25: you’ve connected shit

user24: no I’ve connected them

user25: god get a life

charles_leclerc: congrats!

carlossainz55: it only took a few months…

alex_albon: a couple of different throwing wheels

georgerussell63: and 3 different cleaning companies

landonorris: I’m gonna run you all over with my car

mclaren: legally this is a joke

landonorris

liked by potterymadeeasy, danielricciardo, carlossainz55, and 2,922,713 others

landonorris: first round of my ceramics are currently cooking in the kiln. Starting a new batch and stretching my creative skills

view all comments

user26: holy shit those look INCREDIBLE

user27: I’m so shocked! I just started watching the old streams so like in the course of a day he went from wet clay lumps to these masterpieces

user28: I’m so so proud of him - I’m currently trying to get into pottery and ceramics and watching him keep at it is so inspiring

user26: user28 you can do it! Persistence is key

oscarpiastri: man thinks he’s Picasso now…but for real congrats lando. Those look good! And functional too

landonorris: I’m only gonna give you the lumpy ones actually

oscarpiastri: I’m good thanks

landonorris: 🙃

oscarpiastri: honestly proud of you. You’ve come a long way

landonorris: thanks mate!

oscarpiastri: I’m also glad you can stop calling me crying about your latest fuck up

landonorris: you muppet!

danielricciardo: too soon to call dibs on that dragonfly mug?

landonorris: after the way you continuously kept laughing at me?

danielricciardo: in encouragement?

landonorris: 😑

danielricciardo: 🥹🧡?

landonorris: fine 🙄

user29: ok yeah good job on those designs and whatever but are we gonna mention those HEART MUGS?!

landonorris: 😂🧡😉

user29: get back here and answer some questions! What? Does? That? Mean?

landonorris: 🏃🏻‍♂️💨

user29: SIR!

maxverstappen1: i see you’re finished making my present but really? Matching heart mugs?

landonorris: not actually for you!

maxverstappen1: heart❤️ been broke💔🤕 so many times⏰ i don’t know❌🤷‍♀️ what to believe 🍃🙏

landonorris: …who are you and where is max?

maxverstappen1: I thought what we had was special

landonorris: not my favorite relationship anymore! Sorry 🧡

maxverstappen1: 💔

potterymadeeasy: those look good!

landonorris: I had a good teacher 🧡

potterymadeeasy: flatterer

landonorris: always 😉

User22: !!!

User23: shut up shut up shut up

landonorris

liked by yourpriv, oscarpiastri, maxverstappen1, and 3,123,321 others

landonorris: kiln unveiling and some upcoming projects!

listen. when I randomly decided that I wanted to learn how to make ceramic dishes, it was mostly because I wanted to make something with my own 2 hands — and when I wasn’t immediately good at it, I decided that I wouldn’t stop until I was.

Its been a long couple of months with a lot of struggles but I can finally say that I’m proud of how far I’ve come. It hasn’t been easy but the journey and the process has been fun and i genuinely can’t wait to see what comes next!

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user30: I’m? Crying? 😭

user31: omg same!!! To see how far he’s come and to hear that he’s finally proud of himself too…

user32: we’re excited for you too!

user33: excited? For what? Some more mediocre “Art” by some mediocre man?

user32: go fuck yourself. And get out of my comments. And off lando’s page

used34: user33 how about you go get some sun and maybe shove some kindness up yours! 🖕

oscarpiastri: seriously, congratulations. Those look incredible

landonorris: thanks mate! I do appreciate your support

oscarpiastri: and my cupboards appreciate your work

user34: 🩵🩵 ahhh he’s giving away his pieces

alex_albon: it’s been a fun ride watching you!

landonorris: thanks i think

alex_albon: no problem!

alex_albon: and could you send me the name of your newest cleaning crew? They most be ungodly good

landonorris: and there it is… cleaningcrew

alex_albon: anyway i could get a series of mugs inspired by albon_pets?

landonorris: I’ll need a lot of pretty good pictures

alex_albon: on it 🫡

landonorris: in fact I might need to visit in person

albon_pets: yay! We love ❤️ getting visitors

user35: UMMM?!? That 5th photo?!?

user36: IS THIS A SOFT LAUNCH? DOES LITTLE LANDO NORRIS FINALLY HAVE A PARTNER AGAIN?!?

landonorris: 🫢🤫

user36: YOU CANT KEEP GETTJNG AWAY WITH THIS

landonorris: 😂🏃🏻‍♂️💨

yourpriv: my love, I’m so proud of you! Putting yourself out there in the world to learn something new is never easy but you have done it with amazing persistence and talent.

landopriv: babe… you know I couldn’t do it without you

yourpriv: oh I have no doubt you would have gotten here on your own

landopriv: no. No i don’t think I would have. I’m a fast guy and I’m used to fast results. When I reached out to you, it was a last resort last string. If it didn’t work out with your help, I was honestly going to quit. You pushed me to get better, to stick with it till I made it.

yourpriv: 🥹🥹🥹

landopriv: I’m serious. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me — i love you 🧡

yourpriv: 🥹🥰🧡 I love you too hun

maxverstappen1: can’t lie — it was a fun ride watching you fail but I also can’t wait to see what you make next

landonorris: …thanks for your support 😑🙄😅

maxverstappen1: you know it!

landonorris

liked by yourpriv, charles_leclerc, maxverstappen1, and 2,997,245 others

tagged: yourpriv, potterymadeeasy

landonorris: no time for a soft launch. Thank you honey for teaching me pottery and for designing such a bomb ass helmet!

comments have been limited on this post

potterymadeeasy: Lando! We had a plan!

landonorris: 🤷🏻‍♂️

landonorris: love ya!

potterymadeeasy:…love you too!

[kitkatopinions]

I don’t understand how some people are mad at Charlie for mentioning (praising) Monty when….when the Bee’s kissed….they instantly brought up the whole “good romance is earned” tweet/thing to shove down peoples throats that the kiss was “planned from the beginning.” …idk seems pretty hypocritical to me. Is it hypocritical to you?

Honestly fans are always a little hypocritical when it comes to the belief that you should not ever use a dead man's name or talk about his intentions when you aren't a hundred percent sure of them and didn't know the man in question, because some rwby fans use 'Monty's vision' as much as they think rwde posters do and pass around screencaps of tweets of his in order to try to make critics shut up. Like, none of us knew Monty Oum, none of us know what he'd want for sure, none of us know for sure if he was closer to Shane Newville or Miles Luna, none of us know exactly what he 'planned from the beginning' and most of what we hear about the plans for rwby is hearsay from either the people currently working at RT or people like Shane Newville.

To be completely honest - and I'm going to be as sensitive as I can when I say this - I don't believe in the idea that people shouldn't be able to criticize someone just because they're dead. I try not to bring up Monty Oum too much because I know it's upsetting for some people, but I did not know him and I don't feel any more obligated to be nothing but nice towards him than I'd feel the need to be nice to Jane Austen or Gene Roddenberry, or any media creator if they died tomorrow. However, I do think people ought to be careful about talking about the intentions of dead media creators (not that they shouldn't do it at all but they should just be careful,) because... They're dead, so they can't speak about it to confirm or deny what other people are supposing they thought or wanted. But that one hundred percent applies to everything. That applies to 'everything that happens in rwby is something Monty Oum planned/would've liked' just like it applies to 'Monty Oum never would've wanted this/wouldn't like this.' That applies to 'you are not allowed to criticize the rwby writers because Monty Oum said not to be mean to his friends' just like it applies to 'you shouldn't doubt Shane Newville because Monty Oum said not to be mean to his friends.' That applies to 'Monty Oum wouldn't have wanted bumbleby and he would've confirmed this other ship' and it also applies to 'Monty Oum loved bumbleby and laid out the plan for them getting together right at the start.'

But yeah, tbh, the really weird thing here is that as far as I can tell, that youtuber who criticized rwby was just like "I liked this when Monty was more involved and now I don't like it" and people are screaming about him taking Monty's name in vain? And that's... Not good. Just so we're clear, they're angry that someone... Praised Monty Oum's work, and then admitted that they don't like what rwby became? That's illegal now? That's worthy of being attacked? That made him a free target people could say slurs to and send death threats? That is far more disgraceful behavior imo than a youtuber just saying their opinion.

[ink-flavored]

1, 7, 11, 16, 18, 28 & 30 for pride and justice?

EHEHEH i am clicking my little heels together thank you

1. What’s their love languages?

For Pride, it's physical touch and words of affirmation. He loves attention and being told he's very special. And like, after many thousands of years of not having either of those things, I think he deserves it

Justice could be argued for any of them tbh, but I think most of all is quality time and acts of service, sprinkled with words of affirmation. He finds the most fulfillment from being with and helping other people, and luckily for him, Pride needs both of those things so much.

7. Who is the more romantic one?

Justice, no question. In Heaven, both he and Kindness were both very close friends with an angel of Love, so he's had the adjacency to romance for a long time, without ever being able to participate. The perfect recipe to concoct a hopeless romantic. Compound this with his book club friends introducing him to romance novels and like... that's it. He's gone.

He and Pride have a bit of a stumbling block at the beginning of their relationship because Justice is SO ready to buy the roses and go on dates and get the matching pajamas and stuff, but Pride is an exposed wire of raw emotion who can't do much more than give him a haunted stare after the never-before-experienced-vulnerability of admitting he loves someone. It's a process, but they get there!!!

11. What’s a song that describes their relationship? Or, what’s the song that they’ve deemed “their” song?

I'm gonna go ahead and link the entire Spotify playlist [or Youtube], because it took me forever to pick singular song

No Guilt by IRONTOM is one that means So Much To Me, because the only reason they learned to love each other is through humanity and reconciling their differences - and maybe learning that they aren't so different after all. Their relationship isn't just the two of them, it's the culmination of what their friends, the humans that were once so beneath them, taught them about love.

16. What’s their favorite “domestic bliss” moment? Do they cook/clean together? Do they like to go out shopping together?

Their interests don't intersect very often, but one place they do find they agree is art! Justice plays the harp, and Pride gets introduced to painting through his friend Dante. Once they throw down a tarp (because Pride intends to make a mess, always), I like to imagine them hanging out in the living room together, Justice playing music while Pride slaps some paint around.

18. What does a date night out look like for them?

It depends who picked the activity. Justice goes for traditional date night activities -- dinner, movie, some sort of Out On The Town activity they can do together. For Pride, his second and third options are drinking and/or clubbing, but his favorite thing in the world is Bad Movie Night, where he torments Justice with the worst movies he can find. Their "winning" worst movie night ever is The VelociPastor.

28. What’s something that reminds them of their partner(s)? Do they have anything on them daily as a reminder (a photo, phone background, tattoo, clothing/accessory, etc)?

Pride is a clothing thief, so he is more often than not wearing something that was Justice's in the first place. This is especially true on Sunday, when he's at church for most of the morning and into the afternoon.

For Justice, is it usually the bite marks.

30. Free space! Say something about this ship that you want to say!

It should be noted that I am insane about them, and that I am never not thinking about them.

One thing I'm glad I did was lean into the sex/kink aspect of their relationship, because I was really on the fence about including it at the beginning. But it's become such an important part of their characterizations and relationship as whole that I can't imagine not having it now. It's not just sex because hot (although yes), it's METAPHORS. It DEEPENS how you understand them, because now you know the things they want most and are only willing to share with each other.

[send me a ship ask!]

[chaifootsteps]

sorry to drama dump here, but it's kinda relevant to the stuff talked about? So Hbomb made a new video about cases of plagiarism and what surprised me was that the majority of it wasn't about Illuminaughtii as the initial patreon buzz suggested, but James Somerton. If you haven't heard of Somerton, he makes (made?) videos about queer content on YT. Some of it was better than others (his Helluva Boss video was so bad I never rewatched it) but I liked some of his stuff for helping me understand LGBT history and media better.

turns out he's a massive plagiarist, liar and was looking like he was implicating his co-writer who may or may not have known about this in order to preserve his own image. tbh I feel so dumb for having watched him for so long and not picked up on it - looking back it seems so obvious that the stuff I liked in his vids likely all came from various other books & articles and the judgemental, catty bits were very likely his own invention. what's worse is he complained about a lack of support before to the extent it threatened the continuation of the channel - either losing patrons or Youtube hiding his stuff due to its LGBT content and I believed him because it sounded plausible. but now I just don't know. I feel awful knowing how close I got to becoming his patreon a couple of times because I wanted to support what he was doing and I gave him the benefit of the doubt when I'd heard passing references to plagiarism before, assuming it was a small mistake anyone could make like forgetting to add a source - and not just reading huge passages nearly unchanged for minutes on end!

the whole time he was just ripping other people off. even by youtube plagiarism standards, the scale of it just staggers me

sorry for venting in your inbox. It just struck me watching Hbomb talk that Viv and James are kinda alike - they prop themselves up like pillars of the LBGT community for the services/art they provide while actively minimizing and ignoring other people working in the field or who came before them, then they make up shit when people call them out and just lie on the people taking them to task as harrassers & etc. I would hope someday there's an article or video that lays out the timeline of everyone Viv has hurt the way Hbomb does with JS here, but I think between Hazbin dropping and probably not getting critical acclaim and NDAs expiring next year, plus all the actually talented writers leaving or pulling away from her projects, it won't be the sharp decline suffered by Illuminaughtii or JS but a slow attrition into only her most dedicated fans still supporting her (assuming she doesn't get into yet more Twitter drama that derails whatever good will remains)

I was wondering why everyone was crossing their fingers for Hbomb to make a video about Vivzie.

All I can say is that if he wants to do so and needs the proof to back it up, there's my DMs.

[sysciety]

[cont. of this] ('factives are more than cc introjects')

It's because it's not trendy or marketable to say you have an introject of someone who abused you, or even someone who might be your friend who's a great person but doesn't happen to be popular. This has devolved into complaining more about tiktok/twitter but it feels like people won't talk about the downsides or the non "quirky" sides of a disorder unless it's done in some quippy or marketable way. (Not that they necessarily should do that either but it does unintentionally create a skew)

Saying "oh I felt dissociated on my way to x" doesn't make good content. "Here's a day in my life with a cdd" and it's me sitting at a desk doesn't make good content. There's nothing wrong with wanting to go "here's what a switch looks like" but I think it's still to some extent catering to an algorithm based on shock value as opposed to serving an educational purpose, especially when something like that is meant to be the highlight of a video (this is about tiktok again bc due to formats system-youtube does this in a much better way).

Saying you have a guy in your brain vs saying "I literally become x char from y media" will evoke two different responses from the average viewer even if to the system in question these could be two coexisting alters. But the latter is more shock inducing. On a reactionary algorithm that's what becomes popular and so other people follow suit, resulting in media introjects becoming more talked about, and eventually becoming the norm. Subsequently it also becomes a whole lot easier for people to target, creating a discourse feedback loop.

(i.e it's easier to fakeclaim fictives/make discourse around them)

Tumblr a) has an older userbase, b) is notorious for having no algorithm, c) doesn't have a character limit so discourse can be discussions instead of statements and d) isn't considered profitable/popular and I think that's why it's exempt from like, 90% of this

Remember when this post was about factives? How did we get here.

I think the general view of CDDs stems from the content portraying systems. It's like the inverse of "everyone with did is a murderer." The old (pre-2010s) perception/blanket statement to the general public was this, even if jokingly. Now it gets seen as the roleplaying disorder because of the sheer volume of content that's about having fictives and sources and source calls without enough understanding of the full picture.

(The murderer one's still there too tbh now there's just a second stereotype)

No one should be forced to talk about whether or not they endured something so traumatic it permanently changed their brain structure. I don't think everyone necessarily should, either. And I don't think just because someone never shows the negative sides of a disorder doesn't mean they don't have it. This isn't anyone's fault just a product of how to get views quick. The takeaway shouldn't be that media introjects are bad for the community at large. I don't believe that at all (still wanna get to the bottom of the rise of introject heavy systems, but that's for another post). This is just a general issue I have with turning every aspect of life into something consumable. When I say marketable/content I don't mean the person filming is trying to sell anything it's more like the persona presented online type of thing.

I know it probably only feels tangentially related but it's related enough for me to talk about. I don't know if there's anything here that can really be solved but at least to me it feels like a big part of the issue

[petewentzisblack1312]

hi i wanted to ask something but also share something personal as well. my q is: do you feel like your relationship w social media has changed? meaning, do you catch / notice when you are on it for too long and you start to notice, and then you say: okay let's take a break. for me, i have been online for a long time ever since i was a kid, and now my relationship to it is i only limit myself an hour to being on my phone. as an adult now i am no longer social media "obsessed". like, when i am in school i am not thinking about online, i am present when im at school. i feel like i am really close to just deleting sm tbh. it does not grant me happiness like it used to. now as an adult i feel this need to live my life freely.

i also wanted to ask what are ur thoughts on content influencers? to me when i see these ppl i think...i could never post about everything about my life, but then again understanding that it is just a highlight reel. no one is posting every sad / frustrating thing that happens in their life as influencer, only the "great" parts.

this is an interesting question! i think ive never really had a relationship to social media where i feel like i need to post constantly or felt pressured to share everything. while im definitely the most online out of my household, compared to a lot of other people im not really very present online. i dont like using twitter, i only really use instagram to look at and post art and occasionally post a picture of my cat or nature or food on my main account, i dont really get up to much and i never use facebook unless i have to. i hate it. even here on tumblr i dont post a lot about my personal life unprompted, and this is the social media site i use the most by far. i do scroll tumblr a lot, i do watch a lot of youtube videos (though almost exclusively video essays on politics and recently also artist vlogs) and i do notice myself scrolling a bit too much, particularly when im overstimulated but instead of doing something less stimulating im anxious and looking for a distraction so i like. scroll harder. but ive never been like doing something else and thought 'man, i wish i was scrolling right now'. i dont really know. i do have trouble putting my phone down, like when i need to sleep, but i have trouble putting ANYTHING down. games, books, art or writing or projects im working on, music im listening to, i dont think tumblr is special, its just another activity for me to be distracted by.

all that being said, i did leave social media for a while. i had a really bad experience in a fandom on tumblr (not the pwams incident. that led me to step away from bandom and move to another fandom) and honestly it made me realise that the problem i had with social media wasnt that i was using it too much, but that i had a toxic relationship with the communities i was interacting with on there. the nature of my relationship to social media was unhealthy, not the fact that i had one that was a large part of my life. i think when i wasnt using any social media i actually wasnt in a great place either, because i was isolated from people id cared about, especially since i had just undergone a very traumatic incident, and because of that became very isolated from my in person friends as well, even before the pandemic pushed me away from even the acquaintances i had made. i was worried about coming back to tumblr, but i think ive grown and learned in such a way that i know how i like to comport myself in cyberspaces, and that its been good for me in a way. which is weird, but. i think id kind of have to go in depth about my life and how the pandemic affected me and the specific nature of coming of age in st lucia and stuff. which i dont want to do haha.

as for influencers. i hate the concept. i understand it, and i dont universally hate influencers as a whole, but like. theres this specific kind of content creator where the thing they are sharing is just their life and there isnt like a specific thing theyre logging, like an artist sharing their creative process and how they manage their life around that, or a chef sharing recipes, and its not like theyre doing it just to do it, they have the goal of growing a following, and theyre not advertising anything but themself, like JUST themself, as a person-brand, and i find that so deeply annoying and repulsive. and like thats strong wording its a dog eat dog world and the girlies of all genders need to secure the bag like i get it. i get it. but its revolting to me. like. the vlogbrothers werent trying to get famous they were using youtube to communicate with each other and as an open video diary and people found them to be interesting personalities to watch. right. do you get it. annoyingly i gotta put myself out there if i want people to find my art and pins and stuff so i have to fuckin. make videos. sell people on me. the idea of making vlogs makes me dry heave bc im not important i dont want to have to sell myself like im important i dont want to put my face on a camera and implicitly say with every quirky performed statement i make 'i matter, pay attention to me, i need to exist so look at me' but unfortunately i might have to. a video essay i could do. thats me saying something. but a vlog? with the goal of people finding my stuff? good god. it sounds like poison.

[haro-hawayu]

CCS: Clear Card Ch. 70

Chapter 70 is out! A friend told me that there was a lot to process so I had to make sure I wasn’t looking at any potential spoilers until I got a chance to read the chapter. Latest chapter can be found on CLAMP-net’s YouTube Channel. As always, do check out @meimi-haneoka's post on the latest chapter for any EN-JPN translation differences. I had to check after reading the chapter...

Links for previous chapter reactions can be found here.

Reading Reactions

Sakuraaaa so pretty. I LOVE THE COLORS AHHH.

Sakura opening her eyes!! What will this be??

Ohhh!! The Exchange happening in-story!! This was not what I had in mind BUT it kinda makes sense...

Wait... nvm, this is... different? This is the play!

Tomoyo looks so lovelyyyy~

Sakuraaaa TuT

WAIT WHAT--

TWIN?

AKIHO’S OR IS IT THE PLAY??

Okay... I think this is just the rest of the play...?

KAITO

WHAT

HOW COULD YOUUUUU T^T

Waaaahhhhh! 

ACTUAL TWIN??

Is it just memories? Or actual rewriting of things??? 

YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! IT HAS TO BE THAT LINE!! WHAAAA--

Did Sakura actually sensed that?!!

WOW I really need to process this and I have questions!! I love how I just gave up on making sense with my reactions too LOL. 

Ahhhhh I’ve always known that Kaito is doing all that he is doing to help Akiho, but I’m relieved that his wish didn’t make things turn out really bad for Sakura (where Sakura and Akiho would actually exchange lives and Sakura suffer the bad end of it). It actually makes sense but to see how everything played out is just... wow. I’m so impressed. Kaito TuT I don’t even know what to say about him because ahhhh there’s so much to unpack and my mind is still just ???? I just want to point out that this is also where the art just speaks volumes because seeing his expressions this chapter, it’s like... wow... dude, you just... did all that for Akiho. I’m a little--more than a little??!!--emotional right now because he just looked so relieved and at peace (even if a bit sad) when he revealed his wish, and him smiling right as the seal was activating. LOOK AT THAT FACE! He really planned everything SO carefully so that he can give Akiho a good life TuT but ahhhhh why can’t he understand that taking himself out of the picture is not the thing either?!! Did this play not teach you anything sir?!! Momo is literally us. 

Also, with my questions. I’m wondering to what extent did the “rewrite” actually affect their lives. Akiho received no magic, so she’s still magic-less, but in this “rewrite” her sister has magic. So does she just happen to have all these memories of Sakura with magic? How does everyone else with magic make sense of this?? I’m sure that it also won’t be long before Akiho realizes and “remembers” Kaito and decide to go save him & this is probably where knowledge of Sakura having magic will make sense because Sakura will definitely get involved too. 

THE “YOU CAN NO LONGER RETURN” LINE!! The line that confused me so much!! I still remember from a while back that I was wondering who is saying that to Sakura, and in the anime, it was a man’s voice! I’m SO sure it was deliberate choice, like CLAMP probably requested for this, because tbh it would’ve made sense if it were a woman’s voice bc it could be Nadeshiko, or Lilie... or Momo?? and it could make so much sense but it was a man’s voice. Which is why I felt like this line is VERY important!!! Ahhhh and seeing it being used here!! This explains a lot but also gives me more questions because why does Sakura hear this?? 

I might go back to editing this later if I ever re-organize my thoughts... =u=

[br1ghtestlight]

this prompt is so funny bcuz SOO many of my ocs could easily be mischaracterized and read in the worst possible faith its impossible to choose just one

would be funny to see the arguements between people who are like "rainbow is a terrible person and a hypocrite and the narrative never punishes her for that" vs people who are like "rainbow is a neurodivergent kid who doesn't understand what she's doing wrong and the narrative and other characters are too mean to her and demonize her" both of which are incorrect takes on her character tbh. not sure which one would be funnier in a steven universe type video essay

two could be mischaracterized as a psychopathic abusive murderer (only one of those things is true!!) and people could say that he got off too easily by the narrative and he wasn't properly punished for his actions or held accountable which MIGHT be true but thats not really what his character's existence is for. maybe people forgive him too easily but they weren't the people actually hurt by his actions + in general murder is seen as a bad thing.... dont murder people i shouldn't need to say that. more interesting to deconstruct two and his mindset and how society and life experiences shaped him into the person he is and the lack of actual justice in the system. mf thinks he's batman (said with love)

starr just seems like the type of character that would be either wildly unpopular or sexualized beyond belief with like Five people total who actually understand her character and her story and think she's interesting and has depth. easy to say she's a horrible abusive person who's forgiven too easily by the narrative honestly that goes for so many of my characters AS IF MY STORY IS ABOUT REDEEMPTION ANYWAY like thats just straight up not whats going on. nobody has a redeemption arc bcuz thats not like the story.... it isnt about what they did before they met each other. for the love of god

i think jayden ultimately wins for most mischaracterized by random cartoon youtube video essay guys bcuz he's such a specific type of person and character people wouldnt even TRY to understand him or how he engages with the world. which is fine i have made my peace w/ that already. similar to knife in that people would see him as a badass protective bad boy who is secretly caring and sensitive with those he trusts and while that is NOT true its better than the alternative interpretation of his character lmao. he's so messy but i love him

could also see really annoying cishet Commentary youtuber types thinking bubblegum is annoying and cringy and hating her character and saying she's a dumb bimbo blondie and bad autistic rep or sexist or whatever. also sunshine being mischaracterized as a precious cinnamon role uwu who doesn't do anything bad ever which would be more funny than annoying. they wouldn't really get his whole self hatred thing or why he responds to situations and relationships in the way that he does which i think is probably fine?? he's self destructive but he's an abuse victim too..... lots to talk abt with him but if people want to simplify him down to what they percieve as a perfect innocent character w/ a happy life and no problems More power to them

[corolune]

tag people you want to get to know better

thank you for tagging me, @strangesoulmates and @afewbulbsshortofatanningbed !!!

Three ships:

Any form of Yassen and Alex having to talk to each other. There’s so much to explore, whether it’s a romantic, platonic, or familial relationship…or even enemies.

Doctor/Rose in any form, though I’m quite partial to Nine, Ten, Tentoo, and Twelve. +1 if it’s multiple doctors and a bad wolf Rose!

Merlin/Morgana — unsurprising to anyone who knows me, I love how they mirror each other and there’s so many interesting ways to explore their relationship…either one of them could have turned into the other if they had made different decisions…and the ambiguity of who’s actually “good” is very interesting too! (I know the showrunners want us to think Merlin’s good and Morgana’s evil, but they both have very legitimate reasons for their allegiances, and tbh sometimes Morgana made more sense than Merlin lol)

First ever ship: hahaha I think it was Guy/Marian from BBC's Robin Hood! Or if you want to go even earlier…my first ever fanart at the age of 6 was of fox-Robin and fox-Marian from the disney version (they were in a car with balloons that said “just married” and I very thoughtfully gifted it to my neighbour (who was single lol) and told him to save it for when he gets married…he was such a sweet guy he actually hung it on his fridge for months 😆)

Last song: one of my birds loudly singing their made up song…and the other one aggressively asking him “HEY hey WHAT you doooo??”

Last movie: Balam Ji Love You — don’t judge lol. It’s ridiculous and campy but HILARIOUS, I actually had to pause the video several times to laugh 😆. Thanks to youtube’s algorithm I’ve made my way past Hindi films into regional cinema, which unfortunately doesn’t come with subtitles…but in a strange coincidence, it turns out the language of this movie (Bhojpuri) is a dialect of the same language my great-grandparents spoke! My mum used to hear it at home as a kid but never knew what it was called. SO I’ve once again roped her in to help translate (she understands like 80% of it, and it fills me with so much joy when she gets excited hearing and rediscovering a word/phrase she used to say at home with her grandparents & parents but had forgotten in the past few decades of speaking only Hindi/Urdu and English!)

Currently reading: an excel spreadsheet of project timelines and marketing goals 😭 (I haven’t read a book in so long, pls rec me funny things)

Currently watching: Tere Bin — the sets and costumes are GORGEOUS and I am so impressed with the acting, especially the male lead who has usually been a very friendly, flirty character in past dramas I’ve seen. Just look at the man in the gif below, the first time I saw him in a drama it was a comedy where he was trying to get an older lady to fall for him so he could have money and never have to go to work 😆 — he's done such a good job taking on this intense character! (I’ve paused on episode 5, because I can sense the cliffhangers coming and I’m waiting for the series to actually finish before I continue watching lol)

Currently consuming: chocolate chip cookies!

Currently craving: cherries. A few weeks ago I miraculously found some for $3/lb but they’re back to like $10/lb everywhere 😞

tagging (no pressure if you don't have the time) @yucasava @irelise @jackstarbrightisaqueen @morfoxx @wishuponadragon and anyone else who'd like to play!

[obnoxiouslittlefrog93]

Ok ik y'all are probably sick of me double-posting but like. Idk there's just something I have to put into words.

I was a huge fan of The Beatles at 14. I'm talking super obnoxious, if you knew me in middle school or even high school I was absolutely insufferable kind of fan. I'd have bullied past me tbh. And ofc since I "loved" Paul McCartney so much (I now consider him a fucking clown, the first red flag should've been the lamest cover of Crossroads ever recorded) I thought I was cis and straight.

I guess the first nail in the coffin was seeing him live. Ikr, who tf sees their hero live and falls out of love with them? Well, I did. It wasn't that I was disappointed, or even felt any less for him at the time. I'd finally done it, I'd seen him in person, in the flesh. I was lucky enough to have a floor seat and for a few measly seconds he even acknowledged my existence. I had these great big glittery cardboard signs I held up, probably asking for a piece of his hair or something stupid like that. Idk, they've either been thrown out or disappeared into a pile of miscellaneous junk in the back of my closet or the basement. As much as I think just as badly of him today as I did good about him then, you have to understand that as a suicidal teenager the only thing worth living for was a hot piece of ass (even an old one that lived in the grainy film of decades passed) that could be mine forever if only I was able to express to him how much I needed him. I knew on some level that it was entirely stupid. I was dumb, but not that dumb. I entirely expected a mere millisecond of his attention that he had to divide among the huge audience, but that didn't mean it hurt any less when the illusion finally broke. I lied, manipulated, and stole for those tickets. For years I poured my entire being into a band that didn't even exist anymore and what did I get for it? Crumbs. I guess I was just used to that, I'd never gotten anything more from anyone without some form of trickery. That's probably why I didn't feel betrayed in the slightest, at least not until Egypt Station came out.

Egypt Station was an album entirely born of the modern era, an era I had and still have absolutely no place in. The 2000's is no place for a depressed creative with the type of brain chemistry that insists on constantly watching YouTube videos just to drown out the deafening silence of yet another soulless house with beige carpet and grey walls, too damaged to stand working a soul sucking job but too incompetent to get one that matters. I should have been an outlaw. I was born damaged and violated and ashamed for reasons I was too young to remember. I didn't know why I hated myself so much but I knew it had to come from somewhere. All the evidence pointed to the very people who were supposed to keep me safe and take care of me, and from some incomprehensible source I knew I couldn't trust them. I lived by my wits, and that's the only way I know how to live. Thing is, that way of living doesn't exist anymore. There's no western frontier to disappear into, in the material world, in the musical world, in the art world, anywhere. The art and writing and music industries are so deeply tied to society and capitalism that you aren't selling your soul at the crossroads anymore. No, you're selling it at an auction house, cooped up in a metal pen like livestock. Rotting in your own filth. And the bidders are becoming less and less every round, the auctioneer is tired and slow, and no one gives a shit unless you're lucky enough to be marketable. Much as I tried I could never get the devil to appear. He's too busy helping white moms profit off of MLM's and whispering the so-called "benefits" of AI to corporations. Egypt Station made me sick to my very soul. I threw away years of my life, emasculated myself, all but whored myself out to this bitch only for him to devote what talent I saw in him to the world that was killing me.

Make no mistake, I knew deep down that I was a man, even then. There is nothing cis or straight about fantasizing a world in which I got surgery to have a huge dick, and lived with rockstars, and trashed hotel rooms with Keith Moon and fucked more sexy long haired talented men than Miss Pamela Des Barres herself. From the age of 12 I could teach a cowboy how to manspread and a sailor swears that would have never crossed his mind. Living with my dad, huge bastard that he is, probably helped with that, but this isn't about him. The Beatles, for all their saccharine messages of peace and love, could never have convinced me any of it was real. I wanted to. For those years the most important lyrics in the world to me were "the love you take is equal to the love you make." Even my own goddamn shithead narcissist of a father couldn't come up with that, the biggest pile of bullshit I ever believed in. I knew from experience.

A year ago I watched Cowboy Bebop. In the time that passed I'd learned how to be a man from rockstars and other damaged artists. I was also living with a group of cis and straight roommates who would go on to personally victimize myself, and our trans roommate who I became close to, and "accidentally" poison his dog. That's a story I won't get into now because this is already long as fuck. Point is, as soon as they decided they didn't like us, they made our lives a living hell. They made me suicidally anxious in such a way that I doubted they were even the problem. It was my dumb autistic ass, unable to tell if they even hated me or not. I was so desperate to get out of my parents' house, where I still have to walk on eggshells, and not live in such a place ever again that I didn't even believe it was happening. Conditioned to avoid confrontation like the plague, I let them walk all over me. The only job I've ever had didn't help. It was just as soul sucking as that house, so desperate for workers they hired my incompetent, unskilled, completely unexperienced ass. But every night I came home from work, dead on my feet, he and the dog were there. I'd run upstairs to get out of my work clothes, then we'd sit on his bed and smoke, the dog sitting in my lap, and watch trash reality TV from the early 2000's, or whatever predator catchers-style show was in his YouTube recommendations. That's probably what kept me alive then. And in that period, over a couple weeks, my other friend, the only one I'd had for that long, since the aforementioned Beatles phase to this day, made me watch Cowboy Bebop.

I cried when Spike died, but I didn't know why at the time. I wasn't in a place to process it. Spike wasn't even a real person, but I didn't know why or how he was so real to me. I didn't even notice when it was right in front of me, when I was living it, that we're far too much alike. Suicidal stoics, living in a dream, alive by mere chance, more comfortable alone and floating through the endless void of space than any sane man should be. I learned something from him though. Whatever happens, happens. What other choice did I have? Now that I was so broken as to be unable to delude myself any further because the anxiety would kill me, I had to give up. I had no more fucks to give. Fuck these awful people I live with, fuck my failing grades, fuck whatever bullshit comes to destroy me. Whatever happens happens, nothing I can do about it now. Best I can do is take it with a straight face when the alternative is death. Then, about 4 months ago, I felt the need to watch it again. Yet again, any sense of stability was starting to crumble, and I wanted nothing more than to sit and smoke and go back to living on that ugly yellow couch with Spike, Jet cooking in the other room, Faye sitting on the stairs filing her nails, and Ed typing away on her computer. I wanted to sit out on the wing of the Swordfish with the world behind and the open road ahead. I know where the series goes, whenever I rewatch it, but I'll never let Spike die his final death. I have to believe, that there's a happy existence out there for him somewhere, because we share the same soul. Even if I have to drag him up from hell, more broken than I ever thought possible, to get him there.

I still don't know, if I'm really alive. Maybe I'll never know. I don't remember if I was, when I first read those lyrics, but I guess I should've paid more attention to "You're gonna carry that weight."

listening to music i listened to when i was 14 makes me realise im still the same person but taller & with a rare esoteric wisdom that can only be gained through suffering

[gandalfsdrawingblog]

Why I decided to start drawing.

I'm a programmer by profession. I spent the last 6 years learning about computers, programming languages and such. I never considered myself a creative person, which is why any attempt at art I made before was either botched, I didn't like it, or has most of the process already done for me (as in, papercraft, where I just need to assemble the model and that's it).

Things changed a bit on April 2023, when I decided it would be fun to try and host a DnD campaing for my friends. I got to think for a while, and decided that ripping off the story line for Golden Sun, a relatively obscure game that none of my friends had played by then, could make for a good plot. It went great overall. Some more people joined with time, others left, but we're doing fine.

Last month the party finally reached Venus Lighthouse, and I was designing some encounters for the dungeon, drawing some maps and planning some puzzles. You know, the usual stuff.

I wanted to use one of the, in my opinion, most iconic monsters of the dungeon, which is the Stone Soldier (pic below). However, no such thing exists in official DnD material, which is why I resorted to homebrew something similar.

It wasn't the first time I did a homebrew monster, and it will certainly not be the last. I have the process outlined by now: conceptualize the idea of the monster (what it does, its abilities etc); translate that to a DnD statblock borrowing from other monsters with similar abilities, and then find an image to use as a token for the monster in the VTT.

It was the last part that got me. I couldn't just place the sprite from the games in the token, it would look awful having a 29x36 pixels image along my high resolution maps. It would suck. So the next step is to find a similar image, but how to do so when the god damn monster is a spiky ball with some long ass legs and a pair of angry eyes?

Google didn't help. Perhaps I couldn't find the proper terms to place in the search bar, but the results weren't to my liking. I then spent a while trying to use AI to generate a creature (which, I know it's bad, but then again, it's free and quick, I didn't want to bother), but the results were bad, the models didn't understand my petitions, and it felt soulless tbh.

Not having the time nor the willingness to commission someone for a silly drawing of a rock with feet, I gave up and decided that if internet couldn't draw the rock as good as I wanted, I would do it myself then.

I went and ordered a cheap tablet (Huion Inspiroy, for anyone interested), downloaded a drawing software and started playing around with tutorials to get myself used to it. When the tablet arrived, I got to follow some basics tutorials, drew some sketches and got comfortable with it.

After trying a while doing different stuff, I realized that if I wanted to learn to draw, I needed a more structured process than following 10 random "LEARN TO DRAW GOOD FAST NOW NOW NOW" youtube tutorials, and that's when I stumbled on the Drawabox online course.

I'm only really starting the course, I haven't even finished all of Lesson 0 yet, but the metodology of it and the fact that it encourages practice and play alongside actual homework and lessons sounded cool to me (that's what they call the 50% method). Also, the promise to be tasked with doing stuff that would feel way above my skill level sounded cool, which is why I decided to give it a try. Worst that can happen is I get bored and give up on it by week 2.

But who knows?

[grem-ghost]

today wasn’t a great day and it just … felt off. tw// mentions of depression, anxiety, adhd / suicidal - self harm thoughts

i genuinely never know how to explain any of this. work was work and that wasn’t surprising, but i felt an episode creeping up on me for the entirety of my shift and it worried me. it really did. i’m really really bad at letting people know i have yknow … diagnosed mental issues and so having a breakdown at work wouldn’t be ideal because i would have no choice but to hide it. it wouldn’t be the first time either. i try to always be that person who tries to help others understand what mental health means and what it’s like (both for people who are and aren’t neurodivergent) but it always ends up feeling like when it comes to myself, i just get…

i just get mad at myself for not understanding why i feel the way i do. and again, it’s ironic because i literally spend all of my time showing my friends and others i know that it’s ok to not understand why you’re not doing ok. it’s always been this way and it makes me feel more broken than i already do, tbh. like as if it’s a voice in my head that’s telling my neurodivergent brain that it HAS to be neurotypical. i HAVE to be normal. i’ve never been okay and i’ve had this problem for years but it never stops feeling … new, yknow? like it’s been there for half a decade or more yet it’s like it just started happening when i know it didn’t.

i also had self harm thoughts hit me full force. i’ve been feeling slightly suicidal recently (because of a lot of things i don’t want to go into right now) and having those add on wasn’t fun, even if it was half-expected. without describing anything obviously, i just felt trapped. like the only way to prove i was in control was by doing those things when i didn’t want to. i didn’t do anything or break my streak, but i hate when they come back. i felt myself start to shut down mentally, which also happened a few days ago and i went non-verbal again. it never lasts for the same amount of time each time it happens, but i literally shutdown and lose the ability to speak. it’s not like my mind shuts off completely, but any energy i have goes away and it’s like … having to ask someone for permission to speak. i don’t know exactly how i’d describe it. i still don’t understand 100% what i feel when one of those episodes occurs, but i just lose all ability to speak or move even though i am very much conscious and aware of my surroundings. it’s also like i’m not. the most recent episode that lasted a long time left me in a state where i couldn’t speak or move and i knew where i was and what i was doing. but i have little memory of it.

again, it’s incredibly difficult to describe what this feels like. i was watching a youtube video and i could give you the name of it, but i don’t remember what the video was. like i genuinely remember sitting there watching it, but the video didn’t process in my brain. like my brain just… couldn’t.

i don’t know what else to say, tbh. for anyone who might ask, i am an adult and can go see a doctor to get medication and all that jazz, but i’m broke. literally broke and all i can actually do right now is trying to fix that. as fast as possible for OTHER reasons besides doctor. i want to be medicated and i want to control this stuff, but it’s not possible right now. which sucks.

anyways, thanks for reading lol

[loser-female]

Yeah I've noticed women disappearing from the public sphere too - and I think I saw a video going around about YouTube not recommending female YouTubers either (it was how to cook that?)

Also... Tbh I also feel like a lot of other women were attacking them, it wasn't only men. We expect purity from women (ideologically, factual - as in them not making a single error), being likeable, never being mean or saying anything stupid because there is no space for growth for women. Either you're perfect or you should not exist in a public space is a very common idea people have about women.

Men let it go and shut up (even the actual IRL friends of these creators !!!) because they benefitted from it, but women weren't shy in getting the pitchfork either - I was there. Libfems have no class solidarity with women (I know I'm being mean but... Yeah) and they will 100% go to extreme lengths to enforce the purity I mentioned earlier on women, especially feminist women and leftist women.

One could hope that these idiots will start to understand that they are doing patriarchy work for it, but they are idiots so I don't have any faith.

I've been missing some of my favourite women on youtube; they either post extremely rarely, or are completely off the platform, like Lindsay Ellis. After the brutal and misogynistic treatment of Lindsay, I noticed the amount of long video essays by women lessened, as I expected it to. SarahZ was posting less too, Jenny Nicholson's videos became a rarity, and some creators publicly commented about how debilitating it was to create while knowing they will be attacked from every angle, by m*n who were enraged that women are saying things online. I thought women became too stressed and afraid to create, until I realized they simply moved into the private sphere. Nebula and Patreon, there they would have a very limited, paying audience who was safe for them, and they wouldn't be exposed to this level of harassment, as their content is not free anymore.

I think it was a great move by all of them, to move where it's safe for them to create and make a living out of it, but it showed me that women are still only allowed to exist in private. Women are chased away from the public sphere brutally, and they have to create private spaces to be able to talk. M*n, on the other hand, are still freely making long video essays using next to no braincells and adding so much misogyny and male stupidity into it, that it's unwacthable. But they get to do it, they get to be paid for it, publicly, with maybe a tiny percentage of harassment women suffer. They get to shower the public with mediocre, unfunny, dumbed down, sexist and gross content and nobody will do a thing about it. Meanwhile women creating engaging, funny, educational, insightful, extremely well researched and presented content, will be exposed to hatred that will shut them down, and move them into private spaces.

It made me so mad, and so helpless to think about this, and I concluded that in response to this insanity, we should be allowed to disband the males. And by this I mean, we should get to close down every male-made public institution and organization. We should get to shut down male governments, we should get to shut down male wars, corporations, mafia, pornography and human trafficking rings, studios, companies, stores, it should all be made illegal overnight, defunded, disbanded, and shut down instantly. That would be equality because clearly they can and do it to us constantly. And we'd make a new system so fast anyway, and it would have so much less stupidity, so much less murder, it would be freaking incredible. And they'd be mad because in the new system, they would no longer be able to rape and murder as much, there would be less wars so they don't get to go and steal resources and human lives anymore, they wouldn't be able to get brainrot of pornography, boo. They created a system that doesn't even do them any good, it just makes them sick. It should all go down. Fuck their shit. We should get to rule everything. And youtube should be female-only. M*n can talk in private.

[ace-thinks]

Building Your Glass Closet

I made a post about coming out via the glass closet which is basically just dropping subtle hints over time until the people in your life get the message, and someone asked for tips on how to do this. 

Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee that you won’t still get the “you just haven’t met the right person” response while you’re using this method, but I still think this is worth a shot. 

At the very least, it can lay the groundwork so that if you ever come out explicitly, people will be able to think back to all of the very ace/aro things you’ve said over time and they may not be as surprised or reluctant to believe you.

Okay so without further ado, here are some ideas that you can use for inspiration as you attempt to create a beautiful glass closet for yourself:

1. Talk about yourself

Find a way to slip some variation of “I never really had any crushes in school” into conversation.

Try to phrase this in a way that it’s clear you’re saying “I did not get crushes because I don’t get crushes” instead of “I didn’t get any crushes because no one at school was my type.”

When people make quips about you dating someone, casually respond with things like:

“I hope not” “Not if I can help it” “That would be unfortunate” “Yikes that would kinda suck.”

You can say these in a way that’s light but still clear that you’re not joking.

2. Ask questions

Start sprinkling very aro/ace questions into conversation.

Casually talk about the latest pick for “Hottest Celeb of the Year” or something and throw in “What does ‘hot’ even mean anyway? I never know what people are talking about when they say that.”

“My friend was telling me about this crush they have, but like how do you even know when you have a crush on someone?”

“I saw this post online that said that guys and girls can’t be friends because one of them will always catch feelings, but like what’s the difference between being friends and being a couple anyway?”

Make it clear with each question that you’re being lighthearted but also you’re genuinely confused/trying to get an answer.

People around you might still brush these off with a “You’ll know one day” or something like that, but I bet they’ll start to notice a pattern.

General aroace confusion is also useful:

“I heard [show/movie] has like a lot of sex scenes in it. I will never understand how people are into that stuff tbh.”

At first they might think you’re talking about sex scenes, but try to make it clear that you’re actually talking about sex in general. This is also a chance to slip in that you also don’t get sexual attraction in general.

You can use a similar method for really sexual ads.

3. Show them some ace stuff

If you ever watch TV together, then perhaps you can make sure to casually watch some very ace content around them from time to time.

A particularly ace episode of BoJack Horseman or some other ace media (unfortunately there isn’t much).

If you have a way to watch YouTube on your TV or something, maybe you can find a youtube video that features ace people or someone explaining asexuality.

If they ask why you’re watching this, you can just say it seemed interesting or someone told you about it or something.

The goal is to basically expose the person to the concept of asexuality without it having to be about you in particular. 

This could be especially helpful when combined with the other steps because if you make the idea of asexuality fresh in their minds and then start saying very aro/ace stuff around them, they’re probably more likely to connect the dots.

You can also use these videos/episodes as a way to gauge their attitudes towards asexuality in general.

This is also a way to strike up general convo around asexuality.

4. Reference representation

“Apparently there’s an ace character in [show/movie/book]. That’s so cool!”

You could also openly critique some particularly bad ace representation/erasure.

Critique is gives you a chance to go a little deeper about asexuality in general and dispel myths while also potentially getting the person to engage with the nuances of the orientation etc.

And if they ask why you care so much you can either come out or come up with some excuse (good ally, it’s just interesting/important, I have ace friends, etc.)

_______

Again, these are just general ideas. You can use them exactly or treat this as an overall template that you can adapt for your own style/purposes.

I’ve used all of these in some way or another and have had good results so far, so I hope this is helpful for y’all too!

Let me know if you use any of these idea and how it works out for you, and also feel free to add your own “glass closet” strategies!

@apocalypsewriters (hope this helps!)

[charmixpower]

Brandon or Riven for the ask game? 👉👈(I can't decide lol)

First impression: both of my first impressions of Riven we're the same because I hated him them held a grudge since childhood against him for multiple years until I re watched the s1 finale. I'm not joking. "Oh hey that squire guy that Stella is dating" was both for Brandon too, did not think much of either of them

Impression now: Oh my god it's the only man ever and blorbo from my shows 💞💞💞 Riven my precious little bastard asshole jerkass, no one understands you and the way you lash out due to past trauma like I do. And Brandon! 💗💓💗💓💗💞 Best man in the world, and resident brain cell holder of the specialists. Also number on Riven and Sky apologist. Love him so dearly

Favorite moment: "I have a heart, and maybe a few friends", "IF YOU FUCKERS DON'T SING FOR MUSA IM GOING TO DO SOMETHING DRASTIC", *that expression he made when Musa dragged him into dancing*, *comforting Timmy*, and "Chillax mainframe". Vs literally ALL of s1 Brandon. That man could do no wrong in s1. Tho the time he caught Stella in s4 when she fell out of the van was so cute

Idea for a story: I would like to see what Brandon's family thinks of everything that's happened to him maybe please? EXPLAIN THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS THING RIGHT NOW!!! Riven actually joins the Trix, and does his prince of darkness thing or whatever. The specialists get to do something useful after s2 plz, that's all I ask. Sky and Brandon clothes shopping bf s1 and Sky slowly losing his mind at the horrific ass outfit Brandon is picking out

Unpopular opinion: I saw someone on YouTube say that Riven was making it up when he said she's interested in things she was never interested in before and I don't get that?? They interpreted it as him talking about her music carrier, and I always assumed he was taking about her interest in hanging out with Andy when Musa was VERY stand offish in s1-3 before the crime the writers committed on her in s4 and actively snipped at people around her. Also!!! Her fashion and her mannerisms all changed in s4!!! I was also confused on why Musa was acting different!!! Also Riven's personality stopped in s2, I don't count s3 Riven as the same person. S1-2 is one guy, s3 is another guy, and s4 is a different guy. I don't know if I have an unpopular Brandon opnion. UHHHH I think he'd look like a fucking idiot if it wasn't for his personality, and he definitely should of been the leader of the specialists because he obviously has the best teamwork skills. Sky isn't good at working with the other guys if you really pay attention to him. Like he'll work along side but he's bad at working with. If that makes any sense

Favorite relationship: Rivusa and Brella I would do anything for you. Also Briven. Ya know how it is over here. but Stella, Aisha, Nabu, and Timmy's friendship with Riven lives in my head rent free. Not to mention Sky and Riven bonding after Sky gets his own mind control trama. For Brandon....tbh I like his friendship with everyone because he is really good at reading people so he always knows™

Favorite headcanon: Riven is actually really protective of his spot at Red Fountain, and the most obvious sign that he wasn't acting completely of his own will in s1 was him endangering his spot there. But because he wasn't close enough to anyone for them to know that, no one realize that he was under Darcy's control. Being a servant has strongly colored Brandon's opinions of most royalty, nobles, and rich people in a very negative way due to they way he was pretty poorly treated by people like Diaspro. One of the main reasons he was interested in Stella romantically at first is because she caught him off guard with how nice and genuine she was. RIVEN GETS FUCKED UP AT THE END OF S2!!!! FUCK YEAH SCARS!!!!! Brandon being asexual is just a good hc to me, it's so much fun. He's constantly flirting and trying to kiss people and he doesn't experience physically attraction, he just likes it. Riven has a sibling but they take after his mom and are like a terrible person. Their the main reason Riven worked to hard to escape his home town. Brandon has had a crush on ALL of the specialists at some point