#the fun thing about tumblr is it's easy to be nobody

[opinion-haver]

these replies perfectly summarize how we got to the issue of devaluing human connection in the first place and how this post is pretty much exacerbating the issue:

“yall are so dumb” - this sentiment writes off an entire population of people who are struggling. literally destroying human connections directly. and i think that in and of itself is dumb

“this is sooooo dystopian” -its pretty obvious how people running to ai therapists fullblown sucks and is dystopian but one must not forget that pointing at an issue isnt actually addressing it, especially when the comparison is rooted in nostalgia.

“these people are pitiful”- another strain of thinking people are so dumb. its patronizing. if you cant find shared humanity— if you cant see within yourself a version that would succumb, you dont understand the problem.

honorable mention: the tools introduced above lend a very fun look into how ineffectual the system is and how these tools dont address at all the reasons why one would speak to an ai therapist in the first place.

worksheets: if i was going through a breakup or panic attack or some shit equivalent you would be absolutely kidding me to think that i would open up a worksheet. im suicidal not a masochist. zero humanity in that response.

chart-games: i find these useful, i even made a modified in-browser personal guide just for myself. but the issue is that most of the times conscious malaise isnt often cured by just eating or drinking just because you forgot. and thats if you remember to go to the website when youre doing badly in the first place. if im in hell im checked the fuck out.

finch: as a daily user of finch, i know directly how helpful this tool can be. it pairs the dopamine rush of games with executive function, like so many other gamified trackers out there. i like the data analysis personally, reflections are so useful to knowing yourself from day to day. but its very much trying to monetize your self care. to gate some of its tools behind a premium subscription because (paraphrase) “you deserve self care” is insidious as hell. and the ways it treats you is patronizing. i know youre dressing up a cartoon bird but i dont think helping the bird discover it likes baby shark is particularly salient to the aging tumblr userbase

ok so ive complained a whole lot. but in order to put money where my mouth is, whats the solution?

well obviously! to foster human connection of course. if these people dont know what real human connection is like its because nobody has BEEN real human connection for them. and vice versa— if you strawman these people into mindless idiots then clearly you dont understand their psyche.

in lieu of an ai therapist, reach out to a gd friend.

if you dont got friends, go make em. its ez. outside is easiest— show up to some kind of local thing or the other. it doesnt have to mesh with you completely but learning about Hetero Jessicas worklife balance is way more illustrative of human reality than chatgpt. but outside is not the only way. go ping someone random. get over the initial fear. fall in love with strangers. learn about their cats and trade cat pictures or some shit. its not easy but its worth it. hell, if you want to dm me i might even reply, if im not busy.

solidarity saved me. it can save you too.

guys. please

[infinitystation]

i wanna get involved in some communities again and make more friends but every time i make some sort of Public Post i am immediately reminded of why i left the public view

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

i see way way way more posts yelling about how wrong it is to tell middle aged women that they’re too old for fandom or tumblr than I see people saying anything of the sort to middle aged women. Like I’m 36 and I’ve never had anyone tell me I’m too old to be here 🤷🏽‍♂️

[lustfulslxt]

can you make a fic where reader has a secret tumblr account and she’s a pretty popular writer for the sturniolo fandom (matt fics only). she also happens to be dating mr matthew 🤭🤭🤭

anyway she gets a shit ton of reqs from an account (u can pick the username lol) and PPL EAT THEM UPPP they’re dirty filthy naughty requests. one day she’s on matt’s phone and sees the tumblr app and confronts him ab it and they both figure out the other one’s lil secret 🤭

Mr. Wrinkleton - Matt Sturniolo

warnings : freaky freaky freaky

—

Looking through my recent activity, I can't help the wide smile that covers my face. Writing on Tumblr has honestly been so fun and exhilarating. I'm only in the Sturniolo fandom, specifically for Matthew, my boyfriend. I came across this app while I was scrolling through comments on TikTok. Just from the way people were talking about it, I knew it was a NSFW type of ordeal.  Me being me, I was quick to download it. Let's just say, I do not regret it.

After a couple of weeks of browsing through the Sturniolo hashtag, I decided to go ahead and write something of my own. Simply to say, people ate it up. I find joy in writing half imaginative, half true experiences with my boyfriend, and the love I get makes me proud. Nobody knows Matt and I are together, and even if they did, my account is completely anonymous. I would be mortified if it somehow got out. Matt would probably think I'm a freak, and not a good one.

I have a few 'fans' on my account, some that request a lot of fanfictions. There's one in particular that I love, Mr.Wrinkleton. They send in so many good requests, ones that I love fulfilling. They have a very peculiar imagination, some things I'd love to try with Matt, and some I have tried with him. Thinking back on those moments brings a smile to my lips, those were great nights.

As I lay sprawled out on the bed, Matt sits at his desk, buried in his PC, playing the game with his brothers. He has his headset on, so loud that I can hear the commotion from across the room. Saying that, he can't hear my continuous giggling. Tumblr has definitely become my favorite app, my guilty pleasure.

Setting my phone aside, I saunter over to my boyfriend, placing my hands on his shoulders. He slightly jumps, removing his headset from one ear and shooting me a quick glance before directing his eyes back to the screen in front of him.

"What's up, baby?" He asks, his attention solely on the game. "You good?"

I chuckle, shaking my head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I plant a short kiss on his cheek, rubbing his chin a bit, and walk towards the bedroom door. With my hand on the doorknob, I turn back to him just before he places his headset back over his ear.

"Do you want anything from the kitchen?" I ask him.

"What?" He asks, only shooting me another quick glance. A second later, he's yelling at the game. "Bro, you're trash! That was such an easy kill!"

Simply rolling my eyes, I walk out the room. As I walk down the hall, I can hear Matt calling for me, but I just head into the kitchen to grab something to drink. I grab me a bottle of water and Matt a can of root beer before making my way back to the bedroom. I walk in, softly shutting the door, and place the can of soda in front of Matt. I'm about to head back to the bed when his hand catches my wrist, halting me in place.

"Thank you, gorgeous." He says, kissing my hand. "Sorry, I'm super invested in this. We're doing so good right now."

"It's all good." I say, placing a kiss on his head, then make my way back to the comfort of our sheets.

As I lay back down, ready to pick my phone up and continue with my naughty secrets, Matt's phone, on the nightstand table beside me, flashes with a couple of notifications.

"Matt, your phone." I say, only to be ignored. "Matt?"

He doesn't budge, so I pick his phone up to give to him, only to freeze when I see the icon on his screen. I know that icon all too well. There's absolutely no way, I must be seeing things. I dramatically wipe my eyes, glancing back on the glowing screen. It's definitely the same. I unlock his phone and read the notification.

Tumblr @flowerxbunnie liked your post: "wow."

My jaw drops, shock evident on my face. Without a second thought, I click the notification. Once it loads, my jaw drops even more. It's one of the fanfictions I wrote. I'm so confused. Matt has a Tumblr account? There's no way. I hesitantly click on his profile, and if it were possible, my jaw would quite literally be on the floor.

Mr.Wrinkleton.

Is this real life? Am I imagining things? Have I been spending too much time on Tumblr? I close the app and it's still there. I open the app, going back to his profile, and it's still there. Matt is Mr.Wrinkleton. Matt's been sending me dirty requests to write fanfiction about him.

Before I can even stop myself, I'm shrieking, "Matt!"

His head snaps to me, confusion ridden on his face. He takes his headset off and turns towards me.

"What's wrong?"

I can't even form words, so I hold his phone out. He sets his headset down and walks over to me, completely unaware of why I screamed his name. Once he grabs his phone and glances at the screen, every ounce of color drains from his face. His eyes are wide as he stares down at the opened app on his phone.

He looks up at me, his mouth formed into an 'O' shape. "Oh my god. Uh-"

"You have a Tumblr account." I state, as if we haven't established that.

"You weren't supposed to see that." He cringes, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Did you read any of that?"

"I didn't have to." I say, because I already knew.

That's when I start hysterically laughing. What are the odds? His face suddenly flushes with a deep red color, his eyes still wide, only now from embarrassment. I can't even form any words because of how hard I'm laughing. I just pick up my phone and open my Tumblr app, handing it to him. His eyes read over the screen, before his head snaps over to me and his mouth is wide open again.

"Are you serious?" He asks, "Am I being pranked right now?"

"Matthew!" I laugh, "You're such a freak!"

Getting over the initial shock, he's now laughing with me. "I'm the freak?! You're the one writing everyone's dirtiest fantasies!"

"Everyone -- including you!" I tease, my laughter growing more.

He nudges my shoulder, his face still beet red, "Shut up!"

Once my giggling subsides, I pull him into me. "So, you like that stuff?"

He swallows, whispering, "Yes."

"Which one's your favorite?" I ask him, my tone soft and sultry.

He shakes his head, an embarrassed smile pulling to his lips. "You're gonna laugh at me."

I pull him onto the bed with me, us sitting side by side. I shake my head, "I would never." Receiving a pointed look from him, that causes me to laugh again, I continue, "Okay, that was different. I just never expected that. But I would never laugh at your fantasies. From what you've requested, they're pretty hot."

He bites his lips, looking down at me, his voice low and husky as he speaks, "Um, that so called witchcraft."

My mouth fell open, surprise taking over my features. I can feel the desire growing between my legs. I love that story, specifically that detail. A sly smirk pulls to my lips as I stare at him. I can tell by the cheeky grin on his face that he can read it all over me, I want to recreate it. He nods his head, beckoning me over to him.

"What about your game?" I ask, standing in between his legs.

"What about it? It'll be there tomorrow." He mutters, running his hands up my shirt.

His cold fingertips trail over my skin, causing me to shiver. He holds my shirt up, peppering soft kisses along my stomach, his tongue trailing in between his lips. His hands run along my back, easily finding the clasp to my bra and unbuckling it. In one swift motion, he pulls my shirt over my head and lets my bra slide down my arms, onto the floor. The cool air hits my nipples, hardening them instantly.

"Such perfect tits." He mumbles, taking them in his hands, massaging them.

"Love your hands on me, baby." I softly moan, indulging in the way he touches me so effortlessly.

He continues groping my boobs and begins kissing all over my stomach, and up my chest. He sticks his tongue out and drags it between the valley of my breasts, causing me to pull my bottom lip between my teeth to minimize the noises threatening to escape. My hands tangle in his hair, softly tugging every so often.

"You don't understand the power you have over me." He groans against my skin, his hands gliding down my body. "Every little thing you do drives me absolutely insane."

A soft moan leaves my mouth at his words. His hands go around to my ass, squeezing my cheeks through my shorts, massaging them in circles. He grabs the waistband of my bottoms and swiftly pulls them down, leaving me in nothing but my panties. His hands trail up my legs, rubbing them from the outside in. The closer he gets to my core, the more desperate I become. The outside of his hand firmly presses against my clothed center as he grazes along my thigh, and I'm suddenly very aware of the damp patch in the cotton fabric.

"Always so easy to get you going." He says, his voice holding a rasp to it.

All that leaves my mouth are small, breathy moans as he continues putting pressure right where I need him. He suddenly stands up, now towering over me. One of his hands wrap around my throat, his other hand full of ass, and he yanks me into him. His lips slam against mine in a hot and needy kiss. Our teeth clash as our lips surround one another, then he shoves his tongue in my mouth, exploring every nook and cranny.

It's always so easy to get lost in his kiss. He never fails to make me feel like I'm floating on clouds, whether it be soft and delicate or wet and sloppy, like right now. It's as if he's sucking my breath from me, and I'm left in a hazy daze, high from the feeling he bestows upon me. Time seems to be standing still around us. After a moment, he pulls away, both of us breathless, strings of saliva connecting our mouths.

"God, I can't wait to make a mess of you." He whispers, his warm breath fanning my face.

He plants a few more kisses on my lips, pulling away to remove his shirt. I gently tug on the waistband of his sweats, indicating I want them off, to which he obliges and strips from them. His hand comes to my face, connecting our mouths once again, his other hand guiding me onto the bed, never breaking our kiss once. He straddles my legs; I can feel his hard on pressing into me. There's only two layers of clothing preventing us from succumbing to our needs, and I know it's only a matter of time before they're lying on the floor with the rest of the discarded items.

Matt pulls away from my mouth, his going straight to my boobs. His lips envelop my nipple, sucking and taking turns between the two. The sensation from his warm, wet mouth on me has me clenching around nothing. Desperate for more, I reach down and grab at his constricted erection. I can feel him throbbing under my touch, and knowing he wants me as bad as I want him turns me to putty.

"Matt." I moan as he grinds his hips against mine, his dick adding much needed pressure to my core.

"Haven't even done anything yet, and you're already a mess under me." He tsks, smirking. "Don't worry, baby. I'm gonna give you what you want."

Without another word, he pulls his boxers down and places his dick on my pussy. He moves back and forth, rubbing over the soaked fabric. My eyes roll to the back of my head as he brushes over my clit, and I can feel myself practically oozing juices. He pulls my panties to the side and continues gliding his dick through my glistening folds.

"So wet and warm for me." He moans.

"All for you. Only you." I agree, my hands gripping the sheets.

Suddenly, he pulls away, causing me to whine at the loss of friction and warmth he provided. He quickly pulls down my panties, throwing them across the room. Sliding up and down my folds a few more times, he's slowly sinking into me. He tosses his head back, a groan emitting from his throat. I squeeze my eyes shut from the pleasure, subconsciously clenching around him.

Placing a hand on my stomach, he starts thrusting in and out, his speed increasing with every stroke. I can't help the moans that fall from my lips, my entire body overcome with ecstasy. He always knows how to make me feel so good. His hand travels up my torso, applying just the right amount of pressure as he goes. His fingers hook into my open mouth, pulling my jaw down, almost as if he was using me as leverage. The moans coming out of me are now broken and muffled seeing as my mouth is now stuffed with his fingers. I take advantage of this and wrap my lips around them, my tongue sliding all around them as I harshly suck.

He bites his lip, suppressing a loud moan, "Fuck. You make me wanna do very dirty things to you."

"What's stopping you?" I moan as his thrusts grew fiercer.

He instantly leans back from me and lifts my legs over his shoulders. He places his hands beside me to hold himself up as he starts drilling into me. The sound of skin slapping echoes around the room, and you can hear how wet I am. He's reaching places only he's ever been, leaving my legs quivering atop of him. My hands grip onto his biceps, my fingernails digging into his skin, surely leaving crescent shapes behind. One of his hands travels between my legs, rubbing fast circles into my clit, causing me to spasm beneath him.

"Oh god." I whine, feeling the intense knot build in my abdomen.

With my repeated clenching around him, his thrusts grow sloppy, and I can tell he's close. Lewd moans leave both of our mouths, our states of mind clouded with bliss. A throaty groan emits from him, before he quickly pulls out and releases his hot load all over my pussy. It feels so good, especially when he rubs his tip over my clit, then pushes back into me.

He only got a few more pumps in when he pulls out with a hiss, "Touch yourself."

I eagerly do as he says, my fingers easily finding my center. Once I come in contact with his cum, I drag my fingers through it, spreading it into my folds. My fingers brush over my clit, causing me to convulse with pleasure. I rub my clit in slow circles, enjoying the feeling of his seed all over me. Gathering more of his nut, I plunge two fingers into my entrance with a loud moan.

Matt's gaze hasn't left me this entire time, his dead eyes full of lust. I notice him repeatedly lick his lips, as if he wants to dive in and devour me, watch me come undone on his tongue. I fuck my fingers into my pussy, eliciting pornographic moans from me. Like he can't take it anymore, Matt removes me hand and replaces it with his own. Two of his fingers pumping in and out of me while his thumb rubs my clit. My entire body is shaking underneath him. He always knew how to make me feel good, better than I ever could. He knows my body inside and out, knowing exactly what to do to make me unravel. And sure enough, the pressure building in my stomach grows until it ruptures.

"Oh, my fucking god." I moan out, my back arching from the bed as I release onto his hand.

He continues fucking his fingers into me a few more times, before pulling out, "Such a pretty sight."

I am spent. Falling back into the bed, I attempt to catch my breath. Watching Matt with tired eyes, I see him slip his two fingers into his mouth, sucking our mix of fluids off. He leans over me and takes me in for a deep kiss, his tongue sliding all over mine, our blended concoction melting into my mouth. I can't help but moan into the kiss.

He then collapses next to me, immediately pulling me into him. "How about whenever we have something new in mind that we want to try, we just give it a shot rather than searching for it in fiction?"

"Agreed." I breathe, weakening into his embrace. 

Thank god for Tumblr. 

—

a/n : quick shoutout to my baby for the witchcraft idea 🫶🏼🫶🏼 enjoy, love u bunches xx

[gnomewithalaptop]

I'm still too distracted to write so here have a list of YJ-cast centric fics that make me froth at the mouth

Kon-centric recs:

I Want It That Way (1990s Tim/Kon) by WynterSky / @wynterstars -- A revamped, 90s-style Superboy origin story with added Lex Luthor AND a lil bit of 90s Robin for spice and flavor. Honestly, this whole series is so elite -- goes hard with the Superboy mythos + angst PLUS the third fic leans hard into the secret identity shenanigans in a way that'd make Miraculous Ladybug jealous. The first fic splits its attention between Tim and Kon, but the latter two are solidly Kon-centric

one plus one (easy math) by connerdrakewayne / @comphetkoncass -- Cassandra Cain and Kon go to a gala together. I'm always a sucker for a good Cass + Kon friendship. This one's very short and sweet, and it gets the job done -- 10/10 would read again

a timeline can be a haunted house by connerdrakewayne -- post-universal reset Kon angst + terrible coping mechanisms! This one goes so hard I read it three times. Tbh this author has an excellent handle on Kon as a character in general, so I honestly recommend just checking out their whole fic stash

Tim-centric recs:

Top 10 Secret Identity Fails by @havendance -- Tim's new English teacher is his on-again-off-again superhero teamup Helena Bertinelli (aka the Huntress). This one's just fun, okay -- the whole thing reads like it could be straight out of Tim's 1993 solo run, plus I love the dynamic between him and Helena. Overall just a very cool vibe

only the dead stay 17 forever by Sky_Dust (couldn't find their tumblr sorry) -- Listen, I've really been restraining myself here, because I realize my love for time-travel bullshit is not universal, but I genuinely couldn't not include this one. This bad boy is a Tim-centric time-loop featuring a seriously unhinged Tim -- definitely a darker tone, but I can't stop rereading it

Bart-centric recs:

reflections on respawning: a gamer's uncertainty by merils / @mamawasatesttube -- Bart has a hard conversation about his death and subsequent resurrection (feat. Kon) man, I just vibe with this one so hard. It's such a thoughtful take on Bart's more contemplative side, while still managing to keep his personality intact

the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun by @kermit-coded -- trans/gnc impulse my beloved <3 also we get some funky Max & Bart bonding, made much rawer and more real by the fact that it's the 90s and nobody knows what they're doing. Again, feels like it's straight out of Bart's solo series

Cassie-centric recs:

you and I, we are more than just this armor by @suzukiblu -- KonCassie bonding + gender feels. They're both so trans in this, and the author does a great job of really digging deep into their complicated feelings (both about gender and about each other)

(also PLEASE somebody give me more Cassie-centric fic recs I'm literally begging you)

Team recs

I'm all yours but you're all mine by suzukiblu -- Poly Core 4 Soulmates AU! Essentially, everybody gets their 'soulmark'/soulmate-identifier (not really, but the best word) right when Kon wakes up in his pod, and because Superboy hasn't really made his big splash yet, they misidentify their soulmate as Superman; this is an issue mainly because 1) they're all 14-15 and Superman is roughly 30-ish, and 2) by the time this fic takes place, Superman is pretty verifiably dead. Currently in-progress, but this is such an interesting and fun take on the usual soulmates trope. I pinky promise you won't regret reading it

Love, Not Loved series by @popsunner -- hoooomygod this series makes me cry literally every time I read it, it's genuinely one of the most realistic representations of grief I've seen on AO3. Basically explores the general fucked-up-edness of pretty much the whole YJ Core 4 Squad dying one by one, with each fic focusing on a different funeral (complete with survivor's guilt, regular guilt, and just plain old complicated feelings). We get Cassie feels, we get Tim feels, we get Bart + Kon feels -- it's the whole shebang. Don't worry -- there's a happy ending eventually, but you def gotta work for it. This series beat me up and stole my lunch money and I'd happily do it all over again

Lost the Last Piece of Me by InsaneTrollLogic / @last01standing -- YJ Core 4 Animorphs AU! I'm sad to say I've never read the original Animorphs series, but every single Animorphs AU I've ever read has been such high quality. Unsurprisingly (I love this author, okay), this fic is no exception to that rule. Solid alien-invasion plot, character driven, and the world-building is explained well enough that even a newbie like me can understand (feat. some TimKon, but it's not the main focus)

Ikonoclast by anantipodean (couldn't find a tumblr) -- Tim and Kon get sent to an alternate reality that's almost (but not quite) like their own. This one's just fun for me -- I love the TimBart buildup and the worldbuilding on the other Earth is a funky time. Also, the other universe's Tim is goth and absolutely cannot stand mainstream-reality Tim, and I find that extremely funny for some reason

[ettawritesnstudies]

Etta's Guide to Writeblr (March 2023)

So you fled here from Twitter/TikTok... Where to start?

Welcome to Writeblr! Pull up a chair, open those documents, and pour yourself a cup of your favorite tea, coffee, or cocoa. The first thing you'll want to do is start following other writers. Check out this post for recommendations! Search through the notes to find hundreds more. Since I made that post, a bunch of people mentioned they're lurking and still trying to figure out tumblr, so I thought I'd make this post to help people get settled.

How to set up your blog

Make your blog name something not resembling a pornbot - it can be whatever you want, anything fun goes, just not [name###]. If you include "writer" or "author" somewhere in the url it makes it easier to spot writeblrs at a glance but it's not a requirement

Change your profile to something that's not the default, Make sure you have a blog title, and add a little description in your blog header if you feel like it!

Make a pinned post introducing yourself (pls don't use your real name or any IDing information for privacy's sake, this isn't facebook), a short summary of your WIPs, and links if you have an author's website/newsletter/ao3/etc. You can check my pinned post for an example

Make intro posts for each WIP! You can spruce these up with graphics (canva and unsplash are both great free resources to make edits/moodboards), excerpts, lists of tropes, character intros, etc. Link to the WIP intro in your pinned post so it's easy to find! You can update these as often as needed

If you want to make character intros, go wild. If you can't draw, piccrew is a great option. Just start talking about your WIP!

Come up with a tagging system to keep your blog organized. I recommend individual wip tags or at least one for your original writing in general so it's easy to search for your work on your blog

Keep track of Taglists for your WIPs. Whenever you post a new thing about your story, tag the people who asked to be notified to make sure they see it! Only tag people who ask to join the taglist, but it's a good way to keep track of interest. It's normal to have multiple taglists for each story+ one general writing taglist.

How to make writer friends

Reblog their work and add nice comments, either in the tags, comments, or the reblog itself People notice regulars in their notes and appreciate the attention. I promise it's not weird to compliment a total stranger

If that's too intimidating, community events are your friend!

Weekly Ask Games: These are weekly events that are loosely themed where writers send each other asks about their WIPs! The most common are Storyteller Saturday (about the writing process), Blorbsday (aka Blorbo Thursday about characters), and Worldbuilding Wednesday (about the setting of your story). If you answer these late, nobody really cares, but it's a fun way to receive prompts and learn more about other people's stories.

Ask Games/Memes: These are posts with lists of questions you can reblog from other people, sometimes themed or listed with emojis. It's common courtesy to send an ask from the list to the person you reblog it from, then people can send you questions as well, so you can talk about your stories! You can search for dozens of them

Tag games: There's a ton of different types of tag games, but basically someone @s you with a challenge/question, you reblog with your answer, and then @ a bunch of other people to continue the chain. Some common ones are Heads Up 7s Up (share the last 7 lines of your WIP), Last Line Tag (share the last line you wrote), and Find the Words (ctrl+f the given words in your doc and share the results, then give new words).

Formal events: These are community wide participation challenges organized by certain blogs! @writeblrsummerfest is every July?? August? I think? It's run by @abalonetea a few years strong, and there are daily prompts and ask games! @inklings-challenge is a month-long short story entry for Christian writeblrs. I think there was a valentines event in February. @moon-and-seraph is hosting a pitch week soon! Since these are more organized, it's very easy to find similar blogs and support!

Misc. Notes on using Tumblr

Follow the tags #writeblr and #writeblr community to find other writers, as well as other tags that interest you like #fantasy for example

If you want to bookmark a post to read later, you can like it and/or save it to your drafts

The queue/schedule function is very useful if you want to space out posts or have a backlog to keep your blog running when you get busy. This is good for the community because it gives older posts a chance to be rediscovered! You can change the posting frequency in the settings.

REBLOG YOUR OWN STUFF. People aren't always on at the same times and so it's the best way to account for people with different schedules and timezones. If you're worried about being annoying, you can tag those #self reblog or something similar and other people can filter the tag, but otherwise it's a welcomed and accepted practice.

If your excerpt is pretty long, put it under a cut. On desktop you can do this by selecting the squiggly button on the far right when you make a new paragraph, on mobile type :readmore: then hit enter.

It's polite to add descriptions to images and videos for visually or auditory impaired people. If you don't know how to write descriptions, here's a good resource

In your dashboard settings, it's best to shut off the options "Best Stuff First" and "Based on your Likes". These function as the website algorithm and suppresses the blogs you actually follow, which defeats the purpose of the site, letting the dash be in reverse chronological order. Also turn off Tumblr Live because it's malware as far as anyone's concerned.

Curate your experience, block the trolls, and be nice

Update for March 2024

How to shut off AI Scraping on your blog

Go to settings and find the Visibility tab

Scroll down to the tag that says "Prevent Third-Party Sharing"

Turn that knob over so that Automattic can't steal your work for their language training model databases >_<

The other settings will just hide your blog from search engines so they're useful for hiding from nosy parents or other Tumblr users but if you're trying to build an author platform you can leave them off.

Again, welcome to the community! I hope you have a ton of fun!

[milaisreading]

Hello! It’s my first time ever requesting in tumblr and i really really love your works! I was wondering if you could do a scenario about manager who’s bad at playing soccer and players ( u-20/BLLK/neo-egoist…) got into argument about who will teach her xd

Author: Hello! Happy to hear that I am your first request and I hope you like this! Thank you for the support and have a great day🩷

Warnings ⚠️: Reader uses she/her. Requests are open

⚽️Blue lock belongs to:Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"Come on, (Y/n)! It will be fun!" Bachira urged the girl, who simply shook her head, looking at the football he was holding in disgust, then nervously laughed.

"I... I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Why? Come on, we will go easy on you!" Isagi said, wanting to play football with her. It was a relatively peaceful day at Blue Lock anyways, aside from Kaiser pissing Isagi and Rin off, it was peaceful.

"That's not a good idea because..." (Y/n) gulped, a little embarrassed to admit she was downright horrendous at the sport.

'They will probably make fun of me for it!'

"Come on! Just relax for the day." Kunigami and Chigiri urged. (Y/n) looked around the place nervously, trying to find some saving grace. Most of the Blue Lock members were in their room, using today as a rest day. The ones who were here: Isagi, Kunigami, Bachira, Chigiri, Reo and Nagi were essentially trying to get her to play with them. Rin was out with his brother somewhere, while Kaiser and Ness were with their team, so there was nobody she could use as a scapegoat... well, except...

'Fuck my life!' She cringed and looked over at the U-20 captain.

"Aiku said he might need my help with... something! What was it again?!"

Oliver looked at the girl, startled that she even addressed him. The others were in disbelief too, knowing that (Y/n) didn't have the best of relationship with him, but she was now looking at him like he hung up the moon.

"What dream is this?" Bachira muttered and pinched his cheeks.

Oliver watched with a raised eyebrow as she escaped Nagi's grip and ran to him.

"So... ready for me to help you with that... thing?" (Y/n) asked the dumbfounded captain, who recovered pretty fast and nodded his head.

"Of course, come on."

Oliver smiled and pulled (Y/n) along, sending the group a smirk as they were glaring at him.

Once gone, Bachira kicked the ball in rage and grinned at the door.

"When did he get so close to (Y/n)? Didn't we keep him away from her?"

"Apparently not good enough... Why my dear (Y/n), why pick that hobo over me?" Reo sobbed as Nagi cracked his knuckles.

"We should have beat him up instead of playing bowling." The albino said.

"Maybe... maybe (Y/n) would rather play football with him instead of us..." Isagi whispered, hurt and panic lacing his tone.

"What?! This is a tragedy, I am way better than that womanizer freak! Why?!" Chigiri cried out.

"You all... do you think that (Y/n) might have a thing for Aiku? I mean... did you see the way she looked at him?" Nagi questioned, causing everyone to look at him in horror.

"Nonono... she hates him. I am sure we just saw shit." Kunigami protested the idea, there is no way their sweet manager would like him.

"Well... you know what they say... the line between love and hate is thin." Isagi gulped, causing silence to fall on the group.

"Why are you guys so down?" Rin raised his eyebrow as him and Sae approached the panicked group.

"(Y/n) wants to marry Aiku and play football with him!" Bachira yelled, causing Sae to spit out his drink.

"The hell are you guys talking about?! Why would (Y/n) want to play with a lukewarm hobo?" Rin asked, already getting agitated.

"We tried to get her to play football with us, and she picked Aiku." Reo answered solemnly.

"You all are dumb, for 2 reasons. One that you think lukewarms such as yourselves are worthy of asking (Y/n) that." Rin started, ignoring the glares he received from his teammates, and then continued.

"And 2nd for believing (Y/n) would like Aiku."

"You didn't see the way she looked at him." Kunigami said.

"What do you mean by that?" Sae spoke up, already pissed at his teammate.

"She looked like he hung up the moon and stars... like he is a God or something." Chigiri explained.

'That little piece of shit!' Sae and Rin thought.

While the group was plotting Oliver's death, the captain himself was over the moon as he talked about thr various places he visited in Italy. (Y/n) would chime in with a question here and there, finding him surprisingly pleasant to talk to... well unless he tried to flirt. They were now in the training area designated for the U-20 team, with (Y/n) doing some check-ups on equipment.

"Say, why did you pick to hang out with me?" Oliver suddenly asked, causing (Y/n) to look away from her clipboard and at him.

"Oh... I'm... no reason!" She said as Oliver got up and moved closer to the girl.

"I don't believe you. Now tell me what it is about, Cutie?"

'Kill me, what are these nicknames?!' (Y/n) cringed and contemplated on if she should tell him or not.

"I am very much open and transparent with you, shouldn't you be the same? Seems only fair." Oliver said, leaning down.

"Rin, don't start a fight no- did you just bite me?!" Isagi flinched as him and Kunigami held back the two brothers from starting a fight. Nagi sighed and opened the door to the U-20 training hall, only to choke on his spit at the scene he was seeing.

"That piece of shit..."

"What is it?" Reo raised his eyebrow and peeked inside too, only to shriek away right after.

"What?" Chigiri and Bachira asked.

"Aiku is trying to kiss (Y/n)!" Reo exclaimed as the others froze for a moment.

"Nevermind about peace, I am beating him up first." Kunigami said, letting go of a seething Sae.

"No way, I will!" Bachira added, grinning maniacally as Nagi and Reo walked into the room, ready to pull their manager away.

"Ah... I just don't know how to play football... and I was too embarrassed to admit it." Nagi and Reo stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.

"Sorry for using you like this! I was just embarrassed to say anything... it sounds rediculous."

Oliver hummed and nodded his head, then put his arm around her shoulders and grinned.

"Then I will teach you the basics. What better way than to learn it from a captain-"

"Hold it! You are not teaching anyone anything!" Reo yelled, pulling (Y/n) away from Oliver and glared up at him.

"What are you guys doing here?!" (Y/n) asked, horrified that Reo and Nagi heard her.

"We came to get you! Don't listen to anything he tells you!" Reo said and pointed at the offended boy.

"Yeah, we can teach you how to play." Nagi yawned, sending a glare to Oliver.

"We? You mean me! I am the best ranked one in Blue Lock." Rin chimed in.

"Cut the crap! I can do a way better job!" Bachira said as he smiled at (Y/n).

"I am the fastest and most patient one of you all. Please, I will do that." Chigiri said calmly, earning an eyeroll from Isagi.

"Not as patient as I am."

'Good God... over football of all things.' (Y/n) groaned as she watched the group argue.

"Come on, let's do something else. Ego-san will hear the commotion soon." Reo whispered to (Y/n) and pulled her out of the training room, Nagi following them close behind, satisfied that the girl was away from Oliver, who was getting scolded by Sae and Rin.

[axuanmii]

admit you ship incest dude. the cn/jp shippers say its incest. pick up a book and translate it, it says kaeya is adopted. .. and heres a long paragraph about how incest is only between biological families and more disrespect to people who are adopted...

no idea why my inbox didn't give me this notif until now, but now's a better time than any to talk more about this.

i'm chinese. i speak fluent mandarin chinese. i've consulted other native chinese speakers about this, both genshin players and unrelated. i play genshin with chinese audio and english subs specifically to catch and complain about inaccuracies. i'd reveal more information but then i think it'd be trivially easy to doxx me if one knew what they were looking for.

fundamentally, the issue of incest lies in physical reproduction, yet i find adoptive incestuous relationships discomforting all the same. it's why i didn't like or finish go ahead (以家人之名) because i felt that it laid too much into the siblings aspect for romantic relationships to be feasible, and it was super contradictory from the initial general message of the first bittersweet yet wholesome episode.

however, personally, i just don't think kaeya felt like a part of the family until crepus's death and he really reflected on crepus's actions towards him (hangout). and even after beginning to view crepus as a father figure, he wouldn't have so shallowly made the transition for diluc to be his brother by adoption and consequently changed his entire mind about the guy (which you can see with the way he chooses to refer to both men with different terms, one adoptive and familial, one very clearly 'sworn', very consistently throughout the whole game. if that ever changes in chinese, well, at least you can know that i'll make a post about it if i still care about genshin by then.)

the localization team does make plenty of serious mistakes, and it's of my opinion that as a result, it has very clearly skewed character relationships with those mistakes, (cynari and collei, eulamber, some npcs in liyue, sumeru) some from cultural differences, some just from lazy translation overall. there's layers of complexity in how chinese utilizes honorifics and affectionate terms, as well as contextual consideration between fiction and reality, and sometimes i feel like the english localization team just threw it all into google translate and called it a day.

i don't even ship kaeluc that much. i like to call it the secret third thing where they can't get off their asses to talk about anything ever so they exist in an undefined space and to have them return to any semblance of a healthy relationship, platonic, familial, or romantic, would require a novel's length worth of development that hoyoverse will probably never write, and so my brain has made up novels of all three kinds and more.

however, i also don't care about people who do ship kaeluc or treat any other fictional media in an incestuous or otherwise problematic manner, regardless of language or culture. this is because i operate on a "don't like, don't read, don't interact" mindset. it makes being in fandom more fun; you should try it.

my disappointment wasn't aimed at the fact that i think too little people ship kaeluc. it just sucks to see people claim that that's what's wrong with the fandom and spin this evil gross imagery around the ship over a misunderstanding, especially when that's not how i view it. it's also the only thing vehemently regularly repeated ('klcers dni') when there's so many other issues with the game and the fandom.

(off topic but what's the worst thing that'll happen if a kaeluc shipper likes your fan stuff. it's not like they come into your tumblr asks to bother you with an "oh btw you're wrong about how you enjoy this media and this is what's right"-- oh wait that's what's going on here right)

including the fact that people like you purposefully go around searching in the kaeluc tag (which you probably did, because nobody is scrolling that far back in my blog to find this one specific post to complain about) to police and pick fights with people over a stupid issue from 2020/2021. i guess tumblr isn't a safe place to talk about kaeluc either lmao.

and to think i left anon asks on in the hopes that it could be an inbox for anyone who wanted to ask me art questions or just leave something positive and not feel too awkward (where do i get the confidence in thinking anyone would ask my incompetent brain for help lol).

to be fair, it's going to be my fault for continuing to draw attention to this by responding to such an ask instead of just deleting it and moving on but fuck it we ball.

this ended up pretty long but i feel like it would've been too rude to just say "会说中文的干嘛要翻书 :P". probably would've been funnier though and saved me a lot of time. kudos to you if you actually read this and read through everything.

final note:

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

Idfc if he's real or not, he's still worse written than Eddie. Also the problem is in his fans that are making him no guilty, innocent baby and always refering that Coyle/Eddie/Everybody else im outlast are the same. And if you think it'll work, try to compare Walker (with PTSD after war) with Franco (who is just a sicko). Anyway Barbi's simps are way more agressive than any other fans when you say something bad, what's a fact, about a grown ass man. I feel like those people are just little kids who are getting upset after school and shouldn't play the game ;) When I see all those comments with "He'S mY PoOkIE" I'm getting sick... Ya'll should get a brain

Guys look!! I got one!!

You don't deserve a response, because if you were old enough to be playing Outlast, you would be able to figure out that shaming people for (checks notes) liking a fictional character in a horror series? Is plain stupid.

It would also serve you well to maybe do some spell check before you come into my asks like this. I'd take you more seriously if you maybe drafted this one more time, but here we go:

First of all, you don't know me. You can check out my like, five posts and see that only two of em are Franco related and none of them baby him. In fact, I don't think I've seen a post yet by anyone who says "Franco is a sweet, innocent baby who did no wrong" because... That's the point. He's interesting BECAUSE he's done shit wrong. We are playing Outlast. Everyone is complex and awful and interesting. Just because not every post is marked with a little footnote that says "oh by the way everyone, Franco is a bad, bad man 🥺 I don't support his actions, I'm not a Franco defender, I just wanted to draw him being silly 🥺" doesn't mean we're all out here claiming he's a saint. The fact that he's a fucked up lil guy is why we like him. I feel like that's a given with all Outlast characters? But that's just me after being a fan of this franchise for years now, idk, being able to step back and analyse a community to see what they enjoy about something is quite a fun and easy task, I recommend giving it a try instead of coming into "loser nobody who has been on Tumblr for like a week's" asks to complain to me like I can put all the Franco fans in the corner until they learn to interpret characters the way you have decided is objectively correct.

But even if they are "babying" him and apparently ignoring that this is the Outlast series and Franco is a character from Outlast... Oh no! What horror! Someone is misinterpreting a VIDEO GAME CHARACTER what a terrible and unique crime!

Franco "just a sicko" Barbi was abused and neglected by his father, his mother was murdered, and he only ever received affection after he killed someone. But yeah, he was just born fucked up whereas every other Outlast character earned their trauma and the right to kill the player. What a senseless and just untrue take and I'm sure you know that, you just want to complain because that's all you people like to do. You want to feel morally superior over someone because you don't understand why they feel the way they do instead of just moving on and ignoring them like any other sensible adult would. Because who's actually getting hurt if some people think Franco is their lil Pookie? Is it you? Does it cause you psychic damage? Because last I checked, this is the internet. We are responsible for ourselves, so unless somebody is actually hurting anyone...

Block the Franco tag. You are brave enough to type out this whole message to a stranger online and act morally superior because comparing which video game character deserves the right to kill you is THE most mature thing in the world, so you're definitely brave enough to block the tag and move on.

You are responsible for what you see online, but ESPECIALLY on Tumblr, it is so so easy to hide content you don't want to see, and mind your own business. Quite frankly, I don't care if I come across as aggressive here. You came into my asks about a tag/fandom you clearly aren't in trying to act like you're better than the rest of us. That's pretty damn aggressive, wouldn't you say?

This is Outlast. A game about fucked up guys doing fucked up shit, and we love them for it. If that is too much for you, if the mommy issues gangster is too crazy for you but Eddie and Trager and Knoth and Coyle are completely fine, no questions asked? I don't think this series is for you. Sexual horror is a staple of Outlast. Childhood trauma is a staple of Outlast. You can't be shocked when people respond to a new character in a video game they like.

YOU are not better than me because you like Chris Walker and I like Franco Barbi. I can't believe you need to be told this, we are all in the same uncomfortable freakshow cesspit that is The Outlast Fandom, no one is morally good. No one is better than anyone else. You cannot claim moral superiority over any character because at the end of the day, I can point to Wernicke and say with my full chest that he is objectively the worst because he's a literal nazi, and what then? Are you going to tell me that Franco is worse than a nazi? The debate is over, in the list of "who is the worst of these awful people", Wernicke wins hands DOWN. The point is null because EVERYONE SUCKS HERE!!! THAT'S THE POINT!!!!

Is that enough for you? Or are you gonna keep harassing people through your alts or getting your friends to do it? I can go alllllll day, baby, you ain't making me feel bad about my interests in the O U T L A S T fandom, dear GOD, this is ridiculous. Don't fucking condescend me, telling me to "get a brain" you don't KNOW ME, I am a stranger to you, why do you feel comfortable coming onto my blog harassing me about a video game character? That's not a good look for you and now it is immortalised here. Anonymous or not, you still did this. Whoever you are, you typed that out and sent it to a random person you do not know and felt comfortable enough to do so.

That's weird.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 4.2

Having Paul talking about following his artistic muse and deciding not to care what other people think paired with the insanity of McCartney 2 is fantastic. 

I sincerely hope those 20K words that Paul wrote for his posterity about his time in jail are published some day. 

He looks so pretty in this interview!

John and Sean are so cute! 

“Nobody Knows” is about secretly hooking up with John, obviously. But “that includes you, honey!” Is that at Linda?? Don't do that to your mother, Paul. 

The only scenario in which I  support a hypothetical JP sexual/romantic relationship in the 70s is that hypothetically no wives were harmed in the making of this hypothetical. 

Not the cut from “Coming Up” to “Probably the thing that John and I will do . . .” to John's self interview about bisexuality and Paul and life begins at forty back to Coming Up interspersed with footage of happy JP to John getting out a guitar to record a demo! 

And the demo is (Just Like) Starting Over. Just bury me already. 

Another lyrical reference I didn't catch in the demo version: “it's easy.” Sung very similarly to how he sang it in All You Need is Love. 

John comparing them to brothers (Everly) and a marriage (Goffin and King) in the same sentence. And he's right, too.

I love the interviewer being so skeptical of John and how dismissive he is of Paul in this interview and how he can't get his story straight on when the last time he'd seen Paul was. More women should've interviewed him.

How I imagine it went. Interviewer: hi John are you ready to -- John: did you know I never think about Paul anymore unless somebody brings him up? Interviewer: but I didn't – John: yeah he used to show up at my door with a guitar and I told him to go away. Interviewer: ooookaaay? 

Cutie! I love John so much.

“If I was dead, they wouldn't be angry with me. If I'd conveniently died in the mid seventies after Rock and Roll album or Walls and Bridges (((everybody loves you when you're six feet in the ground))), they'd all be writing this worshipful stuff about what a great guy.” It hurts to hear and it hurts that he was exactly right. 

I don't care what John and Yoko say, manifesting is just another capitalist lie to keep the proletariat complacent. 

“The only one who can control me is me and that's just barely possible.” It's one of those John quotes that's so silly and cute and also entirely relatable. He really had a way of capturing the human condition. 

“Nobody ever said anything about Paul having a spell over me when I was with him for a long time! Or me having a spell over Paul! They didn't think that was abnormal, two guys together.” Yeah, John, they definitely did and they made fun of it and tried to poke holes in it, or have you forgotten?

“Or four guys together.” Yeah. George and Ringo were in the Beatles too.

“In those days? Why didn't anybody ever say ‘How come those guys don't split up?” You're joking, right John? 

The video/audio pairing here though! You mean ‘what's going on under the table?’

Love John getting pissed that nobody asked him, “What is that Paul and John business?” RIP John, you would've loved Beatles Tumblr.

[elviehun]

Okay so. I'll probably lose some followers now and I'm sorry but I couldn't care less about that shit (tumblr is my emotional/thirst support corkboard and a place to interact with a few cherished friends and nothing abt being any kind of cool or popular or anything and I never was either of that thankfully). I am not gonna sugarcoat this.

SERIOUSLY. GUYS.

ANYONE. MAKING. FUN. OF. BOB'S. DEATH. IS. A. SHITTY. IMMATURE. TROUBLED. PERSON.

I'm not going to defend ANY of his 100% wrong views and some truly fucked up actions in the past but he was A PERSON. Not to mention a person with very, very unstable mental health who tragically just went further and further down after being smashed into superstardom - which trajectory ended on a really traumatic note for everyone involved. He was a mentally ill person whose actions in the past months/years might have been lashing out in frustration or cries for help or possible red flags for s*icidal thoughts. Yet he is reported (fuck TMZ btw for immediately capitalizing on sg like this) to have been found alone weeks after his death. Adding that nobody seems to have missed him for weeks? and the hate replies and kys 'jokes?' from literal KIDS on twitter to the mix just makes the whole issue all the more messy and sad.

If you claim yourself an mcr fan and sent hate msgs to anyone!!! struggling with mental health EVER, let alone a former member of a band you claim to love, and especially a band so outspoken about mental health awareness and s*icide prevention, I have no excuses for you. Go fuck yourself. Life is no fucking game or a meme pool, people are no darts boards of your own frustrations, grow the fuck up or SHUT the fuck up. I'm sick to my stomach learning about those actions.

Anybody 'celebrating' his death should just consider for a fucking SECOND (even if you don't have the emotional intelligence to consider that he probably has a family mourning and in deep regret right now) what the guys must be going through these moments. Right after letting the whole world know they are about to tour on and celebrate the legacy of the album that he played an essential part in. Regardless of what might have gone down among them back in the day, it must be very uncomfortable and frankly, devastating, for the boys to hear about the way his life ended. I hope the family and the guys are taking care of themselves.

Honestly I was always neutral about Bob while he was a member, and again, no excuses for some shitty things he said and believed in, but he WAS a great musician and the best album of the century would NOT be the same without his contribution. At least respect that, if nothing else.

I'm just sad that he doesn't have the chance to turn his life and wrongdoings around now. 44 is way too young to go.

May his spirit find peace. Rest easy, Bob.

[abearinthewoods]

A comment of mine from r/curatedtumblr:

Feminism/feminist means multiple things. one is a synonym for WRA, a descriptor. (like MRA, is just an advocate for men's rights, its a descriptor). another is a body of academic work (and the people in it), and a 3rd is an ideological identity (more along the lines of radfem and 4b and the others i don't know or understand).

There is nothing wrong with a discussion on how the carelessness of the 2nd is stoking the fires of the 3rd and in some cases inadvertently introducing misandry into the 1st.

When we assign words with negative connotations to the male gender, specifically words that by their construction direct the negative connotation at the man/male gender: (mansplain, manchild, manspread, toxic masculinity(when directed at behavior instead of expectation), patriarchy(to a much lesser degree)) could we maybe be creating or reinforcing any negative gender stereotypes that might play a part in turning turn group 1 into the group 3?

When we push the concept of male privilege, are we not giving people the tools to excuse their bad behavior towards men to other people, who may be in the first camp (as most people who believe in gender equality are) and not as knowledgeable to see past it?

When we blame men's issues on the patriarchy are we subconsciously implying feminism, the force against the patriarchy, can not perpetrate men's issues? Could this not be creating a barrier in self reflection?

When we use a word tied to a lack of sexual conquests to attack men, are we not reinforcing the idea that one's value as a man is tied to their sexual conquests? (aka: patriarchal notions of toxic masculinity)

When we talk about strong role models for girls under the framework of improving girls sense of worth (viewing them as human beings), but strong role models for boys under the framework of improving how boys behave to make them more useful/respectful towards women and girls (viewing them as human doings)…. Are we not reinforcing the notion of viewing one with empathy more over the other? or viewing the other with a highen sense of suspicion (Secondary to that, thought experiment: how much traction do you think a role model for girls would get among young girls if they were consistently praised by the adults for how respectful they are towards men?)

And this still doesn't even touch what i think is the biggest issue. Criticizing feminism is seen as misogynistic, even when its not, so it not only becomes a useful shield, keeping the misandry from being addressed, the victim of the misandry gets re-victimized when they get accused of being what they were hurt by.

Somebody who has started to notice the sometimes subtle and easy to miss misandry in how a lot of feminist arguments end up being exercised in practice will only start to see more and more.

Its a eye opening experience that gets frustrating because then nobody believes you. its either a standalone antidote, which invalidates the person's experiences being subjected to it or seeing it as an attitude or if you try to point out the trends its a bad faith mra narrative.

As for radfems, I don't care about them, i see them on tumblr, they don't rep feminism to me. r/twoxc does on the other hand and the misandry in there is palatable and feminist arguments around privilege and oppression are used to excuse it, including by reddit admins when its reported.

I'm not even talking about the women drinking from a coffee mug of white male tears, i'm talking about the countless women and men and publications that were excusing it and poking fun at the men who expressed their emotional discomfort with it.

How would you prefer somebody talk about this? It has to be talked about. This is a mens issue that needs addressing.

When men's DV shelters open up, who is protesting them? Suing them for being gender exclusionary? bankrupting the org, driving the founder to suicide, then opening up a women's only DV shelter after buying it for cheap on auction?

When the feminist ex-director of NoW holds a talk on male suicide, who are the people protesting it and yelling misandry slurs into the face of the men who had multiple friends commit suicide and were hoping to find some answers?

Let me guess? "Not all men feminists?"

Sure, as a mra who is a fan of bell hooks, i can agree; but could we please not deny or attack the lived experiences of men who have seen that side of feminism because they don't perfectly express their frustrations in the correct way.

[vivalas-vega]

hello again! I was the anon who asked if you were taking requests for Phoenix 💞 lord knows I've spent too much time on the #natasha trace x reader tag HAHSAHAJS tumblr needs more nat content (I'm pleading on my knees 🧎🏻‍♀️)

I was thinking about Nat having a girlfriend but struggling to come out to her friends. She has been dating reader for long enough that they've moved in together and has yet to mention to them that the reason she's been leaving the hard deck earlier than usual is because she has a girlfriend at home.

She thinks nobody suspects a thing but bob found out somehow (it's up to you) and asked her directly. She gives up the facade and tells him everything and they have a long talk about her struggles with her sexuality and her fear of coming out to her friends and actually showing off her gf. That night, she talks to her gf too and decides she's going to finally introduce reader to the dagger squad.

I would looooove to see their reactions on this, bc in my head, everyone must've thought she was into guys like hangman or whatever and she's shows up with this pretty girl by her side. They're already planning on who's gonna get her number first and nat just "uh.. guys this is my girlfriend😄"

Just super fluffy and kinda angsty too? Maybe throw in some smut if you feel like it 👀💞 It's totally up to you!!!

mwah!💋

- Syd

syd !!! thank you so much for sending this in, I absolutely loved this idea and I hope I did it justice!

The Hard Deck wasn’t as crowded as it usually was and Phoenix was grateful for the breathing room as she sipped her beer at the bar and checked her phone, letting you know she’d be leaving soon… Friday night was always bar night for the squad, a way to relax and unwind heading into the weekend after a long week of training and she really loved it… it was always fun getting to spend time with them, the squad had turned into its own little family but that didn’t stop her from always being the first to leave to get home to you as quickly as she could. 

No one knew about you yet… she’d wanted to tell the team for weeks now but every time she thought she worked up the nerve she backed out at the last minute, anxiety overruling and shutting it down before she could even get the words out. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice Bob slide into the seat next to her until he was tapping her shoulder and pulling her focus back to the present.

“Hey Nat, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked softly as she nodded, turning to give him her full attention. “Why haven’t you told anyone you have a girlfriend?” he whispered and her eyes widened at the question… she’d been thinking he might want to talk about the training exercise today, she’d made a decision in the air he didn’t agree with and it was normal for them to talk it out afterwards but this felt like Bob had dropped a bomb on her.

“What do you… how did you know?” she asked and he gave her a soft smile.

“Overheard you on the phone at lunch,” he replied and she thought back to the conversation she’d had with you… she’d laughed while you filled her in on some of your coworker’s antics and told you what time she’d be home before calling you her sweet girl and telling you how much she loved you. She’d thought she was alone in the locker room, otherwise she wouldn’t have let that slip. 

“Oh… uh, just haven’t felt ready to, I guess.” she answered and Bob nodded, giving her the space to continue when she gathered her thoughts. “I’ve gotten mixed reactions from other squads in the past and… I don’t know, we’ve just got a good thing going here and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Why do you think you would ruin it?” he asked, genuinely interested in the answer and she sighed.

“It’s not easy… being a woman in the Navy, let alone being a gay woman in the Navy. We’ve never talked about that kind of stuff before, I don’t really know what everyone’s views on that are. My parents struggled with it when I came out to them and it’s been an issue in the past at my other stations and I guess I just didn’t want to deal with the fallout again,” she shrugged. 

“If it helps, I really don’t think anyone here would have a problem with it,” he said, and she lifted her attention from her glass to look at him questioningly. “I know we’ve never talked about it but… I can’t see anyone on the squad treating you differently because of it. I think they might be a little shocked, but that’s mainly because of how you banter with Hangman, everyone kind of thinks you two might be a thing on the down low-”

“Wait, what?” She cut him off and his eyes widened.

“You guys just have this like… thing, you’re very competitive and playfully mean to each other, I guess some of the squad just assumed it was because you were a thing,” he explained and she chuckled as she shook her head. “But once they get over the shock of being wrong, I think they’d be happy for you.”

“I just don’t know what I’d do if it doesn’t go that way. I’ve tried to get to a place where I don’t care if people aren’t accepting but… I’m just not there yet,” she sighed.

“I understand… I mean, as well as I can understand. It can’t be easy but you shouldn’t have to hide who you are, and I can at least speak for myself when I say I’m really happy for you… but I really think they’d like to meet her, they’re probably going to figure it out anyways because they all want to know what has you slipping out early every night. Whatever you decide, I’m in your corner… if you don’t want to, your secret’s safe with me,” he said, giving her a soft smile and a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder before he rejoined the group to leave her alone with her thoughts. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to introduce you to them, she really did… she’d told you everything she knew about each of them and you’d expressed your interest in tagging along one night but were understanding when she said she wasn’t ready for that yet.

If she had it her way she’d be screaming from the rooftops how in love with you she was… she’d invite the squad over so they could try your amazing cooking, and you’d be by her side every Friday night but there was truly no way to know how everyone else would feel until she came clean, and that idea absolutely terrified her.

“Hey honey, I’m home!” Phoenix called out as you heard her keys rattle against the dish on the entryway table and you padded down the hallway to greet her with a warm smile.

“Hey Nat, how was work today?” you asked, giving her a sweet peck on her lips before watching her pull her boots off and you immediately noticed the slump in her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and gave you a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes as she grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the couch, “Bob found out about us.”

“Yeah? What’d he say?” you asked as the two of you sat beside each other and you instantly pulled her legs over your lap. 

“He was really supportive, he said I should tell everyone else,” she sighed.

“How do you feel about that? Are you ready?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know… once I open that can of worms it’s not like I can stuff it back in,” she said and you nodded, your thumb rubbing reassuring circles against her uniform-clad thigh. “It’s not that I don’t want to… I don’t want you to think for a minute it’s because I want to hide you, I just don’t want it to blow up in my face.”

“I never thought that sweetheart,” you said with a reassuring smile. “I know it’s hard, and I know you’ve been burned before in previous squads but you speak so highly of them… from what I’ve heard they all sound like really great people and I think it would be good to finally clue them in,” you said. “You know I’m okay either way, it’s at your pace, Nat… but this has been stressing you out ever since you got permanently stationed here, and they are probably going to find out sooner or later… I think you might feel better if you get to control the conversation instead of more people piecing it together like Bob did.” She knew you were right… you always were, it really was only a matter of time. Sure, Bob was the most observant of everyone else so she couldn’t be surprised he was the first one to piece it together but it’s not like her squad was stupid. “It’s up to you, but I think you should get it over with. Just rip off the bandaid and whatever happens we’ll deal with it together just like we always do.”

She gave you a soft smile, the first real one of the evening as she looked at you with nothing but love in her eyes, “what do you think about meeting me at The Hard Deck after work next week?”

“I think that’s a really great idea,” you answered, leaning in to press your lips to hers. 

“I really love you, you know that?” she asked and you nodded with a chuckle.

“I know, I love you too.” 

The entire week leading up to their usual hangout at the bar had Phoenix on edge… logically she knew you and Bob were right, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that had settled deep in her bones as the day creeped closer and closer. She didn’t want to call it off (though she’d thought about it a dozen times), she had to stick with it and follow through otherwise she never would and as she stood around the pool table with the rest of the boys she honestly felt like she might throw up.

“You good, Nix?” Hangman asked, looking her over curiously, “worried I’m going to kick your ass again?” He gestured over to the pool table and she just rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean by again, you’ve never beaten me,” she replied and he scoffed. “Revisionist history, I see how it is,” he teased and when the bar door swung open she whipped her head around to see you walking in looking as beautiful as ever… you were wearing her favorite dress of yours, a simple little wrap dress that really brought out your eyes and she couldn’t help the smile that overtook her face but no one around her could notice as they all stared at you too. 

“Damn, she is gorgeous,” Rooster said, eyes tracking you as you scanned the bar and Hangman just shoved his shoulder.

“In your dreams, Chicken, watch how the professionals do it,” he said, straightening his posture as he started to move towards you but he stopped in his tracks when recognition flashed over your face and watched as you walked directly towards their group. You gave her a bright smile, not standing too close and waiting to see how she wanted to proceed… you didn’t want to toss her into the deep end by planting a kiss on those lips you loved so much (despite how you really wanted to) and you watched as she laughed nervously, grabbing your hand as she introduced you.

“This is my girlfriend,” she said, squeezing your hand and waiting for everyone’s reaction and you watched the variety of emotions that passed over their faces before they all seemed to put the pieces together in their heads and soon they were giving you big smiles and extending their hands as they told you their callsigns. 

“Well, I see why she’s been hiding you away… you are beautiful,” Bob said with a genuine smile and you chuckled as you shook his hand. 

“How long have you two been together?” Rooster asked and Phoenix shifted her weight nervously.

“A few years,” she answered and you bit back a smile at their shocked expressions.

“Years? Nix, why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Hangman asked, and you thought the concern in his voice was out of character for him… well, as much as you knew about his character from what she had told you. 

“I uh.. Well, I didn’t know how you guys would react,” she said honestly with a shrug and you saw the understanding pass over their features.

“Phoenix…” Rooster said, giving her a sad look before wrapping an arm around her. “I’m sorry if anyone ever gave you the impression you couldn’t tell us,” he said and she shook her head.

“No one did… it’s just, not necessarily a well-recepted thing in the Navy even though times are changing.” she replied.

“Well I speak for everyone when I say the squad just gained its newest member… and if anyone has a problem with that I will not-so-kindly throw you overboard,” Hangman said as he slung an arm over your shoulders. “You and I have much to catch up on, I want all the details,” he said and you chuckled as you walked down to the bar with him. You knew Phoenix would have nothing to worry about, you could tell from your after-work conversations she immensely respected all of them (even Hangman) and after meeting them you honestly felt like she might have been selling them short all this time. The way they welcomed you with open arms had your chest feeling warm and you could just tell it was all genuine as Hangman started talking your ear off and ordering you a beer.

You’d been passed around from person to person all night, barely getting a moment alone with your girlfriend but that was fine with you… you knew the novelty of a new person hanging around would wear off and they were all just excited to get to know you. 

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” you asked when Fanboy finally relinquished you from the very intense discussion you’d both had about Star Wars. You wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into you, smiling softly as she melted against you.

“Good. So good, you were right… I should have gotten this over with sooner. I love seeing you with them,” she said and you pressed a kiss to her lips. 

“And I love getting to know them. It doesn’t matter if I was right, you needed to do this when you were ready to,” you said and she just beamed at you before pulling you back in and kissing you passionately… earning some whistles and cheers from her friends and making your cheeks burn.

“I love you so damn much, you know that?” she asked and you nodded as you giggled.

“Yeah, I know. I love you too,” you said, pecking her lips once more before dragging her over to the dartboard where Hangman had all but promised to take it easy on you (you didn’t believe him one bit). Phoenix had found her family, and you were so grateful to now be a part of that.

taglist: @callsignspirit @thegodessc @failuretothrivesstuff @olliepig @cruelmissdior @underaveragefangirl @grxcieluvr (if your username is struck through it means I couldn't tag you - sorry!)

[writeyouin]

Mirage X Reader – Private Little Thoughts

Chapter 1 - Horny at the Race Track

Description: Mirage is desperate to have you in a friends-with-benefits situation, but he’s too scared to say so. Yet, while he hangs out with you, he can’t help but think of all the things he wants to do to you.

A/N – So, this was a request, but Tumblr ate it before I could reply for some reason.

Warnings – Smut. NSFW. Mirage’s vivid hallucinations of different sex positions.

Rating – M

You walked around the abandoned skate park with Mirage, each of you thinking that it would be time to go home soon and yet neither of you wished to leave one another. Being with Mirage was so easy. He was funny, caring, and he always tried to gleam more information from you about your life, using the little odd scarps that we so often forget to mention to others, to piece you together.

And Mirage… He was completely infatuated with you, though he had yet to mention it. He had been on Earth for a while now, and initially, he had found humans interesting enough but nothing too special. Then he met you, and you were different from what he was expecting. You weren’t afraid of him, you cared about the Autobots, and when push came to shove, you had risked your life to save them; you with your weak, fragile body, protecting them with their strong Cybertronian metal plating. As Optimus was so fond of saying, there was more to you than met the eye.

Then, on a night when Mirage had gone to check on you, shortly after he had recovered, he saw something… Something he couldn’t get off his processor.

You were just in your apartment, changing. It was late so you probably forgot to close your curtains, assuming there was nobody to watch you. Mirage knew that he should have looked away, but he was in awe of you. You were stunning. There wasn’t anything implicitly sexy about the way you changed, and it was over quickly as you wrapped yourself up in warm pyjamas, but Mirage couldn’t forget it.

He had been with his share of Cybertronians in the past, but now he wanted you… a human. Granted, Mirage was open-minded, but finding out that he was a xenophile was something of a surprise, and the worst part was not knowing if you were the same. While the two of you had fun together currently, he was certain that the two of you could have a lot more fun if you were open to human-Cybertronian relations.

Mirage discreetly side-eyed you, hardly listening to what you were saying while his thoughts were in such disarray. Asking you for a casual hook-up was out of the question. You were one of his few human friends, and he couldn’t risk scaring you off just because he was horny and wanted to interface.

Yet, just spending time with you was becoming difficult. His interface panel often strained to conceal his pressurised spike, his engines regularly revved at the sight of you, and he often had to think of Optimus’ boring speeches to stop his cooling fans from clicking on and giving away just how badly he wanted you when he was with the other Autobots.

Mirage would have liked the chance to date you, but since he couldn’t give you a normal relationship and he might have to one day leave you the same way Bee had to leave Charlie, he thought that friends-with-benefits might be better… it would certainly be a step up from just friends.

Well, maybe Mirage couldn’t ask you to interface, but perhaps he could get you to ask him if you felt the same way at all.

“Hey (Y/N), I’m curious about something,” He stated, swinging his arms by his sides, and trying to act normal.

“Sure, Mirage. What’s up?” You beamed looking up at him.

Mirage fought to keep his optics on your face instead of letting them travel lower, to areas he wished to see unclothed. His cheek-plates burned and he was forced to play things cool as he thought about his most recent telling off from Prime to keep himself calm.

“Is there anything you want to do that you’ve never done before, like something completely wild?”

You considered the question for a moment, then grinned smugly, “What, like taking on an enemy species in a battle to save the planet from a world-devouring alien?”

Mirage laughed, “I said something you hadn’t done.”

You hummed thoughtfully, clicking your tongue. Mirage’s engines revved as he thought about all the wonderful things that tongue could do. Fortunately, you didn’t seem to care about the sound, seeing as he revved his engines a lot around you; you thought it was just something some Cybertronians did, not knowing the meaning behind it.

You snorted a half-laugh as the sound triggered an idea.

“Hey, that’s the look of someone who’s thought of something great,” Mirage praised you, excited to see you smile.

You shook your head chuckling, “No, it’s too weird.”

“I can work with weird. C’mon, tell your old pal Mirage what it is. It doesn’t matter how odd, or naughty it is.”

“You’ll think I’m stupid.”

“I promise I won’t.” Mirage made a cross over his chassis with his hand, “Cross my spark and hope to die.”

You bit your lip nervously, “Alright, but you better not laugh. It’s just that…”

Mirage bent over, resting his servos on his legs. You were going to say it. He was sure of it. Tonight, you and he would go where no Cybertronian or human had gone before, creating an inter-species relationship that was bound to be fantastic.

“I want to race,” You admitted with a sheepish smile.

“What?” Mirage blinked, and then he remembered that he was supposed to be playing things cool. “Race huh, that’s- not what I was expecting.”

“I know. It’s so silly, right? It’s just, I see you all driving so fast and I kind of wanted to try it. It doesn’t even have to be a race per se, just the ability to go somewhere fast and not have to stop for anyone.”

“Why haven’t you tried it before?”

“Are you kidding?” You asked incredulously. “I’d crash for sure. It’s okay though, ‘cos I have you, and you never drive slow.”

Mirage nodded slowly, and then he became more animated, practically bouncing on the spot.

“I’ve got an idea,” He said, transforming into his alt-mode. Granted, he was no longer a sleek Porsche, but he could still go fast in his new form of mismatched parts. “Come on, get in.”

You complied, buckling your seatbelt, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we don’t have to stop for anyone.”

“We shouldn’t be here,” You said from Mirage’s driver’s seat, anxious as you glanced around at the surrounding area.

The two of you were behind the starting line of a NASCAR race track, though by the looks of it, it wasn’t one often used except apparently by rookies who needed training for the big leagues, or so Mirage had told you anyway.

“Hey, it’ll be fine. I already disabled the cameras, and the security here sucks,” Mirage insisted.

“How do you know that?”

“Me and Bee come here a lot. It gives us something to do, and I swear that I’m going to beat his track record any day now.”

“Yes, you might beat his track record but I certainly can’t.”

“C’mon. This is what you wanted. Drive like you mean it and take no prisoners. This will be epic. You got this, just slam down on the gas, and don’t stop for anything.”

You reached hesitantly for the steering wheel, pulling your hands back at the last minute, “Won’t this be weird for you? I mean, you can drive yourself.”

“Pfft, nah, it’s fine. Come on, take the wheel.”

After another moment’s hesitation, you did as he told you, taking the wheel and ever so gently changing gears and nudging forward on the gas pedal, taking Mirage into a light cruise of 30 miles per hour.

Mirage wasn’t impressed.

“Yeah, see this is how you drive every single day, y’know? This is the speed you drive when you’re going to work and you don’t want to see that bitch from accounting. This isn’t speed, this is a chore. Put some power into it (Y/N). Drive like you’re fleeing death. Drive like you’re coming to see me.”

 Mirage very nearly added Drive like you want to meet me for a hook-up, but he managed to control himself, feeling slightly perverse that currently, he could only think of you as his fetish.

Primus, he wanted you so much.

“You promise that you’ll take over if I mess up?” You asked quietly.

“Of course,” He promised.

You nodded and took a deep breath. Then, after releasing it, you pressed down on the accelerator, slowly gaining speed. Although you hadn’t “punched it”, Mirage was at least glad to see that you were slowly gaining confidence and speed. You slowed down to take corners for the first few laps, but after a few tries, you seemed to improve.

On each lap of the track, Mirage gave you advice on how best to proceed. He coached you on when to speed up, brake, turn, and change gear. You were by no means an expert at track racing, but with his advice, you would at least have a decent chance at being a getaway driver should you or Noah be attacked by Terracons again.

Finally, Mirage stopped you at the start line of the track.

“Alright, now you’re gonna put together everything you’ve learned and prove how great of a teacher I am,” He told you. “Five laps, no stopping, just pure Mirage-power, ‘cos let me tell you, this guy does not run on horsepower.”

“Gee Mirage, you got beef with horses?” You joked.

“They’re dirty, smelly, slow, and I don’t like their eyes.”

“There’s nothing wrong with horses’ eyes, you weirdo.”

“They see through people, (Y/N). They know all and I swear, they don’t share that knowledge on purpose. Four-legged freaks.”

“There’s nothing wrong with four legs either, dork.”

Mirage briefly envisioned you on all fours, taking his spike from behind as held your hips into place, calling his name and begging him to let you cum. His engines revved uncontrollably, and this time his cooling fans had to click on to stop him from overheating.

“Right,” He said a little too quickly, “Whatever. Let’s forget about dogging- uh dogs- Horses! Let’s forget about horses and get these laps underway. I really think you got it this time.”

“Alright,” You replied, looking ahead, “Just give me one second.”

You took a few minutes to examine the track that you had spent the night driving, and after his prior slip-up, Mirage had to wonder whether you were staying quiet on purpose. Surely, you had noticed how frazzled he was… Then again, maybe your mind simply wasn’t where his was.

“Okay,” You finally said, your grip tightening on the steering wheel. “I’m ready now.”

You slammed your foot down hard on the gas pedal. Mirage groaned from the force, taking off at speed.

You winced at the sound, mistaking his arousal for pain, “Oh, I’m sorry, was that too rough?”

“Don’t slow down,” Mirage ordered you, riding off the high of being driven by you. He hadn’t known that would feel so good. And when you talked about being rough? You had to be toying with him. If he ever got his way with you, he would be sure to show you just how rough he liked it.

“Are you sure?” You asked, taking your focus off the road.

“Sharp turn,” Mirage commanded, drawing your attention back to the upcoming turn.

You gritted your teeth determinedly and wrenched the steering wheel around sharply, just making the turn. Mirage gasped, the sound barely masked by the screech of his tires.

“You- You’re doing good,” He exhaled, the thrill of your touch coursing through him.

On the next turn, you pressed hard on his brakes, using the force to pull off the more difficult manoeuvre.

“That was tight,” You observed.

Mirage could think only of how his dripping wet valve would tighten around your pumping fist should you ever give him a hand job. Frag! Everything was turning him on.

“Keep going,” He begged pathetically.

You continued the next two laps silently, focusing entirely on the road. Yet, with every pump of the gas or breaks, you would shift ever so slightly on his seat, and he could only imagine that you were dry-humping him and rubbing yourself into a frenzy.

“(Y/N),” He called your name needily, thinking of your hands rubbing against his park break, or against his spike (either would do).

“Yeah?” You shifted against him again, coming up to the last lap. Oh, how terrible it was to think that you could be cumming on him instead. He would be certain to lap up your cum, and make you drink up his when he overloaded on your face.

“I just-” Mirage could barely form words, and he wondered what was wrong with him. It wasn’t normal for him to want someone this much; then again, his previous dates had practically thrown themselves at him, which was just one of the many perks of being wealthy. The fact that you were practically unobtainable was driving him insane.

“Good luck,” He finished lamely, trying to collect himself.

You nodded, and sped through the final lap, treating him even rougher than before. When you passed the finish line you squealed with joy, and threw up your arms in victory, leaving Mirage to stop himself.

“Oh my God,” You panted, adrenalin coursing through you. You got out of the car, wanting to talk to Mirage face-to-face.

When he transformed, you began your eager tirade, bouncing from the rush, “You were right, Mirage. That was so awesome. Look at me, I have literal goosebumps, and oh gosh, I have so much ENERGY. Thank you.”

“Energy huh,” Mirage said dazedly.

“Yep. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight, that was exhilarating. You got any more ideas for things we could do.”

“(Y/N),” Mirage practically barked your name, his desperation and desire coming to a head, “I gotta tell you something and it’s crazy.”

“Sure, what’s-”

“I’m gonna fuck you in Noah’s garage. Please let me fuck you,” He corrected himself.

You stopped your energetic hopping, staring at Mirage in disbelief.

“Wait, what?”

“C’mon (Y/N),” Mirage looked at you raggedly. “What do you say? Friends with benefits?"

A/N – I will leave this on that cliffhanger and let you lovely people tell me how you want the reader to react in part 2? Are you offended that he only wants your body? Curious about what a night with him would be like? Just super fucking horny? Something else entirely? Send me some ideas.

[suzukiblu]

hi! i have a question for you, if that’s ok? i always try to leave comments on fics i read, especially on ao3 where it’s really easy to do that. in other fandoms i’ve been in, before getting into dc, fic authors often responded to my comments on their works and it was pretty easy to make friends through that and other social media and have lots of fun interactions talking about the fandom and our favorite characters etc.

however, i’ve found with this fandom it seems to be very different? almost nobody seems to respond to comments on their fics and i’ve found it very difficult to make any fandom friends, even in a casual-tumblr-mutuals kind of way. (this isn’t about you btw, you seem like the friendliest person i’ve come across on here so far which is why i’m asking you haha)

i completely understand many people are busy or some authors may find responding to comments overwhelming, but i was just wondering if this is something you or anyone else has noticed? is it a quirk of the dc fandom in particular? or am i just getting older and fandoms in general are changing haha, idk.

anyway sorry for the long ramble, feel free to ignore if i’m making no sense. i really enjoy all your stories (and your art! your art style is so cute!) and i hope you’re having a great day :]

Thank you, I'm glad you like my stuff! Especially the art, that I always feel like I'm worse at, hah. ❤️ I hope you're having a great day too. And asking me questions is always okay, no worries! I can't always get to everything in my inbox, to be honest, but I do my best to respond to as much stuff as I can. Either way, though, I never mind getting questions.

Personally I don't currently respond to most of my comments (I try to answer questions that aren't spoilers, but that's usually it these days) because it's just really easy for me to run out of spoons doing it and end up down a rabbit hole of comments instead of actually WRITING, which stresses me out because then I don't feel suitably "productive" for my imposter syndrome brain, and I also know a few people who don't respond because of anxiety or things like that, but I don't know if it's specifically a DC fandom thing or an overall trend in fandom in general? Every fandom is different, obviously, and also certain SECTIONS of those fandoms are different. Like, when I was into MCU fandom, I never really expected super-involved responses when I wrote Stucky because there was SO MUCH Stucky that it seemed like a lot of people just kinda churned through it and it all blurred together for them, but when I wrote about Darcy Lewis oh BOY did people come out of the woodwork to tell me how much they loved it in GREAT detail. Having a niche in general helps, I think, because if you're doing something that isn't super-common or interested in something that isn't super-common, people will be more excited to see it from you or hear you appreciating it from them.

I WILL say there's only a couple DC authors I can currently think of who I generally assume I'll get replies from when I comment on their fic, but I don't know if that's the specific fandom or just that I'm not reading a ton of fic right now and therefore have a smaller pool of authors I'm commenting on. Like, it's hard to tell, honestly. Also DC is a very widespread fandom and pretty old and established, but there's definitely characters and series and canons that just get ignored by huge chunks of it, so if you're into them you either have a real easy time finding people who are excited to talk to you or a real HARD time, depending on where you're looking.

Either way, I think it's really great that you try to leave comments on everything you read and a really good habit for the fandom ecosystem, I know a TON of authors who appreciate getting even, like, a single friggin' emoji or kudos, whether they respond or not. Literally any not-a-hate-comment comment is good for the ecosystem, imo, even when it's not obvious that it is. I very literally once wrote, like, eighty thousand words pretty much just because someone left a very kind comment on an old fic I'd abandoned. I did not actually RESPOND to that comment, as far as I remember; I just changed my mind about abandoning the fic and went through the long-ass process of getting my brain back into it and then the even longer-ass process of writing another 80k over the next few months/year until I got to the end. So like, I VERY much am a person who believes in the value of feeding the ecosystem, hah.

I am largely a call-and-response type of writer myself, so like, getting comments or people talking to me in my replies/asks/messages is basically like somebody is putting tokens in the fic machine and pulling a lever, and we'll all just see if I write three sentences or 80k or secretly tailor a fic towards things a frequent commenter's mentioned appreciating/being into. It's a surprise every time, with me!! And like, that's just how I work, of course, everybody's different, but I have NEVER met anybody who told me they didn't like getting comments.

When I leave comments myself, I tend to feel like more like I'm just telling the author that I think they're on the right track with the thing they're writing, one way or another, and letting them know it got a reaction or feelings or the like out of me, but I'm generally not really expecting a response from them. For actually making friends, I've found MUCH more luck in talking to people on Tumblr and Discord than on AO3. I've made friends on AO3 on and off over the years, but it's just much, MUCH easier for me to do on Tumblr and Discord. Though I kind of have a cheat code there in the sense that I'm a pretty prolific writer and so I've kinda encouraged people to get into the habit of checking my blog pretty frequently or even put alerts on for it, so generally people have a lot of opportunities to talk to me or be reminded I'm around.

I tend to notice people who show up repeatedly in my Tumblr mentions, personally, especially when they talk in the tags or comment in the replies or send me asks, and some of them I've either become friends with or just, like, secretly adopted as secret faves and sometimes sneak little extra treats of Things I Think That One Tumblr Person Would Like into my writing or pick specific WIPs to work on because I think "hey last time I wrote this [ TUMBLR FAVE ] really liked it, I should write more!" (and then I cackle in triumph/delight when they reblog it later, for that is a Victory, mwahaha), but like, it's a process? I definitely feel like making friends in fandom is generally slower than it was once upon a time, but also I'm a Fandom Old so there's been a few migrations and such over my time online too. And also Discord confuses me, hahaha. Discord is VERY confusing to me.

Ummm . . . okay I got INTO that reply, I guess, lol, but I hope that answered your question? Or at least helped answer it, if nothing else!

[mcyt-builds-contest]

I'm not sure where that previous anon is seeing people say that Ghost's Vault should be disqualified? I haven't seen ANYONE saying that.

If they mean the 'these bribes shouldn't be allowed', we mean going forward. Ghost's Vault won fair and square (or, well, with highly coordinated voter fraud, which is allowed and we did it too. So it's as fair as it gets for this sort of thing). It wasn't disallowed, thus it's not really something we can say should disqualify them. We're not saying 'no they shouldn't get their win', we're just worried that any FUTURE bribes of that nature could end in a very ugly situation.

I think some of y'all who think it's not a big deal haven't seen any of the horrors and think we're exaggerating when we say we're concerned about potential consequences. Like, please understand; Dreblr has had people deal with serious things like stalking, doxxing, and utterly deranged shit like people threatening to kill pets over MCYT fandom darma. It can get NASTY-- just look at what happened with the USMP and QSMP. People were in literal, actual, physical danger because of fandom shit.

While Dominionblr and their ccs seem fine-- lovely, even, and excellent opponents; we think highly of y'all-- we've seen other ccs (and their fans) dogpile on fandoms and ccs that they don't like.

The concern is that someone with that kind of mindset and that kind of fanbase might see the results of the previous poll and take the wrong lessons from it-- ie, that if they dangle goodies above their fans heads they can get clout. They might actually not release that stuff if they lose.

We've seen multiple ccs decide to get involved with various tumblr polls, so I really don't think that's a huge stretch to imagine someone deciding to do those kind of bribes again but not release the goodies at all if they lose.

What happens if a less chill fanbase genuinely loses something they care about? People don't always lose gracefully, and it would be so easy to point the blame at the winning team.

Does that sound paranoid? Yes, yes it does, and I fully acknowledge that fact! But it's a genuine concern because we've seen and been through too many horror stories of hatred and harassment.

Plus, again-- adding Actual Stakes for a dumb tumblr poll feels weird! It can make the other team feel like they're bad people for voting for their side and potentially making the others miss out on stuff they really care about.

While Dominionblr knew that their prizes would eventually be given regardless of the results, WE DIDN'T. We thought that us winning would lock you out of those prizes. There were a lot of people who felt guilty for voting, and that's just not fun! It spoils the enjoyment of the poll because it felt like we'd be huge assholes for pushing to win when there were Actual Stakes Involved.

Someone in both fandoms did assure the server I'm in that the prizes wouldn't be lost, which very much influenced me deciding to commit massive voter fraud. I don't know that I would have done it without that knowledge. But not everyone saw that message, meaning a lot of people still labored under the assumption that prisonfuckers winning would mean that Dominionblr lost a lot of really cool content forever.

All we want is for the polls to stay silly. We don't want to grapple with the ethics of potentially depriving the other side of important things for a fuckin' tumblr poll. Even if it's not us who goes up against a fandom like that, it's unfair to whoever does so.

TL; DR: Ghost's Vault won completely legitimately and Dreblr/DSMPblr has zero issues saying that. Nobody wants it disqualified. We're just asking for FUTURE bribes from ccs to be disallowed out of worry it could lead to harassment & generally suck the fun out of the polls.

Yeah I understand the problem, smaller ccs will want to interact with a poll about them if they find one, you cant really stop them from doing it, and this things as been made for fun and was never supposed to be some sort of accurate classification medium, just silly polls. But we dont need more drama in the mcyt fandom so I understand where you're coming from