#there's a reason i'm trying to make my own hashtag on ao3

[the-right-thyme]

Lucilin Black: A Dark Caress (a HL story)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50284582

Characters: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, Original Black family member

Warnings: Non-con kiss, ableist language. All mild.

Summary: Sebastian meets Ominis’ betrothed.

‘Oh là là, if it isn’t the little Sallow lap-dog.’

Sebastian looks up at the witch speaking. Not much older than them, but definitely a woman. 

She’s beautiful; tall, willowy, tumbles of gently curling jet black hair framing her perfectly proportionate delicate face, her eyes dark brown, iris’ almost black where they merge with the pupils. She’s wearing a deep purple and black laced corset dress affair, tight fitting and scandalously low in all the right places. Beautiful in much the same way he thinks the iridescent feathers of the occamy are. From afar, preferably with a thick dragon hide gown between them. It takes him a few seconds of gawping to realise despite saying his name, she isn’t talking to him. Her focus is entirely, intensely, on his friend stood next to him. He’s almost a bit jealous.

‘Lucilin, to what do I owe this pleasure?’ Comes Ominis’ curt, overly enunciated reply. The same voice he uses for all acquaintances, the voice that makes people think he’s a much colder person than he really is.

‘I heard your father made an example of you, mon cher Ominis.’ Her smile is more of a smirk; her voice melodic, the vowels an accented edge to them, and, he notes, she pronounces Ominis with a silent s.

‘Not that it matters, I’m promised to Umbra now, regardez.’ In front of his face she holds out her left hand, long and elegant, to reveal an ugly, chunky gold band encasing a bulging, roughly cut black gem, looking wildly out of place on her slender fourth finger. Ominis’ clouded eyes skate. She lets out a girlish giggle, covers it lightly with her right hand, her forehead wrinkled with a sneer.

‘I forget. Terribly sorry.’ Her tone is cruelly mocking. She turns her gaze to Sebastian, and he instantly regrets any shred of jealously he harboured moments before. She looks him up and down with obvious disgust, raises one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

‘This is the little friend my Uncle tells me you traipse after?’ She waves her hand at him, dismissed, as if he were merely a bothersome fly. ‘How disgusting.’

‘Was there something you wanted, other than to mock?’

‘Isn’t that reason enough?’ She drawls, placing a hand on Ominis’ cheek, the ghost of a caress. He flinches slightly, but doesn’t pull away.

‘Quel dommage.’ She murmurs, her fingers clasping under his chin, turning his head side to side as her eyes skim over him, ‘You’re quite a dear little thing close up.’ Her forefinger rubs over one of his moles lightly. ‘Très beau.’ Appraisal evidently over she moves her hand to the side of his head, coiling a strand of his hair between her fingers, twirling it slowly.

‘I expect I’ll see you at le mariage. Do try to stay out of trouble, it would be a shame if your father had to mar your pretty face.’ She threads her fingers deeper, this time at his nape, grasping a handful of hair in her fist as he tries to duck out her way. Sebastian hears the sharp intake of breath as Lucilin pulls him close, until her mouth is barely a few inches from his own, so close he must be able to feel her breath on his lips he thinks. 

‘But I would very much enjoy watching it.’ She whispers, her breath gusting in anticipation. Her grip tightens, Ominis’ face pulls taut in a wince. Lucilin looks gleefully over his pained face for a second, before pressing into him with a harsh kiss. Ominis lets out a muffled hum of disapproval, causing Lucilin to let out a manic laugh, a cackle, and pushes her back, his hands on her bare shoulders for the briefest of moments.

She licks her lips, turns, and saunters down the corridor with an airy ‘Au revoir’ without a backward glance. Sebastian watches her figure disappear round a corner out of sight. It takes a few seconds for his thoughts to stop scrambling, to place the name fully. Lucilin. It hits him. Lucilin Black.

‘That’s-’

‘Don’t.’

Sebastian whistles.

[javis-burner-phone]

To Writers in the Pedro Pascal Fandom:

This fandom went full Chernobyl this summer. I need a hazmat suit to get through these tags. I recently saw an anon reach out to a fic writer here.

The anon is right that there's a problem in the fandom space, but they're misplacing blame. I'm writing this post for the non-hateful writers that have tried to feel a part of the community, but ended up feeling left out. I'm posting this on a burner account for obvious reasons that you'll see below:

The hateful posts about "big writers" have absolutely disgusted me, but I can relate to the frustration that many fic writers are expressing. We see very fun and active areas of the fandom where writers are communal, hyping each other up, reblogging fics, but only within certain friend groups. Most of us writers don't have that. Instead this fandom sometimes feels like a desolate wasteland for many of us.

Here's where us writers need to place the blame:

Since the introduction of algorithms, there has been a cyclical effect: popular Tumblr posts are boosted due to everyone's default feed settings and posts from new, lesser known blogs are pushed down.

Over years, this has impacted fandom spaces in a sort of feedback loop. We're currently seeing the late stages of this. This effect pushes most fandom activity towards the already popular blogs by default. (Yes, Tumblr has always shown popular posts first, but algorithms, and the feedback loops they create, have made the effect stronger over the years.)

Is that the "big writers" faults? No. Are friend groups to blame? No. In fact, we should have more friend groups in this fandom. That's how fandoms used to be. There were dozens of overlapping friend groups that would have long reblog chains and mainly interact with each other. New people could find other new people pretty easily and make their own groups.

Now new people/smaller blogs are far less exposed to other new people/smaller blogs by default. *That* is the problem.

Eventually, I found my people. I feel a part of the community and you can too.

You just need to make 3 virgin sacrifices and find the lochness monster in order to do so. What I mean is, it takes a lot more effort than it used to. Be ready for that:

1. Sort by "Latest posts" when searching fandom hashtags. Imagine if Ao3 used an algorithm to show popular fics first instead of sorting by most recent fics. New writers would be screwed, right? That's what Tumblr does. Support posts that resonate with you, but have low engagement. Leave likes, comments, reblogs! Guess what happens when someone that feels isolated in this fandom gets a bunch of notes from you? They're gonna check out your blog. They may want to connect!

2. DM people. Is there a lesser known blogger whose posts you like? Ask to be mutuals! Start a conversation! If you can't be social it's gonna be near impossible to build community. Sorry if you have anxiety, but that's the truth. Warning: half the convos will fizzle out. Move on to the next person as soon as you sense this.

3. Don't try to connect with bigger blogs for friendship. I've tried and as long as you gush over them, they respond, but the interaction ends there. DMing them works, but the convos almost always feel one sided and fizzle out. I'm mutuals with some bigger bloggers, but I had to add their usernames to my filtered content list in account settings. This means they can see my stuff, but I can't see theirs. Seeing them have fun in their friend group just reminds me of my failed attempts to connect. Maybe filtering them isn't fair, but that's how I deal with my negative emotions. No, they are not rude for not befriending me. I don't feel entitled to friendship.

(edit: I got a weird anon about this part. It's more difficult to befriend people who already have close-knit connections here. It's not impossible, but I've had much better luck with fellow isolated fandom members. The secret ingredient is our shared desperation lol. Befriend whoever you want ❤️)

4. Join/start a small PPCU discord server. The big servers will just make you feel more isolated, but the intimate ones are way more communal and it's easier to make stronger connections there than on Tumblr. 

These tips are for people that actually want to find solutions instead of spreading hate and complaining.

I'm saying this as someone that averages 50 notes on most of my fics after a year in this fandom(edit: saw this poll and thought I'd clarify. I get 50 notes now, but for 8ish months I got 5 on a lucky day. This post is for people who still feel isolated because I know how it feels.) It takes way more effort than in the early 2010s to feel a part of a fandom, not because of cliques, but because of the feedback loops the algorithm creates. 

I understand the frustration, but I'm not going to spread vitriol just because the fandom ecosystem went to shit. 

[bubblegummintie]

🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸 About Me 🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Name: Bubble, Bubblegum, Minty, and Mint are the four main ones and I'll only answer to them if we do not know each other.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Pronouns (will update with site info): He/she/they. I am genderfluid and prefer they when talking about me to others.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Sexuality (not delving in too deep): I'm bisexual.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Age: I won't go into exact age, but I am 20+ so please keep that in mind.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Fandoms: I'll probably update this as time goes on, but the main ones I'm in are Smile for Me, LiEat, and a bunch of other ones that I can't name off the top of my head. I only really write somewhat for the Smile for Me fandom and try to be as true to the character as possible with some liberties of my own in some cases. 

Account icon: done by the amazing Twizurcis!!! They don't use Tumblr much so I don't really have a link to send.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗ DNI ˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

✧˚₊‧ Homophobic, transphobic, just anything that is anti-human rights and life (in ways no one gets hurt from).

✧˚₊‧ Post, or well, talk about heavy amounts of gore. I'm fine with you, I just don't want to be harassed like I have in the past with it and be exposed to it. I can only handle a certain degree of it, and if it's live action and you send it, that is an immediate block and I will not remove said block.

✧˚₊‧ If you are looking to befriend me solely for the purpose of talking trash about me or anything of the sort. This is a safe space and I do not want to be involved with people I do not want to be involved with. If you disrespect this, I'm blocking you and adding you to a posted list of people not to talk to me about or anything of the sort. If you want to talk things out or anything of the sort is cool, just don't get me involved with anything.

✧˚₊‧ If you want to start drama of any kind, stalk me, start letting people talk trash about me and harass me/those around me, and just don't like me, do not interact or even come near my account. I don't want to see or be a part of this and I will not be a part of it. If I have you blocked, it's for a specific reason and I'm usually not going to budge on it for my own state of mind.

✧˚₊‧ Anti-mental health. I know this is kinda a stretch for some, but there is a lot of people out there that are very against it and I don't want those people near me from the way I've been treated for mine and for my autism. I also want them far away from others no matter what.

✧˚₊‧ Fatphobic people and just anyone with the "I'm doing this for your own good/trying to help!" mentality. Bluntness is not something to be proud of if you use that as an excuse for hurting others. Alongside that, treat people with respect, care, and compassion. If I don't want to see it, they probably don't either. Abuse is abuse and can really change a person, so don't imply too much and genuinely respect boundaries. No respect from you = no respect from me when I block you. I won't trash talk you, but I won't respect you as someone I want near me.

.˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚. Social Medias and more .˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚.

[I won't be posting all of them right now, just the ones I use and are very public about.]

❀˖° AO3: Be aware I tend to upload chapters close together to prevent myself from losing the will to finish it and then leave it unfinished. Tap the word for the link.

The link to the masterlist post: https://www.tumblr.com/bubblegummintie/734892975230943233/heres-that-masterpost-i-mentioned-in-my-pinned

❀˖° Instagram: Tap the word. I mostly post edits to here and maybe some crafts if I make the decision to.

❀˖° Twitter: Tap the word for the link, I just reblog stuff here for the most part.

❀˖° Discord: Can't exactly give a link but my username is bubblegumminty and I'm always open to adding new people!!!

My tags for everything are:

#Mint Tea Time Reblogs, #Mint Tea Time Talks , #Mint Tea Time Uploads, and Mint Tea Time Rambles. I'm also adding for when I make polls the hashtag, #Mint Tea Time Polls (idk how to embed them so they are in the tags at the bottom of this post).

Thank you for reading and I hope we all get along fantabulously! I'm always open to chat but please don't ask to be friends if we've just met. It's a natural process and I do not want to feel forced to say yes.

[obirains-archive]

Hello! I've just read your post about the TERF, and I just wanted to ask, what do you mean by withholding support socially as well? Not tagging or hashtagging anything related to the franchise? Not buying fanmade items nor crating content about it? I think I sort of get all of those. But, what about fanfiction, for example? Is writing/reading enough of a "private enjoyment"? I remember she used to be against fanfiction in the beginning (early 2000s) and that would be a good enough reason to read/write, but does that also give her trackable engagement points nowadays? I'm sorry, I know these are a lot of questions, it's just that I've been at war with myself for quite sometime and yours is, I think, the first post I've seen that acknowledges the very real emotional connection many fans have with the franchise and how difficult it is to just condemn the whole thing. I'm good with painting/creating/knitting my own merchandise, from me to me, for the rest of my life, but what about still reading about beloved characters in a beloved magical world, if it was masterfully written by someone thankfully not her...? Thank you.

Hi, Anon! I’m gonna try to be as empathetic and articulate as I can; forgive me if some of my thoughts are still tangled. 

You’re right that fanfiction is a little murkier than hashtags, fan merch, and other kinds of engagement. To my knowledge (anyone please correct me if I’m wrong), there’s much less of a corporate presence with most fanfiction websites (with the exception of Wattpad and maybe a few others). By “corporate” I don’t just mean advertisers; I mean people judging the extent to which JKR/HP is still a global phenomenon: the extent, therefore, of the demand for more content, which is basically equivalent to demand for Rowling as a public figure with a public platform. I’m sure archives like AO3 aren’t completely clean either, but I do think there’s a subtle difference.

(And let’s establish too that on Tumblr there’s virtually no difference between tagging fanfiction and tagging other content for the franchise, given that tags are fundamental to people seeing your writing. Reading fanfiction rather than writing it is still participating in and benefiting from that overall tag.)

The problem as I see it is that Rowling explicitly considers her fans both supporters of and participants in her TERF ideology - she’s the martyr giving a voice to the voiceless, sacrificing herself to the hoards of internet activists. “Fans” includes both people who monetarily support her and people who still engage in the Harry Potter fandom. To contribute to that fandom, even through content from which Rowling reaps no direct revenue, is to implicitly confirm her assessment and therefore her worldview. Even if most HP fans don’t consider themselves to be TERFs, they’re telling her that the series is more important to them than the ideology is heinous. So, surely, her worldview can’t be that bad. 

Tumblr both complicates and amplifies this issue. Unlike AO3, content creation on Tumblr is inseparable from content circulation. The reblog system spreads your content to as many people as possible, people who share your interests, by design. Unless you can go through the whole Tumblr HP fandom and individually block all Rowling sympathizers, your content (fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, etc) will almost certainly yield interaction from not just TERFs but people who don’t think Rowling’s so bad, people who might disagree with what she says but surely it’s not as harmful as people are making out, people willing to pay for movie tickets and new books, people willing to make her content trend. Even if you personally denounce her, there’s no way to ensure you’re not fueling the demand for Rowling as a writer and public figure, and contributing to her vast social influence. 

As a reader, rather than a writer - maybe you’re not actively providing content to potentially unsavory individuals, but you’re almost certainly going to be somewhere in their circles. If not within, then never too far away. 

I empathize with your struggle, Anon. Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood; I used to read and write fanfiction for it, too. At the end of the day, I think it’s something everyone needs to check with their own consciences. If you’re publically denouncing Rowling (and also!!! publically supporting trans people and especially trans women!!!!!!), and can say in good faith that the fanfiction writers you’re interacting with are doing the same - I can’t stop you. But for me, personally, my conscience will not permit me to engage in the franchise, whether that’s through pirating the new films, buying fan-made merch through third-party sites, or reading/reblogging free fan content. In addition to some soul-searching, I’d recommend seeking perspectives of trans people from all platforms and backgrounds, and then going to other fans you trust and know are in the same boat. 

I know this was maybe longer than it needed to be; I hope it made sense. And I truly do wish you the best of luck.