#this has probably been posted plenty but this is my brand

[qqueenofhades]

I think its genuinely fascinating how Biden has somehow become the bad vibes sin eater for the party. I'm seeing people who were doing the whole "voting doesn't matter both old men are the same" pivot hard into voting as harm reduction. The anti voting rhetoric has COMPLETELY lost The Youths on tiktok. People suddenly remember the good things the Biden administration has done but don't associate Harris with any of the things they didn't like. In my swing state volunteers are signing up in droves. People feel ENERGIZED, the vibe shift pre and post Biden dropping from the race has just been insane

Y'know, that is a... good way of putting it. It's also why I'm quite sure that Biden has probably been planning it for a while. I don't think he was intending to step down, and didn't want to be forced out at the drop of a hat, but after he realized that the circus was never going to stop until he did, he did the honorable fall-on-his-own-sword thing and definitely, DEFINITELY spent some time choreographing this behind the scenes. Because while the roll-out has been very smooth, it could just as easily (as many of us were expecting) have been a total disaster, and that doesn't happen without SOME planning. It's also entirely possible that the campaign staff flipped from Biden to Harris are superhuman, to come up with a massive online roll-out, new branding, new signs (they had plenty of 'em in Wisconsin yesterday), new everything, but I'm guessing it's a combination of both. Biden has spent his entire political career being underestimated, and after we literally made a meme out of Dark Brandon juking the Republicans out of their shoes, we should definitely give credit where credit is due in how masterfully he pulled it off.

Because we have had eight years defined by the central question of Whether The President Is a God King Who Should Serve For Life (the MAGAts obviously think yes), the sheer idea of a president willingly giving up his power BEFORE he had to is also novel and admirable. It's sad that this is the case, but so be it. The Republicans also got a heaping helping of Be Careful What You Wish For that was undoubtedly brilliant; they've been yelling for years that Biden is old and frail and can't serve and should step down. Biden went "lol okay" and gave it to them, and now they're fucked.

Aside from that, on the most basic level, it's far, far easier to see the actual difference in the parties with Harris as the nominee, just because it shows that one party is willing to make progress and reflect the new demographic reality and social mores of America, and the other one is not. Now to be clear, Biden deserves an incredible amount of credit for coming out of retirement (he was ALREADY 77 years old when he became president and had had decades of a long and respected career in public service behind him) to fight, beat Trump, and deliver an incredibly successful presidency. He held the line against authoritarianism at home and abroad, he rescued the trashed American economy and managed a world-leading recovery from Covid, he stood up for democracy, he spent four years filling the benches with liberal judges to reverse even some of the Trump/McConnell hack job, he finally passed comprehensive infrastructure investment and the Green New Deal under the name of the Inflation Reduction Act -- and so on. Many of these priorities had been languishing for decades or were completely trashed under Trump, and he could not have done so much in just 4 years without all that age, skill, and experience. Hence why all the Ageism!!! was (aside from being a Republican/media smear job) dumb. He's able to do the job because he has had decades to study. Turns out that makes you actually pretty damn good at it.

Yes, Biden could not do as much as he wanted or originally planned, had to deal with MAGA Republicans and Joe Manchin/Kyrsten Sinema sabotaging him the whole time (lololol Manchin, possible possessor of the World's Biggest Ego and with Trump around that's saying something, popping out of obscurity to self-righteously announce he would not be willing to be Kamala's VP. YEAH ASSHOLE. LITERALLY NOBODY ASKED YOU. NOBODY WHATSOEVER. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS AT LEAST WE WILL SOON NO LONGER HAVE MANCHIN IN THE SENATE). And yes, Biden made some serious mistakes of his own, because he IS from an older generation and a different style of doing politics/different beliefs that no longer resonate with the younger segments of the electorate. But this old white Catholic guy at the age of almost 80 still managed to be the most progressive president ever, coming in at a moment of incredible domestic and international crisis and getting us safely to the other side, and all cynicism, criticizing, and caveating aside, he deserves an incredible amount of credit for that. I mean that absolutely, and I am very grateful.

As I said, willingly relinquishing that power takes guts, and when Biden saw the writing on the wall that he had to sacrifice himself, he took his time, he didn't jump too early, and he didn't jump too late. On the most basic level, it becomes a hell of a lot easier to make the "both parties are not the same" argument when one is running a (comparatively) young brown woman and the other is still running their loathed felonious old demented orange traitor. Most Americans are not plugged into policy minutiae and details. They look at Biden-Trump, they see two old white guys. When you take one of those old white guys away (who goes in a self-sacrificially heroic manner and in sharp contrast with the coup-happy fascist) and put Kamala Harris in there instead, it generates an obvious jolt. People can see for themselves that there is a real difference that doesn't rely on closely reading news and tracking complex policy, because as noted, most Americans simply don't. The brown first-generation American daughter of brown immigrants is a quantifiably different story from "old white guy career politician," which for better or worse is how Biden was seen, especially the old part. We needed that establishment expertise to beat Trump in 2020; I still think Biden is the only one who could have done it, and as noted, we owe him a great debt for doing so.

However.... 2024 is not 2020, and it is not 2016. There has been this HUGE and unbelievable swing to Kamala because she represents the antithesis of what the last eight years of Trump-induced anger, fear, panic, chaos, and hatred has stirred up. That's why people are so ready to rally around her, just as they were (I daresay) around Obama in 2008, after the exhaustion, chaos, war, and mounting economic misery of Bush. Trump has been out of office for the last four years, but his shadow over the American political landscape has been omnipresent. Now people know that we finally have a real chance at getting rid of him forever, and just as Biden was uniquely positioned to capitalize on that in 2020, so Harris is now. Which is why, however tough it will be, she has a real shot at winning. I can guarantee the Republicans know that, and are shit scared. Because the Black Lady Army of Democracy has indeed arrived in force to Get This Shit Done and I don't know about you, but I found that incalculably comforting:

Yikes! All lined up for Kamala pic.twitter.com/Dt4OCDp7WX

— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) July 24, 2024

This, at the most basic level, is what scares fascists the most, it's exactly what we need now, and what Harris is uniquely positioned to mobilize, along with her gangbusters appeal to young voters:

This is the energy we need. This is what Biden saw and planned for and which he launched us into, and where all that experience and age paid off. This is why people, even people otherwise disengaged, disillusioned, or checked out of the tedious and mind-numbering drudgery and depression of American politics, are responding to it. Because it's easy to understand, it offers hope, and it tells a very simple story that is nonetheless long overdue:

Thanks so much, Joe. Go absolutely waste that orange fucker, Kamala. We got your back.

[sonicenvy]

Let's have a chat about AO3

Hiya friends and loyal followers! My last post about AO3 blew up yesterday so I figured now would be a good time to continue the conversation about AO3.

As I mentioned in my previous post (and probably in multiple other previous posts):

AO3 is NOT a social media site. AO3 is an ARCHIVE.

So let's delve into that a bit more since people don't seem to be getting that. Fanfiction predates the internet, and was transmitted via the internet way before sites like AO3 and FF dot net. Relatively speaking, I am a fanfiction newcomer, as I first started reading fanfiction in ... 2011? or thereabouts. I say this to say that I obviously don't have as personal of a memory of a time before fanfiction archive sites (my bitty fan experiences were on teaspoon and lcfanfic), but I certainly know plenty of people via fandom online that absolutely do.

For the newest children to fanfiction please check out the following pieces of reading to get started on your fandom history education:

“Fanfiction.” Fanlore Wiki. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction. Archived [https://archive.is/yJpOq].

“So I’m on AO3 and I See a Lot of People Who Put ‘I Do Not Own [Insert Fandom Here]’ before Their Story.” sonicenvy.tumblr.com, July 2, 2016. https://sonicenvy.tumblr.com/post/146818589611/mikkeneko-thepioden. Archived [https://archive.is/FRNCy]

ofhouseadama, Emily. “A Brief History of Fandom, for Those on Here Who Somehow Think Tumblr Invented Fandom.” sonicenvy.tumblr.com, May 21, 2014. https://sonicenvy.tumblr.com/post/131935827010/ofhouseadama-a-brief-history-of-fandom-for. Archived [http://archive.today/j2Rfq]

mizstorge, fantastic-nonsense, and fanculturesfancreativity. “The Places Fandom Dwells: A Cautionary Tale.” fantastic-nonsense.tumblr.com, June 29, 2017. https://fantastic-nonsense.tumblr.com/post/162395547190/the-places-fandom-dwells-a-cautionary-tale. Archived [https://archive.ph/QK2wI]

As you read through this stuff, three things should become apparent to you:

Fanworks have always existed in tenuous space -- that is, they have always been under threat of removal, or threat of loss, whether this loss was through events like the livejournal strikethrough, the loss of a fandom specific website, destruction of physical copies of the work, or C&D/legal action from original creators of the work.

Fandom has a long and colored history with many of the most defining events of early fandom history being related to threats to the community.

A need was ripe for a place to save and ARCHIVE fanworks and protect them from deletion, legal action, corporate sanitization efforts, site deaths due to the deaths of admins, etc etc.

Out of all of this, comes The Organization For Transformative Works (2007), and their brand new site Archive of Our Own (2008). The stated intention of Archive of Our Own (AO3) (bolding mine):

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization, established by fans in 2007, to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate. We are proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. We preserve our fannish economy, values, and creative expression by protecting and nurturing our fellow fans, our work, our commentary, our history, and our identity while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans. The Archive of Our Own offers a noncommercial and nonprofit central hosting place for fanworks using open-source archiving software.

Source: Works, Organization for Transformative. “Archive of Our Own Beta.” Archive of Our Own. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://archiveofourown.org/about. Archived [http://archive.today/QYtbM]

You may also want to check out the original LiveJournal Brainstorming sessions for AO3 by astolat as archived here [https://web.archive.org/web/20220627134339/https://astolat.livejournal.com/150556.html] if you need further clarity on this point.

Some neat stuff from astolat's original posts that I find are relevant:

making it easy for people to download stories or even the entire archive for offline reading (thus widely preserving the work in case some disaster does take it down)

code-wise able to support a huge archive of possibly millions of stories.

allowing ANYTHING -- het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, highly adult ...

As we can see both from the mission statement of OTW/AO3 and from astolat herself in the brainstorming sessions, AO3 is an ARCHIVE. It is a project that is meant to preserve and provide access to fanworks. Run for fans, by fans and meant to host any and all kind of content with none of the commercialization or censorship that fans found elsewhere. Before AO3 there were certainly numerous, disconnected, fandom specific archives for fanfiction or other fanworks. Many of these old sites have been archived (see we're getting that word again) via the opendoors project. Some, like teaspoon or lcfanfic still exists and are semi-active.

A common thread is that writers and readers weren't just using the archive site to connect. They were doing more connection through other sites like dreamwidth, livejournal, facebook, their emails and later tumblr or twitter. Archive sites were meant as a supplement to other fan spaces like message boards, blogs and journals.

So, dear friends, you might ask, what is an archive?

An archive is a place where documents, artifacts and records are kept and preserved for future reference, use and access. Archives help us maintain a better understanding of the past and protect objects, writings, documents, records and more in longevity. In the context of fanwork archiving, this means preserving fanworks in longevity/perpetuity so that fans can continue to access them for enjoyment and for historical purposes. Archiving fanwork is vital to preserving and, indeed creating fan culture and identity.

To read more about archives in general, check out this article from the American History Museum of the Smithsonian (https://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/about/what-are-archives) or this one from the US National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archives.html).

So AO3 is an archive. Why does this matter?

Oh, boy, I am about to get LIS nerdy on y'all. At this point in the post we can all agree that AO3 is and always has been an archive (it's in the name...). When we view and understand the site starting from this premise, a lot of, frankly stupid as fuck arguments that people have about AO3 look even dumber. Understanding AO3 primarily as an archive helps us understand:

The tagging system. Given AO3 is an archive, the tags for content on the site function exactly the same as headings in a library archive. They are designed to store information about the fic (that is, they are intended as metadata) which is then used to find the record of the fic in the archive. This is why it is important to tag what is in your fic, and to use tags properly, using the agreed meanings of particular tags.

The kinds of content that are permitted and excluded under TOS IV. The archive permits fanworks, which include: fanfiction, fanart, podfic, and fan videos. The archive thus excludes things that are not fanwork (records with no content (aka "placeholder fics"), posts asking for writing prompts or submissions, posts looking for fic, commerical promotions of ANY kind, original fiction with no relation to fan content, spam etc). Every library and archive has their own collections policies, and AO3 is not an exception. Collections Policies are generally guided by the mission statement(s) of the archiving party/library. As we saw above in both the official about page and the original brainstorming posts from astolat, AO3 is a library for fanworks, meant to preserve fanworks and is in opposition to advertising and commercialization. Therefore, if the thing you want to add to the library of AO3 is not a fanwork or contains commercialization, it does not qualify to be an object of the archive. Re: the "placeholder fic" post that I didn't know was going to blow up so much: imagine you go to the library to get a book and open it to find that it is empty or you get a DVD and play it only to find that it is the movie theater trailer for the movie. Doesn't that make no sense?

Why there is NO censoring of "adult" or other quote on quote "objectionable content". The archive does not chose to preserve works based on subjective quality or "moral purity" type standards. This is true in libraries and museums as well. We keep and save materials that people find objectionable as archiving and librarianship are and have always been diametrically opposed to censorship. As an archive AO3 follows this. Moreover, you can see in astolat's original post "allowing ANYTHING -- het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, highly adult" as a founding idea.

Why there is no advertising, and why this includes you adding your Ko-fi or paypal or whatever the fuck. Outside of the fact that doing this violates TOS and invalidates OTW lawyer arguments for the legal existence of fanworks under US Fair Use, AO3 as an archive is meant to be a keeper of fan records, not a space for promotions. Archives do keep records (and indeed some archives keep records of advertising) but they, themselves are not using their platform to advertise for anything else.

Why there is no "AO3 algorithm". The kinds of algorithmic feed generators that sites like the t*kt*ok or whatever use are antithetical to the mission of archiving stuff and providing access to it. In an archive you search for content based on terms and headings and self-select. I'm not on the t*kt*k or whatever and I actively block and disable all "suggestion" type things so I don't entirely understand what y'all are looking with this.

Ok, that's great, why are you telling us all of this?

There is a concerning trend of newcomers both young and older to fandom and fanfiction that have not taken off the social media brain filter before coming on board. Some excellent tags I've seen on The Post™ that spawned this one include:

#guys quit bringing the worst elements of capitalism to AO3 (via @watchtowersystem)

#algorithms have rotted people's brains i swear (via @pearly--rose)

#omg stop trying to social mediaify ao3 (via @greyduckgreygoose)

There were also some bangers on my reddit post on this topic as well, but the reddit I posted it on is (rightfully) on blackout at the moment.

I think the sociamediafying of fanfiction that a lot of these people are bringing has a few major negatives:

social mediafied fandom views fanwork soley as consumable content, creating more passive, entitled participants in fandom. For fanwork=content social media brain folks, the fact that fanwork is meant to be an active and engaging thing is lost. Fanwork is a gift from one fan to other fans, it is a point for discussion, a result of people's passion and creativity. It is transformative, out of the box and part of building a niche community. When you start to see it as "content" like a random object on a feed you stop valuing it, analyzing it, and interacting with it in the same way, and are more likely to passively consume what you see as content. Social media has made "content" out of everything, and everything becomes something to scroll past in a few seconds, always looking for more stuff, the newest stuff, etc etc. It's obviously very tied to the experience of social media being used to sell you shit, but that's another conversation I think.

fanwork=content social media brain also allows some of these people to post incredibly demanding comments for "more content" on fancreators works or makes them think it's ok (and indeed creates the same result as what the writer is creating) to feed someone's incomplete fic into an ai to get a "completion".

fanwork=content social media brain also means that when these folks start creating content they feel entitled to views, hits, kudos, etc etc, and feel like it is ok to do things that they see as "gaming" the system to get their fics to be at the top of the pack. They begin to care too much about posting to get their "content" the most views because that's how things work on social media.

fanwork=content social media brain also makes some of these people think that "fic" that is "written" by an ai is acceptable fanwork, because they do not view fanwork as artwork/writing with merit, as much as an entertainment property to be consumed. How the meat gets made becomes irrelevant, because the end result is the only thing that is important.

social mediafying of fandom is something that has helped a lot of advertising and commercialization sneak its way into our spaces, which actively hurts our chances of building good communities.

social mediafying of fandom turns fanwork creation and fandom into popularity contests, which is bad for all fan spaces. The point is that we're being weird together. I've seen new, young authors post on reddit about how they feel so bad about their fic because it doesn't have 1000s of hits or because they feel incapable of writing things (even things they might want to explore) because "no one will read it, and it will not become popular". This makes me very sad.

social mediafying of fanwork also turns right around into .... wait ... you guessed it .... censorship! people are now practising self-censorship that is utterly unnecessary and completely sad to me because they are afraid of getting deleted from anywhere for "objectionable content". This carries over into new users on AO3 doing things like using leet speech for curse words, sexual content and more in the TAGS or the body of their AO3 fics. Stop Don't. You can say fuck, dead, kill, murder, cunt, cock, and whatever the fucking hell you want on AO3. That was the whole goddamn point.

These people are trying to bring fanwork=content social media brain to places like AO3. I'm not entirely sure why.

tldr; AO3 isn't a social media site for talking with your following or posting about ideas that you've had. It isn't a popularity contest. It isn't a place where there will be no inappropriate content. It isn't a place for advertising or commerical promotion. It is an ARCHIVE OF FANWORKS meant to be "allowing ANYTHING -- het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, highly adult."

Anyone of you fans older, wiser, more well versed in fan history, and more articulate than me, please feel free to add to this. Ditto on any of you other funky LIS friends out here on tumblr dot hell.

[allbark-no-bite]

the night shift.

jake seresin x bradley bradshaw (wc: 3k)

summary: jake’s a cop working the night shift and pulls over a mildly drunk (and very interested) firefighter. chaos ensues.

warnings: mature, *driving while under the influence of alcohol, some sexual references

*if this bothers you, just don’t read, simple as that. you don’t have to come into my inbox to tell me that it bothers you <3

author’s note: i’ve never written anything faster in my entire like. this was so much fun! i came across this post again and couldn’t let it go. all credit to @squiddosss for their amazing artwork

————————————————————————

It's slow nights like these that make Jake question why he prefers the night shift.

The gravel of the lonely backroad crunches beneath the tires of his cruiser as he makes the curve and slowly pulls to a stop. The sirens on his cruiser give one last whoop before he shuts them off. The back of the beat up vintage blue Bronco gleams in the shine of his headlights. He sighs and shifts the car into park before he tips his radio towards his mouth and mumbles his whereabouts, informing Javy that he's making a traffic stop.

"10-4. Keep me updated."

He climbs out of the cruiser and makes his way towards the vehicle, keeping one thumb tucked into the front of his belt, fingers ready to reach for his gun in an instant. The diver hadn't given him any trouble thus far other than what he had pulled him over for— swerving all over the road, but Jake had been trained to err on the side of caution. He runs his finger tips over the tail light as he passes it by, a habit he had picked up from working alone.

For being such an old model, the car is in pretty decent shape. It has what appears to be brand new tires and the powder blue paint job has been restored to perfection. It was obviously well cared for. He wonders briefly the story behind it being as he doubts you could buy such a car these days. This was the kind of car that you handed down.

The window rolls down just as Jake approaches it.

"How's it goin' Officer?"

Jake blinks.

The driver is a younger guy, probably close to his own age— Jake likes to think that thirty-one is still plenty young— with shoulders so broad that it's a wonder he even fits in the front seat. His skin is a dark olive, which is pretty typical for someone who lives around here, but what catches Jake's attention the most is the perfectly groomed mustache the guy is sporting on his upper lip. It's thick and matches the caramel color of his otherwise brunette head of hair.

"Is there something wrong?"

The guy smiles and his dusty rose lips frame his perfectly aligned white teeth.

Jake tells himself it's his job to notice these kinds of things.

Jake clears his throat and leans in to peer into the cab of the truck, doing his best to avoid the lingering stare of the guy's warm hazel eyes. When he's satisfied that there's nothing worthy of his immediate attention in the car, Jake focuses back on him.

"Can I get your license and registration?"

It takes him a moment of fumbling around in his glove box and then his pocket, but he hands both documents over. The guy watches him so intently while Jake reads over them that it almost makes him uncomfortable, and he's glad for the excuse to look away.

"You had much to drink tonight, Bradley?" Jake asks as his eyes skim over the name. Bradley Peter Bradshaw. He almost laughs. If Jake didn't know better, he'd think it was a fake.

Jake knows the answer before he asks it but he figures he'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. He doesn't necessarily reek of alcohol but Jake can defiantly pick up the fermented smell of yeast on his breath. If the guy hadn't been staring at him so intently and Jake could look at him for longer than two seconds, he's sure his pupils would be dilated as well.

"Just a little, Officer. I'm sobered up now."

Jake has to hold back his disbelieving snort. If he had a dime for every time he heard that, he'd be rich. "Well, Bradley. I find that a little hard to believe. You were all over this back road here. You know you're only supposed to drive on the right side, right?"

Bradley's mouth twitches, as if he found Jake's comment more amusing rather than condescending. "I didn't, but I'll sure take your word for it."

Jake, on the other hand, doesn't share his humor. "You seem like a funny guy, Bradley. But unfortunately, I don't find drunk driving to be very funny."

And then his eyes land on the emblem on Bradley's navy blue t-shirt—N.I.F.D. —the one his swollen biceps are nearly bursting out of.

"You work for North Island Fire Department?"

Jake watches as Bradley's slightly drunk grin widens. "I sure do."

Jake hands him back his license and the rest of his paperwork. "I've got a couple friends down at the station. You know Trace, Fitch?"

If his pupils weren't already blown wide, Jake would say they lit up in recognition. "Yeah, actually. Natasha is the one who got me the job there. I just finished a deployment out in the Pacific."

It's then that Jake notices the dog tags looped around his thick neck and hidden beneath his shirt. "You're enlisted," Jake says aloud, and then to conceal his surprise follows with, "I was too."

That's the kind of thing that you do when you're eighteen and more scared of not living than dying. If anything it was exciting. Anything that meant getting the hell out of Texas was exciting. He misses it now, but at the time when he was standing alone in that recruiters office, he didn't think for a moment that he would. He felt like a man.

The navy made him a man, is what his daddy said. It was probably one of the only times the old bastard ever told him he was proud of him, and the only time he didn't feel bad for making his mama cry.

The reason he got out was for the reason most do. You realize you don't stay twenty forever and life doesn't wait around until you figure that out. He didn't want to retire one day and have nothing to come home to but an empty apartment. San Diego seemed as good of a place to settle down as any.

Javy's voice crackles through on the radio strapped to his chest, breaking up their conversation.

"Unit-16. Checking in on your traffic stop. You need back-up?"

He hadn't realized they'd been talking so long. Jake mentally reprimands himself for getting distracted and picks up the radio while pressing it to his mouth. "This is Unit-16. No back-up necessary. Over."

"10-4. Over."

Jake releases the radio and looks back up to Bradley. Get back on task, Jake. Bradley smiles coyly at him. Jesus, focus, Jake.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to step out the vehicle."

The hopeful look in Bradley's big hazel eyes falters.

"Look, Officer uh— " The Bradley leans towards his open window so that he can squint at the gold engraved name plate on Jake's uniform. "—Seresin." Jake watches as his tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip before he cocks his head a little to the side and smiles, looking up at Jake. "You look good."

Oh. Oh.

That's what this is all about.

It's then that Jake realizes that this guy has been flirting him the entire time. He'll admit it's not the first time someone's hit on him while on the clock. Jake is aware he's an attractive guy, it's just that this is the first time he's been tasked with turning down at very handsome, drunk stranger. But drunk or not, the compliment makes his cheeks burn. Jake prays that the red and blue lights of his cruiser are enough to conceal the way his face flushes.

Ignoring him, Jake grabs the door handle of the Bronco and tugs it open. "C'mon, pal. Outta the car."

A little begrudgingly, Bradley slowly steps out of the car. Jake doesn't miss the way he grabs onto the door to steady himself.

Now that he's out of the car and in the beam of his headlights, Jake gets a good look at him. Bradley is over six feet of lean tan muscle. His long legs are encased in blue jeans that fit a bit too snug around his narrow waist, but from there he only gets wider all the way up to his shoulders. He's got some height on Jake and if he weren't in shape himself, Jake would probably be a little intimidated.

Jake steps up to him. "Go ahead and turn around for me. Put your hands flat on the hood."

For a moment Jake thinks he isn't going to listen, but then Bradley smirks a little and does as he's told. "Normally I'd ask you to buy me dinner first, but whatever you say, Officer."

This time Jake is glad that he's turned around. He steps forward and uses one of his feet to knock Bradley's legs a little further apart so that he can pat him down. He's not surprised to find that there's nothing on him, but he always has to check.

"Are you always this forward, Bradley? Or just when you're drunk?"

"No, sir," Bradley promises him, refusing to flinch even as Jake's hands come dangerously close to his crotch. "Just when the officer is nice to look at."

Jake pulls away as Bradley turns around. He specifically remembers telling him to keep his hands flat on the cruiser but Jake is getting the impression that Bradley doing something that could hurt either one of them isn't something he needs to worry about so he lets it go. Typically a stupid decision but he trusts his gut.

Bradley leans back just slightly to prop himself up against the car and crosses his arms in front of his chest while giving Jake a smile. His big brown eyes are warm and dopey, his smile impish.

"You gonna cut me some slack?" he asks.

Habitually, Jake curls his fingers through the front of his belt. The familiar weight of his kevlar vest is heavy and comforting and somehow he finds that it settles his fluttering heart in his chest.

"You know it's considered an offense to flirt with an officer?" Jake tells him, trying to remain professional and stand his ground. If his eyes drop to observe the way the other man's pecks fill out his t-shirt, that's his business.

Bradley smiles, ducking his head a little abashedly. Jake doesn't miss the way his teeth release the pout of his bottom lip. "Does that apply to when you're off duty as well?"

Jake pokes his tongue into the side of his cheek to keep from smiling. It's not funny, and he shouldn't be flattered by the advances of a drunk stranger but he is. And maybe he does have some sympathy for the guy. He knows what it's like coming back to the states and trying to adjust back to civilian life. But that doesn't mean that he's above the law.

"Bradley," he begins, his voice firm but sympathetic. "You know you can't be driving around like this. As much as I'd like to, I can't let you go."

As far as he's concerned, Bradley doesn't seem to be hearing him at all.

"Y'know, of all the places I imagined myself being handcuffed, none of them were in the back of a cop car."

"Jesus Christ," Jake mutters, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Really, he has no words. "Okay, that's enough," he announces, giving up on getting Bradley to actually take this seriously. "Turn around for me."

Smiling as if feeling a little too pleased with himself, Bradley obediently shuffles around so that Jake can then walk up behind him and clasp his wrists together. He uses his other hand to retrieve his cuffs from his belt and clips them on.

They're a little tight but that's only because Bradley's broad shoulders prevent his wrists from fully meeting, his shoulder blades seemingly obstructed by the wide expanse of his back.

Jake is definitely not staring. 

If the cuffs are uncomfortable, Bradley doesn't say anything, and Jake walks him by one of his elbows to the cruiser.

"Watch your head," Jake instructs him as he opens the door for Bradley to step in. It's a tight fit but somehow he manages, scooting over the seat until he's sat in the middle, his long legs spread to either side in order to accommodate them. The denim of his jeans strain at the awkwardness of the angle and gives Jake a front row view of the bugle of his crotch.

Jake clears his throat, looking away. If it were for the fact that he was drunk, Jake would say he's doing it on purpose.

Before Jake can shut the door and leave with what little is left of his self preservation, Bradley's voice stops him.

"Wait, what about my car?"

When Jake leans down to poke his head into the backseat of the cruiser, the look on Bradley's face is actually concerned. That's a first, Jake thinks. "I'll call someone to tow it. It'll be impounded until you can come and pick it up from the station." When the worry on Bradley's face only increases, his mustache emphasizing the action, he follows with, "They'll take good care of it for you, I promise."

Bradley's eyes flicker to the old Bronco anxiously. "It's just that it's my dad's car. He, um, he died when I was a kid. So, y'know..." he explains, trailing off.

Of fucking course it is.

Jake sighs, hangs his head in defeat for a second, and then looks back into the car at Bradley. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. Promise me we won't meet like this again and I won't have them tow your car. You can just come get it in the morning."

Bradley grins. "Well I'd certainly like to meet you under different circumstances."

Jake slams the door shut.

The drive back into town is quiet. When he glances at the clock on his dashboard, he realizes he only has about an hour left to his shift. As he pulls into the little suburban neighborhood, having memorized the address on Bradley's license, he glances into the backseat through his rear view mirror.

At first he thinks that Bradley's knocked out in the backseat, head lulled back as he breathes slow and steady, but then he sees the whites of his hazel eyes illuminated by the occasional red and blue flash of his overhead lights. Their gazes meet through the mirror and the corner of Bradleys mouth lifts up in a half drunk smile. Jake shifts his gaze away to instead peer at the numbers on the houses. Finally he finds the address he's looking for and slows the cruiser as he pulls into the driveway.

He brings the car to a stop and slides out of the driver's seat, walking around the car to open up the side door. Bradley stares at him quizzically from the backseat.

"C'mon, hop out before I change my mind," Jake prompts, gesturing with his head for Bradley to get a move on. The tall brunette climbs out with as much ease as one can muster in a pair of handcuffs before he's once again standing face to face with Jake.

He's on the downside of his drunken stupor, more sleepy than buzzed if his drooping eyelids are anything to go by. His mustache lifts as he smiles down at Jake. It's still ridiculous looking but it makes more sense now that Jake knows his occupation. It's the only type of facial hair that's considered to be within regs.

Jake clears his throat. "You want me to take those off?" he asks, motioning towards the cuffs holding Bradley's hands behind his back.

"I might do something stupid if you do."

Jake freezes. "What?"

Before he knows it Bradley's kissing him. He connects their mouths with surprising ease. It's so smooth and he moves relatively quickly for someone who's mildly intoxicated that Jake doesn't even see it coming. Between Jake's surprise and Bradley's lack of hands, they're a bit top heavy and Jake has to fist the front of Bradley's t-shirt, his back hitting the side of the cruiser, to keep them from toppling over.

Bradley's mouth is warm, his lips pliant and soft, but he's firm in the kiss, unrelenting in the way that Jake couldn't have pulled away even if he wanted to.

He doesn't want to— he does— but he doesn't want to.

When he comes to his senses, Jake flattens a palm against Bradley's chest and shoves him away. Immediately his chest aches at the distance. He stands there, still half shocked, with his palm holding Bradley away at arm's length.

Really, he's not too sure what to do in this situation.

Bradley’s hazel eyes shine in amusement. He doesn’t even have the decency to look ashamed.

Again Jake clears his throat. "Ahem— um, glad you got that out of your system," he says with a pat to Bradley's chest. And before anything else can occur, he swiftly steps around the other man and uncuffs his wrists.

Bradley groans in relief, bringing his hands in front of him to rub at his sore wrists. “I think your bondage play needs some work. Not that I’m complaining—”

“Go inside. Get some sleep, Bradley.”

Taking the not so subtle hint, Bradley straightens and fixes Jake with a mocking salute before he turns and makes him way to the front porch. He watches as Bradley unlocks the front door and turns to give him one last look before he steps inside.

“Until next time, Officer Seresin.”

Jake just shakes his head in disapproval, but he can’t disguise his smile. “There better not be a next time,” he calls up the driveway.

He doesn’t pull out the driveway until Bradley’s shut the door and he sees the porch lights flicker off.

Maybe he does like the night shift.

[trinketfairy]

SQUISHMALLOWS/BUM BUMZ ALTERNATIVE MASTERPOST

After posting my warning on Jazwares for supporting Israel, I've been asked time and time again to make my alternative plushies brands available for non-Twitter users, to which I say "absolutely, fuck that site." It's well overdue at this point, so here's my list of plush brands that are way better than Squishmallows and Bum Bumz!

Unfortunately can't provide images due to Tumblr's image limit, but I'll provide websites for you to search through when available.

Complete list is under a readmore for convenience.

Squishables: If you want that same "kawaii" aesthetic and round shapes, Squishables is your best bet. They're great too because a lot of their plush are designed by fans who are given a cut of their sales. Sign up for their email notifications, they have sales very often!

Amuse/Amufun: If you're really into the "kawaii" aesthetic, then it makes sense to look directly towards Japanese brands! You may know them for their Alpacasso line. It can be expensive to get them imported, but I think they're very much worth it.

Jellycat: I can't say I 100% recommend their newer plush anymore considering their steep decline in quality, but their older plush are still so wonderful and full of character. You're bound to find something by them that you like from their catalogue. (Editor's note: This is what my original thread said, but it seems like Jellycat has improved their quality control, so I feel much better with recommending them again!)

Mary Meyer: If JC is too much out of your price range, then Mary Meyer is what I recommend next to them! Their Marshmallow Zoo line is a huge favourite of mine, I love how full of character they are.

Aurora World: Aurora World has plenty of brands under their belt, so there's bound to be something that tickles your fancy. Brands under the Aurora World company include Palm Pals, Eco Nation, Miyoni, and their baby line, Ebba.

Steiff: Ah yes, the OG teddy bear brand, the one that started it all and is still going strong. Be warned that they can get pretty expensive depending on what you're looking at, but I hear that they're so worth every single penny.

Douglas Cuddle Toys: Probably the quintessential plush brand when it comes to realistic plush, especially cats and dogs, but they have tons of other species available too! Pretty affordable too if you're buying them at retail price

Wild Republic: Another one that does more realistic-looking plush, but I think they have a wider selection of species to choose from. If you're looking for a niche animal, Wild Republic (likely) has you covered!

Shinada Morisaka Global: Another plush brand I have yet to get my hands on, but one that I hear fantastic things about. I mean come on, how can you not love these little guys??

Pokemon Center: Jazwares unfortunately holds the license to make Pokemon plush, but that doesn't mean they're your only option when it comes to Pokeplush! TPC has been making their own Pokeplush for ages now, and they have plenty of different lines to suit your tastes.

Sunlemon: They're expensive to get imported but oh my god are they worth it. The quality is truly umatched compared to American plushies, I adore my tanuki to bits. Please get more eyes on their stuff.

Prime Shiba: Definitely a more expensive option, but I think they're cute plushies for every dog lover. Their stuff often goes on sale often so definitely take advantage of them!

Plushie Dreadfuls: You've probably seen one of their mental illness-themed bunnies before, but have you seen their Pride and Zodiac collections too? They also have many generic-looking plush if the personalization isn't up your alley! Ok so this was in my Twitter thread but apparently since then some shit has gone down with the company CEO making some offhand remarks that got misinterpreted but he acted like an ass in response to it, I recommend doing your own research on it before you buy in case that's not something you wanna support.

StrawbunnyCake: Want to go more small business? Consider supporting a fellow disabled creator, StrawbunnyCake! Their stuff is adorable, and you're sure to fall in love with their characters.

Hannimations: Also on the list of small businesses is Hannimator! Easily best known for their Pride-related Colourful Puppies/Kittens plush lines

Paleoplushies: If you're super into dinosaurs and other preshistoric animals, then Paleoplushies is sure to have something you'll like! They're all handmade by a single artist, so please show them your love and kindness

Cirquell Curiosities: Another great small business to support, most known for their high-end demon goat plushies! A lot of their stuff is one of a kind too, so they're the place to go if you're looking for a unique plush.

Snughouls: The unique and elusive Care Weres line by McMadMissile is sure to win over your heart! It originally started as just being the werewolves, but has since expanded to all kinds of demonic creatures from the Kickstarter! There's even some designs waiting to be funded!

Next are a bunch of brands that weren't personally recommended by me, but get my seal of approval:

AfternoonFika

Creep Cat Toy Co.

Weighted Wildlife

Tasty Peach Studios

Bunnies By The Bay

Snoozimals

Smoko

ChottoBonita

Honeylambs

CraftedCuddlez

Cyborutchi

Fluffnest

MarDeLunaArts (+ on Etsy)

Bellzi

B Softies by B Toys

That's all I have to share, but if you have any other brands you think are worth highlighting then by all means I invite you to reblog with your additions. Please remember that this is a collective effort and we're all counting on each other to act. Keep your head up, don't stop talking about Palestine, and remember to prioritize the official BDS brands list. From the river to the sea 🇵🇸🍉🕊️🫒

[eregyrn-falls]

Gravity Falls Revival Prospects Teased by Disney TV Boss (Exclusive)

By Russ Milheim Posted: June 05, 2024

(From "The Direct", original article linked above.) While Gravity Falls may have ended in 2014 on the Disney Channel, fans are still hoping for a revival—thankfully, that doesn't look too far out of reach, at least according to an update from a top Disney executive. The series may have ended in 2014, but since then, creator Alex Hirsch has published several books in the universe. This included Gravity Falls: Tales of the Strange and Unexplained, Lost Legends, and Journal 3. In fact, another book is even coming out later this year, called The Book of Bill, which tells the story of the show from the perspective of the big bad. However, while books are great and all, a continuation of the show would absolutely thrill the franchise’s fanbase. In an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim while promoting the release of Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation, Executive Vice President of Television Animation and Disney Branded Television Meredith Roberts gave a hopeful update on a possible Gravity Falls revival. She confirmed that they’re “in conversations with [creator] Alex [Hirsch]” before ending with an encouraging “never say never:” “You know, we're in conversations with Alex. He's about to publish a book with Disney on his project. And we also do some shorts. So never say never.”

What Could Be Next for Gravity Falls? While the update is a small one, plenty of fans will be thrilled to see even a slight glimmer of home. Sure, the new book releases are exciting, but not nearly as much as having the show back. If the show were to return, creator Alex Hirsch would likely want to introduce a new threat other than Bill. Admittedly, that's a high bar to clear. Perhaps a continuation would also age its leading characters, Dipper and Mabel. However, having older leads could transform Gravity Falls into a much different, more adult-based narrative. Either way, there's plenty of demand from fans to see the world of Gravity Falls again. Hopefully, that's something Disney can capitalize on sooner rather than later.

Since this is going around, and I haven't seen it posted here... well, here you go. What does it mean? Nobody knows! It may not mean anything. It's hard to tell whether this is just a Disney exec making noises for promotional purposes or what. I honestly would take this with a grain of salt until or unless Alex himself posts or tweets about it.

(My own thoughts: to be worthwhile, I strongly feel that any new Gravity Falls content would need to have the involvement of Alex Hirsch AND a good chunk of the other folks who worked on the show. People like Rob Renzetti, and others like Matt Braly, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Emmy Ciceriega, Dana Terrace, Matt Chapman, Jeff Rowe, etc. etc. It would probably be difficult to impossible to get everyone back, unless it was for a very limited project, like a TV-movie or something.

I'm not saying they would ALL need to be back, and I do also think you could find some new folks to work on the project who would be very good replacements for some of the original crew who might not be able to come back. But, I've said many, many times: Gravity Falls was not the work of only one man. I respect the hell out of Alex Hirsch, but, the show that we love had contributions from a lot of other people that went into creating the final product. If what we want is something as good as the original show, then I think it would need input from those people.

And even then, we still have to keep in mind that it can be difficult to recapture lightning in a bottle. Even if they got back a majority of the original team, it's 10 years later (ish), and all of those folks have been through a lot, and most haven't been working with each other. There's a groove that the crew of the show got into at the time, and they'd have to recapture that groove. It would be different in at least SOME ways. Maybe a GOOD different! A lot would depend on the enthusiasm they had for doing it.)

So, we'll see! Keep an eye out, though, for more news.

[rainbowsky]

I haven’t had any questions lately but love your blog and your insights. In a video of the group photo at Milan fashion week, GG is sitting next to the older man and they are talking. I figure in some videos when GG is talking to others he has translators but it does not look like anyone from his staff is around and I was wondering if they were speaking in English or what other languages he might speak. Love to hear your insights and hope you are doing well.

Hi coyote! Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! 😊

The man he's seen talking with a lot is Diego Della Valle, the CEO of Tod's. GG has a fantastic relationship with him, and he even referred to him as yeye (grandpa) in his Vogue interview from the show.

Last time GG was in Milan Della Valle took GG on a tour of some beautiful sites around Italy - including the Colloseum in Rome -and some sites significant to the brand (the workshop, the flagship store, etc.). GG got to spend a lot of time with him, so they had plenty of opportunity to build a strong relationship.

You can tell just by his entire demeanour around GG that Della Valle adores GG. Which makes absolute sense given how cute, gracious and charming GG is. When GG arrived at the Tod's show this year Della Valle lit up like a Christmas tree.

They sat together last year at the Tod's show as well (those who missed out on last year's trip can check out my 'gg milan fashion week 2023' tag).

Anyway, you weren't asking about Della Valle, you were asking about how GG is able to communicate with him. The simple answer is that GG does have some English!

Many students in China learn English in school, although they sometimes don't get as much opportunity to speak it, so it's probably kind of like my French - I understand quite well to hear, read and write it, but my accent and pronunciation are a bit rough around the edges (that's putting it mildly 😅).

With the international travel he's done and all the elbow-rubbing he's had to do with foreign celebrities and brand stakeholders I think GG has had a lot more opportunity than the average person to exercise his language skills, so I've no doubt he's improving all the time.

He's also a huge music lover and has many times been seen singing English songs from Avril Lavigne, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith and many more. A couple of English performances he's done in the past:

Starts at 3:22 (I'll never get over hockey player GG 🥲).

It also seems clear that GG has a general interest in languages. He knows a fair bit of Korean and he and DD are seen in The Untamed BTS speaking various languages and dialects, including English. This is also a common feature of LRLG rumors.

There are many clips to be found online of GG speaking English for ads, occasionally a few lines for drama roles, throwing in English phrases into interviews, etc. Just based those alone I think one can tell that he's got pretty good English. His pronunciation is quite good.

If you watch some of the vlogs he's posted from the international events, and some of the clips shared by brands and magazines, you can catch moments of GG having English interactions with many people at those events. One of my absolute favorites is when he's replying to a bodyguard in a vlog when he was in Florence last year (starts at 4:08).

The bodyguard is trying to teach him how to roll his r to pronounce Florence in Italian ('Firenze') and GG says, "I can't do it." The way he says it is so damn cute, I almost died when I heard it.

Anyway, so to answer your question, GG speaks in English with Della Valle and others at those events!

[mumms-the-word]

A random thought I had about the whole illithid soul thing. It's totally possible you touched on this somewhere in one of your posts and I've forgotten about it lol so sorry

So if we think the special tadpole that turns tav/karlach/whoever into a mindflayer at the very end is some kind of advanced tadpole that allows them to retain their souls, or at least a little bit of it, what do you make of Omeluum? He's the exception of course but he comes across as caring, empathetic, etc. He cares about Blurg and the society and the citizens of the Underdark. And he's grateful to tav for saving him in the iron throne and wants to help them defeat the Absolute. I just wonder how much of his original personality/soul is still in him. I guess it could be the same as Balduran. The emperor says his personality was just so strong that he retained at least part of it.

ANYWAY a follow up question: do you think when someone turns into a mindflayer they IMMEDIATELY lose their soul/any sense of their nonillithid self? I'm thinking specifically about the cut scene in the final battle where civilians start turning into mindflayers and immediately eating brains. Are they just following this new unfamiliar instinct while their former self is still somewhere in there thinking wtf is going on? Or like, soul gone, evil now, eat brain, previous self destroyed completely?

Excellent questions! I actually avoided talking about Omeluum because I felt like it was too much side lore but I love him and I’m delighted to talk about him

disclaimer that this isn't like...super well-thought-out or amazingly organized because the brain isn't functioning that well today but I didn't want to make you wait 2-3 business days while I dug up screenshots and crafted a whole ass deep dive. so the thoughts/theories below the cut are my Best Guesses lol but there are plenty of thoughts/theories!

First it’s worth thinking about how Omeluum was able to break away from being enthralled to an elder brain. Omeluum explains that he was able to break away because he was a spellcaster, probably a sorcerer who studied to become a wizard:

Player: How did you escape your colony? Omeluum: I was born with a propensity for arcane magic my people despise. It gave me the strength to resist the elder brain. Every waking hour, I pushed back against its dire hold. My wizardry empowered me. The moment its control shattered, I fled before the colony discovered I had defected.

So it sounds like he has some memory of who he was, or at least what he was capable of, before his transformation. But it's also a smidge unclear. For example, is "my people" the mind flayers, or his original race? Because mind flayers also hate arcane magic because they think psionic magic is better. But perhaps he comes from an anti-magic people group and is referencing them instead.

That said there’s no way of knowing whether the personality we see in Omeluum right now is the same one he had pre-transformation. There are hints in his dialogue that suggest he’s been around for a while (he's certainly not a brand new mind flayer) and I do think over time mind flayers change and adapt who they are, whether or not they’re enthralled to an elder brain. Whether this is merely a product of time (everyone changes over time), or because they consume and retain memories, or it’s an intentional choice they make, it’s not entirely certain, but I'm sure mind flayers do change as they mature and develop.

But I think his caring, empathetic qualities are genuine. It’s possible these qualities were part of his original soul/personality but it’s equally possible these qualities are ones he learned by interacting with Blurg and other Society members. Mind flayers aren’t emotionless, they just feel…differently. They might have a smaller emotional range, and typically every emotional thing they express appears muted or subtle (we see this especially with Karlach, who loses a lot of her usual exuberance, and even Blurg is like "Omeluum isn't given to strong emotions" when discussing him), but as long as they’re not enthralled, they’re capable of care and empathy. It just might look different.

I mean, even Omeluum phrases his relief and gratitude toward you in distanced terms when you save him from the Iron Throne. He says stuff like "It is...pleasurable to see you" when you talk to him at the Society of Brilliance and when you say that you like him, he responds with "I too feel some...warmth at your presence." He picks both words with hesitancy and there's a kind of distance there, but he does feel those things.

There are other hints in his other dialogues, but I don't want to clog up this response with tons of screenshots. But from the datamined dialogues we see that he is capable of joy, warmth, pleasure (words literally written in dialogues and narrator observations), as well as empathy, concern, and good-aligned morals (he actively tries to make the world a better place, wants to help stop the Absolute plot, and is even trying to research ways to eat fewer brains to sustain himself).

But whether all of that is due to his prior personality, I doubt even he knows. I'm sure there is a pre-transformation influence there, but he doesn't pretend he's anything other than a mind flayer. For example, if you tell him about the nautiloids, he says "What a brilliant experience. To feel one step closer to my ancestors is a fine gift indeed." Elsewhere he talks about the illithids being his people and while he doesn't group himself with their goals, he still talks about them being his collective people-group. He'll say stuff like "our warships" and "the gith rebelled and ended our dominion" when talking about mind flayer history, but then in act 3 he'll say "Given my kind's involvement in creating this evil, it is only right that I do my part in helping you defeat it" to explain his actions in helping you and say "I do not share my kind's opinions on the value of other living beings. I would have seen them all saved, if I could." when you point out he could have just looked after himself and not the Gondian hostages and Ravengard.

So basically, while I think there might be some prior influence or some of his original soul/identity still lingering in him, I think he's just a genuinely empathetic mind flayer. My theory is some of it existed prior to his transformation, but he nurtured that empathy while living as a mind flayer. I don't think he's empathetic because he's got more of his original soul still lingering around than most other mind flayers, I think that he's just...genuinely nice. An outlier for a mind flayer, for sure. Anyways I'm hoping that all makes sense.

As for your second question, I think normally yes you lose essentially most or all of your original identity the moment you transform (some memories typically linger, but not always) but you don't suddenly go feral. Normally you lose your soul/identity because a normal illithid tadpole literally ate your brain matter, so what’s left, essentially, is a blank slate (whereas for your soul my theory is that it morphs and transforms). You'd be hungry and instinctively you'd crave other brains, but I don't think you'd suddenly go about killing hundreds of people in your path. But you'd also not really be thinking independently, since you'd be connected with an elder brain who is issuing commands to you. So normally, just after you transform, you’re basically a mindless puppet at the start, though I’m sure as time goes on mind flayers grow a little more autonomous (as we see with Omeluum). But they don't suddenly go evil and attack everything on sight...at least, from what I understand of normal lore.

The cutscene you're referring to is not at all a normal situation. The people in that mid-battle cutscene are infected with Netherese tadpoles which only transform a person at the express command of the Netherbrain. Also, in that specific moment when they transform, the Netherbrain is actively shouting commands for everyone to destroy each other. So I think for those people, the sudden transformation would have been overwhelming because it came completely by surprise, and then their brains (which theoretically should also be capable of retaining more personhood like Tav and Karlach do because everyone's got the same kind of tadpole) is literally filled with the irresistible voice of the Netherbrain who is very loudly like “TRANSFORM. DESTROY.” over and over and over again.

Like, seriously, if my "the Netherese tadpole makes you special" theory holds any water, then anyone with a Netherese tadpole could potentially retain their soul/personality after turning into a mind flayer so long as they have access to the Astral Prism's shields to get them through the battle. Unfortunately for the city of Baldur's Gate, the Emperor is extremely picky about who he lets in.

The only reason we and our companions don't end up the same mindless, destructive mind flayers as the Baldurian citizens is because of the Astral Prism, and even then, we get close. If you trigger forced ceremorphosis (using Gale's orb in act 2, trying to go back to act 1 after killing Ketheric, attacking the Emperor in the Astral Prism without having a way to free Orpheus, etc), then you see how helpless we are to resist the Absolute's command to transform and then become her thrall. But also, if you get Orpheus to transform you into a mind flayer by him reducing his mental shields around you, there's a hint there too:

Narrator: With the withdrawal of Orpheus' power, your mind is rushed with the full force of the Netherbrain. You feel a compulsion unlike anything you've ever known - excruciating and exhilarating in equal measure. You wish nothing in the world but to evolve. Then - complete silence, as you are once again closed off from the Netherbrain's mind.

I'm sure that's more or less what is happening to the people in the streets too. But since they're under the Netherbrain's command, they're also getting commanded to kill and destroy. I doubt they have time to get their bearings or even understand what's happening because they're just reacting to commands at that point.

So it's kind of a unique case for them too. I think when they transform, they don't have the mental capacity to think beyond what the Netherbrain is forcing into their minds. If they survived the battle and were conscious when the Netherbrain went silent, maybe there was a chance they could have remembered something of themselves, but we'll never know, because they were all being killed in the streets.

Theoretically, those people could also have retained their identities (because again, Netherese tadpole) so there's a chance they might have "watched" their horrible actions from afar without having the power to stop themselves from acting. But there's also a chance that everything was just completely overwhelmed by the Netherbrain's voice and any chance at keeping personhood was taken away, first by the Netherbrain's incessant voice, and second by the very quick culling of mind flayers after the Netherbrain was defeated.

So...TLDR, normally the transformation would be like you waking up and being like "who am I? I'm hungry. That voice seems sensible. I'll listen to that voice." But the mid-battle Netherbrain transformation would be more like "OH GOD PAIN--The Voice says I must destroy, I must kill, I must eat, I must destroy, I must kill, I must eat" and maybe there's the original person deep down inside going "wtf is happening" but also maybe not.

So...maybe that helps?? Happy to chat more or clarify if I need to!

[exvangelical-christian-nerd]

Some thoughts on "Hell is Forever"

TW religion, conservative Christianity

Hell is Forever is a bop. Musically I enjoy it a lot. And It's definitley one I'll go listen to separatelyfrom the others on occasion.

But

It is also probably the song that bothers me the most. And it does not bother me in a way I like. I've talked about before, how I like things that poke at my beliefs and make me ask questions. This one doesn't do that. This song is like a buzzing fly to my inner-theologian, and I think I figured out why (Ironically it might also be one of the reasons I enjoy it)

So I've been working on some of my series type content lately, including my devos. I'm trying to make a series based on the Hazbin songs (if that is something you're interested in let me know in the comments and I will try to tag you when I start posting them). Naturally this includes Hell is Forever.

The thing about Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss is that by their very nature they include some theology, but a good portion of it is hellaverse-ified. Some of it is theology and some Christian lore. It's part of the draw. Here's the diffrence between Hell is Forever, and most of the rest of it: Hell is Forever addresses real Theology, more or less directly. I'd say more than, possibly, any other part of either show so far.

Now before I go any farther let's make sure we all have the same definitions so my meaning doesn't get mixed up.

Real Theology= Theology actually believed by a fair portion of people.

Good Theology= Theology that is grounded and has biblical backing.

Bad Theology= Opposite of Good Theology

So yes, Hell is Forever has Real Theology. Here's the thing that gets me though: I wouldn't consider most of it Good Theology. In fact I would consider most of it Bad Theology.

Now the thing with Theology is that our interpretation of it is flawed. We don't know a lot and we don't agree on a lot. That's why there are tens of thousands of denominations. But the particular brand we get in this song is what I'm going to call "Bible Thumper Theology." Not all Bible Thumper Theology is necessarily Bad Theology, but plenty of it is. But honestly I have three major issues with Bible Thumper Theology. First is that it's weaponized. Whether your Theology is good or bad, using it as a weapon is risky business. Second, it's often pretty weak. Even if the theological concept is solid, their understanding of it is usually surface level at best. And third, so much of it is just cherry picking.

So here are the main theological points I identified in Hell is Forever. I'm not going to go deep into them now, because that would make this already long post way to long, and because I'm already planning on making posts specifically on them.

Hell is forever (Obviously)

Eye for an eye Theology (I don't know what else to call it)

Justification by the law (or works)

Justified k1ll1ng (which is obviously super yikes)

Now there are few others in there too, but I'd say these are the main ones. As I said I'm plannin to address these more later, though the first one, I'm still waffling on whether I want to tackle that or not. The primary reason being that I do believe eternal damnation is eternal (as much as I wish I didn't), however I am not going to join the fire and brimstone brigade. There are too many of them all ready. If I do tackle it, it will probably be about why I take issue with the fire and brimstone brigade.

But yes all that to say, Hell is Forever bothers me because it's essentially just Bible Thumper Theology, and Bible Thumper Theology annoys me because it's what makes the church as a whole look bad, and usually it is pretty Bad Theology.

Honestly most of the time someone starts spewing this kind of stuff at me, I can't help but think "Have you read your Bible, or do you just believe what your pastor tells you?" Is my theology flawless? Not a chance (If anyone ever says their's is, approach with extreme caution, or better yet don't approach at all). I am seeking and trying to sort out what I believe. And I'm growing.

Ironically, I think part of the thing I like about Hell is Forever is that the people spewing the bullshit are the villains. I have too often seen them up on a pedestal.

[ssspringroll]

Real Estate 'Listings' Info

TL:DR Vacant apartments. They're a sim-making prompt. That sim will live in that apartment in my game. Only occults are invited. (See sim guidelines at least, if you read nothing else)

E.T. Moneybags presents an exciting new housing opportunity for all displaced or needy occults. Looking for a new start? Move on in to a lovely Newcrest apartment! A newly developed neighborhood for all of freak-kind to live in peace, amongst themselves or while learning to integrate with human society!

After crash-landing in the yard of the Landgraab mansion some 20-odd years ago, they took them under their wing, showing them the wonders and joys of capitalism! Delighted by this, among other earthly delights, E.T. has spent their time on Earth finding ways to introduce culture to everyone they can. With a little investment help from their old pals the Landgraabs, they've hit it big enough for their dreams to come true: a housing development just for people like them. Aliens, Vampires, Werewolves, and more!

What is this?

I'm starting a new 'starter save', a personal save file that I will clone each time I want to begin a brand new save game. This has every lot changed, every EA townie updated, and a few new townies added in. Some of these new townies are made by me, but the rest? That's where this project comes in! Real Estate 'Listings' are a (hopefully) fun idea I came up with to invite other simmers to make some sims for my new starter save.

How does it work?

I will post photos of a vacant* apartment. This is your prompt for making a sim! If the whole apartment is decked out in purple, maybe it's a sim that really likes purple? If there's a lot of books and bookshelves, maybe they're a writer? It's up to you how much personality you want to give them! Once the 'listing' photos go up, you can comment or reblog with a notice that you would like to claim that spot. After the spot has been claimed, I will turn off reblogs for 3 days, during which time you can make and submit your sim! (If you need more time, let me know, but if I don't hear from you for 3 days, the listing will go back on the 'market'). Once an apartment has been filled, the post will be edited and the reblogs will stay off.

You can check the open listings at ssspringroll.tumblr.com/tagged/for rent. All listings (open and closed) can be viewed at https://ssspringroll.tumblr.com/tagged/ETM Realty

If you'd rather just submit a sim and let me figure out the rest, you can! More info here: https://ssspringroll.tumblr.com/post/747775297474183168/renters-wanted

If a listing has reblogs disabled, then it's claimed (or occupied, check the original post to see!) You do not have to claim an apartment before submitting a sim, but I highly recommend it! If someone else claims the apartment they get dibs on it, even if you started your sim before they claimed it. But there's plenty of apartments to go around, so don't worry! You'll probably find another one that you like.

*It is possible that an apartment will already have a resident and will instead be looking for 1 or 2 roommates to move in.

To submit your sim:

You may make your own original post featuring your sim(s), or you can reblog the listing with your sim(s) if you find that easier, more organized, or whatever (if you claimed an apartment and reblogs are off, you'll have to comment to let me know I need to re-enable reblogs!). Make sure you @ssspringroll in your post so I don't miss it!!!

Your sim(s) do not have to be publicly downloadable if you do not wish for them to be, you may private message @exculis (my main) with the link if you prefer, or send a non-anonymous ask.

Sim creation rules/'guidelines':

You do not need to make a new sim for this, you are welcome to offload sim(s) from your gallery (that you made, or were born in-game) if you'd like

You do not need to write any kind of backstory, biography, or anything else about your sim(s). You can genuinely just post them with no commentary if that's all you feel like doing. Remember these are townies! I'm not asking for maximum effort. I'm asking for whatever you can scrounge up.

Sim(s) MUST be an occult of some sort, or intended to be an occult of sorts. If you do not have the pack associated with the occult you'd like to make, that's fine! Just specify what they are supposed to be in your post somewhere and I'll make sure they get turned into that occult when I place them in game

Aliens are preferred, but all in-game occults are acceptable (including plantsims!). That said, they do not need to follow game-lore. For example, I often make 'demons' that are actually vampires, or 'fairies' that are actually spellcasters. You can have fun with it! However, I will not install any mods that add in new occult types.

Hybrids are allowed and encouraged! I play with the occult hybrid stabilizer, and I love weird combos! If you aren't capable of making them a hybrid on your own, once again that's fine! Just specify what occult types they're supposed to be, and I'll get them set up as best I can in game.

Only one outfit (everyday) is required, it's up to you if you want to put any other outfits on them. I won't stop you. If their other outfits aren't done, they'll likely just get randomly generated ones from me (unless they end up a major character in one of my playthroughs, then they'll likely get a more personalized makeover)

You do not need to customize Alien Disguise form, vampire dark form, mermaid form, werewolf form, etc. You can if you would like to.

You aren't limited to just 1 sim per household. Many apartments have space to sleep multiple sims, you're welcome to make as many as you want. Human sims are permitted if they're family.

You aren't limited to 1 submission, but you can only have one outstanding claim at a time. If your claim runs out, you decide to give it up voluntarily, or you fulfill the claim by submitting a household, you are allowed to claim and submit again if you'd like.

Pets are permitted. Horses are not recommended. These are apartment buildings 😰

I have all the packs, and cc of any kind is permitted. I only ask that you please include the cc in the download when you share the sim

I won't install custom sliders. I have too many in my game as it is and your sim will probably look fine in my game without them

Disclaimers:

I do not write stories, this is not a 'submit your sim to be a character in my story'-type event. These sims will functionally be townies in my game that may interact with whomever I am playing at the time, and might not.

I will do my best to mention the original creators of the sims if/when they are featured in screenshots on this blog, but please understand I may forget. I will always direct people your way if they ask directly about a sim, though (if your username hasn't changed by then/I can still find you, of course)

I will not share your sims with anyone else. I will not share my starter save or any save files cloned from my starter save with anyone else.

I can and WILL change anything about your sim(s) that I want to. If you aren't okay with this, this isn't the event for you

Complex gender options are a-okay! I won't touch things like physical frame, pronouns, clothing preference, or other gender options. I do play with the LGBTQIA+ mod, though, with auto-assign settings that may assign them a gender identity or orientation different from what you intended.

None of the apartments or their buildings are available for download. If you really want one of them for some reason, shoot me a message I guess. You will not get any of its residents. See bullet 3.

This isn't a 'enter and you might get in' type game, this isn't a contest. If you send me a sim (unless there's some kind of game-breaking issue with them) then they will go in my game. Into an apartment. Until I run out of apartments, and then any further submissions will just be left to run around homeless.

I may add to or edit this post as the event goes on.

[saturns-cryptid]

crashes down through the ceiling tiles

- "hibiki" comes from the name of chai's favorite action-rhythm game where you play as a rebel taking down a corrupt corporation :^) his belt chain thing was a preorder bonus

- both peppermint and macaron are vegetarian

- peppermint and chai became roommates after the events of the game

- chai's right arm injury is monoparesis caused by a stroke he had sometime in high school, treatment was ineffective at helping him regain his motor skills so he sought out project armstrong

- it's implied the game took place over a day or two at most, but i like to stretch it to four because it just seems way too short to me. i could see chai doing some of the fights while sleep deprived, but not all of them

day 1: most of the early day is just chai getting through all the armstrong onboarding stuff, QA-1MIL and rekka are fought in the afternoon. him and peppermint have to lay low for the rest of the day because she knows kale will be looking for her with security drones now

day 2: chai sneaks into R&D in the early morning, is captured by the afternoon, and it's night by the time him and korsica are taken to the hideout

day 3: him and korsica are recovering for pretty much the whole day so it isn't until the evening that they go after mimosa

day 4: chai sneaks through production late night/early morning (this is outlined ingame so this part isn't really a headcanon) and it takes the whole day to get to roquefort and then kale

HAII i enjoy this assortment of headcanons nods nods but i especially enjoy the last one!! i never really did register how long the story is in the game now that i think about it... but i'll get to that!

(1) DUDE i have seen plenty of people argue for a different headcanon that hibiki is either the name of a band or the name of a fashion brand but i have not heard of this angle!! do you think this also explains his shoes or 808's collar though... bc if it does, i totally think at one point post game, chai and peppermint find out they like the same game and it actually ends up being something that brings them closer

(2) but also do you think it counts as cannibalism if peppermint has peppermint candy/tea and macaron has a macaron though LOL

(3) WHY NOT EVERYONE COWARD... /j lh ... but actually though i totally think it would hit home for chai to solidify that sense of belonging somewhere because i think he's been a drifter / loner for most of his life. FOUND FAMILY FOR THE WIN

(4) you are so big of brain, asker!! i LOVE seeing people's takes on how chai's disability came to be. i will be shelving this one away in my brain nods nods

(5) OKAY i ended up scrubbing through the game cutscenes while i was on break at work and like. DUDE i had no idea the story progressed so quickly LMAO. it really does seem like... it all took place somewhere between 24-36 hours?? Peppermint really worked Chai to the bone as the field man dude holy shit LMFAOOO bro probably crashed and slept like 15 hours after all that. i will be adopting this, BUT... how long do you think it would take if you also include the second arc / the secret SPECTRA doors + the underground lab? i personally think it would take an extra week since they're. really difficult sobs

[vickyvicarious]

I like how Jonathan liked his letter of recommendation so much that he went and transcribed the praises in his journal to remember forever.

"THIS TALENTED BOY HERE JUST GREW INTO MANHOOD UNDER MY CARE. HE WILL NOT FAIL TO DO WHATEVER YOU PLEASE."

Jonathan: omg dad thinks I'm talented

HONESTLY. It's adorable of him. Like... I know I wrote that post about Dracula's takeaways, which are all horrible obviously. And I can see how people would take it as a weird way to phrase things/very open to sounding creepy from the get-go. But honestly, I think it was supposed to be pretty sweet.

“I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all matters.”

The initial expectation was for Mr. Hawkins to be the one coming, and Jonathan had to sub in. It's unclear exactly how long ago, but he did at least have time to do a little research about the area (as well as being involved in inspecting/choosing the property Dracula was buying; some of that may also have originally been Mr. Hawkins' job before it got delegated as he became too sick). Dracula has probably known for a little bit that someone named Jonathan Harker was coming instead of Mr. Hawkins, though probably not much more about him. @animate-mush had a funny post about how the specific wording Mr. Hawkins used may well have been meant to address specific concerns/desires of his client in regards to the type of employee he wanted. But even in doing so, I think everything he says is meant specifically as a compliment - possibly even in premature defense of Jonathan.

Some complaints that could be made (in general, not even by Dracula specifically): he's too young and inexperienced (we mostly all headcanon babyface Jonathan for a reason I think, and he's confirmed to be new to this specific role). He seems kind of retiring and quiet (there are spoilery quotes that support him giving off this impression, so it may have even been something someone objected to in the past at work for all we know). Can he be trusted to not talk about my business? What if I think of some new questions or need help with other paperwork while he's here, will he have the knowledge/willingness to handle that?

All of the things Mr. Hawkins says are kinda bringing up then discarding these objections. He's bragging hard, saying, I'm sick but my replacement is plenty good enough, I trust him completely. Sure, he looks young and quiet, but he is actually full of energy, trust me, he's gonna get the job done. He's loyal, he totally understands client confidentiality, he's gonna work super hard and will be sure to make up for any inconvenience of not having me there, and he can help you with whatever else you need. I practically raised him so I have trained him thoroughly and know all this from experience, he's gonna do great.

And Jonathan is absolutely super chuffed to hear it! Sure, the letter of introduction is a Thing with perhaps some established rules/expectations of format, and of course Mr. Hawkins isn't going to insult his own replacement, but perhaps he isn't usually this effusive. I kind of get the impression that Jonathan at least tries really hard to be grown-up and professional with his boss, despite also looking up to him as a father figure. And so not only being given this chance but getting to see a letter that proves how seriously Mr. Hawkins is taking him and how much faith he has in him... he's really really happy about it. Especially considering that he is brand new to all this, only recently having got confirmation that he passed his exam and is no longer a clerk.

This might be the first time in his career that he has been important enough to merit so official an introduction. It's possible that every other time has been more along the lines of "this is my clerk, Mr. Harker. You can entrust the documents to his care," or whatever. Much shorter, simpler, Jonathan more as an attachment to a more important employee than anyone notable in his own right. But that's not the case anymore! He's a solicitor now! And Mr. Hawkins thinks he is talented! (Dad is proud of him!)

[utilitycaster]

@villadiodatis replied to your post “I know it's Nein lockdown but in practice for me...”:

I’ve been really hostile to the daggerheart c4 idea because it’s mostly come from the same people who fearmonger about how “c3’s got the lowest viewing numbers ever” but the magic shifting thing does make me wonder—it could also be a justification for the changes in 5e 2024, and my prediction remains 5e c4 with a daggerheart campaign in the current candela slot with some of the new regular guests, but we’ll see!

​Moving this out of the replies because this is a very valid point. To be honest a lot of the Daggerheart C4 people of that nature have apparently stopped believing it because somehow it hinged on the gods definitely being killed off (as opposed to the current state where it's been made pretty clear Bells Hells gets to decide what happens and it is not a foregone conclusion) and also it being a d20 system specifically (no idea why) but yeah. I will say: I don't see any specific reason to switch to 5e's changes/OneD&D. I mean, they could if they want to, but people played D&D 3.5e throughout the entire existence of D&D 4e; there are still people out there who stick with AD&D. A lot of the people claiming C3 has lower viewership than ever also kind of hated Campaign 2 and really have hated everything since Campaign 1. Right now they're blaming D&D but earlier they blamed the switch to pre-taping or the "meandering plot" and like, in the end, I'm pretty sure a lot of them were ultimately just fans of Vox Machina and of the cast being more accessible to a small fandom and they will never be happy with Critical Role again.

I will freely admit: I do not know if a campaign 4 is guaranteed to happen at all. It's a massive commitment and it's not out of the question that after this campaign Critical Role won't shift into EXU and various miniseries alone. During Campaign 2, Campaign 3 wasn't a guarantee either. But if there is another long-form campaign in the channel's immediate future, I feel like Daggerheart makes it more likely, and to be honest I think what you mentioned seems really unlikely:

A smart way to avoid the loss of audience when switching out of D&D (the recognizable brand) is to keep all the other things the same. Keep the setting of Exandria; keep the main cast; hope that people will stick around for Matt's GM-ing and the main cast and the world even if the mechanics change. There's plenty of reasons why I think Candela has a lower viewership including that horror is a totally different genre and a harder sell, but I also can't help but think that some people are specifically not checking it out because their favorite cast member or favorite cast dynamic isn't present.

Daggerheart is explicitly intended to support long-form play with level progressions, and I think they'd want to showcase that. Running two long-form games concurrently on the channel is really tough to the point that if they did both a 5e/OneD&D campaign and a Daggerheart Campaign, I think they'd probably have to have none of the original cast members in that as main PCs simply for reasons of time commitments and would definitely lose viewers if they did that. Candela is arc-based and can be presented sufficiently in 3-episode chapters in a way that I think Daggerheart cannot.

Again: fully speculative; but if I were say, in Marisha's shoes, and the cast had decided to do another long-form campaign after C3 I'd go with Daggerheart, still using D&D 5e for any EXU games set in the past, and keep Candela as a mini-series on the off weeks.

[naranjapetrificada]

Time for another Fanfic Friday!

Let's get the obligatory self-promo out of the way: Monday night, just before bedtime, I finally posted Chapter 2 of my bizarre little gay pirates arranged marriage ancient-world-inspired AU From the Firmament. I get if you don't trust WIPs, or don't think it's for you, and I'll be the first to tell you it's unusual. But if you find your curiosity piqued at all, maybe you should give it a whirl? If being in the OFMD fandom has taught me anything, it's that even things that are certifiably Not Your Thing can surprise the hell out of you.

Onto the recs (including one that absolutely wasn't My Thing and a non-OFMD rec)! Here's what I've been reading lately:

1) Of the AUs that should be "definitely Not My Thing", Wanna Fly Away is probably the least My Thing I've encountered. It absolutely, positively should not be something I'd ever consider reading, no matter how much I trust @petrichorca not to lead me astray. Monsterfucking? Nope, absolutely not for me, but blessings upon all who enjoy it. And Animorphs? I mean really, Animorphs???

So anyway I'm on Chapter 9 now, although I'll admit to having skimmed the final chapter many moons ago out of curiosity. I do that sometimes because I'm generally spoiler agnostic and sometimes I need to know ahead of time if a certain story will leave me existentially devastated. Jury's still out tbh! Crucially though, even after skimming the last chapter, I didn't start reading. What actually got me to read the fic proper was this separate one-shot that looked at Stede's character before leaving his life behind. That reminded me in a lot of ways of this pre-canon fic I've long appreciated, and that sealed the deal.

2) Next, for something ENTIRELY in the canon universe, I've been following the gentle, meditative innkeepers-era fic The Waters Around You by eimeo (not sure if they're on tumblr) and it's made for really rewarding reading. There's still plenty of work our boys need to do, but for once they actually have time to do it!

3) I've also been trying to catch up on my OMG THEY'RE ✨BOYFRIENDS✨ fics and one I heartily recommend is Tenderly the Light by the one and only @darcylindbergh, which perfectly captures that effervescent feeling you know they both had during the boyfriends scene while also not forgetting that they have to go out there and escape the British while also just being so full of LIFE. Pitch perfect.

4) Next up is the recently reposted Powder Blue by @scarrletmoon. It's a modern AU which I missed the first time around because I wasn't in the fandom yet (if such a time ever existed). Heed the tags going in, but if you're like me and heard so much about it after it got taken down, you'll absolutely want to check it out now. In particular, I love how like, grounded I feel inside Ed as a character, and how the in-world power dynamics replicate for a reader how Stede's specific brand of inscrutability would have felt to Canon Ed, who doesn't have the benefit of knowing how Stede feels. There's that little bit of distance there that just makes everything a bit more...more, I guess.

5) Lastly, for those of us anxiously awaiting the latest update to @moonyinpisces's phenomenal GO fix-it How Do We Turn On The Light (brb refreshing my email again), I want to recommend Talk to Me of Things to Come by Atsuki, which visits Crowley and Aziraphale on New Years Eve, 1988. It's flirty and sweet (although I definitely would not call it "fluff") and has some S-tier Aziraphale pining if you're into that. Not even sure how I found it tbh but I must have been throwing GO fics at the void where Chapter 16 of HDWTOTL waits to melt our collective minds.

Happy Friday, and happy reading!

[888xiicos]

Tomimi Ideal City Wig Process

As usual, I forgot to document most of this process, but I can at least draw out steps I didn't photograph.

This is probably one of the more complex wigs I've styled, tying for first place with Tsumiki Mikan, solely for the amount of wefts and chopping that wig took. This wig is the first wig I've used pigtail/ponytail clips for and the first time I've done an ahoge! I'm incredibly proud of how it turned out so I can't wait to show how it started and pieces of the progress.

This has been in my drafts for almost a year now, so I may as well post it.

Pics, process, and final photo can all be found under the cut!

The humble beginnings..

I grabbed the basic supplies I figured I'd need and laid them out in easy to reach places.

[Supplies in image: Sewing thread, pin cushion, sewing needles, sewing pins with colorful round heads, wide tooth/wet hair comb, 1 hair claw clip, craft scissors, thread snips, pen, reference images, wig(s), Styrofoam head.]

[Supplies not shown in image: Hair cutting scissors, Got2B hairspray, hair crimper/flat iron, 2 smaller hair claw clips, 3 alligator hair clips, , permanent marker, wire, clear packing tape, glue gun, Elmer's glue (white craft glue), and a make shift wig stand]

_

To start, I ordered one Clair Classic in Silver (CL082) and a single Short Clip Classic in Silver (CL-082) from Arda Wigs. The Silver colorway is a little more gray and subdued than the Pure White (CL-083) color way. I like it because it looks a bit more natural. Stark white and heavily saturated colors wash me out pretty bad, so I try to go for a more natural color option whenever possible.

I chose this specific wig because it had plenty of hair and plenty of layers near the front, which meant I had plenty to work with for Tomimi's bangs.

Arda Wigs, though a little pricey, has really thick wigs that feel like butter in your hands. I've worked with cheap Amazon wigs and other brands before, but Arda is still my favorite wig seller (even if it's by process of elimination since Match Wigs vanished into the void never to be seen again..... Match Wigs I miss you.....).

Because the wigs are so thick and have so many wefts, I knew I'd only need one Short Clip to use for both of Tomimi's pigtails. However, this is my first time using any form of wig clip, so it was a very new and puzzling experience for me! I'll explain more about wig clips further into the process below.

_

When I start styling wigs, the first step is always to give it a good brush through with the wide tooth come to detangle it and get out any loose hair fibers. Once it's soft and tangle free, I strap it onto my foam head and pin it with colorful sewing pens that are impossible to lose in the wig (so I don't stab myself with them later on).

These styrofoam heads are usually smaller than an actual human head, so I don't recommend doing any head circumference reliant styling on them without adding padding to it! I mostly use mine when brushing it out, cutting the long parts of the wig, or fixing the part.

For this wig, I decided to try crimping for the first time. Arda wigs are great for crimping and the technique adds even more volume and makes the fibers more manageable in my opinion. Arda wig fibers are super silky and soft, so it makes holding them or maneuvering them sort of difficult. Crimping gave them more texture and allowed me to move the hair where I wanted it to go.

I crimped the bottom layers of the whole wig (bangs too!) and left the top layers un-crimped to retain a nice smooth texture on top.

Now, it's time to start trimming. Before I even thought about doing any cutting, I sat down and figured out the different sections of hair that make up the bangs. For anyone not familiar with sectioning off hair, drawing over the sections in different colors like this can really help!

Marking out the sections also helped me figure out where the part would go! Tomimi has one layer of a heavy sweeping bang and then a layer of hair that sort of fold over on top of them. One section of the lower layer actually tucks behind her ear, so I planned to leave that longer so I could easily pin it back under another layer of hair.

I also took this time to section off parts of her hair to pull back under the pigtail clips layer to make it look more natural. I've drawn over it in bright pink below to show what I mean.

Once things were held back with clips and sectioned off, I pulled that bad boy off the stand and put it on so I could start trimming the bangs. I did not realize they were as long as they were, but it was for the best in case I messed up. I gave a rough chop at around the bottom of my chin and slowly trimmed the lower bang layer up above my nose. I curled the hair with my flat iron as I went too avoid cutting off too much.

Sloppy before and after pic featuring the tendons in my bony little hand STRUGGLING to hold up this heavy monster of a wig. I admit, I'm not too skilled with teasing wigs, so I wasn't able to get the upper layer of the bangs to stick up like they do in the art, but I left the fibers loose enough that I could go back later and do it once I learned the Technique™. Silly anime hair vents will one day be possible for me.

As you can see, this wig is all silver, no black anywhere. I used the simplest method out there and flat out just added that black stripe with a permanent marker. Since it was in an area I didn't have to worry about coming in contact with my face or any bodily fluids like sweat, I did not seal it. If you use this method anywhere that may come in regular and frequent contact with your skin, fabric, or liquids, seal it or just use a weft to avoid staining anything.

I sectioned off a thin strip of hair from the upper layer of the bangs and pinned the rest of the hair back so the roots were visible. Then I just moved the marker up and down over thin layers of the hair until it was a solid black. You can also use alcohol markers, diluted acrylic paint, or acrylic ink for this, but a Sharpie easily does the trick for a section as small as this.

_

Now it's ahoge time. Here's how I did it (Step by step diagram is under written instructions):

Step 1 This wig has a thick but soft top to it that allows things to be pinned or pushed through the top, so I used some thin jewelry wire to make the outline of the ahoge. Twist the bottom closed and curve it to the right shape. Don't trim off the excess wire at the bottom just yet, because you'll want it for stabilizing purposes later.

Step 2 Once you've made the outline and have it bent, you'll want to cover it in something clear you can attach hair to. I used clear packing tape, but it was honestly a little too stiff and sort of fussy to work with. You can probably use regular clear tape or even sticky plastic wrap. Whatever you use, be sure to trim the excess so you retain the same shape.

Step 3 Cover one side with hot glue and start adding your base layer of hair. I used the extra hair I trimmed off my bangs. They were closer to the length I needed and let me waste less hair! Once the first side is dry, do the same to the other. The hot glue sticks to plastic-y surfaces well enough to give you a base to build up off of. Be sure to pull/brush off any stray hairs.

Once you've finished your base layer, grab your white craft glue, a cup of water, and a brush you don't cherish too much to put glue on. What you're gonna do now is slowly build up the hair until you can't see the tape or the wire. The best way to do this is to put a thin coat of glue then a thin coat of hair and repeat until you get the result you like. Between layers, I recommend blasting it with a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. I sat mine a safe distance away in front of a small space heater while I worked on the pigtails to save time.

Step 4 Once you've built up as much hair as you want, it's time to stick the extra wire through the top of the wig. I stuck mine right into the middle of the center part. If your wig does not have a thick top or a skin top, you may want to sew in a thin piece of fabric to the inside of your wig before you do this step.

Step 5 Once you've stabbed your wire through the top of the wig, it's time to bend it! I like to make a little three-leaf clover shape since it's easy to tuck the ends of the wire back into the lace/fabric on the inside of the wig so it doesn't stab you while wearing it. I bend it to stat one leaf is pointing toward my forehead and the other two are pointing towards the back of my head.

To add extra stability, add a couple stitches at the very tips of the "leaves" with thread that matches your wig.

Here's the few pictures I remembered to take of this little guy, plus a bonus of him drying in front of the heater, just for fun.

_

At this point, all that's left to do is curling the long part of the hair and adding the pigtails.

For anyone unfamiliar with wig clips, they're basically mini wigs wrapped around hair claw clips. The "claws" of the clips go through netting the wig wefts are attached to and then an elastic string sewn into the outer edge of that netting is tightened to hide the clip. I was dumb and did not take a pic of the pigtail before removing the clip b because it was a struggle to get it out. But I have pics of the finished versions below with the clip's inserted, so check further down for what it looks like finished.

For now, here's how I separated the pigtail into two:

First, I counted the wefts to ensure I'd have an even number in both halves (Spoiler alert, I counted right, but still marked and cut the wrong spot lmao). I decided to cut it horizontally (side to side) so the wefts wouldn't fray. From there, I pulled the elastic through so that I could find the middle of it and place it over where I marked the halfway point of the netting. I cut through the elastic strings first and clipped them out of the way before carefully cutting the netting.

I used my thread snips to cut the net since it allows for more precise cuts and helps me not make so many mistakes. The picture below shows the cut elastics and then the two separated halves.

What you can't see here, is that the bottom half of the pigtail's wefts were sewn the same direction as the top half, but I need to flip the bottom half upside down, meaning the hair is going up instead of down. For this reason, I wouldn't suggest this method, but also don't have a better one. Just know I struggled to get it looking close to the other one with lots of time spent flat ironing individual wefts and adding wefts.

I ended up folding over the bottom wefts to add to the tube the elastic was fed through around the edge of the netting so it would hold more tightly to the clip once I put them back in. I had two smaller clips from a long time ago I that fit perfectly into these smaller pigtails!

This is how they looked after I finished them:

_

Now for the long part of the wig! All I'm going to do for this part is gently curl the ends inward. For this, I combed through in small sections and curled it with the flat iron. Because the wig fibers are plastic, they only hold their shape if they are in the desired shape when the plastic cools after being heated. Think of it like heating metal until it's flexible and it keeping the shape once it's cool.

To do this, I put the wig back on the head and attached it to my makeshift wig stand (I used a wreath stand you can buy in the floral section of a craft store because it's the best thing I had on hand, I don't recommend this, it's so wobbly...).

_

The last step is to attach the pigtails!

I didn't photograph my progress, so please accept my diagram instead!

I didn't trim the part I pulled back simply out of fear of it coming undone and being unable to clip the pigtails back. Not shown here, but I used a thick weaving needle I've had for years to thread the black ribbon through the pigtails as the final touch.

_

Aaaaaaaand here's the finished wig!

I'm super happy with how it turned out and can't wait to wear it. If I don't get good pics of me in this cosplay during the next con I wear it to I will cry.

[awsteb]

possible indicators of stolen gifs

(this isn't about going to the gif menu which automatically sources the gif underneath the image itself, this is about downloading and later uploading the image in a completely separate post.) (@gerardwaist's post reminded me to make a proper compilation of information which i've been meaning to do for a bit now because i'm tired so ty kit)

odd or inconsistent resolution - most people make gifs that are 540px wide for single-row gifs, 268px for 2 per row and 176px for 3 per row (as these are the resolutions that the gifs will be displayed on most people's devices when viewing the post in the dash). people who've stolen gifs often don't line gifs up correctly and this can result in oddly pixelated/small or clear/large looking gifs.

generally inconsistent gif style - this is pretty easy to spot, if gifs vary greatly in quality, size and colouring they may not all belong to the op (this is because the maximum image size on tumblr has increased massively over its existence; gifs from before 2012ish often being small with a low frame rate while most after 2017ish are very clean and smooth.)

captions with no source/information - the majority of seasoned gifmakers use the text part of their gif post as a place to denote what the gifset is about, source videos and/or add a relevant passage/quote. stolen gifs are usually accompanied by "reactions" to the gifs rather than information about them.

over-tagging or no tagging at all - since what most people who steal gifs want is engagement, they often over-tag said gifs with things that aren't particularly relevant to the actual content in the post (most people who've been on tumblr a while don't do this because tags are a way to find specific content, not just a way to get your stuff in front of more people. you'll probably get grilled for this).

also, most gifmakers tag their gifs as something along the lines of "my gifs" or another signature tag in order to find their ops later (for example mine is "candy.gif").

new or half-empty account - as i mentioned, a lot of this has to do with how long someone has been on tumblr. gifmaking is a very tumblr-based thing, people who have brand new or semi-active accounts probably aren't gifmakers.

watermarks (i.e. text stating the creator's username) that don't match the url - this can always be because the user has changed their url after making the gif, but if there are other indicators that the gif isn't theirs then it probably isn't.

the post itself isn't about the gif(s) - it may be a diary-type text post, fanfiction etc accompanied by a gif of the character they're talking about. plenty of people source these nowadays but there's always a few who don't get it.

either reply or send a quick message/ask to the person letting them know that they shouldn't repost someone else's gifs without permission and if possible track down the original post(s) to reblog and/or let the gifmaker know. a lot of people genuinely don't know the etiquette around fanmade content online so it's safest to let them know and give them a chance to right themselves before being particularly mean or judgemental.

[themostsanebug]

Can you tell us a bit about your sona and Moon?

•How do they connect with Steven and Harry?

●How did their relationships (platonic familial regardin fly boy and red phone man..) start?

●How'd you come up with their designs? What inspired them?

●Will you write more about them?

●Do you have plans to go more in-depth on their stories, or are you simply workin as you go?

●Or if you have anythin else you wanna say about them, you got people who are eager to listen and follow along!

Sorry for all the questions! I know that if I were bein asked about my ocs/sona but wasn't given any questions to answer, I wouldn't be able to come up with anythin. So I hope the questions help! I'm just very curious about all of them, and I wanna learn more =]

AWAWAA?????? DUDE THIS MAKES IT SO MUCH EASIER FOR ME TYSM?????

OKAY FOR THE FIRST ONE!!!! im not the best at interpreting EXACTLY what connect to means; but in terms of my sona, i believe it would be stuff along the lines of how similar they are!!!!! and by that i mean!!!! both strive to impress their father figures, both are scared of people leaving them (though my sona only recently got those (i dont have issues with that myself)), and probably some more things im forgetting!!!!! as for moon? xe and harry just work well together!!!!! theyre both nice with each other and make sure the other is happy and comfortable!!!!!! honestly still need to work out lore for moon, nothing is set in stone for xem just yet.....

my sonas and stevens relationship started out plan and simple!!!!!! my little guy asked steven to be is "unofficial adoptive father" and boom. it happened. little did the fly boy know he was going to end up with an actually comforting father figure who he later started to see as his ACTUAL dad. as for moon and harry..... moon just complimented him a bunch and subtly flirted and then confessed:3c

OHH THEIR DESIGNS..... well my sonas design was inspired by a bunch of things!!!!!! but the main one was a moment where i was called "fly boy" (not actually fly boy but yknow. not misgendering myself) by my mother!!!!!! which led to me liking houseflies a bunch!!!! hence the entire fly themed branding and fly cryptid sona bit!!!!! the cryptid part is just an easy way to explain why he doesnt look like an anthropomorphized housefly!!!!! as for moon? just went with what felt right!!!!! nothing really inspired xis design outside of the tag i used for xem (🌕 anon) guess xis design was just destiny!!!!!!!

OH AND I WILL ABSOLUTELY WRITE MORE ABOUT THEM..... ive made plenty for my sona and steven already!!!!!! three different stories i think? ill probably write more for moon once i sort out xis lore.......

i may go more in-depth with their stories through long text posts but im mostly just improvising!!!!!! the joy of roleplaying with these two is i get lore made for me sometimes...... /silly

I DONT HAVE MUCH ELSE TO YAP ABOUT BUT!!!!!!! RANDOM FACTS GO!!!!!! my sona also has several abilities of houseflies!!!!! some being he can climb walls, remove his head (dw he can attach it again unlike flies...), and see really well!!!!! im fairly sure some fly species also have antenna they can sense vibrations with, which is what he can do as well!!!!! while moon still doesnt have any concrete lore one bit im gonna probably keep is the fact that xe is meant to be the worlds BIGGEST people pleaser and they fact that xe has been to jail at some point before.......

APOLOGIES FOR A LATE RESPONSE I HAD TO TAKE BREAKS BETWEEN TYPING THIS!!!!!! BUT AUH!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTIONS THESE WERE REALLY FUN TO ANSWER AND IM!!!! SOSOSOSOSO HAPPY MY LITTLE GUYS INTRIGUE YOU!!!!!!!