#this is so true forever i believe

[synthbug]

@spiffysortcave

a couple days ago I tried redrawing something with Drift but his catboy ears literally covered the words like

[lipt-97]

came back just to post these. okay bye

[cannibal-nightmares]

let's make trouble in the dream world, we'll hijack heaven with another memory now; i make the most of the turning tide, it just split what's left of the burning silence

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

🌸 Sapphicnatural Statistics Spreadsheet 🌸

link for the spreadsheet here!

hello hello! in may 2024 i completed a university essay studying the subversive shipping conventions of sapphicnatural fanfic in the Sapphicnatural Collection over on AO3, with the thesis that sapphicnatural ships are often rarepairs with little-to-no grounds in canon (e.g: a guest character/one-off character who have never met on screen), conversely to standard fanfic practice. as part of this, i gathered some statistics about the fics in the collection, got slightly carried away with the scope, and made a giant spreadsheet with 6 sheets of various data. with the project over, i thought it would be nice to share it with tumblr in case anyone else finds it helpful or just interesting!! i'm likely going to post the essay that i wrote alongside this in the next few weeks, so give me a shout too if that's something you'd like to see

to pique your interest, the spreadsheet includes:

Notes on methodology and the vocabulary used

Statistics on the popularity of each sapphicnatural ship in the collection and the frequency of characters featured

Analysis on some significiant ship factors: whether the characters have met in canon and how frequently characters re-occured in the show

'Ship potency', a new framework i'm workshopping to quantify how 'viable/strong' a ship is, specifically when measuring the makeup of femslash ships against mlm ships

i've written up some of the key points i found and some extra analysis about them under the cut, so read more if you're interested! <3

Contextual note: there are 129 fanfics in the Sapphicnatural collection.

Top 5 most popular Sapphicnatural ships:

donna/jody (10 fics)

anna/mary (7 fics)

jo/cassie (6 fics)

anna/ruby (5 fics)

kaia/claire (4 fics)

21 unique ships have 3 fics per ship. 24 unique ships have 2 fics per ship, and 52 unique ships have 1 fic per ship. So, only a quarter (25.3% of ships) have more than 3 fics written about them.

Rarepairs (and thus multishipping) are much more frequent in Sapphicnatural fanfiction than across most fandom fanfic collections which often centre around a specific ship

Have the characters met in canon?

Only 34.2% of ships involve two or more characters who have met on-screen in the show, with 59.6% of ships featuring two or more characters who have never met

4 out of the 5 top ships are between characters who met in the show's canon

BUT the most common dynamic is between two characters who could potentially meet in canon (are alive through the same seasons/at the same location (hell/heaven) at the same time) but who never meet in the show

This idea of 'canon potential' is the most exciting space for a lot of sapphicnatural writers, where finding gaps in the existing narrative and placing two similar women together to explore what their relationship could look often seems to be more inviting than those established on-screen

What is the spread of side/guest/one-off characters in ships?

A third (32.9%) of ships are made-up side/guest character

None of the characters featured are main characters (as none of the women spn characters can be realistically classed as 'main characters' lolol)

17 ships feature at least one one-off character, with 3 being one-off/one-off

Sapphicnatural fanfiction has a unique appreciation for reinforcing attention to minor characters, often as part of a feminist agenda to restore their agency

How frequently are individual characters featured?

Jo Harvelle is the most popular character in the sapphicnatural collection, involved in 15 unique ships across 34 fics. So, over a quarter (26.4%) of the fanfics in the collection feature Jo

Author's note: honestly this could be my individual impact on the collection as a jogirl oops

Mary Winchester is involved in 14 unique ships across 25 ships, so both Jo and Mary are significantly multi-shipped. Mary features twice across the top 5 ships

Sapphicnatural writers often write in service of a particular character rather than a ship - ie. exploring Jo's sapphic identity is more important than who her relationship is with

Charlie, Anna, Ruby, Claire, and Bela are the other characters involved in more than 10 fics each across the collection

Ship potency:

I explain this concept more on the sheet itself, but I essentially assign numerical values to whether a ship is (possible in) canon or not, how frequently characters re-occur in the show, and how popular a ship is respective to the fandom (as sapphicnatural is small, donna/jody is popular with 10 fics, for example)

This is to gain a measure of how 'strong' a ship is, assuming that a standard mlm ship will rank highly in most of these criteria (control variable of destiel ranks 29.5/30, whereas the average potency sum for a sapphicnatural ship is 11.8)

Across the top 5 ships, the average potency sum is 20.9

4/5 of the most popular sapphicnatural ships are in the top 5 for ship potency, with donna/jody, anna/mary, kaia/claire and anna/ruby having strong canon foundations and so high potency ratings.

jo/cassie is irregular as the third most popular ship because they only rank 14th for ship potency, as the pairing have not met on-screen in canon, and features a one-off character

Ships with higher potency sums do tend to be slightly more popular, but there isn't a clear pattern among any of the ships. I'd like to do some more work with this to fine-tune the system

Wordcount, kudos, and hits:

Average wordcount of a fic is 3,511 words. This fits with my other working theory (links to my post about my history essay on women's fiction through the feminist waves) that sapphicnatural writers utilise short stories and one-shots to most succesfully explore sapphic identities

Average kudos is 48, with a median of 13

Average hits is 353, with a median of 122

So: sapphicnatural fanfics receive a fairly low level of interaction, especially when compared to the mlm ships in the Supernatural fandom (destiel, etc). This is in-line with most fandoms and femslash as a whole - a small, dedicated community are reading and writing sapphicnatural

I didn't explore much here, but it would be interesting to go into further depth anout how many fics in the collection are written by different authors, etc

and that's it from me! if you've made it down here, you're an absolute gem and thank you for sticking with me! hope you foundd it as interesting to read through as i did to write up - and that you give the spreadsheet a nosey too if you fancy <3

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

if 9&10 were "dont wander off", and 11&12 were "the doctor lies", 13s rule #1 is "dont question me"

"have we not had a good time together" shes pointing yaz to the rule that yaz very well knows is there: we can travel if you dont ask me any difficult questions. yaz knows this is the rule - "because you ask too many questions", "this team structure isnt flat" - but she also was the one to invite the doctor into her home so im pretty sure she also knows shes not gonna kicked out that easily. she has some leeway. which she has been using between revolution and flux, which is why the doctor reminds her of the rules

i dont think she'd kick her out though. she wouldnt. i think it's just that the more you break the rule, the more unpleasant she becomes to be around, and eventually youre gonna walk out on your own. she doesnt want you to, she'd rather you stay and dont ask questions. but if youre gonna try to ask questions anyway, i think thats whats gonna happen

and yaz must think so too. because she does back off. because she doesnt want that to happen either. and it does anyway

[skunkes]

You’ll see some blood come out, but it’s okay - it’s your blood.

[francy-sketches]

Oh we are reaching warriorcats level of discourse

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Thinking thoughts about Abuela being back and with this backstory about her being taken in by charlatans and Eddies whole catholic guilt thing and how the two things kind of play into one another as an exploration of faith and being taken in by something.

Abuela giving all her money to the tarot card readers etc because she was searching for something - for connection (with Abuelo) - trying to recapture what she had lost, and How Eddie has spoken about trying to re-find the magic he had with Shannon - how Eddie hasn't actually fully reconciled the Shannon of it all when it comes to relationships and how his Catholic guilt connects into that.

How Marisol as a physical representation of Catholicism is part of that narrative - how Eddie is entering a place where he has to chose his path - in order to move on from Shannon he needs to fully square the hole - catholic or non catholic. And how that needs to happen first - before he can begin his queer journey!

[deus-ex-mona]

scrolled a little too far back on mogetwt and found pure gold:

[soup-for-ghosts]

“May we meet again in a better life.”

[luderailing]

Lat 🖋️

[ismyteadoneyet]

How fortunate am I to have so many Things to love and be excited about, to appreciate and look forward to?

Things I feel so strongly about that they stumble into my mind, univited, at random times of the day? Things that spill into my speech and vocabulary without me noticing? Things that impact my vision to the point where everywhere I look, everywhere I go, I see ghosts of them?

How lucky am I to have so many Things I love and cherish enough for them to reshape my very person, change my beliefs and make me grow? Things that make my own loved ones see the Things out in the wild, and go out of their way to make sure I see them too?

How wonderful is it that I have Things that I love so much that the very act is deemed and dubbed "not normal", making my love for them seem like it's more than they are supposed to recieve? An out-of-the-ordinary and above-the-norm appreciation for the Things that make the people around me shake their heads, call me "silly".

My dear, beloved Things, may I always stay silly for you ❤️

[blue-jacket-blues]

Event Horizon is a very good movie but that is not the point of this post right now. Extremely long post about speculative clone biology and what might have happened to Gabriel had Hux and the Entity not intervened under the cut

Over its many years of operation, Huxlee Industries has refined its narrative-building techniques to create increasingly detailed and intricate false memories for its cloned subjects. Where appropriate, the lab technicians responsible for programming the clones' narrative memories will manufacture fictional romantic relationships as well as familial ones. The decision to add prior romantic partners to a clone's falsified memories must be handled carefully - Huxlee's narrative builders have to program their clone subjects with enough memories to create the illusion of a full life lived, but this narrative cannot be TOO detailed, or the clone may experience psychological instability from a perceived loss of connection to their fictional loved ones. Romantic entanglements are typically only programmed in when it is deemed necessary to offset a potential personality flaw in the subject. A clone manufactured to express bold, adventurous behavior is an asset to any colonization mission, but these traits could just as easily spell disaster if that clone decides to go rogue and flee into the alien wilds. Programming their memories to include a girlfriend waiting up for them back home on Earth, however, encourages them to stick with the mission. They have someone to get home to, after all. Or at least they think that they do.

All non-settler-population clone lineage formulas are manufactured to produce sterile clones, since any unplanned clone pregnancies would result in lower mission productivity and potential profit loss. Clones with uteri and ovaries still undergo a menstrual cycle every month to maintain the subject's internal narrative and psychological stability. Clones with testes produce nonviable sperm. [Data gathered by top Huxlee Industries scientists indicates that the average volume of clone ejaculate is slightly higher than those of non-clones (5-7mL for clones compared to 1.5-5mL for non-clones). It is unclear why this is but they have their top scientists working on unraveling this crucial mystery.] This, however, doesn't mean that clone pregnancies are impossible. Life finds a way. More specifically, Huxlee can't completely prevent random mutations from happening that reverse or weaken the sterilization process, although this phenomenon is extremely rare. It is highly unlikely that any fetus conceived by clone parents would survive to full term, and even less likely that this hypothetical child would survive for more than a few days to a month after birth. Huxlee's clone gene pool is very carefully monitored and "pruned" when it is deemed necessary to maintain "batch" purity, and clone pregnancies carry an extremely high risk of fatal birth defects. To try and further mitigate the risk of clone/clone sexual activity and potential pregnancies, Huxlee will often incorporate libido-lowering pharmaceuticals into the clones' nutrient paste.

Clones are, by default, programmed to be heterosexual and cisgender. This, thankfully, is an easier condition to reverse than the laboratory-mandated sterilization process. Same-sex clone relationships are not necessarily discouraged, as there is no associated pregnancy risk with such a coupling (which is Huxlee's primary concern when it comes to clone team interaction), though clone romantic entanglements of any kind are generally discouraged and are minimized wherever possible.

Gabriel was not the first clone to experience doubts about his identity, but he is the first clone to actually discover the truth and live to tell the tale. Dmitri was the only person aboard the Caracas III with knowledge of the cloning program and was fully aware that Gabriel (and the remaining eight crewmen) were clones. However, Huxlee constructed Dmitri's personal narrative in such a way that he firmly believed he was the only non-clone aboard the ship and had been sent on the mission to monitor the clone labor force. His orders were to maintain the subjects' personal narratives at all costs. Firstly by verbal deception, using the mandatory psychological evaluation periods to assess each crew member for signs of "narrative instability". Internally, this was referred to as "Stage I Redirection". If the crew member still displayed signs of instability after repeated verbal redirection, Dmitri was authorized to administer hypospray as necessary ("Stage II Redirection"). Had Hux not massacred the crew when he did, Gabriel would have been subjected to Stage III Redirection - termination. Stage III was a true last resort, but was deemed necessary to prevent the subject's instability from impacting the other crew members or adversely affecting the mission. After obtaining Stage III authorization from the Huxlee project manager responsible for reviewing the Dvarka mission's progress, Dmitri would have been given access to the manufacturing formula for a last-resort secret pharmaceutical - a single dose of Aldicide, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and virtually untraceable method of euthanasia. Dmitri's orders were to mix the Aldicide into Gabriel's evening nutrient paste ration and quietly monitor the events to come. Death by Aldicide is peaceful, for the most part. Aldicide poisoning begins with a sudden wave of fatigue, which would have been easily explained away as general end-of-day tiredness, and a creeping sensation of coldness in the fingers and toes as blood circulation begins to slow. The victim typically falls asleep about 30 - 45 minutes after ingestion. Death follows sleep as the body slowly slips into a state of paralysis. Function is first lost in the limbs, graduating to major organ failure as the Aldicide takes hold. Death by cardiac arrest occurs approximately 1.5 - 2 hours after ingestion. This may seem like a prolonged and cruel method of euthanasia, but Huxlee designed Aldicide poisoning to take place across this timeframe on purpose. The intention was to deliver as painless of a death as possible, both to ensure that the victim did not panic and harm other crewmen or company property on their way out and to reduce crew suspicion. A sudden death raises questions; dying in your sleep under some sort of freak accidental circumstances is far less suspicious. Had Dmitri received authorization for Stage III Redirection, Gabe would have had time to say his good-nights to the rest of the crew before turning in early and, from everyone else's perspective, would have died peacefully in his sleep. Ironically, Hux saved Gabe's life by going on his little rampage. Dmitri had been communicating with Huxlee in secret throughout the final few weeks of the Dvarka mission, trying to find a solution to Gabriel's instability that didn't involve drugging him into oblivion with hypospray or dosing him with Aldicide. Shortly before Hux cut the power to the Caracas III's life support systems, Dmitri received Stage III Redirection authorization from Huxlee's project management board. Gabriel would have been killed the following night. Following all company procedures related to the handling of human remains, his body would have been incinerated aboard the Caracas III.

[napping-sapphic]

God i’m thinking about how easily and unknowingly strangers can grant you salvation like i found it in how my old classmate told me once that i was a kind person and it was the first time i’d ever believed it

in how a coworker once said that i always seem so happy and have a nice smile and i cried about it when i got home since i’d always been told i seem too serious or mean

in how someone once told me i was good at comforting them when i’d always thought i was bad at it

Just god they’re out there somewhere and i barely remember what they looked like and we’ll never cross paths again but they changed me so deeply, they’re out there but they’ll never know how often i revisit those memories and think of myself even just a little more kindly they’re out there and i don’t know them but they’re the most important people in the world to me somehow

[mikotobackbreaker]

If you're an Milgram fan who's an adult (and Milgram is a series aimed ar adults so) and you don't know that Amane is VERY LIKELY written as a programmed DID system, or that such a thing even exists (let alone is common is high-control cults), well congrats on your blissful ignorance; now get to reading xoxo

[skunkes]

if life is categorized by Before Loss and After Loss then I exist in the before but with a countdown to the after. and the countdown is always always present and debilitating. the loss will be debilitating too but i cant help myself. i will always suffer twice.