#we didn't do anything different than we usually do so my running theory is that a dryer sheet got stuck to my underwear

[arthallea]

today i learned i likely am allergic to something being used in the laundry, which i learned because my ass cheeks have been on fire a good portion of the day due to a single pair of my underwear

[arcane-vagabond]

Hey, y’all. Not really sure how to start this, but here goes.

I started using Tumblr in the far off year of 2012, when I was 16. I started off in the Hunger Games fandom right as the movies were coming out, and I made so many amazing friends on here. I eventually moved on to different fandoms, namely SuperWhoLock (The combined fandom of Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. If you know, you know). There were ups and downs, but fandom was a community I could rely on. Strangers on the internet were supportive of me, even if we weren't necessarily close, people made an avid effort to interact with each other and have conversations with people on here.

I took a break when I started college, trying to navigate my way through my newly aqcuired adult status, and Tumblr kind of fell by the wayside after a while. But, when I left there was still a thriving community in fandom with people interacting with each other, coming up with theories for things, coming up with theories and headcanons about beloved characters. Comments and reblogs were plentiful, and fanfic, fanart, etc. were a two sided conversation. You didn't even have to write fanfic or make fanart in order to get interactions.

I came back a couple of years ago, logging in here and there to lurk and read fanfic on my old blog. I discovered Top Gun: Maverick and felt compelled to write my very first fanfiction: Don't Hang'em Til Noon. I was so excited to share it because I saw that no one else had done a Wild West!AU, and I was excited to share my work and talk about it and the actual movie with people on here. I did find people who were as excited as I was, and that was great. But then I got one of my first anonymous messages.

"You really need to calm down."

Calm down? Why? I thought the whole point of fandom was that we were all excited about this one thing? I was so confused.

I kept writing, and the hate anons kept coming. I was accused of thinking I'm better than everyone on here (why, I still don't understand), I was accused of thinking I run the fandom (probably because I pointed very obvious things out), and more. I take it on the chin usually, but of course words still hurt. This was not what I remembered fandom being like, and I found that the longer I kept doing this, the more it started to feel like a chore versus something I genuinely enjoyed.

I get hundreds of votes in my polls for what to update or what to do next, but the notes and interactions are not reflecting this. I got more interactions as someone who didn't create fan works twelve years ago than I do as a content creator now. The attitude towards fandom has changed.

It's no longer a community, it's a popularity contest. People put down others to make themselves feel better, which was always a thing, but not it's more prevalent. It's become a numbers game, and it shouldn't be. People say that they're too afraid to comment or put themselves out there to talk to creators, but guess what? It's terrifying to put your work out there to be seen by so many people and to be judged. And it's discouraging to see the amount of people who like but won't leave a comment or reblog. Do you actually like it? How am I supposed to know?

Some of you are so jealous of others, that you've let it consume you. You attack me for my AUs, claiming that they're boring and uninteresting, and yet? There are some of you who've seen how invested some people have become with my stories and have tried to emulate them. You're not venturing into AU because you genuinely want to. You're doing it because you see that there's a market for it. You're the same people who mocked me for doing it in the first place.

There's a whole group on here that are so bitter and insecure about their own abilities, that they feel the need to put others down, and I'm not mad. If anything, I feel genuinely sorry for you.

There have always been problems with fandom, but not like this. I don't know if this is all specific to the TGM fandom, but y'all? I'm exhausted. I'm tired of putting so much of myself out there to only here crickets or demands for more. What happened to actual conversation? Waht happened to interacting for the sake of interacting?

I've made some genuinely amazing friends on here, and I talk to them pretty much every single day. However, I need a break from this website. I need to find my love for writing again, and I won't be able to do it on here while things continue to be the way they are. So, this is my long ass way of announcing that I'm officialy going on hiatus for a little while, at least the month. I will be focusing on writing We Abide as an original story the way it was originally intended to be. I will not be on during this time. I will not continue to pressure myself to update for you all when you give me next to nothing in return. And if this makes me the villain? Then so be it.

For those of you who've been a constant source of comfort, laughter, inspiration, etc.? I love you. From the bottom of my heart, I'm so grateful to all of you, and if at the end of my month away I decide to come back, I hope you'll still be here to read what I give.

Until next time.

-Liz

[theanxiousghostartist]

TMAGP 28 Spoilers

Reaction and Theories

Literally screaming with this one/pos

The Minister's Visit:

Trevor is the Minister? It's very interesting given his character in TMA was a vampire-killer, homeless outlaw, and a great father figure for Julia. I wonder if this means his first experience with a vampire went differently than in TMA. Maybe his brother survived, or maybe someone came to help?

His diversity comment with Sam??? It is reminiscent of TMA!Trevor but still, it was very unexpected for me.

He seems to be in a similar situation to Lena, having to keep his bosses happy. He mentions that the ONS has been "sniffing around" and that Gorman-Smith is on top of him. From what I can see, the ONS is the Office for National Statistics, but it could mean something else in TMAGP. Otherwise, the language Trevor uses reminds me of the Hunt a lot - "sniffing around," "someone's head to roll," "come back to bite me," ect. I know that these are common phrases, but Trevor seems to be similar to his TMA counterpart, so I've been vigilant, trying to pick up on any settle details about his relationship with the Fears.

Lena and the Minister:

So, Lena's running the OIAR without much oversight, interesting...

A reliable source? Who Trevor??

Ahh, Ink5oul is still committing crimes. Good for them. It makes sense too, with them Becoming, they need to feed.

Daniel "Danny" Turner is the Commissioner, so I assume he's been involved in the investigation of Ink5oul to some extent.

Trevor wants someone punished for Ink5oul, someone in the OIAR. What will Lena do? Maybe she'll fire Colin, since he knows too much already and tried to destroy the computers.

It seems like Trevor is giving Lena permission to kill or fire whoever is a liability.

In this interaction between Lena, Trevor, and Gwen, it seemed to me that Lena was trying to protect Gwen from Trevor. Like she made sure that Gwen didn't reveal herself as contracting externals and made tried to keep Gwen away from the conversation entirely, perhaps so she wouldn't know too much about the way the OIAR is run by the higher-ups. While Lena was firm, she seemed scared as well, showing more anger than usual. Her character is similar to Daisy in TMA, so I'm using her as a basis, as they both seem to get angrier and more defensive when they are scared. Especially since my theory is that Lena is Hunt and Web aligned, it would make sense that they would show these emotions similarly.

Alice, Celia, and Sam:

So Trevor knows nothing. I wonder if it is because information is given on a "need-to-know basis" according to Lena. She and the higher ups would have to know, as she runs the place and the higher ups have power over her, but Trevor seems more like a middleman than anything. "Pan?" Is Celia pan??!! Yippee!!!

OoooOOO, Alice is having drinks with Teddy, I hope we get to hear about it next episode. Also, he's having insomnia. I wonder if it is because he's away from the OIAR?

I appreciate Sam respect Celia's boundaries but also acknowledging that her "mysterious origins" (TMA-verse), are going to have to be revealed in order to get closer to Sam.

Alice wins the bet ^_^

Gwen and the Minister:

Wilson is Trevor's driver; I wonder if they'll be important...

Gwen nooo!!! Please don't get Lena killed ))):

Jeremy Bouchard?????

Nooo Gwen don't please ))):

She has a flashdrive full of 20 years of "incompetence" of Lena as the head of the OIAR. Ok, so she is older, that's good to know for my design lol.

A concerned 3rd party sent this information to Gwen... It's from the email isn't it? I'm pretty sure it's Jonah. Since Jonah took over Elias, he had to have access to his memories. If they were related, it makes sense that Jonah would know about Gwen, and if they are the same person, we know Jonah is a master manipulator and has manipulated Elias before. Maybe he's trying to claw to the top via Gwen in order to free himself?

How does Trevor know Jeremy? Maybe he is the reason Gwen got the job? Ah, so Gwen is a spy now.

The Archivist and Sam:

So Sam is locked out of the OIAR?

Archivist!!!! They found the OIAR!!! Oh, I wonder if they are going to serve a Jane-Prentiss-esc role for the OIAR crew.

Sam is able to resist, for a little bit, at least? That may be because of his connection with the Eye.

Sam's Statement: So, we finally get more information on the Gifted Children Program! Gilbert wore a fake smile. All I can think of is the Stranger's Dolls and Distortion, maybe he was marked by the Stranger or Spiral? Two stern-looking older women... I wonder if one of those women was Gertrude.

"Was I happy at home?" "What do I do when I feel angry or upset?" "When is it okay to lie?" The Institute was most definitely looking for someone to mark or who was already marked...

Oh, so Sam was marked at the Institute, while they were trying to do a ritual. Very interesting.

Dr. F. Welling's skeleton ripped out of his skin after a yellow light went into him? I wonder if he was doing a body transfer and that word he messed up when Sam interrupted him caused it to go haywire. It definitely feels like the Flesh, especially since Sam mentioned near the end that he was unnerved by the sight of seeing a bit of the form of the skull "smiling" underneath the skin when he looked at his parents Maybe the Stranger was mixed in a bit as well? IDK, it reminds me of the coral case.

The development of Sam through his statement is great. I loved being able to see his fear of being a disappointment shine through, even as a child, and this statement definitely helps show us why he makes some choices today (like seeking out the Institute, valuing the Institute more than Alice at times, ect)

So, the Archivist (not necessarily OUR archivist, Jonathan Sims), left Sam on the floor, and leaves the tape recorder with Sam. Maybe this is how they establish a connection with their victim and slowly feed off of them, even after death, like the drowning victim Alice saw? The transcript also says that "The archivist steps forward to takes one last breath of Sam's memory..." so I wonder if they are not only feeding off of the fear but damaging the memory as well. Or maybe they take the memory and force it into the tape recorder, hence why when it turns on, even after death, the person starts speaking again, sort of like Gertrude's skin in the Unknowing - it holds a bit of the essence of the person.

Great episode! I was screaming the entire time/pos

[pendarling]

Soulmates For Life

• Part 2 > End >>

When the red string appeared around Villain's pinky, bright and glowing, they felt their excitement.

The city had been struck with a strange phenomenon which allowed every civilian to wake up with this strange thread leading to their soulmates. Was it the conspiracy of another villain? Were they hidden somewhere with a strange ability to create love connections?

Outside in the open, hundreds of lines of red painted the streets, rounding corners and twisting around trees.

Desperation clawed Villain as they trod the streets and hoped to God theirs lead right to Hero and nowhere else. Their eyes followed the string cutting between lanes and around blocks until they reached their destination. A cold, empty lot away from the bustle of the city.

They always had a feeling it was Hero from the start, so they might as well get this over with. From their pocket, Villain picked out their mirror and stared into it, fixing their hair and patiently waiting for Hero to arrive at their usual meeting spot.

The string began to glow a vibrant red; they stared at it curiously and watched a figure walk toward them from the shadows. Their cape flowing right behind them. They smiled as they noticed their string grow shorter and shorter with every step Hero took.

"Villain." Hero greeted.

They tucked the mirror and stood straight with a confident smile on their face, "Dear," Villain replied. They sounded a lot more relieved than they wanted to, but they couldn't help it. "As expected." They tossed their hair back, "I can't expect less from an excellent fighter such as you so it was only natural to be drawn together."

Hero nodded, "Fair enough, although I have to say our worldviews aren't exactly well-aligned."

They shrugged, "With time, you will come to understand, darling." They checked their watch, "Let's make this quick, I have several meetings to attend to."

"So… I'm sure by now you are aware of the issues this will cause." They lifted their pinky, "I cannot have my teammates thinking I've betrayed their trust."

"True. Which is why I plan to avoid you until this is all over."

"I don't think that's possible. We should find a way to destroy it now."

Villain laughed coldly, "Because you actually hate me?"

"Love?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Let's focus on resolving our problem." Hero wrapped the string around both their wrists and then tightened their hands around it as they pulled in either direction in an attempt to snap it. "Wow…" They panted, "I wonder what it's made of."

"Watch and learn." Villain grabbed a small knife from their pocket as Hero walked closer and held the string up for them. They got to work swiftly running the blade back and forth again and again until the chord split, but it was like iron steel. The line remained unharmed and stood stronger than ever.

"I don't think this is going to break with conventional tools." Hero spoke. Their hands unwrapped themselves from the string.

Villain wasn't one to give up and took out a lighter next; they grabbed a clump of the yarn in the hope of setting it ablaze; their lighter flickered to life, brushing against the soft fabric but not leaving a mark.

"Damn." They shut the lid of the lighter.

"Are you going to quit?" Hero said.

"Give me your hand." They laid it carefully into their palm. Villain ran their thumb over the crimson light and inspected it closely; the material seemed like a fabric but acted completely differently. Where the string tied around their pinky was a small knot, they picked at its corner, struggling to loosen it from its firm hold.

"Physical attempts do not work." Hero took their hand back and looked at it themselves. "This clearly needs a psychological and emotional attack to break the bond."

"Are you suggesting…?"

"Let's test our theory out." Hero took a few steps back, "Say something you hate about me."

Villain hardly let them finish before they had already answered. "You're narcisstic tendency to always be right."

It didn't do anything.

Villain thought again, "And your're ugly laugh."

Hero laughed. "Come now, be more honest about what you feel."

They were right. Villain loved their laugh too much and knew Hero didn't have any narcissistic tendencies. However, it was worth a shot. They needed to dig deeper and find something that would truly hurt them, but something stayed lodged in their throat from speaking against them too much.

"I hate the way you tap your foot when you think too much." Hero spoke.

Villain looked to their foot, which had subconsciously moved on its own. They really had noticed this aspect of them? Even Villain didn't realize they do it that often. They sheepishly forced their foot to stop.

"It makes an annoying sound." They finished.

"Please," Villain rolled their eyes, "I thought you said to choose words that would have an impact."

It was hopeless; they weren't getting anything done. Unless Villain was ready to lose their feelings, they couldn't imagine any changes.

"Alright, how about we stay away from each other for now until we can find a solution?" Hero presented.

They nodded; it was the only choice they had; if there was anything better, they might be able to propose it later. Villain watched Hero disappear out of sight. The thin line of sharp red contrasted against the night as it began to stretch further from them.

•

Part 2 >

End >>

~~~

MASTERLIST

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[satureja13]

Since Ji Ho and Jack practice yoga and meditate to ease Jack's pain, they spend a lot of time together these days. And since Jack loves games so much, he teaches Ji Ho Sabacc. Usually Jack plays with Saiwa or Vlad but now that they are all so tense since Kiyoshi is back...

Jack: "Would you accompany me to the Temple later to let Arturo treat me? I can't wait to get rid of Kiyoshi's influence over me and all this pain. Tomorrow it's been a year since he became my Alpha and it went utterly downhill with me." Ji Ho hesitates, but he promised to be honest: "Um Jack, are you aware that it isn't Arturo who heals you? It's the magic of the Temple - and the Tree. And the Tree is Kiyoshi. He's the diety who gives Arturo his powers." No, of course Jack hadn't been aware of that.

Jack: "Very well then. I will avoid the Temple. And Kiyoshi. I can do this by myself. It already got a lot better, even though Kiyoshi is back and always around."

Ji Ho: "Are you sure? You live with this pain for months now." Jack: "Thanks to you I can almost do anything here. The yoga, meditating... I will set up a hot tub and skip the massages." Ji Ho: "I could ask Vlad if it's ok for him when I give you the massages?" Jack: "You would? I know this must be hard for you given that you learned how to do it at 'The House of the rising Sun' (the brothel where Ji Ho's mother used to work). But Vlad will be ok with it, I'm his best friend. Don't worry."

Speaking of Vlad. While Jack and Ji Ho play Sabacc, he, Jeb and Kiyoshi gathered with Saiwa to finally tell him the whole truth about 'Bird'...

Vlad: "... and then we found out that Kiyoshi didn't say 'I love Bird' but 'I like Fur' because his last blurred thoughts were about Jack, his real fated mate. And not about you. *Vlad sighs from the dephts of his soul before he's able to continue. He hates to hurt Saiwa* So it wasn't necessary to have a fake relationship with Kiyoshi to bring him back..."

Saiwa exploded. His head was spinning. Jeb and him put their whole relationship on a risk for a misunderstanding of a muffled word and Jack's weird theory and a tattoo? Arturo already told them that Kiyoshi and Jack are fated mates but it seemed so weird that someone like Kiyoshi would love someone like Jack so Saiwa too thought there must have been something between them so Kiyoshi's last thoughts were about him - and that he were so special to him and the fake relationship needed to be done to help him come back... And now this! Since the Lab Saiwa hadn't felt so humiliated. He was only able to say one word, and that was: "RUN!"

And they ran... They know Saiwa well enough that nothing they could do or say now would be able to calm him down.

Saiwa even started to throw things at them!

Vlad is familiar with Saiwas temper and he knows he needs his time to cool down. And so they decided to go the only other place in Tomarang where they could stay - the Temple. There's always some work to do and they could also spend some time on their secret project which is supposed to help to make it up to the others. Now more important than ever.

Poor Jeb. What have they done. That's the first time Saiwa is mad at him after they broke up - because of Jack - and he doesn't know what to do. What if Saiwa leaves him - again. He wouldn't survive this. Vlad: "Let's leave before he hits us with something painful - or comes after us!"

And in the evening, when they came back from work, Vlad caught Ji Ho massaging Jack.

Vlad knows there is no reason to be jealous. Jack is his best friend and even the Bond lets him know that there's nothing to be upset about.

But it hurts. It reminds him of the times Ji Ho massaged him to charge the bond and he wishes his relationship with Ji Ho was different. That they finally could be together. His head knows how wrong this is and he wants to give Ji Ho all the time he needs and he would even give up on love if that meant Ji Ho could be happy without him. But his heart wants what his heart wants...

'It's savage and it's cruel And it shines like destruction Comes in like the flood And it seems like religion It's noble and it's brutal It distorts and deranges And it wrenches you up And you're left like a zombie

And I want you And I want you And I want you so It's an obsession

It's guilt edged Glamorous and sleek by design You know it's jealous by nature False and unkind It's hard and restrained And it's totally cool It touches and it teases As you stumble in the debris'

Love is a stranger - Eurythmics

Outtakes

Vlad in his room looking at his plasmafruit tree. He's so happy that he can finally eat real food! Plasma fruit are delicious - but having them day for day...

Jeb and Kiyoshi after teleporting ö.Ö'

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest 🛺 'Home happy Home' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[thedrowsydoormouse]

Ok I don't know if I'm sleep deprived or if this actually makes sense but bear with me because I think I've figured out the backstory for Finetime! Spoilers for Dot and Bubble below the cut.

Ok so what do we KNOW about Finetime?

It's on a different planet than the Home World

It is literally in a bubble that is cut off from the outside world

Everyone there is between the ages of 17-27

It's filled with all the rich (racist) kids who could afford to go there

They "work" for two hours each day

The weather is controlled by a satelite

The home world was also overrun by the slugs

So what can we hypothesize from that information? (Side note, anything you are about to read that is racist, classist, or both are not my actual words but what I would assume someone from that society would think or say. I do not hold those beliefs and I do not wish to associate with anyone who does.)

The grown ups back on the Home World (an already racist, classist society) had already started to drive their Dots insane and they knew their days were numbered. So they gathered up a bunch of their "least valuable" (to them) citizens to Boldy Go and find a new planet that won't immediately kill them and build a new settlement, not really caring how many of them make it back, if any, because again, racist and classist.

While the new settlement is being discovered and built, the people back on the Home World got to work planning. They knew there would only be so many spots available in the new community (think like lifeboats on the Titanic) so the easiest way they could think to secure those spots is to have people pay for them and they needed to make sure every person going could fend for themself (more or less) and was within reproductive age, thus the 17-27 year age limit. But that creates a problem. If your entire population is made up of a bunch of rich 20 somethings who have no marketable skills, how will society continue to function? So they automate everything with computer programs and AI to handle the nitty gritty and the 2 hours of "work" are basically games that keep the AI running smoothly. Then construction of Finetime is complete, the "undesirables" leave the bubble and move out into the jungle (I'm assuming. We never really find out what happened to the people who built everything because the only person we meet who would know is Ricky and well ...........), the bubble is sterilized because poor people cooties, and the stage is set for our "adventure".

So off they go, a rocket full of Rich White kids who, if they were told they were going to be the last of their kind, they either weren't paying attention or didn't care. They assume it's going to be a long holiday and once they turn 27 they'll all head back to the Home World and back to Mummy and Daddy. So they continue on, business as usual. They play their little games for two hours every day to maintain the status quo then spend the rest of their time living like rich kids on vacation. All the while their Dots are plotting to wipe out all of them the same way they started (and eventually finished) back on the Home World because nothing has fundamentally changed. The problem is the computers that run everything need above a certain population to continue functioning normally, so the first few slug victims (#allhailthegloriousslugs) didn't really make that much of a difference. But as more and more of them get eaten, the computers start to struggle to keep up and things start to go a bit haywire, like the weather satellites having issues (I know that was a real world issue and not meant to be part of the plot but it works so well in my backstory theory that I'm going with it).

TLDR: a bunch of rich, racist assholes did what rich, racist assholes do and basically destroyed their planet, used a bunch of working class people and people of color to find and build a new society on a new planet, sent their obnoxious, self absorbed trust fund babies to go live in that society, and the the completely expected thing happens when the problems continue in the new community because nothing about the society itself fundamentally changed. Any of the people who managed to escape Finetime who also manage to not drown when the boat their on inevitably runs aground (because they can't even walk without arrows, no way in hell they'll know how to drive a boat) are either going to starve to death or have to contend with countless wild animals and potentially even the people who built the bubble city in the first place. Not a single person on that boat will live longer than a week.

[lepusrufus]

I'm starved for theories and hcs and analysis of the blorbos so fine, I'll do it myself. Have some random gritty edgy hcs of Sombra because I'm bored and want to bug my followers with the brainrot

Sombra is a lot less prone to violence than most of Talon, but she also looks extremely apathetic to it on a surface level. She's been scouring and has seen the deepest, most fucked up and disgusting corners the internet has to offer. She's so desensitized to it all that sometimes even she has to take a step back and wonder what the fuck is wrong with her. Sometimes she ends up in deep rabbit holes without even meaning to, just because she can, but suddenly she's trying to find the source of a website selling the shadiest most unsafe spine implants and will need to get up and grab a coffee. (Maybe take Moira's example and steal some of her Irish coffee)

Being the one committing violent crimes is a bit of a different can of worms. Sombra is not usually a field agent and even when she is, that implies mostly staying hidden somewhere away from the fight and taking care of any security that could get in their way. Sure, the gun is there and she'll use it if needed, but she'd rather not.

In a similar vein, she has a very odd way of showing compassion (and has a particular soft spot for young kids in shitty situations). Sombra would find the most disgusting thing hidden somewhere on the web and bury herself neck deep in it to get rid of whoever is responsible. She'll get out of it without as much as a metaphorical scrap, sure, but there's only so many times she can pull this off without it getting to her.

The Implants in her head pretty much connect her brain to the whole wide internet. She's not concerned about anyone compromising her through it, with all the meticulously thought out security she put in place, but it still has its side effects. Sure, she has access to any and all data at any time, but with the amount of misleading and contradictory information you can find even through the simplest google search, she has to always be careful what she picks as true or false, to the point where she sometimes doubts even the simplest little facts. At least she got really good at recognizing lies.

Having any and all information at her fingertips is both a blessing and a curse. She can know anything on anyone in a matter of seconds but on the flip side she rarely gets to truly come in contact with the world if not through a pink tinted screen. She gets wrapped in her own head around motives and data and the inner workings of everything that she sometimes forgets that people are, at the end of the day, people and they will sometimes be unpredictable just because. It made her a bit of a paranoid mess throughout the years and despide how well she can hide it, constantly being on the lookout for something is beyond exhausting.

The implants on her spine are old. They're still very much functioning as they should be, but the one person that did them had died years ago and, without being able to do any tinkering on her own back by herself, Sombra didn't have any major parts of it replaced or updated like the rest of her tech. The knowledge that one day it's bound to malfunction and she'll be left to scramble for a way to fix it looms over her every single time she puts a little too much strain on the mechanical parts of her body and feels a little warning tingle of electricity running down her spine.

Less related to any body modifications, but i think we can all agree that she has the most fucked up sleep schedule in the universe. Sometimes she'll sleep for 12 hours straight. Sometimes she won't sleep for 3 days. Whether it's because she's working on something important or because sleep simply seems to elude her matters little, she'll still be holed up in her bedroom with a few screens floating around her and a pair of headphones blasting too loud music.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Father, Archime-dad, poppop!

How are you here?

He raised an eyebrow, before his eyes slightly narrowed. Not in any emotion you could easily parse- maybe you could approximate it as the face someone would make when someone said something just a little bit stupid, but not dumb enough to have a proper reaction towards, and not intelligent enough to even warrant engaging with.

Not annoyance, not anger, just a neutral expression that came and went, and was usually what happened when he was thinking.

Specifically, he was making a note. Filing it away.

He had made plenty of 'notes' before. And you… something about you… knew that this was the sort of note he made when ironing things out, finding what was 'defective'.

It didn't feel good when he started taking notes.

A red pen, making a mark and then moving on.

"I won't take all the credit, but I did the majority of the work."

"Hm. 'What' rather than 'Who' is a productive question in this circumstance. I'm more of an 'artificial Archimedes' put together by your splintered mind. Partially a memory, partially a hallucination, partially a diagnostic check of sorts. With that being said, my 'knowledge base' is centered around your own. Not your current one, but the one that you keep locked in a box, deep within your subconscious. So, when it comes to a question that goes beyond your former knowledge base like--"

"A definitive 'yes or no' would be out of the question. However, I'm sure you can use some deductive reasoning to try and piece together a theory as we talk. But, that's irrelevant right now."

"This is a purely mental event. No phenomenon like time stopping, or the world freezing. Though the sensation may be akin to that. Regardless, they cannot talk with you."

"There must have been a calmer way to ask that question. In fact, there was. If they could hear you, you'd sound hysterical. They're here, but we're having a conversation, so you can forget about them for now. Let's talk actionable terms. You're going to stand still, and you're going to be nice and patient as I clear out the bugs from your system."

A pause, a nod. A note.

"That seems to be a running theme, yes? One of you says that, another says differently, and your hands eternally twitch without doing anything. As I said, your efficiency has been drastically reduced. Still, while it's worded in a more pedestrian manner than what I'd prefer, the content is not completely disappointing."

"You're still semi-functional. Good."

"Speaking of your faulty programming. I have to admit, seeing you in this state makes me feel… well, it certainly serves to confirm some of my points of view. Your body is destroyed, and you're pieced together by runes from a bygone era and a rapidly depleting sense of pluck. It's a shame about your body. That doll carapace was a masterpiece in and of itself."

[jedi-enthusiast]

If I may, for the Choose Violence Ask Game : 2, 6, 8 and 25 ?

Choose Violence Ask Game: Star Wars Edition

2 - What character did you begin to hate, not because of canon, but because of how fandom acts about them?

Ok, so I know I remind everyone that I don't like Anakin every chance I get, so I'll pick a different answer to keep things interesting...

Probably Jango Fett and mandalorians in general.

I think I could get behind Jango and the mandalorians if people, both in fandom and some of the Disney writers, didn't keep trying to use them to bash the Jedi. Like, they're not really my taste but they can be pretty cool, but almost every fic I've read that include mandalorians just end up using them to basically say- "oh look how bad/dogmatic the Jedi are!"

I can still remember that I was once reading an arranged marriage codywan fic and it was really good...all the way up until Cody started bashing the Jedi, Obi-Wan was thinking shit like "oh Jedi can't have emotions or feel love, I'm so conflicted," and the Council was made out to be a bunch of jackasses that pretty much abused Obi-Wan.

So yeah, the only reason I include mandalorians in my fics or go along with the mando!clones thing, is so that I can either-

1. show the mandalorians realizing- "oh wait, we're the problem aren't we?" -and changing for the better.

or 2. to show the clones' development from- "oh we can't trust the Jedi" -and leaning more into mando culture to- "we love/trust the Jedi" -and them choosing to lean more into Jedi culture.

6 - Opinion on canon and/or fanon use of the secret child trope? Discuss.

I'm gonna be honest, I can't stand it lmao

I know this question isn't specifically about it, but this comes up in fandom mainly as the "Korkie Kenobi" theory and I just...it's so stupid, honestly. Plus, it makes either Obi-Wan, Satine, or both look awful.

Option A - Satine kept the fact that she was pregnant a secret from Obi-Wan, therefore not giving him a choice on whether he wanted to be in the child's life. Satine is an asshole.

Option B - Satine told Obi-Wan that she was pregnant and Obi-Wan decided to fuck off and leave her to raise their kid alone. Obi-Wan is an asshole.

Option C - They both decided that Obi-Wan wouldn't be in the child's life and agreed to lie to Korkie and everyone else because...idk, they don't want to face any consequences for their actions. They're both assholes.

Plus, Satine and Obi-Wan would've been like 15/16 when their year on the run happened---so do people seriously want to romanticize the whole "teen pregnancy" thing? Really?

The secret child thing is just a trope that I can't get behind.

8 - There should be more of this type of fic/art...

Staunchly pro-Jedi fics and comics/art.

I just want more of them lol, they're like toast to me---I could eat a whole bag and still want more, I could read every pro-Jedi fic on Ao3 and then go back to the beginning and read them all over again.

25 - What's your opinion on modern AUs? What makes a good one?

I actually really like modern AUs! I think they can be a lot of fun, especially given all the different ways you can mix things up with them!

I think modern AUs are very versatile, so there isn't really anything that definitively makes one a "good" modern AU fic. I do have a couple things that are an immediate DNF for me for Modern AUs, other than the usual grammar/format things:

1. Jedi bashing, obviously.

2. Removing characters' disabilities.

3. When there's racism/homophobia/bigotry in general and the fic handles it shittily.

4. When the characters are changed so much that they're basically unrecognizable.

[kradogsrats]

Hello ! You seem very knowledgeable about the practical side of life in the middle-ages and I love reading your takes on the TDP world-building... So, I am researching for the purpose of a fanfiction about Soren's illness and I intend Lissa to be a doctor. Could you tell me a little bit about what could the treatments for breathing diseases be in the TDP universe ?

HA okay so I don't think I actually know more about history than anyone else with an extremely casual interest, like I didn't study it in school except as adjacent to art history and I don't even read historical novels or fiction or anything? Though to be fair my mother-in-law is a legit academic medievalist publishing books about individual English manuscripts so maybe I just don't have a good calibration of "casual interest in history." Anyway, I don't have an answer off the top of my head, but that means I can walk you through my general research process!

Step 1: Decide on some parameters. Is there a real-life illness that you are applying for Soren? Is it a bacterial or viral illness, or a chronic condition like asthma? Are there additional symptoms that will need to be addressed, like fever? Do some research on the illnesses you are considering, and both their modern accepted treatments and "natural" remedies. (Ignore anything based on essential oils.) For example, some home remedies for cough and shortness of breath are:

Tea: with ingredients like ginger, honey, etc. which are believed to reduce coughing. Caffeine is also a natural bronchodilator, and since coffee is not naturally occurring in the TDP setting, tea is a good hand-wave source for it.

Saltwater gargle: more of a sore throat thing, really? But it might help with loosening mucus.

Other herbs: particularly mint (menthol), thyme, camphor, and marshmallow root. These can be incorporated into teas, or you can explore other delivery systems like more concentrated syrups or tinctures, breathing steam from infused water, or ointments applied to the chest/back.

You can also look at historical treatments for these illnesses, but that's sometimes actually quite hard to find information on. I'll usually look at anything from ancient Egyptian to the antibiotics era. Problems I've run into include things like "asthma was not acknowledged as a medical condition, so the treatment was basically 'breathe better'" or "pneumonia was so awful before antibiotics that you basically just died."

Step 2: Decide on what you're willing to allow in terms of stretching the setting. TDP is... not very medieval at all, actually? So I generally am willing to consider stuff that didn't develop until well into the 1800s. This can get particularly awkward with medical stuff, simply because we generally read any framework of medical understanding that predates the germ theory of disease and antiseptic sanitation as ignorant and primitive, and that makes having a medicine-oriented character come across as intelligent and informed is difficult. To that end, I generally just throw up my hands and say the TDP setting understands modern sanitation and germ theory.

The problem with that is that the germ theory of disease and corresponding antiseptic understanding required the invention of the microscope to be able to actually see bacteria. Prior to that, science understood contagion and various people theorized that disease was caused by some unseen particles or agent. (See the case of Ignaz Semmelweis and his discovery that washing your hands between touching cadavers and delivering babies reduced maternal mortality significantly, but was completely incorrect about why.) I would actually be willing to allow microscopes and the corresponding understanding of cells and bacteria into the TDP setting, I'd just describe them in a sufficiently old-timey and handcrafted way, but you may feel differently! (You can also just hand-wave it, of course... behave as if germ theory is common knowledge but never mention bacteria, etc. I mean, I guarantee that's what the writers would do if it came up.)

Generally my personal limits for something no longer feeling like it fits even the most advanced cutting edge of TDP science are things like petroleum products (the implications give me a headache), chemical electrolysis (eliminates a lot of synthesized chemicals), and penicillin-level antibiotics ("this cultivated natural remedy prevents infection when applied to a wound" is fine, but oral antibiotics for bacterial diseases are not). I don't take any of this into account when reading fic... it's just a helpful set of boundaries for consistency when I'm writing. (Also don't forget to check the actual source material: I somehow remembered the animal doctor using a stethoscope to examine the egg, but there's actually no stethoscopes anywhere in that scene or the later hospital ones. Which isn't at all to say you can't have them, but it would have been an interesting canon setting data point given that they weren't invented until the 1800s.)

Or, of course, you could ignore all of that and just go hard mode with Lissa struggling to balance Soren's humors via diet and bloodletting.

Step 3: Brainstorm how the more advanced elements you are allowing could be developed and transmitted. So taking the example of Lissa as a doctor (and oh my god what an idea, that's amazing): how and where was she trained (an apprenticeship, or are you going to include a university system)? What is the human medical community like (isolated individual clinics or some kind of guild network)? Where and how is research being done and how are practitioners informed of new discoveries or theories? (Is there a scientific journal-style circulation of pamphlets? Who verifies them? (That's a place where either a guild or a university would come in handy.) What is Lissa's level of interest in pushing the boundaries of medicine vs. delivering basic care, and how might Soren's illness change that?) A couple possibilities:

If Soren has an asthma-like condition that involves chronic inflammation, maybe she treats it with a form of Ephedra from the region between Neolandia and Duren. (I like trying to match biomes or environmental conditions when transferring real-world plants into TDP, but you don't have to.)

Maybe she hears of a mold that has been cultivated in Evenere that clears infections in wounds when properly prepared, and has to evaluate whether to attempt using it experimentally with Soren against the infection in his lungs.

TDP also has a whole secondary ecosystem of magical substances, which could be effective in various ways even without being used for dark magic spells. Plants from the Sun or Earth primal could have natural healing properties, and combined with ones from the Sky primal could particularly target respiratory symptoms. Basically, if you can't find a natural-ish treatment ingredient, make one up with a goofy name and say it's from Xadia. Maybe Viren goes to collect it himself at great personal risk.

Step 4: Consider magic! I assume part of what's behind making Lissa a doctor is exploring the relationship between magical and scientific medicine in intimate detail with her and Viren, which is amazing. How does the medical community (and/or Lissa personally) feel about magical healing? Is there animosity between practitioners of medicine and dark mages with healing spells, or collaborations that are stronger than either would be individually? Are there medical tools or equipment enhanced by magic (enchanted microscopes or stethoscopes)? Is there disagreement on whether magical Xadian ingredients are more effective than mundane ones for medicines? Does the medical community harbor feelings of resentful inferiority toward the powerful primal magic healing confined only to the elves, or pride in the completely non-magical accomplishments of human ingenuity? Is the overall future of humanity carried in the power of magic, or of science?

So those are overall the kind of things I consider and look up when doing worldbuilding for TDP fic. All the examples here are medical stuff since that's what was asked about, but it's basically the same for anything else from "I wish to intricately describe the fiber content and sources of this luxury clothing item and how it was made" to "I need to make it clear that this basement laboratory is equipped to deal with the possibility of small fires, because fantasy OSHA."

And here are a couple helpful links that I found while doing this:

Wikipedia - List of plants used in herbalism

Wikipedia - Herbal medicine (especially the section on preparations)

Wikipedia - Medicinal plants

Wikipedia - Timeline of medicine and medical technology

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

Hi! I have a few points about dates and such, so I'll just get to it:

- Miles' quiz says Decembruary 2, 2018 (but a poster later in the film says December, so that's just him playing dumb in front of his teacher).

- Jeff says Miles has been at the school for two weeks when he drops him off at the start.

- If you count the days as the movie progresses, it's about 6-7 days. There might be a few unseen days between Peter's body being found and his funeral, but if we assume he's buried immediately after, it takes place in about one week.

-The security cameras when Spot tries to steal the ATM seem to say it's July 2023. Consistency!

Anyway, the date on the quiz plus the fact that the film was released in December 2018 makes me think it also takes place then.

Thanks for your notes! I have some things to point.

I actually knew about the Decembruary detail! I watched the ITSV video from CinemaWins.

Actually, what Jeff says is that Miles needs to give it at least 2 weeks, not that he has been there for that long.

The week reference is interesting! Thanks.

Huh, I didn't notice that detail previously.

Now, with these details out of the way, what we can say?

I was right on the money about the creators not paying too much attention to dates. My original theory was that they avoided putting anything too concrete to don't run into timeline problems.

Is good to keep in mind that both the test (Miles could have easily put the wrong year too, considering he put Decembruary;) and the Security Camera are all little details that aren't really relevant to the plot; like this isn't an "if we don't do this before X date the world ends. I consider Miles Saying "And for the past year and four months" heavier proof of the time passed that what the security camera and the test had written on aren't as valuable as that. After all, if this ITSV happened on December 2018 but ATSV was on July 2023, that would mean it has been over almost 5 years for them, which has obviously not been the case.

So with the pieces of this new puzzle, what do we end up with?

New Dates

If we weigh the test Miles failed on Purpose vs the Security Camera, I think believing the Security camera makes more sense. Miles putting 2018 on a test that already says Decembruary can easily be chalked to him wanting to mess up even more.

If it has been a year and four months since he became Spiderman, and in July in ATSV, this would mean that Into the Spiderverse is happening around March.

This would mean Miles having this birthday fall between March and July, and Gwen's possible Birthday months to move from June to October.

If we continue to go with my theory of the outfits they use in the movie can count as a measurement of time, I would say March and June are very likely.

Headcanon dates for the new timeline

While I may or may not go with these dates in future stories (Which I will explain my reasoning later for those who like my fic writing.) I thought it would be fun to give some new headcanons to these dates.

Since the anomaly situation hasn't been done, my alternative number for Miles would be 24. Why 24? Because the number 42 plays a big role in his life (is the number which he won the "lottery," his spider is from that dimension, and is seen around in ITSV a lot too.) And since 42 can't be a date, 24 it is.

For Gwen, I thought it would be fun that since her universe is 65, and the month of June seems like a good lead, her birthday could be June 5 (since 06/05) I know this means there isn't an example of 15 months of difference between them, however, I think everybody goes more with the month than the exact day for these things.

I have a cousin who is roughly, 20 days older than me, but we always said "a month" while mentioned in passing because why bother with semantics.

Will I ignore this in my writing? Probably

Now, this next section is mostly there for those who like my writing, since usually, the headcanons I have here tend to translate into my works.

I will probably go with my original dates.

Here is my situation; I could believe Miles is in school in July because of the alternative universe (it seems traditionally it ends in June.) I could believe they use fluffy jackets in July because, in Miles' universe, July is colder than our own; heck I was joking with my partner that Miles probably didn't have coronavirus in his universe and the reactions to other spideys who dealt with that,

What I can't deal with, is Miles starting school in March.

While students can move to other schools all year around, the fact that the lottery part is mentioned as well as the test, makes me think this has to be at a reasonable timeline for the school year. After all, why they would host a lottery for a student when the school year ends in four months? Why Rio and Jeff would try to make Miles change school if nothing prompt them to?

Granted, this could be explained with the school year working differently, maybe they start in January, and is still early enough to do this, or start in March.

However, I disqualified the December bit (which I also discard because NO ONE HAS A STUDENT START CLASSES JUST BEFORE WINTER BREAK UNLESS THEY ARE MOVING OR SOMETHING SIMILAR.) I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to put imagine it was in December just because.

Again, this is not an important detail. Gwen's dad is different between ITSV and ATSV, as well as the fact that the situation and Peter's look are different.

(You could make the case it looks like this because Miles is imagining everything instead of being a faithful adaption. However, I firmly believe they didn't put too much time into it or stick with those concepts because it wasn't necessary. Also, this will mean Peter B maybe wasn't eating pizza instead of pushups, and I will NOT give up that.)

Why not have a different way the calendar works? Too many details to keep track of, and fics are supposed to be fun; I will not try to bend backward my writing to adhere to the canon if is not enjoyable.

Is not the only time I do this, Noir should be around 19 because of comics and stuff, but if you think I will give up the idea that Noir is in his 40s, you are dead wrong.

This part will be edited into the original post (since people don't tend to reblog reblogs, I prefer people will have the chance to see the corrections.) And queue for tomorrow so more people can see it.

Also, I made a mistake in my original post, I said Gwen's Birthday would be in June, when in reality it should May, sorry for the confusion!

If you read all the way, thank you for your patience! I know this is long.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Good heavens I knew the tumblr fanbase was more casual-oriented but I didn't expect it to be by this much. Let's try to solve that at least a little bit, then.

So what the hell is sub strafing?

Whenever you first enter swim form and whenever you make a sharp turn while swimming in ink, your character needs to take a little moment to accelerate to your maximum swimming speed.

This makes you a bit of a sitting duck, but this is where sub strafing comes in. As you turn, momentarily pop out of swim form while holding your Sub Weapon button. If performed correctly then you will be instantly moving at maximum speed, and can be done in rapid succession if you really need to mix up your movement.

Technically, this can also be done with your Main Weapon (in which case it is usually called main strafing instead), but the frame data on firing for most weapons is so slow that it doesn't result in you moving any faster than if you didn't do it. Shooters are the exception to this rule, generally speaking.

What weapons is sub strafing useful on?

Aside from Shooters, the overwhelming majority of which can just main strafe instead, pretty much every weapon in the game can make use of sub strafing. Being able to change up your movement rapidly can help throw off an opponent's aim, escaping an enemy who took you by surprise, or chasing an enemy you took by surprise. It's especially useful on slower weapons with poor movement, like Dynamo, Explosher, and most chargers and splatlings, anything that wants to keep an opponent's at a distance, in other words.

Isn't this tech redundant now that we have Squid Rolling?

See, that's a bit of a false equivalency. Squid Rolling might also be a way to make sharp turns rapidly, but you need to already be moving at maximum swim speed to perform one, can't be done in rapid succession, and also makes you a much more visible target. That said it also has some use cases that sub strafing doesn't cover, like giving you a little bit of armor and allowing you to climb up small platforms more easily. Simply put while they seem similar in theory they are very different in practice, and a good player can make use of both.

How do I learn to sub strafe?

The actual inputs for sub strafing is really simple, and I say that as someone who was born with a coordination disorder that makes a lot of games very difficult to play for me. The only real trick to it is making it ingrained in your muscle memory. I started practicing sub strafing by using it in Salmon Run to speed up my egg collecting, but I also think that Side Order is another good place to practicing it, as a single-player PvE environment means that you won't have to worry about other players, and being able to move rapidly is important in that mode too. Most things are trying to bite you to death, after all. If that's not a concern for you then the best way to learn it is to just play multiplayer matches and try to actively use it, going into battle thinking consciously about sub strafing as much as possible.

Are you writing all of this just to flex the fact that you learned to sub strafe despite having a coordination disorder?

no (yes)

Okay, just out of curiosity here's a question for the Splatoon tumblr fandom:

[legacyofacat]

So, not sure how many of you know this, but the Arpeggio characters got character songs! This isn't new information to me, but since I recently started cross-posting my fanfiction Arpeggio of Hurt Steel I remembered one of my headcanons/theoriese I view as confirmed and wanted to tell you guys about it! Spoilers from here on, in case you haven't finished the anime!

As we all know, Maya was a surveillance unit reporting to I-400 and I-402 (why they decided to monitor Kongou is something we can explore in a different post) and only a "Mental Model without emotion emulator". However, I always thought that was strange. Now, I don't mean this in the "bad writing" way, I think that 400 and 402 genuinely were of that opinion and thus stated it, BUT it just didn't seem right, so I started thinking. I was pretty sure that, "hey, maybe Maya actually did know what was going on, but just couldn't do anything against it and had to watch shit go down".

My reasons for that thought are as follows:

Strange dialogue

400 and 402 stated that Maya runs on a very simple logic routine that responds in accordance with whatever you throw at her (so essentially like a chatbot), but when Iona sank Haruna and Kirishima, Maya, of her own will and without good reason, came to her in the Concept Communication System and asked "Hey, what happened to you?"

Iona answer this and the resulting reply of Maya is "Because she was able to save her friend, right?"

Maya's second sentence is one of the things she says when the subs shut her down, so I think that that is the point where the Chatbot takes over again - however, said Chatbot doesn't have a good reason for initiating the contact.

"But what if someone ordered her to ask that?"

Illogical, in my opinion:

Kongou wouldn't have since she feared interacting directly would damage their Cores and took precautions for her and Maya when they went to meet.

Iona's sisters only developed a will & curiosity about 4-6 episodes later and had therefore no reason to ask something like that.

And the theoretical factor of Musashi? Not either. She doesn't care about the "doll" Iona, only about the real Yamato, and that "awakening" is something Musashi only begins triggering in Vladivostok.

At some point, Kongou asks Maya "And what about you?" in reference to whose order she follows and wether she considers deserting. Maya replies the following:

Why mention Kongou extra? "I just obey the Admiralty Code" would have been more than enough since that includes obeing her flagship and that very flagship is Kongou.

My theory is that the "and Kongou" was sneaked in by the actual Maya.

Furthermore, there are various moments where Maya's speaking just seems... stranger than usual. Especially in situations where she assures Kongou that following the Admiralty Code is the right thing. Her words are delievered in a way that makes them unnatural - almost as if the Chatbot had been content with letting Maya babble away and then jumped into action when Kongou started potentially doubting their cause.

It's not a big shift, so one has to actually pay attention to it to notice and it is sadly near impossible to take a series of screenshots that captures the shift.

Shutting down the system & Mental Models

I'm not sure wether 400 & 402's statement of having "shut down the program" refers to the Mental Model itself or just the Chatbot, but in any case, this is absolutely a butchered shutdown. The system you just tried to quit via Task Manager resulted in audio distortion and repeats of past executions? That doesn't seem like something that should happen.

I-400 and I-402 should not have such problems shutting down "a simple program", especially not as highly developed AI and the very people who most likely implemented that program to begin with.

Yet, what happened there should not have happened under the conditions of a normal shutdown. If you stop a program, it just stops running, it doesn't start glitching around unless something is wrong.

The manga has shown us that even ships without Mental Model can communicate and have a certain range of emotions (see: Vampire). Of course, anime and manga are completely different universes, but they share many things - as such, I see things that aren't outright stated as impossible in the anime as possible to existing there as well.

Conclusion: it is very much possible that the "something" that went wrong is the actual Maya fighting the shutdown.

"Why didn't I-400 and I-402 do anything about that, then?"

I can only speculate. This happens after Iona resurfaces, so they could have had different priorities and decided that an surveillance program with an undangerous glitch was just not important at the moment.

Character Songs - Tremolo

So, why did I mention the character songs at the beginning?

gombi grace over on YouTube actually sat down, transcribed & translated Maya's character song, Tremolo, into English.

There are a handful of lines that are just Maya typical hyper cheery nonsense, but if you cross them out, you gain the following text:

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your heart Hello, heading towards the world's best today Making the town sloppy to clean it, it's ok My favourite music is flowing Look at me, move with the music, it's ok Somehow i feel that I had stopped Finishing off those meaningless words Voices replace them like magic The sound continues The speed that reaches your end Hello, heading towards the cowardly tomorrow I could not see the good in it, As it is held back Oh, the things that I want to tell you It is ok to tell it when we walk I wonder if my pitch is slightly off Who had decided it The breath resounds in my body The sound continues The speed greater and stronger than anything One sad sound one gentle sound I connect and stretch them Again, I could not hear them It is like the flower that sways in the wind It is like the blue waves The sound continues the speed that reaches your end it continues"

This is what confirmed my theory for me. Let's interpret the snippets a bit:

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your heart"

The sound could be many things; a voice, a message, feelings. Mayhaps things Maya whishes to actually communicate.

The "You" in not just this case but every other point in this song could be Kongou.

"Hello, heading towards the world's best today Making the town sloppy to clean it, it's ok My favourite music is flowing Look at me, move with the music, it's ok"

The second line could be interpreted as "if you break something to make it (the situation?) good, then that is alright" and could potentially refer to Kongou's dependency on the Admiralty Code. "Move with the music" essentially means to move with the flow - whatever happens, happens - and is something I could absolutely see Maya wanting to tell Kongou.

The "it's ok"s are the only instance of these words following each other so closely and the two of three times they appear at all. Could be intended as extra reassurance.

"Somehow i feel that I had stopped Finishing off those meaningless words Voices replace them like magic"

The first two lines could refer to Maya's own words. They are not meaningless, but it sounds like a small moment of self-deprecation.

The last line most likely refers to I-400 and I-402 taking over with their program and surpressing whatever Maya meant to say.

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your end"

Could be interpreted as Maya noticing that Kongou is Not Doing Well™, that the current scheme is not really helping and maybe even having a premonition about how this will end.

"Hello, heading towards the cowardly tomorrow I could not see the good in it, As it is held back Oh, the things that I want to tell you It is ok to tell it when we walk"

The "cowardly tomorrow" being "held back" might be a future where both Maya and Kongou can speak freely and do whatever they wish.

"Oh, the things that I want to tell you" is obviously Maya not having the ability to speak her true feelings

"I wonder if my pitch is slightly off Who had decided it The breath resounds in my body"

Her pitch was, in fact, off when the program shut down and the one who decided such were essentially I-400 and I-402.

"Who had decided it" could also be a hint towards Maya not being fully aware of who is responsible or not knowing fully what is happening, but instead that she has a general gist of the situation.

"The sound continues The speed greater and stronger than anything"

In this case, I would interprete the "sound" as the approaching end, but also carrying the double meaning of the aforementioned feelings coming to powerfully descend upon someone (Kongou? Maya herself?)

"One sad sound one gentle sound I connect and stretch them Again, I could not hear them"

I interpret the sounds to be words Maya connects into a sentence, wishes to utter but cannot speak in the end due to the program - thus, again, she herself can't hear them.

"It is like the flower that sways in the wind It is like the blue waves The sound continues the speed that reaches your end it continues"

The situation is continuing, it cannot be stopped and the violent end is still approaching.

And that is why I believe that the character of Maya is actually very tragic, that Maya actually did know what was going on, but just couldn't do anything against it and had to watch everything from a prison that was her very own body and mind.

[survey--s]

628.

Did you get enough rest last night?  Yeah, I actually slept really well last night. Like, the best I've slept in weeks.

What was the last thing that kept you awake?  It was just a bit of underlying worry about Simba - he was pretty sick over the weekend and didn't eat properly for about four days. He's tiny as it is so it was extra worrying. He's fine now though, thank God.

If you have pets, do they sleep in your bedroom at night?  The dog does, the cats all have the run of downstairs, otherwise they're up and playing at 5am lol.

Can you sleep with background noise or does it keep you up?  I find a fan or something really comforting, but I can't fall asleep if people are talking or anything like that.

Do you ever take naps? Do you take long naps or little power naps?  I had a nap last week when I got Simba back from his first vet visit - we slept for ages hahah. But generally I don't really take naps.

What helps when you have trouble sleeping?  Herbal sleeping tablets, warm milk and reading random shit on Reddit.

Who was the last person to cook you a meal? What did they make?  I have no idea. Probably my mum and that was back in May lol. I think we had steak or lamb? I can't remember which. Steak I think.

Who was the last person you cooked a meal for? What did you make?  Day-to-day I just cook for myself as Mike and I have such different diets. I did cook us a roast last Easter I think? though.

Who is your female celeb crush? (If applicable)  Amanda Seyfried.

Who is your male celeb crush? (If applicable)  Johnny Depp. Bradley Jayden.

Tell me about an interesting article you’ve read recently.  It wasn't really an article. but a random TikTok theory that all Shoezone stores are a front for money laundering lol. Clearly nonsense but the reasoning was good.

Do you have a favorite Marvel character?  No.

Favorite DC character?  ...

Do you read comic books?  Nope.

Has a horror film ever actually scared you? Which one(s)?  The Others - but I was only about 11 when I watched it.

What was the last horror movie you saw? I have no idea, I'm not really into horror movies.

What was the first horror movie you remember seeing? What did you think of it?  The Omen, I think. It was okay, from what I can remember.

Name a few historical figures you find interesting. Why?  Elizabeth I, Henry VIII - just because I always found that period of history to be pretty interesting when I studied it in school.

What is your favorite historical film and why?  I'm not really into historical films.

Do you usually enjoy historical films?  No.

Name a sequel film (any franchise) you like better than the first film. Why is that?  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - it's the first one that's actually a bit dark and interesting.

Which do you find most interesting: Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology? Why?  I'm really not interested in any kind of mythology.

Which tale from whichever mythology you listed above do you find most interesting?  I'm sure I took this survey recently.

Do you collect anything? What was the last item you added to that collection?  Wax melts.

Do you have any houseplants?  No.

How do you like your tea?  Milk and two sugars, but I don't really drink much tea.

Who is your favorite Muppet?  The muppets annoy me. I really don't get the appeal of them.

What is your favorite type of bird?  Penguins. < Yes. <--- yep!

Which streaming platform do you use the most, if any?  Spotify.

What is a skill or useful piece of knowledge you wish you’d learned sooner?  Nothing specific is coming to mind right now.

What is your favorite vampire movie?  Bleh, I'm not really into vampires.

Your favorite fictional couple?  Chandler & Monica.

Do you have a favorite historical couple?  No.

Have you received any good news recently?  Uh, nothing specific is coming to mind.

Have you learned anything new recently?  Probably, but I can guess it's not anything exciting.

[amaranthineoceans]

Everything Weird About Deltarune!

Spoiler Warning for Undertale and Both Chapters of Deltarune! Really! I Literally Go Through Everything I Can Remember About Them!

This is a long post so get comfortable. Also note that my brain doesn't process thoughts into words very well so some of these might not be worded in the best way. :)

Deltarune. The first teaser chapter was released on October 31, 2018, and it came out of nowhere. We've all gone through this, but I'll try and go through every single painstaking detail I can remember. Feel free to reblog and add/correct things.

The weirdness begins right off the bat. The title is an anagram of UNDERTALE. We all know Toby likes to use anagrams when he wants to indirectly tell us when things are related, so it's no surprise that when you go to download DELTARUNE, it warns you that the game is designed for people who have played UNDERTALE. You think, "Cool, so it's a sequel? Or maybe a prequel? A different perspective of UNDERTALE perhaps?" You were wrong; so terribly, terribly wrong! I'll elaborate on this later.

Before you download the application, the terms of service that you must agree to beforehand reads simply and plainly, "You accept everything that will happen from now on." This detail was kinda brushed off in the beginning, because, hey, it's Toby Fox. He does weird stuff all the time. But even in the first chapter, it's apparent that the concept of choice, or more accurately, the lack of it, is a very present theme in the game. I would like to remind you that Toby has announced that there will be one ending in the game. One. I'll elaborate on this later.

The program (as in, what the game is called in your files) is named SURVEY PROGRAM. Why not just call it Deltarune like it is when you download chapter two?

The game launches you, without a title screen, without any setting adjustment options, straight into a reference to the theme of the entire franchise: the lack of choice. A strange formless voice guides you through "making a vessel", with what we know now as a fountain in the background. You have the option to make some very disturbing choices in this character creator, such as making its favorite flavor "pain" or expressing your feelings about it with options such as "fear" and "disgust." You name your "creation," tell the formless voice your name (which is different from your vessel's name) and watch as said formless voice muses over your name at an agonizing pace. It thanks you for your time and tells you that your wonderful creation, (cue music cutout and background removal) will now be discarded. "No one can choose who they are in this world." The screen slowly turns white as the voice says, "Your... name... is..."

It gets weirder. The next scene appears from the whiteness and showcases Toriel calling "Kris" out of bed. Kris' area of the room is very bare in contrast to the other side, which we later discover is Asriel's.

It's Toriel. Why is Toriel here?

Kris is kind of an anagram of Frisk (the protagonist of UNDERTALE) but without the F. I highly doubt this is a coincidence.

Speaking with Noelle is the only reason you can proceed (see what i did there?) while finding a partner in the classroom. This means you can't go through the 1st chapter without knowing who she is. Is it because of the Snowgrave route?

Ralsei is just suspicious to me. There's no way he was just waiting in that castle his whole life alone without some mental toil. So either he's insane or he wasn't alone the whole time. What happened? Is it related to how he can close his eyes and see what Susie is going through when she's apart from the party? Was he just watching everything? Is he related to the formless voice?

Susie's icon is the only one without color in the Dark World.

Jevil's fight is more difficult than Sans'.

Your actions have little consequence in the first chapter. If you choose to go genocide, the only difference in the ending is being run out of the kingdom, and this doesn't carry over to the next chapter. Again, lack of choice, people.

If at the end of chapter one, you walk around town, it's mentioned (notably by Noelle) that you're usually not this talkative. If you go to the hospital and speak with the receptionist, they mention that you used to play the piano in the corner. If you decide to attempt to play the said piano, an out-of-key bash can be heard and the receptionist comments on how you used to play beautifully. If you try this in chapter two, the result is the same. All this is confirmation that Kris is acting noticeably weird.

When you leave the Dark World and walk around town, you can find Sans. He "pretends" to recognize you, and if you tell him you recognize him, he tells you it's funny, considering that you two have never met before. He winks. I'm pretty sure he knows that the player is there.

The mention of Papyrus in both games, but the purposeful lack of him. Like he's avoiding you.

If you go upstairs while inside Asgore's flower shop, there are flowers in glass cases resembling his SOUL collection in UNDERTALE. There's a red flower.

You can't enter the church.

The clock in the storage closet shows a different time than all the others in the school.

If you go all the way south in town and into the woods, the music stops and you come across a rusty, double door is in a hill covered in crass. It's locked. If you go this way in chapter two, however, you watch a cutscene where you and susie happen to find Monster Kid from UNDERTALE (or someone resembling them) and an owl kid in front of the door. The owl kid is pressuring Monster Kid to (presumably) break inside, telling them that they don't want to be a wimp like Kris. Does this imply that Kris is connected to this strange door somehow?

The ending. You know what I'm talking about.

Did Kris actually rip out the SOUL (I say "the" because I'm not entirely sure it's Kris') and knife because they wanted to eat the pie? Did they only eat the pie because Toriel caught them?

Why did they look at the player? Are they sick of being controlled? Is that why they freaked out after the Spamton fight? (later)

Anyway, now we're at chapter two.

DELTARUNE Chapter Two was released on September 17th, 2021. 17. Entry Number 17. Sound familiar?

Asriel's part of the room is different from the last chapter. I don't think this means anything sinister, but I think it means Kris notices different things about the room as the story progresses. My theory is that it will become more sinister in each chapter.

Ralsei getting super excited to see Susie and Kris after a day. As in he has separation anxiety and it breaks my heart. not anything suspicious but it makes me sad so it's on the list.

Kris and Susie's rooms. Ralsei REALLY doesn't want them to leave. Seriously get this boy a therapist. Or a stuffed animal. SOMETHING.

Kris having to gather everything from the storage closet so that people appear in the Dark World????? Why??????????????? They had to do the same thing for the computer lab too.

The golden door. I don't trust it.

How/why the heck did Noelle and Berdley go into the Computer Lab Dark World? I don't see either of them just walking into pulsing void doors without Susie.

Apparently the knight has been gone for a bit and can corrupt people's minds? The king in the first chapter doesn't seem like he can be redeemed but Queen just seems,,, not bad, but a little crazy. I wonder what happened.

Then again, name ONE person in this franchise without trauma.

Spamton.

Horror doesn't bother me. Spamton? Spamton bothers me.

SPAMTON. ENOUGH SAID.

A Kromer is a type of hat invented in the '70s. Nobody named Mike is associated with it, that I can find.

SPAMPTON. HOW DO I EVEN DESCRIBE IT.

HIS SONG IS THE ONLY ONE WITH WORDS.

The way he asks Kris is they want to be a heart on a chain their whole life. Like, dude, no wonder they were screaming after the fight.

WHERE DID THE YELLOW HEART COME FROM. YELLOW MEANS JUSTICE. WHY DOES JUSTICE APPLY.

Kris screaming after the fight and the player not being able to hear it. Don't you dare tell me that's just how the game is designed. There are sound effects characters make throughout the game. None that I can think of apply to Kris, apart from when they rip their soul out.

Ralsei brushing off the Spamton fight. Either that's his coping mechanism or he was trying to shut Susie and Kris up to protect them from... something. I'll touch on that in a minute.

According to Queen, DETERMINATION is a key factor in creating a fountain.

Also according to Queen, Kris, Noelle, and Susie all have DETERMINATION SOULS.

Ralsei freaking out about Berdley making a fountain implies that he may also have DETERMINATION. Why I'm bringing all this up will make sense soon.

How was Noelle able to cast Snowgrave... a spell that she, according to her, didn't know?

The Snowgrave route is so twisted.

You manipulate Noelle into killing Berdley and then, when you get back to the computer lab and investigate his corpse, the text box says that he doesn't seem to be awake. As if you're in denial?

Burgerpants recognizes you. Not Kris. As in the player.

The ending. I don't think I need to describe it. Kris is very methodical without the SOUL. (I say "the" because, again, I'm not 100% convinced it's theirs.) I'm saying this about how they left clues that someone broke into the This proves that they are NOT a mindless, vengeful husk.

HOW DID THEY MAKE THE FOUNTAIN WITHOUT THE SOUL INSIDE OF THEM. DID THEY FEED THE SOUL TO IT AFTERWARDS? IS THAT WHAT THAT WAS?

Another point I would like to make is my theory that Ralsei knows much more than he would have us believe. I might put this into a different post because I have yet to gather my points into a coherent bullet point list, so keep an eye out for that.

Anyway apart from Toriel and Susie being VERY heavy sleepers, I think I've gone through everything. I have a few theories.

1. Kris is possessed by the player and figured out that they could make a fountain from Queen and related to Spamton freaking out about freedom. They then decided to make a fountain going by the logic that "this would tick the player off." This is one of my top theories that assumes that the SOUL is theirs.

And 2. Kris is possessed by both the player and the knight. I think the formless voice at the very beginning of the game is the knight, and they somehow needed the player to possess someone with DETERMINATION. If so, then why Kris? We know from Queen that Noelle and Susie, and maybe even Berdley also have DETERMINATION. The most plausible thing I can think of is the fact that human souls are stronger than monster ones.

I do think that the popular theory (about the one that suggests that the Dark Word is nothing but a figment of a child's imagination, and the events that occur in said Dark World are simply children playing with toys) has been thoroughly dashed due to Berdley's murder in the genocide route of the second chapter. Unless he's not dead. Regardless, how the events (or lack thereof) that occur in the second chapter play through the next will be interesting, especially considering Toby's announcement about how there will be one ending to the game. So either Berdley isn't dead, or he will be.

Aaaand I think that's it! Sorry for the long post; let me know your thoughts and if I missed anything!

[gatheringbones]

[“Before I was a year old, I became aware of my body, my thoughts, my emotions, and my surroundings- during the first of many child- battering episodes. I don't know if this has anything to do with my being into S/M, though I could easily devise a theory that would make sense. I won't, because I've never cared why, any more than I've ever cared why I'm gay. I simply am: an S/M dyke of color and enjoying it, whenever and wherever and with whomever I can- and I don't want to be" cured."

I've purposely arranged my identifying tags (“S/M dyke of color") in the order of their significance for me. Sadomasochism has been the lifelong theme running through my erotic fantasies; even my wet dreams are mostly spanking dreams. When puberty hit me at nine (yes, honey, that's when my periods started), my hormones began to rage, usually but not always pointing clearly in the direction of certain other females. Somewhere along the line Mom explained to me that we were" colored" (that was fifties lingo, I'm forty now), and she gently disclosed the historical reasons why that made a difference in our lives. Then she taught me to read books— and television filled me in on the rest.

What I have to say here will be about my sadomasochistic soul. Whatever other things I happen to be, I intend to mention only where they become pertinent, because ul- timately they do mesh, to make me who I am. My focus will be on how S/M is necessary for my soul. The expression of my true sexuality is a deeply spiritual experience for me.

Leathersexuality comes of age

Having grown up in an increasingly violent world and survived it, I am dismayed at how in the 1990s our society is regressing to its earlier repressive ways. I am also angered, and anger, carefully channeled, can be a great motivator. Instead of using violence to expel energy the way I did in my younger days, I choose S/M as the vehicle for expressing the emotions that threaten to overwhelm me.

When engaging in S/M play I am free to feel all my feelings, and thereby be a whole and integrated person. For that moment, the world makes sense to me. To me, S/M is a point of sanity that serves as a formidable buffer against the insanity I see all around me on a daily basis. I don't even have to play often, to have lasting effects, because a little goes a very long way. And the best part is that S/M has all the passion, drama, and emotion that is lacking for me in vanilla sex. In the evolution of sexuality as I see it, leatherpeople are the next generation.

the importance of being out

Being black plays a significant part in my sexuality. Up to now, almost all of my lovers have been white. This is because I am strongly attracted to contrasts: black, white; butch. femme; tall, short; top, bottom. To me this is all very erotic. As for S/ M being politically incorrect, especially for me as a black woman who plays with white tops (occasionally a white male top), people say that because of history I shouldn't being enjoying this, let alone wanting it.

Frankly, it surprised me to find that some white leather- dykes didn't want to play with me unless they were bottoming for me. For some reason (my naiveté, I suppose), I had reasoned that S/ M people were above all kinds of prejudices. and certainly all sexual hang-ups and taboos. I know that by becoming a part of the leather community I have been able to get over major issues such as my biphobia (fear of bisexuality) and my heterophobia. The S/ M scene is the perfect arena in which to confront one's fears of crossing the color line or breaking the most rigid of taboos. One thing's for sure: You will find support, and with diligence and luck, partners to play out your scenario, if you need them. At least you'll find people who won't ridicule you for being weird, even if you are instead, they'll applaud you, because you are a kindred soul. I become ab- solutely ecstatic at the sight of fellow black leatherwomen and leathermen out in the S/M community. So whenever a white butch is “worried" about topping me and isn't sure if she can hit me because she doesn't want to “hurt" me, I hasten to calm her fears and convince her just how badly I would like her to hurt me and she immediately gets over it.

If someone desires a scenario such as plantation slave and master, or cowboy and Indian, as long as it is mutual and done in a loving spirit, that's all that matters and all I care about. When healing happens in an S/M relationship, that's great. I know that it does, because of the emotional, spiritual, and physiological benefits I get from it. Now that I get to do real S/M, I no longer use historical fantasies- although they were a handy tool to get me off when I was still trying to “convert" my vanilla lovers. I like being in the new gay nineties, and with the right partner there is no need for me to fantasize at all- that's how good it is sometimes.

I need to have people in my life who understand me. It is not enough that they merely tolerate me. They must love me for who I am, not in spite of who I am. We are only here in this life for so long, and I intend to make the trip worth it. My life is an adventure, to be enjoyed and shared. When people start telling me they can't share my joy because they have" issues" with what I do, I have to get away from them— fast. (Such people have no sense of humor and are no fun anyway.)

I equate this kind of intolerance with homophobia and racism: If I'm around it long enough, it can become internal ized within my psyche. I grew up being exposed to the attitude that black people were inferior to everybody else on the planet— except for gay people, who were the lowest of the low, and who are still ostracized in the black community. I do not need to listen to that nonsense today.

Ties that bind

In many ways, sadomasochism has contributed to my mental and emotional health. Even though S/ M relationships I can have their share of problems, there are sane, creative, and even fun ways for the partners to resolve them. I remem- ber when a lover broke off our sexual relationship and she I came by to drop off the heavy wooden paddle I had been keeping at her place. As I was too angry for words, my tall, good- looking ex invited herself in. “You know, Tina, I've been thinking," she said as I reached to take back the paddle." I realize that I've been much too easy on you." With that said, she ordered me to strip and bend over on the bed, ass up. Hesitating just long enough to shake off the shock, I quickly obeyed. Then she proceeded to whale all the rebelliousness out of me, relentlessly.

By the time my punishment was over, I was crying tears of gratitude and forgiveness. She held me, tenderly, and told me what a good girl I was. When she left I was on an orgasmic high that lasted for weeks. The bond we share today is a special one that keeps our friendship intact.

S/ M enables me to confront the world and people I have to interact with in extraordinary ways. By releasing a great deal of the tension and stress I've carried within me my entire life I gain energy, and I feel empowered to say no to unacceptable behavior. I don't let anyone get away with abusing me any more. S/ M has provided me with the ultimate assertiveness training, not to be found anyplace else. I have gotten better at distinguishing who I can and cannot trust, so I make saner choices in all my relationships.

The power of role-playing

Role-playing is essential for me; but it doesn't work unless it comes naturally. I am a bottom. I have tried topping, but it simply is not me. Still, I can be butch, as long as I'm not doing S/ M. Actually, in my everyday life I do dress and act in an aggressive manner for a couple of reasons: I enjoy it when I'm in that mood, and as a woman it's a safer way for me to be out on the streets, especially late at night.

I'd also like to be able to say that I am exclusively into S/ M sex, but there is a shortage of suitable tops. So, from time to time I take what I call “vanilla vacations." (Incidentally, very often during vanilla sex the boy in me ironically comes out and I like to get on top.) I can and sometimes do enjoy sex just for the sake of sex. It has its merits, which are and is my favorite form of adult play with people I am attracted to. Some of the best sex I've had in my life has been the casual one-night stand with a sexy stranger I just met. But with S/ M sex, it's not that easy for me to be casual, because the experience is so deeply emotional.

For instance, after a couple of recent traumatic breakups with vanilla girls, then no sex at all for eight months (I define sex as with a partner or partners, otherwise to me it doesn't count), boredom was starting to set in. I was ready to check out the leather scene again. I had been hearing talk of some women-only dungeon parties in town and, never having seen a real dungeon before, I was curious. To be truthful, I didn't expect that much new action, Boston being such a small city, with a tiny women's leather community. Without even dressing for the affair, I halfheartedly went.

I wasn't there long at all before I made eye contact and exchanged smiles with a sexy-looking butch all leathered up and exactly my type. Because I wasn't wearing the usual femme garb I reserve for S/M play, I felt out of character. And it didn't help that my one object of desire was rubbernecking at every obvious femme in the place.

Finally after following her around for half the night making small talk, I decided to try the direct approach. First, I asked if she were a top, just to make sure something I learned from past mistakes. (Before I was introduced to the S/M scene, I thought all tops were butches and all bottoms were femmes.) After I got the answer I wanted, I said: “I'm a bottom, if you wanna play." Well, that did it.

Several of my major fantasies were fulfilled for the first time that night by my hot leather lover. I had always wanted to be taken by a total stranger in some dimly lit spot. My first surprise was the black rubber dildo that my head was being forced down on. Never before had I so enjoyed sucking anyone's cock. Later I was getting fucked by this stud in the black leather jacket who fucked just like a man. As a matter of fact. it felt like I was being fucked by a man, except that this was the first time my cunt had ever responded, which amazed me. It was the most pleasurable orgasm I have ever had, before or since. I was impressed- and hooked.

The transformation that comes over me in femme bottom space is so gratifying, and so emotionally freeing. And with the vulnerable the way I want to- in other words, I get hot. It is right top, as on that night, I feel safe enough to be sexually usually the butch dyke top who brings out the submissive femme in me; that's the type I respond to most strongly. I love my sexual alter ego. She has a lot of fun.

getting there, getting real

My S/ M needs, though vitally important, are not that complicated especially since, as a submissive, my greatest need is to please my top. A great scene can bring my hottest fantasy to life. The very shape of my consciousness changes, and all negative thoughts are driven away. Afterwards, I always feel awesomely peaceful and relaxed, loved and lovable. No other high can match or surpass it. It makes me feel so totally alive, and all there- as opposed to numb. Life can be such a pain at times, that I cannot afford to stay in this particular reality for too long. In an S/M scene, I know that I am safe from harm while being carried off to a different dimension- and when I get there, I get real.

In these days when society's progress is seeming to go backward, threatening to drive people back into their closets, it is more vital than ever that we come out all the way, and be real. In S/M you cannot get away from yourself, you have to be totally you. I see the extreme of S/M self- expression as the ultimate act of defiance in a world where we are told that our natural sexual desires are sick and evil.

S/M is a gift that has allowed me to deal with a lot of my hurt and pain of the past, accompanied by guilt and shame that was not mine. Today I hold my head up and join my leathersisters and leatherbrothers in the streets, as we come out and claim ourselves completely, and with pride.”]

[“Tina Portillo is a forty-year-old black writer whose S/M short stories have appeared in Bad Attitude magazine and the journal Outrageous Women. Portillo has also written the in- troduction to Testimonies: A Collection of Lesbian Coming Out Stories, and most recently edited Dykescapes: Short Fiction by Lesbians (Alyson). One of her favorite traditions is to kick off the gay pride parade in Boston every year with the women's motorcycle club she belongs to.”]

tina portillo, I get real: celebrating my sadomasochistic soul, from leatherfolk: radical sex, people, politics and practice, edited by mark thompson, 1991