#writing texts about things i know nothing about for people who won't even read them and no one even cares

[theprettynosferatu]

State of The Blog, February 2025, or As I Type This

CW: Politics, general downer.

I promised myself I wouldn't write about this. Guess this post makes me a liar, aside from a humble kink-maker. I also promised myself I wouldn't complain, and that I won't do. Things are fine. Texts are being written. The smut is flowing, even if slowly- or less rapidly than either of us would like, dear reader.

Now... shit sure is fucked, huh? Not the most eloquent way of putting it, I know. But who has time for rhetoric these days? And I'm not even American! But I happen to know that a large portion of my little corner o'smut here hails from the USA. I have lived there myself. I have, perhaps, something of a romantic streak when it comes to what America could be. Sadly, it's not what it could be that we have to deal with.

Things are moving quickly. This is not by accident.

As I type this, the richest man in the world has gathered an unfathomable trove of data from the US government. Illegally, of course, but it appears such things no longer matter.

As I type this, information on gender and trans issues is being erased from government websites.

As I type this, self-ID is no longer a thing for my non-binary and transgender American friends, acquaintances and readers.

As I type this, ICE is raiding workplaces, schools, churches.

As I type this, someone has lost funding for life-changing research.

As I type this. the US is getting into a trade war on three fronts. All casualties in this war will be, as is always the case, the working people. On all sides.

The casualties of all these things will not be heralded. They will not the announced or published. They will be silent, in the form of people rationing medicine they need to live, getting sick from the cold and not being able to afford a doctor, perhaps choosing to not go on anymore in a world that seems to scream in their face that they don't matter, they are not wanted, they are Other.

You are shocked and traumatized because that's the point. To shock you into paralysis, so you won't have the bandwidth or time or energy to react- your reaction is what they fear.

I am nothing important. I make stuff to get people off. What right to I have to say anything to anyone who is really suffering? What the fuck can I do? Provide some escapism? Perhaps. It is useful, insofar as burning out on doomer shit helps absolutely no one. I'm nowhere near a front line, so to speak. Perhaps I'm being delusional thinking I am contributing something worth fuck all to people, but hey, I can do delusion. Or hope. It's hard to tell them apart sometimes.

I can't tell you to fight. I can't start preaching about the importance of community. I can't tell you what to do. It's not my place, and it's not my expertise. I'm not here to play armchair resistance, and neither are you. You are here for kink, and so kink I shall give you.

But I couldn't do the State of the Blog and let this go unremarked. As futile as it may be, as stupid as it sounds (and I am aware of the ass I'm making out of myself here), I just wanted you all to know you ARE wanted, you CAN handle this. Shit is bleak. But it won't be bleak forever, because YOU won't let it. The dawn is in your hands. And when you need a break and want to read smut, I'll be here.

Oh, and before I go, just in case anyone isn't clear:

Fuck off fascists.

Fuck off transphobes.

Fuck off xenophobes.

Fuck off racists.

Fuck off real sexists.

Life is not on your side, you absolute dogfuckers. It never has been, and it never will be.

[ssmokyquartz]

i'm so so so sorry but i just caved and used chatgpt to help me write a blog post for work

[sleepyeepyp3rson]

tf141 as Hozier songs !! (x female!reader section in each)

an: used to so this with hazbin hotel characters, this was my og format before i started writing fics, decided to go back to it!! also shout out my poor best friend who had do read the spam texts of me explaining which song goes with with each character

hope this keeps yall fed until tf141!wwe au pt 2 drops :33

tw: vauge mentions of (soap's) death, canon typical mentions of violence, small references to ghosts childhood abuse, price in the gulag, religion/religious doubt, and civilian death

(masterlist)

John Price

If I ever say Too Sweet isn't Price, I want you to shoot me because THATS NOT ME!!!!

This song is him in every aspect. He's not a "good man," he knows that. He's committed atrocities, and done things no one else has the guts to do, and he does it all in the shadows.

He'd corrupt anything sweet he put his hands on. He has his boys, sure, but they're not sweet. And that's what's best for him.

He's fine where he is. Captain John Price. He doesn't need some sweet thing, it'd be bad for his health anyway.

He's watching his sugar intake.

(x reader section)

He's scared, honestly. And John Price is not a scared man. Not in the gulag, not facing down Shepherd, not staring down the barrel of a gun. He makes other people scared. He is the boogeyman. There's no way some sweet thing can make him scared.

But you do.

He thinks that at any moment, he'll break you. He knows how to nurture skill, he did it with Gaz, but he doesn't know how to be gentle. Not anymore. He tries though. Tries softening his harsh edges, makes two cups of coffee instead of one, apologizes when he's too blunt with you, tries his best to keep Captain and John separate.

He messes up sometimes, slips into commanding officer mode when you drop glasses or mess something up, but he doesn't mean to. He cups your face when you cry, tries to make it better. Just let him fix it. He can fix it, he always does.

Simon "Ghost" Riley

He gets two whole songs! (Price is my favorite but these fit a little too well for me to pick one.)

Simon's a soldier first. Hardened by the years, mean, rough, with blood stained scarred hands. He chose the military not because he was attached to his country or from a sense of loyalty, but because it was this or nothing.

He is what his father made him. A rabid dog, and given the chance, he'll tear men to bone.

His only other job was a butcher. He was made to draw blood. Made to be this Ghost, this horrid thing that haunts the nightmares of anyone unfortunate enough to hear the stories. He would retire if he could. But he can't. This is it. There is no Simon, only Ghost.

Even when the mask comes off, and he stares into the mirror, the scars covering his skin keep him there. Trap him in his own web.

He is a soldier, but he is nobody's. He's just Ghost. Livin' the dream.

(Jackie and Wilson, x reader section)

He finds you in a bar. Or, more likely, Soap finds you and won't stop talking his ear off about "That bonnie lass in the corner, just look at 'er, Lt." And through grumbles, he turns his head and-

He stops short. Guess Johnny knew him better than he thought, if he knew his type that well. And behind the very, very intense stare he's giving you, he's thinking about the future already. Maybe kids, name them Jackie and Wilson, go on coffee dates or whatever it is a bird like you likes. He'll learn.

He'll bury his mask if you ask. With his childhood bear in the backyard. Deep, deep in the mud and dirt, where he can finally keep the Ghost down and be Simon.

This world certainly isn't for him. He never got to feel like a kid, but this sudden crush has him feeling childish.

Johnny snaps his fingers in his face. "Aye! You're scarin' the lass! Stop staring."

He huffs, the smoke of his cigarette blowing out. He puts it out, and by the time he looks up, you disappeared. More of a ghost than him.

John "Soap" MacTavish

This is mostly x reader, but also also! thought the song fit his general attitude and death (HE WASN'T IN THAT URN)

He's used to working on empty. Chugging through missions and fighting his way through Hell to get back to a base with mediocre food. He likes it though. The rush of explosions, the quick decisions and actions, his team. He likes it.

But good Lord, his Mam will kill him for this. An early death is what she warned him of when he left home, with a wary pat on his cheek and a prayer.

Where is his mother's God now? Where is He as Johnny lies on the ground, the splitting pain in his head, the bullet under his skin making his vision blurry?

He sees no God. He only sees Simon, leaning over him.

He won't die. He can't. He crawls right back to his team everytime. He'll crawl home to them.

(x reader section)

You save him. Through hushed curses and Simon looming over you. You removed the bullet from his head before he could be lost.

He thinks you might be an angel, through the fever. The combat medic who saved him, the one person who could reach him in time, sent down from heaven.

He knows you've seen your fare share. He knows you don't care about what he's done, he knows you've seen the explosions and bombs and guns and came right back to your post everytime. You're just like him.

He tries to court you. To show his unending devotion. It doesn't work out well, but maybe he shouldn't have followed Simon's advice.

But one day, while he's lingering by you while you're trying to patch someone up (definitely breaking a few rules,) you take one look at him, sigh, reach in your pocket for your pen, and you write down your number on his hand.

He beams, leans down and gives you a peck on the cheek and leaves.

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

Gaz!!!! He gets arguably my favorite Hozier song because I LOVE HIM AWOOO AWOOOOO

Whenever he gets the adrenaline rush of battle, he feels like he's floating.

When he was in the SAS, he got that feeling often. The rush before the jump, the air wooshing around him, knowing he was doing something good. He was doing the right thing.

He's doing the right thing now too, but sometimes he doubts. Seeing his friends shoot bystanders alarms the morals floating around in the back of his head, makes him want to jump in between the barrel of the gun and the enemies and keep the peace.

But he can't. This is the right thing. They have to do the dirty work, right? The things no one else will do falls on them. Of course it's not pretty.

He takes a deep breath, and he jumps out of the heli. He falls, yet he feels like he's floating up, like the world is falling away from him.

(x reader section)

He'd do anything to keep you from falling away from him. He knows what the world is like, he knows what he's done, and while he knows there is good, he knows the bad is tenfold. He needs to keep you safe from all of it. To keep this floating feeling in his palms before it slips away.

He comes home from missions ragged, and you soothe.

And in your arms, he is weightless again. He has his wings, he's got the adrenaline he lost long ago back, he is in love.

And he finds himself craving that always. So much so, that on base between one mission and another, he's ranting about you to Price. "--everything to me. Always has been, since I saw 'er, Captain. Has me feeling lighter than a feather."

"Maybe you should get on with it and marry her then."

And that alone has him buying a ring the next day. His Captain knows best, after all.

[katerinaaqu]

Hello :) firstly I wanted to say that I love your analyses and I love all the information and knowledge you’re able to give us, thank you soo much for that.

Secondly since you know so much especially about the odyssey and Odysseus and I’ve recently seen a post where you explained the calypso situation I wanted to ask if you’ve made such an in-depth analysis on the Circe situation? I’m convinced the whole thing wasn’t consensual but there are always ppl saying stuff like “what Hermes said isn’t important” “Circe was at his mercy when she asked him to do the deed with him so he tricked her into doing it” “Odysseus was invulnerable to her powers so that means he wasn’t in danger meaning he willingly slept with her” and since I haven’t read the odyssey in a while I wanted to ask you .

Tysm for your time and I hope you have a wonderful day

Hello and you are very sweet! I really feel happy you do enjoy them and I am also grateful to receive comments and thoughts from you under my work 🙏 it always means so much when people get interested in the ancient texts much more when they honor me with their trust on tye matter.

I believe you are referring to my latest answer then where I re-analyzed the Calypso matter.

OF COURSE I can! I would be happy and delighted to especially since their relationship is so complicated and fascinating to begin with. The way in which it evolves in a very interesting degree and the way both characters share common traits is also fascinating. Circe is called also wily or with tricks which also seems to correspond to the essence of Odysseus himself. A power couple no doubt. But indeed so misunderstood by the media and their interpretations.

So here goes sorry if this is long:

I find it so interesting how far selective interpretation goes 🤔 😆 I find it interesting that indeed there are people out there that read the passage where Hermes SPECIFICALLY mentions how Odysseus has no choice and say that "oh it doesn't matter really!" Hahaha so to be more precise the passage goes as such;

Then you shall not refuse the goddess's bed if you want her to release your comrades, and she shall offer entertainment to you

(Translation by me)

The passage is clear. Hermes tells Odysseus he has no choice but to accept the bed of Circe's if he wants to save his men and see them again in human form. I find it quite interesting that people ignore that or they claim it is unimportant to the plot. This is literally the reason why Odysseus is there. What is more I find the notion of the moly immunity funny because Circe was not a force to be reckoned with only with her magic. In fact Homer also writes afterwards;

However make her swear a sacred and great oath that she will have nothing else bad in store for you so that she won't hurt or unman you when she has you stripped naked.

(Translation by me)

Hermes clearly states that Circe does not need to turn him into an animal to be dangerous. In fact as someone else said before me, it almost seems like Circe might as well kill or castrate him while she has him naked and vulnerable. Hermes clearly states that Odysseus is not safe even if he is immune to her power at that specific moment. It also shows that Circe could harm him at every moment and the only reasons she didn't were this promise that he extracted from her and perhaps her own feelings for him (curiosity or other). Throughout the passage Odysseus was speaking on the fear he was feeling even from moment number one;

And she opened the fine doors calling me in and I followed her with a heavy and grieving heart

(Translation by me)

Odysseus was literally frightened. All the time. As he said he had a grieving heart (ἀκαχήμενος ἦτορ) and he continued to be distrustful of her and afraid even if he had extracted that oath from her.

However my heart could not be pleased for I was distracted as my mind was always thinking on dark thoughts

(Translation by me)

I adore how Homer uses the word ἀλλοφρονέων (=to think differently, to be distracted) but the word αλλόφρων also used in modern Greek to speak on someone who is mad or crazy and is also used as a phrase to indicate someone who is not just worried but someone crazy in fear. Odysseus has extracted the promise, he has accepted the attentive care of Circe and her handmaidens in the bath and he is now sat before a real feast and he is crazy in fear and doubt. His continuous sense of anxiety is obvious in the passage. So to say that Odysseus was just fine and that the whole adventure with Circe was a breeze and that he was safe against her just because he had eaten the Moly at that time seems to me funny since every part of the passage shows how he was afraid. What was more, there is no guarantee that the Moly would protect him forever from Circe's magic not to mention that as we said before, even without her magic Circe had plenty of aces up her sleeve starting from her animal entourage till a potent knife at the time that she had Odysseus under her mercy (thus the need for a promise on her part).

Also even if we say that Moly would keep him immune forever, what about his men? His men had not consumed Moly and it was obvious that the only reason that Odysseus was there was to rescue his men. What guarantee did he have that Circe wouldn't enchant his men again if he misbehaved? Quite frankly as I said above, Circe's likeness for his boldness or potentially his mind plus the oath he extracted from her seems to be the only thing that prevents Circe from using his men as hostages once more. Quite frankly the whole adventure with Circe was a very big hostage business. Odysseus was thinking on his men's safety (not to mention the rest of them waiting by the ship) apart from his own and as you see he was already very much afraid as it was.

I also find it interesting that the reason why Circe seems to be getting Odysseus immediately to her bed is that she knew he would come. Just like Polyphemus knew by a prophet that Odysseus would blind him (although she didn't know the nature of the person that would blind him) Circe says that she knew from Hermes that a certain Odysseus would arrive at her isle on his way back from Troy. So in one way someone to say that Circe was out of options seems at least funny as a notion. It seems that she knew who was coming she just didn't seem to know the conditions that would bring him there.

Now was Odysseus attracted to her?

In my opinion there is no doubt about it as he describes how beautiful Circe was. Would he consider to sleep with her if it weren't of Hermes's advice? In my opinion no. Odysseus would absolutely be finding Circe attractive given her beauty and her divine nature, which is no surprise there but finding attraction to one person and act on it are two different things. In my humble opinion I do not think that Odysseus would act according to that attraction. Would he be curious on the experience with an immortal goddess? Absolutely. He is a naturally curious person and he wants to gain knowledge from other experiences in his life. Would he act up that one? Again I think not.

The reason why I think so is that the essences of loyalty in marriage are not as cut and clean as we usually think of in modern times. True if we judge from Hera myths, it was not preferable for a man to have extramarital affairs but it was generally tolerated. Agamemnon speaks on the affairs he had and many others had affairs. Odysseus would have no reason to hide his actual attraction towards Circe (and he doesn't given how he does speak on her very warmly eventually). Throughout his narration he mentions many things negative about himself including but not restricted to; the conquest and enslavement of Ismarus, his mistake to insult God Poseidon, self-destructive thoughts, feeling of fear towards Circe or Calypso, his moments of sadness and isolation etc. All of these things would be considered embarrassing or even diminishing for him. Why would he hide affairs at a world that was more tolerant towards the affairs and instead say all these others that would make a king or a warrior embarrassed?

Now there is an interesting question of course as to why did Odysseus remain there for a year?

It is indeed food for thought to think about it because once his men were back to human form in theory he could leave right? That in my opinion is not cut and clean like that. For once he had to wait until his men were back to good health and spirits to travel and he might as well take advantage of Circe's hospitality to refill their batteries. However there is also the moment where in the Odyssey his men arrive personally and scold him that he forgot about their country and their homeland for the arms of Circe. So one can think indeed; did Odysseus indeed forget himself?

In my opinion it is possible. His men are not the only ones who wanted to refill their batteries. So was Odysseus. In fact he has MUCH MORE in his plate than the average human already. He has already been at war, he has the war crimes on his mind anyways and he has also witnessed most of his men dying in horrifying ways (Cicones, Polyphemus, Laestrigonians etc) and he has just witnessed the results of his actions as well with the Curse of Polyphemus and the way that the sack of Aeolus fiasco happened. Odysseus already was suffering a lot. Regardless of the fact that he was always afraid of her, the hospitality she offered was very much needed. He could rest and enjoy some safety of dry land for a change after everything he had been through and Circe kept her promise and was a very good hostess to them. Odysseus too needed that break. It is possible that he forgot himself at the care of Circe and quite frankly Circe seems to be also wishing to keep Odysseus by her side so she does seem to make it as easy as possible for him to stay.

So Odysseus enjoying some nice rest after so long, even in the arms of a goddess that scares him makes it cheating? In my opinion no. What is more it seems that the fear of Odysseus was always apparent. It seems that he was avoiding requesting from Circe to let them go the whole time. It almost felt like he was putting the whole thing off out of fear for her anger and refusal. He almost seemed to be gathering off the guts to tell her. When his men straight out demanded it he didn't seem to have a choice but to comply. So it shows how scared he was when he literally BEGGED Circe to let them go by falling on her knees.

And then I climbed onto Circe's beautiful bed and hugging her knees I begged her to set us free with a cry.

(Translation by me)

So basically Odysseus felt helpless before her and he had to do the employing ritual to her (you can see my other post about this ritual) so that he would be sure that Circe wouldn't refuse him or be angry at him. That same fear continued later for when he came back from the Underworld, he preferred to stay by the ships. He was literally brought back in by Circe herself who gave him some advice.

But while most part of the text in the Odyssey indeed implies the lack of free will or lack of options etc someone would think why would Odysseus be considered a cheater in the hands of Circe?

I think the answer lies to the general idea that many people have that we should consider Odysseus as an unreliable narrator and that all the details he lists are lies to cover his cheating.

Although as a logic seems to be very generalized, and it COULD hold some water in regards to some details, I still am not convinced as mention above that Odysseus is lying here. For starters he was already very emotional when speaking to the Phaeakes and an emotional Odysseus is the most honest Odysseus (we saw his emotions betraying him with Polyphemus, with his revelation with the Phaeakes or later with Penelope). Odysseus was already in a very strong emotional state so I do not think his narration is inherently doubtful. What is more, he does seem to have so many details in his narration about himself that are not positive about himself. He would have no reason to hide the specific one. And Odysseus mentions how Circe never had his heart before (see also my other answer here). I cannot find much of a reason for him to lie about that when he has literally admitted everything else that could paint him in an unpleasant light (especially his hubris with Polyphemus).

So to sum up yes I think he was being forced. His men were held hostage and he had to save them. Circe was never helpless regardless of the situation and she had many different ways to kill him if she wanted to. Would he be curious anyways? Absolutely. Would he act according to that curiosity? In that case I think not. He does say so himself and his imprisonment in Calypso's island in his narrative was supported by other characters and the poet so why would he lie for Circe either. One can definitely think about his emotions and how strong they would be about Circe but I think regardless of that, he wouldn't have necessarily act towards that curiosity given how his psychological state was originally

But I guess this is everyone's guess.

I hope this helps. It definitely it is up to you what you want to interpret and I will be happy to offer more passages inside the future reblogs and such! ^_^

[chevvy-ryder]

Sending out kudos to everyone who has shown their love towards Ryder for the past two years.

I love u all very much and every engagement, be it even just a like, means a lot to me.

I've intended to sorta make a cool post of some older vp of him as of today, September 17th, exactly 2 years ago I have created Ryder,— back then as a supposed supportive character for Vijay, very unsure if I would like him as Ry didn't visually turn out as I wanted him to be in the first place and he never went that way either afterwards — yet I find myself writing those lines instead.

I've accepted his look and his imperfection started to grow on me with each picture I took of him. Unlike my other ocs he went his own way leading me along to discover his personality. That's what makes him so different compared to my other blorbos and has me so attached to him.

I did not plan to make him a raver (he was supposed to become an 80s goth punk, a total different style than he's got now) neither that he would end up with a rogue AI controlling him. Only his name, basic info and the toxic family story was planned right from the beginning but that's pretty much it – Ryder showed me the rest of it.

Within the year 2023 I noticed more and more that Ryder has slowly but surly turned out to be my main character.

He turned out to be the most expressive and photogenic one of them all. I don't see him as the prettiest looking either yet he's my most precious and I love every pixel about him.

He's the one thing in my life I am actually truly 100% proud of.

Almost all my ocs exist because of him. They are his support characters. Without him half of them would not even exist. There would be no Thyjs. Even Garnet exists so Ry can live out his passion (that was not really put into the game but exists as lore: Technoise).

I am beyond happy to have created him.

He helps me in a lot of rather personal ways too I do not need to address here.

I got so much to tell about him (also about my other ocs) yet idk if I should continue or not as I find myself stuck with overthinking about it bc of lack of public response literally everywhere (this excludes private chat talks with close friends). Maybe Ryder's too intimidating (not the first time I would read that), his lore gets overlooked easily, or it's to much (confusing) text.

I cannot make anyone force-like him. Tastes are different. Minority is into others oc lore. Less time to read it all. The list is long. I'm aware of it all.

But I cannot underline it enough: do never hesitate to ask me questions about him. He's on my mind 24/7 and my biggest wish is to get this story out and done some day (whenever it will be) and receive some actual feedback on it what was liked.

Just a tiny detail is enough. <3

Another wish I have ever since I joined the CP77 fandom: that people would go back to comment each other more. We all do have little time for it, we all think "oh no so much text to read", we all are in our own bubbles rarley coming out to explore another bubble within this universe. It takes a lot of effort to do. people do seem scared on top to write anything at all for numerous reasons. I have all those problems as well. But I try to sit down and read the one or other lore chunk others wrote down and give a tiny comment as best as I can to make the creator have a smile on their lips. I truly wish we all would do this at least once a week to one person. once a month would be also fine. But if we don't this fandom will be dead soon enough and all thats left is just liking vp with characters on it we know almost nothing about. And maybe even those characters won't have lore anymore bc people stop creating it.

[iri-desky]

○ Hi, TikTok people! ○

Soooo, I rarely ever make posts that address current events like this. Additionally, I doubt that most people on TikTok will be take refuge on Tumblr of all places. That being said, if you happen to be a newcomer to this site who came from TikTok, welcome! It's so nice to have you here!! We're so glad to see you. Now, here's the thing about Tumblr-- Tumblr and Tiktok are basically polar opposites. Lemme rephrase that; there's a lot to learn if you don't know much about here.

So, here's some tips to get you started!

[ Press "keep reading" to continue! ]

• Reblog, reblog, reblog. Reblogging is a way for artists, text posts, and other posts to get seen! It shows them to more people since this site really doesn't have any algorithm. You can reblog literally anything you want as long as the post doesn't have reblogs turned off. Did that text post make you laugh? Reblog it! Did you like that fanfic concept? Reblog it! Did you like that art? Reblog it! You don't need to if you don't want to, but it's very much allowed. "Will I cross someone's boundaries if I reblog too many times?" Nope. Reblog as much as you want, be as weird as you want. Plenty of artists on here take it as a compliment and a sign of excitement. You don't need to be as afraid on here.

• THERE IS NO ALGORITHM!! Everyone on Tumblr over here is equal and clout means basically nothing over here. We just like cool art, funny stuff, and cool ideas. Post your stuff to the tag and just watch as people who are interested in it come to you. We're just here to have fun--this isn't a game of clout. Sit back, relax, and find your people! The days of clout are no more.

• We Tumblr users LOVE reading and writing! It's in our nature. So you're probably gonna see a lot of long posts on here with blocks of texts. Don't be scared of it, check some of them out! That said, short but sweet posts are fun over here too. Feel free to type as much as you want. We have unlimited text over here! It's so cool.

• Speaking of writing and tags, remember how you had to censor your words on TikTok? No need. You can say literally whatever over here and you don't have to fear getting banned. The days of "unalive" and "sewer slide" are ALSO no more. SPEAKING OF WHICH. A lot of users still put tws on their posts and tags. If you're shoving it in the tags, PLEASE do not censor it. It won't filter it if they're using a blacklist.

• The first thing you should do over here after you get your account set up if make your blog look special. Change it to whatever color you want, change the font of your title, change your title to something funny, and change your pfp and banner. It's all to make it you! It also doesn't matter if it's something random for now--us Tumblr users are very wary against bots, and we often block anyone who doesn't have a customized account. Just take your time and have fun, but make sure you don't get blocked by the people you don't want to block you over something silly like looking like a bot!

• You can post videos on here too! Feel free to upload old TikToks you save! I've seen a lot of other TikTok refugees who want to see some old content. I never was on TikTok, though I think it'd be neat to see your old stuff.

• There's lots of communities on here for even the smallest of stuff. If you have a niche interest, go ahead, include it into your introduction-- no one will judge on here and you just might find someone else who's just as crazy over it. You can check the tags for other people who posted about it, too! It's fun to go scrolling through the tags. I included Ducktales 2017 in my interests list--I didn't lose any cool points. I even still post about it! Literally be as weird as you want. We don't care, you have no limits. This is a fandom haven!

• You can have opinions here. Post about the most random crap you want and spit whatever opinions you have, people are very non-confrontational on here. Use your blocklist, you have it for a reason. Blacklist tags you don't want to see. Again, be as weird as you want. You WILL find your people. Just don't go fighting people--unlike TikTok, we'd rather live our lives on here and having beef with other people isn't going to give anyone any clout. You're GOING to see upsetting stuff and opinions that conflict yours (after all, there's no algorithm), but that's okay. Just engage in your interests, speak your opinions, block when you neef to, and enjoy.

Other tumblr users, feel free to add any extra points in the replies!

Oh, and if you're a TikTok refugee who happened to read this, feel free to introduce yourself in the replies. I like meeting new people and it'd feel nice to know this helped someone!

~ Sincerely, Iridesky, a weird individual who loves writing and has way too many interests to count

[qqueenofhades]

as a starting history major i wanna ask how do you read/evaluate academic history papers/books? i'm trying to avoid just blindly agreeing with whatever the author is writing because it seems correct. how can you tell what is good scholarship and what is more shaky?

This is a great question for you as a freshman history major to ask (many of my toiling colleagues and I can attest that we wish more of you would!) and shows that you're already taking initiative and investment in your studies and want to be the best prepared you can. So truly -- thank you! Us on the faculty/staff/administrative end of academia can feel as if we are pouring into an empty bucket at times, and it's always gratifying to hear otherwise. We really appreciate it.

As a college freshman and/or underclassman (or so I'm assuming) your first job is learning how to collect basic information from the things you read, collate and cite them accurately, and make them converse intelligently with each other in an entry-level piece of academic writing (such as an essay responding to an assigned prompt). So before you have to worry about understanding complex nuance and granular-level fact-checking, the first step is just getting comfortable with academic forms, styles, and conventions. There's an occasional anti-intellectual strand of thinking that pops up on Tumblr, basically insisting that everyone everywhere should be able to understand everything in fifth-grade words and if not then it's Elitist Gatekeeping, but this is a symptom of TikTok brainrot where people's brains have been literally rewired to only process spoon-fed chunks of incredibly simplistic (and uh, often wrong) information, and literally can't parse anything longer, even if it's written in accessible language. Yes, many academics are not necessarily great writers, but you also have to let go of the mindset that you can speed-read once and understand everything. You will need to slow down, take your time, and make a note of concepts that are confusing or that you want to double-check, words you need to look up, and things that make you say "hmm I should look into that more," whether because you're interested or they seem questionable. I always read academic texts or papers (I prefer hard copy, because I am Fucking Old) with a pen in hand, because if I don't, I often feel like I didn't read it at all.

Basically, this is an interactive process between you and the text, and requires you to develop a different kind of reading mentality than just buzzing through a novel or fanfic for pleasure. You have to expect that it will take time and that if you regularly skive off the readings, you won't be prepared for class, your professors will be annoyed, and you won't be able to write good essays, because you haven't engaged with the material. In your case, it sounds like that will be less of a problem, because you are eager to know how to do it right, but I can tell you from my experience that nothing frustrates us more than students who just won't do the reading (and you know, use ChatGPT to write their essays) because then what are you even DOING here? What do you want to get out of this? Why are you wasting your precious tuition money like this? Yes, you probably have to fill a requirement, but STILL. It's disrespectful to your teacher, who has invested a lot of effort in being here to help you with this and doesn't want you to just quit because it looks hard, and your peers, and to you. So anyway, /Captain Holt voice/ apparently that's a trigger for me. Basically, if you learn nothing else from this ask: please do the reading. Even if it's only to admit you need more help or want to talk about this concept in class or otherwise take advantage of all the structures that are in fact there to help you understand it! Thankee.

Likewise, because you're an underclassman, you have an advantage in that your teacher will select the class readings for you ahead of time. That means you will be receiving things that a professional has already checked, decided are useful and trustworthy, and you don't have to do independent research and vetting yourself (that will come if you decide for some godforsaken reason to pursue graduate and/or doctoral study). So you don't need to spend tons of extra time and effort deciding if the sources given to you in class are reliable on a basic and functional level; your professor has already done the work for you to make sure that they are. Your job is now to read those sources, keep a record of what they say (hence the aforementioned pen or other way to make quick notes) and figure out how to put them together in an essay. For example, if Author A cites Factor A as, say, the main cause of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and Author B insists that Factor B was in fact more critical, what is your best approach to reconciling that information? You would search in the rest of those texts to see what else they say in support of their position, and you would probably end up with a qualified statement to the effect of, "While Author A argues A, Author B thinks B, representing the lack of consensus and the difficulty in attributing one single cause to an event as complicated as the fall of Rome." (And then because you're smart, you would go on to mention Byzantium and the Eastern Roman Empire and show that you are aware of the further context.) All of which is true! Historians do that all the time! You don't need to select THE RIGHT ANSWER and vigorously discredit all other theories, ever, and we tend to look suspiciously on people who do (cough cough Philippa Langley).

In other words, we are certainly not expecting you as a freshman, and even as a more advanced student, to be able to pick out ONE ANSWER from the material. We just want to see evidence that you have in fact read it, are able to evaluate and place theories side by side and possibly make a judgment as to which one you find more compelling, and also to properly cite where you got that information. We've seen a lot recently about plagiarism and that being the pretext on which Harvard president Claudine Gay was forced to resign (which is a whole other can of worms, but never mind). A lot of professors think that saying "Don't Do Plagiarism" is enough, but then don't explain what it is and the different forms it can take. It's not just a matter of copying verbatim chunks of someone else's work (or you know, ALL OF IT, like certain recently discredited YouTube scumbags) and acting like it's your own. If you are relying substantially on someone else's work, whether in their wording, arguments, conclusions, structure, or anything else, even if you've changed some of the words (yep, still plagiarism!), that needs to be cited appropriately according to the relevant style guide. Direct quotes from anyone need to go in quotation marks or indented blocks and have the author cited immediately afterward. History usually uses Chicago, MLA, or MHRA, and you can find cheat sheets for how to do that online. It's a pretty simple and straightforward style, and your professor will be extra impressed.

If you're expected to do an independent project or a senior research thesis, as some undergraduate history students do, then it will come when you have already had three years of experience in reading, evaluating, and writing historical scholarship, you will probably have a faculty member assigned to you for one-on-one mentoring and personalized feedback sessions, and they will be able to provide suggestions and support for useful sources. So even then, you still don't have to do it entirely on your own. They'll probably also be MORE than happy to debate with you which ones are good and which ones are suspect, because it's all a part of developing your ability to flex that muscle for yourself. (And as noted, faculty members Will Have Strong Opinions.) That likewise doesn't mean you just have to copy whatever they say (at least if you have a good teacher who wants you to think for yourself and not just be a mini-clone of their pet theories), but it means that by the time you reach that stage, you will have been prepared enough to feel confident in taking more steps on your own. I think not enough people realize that studying history (or anything, really) isn't just throwing you out there and being like "tough luck sucker, do it all yourself."

That's why academia is so collaborative, why plenty of historians with doctorates and tenure will still have to say "I don't know, let me get back to you" when someone asks them a question at a conference, and you don't have to fear that if you don't have The One Right Answer, you will be immediately exposed as a fraud and thrown out. History as a discipline is also moving away from the 19th-century German approach that attempted to systematize it as a singular social science with One Right Answer, and to focus more on multiple perspectives and incomplete answers. That's why the goal is not necessarily to know everything (which alas, is impossible), but to make better sense of what we can know and search for ways in which the existing record is flawed and needs to be revised, expanded, or reworked with new perspectives (which have existed all this time, but haven't been privileged by the white male western academy for the obvious reasons). And that work is fun and important! I don't want you to be scared of getting to that point, because someone will be there to support you the whole way and by the time you do, it will make sense to you in a way it probably doesn't right now, just because it's a new skill and like any new skill, it takes a long time to learn and to be able to apply confidently, consistently, and at a high level. And plenty of us who do it as a career still often have to say "I don't know, let me ask Dr. So-and-so who specializes in this," so yeah. It's a process of becoming comfortable with both learning how to answer what we can, and to ask others for help with that, and it never really ends. Which is the fun part. There's so much more to do.

Good luck!

[blushblushbear]

Can we get Demetri, Eli, Scale and Stirling relationship headcannons? I barely see any anymore and I think it would actually be really cute

Dmitri

very classically romantic

and extremely cheesy

tries to fit you as best he can

but his instincts will always bring him to wine and rose petals on the bed

also likes to read you poetry

he also will write you poetry too but I won't lie it's not the best...

but lord does he put his heart into it

also really really really wants to do that whole guiding your hands in pottery thing from ghost but he won't force you

he will just quietly (not so quietly) hopes the moment will arise

legit swoons a little (or a lot) at every romantic gesture you make

just generally a really old fashioned fallen hard romantic

lots of picnic dates and beach dates and make out sessions in the moon light

really wants to integrate you into every part of his life if he can

also introduces you to the family so quick

has a locket with your picture in it to look at when he's feeling down and he needs a pick me up

(also has pics of you on his phone and as his bg but the locket is just so much more romantic)

Eli

hello cheesy romantic number two

he actually also reads you poetry but he's a lot more thoughtful about his choices and less swanning about the whole affair

though he's still very dramatic over it don't get it twisted

also writes you poetry but waits till FOREVER to share them with you

he's legit embarrassed but he's really feeling this relationship so he shares not only the stuff he's written about you but the stuff he's wrote in general

loves to collect and share romantic things and basically show them to you going 'us' lol

also a meme queen

will go from the day's latest meme to a really heartfelt romantic sentiment, right back to memes so so fast lol

will 1000000% sweep you off your feet but honestly does ADORE being swept off his

I think he's actually more flustered than he thinks he'll be when you do it but he's not complaining

won't make a big deal of it but low key tries to be in contact with you 24/7

just really loves talking with you, even if it's about nothing

also likes roleplay, sexual or otherwise

you guys have def done the whole 'oh mysterious stranger who I just met tonight at this bar, I can't fight the attraction between us, let's have a wild one night stand' bit so many times you end up having to go to knew bars all the time

really loves slotting you and him into romantic scenarios

anytime he legit makes you swoon he's never happier

he's good at charming people and good at being charmed

but when he sparks something so deep and geniue

or has it sparked in him

IDK MAN he's just so head over heels

on cloud nine, so beyond joyous

loves loves LOVES good morning good night texts

if you don't send them he will but also pout pout where's my morning text >:T

also a very 'where's my kiss hello/goodbye? >:T'

always flirtatious but this is probably one of the first times he's felt something so strong behind it and frankly he's just over the moon to have you in his life at all

Scale

HELLO SHY TSUNDERE

firstly, he is always looking out for you/watching over you more than you know

always making sure you're safe

but he also tries to make sure you're good emotionally/mentally

key word is tries, he's not the best with people

but god damn it all for you he will move the heavens and earth!!

loves doing the most mundane shit with you

just being around you makes him so so happy

learns all your favorite things, it's like recon but for LOVE

anytime he's given love or attention or affection he's practically dizzy with delight

he tries to hide it everytime but he is SWOONING

MELTING

HIS BRAIN HAS SHUT DOWN AND HIS HEART IS RACING

LOVES cuddles so much

also kisses but his favs are the ones he sneak steals

whenever you manage to get him back or beat him at his own sneaky game, he's so impressed and also so in love

BLUSHING MESS THE FIRST TIME YOU COUNTER SNEAK HIS SNEAK KISS

he doesn't wanna admit he's kicking his feet every time he gets a text from you but there he goes, being too giddy to function

tries really hard to act cool around you and sometimes even succeeds

he's constantly torn between no one can know how much he loves you or it could be used against him and get you in danger and

OMG OMG OMG OMG I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, EVERY CELL IN MY BODY IS FULL OF LOVE OMG THEY'RE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS WAY AHHHH

also tries his best to be strong and manly around you

has a better success rate with those then trying to be cool

Stirling

smooth

very very smooth

doesn't get flustered easily

but still CAN get flustered

he didn't think he could but then you gave him the sweetest little cheek kiss and his undead heart was beating like a war drum in his rib cage

very protective

no harm shall come to his beloved

but unlike others he doesn't linger on it

it's a quiet deadly assurance

he'd much rather spend his energy and time with you having fun and delighting in your presence

loves to have you come skating with him

also loves to have you present at performances and competitions

he does so much better at them when he has you to perform for

has a few paintings of you hanging in his home

does not tell you they are there

you don't know when he got them done

you have to teach him some technology but honestly if it makes it easier to talk to you he'll learn anything

loves to have you stay over with him for days or even weeks at a time

constantly trying to get you to move in

very sensual

very romantic

anytime he can make you swoon he feels like he's won

love bites <3

loves to listen to you talk about your day

always listens with the most love struck look on his face

likes to regale you with tales of his long life

but the best stories as far as he's concerned all come from his time with you

[swan-lite]

Dang it, okay, I have thoughts

James Somerton made an apology video in which he says "I'm sorry" several times but

Couches it in a pity party

Does not directly address any of the people whose work he stole by name

Never uses the word "plagiarism," instead referring to his theft almost exclusively as "citation errors"

James discusses how many videos he and his team were releasing and the frequency of releases as if someone was pressuring them to release a high volume of videos, as if to say it isn't his fault that there were quality problems

James offers to make his videos public again and add "citations" in a pinned comment or in the descriptions as a means of crediting the people he stole from

He also insists that some of the videos won't need these citations because some of them were his own "original work"

(In other words: that he has nothing more to hide)

James states that he isn't bigoted against ace folks, bisexual folks, trans folks, or women and that the several disparaging remarks he has made against these communities in his videos were not written by him

Because we have receipts for several of these remarks thanks to Harry's (hbomberguy's) video on James, we know that they didn't come from the articles and books he was stealing from, so if James didn't write them then the only other person who could have was his cowriter Nick

James then immediately says that he's not trying to blame Nick

James does not try to explain the ace/arophobic, biphobic, transphobic, or misogynistic remarks he has made on his Twitter or Patreon accounts

James mentions - and seems genuinely bothered by - the "people online" who are spreading lies and misinformation about him

Finally, James discusses future projects he would like to work on

He then deleted the apology video

Harry states near the top of Plagiarism and You(Tube) that "When someone more competent than Filip uses [his] techniques in a subtler way, we can recognize them for what they are."

This is not competent. It's not even subtle. James's career was so thoroughly eviscerated literally overnight that this is the best he can do, and it's not even good.

James says that he's sorry, but doesn't actually explain what he's sorry for. He doesn't admit to, or take responsibility for, the extent of what he actually did. In this way, he can now say when confronted that he apologized. But with the wording, he still manages to avoid actually taking ownership of his actions. In other words, it's using passive language to imply that what he has done just happened. He definitely didn't sit down and choose to commit extensive plagiarism - of course not! What really happened? *shrug* Anyway, sorry for it.

When iiluminaughtii (henceforth referred to as Blaire) tried to explain the many times in her video essays she has misspoken or misused words, she played it off as a byproduct of the amount of "work" she churned out for her fans. James is trying to do the same thing here, only it is deeply ineffective. It's quite upsetting to me to think that some of his fans - young queer folks who are probably used to having to make themselves small - might on some level fall for this trick. The idea is to make you the viewer feel guilty for the demands you have placed on this creator, when in reality this is a grown adult who knew exactly what he was doing.

I'm not going to spend too long on this next point. If you've read this far, you're probably invested enough to be well aware that James has used the trick of burying a citation under a mound of text no-one will read many times. It's the same trick Blaire used, and the one The Internet Historian used as well after he was caught.

James stops short of making a "Colombo villian speech" in this apology video. He does, however, take the time to say that he has nothing more to hide. Again, if you've watched Harry's video, you know this literally always means that the person who insists they have nothing to hide is absolutely hiding something else. Whether this is more plagiarism or some other skullduggery we haven't yet found out about, I'm sure it will come to light eventually. I'm honestly surprised and a little disappointed that James tried this tack. Obviously he's thought better of it, since the video is gone now. But I would think a grown human who has just been the subject of an hours-long piece of, frankly, journalism would know better than to say something like this.

With the comments about his bigotry, James is trying to simultaneously redirect attention and perform allyship by saying "Look, I have an asexual friend! Who may or may not be public about his sexuality at this time!" This is the kind of thing I think a lot of us in the queer community are used to - supposed allies downplaying microaggressions by pointing to folks in the ally's proximity who happen to have an identity that they are being accused of speaking badly about. "This one person can stand to be around me, so clearly I can't be all bad." Personally, as someone whose racist parent tries consistently to downplay their own racism by pointing to me, their mixed race child, I can tell you that this is always misleading. In this case, I feel comfortable saying it's intentional. James tries to excuse the bigotry that "ended up in the videos" by saying that he didn't have time to edit the scripts properly. He doesn't seem to realize that time constraints often make people much more honest. In reality, this is James trying to make excuses for the bigotry he put in his videos because the time constraints he put onto himself made it much more difficult to disguise how he really feels.

James then directs some indignation at the people who are online discussing what he did. I would interpret his discussion of his income as an oblique reference to Dan Olson's thread about his recording equipment if I had a degree in literary analysis. My degree is not in literary analysis, so I'll leave it there. Ahem.

James makes reference to future projects he hopes to work on, as if this endeavor has in any way preserved or helped to bolster his shattered reputation. Jessie Gender makes a great point in saying this feels like a promise of work we could get out of him if we all just collectively decide to ignore all the harm he has caused. And James has caused harm. Whether he meant to or not, given the sheer magnitude of his plagiarism, there is absolutely no doubt that he has caused significant harm to a community he claimed to defend.

I want to spend a moment on something others have already pointed out. Actually, Harry pointed this out too. If James's theft were in any way defensible, he would have defended it. He would not have gone to such great lengths - up to and including deleting videos - to hide it. He wouldn't have used Nick as a shield, he wouldn't have outright lied in his livestreams, and he wouldn't have deactivated his Patreon (before reactivating--y'know what, this post is long enough, we don't need to get into that). James lied and dodged and beat around the bush for years BECAUSE he knew what he was doing was wrong. I had a justice studies professor once tell my class that nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to be A Criminal. People make choices, and choices have consequences, but most people don't choose consequences. People choose the thing that benefits them and consequences follow. James made a long, long series of choices, and I would like to remind everyone that they always had consequences. Even before Harry's video came out, James was facing consequences. Those didn't come from nowhere, they came from the people he was hurting. He knew about them, he just didn't stop because of them. He stopped because he literally couldn't keep going anymore.

Finally, James deleted his misguided response to the multitude of accusations against him. I don't think I need to explain to anyone what that indicates.

I would like to finish by saying that nobody should be harassed. Nobody should be bullied, or dogpiled, or doxxed. Nobody should wake up in the hospital because their dad realized he needed to call an ambulance. James's life is undoubtedly in a really difficult place right now, and while he absolutely deserved to lose his career, that's all he deserved. I hope he regains his health, I really do.

And I hope Harry and his team don't feel any responsibility over this. It seems easy from the outside to believe they wouldn't, but I also know that if I had just released a 4-hour long video detailing someone's fraud and then found out they had been in the hospital because of an incompleted suicide, I would feel pretty conflicted about a project we know Harry already felt conflicted about.

I hope Harry and his team are doing okay, and I hope James starts doing okay soon, and I hope James realizes this was the wrong damn time to try to release an apology. It was a bad apology.

[justatypicalwizard]

Have a brainrot goin' around my head.

Fluff to angst to fluff.

Warnings: mention of self hate

Sanemi with a reader who is from the present. You were sucked up to their era with the only thing in your hands- your phone.

The battery somehow isn't dying so you can use the device all you want. It doesn't have internet or GPS connection obviously. Nontheless, the rest is fine.

You have to ask the Hashira kindly not to slash through your phone when it iluminates or starts to speak/play music. You also have to tell them, explain very very carefuly that the thing is not alive.

Sanemi is unimpressed when he sees the small thing. He has no clue how it works but his mind is not capable of imagining just how many things it can do.

When you show them how you swipe on the screen with your finger they are amazed, silent and some of them trembling to see what it can do.

You on the other hand don’t know what to start with, how to explain.

When you decide to show them the camera they all squeeze together like you asked them. You want to get the Hashira to fit in one picture.

"That me?" Sanemi's voice is quiet when he sees his face and exposed chest on the photo. He's in the back with a focused expression.

"You want another one?" Your voice is slightly teasing which makes him anoyed, suddenly he feels small and stupid. He just doesn't know why.

"Mhm." The man mumbles not shifting an inch when you tiptoe a bit to the back.

"Your face is the same." You laugh showing him the new photo and the previous one.

"You keep them?" He asks. He thought they dissapeared as soon as you stop playing with them.

"Yeah, as long as this thing is working." You point to the phone. "Your photo will be here."

Sanemi suddenly feels a tad shy. You would have his image so close to you? Is it like keeping a painting, like the one you get when you're about to marry someone. But these paintings lie. This thing is 100% exact. He's there, in that box and he doesn't know how to feel about it.

"What else can it do?" He shouldn’t be interested. This is some child's play and he shouldn’t be bothered. But it does spark something in him when he sees you manage the thing, you’re so good at it, so precise and swift.

Sanemi doesn't like that feeling. He knows that the thing in your hand is useless, he has to be right. No matter how fancy it looks like and how many magical things it can do, in the end it's like a doll, it's a toy. Meaningless, he's sure.

"Um, you can write in it. If I'd have internet... eh, there is a way that you can write to other people that also have phones. I can't do it now but in my times i could and did. Look." You open your chat app, it doesn't work but you open a random conversation and start to type. The message never got delivered but the text is there.

Sanemi grips the fabric of his pants. He can't write. He doesn't even know what's written there because you use some weird signs that he has never seen before. Fuck it. He won't tell you, not like you realised.

Then you showed him the calculator. You figured you could show that your device is multitasking using things they will understand like reading, writing and calculating.

Suddenly, your braty face and sheepish eyes morphed in Sanemi's mind. When you looked at him the man felt scrutinised. Writing was getting more popular amongst people but calculating was a skill reserved for the great minds, especially these unearthly looking signs and long lines of symbols.

You could do it. You talked about it as if it was nothing, just an everyday thing.

Sanemi looked past you, he felt an invisible weight rest on his shoulders. Like someone big grabbed his body from behind, whispering to his ear that he'll never know anything, that he's limited and closed minded. Just look how stupid he is.

When the man traced his gaze back to you he felt... respect.

You did tell them that your world was vastly different but he underestimated you, laughed at you, minimised you. Now it's him who feels small and idiotic. You mentioned these were the most basic things your small decice could do. He didn't even want to hear about the advanced stuff, he's too embarassed of the thought he wouldn't understand them.

Sanemi's big arms and world-saving tights felt useless compared to your mind. You were intelligent. What could you do to him, bring out of him, threaten him with, see through him? Sanemi felt the hair on his neck stand, goosebumps flashing through his hands when he spiralled into these thoughts.

What would win? His strength or your mind? He wanted to try it, to hurt you just to het stabbed back at. Stabbed in a place where noone previously reached. He wanted to get torn down and forcefully broken up into parts. He wanted you to figure him out so that he would be safe in his conviction that he never opened up for anyone. You just simply let yourself in forcefuly.

Tell me everything is going to be alright without speaking. Know when I need you without me asking. Understand me not needing me to spill all my bitter life before you. Hold onto me because you know I'm capable. Trust me because you know I'm worthy. Take me as I am. Love me.

It will be a game of ups and downs with him. Surprisingly Sanemi is a man who knows respect. He doesn't have it for many people but you, you've earned it. He's madly in love with your sharp, compared to his, mind. One look and he knows you know. Nothing to hide from you, even if he wants. Sanemi is a person who lived through a lot, that's why he finds himself in tough love, seeking forcefulness, sometimes even saddness in order to fill up his heart with any type of strong emotion.

Instead of feeling suffocated like he anticipated he feels embraced by you. You don’t tear through his walls like he wanted. You maneuver around him, like a warm spring breeze, filling him up to the brim with love and understanding. You're slow and respectful, delicate and pure to the point of making him scream and punch the training dummies. He wants to throw you away, run from you, hurt you so that you hurt him. Instead he feels caressed and understanded, soothed and loved. He doesn't want this because he doesn't deserve this. He can't forget what he did and what he will do but you make him, when you hold him in your arms he feels as if he could nearly let go of his weights.

It will take a lot of sleepless nights, slow rocking, sweet kisses, caressing his messy head and long, exhausting conversations to make im accept the fact that he is, in fact, loved.

Ok, this escalated quickly but these where the type of emotions I thought he would develop.

See you some other time.

-I need to think about a short name from my username but the only thing that comes to my mind in trash. Please don't call me that, I'll think about something.

[annawayne]

Regarding your last anon ask about your career, what job would you like to do if you were able to enter the art industry?

Hello, Meli, and, oh! Thank you a lot for asking! 🖤

For a long time, I wanted to have a career of an artist & writer, as in creating various conceptual arts, design, and as for writing - publishing book. I had some experience working as a graphic designer, and it wasn't that bad - yes, also quite far away from my artistic taste, but it was at least something close to what I admire.

However, as time goes, I understand that "simply" creating is not enough for me. The "scientific", "researcher" and "conceptual" layer of art is something that lives deeply in me. I understand that working as graphic designer or working on conceptiual arts is not enough for me, but what is so appealing to me is creating complex projects, from A to Z, both drawing, writing, and then, exploring the particular topics with reference to all knowledge I have. This is it.

By complex projects I mean something like making the excessive research on particular topic, and then, present it in a form of the written book with illustrations. Basically, this is who I am, to be honest - "scientific"/researcher approach + creativity (work with visual concept and text).

I already have various ideas of something like this - for example, make a huge expedition over Ukraine, my country, and save all the folklore songs and embroidery which is left, and then, creating the huge book with illustrations, text, explaining and presenting the different aspects of particular regions through the urbanistic & cultural & folklore aspects of each region with historical canvas - nothing goes unnoticed, and the history and culture always develop with people and events around them. To make it more engaging - illustration; more spectacular and not boring - writing a story about it, that would lead through centuries and the country. Make it vivid, breathing, alive and modern.

This is, you know, like an example of what I mean by "conceptual project", where the research, my knowledge about art, history, folklore, linguistics and anthropology blend with my creative side in illustrations and literature.

For me, saving, developing and promoting the culture and art, is my passion.

As for Ukraine, it's an essential need to save our culture which is destroyed every day. Some of the things we already lost forever - and that's why it's so important for me to save it. We already lost so much, something and someone. My hometown is occupied for 10 years now, and it's almost nothing left of its history. Even if you Google it, you won't find the photos before 2014. You won't be able to find almost anything about the Ukrainian roots and rich history of this incredible region. And saving all the remnants, it's not only important to me, it's important to declare to the whole world - we existed, exist and will exist, no matter what.

(but of course, I would love to make it not only about Ukraine, it's just great example on explaining why it's important to me)

I still remember how people saved from the fire during the full-scaled invasion of Ukraine the paintings of Maria Prymachenko - one of the most known and vivid folk artists who worked in naïve art style, one of the best in this field, artist, whose works were noticed by Picasso who said, after visiting a Prymachenko exhibition in Paris in 1937, "I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian". The museum after constant attacks was on fire, 25 paintings were lost, but local people just went into the fire and saved what was left with their bare hands under constant attacks - 10 paintings.

Maybe, I'm the same like these people - would enter the fire if it means to save art, and then, showing it to the world.

So... Yeah, this is it!

Thank you a lot for asking, and I apologise for the long-read... I hope I didn't bore you...

Thank you a lot, and wish you all the best🫂

[thedivineflowers]

HII!! My first time requesting so I feel a little silly, I love your works and as a former middle schooler I love thinking of these silly dudes as my brothers and I can imagine it really well through your writing and your humor is just like mine! In your parental terms fic I read Azul offer us a job at Mostro lounge and I honestly wanna know the daily activities and goofiness that happens on our work shifts😭 feel free to decline this I can’t wait for you deuces mom fic!<3🙈

Ofc ofc and I won't decline this masterpiece bb.

School night:

Clocking in at work:

When you clock in at work you gotta be early and then go to Azul's VIP room so you can tell him about the bitch who stole your test answers and eat your snack.

If you don't clock in at the right time you will be called and texted multiple times and hunted down by the twins who are just as worried about you as Azul.

When you're done with your snack you go change into your work uniform which is the dorm uniform but you have a lounge pin on your bowtie which has a tracker so Azul can keep an eye on you. And you also get your own version of Azul's coat because I know it's cold as fuck in that damn lounge.

Near beginning of shift:

If at any point you have to take a break not even one madol will be taken off your payment no matter how long your break is.

And ofc you goof off and you're allowed to be mean to the customers.

"Hey, I wanted clams not crabs!" A customer shouted at you. "AND I WANTED A SEA PONY, LIFE AINT FAIR." You shouted at the customer and threw a knife and fork on their plate.

You and Floyd are allowed to throw people out of the Lounge and you two mostly throw people out together.

You hold the person by their hands and Floyd holds them by their feet. You start swinging the person towards the opened lounge doors. "One..." You started "Two..." Floyd said "THREE!!" You both shouted at the same time and threw the ex customer out and closed the door with a satisfied sigh.

And sometimes if you can or want to Azul would host shows for you to entertain the audience and get more Madol 😈😈😈. And to make the school fear you. 🧍‍♂️

Middle of shift:

At this time you get a thirty minute break. You mostly get your breaks with the twins so they mostly take you to go feed the sea animals and try to help you with your homework if you have any. Or if you have nothing to do you go bother the other workers and scare them. More than half of them bitches are scared of your feral ass so you just gotta do some oogly boogly shit and theyll be saying sorry.

When your break ends you have to go back to work. But you are left in charge of the lounge when Jade and Floyd have to go observe a deal with Azul. So you mostly have customers complain to you while the twins are away and you get this time to mess with them if it's something stupid.

And most of the time is stuff about how they did not like the food when they just wanted to not pay for their food. They say this while they're paying and then demand a whole ass refund so you go into the secret monopoly money stash and give it to them saying it's limited edition madol. 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

And sometimes Azul himself will come in to see how things are doing and will chat with the guests but he's just watching and making sure that you're alright and don't need a break cause dawg you're a fucking kid working a whole ass job trying to get paid more than what Crowley gives you and you got all this stuff to do bro you couldn't even enjoy being a kid anymore when you first met the old ass man😔 😒.

Near the end of the shift:

At this time it's when the lounge starts closing up and people start leaving and this means extra money and coins to snatch 😈😈. You find about 500 madol lying around throughout the lounge and Azul says you can keep it most of the time.

And around this time Azul has you eat your dinner and calm down after working and you change out of your uniform right when the clock hits 9 (idfk so ima take a guess and say nine through ten at night). And when Azul makes sure your homework is completed and correct you'd be allowed to do whatever.

And sometimes it's too late to be walking out by yourself so Azul and the twins have you sleep in your own dorm room over there and if Grims with you he has his own bed and blankets next to yours. (It was demanded that the cat gets a bed by you or else you'd go bat shit around Azul's office. 🧍‍♂️) and you have your own matching pajama set that's similar to Azul so after you're done getting ready for bed you'd go in Azul's office sometimes to keep him company and drag him to his room because his eyebags look this close to being able to hold a whole fucking Walmart.

Weekend:

Clocking in:

It's morning time and you're ass is waking up at fucking 10 in the morning because you slept at 4 and almost pulled an all nighter.

You have to go to Azul's office when you wake up or else Azul will give you the day off to sleep and gaggle around.

And when you finish eating your breakfast and waking up you get to change into your uniform and choose what you want to do, paper work, keeping Azul company, or working with the twins.

You still get paid so ���.

But sometimes Azul will have you turn into a merfolk by drinking a potion and you get to swim around the aquarium and spook the customers.

Middle of shift:

You get your break and your lunch to eat and it's free because you were able to say hello to Lucious the other day during the animal speech class.

And after that you get to do whatever you want or you could go and observe one of Azul's contract agreements thingies with the twins.

And if they try to like swing at Azul you get to go batshit and drag them outside while Azul cleans up his office for his next contract.

Near end of shift:

This time it's a little later which is 10 at night and you all clean up yiddy yadda but you get more extra change because you performed earlier.

Then you get to change out of your uniform once Azul tells you and you immediately have to take a shower then get ready for bed because you don't know when you're gonna sleep.

And obviously have no homework (🤮🤮 EEWWWWW) so you get stay up worh Azul and the twins watching national geographic, cooking shows, extreme cheapskates, boxing matches or basketball games. One of those. And you all end up sleeping on the couch in your room where the TV is (you're fucking spoiled) and sometimes you all would just sit around and gossip but no one knows what goes on in your room but the lights are always on until morning 😨. So far Floyd has taught you how to give a hug bigger than his 🤗. You've sent three people to the infirmary in less than two hours in school.

You obviously stay over because no one wants to go out that fucking late unless you're getting paid to go and rock someones shit 😒.

YEYEYEYEYEYEYYEY

I LOVE THOS SM JWHWBWJWJWJWM

Anyways I hope you like it. I know i was like kinda late I'm still working on the other ones so def look forward to those 😘😘😘

[avidbeader]

I bought and read the first of the "Dead Boy Detectives" comics collections yesterday, because I was curious about what else they'd done to adapt the series for television besides the necessary aging up of the characters. (Kind of hard to portray the idea of ageless ghosts in a live-action program when your main characters are twelve.)

Doing a keep-reading for both spoilers and because I have no idea how long this might get.

One of the first things I noticed with reading "Free Country" was how child-like Edwin and Charles' thought processes were: the constant references to the detective stories they'd read, being a bit too trusting of others at first. The first DBD trade left off a lot of detective references other than Charles imitating 1920s-30s noir stories in his notes. It's amusing to see them snipe at each other in those notes, especially over the next thing that I saw. Comics Charles in the first stories is clearly a boy who was on the brink of discovering teen hormones and seems very stuck there. He is all about the girls and Edwin is very impatient with it. I won't know until I read more if the comics if they move into queer territory (or even let the boys grow mentally as their experience widens), but right now Edwin strikes me less as being gay and from a repressed upbringing and more as simply a boy who has not yet gotten past the stage of seeing romance in general as something grownups do. With the older characters, there is absolutely nothing holding the TV team back from exploring queer relationships and I do think they have done an excellent job so far. Charles at this point seems to be het but absolutely okay with LGBTQ+ people and issues - until it was mentioned that he was defending a Pakistani boy from the bullies in his era, my first assumption was that the other boy might be attacked on the basis of being perceived as queer. I so very much want a second season because it would be all too easy to tip Charles' general protectiveness of Edwin and flashes of jealousy into realizing that maybe his own feelings are a little more than platonic.

Edwin's development is just as excellent. He spends so much time and effort in repressing his feelings, because that was the era he grew up in and decades in Hell didn't give him much time for introspection. He keeps his compliments to Charles about their work but will reassure Charles in a heartbeat that he won't let Death separate them if she catches them. He spends the first part of the season being confronted with the possibility of romantic/sexual feelings coming from Monty or the Cat King and then the Cat King makes the subtext text by flinging the illusion of Charles in Edwin's face. And in what I think is one of the smartest moves in the writing, Edwin tries to talk about what he's feeling with Monty and Monty makes his move. Edwin's response is gentle but determined as he says that these new and terrifying feelings are not for Monty, and while Monty is clearly hurt, they get past it enough to keep talking. I think that experience is part of what makes Edwin brave enough to admit his feelings to Charles (yes, on top of the possibility that things are going to end up in the worst possible way as the demon is chasing them). And because Charles is a good and kind and generous soul who really does put Edwin at the top of people he loves and wants to protect, he says exactly the right things to make sure Edwin knows that he's not mad or put off by the confession.

The other major factor in the comics so far is Crystal. I love the changes to her character as, like our boys, she's older. She's had much more time in the toxic environment her parents created (judging from the brief glimpses we get in the show) to absorb their behaviors. Assuming that the memories she got from David are true (as Edwin said, demons lie and David had plenty of time to make fake memories if that's a thing he can do), then being hit with a giant reset button and dropped in the laps of two good-hearted lads was the absolute best thing that could have happened to her. I'm glad that David is only temporarily interred, as Crystal is getting close to being dangerously overpowered at a storytelling level by the end of the first season. It'll be fascinating to watch the possibilities if we get a second season: the price for getting David out of her life for good being giving up some of this extra power? Learning that she can only achieve that level when her friends are in mortal danger? Giving up that power in exchange for Niko's return? She's not in the comics yet (if she ever appears in them at all), but I fully expect we'll get Niko back in some capacity in a second season. Which means everyone who hasn't watched DBD but read all of this blather anyway....go. Watch. Add to the numbers so Netflix will renew.

[hellsgreatestfashionista]

((Disclaimer: All of this post is off character.))

"Wouldn't it be cool if Husk gambled with Valentino for Angel's-" No. It wouldn't. In this essay I will-

Wait. Let me give a bit of context. So, many of you reading this don't know that but when I feel like it, I like picking apart details about my obsessions and writing metas on them. That is actually majority of my content for my main blog, although that's mostly A:tla metas, with a few (two, I think) Velvette ones that I've already linked in my pinned post. I decided I wanted to write a Hazbin Meta (I was motivated by some fanfics I wrote and done interactions between @angie-long-legs and their tormentor anon), so I thought it'd be best to post it here. Here's the part where I put a title.

On Husk winning Angel's soul...

That felt good. I've missed this. So, moving on, no, I don't want to watch Husk gamble with Valentino for Angel's soul. And there's multiple reasons as to why. And I'm gonna list them all.

Staring of strong, Angel Dust is an addict, and he's addicted to Valentino. Valentino's pheromone to be exact. Just like with most addicts, if you take away the thing he is addicted to, he won't react too well. Who couldn't have thought. Killing Valentino or forcing Angel Dust to cut off contact with him by removing his soul from the moth's hands and locking him up at the hotel to detox would not end well. All the agony of the withdrawal that he was not mentally prepared for or agreed to will manifest to hatred towards the one responsible for this.

In the gambling scenario, that would be Husk. And hatred rooted in heartache is not the dynamic these two characters are going to follow, as we've already been told by Viv herself.

Additionally, I could see Angel Dust returning to Valentino, contract or not, simply because at this point in the show, he's not ready to go clean, not from Val's stuff, at least. It's highly probable that he doesn't even think it possible. And detoxing is hard like an alpha in a rut babes. If Angel Dust does not put his mind to it and Husk makes this call for him instead, he will not be able to commit to it. He will slip right back into that pattern. He has the ability to escape Val, by not showing up at the studio. As we know from episode 6, Valentino can only do whatever he wants in the studio. And as it was established in earlier episodes, Angel can just not return his boss' texts and not show up.

It's not the terms of the contract that prevent Angel from escaping Valentino, it's his addiction. Which is why simply breaking their contract won't be enough. In fact, by letting us know the terms of the contract, the show essentially tells us "Yeah, Angel can walk. He just doesn't want to. Not yet, at least." His addiction is the only thing keeping him there. So to escape, he must make the decision to put the effort required to go clean, and no one can drag that out of him. Husk gambling for his soul won't work. Husk can't save Angel in this situation. He must save himself. And when that happens, it's going to be an extremely important moment character growth for him.

Other than that, despite how much he wants us to think that, Valentino is not stupid. He understands people. In less than a quarter of an hour, and with less than 3 direct interactions, he got a good enough reading on Charlie to know he couldn't possibly make her go away by himself, so he got Angel to do it. He understood that that's her weak spot and utilized it.

All things considered, he'd be smart enough to not take the gamble. Husk doesn't have anything to offer him. He's not longer an overlord, he had no souls that are important to Valentino, to hold them over the moth's head and coax him into a game. He doesn't even have his own soul to bet. He has nothing Valentino would want. So even if winning Angel's soul was an good way to go about their characters and dynamics (which it's not), Valentino would not accept that gamble, because he had literally no reason to.

And here's where I put my signature mets catchphrase...

Thus proven.

[seriousbrat]

what’s your opinion on the house elf slavery and how it was handled by the author?

I think this post explains it really well and is worth a read, but I'll explain my own thoughts!

Let me preface this by saying that this isn't meant as a defence of JKR. There is obviously A LOT to criticise about JKR, in terms of her stances but even potentially of her writing. However I think it's important to be objective and intellectually honest about that criticism, because talent unfortunately does not go hand in hand with moral purity, as we've historically seen with MANY individuals. This performative pretence that JKR is suddenly a terrible writer now that we all hate her weakens any legitimate criticism of the author in my opinion. For better or worse HP is a very well-written children's series, which is why we're all here after 20 years, and I think it's better to just be honest about that and not give her any money ✌️

It's a pretty severe misreading of the text to believe that the message was "slavery good actually." Like that is totally ridiculous and imo indicative of fairly poor reading comprehension. this is a series meant for children and people shouldn't need things to be spelt out for them literally in order to understand them. HP is written in limited 3rd person pov-- Harry's-- and if people had payed attention in English class they'd remember the concept of an unreliable narrator.

The things that Harry believes and thinks are NOT always meant to be correct. He is wrong about house-elves when he joins in on Ron's and Hagrid's (the mainstream in the wizarding world) dismissal of the issue, and this is something he himself is confronted with throughout the books. The fact that it's treated as a humorous subject is meant to be wrong. Hermione is meant to be right, although (and the post I linked explains this very well) she may be going about it the wrong way because she lacks the perspective and the empathy to fully understand the issue from the house-elves' point of view.

When shown the memory of Hokey and Hepzibah Smith and learning of Hokey's fate, Harry angrily thinks that maybe Hermione has the right idea with SPEW. This is the first learning moment for him. The second (and biggest) is Kreacher's Tale. Harry has spent a whole book loathing Kreacher, blaming him for his role in Sirius's death. When hearing Kreacher's version of events, of his bravery and loyalty and love for Regulus (and the love Regulus had for him) he finally realises that Kreacher isn't to blame. Kreacher is just another victim of Voldemort and the cruelty of the system that forces Kreacher to be the way he is. Harry sees that Hermione was right all along. It's a huge lesson in empathy, and this is continued through Dobby's death, and then when Ron (who has been the most vocally apathetic towards the house-elf issue until then) expresses concern for the house-elves during the battle of Hogwarts.

Voldemort, Sirius, and the Malfoys underestimated house-elves in every way, and all of them pay for their mistake. This is a major lesson learnt throughout the books, as it is kindness and empathy towards house-elves, the love and friendship established with Dobby and later Kreacher, that save Harry and his friends. Harry's mourning for Dobby, his love for a house-elf, is what allows him to control the connection with Voldemort at last. I think that's very significant.

There's a line I love when they're forced to leave Grimmauld Place, where Harry thinks of Kreacher lovingly preparing their meal, not knowing that they won't arrive, and feels a "twinge of pity" that has nothing to do with the food. Similarly at the end of DH when he thinks of asking Kreacher of a sandwich, I actually think this shows a newfound fondness for Kreacher. It's imperfect, because it's meant to be. Change doesn't happen overnight and Harry is not some perfect paragon of social justice. There's still a long way to go in terms of changing the mentality around house-elf enslavement, and centuries of extreme brainwashing to undo.

With people like Harry and Hermione in positions of influence, and the new understanding they've both gained over the course of the story, there's hope for real change. Kreacher was already old by the time Harry met him, and personally I think it's kinder to let him live out his days in happiness, treating him as a friend as much as possible, rather than subjecting him to the trauma of being dismissed for political reasons. Whatever ancient spell is binding the house-elves, not to mention the brainwashing, it will likely be complicated and take time to undo, but there IS hope for the future. And I'm actually tearing up a little as I write this, but Kreacher and Dobby were heroes. Harry gave Dobby the hero's burial he deserved, and I can't imagine he'd do anything less for Kreacher.

This is already very long so I feel I can add my favourite image:

[whataboutsimple]

Warning! Under the cut it's just Alex whining about his life and nothing more. So basically useless post lmao- oh, yeah, curses. Lots of. Curses. Yeah, I don't recommend reading this tbh

Now what the fuck, how people manage to live their life normally and than there's me. What is wrong with me?

No, no, listen. I get it, no human can be perfect, but it frustrates me so much that I can't get exactly what's up with me. You saw other ppl on this app? Three posts a day MAX, and what do I do?

Third of August the first very post, all the way to 17 of August.

Tham it's 9 of September and since than no breaks (well, maybe Little like for a day or two)

Currently I have 397 posts, and if math is mathing, than it's about ≈8 posts each day.

8 posts each day, and I haven't posted even half of what I wanted. Or the asks I'm getting (I love them though)

What I'm implying? I can't focus even for a second on my school, better shoot me than make me doing my English, all the homework I've done so far I've done in five minutes before the class itself started. You see it?

AND THAT'S even not the full thing, I can't focus even on writing or drawing, that's why I didn't upload all the stuff, because I can't make myself create it! I have the idea in the head, I want to put it on the paper, but I can't.

The hands, the brain, they work only in a stress situations, when it's either getting an F, or doing the freaking work god damn it.

Sometimes I don't even want to touch my phone or get up from bed. All I want is to, idk, nap until I'll feel myself as if I rested.

Don't even get me started on trying to look through my mental health, I've been doing it, and you know what? I can't normally say to myself "Hey, those symptoms are kind of remind me of ourselves. Maybe we are not as healthy as we pretend we are?" Nonono, because it always will end up in self doubting like "What if I'm lying? What if I just know those symptoms are implying this and try to adjust to them to look so "poor, poor child" like? What if I just try to convince myself that something is wrong with me or simply want attention?"

Okay, like, I've been searching for symptoms of autism and ADHD for so long, reading forums and what other ppl with such things say. God, I even went through thos dumb "online tests" out of boredom and you know what? It's like 90% that I do have both, but yet again what if I'm lying? I'm perfectly healthy, I should be, I'm just lazy and dumb to do the work.

I have autistic cousin for example, and I act a lot like them and a lot like not them. Even my family always compares us, but when it's me, they go like "Well, you're not autistic, so it should be fine for you, stop acting like that!"

Yeah, woman, I'm perfectly fine, I'm just dying everytime I need to interact with ppl in reality and have heartbeat over probably 500 because it beats so loud I can almost hear it.

I've been to therapist like twice after some tragic moment in my life, because I started having horrible panic attacks, so strong even my Mon got worried, and all they managed to diagnose is PTSD after what my mother like. Just stopped the sessions. And those times when I were there, I was too scared to ask them if I may or may not have, idk, ADHD, autism or depression or anxiety or whatever because I just want to know what is wrong with me.

Because normal people won't act like I'm.

You think the dog thing is a joke? Well, yeah, it is, but I'm really eager for any interaction and reaction I can get. I don't even care abt kudos and stuff as long as you commented or reposted saying something. I'm going to die on the spot and if I had a tail it would've 100% wagged.

But when it comes to ppl in real life, I don't want to have them near me, to be in one room with them, to hear them. I can chat, I love chatting, I love talking, but only with texts. There are literally only three ppl who I can call: my mom, my grandma and my online friend.

And online friend waited for 4 years before we had a first call, voice call.

That's not normal, is it?

And like that I'm lost in me thoughts. The point is that I want to know what's wrong with me really bad, but at the same time I'm doubting if there's something wrong and I'm not just a lazy sore looser who tries to hide from responsibility in the internet. And even that I'm doing horribly.

Dang it.