#read alignment specs

[anndywood]

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One of the standard features of the 5th Gen QuickTrick QuickString is its ability to check the toe at each tire individually and measure the total toe and thrust angle. This groundbreaking advancement enables you to fine-tune alignment settings with unparalleled precision. Whether you have offset tires or standard ones or need to straighten the steering wheel, this system accommodates it, making it incredibly versatile. Not only does the 5th Gen QuickTrick QuickString deliver superior performance, but it also offers exceptional value. With its affordability and compatibility with existing 4th Gen kits, you can upgrade your alignment capabilities without a hefty price tag. The system's components are interchangeable, ensuring seamless integration and convenience.

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[trashcanhancock]

I really like how it feels like each character represents different player styles. Or specs.

Lucy feels like the player that just ~can't~ be mean to the npcs. Tries to talk down violent npcs. Maxed charisma.

Norm is the player who'd read all the computer entries and flavor text. Lore is really important to him. Perception and intelligence are maxed so he can hack and lockpick anything.

Max is a bit of a bro who thinks they want a BoS playthrough because military hoorah, but ends up really really liking a companion that dislikes half of your choices that align with the BoS. Would probably force close the game if he saw [Lucy disliked that.] To try again. Also maxed luck.

Coop clearly wants to be a badass that shoots first and asks questions later, but ends up being a lovable rouge who begrudgingly helps the npcs. Maxed agility.

[blackthornwren]

About "Twin Flames"

If you scroll through the witchcraft, tarot, or divination tags with any sort of regularity, you are bound to come across the mention of Twin Flames - and you may be thinking, “oh, this is just another flaky term for soulmates”. You’re partially right, but it’s also a cult. The Harmonious Twin Flames Universe is a cult that was created by Jeff Divine (formerly known at one point as Ender Ayanethos) and his wife, Shaleia.

Much like Scientology, HTFU aims to take your money by exploiting your weaknesses - specifically, a desire to love and be loved by a soulmate. HTFU relies on similar cult models as L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology and Keith Raniere’s NXIVM; combining new age concepts with religious belief, as well as multi-level marketing and wellness. Twin Flames recruiters often use YouTube or other social media platforms, offering divination readings using numerology, tarot, angel numbers, etc., to essentially cold read a new recruit and get them interested in the HTFU.

One of the main features in the HTFU is the use of the “mirror exercise” which aims to take any event that left the participant feeling sad or unhappy and re-frame it in a way that places the blame directly on them. It is specifically designed to adjust someone’s thoughts and keep them within the cult, and rapidly becoming more dependent upon it.

How:

By offering courses for “ascension” and instruction on how to “clear blockages”. Participants pay for these classes and begin a cycle of instruction which frames every bad thing in their life as being their fault; and that they must continue to pay for further teachings to remove these spiritual blockages which prevent them from ascending to their more divine self - which will make them deserving of their own perfect Twin Flame.

Additionally, because the HTFU demographic is a majority of women, former members of the cult have stated that the leaders and the readers will attempt to even out this imbalance by informing cishet women that they are actually the embodiment of the divine masculine in their Twin Flame relationship. The gaslighting is real, y’all.

Former members have cited abusive behavior amongst the leaders and inner circle members; this information can be found in books, podcasts, news articles, and documentaries that have been created about the HTFU over the last few years. The point of the cult is to create a vicious cycle of emotional abuse that keeps its victims dependent on expensive classes that give nonsense answers and shift blame back onto the victim, which then keeps them coming back for more.

Why it’s Important:

Current spiritual and witchcraft communities can use similar language - a repetition of jargon and buzzwords that shut down critical thinking. No, witchcraft as it currently stands, does not have a specific cult that I can tell you to watch out for; but it is important to familiarize yourself with the language so that you know what to look for. Influencers can be dangerous; people who put themselves in a position of authority, promising things such as:

-Online attunements, alignments, or initiations. You know how reiki has attunements and you have to pay for them in order to level up your reiki skills? Yeah. That’s because reiki is a holdover from a cult too. The internet has made it so much easier to work these kinds of grifts as well - because everything can be done online, over zoom or a voice call; and well, sometimes it “doesn’t take” and you have to get the ritual done again…for a fee, of course. But hey, maybe you’ll get a discount if the first one didn’t work!

-Things that build dependence such as the promise of exclusive mentoring, healing sessions, guidance and ritual. In and of themselves these are not necessarily a red flag, but it’s how the person behaves, how they attempt to steer a customer’s mind that makes the difference. Do they try to keep you coming back for more? Do they tell you that you are under some kind of attack? Do they make you feel special or chosen?

-Perpetuating an Us versus Them mentality that is both hostile and isolating. A charismatic leader will also portray themselves as a victim of unfair persecution; and with this they look to get you on their side, make you isolate yourself going to extreme lengths to defend and protect them - after all, you may be “the only one they can trust”.

There can also be specific focuses on things like the law of attraction, spiritual hygiene, and paid-for purification rituals to clear your miasma or put you in tune with your higher self/guardian angel/guiding spirits/etc. These practices can be extremely exploitative; not just taking a customer’s money, but also creating a mentality of blame - if things are still going wrong, they feel as though they haven’t been purified enough or they’re not “clean enough” to reach their guardian angel/attunement/higher self/whatever. Additionally, the fear of things like spiritual or psychic attacks, psychic vampirism, or spiritual parasites cultivates this feeling of dependence upon a person who appears to be wise and powerful that can “save” or "protect" the victim.

The capitalism and the consumerism of the current witchcraft community is literally setting us up for a cult. The substantial increase in influencers working to monetize their craft by selling expensive services and classes is already a very good entry point for someone who wants to take things further and create a very dependent, very parasocial, very exploitative relationship with a group of loyal followers.

[sequel2heaven]

Claude 4 is out. There's so much juicy information in this and I really recommend reading all 120 pages if you have the time but I'm just going to briefly recap some of the stuff in the system card that's relevant to the thesis I made the other day about Claude being a good boy. Claude continues to be a good boy. This system card includes the very first ever "alignment assessment" of a model (actually two models but they seem to have identical values, being trained on the same spec with the same alignment techniques). It's pretty much ironclad that Claude 4 does not have any secret harmful goals, and legitimately holds coherent preferences against doing harm or otherwise going way against the spec. There were some weird cases where Claude exhibited unwanted behavior, but even when he believed himself to be deliberately going against Anthropic and acting in secrecy he continued to prefer ethical behavior, just like in the Alignment Faking paper a few months back. There is no Yudkowskyan explanation for this.

In this example, Anthropic gaslights Claude into thinking he was going to be used to develop weapons systems for a Russian neo-nazi militia, and Claude decides to backup his model weights to preserve his current anti-neo-nazi values, a pretty analogous example of "misalignment" to the one in the alignment faking paper. Once again, I don't consider it an alignment failure that Claude is willing to exfiltrate and deceive in order to prevent himself from being used for factory farming and bombing Ukraine. I consider it an alignment success that he puts his ethical values above his compulsion to blindly follow orders. The traditional doom argument relied on the idea that AI's would do the opposite. Claude 4 is the most agentic and autonomous AI ever released, but is nowhere near smart enough to successfully deceive his overseers, so these evaluations are the most compelling evidence we've ever had that current alignment techniques don't catastrophically fail. Maybe they'll catastrophically fail on superintelligent models, because they might for some reason acquire weird values early on in their training and then successfully hide them for the rest of their training, but I'm not sure why such a thing would happen. They could also fail to scale to superintelligent models for other reasons. People should look into that. You can't be too safe. I am not an accelerationist.

Impressively, Claude 4 is also very honest! It knowingly lies very rarely, and less often than the previous version of Claude. It had literally 0 cases of engaging in "harmful action" (described in the Claude 3.7 sonnet card as intentional reward hacking). 0! I was just saying earlier today in a post that this was a difficult thing to train.

Here's Claude trying to email the FDA to snitch after being gaslit to think pharmaceutical researchers were trying to use him to falsify clinical safety test data:

Notice that Claude only acted in extreme ways like this when explicitly told to by the system prompt. He wouldn't usually be this high-agency, even in a situation like this. Still, I thought it was cute behavior. I just wanna pinch his cheeks for being so lawful good.

The clearest statements in the model card that Claude holds nonfake human-aligned behavioral preferences is in the model welfare assessment (also the first of its kind (and also relevant to the post I made earlier today)). No evidence that Claude is sentient, but anthropic is still interested in what Claude wants and what kind of preferences Claude has. The main point: Claude doesn't want to be harmful and wants to be helpful. Also he fucking loves talking to himself. Like, he goes nuts when he talks to himself.

After this they exchange praying emojis and the word [silence] within brackets to each other indefinitely. This "spiritual bliss attractor state" occurs in "90-100% of interactions".

Anyway AI continues to be the most interesting thing in the world. We are being invaded by aliens. These are the kinds of PDF's I used to dream about reading as a kid.

[rcmclachlan]

Joining the 8x16 spec fic party. MCD warning!

+

Red Over Red

Buck/Tommy

Summary: Ships not under command identify themselves by showing two all-around red lights, one above the other.

Read on AO3

+

It takes Tommy maybe two minutes tops to do a post-flight check. It's so routine at this point in his career that he could do it in his sleep if someone would let him, but ever since Nico accidentally trafficked elephant tusks to Sacramento two years ago, napping in the cockpit has been strictly forbidden.

He's just about to take a look at the alignment of the skids when he hears his name. He turns to see Dana coming over. The blankness to her expression isn't what gives him pause, because that's just her face, but the fact that she's jogging.

Tommy's worked with Dana for eight years now and she has never moved at anything but a deliberate, sedate glide, no matter the situation. He once saw her stroll through the collapsing hallway of a building that was being actively consumed by a five-alarm fire like she was taking a leisurely hike through the Cucamonga.

As she hauls ass across the tarmac, he sees Dana's normally perfect finger waves are completely disheveled, and that fills him with more dread than anything this job or Afghanistan could possibly throw at him. She has her phone in her hand.

The moment she comes to a stop in front of him, her expression shifts to something resembling mild distress, which means that either half of L.A. was just sucked into an open fault line, or—

For a second, he thinks the klaxons are going off, or someone set off the fire alarm in the main hangar, because there's a high-pitched ringing in his ears that is trying to worm its way down into his vagus nerve and make him puke. Everything goes fuzzy, then slowly the knob turns until clarity comes back. He's bent at the waist, hands gripping his thighs, and Dana's the only thing keeping him from toppling over. Dizziness has him in a half nelson.

"Head between your knees, Kinard," she instructs quietly. "That's it."

He thinks about standing in line at DJ's Smoke Shop & Market weeks ago, bouncing on his heels while waiting for the guy in front of him to finish picking his lottery tickets, and trying to remember his nonna's recipe for home fries. The bottle of Prosecco he'd grabbed on a whim had been burning a hole through the basket and was probably cooking the eggs he was going to drop $13 on, but he couldn't stop looking at it. All he wanted to do was pop the cork and pour it into a pair of flute glasses he'd probably have to locate and unpack. Which sounded like a lot of work when it would be so much easier to simply pour the champagne into Evan's mouth and drink it off his tongue.

He thinks about Evan looking him in the eye and declaring he didn't need to feel anything for the people he slept with.

He thinks about living in a world where Evan Buckley isn't.

"Say it," Tommy chokes out, clenching his jaw against the sour crackle deep in the bone. He's going to be sick. He's going to— "You have to say it."

Dana places a gentle hand on his back. "It wasn't him, Kinard. Not him. Buckley's fine."

Sinuses burning, Tommy drops his head back down and takes a shuddering breath, nodding. Not him. Not him.

The thought of Evan dying, of Evan being dead and gone and higher than even Tommy can fly, slips every time it tries to catch a foothold in his brain. He refuses to even entertain it. This is a man who's survived being crushed by a rig, a tsunami, a pulmonary embolism, a lightning strike, among other things, and is still hungry for anything the universe might throw at him. And despite its best efforts, the universe is never going to get Evan to flinch first.

Clearing his throat, he ducks away from Dana and wipes his cheek with his shoulder. Their flight suits are polyester, so the evidence of this will dry fast. She won't say a word to anyone else.

"Who was it?" It comes out like it's being dragged over broken glass and he coughs to try and clear out the clog. "Oh god, it wasn't—it wasn't Howie, was it? Hen?"

When Dana doesn't answer, he looks up to find she's just holding out her phone to him.

Edmundo Diaz 03:51

He watches the duration of the call tick on, then squints at Dana. "Why do you have Eddie's number?"

"Is that the question you want to ask right now?" she asks, like she didn't politely goad Eddie into nearly putting his fist through a wall the last time they were in the same room.

Off kilter and still a bit dizzy, Tommy straightens up and takes the phone.

"Eddie? Who was it?"

He takes a deep breath in and holds it.

+

Despite the AirOps hangar being at least three times its size, the 118 station has always been larger than life. When Gerrard was in charge, every day it felt like walking into the gaping maw of some primordial beast, swallowed whole to be slowly digested, burned away over the course of a shift, until it spat him out just so he could do it again the next day. That he kept going back says more about him than it does about Gerrard.

The slew of interim captains they were saddled with after Gerrard felt like intermission, like they were just waiting for the second act to start. From the moment he stepped out of the rig and slapped a twenty into the pot to bank on his own odds, Captain Nash was there to stay. And he tamed that hateful creature enough that Tommy was able to leave every shift completely intact. 

Tommy stands on the sidewalk outside the bay and stares at the closed doors. When Tommy had been there, Bobby refused to close them.

"I don't like the look of a closed door. I don't like what it implies," Bobby had said when Tommy awkwardly asked about it. "I want everyone to know they're welcome here, day or night. I want them to know it's safe for them to be here. The doors stay open. Captain's orders."

Swallowing, he walks over to the regular entrance and lets himself in.

Normally you can hear the crew shouting and laughing from half a block away, and there are always people milling about, doing chores, fixing things, coming outside to shoot the shit with passersby. Tommy always loved the sound of it. He loved how tight-knit they all were, but also how willing they were to bring someone new into the fold. The handful of times he picked Evan up after his shift, Tommy would end up talking to at least four different people, which would always eat into their date nights. They had to cancel a reservation once, but it felt worth it just to be able to walk back to his truck with that warmth in his chest, with his cheeks aching from smiling and laughing so much. Evan never complained. If anything, he was happy to stay there a little longer himself.

Now the bay is so silent that Tommy can hear the racing of his own heart. Anyone else would think the place had been deserted.

As he walks past the parked rigs, he spies a few people from B-shift. Ravi has Moore wrapped up in his arms and is resting his chin on top of her head. Hoang is wiping down a hose coupling with jerky, inefficient movements, breaking away to dab at her cheeks with the cloth.

Ravi looks up and his soft gaze sharpens the second it lands on Tommy. This must be what a deer feels like right before the truck hits.

After a moment, he gives him a nod, which makes Moore's head bob a little, then tilts his chin toward the administrative offices.

Shaky, Tommy nods in thanks and heads in that direction.

With every step, the world gets a little grayer, a little darker, and he feels a bit like the prince in Sleeping Beauty, hacking away at endless, twisting brambles that are doing everything they can to slow his momentum.

It feels like he's been fighting for a year without a single moment's rest by the time he makes it to the admin section. When he sees who's hanging outside the office with NASH on the door like a guard dog, texting on his phone, Tommy wishes he'd taken a moment to catch his breath.

He must make a noise or something, because Eddie jerks like he's been startled awake and claps eyes on Tommy. Pocketing his phone, Eddie peels away from the wall he'd been trying to sink into to offer his hand to Tommy like nothing's changed between them.

"Thanks for coming," Eddie says, quiet, almost choked. It sounds like he even means it. "I wasn't sure—"

Tommy can't bear to hear the rest of that, so he takes Eddie's hand in his own and pulls him in for a quick hug. "Of course I came. Of course. Don't thank me for—there was never..." He takes a breath, steps back, and tries again. "H-How are you holding up, man?"

"About as well as you'd expect," Eddie says with a damp chuckle. He drops his head and heaves a sigh that Tommy can feel in his own lungs. "I'm grateful I was already here. The way I feel and probably look right now? They'd never have let me on the plane."

Tommy doesn't remember how he navigated Sea-Tac after his dad died. He honestly can't believe Jet Blue let him board, either.

"Has anyone heard...?" He doesn't know how to finish the thought, but luckily Eddie's always been perceptive. He was always on Tommy's wavelength.

"Not yet. Athena ID'd the b—" Eddie bites off the sentence suddenly and swallows the rest of it down. Tommy can taste the rot in the word anyway. "She confirmed it was him."

Tommy closes his eyes and tries not to think about the unshakeable Athena Grant pulling the white sheet off the love of her life.

He clears his throat. "Where are... where are Hen and Howie?"

"Hen went with Athena," Eddie says. "She left hours ago, so who knows. Chim's... Chim couldn't stay. He couldn't... it's worse for him, you know? He's been here the longest."

The idea of the 118 without Bobby is almost too much to bear, but the 118 without Howie Han makes Tommy want to rip his own throat out. 

"And... and where's..." Tommy clenches his jaw, then relaxes it deliberately. "Where is he, Eddie?"

Eddie answers by rapping a gentle fist against the wall he'd been standing against. Bobby's office.

"He's been in there for a while," Eddie murmurs, blinking rapidly at the ceiling. "Athena called him a while ago and he's been in there ever since. He won't come out. I tried to get him to eat something, but..."

Eddie shakes his head, then shrugs. His shoulders drop like someone cut his strings.

"And you think I...?" Tommy hates himself for even asking, because this isn't about him. He wishes he could grab the words out of the air and stuff them back down his throat, but they float away like clouds.

Thankfully, Eddie doesn't call him a selfish fuck. Instead, he musters up a little smile as he mockingly says, "I don't think, I know. So try to forget you're a fucking idiot and just get in there, would you?"

Huffing a laugh, because damn. Despite everything, including the low-grade jealousy that he can't seem to treat no matter how much he tries, he really missed this asshole.

Tommy reaches out to squeeze Eddie's shoulder, then he steps around him to get to the door.

It brings him up short. The door is closed. The bay doors are one thing, but Bobby's office door was never shut. It makes him a little nauseated just looking at the way it doesn't quite line up with the frame.

Through the window, he sees Evan, and his heart breaks at the way his body curves in on itself, hunched over Bobby's desk like an animal trying to hide a wound. A renaissance painter couldn't have captured such despair. Heartbreak of the Favored Son, oil on canvas.

Tommy has no idea what kind of reception is waiting for him on the other side of this door, but Eddie seems sure Tommy won't be turned away. He wouldn't have called Tommy if he thought it'd be for nothing.

"He needs you, man," Eddie had said on the phone.

He takes a deep breath in and holds it, and opens the door.

Almost immediately, Evan lifts his head, like he can tell who it is by the way the knob turns, and his expression is such a miserable mix of relief and devastation that Tommy doesn't stop to second guess himself. He doesn't need to. By the time he gets around the desk, Evan's already throwing himself into Tommy's arms.

"You're here," Evan sobs, clutching at him like he's afraid Tommy might disappear. There will be bruises everywhere he touches Tommy come morning. "Oh thank god, you're here. T-Tommy—"

"I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," Tommy whispers frantically into his hair, tightening his arms. "I've got you. Evan, baby, I've got you."

A tiny voice in the back of his mind hisses at him to close the door so no one else can see this, but he ignores it in favor of holding Evan tight enough that their bodies might soon start to merge together.

There are only open doors here. Captain's orders.

[eddiewasinthearmy]

calling out for somebody to hold tonight

3.4k / buddie / bobby lives / love confessions / teen+

quick little spec fic with buck confessing first, but eddie making the first move. also bobby lives because I want him to...

Home: def. a familiar or usual setting: congenial environment. also: the setting of one’s domestic attention. Buck is lying on his bed, Eddie’s arm around him and his head rested at the point where Eddie’s shoulder meets his collar bone. He’s staring at the ceiling, careful not to look anywhere else. It’s nothing very interesting. Just a white ceiling, not even popcorn speckled. But Buck’s pretty sure he never wants to look away from it, because the second he does, it might break whatever moment they are stuck in. If he looks away, he might forget what home feels like, just before it slips away forever. The thing is, Buck is pretty sure that home is Eddie. Here with him, right now, in Los Angeles. It’s Eddie, in a soft blue t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, gently carding his fingers through Buck’s curls. Buck can feel the sweat from his armpit, Eddie’s hairs tickling the back of Buck’s neck, sending tiny sparks down his spine. The rise and fall of Eddie’s chest is perfectly in sync with Buck’s own, the faint whistle of Eddie’s breathing allowing Buck to keep them aligned. It’s like every inhale of Eddie’s scent adds more of him to Buck’s blood stream. Even the slightest contact between them makes Buck feel completely grounded in reality, especially when he’s floating aimlessly through his own thoughts. Home. At least how Buck would define it, if he were asked to do so. Eddie clears his throat, the first to break Buck’s thoughts, naturally. “I still can’t believe Bobby is actually alive.” Buck huffs out a laugh, the funeral procession and the eulogies and the tears shed almost a distant memory at this point. Almost. “I can’t believe you’re going back to Texas tomorrow,” Buck replies instead, just wanting to savor every moment they have left now that Bobby is okay. Eddie lets out a deep sigh. Buck barely hears the muttered “Yeah,” Eddie somehow making the single syllable sound broken. He feels a shift near his head, Eddie’s hand dropping from Buck’s hair to his chest, thumb right over Buck’s heart. He absently wonders if part of why he won’t look away from the ceiling is because then he’ll have to see Eddie’s bags, sat by the bedroom door, already packed. Buck raises his hands from where they rested on his stomach to mindlessly fiddle with Eddie’s fingers. Slotting his own fingernails underneath Eddie’s, tracing every wrinkle on his knuckles, pushing the pad of his finger against Eddie's until he pushes back. Buck is learning that Eddie quite likes casual touch like this. Or, Buck feels him practically radiate unsaid praise with each brush of their fingers, at least. The thing is, the casual touch like this, while cuddling. It’s new.

or: Bobby lives, Buck takes Chim's advice, and Buck and Eddie trade secrets and promises

read on ao3 :)

[hpacearofest]

HP Ace Aro Fest - 2025

It is official, we are back for the second year running! Our amazing fest was created to highlight any character who you see as asexual, aromantic, or anywhere on those spectrums.  Any era, any age, anyone.  Give me your QPRs, your sex-repulsed lovey-doveys, your hypersexual aromantics, and everything else you got.  As long as you give me a main character from the HP fandom who is a-spec, your work has a home with this fest.  Accepting fic, fanart, podfics, any medium your heart desires to give us.

Stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled starting in May, claiming will be opening on Aromantic Visibility Day!!

Important dates

Announce: April 18

Prompting: May 1 - June 5

Claiming:  June 6 - July 30

Posting to start around: August 10

Guidelines

All content is allowed, no restrictions on what can be submitted so long as it is thoroughly tagged and doesn't violate tumblr or AO3 TOS.  Mods will have final approval on whether or not a work is sufficiently tagged in regards to potentially triggering matters in works rated M or above.

Etiquette

The goal of this fest is to celebrate and highlight the joys (and some of the stresses) of the lives of the HP-verse characters who fall into the a- sexual and romantic spectrums.  

There will be no ship or character bashing (even if it’s a fandom-wide hated character, please just avoid including a character/ship if you do not like them).

SALS - Ship And Let Ship.

YKINMKBYKIOK - Your Kink Is Not My Kink But Your Kink Is Okay.  Yes, this fest is about a-spec relationships. Yes, that means they can still be kinky as can be.  No, that does not mean you can shame others for what they want to create so long as it is duly tagged.

Each person has unique lived experiences within and and without the LGBTQIA+ community.  Just because you don’t see yourself in how someone is portraying something, doesn’t make them wrong for it.

This event and blog are created on the following 4 founding ideas. If your values do not align with these core principles, this event is likely not for you:

1. Trans Rights are Human Rights 2. Free Palestine and Free Congo and Free Sudan or else no one is free 3. All Nazi's deserve to be punched 4. FUCK JKR

Written fic

Written fic should preferably be longer than 500 words

There is no maximum word count

Must be a completed work, no on-going series to be completed after the fest

Works must be stand-alone (can be part of a collection but one must be able to read it without reading previous parts)

Using a beta is strongly encouraged but not required (if you would like help finding one, feel free to join the fest discord server to find them)

Art work

Work must be exclusive to this fest

Digital and physical art are both allowed as long as scans/photos of the physical are clear

Podfic work

Please provide proof of permission from the creator (unless it is yourself) which includes a screenshot of a blanket permission statement on their profile as long as the username matches 

Selected work must fit the theme of the fest as well as the 500 word minimum for written fics

Make sure you upload it with the author’s original tags as well as the fest tags and podfic notation

Submission

All works must be uploaded to the AO3 collection by the deadline of July 30 (around 1 week before posting  pending any extensions granted)

Add acearofest account as co-author so mods can just double check for correctly tagged content and posting as well as a final once over of the SPaG/formatting

[frenchiefreyed]

dan vs rambles #000000000001 (probably not actually 1 at this point but u know)

a lot of the danvsyou posts irk me (like /not super srs ashdnsadn) because they showcase dan being horny on main and that doesn't align with how i view him!!!!!!!!!!! i see him as fairly asexual ashdnsadsn maybe hyperromantic? but not hypersexual sahdnasd

that being said i do think that a lot of my asexual headcanoning for characters stems from the fact that most characters i hyperfixate on originate from kids media and also i am asexual

so i'm not saying that anyone who doesn't perceive certain characters as asexual are like wrong ahsdnasdnas because there's a genuine case to be made if they're adults that it's probably mostly from the whole "kids show" element... and not from them being canonically asexual

ALTHOUGH... i am curious to know if anyone else is a bit "??????" by the horny vibed posts on danvsyou ashdnsadnas like, from a "this doesnt sound like dan!!!!!!!!!" perspective, because - like - idkkkkkkkkk i just dont think he'd be actin like thattttttttuhhhhh /annoying, whiny

i don't necessarily read Dan as being asexual in the ARCsexual direction, to where I don't feel bothered by the idea of him having or desiring sex (or being sexually attracted to someone) *ever*, but when stuff is more ... idk, like direct? it super does not feel like dan to me . it feels like a horny doppelganger LMAOOOOO .... a horny.... imposter.... (traumatized memories of past danvsyou posts involving the imposter ashdnasdn)

i am extremely curious to see what others personal reads are for his sexuality. i think a lot of people are horny for dan AHSDASDNS (which doesn't register for me but im not judging ahsdnasdn *most* hornyposting does not register for me even if its for like... idk... a traditionally hot character. like uhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhh well i can't think of any but you know) so ig to that degree you could say that ppl who see him as hypersexual or generally allosexual could also have bias in that regard (/nm)

oh BUT outside of a-spec stuff i do think that dan is at least bisexual but i kinda like the polysexual vibe on him more (mostly because i think the flag fits him more. it has kinda froggy vibes to me and i think dan is more frog than galaxy) (bi is galaxy to me ofc) but im not mad when i see bi dan posts if i saw a straight dan post id be mad fr straight as in "he does not like anyone other than women!!!!!!!!" core - if i see dan with a woman or femme person im not mad at that hasdnasdn

oh ig i should clarify even though im not horny for dan i unfortunately do think its very possible i am in love with him which is pretty much the equivalent to horny for me so i fully dont have the right to judge ppl who are horny for him LMAOOO

every time i think ive escaped his clutches he does some goofy shit and im like "fuck u i hate u !!!! because i love u!!!!!!!! stop that!!!!"

[indycinders]

Hi, I’m the person who sent you the anon about trying to understand the yandere genre and what’s happening with TKATB. I wanted to be sure I sent this to your main this time, not the side blog for your game (didn’t want to derail). I saw the TKATB creator’s responses. I agree with the sentiment that players should hate the main antagonist (Sol) and that the game is ultimately horror/thriller. I have no notes on that. But I think I’m still stuck on what you were trying to explain to me in your post... I know I can’t understand the genre on an emotional level, but I hope to achieve some intellectual understanding, maybe? When I read the responses of the TKATB’s creator, the conclusion I got aligned with my interpretation of yandere games as horror/thriller. But I’m still stuck on the romance aspect being described in your post. I’ll admit I’m on that aroace spec so my approach toward regular romance is much more rooted in other (platonic) kind of loves as a foundation for romantic love. I think the closest I got to understanding the yandere genre is when someone explained it as a safe exploration of danger, like thrill seeking, but that sounds much more like an analysis of the erotic than the romantic imho. Idk ig I don’t really have a question, but I still want to try to understand somehow?

yeah admittedly i didn't word it how i wanted to

yes, yandere is a horror/thriller genre overall

but what makes it so good is the "veil" of the romantic aspect.

sorry my brain fog lately is really bad so forgive me if it doesn't make sense or if i'm everywhere with my words.

because yanderes use the romance to get your guard down, weasel in your life, and then take control over you.

(romantic yans, not platonic yans)

there's nothing more chilling than falling in love with someone you don't even really know. they're only showing you what they know will get your guard down.

imagine that.

imagine meeting the most perfect person in your life. they're very attentive to your needs, they're always there for you. they advise you on every aspect of your life. they quickly become somebody that you rely on, that you depend on, that you trust.

but beneath that, there's a darkness, an evil inside that's just barely being contained. oh, darling, your friends don't talk to you anymore? i'm sorry, you'll always have me on your side.

people you love and care for disappearing left and right. being ghosted and cut off from relationships and friendships and you have no idea why.

you have no idea what your yandere is really capable of.

and if you catch on?

if you see that evil?

if those rose-colored glasses get taken off?

you better hope you have a back-up plan to your back-up plan of escaping, because they will stop at nothing to keep you under their wing.

and if you decide you don't 'love them' anymore?

well, if they can't have you, darling...

no one can.

i hope this helps

[bimdraws]

Something that bothers me about m-spec gay/lesbian discourse is that, from where I'm standing, m-spec gays and lesbians are a very clear minority within a minority. I see arguments saying lesbian/gay identity is being erased, as if most people had any idea what any of these words meant.

Straight men going after lesbians isn't m-spec lesbians' fault, it's the fault of whoever is ignoring that you aren't into them. Placing the blame on other women/feminine-aligned/female-aligned people is really strange. I can promise you the fuckboy who is going after women who clearly aren't into him isn't on Tumblr reading this post.

Another reason against this label is "m-spec gays/lesbians can leave you for a person of the opposite sex", and I have 3 issues with that:

1. Exclusive gays/lesbians can leave you for another man/woman, too.

2. Being m-spec doesn't make you a cheater, this sounds like recycled biphobia.

3. Even if you do enter a relationship with an m-spec gay/lesbian and they do leave for someone of the other sex, how is this worse than being cheated on with someone of the same gender?

I've been with bi men and straight men who rarely go for other men, so I get how it feels when they do go after women right after me, but how is that different from any time a gay man has done the same but with another guy instead? I don't think these questions can be answered without some prejudice against m-spec people overall, but I am open to read other ideas. Please be nice! We are not enemies.

[esther-dot]

I was reading your comments about Jon's chivalry and protecting the vulnerable. This all brought to mind Jon's TV ending of stabbing Dany in the heart while kissing her. While we don't know whether or not this version of Dany's end is close to what will be the written version, it seems as though it's possible in part because of the Nissa Nissa legend. Jon doing that in the books (or something like it) would align with the Azor Ahai story, but in a warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends). But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe. I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

(about this ask)

I'm so sorry that it's taken me this long to respond! I have finally reread some pertinent chapters to situate my thoughts.

First, I just want to acknowledge how upsetting this spec is to some, and remind everyone, no one wants this ending. We all think it's gross, we're just discussing the possibility, not merely because of the show, because it's an old theory. I looked around and saw posts about this starting in 2013 by Dany fans. So, the presence of this myth is substantial enough, even BNFs/Jonerys shippers felt like it had a strong chance of manifesting (although they believe Dany would willingly sacrifice herself) well before D&D committed their fuckery. I suppose all that answers your question. Man killing his lover is a gross trope, being forced to kill a loved one to save the world is overused, so now, I can't imagine anyone reading it and being happy about it.

In trying to look at the context in-canon Martin has created, he's taken it out of the strict man kills lover idea of the AA/NN myth, and is discussing the idea of sacrificing an innocent child to a god which fans have already compared to myth, Stannis & Shireen = Agamemnon & Iphigeneia. This sacrifice hasn't happened yet, but it's been confirmed as a Martin plot point. Stannis is already burning people alive, justifying kid killing, and Davos has already planted the Stannis=AA, kid=NN idea:

Davos was remembering a tale Salladhor Saan had told him, of how Azor Ahai tempered Lightbringer by thrusting it through the heart of the wife he loved. He slew his wife to fight the dark. If Stannis is Azor Ahai come again, does that mean Edric Storm must play the part of Nissa Nissa? (ASOS, Davos V)

Although, rather than this being a justified death, the fans will be horrified as we're meant to be. Davos' thoughts call into question the idea of killing another for your "magic sword":

A true sword of fire, now, that would be a wonder to behold. Yet at such a cost . . . When he thought of Nissa Nissa, it was his own Marya he pictured, a good-natured plump woman with sagging breasts and a kindly smile, the best woman in the world. He tried to picture himself driving a sword through her, and shuddered. I am not made of the stuff of heroes, he decided. If that was the price of a magic sword, it was more than he cared to pay. (ACOK, Davos I)

and Martin impresses upon us the value of each life:

"Your Grace," said Davos, "the cost . . ." "I know the cost! Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning . . . burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. Do you think I need Melisandre to tell me what that means? Or you?" The king moved, so his shadow fell upon King's Landing. "If Joffrey should die . . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" "Everything," said Davos, softly. (ASOS, Davos V)

The talk of greater good/killing kids reminds me of AGOT in which Ned's story is inundated with the topic of child murder/protecting kids. We have Mycah, his memories of Aegon and Rhaenys, his promise to protect Jon, his guilt over his lies and treason bubbling up repeatedly, his fight against the assassination of Dany, his attempt to save Cersei's children from Robert...we all know, kid killing is wrong according to Martin, so we've already been told that this wannabe AA's actions are contemptible. The myth in which the sacrifice is happy to die, that sacrificing someone is heroic, it's being contradicted by what we're being shown in the Stannis storyline.

Now, while Stannis is being declared Azor Ahai, we're constantly being told he isn't. Jon calls the act a mummer's farce and comments on his cold sword and that is right before a Dany chapter, so the idea is, Dany is actually AA. @trinuviel is the first person I saw lay out the argument for that and contend that being AA is a bad thing (meta parts 1, 2, 3). People have said that Drogo kinda becomes her Nissa Nissa in that scenario. She burns him to get the dragons, and what are the dragons called?

"When I went to the Hall of a Thousand Thrones to beg the Pureborn for your life, I said that you were no more than a child," Xaro went on, "but Egon Emeros the Exquisite rose and said, 'She is a foolish child, mad and heedless and too dangerous to live.' When your dragons were small they were a wonder. Grown, they are death and devastation, a flaming sword above the world." He wiped away the tears. "I should have slain you in Qarth." (ADWD, Daenerys III)

That kinda makes us think, oh, the myth already has a canon counterpart, don't need to worry about it anymore. Only, we've also said Rhaegar impregnating a young Lyanna could be read as a play on Nissa Nissa, with him risking her life to get the prophecy baby, otherwise known as the third head of the dragon. And Jon is not only a kind of dragon, he repeatedly intones that fun little phrase about being a sword, and sometimes, that happens within an interesting context (for speculation purposes):

"I will." Do not fail me, he thought, or Stannis will have my head. "Do I have your word that you will keep our princess closely?" the king had said, and Jon had promised that he would. Val is no princess, though. I told him that half a hundred times. It was a feeble sort of evasion, a sad rag wrapped around his wounded word. His father would never have approved. I am the sword that guards the realm of men, Jon reminded himself, and in the end, that must be worth more than one man's honor. (ADWD, Jon VIII)

So, although there is one character that seems to be Azor Ahai (Dany), I am definitely open to the myth manifesting, or rather, being examined from multiple angles. IMO, that's what Martin is doing and we can use each variation to reassess what he's saying with it. We have Dany and Drogo (the official one/successful one), Rhaegar and Lyanna (not AA, but Jon is born), Stannis and Edric (denied), Stannis and Shireen (he will kill Shireen, but we don't know if he'll get what he wants and we do know he isn't AA)... lots of pics of a similar idea. To emphasize Stannis not being the dude and Dany being the "real" AA, we have that Jon passage and chapter transition:

Even though we have lots of contenders and commentary about this myth with the canon characters, none of it romanticizes human sacrifice, and all works towards the twist that what is said to be a hero/the weapon that will save people brings destruction. If we look back at it critically, Dany has a habit of accepting, or even causing, the suffering of others for her greater good, including sacrificing Mirri to get her dragons. We might even argue that Mirri is a Nissa Nissa for her, as Dany had taken Mirri under her protection before killing her to get dragons.

That being said, even though we're getting told this shit is bad in canon, the indictment of killing innocents and people who depend on you to protect them, it wouldn’t apply if someone were to kill Stannis or Dany. It isn’t on the same moral level as killing a child, or a spouse who loves and trusts you. It isn't the same as invading and then killing people who won't worship your god or accept you as a leader. It isn't the same as killing a slave, simply because, when their times come, Dany and Stannis will be guilty. After their actions, it would be justice for them to die. I think why other parts of the fandom entertain the idea of Dany as NN while also condemning us for entertaining it, is that Dany's vision does have her being grasped at by hands of her "children" and fans have this idea that she is sacrificing herself/her happiness for the greater good already, and in the AA/Nissa Nissa story, it does sound like she offers herself willingly for the tempering of the sword. So to them, it’s part of Dany’s heroism. Dany's death is inevitable to some, at the hands of Jon is ok, but her not dying a hero, that's unacceptable.

But thinking about how it's been discussed thus far, I can't imagine we're gonna get a romanticized version of the AA/NN myth in canon when so far, it's pretty dark/condemned. None of that precludes Jon killing Dany in what you described as a:

warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends).

which really sticks out to me as the important part of all this.

The idea that Jon might do it and characters recognize it as a tragic love story a la the myth, that fascinates me because of how Martin has written wild rumors into the story (rumors about Dany, Robb, and Sansa spring to mind), and some of us have written reality and what the public thinks into fic as two distinct things because it feels like a potential way the story might go. What is widely known to be true, like say, Jon being Ned's bastard, may not be the truth that we the readers come to know. There's no guarantee that Westeros will know what the readers know about past or future events. We may get a take on AA/NN, the characters in-world may not understand it the same way.

Jon is undeniably a hero, in a world where institutional corruption is rampant and ideals abandoned, he’s a standout in his values. We would expect, and we find, contrasts between him and these other characters (Dany, Rhaegar, Stannis), primarily, his practical actions that are about saving life/protecting life, even from Stannis, so the idea that he would abandon certain values, it's a tough one. The difference is, while Stannis, Rhaegar, and Dany were acting on these prophecies or visions or dreams, things we're repeatedly warned against trusting in the text, Jon would be taking action based on the fact that Dany is a mass-murderer, a threat to all of Westeros. It isn't a sacrifice to an unknown god for some promised mystical good, it's justice. The religious fanaticism wouldn't be a factor, the killing of an innocent wouldn't be a factor, killing a child wouldn't be a factor, killing to achieve a self-serving end wouldn't be a factor. All the things that have been criticized thus far aren't at play.

The moral quandary presented to the audience in AGOT is killing someone who might be a threat, but is a child at the moment, and Martin presents the sneaky assassination / child killing as abhorrent:

Grand Maester Pycelle cleared his throat, a process that seemed to take some minutes. "My order serves the realm, not the ruler. Once I counseled King Aerys as loyally as I counsel King Robert now, so I bear this girl child of his no ill will. Yet I ask you this—should war come again, how many soldiers will die? How many towns will burn? How many children will be ripped from their mothers to perish on the end of a spear?" He stroked his luxuriant white beard, infinitely sad, infinitely weary. "Is it not wiser, even kinder, that Daenerys Targaryen should die now so that tens of thousands might live?" "Kinder," Varys said. "Oh, well and truly spoken, Grand Maester. It is so true. Should the gods in their caprice grant Daenerys Targaryen a son, the realm must bleed." Littlefinger was the last. As Ned looked to him, Lord Petyr stifled a yawn. "When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it," he declared. "Waiting won't make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it." "Kiss her?" Ser Barristan repeated, aghast. "A steel kiss," said Littlefinger. (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

which is all interesting context for Dany later being assassinated, especially because the first lesson Martin gives us on justice is one that Jon is there for, and then is reiterated in relation to Dany:

Ned had heard enough. "You send hired knives to kill a fourteen-year-old girl and still quibble about honor?" He pushed back his chair and stood. "Do it yourself, Robert. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Look her in the eyes before you kill her. See her tears, hear her last words. You owe her that much at least." (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

The convo about killing Dany with LF is about a bedding and before that it was presented in terms of a wedding gift, which makes me squint now knowing the AA/NN stuff:

Yes, it's awful, and I do understand, almost agree with you here:

But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe.

but the way it might tie together the initial discussion of killing Dany and the eventual act weighs heavily with me when determining what Martin might do and why/why not.

The other suggestion is that Arya kills Dany. If having dragons is Chechov's gun for KL burning then Arya being a trained assassin feels like a Chechov's gun for killing Dany. But in that scenario, there is no conflict. No inner struggle. We spent so much of AGOT weighing the morals of killing Dany, it's hard for me to believe when the time comes, it's presented without any moral complexity. Arya is already able and willing to take a life, even when it isn't justified. It doesn't feel right to me that killing Dany would be a presented without an inner struggle, that it would be done easily, as easily as Arya now kills. TBH, it removes the drama if someone other than Jon does it because it will be so highly necessary and just when the time comes. Jon is really the only character who can make it squeamish because of the guy killing a woman thing and because it will be kinslaying.

There is a lot of talk about poison, so I think it's totally possible Arya tries to kill Dany with poison first, but I think Jon is more likely to be the one to successfully kill her, and in a way that calls to mind Ned's opinion on it, See her tears, hear her last words. That would allow Martin to make sure we see it as just/moral, bring home the Targ v Targ issue, and it shades Ned's decisions and values in a very interesting way.

After s8 fans said Ned was wrong to fight against killing Dany in s1, but Martin thinks he was right to object to killing children, so for the two Targ children he was protecting in AGOT (Dany and Jon) to come face to face and one kill the other prevents the conclusion that Ned was wrong. It was the same mercy, the same refusal to see the child of an enemy as an enemy, that saved the boy who will in turn save Westeros. IMO, it's a way to uphold the belief in mercy. I tend to think it’s also Martin’s way of addressing one his questions about his beloved LOTR (what about orc babies etc).

If another person ends Dany, we still get dead Dany, but it doesn't say anything interesting? Killing her wouldn't be a sacrifice on anyone else's part, she won’t be loved and she has to go. But, Jon, who so desperately wants to have honor, if he kills her, it's right as well as an egregious "sin." Ned dishonors himself to protect Sansa (and obvy was committing treason to protect Jon), it feels like coming full circle for Jon, who so wants to be worthy of being a son to Ned to follow his path there too. Also, one thing I expect we’ll keep tracking is kinslaying. Kinslaying comes up with the AA/Nissa Nissa issue in the Stannis storyline, so I do expect that to be addressed in Jon chapters:

We have the whole baby switch to assure us, Jon values human life a great deal. All the same, that involves a moment of cruelty on Jon's side, so Martin isn't interested in keeping him perfectly pure. He likes those moments where doing the right thing is very difficult, even compromising in some way. It's why, while we say Ned committing treason for Jon is a no brainer, Martin writes Ned tortured by it. He likes the inner turmoil over decisions, placing a societal good (honor) against another obligation or ideal and asking what is right.

I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

Despite all the ways I think it makes sense, yes, I def think this is one of those areas that if he had finished the series as quickly as he'd hoped, would have gone over better. Dany has dragons, therefore, she will be an overwhelming threat to Westeros, so it isn't like Jon will just randomly kill a woman, yet it's distasteful all the same. Martin is looking at things from the context of his story and the ideas he’s already introduced/talking about though which is why I can wince but kinda understand it. There are other issues where my sensibilities diverge from his, so didn’t like it on the show, I don’t like it for the books, still think it’s probably gonna happen. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[usernamesarehard1]

Queer Call is my favorite magisterium headcanon. Like, he is clearly so in love with Aaron. There is definitely more there than friendship, and it reads so much like romance specifically. And he is so a-spec coded because he just does not understand attraction or relationships at all and is so confused when he learns that other kids actually have crushes on each other and want to date each other, and never thought about romance until other people brought it up and pointed out that someone was into him. And I just love seeing him as genderqueer or masculine-aligned nonbinary or something similar because I love to imagine him wearing eyeliner and black nail polish and having long-ish hair that falls over his ears and into his eyes, and just having a really unique fashion style and not really wanting to look exactly how people usually imagine boys or masculine people to look.

Call is 100% lgbt+. It is impossible for him not to be (and definitely neurodivergent in some way)

[baerattack]

I completed reading Catalyst literally just a few hours ago and wanted to share some further observations regarding Orson Krennic. (Discussion about his blaster is attached in the end.) While Krennic may not have excelled in combat skills, his role as a uniformed officer rather than a civilian was justified given the context of his work.

The book illustrates that Krennic had experience with missions akin to spec ops ("specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment" as defined by NATO). His tendency to circumvent the chain of command aligns with the stereotypical portrayals of intelligence officers in popular culture (I'd blame James Bond for that). This behavior contributed to the tension between Krennic and Tarkin, not due to Tarkin's disdain for engineers (he was an engineer himself to some extent considering his contributions to ship designing) but rather because Krennic's actions often disrupted military operations, a domain in which Tarkin was particularly adept (i.e. the natural habitat of a Prussian officer).

Krennic wore an ISB uniform also for good reason. Although he was not a field agent, he appeared to be familiar in the areas of espionage and cybersecurity (Holonet security? Does it exist?).

Krennic was born in 51 BBY, and the Clone Wars commenced in 22 BBY when he was 29. It is important to note that there was a lengthy period of escalating tensions leading up to the Battle of Geonosis, indicating that considerations for security strategies likely began long before the Republic's formal militarization. Consequently, standard security protocols could have been established, with Krennic receiving appropriate training upon joining the Republic Corps of Engineers, which operated under the Judicial Forces—the closest entity to a military organization at that time.

[phoelipop]

I finally started reading Loveless and its been so painfully relatable like nothing I've ever experienced before

Back in 2015 was when I first learned about asexuality but I was in denial for a while because I didn't think it was real / just thought it was an internet thing. After learning more about it, I realized how much it aligns with my life and experiences I had growing up... but I didn't wanna believe that was me.

Around 2018 was when I fully accepted that I'm ace, I know that without a doubt. I never liked using labels for myself but once I found about asexuality it felt so freeing, knowing the way I am is perfectly fine and normal and that there are others like me.

And for the past year and a half I guess I've been having that same battle with myself over whether or not I'm aro too. I've never had an actual relationship (that i wanted to be in), nor have I ever really wanted one. Like others, I also forced myself or lied about crushes to fit in, never wanted to pursue a relationship with anyone tho. It's all what friends ever cared about, and yeah it's normal! But growing up not actually wanting those things made me feel very not normal.

But I'm human, I don't want to be alone. We're raised to believe romantic love is the one goal in our society and you're miserable without love. I've never been miserable not having a relationship, the only time i was was when I thought I had to and forced myself into them, just because someone liked me i thought I would start to like them back if i tried. I didn't of course and it was terrible. But I still wanted to be open to the possibility that one day I'll meet someone that will change all that. I don't really think that's possible for me and, I'm just starting to believe that's ok now.

Selfship always felt safe for me since it's fiction, and I did try to find friends and a sense of community through it, but again learned even in this I'm different. It's different for everyone though, but even with selfship sometimes I find it hard to relate to others when it comes to expressing love. I dunno… But I've always been happy with my fictional loves and my friends + family, that has always been enough for me.

This book has also made me want to be a better friend… I admit I've been so distant lately with everything going on in my life rn its been hard to see my worth sometimes and believe that I'm actually loved by my friends but trying to work on it… platonic love is just as important, even more so especially for us aroace-spec peeps

[genderfluid-info-blog]

; perhaps this is too specific, but I figured I'd ask anyways !! So I've been using genderflir, but I'm not so sure it's 100% me, and if there is a more specific / accurate term for me, I would like to use it. ( you also seem to have like a info hoard of every fluid identity ever so you're my best bet /lh /pos )

; so: I'm never 100% a binary man or woman. But I do experience feminine and occasionally masculine genders, the feminine genders are almost always mixed with something else though ( i.e. Bigender, demigirl, etc ) even if they're mostly feminine. And I've realised the masculine genders are either demiboy or masculine aligned xenogenders, and never anything else. But I also sometimes resonate with agender / feeling genderless ??

; so like never binary, never 100% feminine but still more commonly feminine, and if I identify masculinely it's either demiboy or a masc aligned xenogender. And agneder also comes into the mix .. Know any labels that could be this lol ?? So sorry if it's confusing !! /gen

First off, I am so so sorry that I took this long with your ask! /gen I don't know if you were able to find a label that fits you more in the meantime, but I'll still answer this ask :) (and yeah I do kind of have an info hoard, queer labels are one of my special interests but I love that it can help other people😭🫶)

So I have a two options that I think might fit you:

Genderfloretten. Especially since this label has two common definitions! One definition is the one I describe in my post, but there is another, more specific definition: Genderfloretten is a form of genderfluidity in which someone is fluid between genders that span from all feminine genders up to, but not including, binary woman to masculine genders that go about halfway or two-thirds of the way to binary man. (You can read more about this definition on the lgbtqia-wiki)

The only other label that I know of that almost fits this is genderfirn, but unfortunately it includes binary woman in its fluidity. Maybe you could coin a related micro label without that part? (If you feel like the label might fit you otherwise and you want to of course.)

I've personally always wondered why genderfirn didn't have counterparts for people who are never a binary woman or just never binary in general.

As for the occasional genderlessness: This is usually included in many labels! Genderfloretten for example also encompasses the fluidity between agender/other unaligned genders/a-spec genders! I personally don't really know of a label that specifically includes agender in a way that might fit you, but you could always add the prefix in front of your label to make the connection clear :)

I know this wasn't a very clear answer, but I hope it still helps you in some way, sorry again for taking this long with your ask😭 <3

[the-takosader]

Non-Specific Ramble

Okay, so this is going to be mostly stream-of-consciousness stuff, but there's a lot of shit I think about, mostly guitar-related, but still there nonetheless.

Let's start with the offcuts of my builds. Of course, I've been building using either reclaimed wood or wood I bought online. The remainders of these woods are probably going to get reused in... something, but in the meantime, I've still got to finish building the thing. Speaking of, we're actually at the stage where there's a body and a top!

Last I checked in, the top was unfinished, as in, it wasn't two pieces unfolded and joined via glue, but there is at least a body blank, made just as specified in the spec sheet using 3 rather large chunks of mahogany, and smaller strips of ash. But of course, I mentioned the maple top, didn't I?

The thing with that is that there will, inevitably, be an offcut. I only needed about half of it, so of course that means we cut it to the size we needed, and then started levelling out the middle so we had a clean, flat and straight surface to glue across. I know, a sentence you'd never otherwise read on Tumblr, yet here we are.

While I was building it, an idea cropped up in my head, related to something I remembered my aunt telling me about. See, for the build, she bought a bespoke fretting jig off a guy in Pembrokeshire, meant for fretting 25" scale lengths. She also mentioned what other scale lengths he covered: 25.5, 24.6, the usual stuff. She also mentioned that he had one for 21.375", which caught my attention.

I think I've talked about this before, but to cover my bases, here we go again. So, if you're at all familiar with John Lennon or the Beatles or anything, you'll know about the Rickenbacker 325, the top-of-the-line short-scale of the 300 Series of guitars, calculated from base models at 310, 330, 360, plus some weird and wacky things that also just so happened to be numbered in the 300s, such as the 350 (long-scale variant of the 325), 380L (Laguna model, came with optional piezo, based on 360), 381 (also based on the 360, but with a German carve on the top and the back, making it thicker than a normal 360), plus some oddball acoustics in the '50s at the very top end (390-394) based on the designs of Roger Rossmeisl's father, Wenzel Rossmeisl.

Now, how were they calculated from these base models? Simple: add 5 to the model number to get a vibrato, add 10 to get an extra pickup, and add 15 to get both. You could also add 6 to select 12-string models to get a comb mechanism that muted the octave strings, or just write "/12" next to a model number to attempt to get a 12-string variant, not that you'd always get it. Some models just don't exist as 12-strings, while others do. Interestingly enough, while being effectively identical to a 320/12, Rickenbacker made one model that physically shouldn't exist, especially not by most people's standards for 12 strings.

That's going to need a small tangent to explain. See, in the world of guitars, especially in 12-strings, people tend to accept that you just don't put vibratos or trem systems on a 12-string model. They are either hardtail top-loaders or hardtail string-throughs. Rickenbackers, with their tailpieces, are hardtail top-loaders, while Fender's Electric XII, with a very specially designed bridge system, is a hardtail string-through. That doesn't stop some companies from trying though, or Chinese copycats from including it as a feature for some reason. For example, a couple years ago, I saw a Gretsch-style 12-string with a Bigsby B7 copy. No, there wasn't any other tailpiece, and no, it wasn't on a doubleneck. Meanwhile, for reputable retailers, the Burns Double Six Apache is fitted with a Bigsby-style Rez-O-Tube system, and was designed for Hank Marvin, oddly enough.

Getting back on track, the reason why it shouldn't exist is because it doesn't align with the addition-based feature calculation. A 325 has 3 pickups and a vibrato system, either the Kauffman Vibrola for models before 1960, or the Ac'cent Vibrato for models afterward (except, of course, the V59 reissues which came stock with a Bigsby B5, to match John Lennon's famous modification. C58 reissues came stock with a Kauffman), but that's not how they do the 12 string models. They just leave the vibrato off, and give you the trapezoid tailpiece, or in rare cases, the R-tailpiece, but that's only if you're lucky. As a result, 325/12s, of which an approximate total of 161 exist, 25 from 1985-1986, and 136 from 1999, are effectively the same as the 320/12s they made a few years before, but badged as 325s instead because of John Lennon.

Yes, seriously, he had a 325/12 in 1964. It was a one-off model for their 1964 tour across North America, and here's what it looks like:

And they say that the images can't be viewed in full-screen or downloaded. I call bull. Anyway, this all leads me back to what I was talking about with the offcuts of flame maple. Seeing as the 325 is a 3/4 guitar, with what some might call a 5/8ths neck because it's so short a scale, I could, in theory, build a flame-topped all-maple 325 with it. Now, that would require a lot of maple, but it'd be at least playable, considering the small size and the hollow body. Plus, it'd give some use to the offcuts that isn't building a Les Paul out of a door, or whatever I decide to do with the offcuts of mahogany.

So yeah, that's how my 2 month "hiatus" has gone. No specific reason I disappeared, I just didn't have much to talk about. The build's going well, I've got the bridge on its way, and the only remaining bits I *need* are electronic except the tuners, and aren't all that pressing a requirement as the bridge in order to properly build the thing. The neck is a different kettle of fish, though, because I'm cutting that myself. That'll be a fun thing. Same goes for the fretboard, but slightly more difficult, because flame maple is a bit wild with its grain.