#unfortunately for me: no consistent tag to block

[snickerdoodlles]

pulling out a section from this post (a very basic breakdown of generative AI) for easier reading;

AO3 and Generative AI

There are unfortunately some massive misunderstandings in regards to AO3 being included in LLM training datasets. This post was semi-prompted by the ‘Knot in my name’ AO3 tag (for those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s supposed to be a fandom anti-AI event where AO3 writers help “further pollute” AI with Omegaverse), so let’s take a moment to address AO3 in conjunction with AI. We’ll start with the biggest misconception:

1. AO3 wasn’t used to train generative AI.

Or at least not anymore than any other internet website. AO3 was not deliberately scraped to be used as LLM training data.

The AO3 moderators found traces of the Common Crawl web worm in their servers. The Common Crawl is an open data repository of raw web page data, metadata extracts and text extracts collected from 10+ years of web crawling. Its collective data is measured in petabytes. (As a note, it also only features samples of the available pages on a given domain in its datasets, because its data is freely released under fair use and this is part of how they navigate copyright.) LLM developers use it and similar web crawls like Google’s C4 to bulk up the overall amount of pre-training data.

AO3 is big to an individual user, but it’s actually a small website when it comes to the amount of data used to pre-train LLMs. It’s also just a bad candidate for training data. As a comparison example, Wikipedia is often used as high quality training data because it’s a knowledge corpus and its moderators put a lot of work into maintaining a consistent quality across its web pages. AO3 is just a repository for all fanfic -- it doesn’t have any of that quality maintenance nor any knowledge density. Just in terms of practicality, even if people could get around the copyright issues, the sheer amount of work that would go into curating and labeling AO3’s data (or even a part of it) to make it useful for the fine-tuning stages most likely outstrips any potential usage.

Speaking of copyright, AO3 is a terrible candidate for training data just based on that. Even if people (incorrectly) think fanfic doesn’t hold copyright, there are plenty of books and texts that are public domain that can be found in online libraries that make for much better training data (or rather, there is a higher consistency in quality for them that would make them more appealing than fic for people specifically targeting written story data). And for any scrapers who don’t care about legalities or copyright, they’re going to target published works instead. Meta is in fact currently getting sued for including published books from a shadow library in its training data (note, this case is not in regards to any copyrighted material that might’ve been caught in the Common Crawl data, its regarding a book repository of published books that was scraped specifically to bring in some higher quality data for the first training stage). In a similar case, there’s an anonymous group suing Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI for training their LLMs on open source code.

Getting back to my point, AO3 is just not desirable training data. It’s not big enough to be worth scraping for pre-training data, it’s not curated enough to be considered for high quality data, and its data comes with copyright issues to boot. If LLM creators are saying there was no active pursuit in using AO3 to train generative AI, then there was (99% likelihood) no active pursuit in using AO3 to train generative AI.

AO3 has some preventative measures against being included in future Common Crawl datasets, which may or may not work, but there’s no way to remove any previously scraped data from that data corpus. And as a note for anyone locking their AO3 fics: that might potentially help against future AO3 scrapes, but it is rather moot if you post the same fic in full to other platforms like ffn, twitter, tumblr, etc. that have zero preventative measures against data scraping.

2. A/B/O is not polluting generative AI

…I’m going to be real, I have no idea what people expected to prove by asking AI to write Omegaverse fic. At the very least, people know A/B/O fics are not exclusive to AO3, right? The genre isn’t even exclusive to fandom -- it started in fandom, sure, but it expanded to general erotica years ago. It’s all over social media. It has multiple Wikipedia pages.

More to the point though, omegaverse would only be “polluting” AI if LLMs were spewing omegaverse concepts unprompted or like…associated knots with dicks more than rope or something. But people asking AI to write omegaverse and AI then writing omegaverse for them is just AI giving people exactly what they asked for. And…I hate to point this out, but LLMs writing for a niche the LLM trainers didn’t deliberately train the LLMs on is generally considered to be a good thing to the people who develop LLMs. The capability to fill niches developers didn’t even know existed increases LLMs’ marketability. If I were a betting man, what fandom probably saw as a GOTCHA moment, AI people probably saw as a good sign of LLMs’ future potential.

3. Individuals cannot affect LLM training datasets.

So back to the fandom event, with the stated goal of sabotaging AI scrapers via omegaverse fic.

…It’s not going to do anything.

Let’s add some numbers to this to help put things into perspective:

LLaMA’s 65 billion parameter model was trained on 1.4 trillion tokens. Of that 1.4 trillion tokens, about 67% of the training data was from the Common Crawl (roughly ~3 terabytes of data).

3 terabytes is 3,000,000,000 kilobytes.

That’s 3 billion kilobytes.

According to a news article I saw, there has been ~450k words total published for this campaign (*this was while it was going on, that number has probably changed, but you’re about to see why that still doesn’t matter). So, roughly speaking, ~450k of text is ~1012 KB (I’m going off the document size of a plain text doc for a fic whose word count is ~440k).

So 1,012 out of 3,000,000,000.

Aka 0.000034%.

And that 0.000034% of 3 billion kilobytes is only 2/3s of the data for the first stage of training.

And not to beat a dead horse, but 0.000034% is still grossly overestimating the potential impact of posting A/B/O fic. Remember, only parts of AO3 would get scraped for Common Crawl datasets. Which are also huge! The October 2022 Common Crawl dataset is 380 tebibytes. The April 2021 dataset is 320 tebibytes. The 3 terabytes of Common Crawl data used to train LLaMA was randomly selected data that totaled to less than 1% of one full dataset. Not to mention, LLaMA’s training dataset is currently on the (much) larger size as compared to most LLM training datasets.

I also feel the need to point out again that AO3 is trying to prevent any Common Crawl scraping in the future, which would include protection for these new stories (several of which are also locked!).

Omegaverse just isn’t going to do anything to AI. Individual fics are going to do even less. Even if all of AO3 suddenly became omegaverse, it’s just not prominent enough to influence anything in regards to LLMs. You cannot affect training datasets in any meaningful way doing this. And while this might seem really disappointing, this is actually a good thing.

Remember that anything an individual can do to LLMs, the person you hate most can do the same. If it were possible for fandom to corrupt AI with omegaverse, fascists, bigots, and just straight up internet trolls could pollute it with hate speech and worse. AI already carries a lot of biases even while developers are actively trying to flatten that out, it’s good that organized groups can’t corrupt that deliberately.

[phoenixyfriend]

Star Wars Time Travel Rec List

About time I put together a General Rec List for Star Wars Time Travel, yeah?

Organized by the time-traveling character(s). I'm adding a star for my favorites that imo you have to read. I'm not going to claim that those are necessarily the best, because I feel like that's not objective and also kinda mean to the ones that are good since they might just not be to my personal taste, but they are my favorites.

Obi-Wan

Anakin Skywalker

Ahsoka

Clones

Other Prequels-Era Characters

Two or more people

Luke or Leia

Other

Tagged authors where I could. If they aren't tagged, I either couldn't find their tumblr, they have their settings such that no one can tag them, or they blocked me for one reason or another.

Obi-Wan

It Was Another Time and I Another Man by Pell_Binterhol - under "Groups"

Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust by @livsy ~35k+, complete Obi-Wan is a time traveler, mental from the OT. What makes it unique is that the fic is from Anakin's POV. It's a very heartwarming piece.

⭐Take it from the top and try again by @mauverawrites ~170k, series - two fics complete, more on the way Possibly the best way to describe this series is as the platonic ideal of an Obi-Wan time travel fic. Weird Force stuff? Check. Obi-Wan having spent years on Tatooine? Check. Qui-Gon surviving? Check. Obi-Wan doing some shady illegal stuff to get money and infiltrate crime rings so he can save the galaxy? Check. Anakin being adorable as an initiate, and Shmi being saved from Tatooine? Check. Surprise Feemor? Check. It's all the bits you (or at least I) hope for when opening a new Obi-Wan Time Travel fic, and it never feels stale or repetitive or cliche. It's just a Very Good Fic.

The Exchange by @misslearn - under "Groups"

An Abundance of Obi-Wans by The_Last_Kenobi (orphan_account) ~45k, abandoned Unfortunately we'll never know how this ends, but it's a lot of fun while it lasts. Baby Obi is being haunted by three ghosts of his future self.

A Padawan at War (Again) by @itstimeforstarwars - under "Groups"

Free Jedi to Good Home by @itstimeforstarwars- under "Groups"

These Paths by HiddenEye - under "Groups"

⭐the massive machinery of hope by @killbothtwins 150k, complete Do you want comedy? Yes, you do. This one is great. Go read it. It's one of my favorites for a reason, and the reason is that Obi-Wan is a sarcastic little shit with a billion quips.

Living Memory by elsa3beth 353k, on hiatus, possibly abandoned? Obi-Wan Time Travel, leans a bit more heavily into the distrust and despair surrounding Anakin (due to Vader things from the future) than most.

⭐The Desert Storm/Rise and Fall by @blue-sunshine-mauve-morning ~1.6m (1592k), ongoing This is one of the longest, most consistent, best-regarded time-travel fics in the fandom for a reason.

⭐Reprise by Elfpen ~560k, ongoing Another Obi-Wan time-travel fic, this one using that favored cover story of "Ben is Obi-Wan's biological uncle," and I love it so much for how it explores both characters and political events.

Realign the Stars by @fortunerainwrites, @TerinAngel - under "Groups"

Current of Fate by @feybarn ~195k, on hiatus? It's been so long since I read this one that I can't quite remember what it was that I liked about it so much, and it's too long to do a reread right now... but I do remember loving it, especially when it switches to an outsider POV for the second fic.

Anakin Skywalker

The Exchange by @misslearn - under "Groups"

A Padawan at War (Again) by @itstimeforstarwars - under "Groups"

Free Jedi to Good Home by @itstimeforstarwars - under "Groups"

War Drums by @intermundia ~91k, ongoing Vader travels back to TPM. Runs off with Obi-Wan into the stars to Achieve Some Goals to take down Sidious. Gets quick-aged to 19 by some Dathomiri magic. Projected to be Obikin.

These Paths by HiddenEye - under "Groups"

Old Promises by @threebea ~65k, ongoing Time Traveler Anakin panic-kidnaps Initiate Kenobi. Absolute disaster of a man.

An (Un)fortunate Haunting by @kooriicolada, @scarletjedi 3.5k, oneshot Anakin thinks the Vader ghost haunting him is a hallucination. This one is technically more than just Anakin, but it's... mostly Anakin.

⭐Force of Many Sights by DAsObiQuiet ~480k, on hiatus? Vader to TPM, possessing his younger self. This fic has a heavy, and much-appreciated focus on therapy as it functions for someone of Vader's... particular situation. This is also technically a "Groups" series, since it's also got Siri Tachi as a time-traveler, but her POV is much smaller, and it takes... I want to say about 100k words for her to really start playing a more active role in the plot.

Realign the Stars by @fortunerainwrites, @TerinAngel - under "Groups"

Ahsoka

I don't know why all the good Ahsoka time travel fics are her as part of a team, but they do in fact fuck, so. I LIED I forgot to bookmark one of the Ahsoka fics I like.

Free Jedi to Good Home by @itstimeforstarwars - under "Groups"

These Paths by HiddenEye - under "Groups"

Realign the Stars by @fortunerainwrites, @TerinAngel - under "Groups"

Living in Borrowed Time by @scribbling-albatross - under "groups"

⭐Although He Smiles by @autumnillustration - ~157.6k, ongoing This one is amazing, it's an Ahsoka main, and she is very funny with Padawan Obi-Wan and adorable with 9yo Anakin. Lovely.

Clones

love is with your brother by Petrichor (Mythmaker) ~8k, complete TCW Rex bodyswaps with his baby self. POV is Ahsoka during the clone wars.

Free Jedi to Good Home by @itstimeforstarwars - under "Groups"

These Paths by HiddenEye - Rex and Cody - under "Groups"

Realign the Stars by @fortunerainwrites, @TerinAngel - Rex and Cody - under "Groups"

Living in Borrowed Time by @scribbling-albatross - Rex - Under "Groups"

⭐Dominoes by meridianpony ~380k, ongoing All five Dominoes go back to the beginning, from the points of their deaths! (Disclaimer: Echo's treated as having died at the Citadel. I think the fic started before his survival was revealed.) Technically this is a group, but all five are clones, so...

Other Prequels-Era Characters

there is no death by @ashkav ~140k, ongoing There is something really cool about Cal Kestis time travel fics, especially when he's got a decent amount of knowledge of The General Situations (e.g. Anakin will become Vader) but is missing so many details, like Why and How.

⭐An Echo in the Force (a whisper in a cave by @stardust2flame ~8k, complete Feemor is trapped in a time loop. This was actually written as a gift to me, so it has a special place in my heart.

⭐Mace Windu Fixes the Timeline... And Breaks it in Whole New Ways by AbsentmindedAuthor98 ~52k, ongoing Absolutely choice series based on an AU by @suzukiblu. Mace Windu does some time-traveling. He takes on Anakin as his padawan on an impulse, but he ends up doing his damnedest to be a Good Master for the kid. Depa helps.

Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge by @yellowocaballero - Fox - under "Groups"

Make a Brand New End by @batshieroglyphics ~120k, I think on hiatus Another Feemor fic! This one's not time-loop, just time travel. Lots of juicy Qui-Gon drama.

⭐Not a Good Man by @feybarn ~28k, ongoing Imperial era Boba Fett goes back to AotC. He decides to fix things, partly by trying to get his dad to fall in love with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

a distant fire is burning by e_va ~47.5k, ongoing This is another Cal fic! It's got video game logic in it. Also, Anakin and Cal are both being so weird about sort of being adoptive brothers, it's great.

⭐They Don't Care About Us by @ironhoshi Time traveler Boba! And Cal! They're doing great, sweetie. Their best. Obi-Wan and Jango are mostly just confused. (Has anyone checked on Anakin? Someone needs to go check on Anakin. Again.)

Groups

It Was Another Time and I Another Man by Pell_Binterhol ~200k, incomplete This is a very fun fic that involves multiple time-travelers from multiple points in time. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon from the Legends novels are pulled forward into TCW, and Old Ben and Luke are pulled back from the OT, and some spoilers as well.

⭐The Exchange by @misslearn ~120k, complete A swapping-style time travel. RotS Anakin&Obi-Wan end up in TPM, and TPM Anakin&Obi-Wan end up in RotS. Shenanigans ensue. (Also trauma.)

⭐Can We Start Over? by @triscribe ~22k, ongoing Most of the Jedi have time-traveled from the points of their deaths to about a year pre-AotC. Some handle it better than others. The POV is Aayla, which I find very cool.

A Padawan at War (Again) by @itstimeforstarwars ~183k, ongoing It's technically more of a de-aging than a time-travel, but hey! Still a good read! TPM Anakin and Obi-Wan take the place of their TCW selves, who no longer exist.

⭐Free Jedi to Good Home by @itstimeforstarwars ~complicated as the second fic has been hidden, ongoing This is one of my favorite series, but as you can see by the above, it's in a bit of a timeout right now. Bookmark it for later? Also, there's an entire side series called Inspired By One Hundred Hours To Rearrange The Stars.

These Paths by HiddenEye ~90k, complete Our five TCW mains (Obi-Wan, Cody, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex) are booted forward to the Original Trilogy. The latter three are deaged to their TPM ages (9, 4, baby respectively). Also it's CodyWan.

Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge by @yellowocaballero ~33k, complete Leia and Fox time travel! This one is very dark. That said, it has a comedic counterpart that I love, which is only available on tumblr: ⭐Fox & Leia's Holiday Special

⭐Realign the Stars by @fortunerainwrites, @TerinAngel ~68k, abandoned Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and Cody, from TCW to TPM. Despite the unfinished state, I cannot deny the oddly intense level of influence this fic has had on my own approach to star wars time travel fics.

⭐Living in Borrowed Time by @scribbling-albatross 118k, ongoing Rex and Ahsoka are time-travelers! They are so, so very fucked up. Sure do wish they had access to therapists that could actually be cleared for knowing their Extensive Lists Of Traumas. This one definitely had a huge impact on how I characterize Rex and Ahsoka since I entered the fandom.

Luke and Leia

Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge by @yellowocaballero - Leia - under "Groups"

There is another Skywalker by WabiSabi ~85k, on hiatus? Time-Traveler Leia! Mentally in the sequels, physically in her thirties, and chronologically in the clone wars. Also Luke's sharing space in her noggin.

Shifting Sands by @chancecraz ~180k, ongoing "Ongoing? But it hasn't updated since 2021!" The last time it updated, the chapter was 65k, after over two years of radio silence. Trust me when I say that the lack of recent updates means nothing for this author. Anyway, Sequels Leia to about a year pre-TPM, hangs out with baby Anakin and Shmi and then neatly inserts herself in the plot.

⭐Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns by @chancecraz ~860k, ongoing Same author as above, same disclaimer for the gap since last update. Sequels Leia does a mental time-travel into her ANH self, specifically the 'being tortured on the Death Star' moment. It's so fucking good.

Old Man Luke by @scarletjedi ~110k, ongoing Sequels Luke to TCW! He is very cryptic, channeling the Jedi who taught him! Fun!

⭐Sith Lord Swell by AMournfulHowlInTheNight ~53k, ongoing Luke and his students (including Ben Solo) travel back in time to a bit before AotC. They decide the best way to proceed is to pretend they are Sith Lords. This is primarily a comedy fic. Luke really enjoys fucking with people.

⭐Don't Look Back by @this-acuteneurosis ~700k, ongoing Post-OT Leia (after the deaths of most of her friends) physically time travels to a year or two before AotC. She is taken in by the Lars family, and then she and Shmi start to head for Coruscant, run into Padme, and join the Nabooan government in Padme's employ. Do you want a fic that feels like 70% politics and logistics and trade routes? Because that's what this is and it's great.

Other

The Way of Conquest by pagination ~76k, ongoing There is something very funny about the time-traveler not even realizing they are about thirty years into the wrong time. Din has no idea when he is. Grogu does, but he's not telling.

[yuurivoice]

Hey gang.

This is Haru, he's my tummy ache survivor who has been through hell over his two and a half years of life. For over the past few months we've been dealing with vomiting, sometimes a tweak of food or eating schedule would fix it. Sometimes not, but he was keeping enough down and was still his usual playful self, so we kept playing tetris with his food and powered through.

His stomach has always been sensitive, so a flare up of tummy stuff was not exactly unusual.

Things recently got worse, and even more consistent. Daily, multiple times. We'd done all the preliminary work (food type, meal size/frequency, etc) so we got to skip a few trial and errors with the vet and got an ultrasound and bloodwork.

Unfortunately, it was bad news. He's got what is likely a cancerous growth right where stomach meets intestine, and its blocking his food from getting down consistently. At two years old, my vet was pretty shook. But Haru don't know any better, he's been a fighter since he was a little constipated baby.

As we get ready to tackle whatever is on the horizon as quickly as possible, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has purchased their Finn plushie(s)! We hit 200 sold and he is officially being made! The funds from the plushie will be going directly towards surgery and treatment as we figure out what the future looks like for Haru.

If you'd like to contribute and get a plushie of your own, you can order here!

And of course, I have to thank everyone who has flooded the tag with kind words and encouragement and a ton of things that I have not yet read, because the moment I found out about it I had just gotten the news from my Vet and was in the process of selling off some Pokemon cards because I was preemptively trying to cover my ass for veterinary costs......surprise! Haha...haa.......

It's a shitty time for many people right now, and I don't want to add to the doom and gloom. Me and my cats are gonna be okay, no matter what the future holds for us and Haru. If you're able and would like to contribute to upcoming veterinary costs, please consider getting a plushie, indulging on Patreon, or tuning in to any upcoming streams. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet in terms of a stream, but I'd be happiest if you'd treat yourself to some of what I have to offer so you get something in return!

I'm taking care of things at home and hopefully returning to work in the coming week to fulfill what I owe folks. I'm sorry for all the delays and waiting right in the midst of what should be a very busy time. I've only just beaten my cold (though I'm still coughing 🙃) and then life kicked me square in the balls.

Thank you all for being so kind and patient and loving. I needed y'all real bad today, and you showed up when you didn't even know I needed it. Love y'all, for real. 💖

I'll share a recent Haru picture that isn't cleverly veiled marketing to fundraise for removing his mutant growth.

[flowafairy]

Actor gojo x Co-star reader headcanons pleaseee

✰ IS IT THAT SWEET? I GUESS SO. actor!gojo x costar!reader headcanons.

#tags delusional gojo, slight suggestive(?), crack

note. let’s hope this breaks my writer’s block 🙂‍↕️

actor!gojo who is absolutely loving the entire enemies to lovers thing you’ve got going on, he feels like he’s in a wattpad whenever you mumble out an atrocious insult directed towards him—you’re so obsessed with him. ( he’s delusional )

actor!gojo who purposely slips up during a kiss scene, just so he can feel your soft lips against his just one more time, oh, and he adores the way you shamelessly gawk him—he knows he’s fine. ( fine shyt! )

actor!gojo who loves teasing you in front of fans, he loves the way your face heats up and a small pout etches your face with every subtle touch of his fingers. call him crazy but.. that’s gotta mean you’re down bad, right?

actor!gojo who isn’t really acting during that one cheesy scene in the movie, getting down on one knee with an expensive ring in his hand that the director let him pick out. he’s already planned out his entire wedding with you, because, why wouldn’t you wanna marry him? cocky little shit.

actor!gojo who entertains fan theories whenever he comes across them. a speculation you two might be dating? retweet. a poorly photoshopped image of you two kissing that he definitely didn’t make himself and post on his alt account? repost.

actor!gojo who constantly yaps about you to his friends in the movie, and in real life. suguru will wake up to 9 new messages at 3AM, all of them consisting of satoru whining about how mean were to him during rehearsal and just how sexy you looked while doing it. suguru sends him an 800 word paragraph threat that he can and will block him if he speaks another word. nanami unfortunately woke up to quite a few messages from gojo.

actor!gojo who, despite the teasing and annoying little shit he is, is quick to dismiss uncomfortable questions during your interviews. who are you currently interested in? none of their fucking business. ( what a gentlemen! )

actor!gojo who wants to go shrivel up in a hole and die on and off acting because you had to kiss another man for the plot. so what if you aren’t together? he still has all right to be jealous! and throw hands with the actor. but woah, who would do that? not him.

actor!gojo who got caught liking one of your posts from 2 years ago, except he’s the one to text you instead of you texting him, because he’s so smug ( embarrassed ) that he definitely doesn’t give a shit that he was caught. satoru: so u wanna slide tho?

actor!gojo who has became a certified loverboy even after the movie’s over, constantly bombarding you with messages. you thought he was being polite at first, until the messages just kept coming and coming and oh boy, he would not shut up.

toru or wtv his name was is typing…

dinner 9PM

me n you

😉😗.

[ellestrade]

What do you think makes a good Damian Wayne fanfic ? Like what are your standards and red flags when you're reading one

Usually, I would first look at the 'Damian Wayne-centric' tags on ao3 and go from there. I don't think I hold any fics up to a certain standard, though being able to read any is important to me— that means proper paragraphing, grammar, etc.

I know that most, if not all writers on ao3 are amateur writers, novice at best and, if I'm lucky, have been writing since the dawn of Wattpad, so it's not fair for me to expect top-tier writing/characterisation. Everyone always has some kind of trope to fall back into, myself included. It's just a matter if said trope is annoying or not to consume.

"Good Damian Wayne fanfics" are, itself, subjective— because good fanfics, for me, means that there are no attempts at butchering his character, along with his loved ones, and that includes Talia, Ra's, Maya and Mara, etc. If I open a fic and it's all just a grandiose of people putting down Talia (making her a bad/abusive mother) just to have Bruce hugs his son, then I'm closing the tab.

That being said, here are my red flags/pet peeves when it comes to reading a fanfic:

Any, and I mean any variant consisting of bashing the al-Ghuls.

"Talia al-Ghul is a bad mother"

"Talia al-Ghul is a rapist"

"Ra's al-Ghul is a creep"

"Damian is a bad sibling"

Usually, any fics that consist of these types of fics often came out as xenophobic or straight up racist— taking Grant Morrison's run (primarily Talia's character assassination) as gospel, or never reading canon material as a whole.

Of course, credits where it's due, there are some, and I mean a very small some, fics that don't transpire that image— using the tag that to simply convey Damian's time in the League, or phrasing it in a way that Talia/Ra's were an abuser once victim. However, making them bad in comparison is just a no-go for me.

Also, making Talia a rapist is a one way ticket for me to block you— because not only that it is wrong, but it also shows that you don't care enough to do thorough research and just take it as it is; Talia, pre-Morrison, was depicted as this kind and loving woman. She was studying medicine when she met Bruce. They genuinely have Chemistry together. She was also a victim of abuse herself, and she would rather die than inflict harm upon others on purpose. She loves her son, she loves her husband, she loves her family and she also loves herself.

Also, the al-Ghuls are also some of the most affectionate family there are— at least, of course, prior to the whole character assassination for the sake of making Bruce seem like the better parent in comparison. They aren't afraid to show genuine affection to one another, becoming physical and shows their devotion beyond what words could measure— which, is , unfortunate, since they're presented in Western media, and God knows how bad someone would interpret a relationship if 'I love you's aren't being exchanged regularly like therapy talks.

Dare I say, they might actually be better than the BatFam 🤷🤷 but then I might get hunted down for sports so I'll keep that opinion to myself, for now.

I'm also going to redirect you to this one lovely account, @rasalghul777 and read their take(s) on Brutalia. Here's a starting post and this one if you'd like to start. This person makes wonderful posts regarding Brutalia and the al-Ghuls as a whole than what I could ever conspire and I applaud them for it.

White savior complex

"Damian got his love for animals from [insert any BatFamily members here]"

"Damian learned to love through being with BatFam"

Again, this could also be read along with my first point, but can also be seen separately— I genuinely cannot stand when Damian was written in a way that he was a 'feral, stabby boi' prior his transgression into the BatFamily since it conveys distasteful perception of the Arabic people as a whole; them being uncultured or even uncivilized.

It's gross, I hate it, get it away from me.

Also, Damian inheriting his love for animals from anyone else other than the al-Ghuls is just pure fanon bullshit— because that means you have no perception of what the League of Assassins really are and just takes everything the fandom writes at face value; the League (including Talia and Ra's) aren't some 2-dimensional villains who kills. Reducing a villain to a mere trope just to prop up your white boy isn't going to make me like them. It just takes away the fun of it.

People just love to forget the 'eco' in 'eco-terrorist', which Ra's is.

If anything, Damian would inherit his genuine and deep love for animals and nature from him.

It's worth mentioning that the League of Assassins doesn't kill people just for the sake of violence— there's a reason why they're being categorized as eco-terrorists, and not the other category people love to associate Arabs with; they kill with reason. Similar to Poison Ivy, they specifically target any organisation that brings ruins to Earth and nature as a whole.

On another note, writing Damian as 'uncivilized' or 'feral' is just plain wrong. While it certainly can be cute, in a sort of gremlin-esque, little brother way (Lord knows how much I love my little brother, but simultaneously wanted to (subliminally) throw a chair at him) but depicting him as this one child that goes around stabbing everyone unprompted rubs me the wrong way.

This goes along with my first note, but Damian was raised as a prince when he was in the League; there were some instances where soldiers who came to pick him up refer to him as "Young prince". He has manners. He knows what to say and what to do when being confronted by the media. If anything, Damian would adapt 'Gotham's Darling Boy' facade faster than BatFam girlies mischaracterise the next POC character.

Damian does love his mother and grandfather and his family back in the League very, very much. Just because he doesn't convey it in a conventional, traditional way, doesn't mean he doesn't know how. He has his own ways of saying 'I love you's of his own.

People that clearly consume more fanon media in comparison to canon.

Tim Drake stans. Like, as a whole.

Let me begin by saying I actually do not care on how you plan to enjoy your nice little character trope, but believe me when I say that there are some weights to what's famously transpired in the fandom spaces.

It's the "fandom affects canon space" phenomenon all over again.

It should go without saying that what goes in the fandom stays in the fandom, and vice versa. Like I said before, people tend to fall back to their favourite trope— writing characters in a certain way, conveying certain messages, etc. However, in the midst of your 'creative freedom', it's easy to forget that these characters are not yours.

Fandom is derived from the canon substance, that's why it's so flexible and allows creative freedom in the first place. The consumer can decide what's canon in the fandom space (rejecting what's real), though it's important to remember that canon is still the blueprint and shouldn't be thoroughly ignored in favour of your dumb little incorrect quotes. Rejecting everything just means that you're creating an Oc, which, atp is what you should be doing instead of DTI a canon character.

It's why we got gems like these:

(I have reached tumblr maximum capacity for images, but know that there's more)

Again, do what you want, I don't care! But remember that when you're depicting certain character dynamics like these, it also affects other potential fans' views and first impressions of said character.

I don't want to go off tangent longer than necessary— but I actively avoid any variants of, "Hurt Tim Drake" tags on ao3. Mostly because mischaracterisation awaits me. The rest are because his fans are genuinely obnoxious and (more often than not) have little to no comprehension to actual canon substance.

I think that's all that I could muster up. Sorry this post is long, lol, but I got carried away.

[beanswithbuttons]

It's Different When It's You

Spike Spiegel x gn!reader

hurt/comfort

wc: 2199, not proofread

cw: injury, cough, pining, idiots in love who don't know how to communicate

A/N: It's been ages since I've posted my writing on the internet, so I am incredibly rusty! Sorry if this is a bit poorly written, I'm trying to break out of a big writers' block. Requests are always welcome, and if you're a writer too, I'd love to brainstorm with you! <3

It was supposed to be a simple bounty. A quick rookie grab before departing the planet. Only being on the ship for a few months, you usually stayed behind handling mechanical issues. This seemed like a great excuse to get out there and stretch your legs, help out a bit with the bounty hunting.

Spike never would have let you tag along if he knew it would end up like this.

The mission seemed easy enough- a teenager who had been consistently robbing local convenience stores for booze. An annoyance more than a public concern. A couple million Woolongs was no bounty to lose sleep over.

The poor kid was practically stuttering over his words when he realized actual bounty hunters had shown up, immediately bolting into a back alleyway towards the local street market. It was an easy enough chase. You even split up to cover more ground.

Unfortunately, the kid had a trigger finger. One of his stray bullets just happened to pierce the XL propane tank of a salesman's cart and before anyone knew it, the market was a flurry of explosions and yelling.

Smoke fills the air. The whole marketplace was practically destroyed by the time Spike managed to lay a foot on the kid. One swift kick to the knee and the teen was on the ground, rusty pistol skittering across the concrete.

Spike lets out an annoyed huff, rolling his shoulders. Scanning the rubble of the market, he finally spots you. He refuses to acknowledge the relief that floods into him.

One of your arms is cradling your ribs and you have a few scratches littering your skin. Other than that, you seem equally relieved to see him, already rushing forward with an exclamation of celebration.

You cough as you approach, and although it could be from the smoke, Spike can't help but feel a tinge of worry over it.

As you reach him, Spike places a firm hand on your shoulder, stopping you in place. His eyes linger on your face, not liking the way your lips are paler than usual.

Before he can say anything, you beat him to it. "Look, whatever you're going to say- don't. Just got the wind knocked out of me. I'll be fine."

His gaze only firms with doubt. He nods to where you hold your ribcage. "Get that looked at on the ship."

You scoff and gesture to his cheekbone, where a piece of flying debris had left a slice in his skin. It's not said aloud, but you both know he will more than likely ignore it instead of getting it patched.

"As long as you don't be a hypocrite." You tease, and he's about to argue, but your voice cracks into another rough cough.

"I'm serious." He grunts, voice low with a rare hint of concern. You wave a hand as if to dismiss him, but he's far from convinced.

He's grown quite fond of you in the last few months you've been onboard, learning your mannerisms well enough to know that you'll only ask for help when you feel you really need it. Even if he won't admit it to himself, he sees a reflection of himself in that part of you. "Winded or not."

"Aw..." You grin at his comment through coughs. "You really do care."

Your banter always seemed to match his, which he appreciated on gloomier days. Your smile was always brightening, even when you didn't feel like smiling.

He'd enjoy this moment a lot more if there wasn't that hint of blood in your teeth.

Trying not to pay too much mind to it, he scoffs, rolling his neck side to side. "Of course. You maintain the Swordfish better than Jet."

You chuckle at his quip, but that only stirs up a new round of coughs. This time, you double over a bit, the sound becoming more wheezy.

The bounty hunter frowns.

"Ok, hey. Easy, easy." He murmurs, his tone uncharacteristically gentle. He pats your back as you cough and sputter, taking full notice of how your limbs now have a slight shake to them.

You don't seem to recover very well from this fit of coughs, groaning as your body sways slightly. The adrenaline is clearly fading and the pain is starting to etch itself onto your face. He knew he shouldn't have let you come.

He's quick to tighten his grip on your arm, letting you lean more of your weight on him. He curses under his breath. Shit, this is taking a toll on you.

"Alright, come on." He huffs, hoisting your arm up around his neck and looping his arm around your ribs, careful not to irritate your wounds. "Work with me here. We're going back to the ship."

All you do in reply is nod.

..............................................................................................

By the time you reach the Bebop, Spike is practically carrying you. Another fit of coughs leaves you wheezing and he increases his pace.

The ship seems mostly vacant when you enter, the rest of the crew either on errands or resting.

As you cross the threshold of the main bay, he leads you down the metal stairs and to the stained yellow couch of the common area. You lay down without protest, still coughing up a lung. You sound miserable.

Spike takes a moment to lean back on the table, arms crossing and taking in your condition. They didn't exactly have the money at the moment to find you a proper doctor if this were to worsen, but what other choice did they have?

If this were him, he'd be forcing himself to walk it off- ignoring the ache in his lungs until it either subsided or took him down for good. To him, it wouldn't be more than an annoyance.

But this is you.

"I know what you're thinking."

Spike is brought out of his thoughts by your roughened voice.

Of course you know. You know him better than he'd ever be comfortable admitting. You'd probably know what he's thinking before he's even thought it. You've always been too good at that.

You're blinking up at him from your spot on the couch, looking a little less pale than you were before, your grasp on your ribs weakening a little. Still, you are smiling that sweet little reassuring smile and he hates that it's almost working on him.

"I'm getting you something for that cough." He mutters, rising with a slight pop to his joints.

With long strides, he makes his way to the small med bay onboard. He roots through what little medication they have until he finds something that will at least knock out some of the pain. He hurriedly grabs some water and makes his way back to you.

When he returns, he finds you rolled over on the couch, facing the back of it. You're curled in a little on yourself and he curses himself for taking so long, even if he was gone for only a few minutes. He refuses to think about how small you look. Why is this so hard to watch when it's you who is injured? It's not like crew injuries are something new to him.

Spike approaches quietly, slowly kneeling down next to the couch. He hesitates for a moment before his hand lifts. His fingers gently graze your shoulder. "Hey."

A few seconds pass, but you roll your head back slowly to look at him. Your eyes are half-lidded. You look past the point of being tired, like your coughs had aged you.

"Hi." You rasp, and your voice has gotten quieter. His frown deepens.

"You look rough." He observes bluntly. His fingers are itching to go for the crumpled cigarette box in his pocket, but he would much rather feel this anxious ache than risk adding another irritation to your lungs.

Your smile is faint. He doesn't miss the way your eyes take their time drifting from his eyes to his chin, as if memorizing his face. Your eyes land on his lips, and there's something achingly soft in your eyes.

Something wanting. Something familiar.

Something Spike refuses to acknowledge.

He is struggling to maintain his composure, and he hates it-hates this effect you're having on him. It's an emotion he hasn't felt in years.

Before he realizes he's doing it, his hand drifts from your shoulder up to your neck, thumb gently sweeping along the side. He feels your pulse, a little weak but not too worrisome. Your body seems to relax just a bit more. Your eyes fall back to his lips.

No. He can't do this.

He huffs a sigh.

There's a long beat of silence. For a moment, your eyes drift to his eyes. He feels his throat dry, his heart racing in a way he only used to know possible. He feels like he can't breathe, the tension thick.

He looks away, his hand falling away from your warm skin and back to his side. He focuses his attention on handing you the pain meds and water, which you graciously accept.

You cough a bit more when drinking the water, but the meds seem to stay down. Good. That's good.

The two of you fall back into silence.

Spike finally allows himself to breathe. He sits back on the floor, letting out a hoarse sigh and dragging a hand across his face.

"Next time, you stay on the ship." He quips after a few minutes, a last-ditch effort to keep things light.

You don't quip back as he had hoped. Instead, he's met with a small, sorrowful murmur. "Yeah... probably. Sorry."

That does it.

The small timid tone of your voice, the glances to his lips like you're pleading for something, anything, to comfort the ache. He can't ignore the way you look at him any longer. It aggravates him, but there's a part of him as well that yearns for that kind of connection again.

This isn't who he was. His heart had been closed for so long, he doesn't think he'd know how to try again. Even if he really wanted to.

The tension is maddening. He shuts his eyes, unable to look into yours as he speaks next. "Don't look at me like that."

Spike isn't looking at you, but he can picture it clearly in his mind the way your eyebrows must furrow. The way your head tilts. The subtle pout to your lips.

Oh, he's done for.

Your voice is hesitant. "I'm not-"

"You are." His voice is set, gruff and pointed.

Silence, again. Painfully aching silence. It's agonizing to him.

He swallows.

Finally, he opens his eyes.

He's met with the most apologetic look from you he's ever seen. His heart twists in his chest. God, you make this difficult.

"I never mean to make you uncomfortable," You confess in a murmur and the warmth blooming in his chest is becoming next to impossible to ignore. "I just... I needed you to know."

And he does. He realizes it now.

You've been asking for him for a while now, even if it wasn't with words. The way you leaned on his shoulder on late nights. The way you always made sure to greet him in the mornings. The way you agreed to this bounty hunt this morning was because you knew it'd be just you and him.

For the first time, Spike's eyes purposefully drift to your lips.

He's leaning in before he can register it, achingly slow as his hand drifts back up to its spot on your neck. His lips are moving, asking for permission, but words fall deaf to his own ears.

You nod faintly, and all it takes is a quick glance up to your eyes to tell him that you want this too.

All at once, he's on you.

He cups your face tenderly, as if too much pressure would make you crack. His lips are clumsy, but so are yours. It's sweet how you melt into him, the way your fingers curl into his collar as if pleading for him not to pull away. He doesn't think he could if he tried.

Your position shifts, propping yourself up a bit on the couch to cradle his jaw. He stays on his knees, moving with you. Worshipping you.

He helps guide you into a more comfortable position, leaning back against the couch. His hands find their way to your hips, fingers digging in greedily once they find a hint of skin. Your hands go to his hair. He doesn't miss the way you shudder.

It feels like ages and yet like no time has passed at all by the time the kiss breaks. Spike presses his forehead to yours, breathing heavily with you in sync. You cough a little, and his concern floods back in. His thumbs gently sweep the skin of your waist from where his hands rest on your hips, trying to offer some comfort until it passes.

Then, you smile.

And everything is okay again.

He may not understand what he's feeling or where this will go, but in this moment, he can't bring himself to care.

After all, it's different when it's you.

[sunshinywarden-mcsm]

Welcome to the Sunshine Institute, I’ll be your Warden.

An MCSM ask blog run by @afishnamedvish!

How kind of you to drop by, I’ve been awaiting another fool’s arrival. So, what have you done now to… disgrace the Admin?

[Forgot to feed the birds]

[Stole too many emerald blocks]

[Won a battle of wits]

[I’m not sure]

Not sure? How interesting. Well, it is my occupation to tell you exactly what you’ve done incorrectly. Here, let me see…who you are, and we’ll get some answers…

How curious, I cannot seem to find a… singular name to you. No matter, it becomes a simple choice. I’ve had…worse.

I may as well acquit you with my crew if you wish to join the elites of the Admin’s hand. You may as well find a uniform that fits. And don’t try anything stupid; I don’t treat thieves and liars well.

[Ticket Filing]

Due to a sudden…surplus in activity within the Institute, I recommend you firstly schedule a meeting if you wish to talk. You may use my ticket (ask) system to keep yourself in the loop.

Here are some guiding topics you can look for (tags):

Warden’s meeting summaries - Answered lore tickets.

Warden’s solved tickets - Answered asks; lore-neutral/comedy.

Warden mutters - Bits of information; may or may not have lore.

Warden baubles - Little fun facts that may or may not contain headcanon material.

Warden approves - Positive (with an ask) comments.

Warden disproves - Negative (with an ask) comments.

Warden’s wall-worthy art - Reblogging art/posting art (of the Warden).

Warden’s emphasis - Reblogs.

Warden’s task (NEW) - Congrats, you asked about what you’re in for and now you’re informed. (User asks/tagged anon asks)

And don’t forget my reputation system: if you settle on my good side, you’ll be treated…less harsh by the associates and myself. Continuous bad behavior will not amount positively to you (users/tagged anons consistent asks) Now that you’re informed about how to reach me properly, I will show you what improper form is.

[Abiding terms]

Remember, you’re here to make good on the Admin’s side. I cannot believe I have to say this, but several Guests have tried these things. It’s unfortunate. Do not go about harassing other Guests or Associates, or you will be removed from your new lounge and sent somewhere less pleasant. Do not threaten me or any of my members, nor shall you intend harm upon anyone regardless of their charges or history. Do not interact with intent of profane or malicious behaviors; I do not accept bribes of any kind, nor will I tolerate any form of retaliation against these guidelines.

You are here to be reformed, and maybe one day, you’ll become his champion.

Welcome to the Institute.

[DISCLAIMER]: I am not affiliated with MOJANG or TellTale Studios in any way! This is simply a meme/“role-play” account derived from a character produced in association with MOJANG and TellTale. All copyright and trademarks belong to the respective companies.

[Please remember the person behind the blog! I am human! I have feelings and opinions and may not be comfortable with every ask! If I do not answer your ask, it is because I was not comfortable with it.]

[hannie-dul-set]

나비 / NABI announcement!

hey there, nabi enjoyers! due to the fact that the current word count for the fic has far exceeded my estimation (currently 35k, i'm projecting that the full fic will be 40k 😭😭) i will be unable to publish the entire fic in one post as a one-shot. tumblr has a paragraph/text block limit of 1,000 paragraphs/blocks and well.....nabi went over that HUAHAHSD tumblr hates me and my artistic vision. wbk.

anyhow!! that doesn't mean nabi won't be published at all! i will be dividing the entire fic into three parts, with the first one to be posted on july 15 (PhST). i'll gauge from there when the next parts will be released, but i hope to release all parts within july!!

the words counts wont be consistent, unfortunately. the first one is 9k, second part 12k, and the third part is currently going well over 12k HAHAHAH but i hope you'll all still enjoy the reading experience regardless!

if anyone still wants to be tagged, please let me know! thanks!!

[raayllum]

one last post and then i'm putting it to bed (no matter what) because it's been a week and idk about you but i'm Exhausted

to everyone i've hurt — the ones i know about and potentially ones i don't — I'm Sorry. genuinely. i've spent most of the last 4ish years in fandom knowing daily that people called my ideas or takes dumb or stupid and it rarely if ever Bothered me so it didn't ping for me that'd be a big issue for anyone else over comparatively less (although i am, admittedly, generally much less bothered than most people by most things). i also grew up in fandoms where if you didn't like what someone had to say about Anything even once or twice, 99/100 you'd just block them and go on your merry way and just assumed people would behave the same with me, and i honestly wish they had. there are definitely times i've been harsher or more judgmental than i needed to be when i could've just deleted the thing or not commented at all (which is something i've acknowledged a few times before). nonethless, i never meant to cause any harm, but i did, and that's on me.

however, that is All i'm responsible for, and only what i'm responsible for once i know. people who sit on their resentment and unhappiness for years are not showing good communication, and i'm not responsible for what i don't know; no one's a mind reader, and everyone has different sensitivity levels. which feeds into my next point: i've blocked people just for finding them mildly annoying or subjectively boring, so if you're this pissed about anyone in your fandom and you didn't block them ages ago, that's kind of on you. it's never worth sticking around for the 20% you do like amid the 80% you don't like.

i also think the fandom's gotta be a little more consistent than they've been. if genuinely vague vagueblogging on your non-tdp fandom related sideblog is a sin worthy of leaking private DMs to get back at, then there are people who are vagueblogging far more pointedly on their actual tdp sideblogs (which wish i felt truly comfortable to even post on main anymore, bc that's another thing that was taken from me) who would, in theory, "deserve" to have their DMs leaked. to be clear: no one deserves to have their DMs leaked without so much as a warning shot (if at all), especially not over something like this. i will Not be leaking DMs or checking blogs to see who could maybe be talking about me past this previous week wherein i did it two (2) times for maybe two (2) people bc again, i think that's violating and obsessive behaviour if you're doing that shit all the time.

it does make me wonder, though, what the Point of all this was. was the point to express discontent with how i've conducted myself? then by all means, take screenshots of any vagueblogging on main or times i've been potentially mean on this sideblog; i tag everything pretty meticulously, so we all know it's somewhat easy to find. plus, that's all public information subject to the court of public opinion. but for whatever reason, they didn't use any of that; they went after my literal privacy instead. moreover, i don't actually feel the need to Defend myself from/around anything i've posted publicly, not necessarily because it's not crappy (some of it no doubt is), but because i don't actually usually get defensive when people say i'm being crappy. if people say i've hurt them, then i've hurt them, and trying not to do so to the absolute best of my ability is my perpetual next step. i don't always get it right, but i do always try.

which is to say: i'm henceforth burying my hatchet even if other people won't/don't, because i've seen people very much cross the line into wanting to hurt other people On Purpose and/or knock them down a peg which, to me, is what the DM leaking was all about. both are unfortunate, but i think the peg/pedestal one is a bit silly (you could not have found someone who cares less about followers or any measure of 'clout' in general, nvm on tumblr, I Promise). the first one, of wanting to hurt people on purpose, goes beyond being mean. it's just cruel.

i think that is what's made me feel crazy the last week or so, because i know exactly how i would've responded to the actual post even if My Best Friend had made it about someone i Absolutely Loathe, "yeah, raayllum can be a mean asshole, no doubt about that, but you shouldn't be having people check their blogs over weeks/months (it sounds like it's really wearing on your mental health) and you shouldn't be posting private DMs. edit them out and then we can talk more about the situation" and you would think that doing so wouldn't be Difficult, or that people would maybe after a week of self reflection go "yeah that was kind of crappy to support and/or do to Anyone, wasn't it?", but it is a bar i've consistently seen the fandom put in hell to the point that basically no one has actually done it (at least not that i know of). because if i can believe and understand people when they say i've hurt them, then i think you can believe and understand me when i say i've been hurt, too. if people don't want their names on this list, they can say they won't check my blogs, delete their supportive reblogs, and/or take down the DMs, and have someone DM me an update, and i will Gladly remove it.

because i'd love for people to change and grow (i'm certainly going to try to), i'd love to be like "yeah these people realized it was Wrong even a little bit" because i'm not going to talk about them fucking ever again either way but it would give a dollop of security, but if that's where people wanna stay around and be, that's where they wanna be, and that's far beyond my control. so i'm gonna focus on what is in my control: myself.

and i'll be off self improving, burying my hatchet, & taking a fucking nap.

[botanikos]

Good evening! 

While I hate to make such a large announcement and “kill the vibe” for the weekend, I really do need to set something straight. The world outside of roleplay is tumultuous and full of horrors, ailments, and struggles unique to each day. Writing is a hobby for many of us, I assume, and a reprieve from the chaos that hounds us. However, I cannot speak for anyone else; these are my words, and my feelings. 

I made this blog as a means to connect with others and write! Roleplay, to me, is what I have always enthusiastically described as collaborative storytelling. Not only that, but it is one of the easiest and most accessible and enjoyable means of relief for me. I get on my silly little blog to write and goof off. To step away from everything else around me. Sure, occasionally I let my own feelings for the day seep into my writing - but who doesn’t use their muse as a means to an end when things have been a little rough? In the end, I am here to have fun!

Like anyone else, however, I am unfortunately and fatally…human. I have feelings such as doubt, anger, frustration, anxiety, joy, compassion, etc.. There will be times where I may have the desire or need to let these feelings be known in an OOC post. It is my blog, and that is my right! That is every individual’s right; your blog should always be your safe space, and that is exactly what mine is: A safe space. That being said, I work hard to keep my blog safe not only for myself, but for my mutuals or anyone who might come across it. I tag anything and everything I should or can, when I remember to do so and as I see fit. What I will NOT engage in however, is drama, venting, or negative specific vague-posting. And I refuse to consistently let it be a constant presence any longer. 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? 

My blog will remain a safe space for anyone seeking comfort, reprieve, or looking for advice provided we are mutuals. You may always approach me with any questions or concerns, especially if it is in regards to my/our writing or content on my blog. I encourage any discussions to be held in privacy between us either through tumblr IM or Discord (available upon request or when I occasionally offer it on the dash). 

I will NOT unfollow anyone for the occasional vent post. OOC venting and feelings are FINE! I make those too! My blog will have a LOT of OOC postings throughout the week and even peppered between replies and activity. My DMs are ALWAYS open if you are having a particularly hard time, and need someone to talk to (albeit, I may be delayed). 

What I WILL UNFOLLOW FOR includes but is not limited to: harassment of any kind, bullying, constant negativity, constant trauma dumping, constant acknowledgement of anonymous hate-mail, constant complaints of lack of interaction (ONLY if I have knowledge that I have reached out multiple times or reason to assume others have done so too), negative or derogatory vague posting of other users. Also, please keep in mind that I have other responsibilities outside of tumblr. While I may not immediately receive your message, see it, or response to it, it does not mean it will go ignored! Though it is no one's business, I have my own chronic conditions and experience varying degrees of social burn-out. I love chatting but can become easily overwhelmed! Give me time!

IN REGARDS TO BLOCKING - I do not block anyone without reason. So far, I have only ever blocked spam or porn bots. However, if I grow uncomfortable or have reason to doubt the safety of my space, I will not hesitate to hard block. You will not be given a warning, because again, I do not do this often / at all thus far. And for me to take this sort of action, it simply means I am unwilling to communicate my discomfort and for what I believe to be, good reason. I do not immediately block people I unfollow because on most occasions, if I unfollow someone it is either A) an accident or B) just that I don't vibe or see us interacting anytime soon or in the future. This does not inherently mean this won't change! Maybe later on I have expanded my abilities or have newfound interest / new perspectives! Neat! But unfollowing does not warrant an immediate block from me. Blocking is a SOLID and DEFINITE sentence. I do not do it lightly.

Please understand that I still wish to be a positive presence and will continue to do my best to provide this! But even I have my limits, my own external struggles, and I am weary… So very, very tired. 

If you have any GENUINE questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me! I value communication and compassion above all things, and will happily engage in a civilized conversation about anything you might find unclear. 

Thanks for reading! 

Jude

[beesmygod]

"A GHOST STORY" IS A WEBCOMIC I MAKE THAT I WILL BE RE-POSTING, GRADUALLY.

the top row is from 2013, the bottom row is from the 2018 re-draw.

i wish we would reach a point where looking at this doesn't cause me physical gastroenterological distress. i DO like the ghost speech bubbles in the first page, they work much better. i'm glad i changed the door on the second page to be a push bar even though, once again, i don't know what size anything is so it's at jack's check instead of his waist. the drawing are bad. its unfortunate. theyre old.

the only thing i have to say about this is that at least my gutters, the lines that break up pages into panels, are now more consistent. i had an insane, deranged technique back then for doing them that, understandably, lead to them being off-kilter and oddly sized.

like this:

when it should be like:

---

♥ read the comic: A Ghost Story

♥ support the comic for as little as $1 a month on Patreon

♥ pay what you want for the re-draw of the first chapter on itch.io

you can block the tag "#AGS repost" to keep this off your dash

[crowned-by-thorns]

Shadowed by darkness at every step, he laid bare his heart to kindle a single, flickering flame.

Legend:

" " Is used for dialog

* * will sometimes be used for actions depending on the type of role-play

// will be used for ooc

My dearest traitor 🖤- tag for interactions with @wolfishly-charming

For the art gallery ⚜️ - tag for art I reblog on here, as this is a sideblog i unfortunately cannot spare a like as well so i will send likes from my other rp blog @lordincognito

I do adopt tags from the people i rp with as well for consistency

Everyone else is free to pick a emoji and quote if they feel inclined to do so

Rules:

->Please be respectful to each other

->Absolutely no discriminatory actions of any type (examples :bigotry, racism, ableism, transphobia, Islamophobia, queerphobia, etc). You will be blocked without hesitation and reported.

->Same goes for encouraging people to self-harm. I don't want to see any of that, it will not tolerate it and I will make sure you are dealt with accordingly.

->No weird links in ask.

->Absolutely no underage ships.

->Mod is okay with writing nsfw, however try to establish a dynamic with the character beforehand. I promise it makes the writing better.

->Anon posts are super-duper ok

->Keep good communication with mod if anything is not working out/not feeling okay. We're all humans here and I will understand.

->Don't put me on a pedestal and assume I know everything because I don't. I'm just a human behind a screen doing co-op writing in hopes of bringing some smiles

->Do not spam me for interactions please

->I might not be consistent with my writing schedule but i promise i'm trying my best

->Nsfw and suggestive will be tagged so I ask to have the tags muted or blocked if you're a minor or simply don't want to see it.

Do let me know if any of you want any extra warning for stuff tagged.

About Mod:

- I go by she/they

- I have a full time job so replies are not going to be regular. However I will do my best to because I genuinely enjoy writing

-I'm Romanian but I speak mostly english and a little bit of french.

This pin will probably be updated when I have new relevant info

[jasper-unofficial]

What is the secret to enjoying Tumblr while posting as much as you do?

genuinely cannot tell if this is asked in earnest or if you're saying i post too much HFKDJFJEKFD in case it's the latter - yes, i post five thousand pictures of pond a day and will post more in the future. something we all have to live with. if the former, however:

the secret is to post for yourself /gen like, obviously it's great when my posts get notes and people enjoy them, especially when it's my mutuals or people who come back to my blog over and over, but at the end of the day i do not post anything i myself don't want to see and share. this place is kind of like my own little diary for the fandom, and i genuinely make use of stuff that i post myself all the time. consistently posting about pond especially allows me to have a really neat catalogue of his events, projects etc. that at this point no other social media allows. plus i love to just go "look at him! isn't he great!" and he just happens to be great like every day. live blogging often works as a quick summary of my favourite moments and my thoughts on series, which is especially useful years later, when i don't remember what's what as well. and many other examples.

branching outside of original posts, reblogging other people's stuff because it's cool and you wanna support them also goes a long way. in the past year or two, i do not go into the wild wild west of tags very often due to many reasons, which has reduced the amount of posts i see unfortunately, but i love scrolling through my dash, seeing something amazing there, and sharing it here.

at the end of the day, just do not be ashamed of taking as much space as you need to take! this website is not a limited space, and if someone thinks you post "too much" - they can block you or move the fuck on. your world doesn't revolve around that hypothetical person. do whatever will bring you joy. what's the point of hanging around here otherwise?

[jasper-pagan-witch]

[ snaps all of my joints in one go ]

What's your favorite food? Candy? Drink?

How did you get into MTG?

What's your favorite spread to read? Least favorite spread you've ever read?

What's something you're currently researching?

And finally: How was your day today?

Ask Game: get to know the blogger

Khajiit, you always fill my inbox, and that delights me. I am glad that we are at the stage of our friendship where we can send each other barely-hinged introductions to our list of questions.

What's your favorite food? Candy? Drink?

I just generally like food. Lately I've been on a homemade pizza kick (my dad makes a mean homemade crust). Snickers have become my go-to candy when I trudge over to the gas station next to ("next to") the library I work at. I love Lipton peach iced tea, Hiland chocolate milk, and pretty much any kind of whole cow's milk. I like milk, man.

How did you get into MTG?

I saw some precon decks from the Shadows Over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon block in Walmart and my biological father got them to teach me and my sister how to play because my bio father and my mother were playing the game well before I was born. I literally would not have been born if not for this game. There is a card in the front of my baby book just because of the flavor text. My mother's Green enchantment deck is referred to as the Eldest Sibling Deck because it's the last of her collection that was stolen while she was in the hospital giving birth to me. This game is, unfortunately, a better father to me and a more consistent presence in my life than my biological father, and that's saying something.

What's your favorite spread to read? Least favorite spread you've ever read?

Okay, so, uh...I don't actually enjoy reading spreads, mostly because I've come to the conclusion that most spreads are multiple mini-readings rather than one big reading.

Having said that, I've been having a good time with the Three Kings Divination that I'm testing out on @jasper-tarot-reader, it's just actual hell on me because oh my GODS what a fucking energy and time sink. I've gotta do three more readings and wait for feedback before I move on to phase three of testing.

I also enjoy doing relationship spreads but only for selfshippers with fictional others. I have one friend (hi @teazerwashere) that I poke whenever I want to practice relationship readings because their fictional others are a goddamn mess and I mean that as a compliment. Wholeass, I think more tarot readers should do readings for selfshippers.

And of course, I must mention my "tarot spreads to kill your enemies instantly" tag. A classic.

Otherwise, spreads are currently off the table for me now. I get as many cards as I get.

What's something you're currently researching?

I mentioned this over on @jasper-book-stash but I'm currently reading Skull Scrying by Lupa Greenwolf! I'm chipping away to find furries, alterhumans, otherkin, therians, and other such folk (hi guys I love you platonically) in witchcraft, pagan, and occult spaces. I know for a damn fact that I'm not the only one here, I'm hunting your asses down.

And finally: How was your day today?

Pretty good! I finally got an update that one of my Acquisitions in the mail (another fucking deck) finally made it to Missouri, and I'm hoping that it and the other Acquisition (also another fucking deck) get here quickly. The second volume of the MTG manga (Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated.) I preordered is also officially on its way! I also had a pleasant day at work, I got to see some of my favorite library patrons!

~Jasper

[sith-shenanigans]

Introduction and Masterpost

Hello! I’m Io (with an i, not an L), they/them, enthusiast of evil space wizards and other assorted terrible people everywhere. This is primarily a SWTOR blog, but I post about other fandoms occasionally, and have recently fallen down a terrible hyperfixation hole about Fallen London. I write longfic, on a somewhat inconsistent schedule; chronic illness makes it difficult to put out chapters consistently.

I don’t have a DNI, but I block bigots and anyone whose posts I’d prefer not to see. I don’t do shipping discourse, and I don’t necessarily care what you ship, but see the previous sentence; if it makes me uncomfortable, and there are definitely things that make me profoundly uncomfortable out there, I’ll probably block you. (This has much more to do with tone than content—I have triggers, I’m all for people experiencing unpleasant things in safe ways, but the moment it feels like they’re being written as good and sweet and normal I’m going to nope on out of there as fast as I can. For my own mental health, and because the alternative is me biting someone’s head off.)

For my own part, I often write about dark subjects (especially in regards to my SWTOR OCs), and this blog may contain untagged discussion of fictional slavery, speciesism, systemic child abuse, state violence, toxic and abusive relationships, and similar topics. Mentions of sexual assault are generally tagged as “sexual assault cw.” I try to tag discussion of parental or school-based child abuse as “child abuse cw,” as well as in-depth descriptions of it in general, but I can’t 100% guarantee it. I try to remember to tag what friends ask me to tag, but if we don’t know each other well, I may not be able to manage it.

For neurodivergence reasons, I find it extremely difficult to describe images most of the time, but I’m trying to include alt text on screenshots of tags more consistently, and I’m attempting to tag my own posts with undescribed images as “undescribed.” (This includes most of my Fallen London posting, because there’s just enough formatting to poke me in the “cannot easily transcribe visuals to text” issue.)

Liminality/Discontent (SWTOR):

Liminality Main Cast:

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Discontent Main Cast:

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Sunlight (SWTOR):

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Other/Miscellaneous (SWTOR):

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Fallen London:

Amias Arling, the Calescent Inquisitive. Heart’s Desire. A former freelance detective with a few unfortunate soft spots, who came to the Neath for a case and ended up framed for something their target did. Extremely clever and extremely driven, but embodies the maxim that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Practically allergic to the direct route, unless it seems like no one would ever expect it. And even then, they’d rather take a convoluted way around.

SWTOR:

Liminality/Discontent, a sometimes-AU SWTOR novelization in multiple parts. Has a heavy focus on the implications that the game didn’t go into, the politics of the galaxy, and the pressure the protagonists go through.

like a moth to you, sunlight, a collaboration with my sibling @azems-familiar. Not very much is written on it, because collaboration is hard even when both people involved aren’t chronically ill (and our hyperfixations are largely elsewhere right now), but we love our terrible children anyway.

Liminality/Discontent:

The Dead Star; The Ruin, a prologue of a sort. As yet unpublished. Also works as a standalone work.

Anamnesis, a KOTOR novelization with a certain amount of playing with the format. A tragedy, if a bittersweet one, and a case study in why villains with good motivations are still villains. On hiatus.

Liminality, my pride and joy and occasional mortal enemy. The first and primary of two SWTOR base game novelizations, covering the Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler, Sith Warrior, and Jedi Consular storylines. It deals heavily with loss and family—the latter both by blood and by choice, and sometimes unexpectedly uncovered. It’s also about history, about the boundaries between past and future and life and death—and the things that survive when someone is gone. The galaxy is full of dangerous secrets, and cycles that seem inexorable; in the end, though, what matters most are the choices you make and why.

Discontent, the fic I will someday definitely write. Covers the Jedi Knight, Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter, and Republic Trooper. It’s about war, mostly, and cleaning up other people’s messes. Nobody gets to step off a battlefield as the same person who walked onto it, if they make it off at all, but there are reasons to keep trying—even if only some of them are good ones. And somebody has to be the one to chase down the conspiracies in the dark.

Sacrifice, as yet not even started, which will cover the portion of the game running from the end of the class stories to Ziost. There’s a fourth fic for the Alliance era, tentatively titled Conviction, but there’s less in my head about how that one’s going to go.

Sunlight:

still my heart is heavy (with the hate of some other man’s beliefs), about spies and loyalty and people making slightly better decisions than they could have. Written primarily by @azems-familiar, who Illami belongs to. (I helped write Ardun.)

Other/Miscellaneous (SWTOR):

your last serving daughter, a collaboration with @reconstructionlegacy. Our silly little AU about Empire and the people who wish they didn’t live in it. Also infrequently updated due to the trials of life and coauthorship.

Fallen London:

None, yet, but it will happen. I can feel it.

The organizational banners used can be found here.

[teenidlegirl]

Full honesty and please don’t take this wrong it’s just something I noticed back when I used to write when I had the time.

The traffic on a good series tends to die down when the consistency of posting becomes inconsistent. Like if you update a chapter once a week and it’s consistent then you’ll keep the traffic on it but if you go two weeks or more without an update for a new chapter then it trickles down a little bit. Depending on the suspense and contents of the last chapter, readers subconsciously tend to base their decision to continue the series on if the wait was worth it. Plus you have to take the timing into account. One day is like three days. One week is like two weeks and any two weeks is like a month online. A lot of users are simultaneously following other stories so if they’re reading other stories and there’s not a consistent update then they’ll forget the plot and have to go back and read previous chapters. Some will do that but others might tick their notifications off because they don’t want to go through the trouble. This isn’t to say stop the series. Far from it because you have a captivating plot I’m just sharing something I noticed during my time as a writer and I thought it might help. Something that I also noticed was when I allowed myself to get too in my head about the story, I unintentionally stalled the progression of the story. Any anxiety and apprehension you feel? You have to toss it aside, just tell the story and see it through because clearly you have readers who are drawn in by the plot. You just have to stop blocking your own progress by being uncertain or having little confidence in yourself. Don’t focus on the quantity of reader just know that there’s quality readers who are waiting to hear your story. So it doesn’t matter how many people stay for the ride. You have people who have been here since day one that love your writing. So just keep that in your heart and avoid getting in your own head 💛💛💛

oh wow… i wasn’t expecting this but this is so… heartfelt.

i pretty much agree with everything you said. inconsistent updates is definitely because of life and struggle to write a chapter ( because i’m a perfectionist, unfortunately lol ). i completely understand about readers following others. trust me, i ain’t the only author to exists and everyone follows different amazing authors. there are so many amazing stories to read, obviously you can’t keep up with every single one at a time lol. like i mentioned in my post, that ain’t stopping my series and it will continue because i’m proud of it and wish to finish it with a nice little bow on it.

another thing i also mentioned in my post, it’s my mind playing tricks on me. sometimes i feel as if the vibes dies down and believe that shit isn’t worth it anymore. but i’ve been trying to get out of that shitty mindset and be more positive about my work. trust me, i’m happy with my majority of my work. well… expect for the ones i deleted because i didn’t like them or they made me cringed lol. it’s just those shitty thoughts that like to play tricks on you and mess with your feelings about your work smh.

as for my beautiful readers, i’m very grateful to have many that adore my work and the series. reading people’s comments and tags always make my day, they mean so much to me. i’m glad there are people who enjoy and adore my series, it makes me smile like an idiot lmao. i am really, extremely grateful. ♡

to my lovely readers, BOTM will continue! don’t worry, y’all! there is still much to tell and i can’t wait to share with you all.

on a final note, thank you, my precious nonnie. this was a heartfelt message and i appreciate it very much. ♡