drowthelynes

[drowthelynes]

This is a post I did not want to make.

I still don’t want to make it. I have been sitting on it for days, endlessly tweaking the draft as I procrastinate pulling the trigger. I had really hoped that attempts to be reasonable and respectful would have ended with a better outcome, but that hasn't been the case

Some may recall my post in October regarding a protracted incident of bullying targeting a friend of mine that was perpetuated by a fellow fan. The short version: a well known creator in the AtLA fandom with a focus on Zukka/Zukki developed a one-sided beef with a friend of mine, and decided the appropriate way to address their grievance was to create an awful OC caricature in effigy to put into a massive long fic for the purpose of inviting their audience to point and laugh. It took them months to craft that fic, hyping it up to their followers throughout the writing process, calling it their ‘magnum opus,’ and then once they had completed the work and posted it to Ao3, that  audience unwittingly became a party in the bullying of my friend as the author encouraged negative comments and mockery directed at the character. In the comments section of the fic, any time anyone would express sympathy for or any positive feelings toward the OC, the author was quick to slap it down, to assure their readers that every instance of hate was deserved, that no empathy should be offered, and took delight in informing their audience it was “based on a real person they knew.”

They also violated the trust and community sense of safety and friendship by having a friend go into the Zukka Nation Discord server to mine for conversations that were had in earnest good faith for anything they could snip, remove from any context, and reword/reframe for this OC-- and by extension my friend-- to appear ignorant, backward, stupid and racist. They also took anecdotes about their target's family, including traumatic instances shared in the community Discord, and gave them the same treatment, thereby extending their attacks to people who were not even in the fandom.

The author of the fic containing the offensive OC is Ranilla_bean AKA Rana, and the fic is The Iconoclast. If you have read the fic, you probably know the exact character I'm talking about. (I will not publicly name the victim in this post, but they are welcome to come forward and reveal themselves should they feel the desire to do so).

To be entirely clear: the victim was not aware of there even being a problem. Rana made no attempt to voice their grievances either directly or through any one of several mutual friends, myself included, who would have been happy to help reconcile. The victim did not at any point interact directly with Rana or any of their fics, or make any remarks to Rana about their fics, personal life, beliefs or otherwise, or hold or express any sentiment at all, negative or positive toward Rana personally or about any of their works. Rana had already blocked their target across platforms, and left the Zukka Nation Discord server to avoid even incidental interaction long before they finished and posted the fic, but that still wasn’t enough for them. Rana decided that the only reasonable solution was public shame, pushed on with writing the fic with the offensive character included. They went so far as to recruit other Zukka fan creators to join them in group mockery in a different Discord server, including the aforementioned instances of sending their friend to raid the Zukka Nation server for screenshots of anything they could use as ammo. The plotting and premeditation went on for so long that by the time the fic containing the offensive character was published, the victim had largely moved on to a different fandom. Absolutely none of Rana’s actions were provoked, and none of it was reasonable, rational or necessary after they blocked the victim.

The public attacks were completely uncalled for, but especially at this magnitude. The grudge was entirely one-sided, with the inciting incident being that the victim was also a fanfic author with a prolific output (largely due to disability keeping them home bound, and limiting their available hobbies) and a stable fan base that provided coveted attention, and that one of the victim’s many, many fics accidentally and superficially overlapped with a negative stereotype. 

That's it. Everything else was bad faith interpretation, and post-hoc justification for Rana’s attacks.

When the bullying incident was brought to the attention of the Zukka Nation mod team, we reached out to the victim, and following their input on how they would like to have the situation resolved, it was decided that there would be no ill will or further complaints if Rana agreed to remove the offending material from the fic, + post an explanation of the edits with a brief apology in order to own accountability, prevent any further incidents of future bullying toward the current victim or anyone else, and allow Rana the opportunity to control the narrative surrounding the incident by being the one to publicly disclose it, providing them an avenue to do any preemptive damage control. The victim also wanted to do right, and ask Rana if there was something they could do to address any hurt done on their end, intentional or not. A neutral third party volunteered to act as a moderator for the conversation so that all parties could have their grievances heard, and the victim + third party reached out to talk to Rana directly in private.

During the conversation, Rana made their side exceedingly clear: they blamed other people for the actions they took. When asked if there was a specific grievance they wanted the victim to address on their end, they began shifting the explanation for their actions around like a shell game, keeping it vague and always moving. They don't think they've done anything wrong, and feel strongly that the problem lies with the people who brought the issue to the attention of the mod team, rather than the fact that they engaged in horrible behavior at the expense of the victim and their audience at all. They admitted to doing this before to other people, and stated that “no one was hurt,” because the other victims didn't find out about the bullying (to Rana’s knowledge) and it wouldn't have mattered this time either if they hadn't been snitched on. They made no acknowledgement of, or demonstrated any understanding that the action itself was outside the bounds of civil or acceptable behavior, in fandom, online, or anywhere else. 

Initially, they did appear to be extending some tokens of cooperation by privating The Iconoclast, but then they put it back up without having made any of the requested changes (they claimed that putting it back was an accident and that “[their] finger slipped,” but made no effort to re-private the fic or to make any edits when it was pointed out). When the victim requested Rana’s patience with their responses in the conversation taking longer due to failing physical and mental health, Rana grew bored of waiting and ultimately left the group conversation without any notice or agreement for resolution being reached. 

Their actions and attitude have demonstrated zero responsibility, remorse or willingness to cooperate, or give any empathy to anyone other than themselves. So. Now this post exists.

What this post is not: a call for anyone to harass Rana, or to do your own white-knighting.I can not make it anymore clear: Do Not Do That. I and the affected parties implore anyone reading this not to poke at them on this site, on ao3, or anywhere else. It is not a demand for any kind of action from the AtLA or Zukka/Zukki fandoms at all. Continue reading what you want to read, and liking what you want to like. That is not the purpose of this post.

What this post is: 1) a public record to document the inciting incident, the good-faith efforts taken by the affected parties plus third party moderators to try and resolve the incident peacefully, allowing for measured and appropriate conflict resolution, 2) documenting the refusal by Rana to engage the complaint with any seriousness or empathy, and 3) the simple statement of what Rana must do at this point in time to resolve the complaint. 

Take down or private the fic The Iconoclast, and leave it down until they have edited it to remove the caricature, especially any references to the victim’s family members.

Make a public statement acknowledging what they did, and why the changes were made to the fic.

The first request to address harm was initially made in private, as we are sensitive to both Rana's mental state, and the nature of the internet being what it is. The issue is now being made public as they have refused the honestly made attempt at resolution. This post will remain up until both the above conditions have been met. Simply put: we will not tolerate bullying in our corner if we can address it. We are not going to let this slide under the rug, and we are assuredly not going to allow this to happen to anyone else without a challenge. As in their own words Rana has admitted to engaging in this sort of public attack on others before, we are not willing to let it simply drop off the radar because they refuse to address the issue after having been caught. The world is already going to hell in a hand-basket fast enough as it is without added unprovoked hostility over something as petty as fandom wank.

I've seen the kind of good fandom can come together to do. I want to believe as a community that we are better than this.

[drowthelynes]

Absolutely nothing worse than finding out that you share interests with someone you hate. Has you thinking things like fuck you I'm better at enjoying star wars than you are

[drowthelynes]

For the last time dude, my leitmotif sounds exactly like it always has. There is no symbolism for creeping corruption in there

[drowthelynes]

Zukka little comic, short of, that nobody asked for but is here anyway? Thanks to the thread that I don't even know when it started, I literally found a screenshot on Pinterest and decided to draw it out. But shout out to @your-royal-momoness for starting the thread, I hope this is close to what you had pictured

[drowthelynes]

"The nonbinary afab who goes by she/her, dresses femininely, and uses a push-up bra when I—" when you what? What's wrong with her?

Is she not nonbinary enough for you? Is the way she experiences her queerness and how she presents not perfect enough for you? Nonbinary people don't owe you androgyny, right? So why is she the exception? Why does she have to hate herself to appeal to your standards? Why is she any less trans—any less worthy of respect—cause it's "not visible"? Queer solidarity my ass. Don't spout this bullshit on Pride, man.

[drowthelynes]

"When you notice you're feeling jealous, don't panic! It's probably a good idea to talk to your partner(s) at some point, but before you do that, take some time to reflect on your feelings and see if you can figure out where they're coming from; that might help you address them more easily.

For example: feeling left out because a partner is doing something fun with a new datefriend? See if you can plan to do your own special activity with them sometime soon so you can feel cared for and know they're excited about you too. Do you worry that a new metamour⁠ is going to outshine you, or does the spark of a partner's new relationship excitement feel a lot stronger than your connection with them is now? Take some time to reconnect with your partner and talk about what you each find special and compelling about each other. Are you jealous of a partner having an easier time finding other people to date than you're having? You might need to refocus your personal life to make sure you're not solely focusing on dating relationships: reconnect with friends, find some new activities, or dig into some personal projects.

A common mistake made by people who are feeling a lot of jealousy in a poly context is to try and combat that jealousy by establishing more rules for the relationship. It can feel like saying "only spend the night with me" or "don't have X kind of sex with anyone else" is a way of protecting part of your relationship or keeping it special, but it's likely to make a partner feel stifled and isn't doing anything to address the underlying feelings of jealousy or insecurity. Instead, take some time to explore your feelings of jealousy. Of course it's ok to have limits and boundaries in an open relationship⁠, but if jealousy or discomfort are driving those boundaries, it can be more productive to address the feelings in question than to pile on more restrictions."

Mo Ranyart and s.e. smith, A First Polyamory Guide

[drowthelynes]

Warmup doodle. Didn't like the colors so you get the line art.

[drowthelynes]

This is a post I did not want to make.

I still don’t want to make it. I have been sitting on it for days, endlessly tweaking the draft as I procrastinate pulling the trigger. I had really hoped that attempts to be reasonable and respectful would have ended with a better outcome, but that hasn't been the case

Some may recall my post in October regarding a protracted incident of bullying targeting a friend of mine that was perpetuated by a fellow fan. The short version: a well known creator in the AtLA fandom with a focus on Zukka/Zukki developed a one-sided beef with a friend of mine, and decided the appropriate way to address their grievance was to create an awful OC caricature in effigy to put into a massive long fic for the purpose of inviting their audience to point and laugh. It took them months to craft that fic, hyping it up to their followers throughout the writing process, calling it their ‘magnum opus,’ and then once they had completed the work and posted it to Ao3, that  audience unwittingly became a party in the bullying of my friend as the author encouraged negative comments and mockery directed at the character. In the comments section of the fic, any time anyone would express sympathy for or any positive feelings toward the OC, the author was quick to slap it down, to assure their readers that every instance of hate was deserved, that no empathy should be offered, and took delight in informing their audience it was “based on a real person they knew.”

They also violated the trust and community sense of safety and friendship by having a friend go into the Zukka Nation Discord server to mine for conversations that were had in earnest good faith for anything they could snip, remove from any context, and reword/reframe for this OC-- and by extension my friend-- to appear ignorant, backward, stupid and racist. They also took anecdotes about their target's family, including traumatic instances shared in the community Discord, and gave them the same treatment, thereby extending their attacks to people who were not even in the fandom.

The author of the fic containing the offensive OC is Ranilla_bean AKA Rana, and the fic is The Iconoclast. If you have read the fic, you probably know the exact character I'm talking about. (I will not publicly name the victim in this post, but they are welcome to come forward and reveal themselves should they feel the desire to do so).

To be entirely clear: the victim was not aware of there even being a problem. Rana made no attempt to voice their grievances either directly or through any one of several mutual friends, myself included, who would have been happy to help reconcile. The victim did not at any point interact directly with Rana or any of their fics, or make any remarks to Rana about their fics, personal life, beliefs or otherwise, or hold or express any sentiment at all, negative or positive toward Rana personally or about any of their works. Rana had already blocked their target across platforms, and left the Zukka Nation Discord server to avoid even incidental interaction long before they finished and posted the fic, but that still wasn’t enough for them. Rana decided that the only reasonable solution was public shame, pushed on with writing the fic with the offensive character included. They went so far as to recruit other Zukka fan creators to join them in group mockery in a different Discord server, including the aforementioned instances of sending their friend to raid the Zukka Nation server for screenshots of anything they could use as ammo. The plotting and premeditation went on for so long that by the time the fic containing the offensive character was published, the victim had largely moved on to a different fandom. Absolutely none of Rana’s actions were provoked, and none of it was reasonable, rational or necessary after they blocked the victim.

The public attacks were completely uncalled for, but especially at this magnitude. The grudge was entirely one-sided, with the inciting incident being that the victim was also a fanfic author with a prolific output (largely due to disability keeping them home bound, and limiting their available hobbies) and a stable fan base that provided coveted attention, and that one of the victim’s many, many fics accidentally and superficially overlapped with a negative stereotype. 

That's it. Everything else was bad faith interpretation, and post-hoc justification for Rana’s attacks.

When the bullying incident was brought to the attention of the Zukka Nation mod team, we reached out to the victim, and following their input on how they would like to have the situation resolved, it was decided that there would be no ill will or further complaints if Rana agreed to remove the offending material from the fic, + post an explanation of the edits with a brief apology in order to own accountability, prevent any further incidents of future bullying toward the current victim or anyone else, and allow Rana the opportunity to control the narrative surrounding the incident by being the one to publicly disclose it, providing them an avenue to do any preemptive damage control. The victim also wanted to do right, and ask Rana if there was something they could do to address any hurt done on their end, intentional or not. A neutral third party volunteered to act as a moderator for the conversation so that all parties could have their grievances heard, and the victim + third party reached out to talk to Rana directly in private.

During the conversation, Rana made their side exceedingly clear: they blamed other people for the actions they took. When asked if there was a specific grievance they wanted the victim to address on their end, they began shifting the explanation for their actions around like a shell game, keeping it vague and always moving. They don't think they've done anything wrong, and feel strongly that the problem lies with the people who brought the issue to the attention of the mod team, rather than the fact that they engaged in horrible behavior at the expense of the victim and their audience at all. They admitted to doing this before to other people, and stated that “no one was hurt,” because the other victims didn't find out about the bullying (to Rana’s knowledge) and it wouldn't have mattered this time either if they hadn't been snitched on. They made no acknowledgement of, or demonstrated any understanding that the action itself was outside the bounds of civil or acceptable behavior, in fandom, online, or anywhere else. 

Initially, they did appear to be extending some tokens of cooperation by privating The Iconoclast, but then they put it back up without having made any of the requested changes (they claimed that putting it back was an accident and that “[their] finger slipped,” but made no effort to re-private the fic or to make any edits when it was pointed out). When the victim requested Rana’s patience with their responses in the conversation taking longer due to failing physical and mental health, Rana grew bored of waiting and ultimately left the group conversation without any notice or agreement for resolution being reached. 

Their actions and attitude have demonstrated zero responsibility, remorse or willingness to cooperate, or give any empathy to anyone other than themselves. So. Now this post exists.

What this post is not: a call for anyone to harass Rana, or to do your own white-knighting.I can not make it anymore clear: Do Not Do That. I and the affected parties implore anyone reading this not to poke at them on this site, on ao3, or anywhere else. It is not a demand for any kind of action from the AtLA or Zukka/Zukki fandoms at all. Continue reading what you want to read, and liking what you want to like. That is not the purpose of this post.

What this post is: 1) a public record to document the inciting incident, the good-faith efforts taken by the affected parties plus third party moderators to try and resolve the incident peacefully, allowing for measured and appropriate conflict resolution, 2) documenting the refusal by Rana to engage the complaint with any seriousness or empathy, and 3) the simple statement of what Rana must do at this point in time to resolve the complaint. 

Take down or private the fic The Iconoclast, and leave it down until they have edited it to remove the caricature, especially any references to the victim’s family members.

Make a public statement acknowledging what they did, and why the changes were made to the fic.

The first request to address harm was initially made in private, as we are sensitive to both Rana's mental state, and the nature of the internet being what it is. The issue is now being made public as they have refused the honestly made attempt at resolution. This post will remain up until both the above conditions have been met. Simply put: we will not tolerate bullying in our corner if we can address it. We are not going to let this slide under the rug, and we are assuredly not going to allow this to happen to anyone else without a challenge. As in their own words Rana has admitted to engaging in this sort of public attack on others before, we are not willing to let it simply drop off the radar because they refuse to address the issue after having been caught. The world is already going to hell in a hand-basket fast enough as it is without added unprovoked hostility over something as petty as fandom wank.

I've seen the kind of good fandom can come together to do. I want to believe as a community that we are better than this.

[drowthelynes]

Chapter 6 of The Light Prince is out on ao3 now! With gorgeous art from Swish @drowthelynes, it's truly got everything: Crushes, disappointment, diplomatic near-misses, Gran Gran, legends, and MORE!

Enjoy our ao3 money-back guarantee when you read The Light Prince Today!

[drowthelynes]

If you like bioluminescence, kinda scary birds, and angst then boy oh boy are you gonna love Chapter 8 of The Light Prince. It's got everything! It's got jealousy, kissing, several flying whales, seriously broken physics,

I made fanart of @drowthelynes's real art on my notes app because I was just that excited about this chapter. (and I am WILDLY excited about the gorgeous illustration they're working on for the final chapter)

[drowthelynes]

I'm so angry and heart broken and tired posting this. I don't even know if posting it will make any kind of difference the way fandom is right now. I know it won't fix the current situation, I guess I'm just kind of hoping that maybe some of you will read it and think about your own behavior in fan spaces now and in the future.

Found out earlier this week that a fellow fan creator whom I looked up to and enjoyed interacting with has been secretly, gleefully bullying a dear friend of mine. A person that has been a bastion of support for me, who has yes-anded every silly thought I've floated, and without whom even half of my ideas would not have made it even into word documents much less gotten published.

Worse is that this creator made the rest of the fandom unwittingly complicit in their bullying game. They made an OC based on an exaggerated caracature of a real life sweet human being, even took words from them and warped them out of any context in order to make then appear hateful and bigoted, then wrote this OC into a very popular fic of theirs, and invited their audience to point and laugh along with them. People who I know would be horrified to learn they were involved without their knowledge in spreading harm and hatefulness have gushed to me about their works, including that fic specifically.

It's disgusting and despicable behavior. I'm left also with wondering if they've done this to anyone else. If during the course of time we were on speaking terms that I too have been tricked into helping them tear other creators down without knowing. If they'd do it to me or anyone else if we misstepped. The thought makes me sick.

Like I said: the damage is already done. And they're popular enough that if I or anyone else confronted them directly they'd have no problem turning their followers on me so I get to sit here helpless to do anything to resolve it but be angry. There is no justice, no healing here. But I can talk to the people who follow this blog. I can plead with you, that if you've ever had an unkind thought, been annoyed, been put off by another person in the fandom, consider: don't fucking do this? Block them, vent in private to a friend if you really have to get it out of your system, and move on. Live by the fandom golden rule: don't be a dick. Real easy to just not fucking do that.

[drowthelynes]

of all the ways the live action voltron movie could go, there’s two possibilities that would be the most entertaining to me:

1) it’s surprisingly really good and ends up being by far the best adaptation. All the characters have satisfying and well-developed arcs and the story is just the right length. The vfx are mostly practical and there’s really good makeup, puppetry, and animatronics. The robot looks great and the fight scenes are cool.

2) it’s so so so sososo bad. like SO bad. Bad enough that vld looks decent in comparison and it revives the fandom

[drowthelynes]

Friends, Chapter 3 of The Light Prince is out today on ao3 once again with FABULOUS art by @drowthelynes, and it's got everything. It's got sibling rivalry, incorrect optical physics, devious plots, puppetry, crying, the southern lights, and love???? some kind of feelings.

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back! Check out The Light Prince today!

[drowthelynes]

The Light Prince

Author: Dreamer_Wisher_Liar Artist: @drowthelynes / sprinklyzucchini Beta: @faux-fires / Reikah

Do you like fairy tales from the 1860's but just wish they were more gay? Look no further! The Light Prince is very gay. It's got curses, broken physics, hijinks, a kinda scary bird, Gran Gran, and probably themes too.

Read The Light Prince now on AO3. Love it or your money back!

[drowthelynes]

They should make an alternate version of boba tea called kiki tea and its filled with spikes

[drowthelynes]

MODERN AU.

The lyrics jet sings are from a Chinese song 《情非得已》 sung by Harlem Yu. The title is an idiom.It basically means that it's not what he wants, but he can't help falling in love with someone.

It's a classic love song, but it's gentle, light and bright, like spring breeze, and I love it.

But it's clear that jet has a little more acting to it. (´▽｀)ノ♪

Lyrics translation: I'm afraid I'll fall in love with you. I'm afraid to get too close to you. I'm afraid I can't give you what you want. It takes courage to be sweet on you.

[drowthelynes]

cw me doing unhinged actions to a boys cervix dldr

stupid.....I need to grab zukos womb from inside his pussy 😞😩🫴 I NEED IT TO PROLAPSE AND THE ONLY WAY HE CAN KEEP IT IN PLACE IS TO STUFF HIMSELF 24X7X369