#(I know this is not that original idea and people have already linked multiple good fics in reblogs)

[sykloni]

Dannymay 2023

15. Full Hazmat AU & 23. Rogue Gallery

[chiscribbs]

[***NOTE: Leo's design here is no longer accurate, link to the updated version.]

I know there are already a lot of "the brothers are separated at a young age and raised by different people" AUs floating around, so this isn't especially original, but- I've yet to see one with this particular parent-child arrangement, so...

Here’s some rough concept art for what I’m calling the “Grown Apart AU”  Which I've also been affectionately referring to as the "Everyone's a Disney Protagonist" AU for quite some time... you'll see why.

Here’s the gist: Basically, Splinter is only able to save Mikey and Leo from the lab explosion - Raph is immediately picked up by Huginn and Muninn and handed back over to Draxum; Donnie is lost mid-escape and later found by Big Mama's goons, who show up for Lou but bring Don back with them instead when Lou is nowhere to be found.

Details of each turtles’ upbringings (as well as how/when they meet April) below the cut:  

RAPH

Draxum raised Raph to be everything he originally intended the turtles to be: a ruthless, obedient super soldier whose sole purpose in life is to protect the Yokai by eliminating the human threat. Draxum taught him to hate humankind and trained him up to be virtually undefeatable in battle. However...because Draxum isn't the most attentive parent, most of the caretaking for Raph was actually provided by Huginn and Muninn. And the two little well-meaning gargoyles - mostly unintentionally and outside of their master's knowledge - wound up nurturing a much softer and friendlier side to their supposedly bloodthirsty warrior-in-the-making. As a result, Raph has essentially been living a double-life under Draxum’s ownership; playing the part of a perfect soldier for his father/general, who he's determined not to disappoint, and only feeling free to be himself when he's alone (or with H&M.)

Raph has always known that there were supposed to be other mutants like himself but grew up believing that he's the only one who survived the experiment, making him the only one left in existence (until Draxum’s oozesquitos create more, that is). Even though he had H&M to keep him company, being an only child could still be pretty lonely sometimes, so Raph would often imagine what having brothers - other mutants like himself that he could have grown up alongside - would have been like.

Raph is the only one of the turtles that knows his human DNA comes from Lou Jitsu - just like Draxum, though, he has no idea that Splinter is actually Lou Jitsu.

DONNIE

Donnie had a posh and cushy upbringing in Big Mama's hotel - she raised him as her own son(unaware that he’s actually Lou’s)/apprentice and uses his technological talents to aid her multiple businesses: he supplies new weapons and battlegrounds for the Battle Nexus, as well as automated assistants and security for her hotel, and even pitches in with her more off-the-record dealings that last one being without Donnie’s knowledge. Big Mama's kept him pretty much wrapped around her little finger; praising him for his intelligence and usefulness whenever he does a good job or makes her nice things. When he hasn’t, however, she’s a less-than-affectionate mother. Donnie will do absolutely anything it takes to impress and earn approval from her.

Donnie is largely sheltered and knows very little about the world outside of the hotel - especially the human world, about which most of his knowledge comes from what he finds on the internet. He doesn't even know that he's a mutant, believing himself to be just some uncommon type of yokai, since that's all he knows. He’s not allowed to fraternize freely with the hotel guests and has a somewhat contentious relationship with Big Mama’s assistant, whom he’s always viewed as competition for her affection. The closest thing he's had to a friend is S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N, whom Donnie built to have someone to talk to (besides Big Mama's boring, no-nonsense henchmen).

Don finally met April when he was about 11 yrs old; he secretly sent one of his spy bots out to explore the human city and she intercepted it. The two have been best friends and stayed in-touch with each other online ever since - April being unaware that Donnie isn't human.

Donnie knows of Lou Jitsu purely because he was Big Mama’s favorite champion in the history of the Battle Nexus - he idolizes him, having watched recordings of many of his fights, and dreams of one day fighting in the Battle Nexus himself (if Big Mama would allow that).

Leo & Mikey

Leo and Mikey were still rescued by Lou/Splinter and brought up in the NY sewers. Splinter felt extremely guilty for not managing to save the other two baby turtles and, for the first few years following the incident, spent much of his time searching for them. Once Leo was old enough, Splinter would start leaving him and Mikey in the Lair while he searched. He eventually gave up his search, presuming them both dead or lost for good, and resigned to keeping the remaining two as safe as possible - teaching them how to defend themselves and warning them never to leave the sewers unless he was with them.

Leo and Mikey were inseparable as kids - they would do everything together, refusing to even sleep in separate rooms until they were too big to fit in one bed anymore. Leo took his job as Mikey's big brother very seriously and always tried his best to protect him, even when they were simply playing games with each other. As they got older, though, the two brothers began to drift apart - Leo started to feel a little smothered; craving more freedom to do what he wanted when he wanted, without the older sibling responsibilities hanging over him 24/7. And Mikey started feeling like he couldn't go/do anything without his brother's judgement or approval, resenting the idea that he needed constant protection.

Finally, when he was about 13, Leo secretly snuck out of the lair one night to check out the city by himself and get a little taste of independence. After that one trip, it quickly became a habit and he soon began making regular “secret” trips into the city.

Somewhere along the way, his innocent quests for freedom and fun grew into opportunities to stir up some trouble - Leo eventually met and became involved with a group of yokai teens with whom he would pull pranks and play jokes on the city's human occupants (harmless ones...usually. They just enjoy causing a little mischief.)

Mikey, having to figure out other ways to keep himself occupied since his brother is usually by himself or busy with his new friends, has picked up a multitude of different skills and hobbies, trying absolutely everything he can get his hands on. His main hobby is spray-painting, which he uses to spruce any wall he can find with his own personal touch. By the time he's 13, much of underground New York has been covered by his handiwork.  Mikey eventually finds out about Leo’s secret outings and follows him when he leaves one night - the two end up meeting April, who's never seen mutants before (having only talked to Donnie online and not seen his face) and promptly freaks out before realizing they're not dangerous. The three soon become friends, too, and April starts making plans to introduce the boys to Donnie - knowing he could use more friends besides S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. and herself.

The four brothers' fates finally collide with one another when an escapee from Draxum's lab - Mayhem - shows up out of the blue and catapults Mikey and Leo to the Hidden City, where they have an unexpected reunion with their eldest brother.

[strangefellows]

Soooo. About my Limbus theory that Dante is Ayin.

Looks at the 5.5 anniversary event. Looks at the Angela announcer voicelines. I think we've got some heavy proof I'm onto something here. I've posted it into my extensive conspiracy board GDoc (linked for your perusal), but below the cut I'm gonna put what I noticed about the aforementioned things (ie voicelines/That Scene in the event). Credit to @limbus-datamines for where I found the voicelines written out, because I'm broke and have to get Angela the long way lmao. (And credit for the LobCorp screens from TeeQueue's LP of the game on LPArchive!)

Angela's voicelines -- the bolding/italics is all mine for emphasis. As you can see, she explicitly points out that this is "a manager of another spacetime" so she is aware that who she's doing this for isn't her Ayin....but she proceeds to continue to talk to them as if it is AN Ayin.

"I see. I must pre-record these encouraging lines for a manager of an unknown spacetime. Oh my. I was not aware that the recording had already started."

"Your employees' health is at a critical level. A manager must listen to and abide by my advice; you should consider me your most trusted and capable companion, after all."

"Your employees are on the verge of death. That reminds me… manager, I recall that you had access to a special function, no? Sometimes, a full reset is the most efficient solution to a disaster."

"I have identified a flat-footed enemy. Many of your predecessors have used such openings to order a killing blow."

"I have identified a deceased employee. It is but one of many minor inconveniences in your way, manager. They were all aware that such an outcome may await them when they joined our company."

"The enemies have the upper hand. And I expect that you will be the finest manager there ever was."

"I expect that the enemy will commence a powerful attack soon. It is time to face the fear."

"They have dealt a critical blow to one of your employees. However, as you well know, we will move forward and only forward. There is no need to cast your gaze upon those that cannot be recovered."

"One or more of your employees are critically wounded, but do not lose your heart over it. With every death, our company grows. After all, you once told me that… sometimes, those that are forgotten can be the more beautiful."

This one in particular sticks out to me, I've been rotating it in my head for days.

"You have dealt a fatal blow to your enemies. I have always told you that you are much more capable than you originally perceived yourself to be. And I am never wrong."

"A successful strike. It is too early to pop the champagne, but it may be a good idea to cheer for the deceased in memoriam of their noble sacrifices."

"I am Angela, your advisor and secretary. My role as an AI is to assist you in adjusting to your new workplace. It’s a pretty name for an AI, wouldn’t you say so?"

This is more or less word for word what she says at the start of every new loop in LobCorp, isn't it? Hmmmm.

And while we're aware in general that That Scene where Dante has their little meltdown and starts sounding a shitload like Carmen (and, quite frankly, Adam) is sus as hell for MULTIPLE reasons and I know it's got some people to accept/acknowledge the Dantayin Theory on Twitter...this part is what sticks out to me personally:

The only two lines of dialogue in their meltdown that weren't corrupted and halfway censored (or...distorted, you could say), the only two we could read clearly and that didn't sound too insane...are very, very, very similar in imagery and phrasing to this section of Ayin's Day 50 speech. Food for thought.

So, yeah, I'm pretty sure at this point there's nothing else that makes sense besides Dante being Ayin, or at least an Ayin, maybe one from another timeline or something. Either way though.

[scientia-rex]

Some Thoughts on Antipsychotic Medications

Ok, enough of you seemed interested in this when I asked in my antidepressant post (don't ask me for a link, search my goddamn tumblr for it, oh my GOD people were so lazy about my post on bariatric surgery). Once again, this is NOT medical advice, medical advice must be TAILORED TO THE INDIVIDUAL, that's the whole POINT of a professional field, literally every answer is "it depends" and without being your doctor, which I better not be because if you're my patient reading this I need to nuke my entire social media presence, I can't give you good advice and I wouldn't anyway because I already work 115% time and I'm very tired and you don't pay me.

There's a lot of crossover between "antipsychotic" and "mood stabilizer." I don't have as much experience with antipsychotics as I do with antidepressants, but more than your average bear. So you may see a med here and go "wait, what?" because of that overlap.

It's also worth discussing what psychosis is. There are a lot of media representations, and they are generally very stupid and bad. About 3% of the population will have a psychotic episode in their lifetime, so keep that in mind when you're talking about psychosis. There's about a 1 in 30 chance that the person you're talking to will actually have had psychosis, and a much higher chance that someone they know or love will. So don't be a dick about it. Psychosis involves losing the ability to distinguish what is reality and what is not. It seems to involve overactivity of dopaminergic transmission in specific brain pathways. It tends to be very frightening for its sufferers, although not always. Psychotic symptoms can range from a persistent delusion--I have one patient who is quite simply certain that they have worms in their lungs, despite all the tests indicating that they don't--to hallucinations of voices, to visual hallucinations, and any combination of those. Delusions and hallucinations are often negatively valenced, which means that they make the sufferer feel bad in some way, whether it's an auditory hallucination of someone telling you you're the devil, or a delusion that you're being persecuted by conspiracies for unclear reasons, or hallucinations of shadowy figures out of the corner of your eye. Delusions, when I see them in my patient, often reflect a patient's deepest fear. I had one patient who was a caregiver and they were fixated on the idea that there was a conspiracy of people watching them and setting up "tests" to make sure they weren't hurting patients or doing drugs.

It's also worth mentioning meth. Meth is one of the major causes I see of psychotic symptoms (especially since I'm in a rural area), and you need to understand that the longer and the more you do meth, the higher the likelihood of persistent psychotic symptoms. When I was a med student on an inpatient high-acuity psych ward, I had a very pleasant gentleman who'd been doing meth for years. It's tough to get a clear history, but my impression was that he probably hadn't developed psychotic symptoms until multiple years into daily use of meth--but now, despite being on the ward for over a week, there was no sign of the psychosis going away. He believed he could say things to passing cars and the sound would travel with the car, and someone miles away would hear it. He also believed there were indistinct white figures who hovered around his campsite. (He was homeless.) Meth can break your brain. Don't do meth.

The original antipsychotics are old school. We're talking the 1930s. Promethazine was developed in the process of trying to come up with antihistamines. First-generation antipsychotics are dopamine antagonists, and that means that they're blocking a large proportion of dopaminergic transmission both in the brain pathways related to psychotic symptoms, but also in the pathways related to reward, which sucks. When you think of "antipsychotics," this is most likely what you're thinking of unless you have personal experience with antipsychotics. First-generation antipsychotics include haloperidol (Haldol), chlorpromazine (Thorazine), and a handful of others, but it's a smaller class than the second generation.

Second-generation antipsychotics were a game changer. These are serotonin-dopamine antagonists. They include risperidone (Risperdal), paliperidone (Invega-Sustenna), quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), lurasidone (Latuda), ziprasidone (Geodon), and also clozapine, AKA the antipsychotic everyone hates prescribing because it can cause your white blood cells to suddenly go bye-bye and boom, you're at huge risk for infection. The only patient I've ever seen develop clear, unambiguous serotonin syndrome was on clozapine. I don't prescribe it as an outpatient family doctor; it's a medication of last resort, and more often seen in inpatient settings due to the need for frequent blood tests to monitor.

Because the brain is a great recycler, we also use dopamine in the control of our movements. This means that one of the more serious side effects of antipsychotics is a problem with movement. This is typically going to be something called "tardive dyskinesia," which means "slow messed up movement," but in Greek because we're fancy. TD is dreaded because we can't always reverse it. A medication called benztropine can help, but the better option, if at all possible, is to get someone off the medication that called the TD in the first place.

If you're keeping track, you're noticing that dopamine does a lot in the brain: the reward pathway, psychotic symptoms, movement. Your body also uses it for stuff outside the brain, like affecting gut motility and blood vessel dilation. It is really hard to come up with medications that only affect one thing, because the body will use the same messaging systems over and over. This is a big part of why there's some much cross-talk between medications that are ostensibly for one thing but used for many other things.

First-generation antipsychotics can be particularly bad about making people feel flat and incapable of feeling joy. The technical term for "incapable of feeling joy" is "anhedonia," Greek again, this time for "no happiness." This is incredibly punishing and people will often go off their meds in order to feel something. I don't want to hear any bullshit blaming people who do this. You probably would too, and learning not to throw rocks from a glass house is critical to being a decent fucking human being. However, it does mean that I have much more success keeping patients on second-generation antipsychotics. There is both a lower risk of anhedonia and a lower risk of TD, so in general, unless someone doesn't respond to second-generation antipsychotics, they won't be started on a first-generation. I have absolutely used first-gen antipsychotics for patients but they're more typical in the inpatient setting, where it's okay--and sometimes a good thing--if someone is sedated. One memorable example was in an emergency department where a woman was violent and had to be restrained with both physical restraints and a spit hood. We can't just go around sedating people these days--that's a whole-ass thing, because for a long time "treatment" in inpatient facilities was too often taken to be "sedation"--but boy howdy, she needed some Haldol.

I also work part time at the county jail, and while I again try hard not to use first-generation psychotics in patients who didn't come in on them, there are patients who actively request Haldol because they hate how being totally wound up and psychotic feels. I write for them to have as-needed oral doses. This means if they ask the jail nurse for it, they can get it, and it helps immensely.

The leading cause of death for patients with mental illness is heart disease. Antipsychotics tend to cause weight gain, and that is not only psychologically distressing to my patients because we live in a fatphobic world, it's probably related to worsened insulin function. Unfortunately, just putting everyone on an antipsychotic on preventative metformin (a medication that improves insulin sensitivity) also didn't work when we tried it, so we don't do that. But it's scary. I'm actually really hopeful that this new GLP-1 agonist med class that's in constant shortages because it causes weight loss (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.) will be an option to help improve long-term health for psychotic patients. Some antipsychotics are worse than others for weight gain, but there are few genuine head to head comparisons of effectiveness, so I can't say "X works better than Y," we just have to pick one based on a) my familiarity with it and b) whether it seems like a good idea. I also feel it is better to be fat than dead, so if someone needs one of the more fat-inducing antipsychotics to live their life and/or have a decent quality of life, I'll prescribe it and I fucking dare you to talk shit, I will eat you.

My clinical experience has been that Seroquel and Abilify are the best-tolerated antipsychotics. I don't know why. Someone else might, but those are the ones I usually reach for unless someone is having really severe symptoms, in which case I think risperidone works faster. Data are, again, generally pretty weak.

But mostly I want you to remember that psychosis is not a funny punchline, "psychotic" is a shitty fucking insult to use, and someone you know and love probably has psychosis. Some people have a single break and it never happens again, some people can control it with medication, some people need to be institutionalized. It's a life-changing illness and people with severe psychosis, yes, even the weird ones who scare you, are still human beings whose lives have exactly the same inherent value as yours, and who deserve the exact same inalienable human rights as you do. Any other approach is garbage. Human rights are not negotiable.

[bibliophilesince2003]

Do you enjoy (Star Wars) Bad Batch? Do you want to read a fan-fiction focused on an original character who is forced to work with the Bad Batch in order to save Omega and put a dent in an original antagonist's plan? Do you enjoy books with a sense of adventure and mystery, with wholesome, saddening, and comedic moments in between?

I enjoy reading fan-fiction from time to time, and I've always been a writer. However, I was shocked to find that most Bad Batch fan-fiction is either incomplete or a romance between a member of the Bad Batch and an original character. I wanted to write something not focused on romance, but focused on a realistic situation with realistic conversation.

Since I couldn't find it, I wrote it. Started in November of 2023, I finished the book in February of this year (2024) and am very proud of it. In fact, I am working on book two... a book following the events of book one.

What is it called and where can I find it, you ask? Well, here are the links to Star Wars: The Bad Batch - Keeper's Arena. I have it posted on Wattpad and Archive of Our Own, so it depends on your preference. On Wattpad, it has reached 3k reads. I appreciate all the love and support the people on Wattpad have given me; they were there when I first started. It has only recently been posted on Archive of Our Own; it has a very small amount of clicks at the moment.

Still need some convincing? Here's a snippet from an earlier chapter:

This was a very bad idea. Jade hastily broke off another piece of bread, hoping to finish soon or that the topic would change. She heard the doors open, and a hush came over the crowd, even as the electronic music continued to pulse, and the lights flashed. Jade risked a look over her shoulder, then looked away, her nerves spiking.

Omega's brothers.

She felt guilty and a bit worried. Did they believe the rumors going around? Did they know what she looked like? She assumed they began walking at a casual, non-threatening pace, as the chatter increased in volume again.

"Please don't come over here, please don't –"

Jade's inward begging would do no good; they were already heading for the counter. Jade lifted her face and tried to relax. If she didn't want them to notice her, she needed to be as calm as possible. She stopped tapping her foot, realizing she was doing it without thinking. Jade glanced to her left as the one with the bandana arrived at the counter first, waiting for the bartender. The one with the prosthetic arm was paying close attention to the bartender's conversation with the other men, frowning. Well, that wasn't a good sign. Jade drank more water, finishing it off. As long as she got out in time, she would be fine. She hoped the bartender would stay with the men a bit longer, but he noticed his new guests, coming to face the one with the bandana.

"Alright, men. What are you having?"

"We're looking for someone," the leader of the group – it seemed – stated.

"Do I look like a directory?" the bartender scoffed, clearly annoyed with the appearance of multiple unique guests.

"Maybe those men know more about it than you do," the frowning one pointed to the other side of the counter, where the three men discussing rumors with the bartender were seated.

"You mean that girl that was snatched?" the bartender questioned, turning his head to raise his voice. "Joe, what did you hear about this?"

Joe sighed, throwing up his hands. Jade carefully pushed her plate away and turned in her seat, staring instead at the booths against the wall. She fumbled a bit as she closed up her thigh bag, and the stool made a quiet squeak. Jade cringed, but she couldn't feel any eyes on her. Not yet at least.

"She had some sort of help, or else she was being set up. At any rate, she wasn't alone."

Jade froze, knowing what would come next.

"There was a woman with her, an older teenager. In fact, I'm almost entirely sure that's her, at the end of the counter. Whatever you're going to do, grab her fast. She doesn't look like much, and she keeps to herself, but she's armed."

He was talking in hushed tones, and Jade wasn't sure if she had even heard him right, but there was no mistaking the shuffle of feet.

"So much for being done with running for the day," Jade thought, and she slid off of the stool and ran, straight for the door.

[slow-writer]

TMAGP (and TMA, indirectly) Spoilers and Thoughts...

You have been warned...

I wasn't part of the original TMA crowd back when it was first airing. I'd heard mutterings of it, but never really thought much about it. To be honest, I probably wasn't mentally ready for it back then. Instead, my younger sister started listening to it last year and then kept talking about it until something she said made me go, "Y'know what? Okay. I'm in."

I ended up bingeing through it during work this past October, and holy sh*t. I fell down the rabbit hole hard. (Maybe, in this case, it would be more akin to running face first down those coffin stairs? I digress.) Being so new to it when everyone else had already been swallowed up by the sky, it was cool to dig into the Wikis that had already been made, to see the links and foreshadowing.

But now, it's the beginning of TMAGP, and I actually get to listen the day they release, to jump on here, or reddit, or tiktok, or wherever to be a part of the theorizing AS IT HAPPENS. And boy oh boy, I'm happier than Simon Fairchild in the stratosphere.

Do I have a notebook to jot down my thoughts as I listen? Of course, I do. Do I have multiple tabs open, some with ARG info, some with TMA info, and yet more with references to alchemical symbols and practices? Duh. Have I started my own spreadsheet for it all? Well, if you knew about my Lego Dimensions spreadsheet.... nevermind. Yes, I have.

But nothing beats being able to talk (or type) about it with other fans, like my sister, or those faceless avatars (lol) of the interwebs. And man, has my brain been CHURNING.

First, let me get out of the way that I wasn't able to take part in the ARG as it was happening, and my goodness! I'm so happy there are other people out there like me who were able to sum up and load it up for the rest of us to learn about. No idea how much of it will be *necessary* to unlock all the secrets, but I'm the kind who loves to know trivia just cos. And the details I am learning definitely pull me deeper.

Second, I feel like in the beginning of TMA, there was barely anything for the listeners to dig through. One guy working on behalf of an organization, trying to dig through seemingly implausible and overly spooktastic first-hand statements dating back centuries that are in crazy disarray from the previous archivist, and he's laying on a hefty helping of "this is utter balderdash, complete poppycock, and absolute piffle" opinion. It was a slow burn, something that (as an American, and being exposed to so much more instant gratification in storytelling than necessary) UK storytellers seem to be experts in, and was even more expertly done in this case, since so many little things had to eventually build up without listeners automatically assuming what would happen next, without them getting bored.

But TMAGP is already so full of so much extra stuff, so many little things (even before it was released) that we may all get BURIED in the sheer amount of data we think is vital. We're not listening to tapes this time, we're definitely listening via internet-connected devices, like computers, mobile phones, and security cameras. So, while TMA had old tape recorders magically appearing (or were they being dragged by hordes of spiders?) and switching themselves on so they could hear all the random happenings within the archive, TMAGP is no longer reliant on such hand-wavery. Whatever/whoever is listening can do so from anywhere to anyone they want. That makes the world of TMAGP

SO MUCH BIGGER.

Third, I know not everyone who listens to these things is like me (or, let's face it: us--there are so many fans doing regular deep dives on here, we should have our own categorization on the wiki). There are bound to be listeners who just leave everything at face value and wait for the story to unfold itself organically, and when it's done, it's done. But even as an adolescent, when I got into something, I did my best to listen to, watch, or read everything I could find on that very niche thing. At least for a while. (Hello, undiagnosed ADHD!)

So, I watched/listened to a couple interviews and Q&As regarding the new show prior to release. And while both Alex and Jonny have been clear saying you don't have to have listened to TMA to enjoy TMAGP, I kind of think just saying that is leading us TMA fans in a very specific direction. And I think it's very intentional, and that a lot of fans either haven't heard about it yet, or are choosing to ignore it.

They say that TMAGP is tangentially related to TMA in that there will be familiar themes, but

it's taking place in a completely different universe from TMA;

time in TMA worked differently (especially during the Entity Torturepalooza in S5) towards the end, so dates of events there may not line up with dates or events in this universe; and

the main or overarching theme is different.

In TMA, the story was "what makes a monster a monster?" As in, is there a line one crosses that they can't return from? Is it a physical manifestation, like it alters their appearance? Is it an action they have to take? And does that action have to be done willingly, or can it be coerced? Does becoming the monster to protect someone else, or to achieve a greater good... does any of that matter?

In TMAGP, they've already said that the story will be "what makes a person a person?"

The implications of that sentence are many and mind-boggling.

I first thought it had something to do with the idea of the humane (not human): kindness, empathy, compassion. The ties that bind us together as people (like being fans of a little horror podcast from across the pond) could be part of this.

But, now that we have 5 episodes out, and a metaphorical army of lore-deep-divers digging through every word and sound effect and episode title, I think we can truly start to figure out where we're heading.

Artificial Intelligence.

It struck me as I was re-listening to the first episode this morning. (I really am trying to fill out my spreadsheet in a semi-logical manner and with as many pertinent details as possible, really. That's the main reason I was doing that this morning. At least, that's what I tell myself.) We are hearing all these happenings over web-connected devices (don't think I don't see you, Alex and Jonny, and your oh-so-hilarious punning!), the OIAR employees are working on a modified business-forward version of Windows NT 4.0 that precedes Windows 95 that has a name that we interpret as 'Freddy' (or Freddie, depending on where you are in the transcripts), one of the documents from the ARG was a spreadsheet called 'Klaus' (which IS the name of the former IT guy Gwen's asking about because she heard/saw young Lena arguing with him), and we have at least 3 text-to-speech "voices" that Alice has given names (Chester, Norris, and Augustus).

All of that was running through my brain, and then I heard this passage within the first few minutes of the episode:

LENA - Nonsense. Sam is the only one who has had any cake so far. GWEN - And that was only because you practically forced it down his throat. SAM - No, no, it was… nice. LENA - People like chocolate cake.

People like chocolate cake? She didn't even ask her employees (all 5 of them at that time) what flavor they'd prefer, or if they'd want something else? No. She just knows a fact that "people" like chocolate cake, so of course, her employees--who are people--would like chocolate cake.

Almost like a computer following a logic-based workflow, perhaps?

Lots of people have been trying to figure out who in the office is the Big Bad, and many are saying Gwen just because of her ambition and her last name (Bouchard), but I think her name is a red herring. Others are saying Alice knows more than she lets on (and so many are hating on her, and I will NOT ABIDE THE ALICE DYER SHADE because I love her and I would very probably hide bodies for her) but I agree that certain things she's said are a little sus, though they really could just be her personality. I really have known some women like her, and they are some of my favorite people. (Plus, the fact that we now know that she's the most tenured employee at the OIAR--save possibly Lena--does make the brain churn some more.)

But with this line about chocolate cake, and how she was unable to join them at the pub, and how we haven't had a scene with her outside of the OIAR office, it makes me think that Lena might just be part code.

[Let me also add this really quick: I've seen A LOT of people trying to make the current episodes fit into Smirke's 14 +Dekker's 1, but I don't think the Entities as we codified them are what we're dealing with in this universe. I think trying to link everything back to that show will be a lot of wasted thought, because as they said, this isn't a direct sequel. (Do I think it's actually Jon, Martin, and Jonah--yes, Jonah, not Jurgen--trapped in the computer system? A bit, but it won't shatter my appreciation if the voices are something else entirely.)

Plus, I've seen others saying that the statements we've heard, while creepy, aren't all necessarily to do with fear. Most of them are about desires and obsessions.

The woman who wanted so desperately to see her dead husband again that she'd get scammed over and over to possibly resurrect him;

the person who wanted to spelunk an 'unsolved' site to the point of crime;

the woman who wanted to finally feel comfortable in her skin to the point of disfiguring herself;

the man who wanted so badly to climb out of his assigned station and achieve fame that he'd regularly 'feed' his violin blood from other people;

and the man who wanted to feel the same terror he felt when watching scary movies with his dad when he was a kid to the point of chasing down 'borderline illegal films' and ignoring LITERALLY ALL the red flags to the end.

I think that theory is the closest to what we may actually encounter.]

I've seen others on reddit saying they think that this series will be about the race to create the philosopher's stone--the stone that creates the elixir of life and, essentially, immortality. I think it's a valid idea. But, what if it went further than that?

Because with all the alchemical hints dropping in the show's logo, the ARG, and the 3-category system to the statements (yes, I'm keeping track) that could make one think of the spirit, the mind, and the body in alchemy....

What if they're trying to create life from software?

What if these entities or desires or whatevers have been working through some ancient busted code, feeding off statements from "real" humans experiencing strong emotions, watching the employees that work with it every single night, so they can create something as close to a human as possible from just wires and 3 decades of unreadable code?

Oh lord... it just occurred to me that--due to this being a HORROR podcast--they might need to collect a skin suit for the Not Quite Human. Is that what happened to Klaus? Ick. And now I'm hoping I'm wrong.

[poohsources]

hi, pooh, is everything alright with you? i hope it's a yes! so, i'm sorry if you already answered something like this, but i just started to follow you right now (because i found your blog really interesting), saw this post of yours and was thinking: do you have tips about "losing our musing while roleplaying"? i see a lot of friends losing their muses, sometimes i do lose mine (which is sad, because we do have affection towards our chars), and i think some tips would help a lot and you seem to have the good ones. i would really appreciate if you could share them with us! the biggest thank you already and have a good, good day!

p.s: if i didn't made myself clear, sorry, english is not my first language ):

hi there! well, i'm sick again but other than that i'm fine, thanks. no worries, if questions are asked multiple times i tend to link them to the original answer. but it's one thing i haven't talked about yet, so you're good.

unfortunately, there is no definitive answer that will definitely help but there are some things i've either done myself or have heard about that are supposed to work, so i've compiled a list of all the tips that would help when you've lost your muse.

look at your muses' source material. this mostly applies to canon muses, but depending on the kind of oc, it might work for them as well. the idea behind it is to potentially watch a few episodes ( maybe ones that heavily feature or develop your character ) of the show your muse is from if you're writing a tv show character; reread the book / certain passages if you have a book muse, or just generally interact in any kind of way with the source material. even if you're canon divergent it might help ignite your muse again when you "see them in action" so to speak.

listening to music. if you're into music, you can probably make a playlist for your character including songs that either remind you of them or are something you think your character would listen to in their own free time. now whenever you're listening to that playlist it can help you inspire your muse.

read fanfics. if you're like me and spend an ungodly amount of time reading fanfics, it's something that can help you get inspiration for your muse. again that mostly only applies to canon muses but seeing the way others write your muse and the different scenarios they can be thrown into, might help with your own muse ( and especially plot ideas / au ideas ) that you can talk about either on the dash, to a friend or someone you'd think could be a great writing partner.

create your own stuff outside of rp for your muse. it kinda ties in into the playlist tip, but there are other ways to "channel" your muse outside of rp. do you enjoy drawing? draw your muse. do you like making mood / aesthetic boards? make one for your muse. there are so many different things you can do for your muse outside of roleplaying / writing that can help you get your muse back. even if it's just by doing other stuff.

talk to your friends. if you have friends or certain writing partners you talk to a lot, it can help to just talk to them about your muse(s). you don't even have to spew plot ideas or discuss things that have to do with roleplay but maybe just some casual talk about specific topics ( or if it's a canon muse, you could talk about their source material and what you like / dislike ).

dream up scenarios. if you're someone with an imaginative mind, one thing that can help is dream up certain scenarios that involve your muse. perhaps certain things that could happen to them and how they'd react, or interactions with other people or just random day-to-day stuff ― just put yourself in their shoes and think about them. ( potentially you'll even have some great plot or verse ideas this way. )

last, but not least, take a step back from roleplaying your muse. i know that this is probably the one people will dislike the most but sometimes the best thing you can do when you've lost your muse is to take a step back from it. if you're forcing yourself to write because you think it's what you're supposed to do, it's pretty much bound to frustrate you and therefore make you lose your muse. we all love our characters and the things we've created for them, but sometimes we have to let go. of course it doesn't have to be a permanent thing, maybe someday you'll get your muse for that character back and make a return to it, but sometimes you'll realize that you can't get your muse back and that is okay.

occasionally, people connect to characters that speak to them during specific times of their life and if these change, it can change the muse for that character because you don't feel as connected to them anymore. you can still cherish that time and love that character but as i said above, if you're forcing yourself to do anything, it's bound to be bad.

anyway, i hope these tips will help! :)

[lizzieonka]

Super, super late reply, but I was tagged by @variabels to list 5 anime/manga recs. Thanks for the tag! (I also love Durarara and Baccano ヾ(•ω•`)o)

I’m gonna list mainly Chinese media in this list, though, because that’s what I consume more. And ha! How brave, asking an ND person like me for recs. Prepare to be bombarded by my rambling!

Starting off with the media currently featured in my header (excluding Blue Lock coz most of my mutuals already know that)...

1. The Earth is Online (danmei* novel)

* Danmei - Chinese boys love stories

The plot basically: Everyone on Earth is pulled into a death game.

A good intro to the unlimited flow* genre. Each instance is thrilling and complex. The boys love aspect is not much, as it focuses on plot, but it’s definitely not subtle. The characters are also quite diverse. Most UF novels just focus on the Chinese characters and revolve around what happens in China, but this one actually features those from other countries. I also like how the protagonist isn’t treated as the entire world’s savior. Other people around the world are also doing their part.

Where to read: An official English release is coming out in 2024. Translations will be done by luckkoi, the fan translator. As such, they've taken down their translations online. There's an alternate translation by @leonsrightlations , but only a few chapters are out right now. There are several completed translations online, but they're all edited mtl (machine translation). If you don't mind that, you can go google it. I recommend the one by Rainbow Mushroom. Their translations require a password, though, and you can find that on their Discord server.

* unlimited flow - Chinese genre of web novels where the protagonist is pulled into different instances to complete challenges which, if failed, would result in punishment or even death. It’s basically the death game genre, but instead of just one game, there are multiple.

2. Legend of Hei movie + Legend of Luo Xiaohei series sequel (donghua*)

(I downloaded this video from YouTube years ago. I can no longer find it there, so I’m reuploading it here…)

* Donghua – Chinese anime

A story about the young cat demon Xiao Hei and his quest to find a new home after humans destroyed his old one. Cute cat + cool powers + awesome fighting scenes + clean and crisp animation.

You can watch this on Netflix, but it’s not available in all countries. There’s an English and Japanese dub available, but I strongly recommend watching it in the original Chinese. (I can send you the full movie with English subtitles if you want). The series, which takes place after the movie, can be watched on YouTube. S1 of the series is more slice of life, but s2 is action-packed.

3. Low Tide in Twilight (BL manhwa)

That BL trope where the bottom has a mountainload of debt, while the top gives him a way out… except, not really, coz the male lead Taeju is partly the creditor, and he’s forcing Euihyun into a relationship with him in exchange for money.

Typical BL story with an initially toxic couple, but better. Complex characters, and a manhwa that relies more on the art to tell the story instead of the words. Also, Taeju gives off that same annoying but hot vibe as Kaiser. What more do you want?

4. Link Click (donghua)

The title (时光代理人) would be literally translated as “Time Agents.” I have no idea why the official English title is Link Click.

The plot basically: Two guys with time-related powers run a photography shop, where they accept orders from clients to dive back in time through a photo.

Funimation did this donghua so dirty by not promoting it more back when it aired in 2021. The English subs were also terrible.

Did you know that it used to rank #20 in MAL, surpassing MP 100 S2, Jujutsu Kaisen, and many other mainstream anime? Now, it’s ranked #41 on MAL, lower than before, but still pretty high for a donghua on MAL. That’s just how good it is.

Here’s a link to the blu-ray version with fansubs. Just pick the normal English track option and not English (CR).

Edit: OKAAAY, it turns out that link has the episode order all mesed up. Just ask me if you need an HD copy with good fansubs.

5. White Cat Legend 2020 (donghua)

Title (大理寺日志) would be literally translated as The Journal of Dali Court.

Another cat boy donghua! Can you tell I just love cats?

The plot: Chen Shi travels from the countryside to the big city to search for his missing brother and inadvertently ends up working at Dali court under the cat guy Li Bing.

Slice of Life + Comedy + Drama + Supernatural + Mystery + Action

Baiting you with a hot guy gif~

It's a historical show btw, so expect some references to real-life events.

The animation is also really smooth in this one! You can watch it on YouTube. Here's a link to episode 1.

Season 2 is also out! I'm yet to watch it, though. I should really do some time...

----

Tagging some mutuals to check these out, and also to list 5 recs (no pressure)~

@potato-longsocks @echarie @takeunknownroadnow @gachagon @bachirasbodyguard @blonde-batgirl @oo-mi-ru-oo @www98vikitoo @whiteapplesandblackblood

I recommend creating your own post instead of adding your recs in a reblog. My post is already pretty long. Turn this into a long thread, and we'll be a menace on the dashboard haha

[eldritch-collective]

[image id: a looping gif of Rain World Gourmand performing a power jump by throwing a spear and rock to get from the right ledge to the left ledge, almost backflipping in the process. end of id.]

Hello there! I wanted to make an anonymous MOGAI and LIOM blog to post stuff whenever I want to and maybe take some requests if I like it a lot!

My pseudo name is Service! If you'd like my pronouns, I use He/They/It/Angel and many other pronouns in general! I am physically and mentally disabled, neurodivergent, and plural. My spoons fluctuate due to being a systemmate within a very active system.

Stuff I'm likely to make for myself are pronouns, genders, plural terms, modifer terms, and bases for edits! I enjoy coining, flag designing, icons, emoji edits, and likely other stuff for requests! So that's likely what I end up posting most! I am completely open to whatever SFW to Suggestive and Graphic range in terms of requests and will properly tag. More info below! Feel free to promo!

Let me know if you wish to be untagged! @neopronouns @narcette @genderstarbucks @sugar-and-vice-mogai

I specialise in Fandom, Spiritual, Philosophical, Music, and more terms. I mostly focus on fandom and other special interests and hyperfixations. However, I love doing brutal and bloody terms, flags, and edits!

I have permission to do Traitians, Claseans, Damascean, and Voxus terms made by @flagmeanew (18+), as the mods have said the blog is now inactive.

My tags will be literal (i.e. flags will be labeled as flags) and I will provide image id's! If my id's are not sufficient enough, please let me know! My non-content tag will be "service.exe" and asks tag will be "askservice.exe".

I hold my judgement for the most part with requests, but I will lay out what I won't do! I refuse to do IRL people, Illegal and Unsafe content, Unsanitary, Known Trans/Homo/Queerphobic or other generally Hateful Creator Media, Potentially Dangerous or Harmful terms, and anything I personally do not experience (such as I am white and will not feel comfortable coining terms involving race).

If I decline a request, I'll post it for others to do! If I delete and do not post your request, it is likely because it's triggering for me or not appropriate for my blog.

My goal is to be as open as possible on this blog. Such as I reclaim slurs associated with my experiences. However, I am willing to listen and right my wrongs. I will post possibly triggering media, so please be sure to have any fandom or other media tags blocked already as I will be using fandom tags like "(fandom)" or "(content) tw" after the primary tags.

How I coin is that I often use my own heritage and culture that I grew up with! I usually use a mixture of Latin, Gaelic, and Nordic roots. I can technically do ones that are not ones I'm personally familiar with, but please include the roots you have in mind if you want me to use a different root!

Short QNA-ish to give more basic information: 1. This is a real blog. I am not trolling, making satire, nor creating this to fake my experiences. This is genuine and meant for fun for myself in self expression. 2. I do everything on desktop and use Clip Studio Paint EX, but a good free alternative is GIMP. 3. I may or may not queue as I post immediately after done sometimes or just queue it up when I have multiple ideas. 4. Since I'm sorta new to the community in regards to creating, I will be slow with responding since I have day-to-day things to take care of. 5. I do not have an explicit list for refusals in requests, so please be respectful if I do not do your request. I simply just want to create without restrictions on myself. 6. I do not have a DNI, but I will block if I find you to make me uncomfortable or are found to be against my boundaries. 7. I am okay with my terms being posted on Wikis, just provide credit and link back to me! 8. Spam likes and reblogs are fine! 9. I am all for systems of different origins (such as endogenic and more), mspec people, and have a lot of positive opinions about the communities I wish to participate in, even if not always active! I refuse to be exclusionary without good reason (i.e. I will believe in good faith first and foremost). 10. If I mistag something or you need a tag added, please let me know! I'll correct it as soon as I can! (This goes for incorrect, incomplete, or missing image id's as well!) 11. Gif on this post is from Rain World's Miraheze Wiki on Gourmand's wiki page. Icon is the second fight form of Gabriel from ULTRAKILL on the simplified Breathknightclasean flag. Header and Blog backgrounds are gifs made by industrial---complex on Tumblr. 12. This can and WILL update as time goes on since I am still learning the environment of the community due to having been inactive personally with the community.

[horizon-verizon]

Rhaenyra did not fight for the Seven Kingdoms, but for her own position as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Her character remains obstinately stuck in a routine, and never left the conception of hereditary royalty; she s the kind of monarch who believes that a country has duties towards its sovereign, but the sovereign has none towards his country. Her character deals only with her personal rights, but never with the public good, how the war impact the smallfolk, or the means of developing commerce, navigation, or the military power of her country. We don’t even know if she encouraged companies, merchants, financiers, before the war broke out, or how she wants to rule the Seven Kingdoms.

*EDITED POST* (10/26/23):

Check this POST and this POST out for additions/changes.

Assuming that we're talking about original!Rhaenyra, I don't see how this marks her as different from most monarchs or heirs? And if we can't find a trait that makes her different (in terms of aristocratic desires) then can you really argue she'd be worse?

A list of monarchs that Rhaenyra wouldn't be too different from: her own father, Aenys, Aegon and all of the greens also show no thought to the smallfolk in any special projects or proposed laws for the public good, as Aegon V did. Even Jaehaerys didn't want to either abolish the right of the first night or to put more attention to giving KL a better water and sewage system. His wife, Alysanne, convinced, insisted, and pressured him on both accounts!

We don't know what the greens planned to do (and I can say with full confidence that they'd be even less likely to even think of all that you list we don't know Rhaenyra would do), the text gives us nothing. But going off of what happened immediately after Rhaenyra died, they didn't appear to plan anything for anyone other than themselves.

With that, she'd be better than the alternative: any of the green children, Aegon (a rapist and can't keep his temper under control unless others make work of convincing him), Aemond (another rapist and genocidal maniac), Helaena (would never be even considered since she female and discouraged/kept from true governing, thus not giving much confidence that she can rule), and Daeron the guy who somehow couldn't stop his men from raping and killing slews of townspeople despite having a dragon and actually ordering another town but here's because he thinks that his nephew's death was all the lady's fault, thus showing more callousness than most fans expect from him. For goodness sake, Aegon (II) gathered people to execute along with the Shepherd despite him already having the Shepherd to just make an example of him!

So why single out Rhaenyra for being similar? Why does she have to "prove" herself more to you, anon, not the lords. To you? Why are you dictating that she must provide a stronger moral character than her already comparatively morally-bankrupt rivals? What do you have against Rhaenyra?

I have said this multiple times:

LINK #1

LINK #2

LINK #3

LINK #4

LINK #5

LINK #6

Some would argue that because Rhaenyra is a woman and she's already in doubt unfairly, that she needs to prove to these doubters that she deserves the throne so that she can actually, "objectively", "earn" the throne. A few things wrong with this idea:

It's actually not objective at all, how these lords and whomever evaluates who should sit on the throne. The very idea of men-only or male primogeniture--along with the reality of patriarchal privileges--comes from ideas about masculinity, womanhood. Little-questioned military control most of the population. And who defines or shapes what is good or evil, for whose interests? The aristocratic men are allowed to have that authority. Since most feudal/monarchial men feel other men can be the only ones to lead forces or direct others and that women are weaker in body and mind, they will always question the validity of a female leader. It is not rational, therefore it can be never be objective. In the story, Rhaenyra is not repudiated because she is a bad ruler or they think she would become one, but because she is a woman. That's all.

with all that energy spent on "earning" or "proving" herself by doing public good (and do more than most male monarchs ever did), Rhaenyra or any woman would not have to work harder to even become and stay a ruler, thus have that much more room to even think about doing "public good" and how. Exactly when would Rhaenyra be even implementing as you suggest after she takes KL, when again she has to concentrate on defeating her usurpers, grieving her 3 dead kids, having no funds because the treasury was stolen, having the greens west and south, and several rioters against her? Even if she had plans? How would she be able to implement them?!

Once again, the greens, even after taking back KL, did nothing to do as you say Rhaenyra should have done. Just create more chaos by trying to go after ALL Rhaenyra supporters and threatening the lives of Aegon (III), Alyn, and Baela, burning people alive, etc.

(if you, as a royal dynasty, want to maintain your semi-absolute power and keep it as absolute as possible) who gets to be heir is and never should have been determined by the lords and make it seem that it was their choice -- this is one of Jaehaerys' many mistakes, and make no mistake HIS goal was to keep absolute power for the Targ dynasty, not to engineer some sort of meritocracy or constitutional monarchy or give power to the people at the cost of the royal family

if you make one person have to "earn" the throne while allowing other heirs be just invested as heir by the monarch's say-so (as is the point), then you have worked to further undermine the word of a monarch AND the heir (again, in the interests of an absolute monarchy who wishes to keep the throne in the family)

If you want a Targ queen for the people, look to Alysanne, Rhaenys I, and Daenerys Stormborn. The last the best of them all, who exclusively thought of rulership as equal to actually protecting EVERY single person under their rule. Funny how I can count only one male monarch who is anything like these women: Aegon V. Even so, why are you so insistent on the women having this responsibility over the men?

But you also must acknowledge that women in general should not be exclusively made into defenders or definers of morality and social conditioning while men are allowed to do willy nilly with their willies and have little-to-no accountability.

Rhaenyra's personality and interests developed from her social circumstances, especially her having to--as I called it in other posts--"self-determine" her rights and value as a person/heir against the repudiaters who repudiate her based on her gender alone. We need to remember this, it is so crucial to understand her character as written or suggested! It is her strength and her flaw, her vulnerability and motivation (aside from that Targ-Andal aristocratic pride that actually buttresses the other part).

Yes she has entitlement and pride. She's a princess who grew up having much more than others and with a heritage of conquerors and dragonriders. Aerea, Saera, Rhaena, Viserra, Alyssa, Alysanne, all these women had that pride but we see them all as very different people nonetheless. Show me who would also not be similar, and does not the human population have psychological variances (personalities) as well as its physical?

Yes that Targ-Andal blood purity is there, but once more how does this make her worse or different from her male counterparts (except Aegon IV, II, Aerys II, she's objectively better than these guys)?

Either way, Rhaenyra wasn't a terrible choice of a leader until she started losing kids and being betrayed.

She doesn't have to be your favorite woman, your favorite Targ, nor even your favorite Targ woman. There are many morally and better written examples, or more deliciously mysterious ones. But I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking she was evil and totally unfit for the throne based on this misplaced take that she had to be the exception on account of her gender or how others would pressure her to be better, therefore she should not have won and ruled.

You fall into the near?-sexist trap that way, where because she is a woman who came into power she needs to prove to those around her that she is "better" than all other paat and present candidates WITHOUT at least acknowledging or addressing the granted & possible realities that made her who she was and came to be. WITHOUT tracking that process of her becoming a tyrant and making as if it came out of nowhere, that she "freaked out" and went "crazy" with no prompt that could affect others in her peace even if not in the same way. WITHOUT considering that those circumstances are not totally unique and share elements of misogyny and misogynist ideology that people should at least acquaint themselves with. If she doesn't excel and be a moral champion, then all her suffering or all that was down against her meant absolutely nothing, means nothing, we should ignore her human development, and she is the actual problem...the only problem.

*EDIT* (8/21/23):

THIS is a great post by @mononijikayu about medieval queens, female rulers, the history of how women in leadership positions were made and seen as threats to the very structure of social "order", and contextualizing Rhaenyra thru Empress Matilda. I didn't even know about Matilda's husband being comparable to Rhaneyra's Daemon! PLZ READ!!!!

Excerpt:

just as much, along with these fictitious portrayals, more lies are depicted. these women are considered vixens that cause havoc to men by shifting them into desires and danger. through the written word, we see how women are cast in roles of villains in men’s lives. it is because by their conclusive thoughts, women are the only creatures that are able to turn ‘good honorable men’ into despicable creatures who do shameful, deplorable acts for the sake of women’s pleasures.  [...] it is within this narrative that ancient chroniclers declare that women were in fact the doom of men. if they were not able to control the dangers posed by the wiles of women, then the foundations of the mighty society they had built would be up in flames.  [...] as i mentioned, these factors of community are written down and preserved. and with that, the example of the ancients were the foundations by which medieval society built itself. the same concepts continued to cause the same issue within society and that was the exclusion of women from participating in the bigger picture of community and state, much so with governing states in their own right—without judgment or disapproval. 

[rpclefairy]

Hi I’m thinking of setting up a RP account but have no idea where to start, would be for an OC. Do you have any advice? Thanks 😊

posting publicly in case anyone else can think of other advice, please comment! ocs have never really been my thing so i don't really have experience with them, it's totally possible i'll miss something.

the only things you really *need* per se are a rules page and an about page.

on your rules (or guidelines or whatever you want to call it) you'd write all the "terms of engagement" you can think of. topics you will not write, your preference in writing style or length, if there are any fandoms or characters you won't write with, whether your blog may feature nsfw content, your alias and age range, etc.

on your about page you'd list all of your character's information. name, age, place of birth, personality, stats, physical description, etc. you can format this however you want, there are tons of templates floating around tumblr.

since you'll be writing an original character i would also include a biography and universe description if possible so people can get an idea of what the universe your character's from is like.

the unnecessary extras of rp blogs would be anything aesthetic. icons, graphics for promos, post dividers and the like. those are for fun and but you don't really need them and most people don't care if you're iconless tbh! as long as you use clean formatting (not eye frying colors, not multiple spaces) you're good!

an extra that i would consider technically a need is xkit rewritten. you'll need it to trim posts, but if you're a tumblr user in 2023 you likely already know xkit is necessary to make this site functional rip.

i highly recommend using carrd to make your pages since tumblr pages on your blog are not accessible from mobile! google docs has some issues with not displaying properly on mobile as well, but google sites does work and it's also free. carrd is the option that works best on mobile so far though, and you can use it for free.

lastly, i'd look around indie rp tags and check people's blogs for inspo and reference! you'll organically get the hang of how people generally arrange their blogs if you look at them. you'll see that generally people make a pinned post with a description of their blog, a link to their carrd / pages, etc. if you click on those pages you can see how they format their about and rules. you don't have to copy everything everyone does though. if you don't vibe with the general aesthetic people use or how they format certain things that's alright, you get to pick and choose!

ultimately the best part about indie roleplay blogs is that you're independent from everyone and everything else so you get to set up your account however you want :)

[shostakobitchh]

Hi! I I just saw your post about having the worst weekend, and I hope responding this quickly isn't creepy.

I just wanted to reassure you that whatever happened isn't indicative of your worth, nor of how people should and do act. However, I totally get feeling like the world is awful and shitty because it so OFTEN is, and sometimes you just need to scream about it without being told why you're wrong.

I really hope this isn't too much, but I discovered aim & ignite a few weeks ago and have never gotten around to leaving a review/message saying how much I've become obsessed with it -- you've filled a decade-and-a-half long itch for well-written Snape daughter fanfic, and you've crafted it so magnificently. The thoughtfulness that has gone into changes to canon, the gradual development of Snape and Ariel's relationship, the realistic treatment of how children would act and how responsible teachers should act -- it's all so, so, good, and a par example of how fanfiction can transcend its original material to stand on its own. All of this is to say that I wanted to tell you explicitly that you've had a positive impact on someone else's life, as something concrete to hold onto when you're feeling shitty.

Lastly, I have to confess that I love aim & ignite so much that I, uh, made (agonized over) a playlist for it?? Or, for Snape and Ariel's relationship in it, rather. A lot of the songs are originally romantic in context but I hope it's obvious that's not how I chose to view them for this lol. You might have your own already but here's a link to it if you or any other readers would be interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7bUqtJ7XcjmNKQ8ux1pwit?si=8e4b5d5e33af4950

Sorry for this super long ask!! I hope you have a better week!

hi! please know that I have read this message multiple times since I got it in my inbox; I just haven't been in the right headspace to sit down and write back how grateful I am for it. it really was a huge pick-me-up these past few weeks <3

I'm so happy and grateful that the story has been something you've been looking for and has met your expectations; I too have searched far and wide for a Fem!Harry story where Snape is the dad and never really found anything that felt like canon. Fluff is great and all, but the best part of Snape is that he is SO BAD at trying to be good. All I see when he's thrust into the role of parent is a dumpster fire that somehow ends with a mildly-adjusted child he would fucking kill for, and vice versa. it's such a fucked-up mess; snape is the catalyst for the events of canon (he spills the beans about the prophecy) and sets this whole plot into motion. I love the idea that he inadvertently does this to his own child. it's like, just SO GOOD.

I bookmarked your playlist when I read this message and have been making my way through it! music is 98.7828% of what inspired me to write this story, so I LOVE when people send me what music the story evokes for them.

I made a playlist a little while ago on Spotify as well, I'll link it here in case you or anyone else wants to take a listen.

thank you again <3 <3 <3 inboxing is never creepy, btw! reader interaction is all that keeps me going, somedays <3 <3 <3

[razorblade180]

Shiva/Snowflake ramblings

It’s been like 6 months since snowflakes finished. Talked a little bit about certain things but now I’ll blurt out more and probably end up repeating myself a little.

I made a post theorizing the origin of dust a long time ago as well as spoke about the topic briefly in a V6 review post. Nobody seemed to notice that luckily because it had the answer to what Diamond Dust was. I lived in fear for many years….

In the OC Test where everyone wore Halloween costumes, I had Summer dressed as Frisk with a knife because there was soul shenanigans happening with Dust.

In all my posts about Shiva, I never gave her a separate hashtag. They’re all under Summer’s name because all her actions and feelings were Summer’s.

I made a list of all my characters about they would survive Summer’s situation with Diamond Dust. I never eliminated before but their results were based off of how authentic they are to themselves as well as their self love/respect.

This was something I did for myself but I took every opportunity in questions for Shiva among other prompts to write her making ice daggers because I knew I was gonna write Nick getting stabbed with one.

In the first chapter I had Nick hug Shiva with his heated and use a fire glyph under their feet. The final battle outside ends with a bigger version of that and Vee.

The Wolf faunus they fought is obviously inspired by the big bad wolf, but her aesthetic and hair is just me having Roxanne Wolf brain rot after playing fnaf.

I spent a lot of time thinking of ways to get Veronica free falling so causally before her depressing monologue. My favorite one is in that same chapter where she jumps off the balcony to catch Val; because she gets to see what that looks like from an outsiders perspective. It’s also the only time Vee can’t bail, and actually hits the floor.

Originally I was gonna have Summer and Nick finally do their combo summoning to beat Shiva but I thought the discredited Summer’s ability to best Shiva.

Shiva was gonna make a ice “hell hound” of Dolt, their former dog, in the final fight. The chapter was already incredibly long though and my hands were cramping. It also meant dropping all pretense of what Shiva was because she wasn’t actually around when they had the dog.

If i were to make a sequel I’d know what it’d be about and kinda planted seeds with harsh weather and revitalized Dust being linked. It could be real problem if other people found Dust that are similar to Diamond Dust

Originally this story wasn’t this complex. It was a simple case of “you’re simply at odds with yourself” but everyone guessed that in an hour and I took that personally. 💀 which ballooned into me fleshing out the dust theory and adding a fragmented soul to it.

During the tournament fight Summer had with her channeling Shiva, I kept having her reach for her hip in confusion. The soul of who would’ve been known as Shiva was a pirate and her gun was on that side. I wanted to play with the idea of muscle memory or old habits in the same way I did with Oscar and Oz

Not really a fact but I’m happy that I found ways to slip in Penny making that bomb multiple times. As well as Nick getting in between Summer and a threat before the fatal moment.

Ruth was a one off character before I decided to not be a monster and expand upon Ruby wanting a family.

Summer’s white guitar with a black paw print in honor of Dolt was me being a little cheeky because by then I had decided her therapy puppy in the end, Dunce, was a Dalmatian.

Originally I wanted some of Val’s eternal struggle to come from the idea she might be Trans. I didn’t fucking trust myself to write that well enough so I scrapped it. I tried for like a year or two but I didn’t think it was any good,

[eddiemunsons80sbaby]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you to the wonderful @stalactitekilla for tagging me in this :)

1) How many works do you have on AO3? I have 11 works on Wattpad. Here's the link if interested.

2) What's your total AO3 word count? 1, 128, 748. Holy shit. That's a lot when you look at it like that.

3) What fandoms do you write for? I have currently only been writing Stranger Things. I have multiple Eddie fics and just started my first Steve fic.

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Girl Crush (Eddie MunsonxOC) - Complete

Nobody's Fool (EddieMunsonxOC- Complete

Little Do You Know (Book three in a series that began with Girl Crush)- Complete

Grand Adventure (Book two in the series that began with Girl Crush)- Complete

Into Every Stranger Generation (Buffy/ST crossover post Season 4 with Vamp Eddie and an OC slayer)- Complete

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I really try to. I love comments. Every writer lives for them. It's always nice to know what people think of your work.

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Umm, I love angst but my fics usually have happy endings. I suppose Into Every Stranger Generation because it ended on a cliffhanger before I wrote the sequel.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hmm...as I said, I am a big fan of happy endings. I think Two Steps Behind had a really fluffy ending and I just love that fic.

8) Do you get hate on fics? I have. I am always open to constructive criticism but I have had people just post hate on my original characters. I have had people just bash what I am doing with the plot. I let it get to me for a while but then I realized that I write for me. Putting myself out there means opening myself up to that kind of judgement so I just have to let it go and move on.

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kinds? Oh yes. 😂😂😂 If you follow me, you are well aware of that.

10) Do you write crossovers? Into Every Stranger Generation gave me a chance to combine two of my favorite things, ST and BTVS. It was so much fun and I loved it. I would love to do more crossovers with other fandoms.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so. I'm not important enough for that. No one's stealing my stuff. I'm just over here in my own little corner of Tumblr.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? No. I haven't but that would be amazing.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have never had the opportunity but I would definitely be open to it. It would be a lot of fun to bounce ideas around with someone other than just my own brain.

14) What's your all time favorite ship? Well, EddiexReader and StevexReader because I love imagining those beautiful men with me. 😂😂😂 I have not written it but I have read a lot of Steddie and Destiel. Writing it intimidates me.

15) What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

See, I don't have a lot of WIPs. I have a ton of ideas but I really try to focus on one fic at a time and finish. It's hard and I've already broken that rule because I started writing a Steve fic on top of an Eddie one. I have a whole notebook of ideas. Sometimes it's just making those ideas come to life.

16) What are your writing strengths? I have no idea. 😂😂😂 I hope my writing is decent. I'm not nearly as good as some of the talented people on here. I'm just glad people like to read it.

17) What are your writing weaknesses? Staying focused. I will sit down to write and be so excited to have a solid hour of time and then my brain starts roaming.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I think it's wonderful. I've really enjoyed fics that have done this. If I were to do it, I would want to make sure I was doing it appropriately and respectfully.

19) First fandom you wrote for? When I was in high school, I wrote for BTVS.

20) Favorite fic you've written? Girl Crush will always have a special place in my heart. I love Dani and Eddie and their journey turned into a three part fic that was a part of my life for months. I don't know if anything will ever top them for me.

No pressure tags: @battymunson @eddiemunsons-missingnipple @hellfire--cult @indulgence-be-thy-name @loveshotzz @filthyjoetini @sweetsweetjellybean @corroded-hellfire @eddiemunsonsmum @uglypastels

[psycheterminal]

Ask response:

"If you answer this ask (you don't have to), can you block my name? I'd rather be anonymous, but I wanted to ask if you know of any good places to host media like Discord? Or just place where you can leave and label the stuff? Because I have discord servers that contain my own story ideas and pictures to go alongside it, and while I can store it all on a USB, I'd rather have it all in one place where I can access. Sorry, I know I'm not really phrasing this well, but do you know of anywhere you can store ideas, text, pictures, links, etc, that are simple and easy to use? Like I can load it up, log in, or whatever place a picture I have for a certain story full HD, and it stays there forever until I delete it never looses its quality or the text I place can be edited and added to"

My apologies for the inconvenience of not having anon asks on, I got hazed by some people back in the Homestuck days and once was enough. Some people are cruel cowards and I won't subject myself to such harassment again.

There's several. I recommend using multiple sources:

Google Drive. Basic space is free, but it's Google. Storage is at least cheap, if you need more. I won't link this.

Dropbox. The OG online storage backup. Cheap.

OwnCloud. It's simple to get up and running. There's a cool markdown text app called qownnotes that can hook into this, too!

Github and its competitors. You can make a repository with all your stuff and folders, mark it private.

Use a wiki service. There's a few FOSS wiki solutions! DON'T USE FANDOM!!

Neocities. If you pay 5$ a month, you're doing a good deed and you can make your own funky website, too.

Archive Of Our Own, aka Ao3 for your text. You can set it to only you can see it! If you have hosting space, you can actually fork the software for it! It's an archive! It's what it's for! It has an original work section!

BACK UP YOUR STUFF LOCALLY! Big local storage has gotten way, way more affordable. You can get a 2 tera solid state external drive for under 120 dollars, a spinny disk external drive for under 70$. If you don't want to use Amazon, check out Best Buy or a local computer shop for options.

You're most likely gonna use money. I know money's really, really tight for a lot of people and the situation just plain sucks. I can't do much but offer options for people to ponder.

My recommendation is to back up your stuff to a physical location, and to rent online storage space with multiple vendors. If you don't mind using google for now, use both GDrive and Dropbox for simplicity. If you don't mind doing more and learning some things, use Dropbox with OwnCloud, and post your text to Ao3.

I do NOT recommend Imgur for photo backup.

I do NOT recommend Apple services unless you already have an iPhone/Mac device.

[taleweaver-ramblings]

There's a new Schlock Mercenary Kickstarter, which means I should probably get busy figuring out what to do with my merch from the last Kickstarter. Besides the book, I got two pins and three Challenge Coins. I've seen people display pins using what is basically an embroidery hoop, and most of them use just fabric (plain or patterned), but, look . . . I'm am embroidery person now. If I'm going to do a hoop, I'm going to make it cool.

I think this dark blue fabric will be a good choice as far as color — it looks appropriately spacey, and both of my pins show up reasonably well against it. Still trying to decide what embroidery to do, though. I could keep it simple and do constellation patterns, though I'm also possibly doing that with my Cosmere pins, so . . . not sure if I want to repeat that. I could also maybe throw in a planet or two if I went this route? Or Eine-Aifa lineart, though I don't remember if we ever see that in full view.

I could do line art of some of the ships from the comic (probably with the ships on the challenge coins also in the picture). I really enjoy the ship designs in this strip, and this seems like a reasonably straightforward option. Downside: I know one of these characters wasn't on either ship, and I can't remember which ship the other one was on, and I know it'll bug me if I mess it up . . . I could probably resolve this by rereading part of the comic, but then I'll end up rereading the whole comic, and I cannot afford that time right now.

A small, absolutely mad part of me wants to try to do an actual scene of some kind, but the larger part of me that recognizes the limits of my artistic skills is trying to lock the crazy bit in a closet.

I'm also poking at the idea of painting the embroidery hoop, probably in spacey silver and blue. I have paint left over in appropriate colors from when I made a sword and dragon eggs . . .

If anyone has made these before — do you normally use multiple layers of fabric? Fabric and batting? Fabric and felt? I feel like a single layer of fabric isn't enough. (I'm going to look up some DIYs, but I like hearing people's actual experiences.) I have another hoop to finish before I do this one, so I have time to figure out what I'm doing.

Side note — as I said, there's another Kickstarter going on now! They've already met a bunch of the stretch goals, which is exciting. I'm really hoping we can get to 2,000 backers, which would probably blow the minds of the people running the campaign, and I want to see what they come up with as a reward for that. I'll drop a link here if you want to check it out. (You should also go check out the original comics, if you haven't read them. They get so good.)