#I'm completely aware that that place is trash too lmao

[syb-la-tortue]

I'm so sorry to hear about your account! Your bonus lore in the tags has long been my favorite thing about following you here. (Unfortunately for my ability to view your art, I had to bail out of Twitter a while back for my own good — and the site is totally unusable without an account now, even following your source links directly. :( )

I hope there is a way to restore your Tumblr without too much additional headache. In case there isn't (or maybe even if there is) and you'd like somewhere you can tag ramble, may I recommend Pillowfort ( https://www.pillowfort.social/ )? It is like a hybrid of Tumblr and LiveJournal, and it's user-funded so it can host adult content without having to appease advertisers. Not only does it support tag rambles and long-form posts, but there's also per-post flagging for adult content — so users can filter without having to rely on tagging conventions.

yeahhh I'm really sad to have lost all the tags and headcanon posts too, I had a backup of my whole blog made just after the first purge but I didn't think of making a new one since, which obviously was a mistake as I shouldn't have felt safe here...

so far I haven't heard back from tumblr support so I really don't hold much hope at this point for getting it back u_u

I got a pillowfort account back in the day (SybLaTortue over there too) but I never really got to use it (everything was still new and messy back then and it didn't feel that safe a place, idk if that changed?) and starting anew somewhere is always rough... would love to hear more opinions about it (and other platforms! Cohost is another that I thought might have potential?), bit like I heard of many creators starting to post over on Bluesky before starting to crosspost there myself, I'm a bit nervous jumping into a new place if I don't see a few familiar names around haha

[tenrose]

You know if you want to boycott something you should just completely ignore the whole thing instead of making it trend everywhere on the internet, thus grabbing everyone's attention. It's like they say, all publicity is good publicity.

It always hurts them more to be ignored.

Just a thought tho, obviously you can do as you want.

[pascalls]

I'm answering ALL OF THESE IN ONE POST LOL because some of them are good questions! Check out my answers under the read-more!

Charlie's current living situation in the Simpsons Universe is either in Reverend Lovejoy's basement, somewhere under a table at Moe's, or in one of Sam's trucks. He'll bounce back and forth from place to place- if none of the three are available, he'll find sleep in a dumpster somewhere. He's not very picky. I wrote about him sleeping in the trash in Gazebo of Horrors.

In most AUs, Charlie can speak conversational French, but nothing else.

His mutation in the Simpsons universe was immediate and complete. He won't continue to mutate further. Any larger doses of whatever Burns gave him would probably just end up killing him. I would imagine that it was kind of a funny werewolf-style transformation in Simpsons universe. In other, more realistic universes, his transformation was gradual, painful, and not at all pleasant. His voice is the same before and after the transformation! In Simpsons universe, he is American- in most other universes, he is from North London and has a fairly heavy cockney accent.

The transformation changed a lot about how Charlie perceives the world. He relies a lot heavier on scent and hearing now, and he does occasionally shed scales. He's also highly sensitive to cold temperatures. Most medicines, however, will still work on him. He's just prone to addiction- but that was evident even before his transformation. The mutation has not affected his sexual health in any significant way in the Simpsons universe. In others, he is known to be very fertile and can produce a lot of offspring with both humans and individuals of other humanoid species (werewolves, aliens, dragons, etc.) It gets weird and muddy. But he's known to have a fairly high sex drive post-mutation.

Yes, as stated above, Charlie has developed more animalistic behaviors and instincts. He's known to be territorial over mates or potential mates (or partners, putting it more politely). He's aggressive when challenged and is prone to biting and clawing in a fight as opposed to punching and kicking.

Charlie has never spoken or talked to the Parson. If they were to meet, Charlie would not be a fan of him. He's too smooth talking and he seems way too snooty. Charlie would put super glue on his chair.

I HAVEN'T SEEN THE RECENT EPISODES so I'm probably just like unaware of this entirely lmao but I don't think Charlie would have much knowledge of the relationship between Homer and Chalmers either. In his mind, those are two separate people who he has individual relationships with. Rarely would they be seen together as a threesome.

Charlie's tail is prehensile, but it's pretty heavy. He doesn't utilize it much AS an extended appendage, but he can, in a pinch. The funnest thing he does is lean back on his tail and use it as a balance so he can kangaroo kick someone right in the gut.

Charlie's tail is probably tugged on a lot during sex... I can imagine that it might have posed an interesting dynamic when first introduced to Lovejoy and Sam- but I think Chalmers would've been like "OH COOL, LET ME PULL THIS UNTIL IT HURTS". Sam would get used to it. Lovejoy would continue to be horribly awkward about it every time.

Charlie's eyesight has never been phenomenal. It got better with the mutation, not worse. But in almost every universe, his eyesight will suffer in some way, shape, or form. In his main universe, he is now blind. In Simpson's universe, he just needs them to see detailed things from far away.

Post-transformation, Charlie probably stole a lot of food out of the trash. His first decent meal was probably not until he could steal MONEY and then go order take-out or something. But he's never really been in danger of starvation.

I'd like to think Mr. Burns forgot about Charlie like literally two days after he disappeared- he had other weird shit to do. Smithers is 100% aware of Charlie (considering they sort of have a friends with benefits thing going on), but isn't keen on reminding Mr. Burns about it UNLESS he feels particularly like a bitch or if Charlie does something to piss him off. So far, so good. Mr. Burns probably didn't say much about Charlie's disappearance. He wasn't a popular dude before the incident, so it's not like anyone really cared LOL.

YES, you may draw her. Her name is Carla!

Charlie can probably pick apart a few words in Spanish, but not much! The only words he'd be familiar with are any that also sound similar to French.

His parents are worse. He would prefer to be caught by Mr. Burns.

Pokemon!Charlie would be a normal human! But he'd specialize in lizard/dragon/dinosaur pokemon. He actually has a team that I've developed before! It consists of Krookodile, Archen, Goomy, Breloom, Heliolisk, and Cranidos! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE QUASTIONS!

[slasherholic]

Hi, I have a request to make if it isn’t too invasive or anything. I thought I saw on a post you made previously that you have OCD? If I’m wrong, you can just stop reading and delete this now, but if I’m not:

I’m writing a character and they have OCD, but I’d hate to misrepresent or use any harmful stereotypes and I can’t find any good sources to go off of. And since you are a person that has OCD, I was wondering if you have any useful tips or information for me?

Sure thing :-)

The way I describe compulsions to people is basically as follows:

Imagine you have a terrible habit. A completely nonsensical habit. You are fully aware of how ridiculous and delusional the habit is, but the compulsion to do the habit is so insanely strong that resisting it simply is not an option. Try to resist the habit, and you will lose your god damn mind. The compulsion to do it will grow and grow, and your stress and anxiety levels will rise until it's all you can think about. You can put it off for a few minutes if you really need to, but eventually, the habit NEEDS to happen.

If I don't hold my breath every single time I walk past a trash can, a dumpster, the kitchen sink, a suspicious stain on the sidewalk or anything that I think is going to smell bad, then I need to perform another compulsion where I cough super obnoxiously and hit my fist against my chest to "fix it". I cannot flush my own toilet without getting a big old wad of toilet paper to touch the handle with and if my finger grazes the handle I will immediately have to run my fingers under very hot water to "burn the germs off". If I see a pregnant woman, I have to do the fist-hitting-thing on my abdomen until my body "feels right" again. (I'm sorry I don't hate pregant women lol.) Point is, if you don't do the compulsion, your brain makes you think something bad is going to happen as a result of not doing it. OCD is about your brain trying to return you to a state of "feeling right again".

People with OCD aren't delusional, we know the weird shit we're doing doesn't make sense. It isn't grounded in making sense. I know that hitting my stomach whenever I see a pregnant chick isn't going to abort the nonexistant imaginary fetus in my stomach that literally isn't there. I know coughing super hard when I smell something that doesn't agree with me isn't actually going to "get the bad smell out of my lungs" any faster. I still have to do these things, because my brain has convinced itself that this is the only way to fix the percieved problem. I don't want to do any of these things, but I have to. Thus, "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder".

If I'm in a place where it isn't socially acceptable to make weird sounds and do weird movements, I can hold it off until I'm able to excuse myself to somewhere private, a backroom, restroom, etc. But even if I've been putting the compulsion off for an hour, whatever it was that got triggered still needs to happen at some point. It is extremely distressing not to be able to do your compulsions; in cognitive behavioral therapy, they tell you that you need to put your compulsions off for as long as possible, and eventually the distress associated with not doing them will subside. I'm no psych, but so far, that really hasn't been my experience. I've had to put compulsions off at work for hours because it's scary to see someone randomly start hitting themselves (lmao,) and then I HAVE to do the compulsion the second I get back in my car.

I wouldn't worry about offending by writing a character with "stereotypical compulsions" or anything because they're often stereotypes for a reason. I have many compulsions that revolve around expunging my body of imagined germs, yet very few to do with obsessive organization, in fact I am chronically disorganized and it's a huge problem for me. But as long as you're trying to portray a character with compulsions other than your very basic "ahhhh I gotta wash my hands now ahhhhh I hate being messy" then I think you're good to go!

OCD can be treated with SSRIs and sometimes atypical antipsychotics. I was on risperidone on and off for a year before deciding to quit it because I really disliked the way it was making me feel. I felt disturbingly unlike myself. It did help my tics and compulsions, but not to the degree that it was worth sacrificing my creative motivation, silencing my internal dialogue that previously never shut the fuck up (which I enjoyed thank you very much) and risking developing tardive dyskinesia, which my doctor had to test me for every time I went in.

edit: If you want to pull reference from an existing character, Bruno Madrigal from Encanto has “superstitions” that upon my first watch IMMEDIATELY registered to me as OCD compulsions. I don’t know if he officially does have OCD, but damn, compulsions like that were pleasantly surprising to see portrayed in a movie.

Aaaaand that's all I can think of right now agshsgsd! I hope that was at least a little helpful! I don't speak for every person with OCD, that's just my experience with the disorder👍

[norcani]

for end-of-year book ask: 3, 5, 12, 16, 17, 25!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

The Terrible Girls by Rebecca Brown

Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller

The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

Clear and Muddy Loss of Love by PDL

The terrible girls is a short story collection about toxic lesbian relationships and breakups it's extremely abstract and sometimes hard to tell what it even exactly is about but that's what I liked about it. This book is probably for smarter people than I honestly.

Why Fish Don't Exist is the only nonfiction on this list, it's..part memoir of the author and part biography of a historical figure and part science history. The author starts getting obsessed with this taxidermist whose whole collection is destroyed and how he didn't give up after that and rebuilt it because her own life is a mess and she finds some sort of solace in the guy. But in the process of that she also learns he was kind of an asshole.

The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato. this is a book about, city planning, and trains, and also pop music. None of which are particularly interesting to me at least before reading the book... I promptly lost interest shortly after reading the book too but it's commendable to make me interested for even such a short while. Actually it did change how I think about pop music quite a bit. It's written an a faux-non fiction style with the author trying to solve the mystery of a missing pop star and a few other weird thigns surrounding her .

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

This is messy 20-something white woman with unfulfilling life literary fiction except the 20 something is 30 something and bisexual. I don't usually love these sort of books but this one stuck more of a chord with me. Roughly the plot is about the aforementioned 30-something moving in with her old best friend because her life is falling apart and she gets roped into helping film a documentary about a female fight club. This doesn't really encompass what it's about but putting into words what it's about feels like it almost cheapens it for me personally I got a lot of the book but I don't want to think about it in words..

Clear and Muddy Loss of Love

this..kinda belongs on this list and kinda doesn't. This is a huge fucking book about lesbian court politics. When it's good it's really good, and I could give it a much better sales pitch but after reading so many pages of it I'm just tired of it. I know I loved this but also I sort of don't want to see this book for a while lmao.

honorable mention goes to webcomic BUUZA it didn't really fit in with the rest but it's really good.

Writing these down ALL of these are gay in some form even if I didn't mention it.

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Hard to tell...I don't think any genre particularly stands out to me beyond like 50% of what I read being gay? That's not a genre though.

12.Any books that disappointed you?

I dropped 85 books this year but from ones I completed

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - great concet but execution is just trash.

The Final Reconciliation - again interesting concept ruined by the author being afraid of women

The Hollow Places - almost the same as the authors previous book but inferior. Got a review with this one when I was more mad about it.

Court of Lions - this is a sequel of a book that was kinda fine but this one wasted all its potential. I got a review for it also

16 . What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Conversations with Friends probably. It's the one that stands out to me as especially popular. I didn't dislike it but it's very 20 something white woman has self aware bad sex with her not boyfriend thought provoking #womenslit. it's like...fine... I attempted to read other books like this before because this is the state of womens fiction and among them this is one of the better ones. It's very similiar in some ways to We Play Ourselves, both are themed around art and messy relationships but clearly I loved one more than the other. Anyway it's compulsively readable the way reality tv is, but I didn't get anything out of it beyond "huh, I'm glad I'm not these people".

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Terrible Girls did because I didn't even know what it was about and I was about to delete it off my to be read shelf before going I might as well give it a chance. Same with the Ghost Network. Other than that I generally go into books hoping for the best anyway so I'm more often disappointed than surprised. 25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

I generally just set specific books to try (either read or set aside bc I have no interest). I also would like to read the books I bought this year which are just 3 or 4. I'll probably set the goodreads goal to something random I am not too concerned with that.

Thanks for the questions hope u enjoy this overly long answer

[bonvoyagenoona]

“So… if my thing was the willingness to bend over backwards to the point of losing myself… then… is the dealbreaker thing… your end of the trash spectrum?”

huh. so yoongi is on the other end of the spectrum: he doesn’t bend. i find the characterization of yoongi in this story fascinating because yoongi in real life pretty much doesn’t give a shit about petty dealbreakers… or at least that’s what he shows on camera because i don’t claim to know him personally of course. i mean, he always says shit along the lines of “who cares? it’s just [insert something]. what’s the big deal?” on cam lmao. and unless they’re in debate LMAOOOOO (yes im talking about the run BTS ep where they debated in a swimming pool hdkdhdkshdjdh)

Hmmmmmmmmm, I may have a hot take on Yoongi here! If you're interested in hearing me out, check out the info after the jump!

You're absolutely right about this characterization of Yoongi. He isn't willing to bend, and that's what his character is meant to explore. In contrast to Kitt, Yoongi faces certain challenges in being able to open up. This is why he suggests the kittenfishing idea to begin with. He's not an advocate for straight up catfishing/lying, but not necessarily because he's a saint. He also doesn't really want to change much about himself, nor does he want Kitt to change anything about herself. He'd rather just kinda dance around things. Keep things light enough so that he can adapt and move around if needed. Because once he gets to a certain level, he has to share a bit more. He has to open himself up. He will be left vulnerable.

You said yourself, 😻 Kittenfishing Anon, that his flaw as a best friend is that he's too soft. At the core of that is the worldview that he doesn't need to bend. That he doesn't want to bend. Because bending is hard. It's selfish, but from an ego preservation perspective, it's much safer to avoid connections altogether, and to leave when things get too close for comfort in the relationships he does foster.

And this is why I chose Yoongi for this characterization (apart from the fact that I just always put Yoongi in things because I'm an obsessed mess for him).

Yoongi does what he wants. He likes to keep to himself for the most part. He's stated that he's not looking for a romantic relationship right now because he's focused on work, so he recognizes that he just isn't in a place where he can fully offer himself to another person. Not saying that's a bad thing by any means. In fact, knowing that he is emotionally unavailable in that way shows self-awareness. I just happened to see it as something to base a completely fictional characterization on.

Another bit that fuels this characterization is that he's stated that his friendship with the guys is the first experience of this deep of a connection. Even with them, his closest confidants, he's still so uncomfortable accepting the phrase, "I love you".

image source

It's so easy for him to give love to others. Though he still kinda cringes when he expresses that love, he's certainly able to tell the others that he loves them. And yet, it still seems cringe-y for him to accept it back.

I agree that he takes things quite lightly. It's easy for him to say "so what?" about lots of things. But maybe it's because those things don't require him to be that involved. They don't really have anything to do with him. I wonder if he would say "so what?" about his music, for example, or anything that he views as an extension of himself. Does he demand to have more control? How might this change if he were dealing with something that has implications for how he is seen in the world?

I took that and ran with it for this fictional characterization, burying within that the fear of losing one's independence. Losing one's self. It's not really about the dealbreakers. It's the view that any particular thing that differs from his worldview will threaten him at his core. Especially when the stakes are high, like with a romantic relationship. A cheeseless pizza in and of itself isn't a terrible thing. But does that mean he has to eat cheeseless pizzas for the rest of his life?

Silly? Perhaps! But it's the kind of personality trait that I wanted to explore and use as a foil to Kitt's overextending. She wants to lose herself because she thinks she's so unimportant. She's willing to lose herself to win someone over. At the start of the story, this characterization of Yoongi would rather live alone forever than have to change himself or make room for something new. By the end, he sees that maybe it's not one or the other!

[hiraephim]

Mika deserves better: A mindless rant

(I accidentally deleted my last one lmao)

Clarification: : I do not hate Shinoa. I already know people are going to claim "You just hate her because you're a desperate fujoshi that wants mikayuu for life!!1!"

I hate what Kagami is doing to our characters. POTENTIALLY, I chalk it up to bad writing. Their character development is so messy and poorly correlated that they've become foriegn. The reason I say potential is because, coming from a writer myself, he can be redeemed if all of this has some underlying reason. Maybe there's intention behind it and if there is, that's not bad writing, Just cruel.

But seemingly, there's absolutely none.

Note: This also isn't me disregarding anyone else's trauma or claiming they've healed from their past.

MOVING ON

I WAS only going to talk about the most recent turn of events and why Kagami potentially pairing Yuu and Shinoa together makes for a bad plot, and completely trashes probably the best loved character in the series: Mikaela

I will get to that of course, but lets go back a little further to help make sense of everything.

Mikaela has suffered and is STILL suffering from that rock of loneliness he's experienced in the last 4 years.

Listen.

I'm not angry that Yuu found a new "family" to place his will into. It's much healthier to place your meaning into protecting your loved ones instead of avenging them. BUT, none of that matters if you become selfish and greedy with your desires. No desire is good once you fall back into your own ego and are blinded by all else to reach your end goal.

Not. One. Desire.

You end up making heartless mistakes and using/hurting the people around you for your OWN sake, like Yuu is now.

I'm getting off topic though.

Mika never got that opportunity to connect. I do believe there is meaning in his relationship with Krul but that doesn't compare to what Yuu was able to find in his situation. Love, care, opportunity, and promise.

(while I believe Yuu DID find some type of worth, it was a toxic kind. It's causing him to contradict everything he claimed he stood for)

Mika's been stuck with this agonizing belief that he's filthy. A monster, wallowing in self-hatred and caught in a toxic cycle with Ferid, the very man who put him in this situation.

He grew up in the same place he resented so dearly.

Furthermore, he's well aware of these dangerous experiments they're doing on the only man he's living for. The hatred of human experimentation is common theme for Mikaela (as well as other characters.)

Then, after finally finding Yuu with the means to save him, the first thing he gets is toyed with.

Yuu is playing with his emotions here. Fear of loneliness and blatant guilt. And sure, Yuu DID beg him to stay alive and drink his blood, but his later actions don't have an excuse.The rest of the time, Mika is staying right by Yuu's side in an attempt to save him. Protect him from how he's being used.

You can say he's allowing Guren to use him because of his trauma but that still doesn't excuse the fact that he's neglecting Mika's emotions (which yes! is! very! important!) among everything else.

It's still a factor in his selfishness.

Every little word Mika says gets thrown out the window in favor of Yuu's desire to "save anyone and everyone", no matter the cause. No matter what danger he puts the people he claims to love in or how he disregards them emotionally AND physically. Totally contradicts himself. He's blinded by his greed.

Mika's concerns are neglected entirely and he is only met with hostility when he expresses them. Is he going to leave? Of course not! But right now, he's damn near an unpaid babysitter, watching the man he loves more than anything- his reason for life- swallow up and immerse himself in everything that goes against his morals. While, in the process, that man is hurting everyone around him without care.

Now, back to my point in the beginning,

To pair Yuu and Shinoa together AKA make Shinoa's love NOT one-sided is simply cruel to Mikaela.

You cannot deny the bond that Yuu and Mika have runs much deeper in any aspect under the sun than anyone else in the Shinoa squad.

These two have created connections and attachments that are not and will never be shared with anyone else. They've lived, fought, and resented with one another from the beginning. They have breathed each other. It is human to favor or at least feel DIFFERENT torwards another person based on your history together.

They're soulmates.

I am in no way trying to say they should abandon everyone else for each other. The Shinoa squad are amazing friends.

Anyone you fight with in such devastation will become like family to you. That's a given.

I also don't think It'd be right to rip happiness away from Shinoa. Not what I want either. I don't wish to see her suffer at all. I truly don't hate her character.

I'm saying it's only cruel and unfair to knock Mika down to just another member of the Shinoa squad and not be favored in some way. Being humans, the only way that makes sense to me would be romantically. Right? I feel as though it is unrealistic for Yuu to catch feelings for anyone else, at least at this point in the story.

That's what makes this writing bad (again, among other things.)

On another note, Mika never got the reconciliation and resolution with Yuu that he absolutely deserved, whether they end up romantically or not.

Everything I just ranted about probably doesn't make sense and is put into words poorly lmao (probably many a grammar error as well) and I got lazy with providing panels but if you read the entire manga, you should know which scenes talking about. I have more to say but it'd just be way too much.

I do want to discuss this !!

Please reblog ^^