#and some influencers are speaking out BC PEOPLE ARE BLOCKING THEM

[rusmii]

so ik I said I'm not one for drama, but I feel as if I need to speak up abt a certain subject that's been circulating recently. I wanna show awareness to others abt this person's behavior, because it's reoccurring in any fandom they're apart of/potentially will be in.

WARNING : DO NOT GO OUT TO HARASS/SEND HATE TO ANYONE MENTIONED IN THIS POST ! it is simply intended to raise awareness

tws;;; manipulation, gaslighting, victim complex, refusing to change/refusing help from others, blaming others for their own problems, lashing out/sudden meltdowns, accidental misgendering, accidental crossed boundaries, lack of communication, taking their anger out on people, drugs, usage of weed/being high, hardcore gatekeeping characters, suicide mentions, threatening to commit suicide, mentions of self harm, sexual assault/harassment, human trafficking, burdening others with their vents and problems, gets sensitive and possessive over fictional characters, major hypocrisy.

edit; sorry accidently posted without adding the last bit of screenshots... had to repost :p

@/lu-naes or luma ( prev known as @/dazaisdior + @/kurolumiis ) has been active in many writing communities, but have been the most active in the; wuwa, bsd, genshin/hsr communities.

starting out in the genshin community, I am unsure abt lumas original rep there, but I do know that they were practically forced out with a horrible rep to their name.

going around the end of their time in the genshin community, it was brought to light, about lumas excessive + subconsciously manipulative discord messages in a genshin server they were in.

here is the link to the og callout post from someone in the genshin community. if u were blocked by them bc u were associated with luma.

CALLOUT POST

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS IF U WERE BLOCKED

TDLR; luma, as a minor, has been in nsfw spaces and even creating nsfw pieces of their own. they had been known as a terrible gatekeeper towards their f/os, including; xiao + scaramouche [genshin], dazai + ranpo [bsd], dan heng/imbibitor lunae [hsr], scar + jiyan [wuwa]. luma would then go on to say that they felt like killing themselves, and how awful/left out they felt whenever they saw their f/os being selfshipped with someone else. they also at the age of 16 have admitted to being under the influence of weed and has mentioned drugs on their blog many times. i don't know exactly where luma has been finding weed to get high on, but I do hope they have stopped now.

here are some screenshots of my dms with them on their prev acc @/dazaisdior or @/kurolumiis, informing them of the callout post and asking some questions concerning the gatekeeping and drugs/being high;

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS OF THE DM

luma had given me really vague answers, but since it was their buisness and privacy, I didn't push any further. ultimately in the end, I've decided to give them a second chance to redeem themselves because I thought that they may have matured or at least somewhat grown out of their toxic ways since the genshin community.

giving them a second chance was a mistake on my end, as I soon found out that they in fact, would not change. instead I got to saw the side of them that the genshin community saw—and just as history repeats, it happened on discord again.

at the start, luma was fine, yknow- acting normal like everyone else right? they did vent a lot in the vent channel, but I didn't rlly bat an eye at it bc they were at least venting in the right place.

at a certain point in the server, we had confronted luma abt writing nsfw—telling them that it was wrong to be writing smut as a minor. we had offered them many alternatives, such as; writing smut but not posting it until they're 18 and writing smut but in a journal or something. this went on for abt 2 hours until luma decided to become a sfw blog and create an entirely new acc which is now @/lu-naes.

not just about writing nsfw though, we had also confronted them about posting daily vents without using their vent tag the past recent month or so. and now, I am not saying that they couldn't vent—venting is fine, but when it comes to daily vents like lumas, there should be some sort of tag to it ( or put it under a cut ) to block out their vents. we did end up suggesting for them to make a side/vent/personal blog if they wanted to, and so they took up that offer and created @/lumxiaos, to which they've constantly subposted abt us on.

luma, during these two confrontations, was very gaslight-y/a little manipulative with their responses but we can save that for another day.

anyways, keep in mind abt the subposting, bc I need to provide context abt everything first.

so this stemmed from a convo abt them saying they kinned deadpool blah blah, and zai (owner of the server ) said that they were not like deadpool bc luma was empathetic or something like that.

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS

now, idk how some people will interpret lumas last message, but me and zai interpreted it as; "oh i got gossip and tea, but it might too be triggering for it to be on main chat". if that made sense in a way?

so, when we go into vents, we were dabsmacked in the face with vents. you can call us insesntive for replying the way we did, but I have vents muted for a reason. but anyways, luma had a breakdown(?) and blamed us for a lot of their problems when we didn't respond in the way they wanted us to.

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS

after a while, the situation sort of.. escalated? luma was using a mutual of ours ( briar ) as a messenger to send zai things and vice versa. and a whole lot of stuff happened.

so here's a timeline of events to shorten what happened, and ill only be providing screenshots for the more important things that had happened;

-> luma vent -> breakdown -> leaves server -> messenger bri -> zai confronts them on why they left -> luma rejoins -> luma apologizes -> luma leaves again -> luma takes it out on bri -> zai confronts again -> they duke it out -> luma runs away from their problems and the argument -> unmutuals us/drops us ( left everyone as followers ) -> random subposting abt us on @/lumxiaos

long story;

after luma had their breakdown, they went to briar bc they thought that me and zai blocked them. we didn't block them though, and js assumed that luma was just afraid to dm us- causing zai to go confront them instead. after they had talked it out, zai re-invited luma to the server, to which they apologized for;

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS

after their apology, most of us thought that this would have died down and we'd go back to normal, but this didn't last as long as I hoped.

when luma sent a picture of scar from wuwa, me and briar started jokingly dogshitting on his appearance ( if you've been on my blog long enough, you'd know that I'm already a character slander, so this is normal behavior for me ). instead actively telling us their boundaries, luma slowly died down in the server until they left again out of anger- causing us to be confused again.

this is when briar messaged luma and was being the brunt of their anger/manipulation + also blaming us for relapsing(?).... anyways, zai confronts luma again, and it's just luma not being able to handle being told upfront, that they're the problem.

when it came to the misgendering, I can 100% take full accountability and say that I had forgotten that luma was nb and goes by they/them prns. but with lack of communication/boundary enforcement on their end, I didn't know when I was accidentally misgendering them or crossing their boundaries.

the only boundary luma had set, was when they dmed zai on discord about a server member being 32, and how uncomfortable they felt being in a place with someone so much older ( luma's 17; going on 18 for context ).

here are screenshots of what went down within the span time of like a few hours;

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS

LINK TO OTHER SS

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS OF LUMA BEING UPSET OVER SCAR + BRI DROPPING LUMA

+ also blaming us for a bunch of other things that has never happened

don't get me wrong, luma is completely valid in the way they feel. one of the problems that lie in this though is how they've never once came to us ( me or zai ) to set things straight ( enforce boundaries ), but rather went to briar to burden them with their vents/lashing out.

here's screenshots of zai confronting luma;

LINK TO ZAI AND LUMAS FIRST CONFRONTATION

LINK TO ZAI AND LUMAS SECOND CONFRONTATION

after all of this, luma proceeded to subpost abt us on their personal/vent blog

LINK TO SCREENSHOTS OF LUMAS SUBPOSTING

here's also stuff that me and zai noted from briar abt what luma did to her/with her on vc ( ty zai for taking note of everything ) ;

regular conversation abt genshin -> lumas random confession about a weed addiction and has been smoking weed since 15 (??)

anytime someone jokingly picked on them, they'd bring it up somewhere and call themselves unstable and say they'd relapse

anytime briar tried to leave any situation they'd complain about briar being mean and they'd force her to pick sides

every single day luma would have a problem and call up briar to vent to her, causing constant burdens to pile on briar

they'd pressure briar into telling them what was in the nsfw chat???? despite not being allowed access??? ( they ARE a minor; age 17 )

calling briar on vc, saying that she ( briar ) would burdened everyone by her saying parents were poor?? basically telling briar she can't talk about her own experiences ( but only luma can for some reason..? weird of them to imply but ok ).

blaming whole conversation ( about trying to help luma ) about briar and guilt tripping her saying "I'm gonna kill myself and its your guys' fault"

Luma is a subconsciously manipulative person, with hypocritical tendencies and a constant negative aura around them that ends up dragging everyone else down into a horrid mental state with them. They are not someone who knows how to communicate or enforce boundaries, yet will demand that those same unknown boundaries are respected, with a childish response whenever we cannot read their mind to know what they are. Majority of these dramas that have happened with their being the cause could've all bean easily avoided with some simple responsibility and change. They have shown an inibility to grow or mature as a person - it is a repeat offense. With any amount of help we offered for any amount of time, they would acknowledge and not show any signs of improvement in any of their actions. You reap what you sow.

Again I reiterate that YOU ARE NOT TO SEND HATE, ANONS, OR NASTY MESSAGES OF ANY KIND. Change can only come from the person who's responsible for their own actions, and it has been proven many times now Luma does not accept any kind of help, no matter if they beg for it. The purpose of this post is to hold Luma accountable for their actions and leave a record of what they have done, so they can't twist the narrative to shift blame. This is not a call to mass block or report them, or to pick sides, or to bully anyone involved. We take full responsibility on our part for any negative actions we have caused.

[bandzboy]

Sorry but bts are literally serving in the South Korean military they likely cannot speak about Palestine due to their commitment to the military rn. The virtue signaling has gone too far here how would blocking bts help the cause for Palestine in the slightest.

do you think that bisan knows that?? like people outside of the kpop sphere have no idea in the slightest and palestinian people are supporting this blockout movement so who i am to say is not helping the palestinian cause?? “gone too far”?? it’s been 7 months and 75 years but i am sorry their feelings are valid and palestinian fans also feel sorta bad that nobody has said anything and i understand that to an extent because if my fav group did not say absolutely nothing abt the genocide that my people are going through i would be disappointed

[golbrocklovely]

Sooo... i just found out about the "block 2024" (i think thats how people call it) on tiktok... and jumped into your ask to know what do you think about it

I personally think like even tho it's a very interesting iniciative, it's like... wrong??? Like i just don't think that mindset of "speak about it and give them your money or i'll block you and claim you're supporting killing innocent people" it's the way to get them to help. Also if celebrities/influencers speak or somenthing they would also be called out from speaking up just to not get blocked.... it's like no way out

I'm asking you this because i've seen people targeting SnC about this

i mean, if ppl want to do it, go for it i guess. i don't personally think it's gonna change the fact a genocide is happening. bc what exactly does it accomplish?

boycotting business, that makes sense to me. calling them out also makes sense. blocking a celeb does what exactly? send the message that you don't like them or their (possible) beliefs? okay then. that's not gonna stop the genocide. and why do you think they care about you not liking them, genuinely?

and again to me, it just feels like you are making a genocide about yourself. you're upset that your fave celebs and influencers aren't saying something so you're no longer interacting with them.

(not saying you anon, just the ppl that are doing this)

i personally feel like we need to focus on the politicians and businesses that both benefit and have done nothing to stop this and call for a ceasefire. those are the ppl in power, not some random celeb or influencer.

but do what you want. block whoever. idc. and if ppl do it to snc, so be it. the only celebs that should be getting blocked are the ones against palestine, imo.

[ambassadorarlert]

currently laying in bed sick and figured i’d get some things off my chest

being on tumblr and interacting w ppl on here is strange bc 2023 was the roughest year of my entire life, like no joke. irl and online, i’ve been forced to stay quiet, hidden, and endure being burnt from every possible angle. i’ve gotten out of one toxic cycle barely by the skin of my teeth and the second chance of life i was given would be a wasted if i didn’t change the way i live and think.

this blog used to be a safe haven for me, a place where i could share my writing (which is something I wanted to get back into since falling out of it for years.) i had a huge medical accident, and never got treated properly for it because I couldn’t afford to see a doctor (financial abuse woo!! 😀) and was gaslight to believe certain things weren’t as they seemed, so my health was pushed to the back burner and i had to press on for someone who never even loved me. now that i’m away from that situation, i’ve been trying to not put pressure on myself to write and upload. i see writing as a whole an art and the things i want to create cannot be rushed or mass produced, which is what a lot of younger people are used to and why they’re so rude and demanding requests, why they don’t read rules or respect boundaries, why they say out of pocket shit because they’re used to commenting on their fav creator/celebs pics without repercussions. writers aren’t influencers or content creators — we’re people who do what we love for free. no creators programs to pay us and gives us platforms, no sponsorships, some of us don’t even get tips. when i see mutuals leave certain fandom spaces because of hate, it genuinely makes me sad.

on top of abuse irl, i’ve been getting abused on here as well. internet harassment hardly constitutes as “bullying” in the eyes of some but not to me. this is an especially hard topic for me to talk about, and i can hardly be vague about it because it will kick up a bunch more shit. but if want see the change, i have to speak up. if i want to be comfortable, i first have to get used to be uncomfortable. I never said anything until now, because it’s been dragged out long enough. they’re younger than me and are clearly suffering psychological issues. i for real don’t want them to be hurt. but it’s hard to not notice what they’re doing when they’re doing it. they keep tabs on everything i say and people i talk to, make blogs and remake blogs when I block them. i don’t have definite proof of this part in particular, but i suspect they go around and tell stories about me which makes sense as to why mutuals i’ve made will block/unfollow me out of the blue. (anyone can block who they want for whatever reason they want, but the pattern is there and it’s strange.) i’m sure they’ll try to take this post and create an issue, victimize themselves and change the narrative, but I don’t care anymore. i mentioned no names and i said what i said.

i want my blog back. i want to write my silly fics and stories. i want to be able to support people unapologetically and see all the self ships, say what i want to say and post what i want to post and show ppl that love is everything and there’s no place for hate in 2024. i’ve always been outspoken and called bullshit when i smelled it, and have said whatever has come to my mind. so if there’s anything I’ve ever said that may have offended someone in anyway, i actually truly am sorry and will 100% say it to your face if need be. its easy for me to troll real trolls, and stick up for other people who have a hard time defending themselves. i need to learn how to do the same for myself, and relearn how to take care of myself. i feel more comfortable doing that one step at a time.

[monstersinthecosmos]

9, 19 and 89 for the writer game.

(writing asks!)

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

THIS IS TOUGH I DON'T KNOW. In the ideal world it means they won't like fuck my story up too much? Like I'm a huge movie nerd and I consider all the movies I watch as important to me as a writer as books that I read? I love movies? It would be so fun and cool to see ????

BUT LIKE I'M TRAUMATIZED BY BAD ADAPTATIONS THAT ARE SO REMOVED FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL THAT THEY'RE UNRECOGNIZABLE LOL. So. """ideally""" sure! But who knows.

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

sdgjakds what a great question; as a fanfic writer learning from other fanfic writers, my no. 1 influence would be fuckin SCARLETFEVER from FFnet whose work has been long scrubbed from the internet but that I have downloaded and I still revisit. They wrote these like EPIC NOVEL Resident Evil fics when I was in high school in like 2003 and I cannot emphasize enough how influential these were on me and how much I still am always going back to them when I ask myself questions about what type of writer I'd want to be and what type of fic I'm trying to write.

When I returned to fic writing back in like 2016 I was like exclusively reading YOI fic (bc there was like zero VC fic I wanted to read lol) so some of the YOI writers that influenced me SO MUCH: SuggestiveScribe, scribblywobblytimeylimey, and dance_across ! ALSO THIS FIC THAT HAS BEEN ORPHANED NOW IDK WHO WROTE IT BUT THIS FIC LIKE BROKE SOMETHING OPEN IN MY HEAD ABOUT NONLINEAR STORYTELLING ? HELLO?

And then from 2018-onward I've been reading almost exclusively Sheith fic and a couple people who really have influenced me so much are Rifa and an_aphorism/AphAfterDark !

(Every fic writer I linked is someone who helped me think meaningfully about the way I write porn LOL)

AS FAR AS REGULAR BOOKS; I think there's something a little unshakable about the authors I liked when I was a teenager because they sort of created a blueprint? In middle school I was reading a lot of Anne Rice and Francesca Lia Block and I think both of them are sort of opposite versions of sensual writing; Anne Rice tends to be quite verbose and go on and on and on vs FLB's writing is so tight and light but full of sensory words ! So I think like those two always made me want to like describe colors and smells and feelings etc.

Then in high school I was really into Wally Lamb (he only had 3 books at the time but I was really into all of them). Like his book I Know This Much is True was absolutely my favorite book for years. I haven't revisited it in a while so I get worried because sometimes I revisit books I loved in high school and I'm just appalled them LMAO. Like I revisited his book She's Come Undone last year and I hated it so much hkjdsgasdhjk. But I think like the way he wrote Dominick's voice was so influential to me because it just cuts through all the bullshit and there's sort of like a ruggedness to it that feels so sincere and human. (I remember around this time I also read some Hubert Selby, Jr which is like not at all something I aspire to write like LMAO but basically gave me a lot to think about when it comes to like, formal prose & grammar vs writing the way people actually speak.)

So I think I came away from these authors as this Frankensteined thing of like, trying to be sincere & human but also trying to use sensory words so that I can feel immersed????????????????

89. sarcastic narrators: entertaining or overdone?

GOD LIKE. IN THE RIGHT HANDS??? VERY GOOD. But possibly overdone. I'm actually in the middle of a book right now and I'm hating the narrator SO MUCH LOL and I'm just dying to like make it through enough of this book to figure out if it serves a purpose or if the author is just a cynical asshole lol. I'm so tired of cynicism man. Like obviously when it fits the character it fits the character but it's just so exhausting when it's thrown at you as a default you know? I've read a few too many cynical books lately and it doesn't bring me any joy LOL.

[arethereanyoriginalusernames]

Let’s talk… next gen!

Part 1: the kids

What’s more fun than seeing what’s next?

Ok , so this was actually something initially done just for fun with pals on Discord. And… it kinda exploded?

So, let’s go over this precious babs, who the parents are, and how their parents influence them

From top left to bottom right

——-

Jelly the jellyfish Demon

Age: Around 4-6 years old

Gender: Uses they/them, but it’s unclear if they identify as nb, as they “can’t choose one gender” bc they “love all of them!”

Parents: Missi, Trix The Patchwork Demon

Jelly is an air headed but loveable bean, and they make a point to say that they love everything and everyone. They love everything! … Well, except PB and J sandwiches. Jelly is very imaginative and make up complex plot lines for their plushes. They love collecting and sharing their plush toys, and they’re especially close with Irini. Jelly can be annoying and very naïve, but it’s hard to stay mad at a child who’s head is just full of jellybeans

———-

Moth

Age: 5-8

Gender: Intersex, uses they/them

Parents: Wasp, And Morteus The Grim Reaper

Moth is reserved and mature for their age. They have a passionate interest for bugs of all kinds, and they are frequently trailed by moths. They’re self conscious and shy, and they like to avoid conflict when they can. They will even run away from home if they think their parents don’t like each other (or at least when Wasp scolds Morteus for doing something stupid like replacing a staircase with Lego blocks). Moth fears misbehaving, and is very well behaved. Many find it funny that a child resembling a moth is literally called Moth, but it makes sense when they learn that Morteus is one of the dads.

———

Soli

Age: 5-8

Gender: Female

Parents: Clairisse the Rock Angel and Jadis the Serpent Demon

Soli has a reputation for being a bit of a problem child, as she not only tends to insult the other kids, she will often ignore any adult that isn’t her parents and will deliberately act miserable to get a reaction. This isn’t just out of normal juvenile delinquency, however. Soli is shunned by many angels and even some demons, as she is half angel half demon. This prompts many to debate in front of her where she really belongs. Soli tends to take out her emotions in music, and aspires one day to perform with her moms. She’s already musically gifted and can already hold the attention of a room of people.

———-

Loki Malisci

Age: 5-8

Gender: Male

Parents; Chronos Cendrillon and Chess Malisci

Loki is what many would consider “a little shit”. Inheriting his father’s telekinesis, he’s known for purposefully misplacing things, and causing all kinds of mischief while talking back to adults. He’s clearly smart, and already can speak multiple languages. He also tends to laugh at the misfortune of the other kids. That being said, it’s well understood amongst the kids to not bring up his home life. Loki was the result of a one night stand, and he lives with his mother. His parents aren’t particularly close, and both are very busy. This might be why Loki acts out as much as he does.

————

Irini Dracula

Age: 4-6

Gender: Female

Parents: Vlad (Lucian) Dracula and Mina Hellsing

Irini is definitely her father’s child. Jumpy, easily scared and very shy. She tends to turn into a bat when frightened. Despite this, she’s very adventurous and loves to see new places. Irini loves bats And loves helping Mina take care of them. She also loves whenever her dad plays video games as she enjoys watching him play. Irini is very close with Jelly and considers them her best friend, and she’s also the main target of Loki’s teasing apart from Vesta. Speaking of Vesta, Irini does not like Vesta at all, as she feels she’s forced to hang out with her due to their parents being friends.

——-

Vesta Dawnsview

Age: 4-6

Gender: Female

Parents: Phoenix Dawnsview and Persephone Zima

The general consensus with Vesta is that you would never be able to tell that Phoenix was one of her moms. Unlike both her moms, Vesta is an absolute doormat with little confidence. She doesn’t even have confidence in her powers to create and manipulate will o wisps. She’s the frequent target of teasing, and is often left out in games, adventures, etc. Older characters try to fix this, but Vesta has little hope anything will change. Nowadays, she keeps to herself and works on mastering her powers. She also has been learning skills such as music, first aid, combat, and more in the hope that it will aid her making friends.

——

Shadow

Age: 6-9

Gender: Female

Parents: Unknown, adopted by Syrellis

Shadow is a shifter who can take the form of a greater bird of paradise, and … that’s often all people know about her. She rarely speaks and many even assume she’s nonverbal. That’s why she was given the name Shadow. She’s very close and appreciative of Syrellis, and wishes he’d stop believing that he isn’t good enough at looking after her. Whenever Syrellis can’t look after her, he makes sure to leave her in the care of someone trustworthy, most often with Wrenlen, the kingdom’s blacksmith. Shadow has tried helping out at the blacksmith shop, and she’s surprisingly gifted. She’s already wielded some items. Shadow also has a love for berries, and will nab them whenever she can. Shadow also suffers from mild food anxiety and thus is always checking if there’s food available.

——-

Clara Dawnsview

Age: 3

Gender: Female

Parents: Ifrit Dawnsview And Kingsley

People fear Clara, and frankly it’s not too surprising. At three years old, she already operates her robot assistant NC, can build a bomb, does not act like a three year old whatsoever, has intelligence comparable to the adults, and was apparently brought into the world by Azzazel, the goddess of trickery and riddles. She’s well known for being an absolute gremlin, and can legally not be left unsupervised. Clara was born deaf, and Ifrit constructed NC to aid Clara and look after her in the absence of her parents. Clara also has the power to establish telekinetic connections between people and has absolutely used this power for trolling, especially with her uncle Johnathan. She has a crush on Bronie Orlok, has a chummy relationship with her cousin Vesta, and will absolutely beat up Loki whenever she finds out he’s been teasing Vesta again.

——

The Orlok Siblings

Bronie Orlok(left), Morgan Orlok (middle), Chip Orlok (right)

Age: 4-6

Genders: Female, female, male

Parents: Logan Orlok, Vinne, Connie and Ronnie

No, nobody knows how Logan, the local vinegar chugging eclectic, got 3 kids. And nobody wants to ask. Morgan and Chip are clones of Logan. Morgan is obsessed with, makes, and drinks cooking oil. Chip is conspiratorial and frequently comes up with utterly ridiculous conspiracies, that Morgan always believes. These two enjoy sleeping in wooden crates and will cause utter chaos and devastation wherever they go. And nobody likes being stuck with babysitting them. And then there’s Bronie. Often called the “normal one” Bronie is a sweet girl who knits, sews, and crochets. She’s often embarrassed by her siblings and usually ends up apologizing on their behalf. Despite their oddities and differences, the three love each other very much and wouldn’t trade each other for the world.

————-

Let me know what you think of the babs!

Art and characters made by me

[artisticbunny]

Hey did I already send this…? Asking bc I thought I sent an ask this morning… but I guess not?? It’s a fuzzy memory anyways plus I think the internet blipped around then so :P.

Alright Bun! New question! I love the story so far (because I can’t express this enough sjdisjkssmeiwjdud) and I have writers block, so please fill my brain with pretty knowledge and ideas!

C-can we hear about Quincy the time please? Knight from a distant land… coming to end a prophecy that spelled ‘this is gonna be bad’ to him! But then become Brook’s practical father! Like how does that work bro where are you from what is your life story??

(Just seems quite interesting overall Yk?? Like HIM and all. I like knights anyways they’re great, and so is necromancy it’s interesting. Like how do you keep the body, the spirit, and the like essence itself alive? Plus how long might it last? But… I guess this is getting a bit long lol. Love you, and I love the story too! I hope you don’t get writers block like me! <3333)

I don’t think you’ve sent in this ask before, no!

I would LOVE to give you more info on Quincy but unfortunately his backstory is plot relevant so I can’t say too much I’m sorry!!!

What I CAN reveal is that Quincy was taken in by his family at a young age, and is very protective over them because of this. He loves his family VERY much, and would do ANYTHING to protect them, including possibly hurting/fatally injuring a child that is thought to somehow bring calamity to them. I can’t say how his family is connected to the prophecy just yet, tho.

Over the course of the story he learns more that Brook is literally the most harmless, well meaning person, and is literally incapable of bringing the destruction that is understood to come from the prophecy. He also gets very attached because she reminds him a lot of himself in a lot of ways from before he was taken in by his family. He can kind of guess the conditions she was kept in by the way she looks and acts, which are both things he didn’t really notice at first before he dove in head first. Now that he’s noticed it, he knows and understands some of what she’s gone through and IS going through, even if he doesn’t know the details.

I’m sorry I can’t give too much more insight at this point!!! I’ll give you a fun fact and a reference for him to hopefully make up for it!

Fun fact: Quincy swears like a sailor. Literally every other word that comes out of his mouth while he is able to speak is some sort of curse word.

Ref pic(s):

(With helmet)

(Without helmet)

As for the necromancy part-

Magic is what keeps beings like this from decaying any further than they have upon the use of the spell.

When you use a piece of your magic to magically jumpstart another person, you DO get an influence over them, as previously stated, but they also keep their essence as well. You’re kind of calling back some of the magic still hanging around in their corpse, not yet returned to the earth, and combining it with your own so that they can go ahead and take in their own over time like other living beings can. Which is why, over time, people who are under the influence of necromancy can have bits of themselves shine through, ESPECIALLY when taking orders. Does this make sense? I’m sorry if it doesn’t, it’s hard to put what I’m thinking of down into words qwq

Surprisingly, I haven’t thought about how long it lasts for!!! That’s a really good question!!! I’d say that when the caster dies all the influence they had over the affected dissipates. The affected naturally will get weaker and weaker and more and more sluggish as time goes on after the caster dies, and will eventually go to sleep and not wake back up. The amount of time that takes can vary from a few days to years after the fact depending on how long they’ve been revived for.

[smonk-wonk]

What red flags should people watch out for? Did you do those things too?

I mentioned most of the ones I dealt with in my last reply

But interpersonal relationships shouldn't drain you firstly. That's one of the biggest tells that something is very wrong. They shouldn't make you anxious, you shouldn't be afraid you'll say the wrong thing or they'll take you disagreeing or speaking your mind as a challenge

Another one is if they use fear as a way to control you. Sometimes it's obvious when they're doing it. "I'll hurt myself" "I'll leave you" "I'll deny you something" (ex: affection, activities together). Making the clear message or even outright saying "you're making me do this"

And sometimes it's less obvious. They'll relapse with substances or sh or say they've been thinking about hurting themselves. Maybe not directly saying you're responsible, but making you feel responsible. Say you have a disagreement or they've hurt you and you tell them they did something wrong. Then they confess that night that after such a stressful day they've relapsed without specifying that it had anything to do with you because they know they don't need to say it. Might even be under the influence (or pretend to be) while talking to you to emphasize their point. And you don't want to feel responsible for that pain

Being volatile in general or making something a thing that definitely doesn't have to be a thing because they want to fight. If they repeatedly pick fights with you it's not worth it

Something I noticed in hindsight in many relationships (when I say this I mean friendships too) is also that they'll experiment with what they can get away with saying/doing. They're not oblivious to the fact they're making you uncomfortable. They'll push boundaries or even just be edgy and say things they know might upset you like edgy jokes or slurs or say/expose you things that could trigger you and shut you down if you say anything

Invasion of privacy- they should not be searching your phone or computer or journals or what have you but instead address with you reasons they distrust you enough to want to do that

Also one thing some dipshits have done to me was cut me off to test if I "cared enough" to pursue them and beg them to come back. People might do that for a few reasons, maybe reinforcing that you depend on them. Maybe for attention and to fuck with your head so that out of fear you'll bend to their will so you don't lose them because them abandoning you was scary. Don't play into their fucking games and never beg for respect

Also enabling you if you do some stupid shit, that's bad lol

those are only some off the top of my head thinking back on like, personal experiences. A lot of shit is a blur I know there's worse that I can't remember

As far as whether I'm guilty of those behaviors, I'd say to an extent but definitely not severely the way I'm describing it. I let people enable me and I enabled them. An ex friend (who is now blocked bc she told me to kms lol) said kys to someone suicidal that I didn't like because she vilified them when looking back they were just struggling and honestly looking for community and acceptance and acting out because people like that "friend" and myself and honestly hundreds of people on that platform were dicks who felt very self righteous putting people in their place. And yeah she'd do and say some awful shit but she didn't deserve how people treated her. And people told me that ex friend was toxic and I didn't listen, they just didn't understand her like I did. Maybe she was mean but she was mean to people who were more harmful right? And the funny thing is the person she attacked made efforts to change but as far as I can tell that ex friend isn't any better than back then. Considering she told me to kms and all

And I'd never have gone so far as to tell someone something like that myself but yeah my head was fucked with a lot so I hurt people and didn't realize how heavily I influenced people by my actions and the example I was setting. Like I perceived that girl as an actual threat because of how my ex friend framed the situation and exaggerated the damage being done to her. People were dicks to her before I was but still, yknow? She wasn't the only one I treated like shit but yeah I was way too hard headed and thought somehow it was the right thing to do but like i've said many times I was literally just an asshole lol

But being able to say that I think is a show of personal growth. Like I didn't deserve to be slandered and have a callout that was completely made up because of it and have most of my interpersonal relationships destroyed in a very premeditated way but I had toxic traits, yeah

[floralb0t]

ok i like cliche’s and am ignoring writers block.  here’s a list of scifi narrative cliches that i think would be fun to explore in the apex fancreationverse- i got a little rambly but here we are (no ship suggestions or anything of the like, just plot pitches)

(this is just things that jump to mind as ‘logical’, but like.... who cares? It’s a piece of fiction first and foremost, but it’s also set in a future time where science has done incredible and almost magical shit. do whatever you want if you like an idea off here(but please ping me i wanna see👁👁))

Bodyswapping - makes the most sense between the simulacra and if we push it, mrvns. Ash / Revenant / Pathfinder bodyswap? I think Path running around in Revenant’s body could be fucking hilarious. But imagine Rev with Ash’s giant ass knife.

Time loop - ok ive started a fic for this but - It makes the most sense if you use a digital gamespace playing on loop for a technological reason. Maybe a system error or something, could be group wide or specific to some people! In TV its the easiest sort of Sci Fi Bottle Episode to justify imo, so it works GREAT here. A classic escape room in the most techy of spaces really forces someone or a group of someones to come together or break apart.

Lie Detector - A heavily character driven plot where two or more people are put in a (usually) life or death situation relying on Someone to tell the truth of a situation. example below bc i think it helps it make sense why this is on the list

Stargate SG1 did this in an episode where to confirm two character’s story of an event, they both had to undergo an alien lie detector. But because the two characters were both in MEGA denial about being in love with one another, they continued to show as lying about the events until they confronted it and accepted that that was influencing why they made their choices.

The syndicate wanting to check people’s story of a an event, say the teleporting of Olympus or a rebellion against the syndicate would work well here.

Space Beach Episode - In classic sci fi, I think this would most often be getting stranded on an alien planet but I think it could work just as well as being stuck in the ring without a way out - if you take the games to be fully physical that could take hours to days depending on how long you assume a game lasts. . i’ve actually seen a couple fics like this and they’re all AMAZING.

Time Travel - you know it, you love it! Horizon is working on this bad boy, who is to say that she doesn’t get it working! A little too well in fact! Have you considered what would happen if you accidentally sent some or all of the legends lineup to the (19)90s? Or what if you sent them even further into the future?

Classic Miscommunication - This one is not Sci Fi based, but it still would work all the same. Who is to say with so many different language speaking legends we don’t get a little miscommunication? Might be tech related or it might not! Could work as a neat little oneshot or something longer depending.

Mind wipe - Self explanitory, somebody gets more or less reset. I think this could work really well with like a drama or angst heavy plot, though it may require some setup. Someone is rebelling against the syndicate either solo or in a group, and gets captured. Perhaps before every match the syndicate takes a brainscan or makes a copy of the legend. What if that captured soul got reset back to and old scan by some means? Re educated to be the perfect little lapdog? I think there’s potential there!

Doubling up - What’s a good story with simulacra and good future science without somebody ending up getting duplicated for some reason or another? It may be accidental! Whoops i just put this 1 to 1 brain scan of XYZ legend inside this mrvn. What’re they gonna do next? Or it might be intentional - no better way to be in two places at once for hyjinks than to be two persons at once!

ok thats all ive got rn but !!! hey. here they are. let me know if you like them or especially if you’re inspired by any of them!

[golbrocklovely]

Correct me if i am wrong on this one, but majority “snc fans” who were acting pretty hateful towards snc not speaking about Palestine and using this as a way to put them on “block celebrities list” are Katrina fans as well. Now: I don’t follow Kat as much , but I can’t recall a moment where she said anything as well. So i think ( if she hasn’t) is pretty hipocritical to only call out two people and shit on them, while they continue to victimize Katrina and kiss her ass ( i love Katrina so dont take it as a hate) . I see some accounts reporting Kat outfits for Coachella and calling her pretty, her new song and hyping her up for that or her partying with stas, meanwhile at the same time they be acting like they care about genocide happening, using it to say that “there is no excuse for snc to not speak”. If there is no excuse for men , then why there is for ladies?

i'll be honest with you, i don't pay attention to who is calling out snc on twitter anymore. half my tl is bridgerton and i would like to keep it that way since that side of the fandom (the twitter side, since that's who i'm assuming you're talking about anyway) isn't exactly the nicest or the most positive to be around as of late.

i also don't really pay kat any mind one way or another, so i can't say if she's said anything about palestine or not. my own personal belief is no one should care if influencers use their voice or not bc forcing someone to speak on something is kinda inauthentic and also we shouldn't care what snc or kat or anyone thinks on a genocide. anyone with functioning eyes can tell what's happening. idc for their commentary.

if what you're saying is true tho, that's a shame. but at the end of the day, it is what it is.

that's why i think this back and forth of a tit for tat, who's speaking who's not, gets us nowhere. we are talking about an extinction of a whole group of ppl, and we're making it fandoms war bullshit. omg, who cares.

(not saying that's what you're doing, anon. just saying in general this type of belief is counterintuitive to ACTUALLY help the ppl of palestine. fans in general should just do what they can to help and stop relying on entertainers to help or do anything.)

[joneswuzhere]

hello join me in thinking about some books and authors that are, or might be, part of s5′s intertextuality

5.10 in particular offered specific shout outs, and also u know i’m always wondering what might be ahead so i have some ideas on that:

- first, as mentioned in a previous ask post, i know i wasn’t alone in keeping an eye out for 5.10 parallels to the lost weekend (1945) the film that gave episode 1.10 its name and several themes - or to the 1944 book by charles r jackson which the film is based on

- s5 has not been shy about revisiting earlier seasons, especially s1. altho i feel that 1.10′s parallels to the lost weekend centered characters other than jughead (mostly betty), a 1.10-5.10 connection involving jughead and themes from jackson’s story (addiction, writers block, self reflection) seemed v possible if not inevitable

- but like,, , for a hot minute after the ep, i was really stumped on understanding how anything from the book or film could apply, even tho the pieces were almost all there

- jackson’s protagonist don birnam goes thru and comes out the other side of a harrowing days-long drinking binge that could be compared to jughead’s one-night hallucinogenic writing retreat

- but jughead is struggling primarily with traumatic memories, not addiction and self control like birnam. and tho drinking activates birnam’s creativity, it paralyzes his writing as he gets lost in fantasies; he’s never published anything. jughead’s drug trip recreates circumstances that already helped him write one successful book. even the rat that startles him mid-high doesn’t line up with birnam’s withdrawal vision of a dying mouse, symbolic of his horror at his own self-destruction thru alcohol

- and maybe the most visible discordance: in the film there’s a romantic motif around a typewriter. first it’s an object of shame; birnam’s failure to write, tied up with his drinking, makes him flee his relationship. he tries to pawn the typewriter for booze money and finally a gun when shooting himself feels easier than getting sober. but with the help of relentless encouragement from girlfriend helen, he quits drinking, commits to her, and focuses on typing out the story he’s dreamt of writing. rd goes so far to avoid setting any comparable scenario that jughead has brought a wholeass printer into the bunker so there can still be a physical manuscript to cover in blood by the end, even without his own typewriter. the subtle detail of his laptop bg image is a little less noticeable than his avoidance of betty’s gift

- tabitha might be closer to a parallel than jughead is, but she’s still no helen. both refuse to take advantage of the inebriated men in their care, but birnam takes advantage of helen, financially and emotionally. jughead refused a loan from the tate family and now has resolved to deal with his shit before he considers a relationship with tabitha. instead of helen’s relentless and unwelcomed attempts to get birnam sober, tabitha reluctantly agrees to help jughead trip safely bondage escape notwithstanding. she even helps him get the drugs.

- whatever potentials exist for parallels to jackson’s story, they were not explored for this episode. ok so why tf am i even talking about this? what was there instead?

-  i have arrived at the point

- s5 has been revisiting s1, not directly but with a twist. and jughead’s agent samm pansky is back. u may recall, pansky is named for sam lansky

- jughead’s trip-thru-trauma is a story device tapped straight from lansky’s book ‘broken people’

- lansky is like if a millenial john rechy wrote extremely LA-flavored meta but just about himself no jk very like a modern successor to charles r jackson. both play with the boundary between memoir and fiction. lansky is gay; jackson wrote his lost weekend counterpart as closeted and remained closeted himself until only a few years before his death. both write with emotional clarity and self-scrutiny on the experiences of addiction, sobriety, and the surrounding issues of shame and self worth

- i feel like a fool bc after this ep i had been thinking about de quincey and his early writings on addiction (c.1800s), but i failed to carry the thought in the other direction, to contemporary writers in the genre, to make this connection sooner

- lansky’s second book, broken people, follows narrator ‘sam’, mid-20s, super depressed, hastled by his agent to write a decent follow-up to his first book, but too busy struggling with his self-worth and baggage from several past relationships. desperate, he takes up an offer to visit a new age shaman who promises to fix everything wrong with him in a matter of days. not to over simplify it but he literally spends a weekend doing psychedelics and hallucinating about his exes. jughead took note

- unless u want me to hurl myself into yet another dissertation about queer jughead, i think his parallel to sam - who, unlike jughead, has considerable financial privilege and whose anxieties center on body dysmorphia, hiv scares, and his own self-centeredness - pretty much ends there

- But,, the gist of the book could not be more harmonius with a major theme shared by the 2 films that inform the actual hallucination part of jughead’s bunker scene: mentally reframing past relationships to get closure + confronting trauma head-on in order to move forward

- so that’s neat. what other book and author stuff was in 5.10?

- stephen king and raymond carver get name dropped. i’m passingly familiar with them both but u bet i just skimmed their wiki bios in case anything relevant jumped out

- like jughead, carver was a student (later a lecturer) at the iowa writers workshop. also the son of an alcoholic and one himself

- i recall carver’s ‘what we talk about when we talk about love’ is what jughead was reading in 2.14 ‘the hills have eyes’ after he finds out about the first time betty kissed archie (at that time he does not respond as would any of carver’s characters)

- this collection of carver stories deals especially with infidelity, failings of communication, and the complexities and destructiveness of love. to unashamedly quote the resource that is course hero, ‘carver renders love as an experience that is inherently violent bc it produces psychic and emotional wounds.’ very fun to wonder about the significance of this collection within the s2 episode and in jughead’s thoughts. and maybe now in the context of the s5 state of relationships. or, at least, the state of jughead’s writing as seen by his agent

- anyway pansky doesn’t want carver, he wants stephen king

- i have too much to say about gerald’s game in 5.10, that’s getting its own post someday soon

- lol wait king’s wife is named tabitha uhhh king’s wiki reminded me of his childhood experience that possibly inspired his short story ‘the body’ (+1986 movie ‘stand by me’) when he ‘apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train tho he has no memory of the event’

- no mention of that in this rd episode but memories of a train could be interesting to consider with the imagery that intrudes on jughead’s hallucination. i still feel like it was a truck but the lights and sounds he experiences may be a train

- ok now we’re in the speculation part of today’s segment

- if jughead’s traumatic memory involves trains, then it’s possible this plot will take influence from la bête humaine <- this 1938 movie is based on the 1890 novel by french writer émile zola. this story deals with alcoholism and possessive jealousy in relationships, sometimes leading to murder. huh, kind of like carver. zola def comes down on the nature side of the nature-vs-nuture bad seed question (tho i should say he approaches this with great or maybe just v french compassion). also i can’t tell if this is me reaching but, something about la bête humaine reminds me of king’s ‘secret window’ which we’ve observed to be at least a style influence on jughead post time jump

- but wow a late-19th century french writer would be a random thing to drop into this season, right? then again zola also wrote about miners, which we’ve learned are an important part of this town’s history + whatever hiram is up to this time.  and most notably, zola wrote ‘j’accuse...!’ an open letter in defense of a soldier falsely accused and unlawfully jailed for treason: alfred dreyfus. archie’s recent army trouble comes to mind.

- since the introduction of old man dreyfuss (plausibly Just a nod to close encounters actor richard dreyfuss, but also when is anything in this show Just one thing) i’ve been wondering if these little things could add up to a season-long reference to zola’s writings. but i had doubts and didn’t want to speak on it too soon bc, u know, it’s weird but is it weird enough for riverdale??

- however,,,

- (come on, u knew where i was going with this)

- a24′s film zola just came out. absolutely no relation to the french writer, it’s not based on a book but an insane and explicit twitter thread by aziah ‘zola’ wells about stripping and? human trafficking?? this feels ripe for rd even outside the potentials here for the lonely highway/missing girls plot.

- that would add up to a combination of homage that feels natural to this show

- anyway pls understand i’m just having fun speculating, most of this is based on nothing more concrete than the torturous mental tendril ras has hooked into my skull pls let go ras pls let go

[random-french-girl]

one thing that has always tugged at my suspension of disbelief in the wilds is how gretchen plans/expects the girls to go back home, given everything that happened to them. Clearly some of their parents think the experiment is something else (e.g. leahs parents think it’s a wilderness retreat) and for all we know some of the parents could know the true nature of the experiment. but assuming none of them know, gretchen can’t let the girls leave and then risk telling their parents about a plane crash and becoming castaways bc they were getting “feedback” from gretchen the whole time about their kid’s progress. so i guess i want to know what your thought on this is, bc i sure as heck don’t even know where to begin

Hello Anon! Thanks for your message!

I do have a few thoughts on this, because it’s also something that’s been on my mind, though I don’t think, in this case, it warrants any suspension of disbelief - I think we deliberately haven’t been told yet what Gretchen plans to do with the families in the aftermath of the experiment. Which is normal: season 1 had already so much going on, they barely alluded to the after, and to the parents’ involvement - giving us just enough crumbs to have questions, not enough to answer them, basically. Here’s where I’m at:

Gaslight

An obvious element of Gretchen’s strategy is manipulation & coercion. She’s demonstrated that she doesn’t really give a fuck about ethics in general, and in season 1, we are given some hints of what that would entail: blackmailing the parents, gaslighting the girls. Faber says it explicitly, after making Leah break down and having her forcefully sedated (NO I’M NOT OVER IT THIS MAN IS EVIL): if the girls feel responsible, they are less likely to incriminate them.

So: Gretchen could try to manipulate the girls into not talking, and the parents into NOT believing the girls’ account, and/or into believing they are equally responsible, because they sent the girls willingly & without their consent. If she has an in with social services, that could especially be a threat: make the parents believe they’d lose custody if they went public, for example. 

Gatekeep

It all comes down to controlling information & knowledge. Gretchen has to make some of what happened public ; literally the whole purpose of an experiment is to be able to show some results, otherwise it’s useless. But she has to be able to control what is shared to the public, and by whom ; which means she has to control who knows what, and who can be silenced.

I think of it as a series of nested circles. At the center is Gretchen, and the further one is from her focal point, the less one knows and/or is able to speak up. The closest circle is that of her employees, the people she works closely with. Then her supporters and protectors and allies. Then the parents. Then the girls. But as the experiment progresses, obviously the girls are going to learn more and more, and will eventually reunite with their parents, who will also learn more. So Gretchen needs to have some structure in place to ~block the flow of information from getting out of these circles. 

Is it all blackmail? Or have the parents signed some sort of ~contract (I don’t know how law works, fair warning), an agreement of non-disclosure, or a document that stipulates they can’t hold Gretchen accountable for any incidents during the retreat? I’m sure her inner circle of minions have similar clauses in their contracts. Maybe she makes the girls sign something - even if it’s not legally binding, what matters is that they believe it is, that they think they’d get in trouble for talking.

Girlboss

In the end, though, it’s about power. What kind of protection does Gretchen have access to? Who is she courting for money and political influence? Does she have enough powerful people on her side that she literally doesn’t have to worry about consequences?

Because it’s not unheard of, that an institution or a group trusted with the care of children end up abusing/hurting them, with absolutely no repercussions. Look at the real world. 

But on the other hand, *Toni’s voice*: have you seen how many rich and/or white girls there are on this island? Society will never let them perish. 

Like, some girls don’t have families, some have parents who may not have a lot of power, compared to Gretchen’s network. But other parents are well-off, presumably well-connected, and they could have the resources to take on Gretchen if they want to. So Gretchen must be absolutely certain that the balance of power is tipping in her favor. And I assume she’s made sure of it, via all that networking. 

Anyway, that’s all I got! I’d love to hear what you, dear Anon, or anyone else, think about this!

[foxie-paws]

Hi, (no pressure to publicly answer this if you don’t wanna block up the feed) just wanted to say that I really really appreciate you making this blog. I relate a lot to andrew and thus have the assumed amount of Stuff Goin On and morals have been a very hard thing for me to figure out as of late. Explaining what specifically was wrong about things andrew did is really helpful to my own thought process, so thank you for taking the time to go in detail about it. Having trauma is not an excuse for giving others trauma. I try my hardest to remember that.

TW: SA - PLEASE BE CAREFUL

Hello! I hope u don't mind I made it public.

I must admit I spend some time thinking about a response to this. Your comment made me decide to put sth out there. I feel pretty safe and anonymous saying this on this hell site. So here is the thing: I am a CSA survivor. It took me many years to actually understand what happened. At some point I was sure I made it up, but how could a kid made sth like this shit up? I remember that at some point my younger self knew that sth is NOT RIGHT. I tried to tell it to some I was sure would get it. Unfortunately, I could not find the right words, so I ended up saying sth that had the same meaning like "xyz has a crush on me". I got a warm laugh and a pat on the head bc "silly kid, probably watched too many disney movies". Sure af never tried again.

It's pretty funny to me how my story history is similar to Andrew's. His "I was seven" is mine "I was five" (and many other people's unfortunately). Maybe, that's why he bugged my for so long. I feel that I more or less am on the same lvl and can "see the world through his eyes" (to some point). As silly as it sounds. That's why I was actually horrified by some things he did.

I'm all for problematic characters, really. But in my opinion a good problematic character has to be pointed at and called out on their shit by the canon media (and fandom). Unfortunately, Andrew's actions, in the books and in the fandom, never really get addressed? Of course there are posts pointing some behaviors out! But mostly it's just "Well Andrew is Andrew!" Then, applying this logic, someone can say "Riko is Riko!" or "Nathan is Nathan!". Neither of those three felt any regret about their actions (yes I am aware that you cannot put = symbols between those 3 bc their actions don't have the same harm lvl) as cruel as it sounds.

It kinda hit me bc some people justified his actions by the trauma he has. And sure this certainly influenced his character, but it's not an excuse. Unfortunately, in psychology there is this phenomenon when the abused become the abusers themselves. And to some point I think it's the case with Andrew.

Morals are fluid, and they depend on what life position u are. They can get changed by the things around us. I am in no position to tell anyone what their morals should or shouldn't be. At the same time, I know that my history doesn't give me any right to inflect pain to other innocent people. Andrew as a character has many aspects. He is not only his trauma, his decisions are his doing.

My history doesn't give me any higher moral ground to judge anyone (real) in fandom — I want to make this one clear, especially knowing there are, unfortunately, more people with stories like mine. I can only speak for myself and share my opinions. I don't want anyone to feel personally attacked or feel like I'm pointing fingers.

I would never bash anyone for liking Andrew! Do it! If he brings you comfort and u relate to him — it's 100% valid.

Well that was a ride. I hope that my lengthy response didn't overwhelm anyone.

If my post helped u in any way, I'm glad! Thank u for you comment once more!

Disclaimer: I know there will be some people thinking that I made my story up or threw it out there for some brownie points, so I have only one thing to say to them — my story was not for you, you can go and fuck yourself with a broom stick!

[anonthenullifier]

Fic request for touristy Maximoff family? (bc Vision's 'drunk' awkwardness in Wandavision ep 2 where he apologised to a handrail, is something that I as a Brit intensely and deeply relate to, and it reminded me of them hiding out in the UK in IW which also made me v emotional- they deserved better!)

Thanks for the ask! They really did deserve better and hopefully might get some happiness at some point. I hope you enjoy their family day trip!

***

“Where are the witches?”

Vision folds the map into a square and slides it back into his fanny pack, nonchalance embedded in the action  “Oh, there are no witches.”

This isn’t what Billy wants to hear, “You said this is Witch House.”

“I did, yes.”

The conversation circles back around, “Then where are the witches?”

“Well technically there were never any true witches here in the first place.” Billy stares at Vision, betrayal drooping his mouth down into a deep and unforgiving frown. A history lesson isn’t going to save the moment, and yet her husband tries, determined to share the two weeks worth of research he’s conducted since they decided on the trip. “It is called Witch House because it was owned by Judge Jonathon Corwin who presided over some of the witch trials. Now, though some like to say witchcraft was rampant at the time, it in fact was -”

“But I wanted witches.” This is true, it was Billy’s only request—spooky witches to be precise. “You said there’d be witches.”

Tommy isn’t fully invested in the trip, having voted to go to an amusement park for their fall get-away, but he never passes up an opportunity to pile onto a complaint. “Yeah, where are the witches, dad?”

“Salem has far greater historical value than just the witch trials.” Not a smart tactic, which Vision realizes as soon as he says it, face scrunching up at the misstep while the gears in his eyes rotate furiously to the left signifying he’s attempting to figure out how to regain their confidence. “Um, from my understanding there may be some modern day witches in the village who provide tours and demonstrations. We can stop by once we have seen everything.”

This earns some consideration from their ten year olds. “Real witches or like herbal tea witches?”

Tommy piggybacks on his brother’s question, “Will they turn Billy into a frog?”

“No one is being transformed into an amphibian,” Vision reassures them.

“Lame.” Only a half hour in and the L word is out in the open, a new record for the Maximoffs.

Wanda rolls her eyes at the rebuttal and studies the building in front of them, a foreboding tiered facade with black wood trim that would fit right into a horror movie. Briefly she wonders if it was always black or if that was added to enhance the supernatural identity the town developed once they realized the tourism potential of their sordid past. If ominousness is what sells here, she knows how to reclaim their trip. “Vizh,” her husband meets her gaze,the exasperation of parenthood making him seem particularly desperate for her thoughts, “There was at least one witch you can tell them about.” Confusion crinkles his brow, “Agatha.”

Realization dawns, as if he had blocked out all memories of dear old Agatha. “Ah yes Agatha Harkness.” The name falters on his lips, uncertainty making residence in his body with the wringing of his hands.  “I am not sure they are old enough to hear about-“

“You owe us a witch, dad.” Tommy is very dedicated now, a grave frown on his face and an arm wrapped tenderly around his twin’s shoulders. “Billy deserves a witch.”

Vision folds, shoulders inching down in submission of their desires. “Agatha Harkness,” it is not that they have had bad experiences, per se, with Agatha, but she always intersects with their lives at moments of both wonderful highs and crippling lows, which is why Vision seems to weigh her name so heavily. “You will not see the name Agatha Harkness in any of the books about Salem.” Wanda can feel Vision mentally shut the books of information he’d acquired for the day. “She was a witch, a real one and very powerful as well as very old.”

“How old?” Billy’s eyes are shining at the change in tone for the trip. “Like ancient?”

“Positively ancient.” An enormous grin erupts on Billy’s face, while Tommy stands unusually rapt. “There are accounts of her presence all the way back to 10,500 BC, there are even rumors she was involved in the lost city of Atl-”

A cloyingly sweet and chipper “Excuse me,” breaks the story and the atmosphere. The voice belongs to a short, blonde haired woman in a puffy vest and flannel shirt, “I couldn’t help but overhear your tour and was hoping we could join.” The we is a man a few years older than the woman, his gray mustache thick enough to hide whatever his feelings are about the request.

Vision’s lips part and then close a few times, hand half raised as he processes the intrusion. “Oh um, this is a uh private tour,” a nervous, placating smile tries to shoo away the couple. It doesn’t work, neither does his, “Terribly sorry for the confusion.”

Typically on their trips people come up to them because they are Avengers, but Wanda doesn’t detect the same motivation from the couple, neither seeming to actually recognize them. The husband appears a bit concerned about Vision’s appearance while the wife assumes it is for show, “Oh well, you just seem dressed the part, you little devil,” Wanda tries not to laugh, something Tommy fails at, chuckling at the way the comment wilts his father further. Whoever this woman is ignores the reaction, soldiering on ahead as if it is her job to get what she wants. “And you are giving this beautiful family such a lovely tour. We’d love to join in.”

Vision weighs his response, eyes first surveying the very clearly matching sweatshirts they are wearing, this year’s travel theme the Maximoff Bunch. Each of them has a navy sweatshirt with Cambria font declaring their role-- Vision’s sweatshirt (that is real clothing, not molecularly manipulated so that he has a keepsake from their trip) is emblazoned with Papa-ya, their less than thrilled 10 year olds are sporting ones labeled Bil(ly)berry and Tommy-rillo, and Wanda’s deviates a bit with Mom-osa, Vision crushed to not find a fruit close enough to mom to complete the bunch. This should be enough to convince this woman that they are all a family and not a tour group...and yet she just keeps smiling sweetly at Vision until he gives in. “We’re happy to pay.”

Now Vision turns towards Wanda, searching for a response or a rescue. She doesn’t get a chance to help, Tommy speaking up first, “Fifty a person fair?”  

“Thomas I do not-”

“Completely fair.”

The glare from Vision assures their son that they are going to talk about this on the ride home, Tommy’s impulsivity almost always at odds with Vision’s desire for control and planning.

Vision turns towards the couple, hands clasped tightly in a sign that another apology is on it’s way but it is stopped by Billy recentering their attention to what is most important. “How can Agatha be so old?”

Faced with numerous smiling and eager faces, Vision seems to accept his newfound role with a deep, soundless sigh, “Well, she is a very powerful witch, one who even survived the Salem Witch Trials.”

“No way!”

“Very much so. Let us return to 10,500 BC first.” Now that he is free to regale them with history, albeit seasoned with a heaping amount of occult, Vision finds his element. They learn about how Agatha came to be in Salem, about the Witch House and the judge who dwelled there, of the frenzy that occurred in people pointing fingers at anyone who was suspicious or merely disliked. The boys are enraptured listening to the tales of injustice and prejudice and, as they move from the Witch House to the hill on which many witches were burned at the stake, their little tour group increases in size, a trail of eight people joining on.

Surprisingly her husband takes it all in stride, welcoming each new person and asking their name. What really seems to excite Vision is when their crew asks questions. One of the newbies stops him during his soliloquy on what behaviors were deemed witchy. “Is it true that witches danced naked?”

Vision’s charm is on full display, lips cocked to the side as he shakes his head at the idiocy of the past, “Merely a salacious rumor because titillation is more convincing than honesty.”

A voice from the back of the group declares, “That’s because history is written by lonely men.”

Without missing a beat, her husband nods appreciatively at the running commentary from this particular guest, “A very astute observation, Taiyah, yet again. Now let’s turn our attention back to the Court of Oyer and Terminer.”

As the tour keeps moving through the harrowed landmarks, Billy is at the front, always just to the side of Vision, soaking in every word of information. Tommy, on the other hand, oscillates between the front and the back, eventually deciding to stick with Wanda. “This is starting to get a bit lame.”

“Your father and brother are having fun.”

His annoyed sigh seeks companionship, which she won’t give because she’s enjoying herself as well. “It’s just so much talking.” It is more than Tommy is ever willing to listen to, his mind and body always seconds, if not hours, ahead of them all. “Where’s the excitement?”

Sweeping the environment is a key aspect of missions and right now Wanda has assessed that the majority of the group are crowded around a tree, listening to the story of how Agatha supported parts of the trials out of a need to cull the weaker witches and remove her competition, it is a dark aspect of the tour, barely a sound existing to interfere with Vision’s explanation of the witch’s intentions. “Watch this.” Tommy stares at Wanda as she lifts her hand, scarlet undulating around her fingers, and then she flicks a finger, the tree trembling mightily despite no breeze to speak of. Several people gasp, one woman screams, and instantly Vision locks eyes with her, not one to ever be deceived by her influence. She expects irritation at disrupting his story, but instead there’s a little spark of mischief in his swirling irises, an almost imperceptible uptick to the left corner of his mouth that takes all her energy not to go and enjoy.

“Don’t you all tell us not to do that?” Tommy’s voice is bated, eager to figure out if their limits on use of powers in public is about to be lessened.

“No one goes on a witch tour without hoping for a little bit of magic.” The shit eating grin on his face is almost a perfect replica of Pietro’s and one she can’t help but mirror. “Just watch and learn.”

***

By the time they reach the Witch Village, the agreed upon conclusion of their tour, Vision can’t get a word in edgewise, the entire group riled up, swapping observations of the branches that moved without wind, the sense of dread that engulfed their minds at the guilty verdict of Agatha, or the heat they felt when the pyre was verbally lit. It’s this sense of awe that makes not a single person listen to Vision’s insistent, “Sorry, please, I do not want your money. Please, keep it for yourselves.” Instead of listening to him, everyone shoves their payment into the cup that Tommy so helpfully procured from the concession stand nearby.

Once all the people are gone, it is just the Maximoffs once again.  “Was that sufficient in witches?”

Billy’s enthusiastic nods sends his hair bobbing with glee. “So awesome.”

“I have a question,” this comes from Tommy, who has already bought an ice cream cone with their earnings, the swirl of chocolate and vanilla towering up from his fist, “would we have been considered witches back then?”

“Well,” Vision’s arm snakes around her waist, pulling her until their hips are touching, the pride in his voice wrapping her even more snugly with his affection, “your mother already is a stunning one.”

“Gross.”

“And I no doubt would be viewed as inherently supernatural and thus evil,” something that is said with levity instead of the usual depths of despair that accompanies Vision’s grapple with humanity. “The two of you would also be suspect, simply from your parentage but also, well-”

“So the answer is yes?”  Vision concedes with a nod. “Great, wanna go take a picture in the arm thingies over there?” They follow the ice cream cone as it points them towards a small square where people are taking turns putting their heads and hands through the holes.

“That would be a pillory,” Vision helpfully defines, but neither of their sons are listening, having already taken off to join the line for the photo op.

Wanda takes their brief solitude to encircle his waist with her arm, squeezing him tight and kissing his shoulder. “You have fun?”

His arm moves to rest along her shoulders, “Surprisingly yes, it was a bit exhilarating to have a truly captive audience.”

Wanda hugs him tighter, “Good.” Billy and Tommy wave them over, only ten people now ahead of them in line. They look so carefree, jostling each other with whatever it is they are bickering about now, their happiness with the day unashamedly stitched into every movement. Given who they are, Wanda is glad they are alive now and not during a time of greater hatred. Which brings her mind back to the woman who made the tripa success. “Vizh?”

“Hmm?”

“When do you think we should let them meet Agatha?”

They stop, Vision sometimes unable to think and walk at the same time, and the toil in his mind is palpable even without her powers. “I believe,” he too takes in their sons, a fluttering smile on his lips the longer he stares, “it might be best she remains a story for a little bit longer.”

[seercayder]

No but I feel as though artists are probably experiencing one of the most hostile years of posting art online that they’ve ever experienced for maybe forever. And I mean this for both amateur artists and professionals (with maybe a lil bit of bias since I also do The Art).

Tumblr’s nudity ban has crippled any piece that is either NSFW or uses nudity as artistic expression and it ultimately drove away both the artists themselves and a lot of their fans, which destroyed any remaining traction for the artists who managed to remain. Tumblr is no longer an artistic freedom-friendly site and it shows, which is a fucking shame bc they genuinely have one of the better tagging systems than other sites and I believe that most feedback on art there has been positive and friendly, which has now gone the way of the dinosaur much like Deviantart.

Twitter has problems with image compression but their biggest issue is toxic abuse, which I find to be the most damaging to artists out of all the other problems i’m listing here. Both the lure of anonymity and the mindset that ‘Speak Loud In Little Words To Make Point Means You Are Important And Right’ has fuelled the absolutely vile comments I have seen directed at artists on the site. Although it’s mainly aimed at fanartists and ship artists, I have noticed unwanted (even rude) criticism on immaculate, well-done art pieces, which is extremely belittling and insulting because the artist (although they may be open to criticism) if they haven’t asked for criticism then that means that they are not in the right mindset to receive any, and therefore it is not your place to throw disparaging comments at them.

But the biggest issue with abuse on Twitter is obviously aimed at fan-artists, especially those those that draw NSFW or “problematic” content. I could go into a whole spiel about how a drawing of a fictional character doesn’t affect reality but in short: If you find disturbing art of a non-existent character (or hey, even non-disturbing art, it’s just something you don’t like) then ignore it. Don’t go and fucking bully the artist you psychopath. If it is truly illegal then report the piece and then see if it gets taken down. Because 90% of the time it won’t be taken down because it doesn’t go against guidelines and you’re just trying to police the site like you’re the thought-police, monitoring other peoples art as if you have the god-given right to. And if you’re a minor stay the fuck out of 18+ accounts. Don’t comment, don’t follow, don’t even look. I am absolutely amazed by the mindset that some children have to waltz into a space not made for them and having the balls to insult the 18+ artist, who have specifically said “no minors”, for posting icky content. It gets even worse when you see how they abuse the Privatter or Curiouscat links the Twitter artists provide, made for anonymous feedback or for being the final barrier for an adult piece that says “hey this stuff is NSFW, don’t click if you are underage, last warning”. I’m gonna go into this more when I cover TikTok in the next few paragraphs. But ultimately, the artists on that site are having to be constantly vigilant against abuse, and it’s not unusual for them having to spend hours going through their 1K+ followers and having to block every underage follower who just didn’t fucking listen to their warnings. Imagine how exhausting and irritating and down-right uncomfortable that must be; having to monitor every fan that sees your work out of fear that they’re a minor seeing adult content or that they could throw abusive comments at you. Horrible.

Instagram is saturated with bots attempting to steal your work or advertise it on their own page and feedback isn’t really a ‘thing’ on there. Also, their algorithm (which may have also been implemented on Twitter, I believe that the Twitter algorithm now avoids promoting popular artist terms, but I can’t be certain bc the Twitter post that pointed this out is long-lost in the depths of my timeline, bc again, no tagging system) is based more around sharing than likes, which can be a huge barrier to artists. Sure, you may like someones art and even leave a nice comment on it, but do you really want to share every piece you come across, especially if it’s not something you would show dear Aunty Susan who follows you? It’s infuriating that a whole site dedicated for images is so difficult to use for artists, and with Instagram implementing features that are similar to Snapchats ‘stories’ it’s clear they’ve moving in a different direction, focusing on momentary attention-grabbing photos. This is simply because Instagram is advertising itself as more of a promotional influencer site nowadays, and anything that could sully their reputation has to be thrown into the algorithm trash. NSFW art or just plain ‘bad’ art? Trash. If you’re not gonna make money for them then why should they bother? You wanna promote your art? Pay for it because the algorithm will absolutely be working against you.

Now, the biggest fucking offender for worst art-sharing site of the year is TikTok (no surprise there), which is absolutely rampant with reposts and uncredited artwork and a gateway for abusive comments against artists. Like the Ouroboros snake, it goes through the same pattern every time; People (usually minors) find art on Twitter or Pinterest and repost it, usually without credit or going against the artist’s wishes about reposting. Then it either goes two-ways: Firstly, if the piece is SFW it will get about five-seconds of interest, a like for the reposter and people will then just move on. TikTok is built entirely around short bursts of satisfaction, feeding a a constant loop of serotonin for a few seconds before you move on. So ultimately, people rarely then hunt down the original artist, especially if their credit isn’t readily available, and usually the original artists doesn’t see any rise in likes, followers or popularity and are usually unaware that their art is even getting any attention on TikTok.

Or, if the art is NSFW, it can go down the second way. It is reposted and, as the majority of TikTok users are under-18, many users find the image uncomfortable, especially if it is a bit more ‘out-there’ or of a ship they don’t like. The reposters sometimes find the image off of Privatter, which is even worse since the piece has been posted to Privatter not just as a final barrier against minors, but also as a form of directing the piece to a specific and niche audience due to it’s... spicer than usual NSFW content. I’m talking really specific pieces with really specific kinks. Now that piece is floating around TikTok, widely seen by the general fans of a fandom, who again, are usually underage. The viewers grow uncomfortable, as the piece is not made for them, especially since sometimes the reposter only posted the piece for shock-value, and would even encourage insulting comments by only posting the credits for the purpose of getting fans to throw abuse at the artist (”The artist is ***** but they ship **** and are icky”) and so the viewers finally decide to make the effort to hunt down the original artist, only to throw insulting and bullying comments at them, made worse by the fact that they are children who don’t have the sense to hold back and have been fuelling their mindset in the echo-chamber that is TikTok.

And as a result of a lot of this hostile feedback for artists, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a space for amateur artists who are just starting out, since the art community is becoming a little bit scary. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that new (or not even new but recently promoted) sites such as Artstation are becoming a better place for professional artists only, but it is very intimidating for learner artists. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - I believe that part of the reason for Deviantarts decline was that the tagging system was horrible, so good art was being drowned out by amateur, fetish content, so more advanced artists were distancing themselves from the site, especially if they were trying to build a portfolio for employment. I also find that fanart usually gets far more likes than more original art pieces, even if the original piece is amazingly good, which isn’t a criticism against fanart but posting your original piece on a site more aimed at professional pieces may help you reach your target audience better and improve likes and interaction. However, that does mean that if you are an amateur, or hell, just an average artists who is still learning, your best bet for exposure is posting your piece across multiple sites and very, very regularly, braving any abusive comments if you try anything slightly “spicy”. Which, obviously, become a very potentially toxic atmosphere and it’s not uncommon for artists to feel burn-out or depressed at their lack of attention or the cyber-bullying they may receive.

I’m not trying to say that posting artwork has always been easy, but there is definitely a more aggressive culture surrounding it and I think artists have to be aware that chances are they will face insulting comments, reposters, frustrating algorithms, cyber-bullying, a lack of interaction and burn-out as they try and appeal to websites that would do the bare minimum for you in terms of promotion.

This isn’t meant to be a post to scare away artists, I just wanted to point out that there is a big fucking problem and it feels as though it’s getting worse. Nowadays, websites have become a bit too comfortable targeting creators rather than fans when it comes to monitoring content and artists have been put under more and more pressure as they face more and more abuse that is rarely addressed, especially by the sites themselves that host the content. Things that are a huge punch in the face for artists, such as NFT’s, are becoming more normalised and it’s honestly just sad.

[carltonlassie]

As I was doing the top 10 bands tag game, I thought through so many bands that I once listened to daily on repeat

Some I still listen to frequently and they made it on the list, some I simply enjoy and would listen to if it came on shuffle but wouldn’t think to actively look up the album, some I don’t enjoy anymore but they stay in my library for the sake of memories and get skipped every time it comes on.

It’s so strange how listening to songs that were a part of your various “eras” brings back the memories, good or bad, cringe or nostalgic. Maybe that’s why I don’t listen to some songs because I’d rather not dwell on those times even though those songs helped me get thru

On the other hand, there are some songs I actively avoided when I was younger (kpop lmaooo) but now I’m listening to songs that I claimed that I hated and realizing I legit know all the lyrics by memory and even know the dances 💀 I guess it comes with being a teenager during that era and being surrounded by it, but honestly they’re not sounding as bad as I thought they were and it reminds me of times when I was younger, which apparently were good times. Wild.

It also makes me understand why “old people” only listen to old songs, whether it’s objectively good or not because some of these kpop songs are tragically cringe, but it’s a genre of its own and it’s an intellectual thing to embrace the cringe and genuinely enjoy it 🤓

At least for me, my music tastes got influenced by my mutuals on a blogging website I was on 10+ years ago! 10+ years later, I don’t even know how to contact them but I still listen to the same music since i grew up with it, and it’s so wild that I do that.

I remember my mutuals raving about Oasis and i tried listening to them once and thought, whew they’re just loud and noisy! But I kept on seeing them raving about them and I continued to listen to it, and now I still listen to 90s britpop 😭 (peer pressured into liking britpop and suffering the mortifying ordeal of saying I like oasis unironically 10 years later. Hm.)

There was this mutual on the same blogging site who was significantly older than me but we talked about American tv shows and Hollywood films, and one of the shows was house md! I’m not kidding that house md formed my music taste because I love the bluesy tracks they had + Oscar Peterson trio jazz, massive attack, etc etc, and we talked about so many electronic/house artists from then on. and I think all that together that’s where my downtempo/trip hop tastes come from (zero 7, air, thievery corporation).

We also talked a lot about Spanish and Latin America in general, bc I was learning it (bc I saw a telenovela, which turned out to be a Portuguese show dubbed in Spanish with Korean subs ??) + I think they were stationed in one of the countries as like. something (still unsure, good for u for having cyber security, I guess) so we talked a lot about bossa nova? and other songs from Spanish speaking countries. I don’t talk to them anymore bc they’re like. Older than me and it was weird now that I think of it, kept on saying weird shit on Twitter so I blocked/unblocked them on I think and I kinda regret it now bc I can’t find their acct again (why am I looking for it again? Idk! But I regret it)

I found out about nine inch nails bc one of my favorite bands back then was holding a rock festival, and they invited NIN as the headliner, so obviously the common courtesy was to print out their most popular song lyrics and previous set lists and listen to them months before the festival to familiarize myself with it! (I did this with the rest of the big name bands, which included Keane and Limp Bizkit, lord knows how much limp bizkit I listen to 😭 I don’t think I even truly understood the meaning behind their lyrics I was busy goin rollin rollin rollin COME ON!!)

Some bands remind me of just one single person, it’s sorta bittersweet bc we shared so many things and it felt special but like I don’t actively talk to them anymore!

Bunch of the Korean indie bands I listed, I learned from one of my middle school friends. I think she was the only one who listened to indie music when everyone else listened to kpop lol so I naturally talked with her a lot about music and shared bands. I’d enjoy the bands but then a few months later she’d have move on from the bands, I get rec’d new bands, rinse and repeat, but I’m still listening to the same damn band after all these years dkdkjfdssjds

80s pop music in general reminds me of my friend in highschool, we went to so many used bookshops hunting for records, listened to so much Billy Joel, Elton John, Phil Collins, Tears for Fears. I was digging pet shop boys, the style council, genesis (w/ Peter Gabriel as the singer not Phil Collins) on the side by myself during that time, but listening to them reminds me of the times we sat together in the Prius (💀 this was Pacific Northwest) and listened to bunch of 80s hits in general.

Fleetwood Mac, bon iver, Gregory Alan isakov, Ben Howard, iron & wine, city and colour remind me of the time we went camping, tried to fit like 5 people on a hammock and it broke on us, played Risk in the tent and talked about nothing till it was way past midnight, made salmon cream pasta over the fire, helped her dad pull out the insulation from the cabin 💀, drove a stick shift without a license for the first time etc etc

Mac Demarco and Vulfpeck just reminds me so much of my crush/friend/fling/idfk in college I guess, even if I didn’t listen to the song during the specific instances of our interaction, listening to them brings up hints of memories and it’s like. 🥺 there are many bands with similar sounds, but these r my favorites because it just reminds me of. Memories, I guess. and M83 - Midnight City was like our theme song for the lil friend group we had :( it all fell apart bc people drift away, but man, this song. Partly Unknown mortal orchestra as well, but I listened to their second album on repeat the entire time I did the journey from Midwest to Korea for one winter break, and since the entire trip took like. 24 hours, it gives me the neurosis I experienced instead of the good memories I had with that album 😔

And I think I was a little lost post college bc I didn’t have anyone to share and talk about music with irl, so I got stuck listening to the same music over n over, which is funny because I always thought people who listen to the same 5 bands were boring lmao. But here I am listening to the same old songs, because they’re most familiar to me.

But I guess as I grew up and started to understand more of the meaning and such, the songs took on different meanings, some for good, some for bad, some despite its cringe it stayed because of the good memories and vibes, I guess?