#but it's also not something that most of us have any qualifications to speak on

[ohnoitstbskyen]

PINNED POST, FAQ, INFORMATION

Hi, I'm TBSkyen. I make videos on YouTube sometimes. This is my main tumblr blog, the "brand" blog as it were, where I maintain my Social Media Presence™ on this site.

I use the ironic ™ to signal my personal discomfort with the work of being a minor media personality even while I still do that work and make a living off it.

I have a sideblog called @tbposting, mostly for shitposts and reblogs, and in my opinion I have pretty darn good taste in reblogs, so you can follow that if you want. It's also where I'll do random personal posting, microblogging, etc.

This main blog is primarily for 1) answering asks, and 2) posting my Original Content™, usually my main channel videos, as well as the occasional longer essay or critique. Sometimes I'll reblog an interesting or useful thing, or boost a friend's work, but I try to keep the spam to a minimum.

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About Me

I am a thirtysomething content creator whose primary expertise is character design.

I have a bachelor's degree in English, never finished my master's, did most of a bachelor's degree in history, and that's it. These are my academic qualifications, no more and no less.

My professional experience is primarily being a freelancer and self-employed creator. I spent the better part of a decade working as a commission artist, running webcomics, drawing fanart, and the occasional animation work and not safe for work commissions, and I have at this point a decade of experience and self-study in the subjects I cover. I have also done online community management for, god help me, almost twenty years, so that's a part of my skillset I'll never escape.

I do not have any particular professional creative industry experience, although given what I hear from my professional friends, sometimes that seems like a blessing.

Please maintain a critical distance when engaging with my work. I am a critic. My work is very rarely meant to be taken as authoritative or didactic, and when it is, I will make it clear in my writing. Just because I speak with confidence doesn't mean I am trying to assert objective truth.

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TAGS (to follow, or filter)

#tbanswers is the tag for every single ask I answer on this blog

#tb reblog is the tag for reblogs

#tb essay is for the occasional longer essay or critical writing

#tbvideos is for my videos and Content™

#tb recommends is for the occasional recommendation of a video essay or other creator

Yes, I know the spaces are inconsistent. It's not on purpose, I just typed them in haphazardly when I started using them and it's stuck.

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FAQ (before you ask)

Q: Will you ever do a video about ____ ? A: The answer to this question is almost universally "maybe someday, if I have time, and if I feel I have anything worthwhile to say." And the more realistic answer is "no, because I already have far too much on my plate and I have burned myself out too many times." In general, please don't ask me this question, I will most likely not answer it because I have given the same answer a thousand times, but I still feel guilty about not answering them.

Q: Will you continue your series of videos about ____ ? A: Yes! I will continue the let's plays I started, I will finish the Boss Designs series, I will do another What's the Deal With, I will do more shorts about the subjects I've got going on. The main obstacle is, again, my tendency to overload myself.

Q: Do you have a PO box? Can I send you something? A: Not yet, but I'm looking into it. It may be a while before I get it set up.

Q: Do you have merchandise? A: A little bit, yes, at tbskyen.redbubble.com.

Q: What's your opinion on [game/movie/comic/book/etc]? A: I struggle to answer very open, broad questions like this. Most things I have opinions about, I have multiple opinions, and different ones depending on the perspective and specific element in question. I'm much more likely to answer specific, bounded questions.

Q: Can I send you fanart? A: PLEASE. Askbox, tag me on bluesky, send it to my email! I love seeing every piece of it!

Q: Why do you never appear on camera? A: A forest witch cursed me to look not quite but ALMOST like Paul Giamatti in all photos and videos ever taken of me, and his laywers sent me a cease-and-desist.

Q: Are you gay/straight/bi/other? A: The decision I've made for myself, at least for this period of my life, is that privacy is precious, and once given up can never be reclaimed on the internet. I am open about being aromantic (not asexual), because it's a sometimes invisible and underdiscussed identity, and I know it would have helped me a lot to see someone speak about it when I was younger.

The rest of it is for me to know, and for you to speculate about, although preferably somewhere I can't see it. I accept that this is a part of being a Personality, but it still feels weird, y'know?

Q: Is it weird if I find your voice kinda hot? A: I've put a lot of work into developing this voice and making it nice to listen to, so that's not weird at all and I find it quite complimentary, thank you.

I generally don't mind people doing flirty/thirsty posting about or at me, just so long as we all understand that 1) you should never give a stranger like me information which could be used to harm you. Nicer-seeming YouTubers than me have turned out to be monsters.

And 2) it will never go beyond playful online flirtiness. I like to fluster my live chat, I'll flirt back in an ask or a post maybe, but I am not flirting with you, or inviting any kind of closer intimacy with you, the person I responded to.

Think of me like a comedian doing crowd-work at a show - you can chat to me in the bar after the show, but when I asked you what you do for work I wasn't looking for a personal connection, I was doing my work as an entertainer. Please no sending me nudes, or propositions, or confession letters in my email inbox. We are strangers, and I am always performing a persona in public.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 2, Wave 3, Poll 7

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Joly-Les Misérables

Qualifications:

Joly is a hypochondriac and uses a cane. He is in a poly relationship (this isn’t explicitly explicitly canon, but it’s fairly implied in a text from the 1800s)

if i remember correctly he's canonically a cane user (and while canes were often for fashion back then i'm fairly sure he needs his?) and also he's queer by virtue of a) all of les amis being queer and b) whatever's going on between him and bossuet and musichetta

Propaganda:

What’s cooler than an 1800s queer disabled character? Joly (aka Jolllly) is a hypochondriac and uses a cane, and is complimented well by his accident prone boyfriend. The two also have a relationship with them another woman. Despite his constant worrying, Joly is quite happy go lucky and fun, and he is a dedicated member of the revolution and very caring friend.

HE'S A YOUTHFUL MALADE IMAGINAIRE! the day before he's expecting to die (in the june rebellion) he is worried about a cold :( he is also a very happy guy and considering the book is called 'the sad guys' that is commendable

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @satancheeto is the first submitter, @mxcrowave is the second.

Suletta Mercury-Mobile Sit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

Qualifications:

While this is something which only became a point in the last episode, in the finale of the show, following the big action parts, Suletta was shown to need mobility aids three years afterwards. Also in this timeskip, it is revealed that she has since gotten married to Miorine, who is another woman. Also I'm not autistic or trans but I have seen many people headcanoning her as both.

Canonically disabled by data storm infection, uses crutches on screen. Is married to her wife.

Canonically LGBTQ, as she is shown to love and later marry Miorine Rembran, a girl. Canonically disabled, as in the last episode, the Permet leads her to “lose control of her body” and even in the epilogue 3 years later, she is still using crutches and has not been able to get her body to the way it used to be before.

Suletta Mercury pushed herself to the limits of human survival at the end of the show, but survived. She's disabled and still uses crutches in the 3-year time skip. Her wife loves her and Suletta is still pursuing her dreams of creating a school.

Spoilers probably for the series. She is canonically engaged, later married to a woman, Miorine Rembran, and at the end of the series is shown to be physically disabled, with her both speaking on her physical therapy and her crutches being in several shots. Also she is written in a way that can be read as neurodivergent.

Partially paralyzed

Propaganda:

I love this character so much and I need everybody to as well. First of all, to get the biggest notes out of the way to establish why she qualifies (with major spoilers for episode 24), Suletta, after a three years timeskip, is shown to need crutches to get around a lot of the time. This fact is ultimately treated as an accomplishment on her part (/is never treated as a bad thing, just because I like clarifying this when it comes to any form of rep), since it took her some time to get to the point where she could move around at all. Also in this timeskip, the girl Suletta has been engaged to throughout most of the series, Miorine, has since become her wife, shown largely by the two of them having matching rings and Suletta's relatives being referred to as Miorine's in-laws. This makes Suletta the very first sapphic protagonist in Gundam. I've also seen headcanons or her such as her being autistic or transfem get popular. Getting to what makes me love her, Suletta, early on, is very easily intimidated in a lot of regards, largely because this is her first time actually being around anybody her age, but she's always been trying her best! She generally tries very hard to be positive and cares about those around her very much but can easily question her worth and is sometimes deterred. She is very willing to stand up and fight (usually in a literal way because she has won many mobile suit duels) when it most matters, a trait which remained consistent throughout the series, whether it's in regards to her role as a rescue piolet in the Cradle Planet short story, the drive which ultimately caused her to win the duel which initially got her engaged to Miorine in her first in-series appearance or the finale of the whole show. Suletta is somebody who has gone through a lot of hurt (especially in the series. Eps 17 and 18 put this girl through the wringer), and ultimately wasn't really raised to have too much autonomy. But despite everything, she keeps going. She's a very strong person who cares about those around her and I love her for it.

She is just the most joyful person ever who loves her wife.

Above, and: Vote for the newlyweds!

Everything above applies here. Suletta is shown to still not fully able to walk well without her crutches in the shot we get of her walking in the finale, her crutches are explicitly shown in several shots, and she openly talks about how her physical therapy is going to her, now wife, Miorine. On the topic of her and Miorine, they were engaged as of episode 1 with an iconic line from Miorine of "I guess Mercury is rather conservative. That sort of thing is commonplace here." in response to Suletta responding that she was a woman as a rebuttal about being Miorine's fiancée. Lots happens, and it's not uncommon to see either one of them yearning for each other, with a genuinely well written romance that leads to a happy ending with them explicitly married.

In the final battle of the series, Suletta highly exerts herself piloting a dangerous Gundam and significantly damages her body to save her family and fiancée. It's described that she was left mostly paralyzed from the neurological overload. Three years later, she still has significant scarring and needs to use crutches as a mobility aid, and talks about how her dexterity is "recovering." This means she was also disabled during her wedding with her wife, and they're shown with matching wedding bands as they discuss her health.

Anything Else?:

There's a whole lot more in terms of their relationship, and i've basically given a seriously lightened, budget sparksnotes version of it. Also, Suletta became disabled from a crazy battle for the finale, where she unleashed a giant rainbow data storm with a rainbow glowing Gundam. (Submitter 4)

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @insertbrowsinghere is the first submitter.

[sheydgarden]

do you know of any other antizionist artists who make jewish/judaica art, especially handmade stuff? my antizionist jewish friend is looking for stuff to put on her wedding registry and obv doesnt want her money funding genocide

yes, i absolutely do - but unfortunately there isn't (to my knowledge) a handy list of avowedly anti-zionist Jewish artists/shops, for the obvious reason that something like that would put most of us in danger of harassment or worse. i hesitate to make public recommendations on that qualification for the same reason, & also because not everyone feels the same way about the word/label even if our politics are similar.

what i can happily do is point you towards my friend's Judaica distro - i'm linking to the Instagram page rather than the website because they've worked with a lot of artists in various places via pop-up shows & scrolling the gallery is a good way to get a lot more names than just whoever's in stock right now in the shop section. most (probably not all, but at least a very large percentage) of the artists you can find this way are either openly & proudly anti-zionist or non-zionist. you and/or your friend can scroll & see if anyone's work catches your eye, then find that person's individual account or website to see if a) they have any clear political stance & b) they're selling things currently. it's a bit more work but there's a lot of good stuff out there.

i'm also happy to make individual, private recommendations based on type of work - for example if you DM'd me looking for anti-zionist Jewish ceramicists or candlemakers i could give you names right away. lots of folks i know would probably be happy to be recommended publicly as anti-zionist artists - i certainly am - but i don't want to make that decision for anyone else. i know people personally who have lost their jobs over speaking out publicly against Israel, & not everyone is in a position to be loud/visible that way even if they are doing other things quietly or behind the scenes to support Palestine. best of luck!

[icannotgetoverbirds]

buckle up, this one's a doozy

Idk if it's actually a doozy, but this is the story of how I deconverted from a cult and got my egg cracked at approximately the same time, all thanks to... weed.

Let's set the scene, shall we?

It is December 22nd, 2021. The pandemic has been raging for nearly two years at this point. I am, at this point, still a believing mormon. That said, my attendance to church meetings has been incredibly spotty, with the most reliable method to get me to worship being choir practice.

I am laying in my bed in the evening, and of all possible things, I am thinking about weed. Namely, the church's policy about weed, and the absolute failure that is the war on drugs, and my personal belief system (and also about whether or not I should try weed for my anxiety disorder).

What's mormonism's policy on weed, you ask? Well, it's surprisingly liberal for a whole-ass cult, but still has enough nonsense for the events of this story to play out. To put it simply, you can absolutely use weed for medicinal purposes, but recreational purposes is a big no-no.

This, of course, presents a dilemma: where do you draw the line between recreational and medicinal use, especially in the case of, say, using it to medicate an anxiety disorder? I'm sure that the Church-Approved™ conclusion is "That's between you and The Lord, figure it out yourself, good luck!" I don't remember if I came to that conclusion or not, but I know for a fact that my "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt before you make an important decision based off of Feelings Supposedly From God Or The Holy Spirit" ass would not have been satisfied with that answer.

So I think about it in terms of politics, and logic, and science. After all, science is just our frail and minuscule way of comprehending all that Our Father Who Art In Heaven has created, right? So if Our Father Who Art In Heaven can't give me a straight answer, science surely can.

I come to a few conclusions. First of all, there are very few people, if any, who are qualified to draw that line. I am not included in that group of people. Secondly, nobody in their right goddamned mind would so much as try to draw that line unless they have some serious qualifications in the variety of fields that it applies to. Third of all, and this is where shit starts to unravel very fucking quickly: who in the goddamned fuck are a bunch of old white men who've probably never seen a gram of weed in their entire lives to think themselves qualified to draw that line?

The shelf cracks. The prophets are fallible, even in this day and age. Not only are they fallible, but whoever made this decision is a FUCKING DUMBASS. God must be looking down at them and shaking his head disapprovingly, huh?

So I think to myself, yknow what, this is a stupid fucking rule. And my autistic-disregard-for-stupid-fucking-rules-having-ass was not about to tolerate it. So what do I do? Metaphorically speaking, I chuck it out the window. Who cares? I'm gonna do weed for my anxiety, and if anybody tells me that I'm disobeying god, I can tell them that god doesn't fucking give a shit about weed if he's as kind and loving as the prophets say he is.

A moment passes.

Now wait just a goddamned second! If I'm chucking this rule out the window, isn't there something else I should re-examine? If I'm disregarding what the prophets have said for my own pleasure and recreation, isn't there something regarding the lives, livelihoods, and joie de vivre of countless other people, myself included, that I should be looking at?

Suddenly, the years of (pent-up and suppressed) sheer fucking indignation of the way queer people have been othered by the church hits me all at once, full fucking force. I am angry, angrier than I have ever been. Abso-fucking-lutely not. No. If the prophets are wrong about weed, then they're DEFINITELY wrong about queer people.

And in this moment, I make a decision. "Until the mormon leaders get their shit together, I'm out! I'm fucking done! I'm gonna go live it up and get blazed out of my gourd for shits and giggles, and maybe I'll try a tiny sip of beer, and by god I am going to transition-"

"HEY WAIT JUST A GODDAMNED SECOND"

[Plain text ID: Text in a large, bold, italicized red font that reads "HEY WAIT JUST A GODDAMNED SECOND"]

Shelf shattered, omelette made of my egg, life ruined for the better.

The next morning, I come out to my mom and sister. I still believe in god and mormonism and yadda yadda, I just think the leadership needs to get their heads out of their asses.

Not long after, I decide to finally check out exmormon spaces. Yknow, get the full experience.

I am bombarded with "HOLY FUCK IT'S A CULT. IT RUINED MY LIFE. IT RUINED YOUR LIFE. IT TORE MY FAMILY APART. IT'S NOT EVEN REAL. READ THE CES LETTER, CHECK MORMONISM AGAINST THE BITE MODEL. THINK FOR YOUR GODDAMNED SELF FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE."

I check the sources provided. Well, I'll be damned. They weren't kidding, that mormonism sure can cult started by a con man. At this point, I am now beyond the point of no return. There's no going back. I have seen the light. I want out forever, I want my records removed, mom pick me up I'm scared.

My family never looks at me the same way again :>

[digital999placebo]

back on my usual shit. Tormenting the one I love. A lidl fanfic snippet beneath cut hehehe (a convo between Gilbert and Roderich on the topic of Germany)

[Somewhere in Continental Europe, 1870]

“You can’t be serious about raising him on your own,” Roderich spits acid, “You have no experience or qualifications outside of war, let me do it.”

“If I can manage an army of men, I believe I’m capable of caring for one child.”

“Children are not trained men, Gilbert.”

“You’re the last person I want to be lectured by on this,” Gilbert cuts in and adjusts his position in the chair. “I mean no offence, Roderich, but I rather have Feliciano beneath me than beside me.”

Roderich makes a strangled sound and opens his mouth to retort that Feliciano is perfectly well-adjusted when Gilbert continues.

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t doubt your efficiency in raising regular children. You could turn a stuttering fool into a credentialed politician and a tone-deaf cripple to the most renowned pianist. You and your country have a culture that mine does not. Your understanding of music is something I couldn’t even dream of achieving, but what you lack is the ability to admire a well-oiled machine. I want Ludwig to not only be a force to be reckoned with within the political spectrum, I also want him unbeatable on the field. I want people terrified at the mere mention he’s coming… And that is nothing you can provide.”

Roderich nearly laughs at Gilbert’s delusion. The nation before him couldn’t seriously believe that Ludwig, a wiry and mutilated little thing, a walking blasphemy against God and Mother Nature herself, covered in sutures and wrapped in bandages that needed to be changed daily, was going to become anything but what he was created of, dead tissue. He searches Gilbert’s face for a trace of self-awareness and is horrified when he doesn’t find it.

“That– Ludwig won’t even survive that long,” Roderich manages to get out, quiet, angry, and small. He can’t help how his voice shakes and rises. He’s furious, but can’t say why, perhaps because he feels bad for the little thing Gilbert has created, so frail yet already carrying the weight of Gilbert’s expectations, he’s angry because he knows better and he doesn’t know how to make Gilbert understand that. “He’s blind and mute; incapable of even feeding or relieving himself despite his age. You haven’t created a machine, you haven’t even created a person, you’ve created a thing whose only purpose is to suffer a slow death.”

Gilbert’s mouth tightens and he drums an impatient finger against the chair’s armrest, “You’re underestimating him.”

“I’m realistic, one of us has to be. That thing is suffering every day,” Roderich begs. “It’s sadistic.”

Gilbert hits the armrest with his fist and Roderich reels back.

“Don’t call him that! He’s not a thing, he’s the future of Europe,” Gilbert sneers at him, all composure finally lost, “You sit here and speak as though he were to die any day now, yet you beg me to resign him to your care?” –Gilbert wrinkles his nose in disdain– “I can see why Feliciano turned out the way he did, you have no perseverance, no dignity or strength, giving Ludwig to you would be to cut his throat. You’ve never struggled in a way that matters, nothing worth having is easily attainable. Ludwig will be great.”

Roderich trembles with withheld fury and he curls his lips to match Gilbert’s crude sneer.

“Fine,” he spits, “If that thing makes it at all.”

[uptoolateart]

Education Systems

I'm updating this because a French fan has now added to the conversation, for accuracy.

I think a lot of people have misunderstood the French education system, after watching Confrontation. I did a bunch of research into this for one of my fics - I have lived in the UK since I was 16 and have children in the British education system - and I originally grew up in the US. With all that in mind...

When you finish the first major stage of education:

France - Age 15

UK - Age 16

US - Age 18

Picking your focus / specialism(s):

France - Age 15, you can pick a stream, focusing on subjects relevant to what you want to do in life.

UK - Age 16, you can pick a stream, focusing on subjects relevant to what you want to do in life - there are also vocational courses, if you’re not remotely academic, and I bet there is something like this in France.

US - You are required to take all general mandatory subjects, even if you suck at them, until age 18, at which point you can finally specialise.

Speaking personally, when I lived in the US I was only given one elective in high school, and for my junior year (age 16) I realised I would have no time to fit that elective into my schedule because of all the science and maths requirements...subjects I was all but failing, because I knew I was artistic / literary-minded from a very young age. I was forced to suffer falling self-esteem, feeling like I was stupid and not good enough, simply because I didn’t have the ‘right’ brain type to fit with what the school wanted. There were other schools in the area that had slightly different requirements, but they all did some form of the same thing.

If you don’t know what you want to focus on yet:

France - There are generalist academic options where you do the usual variety of subjects, with the proviso that you get to choose if it’s more heavily weighted towards maths / science or towards liberal arts (see my personal anecdote above).

UK - Does something similar to France.

US - I was seriously considering dropping out of high school as soon as legally able (age 16) because I couldn’t cope with the pressures of the school system and my shattered confidence, despite previously being a straight-A student. However, if you drop out, you bear that stigma for life, no matter how much else you do - even though there are countries like France and the UK that legally release you from that education system at the same age or even younger. I’ve seen this happen to a lot of extremely intelligent American friends.

At university:

UK - You ONLY do classes directly related to your degree.

France - I'm told it's the same but that you don't get to choose unrelated electives for fun (you can do that in the UK - not lots, but a few over the years).

US - You are forced to take a lot of mandated subjects that have nothing to do with your course, e.g. local government or trigonometry even though you’re doing a writing degree, and you pay an absolute fortune for these / the required textbooks. (The most I ever spent on a book for my UK English degree course was £15, whereas textbooks in the US cost in the hundreds.)

What if you change your mind?

UK - Most jobs don’t care what degree you did, just that you did a degree. If you decide to do something that does need special qualifications, you can always go back and undertake them, at any age...with the proviso that you need to find the time and money.

France - I have been told it can be difficult, although in ways similar to the UK (and probably the US), where it depends on the job. Some jobs will always require retraining. It's always easier to do that training when you're younger and have fewer obligations

US - I can’t specifically comment, as I emigrated, but see above. Also, I have American friends who have gone through a LOT of hoops to try to change career paths in later life. This is probably an area where all countries could improve.

In conclusion:

The French (and UK) system is not necessarily forcing teenagers to lock into a fixed career path with no looking back, at the age of 15. Nothing is perfect, but in many ways, I think the French system actually offers options for greater flexibility by allowing greater choice at a younger age, instead of being forced to take all these other classes they may never use again in life, possibly at the detriment of their mental health.

Don’t get me wrong - there are a lot of things I prefer about the US vs the UK system in the lead up to high school (I can’t comment on the French system during those years, as I have no experience). But I’m a big believer that we need to allow kids greater choice at a younger age, with the option to stay in generalist education if that’s really what they want.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

How can you tell if something *is* a pet monkey? Sometimes it's hard to tell esp if people label themselves as rescues or sanctuaries or whatnot.

It can be hard to tell. My usual process involves looking for specific red flags: wearing clothes, being on a leash, being inside a human house, doing human activities, and being the subject of internet content that has little to no information, focusing on the cute factor. Lets take an example:

This is Pockets Warhol the capuchin. This photo, and many others on the twitter account @PocketsWarhol, depict Pockets playing with toys, painting, and sleeping in blankets indoors. Additionally, the Twitter account posts from Pockets perspective. This photo was tweeted with the caption “I know that I never want to stop smiling #BeKindToAnimals #AfterLife #storybookmonkeys“

It is easy to think that Pockets is a pet, and you’d be half right: he used to be a pet before being surrendered to the Storybook Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario. So how do we go from seeing this type of content from determining if Pockets is a pet?

1. Context gathering. Just from scrolling through Pockets’ Twitter, more tweets can be found which indicate more about Pockets’ care and keeping. Not much, but the background of several pictures and videos indicate an enclosure suited to capuchin needs rather than someones basement or living room. He is also only seen engaging in species safe enrichment including baby-proof children’s toys and classic monkey enrichment like sawdust. This still isn’t much to go off of, but at this point we would probably see if his caretaker was treating him unambiguously as a pet. If at this stage we saw him wearing baby clothes, being handled inappropriately/like a human baby or a domesticated animal, or being kept in a persons bedroom, yard, or a similarly obviously bad environment. At this point we can go into the next step:

2. Background Research. We know Pockets lives at the Storybook Farm Primate Sanctuary, but is this a real sanctuary or just someone with a farm that keeps “rescue“ exotics? Let’s look. One of the first things you may notice on the website linked from Pockets’ Twitter bio is an endorsement from Jane Goodall. Pretty solid stuff in their favour, but not every place is going to have an endorsement that so obviously speaks to a high standard of ethics and primate welfare. If you hover over the “About Us“ section of the website directory, you can click on the “Our People“ tab. Here we find some info that you are likely not going to find for any sanctuary that isn’t the real deal:

A board of directors (7 members)

Staff members (3 caregivers and 2 veterinarians)

Names of all the volunteers

Non-legitimate sanctuaries almost never have this level of transparency. This also allows you to look up individuals such as board members to see what their qualifications are. Real sanctuaries value transparency and tend to be more forthcoming. Seeing “John Smith Phd, resident veterinarian” is a big green flag, whereas “Founded by John and Judy Smith who love animals“ doesn’t say much.

Storybook Farms also has a resources tab for educational information, including a tab on pet primates. They do not say outright that primates should never be pets, but instead emphasize that the needs of primates are most often not met when they are kept as pets and that neglect and poor quality of life is very common. This may seem like a questionable stance, but Storybook Farms is very gentle in their condemnation of keeping primates as pets as they form and maintain relationships with primate pet owners to ensure the welfare of these privately owned animals. Primate pet owners should not exist, but if someone has a pet monkey an all or nothing approach is not going to help them or the monkey. As I mentioned, Pockets used to be a pet, but he was willingly surrendered by his owner who realized that she was not capable of giving him the quality of life he deserves.

3. More critters? Pockets is just one monkey out of all the monkeys and lemurs at this sanctuary, and luckily Storybook Farms has a tab where you can read bios and see pictures of every individual there (yay for transparency and good websites!) From reading through these bios I found quickly that most of the sanctuaries residents live in small groups/couplings that are species appropriate and take the needs of the individuals into account. Inner species relationships are prioritized and care is taken to allow natural, non-human-centric lives.

Remember Darwin the IKEA monkey? He lives here! Because Darwin (a former pet like Pockets) was rescued when he was less than a year old, he has been largely rehabilitated to be more macaque than human and spends his time with his own kind, foraging outside. Unlike Darwin, Pockets was a pet for far longer and consequently is not able to be re-socialized as effectively. It’s sad, but long term pet primates tend to prefer humans to other members of their own species, are more easily made anxious, require more attention and reassurance, and often have been castrated or have had teeth removed. Because of this, Pockets and others like him require lives that, while not ideal for monkeys, are better for the individual. Pockets was lucky enough to not have been traumatized by life as a pet, and his life looks pet-like because it is all he has ever known and anything different would possibly cause more harm than good.

Hopefully this helps you do your own research! There will always be ambiguous cases, and don’t be afraid to be wrong or to not know. There have been some places, pictures, and primates that I have been unable to judge due to lack of information, and it is fine to say you don’t know for sure. Feel free to ask more questions if you have them!

[furiousgoldfish]

Hey goldfish :) It's 🌟 anon again (previous ask for reference: https://furiousgoldfish.tumblr.com/post/730639643605876736/hey-anon-from-this-post)

So things have changed quite a bit since the last time we spoke. Turns out we are in fact a system for one, and the host who was sending those asks has stepped down due to being extremely overwhelmed by being trapped in the situation we're in after realising just how bad things are. Bun still comes around to talk to our friends, and plans to return to being host once we get out of here, it's just too much for bun to be aware of how bad things are and still be stuck in this environment. In the meantime myself (the new host) and a couple of other alters are pushing forward with the plans to get out of here and holding down the fort, so to speak, until the day comes that we can get out of here. It's been a couple of months since this host change, and we've been doing alright so far.

Right now we're actually in the process of looking for a job! It's pretty hard, admittedly, considering that we don't actually have any qualifications (we were taken out of school when we were 9 years old) but we're hoping that something simple like just stacking shelves at the local supermarket won't require something like that. We're looking into it at the moment, hopefully it works out. Our long-term plan is to be able to learn to drive at least, so we can have more freedom, then start saving up to try and get our own place. One of the other alters here managed to reach out to social services to attempt to get help with finding housing, and we're just waiting on a reply from them. Assuming that works out, we might even be out of here in a year, which is really exciting!

Of course, with the potential escape so soon, it's starting to sink in that we...have no idea how to do a lot of things. Our mother refused to teach us anything because she was always "too busy", so we barely know how to make a simple sandwich (and even that's from one of our friends telling us!), let alone actually cook anything, and she has outright refused to teach us how to wash dishes, do laundry, or anything of the sort. That coupled with the fact we never got chores growing up means we have basically no life skills on top of the lack of qualifications, so there's a few of us who are terrified that we're going to fail.

I want to try and find something, at least, to help reassure those scared alters that we'll be okay, that we can make it out of here and stay out, but I have no idea where to start looking to try and learn anything, or even what to focus on first. Do you (or any of your followers) have any advice on where to start? Anything in particular I should be trying to learn now while we're still trapped here, to try and reassure the others that we'll make it?

Oh hey, glad to see you (or, the new host of your system) back!

So you are a system, god I am so sorry, that is one of the most extreme disorders you can have due to abuse and it proves that what was done to you was intensely cruel, inhumane and equal to torture. Kids don't develop something so extreme for no good reason, you had to become like this just to survive in your parents house. And they cut off our education, which sounds insane and illegal.

It makes sense for the old host to be overwhelmed, I remember when I realized how bad things are, I wanted to jump out of my own skin just not to be there anymore. I completely understand the old host's instincts to be inside where it's safer and to let others figure this out until you escape. I'm so glad you're planning to get out of there and to gain freedom, you deserve this and I believe you can make it out.

You're right that there's simple jobs that don't require much qualification, stacking shelves sounds great, I am guessing you could also do stuff like cleaning (what I do) or stuff that's easy to be trained for (I can't think of anything, I haven't done many jobs, if anyone can give recs in replies please do!)

I hope you do get out of there within a year! That does sound exciting, and even if it takes longer, as long as you keep trying you'll get there, I know sometimes it can feel impossible, especially when the abusers are onto you and work to sabotage you. Be sure to never reveal to them what you're up to!! Leave when they won't immediately notice! Don't let anyone know your location so you're safe from being discovered by them! The best safety from them you can have is them not knowing where you are or how to get to you, once these 2 things are accomplished, you are safe completely, and also you do need some income, but you already know all that.

I don't think I was even reading about survival skills back when I was living with abusers, because it just isn't the same when you can't immediately try out your new skills, the best way to learn is to try and figure it out on your own. I'd love to give you step-by-step instructions on how to cook, how to do laundry, how to clean, how to maintain your living space, how to organize and whatever else skill you want, but it's likely you wouldn't be able to try it out, and it would fade from your mind before you learned to use it. If you want I can still try and give you the instructions and you could save them for when it's useful!

There's a website I saw that gives step-by-step instructions to do any task, I want to link it here but right now I can't seem to find it, does anyone know what I'm talking about? It breaks down any activity to small steps that guide you trough the process, it was made for people who get overwhelmed by big tasks but do well with task broken down.

I do want to say that survival skills are pretty easy to learn and some of them super instinctive, and a lot is just about having confidence and the right information. I remember I got a lot of confidence from just learning how to tie a rope in different ways, I could make different knots, or create ladders or a swing using only rope, and that made me feel so smart and capable, even though I barely used it for anything except to show off.

I feel like I should do a basic instruction post about cooking, laundry, cleaning and maintaining living space and it would potentially make it easier to approach for a lot of people. I'll start on it now and you'll see it published a few hours from now.

You and your alters can definitely make it! If you can learn even skills that don't feel vital right now, like if you can sew a little pocket or make a cool knot, it will boost your confidence and give you a feeling on how exciting and rewarding it is to learn these things.

[mootmuse]

'The Terror retold exactly the same except' AUs:

Fitzjames and Franklin speak in valley girl accents to each other ('That Francis guy is such a bummer, I swear.' 'Right??? You are so nice to him and he does not deserve it.' Most of their scenes would read exactly the same.)

Hickey is making food blogs the entire time. See this real youtube video thumbnail that gave a friend the idea:

modern AU:

Corporate AU. heavy emphasis on the lunch meetings purely because there's so much comedic potential there.

The meetings function exactly like the officer's dinners on the show. I want more of them.

Fitzjames spends each and every one telling the same self-aggrandizing stories, good old boy-ing his way into duties that are technically Crozier's job without actually having Crozier's qualifications or experience.

Fitzjames' jokes are carefully crafted to appeal to the members of the racist, misogynistic good old boy's club he's desperate to join who are always delighted to have a little giggle at something they're not supposed to say. The good old boys laugh and his coworkers pat his ass in all the right parts of his stories

except for Crozier. Crozier sits through each lunch meeting looking increasingly constipated and getting increasingly more obviously buzzed each time he has to sit through one.

Fitzjames being Like That stretches meetings out long past the point where anyone else there might have been able to leave in time to get a real break. He also cheerfully suggests having these meetings after it would be time to leave for the day, because that works so much better for Franklin's schedule. (Franklin might or might not attend, of course, terribly sorry, something came up at the last minute, dreadfully kind of you all to understand.)

Blanky always laughs at Crozier when he rants about it afterward. Blanky was smart enough to not take any promotions which would require that level of corporate bullshit. Blanky is the smartest character in this fic.

Fitzjames starts the story working in sales. Please Like Me, Oh God Please Like This Shell of a Personality I Have Constructed, but professionally. When someone doesn't and it gets under his skin, it hasn't gotten under his skin, he's only pursuing inventive new strategies for interdepartmental cooperation. He's pursuing that new account to make a sale, because every sale matters! He's very good at it. He's thriving. He's completely fine.

He tells a story about a time he got his picture in the papers, even while he still had that sling on from saving all those people! He's sure he looked a fright, but [important person] still had it framed at [important place], how embarrassing! Have you seen it?

The audience has to sit through every little detail of at least one of these meetings. every detail. All the small talk. All the stories. that precious lunch break, trickling away. the audience is hitting page down frantically but it's too late, Fitzjames is already telling the roast duck joke (again). Franklin laughs. All the hangers-on and underlings laugh. crozier is about to swallow his own tongue.

I love Fitzjames very much, for the record. Which is why I get so excited about where he was at at the beginning of his character arc. I think most of us have worked with this guy. Nightmare coworker (affectionate).

[commsroom]

sorry if u answered this before but do you hc Eiffel as any particular race? I know him being white would probably match how he sees himself as the everyman. But on the other hand he gives me light skin vibes and I can't explain why. (Also no matter what he has long hair but curly haired Eiffel just speaks to me)

mm. i know you're just asking for my opinion, but that's a complicated question. and i am not the right person to be talking about this, so please take it with a grain of salt. one of the few legitimate criticisms i have of wolf 359 is that it's a show about personal identity, resisting dehumanization, and recognizing that other people navigate the world in different ways, but it tries to be raceblind. which. it can't. particularly when something like minkowski's identity as a polish immigrant is addressed.

i think one of the reasons that wolf 359 characters feel as real as they do is how collaborative the character development process was; they are really roles that are shaped by and belong to those actors. lovelace is played by a black actress, cecilia lynn-jacobs's input determined a lot of things about her, and the audience reaction to lovelace getting shot near the end of s3 was the way it was because there was an understanding of her as a black woman. whether she was initially written to be black is kind of irrelevant in that case, i think - she still is, and she resonates with people that way.

but every other main character in wolf 359 is played by, and similarly influenced by, a white person. and that's a problem. no matter how you approach it, wolf 359 is not a diverse show: if they were written as non-white, then being played by white people would be a problem. raceblindness also enforces a default assumption of whiteness. i think if eiffel wasn't meant to be read as white, then there are aspects of his character arc, his assumption of himself as the "default" person and general ignorance of how it feels to be "other", that probably could've been explored from a different angle.

i know people who see him as white because of that, and i know people who see him as another race because of how they connect with him as a character. and i can understand both perspectives on that, but i don't think there's a right way to approach it. i think the show unfortunately, in this one specific way, kind of dug its own grave. gabriel urbina has said however you see these characters, that's correct, and i can agree with the sentiment, but it's also mired in a lot of difficult context, because these are specific people, and these things should matter to them. it can't be interchangeable, and so it can't be that ambiguous. it could be handled a lot better. and based on his more recent work + politics, i wonder if he would've approached it differently, if he had all the information then.

about how i see eiffel: i've said many times before that i see him as a man who could be reasonably played by zach valenti, so the eiffel in my head is white. the eiffel in the art i commission, or the art where i'm like "oh!! eiffel!!" is not necessarily. the second most eiffel-like guy i can think of, who i also use as a reference sometimes, is iranian. but for me to say that eiffel was iranian is not really a claim i think it would be right for me to make, and i think it is probably not true.

the main features that i think eiffel must have are dark, wavy/curly hair, prominent nose, noticeable body hair, generally expressive. he absolutely cannot be light haired, clean shaven, or pale. and from a general standpoint, like... a wide variety of men could meet those qualifications. i don't want to reinforce an assumption of whiteness, but i'm also extremely wary about treating race as functionally cosmetic, since. again. it can't be. no show is removed from real life social contexts, and wolf 359 is about a lot of very real things.

i think if you do interpret eiffel as specifically a cis, able-bodied white guy, there's something very real and very unfortunate about the fact he initially ignores lovelace and hera, two marginalized women, and seeks reassurance from minkowski that they were overreacting. he listens eventually, but the person who gets through to him is presumably the Next Most Visibly Privileged Person, and that's... hm.

[thewhumpcaretaker]

What r ur thoughts on HopelesslyDevoted(Chidi x Vincent)? :3 they’re sooo doomed bodyguard x boss yaoi

I HAVE. SO MANY. THOUGHTS.

Once again you poisoned my brain, thank you. Ever since that gorgeous fic...dang. Well, now I can yap about it!

TW: mentions of drug use and an abusive family, and NSFW stuff

Okay so first of all, let's think about the nature of a personal bodyguard in the JW universe. This is not just anyone who has the necessary qualifications. This has to be someone who is willing to die for you and who absolutely will not betray. (I believe Gianna picked Cassian for that reason but that's another story). So Chidi did something for Vincent that proved he would be loyal to the death.

What did he do? I think he was a Myrmadon who was serving under Vincent's father, back when Vincent was younger (around college-age). So they've known each other for a long time - it's actually sort of a friends-to-lovers situation. He was around Vincent, but not allowed to speak to him most of the time - or at least, it would have been awkward to do so. He just watched him from afar and became very fond of him, and they talked occasionally. At some point, perhaps during an attack by a rival family, Chidi was ordered to focus on defending property or another De Gramont family member but he disobeyed and saved Vincent's life instead. You could even go so far as to say that he saved Vincent's life instead of his father's - that would be a lot of drama. In any case, he expected to be executed for what he did, but instead, Vincent made him his personal bodyguard.

Why is Chidi so in love loyal? Because he's thoroughly charmed by Vincent. He admires him in every way. Here is a man who's breathtakingly beautiful, wildly charismatic, intelligent, talented...don't get him started on it honestly, because he could praise Vincent forever. Vincent is also more social than Chidi could ever be (this is very much an extrovert-adopts-an-introvert situation). He sees Vincent's more potentially negative characteristics too, such as his pride and arrogance, but doesn't see them as flaws. He's also one of the few people who has really seen what Vincent has been through on a personal level. They don't often talk about it, but he witnessed Vincent being mistreated by his family pretty frequently and it made him massively protective. He gets why his bien-aimé is like this.

How did Vincent fall in love? Initially, Vincent mistreated Chidi a lot. He saw someone who was hopelessly devoted to him and thought, "What a fool. Well, at least I can use him." He never did anything really awful, but he was generally rude and mocking, didn't give Chidi any breaks when working, exploded at him in anger, that kind of thing. But over time, little moments of vulnerability happened that a bodyguard inevitably sees. Being tired after a long day. Getting sick. Breaking down after an argument. And Chidi always went out of his way to make sure Vincent was comfortable in moments like that. Vincent slowly started to notice. He also noticed things that he admired about Chidi - his calmness, his determination, his emotional intelligence, his skills with not just fighting, but also cooking and even sewing (idk why but I think he likes to sew and sewed a button back on for Vincent during a fashion emergency at some point). Eventually Vincent started to wonder and secretly hope that there could be something between them, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything - it would mean too much to him to have someone who genuinely cares for him. He didn't dare to confess his feelings and test whether it was true.

So instead he started fucking him, oops! Just casually. For fun. Because they're both hot. Definitely nothing more than that...next thing you know, they're married.

Miscellaneous Things:

They’re both good at fencing and sometimes they spar together. Chidi always lets Vincent win.

Chidi always reminds Vincent that it’s his job to take care of his health in all ways, including mentally and in terms of keeping him clean from drugs.

Chidi service top!!!!

Their relationship is part of the reason why the High Table is so queer accepting - Vincent is the most influential member other than the Elder himself, and he wasn’t going to put up with any nonsense about him and Chidi being together - happy pride!!

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 4, Poll 10

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Suletta Mercury-Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

Qualifications:

While this is something which only became a point in the last episode, in the finale of the show, following the big action parts, Suletta was shown to need mobility aids three years afterwards. Also in this timeskip, it is revealed that she has since gotten married to Miorine, who is another woman. Also I'm not autistic or trans but I have seen many people headcanoning her as both.

Canonically disabled by data storm infection, uses crutches on screen. Is married to her wife.

Canonically LGBTQ, as she is shown to love and later marry Miorine Rembran, a girl. Canonically disabled, as in the last episode, the Permet leads her to “lose control of her body” and even in the epilogue 3 years later, she is still using crutches and has not been able to get her body to the way it used to be before.

Suletta Mercury pushed herself to the limits of human survival at the end of the show, but survived. She's disabled and still uses crutches in the 3-year time skip. Her wife loves her and Suletta is still pursuing her dreams of creating a school.

Spoilers probably for the series. She is canonically engaged, later married to a woman, Miorine Rembran, and at the end of the series is shown to be physically disabled, with her both speaking on her physical therapy and her crutches being in several shots. Also she is written in a way that can be read as neurodivergent.

Partially paralyzed

Propaganda:

I love this character so much and I need everybody to as well. First of all, to get the biggest notes out of the way to establish why she qualifies (with major spoilers for episode 24), Suletta, after a three years timeskip, is shown to need crutches to get around a lot of the time. This fact is ultimately treated as an accomplishment on her part (/is never treated as a bad thing, just because I like clarifying this when it comes to any form of rep), since it took her some time to get to the point where she could move around at all. Also in this timeskip, the girl Suletta has been engaged to throughout most of the series, Miorine, has since become her wife, shown largely by the two of them having matching rings and Suletta's relatives being referred to as Miorine's in-laws. This makes Suletta the very first sapphic protagonist in Gundam. I've also seen headcanons or her such as her being autistic or transfem get popular. Getting to what makes me love her, Suletta, early on, is very easily intimidated in a lot of regards, largely because this is her first time actually being around anybody her age, but she's always been trying her best! She generally tries very hard to be positive and cares about those around her very much but can easily question her worth and is sometimes deterred. She is very willing to stand up and fight (usually in a literal way because she has won many mobile suit duels) when it most matters, a trait which remained consistent throughout the series, whether it's in regards to her role as a rescue piolet in the Cradle Planet short story, the drive which ultimately caused her to win the duel which initially got her engaged to Miorine in her first in-series appearance or the finale of the whole show. Suletta is somebody who has gone through a lot of hurt (especially in the series. Eps 17 and 18 put this girl through the wringer), and ultimately wasn't really raised to have too much autonomy. But despite everything, she keeps going. She's a very strong person who cares about those around her and I love her for it.

She is just the most joyful person ever who loves her wife.

Above, and: Vote for the newlyweds!

Everything above applies here. Suletta is shown to still not fully able to walk well without her crutches in the shot we get of her walking in the finale, her crutches are explicitly shown in several shots, and she openly talks about how her physical therapy is going to her, now wife, Miorine. On the topic of her and Miorine, they were engaged as of episode 1 with an iconic line from Miorine of "I guess Mercury is rather conservative. That sort of thing is commonplace here." in response to Suletta responding that she was a woman as a rebuttal about being Miorine's fiancée. Lots happens, and it's not uncommon to see either one of them yearning for each other, with a genuinely well written romance that leads to a happy ending with them explicitly married.

In the final battle of the series, Suletta highly exerts herself piloting a dangerous Gundam and significantly damages her body to save her family and fiancée. It's described that she was left mostly paralyzed from the neurological overload. Three years later, she still has significant scarring and needs to use crutches as a mobility aid, and talks about how her dexterity is "recovering." This means she was also disabled during her wedding with her wife, and they're shown with matching wedding bands as they discuss her health.

Anything Else?:

There's a whole lot more in terms of their relationship, and i've basically given a seriously lightened, budget sparksnotes version of it. Also, Suletta became disabled from a crazy battle for the finale, where she unleashed a giant rainbow data storm with a rainbow glowing Gundam.

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @insertbrowsinghere is the first submitter. The anything else section is the fourth submitter.

Merle Highchurch-The Adventure Zone: Balance

Qualifications:

- over course of story loses a hand and an eye (hand replaced with prosthetic)

- I don't think it's proper canon (might've been mentioned in the show?) but he's very commonly headcanoned as pansexual which is also a pun because he's a follower of Pan

Propaganda:

let beach dad win

[asoftgoth]

I hope these aren't intrusive to ask, but when it comes to your recent hip growth...

A. It's so cute, first of all

B. Do you believe they're growing solely because of HRT, or because of HRT plus you're specifically eating enough to continue gaining during your transition?

And when it comes to your transition in general, if you happen to plan to undergo any sort of gender confirmation surgery, have you already looked into qualifications/patient criteria? I'm not asking because I want to pry about you but because I think my egg is cracking but I'm already about the same size as you and I'm worried that if I even try transitioning, eventually I'll hit a road block at which point if I want to get any relevant surgery, they won't consider me viable unless I lose a lot of weight.

Again, I'm so sorry if this isn't stuff you're comfortable talking about, in which case please don't feel obligated to reply to this at all. I hope you're doing well!

Hey there :) First off im happy to answer pretty much any transition related questions. These are really invasive though and I appreciate you acknowledging that. For everyone that will read this, please don’t expect every trans person you speak with to be willing to open up like this. But with that said here we go:

A: Lol thank you 🥰💕

B: Its such an exciting and scary part of someone’s life when their egg is starting to crack. I remember those days well and I feel for you. But trust me, it gets so much better 💕 And about your questions, my hip growth is because of HRT mainly, and the fact that I have an overall decent diet. That’s pretty much it. And the diet aspect is important, when you transition your body is undergoing a massive transformation and it needs energy to help it along. My actual diet is for another post maybe, (it’s not anything special tho) but I’m not “actively gaining” and haven’t been since I started HRT, believe it or not! It might surprise some people but I’ve actually lost weight even though I’ve added about 3 inches to my hips since starting almost 9 months ago. Almost all of the weight I’ve lost (about 40lbs) has been from muscle loss throught my body. Plus I’ve also lost a ton of visceral fat from my waist(yay), and gained lots of subcutaneous fat in my ass and thighs (also yay). That’s not to mention my chest which is *really* growing a ton, and fast too. I’d say im really lucky with how my proportions are filling out, but it’s a long process and im extremely grateful. Transitioning definitely isn’t over night tho and as much as this sucks, it’s a genetic roll of the dice for what your proportions will look like. Transitioning takes a lot of bravery, and I don’t say that lightly.

With all that said, yes I do have some surgeries in mind that I want and plan on getting in the next few years. I don’t want bottom surgery, but if I did then my size would be an issue. There are strict BMI limitations for getting a vaginoplasty. It fucking sucks but that’s just the reality of things in 2023. Simpler surgeries like getting an orchi don’t have those requirements and that’s one thing I plan on getting fairly soon. Another one is FFS. I’ve actually talked with a few surgeons already who do FFS and some have BMI requirements and others don’t. The ones that don’t unfortunately may cost a bit more from what I’ve seen. (But they do have more experience too). For implants and things like that, I don’t know, I haven’t researched boob jobs specifically but I can’t imagine BMI would be an issue there. I know it isn’t for fat injections in your butt/hips.

One last thing too that I wanna make clear, because a lot of people might read this. You don’t have to actually take any medicine or have any procedures done to be transgender 💕 Medically transitioning is something that helps so many of us and is absolutely necessary for (I would say) most trans people, (it 100% saved my life, I wouldn’t be here without it). But not all, and it doesn’t define your transness whether or not you’ve taken ~this~ medicine or had ~that~ surgery. I was just as much a woman as I am now for the year before I started HRT when I knew I was trans. And I was just as much a girl when I was born. I’ve been a woman all my life, it just took a little while for me to figure myself out haha. Just trust your gut and make healthy decisions. I put off the whole “deliberately gaining” thing while my body is going through all this change. And I personally feel like im better off for it. However I’m working out and eating to help grow my lower half, so I guess you could say my gaining journey isn’t over, it’s just changed. But anyway, I hope this helps you and anyone who reads this, sorry it was so long lol. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask, and my inbox is always open too 🖤

[moonlightguidesky]

Continued writing of Chapter 3...

Warning: Mention of killing a child and language

He orders Jake as he looks at the mark in her shoulder. It looks healed in a way, sure he knows that it seemed impossible for a person like her to exist at all.

"I am telling you, I'm immune. I won't kill you, I have waited for weeks for any sign that I might change or turn, nothing. I don't care if you don't believe me, but you need me alive to get whatever supplies you need from that Harrow guy anyways."

She retorts back as she pulled her sleeve down and pulled back on her jacket, Jake considered it, an immune person, people of the right qualifications could do something with that.

"I don’t care! He probably set us up with you just to get rid of us, should've broken his wind pipes while I had the chance!"

He complains as he started to check the soilders for any supplies. She didn't go down without a fight, that was for sure.

"Y tú estas seguro que tú eras immuna ?"

He asked her as she looks at him surprised, right, she didn't know about him yet.

"Since when did you speak spanish?"

Looking dumbfounded he snaps his fingers.

"Focus, estas segura?"

He asked again.

"Yes, sí, estoy segura. No tengo orta cosa para que tú me creas en mí, nomas me palabras."

She says as he looks into her eyes, looking for a hint of any lie because he knows, he just does. He finds nothing. She honestly doesn't have a reason to lie, she would die which ever way she took but one would let her live just a bit longer.

"We aren't killing her."

He says to Khonshu who just looks at him.

" You can't honestly tell me you believe what that worm is saying!?"

Khonshu exclaimed as Jake sighs.

"I don’t, not completely at least. But from the amount she has been with us, she hasn't tried to kill us."

He explains as he looked at her again.

"But one twitch, one little sound that doesn't sound normal and I will kill you, and I don't flinch niña. ¿Entiendes?"

He says as she nods.

He nods back as Khonshu hands him a gun. He grabs it and starts to point somewhere.

"We go over there, then we get to one of the safe locations. We stay there for a while then we'll keep going."

He says as he starts to walk, Khonshu follows by mumbled remakes, she looks at then both. They were both her protector and killers, they could kill her if they wanted to. Khonshu seemed like he would do it in a heart beat.

But that other guy, he gave her another chance.

Also, when the hell did he speak spanish?!

"Come on niña!"

Jake called out as she is pulled out of her thoughts and starts to follow where Jake is standing there waiting for her to catch up.

And this is where the story ended at the first time. Sorry I had the rest or not it would not be the whole thing.

This took weeks of both school and writers block but I got it done 👍. Again as always let me know what you think, I am working to make a masterlist which should appear in a little bit.

Hope this is good, and I don't know when the next post of this will be, but most likely, it's not as late as this one.

Have a good day, afternoon and night.

-sky 💜

[destinysbounty]

hello i am here to make you talk about avery more. please answer at least 3 of the following:

what are three(+) songs you think describe avery?

what are three(+) songs you think avery would listen to?

who are the three canon characters she's closest to and why?

who are the three canon characters she dislikes most and why?

what's her favorite animal + has she ever had any pets?

if she existed in a no-powers/modern au, what job would she end up with?

what's her go-to drink at a restaurant? how about with at-home meals?

is she more of a morning person or night person or somewhere in-between?

how tall is she in comparison to the ninja?

if she had to fight one of the ninja, who would she pick and why?

(If anyone would like to see some really good art of the aforementioned OC Avery, alongside @oracleofdiscord's OC Estrella, check it out here!)

Who are the three canon characters she's closest to and why?

Lloyd: Avery is a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic timeline centuries into the future, where all the OG ninja are dead/gone and Lloyd is an old, wizened, and immortal ninja teacher. Future!Lloyd didn't like talking much about his past, not wanting to dwell on painful memories, so until she got thrown into the past Avery didn't even know any of the other ninja even existed in the first place. She had a pretty complicated relationship with future!Lloyd, struggling to connect with him on a deeper level due to both of them putting up emotional walls because of their respective traumas/baggage. But now that she's stuck centuries in the past and Lloyd is the only familiar face left in her life, Avery is making a much more concerted effort to connect with and understand him.

Pixal: Avery was thrown into the past circa s4, so she initially only knew Pixal as "that one AI chick that lives in Zane's head". But during s9, Avery joins the Resistance and becomes really close to the surviving ninja, Pixal especially. Her life lived in a post-apocalyptic future has given her the unique qualifications to know exactly how to survive in the wake of the SoG's insurrection, experience that proves vital to the Resistance's efforts. This put her and Pixal in a position of protecting the others, something that fostered a deep bond between them. Pixal would put up a strong front for Nya and Lloyd, but with Avery should could be vulnerable and open about her grief over "losing" Zane. And in turn, Avery opened up about her own losses and traumas as well. The two of them became extremely close during this time, and although she's never acted on it Avery may or may not be harboring an eensy-teensy crush on Pixal.

Jay: Avery and Jay...understand each other, so to speak. Both of them are victims of Nadakhan, both of them having learned the hard way how he can twist your hopes and dreams against you. Centuries after the Teapot of Tyrahn was lost, Avery foolishly tracked it down and used it to wish for an elemental power of her own (since she was insecure about being future!Lloyd's only student without powers). And since Nadakhan is an asshole, he gave her an incredibly broken power that causes her physical pain every time she uses it. That is to say, she can control/produce a highly corrosive acidic substance, but she isn't immune to its effects. And although she's learned how to control it in a way that minimizes the damage done to her body, it's still left a lot of scars on her hands and arms. Jay sought out her help as part of the Ninja Replacement Team, during which time she confided in him about the origins of her power (while leaving out the time travel stuff). Avery and Jay aren't exactly besties - their personalities are just similar enough for them to find each other extremely annoying - but they do also understand each other's trauma in a way that gives them a very profound connection. It also helps that, like Jay and Nya, Avery also remembers the erased pirate timeline. She would ideally be close to Nya for those same reasons, but the tiger widow venom looks visually very similar to Avery's acid and seeing Nya die from it was extremely disturbing to her. Avery's always been afraid of hurting people with her powers, hence why she tends to push people away, but with Nya that ambiguous fear feels a lot more real.

Who are the three canon characters she dislikes most and why?

Ronin: in the Shadow of Ronin video game, Ronin uses an artifact called the Obsidian Glaive to alter and erase memories, and even create false ones. Although it was destroyed during SoR, someone from Avery's future timeline was able to put it back together. One by one, Avery's friends and fellow students were warped, their minds twisted and manipulated by false memories, with the intent of turning Lloyd's own students against him, until only Avery was left. In fact, it was one of these memory-warped students that actually threw Avery into the past in the first place. During the events of SoR Ronin uses the Obsidian Glaive to give the ninja amnesia, and Nya calls Avery in to help with the situation. The moment she sees it in Ronin's hand, she kinda goes feral on him and tries to acid-splash his face off. Although they're able to keep the peace and work together when the situation calls for it, things are still extremely tense and awkward between the two of them.

Nadakhan: for reasons explained above, Avery really, really doesn't like Nadakhan. Her efforts to defeat him in the future were very similar to Jay's efforts in s6, and the entirety of Skybound absolutely decimates her mental health because of it. Avery doesn't have many fears, but she's absolutely terrified of Nadakhan.

Time Twins: at the end of s7 they got lost in a time stream, and ended up far in the distant future - the same future Avery comes from. They are what caused that world to become a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and also restored the Obsidian Glaive to use against Lloyd and his students. They're the ones who turned Avery's friends against her, which likewise resulted in her getting thrown into the past. But since she never told the ninja about her origins, they didn't think to clue her in to their adventures during s7. When she found out after the fact that they'd fought the Time Twins without her, she got really upset about her missed opportunity. To this day, she still fantasizes about getting her revenge on the Twins.

If she had to fight one of the ninja, who would she pick and why?

As mentioned above, she and Jay are extremely similar - similar personalities, temperaments, traumas, tendencies to cope with humor...but the problem is, they're a bit too similar. And because of this, they are very good at annoying each other. She would fight Jay without hesitation, especially during his late-season uwu softboi era. She can and will throw hands with him at the slightest provocation, and he feels much the same about her.

Thanks for the ask!

[lostthenfoundmyself]

IFAQs

(aka Infrequently Asked Questions)

(aka questions that no one has asked me that I wanted to answer)

Why does this blog exist?

Because I realized that I saw posts on Tumblr about Jewish things that I didn’t want to reblog on my main blog, but really wanted to reblog. I also had things that I wanted to discuss that didn’t really fit on a fandom blog.

Why don’t you just post this on your main blog?

Because I’m exhausted. I’m having enough problems in real life—I wanted to use a sideblog that I can selectively interact with. Also, my main blog is a fandom blog.

Why are you qualified to talk about _insert thing here_?

This blog exists so I can share my own personal experiences, reblog others’ experiences, and express my opinions. When expressing my opinions, I do my best to back them up with research and sources. When sharing my experiences, I don’t claim to have any sort of qualification other than…actually experiencing that thing. I don’t speak for anyone except myself.

Do you use trigger/content warnings?

I try to. In general, I do my best to tag posts and reblogs about antisemitism so they’re easy to avoid, and tag other common triggers I notice as “tw: ”+ the trigger. However, I’m not the best at remembering/noticing, so be careful. If you see something I didn’t tag, please feel free to send me an ask or message and I’ll add the tag.

Are you…

…Jewish? Ethnically, I am Jewish but was not raised with a huge connection to my Jewish heritage. I celebrated a few holidays with my mom’s parents and read kids’ books, but that was mostly it. In college, I have begun learning more about Jewish culture through Hillel, Chabad, and the Internet. I am certainly no expert, but I enjoy learning and have my own experiences to share. Religiously, I’m somewhere between agnostic and atheist.

…a Zionist? By the definition I use, yes. I don’t know what definition you’ve heard, so here’s a clarification of what I mean:

I believe that there should be a Jewish state somewhere in the region where Israel is located. I also believe that there should be a Palestinian state. I see calls for the dissolution of Israel as overly optimistic at best and antisemitic at worst. While I accept that ideally, everyone in the world would live together in peace and harmony, this is not a feasible short-term goal. No one-state solution under any kind of government would be fair or safe for the inhabitants of the region, and Jews deserve the right to self-determination just like other ethnic groups. Israel exists—I see that as a good thing, but even if you don’t, just getting rid of an entire country is…not gonna work.

…Israeli? No. I live in the United States.

…able to speak Hebrew/Yiddish/insert language here? I can only speak English and (very iffy) French. I know a few Yiddish words from my mom, but I can’t read Hebrew or actually speak Yiddish. You are welcome to interact with this blog in whatever language makes you most comfortable, but I will probably be plugging it into Google Translate if it is not English or French.

…sane/okay/alive? No, definitely not, and barely. Will update if “definitely not” changes. Will not update if “barely” changes, because I’m the only person with access to this blog.