#but that knowledge that a good chunk of my community is made up of these people who grew up and live really well off

[bigbroemen]

old furryism (1960s and previous, very different from todays furry) cartoon zines to: comics (which grew throughout the 1940s-1990s. interest in an art medium that is home to cartoon art and design) to: nerdism to: internet (starting from the 1970s) to: computer enthusiasts who are most likely in the technology field to: new furryism is home to like a LOT of people that are in or very often even instrumental to STEM (particularly technology) fields (computer science, engineering, robotics, etc) & theres a fair population of furries who make a SHITTON of money (because a career in STEM can make a lot of money and technology fields especially make a shitton of money)

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

A bit of trope subversion

I kind of did a bit of an analysis for this scene while replying to another post, but because I love this scene and this is my info dump blog, I decided to talk about it here in more in depth.

Now, when I first watched this movie, I try to keep my expectations low. Sure, I trusted the movie would be good, but I had my doubts about so many spiders and if it was going to work, as well as I didn't like certain aspects of the tropes. Not to mention the obvious "it can live up to the legacy of the first movie?"

So, part of my kind of fatalist nature, when we first saw Gwen kind of avoiding answering Miles, as well as trying to avoid him for a moment to put some random spider clock, my biggest fear was "Oh don't tell me she is just here for something else and is using him."

Seems silly to think that now, but can you blame me? This trope is so old a big chunk of it is dedicated to James Bonds movies; is annoying an tired in my opinion, so I was just expecting the bitter pill will past quickly.

Oh I had never anticipated, how the revelation was the opposite.

With the knowledge of the real reason revealed, we go from "please don't tell me she is using him" to "WOW, she didn't even try to look after the guy."

Let's recapitulate a little.

We learn all of this following Miles, so we don't have full confirmation or what exactly Jess and Miguel told Gwen about visiting Miles, if just seeing him is a risk or is much more than that. Regardless, we learn that 1) Gwen was suppose to catch the spot, and 2) She wasn't suppose to EVEN try to look for Miles, let alone talk.

And this colours everything back.

Most likely, Jess assigned Gwen because Miguel asked her to sent someone, and like Jess said, Gwen is her star pupil; so why not trust her with this one alone?

It doesn't escape Gwen in which dimension is this, and no idea with how much information she had of the Spot, but based on her comment of "villain of the week," she probably doesn't think much of him.

So, knowing that her mentor trusted her this, that this is a mission, and that she should keep her distance for Miles, what she does?

She opens the Portal DIRECTLY to him.

See what I mean? She didn't even TRY.

It would had made more sense if she went first to check on the Spot and then go for Miles, or heck, maybe immobilize The Spot (leave it unconscious or something,) and then catch with Miles.

She doesn't do that, she just JUMPS directly into the portal to get to Miles.

And in the next part, you can see how much this means to her.

At the beginning, I think the fact that she is trying to avoid saying certain things is obvious, and is part of the reason you may suspect she has something else going on. (Technically true, not just my defeatist scenario.)

However on rewatch, I think this is better because is not that Gwen is trying to lie to him, it is Gwen being too excited and happy to contain herself.

Remember, as per Miguel's orders, Miles should be as far away of their business as possible; is considered risky for Gwen to get close to him.

But Gwen once again, cannot help herself, and quickly spills as much as she is able while leaving certain key components, because even if she knows she shouldn't, she cannot help herself.

She probably has been dying to talk to him since forever, and she wanted to talk about all the amazing things she has seen to him. She doesn't want to be cruel about not coming earlier or how Miles cannot get in; she just didn't think too much before talking since again, this entire thing is Gwen going with her heart but than her head.

Which is really a big part of the reason I love it.

This is important for Gwen, this is the first community she has been able to somewhat fit since the entire fiasco with Peter; she is probably expecting to face homelessness if she goes back home, if not prison, so she doesn't want to risk her position.

Yet she is still impulsive, and despite her better judgment, she risks everything for a few hours with Miles, to the point even if putting a tracker on The Spot is barely a band-aid on this situation, she doesn't pay too much attention to him. Looking at him a couple of times at most and for what we catch later; yeah, she didn't look too much what the Spot was doing.

The scene with them going though the city and this conversation also have their points for analysis, but on this one we will brush over.

Because again, the rest of the scene just shows further and further that Gwen basically forgets about her mission for Miles.

And the thing is that, Gwen could EASILY spin the situation if she wanted; she would say she needs help to catch the Spot, they could deal with that, she would even say an excuse to dip out and complete her mission while spending time with Miles.

Of course we don't have idea what she was thinking, or if she even considered that possibility; however we know she doesn't do go that route, what she does?

Go the the Party for Miles's dad.

I think is not difficult to notice that the lightning has changed, and yes, it was already close to sunrise before Gwen appeared, nonetheless, how long she has been with Miles?

She even got a change of outfit (since unlike Miles, she seems to actually change clothes rather than having most of her suit below her daily clothing.) Which makes me wonder how prepared she came before coming here, or rather, for what exactly she was preparing for?

On the first viewing, they spending time together is normal, it almost feels unfair with how little they get to be in a way.

In reality? Gwen stole too much time, so much she missed the fact that The Spot did an entire mini Collider to boost himself away. She deadass wasn't looking at the tracker.

This is the type of stuff that feels almost as if she isn't considering things from the other side (not paying mind to Miles being grounded, living abruptly, etc,) when in reality, this moment paints to which degree Gwen wanted this.

She wanted to see Miles so badly she didn't even try to pretend the mission was her priority, and refused to leave Miles so badly she run out of time; probably because she was having such a good time she didn't want it to end.

They are in love your honor.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I've asked myself many times over the course of three years about how would I react to information that comes to contradict a specific image I have about people. And the answer would differ, more or less, depending on a myriad of factors, such as my mental wellbeing, my attitude toward the fandom, the group, the members, etc. The truth is, I only knew how I would respond the moment it happens and I was pleasantly surprised in a way. I see it as a sign that I'm doing better or at least I'm on the path of doing better.

These are things that I didn't want to allow to come to surface in the way I used to handle the BTM blog. Perhaps because the point was to create a platform in which I could offer the rational, researched perspective which I considered to be the correct one. I'm not retracting any of that. I still believe that it is possible to offer a more complex perspective if I can back it up with knowledge from various fields, but it was also one of my defense mechanisms.

Without expanding on the personal reasons, it has become very easy for me to separate my rational and emotional side. So much, that even when I should be staying in the moment and let my emotions take space, I can't really do it, I need to come up with a rational explanation so it can make sense. I then applied this to BTS as well. I couldn't just say I like this group when someone would ask, I would have to tell them about all the studies I read and how my fascination is mostly intelectual, when in truth it was both. I used to talk about jikook only in the context of analysis, be it GCF through semiotics or various types of interpretations when it came to their performances or fandom reception in terms of their dynamics. It had to be in the context of rational fascination and curiosity because I was merely trying to justify myself on why I care that much about two strangers that I look at on my phone. Again, my intellectual curiosity is real, but that has always been only one side if the coin, but it was one that I pushed.

It's about shame actually. I can't actually accept that I have such an interest. It doesn't fit with the idea I have of myself. And sometimes I don't like it because it makes me question my intellect, my critical thinking. How can I be so good academically and at the same time I fear that I've fallen into a fandom trap? I'm smart, right? Right?

I'm sure a lot of people have dealt with or ar going through this process of cognitive dissonance. How does one deal with the mere idea that something they believe in based on their understanding of the world, their ability of decoding (not in a conspiracy sense, but in a Saussurean way) can turn out to be wrong? We see something that resembles a specific behavior that we are surrounded with our entire lives, sometimes we ourselves engage with, but we've identified it wrong on others? Of course, it's through the visual medium, one that is edited. It's a puzzle with large chunks missing, but we're getting a general idea of it. But we can be wrong. So how do we deal with that? Well, I don't have a correct answer.

Me in 2020/2021 would have been more affected because my mental health was not good. I was functionally depressed and I clinged so much onto BTS, Jikook and the small community that I found myself in at that time, that I would have felt a lot more torn than I am now.

A couple of years later and having to actually go through a situation in which my understanding of people's relationship might not be accurate, I realized I'm fine. And I think it's because it made me really register just now that I finally learned how to have fun with it. It took me three years. By having fun, I mean genuinely being able to simply enjoy the little things. I'm still on the path of not being ashamed for liking kpop or spending time talking about the dynamic/relationship of two people.

What prompted this post was reading what is currently being written in the jikook tag. Yes, I had this big introductory chunk that perhaps people won't bother reading, but I'm doing it for myself. If I can't be honest while writing stuff into the void for strangers to read, then what is the point?

I get frustrated very easily. I like debates and contradictory points of view, but not always. And that's because I like to be right. Almost all the time. So when I see something that I believe it lacks logic or I find it absurd, then my fingers are itching. I don't comment or DM people, I can control myself. I'd rather get out of the app and do something else.

What I want to say is I was surprised at how much fanfiction is being written. More that usual. Shipping contains a big deal of fanfiction by its nature. Gestures and events taking place at different times are interpreted and having information added that fills the gaps. People do that because they have to make sense of what they see.

They like to make relationship timelines. They speculate on first kisses and first sexual experiences. That's their imagination. None of us has any way of knowing. The element of fiction is heighted when people feel like they are losing control of the narrative. When they are unsure of what they are seeing. Which is what usually happens in the shipping community on a yearly basis. Anons flooding the bloggers' inboxes because they need confirmation or they didn't get any ship content in a month or two which means something is wrong.

There's this understanding that the shipper/supporter is delusional while the one who stops shipping is the rational one. From what I've observed throughout time and mostly now, that is a false distinction. The so-called rational fan makes use of fiction just as the shipper. The difference is in purpose. One talks about why the supposed romantic relationship is real and the other tries to refute that. But both categories seem to need fiction in order to build their arguments. That is because none of them have access to someone's private life and relationship, so the gaps need to be filled with speculation. There is no right or wrong version here, despite how much the idea is being pushed. And me writing about this won't make a difference. It's simply how the fandom works. The one who position themselves on the side of anti-delulu will always be seen as the less crazy one. The similarities will fade for the collective consciousness of the fandom.

I think it's difficult for a lot of people, regardless on which side they find themselves on, to accept that the option of simply not knowing is enough as well. Or knowing, but without getting anal about it. But it's hard and they write posts after posts, anons are sending asks over asks because there has to be a firm answer. Only a few allow themselves to be in between lines.

I'll bring back something that I always used to say. Shipping and involvement in the fandom is a lot more about us and less about the people we're talking about. It's about fullfiling some needs, of needing a community, of focusing on the idea of love. Those things can still be done in a way that still makes the experience enjoyable. But not everyone can and I'm not blaming it.

There's a way to just like how people behave with each other and imagine things without adding so much weight to it. Regardless of the true nature. It's our imagination, there's no need for a moral inquisition to tell anyone how to think or that they should stop thinking a certain way. Touching some grass is a cliche and an expression I ended up hating, but I do believe that being connected to discourse on a daily basis can really alter our sense of reality and what we consider to be real issues. We really should pay more attention to that and take some distance if necessary.

[puella-1n-somn10]

☀️What your favorite parent from the Sun and Moon anime says about you🌙

CW: SUGGESTIVE JOKES AHEAD. THIS IS ALL MADE IN THE SPIRIT OF FUN AND IS IN NO WAY THERE TO MAKE JABS AT OTHERS.

Kukui: There is a 70% chance that you are a gay man, and I mean this not out of a place of judgement, but experience with the fans. The cause tends to differ between his game and anime incarnations, but, in the latter's case, not only are you happy about his character being developed there, but also are happy to see Ash having that father figure he craved so badly.

Burnet: You've probably popped the BIGGEST bottles when you've recognized her all the way back from Dream Radar, and have managed to get even bigger bottles when she and Kukui got married. Honestly, most of the Burnet fans I saw were real chill people. So long as you're not one of those Gen 5 fans, I have no mean words. The chillest group.

Guzma: Oh, hello, LGBTQ+ community. Either that, or you relate to him and Team Skull on levels that may be deemed as unhealthy. You're a bit on the feral side; chaotic gremlins who will not only listen to whatever combination between Breakcore and Metal there is, but would also make it your neighbors' problem. You understand the pressure of having to succeed in life and inevitably breaking under it, only to receive no compassion nor any form of apology from your elders. Also, def neurodivergent.

Plumeria: Two possibilities; either you're definitely a lesbian and/or trans gal, or are a hardcore Guzmeria shipper- though, it is more than likely that you're both. You love a good ol' girlboss who is not necessarily a villain; someone who was hardened up by experience, but is still, at the day's end, a human. Either you were the one who needed protecting back in the day, or were that protector; either way, you, too, deserved better in life.

Lusamine: Just like Professor Kukui, the reason as to why she's your favorite depends HEAVILY on which Lusamine from which canon we're talking about. Maybe you like the overzealous Lusamine who is presented as a person with actual flaws that hurt everyone around her - including herself - without her knowledge. Maybe you like the prospect of a morally ambiguous Lusamine who is ready to do everything for "the greater good" even at the cost of hurting others, including her own family. Orrrrrrr maybe you have had a parent like Lusamine in the Sun/Moon games, a classic narcissistic parent, and want to hold out to the hopes that, just like her, your own folks would see the error of their ways; that they would actually apologize to you and finally start improving on themselves rather than drag everyone else around them through the mud of their own misery.

Mohn: There is a high chance that you just want the family back together; you reminisce on the old days where they were complete, before they incident with the ultra wormhole, before Lusamine inevitably lost her marbles, but such is the way of life, right? The ultra games were your golden era, and his anime debut? Let's just say that your wishes FINALLY came true after so long. You love fix-fics and those surrounding the pain of amnesia a bit too much.

Abe/Mallow's dad: Him being a hunk - a himbo - aside, the trauma, the potential, the raw emotion; all there as garnishes for this fine steak of a man and you love each and every one of them. His incompetence and portrayal as a neglectful parent in Mallow and the Forest Teacher forever gives you the ick, but you either tend to ignore it or use that as another source of angst potential.

Mallow's mom: I just know your ass is either suffering from trauma, sudden loss, anxiety, fear of death, or a combination of the above. Yes, you wish she could have been developed a little more, but at least we got a huge chunk of her personality and even development in one episode, which is nothing short of impressive. Also, you like hurt/comfort fics.

Sima/Kiawe's mom: You're right.

Rango/Kiawe's dad: Autism rep? In MY Pokémon anime?! Sorry, but it is so frustrating to see that ya'll are few and far between - just as shy and anxious as your husbando -, but I know you guys exist! Please, let yourselves be known! I would kill just to see some more content regarding him! Also, I just know you love meganes, and, of course, there's nothing wrong with that.

Sophocles' dad: Traumatized. You probably crave the very affection he's giving his wife and kid, and seeing an honest, brash, funny man like him who isn't an abusive rat gave you whiplash initially, but eventually you wanted more. Crafting and/or gardening lover, and maybe a lore fanatic as well because how the FUCK do you know about all the things he's done for Sophocles' happiness from scattered dialogue alone? Also, like Kukui fans, there's a high chance you're neither straight nor cis.

Sophocles' mom: Also traumatized. Maybe a little bit on the autism spectrum, too. Back when the anime first aired, you were scared that maybe the dynamic between and her hubby was imbalanced, until later episodes began to showcase that she is more in charge than he is. You're probably a quiet person irl who is hiding nothing but the most chaotic of thoughts. You wanna try the malasadas she makes at least once.

Lana's mom: I'm saying this right now; if you are well over the age of 20, you are not seeing the pearly gates after the Day of Resurrection.

Lana's dad: Nothing but respect. A man with a design that irradiates potential having less dialogue than Sophocles' mother is infuriating, and the lack of content being made around him by both canon and the fans is even worse, but you don't let that bother you. Either you're the less degenerate version of the fans of his wife, or just like him because he looks way too much like Archie for it to be a coincidence.

[jadevine]

More acting stuff on exactly HOW American Gods shafted Orlando Jones (and a lot of their minority actors)

I don't know how many of my followers are like... still following me, or if they're just waiting on me to start on a new hyperfixation or update my works, but regarding current events in the fantasy/writing world, the allegations against Neil Gaiman are rocking a lot of people at the moment. Honestly, I'm only SOMEWHAT less upset about it.

You know why? Because I've distanced myself from Gaiman's works/fandoms after hearing how the production team of American Gods treated Orlando Jones, and by extension, a HUGE chunk of the minority cast.

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So it is fairly well-known by now that Orlando Jones started writing parts of the American Gods scripts. The scripts he was rewriting? His character Anansi's scenes, and basically all of the minority actors' scripts.

Given the response to his work (being widely acclaimed), I have no idea if most people realize that an actor taking on SOMEONE ELSE'S WRITING is actually a very bad sign in a production. Yes, even if they're credited like Orlando was, and yes, even if the results are fantastic like Orlando's writing was.

His response to being fired really hurt my heart because he mentioned somewhere that 1) he did not want to end up writing for the show and be responsible for so much, but 2) he kept doing it because the fans (especially the Black community) loved his work.

There are two implications with "an actor taking on writing," that make a nice little "shit is happening behind the scenes" sandwich:

-The actor is taking on an extra job, because

-The writers can't do their jobs.

In one of my Discord groups, I stayed up too late and made half a ramble about why actors doubling up on writing is a bad sign, especially when a non-white actor is rewriting something conceived by white folks.

Now I'm a hopeful theater actor instead of a TV actor, so there's definitely some details I'm missing, but the basics of "what does an actor DO besides memorize the script?" should be a good briefer.

Here are my screenshots behind the "read more" button!

I don't even know how I'd tag this, so I just did "American Gods" and "Bridgerton," but it's not like Tumblr's shitty search function would help me find my own post anyway.

Also, if anyone wants to hear more about my little addition about the OPPOSITE problem, where "Bridgerton's Season 1 had a shitton of unfortunate racial undertones because the writers seem like they just swapped out characters' ethnicities and called it a day, but we know damn well that young, inexperienced, and minority actors don't have the knowledge/freedom to do anything about it," feel free to ask.

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[not-poignant]

The angsty boys really out here learning and growing, huh?

Do you think a character can be more emotionally mature than their author? As an author of many years, have you identified any blind spots in your characterization and therefore been able to learn and grow personally through said realizations?

P.S. The past few excerpts have been so soft I just want to print them out, shred them up, and use them to stuff a stuffed animal so that I can squeeeeeeze them. Ugh, I can’t even stand it 💛

Do you think a character can be more emotionally mature than their author?

Oh absolutely.

I would even go so far as to say this is actually more common than the opposite.

Authors are good at writing what they've never had any experience in. This includes writing characters funnier than they are, smarter than they are, dumber, cooler, more emotionally mature, more immature than they are. It's not just about writing settings they've never been in, jobs they've never had, life experiences they've never gone through, on every level you just can't know if something reflects the author's experience in that thing, including their maturity.

I've had readers assume all kinds of things about me based on my writing, and I'd say a good chunk of it isn't true! (Though I'll always feel touched by the military person who assumed I had military experience because I wrote it like someone who had lived it - I don't have military experience, I have a good imagination. That's my job).

As an author of many years, have you identified any blind spots in your characterization and therefore been able to learn and grow personally through said realizations?

Yes and no.

Fiction makes things a lot easier than they are in reality. The fact is a lot of PTSD takes years and years to recover from. Most of my stories are over in 6-12 months (within the timeline of the actual narrative itself.) Fictionalised healing narratives give characters happier endings, faster. It distills something of the human experience for people, and gives us all a road map, but it's not always a very realistic one, or it is, but only in some ways and not others.

Like, I have definitely learned things from my characters, but there's also been things I haven't been able to apply to myself. Writing the character isn't 'doing the work' for example. Knowing that communicating hard things is important doesn't actually make doing it any easier. Seeing lots of examples of characters surviving the process doesn't always make it possible to feel like you're going to survive the process.

It's why when people tell me 'this story made me realise I needed to see a therapist for my own issues, I'm doing so much better now, thank you for helping me do this' I have the urge to say 'thank you' but also a massive urge to tell someone that like, they were the ones who made themselves do it, who found the strength/courage, who self-reflected, who were ready or had a 'right place right time' experience to go on that journey. And some of those people are far more healthier mentally now than I am. I've actually watched like real people read some stories, have some realisations, and now achieve things in their life I still struggle to.

My job is to be good at imagining things and conveying them, but that doesn't mean I - or any other author - picks up the skills or emotional maturity or even knowledge that we write down! It would be great if it worked that way.

Anyway TL;DR it is possible to grow through writing (and reading) characters, but it's also possible to just write stuff and not actually change / grow from it (at least not in a way that's immediately noticeable).

As for blind spots in my own personal character, I'm constantly confronted by them. I have a lot of flaws as a human being!

[silyabeeodess]

FusionFall Headcanons: Sunny Bridges

Sadly, Class of 3000's representation in the game is pretty minimal--with mainly just the Sunny Bridges' Auditorium giving it a spotlight. With that, my own headcanons for how its characters would fit in FusionFall have also been limited, as there just isn't much material to go off of. However, inspired from returning to some of the show's music, I'd like to expand on ideas I've had sprinkled with other posts I've made. For now, let's focus on none other than Sunny Bridges himself:

With the auditorium situated in what might be the heart of entertainment for the City areas, Marquee Row, it's unlikely that Sunny originally intended for it to be anything other than a typical venue. Likely constructed prior to his days as a teacher, he may not have even cared for it at all depending on whether or not it was built by the time he started losing his passion for music. It was just another mark of the fame that was wearing him down. However, after his experiences teaching, he started using the auditorium to give young and upcoming artists the chance to explore their own talent on a professional stage. Classes and workshops could be taught there alongside the big concerts, and the auditorium grew as a place of both education and community.

It should go without saying that his time as a teacher revitalized his passion, enough for Sunny to continue acting as a mentor. He might still have issues with the music industry itself, but he's found himself again, along with the importance of music in his life and the lives of those around him. Thanks to that, he wants to keep passing on those lessons and bits of wisdom to others.

That strength in music came in-full when the war hit. The invasion stretched across every community around the globe, with a sense of peace stripped from everyone. Even when nanos were introduced and the tide began to turn, with nothing to help people escape from the daily terrors and lack of normalcy, morale was low. However, that is one of the great powers of art: To give moments of escapism, beauty, and hope in otherwise awful situations. In a situation where people can't even walk out of their homes without facing monsters, where soldiers constantly roam through the streets, when all the places and things you did that you used to find comfort in have been taken from you... Music is something anyone can take part in no matter where they are or what they have. You don't even need tools or instruments when you've got a voice to sing with, feet to dance with, and hands to beat out a rhythm. Music is something any person can take with them anywhere and can be the most widespread and uplifting of the arts. Sunny knows this, and so his part of the war effort was to share that spirit with anyone who needed it.

The Fusion Fighter radio network was already established when Sunny began volunteering himself and his students. However, Sunny plays one of, if not the, biggest role for it. Besides his own music, he also has the connections to bring in many other great artists. Again, he may not like the music industry, but his knowledge of it and his work with his students has given him some means of handling a good chunk of the administrative stuff many other creatives can have difficulty managing. He can get a jumble of talents working like a well-oiled machine. He'll help set up live performances as well, particularly in the City areas and especially at the base in the underground mall.

Inevitably, these efforts that were once his step away from the spotlight have dragged Sunny back in. Before his name could fade from people's minds after he left stardom, he ended up becoming a figurehead among all of these war-time entertainers. Anyone who didn't know him before certainly knows him now, whether or not they're fans of his music. Resuming his celebrity status isn't something he wants, and he makes that point well-known. Nevertheless, he's also glad that his music is reaching people and for all the right reasons.

Sadly, Fuse does not think the same way. Of course, the tyrant won't go after artists the same as he will other figures in the war effort, but he has caught on to how much hope and inspiration Sunny gives to people. If Sunny is ever left vulnerable, Fuse's army will take the chance to take him out. On the upside, there's also plenty of soldiers who'll gladly protect the musician when called.

[letstalkwhump]

Let's Talk Whump

Welcome to Let’s Talk Whump, a series of interviews that spotlight the amazing people in our whump community! I’m Malice and I’ll be your host today. 

Here today to talk all things whumpy is the fabulous @flowersarefreetherapy!

It’s an honor to have you here! Do you want to start us off with a fact or two about yourself?

Hi! I’m Marz, I’m a baby adult, and newer here to the whump scene! My favorite color is blue and I enjoy a huge variety of music. I have a Golden Retriever named Guinevere who is five years old and loves swimming, chasing tennis balls, and running through corn fields. Yeah, that’s about it! 

Let’s get straight to the point. What does whump mean to you?

As much as I love the hurt part of it, whump to me is about healing. It’s about picking yourself up even after life has beaten you into the ground. It’s finding your people who will help you and stand by your side on good and bad days. It’s taking those little steps towards healing, then looking back one day and realizing just how far you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished. The pain and whumping of characters is horribly fun, but it’s the recovery and knowledge that there is something to lose that makes whump for me. 

How did you find the whump community and what made you want to join? 

So, I found the whump community purely by accident by jumping through writing blogs on Tumblr about three years ago, I think?? It was around 2019-2020 and I was looking for writing prompts when I stumbled onto @ashintheairlikesnow’s blog and learned there was a whole community dedicated to the hurt/comfort plotlines I had been reading all my life. Really what made me want to join was seeing there was an audience for the whump I was writing and the acceptance of OCs I was struggling to find in other writing circles. So I lurked for a while and then made the decision to join!

Do you think that your view of whump has shifted since you discovered it?

My view on whump has stayed the same, but what I write about has expanded. I’ve been exploring the BBU sandbox with different characters and different perspectives. It’s been a good challenge and one I look forward to continuing! 

Everyone’s favourite question: what are your favourite whump tropes?

Dehumanization and noncon are two of my favorites. What makes them so appealing to me is the loss of autonomy and the way it can fully break a character. Not only that, but it allows for some very fun power dynamics that I really enjoy in whump. Alongside that, those two tropes lead to the characters learning how to rebuild their world, their trust of other people, and what kind of life they want to make as part of their future. The healing that’s involved in both these tropes is messy and hard and something that is fought for, always with the support of those around them.

Would you mind sharing a favourite piece you've written? Hype yourself up, we want to hear it!

This is one of my favorite pieces! I love Thad’s breakdown here and while writing it, having that insight into how his past training impacts how he sees himself and sees the kids they’ve taken in. Another really fun piece I love is this one, mainly for the emotion and heartbreak of it all. 

Aww Thad! So much emotion in “You Are My Sunshine” ! Do you have a standard writing routine?

Chaos!! *evil laughter here* Just kidding (mostly). I tend to write when the inspiration strikes and knock out large chunks of writing at a time. Sometimes I’ll write bit by bit, especially when life is crazy, but I prefer to have the uninterrupted chunks of time. Usually I have caffeine with me as well to help the writing process speed along, in which my poison of choice there is Dr. Pepper!

And do you find some things are easier to write than others?

Dialogue! I love writing every bit of it! Using the words to both reveal and hide characters’ motives, changing what they want to say into what they can’t, playing around with hidden meaning in the phrases chosen: all of it is so good and makes it so fun to write! If I could write scenes that are all dialogue I would 

Is there anything you're working on at the moment?

Something I’ve been working on for a while is the next part of my Hold On series. It’s about to get sticky and complicated, so I'm working on how to get all the characters going the way I want them to. Of course, that’s not going to happen, but I’m trying to at least plot a path for the characters to run down.

Do you have a joke or pun you would like to share to spread some smiles today?

. . . . . . . wish I could be hilarious on command, but sadly I am cursed to not be.

That’s fine! Do you have any writing advice you’d like to share?

Love your writing, even the bits that seem weird or you think no one will like them. There are people who will love it and read it and scream about parts you didn’t even think were that good. You will find your writing groove and you’ll find your audience. Also, don’t delete anything! That is really important! You can always go back and edit a choppy scene or reuse a bit of dialogue, but deleting something means starting from a blank slate. Scenes can always be reworked, so keep them!

Shout out your favourite writing/whump blogs, bffs or people who've inspired you! 

Oh man, oh man, there are so many people I could highlight! Seriously, this community is fantastic and wonderful and so welcoming! I had heard that about the whump community, but experiencing it for myself has been an honor. Okay, so people to shout out: 

@for-the-love-of-angst (you know why. For everything, thank you <3) @eatyourdamnpears (chaos friend!) @whumpcereal (your writing! ah!), @winedark-whump (your responses to every one of my ramblings on discord always make my day), @ashintheairlikesnow (still in awe of your writing/characters) @pigeonwhumps (*waves*) @quietly-by-myself (your characters!!) @soheavyaburden (characters! Writing! plotline!), @blood-is-compulsory (screaming in the tags is always welcome!) and so many more I have probably forgotten (in which case you can yell at me in the comments)

Seriously, go check out each and every one of these people! They are amazing and so so so cool and you won’t regret it at all!

Finally, is there anything you'd like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity and to everyone for making this community so welcoming!

Thank you for joining us today, @flowersarefreetherapy !

And to all you lovely folk at home, have a whump-derful day!

[mask131]

Occult Paris (1)

« When materialism rules, magic rises. », Joris-Karl Huysmans, Là-bas, 1891,

 My local library has a beautiful book called « Paris occulte » that describe the occultism wave and the occult world of Paris. It is filled with a lot of info that is deeply fascinating – and while if you live around Paris you’ll know about a good chunk of it, a lot of people often never heard of it all. So, as usual, I thought of sharing it online.

  In 1934, the writer, occultist and opium addict Maurice Magre wrote that there were around then thousand devil-worshipers in Paris. He claimed that there were satanic temples everywhere, and that it was an open secret: there was one by the side of the Jardin des Plantes, and another next to the gare Montparnasse. When he put down his thought about the “world of magic, witchcraft and the supernatural” in his era, he divided the people involved in it in several categories. First, a “lot of charlatans and quacks, it cannot be denied”. Then a “lot of selfish experimenters who are only guided by their physical and moral interests”. Follows “a few curious people who throw themselves in the unknown for the sole pleasure of research. And finally “hopefully, some scholars and scientists that study magic with a purely disinterested mind.” And maybe, “maybe there are one or two wise people free of all petty intentions…” [You can find these notes in Magre’s book La Magie à Paris, Magic in Paris, a book he published under the pseudonym René Thimmy]

The history of the interest and passion for the supernatural in Paris is as old as the town itself. Back when it was the Gaul town of Lutèce, there were druids. In the Middle Ages, there were Knight Templars. Paris was the city of Nicolas Flamel, the alchemist, or Nostramadus, the astrologist-prophet, of the comte de Saint-Germain, rumored to be an immortal alchemist, and of the comte de Cagliostro, the 18th century sorcerer. But it was in the middle of the 19th century that the fascination for the occult sciences became an enormous phenomenon. In all the salons of the upper Parisian society, tables were made to dance and move in order to communicate with the dead. It was such an epidemic that the archbishop of Paris had to explicitly forbid spiritism to all Parisian Christians. But it was all in vain: Napoléon III himself, in the Tuileries, attempted to summon the spirit of his uncle, Napoléon the first!

In paralle, the industrial revolution changed the way everything was created and produced. Positivism, rationalism and scientism won over all the minds. Charles Darwin claimed man descended from the monkey, Karl Marx created a materialistic conception of history, and Friedrich Nietzsche affirmed that God was dead… And spiritualism was thriving. For the pioneers of these occult sciences, it was no mere salon game or entertainment. On the contrary – men like Allan Kardec, Éliphas Lévi or Papus – presented themselves very seriously, as the keepers of an ancestral knowledge, and wanted to make a school out of it. Let’s not forget that this movement spread itself in a newly rebuilt Paris, completely changed by the great works of Haussmann: maybe the destruction of entire neighborhoods of the Old Paris woke up some ghosts?

There was in Paris an incredible number of secret societies, filled with astrologists, theosophists, Rosicrucian, Gnostics or Satanists. To each their religion, to each their cult, to each their worship and rite. A lot among them actually had started or were in the middle of religious studies, before deciding to leave their seminary, ordination and liturgical clothes, to better worship new gods. While alchemists locked themselves in their cabinet in hope of creating the philosopher’s stone, authors and artists openly created based on their fascination for the supernatural: Hugo the giant, Nerval the melancholic, Huysmans the decadent, Satie the facetious… And the world of science soon followed, as many renowned scientists tried to take photographs of ghosts, and the astronomer Camille Flammarion, at the Observatoire, practiced experiences on mediums.

The Great War did not put an end to the occultist wave – but amplified it. The press identified the Germans with the devil ; spiritualists and fortune-tellers kept giving patriotic prophecies, and when the dead are buried, mothers, sisters and brides keep trying to communicate with their spirits. After the hell of the trenches, the world seemed suddenly very uncertain, due to it expanding massively – be it by Freud revealing the existence of the subconscious, or by Albert Einsten’s works on physics. This new fear in front of the unknown and the indescribable fed even more the influence of wizards and magicians on the population – now their visions were massively advertised by the press, no matter if they appeased the worries or on the contrary excited the passions. And very often, occult sciences and regular sciences intertwined when some rationalist souls tried to use paths not seen through a keen eye by the Faculté – numerous famous doctors, in the Sorbonne itself, tried to study the nature of ectoplasm. As for the general population, all scientific precautions and prudence were thrown out of the window: they all followed blindly the wizards, prophet an fakirs. It was the rule of René Guénon that practiced an apocalypse for the materialistic civilization ; it was the rule of Maurice Magre that taught sexual magic at Montmartre or Montparnasse. It was when Gurdjieff became a spiritual guide, and the fakir Birman needed an entire postal truck to have his mail delivered each day. Every popular newspapers and every women’s magazine offered an horoscope, and Madame Fraya was considered “the greatest fortune-teller of the whole century”. Politicians themselves started to hire magicians, wizards and mages by their side – barely disguised under the official title of “advisors”.

Of course, the unfolding of history and the flow of time very often ridiculed or destroyed the predictions and career of these oracles and crystal ball-readers – the celebrity of yesterday could become very well a hated figure today, only for a new obscure and unknown prophet to rise to fame the following day. And, it is the paradox of the world of occult sciences, no matter how much discredit was thrown over it, the passion and interest for the supernatural never stopped and ever weakened – it seems that talking with the invisible world is too essential to the human soul…

 Taken from Bertrand Matot’s Paris occulte, Parigramme.

[reneebrxndxn]

Redwood Prom - The Clinic

Where Cole comes to Renee after his fight with Isaac, she patches him up and Fleet wins the best son award. @colcreznik & @fleetsummers

cole.

-when he entered the community building, cole asked around for renee. he'd gotten a few weird looks, but finally he found the woman and made a b-line to her- I acquire your assistance, doc. -he forced a smile- If you don't mind.

Renee Brandon

-Renee was resting her feet and sipping on some punch. It had been an interesting night, to say the least. And it was just abou to get more interesting as Cole approached her, looking a lot more worse for wear- Oh my God, what happened?

cole.

That damn mountain troll’s what happened. -cole sighed, giving a nod toward renee- You got a kit or something around here or can we hustle to the clinic? Heard human bites can be fatal - living or dead.

Renee Brandon

-Renee pulls herself to her feet instantly- We'll head to the clinic. -her boys were off with their friends and it wasn't like she was worried about anything happening to them here- Come with me. -she nods towards the door as she leads him to the clinic_

cole.

-without another word, cole follows renee to the clinic. the cool air against the wounds weirdly felt nice; a plus side. when they reached the clinic, he stayed standing and looked around- Where you want me, doc?

Renee Brandon

-Renee unlocked the door to the clinic and let Cole step inside before closing the door.- Sit down on the exam bench and tell me exactly what happened. I don't care if you don't tell me who did this but I need to know what caused all of this so I can treat it properly.

cole.

Yes ma'am. -he taunted with a smirk. cole did what she said, keeping himself sated for the time being since he needed his wounds tended to- Got a chunk of my scalp bitten off and a skewer stabbed in my cheek. My cheek I'm not worried about, but this shit? -cole moves his head for renee to see the head wound clearer- I'm more concerned about.

Renee Brandon

-Renee puts on a pair of gloves while she listens, only to turn and see the missing chunk from his head as Cole turns his head- Jesus... -she carefully cradles his head as she gets a closer look at the wound- There's a lot of bleeding....I don't think I'm gonna be able to stitch this up or even staple it. The area is too big. -she grabs some cleaning supplies and soaks a rag in the disinfectant- This is gonna sting a lot but I need to put pressure to get the bleeding to stop -she gives him a second to prepare before pressing it to his scalp-

cole.

Do what you gotta do, doc. I've been through worse. -cole took in a deep breath, partially putting himself in another area - mentally that is- You think cauterizing it would work better?

Renee Brandon

-Renee applies the pressure but does glance over at Cole, her brow knitting together a bit- Depends on if I can get the bleeding to stop or not. Cauterizing is only needed as a last resort.

cole.

Might be the best way to go. -cole flinched but did his best to stay still-

Renee Brandon

I was unaware you were a doctor. -she presses a bit more firmly before easing off to see whether the bleeding was slowly or stopping- It's slowing, so that's good. Looks like we won't need to cauterize. That's good.

cole.

Ow! -cole let out a rough sigh, his knuckles whitening as he clutched the seat- I'm not. But I've been in a hospital long enough.

Renee Brandon

-Renee throws the rags to the side to clean them before grabbing some gauze and pressing it to his head wound- Oh yeah? What had you in the hospital?

fleet summers

-comes darting in, looking horrified when he sees Cole- Dad? Ohmigod is he all right? There's so much blood! What did Isaac do to you? -looks pleadingly at Renee- It looks worse than it is, right?

cole.

Which time? -he asked. suddenly the door flew open with fleeting storming through- I’m fine.

Renee Brandon

-Before she could ask, the door opens and Renee looks up. She's silent at first as she adjusts to the knowledge that Fleet is Cole's son and that it was Ike who did this. That shouldn't have been as surprising as it was.- He's fine. He's missing a piece of his scalp but the bleeding is under control. Just need to stitch up the hole in his face and he'll be good to go. -she looks back to Cole with a raised eyebrow- Ike did this? Should I even ask why?

fleet summers

Missing a ... piece of his scalp? That's...Daddy, that's horrible. How can someone do this to you and everyone's fine with it?

cole.

It’s how men are sometimes. I’m fine, really Fleet. Don’t worry about me. Your dad’s been through way worse.

Renee Brandon

He didn't tell me it was Ike. -she sighs as she wraps the bandage around his head so the gauze stays in place- Obviously this is not acceptable, Fleet. I can let the other Council members know if you want me to, Cole. -although she would give Ike the benefit of the doubt and ask him about it first - if he would talk to her-

fleet summers

Yes, please, I'd appreciate that so much, Dr. Brandon.

cole.

I’m not going to sit here and say I was a saint. I might have provoked him a bit by asking to go after his precious Mayra. It’s fine. No need to round everyone up.

fleet summers

-puts his hand on his father's knee, stroking it and looking at him in concern- It's still no reason for you to be so viciously attacked. I know Ike Apatow understands how to talk. He didn't need to ... what is that? Did he bite you? That's -- the man is an animal.

Renee Brandon

Fleet, honey, I know you're worried but I need you to back up so I can work, okay? -she grabs her suture kit and sits down in front of Cole- But Fleet is right - he shouldn't be scrapping with you like that. Are you sure you don't want me to call the Council? Or at least try talking to him about this?

cole.

What the man needs is to be let out of these walls. He’s getting stir crazy. I’ll cut ya a deal. He does this again, then I’ll say round up the troops. But for now, let the caged bird free.

fleet summers

-acidly- Um, if he was better at his job he wouldn't be stuck inside the walls. Dad, I know you don't want to make a big deal out of this, and I respect the whole 'sometimes us menfolk fight it out' thing, but ... that's normal fighting. Punching and elbowing. Not whatever this is.

Renee Brandon

Ike is very good at what he does and he's lead raider for a reason. He saved someone, Fleet. Not saying that gives him a pass to do this, but.... -she stops as she starts to clean Cole's cheek- If he doesn't want to bring it to the Council, I can't force him. But I'll recommend that he gets an outlet so that this doesn't happen again, okay? But if he does, Cole, I need you to tell me.

cole.

Yes ma’am. -cole smirks, looking up to renee as she worked- This mean I’m finally off your shit list, doc? -he asked with a stupid grin-

fleet summers

-has backed up, but puts his hand on his father's forearm as Renee works; his voice is a little more chilly when he speaks again- I don't see why we're condoning this sort of thing. You're a member of the Council. You decide what's brought before them if someone in town asks you to, right? I'm asking you to. My dad's trying to not cause trouble because he knows he's on thin ice with you people. -his tone turns disappointed as he pets Cole's arm- I thought Uncle Sol at least would care more. But he didn't seem to at all.

Renee Brandon

I'm not condoning it. -she says it very pointedly at Fleet- I promise you, Fleet, that I will have a word with Ike about this. You can ask me to, but ultimately this is between Ike and Cole and if Cole doesn't want to brought to the Council's attention, then that is his choice. -she looks back at Cole, not liking that shit-eating grin on his face- Yes, Cole, you're off my shit list. I think you're off just about everyone's unless you've done something I don't know about.

fleet summers

-flatly- Really. Dr. Brandon, everyone knows that you and Isaac don't get along. Your talking to him alone is only likely to make things worse for my dad.

Renee Brandon

-she sighs as she holds Cole's face carefully- This is going to hurt. -she carefully threads the needle through his skin and works to tie it off- I understand you're worried about your dad, but if I go to the Council without Cole and tell them about what happened, it's just as likely that things will get worse for him. Ike doesn't have to like me but he is reasonable. -she wanted to add infuriating but she wasn't going to include that- If talking to him doesn't work, then I'll bring it to the Council and I'll try to keep Cole anonymous.

fleet summers

How would things get worse for him? You think Apatow would come after him for it? -his grip on Cole's arm tightens- Are people in Redwood that petty that they'd blame my dad for what happened to him??

cole.

I can take i- OW -cole winced, tightly holding into the chair- Kid, people don’t like those who break the rules. I broke them by breaking in.

Renee Brandon

-Renee sighs inwardly- No one is going to come after him, Fleet. I'll take care of it.

fleet summers

Daddy, you were looking for somewhere safe to live. You've been nothing but an asset to Redwood since then, you haven't broken any rules. This isn't right. I'm not going to sit by and let you get treated like a second-rate citizen when your own brother won't even stand up for you or -- or care that you got hurt.

cole.

Guess I’m lucky I got you then, huh, kid? -he tries to force a smile at fleet but winces instead- Almost done there, doc? Got a killer headache going now. -he meant for his words to be playful but they came out more forceful and aggressive than he anticipated-

Renee Brandon

Almost done. -she ties off the second stitch before dropping her kit and reaching behind her for pain meds- These are for the pain. No alcohol. And I would prefer it if you stayed here for a bit so I can monitor you.

cole.

Oh come on, Ray Ray. You should know better than anyone people recover better in the comfort of their own home.

fleet summers

-nods firmly- I'll take care of him. He'll be fine with me. -tucks his arm into Cole's, patting it with his other hand- Come on, Dad. I'll get you back to your place and get you set up where it's nice and dark and quiet and you can rest.

cole.

Just the way I like it. -cole lifts himself to stand with the help from fleet and takes the medicine from renee- Thanks, doc.

Renee Brandon

-she's not sure she likes the nickname but she's not about to argue against it- Alright, but Fleet, if you notice anything wrong, please come find me. -she stands up and throws away her gloves- Of course, Cole. And I'll keep you updated with everything.

cole.

-he nods at her statement before lowering his head to fleet- She wasn’t serious about the alcohol, by the way. -cole whispers-

fleet summers

-giggles, but tamps it down so Renee doesn't notice, whispering back- The cider doesn't count as real alcohol!

[187days]

Day Thirty-Five

I teach the same Global Studies lesson four times in a day, but sometimes it goes very differently in each section. Like, today I did fill-in notes about the origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (students got a paper copy of my slides with some of the words left blank, I projected the slides and talked my way through them, they filled in the blanks as I went), and then I assigned an article specifically about Judaism to read and annotate. It's a simple, no fuss and no frills introductory lesson that's usually effective, but today I'd say results varied.

A few of the boys in my first section kept , winding each other up on purpose, disrupting the class for the attention. It's a very "middle school" behavior, and I've written before that I've come to expect it. Most days they settle pretty quickly, so it's not a big deal. But today they never really did, which was frustrating, but I just had to keep calm and carry on, and try to teach as best I could.

Next two sections? Everything went super well. Students were attentive and engaged as I went through the slides, they asked questions and shared their prior knowledge, it was fantastic. Then they worked hard on the annotation assignment, most of them finished before the bell, I was very pleased.

It took students in my last section a long time to settle, but once they did it was all good. They asked some great questions, we had a solid discussion about the "Big Three" religions. A lot of them didn't get the annotation done before the afternoon bell, but they're generally good about doing work outside of class, so I'm not too concerned about that.

So yeah. Same lesson, totally different outcomes.

It makes sense because students are different, after all, and class dynamics are different. It's just that it can be really striking sometimes, just how significant those differences are. I was actually being observed by Mr. V during the first and third sections, so he got to see that, too. And I think it's good to watch a veteran teacher when their teaching is on fire, but it's also good to watch them when it's not, so I'm glad he saw both in my room.

As for APGOV, that was excellent. We read and discussed, in the words of my students, "a chonky article" (note: it was six pages) about the federal budget appropriations process. I asked them how they wanted to tackle it- read it all silently, then discuss, read aloud together, etc...- and they decided to chunk it into sections, read silently, and discuss after each section. I thought that worked really well, and I was able to check their comprehension and field their questions easily. The House of Representatives gaveled into session as we were wrapping up, so I pulled up CSPAN's live stream and we watched a bit of the debate about who should become Speaker. It's cool to be able to watch something like that live, and, gratifyingly, my students asked me to send the link in chat so they could keep watching after my class ended.

Gotta love that!

I had a department meeting in the afternoon, and I made it quick because I really just wanted to communicate a couple reminders and ask for teachers' input about next year's budget. I had about twenty minutes to spare afterwards before I had to log on Google Meet for a union board meeting, so I just stayed at my desk and got work done until then. The meeting agenda was fairly short, but we ended up talking longer than expected because we were also sharing what it's been like working in the midst of the district's staffing shortage. The experience varies from school to school, grade level to grade level, really, but it's challenging no matter what.

After the meeting wrapped, there was a bit of prep work I wanted to get done, so I stayed a little longer, made it to my car just in time to beat the late buses out of the parking lot. Always a win when that happens!

[monochromeheartbeat]

I just spend a good chunk of my downtime rereading every review I got for ITYTD in order. Phew.

To start off, I’ve been having a really hard time for some reason the last few weeks. I think I’ve just become a little overwhelmed that all my free time has been monopolized by running and planning events for my Pokémon league and I have had very little time to myself. Also, work has been rather stressful? And I’m adapting to being 100% on my own again (which is kind of cool because I can afford to live on my own in San Francisco which is nuts).

Either way, I’ve been seeking out a way to lift my spirits and wow. I think I knew, but sort of forgot or that knowledge had faded into a feeling rather than a memory… how blessed I was that my readers all loved this story, too.

I got so defeated when I ran into my writer’s block, and there was so much mounting pressure as the community anticipated each next chapter that I sort of broke. And kept breaking over the course of the next several years. So looking at the story was something I had so much shame over.

In all that time, I would read maybe the last few pages of reviews of ‘update please’ so often that it just… added to it all. But re-reading the reviews in chronological order. Just wow.

It held a truly special place in people’s hearts. When I came back and was in a space where I was ready to tackle writing it again, I was determined to write for me because of how lost I got under all that pressure. But I’ll admit that the community aspect of writing and sharing was a big part of why I started writing. I wanted a place to belong, because like the characters in my story, I was lonely. And lately I’ve been sort of sad to see that that community I held dear has dissolved in a lot of ways. By no fault of anyone but time and life and all of the circumstances surrounding it. But I miss this show, I miss the friends I made and the opportunity to make friends, and I did really miss writing this story.

I’m still working on it. It’s going well. But I had misjudged and misremembered the support I had before the writer’s block because so much after the block felt so demanding. I cherished this story and I didn’t want to fuck it up (I surely would have if I had forced it), but you - the readers - cherished it too. I had forgotten how much. I have such a warm feeling of gratitude right now and i don’t know how to reach everyone and tell them. I don’t know if anyone is even still reading it. So I’ll leave this here for now and hope it reaches the right people. It really helped me, especially when I’ve been feeling down.

[askshivanulegacy]

Is collage art?

Thanks for dropping by! I'm assuming this is in relation to my last AI comment, so I'm going to answer it in that context. Sorry in advance if it's not, lol.

I love the collage question. It's such a good way to contrast art with AI and to illustrate what art does and what AI fails to do!

Best to clear up first that AI is not a collage of other people's art! A collage takes large chunks of other artworks and arranges them in a new way to fit an artist's vision. The artist puts in work to select specific artworks, identify and cut out shapes, and then arranges them with intent, piece by piece. There is thought and intent behind every step: from identifying the original artworks, all the way through placement. Collage is art!

The original artworks, and the pieces of those artworks, don't belong to the new artist, of course! They still belong to the original authors of those works. Only the arrangement belongs to the new artist, and any collage offered to a public space should identify the source material. In fact, outside of personal use, you need to ask permission to use the original works in your collage! After all, it's by virtue of the original works that the new collage even exists in the first place, so not only should credit be given where it's due, but the original authors still have a say in how someone uses their stuff.

AI significantly differs from a collage. It is not the cutting up of a limited number of recognizable works to fit into a new arrangement. It's the mass copying of lines, colors, shapes, and their associations, from art that belongs to other people. That work of copying and generation is automatically done by a computer, not a person, and there's no intentional or deliberate selection of individual sources, or deliberate placement of the source material into a new arrangement. In essence, there's no "arting" being done like there is with a collage. There's only an algorithm regurgitating a massive amount of mushed data with no understanding or real knowledge of the "arrangement" it creates. Again, it's not even a rearrangement or reimagining of sources like the collage; it's just copying. Moreover, the resulting image fails to credit the original sources, and never asked permission from the authors of those sources in the first place!

Bottom line: Yes, a collage is absolutely art! However, AI images are not a collage, and are not art.

Collage: deliberate source selection, deliberate & thoughtful craft based on an artist's vision, purposeful arrangement that communicates something new as a whole. A human investment of time and effort.

AI: indiscriminate, mass source selection; blind and unintelligent copying of someone else's artistic features; randomly-generated output bounded by constraints. Zero human investment of time or effort.

The AI isn't an artist. It's a machine that spits out what it's been trained to spit out. The person who inputs the constraints/parameters into the AI isn't an artist either - the closest role that person would fill in the art world is a commissioner, which is the person who decides what should be made and gets someone else to make it (usually paying for it), even to the point that instructions are iterated to guide the outcome. Users of AI usually have to pay for the service to get the full results they want, so identifying them as commissioners is spot on. The AI commissioners are commissioning the AI company (via any platform fees and input) for the desired image, and the company uses the AI tool to generate it.

That's besides the fact that the AI image isn't art, but it's certainly a product you commission. Unethically to boot, at this point. :')

[thecandlelightsociety]

It's my 1 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

Has it really been an entire year since making this thing? It feels like it was yesterday and forever ago. Can't say it's been a positive experience, actually it's kinda helped tank our mental health with all the syscourse shit we ended up doomscrolling. It's had some good moments too though. It's going to get a little vent heavy so we'll be putting a cut here. Never used one before so hopefully it works.

When we first made this blog, we were a fairly young tulpamantic system with almost zero knowledge or interaction with the wider plural community. The tulpa community is fairly isolationist, for reasons we now better understand. We wanted to go farther into the plural world than the others would travel so we could find ways to improve the plurality of our own system. Tulpamancers are tinkerers by nature. Our plurality is something we purposely work on and upgrade where possible through visualization, imposition, learned switching, possession, etc. We thought that by entering the wider plural space we would be able to learn more and continue to improve as a system. We were wrong.

During our time on Tumblr our mental health dropped, our stability in how we understand system functions withered, and we lost some of our previous capabilities like imposition and even visualization quality. We can't blame this all on Tumblr, but it certainly had an effect.

Anti-endos were something we always knew were a big thing, but never felt the vitriol of until we got here. Then some turn around and claim they aren't anti, and we're left feeling hurt and conflicted. The Pro side isn't much better. There has been so much misinformation to parse through. At this point we no longer trust anything from any side without over a day of processing and research. To add to that not only is tulpamancy barely a thing on this site, and misunderstood by almost every blog we've come across, the few big tulpa blogs here are extremely controversial for reasons we both do and don't agree with at times. It's really no wonder tulpamancy isn't grasped properly when it only has like three representatives for an entire community.

So where do we plan to take this blog moving forward? A chunk of us want to just yell happy anniversary, delete the blog, and be done with it. The two main members who interact with this blog though have a plan for it.

We'd like to better help explain tulpamancy culture and terminology here. We think that the tulpa community has much to offer the world, regardless of it's own controversies. (looking at you appropriation discourse, you can find our views on that on our sideblog which we'll be adding to our pinned)

Hopefully with this little initiative we can explain our perspective a bit better, slowly though, as this place has proven to be unhealthy to be on for long periods of time. It'll be fun to see what we can offer you all, and hopefully you'll enjoy learning with us.

[beastrambles]

Alright, confession time.

I'm a huge skeptic. Really. However, I still consider myself a witch- and here's why.

I don't believe that crystals actually have spiritual properties, I don't believe that spell jars, satchels, salt, any of that, actually do anything.

Sure, green tea with honey will help a sore throat, and holding a smooth, weighted stone can help with managing anxiety and nervous habits, but a chunk of quartz isn't going to fix my mental illness or bring good luck. Nor is a jar filled with salt and iron nails going to protect my home from harm.

But do I feel better after making the jar? Do I feel more secure after burning incense down to ash, to guard myself against dark shapes created by my own anxiety and fear?

Yes, and that's what matters.

I'm a strong believer in "science first, supernatural? possibly never," but I still do enjoy the craft and learning more about other cultures and history. Witchcraft is an interesting topic, and the community is welcoming and feels safe.

But because I don't necessarily believe in a majority of what is practiced, I do find it hard to engage with others sometimes.

That being said, while I do believe that there is an explanation for everything "strange" that occurs, there are still things which can neither be proven nor dismissed, which is where I tend to straddle the fence.

The logical half of my mind tends to win most battles of "but what if...?" topics, but for things such as spirits and divination, that's where I like to try and pick apart what I do believe in. Personally, I have had too many Weird experiences to dismiss everything.

Which, honestly, drives me a bit mad. I like knowing how things function, how the world works, so when I can't find an explanation for something? Can't stand it. But also, I want nothing more than to dig into other people's similar experiences and ideas to learn more.

At the end of the day, the universe is weird enough, and our knowledge about it will never be complete. So if lighting a few candles and stirring my coffee clockwise in the morning makes me feel a little bit better about my place in this world, then so be it. Life is too short to not have fun making art and dreaming about how the stars were made, and humans have always been curious about the unknown, so much so that we made up stories about the great fire in the sky and how the ocean thrums with life. I think it's ok to theorize about spirits and other things unknown, being a strict critic all of the time is no fun, the little monkey in my brain needs to sit back sometimes to enjoy the stars and think about how maybe, just maybe, there's magic in the world.

[entropii]

📙 🍑🌀 for Empyrean Fotia 👀 been curious for a while...

👀 I am answering these in a slightly different order because I think 🌀 lends some context to the others. Also, apologies, I tried to keep it as short as possible. But. I inevitably have a lot of things to say about Empyrean.

🌀 Where is your OC from? Where were they born? Do they still live there, if not why did they move? If they still live in the area how has it changed since their childhood? How many places has your OC lived in and where has been their favourite?

Empyrean is from a mountain in the north called Preah, which is both the name of the mountain and the name given to the god who gave up its body to become the mountain in the time of Empyrean's ancestors (and whose slumbering consciousness and divine light remains within the mountain to this day, and who keeps Empyrean alive). No distinction is made between the geographical phenomenon and the divine entity—its inhabitants view the mountain as one and the same as the god. He was born in the largest village, where the high leader (his parent) resides.

Preah has always been Empyrean's primary residence, but there was a good chunk of his 20s-30s where he spent most of his time in a place I don't have a name for yet (have been calling it The Northern City in my lore notes). Within the decades preceding his birth, certain factions within The Northern City learned that the mountain was actually a divine being and sought to shackle a god for themselves. While this affected all of the mountain's inhabitants, Empyrean was affected more so because he had been tied to Preah's physical and mental state since birth. As such, he was particularly driven to leave the mountain, find these factions, and crush them.

He returns after things are handled (granted, he always returned periodically because he can't be away from the mountain for too long). Things are much more peaceful than in his childhood. Life flourishes on the mountain in a way that it hasn't in a long time. Preah, and by extension Empyrean, is significantly less agitated and erratic. Things are Good.

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📙 What kind of subjects (of conversation, of discussion, in school or whatever) does your OC find interesting or engaging or that they can talk for hours about? What kind of stuff do they just find fun? What things bore your OC to tears and they couldn’t care less about? Why?

Empyrean is A Little vain, so he can certainly get a lot of mileage out of talking about himself or things relevant to him (things he likes, things he cooked the other day, the new robe he's getting embroidered next week, haircare, the hot person he just saw, that cool new sword he wants to get crafted, etc., etc.). He can also talk a lot about the mountain's flora and fauna. Because the mountain is filled with divine energy, it also has a lot of Weird and Sometimes Frightening biodiversity growing from it that oftentimes only he is privy to. As such, he can talk a lot about what these things look like, their behavior, and the strange encounters he's had with them.

Because of his roles as community leader and divine intercessor, and his tangential access to Preah's memories, he is also very knowledgeable about and has an acute understanding of the various religious ceremonies conducted on the mountain. It's not his go-to topic unless someone asks him about it, but it is a fun subject for him.

The things that bore him are... anything about anyone he doesn't care about (unless! it is being told to him by someone he does care about).

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🍑 Where is your OC’s favourite place to relax or calm down? Recount a story of their time spent in this place! What makes it so special to them? Is there anywhere your OC hates to go to? Anywhere that stresses them out or have negative memories of?

There are a lot of nooks around the mountain that he likes, but his favorite is at the mountain's peak. As you go higher up the mountain, Preah's divine energy becomes more concentrated and severe, unable to be traversed by people who are not touched in a significant way divinity. The only things that live here are flora and fauna that have grown large and Strange due to the high concentrations of divine energy. It's covered in snow and blizzards year-round, but an old shrine is nestled at its center, sheltered from the storms. Empyrean likes it because it's a place that only he can get to, is very quiet, and is a place where he feels more at home in his body because of its closeness to Preah's consciousness.

I don't have a story for this, but I do have an impression: The first time he went to the mountain's peak, he had been drawn there by a dream. Faint images of a tall, looming figure. Aimless walking. Vague shapes of large creatures bowing their heads. It was a long trek on an unknown path, but somehow he knew the way, always knew where to find berries or mountain vegetables to eat or things to hunt, or where to find a place to rest. Once he reached the blizzards, not a single snowflake touched him. The snow melted under his every step, and the mountain itself opened up a path to ease his way. Impossibly large beasts outlined in the mist. Glowing eyes, antlers like sprawling tree branches, fangs curving past skulls. Watching him. And then he reached the shrine, sat down, and cried because—despite being so close to Preah—this was the most quiet he'd ever had in his life.

He hates anywhere that is very loud and highly populated. Empyrean is sort of always in this basal state of sensory overload, so big, busy cities tend to be very stressful for him. Because of this (and for other reasons), living in The Northern City was not a good time for him :^(