#edits to this post may happen in the future

[re-discover-communication]

24 but slightly altered - what was the inspiration for some of your major AUs? Especially curious about Woodwork :)

I don't know if I can talk about "major AUS" considering I only have 7 fics posted for now... I'll take out dawn Chorus and go one by one in chronological order.

Gonna be long and forgive my grammar

-Afternoon Road Waving Grass

I don't remember what exactly started it. I know I wanted to write a platonic/ non explicit joshler fic (and we all know how it ended) in which they were uni students, and I had this "what are we" scene in my head. So I started planning this scene, in which the dialogue was happening via home phone, and all was going great until I realized that in 2024 no twenty-something uses a home phone to talk with their friends, rather they chat. So I had to move everything in a period where home phones were the main thing, asked my mom and she said the 80's, "hey wasn't AIDS a thing in the 80's?", looked for a documentary online to know how to write the historic setting right... and it ended up rewiring my brain. If you have 4 hours to educate yourself, watch it. Other materials are listed in the bottom notes of the fic.

-Woodwork

The video of The Craving, rather than the song. I think I listened to it once or twice, before and while writing? The video is what sticked to my brain the most. Josh was supposed to be a solitary asshole since the start, I don't remember when nor why I decided to make him deaf, chopping Tyler's left leg was to spicy things up a pinch more. Both their backstories were built to answer to a question I made myself: "why is Josh a solitary asshole?" Because something happened to him that made him like that. "So what happened?" Then made my brain work on that. Tyler was easier. Also, in the past I had read some fics "with" deafness, disability and chronic pain (mostly by Edy and tjstar). They helped me a lot.

In my head, Josh's house is my father's family house in the balkans. The surroundings and the village described in the story are, or are inspired from, the real existing place my father comes from. The village with a single stony road, the town at the feet of the mountain. Years ago a there was a cloudburst that caused tons of damage to both, and another time there was a smaller one that caught my family and I while on the road. Water got in the engine and shut the car down. My father grabbed me from the back seat like a cat and yeeted (yote?) me in a friend of his' car who brought me up in the village, while my family waited the tow truck Seeing all that rain come down was scary. The car dying under my butt, scarier. When we all returned home I was the only one dry.

Artist Tyler is a trope I like a lot (I don't even know why). It came natural to me to make him so, it also gave me an excuse to fit some top lore/stuff/elements. I thinks that's all.

EDIT: I was gonna forget this. Josh's difficulty with his feelings is an enhanced "version" of my own. I often find myself not understanding how I feel in certain situation or about/with certain people, both in positive and negative cases. But Tyler's anxieties too are my own, and not that much enhanced.

I wanted a quiet love for them.

-Nature's Naked Face

Have you ever come across this post? With the TV series of The Last Of Us + my own thoughts about the recovery of the Earth thanks to the extinction of humanity (we have all seen the general improvements during the pandemic) + I DEMAND A GOOD ENDING And still make the vibes somehow soft despite the apocalyptic setting. A soft and colored apocalypse.

-Evolutionary sleeper

This one would need a post all for itself. To make it short, I forced myself to carve a story out of the homonymous song by Cynic. I quickly realized I needed a "filling" to the setting I had in my head, and looked for it into Nietzsche's philosophy (mostly the parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra I had studied in high school. In the book, the dragon is an allegory of the Church *wink wink*), with some of my own beliefs. The hardest, worst writing process I've had in six years and half. Never again. PS: Blurryface is terrified while trying to kill Tyler because he cares about him and dreads Tyler's supposed destiny after committing sodomy. He's terrified for Tyler.

-The Growls From The Waters

Easy. I saw that moodboard you had made, did not read the fic BUT read the tags --> brain started cooking --> "HMM horror? let's go read some horror" --> read some Lovecraft horror stories and lowkey copied his story building style and descriptive sequences. Inserting elements from Dema lore came naturally. Oh and I had also played Dredge few months prior, I love Dredge. The smut was gratuitous and absolutely necessary.

-Suspirium

The movie Suspiria (2018) directed by Luca Guadagnino. 75% is identical to the movie's plot. Though, the OST was the BIGGEST inspiration. Like a user said in a comment, and made me understand, the music is a character itself. If you're not too bothered by body horror, I suggest you watch it! Not the best movie ever made, still a piece of art. The music is better than the movie though

[leblogreblog]

ok, but imagine a post/mid-credits scene:

We see a dark door to Bucky's apartment from the inside, then hear rattling. Bucky opens the door while on the phone with Sam, ranting about what happened during the movie.

Then, he notices that there's faint light in one of his rooms, abruptly stopping the conversation and saying he'll call back. He cauciously walks up to the room as silently as he can, pulling out some kind of weapon in the meantime. He takes a steading breath and walks in.

Near a lightstand sits a man, one Bucky knows all too well, reading one of his books, his coat folded nearby. He doesn't look at Bucky but acknowledges him, greeting him.

Then he starts to talk.

He talks about power, how it corrupts absolutely. He talks about irony, how somones impulsive want can become their only purpose, the thing that was supposed to kill them the only value keeping them alive. He talks about a mission he was sent for, how it obviously is something he wasn't supposed to return from alive. He says that they can call it paying back for his help from last time, to make them even.

Bucky only raises his eyebrow, visibly unimpressed that so little info was supposed to convince him to do anything, especially for him. He asks for more details.

The man looks at him for a moment in silence, then closes the book he was reading.

"Say James," says Zemo, tilting his head, "What do you know about Latveria?"

[ozzyfromthecafeteria]

we are the playing field system! traumagenic, neurogenic and catharigenic-willogenic polyfragment system. he/she/xe/they/it as collective pronouns. play, field, playfield or just playing field work as collective names.

quick sysmate info list and sysmate sideblog list and note on eevee.

if you want, you can ask for our discord and steam!! :D

ships list. yaknow… the ships.

ocs and favorite characters list. go here for the little guys we’ve made or absolutely fawn over!

interests and fandoms are typically just tagged via their name, like #art or #subnautica. if we should break it down further into smaller chunks so things don’t get into the maintag or anything let me know and we’ll follow through on that!

#reserved seating - basically just a kinda save tag. for neat and nice posts!

#sounds and noises - for the sounds and noises.

#shapes and colors - for the shapes and colors.

#us - plurality system talk tag. i thought it was funny. and it is!

blinkies GO

image id: objectum and posic flags with the text, “MY TUOYS”

[sanshofox]

Did I read that correctly…

PBS was the only news outlet that dared to call it what it is, namely a nazi salute and today PBS got defunded??

Edit:

As I stated in a reblog:

this question above (because that‘s what it is, a simple question to american followers) was taken out of context. In a way that got completely out of hand. I never wanted any of this. I am european and I know that nowadays you have to be cautious about american news, so I asked so I could understand (because there were news tickers and articles that confirmed it and I doubted it).

I know these are trying times, but please stay kind. I will now cancel reblogs for this post, because it is really sad to see what is happening here and I am only trying to deescalate now.

Down below the article posted in a reblog by @fandom-frenzy . PBS is still funded but getting defunded may or may not happen in the future. Despite that you can support PBS on your own through subscription.

[ktempestbradford]

I have been on a Willy Wonkified journey today and I need y'all to come with me

It started so innocently. Scrolling Google News I come across this article on Ars Technica:

At first glance I thought what happened was parents saw AI-generated images of an event their kids were at and became concerned, then realized it was fake. The reality? Oh so much better.

On Saturday, event organizers shut down a Glasgow-based "Willy's Chocolate Experience" after customers complained that the unofficial Wonka-inspired event, which took place in a sparsely decorated venue, did not match the lush AI-generated images listed on its official website.... According to Sky News, police were called to the event, and "advice was given."

Thing is, the people who paid to go were obviously not expecting exactly this:

But I can see how they'd be a bit pissed upon arriving to this:

It gets worse.

"Tempest, how could it possibly--"

source of this video that also includes this charming description:

Made up a villain called The Unknown — 'an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls'

There is already a meme.

Oh yes, the Wish.com Oompa Loompa:

Who has already done an interview!

As bad (and hilarious) as this all is, I got curious about the company that put on this event. Did they somehow overreach? Did the actors they hired back out at the last minute? (Or after they saw the script...) Oddly enough, it doesn't seem so!

Given what I found when poking around I'm legit surprised there was an event at all. Cuz this outfit seems to be 100% a scam.

The website for this specific event is here and it has many AI generated images on it, as stated. I don't think anyone who bought tickets looked very closely at these images, otherwise they might have been concerned about how much Catgacating their children would be exposed to.

Yes, Catgacating. You know, CATgacating!

I personally don't think anyone should serve exarserdray flavored lollipops in public spaces given how many people are allergic to it. And the sweet teats might not have been age appropriate.

Though the Twilight Tunnel looks pretty cool:

I'm not sure that Dim Tight Twdrding is safe. I've also been warned that Vivue Sounds are in that weird frequency range that makes you poop your pants upon hearing them.

Yes, Virginia, these folks used an AI image generator for everything on the website and used Chat GPT for some of the text! From the FAQ:

Q: I cannot go on the available days. Will you have more dates in the future? A: Should there be capacity when you arrive, then you will be able to enter without any problems. In the event that this is not the case, we may ask you to wait a bit.

Fear not, for this question is asked again a few lines down and the answer makes more sense.

Curious about the events company behind this disaster, I took myself over to the homepage of House of Illuminati and I was not disappointed.

I would 100% trust these people to plan my wedding.

This abomination of a website is a badly edited WordPress blog filled with AI art and just enough blog posts to make the casual viewer think that it's a legit business for about 0.0004 seconds.

Their attention to detail is stunning, from how they left up the default first post every WP blog gets to how they didn't bother changing the name on several images, thus revealing where they came from. Like this one:

With the lovely and compact filename "DALL·E-2024-01-30-09.50.54-Imagine-a-scene-where-fantasy-and-reality-merge-seamlessly.-In-the-foreground-a-grand-interactive-gala-is-taking-place-filled-with-elegant-guests-i.png"

"Concept.png" came from the same AI generator that gets text almost, but not quiiiiiite right:

There are a suspicious number of .webp images in the uploads, which makes me think they either stole them from other sites where AI "art" was uploaded or they didn't want to pay for the hi-res versions of some and just grabbed the preview image.

The real fun came when I noticed this filename: Before-and-After-Eventologists-Transformation-Edgbaston-Cricket-Ground-1024x1024-1.jpg and decided to do a Google image search. Friends, you will be shocked to hear that the image in question, found on this post touting how they can transform a boring warehouse into a fun event space, was stolen from this actual event planner.

Even better, this weirdly grainy image?

From a post that claims to be about the preparations for a "Willy Wonka" experience (we'll get to this in a minute), is not only NOT an actual image of anyone preparing anything for Illuminati's event, it is stolen from a YouTube thumbnail that's been chopped to remove the name of the company that actually made this. Here's the video.

If you actually read the blog posts they're all copypasta or some AI generated crap. To the point where this seems like not a real business at all. There's very specific business information at the bottom, but nothing else seems real.

As I said, I'm kinda surprised they put on an event at all. This has, "And then they ran off with all our money!" written all over it. I'm perplexed.

And also wondering when the copyright lawyers are gonna start calling, because...

This post explicitly says they're putting together a "Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Experience" complete with golden tickets.

Somewhere along the line someone must have wised up, because the actual event was called "Willys Chocolate Experience" (note the lack of apostrophe) and the script they handed to the actors about 10 minutes before they were supposed to "perform" was about a "Willy McDuff" and his chocolate factory.

As I was going through this madness with friends in a chat, one pointed out that it took very little prompting to get the free Chat GPT to spit out an event description and such very similar to all this while avoiding copyrighted phrases. But he couldn't figure out where the McDuff came from since it wasn't the type of thing GPT would usually spit out...

Until he altered the prompt to include it would be happening in Glasgow, Scotland.

You cannot make this stuff up.

But truly, honestly, I do not even understand why they didn't take the money and run. Clearly this was all set up to be a scam. A lazy, AI generated scam.

Everything from the website to the event images to the copy to the "script" to the names of things was either stolen or AI generated (aka stolen). Hell, I'd be looking for some poor Japanese visitor wandering the streets of Glasgow, confused, after being jacked for his mascot costume.

HE LIVES IN THE WALLS, Y'ALL.

[mandalhoerian]

Repost because tumblr's tags were broken yesterday and it ate my post up 😞 Spoilers and translation notes for Rafayel's intertidal zone & analysis because it kinda floored me, I was just as a blank page as he was throughout this. I had to watch it like 5 times to understand what the story was saying and dig into chinese and japanese versions of this to piece together what was really happening. It may be my idiot brain not getting it and maybe it was like the easiest thing to understand for you but. Yeah. I may be just dumb LMFAO AND!!!! There's also a theory of mine into how Rafayel is actually able to read mc's mind/wishes through their lemurian bond, so stay tuned for that I guess

EDIT: correcting some transcriptions of chinese characters and the translations. sorry about that! google couldn't transcribe it correctly. for clarity's sake i will also include original screenshots. please tell me if anything is wrong!

EDIT 2: Check out part 2 to this as well for stuff I missed!

EDIT 3: An Abysswalker connection I found

EDIT 4: Debunking the myths of non-consent & Rafayel hurting MC in the spicy scene

So Rafayel’s whole deal in this memory, I believe, is dependency. Like, too much intensity, too much need, too much fear -- about scaring her off, about what he sees himself possibly becoming in the future, overall just being too reliant on mc and getting scared by it.

Let's begin with this massive fear of being a taker, not just in the “I’m stealing someone’s fries” way, but in this existential, soul-deep kind of way where he’s terrified of turning everything he loves into something he exploits out of demand for his art. And yeah, it’s sad when you first hear him say it, but it’s also really interesting when you look at how this all ties into his relationship with MC and his inspiration source drying up because of her.

Before Rafayel became an artist, he looked at the world in this super pure, wholesome way. Sceneries and nature were just there, things to admire and feel awe over without needing to do anything about it. Like, imagine standing at the edge of a desert, looking at a sea that’s drying up. Sure, it’s tragic, but it’s also kind of beautiful in a raw, heartbreaking way. That’s how Rafayel saw things, he could appreciate them without feeling like he had to do anything.

But then Rafayel started creating, and suddenly, sceneries weren’t just sceneries anymore. They became inspiration. He wasn’t just admiring beauty, he was extracting something from it, its meaning, its pain, its soul, to turn into art for other people. And that made him feel all kinds of icky, because now he wasn’t just looking at the drying sea. He was taking from it. Just as he's using his people's pain in his art as well, that's also a thing.

Now let’s talk about MC. Rafayel loves her like he used to love those sceneries,,, in this pure, untainted way. There's a parallel here. But here’s the kicker, he’s not the same guy who can just admire something and leave it untouched anymore.

And suddenly, this is no longer only about losing inspiration for him.

This happens after he and MC get together, and it’s like all the pain and anguish that used to fuel his creativity just.. ... dries up. He can’t find that spark anymore because now his life is surrounded by love instead of suffering. In fact, his inspiration starts coming from her and it's starting to clash with how he makes art. In the phone call, he seeks her out and says he needs her so bad and she only needs to talk to help him out. This is the first wink wink nod nod of the story.

So what does Rafayel do? He goes on this big, dramatic trip to "find inspiration" (or at least his muse), but it’s not just about his art. He’s not just looking for inspiration, he’s trying to figure out how to be less dependent on her and becoming increasingly more restless over this. The temparature and physical discomfort is making things worse, he's anxiously overthinking, and imagine trying to fight this and the longest art block as of late off when all you want to do is indulge in this special person and be comforted like a lap cat all day every day.

He understands that if he lets himself indulge without restraint, one day his love for mc will turn into pure need. He’ll become more and more greedy, and he doesn’t want that and is afraid of being abandoned because of that growing neediness and dependency.

This is in relation to his art, because as @/dat-silvers-girl put in the comments, he's struggling with "the genuine fear of not being able to enjoy anything in life because all you're thinking about how to use it (as an artist)" . what if he starts doing this to her? to their love and relationship? take from her, and become someone who only takes in every area of life -- like someone who only exploits things by extracting what he feels about them to use it for his art. he's afraid of that, he doesn't like that and possibly doesn't like himself who does it. so why should she? she would leave him for sure, in his head, that's a solid reason to.

The first time around he brings up his anxiety about MC leaving him out of the inner realization of his dependency, the possibility of just what he can become, and fear of abandonment. she effortlessly soothes his worries. It's heavily implied they did it afterwards and after hearing "her life has already been consumed by him" he tweaked out a little bit and his "obsession" seeped through.

After it fades to black, he says ほら……僕もとっくに……君に侵食されてしまっているんだ…… which means "See... I've already been completely consumed by you too" in Japanese instead of the life being made a chaotic mess localization. While I think MC's line was jokey and lighthearted, I don't think this man is joking at all. Rafayel didn't say his life was consumed by her as well, he said HE was consumed. Ouh.

This took the edge off from him for a while but they hadn't gotten to the root of the problem yet, so he was back to square one after the memorial hall, because remember, he's trying to find inspiration as an act of making this dependency of his better. Pain and suffering are all around him here, which his inspiration feeds off of. The dried up ocean he could hear weakening, the skeleton of the whale, the burden of his people and homeland more prominent than before. And what does MC do? Tear through the perspective of pain and introduce a hopeful alternative, "Isn't it a surprise to see an ocean in the middle of the desert?"

This is a place that gave Rafayel the height of helplessness and suffering when he visited by himself before despite momentarily being hopeful after the locals told him such a place existed. But now, she was there to comfort him through his loneliness and pain, hug him, and give him hope yet again. He brings up how he wanted to come here with the most important person to him when he was still hopeful about it before consumed by the pain of it all, and that wish has been granted. That moment has to be so powerful for Rafayel. Literally light at the end of the tunnel.

It had me reeling that he just sat in the car after all that, staring at her for god knows how long until she woke up. He was probably overthinking again, but my interpretation that it was heavily emotional for him (it could have meant so little for MC but the world for him, she doesn't even know) and he wanted to be in that moment with her, just feel and look without restraint. Indulge a little. (I can just imagine him going just a little bit more, I'll go after she wakes up.) And like. His eyes are shining in the darkness is the description here. Perhaps he was feeling so much here. So much love. So much happiness. And he's about to go in for a kiss (heavy breathing and everything) after that, but holds himself back and actively has to pry himself away. He's feeling the neediness again.

That’s why he makes an effort to actively wean himself off and says he'll be okay on his own. What he says to her after MC is like "spoiling him" being all "hey you're sick maybe don't go? or let's go together?" (which is NOT helping Rafayel at all) is even more meaningful in Japanese and I didn't know why they left out this context, but the rearranged line would be "Do you want me to become a sea creature beached on the sand after the sea recedes, unable to breathe on my own ever again?"

Yeah. YEAH. This is about dependency. (He's saying don't coddle me I'll literally become that wolf tearing his shirt meme 😭)

So of course his stubbornness and anxiety force him to do things without MC and distance himself, he can do it. He’s determined to prove to himself that he can endure it on his own.

I also feel like part of the reason he insisted on going to the salon alone is that he’s still worried mc might come to dislike the version of him who's someone he's so sure she will leave, who isn't perfect and he hides behind the persona he's put up just for her. If he truly becomes addicted to her and shows her everything/his true self, and she ends up leaving him, it would completely break him. He's trying to be like "im so normal about her haha" but he's so not normal about her at all. He's literally obsessed I feel like, and perhaps this is him fighting it knowing it's not healthy.

and OOOH about why he ends up coming back from the salon all hot and bothered.

I have strong context that she flicked the bean in there after he left her high and dry in the car ("hot water washes away the stickiness from my body and his stifled breaths still echo in my ears, enveloping me along with the steam in the bathroom. The warmth from his fingertips lingers in the places where he touched me..." is the english. however, in chinese, it goes "熱水洗去身上的黏膩，壓抑的喘息迴盪在我耳畔，和浴室裡氤氳的水氣一起包裹著我." stating "the suppressed breathing" -- which doesn't have any possessive adjectives when I translated it on google and later explicitly asked chatgpt if it had any his/my adjectives involved, just to be sure. it said no but i'd like it if a real chinese speaking person could give their input on this !!! PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME WITH CHATGPT

so um. if the context is in fact the case that he heard her masturbating to him, the intensity with which he attacked her would be normal, I think 😭

I have belief that MC unconsciously shatters his "training himself to be without her" determination through their bond. She just keeps thinking about him the entire time. about him reading her thoughts, though. we still don't know all about the lemurian bond they share. I’d say it grants him some sort of mind/heart reading ability or connects their minds together (when she was thinking about whether she should hug him, he answered “yes”).

At the salon, I imagine Rafayel was already thinking about her like crazy. Then he realized, or perhaps, "heard" she was still worrying about him and thinking of him (as much he thought about her) and decided to go back. Rafayel probably felt that suppressing himself was only making her more anxious and unsettled. She's thinking all about him, unconsciously calling to him to come to her, she didn't want to let him go at all, wanted to go with him, etc...

but even if it was his own decision and no mind reading was involved... uh. If you ask me. He did quite literally hear her after coming back. That's also something that might make him think she wants him as much as he wants her, which made his self-restraint utterly meaningless from the start.

Disregarding this theory of mine proven wrong until a Chinese speaker helps me out here, MC returned to Rafayel's room. A translation omission happened here from what I saw. There are no possessive adjectives in the Chinese text about the room she returns to, and the Japanese one states she returned to the guest room (doesn't specify which one. She was also able to enter Rafayel's room without needing to knock before.)

so uh. she went into rafayel's room y'all. the line "this is my room, you're the one who walked in here" MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE. (SO LIKE. NOT ONLY DID SHE GO INTO HIS ROOM, SHE FLICKED THE BEAN THERE AND HE POSSIBLY HEARD IT. SHE'S MORE OF A FREAK THAN HE IS, I UNDERSTAND WHY HE LET GO AFTER THAT LMFAO)

I don't put it past him to get worked up after he finds her in his room post-bath even without my theory lmfao (idk why they put her in a dress when she should be in a bathrobe or something 😭)

His conclusion at the end of this memory that "he finds inspiration in pain and the art of creation is a part of his life. mc made him realize love and art are so alike. even if they don't complete him but burn him instead he wants them (love and art) with every fiber of his being" and MC says she doesn't like that, rightfully so.

So like. There's SO MUCH to unpack in here.

When Rafayel says he finds inspiration in pain and that creation is a part of his life, he’s admitting something raw and essential about himself: pain isn’t just a byproduct of his art, it’s intrinsic to it. For Rafayel, pain and art are intertwined in a way that’s almost inseparable. It’s like his muse isn’t just beauty, but beauty that hurts.

But then he takes this further by connecting art to love. He’s realized that both art and love demand the same from him: vulnerability, passion, and sometimes suffering. They don’t necessarily complete him (he’s not romanticizing them as salvation), but they burn him, wear him down, consume him (coincidentally, this is something he said to MC in the JP dub of this memory, that she consumes him), but also give him life. And for Rafayel, that’s the crux, even if they burn him, he wants them with every fiber of his being.

This is such a Rafayel thing to say. It’s dramatic, it’s tortured, but it’s also deeply SUBTLE. He doesn't spell all of these out, mind you, I got a headache trying to understand him. Or I'm just slow, I don't know. It shows how much he values creation and connection, even if they come at a cost.

MC, on the other hand, challenges this perspective. When she says she doesn’t like that he views love and art as things that burn him, she’s pushing back against the idea that suffering is a necessary part of creation, or love. MC doesn’t want Rafayel to see their relationship as something that requires him to hurt. She’s telling him, “You don’t have to destroy yourself to love me.”

When MC says, “You’ll never have to burn for me,” she’s giving Rafayel an alternative to his destructive mindset. She’s saying that love doesn’t have to hurt, that their relationship can exist without him sacrificing himself on the altar of passion. It’s a refusal to let Rafayel romanticize pain as the price of love.

And I love that Rafayel goes, "Will you help me look for other parts in life outside of pain?" in response. This is NOT about art or inspiration anymore, and the way the dialogue is written is just AUGH. Again I had to rewatch this over and over again for the nuances and subtext.

I love MC's response, she knew exactly what to say. “I’ll always be the one who walks along the shore with you. Of course, diving into the sea bed is fine too. If it can snow in the desert, there will be a day when the ocean returns.”

MC’s response is layered with metaphors, but at its core, it’s about unwavering support and hope::

Walking along the shore: This represents safety and companionship. MC is saying she’ll be with Rafayel in the calm, in the moments where they’re just observing life without diving into its depths. She’ll be his steady presence, his grounding force.

Diving into the sea bed: This is an acknowledgment that life and love sometimes require going deeper and they may go through hardships, into the unknown, the murky, the challenging. MC isn’t afraid of this, she’s willing to go there with him too.

Snow in the desert and the ocean’s return: This is a symbol of hope and transformation beyond being a nod to The Sea of Golden Sand. Snow in the desert seems impossible, just like the idea of Rafayel finding inspiration outside of pain might feel impossible to him. But MC believes in the extraordinary, in change, and in the possibility that beauty and creation can exist outside of suffering.

Her words are a promise: she’s willing to stand by him, to face the unknown together, and to hold onto the belief that a new way of seeing the world is possible.

And Rafayel LOWKEY PROPOSES IN RETURN.

By saying “let’s watch the sea together,” he’s accepting MC’s offer of companionship and hope in the long run. He’s recognizing that life doesn’t have to be about diving into the depths alone, it can be about sharing the experience with someone else, even if it’s just standing on the shore and watching.

“Every sea”: This phrase is key. Rafayel isn’t just committing to one kind of life or one kind of inspiration, he’s opening himself up to all possibilities. Watching every sea means embracing all facets of life, whether they’re calm or turbulent, painful or beautiful. It’s a marriage proposal declaration that he’s ready to explore the world beyond pain, with MC by his side.

So. I love that his inspiration returns after his freak is accepted by MC because he literally feels the acceptance through the bond.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. This memory DRAINED me. They were just supposed to bang what the fuck happened. Why did I have to go treasure hunting to find what was going on in this card. anyway...

[astonmartinii]

knives out | lewis hamilton social media au

pairing: lewis hamilton x rosberg!reader

2016 saw the murder of brocedes right before our very eyes, but who got y/n in the will?

MASTERLIST | TIP JAR

- part of the brother's best friend series -

yourusername

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tagged: nicorosberg

yourusername: back in barcelona! nothing has ever happened here, right? RIGHT?

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user1: when i'm in a victim of brocedes contest and y/n rosberg turns up

user2: nico was like "oh, lewis has had a good qualifying... here comes the curse"

user3: he's the hater we should all aspire to be

nicorosberg: barcelona is a beautiful place but you should pick your company well!

yourusername: great advice nico, i should've left you at home

nicorosberg: snore! i'm great company you just can't keep up with my great personality and wit

yourusername: what ever you need to tell yourself old man

nicorosberg: i'm two years older than you?

yourusername: how was the industrial revolution?

user4: i hope they never grow up and always argue in public

user5: omg the argument on sky about lewis v seb in canada... and jenson just stood there with the biggest shit-eating grin ever

lewishamilton: my trauma is not your joke

yourusername: it was my trauma too i was the one who had to listen to him complain for the next TWO WEEKS

lewishamilton: trying to find where i care...

yourusername: you complained first ??

lewishamilton: rightly so!

yourusername: do not tussle with me about this, by now i thought you'd know that us rosbergs don't play about complaining

lewishamilton: believe me my therapist knows that

user6: i know nico sat on his hands forcing himself not to comment back

user7: alternatively, celebrating that he still lives in lewis' head

lewishamilton

liked by georgerussell63, charles_leclerc and 2,305,899 others

tagged: yourusername

lewishamilton: @yourusername i may love you but if that man ever takes a picture of my car i'm putting a hit on his head

view all comments

user11: we got a relationship reveal and a death threat all in one post

user12: lewis saw yall ready to make a brocedes edit using this race and made sure you knew that he doesn't care about a his old haunts

user13: he was like yall shipping me with the wrong rosberg

yourusername: let's refrain from threats for now

lewishamilton: we're gonna have to get rid of that last name, no more curses

nicorosberg: RIGHT THAT IS IT IF YOU DARE GET MARRIED DOUBLE-BARRELLED OR ELSE, ROSBERGS ARE ELITE AND YOU WISH YOU HAD THIS NAME

yourusername: he does have a point

lewishamilton: i'm for real going to lose my mind that we haven't spoken in years and this is where he drew the line

nicorosberg: you told the world you're dating my sister at the same time as me

lewishamilton: stop cursing me then 🤨

nicorosberg: i don't curse you my devilish good looks just sent your engine into cardiac arrest

user14: i know toto wolff just fell to his knees in the mercedes garage seeing them bicker in instagram comments after making merc a literal warzone for years

user15: and yet this is the most brocedes way to go about it

georgerussell63: even if you're dating his sister, i'm still your favourite teammate right?

yourusername: valterri exists buddy soz

georgerussell63: *clutches my pearls*

lewishamilton: and that is exactly why valterri is my favourite teammate

georgerussell63: whatever 💁🏻‍♀️

charles_leclerc: not for long xx

yourusername: whoever can bring me the best coffee can get the crown?

lewishamilton: stop exploiting my teammate and future teammate

yourusername: that's what they're there for?

yourusername

liked by nicorosberg, maxverstappen1 and 823,087 others

tagged: lewishamilton

yourusername: anything happen this week?

view all comments

user19: y/n ruining her brother's week - anything happen this week?

user20: more like year

nicorosberg: more like life

yourusername: drama queen

nicorosberg: as i should be !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yourusername: got enough exclamation marks in there buddy

nicorosberg: no open the door i need to scream directly in your ears

yourusername: if it's any consolation, the relationship started after 2016

nicorosberg: so he got me out of the way so he could go for my little sister 🤨

lewishamilton: yep!

nicorosberg: no i'm serious let me in i need to yell

nicorosberg: I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE I CAN HEAR ROSCOE

nicorosberg: fine i'll just abseil from my apartment give me a sec

user21: y/n please let him in he's so serious about that i can feel it

user22: anyone from monaco here and want to keep us updated?

danielricciardo: Y/N LET HIM IN HE NEARLY KICKED MY POTTED PLANT OFF THE BALCONY

yourusername: lol

danielricciardo: THIS IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER PLEASE

lewishamilton: fine, you people are such bores

nicorosberg: i nearly lost a birkenstock

yourusername: and my inheritance nearly doubled

lewishamilton: *our

user23: i think lewis is having way too much fun with this

nicorosberg

liked by lewishamilton, jensonbutton and 692,889 others

tagged: yourusername

nicorosberg: we're back at the track and i've got a sneaking feeling that the red bull might be fast around here

view all comments

user24: nico said babe won't catch me posting lewis on my instagram

maxverstappen1: sure thing buddy he's dating your sister, but there's NO NEED TO TAKE IT OUT ON ME

nicorosberg: i said you're going to win?

maxverstappen1: i DON'T NEED YOUR BAD JUJU GIVE IT TO LEWIS HE'S THE ONE YOU'RE ANGRY AT NOT ME

nicorosberg: i'm not angry at lewis

lewishamilton: really?

nicorosberg: OF COURSE NOT

yourusername: he'll get over it soon lewis don't worry

lewishamilton: really? he's still holding a grudge from 2016 - that was EIGHT YEARS AGO

yourusername: yeah sorry that's a rosberg trait ❤️

user25: not the grid becoming victims of the brocedes fall out eight years later

yourusername: you're so shady why did you crop lewis out?

nicorosberg: outfit wasn't on par with the rosbergs

yourusername: oh no

lewishamilton: HOW DARE YOU

yourusername: you queens can take this out on each other i'm not getting involved in this one

lewishamilton: i know this birkenstock wearing primadonna is not dissing my custom mcqueen

nicorosberg: it's custom because no one would want something so ugly 🫶🏻

user26: someone take nico off the parc ferme interviews lewis might just run him over

user27: he should just let roscoe at his ankles

nicorosberg: that vegan dog can't do shit to me

yourusername: leave the kids out of it nico

nicorosberg: you birthed that? my condolences to your reproductive system

lewishamilton: DO NOT FAT SHAME MY SON

roscoelovescoco: kill yourself @nicorosberg

user28: WTF IS GOING ON

lewishamilton

liked by georgerussell63, kimiantonelli and 2,844,599 others

tagged: yourusername

lewishamilton: he may have won the battle, but i won the war

view all comments

user29: bro you're going to be subjected to boho chic Christmases for the rest of your life

user30: guy is going to get poisoned via christmas nut roast by nico 😭

yourusername: this is corny but i love you

lewishamilton: i love you too i'm going to pretend you didn't just call my super thought out caption corny

yourusername: it was corny and that's what i love about you

nicorosberg: you need better standards

yourusername: for someone who had so much homoerotic tension with the man that you retired you're being very rude about the subject of such tension

nicorosberg: that's not how that went

yourusername: sure, jan

nicorosberg: stop trying to rewrite history

yourusername: i saw it with my own two eyes... are you jealous that i ended up with lewis instead of you?

nicorosberg: nO

user31: i feel like this is definitely not the argument i thought i would see on the internet today

user32: lewis hamilton got passed around the rosberg house ... this your goat?

user33: both rosbergs are hawt as hell so yes!

charles_leclerc: oh great, keep stoking the flames lewis! if you invoke his wrath upon ferrari next season i will personally sacrifice you to the gods

lewishamilton: excuse me?

charles_leclerc: i don't know if you know this but i kinda don't have a world championship yet ... I DO NOT WANT THE ROSBERG CURSE ATTACHED TO ME

lewishamilton: do not minimise my trauma charles

charles_leclerc: you haven't joined ferrari yet, you don't know trauma. be nice to him, i can't finish my career with max having more championships than me

maxverstappen1: skill issue

user34: do these people ever stop arguing?

yourusername: no! and i can assure you it's worse in person

user35: worst brocedes tussle since nico found out?

yourusername: i was making a list of people to invite to my birthday dinner and nico was angry that i wrote lewis' name before his

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, lewishamilton and 1,304,277 others

tagged: lewishamilton, nicorosberg

yourusername: still a victim of the brocedes nuclear fallout all these years later

view all comments

user37: bro nearly lost her bf to her brother

user38: lewis couldn't have nico and went for his sister instead

user39: insert larry stylinson theory here that y/n is just the beard and toto wolff is simon cowell

yourusername: i'm blocking all of you

nicorosberg: still yapping about this ... and i'm the dramatic one

yourusername: babe we can all see all of your comments on previous posts where you're the literal definition of crashing out

nicorosberg: BARCELONA WAS LEWIS' FAULT WE ALL KNOW THIS

yourusername: when did i bring up barcelona... you just proved my point IDIOT

nicorosberg: make me sound insane all you want ... TOTO IS THE REAL VILLAIN HERE

yourusername: ???

nicorosberg: he notebooked us

yourusername: riiiiiiiiiiight

nicorosberg: i wrote lewis a letter when i retired and toto never gave it to him

yourusername: you're telling me i had to hide my relationship for so long because you trusted that austrian big foot fraud to be your messenger pigeon ?

user40: did we just get insane brocedes lore on a random tuesday?

user41: you're telling me it was toto's fault the whole time?

lewishamilton: well yes it would've been helpful to have gotten the letter, you have to admit the sneeking around was hot

yourusername: you're right 🤭🤭🤭

lewishamilton: hiding in your bathroom while nico came over to bitch about me was a personal highlight

nicorosberg: excuse me?

lewishamilton: i know we're trying to be better, so here's a compliment: you're very creative when being mean about me

nicorosberg: why thank you 😝

yourusername: nuh uh we ain't doing this shit

lewishamilton: don't worry y/n you'll always be my favourite

nicorosberg: but you'll never have our trip to greece :P

yourusername: i will strangle you britney

user42: y/n got brocedes to talk again, but at what cost?

lewishamilton

liked by nicorosberg, charles_leclerc and 4,677,309 others

tagged: yourusername

lewishamilton: got y/n's hand in marriage in the will (after i murdered her brother's career)

view all comments

user43: y/n can't escape brocedes even on her engagement post

user44: she (and them) will never get rid of it

yourusername: i love you baby, here's to the rest of our life (even if that includes you arguing with my brother for the rest of time)

lewishamilton: i love you even more, i'd go through all of that psychological warfare again and again if it means i still end up with you

yourusername: we've always had an invisible string

lewishamilton: and there's no one else i'd want to be cosmically tied to <3

user45: i might cry they're so cute

user46: that comment thread called me single in about 100 different languages

charles_leclerc: congratulations you two! also congratulations to me - no more rosberg curse!

yourusername: really? on this POST?

charles_leclerc: hold on girlypop, it was mr hamilton-rosberg that brought up your brother first not me

lewishamilton: you better get all this attitude out now charles

charles_leclerc: what? you gonna marry my brother?

yourusername: lol i'm not threatened by them

arthurleclerc: why am i being shaded?

user47: 2025 HURRY THE FUCK UP

nicorosberg: i guess you're finally getting the rosberg name you've always wanted ...

lewishamilton: yes... i have always had a crush on your sister

nicorosberg: GASP! PERVERT 🫵🏻 i have known you since we were 12 you GROSS MAN

lewishamilton: WELL YES I WAS ALSO 12 I'VE NOT ALWAYS BEEN 36 MORON

yourusername: well doesn't this just get me excited for christmas

user48: i know a monopoly board hate to see these three coming

yourusername: @nicorosberg can i have an actual congratulations???

nicorosberg: i'm happy for you, i'm glad you're happy (also he's loaded so slay)

yourusername: i'll take it!

lewishamilton: sure whatever thanks nico !

fin.

note: lol finally finished this one! i have been very in and out on here, i have a lot going on x

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

FYI artists and writers: some info regarding tumblr's new "third-party sharing" (aka selling your content to OpenAI and Midjourney)

You may have already seen the post by @staff regarding third-party sharing and how to opt out. You may have also already seen various news articles discussing the matter.

But here's a little further clarity re some questions I had, and you may too. Caveat: Not all of this is on official tumblr pages, so it's possible things may change.

(1) "I heard they already have access to my data and it doesn't really matter if I opt out"

From the 404 article:

A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”

So please, go click that opt-out button.

(2) Some future user: "I've been away from tumblr for months, and I just heard about all this. I didn't opt out before, so does it make a difference anymore?"

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?” Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.”

It should make a difference! Go click that button.

(3) "I opted out, but my art posts have been reblogged by so many people, and I don't know if they all opted out. What does that mean for my stuff?"

This answer is actually on the support page for the toggle:

This option will prevent your blog's content, even when reblogged, from being shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models.

And some further clarification by the COO and a product manager:

zingring: A couple people from work have reached out to let me know that yes, it applies to reblogs of "don't scrape" content. If you opt out, your content is opted out, even in reblog form. cyle: yep, for reblogs, we're taking it so far as "if anybody in the reblog trail has opted out, all of the content in that reblog will be opted out", when a reblog could be scraped/shared.

So not only your reblogged posts, but anyone who contributed in a reblog (such as posts where someone has been inspired to draw fanart of the OP) will presumably be protected by your opt-out. (A good reason to opt out even if you yourself are not a creator.)

Furthermore, if you the OP were offline and didn't know about the opt-out, if someone contributed to a reblog and they are opted out, then your original work is also protected. (Which makes it very tempting to contribute "scrapeable content" now whenever I reblog from an abandoned/disused blog...)

(4) "What about deleted blogs? They can't opt out!"

I was told by someone (not official) that he read "deleted blogs are all opted-out by default". However, he didn't recall the source, and I can't find it, so I can't guarantee that info. If I get more details - like if/when tumblr puts up that FAQ as reported in the 404 article - I will add it here as soon as I can.

Edit, tumblr has updated their help page for the option to opt-out of third-party sharing! It now states:

The content which will not be shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models, includes: • Posts and reblogs of posts from blogs who have enabled the "Prevent third-party sharing" option. • Posts and reblogs of posts from deleted blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from password-protected blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from explicit blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from suspended/deactivated blogs. • Private posts. • Drafts. • Messages. • Asks and submissions which have not been publicly posted. • Post+ subscriber-only posts. • Explicit posts.

So no need to worry about your old deleted blogs that still have reblogs floating around. *\o/*

But for your existing blogs, please use the opt out option. And a reminder of how to opt out, under the cut:

The opt-out toggle is in Blog Settings, and please note you need to do it for each one of your blogs / sideblogs.

On dashboard, the toggle is at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/blogname [replace "blogname" as applicable] down by Visibility:

For mobile, you need the most recent update of the app. (Android version 33.4.1.100, iOs version 33.4.) Then go to your blog tab (the little person icon), and then the gear icon for Settings, then click Visibility.

Again, if you have a sideblog, go back to the blog tab, switch to it, and go to settings again. Repeat as necessary.

If you do not have access to the newest version of the app for whatever reason, you can also log into tumblr in your mobile browser. Same URL as per desktop above, same location.

Note you do not need to change settings in both desktop and the app, just one is fine.

I hope this helps!

[furiouszealot]

UPDATE: As of 25/04/2025, 4chan is back up and running again. This post and its addendum will be kept as is, and will no longer be updated unless it goes back down again. If you were on /ghost/, it was a pleasure shitposting with you.

All right, I know no one gives a shit, but let me give you a recounting of the fall of 4chan from the perspective of someone who was there and has been lurking both 4chan and tumblr for a few years now.

I'll try to provide as much context as I can, but a lot of images were either lost or im too lazy to look for them in the +5000 reply thread in soyjak party.

Anyways, info below:

So, necessary context: a few years back, 4chan had a board called /qa/, which if you know little about the page, you may think every board is like /b/ or /pol/, which means a containment cess pool of grifters, (you) baiters, incels, and other deranged individuals. The thing is, /qa/ was somehow worse. The entire board was plagued and infested with soyjack edits, board culture was a nuclear disaster, anons were incredibly hostile in there, you know the drill, the big bad 4chan, but this time its actually true.

One day, moderation deleted /qa/, anons that posted there got mad, tried to raid other boards, failed, and then moved on to an altchan called soyjack party, which entire purpose you can guess from its name alone.

Apparently, the boards that allow pdf uploads (paper and origami, for example) didn't check if the uploaded file was actually a pdf file, so postscript files could be used to get access. This is as far as my understanding of web backend goes, sorry.

The hacker claims to have been working on this since 2021, and that he had access since about a year ago, but was recopilating data.

Now, what actually happened when the hack ocurred? Well, a banner of miku dancing with a song that played automatically was placed on top of every board, with the text "/QA/ IS BACK", this was possible because apparently no board was ever deleted, they were just hidden from the public.

A thread was then made on soyjack party, claiming authorship over the hack, and shit went south from there. Anons went en masse to talk there, a lot of weird discussion happened, the thread got the bump limit removed and got pinned, more than 5k posts were amassed on the first night alone. Keep in mind this happened at about 8 pm and most of the stuff went on through midnight.

So, the hacker leaked some things, first of all, the html files for the entirety of /j/ and the email address for every moderation member (important note: the pressence of .gov mails was disproven by the hacker themselves, so i guess there were never any feds), what is /j/? the board exclusive for jannies and moderators to discuss actions taken on the website regarding spam, ban evaders, threads spiraling out of control, etc. Among other things, some of the inner workings of 4chan got revealed, such as the web extension for jannies that allows them to do their job easily, how reports are handled, and other stuff. (Anecdotically, some guy got permabanned for calling anons jews or n-words over a 100 times in the same few threads)

Then, the source code got leaked. Important to say, the hacker removed the part of the source code related to the captcha, as to not facilitate bot attacks on the future, and all information related to email verification or 4chan pass users information also got removed, so all in all users are safe.

What was found on the sourcecode? That it was old, mostly. Most boards used code that hasn't been updated since about 2016, and /flash/ used the exact same code from when it was created back on 2011.

From there, desuarchive, a site that archives threads that die from bump limit, opened a dragon ball general on ghost mode, and thus began what later got called /ghost/, a solely text based thread with well over 20k replies as of right now, where a fraction of the 4chan population took refuge and is currently discussing random things with no particular topic. Kinda hard to read, but its comfy.

What does this mean for other sites? Not a lot, really. A lot of anons already crossposted in 4chan and tumblr already, and the ones that din't most likely wont come here. Some of the bigger/most dedicated groups, like /vt/, migrated to other boards. Various altchans are trying/tried to catch some of the flock of users that got lost, but i doubt it will get anywhere, since soyjak party for example was struggling with just the influx of users that came for the hack thread given its poor infrastructure. Kiwifarms saw a surge of new accounts apparently, but a lot of anons kinda loathe the idea of having to register, so theres that.

Smaller communities, such as generals that didn't get a lot of traffic, or boards on the slower end (say, /ic/, /lit/, etc) will probably vanish or disseminate until (or if) 4chan comes back up. I'd say give it a month, don't get your hopes up whether you want it to stay dead or want it to come back.

Given how many anons are staying on places like /ghost/ or other similar archives with the same ghost posting feature, i doubt it will be as bad as people are making it sound. Besides, the communities that are most likely to migrate to places like tumblr are either /co/, /vg/ or /lgbt/ refugees, which aren't THAT bad. Not every board was like the main cesspools (/b/, /r9k/, /pol/).

From now on, either 4chan comes back up in a few weeks (somewhere between 2 weeks to a month is expected), altchans capture the migrating anons, or a brand new imageboard rises from the ashes to become the new go-to site for old 4chan posters.

In conclusion, nothing ever happens, but also don't worry, chances are this won't affect tumblr in the slightest. If it does, you can cash in your "you were wrong" ticket whenever you want, i'll take the L.

As a footnote, keep in mind: NO users were compromised, if you ever posted there and are worried for your safety, physical or digital, you are safe.

Edit: Forgot to add, if you are a 4chan refugee, im BEGGING you to dm me and tell what board you were from and where are you migrating, if at all.

[tinystepsforward]

autocrattic (more matt shenanigans, not tumblr this time)

I am almost definitely not the right person for this writeup, but I'm closer than most people on here, so here goes! This is all open-source tech drama, and I take my time laying out the context, but the short version is: Matt tried to extort another company, who immediately posted receipts, and now he's refusing to log off again. The long version is... long.

If you don't need software context, scroll down/find the "ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening" heading, or just go read the pink sections. Or look at this PDF.

the background

So. Matt's original Good Idea was starting WordPress with fellow developer Mike Little in 2003, which is free and open-source software (FOSS) that was originally just for blogging, but now powers lots of websites that do other things. In particular, Automattic acquired WooCommerce a long time ago, which is free online store software you can run on WordPress.

FOSS is... interesting. It's a world that ultimately is powered by people who believe deeply that information and resources should be free, but often have massive blind spots (for example, Wikipedia's consistently had issues with bias, since no amount of "anyone can edit" will overcome systemic bias in terms of who has time to edit or is not going to be driven away by the existing contributor culture). As with anything else that people spend thousands of hours doing online, there's drama. As with anything else that's technically free but can be monetized, there are:

Heaps of companies and solo developers who profit off WordPress themes, plugins, hosting, and other services;

Conflicts between volunteer contributors and for-profit contributors;

Annoying founders who get way too much credit for everything the project has become.

the WordPress ecosystem

A project as heavily used as WordPress (some double-digit percentage of the Internet uses WP. I refuse to believe it's the 43% that Matt claims it is, but it's a pretty large chunk) can't survive just on the spare hours of volunteers, especially in an increasingly monetised world where its users demand functional software, are less and less tech or FOSS literate, and its contributors have no fucking time to build things for that userbase.

Matt runs Automattic, which is a privately-traded, for-profit company. The free software is run by the WordPress Foundation, which is technically completely separate (wordpress.org). The main products Automattic offers are WordPress-related: WordPress.com, a host which was designed to be beginner-friendly; Jetpack, a suite of plugins which extend WordPress in a whole bunch of ways that may or may not make sense as one big product; WooCommerce, which I've already mentioned. There's also WordPress VIP, which is the fancy bespoke five-digit-plus option for enterprise customers. And there's Tumblr, if Matt ever succeeds in putting it on WordPress. (Every Tumblr or WordPress dev I know thinks that's fucking ridiculous and impossible. Automattic's hiring for it anyway.)

Automattic devotes a chunk of its employees toward developing Core, which is what people in the WordPress space call WordPress.org, the free software. This is part of an initiative called Five for the Future — 5% of your company's profits off WordPress should go back into making the project better. Many other companies don't do this.

There are lots of other companies in the space. GoDaddy, for example, barely gives back in any way (and also sucks). WP Engine is the company this drama is about. They don't really contribute to Core. They offer relatively expensive WordPress hosting, as well as providing a series of other WordPress-related products like LocalWP (local site development software), Advanced Custom Fields (the easiest way to set up advanced taxonomies and other fields when making new types of posts. If you don't know what this means don't worry about it), etc.

Anyway. Lots of strong personalities. Lots of for-profit companies. Lots of them getting invested in, or bought by, private equity firms.

Matt being Matt, tech being tech

As was said repeatedly when Matt was flipping out about Tumblr, all of the stuff happening at Automattic is pretty normal tech company behaviour. Shit gets worse. People get less for their money. WordPress.com used to be a really good place for people starting out with a website who didn't need "real" WordPress — for $48 a year on the Personal plan, you had really limited features (no plugins or other customisable extensions), but you had a simple website with good SEO that was pretty secure, relatively easy to use, and 24-hour access to Happiness Engineers (HEs for short. Bad job title. This was my job) who could walk you through everything no matter how bad at tech you were. Then Personal plan users got moved from chat to emails only. Emails started being responded to by contractors who didn't know as much as HEs did and certainly didn't get paid half as well. Then came AI, and the mandate for HEs to try to upsell everyone things they didn't necessarily need. (This is the point at which I quit.)

But as was said then as well, most tech CEOs don't publicly get into this kind of shitfight with their users. They're horrid tyrants, but they don't do it this publicly.

ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening

WordCamp US, one of the biggest WordPress industry events of the year, is the backdrop for all this. It just finished.

There are.... a lot of posts by Matt across multiple platforms because, as always, he can't log off. But here's the broad strokes.

Sep 17

Matt publishes a wanky blog post about companies that profit off open source without giving back. It targets a specific company, WP Engine.

Compare the Five For the Future pages from Automattic and WP Engine, two companies that are roughly the same size with revenue in the ballpark of half a billion. These pledges are just a proxy and aren’t perfectly accurate, but as I write this, Automattic has 3,786 hours per week (not even counting me!), and WP Engine has 47 hours. WP Engine has good people, some of whom are listed on that page, but the company is controlled by Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102 billion in assets under management. Silver Lake doesn’t give a dang about your Open Source ideals. It just wants a return on capital. So it’s at this point that I ask everyone in the WordPress community to vote with your wallet. Who are you giving your money to? Someone who’s going to nourish the ecosystem, or someone who’s going to frack every bit of value out of it until it withers?

(It's worth noting here that Automattic is funded in part by BlackRock, who Wikipedia calls "the world's largest asset manager".)

Sep 20 (WCUS final day)

WP Engine puts out a blog post detailing their contributions to WordPress.

Matt devotes his keynote/closing speech to slamming WP Engine.

He also implies people inside WP Engine are sending him information.

For the people sending me stuff from inside companies, please do not do it on your work device. Use a personal phone, Signal with disappearing messages, etc. I have a bunch of journalists happy to connect you with as well. #wcus — Twitter I know private equity and investors can be brutal (read the book Barbarians at the Gate). Please let me know if any employee faces firing or retaliation for speaking up about their company's participation (or lack thereof) in WordPress. We'll make sure it's a big public deal and that you get support. — Tumblr

Matt also puts out an offer live at WordCamp US:

“If anyone of you gets in trouble for speaking up in favor of WordPress and/or open source, reach out to me. I’ll do my best to help you find a new job.” — source tweet, RTed by Matt

He also puts up a poll asking the community if WP Engine should be allowed back at WordCamps.

Sep 21

Matt writes a blog post on the WordPress.org blog (the official project blog!): WP Engine is not WordPress.

He opens this blog post by claiming his mom was confused and thought WP Engine was official.

The blog post goes on about how WP Engine disabled post revisions (which is a pretty normal thing to do when you need to free up some resources), therefore being not "real" WordPress. (As I said earlier, WordPress.com disables most features for Personal and Premium plans. Or whatever those plans are called, they've been renamed like 12 times in the last few years. But that's a different complaint.)

Sep 22: More bullshit on Twitter. Matt makes a Reddit post on r/Wordpress about WP Engine that promptly gets deleted. Writeups start to come out:

Search Engine Journal: WordPress Co-Founder Mullenweg Sparks Backlash

TechCrunch: Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a ‘cancer to WordPress’ and urges community to switch providers

Sep 23 onward

Okay, time zones mean I can't effectively sequence the rest of this.

Matt defends himself on Reddit, casually mentioning that WP Engine is now suing him.

Also here's a decent writeup from someone involved with the community that may be of interest.

WP Engine drops the full PDF of their cease and desist, which includes screenshots of Matt apparently threatening them via text.

Twitter link | Direct PDF link

This PDF includes some truly fucked texts where Matt appears to be trying to get WP Engine to pay him money unless they want him to tell his audience at WCUS that they're evil.

Matt, after saying he's been sued and can't talk about it, hosts a Twitter Space and talks about it for a couple hours.

He also continues to post on Reddit, Twitter, and on the Core contributor Slack.

Here's a comment where he says WP Engine could have avoided this by paying Automattic 8% of their revenue.

Another, 20 hours ago, where he says he's being downvoted by "trolls, probably WPE employees"

At some point, Matt updates the WordPress Foundation trademark policy. I am 90% sure this was him — it's not legalese and makes no fucking sense to single out WP Engine.

Old text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks and you are free to use it in any way you see fit. New text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.

Sep 25: Automattic puts up their own legal response.

anyway this fucking sucks

This is bigger than anything Matt's done before. I'm so worried about my friends who're still there. The internal ramifications have... been not great so far, including that Matt's naturally being extra gung-ho about "you're either for me or against me and if you're against me then don't bother working your two weeks".

Despite everything, I like WordPress. (If you dig into this, you'll see plenty of people commenting about blocks or Gutenberg or React other things they hate. Unlike many of the old FOSSheads, I actually also think Gutenberg/the block editor was a good idea, even if it was poorly implemented.)

I think that the original mission — to make it so anyone can spin up a website that's easy enough to use and blog with — is a good thing. I think, despite all the ways being part of FOSS communities since my early teens has led to all kinds of racist, homophobic and sexual harm for me and for many other people, that free and open-source software is important.

So many people were already burning out of the project. Matt has been doing this for so long that those with long memories can recite all the ways he's wrecked shit back a decade or more. Most of us are exhausted and need to make money to live. The world is worse than it ever was.

Social media sucks worse and worse, and this was a world in which people missed old webrings, old blogs, RSS readers, the world where you curated your own whimsical, unpaid corner of the Internet. I started actually actively using my own WordPress blog this year, and I've really enjoyed it.

And people don't want to deal with any of this.

The thing is, Matt's right about one thing: capital is ruining free open-source software. What he's wrong about is everything else: the idea that WordPress.com isn't enshittifying (or confusing) at a much higher rate than WP Engine, the idea that WP Engine or Silver Lake are the only big players in the field, the notion that he's part of the solution and not part of the problem.

But he's started a battle where there are no winners but the lawyers who get paid to duke it out, and all the volunteers who've survived this long in an ecosystem increasingly dominated by big money are giving up and leaving.

Anyway if you got this far, consider donating to someone on gazafunds.com. It'll take much less time than reading this did.

[acid-ixx]

making a new taglist ! comment if u want to be tagged (first come first serve though)

twas about to post chapter 6 tonight but we don't have wifi as of current (our entire neighborhood's wifi is down) to edit the chapter here in tumblr (and my data is real slow so i can't do a big post) so apologies for the delay <//3 i don't know when it will also return haha

but because of the delays, i may or may not add more here and there in the chapter. who knows, maybe alfred's perspective about the shitshow happening between the family and a deeper delve into your childhood with him. that's all !!! 🫶 hope everyone is still attached to this story as i am 😭

there's a lot to also unpack for the chapter. we get to see how deep conner's obsession would take place, a new cat, some (not all) of the arguments from the batfam, and a character i've been secretly writing about that i'm p sure nobody else could guess (tho idk if i should reveal her in chapter 6 or in future chapters, so that might be scheduled to change), and some other shenanigans i'm excited to post about.

[rebouks]

A silly sims update for some ramblings and an update/announcement from a slightly less mouldy avocado.. 🥑

hi, helloo.. i know it's been a while since i posted anything story related but i've been annihilated distracted by making a new human bean 🫘

i'm starting to feel much better now i'm getting to the second trimester but maaaaan i've been so exhausted that february/march are a blur of feeling like shit, wishing i didn't have a sense of smell, and melting so far into my couch cushions i'm convinced i briefly visited another dimension

i've still actively got things planned (and edited!! woooo) and a million ideas for the future but i've slowly had to accept that said future is full of unknowns and idek if i'll ever properly "get back into it" y'know? i think progress from now on may be quite sporadic, which ig is like 9/10 simblrs anyway cos that's the point of this hobby, but yeah.. who knows!

my motto has always been that i'm wingin' it and that's even more appropriate now so ig let's just see what happens 🤸🥰

[shoujosoulsite]

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 🌸 SHIFTING/LOA TERMS FOR NEWBIES TO KNOW : shifting for dummies 101

❀ . . . Hello guys! First “informative” post here on this blog! This is nothing to grand but this is like an easy explanation of everything in the shifting circle! This is specifically made for newbie shifters who just started their shifting/manifestation journey or people who coming back to it after a long break! Also this is my specific view on these terms so I suggest going out to research if you are genuinely new here and don’t just use this post— also if there ever happens to be errors in the explainations LET ME KNOW! So I can quickly edit it or make a way better post in the future 🪽 (*cough some grammar mistake incoming 🫣)

Reality shifting ✩ the act of becoming aware of / moving your awareness to different realities. It’s something that we all natural do because we shift every second (A popular concept like this is something is Buddhism called “Annica” which means that all living things..Hell even creation itself is not set in stone and is always changing). With the concept of the mutliverse or just overall limitless possibilities when it comes to shifting, you can shift to any reality because any type of reality can exist. You can shift to where you are some millionaire’s partner or a isekai protagonist from a “fictional” media in this

Law of assumption ✩ a term coined by the famous Neville Goddard who was a very popular and successful mystic, writer, teacher, and philosopher. The law of assumption to put it in simple terms is the law that what ever you assume to be as fact and persist in will in fact be true and real in this reality…heck the moment you decide it to be true it will become the truth!

a perfect quote to describe it is this “Change your conception of yourself and you will automatically change the world in which you live…”

3d / outer world ✩ the physical reality that we interact with right now. The stuff that you see, taste, feel, smell, and hear.

4d / inner man ✩ the inner world of man— you can say the person’s imagination, thoughts, feelings, subconscious, and many stuff relating to it! It’s the mental and non physical realm/state/reality To describe the relationship with the 4d and 3D reality we will use the famous man and the mirror example. Now if you are a newbie you may assume that the mirror is 4d and the 3D is the man but it’s actually the opposite, the 4d is the man while 3D is the mirror. The 3D is a mirror of the 4d and your overall current perception of reality. when the man doesn’t like the way he looks, he’ll be a fool to try change the mirror when he should be changing himself.

Imagination ✩ the imagination and the 4d are basically two sides of the same coin. They are basically in a way the same thing with a tad bit of different perspectives. To put it simple, the imagination is the real reality— consciousness, awareness, the 4d and even the 3D, the fictional stuff that we always think when we are kids to the reality that we are living in now. Imagination is basically the real reality

Conciousness ✩ the foundation of reality! The thing (+ awareness and the 4d/subconscious ) that is the reason why we can shift in the first place. A limitless force that exists in all things and one of the basis of awareness. I highly suggest seeing this video and @omniverseexplorer to really understand as they got amazing information

Awareness ✩ awareness is something very complex in the shifting community. It’s not just the state of being aware and perception but one of the main foundations of reality. It’s the thing that allows us to observe and perceive reality! When we say that we are awareness in this community, we mean that we are the observers of not only this reality but all realities! It’s not just our personal conciousness and personality but a formless and detached being that’s just experiencing creation and nothingness at the same time.

Permashifting ✩ Where you shift to you desired reality for long period of time or permently staying there with the option of coming back.

Respawning ✩ Respawning is very similar to permashifting but there is a twist! Though yes you are leaving this reality with no intentions of coming back… the thing is you can’t come back to this specific reality. While permashifting is leaving for long periods of time or permanently with the option of coming back, respawning is when you are cutting ALL ties with this reality meaning that what you are doing is genuinely permanent. The closest thing you can do to shifting back here is going back to an alternate reality! This is why I will advise people to do this when you are 16+ and 100% sure what you are getting into because the moment you successfully respawn, that’s it!

- deathless : respawning is usually tied to stuff like death and forced reincarnation (hell people sometimes refer respawning as forced reincarnation) which is why it’s very controversial in the shifting and manifestation communities. Though as I respawner myself, especially deathless respawner I want to say that respawning doesn’t always mean that you die (+ death is very subjective when in comes to stuff like spirituality, consciousness, and quantum physics)! Deathless respawning to put it simple is basically you respawning with no intention and desire of the void vessel that you leave behind to die! Many deathless respawners use clones ( i will go into that later) to take their places and continue their lives here while they are in home realities

- sca : sca or sudden cardiac arrest is something that a lot of death induced respawners use if they don’t want their void vessel to continue on. I want to say that this is NOT 100% suicide and suicide is heavily discouraged in the respawning community! Sca/death respawners after successfully shifting intend for their bodies to die AFTER they are safe and grounded in their drs.

DR / desired reality ✩ your desired reality is quite literally the reality you desire to experience and become aware of. This can be any reality like you being rich to you being in some anime like one piece!

CR / current reality ✩ the reality that you are currently in and experiencing (basically like this reality that we are all in now)

WR / waiting room ✩ a waiting room is specific reality where you can just relax in and don’t have to worry about. It can be anything like a cozy cabin in a magical forest or space ship floating in the outer space. Usually people shift here if they can’t decide which dr they want to focus on or a place where they can just detach and not worry about anything! (This is also a great place to respawn/permashift to)

Home reality ✩ the reality that you like to consider your “original” reality , your home! This can be any reality, including this one that we are in. A lot of permashifters and respawners like to use this term to refer to the place they’re permashifting/respawning to.

Void reality ✩ this is a term respawners mainly use to talk about the current reality they desire to get out of. The reason why they call it that is because this reality is you can say “dead to them”, it’s meaningless after they respawn!

Void vessel ✩ similar to void reality, void vessel is another respawning term that basically mean the version of you that you are leaving behind and is meaningless to you.

Subliminals ✩ Very special audios with affirmations where the conscious and aware mind cannot pick up and interfere with that goes straight to your subconscious mind! The subconscious is not logical as the conscious mind and anything you tell it, it manifests to reality. If you use a subliminal to improve your intelligence and grades, your subconscious then programs you and reality to fit those affirmations in the subliminal. It’s a very useful tool in the terms of manifestation and shifting

Channeling ✩ the process of receiving and sending messages or information from/to non-physical entities, such as spirits, universal forces, guides, higher-dimensional beings or/and people from your drs(their higher selves). (This goes hand in hand into divination)

Scripting ✩ it’s in the name, you write and describe what’s your desired reality and overall which specific reality you want to shift to. NO as you script, you are NOT creating a new reality (you are not the special god of your desired reality unless you script it and even if so, that reality/concept always existed before you even became aware of it). Scripting is like putting a detailed description on your “quantum gps” that will help you know where you want to shift to. Scripting can be complex and different for everyone! It can be digital, traditional on paper, a simple Pinterest board, or a Shakespeare like novel.

Void state / pure consciousness ✩ your purest state of form! It’s where you are just awareness and not attached to any reality and the 3D in general. Since you are fully in the 4d in this state, manifestation is insanely instant and I mean INSTANT! Which is why an insane majority of the shifting and manifestation community focuses on it a lot because once you enter this state, your manifestations/your shift you dr is guaranteed! Don’t overhype too much, it’s just another state of conciousness that everyone entered at some point (just not aware or knew what it was)

Self concept ✩ it’s in the name : it’s how you view yourself and the world around you. It’s you current mindset and main state of mind. Even though you can have poor self concept and still shift/manifest, it’s really great to work on it because you can say it’s a main basis on your 4d reality ( 4d = 3D reality )

lucid dreaming ✩ when you are aware that you are dreaming! This usually happens during your REM ( rapid eye movement) time when you are asleep where you brain is the most active.

Affirming ✩ the act of stating a fact / confirming it’s true.

Persisting ✩ the act of consistently maintaining a belief/affirming to the current/desired story, even in the face of challenges or doubt

SATS (state-akin-to-sleep) ✩ term coined by Neville Goddard— is a very effective technique for manifestation and shifting. It’s basically the transition period from being awake to being asleep (a lot refer to this as hypnagogia which is the state between awareness and sleep, often described to have dream-like experiences or hallucinations)! It’s great a method became many describe as the moment you fall asleep and wake up perfect to decode your subconscious mind. Now how do you use this state? Well, you basically fall asleep imagining and/or affirming a scene/affirmation which implies that your desire has been fulfilled.

s/o / sp ✩ abbreviation for significant other/person — basically your partner

Safe word ✩ a word/phrase that you say or an action that you do that shifts you back mainly to your current reality (or any reality that you intend to shift to)

Method ✩ a specify way you shift/manifest. There are two categories in the shifting community to which are awake methods and asleep methods. Awake methods are methods you do awake and without the need to fall asleep and asleep methods are ones that involve you use sleeping(+ intention) you don’t need methods to shift, they are just tools to help

CC / yume (yumeship) ✩

cc = comfort character

yumejoshi/yumeship = people, particularly fems who ship themselves with “fictional characters” of this reality

Brain waves ✩The rhythmic patterns of electrical activity generated by the brain and also states of the brains/consciousness. The main ones are beta = wide awake, alpha = very relaxed(the subconscious becomes open to suggestions), theta = half aware / half asleep (the subconscious is very open to suggestions), delta = unconsciousness/subconscious

Subconscious ✩ The part of the mind where we are not aware of but controls 95% of not only the mind and body but our perceptions of reality. The subconscious controls a lot of stuff like emotions, habits, dreaming, bodily habits like breathing, the 4d reality, and much more

Manifesting ✩ the act of deciding a desired thing or outcome by focusing thoughts, beliefs, affirmations, or simply knowing that you already have it by deciding it in the 4d

Face claim ✩ a specific look, especially of the face that you want to look like in your desired reality. A face claim can be anything, it’s just overall what you want to look like! Face claims can be from a drawing, vibes you want to give off, an edited version of you current reality’s face, or actual people’s faces.

Lifa app ✩ an app that many shifters use just for the shifting related activities. It doesn’t really exist (unles you manifest it into existence ) as it’s mainly for your drs. The possible is and functions of the lifa app can be endless! Its very personal, and all up to your own design

Clone ✩ this is tricky to explain, especially in a non-dehumanizing way as your clone is still you in a way. I would say that it’s like the remaining conciousness that’s left behind as you normally shift/permashift/respawn to your desired reality. As you shift, your cr body won’t just lay there unconscious (unless you intend it too) and this apply to ever other reality. Your drselves, or any version of you is not just unconscious waiting for you to shift there (unless you script it), they are continuing to live their lives just like the version that you are leaving behind will do. No it’s not some copy of you or any entity, it’s literally you in just the same way that all your drselves living their lives are you, you are just not aware of them. To put it simple, it’s just you (that’s “left behind”) living your life as you/your awareness isn’t aware of them and in another reality

Time difference ✩ the comparison between the time that you spend in your dr compared to the time that passed in your current reality.

Reincarnation ✩ a term mainly originated from Hinduism and Buddhism! It’s the belief/concept of the overall cycle of death and rebirth! After death, the person’s soul/consciousness/essence will be reborn into a new lifetime and form. I’ve seen a lot of respawners (especially sca respawners) use this term when it comes to shifting and starting afresh in their drs.

astral projection ✩ a phenomenon where the person’s conciousness/soul separates from the physical body without the need of dying and travels around without it, specifically to the astral plane. It’s in a lot of esoteric and spiritual beliefs and I highly suggest you research it from experienced people before you start doing it yourself.

irl magical girls/heroes ✩ (y’all don’t know how much I have to go into depth with this so I don’t fuck up the genuine meaning- any irl magical heroes that see this and think it’s a bit inaccurate, again please tell me 😭🙏🏻) Now I won’t say this is really 100% in the shifting community but as I go into into the whole rabbit hole of magical heroes (mainly on tumblr), I’ve noticed how a lot of the them use manifestation and chaos magic!

We all know magical girls! Well imagine them in real life! Using the power that we all have from birth to become magical heroes to protect others. They mainly use astral projection, reality shifting, manifestation, and witchcraft like chaos magic to due their duties! Here is great post explaining it all! (+ another one)

pick a card / tarot ✩ a card system (doesn’t always have to be cards but mainly used by cards) as a tool for divination to figure out and get revelations about the persons subconscious and spiritual experience (+ overall daily lives)

Sigils ✩a inscribed or painted symbol considered/intended to have magical power for a specific thing/concept

Quantum jumping ✩ basically the more scientific form of reality shifting “an abrupt transition of a quantum system from one energy state to another”

Shifter ✩ someone who practices reality shifting and the overall practices of changing their reality (me PERSONALLY like to use shifter as an umbrella term of someone who knows and experience the power of shaping their reality )

🍵 honorable mentions — in my opinion , the best people to go to for advice and knowledge

for overall shifting : @hrrtshape @interstellarrisa @mywitchyblog

pure conciousness : @b4ddprincess

law of assumption : @itsrlymine @eamour

🎀 well I hope you find this helpful, again if I get anything wrong tell me!! This took me the entire morning 💀

[bitegore]

I made a character sheet to plot your OC's development over time! (There's supposed to be a character name in the big white space next to "over time" but it got eaten a little lmao)

You can use this for whatever you want, and you don't have to credit me. Feel free to change or edit anything you feel like. Please don't tag me if you credit me - just link to the original post.

Credits, explanations & a transparent version under the cut :D

Credits:

The actual image was made with the free NBOS character sheet creator, which is a sort of dated but free and solid text-layout sheet maker intended for ttrpg style character sheet creation.

Fonts used were Bisdak (titles) and Rockwell (body). Both are free! You can use them to fill it out if you like.

Inspired by a comment @maybe-solar-powered-calculator made on this other post about filling it out for characters at multiple points along their arcs. Thanks for putting the idea in my head :D

This is explicitly released under a CC0 1.0 deed, ie: you can do fucking whatever you want with it and I don't care and you don't have to tell anyone where you got it from and no one gets to stop you.

-

Last time I made one of these I got a bunch of questions on all manner of things, and I can never keep up, so I'm just appending a set of notes for how to use it and a glossary because I know some of these phrasings will be confusing.

Ignore or change anything you don't feel like works for you here. You can do whatever you want forever.

Suggested / intended use & general notes:

This sheet could work for something story-level, if you want. But it's really only good for individual arcs; if the character goes through multiple arcs in your story, then they're going to fit poorly here. In that case, you're probably better off doing versions for each arc, or just adapting this to a different format more suited to your thing.

Also, if your arc has a nontraditional structure - divorced from the typical "rising action - climax - conclusion" type of structure where there's a clear 'important turning point' - it may not work as well either.

The mindset section is meant to come at it from a 'golden mean' standpoint - that is, everything on either extreme of the slider is 'too much' and therefore bad. It's not bad-to-good! The far right side is a flaw too. They're only grouped the way they are on basis of the specific OCs I personally had in mind when I put it together.

Growth is labeled 'worse'-to-'better' but it means, like, active decrease in that area vs active increase; if nothing changes, it should stay at the center even if it sucks. The category is about contrasting changes, and sometimes changes are for the worse!

The entire sheet is very deliberately subjective. It should really be answered from the character's perspective - how they feel about it, not what's necessarily true. Technically you can do whatever you want and I can't stop you, but it's a better tool if you approach it from the point of view that the character may believe things that aren't true - that will define their behavior way more than the objective facts of the story.

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Definitions:

This part is long as hell - recommend using ctrl+f to find the specific words you're stuck on. I defined everything.

General categories:

Mindset: how your character thinks about themself and how they act. Their understanding of their own approach to life. Attitude, viewpoint, decision-making process, that sort of thing.

Circumstances: the relationship between your character and the world around them. Where they are, what that place is like, and how they feel about it.

Growth: how the character and their impact - their attitude, their behavior, their immediate surroundings - changes over time.

Outset: the start of the character's arc.

Present: the 'center' of the arc. If you're planning something ahead of time and it hasn't 'happened' yet, then this is the near future.

End-game: where they are after the conclusion of the arc.

Mindset terms:

Center of the world: "If I have a problem, it's the only thing that matters to me." Self-centered, self-absorbed. Doesn't necessarily mean anything beyond that - they don't necessarily have to be unpleasant to be entirely focused on their own life.

my life isn't relevant: "Everyone else's problems are so significant, I don't pay any attention to my own". Someone who ignores or neglects their own life in service of some other thing, or doesn't consider their own behavior to have any real importance.

Only see enemies: Paranoid. Everyone's out to get them. Anyone who seems nonthreatening is hiding their potential for danger and everyone who seems threatening is a threat. The character must remain ever-vigilant, lest the cashier at the 7/11 suddenly stab them, or their best friend turn out to secretly be trying to poison them to death.

Only see friends: Naïve. Everyone is a good actor who wishes everyone else well, and if they don't seem like they're acting from a place of kindness or care then you probably don't understand what they're up to. The character is pretty sure the stranger holding that knife is, like, someone to chat up maybe, they're clearly only hanging out in this dark alleyway because it's a nice spot and no other possible reason.

overthink everything: Ten thousand thoughts per every single action taken. Maybe they never get around to acting at all. They have to consider every possible outcome. What if by eating lunch they accidentally trigger the apocalypse?! Who's going to think about these things if not them?!?!?!

impulsive to action: Act first, think never. What do you mean "consequences of actions"?

Unilateral decisions: "I will make every choice and no one else's opinions or thoughts are relevant". Discounts outside suggestions. Firmly convinced that they know best in any situation, and will brook no disagreement with their views when it comes to actually doing things.

Command me, please: "I don't know what to do and I don't know what to even start with, someone please tell me what to think". No confidence in their own views. Will not make any decisions unless forced and even then will beg someone else to please tell them what to do. Has no idea what's best and is pretty sure anyone else will have a better idea.

can't ask for help: No one will ever help the character; they have to do everything themself, even the things other people have repeatedly offered to do for them and have much more experience with. Doesn't necessarily mean that no one will help them or that they are explicitly barred by some real-world circumstance; just that, for whatever reason, they refuse to ask for help. This is an attitude thing - will they ever reach out? No? Then they're here.

too reliant on others: Have they ever solved a problem alone? Do they believe they're even capable of doing so? The character all the way at this end of the scale absolutely never expects to be able to do anything themself, has no trust in their ability to solve a problem, and needs someone else to come save them from it. The kind of person who needs ChatGPT to do their homework. Again - doesn't actually mean anyone will help them, or that the people they're relying on are reliable - just that they think they are helpless without ... well, help.

Weapon maker: This has to do with problem-solving strategies and not actual weapons. The weapon-maker is a character who views every situation as a conflict that cannot be de-escalated or solved by cooperation, and responds appropriately. The most fundamental weapon maker character turns everything into an argument, a fight, a war, etc. There are a bunch of other responses to conflict, though - they might avoid problems that need solving because they avoid conflict generally too. Fundamentally what you want to answer here is: when they see a locked box and they don't have the key, do they respond to it the same way they'd respond to someone telling them "you can't open this box"? And how do they respond to that? Typical weapon-maker approaches: - brute-force the box open or try and then give up if it doesn't work; and also get into an argument that might turn physical with the hypothetical person - shrug and give up immediately, in both situations so on and so forth. Another hallmark is that they kind of suck at problem-solving and give up if brute-forcing a problem doesn't work. This is not someone who is picking locks unless someone else told them to - they have one solution, it's to make everything into a conflict, and then to win that conflict by beating them or to give up because they think they'll lose.

Tool maker: This person approaches every situation like it's a puzzle, not a fight - up to and including actual fights. Tool-maker characters generally assume that a situation can be solved by just finding the right approach and doing it the clever way. There's the same fundamental question as above - if your character sees a locked box and has no key, would they approach it differently than someone telling them they're not allowed to open the box? 'Typical' tool-maker approaches: - I can trick the person into giving me the key by saying the right things, and I can also pick the lock because fundamentally there are 'right answers' to both of these - If i make friends with this person, they might change their mind, because now we're cooperating. I can still pick the lock because there are 'right answers' there. - The person has a reason for wanting me not to open the box, so I can definitely figure out what that is and solve the reason so then they'll let me open it. I can take whatever it is even if they really want to keep it if I just find the right answer. I'm going to break this box into little pieces because that's the easiest way to get into it but I could probably open it some other way if that wouldn't work.

A note - the center of this bar is someone who generally has different responses to different kinds of situations - like, in the box example, they'd approach the box and the person with two different general attitudes and processes - but generally responds to those situations using the same kind of decision-making process for each category every time. Most people are nowhere near either extreme. Characters tend to be classifiable into weapon-maker and tool-maker because they are fictional and it's easier to define one kind of approach than many. Approximately average approaches: - pick the lock if no one's around, but give up if someone is there because someone telling me not to open the box is a conflict i think i'll lose but a locked box is just a puzzle that i can solve - argue with the person, but give up on the box, because they're approaching the box as a puzzle and they don't think they have the skill to get into it, but the person is someone who can be convinced or bullied into handing over the key

I made this particular dichotomy up, which is why I think I get a lot of questions on it whenever I put it into anything, but I also don't know of any other snappy way to describe this sort of thought or approach variance, and it's genuinely useful for character writing in my opinion.

Pessimist spot-finder: Generally a downer but not necessarily. This kind of character just approaches everything with a close eye for problems, issues, reasons to find fault. If they're miserable, it might be why, but like, they can be a cheerful spot-finder if you want, I just wanted to get at "the glass is half empty" and "the glass is half full" more than anything.

Optimist upside fan: The opposite. "The glass is half full". If there are problems, they can find something about them that's not so frustrating or bad to focus on. Pretty damn good at overlooking minor issues if there's no reason to fixate on them. Not necessarily cheerful.

Abysmal company: could not give less of a damn about treating people the way they 'should' be treated. Maybe they take pride in that. Maybe they just think it's irrelevant. Either way, they know they treat people badly and they don't see any reason to stop. Does not necessarily mean that they treat people badly if they think they're doing the right thing and are wrong. Doesn't mean they're actually pleasant or unpleasant to hang out with, either, unless you really want it to mean that.

Decent to others: treats people well as a matter of course, or at least they sure think they do. Makes an effort. Would probably care and/or consider changing their behavior if someone said they were treating someone poorly. As before - they can be completely un-self-aware and just think they're doing right by people while treating them completely horribly.

Morality is irrelevant: 'abysmal company' for broader approaches to life and problems. Maybe they just know they're myopic and don't think other people's problems matter. Maybe they just gave up on trying to differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' and outsourced it to someone else or stopped paying any attention. Maybe they just like to take morally unjust actions and can't be bothered giving a damn when someone points out that they're morally unjust, or maybe they're proud of it. Kind of a villain trait generally, but not necessarily - it doesn't have to mean they act badly, just that they don't care if they do. Also, this is about how they choose their own actions and view their own behavior. They can think morality is relevant for other people as long as they ignore it when they act themself.

Always in the right: feels morally righteous in every decision they make. Standard superhero type of trait. Doesn't necessarily pass judgement on others, doesn't necessarily act well according to everyone's moral code (see: blue and orange morality), but they are extremely principled and will never deviate from the moral code they personally believe in. And they do genuinely believe in it.

Circumstances terms:

Generally terrible to generally excellent: how subjectively decent is your character's situation, overall? If they think everything is horrible, but the situation is charmed to everyone except them, then it's generally terrible.

Need for changes to passive tolerance: will they do something about it? Do they feel like they have to?

No agency in action to decisions are huge: agency being "how much power do I have to make changes here?", this just asks how much they have. No agency means that, no matter what they do, nothing will happen - they might be locked in a cage or somehow otherwise completely unable to use any sort of power at all, even the power of just leaving. The other end of the spectrum is where every decision the character makes makes a huge difference, not just to themself but to everyone around them as well. They can start wars, they can have anyone they want killed, they can do anything whenever they feel like it. If they think they have no agency even though they do actually have agency, they don't have agency here. If they feel like they have all the agency in the world and can do anything, then they do even if it's not true. It's perceptual again.

Stakes are deadly to mistakes solvable: what are the consequences of failure? Will you die, will you lose status you can't afford to lose, will you lose belongings, will you have to apologize, will nothing happen at all? Mistakes solvable is where they think every mistake is solvable forever - the character pushes someone through a woodchipper and they come out and to fix it, maybe an apology has to occur, but not much else. Does not necessarily mean no one gets hurt or killed as long as the character thinks there are no permanent consequences. This is the most important one on this section to keep subjective because it will greatly influence how your character approaches situations. A character who thinks everything is deadly-stakes may go to cartoonishly-extreme lengths to avoid turning a report in a day late. A character who thinks all mistakes are always solvable may push someone through a woodchipper and then just assume they can say they're sorry and it'll all go away. The setting and their approach do not need to be applicable.

Needs go unmet to attended with care: how do the people around them treat them? Do they pay attention when the character needs something, or do they ignore it? Does the character have to do everything themself around here, or are there people who will help out?

Regarded poorly to regarded well: how do they think other people see them? Are they respected, are they liked, or are they disliked? Do people broadly trust them or are they pretty sure everyone regards them with suspicion?

Nothing changes to changes in seconds: functionally the 'stability' meter of your setting - is the situation generally stable, or are things constantly changing? Does your character feel like every five minutes, there's a new problem that needs dealing with, or do they feel like nothing has ever happened ever?

Growth terms:

Changes in place: do they go somewhere else? Does the physical setting otherwise change (eg; earthquake, war, etc) ? Are there any other reasons that the 'vibe' or 'experience' of the place is different from before?

Change in power: does the character's percieved agency (see: no agency in action to decisions are huge) change? Alternately you can use it if they've gained or lost power in some percieved way (deposed, assigned a commanding position, etc).

Change in bonds: do their relationships with people change? Have they made new friends, lost old friends, changed the nature of their relationships with friends or partners, etc?

Change in beliefs: straightforwardly, have their beliefs, morals, etc, changed?

Change in hurts: have they undergone some horrible experience? Do they have past trauma from some pre-arc horrible experience they're healing from and/or discovering they're more powerfully subject to? Did they experience a physical injury that they're recovering from or which materially changed their life? Did something recent dredge up old issues? So on and so forth.

Change in hopes: Do their desires for the future look the way they used to? Do they care about different things now? This is something the character is not actively working for, but may be tied to actual goals.

Change in fears: are they overcoming fears? Growing past them? Gaining new ones? Are they scared of shit different from how they used to be?

Change in goals: Not the same as a hope because it needs to have a specific, achievable outcome the character is actively working toward. Do those material goals look different? Perhaps they no longer want to work against something, maybe they didn't have any goals and now they do. Or maybe they've realized the goal is impossible, or something has happened to make that goal unachieveable. Whatever it is, if there's a change, it's a change.

Change in self-awareness: their beliefs about who they are and what they're like, and what their circumstances are. Have they gotten more self-aware, have they gotten less self-aware, or has nothing changed?

Change in relationships: their relationships' overall health and resilience, as far as the character is concerned - which doesn't mean they're necessarily good, just that the character thinks they're how they're supposed to be. Have they improved? Have they gotten worse? Have they not changed?

Change in knowledge: do they feel like they know more about the world, their place in it, the people around them, etc? Not necessarily how to do things - just general information and awareness.

Change in social standing: how does others' regard for the character change over this part of their arc? Do people like them more or less? Are they respected more or less than before? Has nothing changed? And so on.

Change in skills and abilities: do they feel more skilled than they were before? Do they feel like they know how to do as many things as before? Again - not necessarily rooted in reality - a classic example of a character being wrong about this is a 'big fish in a small pond' character who used to be the high school sports star going to college on a sports scholarship and discovering they're not the best any more, and suddenly feeling like they're the worst - when they're better than they've ever been in an objective light. Use a subjective viewpoint for this.

Change in agency in life: how does the character's percieved agency change? Do their decisions matter less now than ever? Do their actions make way more happen than before? (See: no agency in action vs decisions are huge)

Change in outlook: Here's the upper/downer part. Are they more or less hopeful for the future? Do they think things are more terrible now? Are things improving as far as they're concerned? Or has that not changed?

Change in goal progress: how do they feel like they're progressing on the goals they've set for themself? Are they getting further and further away? Are they getting closer?

If some of this doesn't make sense and you want a clarification, you will have to tag me to get my attention, because I'm turning notifications for this post off the minute it leaves my immediate social circle.

Transparent version: (sorry you had to scroll so far)

[plokoonweek]

Plo Koon week interest check

Koh-to-yah!

We noticed that people were interested in organizing Plo Koon week (probably first in history). Before we will start setting everything up, we need to see how many people would be interested (whether it is active participating or just watching what other folks made).

Here is a link to short poll (the form will be closed on the next Sunday, May 18)th:

When voting for the time of the event, please keep in mind that possible participants will need time to prepare their works. People can be also busy IRL, and we don't want anyone to do something in rush. We didn't include June, because it might be too early.

@swfandomevents for signal boost

If Plo Koon week will ever happen, here are some first rules and info. (below)

Rules:

Every content must be related to Plo Koon. Art, fanfiction, moodboards, video edits, e.t.c is allowed. The more Plo content, the better!

Plo Koon should be the main character in your work or have an important role. He shouldn't be reduced to only mentions nor background.

Every ship is allowed, including Plo Koon x OC, x reader. We are not going to judge anyone and we want this event to be a safe place. Hate towards participants and ship bashing will be banned. Please tag your works properly, so everyone will be able to find something they like!

Both NSFW and SFW is allowed. However you have to tag your NSFW works

Again, tags, tags, tags! They're your friends! Use them, tag stuff that other people may not be interested in or feel uncomfortable (like gore, torture, kinks, x reader, first POV, vomit, e.t.c)

There is no minimum word count, so even drabbles are okay to post!

No AI content. Every work has to be made by human, not machine.

Mention the event blog, so your work will be able to be reblogged! You can as well use the tag #Plo Koon week, #Plo Koon week 2025 before posting.

Reposting older works is allowed. Do you have a favorite fanfic or fanart? Tag the event blog, so we will be able to reblog it!

Be kind! The purpose of this event is to appreciate Plo Koon, not start ship wars or hate each other.

Prompts:

If the interest-check results will be satisfying, then we will open prompt submission.

After prompt submission will be over, we are going to create another poll, this time to let everyone choose which prompts are the best.

The prompts with the most votes are going to be included in the event.

Depending on the results of the first poll, each day will have one, two or three prompts

Day 7 will be free! If you didn't like any of the prompts, you're more than welcome to create something based on your own ideas! Be creative and share your work with others!

Date:

The event will last seven (7) days

The date of the event is not decided yet.

Host: @bart1607

[drunkinyourbenz]

DIE FOR YOU — chapter one

୨ৎ bodyguard!billie eilish x princess!reader

series masterlist . prologue .

୨ৎ summary: you were the crown princess of your kingdom, raised to be elegant, poised, flawless, and a perfect balance of kind and calculating. your whole life was planned out for you, it had been since you were born. there had never been any other option, you were the future ruler of your kingdom, and you were expected to act like it. but sometimes, things happen that you can’t control—and before you know it, you’re faced with a choice that may result in betraying your family, your kingdom, and your people.

୨ৎ content: fluff, angst (nothing much)

୨ৎ note: chapter one <3 i can't tell if this is good i went into a deep dive and hyperfixated on the fashion but then only wrote like a paragraph on it :( but yeahh hi guys i hope this is good (this didn't show up in tags the first time i posted it if it doesn't this time i'll quit tumblr)

୨ৎ wc: 2.2k

the throne room is bathed in a soft morning light, casting soft shadows over the elegant decor chosen by none other than your mother. the whole castle is a collection of extravagant gold ornaments and first edition paintings and flower arrangements, just to remind everyone just how rich the family is—as if anyone didn’t already know that. the castle is gorgeous inside and out, a large stone building that sits atop a hill, surrounded by lush green forests and backing onto a large picturesque lake. 

the interior is no less gorgeous—it holds the stories of generations after generations of your family who had lived and died in that castle. somehow, you weren’t sure if that was what you wanted. you’d been born in this castle, and you were destined to sit in this throne until someone else took over or you died. 

It’s a cage—a lovely, gorgeous cage, but a cage nonetheless. 

you sit in your throne, the silky fabric of your dress draped delicately over the contours of your thighs, your hands loosely clasped in your lap. the dress had been picked out by your mother and was a dark blue colour. the silk is soft against your skin, but the corset is suffocating. you’d never really had much of a choice when it came to corsets, your mother had forced you into them the moment you turned fifteen and had never looked back. 

your parents are talking to a royal advisor, you’re there to sit still and look pretty. you always listen to what they say during these meetings, but your parents never give you any details on any of the kingdom’s affairs when you ask—you’re  not sure how they expect you to rule the kingdom if you don't know how to deal with the day to day life of a ruler. 

while your parents drone on about one of the kingdom's numerous issues, you find your eyes drifting over to billie. your personal guard stood beside you, about a metre away from your throne. she’d changed since she’d been appointed your guard—you both had. gone was the light hair with pink tips, replaced with long dark brown hair. she had this effortless beauty about her, she quite literally didn’t have to do anything to be the most gorgeous person you’d ever met. 

her long brown hair was tied up in a low ponytail, brushed in front of one of her shoulders. a few strands of her hair were framing her face out of the ponytail, and her blue eyes were fixed on the ground in front of her. she stood next to your parents personal guards, and the lower ranked guards stood by the doors and other stations around the room. the guard uniform was a black suit—seemingly plain, but it hid numerous weapons and other tricks. 

her eyes meet yours, and she sends you a barely noticeable smile. your lips subtly twitch up in return, and the meeting suddenly seems far less boring. 

you could feel eyes on you—not the soft, almost reverent gaze of billie, but the judgemental stare of your parents. inspecting every little thing about you—the slight slump of your shoulders and the way your eyes kept drifting to either the window or in the general direction of billie. with a inaudible exhale, you straighten your back and fix your eyes on where your hands sit in your lap, ignoring the all too familiar twisting feeling in your stomach. your parents' eyes eventually move from you, but you’re still very much aware of the fact that any wrong movement, they’ll catch. 

after what felt like hours, but was—according to the analog clock that lives on the table—only half an hour, the advisor sends your parents an exaggerated smile, “well, we’ll get back to this at a later date. i’m sure you have many duties to attend to, your majesties.” 

with that, the man stands up. you watch as he runs a hand through his slightly greasy graying hair, before he finally bows and leaves the room. instead of letting out the sigh of relief like you’d like to, you let your hands relax from the way they’d been clenched around each other, barely noticing the small crescent moon indents that your nails had left. 

your parents turn to you before you get a chance to even think about leaving, your mother’s manicured nails tapping against the arm of her throne as she speaks. “darling, there’s another ball tomorrow. i’d advise you look through the dresses i selected for you, we really do need you finding a suitor some time soon.”

biting the inside of your cheek, you hum softly, “of course, mother.” 

“once chosen one of the dresses, please visit me. i believe there is something we need to discuss.” 

you nod again, ignoring the impending pit of dread in your stomach at those words. “of course.” 

with that, your mother waves her hand, a silent signal that you are dismissed. you’re out of the room as soon as you possibly can be, billie only a few steps behind. you’re back in your room in no time, door shut behind the two of you. you finally allow yourself to let out the exasperated sigh you'd been holding back. ignoring the dresses your mother had set out for you, you walk to the large french doors out onto the balcony, opening the lacy curtains that cover them and stepping out into the fresh air. the balcony is hidden from the view of everywhere else in the castle, and you rest your arms against the intricate stone rails, looking out at the skyline. 

the weather has turned now—the soft sunlight that had been bathing the castle before has been replaced with dark grey storm clouds, the trees nearby rustling in the strong wind as if to warn you of the storm on its way. 

you’re not entirely sure when billie ends up next to you, but eventually, you feel her presence beside you. she looks out over the lake that your room faces, taking in the way the blue and grey tones of the stormy sky reflect over the water. after a while, her eyes drift, no longer gazing over the view and instead watching you. her blue eyes travel over your side profile—taking in the way your eyes are slightly glazed over, slightly unfocused. your mind is on other things, and billie can tell. 

she can always tell. 

taking a step closer, billie nudges your shoulder with her own, drawing your gaze away from the sunset. your eyes meet billie’s, and for a moment, she just watches you, a soft look in her eyes. after a moment, she speaksup. 

“you okay?” 

you pause for a moment, looking over at her. you look at the way her dark hair falls over her shoulders and her blue eyes search yours, as if looking for something deeper than what you were letting her see, some emotion hidden away below the surface. you hum softly, nodding softly. "mhm, i'm okay."

billie goes to speak again, but you push yourself away from the railings, the skirt of your dress twirling around you slightly as you turn. brushing the subject off, you glance over your shoulder at billie, “i should pick out a dress for tomorrow, i want your opinions.” 

an unreadable expression comes over billie’s face, oh. tomorrow. right. billie hated the balls, and she wasn’t particularly subtle about it. her eyes would trail over the suitors from other kingdoms, taking in their pretentious suits and the way they looked at you as if you were simply an eyepiece, an accessory for them. she could never help the way her lips would turn down, her eyes narrowing a fraction. 

but she wasn’t one to turn down—well, anything. she wasn’t known to turn down anything, as long as you were involved. so she nods, painting a smile over her face, “yeah, show me, princess.” 

that’s how you end up in the last of the three dress options your mother had picked out for you—billie facing the wall while you tug at the ribbon of the corset to tighten it enough. the other two dresses had been gorgeous, a fact that billie had not hesitated to make sure you knew, but they hadn’t felt quite right. the last dress is a pale blue silk with silver embroidery on it, and it hangs around you far more comfortably than the others, the fabric less stiff. 

once the dress is fully on, you look up, “you can turn around.” 

after a moment of billie collecting herself, she turns. her eyes land on you, her breath catching in her throat. her eyes trail over your figure, taking in the fitted bodice with its scooped neckline and the flowing skirt. eyes flickering up to your face the way you smiled softly, waiting for her opinion. she’s always adored how you value her opinion, how you involve her in these things. billie may not know much about fashion or what a princess wore, but she does know how her heart skips a beat when she sees you dressed up like this, and she swallows heavily before speaking. 

“this one. definitely this one.” 

lips twitching into a smile, you look down at the dress and then back up at billie, eyes lighting up slightly. “you think so? perfect, that’s what i thought.” 

under her gaze, you feel like a princess. like, a real princess. not how the princes look at you, not like a pawn in someone else's game, not like an accessory or a bargaining piece. you feel…truly adored by her. she’s had that look in her eyes since you were kids—since the moment the line of every interaction being unbearably awkward was crossed, she had held you in a sort of reverential place in her heart. she felt like a dog at your door—her only offerings being her love and protection, and you’d open the door every single time. 

your eyes meet, your smile only widening when you see the soft look her eyes hold. she holds your gaze, and you’re brought back to the first time her gaze had ever been that soft with you—or at least, the first time that you had noticed. 

the two of you had been sitting by the lake—in view of the castle, but everyone was at the harvest festival, so no one was paying any attention to the two sixteen year olds who had snuck away. you sat there, hands in the grass beside you and the soft sunlight making your skin glow. billie’s hand was on the ground next to yours, propping her up, and if she’d moved ever so slightly closer your fingers would have brushed together. 

the soft breeze made leaves dance around the two of you, and after a long moment you dragged your eyes from the picturesque scene of the sunset reflected in the gently rippling water of the lake. 

“do you think it’ll always be like this?” you asked, voice so soft you weren’t sure it was even audible. 

it was audible, of course. billie could notice every little thing about you—each slight twitch, every curve of your brow and shift of your gaze. billie had mastered the art of noticing, even as a naive sixteen year old. “like what?” 

“like… do you think i’ll always be waiting for something.” 

billie had hummed quietly, “waiting for…?”

“something to change, i guess. something to happen.” 

at your words, billie had glanced at you, chin resting on the palm of her hand. she had that soft look in her eyes, that reverent gaze. “well, whatever you’re waiting for...you’ll only be waiting if you don’t make it happen.”

a sigh left your lips, and you returned to wistfully staring out over the lake. 

as you pulled yourself from the memory, your eyes meet billie’s again. turning around so your back was to her, you speak softly, “could you untie this?” 

billie’s fingers move to the ribbons of the corset, carefully untying it enough to make it easy for you but not to actually take it off. a silence hangs over you, billie’s fingers brush the bare skin of your upper back near your neck—an action that almost certainly must have been purposeful, as the dress didn’t leave much skin bare. moments after her fingertips left your skin, she speaks up. 

“how do you feel about the balls?” 

you pause for a moment, the question not the words you’d been expecting to leave her mouth. “billie, i don’t think it makes a difference how i feel about them.”

billie didn’t miss a beat, “it matters to me.” 

with a sharp inhale, you step away slightly once she’s untied the corset, “you already know.” 

billie doesn’t deny those words, nor does she pull you back when you step backwards. billie knows how you feel—she’s the only person you’d trust to talk to about such things, and even if you didn’t, she has a way of reading you like a book. you’re not an open book, not even in the slightest, but perhaps you are when it comes to her. 

you turn to face her, going to speak before you remember what your mother had said. the frown that paints your lips is automatic, a reaction you can’t stop at the thought of having the ‘discussion’ your mother had spoken of earlier. 

“you’re going to talk to her?” billie’s voice cuts through your thoughts, and you look up from where your fingers had clenched around the fabric of your dress. your words are mumbled, “i should. i’ll just get changed.” 

“i’ll get going then.” billie offers you a smile, “your royal highness.” a smile appears on your face at the use of your title—an ongoing joke between the two of you, referencing when fourteen year old billie had been too terrified to address you as anything but your official title. she knew now that your name was preferred, but the title made you smile, something she would stop at nothing to achieve. 

and with that, billie slips out of your room. you watch the door close behind her, the soft thud it makes as it clicks shut, and the room feels empty.

rooms tend to feel empty without her there—perhaps that’s the result of spending so much time with someone. 

you only wish it could come without the dull ache in your chest. 

୨ৎ taglist: (comment or send an ask to be added or removed!) @47lake @st0nerlesb0 @n0vabug @darkside-0f-the-sun @asterisk-eyes @amara-eilish @dragoneyelashart @greenbttrflyy @bilswifee @tan1shere @asothinking @ilovealiceosemann @chrissv4mp @lovelyy-moonlight @cantlandonmyfeet @jayjaywetforbils @karaaeilish @billiesbabygirll @g0ldwingedwildfl0w3r @eloiseluvsbillie @averagelobotomyenjoyer @hkkuugu @ash198458 @youmademefeel @jennaswifey