#like i'm. i'm not trans let's put it like that and i'm white and vaguely protestant atheist and middle class and well educated

[drdemonprince]

Could you reshare your shoplifting tips

I can't find it so here's a new list for you:

Identify appropriate targets. The ideal store to shoplift from will generally be a large, understaffed, moderately failing business. Walgreens right now is experiencing a huge uptick in shoplifting because its prices are too high and it doesn't have enough staff. Most of the time when I walk into my local Walgreens they don't even have enough staff to have anybody at the registers, let alone to keep an eye on the door. Usually I'm more subtle than this, but at some moments you can literally just walk out the door. Other good shoplifting targets are places like Dollar Tree, Dollar General, CVS, Aldi, non-fancy grocery stores, Meijer, places like that. Be more careful with small businesses. Be more careful with Target, or anywhere with security at the front. Neighborhoods matter too. Wealthy white neighborhoods are more heavily policed and if you stand out as visibly poor in an area where most aren't, you'll have more eyes on you.

Stake out the place. Visit the shoplifting target a variety of times, under a variety of conditions. Notice the ebb and flow of the space -- when does it get busy, when are there are a lot of staff on the floor, when are the lines really long. Check out the exits and the flow of human traffic. Pay some attention to security cameras, but don't assume that they're all even real, or being watched by an actual human. Many stores have fake cameras or only check the footage after there's been an Event. With experience, you will get better at sensing when is a good time to lift, and when not.

Steal at busy times. It's easiest to slip in and out unnoticed, especially without having bought anything, if you go at a time when there's a large traffic flow. You generally don't have to worry about customers ratting you out, unless you're in a very Karen-y neighborhood.

Carry or wear something you can subtly slip items into. I prefer using a tote bag that I act like I'm shopping into. It's very easy and casual to just place items in the bag, readjust the bag so that nothing can be seen poking out of the top, and then stroll out. (Sometimes after buying a few items, sometimes not). I have also used the side pockets on a backpack, or just my pockets. The key is to put items away in a relaxed manner, and to not obviously overstuff yourself. Don't bring TOO big of a bag, don't fill up your pockets TOO much. Keep it very light and subtle.

Avoid being sus. Don't spend a full hour in the grocery store. Don't circle the same two aisles over and over again visibly holding an item you're looking to take. Don't look around suspiciously at the cameras or the staff.

Act bored. This is my NUMBER ONE TIP to avoid being told you're not supposed to do something, whether it's tresspassing on a property, shoplifting, vandalizing, or just using the restroom you wanna use as a trans person. ACT BORED. Act tired and vaguely annoyed and like this is your last errand at the end of a long day and that you've been to this shop a million times before. People are far more likely to ignore you if you seem both relaxed and like you're too weary and over it to be even worth looking at. You can move at a decent pace, still, so long as you treat it like an errand you're just trying to Get Over With so you can get home and chill out.

have fun!!

[tisiphonewolfe]

Writeblr Intro

Heyo!

I'm Tisiphone - or Tiss, or Tizzy, I don't mind (she/her). I mainly write SFF, but I intend to try my hand at horror and potentially espionage thrillers in the future. I also can't seem to write anything without women being very gay in the middle of it all, so I'm leaning into it.

I follow from @princessw0lf

About me:

I'm a disabled trans lesbian from the UK

What I like seeing in books? Mysteries woven through the plot that resolve satisfyingly. Characters that bounce off each other and grate against each other in interesting ways. Weird romances that don't dominate the plot, but are a key part of it. Great character development.

Favourite books? The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood, Malice by Heather Walter, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. And a lot of Terry Pratchett.

Fiction I probably won't enjoy? Something where the plot is purely interpersonal drama or romance with nothing interesting happening outside of it. Literary fiction. YA.

Outside of writing? By day I'm a software developer. The rest of my time is spent drawing, playing games both video and tabletop, and playing electric guitar (badly).

DMs/Asks/Tag games? Fire away!

@sam-glade is my pal and you should go check them out too!

With this blog I'm aiming to post writing updates, inspiration, and probably writing-related memes.

About my writing:

At the moment I'm primarily writing high fantasy/epic fantasy, with a view to trying out some more genres later on.

Admittedly a lot of the classic elements of western fantasy are in there, but I've been trying to get back to the mythological roots of creatures like elves, gnomes, and dwarves, and to present them as not being all white and vaguely British.

The world of The Tectomancy Saga is also, like that of my childhood writing hero Sir Terry, an odd shape. There's a reason for that, and we'll get to it eventually.

While my stories are currently third-person multi-pov stories, I intend to experiment on that at some point in the future.

My stories will probably all revolve around two things; a central mystery and a central relationship. I love a plot where you can pick at the smallest words and phrases, theorise about absolutely everything. I want to write stories where people have a thousand ideas about what the truth is, and each one of them knows there's a good chance they could be correct. I also, as a queer trans lady, want to write about sapphic relationships and include many people who are not cis.

My favourite themes to write are anti-authority, people breaking out of systems they've been trapped in for a long time, people being more important than power.

I'm definitely a plantser. I know kind of where I'm going, but let's see where the journey takes us along the way!

Finally, you can expect the tone of my writing to be trying to find that sweet spot between serious and dry humour that makes you groan, with a healthy sprinkling of subtle meme references.

Current projects below the cut

The Tectomancy Saga

On a bowl-shaped world suspended far above swirling blue mists, nine goddesses, witches, or geniuses, blessed their peoples with divine magics, then disappeared. Now, the world is decaying, tensions are rising, and people scramble to control the magics in order to shape the future.

Made with Crown and Claw

WIP Intro

High Fantasy: The classic Princess-in-a-tower-guarded-by-a-dragon story, but we see the machiantions that put her there, and what happens afterwards.

Releine Sholt is hand-picked by the heir to Tectomancy, Princess Almyra Tectus, to be her new bodyguard. The role has one ominous stipulation: nobody can ever speak to the Princess, on the threat of dire punishment.

'There was only one bed' turns out to have horrifying consequences.

Progress: Fourth draft done at 129.5k

Bound by Stone and Blood

High Fantasy: The saga continues from different perspectives, having different adventures, that will eventually conjoin.

Almyra vies for control of her kingdom. Ellimane tracks down two misfits who are being hunted by a rogue automaton. Releine visits hell. A new threat rises in the shadows of Versewelt, the decaying land.

Bitter exes who technically never dated are definitely not thinking about each other.

Progress: First draft underway at 69k

Snippets and Short Stories:

Flash Fiction Friday: On the Edge

Flash Fiction Friday: I Can't Tell

Her New Captain (Alternate Chapter)

Other

Naenia, through Murder

WIP Intro

Naenia, the reaper who is responsible for death through murder, is shellshocked when a murdered homicide detective returns to life before her eyes and promptly asks her out on a date.

Detective Carina Choudhry has an odd - very Goth - new girlfriend, who saved her from the serial killer she was on the trail of.

Progress: Complete at 46k

Fay and the Red Kite (Title pending)

Fay Orrel, a trainee mech pilot, finds that her beaten-up old training machine holds an AI that has replicated its deceased former pilot. She tries to keep the other woman secret from the PMC that owns the mech, who would be certain to wipe the AI's memories, destroying Mina forever.

Progress: Well, I wrote the prologue and some of the first chapter. Being dabbled with!

[occasional-pyrrhon]

I need to know your most unhinged headcanons about Pyrrhon. Idk if you already have a post like this, but I need to know.

YAY YAY YAY OK. OK EVERY THING I'VE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HTIS GUY LET'S GO. MILLION PAGE LONG POST UNDER THE CUT

OK so what is this thang in the first place right. I think he's an alien. HEAR ME OUT GUYS HEAR ME OUT. So space seems really weird and vaguely eldritch in the worldbuilding right, the Kraken and the Pirates' appearances being robotic along with the Aurum, who apparently just Happened one day. I think he also Happened one day and just crashed landed onto earth meteor style, either coming from the sun itself or being the Aurum's flawed attempt at mimicking a god that got too out of control and developed free will. I mean he has bright green eyes and looks nothing like the other gods. Even HADES wears CLOTHES man. Fitting with space being mostly outside the domain of the gods, this weird little mini sun man was able to claim the Sun God title because no one else was using it, which is why the gods themselves are torn on if he's one of them. He isn't immortal but he does age slower than normal, he's a fairly recent annoyance among all the divine discourse

Him and Arlon are brothers! Sorta. They met as kids without any apparent families and Pyrrhon theorizes that they're connected, which Arlon goes along with. So they kinda *become* brothers in a way with my headcanons? Ja. They start out being kinda frenemies who don't really get along and are just sticking with this theory to figure out their pasts but they end up truly having the brothers relationships and being at eachothers' backs. Everyone else is shocked to learn about this every single time since they're such opposites. Arlon lends stability and Pyrrhon lends freedom and encourages leniency towards the whole "loyalty" thing, which evidently means less to him. 😌

The other popular headcanon I like is that his flame aura is controlled by his emotions. He can make it flare up for dramatic effect or cool it down if he needs to, but it's typically involuntary. It's usually not harmful to people, though he can easily burn things if he isn't paying attention and he's always warm to the touch. If he's calm it simmers down. If he's really, truly upset or hopeless it goes out. If he's excited or angry it burns brighter. If it turns white hot and hurts to the touch, you should probably run. :)

He's trans. "How is he 7ft tall?" Divine HRT will do that to you. "Out of everyone in the cast who would be way more fitting-" I like him. "Wasn't there something in smash about the gods' physical forms-" I do what I want always all the time forever.

OKAY so it's tough sometimes with characters who are intended to be insane with no further context because on the one hand that can be kinda fucked but on the other hand OUHHHHH. crazy guy who loses control to the orb was such a weird adhd awakening for me but baby if it wasn't an awakening. SO putting aside that it's obviously exaggerated and he was probably just intended to be insane with no nuance, I headcanon him as autistic and adhd with probably an array of Other Shit going on that I'm not qualified to pin down without feeling like it may be insulting. my mental illness pilled folks give your takes below or don't if you're uncomfortable with attatching stuff to characters like this because that's very justified I just hyperfixate on and relate to the worst specimens possible o7 you would not believe how many ocs I have that are just "let's do this bitch again and deconstruct all the dehumanization these guys always get while we're at it" follow my main artblog with my ocs plug plug plug plug

I think he would hate Hades as the apex of the irresponsibility and evil of the gods. HOWEVER Pyrrhon x Hades is just inherently super funny to me so its tough I kinda need to reconsile them. MY HEADCANON is that they dated for a bit when Pyrrhon didn't have a vendetta against the gods yet and was going after cred then when Palutena and Medusa yuri-divorced Hades felt the urge to one-up Medusa in some way so he ended things with Pyrrhon by saying he's homophobic. This in turn put Pyrrhon on a brief stint of homophobia that he thankfully recovered from when he started to listen to Limp Bizkit (unironically in every way of course) and decided that Fred Durst is the most beautiful man on the planet. Or will be. Kid Icarus ancient Greece with Nintendo you know how it is.

I'm growling and pacing ominously with a shadow over my eyes all the time over his underdeveloped motivations BUT from what we're given of his respect for Pit and his vendetta against the gods along with the heroic act I feel like he's kinda with Dark Pit on the idea of the gods constantly throwing everything off balance BUT the critical difference that turns him into a villain is that he thinks that if a true hero like HIM were the most powerful god he could fix all of this! See see HIS indulgence in the violence and warring is justified he doesn't WANNA incinerate the angel but it's just for the greater good. Fool tried to end the cycle of violence by becoming part of it!!!!!!! Everyone point and laugh!!!!!!!!

He's smart but he's also a dumbass but he can actually be a genius under the right circumstances but he's so so stupid. Right. He would put together a computer on his own from nothing but Vibes then think YouTube is a platform exclusively for fnaf letsplays because its the first thing he clicked on and he doesn't know how to search. He can determine his location by looking at the stars he also got lost in the department store yesterday. He can tell you about the Aurum for two hours he doesn't remember what he ate for lunch yesterday so he answers with som shit like the essence of heroism in the sandwich of destiny. He's so me he's all of us in a way .

He has mild psychic powers and he is NOT good at them 💔 he taught himself short range telepathy hence why he only really talks to the others in person until he gets his power up. He also tried to learn how to give visions and prophecies recieved upon touching his gem but it kinda just traps you in his adhd mindzone where he tries to keep up the illusion with cardboard cutouts on sticks.

Okay post canon time! Horray!!!!! The shorter more hyperspecific headcanons are after this. Tw for trauma and parallels to abuse until this section is done we're in projecting lane now.

A lot of details of what happens to him post-Aurum vary depending on what I'm drawing/writing at the moment like if he gets out on his own or has to be rescued after the war with Hades resolves, but generally he's trapped with them for a while with wavering control over himself. He develops an intense phobia of space and the Aurum afterwards despite them once being his biggest interests (<- PROJECTING.) His sense of personhood is very disrupted - he wasn't just controlled, he was assimilated and became one in the same with them with only shards of him holding on and resisting. He goes between never wanting to encounter them again to being nothing but a vessel who *must* return to them again no matter what it does to him, and he doesn't remember how to be a person without them controlling him. He completely stops believing he's a god in any way. He often zones out with the instinct that something else will be at the wheel until someone snaps at him and he's like huh wuzzat. Then probably plays it off as being inconsiderate since what people expect of him is easier than the truth.

He has the belief that the Aurum are attempting to take him again, even if they end up destroyed they're too powerful to him now to end that easily. They're *all* and they're *everywhere*. Since a lot of ptsd symptoms can feel like losing control it compounds quickly.

He has a habit of covering his mouth when he's upset. The feeling of those words and that smile stick with him.

I also think he'd have pretty messed up misconceptions towards "redeeming himself". With his broken identity he clings onto the idea of being fearless and acting the same way he used to, otherwise they "won". He would do stuff like accompanying Pit on a space mission and acting like it's no sweat while intermittently sneaking off to hide the breakdown. Why should he be afraid? It was *his* fault after all, and if he can't stop himself from being hurt it's just going to be *his* problem.

He starts wearing clothes to hide the scars he recieved on his chest, back, and limbs. He wants to look like NOTHING has changed, as much as possible. He starts returning to his old Nothingcore fit the more he heals from the events, because he doesn't like the feeling of clothes in the first place. he wears fingerless gloves and leg warmers because he can't stand the alternatives to either.

He also has a cane that's supposed to look enough like a staff to pass as one. His legs have been Pixels for the past couple years ok. Either way he's insecure about it and mostly uses it private, once again passing off his troubles in the department as his typical cringefail self don't worry about it 😁 👍

There's some mechanical alterations inside of him and like. I don't know how to explain my vision here except imagine the junji ito stuff turning into spirals story but with math and geometry and such. You can plug a bluetooth chip into his back scar and he's a literal wifi hotspot now. The quadratic formula is hidden somewhere in his femur as a fun easter egg. A lot of the changes are good for an impromptu living weapon but not for that weapon having an easy time afterwards, but it takes a while for him to reach out for help there, not just because of all previously mentioned but because he *hates* the idea of something going in and making "edits" to him again.

There's some more literal lingering effects from the Aurum - he can understand Morse code and binary and is compelled to read it out and translate it whenever he sees it, and sometimes those are the forms of communication that remain when the others go down, along with general detached computer speak. He *really* doesn't like others seeing this -- I like the idea of Arlon or Palutena teaching him signing to use in moments like this.

He is so touch starved my god. He probably wasn't getting much affection pre-canon in the first place but after being in space for 3+ years in a place where anything organic for miles is destroyed on sight, his body not being his own, and then going on to hide it all? Someone lays a hand on his shoulder and he just *melts*. He already feels like the affectionate back-breaking bear hug type in my mind so it's just. Auougghhhhhhhhhh. Yeah.

Okay back to the less intense headcanons. All the main ones were at the top these are just little ideas or like stupid stuff.

NO ONE IS HANDING HIM THE AUX CORD. EVER. His top artist on Spotify is Smosh. He listens to Lil Dicky and Your Favorite Martian. When it's a date and he needs to put on the more acceptable by society stuff he puts on ABBA and the Niel Ciceriga mashup albums. The ladder is most of his exposure to the wider music world he was BAFFLED when he found out hendrix wasn't actually singing about furries. I also think it would be really fucking funny if his main playlist with 2010 YouTuber Core has like Kid A interspersed in there. Thom York and the party rock guys are on the exact same artistic pedestal to him (you can decide if he's a real one for that)

He would NOT BE A MYSOGINIST. NO ONE GETS MY GUY. He's the most cringefail feminist on earth he was at the women's march tripping over the asphalt and face planting 30 times and when it was over they had to pick him up with a dustpan. HER PRONOUNS ARE THEY/THEM !!!

He figured all the fnaf lore out on his own but none of the gods gave a shit so he used the peak of his power to bestow maddening visions upon Markiplier's 20th removed great Greek ancestor. Hades did the same thing to MatPat's 20th removed great Greek ancestor just to muddy the waters and spite his ex

His favorite animals are snakes, cats, and dragons. When the others find out about him Going Through It post canon, Viridi begrudgingly makes immortal replicas of a snake and cat as gifts to him for emotional support

He would use his divine resilience to go out and hug poisonous creatures and beasts because he can

He would get so upset by like made up cartoon insults like in worlds where everyone's a dragon and they call eachother a pink-tailed coward and that kind of stuff right. If he got teleported into the geronimo stilton book universe and another mouse called him a chedderface he would have to be HOSPITALIZED.

He doesn't curse a lot and only does it under very specific circumstances that tick him off like if you called spongebob annoying he would curse you out

Talks to himself alone in rooms constantly. Has ytp verbal stims.

Has a thumbtack and string board not for like anything in specific its kinda just his replacement for a journal but for a guy who tries to find the connection between the weird waiter he met at girls' night to the Aliens

I have a genre of guys I call Stray Dog Youth who are just people I think would evoke a heroic pity response from him and the urge to take them under his wing and raise them into defenders of justice. Pit. Chicken Little. Fluttershy. Shadow the Hedgehog. Timmy Turner. Gohan. Malcom in the middle maybe I never watched it. But do you see my vision here. He respects this genre of person more than any god ever

STIM LORE 🔥 fist bumps, flying around in circles, saying him catchphrases and doing him poses, playing with fire in his hands and swirling it around. He's a hup and huh and woop and oops and wup kind of guy. Sometimes he yells CHOCOLATE STARFISH!!! to himself in fred durst impression.

He polishes his forehead gem a lot to be as striking and shiny as possible

His hair starts to turn ashy at the tips and hang down when it grows longer

He respects human life more than the average god. Protecting the earth is his ultimate goal but he'll justify many questionable sacrifices to achieve that

Panromantic Asexual 💪 he does not care about flirting or sex there are horrors to quell citizen. I mean even if he wanted to he couldn't so.

Oh yeah he uses citizens generally when talking about humanity and such, but citizen turns into a nickname for Pit in particular as a sign of respect.

He gives Pit exposure therapy training after returning to earth and learning about his pyrophobia. He also has talks with Palutena, one of the first gods he develops some respect towards and one of the first people to accept him back in, since they relate to eachother over the Chaos Kin incident.

He doesn't have a real temple and he's mostly a drifter, but he did set up shop at an abandoned human temple in the middle of nowhere. WORST crib imaginable. courage the cowardly dog style PC setup. Light up gaming in progress sign. Q-bert funko pop displayed like a treasured collectable.

He would be OBSESSED with old low budget sci-fi movies and similar genres of b-movies. He thinks The Amazing Bulk is the best movie ever made ever

He would be really good at games where the rules are just entirely decided by vibes and such he can understand them thoroughly. That one video of the guys using toy phones and xylophones like a card game with gamer rage mannerisms. Calvinball. Etc.

He can go a while without sleep. When he needs to he lays back in the sky and sleeps among the stars. This has led to many flock of owls attacks followed by meteor crash landing into a god's back lawn.

THAT'S ALL I CAN THINK OF FOR NOW but yeah those are the big ones 💞 thank you for opening the gates for me to be insanecrazy about my specialist guy on the planet 😁

[miutonium]

Ugh guys I don't like bringing up current issues in my side blog I really do but I'm so fucking disappointed at whatever the fuck m*tty h*aly done during last night concert.

Before that, let me preface this by saying that I am not a homophobe. I am far from it. I don't always say what my sexuality is boldly and proudly and that is because I am closeted and will remain so, thats my decision and you can't dictate that. Other times I remain vague about my sexuality and orientation. But this will be one of the few moment where I can say that I am a lesbian. I like girls. For people outside, this is normal. Sexuality is normal. And homophobia will never ever be wanted and welcomed here in my blog. But, I can't say the same about the majority of people in my country and that includes the people who is governing my country right now. My country is a secular in the book but we are so so so far from it. Homophobia and racism is so rampant despite how multi-cultural we are. Simply put, queer kids and lgbtqia+ folks are not having fun here at all. Being gay is a crime and you can be jailed for sodomy, concensual or not. Being trans is also a crime and you will be send to jail and thrown into rehab to detrans yourself. It is not fun to be queer here.

So why am I saying this right now? The thing that M*tt does during the concert was nothing but performative white savior. He is well aware of how conservative this country is and he didn't care. He is doing this purely for quick clout on the internet. He is not affected by the homophobia here, we are. His action has outrage the conservatives here and now they will enforce stricter rules on us. They will enforce stricter rules for other artists who wants to perform. The conservatives parties will take this story and bend the narratives to villify lgbt+ even more. There will be no progress, hell, there is no progress on if the public consensus will ever accept us here.

Whatever message he says on stage will be fallen on deaf ears and will be used against us lgbtqia+ people. He has been banned and he did not care, I'm sure he is happy with his little white activism but you know who will suffer? Queer people in my country. He is putting a target on everyone's back but he didn't care, all he care is that people on the internet from the western world are happy that he gets his message out while jeopardizing the people he pretends to care about in the country that he is performing.

I feel nothing but pure disappointment whenever I see people are supporting this vile vile man.

[layaart]

hey Laya, sorry to bother you, I know we're kinda new mutuals, but I love all of your book art and had a quick logistics question if you have a minute. I've been looking at selling prints of my book art, but I've heard mixed info on the etiquette/ legality of selling art inspired by books. Can I ask what your system is? Do you usually get permission from the author? thanks for your time either way! stay excellent out there 💛

Hi! yeah no worries! I'll put this under a cut since I have a few random thoughts haha

All fanart has the kind of grey area of technically not being legal to sell but also it's extremely normalised (esp at conventions), and unless you're selling something from a big property that's making significant profit, the most you're going to get is a request to take it down. I've never had that other than like old korrasami art removed from redbubble by the system haha. Most creative professionals (authors in this case) understand that, I think.

For indie/selfpub authors - I probably wouldn't do so without permission, for obvious reasons, though I think many would be happy to let you.

For traditionally published authors - you can ask but won't necessarily get a reply, or it might be something like this (they're not allowed to officially give permission but they love it). Most of the books I'm selling multiple things of I've got permission from the author (or I did one thing, and they shared it + share other people's merch so I assume that's fine). I know some authors do have rules against selling it (Holly Black has a merch store & licensing system for artists or something), but even then I'm pretty sure you can find people selling stuff on etsy for their books.

There's some things I haven't got explicit permission to sell, but like - tbqh most things I'm selling at very low quantities. When I stock prints of a new thing for the first time I usually get 5. (I realise you might be looking at print-on-demand where you don't have to worry about that - but still, assume you won't be selling hundreds for most things haha.)

I have a vague personal rule of if I'm making something specifically to sell as merch to profit off of (sticker designs, bookmarks) It's usually only books by white authors (as I am white), whereas I do art of books by authors of colour purely to promote and show how much I love it, and decide to sell prints after the fact if there's demand - I also donate a bit of my earnings to Black or Indigenous or trans (etc) charities when I sell a bunch from an author with that identity, sort of thing.

The thing is, every now and then I get a glimpse into the other side of the internet where people have entire bookish businesses selling copious amounts of merch of sjm books or whichever extremely popular vaguely problematic book is popular without guilt and I'm like.... if that's the only bookish art and merch around........I think it's good to even out what's available yknow. I mean I do make more art of more popular things to lure people in to my more niche interests haha, but still.

tldr: in my experience most people are cool with it, you're probably fine, just use common sense and you can always adjust as time goes on if you want!

[quarkscooljacket]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Tagged by @softest-punk

1) The Last book I read:

Foster by Claire Keegan, which is what the movie An Cailín Ciúin was based on. It's only 70 pages (though I listened to the audio, which has a stunning narration) and I think I am in love with Claire Keegan maybe.

The last australian book I read was Witchy (vol 1+2) by Ariel Ries. Really fun comic about young witch Nyneve who is conscripted into the Witch Guards, runs away, and has to figure out her place in the world. Beautiful art!!

2) A book I recommend:

This year I finally read A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett, which is a collection of short stories about trans women living in Canada/the US. Every story felt so lived in and alive. It is mostly real-life stuff but there is one story where a woman can speak with her cat and it's done so well. Semi-related stories in that some of the characters know each other/mention each other. A trans classic!!!

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. Set in Aotearoa, centred around these two young women who run a guerilla gardening collective. one of them meets a billionaire who wants to give them a bunch of money. Now see the blurb told me it was an eco thriller but the thriller part is very slow burn until ur like JAYSUS SLOW DOWN.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

I re-read the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority & Acceptance) by Jeff VanderMeer at the end of last yr because he accounced the fourth book. I just love them. The kind of spec fic I would love to write tbh.

5) A book on my TBR:

Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. I bought it because I knew i was quitting my job and I wanted the staff discount and I thought I'd read it in my unemployment phase. Turns out quitting your job because you're horribly treated means that u enter a big extra-depressed phase so I did not have the brain space to read more than the first 25 pages. But i loved those, they just required more energy than I had. I'm gonna paste the blurb here actually because it just sounds fucken rad:

Praiseworthy is an epic set in the north of Australia, told with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Alexis Wright has become renowned. In a small town dominated by a haze cloud, which heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of the ancestors, a crazed visionary seeks out donkeys as the solution to the global climate crisis and the economic dependency of the Aboriginal people. His wife seeks solace from his madness in following the dance of butterflies and scouring the internet to find out how she can seek repatriation for her Aboriginal/Chinese family to China. One of their sons, called Aboriginal Sovereignty, is determined to commit suicide. The other, Tommyhawk, wishes his brother dead so that he can pursue his dream of becoming white and powerful. This is a novel which pushes allegory and language to its limits, a cry of outrage against oppression and disadvantage, and a fable for the end of days.

6) A book I’ve put down:

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. I just simply do not care about rich English people. I had about an hour left of the audiobook, I rly tried to push thru but I just couldn't care enough.

7) A book on my wish list:

I would like to get a physical Irish-English dictionary!

8) A favorite book from childhood:

I did love Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series which look I'm sure u can tell about me if you know me. And look I still do but my god. The amount of parents and parents buying these for their children at the shop for the love of god get them at the op shop PLEASE.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Vague ............ well it would be something aus.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

The last one I bought was Non-Essential Work by Omar Sakr. I think Omar is one of the best writers working today in this godforsaken colony. HIs work is just exquisite and so precise.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

The last one I bought was Orientalism by Edward Said which made me realise how if you don't read anything academic in ten+ years it's very hard to get back into reading (or again, perhaps it is the horrible mental illnesses attacking my brain which mean I find it extremely hard to concentrate on anything!!! wahoo!!!!) so I am taking that one slow.

12) What are you currently reading:

Ghost Cities by Siang Lu which comes out in May. It's very funny and absurd and written just the way I like. It's about a dude who lives in Sydney and works as a Chinese translator, but he actually speaks no Chinese and uses google translate to do his job. He's fired via elaborate prank and then somehow gets the attention of a famous movie director, and is currently being whisked away to one of the ghost city apartment complexes in China to make a movie with him. There's a parallel story about an ancient emperor and I just finished the 30-page poem that his newly-imprisoned eunichs composed. It's exciting!!

13) What are you planning on reading next?

The Orphancorp trilogy (dystopian aus YA) by Marlee Jane Ward, which I have already read and simply adore. Three novellas that imo have perfect pacing and are about "what if capitalism was extra bad". They are deeply queer and anti-capitalist.

Tagging: @tideoftrash @drbuttox @briarrolfe @so-boop-tac-u-lar @hamthezombie @frankenfossil @dragnew @tekaihau @rows-study @nessie-nosebleed @tenderfacemeat @athousandhungrythorns @gamling

[amethystblack]

Why is there an ever increasing amount of people on internet demanding people refer to them by weird ass pronouns (like bun/bunself or wtv)? or children supposedly needing novel hormones and their perfectly fine genitalia chopped off or else they'll kill themselves? This has never been documented in history... am i the only 1 seeing this nonsense is clearly astroturfed? asking in good faith

oh boy there is so much to unpack here.... you say you're asking in good faith, so i'm going to choose to believe you, but let's come back to that.

i have a number of issues with the way you've phrased this, but i think what you're trying to ask, to put it another way is-- "Why is this happening now? Why are there more and more people with non-cis and divergent gender identities now, and, rather than being a genuine human problem, is it not being artificially pushed as an agenda?"

You're right in your implication that the answer to 'why now' is the internet, but not because of astroturfing or any kind of disingenuous plot. I believe the internet, and the distance, anonymity, and resources it provides, has finally given a large number of people the privacy, confidence and understanding they need to express who they are in ways that most rigid local societies simply would not have permitted before. In addition to that, there have been many in-person LGBT circles over the pre-internet decades and centuries, but the internet has also made all of those communities more visible than they were in the past.

Contrariwise to communication in the present giving people the space to be open to other possibilities, and making it more visible, there is already documented history of divergent gender identities having been actively excluded from history even when they are known to have existed for hundreds of years. History is written by the winners, and for years, the winners have been old christian white men who do not abide homosexuality, let alone practices outside the gender binary. Why would they write into history books for children to learn about?

Your recourse, as I take from the astroturfing comments, is to doubt the sources of those accounts as I doubt the intentions of your history book writers. There are plenty of articles about it all across the internet though-- could they all be lies? Neither of us can actually prove the accuracy of history, so I believe it is best to not waste our efforts with it. Let's focus on the present, and I will give you my personal experience.

I assume you've asked this question to me in particular because you already know I'm trans (which to be fair, is perhaps a mark in the 'good faith' column for you). When I was growing up, I met exactly one other trans person. As a twelve year old, I vaguely felt like, wow that's cool, i wish i could just be a girl too (lol), and to my memory we never talked about it in depth. I also recall, around the same age, having a chat with two other teenage friends who also knew her, where we all agreed in confidence, yeah, being born a girl would've been preferable. To my knowledge, both of them still identify as male today and are happily married to women. A few years later I would ask my first boyfriend to call me his girlfriend, but I had completely forgotten about everything related to being trans-- I just thought, if I were in a gay relationship anyway, that would feel better. Later I had difficulty with a girl I dated because I told her, again having forgotten trans people existed, that I wished to be a girl. My discomfort with my own body and my resulting disinterest in intimacy ultimately led to us breaking up. Three years after that something online finally reminded me that trans people exist, and I finally realized, wait, maybe I am trans??? And began looking into the matter seriously.

The point of me saying all this, is that nothing pushed transness on me in those seven years. I had fully forgotten that it existed even when I technically knew it was a thing, and I felt the way I did independently of it. When I started exploring transitioning, it was because I sought it out. I had those feelings, I wanted a solution, and turned out a solution existed. The increasing prevalence of non-cis gender identities in all directions is because these feelings are, to varying personal degrees, normal, and the means to act on them finally exists. And as society as a whole becomes more accepting, it is safer to make the leap too. Had I been born in a more transphobic time, I might not have decided to transition, opting instead to swallow the dysphoria and self-hatred and live miserably. Or not live at all. In this epoch, I had permission to transition, but I did not get an invitation, let alone have anyone pushing it on me. Hell, I would've liked an invitation.

So this is all to say, though it may not be your experience, dissatisfaction with one's gender and body are not new in the human condition; we can just finally act on them. Thanks to advances in medicine and culture, it is safer than ever, and sure, there are more trans people, but that also means that people have more agency, and are less miserable.

...Now let's talk about all the problems I have with your ask. Let's start with the questions themselves.

Why is there an ever increasing amount of people on internet demanding people refer to them by weird ass pronouns (like bun/bunself or wtv)?

So I read this as two separate questions -- why weird ass pronouns? -- why are they demanding it?

Okay, so neopronouns aren't everyone's cup of tea. I see their increased usage as a matter of-- 'as long as we on the internet here are exploring new ways to respect people and use language, why not have some fun with it?' It's not hurting anyone, so why not? Unfortunately, it gets strawmanned as a way to take trans and especially non-binary people less seriously, so that just sucks for everyone, but I really don't think it's that serious. In my experience, I've never actually met anyone who's been obtuse about them-- it's just "it would be nice" and they've always been reasonable about if people aren't up for that or don't remember it. There is a basic level of flexibility and understanding to assume from normal social conversation, and I assume that most people who use neopronouns aren't about to insist on them right off the street.

...But, shitty people exist in all demographics. And I'm sure there are some who use neopronouns and are very obnoxious about it out there. I really consider that to be a problem with the specific people rather than the concept of neopronouns... but for how often it gets brought up in these arguments vs my personal experience, it really seems blown out of proportion for the sake of delegitimizing trans people. Let me ask you anon, have you ever met someone like that, who asks for that and is combative when it isn't followed to the letter, or is that just a story you've heard secondhand?

or children supposedly needing novel hormones and their perfectly fine genitalia chopped off or else they'll kill themselves?

I think I've answered the why of this already, so I'm going to skip that and just talk about the phrasing-- the hormones are not novel. they are just the normal hormones that exist in people already, and they have the normal effects, but for the opposite gender. it's also pretty rare for children to go out and request that. teenagers, maybe. i would have loved to get on some blockers as a teenager though. as it is, i don't feel like i had much of a teenage life, and that's exactly because i was already so uncomfortable.

'perfectly fine genitilia' is also such a gross phrase. it might be 'perfectly fine' in your view, but it is not your body to make the call on, and you are not the soul living with the discomfort from it. that also is definitely not a thing that happens as much with children, and the reductionistic point of view where [this thing that some trans people choose to do] is now applied to children as a growing social problem sounds to me like some well-workshopped rhetoric. moreover, why are we making an argument over other people's genitals??? to whoever is spreading that one, gross, mind your business.

i imagine the last few paragraphs inspire some amount of defensiveness because i'm just ripping into your phrasing. and that's fine, but set that defensiveness aside and come back to the table with me. i said at the start that i am choosing to believe you're in good faith here, but for reasons apparent in the prior two paragraphs espeically, you really do not sound like you're in good faith here. like, just saying that does not make it so. i am hoping there are real intentions behind those words you've typed.

and if that is the case-- if you really mean that, then respect to you firstly, but i want you to know that, rather than you being in bad faith, wherever you're getting these talking points from, about 'novel hormones', 'bun/bunself', etc, they are not in good faith. you are concerned about disningenuous information in the internet environment, but the arguments you're representing in this ask are coming from people who are themselves disingenuous, taking only the most extreme parts of gender divergence, and needlessly applying them to children as a moralistic charge. i implore you to prioritize your own, personal, actual experiences with real trans people in the world when making judgments about them-- not just the talking points of others about them.

[americascomic]

My first year of transition, I really refused to engage in any trans literature, whatever theory, non-fiction or fiction. The exception is I read Andrea Long Chu's essay "On Liking Women" within days of coming out and I think I was still so close to just that raw rush of realizing that I am trans that it earnestly hurt to read and I had not nearly enough distance to really look at with a healthy perspective.

The trans community I first landed into at the time was this very urbane, overly white sorta vague Bushwick transbians types who engaged with trans authors as this sorta fixation on trans media - it felt very competitive and made me feel insecure and I couldn't keep up. Detransition, Baby was big at the time and everyone read it, everyone had a hot take on it and I was just getting footing with my queerness. I think this was sorta emboldened by a lotta of the girls around me "always knew they were trans" and were studying up on the issues beforehand it made me feel like I was coming into school mid-semester.

I think it was actually very much high school, and a lot of the girls (we kinda found ourselves and started transitioning at the same time, and at the same age - in our mid-to-late 30s) were insecure and I think wanted to look more confident going into this scary new world then they wanted to let on.

The books were really scary for me. Especially Whipping Girl and Detransition, Baby. I was terrified of my lived experience being talked over and feeling flattened and isolated and alientated.

Additionally, I experienced a lot of transmisogny in my first year of transition from other non-femme queer people and I sorta created this reflex for myself to be ashamed of self-advoacy and maybe even shame for my trans-femminity. And I retreated in something that I think is understandable, which is to focus on the racial aspect of queer liberation and read books on anti-racism and Black history. (I should say I'm white here)

Then, about a year and a half into transition I had family members do something incredibly painful to me. Like, it was such a shock from people that I thought I could trust and I would describe the experience as psychedelic in just how much it opened my eyes. Seeing that level of cruelty was just sobering and it made me come to terms with a lot of stuff in my transition that I was in denial about. It made me (somehow) admit to myself I was a lesbian. And it made me finally wake up and realize that I experience transmisogny, and that there is bigotry that is directed squarely at me and that I'm not somehow this proxy war for other intersecting battles, or that I need to give defrence to those who suffer more than me as some sort of token in order to speak on my own discomfort.

I told a non-binary friend about this, about how I basically "you know, I'm starting to think transmisogny is a thing I experience" and they put their hand on my hand and was basically like "this is why you should be doing the homework."

I don't know if Whipping Girl was right to have read right when I came out. Those self-protection measures were in part there in the reason. And I despise - especially as a trans woman - playing in games of woulda couldas. I just am happy that I am finally doing the homework and the book is opening me up to further revelations. Like taking ownership that i'm femme for femme. And that I'm a high femme and I should be proud of that, and take ownership that I am a high femme for it's own good and not as some consesion to a larger society.

I still have some contempt and nervousness over "trans homework assignments" but I read so much, and books ultimately are about letting another voice in your head and I deserve to have a trans woman in my head.

[rookie-critic]

Con Air (1997, dir. Simon West) - review by Rookie-Critic

What an absolutely wild time the late '90s must have been that this was a big blockbuster production. 1997 alone was absolutely wild, with this, Event Horizon, Contact, Face/Off, and so many others dropping all within the same cycle around the sun. Studios were really just throwing absolutely anything at the wall to see what stuck, and sometimes it really paid off (Strarship Troopers), and other times it didn't (Speed 2: Cruise Control), and sometimes I think it landed right in the middle, somewhere between good and awful, where it's really riding that line, but is just self-aware enough to be incredibly entertaining, and that's where Con Air lives. You have Nic Cage there to bring the zaniness, to give us brilliant moments like the classic "put the bunny back in the box" scene, and the absolutely asinine premise completely backs him up and gives him as much room to play around in this bananas space as he wants. There are some side characters that also help the zaniness move itself right along (I'm lookin' at you, Danny Trejo and Dave Chappelle). The one-liners range from eye-roll inducing to exceedingly clever, and the action set pieces are big and bombastic and generally just a crazy, explosive good time. All of this is fun. It doesn't hold together in the slightest, but it is fun. However, you then have Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and John Malkovich delivering absolutely great performances that aren't Cage's brand of "good by humorous proxy," they're actually just really good. I found myself slack-jawed from the whiplash between bonkers scenes of Cage using the body of a dead con to send a message to ground level (something that I really don't think would have actually worked, which is indicative of a lot of the stuff in this film), and these amazing scenes where Malkovich or Buscemi just get to interact with their environment or even just give a line read that is way above and beyond the quality of the line itself. I know that Malkovich, at this point in his career, has almost become a bit of a meme (possibly in part due to the general goofiness of his name, probably in part due to the 1999 cult classic film Being John Malkovich, which I don't think he ever really was able to reclaim himself from fully), but damn, he's just an amazing actor, and this is someone saying this in reference to his performance in Con Air, of all things!

I don't want to just rant my bias for goofy self-aware action films on this one, though. For one, I already did that recently with Plane (which Con Air is vastly more ridiculous than), and two, there are quite a few problematic things in this film [TW AHEAD: mentions of rape]. I think firstly is Danny Trejo's character in general, who is a con doing time for raping 23 women, possibly more. His entire arc as a character is that there is one female guard that is a hostage onboard the plane, and Trejo wants nothing more than to... well, you get the idea. Granted, everyone else in the film, even the other criminally insane convicts, try to prevent him from accomplishing this, and the film is not so depraved as to ever actually let him get away with it, but it was something that was massively uncomfortable anytime it was given attention, and something that was, at the time, probably seen as "edgy" or "envelope pushing," but really was just incredibly problematic. The film is also just kind of vaguely racist any time a white character is referring to a nonwhite character, especially at the beginning. There's also a character, referred to in the end credits of the film as "Sally-Can't-Dance," (I have looked it up and the character's name is actually Ramon Martinez, which I think they're maybe only referred to as once in passing) that is a... problematic(?) portrayal of a character that is trans (again, while watching the film I wasn't entirely sure they were being presented as trans, but every article and piece of writing I've looked at refers to them as trans, so I'm going with that). I put a question mark next to problematic in the last sentence because, while Ramon never does or says anything that is inherently problematic or questionable, the way that everything surrounding them presents is like the butt of a joke, like we as the audience are meant to be laughing at "how ridiculous this character is." Maybe that's an incorrect read, but regardless it didn't sit right with me. It also has that classic, cheesy as all get out opening and closing with an incredibly sappy song that has no business being in a movie that is even remotely like Con Air. In this case, the song is the Dianne Warren-penned, Trisha Yearwood-performed "How Do I Live," which I had no idea was actually written for the film and was even nominated for an Oscar at that years' Academy Awards, where Con Air was also nominated for Best Sound. Granted, those are two fitting categories I guess, but the fact that this film was nominated for not one, but two Oscars is absolutely baffling. Getting back on track, it follows in the steps of songs like Top Gun's "Take My Breath Away" and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" as songs that clash in every possible way with the films they were written for, and it's an aspect of action films from that era that I am so, so happy has not carried over to the present. Despite all of these many faults, I can't lie and say that I didn't have a lot of fun with Con Air. I'm not sure I can recommend it in good faith, but if you're a fan of dumb, bananas action movies like I am, then Con Air basically fits the bill.

Score: 6/10

Currently unavailable to stream unless you have the Live TV add-on on Hulu. It is available to rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on Blu-ray & DVD through Disney/Buena Vista.

[kartoshinki]

writing my intro after two beers is a fantastic idea, there is absolutely zero possibility of me just falling into emotional, polemic rants about anti-scientific reactionaries and other transphobes being dickheads AND stupid

[liptonrm]

I posted 2,822 times in 2021

28 posts created (1%)

2794 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 99.8 posts.

I added 1,104 tags in 2021

#pride - 171 posts

#halloween - 167 posts

#cats - 130 posts

#star trek - 127 posts

#sam 'n bucky power hour - 117 posts

#middle earth - 107 posts

#wheel of time - 105 posts

#wot show spoilers - 67 posts

#dogs - 60 posts

#autumn - 53 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#the books are just so much and to adapt them you really have to glean them down to the bones and work out what's really important to tell

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

In an effort to provide some more enrichment in my enclosure, I've started making my way, recipe by recipe, through a crockpot cookbook and a casserole cookbook. Because why not, a girl's gotta eat after all.

Today's recipe came from the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. I picked it up on a whim years ago and had never cracked it open.

The recipe is for Herbed Barley and Buttermilk Soup. And you know what? It was just as disgusting as it sounds! I mean, look at that curdled white color and weird gloopy consistency!

For most of the cook time it mostly smelled like onion and vaguely reminded me of waking up on Thanksgiving morning to the scent of my dad making stuffing for the turkey. Which was okay but not the most mouthwatering.

It mostly cooked without the buttermilk, so this morning I stirred in the two cups (TWO CUPS!) the recipe called for, and let it cook a little longer. And, well, you can see the result.

Sometimes things that look bad can taste good. But, friends, when I went in to taste for seasoning, I nearly spit it out. It tasted like onions amd buttermilk and felt like slime in my mouth. I don't think any added herbs are going to save this experience.

-100/10. Do not recommend. Save yourself and don't even test it out.

Next up: Burrito Lasagna from the Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker & Soups Cookbook.

6 notes • Posted 2021-04-21 14:28:23 GMT

#4

Happy pride to all of my fellow aces who don't get special days. To the aces who aren't mothers or fathers, who don't have anniversaries for weddings they've never had. I see you. I love you. I am you.

Happy Pride!

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-20 14:06:24 GMT

#3

All right, time for a little WoT spec, based on IMDb casting spoilers and book spoilers. So, lots of spoilers under the cut. You are warned.

This is concerning episode 1x7, The Dark Along the Ways. I did look at the cast for this week’s episode, 1x6, The Flame of Tar Valon, and I think some really interesting things are going to happen that I can’t wait to see.

Spoilers Redacted

17 notes • Posted 2021-12-07 16:11:03 GMT

#2

Thinking about how Logain heard whispers from the male and female Dragons who came before him. About how maybe the corruption can touch the power regardless of the person who wields it. Which puts the Red' Ajah's dogmatism in a new and very interesting light.

The show has opened up a whole new world of gender possibilities; cis, trans, amab, afab. Along with highlighting the immense damage caused by the White Tower's gatekeeping and deep institutional bias. They call themselves the servants of all, but who and/or what is actually being served?

They are, course. Them and their own power.

There is so much to chew over in only these four episodes. I can't wait to see more.

27 notes • Posted 2021-11-28 01:47:02 GMT

#1

I'm trying to fold laundry but SOMEbody had another idea.

548 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 14:28:23 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[nixie-deangel]

This may seem like a lot but I'm new to the Coldflash/Coldwestallen fandom and was wondering if you had any recs? (Also your aesthetics are so pretty and I love your blog theme wow)

Thank you so much! And it’s no trouble, I love gushing about my fave fics/writers. Just, uh, remember you asked for my babbling on this!

So damn, do we have some AMAZINGLY talented creators in this fandom. We are truly blessed! 

So pretty much anything written by @coldtomyflash, @crimsondomingo, @asexual-fandom-queen, @robininthelabyrinth, @katyakora, @lotusvalkyrie and @coldflashwave-baby. Some other mentions would definitely be @amuletgays, @sophiainspace, @meowitskatmofo, @sugar-haus, @stillnotginger10, @niennavalier and @pheuthe. 

I’m missing so many great creators (I know I am) but I think this is a pretty good list for a newbie for the Coldflash/Coldwestallen fandoms.

Some of them are multishippers (like myself) but Hades, all are worth checking out, even if its not Coldflash/ColdWestAllen. 

Below is a, uh, pretty good reading list to check out. 

Coldflash:

Out Cold. - Captain Cold’s plan for a bit of fun with his nemesis results in more than he bargained for when a head wound from dashing to Flash’s rescue leaves him without any memories of who he or The Flash is. As Barry nurses Len back to health, both of them quickly start to hope that he never remembers being Captain Cold as the attraction they feel for each other turns into something more without the pitfalls of being enemies to stand in their way.

AU with everything having happened up to the Season 1 finale, except Eddie shot Eobard instead of himself, killing him, and the singularity didn’t happen.

Cover Up. - Lisa drags a disapproving Len down to The Flash Tattoo Studio to watch her get a tattoo, but during her session, Len becomes drawn to the artist, tattoo artist extraordinaire Barry Allen. After seeing the amazing job he does on Lisa’s one-of-a-kind tattoo, he decides to chance asking Barry for help covering up a secret he has, one that he wears on his back, underneath his clothes, and speaks of every foul thing his father ever did to him.

(AU with some nods to canon. Mention of Lisa dating Cisco. Barry has his speed force powers…maybe. Len’s story line is pretty much the only one that stays truest to form. Just for visualization purposes, Lisa’s about 25, Barry’s about 27, and Len’s about 32.)

Tumbling Together. - When Barry and Len discover that they’ve accidentally become neighbors, they learn to navigate their new living situation amongst misunderstandings and a surprising amount of common ground.

AKA the fun-as-it-comes Neighbors!AU which turns into a Pretend Relationship!AU filled with tropes, hijinks, and some vague notion of a plot.

Would You, Could You. - A High School AU Series. 

The Flower That Blooms In Adversity (Is The Most Rare And Beautiful Of All). - When someone falls in unrequited love, flowers begin growing inside their body, gradually killing them. The flowers go away if the love becomes returned or if a surgical operation removes the flowers. However, surgery removes not only the flowers but the feeling of love itself, and Barry has never been willing to give that up.

Bad Day? - A homicide involving a trans woman puts Barry in a painful place at work, and with himself. He doesn’t expect to find comfort from Leonard Snart, of all people, no matter what feelings Barry may harbor for the other man.

There’s a Menace In My Bed; Can You See His Silhouette. - When The Flash is put under the influence of a metahuman’s heinous lust power, Captain Cold ends up caught in the crossfire.  (Heed the Tags)

The Good in You (the Bad in Me). - Before Starling and before the particle accelerator, Barry meets Lisa and Leonard Snart.

In which Barry makes some unexpected friends, inadvertently launches a promising criminal career by accidentally starting a few (literal) fires, and maybe starts to fall for a certain overdramatic thief.  (WIP)

Shovel Talk. - Barry warned him that people might try to give Len the shovel talk, now that Barry had decided to bring his and Len’s year-old relationship into the light. Len never said he was going to be nice about letting them.

Love Me. - A meta-human with Cupid-like powers whammies Barry to fall in love with the first person he sees. Just his luck it happened to be Captain Cold.

(“He hasn’t let go of me for almost an hour,” says Len, focusing his steel on Cisco, who shrinks considerably.

“’Cause I love you,” says Barry beside him, his teeth gleaming as he grins. He tries to kiss Len again—god, the seventh time?)

Realm of Darkness. - Barry was a young god craving chaos and Leonard was the deadly king of the Underworld seeking peace.

A Hades/Persephone AU with powers/Greek Mythology

Maybe Somewhat Out Of The Ordinary. - “That’s not a wolf,” Barry told Cisco, pretty convinced except for the small voice in the back of his mind that had been screaming at him for the past four months that there was a predator very close by. “That’s my dog.”

Hokey Religions and Ancient Weapons. - May the Speed Force be with you.

A Week on Rogue’s Mountain. - Leonard Snart has organized a special Christmas-time retreat for all his closest pals. Unfortunately for Barry Allen… there’s a secret Santa auction, and he’s on the block.

ColdWestAllen: 

What We Become (Depends on What Our Fathers Teach Us). - Family dinner at the West-Allen house, featuring Leonard Snart in the role of Not-A-Father.

What Brings Us Together. - After a brief encounter with a mysterious stranger while on vacation, Iris found herself with an unexpected souvenir. Luckily, she has Barry there to support her. She never expected to run into that stranger again. To be fair, Len never expected to find out he was a father while on a morning coffee run.

I’m Covered in the Colours (Pulled Apart at the Seams). - It’s a common misconception that people can only see in black and white until they meet their soulmate.

When Barry Allen is born, he’s only able to see the colour red. When he meets Iris West in Kindergarten, she gives him yellow. When he meets Leonard Snart thwarting an armoured car robbery, he gives him blue.

Should’ve Known Better. - Seven sexy roleplay ideas that Barry, Len, and Iris came up with together…that were not good ideas.

Really, their lives would be so much easier if they weren’t all such sticklers for accuracy.

I Don’t See an Easy Way to Get out of This. - Iris and Leonard go to unspeakable lengths to stay alive. Barry gets caught in the fallout, and it’s a beautiful disaster.  (Heed the tags)

Cold Truth. - Christmas may have been the first time they met, but Iris has known Leonard Snart a lot longer than she thought

All I See Are These Strange Tides. - Empathy causes more problems than you might think.

In which a struggling teenage metahuman meets her heroes and attempts to give them the best reward she can think of: happiness.

(Also, not to toot my own horn, but you can also check out my writing here.)

If you check them out, don’t forget to leave a comment, as well as some kudos!

[possibilistfanfiction]

sutton and a trans guy, please i'm begging you! my crops would flourish, my skin would clear

[henny we all need hydration & july is no time for acne so here u go]

//

kat has to cover the new wowfull selections and truly the only reason you both decide to go instead of sending one of her interns is because there are very few things jane hates more than smorgasburg.

‘no,’ she says, about forty times, before kat offers to buy her whatever she wants on scarlet’s card and finally jane relents. 

you get there together, all crammed into what is probably the world’s tiniest via, you think, with kat essentially on adena’s lap in the back and you had let jane have the front seat because she was already grumpy. it’s so hot already and you didn’t even bother wearing makeup because it’s a sunday at noon in the middle of july and kat had made you all get out of bed so she can eat waffles from the most pretentious food truck gathering ever, so it’s truly not worth it on so many levels.

the bouncer checks your IDs and kat gets you three glasses of rose before handing you both $50, which shuts jane up momentarily.

‘i’m gonna go find somewhere to sit with adena,’ she says, and you kind of envy her right now, because she has wine and the best pair of vintage denim shorts you’ve ever seen, dramatic sunglasses and beat up sneakers. also, a beautiful girlfriend who is in a skirt that flows with the breeze in lines that oliver would love, who holds kat’s hand and you see them laughing and it’s wild, you think, how easily in love they are.

you and jane both kind of watch them walk away, a little dazed, and then she turns to you.

‘i literally hate this so much but we have $100 to spend on food so, shall we?’

she offers the crook of her elbow and you grin and you end up getting poke tacos, bahn mi, japanese street ice, green chile frito pie, and a vegan burger to share before you grab another glass of wine. kat drops you a pin and you find her and adena lounging on a blanket in the shade, thank god.

kat raises her brows at all of the food you have and you shrug. ‘you gave us the money.’

she grins and proceeds to instagram the entire spread before taking a bite of everything, which even jane laughs at.

‘kat, are you gonna get anything?’ 

‘yeah,’ she says, waves a hand around vaguely. ‘adena and i had breakfast before we came though so i’m not that hungry yet.’

jane literally spits out part of her taco to frown completely and you want to laugh because you love her so much and it’s so unnecessary but you’ll let her have it.

‘so you’re saying you dragged us to this crowded, hot, bougie food truck hell and you don’t even want to eat anything?’

‘uh, no,’ kat says. ‘i gave you $100 to eat anything you wanted and eventually i have to eat the new wowfull.’

jane groans and lies down against the blanket dramatically and adena smiles into kat’s shoulder.

‘love you so much, tiny jane,’ kat says.

//

eventually kat really does have to try the wowfull, which she proceeds to say like seven times and you’ve had three glasses of wine in like 90 degree heat so you are both decently day drunk and the word keeps making you laugh harder every time. the line is insane but at this point you’re so fucking full and apparently kat is still good to go because you’re waiting patiently, not really bothered, and jane is chatting with adena about, you don’t really know?, but something to do with memoir and sexuality in iran—honestly it’s a little shitty that you’d tuned them out and kat had too because she was just staring at adena’s boobs for a hot few minutes before you’d dragged her to finally do what you set out to in the first place.

you’re talking to her and she’s turning back, to check on adena and jane, probably, and you really aren’t saying anything that interesting so when kat breaks out in a huge grin you’re a little confused until a guy two people behind you in line spots her as well and smiles, just as big.

‘jayden, oh my god,’ she says, stepping out of the line to give him a big hug.

‘kat,’ he says, clearly excited, ‘hi!’

she steps back and looks him over and wow, okay, he’s super cute, you can see that, with skin a few shades darker than kat’s, perfect arms, an incredible smile, dimples, and, listen, you’re drunk but you have good taste no matter what.

‘you look incredible,’ she says, and then tugs him up two spots to where you still are standing in line.

‘jayden,’ she says, with a shit eating grin and you know what that means, but honestly you are not going to complain today, ‘this is sutton.’

‘nice to meet you, sutton,’ he says, shakes your hand.

‘nice to meet you too.’

‘hey,’ kat says, glancing around. ‘are you here with anyone?’

he shakes his head no. ‘i was on a run and then i got hungry, figured since i was already in the park i’d stop by.’

‘ew,’ kat says. ‘running.’

he laughs and you really think that maybe kat has like a magnet for attractive people, yourself included, because. wow.

‘so,’ you say, ‘how do you two know each other?’

‘oh,’ kat says, in the way that you know she’s trying to downplay one thing or another, ‘we went to yale together.’

‘two of three black people in our communications program,’ jayden says, and they high five.

‘that’s awesome,’ you say, and kat nods but jayden shrugs. humble, a good quality. 

‘what are you doing in the city?’ kat asks, completely ignoring the menu even though you’re like three people away from ordering, but whatever, you can wing it. 

‘i just moved to park slope,’ he says. ‘i’m doing PR for an lgbtq youth outreach program for the center.’

okay, so, he’s a good person. kat looks at you like she knows you literally thought just that, puts her arm around his shoulders. ‘always the better of the two of us.’

‘no way,’ he says, and you love seeing your friend like this, honestly. you also love seeing her friend just exist so you’re so content. ‘from what i know from your social, you are department head and you also have a very, very pretty girlfriend.’

kat nods modestly. ‘true. on both accounts.’

jayden hip checks her and kat shoves him, gently but she’s also drunk and you send an apologetic smile to the white dude behind her in a cutoff poncho and tevas, the absolute worst.

‘so,’ jayden says, drifting closer to you, ‘how do you know the illustrious katherine edison?’

you smile because kat hates her full name and she turns away with a huff to finally look at the menu, which is probably good because she actually has to order in like, four seconds. ‘we met as interns at scarlet four years ago.’

‘sutton,’ kat says over her shoulder, ‘is in the fashion department. fucking killer.’

jayden smiles when kat sighs and orders all six wowfulls on the menu because she can’t remember what she was actually supposed to review, and she waves him off when he tries to order too.

‘i just paid for, like, ten thousand calories. at least you can help us eat a few.’

jayden shrugs and you both ignore kat for a few moments while she tries to figure out how to carry all six wowfulls back to your blanket without spilling all of them and finally you both take pity on her and grab two each. she rolls her eyes and strides off in front of you and you both laugh.

jayden is cute as shit and jane has apparently seen this development and offers the two of you more wine, which she’d picked up while you were in line. 

‘thanks,’ jayden says, sitting down between you and kat. he introduces himself politely, shakes jane’s hand, and then laughs at kat’s blush when she introduces adena.

adena is thrilled to hear a few stories about kat in undergrad, how she threw up in a freshman sociology class because she and jayden had been to a party the night before and kat had never had vodka before; the time they went to harvard and tried to join a secret society to find out more about them; her apparently very intense and strict nap schedule her senior year.

kat rolls her eyes and tries to argue but you know it’s mostly for show, because she’s happy and taking pictures of all of you eating these insanely decadent desserts and adena feeds her a spoonful of ice cream and you and jane share an eye roll before you notice jayden doing the same and honestly, he’s in at that point. he’s really in when he gets kat and adena to agree to speak at an upcoming event for his youth center, something to do with intersectionality and creativity in the workplace, which like they really are both perfect for. 

kat is a very professional person, really, and lowkey a workaholic, and you know this, but sometimes—'i need to go for a walk,’ she groans, lying back on the blanket dramatically. ‘i’m. so full.’

‘fair,’ jane says, gets up and you help her throw away all of your collective trash. it’s hot as hell but the park is pretty shady at this point, but once you get out of the designated food truck area kat smirks at adena and then takes off her shirt.

apparently today was a day for kat to not wear a bra and you have literally seen her boobs more times than you can count, as has jane, and definitely adena, but her girlfriend still blushes and you roll your eyes again.

you pause because kat now wants adena to put sunscreen on her back, apparently, and when adena kisses behind kat’s ear jane says, ‘this isn’t a porn film,’ and kat laughs, loud and full and you love both of them for those exact reasons.

‘fine, fine,’ she says, accepts it and puts the sunscreen away, links her fingers with adena again.

you’re too busy being a little jealous of them to notice that jayden has taken his shirt off too but when you look over at him, to ask him something about his work or his apartment or his neighborhood, you have to swallow because, okay, abs. jane squeezes your hand and you have to fight a strangled laugh and kat and adena are off in their own fucking world a few feet ahead of you.

you don’t even notice the scars on jayden’s chest until you do, and, okay, you can do this. you know lots of trans people, you fitted a bunch of trans men for a fashion spread just last month, so everything clicks into place pretty quickly but you’re still staring and you don’t really know what to do because you’re kind of drunk and the last thing you want to do is be shitty to this dude that you think is honestly super banging—but then jane, perfect tiny jane, says, ‘wow, your abs are just. wow.’

he laughs and you laugh and you maybe have never loved another person more in the world than you love her right now. kat turns around momentarily and grins at jayden, genuinely delighted, and then winks at you.

i hate you, you mouth, and she only smiles bigger and turns forward, kisses her girlfriend’s cheek.

//

you all end up sitting near a fountain and kat falls asleep while adena plays with her hair, so then adena starts photographing her, and everything around you.

jayden is smart and funny and really, incredibly caring, and jane makes an excuse to go find the bathroom but you know she went after your second glass of wine so she doesn’t really have to go.

‘i’m glad i ran into kat,’ jayden says, and it’s sincere, for sure.

‘me too.’

he smiles, hands you his phone. ‘she’s great, but i also am very glad i got to meet you.’

and, like, you’re going to have to navigate some things, sure, but he’s fucking hot and also very kind and kat seems to love him and he’s already commiserated with jane on like eight complaints so.

you’re sutton brady, and no one is better with people than you.

‘i’m very glad i got to meet you too,’ you say, finishing your contact information. you call yourself from his phone and he smiles and you save his number.

kat wakes up because adena legitimately has to pee and jane comes back with waters for everyone—an actual angel—and you spend another hour sweating it out with your friends, and a boy you like, and you’re day drunk and exhausted by the end of it, very happy.

kat gives jayden a big hug before she and adena get into a via to head back to soho, and jane tries to shake his hand but he laughs and gives her a hug instead.

you stand on your tip toes and kiss his cheek and he glances down, a little shy, but with a smile when he looks back up at you.

‘i’ll text you,’ you say.

‘i look forward to it.’

he jogs away with a wave and jane’s face is a human version of the smirk emoji and you let out a deep breath.

‘yeah,’ she says.

‘fuck yah,’ you say.

//

the next evening you lie down next to jane in bed; you and jayden had been texting all day and you really, really like him and really, really do not want to mess this up.

‘hey babe,’ jane says, pausing whatever intense and probably boring documentary she’s watching and setting aside her computer. ‘what’s up?’

‘can you direct me,’ you say, because jane is the best and has probably researched literally everything, ‘to resources on how to not be a shitty cis partner to a trans person?’

jane grins, opens her computer to an actual, honest to god google doc, and scrolls through it.

‘i started compiling it this morning,’ she says. 

‘oh my god.’

she shares it with your email with a triumphant click. ‘i thought you’d never ask.’

you gesture to the computer. ‘you definitely thought i’d ask.’

she nods. ‘that’s true, because you’re an amazing person.’

‘i don’t think this is amazing, just, like, decent?’

‘you’re right.’ she shrugs. ‘you are amazing, though. just, you know, read and listen to some of this stuff, it’s a good baseline, and then ask him if you’re unsure about anything.’

‘yeah,’ you say. you’re both quiet for a minute and then you smile.

‘he’s so fucking cute.’

‘oh my god,’ jane says. ‘where do i even start?’

//

you’re resting your head on his chest in bed and he kisses the top of your head and then says, ‘you know kat will literally brag about this every single moment, the fact that two of her friends are together and she set us up.’

‘oh,’ you say, looking up so you can see his eyes, ‘so we’re together?’

he looks legitimately nervous and it’s endearing. ‘i—thought so?’

you roll your eyes and kiss him. ‘you’ve been my boyfriend for a hot minute already, don’t worry.’

he tilts his head back. ‘you’re an ass sometimes, you know that?’

‘i’ve been best friends with kat for five years. i have to be.’

jayden laughs and agrees and you prop yourself up on your elbows and kiss him, because kat and adena are always late for brunch, so you definitely have time.

[harryisntstraight]

Harry's support is amazing, yet I don't think we should give Harry so much credit, because it lessens the impact of actual queer people? I'm sorry, I'm trans and maybe this will sound way too radical but I don't consider this label thing as coming out and waving pride flags won't negate the fact Harry is dating publicly only white blonde models? It's just... his support so vague and basic. he embraces feminity yet never supported trans and nb fans. I don't know if you get what I mean.

listen i know what you mean and i get where youre coming from and obviously theres more to lgbt rights and politics and discussions than just waving around a pride flag but i think its really easy to forget that underneath the whole Famous Popstar(tm) thing harry is just a normal 23 year old guy who could well be still trying to figure himself and his place in the lgbt community out. i think its really easy to say ‘his support is just basic and vague’ when you dont take the human side of it into consideration. as far as i’m concerned harrys done more than enough to let us know that he doesnt consider himself straight and he should never be made to feel like he owes us anything more than that because he doesn’t. would you say to a regular person who’s told you they dont label their sexuality and has shown time after time their support for the lgbt community in a variety of ways since they were 16 that they werent being ‘radical’ enough and need to do better for their sexuality and support to be valid? i dont think its fair to do that to harry. not being straight is terrifying, putting that out there for anyone to see and consume is terrifying. like you dont know harry, you dont know what he’s comfortable with and what he isnt and perhaps to him just being able to hold a rainbow flag up on stage and tie it to his mic stand is a something that took a lot of courage. like it just isnt so black and white that u can say ‘he doesnt deserve the credit’ because maybe to you it seems small but maybe to harry and a load of other fans it feels like the biggest thing in the world. also, no offence, but using the people harry publicly dates as a way to undermine his support is unfair, he isn’t ‘less queer’ for dating women. he could only date women for the rest of his life but that doesnt mean he hasnt ever or doesnt ever experience male attraction or belong in the lgbt community. thats like literally the same kind of rhetoric people use to criticise bisexuality, like saying a man cant be lgbt because he dates women literally just erases every other sexuality apart from gay or straight. and again. he does not owe us that part of his life. he’s incredibly private as it is and if he ever chooses to date men or ever has dated men in the past he literally does not owe us that information or an explanation. it would be amazing for harry to speak more openly and in depth about lgbt rights and issues including trans rights and issues, of course it would and maybe some day he will feel comfortable about doing that. but for right now, all harry singed up for was to get on stage and sing. for all we know he’s still figuring himself and his place out and i think he deserves time and space to do that without people trying to say that he's not worthy of the credit he gets

[sapphirescales]

hey! i was wondering if you had any advice for anyone who has just joined the community? how to get interactions and stuff like that? i've just joined and i'm not really sure what to do or how to set myself up

hey there! i’m working off the assumption that you know some basics. i’ve been in the rp for years now so a lot of this is borne from my own experience roleplaying here and what i wish people told me way back. it’s a lil harsh but i hope you’ll find this helpful

anyways, here’s a crash course:

ic =/= ooc: what this means is that, before you start roleplaying, remember that things that happen in-character are not supposed to be a reflection of out of character feelings. so, for example, if someone’s muse absolutely hates your muse, that doesn’t mean that the writer hates you. just because you, personally, hate a muse doesn’t mean that your muse should either. your personal assumptions about another character are unrelated and shouldn’t be reflected in what your muse assumes about another character. for example, you might personally think that iro.nman is overrated but your character might idolise him or aspire to be like him or be completely neutral; it’s not the same thing.

standard roleplay etiquette: read through all of someone’s available pages before you follow them; if someone’s taken the time to write up all those pages, take the time to read them. even if you think you’re a Veteran Roleplayer, who has seen every variation that you can about someone’s pages, read them. don’t reblog their out of character posts / headcanons / graphics unless it’s marked as okay to reblog. during interactions try not to godmod or metagame your partners ( if you don’t know what that is, a quick google search will help you out ). sometimes, certain blogs might cool with you following them but aren’t open to interacting with your character for various reasons ( for e.g. if your muse is someone who is dead in their canon and they want to keep that a fixed point, they might not be open to interacting with your character, especially if they have set headcanons already ) or they might not be okay with you following them at all – that’s okay, there’s plenty of other fish in the sea. people come and go in the rp community fairly often. keep your head up.

writing samples: if you’re really new to the rpc, and you’ve never written with anyone before, people might not write with you simply because they have no idea how you write. it’s nerve-wracking but start with some posts that show off your understanding and insight for your character; write some drabbles, do some character-development related things. that will help you for when you actually do start writing as well, because you’ll have developed your muse a little bit more!

get some pages set up: your navigation page isn’t all that important. if you’re playing a canon muse, neither is your bio page necessarily. what is important, and what will tell people the things they need to know about your blog and characterisation, is a rules page and also a verses page. even if your verses page is very basic, and isn’t very detailed or super pretty, that’s okay! get the information out there about what you’re willing & open to write, establish your boundaries and show people you’ve put some thought into your character.

work hard on your character: roleplay is a hobby and i’m fairly certain that this is an unpopular opinion but if your character is underdeveloped – if their personality seems to change for no discernable reason between each person you thread, and your writing style is in constant flux, it makes it really difficult to understand and for people to want to know your character. you don’t have to have someone completely fully fledged out, but work on them, on understanding and exploring them and making them have depth and people will get more interested.

try not to ask for interactions specifically based on ships: ships are wonderful and fun and really great but it can be really disheartening ( especially for female muses ) if you come to them specifically for the sake of writing to ship. it’s happened to me so many times and it’s both a sign that sb hasn’t read my rules and that they don’t really care about my muse, they just want to focus on shallow writing. not everyone is interested in writing ships, and some people might not necessarily be interested in writing ships with you. that’s okay! ships will happen naturally and hugely dependent on writing chemistry; it’ll happen in time.

don’t impose your backstory on other people: this applies to all types of characters, but the ones i see it happening with the most are original characters. if your character’s backstory assumes that somebody else’s muse has done something to / for your muse before you’ve even interacted, you’re probably better of writing fanfiction. many people – including myself – consider this a form of godmodding. 

stick to your guns: when you’re first starting out, it’s really easy to get sucked into doing threads that you personally feel like don’t go with your characterisation or isn’t headed where you want it to. feel free to drop them. stick to your character, and your interpretation. for example, when i was in the te//en wo//lf fandom, i was writing peter, and a lot of people were just looking for A Token Uncle to drag them, and not really interested in writing actual plots with me. it’s okay to want to write other threads; make your wishlist known.

roleplay is give and take: this is related to the one before but basically, don’t be selfish when you write, and don’t let others be selfish when they write with you. good threads that are enjoyable and memorable for both parties are threads where both partners ( or more, if you’re doing multi-player threads ) get to explore their characters and really build a character dynamic together. 

mix things up sometimes: it’s okay to want character consistency but try to mix things up when you’re writing threads with people; no one wants to have sixteen of the same kind of threads, especially from one person. try and mix things up and put a different spin to them! it’ll be fun for you and fun for your writing partner, too.

don’t steal things from other people: whether that means headcanons, verses or the exact way they’ve done their theme. i’ve even known people to go through duplicates’ blogs and basically reblog all their non-rp posts from the source. i’ve seen all kinds of stuff stolen and i’m here to tell you that people will notice. they always notice, whether it takes 5 mins or 50 years, people will notice. don’t do it.

focus less on your follow count: some ppl will have thousands of followers and only write with two people; others will have much less and write with most of them. the number of followers you have doesn’t matter; we’re all here writing because we have a character that we love very very much, whether that character is someone we’ve created or someone already existing in media. your follow count is not reflective of the quality of your writing; the quality of your interactions reflects that. so focus on building your character and character dynamics.

ugly truth #1 – the muse you play will reflect the interactions and attention you get: i’ve been in about five to six different fandoms since 2009, and i’ve noticed one thing – if you play a canon character, you’re more likely to get followers v quickly compared to original characters, regardless of if they’re fandom or fandomless ocs. if your muse is a cis man, you’re more likely to gain followers very quickly compared to if you’re playing trans man, women, trans women or enby folks. if you play a white person, you’re more likely to gain followers compared to if you write a person of colour, especially black muses. if you play a muse that does not ship sexually with men ( e.g. a lesbian muse or an ace muse ), you’re less likely to get followers very quickly. it’s an ugly truth, but don’t be discouraged. there WILL be people who write with you, you DON’T have to change your character in any way to make them more palatable. keep loving your muse and people will love them in return, i promise.

ugly truth #2 – aesthetics matter: they’re not reflective of quality of writing but they are used, in this rpc as a whole, as a way to measure the amount of time and dedication you put into your character. you don’t have to go and code a theme from scratch or create your own psds – although some people do, and if you can / like to, good for you! – but try and set up a nice, clean theme with clear links that isn’t one of the preset themes on this website. it’ll help so, so much with getting interactions, even if your theme is really really plain. it’s unfortunate that aesthetics do matter but no community is perfect.

ugly truth #3 – the rpc isn’t pretty: there’s always really disgusting people lurking around. there’s callout posts flying back and forth to the point you don’t know who to believe. whilst one person says one thing is okay, someone else says it’s not. there’s other petty drama, vagues everywhere. it’s pretty nervewracking and hugely intimidating. it’s likely that you’ll get involved. it’s very likely that someone could call you out for something you’ve written that they find is a problem. the rpc isn’t pretty – but neither is real life, and because we’re a community of people, Real Life Issues ( like racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, islamophobia, anti-semitism, ethnocentricism, etc etc ) often get carried over to the online community. it’s not a pretty reality, but it is a reality that you’ll have to deal with, just like you would have to in real life. if someone points out that you really messed up, it doesn’t matter how long ago you did that thing, find out how to apologise sincerely for the hurt you’ve caused, and apologise properly. if you’ve overstepped your bounds, apologise properly. if someone is throwing baseless accusations, defend yourself clearly and calmly and the people who matter will know and understand. if you see something someone else has said or done or written, which is offensive, talk to them first ( and, yes, this means if you’re white and you see a mutual doing a racist thing, you should definitely go and talk to them ). the rpc isn’t pretty at all, but it’s our community – and now it’s yours, too. you have a social responsibility to make the community safe. 

the energy you put out is the energy you’ll receive: you’ve just joined the community but the community is huge and no one will necessarily go out to receive you. there’s no easy way to get interactions, but i firmly believe that the amount of time and effort you put out is what you’ll get in return. don’t just sit around waiting for other people to interact with you; make an effort. if they ask for compliments or constructive feedback, send something in. if they reblog memes and their blog is open to memes from non-mutuals, send something in. make starter calls, make open posts. ask for constructive feedback – maybe it’s something in your interpretation or the way you write that might put some people off ( and if it’s legitimate, think about it, and if it’s not or it’s something nitpicky, move on and find new people to follow ). i understand that it’s hugely nerve wracking – i’ve got anxiety as well, and i’m always nervous when following new people. in facti’m pretty guilty of this particular thing myself, even after all these years. but roleplaying isn’t like fic-writing; it’s necessary to interact with others. and, just like in real life, sometimes you just have to make the effort first and not keep track of how many times you’ve done it, and focus on the fact that you’ve got a ton of new friends and writing partners.

treat others how you want to be treated!!!