#maybe I should have put this in the post instead of tags

[quibbs126]

I really want Captain Ice to be put in Kingdom

I mean, she already has an easy option for her class, that being Bomber, considering she uses them in her skill

She seems like a summer release to me. Maybe after this update, if they choose to let off on the Super Epics/Legendaries/etc for a bit, we could have her and Pirate join. But I suppose we just have to wait and see

[knockknockitsnickels]

I think this is one of my favorite lines from the Wraith route because of (imo) how much the meaning changes depending on if you got there via Spectre or Nightmare. For Spectre, it honestly strikes me as a genuine question. Why are you doing this to her? If you're on the Spectre route, you presumably already know the Narrator can't really be trusted, since you had to reject his reward to get here. What are you hoping to gain from continuing to hurt her? For Nightmare, it honestly just makes me sad. As the Shifting Mound describes her, "She desires only companionship, but the only thing she knows is how to hurt." This line feels like a plea from someone who genuinely doesn't understand why you keep rejecting her. She wants to be with you, but she just can't understand how to do that in a way which doesn't hurt you.

[milfygerard]

but fr outside of my contracted madness i absolutely refuse to give joe alwyn gold rush like how is that song at all related to their relationship the lyrics clearly spell out a relationship that either never existed or only existed in implication and fantasies and maybe-maybe nots and its so bitter and yet desperately soft in the bridge where it almost projects a sense of envy, of wanting to be them as much as you want them. It continues an interesting oft ignored lyrical trend of taylor wanting just as much to be her lover as to have them, envying their easy charisma (you were flush with the currency of cool/i was always turning out my pockets) or quiet dignity (your integrity makes me seem small) dating back to her earliest songs (the kind of flawless i wish i could be). Theres a projected self hatred and yearning to be better that twists itself into both romantic and sexual lust for her partners thats so fascinating and speaks to how all of her songs regardless of who theyre about are also an act of self reflection on who she is and who she wishes to be.

[giantkillerjack]

Uh-oh! You are like, SOOO awkward!!

You're so awkward that it is occasionally mildly uncomfortable for people!

You're so awkward that sometimes people are confused by you and then there are awkward silences!

You're so awkward ...... that ultimately no one is harmed!!

Oh damn!!! What a vile crime you have committed! What an unforgivable thing it is to make a fellow human briefly confused!

Why, if *I* were ever briefly confused and kind of uncomfortable as a result, I'd be devastated.... by the absolute net zero change in my happiness and health! - From which I might never recover!! Yes indeed! No punishment can ever be enough for you!!

So you better absolutely hate yourself for it.

Better be SO MEAN to yourself about every single missed social cue so you don't forget your horrible crime! Meaner than you'd ever dream of being to someone else for the same thing! This is YOUR responsibility!

You need to show the world that you KNOW you are bad by punishing yourself constantly! After all, think of all the people who BENEFIT from you punishing yourself! - No, really! Think about it! Think about who benefits from your pain.

Think of alllllll the definitely-good people that your definitely-necessary self-torment definitely helps! I mean, you can't just cut off their definitely-life-sustaining supply of your suffering, right?? Sure, everyone else has a breaking point, but you're probably the only person in human history who doesn't, right? Best not to question it probably. Sure, it's a symptom that billions of people with trauma have had, but who knows? You could be a one-in-seven-billion exception. Anything's possible!

Instead, better just accept that idea that bullies carry like guns in holsters - the idea that people who have trouble with social cues deserve to suffer. Better carry on the burden they placed on you until you drop. Aid the cause of the callous by enforcing shame and suffering upon yourself extra hard; try your best to do their work for them. They're very busy.

Better not recognize that you need patience and kindness to heal from your trauma. Better not find out that it was trauma rather than personal weakness filling your head with self-hating thoughts. Better not find out it wasn't your fault.

Better not find out that awkwardness is not inherently harmful or unkind, and, in fact, the people who act like it is *are the ones enacting harm and being cruel.*

Better not get righteously angry when you realize just how much unnecessary damage this has done to you. After all, if you get mad, you might realize you deserve better. You might even feel brave enough to DEMAND better! You might build boundaries that keep you safe! You might make other people think they deserve to feel safe too! And we obviously can't be having that, so...

Better not show yourself even a little kindness a little bit at a time.

Better not make a habit out of it after all that practice.

Better not get confident.

Especially if you can't first wipe out every trace of awkward. (And you probably never will. Because people who experience absolute social certainty at all times tend to be insufferable assholes that enforce the status quo. And you just don't have the stock portfolio for that.)

Better not be confident and awkward because then you might confuse and delight people

- you might accidentally end up making other people feel less shame for their social difficulties

- you might make isolated, traumatized, and shy people feel like they deserve to be included in social situations

- you might even make them feel they can be themselves around you

- you might start loving the effect you have on a room

- you might enjoy conversations more

- you might forgive yourself and bounce back from shame more easily and frequently

- you might come to enjoy some of those moments of harmless confusion you cause because NOBODY expects the Confident Awkward, and that can genuinely be an advantage in social situations

- you might stop apologizing so much.

- you might find that socializing is like a video game: it requires practice but also a safe space for it to be fun and positive.

Or if you can't become assertive and confident, better not remain awkward and shy and quiet, and then love and forgive yourself anyway!

Why, it would be carnage!!

In either scenario, you run the risk of finding out that it's not your fault that safe spaces full of kind people can be really hard to find, create, and nurture. You could end up building a skillset that helps you do those things if you're not careful!

If you start giving yourself even the tiniest amount of grace at a time, you will find that you've accessed a gateway drug with extreme long-term side effects:

- You might realize that it was never your fault that it took so long to like yourself.

- You might realize that you were always worth talking to, even when you didn't like yourself and communication felt impossibly difficult.

- You might realize that you'll still be worth talking to even if communication becomes harder as you age and/or experience disability.

- You might come to know that you deserve to be heard even on bad days when words come slow and blurry.

You might discover that you were always deserving of kindness, first and foremost from yourself.

So. As you can see, it's FAR too much of a risk to start granting your awkward self free pardons for your many heinous and harmless crimes. Better to just leave it there.

[hirazuki]

Re: Naruto characters I dislike -- under the cut! :)

The thing with Danzo and Tobirama is that, I get it. I might not agree with it, at all, but I get where they're coming from and, honestly, I am very much self-aware enough that, if I had lived through their same experiences, I can't say for sure that I would have done any different. Did they do terrible things? Absolutely. But, again, I can't proclaim with surety that I'd be any better. Like, I can sit here from my current seat and judge them, but experiences color perception and I'm just as susceptible to bias as everyone else is. Who knows what my outlook would be had I lived through the First and/or Second War.

The thing with Rasa and Chiyo is that, there is some resolution. It's definitely too little, too late, especially in Rasa's case, but there is growth and admittance of fault there so that, even if I don't actually like either character, the character development present in the storyline (particularly for Chiyo!) is such that it somewhat cancels my dislike out, leaving me with largely neutral feelings. I did used to have stronger feelings against them, but I suppose it's true that you mellow out with age lmao

The thing with Hiruzen and Hagoromo and Fugaku is that I neither get it, nor is there any character development or admittance/recognition of fault on their part XD

[danykvyat]

So I finished Gintama and I've already started rewatching a couple of my personal favourite episodes (yeah I’m hyper-fixating) but how GOOD some of those earlier arcs were really emphasises how stagnant the ending was. The ending was ok, it wasn't awful, but it was....Meh. I’m late to the party so I’m sure it’s been said a million times before but having all the characters regress back to how they were at the beginning sucked. Nothing changed. For a series that always preached about life being worth living in spite of the change, pain and grief living brings, that sucked. It sucked. 

Shogun Assassination and Farewell Shinsengumi are the high points of the series because the events in the arcs are personal for ALL the characters. By Shogun Assassination our core characters have all come to know and care for Shige Shige so wanting to stop his assassination is a poignant goal for everyone. Farewell Shinsengumi deals with the fallout of failing to achieve that goal, culminating with the Shinsengumi willingly becoming rebels to save Kondo, again, one of THE core characters in the show. Both arcs feel high stakes because they are. They’re centred around established and pre-existing characters we've spent hundreds of episodes with. Our characters' actions feel meaningful. The battles we get feel meaningful. It all feels like it'll build to something even more meaningful because what happens in those arcs force our characters to grow and change.

And then we get Utsuro’s introduction and it all goes downhill from there. Sorachi wrote himself into a corner by making Shoyo Utsuro. The second he did that he had to commit to the ending being Gintoki, Katsura and Takasugi shaving Shoyo. Anything else would not be thematically fulfilling. And he didn't do that. 

It means Silver Soul is (un)intentionally reduced to a really straightforward good vs bad story for all the characters EXCEPT the Joui 3. The rest of the characters (mostly) have no personal ties to Shoyo. They’re stopping Utsuro et al predominantly because they're bad people out to destroy the Earth. That's it. It doesn't feel high stakes because Utsuro is never going to blow up the earth. That's just not going to happen. So it’s not interesting. You could replace almost all of the characters in Silver Soul with no-name background characters and nothing really changes. 

Which makes the ending we did get even more baffling to me because Sorachi clearly realises that or else he wouldn’t have pushed for the ending to go past what had been the agreed end date. And yet the narrative still essentially punishes Gin for his choice to behead Shoyo by having both Takasugi and Shoyo die in the end. Shoyo doesn't get to save his student. Katsura doesn't get to stop Gin from having to cut down someone dear to him again. Takasugi never gets to heal and move on from his trauma. There is zero catharsis. 

And then we flash forward with no reflection from any of the characters on what just happened and to make that worse we find out every character has failed to achieve their goals and everyone has regressed back to being the same character as they were at the beginning. Except we’re meant to be happy about that. It’s…..a choice.

Like I said, I’ve seen worse endings, and if I’m being generous it’s a nice safe ending for the Yorozuya. But I never felt like GinTama was a safe series. Utsuro being Shoyo caused a fundamental flaw with the story that Sorachi never really resolves so just wraps it up with a ‘See! It’s still a hijinks comedy series!’ which by the end, no it was a lot more than that.

Also Sorachi did the Shimuras so dirty. SO dirty.

[numberoneanika]

Honestly the roleplay blogs are stronger than I am because if I saw a post where people were saying my blog was annoying and calling me corny I would jump in a large pit and rot away

[toytulini]

saw fanart yesterday that i was ehh on

but it brought me to the conclusion that, if shrek was a lesbian, if shrek was a woman, i think she would be exactly the same as canon movie shrek, actually, and in fact. to the point, she would be so indistinguishable, that i can no longer be convinced that canon movie shrek isnt a he/him lesbian, and im excited to rewatch all the movies through the lens of percieving shrek this way. i think it will be based. excited.

[purgetrooperfox]

how come you do post much about gaza?

assuming you meant don't*? because this makes no sense otherwise? anyway

that you don't see my activism doesn't mean it isn't happening. tumblr is a terrible platform for activism, so I don't use it for that

[lynne-monstr]

I just finished the netflix onmyoji show. it was so good. it was so gay. I'm very happy, I need ten thousand more

[hertwood]

Masculine urge to take pictures of my junk LISTEN budge is so so gender affirming to me I take pictures and then I wanna send them to friends like look 🥹 isn't this awesome 🥹 but that'd be sexual harrassment

[arcaneyouth]

i'm starting to think living with 5 other people may simply be a problem

[autistickfigure]

i should probably make an art blog. i have the url and stuff AND i would love to organize my art. BUT FIRST i need to find the art that shows a gradual growth. i know for sure i will put the first digital art i've ever posted BUT FROM THERE? God. I dont know!

[destinyandcoins]

give it up for the end of week 3 of the semester! week 3 and the world's most annoying professor s t i l l hasn't updated or added anything to the canvas page since the second day of week 1.

[snarltoothed]

who does the polls i dont have enough followers for polls to be useful

if anyone wants to @ the lovely lady who takes poll submissions i have THREE related poll suggestions:

FIRST QUESTION:

women, at what point do you consider puberty to have started for you?

1. when my breasts started growing

2. when i experienced menarche (first menstrual period)

3. when i began growing darker body/leg hair

4. when i started to develop body odor

5. when i started experiencing sexual attraction/desire

6. other (please explain!)

7. i am still a pre-pubertal child and should not be on tumblr

(in this poll “sexual attraction/desire” refers to active feelings of sexual attraction or desire, including masturbatory urges, and NOT including the passive knowledge many children have of their innate sexuality)

SECOND QUESTION:

women, when going through puberty, which did you experience first?

1. breast growth

2. menarche (first menstrual period)

3. darker body/leg hair growth

4. development of body odor

5. development of sexual attraction/desire

6. other (please explain!)

7. i am still a pre-pubertal child and should not be on tumblr

(in this poll “sexual attraction/desire” refers to active feelings of sexual attraction or desire, including masturbatory urges, and NOT including the passive knowledge many children have of their innate sexuality)

THIRD QUESTION:

women, at what age did you start puberty?

1. 7 years old or younger

2. 8-9 years old

3. 9-10 years old

4. 10-11 years old

5. 11-12 years old

6. 12-13 years old

7. 14 years old or older

8. I am still a pre-pubertal child and should not be on tumblr

(if you’re comfortable, mention which option you picked and your current age in the tags/comments for data reasons!)

….aaand that’s it. it would also be worthwhile to include what age we’ve experienced menarche at but i’m sure that’s been done already.

[paganinpurple]

AO3 Etiquette -UPDATED

Based on both decent and not so decent replies, I have made some changes to my original post below.

It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:

As well as likes, kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished it, you liked it - so kudos.

If you really liked it, you should try to comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.

No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it (so use your notes to say if you want some constructive feedback). Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. No, posting it online is not an open invitation for that. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity and just want to share. Don't ruin that for them. I've seen so many authors just stop writing coz they can't handle the negative emotions the critism brings, and it's only meant to be a fun thing shared for free (pointing out tagging errors is not included in this).

Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.

There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.

For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.

The tag exception is if you don't want to tag a million things or spoil your story, you can rate it as "chose not to use warnings," and maybe tag the bare minimum.

Don't censor tags. How can someone exclude a tag if the word isn't typed out correctly? There are no content bans for terms so don't censor them.

If the tags are mostly content/trigger warnings, especially if they are things considered very fucked up or graphic, you might want to use "dead dove - do not eat" to ensure people know that you're not messing around with tags and what they get is exactly what you've warned them about.

Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLATONIC, like friendship or family.

Nothing is banned. This is an rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.

People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.

Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite or an exchange youve written for going public). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.

Instead of deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - consider making it anonymous or orphaning it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to your name anymore. If you still want to delete it, fair enough.

It's come to my attention that metaworks ARE allowed on AO3, which is something I wasn't aware of. So if you do post an essay or theory, please tag it as such so others can choose to search for it or exclude it. Art is also allowed.

The only reason this archive works is because NON ONE PROFITS. Do not link to your ko-fi or patreon or mention monetary gain in any way or you violate the terms and risk having your account removed. If anyone does link, it leaves the archive open to people claiming it's for profit and having the whole thing removed.

I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.

I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.