#no reblogs lol. and i’ll probably delete this later.

[bizarrebazaar13]

I love Furnace and it is extremely weird that the union keeps being portrayed as ableist and it definitely reveals some personal biases on the part of the writers.

but she does remind me of several leftists I know irl. everyone’s suffering under capitalism bitch, let’s get you some disability history.

[s0ft-karina]

currently ✨

[tikay21]

🐺How to use hashtags on tumblr to organize a story!

It was like paddling in an open sea .... Ok, it really took me 4 years to figure out the thing with the internal hashtags on Tumblr and realize that there is an advantageous sense in them initially only working within your own blog. If you don’t really need them, the benefit isn’t immediately obvious.

Plus, the display of the most commonly used hashtags leads you to assume they are more universally intended. The advantage of internal blog hashtags didn’t click for me - until the moment I actually needed them to bring order to my blog chaos and understood that you can easily sort everything with them, especially when it comes to storytelling.

I originally thought: “I'll make sideblogs for the stories, so I can have everything neatly gathered, with matching colors and background images." However, the hashtags from the main blog don’t work in the sideblogs anymore unless I link them and unless I’ve missed something again. Now I’m wondering if I even need the sideblogs anymore. Probably not. So, new plan:

I’ll post everything on my main blog

tag it with both specific and general tags

using intern unique tags for different supposes

and that’s pretty much it. At the top of a pinned post, I’ll provide an overview of what you can find under which hashtag, and they’ll automatically function as a sorter for an entire internal storyline. Done.

Btw, thanks for the right hints, which made me take a closer look, test things out, and understand how it works by answering my question on it here ...

@figure-it-out-later and @tenyrasims - which made me think about it and especially @satureja13 for the needed key to my head to unlock this blind point🥰. from @satureja13 : ... I just make sure to tag every post properly so I can add new stuff to my pinned post. You can also keep your pinned post clean by making sub posts, like I do for my chapters, for example. ... I can find every event, character, location… within seconds. That’s what I really love about tumblr.

So, what can I do now to satisfy my need for beeing over organization🙈? Technically, I could delete the sideblogs, but I can also use them in parallel, reblogging the respective content there, and thus have everything in a separate place, visually appealing with the story-appropriate colors - for my own peace of mind or for anyone who prefers to read there. But I’ll only reblog, not post the original, so following the sideblogs isn’t really necessary - though of course, you can if you prefer the color-coordinated layout there. If I ever decide it’s all too much, I can delete the sideblogs without losing my original content, as long as I only reblog from the mainblog to the sideblogs.

Is anyone still following? Probably not,😂 but I think this works for me.

Long story short: I’m going to rearrange things once more and adjust the pinned post accordingly... and bring any duplicate content back to the main blog. My old stuff from before the long break will stay here, and maybe I’ll update broken links if I ever get bored - not that I know the meaning of the word, lol. Otherwise, it’ll just stay as it is, since there’s barely anything left in my EA gallery, except for the stuff that can’t be deleted.

Ok, here we go ...

[apricityxys]

post that is pinned

I’m apri or April! I use all the pronouns but usually she/her. I draw sometimes!

Basic rules!

don’t send me nsfw stuff

No personal questions! I’ll just delete your ask

don’t be homophobic or transphobic, or bigoted in any other sort of way around here, I’ll block you

blank blogs get blocked <3

you can tag me in picrew chains and other reblog games if you’d like to! I don’t bite!

my archive blog is @apricity-archive! That’s where I put things I want to be able to find later, and it’s more curated than this if you’d like a better organized experience lol

Shoutouts!

I am @wimblton475’s biggest ever fan. Hi wimbl your art is the coolest ever

Go subscribe to Alaskan Nymph over on YouTube! She’s got a really awesome chill vibe and I highly recommend her skyblock series if you’re a fan of geminitay.

Credit for things!

— my pfp is from a picrew! I lost the link, if anyone has it please tell me so I can properly credit the owner! (My header image is from the webtoon Crow Time, go check it out!)

I found it!

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1136156

— blinkies! “Be nice”, “minecraft roleplay” and “gay deliveroo” are made using blinkies.cafe, with the “minecraft roleplay” and “gay deliveroo” made by wimble! I got the “terfs fuck off” from @/someoneihavelovedbutneverknown!

— my blog title is from “mermaids” by Florence + the machine!

music i like!

The crane wives!

Florence and the machine!

other stuff too but I mostly only post about those two

fandoms I’m in!

(a lot, and I’m probably not going to get them all but here goes!)

Hermitcraft

the life series

empires smp

a little bit of dream smp

genloss, but not really

a little bit of qsmp

nimona (more so the book than the movie)

into/across the spiderverse

Minecraft, as a game

Various webcomics (crow time, high class homos, nothing special)

the good place

severance

she-ra

the owl house

gravity falls

pokemon go (thanks to @/echothelesbo)

probably more, if I think of any I should add I will!

Tags!!

my art (for things I draw!)

posts that make me feel a certain way (self explanatory)

funny haha (funny thing tag)

cool art (art that makes the brain worms really happy)

items (items!)

Blinkie storage!

(Image by @darubyprincx)

Have a lovely day!

[focsle]

being a lil salty about the perceived creative value of certain storytelling mediums and I’ll probably delete this later cos it’s a Bad Look and I am incredibly biased in my opinion but…

I really do wish that like…In General people realized HOW much work webcomics are.

I.e. the replies on that ‘feeling of making a long form webcomic’ post I reblogged a couple days ago were filled with people being like ‘you mean writing anything lol not just webcomics’ and it’s like…..yes there is a lot of work that goes into making anything long form and that particular post was absolutely broadly relatable when it comes to so many ways of telling a story because telling stories is hard! But long form webcomics are SO so much work. As someone who’s also written a novel, the novel is easy peasy compared to a webcomic. A picture’s worth a thousand words becomes a meaningless sentiment when you have to draw a thousand pictures. When crossing a room takes a sentence to write but hours to draw. It takes me months of work to narratively get to what I could get in like, 5k of writing.

It’s having to take every skillset one would use in crafting a narrative through any other media (including forms of media that have entire teams of people working on it rather than one person) and putting it together. And when I list these things I’m definitely not saying I am a pro in any of them but they’re still considerations that have to be made. Depending on the style and function of the piece, making comics involves being a writer, an artist, an actor, a director, a camera. One has to draw the same people over and over again consistently, has to think about visual compositions not just for one illustration, but for every single panel, and then how every single panel works to form the composition of every single page, and ideally (though less of a thing with webcomics) how the spread of two pages alongside each other work together compositionally as well. How to make everything visually coherent and readable. One has to learn how to draw so many things from so many angles so many times. How to keep a consistency in how different characters carry themselves, how they move. Costume changes. Set design. All of it. And webcomics are almost always a solo affair. I'd say this has a lot of similarities to animation BUT it's a lot rarer for someone to be doing like...a full length animated film just by themselves. So I still think webcomics are very unique in their demands.

I love writing scripts, and I love love love when the pages are done. It’s such a rewarding way to tell a story. So I’m not complaining exactly but…idk I wish the volume of the work that goes into them was appreciated more as a specific craft that is one of the heavier lifts to make when it comes to telling a story. It’s absolutely not the same as writing a novel. And it has challenges that are very unique to the medium that I don’t think many people fully appreciate or acknowledge.

[philsmeatylegss]

Honestly I can’t keep quiet at this point. This generation and tiktok mostly made autism a fucking quirky trend and it makes me want to slam my head in a wall. I genuinely believe 70% of people online who claim to be autistic are not or either are confusing it with another disorder (on tiktok it’s 95% I’m not remotely exaggerating). iT’s A sPeCtRuM NO SHIT DUMBASS. I fucking grew up with an autistic sibling and I was constantly in other places with autistic kids who were higher and lower on the fucking spectrum. But none of them act remotely like the fuckers on #actuallyautistic on fucking TikTok. Controversial opinion I completely stand behind is that self diagnosis isn’t reliable expect for a few conditions. By that, I mean conditions that have clear cut symptoms. You’re always anxious about everything, you probably do have anxiety. But when it comes to Autism, that’s such a fucking complex disorder that even a lot of doctors don’t fully understand. 100% agree that many women, POC, and those who grew up poor couldn’t get a diagnosis and got it later in life. As I said, I was constantly around autistic kids and most were white men. It’s an absolute mockery and disgrace to those online and in real life who actually suffer with Autism. Including people on the high end of the spectrum! Most of these people say they’re autistic and then list the symptoms of anxiety. It’s not a fucking quirky trait or an excuse. It’s not fucking trendy.

And I can’t say anything like this on platforms like tiktok or id be ripped to shreds. People who have little to no real life experiences or knowledge about Autism attacking someone who was always so close to autism that it fucked me up (I know it’s not my sibling’s fault before you yell at me). I’m fucking tired of it. I’m so fucking tired

Very recently the term “glass child” came out which describes siblings of a child with a physical and or mental disability and or a chronic/life threatening illness. The term comes from the fact that a constant feature of being a glass child is being seen through, forgotten, our voices ignored. And when we, people who have had close years of interactions with these disorders try to explain to you why you might be wrong and you just fucking shut them down, you’re just as bad as the people who ignored me when I was growing up.

It happens on here to. Definitely not as often and definitely not as obvious. But I fucking hate that it’s become a fucking trend on here. Yes, I know it’s a way for those with autism to cope, but a lot of people reblogging it are neurotypical. I’m glad it’s a way to cope, but autism isn’t a fucking funny punchline. It is half of the reason I’m fucked up (once again, I don’t blame my sibling).

Remember in 2020 on mostly tiktok and other face showing platforms being LGBTQ+ was a trend and now people say “I’m glad I’m over that phase?” The same fucking thing is happening now with autism. And what’s worse is that it undermines the credibility of those who are actually suffering with autism. I can promise you in the next few years, there will be tons of posts like “remember when I thought I was autistic? Lol worst period of my life, so cringe.” And then it’ll fall back into obscurity once it stops being a trend and when people forget about pretending to be autistic and no one will give a fuck. It happened with fangirl culture. With being LGBTQ+. Only this is more important and not a fucking trend

Idk if I’ll get hate for this or delete it, but I can’t handle it anymore. This really mostly applies to tiktok, but this happens on every single platform. And it genuinely upsets me and I can’t even point out this problem. For fucking once in my life, LISTEN TO ME. I’ve been there. I was there the whole fucking time. I spent my entire childhood dealing with autism and severe mental illness from my parents. I went to so many doctors with him. I couldn’t chose where I wanted my birthday or celebrations about me because it wouldn’t be good for my sibling. Pictures, lines, family trip were filled with screaming. Leaving events early because my sibling couldn’t handle it. Sitting and waiting for him to stop having a tantrum in my room and having fucking no one ask if I was okay. Having none of my emotional needs met do to Autism and other present mental illnesses from my parents. I KNOW WHAT AUTISM IS LIKE. I SPENT EVERY FUCKING DAY SINCE I WAS BORN TILL I WAS 18 RIGHT NEXT TO AUTISM. I DIDN’T GET A BREAK. I WON’T BE ABLE TO LAUGH IN A FEW YEARS BECAUSE I CLAIMED TO BE AUTISTIC. I’M NOT SURE MY BROTHER WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE ON HIS OWN AND HE’L HAVE TO FUCKING LIVE WITH ME. THAT’S THE FUCKING REALITY. THAT’S WHAT AUTISM IS. IT’S NOT BEING AWKWARD AND SOMETIMES OVERWHELMED BY OBJECTS OR SOUNDS. I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT BECAUSE I WAS THERE. I HAVE 18 FUCKING YEARS OF UNDERSTANDING WHAT AUTISM IS. I’VE BEEN AROUND MANY OTHER AUTISTIC PEOPLE WHEN MY BROTHER NEEDED SERVICES FROM AUTISTIC ONLY PLACES. I COULDN’T FUCKING YAWN FOR YEARS WITHOUT BEING SCREAMED AT. FUCKING YAWNING. AND THEN I WAS ASKED TO STOP YAWNING! THAT IS AUTISM.

My mom works with teens and young adults who are close to the bottom of the spectrum. These children will never be able to have a life. A lot of them don’t talk. Or they only scream or say random words. Some do repetitive actions, often ones that cause injuries. Bigger male student have to be restrained by two or three men because they will not stop hitting themself of breaking property and are unable to stop. That’s what it’s like. At most, Walmart has a program for special needs adults to be baggers. Once they graduate, they live with their parents and then their siblings. Or they go to care home that specializes in autism. We’re fortunate that if it were to come to that case, we would be able to afford a nice one. But most parents or siblings of autistic children don’t have the money to send them to caring facilities. That’s the reality. That’s what you’re claiming to have the same diagnosis as (I KNOW ITS A SPECTRUM). I pity the real autistic people and glass children on platforms on tiktok or really any platform that are having the severity of their illness become a fucking trend.

I’ll probably delete this. But I’m just so fucking upset about it and I’m not fucking allowed to point it out. I wasn’t listened to my entire childhood because of a condition you’re claiming to have. Just for fucking once listen to me

[puyoginge]

What's been going on with me.

3 years later I’ve decided to resurrect my Tumblr because it is my sanctuary and the social media ever. I disbanded twitter because it makes me angry all the time and for the sake of preserving my dwindling adult sanity. lol.

You may remember me from my few posts under the username yaboinate28. very 2018 lol. I posted a lot of trans / general mental health relatable stuff to manage my struggle with gender dysphoria and hopefully connect with others who felt the same as me. If you want to get a taste of what's been going on since then then please do read on below!! (TW mental health stuff)

WHY I LEFT

Some time in 2020 I purged all my trans posts, removing all my incentive to return to this new decade apocalypse of a site. I guess was feeling really insecure about the discordance between my Tumblr open-transness (??) and my irl extreme stealth thang. I was chronically worried about people from my real life finding my account basically. 

Much of my stuff was very Tumblr cringe and probably stuff you’ve seen before but there were a couple of self help posts that were actually insanely good resources for coping with gender dysphoria (particularly in the early stages of social transition) which I seriously regret deleting. I remember a lot of my memes “blowing up” which made me feel really special and like I could contribute something to the world. As a young teenager struggling with self harm and severe depression as well as navigating my life within a home that outright rejected my trans identity, my Tumblr was my lifeline, the people I met made me feel hopeful for the future, and seeing people reblog with “I needed to hear this” or “thanks so much for posting” meant everything to me.

But its important for me to address that I’m not the person I was back then, !!and whilst I'll be attempting to find and repost some of those self help resources!!, I probably won’t be posting about my trans experience much anymore other than within this entry. But please please reach out if you need someone who’s been through it to talk to. I’d love to support you however i can!! I’m only a message away. 

LIFE STUFF

Since 2019 my attitude on life has changed a lot and whilst coping with my mental health issues are still a daily hurdle, I’ve found myself a groove in which to sit and ride the wave. Essentially I’m managing and I’m happy and able to maintain a positive outlook on life, which is good. Additionally, with time my family have softened to my trans identity. Its not perfect, but I’m not at risk. I love my family and I don’t blame them for their actions, I’m just taking it slow. 

Passed my GCSES with flying colours, passed my A-levels with regular colours, and I'm going to uni. Life has continued and its good. And whilst I would rather eat my own shit than go back and relive the days when my mum had to force me me out the door to get me to go to school, I made it through every last day. That's fucking badass, and tbh I'm pretty resilient now because of it lol.

I guess my point is (crass warning) see the joy in what you have. Take life day by day. Don’t let yourself take the easy route, because then you’ll learn how fucking strong you are. And you are stronger than you think even if all your cards are stacked against you.

TRANSITION STUFF

Since the last time we spoke I’ve legally transitioned, and am (at the time of writing) dealing with the initial admin of medical transition. I’ve been speaking regularly with a gender specialist therapist for 2 years. more recently I’ve been exploring my gender expression with my new found freedom. AND I’m in a relationship with someone who is beautiful and kind and couldn’t be more supportive of me (I adore them). And.... I’m still as stealth as ever. Just as resistant to say “yAYYyy i’m trAns!!!” as I’ve always been. I fucking love it. Some things never change lol. As I said family are being dragged by the tail along with me and have warmed to the whole thing. Support is not the word, but acceptance is pretty apt. They both realise it’s always been “me” at this point and that's enough for the time being.

WHO I AM NOW

I’m now an adult (wtf so surreal????) I have allowed my passion for retro gaming to flourish, recently got super fucking into rhythm games, developed a healthy collection of games and consoles which I may post about perhaps. Resurrected my love for anime, particularly dumb slice of life shows and Madoka Magica (all hail you beautiful broken masterpiece of infinite spinoff potential)

I found my interest in psychology (wowwww surprise!!) Got a job, found some friends, told some people a long overdue fuck off. And rounded myself into a much more open minded person than I used to be.

I couldn’t care less how many people read this, mainly I’m doing it for me. To provide myself a clean slate and stuff. But if you do read this, and you used to enjoy my silly little posts or find them helpful or whatever: I hope you’re well, I’m glad you stuck around and I hope you stay :)

[skyyknights]

Sooo for anyone who drops in and sees this I’m going to reblog zelink week stuff later on, I’ll probably wait till stuff settles a bit before I start to tho or I’ll get overwhelmed :,D but I will get around to it!! Love y’all and all your amazing workkkk, zelink has such talented creators 🫶

(Also I changed my name from cowboy twilight—> skyyknights)

Also imma make an actual pinned post sometime soon, I had one but deleted it so I need to do another lol

[officialarcee]

ABOUT/FAQ

read this if you’re curious about me or before you ask me anything, or send anon hate.

Arcee, 28 year old trans dude bisexual AND polyamorous! No that doesn’t mean I’m interested in you I’m in a closed polycule 🤍

COMMISSION ME IM AN ARTIST

anti fascist, anti racist, pro-black, pro-reparations, anti capitalist. LAND BACK 🧡

I don’t have a political label but I guess I can say leftist. pedophiles fear me. Proshitters wish they could escape me. Both are getting the Glock :)

[farquad-WHITE.png]

American and hating every second of it 😛✌️

I am dating an introject-heavy system, including many of the head mates. Often times I’ll reblog pics of these characters with tags that insinuate that I know them (I.e “megatron when I ask him to do dishes,” “blitzwing did this to me the other day lmao”)

This is simply because I do know a version of that character who exists in my boyfriends system. If you don’t know what an introject or what a system is, I suggest you look into the DID subreddit to learn from the community itself.

The fictives I am dating are: blitzwing, TFP and TFA Megatron, Knockout, Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows from RWBY. Send me pics of them for they are my baby girls 🤍

FAQ

KYS/ eat glass/ die/ etc

ok. don’t care. Smell you later.

Why do you get so much anon hate?

Because the TERFs and SWERFs on this site hate to see he/him pussy winning.

debate me because we have different political views!

no. I promise I will just be mean. I have no intentions of debating people on fucking tumblr.

Can I buy nudes from you?

no. You can commission me, though. And I can draw you some nudes.

You’re a whore with a pimp who lets themselves be r*ped for money!

even if I explain to you that you’re horrifically misguided and wrong, you’re not going to care. So if believing that will make you feel better about ignoring the pleas of the marginalized, go for it. I don’t give a damn what you do lol.

Why do you call everyone who disagrees with you a nazi?

If it walks like a nazi and talks like a nazi then it’s probably a nazi.

are you an anti?

I don’t give a fuck what you ship. genuinely. unless it’s pedophilia and/or incest. I think saying pro or anti is, honestly, childish and juvenile as fuck.

Hey the OP of this post is a terf/racist/nazi/etc

Thanks for letting me know! I usually delete posts after being notified that OP is trash. However if I don’t know you at all I might ask some clarifying questions for my own knowledge.

[my-never-ending-nightmare]

Alright so I’ve been real hesitant to say anything about this lest it seem like I’m schizoposting… but – I think anyone who’s been following this blog long enough probably already thinks I’m crazy lol. So fuck it, here goes: does anyone else ever get what I’ll just call phantom interactions on your posts? Like, say you post rather than reblog something & then later on notice that it’s got 2 notes – but when you click on them there’s nothing there at all? In the past if I saw something like that then I’d just assume it’s because someone reblogged it before changing their mind and deleting it and/or blocking me or some shit – but for awhile not it’s been happening so regularly that I’ve gone from just overthinking it to feeling paranoid that someone is trying to get my attention or something. As if they expect me to see the notifications and know it’s them doing it… but I haven’t. This blog as so many followers now & too many of my posts have become so popular that it made me turn off notifications altogether. Hell, just one of my posts alone is currently sitting at 18,500 notes – and I’m not saying any of this as if it’s something to brag about (that post wasn’t even my OC) but rather to illustrate how I just can’t keep up with the amount of notifications I get anymore. Not only do I have those disabled for this app on my phone, but I don’t even check them even when I’m using the app because every single time I log in there’s always like 50 – 100 of them if not more. So if someone out there really is trying to get my attention then I’m sorry Anon, but I haven’t seen you. Although this might just be wishful thinking and in reality I’m actually addressing nobody at all. Idk. But like I said – it’s been happening frequently enough that I feel the need to say something about it. Just in case.

Oh, and side note: I sometimes notice people saying things to me on posts of mine long after I’ve posted them and I feel really bad about it whenever I do. I really don’t mean to ignore anyone. It's only just occurred to me now as I'm writing this that there's probably some way to disable notifications on specific posts while leaving them on for the rest... I really gotta look into that lol.

[nocturnalpoets]

i felt the need to vent a little bit about this year, but i don’t wanna to disturb anyone with this on their dashboards, so it’s under the cut. (very sad stuff so y’all are warned)

2021 was by far the worst year of my life. i completely lost myself and i met the ugliest version of me, one that i didn’t know existed. this realization came to me in the last day of the year because with everything that happened i got used to disassociate and so i didn’t gave myself the time to really reflect on all the events.

this year was punishment, i ruined every relationship, every aspect of my life that i used to adore. i turned into someone that i completely despise. i have never felt this hopeless before, this empty. i struggle to find happiness in life, to seek motive. i see no future for myself, not for this person who i am at this moment. nothing is holding me here anymore, but for some reason i can’t seem to let go.

i didn’t change, i didn’t evolve this year. i barely survived. i lived every single day wishing that i didn’t. i isolated myself from any little thing that could’ve possibly made me happy. and looking back, i have no idea why i did that. it’s almost like i wasn’t in control of myself.

i just hope better things are coming, because i am so, so tired. i’ve barely survived this year. i feel drained mentally. i feel the urge to sleep forever and leave this all behind. i wish to forget.

that’s it. now i’m going to reblog a lot of aesthetic posts to cover this up <3

[kckenobi]

okay this is kind of a tmi rant but I’m really mad and loopy and just need to vent so! ugh. I get awful period cramps. like really, really awful where the pain makes me pass out and/or throw up and I’m completely immobile, and I’m on two medications that should fix this for me. Or at least make the pain manageable, like I’m not even asking for pain free, just BETTER THAN THIS but I STILL had to go home from work early to come home and promptly faint and then cry in bed for two hours, and I can’t get another appointment with my doctor until September because they’re booked. Like, why don’t any meds work for me? I’ve been trying things for like 8 years and this is still an issue and I’m just really frustrated that I haven’t found a solution by now, and I really just need to be able to like—do my job and be a person and can’t be totally sidelined like this all the time.

sorry for the rant, I don’t mean this as looking for advice or sympathy or anything I just needed to write it out because I don’t feel like ranting to a real life person cause they’ll offer to come over or call or something and I don’t really need anyone to see me looking the way I look rn lol. I just feel kind of really shitty. That is all. Anyway, thanks for all you wonderful content creators on tumblr who’s work I’m currently enjoying as I spend the rest of the day in bed lol ❤️ love y’all

[thesnowidol4life]

Me talking to myself about project sekai event predictions because I’m at my final straw:

[amarguerite]

i promise i will not forever blog disgruntledly about my job situation, but dracula daily’s recent entries, with their sense of hinting dread, where you’re doing everything you can, but something you can’t control is just... targeting you relentlessly, and draining you for reasons you can’t understand or change, feels so much like being managed by a racist boss before i figured out that my boss was racist. both lucy’s ‘what’s going on? why is it happening? is there something wrong with me?’ reaction and now van helsing’s ‘if i say the reason out loud for this bad situation will everyone think i’m crazy?’ feel... so unfortuantely relatable lol 

(pls don’t reblog, i’ll probably delete this later, when i’m feeling more temperate about this whole situation)

[thegreatlibraryfangirl]

Paper & Fire Readthrough - Chapter 12

Holy FUCK it’s been A YEAR AND A HALF since I did one of these. Wow. Ouch. Ok. The things that slip when your life goes through changes, omfg.

For the doubtless many of you who’ve never seen one of these before, this is me re-reading the series and recording feelings and theories and impressions, with a focus on my OTP Khalila/Dario.

In theory the #paper and fire readthrough tag should take you to all the preceding ones in this book, but since tumblr is tumblr, I’ll probably reblog this later with links.

I’m going to be antisocial and see how many of us have turned on Tumblr’s “shorten long posts” feature. Mainly because I get so sad when tumblrs delete and their ReadMores become impenetrable. I have no intention of disappearing lol but this is the internet and you never know.

And with all that bullshit out of the way, let’s go.

--

So, while Jess, Thomas Morgan and Glain have been struggling with converting an automaton (and Thomas’ trauma), Khalila, Dario, Santi and Wolfe have been having a nice lunch of cold meats and cheeses. LOL.

Dario is, as per usual, the person to pessimistically and pragmatically point out that Morgan’s escape plan of Translating them all out of Rome is flawed because it’s really fucking obvious. He asks Jess if his cousins could help, but that’s not an option.

“Our code is: Get caught, count yourself dead.”

Please remember that Callum Brightwell drilled that so firmly into Jess’ head that he took him to watch his own brother be executed. And then join me in wishing Wolfe had done worse to Callum than publicly shame and punch him.

Khalila asks all the good questions next, which boil down to: Where can we go? and What chance do we have of the Library not catching us?

“None,” Dario said. “Not unless we find allies, quickly. Jess isn’t willing to put his neck on the block, so someone has to.”

Pausing to SCREAM at this choice of words from Dario. Again, Jess has literally watched his brother die, though I doubt Dario knows this. Jess is the one who genuinely understands what’s at stake here, whereas Dario has just seen his chance to provide something that Jess couldn’t. Which is all he wants, really, at this point in the series.

“Dario!” Khalila grabbed for him, but he was quick, the arrogant Spaniard. He grabbed her hand instead, raised it to his lips and then pressed the back of it to his forehand as he bowed. “Don’t go!”

Adorable, help.

Dario’s only response to her is to talk about Jess. Child. Boy. Please stop being SO homoerotic and desperate about this.

Then he doesn’t come back. The group give him the full hour, where he only asked for half, and Glain, of all people, suggests stunning their captives again, but no. They’ve got to go.

On a quick side note, it’s nice to see Santi just being absolutely undeniably in charge here.

Now the good stuff. I’m not going to quote it because dear god I’d have to type out about four pages. But let’s look at some bits.

“No, I’m not going to leave Dario behind. Jess-” She tried to get him to look at her, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t. “Jess!”

Going directly against my above point - Khalila doesn’t appeal to Santi, who’s just announced the decision, and to whom both Jess and Glain are deferring. She goes straight for Jess. That’s interesting. I think it might  be because she’s already tried to appeal to Santi and Wolfe; she tried to get them to stop Dario leaving or to chase after him, and they didn’t. So she thinks it’s Dario-and-Santi’s plan, and so she looks to the person who she knows breaks rules and devises plans all the time instead. But he doesn’t help her either.

Jess points out that Dario didn’t say where he was going. He refused to, in fact. Bearing in mind what’s coming up in the Iron Tower, it’s a nice little question mark. Is that because he didn’t want them to waste time chasing after him, or risk capture by the embassy security ... or was it because he didn’t want them to find him? Mwahahaha. Very nice.

Then Jess makes the mistake of physically restraining Khalila from running, and, oh dear Jess, why are you so constantly surprised by any time Khalila shows she’s stronger than you think?

And here we get Khalila just POURING out Dario’s inner demons here lol. The two of them must have talked about this a lot, which makes it all the more fascinating at the times elsewhere when Khalila compares them directly.

“He’s not like you! He wants to show you that he can be just as clever, just as fast, just as ...” She hit him again, this time a knee square to his family jewels, and he did let go. “Just as ruthless! And if you ever lay hands on me again, I will kill you, Jess Brightwell!”

Ok, so what’s interesting here, distracting me from talking about Jess/Khalila/Dario viibes AGAIN (the first 3 books all have hints that make me convinced that at some point in the history of her planning this was intended as a love triangle) is that Khalila is letting herself be held, here. I doubt she truly believed she would be able to get away. Outrun Jess? No.

She’s not even fighting to make him let go. Jess thinks she is, look:

He wrapped her in his arms and she fought surprisingly hard, with sharp precise blows that almost made him let go. Almost.

He looks at Glain for help and she just folds her arms. Why? She doesn’t want Khalila to put herself in danger either. If there was any real danger of Khalila breaking free, Glain would help, yes, but why is Glain just watching this too?

When Khalila WANTS to be freed, as we’ve just seen, she just knees him in the balls. And on the word “ruthless”, at that. And then she threatens to kill him if he does it again.

She doesn’t attack Wolfe, and she doesn’t attack Santi. So what’s going on here? This is essentially Khalila losing her temper. No-one will help her save Dario, which she takes as a moral failing, and then Jess tries to physically stop her. Jess, who is a postulant not a teacher so less intimidating, Jess who she surely knows has a soft spot for her a mile wide and yet still won’t help her, Jess, the very reason that Dario ran off like that. So she hits him and she shouts that it’s all HIS fault, and then once she’s finished with that she shrugs him off with one well-placed knee. And a death threat.

She doesn’t lose her temper much, but oh when she does it explodes!

And the Glain thing? GLAIN AGREES. Poor, poor Jess. he’s not superhuman and it’s not actually his fault that Dario imprinted on him as a role model in Ink and Bone. But his friends think he can make a difference, or at least that he should try.

And here we see Khalila’s rage, verbalised at last:

“Her face was set and terrible, her eyes like dark pits, and she met no-one else’s gaze as she nodded. “Then let us run,” she said, in a voice drained of anything but anger. “Run and hide, like frightened rabbits.”

Jess is already wondering whether Dario just ran off to save his own skin. Whether he’s actually selling them out to the Library. Nice seeds laid for the betrayal later.

Ah, forgive me an off-topic moment:

Morgan walked next to Wolfe, like a favoured student or a fond daughter.

I live for Dad Wolfe& daughter Morgan vibes okay????

Obviously there is no Dario for the rest of this chapter lol, while they fight their way into the Basilica to try and Translate away to London.

Worldbuilding note: Jess notices that the Translation Chamber and the torture room in the prison underneath are the same shape.

Second worldbuilding note: Jess and Glain Translated into Rome from a Serapeum in Darnah. In our world, that’s in Libya. We see Libya mentioned once more in the series, in Sword and Pen, so I think we can assume Libya is allied to Alexandria.

And oh! The heartbreaking moment when Morgan realises Keria has utterly outplayed her, and that the only place they have left to go is the Iron Tower.

--

Okay, those sure are some words! Maybe I’ll get to the end of this book eventually??

[nyctoheart]

hi i’m just curious on how you decide to soft block new followers ?? is it just the age thing or is there more

Sometimes it's an accident, like just recently today I softblocked someone I realized last second had been with me for sometime 😖 So if that was you, it was a mistake and I’m sorry!

Often if their blog was made in 2020 or later, I soft block. They're probably from twitter or tik tok, and don’t have the old Tumblr context of what I talk about (even KH has its own Tumblr history). But sometimes I suspect it’s actually an old Tumblr user just with a new blog if they customized their desktop theme.

Or I’ll softblock someone who seems aggressive with morality, like if they have a page/carrd with a long DNI list beyond the typical “no racists/homophobes/transphobes”, like fandoms or ships--People who I think would tell me to delete a reblog because of the ship or OP. (People who are alt r!ght never follow me in the first place LOL, the they/them pronouns probably keep them away thank god!)

But honestly even outside of that, I softblock most everyone, really. It's not personal, I just can't make this blog private cause it's a primary blog, and this is the next best thing I can do. I’m never trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, honestly.