#non-art stuff that needs to be reblogged onto here as well

[the-nysh]

Hi there!! I just saw your tags on the Vash marksman appreciation post and I really REALLY gotta know your thoughts on the fight choreography bc while I did martial arts as a kid I don’t remember everything and just extremely curious!! Wanna appreciate the thoughts put behind making this boyo!!

👀👀!!! Yes, hello! (Note: I'm also about 10yrs rusty out of practice in hapkido--a Korean defensive art that combines many styles from judo/aikido/etc, so while I may not remember all the formal terms and stuff, I can still SEE the very real and very sexy close combat choreography + randori/grapples/ground work they're smoothly throwing in there!) I've briefly tag-ranted on some former gifs I've reblogged here & here but OK, I can indulge into a little more detail! :D

Let's start with this gif, which is such a nice introductory tease!

The point-blank bullet dodging is some of that sick looking 'rule of cool' inhuman spice, but oh what's this?? 👀 The other dude is dumbly holding his arm out (non-defensively, since if that guy were smart about close fighting, he'd have his other hand up at the ready too) right in Vash's personal space, ripe for the taking - to which OH YES he easily blocks with the prosthetic arm and transitions right into a throw for the takedown. Where he shoves the fool over his shoulder with a lot more power (which is hard to do, esp from a standing position without a solid grip on any lapels either; woo he just goes right in for it), rather than using the dude's own momentum against him, since the guy's literally just standing there (as a stationary weight) rather than trying to punch him in a brawl. But LOOK what else Vash does!!! His block with the prosthetic becomes a grip that both holds/pulls onto the guy's arm during the throw and disarms the guy - by tossing his gun away, in one swift movement! :O Not only that, but there!! We see the first quick tease of him reverse-griping his own heavy brick of a gun into a tonfa position to strike the guy at the back of the neck for a non-lethal stun!!! That is SO cool!!! ;o; Some galaxy-brained application of his no-killing fighting style (using both arms + his revolver in his repertoire...oh wait, that already makes up the title's literal 3 guns *gets shot*) where it looks so fresh and seamlessly smooth af. Great stuff.

Then the Livio fight, despite him being double-armed with long-range weapons, is full of close-range gold from the way Vash tackles him, straddles him, and pins him to the floor with a (forceful!) choke to the throat (like whoa excuse me hello), but ALSO from the self-aware way Vash always has his guard up to keep both of Livio's guns out of the way at all times. D: Whether parrying bullets with his prosthetic, blocking/holding the guns away with that arm too (as shown), or even using his own gun defensively as a tonfa-shield to reinforce his blocks as well.

So then we get to THIS GIF, the same sequence that drove you insane for his smooth marksmanship tracking, drives ME insane for his immediate close-quarters holywhattheflyingshit did he just DO!?!?!?! 👀👀

LOOK AT HIM!!! Honestly it's kinda hard to see everything from how fast he goes, but I love the way he zips in there to grapple Livio off-balance, and ahh!! Look at the way Vash ducks and defensively keeps both arms up (this is SO important, because once you've trained you'll notice how in so many movies/comics' 'rule of cool' martial arts moves, they'll often have a character wildly swing their arms out to the sides to counter-balance kicks and stuff, but no--that's bad/unsafe form; bc if you're in a real fight you need to keep both arms up and ready at all times if you want to protect your core/face from getting blown off! Which just as you've noted, is something that needs to be practiced! The fact Vash has kept his unblemished pretty face for 150yrs is testament to that~) Vash knows how to simultaneously use his prosthetic AND his gun as needed--cause look at that, he swiftly holds it reversed as a tonfa again to block Livio's gun swing, which is a really cool way to use a gun as a shield to protect his own flesh arm from the incoming blows.

But that's not all, because ahaaa~ Fighting defensively is not all he's got up his sleeve! The little boxing jab he throws to Livio's face with his prosthetic arm makes me giggle, because OH YEAH that's a real thing! A type of distraction strike you pull - the same as stomping on a foot or kicking someone in the balls, to disorient your opponent off-guard first before you serve your real (offensive) move. Which in Vash's case leads up to a....O___O;;!?!? TF is THAT.

Here's where they're teasing in more of that inhuman spice again, because Vash holds Livio's guns out of the way (as usual) and revs up for a....fucking one-punch to the solar plexus at point-blank?!? D8 Whatwhatwhatwhat!!! Because that wasn't his gun's doing at all; he was still holding it defensively in that arm as a tonfa! That was his real arm's natural brute strength bitch!!! aaaahaha!!! wow I love it. The guy modestly says he's not much of a fighter but that's not trueeee at all, is it~ ;) I can SEE real proof of that otherwise and I can't wait for what else studio orange will show us to blow our minds.

*Ahem* So anyway did I ever mention how much I like the way he reverses the grip on his gun to use as a tonfa? (both defensively as a shield to protect himself and offensively to stun/strike his opponents with) For thematically how much it seamlessly works for his fighting style to never kill, for how the improvised (but practiced!) close-range practicality and versatility of it looks crazy awesome, and because damn, that shit's hot.

[katiefrog217]

Once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool~) 🌈 🌈

Sorry for not getting to this sooner! I had a long and busy week and I needed some time to scroll through my follower list and pick out the cool peeps to tag in this (because I don't want to go barging into everyone's DMs/askbox). Also hi! I recognize your username! Loved the little thing you wrote for Good Omens! :))

Anyway! To start! 5 things I like about myself:

I'm self-aware (weird flex but ok). Seriously though, I at least try to be aware of all my bad habits/quirks so I can try to work on them (or at least, keep them to a minimum). I fail at it sometimes, but that's alright.

I'm enthusiastic about everything I love, and don't let age stop me. I will ramble on about my OTPs fight me.

I enjoy my art, all of it, even if its not the best. Don't get me wrong, I'm frustrated with it a lot.

I try to enjoy/engage with everything, even if it isn't my genre or hobby. I think people should be allowed to enthusiastically ramble on about the things they love, even if they don't interest me personally.

I'm a realistic optimist. That is, I always consider the worst things that could happen, and plan for the worst, but always hope that things will turn out for the best regardless. Its important to stay grounded in reality, but that doesn't mean we can't wish for the otherwise. That's just how I feel, anyway!

Ok! Now onto the hard part, the tagging of people. I could do this in DMs or send them an ask, but I think this works just as well. I can also just make you go and check out their pages this way ;)

@lickthecowhappy - one of the first people I followed and generally interacted with after returning to Tumblr. A real cool person, always liking and reblogging real niche Good Omens stuff. They also write good poetry!

@knifeforkspooncup - for being a real cool person to allow me to ramble in their DMs about the things I'm working on (unprompted). They are also a good artist and write some fantastic stuff! Go read it!!

@thatskindarough - For similar reasons to Knife, for letting me ramble on in their DMS like a madwoman about Good Omens and the fic I'm working on, and for suppling me ideas. They do some great art and are really fun, do go check them out!!

@darcydoesfuckall - I see them in my reblogs a lot, and I think they are an enthusiastic person who deserves to have their stuff seen more (they draw and do cosplay!!). Go check out their patreon and their Good Omens project at Qe-Podfic!

@ineffable-hyperfixation - Again, I always see them in my reblogs, and they are always up for interaction. A fun person! :D

@examishbookwyrm, @devotea, and GoodOmensDuh (Sorry I can't seem to tag the last one :( ). I don't always interact with these 3 much, but they pop up on my activity enough and I appreciate them being here :))

I know I'm supposed to do 10 but I can't think of any more rn, 8 will have to do sdfhjhjfdg

-SLAMS HAND DOWN

I GOT IT @kurisutt and @irradiatedwarlock are my last two! Because like the last few, they are always, always in my activity and I appreciate that they like my stuff enough to be a constant in my notifications!!

[imtrashraccoon]

Welcome to the Trashcan!

You can call me Tumble or just Raccoon if you want. (I previously called myself Trash but I suppose it could sound a bit mean lol) My icon was made by my friend @snowcoffeee and the background is by me.

I'm a writer and I do take requests between my projects, so if you have an idea, I'd love to hear it!

Feel free to request headcanons, drabble ideas, or just ask questions! I love engaging with you all! (My rules for requests will be under the cut, please read them before requesting anything.)

I have a side blog that I use for reblogging fan art and other cool Undertale stuff. You can follow it if you want but I do get a bit unhinged at times... @imtreasureraccoon

I post most of my longer stuff on AO3 so check that out if you like any of what I post here! (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

My Writing Masterlist is here if you want to see everything I've written so far!

My Headcanon Masterlist is here if you want to feel something about my boys!

#anon ask for the asks I've answered so far.

#raccoons drabbles is for my writing projects.

#raccoons headcanons is for my headcanons about the guys I write about.

#raccoons random garbage is for my attempts at art mostly.

#raccoons two cents is for the rare times I post about regular things that aren't Undertale related.

#raccoons future reference stuff is for posts I want to look at again soon.

I will write for any existing Undertale character, preferably those who have been in the fandom for a while or have easily accessible information so I can research them. I usually write Reader inserts (second person pov) but I can write OC's too.

The drabble will be at least 2,000 words but probably less than 3,000 words, depending on how much detail I end up going into.

I will not write:

Smut/graphic sexual content (I know a few of you are minors and I'm not comfortable writing that anyways.)

Anything endangering minors such as graphic violence or anything sexual.

Gore (Blood and injuries is fine, just nothing intense like torture.)

Incest, Sanscest, Papscest, or Fontcest. (You can ship what you like but I don't like any of these and I will not be writing them.)

Obvious kinks (I shouldn't have to list them all here but if they make me squirm, I am not writing them. Liking teeth or claws, pulling hair, or being slightly dominant in a situation are fine though.)

These are basic guidelines and I may add onto them if I realize I forgot anything. As much as it pains me, I cannot write everything and I have the right to reject your request if it makes me uncomfortable.

That said, I will write:

Reader x Character or OC x Character (I would prefer to write F/M as I am a female but I can write gender neutral too.)

Fluff (This is easily my favorite thing to write!)

Spicy (I also love writing this but I'm still new at it so no promises. Sex will be treated as a fade to black if you want that still.)

Frans or Soriel (I do ship these so long as everyone is consenting adults. I may consider other ships but no promises as I don't really ship any other non-canon pairings.)

Angst (I do like writing this, however, I can't promise it will be good. I prefer happy endings but if you want to see a character suffer, I can do that.)

I may also add onto this list if I remember something else.

Have any questions about something not listed here? Please shoot me a message!

I'm doing this for fun but I want you to enjoy the process as well. No promises how long these will take to write as I'm generally pretty busy. I will update these guidelines as needed and unless you don't want me to, I will be posting these requests on my AO3 as well as on here.

Thank you for reading this far if you did! (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

[may-bee-its-just-me]

Thank you all for the support on my last post 💛

This one is also to say, welcome! To my *not so new* Mod Blog! Ignore that I've had it for a hot minute already.

This blog is 13+ just like my main, so anyone following @lemon-sugarcoats-nothing can follow here for posts from myself, Bee. I'm going to limit Mod posts on main from here forward to eliminate clutter. Reblogs of non-pony stuff will also go here, and I might reblog my pony stuff here too that isnt related to my cast of characters.

Any mod posts regarding the main blog directly though, I'll try to reblog onto my main as well - so no need or pressure at all to follow if you're not interested in seeing all my personal junk. You won't be missing any context about uploads or character art! ^^

Maybe I'll even post behind the scenes of drawings??? im not sure yet, but this is just gonna be my messy mod blog

Follow if you'd like, or dont, i dont really care (Respectfully, of course)

-Bee

[stomach-rental]

Introductions + BYF

hello, hello and welcome to the blog! this is a quick post about pretty much everything you need to know around here. DNI and notes about me in my carrd under the cut, as well as tags and a general description of why this blog is here!

As a general disclaimer, I do not make NSFW content or content involving fatal vore. I will not necessarily block accounts that fall into either of these categories, but they do make me uncomfortable and I'd prefer that my posts weren't reblogged onto blogs that include those things, as I do not want minors that might follow my blog to be subjected to those things when scrolling through notes. Thanks.

If you are a g/t blog or a non-vore blog that does NOT want me to reblog their work, let me know-- I typically reblog g/t content and things related to the GID series that are not vore specific since this blog is a Getting in Deep blog First and a vore blog Second, but, I understand if you don't want your work to be mixed in with vore pieces, even if they are non-sexual in nature.

Additionally, I now have a ko-fi if you'd like to support me and some of the art I do for stuff like getting groceries, etc. (Some WIP posts may be shared there, too!)

Here's a site that has some general information about me along with the DNI! Please check it out first.

This is a fanblog for my currently 5 year strong hyperfixation on a series called Getting in Deep! It’s also just a blog to throw some of my favorite safe, non-sexual vore pieces and concepts, as well as some giant/tiny content that I think is cute. That being said, since this is essentially just a blog for me to flap hands about one of my favorite series, I will talk a LOT about GID and have long, long rambles about it at times. I've got ADHD and the hyperfocus is strong.

I’m also going to include a small disclaimer: any characters tagged gid or getting in deep are not owned by me! Louis Patriarch, William James Rowe, everyone else in those tags belongs to @/peachnewt, who you’ll be seeing a lot of on this blog. She’s the writer and creator of Getting in Deep, and she has the full series list here, if you want to read it!

I also will sometimes make changes to the main series canon or create headcanons that I've used to sort of pad out the characters when I draw them-- I refer to this alternative form of GID as Chicagoverse, because I originally had pictured the series in Chicago before learning it actually took place in Denver in a later update. These headcanons and changes are entirely self indulgent and are formed usually from roleplay scenarios, but I will talk about my interpretations for them regularly!

Taglist

Finally, here’s a short tag list I have set up for anyone interested! Generally I don’t tag major phobias or anything beyond general trigger warnings, so if you are a mutual and have a specific thing you need tagged, please let me know ahead of time.

#drawns - anything drawn by me

#asks - any asks or questions that are answered on this blog

#oc - my original characters

#gid - content I’ve created with characters from peachnewt

#sona - content with my personal sona characters that represent me

#commissions - commission updates

Specific Stories

#tsh - originally known as "the sisterhood", now rewritten into "Their Scattered Hosts". a complicated redemption story about scientifically modified creatures trying to grasp the spiritual world and the worst acts of humanity.

#perennial - a story I have been working on involving a gigantic creature in the middle of the earth, scientists struggling to cope with a dying world, and a bunch of kids in over their heads who were accidentally given shapeshifting abilities (but not in the way you'd think). A major point in this story is endosoma, but g/t will also be present regularly and vore sometimes slips in.

#mutualism - a world building story I have made with a couple of my friends, @/bathspaces and @/kuramons. humans no longer exist on this island-- the magical elements of the land have somehow taken its grip on the humans that came here long ago and transformed them into humanoid beasts that take after the forms of many birds, bugs, and other creatures in our normal world. it features vore + g/t as a major plot element and is in the process of being developed. ORIGINALLY known as #birds and bugs au , of which we wrote in our favorite fandom characters into this world rather than our own characters.

#tangibility - two guys fuck up. Badly. in their fight to try to kill each other for their own causes, they end up accidentally causing themselves to be shattered across space in time in a cosmic disaster. Their bodies no longer existing, they desperately search for anything that they can hold onto, finding that for the most part, there is only each other. No vore or g/t explicitly in this one, but it dabbles with body sharing, the multiverse, and a lot of weird stories, so it definitely can get into those elements at some point.

#dungeons and dragons - not necessarily an actual story, more of a mish mash of characters and stories that have played out in various d&d sessions over time. They usually all end up connecting somehow.

thank you for reading!! that’s all for now :D

[blindbeta]

Your Content and Accessibility For the Blind

Hello everyone! I was thinking about accessibility and wanted to make a post to help creators. This is going to cover general accessibility for blind people interacting with your content. Some of it may be obvious to some and this is by no means comprehensive, so feel free to add anything you think of that is helpful. Also, I wanted to include some ideas for DeafBlind people, but I am not DeafBlind or D/deaf, so I simply listed some general accessibility ideas. If anyone has any other tips or things to consider, please add them in a comment or message and I’ll include it here.

Remember, blindness exists on a spectrum. This post will focus on making things accessible for totally blind people, although these tips can also be beneficial for people with residual vision who use screen readers to reduce eye strain, for small text, for clarity, etc. D/deafness and DeafBlindness are also on spectrums. Some DeafBlind people have some hearing, some vision, a little of both, or none of either. If someone asks you for better or different accessibility services for your content, listen and try to accommodate them as best you can. I have provided some links and resources here to attempt to explain accessibility for blind people, which will include blind people who are DeafBlind. The point is accessibility issues can come from both sides whether it be the audio or visual sides.

Some general helpful links:

AFB’s Advice for image descriptions here

Screen-readers here

Improving Accessibility for the DeafBlind community here

How DeafBlind People Use Technology and The Importance of Braille and Transcripts: Understanding Assistive Technology

Online Content:

GIFs, Pictures, Fan-art, PSA and info posts, Memes, Screenshots of Text Posts or Screenshots of Twitter Threads- Provide an image description on your original post! This is the best option, as you probably know your content best and what you wish to draw attention to. More importantly, every reblog will include an image description, which means the blind person doesn’t need to hunt for an image description in the reblogs! If you know more than one language, include image descriptions in those languages.

Note: Always include descriptions when you post images with or about blind people or characters. Particularly fan-art you made of blind characters. If you don’t, consider why and think about how it would feel to be shut out of something about yourself.

What should you include?

Write Image Description in brackets and include End of Image Description at the end for clarification. As for what you should describe, it depends on what the picture is. Include where it is from. For example, “a screenshot of a Twitter thread by BlindBetaIsAwesome”. Include the text and describe any GIFs or images it includes. Write everything out as they appear. Describe emojis as well. When writing out screen names or hashtags, capitalize the first letter of each word. Otherwise screen-readers read it oddly. For example instead of #accessibilityfortheblind try #AccessibilityForTheBlind. If you think someone will want to search a name, include a link.

You should describe what is important in the image, especially for conveying information or humor. General ideas include: image origin, who is in the image, what they’re doing, any relevant colors or clothing, objects they’re holding, their facial expression, any emojis, and any text in the image. Blind people do like to know about color. For NSFW stuff, include ‘NSFW’ at the start, but other than that, yes, blind people also generally like NSFW things described.

Fanfiction:

Generally, fanfic is very accessible to screen-readers and Braille Displays. However, there are a few ways you can make it more accessible.

Pictures: Include alt-text for any images you post such as artwork or character social media posts. Describe it like you would any other image. Alt-text is different from an image description because instead of a screen-reader saying “image” when it finds an image, it will describe the image. An image description is the text included beneath the picture that everyone can see. Including some kind of description, especially for plot-relevant images, can allow all blind readers to experience the fic.

Chat conversations: Again, for hashtags and screen names, capitalize the first letter of each word for the ease of screen-readers. For characters who don’t use capitalization much, you can add a hyphen between each word to make it easier to read like this: blind-beta-likes-fanfic-too.

Emojis: Screen readers can’t fully read emojis like this one that uses keyboard slashes and symbols to create an image ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (image description: emoji of a person shrugging with both palms lifted upwards. End description.) However, they can read emojis that come on a phone such as 🧁which screen readers read as “cupcake”.

Podfics are also good for hearing people with no vision or reduced vision. Having a podfic with good quality (maybe one that can describe images found in the story) will reduce some of the issues listed here and give blind people another, fun way to interact with content. However, I would try to keep in mind the things I mentioned above for the sake of screen-readers and Braille Displays, which are particularly important for some DeafBlind people who may want to read your fanfic and may not be able to hear well enough to use a screen-reader.

Lastly, keep in mind that any kind of comic may be inaccessible to some blind people. Write with them in mind. Include a message at the start of the story, maybe that it contains material from the comic, graphic novel, or print cartoon. If you know of a comic dub, link to it. If there is none, include details in the story so that a non-manga or non-comic reader would be able to understand.

Web-Comics/Web-Graphic-Novels:

First, I did research and found a comic book store for the blind called Comics Empower. Unfortunately, when I click the link provided on Twitter and the articles I read, the site seems to be down.

However, this is about you all and sharing your comics with blind readers. You have a few options:

Alt-text. This is descriptions directly ‘inside’ the image, which is not visible to everyone. You can read about alt-text for comics specially here and you can read general info for alt-text for screen-readers and Braille Displays here.

Image descriptions. These are descriptions of each comic page (hopefully with a paragraph for each panel) that can be visible to anyone. You can describe your comic, who is in it, what they’re doing, and what they’re saying, probably beneath the image.

Comic Audio Performances. These are accessible to both blind and sighted audiences. These are videos using actors for the dialogue, sound effects, and moving comic panels. Pros for this style include increased viewership, increased accessibility for the blind, and perhaps more revenue if you have a way to monetize the content. Cons include that it is more work, could potentially cost money when hiring actors initially, may not be accessible to anyone with hearing loss, and may still require a bit of audio description for some panels that are hard to follow with only sound effects.

What can you do?

A few ideas I had were to use a combination of image descriptions and audio performances to make the comics accessible to a number of people who may be blind, or DeafBlind. Having options is helpful. For ther issue of some panels needing extra description in order to make sense, I thought of including time-stamps and descriptions in the description section, labeling it as image descriptions for the blind. Include dialogue for reference. Or an audio description could be added such as:

Audio narration: “Bee sits on a couch writing.”

Sound Effect of a purring cat.

Audio narration: “Blind Beta picks up an orange cat and puts him on the couch next to them.”

Dialogue: “I’m so glad I have a cat to cuddle with!”

I will touch on this in the video section, but while it is sadly not possible to add audio descriptions onto YouTube as of 2021, you can add them manually through websites you like YouDescribe. For your comics, I suggest, reading about YouDescribe, downloading the app, creating a narration transcript for your web comic performance, and posting the described audio performance onto YouDescribe. Post both versions as close to the same time as you can, and include a link to the described version in the YouTube description. A glance at YouDescribe will tell you not all videos are available with descriptions and not all blind people are aware of this service. Not all videos are searchable in their library either. However, it is an option I wanted to include.

You could also simply include the audio narration in your main YouTube video if you would like. Or any combination of my suggestions you feel comfortable with.

YouTube Videos/Video Clips:

I wanted to cover YouTube videos and video clips shared on websites like tumblr. For small clips, image descriptions and transcripts could probably be listed together. I have seen this done and it seems to help people.

Again, the original poster should post the description with the video. This is because they know the most important parts and because all reblogs of the post will include the description, so no one will have to hunt down a description that may not exist.

For the clip or clip compilation, mention where the clips come from, who is in them, and what they are doing. You could probably have a separate paragraph for each clip and include times-stamps if possible.

For videos you post on YouTube, descriptions can be very helpful! Unfortunately, YouTube does not support adding an audio description track at this time. Ideally, YouTube would have a description track one could turn on and off such as with subtitles. Until then, if you want to add a description, you should add one yourself when you post the video onto YouTube or any other website.

Before I get into how, let’s go over something else.

What videos need descriptions?

-Recipe videos - especially ones with only text. Ingredients, steps, measures, methods, any flourishes or special scenery (such as when shopping for ingredients) should be described. Blind people don’t just want you to read the recipe to them. They want to know what is happening in the video and how it is being done.

-Tutorials - These often contain a voice-over and accompanying images to demonstrate. A creator can opt to simply include more visual description along with the other information in the voice-over or add extra narration later (see the “How?” section below). For these videos, make sure to avoid or expand on any visually dependent parts such as “click here” or “fold here” or “when you finish, it should look like this”. Videos that contain only text and demonstration, however, will need a more traditional audio description the same as any other video.

-Silent aesthetic videos - Sometimes containing music or focusing on natural noise, these videos are usually vlogs with soothing activities or daily routines. They often show scenery, pretty things, or tours. Because these videos are silent, sometimes containing only text, they are not accessible. However, they can be easy to describe, perhaps in a soothing or educational fashion.

-Music videos - Because these videos are by nature visual, they may not be accessible. They may also have inconsistent, poor, or changing lighting for aesthetic purposes or set changes. This means audio descriptions would be helpful.

-Text-based videos - Obviously these are not accessible or may be difficult to read depending on font size, style, or background. For these, putting the text in the description may suffice. Label it so that blind people are aware they are getting the same material. If the text includes pictures or short clips, you could also simply include your own narration on the video itself or see the “How?” section below for another alternative.

-Game Play-Throughs - Games can sometimes be completely inaccessible pe very difficult depending on the person’s level of site. A lot of video games a not accessible or difficult to play, with quick-moving graphics, perhaps small text, or other difficulties. Because of this, blind people may enjoy game plays on YouTube for video games and mobile games.

-Skits or other performances - Think of these as Netflix shows with audio description tracks. Blind people may miss out on some visual humor, plot elements, or other fun visual aspects like costumes.

-Original Films, Animation, Clips From Shows - Again, think of it as any TV show that needs to description to cover visual aspects of what is happening. Scenery, characters, what they’re doing, any text, facial expressions, etc.

Pet videos- Because pets are cute and they should be described! Especially because these videos are sometimes hard to follow, such as a pet doing a trick.

How? How Do We Provide This?

There is always the option to add your own audio descriptions. However, that way confuse already-existing narration or may not be possible for already-published videos. You may also have trouble speaking and wish for someone else to provide audio descriptions. The video may be a music video or one you want to remain silent for the aesthetic. You may want to add a description to a video you enjoy that is not one you uploaded personally.

A free website and mobile app called YouDescribe can help with that. It allows people to add audio descriptions to videos on YouTube. You can even describe videos on a wishlist. Find out more here.

If you describe your video or have it described, be sure to link to the YouDescribe video in the description of your YouTube version so that people can find it easily, or note that it is available on YouDescribe.

Here is a link to the website

And a link to the app.

This site may be a bit too niche, but I figure if it helps one person, I’ll be happy. My entire blog is niche, when you think about it- targeting writers who specifically want to write and read about blind characters. It’ll be fine.

Keep in mind that audio descriptions may not be accessible to all DeafBlind people. An inclusive option could be to include a description under your video so people with Braille Displays can read it.

Print Books, Audiobooks, Large Print Books, or Braille Books?

Let’s get into something you writers might be interested in. Books! Let’s say you wrote a book with a blind character. How do you make sure it can be accessed by blind readers? You want to have a few options.

Print books - These are accessible to people with reduced vision. It is also possible to scan print books to read with voiceover, but I can’t imagine many people buying books simply to scan unless they borrowed/found it. So it could be an option, I suppose. Scanning books also takes time because you need to do each individual page.

Audiobooks - Audiobooks are great. They are accessible to blind people who can hear. They are cheaper to produce than Braille books, take up less space, and are better for the environment. They can be expensive when you buy them. Libraries have extensive collections now, however, because libraries don’t usually have any Braille books and very few large print books, not all blind people use them, even for digital access. However,many blind people love audiobooks so it a good way to make sure your content is accessible.

As of now, my library app is accessible with a screenreader, so reading audiobooks is possible. E-books are not currently accessible with a screen-reader on this particular app.

Make sure to release your print books and audiobooks at the same time or as soon as possible. It isn’t fair for blind people to have to wait, although there are cases where not having an audiobook is understandable. Keep in mind that the less options you have, the less accessible your content will be.

Large Print Books - I used to get large print books myself. I would say it is less likely publishers will want to publish large print books because they are, of course, larger and take up more space. (Not as much as Braille books, but we’ll get into that.) As you may assume, they are also less popular with readers. Publishers make exceptions for textbooks, so if you are making a textbook or an educational book, particularly one with drawings, publishers might allow it. They also might consider making large print editions of children’s books. Large print books can sometimes be found at libraries, although they are usually crammed into their own limited section. That shows how rare it is for large print books to be printed compared to regular-sized books. I have an extra note about this in the children’s book section, but for the most part, I think you can get away with not having a large print edition of your book.

Braille Books - I should you one doesn’t just make a Braille book. Feelings toward them are generally complicated. They can wear down over time, cost a lot, and take up a lot of space. One volume of a book is several volumes of Braille books. Libraries don’t generally have them- you have to request them from various places like The National Library Service for the Blind (NLS). For more information about obtaining or borrowing Braille books, look here.

Braille Books have largely been replaced by refreshable Braille displays and audiobooks. However, they are still important. They can also help DeafBlind people, if a book cannot be read on a Braille display (see the section on e-books below). My suggestion would be to skip Braille books unless you are writing for children (see the Children’s Books section) or your book contains many diagrams that need to be embossed.

Children’s Books -

I wanted to briefly discuss children’s books. With children’s books, you will, of course, want to have a print book and an audiobook available, perhaps even someone reading the book on YouTube. If the book has pictures, descriptions of the pictures would be nice. This is also where I think large print and Braille books may be not only possible or more likely, but important. Children are just learning to read and will continue to explore a love for reading. Therefore, a lack of reading material can be challenging.

If possible, you may want to consider asking your publisher if large print or Braille versions are possible. While websites are available so that children can get books, you may want to ask for your book to be published in these formats if your story has a blind MC.

Braille literacy is declining in the blind community, with children (and frankly many others) choosing to use VoiceOver and audiobooks to read rather than Braille. Being able to read helps reinforce spelling, grammar, meaning in ways that are not possible with having things read to you. That said, children should also be encouraged to learn technology and use audiobooks when they feel comfortable.

If you are publishing a children’s book, particularly with a blind MC, consider what your options are for increasing accessibility.

E-Books:

This is one of the more accessible options, as it can be read with a screen-reader or Braille display. E-books are also common enough that they are released at the same time as print books. The text can usually be adjusted and readers usually have a Search feature. However, accessibility is still a problem with e-books. While authors cannot fix this, they should be aware of it. You can read about accessibility issues here.

-

I hope all this helped somewhat. I provide sensitivity reading for blind characters for anyone who is interested.

[shezzaspeare]

Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

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SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

[borkthemork]

Color Symbolism - How Steven’s Shirts Portray Different Portions of His Life

A quiet musing from last night had me thinking about this and I knew I had to do a bit more in explaining. But basically, throughout the three main SU mediums — the main SU show, the SU movie, and SU Future — we all know the main color schemes Steven adorns himself regarding his star shirts. We have salmon pink, bright blue, and the heavy black he likes to tow around, but looking into the way these colors were implemented is what we will dive into.

Color themes and symbolism are very potent with Steven Universe. From the use of pinks, yellows, whites, blues, and the menagerie of other colors we could think of, Rebecca Sugar and the crew put a lot of deliberate thought into the design, especially on a thematic level.

For Steven, not only do his shirts represent a very iconic symbol towards the show as a whole, but it represents the main arcs and emotional statuses of our main character throughout the show’s running.

Edit (11/30/19): For sourcing, I’ll be putting the links to stuff I’m referring to in my reblogs. However, my post already got hit off the radar because of Tumblr’s broken algorithm, so if you liked this post then I would be grateful if you could help reblog and spread the word as well!

And with that, let’s begin.

Pink - The Arc of Innocence and Nurture

Pink harbors a lot of connotations regarding femininity in Western culture (and even a good load of masculine connotations in Eastern tradition) but it has a lot more than that under its belt.

It represents tenderness, cultivation, gentle love, nurture, safety, optimism, strength, but most importantly the color itself is seen as non-threatening, calming to one’s eyes, inviting to people.

But with this optimism comes the consequences of lack of awareness or vision. How do you think the concept of rose-colored glasses ever came about? It’s always the idealism or ignorance of the person that allows them to not see red flags or the reality of it all.

And with that, we could start connecting this to Steven Universe.

Throughout the five seasons, this boy always had this priority of being involved with the people and figures in his life as a therapeutic role model. He wants to heal the corrupted gems; he sees empathy and nuance in people’s struggles, and this mindset definitely kept going up to the point of CYM and onwards.

He sees the best in people and wants to encourage them to get onto the path of improvement and healing. There’s definitely innocence at the start, even if his life and the show’s antagonists challenged him to the brink.

However, the lack of vision could be found way back to the start of episode one. Season one was a slow burn of information since the POV showed that his family dynamic was never challenged to him because y’know, it’s his family, they’re gems, and they fight monsters. It portrays his mother as an amazing person to his parental figures, a martyr who loved everything and everyone. There doesn’t seem much for him to challenge at the start because that’s what his reality is, his status quo. He never questioned it. Why would he challenge something that he believes is the norm?

Of course, this illusion of a perfect family does get chipped away. With each episode that showed his family as flawed — with the world around him starting to expand more with information, his understanding towards the severity of the situation and what his status is gets questioned.

Steven will continue to keep his cheerful paradigm, but weariness has implanted a seed into him (among many other emotional issues from upbringing, but we’ll talk about that farther along).

Blue - Stability and Tranquility

The contexts for blue could vary a lot. Very polarizing definitions such as the relation to inebriation, water, and everything in between could dampen the straight-forward process on how to analyze the color associations further; it makes sense for this polarization since the use of it in the ancient and contemporary world isn’t rare, particularly in its application towards clothing, art, and other forms of creation.

But what we’re going to focus on is the sky (or light) blue, the one that Steven tows around before and amid the SU movie. It’s a color that’s mainly associated with the sky, hence the listed qualities found.

”Light (sky) blue: peace, serenity, ethereal, spiritual, infinity (The origin of these meanings is the intangible aspects of the sky.)” -Color Matters

Jill Morton, a color psychologist, also states that the color has a connection to conservatism, passivity, security, and introversion (which are important for later).

For now, let’s talk about Steven and his main goals.

Steven, throughout his two years of intergalactic diplomacy, became focused on bringing about a new form of Homeworld, cited in the game as him deteriorating the former authority doctrine and allowing people to do activities that aren’t limited by their former caste system. And with this, he brings forth the aim of peace and tranquility.

Cue the events of SU the Movie. Now at 16, Steven has been hinted to have never had full-on rest for the past two years he’s been doing his duties to the Era 3 reformed Homeworld. In his announcement, he declares that he wants to finally go back now that everything with the former empire is stable enough for them to function without him.

His main goal now is to relax, have time for himself, and gain his “happily ever after”. And we all know that this attachment to this idea will be played out for much of the storyline, to where it becomes one factor for him in a whole slew of others that prevents him from channeling his gem capabilities.

The catalyst towards him returning is through the concept of change, the ability for him to grow and adapt even throughout the trauma and pressure; Steven, in this movie, however, didn’t realize this because he was already at a state of his life where he just wanted a break from the morphing status quo. He wants a moment to himself, away from the anxiety of responsibilities placed on his shoulders at the age of bloody 14, and overall, just allowing himself to be a kid again.

Yet, even with him helping Spinel and returning life back to the Earth’s poisoned areas, Steven admits to the prospect of never having a happily ever after, and that he’ll “always have more work to do”.

This is where the color of his shirt changes, and with it, the break of Steven’s ideal stability.

Black - Aggression, Power, and Death

But with the expectation of stability for Steven’s life crushed after the events of the movie, I found it very interesting that his blue shirt wasn’t seen or even used anywhere from the stills and trailer shots we’ve seen.

This could be a deliberate usage on Rebecca’s part to discern SU Steven, SU Movie Steven, and SU Future Steven, but I’d like to believe that in-universe, Steven’s wanting to change into black-colored apparel is a mental choice on his part. For black, in color psychology, is a color that protects...and conceals.

“In color psychology this color gives protection from external emotional stress. It creates a barrier between itself and the outside world, providing comfort while protecting its emotions and feelings, and hiding its vulnerabilities, insecurities and lack of self confidence.” -Empoweredbycolor

A great deal of SU content creators have pointed out that Steven, for the entirety of his own life, has been brought up with the idea that emotional vulnerability, no matter how potent or minuscule, can become a weapon or a pain for not only their own being but for the people around them.

I can’t delve too much into it, sadly, but I will link to posts that commentate more on this in my reblogs.

His upbringing has brought him to the paradigm of repression, where his own priorities and needs are swept to the side for other people — even extending to the whole body of Homeworld because of the way he handled his diplomacy. He had to solve other peoples’ problems; he placed himself rock bottom in importance, and now he’s suffering the consequences for it.

Out of all the pieces of symbolism here, black is the most void and mysterious because of its absence of color. It’s used a good amount of the time as a motif of authority, power, and fear, but the ones I’d like to hone in on are death and the concept of being overwhelmed.

Now, we have no clear indication over how the series will go but hear me out. I don’t think a physical death would apply in this situation but more of a metaphysical death — a death of one’s current self.

We find Steven at a crossroads: it will bring his personal imbalance out in the worst ways, and through the fact that the sypnosis foretells of him handling powers uncontrollable by his cognition, then we know that this is a force that’ll bring him into strife over who he is and what he wants.

What does he truly want for his future and how will he come about it?

In Joseph Campbell’s template called The Hero’s Journey, a hero’s death has to come about by a new revelation, a new form of meaning and objective than what they originally intended. The death of one idea will then lead to the true answer, something new the character hasn’t explored but wants to explore since the concept’s been there from the beginning, yet needed a push for it to be unveiled.

”Black is the end, but the end always implies a new beginning. When the light appears, black becomes white, the color of new beginnings.” -Empoweredbycolor

If Steven has been chasing for a happily ever after for most of his life, then a paradigm shift will have to occur.

He must face the brunt of his problems, and in this, he’ll find the answer.

[sorry-but-we-have-moved]

🌟✨𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓰 𝓜𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓽✨🌟

Hi and welcome! I’m Lillian, and this is my main blog. I used to run @j00nkr4t before it was flagged for sensitive media (i protested the NSFW ban). Since my older blog represents a time when i was much more bigoted, and i’ve grown as a person, i opted for a fresh start. With that out of the way...

🛑 D O  N O T  I N T E R A C T with me if you are: 🛑

Under 18

MAP/Pear/pedophile

MAGA/Trump supporter

Anti-BLM

LGBTQIA+ exclusionist

Aphobic

Terf/Truscum/Transmed/Transphobic

Pro-life

Fatphobic

Pro-Blue Lives Matter

Panphobic

Proana/thinspo/meanspo

LGB/Trans-exclusionist/THAT kind of radfem

Enbyphobic/Non binary exclusionist

Pro Autism Speaks

Ableist

Anti MOGAI

Some stuff about me (I’ll try and update this as regularly as possible. Bigger sections separate blog info from personal info):

⚪ Anon? ⚪

I never go on anon to be honest. I’m gonna say what i say and show that it’s me saying it. However, i allow anon asks, so if you’re a little shy or whatever go ahead!

🎂 Birthday 🎂

March 11, 1996.

🐱 Cats or dogs? 🐶

😻 Cats! I love dogs too (Huskies especially!), but i’m a certified crazy cat lady. Currently caring for a calico, her name is Fornia. Like California. (’cause we live here)

🟪 Discord/Twitch 🟢

🄰🄽-🄸🄶🄼🄰 #2173

In addition i run a couple discord servers, Memescene and ArticleArchive.

ArticleArchive: https://discord.gg/z6jtvhKQRA - For educational purposes. We archive images and articles from Wikipedia, Wikimedia, and other sources to compile free information for people in studies. - Subjects like LGBT+, biology, topography, world cuisine and more are discussed and archived! 13+ MemeScene: https://discord.gg/nY4EpSe - Purely for sharing, creating and consuming meme media. Was started on April Fool’s day 2019 and has gained a small following! 13+ MyMOGAI: https://discord.gg/Y54C3Pae25 - I’ve recently started a new blog, @my-mogai​, which aims to represent little-known or little-supported branches of the LGBTQIA+ community, while also giving fandoms a boost of inclusiveness. 18+

https://www.twitch.tv/zourcherri

🎬 Favorite Film Genres? 🎬

Horror, Animation, Sci-Fi, Paranormal and some Romance and Comedy. Oh, and be sure to recommend me any good Musicals you find as well!

👾 Favorite Games? 👾

Terraria Final Fantasy 12 Borderlands 2/PreSequel Team Fortress 2 Nier: Automata Kingdom Hearts 1 SimCity

🐾 Furry? 🐾

🐾 Furry, 100%! (And it doesn’t mean i want to do anything inherently s*xual or gross. It just means i really like anthro character designs!) I have alot of furry OCs as well, which i’ll eventually get around to introducing.

🎮 Game Fandoms? 🎮

Borderlands, Animal Crossing, Kingdom Hearts, Nier, Final Fantasy, Gex, Monster Hunter, Terraria, Halo, Crash Bandicoot, Driver, Telltale, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Rhythm Heaven, Ace Attorney, Gosh there’s alot of ‘em to name here. I also love to discuss game lore, so feel free to send asks or DMs related to that stuff!

Hobbies

🎨 Art - Some traditional, but mostly digital and 3D. - I now have two side blogs i use, specially made for posting artwork and sharing other’s art. (l3m0n-l4dy, strawberry-scented-psx-logo) 🍴 Cooking - Started small, but now i have over 50+ original recipes. I’ll share one every now and then. - I’ll also share cooking tips and hacks. 🔊 Micspam - Be careful if you use Discord servers like Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant, PUBG/PUBG Mobile or Black Ops; i frequent these. I’ll post compilations of my micspam escapades from time to time. - I’ve also recently begun doing audio mashups and edits. 📷 Photography - I take out a digital camera sometimes to snap a pic of something outside i find neat, film some clouds, or take photos of animals. 📄 Writing - Another hobby i’m insecure about. I have a ton of drafts i add onto and add onto, but hardly ever share with anyone. Hopefully soon, i will. - I recently started an AO3 account, so this is picking up some steam at least.

📝 Nicknames? 📝

I’ve decided to start going by Cherri/Anigma.

But you can also call me Crystal, Krystal, or cry/krystie.

💞 My Besties 💞

Let me know if you want added to/removed from this list!

@kamkairo @handsome-jackoff @silverdashipper @angiethewitch @rust-4-life @gofficangel @of-faunsandyellowflowers @moniiirose @redback-phoenix-the-raptor @ginger-the-espeon​ @handsome-jackoff​ @michellespenscratchz​ @trans-bloblobber​

💌 My Favorite Blogs! 💌

Let me know if you want added to/removed from this list!

@snowysaur @dp2282 @fairy-space @shitposts-from-the-borderlands​ @politijohn @p4radox99 @cort3d​ @handsomepeacock​ @mens-rights-activia​ @sleepypotatostudio​ @captainshivers​ @holographicai​ @bastardfrog27​ @97tysons-trans-rat-emporium​ @fairy-space​ @mspareader​ @yinx1​ @thecutestdinosaur​

💕 Partner 💕

@p0rtalmadness is everything to me. I feel what a puppy feels when their human comes home to them with you. Love you, want you, need you. All the way.

We’re an open relationship, but we normally don’t bring it up until both sides are comfortable!

🕚 Queue 🕚

I didn’t use the queue that much until recently. It works, but i have to fight the queue menu sometimes to get it to work properly lol. Expect some posts and reblogs to be automatically posted from 3 - 7 AM, or 1 - 9 PM. There may be a few odd-hour posts here and there.

Sexuality

Pan all the way!

Side Blogs:

@strawberry-scented-psx-logo​ (Stims) @lime-psx-logo​ (Games) @l3m0n-l4dy​ (Fandoms)

...In closing...

Content posted is highly inconsistent, and a majority is just reblogs. In order to navigate my original works, use my URLs as tags.

Right now, i don’t have submissions enabled (on strawberry i do, just not this blog). I just don’t see what COULD be submitted as content. But, if i figure out something in the future, then you’ll see the option appear on my blog.

[hms-chill]

“I got you a trophy, it’s only plastic, but it’s for being the best human I know.” for fluffy firstprince ❤️

It starts as a joke; the youth shelter needed prizes for a fundraiser talent show and the set of trophies came with one more than they need. Alex has a hard week coming up, so Henry takes it home with him, and when Alex gets home from his first day at a new internship, Henry is there with take out from Alex’s favorite restaurant. After they’ve eaten and Henry has heard about how much Alex likes the internship, Henry goes to get dinner and comes back with a trophy full of ice cream.

“I got you a trophy, it’s only plastic, but it’s for being the best human I know. I’m proud of you, and I’m so glad you like the internship.”

Alex laughs, pulling Henry in for a hug. 

Henry thinks that’s the end of it, but two days later, he’s finishing up an essay about queer history for Teen Vogue when Alex comes in to hug him from behind, setting the little trophy in front of him. 

“I got you a trophy. It’s for being the smartest, most amazing person I know.” 

 Henry laughs, finishing his last sentence before leaning back into Alex’s chest and letting him reach around to scroll back up, reading through the article before Henry sends it off. This is Henry’s favorite part of finishing an article, and the he sets the little trophy up on the edge of his desk with a smile, then relaxes back into Alex’s arms.

Alex’s first voter registration canvassing trip with the congresswoman he’s working for is that weekend, and he comes home drenched in sweat but grinning. Henry greets him with a trophy full of Mexican Coke. 

“I got you a trophy, for working so hard and getting so many people registered to vote. I know how much it mattered to you, and I’m so proud.”

Alex smiles, finishing the Coke before he pulls Henry in for a disgustingly sweaty hug. Henry wants to complain, but Alex is so happy he can’t bring himself to whine. David, who’d gone with Alex wearing a bandana supporting the congresswoman, is licking the sweat off Alex’s leg, and Henry bends down to rub his ears. The trophy takes up residence on Alex’s nightstand. 

It lives there until one morning, Henry needs to focus on writing after a long night, so Alex finds him as he’s making coffee in the kitchen. This wouldn’t be an issue, except that Alex finds him just as he’s pouring a dash of vinegar into it. His excuses that it’s what Victor Hugo did and that it takes the bitterness out of the coffee don’t have any effect on Alex’s indignation. He disappears shaking his head, then returns to plonk the plastic trophy down in front of Henry.

“I got you a trophy. It’s for making the worst, most offensive fucking coffee known to man. I’m personally offended by that cup of coffee. I hope you’re happy.”

Henry just laughs, drinking his non-bitter coffee before kissing Alex. Alex complains, whining that he can taste the horror coffee on Henry’s breath. Henry just laughs, taking the trophy with him as he goes up to the office to get started. 

He already has a plan for how he’ll get the trophy back to Alex. It will take some work, and probably some help from Nora, but he knows exactly the way to do it. 

They’re scheduled to go to the Lake House for a week soon, and Alex doesn’t notice when Henry slips the trophy into his suitcase. They fly down, and Alex doesn’t know what’s coming, but Henry does. He knows it will go well, but he’s still nervous. Asking Alex to marry him is hardly the same as making bad coffee or having a successful voter registration trip, after all. Alex wants to marry him; when Henry talked to Nora she told him that Alex wants to ask but doesn’t want to feel like he’s making Henry choose between getting married and staying a prince. So Henry’d bitten the bullet, and he’s looked into what it would mean to abdicate, and he knows he wants a big gay wedding in Westminster but once that’s done he’s ready to step down. He needs Parliament’s permission, but he doesn’t doubt he’ll get it, and Bea has promised to make sure whatever royal funds he would get go to the same charitable causes he’s already supporting. He’s ready, assuming Alex says yes.

It rains their first night at the Lake House, so they spend it inside, playing Mexican Train and other games Oscar bought for the house. But the next, it’s a clear night, so once the sun has fully set, Henry pulls Alex up and out to the pier. The first time they were here like this, Henry ran. He let his fear get the best of him, and instead of letting himself admit that a relationship with Alex was even remotely possible, he disappeared. Now, though, Alex’s hand is in his, and he’s not letting go. 

It’s still a bit cold to swim this late, so they kick off their shoes and let their feet dangle in the water, taking in the peace and quiet of this place.

“I got you something,” Henry says after a moment. Alex looks at him, and with his feet in the lake and the fireflies around his head, he looks like a nature spirit that five year old Henry would have pretended he didn’t have a crush on. “It’s a trophy. It’s for being the best person I know, and the best part of my life. It’s for being the person I love more than anyone, who saw me for everything I am and loved me anyway. It’s for being the love of my life and the person who makes everything better. It’s for being the person I want to spend my life with. It’s... there’s something inside, and it’s to ask you if you want to spend your life with me, too. I love you, and I want to scream it to the world in the loudest, most public, most permanent way I can imagine. I--”

“Yes. Yes, absolutely, yes. I love you so much.”

“I didn’t even ask yet,” Henry laughs, taking the ring Alex has pulled out of the trophy to hand him. 

“Sorry. I’ll... I’ll let you, but...”

“Alex Gabriel Claremont-Diaz, if I abdicate, will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you; I-- if you what? You’d... you’d abdicate for me?”

Henry’s in the process of sliding the ring onto Alex’s finger, and he looks up. “I was planning on it. So you can run for congress and become the best politician this country has ever seen.”

Alex only waits until the ring is fully on his finger to pull Henry in for a kiss. 

The second they’re back to the house, Alex is admiring the ring in the light. It’s a simple band, gold, but there’s something familiar about it that he can’t quite place. 

“It... it was my dad’s wedding ring. When I told them I wanted to ask you to marry me, Bea and Philip and Mum all agreed that--” Alex cuts him off for the second time that night, this time with a kiss. Henry melts into it, feeling the last of his worries about the proposal fading away, leaving only the question of why he’d ever had them in the first place.

--

Fun fact; putting vinegar in his coffee is an actual thing Victor Hugo did! Cursed fact; it’s not bad!

Also, royal men apparently don’t traditionally wear wedding rings, but if there’s one couple before Alex and Henry to break with tradition to show off how in love they are, I feel like it’s Arthur and Catherine (especially because Arthur’s not originally a royal and might not even be fully aware that they’re breaking tradition). 

--

Requests are now closed, because it’s been a week and a half and I don’t know how y’all keep finding that prompt list but I’m tired. I’m glad you like my writing! I am! But also I have other things I should focus on, so they’re closed until I reblog another prompt list and don’t have to keep scrolling through all my old stuff to find it.

--

Want to support the Hannah Makes Art fund? You can tip me in ko-fi here!

[arethereanyoriginalusernames]

I’m sorry

I’m sorry to my followers, my mutuals, and most of all, to put I call friends. I’m so, so sorry

I know at least one person’s going to want to reblog this, saying that I’m not a shitty person. Well, this post is for you I guess. I hate just being here, trying to convince myself and others that I’m a good person, but really I’m not. I’ve ruined potential friendships and actual friendships over and over again. All because I want people to validate me, because I want people to pay attention to me, because I think that what I think needs to be shared with everyone.

I’ve wasted people’s energy, time, and I think I might have ruined at least one person’s offline life because I thought I could help them when I had no place to do so.

If for whatever reason you don’t think I’m awful after this, well I guess I can’t stop you. But I hope that this might finally get people to recognize that I’m not someone worth supporting. Enjoy my content if you want, but don’t pretend that I am, by myself, an enjoyable person.

1. My “contribution” to the Zoophobia fandom

You know, there’s nothing on my blog that I’m more ashamed of than my Zoophobia critiques? Back when I first started on tumblr, my pretentious ass thought that I was going to be super special and become “a zp critic who didn’t hate Vivziepop and enjoyed her content”.

Yes, I was that up my own ass.

At the time, the only zp critics I knew of were the ones on the bad wiki forums and the late Zoophobia Critiques account. Which, for the record, I still agree that a lot of the criticism gave there was super spiteful and overblown. I gave the excuse that we could learn how to improve our own writing by analyzing works we love when I was criticizing a 4 and a half chapter webcomic the creator wasn’t proud of.

You know, I’m at a loss for how nobody has called my critiques out for being misinformed, disorganized, poorly spelt, and like someone who just heard of writing criticism and was parroting stuff they heard on a YouTube video. My criticism of how Addison’s ptsd was handled was disgusting, and my criticism of Jack was vague and was clearly a reach.

And my non critical Zoophobia content wasn’t even that good. I made a bunch of nothing posts that only discussed a couple or one character ever, and they were so stupid.

Then there’s how I acted during the pre Hazbin Hotel Vivziepop drama. You know, where I acted like a deluded three year old? Voicing “my concerns”, and totally not babbling a bunch of nonsense and pushing it onto others. I remember how one former mutual of mine, Lisaury, rightfully “burst my bubble” (that’s how they put it) by pointing out my flawed information.

I honestly don’t blame Lisaury for never talking to me again. God, I barely spoke to her to begin with. Just sent her worthless post after worthless post.

My “criticisms” of Vivziepop were idiotic at best, and now? Zoophobia and criticism of it may have resurfaced thanks to Bad Luck Jack, but this only made me realize how nothing my posts were.

Other critics would just call me a wishy washy sheep, and fans would rightfully see me as an idiot if I posted now what I posted then. Ever since the short, I’ve been fearful of someone finally pointing out my bullshit, making it clear to everyone how awful my content was. And I feared it because I knew it was true. I just didn’t want other people to realize it.

Fuck, you’d at least expect someone to notice how much of a dickhead I was when critiquing people’s fanfics.

-

2. Art / characters

In 2020, someone invited me to join an art discord, and I created an account to do so. This discord had actual artists, many who had been to art school. So when my self taught, delusional self posted art into a criticism channel, they rightfully tore it to shreds. Called it out for the lacklustre, mediocre anime garbage it was. Gave me advice, and pointed out exactly what was wrong with it. One person made a very accurate description of it. “It looks like something someone drew on those shitty phone apps without a pencil”. And they were right.

And how did I react?

I had a meltdown, deleted a bunch of my art and posts, ran crying to a bunch of people, desperate for validation, because I, someone who made criticism posts, couldn’t handle actual criticism. And the same group rightfully called me out on it. I lost the log in info for my first account, so I don’t interact with that group anymore, but I should have listened. They rightfully pointed out how all my male characters looked like traps and how my art lacked any artistic skill. And what did I do? I screenshoted what they said and showed it to others, like “omg, pity me!”

I can’t look at my old art without wanting to vomit. I still can’t understand how anyone can enjoy what I make, despite people telling me that they do. Especially when they make better art than I ever could.

And despite how shit it looks, I just shove art and all posts I make in people’s face, because they “have to look at it and pay attention to it”

-

3. Such a great “friend”

I don’t have conversations with people anymore. The majority of my Tumblr conversations are filled with me sending post after post after post, weeks with just my fucking stupid posts, because they totally matter so much. I barely have any conversations with anyone anymore, and I don’t even return the favour of reblogging their content. Because after all, I need my friends with bigger follow counts to reblog my stuff. That’s the only way my posts get attention and I get validation, after all. Seriously, look at posts reblogged by eclecticcoyote, and compare the notes there to those he doesn’t.

If I didn’t constantly send people like him posts, expecting a reblog, I probably wouldn’t have followers. I know my content wouldn’t get any attention without his help, and I feel disgusting because it just feels like I’m taking advantage of someone’s audience.

Although it’s probably better I don’t talk to people whatsoever. One friend I have... well had, I don’t expect him to contact me ever again. I’ll refer to him as B for now. B was dealing with issues related to his mental health and offline life. I initially reached out to him after he made a post about having no friends

And then I didn’t message him for a while and was surprised when he told coyote that he felt like I didn’t care about him.

I started crying at him like “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry” (no I’m not kidding). I ended up talking with him through several emotional break downs, because I didn’t want him to kill himself. I had the nerve to talk like I knew what I was talking about during those times. I gave unhelpful advice, like “go for a run”, “punch a pillow”, etc. Hell, one time, I had the audacity to say that it felt impossible to talk to him because it didn’t seem like he wanted to listen to people trying to help him, and that he only heard what he wanted to hear.

And I shoved my personal issues onto him as well. Because, again, my life is so important.

Then, at some point he developed feelings for me. I don’t feel the same way about him. And at this point, he sees me as one of the people who have helped him out the most with his issues (ironic, considering how I likely just made his life worse). So, what did I do when he confessed to me?

Oh, you know, instead of being mature and responsible, I panicked, got another friend involved because “I don’t know how to deal with this 😭😭😭”, made B upset and depressed all over again, and I basically got someone else involved in what was a personal moment for him, betraying his trust and throwing privacy out the window.

I tried to apologize the next morning, but it was too late. I honestly hope he doesn’t try to contact me again, and realize that I have, and can only make his life worse.

I constantly keep freezing out friendships on here by not actually talking to people and just sending them post after post. Recently, one person who reached out to me and tried to be my friend? Looking at past conversations with her, I come off as disinterested in her and dismissive. I might not have intended to, but...

Oh, and then Coyote invited me to his discord server. I recently started deleting all my posts on there, so that nobody would have to waste time scrolling through my bullshit. I shit you not, I would go on essay long tangents about my characters and art, while, comparatively, the attention I gave to others’ content was close to none. And in the first couple months there? I still tried to help people when I clearly couldn’t.

For fucks sake, I even dragged people there into my own personal irl drama when they didn’t need it. The night I self harmed in front of my parents, I should have kept it to myself because I. Knew. That people there would become distressed by it. But nope, because my problems are so important.

I would say dumb shit that ended up upsetting people, I would post over people, and overall just act like a self entitled, annoying bitch.

Just yesterday? Someone I considered my friend shared an image of some characters of hers that were in a polyamourous relationship. And what did my dumbass do?

“You know, I find people in poly relationships admirable bc I have trouble hanging out with more than one person irl bc lol social anxiety and lalala, lemme make this all about meee~!”

And then someone replied saying that they don’t understand poly relationships but support them, then I’m pretty sure the who posted the picture got uncomfortable at that point.

And wouldn’t you know it, recently that person announced that they were taking a break, which hey fine, and they mentioned that some of the stuff said on the discord was upsetting them.

Gee, I wonder who contributed to that?

And then there’s my constant validation seeking, me being silly during situations where the person needs me to be serious, my overall inability to respond in a way someone should whenever people don’t enjoy things I suggest or share...

-

Look, maybe I’m overreacting and being stupid. Wouldn’t surprise me. I currently have no friends outside of discord and tumblr, and I’m constantly disappointing my family and everyone around me by always failing at everything no matter what.

I just don’t know what to do with myself anymore. I don’t even know if this is just me attempting to get validation or what.

I just... can’t do anything. I can’t trust myself to do anything. If someone requests that I do something, then fine I guess, but

I don’t want to hurt anyone else

[wild-karrde]

NEW YEAR, NEW RECS! START SENDING YOUR FAVORITE FANDOM CREATIONS FROM THIS WEEK IN FOR ME TO QUEUE UP FOR FRIDAY!

The goal of Fandom Friday: provide a place where people can shout-out their favorite creators from the week, whether it's a piece of fan art that made you smile or a fanfic that moved you. Drop a link to your favorite creations this week into my ask box along with what you loved about it, and I will give them a shout! It doesn't have to be Star Wars either! If it's on another website (AO3, Twitter, etc.), please be sure to state that as well.

This happens each week, so don't feel like you've got to get out everything in one week. Just keep track of them throughout the week or send me an ask whenever you find something, and I'll drop them all on Fridays (or throughout the weekend if I get a lot). You may submit for this week through the end of the day Friday. A summary of the weeks' recs will get added onto this post on Saturday, so check back here for all of the awesome fics and art! And be sure to go give the creations on that list some love (and don't just share the ask responses I put out).

This week's submissions will start posting on Friday, January 20.

Rules and additional details under the cut! PLEASE make sure you read the rules before sending something in. If your submission violates any of the rules, I will delete it.

Rules:

In your ask, please include the creator's handle, a link to their work/post, and what you loved about it!

The creation does not have to have been posted this week! It can be something older. Also, don't worry about whether or not a rec is a repeat from a prior week. Just looking to celebrate things that made an impression on you this week, whether you've seen it before or not!

NSFW is alright! Just make sure you note it in the ask so I can flag appropriately! Since I'm including 18+ material, minors may not participate. 18+ posts will be tagged with NSFT/lemon/lemony lemon (trying to cover all my bases).

NO incest, underage, cl*necest, master/padawan (or similar power dynamics), dub-con/non-con/rape. There are a few others that I also won't share due to my discomfort with them (i.e., Rexsoka), so if you're not sure, ask.

If your rec involves spoilers from a show that's currently running, please include that info in the ask so I can tag it appropriately (I will normally tag a few different ways, but I always use #<show title> spoilers if you need to filter, for example: Andor spoilers will be tagged #Andor Spoilers).

You can submit GIF sets or edits, but please ensure you are submitting from the blog that actually created them. Wanted to add that caution since there's been a lot of people stealing/reposting GIFs and edits in particular recently. So just be cautious.

Try to avoid commentary in your ask that might make others feel bad ("the only person who knows how to write XXX correctly..."). It's important to be able to appreciate creators without making others feel bad, so let's try to keep the commentary complimentary without being off-putting for other creators.

Self recommendations are allowed and encouraged! Shout out your own hard work! You deserve the recognition!

*Rules subject to change so PLEASE make sure you read them before sending something in. If your submission violates any of the rules, I will delete it.

**If you have any questions about any of the rules, don't hesitate to DM me!

In addition to sending me asks, I highly encourage you to go either leave a comment on and/or reblog someone's work (tag me or use the #Fandom Friday tag if you do!). Let's get the interaction back up on this website and show the creators that work so hard on their stuff some love!

[maychorian]

Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #47

I am probably going to do two of these this week to catch up on all my recs before the new season drops, so hold onto your hats. I’ve been reading a lot of fics, just haven’t been posting them because I’m lazy and easily distracted.

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Shadows of Stars by squirenonny Words: 11,030 (1/42) Author’s Summary: The paladins have dealt a major blow to Zarkon’s empire. Reunited with their families and stronger than ever, they’re ready to launch a counter-offensive. But to do so, they need more allies. Allies like the fabled New Altea and their spy ring, the Accords. But Zarkon isn’t about to sit idly by as his enemies gather their strength. He means to put an end to the Voltron Coalition once and for all–and this war is about to get personal.[Season 3 of Voltron: Duality] [Updates Mondays] My Comments: DUALITY IS BACK! I’m so excited, ahh, one chapter in and still amazing, of course, not that I expected anything else. I’ve been reccing this fic since we were only a quarter of the way into the first volume, and the AU has expanded immensely since then. I will keep reccing it until squirenonny quits writing it, so hopefully never. It’s so good, so amazing. Obviously you should start at the beginning, and I don’t want to spoil anything with a detailed review here, but just… Take my words for it. You will not regret the investment of time to devour this masterpiece. There are lots of romantic relationships, but the focus is on the team as a whole and the war, which is incredibly well thought-out and executed. Everything is good.

Equinox by vacant houses (the_lost_robot) Words: 4,862 Author’s Summary: There’s an entire universe inside the Black Lion. There’s a ghost in the Black Lion’s cockpit. OR: the path back home is never straightforward. My Comments: Fascinating and heartbreaking exploration of the concept of Shiro as the “white paladin.” A beautiful read.

One Step Closer by wilyasha Words: 8,142 Author’s Summary: Her father is more rigid, more cruel, and she cannot stomach the thought of him destroying Altea. My Comments: I’m usually not much for fics centered on an OC, and this one is about Zarkon’s never-mentioned-in-canon daughter, which is usually a sign of shenanigans. But this is good. Really good. Reading it is a great experience, though painful and heartbreaking set as it is right before the destruction of Altea. Give it a shot.

Someday by akaashikeijis Words: 1,223 Author’s Summary: Shiro is tired and they know. My Comments: I love fics where everyone just surrounds a hurting character and does everything they can to make it better. It’s good for Shiro to get a turn.

The Poster by GlowwormiK Words: 5,199 Author’s Summary: The story of how Varkon, a policeman, managed to meet the Emperor and receivd the poster we saw in his office.Inspired by this awesome art: http://aminoapps.com/page/voltron-legendary-defenders/7445245/varkon-dream-come-true . Written for https://platonicvldmonth.tumblr.com/, but i cannot wait to post it right now. My Comments: As much as I love and will never tire of the familiar fanfic tropes of some character I love being hurt and then comforted, there’s something I love even more about fanfiction, and that’s when a story can make me feel something NEW, something I never expected. Especially for a character who is basically a one-off joke in-universe. I mean, did you ever expect to read a Varkon-centric fic? Did you ever expect to read about a Voltron Galra mall cop saving the day and meeting his hero and just being the sweetest, humblest, most genuinely GOOD guy you’ve ever met in fiction? Well, here’s your chance. Read this fic. It will make you feel things. It made me feel so much, and I am truly grateful for the experience. Just a great, wonderful thing that you will find nowhere else. Unique and memorable.

At Rest (Five Miles Behind the Front) by Mytay Words: 19,258 Author’s Summary: Shiro is no longer the Black Paladin. He is no longer the commander of Team Voltron. He is a soldier without a purpose and a leader without a legion at his back.Lance is a seventh wheel. He is not fit to be a leader, and perhaps not even fit to be a Paladin. Or, in which two Paladins of Voltron learn their true worth, and finally, there is well-earned rest. My Comments: This has everything I love, ahh, I love it, instant favorite. Shiro angst, Lance angst, both of them trying to sacrifice themselves for the other and then trying to convince each other that they’re worthwhile and important. Not to be that person, but it kind of reminds me of my own fic, Boom Crash the Sound of My Ship, except in a post-Season Three context where it feels amazingly in-canon and in-character. I’m so glad it’s so long, too. Utterly satisfying read. I’ll be enjoying it again, probably more than once.

Full Capacity by spitfire00 Words: 863 Author’s Summary: The healing pods are full. The paladins are bloody and bruised. Shiro helps ease their aches and pains. My Comments: Just so cute, gah, Shiro is the best. Everyone needs a Shiro in their lives.

the shuffle of crabs by againstmygreeleaf Words: 12,253 Author’s Summary: Dinner is loud in all but volume. Shiro and Keith don’t show. Allura keeps trying to help by saying sentimental things that don’t help at all. It grinds on Lance’s nerves but he’s too drained to tune her out. He just lets her words unintentionally pelt his battered heart like stones, and watches the subtle way her hands shake as she spoons up her goo instead of trying to eat his own. Pidge eats hers, but it’s all automatic. She starts crying midway through the meal and doesn’t seem to notice. My Comments: I don’t write major character death. I rarely read it. Awhile ago someone asked me how I would write it, if I did, and I described exactly this scenario. Hunk dies at the beginning of the fic, and the rest of it is about the others learning to navigate their grief and finding some means of continuing on even in the face of this utter devastation. I’m glad this has already been written, by an author I trust absolutely, so I don’t have to do it. It’s gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. But yeah, Hunk dies, and it’s brutal and unfair and hits like a rocket to the midsection. Don’t read if you can’t handle that. I almost couldn’t.

Scent by Red_Dead Words: 1,400 Author’s Summary: Lance has taken something from Allura and she’s not to happy about it. My Comments: Aw, poor Allura. Lance really didn’t mean to hurt her like that. I love that it ends with bonding.

The Sleeping Habits of Humans (Far From Home) by hulklinging Words: 1,618 Author’s Summary: Pidge doesn’t sleep much. Neither does anyone else, really. No, Lance, annoying her to death will not make her more rested. My Comments: I love Lance figuring out why Pidge can’t sleep and gently bullying her into resting. He’s so smart and kind.

The Rain is Gone by isabeau25 Words: 5,066 Author’s Summary: Keith has a bad night, but it ends well. My Comments: Another part of a super lovely and relaxing platonic coffee shop AU. Poor Keith is having a rough life, and you can really feel Shiro’s grief and frustration for him. But he’s in a good place now, with cats and sunlight and people who care. It’s a great read.

The Packrat by VelkynKarma for maychorian Words: 11,519 Author’s Summary: While the paladins of Voltron fight a war that spans galaxies, Coran has a more personal war going on right under their noses in the Castle of Lions. My Comments: Even if this wasn’t a gift for me based on my prompt, I would still rec it. I was grinning the whole way through this fic and laughed aloud several times. Coran is so good and he deserves more fics where he’s the protagonist, and he and Lance teaming up was delightful. Fun, fun stuff.

Empty by Bandity Words: 21,248 Author’s Summary: The sequel to A Lonely Mind. You should read that first. Inner strength waxes and wanes. Lance finds himself facing his inner demons again when he begins having issues with his antidepressants. My Comments: Everything Bandity writes is amazing, and this one is no exception. This one is just about life, how it doesn’t stop no matter how much we want it to, and sometimes things don’t easier, they don’t go away. Everyone struggles, everyone needs to be accepted and loved. There are good days and bad days, hopefully more than good than bad, but all we have is each other. It’s great.

give out to give in by tyrellis Words: 20,198 Author’s Summary: So typical. So fucking typical, that Lance is the youngest and worst of his siblings, and then the kids come along and he isn’t even the cutest anymore, and he only made fighter pilot because perfect fucking Keith dropped out and even when he piloted a lion he didn’t have a thing like the others, and now he can’t even have Blue. Maybe he was the one to suggest it, but he was barrelling towards this point all along; rock fucking bottom. When it becomes clear that Allura is a better pilot than him, Lance steps down as the Blue Paladin. It is, after all, the obvious decision. Lance is, and has always been, the afterthought. But who needs an afterthought? My Comments: Langst done right. Warning for attempted suicide. Lance’s depression and downward spiral feel realistic and understandable, and the emotional scenes are absolutely perfect. Klance at the end, and even that didn’t put me off. It was cute without being overpowering, and the romance wasn’t used as something to “fix” Lance, but a natural outgrowth of their development together.

All Sorted Out by genericfanatic Words: 3,135  Author’s Summary: Lance is so excited for his first day of Hogwarts, and looks forward to getting sorted into one of the four houses! His sorting doesn’t go quite as planned, however. My Comments: Absolutely adorable Harry Potter AU in which the hat stalls forever in sorting Lance, because he has qualities that would make him do well in any of the houses. Later, naturally, he worries that he doesn’t really belong anywhere, but his friends help him see differently. 

Conversation in Blue by FroldGapp Words: 1,414 Author’s Summary: Lance talks to Shiro about his ‘Keith problem’. My Comments: I love that Lance actually takes steps to understand why he and Keith sometimes rub each other the wrong way. Going to Shiro for insight is exactly the right move. Keith and Lance could be such good friends, but their backgrounds and methods of communication make it difficult, sometimes. Lance is a sweetheart for trying.

Tambourine Man by oldmythologies for SassafrassRex (Serbajean) Words: 1,166 Author’s Summary: “They knew his path well. They winked in front of him as a guide as Shiro swallowed his yawn, feet dragging. He was tired; he knew he was tired. Going to bed wouldn’t fix it; he didn’t sleep there either. There he was alone, without even the lights to keep him company. In bed, he had to close his eyes, to trap himself between his ears. It wasn’t a fun place to be. Better to make sure everyone else slept well than to waste time being afraid of the dark.” A commission for sassafrassrex <3 My Comments: Really sweet comfort fic with Shiro and Black.

Don’t Let Me Be Gone by Cocopops1995 Words: 1,402 Author’s Summary: Lance comforts Keith after watching Keith’s paladin vlog. My Comments: Really sweet. Angsty, hurty fics that end with cuddling are my favorite.

Keep Them Galra Rollin (Rawhide) by Demenior for Serbajean Words: 1,377 Author’s Summary: Sendak, Shiro, ‘n Ulaz have crashed on a jungle-y Death World, and they’ve got till sundown to speed-run their way to a safe pickup location to rendezvous with a ship. They’re all grown men who are working together to take down the Galra empire (some more willingly than others), which means they’re over the whole ‘yeah i tortured and killed you that one time’ thing. Totally over it. It’s all in the past. Hint: it’s not [a birthday gift for Sassafrassrex] My Comments: The possibilities of this setup are fun to contemplate. A little on the dark side, but nothing wrong with that.

Steady Footing by SilverMoon53 Words: 3,735 Author’s Summary: Pidge is good at many things. Coding, robotics, and sneaking into enemy bases to steal information, are all quite high on that list. People, however, are not one of the things she’s good at. Or Keith has a panic attack while on a mission. Pidge has an… interesting way of making sure he gets out alive. My Comments: Very angsty exploration of Pidge and Keith and their trauma. I’m glad they eventually shared with each other.

A Bland Night Across Space And Time by genericfanatic Words: 4,156 Author’s Summary: Across the universe, people have a night in. A reward fic for getting 1,000 followers for my blog Bland Voltron Headcanons My Comments: Bit of a dizzying trip across time and space, but fun to read.

Not Just Another Mall Trip by Eastofthemoon Words: 1,519 Author’s Summary: Lance, Hunk and Pidge see many different kinds of aliens at the space mall, but when they catch a spy they discover something they never expected to see there. My Comments: Really fun little canon-divergence AU with a very different way to bring the gang together. Everyone is adorable.

Previously Recced Fics That Updated:

Water and Blood (30658 words) As Color Fades Away (171897 words) The Ones Who Were Left Behind (58391 words) In Sickness and Health (19550 words)  - complete Ten Days (71938 words) Truce (186702 words) The Field of Blood (26588 words) Words Fail (27376 words) - complete Gate Keeper (100127 words) I'm not the Lance You think I am (67010 words)

[cheollies]

Internet Friend!Seungcheol

requested by anon: who wanted an internet friend Seungcheol in which you didn’t know he was a part of Seventeen

Seungcheol was curious

he was curious over this whole rave about Tumblr

he knew his fans were so into the site, but he couldn’t find anything amusing about it

so he decided to give it ago

Creating a whole new tumblr account dedicated to himself

His username @ xcoups

‘Get it, because it sounds like s.coups’

‘Please stop’

he chose pictures he felt were his best and placed it as his profile picture and header

the members broke in laughter seeing the leader be so interested in the new technology, they even tried to help make a short bio which only ended with them teasing him

after two hours of hard decisions over pictures and a short bio,

It was time for him to start working the actual site

it took him fifteen minutes to figure out the reblog button, ten minutes to find his likes page, another ten minutes to write a post accidentally and then trying to delete it

he finally mastered the art of tumblr after about an hour and a half

and he was addicted

he mostly reblogged things, pictures of himself, some of the members, and some random things he found along the way

Seungcheol was mesmerized by the tags, he followed his own tag, and seventeen’s, he scrolled late at night often staying glued to his phone

Overall he was impressed, his fans created intricate gifsets and pictures that honestly he thought made him look better

he even showed off to the members all of the tumblr users dedicated to him

in just a few days, he followed more than fifty people so his dash could be filled with random things

Seungcheol knew your tumblr by heart, he hadn’t realized he did until he kept getting notifs from you reblogging stuff that he had

He’d be lying if he said that he didn’t stalk your blog

You were a Seungcheol blog, he found your tumblr cute, your header was a gif of him and your profile picture, well it was also him

He scrolled through your post, most of it was reblogs but once in awhile he’d come across a post you’d make, some of it describing the little things you loved about seungcheol, and others were of just random parts of your day

and sometime he’d unconsciously reblog them which he would then kill himself over because now he thinks he’s a creep

you on the other hand, smile when you receive the notification, it felt nice to have someone like and reblog your random personal post, it made you feel like someone was listening

and with small interactions, here and there, the title of mutuals falls between you two

it all started when you weren’t having a particularly nice day so you took to tumblr, writing that all you needed was to be tagged in a few seungcheol post

and you weren’t expecting much from your just over thirty followers who probably don’t even see your post

but it wasn’t ten minutes later that your phone buzzed

a little tumblr notification popping up from none other than xcoups himself

Your heart filled with joy seeing a cute gifset of Seungcheol in which he smiled and waved

you reblogged the post, thanking xcoups with your whole heart and a smile on your face

and now, you two constantly reblog post tagging each other

until tagging turned into sending each other things privately

and then conversations of anything besides himself of course

Seungcheol was smitten

He was glued to his phone even more now because he awaited your messages

he didn’t care if it was of you screaming over a cute pic you saw of him, or just you saying you were lying in bed snuggled in your blanket

and when he wasn’t waiting by the phone, he was thinking, he was thinking of what to message you

should he message you about how one of his friends (Mingyu) who tripped over air, or should he message you that he saw something cute that reminded him of you

he got jealous sometimes

Because you talked about other members being cute, often joking how you might leave Seungcheol for them

and he would pout at the phone

‘Seuncheol’s going to be really mad if you drop him’

‘oh but Jihoon looks so cute’

‘ S T O P’

You’d laugh at your friend’s reaction to keep you loyal to seuncheol

to be honest, you assumed you were talking to a girl, never in your life would you think you were talking to a boy, let alone Choi Seungcheol himself

It’s been a year now

You two have talked non stop almost every day for a year now

You’ve always wanted to meet your friend but Seungcheol on the other hand, nervously didn’t want too

he felt that when you met him, you’d feel lied too, because you’ve poured your heart out to him multiple times, and it’d feel as though he broke your personal space

so when you said that you were so excited to be attending a fanmeet, he was panicking

Because he was finally meeting you, face to face, up close, he was going to actually see you

he knew what you looked like, you sent him selfies unexpectedly sometimes and he’d grin ear to ear because to him, you were the most beautiful person

he knew it was finally time, to tell you the truth, to let everything out on the table

he was waiting for you on the stage, sitting in his chair, he was looking everywhere, his hands were antsy as they messily wrote other people’s names, his legs bouncing rapidly as he tried to remain calm in front of everyone else

and he was so focused on trying to remain calm, he didn’t notice you standing next in line

so when he saw you, when he looked into your eyes, he froze

this was the moment, this is what he waited for for a year now

‘Hi! I’m such a huge fan’

and he got scared, he smiled brightly just like he did to the others, continued a nice conversation where he gave fanservice and you moved along with his eyes slowly glued onto you who moved over to Wonwoo

you got off the stage buzzing, you went back into the crowd of fans, you were so excited to show xcoups your signed Seungcheol page, you flipped to the page quickly to sneak a quick picture when you noticed it

it was not signed ‘S.coups’ like you’ve seen other people’s page have, no it was signed @xcoups

and you were in disbelief, it must have been a mistake, so you looked up, looking at Seungcheol who was already staring at you

you felt deceived

Seungcheol watched as you scowl, the fansign just finished at the moment when he saw you packing up, trying to get out of the crowd

he excused himself to the bathroom, running backstage, he was at the entrance, waiting as your figure walked towards him

‘y/n’

‘No!’

‘What was i supposed to do, tell you I was the leader of Seventeen from the beginning?’

you remained silent, you knew he was right, he couldn’t have just outright told you

Seungcheol pulled you into a private room

‘Okay what i did was wrong. You practically confessed your love for me to me without knowing it and I’m sorry. But i like you, a lot, and texting you everyday was the highlight of waking up’

‘Flatter isn’t working right now’

‘Can we start over. We can be friends, i promise i’ll just forget everything you said’

You look at him skeptical ‘i guess’

‘Okay. Hi, i’m Choi Seungcheol’ he grins with a hand out

You shake it with a smile yourself, ‘I’m y/n, hey aren’t you a member of Seventeen? My bias is Jihoon’

‘HEY!’

Your heart swooned even more now than when you hadn’t met him officially. Watching him up on stage, messing around with his members, eyes secretly looking at you. The feeling was weird, because you knew him for a year, and yet now, knowing his true identity, it felt as though time reverted to when you met this awkward tumblr user xcoups.

[thehuntedhuntress]

THE RULES

//Oh for the love of... Tumblr get your freaking act together and fix your damn mobile app. 

Rules under the cut because they’re hella long

((First off, I’d like to apologize for the length of this page. I tend to add more stuff as it becomes an issue, though the top section usually holds a succinct summary of my most basic rules to roleplaying with me. Here are those rules:

One of the most important things in the roleplay community is respect. If you respect me, then I’ll respect you. I don’t mean character to character, but Mun to Mun. I understand that some characters are simply jackasses, and that’s a part of who they are. That is perfectly okay, and even welcome. But if you start disrespecting me as a Mun, I will cease to respect you, and therefor cease to roleplay with you. Part of this respect involved respecting the rules laid out here. That is why this is rule number one.

If you are not an RP blog, or are not a part of the thread I an roleplaying with another person, please do not reblog threads you are not involved in! It messes with my tracking system. You can like the threads all you want, but please, please do not reblog if you are not the partner or partners I am RPing with in that particular thread. This is my one exception to my three strikes rule. If you break this rule, I will block you immediately, no questions asked. I’ve had too many people break this rule now, and I’m not going to be lenient anymore regarding this. As a sub-section of this rule: If I make a starter call for mutual followers, I will also block any non-mutuals that like or reblog the post. Again, no questions asked.

I am a selective blog. This means that I prefer to roleplay with mutuals only (a.k.a. people who follow me with whom I am already following). That being said, if I am not following you, you’re free to send me an ask regarding roleplaying together. Be advised, however; I’ll usually take a brief look over people’s blogs when they follow me and see if they look like someone I’d be willing to roleplay with. Please note that I don’t mean a starter. I mean an ooc request to roleplay. I also reserve the right to decline roleplaying with anyone if I don’t feel I’d enjoy roleplaying with them. Please see the F.A.Q. section below the rules for more information on my roleplay style and pet peeves.

Regarding the above rule: If I don’t wish to roleplay with you, then I don’t wish to roleplay with you. Every person has their preferences, and I have just as much right to refuse a roleplay, since I do this for fun, and it’s not a job. Harassing me, trying to force roleplay interactions, or sending either myself or my roleplay partners hate will not be tolerated.

I do not follow back every person that follows me; however, I will usually take a brief look at most of my followers blogs to see if they are someone I would like to follow back. I only follow those whom I either enjoy reading what they write with others, or I wish to interact with myself.

Do not assume that just because I once followed you in the past that I am still following you. I frequently go through my list of people I follow and clear out people who either haven’t posted in a long time, people I don’t think I’ll ever actually roleplay with, and people I no longer enjoy following anymore for one reason or another. If I have not interacted with you in a while, or if I seem to consistently not respond to asks/replies/likes, you may want to check to see if I am still following you.

IC does not equal OOC. Just because my character may dislikes yours, it doesn’t mean that I dislikes your character, or you. In fact, at least a couple of my favorite roleplay partners plays characters that mine simply does not get along with.

OOC communication is important. If you have a question or concern, bring it up. I can’t fix something if I don’t know about it.

Regarding the above rule, no one is a mind reader. Don’t assume someone knows what you’re thinking. Use your words!

Don’t god-mod, meta-game, power-play, or auto-hit without permission. That’s all sorts of rude and I guarantee it’ll make people dislike playing with you. Myself included. (Hover for my definition of each item.)

Please respect the canon of my character, and don’t force your canon (relationship status, sexuality, etc) onto her. I’ll do the same for you. In such a case where there are clear canon issues, such as AU’s and reality crossings, talk to me ahead of time so we can determine how best to go about it.

If a Roleplay starter is marked private/closed — or if it is marked for mutuals only — ask before jumping in! I can be semi-selective with who I roleplay with, but if you ask me, and I honestly think our characters might be able to work together in an roleplay, then I may be willing to give it a shot.

Please don’t harass me for a reply. It’s okay to ask if I got your post, but don’t nag me for it. I’ll get to it when I get to it. Roleplaying takes inspiration and interest and free time. You never know if I’m busy IRL, or how many other roleplays I have waiting on me.

Any thread that has been left unanswered after 2 weeks (14 days) by either myself or my partner will be considered automatically dropped. If for some reason my partner really wants to continue the thread, they are free to send me an ask so we can discuss continuing it.

Please respect my boundaries. If I don’t want to do something, don’t make me. Be it a kink/fetish, a relationship, or even a simple interaction.

And finally, when it comes to smut: As the Mun, I am well above 18+, and have done smut before. However, I will not, I repeat, WILL NOT do smut with another Mun who is a minor, regardless of the character’s age. Not only is it wrong, it’s illegal, and I could get in trouble for that. So if I even suspect that you are under-aged, you can forget it.

Because I have had problems with people not following my rules repeatedly, if someone ignores my rules more than three times, then I will be blocking the blog in question. If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns regarding my rules, feel free to message me. Other than that? Happy Roleplaying!))

((Things to know a.k.a the really long and detailed section))

((For those who have been watching my posts, you can probably see that I tend to be a para to multi-para poster. However, this does not mean that I expect the same of you. It also doesn’t mean that ALL my posts will be para-posts. Simply put, the quality of my posts depends on 3 factors: my inspiration, time, and the post I am replying to. If you give me only a couple lines, I’m more likely to only give a couple of lines back unless I get whacked upside the head with the inspiration stick. Which does happen on occasion.

I primarily at this point Roleplay mostly with mutuals. However, I will Roleplay with just about any type of character, whether they Para-post or not, as long as you follow the rules of engagement as listed above, and will message me politely regarding the possibility of Roleplaying with your character. Look down at the F.A.Q. section for more details.

Given that Valerie is being played uniquely with each individual character he interacts with, unless otherwise agreed upon, I will assume that each interaction exists in it’s own sub-verse within it’s general verse. It might cause a few hiccups now and again, but I’m willing to work through things if the other person is too. So long and short of it, don’t be afraid to message me if you want to roleplay!

F.A.Q.

“Where did you get your icons?”

//Most of my still icons were collected from various free to use icon dumps, though a growing number were made myself from screenshots and using either Krita, Avatarmaker, or ezGifs. Nearly all my gif icons were resized and edited myself using a combination of GifMaker and ezGifs. All official art is property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon, and any icons based off of fan art, the art is property of the respective artists. You can find the list of artists whose art I’ve used in icons here.

//No art on this blog is mine unless otherwise specifically stated.

“How open are you to OCs and characters from media you’re not familiar with?”

//It largely depends from character to character. I have several people I role-play with that are Original Characters, and I am slowly branching outside of the fandom my character originates from. However, I do tend to be a bit more picky when it comes to OC’s and characters from fandoms I’m not as familiar with.

First off, if they don’t have a fairly detailed “About” page, then I won’t role-play with them. Period. I need to know at least a little bit about what I’m getting into when role-playing blind. If I cannot honestly see how our characters would interact, I may decline role-playing. I also tend to judge based on what I’ve seen them roleplay with others, and I’ll make no secret that I’ll go through a few pages of their blog to look at how they role-play; if they roleplay in a style that I don’t feel will be compatible with mine, or they have the little things that would really bug me as a role-player, such as frequent improper spelling and lack of capitalization and punctuation, then I am just that much less likely to want to role-play with that character/mun.

I should make a note that I will NOT, under any circumstances, rolelay nsfw content with someone who I am not certain isn’t a minor. So if there is nothing listed on the blog and I have no way of confirming, then smut will not be happening. And even if someone claims to be of age, but the way they type makes me believe otherwise, then I’ll err on the side of caution and deny doing any nsfw roleplayinging.

That all being said, some of my favorite people to role-play with are actually OC’s or cross fandom people. And I know that some people complain about role-players being too picky, but to put it frankly, I do this for fun. If I don’t think I’ll have fun playing with a muse, whether or not they’re Canon, OC, or Cross Fandom, then I’m simply not going to try and force myself.

I’ve been role-playing for 18 years (since summer of 1996). That’s longer than some of my roleplay partners have even been alive. I think I’ve earned the right to be a little choosy now and again. And while I know that I am by no means perfect when it comes to role-playing, and that even I continue to learn and evolve my style as I go along, there comes a point when I am simply not willing to go through the mental struggle of roleplaying with someone I have no interest in roleplaying with. If someone is willing to learn and improve as they go along, I may give them a chance. But if I can see that they’ve been roleplaying for a while, and there is absolutely no visual improvement on how they roleplay when it’s a style that doesn’t jive with my own, then I’m not going to waste my time and energy.

Because yes. I put time and energy and thought and feeling and all sorts of other things into my roleplays. And if I get stuck with a partner that isn’t willing to put at least a decent amount of effort into what they’re doing, then I feel like I am wasting my time.

TL:DR

Yes, I’ll roleplay with OC’s and other Fandoms, but I’m very choosy. Your best bet is to send me a message requesting an roleplay together, regardless of whether you are an OC, In fandom character, or out of fandom character. I’ll give your character a look over, and if I think we can make it work, I’ll give it a shot.

I would suggest something a little more than just a “wanna rp”, or an opener with just the word “Hello”, however.))

“Are there any blogs you won’t roleplay with?”

//I have a couple types of blogs that I can guarantee I won’t likely roleplay with right off the bat. The first of these is multi-fandom blogs. Because I follow every person I roleplay with, this means that anything those people reblog end up on my dash. Many multi-fandom blogs tend to have at least one or two fandoms that I don’t want appearing on my dash. Plus, most of them have what feels to me like an excessive number of characters, which makes it hard to follow what’s going on, or know who you’re going to end up interacting with.

I will on occasion RP with multi-character blogs as long as the characters are from the same fandom, and there isn’t a ridiculously excessive number of characters. If you’re a multi-character blog who is literally roleplaying every single character in a game/anime/book/etc., then I probably won’t want to roleplay with you. Sorry.

Other than that, blogs that I see doing nothing but an excessive amount of smut roleplaying, I probably will not want to roleplay with either. While I don’t mind occasional smut, I don’t like jumping into an RP with someone with the expectation that it’s going to happen every RP. I like relationships to be organic, forming naturally, and, well, I don’t see my Valerie just jumping into bed with anyone and everyone.

“What does it mean when you roleplay with mutuals only?”

//While this was somewhat covered in rule 8, I’ll go ahead and put it here. Simply put, a mutual follower is someone who follows you, who you also follow back. I don’t follow back every person who follows me. I like to keep my dashboard clean, and typically only follow blogs that are relevant to my interests, or I would like to interact with. So simply put, if I follow someone, I’m interested in talking/roleplaying with them.

The longer I’ve roleplayed, the more I’ve found myself becoming selective. I’m a cranky old coot and somewhat set in my ways, and I’ve gotten to the point where if I don’t feel like I’m going to have fun roleplaying with a person, I’m not going to go through the hassle of going ahead and giving them a shot only to have to tell them I’m not having fun. That tends to get people all upset, moreso than simply declining in the first place.

As I mentioned before, I make no bones about going onto someone’s blog who has asked me if I’d like to RP, and judging their roleplay based off of how they roleplay with others. And I’ll look through a few pages worth. If I see things that fall under my pet peeves, or I just simply don’t think I’ll enjoy trying to have my character interact with this person, then i’m going to decline roleplaying.

“Do you roleplay with people who don’t write super long replies?”

//Absolutely. I am well aware that my replies can often times get very, very long. I do not, however demand that anyone ever match my length. I do request that in whatever length of a reply you do give me, that you give me something to work with, be it dialog or action. My character needs something to respond to, and if all you give me is “S/He smiled.” I have absolutely nothing to work with. I’m not asking for people to give me a college dissertation in response to what I do, but if I’m giving a longer reply, I would like something more than a one-liner, please.

As a side note, however; I roleplay with the intention of creating character interaction and hopefully development. One of my biggest pet peeves is people starting a thread with me, only getting 1-3 replies in, and then the other person dropping it out of nowhere. I’ve had it happen a lot with a few people, and if I see it become a trend, I will unfollow. Sorry, but it’s something that frustrates me to no end, and rather than get upset about it, I’d rather just not roleplay with people who do that frequently to begin with.

“Do you have any triggers and/or subjects you will not role-play?”

//I don’t have any particular triggers, per say. At least not in the classical sense. However, I do have to be careful about the level of gore, or the intensity of angst, as it can negatively affect my mood sometimes. But I can tolerate it pretty well, at least in written word. If you want to use images, however, I would suggest talking it over with me first.

//As for subject I will or will not role-play, I’ve actually done a lot of triggery materiel before, including abuse, self harm, suicide, rape, and death, though not all necessarily on this particular muse. I do these somewhat sparingly, and only if my partner has not only agreed, but that we have discussed at just what point will we take it. All triggery materiel will be tagged and put under read-mores in deference to my followers.

//At the risk of sounding redundant… if the other mun isn’t at least 18 years old, I will not do sexual nsfw materiel. Period.

“Do you have any particular Role-Play pet peeves?”

//Yes, I do. They fall mostly under the category of technical issues, and role-play issues. The technical issues are things like not using proper capitalization, punctuation, spelling or grammar. Now, I know my own grammar is not the best, and sometimes it’s intentionally so. I write as I think, or as someone would speak. And very few people naturally speak grammatically correct. But if I have to spend more than 5 minutes just trying to decipher what in the heck you said, I’m not going to want to role-play. And I personally feel no one has an excuse for obvious spelling errors, save for those odd typos that spell checker doesn’t manage to catch because you technically spelled a word that exists. For everything else, Google exists for a reason, and most computers have an automatic spellchecker in place.

// In addition, I do NOT RP script style, and don’t really like RPing with people who do. This is the style where you annotate actions using asterisks (*). Example: “ *wanders into the building* wow it sure is dark in here. ” To me this style is very clunky, visually unappealing, and doesn’t lend itself to my preferred methods of roleplaying, such as para and multi-prara posts. Having those symbols in there disrupts the flow of the roleplay, and is very distracting.

//Also, please don’t put out of character comments within the RP post itself. That’s what tags are for. It really throws the thread off to see OOC commentary in the post itself.

//I also highly dislike when people frequently use the wrong words for things, such as the “they’re there their” trio, or words like sore and soar. I get very irritated by things like that, so if it’s a frequent occurrence in someone’s writing outside of maybe an occasional typo, I’m going to be disinclined to RP with that person.

//Also, for the love of God, please trim your threads! There are ways to get around it on mobile, and if you’re on a computer you have no excuse whatsoever. Or ask your partner to do it for you. At the very least, if you can’t cut a thread, then put the whole thing under a read-more so it doesn’t clutter people’s dashes. There is nothing more annoying than having to scroll down several pages worth of one-liners because someone wouldn’t take the effort to try and trim their posts.

//Role-play issues involve the typical things like God-modding and auto-hitting. I also greatly dislike insta-shipping. If you come up to me before our characters have even met and ask me if your character can be my character’s boyfriend/girlfriend, I’m going to tell you flat out no. I will not just have my character instantly be in a relationship with yours. I want the build up and anticipation, if such a thing is even meant to be. And sometimes it isn’t.

//Another roleplay issue I have is replies. While I never expect someone to match my length, it is really disheartening to have written out several paragraphs, and be given a one-liner in response. I purposefully try to write in such a way that gives the person I’m roleplaying with plenty of opportunities to react, respond, or even initiate new action in the responses I’ve given. While I do occasionally do one-liner threads, those are usually lighthearted, and not very emotionally invested for me. And I’ll be blunt; if I look at someone’s blog and ALL they have are a ton of uncut threads filled with nothing but one-liners, I’m probably not going to RP with that person.

As mentioned above, I also highly dislike it when people drop a thread only a few posts in, before the characters have had much of a chance to interact. This is something I find very frustrating, and if it is something that happens frequently, I will likely unfollow because of it.

//Valerie has a mind of her own. Sometimes I will ship something, and she will absolutely refuse to go along with it. I’m not going to try and force her into a ship just to appease someone else. Tried that once, regretted every moment of it.

//Finally, I tend to have issues if I check a blog and find a complete lack of a Rules or About page. Those are major red flags to me regarding RPing with someone, because then I have no idea what I’m getting into if I decide to RP with someone. I often will refuse to roleplay with someone who has no rules or about page.

“How long are you willing to wait for a reply?”

//Due to the nature of how I typically reply, I have a tendency to limit how many threads I actually have going at any given time. I greatly dislike having people wait a long period of time for me to post, and I know that getting bogged down with too many replies at once can be rather daunting and make it that much more difficult to have the desire to get to my posts. Because of this I set a limit on how many threads I will have going at any one time. This limit usually wavers around the 20-30 active threads.

//However, this causes a problem. I am finding myself frequently stuck waiting for my partners to reply, to the point where sometimes it’s been weeks, and in a few cases even over a month since I posted my last reply to a thread. This seriously limits what I am able to do, since as I’ve said I try to limit how many threads I have going at any given time. The times when you seem me with long stretches of inactivity is often because I am literally waiting on ALL my partners to reply.

//Because of this, I decided to implement a new rule: From this point, any thread that has not been replied to after 2 weeks (14 days) I will consider to have been abandoned and officially dropped. It becomes very difficult at times when I receive a reply out of the blue to a thread that hasn’t been answered in ages, and I’m having to try and look back to see what was even going on in that particular thread.

//This rule also works in reverse. On the rare times that I am the one who has a draft sitting in my draft folder and cannot for the life of me think of how to reply, if it’s been over two weeks since my own reply, you can consider the thread having been dropped as well.

//I understand that people are busy, with real life commitments and other interests that they get involved in. I understand that sometimes a muse just isn’t there for a thread, or that a person might be in the mood for a different type of roleplay. This is not an attempt to guilt any of my partners. This is to help me be able to openly interact with more people, or to be willing to try and start new threads. Given that not too many people respond to any memes I’ve posted of late, that often means that I myself would have to send out asks, and I have a tendency to hesitate to do so when I know I’m waiting on a reply from them, for fear that they will think I’m trying to hassle them for a reply.

//This also meant to hopefully serve to help out some of my roleplay partners. I know that many of them do get bogged down with a plethora of replies. So if any of my current partners have replies out there that are between our muses that are beyond that two week time limit, here’s your chance to weed them out of your drafts.

//That said, if there are any threads that you really, really want to keep roleplaying, don’t hesitate to shoot me an ask so we can discuss it. Depending on the thread, and depending on the circumstances at to why you may not have replies, I may be willing to keep it going. If a thread I am particularly interested in continuing seems about ready to expire, I may send one final notice to my partner to let them know the thread is about to expire soon.

//I’m sorry if this seems harsh, and I apologize for the inconvenience, but to be entirely honest I’m tired of feeling like I’m having to beg people to roleplay with me. And I’m tired of feeling like I’m limited because I don’t want to chance everyone suddenly replying all at once, which has happened before on occasion. And it isn’t fair to me to have to sit on my thumbs waiting for partners to reply who seemingly have no intention of ever getting around to it.

//If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to shoot me an ask. Thank you all for your time.

“What is the best way to contact you, as the Mun/Mod/Player?”

//My ask box is always open, so you can always feel free to drop me a line that way. Mutuals are free to ask me for my Skype, Kik and/or Steam usernames.

//If you actually read through this entire wall of text, I will be very impressed. The password is “Rubber Baby Buggie Bumpers.” Just a note, you don’t have to send me my password, though I do appreciate knowing when people have read through my rules. Sending me my password in no way affects the likelihood of me either following or roleplaying with someone.

[thank-your-lucky-stars]

I’ve been feeling a bit reflective about my old fandom since yesterday, after watching a compilation video of all the times The Monkees broke the fourth wall. I also realised it’s roughly three years since I hosted the first Monkees Awards! So many people took part back then. Oh how things change!

This post gets kinda long, and I chat about the differences between my old fandom, and my current fandom, and what I’ve learnt from my experiences. I’m shoving it under a read more so not to flood your dash’s!!!! 

It’s so sad how things work out. It’s so sad the way that a fandom that was happy and active when I joined in 2012 just fizzled out to nothing a few years later. I know it had been on the decline for a little while, but the fact that it finally died in 2016 - the Monkees 50th anniversary year - is honestly so so sad to me. I just find it a real shame.

There were some good people in that fandom. Some smart, funny and fun people. It’s sad that many people got too scared to post, and we all know why that was. It made the most active blogs who posted the most content - like myself at the time - not want to post anymore, as we’d go into the tag and it would be.....dead. There would be nothing there. Nothing to inspire us to create, and I know I’d wonder if anyone would care if I did post. There didn’t seem to be the audience anymore. 

There were people I really thought were friends. If not proper hardcore friends, then mates at least. There are a handful of Monkees fans/blog that still follow me. Most of them unfollowed me, which I can understand - especially now I post so much of something else. It’s still a shame though. I lost one of the first Monkees blogs that ever followed me/that I ever followed the other day, but at least she messaged me first and explained, which I really appreciated. It was a nice gesture, to say there was no hard feelings, she still wanted to stay in touch, but she was just cleaning up her dash. Which again, I totally get. Especially when I’m posting 8848429 Robron posts a day (which....I don’t every day, but when something exciting/major is happening, then yeah I can post a LOT, which I understand can be annoying to non-fans). But still, it was so kind of her to at least tell me she was going to unfollow me, especially as she’d been a constant presence on my dash for the best part of five years. I doubt I’ll ever hear from her again, but that’s okay. I still follow her all the same.

Not everyone has been that kind though. People that I’d had long, long conversations with over the course of years, people that I’d chatted to about personal stuff as well as fandom stuff just....disappeared. Either unfollowed or simply stopped talking to me all together. In one very specific case, with someone I used to talk to quite a lot, I said “I don't want it to get so you only speak to me about terrible people and nothing else.” to which the person said that would never be the case. I saw that as a test, an opportunity for me to see if that person would ever actually talk to me about anything else, so I left the door open, wondering if they would ever get in touch with me, ask me how I was doing, or anything like that. 

It’s been almost six months, and they never spoke to me again.

But I know that’s just the way it goes for some people. I know they want their fandom friends and if you take the fandom away then they don’t want to know. And I mean.....I get it. I honestly do. But it can be eye-opening. I feel like I have learnt a lot, and I’ve definitely learnt to protect myself, to not invest myself as heavily anymore. Which is....hard for me. It goes against my natural instincts.

It’s especially hard, coming into a fandom where everyone is so so kind and sympathetic and caring and open and just....nice. I was burnt a LOT in my last fandom, and used a lot too. People who would come to me, spilling all of their problems, and I would spend hours talking to them, trying to help them. But once they’d got my advice, my sympathy, they didn’t want to know. And when the tables were turned, and I was the one struggling, I’d hear nothing from them.

But that was my fault. It was something I spoke about a lot at the time and I won’t go into it again. But it taught me a hell of a lot!! I can never not help people or be there if they need it, but I’ve definitely learnt the signs between people that genuinely care, and genuinely need help, and people who just.....like attention, people who will take take take but won’t give. I can read it a lot better now. But at the same time, I also know not to invest too much of myself into these people. I can offer advice and support but I don’t necessarily have to offer me.

I haven’t encountered anyone like that in this fandom so far, which is amazing. But I still have the valuable lessons from my old fandom (and my first ever fandom, the MCR fandom tbh) that I can carry with me! 

But I mean, I’m not going to say it was all bad, or all people were selfish or awful or anything, because by god they weren’t! And even the people that were self-involved.....I know it wasn’t their fault. It doesn’t make them bad people. I don’t hate them or even dislike them, not at all. Some people are just like that, and maybe it was my fault, maybe I just put myself out there like I was a doormat or something. I don’t know. I accept my part of the responsibility. Sometimes I try too hard.

But there were great people too, and great times. There were some funny conversations and memes and some really insightful posts and I learnt a hell of a lot. It was such a different experience, being in a fandom where the band’s/TV show’s heyday was 20 years before I was ever born. It was weird to just celebrate the past and not really have any care for the future. A totally different ball-game to being in a fandom like I’m in now, where every day there seems to be something new, something to look forward to (or dread!) and there are obviously a hell of a lot more people about now.

But I did like how....chilled it was. There was still the odd drama, but for the most part it was fine. It was pretty easy. And I had a lot of respect for the women who compiled so much information, who run fansites for years and made the Monkees seem hip to teenagers in the 90s-2000s instead of having kids see them as some lame old band from the 60s. I love that it was a fandom run by women. 

And I’m proud of the place I managed to carve for myself amongst the fandom, especially considering I was a fan post-Davy Jones’ death. I was a newer fan, but I was still welcomed and I still found my place. I had a lot of fun putting together all the posts I did, finding pictures, making screen-captures of my favourite scenes, writing my reviews of the albums and the episodes, and especially hosting the Monkees Awards from 2014-2016. That first year especially was amazing, because so many people took part!! Considering it was such a small fandom, I would say half of all the active Monkees blogs on tumblr at the time took part in that first year, which was so much fun. 

I do miss it sometimes. I do feel like my current fandom is more for me though, in the sense that people talk/interact a lot more. It made me sad how the Monkees fandom got from probably the start of 2015-ish, until the end....people spoke less and less. It become more and more about the same old pictures and less and less about discussion. Which, I mean, I can understand in a way because this was an old band, an old TV show, it wasn’t like there was much new stuff to cover. But there seemed to be a lot of people without voices, where even when you’d ask a question, people would reblog the question but wouldn’t give an answer. That always baffled me, that even when prompted and encouraged to talk about their favourite episode or their favourite song/album, they wouldn’t. It was a bit odd to me, but each to their own. Not everyone is a fan in the same way and I totally respect that.

That’s why I enjoy this fandom more, because there is constant discussion. I think the only thing that gets me down is sometimes there is SO MUCH and I want to be a part of it all but it can be impossible to keep up! There are so many insanely smart and observant and articulate people within this fandom and it blows my mind. As much as I love the stunning gifsets and edits and art etc, it’s a good ol’ text post that will get me the most excited. And writing is the only thing I really have to offer, and compared to so many other people here, I know it’s not much. But I have been welcomed in such an amazing way. I know I have been an Emmerdale fan long before there was a fandom here (long before tumblr even existed!), but when the fandom was born I was sort of on the outskirts of it, more a lurker, as I still hung onto my old fandom and I didn’t want to spread myself too thin by being heavily involved in two fandoms. Letting go of my old fandom and throwing myself into this one was the best thing I have done in a long time. 

But anyway. This is a lot longer than I planned it to be!!!! I don’t know if anyone would read it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this stuff since yesterday.

I will always continue to reblog my old Monkees posts (one at 7pm, and one at 2:30am, every single day!!!) because....I don’t want to let go completely. I may not offer anything new, but I still like to hold on a little bit!

If anyone still follows me who still loves the Monkees, and you ever fancy shooting me an ask and chatting about them (the music/the show/the boys themselves!) honestly....that would make me so happy. I may have moved on in many ways but I will never not love them and I will never not love the good years I had in their wonderful fandom!