#normally I'd post this elsewhere but I don't feel like it

[perseidlion]

Dead Boy Detectives friends, I totally respect and support those of you who feel like you want to fight. You want to make noise. You want to sign petitions and organize campaigns. I get that you don't want to give up on this wonderful show.

Normally I'd support campaigns, but in this case I think there are some very big things working against us:

The Neil Gaiman factor. I hate to say it, but the accusations against him were probably part of the reason for cancellation and why getting picked up elsewhere is a non-starter. The explicit ties to the Netflix Sandman with Death and Despair SHOULD have helped the show get renewed. But with the accusations against NG, that definitely hurt it. That's so deeply unfair because those of us who are fans of the show know that DBD is not a Gaiman show, and his contribution to the story is minimal. But Sandman is Gaiman's, and they made the connection to Sandman and thus Gaiman, explicit. When the news about NG came down, Sandman was already well into production and contracts were signed. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if S2 was Sandman's last season.

The collapse of streaming. Gone are the days when networks pick up each others' shows to try and court subscribers and steal an audience share. That barely happens anymore, and when it does it's under very unusual circumstances. Every network is cancelling well-reviewed shows with a following. Every network is cancelling queer shows more than others. Every network is greedy and looking for mega-hits only. There are no good guys in the streaming landscape.

The economy and the strikes. Don't get me wrong, the gains made by SAG-AFTRA, and the Writers and Directors' guilds were absolutely necessary and required for fairness. But it did increase production costs. Instead of adjusting their profit expectations, the streamers are trying desperately to keep the same profits from the pre-strike days. Which is why we have this mega-hit or bust model. Add to that the economic downturn and the price of everything going up, and the bar for "success" from a corporate standpoint is set impossibly high.

Streaming's metric for success is new subscribers, not how much existing subscribers enjoy the content. This is a big one. It used to be if an audience loved it and that audience was appealing to an advertiser, a show could keep going. Advertisers wanted the affinity for the show to spill over onto their product for supporting it. But with streaming, the streamers don't care how much you love something. They just care that you watch it, you stay subscribed, and that content gets new subscribers. A passionate watch is worth the same $$ wise to them as a hate watch or a half-interested watch. In that way, the loss of commercials is the reason for so many of the more niche shows getting cancelled.

The big reason I think we're sunk for either getting Netflix to reverse the decision or for it to get picked up elsewhere is honestly, because Yockey posted a pretty big S2 spoiler. The showrunner wouldn't do that if he thought there was any hope. My guess is the show is tied to Netflix because of the Sandman connection, and because they commissioned scripts for S2 that they own. There's probably some contractual reasons that make network hopping impossible.

I don't want to be a downer, and like I said if you want to campaign to let your heart heal or just to not let this happen quietly, I fully support that.

But in my heart, I think we have to lay our beloved Dead Boy Detectives to rest - at least as a show. They'll live on in our hearts and our fanworks.

[paper-mario-wiki]

I don't know if you've talked about this elsewhere already but was the break from streaming intentional and/or are you planning on returning to streaming some time in the foreseeable future? no pressure, I just miss your silly antics :o)

felt very burnt out from being someone who people are always lookin at all the time mostly! (and also a lot more reasons)

got a new job that pays just as well as streaming (which is enough to pay for rent in seattle with roommates, buy food for myself, and sometimes buy yet another japanese gamecube via online auction), and have been enjoying the feeling of not relying on anonymous teenagers and young adults who are just as poor as me on the internet for my income. It's something i was extremely grateful for, but it's not only a very infirm way to generate revenue on a reliable basis, but also i always felt an ever-present sense of guilt for it. like, instilling within other people who i know are in my tax bracket (one that is below the poverty line) the idea of "hey if you dont tip me for doing this free service, the quality of which is damningly subjective, I will be homeless. but no pressure haha" is something that i was never able to shake.

also like. performing is quite draining for me! the way i portray myself in my streams is EXTREMELY extroverted while, in my personal life, i prefer to spend 8 to 14 of my waking hours every day by myself in my room with my dog. i like the quiet, and i feel at peace most when i am not being perceived by other people.

lastly, i really dislike having inordinate levels of social power. for a several reasons. like, SEVERAL reasons. this is the longest section of this post.

8 years ago, i got way more famous than any 16 year old should ever be when i got tens of thousands of followers overnight for doing undertale shit. and i think it really fucked up my ability to make friends at a time where my only experience meeting new people was at school or at church, and i lived far enough out in the woods that i couldnt just go outside and hang out with the neighbors cuz the neighbors lived a mile away. my socializing skills in general are way more stilted than i'd prefer for someone my age. in private settings ive got my foot in my mouth a lot. and sometimes in public settings too! im sure if youve seen streams ive been on, youve seen plenty of "chase you really shouldnt have said that" moments. and youre probably right, i probably shouldnt have! my moment-to-moment gauge for what i should and shouldnt say is very slow to catch up cuz ive got like. advanced mental illnesses. like, im not joking when i say ive been formally diagnosed several times over by different doctors with shit ive never heard anybody ever talk about, online or otherwise.

i dont think that's an excuse to say heinous or cruel things by any means of course, but i also think that i should not rely on a job where there's constantly a microphone in my hand and an audience listening intently to what i say. im not at all pulling the "its okay that i say mean things because im mentawy iww" card. as a matter of fact i think it's not okay that i say them! and i feel very embarrassed when i do! the filter that separates "normal healthy thoughts" and "intrusive unhealthy thoughts" is thinner and more flimsy in my brain than in others.

ive only gotten this far because i surround myself with very smart, patient, and kind people, and by trying to be understanding and patient with others too. and ive begun apologizing to people a lot more. i dont like it when people are mad at me, and i dont like that for a long time i had professionally painted myself into a corner where im typically always the "heel" in comedy settings, because the "heel" is the guy everyone shits on all the time. i got this reputation not because i actively enjoy being mean, but because i learned to adapt to the aforementioned "clinically unreliable intrusive thoughts filter" by realizing i would say things that came across as mean, and in real time exaggerating that it into a character that people could shoot back at without feeling guilty while still having fun. theres nothing that ruins a good time quite like someone who is constantly apologizing for doing something wrong, and then continuing to do that wrong thing anyway. dont misunderstand, i absolutely adore dunking on weenies when everyone can get a good laugh out of it (like tumblr anons, who i think should be classified as prokariyotic invertebrates and not people (no offense)) but even though it's a joke it still feels very bad when that's expected of me when i walk into a room. because if i walk into a room, and everyone expects me to be an asshole, everyone is on the defensive before i say anything, and sometimes they take shots at me when im not trying to "play". even worse, if im a heel in a setting where it's expected of me and someone cant really keep up with "the bit" then that just means im being an asshole to someone who cant or doesnt have the energy to fight back. and not just any asshole, an asshole who has had nearly a decade of professional experience being a paid asshole.

if im being frank, i dont know if i'll come back in a full capacity. i might! im not ruling that out! and you'll probably still see me pop up in my friends streams, because i did LOVE what i did for a very long time! but after i took my "break" in december after being more stressed than ive ever been, and i knew it was no longer financially necessary for me to livestream, i had the thought "i will go back to streaming when i find within myself a desire to do so" and ya know what? i havent yet.

and DO NOT FUCKING BOTHER MY FRIENDS ABOUT THIS. if you post a fucking "hey have u heard what chase said" message in their chat or in their DMs or anything, im not joking when i say you are actively being the kind of person i changed my career to avoid! fuck you, for real! stop trying to interface with them to get some new piece of information or opinion about me you fucking weirdo! they'll talk about me if they want to, but going to someone who is doing their own thing and asking them to instead comment on someone else it is ALWAYS fucking annoying. if you want to think about me, do it by yourself! or ask me directly! or do it in the comment section of a video im in! or write a fanfiction about me and then throw it away!

but if ur not that kind of person then ur cool dont worry.

anywho! im sorry if this is a bummer to read. but that's the full skinny.

im still posting regularly on twitter (clown_depot)! and if i DO go live, either on my twitch channel or on a friend's stream, it will be posted there!

thanks for watching :^]

im not goin radio silent, im just gonna turn off the electric window that lets people see me for a while.

[semper-draca]

There's something so depressing about being an artist on tumblr these days that I'm finding hard to articulate. Years ago, shitty one-hour sketches I posted would at least get double digits in the notes. These days, I can post commissions that took over fifty hours and get 5 notes at most. Blah blah do art for yourself, sure, but the important part is -

I Rarely Get Commissions Anymore.

Where I used to have to limit how many comms I could accept at once because I'd get that many requests, now I'm lucky to get two when I open up coms again. People don't reblog the art I do for myself, so no one finds my commission info that way. People don't reblog the art I do for commissions, so no one finds my commission info that way. People don't reblog commissions posts. A couple likes will get tossed at it from people who don't actually reach out in interest, so it doesn't circulate and it's just me reblogging it into the void, desperately hoping for some modicum of cash. I feel like people don't understand these days how little money most artists are bringing in, and the anxiety that comes with drastically declining circulation of art on websites like tumblr. Right now, for example, I'm desperate to earn as much money as I can during the summer because what I earn this summer? Has to last me rent for seven months straight to help offset the inevitable drain of all the savings I have. Normally some of that would come from art - nowadays, I can't rely on getting even a single commission.

I think this anxiety and this real material concern is what is behind all those "please for the love of god reblog art/posts you like" posts that people love to get angry about. If you haven't been here for years, it can be hard to see the ways in which this vanishing reblog culture has severely hit artists and forced many away from this platform. I don't want to leave tumblr or stop posting my art here, but good god is it depressing to see this site, and I cannot stress this enough, almost COMPLETELY VANISH as a revenue stream. I don't know what the solution to this culture shift is, but I do know that it's causing this site to deteriorate and forcing artists to move elsewhere and invest less effort on tumblr because it no longer makes any financial sense. I know that everyone is tired of hearing this, and fair enough, because there are plenty of other artists with louder voices than mine saying similar things, but please, if you like some art, consider reblogging it. Even if you have no interest in ever commissioning that artist. Others might see it and be interested, and that's how most new clients are made. Artists have rent on the line.

anyway, if you've made it to the end of this rant and haven't blocked me for it lmao, I still have commissions open

[pseudowho]

Hi Mrs Haitch! First let me say that I adore your stories and the way you write the men in your fics. Not only are they hot and enjoyable to read but also they feel real and adult. I don't want to bash on anyone by saying this, but sometimes it's difficult to enjoy fics written by younger people when you're pushing 30 because they portray a different reality. Please, never stop writing!

Before getting into the next part of the ask I'd like to say that this is in no way a demand and I it's not my intention to trauma dump on you. I just felt like talking a little about my experience could provide a bit of context.

I just read the ask about the soft spot and, although I'm not a virgin, I'm a serial victim of bad sex. I would love technical (even if explicit) descriptions on how to find the famed spot. I think is really cool when women in the medical field talk about sexual health, and it could be good having this kind of knowledge on a famous fic blog like yours, since I imagine a lot of fic readers are either virgins or had less than ideal sexual experiences, like me.

I don't want to seem like I'm pressuring you though! I totally understand if you prefer to keep this kind of thing out of your blog. It's just that a while ago I read on another blog from a healthcare professional a post about how sex shouldn't hurt even in the first time and I was blown away (this happened years after I started having sex and after having deemed myself "defective" and doomed to painful sex to the rest of my life)

Sorry for the long ask. Sending lots of hapiness your way <3

Well, if it helps even one person, it is absolutely my pleasure to do so.

I'm sorry for your bad sex. Nothing excuses it, frankly, and I'm a firm believer that most people are profoundly shit at giving vagina-owners orgasms.

(you calling my blog 'famous' does not go unnoticed and I could blush. Shhhh.)

I think age comes with so much beauty. I am a staunch believer in the unifying power of people, and when groups of women support the ducklings of the group, the ducklings are far less likely to be led down the garden path, on what is 'normal' or 'abnormal' or 'good' or 'bad' in sex.

This is why men and the media fear strongly-bonded groups of women so much-- it's almost like we'll talk and start to take note of the real problems. Cats amongst pigeons, right?

Anyway...

Cw and tw: medical discussion, discussion of self-examination

So again, while the location of the g-spot varies in exact location from vagina-owner to vagina-owner, on average it is located 2-3 inches into the vagina, on the anterior vaginal wall.

What I mean by anterior vaginal wall is, if standing and facing forwards, it's the wall of your vagina closest to the front of you, rather than your back.

Picture posted again, for reference!

The g-spot is of variable size, usually the size of a large coin, and it may feel a bit rougher or ridged than other parts of your vagina, but becomes spongier or thicker and plusher when aroused or stimulated.

If you were to get two fingers on your dominant hand, reach inside the vagina up to the base of your fingers, and hook forwards, you should find it.

I suggest for the first time, finding it when you need to pee. This is because, the g-spot sits against the urethral canal (the tube you pee out of), and if you have a full bladder, you'll know you've found the g-spot because it will feel really sensitive and likely increase your urge to pee.

If you happen to orgasm with g-spot and clitoral stimulation while you have urine in your bladder, your chances of "squirting" (which, if you see my previous post, is almost certainly just pee) are much higher. It's a unique experience and you should try it. Put a towel down.

I find a good sized wand vibrator, inserted and positioned just-so, will give great continuous g-spot stimulation while you, or someone else, goes to town elsewhere.

Start combining all of the erogenous zones and it's party time.

As said previously, sensitivity is very variable. Exploring and knowing yourself is key to showing a partner how to pleasure you.

If you have sex with a partner who responds with anything other than "teach me" absolute enthusiasm, when you want to show them what works for you...if they 'try' for a short time, then give up? If they carry on doing their own thing anyway? If they're impatient?

Kick them to the curb. They can go fuck themselves.

Very much love as always,

-- Haitch xxx

[justice-flonne]

Twitter and the death of Media Literacy

As the original post now has reblogs turned off before this post came out of the queue, looks like I have to make my own

Lemme tackle picture number 2 first. Number one, what the HELL do you mean "normal mentally ill [woman]"?? There's no such thing. There's not even such a thing as normal non-mentally ill. Everyone is different and has different reactions and symptoms. and number two: where the fuck do you get off calling the author a sex pest for the "crime" of exploring her options in brothels (well, i guess maybe it is a crime, i forget how japan's laws are, but still. i better not hear you demanding more rights for sex workers while indirectly demeaning their jobs, ya nitwit)? Being gay (or even just non-conforming, and that's not even just about gender) in Japan, while not as bad as say, the Middle East, is not exactly a walk in the park. She probably at the time of writing didn't have many options, and everybody explores their sexuality in different ways. It's really messed up that you're calling the author a sex pest for describing her life, especially since she did nothing wrong (as in, her encounters were all consensual. again, don't fully know the laws regarding brothels there. i think it's a "we'll pretend we didn't see that" scenario)

This also kinda ties into the downright dangerous idea that an lgbt+ person, lesbians especially, can only be an innocent pure being. that kind of thinking can and HAS gotten people into horrible abuse scenarios

As for the "incest"... whoo boy, this is gonna be long:

Now, I have actually read this manga, and I can cite the pages with the supposed "incest" mentioned in the first pic. I'd elaborate, but I'm admittedly quite bad at that, so I'll let the comic speak for itself:

(forgive me if there's any errors in the alt text. it's late 😭)

As you can see, the author does not LITERALLY want to fuck her mother. She has childhood issues from not enough affection (elaborated elsewhere in the book, but I'm tired. read it yourself. i got these pages from a definitely legal website, so can you), and wants to be held and coddled. She even straight up says what she feels is abnormal and yearns for a woman NOT RELATED TO HER to do things with. She KNOWS what she feels is strange and wants to (and eventually DOES) grow from this. I could post more images, but i'm probably pushing my luck as is

Point is, you "adults" really, REALLY need to learn that depiction is not the same as endorsement. Not everything is as cut and dry as the Marquis de Sade. This is, as the damn title says, the author's experience with loneliness as a result of growing up with an emotionally distant mother in a society that is markedly different than America

please, PLEASE, learn to think critically, and i mean "critical" in a "english class analysis" kind of way (for lack of a better term), not a "this thing you like is bad and it offends me" "critical." It's alright to be uncomfortable with things and even to not like things, hell I myself am a HUGE hater, but please, don't throw a tantrum because a real person wasn't a smol bean like you hoped

holy shit i need to go to bed

[strawberrychainsawz]

Douma's ideal human type in a partner

I was inspired by a post I saw on here so let's try! These are just things I think are my headcanons

• Since he cannot feel emotions, I think he'd want a very cheerful type of person who feels all sorts of emotions very deeply. It would fascinate him how much joy you found in the littlest most normal things. He likes how happy you are to see him, he thinks it's cute when you're aggravated by him. He likes how relaxed and calm you get from hearing the rain outside. All the things he cannot feel himself he'd try to feel through another person maybe. He very aware of his ability to not feel emotions and I think deep down it does bother him. Maybe you'd be able to help him feel something.

•A sense of humor. He's definitely the most funny out of all the uppermoons and he's more than likely going to being saying silly things. If he made a joke and you didn't laugh he'd probably just look at you blank faced and then start pouting.

"Waaaa you don't like my joke?? I'm not funny? You're such a meanie"

But if you did have a good sense of humor, he'd enjoy seeing your face lit up with laughter. Uh ohhh is mr.no emotions maybe starting to FEEL SOMETHING?

• a good listener. The man has spent his whole life, even at a young age having to listen to people's woes and worries. He'd like for someone to actually ask how HE is doing. And once you get him talking, I don't think he'd stop. He'd want to lay his head in your lap as he talks about his day but he also wants to hear you talk. You are his favorite afterall.

• good with children. I think this applies because of his own messed up childhood. Let's say maybe at his temple he saw you caring for some of the other women's children there, making them little flower crowns. It would be kinda bittersweet. Making him think "I wish at least one person was kind to me as a child like that"

• look wise? I think he'd want someone who is definitely beautiful but in a unique kinda way that stood out. Maybe one of your eyes is a different color. Maybe your hair color is a wild color you don't really see everyday. He was told his whole life he could hear the voice of God's because of his hair color and eye color so I'd feel like he would want to make sure, because of your unique presence that you're beautiful just because you are. Not for the benefits for satisfying others people. (Maybe for him though) 👁👁

• he'd want someone submissive but also not afraid to be dominant with him either. I could imagine him pinning you down and finding your whimpers sound like sweet music to him. But I could also imagine him letting a partner dominate him. He's so strong, maybe he'd be curious to feel like the prey for once in his life. Maybe he would like for YOU to pin him down and make him feel vulnerable.

• I think he would find clumsiness cute. Imagine you and him taking a stroll at night, you fall, scrape a knee. He'd tease you so bad about it.

"Look where you're going!!" "Goodness my love, as he says putting a bandage on your scrape, such a clutz. What would you without me, hmm?? Aren't you happy I came to your rescue? All smug like. *kisses your knee after fixing it up"

• I think he'd like someone who isn't very experienced in bed so a very innocent minded type of person. Once he got you in bed, he'd be gentle and not to hurt you. But after a while he'd be wanting to try all sorts of things and positions. Maybe he picked out a shiny cute collar and leash for you to put on. Maybe he wants you to put it on HIM.

• You'd have to be understanding that he is a demon and has to eat people. But out of kindness because you know he's such a NICE GUY maybe he'd eat his meals elsewhere.

• a very dotting personality. Like I said before he's spent his whole life having to listen to other people, he'd want you to be very affectionate with him. Maybe Akaza hurt his "feelings" and wants you to cuddle him and play with his hair as he whines about Akaza being so cold to him.

• I remember reading somewhere before he was a demon he enjoyed dancing and drinking sake. Since he can't drink sake anymore he takes baths in it for his skin.

He would love to dance with you to music. Since you're an innocent minded person maybe you've never tasted sake before. He'd love to see your expression to trying it. It might make him remember one of the things he loved when he was a human. If you didn't like the sake and immediately made a face when trying it, He'd find that adorable.

[snailchimera]

A while back I saw an otherwise perfectly fine post about Murderbot and ART and the general progression of their relationship that, for no goddamn reason, decided to mention the "autistic people lack theory of mind" idea. It wasn't about autism. It wasn't refuting the idea that a character was autistic. Autism was not mentioned elsewhere in the post. It was just there, a brief, random, vaguely dehumanizing aside that I tried very hard to let go but apparently I can't.

First off, as used in that post, it implied that an adult autistic person is incapable of considering a situation from another person's perspective. That's straight up false. That's not going to be my main point but I just need to get it out of the way. Difficulty reading someone is not remotely the same thing as being unaware that they have their own experiences and thoughts, or unable to consider their perspective provided you've been given the necessary information to know/guess what that perspective is. I'm not saying Murderbot is autistic, but I am saying that it would not need subtle spaceship body language, whatever that would entail, to determine that actually yeah having a rogue SecUnit running around where all your delicate machinery including your brain is might be kind of worrying and it's not unreasonable to draw some clear boundaries. That actually is clear just from thinking it through.

Second, the idea that autistics lack a theory of mind comes from one particular study done with autistic children. The children watched a short puppet show. In it, one puppet placed an object in a box, then left the room. Another puppet came into the room, moved the object, and left. The first puppet came back into the room, and the children were asked where the puppet would look for the object. Allistic children usually said the puppet would look in the place where the puppet had originally put the object. Autistic children usually said the place where the object currently was.

So here's my question: did the autistic children know they were allowed to give a "wrong" answer?

Because here's the thing. Being autistic means that, from a very young age, you are painfully aware that your perception of the world around you is not the same as other peoples'. Normally I'd emphasize the difference in sensory perception here, but actually it's not uncommon for autistic kids to think everyone experiences certain sensory input as horribly painful and other people are just better at not reacting badly to it (this is also true of allistic people with pain conditions, as an example). But knowing you're missing social cues? That's near unavoidable. People are constantly assuming you know things about how they feel and why they're taking a specific action, because it's "obvious". You know you're supposed to know. You know it's supposed to be easy, so easy in fact that when you say you don't know these things you're accused of lying. Allistic people constantly assume you have context that you don't have, context that they're presumably getting from things like tone of voice, body language, etc. It's like being presumed fluent in a language that you only have a limited grasp of, and accused of not listening, not caring, or even not understanding the idea of language as a means of communication when you can't understand everything other people say.

A common complaint autistic people have about allistic people is in fact that allistic people expect us to be mind readers. Of course that's not true- allistic people expect us to pick up on forms of communication that we easily miss or misunderstand, but they are in fact communicating- but given the nature of our puppet show, that feeling might be relevant, right?

Let's imagine a different puppet scenario. Puppet A puts their ball in a chest. They leave the room. Puppet B moves the ball from the chest to a cabinet, but leaves a note saying where they moved the ball to. Puppet A comes back into the room, reads the note, and correctly locates the ball.

Now another one. Puppet A puts their ball in a chest. They leave the room. Puppet B moves the ball from the chest to a cabinet, but leaves a note saying where they moved the ball to. Puppet A comes back into the room. They don't see the note, and can't find their ball. When they ask Puppet B where their ball is, Puppet B is furious. B left a note! What is wrong with A that they can't read a simple note? A must have read the note but ignored it just to have an excuse to bother B.

Autistic children are surrounded at all times by invisible notes, and people who react extremely negatively, sometimes even violently, when they find out you're not reading their notes (because you can't, because you don't even see them).

So. Puppet A puts their ball in a chest. They leave the room. Puppet B moves the ball from the chest to a cabinet. Puppet A comes back into the room. The allistic child has never had to consider whether they themselves are missing information that everyone else who watched the puppet show has. They know there's no way for Puppet A to know the ball was moved. They correctly state that Puppet A will look in the chest.

Puppet A puts their ball in a chest. They leave the room. Puppet B moves the ball from the chest to a cabinet. Puppet A comes back into the room. The autistic child has been in many situations where they're expected to know something they had no way of knowing, like the new location of a ball they weren't told was moved. They've been in many situations where another person knew what they didn't know, even though they both received the same information. They've gotten in trouble for not knowing things. Maybe they've made people they care about angry or sad by not knowing things. Now there's an adult, an authority figure, the kind of person who might punish you or get you in trouble with your parents for giving them the wrong answer, asking you where the puppet is going to look for the ball. Well, you can't just assume you know what the puppet knows. Maybe the puppet read an invisible note. Or maybe (remember these are very young kids), the puppet is like you, someone who can't read the invisible notes, and they're going to get in trouble for looking in the wrong place unless you help them.

So you don't give the answer that makes sense to you, that Puppet A looks in the chest because that's where they left the ball. You give the "right" answer, the actual location of the ball, the answer Puppet A was probably supposed to be able to figure out in some way you know you can't see.

I'm not a psych expert. My only claim to expertise here is as an actual autistic person (diagnosed, twice actually due to a mixup with the transfer of medical records across state lines). But I have read enough to notice a trend in autism studies of taking the least charitable possible interpretation of any difference between autistic and allistic people (see the "rigid morality" study, in which sticking to one's moral stance when presented with rewards for abandoning it was pathologized in the conclusion because autistic people did so more than allistic people). There's a very long history (a part of the larger very long history of eugenics) of deliberately looking for ways to scientifically support the decision to treat autistic people as subhuman, or nonhuman.

That is probably why so many of us like stories about sad robots.

Anyway that's my rant, it's over, thank you for reading to the end. If you actually wanna take something from this whole mess, just... try to be kind to people. Do your best to understand where they're coming from, and help them understand where you're coming from.

[ssadumba55]

Break (Bernard the Elf x Reader)

Request: Ok I've been brainstorming an idea for Bernard and ok here's what I got ok Reader is Santa's introverted kid and them and Bernard are in an established relationship and he's like the reader's emotional support so they follow him everywhere like an introvert dragged to a party but they would totally back off if he told them to

A/N: @fo-babes I believe this was your request ;) just in time for the holiday season and some new Bernard content next week. Part 1 of your birthday one shots. No matter how retired I am on this blog, I'll always room to post for you. This blog brought us together and I don't know what I'd do without you in my life, you've kept me sane this year when nothing else would. Here's to another 19 years of life for you, hopefully that I'll be able to tag along for! I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. Also, yes you did make me that gif I used of Bernard. Thanks!

“Make sure the painting gets done before Santa gets back or he’s going to freak out. Nice work though!”

Bernard stood up straight from where he’d been bent over, assessing one of the many jobs that needed to be done in the workshop. Christmas was still, thankfully, a ways off. Just over 100 days to be exact, they had time to perfect every little thing before it came. He was in good spirits today. There was a lot of time to get things ready and Santa was out, visiting the Millers, leaving him to run the workshop on his own.

He loved having Santa around, but sometimes it was nice to have him gone so he could keep all the elves on task.

Another reason for his good mood was the lack of Curtis, the keeper of the handbook. Normally he was attached at Bernard’s hip, talking his ear off and giving him a splintering headache. Today, however, it seemed he decided his talents would be better used elsewhere. Bernard was grateful for that, he began to continue on his way.

In Curtis’ place, was you. Santa’s eldest child, you’d made the move to the Pole with him when he came to stay here full time. Your relationship with the Millers from what he understood was rocky, you rarely left the Pole with your dad to visit. The only way you would come was if Charlie, your little brother, specifically requested your presence.

He wished he understood why. Laura and Neil had been a little too much when he’d encountered them, but they were generally harmless. In his opinion, at least. Santa enjoyed spending time with the family so that had to account for something.

He wouldn’t pressure you to tell him, though. Some things were just better left unsaid.

When Santa was gone, you always hung around him, even if you hated being around the workshop. The alternatives were hanging out with the other elves or sitting at home with Carol, who you were still getting used to and neither were super appealing to you.

Bernard had noticed when you first arrived here that people (or elves) were not your thing. In the beginning, being around anyone but Santa and Charlie would immediately cause you to shut down. He had been determined to win over both the Calvin kids, and his persistence was eventually rewarded tenfold. The two of you ended up becoming close friends, then later a couple. Everyone was really surprised you warmed up to him, none moreso than your father.

He felt extremely blessed to be in the fortunate few who got to see the real you.

You huffed behind him as he walked to the next table. The long hours in the workshop were starting to get to you, he knew. But there was no way you were going to leave, unless he told you to and he wasn’t about to force you out of the comfort that being near him brought.

He did feel a little guilty though, this was probably very exhausting to endure and he wasn’t about to be finished any time soon.

He smiled apologetically back at you as he bent down to oversee the teddy bear fluffing.

While he offered his advice, your gaze wandered around you to the bustling around you to get work done. The amount of elves here made your head spin, back in the regular world being in a place like this would be something you avoided, of course, you had to date a guy… an elf… who worked in one of the busiest places in the world.

“... we can go somewhere quieter.”

You came back to your senses when you realized Bernard was talking to you, his hand gently went up to rest on your forehead. You leaned into the touch, bringing yourself back to reality as his concerned eyes searched your face.

“I’m fine, you have work to do. You can’t leave the workshop,” you swallowed the lump in your throat. Soon dad would be back and then you could spend more time with Carol without feeling awkward. You could make it until then, but Bernard didn’t seem convinced.

He set what he’d picked up from the work table in his other hand back down, patted the elf seated there on the back and turned back to you. Taking your hand, he pulled you along with him to the front doors of the workshop.

“Bernard, what are you doing- you have work and dad-”

Stepping out into the cool air where there were less loud noises and bustling immediately calmed you inside. You still felt tired from the long exposure but at least your senses weren’t being constantly inundated with new stimuli.

He pointed to the edge of the little North Pole village. “Do you remember when we grabbed cocoa and snuck out here while Santa was busy being distracted by a mess Curtis made? And you still wouldn’t talk to me so I did most of the talking?”

You did remember that day. Back in those days, Bernard often looked for moments to steal away with you. He had been so determined to spend time with you, it didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest that you weren’t too keen on making friends. It had been a huge shock for you, so used to the people back in Lakeside. Back there, if you weren’t super extroverted and talkative you just kind of fell to the wayside.

You had never told him but you’d been super bummed that day, it was one of those rare days where you wondered if moving to the North Pole was a good idea. You missed your brother and weirdly, your mother and Neil. It had been a shock to find yourself missing them, considering you’d always been closer to your dad. During the divorce, you’d taken his side which had stung your mother. The relationship ever since had been rocky, but you knew she still wanted the best for you.

Sneaking out for cocoa with someone had been exactly what you had needed that day.

“Yeah. And dad found us hours later. He dragged you back to work, I’ve never seen him so annoyed with you,” you laughed as the two of you began a leisurely stroll. 

His cheeks turned slightly red, as he looked away. “Not one of my brighter moments, I’ll admit. I’ve never had a Santa lecture me like that in the thousands of years I’ve been working here.”

There was comfortable silence between the two of you for a few moments after that as you thought about what he’d said and wondered why he’d brought it up.

“The next time we talked, you spoke to me for the first time outside of forced, curt introductions. I was ecstatic, I think getting in trouble really broke the ice.”

“I felt bad for getting you in trouble. After all, you only suggested leaving because you noticed I was getting uncomfortable in the workshop. And dad shouting orders wasn’t really helping. I felt like I owed you something,” you kicked the snow, smiling, “you just did it again. Risked your spot, even though dad’s not here, to comfort me.”

He looked at you. “It was worth it then and it’s worth it now. You’re worth it, I mean.”

You nudged him with your shoulder, not knowing what to say. After all, everyone here knows Bernard is proud of his position as Santa’s Head Elf. To hear him say he’d risk it any time for you, is a little surprising.

The shock must’ve been apparent on your face because he suddenly stopped walking. At his side, you stopped yourself from walking forward abruptly not expecting the sudden stop. The stop made you lose your balance and he reached out to steady you, realizing that he should’ve warned you vocally before randomly deciding to stop.

“Are you surprised?”

“To hear you’d prioritize anything over work? Surprised is an understatement. I know I can be a little much, especially when dad’s not around-”

Bernard nudged you with his shoulder. “You’re not a little much. You just need time and patience, the best things in life do.”

Your face heated up at his words, it was hard sometimes to be the way you were. To struggle with speaking to people, to fight the urge to isolate yourself from everyone. You had always assumed that was a burden to everyone around you, even the ones who managed to crack your hard shell.

To hear Bernard speak as if it was just perfectly normal…

“We should go get cocoa! On me!” You broke the weird mood that had temporarily settled over the two of you and before he could say anything, began to pull him along in the direction of the nearest spot for cocoa. 

He let you drag him.

Sure, there were a lot of things about you that other people might find annoying but seeing you in moments like this made it all the worthwhile. He rushed to keep up with your pace, wrapping his arm around your shoulders as he caught up with you, no longer needing to be dragged.

You smiled and he felt his heart skip a beat.

He needed to take breaks more often.

[junkjounral]

June 14, 2023

ואהבת לרעך כמוך

V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, Love your neighbor as yourself

Under the read more are translations and transliterations for all the Hebrew, and more info abt this journal entry.

In the center: V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, Love your neighbor as yourself.

Top left: Sh'mirat halashon, Guarding one's use of language

Bottom left: Shalom bayit, Peace in the home

In the apple: B'tzelem elohim, In G-d's image

Bottom right: Al tifrosh min hatzibur, Do not separate yourself from the community

Middle right: Kavod, respect

Top right: Kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, All Israel is responsible for one another.

I normally don't give any explanations of my journal entries when I post them, even the ones that were v special and meaningful to me, bc i want ppl to bring whatever they have to it (or just have fun looking at stuff on the internet!). but this is one i thought long and hard abt posting at all, and i decided that if i was going to then i'd like ppl to know what it means for me even if they see smth else when they look at it. going into every little detail would be overkill, but i'll give the highlights.

i'm a trans jewish person who is hella involved at my shul, helping organize events, starting new initiatives, and being in various leadership roles. i have been openly trans there for a number of years now (basically since i first discovered it myself). important to the story, though, is i haven't taken part in any sort of medical transition yet. someone else trans and jewish who has also been at my shul many years is leaving bc of harassment they've faced since coming out and transitioning. a lot of ppl have come outta the woodwork to make their disapproval known and to just be disrespectful overall, and i think i no longer have a place in that community.

so, while making this journal entry i was thinking about intersections btwn judaism, community, transness, and transformation/change. and grief i'm feeling at this loss. and irony abt this all coming to a head during pride month. how are our jewish values being neglected, and where are they present? what does it mean for me to be jewish as a queer person? what does it mean for me to be jewish if i'm leaving this community? where am i going to go? what if i don't go to a diff shul and only engage w community elsewhere? what ramifications does that have for my practice?

it was a lot of wrestling. and i'm gonna continue to wrestle.

[perelka-l]

I think by fucked up shit people mean stuff like incest and ships with 20 years between them which only speaks how fandom police can get you for stuff that is pretty common. Loved your post btw I think we all should be loving out things loudly and proudly. I feel like fandom defragmentarized into tiny secret circles like discord servers where fucked up shit is normal but where do you find them if nobody posts about them you know?

You are entirely right.

For starters - I fucking hate Discord. I loathe that this is where apparently things are 'happening' these days. If you don't know someone who's already a part of a group, you're frankly fucked and all there is is you and whoever is active on socmed, that might maybe leave a like, or reblog. I don't want to sound bitter, but people these days comment art when it's shared on some Discord server. I hate this. I hate this so much, because you might just simply never see it, and feel alone.

(Fuck numbers game, when you post fic, art, whatever, what one craves is (and I am using this word) community, sense that you are sharing something with others. You might get one reblog and get the most heartfelt enthusiasm that is coming from deep inside someone's heart and it will make you a thousand times more happy than watching the numbers just go up. But now even that is getting difficult. Because fucking Discord. I was tempted so many times to create "servers" for whatever was on my mind but this is why I usually decided against that.)

I feel like one of reasons that happened was fear. With discord, you can screen who will see your shared filth. It's understandable reaction to whatever the fuck is happening in fandom these days, people don't want to be doxxed, exposed, revealed and shamed. It's a natural progression. And I loathe that it came to this as well. Cringe may no longer exist, but shame still does.

And fr, I remember when I was a baby in fandom. Yes, I looked at things I shouldn't have looked at (another thing that these days I feel is warped...) but at worst you just raised an eyebrow when you saw a more desperate anon request scat on kink meme with two characters you'd never consider together (and they could even get it!!!). Now I feel like people are shamed for most 'basic' stuff. What is a little incest, what is a bit of age gap, truly? In comparison to older days, this was just causal stuff - of course, there were people that were uncomfortable with those themes, but it was easy to just politely look away, elsewhere.

Of course I don't wish to glamorize those times - people were ignorant, there were abusers as everywhere else, all human faults that never went anywhere, there were shitstirrers and drama and hate were present. But I feel like those didn't impact and stifle the fandom as terribly as fanpol now.

So I think best we can do is love, loudly and unashamedly. Just be cringe, just let everything you adore spill out of your heart. Be horny, be enamoured, be friendly, try to let those positive feelings possess you. It's fun! And this is why we are here, this is why we are fans, why we create, why there is fandom. What's the point of participating in this if not out of love? What's the point of love if it's hidden and stifled down? I may be waxing poetics now, but it's a philosophy I genuinely believe in.

I even thought about this recently, how I feel like I am not sticking to this as much as I'd like to. I want to love more, I want to be more open about shit I like, I want to be cringy and unashamed even more. So hey, let's go for it together :D

[term-repost]

originally posted by user Kenochoric / Kenochoric-moved / Trans-Haunting

-

About Damselpunk

Damselpunk was originally "coined" here back in November 2022. I outlined some things I had been thinking of on the post, but now that I've sort of outgrown your typical coining-post format, I thought I'd actually explain what I made the label for, and what it means.

However, when I first made it, I realize when looking at it that it was incomplete. It was a good start, but it was really only speaking for my experience. And how I- someone who is TME, who is white, experience womanhood and negative stereotypes associated with it will differ from how trans women and women of color will experience it (among other examples.) Not only that, but even from within my own groups my experience isn't universal. As examples....

The stereotype that women are frail, weak, and purely feminine little fairies, from what I've heard, is often different for some women of color and trans women. I've heard accounts of other women being painted as aggressive, as hypermasculine, and as dangerous for being people of color. Similarly, I've heard many stories of trans women being treated as an inherent danger to the cis women around them, as overly strong and as needing to force themselves into roles that made the people around them more "comfortable." To be clear, I really can't speak on these experiences or their nuances, so I don't feel comfortable going over every single thing I've heard, but I didn't recognize this nuance in my original post and it was absolutely an oversight.

What a "lady," or a "woman" is in different cultures, countries, and just general social groups differ. The things I outlined in my post, like being "dainty" and "proper," are absolutely real stereotypes, but they are far from the only ones, and the stereotypes and expectations elsewhere can be just as restrictive and misogynistic even if those expectations are different from the ones I grew up with.

Reclaiming womanhood from something formerly traumatizing is absolutely a real thing, but the way I specifically said "growing up" centered my own experience, and was unintentionally excluding a lot of trans women. Finding womanhood formerly painful because of how it was put onto you, and then reclaiming it again, is not a purely adolescent thing, and is not exclusive to people who were ""raised as girls."" The notion that it is, even though I didn't intend it to be, was transmisogynistic.

Damselpunk is just as much about rejecting systemic misogyny as it is about rejecting interpersonal acts of it. I didn't outline enough examples of systemic oppression in my post when I should have. It is very much so about combating systemic misogyny in all of its forms, as well as recognizing intersectionality and groups of women who are affected differently due to other institutions of oppression working in tandem with misogyny.

So, with all of that out of the way, what is damselpunk? Why did I make it? What does it mean to me, and what can it mean to other people?

Damselpunk is ultimately a movement about rejecting women's oppression and mistreatment, in all of its forms. It is about rejecting the idea that women are less default, less normal, or inherently the "other" compared to men. It is rejecting stereotypes and roles placed onto women regardless of what those roles are. It is self respect and autonomy for oneself, and valuing yourself as a person who is deserving of respect, individuality, and care. It is rejecting the idea that there's only one way to be a woman and live as a woman, considering there are countless different variations and experiences that can exist between different women.

The term Damselpunk was chosen due to how in countless stories, the woman is the "other," or the prop device in a man's story that is not allowed one's own development or thoughts. The Damsel is fundamentally disregarded and not considered their own person, as is part of their "role" within many narratives. It is less about how the Damsel needs to be rescued ("damsel in distress"), and more about how the Damsel is rarely if ever counted as a true character beyond a device for someone else- however, the "damsel in distress" narrative may also resonate with some women as a trope that ought to be flipped on its head, I simply didn't want to paint that as universal, since some women may also enjoy that trope and like the idea of being "rescued" or "swept off their feet." I like that there's multiple ways to interpret the term, regardless. Ladypunk was also coined as an alternative, for people who prefer it.

But, the notion of damselpunk goes beyond the often-shallow parade of "women can do anything! women can be anything!", it goes further than that. It is also about rejecting misogyny, and the system that perpetuates it. Of course, misogyny and the oppression of women takes many, many forms and in what way it presents itself depend on a wide variety of factors. For some women, it's being painted as frail, as dainty and inherently feminine. For others, it's being painted as aggressive, dangerous, predatory, and in need of "protection" from. For others, it's being ignored, having one's needs and desires swept aside and seen as secondary. It is also a broad rejection of the idea that women's rights do not matter, that feminism is unnecessary or "dead," and that it isn't worth caring about. It is also strongly against the notions that misogyny and women's rights only takes form in one way, that empowerment is only one thing that presents in one way. Exclusionary forms of feminism, and the broad strokes people try to provide for women's empowerment (such as making every female character "the one with the braincell," the "strong one with no feelings," and otherwise) are not the point of Damselpunk and do not represent the movement. This goes especially for forms of feminism that is intentionally bigoted or attempting to remove groups of women from the movement, such as TERFs.

Any type of woman can exist. Womanhood is not just frilly dresses and long hair, but it can be- those things can be deeply empowering, even! For other women, embracing gender non-conformity, masculinity, or gender-fuckery are incredibly important, and just as whole as another form. Womanhood is also not intentionally binary, nor is it tied to the body. It can be dissociated from the binary, alongside other genders, or even be a form that is completely disconnected from binary notions of it. It is a malleable thing that we have given a word to, and may be played and experimented with in a variety of ways. Putting women into an inherent box- that they must be this, or that, or the other thing, regardless of its intention is narrow-minded. A woman may be of any race, of any weight, of any appearance and of any place. They are just as much of human beings as men are, and are not less "normal" or "default" than another gender.

When writing all of this, it puts into perspective how malleable damselpunk itself is. It can be as varied as women themselves are, and so trying to put one set of experiences or expectations onto the label is simply not how it can be.

Now, for the symbol and flag I created for the term:

This symbol is called the Damselblade. It's different from the original symbol, because frankly, I don't think the original was very proper. It had been trying to make the original female symbol look partly like an X, but it was just a mess. So! I instead flipped it upside down and moved the horizontal bar close to the base, making it resemble a sword or blade. Hence: Damselblade!

And here is the flag, both with and without the damselblade! No changes were made between posts besides the symbol itself.

-

Now, just as a bit of an epilogue before I end this already-huge post: Even through all my attempts and corrections, I want to make it clear I do not represent every damselpunk experience, yes, even as the creator. Part of making a term for an entire group of people (women) is recognizing that you have some blind spots. I can't speak for women of color, or trans women, even though they're fully welcome in the label. Some of the things I've outlined might not fully encompass people whose lives I haven't lived.

So! I encourage people to see damselpunk in their own way, and to not just experience it from within the lens and views of the creator. So long as you're a woman, a girl, what-have-you, you can be damselpunk, and that comes with the inherent footnote that I won't be able to include all those nuances. If you have any criticisms or anything like that, please send them to my inbox and I'll take it to heart! (Just be respectful, please)

-

Should be fairly obvious, but TERFs fuck off or get blasted by the damselblade

-

originally posted by user Kenochoric / Kenochoric-moved / Trans-Haunting

[sophieinwonderland]

This might be upsetting but I just saw a post from did a dose of reality and it was concerning to say the least. They said the disorder wasn’t real but they play along with their clients pretending to validate their alters, only because they think that will intergrate them.

And that the only patients that leave them are the “fakers.”

Yikes!

Actually, what is even going on with that blog? There is so much blatant misinformation there.

1. Partial DID

ICD-11:

Do I need to say more?

2. Hallucinations in Dissociative Identity Disorder

They also suggest a few time that DID doesn't involve hallucinations...

Now... I doubt that "those in therapy" are aware of the DSM-5-TR, which is what I think this person is referring to since they talk about it elsewhere. Like, most therapists probably won't give their patients a rundown of the new medical manuals, right? But even if they did, I feel this person missed something pretty important in the TR.

But the TR actually undersells this association. According to one study, these hallucinations are MORE COMMON THAN IN SCHIZOPHRENIA.

And not by a small margin either.

Physical sensations associated with voices were reported 97% of the time in DID compared to 50% in Schizophrenia groups. Visual hallucinations were nearly twice as common. Tactile hallucinations, about 3 times as common.

This misinformation is genuinely dangerous.

If this alleged therapist decided that hallucinations are all psychotic, then their perception of DID could very easily be influenced by the fact that they've misdiagnosed many of their dissociative patients with psychotic disorders.

3. People with DID want their alters gone

I'm going to note that the title is my interpretation. They don't clearly say this. They just say that people with DID want to finish the job and cure it. But the way they talk about alters strongly leaves this impression.

I absolutely think it's true that most people with DID don't want to have a disorder.

But many would like to pursue healthy multiplicity.

And I'd like to point again at the table in the above study. When participants were asked if they would miss their voices if they stopped, a massive 69% answered that they would. That's a huge majority of DID systems in that study.

4. Complex DID

There is actually a certain level of truth to this one too. Complex-DID is not an official diagnosis, and HC-DID is a community term that can be a bit misleading because it sounds like a clinical term. (Similar issue with emotional amnesia.)

Having said that... this is a really silly way to go about this...

"Complex" as an adjective means that something is complicated. It's not the same as the noun "complex." Having a "complex disorder" would never be related to "having a complex."

Might as well try to convince your student that they're claiming to be an apartment complex.

I would suggest both they and their student take an English class.

Anyway, while HC-DID isn't a medical term and C-DID isn't an official diagnosis, I suspect "complex DID" likely comes from this paper.

5.) The Flight or Flight Reaction

Remember, if you make someone with a dissociative disorder angry, they'll always run away because they're literally incapable of fighting back. If they do argue with you fakeclaiming them, then that PROVES they were faking all along.

Never mind that not every instance of people being upset with you on the internet and calling you our for harmful behavior is because they're triggered. (In the traumatic sense.)

Never mind that "Fight" is a natural reaction to trauma when it is triggered.

Never mind that people who might normally run away were it something triggering you said to just them may engage because they don't want your words harming other people. /s

Anyway, yeah... this is a really gross blog from a very ableist and uninformed therapist, filled to the brim with misinformation, and I would highly advise people ignore it.

[teaberrii]

Status update

Wow, it's been a while. I wanna pop in and say that I'm still alive lol.

I'm still working on the next chapter of the Year of the Dragon (YOTD), but I'd like to get something off my chest. :x

Long story short, I've been thinking about giving up on YOTD. To put it bluntly, I'm putting in a lot of effort for very little engagement... It's a lot less than what I usually get.

I'm considering refocusing my efforts elsewhere rather than slogging through something I'm not feeling as much anymore.

I don't know if this is burnout lol... because I can normally get through stories even if the traction is less than I hoped. But, my writing groove has fallen significantly, and it pains me. A lot. I'm slowly getting back into it, but it's been challenging.

This isn't an "I'm giving up on YOTD" post because I still have ideas and love for it. But, I might start on something else as I try to get over this writing slump.

[deusvervewrites]

Seiai Academy: so, Hosu just straight up either doesn't happen, or if it does, Tenya isn't there, so Stain would get away most likely.

Also, would Ketsubutsu and Seiai do joint training from time to time?

Thought I had, Blackwhip probably wouldn't be the first legacy quirk Midoriya unlocks. I can't see Mido getting angry enough without Monoma and in a much more supportive school, so I feel like Float or Danger Sense would be the first.

The Summer Camp attack wouldn't happen, but I could see Seiai possibly contacting The Wild Wild Pussycats and set up a similar training camp to canon's, just without any LoV attacks because the LoV has no reason.

Also, how does the MLA get shut down here, or do they play an Actual Role in this, instead of just being convenient villainous cannon-fodder?

And you know what I can see happening? Star and Stripe seeing All Might guest lecture various hero schools, and decides that's a great idea, and contacts All Might, who is going to be guest speaking at Seiai soon, and decides that S&S is a perfect role model for these fine young women and invites her along. On the way they happen to run into Inko, who was visiting her daughter, and, well, we all know what happens from there.

Hosu is unlikely to happen at all. While Tensei getting taken down by Stain isn't affected by this AU, the League never attacking the USJ means they have no reason to try and get better recruits, so they don't meet Stain, so they don't unleash the Noumu. And as mentioned elsewhere in this AU, Tenya would struggle to run off to fight Stain without, like, straight up running away from home.

Ketsubutsu and Seiai doing joint training makes sense. Actually, it makes sense for all of the smaller schools to collaborate this way more often than UA would because it's an efficient way to get different experiences.

Now there's an idea. Midoriya being in a different headspace at Seiai at that time resulting in a different Quirk activating.

I did mention the idea of Seiai using field trips to get different environment training

I don't really know what I'd do with the MLA here. Though if the League are struggling to make headway, then the MLA might go ahead with their own plans since there's no competition...

Okay normally I don't respond to the 'And Then CathInko' asks because I feel like pure shipping posts might distract from the main point of the AU (see also the mice from Little Mouse) but Cathleen showing up to talk at an all-girls Hero School where her master's pupil is makes a lot of sense.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

OC Questionnaire

Thanks to @illarian-rambling here and here, @somethingclevermahogony here and here, @mk-writes-stuff here, @imsoveryveryconfusedatlife here,

Rules: answer the questions for your OCs, then ask three more questions to others!

Tagging @blind-the-winds @little-peril-stories @buffythevampirelover @eccaiia @dyrewrites @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @willtheweaver @chauceryfairytales @reininginthefirewriting + ANYONE

These accidentally built up. Since I got tagged multiple times this may be a little long. I will do one OC per set.

#1- Robbie

What's your favorite type of weather?

“I mean, I guess I like it when it's cloudy, maybe even a bit gray. It feels cozy, I guess. Especially if it's cold, because then you have an excuse to stay inside.”

Who was the last person you told a secret to?

“Probably Akash. He knows my secrets better than me.”

Have you ever broken a bone?

“There was a ramp up to the playground in kindergarten, and I slipped and broke my arm on the ramp. It was the day before the talent show, so I had to go on stage with a cast.

More Robbie: OC in fifteen, OC in three, two truths and a lie, picrew

#2- Gwen

What's a childhood fear you had?

“I think it was...that I would one day find an evil clone of myself. Or a dark version of me. I guess it was all the cartoons I watched! (Laughs) I suppose those things happen a lot less in real life.”

What's in your pockets?

“My drumsticks. I developed a habit of twirling them when anxious or bored. Thankfully I've gotten boy's pants for years so I can have better pockets.”

Ever considered therapy?

I'm assuming this is post-Pt2

“What? No, I-- *sigh* I don't need therapy. I'm needed elsewhere.”

More Gwen: OC in three, picrew

#3- Maddie

Salty, spicy, or sweet?

“Spicy. I enjoy the risk.”

What is your favorite game or sport?

“Hm. Anything Mario related. But I'm really good at Mario Kart.”

What was the last thing you threw away?

“The instructions for the LEGO set I just built. The Batmobile, for the record.”

More Maddie: OC in three, picrew, two truths and a lie, filled in Bingo

#4- Noelle

What’s your favourite food?

“Saying I have a favorite food is ridiculous. It's food - if it's good, it's good. I guess anything my mom made. And I like to think my cooking is good. I like doing it at least. I couldn't pick a favorite.”

What’s the worst joke you’ve ever heard?

“Any that comes out of Robbie's mouth. (Pause) I think that was a little rude. Parker - he thinks he's a lot funnier than he is.”

If you could go anywhere in the world to visit, where would it be?

“I'd like to go wherever my dad is. Talk to him. See why he and my mom aren't together anymore.”

More Noelle: OC in fifteen, OC in three, filled in Bingo

#5- Jedi

What do you do for work?

“Oh, I love my work. I have a doctorate in the power database. I run constant tests on DNA from different Alii to compare their genetic makeup so the database remains accurate and thorough. I make notes of trends among the abilities of different Levels, as well as noting the subpowers, and how those subpowers look on a genetic Level. I am currently working with my dear friend Carmen to study the long-term effects of Alii who grew up on Ceteri, and how their powers develop throughout their adolescence.”

How much sleep do you get?

(pause, rubs the back of his neck) “I do have insomnia, so I get a normal amount of sleep for that. I may take medication to fall asleep occasionally, but I am usually reading or running diagnostic tests.”

What’s your favourite animal?

“I am particularly fond of kitsunes and water foxes. I also always wanted a pet ferretsnake, as well.”

More Jedi: OC in three, Picrew, acearo smash or pass

#6- Kelsey

Who would you miss the most if they left?

“Maddie. She's been my best friend for years. I wouldn't know what to do without her.”

What is the funniest thing you have ever done?

“Not check the bathroom stall lock in second grade. It's how I met Maddie though, so I'm grateful I did that. I also put on a handmade puppet play for my cousins a few years ago. Improvised the whole thing.”

Who cares about you the most?

“Maddie. And Hye-Jin. They've never stopped caring about me, even though they show it completely differently.”

More Kelsey: OC in three, picrew (now inaccurate since I'm dying her hair black), filled in Bingo

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

Alright, you've made it this far. Here are the questions:

What is on your nightstand? If you don't have a nightstand, what would you put on it if you did?

What are some of your hobbies?

What is your system for organization?

[rigelmejo]

audio study methods

Still working on that 'lazy' study plan post, since I am just not satisfied with any chinese grammar guide summaries online enough to recommend them as a small grammar intro. If anyone knows of any good 'grammar overview summary' articles or sites for chinese grammar, please let me know. (I like AllSetLearning's Chinese Grammar Wiki but it is huge and in depth and not something I'd recommend a learner 'just read through' on month 4 of learning, and the grammar guide summary site I used as a beginner that was very easy to read through in a few hours... no longer exists)

So in the meantime. Not a grammar study tip, but a general 'lazy' option for language learners who (like me) can't focus on stuff like anki, or just don't want to. I go more in depth about using audio lessons and audio flashcards on other posts, and on the lazy study plan post i'm drafting, but the short of it is: you can listen and learn while doing your normal daily activities. That's what makes the study method so convenient. You don't have to squeeze in any extra time, or change your daily life schedule to make time for chinese, to use audio lessons and audio flashcards.

You simply find some times during the day when you'd either normally listen to audio in the background (like if you listen to music when commuting or shopping, or if you listen to podcasts when working, or if you listen to youtube while exercising or browsing social media). As usual, the more time the better as you'll make faster progress if you study 1-2 hours a day or more. But anything is better than nothing. So lets say you commute to work 30 minutes in morning and evening, there's your hour of studying audio. Or you go for a walk at lunch for 15 minutes, and browse tumblr for an hour scrolling (that's 1 hour and 15 minutes of study). It's very easy to fit 30 minutes of audio study into a day, and it's fairly easy to fit even 2-4 hours of audio study if you're so inclined. I usually do 30 minutes - 2 hours of audio study some days, since when I walk I decide if I feel like listening to a youtube essay or chinese or japanese stuff, when driving I decide which I feel like listening to, and I want to listen to something in english 2/3 of the time.

How do you use audio study material? Well, the easy way is you just press play on it, let it play in the background while you do other stuff, and that's it. If you tend to avoid studying new stuff (like me), then I recommend PRIORITIZING listening to NEW AUDIO every time, until you get into the habit of listening to NEW stuff to learn. Then you can re-listen to stuff sometimes, as review, especially when you're doing activities you have less attention on audio during. So for example: you'd listen to new audio on the commute or when walking (when you can mostly focus on what you're hearing), and then re-listen to audio as review while working or scrolling tumblr and reading english (activities where you pay more attention to other things besides audio).

What can you listen to?

There's audio lessons - which would be something like ChinesePod101 (Immersive Language Chinese in the Hoopla library app), Coffee Break Chinese, youtube videos where teachers talk in english and explain chinese as they teach it. These are good for study material, because you comprehend what you're learning due to the english explanations of every word and grammar point you hear. These are good for beginners, because you will understand everything you're listening to, and learn new words and grammar, thanks to the explanations. The drawback with audio lessons is they require the most focus.

There's learner podcasts like TeaTime Chinese and Slow Chinese, these are more often ENTIRELY in chinese. So these are better for practicing comprehension of stuff you've studied elsewhere, rather than for learning new things. You can learn new words and grammar from these, but if that is your goal then re-listen to learner podcasts a decent amount (5-20 times or more until you can't guess/figure out any more word meanings).

There's audio flashcards (which I love). These are sentence audio in english, then repeated in chinese. The order may vary, the chinese may be repeated more than once. These are good for beginners and upward, because you get a translation of every single thing you hear in chinese. You can pick up new words and grammar from audio flashcards. Audio flashcards require less focus than audio lessons, because you can learn from sentences while you pay attention and then if your attention drifts you can just focus again to the next sentence you hear and continue learning. The drawback is there are no explanations for which word specifically translates to what, some translations are not literal, and there's no explanation of why the grammar is the way it is. Audio flashcards require the listener to try and guess what means what by exposure to chinese sentences and their translations. So it's harder than audio lessons in terms of explanations, but easier than learner podcasts. Audio flashcards are the best substitute for traditional flashcards or SRS apps like anki, if you're trying to improve your vocabulary by hundreds of words ASAP. Audio flashcards are dense with new vocabulary (usually 1 new word or grammar point per sentence you can learn), so you'll learn more words than you would with an audio lesson that is paced slower with more english explanations or a learner podcast which would ideally be mostly words you know and only 20% or less new words.

There's Spoonfed Chinese Anki audio files (which I recommend since these start out very basic and increase in difficulty while also repeating words a lot so you can review, they're shared on reddit if you search, or ask me), if you search 'chinese english sentences' on youtube or bilibili (i've done this with chinese japanese sentences on bilibili) you'll find videos like this where you hear audio english then audio chinese. Old glossika cd files are basically this structure as well, which you can find the audio files of for free online or free in libraries (I'm using the new glossika app for japanese but I'm hesitant to recommend the modern app courses as there's significant errors in japanese so I'm not sure how good/bad the chinese one is). If you're a beginner, then the audio flashcard material you pick won't matter much as you need to learn a few thousand common words first which will be in most materials you find. But if you're an upper beginner, you may wish to prioritize finding audio flashcards with MORE unique words, more sentences, or may want to transition to using learner podcasts more for new vocabulary. If you aren't running into at least one new word for every 5 sentences you hear in audio flashcards (and ideally one new word for Every sentence), then that audio flashcard is way too easy for you and you know enough words to move onto new study material.

Audiobooks and audio dramas - use these like learner podcasts, listen to ones you can comprehend the main idea of, and then re-listen until you can't guess/figure out any more new words. If you're not very good at listening comprehension (like me lol), then you may want to listen to a given audiobook/audio drama file 3-5 times before deciding if you can comprehend the main idea (and use the material). When my listening skills are rusty, or just in general since my listening skills are bad, it can take me a few times of listening to recognize words I 'already know' and then a few more times of listening for my brain to put the words i recognize together into 'comprehending' what was communicated. So if you can read better than you can listen, you may want to listen 3-5+ times to a new audio file before deciding if you can follow the main idea or if it's too hard. And if you can READ the audio drama transcript, chapter text, but cannot understand the audio file? Then it probably IS at a good level for you to listen to, you just need a lot more practice hearing and recognizing the words you can read. So re-listen.

All of these listening study methods are good for:

Adding more study time into your day, since you can do them while doing other things.

Learning new words and grammar, when you don't have the time (or don't want) to spend time dedicated mainly to focusing on your study material.

Learning new words and grammar, if you don't use flashcards or SRS like anki but want the benefit of learning lots 'faster' than you would if you only picked up words during active study time (active study time being when you ONLY are focusing on study activities: like reading chinese, watching cdramas, chatting/texting people, and looking up words)