#note that there's a version of this post where it's been reblogged and added on and I chat about Elvis and stuff

[gootarts]

as of 8/3, the most recently updated version of this post is here (it's a reblog of this exact post with more info added)

as a lot of you know, limbus company recently fired its CG illustrator for being a feminist, at 11 pm, via phone call, after a bunch of misogynists walked into the office earlier that day and demanded she be fired. on top of this, as per korean fans, her firing went against labor laws---in korea, you must have your dismissal in writing.

the korean fandom on twitter is, understandably, going scorched earth on project moon due to this. there's a lot currently going on to protest the decision, so i'm posting a list here of what's going on for those who want to limit their time on elon musk's $44 billion midlife crisis impulse purchase website (if you are on twitter, domuk is a good person to follow, as they translate important updates to english). a lot of the links are in korean, but generally they play nicely with machine translators. this should be current as of 8/2.

Statements condemning the decision have been issued by The Gyeonggi Youth Union and IT Union.

A press conference at the Gyeonggido Assembly will occur on 8/3, with lawmakers of the Gyeonggi province (where Project Moon is based) in attendance. This appears driven by the leader of the Gyeonggi Youth Union.

The vice chairman of the IT union--who has a good amount of experience with labor negotiations like these--has expressed strong support for the artist and is working to get media coverage due to the ongoing feminist witch hunts in the gaming industry. Project Moon isn't union to my knowledge, but he's noted that he's taken on nonunion companies such as Netmarble (largest mobile game dev in South Korea) by getting the issue in front of the National Assembly (Korea's congress).

Articles on the incident published in The Daily Labor News, Korean Daily, multiple articles on Hankyoreh (one of which made it to the print edition), and other news outlets.

Segments about the termination on the MBN 7 o' clock news and MBC's morning news

Comments by Youth Union leaders about looking into a loan made to Project Moon via Devsisters Ventures, a venture capital firm. Tax money from Gyeonggi province was invested in Devsisters in 2017, and in 2021, Devsisters gave money to Project Moon. The Gyeonggi Youth Union is asking why hard-earned tax money was indirectly given to a company who violates ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles.

Almost nonstop signage truck protests outside Project Moon's physical office during business hours until 8/22 or the company makes a statement. This occurs alongside a coordinated hashtag campaign to get the issue trending on Twitter in Korea. The signage campaign was crowd-funded in about 3 hours.

A full boycott of the Limbus Company app, on both mobile and PC (steam) platforms. Overseas fans are highly encouraged to participate, regardless if whether they're F2P or not. Not opening the app at all is arguably the biggest thing any one person can do to protest the decision, as the app logs the number of accounts that log on daily. For a new gacha such as Limbus, a high number of F2P daily active users, but a small number of paying users is often preferable to having a smaller userbase but more paying users. If the company sees the number of daily users remain stable, they will likely decide to wait out any backlash rather than apologize.

Digging up verified reviews from previous employees regarding the company's poor management practices

Due to the firing, the Leviathan artist has posted about poor working conditions when making the story. As per a bilingual speaker, they were working on a storyboard revision, and thought 'if I ran into the street right now and got hit by a car and died, I wouldn't have to keep working.' They contacted Project Moon because they didn't want their work to be like that, and proposed changes to serialization/reduction in amount of work per picture/to build up a buffer of finished images (they did not have any buffer while working on Leviathan to my knowledge). They were shut out, and had to suck it up and accept the situation.

Hamhampangpang has a 'shrine' section of the restaurant for fans to leave fan-created merch and other items. They also allow the fans to take this merch back if they can prove it's theirs. Fans are now doing just that.

To boost all of the above, a large number of Korean fanartists with thousands of followers have deleted their works and/or converted their accounts from fanart accounts to accounts supporting the protests. Many of them are bilingual, and they're where I got the majority of this information.

[note 1: there's a targeted english-language disinformation campaign by the website that started the hate mob. i have read the artist's tweets with machine translation, and they're talked about in the second hankyoreh article linked above: nowhere does she express any transphobic or similarly awful beliefs. likewise, be wary of any claims that she supported anything whose description makes you raise eyebrows--those claims are likely in reference to megalia, a korean feminist movement. for information on that, i'd recommend the NPR/BBC articles below and this google drive link of english-language scholarly papers on them. for the love of god don't get your information about a feminist movement from guys going on witch hunts for feminists.]

[note 2: i've seen a couple people argue that the firing was for the physical safety of the employees, citing the kyoani incident in japan. as per this korean fan, most fans there strongly do not believe this was the case. we have english-translated transcripts of the meeting between the mob and project moon; the threats the mob was making were to......brand project moon as a feminist company online. yes, really. male korean gamers aren't normal about feminism, and there's been an ongoing witch hunt for feminists in the industry since about 2016, something you see noted in both the labor union statements. both NPR and the BBC this phenomenon to gamergate, and i'd say it's a pretty apt comparison.]

let me know if anything needs correction or if anything should be added.

[describe-things]

This post is made with speech to text because my hand hurts from typing so much today. Please forgive any typos or speech to text swapping similar sounding words.

If you would like to start writing your own image descriptions, feel free to ask any questions.

The main things to keep in mind is that they should begin with some variation of image description start or ID, and end with some variation of image description and, and ID or something like that. This distinguish the image description from the caption or anything else.

Image descriptions should not be written in italics, bold, all caps, or any colors. If text in the image is in all caps, write it in regular case, and simply note before or after it that it's in all caps.

Image descriptions should describe all images in the post, without skipping any. This includes images that are nothing but text.

Plain text image descriptions in the body of the post are more accessible than alt text alone, because many people who need image descriptions cannot use alt text, and Tumblr is known for its glitches, so the accessibility of the alt text all by itself varies widely over time.

It is more accessible to have the image descriptions indented than not, because this helps to visually separate the image description from the caption. Having brackets or parentheses at the end is also helpful for this. This allows people to easily distinguish between the caption and the image description if they need to.

If you are an artist, writing image descriptions for your art will give you full control over the image description, and will allow you to correctly identify details that others might miss. This gives you the opportunity to show which parts of your art hold meaning to you and are important to notice.

If you are describing real people who are unknown to you, unless it is specified within the post or you are already aware, please do not assign any gendered terms to them, or any " male presenting or female presenting" terms like that. This is completely unnecessary and leads to misgendering. It is best to simply describe visible facts about the people. Hair color, length, clothes and style, pose, expression, the light or darkness of their skin, things like that. Do not assume that someone is white simply because they have light skin.

Do not use image descriptions to lie to the audience in any way and do not use image descriptions to make jokes where the audience reading the image description is the butt of the joke.

As an example, if there is a very clearly fake screenshot, do not say that it is simply a screenshot, or if a photo is very blatantly photoshopped, do not say that it is simply a photo. Say an edited photo, a badly edited photo, a screenshot with editing, something like that to indicate the changes have been made and then what you are going to be describing is not the natural version.

As an example, you would say a crab photoshopped to be driving a car. Rather than a photo of a crab driving a car.

Unless you are transcribing a text within the image, do not use meme speak within image descriptions. Do not refer to dogs as doggos for example, unless it is to specify that the dog in the image is, within the image, labeled as a doggo. Do not describe someone walking downstairs as breasted bubbly downstairs, even if it is an actor humorously walking down the stairs to imitate that sentence. Describe the facts of the movements, and then you can make the comparison for clarity.

If someone adds an image description to your post whether this be an original post or a reblog that you have added an image to, it doesn't matter how many notes to post already has, please copy and paste that image description into the original post or your original reblog. If it is a new post that has only a few notes from friends, after you update the original, you can just ask your friends to delete the reblogs of the inaccessible version and reblog the new one. Most people who are good people and care about disabled people will happily do so.

Keep in mind that image descriptions are accessibility tools. Treat them as such.

Anyone can write image descriptions. You do not need any special qualifications or training. As long as you are willing to take constructive criticism if you make a mistake, an image description written by someone who's new to it and honestly doing their best with good intentions is better than no image description at all.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, so please feel free to add on more tips and advice.

[strawb3rryg2l]

How to Lose 'Bob' in 10 Days

Characters: Bob x Y/N, Robert Reynolds x Y/N, Sentry x Y/N, The Void x Y/N

Summary: You thought you'd lost, your husband, Robert Reynolds forever. Consumed by the Void and the chaos it left behind. But then you woke up in a world not your own. One where he's alive. Where he goes by Bob. Where he doesn't know you. To him, you’re a stranger. You have 10 days to lose him, before everything falls apart. But the cracks are already forming. Time stutters. Reality bends. And something followed you here, something made of grief, memory, and everything you refused to let die. As you try to lose Bob in 10 days, the world unravels with every lie you tell yourself. You’ll have to make an impossible choice: hold on to the man you love, or face the truth and finally let him go. Because if you don’t... this world won’t just end. You might go with it.

Word Count: 2081

Warnings: Mentions of grief, Violent/Graphic, A dark twisted version of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Spoilers maybe? (Please let me know if I should add anymore.)

Note from the author: This is my work, and I will be posting on here and @ strawb3rrygal on Archivesofourown. Keep in mind these are my ONLY TWO accounts. Please feel free to reblog if you like it! I've been working on this one as I write my other fic 'The Temp' which you can also check out if you'd like.

Done reading? Here is the continuation -> Part 2 , Part 3

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Y/N couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… wrong.

It started with the silence. The usual commotion outside her apartment — shouting neighbors, honking cars, the occasional bark of that yappy Pomeranian two floors down—had dulled into a hushed, almost reverent quiet. It wasn’t the peaceful kind. It was the kind that felt staged. Like the city had paused to see if she’d notice.

Even the air in the apartment felt heavier, colder. Like it had forgotten how to move.

She sat up in bed, slowly, rubbing her face with both hands. Her skin was clammy. Her breath fogged slightly in the air. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. Her dreams always ended with the same sensation, falling through a place she’d never seen, toward something that knew her name.

Y/N glanced around the room, but it felt… distant. The walls looked just a little too clean. Her furniture, though familiar, felt arranged by someone else. Her plants sat perfectly healthy on the windowsill, but she couldn’t remember the last time she watered them. Did I do that?

She moved to her cabinet, rifling through underwear with robotic purpose. Sometimes, she found comfort in small rituals wearing something pretty, layering clothes like armor. She settled on a violet lace set that used to make her feel soft and strong at the same time. She tugged on thick leg warmers, worn jeans, and her favorite winter boots. The white fuzzy sweater she pulled over her head enveloped her in warmth, but even its softness felt muted. Almost unfamiliar.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she padded into the kitchen or what passed as one. After Robert’s death, she’d left behind the bigger apartment, moved closer to her office, to the city, to noise. To distraction. Now, the noise was gone. The distractions had turned their backs.

She poured herself cereal, sliced up a banana, and scattered some chia seeds across the top like she always did. She chewed slowly, eyes drifting out the window and froze.

A billboard stood across the street. Large. White background. Red letters. It wasn’t there yesterday.

Y/N narrowed her eyes. The ad was for a new Broadway show she didn’t recognize. The slogan beneath it read: “It’s not too late to come home.”

She blinked.

Was it a coincidence? A strange marketing ploy? She tilted her head, as though looking at it from a different angle would explain away the chill creeping up her spine.

She shrugged, more to herself than to anyone, and looked away. But the sensation didn’t leave.

Finished with her breakfast, she slipped on her jacket, slung her bag over her shoulder, and stepped outside. The air bit at her cheeks. Pedestrians passed her with heads bowed, not making eye contact. No one bumped into her. No one spoke. The street was the same—and yet it wasn’t.

Her building’s bricks looked darker. The corner coffee shop had changed names. The newspaper vendor on 42nd street was missing. She told herself she must’ve overlooked it. Told herself she was tired. Still healing. 

But healing didn’t feel like this.

At work, everything looked normal. Her coworkers greeted her with practiced smiles. She smiled back. She said good morning. She walked to her desk and turned on her screen.

Y/N was a writer for the nation’s most beloved women’s magazine, a voice of modern relationships and hope-filled advice columns. She had a dedicated readership. A strong social media presence. A decent salary. On paper, she had everything.

But every word she wrote about love felt like a betrayal.

She wanted more. Real stories. Stories about people who were never offered the soft landings she described in her columns. She wanted to write about the cracks in the justice system, about prisons dressed as reform. About things that mattered. Things her boss didn’t care for.

In the beginning, she made it work. Being married to Robert Reynolds had made her an expert in the language of love. In heartbreak. In grief. But then… the Void. Then Thor. And then silence.

Y/N blinked at her computer screen. Her reflection stared back, faint in the black glass. She looked… slightly off. Like the reflection was lagging. Or waiting.

She reached out to shake the mouse and for a moment, just a moment, her reflection didn’t follow. She paused. A strange pressure built behind her eyes. Then the screen flickered on. Her inbox loaded. The moment passed. She swallowed hard and forced herself to breathe.

Maybe she was still dreaming. Maybe it was just grief. Maybe she was just tired.

But somewhere deep inside, something whispered You’re not supposed to be here.

A sharp tap on her monitor startled her. Y/N’s eyes snapped upward.

Tara stood there, grinning wide, her hair sleek and pin-straight completely different from her usual crown of soft, carefree curls. It made her look polished. Almost artificial. Like someone had run her through a filter.

“Morning, sunshine,” Tara chirped.

Y/N blinked. “Morning…”

“You ready for the meeting?”

“Which meeting?”

Tara laughed shaking her head. “The pitch meeting. Elise wants something viral. Fresh blood. She's been in a mood all morning, so bring the juice.”

Y/N nodded, but her mind was still half-submerged in static. The pitch meeting. Right. She’d forgotten. That strange fog hadn’t lifted since she woke up. She couldn’t tell if it was stress… or something more invasive. Something crawling just beneath the skin of the world. She rose from her chair, pushing aside the low thrum in her head, and followed Tara toward the glass conference room.

Then stopped. Her breath caught in her throat. Inside, surrounded by laughter and coffee cups, sat Marlene. Marlene who had spent last night on Y/N’s couch, red-eyed and blotchy, sniffling into a wine-stained hoodie. Marlene, who had sworn off men forever after the barista she’d been seeing ghosted her for not owning a French press.

And yet here she was. Early. Polished. Smiling. Her posture crisp, her lipstick perfect, not a tear-streak in sight.

Had she imagined it? The crying? The whole night?

Y/N sat beside Tara and forced herself to breathe, ignoring the pressure clamping down on her chest.

“All right,” Elise snapped, breezing in with the presence of someone who lived off cortisol and sugarless espresso. She clapped once. “Let’s talk ideas. Love, lust, the dopamine dance—whatever keeps readers clicking even when their rent’s overdue.”

Stella, their photographer, raised a hand like a schoolgirl on fire. “I got Sam Wilson to agree to a spread. Flight to New York is booked. We’ll shoot by Sunday.”

“Beautiful,” Elise said with a tight smile. “Next?”

Her eyes slid to Marlene.

Y/N braced herself.

Marlene blinked. For a second, her expression went blank like someone had unplugged her.

“Uhh…” she started, stalling. “I was thinking… maybe…”

Tara jumped in, her voice a little too bright. “We were discussing the new Avengers this morning.”

Y/N’s eyes narrowed. The new Avengers? That was the first she’d heard of it.

Elise tilted her head. “Go on.”

Tara nudged Y/N with her elbow.

Y/N cleared her throat, racking her brain. She couldn’t think of anything New Avengers related so instead she said: “Maybe we flip the usual love column. Instead of giving advice on what to do… we show readers what not to do. Like…” She looked at Marlene and felt a little pang of guilt at her next words. “Sabotage a relationship on purpose.”

Elise raised a brow. “Intentionally?”

Y/N nodded. “Yeah…” She thought for a moment. “You know… every red flag. Clingy texts. Sudden jealousy. Oversharing childhood trauma on the first date. Show readers what bad behavior looks like in real time.”

A slow grin crept across Elise’s face. “Interesting. And what’s the hook?”

Y/N hesitated. She felt the weight of Marlene’s eyes. The clock ticked too loudly.

“How to… lose a guy?” she offered weakly.

Elise laughed, the sound sharp and amused. “How to Lose a Guy… in 10 Days. I like it.”

“Why ten?” Tara asked, leaning forward.

“Seven’s too short, and we go to press in twelve,” Elise said with a shrug.

The room buzzed with excitement. Everyone nodded. Marlene even clapped.

But Y/N felt nothing. Not pride. Not relief. Just hollowness.

Because in her world she hadn’t needed ten days to lose the love of her life.

Just one.

One catastrophic day when the sky cracked like glass. One moment when Thor’s lightning lit up the battlefield and left smoke and silence in its place. One breath held tight in her throat, when Robert, the Sentry, turned to her with eyes rimmed in black and begged her to forgive him. Forgive the thing he’d become.

Her smile stretched across her face like cellophane. Tight. Fragile.

Her fingers trembled.

“And… one more thing,” Elise said, voice slicing through the buzz. The room stilled. Every eye snapped to her. Even the air seemed to lean in.

“About the new Avengers,” she continued. “The column would really pop if the guy you lose was one of them.”

A collective gasp rippled across the table like a wave. Y/N blinked; a beat too slow. The thought hadn’t occurred to her before she’d have to actually date someone. Not theoretically. Not hypothetically. Actually. She hadn’t done that, not since Robert.

Her stomach dropped.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice hollow. “The new Avengers?”

Marlene let out a laugh that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Have you been living under a rock?”

“There’s a whole new lineup,” Marlene went on. “Less Iron Man, more... walking HR violations.”

Tara snorted. “God. Remember John Walker? He’s newly divorced, right?”

“Ugh, please don’t,” Marlene shuddered. “He smells like Axe body spray and bad decisions. Maybe she could go for someone less... sociopathic?”

Tara leaned forward, practically swooning. “What about Bucky? He’s handsome. Mysterious. That arm?”

Y/N didn’t respond. Her pulse had started to climb, a steady drumbeat of panic behind her ribs.

Elise tapped a pen against the table, calm as ever. “Maybe we should push for a deeper angle someone off-grid. The one no one’s cracked yet.”

Y/N glanced up. Something in Elise’s tone had changed. 

“There’s a mystery man in the files,” Elise continued. “Operates alone. They’ve been calling him Bob.”

The name landed like a grenade in her chest.

Y/N’s breath caught. “Bob?”

Elise flipped through her notes, reading aloud without a shred of awareness for the horror she was conjuring. “Yeah. Real name might be Robert Reynolds. He’s not officially affiliated, but our contacts say he’s powered. Dangerous. Probably not even registered. The government’s been hush-hush. Some kind of asset gone rogue.”

Y/N stopped breathing. Her heart pounded like fists against a locked door. That name. That name.

Robert Reynolds.

Her Robert. Her husband. Dead. Dead. Burned to nothing but a shadow at the edge of a battlefield. She had watched the light leave him, seen his eyes turn black, his voice split by the Void inside him. She held his body when it cooled. He was gone. Gone.

And yet…

Tara’s hand brushed hers. “Hey,” she whispered. “You okay?”

Y/N didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her lungs had turned to glass. Her throat closed tight. This isn’t real. It can’t be real. Because nothing about her life since waking up had made sense. Her bedroom drawers had clothes she didn’t remember buying. The skyline was off, wrong buildings in the wrong places. Little things, piling up.

And now this.

Robert. Bob. Alive?

Elise looked up; one brow arched like a blade. “Is there an issue?”

Y/N stared at her, the world trembling at the edges. Like it might peel back and show her something too big to survive. Her mouth opened. Words didn’t come. But she forced herself to breathe. She had to. She had to play along. Had to get close. Had to see this man whoever he was. If it was really him. If it was a dream. If it was a lie.

“No,” she said finally, her voice hoarse and splintering.

She curled her fingers into a fist under the table, nails digging into her palm like a tether to her reality.

“I’ll do it,” she said.

And just like that, it was done. She had been assigned to destroy a man who wore the name and possibly the face of her dead husband.

And no one in the room even noticed the crack in her voice. Or the scream trying to claw its way out of her throat.

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Author Post Note: mueheh :)

[gemmahale]

Ficbook.net and Unauthorized Translations - An Update

Update to the update: some of the fics have been removed! 🎉 This happened before I finished this write-up even!

You may have seen this post last night about some CoD X Reader fics having unauthorized translations posted to the Russian site ficbook.net. @karlachismylife was monumental in helping me understand what's going on, and there's some explanation in that link from her POV as well.

Basically - multiple people have copied and translated fanfics into Russian and hosted them on ficbook.net. They're rough translations, some going as far as to use literal translations for turns of phrase. Most likely, they were run through a translation software (Google Translate or similar) and then roughly edited. (Juju mentioned that there is a subset of jobs in Russia where that is your job description. 😖)

Most of them have come from Tumblr posts, some from AO3. Very few had attribution beyond "tagging" the original author. (Aka - no consent was given for these translations.)

@syoddeye took the time to compile a list found here (google sheet). At the time of writing, 65 fics CoD x Reader fics were found - we know there's more but we only have so many knives in a day. (Sy did not look into slash fics either.)

Authors that have been tagged in the comments: I'm sorry you found out this way. I wanted to tell you in person, but given Tumblr's likelihood of thinking I was spamming you, I felt that this was the best option to alert you, provide you with options, and let you determine how you wish to move forward.

So what can be done?

If you already have an account, please report the fics! I'm told that spamming reports gets it taken down. Also consider messaging the author and ask them to remove them - they do not have the author's consent to publish them.

If you want to make an account and report the linked fics, you can. I have chosen not to, because I don't want to give Ficbook any extra support I otherwise might by doing so (clicks, ad views, account numbers).

If the author does not have closed comments (or you have an account), you can leave a comment on the fic.

Russian: Автор оригинала лично подтвердил, что не давал разрешения на перевод и публикацию. English: Author of the work personally confirmed that they did not give permission to translate and publish.

Finally - check in on your author friends that are on that list. It's devastating to find out your work has been plagiarized, translated and hosted somewhere else without your consent. Reblog their work, share comments, hype them up!

A couple of notes: (Juju correct me if I've fucked any of this up 💚)

The posters are likely not making money off the unauthorized translations. The website and their owners definitely are (ads, "premium features", promotion tools, etc.)

Ficbook.net is the biggest Russian language fanfiction platform - somewhat akin to AO3, but it doesn't have a great reputation within Russian circles because of the stealing and underhanded practices the owners use.

AO3 is banned in Russia, and Tumblr is one of the few places Russians can easily (aka without VPNs and Mirrors) read English version of fanfic.

CoD isn't the only fandom affected - there are dozens that have more posted, and we only scratched the surface in our list.

Finally, if you want to translate works, TALK TO THE AUTHOR. A lot of folks don't like having their work shared without their consent. Even if you feel like you are doing a good thing spreading it to a wider audience, YOU NEED THE AUTHOR'S CONSENT. If they've deleted their presence and their stories from hosting sites (tumblr, AO3, etc) - you don't get to pretend you're doing them a favor by reposting them. Respect their decisions.

[luckyarchivist]

Hi there!! Hope you don't mind the ask, but I saw you reblog my post about what I think of the updated demo. Thank you for adding ur thoughts to it <3 and sorry it spoiled a few things. I didn't go too in depth because I didn't want to reveal EVERYTHING that happens, but there were some things I needed to spoil for clarity's sake. To me, the whole thing just felt like we were frogs being tossed into boiling water straight away, unlike the prev version of the demo, where we entered cool water first. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it all. I'm a big fan of all your touchstarved analyses, and I immediately thought of your "honesty and Ais" post when they took out that ONE line and replaced it with a flirty comment (trying to avoid spoilers here too haha, but you made a post on it!). Take care!! And I hope you enjoy the rest of the demo!!

Hello, allswell! I'm back, and I've played Leander's route. Don't worry about your post's spoilers; I went in knowing I'd be spoiling myself, you gave plenty of warning.

I wanted to tell you about my general thoughts on his route (since...that's the ask) and also answer your question in tags of "whether Leander's manipulation is more subtle in 1.0 or 2.0".

I also want you to know that my original, full answer to this ask was so long that I'm just going to post it separately 😭 I realized I had waaaay too much to say about Leander's post-tavern route. So, for now, I'll try and generally sum up my thoughts and answer your questions.

First: What were my thoughts on Leander's route?

I loved it. I loved it. Not necessarily all the minutiae—

Are you fucking kidding me with this line? What the hell?

—but overall I really enjoyed it.

Anyone visiting from afar can read my initial notes about Leander's route in my longpost, but going into this, I definitely had some things I was looking for. Mainly, I wanted blushy Leander back.

Of course, I also read your post, allswell (and please read their thoughts if you're interested, other readers!) where you expressed feeling like Leander was now too easy to see through and too suspicious because of the loss of his cute, friendly personality.

I would say, for both of us, that we're at a disadvantage in the sense that we already know Leander is Not Good. We know all about the marketing; we've been reading people's analyses and headcanons. And we connected all of those to The Baby, 1.0 Leander. 2.0 Leander is not the inoffensive pookie bear of the previous demo version, so it's much easier to be on guard around him because he's not as pathetic as before, even when he's not really being suspicious.

So, when going through his solo route, I told myself that I would be happy as long as Leander's new scenes felt like a satisfying accompaniment to his new archetype as the not-so-holy savior of the city. And I really, really felt like they did.

What absolutely enchanted me was the ways in which Leander and MC's interactions already embody "the cult of one": a level of emotional manipulation and abuse like you'd see between a cult leader and their followers, on the smallest possible scale. I'll go into these cult elements more in my to-be-written analysis(? Series of observations?), but I happen to have been watching a lot of cult content on YouTube recently and could not tell you how excited I was to recognize the signs so lovingly recreated in Leander's solo route.

This moves me quite neatly into your other question.

And that is: Do I think Leander's manipulation was more subtle in 1.0 or 2.0?

Before I answer this, I want to talk about my differing views of Leander 1.0 vs. 2.0, assuming (as the devs have said) that Leander hasn't changed, just that more of his later character has been revealed earlier.

In 1.0, Leander is playing a part. He is acting as someone who is very silly and very promiscuous and endlessly kind, despite his abilities as a mage and a leader, because that is what draws people in. That facade is his main weapon; it makes people lower their guards and trust him, even when anyone with some sense would be wary of a super-powerful magic user with an entire militia they can order around. It's an appeal to emotion. And I fell for it!

But that's not him, or rather, that's not the truest version of him. As a player, you get the shock of seeing his "true face" later in his route, and perhaps that is where his "monstrousness" comes from.

In 2.0, Leander is himself. And we see in his route that the cute, blushing Leander, who speaks highly of friends and foes alike, is not absent — he's still there, because that is him, too. It's just not played up to such a comical degree. That is because 2.0 Leander uses his authority to get people to trust him, rather than appealing to their emotions with cuteness.

Not only that, but this Leander is free to rely on his clout as a mage and a local political figure publicly because he has other weapons of manipulation that fit his image: he's an skilled wordsmith, and in that, an emotional puppeteer; he's the head of a tightly knit group that is clearly protective of him. If one thing doesn't work, he moves to the next. And it's much less jarring for a person (the MC) to learn that their righteous and gifted hero has a soft, obedient side than to learn that their subby little boyfriend is running his gang like a military cult. So, if needed, 2.0 Leander could bring that 1.0 facade out later in the story without causing MC mental dissonance; it's just another tool.

In this scenario, the player already knows Leander's nature, even if MC does not; their horror creeps in as they watch their MC struggle to leave the web Leander is weaving for them. It's possible that, if you choose certain choices while playing his route, you may not even realize the depth of his manipulation until it's too late.

So, was Leander's manipulation more subtle in 1.0 or 2.0? I think that depends on what the player is more susceptible to. I'm the type of person who's a sucker for a boyfailure, so 1.0 Leander would sneak up on me. But for those who need a knight in shining armor, one who they know will protect them no matter what, 2.0 Leander is the perfect predator.

[kozachenko]

Here's a digital sketch dump of some pose/anatomy practices and some 2hu doodles, I think from now on if I don't have any big final piece to post, I'll just post sketches I liked that I did digitally (might also reblog some drawings of mine that I want more people to see, maybe idk).

Artist's Notes:

Ok so after the recent Hifuu fanart I did, I've been hoping to experiment more with how I draw faces, how I render, as well as how I stylize things. In some of the earlier sketches I did, I had an idea for a pose that I wanted to try drawing, so I took a ref pic of myself doing said pose (the leaning one btw) and then did a sketch over top of it just to get an idea for the shapes, negative space, and silhouette. After that, I wanted to do some simpler breakdowns of the shapes so I can get better at simplifying the body (these ended up being the bottom right sketches in the post). I also did some experimenting with how to push certain parts of said sketches to create a different body type (via liquify and then a more refined version based on that sketch), as well as figuring out what makes a pose feel natural and not stiff. This was also a bit of a foreshortening practice just so I can get more confident with it, and I ended up using the arms from the liquified version for the coloured Zanmu sketch I did since I liked them so much (dw I'll get to that).

The next thing I wanted to try and draw was Hisami, mainly because.... I am very bad at drawing her in my style. Last time I drew her I made her look really creepy and spindly, and it is my headcanon now that she can switch between a more human, and more creepy look whenever she wants. I'm liking where the face is going a lot, might have to refine a few things about it in the future, but it's cute (I also made the blush purple which I think is what I'm gonna do with her face from now on). I also like how her hair in the sketch turned out a lot, but the outfit..... not as much... Ever since I started changing my style to something less cartoony, I've had a hard time drawing her outfit in my style. Especially the flower veil thing she has on, which, I did try to find a way to draw, but I ended up deleting that sketch because I didn't like it. I'm also not a fan of using the colour purple, like, pure purple, magentas are fine, indigos are fine, but not strict purple. I also have a hard time with drawing all the little pattern details on her dress. I also need to find a way to draw the flower veil in a way that looks good because everytime I try it ends up just looking off (very similar to whenever I try to draw Zanmu's blue spears). I think the only solution to this problem is to do what I normally do and make my own version of the outfit, but with adjustments to suit my style while still trying to keep core elements from the original design intact (like I do with Zanmu and Keiki, and yes I am going to get to that Zanmu drawing just gimme a minute).

Ok next up is Keiki, my favourite Touhou character who I haven't drawn since the beginning of the year. Since my style has changed a lot, I wanted to just do a face sketch of her to get a hang of drawing her again, and I..... really really like how it turned out! When I drew her eyes, I realized that a good way of keeping faces too same facey can be via varying the sizes of their pupils, so that's an idea I'm gonna keep in mind from now on. I had a lot of fun with her hair, I initially was gonna do it like how it is in the official art, but I ended up not liking it, so now I'm gonna draw Keiki with wavy heir like this because it's fun and it looks nice. I also included my base sketch for Keiki's face since I was initially struggling with drawing her bandanna, and in the coloured sketch I added some more detail into her hair.

Now to finally talk about the sketches for Zanmu. Good lord was I having a tough time with her face. I also did this sketch before I figured out how I wanted to draw hair, so that's why the rendering on her hair is different (I did this soon after the Hisami sketch actually). Since I changed my art style a lot, I had to find a way to translate her face from my more cartoony style to my more detailed style, so while the face shape, nose shape and mouth was fine, I was really struggling with the eyes. I did get somewhere eventually though, and I am super happy with how it turned out. I wanted to lean more towards the androgynous side of the gender presentation spectrum, mainly because I think that makes sense for her character. Also made sure to include the silver hairs and some wrinkles just to bring some signs of her aging into her face because those are just staple features of how I draw Zanmu at this point lol. You will also notice that I gave her some scars on the right side of her face, and that's because I am a Zanmu-with-scars truther, I fucking love it whenever I see someone give Zanmu visible scars like that it just adds so much omg (I also tried to put a wolf bite mark on her arm in the full body drawing but idk if it reads well). While you can argue that her not having scars sells the idea of her being this "powerful, untouchable mastermind who is impossible to defeat," I'd say that instead of those scars representing times she got injured, they represent everyone who has failed to defeat her.

As I was drawing Zanmu's face, I referenced my sketch of to help with contrasting their features since I made Keiki's face more traditionally feminine. I also didn't mention this in my commentary on Keiki's face because I wanted to save it for here, but giving Zanmu scars also plays into the fact that she used to be human, wheras Keiki doesn't have any scars because she's a god who doesn't follow the rules of normal human biology. Plus I'm thinking about the two of them interacting again (return of Zan/Keik??? (I'm a multishipper btw) maybe???) so drawing their faces together will definitely help me in the future if I wanna draw them together (again, maybe as a ship? I've kinda been ironing out the kinks in their potential interactions (romantic and non-romantic) for a while now so idk maybe expect that in the future lol).

And now for the full body drawing, when I was doing the face sketch I did this little snippet of an outfit, had a vision, and the made it into a reality. I'll admit, part of me was worried that it would end up looking too much like Yuugi's outfits in the spinoffs and mangas, but I feel like I made enough changes to differentiate them. I tried to keep a few of the major details in Zanmu's design (i.e. the red tassles and yellow lining on her shirt) while putting a new spin on it. I also dialed up the scars to 11 since without them the whole thing kinda looked incomplete. Also, while I could say that the leaves on her kimono are "a nod to the fact that technically she should be a tengu because back then people belived that corrupt monks would turn into tengu but no Zanmu is an oni and they're maple leaves because...tengu...ahahahaha" what really ended up happening was that I looked up clothing patterns from Sengoku era Japan, liked the leaves the most because the red picked up on the red from the rest of her design and just ran with it. I also always had the idea to put Zanmu in men's clothing from Sengoku era Japan and while the accurate thing to do would be to put her in a Buddhist's clothes from that era.... from a character standpoint, I don't think Zanmu is pious enough to strictly wear the proper monk uniform, and also since she's basically the king of Hell, she would probably dress herself like royalty from that era. TBH, I probably could've been a bit more historically accurate, but again, this was mainly for conceptual purposes because I had a vision and I needed to see it through.

If I were to draw her in this sort of outfit again, I should probably try and use more references, although now that I look at it, if she were to wear it properly this would maybe, probably look a bit closer to a Kyūtai sugata (a very huge stretch, but it just kinda reminds me of that) just without the layers under and over the main piece of clothing (In the website that I searched up to try and compare the outfit in my sketch to, they name the outfit pieces but don't label them on the image, so I don't know 100% what everything is called) so I will definitely have to use that style of clothing as a reference going forward.

Also, I was kind of inspired by the ToTK design for Ganondorf since I have finished the game a while ago and I absolutely love what they did with his design (it's just so fucking cool omg) and I thought that sort of look would look good on Zanmu, so yeah got some inspo from that.

And those were all the notes for each of the sketches, I'm motivated to draw rn but kinda art blocked, so doing these little coloured sketches helps a lot.

[proud-leech-dad]

Comprehensive leech care guide: Updated as of 4/17/25

There's not a lot of public information on the domestic care of leeches outside of their medical uses and niche forums and facebook groups, so I wanted to create as comprehensive a guide as I can for proper leech care, referencing scientific papers whenever possible. This guide is open to corrections and input from other keepers and will be updated regularly as new information comes to light. If found in a reblog, always check to make sure you have the most updated version of this post. This guide pertains to the Hirudo verbana leech SPECIFICALLY but pulls from what information we know from Hirudo medicinalis due to their similar morphology and classification that only split in 2013. This guide will be operating under the assumption that bare minimums are not enough to thrive and has been written accordingly.

There are a lot of citations needed at the moment.

Tank specs

Size and Equipment Requirements

• For ideal leech care in display tanks, tanks should be at least 2 times the size of your leech tall, and have enough room to fit their body when stretched out at least 3 times length wise. This allow for swimming, the ability for leeches to escape each other, and the observation of various leech behaviors.

• 5-10 gallon fish tanks are great for a leech tank, with larger ones being good for groups. Bowls are suitable according to some keepers if your leech is solitary or small, but not recommended as studies have shown a tank without corners can stress fishes and aquatic life.

• Tanks should have dedicated land area in the form of exposed logs, cork bark, tank shelfs, etc. Preferably, these areas should have moss for leeches to deposit eggs. Tanks are able to be kept completely aquatic according to some keepers, but it is of my own personal opinion and is proven by researchers that this, and making your leeches breed late. can increase mortality in your leeches.

• Leeches thrive in low oxygen environments and typically produce very little waste, as such, tanks do not need a dedicated filter, especially if planted. If more oxygen is preferred, a bubbler on a low setting or high oxygen producing plants can be added. Large amounts of water movement should be avoided.

• Your tank must possess a tight lid of some kind as leeches will gladly squeeze through cracks to escape and explore. This lid can be a tight mesh, cheese cloth or some similarly breathable but secure fabric. This can be fastened with elastic to keep it secure over your tank or secured over a terrarium style snake lid.

Light Requirements

• Leeches should be kept out of direct sunlight and prefer dim or dark areas, though will still benefit from a regular light cycle.

Substrate

• Leeches require gravel/small rocks to dig through. Small lava rocks are highly recommended for their light weight and rough surface that encourages leech shed. In addition, lava rocks have shapes that provide large gaps for your leeches to hide in.

• Other substrates such as sand, soil, or clay balls may be added for planted tanks, and small clay balls work well to fill the bigger gaps between lava rocks if you don't want your leeches to burrow too far.

Plants and decor

• Plants are highly recommended for leeches, both as an area to breed, hide, and for general enrichment. Plants should be low light to match the light requirements of your leeches.

• An aquatic moss of some kind doesn't hurt for adding a little extra oxygen to the aquarium and acting as a hide. Prioritize mosses that have a lower temperature range, such as java moss, which is commonly cultivated, readily available, and is able to live in temperatures from 15-28⁰C.

• A land moss should be planted/attached to a surface above the water and maintained where your leeches can crawl onto it. This should be kept at varying levels of dampness for cocoon depositation. Please note that some mosses are illegally harvested, and you should do your best to get ones that have been cultivated instead.

• Anubias varieties of plants are also good for their low light requirements and low maintenance and can add a visual interest to your tank.

• Leeches should have dedicated hides to provide a dark, safe place and reduce stress. Hides do not have to be large, and rough areas of the hides do not have the same concerns that exist with fish (ie. Fins getting caught), so are fine for your leeches.

• Adding wood can be beneficial as it leeches helpful tanins into the water and can provide a land area for your leeches. If wood is collected from outside sources, it can be boiled for 1 hr to kill any outside bacteria or funguses. For wood gathered this way, it should be a hard, dry wood. Wood can be soaked in water for a few days before adding it to the tank to assist with sinking if desired.

• Cork bark makes a good floating platform, though it shouldn't be kept free floating to let the leeches get on easily. I found that wedging two pieces between the aquarium walls makes for a suitable platform, and wood can be arranged around that to create damp, partially submergerged hides.

• Plastic plants can be a welcome additon to add places to hide or shed extra skin, but be cautious of sharp edges that may harm their soft bodies. Plastic plants should be periodically taken out to clean to prevent algae build up.

Water specs

• Leeches prefer colder waters and can survive in freezing temperatures. The survivable range of temperature to keep them at can range from 0-34⁰C (32-93⁰F) at the Absolute Extremes but ideally, your tank should be kept in the lower middle range of that (50-70°F) [Tentative info. Research required] with only minimal or very gradual temperature changes. Leeches can survive being briefly frozen but obviously ideally will not be.

• Leeches should be in dechlorinated water, either through treating tap water, rain water, or spring water properly remineralized. Though pond water is suitable, the risk of adding parasites, unknown contaminates, or harmful bacteria means that it is not recommended.

• The total hardness of your water should be in the 50-100 ppm range to match freshwater sources. If your water has less, aquarium salts should be added to prevent the water from leeching minerals out of your leech.

• Distilled water should typically be avoided being used as sold as it's "dead" and all minerals have been removed, but the use of leech specific salts in distilled water will provide your leeches with the needed minerals to thrive.

Water changes

• Water changes should be performed roughly once a week, but sources vary on length of time, with the leech's low waste meaning that a planted, maintained tank may only need a water change monthly. You should be replacing about 20-30% of your water to remove dead skin and reduce the build up of nitrites and nitrates.

• Additional water changes should be done when leeches deficate after feeding, usually denoted by a brown or red tint to the water, and the water should be monitored for a few weeks after for ammonia spikes and changed as needed.

• During water changes, it can be helpful to take a moment to clean the glass of the tank, or to manually skim any excess protiens off the surface of the water if not in possession of a filter or skimmer.

Number of leeches

• Leeches can be kept solitarily or in groups. The minimum tank specs are as follows: 1, 50g leech or 5 10g leeches in a .5 liter tub 17cm in and 6-8 cms high with .5 liters of water (Spencer and Jones, 2007), please note though, that this research is outdated, and it's likely that they need much more space than that. As previously mentioned, a larger tank size is obviously recommended to show a full range of behaviors and allow for a more visually interesting experience.

• Though able to be kept solitary, leeches are best kept in groups of 3 or more according to some keepers. Personal research to follow.

Leech behaviors and care:

Leech anatomy and lifespan

• Leeches are soft bodied worms, meaning their skin can be punctured by hard tools and caution should be used with damaging their bodies.

• Leeches possess 2 suckers, one posterior (Rear), and one anterior (mouth). These suckers are used to ambulate or latch onto surfaces.

• Leeches are hermaphroditic and possess both male and female sex organs that are only plainly visible during their mating season. Leeches can self fertilize.

• Leeches breathe through their skin like other worms, and this skin sheds off them periodically throughout the day by rubbing up against rough surfaces.

• Leeches possess small 'teeth' and separate jaws that leave a three pointed star mark behind when feeding.

• Leeches keep blood in their blood crop, where symbiotic bacteria keeps the blood fresh as they slowly digest.

• Hirudo Leeches have a lifespan of up to 8 years

Basics of leech behavior

• Leeches will remain at rest with their heads above the water, and will do so either folded in half or stretched out with both their suckers attached to the glass.

• Leeches love to hang out under the water when tank conditions are suitable, and will attach their posterior sucker to a surface, occasionally undulating to move water over their skin.

• Leeches will swim from one end of the tank to the other through anguilliform swimming similar to an eel but vertically.

• Sudden, dark shadows or changes in light can invoke a prey response in leeches and will cause them to hide until they feel safe.

•Leeches will often "sniff" the air or water around them.

• Leeches become overly active when hungry, showing an increased responsiveness to movement and shadow, and will swim to heat sources such as hands

• When feeding or reproducing, all of these normal behaviors halt in favor of the new ones, and leeches stop responding to stimulus at all, to the point that they can be cut in half and not stop their actions.

Reproduction

• Hirudo Leeches reach sexual maturity after about 1-2 years on average

• In the case of Hirudo leeches, mating season naturally takes place in summer, spanning June through August where your leeches female genitalia known as the clitellum will appear as a ring around the body, simalar to an earthworm.

• Breeding can be artifically induced by gradually warming up your tank, but is not reccomended so as not to stress your leech

• Mating takes place in the water, and while many keepers use a lack of land space as an effective form of egg deposition prevention, it should be noted that research shows that this is harmful and potentially deadly to your leech.

• Leeches will not show signs of pregnancy. Any lumps are sickness and you should refer to the proper section.

• Cocoons are commonly laid in damp land areas, either moss or soil in the wild, and take from 2 to 4 weeks to hatch as ~6 fully formed nymphs. (Conflicting information found. Citation TBA)

• Cocoons are soft when laid and proceed to harden over the next hour. Avoid puncturing or moving these cocoons while still soft.

• Termination of cocoons can be performed by freezing them and cutting them in half. Please note that freezing alone will not necessarily kill the eggs

• As previously mentioned, leeches can self fertilize, meaning you may have a cocoon even with one leech. Keepers should be prepared to terminate a cocoon in these cases.

• Unlike other leeches that die after mating, Hirudo leeches can reproduce for the duration of their lifespan.

Feeding

• Hirudo Verbana leeches feed once every 3-4 months with some suggesting more like 4-6. (Citation TBA) Feeding more often than this is likely to harm your leech by causing it to grow too quickly or cause it to vomit blood back up.

• The medically recommended way to feed your leeches is to get a sausage casing and fill it with animal blood (usually beef) warmed to body temp for your leeches to latch onto. This animal blood should be free of antibiotics and bloodthinners and can be collected from your local butcher.

• Please note that pig and raccoon blood should NOT be used, as they will kill your leech.

• Many leech owners will choose instead to feed off themselves for an easier, cheaper option. This comes with its own medical risks and care should be taken to avoid infection of the bite. You should ask your doctor before feeding your leeches off yourself. Once again, your blood should be free of antibiotics as they will kill your leeches.

⚠️ Note that sterile medical leeches kept in non-sterile environments like this will cease to be sterile

Now that I've legally covered my ass, assuming you are feeding off yourself, the following is important information to have.

◇ Materials: Antibacterial soap, isopropyl alcohol, sterile surgical pads (available cheaply at pharmacys), medical tape or masking tape if not available, liquid bandage (optional) and a pill bottle (optional)

◇ Skin should be cleaned before feeding to avoid risk of infection.

◇ Leeches should be fed on thinner skin, but avoid feeding directly over veins. Common bite locations for keepers are feet or the arm due to the thinner skin there.

◇ To have your leech bite in a specific area, avoid veins, or encourage biting, your leech can be placed in an empty pill bottle and held to your desired bite location.

◇ Leeches will inject an anesthetic similar into the bloodstream, which may cause feelings of mild euphoria or lightheadedness, in addition to the injection of a powerful blood thinner. You should not self feed if you are on any combination of blood thinners. The bite will range from painless to feeling like a small prickling similar to a shot or gentle tattoo.

◇ Feeding takes up to an hour, and after feeding, your leeches will simply drop off of you. The blood thinners will mean that you will bleed constantly for up to ~10 hours afterwards.

◇ After your leech has fed, hold pressure to the location, move to the sink, and thoroughly clean your wound(s) with your antibacterial soap and alcohol before bandaging properly and applying pressure with a surgical pad and medical tape

◇ Liquid bandage on the wound will quickly stop the bleeding but has been reported by some to increase risk of infection. Risk of infection COULD possibly be lowered by letting yourself bleed to flush out bacteria from the wound for an hour or so, but this is a hypothesis and has not been proven.

◇ You should be prepared to bleed a LOT. Pads should be changed every 2 hours or when bled through to the point of being soaked.

• Baby leeches are often too small to penetrate skin and, in the wild, would bite through the thin skin of frogs. In captivity, baby leeches will feed off their parents or can be helped during self feeding by pricking with a sterile diabetic needle to help break the skin.

• NEVER try and pull a leech off your skin without first breaking suction. Doing so will cause the leech to possibly vomit up blood and bacteria into the wound, greatly increasing the risk of infection, or harm the leech itself.

•If your leech bites when you don't want it to and you Absolutely need to remove it, slide a nail under the anterior sucker to break suction. Note, though, that it's easy for this to harm hirudo leeches by damaging their skin and jaws. It should be avoided when possible.

Handling of leeches

• Leeches should not be handled after feeding for about a week as it can cause digestive issues

• Gloves recommended during handling

On the care of sick leeches

• Leeches when sick will have a lumpy appearance to their body, often caused by an internal twisting of their blood crops. Inexperienced leech keepers will oftem mistake this for "pregnancy". This can sometimes be healed typically by adding extra tannins to the water via betta leaves or Adler pine cones. Your leech should NOT feed until all lumps are gone.

• It's possible if not given enough to rub against that your leech's shed may get stuck. This can usually be solved by gently rubbing the leech between your fingers.

• "Air taken in during a feed can be potentially life threatening. (C. Peters, pers. comm.) The leech should be held between finger and thumb, and both digits run along the length of the body, expressing as much air and blood meal from the animal as possible" (Spencer and Jones, 2007) Confirmation of success needed.

How to aquire leeches

⚠️⚠️⚠️Do not buy from leech.com!!!⚠️⚠️⚠️

More info to be added.

Conservation status

• Hirudo medicalis leech populations have declined in their natural habitat spanning across Europe and parts of Asia due to over harvesting of leeches for medical purposes in the 19th century, drainage of wetlands, and the reduction of horse use.

• Hirudo leeches are currently considered near threatened in the wild and are protected from wild harvesting

• Any hirudo leeches should be bought from a reputable breeder

• NEVER release your leeches into a non-native environment

Helpful Groups

(Please note that not all advice will align with the one given in this guide. I try to use the most recent scientific articles but this is still largely unstudied as a hobby)

r/Leeches (Link TBA)

Leech Gang on facebook (Link TBA)

References

Spencer, W. & Jones, G. (2007): The captive breeding and educational display of the Medicinal Leech Hirudo medicinalis (Linnaeus 1758) at Bristol Zoo Gardens NOTE. OUTDADED AND NEEDS CORRECTION

TBA. So many TBA. Adding pics in the meantime until I cite the articles in mla

Search Engine Terms. Ignore if using guide

leech care leech care guide hirudo leeches hirudo leech care leech tank requirements leech tank needs leech tank setup hirudo verbana leeches Hirudo verbana care Hirudo verbana care guide pet leech care guide medical leech care guide

[inbloomwriting]

Everything to me - Chapter 2

Chapter two - Blueberry & Kidney Bean

Chapter 1

Plot: Jamie Tartt is a lot of things: professional footballer, the island's top scorer .... sexually, extremly handsome. But one thing he never saw himself as was a dad. Too bad he has to deal with the consequences of his own actions. This fic follows reader and Jamie as they navigate life and turn from practially strangers to parents. Pairing: Jaime Tartt x female reader Warnings: Pregnancy, swearing, mentions of food and alcohol, slight mention of sexual intimacy (nothing graphic), strained/toxic parental relationship Notes: 5.6k words. I do not have a set uploading schedule. Please bear with me as I work on this story. I know hardly anything about pregnancy, all my information comes from google. I tagged everyone who asked me to do it when I posted part 1. Please let me know if you want to be taken off or added to the taglist. Likes, reblogs, comments are all much appreciated. I am German. Sometimes I get the tense wrong or make mistakes. I am useless when it comes to punctuation. Go easy on me, please

The store smells like dust and cardboard and old carpet. It's not necessarily a bad smell, it just doesn't live up to her memories.

She remembers the perpetual scent of menthol cigarettes and some kind of cheap men's perfume wafting through the air. The store used to smell like her dad and now it doesn't. And that just makes it all even more real.

Boxes upon boxes litter the room, filled with records. Some older, some newer. Guitars adorn one wall while the others are covered in posters from tours that happened long ago, some even before she was born.

There is something comforting about being here. It’s like stepping back into the past. Long nights watching Dad and his friends play their guitars after store-closing. Discovering new bands whenever a new shipment of records came in. And yes - she is the first to admit that in her younger years, she mostly chose the records by how cool the cover looked. 

It’s also memories of Dad getting caught up in the after-hours jam sessions and forgetting about her dance recital and that one time he threw a guitar at the window out of anger that a shipment of records got lost. It took him months to get the window replaced. She could probably still trace exactly where the crack used to be. 

Being here is very reminiscent in all the good and bad ways. But it’s a warped version of the past. One that’s laced with all the knowledge she has now. Like a movie that you’ve seen a million times.

“I don’t think pregnant women are supposed to be doing that!” 

Jamie’s voice cuts through the nostalgia-induced fog like a sunbeam through the clouds. And it also gives her a little heart attack as the only sound filling the room up until now had been her moving around and the soft tunes of an Eric Clapton record playing in the background.

“Jesus fuck! You scared me. I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to startle pregnant women either and give them heart attacks.” 

He looks at her with those big expressive eyes of his and a comically overdone pout on his lips. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But seriously give me that.” 

He’s so quick to take the box of records from her hands (Y/N) hardly has time to process what’s going on. 

Quite honestly, his worry is a bit misplaced here but she appreciates the sentiment even if he might be a little overly cautious at that moment. It feels nice to be cared for. 

“You know I’m pregnant, not sick, right? I can carry stuff.” 

“Yeah but why would you if you got me carrying it for you?” 

He has a point, she has to give him that. 

“Fair enough. Those go over there in the corner please.” 

Jamie follows her order without hesitation and, after setting the box down in its designated place, his eyes dart across the room and light up with childlike wonder and curiosity.

“This used to be your dad’s place, yeah? It looks really neat with all them posters and shit. Like stepping into an old person’s mind but like a cool old person that buys you alcohol when you’re 15 and lets you watch horror movies when your mum said no.” 

Of all the adjectives in the world, (Y/N) wouldn’t ever think of using the word “cool” to describe her dad. He was creative and fun and eccentric and stubborn — but cool? 

Then again he was her dad and no one ever likes to think of their own parents as cool. Oh god, will their kid think she’s uncool?! 

“Uh yeah, the shop and the apartment right above us. He owned it, now I do. I’m trying to get it all fixed up and ready to be sold.”

“What? Why?” 

There is something to be said about Jamie’s face and his absolute inability to mask his emotions. Everything he thinks and feels is mirrored twice as vividly on his face. He’s all furrowed brows and pouty lips. 

“I mean — it’s a record store. People don’t really buy records anymore. Be honest, when was the last time you bought one instead of just streaming the music?” 

“Like two weeks ago.” 

“Fuck off, no you didn’t!” 

“Uh — yeah, I did. Olivia Rodrigo if you must know.” 

A soft giggle falls from (Y/N)’s lips. How fitting for Jamie to buy an album full of teenage angst. 

“Well, you’re one of very few people though. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to sell. I’d keep it open. Instead of selling instruments, it’d turn that part of the shop into a little stage with a coffee counter or a bar. Host open mic nights and shine a spotlight on undiscovered artists. But the world isn’t perfect and there is no way I can afford to turn that vision into reality so really there’s no use in letting myself get too caught up in it.” 

There is pity in his eyes and she hates it. She doesn’t want pity, not his or anyone else’s. Has seen enough of it, especially lately. If she had received just one more “Sorry for your loss” card in the mail from relatives she hadn’t seen in decades, she probably would’ve stabbed a fork in her own eye. Pity does no good to no one. 

“Anyway, Jamie. Not that I don’t enjoy hanging out with you, it’s kind of necessary if we want to get this whole beings-friends-thing right, but uh — what are you doing here?” 

“Jesus, can’t a guy just come around to say hi to his baby? “ 

She thinks the way he says the word “Baby” in his thick accent is surprisingly and undeniably adorable. As if it ends in an “eh” instead of a “y”.

“By the way, they’re as big as a blueberry now.” 

And the way he’s keeping track of the baby's growth gets her right in the heart. For some reason, this seems to come so naturally to him when it all still feels weird and foreign and surreal to her. As if it were happening to someone else and she’s just a mere spectator. The idea that something as small as a blueberry will one day turn into a proper baby, a child, a teenager … a whole ass adult - is so wild to her. Almost incomprehensible. A person with their own feelings and dreams and personality. (Y/N) wonders if at any point in this pregnancy, she'll wake up and it'll all just make sense or if that only comes once she's holding the baby in her arms.

“That's cute. Doesn't answer my question though. What brings you here?”

A shadow of something flickers across Jamie’s face. Something unreadable and unfamiliar. Something that makes (Y/N) feel a sense of dread bubbling up in her stomach.

“I uh — I can’t do this.”

And there it is. That unfamiliar shadow is now a metaphorical atom bomb, a mushroom cloud of all that could have been and won’t be.

“Oh okay. I mean no, not okay. This sucks actually. You said you wanted to be part of the baby’s life and now you’re bailing? That’s a shit move, Jamie. You’re a right prick for pulling that crap.” 

“What? Oh no!” his eyes widen as the realization sets in. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Well then what did you mean? Cause you’re truly giving me a heart attack right now. Second one for today. You really need to start working on your conversation starters.” 

She had given him the chance to opt out of being a dad, to not be a part of the baby’s life. It seemed like the right thing to do and, foolishly, (Y/N) had believed that she’d be okay with him doing just that. In this very moment though, she feels everything but okay. The idea of Jamie changing his mind is terrifying. 

Sometimes you don’t realize just how much you need something — or someone until you’re faced with the possibility of losing them.

“I mean, I can’t do this alone. I need to tell someone. All I keep thinking about is the baby and I feel like I am going to explode any second now. I know we can’t tell everyone yet ‘cause of — well you know, things going wrong and stuff. But I need to tell someone. You got to tell Rebecca and your mum, I think it’s only fair I get to tell two people as well, yeah?”

A sense of relief floods her. Starts in her toes and fills her all the way to the top of her head. He wants this — wants the baby. It’s not just her in this. It’s nice to know you have someone in your corner. It’s also scary. Because he deserves to know just whose team he’s on. And being vulnerable fucking sucks. 

“Jamie, that’s fine. Absolutely you can tell your mum.” 

“And Simon? You got two people so — “

“I didn’t though.” 

“Uh yes, you did. I know you told Rebecca.” 

“That’s right.”

“And your mum too”.

The silence that follows his words is deafening. Being vulnerable means also admitting guilt. It means owning up to all of your mistakes. Though we are not the sum of our mistakes, they are what help shape the person we become. And (Y/N) really doesn’t think they make her a very good one.

“And your mum too?” 

More silence.

“You didn’t tell your mum? Why not? “

To his credit, Jamie looks truly surprised and confused. There is no judgment there, just absolute bewilderment and that signature softness that rounds out his features and settles in his eyes whenever Jamie talks to her about something serious. Granted they’ve not had that many conversations but she hopes that softness stays. She hopes that maybe their baby can have those soft, gentle eyes too.

“I’m not sure. I think I’m scared. My mum and I have a — complicated relationship. I disappoint her, she judges me. You know, the usual.” 

“You think she’ll be disappointed because we're having a baby? Is it because of me?”

(Y/N) shrugs, breaking eye contact and fixing her gaze on the old grey carpet with the ugly 90s pattern. What if those soft eyes can look straight through her, see all the ugly parts and the insecurities? That’s too scary for now. Too much too soon.

“No, it has nothing to do with you. Think she’ll just be disappointed I didn’t get pregnant according to the timeline she dreamed up for my life when I was like 2 years old. Had it all planned out for me and I never stuck to it.” 

Jamie is quiet for a moment but (Y/N) doesn’t dare to look back up at him. She can’t deal with any more pity.

“Well if you want to practice telling a mum, we can start with mine.”

“Huh?” 

“You can come to Manchester with me if you want. To tell my mum. We’ll have one mum down then, makes it easier to do it a second time. It’s science.” 

Jamie has the fascinating quality of making you believe in his words just by being so undeniably charming and because he believes in them himself. He makes it look easy when it is everything but.

“And if things don’t go well with your mum at least you’ll know you have at least one mum you can rely on, even if it’s not your own. She raised me pretty much by herself so she knows a thing or two about babies and parenting and stuff.” 

The mocking raise of (Y/N)’s right eyebrow doesn’t go unnoticed by Jamie who opens his lips to a silent gasp and clutches his chest with an overly dramatic gesture. 

“What? You saying I didn’t turn out perfectly?”

“No,” she laughs, a lightness festering in her chest. Like the first rays of sunshine after a cold winter that never seemed to end. Like a glass of wine after a long day at work. Like your favorite song on the radio at the exact moment you need it most. “I think you turned out exactly the way you were supposed to.” 

“Thanks,” Jamie says with that cheeky smile playing on his lips that makes him look a little younger than he actually is. Then he dares to wink at her and it’s a little annoying but also insanely charming. “Not sure you meant it as a compliment but I am taking it. Now when are you free for a trip up to Manchester?” 

(Y/N)’s been on a lot of road trips around the country when she was younger. She’s even spent a whole summer traveling Europe, partially by train but most of the time was spent stuffed in a Fiat Punto with 3 of her friends and all their luggage. It was stuffy, it was chaotic and it was immensely fun. None of those road trips ever involved a shiny black Aston Martin Rapide though. 

Or a famous footballer dressed in the ugliest lime green sweater (Y/N) has ever seen. 

“That’s all the luggage you got?” Jamie questions as he moves the black shades off of his eyes and sets them on the top of his head, holding back some of his hair. It shouldn’t work so well but it does. 

“I mean, we’re only staying for a night right? Why? Should I have brought more? How much did you pack?” 

He glances at her, then towards the car, and back at her. A sheepish look crosses his face before being replaced by his childlike cheekiness. “That’s confidential. Don’t worry about it, yeah?” 

“I got my ginger lollies, that’s all that matters really.” 

“You feeling alright?” 

“Mh, I’m good. Just pregnant.” 

His eyes drop down to her stomach for just a second before he nods his head in what (Y/N) can only describe as a mix of pride and satisfaction. “Yeah, you are.” 

That’s new. Well not new-new but it hasn’t happened since the day of the funeral. That tingly feeling in her stomach that has fuck all to do with the baby and everything with how the baby got there. Yes, Jamie is hot and (Y/N) is the first to admit as much but there has been so much stress and chaos and she hardly had time to think about anything but surviving and making sure not to completely lose herself in bad visions of what-ifs that her brain has had no time to process any feelings of arousal or lust. That look he just gave her though, that one made her remember it for just a second.

“You sure you’re alright?” 

Jamie’s voice shakes her from her daydream and brings her back to the real world, her eyes focusing back on the obscene car parked in front of her tiny apartment building looking so insanely out of place.

“Uh yes, I’m fine. I just — sometimes I forget that you’re famous.” 

Jamie regards her for a moment before shrugging his shoulder and grabbing the bag from her hands. “I don’t. It’s fun. Now come on, let’s goooooo.” 

His voice is dipped in excitement and there’s a bounce in his step. If this is how the prospect of seeing his mother makes him feel and behave, she must be one lovely woman. Whenever (Y/N) thinks of her own mother her chest fills with tiny metaphorical icicles. Sharp and rough and painful. It’s all regret and judgment and disapproval. It’s “You gained weight”, “you look tired”, and “You should really look into getting a new job”. Daggers disguised as roses. Stabs right to the heart in the name of being honest. “I just care about you, because I love you, because I am your mother!” 

If there is one thing (Y/N) knows for sure, it’s that she will never ever find the need to resort to criticism and thinly veiled malice in order to show her child that she cares. They will know. Every single day. Because she’ll make sure to show them. Every single day in all the big and tiny ways a person can show their love. 

“Kidney Bean?”

“Kidney Bean. And apparently, the baby is sprouting webbed fingers and toes right now. Oh, and it’s starting to move!” 

“Can you feel that?” 

“No, not yet.” 

“It’s mental. Last week she was the size of a blueberry and now she’s a kidney bean. Kid’s growing up too fast.” 

It’s true. There is so much happening all at once and it’s almost impossible to really process it all. Suddenly there is a tiny spark of a human inside her. Not really a baby yet but a baby to her. And it's moving and developing and changing every second of every day. Fucking insane.

“Wait … you said she. You think it’s a girl?”

Maybe it’s the sunlight casting a glow through the windshield but (Y/N) is almost certain she can just about make out a blush dusting Jamie’s cheeks. 

“Dunno.”

“Jamie Tartt, do you want to be a girl dad?” 

He glances at (Y/N) through the corner of his eyes for just a moment but it’s enough for her to see the sincerity in him. This is something he’s thought about before. Learning new things about Jamie is fascinating.

“Ah,  it’s stupid, really. It’s — It’s dumb or whatever.” 

“No, come on, don't go shy on me now. Tell me.” 

He takes a deep breath. A moment passes then another. There is no rush. Sometimes silly thoughts are the result of harsh truths. 

“Told you my dad was a prick. Like the biggest piece of shit walking this earth, yeah? And I knew that all my life. Thing is I still tried to impress him. I just — I wanted him to like me so badly. Just felt wrong that me own dad didn’t care about me and that made me angry. And I kept that anger inside me for so long. Sometimes when I think about the baby and the future I am scared that if I have a son that anger will jump over to him. Like maybe all Tartt men are cursed or some shit like that. But if I had a little girl maybe that would make it easier for me to be a good dad. I don’t mind either way, obviously, but the idea of having a son scares me.” 

It’s the most vulnerable he’s been with her so far and by the way he clenches his jaw and grabs onto the steering wheel just a little tighter, (Y/N) can tell this isn’t easy on him. It means a lot that he shares this part of him with her anyway. It feels like they are actually becoming friends. So opening up to him in return is only half as horrifying. 

“When I was a kid, maybe 11 or 12, I wrote a short story for school and I won an award. They did this big ceremony thing where the 3 finalists got to read their stories out loud for an audience and then receive their prizes. My mum didn’t show up, not sure if it was because she stayed longer at the office and didn’t care enough to leave on time or if she just didn’t feel like getting out of the house. Point is, she wasn’t there. When I came home that night I was sad, obviously, and I was also pissed. Because why the fuck couldn’t she take one night off to come see me succeed at something even if it wasn’t something she deemed worthy of praise. 

So I yelled at her and I’m sure I said some hurtful things. But I was so devastated and angry and I needed an outlet for once. She called me ungrateful but I was used to that, she always called me ungrateful. Then she looked at me with that look of absolute resignation and malice and she said that she hopes I have a daughter like me one day and that she makes me realize how hard it is to love me. 

When I think of the baby, sometimes I see a little girl too. One that I will love so much she never has to doubt it for a single second. And I will also prove my mother wrong. Because it will be so easy to love my little girl and it would’ve been so easy to love me, her little girl.” 

It’s the first time she’s ever said those words out loud. Truly, (Y/N) had not expected for them to come out in an Aston Martin, on the way to meet her baby’s father’s mother but life doesn’t seem to care for plans very much these days.

Softly, as if to not startle her, Jamie places his hand on hers, squeezing gently.

“I think your mum is a right bitch.” 

“Thanks. I think your dad is a huge asshole.” 

“We’re gonna be better than them, right?” 

It’s not really a question. It’s more of a promise.

“We will. I know it.”

His hand doesn’t leave hers for a good long while. 

The nerves don’t hit her until they pull up to the quaint little house with the white front. There’s a rose bush to the side and some kids playing football just across the way. The nerves don’t hit her until Jamie puts the car in park but when they do, they hit her like a freight train.

“Woah, you alright?” 

“Huh?” 

“You look all pale and like you’ve seen a ghost or something. Do you have to puke?”

A chuckle falls from her lips at the absurdity of it all. In all honesty, she’s not met a lot of parents yet but the few she did meet were parents of actual partners. People she had been dating for a while. It was a natural progression of steps. This is all wrong and sideways and topsy-turvy. You’re supposed to meet the mum first and then get pregnant. 

Again with the life and the plans. 

“I’m fucking nervous.” 

“Hah,” Jamie laughs. The audacity of this guy. “You’re nervous to meet my mum? Why? She’s an angel.”

“Do you not know how intimidating that is? Like, if she was shit I wouldn’t care but she sounds wonderful and I want her to like me. No, I need her to like me. Desperately. And I can only imagine what she thinks of me already. Some floozy who gets knocked up and really just wants your money.” 

Before she even fully realizes what’s happening, (Y/N) feels Jamie’s hands on her cheeks, framing her face in warmth.

“Calm down, please. I promise it’ll be alright. My mum will love you, I know it. Probably more than she loves me. Actually no that’s a lie, but she will love you and she will love our baby. Promise.”

“She’s not gonna judge me for — you know. Getting pregnant even though we’re not dating or anything.” 

“My mum was married to my dad, worst person on planet Earth. Don’t think she’s in any position to judge you. It’ll be alright, trust me.” 

She hardly knows this man and yet she can’t help but do just that. Trust him.

The first thing (Y/N) notices about Georgie is her smile. A smile that is so familiar because it looks exactly like Jamie’s smile. Warm and radiant and true. A part of (Y/N) hopes that their baby inherits that same smile. Partially because it’s a really good smile and partially because maybe that could help Jamie realize that he is more than the sum of his father’s problems and mistakes. He is all his mother’s boy.

“Oh, I missed you, my baby.” 

Georgie wraps her arms around Jamie’s middle, getting swallowed by his frame for a moment. There’s no denying that part of (Y/N)’s heart breaks a little seeing how loving of a relationship these two have and wondering where she and her own mother went wrong.

And as it so happens with so many kids that have never been loved quite the way they deserved, (Y/N) can’t help but search for the problem in herself. 

“Yeah sorry for not visiting earlier. You know how it is with training and stuff.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I know my boy is busy being a star.” 

The words hold a slight mocking, never mean but in the way that only people who are close can tease each other. You know every word comes laced with deep affection, with pride, with love.

“And it’s so nice to meet you too. I’m Georgie.” 

It takes a second for (Y/N) to realize that Jamie’s mum is now talking to her directly.

“I uh — oh thank you. Nice to meet you too, I’m (Y/N).” 

Georgie smells like mint chewing gum and floral perfume as she pulls (Y/N) into a hug. She’s soft and gentle and it’s been the first hug from a mother (Y/N) has received in quite some time.

“Sorry, didn’t even ask if you’re a hugger.”

“Oh that’s alright, don’t worry about it.” 

She’s not a hugger, never really was, but there is something about Georgie granting her some affection that isn’t all that bad. Maybe their kid can have at least one grandmother who cares and who isn’t completely disgusted by the idea of showing any kind of positive emotions.

“Jamie never brings girlfriends around so I’m a bit out of my element here if I’m being honest.” 

“Mum we’re not — she’s not.” Jamie takes a big breath before starting again “(Y/N) and I are friends, yeah? Told you about it on the phone.” 

“Right, right. Well, you don’t bring around a lot of friends either so same difference, really. Now come inside will you, I’m sure we got a lot to catch up on.”

Oh if only she knew how true that sentiment really is.

There are pictures of Jamie staring back at (Y/N) from every corner of the house and Georgie leads them through the hallway and towards the kitchen. Every wall and every shelf holds a memory of him at one point in his life. Gap toothed with a football in hand smiling, surrounded by a field of tulips arm wrapped around his mother’s shoulder, his teenage self smoldering at the camera with an even more questionable haircut than the one he is sporting right now. Oh to be loved in a way that every past version of you is being remembered.

As they reach the kitchen a sweet scent fills the room when a man clad in an apron turns around and faces them with a huge smile playing on his face. He has a dorky kind of charm to him that immediately puts you at ease. Maybe it’s just the frilly apron, maybe it’s the big oven gloves, maybe it’s the smile. Either way, (Y/N) thinks that if they take the news well, her kid might have truly lucked out on one side of the grandparents department. 

“Jamie, welcome home.” 

“Hi Simon, thanks, mate. Glad to be back. This is (Y/N).” 

“The friend, right.” Simon says and shoots Georgie a look that neither of them misses. Subtlety doesn’t seem to be one of his best qualities. “It’s nice to meet you, (Y/N).”

“Nice to meet you too. It smells amazing in here.” 

“I found this new recipe for honey blondies. Not sure if they'll be any good but I guess we'll find out. If you guys want to go have a seat, I'll come bring them over.”

“Actually,” Jamie speaks up while nervously fiddling with his hands. “I was hoping we could have a talk before we do anything else. There’s something I need to tell you both.” 

Imagining the hypothetical scenario of telling your mum you’re having a baby and actually doing it really are two completely different things it seems. Gone is all of Jamie’s confidence and replaced with a whole lot of anxiety. 

“You're worrying me, Jamie. What has you acting so serious? Did you get someone pregnant or something?”

Georgie's words are followed by a thick awkward silence. It's heavy and suffocating and it makes (Y/N) feel uneasy in both her heart and her head.

It doesn't take long for Jamie’s parents to realize what his silence means. Everything communicated by not saying a single word.

“Oh, fuck.”

And there's nothing to add to Georgie's reaction. It's the exact same one (Y/N) had when she first saw those faint blue lines.

Of all the possible outcomes and ways this day could’ve gone, (Y/N) had not expected to find herself staring at not only a curly-haired Roy Kent but also come face to face with two very persuasive arguments belonging to no other than Keeley fucking Jones. 

“This is surreal.” 

The posters stare back at her all crinkled paper and bleached ink, as if to mock her silently. 

“Ah, well I told them to redecorate when I moved out, think they just haven’t gotten around to it yet.” 

A light dusting of pink settles on the apples of Jamie’s cheeks as well as the tips of his ears. This man can’t hide his emotions for the life of him. It’s quite adorable really. 

“Do they know?” 

“Does who know?” 

“Roy and Keeley. Do they know you have their pictures up in your room?”

“Well no and It’s not my room anymore, is it? ‘S not like I have ‘em hanging at home. Put these up ages ago.” 

A giggle slips through (Y/N)’s lips at his desperate attempt to talk himself out of this situation. 

“It’s okay, Jamie. I won’t tell.” 

“There’s nothing to tell, alright?” he responds in mock offense before sitting down on his childhood bed next to (Y/N). “Just liked boobs and football and those two were the best those fields had to offer, yeah? Can’t really blame me.” 

“Not much has changed has it?”

He shrugs his shoulders in response “Nah. Still like boobs and football but no way I’d put up a poster of granddad’s ugly mug nowadays.”

From the few times they talked about his job, including his teammates and coaches, (Y/N) was able to gather that Jamie’s relationship with Roy is something special. Odd, but special. Maybe that’s what happens when you end up working with your childhood idol. Either way, no matter how much shit he likes to talk about him, it’s clear that Jamie respects and admires Roy a great deal still.

“And uh — and Keeley?” 

“What about her?” 

“Is she — are you — how are things?” 

She still remembers that crestfallen look on his face on the day of the funeral. That infinite sadness in his eyes. She hadn’t put two and two together at that moment but later that night it all clicked. Keeley was the woman he was in love with, the woman who did not love him back. And while (Y/N) knows that she and Jamie are only bound together by happenstance and fate — if one chooses to believe in that, and that there is nothing romantic about their situation, it does sting a little to know that the man you’re having a baby with is in love with someone else.

“We’re good. We’re friends, think that’s all we’ll ever be. Her and Roy, they’re happy and I don’t want to ruin it for either of them. Keeley and I just were not right together.” 

“And you’re okay with that?” 

He nods his head, a small smile playing on his lips “Yeah, I’m alright with it. If I hadn’t made a fool of myself at the funeral then you and I wouldn’t have — you know, and then we wouldn’t be having a baby. Little Kidney Bean.” 

“That’s true. Your mum seemed excited.” 

“Hah, sorry about her. She can be intense.” 

Intense might be the understatement of the century. It took her approximately 2.3 seconds to get over the initial shock of the announcement and really process it before Georgie let out a scream of pure excitement and joy and wrapped both Jamie and (Y/N) up in her arms. She didn’t fully let go for a good 20 minutes. It was intense. It was also phenomenal.

“Don’t apologize. I am so glad she took it so well, Simon too. At least now I’ll have the certainty that my baby will have one set of loving grandparents at least.” 

“Hey,” Jamie says and nudges her shoulder with his “We’ll sort out telling your mum next, okay. I’m sure it’ll go better than you think. And if not we can always call up my mum for some more hugs and a pep talk. Whatever happens, you won’t have to do it alone. I promise.” 

For what is probably the first time in her life (Y/N) lets herself believe that there truly is someone else having her back, undisputedly and all the way. It’s unfamiliar. It’s a little scary. It’s also wonderful.

“Thanks, Jamie. I appreciate it, I really do. Think so far we’re doing alright, huh?” 

“I’d say so. Two sexy parents and a little Kidney Bean.” 

Their laughter echoes through Jamie’s childhood bedroom for quite a while longer until at some point it stills and gives room to soft breathing and quiet snores. The bed isn’t meant for two grown adults and really Jamie truly meant to sleep on the couch but somewhere between talks of baby clothes and childhood memories, eyes grew heavy and tired, and soon enough both of them are fast asleep.

Just them and their little Kidney Bean 

— and a curly-haired Roy Kent 

— and Keeley’s boobs.

taglist (@ me if you want to be taken off or added): @captainfrisbee - @scaramou - @mischiefmanaged71 - @rexorangecouny - @respondingtoshowerthoughts-blog - @tweasley20 - @dreamtrydoforkinggood - @oxxolovemelikeyoudooxxo - @heletsmelovehim - @snubug - @katdahlali - @oldglitterstory - @lalla-04p - @aiyaiy

[shadeops21]

Cosplay Guide 2.0 - Release V1.0

Hello everyone!

With MWIII around the corner and me only about 10% through the MWII multiplayer operators, I realise that I am NOT going to finish the complete guide in time for release, not with the time I have available.

SO, I am going to release the guide in stages, first with all the 'story' characters added (that I could get assets for) and then later with Multiplayer operators, and then with additional faction AI/NPCs after that.

In parallel, I will also work on MWIII loadouts as a separate project as assets for that become available too. Honestly cannot give an ETA for when to start expecting those, but they will be coming at some point.

Now, without further ado, I preset to you:

THE [UN]OFFICIAL MODERN WARFARE COSPLAY GUIDE

Clicking to the above will take you to a Google Drive download link, where the PDF will be hosted. As versions are posted, I will announce this via posts like this and provide new links, and delete the old version too.

V1.0 is story characters only, and total size is 525MB. Pages are 5100x3300px size, so quality should be fairly high with minimal compression artifacing.

This has been the culmination of literal months of work on my part, and if you would like to show your appreciation, I have enabled tipping on this post (and will on future posts for version updates). I have zero intentions on pay-walling content, as I believe knowledge and information like this should be shared freely. But my research and ASD-borne levels of focus are driven by copius amounts of tea and sugary foods, so if you want to 'fuel' me and keep this going, I won't say no!

A huge thanks to everyone that has reached out to provide their own insight on gear and equipment, either via notes and reblogs on the different guide posts I've made, or via my ask box, or through my DMs. You've helped fill my blind spots and further enhance the accuracy of my research. Many thanks to those, you all know who you are!

Thank you for your support! Seeing the daily batch of likes and reblog notifications for these guides, even after all this time, serves to motivate me and keep this project going!

[strugglingyetvibing]

Exploring the new White House website

A few nights ago, I saw a post from @willgrahamscock which mentioned that the U.S. Constitution had been removed from the official White House website. This is true, and led me to go to the White House website to see what it looks like in the first few days of this new administration.

I ended up doing a bit of a deep dive on the site, and I documented what I found in a reblog of the original post. The lovely @481boxboxbaby (from whom I reblogged the post) suggested I put the information into a new post in hopes that the information could reach a broader audience. So, below is everything that I could find on the new administration's website as of Wednesday, January 22, 2025. I've edited some of my wording and formatting, as well as adding information about the site's landing and home page, but the information from the original reblog is the same. You can find my original reblog here.

This will be long, but I hope some find this helpful! And thank you to Alex (the author of the original post) for bringing this up!

~~~

Firstly, here is the page on the White House's website that used to house the U.S. Constitution: link

If you would like to read through the Constitution, you can do so here (through the Constitution Center) and here (through the National Archives). The Constitution Center hosts an interactive version of the Constitution that breaks the document down into more manageable bite-sized chunks. This could be easier to read for some people, especially considering the language of 1787 (when the Constitution was written) is quite different to the language of 2025. The National Archives and the Senate (linked at "when the Constitution was written") both house plain text versions of the document, allowing for more straightforward reading. It might also be easier to use screen readers on these versions, but I don't know for certain.

As for the White House's website (which you can find here), there are three sections: "News," "Administration," and "Issues." These will be detailed below, as most information falls into these categories.

However, before even entering the site, a video is presented to the user. It is approximately 35 seconds long (according to my stopwatch), and is a compilation of clips of President Trump, the White House, fighter jets, and other patriotic imagery with music playing in the background. The music can be described as 'inspirational,' and is akin to what one might hear in a superhero film trailer. Please note the music is not "Hail to the Chief," (the piece most often attributed to the United States President) the "Star Spangled Banner," (America's national anthem) or Americana in genre, but a more 'generic' composition. The video ends with a line drawing of the White House with the words "The White House" and "President Donald J. Trump" on top of the drawing. The background is black and the drawing and text are white, which helps emphasize the American flag flying at the top of the White House.

Once the video is over, the final image just sits there. If the user clicks on the video, it replays. In order to exit out of the video, the user must click the "X" button in the top right corner. There is a volume muting button in the top left corner. The video starts out muted, and the user must opt in to hearing audio. Both buttons can be clicked at any point in the video. The video also times out after a few minutes of ending and redirects the user to the home page. Once the user exits the video, they cannot find it again for an unknown (to me) amount of time. If you wish to see the video without being on the White House's website, you can find it here. That link takes you to an article from The Independent that details the video as well as a few other changes to the White House website that I don't mention here.

Once the user exits the video, they are taken to the home page of the site, where they are greeted with an image of President Trump accompanied with the text "America is Back." There is a little blurb underneath along with President Trump's signature and an image that resembles the eagle within the presidential seal, but is not the full presidential seal. Scrolling down, the user can see navigational options that will take the user to see "Executive Actions" or "News." Please note that "Executive Actions" will take the user to "Presidential Actions." These pages are the same, despite being labeled two different things. More information on "Presidential Actions" is below.

Below the navigational buttons is an overview of "The Administration," including images, names, and titles of President Trump, Vice President Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and "The Cabinet," in that order. Clicking on the images will take the user to biographies of the listed individuals. More information on "The Administration," including what "The Cabinet" means, is below. Please note that Second Lady Usha Vance is not present in this home page line up, but is present in the full "The Administration" section of the website.

Below the Administration section is an image of President Trump and text reading "Our Priorities," as well as a blurb briefly identifying what those priorities are. A button takes the user to the "Issues" portion of the website, information about which is listed below. Below the priorities is a call to provide the user's email to "Stay in the Know." Inputing an email will most likely sign the user up for promotional emails from the administration.

The last thing seen on the home page is a section titled "About the White House." This section has three options to explore: "The White House," "Camp David," and "Air Force One." Each section briefly details each listed subject. The White House page gives a brief history about the building and some fun facts about it. The Camp David page provides a very brief history about the location. The Air Force One page provides a history and information about the moniker "Air Force One" as well as the aircraft that currently carries the name. This page has, by far, the most information out of the three sub-pages, and is the only one to have photographs of the subject. The Camp David page has the least amount of information, and the White House page is the only one to have a bulleted list of 'fun facts.'

The only way to navigate to these three pages is by accessing them from the home page or by searching for them in the search function. As of writing, there is no option to get to these pages by the navigation tab on the left hand side of the website. However, upon searching "Camp David" in the search function, I was able to find a page titled "About the White House." It leads to the three sub-pages described above, and is set up similarly to the "Administration" page detailed below. Please note this page cannot be accessed from the home page, and was only found via the search function.

Once the user is finished with the landing page, home page, and "About the White House" pages, they have the option to view "News," "Issues," or "Administration."

The "News" section outlines actions the President has already taken. These mostly consist of the executive orders that have been signed since January 20th, however more items will be added as the President takes further actions. These will fall under the four subheadings, "Remarks," "Briefings & Statements," "Presidential Actions," and "Articles." If I had to guess, "Remarks" will be tidbits from the President himself about the various issues he'll cover (think of them like official tweets or Trump's version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats), "Briefings & Statements" will probably be more official tidbits that could be labeled something like "From the Office of the President," and would be more 'professional' in tone, "Presidential Actions" will be any more executive actions the President chooses to take (this is where his current executive actions are listed), and "Articles" will cover all of the above, like a 'catch-all' bin. Upon looking into the links, the "Articles" page takes you to the same place as the "News" page, essentially making them one and the same.

The "Administration" section shows official photos and short biographies of President Trump, Vice President Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and Second Lady Usha Vance, in that order. Clicking on their names and/or photos takes you to a page with a more thorough biography of each person. Listed underneath the Second Lady's photo and mini biography is a listing for "The Cabinet." The photo is of the White House, likely due to the cabinet consisting of multiple people (most of whom have not yet been confirmed), and the description simply describes what the cabinet does. Clicking on this name/photo takes you to a page listing out each of the President's cabinet picks along with short biographies on each pick. There are no photos of the individuals listed, and there are no further biographies to read aside from what's listed on this singular page.

For clarification, the positions the President has nominated someone for (and who he has nominated) are as follows:

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Lee Zeldin)

Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Kelly Loeffler)

Attorney General (Pam Bondi)

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (John Ratcliffe)

Director of National Intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Russ Vought)

Secretary of Agriculture (Brooke Rollins)

Secretary of Commerce (Howard Lutnick)

Secretary of Defense (Pete Hegseth)

Secretary of Education (Linda McMahon)

Secretary of Energy (Chris Wright)

Secretary of Health and Human Services (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)

Secretary of Homeland Security (Kristi Noem)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Scott Turner)

Secretary of the Interior (Doug Burgum)

Secretary of Labor (Lori Chavez-DeRemer)

Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) - sworn in as of January 21, 2025

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Doug Collins)

Secretary of Transportation (Sean Duffy)

Secretary of the Treasury (Scott Bessent)

United States Ambassador to the United Nations (Elise Stefanik)

United States Trade Representative (Jamieson Greer)

I realize this is a long list, but it's worth checking out, as these people, if confirmed, will be the leaders of the most influential departments in our government.

Please note: The above list does not include the President's suggested Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE is listed under his executive orders in the "News" section and does not explicitly mention Elon Musk, whom the President has said would run the department. That executive order can be found here.

Finally, the "Issues" section defines the issues that the Trump-Vance administration will attempt to tackle while in power. While I won't outline every item (you can read them here), the sections are as follows:

Make America Safe Again -> This is where they list border security initiatives

Make America Affordable and Energy Dominant Again -> This is where they mention withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and the inauguration promise to "drill, baby, drill"

Drain the Swamp -> This is where the President lists his executive orders and wishes to revoke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives

Bring Back American Values -> This is where they outline intent to only recognize make and female identities as well as renaming "American landmarks" to "appropriately honor our Nation's history"

There is nothing else on the website of the White House. No establishing federal documents, no Constitution, no further information on how the executive branch of the government works. The only other things present on the website are at the bottom of the website, in which they list the address of the White House as well as links to their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages as well as copyright and privacy information. These things exist on the footer of the website, and are present on every page on the site. There is a navigation tab, but it will only take you to "News," "Administration," or "Issues."

One final thing to note is about the website's privacy page. Upon quick inspection, there was nothing to note - the site posed usual privacy information about data the site does and does not collect. However, there were multiple times the page mentioned "contacting us," and there was a very specific mention of a "'Contact the White House' form," which is nowhere to be seen on the rest of the site. This form is specifically listed under the header "Information You Give Us," which makes sense to outline that such a form will require the user to volunteer information so the White House can respond to the form.

Please note, there is no such "Contact the White House" form to be found on the current administration's website. In this privacy policy, the URL of WhiteHouse.gov/Contact/ is provided as a way for users to contact the White House about various things, including questions about the privacy policy. This link does not work, and will send the user back to whitehouse.gov because there is no way to contact the current administration through the White House website. Every invitation for users to contact the White House on this privacy policy page is redirected to the home page, denying users the ability to message the administration.

Take this information for what you will, and please go read the site for more detailed information, especially on the administration's cabinet picks and administration goals. Knowing who is in power and what they will work to do will help prepare for various actions taken in the future or various statements that could be made.

I know this was a lengthy post, but information is key, especially in an era in which information can be so easily changed and/or misconstrued by all sides of the political spectrum. Things are already changing within the first day of the new administration, and it is incredibly important to be informed and prepared.

If you have any questions, please do let me know. And if you've made it this far in this post, thank you. Please keep reading and learning. It will only help you grow.

[hprecipe-recfest]

🌯Welcome to HP Recipe Rec Fest!🍰

Ingredients:

1 whole tried and tested recipe

A handful of any of your favourite Harry Potter characters

1 plot bunny (fresh)

A dash of productivity (double concentrated)

5 sprigs of inspiration

Method:

Sign up using the google form or by sending us an ask (here is an accessible log of all the pledged recipes, to avoid many multiple versions of the same dish).

Write your fic/ draw your art. Note: your fic/art must reference or include the dish matching your included recipe; this can be in passing or central to the story.

Ensure your recipe and the method is clearly identified within the fic or attached to the art - this may be at the beginning or end of your fic, or incorporated into the story/art.

Post your art or fic BY MAY 31st ensuring it has been properly tagged. This can be just to tumblr, or ao3, or both! If you would like to add it to the collection, you may do so.

Use the tag HP Recipe Rec Fest 2024 on ao3 so all recipes can be found under one tag.

Tag us on tumblr for a reblog and to have your recipe added to the ‘Masterlist Recipe Book’*

Enjoy your efforts with a cup of tea.

*NB: The Masterlist Recipe Book will be published on June 1st.

Nutritional advice:

All content warnings must be properly tagged. On tumblr posts, tag with #hprrf and #hp recipe rec fest. You should also @ us for a reblog and so we can read/view your work.

We will try to update the sign-ups as quickly as possible but there may be a short delay due to time zones and being working adults.

Chef (author) notes:

- ALL HARRY POTTER SHIPS WELCOME

- This fest follows SALS, YKINMKATO, DLDR

- We appreciate that recipes may not be of your own creation. Where a recipe has been directly lifted from a book/website, please drop a link/title. If your recipe found in a book/website has been adapted, this is not necessary.

- Ideally, fics will be between 1,000 and 10,000 words (though we don’t want to curb your enthusiasm).

- Please only write E-rated fics if you are over 18. Authors who abuse the rule will not have their works reblogged or endorsed by the fest.

- Multiple recipes and fics by the same author are welcome, but please complete your first before you submit another recipe to the google form

**I would like to give a huge shout out to @eyra and @greyeyedmonster-18 both of whom have written fics (TORFPS; Eyra and Chef’s Kiss; Grey, which is no longer on ao3) about sharing food together/recipes and cooking, and have recipes linked or have shared recipes related to them. Without their works, I wouldn’t have come up with the fest idea - thank you endlessly for sharing these with us <3 Rory**

[moniibu]

Reader finding out that Yan Bully is being sweet to them, kisses Yan Bully and is slowly falling for them?

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY X FEM READER *:･ﾟ✧

this is based on my other works, which are on my page. i plan on making a masterlist soon where you can just click.

things to watch out for: yandere themes, bullying, lovebombing(?), possessiveness, delusions, etc.

word count: i’m a little too lazy to do a word count this time 😅, but we both know it’s over 1k

summary: you and *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ have had a few rough patches. all of a sudden, her demeanor has switched, leaving you confused, angry, and captivated.

notes: hi everyone !! i am so sorry i took so long to make this request as well as make more parts for *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧, since you guys like her so much. i’ve been busy with school and personal things so i haven’t had that much time until now to write this.

thank you once again anon for sending in a request! it means a lot to know how much you guys like my work.

this isn’t an official part two to the last request post i made, but i will be referencing from it, so make sure that you read it so you know what i’m talking about.

this honestly goes more with the second one rather than the ask itself, but they’re similar, so i added them both.

reblogging/reposting is appreciated, and like this anon here, if you would like to see anything specific, just request since requests/ask ARE OPEN !!

someone commented about the name a while ago, but this was already made, so i might use the name in the next post if i make another post about *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧

remember, this is a LESBIAN post, so MEN & MEN ALIGNED PEOPLE DNI!!

thank you guys all sm for the love and support!! i hope you enjoy this next post, *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY X FEM READER *:･ﾟ✧ !!

it’s been two weeks since the whole “buy me food or else” incident, and ever since then, it’s been like hell. you hated *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧. you hated the way that she purposely targeted you, or the way she made sure that you were alone from everyone else so that you would have to be by yourself. you hated the fact that you had to personally change your route to school just so she would leave you alone.

you hated *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧, loathed her even, and you were sure that she felt the same way. that is, until she started following you around like she was your own personal bodyguard. instead of bullying you like she used to, she now had a possessive streak.

she no longer targeted you. instead of making you eat alone, you were now forced to eat with her and the rest of the delinquents. you were now forced to sit with her when you two shared a class. you two “coincidentally” started sharing a gym class? now no one wants to be your partner —which is thanks to her— only leaving you with picking *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ as your partner.

you hated it. she went from being the biggest migraine to completely controlling your life. in fact, the change in *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ actions only fueled your hatred more than it was before. you knew you needed to get rid of this version of *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧, and fast. or, at least back to where you two weren’t as close as she tried to force now.

you secretly tried to find a way to get rid of *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ once and for all, or at least tried too. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ saw all of it, and quite frankly, she thought it was kinda cute. did you really think you would be able to get rid of her? she likes you, and will do anything in her power for you to feel the same way and understand how much love she has for you.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ thought it was funny at first, until she realized that means she failed in giving you an understanding that you were hers. she wanted to love you and protect you. she wanted to cherish you, and if given the chance, provide for you. she failed at letting you know, but there’s nothing money and connections can’t fix, and she has plenty of them.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ first starts harassing your friends into giving her information on what you liked. the ones who did got things in return, like getting full marks for the month or being ranked top 10 in the school. the others who decided to keep their mouths shut while *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ was being nice? they were either pulled from their sports and clubs, or purposely given bad grades unless they gave up information. the ones who still wouldn’t let up were given a talking to by some of *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧’s other “friends”.

a couple of people dropped you while others looked at you in disgust. you were shocked and confused. you didn’t know what happened, or what got your friends to act like this until you realized that this must be one of *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ doings.

honestly? you were embarrassed and blue. why would she do this? what did you do that was so terrible that not only did she bully you and force you to buy her food, but now she decided to alienate your friends from you? you had enough. you decided you were going to confront her right after the day was over with.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ locked herself in the bathroom. after getting information from your friends, she personally dressed herself to make sure that she was your exact type. she wanted you to blush the second you saw her, for you to look at her and get all coy the way she does —internally— with you. after finding out you liked people with curls, she went to the salon that exact day to make sure it was perfect.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ had on a black compression shirt, outlining her muscles. she knew you had a thing for them, and wanting to show them off so she could prove to you that she was strong and could take care of you if needed. she was nervous. so far, she’s done a 180. it might come as a surprise to you, but she genuinely wants you to know and see how much she wants you.

once *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ believes that she looks good, she grabs the bouquet of red roses and her gift bag of a necklace that she knows that you’ve been eyeing. she hopes that you don’t reject her.

after all, she’s *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧, there’s no way you could reject her. sure, she would be upset, but she knows deep down that you love her. you rejecting her —if you do— just means that she has to try again until she gets it right.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ walks down the hallway with her head held high. she’s confident, and gotten rid of everything that might ruin what could come true.

you on the other hand are a complete opposite from how *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ is feeling. anger is pulsing through your veins, and you can’t wait to see her so you can demand answers on why she did what she did.

you walk down the hallway and see *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧. while she has a mixture of happiness and being flustered on her face, you on the other hand mismatch her energy. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ can see it, and her mood immediately changes.

“*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧, get over here, now. let’s talk.” you leave no room for argument, anger clear as day in your voice.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ follows behind you silently like a kicked puppy. she’s usually angry, cold, and walks around with an “i don’t care” attitude. yet here she was, wondering what it was that she did that make you talk to her that way.

you lead *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ to an empty classroom. after she walks in you shut the door behind you. “sit. we’re going to talk and you will explain yourself. i don’t care if you want to or you “don’t care”, but we’re not leaving this room until you say something.”

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ does as you say. she sits down, and waits for you to speak, which is a first for you. you look at *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧. the sight of her makes you sick and angry to your core, but you wanted answers, no matter how rough the situation might go.

you may want answers from her, but after all, she’s a bully. you two are alone, and if she wanted to, she could beat you up and leave you the classroom in pain. you think about how to go about it without making something wild like that a possibility. you begin to tear up. all the emotions you’ve been holding back begin to crumble. your walls are beginning to break, and the reality of the situation finally hits you. the woman in front of you purposefully bullied and targeted friends and people you knew, and for what? a bouquet of roses? a necklace?

you don’t say anything at first, but eventually you feel your eyes water, which turns into tears running down your cheeks. you may look like a crybaby right now, but you don’t dare to wipe them. you want *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ to know exactly how much pain and heartbreak she has caused you.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧’s heart breaks at the sight of your tears. she’s never wanted to cause you this much pain. the fact that your crying over her actions makes her want to take her anger out on someone. she made you cry, which makes her feel like an ass. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ may act like a bully and that she doesn’t care about anyone or anything, but the sight of you crying is making her feel something she hasn’t felt in a long time:

guilt.

she doesn’t say anything, but looks bewildered when you say something. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ lifts her head up, asking for you to repeat yourself.

“i said, why.” a sob comes out of your throat, but quickly switches to anger. “WHY. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU THAT HAS MADE YOU LIKE THIS.” you shout. “WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU THAT HAS MADE YOU TARGET ME.”

it was the first time *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ has seen you show an ounce of actual emotion. the question catches her off guard, and all she can do is muster out a “what?”

“stop acting dumb.” you sneer. “everyday when i come to school you’re right in my face, picking on what i’m wearing. when it’s lunchtime, you purposely drag me to your table, even when you know i don’t want anything to do with you or your other delinquent friends. you then target my friends and bully them, for what? a gift? and you think that a twenty dollar bouquet of roses and a necklace will make up for everything you’ve done?”

“w-what? no! that’s not why i did it.” *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ banters, or at least tries to. “you have it all wrong. please, let me explain.” *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ gives you a pleading look, and the only thing you can do is agree in response.

“fine. that’s why we’re here, aren’t we? explain yourself.”

“okay. it was like that in the beginning. i did hate you. i hated the fact that you acted so nice, even when people gave you a look that meant that they hated you, and i know you could see it too. i hated how you smiled to everyone. i hated how you had a calming vibe and for once in my life, you were a person that didn’t make me immediately hate them. while i was hating you, i didn’t realized that i loved you, and because i didn’t understand that feeling, i took it out on you.”

by now, *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ is on the verge of tears herself. “stop crying. you have no reason to cry. you were purposely rude just because you could be.” the look you gave *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ was full of disgust and shame. instead of acting like she didn’t care, she switches up, grabbing your wrist desperately. “please! i’m sorry! please, give me a chance! i know you don’t believe me but at least let me at least prove it to you.”

before you could say something to combat her, she shoves the roses in your hands. “please, give me a chance to prove to you that i don’t actually hate you. i want to let you know that i’m truly sorry.” before you can say anything, *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ gives you a peck on the cheek and walks out of the classroom.

at first you didn’t believe her, but *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ kept true to her word. she’s a delinquent after all, so when it came to your friends, she could care less. but with you? *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ changed up her whole act. it began with her giving you a small smile before you walked through the door. she would look at you lovingly if you walked past her.

as for the gifts, she brought you one each day. the first day, it was a pair of earrings from a store you liked. the second day, it was a coat from a store you were window shopping at. each day it was something you longed for, or it was something little that showed you that she was paying attention to you.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ has become desperate. she had been bringing you gifts, smiling at you, and even staring at you. she was beginning to think it didn’t work until you grabbed her hand, leading her towards the classroom you took her to two weeks prior.

“I don’t forgive you, at all. what you did has hurt me, angered me, and irritated me. you still have a lot to make up for if you want me to forgive you.”

“i understand.” *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ says. “i’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if that means that you’ll forgive me.”

you stand on your tippy toes, reaching towards *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧’s lips, giving her a kiss. “thank you for the gifts. i appreciated them.”

you look away shyly before pulling away, or at least try to. before you can pull away, *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ grabs your arm harshly, smashing her lips onto yours. she grabs your waist, pulling you as close to her as you physically can. she grabs your arms and puts them on her neck, kissing your jaw and your cheeks before going back to your lips, kissing them once more. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ rubs the sides of your waist, asking to put her tongue inside your mouth.

you grant it, and for what seems like forever, the two of you have a make-out session that makes it feel like you two are in your own world. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ moves forward, almost demanding more. your tongues move in a frenzy, and while you hate to admit it, you’re enjoying the kiss yourself. you rake your hands through *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧’s hair, which makes her moan into the kiss.

your let go to break for air and stare at *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧. you look at her before she grabs you in her arms, hugging you like a lover. “don’t worry. i’ll make it where you’ll see my actions and immediately know it’s love instead of doubt.”

“i’ll know it when i see it.” you scoff. outside, there was someone that saw your make-out session. you didn’t see it, but *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ surely did. she looked at that person with a haunting look in her eyes, almost daring them to try and fuck with her.

*✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ was happy that you accepted her. you may not have accepted her fully, but it was a start. maybe you should’ve went with your instincts and removed her from your life forever. *✧･ﾟFEM YANDERE DELINQUENT/BULLY *:･ﾟ✧ had just gotten a taste of you, and she was already addicted. now that she had you in her arms, she was never letting go.

you were hers.

forever.

*✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:

*✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*:･ﾟ✧ *✧*

this idea was made and created by @moniibu. all rights reserved to @moniibu, and you are NOT allowed to steal, copy, or translate this work.

January 2024.

[coelpts]

alright, guess we're complaining now.

[Image ID: First image: A cropped screenshot of Tumblr's Friday, May 26th, 2023 changelog which reads, "On web, clicking anywhere in a post’s header now opens that post. Previously, you had to click specifically on the blog name."

Second image: A cropped screenshot of Tumblr's Tuesday, May 30th, 2023 changelog which reads, "To clarify a point made in last Friday’s post: on web, clicking the reblogged-from blog name in a reblog’s post header now takes you to that blog, not their reblog. Clicking in the empty space in the post’s header, and in the header of each reblog trail item, now takes you to that specific post in the blog view popup. This is one of a series of updates we’re making to the reblog consumption experience across all platforms, to make it more intuitive and consistent, especially for new users." End ID.]

Tumblr, this change is bad. A lot of other people have already shared their own complaints for this new and awful system, but it's time for me to properly throw my hat in the ring instead of at-ing you directly due to user error. Whoops.

[UPDATE 6/11/2023] HORRIBLE NEWS, EVERYONE! This change has hit mobile. There is no longer any way to access the previous version of a post except through theme reblog chaining on desktop. I've added some extra fun comments both as an edit to this post and as a reblog so nobody misses out.

All my complaints are in the read more because this got LONG.

TL;DR- This change breaks a major signifier used across the site, removes post functionality only to replace it with redundant blog links, and completely destroys a primary mode of social interaction that's been used on Tumblr for over a decade. Here's the Tumblr Staff support link so you can give feedback on how bad this change is.

Part One: Signifiers and Consistency

This is my biggest point, so it will be a bit of a doozy. Strap in.

This change is about making Tumblr operation 'intuitive and consistent' by unifying behavior between like-designed parts of the site. Now on the face that's not a bad reason to do things, and making sure users are able to intuit what a button does based on its properties is good design. I'll give an example:

Hearts symbolize the 'Like' function on Tumblr. The heart button on a post adds it to your Likes, the Likes option on your account is accompanied by that same heart, and Likes show up in post notes with that heart. This heart, then, becomes a consistent and reliable signifier. If you see a heart button on Tumblr, then whatever it's attached to probably has something to do with Likes.

So, back to the change. This change relates to the signifier of the 'Tumblr blog url link'. The idea is thus- on other parts of the site, such as the Search tab on mobile and on a blog in the dashboard tray, you will see related or similar blog suggestions like these:

[Image ID: First image: A cropped screenshot of Tumblr's Getting Started help page. It shows an example blog with the 'Blogs like this one' tray visible, populated with four example blogs.

Second image: A second cropped screenshot of Tumblr's Getting Started help page. It shows an example of the Search page on mobile with the 'Check out these blogs' feature highlighted, where two example blog cards are shown. End ID.]

These suggestions are Tumblr blog urls paired with their icon and a little bit of their blog, either the title or some recent posts of theirs. If you click on that url title, the link follows through to that blog. So there's the signifier: click on the url, go to the blog.

But now we have a bit of a snag. What about these?

[Image ID: A cropped reblog screenshot. The crop shows the Tumblr urls of the reblogger @coelpts and reblogged @coelpts-artchives with the reblog symbol between them, the rebloggers icon, and the date that this reblog was posted. End ID.]

Well, these LOOK like Tumblr blog url links. They're styled in the same way. In fact, the reblogger even has a blog icon next to it! So all signs point to these url links pointing directly to a Tumblr blog if clicked on. After this change, that's exactly what they do- so, like, no problem, right?

But, hold on. There's another signifier here! These aren't JUST Tumblr blog url links! This is…

[Image ID: First image: The former image of a cropped reblog screenshot, focused on the urls and reblog icon.

Second image: The Tumblr reblog icon. End ID.]

Our good friend, the Reblog button! That's another classic Tumblr signifier, and it sits right next to the Like button I pontificated about. Reblogs are an integral part of Tumblr, and on top of every single reblogged post you will see that icon. And would you look at that- it's even the same color as the second url link!

Those url links that established the 'url link' signifier that we talked about before, in the search page and on the dashboard tray, aren't attached to any posts. But this url is, and the reblog symbol is right next to it. The reblog signifier modifies the url link signifier. This link should go to the reblog from this user. Right? Because it is a reblog FROM that url link- so that's where it should go! And that's where it used to go, before this update.

[EDIT] I came back to fix some typos I noticed but while I was away I tested mobile to see if this change hit the app yet. It has not, but what I saw instead confirmed the above point- on mobile, selecting the reblogged's url ALSO highlights the reblog icon next to it! These two signifiers are connected, and should be read together.

By changing the url links to be more 'consistent' with other url links across the site, a major signifier that keeps the site together has been broken entirely. What should lead to a reblog- something that is clearly shown through use of a recognizable, consistent symbol- no longer does.

Part Two: Redundant Redundancy

Okay, so that's not all this change does. It also adds a brand new functionality to the post header- the white space is now clickable and serves as a replacement for the original 'to this post' link on the reblogger's side of things. These headers also generate for anyone who adds to the post, and you can click through OP too.

[Image ID: The cropped reblog screenshot from before, but with the word 'Clickable!' written in purple in the blank space above the date. End ID.]

This is also part of that design unity thing; on mobile tapping anywhere on the post header takes you to the post, and you can only tap on the blog url of the person the reblogger reblogged from. That makes sense, since on mobile you're maneuvering your fingers on a small screen and tapping a tiny url next to another tiny url is bound to cause problems.

I don't necessarily have a problem with this on the base of it. I have opinions about mobile and desktop parity that aren't really important here, but it does nicely showcase an issue I DO have- most of the changes made to reblogged posts are completely redundant and unnecessary.

---

[UPDATE] This change has hit mobile now, and it's added a fun new complaint about desktop-mobile parity that is now very suddenly a problem; the headers generated from reblogs with content don't have any responsive feedback for tapping them on mobile. OPs does, but any old Joes doesn't. This is not true on desktop, where on-hover a post header will change color; on mobile they stay completely white and plain with no on-tap color change. On top of that, the new headers are actually harder to see on mobile! There's no clear way to actually see where the header starts and the post continues! Tapping a header was deeply confusing because I got no confirmation I did anything of value until I was wisked away to a post- there's no signifier on mobile that this is a thing you can press.

This is what I was talking about in regards to desktop and mobile parity that wasn't important at the time- what's good for mobile isn't always good for desktop and vice versa. Having a post header be tappable on mobile instead of op's url link, where you have less fine motor control and there's a lot of small buttons clustered together, makes sense; but making all post headers into buttons on desktop isn't a good idea because they aren't 'buttons' and it's very hard to make it clear they are. I mentioned signifiers above and that applies to this change- there just aren't enough signs that show these are all buttons now and where they go. The fact that they're completely unresponsive on mobile really is the cherry on top, because you do not KNOW it's a button unless you tap it accidentally or already know from desktop that all headers link to reblogged posts. The design has been made more confusing; what was a functional affordance on mobile has been applied to desktop without limits or concern, making the original mobile affordance more confusing and producing a poor signifier.

Alright, that's enough from future me. Let's get back to the original post, about how this change that introduces a bad signifier is also redundant.

---

First of all, it's not like clicking the link url just threw you into a post abyss when you clicked it. Clicking through to a reblog…still took you to that blog, both on mobile and on desktop. On mobile all you need to look through the blog proper is to pull down and refresh; on desktop it's even easier, because following a link pulls up the dashboard tray for that blog with the blogs url immediately below their icon.

[Image ID: A screenshot of the previously cropped reblog, now shown on the blog @coelpts. The post is on the left, and the user info card is on the right. End ID.]

This change then removes one step to get to the front of a blogs page, and puts the original longer path on the new clickable header. They go to the same place, the first is just exactly one click faster. You could do the exact same thing by clicking the user icon instead.

But wait! We can get even more redundant! You know what else is standard Tumblr functionality on desktop? The hover card!

[Image ID: A screenshot of the previously cropped reblog, now showing the card for @coelpts-artchives below the icon. It has the blog title and description alongside three popular posts. A purple arrow points to it from the url. End ID.]

If you hover over any url link for about a second, a card for that blog will pop up. This tray lets you follow a blog, send asks, report them, check their popular posts and do a bunch of stuff straight from the dashboard. It also takes you directly to their blog if you click the url link on the card itself! That's right, there was already a way to go directly to the blog the previous user reblogged from! And every single blog url link does this, too- not just on post headers, but even in the text of a post itself.

So before this change, you had five ways of interacting on a post:

Click the reblogger's url > Reblogger's post.

Click the reblogged's url > Reblogged's post.

Click the reblogger's icon > Reblogger's blog.

Hover on the reblogger's url > Reblogger's blog.

Hover on the reblogged's url > Reblogged's blog.

One of these is redundant, but that's fine- it's just how url links work, and it's better that all urls can do that. Signifiers, we talked about this. But every other link goes to a different place, including the previous version of the post.

After this change, there's six, with changes in bold:

Click the reblogger's url > Reblogger's blog.

Click the reblogged's url > Reblogged's blog.

Click the reblogger's icon > Reblogger's blog.

Hover on the reblogger's url > Reblogger's blog.

Hover on the reblogged's url > Reblogged's blog.

Click the white space header next to a user > User's post.

We now have three ways of getting to the blog of the person who reblogged this post, two ways to get to the blog of the person they reblogged from, ONE way to get to the post, and ONLY if someone added to it!

This change removes functionality and replaces it with needless redundancy. As I said near the top of this section, we could already get to the blog through a reblog link- so all this does is remove getting to previous post iterations.

Part Three: Broken Chains

And hey, let's talk about previous post iterations. Y'know, something that's super important on Tumblr? Different versions of a post float around the site for years- some have been around for a decade or more. And some are only available for one post.

As I'm sure everyone knows, unless a group of tags are peer reviewed and added to the body of the post itself or are appended to the next reblog in the chain, they only exist on that version of the post. This means every iteration of a post is functionally unique, and long before we were given the ability to check the tags on a reblog directly, the only way you could check the tags for a post was by checking every iteration. This practice still exists today with 'prev tags'- users still find it useful to gesture to a previous version of a post and show what other people were thinking or add their own thoughts.

Remember the new redundant links? All that means you can't get to a previous version of a post anymore. Those tags are functionally lost now, unless you dig through that persons blog or through all the notes of a specific post. Sure that may not be a problem for a post with 300 notes or so- but what about 27,000? What about a post that was reblogged three weeks ago? If you're trying to wrangle Tumblr's dodgy search function on the blog itself, what if the post has no text to search for, or if the blog has it's search function turned off? Any post tagged with prev tags now directs to literally nothing. Anyone arguing or conversing in the tags is now speaking at air to everyone else.

There is still one way to trace reblogs. You can access the blog itself- not the dashboard tray, but the actual url.tumblr.com blog- by using a hidden link in the meatball menu off the side of the post.

[Image ID: A screenshot of the previously cropped reblog, now showing the meatballs menu accessed. The first option, showing the date of the reblog, is highlighted. A purple arrow points to this option from the meatballs menu icon and a circle is drawn around it. End ID.]

From there, you can track a post backwards through proper blogs. The reblogged posts will have a 'via Blog' note on them, and you can follow that trail all the way up a chain.

…Unless someone doesn't have a theme enabled. Without a theme, a user won't have a url.tumblr.com domain and it will redirect to the dashboard tray, breaking the chain. And, as of an older update, blogs by default do not have themes enabled- so any and all new users suddenly roadblock this process. Oops.

All of this means that what was once a convenient social aspect of Tumblr has been completely severed with little to no alternative. Trying to wade through hundreds upon hundreds of notes to find the one you're looking for is tedious, time consuming, and potentially impossible if the post is large enough.

Finale: What Now?

Right, so- this sucks. I didn't even go into how this makes it tough to find and block cr/pt/t/rfs if a post passes into their hateful space, or how this makes it harder to copy post links without tracking shit because it's in a different menu now, or how it's now more difficult to access a previous post for reporting purposes. All that shit's also true, but they're side effects of the big three problems the changes introduce.

This change is ultimately user-hostile and seems to follow the worrying trend of 'other sites are doing it, so let's do it too!' Tumblr's been kicking about recently. Tumblr Live, the new change to images and videos, gating viewing posts behind making an account, and attempted algorithm feeds through 'Best Stuff First' and 'Based On Your Likes' are what immediately come to mind. Tumblr's defining, driving aspect for it's continued existence has and always will be its uniqueness. Pretending to be Instagram and TikTok and fucking Twitter will do it absolutely no favors- all it does is undermine what actually makes this site, as a social platform, interesting and vibrant.

But it's one thing to just complain and it's another entirely to provide feedback. Here's a link to the Tumblr Staff support page. They've walked back on new features before when we've made a ruckus- the Shop icon replacement is on the forefront of my mind right now- so it's time to make another.

TL;DR 2- This change makes browsing Tumblr more difficult than it needs to be. It breaks previously established signifiers and removes vital social functions only to add redundant and empty features to cater to a new userbase instead of actually improving the site for the users they already have. It's not a good change.

Thanks for reading ✌️

[finickyfelix]

Writeblr Intro: Up-to-date Version

About Me:

You can call me Felix. Adult, trans man, he/him pronouns exclusively. I am extremely shy and socially awkward, but I'm trying my best to become more social, mostly by talking in reblog tags, which is my main method of communication around here.

Also I draw, sometimes. I occasionally post my art here, but only very, very rarely.

I am a very big fan of Slay the Princess and Scarlet Hollow, so expect to see reblogs related to them sometimes.

Feel free to tag me in tag games, but I can't guarantee that I will do most of them. I only do them very occasionally. But tag me anyway; I want to see your writing! I am also open to asks.

I now have a sideblog @phantasmalfelix where I reblog random stuff that doesn't fit this blog. You're welcome to follow that one too if you want to get to know me more outside of my writing, I guess. I am currently way more active on that blog than this one.

What I Write:

I once would have said write fantasy, but who knows what I write anymore, honestly. Horror mostly, lately, I guess? Regardless of genre, I always write character-focused stories without much of a focus on plot. I often write fairly dark stuff so please be careful around here. Also I have been known to write (and reblog) NSFW writing. I do make sure to try my best to tag everything appropriately and use mature content labels when applicable, but still. I will also block any minors who interact with my NSFW writing or reblogs.

Below the cut are my currently posted works + info on my WIPs, which I shoved down there because this gets long otherwise. Please click on the read more if you're interested.

Currently Posted Writing:

Note: Although I have works on AO3, I no longer can use AO3 going forward due to reasons involving their updated privacy policy and my anxiety. So although my works are staying up, I can no longer reply to comments and I can't read anyone else's work on AO3 anymore. Sorry!

Snakeskin:

(Available on both Tumblr and AO3)

Part one on Tumblr

Part two on Tumblr

Linos Tievis, a failing medical student who has an interest in monsters, finds an injured monster on the side of the road. Obviously he can't just leave her there, so he does what he can to nurse her back to health. However, she hates him, which is making things difficult.

Word count: 11,117 (on AO3. The word count on Tumblr is a little different due to edits.)

Genre: I have been told that it's horror. It's not supposed to be scary though, just... subtly disturbing. It's mostly meant to be a character study.

Content warnings: Blood and injury, misgendering, familial death, childhood trauma/child abuse, gender dysphoria, non-consensual kissing, past sexual assault, sexual thoughts, kind of cannibalism threats. Very brief and minor mentions of animal death and self-injury.

Notable features: villain origin story set 15 years before Faded Daisy, has a one-sided and very toxic monster/human "romance," has authentic evil insane trans man representation. Also there is a hot lizard lady.

There is also a separate NSFW monsterfucking bonus content story that I wrote for Snakeskin that exists both on Tumblr and on AO3. The Tumblr version is better because I added a bit to it. Please do not click on that link if you are a minor.

Some Company for the Evening:

(Currently only available on AO3.)

Mazarian, a priest currently in line to become the High Priest of Palvis, has recently made a habit of sneaking out at night and drinking in the Lower District. He's kept his celibacy vow intact though; although he's breaking several other vows, this is one line he's not willing to cross. However, tonight he encounters a somewhat suspicious foreign prostitute who seems determined to make him break that vow.

Word count: 8,139

Genre: Fantasy-romance

Content warnings: No actual sex but there are a lot of sexual themes. Also contains themes of religion, implied self-harm, and mild transphobia

Notable features: Fluffy tea date, exploration of religious sexual repression, a cat indirectly contributes to a religious crisis

WIPS:

Faded Daisy:

A monster wakes up with no memories and no idea who or what they are, in a city that usually kills monsters on sight. However, they survive due to the help of the questionable Dr. Tievis, who names them Nameless and says he has never seen a monster like them. Grateful to him for saving their life, Nameless trusts him.

First draft word count: 38,656 words

Status: finished 8/10 of the first draft, taking a break from it at the moment.

Genre: Horror, probably

Notable features: Second person POV, a mad scientist, monsters, an extremely fucked up relationship.

Content warnings: Abuse, manipulation, injury and mutilation, blood and needles, borderline sexual assault, cannibalism, kinda maybe body horror?, referenced self harm, referenced child abuse.

Foxglove Dust:

Linos Tievis has lost everything, his career, his clinic, his assistant– and worst of all, the monster who he had depended on to try to achieve his life goal. But he's come back from worse. He'll get it all back, one way or another.

Estimated final word count: Probably slightly longer than Faded Daisy.

Status: Writing the first draft.

Genre: Also horror, probably.

Notable features: Human/monster sexual relationship that is actually consensual? Mad scientist gets a redemption arc??

Content warnings: Not entirely solidified, but expect suicidal thoughts, injury and mutilation, blood and needles, probably body horror of some variety, and probably explicit sex. Who knows what all else.

I posted some erotica involving the Foxglove Dust characters that you can read here without knowing much about Foxglove Dust.

I had other WIPs once, but I abandoned them all and Faded Daisy and its sequel are all that's left.

[archiveyourblog]

How to back up your Tumblr blog

Not sure if all of you heard the news, but Wordpress laid off 16% of its staff, which happened to include senior tumblr staff like cyle. According to 3liza, the amount of staff running tumblr is about 25.

Welp. Will Tumblr finally die? I don't know. It's pretty likely, since this site costs millions to run and to host all this content, but I'll stay till the end. But I backed up my blog, with the help of a post that can't be reblogged rn.

you can reblog this one though.

Quoth butchlinkle: "In your blog settings you have the ability to initiate a blog export, and this will generate a backup for your blog.

Fair warning though, if you’ve been on the platform for a long time this archive is likely to be quite hefty in file size. This blog I have had for 5 years with 22k posts, and the export from tumblr came to be 48GB. My previous blog I made in 2011 and has 95k posts, so needless to say I did not use tumblr’s built in export to back that one up.

If you want more control over exactly what you back up from your blog, I recommend that you use tumblr-utils instead. It allows you to backup specific tags, post types, and to ignore posts that you did not create (reblogs where you’ve added a comment count unfortunately do not count unless you use the older version of the script made with python 2.7).

To use it:

download and install python

create an application on tumblr to get an api key

create a folder where you would like to save your backups and right click to open it in the terminal/command prompt, or type cmd.exe in the address bar from inside that folder

Backing up just my original posts from this blog with this command came to 632MB rather than 48GB, and also gave me the option to save my posts in JSON format which will be useful for converting my posts to a new format for self hosting.

On that note I’m currently looking into figuring out a simple (and ideally free) way of self hosting a static site blog that utilises activitypub, and also converting my old posts to re-host on said blog.

This post series by maho.dev on implementing activitypub with any static site is my primary source of guidance atm if you also want to try figure that out yourself, as well as having an explanation for why you’d even want to do this if you don’t already know

but if tumblr goes down before I get things sorted and write up a post about it then i’ll be reporting back on it via my bsky, mastodon, and toyhouse accounts

if you dont have an account on any of these I’ll also be sharing an update via my personal site’s RSS feed, link of which includes an explanation of what RSS is and some feed readers you can use, I highly recommend checking it out as getting a feed reader is going to be the best way you can stay connected with people if they scatter across the internet!

tldr: download tumblr-utils to backup your blog more efficiently, introduce yourself to RSS and get a feed reader to stay connected with people, consider saving mine so you can find out how to self host your blog later if tumblr goes down."

here's a guide from the notes: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1yBWlk-yEgpSoEh3c9oLhz_kbLtUGqbqzOpCtJsvQgjI/mobilebasic?pli=1#h.u9vj7pezwpcy

Back up those blogs. This was way faster than trying to use Webarchive, and webarchive seems to be only good for saving text, audio, and video, because it saved none of the images. And remember: I did not write this guide, and I do not know a thing about coding or fixing bugs.

[pomrania]

Normally when I start getting notes on a post I'd reblogged with an addition, it's because someone "downstream" added something obnoxious and/or unnecessary to the thread, and then it was seen by a bunch of people, some of whom decided to go up the thread to reblog from my version and cut out the later stuff.

It's hard to tell what it was, because the reblog graph gets nigh-unusable for this purpose when something's had enough reblogs (because I can't isolate the stuff which came after MY reblog in particular). "Random sampling" can work, where I just check a couple of the recent reblogs in the notes for that post, see what they have in their threads; but that has to be done manually, and it can get annoying. The third option is to send a message to someone who's just recently liked (so I know it's not queued) and reblogged it from me, and ask them where they saw it, and why they picked my version to reblog.

Recently, I've gotten notes on my reblog of the video of Nimble, that adorable Border Collie/ Papillon cross doing agility and going nyoom. The first two methods didn't give me anything, so I decided to directly ask somebody.

So APPARENTLY my reblog of that video has been showing up in people's "for you". That was surprising, I'd thought it was only the "base" posts that showed up there. But at least now I know an that's an option.

Thinking on it, I'd gotten more "likes" than I'd been used to seeing for a "someone downstream added something dumb" post, because in that situation, someone sees the post on their dash, sees that it has cool stuff, the "like" button is right there; they only have to 'travel' to reblog something not on their dash. But if "my specific reblog" is the SOURCE that people are coming across, then of COURSE there'd be more likes than reblogs, the same pattern for posts which I've originated.