#organic meme right here I don't make the rules

[idk-bruh-20]

[socialist-microwave-laser]

maybe it's the cynic in me but i feel like people are celebrating wayyyyy too soon about tucker carlson no longer being on fox news and i'm asking y'all to tread very lightly for a few reasons:

we still don't know who terminated the agreement and why

now yes, it was a very sudden end, on friday evening tc apparently said he'll be back monday. but even if fox was the catalyst, that doesn't mean they suddenly got a moral backbone, or they'll stop showing a bunch of nazi shit on their platform. tc was raking in millions of dollars a night. if he's being scapegoated, that's an expensive fucking scapegoat. if he's been deemed a liability, the settlement money was just a drop in the bucket for the amount of money they make—not nearly large enough to dissuade them from doing this again. corporations exist to make money, and if the fox news people had any moral backbone it wouldn't have been some lawsuit that made them suddenly remember its existence

(i also want to add that i wouldn't be surprised if tc was trying to pull a matt walsh here and complain that fox was changing some rules internally, or maybe moving some money around, and tc was pissed enough that he walked away. given the amount of money this man raked in a night, this is incredibly plausible imo)

we don't know where fox news is going to go from here

we're talking about a corporation run by a bunch of people who were willing to (allegedly) incite and facilitate an attempted coup because it was making them money. we're also talking about a corporation that just lost one of their most prominent guys, who, and i'm gonna keep beating this dead horse, raked in millions of dollars a night. they're not just gonna throw their hands up in the air and decide they're going to become centrists. they're replacing this time slot with a rotating cast of members, and there's going to be a vacuum in the fox news space. they're going to start looking for someone to say the quiet parts out loud starting yesterday

(side note that i think it will be interesting to see them try to divorce the tc persona from the person in order to maintain it on their network)

we don't know where tucker carlson is going to go from here

people weren't tuning in to watch tc scream himself red in the face because they just love supporting fox news; they were tuning in to watch tucker carlson. and we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought otherwise, and if we thought tc thought otherwise. this man holds a massive amount of rhetorical leverage, he has the ears of over four million usamericans a night. he's not going to throw in the towel because he lost his fancy tv show slot. i've been keeping an eye on the regular forums and already his fans are coming up with conspiracies about fox news being a bunch of shills, censoring him, etc etc etc. he still has two legs, a lot of money, and a shit ton of supporters to stand on. and if he wants, he can suddenly say a whole lot more stuff now that he's not on prime time television anymore

we don't know where the fans are going to go from here

let's entertain the hypothetical that fox news is now going to be a center-right organization and tc is going to fade into the ether. that doesn't mean all those viewers and fans are going to follow suit. that's not how propaganda works. a vacuum needs filling, and this audience wants to keep hearing the same stuff. in the absence of a fox news and tucker carlson, they're going to search elsewhere for someone to watch. where are they going to go, parler? the place that has holocaust deniers on the home page on a good day? is that a loss for the radicalization pipeline?

i'm not saying not to celebrate or laugh or post memes or feel relieved or whatever. i also feel that way! but i also feel like this is an historic turning point for the course of the alt right and the united states as a whole, and we can't lose ourselves in our celebration and go to brunch because racism is solved. we need to be on guard these next few days. if you have loved ones who loved fox news, keep an eye on them (if that would be safe for you). i'm also going to throw our a quick "be safe" for everyone in jewish communities, it'll only be a hop skip and a jump for a lot of these people to come to the conclusion that someone (triple echo included) is behind this, and they probably won't be wanting to give them flowers. much love y'all, remember to drink some water

[sanest-bsd-delegate]

Driver's seat

Headcanon: Where your car insurance finally paid off ft Atsushi, Ranpo and Akutagawa. Masterlist Please look at the request rules in masterlist before requesting.

Atsushi:

It all started when you both were discussing random stuff.

You brought up how your brother taught you how to drive.

THE LOOK HE GAVE, FELT LIKE HE WAS LISTENING THE WORD DRIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME. (Oh right he is an orphan eheh)

"Drive..?" YEah CLUELESS

And being Y/N, You forced him to learn how to drive.

I mean it was your duty to make him learn these type of things.

"So, this is a car" "Y/N I may be a orphan but I did know basic human terms" oops

You made sure he was seated, had his belt bucked and stuff.

"Ohk so, here is the steering wheel, its used to handle the way the care tires move....." TOO MUCH OVERSHARING

"Y/N are you sure its safe to drive in Kunikida's car?"

"Let me show you how its done Atsushi-Kun"

"Ummm" BRO STOP SHOWING OFF YOU BROKE KUNIKIDA'S CAR-

Needless to say, you weren't allowed to get near transportation again without supervision.

Welps, Atsushi, to say was still confused.

"Do you know how to ride a bike?" "Yess....?"

Oh boi this could be a disaster.

Ranpo:

I don't even know why you decided to teach him

He legit cant even ride a bus by himself and you expect him to drive.

"Ranpo! NO!" Ahh yes, he was totally hitting your car to the pole right now

"RANPO! You cant eat while driving!!" "Aww Then i rather travel with a transport"

He said that and just unbuckled himself and left the car. Without having the parking breaks up.

Lets just day, you had to pay the fine for destroying public facilities.

Hey! Least your insurance paid off.

Later you thought he could least drive properly in those car area at the amusement park.

Welp you both are banned there now

But god, Ranpo driving those cars was cute. (please someone draw it, so I can rest in peace)

Akutagawa:

You found out his inability to drive when you were running away from the explosion behind you.

"Akutagawa! You bring the car here so that we can run away! in the meantime I will hold the explosion off with my ability"

Bro just used rashomon to lift the car and throw it from Midair.

You both survived, just with minor burns and organ damage. YUP TOTALLY FINE

"DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? I ASKED YOU TO BRING THE CAR" "And i brought it" "NO LIKE DRIVE"

That moment you got to know, He doesn't know how to drive.

WELP HEAL FAST.

You were the people of Port Mafia. Naturally you are Rich as hell.

WELL HERE WE GO AND WAKE UP IN THE NEW BUGATTI (idk guys i forgot to frame correct meme sentences)

"This is a waste of time" "WELL TYSM I DONT LIKE MY LIFE TO END BECAUSE MY PARTNER DOESNT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE"

He was shaking while trying to adjust to the seat and the steering wheel and stuff.

"Are you scared?" "No this is just a waste of my time"

He tries to get out of the car. Tries. Seat belt to the rescue.

And now, without even trying to learn, He absolutely removes himself with his ability.

"HEY I COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED" "You lived"

Bro just hates cars.

He rather ride his horse then drive a car.

"You just DESTROYED MY CAR" "I don't see it at a concern considering you never use it"

Now Akutagawa destroys cars till date.

[rp-academy]

i‘m new in the rp tumblr community (not new to tumblr itself though) and i really really appreciate all of your resources so tysm for taking the time to create all this <3

i do have a question: how do i get people to find & interact with my blog?

i‘d love to try out some of the infinite starter/rp memes ive seen everywhere on tumblr but i have no idea how i would even use them & how to get people to send/reply/etc. to me

i sent submissions on some of those rp-partner-search blogs on here as well because i had no idea where to start, but i don‘t seem to be lucky with that :[

i just wanna rp & maybe get to know some nice people in the rp community but i have no idea how, i know a lot of the etiquette stuff now but all that doesn‘t really matter if i‘m not actually interacting with anyone 😭

-@havis-rp-adventures

Hey there! I'm glad my blog has been a valuable resource to you.

It's definitely difficult starting out in the community, as there are many different structures and moving parts to learn. Hopefully, my advice here will be of some use too!

Looking at your blog, you have a really nice theme! It's very clear to read and quite beautiful. However, you may be having some trouble finding people to interact with because they may still be viewing you as a personal blog.

RP blogs differ from personals in a couple of different ways that I'll outline here.

(A.) Content and reblogs.

RP blogs are made up of largely tagged posts that fall into a few different categories. OOC posts, headcanons, threads, aesthetics, dash games, and more. These are almost always tagged accordingly and don't usually fall outside the main purpose of the blog. I see that your blog is for the most part empty and already following this standard, though you may want to integrate the tag system for easier navigation! I'd try to add a little bit more flavor to your blog by adding drabbles here and there as writing samples, or reblogging aesthetic/visage posts!

(B.) Rules and muse page.

One of the largest things that sets a personal apart from an rp blog is the way in which you set up your rules and muses. There is additional information on this post on how you might go about making a rules and muses page, but another way for beginners is to make a pinned post and put all information under a read more. It looks like you've already got a bio going, so here's how I personally would organize that as an example:

Obviously this is your blog and you have every right to make it how you'd like, but these are just my suggestions!

Other than that, it's a matter of being patient and reaching out to others. Not everyone will be down to rp, and that's okay. It takes time and patience, and largely an understanding of that concept. What you give, you get back. It can be discouraging when you can't find many to rp with, but it's important to remember that negativity truly will breed negativity here. Waiting for others to approach you won't always work, so you may need to ask and try to engage with others! Don't be afraid to say what you want!

[obscurushydrae]

Rules of Play

Please at least give it a read! Liking this post also means it’s more likely I will follow back, as I know you have RAU’d.

Updated 04/18/2024

ABOUT:

Kar/Karmun/Karthonic either-or. They/Them is cool.

From New York, so the timezone is EST.

Birthday’s January 1990, so 30+

Spoonie with AuDHD

Artist, and educator, so I can get busy.

You can reach me on here or on discord. Just ask.

Personal blog @karthonic.

Sci-Fi Muse: @stellevatum

GENERAL:

Above all else: Be Excellent to each other and party on, dudes!

Lurking for a bit before reaching out is fine, but I would like genuinely interested folks. Optional but I have an Interest Tracker for organization purposes.

This incarnation Kar is for Contemporary Supernatural/Fantasy/Mythology like verses. You can find the Og/Sci-Fi flavored Kar at @stellevatum.

While she's BPRD based,  don’t sweat it if you don’t know the other stuff. If your fandom/verse has a way in, I can finagle her into all sorts of place (she's literally an cosmic horror at heart).

That ‘selective’ part comes into play. I have every right to not follow someone, decline a roleplay, just as you do. Just be polite and respectful.

Crossover/AU/Multiverse/Self Insert friendly. Not your thing, then feel free to not follow.

Don’t know something, or want me to elaborate: ask!

There will be casual mentions of recreational drug use, more often than not mentions of alcohol than drugs, but will be tagged. Other possible triggers are her fatalistic humor. 

This is not a content resource blog. If you’re here for the pretty pictures, aesthetics, or memes, this is not the blog for you.

Communication. It’s not so bad once you try talking, I assure you. (So long as it’s more than “you’re intimidating”) But if you can’t get past that fact for whatever reason, perhaps this isn’t the blog for you and should probably not follow.

Godmoding is discouraged but I’m not going to stop it. I will likely try to out ridiculous you.

Even though she can’t die, you’re free to try and kill her, but let me know first (either way she’s gonna be pissed FYI).

Most art is mine but will be credited. If I reblog any art reposted without the original creator’s permission, let me know. I’ll remove it.

IN CHARACTER:

Compatible Fandoms (ie I am Familiar with): BPRD/Hellboy, Hades, Devil May Cry, Wolfenstein, Gravity Falls, WTNV, Obey Me!, Sandman, Good Omens, Hellsing, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Basically anything with demons/angels/gods and the like. I will allow Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss muses, even though personally I don't vibe with Viv.

Kar is an ancient cosmic horror who was supposed to destroy all reality. Raised by mortals, so she thought she was. But she's also got other forms, which folks may see.

As for appearance, unless you’re really looking you might notice the fangs. And for the most part, assume she’s wearing her signature sunglasses covering her eyes since those rarely are taken off in public.

While not usually brought up, but Kar has attempted to end her life and self-harmed. Nowadays it’s usually just masked with fatalistic humor, recreational drug use, and lots of drinking. 

There will be mentions of Nazis particularly of the occult sort, so if that makes you uncomfortable please feel free to step away.

SHIPPING:

Kar is into male muses, and will be polite about turning other people down, unless one doesn’t take the hint.

Shipping is welcomed and willing to discuss the possibility, but I leave the rest to chemistry and just how we as writers write.

That being said, don’t ask to ship with me and just…drop off. I believe in mutual enthusiasm. If we can’t talk about it or share ideas freely, or invest in it, send each other memes and all.. then why do it?

This blog is multiship, meaning each relationship is treated as its own separate place in the multiverse unless discussed and agreed upon.

Kar is polifidelitous. She’s okay with having multiple partners and those partners having partners if your character is cool with it. Otherwise your bubble will be selectively monogamous.

NSFW may be on here, or I might do it over discord. I'm playing it byvibes. As I don't have any romantic partners for her yet, I can't commit to anything yet.

FOLLOWING/UNFOLLOWING:

Please don’t follow/interact if you’re under 21. If I follow anyone underage, it’s because I wasn’t able to access any about/ooc information, please don’t take it personally if I unfollow!

If I don’t follow you and you follow me, please just hit me up before doing something. Just because I don’t follow means I’m not interested, I just don’t think our characters mesh with the information given. If we chat about it, who knows!

I don’t usually greet/interact with personal blogs, so side blogs give me a heads up. Otherwise, I might miss you.

ASKS:

Askbox is for IC stuff. Wanna talk to me OOCly, my IM is open. 

No Magic Anons, please!

There’s no need to wait to send me a meme if you’ve followed me for 5 minutes or 5 months, send the thing!

Askbox will only be open for IC interactions, save for when the meme specifies Mun. IMs are for OOC communication.

Reblog Karma is going to be enforced on this blog. That is, if you reblog an ask meme off me, please send me one. Otherwise, reblog the meme from @karref

As such, sending me stuff means I’ll probably send you something in return. Want something? Send something.

Anon feature is for sideblogs, multimuses to interact ICly with me. Any Anon messages good or bad directed to the Mun (outside of memes) will be ignored.

THREADS:

Jump on any open post, there’s no need to ask permission, they’re there for that reason!

I will be keeping my posts simple! I don't have the time/energy to make formatted posts, and I like to keep things as accessible as possible.

Communicate! If you’re having trouble writing a reply, talk to me! If you don’t like or not feeling a thread, say so and drop the thread. That also doesn’t mean things are done for good. Come to me if you want to skip/do something else.

If you’d rather we move things to discord, just ask! I’ll set up a server just for us!

TAGGING/ HARD LIMITS:

Blood, Gore, Body Horror, Drugs, etc, will be tagged with (name); for instants drugs; . Special Tags on request.

Posts will be tagged upon request, just let me know!

If you read and understand this, I appreciate if you like the post, that way I know you have without forcing one of those pesky passwords.

DM icebreaker: Quick! What's your favorite extinct animal?

HOPE TO WRITE WITH YOU SOON! :D

[a-schrodingers-fox]

get to know me meme

I was tagged by @br-disaster THANK YOU SO MUCH. I cant believe it took me so long to do this but I was hit with a bit of bronchitis.

Do you make your bed? Yes. Every morning of every single day, it's sort of my unwritten rule that my bed must be pristine and my room well organized. It gives me peace.

What's your favourite number? 27

What is your job? I'm the Finance and Project manager of some companies. Mostly I have to make sure that things get done which is exhausting sometimes.

If you could go back to school would you? I'm going to start my master's degree soon, so yup! Ngl I have so much work lately I'm a little scared of burn out, but I'm working on it. One step at a time and I have learnt to sort of relax a little and delegate things.

If you mean if I want to go back to when I was in college or high school? Not really. I mean I wish I had taken more advantage of everything my college had to offer...maybe I do. I would do SO MANY things differently.

Can you parallel park? My mom had me practice reverse driving and parking so much before getting my license that I am quite good at it.

A job you had that would surprise people? Assistant at parlament! I can't tell you for whom, though. Beyond the usual bureaucratic stuff, the cool thing was that you spent a lot of time analyzing people and what they were saying, you write notes and observations in code and give those to your boss.

Do you think aliens are real? Yes. Although just like Ana, I also think they are a bit too far away from us and the ones we have seen (if real) were lost and ended here. I also believe that most alien life is microscopical, which is awesome! That is how it started in our planet too! I have so many theories haha.

Can you drive a manual car? Yes! I learned to drive in a manual car and I still remember how to.

What's your guilty pleasure? Buying things for my pets.

Tattoos? I don't have any, I used to want one but now im not sure.

Favourite colour? Cerulean blue, Teal, Cherry red, Olive green, Emerald green... Too many. Colors are beautiful, mate.

Favourite type of music? Ohhh it really depends! I can go from current-pop to symphonic metal in the blink of an eye. I suppose it depends on my mood and if I feel like im pretending im at a club or brooding for a long gone love in a haunted castle.

Do you like puzzles? We are talking about the ones where you need to put a printed picture together with little pieces cut in specific shapes, right? No, I don't. I get dizzy looking for each tiny piece :(.

Any phobias? Roaches. I'm seriously fucking scared of those to the point where I just want to cry if I see one too close to me.

Favourite childhood sport? Ballet.

Do you talk to yourself? Yes, to a point where I don't know if it's healthy but I dont care. It works.

What movie(s) do you adore? The Fall (Tarsem), Star Trek: Beyond, Nimona (2023), Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Inception.

coffee or tea? I cant drink coffee because if I do my anxiety starts acting up :( the hardest caffeine I can drink is green matcha tea and I don't drink it often. I LOVE tea, though. I love full leave tea. My family has herbs in the gardens and thats where we get our tea from.

First thing you wanted to be growing up? A model. Dad said no.

tagging @dual-domination @c-schroed and @pangzi (only if you guys want to, don't feel obligated to, of course!)

[forgottenluck]

Mobile Friendly Rules

Please follow the following rules, and warnings that go along with this blog. If you ignore these warnings, these rules, and make a fuss about what I rp, or who I rp with, then you will be blocked. I make these statements very clear as to not cause confusion.

This is a semi-active, slow replies, Mutuals ONLY blog for an extreme (borderline OC) AU version of Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia. 90% of the time I likely will rp him as an OC, but I would love to explore the other vesperia characters with him.

This blog will have mentions of depression, mental breakdowns, panic attacks, and other dark topics. If any of these are something you wish to not interact with, then this blog is not for you. Continue interacting at your own risk.

While I try to tag triggers, I sometimes forget, or don't realize that something is a trigger. If you would like something tagged, please let me know!

It is okay for minors to interact with me. My blog will not contain any nsfw sexual content. (any such scenes will be fade to black or vaugely explained due to my personal trauma).

Reiteration of above point, there will be NO SMUT on my blog. Romantic relationships are absolutely fine, even encouraged because I'd love to explore that. But any writing more than kissing gets put into the fade to black corner. I am not comfortable writing indepth actions due to personal trauma.

Do not, under any circumstance, take control of my character without my consent. My writing style depends heavily on their own mind and actions, so taking control of my character without notifying me first OOC is a big red flag.

Please communicate with me OOC! I need communication via muns so that I know what i’m doing isn’t taken the wrong way. I have had these issues in the past, and would like to avoid repeats. (If we've hit it off on here, and talk consistently, feel free to ask for my discord! I'm not super great at keeping up conversations, but i can try and I'd love to get to know people better!)

I do not mind becoming affiliates! However, this will happen organically. If we talk a lot OOC and rp a lot, then I likely will affiliate with you and make you a Main. Do not ASK to be mains.

I reserve the right to rp with whoever I wish. I do not pick sides. I will not choose one over the other. If you attempt to make me choose either you or someone else, unless I know you very well and we are close friends...I will likely choose the person who is not pressuring me to choose. Firefox and Chrome both have extentions that allow you to block almost all instances of a user on your blog, please use it. (the only exception to that is asks, and for that reason I do not answer asks, but instead make a new post.)

IF YOU FOLLOW ME AND I MAKE AN EFFORT TO RP WITH YOU AND TALK WITH YOU AND YOU DO NOT MAKE AN EFFORT IN RETURN I will unfollow you. I normally do not have an issue with this, but there are a few people who I have been excited to rp with and then it never go anywhere. If I see that you consistently reblog memes and starter requests without fulfilling, I will unfollow you.

The following urls and/or Muns are people I do not associate with. I do not wish them to be brought to my attention, I don't want to know about them. I have their urls blocked to where I cannot see them. I will not, however, tell you who to rp with.

-Star/Usa/whatever her url and name is now: Lots of drama happened with this person and my circle of friends. Due to her sending people to attack me and my friends via anon, I do not wish to even hear about her. This situation has been inactive for months.

-Loke: (renascii) Same reason as above though also for stealing and lieing. This situation has been inactive for months.

-Ezrile: A little bit more difficult to explain, but this person is unmedicated and mentally ill, and uses their illness as an excuse to treat others quite badly and as their personal punching machine. When called to take responsibilty for their actions, they pushed it off and have slandered my name as well as other's in order to justify their actions. This situation is still ongoing, as they continue to vague about me and another person who will remain unnamed, as well as stalk us. (I have confirmed that this person IS in fact a stalker. I would advise in avoiding this user, but will not force it. If you would like more information, send me a message and we can discuss things.)

This list will update as necessary. As stated, You may rp and interact with these people; just make sure to tag them so my blocker can get it. Please understand this is NOT a dni, I just ask if you interact with these people please make sure to tag their urls so that my blocker will pick them up.

I try not to engage in drama. I do my best to keep in my own lane. I have in the past, voiced my opinions on topics that are related to me particularly or related to people I am quite close with. However, I try to stay out of it.

Please do not pressure me in replying. I have ADHD, anxiety, and depression. All of these combined do not make a good cocktail for pressure, and if i'm pressured in interacting, replying, or other things then I get burnt out really fast. I do this because I enjoy it, so please don't take my enjoyment out of it by putting a deadline on me.

That being said, if i've taken more than a week or so to even interact with you, feel free to poke me and just give me a gentle reminder! I don't consider "hey we still good for that rp?" a pressuring measure, and I love to interact so i'd be thrilled to get a message!

I care very little about how other people run their blogs. I care very little about what topics you rp. If I enjoy talking to you, or writing with you, then I will do so. This means I do not take place in censorship culture. I will not shame you, or call you out based on what you find enjoyable. I know for a lot of people, writing and rp is a type of therapy, and most of us are adults here and can choose to disengage when something makes us uncomfortable.

If you DO happen to do something that makes me uncomfortable, I likely will unfollow, but I will at least communicate with you on why before I do. But considering I'm currently rping a bunch of trauma ridden little ones, it's highly unlikely.

Finally, a special rule: I will NOT RP with any characters from the series Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World. If you are a multimuse that has these characters on it, then as long as those rps are tagged, I'm fine. I have a bit of trauma related to the series and don't wish to revisit it.

[solardecay]

Lace your heart with mine // Baldur's Gate 3

About Me and My Writing

Hi, you can call me Kit (or Decay or Sol or w/e floats thine boat). I'm in my late twenties, my pronouns are she/her. I am both queer myself and obviously queer friendly. I'm not always consistently around due to both some environmental circumstances and personal struggles (it's the mental illness).

My writing style is third person present tense. I do have the ability to write in past tense if present tense bothers you. I can write anywhere from 200 words to about 3,000 (I don't measure in paragraphs as I play a little fast and loose with the definition of "paragraph" aksjdfhg).

While I don't expect you to mirror/length-match me, I am asking for someone who is comfortable writing detailed, literate posts. Not every post has to be 800w, I often dip low in my word count during dialogue heavy scenes. And I'm not asking for perfect spelling every time, lord knows I have a myriad of typos and I don't re-read my posts when I get excited. But I'm asking for the basics. Knowing that the game (and thus the city) is Baldur's Gate, not Baulder's Gate, would be a good start.

I have not finished Baldur's Gate 3. I am mid-Act Three on a normal Tav run, and haven't even gotten to the Goblin Camp on my Durge run. I am kindly requesting no spoilers, and we can discuss where each of us are in the game to better know what that means.

The Rules

Since I'm in my late-late twenties, I'm looking for someone who is at least 21 themselves, but it'd be even better if you were 23+

In this house we double. If you don't know what doubling means, it means that I write both my character and who you want me to write for you, and you write your character and who I want you to write for me.

I will even triple for you, if you're in the market for a love triangle or a polyam OT3. You do not in any way have to triple in return, in fact I'd prefer if you didn't.

At this time I am not looking for any NSFW content in my roleplays. I fade to black, and I won't be bullied into doing otherwise. (Dick jokes and talking about the fact adults do fuck is fine though, fading to black doesn't mean instant prude status)

I am however alright with like, a bit of violence. About Witcher 3's level is as far as I'm comfortable going: Durge can maim people as a treat if they want, we just don't need to go body horror with the organs, right?

Limits: Are very important, do not forget them. I do not want drugs, alcohol, smoking, vaping, or substance abuse to feature in or out of character. I don't want to see memes about it, I don't want to write about it. Nothing. I also am not wild about sexual assault, or the community's standard limits list of: pedophilia, incest, bestiality, etc. Leave all of that at the door, thank you. Rule number one of the salon is don't be nasty and you know that!

The mediums I use are: Discord, Email, and Gdocs (though with their AI scraping we should probably find somewhere else. I'm not keen on writing here on tumblr, but I'd be happy to idk, make a private Proboard or something?)

New rule: Please do not show me AI art of your character. Don't use an AI generator about it if you plan to write with me. Find a picrew or a dress up doll or some random picture on Pinterest. Hell just give me a paragraph description if you have to.

When you message me, do not just ask for my Discord or my Email. Do not just ask if I'm still looking, don't just say hey. The first message is a first impression, make it a good one. Tell me about yourself, tell me who you want me to write for you, what you're thinking, if you're picking up what I am putting down. Put some personality into it: This isn't a job, it's a hobby, it should sound like it when you talk to me. In this same vein, I'd prefer said first impressions are conducted over email, but messaging me on tumblr is fine too I suppose

Remember kids: Cringe is dead, the concept of a Mary Sue and judging OCs based on this imaginary criticism is inherently misogynistic, and having OCs related to canons (or other “Sue” traits) is cool and hot actually! Write that down! It’s okay to have powerful, smart, capable OCs! It’s fine, I promise ♡

Characters and "Plots"

First of all, in regards to sexuality / gender / canon / oc identities, everything is peachy keen! M/F, F//, M//, Trans, NB, Canon/OC, Canon//, OC// are all fine by me ♡

My side will be M/F Canon/OC, but you are welcome to request anything you would like. This is Build-A-Bitch and you can, in fact, have it your way.

My side is also M/F in a distinctly queer way. My OC is ace, as well as someone who doesn’t entirely conform to gender, so take that as you will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I will make you an OC, I will play multiple Canons for you, you can write as any gender identity or sexuality as you please. Just rub the lamp and make your wish! I will write almost any Canon for you, barring noted exceptions.

That out of the way, here's what I'm looking for!

I am looking for you to write: Gale Dekarios of Waterdeep against my OC. I would particularly love to write for you: Astarion, Karlach, Minsc, Rolan, damn near anyone your gay heart desires Who I'm not particularly keen to write: The Emperor, Gortash and I don't yet feel like I know enough about Raphael to do him justice

And here's some plot jumping off points I've got rattling around in here:

Alternate Universe

I'm reeeeaalllyyy vibing with AUs at the moment. I think it's the ✨Holiday Vibes✨ aksjdfg. I'd love to do - honestly a wide variety of AUs! If you have something in mind, please feel free to mention it! The one I've been thinking about though is some sort of low-modern mid/high-fantasy thing where Gale is a professor at some wizard school? O///O I saw some art where he was a professor by day and a chess streamer on twitch by night? Which was pretty cute alwksjdfhg But I'd also love like some like Holiday-y cheesy romcom tropes if we're vibing. I love stuff like fake dating/fake engagement/fake marriage, that's easily my favorite. Shit like oh no now there's a storm, and no flights, and they can't leave... whatever will they do... how tragic. Only one bed type shit. I loooove slice of life, I also love stealing the plots of other media to use as AU skeletons! Like The Holiday or The Proposal, You've Got Mail, She Loves Me (the musical), whatever! I've got a whole list of these and a few other cheesy prompts if you're interested in something festive and romcom-y! I also love fantasy if we want to put these characters in a fantasy AU that's distinct from the game itself alsdhf

Self Indulgent Pre-Established (sort of) Bullshit!

Now I know a lot of people tend to see the term pre-established and cringe or in general think it’s boring. But wait, don’t scroll by! First of all, I don’t mean they were already like super together and had had a full character arc and everything prior to the roleplay ever starting. By pre-established I just mean that they knew each other. Second of all, remember what I said about cringe? It’s dead baby! Bury the coffin and move on! I’ve got an AU that I’m growing fonder of by the day, where my Tav has known Gale since they were teenagers (having attended Blackstaff together). They’re best friends and have been for decades at this point, and unbeknownst to Gale, my Tav has been in love with him since their days at academy. But his friendship means more to her than anything, so she’s never brought it up. Especially not when he was dating other people and later Mystra. She’s always been supportive and just quietly, quietly pines in the background. When he returns to Waterdeep after the netherese orb embedded itself in his chest and Mystra broke it off with him, after not seeing him for a while (since he’d been off with Mystra and later looking for the orb itself) she shows up to help him through this dark period in his life, and to help him find a cure. Gale is someone the game clearly writes with depression and something akin to (if not outright) suicidal ideation, and journeys of healing are narratives that I really really enjoy and cherish. So this would obviously be a lot of healing and then sweet sweet pining because like. Yearning, yanno? This sounds, as I write it out, like I can fix him fic and like I guess it’s not not that but? It’s more about giving Gale the tools to fix himself.  Listen. I’m not explaining it good. But we’re all depressed queers in this Chili’s tonight, are we not? My depressed queers get it. We wanna see these bitches get some therapy! And learn to recognize their support groups! Even if that support group is your one school friend and your cat. You gotta start somewhere. This can be a pre-game thing if you want to later move into the game’s plot, or we don’t even have to touch the game’s plot. I am happy as a clam to just party on with Gale’s personal quest and figure out an alternative solution to the orb.  I also recognize this is disgustingly self indulgent, but what is roleplay if not the wish fulfillment hobby? Naturally, in return, I am happy to write whatever self indulgent AU you are after!

Tadpoles, Gods, The Absolute: Oh my! (The Game)

I am more than happy to just shove both of our Tavs in the game and go from there! Especially since it’s what I’m currently interacting with, and that makes it something I’m thinking about all the time. We can craft companion quests for our Tavs, and we can pick a point in the game to drop them in if that’s your cup of tea! We can go as laissez faire or as hardcore mechanic about it as you like. Whether it’s just loosely following the plot or like sharing class builds and shit, I’m down for either! But know at the end of the day I’m one of those people who believe if the rules of Dungeons and Dragons are prohibiting fun, then it’s time to throw them out (like that old rule about all Tieflings being evil or some shit. Or how they can only be a limited amount of colors. Boring. Stupid. Where’s the joy, WOTC? Where is it.)

Alright, I think that's probably it. I know I probably came off abrasive, but I promise I'm a pretty chill person alksdkjfg

Hope to hear from you guys, but if I don't, good luck on your searches!

And for those who stuck around to the end and are interested in contacting me, here is my email that you can do that at:

cherryicingx (at) gmail (dot) com

(sorry for it not being very copy-pasteable, trying to avoid you know whats just scraping my email and spamming me)

We can totally RP via Discord, but you gotta get my handle by talking to me first. I'm getting tired of handing out my disco only to be hit with "hi i saw your ad :)" great what do you want "baulder's gate :)"

If you're gonna make me pull teeth at least pay me a dentist's salary first <33

[rayless-reblogs]

For the writing meme: 5, 12, and/or 32, please? :)

Thank you! Let's take a crack at these.

5: What are my writing superstitions? Not any superstitions, but maybe hang-up is a better word? Whether it's original writing or fanfic, I'm very, very reluctant to assume I'll finish a project. I'll start writing and tell myself, "Okay, this is just a casual thing, no pressure, if you finish it, great, but you're not committing to anything here." Never mind that I'm secretly hoping I will finish it, of course, and I know that. There've been times in the past when I've launched into a project with high expectations, only to watch it peter out and die. Usually if I'm fifty percent through or more, I have a reasonable expectation of seeing it through, but even there, I've still quit before it was done.

For related reasons, I tend to make myself write linearly, not jump right to the scenes I'm really looking forward to writing and filling in the "boring" stuff later. Those scenes are the carrots on the stick -- I have to get through the less exciting stuff first, and that helps ensure everything gets written out. I ended up breaking this rule for my more recent Abyss fics, where I ended up jumping around a lot. But I don't think that would work for me in most cases.

Also for related reasons, this is why I don't post long fanfics until they're finished. I don't want to leave readers hanging with something incomplete.

12: If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Asking for loads of money so I could just spend all my time researching and writing and self-promoting my writing would be nice, but is probably too indirect for the writing genie. Would need a money genie for that.

I am ridiculous when it comes to typos, so being typo-proof would be great.

For my current writing project, I have been taking an unholy amount of notes, which I still need to fact-check and organize. Being able to see all of my notes at once, comprehensively, right there in my brain, sounds amazing.

Never again having that feeling of knowing there's an exact word I want to use but I can't remember what it actually is.

32: What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic that I return to again and again? This is an odd one, not because it's obscure, but it's just strange that this is something I do think back to a fair bit. The last line of Peter Pan novel:

When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

My mom read Peter Pan to me (I was a teenager, not a young child, just to clarify), and I remember when she came to that, I was just sort of wow. What a note to end on, that word "heartless". I think the Disney movie robs Peter Pan of a lot of its -- dark? sinister? -- neither are exactly the right word (where are you, writing genie?) overtones, and the whole book has this against-the-grain element. But it's so sharp and stark in that line. I think it helped teach me the power of including, with no fanfare, a simple word that cuts against what the reader expects -- just putting it there and leaving it be, letting the reader cope with it themselves.

[winter-tospring]

can't get money without compromising your health being around people, try to get money online sell your data, sell your identity, it's implied, you don't know, it's behind your back. Try to get money, fake your soul, smile for survival, smile for the people who don't give a shit about your health; try to get money, get rejected, get nowhere, get motivated, need to organize, money in the meantime? Sell your clothes or old books unwanted, risk youe health at the post office. Meanwhile no money, try to get money, wait for the next time you're allowed to attempt it, a low paid job that could keep your body safe, but when do the drawings get made? Not even when there's time, it all goes into stress, time isn't enough, try to get money, get mad at the system, get mad at the president, get mad at the billionaires. Meanwhile the earth is dying, they've killed it, they're killing it, and it's too hard to watch for people so they just keep trying to get the money, try to get distracted, get convinced wrinkles are the enemy, your nose is the enemy, your thighs is the enemy. Your clothes are made by slaves, what's the other option, try to get the money to try to help people on the opposite side of your world. Lie here and take care of yourself. A little bit of yoga, a little bit of dancing, a little bit of planting, and you believe in life again. You believe in love always cause it's right here in your hand, but across the ocean, so you try to get the money, get rejected again, do laundry as needed, clean the house as needed, clean yourself, be careful you don't get infected, need to relax from the stress of loneliness and the stress of being stressed and the stress of family and your grandma's sometimes nice but she doesn't know you're gay and what would it change if she did, would she take back all the stamps she sent for my best friend I want a house with? Trying to get the money while mad money exists. Trying to get the money mostly in my head, planning différent ways to stay safe while I attempt it, I'm alone and afraid, just want to hold her hand under the roof we'd both choose the paint for. Mad, sad, exhausted, just the thought of trying freezes me into my thoughts, racing all at once, I want to find a way, without breaking my self, without losing myself. Should I use the time to learn how to drive at last, there's time, you've got time, mom said, all this time, one month, at least you could do that, as though days are empty and I'm happy. I'm empty mostly and they're pretending to be happy. Am I even trying to get the money? I want tojust cause I need to, and every time the thought comes more urgent, falling into the plans again and a minute later remembers how that all feels like corruption, but what's the other way, even the other ways corrupt. Influencers and video makers and shitty text writers of 3lines on a blank square that's enough now to make it, attention spans diminished so it sells better than explorations into the souls and time my favorite writer writes about. can't begin to talk to about the unfair. online they've been making memes about abuse, and this time it's very deeply strange and weirdly unexpected and i don't understand how this started when years ago they were a'l canceling him. Anyway, my rage keeps me from becoming successful at anything, don't spend enough time lingering into mediocrity to become something. I'm privileged, I'm housed and fed and I've lived here my entire life, and yet there's guilt and yet I'm helping and yet I'm informing and yet I'm trying to keep them safe to even though she acts like the rules of two years ago still apply. Informed but enraged, that's the cost always. There's war, in more than one country. There's famine, there's storms, there's drought, there's the end that they'll say they'd warned us about so they did nothing to stop it. There's the future they want to force the unborn to have, there's the life they want to live now but won't protect now.

the religious obsessed with possessing the truth they invented and forcing the lies and forcing ignorance and forcing poverty and blindness until they're rich enough they think they're invincible until they're safe if there's no god to save them cause at least they'll have money the poor gave them. They think they predicted this when the earth was still healthy, they just wrecked it to prove a point. Maybe if we all faced it we could all fix it. Everything was caused by us, everything can be fixed.

[khaleesiofalicante]

So I was coming in here thinking about my hello gif when I saw your new description and now I am feels about David too!!

Anyways... Hola Dani, how are you?? How are things in your country??? I'm dealing with a very bad case of tonsillitis and the high fever is making me delirious hopefully this chapter will give me some Sarah and Tony 🙌🏼🙌🏼

Older Brothers are Fucking Annoying

Song rec for this chapter: Surface Pressure by Jessica Darrow from Encanto

Banger!!! This is my favorite so far!!

THE BEGINNING

“But you should like it, mom,” Alec says firmly. “If you are going to live there, you should like it.”

What happened to my twin??

Magnus had suggested that maybe he has met someone but if that’s the case then why didn’t Jace tell Alec anything about her?

Why didn't you tell him about Magnus? Oh I know...!!!

Sometimes that’s what it means to be a son. To make sacrifices for your parents.

I see where Rafe gets it from 😭

“No more pushing or I won’t let you babysit any of my future children,” Alec threatens.

🤣🤣 lies!!

“I’ll call you back, babe,” Izzy says into the phone. “My room got invaded by an asshole.”

Why is she so angry?? Alec what did you do??? Also... Simon 🥰

She doesn’t understand how politics or bureaucracy works.

I hate politics!!!

I’ve always been sappy.

I’m just not afraid to show it anymore.

Magnus did that.

Aww Alec!! I want this in my life!!

“Being an adult sounds exhausting,” Izzy points out.

It is!! 😭

Alec smiles reluctantly. “She kinda has a point, you know. We’ve lowered the bar for you.”

Look who you're dating!!! THE bar has never been higher!!!

“Bitch,” Alec says. “You better be joking.”

🤣🤣 this has such Max vibes!! Also the meme 🤣

“I love her,” Jace says simply. “She is it for me. I know it.”

This siblings have no chill!!

“I want in!” Izzy yells and jumps off the bed, trying to hug them both at once.

Me too... I need hugs!!

“At least his dad is not a psychopath,” Jace hums.

THE MIDDLE

Rafe!!!! 😍 lo amo demasiado!!

And there is of course the fact that Rafael’s father is a governor and Anjali’s father is a senator.

Details!!

Anjali wants to be a lawyer. A civil rights lawyer to be specific.

This queen can do anything!! Where do I have to sign for this two to rule my life???

These two take sexy nerds to a whole new level and I am love it!!

Good. They all should be.

We all are babe!! And a little turn on too 😈

Rafael doesn’t know what happened.

Is this about that asshole designer??

“That’s…That’s it?” Rafael asks in surprise.

I'm very surprised too

“Oh no! Rafe! Don’t leave me! How will I live without my first born!”

I was laughing at this and then I remembered 🥲

Bapak and dad have been together for twenty years now. Rafael supposes you get used to some things after a while.

20 years... 20... and then Dani attacked!! 😭

He doesn’t know why he is even disappointed.

This happens to me all the time 😣 is like "great what do I do with all this accumulated stress now?

It was selected and organized and presented after a lot of thought and effort.

Go to therapy!!!

But for some reason he can’t. There is something buzzing inside him.

Is the accumulated stress, trust me I'm an expert!!

Ay no, no, no, no 😔 bad shit is happening!!

“When people want to destroy, they’ll find a way,” dad says darkly. “It doesn’t matter how they found out. These kinds of things are not hard to find if you have friends in the right places.”

What the fuck is wrong with people?? 😭😭 leave Magnus alone!!!!!!!

You know what? It's incredibly sad and I've cried a lot about it but I'm glad Magnus got out!! He doesn’t deserve any of this, it'll be too much for anyone but a person suffering from depression?? Magnus is strong as fuck 😭😭😭

Rafael, against his better judgement, goes on Twitter.

No Rafe that's the internet's shit hole

Oh Max no!! I don't like where this is going 😭

“So what? Let him hear me!” Max spits out. “What’s he gonna do? Kill me too?”

MAXWELL!!! Take that back!!!

He feels so angry at everything and everyone and all at once.

Go to therapy!!! Why do these bitches have so much money for if they won't use it to take care of themselves???

How do you make someone feel better if there aren’t feeling anything at all?

He comes to Rafael’s room that night and tells him he is going to ask dad for a divorce.

I wonder what would have happened if instead of a divorce Magnus had asked Alec to quit politics??

Not me making AUs of an AU in my head 🤦🏻‍♀️ is the fever 🤒

THE END

MAX!!! 😍 I feel the Mavid glow healing my body!!

He knows what he wants to do. 

Rather, who he wants to do. 

Those texts are the greatness 🙌🏼

[From: David]

I think of you everywhere 💛

Because at this point the rules are a little blurry and he likes it when David says nice things to him.

Max stop pretending, you're in love, go propose to your future husband!!

Note to self: You are so fucking close to getting caught.

You know what? at this point Alec doesn’t know because he doesn't want to... he's brain is refusing to process the data!!

“White ones,” Elyaas points out.

“I heard they are made in France,” Tian notes.

🤣🤣🤣 see... He doesn’t want to get it!! It's obvious!

Dad almost drops his coffee. He raises an eyebrow. “You want to come to church?”

Come on Alec!! Wait... no, is fine, I reconsidered, keep being oblivious!!

“You said you’ll reach out to him,” dad says again. “Have you?”

Ooh he has!! 😈

Max at church is the pinacle of comedy 🤣🤣

They literally saw each other last night. But whatever. What the fuck is time anyway?

Where is Rafe???

What. The. Fuck.

That’s it?

That’s all he had to do?

Ask?

Yep... that's all it takes!!

Note to self: Get this backstory. Asap.

And share it with me!!

Max being in a group chat with the staff *chef kiss*

“Dad,” Max says. “Tell bapak about Hodge.”

I thought we were going to keep that to ourselves I'm pleasantly surprised

Maybe they can just cuddle up on the sofa and watch a movie.

Or that... I like that

I feel like Max is going to tell Alec about David just to break the tension at some point

Note to self: Talking to people and telling them what you want really fixes a lot of problems, huh?

Is what I've been saying!!

Note to self: Post a thirst trap on behalf of dad later.

Yes, please!!

“You smell like booze,” Max elaborates.

No, please 🙏🏼 😢 let's stay in the awkward but happy mood!

Max doesn’t know why but he feels like he is going to cry.

Me too!!

What is happening with Rafe??? I don't like it!!! Dani!! Make it stop!!!

Rafael sighs. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. I’m stressed about some work stuff.”

Go to therapy!!!

Max doesn’t know what dad was sorry about.

And we don’t wanna know!!

“I love him,” Max says.

He said it, out loud and it hurts 😭 it wasn’t suppose to hurt

This whole conversation hurts, but I'm also relieved, Rafe needed to get that shit out and Max needed to hear it and they all need THERAPY!!!

“David,” Max says, revealing his face. “Why do you do this?”

Because he loves you!!

“Hello, Blanket Max,” David whispers. “I’m Blanket David.”

They own me!!

Thank youuuu Dani...!!! ❤❤❤❤ this chapter made me both grateful and sad about being and only child 🥺

I SCREAMED AT SOME OF THESE REACTIONS PLS-

That last comment made me very uwu. I've always wanted to be the only child but I think I won't be alive (literally) if not for my siblings lol.

Here is a fun headcanon/canon: Mavid doing tiktok dances together :)

PS - Thank you for helping me with the Spanish translations!!!!!!!!!

[dragonjesterwrites]

Blog Intro and Rules below the readmore! Please read before sending in requests, thanks y'all 😌

Next So, You Wanna Smooch a Robot (SYWSAR) Update: Unknown! Working on it tho 👀

My WIP List: Here you can see all my upcoming WIPs, their progress, and how actively I'm working on them ⬇️ Last Updated 02/08/2024

Hey, y'all! So, turns out I really enjoy writing lol, so I've made this writing sideblog. I take requests for oneshots and headcanons, post updates and snippets for/talk about my fic (So, You Wanna Smooch a Robot), and post drabbles/oneshots/random headcanons I have. I may even post doodles if I find the time!

Fair warning, my interest comes from hyperfixation, so I may bounce from one particular fandom to another seemingly at random.

xReaders stories will have the reader be gender neutral by default, please request otherwise if you'd prefer a reader with different pronouns.

I will put trigger/content warnings on all my pieces and I try to be as specific as possible. I will forget one here or there though (brain is the consistency of soup), so feel free to hit me up and let me know if I did miss any! Related, I do use swears a fair bit- I try to keep them out of request stories anyway, but if swearing is a particular trigger for you, please note that and I'll double check before posting.

Lastly, feel free to drop in and ask questions, say hi, or just generally interact! I'm a massive dork (who can carry a conversation easily but can't initiate one to save her life) and I love hearing other people's headcanons and thoughts about their blorbos. I will ramble right back at you though sgshshsjs

~~~~~~~~~

Writing/Headcanon Request submission rules:

One fandom at a time please, multiple characters from the same fandom are fine tho 👌 (limit of 5)

This is a SFW blog; you can be as specific as you want but don't ask for SFW fetish stuff (ex. "Can I have X character giving reader a foot massage and playing with their feet?")

Related to above rule; I have full discretion over which asks I answer. I'm really not picky at all and I haven't deleted an ask since I started this blog (several months old at time of writing), hell, I've completed asks for characters I didn't know/care for, but I still can.

I'm not a mind reader (sadly, if I were I'd psychically blast stupid memes at my loved ones all day). Point is, I'm going to try to stick to canon as much as possible. If canon implies character is not acting like themselves or they barely have any "screentime", I'm going to use my own interpretation and headcanons. This may conflict with what you expected, but that's just how it be- writer's creative license and all that. If you want something specific, you're more than welcome to request it /gen

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Things I will not write

NSFW

Child abuse

Child x Adult """relationships"""

Gore (Injuries/Illness are fine)

Incest (I'll write Sun x Moon because they're robots, they don't have parents or DNA lol, but not as both brothers and lovers. One or the other)

Needles (vague mentions are fine, descriptions no)

~~~~~~~~~

Current Fandoms:

FNAF: SB (Especially Sun/Moon, my beloved scrunklies)

Super Paper Mario (Especially Dimentio (bastard/pos))

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Requests are: Open! Current requests in inbox: 6

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AO3 Link (SFW) (Username: DragonJester259) - Where my regular and longfics go.

[earlgreytea68]

I posted 876 times in 2021

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664 posts reblogged (76%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.1 posts.

I added 1,178 tags in 2021

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Longest Tag: 110 characters

#part of the reason i deleted my facebook was because they insisted i couldn't have a facebook with a fake name

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Hi EGT! *waves* I know not to quote you on anything but as a lawyer and a fandom veteran, could you shed any light on the attitude difference between monetizing fanfiction versus fanart? I know it's ALL ILLEGAL, technically. But what's the difference in copyright law for words versus imagery? How do you make art transformative enough to pass muster? (No need to respond if you don't feel like it, I'm just on a research binge and I loved your perspective on the omegaverse case)

Hello!

Okay, yes, first: no legal advice here! This is just some information!

First of all, technically fanart and fanfiction (as I understand those terms to identify) are not necessarily AUTOMATICALLY illegal, even if monetized. Fanart and fanfiction are protected by the fair use doctrine. Fair use is a notoriously unpredictable, fact-specific defense based on a number of factors. One of those factors has to do with transformativeness, as you reference above, so, do you have a different purpose or have you altered the character of the original work. This is why AO3's nonprofit is Organization for *Transformative* Works.

Another of those factors has to do with commercialism, and that's where the monetization comes in. While commercialism is not automatically infringing, uses that are *not* commercial are more likely *not* to be infringing. (The flip side of this is that non-commercialism is not automatically okay, either. There is never anything automatic about copyright fair use. No bright line rules!)

Another factor of the fair use analysis is whether the fanart or fanfic affects the copyright holder's market, which is another question entirely. Commercialism can play into that, but not always.

Okay, so with that as background, a couple of things:

--The attitude difference seems more cultural to me than anything else, at times. Sometimes I think it's even generational? Theoretically, commercialism is taken into account in all fair use analyses. Theoretically, commercial uses are less likely to be considered fair than non-commercial uses (although, again, commercial uses can be fair and non-commercial uses can be infringing). So legally there really is no difference between a fair use art analysis and a fair use fic analysis afa commercialism is concerned; they would both be taken into account. As far as I can tell from my years in fandom, fanartists could monetize more easily, selling at cons, and before the rise of Patreon, etc., fanfiction writers didn't have a clear path to monetization, and so it happened that fandom got more used to the idea that fanartists get paid and fanfic writers don't (this is obviously an extremely broad generalization). But that's just a matter of the way technology developed and not actually a legal statement.

--That said, are there differences in copyright law between words and imagery? Yes. Inevitably. They are different creative media. The same reason why not everybody who writes can draw is the same reason why the law is slightly different between them: they're just two different things. To be clear, the law is the *same,* it's just that in application it's a little different. So, for instance, one of the enduring questions in copyright law is how much a character is copyrightable? Important for fanfiction and fanart, right? Since often they're just borrowing characters? We have a test but the test is different for graphically depicted characters than for characters that only show up in books. And this makes sense, right? Recognizing a character as depicted in a television show is using an entirely different set of signals than recognizing a character you've only ever seen in your mind's eye. So figuring out what makes a character in a television show copyrightable is slightly different than figuring out what makes a character who exists only on a page copyrightable.

--So, finally, how can art be considered transformative? Vs. how can fic be considered transformative? I can't really set out guidelines, because of how finicky fair use is, and also because I don't want anyone to think I'm giving legal advice (I'm not!) and make them think there's some foolproof algorithm to make sure your use is transformative. Analyzing the transformativeness of art vs. text can be a little different, because, again, they're different media. I teach a course on fair use and I actually divide the cases up by creative medium because I think it's interesting to see how it plays out.

The answer ultimately is: It depends. We have a bunch of appropriation art cases, many of them involving Jeff Koons or Richard Prince. In some of these, the courts have found the art transformative, when it recontextualized the art in a new collage, or added some Photoshoppy graffiti over the art. But in others of these, the courts have either found infringement or been dubious about transformativeness, when the art just recreated the original in different colors, or printed the original out with just a caption added. We have fewer cases about text. One of these is the Harry Potter Lexicon case, where the court actually basically found fair use with just a few minor changes to decrease how much of Rowling's text was quoted. There's another one involving a sequel to "Catcher in the Rye" called "Sixty Years Later." The court found it was infringing, not transformative enough of the original because it borrowed too much and didn't change enough. And there's the "The Wind Done Gone" case, which was a retelling of "Gone with the Wind" from the POV of a new enslaved character. The first court thought this was infringing, but the appellate court disagreed and thought it was fair use because it was providing valuable social commentary on "Gone with the Wind" and didn't take more of "Gone with the Wind" than was necessary to make its point.

And it's always important to remember that, as in the "The Wind Done Gone" case, often courts themselves disagree strenuously about fair use. We recently had a big fair use case involving an Andy Warhol painting of Prince, and one court thought it was transformative fair use, and another court thought it was infringing. Such is fair use.

143 notes • Posted 2021-05-21 01:22:32 GMT

#4

A Summary of Our Lives for the Past Year

Science: There's this virus. It could kill you. Even if it doesn't, it could leave you with devastating long-term effects. We don't really know much about it. Be careful.

Many people: I think that virus is fine.

Science: Here is a vaccine that can save your life. We're pretty sure it's perfectly safe and effective. All it will do is protect you from illness.

Many people: I think that vaccine is going to kill me.

145 notes • Posted 2021-04-04 00:59:21 GMT

#3

How's pete genius? Unleashed your thoughts please, I want to hear them as well.

haha WELL

The person I was talking to was speaking from a musical perspective, and I’m not really going to ever win an argument, I don’t think, that Pete’s some kind of bass-playing prodigy, because he knows that he’s not. And the person I was talking to was saying something about, like, Pete Wentz’s mediocrity as a musician and yet him being in a successful rock band and I think that the person’s point was something about the fickleness of fame and success, which I don’t *entirely* disagree with.

But.

I think in Pete Wentz’s case, like, the more I read about and learned about Pete Wentz, the more I became convinced that he wasn’t some guy who happy-go-luckily stumbled upward into fantastic success, and I think that narrative about him is wrong. There’s a way in which it connects back to that whole “boy band” idea of devaluing what “girls” like, you know: Well, Pete Wentz is a good-looking guy and girls went crazy for him so he can’t be that good or smart, he’s just got pretty eyes and a nice smile and hot tattoos. But there’s also a way in which the dominance of “aw shucks it’s all dumb luck” narrative is a strategy in and of itself, letting people underestimate you. But anyway, I’m babbling. What I said to the person that night was:

Pete Wentz might not be a musical prodigy, but Pete Wentz is absolutely a genius. It takes a genius to come up with the strategy Pete did and then to execute it as perfectly as he did: to get their band together, to get their band noticed, to get their band signed. There’s a line in that (otherwise weird) autobiography where someone has a quote about Pete where he used to go around the Chicago scene talking about Fall Out Boy like it was going to be a huge band and that, the way he was about the band, everyone believed him. (Here is a video that talks through Pete’s strategy in a lot more detail.)

Pete talks in interviews about building their fanbase from the ground up, and this is when the internet was still so new that it wasn’t like everyone out there had a Twitter or a TikTok to gain views. What Pete Wentz had was a literal LiveJournal, because he’s got a fannish personality at heart, and that fannish personality meant that he understood what it means for a band to talk to its fans, and the rabbit hole of Pete Wentz’s early interactions with the fans on the FOB message boards was the original thing I loved most about him, when I discovered them on my first day of Googling who Pete Wentz was. There he is just sitting there patiently responding to people writing about their grandmothers dying and their boyfriends breaking up with them, and I’m not saying he’s not a nice guy who genuinely cares about people, but I’m also pretty sure he was performing the emotional labor of building those interactions with an eye on his prize.

Now did he or does he get everything in his life 100% right? No, of course not. But he is an incredibly smart person who was incredibly focused about a very particular ambition at the perfect point in time for him to make it work. He didn’t fall into success, he worked really, single-mindedly, determinedly hard at it. Patrick says somewhere that he’s got to keep an eye on Pete because if he turns away for a second, Pete’s made a million decisions that are going to affect the band for the next five years. Patrick has said somewhere else that the thing that most defines Fall Out Boy is Pete’s taste, which is an unsurprising revelation, as Pete’s been shaping their future for them since the very beginning. One of my very favorite little Fall Out Boy details is that it was Pete who registered their trademark for them originally, with his old AOL email address as the contact, and this is both adorable to me and also so smart, he did it SO EARLY.

And then he did exactly what he should have done and transferred it to the band’s LLC when they were big enough to get one, which warms my heart.

Pete is very clearly a writer, and I could have talked about that, about how he obviously writes compulsively in that way of people who need words. I could have talked about how he’s been a writer his whole life, how his dad has talked about how important books are to him and how he was writing his own in elementary school. I could have talked about what a *good* writer he is, too, how his lyrics are densely packed with layers of meaning.

But Pete didn’t just write books in elementary school: he also went around selling them door to door. His entrepreneurial streak has always been there. He understands marketing and thinks about it deeply. He is, as he proclaimed once in an interview, not stupid.

In the end, though, here’s how you know Pete Wentz is a genius: He met this teenage drummer who *was* a musical prodigy, and he saw immediately what he had stumbled onto and he held on tight. Meeting Patrick Stump was luck. Convincing Patrick Stump to sing in his band, that was Pete’s first act of genius.

213 notes • Posted 2021-05-06 02:25:03 GMT

#2

HELP THEYRE SUCH A MESS it’s not a fob show without pete and patrick having hilarious stage banter bc somethings not working pic.twitter.com/3COtWQqJAS

“Hey, so, you know your great idea to set the piano on fire every night?”

“GREAT idea.”

“Yeah. Now half the keys don’t work.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you need all the keys?”

“YES.”

“...You don’t think that setting the fire on piano every night could, like, affect the piano, do you?”

“YES. I DO.”

“My bass is fine...”

“IS IT, THOUGH?”

289 notes • Posted 2021-08-03 00:57:16 GMT

#1

Heyyyyyy, I bet you were DYING to know stuff about that Google v. Oracle decision, huh?

You may have heard recently about a big deal Supreme Court decision called Google v. Oracle, a litigation that has dragged on for many, many, many years and focuses on Google having copied some pieces of computer programming owned by Oracle and known as APIs. Most of the write-ups I’ve seen about it have focused on its enormous repercussions for the technology sector, which makes sense since it’s a case about computer programming and APIs and other tech-y things.

But the thing about the decision is that it’s a fair use decision. The Supreme Court could have found that the APIs weren’t even protected by copyright. But instead, the Supreme Court used the doctrine of fair use, and this means that the case potentially has ramifications for all fair use situations, including fanfiction!

So, if you don’t know, fair use is a main defense to copyright infringement. Basically, you can use somebody else’s copyrighted work without their permission as long as what you’re doing with it is considered a “fair use.” E.g., you can write a story in somebody else’s fictional universe or draw art of somebody else’s fictional copyrighted characters without their permission as long as your use is a “fair use.”

“What’s a fair use?” is an incredibly complicated question. The long and tortured history of Google v. Oracle illustrates this: a jury found Google’s use was a fair use; an appellate court found that it wasn’t and basically said the jury was wrong; and now the Supreme Court says no, no, the jury was right and the appellate court was wrong. Like, this is not unusual, fair case rulings are historically full of disagreements over the same set of facts. All of the cases reiterate over and over that it’s a question that can’t really be simplified: every fair use depends on the particular circumstances of that use. So, in a way, Google v. Oracle, like every fair use case, is a very specific story about a very specific situation where Google used very specific APIs in a very specific way.

However, while every fair use case is always its own special thing, they all always debate the same four fair use factors (these are written into the law itself as being the bare minimum of what should be considered), and especially what’s known as the first and fourth factors. The first factor is formally “the purpose and character of the alleged fair use,” although over the decades of fair use jurisprudence this has come to be shorthanded as “transformativeness,” and the fourth factor is “effect on the market.”

Most of the energy and verve of a fair use case is usually in the transformativeness analysis; the more transformative your use is, the more likely it is to be fair (this is why AO3’s parent organization is called the Organization for *Transformative* Works – “transformative” is a term of art in copyright law). To “transform” a work, btw, for purposes of copyright fair use doesn’t necessarily mean that you have edited the work somehow; you can copy a work verbatim and still be found transformative if you have added some new commentary to it by placing it in a new context (Google Image Search thumbnails, while being exact reproductions of the image in question, have been found to be fair use because they’re recontextualizing the images for the different purpose of search results). The point is, transformativeness is, like fair use itself, built to be flexible.

Why? Because the purpose of copyright is to promote creativity, and sometimes we promote creativity by giving people a copyright, but sometimes giving someone a copyright that would block someone else’s use is the opposite of promoting creativity; that’s why we need fair use, for THAT, for when letting the copyright holder block the use would cause more harm to the general creative progress than good. Google v. Oracle recommits U.S. copyright to the idea that all this is not about protecting the profits of the copyright monopolist; we need to make sure that copyright functions to keep our society full of as much creativity as possible. Google copied Oracle’s APIs to make new things: create new products, better smartphones, a platform for other programmers to jump in and give us even more new functionality. The APIs themselves were created used preexisting stuff in the first place, so it’s not like anyone was working in a vacuum with a wholly original work. And, in fact, executives had thought that, the more people they could get using the programming, the better off they would be.

Which brings us to the fourth fair use factor, effect on the market (meaning the copyright holder’s market and ability to reap profits from the original work). There’s a lot of tech stuff going on in this part of the opinion but one of the points I find interesting from that discussion is that the court thought that Google’s use of the APIs was not a market substitute for the original programming, meaning that Google used the APIs “on very different devices,” an entirely new mobile platform that was “a very different type of product.”

But also. What I find most interesting in this part is the court’s explicit acknowledgment that sometimes things are good because they are superior, and sometimes things are good because people “are just used to it. They have already learned how to work with it.” Now, this obviously has special resonance in the tech industry (is your smartphone good because it’s the best it could be, or because you’re just really used to the way it’s set up?), but there’s also something interesting being said here about how not all of the value of a copyrighted work belongs *to the copyright holder* but comes *from consumers.* Forgive the long quote but I think the Court’s words are important here:

“This source of Android’s profitability has much to do with third parties’ (say, programmers’) investment in Sun Java programs. It has correspondingly less to do with Sun’s investment in creating the Sun Java API. . . . [G]iven programmers’ investment in learning the Sun Java API, to allow enforcement of Oracle’s copyright here would risk harm to the public. . . . [A]llowing enforcement here would make of the Sun Java API’s declaring code a lock limiting the future creativity of new programs. Oracle alone would hold the key. The result could well prove highly profitable to Oracle . . . . But those profits could well flow from creative improvements, new applications, and new uses developed by users who have learned to work with that interface. To that extent, the lock would interfere with, not further, copyright’s basic creativity objectives.”

This is picking up on reasoning in some older computer cases (like Lotus v. Borland, a First Circuit case from decades ago), but I think it’s so important we got this in a Supreme Court case: if WE bring some value to the copyrighted work through our investment in it, why should the copyright holder get to collect ALL the rewards by locking up further creativity involving that work? Which, incidentally, the Court explicitly notes is to the public detriment because more creativity is good for the public? This is such an important idea to the Supreme Court’s reasoning here that it’s the first part of the fair use test that it decides: that the value of the work at issue here “in significant part derives from the value that those who do not hold copyrights . . . invest of their own time and effort . . . .”

This case is, as we say in the law, distinguishable from fanfiction and fanart. APIs are different from television shows, and this case is very much a decision about technology and computer programming and smartphones and how old law gets applied to new things. Like, fair use is an old doctrine dating from the early nineteenth-century, and here we are figuring out how to apply it to the Android mobile phone platform. That, in and of itself, is pretty cool, and it’s rightly what most of the articles you’ll see out there about this case are focusing on.

But this case isn’t just a technology case; it’s also a fair use case that places itself in the lineage of all the fair use cases we look at when we think about what makes a use fair. And, to that end, this has some interesting things to say, about how much value consumers bring to copyrighted works and where a copyright holder’s rights might have to acknowledge that; about the fact that there are in fact limits to how much a copyright holder can control when it comes to holding the “lock” to future creativity building on what came before; about what part of the market a copyright holder is entitled to and what it isn’t. Think about the analogy you could make here: Given the investment of fans in learning canon, which is what makes the creative work valuable in the first place, allowing enforcement against fanfic or fanart would allow the canon creators to have a lock limiting future creativity, which would be highly profitable to the original creator (or, let’s be real, to Disney lol), but wouldn’t further copyright’s goals of promoting creativity because it would stifle all of that creativity instead. And just like Google with the APIs, what fandom is doing is not a market substitute for the original work: they’re “very different products.”

This is not to say, like, ANYTHING GOES NOW. Like I said, fanfic and fanart are very different from APIs. Fictional works get more protection than a functional work like the APIs at issue in this case. And there’s still a whole thing about commercial vs. non-commercial in fair use analysis which I didn’t really touch here (but which obviously has limits, since it’s not like Google isn’t making tons of money, and their use was a fair use). But this decision could kind of remind a big media world that maybe had forgotten that the copyright monopoly they enjoy is supposed to have the point of encouraging creativity; we grant a copyright because we think people won’t create without a financial incentive. (Tbh, there’s a lot of doubt that that is actually a true thing to believe, given all the free fic and art that gets produced daily, but anyway, it’s what the law decided several centuries ago before the internet was a thing.) Copyright is a balance, between those who hold the copyright and the rest of us, and the rest of us aren’t just passive consumers, we have creative powers of our own, and we might also want to do some cool things. And this case sees that. None of us are starting in a creative vacuum, after all; we’re all in this playground together.

424 notes • Posted 2021-04-09 19:34:27 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[nellie-elizabeth]

First Line Meme Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

tagged by @lizardkingeliot. Thanks!!! <3

This is going to be fun!

1. The Production of Penny. SPOILERS for A Comet Pulled From Orbit.

For the first several weeks, it’s just impossible to meet her. Penny will feel bad about it later, but he can’t take in any new stimuli when his entire body, mind, soul is shivering in the exposed light, trying to adjust to a reality he’d given up on returning to. He holes himself up with his family in one of his favorite places, a small house in Alaska, of all places, that he’d only just acquired and made comfortable when he’d—when he’d gotten himself trapped somewhere else.

2. The Way a Fool Would Do

You never really know what you’re getting into, when you choose to take a soulmate. Before Quentin had bound himself to Eliot, he’d been forced to endure the normal barrage of questions from the Fillorian Soul Council, and then a separate barrage of questions from his cousin Julia, who had nitpicked his choice down to the marrow, pouring concern after concern into Quentin’s already terrified brain.

He’d been so frustrated with her at the time, but in retrospect he can’t blame her for her caution. The fact is, no matter how much you prepare, no matter how much you think you’ve thought it all through, binding another soul to your own is unlike anything else in the world. It is impossible to know how it will feel until it’s already too late to turn back.

3. The Genesis of Julia

She decides, while watching the 1984 Summer Olympics one lazy day, a magically cool glass of lemonade on the table beside her as she lounges back into their comfiest armchair, to master gymnastics. The decision is made more or less on a whim; this is how Julia decides how to spend a great deal of her infinite life minutes, truthfully. She’s organized and meticulous once she knows her goal, but when it comes to finding said goal, it’s all about what strikes her fancy.

4. The Construction of Kady

The dust took a couple of weeks to settle, after Kady’s abrupt departure from her old life and chaotic intrusion into her new one. She’d been in the middle of war with her own people when she’d died for the first time, and the others had found her desperately attempting to steal magic from a rival hedge group in order to survive, too anxious about her own life to properly mourn for her mother’s death, and certainly too caught up in her own frantic mind to trust any of these new people, much less believe them about their immortality, or her own.

5. The Origins of Alice

There was no way to prepare for something like this. There was simply nothing she could do, nothing she could write down, no refinements she could make, that would help her to be more ready for what the morning would bring.

Alice hated that very much, of course.

6. The Creation of Quentin

The object in question was beautifully rendered, detailed and precise. A burnished color, the cool weight of it reassuringly solid in Q’s hands as he examined it, turning it over and over in his hands. This one wasn’t even particularly old; it looked to be a sixteenth century model, and Q had seen older and more beautiful in his time.

7. The Making of Margo

When Margo first met Alice, she understood her immediately. That wasn’t to say that Alice was boring, or predictable, or that there was nothing Margo had to learn about her. It wasn’t that at all. It was more that in meeting Alice, Margo was able to take one look at her and think to herself: ah, now this I know what to do with.

8. The Explanation of Eliot

El was afraid of heights, but only a little.

He could fly, after all, and that should have made fear illogical. But if anything, his ability to subvert gravity was the very reason for his nerves: he’d never been able to trust himself with anything, much less his own life or the life of others. The few times his telekinetic powers had been called in as a means of escape or rescue, when he’d held an innocent stranger or beloved family member in his arms and floated with them down from the side of a mountain or building or cliff face… well, those were the things he had nightmares about, on the rare occasions when he could remember his dreams. It was that sensation of freefall, of knowing it was magic, something inexplicable, deep in his consciousness, in his soul, even, that was the only thing preventing sharp, painful, deadly impact. He knew himself well enough to know he should never be trusted with something so precious as the life of another.

9. A Comet Pulled From Orbit

Alice Quinn woke up.

This was an unexpected development, considering the events of mere moments ago. Specifically the agonizing thirty seconds she’d spent bleeding out on the carpet, wondering in an abstract sort of way how long it would be before someone thought to look for her and found her mangled corpse tucked into the corner of a Brakebills Library study room, surrounded by the shredded remains of several large magical tomes, and her carefully collated notes.

---

Pausing here for a moment after the first 9 - eight of them are all part of one series. The main story, A Comet Pulled From Orbit, is an Alice POV AU of The Old Guard. Prominent Queliot subplot, some burgeoning Kalice and other ships as well. Lots of found family, etc. The other stories, all the ones with the seven main characters' names in them, are meant to be a series of small snippets to fill out that universe, backwards and forwards. I'm noticing that I do a lot of setup, I don't often start in medias res with any of these, trying to set a tone and get the information started right away. Each of the chapters of the snippet stories could be their own thing, so it's a little weird to consider it the start of a bigger story!!

Okay, moving on to earlier stories.

10. is it too late (or could this love protect me)

This is a story about nothing and everything. It is a story between then and now. It is a story of people living their lives, living them, and living them, and continuing to live them, with only some pedestrian heartbreak and alcoholism and good old millennial economic angst to add some variety to the humdrum of continued existence.

This is a story about stupidity, and love. Stupid love.

(A/N - hmm I kinda hate this beginning now even though I'm SUPER proud of the story as a whole)

11. Maybe This Time

"Quentin Coldwater?" Eliot says, twisting the name up in his mouth like an insult.

Give him a break - it's a weird fucking name, for one thing. And besides, the off-putting demeanor is an intentional scare tactic.

12. Beyond the Veil

"Do you think the Lorians would want a seat at the table?" Fen asked doubtfully, looking over the charter in front of her.

"Well, they're going to want to review the language, at any rate," one of the advisers put in. "Especially the order of the names."

"But it's in alphabetical order!" Margo said. "Fillory comes before Loria - sorry, not sorry."

13. Running All This Time

Quentin was sweet. There were a lot of words that Eliot could think of to describe him, several of them a lot more besotted than he was comfortable with, but sweet was an apt descriptor, generally speaking.

He had the softest little smile, and wide brown eyes that crinkled up in the corners when he was happy. He had strong yet gentle hands, hands that were somehow mesmerizing as he flapped them around wildly during conversation, trying to paint pictures in the air to accompany his latest rant about whatever-the-fuck. His voice was calming, his circular logic compelling, enough so that Eliot found himself listening - really listening - whenever Quentin was talking to him, even if it was about the Plover books and what they suggested about this time period in Fillorian history, or the politics of trade when it came to buying labor from talking animals, or how he may have come up with a better tracking system to mark down the mosaic patterns they'd already tried. Dry, uninteresting stuff, really. Which is what Eliot told Quentin, with an eye-roll, to stop him from getting a big head.

14. To Feel the Same

Quentin finds Eliot sitting alone in the armory, surrounded by books.

Something tense and frantic inside of him unclenches, like it always does around this man. It’s actually a remarkable thing, because by all rights Eliot should make him more nervous, not less. Quentin is a nervous person, after all, and Eliot is so… Eliot . A High King in his blood. Quentin had meant that, when he said it, and had drank in the gratitude in Eliot’s eyes like a glass of pure, crisp water, essential and quenching.

15. Identity Theft

The first thing the man noticed as he came to consciousness was that his head was pounding. It felt like the worst hangover he'd ever had, times about a million, and for several seconds all he could do was lay there and gasp and wait for his eyes to adjust. He appeared to be in a semi-dark room of some sort. It was large, with a cavernous ceiling above him, and the air was drafty. Like a garage maybe, bigger even - a warehouse?

The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone in the room. There were shapes all around him, rustling and making confused, pained sounds. After a few moments of this, there was a whoosh of energy and an orb of light floated above his head, illuminating the space in a soft glow. Someone in the room had cast a simple light spell. He looked around and sat up slowly, trying not to jostle his still pounding head. His next observation was that pretty much everyone in the room with him was kind of stupidly attractive.

16. Promises

Quentin gets about thirty seconds alone in his bedroom in the cottage, before Eliot is bursting through the door without knocking. It's not that he wasn't expecting him to take it hard, but seriously - can he not give Quentin just a couple of minutes of peace?

"This isn't happening," Eliot says without preamble, slamming the door shut behind him. "I'm sorry, Q, but it's not."

"I honestly don't think it's your decision to make," Quentin says, running a tired hand over his face.

17. The Curse of the Broken Vase (aka The One Where They Get Married and Nothing Goes Wrong)

Quentin was pacing.

He was pacing, and he was tugging his hands through his hair, which he really shouldn't be doing because it had actually taken a hairdresser an annoying amount of time to brush it out and tie it back, and apparently it was perfect now, even though Quentin couldn't really see how it was different from his normal lazy bun, but whatever.

There would be people, Eliot included, who would be annoyed with him for messing up his hair.

18. Liquid Courage

Eliot was fidgeting. Which was unusual, and generally not a good sign. But it still wasn't much of a warning, Quentin had thought to himself later, given what was about to happen. Then again, Eliot had been acting strangely all week, a little distant and distracted, and Quentin had known his partner was working up to discuss something with him.

Quentin had been worried, of course, but in an abstract sort of way. He figured whatever it was, the two of them were more than equal to the challenge. Given everything they'd been through over the entire course of their relationship, he really couldn't imagine any piece of news that would be capable of obliterating their lives.

19. Reciprocal

The thing about Quentin Coldwater was that it was pretty much impossible not to love him. Honestly, it wasn't even Eliot's fault - how was he expected to spend every second of every day around such a beautiful, adorable, kind person without letting it get to him? And the sex. Well. That was fucking incendiary, which really wasn't helping his resolve in the love department.

20. Fragments

It was a perfectly normal morning in Fillory. Which, honestly, should have been Quentin's first warning that things were about to go very, very wrong. Fillory was many things, but normal was not one of them: Q had gotten used to being woken up by harried castle employees, alerting him to one catastrophe or another. The Serpent War had ended months ago, but the paperwork was still pouring in like it had never stopped. His official role in the government wasn't supposed to have anything to do with the war efforts, but it had been an all-hands-on-deck situation for the last year or so.

---

Oh my goodness, this took me back to almost my first story in this fandom! I have 22 Magicians fics posted, so that's almost all of them...

I think my favorite of all of these is Maybe This Time, just because I like starting off with such an iconic moment from canon. It's the kind of fic that I hope resonates with people differently upon a re-read, and I like the strong, instantly recognizable hook. You read that first line and you know where you are, but you have no real idea where the story is about to take you.

I've also had a lot of fun writing Julia in the Comet 'verse and I like her opening line to the first snippet I did for her!

---

I'll tag @hmgfanfic, @ameliajessica, @hoko-onchi-writes, @freneticfloetry, @honeybabydichotomy, @allegria23, @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier, @rubickk7, @portraitofemmy, @propinquitous, and all others who want to!!

[adhd-adept]

hi! i like your posts! they're real helpful

anyway a thing i need help with

i want to ask my dad for therapy because i think i might have adhd? and also some other shit

so basically

(this is going to be a long post)

back in summer 2020, i thought i might have adhd because i was reading some comics from adhd alien and the signs of adhd she shared seemed eerily familiar?

and i did some research and more signs came up and i thought i might have them?

and i found a therapist who specialises in adhd and other issues

but when i talked to my dad about it he was all "ADHD is only hyperactive idiots who are useless without meds" and he yelled at me for a while and I'm now basically scared of mentioning the topic up ever again

he brought me to some sessions, but i think once he said it was "so the therapist tells you you don't have adhd"?

anyway after the summer ended i couldn't get therapy again because school and busy

with the 2 week spring vacation coming up i was thinking of maybe asking him again? but I'm really scared and he probably won't take it seriously again...

signed,

an idiot

Hey! Thanks. I’m glad I can be helpful. I wanted to answer this right away, but it took me a little time because this question deserves a thoughtful response. This is going to be a long post.

[If anyone with more experience in situations like this has advice, I would welcome suggestions]

First things first! I don't think you're an idiot. This world can be hard to navigate even in the best of times, and I will never think you're foolish for needing a little help with anything that that entails!

Looking for a therapist is a great start! I’m glad that you are taking yourself seriously and taking steps to get help. That can take a lot of courage, and I’m proud of you for it!

Know that it may continue to take courage, and persistence - it can be really difficult to get an official ADHD diagnosis. I definitely have ADHD, and it actually took two tries when I got diagnosed around age 12, as the first doctor thought I had been perfectly attentive during the meeting and thus could not believe I was struggling with inattention elsewhere. My friend in her early twenties has been attending periodic doctor and therapist sessions for a couple months now, because the first doctor didn’t take her seriously, the second said she clearly had ADHD but sent her elsewhere for prescriptions, and the doctor they sent her to insisted she get a second opinion. She is finally starting to get accommodations, but it’s been an ongoing effort.

And you may simply not get along very well with your first therapist. You can always try reaching out to another. It can be a long process, and I hope saying that does not discourage you because there is a lot of good that comes at the end of that process; specifically, a better understanding of yourself and access to some resources that can help you seek accommodations for the things you struggle with.

It sounds like you’ve done your research on therapy, though. If you want any help with looking for a therapist, I am happy to help, (or at least try to). But it sounds like what you’re asking is how to approach the subject with your dad?

You’ll have to take some of my advice from here with a grain of salt; I’ve never been in the specific situation you’re in now, and of course I don’t know your dad as well as you do. But in my experience, rephrasing a request can do a lot to make it sound more reasonable.

I think the first step is understanding where he is coming from. Again, you have met the man and I haven’t, so this is more suggestion and guesswork than any kind of statement.

It sounds like your dad has a significant bias against neurodivergence. But I think it does matter WHY he feels that way. I can only imagine that it comes from a lifetime of hearing those things about ADHD from the people around him, and it will take time for him to reverse that prejudice. I feel sorry for him to have grown up in that hostile environment, and I am sorry that that hostility is being carried through to you.

But the result is that he thinks there’s something wrong with having ADHD. Of course, that isn’t true, but no parent wants to believe there’s something “wrong” with their child, and he will probably be resistant to the idea for as long as he believes that there is. 

More than that, I think parents don’t want to believe that, if there IS something wrong with their kid, it might have come from them. A child twisting their ankle in PE class or getting bitten by an ant is one thing - it hurts to see the child in pain, but it isn’t their fault. It’s much harder for a parent to see their child suffer because of a hereditary condition, because I think there can be a lot of guilt associated with that.

On top of that, if he’s been told that ADHD is a terrible thing, it might be disagreeable to him because if you have it then maybe he has it too. People don’t want to believe there’s anything wrong with themselves either.

I don’t know if that’s, on some level, why he reacted the way he did - and even if it’s true, I don’t think any of this justifies yelling at you for it. Nothing justifies that. And I want to be clear that it shouldn’t have to be your responsibility to figure out why he feels the way he feels - that should be on him, and it’s unfair to you to have to work through his issues on your way to getting the help you need. This isn’t necessarily the best or only approach. But trying to at least figure out why he feels the way he does might help you figure out how to approach the subject again. 

Maybe even ask him where he got his impression of ADHD, if it does not feel like doing so will start a new argument. (Maybe don’t mention the part where you’re asking because some stranger on the internet is trying to psychoanalyze him.) But I find, personally, that conversations go better when I can approach them with patience, and I have more patience when I make an effort to remember that the other person’s reactions have to come from somewhere, and if I can at least start out believing that they are misinformed rather than actively hostile.

I think a good start would be to try educating him about ADHD and see how that goes. Anything might sound scary because it is unfamiliar; or, worse, it might sound scary because it sounds vaguely familiar even if the only information you know is that you think someone said it’s scary. 

An aside, to give an example: There was a meme a while ago where water would be referred to as “dihydrogen monoxide” and framed as a dangerous thing with vague-but-technically-true statements such as “it’s a common byproduct of chemical reactions,” and “it’s found in our sewer systems”, or “it has the highest pH value of any acid” (you may recall that the strongest acids are those with a low pH value).

I think it’s easy to do the same with neurodiversity. If all you know about water is that it’s a chemical, it may sound scary. If all you know about ADHD is that it’s a mental disorder, it may sound scary.

Talking with him directly may be better than sending him articles - they tend to start with phrases like “mental health disorder” and “chronic condition”, or big (scary) jargon words that you might want to avoid if you want it to sound approachable (I mean, even the “Simple English” version of the Wikipedia article has the word “neurodevelopmental” in the first sentence).

I think it’s important for him to know that everyone’s ADHD experience is different - symptoms can be strong, or they can be very weak, but even people with very weak symptoms may benefit from seeking professional advice. You can be very “high functioning,” and still find certain tasks more difficult than most people do, and thus benefit from help even if you don’t “need” it to achieve your goals or lead a “normal” looking life.

You might tell him that a lot of ADHD treatment is about paying attention to your own behaviors and learning what works best for you - that even if you do not have ADHD, you may have some experiences in common with people who do, and that seeking a therapist who specializes in ADHD may help you find someone with the kind of attitude you are looking for; maybe you want someone who will be especially patient, and who will be prepared to take you seriously with the symptoms or traits you do have.

After all, most people can understand that you don’t have to have clinical depression to benefit from some of the behavioral things often recommended to people who do, such as getting regular exercise and more sunshine. You can do things that improve your mood even if you don’t have diagnosed clinical depression. 

Similarly, if you are seeking help with some things that people with ADHD struggle with - organization, time management, staying focused - a therapist who specializes in ADHD may be a good fit for you for that reason alone, even if you don’t have it.

And yeah, it sounds like he doesn’t want you to have ADHD, so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying “even if I don’t have it, talking to a specialist can help me rule that out,” if that’s what helps him feel more comfortable with you getting an appointment. Again, it will take time for him to overcome the negative impression he has now, but at the very least, if he forms a positive impression of ADHD therapists he might not be so hostile about ADHD itself.

Maybe remind him that there can be a lot of overlap between ADHD and other experiences, but that it seems like a good place to start seeking help because it is a relatively common cause of some of the things you’ve experienced.

Know how much you would be willing to compromise before you have this conversation - would you be okay with getting a therapist even if they do not specialize in ADHD? Would you be unlikely to get an appointment if he made it conditional on something like maintaining good grades? Have a clear, tangible goal in mind; while you may leave room for uncertainty in your diagnosis until you speak with a professional, you should try not to leave room for uncertainty in what you are asking for. Know what you want - a session (or a number of sessions) with a therapist - and have your reasoning for that ready, maybe even written down. People tend to take you more seriously when you can demonstrate that you’ve thought something through.

If you say you think you have ADHD, I believe you. But regardless of that, you have recognized that there is something you need help with, and you are taking action in response. I hope that, at the very least, if your dad does not want to take the suggestion of ADHD seriously, he can at least take you seriously when you say that you need help. 

And you will get help. You are moving in the right direction. Don’t lose sight of that.

I hope I’ve answered your question! If this is hard to read I can maybe come back and re-write it as a set of bullet points, maybe suggestions of things to say, but I felt that in the case of more personalized advice it was important to address the context of my advice. If you needed more specific advice, feel free to clarify. And of course, if you have any other questions, I’m always around.

Best of luck!

[jules-hoard-of-stuff]

BNHA ocs

I wanna ramble abput them bc rn I don't really have much else to do waiting for an appointment so here we goooo

All art is created in picrew!

Mifune Ijishi

-She/her

-28 years old, a home ec teacher at UA because honestly these kids not only need to know how to save other people but care about themselves and not just eat package ramen every night... And also how not to burn the house down(bakugo-)

-Bicon

-the Mom Friend™️, will make sure you've had three square meals a day and have someone to talk to about your problems

-Quirk: Teddy Bear Torrent. Can control any fabric and thread in the shape of an animal. Can use storebought plushies, but handmade or gifted ones work better because of the emotional connection. Can only control 10 at a time, and putting them together to make a teddy bear golem is her special move.

-Insecure about her appearance, since lots of people told her growing up that clinging to her stuffed animals and looking cartoony all the time(literally something she was born with) was creepy

Tanaka Kanaeda

-He/him, pan

-17 years old, class 2-B, kind of scary but a very loyal friend

-Quirk: Banshee. The user's voice raised above a certain decibel will ellicit an acute fear response in anyone who hears it, the frequency at which the user speaks causes hallucinations and paranoia the louder it gets. Also inherited a very SHARP set of scary teeth and elongated mouth from his father. Not in the Hero Class because his quirk only works on humans, not machines, and he only managed to get a few points on the exam.

-Speaks softly to avoid scaring others, as well as well a medical mask for the same reason. Likes hanging out with others but doesn't have many friends due to how introverted he seems. Insecure about seeming like a monster, would like to be a hero people feel safe with someday despite his looks and quirks

-Looks like he could kill you, secretly a cinnamon roll

Murai Tenoshi/Carbon Copy

-He/him, trans and demisexual

-25 year old pro hero, mostly does combat work due to his quirk not being very useful for rescue type missions

-Quirk: Copy and Paste. The user can duplicate any non-organic item he touches, and make as many as he wants. The catch is, he can only duplicate one item at a time, and the duplicate items he's made fizzle into thin air once he starts duplicating something else so he must choose wisely. Can also be over used and can weaken him greatly if pushed to duplicate over 65 copies of the item.

-Cares a lot about the next generation of heroes, loves to volunteer to teach them, hopes that he can help those with odd "useless" quirks become strong and confident because he wasn't treated nicely for having a "useless" quirk until he proved himself.

-Secretly a fiend for funny memes and absurdist comedy

Soma Hattori/Masquerade

-They/them, nonbinary and gay(leaning towards men)

-21 years old, a villain who recently joined the LoV

-Quirk: Voice snatcher. Can imitate anyone's voice so long as they hear it for more than 30 seconds. Useful for luring heroes into traps, splitting them up, or making phone calls to gain information. Cannot assimilate the person's knowledge though, so they usually have to study their personality and speech pattern to get it truly right.

-Has a "Chosen One" complex due to the fact that they were told by a man with a future sight quirk that they would eventually rule the world and reign in a new era(the man is actually quirkless) and so their motivation is that all the evil they do to push themselves to the top is for the greater good of the entire earth. They sincerely believe heroes are the "enemy" they are meant to defeat. They don't make friends easily, as they have lots of trust issues, but if pushed enough, they'll spend time with other villains.

-A bastard, will imitate All Might to get free pizza and in the same breath imitate Shigaraki to scare some students

Saito Takeyo

-He/they, demiboy and demisexual

-Quirk: HUD(Credit for the idea of this quirk goes to @hiken-ace ^^). The user can see a display, not seen by others, of stats of the people around them. Stamina, health, and weaknesses are three common aspects seen, but other statistics can be added to a person's "file" if more is learned. Due to his quirk, Saito has odd white diamonds