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caligvlasaqvarivm · 4 months

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How do you analyze so good I'm really impressed and honestly wonder if I can learn from you

It's a skill, so the good news is, you can practice and get better at it!

Read A Lot/Gain Context

Analysis often means making comparisons or drawing from external context - one of the best things you can do if you want to be better at analysis is to try to cram your head with as much knowledge as possible. The time period, culture of origin, and where the author slots into those are usually major influences on a work (in Homestuck's case, much of it is a direct commentary on the internet culture it emerged from, and missing that part of it can drastically influence how the story reads).

Also important are the works the author themselves are inspired by. You've likely heard some variation of "nothing is original." We're actually really lucky with Homestuck in that regard, as the work is highly referential, and you can glean a lot by looking at what it references (for example, if you watch Serendipity, one of Karkat's favorite movies, which is titledropped during the troll romance explanation, you will understand Karkat so much better). This applies to things like mythological allusions - you'll hardly know why it matters that Karkat is a Christ figure if you don't know what the general outline of the Christ story is, nor will you pick up on the Rapture elements of Gamzee's religion or the fact that Doc Scratch is The Devil, etc. The key to picking up a lot of symbolism is being aware that the symbols exist.

And last, it helps to read a lot of media and media analysis so you can get a better understanding of how media "works" - how tropes are used, what effect language has, what other entries into the genre/works with similar themes/etc. have already done to explore the same things as the piece being analyzed is doing - and what other people have already gleaned and interpreted. I've mentioned before that many people seem to find Homestuck's storytelling bizarre and unique when it's actually quite standard for postmodernism, the genre it belongs to. But you're not going to know that if you've never read anything postmodern, y'know? I also often prepare for long character essays by reading other peoples' character essays - sometimes people pick up on things I miss, and sometimes people have interpretations I vehemently disagree with; both of these help me to refine my take on the matter.

Try to Discard Biases/Meet the Work Where It Is

Many will carry into reading media an expectation of what they want to get out of it. For example, one generally goes into a standard hetero romance book expecting a female lead, a male love interest, romance (of course), and a happy ending for the happy couple. If the book fails to deliver these things, a reader will often walk away thinking it was a bad book, even if the story told instead is objectively good and interesting. We actually see this a lot with Wuthering Heights, which receives very polarizing reviews because people go into it expecting a gothic romance, when it's really more like a gossip Youtube video spilling the tea on some shitty rich people (and it's really good at being that).

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this when reading for pleasure and personal enjoyment, but it presents a problem when attempting to analyze something. There's a concept called the "Procrustean bed," named after a mythological bandit who used to stretch people or cut off their limbs to fit them to a bed, that describes "an arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced." Going into a media reading with expectations and biases often results in a very Procrustean reading - I'm sure we've all seen posts complaining about how fanfic often forces canon characters to fit certain archetypes while discarding their actual character traits, etc.

Therefore, when reading for analysis, it's generally a good idea to try and discard as much bias and expectation as possible (obviously, we are never fully free of bias, but the effort counts) - or, perhaps even better, to compartmentalize those biases for comparison while reading. For example, Hussie talks at length about what they INTENDED Homestuck to be, and, while reading, I like to keep Hussie's words to the side while I try to experience the comic fresh, seeing what choices were made in accordance with Hussie's intentions, or where I think Hussie may have fumbled the messaging. At the same time, I try to let the work stand on its own, set in its proper context.

I'd say this is the number-one problem in fandom analysis. For example, people hear from the fandom that Eridan is an incel or a nice guy, so they interpret everything he says and does to fit that belief, or ignore any contradictory evidence. Or they fall for the character's façade that's meant to be dismantled by the viewer. Some works are fairly shallow and accessible, wearing all their meaning on their sleeve (or are Not That Deep, if you prefer meme-talk), and problems arise when a work is, in fact, That Deep, because someone biased towards the former will discard evidence that a work is the latter. This isn't exclusive to HS - it's happened in basically all of my fandoms - which is a statement to how easy it is to fall into this way of thinking.

Even without knowing that Hussie had coming-of-age themes in mind, for example, characters will talk about being kids and growing up. Knowing that Hussie has explicitly said that that's one of HS's themes serves as extra evidence for that interpretation, but the work itself tells you what it's about - if you're willing to listen to it.

Even If the Curtains are Just Blue, That Still Means Something

This is the next biggest fandom stumbling block - thr insinuation that when things in a work are put into the work without more explicit symbolism, that that means they're a discardable detail. This one is more about making a mindset shift - details aren't discardable, even if they don't appear to have been made with the explicit intention to mean something. Everything kind of means something.

First of all, whether or not the curtains are Just Blue is often highly dependent on the work. For example, in something made in large quantities with little time, staff, and budget - say, for example, one of the entries into the MCU's TV shows - there likely isn't too much meaning behind a choice of blue curtains in a shot (although you'd be surprised how often choices in these constrained environments are still very deliberately made). In a work like Homestuck, however, so terribly dense with symbolism and allegory, chances are, the blue curtains DO hold some special meaning, even if it's not readily apparent.

However, even in cases where a choice is made arbitrarily, it still usually ends up revealing something about the work's creative process. Going back to our MCU example, perhaps the blue curtains were chosen because the shot is cool-toned and they fit the color grading. Perhaps they were chosen because the director really likes blue. Perhaps the shot was filmed at an actual location and the blue curtains were already there. Or, even, perhaps the blue curtains were just what they had on hand, and the show was made too quickly and cheaply to bother sourcing something that would fit the tone or lend extra meaning. These all, to varying degrees, say something about the work - maybe not anything so significant that it would come up in an analysis, but they still contribute to a greater understanding of what the work is, what it's trying to say, and how successful it is at saying it.

And this applies to things with much higher stakes. For example, Hussie being a white US citizen likely had an effect on the B1 kids being mostly US citizens, and there was discourse surrounding how, even though they were ostensibly aracial, references were made to Dave's pale skin. Do I think these were deliberate choices made to push some sort of US superiority; no, obviously not. But they still end up revealing things about the creation of the work - that Hussie had certain biases as a result of being who they were.

Your Brain is Designed to Recognize Patterns, So Put That to Use

So with "establish context" and "discard expectations" out of the way, we can start getting into the nitty-gritty of what should be jumping out at you when attempting to understand a work. One of the most prominent things that you should be looking for is PATTERNS.

Writing is a highly conscious effort, which draws from highly unconscious places. Naturally, whether these patterns are intentional or unintentional is dependent on the author (see again why reading up on a work's context is so important), but you can generally bet that anything that IS a pattern is something that holds significance.

For example, Karkat consistently shows that he's very distraught when any of his friends get hurt, that he misses his friends, even the murderous assholes, that he's willing to sit them down and intervene on their behalf, despite all his grandstanding to the contrary. We are supposed to notice that Karkat actually loves his friends, and that he's lying when he says he doesn't care about them.

Homestuck is very carefully and deliberately crafted; if something comes up more than once, it's a safe bet to assume that you're supposed to notice, or at least feel, it. Don't take my word for it:

Basically, [reusing elements is] about building an extremely dense interior vocabulary to tell a story with, and continue to build and expand that vocabulary by revisiting its components often, combining them, extending them and so on. A vocabulary can be (and usually is) simple, consisting of single words, but in this case it extends to entire sentences and paragraph structures and visual forms and even entire scenes like the one linked above. Sometimes the purpose for reiteration is clear, and sometimes there really is no purpose other than to hit a familiar note, and for me that's all that needs to happen for it to be worthwhile. Triggering recognition is a powerful tool for a storyteller to use. Recognition is a powerful experience for a reader. It promotes alertness, at the very least. And in a lot of cases here, I think it promotes levity (humor! this is mostly a work of comedy, remember.) Controlling a reader's recognition faculty is one way to manipulate the reader's reactions as desired to advance the creative agenda.

But this applies to less deliberately-crafted work, too; for example, if an author consistently writes women as shallow, cruel, and manipulative, then we can glean that the author probably has some sort of issue with women. Villains often being queer-coded suggests that the culture they come from has problems with the gays. Etc. etc.

This is how I reached my conclusion that Pale EriKar is heavily foreshadowed - the two are CONSTANTLY kind to each other, sharing secrets, providing emotional support, etc. etc. It's why that part of my Eridan essay is structured the way that it is - by showing you first how consistently the two interact in suspiciously pale-coded ways, the fact that a crab is shown in both Eridan's first appearance AND his appearance on the moirallegiance "hatched for each other" page becomes the cincher of a PATTERN of the two being set up to shoosh-pap each other.

A work will tell you about itself if you listen. If it tells you something over and over, then it's basically begging you to pay attention.

Contrast is Important, Too

Patterns are also significant when they're broken. For example, say a villain is constantly beating up the protagonist. Here's our pattern: the hero is physically weaker than the villain. In a straight fight, the hero will always lose.

And then, at the mid-season two-parter, the hero WINS. Since we've set up this long pattern of the hero always losing to this villain, the fact that this pattern was disrupted means that this moment is extremely important for the work. Let's say the hero wins using guile - in this case, we walk away with the message that the work is saying that insurmountable obstacles may have workarounds, and adaptability and flexibility are good, heroic traits. Now let's say the hero won using physical strength, after a whole season of training and practicing - in this case, we say that the work says hard work and effort are heroic, and will pay off in the end.

In Homestuck, as an example, we set up a long pattern of Vriska being an awful, manipulative bitch, and a fairly remorseless killer. And then, after killing Tavros, she talks to John and admits that she's freaking out because she feels really bad about it. This vulnerability is hinted at by some of her earlier actions/dialogue, which is itself a pattern to notice, but it's not really explicit until it's set up to be in direct contrast to the ultimate spider8itch move of killing Tavros. This contrast is intended to draw our attention, to point out something significant - hey, Vriska feels bad! She's a product of her terrible society and awful lusus! While it's shitty that she killed Tavros, she's also meant to be tragic and sympathetic herself!

Hussie even talks about how patterns and surprises are used in tandem:

Prior to Eridan's entrance into the room, and even during, the deaths were completely unguessable. After Feferi's death, Kanaya's becomes considerably more so, but still quite uncertain. After her death, all bets are off. Not only do all deaths thereafter become guessable, but in some cases, "predictable". That's because it was the line between a series of shocking events, and the establishment of an actual story pattern. The new pattern serves a purpose, as a sort of announcement that the story is shifting gears, that we're drifting into these mock-survival horror, mock-crime drama segments, driven by suspense more than usual. The suspense has more authority because of all the collateral of unpredictability built up over time, as well as all the typical stuff that helps like long term characterization. But now that the pattern is out in the open, following through with more deaths no longer qualifies as unpredictability. Just the opposite, it would now be playing into expectations, which as I said, can be important too. This gear we've switched to is the new normal, and any unpredictability to arise thereafter will necessarily be a departure from whatever current patterns would indicate.

Patterns are important because they tell you what baselines the work is setting - what's normal, what's standard, what this or that generally "means." Contrast is important because it means something has changed, or some significant point is being made. They work in tandem to provide the reader with points of focus in the story, things to keep in mind as they read, consciously or unconsciously.

Theme

I'm talking about this stuff in pretty broad and open terms because stories are so malleable, and so myriad, and can say so many things. There are stories where horrible cruelties are painted as good things - propoganda is the big one, but consider all the discourse around romance books that paint abusive/toxic relationships as ideal. There are stories where the protagonist is actually the villain, and their actions are not aspirational, and works where everyone sucks and nobody is aspirational, and works where everybody is essentially a good person, if sometimes misguided.

This is, again, why outside context is so important, and biases need to be left at the door. For example, generally speaking, one can assume that the protagonist of a children's cartoon is going to be an aspirational hero, or at least a conflicted character who must learn to do the right thing. However, there are even exceptions to this! Invader Zim, for example, features an outright villain protagonist - a proud servant of a fascist empire - and for a lower-stakes example, the Eds of Ed, Edd, n' Eddy are the neighborhood scammers, constantly causing problems for the other characters with their schemes.

Thus, how do we determine what any particular narrative's stance on a given topic is? It's a difficult question to answer because every narrative is different. If I say something like, "the things that bring the protagonists success in their goals are what the narrative says are good," then we run into the issue of villain/gray morality protagonists. To use moral terms like "hero" and "villain" instead runs into the problem of defining morality within a narrative in the first place. But you have to draw the line somewhere.

So that brings us to themes.

Now, as with a lot of artistic terms, "theme" isn't necessarily well-defined (this isn't helped by the way the word is used colloquially to mean things like aesthetic, moral of the story, or symbolism). Wikipedia says: "In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative," but this is still very broad and hard to work with, so I'll give it a shot.

A theme is what a work says, beyond the literal series of events. Sometimes a theme is obvious - the theme of Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you become famous for lying, you won't be believed when you tell the truth. Sometimes a theme is one of many - for example, Disney's Cinderalla says that kindness and virtue will eventually be recognized and rewarded, and that cruelty is interlinked with ugliness. Sometimes a theme is unintentional - for example, how Disney's body of work tends to villainize queer-coded characters. Sometimes context and the passage of time changes the theme - for example, Snow White originally held a message of hope for wartime families that domestic normalcy would one day return, but is now seen as anti-feminist as it appears to insinuate that a woman's place is in the kitchen, and her happiness is in marriage to a man. And sometimes a theme is not something you agree with.

In any case, a theme is a meaning to be gleaned from the text, more broad and universally applicable than the text itself. After all, we humans have traditionally always used story to impart meaning; our oldest epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, contains within it several themes, most famously that of accepting one's mortality. It's startling, really, how applicable the story is to this day, even if specific details have become obtuse or unsavory to a modern reader.

This is, again, why it's so important to engage with a text on its own terms, in its own context, with as little bias as possible. A story's themes are not necessarily apparent, and commonly implied rather than stated outright, and approaching the story with expectations can easily lead to a Procrustean twisting of the facts to fit those expectations. A theme should emerge to the analyzer out of the reading, not the other way around.

Identifying theme gets easier with practice, and largely comes down to identifying patterns within the narrative (alongside looking at context and symbolism, of course). What does the narrative consistently touch base on? Are there any references; is there any symbolism? What does the story deem "normal," "good," or "bad"? How are ideas developed, and why? Why did these events happen, and are those motivations echoed anywhere else?

Homestuck is very complex and tackles many topics at once, and explaining why it's a coming-of-age would basically require a whole second essay, so I'll use a simpler and more popular example (like I've been trying to do) - let's say, Shrek.

The most obvious theme of Shrek is that beauty does not equate goodness, that one mustn't judge a book by its cover. The opening sequence is LITERALLY Shrek ripping out pages of a fairy tale book to use as toilet paper, and the movie ends with Fiona finding that her happiest, truest self IS as an ugly ogre. Shrek's main character conflict is that people immediately judge him as cruel and evil because he's ugly, and the characters' lowest points occur because Fiona is similarly insecure about her ogre half, considering it unlovable.

But there's other stuff in there, too. For example, if you know that Dreamworks and Shrek were founded after a falling out with Disney, then the beautiful, sanitized city of Dulac, with its switchback queue and singing animatronics add to this theme of a direct refutation of traditional Disney fairytale values, mocking them as manufactured, inhuman, and even cruel in the way that they marginalize those who don't fit an ideal of beauty. Again we see the opening sequence - defacing a fairytale - as support for this, but also the way that Dulac is displacing fairytale creatures. There's a moment where Gepetto literally sells Pinocchio, which can easily be read as a commentary on the crass commercialization and exploitation of fairy tales Disney likes to do.

And then, of course, there are lesser, supplementary themes. Love being a powerful positive force is one - Donkey is able to rally Shrek after he truly reciprocates Dragon's love for him (which echoes the theme of not equating goodness with beauty, as Dragon is still big and scary), and it's true love's kiss that grants Fiona her happy ending.

And then there's stuff that's unintentional. There's all this work done about how beauty =/= goodness, but then they made the villain incredibly short, which is a traditionally unattractive physical feature. So, does that mean that ugly things can be beautiful unless that ugliness is specifically height?

Sometimes, authorial intent does not match up with result - but in those instances, I think the most is revealed about the author. Modern Disney products tend to be very cowardly about going anti-corporation and pro-weirdness, despite their usual feel-good tones and uplifting themes - and that says a lot about Disney, doesn't it. That's why I think it's still important to keep authorial intent in mind, if possible, even if they fumble what they say they've set out to do.

Obviously, Lord Fuckwad being short doesn't REALLY detract from the overall message - but it's still a weird hitch in the themes, which I think is interesting to talk about, so you can see where personal judgement and biases DO have to be applied. There are two options here, more or less - either one believes that Shrek is making an exception for short people, who are of the Devil, or one believes that the filmmakers did a bit of an oopsie. Barring an outright statement from the filmmakers, there's no way to know for sure.

We can say a work has very complex themes when it intentionally explores multiple ideas very deeply. We can say a work has shallow themes when it doesn't have much intentional meaning, and/or that meaning is explored very lightly. The labyrinthine storytelling of Homestuck, with its forays into mortality, morality, and growing up, chock full of symbolism and pastiche and allusions, is a work with complex themes - especially as compared to the average newspaper comic strip, although they ostensibly share a genre.

We can say a work has very unified themes when these themes serve to compliment each other - the refutation of Disney-esque values, and love as a positive driving force, compliment the main theme in Shrek of not judging books by their covers, of beauty not equating to goodness. Ugly things are worthy of love, and those who push standards of beauty are evil and suck.

Similarly, we can say a work has unfocused or messy themes when the themes it includes - intentionally or not - contradict, distract, and/or detract from each other. Beauty has no correlation to goodness... unless you're short, in which case, you are closer to Hell and therefore of evil blood. To get a little controversial, this is actually why I didn't like Last Wish very much - there are approximately three separate storylines, with three separate thematic arcs, going on in the same movie, none of which particularly compliment each other - so the experience was very messy to me, story-wise, even though it was pretty and the wolf was hot. This is why we feel weird about Disney pushing anti-corporate messages, when they're a big corporate machine, or why it's easy to assume Homestuck was written poorly if you don't like Hussie - we want themes to be coherent, we want context to be unified with output.

Tone

Tone is somehow even harder to define than theme. It's like, the "vibe" of a work. For example, you generally don't expect something lighthearted to deal with the realistic, brutal tragedies of war. Maybe it'll touch on them in light, optimistic ways, but it isn't about to go All Quiet on the Western Front on the reader. By the same token, you don't expect fully happy endings out of the melodrama of opera, or frivolous slice of life from something grimdark.

Tone, too, is something people often wind up Procrusteanizing, which makes discussion difficult if two people disagree. If I read Homestuck as unwaveringly optimistic, with its downer ending the result of an author fumble, I'm pretty much going to irreconcileably disagree with somebody who reads Homestuck as though it's always been a kind of tragedy where things don't work out for the characters. Since it's even more difficult to define than theme, I'm not even really going to bother; I just felt like I had to bring it up because, despite its nebulosity, it's vital to how one reads and interprets a text. Sometimes I don't have a better answer for why I dislike a certain interpretation other than that it doesn't suit the work's tone. I generally try to avoid saying that, though, because it winds up smacking of subjective preference.

In summary... analysis is about keeping everything in mind all the time! But i swear, it gets easier the more you do it. Happy reading!

#homestuck #literary analysis #critical thinking

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beatboxing-puppy · 5 months

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saw some posts on this website discussing what sort of videogames the dunmeshi characters would play and i think everyone is wrong. everyone is wrong except for me so im going to spell out exactly who plays what. putting it under a read more because im going on a damn tangent.

Laios: He's not a gamer he does not play games on purpose he will only ever play video games when his friends ask him to join them in their multiplayer things. One day tho Falin told him about Monster Hunter and now thats the only thing he plays aside from Spore and he has sunk countless hours into that damn game. Also he probably has played Some pokemon but he doesnt like PLAYING it he just likes it in concept he knows the name of all the pokemon

marcille: people keep saying she would be a cosy gamer playing animal crossing and stardew and other cute games ^-^ its so lalalaaaa NO!!!!!!! no she does not. Marcille plays games that stress her out on purpose marcille plays overwhelming micromanagey games like lobotomy corporation and rimworld and etc. She also likes games with deep lore and mysteries to discover. The only thing that doesn't fit in this category that she plays is Minecraft shes always in there CREATIVE MODE building virtual dungeons and other crazy shit. Also she plays on her work laptop with trackpad ok

Chilchuck: This one is for me. This one im just basing off my own dad ok. Chilchuck used to be a hardcore gamer in his youth but specifically he was playing stuff like world of warcraft and old school runescape he had really big setups so he could run several instances of the game at once on all his alt accounts so he could beat a boss by himself and he was really good at it. But then he had kids and didnt have time for this sort of thing so he stopped playing videogames aside from occasionally helping his daughters beat a super hard mario level. Later in life he probably discovered some shitty little low-commitment phone game like pokemon go or pikmin bloom or some daily sudoku puzzle thing and he plays it every day but its not that big a deal. He has been pressured by his friends and daughters to make a roblox account but he hasnt played it at all.

Senshi: THIS guy is the one that plays animal crossing. He logs in when he can but hes not on that every day grind. Also he doesnt play the newest one he doesnt play horizons he plays one of the DS ones. Wild world probably. He either doesn't like or doesn't know about the nintendo switch. Whenever one of his villagers say that they want to leave he'll nod solemnly and say smth like "Well... I suppose it'd be selfish to ask ye to stay, friend... Just promise me you'll stay safe and never forget me... Go and explore the world. Wish ye the best." Plus his island would be covered in weeds. He also has some mobile games he enjoys angry birds and candy crush and crosswords (gotta keep the brain in shape!) but other than that he doesn't videogame much because he prefers board games and tabletop stuff he isnt too jazzed about all this modern technology plus a console or a laptop and all that gaming equipment is a lot to lug around and hes a nomad he would NOT have that shit

Falin: Now FALIN is the cosy gamer. kind of. Falin plays animal crossing new horizons sometimes and has fun making a bad island on purpose. Very mildly "bad" tho the worst she'll do is use the drawing feature to hide a giant penis on the beach or whatever. Or she'll give her villagers silly outfits. She also plays minecraft (either skyblock or she makes a new world and explores and builds a couple houses and then forgets about it and makes another new world) and roblox (likes 'trolling' strangers by dressing up funny and acting kind of strange in roleplay servers but she's never actually mean or anything.) But the big thing she likes is story-driven indie rpgmaker games. She's the person who will say shit like "Yeah I played Blums Booglies the quest for Big Dinners and it was so good I cried for 9 hours" completely unironically.

kabru: social gamer like laios but the games he plays on purpose are the sims (he likes to cause them problems) and online multiplayer games (he likes to peoplewatch). I can also see him doing absurd and tortrous challenge runs of games like No items no pokecenter one type hardcore nuzlockes. im correct

izutsumi: ACTUALLY trolls people on roblox. And she plays needlessly gory flash games. Maybe she calls people dumbfucks over valorant voice chat sometimes

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #dunmesh #dunmeshi headcanons

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lime-bloods · 1 year

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The theory used to be that Caliborn was his own dad. Thematic echoes ring around the story; his followers' obsession with "MOTHERFUCKING" evokes the Oedipal undertones of Yaldabaoth imprisoning and corrupting his creatress Sophia. And Aranea, often misinformed but rarely, if ever - in spite of the school of red herrings surrounding English - intentionally misleading, seems to hint at such a possibility: Caliborn and Calliope's home planet is the former home planet of their father, which is in her words "a loc8tion now conspicuously occupied 8y a truly massive 8lack hole". Now that the comic's over, and we have a more comprehensive idea of English's life and times - he was born, he fucked with the trolls, left to try to kill his sister, and then died - it seems pretty unlikely that he had the opportunity to go back to the era of his birth and spawn himself... in the incarnation we're most familiar with, at least. We've known from much earlier on that there were Englishes in "countless universes", and that the "mobster Hulk" menacing Homestuck itself would never be fully representative of all of Caliborn's crimes. And now that I've spent some more time looking over the mechanisms by which Caliborn is able to exist in so many countless universes, I'm not totally convinced that he isn't his own dad?

Cherub romance is chiefly two things; it's caliginous, and it's incestuous. One way in which it is widely understood to be incestuous is by way of being masturbatory: in its mate, a cherub looks for "qualities its other half once had", seeking to replace the aspect of itself it once referred to as brother or sister. But increasingly, I also think cherub mating is incestuous by way of being cyclical. Indeed, it's difficult to draw a line between 'cyclical' and 'masturbatory' for a race who couple by forming an ouroboros; but as touched upon already, the planet around which Caliborn's father intertwined with his mother was also the planet around which his father's father intertwined. Because cherubs always mate around black holes.

It's easy to fall back on the simplest, most surface-level observation of the black hole, that it's a symbol of Lord English. I have described the singularity in the past as English's mouth, the orifice that swallows suns in the same manner the god of time Cronus swallowed his own son. But once more, English is ouroboros; the mouth that swallows his prey is also the mouth that swallows itself. The number of times I've pointed out the significance of white and black holes in Homestuck could be aptly called ad nauseam: but for the comic's metanarrative purposes, being a gateway out of the story also makes the white hole a gateway forward into progress, and by contrast, the black hole is necessarily a pitfall into regression. Just as the black hole is where the god of cycles is swallowed by his own cycle, and is therefore a signpost of Lord English's resurrection, it is also where cherubs go to enact violence upon their sibling-spouses because that is where their parents, and their grandparents, and their grandparents' grandparents, enacted violence upon each other.

Bruce Banner was transformed into the monstrous green Hulk halfway by radiation, halfway by a brutal childhood at the hands of his own monstrous father. Cronus devoured his son, black hole-like, because he received prophecy that his children would overthrow him the same way he had overthrown his own tyrannical progenitor. Even Oedipus was an early victim of the time loop; had prophecy not deemed him at the moment of his birth to be responsible for his father's death, his infamous transgression upon his mother could never have taken place. Whether we choose to believe English literally stepped through that black hole in some winged incarnation to commit the Oedipal sin, or if the rift through space and time is simply a symbolic wound - the bleeding hole left by generations of fathers traumatising wives and sons - the end result is the same. By becoming the Lord of Time, that god of cycles, and embedding himself in the very story structure cherubs dedicate their lives to upholding, Caliborn must embody that cycle; and the Oedipal is in the cyclical just as much as it is in the incestuous. Whether or not Caliborn's dad is him is irrelevant to the simple fact that Caliborn is his own dad.

#homestuck #analysis #caliborn #lord english #marvel comparative #black holes

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ryuichirou · 3 months

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Replies

More replies! The first one is related to our reply from yesterday, and then a couple of other twst-related ones (about Trey, about Grim, etc).

Anonymous asked:

How about Sebek and the Tweel’s reaction to the accursed dakimakura? Speaking of which, have you ever thought of making one? If you could, who would it be of?

First of all, “accursed” sounds like the word Sebek would use to describe it. The accursed dakimakura would make him super uncomfortable… why would one own a pillow of that size, especially with some lecherous woman printed on it? (SO FUCKING RUDE, Idia’s waifu isn’t lecherous, she is actually pretty cute looking and pure!) Anyways, sometimes Sebek looks at it, then gets grumpy and looks away. He would be a bit jealous until Idia says something about the possibility of creating a daki of Malleus, and then Sebek’s head will stop computing. He is also someone who is the most likely to fall asleep hugging it… Idia doesn’t want Sebek to hug his waifu, especially after he disrespected her like that, but he looks like Sebek’s going to wake up and bite him if he tries to steal it from him.

The Tweels would like it and find it kind of funny, but in different ways. Jade would hint at Idia having interesting hobbies without outright saying it, but he would also treat the pillow like a lady. He would move it very carefully, maybe even apologise to it once. It amuses him to be such a gentleman to an object, it’s like he is trolling Idia for having a body pillow as a companion to sleep with. Idia doesn’t consider it “a companion”, but somehow still feels embarrassed about it…

One time Jade would find a picture of someone tying up a daki pillow shibari-style and “accidentally” send it to Idia. Just to see how he would react.

Now, Floyd. You know like some guys sometimes grab plushies and punch them in their plushy solar plexus? This is what Floyd does. He grabs this poor pillow and punches it for no reason other than it being soft and punchable. But then he would squeeze it and hug it tightly, cuddling with it and maybe even pushing his entire face against it. But then he would fold it in half and sit on top of it. But then he’ll nib on it gently. But then he’ll yeet it somewhere. But then he’ll caress its printed face and stare into her anime bug eyes for 30 minutes. And Idia can’t do anything about it, just wait until Floyd loses interest :( Idia’s poor girly…

Sorry, I got carried away lol But yeah, I have drawn pictures for dakis before! But all of those are private commissions, so I never posted any of them. I like drawing it though; it’s a lot of fun! Would you like to own a daki drawn by me?.. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it all that much before.

The only one I actively thought about drawing is actually Edmund, the main boy from the Nebula College. I’ll definitely draw it one day. But if I had to pick someone from twst, then actually Lilia! He would be so cute on one side and so sultry on the other side lol

Anonymous asked:

Have you guys thought of human Grim design?

Not really, but I’m not opposed to the idea. I don’t draw Grim enough in general lol even though we like him.

I can’t quite imagine him as a human yet, but he’s probably still going to be short and gremlin-like… maybe it’s better for him to stay fluffy.

Anonymous asked:

Hiya. I'd like y'all's opinion on something.

So, I've had this headcannon for a while about a yan Trey. (or just a normal Trey, I guess)

Where basically he likes to brush someone else's teeth for them cause "they obviously can't do it properly themselves."

And I was looking through y'all's ship list and saw Trey/Idia and thought that fit really well.

And I just started imagining Trey brushing Idia's teeth for him, like gripping his face and just brushing away.

And I was wondering what y'all thought of that.

Yeah, Anon, this is pretty much regular Trey behaviour lol

Trey’s interest in Idia’s teeth is one of the reasons this ship could be so fun and hot, one of the drawings of them that I did was teeth-related… even though Trey isn’t brushing anything here, just touching and scaring the shit out of poor Idia… But still, I feel like drawing Trey brushing Idia’s teeth is somewhat inevitable. Hopefully. I really want to do it. Trey Clover isn’t alright.

We do have an ask about yandere!Trey hcs, and I didn’t have time to write anything for it yet, but whenever I think about it I think about pretty much what you described, so uhh it’s definitely going to be there…

Anonymous asked:

Me waiting on the whole school to have on big ol gang bang🧍

Stay tuned for Twisted Wonderland Book 8! 🥰

#replies #headcanons

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signed-sapphire · 7 months

Text

The Fallen Star ✨

A Wish rewrite

Cielo design 💛

The boy is here! The most ever! The Fallen Star’s very own Starboy!

So I lied and don’t have the finalized designs for King Maggie or Queen Ams yet soooooo *throws confetti at you* take this Starboy reimagining in the meantime!

Eugh boy the name gave me trouble. I didn’t want to use Aster since that’s the name of a a couple popular Starboys already (@annymation/@gracebeth3604/ @mythartist21) and while the Greek name is cool, I wanted something a bit different.

SEE-EH-LO, for anyone wondering. He/they pronouns <3

I was heavily considering choosing Estrella and making Starboy a Stargirl, and then we’d have a gay romance. But this is supposed to be SOMEWHAT of a homage to early Disney. This may not be KoW, but… idk. Cielo is a gender neutral name. Literal manifestation of light. Go ahead and draw them as a female-presenting figure and it’s still TFS!canon~

Aaaaaaanyways. Here’s the actual rewrite!

First of all! Cielo is NOT the Northern Star! He’s a baby star like… in the bottom right

However, the Northern Star? Evangeline? Yeah, she’s gonna be in my rewrite

But Cielo is NOT her

For now I’ll just say Evangeline is sort of a mentor-figure to Cielo and leave it at that

So not all stars are wishing stars, and similar to Kingdom of Wishes, a wishing star is born when first wished upon

Once a wishing star fulfills their first wish, they become Stars (capital S), and are free to help anyone that needs it

The more wishes a Star fulfills, the more powerful they become

Idk maybe it’s like a Rise of the Guardians thing, where the more people that believe, the stronger your magic is

Sparkles and hope and glitter and shit

Until, as explained in my rewrite… the Stars grew bored and started simply granting wishes

Then people grew lazy and started demanding wishes

And all this belief made the Stars go overpowered

Basically it became Wonderland, everything coming true, kingdoms burning and villages destroyed

Yeah. So Magnus god rid of them eventually

Though who would suspect that it would be the king’s own daughter that would bring back his greatest fear?

Yep, Asha brought Cielo down

Not purposely, but even if she had done it purposely, she wouldn’t have chosen Cielo

He’s a little baby, a dwarf star maybe

Only ever gotten one wish in his life…

Huh never seen that before *side eyes KoW*

Personality traits

Optimistic

Very Anna-coded

Probably ADHD tbh (autism x adhd duo unite)

Stubborn

HE’S the quirky Disney princess

Although more Flynn than Raps

Backstory

Fuck around and find out

(And by fuck around I mean wait for my rewrite to come out bc I haven’t slept in two days and I’m too tired to articulate their story accurately)

Design

Due to popular demand, Cielo now has the Charlie Morningstar cheek thingies

Also @gracebethartacc got an ask about canon!Star being marketed with a star over their right eye so… vitiligo mark, anyone?

Yeah I don’t have many colored refs but basically Cielo’s star eye mark and cheek thingies turn into vitiligo marks when in their “human form”

Uh take this

Ye sort of like this^

Heart shaped face! His part is also supposed to resemble a “V” shape to make the top of the heart

My sister said they looked like Viva and I’m crying but too late to take it back

I guess they’re both Spanish? Ajdjajhsjajajs

Thin slutty waist. Imagine Lucifer from Hazbin Hotel bc Jeremy Jordan is Yes.

Like I’m obsessed with that wet cat of a character I’m thinking about Cielo’s voice being Jeremy

Although his younger VA days as like Varian would better suit Cielo…

ANYWAYS

Design by @mythartist21 save for the Trolls hair and cheek thingies! Those were my additions

Uhhh pointy ears, poofy sleeves

Idk is the star eye mark AND the cheek thingies too busy? Lmk and I’ll try to post a colored ref of that helps

#asha #disney wish #princess asha #asha x star #star x asha #the fallen star au #wish 2023 #human star #starsha #saph doodles #wish reimagined #wish disney #wish star #wish #star wish #wish concept art

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ananonymousguy20 · 1 year

Text

A DOUBLE WARNING TO EVERYONE IN THE TROLLS DREAMWORKS FANDOM.

⚠️⚠️Do not interact with they. For your safety block and make others aware.⚠️⚠️

TW: Grooming, approval, justification and defense for abuse (incest and pedophilia).

1 Stay away from jade-green-butterfly also known as HealerCharm and Jussy (Justine Louise Heverm. She is from Colchester, United Kingdom). She’s on Tumblr, DeviantArt, Skype, Furaffinity and Discord. In the last few years she has been active and gaining recognition in the Trolls Fandom as if what she did to so many minors never happened so I want to spread awareness on what being a pedo really looks like and if anyone (especially minors) is friend with her they will know what kind of horrible person she is.

She was already exposed before with proofs, a lot of screenshots and testimonies of minors and Discord Mods that we can't invalidate or deny it really happened. She groomed minors on Discord: she sent them porn drawings to the chat, wanted to play a “sexy” RolePlay with minors and with a character that represents a little toddler girl. Her tastes are very clear. She is a very manipulative person and always plays the innocent victim card who made a simple mistake, but she knows what she is doing because she spread a victim blaming discurse, gaslighting and ignores all the screenshots and testimonies against her, she says they are not evidence and they are taken out of context, she is no fool.

These are not "slips" (as she wants to make them out to be), she does it on purpose, that is her true nature: an abuser.

I see, it happens tho, but why Kaitlin practically dissapeared after being accused of grooming 14* years old kids in discord chats? (*It was 13).

Jussy: “It was THEIR FAULT. They were in wrong for doing NSFW too”.💀 By the way, I think I was told that this person is or was a caregiver.

2 KaitlinEXE (Maria Romina Auxiliadora Fernandez). She is from Cadiz, Spain. Is her friend, best friend, like a sister to Jussy. She also groomed minors and therefore deleted her entire existence from the internet in 2021.

Let's be honest, an adult or even a teenager is not interested in spending their leisure time with minors, no matter how much of a “babysitter” she is. If you like spending time with children as an adult, you become a teacher or nanny, and so on. Seeking to spend time alone with minors, giving them gifts, "friendship", flattery, adults "feeling" like children or liking children's things (drawing, watching cartoons, RP, toys) are all -together- characteristics of grooming.

Although she is a TEACHER over 35 years old, yet she is looking to spend time alone with minors. It seemed normal and right for her to accept the invitation to join a Discord group with its own NSFW section where she was the only adult there and they were all minors, as she gained the trust of those minors by being nice, giving them drawings, and "befriending" them. Wanted to RolePlay being a couple, kissing, dating on Valentine's Day and then she was planning to get married. Since they had a NSFW section I think you know where this is all going: to the "honeymoon". Interacting NSFW without her putting any kind of limits on them, she even encouraged them when they drew her porn drawings.

She is a fan of porn material that mimics the sexual exploitation of minors (mangas porn loli/shota), shipping a Gohan kid with and adult Piccolo (who is like his father), drew her own manga porn with her OC Kaitlin Classic with an Elecman Classic (who is his brother and they are both children), and was a big fan of a kindergarten little girls porn comic “Irina’s World” (El Mundo de Irina, Irina Isekai) all this while she was studying to be a kindergarten teacher because being with children has always been her dream.

People, don't be fooled. Be more critical of people. Just because they're “nice” doesn't mean you should overlook the nastier things they do because then you give them a free pass to continue being this way. Jussy and KaitlinEXE are old enough to know what they’re doing is wrong. For they the internet is some fantasy world to do whatever it feels like and It's not right. The people here are PEOPLE and are not here just for your entertainment and twisted fun.

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skaruresonic · 1 month

Note

Remember me? To start off: I'm sorry about triggering some terrible and mentally painful memories when I went off about how I felt about the state of Flynn criticism. I never intended that. I wasn't defending or, heck, even trying to invite discussion about Flynn's rabid fanatics anyway. I could've chosen my words better, but aside from the detractors' mentalities, I meant to focus on Flynn ONLY. And I have nothing against your or their fan fictions. I do fan fiction, too. I just noticed what seemed like extreme shilling surrounding their exposure. I don't aim (and never did) to change minds about the dude, but I find the constructiveness of the critical discourse has been long lost.

Fitting that I received your ask on the first-year anniversary of my visual novel.

And I have nothing against your or their fan fictions. I do fan fiction, too.

Then why bring it up? What does "and your fics aren't even that good" add to the conversation about another writer's work?

I just noticed what seemed like extreme shilling surrounding their exposure.

Ah. There it is.

Look, I'm going to be brutally honest with you. But before I do, I want you to know I'm not angry with you, just annoyed - and perhaps angry in general at the overall situation we're in.

Honestly, the current climate is reminding me of the time antis gentrified Half-Life and caused the old guard to disperse. Everyone in our mutual circle is drifting away from Sonic in some form or another because it's such a toxic cesspit, and what's worse, they blame us for it. Would you want to stay in a situation like that?

Anyway, I have no patience for "you keep shilling your work" anymore because that standard only seems to apply to us. If we held everyone else to that standard, this entire Chili's would be revealed as hypocrites in an instant.

The fic mocking is not an isolated event. I've seen it happen over and over again, for years. Folks mocked Crusher's fic and OCs on TV Tropes. Folks mocked Darklight's OCs on Twitter. Folks sneered that we were too stupid to comprehend storytelling, and once someone said "none of them can even draw."

They can never leave it at "their criticisms suck." No, they have to make things so much more personal than they need to be. In the absence of an actual argument, they call you names, say you deserve all kinds of punishment, including but not limited to death and rape. Crusher had to delete hundreds of threats from his inbox. So please forgive me if my patience has waned paper-thin.

Folks feel the need to knock us down a peg because they think it's "warranted" on the basis of "we have egos." Which is a riot when, again, everyone on social media shills their work. That's what fandom does. You cannot throw a rock in here without hitting someone who thinks their AU improves on the games. I don't know why IDW is so sacrosanct that saying "I could probably do better" is considered blasphemy.

Whether or not my friends shill their own work as being "better" than IDW or whatever else is irrelevant. IDW staff are professionals (or should be, anyway); what do they care if some rando thinks they can do better? Besides, have you heard Flynn's recent grumblings about how he's tired of having the same conversations about his work since he was in high school? Why does he keep answering questions he doesn't want to dignify with a response? Why does he sound so miserable for someone who essentially Won the Game(tm)?

People telling you your work sucks a couple of times, yeah, maybe you can chalk that up to trolling. But when damn near everyone takes the excuse to hit below the belt, you start to feel less like "don't feed the trolls" and more like you're deliberately being targeted as a punching bag.

And I'm sorry, but I have no patience for that stuff. Take whatever umbrage you want with the state of criticism these days, but leave the fic out of it. That's all I ask.

#asks

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lilythesingingwitch · 8 months

Text

So I may have created a trolls AU based the show Julie and the phantoms (which I highly recommend you check out)

In this AU, instead of being a simple boy band like in the movie, they a literally a band, with JD on the lead guitar, Bruce on drums, Clay on the bass, Floyd on keys, and Branch is the second guitar in training. Poppy and Branch are still best friends, and are gonna become a couple eventually, but in the beginning, just friends.

So, without further adieu, let me introduce you, to Poppy and the Phantoms!

First up we have Poppy (Please don't mind the fact that she doesn't have tail in the drawing, I forgot to add it here but it will be present when I digitalize these)

Poppy is a University student still mourning the death of her mother, who is desperately trying to fix her inability to sing and play music since her mothers passing. She still loves music, but the grief is sadly stronger. When her dad brings up the thought of selling the house in favor of helping her, Viva and himself with moving on from her death, she goes to clean the garage, aka her moms old music studio. Where she finds an old CD, for a band called Brozone. When she puts it in the player and lets the first song play, three familiar ghosts pop out of nowhere.

(Things written on the paper, without my spelling mistakes and some minor stuff I didn't write down)

Lives in the house that John Dory and his new band would live and practice at

Discovers the phantoms when looking through her moms stuff in the garage

Figures out pretty quickly who they are, with Branch being her best boyfriend

They make a band to help the guys ascend and Poppy to mend her relationship with music

Lives with Viva and her dad

Next up, John Dory

Back when he was in his teens, he and his brothers made a band called Brozone, which, despite was pretty popular all things considered. However, when they were preparing for one of the biggest concerts of their live, they get into a fight about John Dory being too bossy and demanding of his younger siblings. After which, John Dory leaves the house and his family at the age of 17. In the span of his time alone, he makes a new band with some of his new friends. In a short span that they've been a band. John Dory wrote pretty much all of the songs that they sang, and though trial and error, they got an opportunity to play on a stage that has made a lot of underground artists mainstream. However, John never gets the chance to play on that stage, for her dies from a poisoning 30 mins before the show.

(Things written on the paper)

He and his brothers were in a band called Borzone, where he played the guitar

Until he, SpBruce and Clay quit, leaving Floyd and Branch alone (Well, they all lived with Grandma, you get what I mean)

Regrets it, deeply

Wrote all the Brozone songs, including songs for his new band

Also wrote "Unsaid Emily", which was originally named "Unsaid Family" as a tribute to his biggest mistake in life and an apology to his brothers, but renamed it.

Died right before his big performance on the same day and Bruce and Clay

Died at the age of 23

Bruce next

When his brother proposed the idea of making a band, he had his doubts, since they were all in school and had their own stuff to do, but then again, up until then, he and JD always did crazy things together, and band was by far the most tamest of his brothers ideas. And with everyone else on board he thought "fuck it, why not?". And it was fun for a while, until he noticed how controlling JD had become, always telling him to go practice instead of letting him hand out with friends, telling him to watch his shape, giving him a work out routine for that, Bruce had enough and finally stood up to his brother and claimed that he's quitting the band, to which Clay joined in on, and which prompted JD to leave all together. And soon after, he leaves the house at the age of 16. He rents a small house by the beach, works at the cafe near it, changes his name from Spruce to Bruce, and takes up surfing. Which also becomes his downfall on a particularly bad day, and he takes his surfboard out for a quick swim, gets swallowed by a wave, and never resurfaces.

(Things written on the paper)

Was the drummer in Brozone

Was the first one to declare he's leaving the band and feels like it's his fault for causing the butterfly effect of others quitting as well

Left to live by the beach as soon as he could

Wanted to reach out to his brothers, but only ever sent a single post card to each

Died in a surfing accident on the same day as John Dory and Clay

Died at the age of 22

Cried when they all realized that they're dead

Last but not least (for now), Clay

Clay was, surprisingly, very on board with JDs idea about the band, despite being the nerd and bookworm of the family. He just wanted to spend more time with his brothers and have fun. That quickly changed when John completely stopped paying attention to Clays interests, hobbies and dreams. And especially with the forced title of "The fun one". He finally snapped when John kept trying to push them beyond their limit for their important concert, the time they should've spent relaxing after all the hard work they did to get this far was instead spent with their instruments like that's all that mattered. When Bruce brought up quitting the band, Clay happily joins that train, and walks out the door as soon as John and Bruce do. And so, Clay leaves the house and goes to stay with his friend at the age of 14. He finishes high school, gets accepted into a very good university, and moves into a dorm as soon as he can as to not cause more trouble for his friend than he already has. And life is good again, he's doing what he wants, works at a local library, studying to be a licensed CPA, and is gathering his courage up to confess to Viva. However, he does the latter too late, for he confesses to her and dies in a fire at the university while saving her, pushing her out of the burning building before it collapses on top of him.

(Things written on the paper)

Was the bassist in Brozone

Stayed with a friend after leaving the band and moves into a dorm as soon as he got accepted into uni

Was going to be a licensed CPA

Was best friends with Viva before he died

Died on the same day as John Dory and Bruce in a fire

Died at the age of 20

Was also in a sad book club

There's still a lot I need to write out about this AU, and a lot of characters to draw and design, but I hope you all like what I have so far! Here are some redraws of certain scenes from Julie and the Phantoms with this crew (again, excuse the lack of tails on one of these, I once again forgot to add them, just imagine that they're there)

#art #my art #trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #trolls brozone #trolls bruce #trolls poppy #trolls john dory #trolls jd #trolls clay #trolls dreamworks #poppy and the phantoms au

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mrfancyfoot · 7 months

Text

Healthy Reminder to Not Feed the Trolls.

I think especially younger fandom members and creators need to hear this because it's not advice that I see nearly as often anymore and part of that may be because my gen (Millennials) heard it a lot and often take it as Just Something You Know (though I think we also sometimes need the reminder). But we're older now and there are those younger than us that may not have the experience we do, especially if we just assume they know better (and younger and younger people are online now). It's part of Online Safety 101. I've linked to a couple resources near the bottom.

A troll is someone who shows up in a space and is purely there to upset someone and cause drama/chaos. All they're seeking is attention and the enjoyment they get from upsetting you. They do not care about facts, your feelings, or anything else you throw at them. They will argue in bad faith. They will commit the cardinal sin of Being Wrong on the Internet. They will accuse you of committing the cardinal sin of Being Wrong on the Internet. They will make fun of your favorite character, your art, your writing, you, your friends, your dog, any and everything. They will tell you that how you enjoy or interpret your favorite thing(s) is Wrong or Bad. They love to cause drama in and between groups. Peaceful coexistence is often what they want to disrupt.

Some spaces will unfortunately draw more trolls than others.

In this PSA, I'm not quite referring to the "trolling" term that is also used interchangeably to mean "joking" or "fooling around" with the intent to get a raise out of someone but not necessarily to upset them. Though that can easily lead to this.

Resist the Urge to Feed Them. ("Feed them" being "give them attention.")

Don't give them attention by responding to them or giving them any kind of space on your blog/page/whatever. That's what they want. That's what they live off of. They want the hate because it means they've gotten under your skin and in your head and that makes them happy. They may have an agenda, they may have no specific agenda.

This can be so hard because it's natural to feel the need to defend yourself, someone else, and/or the things you enjoy. It can feel good to correct or engage someone who comes at you swinging. But they often don't stop. They will keep leeching your time and energy, especially if you allow them to.

You lose nothing by not engaging them. They bring nothing of value.

Engaging them can bring drama and hurt in your spaces and this may not only affect you. This can tear apart fandom spaces, cause rifts in groups, and pit people against each other. And then you're all unhappy and you have these negative associations of interacting with something that previously brought you joy. It causes people to stop creating, to stop engaging with others in the fandom, and to even leave fandoms.

And that is the goal of many trolls.

If you feel the need to address something they've said publicly, do not link their post/message/blog/name/etc. You want to give them as little of the attention as possible - you're addressing the accusation/concern/subject/whatever specifically, not them. Don't even relate it back to them if you can prevent it.

Some very non-exhaustive examples of what can be trolling behaviors:

They leave nastygrams in your inbox/Ask box.

They leave negative comments or reblogs on your post.

They leave unsolicited "critique."

They'll tell you that how you interpret X is wrong.

"Your blorbo would never do that!"

"X should never be shipped with Y!"

Antis (the people or groups that don't agree with certain content and try to get others to stop making/sharing it [being anti-X doesn't make you a troll, but going into the space for X and telling those people that they're wrong for liking X is trolling/harassment])

Someone comes into your fandom niche and tells you all that You're Wrong

They may behave inappropriately or send inappropriate things

They don't always use provocative language - they may be very polite (all the easier to make you seem like the unreasonable one if they do get a rise out of you). Still trolling.

They'll do or say things to try to get support from others in order to turn it on you/someone or pit "sides" against each other

They may lie and/or try to spread rumors

"You/they made this with A.I!" is a common accusation towards artists/writers I'm seeing now that has absolutely been picked up by trolls and is unfortunately spreading (please always make sure that you are informed and don't jump on the hate wagon just because you see others doing so - do your own research and demand credible sources/proof [learn what "proof" is per context]). I've seen this kind of accusation disrupt artists' livelihoods just based on someone's say-so that others piled on with no credible claims.

It is okay to have differences.

People are allowed to be Wrong on the Internet, but that doesn't mean that they're owed a response or that you can't delete their comments. You can delete comments on your page just because you feel like it (though "I don't like it." or "This makes me feel uncomfortable." are perfectly fine, non-exhaustive reasons).

If you don't engage them, they will often simply go away. You're not fun if you don't give them attention. You're not going to change their behavior (please don't waste your time trying). Some may try harder to get you to notice or reply to them, but they generally won't stick around for long. They'll move on.

Curate your blog/social/fandom space. (You'll be so much happier and healthier for it.)

Do not engage them.

Block them.

Report them.

Delete their DMs, comments, etc.

Use the moderation tools that you have.

You are under no obligation to accept every 'friend' request, or allow everyone to 'follow' you or engage with you on social media or let into your Discord server or into your little fandom or Tumblr friend group, etc etc. If someone is causing drama, kick them out! Don't feel the need to keep giving them chances to behave, either. Don't be afraid to put your foot down and be firm.

If they pop their head back up (maybe even under a new name), block them again, report them again, delete their messages again. Do not engage. Move on. Dealing with trolls is often like playing whack-a-mole. Send them to the void with the spambots.

You will be happier not engaging them.

Honestly, the above works in similar scenarios, too (not just random strangers)!

Uncle Joe keeps ranting on your page and upsetting you and/or your friends? Delete his comments. Block/unfriend him. Don't feel obligated to keep troublesome family members involved on your social media. Or even in your life.

If the above is someone that you can't simply block (there are valid reasons), sites like Facebook allow you to make lists that you can use to control who sees which of your posts.

You may have to remind your friends, followers, or others in the fandom to not feed the trolls.

You are the moderator of your own spaces. If this is a public space or a private group space that you don't control, politely inform a moderator or someone who has the authority to deal with the troll (sometimes all you can do is hit a report button and/or block them).

Learn the moderation and safety tools that you do have for the platform/app you're using:

How to unfollow/unfriend someone

How to report and block someone

How to turn off read receipts for things like chats and emails

How to turn off online status

How to contact site staff

How to turn off reblogs/comments/etc

How to turn off anonymous/guest messages or comments

How to delete comments

How to moderate comments, etc, on your works (ex: AO3 has an option for all story comments to be approved before they're posted on your work)

How to privatize your profile

How to back up and delete your content

How to filter content

Thoroughly read through all settings (I recommend doing this periodically as settings frequently get updated or change)

Learn where and who you can turn to for help

Read the platform's FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), Rules, and Terms of Service (TOS)

Etc

And again, They will Argue in Bad Faith.

They may accuse you of not being fair, of not allowing them to participate, of leaving them out, of ignoring them, of not "liking" them, of being "mean" to them, of your silence "agreeing" with them or meaning they're "right." They may accuse you of being a bad person or condoning bad things IRL. They may accuse you of any number of wild things. They may say they're just "being the devil's advocate" or of defending their own fandom interests. They may call you names and insult you. They may say that they have private information about you that they'll leak/share or that they'll do X if you don't do Y - this is almost certainly a bluff, but this is part of why it's important to protect your private information and be careful about what you post online. They may say that something you've done is illegal and that they're going to report you to the police (again, very likely bluffing just to scare you). They may even say that they'll harm themselves. There's a lot of crossover between spammer/scammer and troll tactics (often they are one and the same).

That's what they do.

Don't take their words personally.

They just want to guilt you into allowing them to stay and continue causing drama.

It is okay to give people chances.

But you do not need to keep giving them chances.

In your spaces, you don't even need to give them a chance or an explanation.

I have become very liberal with how I deal with trolls. I block on sight in many cases. I don't give them ground to even start if it can be helped. But part of that is just due to experience - you gain the ability to recognise them pretty fast (a lot of it is simply pattern recognition), the difficult part is usually in how you choose to deal with them.

If someone is being particularly problematic, keep a paper trail (like screen shotting their messages with time stamps), but otherwise block+report is usually still the thing to do. If they are threatening harm to you, someone else, or themselves, report them (if you're a minor, tell a trusted adult). If you don't know what to do or you're scared, reach out to someone you trust for support. Trolling is a form of online bullying that can escalate to other forms of harrassment - a majority of the time, simply not engaging them helps prevent this, otherwise know that tools and resources are available for help. Just because it's "online" doesn't mean it isn't real or impactful or can't have "real life" consequences - there are agencies (like the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center) that you can file a report with or contact for help.

Have fun, be safe!

#This is for everyone but specifically aimed at the seemingly increasing amount of drama I've seen in one of my fandoms #PSA #Don't feed the trolls #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #being 30+ makes me old on the internet ;_;#Fancy's Grumblings

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paikothecateater · 11 days

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fic about little norway and big brother sweden? maybe sweden teaching norway about something important?💕

Love that one!

In Sweden's opinion, the best thing about Denmark was that he was almost never around. It wasn't that Sweden particularly disliked Denmark, in fact, Denmark was his closest friend, his only friend, but his presence was a little constricting. He worried a lot and did everything he could to keep Sweden and Norway sheltered. It was a miracle that he even trusted Sweden to hold down the fort while he was gone.

His absence made for a lot more peaceful environment. Norway had been wordlessly carving into a slab of wood all morning. Sweden tried, but he couldn't decipher what Norway was drawing. He did seem to peer through the window a couple of times, so he might have been copying the scenery. Sweden was more than happy to watch the little viking. The sun reflected off of Norway's soft blonde hair, he had one hand hold the slab steady with the other making neat carvings with a small blade, his bright blue eyes moved rapidly from the board to the window. Sweden would occasionally reach over to stroke his hair.

Overall, their morning had been very quiet and peaceful. Sweden had brought little Norway tea earlier, though it remained untouched as the little viking was otherwise engaged. Sweden decided to take this uneventful morning as an opportunity to polish his axe. He wasn't exactly a huge fan of using it in combat, it was heavy and took time to swing, he much preferred archery, though his impaired vision would prove problematic in battle. Still, he kept his axes in pristine condition, they were a gift from Denmark after all.

Polishing it would also prove therapeutic...

Until he realised he could no longer hear Norway's carving.

He looked up to see Norway staring intensely out of the window, his eyes alight with pure concentration.

"Norway, is something outside?"

"..."

"Little Viking, you have to tell me if you see something of concern."

"..."

Sweden's expression morphed into confusion. Sure, Norway was normally shy, but he was also a huge chatterbox. If he'd seen something of interest, surely he'd say something, wouldn't he?

Suddenly, and before Sweden could process anything, Norway jumped from where he'd been sitting, managed to quickly stuff his feet into his leather boots and ran out of the door. Sweden quickly hopped to his feet, allowing the axe to fall to the ground, put on his own boots and sprinted after the little boy.

Norway had long since came to a stop and was now observing the nearby woods.

Sweden reached over and yanked Norway from the ground, inspecting him for injuries.

Much to Sweden's surprise, the little viking would actually protest trying to keep his eyes on the trees. Norway had always been a more docile child. Which was one of the reasons Sweden didn't yell at him, if Norway was this worked up about something, it was something to worry about.

"Norway, if there's something worrying you, you can tell me, and I'll help you. You can't run off, it's not safe for you."

Norway finally sighed.

"I saw the troll again..."

Sweden had to think of every tragic thing that had ever happened to him to stop himself from laughing.

"A troll, you say? What did it look like?"

"do you not see it? It's over there... In the trees."

Sweden takes a glance at said trees and as expected, he would end up seeing nothing.

"he... Must've run off then?"

Norway himself takes a glance and his face falls.

"oh..."

"would you like to try and follow it? But you have to be patient. You can't walk into any situation blindly. Bad things happen that way, not only do you not have a strategy to... Catch this troll, but it could also be dangerous."

"so how do we make a strategy then?"

"I have... No clue."

Norway turns to Sweden with an incredulous look.

"don't give me that look. Denmark's the one who calls the shots here, not me. We just have to... Figure something out. Any ideas?"

"why don't we just follow it?"

Sweden really couldn't argue with that logic. He really did not want to do anything today. Still, better he go than let Norway go alone.

And that's how Sweden found himself in the middle of the forest as it snowed heavily on him with Norway occasionally running off to chase the aforementioned troll. Seems like his little speech earlier about rushing into things fell on deaf ears. It had long since gotten dark, but Sweden was dreading having to tell Norway that they'd have to give up. He didn't even want to have to walk all the way back.

He realised that he couldn't even really see Norway anymore. A small panic went through him.

"NORWAY!"

No response.

Sweden began to seriously panic.

"NORWA-"

The sound of a shrill scream cuts him off. Up until this point Sweden had been speedwalking to find Norway, but now he would break into a full on sprint to find him.

Not exactly a good example of the life lesson he'd been trying to teach Norway as he himself would sprint right off an unseen cliff.

How embarrassing.

By the time he'd orientated himself a bright glow caught his attention. He turned his head to see Norway sitting across from a rudimentary fire looking slightly embarrassed.

"Norway..."

Sweden moves to sit next to him and puts an arm around him noticing the light dusting of red on the little viking's cheeks.

He can't help but chuckle. It was damn near impossible to be mad at Norway.

"I... Uh... May have... Uhm... Not listened"

Sweden pulled Norway onto his lap and into a hug.

"are you hurt? Your pride, no doubt."

Sweden could swear he saw Norway's cheeks go even redder.

"sprained my ankle..."

Sweden sighed.

"well it's no hope trying to get you home like this now. We ought to just camp here for the night, we'll find our way back tomorrow."

He managed to fix a rudimentary shelter for Norway. He had no problem spending the night exposed to the elements.

Tired from the day's ordeals, Sweden almost immediately fell asleep. Norway however, found himself struggling to fall asleep. It certainly didn't help that it was freezing.

The sound of a faint rustling registered in his ears. Norway felt a chill run through him and he was certain the cold had nothing to do with it at all.

He got up and walked gingerly towards the sound. Had he not known any better, he'd say he was dreaming, but he knew it was true. The elusive troll that had avoided Norway this whole time had been right there. It gave Norway a sly look before turning around and disappearing into the night. Norway knew he would see it again and he knew that chasing it would do him absolutely no good. They'd meet again. It didn't matter when.

He limped back to his and Sweden's rudimentary campsite and laid back down. Sweden's company was a lot more enjoyable than any troll's.

#aph nordics #aph headcanons #aph norway #hws norway #aph sweden #hws sweden

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isolde-illustrates · 2 months

Text

Young Bronte

I wanted to draw Bronte as a child, so I drew him with his father. The clothing is based off medieval Europe since elves have accents close to British, and the father has a simplified version of the family crest of Bronte since his last name has not been revealed.

The actual pose and emotions are based off the idea that Bronte was the first inflictor. In this idea, tw: death, he manifested his ability when he accidentally sent out emotions against his mother, who was an empath. Not only did she feel the emotions Bronte sent out, but also her husband's, and then the fear coming from Bronte afterwards. This caused the woman's mind to fracture and split while she simultaneously began to go numb as her body's coping mechanism to the flood of emotions kicked in. Similar to how snakes cannot control how much venom they release when they are very young, inflictors cannot control how much of their emotions they give out, making doses unpredictable. In this instance, Bronte let out all of his inflicting, causing his mother's mind to splinter. She was seeming to recover for a couple of days, although her emotions were shut off, but after about a week or so, her mind completely lost its grasp, and Bronte's mother had a broken mind.

His father shut up himself and the boy in their house, trying to process the event while also taken care of his wife. He had acted as a knight in the war between the species (before the treaties but after Fallon's establishment of the elven claims to certain lands). More reinforcements were required, and the elves required more knights to return to the battle. They also wanted to train up the young children into skilled warriors, using some of the few with special abilities to be the top warriors.

After some debate, his father was able to keep Bronte from the track of kids trained at Exilium for the front lines, giving his son up and the knowledge of his ability in hopes that Foxfire, the school of special abilities, would bring his son to one of the leader roles instead of a knight one. At the time, the schools were boarding schools, so Bronte's father told him goodbye for the last time before going to the front of the war and dying. Less than a year later, the Council created the Peace Treaties with the humans, goblins, trolls, gnomes, and ogres.

I felt like giving Bronte a little tragic backstory while also drawing him as a little kid. This is why he could not inflict positive emotions, had known for a while that elves can die, and was so desperate to keep Sophie from being a weapon that could be used against the Lost Cities (cause he had been meant as one to protect them). He also would totally have the memories of that week stored in his cache.

Sophie, during her inflicting session: Can we look at your cache? Can we? Can we?

Bronte: What? No!

Sophie: If I get the next lesson first try, can we?

Sophie, after excelling the first time: You never said you would not, so I want to see that memory. *points to one that is red* Cause it's the color of this ability!

Sophie, after watching how Bronte discovered his ability: Yeahh, next time, I'm gonna let you pick. That movie was a total downer.

#kotlc headcanons #kotlc thoughts #kotlc bronte #kotlc fanart #councillor bronte

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lxgentlefolkcomic · 2 years

Text

Info and FAQ (Please read before sending asks)

What is this?

This is the League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk, a comic project based on the premise of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Think The Avengers, but with characters from Victorian lit.

If you’re familiar with the Alan Moore comic, or the 2003 movie, don’t expect this project to look much like either one. I’m keeping the name, the basic premise, and most but not all of the core cast, and going my own way with all the rest.

Where can I start reading?

For the start of episode 1, click here. For non-canonical bonus material, click here. I’ll be updating this post with more links as the comic proceeds.

Who’s working on this thing?

The LXGF team consists of:

Chicken (@mayhemchicken-artblog): Project leader, artist, blog owner, part-time writer

linguisticparadox (@linguisticparadox): Writer, blog admin

Dathen ( @dathen, @datheneth on Twitter, Dathen on AO3): Editor, image description writer

L. Spooner (@fruitviking, @voiceofspoon on Twitter): Writer

@see-arcane: Writer

Mr. Pinniped (@mrpinniped, Mr_Pinniped on AO3): Writer

Rosie C. (@absolutely-and-always13): Writer

Lemur (@drowninginaseaoflemurs): Writer

The Collector of the Whimsies (@pop-goes-the-weasel): Writer

Jesterbells (@jesterbells): Writer

Luna: Editor

Drakontissa (@thegoatsongs): Writer, image description writer

@cattuladaily: Writer

@severedfeetpics: Writer

@kouvei: Writer

@the-constellation-collective: Image description writer

Hiri (@hirilelfwraith): Image description writer

Jade (@riseofthesea): Image description writer

Do I need to read all the books and stories this is based on?

We’re aiming to make the comic accessible to people who have never read the original works. Reading the stories will enrich your experience with the comic, but it is by no means necessary.

If you’re interested in reading the original works, @linguisticparadox compiled a fantastic Google doc with links to all the texts we’re using as inspiration. (at least, all the ones we can currently share without giving away future spoilers... :3c)

How will you be handling [insert issue/plot point/character portrayal from either LoEG or one of the source texts here]?

Hopefully, in a respectful and nuanced fashion. We’re doing our utmost to remain faithful to the source texts we’re drawing from whenever possible, while at the same time avoiding uncritically reproducing the prejudices present in those texts.

What are the guidelines for sending in asks?

Be respectful. This is the “goes without saying” rule, but this is Tumblr, so I’ll say it anyway. Trolls, hate, bad-faith questions, and exclusionism will be deleted.

Read the FAQ. If your question is covered in this post, odds are I’m not going to answer it.

Be patient. I’m only one person, and I’m not always going to be able to answer asks in a timely fashion - or at all. This is my first time running a blog that receives this level of interaction, and I’m still figuring a lot of things out as I go.

Are you looking for guest artists/writers?

Not currently. We’ve talked about this possibility for the future, but as of right now we’re not accepting submissions for new writers. I’ve also had a couple people offer to help with inking/backgrounds, and while I appreciate the offer, I would like to clarify that I do not intend to do either. The comic will remain black and white and sketchy indefinitely.

What characters are part of this?

There are a LOT of characters planned to appear in this thing. I’m working on a separate cast list page, but in the meantime, the core League by the end of Episode 2 will consist of: Mina and Jonathan Harker, Irene Norton (better known as Irene Adler), Dr. John “Jack” Seward, Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, Ashley Griffin, and Captain Nemo. Additionally, expect to see a wide variety of supporting cast members in roles both large and small, including more official League members to be added down the road.

Why is Jonathan Harker here?

Because he loves his wife!! And I love him. Also, he’s a white-haired kukri-wielding genderqueer possibly-a-cryptid, and how can you NOT put a character like that in your comic?

(Slightly more serious answer: Because this comic is founded almost entirely on spite and self-indulgence, and in my humble opinion the Harkers were done dirty by Alan Moore. I’m a huge Dracula fan thanks to Dracula Daily, and I want to give Jonathan Harker the spotlight I feel he deserves.)

Where can I learn more?

Join the Discord server! We’re discussing the comic, the works that inspired it, Alan Moore’s uhh...questionable creative choices, and more! There’s some bonus art in there, too.

#the league of extraordinary gentlefolk #info post #lxgf #yes i have actually had multiple people ask why i'm including jonathan #most of them were...not worth publishing #don't do anons folks /hj #lxgf ashley griffin

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rockingrobin69 · 1 year

Text

Wonder full (3)

Eventually Harry managed to wear Malfoy down—to convince him, that is, to move in. He didn’t bring a lot of things from the crappy flat: just the chest of drawers, a bunch of scratchy old records, and a pile of books. Mr. Picket tried to convince him to take more, any of the furniture, the photos on the walls, even the new sofa he's bought, all to Malfoy’s staunch refusal. “Don’t want to rely,” he started, then stopped, mouth twisting like he said something stupid. Grabbed the bin bag of his clothes and an empty tube of toothpaste and raced down to the rented van. Was silent the whole drive, buzzing at Harry’s shoulder without ever moving. But he relaxed by the time they got to the house, smiled when he saw Teddy’s drawings on the fridge door. Settled in unnervingly quick. And then they were housemates.

Oh, god, they were housemates.

This sudden existence taking space where Harry was usually quiet, usually by himself. It made everything feel more real, somehow. Less blurry. And moving in with Harry helped Malfoy too, Harry thought, released this tight line of his shoulders, rounded the sharpness of his frown. His laughter was still wild, still unhinged, and Harry liked that he could hear it more and more, and more, and more.

Work was still work. But Harry was constantly doodling on his notes, flowers and birds and trees, half-formed, disproportionate faces, big eyes with heavy eyelashes. Malfoy did the interviews with Ron a couple of times a week, and they all went to the pub together sometimes, with Ginny and Luna and Nev and the others. It was weirdly, weirdly, nice.

Malfoy was an interesting addition to the house. He worked awful hours, sometimes disappeared for days on end. He always left cups of half-drank tea everywhere, as if expecting to come back for them at some point. He insisted on buying and using a fabric softener that smelled, of all things, distinctly blue. He broke the coffee maker and always left the lights on in the hall, he chucked all of Harry’s cereal and got them Weetabix, was obsessed with fruit, mostly apples, sometimes oranges. He brought men to the house, gorgeous men who wanted to make him breakfast, who never somehow stayed. And he cleaned in the middle of the night, and monopolised the telly, and played his music far too loud and obnoxious, and Harry liked it so much he felt sick.

Most magnificent added bonus to the new living situation: Malfoy met Teddy. Or rather Teddy met Malfoy. Quiet, smiley Ted who never spoke much around Harry, who couldn’t shut up around him. As if something in Malfoy’s restless energy struck a chord, lit up something previously unknown inside him. Malfoy was baffled, spent a lot of time flushed, checking himself in the mirror, as if expecting to see someone else. Never did. And he made sure not to stay with Teddy on his own, only with Harry in the room, like he too required adult supervision.

Autumn came as it usually did, too tight and all of a sudden. September was uneventful, but then it turned October, and Harry felt every heckle in his body rise. It didn’t help that Malfoy was so loud, that there was no escaping him. It didn’t help that he followed Harry around the house like a duckling, always asking his questions and talking about nothing at all, about everything. It didn’t help that Harry sort of wanted him there, and dreaded it.

Things were getting quite tense by the end of the month. A week before Halloween Harry came back to the whole living room covered in fabric, and Malfoy in—

“The hell is this?” Harry managed weakly. Malfoy turned around, wearing a frown and nothing but tatters of linen, wrapped distressingly loose around his torso, gallons of body glitter on his exposed skin. It looked like someone who’s never seen a mummy before had a weird sex dream. It looked comical. Also very much not.

“I got a new gig. We sell perfume, I think. Down in the shopping centre beside the game shop, the one with the troll.”

Harry grunted in recognition. “And they want you dressed like that?”

“They have this promotion, bugger if I know. The pay’s terrific.” To Harry’s scowl, not letting up: “Do you—disapprove?”

“It’s,” Harry choked, and couldn’t make himself say a word more. Everything in his head was tight and, he suspected, entirely too petty to say out loud. He wasn’t a child, and this wasn’t—shouldn’t be a problem. Malfoy could have whatever job he wanted, prance around in the most revealing non-clothes, Harry didn't care. But—

“It’s Halloween,” he admitted through his teeth. “I don’t, don’t really like it.”

“Oh? Do elaborate.”

“Just don’t. Never did. I’d, erm, usually go to Sirius’s, or Ron and Hermione’s, and it was never… I mean.”

“I remember you were never around for the parties back at school. Possibly had this intention of shocking some reaction out of you, younger years. Wore some truly inspiring outfits. But that’s not really an answer, is it? What exactly is the issue I’m obviously missing here?”

“Who said there had to be an issue?”

“Your face did. Quit pouting.”

Harry didn’t pout, because he was an adult, who didn’t pout. “It’s just my face. Was born with it and everything.”

“To the general dismay of all, yes, we know. Now tell me what’s wrong or I’ll be late for my shift, and you will have to explain it to my acne-riddled, angsty teenaged boss.”

“Your boss is a teenager?” Harry frowned, and Malfoy rolled his eyes with a groan so loud it was almost funny.

“Of course he is. Are you trying to stall? Just tell me. I’m not a fucking wizard, I won’t know if you don’t—”

“My parents,” Harry said in this tiny voice he didn't even recognise. “It’s when they, er. It was the thirty-first, so, I don’t really celebrate or anything.”

Oh, god. Stupid, that was such a stupid thing to say. Harry regretted it, regretted saying anything at all in his life. Wouldn’t it be better if he'd been born mute, if he learned to keep his mouth shut and was just bloody quiet for one miserable time—

“I,” Malfoy said, and swallowed. Quiet, and also loud, in that weird, hectic way.

“Don’t,” pathetically, idiotically. “It’s fine.”

Malfoy's frown deepened. “I,” he said again, and stopped. Then: “Should have known that, actually.”

Harry rubbed his eyes till they sparked. “How would you? Not like I went and made a big deal of it. It’s not. A big deal, I mean.”

“Harry,” in this awful, low tone, possibly Malfoy's attempt at gentle. “I’m so—” hardening, hardening. “I can quit. I will. This is so silly and I never would have, ah, I'm being an absolute tosser about it anyway. No, quite right.”

The way he was standing, tall and firm and buzzing, roaring with it. “Just,” desperately, “stop, okay? I won’t even be here most of the week. Going to stay with Ron, Hermione’s out on this field research gig and—honestly, it’s fine. You don’t need to—I’m not a child.”

Malfoy made a rather horse-y sound. “That's not—” stopped once again. “All right. Fine. I’ll still quit, though. Teenage bosses in general I have no issues with, but Jeremiah is a bit too much for my tastes. He won’t even let me wear the nose ring. It’s basically like being in a cult.” Then snorted, a horrible, echoing sound. “Not that I’d know anything about that, would I.”

“Malfoy,” Harry tried.

“Truly, what am I even on about. News flash, Draco, this isn’t about you. You have… we can talk about it, if you’d like, about your parents. About all of it. I could listen.”

“No,” with this crackly, panicked laughter, “no, that’s fine. I’ll be away Thursday, so, really. I’ll see you again after—in November. Don’t quit, okay? Not for me. It doesn’t matter.”

Malfoy’s pretty nose scrunched. “What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.” Shook himself, a bit less stiff and a bit more himself. “That job wasn’t for me, anyway. I’ve already texted in my resignation.”

“What?” grinned, helpless. “When did you even have the time?”

“I’m a very prudent texter, Harry. You should know that about me. It’s what I always say when people ask: Draco Malfoy, twenty-six, prudent texter.”

This thing in his chest, the block of maybe-ice shifted, started to, not melt but, become more bearable. “You should add, arse.”

“Of course, it’s next on the list. Draco Malfoy, twenty-six, prudent texter, absolute arsehole. Unemployed but in a sexy way. Proficient in French, Latin, Hebrew, Russian and Greek, tragically underdeveloped interpersonal skills.”

"Git." Against the wall, against his better judgement: “And me? What should I tell people, if they ask?”

“Oh, that’s an easy one. Harry Potter, twenty-six, workaholic. Graceful evader. Not graceful anything else. Gifted artist but only in secret, horrible taste in tv series, best godfather, arms of a Greek god. A wanker of stellar proportions. Too big a heart.”

God, god, help him, save him from all this Malfoy all the time. The corners of his mouth ached. “I’m—hey, I’m sorry about being weird before. It’s just, the… maybe I’m just hungry or something.”

Malfoy perked up. “I made lentil soup. Heat some up for you? It’s not half bad.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” His stomach grumbled with it, or with something else. “Are you really not going to work? That’s a lot of wasted body glitter.”

Even his shrug was elegant. Was weird. “Perhaps not entirely a waste. There’s the whole night ahead of us, you know.” But he mostly just sat in front of Harry in the kitchen and made bad jokes about cutlery and shed glitter all over the chairs, the floor. It was possibly one of the best nights Harry’s had in a while. It was awful.

From Wonder Full's act 1, posted in full on AO3.

#drarry fic #'tis October...#snip from a wip. technically #although all of act 1 is posted #oh no they were housemates #references to canon trauma

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the-bloody-sadist · 11 months

Note

#we don't support peer preasure in this house

Love your hashtag above.

Can I ask how do you deal with hurtful comments on your fanfics from someone you consider a friend? Like I know if some stranger send hurtful comments it felt bad but damn when someone you know said the same thing it felt worse. Early this year I was kicked out and blocked from an animanga lover group when they find out that I wrote mlm fanfics from major shounen series (naruto,bnha, aot, jjk). This what they said :

“I'm convinced you must have never had friends before because all of these relationships are perfect depictions of what PLATONIC friendship is. If you want a gay story support ACTUAL gay couples like in BL & GL manga. Do you know how frustrating it is to see people move mountains for a non canon ship that’ll never happen then ignore actual gay manga’s and anime’s in BL & GL anime/manga...."

What do you think? Even until now, I'm still feeling a bit guilty for liking non canon mlm and wlw ships from shounen series. But when I found your blog and read your posts, I felt way better. Especially that answer of yours to anon who asked is it weird to love mlm& wlw more than wlm. Thanks for sharing your hard work (analysis, fanfics, arts, reviews).

Sorry for my rants and for my weird feelings.....

Ohhhh this is so precious please don't apologize for sending me this ask, I love feelings and hearing about other peoples' experiences with them and how my art/accounts have somehow been relatable because of that.

The peer pressure in fandoms is absolutely insane and convinces me that the social aspect works the same as any high school full of bullies. There WILL be mean girls, there WILL be cliques, and if you're a creator like me, you're going to be a MAGNET for like ten different types of them.

As for how I deal with hurtful comments, I was raised in an environment that constantly shamed me. I was controlled from all sides on what I could draw, write, and consume, so I'm used to being shunned by those who "love" me because of what I'm interested in! Because of this, the hate comments were what I EXPECTED going in and the positive comments were actually the things that threw me for loops. Hurtful comments only had the power to nag at me when I didn't have an audience (or friends) to bounce them off of so they wouldn't keep popping up as a "do I actually do this, though?" "am I actually bad for this?". But now they don't bother me; they give me the chance to either make a troll reply or spice up my friends' group chat for the day.

As far as a FRIEND leaving a hurtful comment??? I have so much sympathy for you. I am SO sorry they treated you that way.

When I make friends, I tell them openly what I do and to what extent. This way, I gather the type of people I want and push away those who don't. If they think it's not okay, they're silly.

Those friends who kicked you out of their little club? SILLY. They think they're so pure and moral for gatekeeping what can and can't be done with creativity and passion. They won't ever know what it feels like to live as freely as you do. In the end, their opinion is an opinion that is largely not shared by the logical, rational public. Any professional in the art/film/writing industry can tell you that much. How else are we supposed to make stories? Have a little IMAGINATION!! DAMN!

I'm saying a lot of this because it's the best thing to tell yourself when you read things that are clearly meant to make you feel shame when you haven't done a single thing wrong. Since this is Tumblr and I can ramble to my heart's content, maybe it'll help you if I also point out the specific tools that have been used in that message they sent you. Sometimes a good breakdown of tactics is all it takes to remind yourself you're not in the wrong.

"I'm convinced you must have never had friends before" AKA "you're so ignorant" - invalidating your experiences to crumble any foundation you might've had to stand on if you wanted to argue back. Starting off with this helps them cut you down so your self-esteem is lowered.

"these relationships are perfect depictions of what PLATONIC friendship is" - their opinion is being stated here as a fact, as if the entire world agrees with them and there's no other way to see it. First of all, this means NOTHING to the shipping world, since it exists largely to turn friendships into romances. Idk what they wanted to do with that one.

"If you want a gay story support ACTUAL gay couples like in BL & GL manga" - I'm not sure what kind of burn that is. SUPPORT ACTUAL GAY COUPLES LIKE THE REST OF US!! Okay snuffledumpkins. Guess nobody taught them how to MULTITASK!!! GUESS WHAT? I CAN SUPPORT ACTUAL GAY COUPLES *AND* NON-CANON GAY COUPLES, FREAK! WHAT NOW, HUH??? Being serious though, this is an attempt to define for YOU what ''''''true gay couples'''''' are (ACCORDING TO THEM), when this is an entirely fluid meaning and can be applied to whomever you'd like in fiction. This is THE PURPOSE OF FANFICTION.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to see people move mountains for a non canon ship that’ll never happen then ignore actual gay manga’s and anime’s in BL & GL anime/manga...." AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA! (inhales) AAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH imagine being so stupid that you don't know how much better LGBT representation can be in fanfiction and non-canon works than in actual BL/GL works. Imagine thinking that the only way you are allowed to enjoy BL/GL relationships is through canon couples, otherwise you're not helping the cause. Here's the biggest thing to remember: they don't give a fuck about the cause. They are using that language as a way to shame you. Oh you think these friends are in love??? You must not support LGBT people in real life. You must not support ACTUAL stories about ACTUAL gay people.

The logic jump is LAUGHABLE.

Ughhhh, what a long rant from me. But your last paragraph absolutely WARMED my heart, minus the part about feeling guilty. Let me just...[shines spotlight down on you][metal screech][picks up megaphone] YOU ARE NOT IN THE WRONG FOR WANTING FICTIONAL FRIENDS TO FICTIONALLY FUCK EACH OTHERS' BRAINS OUT!!! YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THIS MATTER, HOWEVER, ARE VERY UNDERSTANDABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE INVALIDATED, BECAUSE BULLYING IS A DIFFICULT THING TO DEAL WITH AND CAUSES VERY COMPLICATED FEELINGS REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG. YOU ARE A WONDERFUL PERSON AND YOUR FICTIONAL PREFERENCES DO NOT DEFINE YOU. BE FREE, LITTLE BIRDIE! SHIP THE MASSES OF BOYS AND GIRLS IN RELATIONSHIPS THAT ANIME LOVES TO TEASE ON PURPOSE WITHOUT ACTUALLY FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH A ROMANCE SUBPLOT BECAUSE THEY'RE COWARDS!!!! THEY CAN BE ACTUAL GAY COUPLES TOO! BECAUSE YOU SAID SO! AND THAT'S OKAY!!!!

[puts the megaphone down][coughs]

I hope that helps. :D Thank you for the ask, and much love to you! It means a lot that you appreciate my work and my analyses and my opinions enough to ask me about such a painful subject.🖤

You are, in fact, quite normal for your opinion, and my entire audience would agree.

#sadist’s answered asks #THE MASCULINE URGE TO BEAR HUG SOME OF MY ASKERS #a lot of you guys need some better friends #never be afraid to block rinse and hunt #by that I mean like #block people who don't deserve your attention #rinse your mind of their FILTH!#and then hunt for actual cool people #like me! no just kidding I'm so stupid #I AM the doofy who knocks #also stop reading these hashtags

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