#zone culture

[crashbangprophet]

@ ALL CRASHQUEENS AND KILLJOYS!

i've been in this fandom since 2016, so i've seen headcanons and zone culture and terminology of all kinds.

with that said , i'd like to present the official (unofficial) danger days dictionary. includes everything from zone culture, slang, battery city locations, phoenix witch, even down to bad luck beads and the dust bowl.

for the nitpickers out there, the comics are mainly discarded in this— due to how overwhelming it would be to throw in even MORE overlapping terms and such. some comic characters have been slipped into the regular timeline / universe, just for funsies and a honorary mention. don't come at me, thanks!

REBLOGS RECOMMENDED.

[ectoplasmic-entity]

*crashes through the wall like the fucking kool-aid man*

Hey :) would Dan ever be completely vulnerable with his partner? Like on a really rare chance he just trauma dumps but never talks about it afterwards? Seem like something he'd do

He is... rarely so. Usually when he's just not having it that day and everything just gets to him, he slips up. Dan seems to be the type to avoid his feelings / emotions for as long as he can before they implode. He'll realize his slip up and then proceed to pretend he didn't say anything, at least until his partner starts prodding him about it.

Dan will absolutely be stubborn about it at first, waving off concerns and shuts down any questions. If this is a long established relationship, he'll revert to certain behaviours before he met his partner, namely aversion to physical affection and somewhat hiding away when something's bothering him. Because his partner is paying attention to this plants the seed in his mind that he probably shouldn't be holding all of this in.

It... takes a while, his partner honestly doesn't know when he'll actually open up. They do continue to try to coax him into letting those feelings loose. Though, it's difficult with a ghost who is more or less emotionally repressed.

Dan just needs time. It's not something he can easily rush through and be over it. He'll start dropping bits of the story here and there, it might go from a few hours to a few days. In the end, Dan breaks a little bit and needs a moment. He still won't talk about it in its entirety but it's better than nothing. Being vulnerable is still uncomfortable for him.

[bet-on-me-13]

Culture of the Ghost Zone

SO! This is less of a full on prompt, and more of an opportunity.

I've been in this Fandom for over a year now and over that time I've seen so many little bits or lore and headcanons about the Ghost Zones Culture, but I've never seen a single post put them all together.

So, here I'll try to write down as many as I can think of, and anyone else can add their own Headcanons, or add to whatever I or someone else writes!

...

So! My personal Headcanon is that when a Ghost Passes on, it's a thing to be celebrated.

Ghosts are Immortal Beings, holding onto a desire or unfinished business that tethers them to the Mortal Plane. They live, because they are Unfulfilled, unable to accomplish the task that would allow them to Pass on, and be at peace with themselves.

So when a Ghost manages to fulfill their Obsession, manages to Pass On to the After? It's something to CELEBRATE!

Like when a Viking would die, you don't just mourn their death, you celebrate their Life! A Ghosts Passing On is much the same. When one of them manages it, there are parties across the Zone of people who knew them, or people who didn't but still want to celebrate! It's a Joyous thing when someone you know was able to find peace!

...

Ghosts socialize through Battle.

Ghosts are Immortal, Superpowered, and Stuck together for Centuries. They are going to fight, and they are going to love the thrill of it!

From the freshest of Newborns to the Oldest of Ancients, All Ghosts love the thrill of Battle. It's one of their defining traits! They have Centuries of nothing to do and energy to burn, and they devote it to the art of Combat!

And it's not just Brawls! Some Ghosts prefer to battle with Swords alone, others with their Fists and no Powers, others with their Powers and no Fists, there are entire communities of Ghosts who have specific Rules, or Customs for Combat!

In one part of the Zone, it may be common to Tackle any Ghost you see and instantly start to fight them, but in another? That would be seen as Rude, you need to throw down your glove in front of them to request a Battle!

Or in another section of the Zone you may be forced to battle without Weapons whatsoever, in another it may be Without Powers whatsoever, or with ONLY Powers!

The Fight Culture stretches far and wide, no two parts of the Zone are exactly the Same

...

Art is highly Valued.

Of course not all Ghosts are entirely focused on Battle, and even the ones that are like to focus on something else from time to time. Some of those Ghosts were Artists when they were Alive.

And they continued to make Art in Death. But this Art is Special, with all the Time in the World, a Ghost can spend Decades or even Centuries on their Magnum Opus! It would be their Life's Work, something they dedicated their entire Afterlives to!

So of course, it is respected. Ghosts know better than to ruin or destroy another Ghosts work or Art. Be it a Statue, a Painting, a Song, or a Theater Production.

...

I think that's Good for now, what do you think? Anything to add to the points I written down? Any entirely new points to add?

Go ahead!

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 71

Klarion is delighted, excited, impatient, and so very happy. He’s found a friend, not the justice league baby-crew who don’t know how to make friends properly or the order-magician who doesn’t play right, but another realm-being his age! They’re even around the same death-date, his is just a couple years earlier! But to beings who aren’t adults until they’re well into the hundreds that’s practically nothing!

His new friend even has a familiar too- even if he has to explain what a familiar is- and, and even shares his two other friends with him! 

He’s been in this world for what feels like so long trying to make friends and he’s made three in just a month! And they even know how to properly play and wrestle without targeting Teekl like a certain order lord who he doesn’t like. 

Oh! Hey it’s the justice league kiddy-crew! Were they feeling neglected or something?

[vinyls-and-valentines]

Technically speaking, Old Man Yaoi is a valid killjoy name

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

This election day, I'm thinking of my Nana.

I'm thinking of how as a young woman, she fled political violence in her native Colombia to build a new home in a more stable country. I'm thinking about how she lived a long life, but not long enough to see her home country elect its first ever progressive president (just a few months ago!).

Coincidentally, I was living in Colombia at that time (in the very city she grew up in), and I was able to witness what felt like a miracle. A very conservative country, suffering from the violent inheritance of colonization and catholic invasion and the war on drugs, against a backdrop of the dangerous global rise of the far right--this unlikely country managed to elect one of the most progressive heads of state in the world, in 2022. That's a pretty big deal.

And I'm thinking about this, this election day, because that election was won by a very thin margin. I'm thinking about how it almost didn't happen. I'm thinking about how it was only possible thanks to the highest voter turnout in 20 year. And I am thinking about the countless number of voters who chose to vote for the first time. I am thinking of the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens who showed up at the polls. I am thinking of the indigenous women who rode 12 hours on public buses to vote at the 'nearest' polling stations. I am thinking of all the money and corruption that went into preventing minority citizens from voting, and I'm thinking about how they showed up in the millions and voted anyway.

I am thinking that I would like to see a miracle like that in my own home country.

So if you're on the fence about waiting in line today to cast your vote, I hope that you will think--about the country you want to live in, the future you hope will unfold, and about all of the people it takes to make a miracle.

Because history may deem us nameless and faceless, but when we show up en masse, we are the ones who make history happen.

And yes, maybe also spare a thought for my Nana. Who was in fact a very angry and judgemental woman who supported the republican party for 50+ years, and who would be turning in her grave right now (if the family hadn't had her cremated). Think about the mean angry ghost of my Colombian grandmother, who very much wants you to not show up at the polls to support abortion and other sinful progressive values. Think about her. Do it for her. Do it for Nana.

[blueiskewl]

Ancient Mayan Nose Ring Made of Human Bone Found in Mexican

More than a thousand years ago, a priest in Mexico donned a bone nose ornament and conducted a ceremony in honor of K’awiil, the Mayan god associated with maize and fertility.

At least that’s what experts believe happened after they discovered a nose ring made from human bone at the Archaeological Zone of Palenque in Chiapas, according to an Aug. 29 news release from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. It’s the first find of its kind from the site.

Experts described the artifact as “una nariguera,” which translates to a nose ring in English. However, photos of the object show that it was more like an ornament that sat atop the wearer’s nose.

The 2.5-inch-long and 2-inch-wide adornment is made of a human tibia (leg) bone, archaeologists said. It was likely used by elites, specifically rulers and priests, in attempts to personify their god, K’awiil.

Experts said the bone artifact is engraved with a depiction of a man in a headdress and ornate jewelry. His left arm has the Mayan glyph “ak’ab’,” which means darkness or night. He is holding a long thin object, and beneath him is a human skull and long bones placed on a bundle of cloth.

The depiction in the bone expresses communication with gods and ancestors, according to experts.

The nose piece was unearthed from a ritual deposit buried between 600 and 850, archaeologists said. The deposit commemorated the building of a new structure, known as House C, at a palace.

Officials said they also found animal bones, obsidian blades and charcoal in the deposit.

Chiapas is in southeastern Mexico.

[passerkirbius]

Where are all the Audio Fiction Fandoms?

To be clear, this isn't me complaining, and I know, there are plenty of fandoms for audio fiction podcasts and the like.

But I have always found it weird how few shows get the big, self-sustaining kinds of fandoms, the ones where there's always at least a little trickle of fanfic and fanart. So weird, in fact, that I've been thinking about it on and off for the last 5-6 years, and I have a few theories I'd like to share with y'all as to why, and to see if I can't get some feedback from the audio fiction fans on Tumblr.

Theory 1: Audience Size

The first theory is mostly about demographics - fundamentally, a fandom has to be large enough to sustain itself, and only a certain number of audience members are going to become the kind of fans who make fan works, so ultimately, an audio fiction show needs to get popular enough before fan works start appearing.

There's plenty of support for this theory, of course - Welcome to Night Vale, Wolf 359, The Adventure Zone and The Magnus Archives are titans in the fiction podcast space, and indeed they have big fandoms. But, with that said, there's plenty of other podcasts that are just as big that don't have fandoms, so this can't explain it all.

Theory 2: Audience Distance

This one is similar to the first, but subtly different. A few creators in the space I've talked to have noted that they'd never make fan works of their friend's shows - that feels weird, like deliberately treading on their friend's work. They don't have this feeling when playing in big fandoms, or fandoms where they don't know the creator. This implies to me that fans need a certain level of distance from creators in order to feel comfortable playing with that fictional space. While this is less the case now with the fall of Twitter, a lot of shows, for better or worse, used social media as the primary pillar of their marketing, as well as using Patreons with special access as part of their monetization strategies.

In short, it's never been easier to get close to the creators of your favourite shows, and for smaller shows, the most exuberant fans - the kinds who might make fan works - are also the kinds of fans who will take those opportunities to get closer to the creators. In short, there just might not enough social distance for fans to be comfortable creating works, not at least until the audience grows sufficiently that a creator simply cannot be that close with their entire audience.

This theory I'm not so sure about these days - this one is probably a lot more dependent on the generation of fandom you belong to. Older generations of fandom are more likely to have this queasiness around creator closeness, because they were creating in a time where fandom was a shadow realm, desperately hidden from The Powers That Be, and "No Copyright Infringement Intended" was carved into fan works as an eldritch attempt at legal protection.

Theory 3: Audience Age

To be clear - there are fans of all ages out there. But it is clear to me that fandom trends young, and part of that is just the time needed to participate in fan culture - creating and consuming takes a lot of time, time that tends gets scarcer and scarcer as you get older (there are obvious exceptions of course - stay-at-home mothers have consistently been a major force in fandoms!). It's possible that audio fiction fans just tend to trend older, and thus don't have the time available to create and consume fan works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how relevant this one is - Audio fiction is becoming more popular with younger audiences and slowly shedding the "old fuddy-duddyness" that surrounded it when I was first getting into the space. And, ya know, there are audio fiction fandoms out there, so obviously either the youth aspect of fandom isn't a thing, or it is, but audio fiction audiences are still trending young anyway.

Theory 4: We're getting what we need!

A lot of academic discourse often focuses on the idea that fandoms create for a reason - and that reason is often to focus on parts of a fiction that the original text, for whatever reason, doesn't. The most obvious form of this is the many, many, many examples of ships and erotic fanfiction. You, as a fan, watch a show, see something between two characters, and get frustrated that the show isn't giving you more of that, won't make what is clearly obvious to you, explicit. So, you consume and/or create fan works that help relieve that tension instead.

Or, in shows where the focus is primarily on plot advancement or action, you feel a desire to get to know the characters better - you see the stirrings of these characters, you want to know them better, but the show just isn't the type of show to give you that slow, character-heavy scene/episode that you know would give you exactly what you need, so, again, you go consume and/or create fan works to fix that.

It's very possible that a lot of audio fiction is already built to give these sorts of fan audiences what they want. There's already romantic relationships, characters are openly queer, the nature of the audio medium means that character-heavy scenes are something that the medium directs creators towards, so there's already a lot of character engagement. So, for many fandoms, there just isn't much need to create fan works - there's no tension between what the show is and what it could be.

Theory 5: We can make our own at home!

One interesting theory is that one reason that people make fandom is because, fundamentally, the creators understand that they're not going to be making a film, or a TV show, or a book. They have creative urges, and they're not in a situation in life where they're likely to overcome the enormous barriers to entry in mainstream media, so, in combination with the stuff in theory 4, they play in other people's worlds instead. They know that there's already an audience who will consume their work (they're part of that fan community, after all!), so they can get that validation of creation without needing to create their own TV show or film or book, etc.

Podcasts, however, are different. Now, it's not true to say that podcasts have low barriers to entry - to create a podcast, there's a lot of skills you either need to learn yourself, or find collaborators with those skills. But, those barriers to entry are much lower than visual media. At the very least, audio production is significantly cheaper and less complicated for an equivalent runtime.

Better, podcasts have absurdly low barriers to publication - There are no gatekeepers to satisfy, no distributors you have to convince. Once your thing is made, pretty much no one can stop you from distributing that work. You don't even really need to pay for a podcast host - there's a few free podcast hosts now. So, once you've done the work, pretty much nothing stops you from publishing said work.

So... If you're a creative fan, who loved a show but thinks you can do better? Well, you can! You don't need to play in other people's spaces, you can be inspired by the podcasts you listen to to create your own original work, in the same medium and genre.

What do y'all think? Which of these feel right, which of these feel obviously wrong? Are you part of a audio fiction fandom? What does your fandom feel like to you on the inside? As a audio fiction creator, it's kinda hard for me to get into the inside of fandom culture, so insider perspectives would be super neat for me, so please reblog this to anyone you feel might have an interesting perspective on the whole thing!

[densitywell]

tbh there's a non-zero chance that the hells, witnessing Orym teleport across a lake or his eyes glowing green, are just thinking that he got some special new Ashari powers or something

[news4dzhozhar]

[brwolf1995]

You've come across a lone vulture.

What do you do?

[ectoplasmic-entity]

!! Ate that last one up about the possessive boy! Now hear me out- what would happen if something like a misunderstanding happened? Like maybe his partner has a friend that likes the s/o a lot and they keep trying to shoot their shot? I mean , this friend either brave or stupid though for going after Dan's partner but I'd chalk it up to ignorance.

I'm happy you're getting your fill !! >:D

The friend is most definitely being stupid. Completely ignorant of the possessive nature of ghosts. Especially if that ghost is Dan.

Friend probably thinks Dan will just sit by and let them shoot their shot with his s/o, just because Dan doesn't react all that much to others getting close to s/o. Oh, no no no- friend is reading him wrong.

Dan trusts s/o, and keeps watch within a short distance. This friend is known to be pushy. They insist on spending time with s/o, much more than s/o would like, they want to have some time with Dan too. Friend brushes off the protests, Dan is not the only person in s/o's life.

S/o agrees but they think it's odd with the way friend seems to be trying to insert themself into s/o's life. Acting like they are s/o's partner. They go back and forth about this over many days.

Dan eventually overhears this back and forth. At first he thinks it's just them having a meaningless squabble and will get over it in a few days. Listening in closer though, he hears bits and pieces of the friend wanting to make a move on s/o.

Instantly, Dan interrupts the conversation, visibly annoyed with his fangs bared. He zeroes in on the friend, asking them if they think he's stupid. Before friend can respond, Dan gets uncomfortably close. Friend freaks out a bit, that Dan's just...

Just what?

S/o steps in saying it's a misunderstanding. From both of them. Friend doesn't understand that s/o is committed to Dan. Dan misinterpreted what friend said, friend is just very ignorant of ghost's attitudes towards relationships.

Dan decides to let it go... for now.

[imaslave4u]

THE KISS. Madonna, Britney and Christina performing "Hollywood" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards dress rehearsal in New York City (August 28, 2003)

[criminalmindsfanantic]

You wanna know what (my) ADHD is like?

ADHD is deciding you want to work on one of your WIPs so you grab a coffee and head to the library because it’s a change of scenery and it’s quiet, but you already had your AirPods in when you got there, so you spend the first fifteen minutes making trying to find the song that sounds suspiciously similar to the one you’re already listening to before you actually start writing.

Everything is going smoothly and flowing well until you have to fact-check something and while you’re looking for the answer you stumble across a TikTok video you made (because you use TikTok for fact/accuracy checking) and then you start scrolling through other videos you have made and find one that did really well, basically a collection of pictures of your favorite actresses, so you decide to make an updated version and you start alternating between Pinterest, Instagram, and Google to find photos.

Trying to find the perfect photos takes way longer than you expect because you find photos you think would be useful for other projects and you are also having to make sure the photos you chose for this project are the best quality, and during that process, you realize the lighting that is coming through the window where you’re sitting is really good so you snap some selfies and then you go back to looking for photos but then you notice a wholesome interaction between who you assume is a father and a daughter and you just have to write about it and then you can go back to looking for pictures.

At some point, you start thinking about buying a camera because you’ve been wanting one for years so you do about five minutes of “research” (looking up “best cameras for beginners” on TikTok and then doing a quick google search) before adding a camera and a lens to your amazon cart, but then you look at the total and think “that’s a lot of money” so you look up when cameras go on sale because the only sale you can think of is Black Friday/Cyber Monday and it’s currently February and you find there is usually a sale in July/August so you set a reminder in your calendar and move the two items in your amazon cart to your wish list.

After all of that, you switch back to the story you were supposed to be working on and you realize it’s been over two and a half hours, you’ve written 100 words for your work in progress, written a 186-word account of the wholesome interaction you witnessed, got nowhere near finishing the TikTok video you were working on, your music has changed from sad piano playlist to the playlist you listen to when you want to feel like the badass main character, you talked yourself out of buying $600 worth of camera equipment, and you are about to poop your pants from finishing your Dunkin cold brew over an hour ago.

ADHD is also being unaware that you were so deep into the hyperfocus zone until you’re sitting in your car and you return to reality and you remember that other people are not just NPCs.

ADHD is also coming back to edit this because you realized no ADHD person is going to want to read that long of a paragraph (including me) 🤦‍♀️ It still big paragraphs but it’s a bit better now imo

[fauvester]

young elim doesnt sew but he DOES knit a PRODIGIOUS amount. standing in line for hours at the cardassian dmv playing his role as a cog in the bureaucratic machine needles clacking away

[dropthedemiurge]

Behold: I have managed to find THE SACRED ICE CREAM in Korea :D

Now I'm curious whether my taste is anywhere near Yeowoon and Myungha's taste lol