#i do that on other social media but typically i only come on Tumblr now to look at very specific things

[anti-transphobia]

I do feel bad having a lot of reblogs centering around transmasc issues specifically and not more posts about transfem and nonbinary people, but unfortunately, repulsive lateral violence is the current discourse, which means that a lot of posts made about those issues are said BECAUSE "who is actually the most oppressed" is the current topic of discussion. So even posts that seem normal or even agreeable have language you have to look suspiciously at and when you check op you do in fact find that those posts about transmisogyny are because they got mad trans men are speaking up about the violence they face.

It's very similar to how ace discourse was. Completely normal seeming posts, in the context of a really bad couple of years where saying you're ace/aro publicly even once led to getting anon hate, were actually criticisms of the idea that other people face hardships. Hell, though people scoffed at it when I said it, even completely unrelated FANDOM posts could be clocked as being made by someone whose current fixation is hating on aspec people by the way they keysmashed. Because it wasn't just a discourse, but like a fandom, and fandoms follow quirks and trends and I could read it in a keysmash easily, check their blogs, confirm I was right, and block.

Anyway my point being that the issues, general and more specific, faced by non-transmasc trans people INCLUDING those issues caused by other trans ppl is EXTREMELY important to me, however I just unfortunately don't see a lot of people talking about it in good faith. And hell, me talking about my experiences about how afab trans people have harassed, sexually assaulted, misgendered, body shamed me, and leveraged their agab specifically to harm and exclude me for not being like them is something that I can't talk about without worry of it coming off as "trans men are evil". That's just the current culture. A reasonable worry of a post sounding like thinly veiled transphobia is silencing victims of the thing these transmasc oppression deniers claim to hate.

Anyway I definitely do reblog good posts like that when I see em but I'm really not on Tumblr much anymore

#i dont Owe anyone an explanation but i do feel bad about it #it sucks! #oh also im very pro Palestine but i don't think ive reblogged a ton of posts about it on here??? i honestly cant remember #i do that on other social media but typically i only come on Tumblr now to look at very specific things #some fandom stuff. mostly all the poll accounts i follow #i kinda just rb the things i happen to see when i do so #i don't have an active follower base (most of em deactivated years ago) anymore so im not worried about Not Using My Platform for good #because i lost that platform! and i dont regret it. ppl will turn on a child on a dime for the crime of being annoying. im glad i went #inactive for a long time #but anyway #im not misusing the platform i no longer have by not reblogging pro palestine posts #but i should go look for some #Tumblr search does not fucking work anymore but if it decides to one time i could at least go back to it as reference #for links and stuff

[dailyrothko]

Scans ( a little long)

When I ask people not to steal my scans I assure you it has nothing to do with my ego. I have relationships with a number of people that trust me to provide full credits and copyrights and supervise, as much as possible, how things are used. And it gets a little complex, like some people will give me a photo I can only use on instagram. I have to honor these agreements.

And, Rothko paintings are copyrighted so, unlike some artists, if you make tee shirts or use it in a movie or something , it's actually illegal (without permission) They are not going to come after you for casual use of you own, but I know of many examples where people were hit with a copyright notice for trying to profit in the work.

It took me a long time to build these relationships and get all of these scans, including many i have done myself. I gave myself this Rothko job I do, and because of that I didn't have background to give me things or answer questions. It was only after years of doing it that people started to reach out to me in a bigger way and help.

The art world is strange, I was talking to a museum curator recently and there several questions I had that I was told they were not at liberty to answer. In the case of Rothko, there's nothing really cloak and dagger about it, it's just the family (who I think are great) fought really hard for these rights and spend a lot of time trying to control how the work is used and seen. It's a good thing because we get things like the Paris exhibit which took an insane amount of planning, loans, insurance etc. All the paintings had to be inspected before they were shipped over seas, in case damage was done to them over there. These paintings are BIG and in the hands of many different people, so it really took tons of effort and (sadly) money to do it, but it's something like (can't recall exactly) 179 paintings. The biggest Rothko show since 1978.

People on tumblr do sometimes (as we all know) take stuff from here or from my other social media accounts and I know it's typical social media behavior, as people like the credit and notes to their own blog, but I mention this now because I have some things coming up that almost no one has ever seen and I don't want to lose this privilege because I won't be able to show you cool stuff and big scans.

So, sorry for the ponderousness, I just thought a little background might explain that I'm not just being grumpy about it. I think people may see it as "It's the internet get over yourself" but I honestly feel a responsibility to do the best I can for people following these accounts and I am just trying to keep doing it and hopefully, expand as I go.

This blog started on out tumblr and it was the support of all of you that made me continue it, I will be 10 years in July. I can't take a lot of credit for it, it's not my art. My only idea was the once a day aspect. However, I try to do my homework and striving for accuracy is part of that, including copyrights and credits.

So thanks for everything too, people participating in this has been very valuable and educational for me.

#mark rothko #markrothko #rothko #daily rothko #dailyrothko #abstract expressionism #modern art #abstraction #colorfield #ab ex #colorfield painting #mid century #personal

[comradekatara]

an ask for u! what side of tumblr do you think each character would be on? (for your selection of characters lol)

characters who would not use tumblr: aang is too busy touching grass; katara is terminally online but primarily in a twitter way, she thinks tumblr is for deranged gays and has never ventured to confirm or deny that suspicion; sokka would probably love tumblr if he knew what it was but he thinks it’s a social media platform (which is only partially true) so he avoids it at all costs because he’s paranoid; toph occasionally tweets but is otherwise too cool for social media; azula thinks tumblr is a cesspit of liberal social marxist postmodern blue haired pronouns, she would much rather stay on reddit thank you very much; ty lee is too busy making bank off of being an influencer, and since tumblr is not a particularly lucrative platform, sees no point in exploring it.

suki would use tumblr but in the most well-adjusted way possible. she just reblogs aesthetically pleasing pictures, pictures of hot girls, music she likes, quotes from books she is reading, occasionally will post her own pictures from a hike or a concert or of something she cooked, or make brief, innocuous textposts about her life that are charmingly humorous. her tumblr presence is entirely unobjectionable.

zuko would use tumblr in the more typical, unhinged way. he gets into fights and receives anon hate constantly (but he won’t turn anon off because he secretly craves the attention). he’s constantly changing his political views, and even though it comes from a place of earnest internal struggle, everyone calls him a hypocrite for it and makes lengthy callout posts with receipts, or claim that he’s probably a russian bot. besides making contentious personal posts that are basically just lengthy monologues about how confused and frustrated he feels, he also reblogs a lot of pictures of cats, frogs, horses, rustic scenery, quotes from giovanni’s room, sad gay poetry, mitski songs, and then the occasional picture of like, a motorcycle with flame decals on it or a sexy picture of a hot girl, just to like, reaffirm his masculinity with the most blatant posturing possible. i mean who is this even for. his tumblr presence is radioactive and anyone who does make the mistake of following him often regrets it within the week.

mai has been on tumblr since puberty but she would deny even knowing what it is to anyone who asked (including zuko, but that’s mostly because she’s seen his blog and couldn’t stand to be mutuals with him out of friendly obligation). her blog has really gone through phases and grown and changed as she’s matured. she definitely went through a superwholock phase and has a lot of opinions on shows like house md and succession too. her blog is mostly a repository for her private thoughts, her favorite video games, tv shows, movies, and music, but she’s amassed a lot of followers through making many funny textposts that get tens of thousands of notes each. she’s constantly getting asks that are all like “thoughts on [X]?” but because she can’t usually be bothered to take them seriously she’ll just reply with a funny quip, which also gets a lot of notes. she used to take her blog more seriously but now it’s just a funny little website for her, and she’s thriving.

yue is putting in so many hours of backbreaking labor at the webweaving factory. her url is probably something like “[noun]motif” (probably moon, water, or angel) and her blog title is a line from louise glück. she mostly posts poetry, both reblogging others’ as well as her own, but she also talks about tv shows she’s watching and books she’s reading. she’s somehow managed to get into drama because ppl will call her out for enjoying and talking about media that supposedly “supports incest” or “supports cannibalism” or whatever but she’s too busy minding her own business to really notice. no one really knows anything about her life because her blog is exclusively centered around her artistic and poetic inclinations, but everyone assumes she’s an english major (no one would ever guess that she’s actually a #womaninstem). years after she dies her mutuals will still make posts like “i miss moonmotif i hope she’s doing okay and that she abandoned her blog for a good reason.” perhaps it’s better that they don’t know.

#sorry for making it sad #i legally cannot talk about modern au yue without making it sad #doublejoywilson #asks #modern au #the gaang and #suki #zuko #mai #yue

[doberbutts]

Can I ask what's making you uneasy? Is it a personal discomfort like, "theres nothing necessarily wrong it just makes me uncomfortable" or like, something actually wrong and you don't have the words/energy to speak up?

It is mostly that right now there is not really any escape in my tracked tags. My trans guy tags are full of transphobia and personal attacks and petty arguments. My fandom tags are filled with racism and sexism and people who seem to be addicted to generating baseless hate for no reason. My dog tags have always been slow since I'm the most active dobe blog on here so other dobe content tends to come as a trickle- and right now the most popular post is yet another crop/dock debate that I refuse to get involved in.

I come on tumblr to have fun, not to raise my blood pressure and be frustrated all the time. I want to talk about dogs, I want to talk about my life, without feeling like I have to defend my every sentence or very existence.

And there is no escape off tumblr either. Facebook is a cesspit of manufactured hate and AI nonsense. AI "news" is all the rage right now and what's not AI is often wank-bait and deliberate pot-stirring. The youtube channels I typically watch are affected by the strike so they're pretty quiet right now (which is fine it just means I can't lean on them). I'm facing some moral dilemmas about the shows I want to watch. So right now it is books and videogames for my late night/early morning entertainment.

People are so mean-spirited and it bums me out. I don't want to be somewhere that people are this mean all the time for no reason. I talk about how an older butch I know came out to me as nonbinary and I get five different asks telling me to kill myself. I post photos of my dog having fun in training and I get three different asks trying to bait me into an argument I've already said I won't have. I post a photo of me and I have to go on a blocking spree due to people insulting my looks and my body. I have a spirited and highly opinionated discussion with someone I thought I was friendly with, only for them to insult and block me and then go on tirades about how awful I am while I can't do anything in my own defense. I talk about something I've personally experienced and people crawl out of the woodwork to either tell me I'm faking it or to tell me that it doesn't matter that it happened to me. I don't like this. I don't like what people have become.

So I am assigning myself some "touch grass" and "go outside" and "hang out in meatspace with people you know you like" and "do activities that make you happy instead" until I can feel happy on social media again.

[daemonhxckergrrl]

Getting Linux-y (for Windows refugees)

a casual users' GUIDE to the basics

Linux ? isn't that for nerds ??

yes. no. we're breaking down stereotypes here !! this post is aimed at casual users who care about freedom + privacy, are sick of the direction Windows is heading, or just curious c:

i'm talking social media, email, web browsing, online shopping, pdfs, document writing, funny meme edits, youtube/netflix/plex, spotify, dvds + cds + mp3s etc.

i'll mention gaming and running specific Windows-only software briefly, but that's outside the casual scope i'm going for d:

Arm thyself ! and decipher !! arcane secrets be upon ye !!

it's key knowledge time !! ^w^

Linux isn't Windows, but it's not completely alien :o

much like Tumblr, one curates their Linux experience. there are flavours of Linux (terminology: distribution/distro) aimed at power users who like to DIY, and there's ones aimed at normal folk that are ready to go. for the sake of this GUIDE i'm recommending Linux Mint:

its interface is similar to Windows,

it's popular as a user-friendly choice

and it has both excellent support and software

(note: i ran Mint for years, and when coming back to Linux i chose it for my gaming pc because it's easy to set up and well-supported)

key information:

Linux doesn't use drive letters :o

your C: drive is / (terminology: root directory)

your personal files (C:\Users\Username) live under /home/username (terminology: home directory)

other drives (internal and USB drives) live under /mnt/drive-label or /media/username/drive-label (terminology: mount point)

Technical Note: all hard drives and SSDs, before they get a mount point, are referred to as /dev/sdX (eg /dev/sda, /dev/sdb etc.) for HDDs and SATA SSDs (partitions are /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2 etc.), and /dev/nvmeXn1 (/dev/nvme0n1, /dev/nvme1n1 etc.) for NVMe drives (partitions are /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2)

however, Mint manages all this for us and stuff just shows up in your File Manager much like they do in Windows Explorer c:

Software is typically managed similar to the way App Stores work; Mint has Software Manager that lets you install common programs

the only wrinkle here is Mint supports both Mint-specific sources and a thing called Flatpak, which is like a universal App Store for all Linux distros

the Update Manager keeps both your core system and your programs up-to-date. unlike Windows, by default it will only update when you tell it to ! no more rebooting into Windows Update and waiting 10 years ^w^

it's possible to have both Linux and Windows on the same laptop (terminology: dual-booting); you choose which one each time you turn your laptop on

the Linux Mint Forums are a good place to ask questions, seek advice, and maybe even offer your own !!

additional places: Official Community Website, community-maintained subreddit, community-maintained Discord Server, Official Troubleshooting Guide

i think that's the basic info taken care of.

Let's start with the preparation, or PRE-paration

for this GUIDE you'll need:

a USB drive (4GB+)

Linux Mint ISO file

Balena Etcher (to put the ISO file on the USB drive)

i recommend reading through the info on the Mint homepage and following their installation guide for good step-by-step guide w/ screenshots ^^'

we're gonna make a 'Live Image' on our USB drive - this means we can testdrive the system before we install it. try before you buy !! wait, it's free -- uhh.. walk before you run ??

Download the ISO file using the above link. i recommend the Cinnamon Edition, unless you have a very old PC, in which case pick XFCE

Download Balena Etcher

Plug in your USB drive and open Etcher

Follow the onscreen prompts to select the ISO file and your USB drive

Alright, let's fire her up ! ^u^

now we have our USB drive it's time to boot it. because Windows is, well, Windows, you may need to disable Fast Boot in order to access the BIOS/UEFI. :c you may also have to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS/UEFI depending on your computer. this is usually found in the Boot, Security, or Authentication tab.

now we're ready !!

Power on your computer and press F1/F2/F6/F10/F12/DEL to access your BIOS or Boot Menu

Select your USB drive

A screen will come up where you can select Linux Mint (or will say Automatic Boot in X seconds)

You shall be greeted by a desktop that looks something like this

have a look around !! there's a menu in the bottom left that has programs and system settings and logout/reboot/shutdown options. the taskbar at the bottom displays icons of running apps (and pinned ones). the bottom right has your clock and system tray w/ network, audio etc.

this is a great time to get a feel for how everything works ! open some programs !! investigate the System Settings. connect to your WiFi (in the system tray next to the sound and clock).

when you're ready, double-click the "Install Linux Mint" icon on the desktop. the installer will walk you through setting everything up. i recommend following the official installation guide's walkthrough as it explains everything from setting your timezone to installing Mint by itself or alongside Windows, with screenshots showing each step. it also has an important section on installing drivers. the slideshow during installation also does a good job at showcasing the available software.

Welcome Screen

after installing and rebooting, a Welcome Screen pops up that offers a nice interface for picking a system theme/colour, installing drivers, and setting up backups etc.

Let's talk software !! :D

Mint comes with some software pre-installed. these are probably the main ones:

Archive Manager (like 7-Zip or WinRAR)

Celluloid (a video player; VLC is available to install if you prefer)

Drawing (an image editor similar to Paint)

Document Viewer (PDF viewer)

Firefox (Tumblr's favourite web browser)

LibreOffice (like MS Office - it even supports MS Office file format !)

Rhythmbox (like Windows Media Player or iTunes)

Software Manager (like the Microsoft Store/App Store; GET OTHER PROGRAMS HERE !)

System Monitor (like Task Manager)

System Settings (like Control Panel)

Terminal (like Powershell/Command Prompt; outside the scope of this post but good to have)

Text Editor (like Notepad)

Timeshift (like System Restore points, or macOS Time Machine)

Web Apps (similar to an old iOS feature - make Netflix.com into an app etc.)

Update Manager (manages updates)

Available in Software Manager:

Audacity

Discord

DOSbox

Dropbox

OBS

Spotify

Transmission (torrent client)

VLC

and much more ! these are all official apps !

How's that checklist ?

i mentioned some casual tasks at the start of this post. let's work through them !

Social Media, Online Shopping, Youtube/Netflix/Plex and general Web Browsing

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: identical Method: open Firefox. browse to your_site.com. note: i recommend the web version of Plex as the app can be buggy

Email

Difficulty: easy (webmail), medium (mail client) Windows Similarity: identical (webmail) or similar (mail client) Method: webmail - open Firefox. browse to your_email_site.com. sign in client - open Software Manager. search for Geary (similar to Mac Mail), Evolution (similar to Outlook), or Thunderbird (same as on Windows). click Install. open Geary/Evolution/Thunderbird, follow the first-time setup.

PDFs

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: similar Method: open Document Viewer from the application menu. File -> Open, browse for your PDF. OR, open File Browser, browse for your PDF, double-click to open

Document Writing

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: similar Method: open LibreOffice Writer from the application menu. on first launch it may ask if you want a traditional (Office 2003) or Ribbon (Office 2007 onwards) layout. use it as you would MS Word. there's also Calc (Excel), Impress (Powerpoint), Draw (Publisher) and Base (Access)

Funny Meme Edits (aka MS Paint level of image editing)

Difficulty: medium Windows Similarity: similar Method: open Drawing from the application menu. File -> Open for your image. the left toolbar provides options to resize, add text, crop etc. pro tip: remember to click the tick button on the bottom right when you do anything !

Spotify

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: identical Method: open Software Manager, search for Spotify, click Install. then open it from the application menu.

DVDs

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: similar Method: insert your DVD. Mint may ask what you want to do (choose play/open with Celluloid). if it doesn't, then open Celluloid from the application menu, click the + icon in the top left, click "Open Disc" and choose the DVD you inserted.

CDs and MP3s

Difficulty: easy Windows Similarity: similar Method: CDs - insert your CD. Mint may ask what you want to do (choose play/open with Rhythmbox). if it doesn't, then open Rhythmbox from the application menu. it should automatically see your CD. MP3s - double-click your MP3 file.

Gaming and Windows-only programs

i said i'd briefly mention this (probably good bc the post is getting loonnggggggg), so here we go.

gaming on Linux has come a long way. Steam can be installed from Software Manager and supports a few titles natively, as well as the option to run some Windows-only games using compatibility software called Proton. the website ProtonDB is very handy for looking up compatibility for specific games. i'll drop a proper GUIDE on Linux gaming another time.

Windows-only programs. sometimes you need specific software and it only has a Windows version. it happens. there's similar compatibility software that allows eg Photoshop to run, called WINE (Proton is actually based on this). again, this is outside the casual scope of this post, but i'll drop a GUIDE on this too (as i use the same software to manage both my Windows-only programs and my Windows-only games).

Finale !! FINI !! Fuck me that's a lotta words !!

okay, we got to the end ! you should have Linux Mint installed, you should have your basic programs ready to rock (and know where to get more !!), and know where to get help from official Linux Mint sources as well as community-run ones <3

please drop any questions in the notes, or as an ask. i shall tag those asks #DATA_REQUESTS/GUIDES/LINUX in addition to my usual #DATA_REQUEST tag

i'll also provide the following GUIDEs/REPOs as i have time:

Flatpak (that universal App Store i mentioned earlier)

Gaming (including using Proton + Bottles for Windows games)

Windows software (using WINE + Bottles)

and if there are any specific GUIDEs (eg terminal basics, how to configure xyz in System Settings etc.) or REPOs (eg links to other people's GUIDEs, software recs, screenshot galleries etc.) i'm happy to provide those as and when i have the time !! have fun !!~

#daemon.md #GUIDES #GUIDES/LINUX #linux mint #linux #free software #foss #open source #this post is like 5x the length i expected it to be bc brevity ain't my style #oopsie #i know i should provide more screenshots but i'm tired after writing this #so i'll include some in a reblog ??

[gascon-en-exil]

Typically I wouldn't bother with something like this, especially when I have wine to drink and parties to get to tonight. But today's been a day for fandom drama, and

this might be the most hilariously off-base response to anything I've seen in quite some time. Let's recount:

Claiming that anyone can enforce an echo chamber on Tumblr, a site with next to no moderation, no upvote/downvote system, and not even an algorithm to prioritize popular content (that any users actually care about, anyway). Tumblr is the one social media platform where what you see is just about only what you actively seek out. What this amounts to, then, is complaining that people are saying things on their own blogs and he can't do anything to shut them up.

On that note, bragging about getting multiple accounts suspended from TVTropes because they presumably said less-than-glowing things about a fictional character sounds very much like enforcing an echo chamber, and an edit war for that matter - one where an individual gets the mods on their side apparently through sheer persistence. (And to reiterate here, we're talking about a 4 1/2-year old game here...hardly fresh material.)

For context, all of this is coming up in response to years of trolling, harassment, and now art theft on top of all the other terrible things going on in a particular Discord. Funny how that stuff never gets addressed.

#Fandom discourse

[akookminsupporter]

I got on reddit a couple of months ago and I discovered that while many people are neutral about bts or even dislike them, most of them are really polite and nice about it, and most discourse about bts is in a positive or neutral light. It's not like twitter where they call them flops in every 2 tweets. So it's similar to tumblr because people can have normal conversations (most of the time) about kpop groups there. Of course there are trolls and straight up haters there too but they either get downvoted very hard or deleted so it's I think better. Anyway my point is that I go on reddit today to see what people are talking about because I only check reddit like 2-3 times a week. And the first post is literally someone asking why bighit is pushing jikook out of all the ships.. And I just sat here blinking at the screen because... Really? We are having this conversation AGAIN? It wasn't even in the bangtan channel/sub, it was in a kpop sub where you can talk about any group. But then I read the whole post and it was very clear OP was one of those people who don't watch official content and just lives off of clips that are posted in the first 24 hours. There are not a lot of comments right now but all of them are very normal and lowkey calling out OP for being stupid so I upvoted all of them 😂

But like every fucking time a DVD comes out and we have footage from multiple days or even months and we see jikook hanging out and do their thing, EVERY DAMN TIME we have this same ass conversation. Every time it's fanservice every time it's "why are they together" every time it's "why is bh pushing them" MF IT'S BEEN YEARS OF THIS. Don't these people think that if you see them, CONSISTENTLY hang out with each other EVERY YEAR, don't you think that maybe... Just maybe they like hanging out and being in each others company???

Even if you take shipping completely out of the picture. Like don't you think its fucking weird to see two people who have known each other for 11 years, went through some insane shit together and even more that WE as FANS probably don't even know about, they clearly support and love each other and like hanging out with each other... And then you go on social media and tweet: "why do people, who are friends, spend time together?" DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELF. I need someone to go up to these people when they are out with their friends and ask them if they secretly hate each other and only hang out just to please their parents or something.

You don't need to ship jikook to see they like each other. You don't need to ship taekook to see they like each other. You don't need to ship anyone in bangtan to see that they love each other to the moon and back. These men are in each others asses 24/7 but sure, the company is pushing them to do fanservice because they don't make enough money or something. Whether you (not you specifically) think jikook or taekook or yoonmin or anyone is dating or not, that's your business. If you ship them, you ship them, if you don't, you don't. But you literally cannot fucking walk up to me, look me in the eye and tell me they don't like each other. These boys are first and foremost FRIENDS And if you see any of them together, it's because THEY WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH EACH OTHER.

I don't know why it's so hard for some people to understand this. Maybe because fanservice is a normal? thing in Korea and I'm sure many groups are doing it. But I checked OPs post and comment history and they follow bts for a while now so they have to know that the tannies have moved past/moved away from doing typical kpop things loooooong ago. They are not your typical kpop group. Two members hanging out with each other in front of or behind camera is not fanservice. Can we fucking wrap this conversation up already, I'm so bored of seeing this being brought up every year. Sorry for the long essay 😔

When it comes to Jimin and Jungkook, people would always prefer to believe anything but the truth, reality and what they themselves say. Wait till whatever they are doing comes out, it will be all this again and even worse.

Opinions.

#jikookphobics

[cheesy-poofs]

Why Kyman?

This was a long time coming, so I decided it would be fun to touch upon some of my feelings on this ship Its mostly because its the ship I decided to stick with and I'm not a huge shipper in general. Honestly I didn't ship anything for most of the time I watched the show. Style, Kenman, Bunny, ect. never appealed to me because I thought they would work the same as friends (not that I have anything against those ships). Cartman and Kyle are a different story, though.

These are my feelings as of now, and are always subject to change. This is less of a meta post, and I mostly made it to think through some of my feelings about Kyman and some other ships. I touch upon some controversies lightly. This is not meant to be a discourse post, however.

Well, let's proceed. I wrote this all in one sitting, so its not well-thought out or anything, I might clean it up later or specify things better but in the meantime, I'm posting this raw.

First off, I'll touch upon how I ended up getting into it.

As for when I realized I loved Cartman and Kyle's dynamic a lot, it begun in the episodes "Tonsil Trouble" and later on "Cartman Finds Love" which made me appreciate the humor of the ship. When I finished watching the show, I thought it would be fun to look into the different ships of the fandom and decide what I liked. This actually begun with Candy (Cartman x Wendy) because I enjoyed their episodes and thought they were funny. But something felt like it was missing in that ship; it just didn't feel like there was enough there, and my interest in it was short-lived.

Then I came across my first Kyman fic, and if its not evident, I ended up really liking that fic...and reading a ton more Kyman fanfics and falling deeper into this ship. I don't read fanfics anymore because a lot of them don't quite capture the characters in a way I enjoy, but it did lead to me obsessing over Kyman and rewatching most of the episodes about them.

Then I made this account. I lurked on here for a while but I think I started actually posting on Stan/Trey's birthday. I was happy to see a lot of other people who still enjoyed Kyman, let alone South Park. I didn't touch social media during my first binge of the show, save YouTube or sometimes Pinterest. I also had no friends who liked South Park at the time, which was part of the reason I made a Tumblr in the first place. I wanted somewhere I could actually see people who were as obsessed as I was/am.

This was when I learned that Kyman was controversial. Honestly, I never thought of Kyman as "Nazi x Jew" because I didn't define them as characters purely based upon that. I never really saw Kyman as a wholesome ship either, but I kind of liked that aspect because its a fucked up relationship on both ends. They're just fictional characters who often do really fucked up things because apart of South Park's humor is kids doing things they normally don't do. That's why I roll my eyes at people trying to argue which ships are "abusive" or not because it doesn't matter. They're not real. You can have distaste for ships or be uncomfortable with Kyman because of the nature of the ship, that's fine. But its really not as bad as people make it out to be; not inherently.

Recently, I've reconsidered my feelings about Cartman, but that doesn't ruin Kyman for me because, at the end of the day, I ship them purely for fun. I don't take this show that seriously. I also don't get people trying to argue that Kyman is less tropey than other ships because its honestly just typical "Enemies to Lovers" (which isn't a bad thing, but let's be honest with ourselves, its a huge fandom trope). I have no issues with people shipping Style even if its not my thing, and I'll admit a lot of Kyman shippers have this weird superiority complex. I probably used to, but I try not to come off that way anymore. When I say Kyman is the most interesting ship to me I try to make it clear that its only my very subjective opinion. I'm biased because its the first ship I latched onto, and I still enjoy it a lot and find comfort in it.

So to summarize some of my current feelings; I think Cartman is (obviously) a horrible person, and I think people try too hard to soften him up or make excuses for his actions. I enjoy people going over why Cartman is the way he is now, yes, and I think Cartman is a really damaged kid and I get sympathetic of him sometimes myself. He's my favorite for a reason, he wouldn't be the same character if he wasn't awful. But even if I've been a bit of a "Cartman apologist" myself, I've come to accept that he will likely always be awful, and that's fine; that's by design, that's his purpose in the show, and I love him for it. I think people feel guilty for liking Cartman when there's no reason to, just because you like him doesn't mean you're okay with his actions. There might be some dumbasses who idolize Cartman, but they probably shouldn't be watching South Park anyway. Let's not forget what kind of show this is:

I don't like it when people try to exclude Cartman either, because South Park would be nothing without him. I think about "The Death of Eric Cartman" a lot and how it shows that the boys could leave him anytime, and Kyle even admits that he knows Cartman thrives off attention (ironic since Kyle tends to give him a lot of attention, its a big reason why Cartman is so obsessed with him). My point is that the boys still choose to hang out with him despite it all, because they actually don't hate Cartman completely. Yes, they do sometimes, and they'll obviously say that they don't care about him, but often their actions show the opposite. Either way, he's a very significant part of the show, and I do not want to see the sanitized show other fans want this to be.

I don't think Kyle is quite as bad as Cartman (however I would argue Cartman, Stan, and Kyle are all huge assholes and deserve each other). Regardless, it won't stop me from shipping Kyman because I purely like the way they work off of each other, and I personally only care about Kyle when he's paired with Cartman. That's why Kyman is my only Kyle ship.

I thought this post would end up being longer, but I think I touched upon most of my thoughts. Remember, this isn't exhaustive, nor is it definitive. I essentially try to look at Kyman from a neutral perspective, acknowledging both of their faults while also not taking it too seriously, especially given what show we're watching. They're both interesting, layered, and morally questionable characters with a lot of episodes I really like. That's the gist of it.

#kyman #eric cartman

[twistedtummies2]

Ranking Twisted Wonderland - Part 1

In August of 2020, I joined Tumblr for the first time. That same year, I posted a very early version of a ranking/countdown of my favorite characters from Twisted Wonderland: a game that has basically come to define my page. I write about a lot of things on here, but Twisted Wonderland is my “flagship fandom,” as it were.

I have revisited this idea of ranking my favorites from the game’s main cast of twenty-two students from Night Raven College a couple times since…but I was never happy with any of those attempts. I decided that, to celebrate my 3rd year anniversary here on Tumblr, and just as many years in love with the game, to do something special and try to rectify this issue: a comprehensive, two-part countdown/ranking of ALL those twenty-two characters, listing them from my least favorite to my most favorite, and - furthermore - explaining WHY they had they place they did and what I loved about each character. That, dear readers, is what you are looking at now: the first part of that ranking. (The second part will be posted tomorrow.) Each half will cover eleven options; this first half will cover choices 22 through 12; tomorrow will follow the top eleven. I based my decisions on a number of things. One, obviously, is just personal bias, and that’s naturally something one simply has no control over: sometimes you’ll like certain characters more than others “just because,” and one just has to deal with that fact. The remaining factors, however, are slightly more technical: for example, how excited do I get when Cards featuring the characters come up? Are they ones I always go for, or ones I always skip? Also, in my writing, how much do I like playing with that character, or how much do I want to play with them? For those who know my page, I’m specifically talking non-kinks there…although I should add that I will be taking kinks into account. That sort of just gets lumped into “personal bias.” On one final note there, this is a list of my favorite CHARACTERS, not my favorite CRUSHES: for me, personally, there is a difference. This was not easy to make, and there are multiple characters here where I honestly wish I could rank them higher, or where it’s all a matter of my mood (like, some days I like them more than others, if that makes sense). The fact is that I genuinely and truthfully love ALL of these lads; there really are no bad characters in the entire bunch, at least in my humble opinion. Also, again, I’m specifically talking the 22 “Main Students,” so no side characters, no staff members, and certainly no Grim. With that said, let’s begin. Here is the start of my rankings of the central cast for Twisted Wonderland: From “Least Good” to Best!

22. Cater Diamond.

Cater is a fun character with a lot of energy, who represents a common dichotomy that runs through most of the characters in this cast. At first, he seems like a typical social media junkie: obsessed with self-image, overly cheerful, practically speaking a language made up of hashtags, and seemingly ready to take a selfie with everyone and everything in breathing distance. However, underneath this, there are other sides to Cater he seems to try and keep hidden: he has a rather sneaky side to him, and there’s also hints of something terribly sad beneath his mask of smiling enthusiasm. At times I think that superficial side gets a bit annoying, which may or may not be the point…but it’s never enough to make me hate him. Unfortunately, it is enough to make him place at the bottom of the ranks.

21. Silver.

Silver ranks low because he’s sort of a cypher to me. There’s a sort of mysterious quality to the character, perhaps unintentional, as I find him to be one of the hardest characters to fully get a grasp on in a lot of ways. It’s telling that he is the only major character in the cast (minus Grim) whose last name is never given; he’s simply known as “Silver.” However, again, this doesn’t make him a character I dislike: for one thing, I enjoy that sense of mystery, because it feels like - with what we DO know about the guy - there’s a lot of interesting things waiting to be discovered still. He’s also one of the more unique characters in the cast, since he’s one of only two who is based not on a Disney Villain, but on a Disney Hero: the character is inspired by Princess Aurora herself, with a dash of Prince Philip thrown in, which makes him all the more intriguing when you realize his master (and adoptive big brother, by all accounts), Malleus, is based on the nemesis of those characters. I’m curious to see how that fact plays into the story; at the moment, Chapter 7 is not available in English, and I’m trying to avoid spoilers as much as I can. I know that Silver gets a big boost as a character due to the events of that chapter, but since I haven’t seen it yet…right now, he gets lower points. I am 90% sure that, when I see that Chapter, this fact will change and he will be given much higher placement. As it stands…this is where he sits.

20. Sebek Zigvolt.

Poor Sebek. I actually want to like this guy more than I do, but no matter how hard I try, I just don’t. Sebek definitely has his appealing qualities, and he’s probably one of the funniest characters in the game. It’s rare that scenes with Sebek don’t leave me snickering and rolling my eyes with amusement at his over-boisterous, Malleus-obsessed personality. His ego is a funny thing, and there’s a lot of humor that comes from seeing his pomposity punctured. However, at times those same qualities, much like with Cater, can be a bit grating. It was actually hard to choose between him and Silver, as far as which of the two I liked most. I ultimately decided to put Sebek over Silver simply because I think he’s a bit easier to understand and get into the head of.

19. Trey Clover.

The great paradox with Trey is that what I like about him is also what lands him so low in the ranks. Trey is the single most level-headed character at NRC. He’s sort of an encouraging big brother figure, and his more mild-mannered, practical personality makes him a great contrast to Riddle, as well as many of the other characters in the game. While he’s ostensibly inspired by one of the Card Guards, he actually seems to be based largely on the King of Hearts: a humbler figure than his housewarden, but with his own sneaky side, a trait he shares with Cater. However, the problem with Trey’s generally more “normal” personality is that, by being a character who, by design, tends to fade into the background a bit…he does exactly that, especially when you consider all the wild and colorful characters who surround him. As a result, I can’t really rank him any higher than this.

18. Rook Hunt.

Rook is one of the most oddball characters in the game…and as you can imagine, that’s saying quite a lot. He’s also probably one of the creepiest. He’s inspired by the Huntsman from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” but you probably wouldn’t guess it at first glance. He arguably changes the most from his source material: Rook is a fashionable Frenchman with a flamboyant personality. He’s a poet and a seeker of things of beauty, with more romance in his heart than a dozen Harlequin novels. He’s also seemingly fearless, which is part of what makes him occasionally unsettling: you can snarl at him, threaten him with all sorts of horrible forms of destruction, show off muscles and claw and fangs…and he just reacts with some over-the-top variation of, “That’s magnificent! Show me more!” But perhaps the thing that makes Rook truly unnerving is that he seems to adhere to the logic of “The Most Dangerous Game.” Rook is OBSESSED with hunting; he uses it as an analogy for almost everything he does, and he seems to treat just about everyone he finds interesting like a hunter stalking their prey. He has many secrets, and a lot of them are to things we don’t WANT the answers to. He’s equal parts fun and frightening, and I’ve come to like him more over time (something that can be said for a lot of characters in the game), but he still ranks fairly low in my books. He’s just not a character I’m that interested in writing for.

17. Ortho Shroud.

It’s about this time in the ranking that I start to feel REALLY bad about placing some characters particularly low. As I said before, I love all of these lads, but I naturally like some more than others. Ortho is unique among the cast just due to the simple premise of his entire existence: he’s an android who has been programmed to behave like the little brother of Idia Shroud (the Hades character of the game). This means he’s not only the youngest character of the cast - an eternal child who presumably never grows any older (Peter Pan sympathizes) - but he’s also the only one of the crew who isn’t an organic being of any kind. Ortho is another example of the dichotomy of darkness and light that most of these characters have: on the one hand, he’s an adorable little sweetheart who just wants his big brother to be happy and have more friends to play with. He’s inquisitive, enthusiastic, and somehow manages to be innocent while literally being a walking Internet browser at the same time. On the other hand, Ortho is armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction and all kinds of crazy gizmos and gadgets, which can lead to some…alarming situations, since he doesn’t always emotionally process issues properly. He seriously sees no issue with blowing annoying people to smithereens. Equally split between scary and sweet, Ortho is the most adorable little murder machine you could ever meet.

16. Lilia Vanrouge.

Much like Epel, Lilia is someone whose outer appearance - a seemingly youthful, self-admittedly adorable, and rather spritely young lad - is the polar opposite of who he really is deep down.The difference is in how that is expressed. Beneath his Puckish exterior, Lilia is a wise old man…who if you will pardon my French, gives nary the slightest of f#cks. He’s an ancient warrior, older than ANYONE at Night Raven, who comes to the school for purposes of his own. He’s forgotten more about history, human and fairy alike, than any textbook author will ever know. He’s practically a father figure to both Malleus and Silver, and - just like Epel - he knows how to use his appearance to his advantage. He lures people in with his slight looks and eccentric personality, or uses them to throw people off the scent, before promptly showing them just how wicked he can really be. He reminds me a lot of characters like Sans from “Undertale” or the Doctor from “Doctor Who”: to paraphrase the latter show, Lilia has the demeanor of a prattling jackanapes…but inside, it’s a whole other story. He’s one of Night Raven’s fascinating characters, as a result, but I simply enjoy others a lot more.

15. Epel Felmier.

Speaking of characters who can be scary and sweet, Epel is the definition of that classic meme, “Looks like a cinnamon roll, could actually kill you.” Well…maybe not KILL, but certainly beat the tar out of your wagon. Epel, at first glance, is an effeminate, childlike lad with big baby eyes and a graceful physique. This is the total opposite of who he is inside: Epel is a country boy, born and bred, who’s used to rough labor and a rugged lifestyle. He has a thick Southern dialect, loves action and fast vehicles, and can whoop your arse in about three seconds flat if you let him. Epel’s whole story arc in the game, in fact, is learning how to balance his inner fire with the doll-like appearance of his face and form…sometimes a bit against his will. He wants so badly to be seen as a Manly Man of Manly Man Manness, but he’s always finding people who underestimate him based on his girlish demeanor, or who try to teach him to be more refined and reserved than he truly is under the surface. He’s the living embodiment of the Poison Apple: a tempting, beautiful, delicate-looking thing with a hard, thick, juicy, and downright dangerous undercurrent. The result is honestly pretty funny, as well as interesting.

14. Idia Shroud.

Like I mentioned earlier, Idia is the character based on Hades in this game. This flame-haired computer genius is probably one of the most interesting twists on their respective source you’ll find in “Twisted Wonderland.” When people think of Disney’s Hades, they think of a confident, fast-talking, Mephistophelean figure with a smarmy attitude and a wry sense of humor, whose attempts to be smooth and slick are contrasted by a raging inferno of a temper. Idia is interesting in that he’s actually none of these things…or, at least, not at first glance. Idia is a reclusive, anti-social misfit who literally is afraid of people EXISTING anywhere NEAR him. He prefers to stay shut in his lair playing video games and watching anime or old horror movies than to be anywhere close to another living being, for fear that he’ll BREATHE wrong around them. (No, that is not an exaggeration.) Online, however, Idia actually shows another side to his personality, which is much closer to Hades, and he can be very passive-aggressive or downright mean-spirited when he feels he has some security to be. Idia appeals on two different levels, as a result: he’s one of the most sympathetic and at times downright cute characters in the game, but his nasty side - where his inspiration really shows - is just as entertaining, especially in the unique way it’s presented.

13. Vil Schoenheit.

Vil is another case of a character I’ve come to enjoy and understand more as time has gone on. In fact, when I look back on older stories I wrote featuring Vil, I sort of cringe because I feel like, when I wrote those, he was one character I didn’t really understand well enough to properly handle. Nowadays, I think I’d do a few things differently…but I digress. Vil is based on the Evil Queen, and he lives up to his predecessor well. He is vain, without question, but it isn’t a vanity usually played up for comedy: just like the Queen, Vil is cold and authoritative, not easily fazed by fear or agitated worry. He keeps a stiff upper lip, presenting himself with poise and elegance that virtually no one at Night Raven can surpass. Even when he is overcome with emotion, he tries to rein it all in. All of this is a well-sculpted mask to hide his personal insecurities and professional stresses. Vil is one of the few major characters in the cast with a big job to do outside of the school: he’s a CELEBRITY, and a multi-talented one, at that. He’s a skilled actor, singer, dancer, model, photographer, costume and makeup designer, beautician, AND director of both film and theatre. Top it off with martial arts skills, a talent for poisons and potion making, and the fact he somehow juggles all of that ON TOP of trying to attend a prestigious college and keep his grades in the upper ranks…and I think it’s fair to say Vil is the definition of an absolute unit. But despite all his success and all his accomplishments, hiding under his painted lips and flowing robes, Vil has personal esteem issues he tries to keep tucked out of sight. He’s just as paradoxical and fascinating as his source material, and a wonderful reinvention of the Evil Queen in his own right.

12. Ace Trappola.

It was difficult to decide who would rank higher/lower between Ace and Deuce. These two are the MC’s best friends in the game, and as such, they’re pretty prominent figures throughout the entire run. They have some part to play, to varying degrees of size, in every chapter of the Main Story, and they appear quite frequently in the various Events that branch off of the same. Because we spend so much time with them, we know more about them than a lot of other characters, and they often help to act as voices of advice (sometimes good, sometimes bad) for the player. Ace lost the battle, but do not misconstrue that to mean I dislike him. Ace is a cunning trickster who is skilled in sleight-of-hand magic tricks, and is an expert card player. In direct contrast, however, Ace is also a person who lacks what might be called a “shut up filter.” He always speaks his mind, without hesitation or holding back, very rarely trying to sugarcoat or hide anything. Even when he tries to be a bit more crafty and weasel his way through things, he usually gets caught. You might say that Ace is a person who starts fights, while Deuce is a person who simply chooses to try and finish them.

PART TWO: TBA

#list #countdown #least good to best #favorites #ranking twisted wonderland #disney #twisted wonderland #3rd anniversary special #part 1 #ace #ace trappola #vil #vil schoenheit #idia #idia shroud #epel #epel felmier #lilia #lilia vanrouge #ortho #ortho shroud #rook #rook hunt #trey #trey clover #silver #sebek #sebek zigvolt #cater #cater diamond

[summercourtship]

stay to burn (only to drown instead): chapter six: karma [part II]

masterpost | ao3 link

jonathan crane x reader; bruce wayne x reader; edward nashton x reader | warnings: canon typical violence, sexual content | word count: 6355 words

DISCLAIMER: these chapters are not meant to be read alone. not every chapter has content for one of the three pairings listed. this is an ongoing fanfiction that I am cross-posting here on tumblr, not a series of one-shots.

chapter one |previous part

“Aren’t scarecrows supposed to be like… nice? Getting rid of birds, helping crops, you know?”

You were sitting in the hallway of a university building you were rarely in, waiting for the door to open to your next class which had been relocated for the day, when a conversation a few feet away from you drifted down to you.

“Maybe it’s ironic? I dunno, he might’ve not come up with it himself. I mean, the mask, sure, but maybe the newspapers came up with his name.”

“Well, I was reading this thread-”

“On Twitter? Or Reddit?”

The silence that followed the girl's question apparently said it all, if the other girl’s disgusted scoff was anything to go off of. Of course, Twitter should be the only source of reliable information.

You rolled your eyes, but kept them trained at your notebook, your hand paused above the paper, any thoughts of writing dashed as you focused on your eavesdropping. You doubted either of them had any information you didn’t already have, especially if the only two sources they could think of were social media sites. But you wished they would just talk about it so you could know if they were even worth eavesdropping on!

“Anyway, I was reading this thread and it pointed out that all of the places he has targeted are Gotham’s largest suppliers of dopamine. He’s even been able to get shipments as they’ve arrived in the harbor, before they’ve gotten to the warehouses.”

No, I know that. Give me something new, something concrete, something else I can look into.

“Maybe he’s just really sad.” Her friend sounded incredibly disinterested. You held back another scoff, because while you hadn’t exactly done the best in your high school chemistry class, you had done enough research now to know that dopamine by itself wasn’t used to increase happiness, even though it was known as the happiness chemical.

“It scares me, though. Anyone stealing chemicals…” Her voice drifted away from you, the girls obviously packed up and started to move away to sit somewhere else in the building, though you’re sure she was going on about Sarin gas attacks or anthrax. The usual examples when people talked about biological weapons and terrorism.

But something she said set off an alarm bell in your brain, the offhand comment she had made about the situation scaring her, something in it reminding you of something else. Only for the thought to be dashed by the loud clang of the door banging against the wall, a stream of students filing out as their class had ended. Quickly, you wrote what she said down on a scrap of paper before ripping it out of the notebook and slipping it into your pocket.

You stood up, putting your notebook back into your bag. You went through your normal classes like you were in a trance, turning in your assignments on time and getting your usual decent grades but never rising above it. No, you were well aware that you were saving your energy and good work ethic for Dr. Crane’s class, even though you didn’t have much to do anymore. It wasn’t like you were doing the assignments and he’d stopped having you grade them two weeks ago.

Well, at least I’ll have Arkham to focus on soon.

It wasn’t necessarily a happy thought, but it was something. The approach of another new chapter in your life was nerve-wracking, especially one that you had no parameters for what to expect. You had no expectations for what the job would be like, due to Jonathan still not giving you much information besides “it’s a secretarial job”. Which would be fine, if you had any outside experience for what that entailed, but your knowledge of receptionist/secretary jobs came purely from film and television, and that’s not saying much.

When you returned home that night, you put the scrap of paper from your pocket on the wall of your living room on the few previously blank feet of space beside the balcony door. You’d felt a bit like a mad woman when you’d started it, but stepping back and looking at the clippings from the newspaper and printed articles, pictures and your handwritten notes gave you a sense of satisfaction you hadn’t felt in a very long time.

In the center of it all, pinned to the wall with a clear thumb tack, was the wrinkled list you’d made the morning after your first encounter with the Scarecrow.

Yes, you’d told Jonathan that you wouldn't look into the Scarecrow. But once the idea had planted itself in your brain, it was impossible to uproot it. At least you hadn’t moved on to the next stage of your research, which you’d been toying around with. You were, admittedly, tired of just scouring the internet and newspapers for information. You wanted to go and find it yourself.

But you held off, having enough self-preservation to keep you safe in your apartment. For now, at least. After all, it was the same urge to find the information yourself and not second-hand that led you to the mayor’s funeral and the election night party at Gotham Square.

You were examining the collage when you noticed out of the window the familiar warm light of the Bat Signal, bright against the dark sky. There was no moon tonight, something you noted passively. They say that the full moon makes people behave weird. But in your experience, it was the new moon that made them bold.

Pulling the thin curtain over the door shut, your mind couldn’t stop itself from wandering to thoughts of the Batman. Mainly, you wondered what he was doing, who he was fighting. Because if the signal was lit, he was surely out there fighting and trying to make Gotham safer, even if it was ultimately a futile effort. If it was lowly criminals like robbers or vandals, or if he was going after a real villain, the kind that would haunt your nightmares. You wondered if he had any encounters with the Scarecrow, what he thought about it all. Surely, he must’ve at least looked into it, stealing chemicals was a big deal, right?

Tugging at the sleeve of your cardigan, you tried to ignore the pit in your stomach as you thought about whether you’d ever see him again.

“I’m applying for an internship at Wayne Enterprises.”

Jonathan’s pen stopped scratching against his paper for a moment before continuing as if it never stopped.

“Why there?” Jonathan didn’t look up from his desk. You were splayed out on one of the leather chairs in front of his desk, your knees hooked over the arm and your head hanging over the other side. You held a book over your face, which wasn’t even one you needed to read for a class. It was a familiar title, one you’d read a few times before and had come to think of as a comfort book.

Jonathan was working on something that he hadn’t felt the need to tell you about, but he hadn’t given you anything else to grade or look over. But since you’d begun to see each other more often outside of a professional context, it felt weird to not attend your office hours with him, even if you had nothing to do.

Hence, your book.

“They had one.” You shrugged, still not looking at him but from the corner of your eye. “And there was one as a records assistant. Personally, I think they’re still scrambling after the Renewal money-laundering shit was blown wide open. I know there’s been a few statements from Bruce Wayne saying that he’s starting from the ground up with that whole project, but who knows how long that’ll take. But the internship would be a good experience, even if my hands aren’t actually getting dirty in the files.”

While you were speaking, Jonathan had put his pen down and shut the folio he was working in with an air of finality before getting out of his chair and crossing around the desk to stand by you.

You rested your book down on your chest, looking up at him.

“Hi.” You smiled. “Are you sure there’s nothing for me to do?”

“I can think of something.”

You swung your legs down from the arm, sitting up properly in the seat. Your book fell to your lap, and you’re not even sure you remembered to mark your place. But, ultimately, it didn’t matter. Because he was right in front of you, looking like a carved statue of a man. Picturesque, unreal.

He plucked the book off of your lap, examining the back.

“I didn’t take you as someone who’d like this kind of book.”

“Well, I’m full of surprises.”

“That you are.” He handed the book back, leaning over you to place it on your lap before bracing himself on the arm of the chair, his face right in front of yours. “So, have you put in your application for this internship?”

“It was due two days ago, so yes.” You looked at his lips but didn’t make any moves.

“I’m a bit disappointed you didn’t ask me to look over it.” He returned the favor.

“You’ve seemed so busy lately, and I didn’t want to add to it.” You shrugged, your voice barely above a whisper. “Besides, it was pretty basic.”

“I see.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear back from them, don’t worry.” You didn’t add that you didn’t think you would hear back, that internships at Wayne Enterprises were highly coveted amongst upperclassmen and recent graduates alike. An internship there could give you powerful connections for the rest of your professional and personal life.

He seemed to sense your resignation about the position, frowning slowly. Whatever bubble that’d been building between you popped, and you were brought back to the reality of the moment- you were in a stuffy office and posed awkwardly in an uncomfortable chair.

“They would be lucky to have you.” He straightened up, moving away from your chair again. “But don’t overload yourself with work.”

“Do you expect Arkham to increase my workload?”

“Not at all. But it is stressful, at times.”

“I’ve been working retail for the past year. I think I can handle it.”

He only smiled, which was a relief because you had meant it as a joke and weren’t sure you could handle a lecture from him right now about how retail was actually nothing like working in an asylum. Not at all.

Because you were just going to be Jonathan’s assistant, the hiring process had been simple. So simple it didn’t quite seem legitimate. But you filled out the same tax forms as all the other jobs you worked, so at least you were employed in the eyes of the IRS. And that was legitimate enough for you.

Scanning over the contract for employment with Arkham, you didn’t miss how it was for one full year of employment. When you’d pointed it out to Jonathan, he simply shrugged and said the asylum was understaffed and needed to ensure they’d have enough people for at least a little while. When you asked if you needed to sign the contract that held you in that job for a year, he said it was non-negotiable. You knew that signing it didn’t mean they would force you to stay at the asylum if you wanted to quit, but it was enough to give you pause.

It meant that you had no easy way out if things should go south, that you couldn’t just up and leave like you had your last job. It would mean actually discussing leaving with Jonathan before you left, the prospect of which was slightly terrifying.

But with Jonathan standing over your shoulder, you quickly got over it and signed.

Taking your papers, Jonathan entered his office, leaving the door open behind him, an obvious invitation to follow. You entered, ignoring the ridiculous feeling that you had just signed over your soul and were now in the Devil's Den.

“I’ll get these returned to the hiring manager later. Today won’t be your first official day here but I’ll give you a more in depth tour of the building than the one you received last time.”

“Right.” You bit your lip. “And when will my first official day be…?”

“We can discuss scheduling when we get back to my office.”

With that, you left his office, passing by the sad desk that would become your new workspace. You already had some vague ideas of what you wanted to do with your area, items and decor to make it seem more home-y.

“Most of the places I will show you are necessary for you to know, at least their locations. If I need you to run papers around the building, it will be important for you to know where exactly you’re going and the most effective way to get there. And Arkham can be a bit… labyrinthine.”

An SAT word, nice. You think it to yourself jokingly, but he was right. The hallway layout of the hospital made no sense, especially not when you considered that these buildings had been renovated so many times in their history which should have made it more accessible rather than less.

“And paperwork will be the main part of your job.”

You walked quickly through the halls, down a single flight of stairs to the main atrium. He brought you through the hall into a large room that was separated into smaller blocks of space by half-walls and windows. On one of the exterior walls were a series of signs, too small and dusty for you to make out from your spot by the entrance of the room. Above all of them, painted on the wall, was the word INTAKE. One of the smaller areas was filled with boxes and clothes hanging on racks. When you passed it, the musty scent of clothes that have been sitting undisturbed for a very long time wafted into the walkway.

“It’s rare but sometimes we do release our patients back into society.”

Staring into the small area, you noticed that a lot of the boxes had undisturbed cobwebs connecting them to each other, that the clothes were full of holes from moths. From the looks of it, no one had been released in a long time.

You continued wordlessly through to the end of the room, not venturing into the interior of the room further. Jonathan simply pointed out where the guard working intake sat, the one currently on duty obviously fighting the urge to fall asleep at his desk.

Jonathan took you to the rec room, which was empty, and the cafeteria, also empty. Both rooms were large and dreary, much what you expected from them, with no lights except for the emergency lights that always stayed on. Both had the lingering smell of mold and something gone sour, whether it was body odor or food. Again, he pointed out where the guards and aides would be stationed when inmates were in the rooms.

You hoped, for your sake, that you would rarely have to step foot into either of the rooms.

As you walked on from the cafeteria, Jonathan wordlessly opened a nondescript door. Inside was a narrow cement stairwell, the metal railing rusting underneath chipped black paint. You turned to go upwards before you realized that Jonathan was already making his way down into the bowels of the asylum. Groaning internally and unable to stop yourself from wondering what exactly you had gotten yourself into, you began to follow him down.

But you couldn’t stop your small groan when he opened the door to the first level of the basement (the rest of the staircase down was blocked off with a metal gate, and when you peered over the edge you only saw the stairs slowly descending into darkness).

The basement of Arkham was initially like the rest of the building. In desperate need for some TLC but still presentable. But as you walked further into its depths, the less maintained it was. The floor became dull with questionable stains while the tiles on the wall were chipped in more places than not. The lights turned from a sterile fluorescent white to a dim yellow, the light bulbs buzzing above your heads as you walked past mysterious metal door after mysterious metal door. A majority of the door’s tiny windows were blocked out, rendering the interior of the room safe from your prying gaze.

“Where exactly are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He turned to look back over his shoulder at you. “Don’t worry.”

Finally, Jonathan stopped in front of a door that was identical to the others you’d passed on your way down here. The metal door creaked as he opened it, revealing a modestly sized office space.

“Here is my second office, the one I take most of my appointments in.”

You walked in, slowly taking in the space.

Oh, this is awful.

It was certainly different from his office upstairs or even his office at the university. This office was smaller, with black file cabinets along one wall, thick binders lined up along the tops. It obviously was a space with a purpose, the chairs in front of the desk worn with barely noticeable grooves from fingernails in the wooden arm-rests.

Looking down, you frowned. On the floor were small scratches, clearly from furniture being moved around and scraping against the tile. Something about them made you uneasy. His entire second office made you uneasy, but maybe it was just the claustrophobia from being below the surface of the island and in a tiny dark room.

Luckily, he also wasn’t eager to linger in the room, allowing you to peer around for a few minutes before opening the door again- it automatically shut behind the two of you- and leading you back into the dim hallway.

“Further down the hallway are Arkham’s records.” Jonathan pointed down the other side of the hallway, which was lit by a singular yellow light that flickered every few seconds. Somewhere in the distance, the ceiling was leaking, an audible drip-drip-drip that gave the entire hallway the smell of stagnant water in addition to the dank, earthy fragrance of mold.

You turned back to Jonathan, eyes lingering on every crack in the cinder-block and the cobwebs on the low ceiling. You’re honestly surprised anyone is allowed down here in the first place, let alone patients. For what it was worth, his office at least didn’t smell as bad as the hallway.

“Do you spend a lot of time down here?”

Jonathan smiled. “Not if I can help it.”

“Good. It’s horrifying.” You truly meant it, even if you smiled as you said it.

“I know.” He smiled back.

He led you back through the hallway, opening the same door into the stairwell. From the other side, it was also identical to every other door.

God I hope I’m never down here alone.

“I have one last thing to show you for today.”

You nodded, before affirming vocally after realizing that he couldn’t see you as you walked up the stairs. You continued past the first floor landing onto the second floor, where his office and your new workspace were located. But when he opened the door, he did not take you in the direction of his office but rather the opposite, into a part of the asylum you hadn’t been yet.

Finally, after a few minutes of silent walking as you took in every inch of your surroundings (even though most of the hallways in Arkham started to blend together, they were all so similar- you didn’t even think you had a good mental map of the layout, it was so confusing at times) he stopped by another metal door.

“You’ll rarely come back here, don’t worry. But there may be the occasional errand that sends you down this way, though I try to do those ones myself.”

Jonathan slid his card into the small keypad by the door, the heavy click of the lock unlatching following as his card exited the slot. Turning the handle, Jonathan pushed the rusted door open to reveal a long line of cells.

“Shit.” You didn’t realize the word escaped your mouth until you saw the quirk of Jonathan’s lip. If he wasn’t about to guide you into one of Arkham’s cell blocks, you might’ve delivered a swift slap to his arm at his blithe reaction to your distress. Might’ve.

As you entered the cellblock, you looked up at the second floor of cells. Large skylights let in the dim natural light of Gotham, though it was lost somewhere in the sterile lighting of the hospital. A thin staircase led up to the catwalks that served as walkways for the upper-level, their grates rusty and in need of a good dusting. But Jonathan walked right past the stairs, so you lowered your gaze and examined the first floor.

The corridor of cells was wide, the walkway separated by a railing. Arrows on the floor indicated which direction you were supposed to walk on each side. At both ends of the block were offices for the guards, their glass windows smudged with fingerprints. The cell doors themselves were made of metal and glass, with thin holes in the door allowing the inmate to speak out into the empty space for no one to hear.

And speak they did. The hallway was filled with the cacophony of voices, some more intelligible than others.

As you looked down the cell block, you saw him.

Edward was waiting by his window, his face pressed against the glass as he watched your slow approach, like he had been expecting you. It would be funny if you weren’t terrified. Not just because of him, but all the other inmates were free to leer at you as you were escorted down their hall, their first entertainment in a long time.

Is this how Clarice felt as she came up on Hannibal’s cage?

You didn’t realize that you had stopped in front of the cell until Jonathan started walking back to you, apparently only just noticing that he was alone. The inmate a few doors down from Edward made a low comment to Jonathan, which he ignored, with the only indication that he had heard him was a quick flick of his piercing eyes to the side.

Edward had taken a step away from the door, no longer pressed against it but still close, staring at you with the same expression as two weeks prior. Like he was smug, though you had no idea what he had to be smug about, especially not when it came to you.

Then he spoke.

“I know you.” His voice was light, conversational. Like his mind was stuck somewhere else and he wasn’t all the way with you. But his words still shocked you, even if you weren’t sure he knew exactly what he was saying.

“What?” You take a step backwards like he’d broken through the glass and slapped you in the face. He wasn’t talking about… “No, I was here a couple of weeks ago, you might’ve seen me then and-”

“No.” His voice was firm, startling you with the sudden change in his demeanor from airy to almost domineering. From disoriented to completely in control of his surroundings. “You were there in City Hall.”

As the words left his mouth, you remembered him, where you’d seen his face before, plain and unassuming as it was. Why hadn’t you placed his face when you’d seen his picture on the news, why had it taken until this moment to remember that you’d seen him before?

“It is karma, really.”

Marie was leaning on the railing, looking down at city hall’s ostentatious interior. You whipped your head around from where you’d also been looking down, but the movement caused you to stumble backwards into the person behind you. You mumbled an apology without even looking back at them, eyes focused on Marie.

“You really shouldn’t be saying things like that at a funeral.”

“You agree with me, you said the exact same thing the other day! You know I don’t care about this shit, you’re the one who’s been talking about it nonstop!”

You inhale sharply, trying to avoid the embarrassment of being around someone so shameless at a funeral, the shame of being ousted like this in public. Though you're sure no one was actually listening to your conversation.

“But you shouldn’t talk about it like that at the funeral of the guy!”

“You didn't have to drag me here.”

You furrowed your brows, suddenly more annoyed than you wanted to admit. You asked her to come because you were nervous. Nervous about the direction your paper was taking, about how it seemed to be morphing into a project based around the criminal and not the victim.

“It's for my project! Besides, I didn’t want to come al-”

Someone cleared their throat behind you, the same person who you’d knocked into. You looked back at them, realizing it was just an ordinary guy, a tense but polite smile on his face. There was no other way to describe him. Taller than you, but not in a way that was intimidating. The kind of man your eyes would slide right over on the street. Background noise.

“Am I in your way?” Why did you ask that? It was a general attendance, standing room only event for the public. You arrived three hours ago to get to this spot. He should have planned better if he wanted a better view. But still, you moved to the side, giving him space to look at the memorial.

“Thanks.” He muttered, shuffling past you to the railing. Marie gave you a wide eyed look, as if to say that you were a fool for moving from your spot, or at least that the guy was a weirdo. You returned with your own exasperated stare, tired of her judging someone she’d never met.

“You’re too nice to people.” She muttered, a bit too loud if the turn of the man’s head was anything to go off of. You shushed her, resisting the urge to apologize to the man. Maybe he just liked the mayor and wanted to pay his respects (doubtful, but you never know).

And then you completely forgot about the entire encounter moments after you found another spot to squeeze yourself along the railing. If other things hadn’t happened that day, maybe you would’ve thought back on it as a missed meet cute, but you were quickly distracted by the DA’s appearance in a collar bomb and the chaos that followed as you were escorted out of the building and told to go home.

No, you didn’t even remember the man when his face was on the news, his photo plastered on the screen with the headline RIDDLER APPREHENDED AND IN CUSTODY.

“Oh my god.”

“Karma, right?” He cocked his head to the side and a shiver ran down your spine at the thought of him listening to the conversation that you’d had- about him, no less, when he’d been at the scene of the funeral to watch the chaos that he’d planned unfold.... “How’d that project go?”

“I never-“ you stopped yourself, remembering that he didn’t need to know you never turned it in, that the anarchy that he caused at Gotham Square Garden put you in such a state you didn’t want to leave your apartment for fear of being shot at, targeted by faceless monsters in the night. That the only reason you passed the class was because you were lucky enough your professor was understanding and pulled some strings with the weight of other assignments. Besides, even if you had finished it and were able to turn it in, it would’ve been insensitive considering that it was about the terrorist who'd just attacked the city. “It’s really none of your business.”

Edward stared at you for a moment, unblinking, before the smile slid off of his face, his attention diverted somewhere down the corridor. You’re too busy watching him to realize what he was looking at, but his eyes slowly return to you, his eyebrows raised.

“What has a long neck, a name of a bird, feeds on ships' cargo, but is not alive?”

For a moment, his words didn’t sink in. When they did, you groaned internally. A riddle? You were well aware that it was his thing but you didn’t expect to actually be given one. Really, you never expected to be having a conversation with him like this.

Still, you wracked your brain for the answer, watching Edward watch you figure it out while looking at whatever caught his attention down the cell block. You realized the answer just as Jonathan returned to your side, his arrival obviously what Edward was watching.

A crane.

“Edward.” Jonathan placed his hand on the small of your back, a movement that Edward obviously noticed. His eyes dragged from where they’d been switching between you and Jonathan to where his hand was hidden behind your back. You could feel the chill of Jonathan’s palm through your thin shirt and cardigan. Jonathan gave Edward your name, and you could hear the smirk in his voice. “This is my new assistant.”

You whipped your head around, giving Jonathan a wide eyed look. Why the hell would he introduce you?

Edward repeated your name. Slowly. Drawn out. Like he was testing how the individual sounds formed on his tongue before he put them together to create your name.

“We’ve met before.”

Jonathan was quiet. You could feel his eyes on you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from Edward’s cell.

“I wouldn’t call that meeting.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t.” He was smug again, and you knew that there was something else he wasn’t telling you, that you were missing a piece of the puzzle. And then you had a sinking, suffocating, drowning feeling that you did, actually, know what it was (though it was more of an embarrassment than anything but it could certainly cause more of a stink in your life than you’d like if it was revealed).

The man in the cell beside Edward laughed, high and reedy, cutting through the cacophony of noise the other inmates created.

You finally turned to Jonathan.

“Can we leave now?”

Jonathan gave you a quick nod, not looking at Edward or any of the other inmates as he turned and began to lead you back down to the other exit of the cell block.

As you left, before you could stop yourself, you looked back at him. He was watching you leave, his hand raised in what might’ve been a goodbye wave. You didn’t return it, content to simply turn back around and ignore him.

“He remembered me.” You whispered as you left the cell block, more to yourself than to Jonathan, your eyebrows furrowed as you tried to figure out why.

“He remembers everything. It stops being impressive when you realize how much of it is useless.” Jonathan responded as if you had been having a decent conversation and he hadn’t just overheard what you whispered to yourself.

Despite yourself, you bristled at his tone. Both at the implication that Edward was wasting his time remembering everything (like he could help it) and that once again, Jonathan was reminding you that you were unimportant in the grand scheme of Gotham.

“I’m sure it was important to him.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad for him.” He turned to look at you, stopping in the middle of the hallway. A nurse scoffed and rolled her eyes as she had to reroute herself around the two of you, her clogs smacking against the floor. “Do I need to remind you that everyone here is a criminal? These aren’t just people with mental illness. These are rapists and murderers, sadistic pieces of work that don’t deserve your pity. Don’t try to humanize them.”

“I’m not-“ You took a deep breath, forcing yourself to remember what he’d done. That Jonathan was right and you shouldn’t feel bad about how Jonathan spoke to or about him. It stung, but you pushed your apprehension down. “Will I have to see the patients often?”

“Rarely.” But as he said it, he looked away from you, turning and continuing to walk down the hallway, and you didn’t find yourself too confident in his response. Still, you began walking with him again.

Realistically, you shouldn’t see the inmates ever. You shouldn’t have even been allowed in the cell block today. But you, and everyone else with a brain in Gotham, were well aware that Arkham Asylum was severely underfunded, even with charitable donations from people like Bruce Wayne. Portions of the Renewal fund were supposedly allotted for the hospital, but obviously that was no longer the case now that Bruce Wayne was overhauling that whole system.

You wondered, briefly, who or what the money was funneled to instead.

Either way, with the hospital not having enough funds to ensure there was enough staff in the hospital at any given time, you’re sure that you would end up being shoved somewhere you weren’t qualified for just so the ratio of patients to supervisors was intact. And, despite yourself, underneath the fear you had about the prospect was excitement.

Jonathan stopped at his office again.

“How did you meet him before?”

“Oh.” You winced, embarrassed that Edward had felt the need to mention it again. “I guess we ran into one another at the mayor’s funeral. I’d forgotten all about it until he mentioned it. It wasn’t the sort of encounter that sticks with you.”

“I’d assumed as much.”

“But I also-“ You stopped yourself, unsure if you wanted to continue. But Jonathan had been moving as you’d spoken, and appeared to not have heard you. Taking it as a sign, you kept your confession inside, though it was burning in your mind.

But I also found my way into one of his streams and I think he knows it.

“I’ll have to come back up here but I can take you to your apartment.”

Your bag was slung over one shoulder, your phone clutched in the opposite hand. You had no notifications, which wasn’t too unusual, but you did note the lack of reliable service in the asylum, even as you were walking out of the doors. You’d expected to be required to lock your phone away but if there was a requirement, Jonathan hadn’t told you about it. Still, you had kept it in your bag the entire day, which in turn was locked in Jonathan’s office while you were out touring the building.

“Are you sure?”

“How else would you get home?”

Briefly, you reflected on the fact that you had accepted a job on an island when you didn’t currently own a car. Jonathan had, of course, been seemingly happy to offer to be your ride every day and yet it had you feeling… trapped. But you shook it off, reminding yourself that this job was a good opportunity and having a car in Gotham was more trouble than it was worth.

“You’re right.” Though your question had been meant to see if he really had to come back after taking you home. But you also were well aware that Jonathan had more work at the asylum and it wasn’t the kind you could just shirk off if you weren’t feeling like doing it.

Outside, the day was bright even though the clouds covered the sun. You could tell that it was going to rain later from the ominous clouds in the distance but it was blessedly dry as you walked through the employee parking lot to Jonathan’s car.

As you sat in the passenger seat of Jonathan's car, you looked at his slender neck, thinking back to the riddle Edward had given you earlier.

What has a long neck, the name of a bird, feeds on ships' cargo, but is not alive?

Obviously, it meant the machines, which were littered around Gotham as beacons for abandoned projects and attempts at bettering the city, not Jonathan himself. But two out of the four applying to him was a bit humorous, though you’d never tell Jonathan that.

You leaned over the railing of your balcony/glorified fire escape, your phone pressed against your face as you listened to one…two…three rings. Even worse, the person you were calling picked up and you scrambled mentally, trying to remember what you had wanted to say.

“Hi, Marie?” You couldn’t stop tapping the fingers of your unoccupied hand against the railing. “It’s me. Yeah…. Me.” You sighed, a bit lamely. Exactly how should you come back into someone’s life after over a year of radio silence?

“It’s nice to hear from you but… why?” She sounded wary, and you didn’t blame her. After Gotham Square Garden, you had shut her and your other friends out, trying to cope with the sudden increase of your anxiety without involving them. It had seemed noble at the time, but by the time you realized the damage that isolating yourself from your support system had done, it felt like it was too late.

You faltered for a moment in your resolve to tell her about your discovery, that the two of you had met the Riddler and not realized it, afraid that it would seem the past year of your life was only defined by him and that night.

Which it had been, at least until it became defined by Dr. Jonathan Crane.

“I hope it‘s not too late to fix some burned bridges.”

Marie chuckled, though there wasn’t much humor in it. But it wasn’t mean, and that’s all that mattered.

“It’s never too late.” She said. Even though she could be brash and horribly unsentimental, you were glad you called her first.

“Do you want to get coffee sometime?”

next part

#jonathan crane x reader #edward nashton x reader #scarecrow x reader #the riddler x reader #stbotdi #my fanfiction #my writing #my fic #the batman #batman fanfiction

[cyle]

i feel like your response to that person was a little dismissive towards the group who doesnt want these updates that make our experience worse, which is probably larger then you anticipate. adding entire new features isnt too complicated, but a toggle to turn them off if you dont want them is? 'millions' of us are here using this site because we like the way it currently is as a blogging site, continuing to force change on us and becoming more and more like the other social media sites isnt going to do anything except alienate your core audience while pandering to the people who couldnt care less because they already have their websites of choice. adding a page in the settings called 'feature toggles' is not unnecessary bloat compared to a desktop-only tamagachi horse no one asked for. (i do like the horse sorry for martyring him) tumblr live shows pandering thats concerning for your core audience in terms of the direction this site is going now that its started to regain popularity, because theres a direct and widely documented conflict between who youre pandering to and your core userbase.

i apologize for coming off as dismissive, i didn't intend that. i have a lot of the same feelings as you -- change is disruptive and can be annoying to adjust to, especially when it's something you care about a lot. i use tumblr all day every day, i'm right there with you. i also get blindsided by some of the changes we decide to experiment with, and my initial reaction is to reject them. but usually i get to live with these kinds of new features for weeks or months before you do (i work here), so my perspective on them has already had a chance to shift.

but to me, you're not wrong here, but you're not fully right either. there's a cool book called "crossing the chasm" which describes a conundrum that a lot of products fall into, in which they get stuck in a period of non-growth or anti-growth and become unsustainable. the only way out of this is to "cross the chasm", which typically means building and exploring ideas that are related to what initially made the product successful, but need to be translated to a wider audience for sustainable growth to happen. (that's a very very basic summary.)

the tumblr of today looks nothing like the tumblr i joined back in 2009, or even the tumblr that existed in 2015 when i got a job here, and the tumblr five years from now is not going to look anything like it does today. that kind of change is inevitable, if the history of online spaces is any indication. when that change stops happening, usually that's a sign of true collapse.

to your point: there's a core idea about what tumblr "is" that resonates with a lot of people. but if it's going to survive long term, more work is necessary. some people who use tumblr every day (like me and you) aren't going to like some of those changes, but hopefully you do end up liking enough of them to stick around. and we need your feedback to help us figure out what's working and what isn't, so please keep giving it.

[sonicenvy]

so my ao3 post, which is now at 8k notes is making me want to address some stuff from it again. So here i am posting about AO3 once again friends. In this edition, we're going to talk about content that counts as fanwork (and thus appropriate content under tos IV.H). There are a lot of awesome kinds of fanwork that you CAN and SHOULD post on your AO3.

examples of fanwork that are good to go on AO3:

drabble (a 100 word fic)

compilations of oneshots from ONE fandom/theme in a single, multi-chapter fic. This is an example of this that i posted.

fanart or fan comics, a superb example of this is this comic fic.

chat fic/social media fic (transcripts of 2 characters IMing/texting or whatever or in universe social media posts/threads/content) To get fancy with this and try out some awesome formatting, peep this work skin guide collection, or this guide or any of these guides to learn how to use HTML and AO3's workskin feature to make something that looks a lot like the real thing without resorting to images, which is worse for accessibility reasons. This is a fantastic example of an in universe social media fic.

epistolary fic (fic told in letters between characters). A fantastic example of this is this fic, which 🥰.

one shots (a single chapter, standalone fic, can be any length over 100 words)

podfic (that is, an audio recording of someone reading a fic, whether it is their own fic or someone else’s. if it’s not your fic, be sure to ask the author’s permission before posting a podfic and link back to their fic from your podfic) Here’s an example of a podfic that someone did of my fic.

AO3 workskin/site skin guides, such as this or any of the others I linked above.

Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, this is a superb example of this.

Meta, especially extended meta. This is a superb example of this.

collection of prompt fics, such as this, where the author posts a single fic, usually titled something like "tumblr prompts", puts the prompt in the author's notes of each chapter and makes the chapters the fic they wrote in response to that prompt.

script fic, that is, a mockup script for an episode or movie, which is a fic.

incomplete fic, aka wip. basically you post chapter 1/a prologue etc and continue posting as you write more. if you decide to abandon the fic, just note that in the tags or the description. you don't have to be finished with your fic to start posting!

multi chapter fic. novella length novel length, short story length whatever.

in universe media fic (that is, a fic that is like, written in things like in-universe blog posts, newspaper articles, messages, letters etc). Typically there's still some kind of story going on here.

This is not, of course a completely exhaustive list, but covers most of the allowed formats, to my knowledge. Please let me know if you think of something else!

“work” types that are NOT OK to post on AO3:

Placeholder “fic” -- A "fic" posted to AO3 that contains little to NO content, despite having a "summary" and tags. These "fics" contain only things like "a fic I will write soon," "an idea I have," or "coming soon." Some of these "fics" are also marked as complete! They do not contain any of the actual text of a fic. That is to say they are not, for example, a 100 word drabble (which is a fic), or short prologue, or the first chapter of a fic. They may contain a short description of a fic that does not exist, but are not in and of themselves a fic.

Looking for xyz fic or fic search “work” -- a “work” that is actually just a user trying to find a specific already existing fanwork. it is not, in and of itself a fanwork. Instead of doing this, learn to use filters and tags, and find fic search blogs (there are a lot of them, especially in larger fandoms) on tumblr. Alternatively ask on fandom discord servers, or fandom reddits.

A description of a fanwork that does not exist (ie: describing an undrawn comic or posting an outline of a fic that has not been written or describing a fic you plan on writing). This may also include most kinds of “bullet point” fic. This also includes “trailers” for fic. Just write and post the fucking fic. Save this kind of promotional stuff for the socials people.

Prompt Request -- the poster isn’t posting the results of prompts (ie: a my tumblr prompts compilation) but is instead asking for prompts, as though a work is a social media post. Instead of posting this, post a myPromptsComp of fics that you’ve written for prompts or challenges and ask for new prompts in the ANs (and not as a chapter).

Plagiarized work. I can’t believe I have to say this, but uh. don’t post work that isn’t yours.

Work that in ANY way implies, suggests or states that you are asking for MONEY in exchange for fic, yes even charity auction fic, yes even simply linking your Ko-fi. Don’t fucking do that on AO3. Link your socials and do that there. Don’t use AO3 for ANY commercial activity. This includes promoting the sale of any of your work, even non fanwork. This is a serious TOS IV violation.

the tdlr; here:

Use AO3 to post actual fanworks with actual content. Do not use AO3 for promotional, commercial or social posting.

#text #long post for ts #ao3 #archive of our own #fandom #fandumb #fanfiction

[starlightkun]

hiiii mel <3 i’m.. thinking of starting to write for nct.. mostly jaemin.. and i more or less have an idea for formatting but it’s been a really long time since i’ve had to do graphics for fic’s (like the banner and stuff!) and i was wondering if you had any tips for that? like where to find good pictures (solid backgrounds seem like the best choice for not clashing with the lettering, a problem i ran into unfortunately…) and also is there any particular place you get your fonts from? if you aren’t comfortable answering that (or any of this!) then that’s totally ok and feel free to just give general advice or ignore this completely :]

now i leave you with renjun… https://www.instagram.com/reel/C117-m9JGuo/?igsh=aXI1YmZ6M2YycHg1

hiii! under the cut!

so you've already got a good idea with using solid backgrounds for fic headers to make it easier for the text to show up! i source pretty much all my images from the groups/idols' official social medias. i just caution you not to take screenshots of say, instagram uploads, because this will degrade the quality of the image. either download it from twitter or wherehaveyou, or from an updates account like neocatharsis or wayvment here on tumblr! another word of caution: DO NOT DOWNLOAD TEASER IMAGES/PHOTOSHOOT IMAGES FROM CONTENT CREATORS WHO MAKE EDITS TO THE IMAGES, SUCH AS CHANGING THE COLORS, UN-WHITEWASHING, ETC., WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION. THAT IS THEFT FROM OTHER FANS. updates accounts like neocatharsis and wayvment simply reupload the original images posted by the entertainment company/idol in the exact same form without making changes to them. editors make alterations to the image and that new image is their own creative work, separate from the original one posted. you need the editor's explicit permission in order to use their edited version as a fic header.

i do all of my editing on my phone for my fics (except for the thin section dividers that i use, which i make in pirated photoshop cs6 so i can get specific dimensions, 540x2 pixels, and make the gradients super quick in a way that i know how to do. there may be a super easy way to do this w an app on ur phone too, that's just how i know how to)

anyway, if i have a photo that i really like, that i just knowwwww matches with the image of the guy in the fic in my head or smth, that i just rlly want to use but has a busier background, sometimes i'll use the portrait editing settings on my phone to blur the background a little bit and that makes the text a lot more legible (i have a samsung but im 99% sure iphones can do this too)

i typically don't bump it past 1 or 2, or the edges of the blur start looking a bit harsh, and i find that i don't really need more than this for the text to pop against the background anyway!

as for putting the text on the photos, i've the used the app phonto for years! it's completely free, doesn't put any watermark on your photos, comes with a bunch of fonts pre-installed, isn't super ad-heavy (it has a rlly small banner ad all the time at the top, and only shows u a skippable 10s ad when u save a finished photo), and you can download fonts from the internet to install straight into the app!

my favorite free font website is dafont.com, i literally will spend hours just browsing on there looking at fonts to download lmao. anyway here's how i find fonts for stuff and download, install, and use them with dafont and phonto:

once you have phonto downloaded, open dafont.com

up at the top, it has a bunch of different categories of fonts. for this example, i chose fancy > groovy, and then on this first page, i liked this font called "lostar" (there's also a search bar up there, but it only searches font names, not kinds of fonts, so if you're looking for a groovy-feeling font and you searched "groovy," only fonts with the word "groovy" in the name would come up)

i then press download, and open in my browser (i use firefox btw, which is why it looks like this lol). make sure you're opening the .zip file with the phonto app (it opens directly into into phonto on my phone, you may have to choose to open the .zip file using the phonto app from several options, instead of your phone's file explorer or some other app on your phone)

in the phonto app, you have to click install, then install again (it gives you the option to rename it, but i just keep the original font name bc why would you rename it?).

that READ THIS.txt file is a message from the font maker, it's the personal use license for the font (most of the fonts on dafont.com are free for personal use ONLY, and these .txt files that are contained in the .zip files are notes from the font makers telling u what u can and can't use the fonts for. generally, as long as ur not a business, u should be good this is not legal advice, please read them. also there's usually little thank you notes from the font makers in here as well!)

click ok.

then you've got to slap some text on an image. you can choose an image from your camera roll, use one of their plain images, or open a pre-saved work-in-progress. for this example i used one of their premade gradients to make it easy

type whatever it is you want, click font. the left tab is the pre-installed fonts, the middle tab is the fonts that you've downloaded from elsewhere. here's the lostar we just got!

oh can't see it.

there we go! how fun! i'll probably use this in a fic header in the future. download button in the top right.

#hope this was helpful! #i don't mind sharing this stuff #i didn't invent fic headers or dividers or literally any of this lmao #answered #anonymous #talk #text #mine #writing tag #i suppose.....since its about my fics.........sorta...idk dude #also the renjun cheekies 😭😭 thank youuuu

[rosie-bee]

Bit of a vent/rant but tldr: I kinda need a break and might be offline for a little while. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I’d like to be cause I usually like this app, I’ve just had a rough week. I’m not deleting so I’ll still try and respond to actual notifications, but I’m not really going to post and I’m gonna stay away from my dash.

I’ve been just feeling like lately Tumblr and maybe social media in general this past week has felt just extra draining rather than something I actually enjoy. I’m someone who doesn’t like to conflict with people especially mutuals/those I’d consider friends about stuff that technically doesn’t really matter at all. So I kind of tend to just block the source and move on.

Because I don’t like standing up for myself and my interests though, it’s kinda led to this feeling that like… if I stand up for myself at all that I’d be mean and unfair to do so. Even when it comes to stuff I know is blankly false, I feel like the only things that would come of it are either i generally offend someone, get told it’s not that serious, or I’d just end up in an argument over stuff that technically doesn’t really matter.

It’s led to this internal feeling that I’m sure people who know me could attest to that I feel like my interests are less worthy than others. I’ve wrapped my head into circles, convinced that every person I know around me is inherently more interesting and just better than I am. But were I to say that, I’d feel like all I’d get in return is told that I get to emotionally invested, and that it’s wrong for me to take everything I see that’s negative towards what I’m interested in personally.

I have wrapped myself into a belief that if I am not worthy of feeling passionately about things, including things that are typically a positive for me. Which is my own problem but seeing a lot of negativity towards my interests wrapped with feelings that I can’t stand up for them or I’ll just prove someone else’s point, it’s just been mentally really tiring.

As for well, what’s the point of even posting all this? I can’t say I have much of one aside from that I just have stuff I want to get off my chest. There’s little parts of me that really do want to just lash out. The issue there is I have a hard time even allowing myself to just feel my own feelings. Internet culture and mixes of just how I grew up have led me to this strange belief that if what I feel isn’t either agree to disagree feelings or something kind, then I’ve committed some kind of moral evil. I tend to give a significant amount more grace to others than I’m willing to give myself. And I know that all wraps back into that belief that others are inherently better than I am. But my self awareness of my feelings while believing that it is morally wrong for me to feel anything unkind and not completely compassionate are not a good or healthy mix. I have tried for some reason in my twenty years to build up this person who lets nothing get to them, and have had a hard time considering what an enormous ask that is.

So I need some time to try and actually connect with things I really enjoy that isn’t just scrolling endlessly on my social media, and not being able to mentally filter out what I do and don’t want to engage with. I should try and write more, draw, maybe write my own little analysis of all of the music that I like. I’ve had a hard time with deciding to not be on social media for the main reason of I’m just not sure what to fill my time with. For now, I’ll try and get on that. If I’ve got like, messages or interactions from other people I’ll try to respond. I just kinda need to stay of my tumblr dash for a bit.

[chaosprincess2]

TECH WITCHCRAFT!

So, what is it? Is it useful?

Tech Witchcraft was seen for a while to only be the use of some apps and maybe some "emoji spells?" But, in my experience and personal research I've come to find there is much more you can do to make it a more solid "practice". Well, here's some ideas I've gathered that are very simple to either add/convert in your craft.

So, first things first the phone. Everyone talks about how phones are toxic and bad for you, when really it's the holder. Phones are used alot more these days, and it's a tool at this point. One that you choose how to use.

Your phone has quartz in it, which already sucks up energy on its own. But your phone is now bonded to you naturally and picks up unwanted energy. Cleanse that shit while you clean your phone, something that already is rarely done you can incorpate cleansing into it.

Changing your case for its intent, and hiding sigil in it is a nice little tip. You can also make charms with crystals or spell bottles to hang on a phone charm.

There is a type of sorcery that involves hiding images within images... you can do this with your wallpaper ! (If you care to research it, you'll find the name of it.)

Apps. Of course, can't go without apps. But it's how you use them that matters! Rather than the traditional Self Care app or Tarot and Moon Phases, use other apps that you are connected to to turn them into something else.

For example, for tiktok I only use it for inspiration or for signs. I also get signs through Instragram and sometimes Pinterest, whether thru angel numbers made from the like numbers or an image of something.

Pinterest. Easy to use and make digital Book of Shadow, Journal, Vision Board, or altar! You can do the same with Google Docs, but more work....

Shufflemancy. Using your music app as divination!

Your clock and battery percentage can become a angel number channel.

Finding ebooks and audio books. Much cheaper and easier to get a hold of and keep safe.

Do a deep clean of your phone from old data, songs and photos. Maybe even schedule days to do those things if they're too big a hassle.

Refresh your profile! It's the equivalent to a glamor spell. Clean up your account too! On whatever it is. And don't forget social media detoxing when it gets overwhelming!

Online communities are cool as long as everyone participates. Reddit, Amino, Tumblr, are a few to get started.

Guided meditations on YouTube and stuff! There's also so many videos you can watch.

Watch witchtok complations on YouTube for inspiration.

Digital self care, grimoire, dream, and manifestation journals!

Emails can send signs. Ever had a astrology email send you a WAY to close to home message that day?

Using someone's profile as a tag lock can be useful.

Sound cleansing. Learn what types of music/ sounds you like and how the affect you. Learn it, live it, love it.

Google Maps can let you digitally go to special places. So why not use that to your advantage?

When your phone is turned off,the screen is black. Scrying, anyone?

You can use the phone camera as a mirror for mirror spells.

You can also use it for spirit communication.

Of course, digital tarot. Remember the thing about cleansing your phone? That may be why your tarot app is weird. There's also digital magic 8 balls and Runes if tarot isn't your thing or you wanna try something new.

Ask for a message from whatever and then go into an algorithm based app. Sometimes you'll get messages <3

Headphones can make good subtle veiling option!

Tech witchcraft is just so much simpler and easier for low energy people and the typical busy witch. :(

#witchcraft #tech #tech witch #witchtips

[deanismysavior]

Hi! I just wanted to say something about the much debated topic of Mike's speech because many people use it as proof that mi*leven is endgame, as they say the writers can't go back now that mike's feelings are out there. The thing is, casual viewers, those who watch the show and then move on with their lives lol, are not going to remember 2 years from now, word for word, what Mike told her in season 4. So if something were to happen to contradict that speech, they would probably be confused ....

(cont.)... for like 2 minutes and then they would shrug and continue watching. The other people, those who are always talking about the show on social media (tumblr, twitter, reddit, tiktok...) are the ones who should be picking up on clues because they are analyzing the show. So basically what I'm saying is, casual viewers are not going to care that much if that speech doesn't lead to mi*even being endgame, and fans are expected to catch on to what is really going on and where this is headed.

I think casual viewers will care to an extent, because even casual viewers typically have an opinion on the relationships in the show, but I do agree that they won't remember all the details, which is the exact same reason why people believe it would be "retconning" or "bad writing" to make Mike queer, because they don't pick up on or remember the details and only look at what's being spelled out for them. I think when the twist comes, a lot of people are going to be shocked because they take the show at face value, even though that's literally not the purpose of the narrative structure of Stranger Things at all, and the people who've been invested will be sitting here just like "yeah, not surprised, saw that coming." But I think the key point here is that the Duffers are writing this ending for the fans and for the story itself, not for casual viewers.

#byler #byler endgame #byler nation #ask #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #st #stranger things #duffer brothers #milkvan #mike wheeler i know what you are