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sophieswundergarten · 10 months

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My brain came up with this while I was half asleep, and then I proceeded to promptly forget about it for the seventy-two some-odd hours. But I remembered tonight! So here you go:

Sophie Assigns the "Good" MBS Humans to the Fellowship of the Ring

I just thought the other day, "Hey, four kids plus four adults and one Miss Perumal makes nine! Guess what other book I enjoy has an initial grouping of nine protagonists?" And then the rest of this followed

Of course, I made the Hobbits the kids. It just worked really well with the route I was going.

Frodo - Constance. They both have a lot on their shoulders, and whether they like it or not they are instrumental in the success of their friends

Sam - Kate. I waffled a bit on Sam, but I think Kate fits best here. She has her bucket and is very prepared, and she also goes on solo missions with/carries Constance a lot.

This means the boys are Merry and Pippin!

Merry - Reynie. If I'm remembering right, Merry is a little older than Pippin, and tends to look out for him. I know they're cousins in the books, but I really like the idea of them as a brother-like duo that works together a lot.

Pippin - Sticky. Slightly less life experience than the others his age, but still doing his best! Also very close with his friends and gets put in a position of power under a Not Great Guy (Denethor/Curtain) and learns to break away from him and look out for the people he loves.

Okay. So. I know that initially it seems like Mr. B should be Gandalf. But hear me out.

Gandalf - Milligan. He's there sometimes, sometimes he's off doing other stuff that is still vital to the mission but not immediately visible! He jumps off things (Granted, Gandalf has the Eagles to help him), and has that kind of general colour scheme. He advises the kids both individually and as a group.

Gimli - Number Two. I don't even know. I just felt this one immediately. She's really intense and strong and a good fighter, but sometimes she needs someone to tell her to calm down and loosen up a bit.

Legolas - Rhonda. Also felt this one as soon as I thought about it. Something about Rhonda having slightly better people skills and the general charisma of an elf, but she's still super close with Number Two and they make fun little competitions out of working together.

Boromir - Nicholas. Now. This gave me a lot of trouble, but I think it works because this is the character he would give himself. The one with a brother, who gets "favoured", but ultimately falls prey to his weakness. He genuinely wants to help the kids, but in the end he puts them in danger. This does not mean Curtain is Faramir. We're not even getting into that can of worms here.

And we all know what this means!!

Aragorn - Miss Perumal. I love this one, even though it kind of happened by process of elimination. Her "bit of a puzzler" traits as a ranger who can track people all over the place is so good. Also, this means that she'd get a girls team up with Rhonda and Number Two as the Three Hunters! And, come on. I really want to give her a cool sword.

#What does this mean for any of the other characters?#No idea!#This literally came into my head as I was falling asleep a bit ago #But I got so excited when I remembered it that I really wanted to write it out #The only snag I hit was Nicholas because he's a little tricky #In the end I feel like Boromir is a really good choice for him #But we're also using MBS rules where no one we actually see dies so I don't have to worry about any of that #The Rhonda and Number Two dynamic made me so happy #As well as Miss Perumal being a really cool magical sword person #But this was just me being Very Specific about two things I really like so please take it with a grain of salt :)#the mysterious benedict society #mbs #constance contraire #kate wetherall #reynie muldoon #sticky washington #milligan wetherall #mr. benedict #nicholas benedict #number two #rhonda kazembe #miss perumal #dipika perumal #lord of the rings #lotr

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griseldabanks · 1 day

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for the ask game, would you do #23 for link and zelda?

Prompt: "I feel like we've met before…."

“You only want to go there because you think she'll be there.”

“I do not!” Link retorted, hanging his helmet on Epona's handlebars while holding his phone to his ear with the other hand. “I'm going to study for midterms, like I said. Not my fault you didn't want to come along.”

“And watch Malon making googly eyes at you the whole time? No thanks.”

Link paused halfway through slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “What? Malon?”

He could practically hear the rolled eyes across the phone line. “Oh brother. She's had her eye on you since orientation!”

“Really? How can you tell?”

“Because I have eyes in my head!”

Suddenly, Link spotted a familiar pink backpack weaving through the tables outside the coffee shop, heading towards the door. “Sorry, Navi, gotta go.”

“Hey! Listen to me—“

He hung up and darted over to the front door, managing to reach it just in time. He grabbed the door and pulled it open.

The girl who'd been reaching for it started at his sudden appearance, then let her extended hand fall back to her side. “Oh...thanks!”

She smiled up at him before stepping inside, and for one glorious moment, their eyes met. Link grinned stupidly, but she'd already passed him.

Heart pounding in his chest, Link followed her into Lon Lon Cafe. He stuffed his hands into the pocket of his green hoodie, trying to act casual as he stepped into line right behind her. He glanced up at the girl behind the cash register, and the pleasant giddiness in his chest deflated somewhat as he remembered what Navi had said. Sure enough, Malon spotted him and immediately shot him a grin, tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear. And she kept glancing at him as she listened to the next customer's order.

Link looked back at the girl in front of him instead. Zelda. So was so pretty, her blonde hair pulled back in a half-ponytail, golden earrings dangling from her ears and catching the light.... And there was an elegance to all of her movements, even simply in the way she pulled her wallet out of her purse. Like a princess...if princesses ever graced college-town coffee shops.

Suddenly, she looked over her shoulder and turned to face him. “Hey, do I know you?”

The bottom dropped out of Link's stomach. “What?”

Zelda cocked her head to one side. “I feel like we've met before....”

Link swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. “Uh...History 101. Professor Rauru.”

Zelda's face brightened with recognition, and somehow she looked even more beautiful that way. “That's it! So are you ready for—“

“Next!”

With a little start, Zelda quickly turned around and stepped up to the front of the line. While she was ordering her drink, Link couldn't help noticing that Malon wasn't smiling anymore, but answering Zelda tersely and stabbing at the register with more force than necessary.

When it was his turn to order, Link was a little nervous at how Malon would receive him, but to his relief, the second her eyes landed on him, a huge smile lit up her face again. He might have been imagining things, but he thought he detected a hint of sharpness in her gaze that wasn't there normally. “What can I get you?”

Link opened his mouth to reply, but she talked over him.

“Pumpkin spice latte, right? As usual?”

He'd actually been thinking of trying out something different this time, but she was already ringing him up, and he did like anything pumpkin spice-flavored, so he remained silent and just handed over a couple blue rupee notes.

Zelda was still waiting for her drink at the other end of the counter, and Link's heart skipped a beat when she glanced up from her phone as he strode over to her to wait as well. “So, what's your major?” she asked, her blue eyes bright and interested.

“Uh...undeclared, so far,” Link admitted, feeling his cheeks go warm. “I came in with an archery scholarship, but I don't know if that's what I want to go with....”

“Well, that's okay,” Zelda said. “You're a freshman, right? You've got plenty of time to figure it out.”

“Wait, are you not a freshman?”

Zelda giggled. “Oh—no, I'm a sophomore. I just didn't get around to history last year. I wanted to take harp lessons, and my schedule didn't work out.”

“So you're a music major?” Link brightened at that. Maybe he should've signed up for singing lessons or something after all.

“For now,” Zelda said with a thoughtful frown. “I love the harp, but I've been thinking about switching to political science instead. Do some real good in the world, you know?”

The more they talked, the more relaxed Link felt, just like he was talking to Navi or Saria—except that every time their eyes met, he felt a glorious swoop in his stomach. “Maybe your harp can usher in world peace,” he said with a grin.

As Zelda laughed, the barista slid their drinks across the counter towards them. “So do you play any instruments?”

“Oh, just the ocarina—“

They both reached for their drinks at the same time. Both froze, staring at the backs of their hands. Link's left, Zelda's right. Like a strangely geometric birthmark, against their pale skin was the clear outline of a triangle divided into four smaller triangles. On Link's hand, the smaller triangle on the bottom right was filled in; on Zelda's, it was the bottom left.

Link stared at their hands, the marks upon them perfect mirrors of each other. For his whole life, his soul mark had been there, as familiar a sight as the moles and freckles on his arms. He knew it was supposed to be a reflection of his soul, and the legends went that somewhere out there, his soulmate bore the mirror image of it. But who that person was, or if he'd ever meet them...that just wasn't something he bothered thinking about too much.

Just like anyone, there had certainly been times when he'd wondered who his soulmate was. Growing up, he'd compared soul marks with his friends—Saria had been extremely disappointed when she realized that the swirly mark on her shoulder was nothing like his soul mark. In idle moments, he would daydream about whether his soulmate would turn out to be someone he married, like his parents, or a really good friend, or maybe even one of his children someday.

But then life got busy, and there was no time to think about something so frivolous when school and archery club ate up so much of his time. If he ever met his soulmate, he would deal with it then.

Then was now.

Slowly, Link's eyes traveled up Zelda's arm to her eyes, which were open wide with shock. “Does this mean...?”

“You're...m-my....”

“Oh my!” Zelda's face instantly grew as red as a tomato, and she whirled away from him, covering her cheeks with her hands. Link's eyes were glued to the back of her right hand. The soul mark was unmistakable.

Without warning, Zelda began speed-walking back through the cafe, almost knocking into several people on her way out.

“Wait—Zelda!” Link grabbed both of their drinks and rushed after her, finally catching up to her where she had collapsed into a chair at one of the tables under an umbrella out front.

Hesitantly, Link set Zelda's drink down in front of her, then slipped his backpack off his shoulder and sank into the chair across the table. He looked over at her staring fixedly at the cast-iron tabletop as if she could melt it with a glance.

Just to have something to do, Link sipped his pumpkin spice latte, but it scalded his tongue, so he set it aside.

She was so pretty, even with the blush extending all the way down her neck. Actually, the blush made her look even prettier, the pink tinge of her skin setting off the pink shirt she wore.

She's my soulmate, he thought numbly. All I wanted was to talk to her, maybe ask her out eventually...and she's my soulmate. The most important person in my life.

“Um...sorry,” Zelda said with a shaky laugh, looking up at last and tucking a strand of golden hair behind her ear. “I didn't mean to run out, I just...that took me completely by surprise!”

“Yeah, uh...m-me too.”

They both realized at the same time that they were staring at each other's hands, and broke into nervous laughter.

“So, we're...soulmates.” Zelda let out a long breath. “No, saying it out loud didn't help. It still doesn't sound real.”

A sudden thought occurred to Link that made his heart sink. “Hey, um...just because of this,” he pointed at the back of his hand, “that doesn't mean we have to...I mean, it's just a legend. You don't have to feel, like, obligated to...to hang out with me or....”

To his relief, she smiled sweetly at him. “You're right. But...I'd still like to get to know you. If...you don't mind.”

“No, of course!” Link said, a little too quickly and too loudly. He cleared his throat, his cheeks burning again. “Can I buy you coffee or something sometime? I-I mean, I know we already got coffee, but....” Crap, he was making such a fool of himself....

But Zelda just giggled, hiding her smile behind the hand that bore the mirror image of his soul mark. “Yes, you can take me on a date sometime. But, um...what's your name, anyway?”

“Oh!” They'd been talking all this time, and he still hadn't introduced himself. “It's Link. Nice to meet you.”

Zelda cocked her head to one side. “Link...strange...it feels somehow familiar....”

Link realized he'd felt the same way, the first time he'd learned Zelda's name. He'd passed it off as merely thinking it was a pretty name, but...maybe it was a sign that their souls were bonded to each other.

Either way, as they sat at the coffee shop and continued to get to know each other, everything felt right with the world in a way it never had before.

#UGH this one gave me so much trouble DX #i had zero ideas until suddenly i decided to combine two tropes i don't usually care for (coffee shop au and soulmate au)#and somehow that gave me enough inspiration to finally write it???#idk i don't get it either #also i'm a little disgruntled because i'm supposed to be writing only platonic relationships with let me count the ways #but i guess i ship zink so hard i couldn't make it any less shippy than this :/#so i'm kinda bending the rules with this but you can say it's just the beginning stages of a crush #the relationship could actually go a multitude of ways from here and the focus is just on getting to know each other #at least that's what i'm telling myself so i don't have to come up with an entirely new idea for this prompt ^^'#anyway this is meant to be more or less compatible with any version of link and zelda #but it's probably obvious that i take most of my inspiration from oot (as that's my favorite)#ask and you shall receive #granny-griffin #ask games #let me count the ways #link #zelda #legend of zelda

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bumblingbabooshka · 1 year

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T’Pring/Michael could be everything

#Concepts: Forbidden love on many levels (arranged marriage - human/vulcan - my brother's future wife & my future husband's sister)#Both being bound by duty to follow strict rules - both as parts of HIGHLY prestigious families. Both have to be VERY careful with their #public personas. Both much less willing to buck tradition and do what they want than the people around them Ex: Spock - Sybok #(now is the time to tell you this is ALL brainspace and vibes as that's the way I like to think about Spock's family v_v)#Michael not really feeling much for T'Pring in the beginning but enjoying the fact that a Vulcan unrelated to her is so positive about #her...especially a Vulcan that her father views as logical and good. T'Pring's acceptance is like validation.#Meanwhile T'Pring enjoys that Michael enjoys being with her unlike Spock who doesn't really want to be married to her and thus can't find #it in himself to enjoy being around her (not that he's cruel just clearly unenthusiastic and reticent)#Both women eventually breaking free from their bonds and doing something for themselves (T'Pring breaking off the engagement and Michael uhh #I really don't know what she does in Disco. Leading a mutiny or something??)#T'Pring/Michael would be the slowest burn in history #Michael as a concept is so good and I love her - SNW I hate for you killing her bring her back!!! At least T'Pring is there <3<3 #Spock has two siblings but only one of them seems to be able to be alive in any given timeline

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fragmentedblade · 6 months

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Dan Heng, Blade and Jingliu the three went to see Bailu, and it kinda makes me want to jump off a cliff

#I talk too much #I should probably delete this later #Even beyond fragmented memories and a state of forgetfulness they remember enough to want to see her!!!#idk I love them haha #I don't think Dan Feng was in love with Baiheng for what I've read even though it seems to be also an extended opinion at times #I think he loved of her the same thing he loved of Yingxing‚ that he was treated as a normal person by her and not as high elder #(Jingliu wonders how someone so proud and someone so arrogant could get along and beyond how hot arrogance is at times #and how invigorating to have two prides opposed and crash‚ I think that's why! Dan Feng appreciated that Yingxing just treated him #as a person with all his defiance‚ beyond roles and statuses and even being a short life species)#He also just loved her of course. And he felt indebted to her. And guilty I imagine #And honestly I think he used this as a means to create a new high elder and break free of that cycle he so resented as well as new life #Which makes his actions several layers of selfish and selfless and selfish and selfless and I love the complexity and the grey hues #But yeah in any case I love this. I love that they remember beyond memory and death enough to want to see her again #(romantic or platonic love aside‚ I don't care‚ that's one of my favourite things of Orpheus and Eurydice in Ovid's telling)#And I love that Bailu isn't scared or repulsed or prejudiced against them #Like the ghost of the past fondness still clinging to her‚ like how she tells Dan Heng that maybe they were friends once in another life #They were. There was so much love they defied the laws of humans and aeons and the rules of existence only for you #There was so much love they unmade themselves for you. There was so much love the history of the Xianzhou Luofu changed forever #There was so much love you can see stains of that love everywhere still‚ seven hundred years later #There was so much love their love still lingers‚ making them dead and immortal at once #There was so much love even a bit of her love still lingers in Bailu‚ even if she is someone else #I don't know... I just love this kind of love and grief story. This becoming monstrous for the beloved and yet not being able to regret it #Not entirely. But how to regret it?#All the pain and even the mistakes would be worth it for you‚ or would have been; I just wish you didn't have to suffer #I only regret having caused you suffering #I'd risk and curse it all again‚ given the chance‚ if I could do it right. But only if it wouldn't cause you suffering #How do you define a love like this? And how could it matter?

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outeremissary · 1 year

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Tagged by @silversiren1101... sorry to be doing this in the literal middle of the night, I've chosen the "sleep from 9-1, then ????-????" route tonight.

Anyway. The only one is the one you already knew, haha. I'm vaguely aware of alexisonfire and Death Cab for Cutie existing - the latter is a really Tumblr artist, I think I've been told? - but I don't know any more than that. I briefly thought I knew The New Low, but it turns out that what I was remembering was being bizarrely obsessed with the song New Low by Middle Class Rut in middle school.

I edited this on my phone so pardon the sloppiness of a last second swap. This was odd to do because I have a Weird Thing where I don't really listen to music by artist a lot of the time, and I often don't know more than a random scattering of songs or a single album from an artist. Artists I am confident I generally know the discography of are kinda few and far between, and I was much better about being thorough like that in high school... Anyway. A random scattering of stuff. Even I don't know how I determined what made the cut and what didn't for half of this list. I assume I can't do duplicates or Lord Huron would definitely be on here.

The blank. I don't have a lot of people to tag, I guess? @camelliagwerm if you're interested and no one has reached out to you yet

#I don't consider myself a dedicated fan of many artists so if you have beef with the community of any of these people #know I am uninvolved and blissfully unaware of other people who listen to them. I just listen to the music.#I have seen two (2) of these artists in person which was very cool #I love live music but I hate being around loud noises and crowds so I hate live music. it takes a lot to make me want to see it.#I've seen baroness twice and can only dream to see them again (what an incredible presence and sound)#and through a series of bizarre coincidences vicetone was once at the tiny club in my college town on a week night #which was a good time even though I bitched nonstop for the first hour #what I realize trying to talk about music is that wow. even not being a Music Person I have heard a lot of music in my life huh #and I've heard a lot of music I enjoy :) that's cool #anyway shout-out to Priestess number one didn't make the list artist #because I can only think of two Priestess songs they just really rule #music is good. I should sleep #tag game #edit: shout-out to Priestess number one artist that didn't make the list even after I added an extra one #I suddenly remembered Knife Party/Pendulum and felt like I had to give priority to the music that fueled me writing a oneshot #in about three hours in college

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holytrickster · 10 months

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idk i think it's so funny I went down a survival horror game rabbit hole when a) I'm too freaking anxious for horror games I will make myself cry, b) it was all PS2 stuff which is extra funny bc I've never even played on someone else's playstation let alone had one, i was always a wii kid lol. but now my brain is like ah yes. time to consume everything I can about games I can't even play and that are stupid expensive/hard to get now

#also i love that people draw jennifer from rule of rose and fiona from haunting ground together #they're just two girls with their dogs and in horrible situations and you know im glad they get to have dogs #any game where i get to have a pet is alright by me even if shit is otherwise majorly fucked #anyway. i do need to play pathologic. it's funny bc in theory it is really the kind of thing I'd like bc there's so much stuff to uncover #plus i think classic HD (which is the version i have) fixes the bad translation so it's not even like it's too hard to understand #at least only hard to understand in the intended pathologic-y way anyway #and i really really like the soundtrack #and everything I've watched and read about it is sick as hell (no pun intended) so i think the thing making me unable to get into it is the #actual experience of playing it. like it's funny how much of an asshole dankovsky is but that doesn't mean I *want* to play as an asshole #its funny the only time i really like playing that way is in skyrim bc im just. greenish elf that picks everyone's locks bc it was the first #thing i figured out and characters will just ???? let me fucking do it??? (i say having gotten arrested in whiterun like immediately)#i guess because I'm not invested in any of the characters yet because i havent had time to sit down and really play it #i guess that'd kind of be the way i play in lotro but that's more just me not interacting with other players #fun fact i think i still have one of the earliest fellowship quests sitting unfinished bc i can never form groups to finish them #i don't think I'll even ever get good at lotro though honestly #more just knowing what buttons to spam #idk i played hunter FOREVER but minstrel is really really growing on me #even though some of the skills are kinda wasted since i only ever play alone #anyway what was i talking about

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the-gay-cryptid · 7 months

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I have this one writing professor who's overall great, but she has these little particular expectations that drive me insane. The big one is that we have to write a 50 word response to all of our classmates' weekly stories. But this is a workshop. We make those comments in class. We have full conversations where the writers can hear pur tone and respond and ask questions in the moment.

Why the fuck do we have to leave feedback comments?????

#she also wont let us use the word 'alright' in our writing #she says its wrong and we should always write it as 'all right'#i looked it up in class once and saw she was wrong but i phrased it like #'Oh! it looks like both are technically correct and the two word spelling is just considered more formal and sometimes older fashioned!'#and she flat told me that she'd count it wrong if any of us used it #she also wont let you use gonna #i used it in *dialogue* once because it was a child speaking quickly and kids dont enunciate #and she also marked that wrong #i think we have an understanding at this point though because i regularly refuse to follow her rules #or she tells me something i did is wrong and i do it again the next week but better and she concedes #that one asshole guy fuckin kisses her ass about it though and acts as her personal grammar crusader #but when a moron's only critique of my work is grammar rules that I choose to ignore i don't really care #my post

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lucalicatteart · 1 year

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i'm so glad we're going to the castle after all lol. i picked to let the cat choose because 1. the cat is a competent and respectable leader and 2. i hoped it would mean essentially just letting you choose your favourite

The weird animal researcher's abandoned castle ruins aren't the same location as the creepy snowy castle mentioned in the first poll, but I am glad we get to go to some sort of old castle regardless >:3 (assuming he can actually make it there). This one is actually cooler, since old ruins are always more fun than upkept structures anyway. Navigating the decaying property might be an issue though lol

#paventure posting #also youre entirely right. the cat is a competent and respectable leader. If only they could talk.. The adventurer would never run #into another issue again lol #I'm not certain if this is set in my world or not (Nanyevimi - the actual fantasy setting I do all of my worldbuilding for)#so far nothing that has happened has made it where that CAN'T be the case. But I'm also not sure whether I want to follow the canon #rules of my setting OR just have this be a one-off vaguely fantasy inspired adventure world just for this poll thing #ANYWAY - if it were in my setting - then talking animals are not really a thing there (though pseudo-talking animals that are #actually just manufactured puppet creatures enchanted by magic or with someone else's soul inside or etc. could exist #but not like LITERALLY.. ''this is just a cat who can magically talk'' lol)#However if it's not my setting and doesn't have to follow the rules of the magic system there - then theoretically the cat could actually #be like.. one of those Magically Intelligent Companion Animals from fantasy stories and could possibly be given the tools #to speak or communicate better. Though I think thats also not as much fun lol. I like the limitation that even if it WERE some sort #of very intelligent magical animal - it's still confined by the boundaries of not being able to communicate well and thus #just has to follow around Kind Of Heart Silly Of Mind adventurers rolling their eyes as obvious answers to problems #are looked over or bad decisions are made lol #ANYWAY. I don't have any background decided about The Adventurer (like how he met the cat. etc.) since the story should be kept vague #for people doing the polls to fill in the blanks. So really it could be up to interpretation. The general public can decide in their minds #whether it's just a normal very loyal cute cat. a magically intelligent cat. some mix of the two. etc.#ANYWAY

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yupuffin · 1 year

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omg I'm so glad I don't compete at Sakura-Con anymore. They were absolutely overblown with cosplay contest applications this year. (Apparently, within 10 minutes of the submission form opening, they already had 70 applications. Not sure about walk-ons, but I know they only allow space for 20 skits.) So glad I don't have to stress about that

#I competed there with cosplay skits for a couple of years #but they recently changed the rules so solo skits can only be 1:30 at the longest #i don't want to have to spend hours at meetings and backstage on two days (so a significant chunk of the con)#if i don't have a snowball's chance in hell of placing #i'm not being judged on choreography #and i can't even stay on stage for as long as i could at any fursuit dance competition

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emdotcom · 1 year

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I understand all these posts with the angle of "OMG new users don't know how the reblog system works -- we have to tell them so they'll reblog art!" Bc that IS true! I have seen new accounts roll up with 0 reblogs & just likes.

But, also, you cannot fucking pretend that the reblog/likes ratio has not been on a massive fucking decline for literal years before this. It is not just new users suddenly not reblogging -- it is a massive shift in how the Tumblr populace itself regards & interacts with art & artist.

& as an artist, there is very little you can do.

#gale chatter #eh actually yeah there is one thing you can do -- you either post exclusively popular fandom content or intentionally miss or over tag #but after that you just. try to color all your art in try to post digital try to post at the right times #but really how much does that affect notes? do gou get one or two extra? ten?#& how many of those notes are likes #there's a laugh rule for posts i wish there were an appreciation rule for art #if you are in any way impressed moved or want to see more art you need to reblog it. this is not optional.#girl i am hashtag artist struggles right now fuck #NOT to complain i get good notes on that art post & all my friends & homies rolled up to rb #that's a good amount of reblogs for me that's like 7 rbs & 4 of them had really nice tags that's good interaction #i just. kinda miss when a post would have so many reblogs i would lose track. i couldn't have told you how many notes i got #when i was in highschool posting batim fanart. the number was too big to me. looking back i know 200 notes doesn't mean much #but for me? for all the art I've made? shit I've spent hours or weeks on? vs me making a silly animation in about an hour?#the difference is about 190 notes. & that's a damn shame & discouraging.#it makes me think the only way to get notes is to post for big fandoms & that sucks bc i don't like to dance that dance anymore #idk. maybe i move to da or something.#how many other artists do you think go through this? spend hours on something & not get enough interaction #so they decide to pack up shop & go somewhere else #& the only way their art is ever gonna geace tumblr again is by reposters & art thiefs #or maybe they just never post art again period. & ain't that a damn crying shame.

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tearlessrain · 27 days

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please help me- i used to be pretty smart but i’m having so much trouble grasping the concept of diegetic vs non-diegetic bdsm!

gfkjldghfd okay first of all I'm sorry for the confusion, if you're not finding anything on the phrase it's because I made it up and absolutely nobody but me ever uses it, but I haven't found a better way to express what I'm trying to say so I keep using it. but now you've given me an excuse to ramble on about some shit that is only relevant to me and my deeply inefficient way of talking and by god I'm going to take it.

SO. the way diegetic and non-diegetic are normally used is to talk about music and sound design in movies/tv shows. in case you aren't familiar with that concept, here's a rundown:

diegetic sound is sound that happens within the world of the movie/show and can be acknowledged by the characters, like a song playing on the stereo during a driving scene, or sung on stage in Phantom of the Opera. it's also most other sounds that happen in a movie, like the sounds of traffic in a city scene, or a thunderclap, or a marching band passing by. or one of the three stock horse sounds they use in every movie with a horse in it even though horses don't really vocalize much in real life, but that's beside the point, the horse is supposed to be actually making that noise within the movie's world and the characters can hear it whinnying.

non-diegetic sound is any sound that doesn't exist in the world of the movie/show and can't be perceived by the characters. this includes things like laugh tracks and most soundtrack music. when Duel of Fates plays in Star Wars during the lightsaber fight for dramatic effect, that's non-diegetic. it exists to the audience, but the characters don't know their fight is being backed by sick ass music and, sadly, can't hear it.

the lines can get blurry between the two, you've probably seen the film trope where the clearly non-diegetic music in the title sequence fades out to the same music, now diegetic and playing from the character's car stereo. and then there are things like Phantom of the Opera as mentioned above, where the soundtrack is also part of the plot, but Phantom of the Opera does also have segments of non-diegetic music: the Phantom probably does not have an entire orchestra and some guy with an electric guitar hiding down in his sewer just waiting for someone to break into song, but both of those show up in the songs they sing down there.

now, on to how I apply this to bdsm in fiction.

if I'm referring to diegetic bdsm what I mean is that the bdsm is acknowledged for what it is in-world. the characters themselves are roleplaying whatever scenarios their scenes involve and are operating with knowledge of real life rules/safety practices. if there's cnc depicted, it will be apparent at some point, usually right away, that both characters actually are fully consenting and it's all just a planned scene, and you'll often see on-screen negotiation and aftercare, and elements of the story may involve the kink community wherever the characters are. Love and Leashes is a great example of this, 50 Shades and Bonding are terrible examples of this, but they all feature characters that know they're doing bdsm and are intentional about it.

if I'm talking about non-diegetic bdsm, I'm referring to a story that portrays certain kinks without the direct acknowledgement that the characters are doing bdsm. this would be something like Captive Prince, or Phantom of the Opera again, or the vast majority of bodice ripper type stories where an innocent woman is kidnapped by a pirate king or something and totally doesn't want to be ravished but then it turns out he's so cool and sexy and good at ravishing that she decides she's into it and becomes his pirate consort or whatever it is that happens at the end of those books. the characters don't know they're playing out a cnc or D/s fantasy, and in-universe it's often straight up noncon or dubcon rather than cnc at all. the thing about entirely non-diegetic bdsm is that it's almost always Problematic™ in some way if you're not willing to meet the story where it's at, but as long as you're not judging it by the standards of diegetic bdsm, it's just providing the reader the same thing that a partner in a scene would: the illusion of whatever risk or taboo floats your boat, sometimes to extremes that can't be replicated in real life due to safety, practicality, physics, the law, vampires not being real, etc. it's consensual by default because it's already pretend; the characters are vehicles for the story and not actually people who can be hurt, and the reader chose to pick up the book and is aware that nothing in it is real, so it's all good.

this difference is where people tend to get hung up in the discourse, from what I've observed. which is why I started using this phrasing, because I think it's very crucial to be able to differentiate which one you're talking about if you try to have a conversation with someone about the portrayal of bdsm in media. it would also, frankly, be useful for tagging, because sometimes when you're in the mood for non-diegetic bodice ripper shit you'd call the police over in real life, it can get really annoying to read paragraphs of negotiation and check-ins that break the illusion of the scene and so on, and the opposite can be jarring too.

it's very possible to blur these together the same way Phantom of the Opera blurs its diegetic and non-diegetic music as well. this leaves you even more open to being misunderstood by people reading in bad faith, but it can also be really fun to play with. @not-poignant writes fantastic fanfic, novels, and original serials on ao3 that pull this off really well, if you're okay with some dark shit in your fiction I would highly recommend their work. some of it does get really fucking dark in places though, just like. be advised. read the tags and all that.

but yeah, spontaneous writer plug aside, that's what I mean.

#I found their original stuff while I was researching various waterhorses and their folklore for no reason #because one of the characters in their original work happens to be an each uisge #and then it turned out it ALSO included a lot of figures from welsh folklore in general #so yknow if you happen to have my incredibly specific hyperfixations you'll love it but even if you don't it's great #I didn't mean to bring up phantom of the opera so much it just happens to be very relevant to a lot of my talking points #I haven't actually seen it in years

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