...I know people in this day and age think any collaborative effort can fix things, often despite reality (ex. the MULTIPLE tumblr blackout protests over the last like 10 years across different owners of tumblr that didn’t change shit),
but I think going out of your way to buy things from tumblr en masse as a “well then they’ll be profitable and won’t have to change things to resemble profitable sites!” as if the CEO/higher ups are personally going to see this and not AT MOST just go “oh we made money, sick, Anyway.” is just. the most naive and frankly 5-year-old level of problem solving unrealistic idea if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. People are just so blinded by naive optimism it’s painful.
Staff isn’t going to see your purchases and go on a full redemption arc and restore porn in spite of payment systems’ massive stigma against it or Apple’s restrictions and never ever try to mimic Twitter or TikTok again, or whatever the fuck you’re expecting, they’ll keep focusing on shit tweaks that resemble other sites because those are what keep investors who think they know tech and user wants hooked and they think new people from other sites will come over for that instead of the fact these people are typically escaping those kinds of features.
Staff isn’t your friend, their vying for support like they’re your buddy who is hitting hard times and has been here holding your hand all these years is deliberate corporate marketing, they’re an arm of a corporation that spits in the face of LGBTQ+ people and especially black people for daring to post about themselves while touting themselves as The Queer Site! A diverse site! Look at this AMA we’re doing with someone about Black History Month! and you’re doing nobody a service when you’re unintentionally rewarding a service for getting worse because they will not know nor care about your motives, they just care that they got money and will continue making it worse regardless of you. They’re a corporation, not a small business ran by 10 people who are trying their best. People throwing money at Staff already encourages them, let alone when you buy into the weird parasocial shit they try with us which will continue as they see success with that method.
Like the mere idea of everyone buying the crabs to gift to make the site profitable is just unrealistic (especially in this economy with such terrible inflation and in NA there are issues with the weather and fires, on a site that mostly consists of groups of people who are typically low income or unable to work???), it feels very much like the gofundme pages people set up to raise money for celebrities who have debts who will be fine regardless and definitely don’t need your help. Corporations and CEOs are not your friends, they never will be. They do not care about you and they’re not some poor uwu victim of circumstance.
TL;DR half-assed blackouts aimed at companies that don’t care (that I have seen over and over) and “cr*b day” type efforts are incredibly dumb and will change nothing, and they will not change anything, just encourage them since they see they’re making money during their current marketing schemes, if they notice at all. You pitying them like they’re a poor innocent person is exactly what the corporation wants.
If you want to make a difference give that money to an artist or lgbtq+ people who basically get flagged as mature for Existing, or people who get their posts flagged for criticizing the site, or something, someone who gets screwed over by this site on the regular. It will do far more good than that whackadoo type pipe dream and sit down and think for a second, please.
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Twenty-Fourth Day of Gift-Giving: Touches
Prompt: Tracing the other’s lips with their finger
The last one! Thank you SO much for reading, I hope this little project brought you some joy these past weeks 💝 And if you missed some posts or couldn't keep up with my daily posting schedule, worry not! None of the stories are particularly festive (except maybe Day 12), so you can read them any time. All the stories can be found in this tag, and I'm thinking of posting them on AO3 as well 🎁
~
As much as Aleksi hated early wake-up calls, this particular morning he hadn’t minded having to crawl out of bed at eight to take Rilla out; he had groaned when he had heard Rilla pawing the front door, but at least it offered Aleksi a chance to study Olli’s sleeping face before he’d wake up too. Although Aleksi’s eyelids still felt heavy and he probably would’ve fallen back to sleep in less than a minute if he had closed his eyes, the serenity on Olli’s face was far more captivating than anything Aleksi would ever see in his dreams.
Lone strands of curly hair had fallen on Olli’s eyes. Reluctant to wake the man up just yet, Aleksi defied the temptation to gently sweep it off. Maybe he also wanted to keep the slight worry on Olli’s face hidden so as to deceive himself into believing they’d have another full day together, the faint lines still visible on Olli’s forehead a reminder of their talks just before they had fallen asleep. Olli for one had not been able to conceal his grief about their parting when they had finally climbed to bed the previous night, and Aleksi had barely succeeded in kissing away his frown, troubled by the farewell to come just as much as Olli was. To know it would by no means be forever brought them some comfort at least; Aleksi was already looking forward to the video calls and the silly texts once Aleksi and Rilla would have settled down at home.
But it won’t be the same, Olli had said, and Aleksi knew that. There was little he could do about it, tough, little he could say to console Olli when he was hanging by a thin thread himself; one more look at Olli’s big, wet eyes and Aleksi would’ve been one phone call away from putting his Helsinki home up for sale, so he had seen it best to just kiss Olli again and tell him they’d figure it out, somehow.
They’d had to. They would. Aleksi was going to throw hands at the universe if they wouldn’t.
These thoughts from the night before consuming his mind, Aleksi had absentmindedly brought a finger to Olli’s lips and started tracing their shape. Over the past week, he had come to known them in every way he could think of, from having them move against his own or slide down his neck or close around his hard-on, so that it was now easy for him to retreat the memory of them, should he miss their softness and eagerness (and he would, no doubt, often and desperately, but it would be only one of the many things he’d be left craving for, once he’d be back in Helsinki).
Aleksi didn’t realise Olli was awake until the lips under his finger curved into a faint smile. Seeing the reaction, he snuggled closer and brought his own lips to Olli’s ear.
“Hi.” He left a soft kiss on Olli’s cheek and happily deepened it when Olli turned his head enough for Aleksi to catch his bottom lip in between his own.
“Morning,” Olli replied. Other than that, he showed no intention to break off the kiss or to get out of bed any time soon, and Aleksi kissed him back as if he had nowhere to go that day either.
How he wished it was true. He wished it so much until a lump appeared in his throat.
“I think I’m gonna miss you too much,” he said into the kiss. It had been a long time coming, since the previous night at least, but he could no longer stop his eyes from welling with tears.
“Maybe you could get a refund for your tickets,” Olli said in turn, lips hungry for more kisses. “Tell them it’s an emergency and that you couldn’t possibly make it.”
Aleksi knew as well as Olli that wasn’t how it worked, but damn if Aleksi wasn’t ready to give it a try.
“What about my work? I have two production sessions scheduled for Monday alone.” It was impressive how they managed to hold an entire conversation in between all the desperate, hasty kisses that demanded to be given, as if their supply of kisses would overflow if they didn’t (it might, for all Aleksi knew, and he sure as well wasn’t going to risk it).
“Tell them you’re sorry.” [A kiss. Another. Another.] “Tell them you’re in bed with fever.” [A kiss. Another.] “Or just that you’re needed elsewhere.” [A quiet sob.] “Tell them… tell them I need you here.”
By then Aleksi was sniffing himself, but he wasn’t going to let any more hopeless sobs leave Olli’s mouth.
“Okay,” he said and kissed Olli until he stopped shedding tears (or maybe they just mixed with Aleksi’s own); until they both fell back to sleep.
~*~
I think I'm gonna miss you too much.
When Aleksi had said it, he really had meant every word, but five days after his return home, to his empty and sort of chilly apartment, he was pleased to have realised the longing had not consumed him completely during the week. Had his head been constantly absorbed in memories of his time with Olli, surviving all the Zoom meetings and email formalities would have likely been twice the uphill they were on a normal day. By all means, that was not to say Aleksi had not missed Olli; he had, incredibly so, especially when he climbed in his bed late at night and entertained himself with the idea of Olli being there waiting for him, possibly wiggling his eyebrows or just looking at him with an insane amount of affection in his eyes. Some days Aleksi wasn't sure if the sound that left his mouth whenever he thought about it resembled more a chuckle or a sob.
They had texted each other throughout the week, having (tearfully) agreed to give each other some space after the rather intense week they had had and decided they would, eventually, have time for sappy phonecalls (as well as for some spicy late-night FaceTime chats, Aleksi hoped). Come Friday, however, Aleksi dragged himself to his bedroom after another intense studio day and grabbed his phone.
"C'mere Rilla, let's ask how Olli's doing," he said to the dachshund, planting a kiss on her forehead as he helped her on the bed.
Aleksi closed his eyes while he waited for Olli to pick up the phone. He knew he had no reason to doubt if Olli would, but somehow he felt calmer listening to the dial tone like that.
"Hi," Olli's voice finally said. Its tone wrapped Aleksi in something warm and soft, like a blanket.
"Hi Olli."
"I was just thinking about you."
Aleksi slid down further on the bed, revelling in the warmth and softness of the voice on the other end of the line.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Well that's funny," Aleksi said, although speaking wasn’t an easy task with how much his lips were quivering (from smiling, but maybe also from something else). "Because I was just thinking about you. Hence I called."
"Glad you did. It's good to hear your voice."
Aleksi closed his eyes again and wished he knew a way to tell Olli just how much he loved hearing his voice as well; how he had missed its calming melody in the mornings as well as all the more impatient whimpers in the evenings; how much more quiet his life had been before they had let each other into their lives like this.
Trying hard to maintain a casual tone, Aleksi recalled the events of the past week.
"How was your week?" Aleksi was thankful for Olli being the one to continue the conversation, seeing Aleksi himself was but a few more seconds of expectant silence from starting to ramble on about how even a salmon fillet at his local supermarket had brought a smile to his face the other day without him noticing until Niko had pointed it out.
"An okay week, I'd say, overall. You?"
On the other end of the line, Olli suddenly moaned tiredly, probably stretching himself. Aleksi bit his lip and wondered if the man did it on purpose, just to test him.
"'Twas alright. Helped out Mikko and the boys with some studio stuff."
"Sounds cool."
"And I did some laundry too."
"Okay?" Aleksi chuckled.
"Yeah. Noticed my favourite grey hoodie's gone. D'you remember seeing it? I think you were the one using it last time."
"Ummmm..." Aleksi glanced down at himself, his grin widening. "I might be wearing it right now."
"Ha! I knew it!"
"I'm outraged, Aleksi," Olli sniffed, as if offended by this heartless betrayal. "Guess I'm gonna have to come down there to get it back."
"Yeah, I don't know, it must have ended up in my suitcase by accident." Cheeks full from the smile stuck on his lips, he put a hand inside the front pocket of said hoodie and snuggled to himself.
(If he did it just to imagine it was Olli cuddling up to him instead, who could've judged him for it?)
"Uh-huh? Guess you gotta."
Aleksi contemplated keeping any lovesick pleas to himself, until he remembered he'd no longer have to keep his heart so closed and protected.
Not from Olli.
"Like... I know you're away from home a lot during the year as it is, but... I always like it so much when you're here and I hope that... maybe this could be 'home' as well. One day."
The more seconds that passed waiting for Olli's reply, the more restless Aleksi grew under his blanket, almost shivering despite being tucked up to almost his chin.
"Yeah. I think it could be. One day," Olli said at last, his voice just barely louder than a whisper. "In fact... I quite like the sound of that."
Aleksi was prepared for a 'but' which never came. Instead, Olli dropped his next bomb, just in time for Aleksi to have blinked the tears from his eyes.
"So... what else are you wearing right now?"
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You should rate horse isle 3, It’s fucking wild.
agreed. agreed. agreed.
first of all, i was only able to stomach about an hour of this game, and as such this review is really just my personal experience & missing most of the game!
this is what horse isle 1 looks like
this is what horse isle 2 looks like
this is horse isle 3.
when i logged into horse isle 3 for the first time i was greeted with randomly dumped in some player built town with bad 8 bit music and traps set that punted my helpless virtual body into a sand flat with absolutely nothing there. just a low poly inescapable sand flat. i tried to ask for help in the global chat and was given instructions as to how to Start the Tutorial, as it doesn't start automatically and isn't super obvious, but then i couldn't say thank you because i had run out of the tokens needed to speak in global?? and then i got stuck in the tutorial because I needed to pick up a stick, and it was just infinite sand flat in every direction.
my goal was to find the trans train enthusiasts from the legends, but instead i got picked up by a town of middle aged moms who offered me free stuff. i accepted but then remembered the mission & also that i would likely not be playing much longer. then unaccepted. this was uncomfortable for everyone
the overworld reminds me of the low poly worlds game developers make when learning unity for the first time. not a horrible thing, but would be better if the gameplay were really good to make up for it or something. however i have no idea if the gameplay is really good! i never found any jumping competitions! i spent so little time online that my rental fully tacked horse never expired, but I did catch a few others and try riding them bareback and that is SLOW. traditional! i played horse isle 2 for a few minutes and it was just about as slow. i like the horse catching mechanic! it was fun getting the hang of it.
nothing is straightforward, so i had to google how you buy tack in this game. apparently you have to go to a player town and find a sign, click on it, and buy tack from there. but finding the sign was pretty rough for me. having only played an hour, every piece of furniture looked the same. i failed this mission.
i hear one of the main draws of this game is the silly horse breeding mechanics. i did not experience this firsthand, but ive seen some silly looking horses, so my complements do go there.
the soundtrack is pretty good! the badlands ost is groovy! the alpine ost is dramatic and ambient! black sands has a nice cello and some very dramatic drums! i'm listening to the ost here and it all seems pretty nice! a lot of this is perfect to study to! i'm jamming!
i rate this game 2 stars out of 5!
★★☆☆☆
the stars are for good soundtrack and big online open world! points deducted for the unwelcoming design, transphobia and homophobia of the developers & the drama about their rules and etc, and the fact that if you pet your horse they will make purring sounds!
next games to come will likely be 3ds games! feel free to submit horse games for me to try to '"'review'"' for funzies!
edit: here's part 2
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