#but I can still be a tool for good in this world

[flouryhedgehog]

Voting is a tool.

By which I mean, voting is just a tool; it isn't sacred or magical.

And by which I also mean, voting is one tool that is good for one kind of purpose. If it isn't suitable for the goal you're trying to achieve, you need different tools.

Every time someone makes a post on here rightly criticizing Joe Biden's support for genocide, there's at least one person in the notes saying "but remember, you still have to vote for him!" or, "did you know Trump wants to deport Muslims?" or, "then who do you want me to vote for?"

But that's like going into a plant nursery and demanding they sell you the correct drill bit for planting a tree. They will never sell you the drill bit you want, because the drill bit you want--the drill bit suitable for planting trees--doesn't exist, and also plant nurseries don't sell drill bits.

Standing in the plant nursery asking about drill bits will probably initially get you people explaining to you where to find a shovel, and a watering can, and some mulch, because those are tools that will help you plant the tree. If you ignore the attempts to educate you, and start yelling about how they must just want you to throw away your drill, and also they probably hate trees and hate you and want you, personally, to suffer in a world without shade, you'll start getting different answers, like "please stop shouting" and "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

Because you're demanding that they tell you how to use the wrong tool for the job. They can never give you the answer you want; the answer you want doesn't exist.

I can't tell you who to vote for to prevent the rise of fascism in the United States, both because you can't prevent something that's already happened, and because you can't vote your way out of fascism.

You need different tools; you need to ask different questions and be willing to sit with the answers, even if they aren't the answers you want.

Boycotts are a tool. Protests are a tool. Shutting down highways, physically blocking weapons shipments, picketing arms companies, those are tools. So is going to your library and checking out books about Palestine, and about decolonization generally.

Instead of asking which war criminal you should vote for, perhaps ask how you can organize members of your community to support and look after each other and keep each other safe. Perhaps ask how you can support Land Back and prison abolition. Ask how you can organize a union in your workplace.

The tool you're most comfortable using isn't going to work for this job. Learn how to use another.

#palestine #joe biden #genocide joe #us politics

[cursedvibes]

I really don't like how in the new chapter all of Yuuji's individuality and specialty gets reduced to his body. It quite literally says it doesn't matter who operates his body, all that counts is what they use it for and then it works on autopilot, Yuuji himself doesn't have to do anything. The only reason he got this far and learned so fast is because other people used his body. He himself, as a person, is nothing special and has no unique skills. It's all his inherited physical capability and the people taking advantage of it.

After sitting on it a bit, I think I get what Gege is going for here and the message that once again gets underlined.

Even people who claim to care about him as a person like Choso perpetuate this narrative. Choso says without any pushback that Yuuji should eat the remaining Death Paintings to make his body stronger and swap souls with someone else so they can also improve on his body. No one ever questions if Yuuji is alright with that or what he himself could contribute, if he could maybe just learn something on his own through regular training with Kusakabe. They all say for Yuuji to get better as quickly as possible, his body has to get better if he likes it or not. And that's why Yuuji goes along with it because other people must know best what's good for him, he can't even understand his own physique after all. Let them make the decisions about him, he'll just do the dirty work of going out there in the end and punching Megumi out of Sukuna. He gets objectified again just like when he was still the vessel who was meant to seal Sukuna once and for all and gets executed to rid the world of the King of Curses for good. Same principle, different method. He can take the lead in planning how to kill Sukuna, the thing he was created to do, but he can't make decisions about his own body.

Yuuji is just a tool for others to use. For him to have any value as a sorcerer more skilled and experienced people have to use his body or he uses their body (Death Paintings, Sukuna) to take their skills for himself in the service of others.

The only thing unique to him at the moment (who knows for how long) is his perception and targeting of souls. It seems to be something you can't just inherit or gain by being or having a vessel as Sukuna can't do the same thing. The only other people who could do it were Mahito and to a degree Yuki. And this is what gives Yuuji an advantage over Sukuna and what can be used to actually hurt him. RCT and Simple Domain keeps him alive, Blood Manipulation and Shrine are distractions, but his soul punches are what got Sukuna in the miserable state he's in now.

#trying to make a meaningful spin on this #I still feel like Gege is leaning too heavily on the crutch that is Yuuji's body and his lineage #just let Yuuji improve on his own jfc he has the drive to do it #and the cog mentality could be explored through it as well #but we'll see #jjk spoilers #itadori yuuji #jjk 258

[thricedead]

ATP i don't wanna add "i am enjoying this critically" disclaimers when I read stories with upsetting elements bc this phrase has deteriorated into total nonsense to me and it still assumes that the content is being "enjoyed", ergo "consumed for the sake of gratification" rather than being "studied for the sake of experience". I like reading stories (with higher writing quality!) in which terrible things happen to people, both those with good execution and with bad, cause at the very least you can analyze the points you disagree with and build your writing repertoire thru reacting to others' work. I am a narratologist, a literary theorist, before I am a human person. I interact with media in a fundamentally different way than fandom people on the internet, because I am someone who will approach even a yaoi one shot very studiously from all angles and view even the most barebones characters as narrative tools who are controlled both by an internal theatrical force and the external intent of the author (and also never forget... intentional fallacy is a thing) I will never see the characters as my boyfriends I will never succumb to my own revulsion and pass up a story im interested in! In other words, you know me well enough to know I dont read with my dick in my hand. If you dont know this of me, well okay... but I think the existence of the proship label (which i do not align myself with whatsoever, and find abhorrent both as a csa victim and because any identity built around shipping is feeble) has pushed everyone who is rightfully in opposition to it to place themselves on the "other side", as though "morals + literacy" is an on/off switch. Like its not the existence of imbalanced relationships, sexual assault etc in stories that is vile and disruptive, it is that certain people AND LARGELY THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN VICTIMIZED BY THESE ENTITIES IRL react to them and spew blatantly untrue literary misconceptions that disfigure the relationship between fictional portrayal of abuse and the real world mechanisms of abuse to justify jacking off to cartoons. Ok well I think its stupid to jack off to cartoons even if you're ethical about it so I dont do that 👍🏻 and don't assume this of me

[xxxcertifiednerdxxx]

You’re never too dumb for Jesus btw

#I feel like in the movement of focusing more on what we offer as thinking individuals and caring less about physical appearance #I understand that common sense is important to develop #and also the desire to learn and grow is amazing!!! #but also not everyone is going to be brilliant #not everyone is going to be a genius #not everyone is going to be smart even #what’s more important is being humble and willing to grow and also knowing your own self worth is based on not how much you can offer #but how much you choose to offer #if you give all you can to be a loving person and work to make the world a better place #regardless of if you went to Ivy League or community college or no college at all #or if you dropped out of high school or work your way up through a corporation #or stay at one job and never rise through the ranks bc you like serving where you are #that’s what’s important #I base my worth on the unconditional fact that I’m a child of Heavenly Parents who love me #and I don’t have the same capabilities or mental facilities as someone else necessarily and that’s ok #I am how God made me and my weaknesses are never enough to get in the way of me accomplishing what He wants me to do #sorry I have to learn the same lesson over and over #sorry certain things just don’t click for me and I struggle to understand a lot #but I can still be a tool for good in this world #I can still be a beacon of hope #I can still be a candle on a hilltop #bc of His Atonement and His Resurrection there is literally nothing I can’t endure with His help #ok I guess that’s my Easter message #if anyone else struggles with their self esteem concerning their intelligence #you are a valued human being and I love you #especially since some people assume others are unintelligent when their brains are just different #I think I’m both #like I think differently but also I’m just a lil dumb #and that’s ok #im my Heavenly Father’s daughter who is strong and faithful and a lil dumb but He is guiding me so it’s ok

[kyouka-supremacy]

Does anyone know where I can find the good quality version of this image? It's so frustrating because when cross searching on google it'll tell me the original quality is 850x478, but I can't find a way to download it in that quality. This is another version of the image (I'm guessing it's Mayoi promo art):

But I liked the clean white background one...

#It's cute... #It's got Akutagawa stealing glances at Atsushi #Thought asking was worth a try ;;;;;; #Google cross image search has changed and as someone who used it as I use breathing it's been absolutely heartbreaking. #It makes cross searching images so much harder it's awful #Because before when you looked up an image it suggested you the best quality avaible of that image. #And the search got worse every year but it was still functional you know?? #But now there's not that anymore. There's no “large” “medium” “small” and instead it only gives you “find image source” #Dude I don't want to find the image source. I've downloaded the image I KNOW the source. What I want is ANOTHER SOURCE with better quality #And I used to get it when I was 10 and I used to get it when I was 15 and I sued to get it when I was 20 #And now I don't have it anymore?? It stripes away one of the most powerful search tools on the internet from the public???? #It drives me insane. Like why does internet get worse every year that's not how humanity is supposed to work #Sorry. I needed to rant. This makes every quality-freak media archivist (like me) job harder beyond comparison #Btw if you're looking for an alternative Yandex images still does the work... It's not as powerful search engine as google #and it's often going to miss the particular hidden media (y'know- super niche Akutagawa merch from 2018 and stuff) #But for the rest it does a pretty good job. If anything there's still the best quality avaible option #But seriously looking up stuff for aktgw-daily has gotten so much harder ever since this fucked up change to google lens #and it makes me hate the world. I haven't been able to find a way to reverse it but if anyone more tech savy than me who has any idea- #what I'm talking about can help me. Please please hmu I'll be grateful forever #Sorry for the rant I have a lot of pent up rage over this. Stop making broke people's lives harder challenge #random rambles

[sporesgalaxy]

i shouldve played pokemon violet in spanish....

#on top of being good practice i bet it wouldve kept me more engaged.... #but if i restart now #what if replaying the same stuff makes me disengaged again but in a different way..... #i have not touched the game in months and im not even halfway thru it argh. #i wont touch it today anyways i have to clean a bunch of shit. but still i find time to agonize over inconsequential things #adddna #also to be clear 'im not engaged' doesnt mean its a bad game. it means im a shit ass gamer #i am. NOTABLY. bad at engaging with games the way that youre supposed to. #its a miracle pkmn sun & legends arceus went as well as they did #but alas. the amount of free choice in violet makes my little pea brain confused #legends arceus was my max capacity for open world story driven games i guess. #'dont you own breath of the wild' i sure do. i havent played it in over a year i think. maybe 2! #and girl you KNOW i am even LESS close to halfway thru that one #'hows spore different' theres not a story im just encouraged to fuck around! its like an art program. to me :) #meanwhile in violet and botw i cant draw on things. i cant make a little guy of my own. &i can barely play dress up #im supposed to be entertained by GAME mechanics???? in the VIDEOS GAME??? and not just creative tools and/or linear narrative??? #bull shit . game mechanic of skill is nothing but agony for sydney. the least you could do is give me a good consolation dress up game.

[coquelicoq]

yeah sex is great but have you ever unflooded your street by removing leaves from the storm drains using the litter-grabber tool you bought from lowe's two weeks ago for that exact purpose?

#every year my street floods in the autumn when it rains heavily. usually multiple times. every year!!! #i hate it it's so stressful. and of course the cars keep driving down it even though it's unsafe. a lot don't even slow down #and they throw up these huge walls of water with their passage #the street becomes totally unusable for pedestrians wheelchair users bikers strollers etc. #it's just the worst. and every year i'm like oh i should get a thingy so i can do something about it #and i never do in time. but this year. THIS year. watch out world #i cleaned out the drains preventively a few times in the past couple weeks but today is the first day of somewhat heavy wind and rain #so i went out this evening and two of the four drains were completely clogged :( but i got out my tool & as soon as i cleared a little spac #a whirlpool formed and sucked all the water into it! with this amazing noise. it was fantastic #then i cleared away the rest of the leaves cuz that tiny spot would get covered up very quickly otherwise #i came back by an hour later and they're still looking great <3 i'm basking in the afterglow #it is funny how much easier a homeowner could do this than me. those people have yard debris cans #they have space for shovels. god. a shovel. my kingdom for a shovel #i'm just piling the leaves on the curb one handful at a time and then leaving them there (out of the way of everyone of course) #because i have nowhere else to put them and no way to transfer them farther distances #but it's mostly just apartments near this intersection so we gotta do it for ourselves #anyway i'm probably gonna have to do it again tomorrow because there are a lot of dead leaves out there right now #but man! i've never been able to do anything about this before except call the city and wait for them to send someone. this feels so good

[dukeofriven]

Normalize non-binary characters who don't dress like total dorks. Normalize non-binary characters who don't remind you of the most exhausting person you knew in drama class. Normalize non-binary characters who look like they'd be happiest bombing around rugged terrain in a 1987 Ford Ranger Bigfoot Cruiser they restored themselves.

Normalize non-binary characters who've never painted so much as a toenail and have no inclination to do so.

Normalize non-binary characters who are hairy, heavy, sweaty, and whose favourite musical group is The California Raisins. Normalize non-binary characters who you can't identify from the other side of a warehouse by sight.

Normalize non-binary characters who look and act like a diverse group of people you might meet in your everyday life because god damn am I sick to death of shows getting praised for 'representation' that never stops feeling like a caricatured Other.

#non-binary #queer #enby #characters #yes I am watching Star Trek Discovery #yes its version of queer feels like it had to pass through six comittees of studio execs #yes its cringey as hell and no amount of 'but isn't it GOOD to see ourselves on screen at all' can makeup for how false it feels #I'm old enough to remember the 90s/00s and the first gay characters we were supposed to applaud for breaking barriers #they were all the same guy #the same catty sexless asshole #(Remember Second City's 'Sassy Gay Friend'? No? Man I'm old) #and it honestly did more harm than good because The Gay was always The Other #and rather than teach the lesson that 'a gay can be anyone around you' #it instead taught the world 'how to recognize a gay' #and even within the queer community we still internalize those fucking paradigms today #see: every self-doubt post going 'am I really [x] if I don't [y] #imagine how much freer the queer community would be if we hadn't internalized that sense of checklist gatekeeping #Am I really gay if i'm not an enormous tool like Kurt Hummel? #and so on #we don't take a lot of steps forward #we take a lot of steps sideways and call it progress because there's technically movement

[sp-ud]

FR I wanted to unplug my computer because of the second hand embarrassment I got.

i was watching ranboos pov and i am so glad they were barely in the whole event vc, the times they were was just...

anyways enough bitching about that, woooo charity!

Tiltify - The Festival of Voices - Week of Community

#asks #can u believe i used to be like 'george is actually funny but most people just see him as an extension to drm' #now that im reflecting on that i think it was actually quack/ity who was being funny and George was also there #semi related note. i dont think a lot of people are actually reading what the one of us foundation does #ppl think its cancer research and like. it does say they're partnered with the sfa but like if u actually read it its not that #not sayign that its not good its just a bit ... worrying that people don't seem to be reading about what they're donating too #i get that its techno/dad and we all love and trust him to not run a scam 'charity' but like. u should still check what ur donating too guy #its some kind of mentorship thing btw #'Through mentorship #scholarship #and global networks of support and community #Techno/dad and Stacey aspire to help young people across the globe follow in Alex’s footsteps by giving them the tools #resources #and personal empowerment to change the landscapes of their worlds just as Techno/blade did.' #copy and pasted that without thinking about the commas whoops #also the slashes are so none of this ends up in maintags

[buckynats]

.

#feeling very. Bad lately #in a despondent 'there is no future at least not for me' kind of way #hard to feel optimistic about anything. if I think for more than five minutes about the more than immediate day to day future #I get lost in a fugue of scenarios that will never come to pass because I'm too willing and ready to just be a tool and not a person #to everyone in my life and somehow still pretend day in and day out that I'm actually living a life #I constantly feel like I'm sixteen years old and never got the guidebook for life beyond hs #don't have a job and can't find one without access to transportation and my hours would be severely limited by my caretaking duties #ostensibly I have all the free time in the world right and just absolutely no drive to do anything at all with it #except lay in bed and suffer anxiety over everyone else's problems and my limited/un-ability to solve all of them #logically I am aware this is ridiculous and self-sabotaging and also impossible and also NOT on me to fix #but I've never been any good at treating myself the way I feel the desire to treat everyone else. my problems aren't worth fixing etc #life is and just always has been something that happens to other people #and most days I'm fine with that. I can find some silly interest to lose myself in and not think about it. #I'm very good at disappearing somewhere else. I don't need to exprience anything. my brain is great at theater #but right now it's just nothing. and so reality crashing in on many sides at once is destroying me a bit #I've also got a migraine right now so that helps tremendously. obviously #maybe if I make dinner now before I become completely useless I can just go to sleep early #I know this'll pass. It is what it is. I'm just Tired. and wish everything were different. y'know.

[buckttommy]

-

#Actually #One thing I will say about this trial and then be done with it is that people should be careful not to catastrophize because of the #verdict. 'Oh so women can't do [x] without [y] now' #Incorrect lol. There is no 'now' because women have always been victims of an unjust system. Absolutely nothing has changed and #nothing was going to change because our system is structured so that victims period (regardless of gender) always come out on the bottom #Our justice system is not a tool of justice; our justice system is a tool of status and power goes to whomever can afford it. #Sorry I don't know who thought this was ever going to be fair but it wasn't #A high-profile case with two high-profile clients seeking equally high-profile goals from this verdict and you guys thought this was #gonna be a nice fair little playdate? #Couldn't be me #Hollywood and politics do not mesh well; the rich pay for the outcomes they want and if you didn't get the outcome you #wanted I guess that means you didn't pay enough. #But this whole idea that Amber's loss is a loss for the people is sooo... lol. like when were victims ever in a position to win within a #system that protects abusers? #You can't say 364 days a year that rich people experience the world differently than ordinary people do #and then claim that Amber's loss has some bearing on Normal People #It does not <3 #Amber was in a far better position to win than you or I or Sally from down the street and she still didn't and if you think that's just #because she's a Woman I encourage you to develop some perspective that's not so narrowly focused. There's a bigger picture here than #women good men bad but the way you guys reduce major historical or social events to these segmented points instead of observing them #as part of a whole is so frustrating. #Misogyny is a fraction of a bigger problem here. If you're going to be mad about something be mad about all facets of the social structure #rather than just highlighting one and creating an entire false narrative around it.

[bjurnberg]

My work boots are the most expensive shoes I’ve ever owned.

Also the most comfortable. I chose them after trying on several different brands and comparing lifespan vs usage vs comfort - I needed them for a physically demanding job, not the weekend hiking trails. I could have easily chosen cheaper boots that would have lasted long enough to be worth their low price, but I know the Sam Vimes Boot Theory and knew weaker, less comfortable boots would make my life harder in the long run.

So when the outside edge of the heel started wearing down after three years of heavy use I went to the shop I got them from and said “hey this is a common problem for me with how I walk but now it’s affecting my ankles and knees and I don’t wanna have to buy a new pair, is there a way to fix this?”

The salesman at this very fancy upscale boot store said “oh yeah, there’s a shoe repair place that can give you some heel guards - it’ll keep the rubber from wearing out.”

So at 8am this morning right after my 9hr shift ends I went to the shoe repair shop and it is the most hole-in-the-wall, is-this-a-real-business-or-a-mafia-front, am-I-gonna-get-shot tiny cinder block cube I’ve ever seen in my life. I grew up plenty poor and love me a good hole-in-the-wall business, but going from upscale store to this cash-only repair shop gave me whiplash. Wasn’t expecting this when a guy who wears three piece suits to sell boots said it’s the best place to go.

The skinny kid behind the counter looks somehow 16 and 25 at the same time, but when I tell him this place was recommended he smiles and says to hand over my boots. I hand him the vaguely warm foot-smelling boots, and stand in my socks in the 3’ square entryway surrounded by every color leather polish you could buy and watch as he turns my boots around in his hands, sizes up a crescent moon bits of plastic, and unceremoniously hammers tiny nails through them before handing them back.

The heels are perfectly level again. I can walk without almost rolling my ankles. They don’t clack loudly on the pavement or feel different. This is gonna fix my knee pain. It cost $10.

This kid had every tool he needed within arms reach, worked fast and smoothly, I was in and out the door in less than 8 minutes, and it only cost $10.

I didn’t think anything could cost only $10 anymore. I’m so used to hyperinflation prices I was spiritually thrown back to the 1400’s visiting the cobbler in town square. This kid might have been that cobbler and just decided to never die.

I’m still reeling from the whiplash, and gobsmacked at the price, and thrilled I didn’t have to go buy new, worse work boots (cuz I don’t have that kind of money for a second pair, I’m expecting these ones to last a decade) and it feels like I just experienced one of the rare little chunks of magic that floats around our world.

#shoe repair #cobbler magic #good work boots are a necessary part of life #and finding a cobbler I can take other shoes to is gonna change my life #I love craftsmen #bjurnberg

[neverendingford]

.

#tag talk #been playing a new minecraft world. went back to 1.12.2 to play Tektopia cause it's still hands down the best colony sim mod I've found. #and honestly it's a lot of fun to play without making big farms or anything. no elytra no iron farm no mob grinder just playing. #I did add the mod that gives you xp from harvesting crops because it makes enchanting gear way more accessible and I like it like that. #I also miss the old ore generation. strip mining isn't very fun so it's nice to be able to dig for all your ores in one place #having to dig for iron at ~y=0 and then dig a second time for iron at - 56 just fucking sucks. and deepslate is cool but sucks to dig throug #anyway yeah I've been just building a starter base first so I've got the resources to build and care for my town starting out #it's gonna be a forest vibe. town hall is gonna be up in a big tree in the center so I've been building that up rn. #oak logs + spruce planks really is pretty much the best combo ever. they look so good. I'm bad at making custom trees though so it's hard #idk what design I'm going for with the ground buildings. I haven't gotten there yet. I'm gonna lay out the paths first and then do buildings #get an idea of the shape of the town before I decide what the buildings are gonna look like when fitting in. lotsa leaf block hedges for sur #I also miss when fishing gave you better enchanted books. it was the best way to avoid having to do villager trading. #I got an autofish mod on latest version (1.20) and spent the entire night fishing with a maxed out fishing rod and got zero mending books #like. I don't want to be forced to do villager trading. they're trying to cut back and balance villager trading. #so why tf can't I get mending anymore. it's stupid. #I also put in a disenchanting mod that lets you transfer enchants from tools onto books so that's a good way to get mending from all those.. #all those extra fishing rods and bows that fish up once you already have a maxed one. #I need to make a second rod without luck of the sea so I can fish up more lily pads. I don't need anymore enchanted books #anyway. by I'm gonna go snooze in bed some more

[snekdood]

idk but maybe some of the reason ppl see the internet as a politically unhelpful tool for activism is because most of the ppl who say that... kinda tend to be in an echo chamber already, or are just surrounded by people who already agree with them and the message doesnt reach farther. we need to find ways to appeal to more people than just the people we like.

#ig to me its like. the internet is literally what radicalized a bunch of alt right dudes. id say its pretty effective at advancing certain #politics. we just need to find a way to advance the opposite politics. and we can start by not shunning anyone who doesnt know everything.. #not gonna act like posting shit online is the Only and Best form of activism but i do think it still counts. its more about who you actuall #reach and being realistic about that fact. #if you're only reaching the most lefty of leftists thats a problem. #if you roll your eyes at the idea of working with libs then thats a problem. #the whole point should be increasing our numbers and diversity of views. #and bein passive aggressive or holier than thou is not gonna get you anywhere btw. #no amount of 'on the ground' activism will matter if you cant even increase the amount of ppl at whatever thing you're doing #you cant have the same group of 20 people do whatever and think thats enough #YOU need to figure out why you aren't appealing to more people and figure out how to fix that #and yeah- sometimes that means just saying the most basic progressive shit and not making people feel dumb or lesser than. #stop posting shit w the idea of 'omg this is going to lookso good and smart to my friends/discord' and start trying to figure out #how to look good and smart to the rest of the world too. and one of those steps is not acting like a patronizing know it all whos morally #superior to whomstever you're talking to. #oh and also posting on tumblr is virtually pointless if you're trying to do activism. #at best its a tool to educate ppl but most ppl on here already know shit about shit. you're better off posting on youtube. or if twitter wa #still twitter. which is partially the reason musk bought it bc it was helping open ppls eyes and conservatives hate that

[zillychu]

I’ve gotten a WAVE of asks about this AU, so I decided to flesh it out some more and answer some of those questions!

I’ll probably polish this extended summary up at some point and submit it to AO3. But for now, here’s a rundown of my thoughts–please feel free to send more questions! I’ll update this post if I get any more. But if you’re someone who wanted to write fic for it, don’t worry, you don’t need to take my headcanons as gospel. It’s a pretty basic AU honestly lol

Summary:

The portal accident results in a violent explosion that wipes out the whole block, and condemns all of Amity Park. Danny haunts the city for 100 years, before Sam and Tucker find him. 

Setup:

In the 1920’s, 19-year-old Danny went into the incomplete portal on his own, hoping to help out his parents. Ripping the portal open through unnatural means created a huge burst of energy that resulted in a massive explosion. A good portion of the Amity Park population died, many were injured, and the ones on the fringes relocated–Amity was quickly deemed too dangerous due to the excess ectoplasm in the area that attracted ghosts. 

While the disaster was in Amity, the fallout was seen around the globe. Before, natural portals were rare, short-lived, and rarely allowed ghosts to fully slip into our realm (the most severe cases being on par with poltergeists that most people didn’t believe in). Now, natural portals pop open frequently around the world, large enough to allow the entirety of a ghost into the physical plane. They’re more common the closer you get to Amity, but they happen enough elsewhere that this change was something of a small apocalypse before people settled back down and found out how to combat at least some of their new, permanent neighbors. 

Danny is unaware that he’s only half-dead, believing he’s a full ghost. He ends up sticking around Amity, unintentionally making it his haunt. His grief and guilt over causing the death of his loved ones (and many others) makes him isolate and avoid human contact. Though he has, at times, scared nosy people away from the city in a mix of territorial instinct–and to get them to leave before a less friendly ghost finds them. 

Ghosts are much more of an uncontested danger in this AU. Lesser ghosts are practically mindless, and while stronger ghosts are capable of reason, their interests are limited. They’re highly territorial, possessive, and often destructive. Most worrisome is that they also like to snack on the life force of anything alive. No one is sure what dictates a ghost’s propensity to attack or hunt the living for their life force since ghosts don’t exactly experience hunger. At least, not the way we do. If a human is rescued before their life force is fully drained, they can make a full recovery–though humanity has still not yet found what this “life force" is. 

And since the Fentons’ research died along with them, there aren’t many tools available to the public to protect them from ghosts. Most homes have standard ghost shields and some weapons are available on the market, but certified ghost hunters are required to take care of anything more powerful than your average spook. 

Sam and Tucker met in high school, and are now rooming together for college very close to the Amity border. Rent is surprisingly cheap when you’re a stone’s throw away from a condemned area crawling with ghosts. Sam is the one who drags Tucker along with her fascination over finding out more about the city, and its largely mysterious demise. Sam is aware of the danger, but feels ghosts have a place in this world just like everything else, and does exercise caution–like one would while foraging in the woods with a known tiger population. 

What she and Tucker weren’t expecting was to run into a ghost that felt almost human. One that hasn't hurt them, not for lack of trying–while being powerful enough to walk past ghost shields without so much as a flinch. The long white hair is familiar in the whispers of the ectobiologist community, but there’s no way it could be the rumored ghost king Phantom, right?

About Danny:

He has very long hair, claws, and black sclera. His hazmat suit is more torn and ragged, with exposed hands and feet that fade into a burnt black.

His hair tends to float a lot on its own. It can start morphing into fire under duress. 

He does still technically have gloves and boots, they've just charred and melted into his skin towards the ends. He can't take them off in his ghost form. His hands and feet have a leathery texture that's tougher than the rest of his skin.

The white of his hazmat suit is both supposed to look like flames, and also a battered look representing his more violent, explosive death.

Overall, he appears rather listless and sad, with an unnerving air of danger around him–even for a ghost. 

Danny’s “ghost sense” comes out as white smoke.

He does breathe black smoke at times, usually when agitated. 

He's already fought and defeated Pariah Dark by the time Sam and Tucker find him, technically making him the Ghost King. This is heavily speculated by ghost experts, despite there being no real proof beyond a massive battle that scarred Illinois. He has not donned the Ring or the Crown, and captured sentient ghosts are hesitant to answer questions surrounding him. Danny basically has the throne but doesn’t do anything with it, and finds it meaningless enough to routinely forget he has the title. He only fought Pariah because he knew otherwise, humanity would have perished. A lot of ghosts are scared of him because he's so hard to figure out, and he's strong. 

Danny is usually very quiet and speaks softly, because his lungs were damaged in the blaze that half-killed him. He's technically healed since becoming a ghost, so it's more of a compulsion due to the traumatic memory. That, and he’s just… very forlorn and distant, shy around humans who don’t seem to understand how dangerous it is to keep hanging around him.

His memories pre-accident are extremely fuzzy. He knows the very basics of who he was, but specifics have been muffled due to trauma and isolation. He routinely forgets human habits, etiquette, etc. and tends to act more like a full ghost with some odd quirks. 

He does try to scare Sam and Tucker off numerous times. Unfortunately for him, they realized they shouldn't have been able to escape a ghost that strong–but they did, because he let them. 

Sam and Tucker think he's mute at first! He doesn't speak a word to them until several encounters later, when he fumbles his whole scary act and saves them from another ghost. 

He’s still half-ghost, though he doesn’t figure this out until Sam and Tucker come along trying to unravel the mysteries behind the Amity catastrophe. Physically and emotionally, he’s been stuck for 100 years–so his human form is still 19. It’s unclear at this point if he can age normally like a human as long as he stays in human form, or if he’s immortal. 

Danny's family did not turn into ghosts, though he sometimes worries he'll find them in the afterlife as shells of their former selves. He doesn't know if it's better or worse that he's not sure he'd recognize them. 

(Danny also still has some living family. Take a guess.)

Yes, he knows how to Wail. Understandably, he very rarely uses it. You do not want to witness this.

Danny :) is not immune :) from the allure of eating a human's life force :)))

#danny phantom #au #zilly art #I just wanted to draw a boy with long hair and claws how did this happen #fire core au

[mortalityplays]

You need more free art.

I quit my job yesterday. Well, actually I quit my job eight weeks ago, but they finally released me yesterday for good behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do - but I do it for the wrong reasons. Working for major charities, you learn very fast that 'I want to make the world a better place' is a phrase you use to ask people for money, not to give them things. I was an ass-backwards fit for that world.

You need more free art. I need more free art. Everyone has felt the shift in our media landscape over the last ten years, away from access and towards nickel-and-diming the human experience. That lack of access is making life and culture worse for all of us, across the board. Paywalled news sites leave us less informed, attacks on the Internet Archive leave us less capable of research. Algorithmic social feeds and streaming walled gardens trap us inside smaller and smaller demographic bubbles, where we are increasingly only likely to encounter ideas that have been curated for us by marketing departments. Hasty efforts to resist AI commodification have only led to more artists locking their work away and calling for even more onerous systems of copyright law. This is not good for us.

We all need more free art.

So what am I going to do about it?

This is a question I have been asking myself for years. It's easy to sit here feeilng frustrated and thinking 'boy I hope SOMEONE does SOMETHING'. It's harder to take action in a world where I still have rent to pay. But hard doesn't mean impossible. Sometimes hard just means time-consuming, frustrating and slow. And sometimes it's worth doing something time-consuming, frustrating and slow because...I want to make the world a better place.

I'm going to do this:

1. From April 1st, I am relaunching as a freelance writer and editor.

This is the one that will (hopefully) help to pay the bills. I am a very good and experienced editor. I've worked on hollywood movies, I'm a member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders, I have clients who have been coming to me exclusively for more than 10 years.

Alongside bigger contract jobs, I am going to refocus on offering my services to small-press creators at a reduced rate. That means you, graphic novelists. That means you, itch and amazon writers. I want to help you develop your work, the same way I help large organisations. You can learn more about what an editor even does and what kind of pricing you can expect here.

2. I'm also going to start giving shit away. Like, constantly.

Next week I'm going to launch a new free shop. If you're unfamiliar, a free shop, giveaway shop, swap shop, etc. is an anarchist tradition of setting up a storefront where anyone can take what they like for no cost. Offline, this often means second-hand clothes, tools, furniture, food etc. Online, I am going to be giving away digital art. Copyright-free, no strings attached. It will (eventually) feature everything from print-res posters to zines, poems, tattoo flash, t-shirt designs and anything else we come up with.

Yes, I said 'we' - while this is a curated collection, it will feature work from a variety of credited and anonymous artists and activists, all of whom have agreed to give their work away to the public domain. Some of it will be practical, some of it will be political, but a lot of it will be decorative or personal. This is, in part, a response to recent difficulty I had finding somewhere that would print a one-off joke poster for a friend that featured the word 'faggot'. Enough. No middlemen - no explaining ourselves. Just print our shit and enjoy it.

I'm very, very excited about this project. I'll have more to say about it closer to the launch, but you can expect it to go live on March 27th.

2.2 I forgot to mention the ACTUAL LAUNCH GIVEAWAY

To celebrate my launch, I am going to be giving away a ton of physical prints. When I went looking for my old stock to see if it was worth setting a new (paid) storefront up, I realised I had way more old work in storage than I thought. This will be announced in its own right on Monday, but this is why I've been hinting you should go follow my Patreon.

On April 1st, I will pick 8 random patrons (from across all tiers including non-paying followers!) and mail them a bundle of assorted prints and postcards. The prize pool includes A3 and A4 posters, packs of A6 postcards, and printed minicomics that I've previously sold for up to £12 each.

You don't have to be a paying subscriber to enter - this is strictly no-purchase necessary. It is purely and entirely a celebration of the concept of GIVING ART AWAY FOR FREE.

3. PORN, YOU PERVERTS

Because I still have to pay to stay alive, I am going to be subsidising all this free art with the introduction of Fuck You Fridays. Starting from March 29th, I will drop a new 18+ short story on the last Friday of every month, over on itch.io (yes I know my page is desolate right now, don't worry I'll get there).

The first edition, Go Fuck Yourself, is about, well - telling your boss where to stick it. Julia has had it with her millionaire man-child manager, and is just about ready to let him know what she really thinks. It's a short and steamy 5k words, with a gorgeous cover illustration by @taylor-titmouse, and you can pick it up for $3 starting from March 29th.

4. ANOTHER BIG SURPRISE

I'm keeping this one under wraps for now, but April 1st will also play host to one more (FREE) launch. If you've been following me for a long time, you might remember the other significance of this date (no not April Fool's day, though that is certainly thematically relevant to this entire effort). That's all I'll say right now. Watch this space.

tl;dr: I'm sick of paywalls and career ladders. I'm literally putting my money where my mouth is. More free art for everyone and I'm not kidding around!!!

#announcement #please reblog let's make this HAPPEN