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i-want-my-iwtv · 2 years

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That you for being supportive of people criticizing the new show! All is see when I go into the tags is what feels like toxic positivity while Lestat's "it wasn't that bad, Louis was making shit up" narrative that show is adapting is literally typical abuser rhetoric, and as an abuse victim this whole "Louis is a liar and Lestat wasn't that bad" narrative makes me really uncomfortable and angry and I hate that with this show it will probably only become more prevalent in the fandom, as I'm already starting to see it.

[Tha[nk] you for being supportive of people criticizing the new show!]

You're welcome, Anon! *hugs* 💗 (I assume you meant “thank” 😅)

This response got very lengthy, my apologies, I can’t edit it down further. Also, I’m using brackets for your message clips, and italics for things I’m quoting later on, I wanted them both indented.

[All is see when I go into the tags is what feels like toxic positivity... and I hate that with this show it will probably only become more prevalent in the fandom, as I'm already starting to see it.]

Yes, I’m seeing it pushed harder in both directions, as more pics, clips, articles, and trailers come out, the side that is super excited about it is going to intensify, and the side that wants to criticize it is going to do that, too, as they get more material to evaluate. There’s tons of criticism about fandom and canon, that’s the way some ppl happily engage, especially if they’re writers/artists themselves, by trying to unpack what the showrunners/writer’s goals are and how they seem to be achieving those goals (or not).

If you need to take a break from fandom, you might want to do it. You can also block my #iwtv amc tag, bc I’m still going to be posting about it, but this way you can block seeing content about it from my blog, at least. I am sorry, though. I don’t think there’s any chance of ppl agreeing to use one unified tag so that others can blacklist it if they need to. I’m trying to navigate how much I want to engage, myself. Fandom is supposed to be a happy place, an escape from reality, not a battleground... but this is a historic moment in the fandom, so I’m documenting with as much capacity as I am able, and advocating for people to express themselves.

TL;DR: All this to say, I can understand where you’re coming from, that the changes to the story seem to disrespect the actual suffering Louis reported as a victim of abuse. Perhaps they’ll take that part out. It seems like they’d prefer to mold Louis into a better companion for this revised, softened Lestat.

(Anon, I’m going to need to keep going with this response a bit more, I hope that’s alright with you. You can skip this from here if you’d prefer.)

The fandom seems to be on the brink of war over this show and some ppl have said that I have also spread “toxic positivity” myself, not about the show, but by running the fandom gift exchange last year, when the fighting was at a fever pitch, and my few statements basically saying: “Let’s try to be kind to each other.” I have friends on both sides, which makes things difficult, and I’ve chosen not to engage in those discussions. Maybe there are issues in the fandom, but no one has any obligation to enter a discussion with strangers on the internet. This is the case even if one of your friends has chosen to fight about it, but I have on rare occasions stepped in when it was needed to stop a fight from escalating. A person can ask for peace even when their friends, with their own agency, choose to engage in public discussion and even fights.

But because of those fights, I’ve stopped asking for peace. I’m instead trying to state the obvious that there’s enough room in fandom to criticize the show (as we would ANYTHING else), and be hopelessly in love with it, and everything in between.

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

---

I think some of the friction we’re having currently is that the new series uses all the familiar canon tags, and I’m seeing a growing trend that at least some of the fans who are excited about it want it to subsume previous adaptations and canon. Rolin Jones re: essentially hopeful that this will in fact replace the (much beloved) 1994 film: (Den of Geek, July 22, 2022)

What are you most excited about for this adaptation?

Most people have this image of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. In this, the emotional stakes are super high. It’s Love with a capital L and Hate with a capital H, Remorse and Regret, and mostly reverence and respect. I gotta say, I’m really mostly excited for everybody to see Sam and Jake. You will not be thinking about Tom and Brad, ever again. Of that, I am supremely confident. It’s a very big, grand show. AMC is taking all the right risks on this thing. They are putting something very aggressive out there. They put more money into this than they thought they would, and I don’t think that they’re upset about it. There’s a big, big thing coming.

So this reads like he definitely wants the AMC show to replace the ‘94 movie. Again, I think some fans are thrilled about that. RJ has big shoes to fill, and he knows the comparisons are already being made, so as a showrunner I think he’s probably obligated to address it and show confidence that his adaptation will overcome the previous ones, but it does come across as smug, to my mind.

[while Lestat's "it wasn't that bad, Louis was making shit up" narrative that show is adapting is literally typical abuser rhetoric,]

I think you make a very good point here. More on that in a bit.

[and as an abuse victim this whole "Louis is a liar and Lestat wasn't that bad" narrative makes me really uncomfortable and angry and I hate that with this show it will probably only become more prevalent in the fandom, as I'm already starting to see it.]

I’m sorry you’re an abuse victim, and I can’t begin to understand how belittling it must feel be to see, essentially, an abusive character softened/defanged, “washed of his sins,” and therefore make the victim look like a liar. Jacob!Louis certainly looks terrified of Sam!Lestat in some of the promo stills, but is he afraid of Lestat as a vampire, as an abusive person, or is he frightened of being in love with Lestat despite those things? Or, and I hesitate to even call it out, is it none of those, but instead, “gay panic,” because this is the first male person that Jacob!Louis is attracted to romantically? “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have laid down with the devil” maybe he means it metaphorically? 😬 That’s another topic for discussion when we see the show. I hope they handle that respectfully.

Rolin Jones seems to have made this Louis a more confident person, he’s not wallowing in depression when Lestat meets him. I think they’re taking out the abuse entirely, and skipping to the shipping.

Will the new adaptation be able to explore the fluid sexuality of the books?

It’s aggressive subtext in the first book, but by the time you read books eight and nine, it was the love affair of the century. Without spoiling too much, subtext becomes text in our show.

Why is Louis’ situation changed from the book?

...I’ll say this, we’ve given Louis a little bit more of a spine.

Rolin Jones re: inserting later canon Lestat back into IWTV:

How does the contemporary setting affect the timeline?

One of the things AMC asked when they tasked me with the gig was: here and now, how does it change?... The timeline is not going to be wildly different. Lestat was born exactly when he was born. He might meet Louis a little bit later than in the books. We’d go into a big hole if we were to write the Lestat from book one because book two and onward is the “Brat Prince.” We wanted to quickly establish the Lestat that she settled on and put him back into the first book.

Canon Lestat of IWTV has only been a vampire for 10 years in 1791, and he’s been abandoned by his only 2 fledglings, one of which was his mortal lover Nicki, and the other was his own mortal mother. He’s barely 30 years old in mortal years. He’s already gone to ground to deal with these losses, and not much time passes before Marius scoops him up, makes him feel like he might finally fit in somewhere, and then Lestat’s fiasco with waking Akasha gets him kicked out of Marius’ life. AND he has his mortal father to take care of.

But in AMC’s timeline, which I think starts in 1910, if we keep Lestat as being turned in 1780ish, then he’s 130 years older. Maybe he slept through all that time, and was frozen psychologically.

So he comes to the New World fairly battered by all he experienced in his first 10 years as a vampire*, and in the novel, Louis has been inviting death so much that the state of his health seems to pressure Lestat into turning him sooner than he might have preferred.

*Of course, all this is a retcon because of TVL being written after IWTV, it’s up to the reader to decide what they want to accept as canon, and how.

Either bc of Anne Rice setting Lestat up initially as an exciting, beautiful, but also horribly cruel antagonist in IWTV, or bc of Lestat’s backstory revealed later, (or both), the Lestat of IWTV era is cagey, secretive, abusive, and dismissive of Louis in many ways. He acts impulsively to create Claudia (as I always believe, to save Louis from the ultimate shame/guilt of giving into his own vampiric nature to kill an innocent child, which Louis might never have recovered from) to keep Louis with him. Would later canon Lestat have made that same choice? Knowing Armand’s suffering as an immortal teenager?

Also, there seems to be a sort of flip flopping between this Lestat and the original. In the clips we’ve seen, he seems to be this almost kind and generous teacher that canon IWTV era Louis would have adored. Then in one scene, he tears a priest out of the confessional with Louis in the adjacent booth, to brutally murder the (innocent?) man in front of Louis, to terrify him? Into compliance? I’m confused about what the showrunners want here. Is Lestat the angelic wonderful person (debatable lol) that he tries to be as the Brat Prince in later canon? Hearing disputes and trying to resolve conflicts? Or is he the brash and frightened young vampire who was terrified of revealing too much about himself or showing weakness for fear that Louis would leave him, like Gabrielle did? Or hate him, like Nicki did?

It looks like this Lestat is a confident, at ease, more generous, more compassionate (or trying to be) like later canon Lestat. We’ll see.

#iwtv amc #interview with the vampire #anon #ask #abuse #tw abuse #rolin jones #articles #den of geek #vc news #long post #on fandom

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mtfjohnscp · 2 years

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MTF Epsilon-6 "Village Idiots" Unit-17 Member List as of ██/██/████

John/Jane Okamoto (Chief) - Leader of Unit-17

[john.txt/jane.txt]

A former guard at Site-19, he was promoted to his current position due to his loyalty and attention to detail, making him ideal for catching potential breaches before they happen. He is friendly and kind to those he works with but tries not to let that impede his job. He’s insecure about several things, especially his art. He is married to and lives with Jin Okamoto and their two adoptive kids, Kit & Killian. Due to side-effects of a Magical!Anon ask, John frequently switches sexs. This transformation occurs while he/she is asleep, and align with whatever they feel most comfortable with that day.

{WINGED RABBIT NAVIGATION} {DESIGN (For John)}

Harvey (Heavy) - Weapons Specialist

[harvey.txt]

A huge titan of a man, Harvey handles all the weapons and ammunition for the team. His heart is just as big as he is, and he’s always ready to hang out with his friends. He shouts a lot. He likes big guns and is perfectly willing to talk anyone’s ear off about them.

Johnson (Sarge) - Tactical Officer / Communications Officer

[johnson.txt]

Old and exhausted, Johnson is the planner of the team, coming up with strategies to make capturing and containing things as smooth and easy as possible. He has quite a few stories to tell if you’re willing to listen.

“Fix-it” - Technician / Field Mechanic

[fix-it.txt]

A friendly and helpful Texan. Knows his way around nearly any machine, anomalous or otherwise. Always ready to help. Seems to know a bit more than he should. Never goes anywhere without his toolbox and bag. No one knows his real name.

Sarah - Memetics Specialist

[sarah.txt]

Junior researcher to field agent. Her knowledge of memetic agents keeps the rest of the unit relatively safe. Not very talkative. Is often loaned out to other units and field teams as needed. She is a prototype Saker that escaped from Anderson Robotics.

Walter (Bones) - Field Medic

[walter.txt]

Calculating and a little distant, Walter is the one whose job is to keep everyone alive and kicking. He knows the human body inside and out, better than almost anyone. He never takes his gloves off for any reason other than to change them out. He’d never admit it, but he’s slightly paranoid that at some point he won’t be able to stitch one of his teammates back together.

Richard Klein (Spooks) - Logistics

[klein.txt]

Cold and unimaginably anti-social, Richard Klein is aggressively against any form of human interaction, preferring to remain at his desk and work endlessly. He is pale and unnervingly tall & thin. He wears a black two-piece suit with a black tie at all times. His glasses make it hard to see his eyes.

Conner (Wolf) - Scout/Tracker/Sniper

[conner.txt]

Calm and cool, Conner is a bit of a wild card. Rather than work with his team directly, he spends most of his time out on his own, equipped with his custom Barret .50 Cal rifle and followed by his two dogs, Richie and Theo. He also has a cat named Quint. He keeps mostly to himself.

Edgar (Locksmith) - Containment Specialist

[edgar.txt]

Edgar is the one in charge of making temporary containment procedures. He’s been called a bit of an anomaly whisperer, given how well most entities react to him, with obvious exceptions. He vastly prefers the anomalous to the mundane and normal. He has been known to stutter, while also being a bit of a "Mad Scientist" at times.

[Notes]

This is an SCP role-playing blog. By default, John answers asks unless he is unavailable or you specify who you're talking to.

In-character posts will be tagged and colored according to the characters involved. Posts involving anyone other than John will be tagged #unit-17

OOC posts will be tagged #mod.txt

M!A's allowed.

Suggestive asks are allowed, but will likely not be reciprocated. No NSFW (barring certain conditions).

All of these guys are mortal. No killing or mortal wounds unless I say so.

No god-modding without my permission. These guys are mine.

This blog is owned by @steam-powered-typewriter

#mod.txt #ooc post #intro post

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tuesdayisfordancing · 2 years

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It occurs to me that the arguments that sometimes rage about the purpose of AO3 bookmarks tend to make a lot of is/ought conflations. Fandom practices and etiquette are not naturally occurring substances that could never have gone another way. In another life where influential early fandom people on tumblr cared more about being able to organize their blogs than about not seeing negativity in the tags, the “don’t tag your hate” rule is a “don’t use the tags to pick fights with people who you disagree with” rule and you’re expected to scroll on by differing opinions to find the people you want to talk to or else stay out of the tags and find people the old fashioned way, through things that show up on your dash. It didn’t happen that way, it happened this way, and it’s pretty thoroughly settled.

Right now it seems to me that the use of bookmarks on AO3 is not settled. There are people arguing for two different systems:

to treat bookmarks as something the author not only can see but as something, essentially, said in the same room as the author, that they should not be expected to ignore. The arguments I see made for that are

that it’s really easy to look at bookmarks as an author and so it should be assumed that they will

the public bookmarks are attached, publicly, to the fic forever and this opens them up to be used for intentional or unintentional nastiness.

to treat bookmarks as something being said in another room, that you enter with your reader hat on and that an author looks at at their own risk (sort of like googling yourself). The arguments I see made in favor of this are

that minorities in certain fandoms need ways to warn each other away from hurtful, offensive works, and that they should be able to do this in a lower-key way than like, making a call-out post and trying to get it on full blast, which is a great way to whip up a harassment mob against unpopular targets but not a great way to navigate a fandom with, say, a lot of racist tropes

that since people use bookmarks to find fics, they should be treated as essentially rec lists, and be allowed to have caveats that you wouldn’t want to leave as a comment.

I don’t really have an opinion which system we should use. I see pretty huge pros and cons to both approaches, though I currently do treat bookmarks as “same room” comments out of worry about hurting people’s feelings and the fact that I, personally, would only be doing “recs with caveats” which I don’t have a strong need to do. But perhaps instead of arguing about what bookmarks ARE!!! for, we could a) argue about what we think bookmarks should be for, and b) acknowledge that right now there are multiple factions using them in different ways. (And in our PSAs let people know about that too.)

Something that I did learn recently is that apparently the creators of ArchiveOfOurOwn pretty much created bookmarks thinking of the second approach. Bookmarks were based on delicious and pinboard, and created at least partly with the intention of being a fandom-owned, rug-won’t-be-ripped-out-from-under-us version of those. That does influence my thinking a bit, especially since I still mourn delicious. But it’s hardly the be-all and end-all of the discussion.

#fandom #archive of our own #ao3 #if you've seen this post before it's because it used to be attached to someone else's post

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brutalia-week · 2 years

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Brutalia Week starts tomorrow!

Because of this, I'm going to go through the full instructions of participation below:

Read the Rules, About Section, and if you have any questions, the FAQ.

Although realistically, you likely have already done this and step 1, create a BruTalia-centric fanwork (anything from art to fic to edits) for one of the prompts listed below.

Day 1: Masquerade | Justice League Finds Out

Day 2: Canon Divergence AU | Second Chances

Day 3: Royalty AU | Getting Back Together

Day 4: Secret Relationship | Talia Needs/Gets A Hug

Day 5: Bodyguard | "I Want My Beloved To Be Happy"

Day 6: Childhood Friends AU | Bruce Needs/Gets A Hug

Day 7: Unexpected Pregnancy | Free Space

3. When the day for said prompt comes around, post it.

3A. On Tumblr, this would mean posting it with "brutaliaweek2022" as one of the first five tags. If you want to be extra safe and make sure I see it, you are also welcome to put @brutalia-week in your post to give a notification.

3B. On Ao3, this would mean posting to the collection, Brutalia_Week_2022. Please remember, if typing it into the "add to collection" bar when posting a fic, the underscores are neccesary for it to work. Similar to tumblr, you can also tag BrutaliaWeek2022 on top of this if you wish.

3C. If you happen to be posting it on discord, then the only way to really do this (that I would be able to instruct on, at least) is through posting it in the #brutalia-week channel of my BruTalia server. The message details don't matter.

4. In the case that it's on tumblr, wait for it to be reblogged onto here. Please try to be patient on this! Give it at least twelve hours before you make any further actions (aside from perhaps tagging @brutalia-week if you haven't already).

4A. If I actually miss it (24+ hours), make sure to contact me. That can be through messaging this blog, messaging my main blog (@baticorngirl), dming me on discord if you have it (Baticorngirl#5309), or even sending an ask to this blog (preferably not on anon, though, so I can know who's work I'm looking for and answer it privately).

5. Enjoy other people's fanwork! This goes both for those of you who are contributing your own and not. If you do end up really liking someone's work, in most cases, they'd probably appreciate a reblog or leave a comment, so keep that in mind! We want to make sure we're giving our wonderful fanfic writers, fanartists, editors, and other contributors love and appreciation.

Here's the link to the Navigation/Tag Masterlist page if it helps anyone with the last one. Currently, I haven't updated the year-related tags, but that's much easier to do once they are works in those tags, so I'll make sure it's updated by the end of tomorrow.

Thank you for reading! Have a good BruTalia Week!

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gingernut1314 · 5 months

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Songbird Pt. 7

Buggy x F!Reader

Summary: The Buggy Pirates have made dock for a much-needed resupply and you are met with surprise.

Tags: Fluffff, angst??

Word Count: 4.1K

Song suggestion: (Where do I begin) Love Song

A/N: Soooo I might go MIA again for like a week and a half, but I'm almost done this semester so that means I'll get more time to write after! I hope you all enjoy this part and thank you for bearing with my absences! 🩷 🩷

Requested by: @srgtjamesbarnes

↞ to Songbird Masterlist | Buggy the Clown Masterlist | One Piece Masterlist | Request Rules | Blog Navigation ↠

The Buggy Pirates had made a dock on some island for a much-needed restock of all the ship's essentials. The island was small and full of locals and what seemed to be other pirates, no Marine in sight. It was strange to you, never having seen an island with such a lack of those white shirt-wearing soldiers.

One of the girls on your crew, Esmeralda, sleep talker and ex-equestrian stunts act, had told you it was because the mayor of this island was paying them off to keep them from sniffing around. Though, the skittish contortionist, who had shown you around the Big Top, had meekly reminded Esmeralda that was merely a rumor the townsfolk floated around.

Rumor or not, it was still such a bizarre sight to see--bizarre but very much welcomed.

You had spent most of the day with the other girls on the Buggy Pirates, collecting the supplies Cabaji had assigned each of you to get and bring them back to the ship. Cabaji had, of course, assigned you to gather more straw for Richie’s room. You didn’t mind, finding it a great time to buy the lion some little treats you could give him when you cleaned.

After all, Richie was just a cat who was too big for his own good and you wanted to be able to pet him. You had gotten close, but as soon as your hands started combing through his mane, he seemed to remember he was supposed to hate you.

You were anything but undetermined and knew by the end of the week that cat would be purring under your touch.

When you and the girls had dropped off the last of your supplies, you found the rest of the crew wrapping up the rest of their chores and rushing back off the ship, their flashiest outfits on, ready to kick back and drink.

Your friends, on the other hand, still had work to do. Work that involved getting you new clothes so you weren’t borrowing theirs anymore. Borrowing and sometimes losing said clothes in the mess that was Buggy’s room. You made a mental note to find them that night and return them the following morning.

“Why do I need something this fancy?” You asked, looking at yourself in the mirror of one of the dress shops in the smaller city you had docked in. The dress was--beautiful. Red, silky, and showed off your assets in a classy yet sexy manner.

“Because you never know what situation you’ll find yourself in,” Esmeralda said from her spot sitting on the waiting bench, the skittish contortionist sitting at her side. The other girls sat on the floor before them, nodding in agreement.

“A dress like that is perfect for impressing your man.” Seqii, one of the three acrobatic girls that made up the Arieal Ensemble on Buggy’s crew, said. Your body went tense and you snapped around to find Seqii sporting a mischievous grin while the rest of her ensemble tried and failed to hold their giggles back.

“My man? I have no man.” You snapped a bit too defensively.

“Sure you don’t.” Emi, who stood behind the others, said, hardly looking your way as she rebraided her hair. She was a part of the Daring Duo with her twin brother, both sword swallowers.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you aren’t as sneaky as you think you are,” Emi said, matching your snappiness. She finished her braid and threw it over her shoulder. “Every night, you sneak out of our room when you think we’ve all fallen asleep. We haven’t.” Esmeralda gave a bit of a cringe at Emi’s snappy words but nodded in agreement.

“I have trouble sleeping.” You shot, trying desperately to get them to give up the idea that you had a man on the ship. A man who was not just any man but actually their captain. Emi shot you a wicked grin.

“Yeah, 'cause you're busy getting dick all night long.” The girls before you laughed at Emi’s bluntness. You stood there, open-mouthed, trying to find something else to say to smooth over the situation, but nothing came to mind besides your own panic.

Shit, shit, shit.

At least they didn’t know it was Buggy. You could be fucking Cabaji for all they knew. You almost shivered in something akin to disgust at the thought.

“You’re just jealous.” You shot back like some child. Emi huffed in amusement.

“No one’s coming at you about it. I’m fucking Cabaji, Seqii’s fucking one of the Superhuman Domingos,” Seqii gave a little hell yeah, “Esmeralda’s fucking Mohji even though his lion ate her horse,”

“He said he was sorry.” Esmeralda huffed, crossing her arms. A sliver of tears filled her eyes at the mention of her horse turned lion chew toy.

“And you’re fucking the captain. See, no biggy.” You froze. Completely. How did she--there was no way she knew.

“I’m not--” You gave a scoffing huff. “The captain--he’s just--I’m not fucking him.” Emi’s smirk stayed plastered on her lips.

“Sure you’re not. Buy the dress, I want a drink.” She said, grabbing hold of Seqii who was cracking up like she had heard the best joke in the world, and pulled her out of the shop. You turned to Esmeralda who shrugged sheepishly your way.

“I heard red is his favorite color.”

You bought the dress. A dress Esmeralda had told you to wear for a reason she was being rather secretive about. A secret reason you grew more and more suspicious of when you found none of the other girls dressing up to head to the bar you were all going to--none of the other crew either.

“Stop being so nosy and just go with it.” She had said with a huff as she pulled your hair into an elaborate updo.

You now walked through the night fallen streets, Esmeralda and the skittish contortionist at your side giggling and all but bouncing in excitement. It took all your willpower not to grab hold of them and shake them down for answers.

“Okay, okay--are you ready?” Esmeralda asked, grabbing hold of your arm and all but shaking you.

“You’re the one who told me to go with it, so sure.” Esmeralda gave you another little shake before the three of you rounded the corner.

There sat a lonely restaurant. A nice restaurant, with fairy lights, trimmed bushes, and a fancy host standing outside waiting to let guests in to match.

And standing before the restaurant and all its fanciness was Buggy. Buggy who wore an outfit you had never laid eyes on. One that was way nicer than anything you had seen him wear since meeting him. A puffy white shirt with frills that spilled out of the front of a red and white striped vest. He wore a pair of teal pants that matched his eyes and his long hair cascaded down his back and over his shoulders in a glorious blue waterfall.

Buggy smiled brightly upon seeing you--a smile almost as bright as the sparkles in his makeup.

He was--stunning. All done up like this, the fairy lights casting light down on him in just the right way. He looked like some lost prince come straight from a fairy tale.

“Surprise!” He greeted, throwing his hands out as he gestured to the surrounding area around him.

Giggling caught in your ears and you were reminded that you had been walked here by two members of Buggy’s crew. Two members of Buggy’s crew who could not, for the life of them, keep a secret. A secret you were surprised they had kept from you for this long.

The conversation you’d had with the rest of the girls in that shop echoed through your head.

Oh shit. They hadn’t kept it a secret. They knew. Everyone knew.

“Songbird, you look so bea--upset. You’re upset.” You blinked at Buggy who had migrated his way to you. His smile faltered the smallest bit.

“I’m not upset. They--” You turned to look back at your two friends who were grinning away. Esmeralda threw you a thumbs-up. “They know.” Buggy shrugged, flashing the two a smile and a thumbs-up of his own.

“I know. I asked them to get you all dolled up and over here.” He said, returning his green-blue eyes onto you. “And what a good job they did.” His voice grew gruff in that way that had your stomach flopping around all giddy. Buggy ran a gloved hand up the length of your arm, sending goosebumps rising where he touched. “Do a little twirl for me, baby.” He leaned in closer, so close you could smell whatever cologne he had put on.

Sweet and dark--like an overly sweet old fashioned. Like black licorice. He smelled so good you wanted to take a bite out of him. You almost did, had that bit of anxiety not been spiked in you.

“You’re not worried? About them knowing?”

“Why would I be worried?” You almost scoffed, looking back to find your two friends, who were giggling and cheering as they rushed off to the bar the rest of the crew would surely be at by now.

“Because--I don’t know. Typically it’s frowned upon to be--in relation with your captain.” You said, turning back to face your captain who looked like he didn’t have a care in the world at that moment. It surprised you that this of all things was what he chose to be easygoing about. Especially since Buggy was not a very easygoing person. “People get restless when they think someone is getting special treatment over them.”

“But you’re not getting special treatment because you asked me not to give you special treatment.” He grabbed hold of your arm and pulled you flush against him. You sighed, wrapping your arms around his waist, letting his warmth seep into your skin. “Asked in a very convincing way that I believe should get more recognition.” He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows that had you rolling your eyes dramatically. You shoved him away playfully.

“Fine. If you're not going to worry, I won’t worry.” Buggy pulled you back in, nibbling at your jaw.

“If anyone gets restless, baby. You say the word and I’ll throw them overboard--have you sing a funeral song while I march them off the plank.” You hummed, loving the promise of torment for your sake.

“Still want me to do a twirl for you, baby?” Buggy pulled away from you fast.

“Please, songbird.” You smirked, allowing Buggy to spin you around like you were doing some sort of dance. Once you had finished your slow rotation, Buggy was pulling you right back in and kissing your lips in that fiery way he kissed you. A kiss you gave him right back, looping your arms around his neck to hold him closer, all but forgetting about the fancy restaurant and its host standing behind you.

“You look very pretty tonight.” You murmured, running your fingers through his silken hair that he had allowed to flow free for the night. “Wish I could see your hair down more often.” His ears turned a dusted red at your compliments. A dusted red you knew the rest of his face would be had it not been for the make-up he had applied.

“And you look very beautiful tonight. Like a true sea goddess.” He said, kissing your cheek which grew warm just as his under such compliments. You kissed his cheek right back as the sound of a distant clock tower chimed on the turning of the hour. Buggy’s eyes lit up in excitement as he pulled away, his hand finding yours before it could get too lonely. “And that means we are right on time for our reservation.”

You latched onto his strong arm, wanting to keep as close to him as you could. It wasn’t every day you got to be with Buggy out in the open like this. To be able to hold his hand and kiss his cheeks without care of who was watching.

He guided you towards the nice restaurant behind you. A restaurant there was no way Buggy had gotten a reservation at.

“Isn’t this place--I don’t know…too fancy for pirates?” You asked, looking over the gray stone building. Ivy had grown over the bottom half, framing the windows which glowed with a dim, warm light that seeped out of them. Warm light that the fairy lights, which had been woven into the ivy, shared.

“They don’t care who you are as long as you’re paying,” Buggy said, gaining your eye again. “It’s a Baratie wanna-be. Opened two years after old Red-Leg’s place did.” He gave that funky laugh of his. “That old man would probably tear this place down if he knew it existed.”

You agreed. From what Sanji had told you of his guardian, you knew it had been his dream to open that place. A dream he had fought tooth and nail to get, so it wouldn’t surprise you in the least if this place was brought to his attention, he would get just the tiniest bit mad.

“Heard the food’s still good. And I finally have a hot date to take with me to see if it's true.” Buggy grinned like a doofus, bopping you on the nose.

“So…this is a date, huh?” You asked in a teasing tone. One you used to keep the question light and humorous, so that, if the answer was no, you could brush it off with ease.

A label still hadn’t been put on whatever the hell was going on between you two. A label that was never talked about because rejection hurt like a bitch. And even though whatever this situation was felt serious--real--you were in no mindset to get hurt again for a very, very long time. So, light and humorous it was.

“What else would it be, songbird? Gotta spoil you somehow since you won’t let me on my ship.” Giddiness rose in your chest. A date. A real one even. It almost had you giggling and kicking your feet like you were a love-sick teenager.

“Consider me spoiled then.” You managed to get out sounding normal even though your thoughts were anything but.

The restaurant was beautiful. Warmly lit, crystal chandlers, ivy-wrapped pillars, gold-lined napkins, and even a grand stage Buggy told you would host a small band of musicians that night. It was all so lavish--expensive.

One look at the menu nearly had you fainting in confirmation.

“Buggy…spoiling me is one thing, but this is--this is too much. I don’t have enough berry for--” A detached hand came up to shush you. A hand you went to swat away like a fly had it not dodged your attack.

“You won’t be paying, songbird. I have enough berry for the both of us.” You shook your head on a sigh, knee bouncing under the white-clothed table. You didn’t want him to spend that much on you--spend his hard-earned berry on you. You weren’t worth that much. Just as you were about to open your mouth to say as much, Buggy’s hand came up and shushed you once more.

“Let me take care of you, songbird.” He said, a small smile pulling to his lips. One meant to ease your worries. “Let me be your rich man.”

His words surprised you. Surprised you because he had remembered such an unimportant detail in the short, sad story that was your life. One you’d told him a month ago while sharing a warm bath--that he’d actually listened to.

“Order what you want--anything you want.” He said, leaning in closer so he could flash you a cheesy smirk. “I want you to be so full you can hardly walk home.”

You blinked at him--watched him carefully and saw that he meant it--that you weren’t being a burden to him. Saw that he was--excited to spoil you with this overly expensive food. You took his gloved hand and pulled it from your lips, placing a soft kiss to the bit of exposed wrist there. The show of affection had Buggy looking all so beautifully flustered.

“Only if you carry me home.” Buggy covered his flusteredness with that cheesy smirk of his.

“And how would you like to be carried, my Magnificent Songbird.” You tapped your chin in dramatic thought.

“Piggyback.” You allowed Buggy’s hand to reattach itself to his arm, though Buggy kept hold of your own hand, intertwining his fingers with yours.

“Piggyback it is.” He said, sliding your menu closer to you, almost as if in challenge. And you were not one to back down from a good old-fashioned challenge--especially when the reward was your captain carrying you piggyback.

You still felt horrid ordering as much as you did, but Buggy hardly batted an eye in worry. He oooed and ahhed at the things you ordered, licking his lips in dramatic hunger before ordering his own food.

While you waited for all the food and drink you and Buggy had ordered, the lights dimmed further and a spotlight illuminated the grand stage at the back of the restaurant. You turned your head to see the band--no duo--make their way onto the stage, holding hands with one another and smiling brightly at everyone. You nearly fainted again.

“No fucking way…” You breathed, whipping your head back around to face Buggy, who had been watching their entrance with a bit of judgment on his face. An entrance you knew hadn’t been flashy enough for him and therefore required judgment. His green-blue eyes softened when he looked back at you in all your breathtakeness. “Did you know who was performing tonight?” He shook his head.

“You know them?” Your mouth fell open as you turned back to watch the duo part ways, the woman taking her place at the piano, and the man taking his place just before it, violin in hand.

“Know them…” You breathed, quickly looking back to Buggy whose green-blue eyes were still glued to your features. “She’s my inspiration. I--she performed at our mayor's wedding when I was a kid. My mom was working it and was able to sneak me in to watch her from under one of the tables.” You said, craning your head back around just as she gave the audience a warm greeting, introducing herself and her husband.

Your chair moved and you just hardly stopped yourself from making a startled noise before you disturbed everyone around you. Detached gloved hands gripped the back of your chair as they carefully dragged you over to their owner, who was moving his own chair to make space for you next to him.

Once you stopped moving, his hands reattached and one found its way over your shoulders, pulling you close.

“It’s not a front-row seat, but at least you won’t have a crick in your neck.” He said, poking at your neck with a smile. You smiled right back up at him, an excited noise you couldn’t help escaping you. With a quick kiss to his red, painted lips, you turned back to watch as her husband rested his violin between his shoulder and jaw, locking eyes with his wife on a nod.

Fingers fluttered across keys and bow danced over string in a flowing, heart-wrenching harmony. In a soft, whispering back and forth as if lovers. A harmony that rose and fell as if on their very heartbeats.

Silence fell and their breaths held before she began to sing. Light notes spilled from her lips, ones giving voice to the instruments in the musician's hands. Instruments that drifted upwards to greet her song. A song the two lovers had wept and cried to the audience through string and key. A song about lovers who could never be together because they belonged to opposite forces of nature. To the night sea, whose voice rang through the violin, and the morning air, whose voice rang through piano and its mistress’s song.

It was one you knew by heart. One you had committed to memory. One your mother would sing to you before bed.

The song came to a tearful close and you were the first to clap, Buggy joining quickly after you.

“I know that song. You’ve sung it for me before.” Buggy said, pulling you back into him. You nodded, resting your head on his shoulder. You remembered. Back on the Going Merry. It was one of the songs you sang to help keep his mind off the torment those fishmen put him through.

“She was good, but she doesn’t hold a candle to you.” You scoffed a laugh at him.

You. Better than her. No. Never. She was a professional. Had gone through training. You were just--you.

“It’s why you’re the star of my next show and no one else.” Buggy whispered, placing a kiss to your temple as his hand ran up and down your arm. Goosebumps formed over your skin again as a warm, happy feeling filled your chest. One that had been stirring around in your chest for a while now. One that only stirred to live around Buggy.

It was a feeling you were also quick to stomp down. To bury it back where it had come from…but tonight you let it simmer. Let it fester in a way you knew there was no coming back from. Because that feeling--it made you happy. Made you nestle into Buggy deeper to take in the scent of his new cologne and his natural musk, which sat just beneath it.

You’re food came halfway through the end of the next song and your mouth watered at the sight and smell of it all. It was food you had only ever tasted this fancy and carefully crafted while on board the Going Merry, though no food would ever be as good as Sanji’s cooking.

You and Buggy devoured the meal before you, taking bits and pieces from each other dishes as well. You ate so much, you felt as if you had turned into a beach ball that would need to be rolled down the street.

Buggy had grabbed the check before you could look at it, all but commanding you to watch the performance still happening on stage. You begrudgingly did, though it wouldn’t take much convincing to keep watching her as she sang song after song about love and heartbreak and everything in between. Songs you knew and songs you didn’t, which you were quick to try and remember.

By the end of the night, you had tears in your eyes as the duo said their goodbyes and left backstage. It had been a dream come true to be able to see her perform like this--without worry about being caught and thrown out. Eating good food, while in the arms of someone you greatly enjoyed being around.

Buggy stood and you followed him with a little groan, all the food you had eaten still having yet to fully digest. A mischievous smirk played on Buggy’s lips as he stopped you from walking towards the exit.

“Hold on, songbird. Hop on.” He said gesturing towards his back.

“You’re going to carry in out of the restaurant?” You asked, looking about to see a few other couples leaving, neither of which being carried by the other.

“That was part of our little deal. You order, I carry you. No walking done in between.”

“I don’t think that was ever a part of the deal.”

“Oh, yes it was. Check the fine print, baby.” You huffed in amusement. A huff that turned into a laugh as you let yourself give into the silliness. Who was going to stop you? You’d already paid.

“Kneel down a little, you're too tall.” You laughed, watching the clown do as he was told. You wrapped your arms around his neck and hopped on, Buggy taking your weight with an ease that had your cheeks warming. His arms wrapped around your thighs tight, holding you in place before he began all but sauntering out of there, leaving no room for people not to watch.

Buggy was a showman by nature. It was one of the many things you liked about the man.

You both waved to the hosts and waiters in a flashy manner, them watching you bug-eyed before you made it back into the night air.

“That was really nice, Buggy. Thank you.” You said, placing a kiss to his warm cheek.

“Like I’ve said before, songbird. Anything for you.” That warm feeling only grew and you kissed him once more, resting your chin on his shoulder. “You know what, I think I’m ready for seconds.” Buggy mused, making you groan.

“I couldn’t eat another bite, I’ll explode.” You saw the corner of his red-painted lips pull up just as a detached hand smacked you on the ass.

“Baby, you won’t be doing the eating.” You felt your body burn at his words, but rolled your eyes in mock annoyance in show for him.

“You’re such a jackass."

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Tag List: @synoname-wordsmith , @cefni , @solarrexplosion , @empressofmankind , @luvrsbian , @lostfirefly , @misadventures0fdes , @ane5e

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theblob1958 · 11 months

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hi! same anon again, who asked if you/anyone else could draft a complain to send to staff. because of the shitty reblog-from update: I should apologise for making such a request. I get why you deleted that post, and honestly, now that I think back to yesterady when I send that ask, I wasn't exactly in a good place mentally. Yesterday was just so utterly exhausting and then having to navigate through, what felt like a million hoops just to get to a post one of my mutuals had reblogged and was hollering about "prev tags", and see those tags for myself was the last straw. And then your post just came long my dash and... yeah, that's when I thought "maybe I ask them if they can draft a complain post?" because, well, I may appear to be fluent in english, but when it comes to describing technical stuff like that, I am at loss of words in english. And if I'd written a complaind in my native language, I think I would not have been able to keep calm when writing that complain. When I write in a language not my own, I have to carefully think which words to use, but when I want to vent in my own language, all bets are off!

I will, look into writing to that WIP blog. Every monday, you say?

Again, I apologise for basically barreling into your asks, and dumping such a request upon you.

no need to apologize, i get it! you didn't do anything wrong sending me that ask <3

here's a link to that WIP blog you can supposedly send feedback to mondays 6am-6pm EST

as to what to say in your feedback, you can copy the few points I laid out at the end of my reply to your first ask to describe the specific issues this feedback causes. i would give you what I said in the feedback I sent to that blog last monday, but I don't remember what specifically I said and they never answered that ask so I dont have what I said anymore. but good luck!!

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osunerd · 1 year

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Initially hashtags were meant to be a system for tagging various topics, making them easier to find. It could be an event, some news, fandoms, cats, funny videos…endless as the topic that people discuss every day. All of them meant to help us organise and navigate the neverending datastream that is the internet.

Websites like Instagram or Twitter mostly use hashtags as a way to mark the conversation topic and promote yourself.

The platform shapes our style of communication - as has been noted by Tumblr user cop-disliker69.

(Due to Tumblr search function being…largely non-functional when it comes to finding a specific post, I was forced to find a Reddit post with the screenshot of my reference)

Tumblr has a uniquely different culture of hashtags. They are where the users put the thoughts they don't feel comfortable adding to the "main conversation". They are whispers, notes on the side of a book page. Written in pencil and never meant to be seen by anyone but the reader. Once the post is reposted, hashtags do not follow. The tags that show the user's thoughts and little takeaways are indubitably my favourite kind.

Tumblr tags range heavily depending on the user. Some genuinely attempt at tagging their favourite topics and making their blogs easier to navigate. Those are usually creators, who need their readers to be able to reliably search and find things on the blog. They are not an exception to the rule - they still put their miscellaneous thoughts in tags. Little bits and ideas that don't quite fit into the main body of the text.

This use of tags is widely accepted on Tumblr, and creators often look forward to seeing the comments and thoughts in hashtags of their reblogs, as was noted by Whimsicalentropy, a Tumblr user.

Some tags grow large enough to add the reposter's own story to the discussion - without making an already long post even longer with replies. It is also an outlet for shy people who do not have the confidence to put everything into the main body of the post. Tags can be a stream of consciousness, without much care for grammar or structure. They are simply there to help the user express themselves. Sometimes, they can look longer than the post itself.

Of course, with more recent updates, the normally hidden and semi-private (as much as anything is private on an open blog) can now be easily read on the app. A beautiful interaction between the main post, notes and tags is a rare, yet wholly enjoyable sight on Tumblr.

Tumblr has also added Notes, which can function as a mini-forum hidden under a post, but tags remain a large part of the Tumblr culture. Personally, I look forward to seeing how the use of tags and their alternatives develops, whether due to or despite the changes of the website.

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tittyblade · 3 years

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tumblr etiquette 101

a list that is nowhere near exhaustive, from yours truly.

First off, welcome! Whether you’re a twitter veteran looking for anything but whatever twitter is, or a new user just done signing up, glad to see you in our ranks beloveds! Welcome home. Refer to this quick tour to make sure your fandom experience (or tumblr experience in general) is a positive one!

Disclaimer: I know it’s long, but please try to read or skim through til the end if you’re new here! This is by no means meant to be a rule book (for the most part lol), only a guide to help you get settled easier!

1) Your blog

This is where people will see and interact with you, so put some effort into it!

Try to choose a name (url) that’s simple. You can see it as your brand, it’s how people will perceive you and remember you. If you’d like to interact with other users here (and not use the site just for the content) it’s better to have something short and sweet, preferably without spaces. (Of course, these are only suggestions.) Rest assured, you can change it literally any time you want.

Have a theme. Utilize the tool that lets you edit your blog’s color or the font of your bio! You can make it match your profile picture, or your blog if it has a theme of its own. Make it feel homey :]

Fill in your bio. People will be checking out your profile probably more often than you think. Don’t leave it empty! Put in any information you’re comfortable with sharing and isn’t too personal (like your age if you’re a minor, or other TMI that can be found on other people’s carrds). It’s always better to add a name/nickname people can use to refer to you by, but feel free to use your blog description to shitpost still.

You can have an intro post. More often than not, you’ll see a blog have a pinned post, a post permanently appearing at the top of a blog until you pin another post or unpin it. You can make one of those, if you’d like to introduce yourself in more length, link any other socials or a carrd, and show others visiting your blog how you tag things so it’ll be easy for them to navigate. Not an obligation.

Keep your anonymity and your safety. It should go without saying, but there’s no harm in repeating it just in case. Your comfort, privacy and safety has the utmost importance. Don’t share any information you don’t want to. Don’t share your age if you’re a minor, or any other incredibly personal info. I’d encourage you to go by a nickname that’s not your real name, (blog name, your brand, remember?) since there’s safety in anonymity, and that’s lowkey one of the big deals of tumblr, but that’s up to you still.

Choose what you want to be visible. Your liked posts and who you follow are all things you can set to keep to yourself and hide from the publics eye, how handy! You should go through all the setting while you’re at it, set it to your comfort.

Side blogs are a thing. You can have multiple blogs that you can use for different things (see: different fandoms, art blog, etc) to keep them organized or away from your followers. Just remember that the replies and off-anon asks you send will be from your main blog, as well as where you follow other blogs from.

2) Interacting with others

You’ve set up your account, now comes the fun part!

Follow to your heart’s desire. If you care about others seeing who you follow, fear not! In tumblr, usually only two types of blogs keep their following visible to others: newbies, and big blogs using it to point people on other good blogs’ direction. Just turn it off, and go ham following people.

Customize your dashboard. Gonna mention just two things here: this is another reason why it’s really important that you follow blogs without sparing, your dash will collect dust otherwise; and you should turn off “best stuff first” in your dashboard settings, to have a better community here and all.

Follow tags. You can set it in your settings that posts with your followed tags appear on your dashboard.

You can check the og post for edits and context. When you see a reblogged post you don’t understand the context of (or don’t recognize the character in case of fanarts), click on the profile so it will take you to the original post. From there you can check the original poster’s tags to get the context, or see if there have been any edits made to the post, since when you edit a post it doesn’t update any past reblogs.

Send people asks... This is how you make mutuals, people! Do it off-anon if you’d like them to know your blog, or anon if you’d rather not! (You can still end your messages with a signature to show you’re the same person, -[name] is one example.) Send them nice messages, ask their opinion on something, discuss things, or just straight up shitpost lol. Go wild. The sky’s your limit and it’s definitely more than 280 characters.

...and let them ask you! You can set your preference in the settings, do it on desktop tumblr to access more settings tho! What you can customize on mobile is limited (like letting people ask you things anonymously, that’s only on desktop settings). In my personal opinion, it’s always better to tag their username (or a nickname you give them, if they’re a friend) on that post, since you wouldn’t want your interactions with your friends to get buried in your blog forever.

Comment on posts. If you have something to say but don’t want the post to appear on your blog you can add a comment. The owner of the post will get a notif for it, but for anyone else you need to tag them.

For the love of god, reblog. People will only see your liked posts if you have it visible to public and they specifically go on your blog to look at them. You like something? You reblog. It’s already hard for posts to circulate properly, if you don’t reblog them literally no one will see them. If not for anything do it for the artists. Just hold and drag on mobile to fast rb.

3) Your Posts

Finally here! Don’t be a lurker, post and engage!

Make use of “read more”. If your post is long, add it. That’s what you clicked on earlier to expand this post. On desktop leave an empty line and you’ll see three dots appear, and on mobile type :readmore: on that empty line.

Draft a post to come back to it later. Pretty self explanatory.

Queue your post. Whether it’s your own post or you’re reblogging, make use of the queue feature to a) not spam reblog and fill up the dashboard of people following you and b) keep your blog active while you’re gone. Mess around in the settings, it’s fairly easy to set up.

Schedule your post. Same as queueing, the only difference is you get to choose the exact time your post will go up. Handy if you want to schedule a post for certain dates like april fools, or 5 years in the future for some reason.

Format your texts. You can do all kinds of fancy stuff here (that’s a link, try pressing on it). Twitter doesn’t have this, make use of it. Changes depending on whether you’re on mobile or desktop. (Desktop has less features.)

Check your stats. If you’re trying to understand the algorithm better or want to look at some pretty graphs you can get your data on that on desktop tumblr.

@ people in comments. You’ll get all the notifs when people comment on your posts but they won’t see your reply unless you tag them in your message.

4) Tags, and tagging a post

This is where my earlier statement “this isn’t a rule book” stops being applicable. It’s not a war crime to go against these, I won’t come chasing you (don’t take my word for this) but you’ll work up a bad rep. Just saying lol.

Do NOT crosstag posts. It’s really tempting to add unrelated tags to increase your posts’ interaction, I know, but that’s not what tumblr is about. Don’t be a dick and make other communities’ experience worse for them.

Always tag your posts with “crit/critical/discourse/etc” if it calls for it. There’s no exceptions to it. This is the reason you see people migrating to tumblr. Let people enjoy things.

Don’t main tag a critical/negative post. If your crit post is about “Thing”, you add the “Thing critical” tag, but not the “Thing” tag. People block crit tags if they don’t want to see it, don’t shove it in their faces by main tagging it.

If you don’t want to see something, just block it. Another reason why people are able to survive on tumblr. You don’t start discourse, you don’t make call-outs, you block. You can find something for every community you can think of if you go looking for it. The worst of the worst probably won’t ever appear on your dash, but if you’re worried or feel the need for it, you know where the block button is.

Feel free to shitpost or ramble. More often than not you’ll see people rb a post with a comment, and their elaboration will be in the tags. The tags are only visible on your profile and the notifications of the owner of the og blog. Just a thing people do.

Reblog artists’ posts with nice comments in the tags! Commenting on a drawing is usually done through the tags (Not an obligation, again, just a thing people do. Feel free to add your comment on the rb itself if you’d want other people to see it tho!) and leave nice messages for the artists! It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

If you have more than a single follower, always use the common tw warning tags. You don’t need to tw everything, but tw’ing some common things is the bare minimum human decency. Keep it safe for others.

Tag a post “long post” if it’s really long. Pretty self explanatory. Don’t make people scroll through all that please lol.

You can use them to organize your blog. This is more of a pro tip, if you’d like to not miss a post in your blog, cause they will start pilin’ up soon enough.

#Liveblogging is pretty fun. If you’d like to talk to people during streams, don’t forget to add the relevant tags still! Again, you won’t show up on people’s dash otherwise.

Whew! That got out of hand. Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much. Check out blogs like @heritageposts and @hellsite-hall-of-fame to honor our past o7. @mcytblr-hall-of-fame too maybe :eyes:. Anyways, don’t forget the most important rule of them all:

Enjoy your stay! You’re meant to have fun on here while also making friends (if that’s your thing). Just be kind and respectful of others, you’ll get the hang of the rest! <3

#mcyttwt #mcytblr #dream team #dream smp #mcyt #dsmp #tumblr #how to tumblr #gonna tag ppl now so more users will see it lol #dreamwasteken #georgenotfound #karl jacobs #technoblade #sbi #twitter #twitter discourse #sbitwt #sleepytwt #sleepy bois inc #HOLY shit this took so long omg my back literally hurts rn #the fuckin lengths i go to make sure tumblr doesnt get tainted w twt LMAO #anyways if youre seeing this you should follow me look at how sexy i am i spent the last 2+ hours typing this goddamn list out #also: ignore how i literally sound like its 2014 at some parts here lol i tried my best #also ignore how wack the paragraph breaks are tumblrs formatting hates me and its 4 am im too tired for this #third also: some bits here are supposed to be ironic keep that in mind pls #rolan.txt #long post #save #yes im tagging my own post as save what about it

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mimzy-writing-online · 4 years

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Writing A Blind/Visually Impaired Character: Canes, Guide Dogs, O&M

Wow, back in June I decided to take a few months break from blogging to recharge and focus on my mental health. About a month ago I began writing this specific post, slowly and in stages because of how demanding, detailed, and long it is.

I’m not sure when I planned to come back. I have about 200 posts with tags and image description in my drafts folder, waiting to be queued, but I wanted to finish this guide before I fully came back.

Come back with a bang, right?

But this blog, and specifically, my Writing a Blind or Visually Impaired Character guide, has gotten so much traffic and support that I felt incredibly motivated to come back now.

So I finished the guide, and now here it is. It’s been a year+ in the making. Since the very beginning of this writing advice series about writing blind characters, I’ve promised to write a guide specifically about canes, guide dogs, O&M, and other accessibility measures the blind community relies on.

In fact, if you look at my master post for this guide (now pinned at the first post on my blog) you’ll find that it was reserved as Part Four, even as other guides and additions were added over the last year.

In this post I’ll be explaining

What Orientation and Mobility (O&M) is

How one learns O&M

About canes, from different types of canes and their parts, as well as how to use a cane.

I will be explaining the sensory experiences of using a cane and how to describe it in narrative.

I will include small mannerisms long-time cane uses might develop.

At the very end will be a section on guide dogs, but this will be limited to research because I have no personal experience with guide dogs, being a cane user.

Disclaimer: I am an actual visually impaired person who has been using a cane for nearly three years and has been experiencing vision loss symptoms for a few years longer than that. This guide is based on both my experiences and my research. My experiences are not universal however because every blind person has a unique experience with their blindness

What Is Orientation & Mobility

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) is the specific skill of understanding and navigating the world safely and confidently with vision loss.

I’m going to quote Vision Aware’s specific definition [link]

"Orientation" refers to the ability to know where you are and where you want to go, whether you're moving from one room to another or walking downtown for a shopping trip.

"Mobility" refers to the ability to move safely, efficiently, and effectively from one place to another, such as being able to walk without tripping or falling on steps or elevation changes, crossing streets, and using public transportation

O&M can involve :

-learning how to use a cane, as well as what cane works best for you

-safely navigating obstacles with your cane, including stairs, ramps, elevators, uneven or curved sidewalks, through crowds, around furniture

-learning safe strategies for crossing the street

-planning routes to new or recurring locations

-using technology enroute, including GPS and apps like Uber and Lyft

-safely accessing public transportation

-how to ask for help when needed

-working with human sighted guides

A Note on the Blind Community and Their Relationship with Canes

The Perkins School for the Blind estimates that only 2-8% of the blind community rely on canes for navigation. The rest rely on remaining vision, guide dogs, and sighted guides. Only about 2% of the blind community relies on guide dogs however, and to get a guide dog in the first place, a person must go through O&M classes and use a cane for six months before they can sign up for a guide dog.

What this means is that 90% of the blind community don’t use a cane.

I didn’t know this fact until I begun research for this guide, and that number astounds me.

Truth be told, while I have navigated my life without a cane before, I can’t imagine going back to the way it was before I got it. Even if I only need my cane some of the time, I can’t bear to not use it in the situations I need it. Having a cane made my life a lot easier, a lot safer.

I don’t know what to attribute this number to.

I might attribute it to the concepts of invisible vs. visible disability, internalized ableism, or the feeling of ‘not being blind enough’ for a cane, as well as accessibility to the blind community and knowledge, and access to buying a cane in the first place. I could write a thing about it, but if I try it’s gonna be its own post.

Onward~

How Do You Learn O&M? How Will My Character Learn?

You will have to find an Orientation and Mobility instructor and have them personally teach you O&M skills.

The O&M Instructor is a sighted adult who has gone to school for a bachelor’s degree and gone through O&M training themselves while blindfolded, usually fulfilling a certain requirement of hours (one program required 400 hours of O&M practice blindfolded before you could become certified), and apply for certification to teach O&M.

(Or, as is the process to become an instructor in the United States, where I am from. Becoming an instructor would vary in other countries, I’m sure)

To find an O&M instructor, you would reach out to your local school or foundation for the blind. Finding your nearest school for the blind could be done through…

Google search

Your Ophthalmologist (eye doctor) referring you to a school for the blind

A Social Service Worker reaching out to you and helping you contact the school

Possibly your school (as in grade/primary school, high school, university) reaching out to the nearest school for the blind on your behalf.

Unfortunately, there is not an abundance of schools and foundations, so your nearest might still be a far travel distance. My local school is a 45 minute drive away. For some it might a few hours away.

This is, again, a U.S. experience, because our land mass is spaced out, and something like a six hour drive feels like nothing to most people (although is highly impractical and very difficult to a blind person who cannot drive themselves), but in other countries a six hour drive would mean crossing several borders, and other countries have different social programs.

There is not a full and complete database of every available school for the blind either, no one website to find every possible option. For example, the school I went to wasn’t listed in most of the website resources I found, even though it has seven branches and locations.

This is more a complaint at the real life struggle to find disabled services, that there are few comprehensive resources out there. If you ask me, it should be made significantly easier to find and access your local blind communities. Accessibility and disabled services should be easily available everywhere.

If your story is based in a real world location, googling ‘school for the blind (city/county/country)’ should suffice in finding the one most local to your setting.

What might a school for the blind provide for your character?

Well, on top of helping your character connect to an O&M instructor, a school for the blind might provide other rehabilitation classes and access to additional resources.

Those rehabilitation classes could include lessons on:

-Reading/Writing Braille & using brailling machines

-Technology classes for screen readers, magnifiers, etc on your computer and smart phone.

My local school has separate classes specific to Andriod, iOS, JAWS, Zoomtext Fusion

-Independent Living skills (cooking, cleaning, organizing, planning how to get groceries and medications)

-Self Improvement (dancing, art, music, self defense. These were classes my school taught)

The additional resources form these schools might include-

Referrals to counselors for coping with vision loss

Access to their audio-book and braille library

Access to magnifier devices, brailler machines (think of a typewriter for writing braille)

Some schools also offer grade-school or high-school education, meaning blind children/teens learn there instead of a mainstream school.

Some schools have lodgings for clients to stay at while going through rehabilitation, especially if the vision loss is sudden and severe. They live on-campus and take part in classes. Other schools only have day classes offered and you need to find transportation for every visit. Many schools might have a rehabilitation specialist or O&M instructor visit you in your home.

My local school did the last two. They had on site classes, but the school is a 45 minute drive from me, so I only visited a few times. They were able to send an O&M instructor to me.

On Wednesdays at 3 pm she would drive to my house and give me lessons on using my cane. Those included her driving me to different locations to practice certain skills (like using stairs and escalators at the mall, or crossing a moderately busy intersection, or visiting a bus station to practice boarding a bus safely and communication with a bus driver where my stop was).

She also brought multiple different types of canes for new students to try out and determine which felt best for them.

The Many Types of Canes

Long Canes are used to sweep the immediate area in front of the cane user as they’re walking. This is the cane type that the general public is most familiar with seeing. There are several sub-types of long canes. They can also be called white canes or probing canes.

[Image Description: Man in business clothes traveling on the side walk with a white and red cane. End Image Description]

White cane can be a misnomer for two reasons: One, the concept of the standard cane for the blind can look different in different countries. In America, the standard is white with a red tip. In some countries the standard is an all-white cane. In some countries an all white cane might mean the user is blind while a white cane with a red tip means the user is deaf-blind.

Two, some companies like Ambutech allow customers to customize their cane colors and tips. Example: Molly Burke’s hot pink cane. My white cane with a purple tip. An all black or all sky blue or all red or all purple cane. A black cane with a blue or purple tip. Ambutech also allows customers to request neon-colored reflective tape to make their canes more visible at night.

Probing cane is not a term I’ve personally heard before, but it is a term Vision Aware uses on their website.

There are three main types of long canes:

Non-folding Canes: a cane that has no sections, cannot be folded or collapsed.

[Image Description: stock photo of man in business suit with a non-folding all white cane. End Image Description]

Folding Canes: The cane has 3-6 sections depending on its height. The taller the cane, the more sections it has. The sections are separate pieces that are made to snap together and are held together by a strong elastic rope inside the sections.

[Image Description: a folding cane with four sections, white with a red tip, and a rolling marshmallow tip. End Image Description]

Telescopic Canes: in which the sections slide into each other, similar to a telescope/spyglass, rather than pulling apart and folding. The handle is the widest section, and the tip section is the thinnest.

[Image Description: Three stacked images of a blue telescopic cane. First is of the cane completely collapsed. Second is of the sections partially sliding out. Third is the cane sections completely out and locked.]

Beyond that is also the Identification Cane. The function of this cane is to visibly identify the user as blind. It’s not used for O&M the way long canes are, there is no sweeping out the next two steps. It can be used as a support cane, however.

It’s appeals most to the elderly who not only make up a huge percentage of the blind community, but might also benefit most from having both a support cane and an identifier for their blindness, in case they need assistance.

[Image Description: identification cane with curved handle. All white with red tip. End Image Description]

A note: From what I’ve heard in the blind community, some people prefer solid/non-folding canes over folding or telescopic canes. The reason for this is that solid canes transfer vibration better than folding or telescopic canes. It’s said that the more sections a cane has, the less precise the vibrations are.

Some cane users train themselves to understand the vibrations of the surfaces their canes are touching. It tells them what kind of surface they’re on (wood vs. marble vs. concrete), if there are nearby objects to their cane. While I rely somewhat on cane vibrations to tell me what surface I’m walking on (more on that later), it is beyond my current O&M abilities to use cane vibrations to sense nearby walls or objects.

Cane vibrations are just an additional information-sense to add to the others in use, and extra bit of data input.

Parts of the Cane: Materials, Handle, Tips, Sections, Elastic Band

Material

The three most common types of materials used to make canes are aluminum, carbon-fiber, and fiberglass. Each material has some drawbacks and benefits.

The ideal cane is lightweight and durable. It should be strong enough to withstand hitting something solid without bending or splintering.

Aluminum is strong and durable, but heavy. If it’s damage, it’s more likely to bend than break entirely. A bend can be straightened out, but it takes considerable strength.

Carbon-fiber is lightweight and durable. It’s stronger than fiberglass, and it can bend out of shape rather than splintering.

Fiberglass is lightweight but a bit rigid. If it breaks, it splinters.

Handles and Elastic Bands

While some canes can have specialized grips (plastic, wood, corkboard) the most common handle material is a black rubber handle that is about ten inches long, give or take. In the previous photos you’ve seen, the canes have had black rubber handles.

Here is an example of a cane with a wood-mesh material used as the handle.

[Image Description: a four section white cane with a red tip and a orange wood mesh handle, with black elastic band attached. End Image Description]

The benefits of black rubber handles over others are that it’s easier to hold onto, especially if your palms are wet or sweaty, than a plastic or polished wood handle. It also wouldn’t show the indents or scratches from wear and tear daily use. I’m guessing that is cheaper to make on the manufacturing standpoint, and thus is conveniently the standard.

Pay attention to the black elastic band attached to the handle in the above photo. Notice how it has a tied off loop? That is so that when the cane is folded, that loop can be stretched over the folded sections to hold it together.

[Image Description: a four section folding cane folded up with the black band around them. End Image Description]

Additional benefits or functions of the elastic could be to use it as a wrist strap while using the cane, or hanging it up on a hook while not in use. I tend to have my cane folded up and tuck my wrist under the strap to hold it more securely while carrying it. Images of that ahead in my cane-isms section.

Cane Height

Ideal cane heights depend on the user. For most users, you want your cane height to be to your shoulder, give or take a few inches. You might need a longer cane if you are a fast walker with long strides, or a shorter cane if you prefer to hold your cane at a lower angle than is traditional.

What I mean when I talk about holding your cane at a certain angle is that the standard is to hold your cane handle in your dominant hand and position it in front of your belly button, moving it side to side with each step. Traditional grip methods are holding your hand palm side up with your cane in hand, or to hold the cane at the section joint closest to the handle with what is called the pencil grip, holding the cane like a fat pencil.

Depending on the height, a cane can have anywhere between three and six sections. Longer canes have more sections. The top section includes the handle, and the last section includes the stripe color (traditionally red, unless customized) and the tip.

The sections of the cane are generally slightly reflective, regardless of color. If you hold a cane up to the light you’ll see tiny specks of light reflected back, almost like very fine, tiny particle glitter paint. This detail is important in cane production because it makes the cane more visible at night, especially if something like car headlights reflect off it while someone is crossing.

Additional visibility at night can be added by wrapping stripes of reflective tape along the shaft.

Cane Tips

There are several different tip options for canes.

[Image Description: four different types of cane tips on a blue background with labels. From left to right: marshmallow tip, ball tip, pencil tip, glide tip.]

[Image Description: a rolling marshmallow tip with a blue background. End Image Description]

[Image Description: Bandu basher tip with a white background. For anyone not familiar with the name, the long, curved cane tip that looks like a hockey stick. End Image Description]

Some of these tips are better for the tap-tap method of cane travel, as in tapping the spots where you plan to step. They can also be used to feel out the shapes of objects, stairs, etc.

marshmallow tip, pencil tip,

They should not be scraped over surfaces, the tips will wear down much faster than they should. There are better tips for rolling over surface

Some tips are better for the rolling method of cane travel, which is the method I use. They aren’t great for tapping, but it can be done in a pinch.

rolling marshmallow tip, ball tip, glide tip

The Bandu Basher tip, the hockey stick shaped tip, is best for hovering an inch off the ground and lightly tapping objects. It could be tapped. It should not be scraped over the ground like a rolling tip. It hovers.

After enough use, the tips will wear down and need to be replaced. The part of the tip that has the most contact with the ground, usually the edge of the shape, gets scrapes, sands down, and eventually begins to look like it was shaved off while still having bits of plastic still gripped to it.

Never fear, cane tips can be removed and replaced when they wear out, replacing the whole cane is not necessary.

Some tips slip on or twist on. Others hook on. By hook on I mean that the elastic that keeps the cane sections together also has a loop at the tip end that a hook onto and stay held into place. Look back at the photo of the rolling marshmallow tip and you will see the hook that attaches to the black elastic.

Cane tips sell for about 5 - 10 U.S. dollars, plus shipping, so it’s advised to buy several back up tips with your cane. I replace my rolling marshmallow tips once every six to twelve months. I don’t know if that’s considered too much or too often. The last time I needed to replace mine was June 2019 (It’s July 2020 at the date of writing this, but I’ve hardly left my home for the last six months because of COVID-virus related quarantine/social distancing.)

Sensory Details/Describing What Using a Cane Feels Like

Every surface type feels and sounds different when tapping or rolling a cane over it. It’s this difference that tells us a lot about our environment.

It tells us when we stepped off the side walk onto the grass, when we’ve walked inside because the concrete changes to wood or carpet flooring. These little details become trail markers too, useful for places we anticipate traveling to a lot.

Example: A week before every semester in college, I would travel to each of the classrooms and learn necessary routes. I learned that certain paths had giant cracks in the sidewalk that would be distinct enough to use as a trail marker to where I was on a path, or that certain paths went from cement to gravel, or cement to brick.

Carpet: The sound is very soft, and if you’re rolling your cane across carpet it sounds like a quiet swish-swish-swish. Tapping sounds depend on how thick the carpet padding underneath is, the thicker the carpet the softer the sound. If there’s a lot of padding then taps don’t make much sound, but if the padding is thin or underneath the carpet is tile or concrete then you hear a louder thudding tap. It’s still pretty quiet. If you’re rolling the cane you would feel a little bit of drag, the cane moves slower over the carpet. The thicker or shaggier the carpet is, the more drag it has.

Wood floor: Cane tips make rumbling sounds when rolling over wood floors. The smoother the wood, the less it rumbles. There’s a little vibration moving from the cane tip, through the cane and into your hand as you roll over wood planks. Very small. The more sensitive you are to vibrations, the more you feel it. Tapping makes hallow, thudding sounds on the wood. Sometimes they sound a little snappish if you’re tapping harshly. You feel stronger vibrations when tapping. Older wood feels softer, with more give. New wood is stronger, more vibrations in the cane.

Tile:It depends on the size of the tiles and the wideness of the grout lines, but it’s not a pleasant feeling. Tiles have grout lines, which are little divets between the tiles. The smaller the tiles or rougher the grout lines are, the more the cane vibrates in your hands. Every bump is felt running from the cane to your hand. The sound is a little grating too. Imagine fifty sets of stiletto shoes walking on tile, that’s what it sounds like when you roll your cane over rough, small tiles. Larger tiles with smoother grout lines aren’t so bad. Tapping the tile with your cane sounds like one really loud step of a stiletto heal, one step for each tap. Tile floors are usually found in bathrooms, kitchens, and industrial locations where the room is going to have harder walls (more tile, concrete, etc) and few furniture, so the room echoes more.

Linoleum: is a smooth even surface. It feels like your cane is gliding when you roll it, barely feeling any vibrations. The rolling sounds are very soft because of the lack of bumps, however tapping sounds are a bit louder. Not as snappish as tile or marble, but almost.

Marble: is similar to linoleum in its smoothness. Your cane glides when rolling. Tapping sounds are sharp. Because marble floors are common in high end malls, luxury homes, and fancy office building entries, places that usually have high ceilings and hard walls with minimal decorations and minimalist furnishing, those sharp tapping sounds may echo. Assuming there isn’t too much noise and the environment is relatively quiet.

Concrete: (I’m referring to concrete found in parking garages and industrial buildings, not sidewalk) It depends on the age of the concrete and how it’s maintained. Old concrete with lots of cracks and mini-craters feels very different from smooth concrete that was set less than a year ago. With old concrete there’s a rattling sound as your cane tip rolls over the bumps and those vibrations travel up your cane. New concrete can feel similar to marble or linoleum. The taps are loud thuds on dull concrete and sharper on new concrete.

Sidewalks: are made of concrete, but in my experience they feel a little different than the above example. Sidewalks have a grittier surface, they’re slightly rougher, more dry. There’s a bit more rolling cane vibration with sidewalks and the taps have more of a thud sound. And because they’re outside, you’re unlikely to hear any echoes unless you’re walking in an alley or between buildings.

Asphalt: is one of the worst surfaces in my personal opinion. Asphalt is the material used in roads and it’s made to be rough and gritty so that car tires can grip onto it and not lose traction while driving. The older and more damaged it is, the rougher it is. Because it’s rough the vibrations are much stronger, sometimes irritatingly so. I can’t roll my cane over asphalt because the bones in my hand can’t handle those kinds of vibrations, so I almost always use the tapping method instead. The sounds are gritty and dull. Unfortunately, asphalt is an unavoidable surface, unless you can find a way to never need to cross a street or walk through a parking lot.

Note: the white or yellow lines that have been painted into asphalt sometimes feel smoother because of the material they’re made of and because they’re added after the asphalt has been laid down.

Note: There’s something called tarmac which is similar to asphalt, used for a similar purpose, and more common in the U.K. (I believe) but I can’t say that I’ve ever knowingly walked on it so I have no personal experience to give you.

Gravel: Another one of those evil surfaces. Gravel is just loose rocks and they’re common in rural roads, driveways, some landscaping. The looseness of them is what makes them untrustworthy. It makes a crunching sound. If you roll your cane, you’re likely to end up tossing small bits of rock and dust here and there. If you tap, you’ll hear the crunch but your brain might not translate that into “it’s gravel” until you’re walking on it and only realize when you walk over it and the sharp rocks begin digging into your shoes.

Wood Chips: I don’t have any experience with this since vision loss and getting a cane, so I’m using my memories of being on the playground in grade school because the surface on the playground was wood chips. I’d say wood ships are a love child between gravel and wood floors. The surface is loose and rolling your cane over it would kick up loose chips and dust. It would probably sound similar to walking on sand I think, because wood chips are much softer than gravel but not as consistent as wood. If it’s rained recently, then the waterlogged wood chips sound even softer.

Hard Dirt: I’m thinking dirt roads here, which are a lesser evil to asphalt and gravel. They can be rough like all roads, but the material isn’t has hard and solid. Rolling your cane will kick up dust on a dry day, but if it rained a few days ago you might hear a soft crunch as you roll over wet dirt. Tapping will have a very soft thud.

Soft Dirt: Think gardening dirt. Because it’s so soft, it makes very little sound and is easily kicked up. There’s a bit of drag, about the same or slightly more drag than grass or sand. Tapping has almost no sound but you might feel a slight give as your tip lands in the dirt, a slight resistance as it sinks in.

Mud: Yuck. I’m imagining this getting in my cane tip and how gross it would be after. Sound and feeling depend on how wet the mud is. Wet mud sounds slurpy. There’s more squish if you roll or tap your cane. Your character might not identify it right away until their shoes begin slipping as they walk over the mud. This is a personal experience. Drier mud sounds soft and feels almost solid underneath your cane. Wetter mud has more drag for a rolling cane. Muddy areas are also generally uneven because top soil has been displaced, so muddy hills and fields have unexpected but usually subtle changes in elevation.

Puddles: have both a slurpy and splash-splash sound. The slurpy sound is more common with rolling cane techniques. The splash sound is more common with tapping. The deeper the puddle, the louder is sounds and the more drag you experience. I am not fond of this texture/experience.

Snow: I have zero experience with snow since the development of blindness. So no experience of what it’s like to walk through with a cane. This is something I hope a blind reader can inform me on so I can edit this at a later date. My best guess is that it has a soft crunch, softer than the crunch of shoes in snow. A lot of drag too. Rolling through snow would probably be near impossible, especially if it’s deep snow or hard packed. Again, my best guess. The last time I experienced snow was when I was twelve.

Grass: One of my least favorites personally. Too much drag. Worse than shag carpeting. It’s very soft and doesn’t make much sound either. Like a crisp crunch you can barely hear. If the grass is wet or frosty you hear it a bit more crunch.

Surface with fallen Autumn leaves: Leaves everywhere! This is a bit dependant on whatever surface the leaves are on. It would soften the sound of cement, but there would be a louder crunch on grass. If the leaves are big and very curvy/pocketed then they’re easy to push aside. Smaller, flatter leaves don’t push as easily. The driest ones will crunch under your cane. It’s fun sometimes, if you’re the kind of person who likes stepping on leaves on purpose, but if you can’t see the leaves it might lose some of its fun and be more unexpected.

Sand: I’ve never personally taken my cane to the beach, despite living so close to the coast. The reason is because beach sand is so squishy and loose that it’s already impossible to stay steady on your feet. The sand is always sinking under your feet, unless you’re next to the water line and the dampness has made it firmer. So a cane isn’t very useful to me at the beach. Not to mention that sand isn’t something you want inside your cane joints if you want the cane to last. Sand will erode and damage the joints, regardless of if they’re metal or plastic. If I were to take my cane to the beach, it would make the softest crunching-swishy noise of sand sliding over sand, similar to what your footsteps sound like on sand, but possibly even quieter because canes are lighter.

Side Note: My mother sarcastically asked about rolling your cane through dog poop or gum left on the floor. Can’t say I’ve ever rolled through it, so couldn’t tell you. Use your imagination I guess, Mum

The Invention of Tactile Paving

These are amazing! Tactile Paving are those yellow (or sometimes grey) bumpy squares you see on ramps leading into parking lots or when crossing the street. In 1965, Japanese engineer Seiichi Miyake used his own money to develop a tactile brick that you could feel even when walking over it with shoes, and he designed this because a friend of his was losing their vision and he wanted to help. These are amazing, and accessible to everyone, even the blind who don’t have a cane or guide dog. These are literal life savers. Before I got my cane, if I felt those bumps under my shoes I knew to immediately stop because I was about to walk into the road. Because less than 10% of the blind community uses canes or guide dogs, this is the most accessible form of blind aide available.

[Image Description: a yellow rectangle of tactile paving in front of a ramp leading into a parking lot. End Image Description]

Note: similar detail, most doors in commercial buildings (in my localized experience) have a metal plate on the threshold to hold the door in place so there are no cracks underneath. The metal scraping sound when you roll or tap your cane on it is distinct but temporary and non-repeating, so it’s a good indication that you’ve reached and passed the threshold.

Blind-isms

I have a section in this guide about blind-isms, but these ones are focused specifically on cane use.

-Do. Not. Touch. My. Cane. Don’t. Just fucking don’t.

-The above ism comes from the fact that our cane is our safety net, an extension of our body, our eyes, the one thing that makes sure we’ll get somewhere safely. For that reason, blind people hate having their canes (or their on duty guide dogs) touched by strangers, acquaintances, friends we’re not very close to, some family members.

Important Note: That is a universal thing for disabled people. Don’t. Touch. Their. Mobility Aides. It’s assault. Touching someone’s wheelchair or pushing them around without their expressed permission is assault. Moving their wheelchair while the user is currently standing is assault. (Most wheelchair users are not paralyzed, but they still need the wheelchair because of their medical condition, which is not your business to know). It doesn’t matter if the wheelchair is in the way, the disabled person needs it right there, do not touch it. Touching or grabbing someone’s support cane or their long cane is assault. Touching or moving someone’s walker is assault. Touching, poking at, or tampering with someone’s hearing aids is assault. Touching their oxygen tank or cannula is assault.

Back on topic-

-Idle motions with your cane while waiting in line. I often rest my chin on my cane or lean on it

-twirl my cane like a staff when I’m alone and no one can see. I would not ever do this in front of anyone because I don’t want anyone thinking it’s a toy or they can just touch or grab it. I’m just a little childish and bored sometimes and idle motions are a common thing for people with ADHD.

-When carrying my folded cane inside (like say a store) I hang it from my wrist by the strap.

-Keeping my cane within arms reach at all times, even in situations where I don’t need it currently. Example: if we’re doing a classroom assignment where I need to leave my desk, I know the classroom well enough to not use my cane, but I won’t leave it at my desk, ever. (This does not apply at home. And in the homes of a very few, very trusted friends I will leave it somewhere I deem safe.)

-Having a set, specific place in my home (living with my immediate family, who almost never have guests) for my cane. In my case, it’s the top of an antique dresser in the living room, across from the door. It has a little bowl for my sunglasses as well. If I move out and have roommates, my cane will be in my room.

-Love me a bag or backpack that has enough space to discretely store your cane, but most of my bags cannot do that.

-People with folding canes develop a muscle memory for folding and unfolding their cane, so they can do it without really thinking about it.

-Unfolding my cane: I hold the black handle between my thumb and palm with my other fingers folded over the remaining three sections, cane tip pointing up. I slide the elastic over the tip, loosen my four fingers and roll my wrist to the side. The red colored section unfolds first and snaps into place with its neighboring section. I roll my wrist in the opposite direction so the next white section can unfold and snap into place with it’s neighboring section. Roll it back in the first direction and the third section snaps into place with the handle. My four section cane is now unfolded and straight.

-Sometimes I just grab the black handle and let the sections fall and unfold as they will, but this is less controlled and risks your cane bumping into something or someone.

-Folding my cane: I start with the black handle, lifting it up so the joints unlock. I fold it down, grab both sections in my hand and lift the second section away from the third and fold it over. Wrap my hand over all three sections and unlock it from the red section.

-Because I have a four section folding cane, the cane tip and the handle are on the same side while the metal joints are on the opposite side. Those metal joints are what my elastic slips over.

-A three or five folding cane will have the head of the handle (and its elastic) on the opposite side of the cane tip, and you will be folding the elastic over the cane joints and tip.

-A six section cane has the tip and handle facing the same direction like the four section cane.

-People with non-folding canes like leaning their canes up against walls and other objects when not in use. Corners are popular, the corner of a desk up against a wall too.

-But oh god the frustration when the cane randomly rolls out of place and hits the floor, it’s a combination of “Not again” and “did that really just happen” and “you had one job. one job.”

-Sitting with our cane tucked between our legs. Picture a bit of man spreading, the cane tip leaned against the side of our foot to keep it stable and the cane leaning against our shoulder or opposite knee, possibly also held securely with our fingers too.

-The no-manspreading alternative of that is with the cane leaning against our shoulder, cane tip resting on the toe of our shoe or the outside of it, held securely with our fingers or our arm wrapped around it, elbow hooking it.

(Okay, a while back I was looking for photos of someone using a cane to use as a reference for drawing Ulric. I only found three, and two of them were Daredevil promo photos. Which, no offense to Charlie Cox, but he is not blind and he does not use a cane in his daily life, he does not have that relationship a blind person has with a cane and the concept of a fifth limb, and it shows. So the photos were stiff and unusable, so I had to like use several photo references of different poses and Frankenstein them together to get what I wanted.

And I still haven’t finished the painting... fuck)

-In a car with a non-folding cane:

-Right passenger seat- The cane tip goes all the way into the corner of the foot well to the right of my feet, with the handle resting over my right shoulder or on the seatbelt. It pokes a bit past my headrest. The longer the cane, the harder it is to tuck into a car.

-The U.K. / Austrailian / New Zealand / Japan version of this (because they drive on the left side of the road with their drivers seats on the right side of the car) it’s like this: Cane tip in the foot well to the left of my feet, handle on my left shoulder or on the seatbelt.

Backseat: the absolute worst. There’s less foot well room, and if you’re in a sedan there is almost no room behind your shoulder for the handle. I position my cane diagonally with the handle on the shoulder closest to the door and the tip next to the foot closest to the middle.

-For this reason, no one with a non-folding cane will want to be sitting in the backseat.

About Guide Dogs

While my knowledge of guide dogs is limited only to what I can research and not personal, I will give you some basic facts and practical knowledge from said research.

Guiding Eyes for the Blind estimates that there are 10,000 guide dog teams out there in the world. That makes up 2% of the blind and visually impaired community.

Guide Dog Training

Becoming a guide dog is the most difficult form of dog training there is. The majority of dogs who enter guide dog training wash out and either become family dogs or go into a different type of service dog training, like medical response or PTSD/anxiety response, or possibly become therapy dogs, which is a career altogether different from being a service dog.

Guide dogs go through two or three years of training, which includes puppy training, basic socialization, proper behavior when on duty and actual guide training. Most service dogs only go through a year to a year and a half of training before they are partnered with a disabled handler.

Between the cost of training, the cost of housing and feeding the dog and the cost of vet bills from birth until being partnered with a blind handler, the overall cost of a guide dog is something like 30k to 40k. While most service dog training organizations require handlers to fundraise and pay for the cost of training (usually something like 15-30k), guide dog organizations give their dogs to qualified blind clients for free. These organizations pay for the dog costs through their own fundraising and charities. Fortunately for these organizations, guide dogs are a highly respected field and have a lot more charity directed their way, while other service dog types have less public interest when it comes to charity.

Guide Dog organizations have an application process, requirements, and a wait-list before you can be partnered with a guide dog.

Requirements to get a guide dog are (usually) as follows:

Must be legally blind (as in not visually impaired, but legally blind) and have had at least six months of O&M with a cane and demonstrate enough O&M stills to navigate by oneself. They also require you to be responsible enough to independently care for a dog, able to keep up with training and retraining of the dog, as well as financially able to handle food and vet bills (which are at least a few thousand dollars every year).

The reason for cane training before getting a guide dog is because the dog cannot do everything for you. You, the dog handler, are responsible for knowing where you are and how to get where you need to be.

The dog can’t read stop signs or tell when a light is green or red, nor do they have GPS to find a brand new location nor can they learn that route on the first try, nor will they know exactly where you want to go when you say “Starbucks” or “library” or “school” or “mom’s house” and guide you all by themselves. That falls on you, the dog handler, having enough orientation and mobility skills to know when a street is safe to cross and knowing how to learn new routes and how to keep on route and make sure you make the correct turns. A guide dog can’t communicate with bus drivers for you either, they don’t know which number bus to use or what stop to choose. That falls on the blind person’s own skill.

Other Guide Dog Resources

Molly Burke is a guide dog user and has made several videos about what kind of work guide dogs do, her personal experience being a guide dog user for over ten years, how she got a guide dog, specific commands, unique experiences with things like travel, etc. She has a playlist all about guide dogs, but here are some of my favorite videos.

How Guide Dogs Guide A Blind Person

Guide Dog User Answers the Most Googled Questions about Guide Dogs

How I Met My First Guide Dog

Final Thoughts:

There is a lot more to be said about Orientation and Mobility, such as:

How do you safely cross the street with a cane?

How do you learn new routes?

How does getting a cane significantly change your life?

How do family, friends, and strangers react to you “suddenly” having a cane?

I could also write a ton on other tools the blind community relies on so strongly, such as screen readers, magnifiers, etc. In fact, I originally promised to include those in my master post when Part Four was titled Part Four: What Your Blind Character Needs to Survive and Not Die. However, this guide is ages long and it feels better to focus on this specific topic for here.

Did you like this guide?

Consider checking out my other guides, links of which can be found on the master post here.

Follow my blog, I write and curate writing advice guides outside of blindness, I reblog writing memes with image descriptions, reblog soothing aesthetic photos with image descriptions, talk about disability, lgbtqa+ issues, ableism, and mental health.

If you want to further support me, this is the link to my ko-fi (however there is no such requirement nor pressure to do so, and please don’t worry about it, especially if you are in a financial situation that can’t afford it)

#writing advice #writeblr #writing community #writing tips #blind character #character crafting

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not-xpr-art · 3 years

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Art Advice #4 - A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art

Hi all!

This weeks entry into my Art Advice tag, where I offer various advice for artists of any skill level, is about digital art! Now, I am by no means an expert at digital (I’ve been doing it for nearly 8 years at this point and that is almost entirely self taught), but I have picked up a few pointers in that time which will hopefully help anyone just starting out!

(this blogpost is a little over 2000 words long btw)

A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art

I know that the world of digital art has changed drastically in the 8 odd years since I started, but I’d still say that some of the options I started out with will be just as good for anyone who’s starting out now!

As always, I’ll be splitting this into sections to make it easier for you to navigate this post!

Part 1 - Equipment/Hardware

There are a lot of drawing tablet options on the market at the moment, and I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about half of them lol. But I think for a beginner, don’t worry about going for the most expensive option, even if the reviews are really good or your favourite artist uses it, especially if it is way above your budget!

An important thing to know is that there are two types of tablet. One is the plug-in kind. These are essentially a pad which you plug into your laptop or computer and draw on that whilst looking at the screen (they basically work the same way as a plug in mouse works). The other kind is the screen variety, which is a lot more like what most of us know as ‘tablets’ nowadays. And you draw directly onto the screen.

(a plug-in vs on screen tablet, both from Wacom)

Now, as for choosing between these, it is honestly a personal choice. But I’d say if you’re just wanting to try digital and you’re on a budget, a plug-in tablet can be really useful since it gets you used to the mechanics of what digital is like, and they are often significantly cheaper than the screen alternatives. I would say that plug-in tablets are a big learning curve, especially if you’re used to doing traditional stuff, but I do know a lot of professional artists who still use this kind of tablet when doing their work, so if it’s something you can get used to I would definitely consider it! Also, they’re often a lot more portable than some screen tablets! The first one I had was a Huion (a model so old that I can’t even find a link to it now lol), and I also know that Wacom are a well known brand that do some decent plug-in tablet. I’d recommend you do your own research on other brands and options, though!

Screen tablets are often a lot more expensive, but if you’re used to traditional art, they are a lot easier to get a handle of! But I know if you already have something like an iPad, or other general use tablets, then they offer apps that you can use to draw on (as well as things like the Apple pen, or other stylus’). The big difference between using these general tablets and ones specifically designed for drawing is pretty much purely a personal choice. I personally prefer the bigger screen of my XP-Pen tablet, along with a special screen protector that removes the shininess of the tablet screen and makes it feel more like ‘paper’ over when I used a general use tablet it draw. But if you already have an iPad, or something similar, then it’s honestly a really great starting point!

I think it’s important for me to mention that you don’t need fancy equipment to be an artist. The incredible Elicia Donze has revealed countless times how she has very basic equipment but still manages to produce the most stunning artworks! All you really need is some kind of drawing apparatus and a lot of patience lol! Getting good at any kind of art takes a lot of time and effort, but I would definitely say it’s worth it when you’re able to look back at your progress!

Part 2 - Software/Drawing Programs

Much like with the hardware discussion, choosing which program to use is entirely down to personal preference. I personally have never really liked Photoshop purely because it’s really complicated, but I know so many artists swear by it.

I think the main aspect to consider when you’re starting out is whether you want to pay for a program. Software like Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate are some of the popular ones I hear about a lot of people using, but all require you to purchase or subscribe to them. So if you’re young or on a very tight budget, I’d honestly recommend the free alternative versions of these, such as Krita (Krita is quite a large program, but it has a lot of really awesome features and is very similar to Photoshop!), Gimp (this one is similar to Krita, but has slightly less options, I’d honestly recommend Gimp for anyone who does photo editing though!) or FireAlpaca (this is the one I use, by the way and it’s a pretty simple program, but has a lot of fantastic features and is perfect for how I work!). These don’t have as many features as some of the paid alternatives, but I honestly think all you really need to start digital art is some kind of ‘canvas’ and set of brushes!

Another great free program for beginners I’d recommend is MyPaint, which is great for doodling and just getting used to how digital art feels in comparison to traditional! It also has a bunch of ‘traditional style’ brushes, to make it look like charcoal or watercolour (which I’m sure the paid alternatives have too, but it’s always better when it’s free, I find lol...)

(this is an example of a drawing I did on MyPaint using the ‘charcoal’ effect brush!)

Most of the sites are pretty self explanatory, with sections dedicated to different brushes (I’ll go into the types of brushes later on in this post btw!), adjusting brush size, shape and opacity, a colour wheel, etc. You also have a section dedicated to ‘layers’ (another thing I’ll go into more detail later), and various ‘filters’ and editing options and effects you can add to your work to make it more interesting!

I’d really just recommend playing around with programs until you find your one!

Part 3 - The Pros of Digital Art!

I realise this section should probably earlier in this blog post lol, but I kinda wanted to go into what digital art can achieve in comparison to traditional art, and how beginner artists can utilise this!

I definitely didn’t take advantage of certain aspects of digital art when I first got into it, and they’re things that would have definitely made my life a whole lot easier lol!

Digital art allows you to tweak drawings as you do them. So if you accidentally drew the eye too far to the right, then you can easily move it to the right place. (I usually do this by selecting whichever area is wrong, cutting it out and then pasting it into a new area... And yes, there is probably a better and quick way of doing this but...I haven’t found that way yet lol...). And I honestly think that this has allowed me to look a lot more at a reference image in order to figure out where I’ve gone wrong with a drawing! Whereas with traditional art, I usually spend so long trying to get an eye right, that even if it’s slightly in the wrong place, I don’t want to completely redo that section. Digital allows you to completely rub out sections without leaving indents, which is honestly such a saving grace!

Another pro of digital is the Undo/Ctrl Z function! This means you can easily go back to before you made a major mistake with just a click of Ctrl Z... Though I have to say that this function has honestly ruined traditional art for me... Oh what wouldn’t I give for a real life Ctrl Z... But yeah, this is a great part of digital art and definitely something you will grow to love lol!

Another great thing about digital is that it allows you to flip and turn a canvas as you’re drawing on it. I spent a lot of time trying to turn my tablet around in order to draw certain parts of a piece before I realised you can turn the canvas itself without having to move yourself or your tablet!

Layers are another part of digital that can be super useful, and I have to be honest but I don’t really use them a lot. I know a lot of artists create layers for every section of their artworks (so, one for the linework, one for colouring, a separate one for the background, etc etc...). And there’s something really great about being able to paint without worrying about smudging into a previous section of the painting. This works well for my work since I do a lot of bright backgrounds. I also often create a lot of ‘versions’ of my works, so it’s useful to be able to change the background without affecting the main figure of the piece! (I have to say that I often work in one big layer when I’m doing paintings, just because I like how it feels more like ‘traditional’ art that way, but layers are such a brilliant tool, and definitely something you should play around with!)

The eyedropper tool is another one that is really useful! Although I never colour pick from my reference photos, I know some artists find this useful when they were just starting out (especially if you’re not sure what colour to make shadows or how to mix skin tones, etc etc). The eyedropper basically means you don’t need to mix your colours every time

Part 4 - Just some other things I wish I had known about when I was starting out lol...

This last section is just dedicated to a few things that I would have liked to have known when I was just starting out all those years ago.

First one is fluffy/textured brushes!

I spent most of my art life from 2013 until 2016 using ‘round’ brushes which are notoriously hard to blend with, so I’d recommend either downloading some fluffy/textured brushes (DeviantArt was where I got mine from a few years back, but there are probably other places you can get them for free too!) to your program of choice, since most of the programs I’ve used haven’t had fluffy/textured brushes as pre-set.

I may make another post about how I blend in my artworks if that’s something people would be interested in?

(this is an example of textured brush blending vs round brush blending... I usually opt for round brushes for rougher blending styles and the textured brushes for more smooth and ‘realistic’ blending... for a lot of pieces, though, I use both brushes (the round brushes are good for details!) in the same way that you use different sized brushes for real paintings!)

The next thing I wish I’d discovered earlier is the Brush Stabiliser option. Some programs may do this automatically, but the one I use (FireAlpaca) requires you to manually change the amount of stabilising you have on your brush. This is particularly useful if you want to draw neat lines or straight lines (the stabiliser essentially slows down the ‘ink’ as you’re drawing). I only recently started using the stabiliser, and although I still like having it mostly turned ‘off’ for doing sketchy work, it does make doing line work a lot easier, and also gives pieces a more polished look!

Next advice is to explore all the options you can in whatever program you use!

I feel like with certain programs, you can get overwhelmed by choice and you end up just using a few of the functions. But I’d really recommend just playing around with these programs, trying all the filters and editing options to get used to how the program works. You can often find interesting ways to adjust your artworks this way! In a way I’d recommend this way of working more than finding tutorials made by other people... Unless there’s a specific function you want to learn how to do, just having fun with digital art is a major part of it’s appeal to me!

There are probably a lot of other options I could go into, but this is already over 2000 words long, so I’ll leave it here for now lol! (I may do a part 2 though so... keep a look out for that!)

As always, if you have any questions to things I’ve said here, or are just looking for more advice, don’t hesitate to message me!

And if you like my work on here (art & blog posts) feel free to support me on my Ko-Fi! <3

#art advice #digital art #art advice for beginners #digital art for beginners #artist advice #digital art tips #artists on tumblr #just want to say again that i am not an expert at this at ALL lol #i just want to offer some really basic advice to anyone interested in starting out with digital!

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