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akanesheep · 1 year

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Okay so im biased cus Lucifer and Mammon actively occupy the same space at the top of my list. But, I like how your 'how they fall in love with you' posts are perfectly opposite.

Mammon clearly falls fast. I also suspect that were you any other human, he wouldn't just make a pact like that. No I don't even think he truly grasped that making a pact with you was special until you made one with Levi next and it occured to him that he wanted it to stay just the two of you. I think after you made it with Levi it starts hitting him whats happened. That its too late.

He almost entierly skipped being friends and went right to being in love with his best friend. Its fast and happened right in front of him but he's loud and bombastic and didnt realize it until his greed kicked in over you.

Wheras Lucifer is calm. I think its around the chapter he dances with you, and holds your hand tight as he threatens you before Solomon steps in that things begin to come together. Love isn't the word, no. But you stick out in his mind more. You burn at something in him more after that and it isn't until you are in front of him asking for a pact does it come together.

But he doesn't lose control or panic the way Mammon did. No. Lucifer doesn't panic because it all makes sense. It all clicks that this is truly, purely, love and he isn't in the business of so stupidly lying to himself when youre right here. But he's prideful afterall. And he doesn't even belong to the one demon who he pledged loyalty to, so he won't belong to a human. But you will him.

And he has watched you all year. He knows you want it. You want to belong to him and he transforms as a final test of your own love. Hes been in this form in an aggressive hostile manner which more then once could have cost you your life. So he turns now and if you stand your ground? Thats all he needs to know. He can be whatever he wants towards you, and you trust him for it.

In my headcanons you have special relationships with all the brothers but its an unspoken thing amongst all of them that the one between you and Lucifer is the deepest.

Mammon is fun, and falls hard for you and your relationship is surrounded by that ridiculousness that makes you two best friends in the first place. Mammons love is easy. You belong to each other. Despite everything you're still best friends, you're equals.

Lucifer's love is complex, and deep. It's a mature relationship that is extremely rare amongst even the closest of romantic couples between demons. But you're special and he won't accept letting anyone else have you the way he does. He belongs to you yes, but you belong to him more. He can't have you the way his brothers have you. If you belong to him though? It's because you want it just as much as he does.

Mammons love is your heart and Lucifer's is your soul. And the other brothers fill in the gaps between those spaces and makes you complete.

But if theres something they know is special between you and Mammon, its even moreso between you and Lucifer.

But their demons. Which means respecting that without issue is physically impossible because that would require any of them to not be comically selfish to a degree but you love them for it.

Oh my Diavolo, I love you! You literally read my mind.

(I’d typed this out a bit ago and tumblr decided it was a tasty snack and ate it)

Seriously though, this is exactly how I feel. I’m planning to do a post after I finish these ‘How they fell’ posts to talk about the automatic hierarchy of these relationships. How they move and flow together. How each of them have their own difficulties from time to time (especially Levi’s envy and Mammon’s greed), but somehow they all understand the situation without too many problems… and Dia & Barbatos are able to flow in just as well… and the only two that Luci would bow to (metaphorically, as Luci likely doesn’t bow physically to Diavolo, and Dia doesn’t require it as he knows the way the sins work for each brother).

Thanks for enjoying my content, and message me anytime ^_^

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me!#obey me lore chats #my first anonymous message

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frostedpuffs · 16 days

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considering posting my mlb art publicly for the first time but i am not sure what a good platform for it is. it seems difficult to get engagement on twitter, i don't know how to use instagram for art, and i don't know anything about posting art on tumblr, but i'm wondering what do you think the best platform for it is? or do you recommend just trying them all? i am also afraid of people stealing my work, but that's a completely different problem. 😓

i am going to be honest, tumblr, discord, and ao3 are the only social media I am active on. i tried twitter and Instagram multiple times and always gave up because the algorithms on those sites are downright awful, and the ml fandom on both those sites is, in my experience, quite hostile. I'm not trying to scare you away from posting art there, definitely go for it if you want to (and you may even have better luck than I did) but personally i did not vibe with those sites and find that it's better to share my art with a smaller, more encouraging community

discord and tumblr are my favorite place to post art because of the direct engagement. if you use tumblr, so long as you're tagging your art appropriately, people should see it!

as for fear of reposts...the unfortunate truth about the ml fandom (and most big fandoms in general) is that if you post art and people like it...it is most likely going to be reposted to other sites (and sometimes even the same site) without credit. it doesnt feel great, but if your art does get reposted, you have three options: file DMCA claims/report each piece of stolen art, ask the reposter to take it down, or just kind of ignore it. i used to be the first option, and the second, but eventually became the third because in my experience, no matter how many times you say "do not repost," even if you plaster it all over your artwork...people do not listen. so the most I do these days is ask for credit/request people do not monetize my art when they repost it.

i'd say you can try as many sites as you want until you find one or two that sticks/works best for you. i definitely recommend you join some miraculous ladybug focused discord servers and share your art there, as well as share it here on tumblr. if you are in my discord server, it is a very encouraging community which i am sure would love to see your artwork! if not and you want to join, here is the link. no pressure to join if you are not comfortable though!

and hey!! everyone has to start somewhere! i totally understand feeling nervous about posting art (I still am, and there are still some art pieces I've made that I've not posted bc of it) but I am sure people in the fandom would love to see your artwork!!

#ash answers #Anonymous

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posttexasstressdisorder · 2 months

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Well, shit.

It looks like Dashboard Unfucker is soon to be no longer. Saw a big block of black text underneath the unfucker header, couldn't read because I use dark mode, so copied it and figured I would repost it here because, well, this is gonna make tumblr less tumblr. We need to wish @dragongirlsnout the best for helping make this hellsite more pleasant to be on.

Here's her message:

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with regards to recent events,

this project will no longer be actively maintained, and the development of the Dashboard Plus extension is being shelved.

despite the fact that tumblr as a website is largely propped up by LGBTQ+ content creators, many of whom are trans women, the way this website has treated and continues to treat trans women is utterly disgusting.

from the harassment trans women face from this site's users, many of whom claim to be trans allies or are even trans themselves, to transphobic moderators targeting trans women and selling bans for money, all the way to the CEO of the website directly confronting a trans woman and threatening legal action against her for inactionable threats, tumblr has made it clear that it is by no means the queerest place on earth.

some of my trans sisters may remain on tumblr, even when faced with constant vitriol. i am deeply proud of them and their visibility in the face of hostility, however after seeing recent events unfold, and after being directly confronted by tumblr's CEO himself in a digusting display of indifference, i myself have decided to move onto better pursuits for the larger part. tumblr no longer holds the same shine for me that it did five years ago, and i can no longer justify spending hours of my time every week pouring more work and love into this site than any member of staff ever did.

i thank you all for the support you've given me in the past 8 months, whether through donations, contributions to the script, or even just sending me a kind message. i would ask that you show the same generosity and kindness to other trans girls in my absence, and especially to those who don't code, or write stories, or draw art. every trans girl is valuable, and their worth is more than any arbitrary set of talents. and a little love can go a long way

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torchsart · 4 months

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yippee carnival flicker!! ive been rotating them in my mind for a while now so im glad to have them drawn properly :D tumblr killed the quality tho so click on the image pretty please

i think i did good as bossifying her design! sm-baby (who made the au btw) had boss design notes that rlly helped!! i focused a lot on adding more details to differentiate carnival flicker from canon flicker (i also tweaked the colors a lil teehee)!

no-box art, doodles, & info dump below!!

About Their Game:

Pop Goes The Weasel plays in its entirety on the first round, with Flicker jumping out on the "Pop!" signaling the player to stop. In later rounds, the music cuts out at different points and the player must time the cue themself.

Their AI was adaptive, able to adjust each round's difficulty to the player's performance. Now they can control their game's difficulty manually, occasionally helping struggling players by moving platforms closer or humming when their music cue cuts out.

There's a hard mode of the level where the player has 1 HP, the platforms move around, and Flicker's music cue plays at varying speeds each time, on top of cutting out at random.

Ice makes platforms slippery, harder to land on & jump from. It's also harder to stop before a red light.

Electrified platforms can be landed on, but drain health the longer you stay on them.

Spikey platforms require careful timing to land on & jump off safely, taking a significant chunk of health if impaled.

Platforms with glue are harder to jump from, you won't have as much momentum.

Lose conditions: Falling into the void below the platforms, losing all HP, moving during a red light, failing to reach Flicker in time.

Fun Facts:

Due to a bug, players will always have spring-shoes equipped in Flicker's room, even in visiting mode.

Flicker's box has collision but no physics, & can no longer be interacted with after she broke off the crank. It's her ultimate safe space.

Prior to the broken crank, players could wind up Flicker's box in visiting mode & have them pop out on cue to start a conversation.

Non-sentient Flicker's AI would make references to their crush on Kinger. Sentient Flicker tends to stay quiet about it, almost never brings it up themself.

Gangle is the only other character who would reference Flicker's crush when non-sentient, even if Flicker wasn't present. She likes to tease them about it, casting Flicker & Kinger in romantic-leaning roles.

Flicker will put herself in increasingly more painful and embarrassing situations to entertain The King. She likes his laugh. Making him happy, even at her expense, is like a secondary purpose to her.

Believes Pomni's love is "real" because she developed it after becoming sentient, opposed to their own "fake" feelings that they were programmed with. Will need a lot of talks with Pomni before they consider their feelings for Kinger to be as real & valid as Pomni's feelings for Caine.

Has a lot of questions for the humans that made her, primarily about the reason for her existence and why she was given a crush on a married man (Made arguably worse by the fact said man is now a widower).

Flicker's room is one of the safest to be in since they aren't actively hostile toward humans. In fact, they'd go out of their way to protect a player actively participating in their game.

Since her game is all she feels she has, she may try to extend it indefinitely, adding more & more rounds with fluctuating difficulties. She doesn't want the moment to end. You'd have to promise to come back & play again before she finally lets you win.

Flicker's game, being adaptive & more forgiving, places them fairly early in the boss order, either before Ragatha or between her & Gangle. Being an early boss puts them in the mindset that no one will revisit them or their game since there's no progress to be made doing so.

Flicker's AI was made to shout words of encouragement & praise to the player depending on their performance & progress through the level each time she popped up. If her AI recognized the player was idling, she would remind them of the controls. If they weren't making it very far between green lights, she would encourage them to keep trying.

Sentient Flicker still does something similar, if only to get the player to keep playing & finish her game despite the danger. To quit partway through would be worse than to not play at all!

They can get snappy if you don't progress for a while though, shouting that it's not that hard, asking if you're even trying. They apologize quickly, not wanting to put you off from playing with their attitude, and will even offer to make the level easier if it'll keep you going.

#hi guys. theres a lot of text i love making flicker lore #i am Not good at drawing caine but i needed flicker to be existential at him bc he worked on the game #ik digital carnival is meant 2 be a vr game in universe But we can pretend they hva the tech to imitate jumping & platforming ok?#tadc carnival au #tadc #the amazing digital carnival #carnival au #carnival kinger #sona: flicker #sona: flicker (carnival)#man i wish there was a tag for like. au ocs. would love to see more ppls ocs auwauhh #my ocs #torchs art #jan 2024 #id in alt text

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toa-ahkmou · 8 months

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OOC: I think we're actually done this time.

Hello, everyone. I am @toaarcan, the writer behind both this blog, and @ghost-of-destiny. If you were a reader of either of these blogs, then you've probably noticed that everything has been very quiet for a while now.

I know some people are still enjoying what we did, because every day I get likes on some of the threads we did. And, unfortunately, I doubt there will be any more.

There's been a general decline in interest from all parties, in fact, I was one of the last ones consistently posting, as most other people just weren't around anymore. For some, Life Stuff just became too much of an obstacle. For others, the overall story was shifting in a different direction to what they'd been interested in. For some, it was just the sheer difficulty of being caught up on a story spread across a dozen blogs on a website that's actively hostile to searches.

That last one's pretty ironic considering that we were writing fanfic for a series that died because its story got too convoluted and hard to follow.

There's also another thing.

There was a D&D game. It went badly.

Actually, that's an oversimplification, but what happened was that a bunch of the most active and plot-critical players in what we referred to as "Tumblrverse" banded together to play D&D. We mostly used D&D-ified versions of our Bionicle characters and played by post on Discord. I will not be naming any names here besides my own, because I don't want this to feel like I'm airing other people's dirty laundry... but given that I have to make this disclaimer, you can probably tell that things went sideways.

At first, it worked really well! But we made one mistake right from the off: The chat was always running. It was always online. 24/7 D&D. If the DM wasn't around to make the bad guys do things, we were still active in there, chatting, shooting the breeze, and arguing. And for most of us, it took pretty much all of our creative juices.

The game, Ruins and Rahi, ran for about two years, of constant play, and things fell apart majorly toward the end, and a lot of those cracks first formed early on.

Fitting for a D&D game played by Tumblr people, there was a very "Yes, and" approach to things, and that translated to "Any player can introduce lore and suggest plot twists for their character, and everyone else just has to roll with it." We also made the critical mistake of not having a Session 0, and not establishing safety tools, so if one of these elements was an issue for someone else in the group... well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

Very early on, I basically introduced voluntary PvP into the game, as one of my characters had a freak-out and turned into a villain. I wanted to redeem this character, and I wanted it to be a slow, painful thing where she had to come to turns with her own morality and maybe backslide a few times. This did not work out. It mainly didn't work out because... well, I did kill another player character.

Now, this death was something the player chose to do, and was approved by the DM, and only then was it actually pitched to me. In terms of the chain of responsibility for that one, I was a solid third place of three people. Buuuut that didn't mean that it didn't become basically My Fault for the rest of the game.

This resulted in a lot of arguments, that ran for hours on end, and that's a problem in D&D because of character bleed.

In any D&D game, the player's personality and morality will bleed into their character. You've got to be real damn good to avoid it. This is why almost none of my evil characters stay evil. I just can't do it for long periods of time. And this means that, if you start having arguments in-character about the actions those characters took, eventually... you're just yelling at your friends. Often for things that either weren't entirely their fault, or weren't their fault at all.

By the time the game staggered to a close, everyone was kinda mad at each other, and there was no way to save it. The bad choices we'd all made without really talking to each other about it in advance finally became too heavy to ignore. Three of us dipped in quick succession and it collapsed in on itself.

And when you've spent several months wallowing in bitterness and half-sniping at each other, another collaborative writing project is somewhat hard to jump back into. Especially when you then make the collective decision to partake in a dedicated Discord channel for... oversharing and it immediately devolves into more sniping, this time without any veneer of roleplaying as someone else.

This is, in part, an open apology for the things I said and did during those few months, because I don't like the version of myself I became during that time. We were having fun with it until suddenly we weren't and it went too far. And it's left a bunch of us with irreconcilable differences and a few scars that mean that some of us just can't or won't talk to each other anymore. Like there are those among our number that literally can't be in the same space as each other anymore, and I've had to talk about R&R with my therapist, because as much as I'm still attached to some of the characters and some of the narrative, the way things fell apart is something that I dread a repeat of, both on my end, and on others'.

We made a few more attempts to get things rolling again on here after that. In fact, the False Flag megathread was entirely post-R&R, if I'm remembering right. But the life had gone out of it. False Flag was basically the only thread happening, and it slowed and slowed and slowed until it wasn't updating anymore either. I suggested maybe retooling the ending to turn it into more of a conclusion, but nothing more was done.

The Discord channel we used to use to plan stuff has been dead since May. We weren't talking about new threads, but about why the whole thing fell apart and what we could do to replace it. No suggestions for the latter stuck.

I think we're done. Not just me, but everyone else too.

ToaArcan, player of Ahkmou and Matoro, signing off.

#Bionicle RP #Tumblrverse #Bionicle Tumblrverse #Bionicle #Bonkles

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finiffy · 2 years

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Guess who made a fake scp file? I did! :D

i havent read anything scp files at all this year and never have wrote a file before so this absolutely terrible. its a joke

———— Item: Scp-408-J Object class: Euclid

Scp containment procedures

Scp-408-J is to be kept in a standard humanoid containment cell in sector-04 at site 19. A small supply of bitcoins or nft are to be given to the scp in order to keep it contained.

Scp-408-j is to be monitored as its personal ‘guardians’ who are named as Lemonade anon, Ps5 anon, Soap anon, and Walking Fish anon. Though in emergencies, on-site mft should contact O5 anon or Fin to help with recontaining Scp-408-J.

Scp-408-J should be placed in an adult sized baby harness when attempting to transport it. Under no circumstances should any personnel take their eyes off of Scp-408-J as then they might activate one of Scp-408-J anomalous properties.

Description

Scp-408-J (otherwise known as Kenny) is a humanoid entity with the likeness of Dr. Kondraki, though it appears to be taller than the doctor. Scp-408-K wears a cyan/brown sweater, has rectangular glasses, and a distinct lack of a beard.

Kenny is a particularly irritating entity, as it tries to advocate for nfts or crypto currency. Though it is not actively hostile, it seems more interested in trying to convince scientists to buy these nfts.

Kenny has been observed to be able multiply itself as in incident [redacted] where after breaching containment, several anon had thought to have seen him and luckily leashed these copies before the real Kenny was found at a Walmart.

Each copy is the same scp-408-j and it still has the ability to irritate anyone in its vicinity though it’s notable weaker.

It also has the strange capacity to irritate any personal into letting it go. No matter how patient the personnel may be. The only people who are seemingly immune to this trait is the anons and the blog owner.

Addendum scp-408-J: Discovery

Scp-408-J was discovered a tumblr blog after the blog owner pointed out a typo made by one of their anons who miswrote Konny as Kenny. Soon after the typo was pointed out, several other anons decided to made lore about scp-408-J as a joke. However, they had accidentally brought him into reality after Ps5 anon drew a artwork depicting the anomaly.

Kenny spent an entire day out in the suburbs before being caught and leashed by Lemonade and Walking Fish.

The foundation was brought aware of this scp when an anon simply going by as O5 as well as the blog owner Fin reported the scp to the site.

Addendum scp-408-j: Incident [redacted]

On July 9, 20__, Walking Fish was talking Kenny out for a walk when the scp had successfully managed to escape out of their sights.

Several anon went out to look for the subject have managed to find multiple Kennies, none of whom were the original Kenny.

The first copy was lured back with a video of a cryto bro talking about monkey nfts and then was safely contained with a leash by Physics anon.

The second copy was shot by D-a anon but had sold his and Flute’s soul for immortality. Luckily, the immortality was only temporary and he was terminated soon after.

The third one was found in hospital by Walking Fish anon though why he was in the hospital is unknown.

The original Kenny was found in a forest nearby with Soap but they didn’t have any sort of gps tracking nor leash to contain the anomaly. Luckily, they managed to find a Walmart and made a makeshift leash to contain Kenny.

During all of the chaos. The O5 anon took away all of the other anon pataphysical clearance and hid them away for an unknown amount of time.

A theory was proposed that Kenny is everywhere and when one were to believe to have seen him, he comes into existence. If the theory were to be true, then Kenny would be classified as a Apollyon as it would be nearly impossible to contain.

———— -soap

AGHH I am shaking and crying over this. Fucking K***y has a whole file on him, and a report from the previous incident here. Also I do not like that the guy is classified as Apollyon...that is so terrifying (wonder what Flute and the rest of the family would be classified as then)

#fin answers #soap anon #long post #ok but this is really good tho #you got the kenny lore down

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millsv2 · 1 year

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"Twitter" Ramblings

I just did a big thread on twitter that I'm gonna cross post here because idk I feel like it has some good thoughts. Sorry if it sounds a bit weird here since it was a bit disjointed and cause its Twitter posts™

For Context: I, in my immense worrying, decided to go through my entire following list on twitter and try to see if they had a tumblr or art station to follow in case Twitter really does truly burn to the ground.

---

Yippie! ive hit the point of worrying that im now actually scrolling through every person i follow to see if they have a Tumblr or Art Station or w/e the fuck

I ended up finishing this last night... all 1,527 people i follow... absolutely deranged behavior... but now i have the peace of mind that i follow a decent chunk on another social media...

I wont lie everything thats been going on with [Twitter] because of HIM is legitimately deeply concerning to me... No other social media works like Twitter does for artists seeking employment... Like i know im not popular [on Twitter], but it widens the base to connect with others

and having said base immensely increases job prospects. Literally my friend recently got a job with the assistance of Twitter connections (and i couldnt be happier for them). Its a very real thing, and unfortunately to my knowledge, no other true social media has anything similar

Like sure you could make the case that its on Art Station or LinkedIn too but to me those are far too professional and more just "gallery sites". Same with deviant art and New Grounds those are also just gallery sites I have a gallery, its my portfolio website.

I think if things really do go to shit, I of course still wont delete my twitter... but any actual interaction with people will be greatly reduced and mostly move to tumblr, even though my following is way tinier [on Tumblr]... It'll mostly become "i just share art [on Twitter] and thats it"

I know people are making Lists and such to keep track of people but like... when a site is becoming actively hostile to you for not spending money on it??? i dont want to spend my time here...

again this isnt the "im leaving cya bye forever" post im still sticking around till everything truly burns to the ground... but i definitely needed to set up alternate places to share my work far sooner (other than instagram cause lord i hate insta)

If thoughts do end up getting shared [on Twitter] after everything (stuff like this) itll probably just be crossposted from tumblr since it has a button to post to twitter (idk how it works though lol)

So again, to all the people that follow me and enjoy my work. Please follow me on other social media. My links are on my website at the top right.

I just hope it turns around for this site

---

I know following doesnt matter as much here on Tumblr (the site literally does not show your follower count to anyone but you)... but i genuinely hope i can get back to even my small twitter numbers... Like dont worry im not a massive clout chaser or anything...

but posting into a void to only receive interactions in the single digits really does fucking sting.

Like at least on Twitter or Insta i can post stuff and will average around like... 30-50 likes on a post... which of course isnt a lot, but its nice seeing my friends among them and the occasional new person and hoping that seeing my work at least made them smile to see it. anyways im just hoping anyone that followed me on twitter will find me here and that i can make some new friends with people here too.

#bleating #Twitter exodus #twitter migration #sorry if this is overly downer or doomposting and what not but its just something thats been genuinely concerning for me #its been on my mind a lot lately and it definitely is important to me in terms of finding a job #as well as the emotional stability of posting art somewhere and for it to at least mean SOMETHING to someone

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peacelykerockets · 1 year

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Tumblr in 2023, Finally talking about my experience on Tumblr again.

I've been a Tumblr user since the end of 2008, this isn't my first Tumblr not even my second, my longest lasting Tumblr I made sometime in 2009 after deleting my first one because I was spending too much time on this site and decided to take a break for a few months in 2009 before I made a second one because I loved using it so much that I had to come back. My second Tumblr was my longest lasting from around summer 2009 to 2014 when I decided to delete.

Around that time in 2014/2015 Tumblr was changing, it had become a hostile and toxic environment of everyone going at each other and it felt like you couldn't do anything on this site without walking on eggshells. The fun, the sense of community here, the love, the support, the creativity of the users, Tumblr to me defined youth culture in the 2010s and I have yet to find anyplace else on the internet like it in a decade. When I say that there has not been anything that had as much influence on me in those 7 years between 2008-2015, I mean it.

Coming to Tumblr and sticking on Tumblr in that era opened my mind to so many new ideas, I got to speak to so many people here, some who our connection went beyond Tumblr. Tumblr back then made me so much more of an empathetic person through relatability, by being able to speak to those who let me know that that I wasn't alone on my experience and my thoughts, and others willing to share their experiences and their thoughts. I truly believe that I wouldn't be the person that I am today without Tumblr. That being said, coming back here after years and trying to find a place again is weird, it's kind of a somber feeling. A lot of my old favorite blogs are gone or long inactive and it's the same for a lot of friend's blogs. It's like going back to your old neighborhood years after moving and coming back to it to see it has changed and things have moved around.

I just like being here now because even the simple act of scrolling down the home page, seeing post, and still seeing people are here posting cool shit is enough for me. Even though it's not likely it'll ever be the same experience that it once was I'm happy that it's still here. I'm happy that it still functions mostly like it did then and besides some aesthetic changes here and there that the user experience has remained consistent even after Tumblr has gone through a few owners in the past 10 years. I love this place and though I may not be on active here like I used too and it seems that thing have slowed down from those days, I still make it a point to come back and check it out every once in awhile. I'm going down with the shit, but here's to hoping the ship never sinks.

#tumblr #2023 #old tumblr #2010s #nostalgia #internet culture #web culture #community #friends #love

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onlyfangz · 3 years

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i love when people on tumblr get weirdly intense about shit that doesn't matter. like this whole prev tags nonsense. there was a post saying it came over from twitter and that it's that crowd that are starting to do this. another separate post was made about how fucking dumb that is because tags don't work on twitter that way, so it couldnt have been them. i think, and bare with me, that prev tags sucks, and it specifically sucks because we're tumblr users and anything that changes within how tumblr operates is immediately rejected. there's a Tradition here, and you need to respect it. tumblr is like owning a really old laptop with a frayed charger that might set on fire at any moment. like, as long as you hold it at a ninety degree angle on your lap and don't move it as you simultaneously twist the charger downwards in a serpentine motion it won't break. it works fine this way, we don't want a new laptop, stop trying to replace our fucking shitty charger.

#charlie.txt #like do you remember when the staff made it so you can actually read posts?#like before it was just a big chain going inwards and if there were too many you couldn't see the writing anymore #and people got so mad when they changed it so comments were placed in order one on top of the other #and like! i was not immune to this!! i was really mad about the change too!#for some fucking reason #in fact i specifically downloaded xkit just so i could get it to revert BACK #and its mostly bc tumblr is a shoe being held together by ducktape and gum #stop trying to make it functionable its never gonna happen #the only thing about the comment chains tho is that that is also when they took away our ability to edit other people's post #that fucking sucks i miss that #like did it made tumblr a more actively hostile place? yes. and it was beautiful.#tumblr truly was the mad max dystopia of the internet.

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lilyliveredlittlerichboy · 2 years

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can adults on this site maybe stop acting like harassing and piling on minors is a cool an fun thing to do

i don't care if a teenager has silly, uninformed opinions. even if they have bigoted opinions. i Literally do not give a shit ok, it's not right and not ok to call them out publicly, post receipts, endlessly dragging them, making fun of them, invalidating them, accusing them of lying and gaslighting, accusing them of actively oppressing anyone,

they're a KID holy fuck you guys. i would love to see the tumblr adult who's not said cringy or even hateful shit as a teen. show me even one (1). bet you can't. this is absolutely a case of "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". lay down your arms, ffs.

i was definitely an ignorant and stupid teenager and i was probably more self-aware than most people are at that age.

you know what would have super wrecked my already fragile self esteem & given me trauma for years probably decades to come? ah yes, having my safe places on the internet be made unsafe for me by a bunch of loudmouth, high horse, smug, self-righteous adults.

school wasn't safe for me so the internet was one of the only places where I could safely explore myself and make friends. I was a teenager in the 2000s and the internet has become a much more hostile place for kids as a whole since then,

and you whole ass adults are gonna add to that hostility cus a teen on tumblr said something cringe?

Shame on you. What the hell.

Be gentle and kind if you feel the need to point out bigotry.

Did you know better than them when you were 14 or 17?

No?

Be kind or shut the fuck up.

That's all. Sick of the way people treat minors on here. Good day.

#children #minors #kids on tumblr #discourse #tumblr discourse #tumblr dot hell #maybe yall don't care about oppression and bigotry.#maybe yall are just bullies #which is super fucked up #given that most of tumbles userbase is queer and/or neurodivergent #and kids are probably already bullied for that irl #you're really gonna add to it?#wow so progressive #be kind #always #cringe culture #accountability

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the-hellsing-organisation · 3 years

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Ordinarily I do not indulge in callout posts, unless a person's mental health might be in serious danger - and it's not a petty lie somebody made up, providing no screenshots, or simple ones taken out of context.

I have received multiple messages now, proving to me that the Hellsing Discord server 'The Hellsing Fanserver' lead by 'Artillery' is unfortunately a place people need to be warned about.

While everyone could assure me they do offer good scans of the Hellsing manga, the members of the server indulged in:

- Purposefully misgendering people

- Making fun of triggers, trans people and people with severe mental illnesses

- Purposefully using triggers against other server members

- Manipulating other people to use the triggers against the person they concern and shifting the blame on them afterwards

- Bringing explicit sexual themes to a server with minors

Afterwards they would celebrate their 'success', making fun of the people they hurt.

The so called 'trolling' (though I wouldn't dare to call such a hurtful behaviour this) was encouraged on the server, so I would deem it an unsafe environment for everyone whose mental health might be affected by such things.

Please be careful if these things concern you and please do not encourage such behaviour.

It's not only hurtful, it is downright cruel.

The invitations, though the links are expired.

Here you see some of the accounts that were directly involved.

Please be careful.

Tumblr Accounts

Discord Accounts

I can only assume alts mean something like alternative accounts he and his friends created in order to do these things, engaging others on the server to do the same.

He then proceeds to share the success of the hurtful behaviour on before mentioned Discord server, commenting such:

^ The “he” they are referring to is a demi girl. And yes, on the other server the pronouns are clearly stated and everyone is asked to respect them.

He is downright admitting openly to have his friends manipulated other people to use the triggers against another person.

(For context: A server members triggers were ‘Borderlands” and ‘Kingdom Hearts’.

He stated this trigger a few hours before and unfortunately the mod, after a sleepless night, was unable to memorise it during that time so ‘Abd’ took advantage of it.

Another mod quickly drew attention to her mistake and of course she apologised to the person she triggered and was forgiven.)

Unfortunately many screenshots - involving the sexual advances and the 'making fun of transgenders' are missing due to the default ban option of the server, but several eye witnesses were able to confirm them.

There was a person pretending to be a transwoman to make fun of transpeople (The person was introducing themselves like: ‘Hello, I am a man, my pronouns are he/him, but I wish to be a woman’ It didn’t sound very genuine to the trans people on the server), people making up all sorts of triggers to make fun of people who have triggers, a person pretending to be a kin, and people, who were trying to spread paedophilic messages with spreading the news that ‘age is just a number’.

And in case people still believe it was an accident:

They deliberately threaten people and plan to hurt them, while making fun of their triggers.

I’m truly lost for words…

For everyone who didn’t know: It is not your place to judge triggers and for the love of God, please don’t make fun of them.

You don’t know the history behind them. It’s good if you have none yourself, it really is, but it shouldn’t make you blind to another person’s suffering.

And you certainly shouldn’t encourage other people to “hunt” people with triggers “down” and “go to war” against them.

Also the owner of server is openly hostility against lgbtq + people - especially trans people - , PoC and antisemitic jokes are the norm there.

They too use nationalist-socialist symbols as emojis in their servers, so people who are triggered by such symbols should be careful.

“Jew Alert”

Blaming one group for the action of singular people should us remind too much of darker parts in history.

I know people with the same experience, that doesnt mean they should actively seek out ot destroy the mental health of all trans people, because one of them hurt them.

Let the submitted texts speak for themselves.

And just in case if anybody believes those are fake:

As soon as Satan saw them, he pmed another person:

Those screenshots are real. They are not fake, like he claims they are and he admits that making fun of trigger and trans people was part of his “troll introductions”.

And just in case anybody is wondering if there are truly toxic trolls on this server? This is a submission I got:

When the original is:

Im sorry.

What they did should speak for itself, but don't try to add lies here. Lies that are obviously having their origin in the server itself.

If you still believe the attacks on this blog didn't come from the server:

This is what Artillery posted as soon as he found this post.

After this the attacks started [as you can see here], so don't tell me your server is not responsible and keep your NSFW implications out of a server with minors and away from this blog!

Also you being an immigrant has nothing to do with the fact, that your server is not safe for minors, lgtbq+ people - especially transpeople - people with trauma and poc.

Even if you claims are real - your and your friends prejudices against the other groups remain.

Satan apologised openly and promised to take better care of people mental health.

The emojis however will remain, though we have been told they have specific channels for offensive jokes.

“In our discussions with the tumblr group, we realized that the situation was far more complicated than we realized. There is a a third party, not associated with us or the tumblr group, who is deliberately spreading false information with the presumed agenda of causing drama and conflict between us. With this in mind, we've agreed the best course of action is to mutually end the escalation of conflict and apologize for what occured. Following that, I want to again make clear that nobody should be going after the tumblr group, their discord server, or anywhere other online spaces. We don't know where the tumblr trolls came from, but we do not support them. Their statements were racist, antisemitic, and violent. What we did in their server was wrong and a mistake.

I want to personally apologize to a few specific people for what happened. Their server got raided, and during all of it we did not take their mental health into account, causing a lot of people to have panic attacks. Their triggers were invalidated, and people were manipulated. There were also a lot of innapropriate and offensive statements involved. While many things happened without my knowledge, it spiraled out of control because of the initial server raid, and I want to offer my sincerest apologies for that, and for everything else.”

Update:

He lied. He doesn’t regret anything.

Do you remember how he claimed he never ordered an attack on anybody?

Yes.... that was a lie.

He did plan to attack, though one member - the one they would later throw out of the admin team stopped him from attacking more people.

It should have given us red flags they would ban the only member from the team who was actively against the bullying.

And as we see here they did attack the second time as soon as the opportunity arouse when Artillery were sending people after us after saying we should suck his d*.

So he didnt learn a thing. Please survivors stay save.

#Hellsing Fandom #Hellsing Discord #Discord #Warning #call out post #callout post

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gothicprep · 3 years

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Meditations on True Crime: A Very Long Post

In around February of this year, I was researching a potential video related to how true crime media portrays websleuths, contrasted against their efficacy in each specific case. The introduction was a brief primer on the genre’s evolution, beginning with its general association with low-budget LifeTime films, to a hobby with more dignity than that. I remember finding an article talking about Serial, and there was some commentary in there from another large true crime podcast host.

I didn’t think it was particularly useful for my purposes, but it said something to the effect of “true crime as a hobby can help women reconcile the trauma related to being in a world that is so hostile to us.” I rolled my eyes at it. It seemed dishonestly saccharine, like it was giving a sort of post-hoc legitimacy to just enjoying whodunnits. I didn’t think about it again for around seven months after I’d read it.

One of the subjects that I intended to talk about was Elisa Lam’s death and the online reaction to it. The story was adapted into a Netflix series a few months prior, and I was freshly reminded of how poorly it all sat with me. If you aren’t familiar with her name, she disappeared in Los Angeles’s Cecil Hotel in 2013, and her disappearance went viral after the respective police department release footage of her behaving strangely in an elevator. The case attained quick viral status and extensive discussion, due to the nature of the video and the hotel’s morbid history. When her naked body was discovered in a rooftop water tank a few weeks later, speculation exploded. But an autopsy isn’t an immediate followup, and the online sleuths would lose themselves to their imaginations in the time between. Many people wanted the murder solved, but many let their speculation fly off the rails. Shady hotel coverups. Metal musician murderers. Fear of the homeless. Ghosts. Demons. Government tuberculosis research. The gang was all there.

If you weren’t active online back then, it’s difficult to properly convey how huge this all was. Everyone was expecting Elisa to have been murdered. Iron-clad. Beyond the shadow of a doubt. She wasn’t. Her death was ruled an accident. She had a severe case of bipolar disorder and she wasn’t taking her medication. The severity of her illness was also not previously disclosed to the public. The working theory is that she experienced a manic episode with psychotic features, climbed in the tank in this state, to eventually strip out of her clothes in late stage hypothermia and drown there. It’s a horrific and painful way to die. All that’s left of you is water contamination – insult to fatal injury.

People weren’t happy with this, but not out of any sympathy for Elisa. There was palpable rage from many who had been following the case. No, she was definitely murdered. No, her killer needs to be brought to justice. No, this isn’t the real story. I don’t like it. I’m not satisfied. There needs to be an ending better than this.

Tragedy isn’t exactly in the habit of being kind to us.

When news of Gabby Petito’s disappearance was spreading, I noticed a lot of similarities between hers and Elisa’s. A woman in her early 20s vanishes while traveling, under very unusual circumstances. Footage was released during both investigations, which portrayed these women in mentally vulnerable states. The story was viral online. People rifled through Gabby’s instagram in the same way they did with Elisa’s tumblr. Social media detectives established an inappropriate amount of investment. Everyone is sure of a specific outcome. The family deserves answers.

Let’s talk about answers for a second. I’d like you to spitball a comprehensive explanation for this one: how could something like this happen? I’m not looking for a “how” in terms of events or circumstances. In this case, this isn’t a question. It’s a protest of the unfairness of it all. My daughter. My sister. My friend. Someone who meant so much to me. It’s a prayer to a vacant sky. It’s not a question, it’s agony. Nothing shy of resurrection can feel like justice. Even if the case leads to a criminal trial and conviction, it does nothing to fill the void loss burns within us. There is no good answer, because there aren’t answers at all.

Let’s talk about ourselves for a second. I noticed many people draw parallels between what they’d seen on the bodycam footage and their own experience with abusive partners. “This could have been me.” Do you really think this is appropriate? Could have been, would have been – these are statements with hypothetical validity. It has nothing to do with you. To emotionally identify with someone does not evidence anything. You’re here. She’s gone. This isn’t about you. She isn’t in the position where she can co-sign anything you say. If she can’t speak for herself, don’t invoke her.

Let’s talk about true crime for a second. It’s funny how true crime marketed to men has a distinctly different texture than true crime marketed to women. The former seems to involve knocking the perpetrator down a peg. It portrays them as something worth our disgust and ridicule. The latter tends to foster emotional identification with the victim. Podcasts and other media in this category tend to be by women, for women, and generally discuss women. This story is presented as catharsis for women who see themselves as similar to them. This woman is no longer a person, but an idea. And it makes me think of that stupid article quote that I resent myself for not having bookmarked. This is reconciliation. These women, in their passing, can be a motivating factor for us to break up with that one dumbass guy. I’m so happy this was a wakeup call. I’m so happy that this made me think about my own experiences. I’m so happy that this did so much for me. Sure, someone actually died, but what is that when compared to my own self-actualization?

I made a comment on Twitter about how disgusted I was with how people spoke of Gabby in such an evasively self-interested way, and someone who likely was of no relation to her interjected with how the family deserved the truth. Truth? What truth? What peace will grisly details give them? Is there any meaningful difference between knowing your loved one died of murder or collapsed from exposure? Or are you just a nosey person who’s projected an inappropriate emotional dog in this fight? Do you want answers for her family, or for your own curiosity?

I really don’t trust shit like that, nor am I willing to give leniency to people who say such things. I think we’ve been conditioned to relate to dead women in a way that’s completely separate from who they actually were. Alive, they’re deep, multifaceted individuals, with an array of likes, dislikes, quirks, and endless little details. Dead, they’re a concept to serve a purpose. The purpose is generally a form of narrative catharsis. The creep gets thrown in prison. A woman’s abusive partner gets the comeuppance he deserves. The story needs a good ending. The story needs an ending that satisfies me. People aren’t stories. Life is not a novel.

The real trauma of others will never belong to you. This not your therapy tool or plaything. This is real pain that will never be theoretical for plenty of people. Know your place. Keep your distance. Don’t objectify the dead.

#you know i'm going for the jugular if i bother to punctuate my posts #also do take my warning: it is long

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birbs-in-space · 2 years

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this post is not a statement. this post is not for people outside of spn tumblr. and this is barely a post for people inside of spn tumblr. mostly. this is a post for me. it's also a post for the people i care about.

two of my friends have recently left tumblr because it became an incredibly unsafe place for them. (which isn't to say it wasn't outright hostile and incredibly performative before, because it absolutely was. see any number of posts being made or circulated by any number of people right now, contributors and non-contributors alike). i've actively chosen not to leave tumblr as a whole in spite of the fact that what happened to my friends happened to me too.

any control we might have had over our narrative was stripped away from us. god willing, no one cares and nothing will come of it, but knowing that some unknown number of people's opinions have changed of you for the worse and knowing that there's nothing you can do to change that or tell your side, and not knowing who's been affected by this information is both a deeply frustrating and terrifying experience.

it was a secret that was not theirs to share and because of the fact that they did not fully understand it, they would be absolutely incapable of properly representing it and what it says about us as people.

i won't go into further detail out of genuine fear of retribution. i am being as careful as possible, but i still also worry that this post is saying too much.

i just want to say. you don't know me. you don't know who i am. you don't know my motivations, and if you were to guess, you'd honestly probably be wrong. this is probably true of most people here on the internet, and a lesson i think we all ought to remember the more our lives get moved online.

if you want to know me just a tiny bit more, then know almost everything i do, i do for love, kindness, the joy i get from helping others, and for curiosity and the joy of creating things. i'm also incredibly private and not particularly social. i hate drama, and yet i have found myself in it time and time again. i will take what little power i have left to make sure that this isn't the case anymore.

i am no longer looking for community. i have found the people whose values align with my own. i have found the people that i want to talk to. i will be limiting my own interactions with people around the supernatural community because i want to respect anyone who might not be comfortable with me interacting with them. i don't know who they are so i will simply have to assume that it's everyone. this is an internal boundary that i am putting in place because it aligns with my own personal courtesy guidelines. you can interact if you want. i'll probably just be reblogging more birds.

all this isn't a play for pity. i don't want it. i would like your understanding, since that's the thing that's been taken from us, but i won't beg you for it. there's not enough time in the day for all this, and if you decide you're better off just moving along, then that's absolutely your prerogative. you really only should be following blogs that post content that you enjoy anyway. ultimately, i am only asking for one thing.

if you know the secret, as incomplete and misrepresentative as it is, keep it that way. don't spread it. don't cause potential for further harm.

at the end of the day, i'm not even worried for myself because my main priority is and will remain to be the emotional wellbeing of the uninvolved people who could be hurt by this. i'd still feel violated, but it wouldn't keep me up at night. not like this.

and if you think i'm overreacting. then i really am sorry for putting the potential for others' emotional pain above my own ability to let things go, but unfortunately for me, i care about people. more importantly, i care about individuals and that's a distinction with a very strong difference.

#do not reblog #? spn #for filtering #my absolute apologies to anyone who sees this that isn't involved or doesn't like drama.#this is the last time my interpersonal issues will be expressed publicly on this blog

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bybdolan · 3 years

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i can't find your ramblings on swifties, but I'd love to read it if you want to elaborate here, or screen shot it? i feel like it's been building since the yntcd mv to miss americana doc period of time. the disappointment of her aligning herself as lgbt in the mv, the song comparing her haters to suffering homophobia, the lack of blm effort after her apparent political awakening... that development was when i started to notice it on tumblr, at least

The word "ramble" was maybe a bit overstated, given that it was more or less just me pointing out that it's a thing that happens, but I am very glad you are asking me this because I have a lot of thoughts! If nobody else will write an essay on this, it might as well be me.

I think the groundwork for the fandom crumbling was already laid in rep era – not because of anything Taylor did, but because of the fandom: Every small criticism of Taylor was called "hate" and I think the idea of "good" vs "bad" fan really developed during that time. And the protectiveness makes sense after everything that happened during 2016 and it only increased after Taylor went more in-depth on her mental health struggles during Lover promo, but it also created a big divide in the fandom and made it a fairly hostile place.

Speaking of Lover: I agree with you that that was the era where a lot of people fell out of love with her a bit. From the lead single to whatever YNTCD was, to her "political awakening" shtick: There were a lot of things going on in that era that people found questionable, and this lack of general hype for the album led to even more fandom fights (I will keep bringing up the fandom because I think it's an extension of the artist and very connected to how we view them). I think what you said about the political aspects of that era is 100% accurate – it's ironic that fans critizised her more for little political action after Miss Americana than most of them did when she wasn't political at all, but it also makes sense: if you make being politically outspoken a huge part of your marketing and therefore profit off of it and then don't do much in that regard, people are going to call bullshit. To be fair to her: She didn't do nothing and a celebrity of her caliber has to rethink every move in that regard, but I think the frustration is justified, ESPECIALLY when Taylor is quick to tweet about problems concerning herself (see: that Ginny and Georgia tweet, which I don't want to talk about much because it makes me sigh – but as a side note: The fandom can be vicious and racist and homophobic and I think Taylor not commenting on that has upset people). And what I said about celebrities rethinking every move gets a bit sour to me when remembering that she is in a movie with that O'Russell guy. Very defensive fans have a point when they say that people expect a lot from Taylor, and obviously she can't be perfect, but Taylor did feed into those expectations when making a documentary about not feeling muzzled anymore etc. (There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen.) A rich white lady shouldn't necessarily be looked at for political guidance, however, she has power and her using her voice has proven to be very effective, and I think fans are disappointed she doesn't use it more often (+ for causes not benefiting herself).

Which brings us to her "capitalist girlboss agenda" that some people take issue with and that I already touched on: Taylor is very proud of her marketing strategies and knowing how to make money. She loves being a businesswoman, and it is admirable that she has been so active in her own management since she was very young, but it's something that clashes with her authenticity and accessibility a lot of fans cherish. I think we all know why she cut out her fan interactions and I personally think it is for the better, however, the tactics that took the place of those interactions are a bit "uuuh" to many. I think this is also where the generation gap of the fandom comes in: Taylor has fans her age that grew up with her, but she also has very young fans and the marketing strategies aimed at the latter don't necessarily go over well with the former. But this just as a side note. I think the introduction of Easter Eggs is a noteworthy moment in fandom history given how big of a part they now play in interacting with Taylor. And it's a fun idea, but there is the issue of the fandom taking it very far and Easter Eggs not leading to anything (1989 TV says hi). It's frustrating to many to not know when a single or an album will be released, and it is tiring to not be able to view anything she posts normally because most likely, it's a hint to something, or at least fans will act like it is. Fans are always used to drive up sales and engagement, as are personal instagram posts, but it is jarring to see it become so overt. I do genuinely believe the Easter Eggs were supposed to be fun for the fans at first, as are the vault thingies, but with the level of marketing and self-mythologization attached to it, it feels cold and sterile. Add that to the insanely high prices for boring merch and debacles like the "digitally signed" CD and you have yourself a recipe for fan disappointment. Taylor has branded herself as her fans' best friend for long, and because she is quirky and weird and often not too polished it worked – but it's not what she wants anymore, and she deserves nothing more than her privacy, but a fan used to genuine engagement with her is going to be taken aback by the new marketing strategies. There ARE ways to be private while still feeling personal in your branding (see Lorde's emails) but Taylor's team didn't want to go down that route apparently.

With all that being said: Taylor's happiness and her being content with her life is more important than whatever I get out of her and her music, and she remains one of the greatest songwriters of our generation – nobody can take that away. And I am sure that many fans will roll their eyes at this post because they still love her like they did when they first discovered her, and I am very happy for them and happy that Taylor has fans that loyal, but this post serves as an attempt to analyse shifts in the fandom that I have noticed over the past few years. I also think it's worth noting that once you start focusing on the negative aspects of something those negative things start jumping out to you, and it's important to maybe step back and focus on the good aspects once in a while – a lot of which I didn't mention because this is not what this post is about. But they are there, and I think the love for Taylor's music can easily sustain even when interest in her as a person fades.

#sorry this got. long.#I do not agree with everything here but it's what i have seen #anyway. stream folklore #ask #anonymous

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inkweaver22-blr · 3 years

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Welcome to lucky chapter 13!

A few announcements before we begin!

First, we got fan art! Shout out to @ooflifeshard for their art of the Jin/Yin/Tang fusion!

Second, I post extra thoughts on my writing process and the chapter in general on my Tumblr! Look up the tag Fanfiction Live Blogging to read them!

Now let’s get on with the story!

AO3 Link

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Thirteen: Aspects of Arachnids

The Spider Clan is made up of some interesting people. That includes MK this time.

----------

“So what did you want to talk about Mr. Tang?”

They were taking a walk through a secluded park. Tang had asked to speak with the young man privately once he had woken in this cycle to address a recent memory he had received.

“I wanted to apologize to you, MK,” Tang said. MK tilted his head in confusion.

“What for?”

“For the way I treated you last week.”

MK tensed.

“I- I don’t know what you mean,” he said.

“MK.” Tang turned and placed his hands on MK’s shoulders, looking him in the eye. “It’s okay. I know.”

“Know what?” MK was trembling now. He avoided Tang’s gaze, wide eyes darting around as if to look for a place to hide.

Tang gave him a reassuring squeeze and kind smile.

“I know you are the spider demon we saw.”

Last week had been before Tang had woken in the cycle. They had all rushed over to where MK had been fighting a demon alone only to find a spider demon they had never seen before wearing MK’s jacket and bandana while holding the Monkey King’s staff.

The group had, predictably, reacted with hostility. They threatened the demon and attacked him. They hadn’t been able to actually harm him before he got away, and MK had shown up perfectly fine the next day.

Physically at least.

When Tang had gone over the memories earlier this morning, it was obvious to him who the demon actually was. It certainly wasn’t the first time MK was something other than human.

He was also able to see the signs of emotional distress MK was showing over the past week. It was clear that their reaction to his true form was devastating to him.

Tang intended to fix that.

“I didn’t figure it out until this morning,” Tang said when it was clear MK had frozen in fear and wasn’t going to say anything. He pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see it right away. You are very important to me and I am ashamed to have made you feel like you were unwanted.”

“You- You don’t mind?” MK clung tightly to the scholar, as if afraid he’d vanish at any moment.

“Of course I don’t. What you are or what you look like isn’t important to me. What matters is who you are and I happen to care about the person you are quite a lot.”

Tang held the young man as he trembled in his embrace. He pulled away after a few minutes, wiping his eyes and giving Tang a watery smile.

“Thank you, Tang.”

“Any time, MK.”

“Do the others know?”

“I haven’t told them anything,” Tang said as they continued their walk. “This is your secret and you should be the one to reveal it when you’re ready.”

“But what if they react like last time?” MK kicked a rock out of his path and seemed to fold into himself. “What if they don’t want to be friends with something like me?”

“First off, that would be pretty hypocritical of them considering both Pigsy and Sandy are technically demons as well and Mei is descended from a dragon. That actually makes me the odd one out in our group as the only human.”

“Huh. Didn’t think of that,” MK said.

“Second, I know they all care about you, MK. I sincerely doubt they wouldn’t be able to look past appearances and see the person we all love.”

“Love?” MK stared wide eyed at Tang.

“I like to think of us as a family,” Tang said. “Even if we aren’t the typical kind, families love each other, and you are a part of that.”

“Family…” MK smiled sadly into the distance. “It would be nice to have more family.”

“There is no ‘would be’ about it.” Tang slung his arm around MK’s shoulders. “We are family and you’re stuck with us no matter what.”

MK gave him a wide grin, leaning into the sideways hug as they continued on their path.

“Aren’t you curious by what I meant by ‘more family’?”

“Of course I am,” Tang said. “But it’s not my place to pry. If you want to talk about that then I’d be more than willing to listen.”

“Oh, well okay,” MK said, perking up a bit. He began to enthusiastically speak about his other family, but never giving any names.

Tang was able to piece together who he was talking about rather easily.

The Spider Queen was his mother. It wasn’t much of a surprise for Tang as she had filled that role for MK in the past, but never quite so literally. From what MK was saying, she seemed to still be that lovingly supportive yet protective type that he had encountered in previous cycles.

The fact that she was a much more active villain in this cycle that MK constantly fought was not addressed.

Huntsman was ‘Uncle H’. He seemed to be the type of person that gave small children lessons on knife wielding just so they could protect themselves. MK had learned all his combat skills in his spider form from him.

Huntsman was certainly a focused and skilled combatant, but, as his many friendships with Sandy across time showed, he also knew how to enjoy the quieter moments in life.

That left Goliath as ‘Uncle G’. The large spider may seem like just a brute who relied on his strength, but Tang had witnessed his soft side a few times. MK spoke fondly of the lullabies Goliath had sang when he was still little as well as his delicious cooking.

Tang wondered how it compared to Pigsy’s creations and mused on how he could try and get a cook off set up.

MK did not speak of Syntax. That made sense as it was still somewhat early in the cycle and the scientist hadn’t really joined up with the spiders until after Demon Bull King’s second invasion.

Tang did his best to recall what he knew about the man. They had been friends and colleagues once in a cycle where they had been professors at the city university.

Syntax could be a bit standoffish to those he didn’t know. Once he warmed up to you though, he loved to go on long tangents about chemistry, biology, and computer engineering. He could also be surprisingly thoughtful, having dropped by several times with an extra cup of coffee on those late nights Tang had been stuck in his office grading papers.

Tang never knew why he started working for the Spider Queen. The scientist had always been a bit ambitious, so he supposed working on something as unique as a serum using bits of the Monkey King’s power was more than enough to sway him.

It was a shame the serum was then used against him and he seemed to lose all memories of his human life.

Tang forced himself back into the present as MK finished up an anecdote about Huntsman and Goliath nearly panicking after MK had fallen asleep in his hiding spot during a game of hide and seek.

“They all sound wonderful,” Tang said once MK had finished.

“Yeah, they are.” MK sighed wistfully. “I haven’t spoken to them in a while though.”

“Why not?”

“It’s… Complicated.”

Tang could certainly understand that considering how they fought each other on a nearly weekly basis.

“Well whatever the reason, it sounds like they care about you just as much as we do,” Tang said. “I’m sure they’d be more than happy to welcome you back into their lives.”

“I know that,” MK said with a huff. “I’m just not sure they'd approve of me being the Monkey King’s successor.”

“I see.”

Tang did see. He had been a part of demon families before and knew how leaving one’s blood to side with an enemy could tear relationships apart. He hoped that wouldn’t happen here with MK.

“In any case, I just hope you know that you have people that care about you and if you ever need help to just ask, okay?”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks Tang.” MK gave him another smile before frowning in thought. “I’m still not sure if I want to tell the others though.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Tang said. “If you aren’t ready then you aren’t ready. I won’t say anything to anyone before you do.”

“Really?”

“I promise.”

The rest of the walk was spent discussing lighter subjects such as the latest Monkey Cop movie and which types of noodles were superior.

Tang decided to not bring up his curse this cycle. He knew he could get around the memory seal by simply stating he had a curse but not exactly its effects, but MK already had quite a lot to deal with this time. He didn’t want to add on to that stress with something that couldn’t be fixed.

He hoped that the Spider Clan would come to accept MK as he was, successor to the Monkey King and all. Not just for his sake either, as Tang could already feel four spots slowly opening up in his heart where he kept his love for his family.

It would be hard to bring them into the fold. Much harder than Macaque, the twins, or even the Demon Bull Family.

But Tang was patient.

He would use this cycle to get to know the spiders better. They were already MK’s family this time around.

Perhaps, in time, they could become his as well.

----------

Things went to Hell rather quickly.

New Years went the same as usual, but this time with the added horror of a mutated Macaque.

The shadow demon had been willingly experimented on by Syntax after he had failed to steal the Monkey King’s powers from MK. He now sported an extra set of arms and eyes, had lavender fur, and was in constant pain from the modifications. Wukong had offered him sanctuary, and Macaque had accepted.

MK hadn’t taken it well when he learned that it was his mother who had convinced Macaque to go through with the procedure.

Now something even worse was happening. This was a cycle that not only changed MK’s background, but someone else’s as well.

Lady Bone Demon was much more impulsive this cycle.

She had attacked them all directly this time, before even gathering up the artifacts she needed. They had all been overwhelmed pretty quickly and everyone except MK had been captured. She had then given him an ultimatum.

Give her the Monkey King’s power, or MK’s family would perish.

Lady Bone Demon then ‘graciously’ gave MK twenty four hours to think about it before teleporting away with her captives.

“Hey, where are you taking him?!”

Tang glanced up as he realized that he hadn’t been placed in the same cell as his family. Pigsy and Mei glared at the skeleton guards while Sandy tended to the unconscious Wukong and Macaque.

“Boss only wants five to a cell,” guard one said.

“Hope your friend here isn’t afraid of spiders,” guard two mocked.

Tang blinked at that as the others began to protest loudly. The guards simply laughed and led him away.

Well, he had wanted to get to know the Spider Clan better this cycle, hadn’t he?

After being marched down many winding corridors, Tang was thrown unceremoniously into a different cell.

Tang picked himself up and was confronted with the scowling faces of the Spider Queen and her entourage. They had certainly looked like they had seen better days.

After demanding why he was there, they had dismissed him and went back to trying to come up with a way to escape.

They had mused about eating him for a bit, Huntsman even going as far as to restrain him and brandishing a knife, before Tang had been forced to break his promise to MK. They were skeptical at first, but once Tang began telling the stories he had heard from MK, they believed him.

Spider Queen was emotionally distraught at the thought of harming her baby, but became more resolved than ever to beat Lady Bone Demon once she realized they were being used as hostages against her son.

Huntsman had been a bit more accepting, bragging about how the only reason MK had beaten them so often was from all the training he had given him. Goliath had just asked if he was eating well.

Syntax had been standing off to the side looking uncomfortable before Tang assured him that MK would be more than happy to get to know him.

The Spider Clan had invited Tang into their scheming quickly afterwards. None of their plans were very feasible, but Tang felt his connection to the four grow stronger.

Strange were the bonds you could make when in prison.

Before they could act on any of their plans, the twenty four hours were up and they were whisked away by the magic of their captor.

Tang opened his eyes to find the ten of them suspended in the air by blue ropes as Lady Bone floated in front of them. On the ground was a horrified looking MK.

“Now it is time you choose,” she said. She reached out and grabbed Tang and Spider Queen by their arms, pulling them forwards. “Your powers? Or your family?”

“Don’t listen to her, baby,” Spider Queen called out. “We’ll be fine! Just get out of here!”

“M-mom?!” MK’s mouth had dropped at being recognized.

“Sorry, MK. I broke my promise,” Tang said. “To be fair, your family was planning on eating me before I told them.”

“We said we were sorry about that-”

“ENOUGH!” Lady Bone Demon’s bellow shook the ground. “What is your decision?!”

“I- I can’t-” MK was trembling as he gripped his staff tightly.

“Wrong answer.”

Tang and Spider Queen screamed as they each had one of their arms shattered in her grip. Lady Bone Demon tossed them behind her, the blue ropes re-materializing to bind them as she summoned a large scythe.

“One last chance.” She pulled back the weapon, preparing to strike. “Give me the Monkey King’s power!”

MK roared in rage and seemed to explode into gold, purple, and green light.

Tang gasped in pain as he tried to stay awake. He stared in shock as the light expanded and formed into a giant figure.

Tang had seen the giant form that Wukong would occasionally become to take on much more powerful opponents. Macaque had access to this power as well and so would MK sometimes. It had no official name, but a scroll he had read many cycles ago had described it in a way that Tang couldn’t help but agree with.

Aspects of Destruction.

It resembled MK’s spider form, but with his human half looking more like a monkey’s instead. He had four arms now and each one held a copy of the Monkey King’s staff. The twelve eyes glowed with a burning green malice as they glared at Lady Bone Demon.

Faster than he could blink, Tang watched as MK swung one of his staffs and batted the white demon away from them. MK roared and leapt after her.

The pain from having his bones crushed soon became too much and Tang passed out.

----------

Tang woke up on Sandy’s airship.

He learned it was a few days later. MK hadn’t been able to defeat Lady Bone Demon, but had managed to buy them all the time to escape. They had also managed to pick up Red Son somewhere along the way.

Now, all twelve of them were out of the city looking for a way to defeat her.

The Spider Clan had seemed to integrate easily into their group over the next few weeks.

Spider Queen had already gotten to know Macaque over the course of the experiments, but once Wukong decided to go through the same procedure and gained two extra pairs of arms, she seemed to start flirting with the both of them.

Neither monkey seemed bothered by this and flirted right back.

Huntsman had decided Mei needed proper weapons training with her sword and whenever he wasn’t giving her pointers was drinking tea with Sandy.

Goliath shared cooking duty with Pigsy. The pair gave each other tips and techniques and their meals only became tastier from the collaboration.

Syntax had seemed a bit lost at first, but after completing one of the internet memes MK had quoted, became fast friends with him. He even got to have stimulating scientific discussions with Red Son.

Tang sighed in contentment at dinner one evening as he listened to the conversations around him.

He had never thought he would have longed for a large family, but this just felt right to him.

Tang hoped he would get to experience it more often in future cycles.

----------

The Spider Clan joins the ranks!

I think that leaves only two characters left out of Tang’s family. Considering who they are, I doubt that will happen any time soon.

This chapter takes place in @strange-lace's amazing Spider Monkie AU! It has some great angst and fluff as well as absolutely lovely spider-monkey designs for Macaque and Wukong! Go check it out!

Now technically this AU doesn't have a kaiju form for MK, but I wanted to introduce the concept to the story and it didn't fit anywhere in the coming chapters.

There’s going to be some plot in the next chapter so look forward to it! Until next time!

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