#this is my fandom blog not my science blog but also and most importantly it is my Thoughts Blog | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spyglassrealms · 1 year

Text

About this blog

Heya. I'm Spyglass, but most folks just call me Spy.

he/him

adult (not very good at it yet)

autistic

I am a creative polymath, existential nihilist, science nerd, wistful wannabe-futurist, and –most importantly– worldbuilder. I contain multitudes. Check out my other internet haunts here. Also, make sure to skim the Realms Overview to familiarize yourself with my various worldbuilding projects.

I don't really do fandoms, ergo I don't reblog any fandom stuff (with rare exceptions, which are tagged appropriately). I also don't reblog anything nsfw (except the odd dirty jokes and shitposts) –no mature content here. Consider this blog PG-13 with a big ol' asterisk and footnote. I try my best to ensure this blog is a safe space for all flavors of marginalized folks. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Link system

Links are color-coded! This is for my own reference as well as reader convenience. Green links are links to this blog or my other sites Red links are links to YouTube specifically Blue links are links to any other sites

Tag system

In no particular order. Tagging is a little haphazard, so I may have missed some things in my archive, but this covers the bulk of the content you'll see here.

Personal tags:

#spyglass' realms - My worldbuilding stuff, also typically tagged with #worldbuilding. Further organized into world-specific tags; see the overview post.

#spy writes - My writing, of all sorts but usually fiction. Typically also tagged with #spyglass' realms and relevant world-specific tags.

#spy arts - My visual art, both digital and traditional. Typically also tagged with #spyglass' realms and relevant world-specific tags.

#spy has thoughts - Tag for posts where I think out loud or when I add significant commentary to reblogs.

#spy answers asks - The internet asks me things, and I answer. Usually. Don't be a creep in my inbox, please.

#my life is a sitcom and i am my own laugh track - Funny stories from my own life. Random factoids about my life go under #new spy lore unlocked instead.

#spy is funny - Haha! Comedy. Meant to tag posts where I'm making a joke, usually in a reblog, but I sometimes forget to use it.

#spy's smash hits - Posts (and reblogs) of mine that have over 500 notes, plus a few personal favorite posts too.

Categorization tags:

#shitpost rb - Reblogs of stuff I find funny, usually without any commentary. My most used tag... to my great chagrin. Variant companion tags are #advanced shitposting for particularly high-brow science-based funnies and #coprolitepost for specifically palaeontology-related funnies.

#important post - Stuff I think is important: activism, life advice, mental health, the like. Usually mental health posts are also tagged with #mental health post (go figure).

#science - Cool science posts. Always tagged with the specific field(s) of study involved; most frequently #space science, #biology, and #palaeontology.

#speculative biology - Usually accompanied by #specbio, #specevo, and #speculative evolution. Speculative biology is the imagining of fictional life forms and ecologies that could exist elsewhere in space and time –a scientifically-minded creative exercise in "what if." It is both a science and an art, and a key aspect of high-end worldbuilding. It's also one of my chief interests and I made a large in-depth post about it here!

#worldbuilding. - Worldbuilding stuff in general, both mine and others! I reblog a lot of my friends' work that gets tagged with this.

#art reblog - Cool art, either from my friends or just random stuff that's crossed my dash. Art that I think is really cool gets the additional tag #rad art, and I also have additional tags for #space art and #paleoart.

#tabletop stuff - My catch-all tabletop gaming tag; not always D&D specifically, but most of the time. Often accompanied by #absolutely horrible dnd ideas that i must try out asap -my tag for, well, what it says on the tin.

#videogames - Dude, I could be gaming. What it says on the tin; always tagged alongside the specific game tags like #the elder scrolls, #no man's sky, #minecraft, and #pokemon. I reserve the videogames tag for specifically game-related stuff, so there may be posts like fan art or funnies with the specific game tags and not the videogames tag.

#toddposting - Okay, this one is really specific and I'm including it here for fun. Toddposts (also sometimes tagged with #tesposting) are funny posts about The Elder Scrolls games –usually Skyrim– and memes about Todd Howard. Sorry Mr. Howard but it's still fun to dunk on you.

#beaſt - Animals doin' animal things. Largely of the mammalian variety, but I do love and reblog all manner of beaſts!

#Glock function - I was funny on the internet one time!! ONE!!! The whole saga can be found in this tag. Tor, what a week. No, I didn't make it up. Apollo, please have mercy and stay thy dodgeball.

#about

29 notes · View notes

fleetsonourgecentral · 2 years

Note

Hi! I've recently dipped back into the Sonic fandom, and I've been checking out your blog as of late! I really like it btw, very cool content!

If you're still doing the prompt list and it hasn't been done already, could you do 8? Thanks!

Thank you so much, I'm glad you like my blog!

8- “Fuck…. I knew I should have bought those light up sneakers.”

Scourge was on the verge of becoming a marvel to science. He was hours, if not minutes, away from developing the ability to defy gravity for an unlimited amount of time. Because if he had to sit inside for much longer, he was going to literally start climbing the walls and crawling on the ceiling like some kind of sleep paralysis hedgehog demon.

Foot tapping impatiently, he checked the clock. Yep, just as he expected. He'd been inside for three hours and thirty seven minutes, and a glance to the window confirmed he would most likely be stuck for a few more hours.

Seriously, how the fuck was one planet capable of raining so fucking much?

More importantly, what the fuck was wrong with its citizens that most of them voluntarily went out in said rain even when their plans were completely unsuited for it?

Then again, the longer Scourge was trapped inside, the longer he understood the urge to say "fuck the weather" and go do something. Anything.

Sighing, Scourge threw himself onto the couch and flung an arm across his eyes dramatically, even though no one was there to see it. Sonic had gone out for a run five hours ago, and Scourge had taken great delight in knowing the bastard was caught in the rain for all of fifteen minutes before his bastard friends cheerfully announced they were leaving to watch some stupid outdoor dancing competition despite the fact the sky was attempting to drown the planet. Then he'd watched in horror as they left the warm, dry safety of their base armed with two coats and a single, tiny umbrella that would not cover all of them and was a fucking afterthought.

To be fair, he probably would have also given in and just subjected himself to the weather to go on a run, but there was one, teensy tiny itty bitty little problem with his plan: he had no fucking shoes. Because his were destroyed yesterday during a fight involving acid that absolutely wrecked his (custom!!!) sneakers. And not even Scourge, in all his boredom and lack of impulse control, was willing to go out in the rain for a run with no shoes. Wet socks were not worth the momentary relief of doing something, nor would they be worth the ridicule he'd receive once he returned and everyone found out he went running in only his socks.

Besides, Scourge's ankles were already infuriatingly weak, and slipping in the rain without any shoes could leave him with an actual injury instead of just bruised pride, which would result in even more time stuck inside as he healed, and, ugh. It wasn't worth the risk.

That didn't mean he wasn't strongly considering trying to chew through the arm of the couch just to see if he could.

Maybe he could go to the lab and bother Kintobor? Sure, he wasn't allowed in the lab without supervision, but hey, no one was around to tell him off. And Kintobor was surprisingly willing to share embarrassing stories of Sonic, which made for great blackmail material, even though Scourge honestly had no idea how the hell a fucking AI knew any of said stories.

Ugh, but Kintobor was also a snitch, and even if he humored Scourge, he would definitely tell Sonic about the rule breaking when he got back, and as funny as it was to piss Sonic off, Scourge wasn't in the mood for the argument it would cause. It wouldn't even be a fun argument. Sonic was weirdly protective over that hunk of junk, although he'd spend his last breath denying it, and if Scourge went into the lab without supervision, the weirdo would consider it some kind of threat or some shit. Plus, he'd just gotten enough trust to stay in the base alone. Getting a few embarrassing stories wasn't worth getting his no-babysitter-required rights revoked.

Back to contemplating chewing through the couch it was.

"Fuck... I knew I should have bought those light up sneakers," Scourge muttered, shifting so his head was dangling over the edge and his legs were swung over the back of the couch. They'd been gorgeous sneakers, too. Black with red and green highlights, and nine - nine! - different settings for the lights. Scourge had wanted them so, so fucking badly, but he'd forced himself to walk away without even stealing a pair. They just wouldn't support his ankles the way he needed them to, and there was no point owning sneakers, not even gorgeous, light up ones, he couldn't wear.

Fuck, but he'd take any shoes over no shoes right now. If he just had those sneakers he could go out for a run. Not too far, just in case his ankles gave out on him, but any short run would do. Fifteen minutes, that's all he needed to alleviate his mind-numbing boredom-

The front door opening had Scourge scrambling to get up. Finally, finally, someone to harass.

He tried very hard not to feel like a pet rushing to greet their owner as he bolted to the door, just in time to watch Sonic step inside, absolutely drenched and clutching some bags.

Excellent, his favourite victim.

"You look like a drowned rat," Scourge said, leaning against the wall and trying not to look longingly outside.

"That happens at least once a week," Sonic said, although his grimace gave away how less than pleased he was with his soaked fur. "Where are the others?"

"Gone watching some dancing competition."

"Ah, shit, was that today?"

"Fucking apparently, although why it wasn't cancelled I'll never know."

Sonic snorted. "If we cancelled events every time there was a bit of bad weather, we'd never get anything done."

"If they come back with a cold and infect me, I'll be pissed."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how colds work," Sonic said, dumping the bags on the nearest table. "Make yourself useful and help me put all this shit away."

Scourge rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, but grabbed the nearest bag anyway. Even something as mundane as putting away groceries was more interesting than sitting down and letting his brain try to eat itself.

As he peeked into the bag, though, he paused, frowning in confusion. "What's with the shoe box?"

"I bought trainers."

"Sneakers. No shit. But why? You never buy shoes, you get yours made because you wear out normal sneakers way too fast."

"They're for you, genius," Sonic said, rooting through his own bag.

Scourge short circuited. "Huh?"

"They're. For. You." Sonic repeated, rolling his eyes. "I didn't want to listen to you bitch about not being able to leave the base, so I bought you some trainers while I was out."

Scourge blinked. That was... he knew he needed new shoes, but he thought he'd need to order them online and wait for them to arrive. Or, at the very least, for one of the girls to go fetch him some shoes, if he promised to pay them back. But Sonic? Sonic didn't do shit like this. Not without a healthy amount of whining, pestering, irritation, and bribery. Tails once broke his own bed by jumping on it too much, and Sonic told him to "take his wallet and walk his ass down to the shop to buy his own damn bed, and call someone when he needed to bring it home."

So, yeah, Sonic doing something so... so nice, especially out of the blue (ha), was suspicious, to say the least.

"What do you want from me," Scourge said slowly, taking out the shoe box and holding it at arms length like it was about to explode.

"For you to pay me back," Sonic said, which, yeah, that, at least, sounded like him. "Don't worry, I got the cheapest ones I could find that weren't complete shite, 'cause I know you're broke as fuck. Just try not to run too fast in them. I don't know what kinda shit your dimension makes shoes out of, but in this dimension, it's not normal. You will destroy them in five minutes, max, if you run at top speed, so don't do that."

Scourge cautiously set the shoe box on the table and opened it, pulling out the sneakers to inspect them.

"These are the ugliest sneakers I've ever seen in my life," Scourge said.

"What part of cheap did you not understand?"

"They don't match my jacket."

"Sure they do. They both look like shit."

"How am I supposed to not run? Do you want me dead? Because I know for a fact you'd sooner die than not be able to run, and I don't know why you think I'm any different."

Sonic let out a long, long sigh. "They're temporary. Just to let you get out of the house until we can make you new trainers that can withstand your speed. I'd lend you a pair of mine, but I know your ankles need extra support, and those were the cheapest shoes I could find that give that support. So you'll just have to suck it up and deal with them until we can make you new ones."

He bought sneakers specifically with Scourge's weak ankles in mind?

... Huh.

That was... surprisingly thoughtful.

"You're lucky I can make anything look good," Scourge said at last. "These sneakers would make anyone else look like shit and destroy their reputation."

"I'd say that's what I'm hoping for, but no one cares about you enough for you to have a reputation. Now help me put this shit away."

Scourge slipped the new sneakers on - thank fuck he and Sonic were the same size, these sneakers may not be as comfy as his old ones, but at least they fit - and got to work. He only complained a little, which was the closest Sonic was going to get to a thank you, and they got about halfway through their task before Scourge finally registered one of Sonic's other statements.

"Hey! I'm not fucking broke, you bastard!"

#sonic the hedgehog #scourge the hedgehog #fleetway sonic #stc sonic #fleet!sonourge #asks #prompt game #fanfic #thanks again for the prompt!#sorry it took so long #brain didn't want to work with me for this one #not pictured: sonic gets scourge those light up sneakers for his birthday #custom made to withstand his speed (although not as well as his normal shoes) and support his ankles #i did consider writing that too #but it's 3am #(no one is surprised about that)#and i have somewhere to be in the morning #plus i've made you wait long enough for this #anyways. enjoy!

19 notes · View notes

random-dragon-exe · 3 years

Text

Hello there people of Tumblr! This is just a small scope of the content I post and reblog, as well as general information about me.

------

My name is Jennifer and my pronouns are she/they.

I'm autistic.

I also love to draw and watch Disney and Pixar movies.

Most of the content I post and reblog about relate to the fandoms I'm currently in.

For a small list, some of the fandoms I'm in include, but are not limited to (in no particular order):

The Owl House

Gravity Falls

Amphibia

Dead End: Paranormal Park

Big City Greens

The Cuphead Show

Villainous

Avatar: The Last Airbender

SpongeBob

Super Mario video games

Sonic video games

Literally anything that falls under the umbrella of the horror genre / Halloween related

My YouTube channel

My usual tags are:

random life things

multiple memes

not my memes

art antics

animation antics

cool comics/countless comics

spooky shenanigans

fandom fanfiction

random fandom stuff

random YouTube stuff

My youtube adventures

cursed images/blursed images

various vibes

cartoon parallels

Similar scenes

cartoon counterparts

cartoon details

analysations

fandom speculation

My thoughts

Cartoon farewells

The dragon speaks

If you'd like to avoid spoilers, I tag spoilers with "fandom spoilers" as well as the name of the show followed by spoilers.

So yeah, that's the main stuff, but there's other things and fandoms that I'm in, so stick around for who-know-what will happen here on Tumblr!

This is a side-blog so I can't follow back (if I do it will be automatically from my main, dang it Tumblr! Oh well)

------

DNI: if you are: transphobic, homophobic, TERF/SWERF, against BLM, NSFW, MAPs, racist, Transmed, Trump supporter, pro-lifer, aro or ace exclusionist, and most importantly, Anti-Vaxx/mask and/or a science denier. If not, then stick around.

------

If you want to check out what I do (what ever that is, I haven't figured myself out on that lol)

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDQZFWAubRt94PejKzZDBSg

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/jinafiredragonexe

#about me #pinned post

25 notes · View notes

wildwitchofthewest · 3 years

Text

Hello there, and welcome to my blog. Here's just a small list of the content I post and reblog and some stuff about myself.

------

My name is Jennifer, and my pronouns are she/they.

I am autistic.

I'm asexual biromantic

I'm a pagan witch of about 5 years.

I’m currently hiding my witchcraft / in the broom closet.

I'm still learning and developing my craft.

This is my main blog about witchcraft and my personal witchy path.

I do have other interests and hobbies such as art, cartoons, video games, and horror related stuff, however I have a side-blog for that, which also doubles a bit for my YouTube channel.

If you would like to see witchy content, stay here, and if you want to see more of me and my nerdy side come follow me there at @random-dragon-exe. (Even though it's just me yeeting and screaming fandom stuff into the void.) I do occasionally post some fandom stuff on this blog too.

If you're interested in both sides of me, then follow both if you so choose.

------

DNI: if you are: a bigot or an exclusionary person, ace or aro exclusionary, MAPS, NSFW, pro-lifer, most importantly, Anti-Vaxx, Anti-mask and/or a science denier.

If not, then stick around.

My icon was made with picrew: https://picrew.me/image_maker/644129

#About me #pinned post

28 notes · View notes

yeoldontknow · 3 years

Text

🖊writerly conversation tag

tagged by @j-pping to do this amazing interview/reflections tag. of course she put together one of the most amazing tags ever because she is brilliant. thank you for tagging me angel!

questions below the cut!

2020

what was the most challenging part of writing this year?

gosh...i think for me the hardest bit was staying both motivated and inspired. a lot of my inspiration comes from being out in the world. im an introvert but i enjoy being out in the city around the noise and the people and the buildings on my own. the majority of my writing used to be done while riding the subway or on a weekend after id gone out somewhere. a lot of my fics are inspired by locations, and experiences within those locations. being inside for the majority of the year made it hard for me to remember how...people interact with or relate to the spaces around them. so i felt like a lot of the time staying inspired was coming from places within just me that felt inauthentic. i think my writing benefits from my ability to see multiple perspectives, so i felt like a lot of dialogue or writing itself was suffering just coming from me alone. it took a lot of work to ensure that it wasnt like that.

and then, motivation was also so hard. the internet and the news and everything about america, the planet, the everything was unrelenting and draining. we as people were privy to so much trauma this year, to the collapse and fracture of communities, lives, governments. there were several weeks at the end of may and into june where i just...couldnt. i had no energy for anything. it happened again in november after the election and the windfall of it. energetic tensions were so high it just felt so hard to push out words when things were breaking everywhere. like there were more important things i needed to focus on, and healing was one of them.

what was the most enjoyable/rewarding part of writing this year?

i enjoyed the new community of writers/friends i found by writing for bts again. they challenged me and pushed me to better myself. @jamaisjoons is so inspirational in the way she generates community and encourages relationships between storytellers. doing the summer bucket list pushed me out of my hermit hole for camp nano, and i cranked out molotov cocktail and felt so proud of it. it mattered so much to me because it was the first long thing id written after a period of feeling deceased, and it was so enjoyable because there was a sense of community around it. its easy to forget how essential having a support system in your creative community is.

what piece has left the most impact on you and why?

probably ciperion. words cannot express how proud i am of that story and the direction its going in. i read it back sometimes and i realize that my writing was elevated because of that piece. tbh molotov was responsible for that lift, but ciperion was just a whole other tier. ive also never written anything like that story before and it felt so good exploring the themes of seafaring and pirates.

what have you learned about yourself through the process of writing in the past year?

that i absolutely am someone who took for granted how inspiring the world is even if i see it as a stressor. but also that writing isnt necessarily about being inspired. its about pushing on when its hard. some of my best pieces came from that kind of push this year. 2020 felt like...a slog through most of it, but i kept pushing myself to write even when i was low and tired. i realized that some of my best writing comes from that push, when its not easy and when its difficult and i have to think harder. thats where i grow.

how has your writing changed in the past year? how have you grown?

i think im more syntax and detailed focused than i used to be. lately ive been experimenting with making the act of reading feel like pleasure. my favourite books are the ones where i read a sentence, and im moved because it felt nice to read or it felt powerful. the sentence itself had power, not the image it was trying to convey. somehow separate, if that makes sense. theres a lot i need to learn before i could go off comfortably and try to write a book, and this is what ive been trying to master. my attention to detail has grown, and sometimes i think thats a detriment. i think sometimes im too detailed and i dont leave my reader enough power on their own. im still finding that balance, but i think im pleased right now with what im trying to push myself to master.

2021

ignoring your wips for a second, if you had all the time and energy in the world to write your magnum opus piece, what would it be about? why is that the dream story you’d write, all other things controlled for?

ive had two books in my mind forever. one was originally being written as a fanfic in a different fandom before i stopped and realized its too big and so much more important, and is worth being a book id like to write. if i wrote an opus like this it would actually be a book id submit to publishers but ~

- hundreds of years in the future, society has learned how to cure most diseases. for those we cannot, the sick person can be cryogenically frozen for a period of time until a cure is found. there is, however, a limit to the length of time they are frozen. no one has ever been frozen for over 100 years, and the main character is a scientist embarking on the experiment to do just that. it is, effectively, time travel. the main character is rash, selfish, sarcastic - not a very nice person; invested in their work and science and little else. they freeze themselves and wake up in the future. during their time in rehab they have to confront the horror theyve made of themselves, the horror people have made of the future, learn to be vulnerable. they end up falling in love with another scientist etc etc. theres so much more to this story and the world is enormous. one day ill revisit it

- a fictional play on orpheus in the underworld where a female main character’s brother was sold by their mother to the goddess of the underworld (helena instead of hades) for eternal youth. the gods all live in a hotel (the concept of this main thing is being used in elysian fields but its not remotely the same) after they were removed from the heavens. main character (ophelia) must gather several totems from the gods to prove her worth and survive her trip into the underworld to rescue him. id like to not focus on a woman finding romance, and instead a woman finding herself, her strength, her devotion to family, her power, and connecting with her history.

how do you want to grow in your writing this year?

this year id like to find balance, like i mentioned above, with my need for detail and my trust in my readers. the balance between detail and dialogue. i want to try to condense my writing again so not everything is a goddamn series. the ideas i have are huge and thats great but i need to remember how to parse things again, while still maintaining impact.

what’s one thing you’d wish to see in the fan-writing community this year?

i want more community, in general. as a multi fan, i see pockets in the kpop fandom where it exists and im well and truly aware that its recently become incredibly hard to foster on the exo side. ill just say that. maybe i dont witness it or its happening amongst blogs i havent found or have not found me. i want to see less dialogue about ‘popular blogs,’ whatever that means; less focus on notes; less worries about statistics. i want people to remember that fandom is not about numbers, and the moment you make it about that is the moment you stop having fun. i want less fear from writers regarding sharing work they read and liked, less shame around it. i want to see more vocal communication for the things people like and don’t like, more engagement and more interaction. the concept of popular blogs is so ridiculous to me, because no one has any control over the metrics. no one has control over who follows them or reads their work except the person doing the actual reading. i want people to realize they hold so much power - a person with 10k notes has as much power as a person with 2 notes because sharing is what fosters community. i want this fandom to remember to share again.

name one new thing you want to try doing in your writing this year.

gosh i really love postmodernism in writing. think like mark z danielewski, who plays with the shapes of words or the act of holding a book - the physicality of it. id like to maybe write a choose your own adventure, or do something that encompasses multiple platforms. or even, more importantly, finish as still as sound and time runner. those are more reasonable goals. time runner actually is done, i just need to stop pressuring myself about it and edit it to get it up. asas, too, is largely done i just need to get my ass together. i have so many other ideas no one has ever seen i need to finish what ive started. thats a real goal.

tagging: @yehet-me-up @jamaisjoons @kyungseokie @jenmyeons @luffles424 @yoonia @shadowsremedy @chillingkoo @onherwings @inkedtae @ninibears-erigom @imdifferentshadesofpurple @readyplayerhobi @ditzymax @sugaurora @snackhobi @yeojaa @sahmfanficbts @xjoonchildx @johobi and anyone else who wants to do this. as always please only do so if comfortable or you want to!

#writer conversation tag

14 notes · View notes

wordstrings · 4 years

Text

Inbox dump

(brace yourselves, I’m including the timestamps because these have been sitting forever and you may literally forget ever having sent one of these because they’re from so long ago 😬)

---

Anonymous said: March 11th 2014 *Clears throat* Non-canon verse, uni AU probably *strums guitar and takes a deep breath* DUEEEEE TO A COMPUTING errORRR, dean and gabe are stuck as roomatesssssssss, whilesamandcascanbestucktogethertoo that'snotaneccesitybutitwouldbegreaaaaaaaaattttttttt, and veeery soon it turns into something of a friendship BUT THEEEENNNN dean fights with saaAAAM and gabe is like "dude stop being so upset" aND FLUFF HAPPEeeeeeEEEEEEeens! *stands up and bows* tyvm for accepting debriel though like omg <3

I’ve been rewatching some of Supernatural seasons 5 and 6 this past weekend, and it reminded me how much I love and miss Gabriel. I still maintain that Debriel is a super-underrated ship. The manic-chaos potential is *muah*. (see: #Debriel)

---

Anonymous said: August 7th 2018 psst... light back tickles while cuddling in bed are pure™ and wholesome™

Good shit good shit good shit

---

Anonymous said: September 19th 2018 I love science and go to public seminars as often as I can. I walked in to the most recent one (which I had picked at random), and it was on the science of tickling. There were demonstrations. There were hand gestures and finger wiggling. There were in depth descriptions of the anatomy and physiology behind ticklish spots. It was legitimately your Amateur Production’s fic, and I was Kevin. Worst of all it was 2 hours long. I think I died during it and my soul was sucked into hell.

Uhhhhhh where can I get a copy of the slide deck?? Asking for a friend. (see: #series: Amateur Production)

---

Anonymous said: September 23rd 2018 your art skills have me shook in the best possible way

aaaahh thank you! Fun fact: I went to art school and even took illustration as a concentration area but I’ve hardly drawn anything for like ten years. When I do draw, it’s usually because there are feelings that I don’t wanna do words about. (see: #strings does art)

---

Halo!anon said: September 27th 2018 A small, sinful part of Castiel had the urge to gloat. It was somewhat dampened by the fact that Dean was still under the impression that being abducted is peak romance."I can't believe you went out of your way to set up our second date!" He'd squealed, as Castiel tightened his restraints. - little excerpt of a sequel to Date Nights with Demons i had planned for months but abandoned. halo!anon

Your demented version of Demon!Dean is so entertaining 😄 (see: Date Nights with Demons)

---

Anonymous said: November 6th 2018 Aaaaah your Gabriel / Kali drabble was adorable, I can't help but love seeing our mighty archangel reduced to a mass of giggles, and you write Gabriel so so well <3. I love your writing your stories always brighten my day ^^

It’s so rare for him to let his guard down, isn’t it? But when he does, he has a grand old time of it. :) (see: this drabble)

---

sarah-lou-who said: November 8th 2018 1/4 Boo! The ghost of my online presence in the community is peeking its head in because I need help. I don’t have a platform or following to sound an alarm, so I’m using my platonic tumblr wife’s platform and following for me, because that’s what platonic tumblr wives do. Right? Anyway, I’m very actively fixated on Attack on Titan atm. You know this very well. You also know my predicament. I seem to have exhausted the entire supply of tickly AoT content I’m interested in that exists currently. 2/4 So, if you’re willing to publish these for me, I’m crying out into the vast TFB lands hoping that there’s someone out there to answer the call. I am in desperate need of tickly AoT content. I don’t know if anyone around here writes for it much these days. I haven’t found anyone. And I know beggars can’t be choosers, but it can’t be helped; I really only care if Eren is involved. Even better would be Levi, but I haven’t found ANYTHING involving him, so I feel like asking for that is futile. 3/4 I digress. Even after all this time I can’t keep my asks less than 50 parts long. So my goal here is that someone, somewhere, will by chance come across these, and be able and willing to either write fic of the tickly variety for Eren and/or Levi from Attack on Titan, or direct me to someone who can, if they know a person who knows a person who knows a person. (Sidenote, hi anyone who still remembers me! It’s Sarah, the more ticklish half of Leerah. I’m doing good and I miss you!) 4/4 (I hope you’re all doing well!) Thank you for letting me take advantage of your devoted followers, Strings! Love yaaa!!!

Ah, my platonic tumblr wife Sarah returns! (Digitally, anyway. Reality-wise, we hang out all the time and it’s probably very rude of me to have not published this ask for so long!) I keep teasing her that she has a Type, and that is dark-haired sulky badass who’d probably make a wicked ‘ler – AoT Levi, SPN Cas, FMA Roy, etc. So anyway, if anyone knows of somewhere I can point her to find the content she’s (still) craving, lmk!

Anonymous said: October 23rd 2019 I’m sorry if this is invasive in any way, but how is Sarah doing? I’ve been absent from Tumblr for a couple years and I see that her blog is now deactivated. I was just wondering if she’s doing alright and if she’s still around here on a different blog maybe?

See above! She doesn’t have a TFB community blog anymore, but she’s doing well. We’re quarantine buddies and helping each other out a lot. Very kind of you to ask! <3

---

Anonymous said: December 2nd 2018 Hi, sorry to bother you but do you know what happened to prodigal-anon’s blog? It seems to have been deleted. Sorry again if you’ve been asked this before

No worries, friend! Here’s an answer for you!

---

Anonymous said: December 13th 2018 I LOVE THE LOOPY SERIES! I love it so much, is there any chance you’ll be doing a part four? I’d give anything to see Cas and Dean tickle each other, it would be so cute 😍

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I haven’t entirely stopped writing... and Loopy 4 is one of those unfinished pieces that has seen a few additions lately. :) I’ve learned not to make promises about when something might get finished and posted, but I genuinely do believe this may be one of the first things that shows up once I’m ‘back in the game.’ Stay tuned... (see: #series: Loopy)

---

Anonymous said: January 1st 2019 No no no you can't just stop there! I need more fluffy destiel with tickles and kissing! Pretty please?

I believe this is in response to Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight. Don’t you worry, anon – Dean and Cas are not done being fluffy on this blog!

---

1832wasalongtimeago said: January 25th 2019 Hi I just wanted to pop in and say the Maintenance series is amazing!! The second part was doing things to my poor heart I’ve read it like 5 times already. You’re such an amazing writer and thank you fo writing for us!

I’m very flattered, but I can’t take credit for the Of Maintenance series – that’s the lovely work of ask-flip-frost! It does things to my poor heart, too, so you’re in good company. :)

---

Anonymous said: January 26th 2019 Sam Winchester can take a lot of things. The one thing he CAN'T take? Someone using baby talk on him when he's being tickled. He collapses into a puddle of helpless giggles faster than a house of cards in a stiff wind.

Precious Sammy just needs to laugh and be held, doesn’t he? <3

---

Anonymous said: May 17th 2019 Thor needs tickles. So. Damn. Much.

Oh this was from right after Endgame came out. Thor did make me feel some sads there. :( Poor bab.

---

Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 hi! i’ve read your wonderful fics forever but i’ve never really sent anything like this before so i don’t really know what to say.. but i had a destiel tickly thought and really wanted to share it with somebody, so here goes i guess- dean is taking too long in the shower so cas decides to use his mojo from the other room to speed things along. and listens to dean’s echoey laughs through the door. that’s all. sorry if this is weird! okay bye have a good one

This is not weird and I may have delayed in telling you any of my feelings about it but I definitely have a doc somewhere that has some vague notes about how I’d like to write this because I like it!

---

Anonymous said: August 6th 2019 Anhhgff your Good Omens tword fics are so cute snvfddf i never knew I needed that of my favorite husbands till now😳😍

I know, right?! They’re just dying to be dropped into every fluffy situation. (see: #Good Omens)

---

Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 Poking my head in to say hello, hope you’re doing well still! I just got into Good Omens and I absolutely loved your fic! (I watched the show first because my book was taking too long in the mail lol) Also, the other week I somehow talked myself into making a tfb blog, after all these years of almost doing so before chickening out (this ask isn’t from it because I just hopped in here briefly in a private phone browser to say hi, it’s literally just august-anon though) ~August!Anon

August!anon, I’m always so happy to see you stop by! Tagging your (not-so-new anymore) blog so everyone can check you out: @august-anon

---

hey-teenblog said: August 4th 2019 I love your fanfiction very much! They give me a lot of pleasant emotions. And most importantly, they, saturated with tenderness and love, gave me to accept myself as lee!! sorry for my english, i'm russian Love you 😘❤️

I will never tire of hearing things like this! Thank you for telling me. “Saturated with tenderness and love” is a such wonderful compliment about my writing – thank you very much! No need to apologize for language differences; I’m always impressed with anyone who manages to pick up English because it’s bonkers.

---

Anonymous said: August 23rd 2019 Hi! Just found this blog and wondering some basic info. ** What fandoms do toy write for? ** Do you accept prompts? ** Do you write reader insert fics? Thank you lovley ❤️

Anonymous said: August 29th 2019 Do you write tickle fics for bnha?? Asking for a friend 👀👀

The only fandoms I have reliably been able to write for are Supernatural and Good Omens – but even Good Omens is a rookie player here. Supernatural is my main jam, and Destiel is my favorite flavor. I don’t do reader inserts, but I’m always “accepting” prompts. I just haven’t written many of them for quite a long time now, so you’re welcome to drop them as long as you’re okay with them collecting dust. (see: this selfsame post)

My About/FAQ page is very dusty right now, too, but there might be some useful tidbits in there for you.

---

Anonymous said: November 12th 2019 okayokayokay. Have you watched Lucifer? It's on netflix, it's great, so much emotions and pining. (Also, y'know, reg. Luci stuff. He runs a club. Bad jokes. It's great.)

I haven’t, but it’s on my Netflix watchlist, so I’ll get there eventually! I saw a gifset once where he actually did the thing I see in winged fanfic all the time, where there was gunfire and he sheltered someone he cared about with his manifested wings. And honestly, that was the deciding factor for me.

---

Anonymous said: November 16th 2019 Oh Man U listen to Critrole as well! Nice! Campaign 1 was awesome but also heartfelt and really gut-punching at points. Who is your fav so far, anyone you aren’t fond of? (& Out of interest do you have any tickle related thoughts on the main crew or upcoming Fics we can look out for? As you said it’s tumbleweeds out here for this fandom’s tickles and I’ll take anything really 😂!) Hope u enjoy!!!!!

It’s STILL tumbleweeds out here and it’s making me crazy! My heart belongs to Vax primarily, Percy secondarily. I don’t really have cohesive thoughts or headcanons about anything, unfortunately. I do have this one mental picture that keeps coming up that I keep wanting to see art of (who knows, maybe I’ll commission somebody someday?) – of ridiculous brute Grog just lifting Vax straight up in his arms and gettin’ wiggly with his fingers while all Vax can do is laugh and pry and kick while absolutely nobody helps him.

---

Regarding #series: Accessor:

Anonymous said: August 31st 2015 I would like to see accessor!verse cas using feathers on Dean!!! and NIBBLES and RASPBERRIES and TEETH and TONGUE and WOWWWWWW

ME TOO, FRIEND. It’s been aaaaages since I published anything new for the Accessor AU, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been going back to my unfinished docs every once in a while to add a few lines here and there. ;)

Anonymous said: October 29th 2016 Prompt: Cas is put in charge of getting a treaty with a neighboring country that shares a lot of the same customs, including Accessories, with certain... twists (think Bracelets AU) and treats their personal slaves (like Accessories) like people (listening to opinions, giving proper care, etc.). The foreign diplomats keep bringing that up and talking to Dean. Cas isn't sure he can make it though the diplomatic proceedings. Also, he might be having improper thoughts about that custom and Dean...

I’m posting this here, but I’m definitely keeping this filed elsewhere because it’s FANTASTIC.

Halo!anon submitted: June 4th 2018 I can’t help but imagine how tickling must play a part in other aspects of society in the accessor ‘verse, besides the sessions between master and accessory. So here’s some imagines and headcanons, with a touch of worldbuilding. (Warnings, besides the usual for this AU: death mention, reference to past trauma.)

- Among the high class, during parties and other celebrations, it’s seen as a common courtesy to string up one’s personal accessory in the center of the room and let the guests entertain themselves with them. Lord Castiel never does this with Dean, much to his fellow nobles’ disappointment; the mere suggestion had Dean quaking as things he’d rather forget came back to bite him.

- Every so often, a petty criminal(the poor man’s accessory, if you will) is placed in stocks in a small town’s square and left at the mercy of the very people they used to menace. What happens next usually involves honey, some sheep, and plenty of begging. A guard stands by to warn people, “No hurting, only tickling. Everyone please wait your turn, they’re not going anywhere any time soon.”

- Certain monastic healers perform tickle therapy as a treatment for anxiety, stress, and other “diseases of the soul”, as they call them. Balthazar himself proposed the idea, because of course he did. The rich usually indulge in this kind of therapy secretly, due to its undignified nature. Some contemplate the possibility of training accessories to tickle in the future, but it’s still a big taboo.

- Every town has a folktale about a tickle monster. Curiously, many of them involve controlling plants and attacking through dreams. The southern communities still have a giggle remembering that one time six years ago when Michael offered to hunt down one such monster and came back with Crowley, a sleazy drunkard with a fetish and a dream, sitting in a cage and wearing a mask.

- The Masters sisters, Lillith, Meg and Ruby, have a long history with law enforcement. Their favorite pastime is snatching unlucky merchants off the roads and tickling them into coughing up everything they have. Everyone is sure they had a hand in Fergus"Crowley" Macleod’s untimely demise by ferocious attack hounds, but they’re very good at covering their tracks. They’ll help you cover up your tracks too, if you’re a friend- ask Bela Talbot.

I might make a second part if I get any more ideas. I hope you enjoyed this! -Halo!anon.

I am very fond of you indeed, Halo!anon. These are so creative!

hypahticklish submitted: July 24th 2018 Accessor!Ideas:

~ Gabriel leads a furious rant regarding Prince Lucifer/Sam to Castiel, relating back to perhaps dealings he has directly had with the Prince between their two unstable-yet-truced Kingdoms. Castiel relates with similar views shared by Gehenna’s councilor(s).

~ Dean and Sam BM where the audience learns more about their homevillage. Dean starts it after a rather morose remark from Sam and ends with Sammy smiling and stealing my heart.

~ Balthazar helps Sam in several ways: 1) Learns the Sam was originally a psuedo-Advocates apprentice, as well as herbalist nephew when Sam identifies the components to some salves/medicines he’s making (he had been explaining what he was doing in an attempt to spare himself being attacked like the first couple times) 2) Calls Sam out on being intelligent and making a recklessly stupid choice by selling himself to find Dean. 3) Removes Lucifers mark. And maybe perhaps: 4) Allows Sam to assist in his own healing/medicine making under his careful observation, feigned as needing two sets of hands to do correctly and his assistant was running an errand, to assess his skills. 5) Offer he work in the hospice under him, apprenticing, should Gabriel allow his intelligence not go to waste. It’s not what Sam really wants to do/learn, but it’s better than doing nothing.

~Dean officially thanks Castiel for saving Sam. I’m talking full feels, single man tear sorta thing. And Castiel says “there was never another option” and then its schmoopy sweet with the kisses and the tickles and the Cas saying he loves Dean back!!!!!!!! swoon.

~ Kali!Likes!Sam’s!Spirit! Give me a dinner scene with Gabriel, Kali and Sam where hes holding his own in a diplomatic conversation with them when he nearly crosses a line (maybe something classist? Making it clear that Cas and Gabe are the exception to his experiences) and she says “I like this ones fire. He reminds me of you, my love.” *grabby hands*

~ Prince Lucifer sends a message to Gabriel requesting (threatening) his Helpmate be returned to him for a handsome reward. Sam somehow sees letter and gets spooked because DRAMA. Gabriel responds to Lucifer with the Chief Advocate equivalent of “Fuck Off”

You, my friend. YOU. All these feelings about Sam? Top-notch, and I shall be borrowing them, yes I shall.

---

Regarding #android!Cas:

hypahticklish said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas deciding today is the DAY. Dean has been teasing him lately that he likes these strange sensations that have him using all his back-up generated power to not accidentally break Dean's bones and challenging him with that cocky smirk and relaxed confidence. Android!Cas practicing during time while Dean rests with holding objects with similar density to the human wrists with enough gentle force that they neither fracture or slip from his grasp. Android!Cas surprising Dean by turning the tables and pinning his wrists over his head while settling himself on Dean's thighs. Android!Cas not necessarily tickling at first so much as just touching like he had been wanting to so as to catalog how his best friend feels with his new technology. Android!Cas feeling that bubble of FEELS in his chest as he listens to Dean swear at him with positive physical actions negating his harsh words, growing more amused as the bubbling giggles begin. I love Android!Cas

Anonymous said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas figures out his own strength comes in handy for more than just retaining himself during tickle fights. When he surprises Dean, Dean tends to squirm and fight back a little (even though he told Cas to get him back as part of the experience), so Cas uses his strength to gently hold Dean down while ticking him. Dean's never been held immobile before so it's a new experience for him, but he ends up liking it. Cas notices how Dean relaxes into his hold after a minute or so. Cas doesn't fail to use this knowledge about Dean, coming up with teasing words and methods of ticking to make Dean all squirmy and giggly, taking special notice of how light tickles effect Dean even more than most other touches, using that specially designed soft brush meant to gently clean Cas' delicate computer chips.

Anonymous said: February 17th 2016 I'm joining in on the Android!Cas thing, if not too late. Perhaps Android!Cas has detachable parts, like a foot, and Dean is a jerk and runs off and hides with it all the while tickling it and making fun of Android!Cas's increasingly desperate attempts to get it back.

Y’all, careful deliberate curious determined ‘ler Cas is LIFE. And, reserved confused helpless adorable ‘lee Cas is also life. Detachable and extensible parts are probably key to both of these things.

---

Regarding current personal circumstances:

Anonymous said: January 14th 2020 I pray that you’re able to find peace during this difficult time. You are loved more than you will ever know. I know it’s hard to believe, but there will come a time that you are thankful for this experience, because it will have turned you into the person you are truly meant to be. Be strong and be hopeful. Keep your faith and keep knowing that you are going to be okay. Don’t let this dark time destroy the magnificent light inside of you. Sending you so much love

Anonymous said: January 17th 2020 I’m so sorry you’re struggling. Hang in there! We’re all here for you!

Anonymous said: February 11th 2020 all my love, thoughts and prayers are going towards you right now. also wanted to just drop a little thank you note in your inbox for all the light and joy i've found in your fics over the years. im sitting half way through my first year at uni currently but ive been a fan of yours since early highschool and i feel like ive almost grown up with your writing and fanfics in a strange way, so thank you so much for that. sending all my love to you once again- you are so strong x

I love you all so much.

#blog maintenance #ask #you people are too kind #prompt #Accessor 'verse #android!Cas

9 notes · View notes

fierce-swan · 4 years

Text

Hi everyone!

I’m back on Tumblr, though I’ll be posting rather sporadically.

I’ve also made two side blogs, mostly just so I can sort my posts better.

So, here’s a run-down of what each blog will contain:

-Odette0803: funny stuff, science, and-most importantly—fandom (the typical geek fandoms, plus Broadway fandom stuff).

[I’m attempting to go through my old posts on this main blog in order to move the applicable posts to their respective new side-blogs, but this is long and tedious and may never be complete.]

-Fierce-Swan: mostly “political” type stuff, including feminism, LGBTQIA+, and some rants about religion (I am a Follow of Christ, but don’t confuse me with judgmental US Christianity)

-AmiableSwan: my “aesthetic” blog: mental health, travel, ballet, and “faerie” stuff (animals, pretty things, fashion, and nature)

Feel free to follow those, but they’re mostly there for my own use, so if you’d rather not, I’m totally fine with that!

Hope all of you are well, and I’m super excited to be back amongst you all!

Lots of love,

Odette

#me #about me #odette0803 #fierce-swan #AmiableSwan #others #other blogs #side blogs #about my blogs

2 notes · View notes

odette0803 · 4 years

Text

Hi everyone!

I’m back on Tumblr, though I’ll be posting rather sporadically.

I’ve also made two side blogs, mostly just so I can sort my posts better.

So, here’s a run-down of what each blog will contain:

Odette0803: funny stuff, science, and-most importantly—fandom (the typical geek fandoms, plus Broadway fandom stuff).

[I’m attempting to go through my old posts on this main blog in order to move the applicable posts to their respective new side-blogs, but this is long and tedious and may never be complete.]

-Fierce-Swan: mostly “political” type stuff, including feminism, LGBTQIA+, and some rants about religion (I am a Follower of Christ, but don’t confuse me with judgmental US Christianity)

-AmiableSwan: my “aesthetic” blog: mental health, travel, ballet, and “faerie” stuff (animals, pretty things, fashion, and nature)

Feel free to follow those, but they’re mostly there for my own use, so if you’d rather not, I’m totally fine with that!

Hope all of you are well, and I’m super excited to be back amongst you all!

Lots of love,

Odette

#me #about me #odette0803 #fierce-swan #AmiableSwan #side blogs #others #about my blogs

3 notes · View notes

zardoru · 4 years

Text

A Dragon Fan Takes A Pernese Dragon Ride

I’m not sure where to start.

I’ve lately been reading the Pern series. A phenomenon that back in 1999 had a whole track in DragonCon called the Weyrfest, back when fandom was something that you had to get out of your way to get to. But more importantly, it’s a series written by Anne McCaffrey that has a writing style that I loathe, but that has masterful worldbuilding, stories, and ideas that changed the face of fantasy -- even considering that technically, the series is science fantasy, not fantasy! I’m not going to give you details as to why, so that that statement makes you curious.

I’m what you would call a modern dragon fan. Love ‘em. The variety, the personalities, power, flight, you name it, there’s just so much to love! With series such as Wings of Fire, How To Train Your Dragon, or Temerarie there’s no shortage of series that put dragons front and center as heroes and sensible characters that you can relate to rather than humongous beasts to be killed. I can’t really explain my obsession with dragons, but my friends can bear witness to it, to my potential chagrin. I’ve written OC-based fanfiction in the Wings of Fire universe, and am, at the time of writing, doing my own original story with a dragon protagonist.

So as such, I had heard of how Pern had been a Harry Potter equivalent of like, 1967, where people pretended to bond with a dragon (called Impressing in the Pernese world) or fire lizards, small, feisty and chittering wyrms, doing the duties of musicians called Harpers, or Holders, the masters of the land, or Riders that fought the quintessential threat of the world of Pern, called Thread. I had to give the series a shot, if only to see what people had been enamored with and how it paved the way for me, a modern dragon fan, as well as understanding the treaded tropes of yesteryear in my quest to write more about dragons.

I don’t mean to review the books as much as talking a bit about notable aspects of the series as a whole. At the time of writing, I’ve only completed the original trilogy, Harper’s Hall, Moreta and Nerilka’s story, plus the epilogue that is Beyond Between.

There’s a few notable aspects. The series gives a great deal of importance to the intimacy between Rider and Dragon through a highly prominent narration of the acts of intercourse that occur among dragons -- of which the rider is not only witness, but a remote participant, even living the events through the eyes and scales of their mostly intelligent partner. Anne doesn’t describe the processes of linked minds, that is, the experience of their ability to have a transparent mind to each other, though it is stated that both parts of the relationship simply know how the other feels. This has led to a joke of lovingly nicknaming the series Dragonriders of Porn.

Of course, not only a special group of people are able to join in the magic; fire lizards, basically small dragons, also Impress. That means that most common people of Pern has a chance to have the experience of being friends with a small dragon. You can probably see the appeal of that.

The intelligence of dragons and fire lizards isn’t equivalent to that of a human, but they’re not animalistic either. It’s somewhere in between, though fire lizards are incapable of communicating verbally; not that they can’t communicate at all! Both fire lizard and dragon eyes change color according to how they feel.

I don’t want to spoil all of the details of the worldbuliding, because you don’t really fall in love with the characters. Not quite. You fall in love with the world, and getting to know it, and the experiences of the people that live in it, is the appeal of most of the books. Not to mention that it is expansive enough to warrant a huge wiki!

Unfortunately, the series doesn’t have a dragon protagonist. It is mainly about the humans that inhabit Pern. But rejoice, Wings of Fire was a series inspired by inverting this choice, so it is not all bad. That said, it doesn’t make the series any less valuable for those fans that love the idea of good dragon characters. Give The White Dragon a chance. Ruth, the deuteragonist, is the titular White Dragon, and happens to be exemplary, and particularly disinterested in the frisky activities of his peers. Wink. Or give Moreta a chance, where the interactions between Moreta and her dragon Orlith are quite special, appearing almost as lovers.

It can be tedious at times. Not really because of what happens, but because of the choice of vocabulary and style, and long winded paragraphs of relentless description that may have you searching the words febrifuge, perfidy, zestful, or paroxysm. Give me some credit if these are common words, though, English is my second language! Not that any of my friends have ever used any of those words.

The series starts rough. Dragonflight was originally separate stories rolled into one. To say “it shows” is as tautological as being redundant, dealing with the fall of a villain, the impression, and Lessa’s um, heroics, to be as loose as possible, should you decide to read it. Dragonquest underwent heavy rewriting, and while some scenes were incredible (Brekke! My heart! You deserved better!) the main theme of the conflict between the old ways and the new ways was not particularly appealing to me.

Apparently, some details become contradictory. I have not read carefully enough for any of these details to jump at me. That said, the Harpers Hall series, particularly the first two books, are beyond excellent if you want an introduction, dealing with the struggles of Menolly, fighting against the idea that ladies were not meant to be Harpers. The third one is weaker, but can still be a welcome addition. If you want to reference something from these books, let it be Piemur’s love of fresh-out-of-the-oven bubbly pies. Wink again.

At the time, the Pern series was fairly progressive, though there’s a few modern sensitivities that don’t quite agree with some parts of the first book especially, having a hero considering the um, forceful relationship (exaggerate that in your head to its logical conclusion) he wanted to give to Lessa after their dragons “flew,” an euphemism for things you can probably imagine.

The views Anne had on homosexuality were, uh, not ideal, and I’ll skip over them, but given the circumstances, they do exist in Pern. They are treated fairly and have become the riders of female dragons that were not originally engineered to allow for that to be the case. There’s bi riders as well. There’s a notable absence of Trans representation, but given the time it was written in… I believe Anne would’ve liked for everyone to be comfortable in Pern, hardships and all. Reach out to me if you’ve got thoughts on this.

For Anne, the series had begun as an attempt to have empowered women and good dragons. It started a phenomenon, and her son, Todd, said she “first set dragons free on Pern and then was herself freed by her dragons,” due to the financial success and stability it brought her. I must admit that as someone that is trying to turn an obsession into stories, Pern is a reflection of the hope I have that perhaps one day I might write something for other dragon fans that will touch their imaginations. One day…

Of course, I also think Pern’s also significantly contributed to the overall idea that fantasy, as a genre, is extremely horny under the surface. I don’t know what to add to this idea that would be productive, but if you read it, you’ll probably know why.

Wow! That’s a lot of words. I haven’t even gone into the details of the stories or the blog Anne kept where she kept a very welcoming and warm disposition to the Pern fandom, not only endorsing fan activities, but even giving guidelines as to how to perform them respectfully, praising the lengths that people had taken Pern to, saying that she herself couldn’t have ever matched it. Nor talked about my favourite characters, which, again, I kin Ruth. Sorry kids, he’s taken. But if I may take away something from all this, it would be that Pern has cemented a special place in my heart, right under the thatching and walls that Wings of Fire put up for me, inspiring me to read once more.

Maybe it will, or it already has in yours too.

#writing #pern #dragons #fantasy #writers

6 notes · View notes

starr--kid · 4 years

Text

Day 1

First of all, this site is beautiful. I’ve never been on it, the most I’ve seen are reposts on Instagram. There’s a little ‘tags’ option at the bottom of this box. I didn’t know you could tag things on tumblr. I thought that was an Instagram thing.

I avoided this site throughout middle school. Not because I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, because I thought I’d love it too much. I was really into fandom culture back then, like I think all middle schoolers were. I don’t think it’s something I regret. I think children need to experience that, though a horrible, toxic, mess it may in fact be. I think subconsciously I knew it wasn’t good for me. That if I got a tumblr and started writing about Doctor Who, I’d drive myself into madness.

I know the stereotype for this site’s users is the annoying, liberal, depressed girl talking about her feelings. And I’m not going to deny that I’m any of those things. I am all of those things. And I think people don’t want to be associated with that, and I don’t blame them, but. I like clichés. They’re comforting.

Basically, I’m starting this blog because I am, in fact, depressed. I know everyone is, and I’m not trying to say that my depression is a big deal, because I honestly think it isn’t. It’s not a small deal, either. It’s just a deal, one I’ve been dealt.

But I thought I was doing better, and I am not, I think, doing better. And that would be fine, except for the fact that I’ve got a life. And I’ve got a therapist. At first, she told me I was relapsing, and it comforted me. She told me that recovery isn’t a linear street and I believe her. But there are a lot of things that I feel like are going wrong and I have no idea what’s actually going wrong, or what isn’t really going wrong, or what I can do to fix what is going wrong. I feel lost, and I feel scared, and I feel tired.

My therapist told me to start a journal, which was actually a great idea. When I was little, the only thing I ever found any identity in was books. There were other things, too- art, science, music, all of which are equally as important to me, but literature was my first love. I kept a consistent diary from the ages of seven to eleven, and I still wrote when I was twelve, but. A big change happened when I was twelve, and a week before thanksgiving, I tried to kill myself.

I haven’t told my parents. And I haven’t told my therapist, because I think she’d tell my parents. But that big change kind of kicked off my depression from a dormant thing into frightfully active. I was never the so called ‘tumblr girl’ about it, outright denied I was depressed until the end of my freshman year of high school. But I mean, my dad’s depressed. My mom has depression and anxiety. My (little) sister had chronic insomnia until she hit puberty and I’m keeping an eye out for her, but she seems fine now.

But I digress- my dad tells me I do that a lot, but I just feel like I have a lot to say. Basically, I was told to start a journal. This is not, obviously, a journal. I would’ve, but it was a combination of feeling like I was wasting paper and killing trees, the fact that physically writing takes ages longer than typing and, most importantly, feeling like I was yelling my heart out into a fucking void, that I decided to get something somewhat public. Not, like, SUPER public, like tell-all-the-people-in-my-life public, because the people that need to know do, and everyone else just doesn’t need to know. But I needed something public to the extent that I felt heard, but anonymous so that if my best friend does stumble upon my blog, she’ll have no idea it’s me.

Anyways, my public journal, that I may or may not be keeping up with- Hi. My tumblr name is ladystarrlight because I love stars. My icon is the andromeda galaxy because it’s my favorite, my background is purple because it’s also my favorite. I’m depressed, and I need to tell someone about it. For now, to the general masses of the infinite internet, you, are my someone.

#journal #writing #feelings #depression

1 note · View note

bills-pokedex · 5 years

Text

Pokémon Ask Blogs: A Guide

{Also, on the back of the “don’t send in fetishy stuff” post, allow me to offer up a few tips on creating your own Pokémon Expert Ask Blog. Yes, there’s a story behind why this is related to the “don’t send in fetishy stuff” post. Tl;dr, don’t powergame, kids.

Aaaaaanyway, so you want to make your own Pokémon Expert Ask Blog! Starting up might sound like it’ll be a daunting task, but it’s pretty easy once you get the basics down.

Tip #1: Start Writing, and Do It Persistently

The granddaddy of all rules when it comes to text-based blogs: ya need content. Like, a lot of it. Tumblr’s always worked against authors, no matter what field you’re in. It’s just a natural fact of life that text posts get fewer notes and less attention than photos or art, so in order to gain traction, you’re going to have to be super-consistent and super-persistent with what you’re doing. And don’t worry about writing a mini novel or anything; a lot of blogs get along just fine with only a short paragraph or two per post.

You will not have a crapton of notes on every post when you start out, and sometimes, it can take months before you get anywhere. To give you an idea, I really don’t think this blog gained traction until about six months to a year in. (Granted, some people have gotten traction faster, but remember: those people aren’t everyone. And also, don’t compare your numbers to the numbers other people pull in. That’s a good way to burn yourself out.)

Finally, queues. Whenever possible, queue content. For example, if you know you’re going to have a lot of free time on a Sunday, consider writing up multiple posts and putting them all in queue so you’ll have something for Monday onwards.

Tip #2: Tags Are a Blogger’s Best Friend

Remember: the first five tags on your post are the tags your post will show up under, so use that to your advantage. Tag your post with the pokémon that you’re focusing on, as well as well-traveled tags like “pokemon headcanons.” The pokémon is especially important because you’ll be surprised how many fans every single one has, and some folks are dying for content, seriously.

You will, without a doubt, pull most of your readers through tags when you first start to gain traction. Yes, even more so than relying on your mutuals or sending your OC off to interact with others. Sure, the latter of those two sources can help, but there’s simply a bigger market out in the tag cloud.

Tip #3: Google Is Also a Blogger’s Best Friend

So you want to play a professor or pokémon expert, but you’re a college student who’s not even majoring in a science to begin with. No problem! You can 100% fudge it with the power of Google! Research everything you don’t know to the best of your ability.

A few protips on this, by the by:

* Academic websites and papers are usually the most reliable, and they’re not as intimidating to read as one might think. This is followed by news websites, of course, but be careful about which news website. BBC, CNN, local news stations, local papers = yes; Clearly Right Wing Term News = no.

* Don’t be afraid of zoo websites, government websites, well-funded organization websites (except PETA probably), magazines, and blogs run by vets or animal experts, either. (Yes, even if the latter sometimes look like they still think it’s 2006.)

* Contrary to what high school teachers might have you believe, Wikipedia’s science articles are actually pretty solid. No one wants to vandalize the wiki entry for an extinct marmoset, but you know who is editing that? Experts who want to talk about extinct marmosets. Also, most articles on the stuff you’ll probably need to put together an answer will have a mountain of sources to verify that, yes, everything on that page is by and large accurate.

Tip #4: It’s Okay to Fudge It

When in doubt, fudge it. As in, be creative with your science! It’s your blog, so do what you want! And anyway, this is a universe where a toddler-sized rodent can generate thousands of volts of electricity, so why should anyone stop you? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Just remember to keep your canon straight. Nothing’s more awkward than accidentally retconning stuff.

Still, word of caution about this: while the majority of your readers might not know the difference, some do, and if you’re writing a pokémon expert blog, you will probably end up getting mansplained to. It’s best to just roll with it or find creative ways to incorporate those corrections into your work. If all else fails ... limit who can reply to your posts.

Tip #5: Don’t Be a Dick

Soooooo ... powergaming.

To put it in short, that’s the act of deciding for other RPers what their actions will be—or, in a sense, playing their characters. With ask/headcanon blogs, it’s a little fuzzier what that would mean because ask/headcanon blogs feature a character talking about their entire world, but usually, it means deciding for someone else what is and isn’t canon to their blog—or, in other words, sending in-character asks that contradict explicit canon of another player’s blog or that would otherwise not fit with the way that player has designed their universe. A lot of players will let this slide, but it’s still really hella awkward to suddenly be face-to-face with a character who's asking about something that’s technically impossible for your world.

But more importantly, let’s talk about advertising. Do not use someone else’s blog to advertise yours, especially if you’re powergaming to do it. That’s kinda not cool.

Or to clarify, it’s okay to send in-character asks. That’s perfectly fine so long as you’ve read up on the canon you’re about to send or so long as you send the player a message, asking if it’s cool first. It is also okay to send in an ask to the effect of, “Hey, I just started this blog; could you promo me?” or a message to the effect of, “Hey, I have this idea; can we RP it between our characters?” The first instance involves you going out of your way to fit into the player’s universe, which then ensures that they have control over the content that they’re posting to their own blog. The second instance involves you actually going out and seeking permission to co-create content with the other player.

What is not okay is violating a blog’s canon or a player’s boundaries.

So for example, let’s say that Bill posts something like, “Komala eat coconuts.” It’s not okay to have your character go into that post, reblog or reply to it, and say, “Well, actually, komala hate coconuts, and here is a story involving my character that illustrates how this komala they know dislikes coconuts.” This is basically taking control of what is and isn’t canon according to Bill’s player.

Likewise, while it’s probably okay to send in an ask to the effect of, “Komala eat coconuts; I know this because I have a story about komala” (although please ask first or otherwise check to make sure it’s not violating canon first!), if Bill says, “No, actually, they really don’t like coconuts,” then it’s canon in that universe that komala do not like coconuts. If you really want komala to like coconuts in this case, please make a post to your own blog about it. Do not reblog Bill’s answer.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is this: a player has the last say in what is and isn’t canon on their own askblog. Period. Underlined.

Tip #6: Yes, You CAN Roleplay with Yourself

It’s also worth it to note that not every blog has to start out directly RPing with another blog. Yes, you can write independently! Granted, yes, not everyone wants to, but my point is that if your first post can just be you posting your own thoughts on the way the Pokémon world works. That and not everyone interacts with other blogs all the time. In fact, this blog got its start just making shitposts in the guise of pokédex entries not because I really wanted to RP but instead because I was trying to make myself laugh by posting as Bill. And for the most part, it’s still that; because the canon is so different compared to fanon and because this is a sideblog, I don’t really send Bill or Lanette out to interact with other people unless someone tags this blog in something.

That isn’t to say I’m not open to it or that everyone has to be like me; it’s more saying that it’s okay if all you do at first is construct a story for yourself on your own blog. If your character and the world they live in is interesting to the rest of the fandom, people absolutely will stop by because people either love hearing about their favorite pokémon, or they love hearing about how this one scenario they’ve thought up will play out in someone else’s world. So don’t sweat it if you find yourself talking to the void for a long period of time.

If anything, consider it freedom because in space, no one can hear you yeeting actual canon out the window.

Tip #7: Yeet That Canon

Final tip: The more you think about Pokémon canon the less it makes sense. It’s just ... it’s just like that. So yes, it’s okay to treat canon like some sort of all-you-can eat buffet where no one’s going to judge you for putting the hot fudge sundae toppings on a slice of pizza. Pick and choose whatever canon you want or disregard it all. Take your blog and run with it. Eat that pizza with hot fudge sundae toppings, you absolute animal.

And most of all, best of luck!}

#from the mun #long post #pokemon ask blog #professor ask blog

14 notes · View notes

coopdigitalnewsletter · 5 years

Text

8 Oct 2019: The AI will interview you now. Uber work. Amazon rumours. Facebook leak.

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it looks at what's happening in the internet/digital world and how it's relevant to the Co-op, to retail businesses, and most importantly to people, communities and society. Thank you for reading - send ideas and feedback to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

[Image: Bladerunner fandom]

The AI will interview you now

Face recognition technology and AI is being used in job interviews in the UK “to identify the best candidates”, says the Telegraph. Unilever and other use HireVue’s AI to

“analyse the language, tone and facial expressions of candidates when they are asked a set of identical job questions which they film on their mobile phone or laptop. The algorithms select the best applicants by assessing their performances in the videos against about 25,000 pieces of facial and linguistic information compiled from previous interviews of those who have gone on to prove to be good at the job.”

It’s not doing face recognition, it’s doing behaviour recognition. Something like: “These facial and speech behaviours are correlated with the interviewee being a good employee - thumbs up, +4 career points”.

It’s natural that this feels a bit wrong because humans are unique and special, right? In truth though, they are bound by fairly predictable behaviours, and really it’s not that hard to have a computer watch the face of a human and make judgements. It’s science you can trust, and in fact it weeds out bias because the machine doesn’t care, unlike a human interviewer who’ll bring loads of messy biases. So it’s a good thing, it’s progress.

Oh sorry wait, it’s a science you can trust as long as the data the machine learning model was trained on was large and unbiased. And as long as none of the interviewees look different to the ones in the training data. And as long as the machine learning doesn’t inadvertently amplify any systemic biases in the hiring organisation’s practices (or Hirevue itself’s). And as long as interviewees can meaningfully give consent to be catalogued by a machine. And as long as no discrimination law is being broken by having the computer say no. And as long as some job applicants aren’t freaked out by being video-interviewed by a Voight-Kampff machine.

Here the newsletterbot is guilty of bias: it believes humans to be sufficiently complex that it will be hard to effectively “machine learn” the problem that is organisations, their people, their culture, their politics, the webs of motivations and incentives, their jobs and the humans that might potentially fit well.

Still, HireVue says they’re serious about ethical and accurate machine learning, so fingers crossed 😬. An interesting read on video interviews. YouTube is full of videos about how to do well in a HireVue video interview, here’s one. Watching them, you’re struck by the asymmetry: the machine and later an employer watching your interview video, but you seeing nothing except the questions and the webcam’s black eye. So interviewing would be perhaps be a bit fairer if the employer also had 30 seconds to consider and 3 minutes to answer on camera the interviewee’s questions.

Unrelated, but relevant because it’s about bias and how it and power are inadvertently expressed in technology: “Google contractors allegedly offered darker-skinned homeless people $5 dollar gift cards to scan their faces for facial recognition software”.

Uber work

Uber’s temp agency platform, Uber Work has launched in Chicago. The company says: “We believe that finding work shouldn’t have to be a job in itself. For positions as diverse as being a prep cook, warehouse worker, a commercial cleaner or event staff, Uber Works aims to make it easier to find and claim a shift.”

Here’s a fictional look at temp workers in 2023, and hopefully Uber Works doesn’t nudge work in that direction. Something that empowers shift workers is a better model: “crowdsourcing information about what it’s really like to work somewhere, turning it into recommendations about employers that could be better for you” (from plucky UK startup Poplar).

Elsewhere, a successful taxi co-op: “A worker owned taxi coop in Southend has grown from 6 to 70 drivers. They repaid all their investors and returned £3000 to their members last year. The same year Uber left the area after failing to compete with them.”

Amazon rumours

Amazon to sell its Go technology to airports, cinemas, sports venues? Interesting if true - eventually there would be a tension between the platform and the grocery businesses (see also: Ocado in 2017ish).

Amazon is said to be hiring property experts in UK.

Similar rumour: but in Los Angeles. A dozen leases have been signed in Los Angeles, reports the Wall St journal. 7 burning questions about Amazon's new grocery chain.

Facebook leak: trust deficit internally?

A Facebooker leaked audio of an all-team Zuckermeet. The media reported it as FB boss Zuckerberg saying he’d fight (too) hard against politicians etc, but the transcript suggests that his comments were actually fairly standard stuff. This story is more notable for the fact that an employee recorded and leaked the meeting - growing cultural/trust deficit internally, perhaps?

Cryptocurrency news

Paypal has pulled out of the Facebook-led Libra cryptocurrency consortium, saying that it’s not you Libra it’s me. Rumours: Mastercard and Visa aren’t so sure either.

Police auctioned off £240,000 of cryptocurrency confiscated from a hacker - if it had been a confiscated 3 Series with a spoiler kit and spinner rims you’d have expected to be able to snag a good deal, but money’s money so maybe there wasn’t a discount in this case.

“The pain in my jaw from holding just one cryptocurrency had reduced me to an all-liquid diet. I was not cut out to be a trader.” - a good piece on the subsistence lives of small-scale cryptocurrency traders (also a decent backgrounder on cryptocurrencies).

Other news

How grocery pickup is evolving - supermarkets trying to make click-n-collect faster.

Supreme Court hands victory to blind man who sued Domino's over website accessibility - see previous story on this.

Climate Action Tech: “empower technology professionals to play our part - to meet, discuss, learn and take climate action” - needed because the tech industry uses a lot of energy.

No good urban ebike deed goes unpunished. “Horrible. One good deed rewarded with a scary blend of the so-called sharing economy, the commercialisation of communal spaces, and authoritarian surveillance capitalism, all sugared with the unbearable style of wackaging. May every dockless bike and scooter scheme go bust as soon as possible.”

Workshop tactics for agile teams - looks good.

Job ad for Ocado developers is neatly placed in the website’s code.

Previous newsletters:

Most opened newsletter in the last month: competing with Amazon Go. Most clicked story: Why don’t we just call agile what it is: feminist.

News 1 year ago: curated convenience and paying with your data.

News 2 years ago: eGovernment (single digital market) and first mile logistics (Amazon keeping inventory in retailer warehousing).

Co-op Digital news and events

What the data and feedback show about 3 digital services in our Food stores.

Public events:

Manchester WordPress User Group - Wed 16 Oct 6.30pm at Federation House.

Tech for Good Live vs the climate crisis - Thu 17 Oct 6.30pm at Federation House.

Business Growth Hub - Moving your business forward - Mon 21 Oct 12pm at Federation House.

Meet the expert - marketing approach - Tue 22 Oct 12pm at Federation House.

Meet the expert - hints and tricks on social media - Wed 23 Oct 1pm at Federation House.

Human values in software production - Tue 5 Nov 6pm at Federation House.

Practitioners Forum: vital lessons for key co-operators - Thu 7 Nov at the Studio, Manchester.

Pods Up North , an event for podcasters - Sat 23 Nov 9am at Federation House.

Mind the Product - MTP Engage - Fri 7 Feb 2020 - you can get early bird tickets now.

Internal events:

Digital all hands - Wed 9 Oct 1pm at Fed House Defiant.

Co-operate show & tell - Wed 9 Oct 3pm at Fed House 6th floor kitchen.

Food ecommerce show & tell - Mon 14 Oct 10.15am at Fed House 5th floor.

Delivery community of practice - Mon 14 Oct 1.30pm.

What has the web team been up to? - Tue 15 Oct 1.30pm at Fed House 5th floor.

Health show & tell - Tue 15 Oct 2.30pm at Fed House 5th floor.

Engineering community of practice - Wed 16 Oct 1pm at fed House Defiant.

Targeted marketing (CRM) show & tell - Wed 16 Oct 3pm at Angel Square 13th floor breakout area.

Membership show & tell - Fri 18 Oct 3pm at Fed House 6th floor kitchen.

More events at Federation House - and you can contact the events team at [email protected]. And TechNW has a useful calendar of events happening in the North West.

Thank you for reading

Thank you, beloved readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to the newsletterbot’s word gardener @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading, please tell a friend!

If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

1 note · View note