#though anyone who has looked at my blog in the past month already knows who I'm talking about.

[running-in-the-dark]

a super fun thing that my brain is really good at is hearing a random fact and remembering it forever. but only if it's bad :)

#the reason I'm thinking about that right now: I wish I had never read that having a crease on your earlobe means you're more likely to have #heart disease. #scared me so much that I read a whole paper about it #but it's been years now so I don't remember the details #just that that's a thing apparently #and guess what my brain does with that information? oh yeah of course I have to obsessively look at the ears of everyone now! does that #do anything helpful? nope! just makes me very very anxious :) #it's just like when I was a kid and I got nightmares about scurvy every time I didn't eat a potato for a week. #like. wow I could be so smart and everything if my brain wasn't constantly focused on random bullshit that is completely irrelevant 😭 #also this thing specifically: I've always been weirdly fascinated by ears and this made that a million times worse and also very scary. #like ooh that's a nice ear :) oh no death exists and this person is going to die and #yeah it sucks. #specifically choosing not to mention any names in this context because my god this shit is on my mind all the time already I really don't #need to say it where anyone can see #it's embarrassing enough #though anyone who has looked at my blog in the past month already knows who I'm talking about. #like. I really shouldn't allow myself to like anyone over the age of like. idk 45. #it's so unbelievably exhausting. #but annnyway I'm totally normal and fine :) #oh yeah I also have creases on my earlobes lol so that definitely added to the scariness (and THEN my mother randomly mentioned recently #that EVERYONE on her side of the family had/has heart disease. bitch WHAT the fuck. anyway so yeah guess we know what's gonna kill me #haha isn't that fun :) ) #ALSO the fact that my memory is very very bad means that I remember absolutely none of the details about shit like this. so it could very #well be completely irrelevant and harmless but i wouldn't remember that part. #and I think even if I found out more it wouldn't help. it's been an obsession for so long. I've never had one go away that I've had for #this long. so. guess I'm just fucked. #personal

[cosmicjoke]

Just adding this on, but this isn't an attempt on my part or an encouragement to harass these people, though I'm sure everyone reading this already knows that. Just a means of letting others know who's behind at least some of the harassment lately.

Alright, well, here comes the call-out post that I promised anon. Have fun with it, I guess. It's about to get long, folks. A group of @tsuki-no-ura followers, who's been obviously vague posting about me for months at this point, specifically targeting every topic I discuss on my blog by making counterarguments to it on their blog, even though I never directed any of my analysis posts or anything else at them, nor has anything I've ever written been in direct response to anything they've written, is certainly behind at least some of the harassment. And other than the times I've tried having conversations with tsuki in the past, when I used to follow them, and wanted to discuss their posts with them, which almost always went ignored, I haven't at all addressed them or made reference to them, either implied or specifically, in any of my analysis posts. I only made reference to them a few weeks back when I found out that they'd essentially said my defense of Levi's violence was tantamount to Nazism, which I wasn't going to let stand. That's the only time I've ever directly referenced them. And yet, every time I make an analysis post, a counterargument to it magically appears on their blog the same day or a few days later, something that was brought to my attention by a mutual of mine. I had no idea until a couple weeks ago that this was happening, because I stopped following them more than a year ago, and only just recently blocked them. But they're obviously stalking me. And, inevitably, every time they do this, a slew of anon hate messages get sent, both to me and various other blogs that I follow, or that follow me. This isn't a coincidence:

@clearavenuelover, @66honeybadgers, and I'm sure various other of their groupies, are the ones almost assuredly largely behind the anonymous attacks on Levi blogs over the last, several months. They start out with their passive-aggressive bullshit, and eventually, of course, it turns to outright hostility, because that's just who these people are. @clearavenuelover purposefully tagged me in one of tsuki's posts, and so obviously they're aware of their followers harassing other Levi fan blogs. This is the link to the post they tagged me and other Levi fan blogs in: https://www.tumblr.com/tsuki-no-ura/739123803956854784/okay-so-here-i-come-with-my-discourse-causing

And yet more evidence that these people all congregate in the same circles and circle-jerk each other over how they think they're "winning" some non-existent contest against me and other Levi fan blogs.

And look who liked this answer as soon as it was put up:

And here @66honeybadgers is again, name-dropping tsuki-no-ura while they continue to harass me:

And this is clearly the same douche-bag that asked me a few weeks back if I considered myself a "Levi expert", and has now, over the last two days, continued to harass me for daring to express my opinion about Levi on my own blog, dropping the "friendly" act and showing their outright hostility:

This is clear harassment from a very specific corner of the fandom, mainly, surprise, surprise, eruri shippers, or even just Erwin stans who want to make everything about him, and get angry at anyone who dares to express any different view from the ones they hold, to the point of actively seeking out and stalking our blogs, hate reading our posts, going into our inboxs and sending us anonymous hate messages, trying to cram their opinions down our throats and then getting upset when we don't listen or accept their views. And then they want to go around acting like they're all the victims. What a joke these people are. Anyway, I just thought I should make this post so that actual Levi fan blogs can know to avoid and block these assholes. I can't say if they're behind ALL of the harassment, but they're certainly behind some of it, and it's good to expose them because they're cowards, and once they've been exposed, they won't have the fucking balls to continue.

#call out post #harassment #anon hate #anon asks #you asked for it #so now you're gonna get it #have fun with your new-found fame #anon discourse #discourse #anon harassment #fandom discourse

[thelightsandtheroses]

Secret Smile: Homecoming (Chapter Ten)

Javier Peña x female reader

Summary: Before returning to Colombia to get things right this time, Javi’s childhood best friend asks him to keep an eye out for his sister while they’re both stationed in the embassy. Only you don’t need Javier to keep an eye on you. Your role as a new legal advisor is all about keeping an eye on him after all. Sparks fly, lines will be drawn and broken and there’s everything to lose.

Word Count: 2.8k Chapter Warnings - 18+ blog, passing mention of differences in familial status, slight secret relationship, discussions of dismissal/quitting jobs/workplaces and injustice, mentions of sex. Reader has a backstory and family but no physical descriptions. Notes - This has been a long time coming and for anyone still out there reading this, thank you and I hope it’s worth the wait. The past few months have been particularly tough IRL which has made writing Blue's work stresses pretty triggering and difficult and then made me weirdly superstitiuous about even opening the wip file. That said, the muse finally hit, I decided to fight my anxiety about it and here we are.

Previous | Series List | Next

You didn’t have a plan. Not really. Rather your plan was merely the rough semblance of an idea, a delicate decision tree that was completely reliant on people caring and wanting to do the right thing.  That, you realise now, may have been a mistake.

Frankly, Plan A had failed so long ago, you are probably somewhere around O or P in the alphabet now.

Whatever you had thought you would do though, it didn’t work. The best result you’ve negotiated, and one that was hard fought, is to have officially resigned, rather than be dismissed. Your time with that office and career aspirations are dead though.  

Sometimes that’s what happens. You live in a world where perhaps certain victories are pyrrhic, your heroes don’t always prevail - or, if they do, there’s a cost. It’s one you’d pay again. It was the right thing to do.

Only a sense of integrity doesn’t pay the bills or prevent awkward conversations with your family. You’re going to have move in with your parents again because Rafa won’t have room at his house. You need to think of a way to frame this to them all.

There’s been a cold spell in DC. You can feel it still ghosting the air as you take a sip of coffee, clutching the to-go cup tightly  between your hands. It’s a change to the humidity of Colombia, the familiar heat of Texas. You remember what it felt like you first moved here years ago and how novel the snow had seemed, how romantic thick jumpers and hot chocolate by a fireplace had felt.

You look over at the building ahead of you.

Javi won’t be long.

This is the last time you’ll be in front of this building, you’ve left it for the last time and that chapter of your life is truly over. You can barely remember who you were when you first stepped into those doors anyway.

You notice Javi leaving. You watch him loosen his tie as he leaves the building, making his way towards you.

“Hi,” you say gently. “All wrapped up?” You try and read any emotions on his face; whether his meetings went as smoothly as you hoped.

“All wrapped up,” Javi says, before kissing you deeply.

“Nice try to distract me,” you say, “but you didn’t tell me how it went.”

Javi groans into your neck. “Well, Spencer offered to make my resignation go away and for me to go to Mexico.”

“Mexico?” you ask, alarmed. Javi told you he couldn’t do this anymore, that he’d reached the end of his career with the DEA. Selfishly you have only just started this with him, you don’t want to  lose it yet, you don’t want a long-distance relationship just now.

“Yeah.” There’s a bitter note in his voice that signals there’s more to this, more to what was said than a simple job offer.

“What did you say?” Is it over already? Is it over before you and him even had a chance to really know what the two of you could be? Will Javi go to Mexico while you return to Laredo without a job, without him?

Practically, you will understand if he says yes. You might not agree - you don’t agree, but you won’t say that unless he expressly asks.

You steel yourself for his next words. This was just a fling, stress relief, a stress response even. It doesn’t mean anything to him. He hopes you can still be friends.

You will smile, you will agree. You will lie. 

Javi looks over at you quizzically, shifting his hand so he can entwine his fingers with yours. “I’m officially no longer a DEA employee. My - my time there is over.” 

Relief courses through you. “Oh. Are you alright?”

“Are you?” Javi asks.

You pause, leaning into Javi and his warm body. In all honesty, you’re not sure. It isn’t just the job, or loss thereof, and the way your time in Colombia bought up so many demons from before. It’s not that you’ve been directly involved, or even witnessed, the most terrifying aspects of Javi’s work or time in Colombia. It’s more that you’ve lost something.

You’ve lost that faith, that certainty in a system of justice, in checks and balances. You don’t believe like you used to. There’s this cynical edge to your thoughts, this sense of sadness and futility that justice isn’t what you thought it was.

You’re tired, burnt out and you have no clue what to do next.

But then there’s Javi.

 “I will be,” you say, pulling away from him before immediately reaching for Javi’s hand so the two of you can walk away from this building for the last time.

Together.

You thought you would show Javi the city you used to live in. There were coffeeshops, restaurants, walks you wanted to share with him. Moments to make together in this strange in-between time before you return to Laredo.

You’ve barely left your hotel room though. Restaurants were abandoned in lieu of room service fries, a club sandwich and salad. Strolls across tourist attractions have been discarded in favour of another kiss, another touch, another moment with Javi.

You tell yourself it’s because who knows when you’ll have time like this again. You tell yourself your feelings and this situation are completely under control.

Either way, the two of you are insatiable. It could be the relief of there being a firm line between Colombia and now, it could be making up for lost time.

Javi is the best thing the year has bought you so far. He makes it all worthwhile. You’re sure of that, even if the thought scares you.

You lean back against the pillow, as you try and catch your breath.

“How long do we have?” you ask.

“Until our flight?” Javi asks, kissing down your neck to your collarbone. “We need to check out in a couple of hours and then we’ve got a changeover in Dallas, but we should land before its dark.”

“Okay, I should go pee, clean up a bit,” you say, sitting up. “Water?”

“Water,” Javi confirms, placing a hand over his head as he collects himself. You like looking at him like this; the way the hotel room light hits his skin, still glistening with sweat, the look in his eyes, the way his hair is slightly undone and curls at the ends.

You get out of the bed, tugging a hotel robe around you as you walk to the bathroom. When you return, you pour two glasses of water and hand one to Javi as you sit back on the bed.

“So,” you say, before taking a sip of your water.

“So,” Javi repeats slowly, looking you over with care and concern. “Have you -” he falters.

You look at him curiously. “What, Javi?”

“Are you - are you coming back here? Or Austin? Or - are you sticking around?”

It never occurred to you. For all your anxieties about Javi leaving you for another job, you never thought he’d have the same worry about you.

“Well, the good thing is that even a town like Laredo probably needs a lawyer or two.”

“Oh, yeah?”

You nod and watch the way his face softens. His smiles are rare, but they’re so worth it. They light up his whole face, make an already attractive man even more attractive.

“I think I need a change though and maybe I can at least figure that out back in Laredo.”

“That’s good. Are you ready for this?”

You make a face. You’re starting to think you would rather spend your time grappling with legal systems and international diplomacy than this. “To move back in with my parents with no job? Oh Javi, absolutely not.”

An unwelcome thought suddenly hits you. What do you tell your families about you and Javi? It’s still so new and you’re still figuring out what any of it means. Part of you is worried that without the connection of Colombia, of work, maybe he won’t want you for much longer. Maybe it’s not enough to make something real.

“Do we tell people back home about us yet?” you ask. “I mean, do you want to? Or do we .. should we just keep this for us for a bit? Figure everything out?”

“What do you want to do, Blue?”

“I don’t know,” you reply honestly. There’s been so much change, so much anxiety. Javi’s been this amazing bubble and you know you feel something strongly for him. You know it feels like it could be something. You’re used to decision trees as a lawyer; you feel like you know where this is heading, you like that direction to.

You like who you are with Javi. So why are you scared to say that right now?

You stare down at your glass of water, wishing you could craft the right legal argument, the right way forward.

“We’ve got time, Blue,” he says calmly, “That’s something the two of us definitely are going to have right now in Laredo.”

“Well, I will. Didn’t you say you were going to help your Pops. Be a rancher?” You raise an eyebrow at the thought of that. It’s an appealing image though, you can’t lie. Javi all sweaty and working hard, you remember that day in Curacao and how he looked in the pink shirt after running around the town.

“We can figure this out on our own time,” he says, “I want to. I don’t want this to end right now though.”

“Neither do I.”

“So we’re agreed on that?”

You nod.

Javi leans over you, taking the glass from your hands and moving you so he’s on top of you. “Well, we’ve still got some time before we need to check out.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Laredo, TX

It feels like déjà vu. Another party in Laredo, another homecoming where it sounds like a success but feels like a failure. Another day of standing around the people Javi grew up with and feeling like a stranger.

He’s changed. Colombia’s changed him again and again and again.  He thinks it’s something he has to wear; a solid, distinguishing marker of who Javi once was and who he has become. Before and After Colombia.

Laredo hasn’t changed much in the last year. His father’s home is almost exactly the same. It’s reassuring somehow; this stalwart unchanging community. His dad is driving the same truck, his room is the same as he left it.  Everything even smells the same.

Time stops then starts again.

The prodigal son has returned once more. Javi supposes at least he’s here sooner than last time, at least his Pops can see he’s trying.

He is trying. He’s been trying for so long.

He’s home and he’s not sure what difference he’s made at all, a point only made more obvious when Mike Spencer confirmed that his fear the cartels Javier and his team had helped bring down were nothing in the grand scheme of things.

He’s failed. He couldn’t put it right. It’s why he went back after all - though if he’s honest he didn’t know how to do anything else.

He doesn’t know how to do anything else.

It’s not for him now though- he’s done. Javi’s given it all. It feels like he’s been sucked dry by the DEA over the past decade. He has nothing left to give them.

It’s not all terrible though - he looks over at you. You are the impossible bright side in all of his mess.

Officially this party is a joint welcome home and

He takes a sip of his beer as he watches you in the corner of his eye. You’re dancing in the garden with your niece, smiling widely and laughing.

You meet his eyes and he notices the smile; the way your eyes widen for just a second, the smile he’s never seen before. Not before you and him became something else anyway.

You take his breath away.

He wants to walk over to you straight away, to take you in his arms and just be reminded that you’re real, you’re here. He wants to kiss you and lead you straight to your bedroom, to taste you, have you, to know you again and again.

He knows so much more about you now; the way your body feels, the way you like to be kissed, touched, fucked. He knows how you sound when you wake up in the morning, the way you take your coffee each day. He knows you. In the past weeks, he’s taken to wanted to commit every detail of your body to his memory, just in case.

He can’t approach you though. Not now. Not here. Not yet.

Rafa pulls up the chair next to Javi. “It’s good to have you back, Javi.”

“Good to be back,” Javi replies automatically.

“Are you sticking around for a while?”

“I think so. Pops could do with some help on the ranch.”

Rafa raises his eyebrows. “I didn’t think - I mean, that’s great, Javi. So, you’re done with the DEA?”

“Yeah, it was time to make a change.”

“Well, I guess once you’ve taken down two cartels, it’s hard to know where to go next,” he replies wryly. Javi’s always liked that about Rafa; he’s quick thinking and smart. He knows how to put people at ease too. Javi supposes that’s an important part of being a doctor, especially being the family doctor in a town like this.

He’s sleeping with Rafael’s sister. While the two of you were in Colombia, or DC, he could forget that so easily. You were just Blue to him. You are just Blue to him.

Only you’re also his friend’s sister and in a small community like this, he’s not sure how this will be received. He’s not sure how Rafa will really feel about the two of you. Maybe he shouldn’t have told Rafa quite as much as he did before he went to Colombia.

It's not just that. Standing there in your parents' home, he's struck by the differences between your families. It's not featured in his friendship with Rafa, but there's no denying your family is a different type of affluent to his own. The ranch does well, his Pops runs it really well, but your family is doctors and lawyers and businessmen. He's not sure where he stands in contrast.

It makes sense now, why you asked that question of him in DC. Why you’d wondered aloud about whether they should tell people straight away. At first, he’d thought you were having second thoughts.

He gets it now.

“Was my sister okay out there?” Rafa asks.

“We didn’t spend much time together. Different departments.” A story you’ve agreed, but he hates this already. He wants Rafa to know what you’re like, how good at your job you are.

“Oh. Did you try and keep an eye on her?”

“When I saw her? Yes. But Rafa, she was more than capable of looking after herself from what I saw.”

“I know. I’m just glad she’s home. Glad you both are. Everyone was proud, but - I know my parents worried about her, know your pops worried about you.”

Before Javi can add anything else, you walk over with Sofia who is keen to head inside and regale her abuela with exactly what she’s been up to.

“I spent most of my time on the other side of the embassy at Medellin,” you say smoothly, looking around before leaning against the porch post. “Lots of paperwork and calls.” Javi hates how you play down your impact, of what you did and how you really helped.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mhhmm,” you say easily, your eyes meeting Javi for just a second. There’s a slight smile in your expression, almost imperceptible but Javi sees it.

“Well, I’m glad the two of you are back safe.”

“Me too.”

“Would have been nice if you’d worked together though. I mean what were the chances? Two people from Laredo in the same place.” Kismet, that’s what you called it one day, right? That’s what Javi sees it as now.

Rafa looks over to the inside of your parents’ home. “I should go check on Sofia, see you in a bit, Javi. It’s good to have you home.”

It’s just the two of you on the porch now.

“So …” you begin with a soft smile. “Enjoying the party?”

Javi shakes his head. “It’s kind, but -”

“I know.” He knows you do too.

He stands up and moves to look out from the porch, standing next to you. His hand is so close to yours and he notices how you subtly move so your hands are touching.

Oh, this is going to be interesting.

Tag List

Secret Smile tag-list @joelsgreys @sullyosully @catsickyellow @spishsstuff @casa-boiardi @living-for-jesus-and-telenovelas @pastelnap @babeincolor @iamskyereads @angelofsmalldeath-codeine

Everything Pedro tag-list: @harriedandharassed @pedrostories @hiroikegawa @pedrosaidsheispunk

If you want to be added to (or removed from) one of the tag lists, let me know or you can get notifications for @thelightsandtheroses-fics if you prefer. If you do not have an age or age range showing you are over 18, I will not add you to this list. I block ageless and blank blogs.

#javier peña x reader #javi peña x reader #javier peña x female reader #javier peña fanfiction #javier peña x you #javi pena x reader #javier pena x female reader #javier peña #javier pena x reader #javier pena #javi pena #*secret smile #fic: secret smile

[hyunjins-orange-slice-too]

Connected ch5

pairing: chan x reader

genre: fluff

warnings: none

word count: ~1.5k

an: this is a repost from my recently deceased blog hyunjins-orange-slice. may she rest in peace.

masterlist * previous chapter * next chapter

you felt like time had gone by so fast. the couple of months since that video call, has felt like minutes. you talked to chan every day in some form. it was usually texting, he’s too busy for much else. but the occasional video call on nights when he really needed to sleep but couldn’t, those were your favorite. it had become sort of a ritual for him. you were about the only thing that could get him to relax enough to sleep. and that made you feel pretty special. though you would never admit that to anyone.

but the day had come. today is the day to be in chicago. he had let you know a while ago the specific date they would be there. and he had texted you selfies of him on the plane. so as you climbed into your car that morning to take the couple hour drive to chicago, it all started to feel very real. and because of the realness, you were very nervous. you had let him know you were headed his way and wouldn’t be able to text him for a couple hours. he responded with a ‘okay, drive safe~~” you turned on your playlist, and hit the road.

the drive was pretty uneventful and boring, the occasional bouts of traffic, but thankfully when you approached chicago, it wasn’t during rush hour. chan had picked a location for you to meet him at. that was the address in your gps and when you got close and were at a red light, you texted him.

“i’ll be there soon. gps says about ten minutes.”

wow ten minutes until you meet bang chan? you had to let that thought sink in. who were you? and what decision in your life, or your past life, led you to this point? what had you done to deserve such a thing? your stomach churned with anxiety. you told yourself it’s not that different from a video call.. right? it’s basically the same thing. you’ve pretty much already met him and you talk every day. everything was going to be fine. so why did you feel like throwing up?

the meeting spot was in downtown chicago. and you weren’t very comfortable with your parallel parking skills. so you pulled into a multi level garage. these types of garages always made you feel a little uneasy. you put the car in park and made sure you had everything you needed. your phone, your wallet, and your pepper spray. exiting the car, you put your phone in your pocket, safety first, and your wallet in your other pocket. leaving only your keys and your pepper spray in your hands. maybe a little over cautious, but better safe than sorry. though the walk to the meeting spot was uneventful. it was just a few buildings over.

you approached the little coffee shop, its large windows facing the street, its chipped metal sign hanging above the door, the smell of coffee permeating the air. you cautiously entered the store, the little bell above the door announcing your arrival. you looked around a little before seeing a black hoodie and a black beanie in the far back corner, seemingly hiding from everyone else. the butterflies in your tummy felt like professional mma fighters the way they were punching at your stomach. but you took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other and slowly approached him.

his back was still to you once you reached him, scrolling on his phone.

“um.. hello?” you said, your voice shaking with nervousness.

he turned around and you thought you may fall over at the sight of him, a smile slowly filling his face, his dimples out. he stood from the table. “oh my god, hi.” he said excitedly. he opened his arms, offering a hug in greeting.

were you about to get a bang chan signature big hug right now? you had been here for all of two minutes. you reciprocated and moved closer. he wrapped his arms tightly around you, pulling you close, your head on his chest. but it only lasted a moment. “how are you? it’s so nice to finally meet you in person. was your drive okay?” he asked, pulling away.

the smell of him lingered on your clothes and in your nose. it was musky, with a hint of vanilla. your heart fluttered in your chest as pulled the chair out for you to sit, before taking his own seat across from you.

“my drive was fine. not too much traffic. how are you? tired from your flight?” you asked, trying to portray yourself calmer than you actually felt.

“i am a little tired.” he said. “but im always tired.”

“oh yeah.” you chuckled nervously. why were you being so awkward? you scolded yourself for being weird.

“did you want a coffee? what’s your drink of choice?” he asked.

“oh i usually get an americano.” you made to stand up, to head to the counter, but he stopped you.

“i’ll get it. you stay here, yeah?” he smiled. and he was gone to the counter before you could protest. curse his handsome face, it made your brain all fuzzy and unable to focus.

you took a deep breath in through your nose and blew it out your mouth. you needed to relax. he is literally just a person. a super duper talented and handsome and kind and famous god like person, but just a person. you’ve been talking to him for months now. this is no different. your heartbeat finally started to calm down. you could do this. you could totally do this. and then he returned to your table with your drinks, smiling at you with his dimples, and all of those calm thoughts went out the window. oh my god look at him. was your mouth open? were you drooling. pull. yourself. together.

“thanks for coming all the way to chicago.” he said, sipping his coffee. “i really didn’t want to miss the chance to finally see you in person.”

oh my god you were going to fall out of your chair. you wished you could slap yourself in the face to try to bring yourself back to reality.

“i should be the one thanking you, mr celebrity.” you cringed at yourself for that one. “for taking time out of your schedule for little ole me.”

but he didn’t cringe. he laughed. and wouldn’t you know it, the little squeak was in the middle of that laugh. you heard the squeak in person. you could die happy now. all depression left your body in that moment.

“ah. i always have time for you.” he said, running his fingers through the condensation on his cup. “honestly, thank you.” his tone turning serious now. “you’ve really helped me these last few months. i’m actually getting some sleep. i feel.. at ease with you.” he was nervous now, saying these things out loud.

“well i’m glad i could return the favor. you’ve been making me feel at ease for.. years now.”

it got quiet after that. but not a weird silence where you felt like you needed to say something quickly. but a comfortable silence. he was smiling, but still looking down at his cup. you were starting to realize the small size of this table. you were sitting on opposite sides, but with both of your coffee cups on the table, with both of you hands wrapped around each cup, your knuckles were only inches from each other. you didn’t know if you were being a delusional crazy person right now, but you swear you could feel the energy between your hands and his. like a quiet tingly buzzing that radiated from his fingers to yours. and then he extended his index finger to brush a soft caress against the back of your knuckles. and it was like you were zapped with electricity. he must have felt it too, because he jerked back and looked shocked for a moment. your cheeks were on fire, blazing under his sudden attention.

and then his phone rang.

he answered and spoke quietly for a moment in korean before hanging up and looking sad.

“i’m so sorry, but somethings come up.” he says. “i need to go..”

“that’s okay.” you smile at him. “i understand. you’re a busy busy man.”

“i feel terrible that you drove for two hours to only get to spend ten minutes with me.” he frowned. “i promise- i promise i’ll make it up to you, yeah?”

you nodded and he stood. he hovered awkwardly by the table, so you stood with him. he pulled you into a hug, squeezing tightly and holding on longer this time, before saying “i’ll text you.” and then he smiled and exited the coffee shop, sparing a last glance at you over his shoulder before the bell above the door confirmed his exit.

taglist: @thinkingaboutlana @tamlinsfiddle (red means it wouldnt let me tag you, if you want to be added or removed, let me know)

🚨reminder: this blog is 18+ only. i’ve been getting a lot of new followers (which i greatly appreciate) but if there’s no age identifier on your blog, i’m blocking you no questions asked. (for my own sanity and peace of mind.) ik some people don’t actually go to my page to read the warnings, so im going to start attaching a warning at the bottom of all my posts. thanks for understanding. 💕

#bang chan #stray kids #stray kids x reader #stray kids imagines #stray kids bang chan #bang chan fluff #bang chan x reader #bang chan stray kids #stray kids fluff #bang chan hurt/comfort #stray kids hurt/comfort #connected series #hyunjins orange slice too

[annymation]

WAIIIITTTTT what do you mean Asha and Magnifico already knew each other before she was 18???? Explain this, explain yourself 🔫🔫🔫🔫

*raises my hands up* 🙌

Alright alright I’ll explain!

As I’ve mentioned here on this blog Asha interacted with Magnifico before the events of the story, it’s nothing major, just something that came to my mind, so here’s what happened

13 years prior to the events of Kow, when Asha was a little kid, she got to talk to the king during an event where he and the queen were pretty close to the people, a festival or something. Then again, they’re always pretty approachable to their people either way.

Anyway, this takes place before the talk she and Sabino had during Chapter 1 where she promised him she wouldn’t wish to become a great artist.

So the interaction would go like this:

Magnifico and Amaya were sitting on wooden thrones prepared just for them to get a view of the current festival of the month, the chairs are covered with curtains so people can only see them from the front view. It was just like any other festival and the king was frankly rather bored, even though his face wouldn't let it show.

But suddenly he hears a little voice “Psst excuse me, mr. King Magnifico!"

The voice came from beside him, he looks down and sees a smiling little girl looking up with her big eyes. No one else seemed to notice her there besides him since the chairs they're sitting on are covered and everyone else is watching the performances of the festival.

He gives her a friendly smile like he gives to any other subject "Well hello there, how did you get here?"

"I sneaked in from behind the curtain, none of the guards saw me heh heh" Little Asha giggles, proud of herself

"Oh my, a little scallywag got past my guards? Should I be worried for my safety?" He jokes sarcastically

"Heheh nooo I just wanted to make a question!" She says excited jumping up and down.

Magnifico smiles at her quite amused "You've certainly got my attention, so go ahead, ask away"

"When I'm a grown up, can you give me magic like my mama's?" The little girl's big eyes sparkle at the question

The king smile goes flat "... Your mother knows magic?" He asks back, his face serious this time, as it is strictly forbidden for anyone besides the king to use magic in Rosas.

"My grandpa says she could make drawings move, that's what I wanna do too" She explains innocently

The king feels relieved, it's just some made up story, nothing to worry about. His friendly smiles returns as he explains to her "I see. Unfortunately that sort of wish is forbidden, little one"

Asha looks downward disappointed "Aw... Okay"

Magnifico thinks for a moment and he has an idea "Buuuut who knows, perhaps I could make you my apprentice in the future, would you like that?"

The little girl eyes widen "*gasp*! Really?! Yes! I would love to!" She said jumping up and down

The king couldn't help but chuckle imagining how he could exploit this, maybe teach her magic only to steal her power later, or just have an loyal assistant would be fine too "Glad to hear it, if you prove yourself to be good I'll be more than happy to grant that wish" He boops her nose playfully.

"I will be good, I promise!" The girl says with her eyes shinning like stars and a big innocent smile.

Cut to 13 years later and the same girl is looking at him straight in the eyes with a burning rage

"I won't let you decide what I deserve! Nor what anyone else in Rosas deserves!"

The girl was good, alright? Too good.

#wish rewrite #wish reimagined #kingdom of wishes #ask

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for convincing a friend to run for an officer position in a club just so someone else didn’t win?

So, this happened a few months ago but it’s been gnawing at my brain and I want to know if I did the right thing. I asked some online friends for advice beforehand and there’s a chance they’ll see this- if you do, please don’t expose my blog, thanks.

Context: I (16F) am a member of my school’s Science Olympiad team, and held an officer position the past school year (my sophomore year/10th grade) and ran again for next year (my junior year/11th grade). I am using everyone’s ages at the time this happened to the best of my knowledge and memory. This takes place in a United States high school, and our Olympiad team is tied to a junior high school Olympiad team from the junior high on our campus, which we do all of our meetings with.

A group of my friends (17F, 16F, 16F, 15F) went out for the 4 out of the remaining 5 high school officer positions, and odds looked pretty good we’d win all of our races, thus having 5 out of 6 high school officer positions total. Usually it wouldn’t really matter who won anything, it would just be nice if we were all officers together. The only issue is that there are two other people on our team who are friends with each other (17F and 15F), but have a history of bullying and toxic behavior including towards people on the team. They ran for literally every single position, as you are allowed to run for multiple, and we were concerned they would use them to abuse power.

As I said before, it seemed likely we would win the positions we wanted, but this would leave secretary open, as the only two people running for secretary were one of my friends who I already mentioned, who was more likely to win president, and one of the girls I had mentioned we didn’t want winning anything in case of an abuse of power, so there wasn’t even a chance of a “third party” winning. The only reason we knew for sure who was running for what before the election started is my officer position (which was officially still held until the results of the election were released) enabled me to look at the sign up form, which I created.

My best friend told me she and another friend had worked out a plot to keep secretary out of this girl’s hands. She wanted me to ask a younger friend of mine (13NB, uses he/they for clarification) who was one of the eighth graders on the junior high school team to run, since he is going to be a freshman on the high school team this upcoming school year, and anyone with a year’s experience at any level who will be at least a freshman is allowed to run for a high school officer position.

I said I didn’t want to ask them, and I had multiple reasons why.

First, I already convinced him to do the high school team in the first place when he wanted to stick to the junior high one for another year (9th graders can be in either the junior high or high school competing divisions in Science Olympiad even though most schools in my area classify 9th grade as high school). Nobody asked me to do that, they’re just a smart kid and I thought it would be a waste of potential for them not to. Because of this I wanted him to choose to go for on officer position or not for himself at least. Second, I feel bad using a kid as a pawn in a drama he’s not involved in, even though it’s for a good reason. Everyone else involved in this was already in high school at the time. Third, they don’t even know about the stuff the girl we wanted him to run against has done, because she is nice to them specifically and they are friends. If he figured out we were plotting for him to beat her I think that would damage his trust in me and my friendship with him.

Here’s where I think I might have been an asshole. I gave in and asked them anyway, because my friends all seemed convinced this was the best course of action and I didn’t want them getting mad at me, and I still strongly felt this girl getting elected would be bad for the team I’ve worked so hard to support and for the other team members’ (mostly people I am friends with and care about) mental and emotional well being.

My friend did run, they took my suggestion to run for secretary and signed up to run for that specific position. The girl we didn’t want winning somehow beat them by two votes, so I guess it didn’t matter anyway.

In case this influences anyone’s opinion, I will tell you that we were probably right that this girl should not have been an officer. I was hoping she would mature in an officer position, but she didn’t. She’s still been saying nasty shit behind people’s backs (so has the other girl we didn’t want to win, though she didn’t win anything as we correctly predicted our wins in the other five positions). She’s been half-assing all her officer responsibilities and complaining about them constantly even though she signed up for this, and I have already been forced to do some things that were supposed to be her job.

I know it doesn’t matter now anyway, but I still kind of feel bad for using a (at the time, he’s 14 now) 13 year old as a pawn in a plot especially one that’s a good friend that I care about. Was I the asshole for doing that?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[gender-archival]

I know none of us really post to this blog a whole lot anymore (sorry for that, life just got in the way), but I’ve got something to say and this has the biggest platform of all my MOGAI/LIOM related accounts, so here I am. I should also say that I don’t exactly know how to word this post. Normally, when any of us have gotten involved in these situations in the past, there’s already been some amount of criticism of said thing before hand, so it was easy to just say “hey, [x]/[x] is wrong/what have you” and leave it at that. This time, though, I’ve never seen anyone else talk about this, and if they have, it’s very clearly not a known thing at the moment. I haven’t even seen any posts from the coiner of this suffix about it. So it feels (to me, at least) that I should do a little more and I’m not sure what that ‘more’ is/should be. 

I should also say, I don’t intend this to be a callout of any particular user/users or to cause a witch hunt or anything like that. This is just an information post to maybe avoid another -coric situation, where it it’s become so consistently misused that it almost feels like there won’t ever be a point where it completely stops. Please don’t be mean to anyone who does the thing I’m about to talk about or anything like that. If anyone would like to kindly bring their attention to the issue, go for it, but don’t be anything less than 100% civil.

With all that out of the way, the post:

There’s veen a lot of misuse of the suffix -ica, recently, and I figured someone should clear that up. And since this account has more than 1000 followers and I’ve noticed it, I figured it should be me. 

-ica is a suffix coined on November 19, 2020, by now inactive user Genderstalgia. It, along with -ical and -musica, were coined as suffixes specifically for Musicagenders. That phrase was actually used verbatim in the coining post if anyone would like to fact check me on it. It’s not a general-use, uncoined suffix, like -ic or -ian to name a few, or something like -cenic that was coing to be used for pretty much anything. It, along with its counterparts, have a very explicit, relatively narrow, meaning.

Despite that, there’s been a surge of misuse of it over the past few months to a year (the archive on here and on the site are a good bit behind, so I’m not completely up to date). Thankfully, it hasn’t gotten as vad as -coric or even -comfic, but it’s definitely an issue. To the extent that we’ve created a list for them on Genderpedia and one that has more than double digit pages, here. That page isn’t linked so anyone can go harass the coiners with terms listed there or to drive traffic to the site, it’s just to demonstrate that there is a good amount of terms that are a part of this issue. In addition to that, there are multiple terms that we haven’t archived for whatever reason (mostly just time and fluctuating dis/interest).

I don’t know what specifically I can encourage anyone do outside of a few things. Anyone who has or thinks they might have terms that misuse -ica, or any other suffix for that matter, just go check! And, if you find them, just find a different suffix! There are coined things like -cenic and, in some specific cases, -aesic, -corian, -comfin, etc. (although those last ones do have specific definitions that might not fit, so check those too) and non-coined, general things, like -ic and -ian, or even a currently-unused look-alike like -eca, -yca, or something else like that!

Also, I’d generally recommend checking to see if any kind of suffix/term ending you’ve about to use has been coined and if it would apply. I know that’s crazy hard, because of how many there are and have been coined, and scattered information, but there are some sources that can help. We have an incomplete list of affixes, here, there’s the suffixes carrd, here, and there’s the account Coiningaffixes, here.

I know, looking at the coric/comfic/etc situations, there’s no way this one post will fix everything. It’s just unrealistic to thing that. But hopefully the reach this account has and, hopefully, general encouragement of checking for coinings and being willing to change term names will do something to start to make a dent. In all of these situations!

Thank you for reading, especially this long of a post from a practically inactive account, and have a good night! - Admin Grey

#mogai #liom #xenogender #musicagender #mogai gender #mogai coining #liom coining #mogai community #liom community #xenogender community #musicgender

[melishade]

This is more of a PSA announcement if anything. A warning of people you should DNI. Like at all! Because this situation is getting so fucking ridiculous the longer I learn about this shit.

There was this Youtuber that I followed: Lily Orchard. I used to follow her for years. I started following her...between the fourth and fifth season of My Little Pony Gen 4. So since I was in high school. I followed her for at least a decade. I looked up to her and her work for years and thought she was a good role model.

I was wrong.

I've heard rumors about some of the accusations and chose to ignore it when I was younger, thinking it was slander. But it wasn't true. I had actually found out about all the shit she's done just a few months ago from @asunnycoffee and it is absolutely horrid. I mean there's:

Racism Sexism Homophobia Transphobia Brownfacing Lying Support of slavery through her written fanfics Grooming of her fans (BTW she's thirty) Stalking Harassment Hard Implications of Incest in her work Manipulations Gaslighting Emotional abuse Mental Abuse Complete and utter narcissism of this bitch. And so much more that I'm certain one of it could violate some international law.

She's like a fake liberal Catilyn Jenner. But as far as I know, Jenner didn't fucking molest her sister. Because that's exactly what Lily Orchard did to @pleasetiemyshoe AKA Courtney Orchard.

I can't believe I actually looked up to her I feel so fucking sick

Now because I am new to this and really just an outsider perspective learning about this, I'm going to botch any and all explanations of this in detail. Luckily there is a masterpost of all the shit that Lily Orchard has done in detail. https://www.tumblr.com/lily-orchard-gossip-blog/692978295298572288/a-quick-summary-of-lily-orchard?source=share

And there are a bunch of trigger warnings to this and it will be in the tags if you cannot handle it. That is fine to avoid.

But instead of Lily, ya know, owning up to her mistakes and possibly explaining her side of the story, she's done nothing but double down and accuse everyone that come out to expose her for her shit behavior as 'stalkers', 'TERFs', 'Racists' (even though she's fucking brownfacing. Which by the way, fuck her. I already deal with blackfacing enough as it is and she wants to appropriate a culture for views. GOD WHY DID I LOOK UP TO HER WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!) She will slander anyone that doesn't agree with her and do everything in her power to destroy them. And she will use her fanbase to do so. If the fans so much as harass, slander, misgender, and tell people to off themselves that have critiqued Lily in the past, she does nothing. She lets this shit happen. And usually when a creator or a person of power doesn't say anything to stop their fans from doing heinous actions, it's basically giving permission to the people to fucking do it. A perfect example of this is how Trump weaponized his own people to attack the US Capitol.

And it's not just Orchard. It's also her wife Mikaila Orchard, and a former ex now friend, Ginger. Both have followed Orchard's behavior, refused to call her out on anything and have also actively used their platforms to harass people that Orchard deems as an enemy.

And I wish I was fucking joking about any and all of this fucking nonsense, and if I'm wrong I would take it all back! But there are so many people who've come out against her and explained how much of a shit person she is including:

@as8bakwthesage (BTW check out their art it is lovely. And Sage I'm on a transformers forum if you want to join. We have fun.)

@britts-galaxy-brain

@asunnycoffee (A sweet delight. Who's 18, BTW! So Orchard is not above harassing fucking teenagers! And she's not above grooming them either!)

@opinated-user

@pleasetiemyshoe (Her sister. She also posts pictures about cats. But the stuff she talk about with her sister gets really fucking intense. Proceed with caution.)

@glyphosatesolarize

@thetimelordbatgirl

@lily-orchard-gossip-blog

Lizzy Orchard (Which in summary, was Orchard former girlfriend. Orchard claimed Lizzy abused her when really it was the other way around. Lizzy was harassed and bullied off of tumblr and Orchard took her last name which is weird because why the hell would you take the last name of your abuser.

Blake (Lily threatened violence on Blake's fiancee)

Josh Scorcher (An MLP fan. He and Lily used to be friends and there was a fallout)

Patch (IDK if Patch is on tumblr or not)

Poppy and Zena

And that's from what I can remember! That's over ten people that is ringing out warning signs to avoid Orchard at all costs. If it was one person, I'd be skeptical. But 10?! 10! That should be enough to avoid her at all costs! Another perfect example of this situation is when 30 women came out against Cosby and said he SA'd them. Again, when it is multiple people telling different stories that come to the same conclusion, then it's not something that you can deny.

Orchard is a terrible, human being, and you need to avoid her at all costs, and Mikaila and Ginger. These are the names of the channels you should avoid (because sometimes she'll use other people to spy on accounts that critique her and make alt accounts herself to spy on others and make herself look better:

lily-orchard mikaila-orchard lily-orchard-fanart sucky-boi (an alt account) lexyr-kryo (not an alt of Orchard, but the user misgendered Sage and I don't take kindly to that) ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense (Gringer has been known to harass Sunny, who is 18) So block those accounts and follow the others that I mentioned above. Please boost this post as much as you can to help other people avoid them. Although there will be some heavy stuff in some of those accounts, so please proceed with caution. also there's evidence that she wrote an incest story called Stockholm

#lily orchard #this is the last time Im going to talk about this bitch on my blog its spiritually taxing to talk about it #fuck lily orchard #cw molestation #tw molestation #tw emotional abuse #tw emotional manipulation #tw incest #mikaila orchard #avoid avoid avoid them!!!!

[archiveikemen]

Liam Evans Main Story: Chapter 4 — Premium

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by downloading and playing their games.

read this before interacting with my posts

(Like this…?)

While my eyes were closed, something was placed in my hands and a fresh smell filled my nose.

— You can open your eyes now, Kate.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a bouquet of fresh pink modern roses in my arms.

The moment I became aware of it, the scent of flowers smelled stronger and sweeter.

Kate: This is…

Liam: This is for you. Thanks for sparing me your time tonight, Kate.

Kate: You didn't have to. I should be the one giving you a gift for that performance…

Liam: These flowers are to thank you for watching me. So…

Liam: If you don't accept them, they won't have an owner.

(He has a point. In that case…)

Kate: Thank you so much, Liam. I’ll be sure to cherish them well, so that they’ll keep blooming for a long time.

Kate: If I display them by my room’s window, they’ll definitely bring a smile to my face tomorrow morning.

Liam: If flowers can make you smile every morning, then I’ll give you however many flowers you want!

Liam: — Anyway, can I have your feedback? Take it as if I’m asking you to praise me.

There wasn't a hint of Mercutio’s character as shrugged his shoulders.

Kate: It was magical and so captivating. It was as if the character was brought to life and standing before me.

Kate: Your performance moved my heart, and… I was reminded of my dream that I’ve been hiding deep in my heart.

Liam: … A dream?

(Ah…)

Kate: Um, it’s nothing great…

Liam: Why? Tell me about it. I want to know everything about you.

His tone was soft, but there was a sincere look in his rose coloured eyes.

Kate: I want to help others to not be afraid of what tomorrow will bring them,... by writing a story.

It was the first time I told anyone about that dream.

Liam didn't laugh when I told him what my dream was, he only nodded with a tender expression on his face.

Liam: “Help others to not be afraid of tomorrow”, hm. I like it. … Yup, that sounds good.

Liam: I’m sure working as a fairytale writer will be a useful experience to help you fulfil that dream.

Liam: … Hey, Kate.

Liam, who was standing on stage, crouched down to look me in the eyes.

(...?)

Liam: What do you think about observing only me for the next one month and writing about me in your report?

Kate: Write about you…?

Liam: That's right. Not about Crown, but about me as a person. It's because the finest stories are the ones with the best main character.

Liam: I’m confident that I can satisfy and charm you. I’ll shine even brighter just for you.

Liam: If you do that, one month will fly past before you know it, and you can return to your original life.

Liam: And as long as you're by my side, I can protect you. Isn't that the best idea?

(That’s a very attractive offer, and it sounds way too good for me.)

(But—)

Kate: But wouldn't you gain nothing from that?

Liam: Eh? I do. I get to be the closest person to you, a step or two ahead from the other guys in Crown.

Liam: Ahaha just imagining it already sounds great!

Kate: …!

I couldn't help but smile at his straightforward response.

(... Oh, I see.)

(I want to be like Liam. Sparkling and shining brightly, and touching people’s hearts.)

I didn’t think that would ever happen, though.

(Someday I’ll be just like Liam — and then I’ll become someone who can give to others.)

Kate: Well then, thank you, Liam.

Liam: No problem.

(Oh!)

Kate: I’ll definitely pay you back for the ticket. I want to pay for the nice things I receive.

Liam: …

Liam: Pfft ahahaha! You’re so funny, Kate.

Kate: Huh? I’m being serious—

Liam chuckled and held his hand out to me.

Liam: Want to come onto the stage? Come on, take my hand.

Upon being urged by him, I took his hand and he held me by my waist as he pulled me up onto the stage.

When I stood on the stage, I was blinded by the spotlight shining directly onto me.

Kate: I can’t believe you always have to stand under such a bright light… you're amazing.

Liam: I’m not amazing yet. I’ll work even harder to charm you. Perhaps I can play the role of Romeo next time.

Liam got down on one knee and held my hand in a practised gesture…

Liam: “I’m no sailor, but even if you were on the furthest shore… I’d risk going out to sea, just for a treasure like you” // Original script: “I am no pilot. Yet, wert thou as far as that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise.”

He kissed the back of my hand with his smiling, rosy lips.

The feeling of Liam’s moist lips on my skin was so bewitching, and it made me suddenly very aware that he was a man.

(... This feels like I’ve been gently nibbled by a cat precious to me.)

Liam: Your face is bright red, Kate. Cute~

Kate: I-It’s not…

Liam: Oh, really? Then let’s leave it at that. For now…

Liam’s innocent smile was so radiant as he basked in the spotlight.

(... I no longer fear facing my tomorrows. Liam has made me smile so many times now.)

Liam: Kate, wait for me at the entrance. I’ll be right with you after I change my clothes.

Liam parted ways with Kate and went to the wings of the stage.

At that very moment — it started raining in his heart.

ℹ️ this is a metaphor, referring to a sorrowful feeling.

Liam: … Ugh.

No matter how hard he tried to brush it off, the rain never stopped. Slowly, the voice of “someone” echoed in his head.

[Liam's POV]...

… Hey, Liam. Why are you trying so hard to get on friendly terms with Kate?

(... I just want to be useful to Kate.)

You’re doing this for Kate? Haha, you fool. You’re only being nice to her for your own sake, aren’t you?

(... Ggh.)

You just don’t want to be hated, you don't want to be hated, don't want to be hated, that's all it is!

Liam: … I know that. That's why… I have to keep at it.

— In hopes that I won't make another grave mistake and destroy everything with my own hands.

#ikemen villains #ikemen series #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #otome #ikevil main story #liam main story

[kyra45]

Guide to spotting donation scam accounts

I am aware there is multiple guides posted by other accounts but this one is my own based around my posts I’ve made over the months of running this blog. If you already know how to spot scams, then good! Someone else might not.

If you appreciate all the work I did to make this post accurate and easy to understand, feel free to share it and link it to anyone who might need info. If you want to show thanks in another way, I take pocket change by tips. My pinned post also has links to quick access posts that are about scams.

Not all blogs who ask for aid are scammers! Legitimate people do exist it’s just that scammers will take their information and use it as their own in order to get the money for themself. This post is most meant to be a through guide into finding these scam posts more easily at a glance.

So here is a guide to spotting donation scam accounts under a readmore as it is a long post.

Check how old the blog is by seeing if their archive is enabled. You can also guess this by scrolling the blog and seeing if the posts made are entirely random or seem to come from a certain trending tag. Also check the date of the reblogged post by turning on timestamps. Backdated posts are when a user reblogs a post then goes into post editor and tries to make their reblog look older then it actually is. A common mistake is the new date is even older then the post itself was made meaning the user has went and backdated the post to make their account look older than it is. If the archive is disabled, you may only find ~20 posts shared within seconds of the others.

If they sent you an ask to share their post, did it request you to answer privately? People who are requesting aid are generally wanting a public audience to share their post and would not generally tell someone to answer their ask privately unless their up to something suspicious. If your ask says to answer privately, try using tumblr search to see if it was sent to multiple users. An example of an ask is below.

(Image has alt text! But I will still copy/paste the ask below as well.)

“hi!! I hope you dont find this ask strange, weird or whatever you call it :( Just wanted to ask a favor if you could possibly check the post I pinned for my cats? It’s on this blog, please do check if you have a spare time and reblog/boost it. Im so sorry if I did bother you, just need some help. Please do send me a msg to reply or answer the ask privately, please 😭 🙏 🙏 🐈 “

These asks are known as scam asks, though most commonly sent by blogs that are using content stolen from a legitimate fundraiser for a pet that is needing veterinary care. They are sent to multiple users who have shared a popular or trending post and is sent regardless of it the user would share the post or not. As it stands so far, most accounts who send these asks are scams.

Another type of donation scam is when a user will save the medical photographs of someone’s fundraiser and repost them to say it’s theirs. These can be graphic hospital images stolen off Instagram/Facebook and used in a fabricated story claiming it’s the users grandparent or child of who needs help. Most often, though, there is multiple images used that may not match up with the story itself. Scammers may even fake a funeral fundraiser using a similar method of stolen content.

Above all, donation accounts also will steal Instagram photographs to impersonate people and give them made up names. There are cases where scammers have made fraudulent GoFundMe’s with stolen images and made up stories about sensitive topics in order to get money. It’s important to pay attention and see if the suspected scam account is answering questions about their situation or if their asks and messages are turned off. This is usually a sign they may not be legitimate and are avoiding any questions about their legitimacy.

You may also want to pay attention to the support links given that lead to methods of sending cast. If the local currency isn’t matching up with the given information, it may be sign of a scammer. The most common example is someone asking for $USD but the local currency would be something else and they don’t supply a currency conversion anywhere in their post or explain why it doesn’t match. However, this is just a common scam tactic.

In closing, there are other minor ways to spot donation scam accounts. Such as searching their username up in tumblr search or just asking them to send you more information that relates to their situation. Above all, one of the best things you can do is examine the askers blog closely and see if there’s anything suspicious and do your own research before asking around.

And remember, always report confirmed scam accounts for phishing like so:

Report -> Something else -> Illegal uses or Content -> Phishing

#scam #how to spot a scam blog #long post #longpost #psa #important information

[pastafossa]

Don’t you think you’re being dramatic? I just saw your post about the “plagiarist”, there was one line of plagiarised dialogue.. The other thing looked completely unintentional and coincidental. Do you *own* a medical product smelling like honey? I enjoy reading TRT and your other works but this seems a little intense..? Sending fans and friends to harass someone over one line of dialogue.. yikes.

Not particularly. Why you use quotes for 'plagiarist' I'm not sure of, since you admit they plagiarized dialogue. I'd honestly have completely written off the honey as a coincidence if that dialogue line hadn't been stolen, and there are plenty of fics around the fandom and ship I'm fine with even if there are some some similarities like that. But when you add in the stolen dialogue it's a lot more suspicious, especially when the honey elements are happening in the exact same way the last plagiarist took details from my fic.

Maybe it is intense. I don't know. I know I hate having to post about it. I know I hate having to run this gauntlet with my anxiety. I know I'm very careful even when discussing divisive fandom shit to not do anything that might get someone a mob of people sent after them, which is why outside plagiarism stuff I keep my blog pretty drama free. I know I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I wake up, again, to asks in my box and messages from friends telling me they found another fic that's plagiarized my stuff. I know I don't like any of this and all I want to do is write, and yet I'm having to deal with this again. Cause if you've been around my blog and following TRT then you know I've had my stuff plagiarized multiple times, including by a repeat plagiarist who stole not just dialogue and characters but also literal elements of my life (a person who has refused to leave me alone, and also refused to take their stuff down until other people pressured them to). Even before that, TRT has been plagiarized multiple times and I've had to get Wattpad and AO3 involved when my requests for takedown were either ignored or waved off using the exact phrase this last person did - 'I didn't think it was a big deal'. I've never once been able to get anyone to take their stuff down until others got involved. I've also tried leaving it alone, and it always escalates. In the past when I tried to talk privately, I've been repeatedly ignored or had it minimized. I am tired. So yeah, I did the only thing I've found that works when I know there's plagiarism and I don't want it to keep happening or escalating - I asked for pressure without hate comments to get the content to come down, because at this point I've had to do this three times in about three months and I'm kinda at the end of my rope. Because it's not just one line of dialogue, even though that would be enough - even though no amount of plagiarism is ok. But it's also about this time, and the last time, and the time before that, and before and before and before. This is a pattern of people thinking this is ok, thinking it's not a big deal to take unique dialogue or characters or backstories that fic writers are already trying to give everyone for free. And I really, really don't think it's too much to ask that other fic writers respect that.

I literally just want it to stop.

#fanfic plagiarism #on plagiarism #ask response #it's not *just* this line it's all of it over and over and over again #as i have repeatedly tried to deal with people plagiarizing and had very limited success #every time i've tried to respond gently or quietly i've been flipped the bird #and when i've left it alone or ignored it they just kept taking more and more #even the Big Plagiarist started with little pieces when I glanced over her blog before she escalated #so yeah i used The Big Button to get it taken down #if hate mail is getting sent i'll absolutely edit the post to make it even more clear that's not what i want #but it's not ok to plagiarize like this #and if my dialogue was taken i know there are likely other lines taken too #and i'm hopeful that with all of this that it won't happen again

[setsunatekiblast]

sorry this is like fully just insane babble and a look into truly how fucking weird i am in the head im really considering making a blog JUST for venting but im too lazy to do that rn

so like general rundown for context

i did some really downright shitty things as a teenager as a result of unresolved trauma in basically every corner of my life at the time (obviously this doesnt absolve me from what happened). when i was told about the extent of it i apologised and distanced myself & never talked to anyone involved ever again.

months later when i expressed that a former friend who had (in my opinion, rightfully) stepped in to stop the situation from worsening had caused me harm prior to all this and that it was still impacting me on my private account, it was leaked to her. i was threatened with a callout post and she was acting like i wasnt truly sorry for the things i'd done/trying to change even though i had done my level best to be accountable for my behaviour and do what was asked of me.

because of everything that'd already happened + this i was living in this constant state of severe anxiety. as in, i could hardly eat due to feeling nauseous every moment i was conscious, would randomly start shaking and crying & my physical health was deteriorating at many points. i was like this from about july all the way through to november-early december, i think?

like all of this happened five years ago but ive absolutely refused to let myself move on because i thought i would be dodging accountability for my behaviour but i've kind of just had a mental shift recently (maybe from my kansai trip i think it did something to me). looking back while talking to my friend i internalised everything about that series of incidents so hard that i considered myself a horrible and irredeemable person, so ive been keeping myself at arms length from others because i didnt want it to happen all over again and didnt trust myself to actually change. i thought that if i was pursuing relationships with others, i wasnt being accountable enough and dodging my past behaviour.

idk im just tired of living like this. im tired of all the self-sabotage and the fear and anxiety i have over the most minor of things. i'm tired of jumping up and running at the first signs of closer friendships forming. i had a panic attack over someone calling me a friend for gods sake, that's not normal. its not! the fact i even struggle to call people friends because of all this fear about relationships with others after all that isn't good and i need to change from that lol

even just thinking that i deserve better makes me feel like im swallowing needles and glass though, and it sucks so fucking much LMFAOOOOOOO. i dont even know what to do because i feel so shitty about even trying to pursue support from those closest to me. i feel like i'm asking so, so much of people when i cant give much of anything in return. not to mention that right now even the idea of being misunderstood makes me feel absolutely terrible and like i need to be on the defensive. in general i feel like i offer so little that trying to lean on people is selfish and that i'm just going to end up hurting them like i did that friend who simply just wanted to help me. i don't want to feel this way anymore but it's a cycle and i don't know how to stop feeling so horrid about everything and actually. well. allow myself to feel supported AND be normal in the head about it

like i need to move on not just for my sake but because. really. it's been such a long time and i don't even recognise the person i was in those messages. but i can hear just how much pain my past self was in and that just sucks, man. my friend didn't want me to suffer, but he was rightfully hurt and angered by the way i behaved. the best way to show my remorse has always been to do better by those who come into my life, but i never wholly succeeded in that because 90% of the time i would sabotage my own relationships with others and not get too close out of fear that i was going to ruin it all and just be as shitty as i was before. i thought closing myself off would be doing right by him, and to a degree it was. but it wasn't productive for me because i wasn't doing anything but closing myself off

anyway i handled something pretty good tonight that i know my past self wouldve probably flipped out about so that's probably a good sign i guess. its actually kind of surprising to see that even though my spoons are maybe a 1 at best rn i can still handle things with some grace and tact and Not be terrible. idk. maybe things are gonna be okay, especially since i have so many people in my corner nowadays who want nothing more than to see me overcome everything

#blabber #SORRY. i needed to get this shit off my chest before i sleep #i just wanna be okay again and allow myself to have relationships with others like a normal human being again #anyway i have been listening to a STUPID amount of rina sawayama songs these last three weeks #im about to go sleep for like a year or something god i cant wait to talk to my counsellor in like two weeks #he is going to have a field day with this after he heard about my home life during these years

[mrs-gauche]

So, on the new cinematic that was published yesterday, without going into a deep analysis here (because people have already done an amazing job at dissecting every piece of visual/symbolism, like the Golden/Black City, what appears to be the origin of the Blight, the recurring symbols in the seven semi-circle spheres/Evanuris imagery in Trespasser etc etc), I just want to write down some of my general thoughts that I had already put in the tags under the video, but there are also a few things I'd like to add. 🙂

Ok, so generally speaking, this cinematic is basically a recap for anyone who hasn’t played Trespasser/ is new to the series / doesn’t remember every single detail from a game that came out almost a decade ago. I always wondered how they were going to (re-)introduce new people to the lore and the big revelations that were sadly concealed in a DLC and after giving it some thought, I’m actually very pleased with the way they’re doing it. 😁

So in regards to Solas, this is everything you need to know before going into the game. (Though I still try to look at this from the perspective of someone who’s only played the DAI base game and therefore only knows the after credits scene with Solas and Flemeth.. So you would still be kinda lost about as to how Varric even knows about all this stuff with the creation of the Veil/what Solas plans to do and all that, so.. I would hope this still gets addressed in some form, especially if fan speculations turn out true and there will be a ten year timeskip since Inquisition, so regardless of Trespasser, in any case, it would be nice to learn what the Inquisition has been up to these past ten years. lol)

So for anyone who is now like "Ugh, another trailer about Solas?? Don't we had enough???", I get it, I really do, but I also need you to understand that this is *not* another trailer, it's an in-game cinematic, probably part of the very beginning of the game and I feel like people tend to forget that the majority of players will NOT be people like us, who have been sitting here analyzing every single frame and syllable of new content under a microscope for the past eight years. 😂

Most people who've played Inquisition maybe once or twice a decade ago will maybe have a vague memory of who Solas or the Dread Wolf are and what his story is. Of course we know all this stuff, but that's the point, it's supposed to be a recap of everything you need to know before going into the game.

Though I can understand why you would be frustrated that they chose to show this as yet another part of marketing that's solely centered around him. (Heck, even I as a fan of his character am honestly surprised how much focus there is 😂) But even though BioWare’s blog post ended with the phrase "close out this year with a little treat", the fact that this was now a general "reintroduction" to the lore, gives me a little hope that they might not wait another couple of months now to show something new, since this is still fresh in people's minds. They're building momentum and I would hope they would use this to kick off the marketing for a wider audience (and the Game Awards are by far the biggest platform to show something).

That being said, let’s talk about the visuals for a second!

Simply put, they’re drop dead gorgeous! As expected from the great Nick Thornborrow, who also did Solas’ frescoes in DAI (and who sadly left BioWare some time ago). The art style and the way it’s presented/animated reminds me a lot of DAO’s intro or those transitional scenes between acts in DA2 or even those little animation bits from the Keep (which were also narrated by Varric!). So it’s definitely true to the DA formula/getting back to the roots even. lol

So even for those of us who knew about all this stuff, it was still amazing to see it visualized and summed up in such a beautful way. And additionally, it contained hints and symbolism that seem to confirm everything I’ve been thinking for the past seven years. lol (Again, not getting into details here, because people have already done a far better job than I could do to explain all that. 😂) I loved how the visuals transitioned seemlessly into the each other with gorgeously smooth animation! I also love how you’re getting almost blinded by the way it’s portraying the destruction of the Veil. lol Like, it get’s all dark and quiet for a second and then BOOM, spotlight ON lmao, I was instantly reminded of Sandal’s prophecy in DA2, when he’s like “The shadows will part and the skies will open wide, when he rises”.

But we also need to talk about the music and the sound design, because GOSH, this was so GOOD!

I would highly recommend listening to this thing with head phones, because WOW, there are so many different little components build into this one minute track, it’s amazing!! I looove how the music starts off with this anticipation and a single violin and then shifts into this more ominous melody supported by these faint “marching to war” drums when the visuals transition from sun to moon/Solas to Fen’Harel, like the music perfectly encapsulates this feeling of ambiguity, like he’s neither a villain or a hero, and it’s up to you what to believe.

Then there’s that beautiful wolf howling in the back right as Varric says “Dread Wolf”, before the music gets more sinister, followed by this big booming “shutting the gate” sound when the Veil is formed and whatever you call that sound of magic as the gods are sealed away and this creepy whispering as the shadows are slowly spreading from the Black City and consuming everything, when it gets all quiet. And then, if you’re wearing head phones, you get knocked off your feet by that enormous explosion sound as the Veil is shattered, like you can practically FEEL the impact of this wold-altering magic in your bones. lol And then the music culminates in this grand dramatic orchestral piece that is SO reminiscent of Inquisition’s main theme??

And as the title is shown and the music breaks up, there’s that simple melody again played by this traditional string instrument (I’m no expert, but it reminds of like, ancient greek?) that was also in the 2020 teaser trailer!

Like, huge props to whoever did the sound design and I can’t wait to find out who does the score! <333

Lastly, can we talk about how Varric’s talking in the PAST tense, when saying “But now, he wanted to tear down that Veil, and destroy the world”??

It almost sounds like whatever Solas wanted to do, something happened, but as always, it didn’t go the way he intended and now we have to deal with the consequences? lol It sounds like that line was cut off too soon there, like Varric was going to add something like "But now he wanted to tear down that Veil and destroy the world.... but he f*cked up spectacularly (again) and now we have to clean up his mess." 😂

So are we maybe already playing in a post-Veil world right from the start? I hope not, because I would have loved to actually SEE how Solas tore down that Veil? 😂 It makes me think that maybe this narration isn't the final version and it will end up being different in the game, like this was edited for marketing purposes/to avoid spoilers? lol

Also, again like in the 2020 teaser trailer, I wonder who Varric is even talking to? Who is "we"? And why are WE "the only ones who can stop him"? What is it about "us" that's able to stop him?

Also, I've seen people saying he's holding a wand in that last visual? 😂

Guys, for seven years I've been trying to mentally (and emotionally) prepare myself that Solas (like all returning characters in any BioWare game) is going to look significantly different in a sequel that’s released a decade from the previous one, and my biggest fear remains that he's gonna look like Voldemort with a nose, so I can't say I'm overly thrilled at the prospect of seeing him walking around with a damn wand. 😂

Though I’m curious if it’s like some other people are saying and it could also be a weapon/blade like the one that was produced by the red lyrium idol in Tevinter Nights/the Blue Wraith comics? 👀

(But to be completely honest, my main takeaway from this whole thing was actually “OMG, they kept the CAPE for Solas’ ancient elven armor design from the early concept art???” lmaoo I was sure they got rid of it after seeing the 2020 teaser trailer. lol I’m sorry, but for those who don’t know me, I’m the biggest sucker for capes and coats in character design 😂 Give me ALL the capes! All of them!! Edna Mode hates me. lol)

Anyway, this is all I’ve got for the moment, I’m super thrilled! Even though I totally get everyone who desperately wants to see something other than Solas lol, if only to finally get a sense of confirmation after such a long time that there’s a game that’s actually.. real and playable, you know. 😂 Though tbh, I think I’ll only be able to fully realize this the moment we get an actual cinematic trailer with in-game footage and stuff. lol Fingers crossed (and clown wig ready) for the Game Awards! 😁

#da4 #dragon age 4 #solas

[yumeka-sxf]

Off to Anime Expo 2023!

My ITA backpack is ready!

And in case my favorite anime wasn't obvious enough already, I also put some pins on my badge lanyard!

So yeah, later today I'll be heading to Anime Expo (also known as AX), which is arguably the biggest anime convention in North America. Since I live near Los Angeles, I've been to the expo many times...this will be my thirteenth year attending! I've even saved all of my AX badges over the years ;)

(if you're wondering why I had to blur out parts of the badges, it's because they used to be personalized with every attendee's full name and city/state. They stopped doing that in 2015).

Even though I've been to AX many times, this will be my first convention since the pandemic, so I'm especially looking forward to it.

These are the events I'm planning to attend (emphasis on SxF related events of course):

Day 1, July 1st

-Spy x Family Panel featuring Takuya Eguchi

Start: 5:00PM End: 5:50PM

Day 2, July 2nd

-Production I.G x WIT

Start: 12:00PM End: 12:50PM

Day 3, July 3rd

-Bushiroad Panel

Start: 11:30AM End: 12:20PM

-Crunchyroll Industry Panel

Start: 3:30PM End: 4:50PM

Any time I have in between panels will be spent in the Exhibit Hall, where 100+ vendors will be selling all manner of anime goods, or Artist Alley, where 100+ artists will be selling their works. And when those places close in the evenings, I'll probably hang out in the Tabletop Gaming room playing Weiss Schwarz and Osica.

Obviously the SxF panel on Day 1 is my top priority. That would still be the case even if Eguchi wasn't part of it, but the fact that he will be there makes me even more excited! But anyone who's been to big fan conventions knows how crazy crowds can be, and unless an event has reservation tickets or something (which this one doesn't) it's all first come first serve. I know I'll have to get there at least a few hours early to ensure I can get a seat. This year AX will not be clearing rooms before or after most events, so that could help. Fingers crossed I can get in! The other events I want to attend will be crowded too, but not as bad as this one. I'm hopeful we'll get a sneak peek of SxF season 2...we've already gotten a movie trailer, and the movie comes out months after season 2, so maybe they're saving the season 2 teaser for AX!

Unfortunately I've been dealing with a health issue for the past month that has yet to be resolved. After weeks of pain in my gut and battling ongoing fatigue, I finally got a CT scan today and found out I have inflammation in my colon. I just started taking antibiotics that will hopefully get rid of it, but if not I'll have to get a colonscopy for further inspection. I wish I felt better so I could enjoy myself more, but I know I'll feel at least a little better once the adrenaline and excitement kicks in. Just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get worse during the trip...I've been looking forward to this all year and would be devastated if it was ruined!

Anyway, I definitely plan to blog about my time at AX. Unfortunately most of the big events, especially ones with exclusive content, don't usually allow photos or video. But I'll do the best I can even if I can only recount my experiences in text! I'll try to make posts while I'm actually at the expo, but depending on how things go, I might not be able to do the bulk of my posting until after I return. However, I do plan to make more sporadic, real-time posts on my Twitter, so follow me there if you're interested!

#spy family #spy x family #sxf #spyxfamily #anime expo #anime expo 2023 #ax2023

[weirdgirl92]

Some info dumps on my Cuphead OCs

@firecurls-27 @nightmaretherabbit @marshmallow-biscuit-blog @zibiscusloon @anawkwardgalnamedtarazan @ur-typical-nerd @dnpanimationstudioclone

As you might already know, these past few months I’ve been stressing over how I’m going to introduce my Cuphead OCs here on this site, since: 1.) I have a LOT of Cuphead OCs, and 2.) I can’t draw for shit (literally, I only have one OC design finished so far). So, I’ve decided to suck it up, and just introduce most of them with only written descriptions for now.

((Remember what I said about having only one OC design completed so far? Well, this was the one I was talking about, and even then the wings don’t look quite right…))

Briar

A snarky, free-spirited forest sprite and my “main” Cuphead OC, who came from a hidden island called The Willow.

In sprite years, she’s 360 years old, which is basically 18 in mortal years (in my AU, a forest sprite ages every 20 years, which is the same amount of time a tree matures).

An outcast among her race, since she was “born different”. She can’t physically use magic to heal herself like other sprites can; and despite having plant magic, she’s really only able to conjure up mutant plants (and before you ask, no, this is NOT my fanon origin story for Cagney Carnation, though, Bry does kinda befriend him later on).

Has very unstable fire and hurricane powers that are only triggered when she’s very angry, which is why she always tries to keep her temper in check; she’s also the only sprite of her kind that can shape shift. There’s a reason for both of these things, which I can’t give away yet, because it’s a big spoiler.

Loves to play pranks on others, because it stems from a coping mechanism she’s had when other sprites would leave her out of “normal forest sprite activities”, since her magic was deemed too dangerous and unpredictable.

Initially runs away from home to find out more about her powers and where they actually came from, but ends up getting so wrapped up in her newfound freedom and finally settles down in Inkwell Isles, where she develops a huge fondness for jazz music and chocolate.

Is 4 inches tall at normal sprite height, but can make herself grow up to “human height” whenever she feels necessary to do so.

First time she met Cuphead and Mugman was sometime after the events of Sweater Luck Next Time. See, Mugs suggested he and Cups go on a relaxing camping trip together with Elder Kettle, to get his mind off The Devil; but during the night BEFORE that, Briar came across burnt remains of the forest that The Devil destroyed in his attempt to destroy the invisible sweater. This made her very frustrated, not just because of how long it’d take for one forest sprite to heal, but because of how limited her plant magic was. Then, after a miscommunication with the local forest animals, she mistakes Cuphead and Mugman for “that weird horned creature’s two little cohorts”. So, she used her powers to try and scare the two cups away from the forest they were camping in; but after realizing they were just kids who have an elderly caretaker, she revealed herself to them, explained her story and apologized for the misunderstanding.

When Briar first met The Devil, she wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him, because she’s heard so many stories about a devil over the years, that she was kind of disappointed to find that he was nothing more than a fluffy noodle with a childish temper. This bruised his ego so much more, that he made it his mission to find out what her worst fear is (all while trying to snag Cuppy’s soul).

Eventually, she develops a very tsundere-ish crush on The Devil, but refuses to let anyone know about it.

She also gets along very well with Henchman, because of his gentle and unassuming nature, and because of his willingness to listen whenever something on her mind is bothering her (he’s such a mom friend, I swear).

Mother Nature

Guardian of The Willow and mother figure to all sprites who live there, including Briar.

Is a GIANT woman (I’m talking Cala Maria height).

Proper, elegant, usually soft-spoken, but can be very fierce and strict as well.

Has pale green skin, doe-like ears, forest green eyes, silver antlers; and long, wavy, floating hair that slowly changes to any color of the rainbow.

When she gets angry, however, her hair becomes a fiery orange-red and looks like the shape of a giant flame, while her antlers become sharper and more pointed.

Wears a long flowing dark green robe that accentuates her curves.

Is very adamant about Briar keeping her powers in check, even if it means having her sit quietly on the sidelines for a while as other forest sprites preform their daily tasks of keeping The Willow alive and growing.

Lord Apollyon

The Devil’s evil bastard of a father, and the demon of discord and destruction.

Used to be an angel before he got booted out of Heaven for rebelling against God, but as he fell, he split some of himself up into 7 more demons, which (in my personal headcanon) was how The Devil and his 6 brothers were born.

When all 7 his sons came of age, Apollyon gifted each one of them their own pitchfork, their own henchman demon, and their own “underworld” on Earth for them to rule over and spread out his evil….all except for young Lucifer (Devil), because he was much too small and weak. Though, after much begging and pleading from Luci, Apollyon nonchalantly gave him a pitchfork that was more unstable and hard to control, along with a fat clumsy purple henchman demon (whom Luci would eventually name “Henchman”, because he’s just so terrible with names).

His upper body resembles a Siberian tiger, but with pitch black fur and small white stripes, while his lower body resembles a black snake, and his wings are leathery torn up dragon wings.

His horns are silver and look like ram horns.

Has scarlet red dragon eyes.

His pitchfork is made of lead (I chose to make it that way, because lead symbolizes death and sin).

Asmodel

Is based on Asmodeus, the demon of lust.

Is a scarlet red demon whose head and torso resemble a dragon/goat hybrid. (( Basically, like this, but without the long fangs sticking out of the lower jaws:))

Has the legs of a dragon, tail of a scorpion, and arms that look like talons of a harris hawk.

Wears a dark cape decorated with two large skulls on the shoulders: a bull skull on the left, and a ram skull on the right; also wears a black furry loin cloth with a silver chain as the belt, and a tiny rat skull in the middle of it.

A total sleazebag, and womanizer. Briar is especially uncomfortable around him, because he’d tend to flirt with her right in front of The Devil, which in turn makes HIM very uncomfortable, and angry (though he swears it’s totally not out of jealousy, nope, not at all).

Extremely vain, and incredibly extra (which is pretty much why he wears a dramatic looking cape all the time).

Loves to gamble and was the original owner of the casino, before Devil won it from him in a game of poker (thanks to a little card trick King Dice taught him when they were young).

His pitchfork is made of antimony, since it’s a metal that symbolizes “animalistic urges”.

His henchman is a goat-legged imp named Deva.

Beez/Beelzebub

The demon of gluttony.

Looks like a giant, morbidly obese bat with orange fur, black horns, and bat wings that are orange on the outside and black on the inside.

Is very infamous for stealing people’s crops.

Has the ability to use his powerful breath to inhale and suck in anything he chooses to devour.

Commands an army of fly demons (and yes, I did base this off of actual demon myths of Beelzebub and the Order of the Flies).

His pitchfork’s made of brass, since brass symbolizes “abundance” in life.

His henchman’s an imp named Grub, who has a pig-like nose, pig-like ears, and tiny insect wings.

Maymun

Is based on Mammon, the demon of greed.

A wolf demon with charcoal colored fur, dark gold claws, long gold spikes on his elbows and shoulders, a long black dragon tail with tiny gold spikes, and ivory colored horns with gold tips on his head.

His eyes have a bronze colored sclera with golden amber irises.

Often disguises himself as a “normal-looking” anthropomorphic white wolf to scam unsuspecting mortals out of their riches.

Has tried to cheat The Devil out of his casino on occasion, but was unsuccessful each time.

Does NOT get along with Asmodel at all, mostly due to their common obsession with gambling.

His pitchfork’s made of copper, since copper is said to attract money and good fortune.

His henchman is a fox-eared, frog-legged imp named Mulciber.

Leviathan

Based on the envy demon of the same name.

Is a giant sea serpent with bluish-green scales, a silver underbelly, large transparent gills on the sides of his face, icy blue eyes, and emerald green horns.

Uses his roar as a siren call to command any sea creature to do his bidding.

Has the ability to breath fire under water.

He also eats electricity, and his tail can produce electric shocks to paralyze his victims.

Is bitter rivals with Cala Maria, because he wants to be known as the most fearsome creature in the ocean, and hates that she’s stealing his thunder.

His pitchfork’s made of blue cobalt, since cobalt is often considered an “ocean metal”.

His henchman’s a sea slug looking imp named Nudi.

Belial

The demon of wrath and Apollyon’s favorite son.

Is a crimson red dragon demon with black horns, small black spikes that go down from his neck, all the way to his tail; black claws, and piercing green eyes.

Usually prefers to work alone.

The other demon brothers really don’t like to talk about him that much, because they’re all terrified of him (including Devil).

His pitchfork’s made of iron, because iron represents aggression and primal rage.

Doesn’t have a henchman, but he does have a pet manticore that eats or attacks anyone he doesn’t like.

Belphy/Belphegor

The demon of sloth.

Resembles a giant light blue sloth with short dark blue horns, long razor sharp claws, and eyes that have a gray sclera with red irises.

Easily the laziest of the seven demon brothers.

Doesn’t usually take on a task unless if there’s something in it for him.

His claws can literally slice through anything.

Has the ability to enter people’s dreams, where he is most powerful (this idea I kinda stole from @anawkwardgalnamedtarazan, lol, sorry).

His henchman’s a bat-winged, donkey-eared imp named Almos.

His pitchfork’s made of magnesium, because it’s a metal that’s said to “relax the body and brain”, and induce sleep.

So, what do you guys think? Constructive criticism is welcome, of course, because there’s probably some things about these characters I might want to change in the future.

#cuphead ocs #my list of ocs #I spent a lot of time on this trying to make the bullet points as short and sweet as possible #But I didn’t want to leave out any “important” bits at the same time

[midnight-and-his-melodiverse]

From Midnight, With Love: A Writeblr Love Letter, that includes rambly divulging thoughts, a short story, and many thanks <3

Prelude

Good evening / timezone writeblr!! I know that this may come fifteen days too early, considering that December 31st, on the cusp of the new year, would be a more reasonable time to thank everyone on writeblr for this absolutely marvelous year of 2022, but I've decided "fuck it!" and banked on doing it now. So! Without further stalling... thus will begin this love letter, underneath a read more, for the sake of all those who don't delight in scrolling through walls of text.

But before that... the different sections of this love letter, will be opened by quotes that I find, from fellow writeblr mutual @lockejhaven.

Contents:

The Passion of Writing Stories (my past as a writer / my blog's origin story)

A Welcome to the Writeblr Corner (a fictional story that delves into my first steps in being a writeblr!)

From Midnight, with Love (some final thoughts, and many, many thanks.)

I. The Passion Of Writing Stories (aka: my blog's origin story)

"Worlds are burning, my child. Gods alone cannot suffocate the flames." - @lockejhaven

Ahh, how fitting. As almost everyone knows by now, the pandemic known as the Coronavirus has gone and affected the jobs and livelihoods of anyone, and everyone for two going on three years now, and my journey as a writeblr begins as a mere speck in the initial startling throes of the COVID rampage.

As many people know though, I did not have the luxury of taking a walk down the expansive, and seemingly endless library of writeblrs all contained within the care of a single blessed hellsite called Tumblr, when I was just about in my Grade 6 to 7 year. Despite that however, I wrote a lot of things, both good and not-so good throughout those years.

Of the many writing highlights I can think on, I will say with absolute certainty that it was my group-written Minecraft roleplay-style story, titled, "Beacon City: Herobrine's Apprentice" which had left me thinking recently: - "Why couldn't I have just called it 'Beacon City' and left it at that?" - "With the whole 'Herobrine's Apprentice' thing tacked onto the end of the title, like a kid who desperately clings to his mother to let him go to a party of great proportions, why did it seem like I was planning sequels when the main story was already being written?"

But moving from that, I cherished every moment of writing that Minecraft roleplay story with my friends, during blocks in class where we'd half-finish our work and sneakily call it a "free period" for us to work on that story.

Well, and I was definitely right to cherish those moments, because as the years passed and I slightly moved up the rungs of my personal ability scale as a writer I naively didn't look back to those previous times, and before I knew it... I had just entered Grade 10, and was four months into the academic grind, when my high school got the news that my amazing friend Gavin, who had been friends with me since middle school in band class and outside band class in my regular classes, had passed away due to complications from cancer.

This hit me, and still hits me hard. He was an amazing writer and helped out a lot on the Beacon City story, and on top of that was a great friend to hang out with. But it didn't take me long to immortalize him in my memory and keep him there in spirit.

Eventually though, I managed to move past that trauma of a loss, from a student's perspective, and get back into writing more things.

--- --- --- ---

In the present day, I have reflected many a time on my middle school writing era, so to say, and the many improvements I've made. Although like many others, I ridiculed how bad my writing style was back then and didn't bother to elaborate or reflect on it, but now I see the point in reflecting positively on your older writing.

I've realized that even if your writing is bad, just appreciate that it's yours and that you are making progress towards being a better writer, no matter how long that may take.

Now setting the scene for a bit here: I was 14, at the time I was in middle school, and I had just started taking writing seriously, to the point where I was writing small things every day. I had just started writing stories at the age of 10, and drawing upon the breadth of knowledge I had gained since then, had decided it was a great idea to improve on my passion that was telling stories.

This is where the first mentions of my main OC, Midnight, were born. He had started out WAY differently than how he is in the present day with all the development he's gone through. Two years after middle school though, in 2021 is when I decided to create a Tumblr account, starting off by making it a sort of askblog for Midnight, and just a smorgasbord for Melodiverse related stuff on top of that.

That cycle continued for a good long while with very infrequent posts and little traction... up until July 5th, of 2022, when I thought my blog was long overdue for a rebranding.

And I was only just about to discover the wonderful endless library of writers that lay behind an ornate door in Tumblr's expansive hub of small self-contained corners of the internet.

II. A Welcome to the Writeblr Corner (a fictional story that delves into my first steps in being a writeblr!)

"In a memory as old as mine, there is a truth worth seeking; a light worth following." - @lockejhaven

(A/N: And now for something completely different, that ISN'T a dive into my past as a writer, and more in my comfort zone hehe)

I found myself standing in the center of a very stimulating landscape. Almost too stimulating, in fact.

This landscape I could see around me was the darkest of blue for a solid ground, the wall was filled with reblogs and textposts, many of those that were from mutuals of mine and people that I follow. And even though this was a virtual world, that didn't stop very intrusive promotional ads from occasionally blocking my view of certain posts, as I had to physically keep my distance from them, instead of scrolling past them.

The landscape was filled with seas of people flocking to the constantly-updating walls to reblog the latest art piece, latest new fanfic and original work, or a very emotion-driven piece of poetry, penned by a user who's identity had ceased to exist, lost within this hellsite's annals of time and punctuated by an anonymous icon that acted as that blog's tombstone, with the epitaph reading whatever that user's last post before death was.

After mulling on that for awhile, and walking over to the wall to like that poetry post from that user who no longer exists, safely archived by reblogs, I liked the post to pay my respects and began walking towards my own personal room, of which was my blog's control panel and also a lounging space.

However, on my way there, I heard the faint chirping of birds and the rustling of trees, behind a cold white wall, repeating down the hallway seemingly endlessly, with noisy fluorescent lighting illuminating the way forward.

I turned around, and walked back out into the stimulating landscape of Tumblr's hub, before the ambiance of the birds and trees had become slightly louder and I faced the source of the sound. A large wooden door with a sun and open book painted on the front.

--- --- --- ---

Nervously, I continued forward, and after opening and shutting the door behind me, leaving me within the enclosure of a meadow, I admired how nice it was to no longer be inundated with notifications every second, and bathed myself in the serenity of nature. The tweeting of birds, and rustling of trees were more sonically noticeable by now.

I strolled through, and from outside yet another door, I perceived a very calming atmosphere, as I perked my ears up to the door, to hear the flipping of book pages, the typing of laptops, the sipping of coffee, and general soft conversation.

I had to psyche myself up for a bit, before I felt confident enough to go in. But my legs must have completely taken control, because before I knew it, I found myself facing the exact door I entered into. Only this time, there was a fluffy wreath on the front, followed by the words scrawled into a neat script: "Writeblr Corner: A comfort lounge for both the veteran wordsmiths and those who are new to the art of pen and page."

I closed my eyes before opening the door with a loud creak and stepping foot onto what seemed like a freshly cleaned carpet.

I opened my eyes soon after, and was greeted by the lovely aroma of coffee, and looked further around me to see endless walls of books, most of them penned by the people in this lounge, who were strangers to me at first.

I strolled around the isles as soft jazz music played over the speakers, until I found a table with a piece of lined paper sitting face up. "Introduce yourself to the patrons!" it read, almost as if it was beckoning me to introduce myself to the sea of wordsmiths who had no idea about me or what I did.

But I wrote down my name, my stories that I had in progress, and other things that people should know about me, before heading to a large corkboard, which held writer introductions from ages past to more recent ones, and I stuck mine under recent, and eagerly awaited to see what would happen.

I heard the pushing in of a chair as someone got up from their table of friends and was heading my way. We briefly made eye contact before they beelined for the corkboard, grabbed a pen and scrawled something down.

Before I could ask for their name, the person walked back to their table and sat back down. Which left me to go discover who out of the many patrons here, after all, this lounge was very full with the sound of lively conversation, had left something underneath my introduction.

It turns out, that multiple people had left something under my introduction. I walked up to the board, zoomed into my introduction paper and struggled to read the very ornate handwriting. "Hello Midnight!" read one of the comments, signed by someone named Natsume, which was written in purple ink. "Hi bud!" read another of the comments which was written off to the left side of the paper, but still visible and written in blue-pink ink. This one was signed by someone named Athena.

Many other comments were scrawled all along my introduction paper, and I was happy people were greeting me.

I eventually within a couple days found myself at home and a regular within the Writeblr Corner.

This was certainly the greatest of welcomes I could've expected.

--- --- --- ---

III. From Midnight, With Love (some final thoughts, and many, many thanks.)

"Surrender to yourself, dragonheart, and all will end as it should." - @lockejhaven

Now I'd like to leave y'all with some final thoughts.

Despite the pandemic making everyday life seem like a localized "hell on earth" scenario, the year 2022 was the greatest I could've ever hoped for.

Within this lovely writeblr community on this blessed hellsite, I made so many new friends, managed to accumulate 180 followers throughout that time, rambled a whole lot about many things, some of which were writing related, others not so much, managed to write small pieces but somehow didn't gain progress on most of my main WIPs (besides Stars, Bits, and Bytes), and just... had so much fun talking about writing and laying my eyes upon other's works of absolute word mastery. (ex. @athena-anna-rose's Terraclaw snippets, @careful-pyromancer's snippets, @lockejhaven's poetry, quotes, and snippets, and literally so many more works of wordsmithery that I would list here but it'd be too long <3)

I enjoyed playing so many writeblr-focused tag games, like Find the Word, Heads Up Seven Up, and a lot more. On top of that, I adored answering the many asks that people would send me, and I also enjoyed writing for Storyteller Saturday, Tiny Scene Sunday, and building more of my world with Worldbuilding Wednesday.

Looking forward, and behind the curtain, to the future of my blog, I'm excited to begin writing darker stuff, cute, fluffy romance, maybe some fanfiction, and definitely poetry as we near the end of my blog's first "arc".

--- --- --- ---

And we have come to the end of my love letter to writeblr! Whoever of my writeblr mutuals sees and comments on this, know that I appreciate y'all so much <3/p

THANKS TO:

@lockejhaven - for allowing use of their quotes as openers for each of the parts of this love letter, being such a lovely friend, and running the North Haven discord server. Thank you Locke.

@365runesofwriting - for being a "mother figure" for me in terms of writeblr. <3/p

@jadefyre - for being the one to create my most favorite of all writeblr events: Tiny Scene Sunday. <3/p

@scratched-fountains - Thank you Ame for being the OG, and sticking around long enough to see me improve. I hope you'll be one of the ones to leave a heartfelt review on Midnight and the Gift of the Melody Blade when I'm done with it in June of 2023. <3/p

@careful-pyromancer - for being the one with a "chosen one WIP" that unfolded to be greater than the sum of it's parts. I sincerely hope I'll see more from you with Chronicles of Avalon in the future. <3/p

@blue-kyber - for having the most captivating sci-fi fantasy series in all of Tumblr, in my humble opinion. Seriously. Out There: The 1K is the most amazing story I've seen weaved between intricate characters and emotional scenes. <3/p

@athena-anna-rose - for drawing my into checking out more of her work through Terraclaw and Wildlands content. Hope you're doin' well Athena. <3/p

And thanks to those who are anonymous, or are just too shy to personally interact with my blog. Know that I see you, and I adore your presence.

And finally, signing off: From Midnight, with Love, Thank you all so fuckin' much for a marvelous first five months on writeblr. Here's to many, many more.

#Midnight's rambles #a writeblr love letter: from midnight with love