9 people you'd like to get to know better

Thanks for the tag, @traveleorzea!

Three Ships: Carolina/Maine (Red vs. Blue), Briala/Female Tabris (Dragon Age), Urianger/Warrior of Light (FFXIV)

First Ever Ship: Ever? Probably Data/my self-insert Star Trek OC

Last Song: "Firewall" by Les Friction

Last Movie: I genuinely do not remember, it has been a while since I watched a movie.

Currently Reading: Gideon the Ninth, for the third time.

Currently Watching: Only Murders in the Building, my current laundry-folding show. Good trashy murder mystery fun (but avoid if you don't want to see stuff with harm to animals).

Currently Consuming: Just finished lunch of chicken fries, sun chips, and an apple.

Currently Craving: Some energy would be nice.

Tagging: @valeriannnn, @ecosystem-administrator, @halibellecter

thanks prev! going to try this quickly

three ships: Malivai Quinn/Sith Warrior [SWTOR], Lolix, Lolix again it's just that good [RVB]

first ever: hoo boy. my oc/Kurama from YYH, lmao

last song: Rattlin Bog, we're blaming my roommate for this one

last movie: it was uh. heh. it was Winnie The Pooh and the search for Christopher Robin lmao, the fall animation in it is just so pretty.

currently reading: Son of Neptune, by audiobook, on hiatus until I can renew the loan from Libby

currently watching: RVB, again thanks to my roommate. just finished s6 and recovery one

currently consuming: uhhhhh it's an ice cream blast from sonic with extra of every possible topping. >>;

currently craving: being wounded, hiding the injury, and someone with whom I have unresolved romantic tension finding out about it, then yelling at me about it while they very roughly pin me down and very gently patch me up. but if the store is out of that like last time, I guess some popcorn would be nice.

ah heck. um, I always forget names on this part! @latentorogeny @discordzero and @corvod ? no pressure!

Ships: rvb - Wash/Felix, code geass - Gino/Suzaku, jedi fallen order - Cal/Trilla

First: idk tbh

Last song: PLVTINUM - COFFIN

Last movie: Herobrine Origins IV

Currently reading: Jedi battle scars

Currently watching: Code Geass

Consuming: bread

Craving: burrito

@marv3l-drag0ns

This implies that a lot of species we determined to not have self recognition might do well with a modified test.

when the jedi survives idk i never played it

tbh shoutout to the over 40s on tumblr, sorry the internet acts like yall belong in the retirement home when ur literally just regular adults with hobbies

I was going to leave comments in the tags, but I decided this was important enough to put on main.

In college, my friend group collectively got into the SCA - Society for Creative Anachronism. They're the people who get really into medieval reenactment, the fighting and crafts and cooking, they have kings and queens and knights and events and a good percentage of them (but not all!) work or have worked at Ren Faires.

I am forever grateful my friends dragged me into that, because it was my first introduction to fandom in older adults. Middle-aged dorks. Elderly nerds. Absolutely as intense and weird and hilarious and fun as any fan in their teens or 20s. I started getting into fandom already knowing there was a road ahead for me as I got older, full of handmade costumes and late night movies and shelves of pewter dragon goblets and mixed-aged road trips to meet ups and conventions.

And it kills me that so many people don't know that sort of community even exists. On both sides, even! I went to Philcon a few years ago, which tends towards older fans, and an older woman I was talking to sadly told me that she thought fandom was dying out, because she never saw younger fans any more.

Over the past decade, there's been a really toxic movement towards keeping different ages strictly separated, both in and outside of fandom. There's this strong implication that if an older person wants to interact with a younger person, there is something inherently predatory about that.

Yeah, that attitude sucks. That drive towards separation and puritanism sucks. Declaring that younger people should have nothing to look forward to and that older people should stay separated and lonely sucks. It sucks and we are all worse for it.

Don't fear age. Don't put an age limit on having fun. Give yourself a damn future.

Beverly passed away in 2019, but she was one of many of my favorite, elder cosplayers that frequent DragonCon and remind all of us to keep playing as long as we can.

Friska: It's always interesting to see the difference between how a normal person and a bigot respond to the suggestion of the removal of bigotry. One shrugs and nods, and the other shrieks as if their very soul is being rended from their being at the very suggestion.

Friska: It's even funnier to watch a bigot say that eradication of bigotry would mean their death.

What, there's no soul left?

If the bigotry were to be removed, would you wither away? Dissolve into nothing? Become dust?

If the bigotry is all of you that has substance, shouldn't we let all that's left of you drift away? Nothing worth saving, wash it down the drain. Let it go.

I'd rather wash bigots down the drain than their victims.

I really need people to stop being such puritans for a bit so we can talk. Holy fuck, stop assuming every person you find gross wants to harm others. Can we please just talk without someone accusing someone of being abusive?

Zombies shouldn't growl or snarl, they should babble a mixture of incomplete word sounds and whole words or sentence fragments. Every zombie should sound almost but not quite like it's trying to tell you something.

taking that guy out of situations and putting him in a loving polyamorous relationship

@funnierasafictive @funnier-as-a-fictive

environmental storytelling.

[ID: photo of a small green and yellow bird in a pet store cage, sitting on a perch underneath a paper sign that hangs on the outside of the cage. It reads "my name is harpo! please don't put your hands in my cage! I might--" and the rest has been messily ripped off at beak level]

fyi this account was marked green on shinigami but was making transphobic comments on my content and looking at the blog this is 100% a terf so something went wrong there. marked them anti-trans myself, posting to let yall know to look twice if you see this username in green

Ok wow that's messed up

YEAH that was me lmao I was labrysbutch on here for like a year and a half. Surprisingly not the first time one of my old urls has been co-opted by a TERF actually. They're always just picking at our dregs huh!

Friska: That's exactly why I parked a sideblog on @rookie-captain-friska , this is a known part of the terf and other bigot playbook. I think parking dummy accounts on old usernames is a pretty good idea.

growing up as a boy is like: you are not allowed to be effeminate. you are not allowed to be a faggot. if you are effeminate you will get called a homo or a sissy boy and your peers will reject you. they may not know why they are rejecting you but they will keep you at arms length.

you will try to be a man, try to cut your hair short and grow out your beard, but you cannot hide it. you are a faggot with a beard.

you will be aware of your hands, of how you hold them, how you are holding them wrong, and how you need a manlier posture. you will paint your nails and be told you're vain. you will remove the nail polish and cover your fingers in clear varnish, so that you can have a secret. so no one will know what you want.

you will wear a skirt or a wig as a joke, to make fun of those men who have truly failed, who are trying to pass themselves off as women, and thank god you are not like those wastrels, and as you laugh you will feel hollow inside.

you will wonder how other men do it.

is it as hard for them as it is for you? can they drive to work without feeling in the marrow of their bones that they are not meant to be in this body? do they look up the wikipedia page for estradiol late at night, while their wives are asleep, and wonder what life could be like? what rewriting your skin would feel like?

you do not know how much hurt you can bear before you will be willing to renegotiate every single relationship you have ever made in your life.

you will renegotiate every single relationship you have ever made in your life. 

you will wonder how you ever believed you were a boy. you know the answer--that you were never taught that you could be anything else, that realizing you could be anything else was like crawling up through six feet of dirt with bloody nails and lungs full of earth--but you will never know the answer. 

the worst thing a man can be is a woman. you are the worst thing you can be and it is the best thing you have ever done. 

You are not required to be considerate of the feelings of bigots when you exclude them from your communities.

If they want to not be hurt from being excluded, they could just stop being bigots.

Western Tulpamancy is so fundamentally different from Buddhist Emanations that the two practices are only similar in name

This is the opinion of a Tibetan Buddhist who is quoted as being a "student of the words of Sogyal Rinpoche, student of Avalokitesvara, student of Kṣitigarbha," and a student of their own emanation (tulpa), Dharma Yokeyodasampa.

On May 11, 2022, this thread on Reddit was opened as an AMA for any member of r/Tulpas to ask questions regarding the Tibetan Buddhist practice of emanation.

The Buddhist (who did not give their own name or pronouns) has answered a couple questions regarding the use of the word "tulpa" as the tulpamancy/tulpa system community uses it. Screenshots of questions and answers with transcripts to follow. Emphasis added by myself for clarity, however, the quotes themselves remain unchanged.

[TRANSCRIPT:

How do you feel about this community, and by extension, other plural communities?

Answer: I have understood the western Tulpamancy culture for awhile, I’ve been on the old forums but I haven’t really interacted much with the community. I don’t view it negatively, as long as you live your life and treat all sentient beings with kindness, including your tulpa, I don’t see an issue.

How does your emanation/tulpa compare to the headmates of this community? Do you treat them differently in any way? How would you describe your relationship?

Answer: I believe the main difference between Dharma Yokeyodasampa and others, is his vows. He is an ascetic, by choice, and chooses to spend most of his time in my company or meditating in our mental space, which is the likeness of a monastery. He doesn’t indulge much in my world, other than discussing day to day troubles. He is like any other person I would guess, though he is deeply rooted in his spiritual practice, with most of the day up to 8 hours spent in meditation and repetition. Our relationship is like that of brothers, though we consider the other one his Teacher. Much can be learned from both our experiences, and much can be learned of ourselves by discussing ourselves.

How do you feel about this community using the term "tulpa"?

Answer: considering that, from what I understand, tulpa in the western sense is a different culture than that of Tibetan or other shared origin, I don’t see a specific claim to the word. I don’t mind it. It’s fascinating how such a concept has travelled and deviated from its original sources and grew into a practice distinct in culture and community.

/END TRANSCRIPT]

Considering the Buddhist in question had been in these circles for a long period of time before finally announcing themselves, they obviously have a good background of knowledge on the tulpamancy community as a whole. They do not see the community negatively. Their specific quote saying, "[the concept of tulpamancy] has travelled and deviated from its original sources and grew into a practice distinct in culture and community" suggests to me that they (and, by extension, more than likely other Tibetan Buddhists) see the key differences between Buddhist Emanations and Western Tulpamancy.

This distinction also becomes clear in the quote, "tulpa in the western sense is a different culture than that of Tibetan or other shared origin," so one can conclude we are not even pretending to practice the same emanation as Buddhists.

[TRANSCRIPT

Please be sure to “DM” me and I will retrieve some good reads for you.

In my personal understanding, not all tulpa are Bodhisattva or other enlightened beings. I believe western tulpas are incomplete variations or effects derived from Deity Yogic practices. That is to say, visualizing and maintaining a practice of meditating on -and with- the Buddhas/chosen deity or enlightened being, is meant to achieve an end goal such as purification, and realization of the true state of bliss.

While western tulpa seem to be made as companions with a secular division.

/END TRANSCRIPT]

This further places a distinction between Buddhist and western tulpa; Buddhist tulpa are created with a specific end goal in mind, whereas western tulpa are usually non-spiritual companions.

In conclusion, and to summarize:

I didn’t expect this, I was told that my name was being brought up here, it’s so nice to see that my presence is calming to the greater “Plural” communities!

sanders sides + text posts

part 6

Friska: I have no clue who these people are but if they feel like this they should try tabletop RPGs.

They are from the web series Sander Sides! The full thing is on YouTube and is very good.

Which is why it’s important to not be mean.

Their cult teaches them that the world is full of scary monster people who hate them for being so good and loved by god. If you swear at them and call them names or get in their face you’re just doing the cults work for it.

I’m not saying you have to listen to their presentation or try to debate them (and really getting into a debate without thoroughly understanding what they’re being taught will just make things worse)… I am just saying to be polite and say no thank you like if they were trying to hand you a flyer for something you don’t care about.

It’s easier for them to see the world outside their bubble as less scary if they see everyday people just going about their business and being as nice to them as you are to everyone else. This goes doubly for anyone who happens to dress modestly, not swear, and not drink or smoke because whatever you believe, they’ll see you as a “good” person who happens to strangely have no interest in their “message”, and that might be enough to get some curious about the possibility of themselves living in the real world.

It’s sometimes hard to be nice to people who seem to represent something you dislike. Just remember these “elders” are sheltered young men, some of which are getting their first real contact with people of other/no faiths.

They are not your enemy. They are victims.

They aren't being sent out to actually convert people, they are being sent out hoping that they will be harassed and treated poorly so they view those outside the cult as dangerous and evil and stick to the safety of the familiar group.

You being mean to some teenager isn't sticking it to anyone, you're doing exactly what their church elders want to happen.

PLEASE READ THIS.

Please read this.

Don't do the church's work for them.

If you're kind to enough of them, they put you on a block list.

They were such sweet kids, they'd turn up at my door with the thatch of raspberries out front and try to share their word with me, and I'm me, so, I fed them.

Then it was one of the wee 'elder's' birthday, so I made him a cake, and all the little lads came, and they asked about my books and board games and CCGs, I was just a nice frumpy middle aged Jewish lady, I was no threat, so I fed them and made them cakes and took them to the local gaming store and listened when they talked.

One loved yu-gi-oh cards, and it turns out, one of the other wee lads, we'll he loved him back, so I got them in touch with some resources so they had support and a different way to pay for college, they're still together 15 years later, they have dogs, they send me ecards on their birthday. No-one figured out I'd.helped them, I was just the nice lady who made them tea and listened when people were slamming doors.

The next one really wanted to be an artist, so I left out art books and resources, my eldest shared their coptic markers, they draw comic books now, no idea why his folks were insisting he needed to be a dentist, but, he's not a Mormon anymore, (not a Jew either before anyone makes any counter conversion claims).

The first 2 lads were the only dramatic ones, the rest went back into the network but, like Hugh of Borg, they spread the word, sometimes I'd get Mormons from other cities come and make the journey to break bread at my Sabbath table and be seen.

I still think very fondly of that time.

Many of those boys still email me now and then.

Most of them aren't Mormons anymore.

Someone higher up spotted the pattern and suddenly no more Mormons at my door.

I was blacklisted, for kindness.

So there you go, if you don't want Mormons at your door, just love those kids for a couple of years, feed them, help them, and eventually, no more will be allowed to visit

*Janus and Remus being arrested*

Officer!Logan: What are your names?

Remus: Don’t tell him Janus!

O!Logan: *writing* Janus…

Remus: Shit!

Janus: Nice going, Remus!

O!Logan: *writing more* …and Remus.

Janus: Fuck.

You know I wish fatphobia was less pervasive. Even among people who consider themself as progressive, it's rampant. So quick reminder. No it's actually not easy to stop being fat, and it sucks that we are treated differently for something we really can't control. Shaming a fat person for being fat, and shaming them for not having the "willpower" to become skinny- is bigotry. And if all you talk to fat people about is weight loss and dieting- congratulations! You're being a dick! Stop.