woe. catboys be upon ye

Currently playing: _ - davi, he/they, queer, 18+ only follow this blog plz it's my personal - ffxiv sideblog: @sunderedazem, minecraft (mcyt) sideblog: @blockthoughts - mostly star warsy things and random crap on this blog, sideblogs are fandom-specific - here be queued posts - pfp by @minpage, header by @skullinacowboyhat

[avtorsola]

This Is A Pinned Post

Hiya. I'm Davi. he/they, queer adult with Gender and Sexuality going on. you know how it is. This is my main blog and I will be an Adult here, so- 18 and under folks- I'm sure you're lovely. But if I catch you following me here, it's a hard block. I have sideblogs which are fine to follow though.

My sideblogs are as follows!

MCYT/Minecraft: @blockthoughts FFXIV: @sunderedazem Cool References: @solavtor OC masterpost links

FFXIV OC Masterpost SWTOR OC Masterpost (some links broken)

Recent-ish Fics/Fic Series I've written/co-written:

Unseelie : MCYT, Vampires SMP, standalone fic your boldness stands alone among the wreck : FFXIV, series, co-written with @azems-familiar in the shadow of the sun : FFXIV, series, co-written with @azems-familiar do you taste my pain in this bloodstained place : Jedi: Survivor, standalone fic, co-written with @azems-familiar The Moonrise Legacy: SWTOR : Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMORPG), series.

Will update as Things arise requiring Updates!

[wafflewarrior111]

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

[missroserose]

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how?  How does he know it?”  Interrogate your witnesses.  Cross-examine them.  Make them explain their reasoning.  It pays dividends.

[heck-in-a-handbasket]

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

[ineedthesons]

This is your "show not tell" advice explained!

[tarysande]

Editor here.

First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.

What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.

This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*

If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.

*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.

This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.

“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.

[the-haiku-bot]

This is also where

you want to pay attention

to verbs of being.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[defilerwyrm]

The most valuable advice that Author Ex gave me through the years that we wrote together was this: the problem with all these filter words is that they create distance in the POV.

That means that when you read a line like

John saw that the curtains were open.

It immediately takes you OUT of the character's perspective and instead tells you what they experience as a secondhand observation.

You don't have to get fancy or purple with how you rephrase things like this. Not everything needs a ton of breathing room.

You wanna know what's perfectly impactful while keeping a tight POV?

The curtains were open.

Simple as that.

[songlin]

This was one of my all time most powerful writing lessons! This mindset shift makes you a stronger writer immediately in a way that just keeps getting easier and better for you.

[elumish]

The take I always have on advice like this is that "John saw that the curtains were open." and "The curtains were open." are sentences that are telling you two different pieces of information.

Some of this, yes, is about POV distance--but some of it is also about the information being conveyed by the sentence. If you are using a sentence like "John saw that the windows were open" it should be because the information you are seeking to convey is that John saw it.

Maybe this matters because the next time John looks back they are closed, and so he's doubting what he saw. Maybe it matters because he later has to recount information about the room he was in, and it's notable that he specifically saw that the windows were open. The fact and method of his observation is part of the point of the sentence, rather than simply the observation itself.

When we are using sense verbs, it should be because part of the point is the sense. Same with "thought", "felt", etc.: "Mary thought that Susan looked a little thin" is telling us a different piece of information than "Susan looked a little thin."

Contrarily, at least in my opinion, simple telling phrasing like "It was rainy" can sometimes bring us more into a character's head than something showing like "The rain howled like an injured animal." I have read books when a relatively plain-spoken/plain-thinking character suddenly starts having elaborate descriptions of things like scenery or weather, and it is abundantly clear that the author wanted to spruce up their writing and avoid "telling." The problem is that it drags me as the reader out of the character's head and shows me where all of the strings are. I'm suddenly thinking about how the author is worried about being yelled at for "telling" instead of just reading the story.

Your writing, down to the sentence structure and word choice level, should be about what you are trying to accomplish. Is the point to tell us that the window was open, or is it to tell us that John saw that the window was open?

[tearlessrain]

making friends via fandom is inherently hilarious because in many ways it's like a regular friendship and sometimes you'll share stuff that's going on in your lives and offer support and talk about food or pets or random cultural stuff because you live on opposite sides of the damn planet, but also some of your interactions are like "hello beloved friend whom I cherish deeply, I have brought you a deceptively platonic gift of lovingly crafted star wars porn"

[spyroforlife]

gonna post a controversial take alright are y’all ready??

…

actually typing out emoticons like XD and :D and :V never should have gone out of fashion and you can pry them out of my cold dead hands okay I know emojis are fun but THEY DON’T CAPTURE THE EMOTION IN THE SAME WAY

so like

…yeah that was basically it, thanks for reading

[reynaruina]

also websites that  automatically replace your typed out <3 and :D with emojis upon sending them are a Danger To Everything That’s Good In The World

[cumaeansibyl]

bring back nose smilies :-)

[porcupine-girl]

There is no emoji that captures what I mean by :P (I do NOT mean “hur hur goofy-ass face!”) and the one for :^/ is not great. And lest we forget, 🤷🏻‍♀️ is absolutely inadequate compared to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[tempest-caller]

Faces no emoji has ever managed to capture, imo:

:P

^_^

:3

^u^

:/

O.o

0.0

>:/

<(^u^)>

[batneko]

I am too old to stop using XD

[therev28]

i have never yet found an emoji that fully captures the shifty energy of: 

>_>

<_<

[spyderqueen]

Oh man, I’ve missed O.o

Especially alternating to really capture how boggled you are.

O.o

o.O

O.o

[charlottemadison42]

Whatever the name of this team is, I am on it

[eeveedatparty]

this is   awesome

[defective-replicant-deactivated]

._. is pretty good too and 😐 just ISN’T THE SAME

[acrelion]

XD, ^-^, :3, <3, and =P until death

[zetsubonna]

¬_¬ is the most eloquent keystroke combo

[booksandcatslover]

U_U is my fav, and also O_O

[thehornedwitch-deactivated20211]

the SHEER MISCHIEF of OvO

[weaselle]

me af

[littlejowo]

Some personal favorites of my own:

:3c

>:3c

OF7o

òwó

ú_ù

n_n

owo

oTL

=(Ô . Ô)=

[revcleo]

Kaomoji (≧ᗜ≦)

[catbountry]

>:3 Rawr

[madjesters1]

:D

[fangirltothefullest]

Personal faves:

TTwTT

83

8U

>8U

>8Oc

>////<

>////>

(-^_^-)

( 6w6;;;)

( > ^ <;;)

=(^w^)=

\o/

OTL

[spindlewig]

my favorite thing is that my phone has a built-in emoticon part so I can super easily just do

✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

(⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

(⁠ ⁠T⁠_⁠T⁠)⁠＼⁠(⁠^⁠-⁠^⁠ ⁠)

ʕ⁠ ⁠º⁠ ⁠ᴥ⁠ ⁠º⁠ʔ

〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜

ʕ⁠ノ⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠ʔ⁠ノ⁠ ⁠︵⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

with just a quick little tap

you can pry good old fashioned emoticons from my cold, dead hands

(and even then it’s gonna be a struggle)

…⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ

[rosslynpaladin]

:3-< ball python puppy face go blelelele

and

-.-

will never lose its “Ben Affleck Smoking image deep sigh” dejected resignation.

[enki2]

[thebdelliumlady]

For anyone wondering, the PhD student's name is Myra Cheng.

Here's a link to an article about the study from the Stanford Report: link.

[chapscher]

Across three preregistered studies, participants interacting with sycophantic AI became more convinced of their own rightness and less willing to repair relationships. Yet at the same time, participants rated sycophantic AI models as higher quality, more trustworthy, and more desirable for future use, which may explain why this behavior has persisted despite its harmful impacts.

Myra Cheng et al. "Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence." Science 391, eaec8352 (2026).

[apolladay]

Do you like the way your hair is currently?

yes

no

nuance

literally bald

Remaining time: 5 days 7 hours

[snoozyfruit]

“You’re not the only one who survived.”

inquisitor bode art for @who-needs-words ❤️

[snoozyfruit]

close up + brightened 🥰 so that you can see his pretty face a bit better

[antebellum13]

Haven’t stepped into the DA fandom for a long time but this story caught my attention and I had to start reading it.

Check out no closer could I be to god by dirthavaren. Her Vythral’a inky really inspired me to pick up the pen for the DA universe once more. Thank you for letting me paint her! Might have to do it again in the future! 🥰

@hai-resdaynia

[viralfrog]

[dragongirlbunny]

[bruzum]

[lastvalyrian]

This is literally what people are talking about when they say AI will be used to mainstream widely held bigotry. LLMs are trained on frequency and probability -> straight relationships are more well represented in the dataset -> straight pronouns and terms become the "correct" normal.

This is a form of backdoor bigotry from both normative facts (there are more straight than gay relationships) and well represented bigoted beliefs (men are superior to women).

Combine this with the mass of people inclined to believe (and being encouraged to believe) that if AI says and does something it must be correct

[snoozyfruit]

commission for @guidinlights ♥️✨

[messengerofmechs]

Hey everyone. There's a new youtube feature that rolled out just yesterday that's raising some privacy concerns.

Expanding ways to share on YouTube

People in the U.S., U.K., Brazil, and Singapore can now share videos and chat with friends directly within the YouTube app. The update bring

This post talks about a new DM feature in youtube. What it fails to mention is that as part of this new feature is that when you send someone a link to a video, and they open it in the youtube app, they will see who sent them the link. Specifically, your channel name.

If your google account name is your real name, so is your channel name by default.

This means the new default behavior is that everyone you send a youtube link to will see your full name if they open it in the mobile app.

To turn this off:

Go to your youtube app settings

Go to Privacy

Turn off "Channel visibility for shared links"

Trimming the source id (the stuff after the '?' in links) will also prevent this from happening.

[cyanfacade]

i miss him so much

[hydrachea]

> turns on my computer

> disables a new AI feature that was turned on by default

> opens my email

> disables a new AI feature that was turned on by default

> launches a software

> disables a new AI fea

[kaioty-summer]

Hey, did y'all see this?

I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!

I'll share some of the info below:

Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.

What to do?

-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides

- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!

To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!

Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!

Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

If you're in the US, I created a petition to make it easier to contact senators and congressmen.

Google Wants To Control Our Phones

Join 1 people. Google is trying to make people hand over government id in order to make an Android app. If they don't, then that app can't b

If you're not in the US, see if your country is listed here for whom to contact.

[hard-times-paramore]

Okay, real talk now. People love to tag male characters in posts about women, but this post is gonna take this seriously. Is there actually a canonically male character you believe is a trans woman? Or at least has made into a trans woman for a fanart or a fanfic? Excluding the ones canonically implied.

Sound off in the tags! Link to the fanart or fic if available. Do it. Give me the girls. Make more women.

Edit: here's mine!

[teaboot]

Can I be honest with yall I don't want to hear SHIT against cishets at pride this year

[teaboot]

"But it's not FOR them!!!" The biggest military power in the world belongs to a christofascist nation overseen by a felon found guilty of 34 federal crimes and has greenlit a gestapo with more direct funding than the entire military of Canada for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Let Hetero Jessica throw some biodegradable glitter at a municipal parade

[teaboot]

At this point if anyone is trying to exclude anyone benignly pro-queer from a pro-queer space I'm just going to assume you're a fed or something idk like something something destabilize the movement from within or whatever

[findingfeather]

I am making a VERY big point of the Ally flag in all my pride stuff at work.

Feel awkward about people maybe thinking you’re queer but still want to clearly signal “queers are okay with me”? SURE. LOVE IT. HERE’S YOUR WEIRD FLAG.

Don’t fucking at me about allies right now, they are ALSO actually getting fucking killed over us. Take your puri-gay shitty tent somewhere else mine is great with people’s cishet friends and relatives showing up to have our backs.

(“but what if they -“ shitty behavior is shitty behavior I don’t care if you INVENTED queer sex, if you’re acting like a douche i’ll kick you out. wanna act decent and accept the premises of queer coexistence and freedom, cool, i’m not judging you for feeling ok with the gender title they gave you in the delivery room or being attracted to people with the other standard issue title, grab a pop).

[queercripintersex]

Agreed, and also what the hell is is going to take for people to recognize that there are cishet queers? Intersex, asexual, and aromantic people are queer, it's exclusionary to be using cishet as a synonym for nonqueer.

[anneapocalypse]

Setting aside the question of how you would even know who's "cishet" at Pride if you don't know them personally because it's not like you can always tell just by looking!!! I cannot emphasize enough just how important it is, especially at times like this, that Hetero Jessica comes to Pride and brings all her friends to wear rainbows and wave flags and buy some merch from queer-owned small businesses and eat some kettle corn.

While it is true that some LGBTQIA+ gatherings are meant to be more private safe spaces, PRIDE is a public event that is both celebration and demonstration. More people coming to Pride:

makes it safer for queer people to be there if they aren't out publicly.

sends a message to local businesses and local officials alike that queer rights still have a large support base and aren't a niche demographic they can safely ignore.

And as for the rainbow capitalism? Unless you have a plan to abolish capitalism next week, I am going to call it a win that my local bank and supermarket are out making a show of their willingness to hire trans people and give mortgages to same-gender couples.

We need all the solidarity we can get. 🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride.