Opalsong's Ekele

A place for podfic. (I'm back because of #ITPE. Find me on AO3, Dreamwidth, or Bluesky)

[superblond-bingo]

Welcome to Superblond Bingo!

This is an attempt at organizing a celebration around the superblond pairing (Kon El/Bernard Dowd).

The superblond fandom may only be seventeen-ish strong, but we deserve to be fed, too!

what are we even talking about, here?

@cactus-k0ala and @coconutjelly wanted to address the criminal deficit of superblond content with a low-stakes bingo challenge to encourage new superblond content out here in these desolate wastes.

There are four mini bingo cards, each with a 3x3 of prompts. Pick up any that speak to you, and complete as many prompts you want. It only takes 3 works for a bingo, or 9 if you're a completionist and want to fill every prompt on a card! We wanted there to be space for someone who only has time for a handful of fanworks, as well as breadth for those who might want to really cut loose on a summer fandom run!

"challenge" is a loose concept

Participation is intentionally flexible, because the only real goal is to give ourselves more superblond to scream about online be super chill and normal about.

No sign-up process or moderation - just make things and share it! The challenge runners do not have time or interest in cherry-picking who gets to scream into the void. The void for this pairing is big enough for everyone to scream.

Create whatever inspires you from a prompt - fanfic, notfics, drabbles, scribbles, full renders concept art, podfic, playlists, comic panels, moodboards, video montages - all are welcome!

Any rating, any AU, any medium (just make sure it can be shared via tumblr/AO3!), any themes, any side characters. Yes, that includes timberkon, just aim for a superblond focus!

Share it on tumblr and use the tag #superblond bingo. Submit it to this blog. Add it to the AO3 collection. Tell your cashier at the grocery store. Telepathically stream it to the collective superblond consciousness. Whatever method you use, just make sure people know you made something for this lovely pair of blorbos.

[coconutjelly]

so... 👉🏻👈🏻 @cactus-k0ala and I are doin a thing

it'd be real neat if some of y'all wanted to join us

@plagueislost @tigerlilyandcherryblossom @bestrobinevr @maybe-ee @opalsong @suzukiblu @candy8448 @skylernightmare @jujutherubberduckie @fractalflowersao3 @aestknowsbest @akaanmo

tag anyone else i'm missing!!!

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[doorwood]

Zelda 40th anniversary!

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Aro

It's June, motherfuckers, and you know what that means! Apart from firing a few rent-lowering shots to filter out the chuds from my following, it's probably also a good time to post a reminder that there are many strange ways to be queer, and this is one of them.

video transcript below the cut, may be slightly inaccurate, I tend to ad-lib when reading my scripts into voiceover

It's Pride Month, so if you'll forgive me I'm taking a two minute break from the One Piece, League of Legends, Marvel Rivals, Final Fantasy and Pokémon shorts to tell you… Sylveon is trans, Taliyah is trans, everyone on the Straw Hats is queer, there are no words to describe how queer superheroes are as a concept let alone how queer they all are individually, and here's a fun fact for you: Cloud Strife's story gets ten times better when you understand it as an allegory for a trans coming out experience.

As for me, well, I'm not trans, but I do occupy my own little space in the rainbow flags which looks like this. I am aromantic.

We are generally not as visible as many of our queer siblings, probably at least partly because it's kind of a difficult identity to even discover in yourself, you basically have to prove a negative.

But what is this thing, "aromantic"? Well… okay, let's say you're a straight guy, right. You know the way you feel romantically about other men? I feel exactly the same way, and then I also feel that way about women, and then also the same way about all of the other genders.

Now, aromantic often goes along with asexual, there's a lot of co-occurrence of the two, but not always, and that is my situation. Yes to sex, no to romance, which being a man, yes, I know, that just makes me the same as 90% of the men you match on Hinge. "Ha ha ha didn't realize "fuccboi" was an orientation now," I know. I get it. I understand. I have had all the same thoughts myself, especially when I was questioning.

Which is the difficulty with being aromantic, because in order to figure out that that's what you are, you have to prove a negative. I have never been in love, and I have no reason to think I ever will be… but what if someday I meet The One??? What if there's a special divinely designated perfect soulmate out there, just waiting for me, and one day our eyes will meet across the room and it will be love at first sight forever?

And like. I can't prove that won't happen, anymore than I can prove that there isn't a flowery pink teapot currently hiding somewhere in the orbit of Saturn. And frankly, if it did happen, I wouldn't be mad. Why would I be? I would have a soulmate! That's a pretty big W, I think.

But… I've had over thirty years to encounter someone—anyone—who can spark my romantic interest, and thus far, every challenger of every gender has failed. So either I am aromantic, or else you people have a skill issue.

Anyway, like anything to do with queerness, aromantic is a sprawling and diverse spectrum. You got your aroaces, aroallos, aroflux, arospikes, demiromantics, frayromantics, grayromantics, cupioromantics, there's a whole world of different experiences present under this umbrella. For me, though, just "aromantic" is fine. That's the broad label, that's the one I fall under, that's the identity I take pride in. Happy June!

[onpurposewrites]

welcome back, jeremy knox

[aenslem]

ONE PIECE (2023–) 2.02 Good Whale Hunting

[thememedaddy]

[quietwingsinthesky]

the draw of arranged marriage AUs to me is really the way the dubcon of it all binds them together. neither of them have a choice in being here, something else is foisting this upon them whether that’s their parents or the political situation around them or expectation or something else, but the point is that they don’t get that one choice. so they have to make a choice somewhere else, that now that they’re here, they’re going to make it work. they’re each other’s only allies, in this cage built around them. they may have been coerced into swearing to stand by each other through anything, but they did swear.

[quietwingsinthesky]

it’s not love at first, or second, or third sight. it’s not love in the wedding bed the first time, whether they grit their teeth through it or decide together to forgo that binding step and try to get around it as long as they can. it’s about sharing a bed with a stranger while you learn their nightmares and how they hog the covers. it’s about sharing a name before you even know each other’s hobbies. the appearances you have to keep up, and the connection you find in both being exhausted by them, laughing together because isn’t it ridiculous how you not only have to be married but you have to act like it’s perfect and lovely for everyone else watching. it’s love that creeps up quiet and slow, between shared secrets that make your wedding bands mean something for the first time, and trying to protect each other from the trap you’re both in. and it’s about having the mortifying thought of “oh my god, i have a crush on my wife.”

[queenaegon]

is that song actually character-coded or is your brain a character-shaped hammer looking for lyrics to nail down somewhere

[opalsong]

Hollinov vs. the Ottawa WAGs Series [PODFIC]

Title: Shane Hollander vs. the Power of Friendship Writer: sillylittlepal Reader: @opalsong, Judysoranges, @xianvar, Synteis, sisi_rambles, ChaosKiro, Dairaliz, greedy_dancer, @melancholymorningstar, @januarium, vexbatch pods, YouAreAKitty, B13, @separateentity Fandom: Heated Rivalry Relationships: Shane/Ilya Rating: Teen Length: 00:36:45 Size: 25.4MB Music: Calling You by Aqua Cover: Opalsong Summary: Shane gets added to the Ottawa Centaurs WAG group chat and gets the support network he didn't know he needed.

Links: AO3 Link Dreamwidth Link

This is part 1 of the Hollanov vs. the Ottawa WAGs series.

Title: Ilya Rozanov vs. the Power of Love Writer: sillylittlepal Reader: @opalsong, Judysoranges, @xianvar, Synteis, sisi_rambles, ChaosKiro, Dairaliz, greedy_dancer, @melancholymorningstar, @januarium, vexbatch pods, YouAreAKitty, B13, @separateentity, spinalvirgin, klb, @@janthony-anthony, @sunlightsymphony, HowOldAreWe, @freekyflob, Amanita_Fierce Fandom: Heated Rivalry Relationships: Shane/Ilya Rating: Teen Length: 00:41:48 Size: 28.9MB Music: Like a Robot by Aqua Cover: Opalsong Summary: Ilya gets added to the Ottawa WAGs group chat.

Links: AO3 Link Dreamwidth Link

This is part 2 of the Hollanov vs. the Ottawa WAGs series.

Thanks to Paraka for hosting!!

[astriiformes]

Ryland Grace hits a really excellent aro/ace headcanon sweet spot for me where like. He's a middle school teacher in San Francisco, he almost knows asexuality and aromanticism exist as labels. But he also strikes me as the kind of guy who never quite got to the point of introspection to go "And that's what's going on with me, specifically," at least not when he was still on Earth.

Anyway I think about two years into the journey to Erid he realizes this about himself while talking to an alien rock.

[astriiformes]

ROCKY: Humans so strange. Why only choose mates of one gender question? Grace say humans have lots of genders.

GRACE: It's complicated, buddy. Some humans like other humans of any gender, though. And some don't want to have mates at all.

ROCKY: Rocky knew that.

GRACE: What? How?

ROCKY: Grace say he not interested in that. After Rocky ask why he not like watching human romance movies.

GRACE: Well yeah, but that's just in...

GRACE:

GRACE: ...oh boy.

[cjbee]

Free will means I can draw my favorite sci-fi duos interacting.

[free-my-mindd]

[luna-azzurra]

Tips for Writing Injuries! (AGAIN)

Your action hero just got shot in the shoulder, stitched it up in a motel bathroom, and is now running through a forest. I need you to know that a shoulder wound severs muscle, nerves, and sometimes bone, and the human body's response to that is not "mild wincing followed by full range of motion." here is what injuries actually do to peoplee...

⊹ Adrenaline is REAL and it does allow people to do extraordinary things immediately after injury, BUT it is a loan, not a gift. you borrow the function and you pay it back later with interest. Your character might genuinely be able to run for twenty minutes after being stabbed. and then the adrenaline drops and everything the body was delaying arrives all at once. the collapse is NOT weakness. it's biology collecting its debt. write the debt collection. it's more interesting than the heroic sprint anyway.

⊹ Blood loss changes cognition before it drops you. you don't go from "fine" to "unconscious." you go through a whole middle stage of confusion, poor decision-making, emotional dysregulation, a strange calm, tunnel vision, difficulty forming sentences. Your injured character making a bad call, saying something they normally wouldn't, becoming suddenly and inexplicably gentle--that's blood loss. use the middle stage. it's dramatically rich and almost nobody writes it.

⊹ Recovery has a timeline and the timeline is long and boring and inconvenient to plot. a broken rib takes six weeks and during those six weeks sneezing is a genuine emergency. a concussion means no screens, no reading, no bright lights, and symptoms can persist for months. a stab wound to the abdomen means weeks of infection risk, limited mobility, and a specific kind of exhaustion that has nothing to do with sleep. Your character being sidelined and frustrated and useless for a long time is not a narrative problem. it's the story.

⊹ Pain also affects personality in ways writers skip. chronic pain makes people short-tempered and then guilty about being short-tempered. it makes concentration difficult. it makes intimacy complicated, both emotional and physical. a character who was patient and warm before their injury and is now snappy and withdrawn is not a character regression. they're in pain. pain is exhausting in ways that don't show on the outside. the people around them noticing and not knowing how to help is a whole story in itself.

[magnetothemagnificent]

So tired of the American culture around oral hygiene. You see it most in toothpaste or other similar dental products commercials. It's not "buy our toothpaste because it prevents painful infections", it's "be dentist ready" and ads showing people doing the "tissue test" to see how white their teeth are, as if the only reason you should practice good oral hygiene is because you're worried about the approval of others.

It's just...so harmful.

Oral hygiene is important, not because your teeth have to be perfectly white or because your dentist will judge you (they most likely won't), but because your mouth is part of your body and your health is important. The state of your mouth can impact the rest of your body, oral infections can become life-threating or impact your ability to properly eat or speak without pain. That's why you should care about oral hygiene- because it's your body and you deserve to live with as minimal pain and discomfort as possible- not because of some shallow beauty ideals.

I'm just so tired of the mainstream message of oral hygiene as being purely aesthetic. It's not. It's healthcare.

[nursenotes]

1. Fist: Make a fist around the epi-pen, don’t place your thumb/fingers over either end

2. Flick the blue cap off

3. Fire. Press down into the outer thigh (the big muscle in there), hold for 10 seconds before removing (the orange cap will cover the needle). Bare skin is best but the epi-pen will go through clothing. Avoid pockets and seams. 

- Ring an ambulance even if everything seems to be fine!

[sassyjavert-deactivated20151015]

Oh my god. So as someone who has to carry an epipen EVERYWHERE I am so happy to see that there’s an info post about them. Like in the extreme case that I can’t inject myself, somebody else would have to do it, but nobody knows how to do it! Thank you, this may just save my life some day.

[dontbeanassharry-deactivated201]

Don’t be wimpy about it, either. I know friends who are like, “but idk if I could stab you with a needle!” Please stab me with the needle, don’t be hesitant about it.

In my case (I can’t speak for all allergies), an epi buys me 20 minutes of breathing to get to the hospital. It is not a magic bullet, it’s a few critical minutes to help get me where I need to go.

[theroguefeminist]

For those who don’t know, people with serious food allergies carry epinephrine which is an adrenaline shot just in case they have anaphylaxis, which is a life threatening allergic attack. This shot is life-saving and must be administered to someone who is having an anaphylactic attack as SOON AS POSSIBLE, because an extra waited minute could mean their life.

It doesn’t hurt much at all to use this needle. The first time I used mine, I didn’t even feel it. But be sure to stab it IN THE OUTER THIGH. Do not stick it anywhere else or you could seriously hurt or kill someone. Just right to the outside of the thigh and then call the ambulance - even if your friend starts doing better, they could have a biphasic reaction, meaning a reaction that comes back (or they may need a second dose, be on the look out). If your friend has an epipen, then they have an epipen trainer that doesn’t have a needle and you can try it out just to be sure you know how to use the real thing if you have to. I’d also advise holding it a few more seconds then 10, maybe go for 14 just to be sure all the medicine is administered and that you didn’t count too fast - that’s what I did.

Here’s a graphic of where to stick it:

[unillustrated-man]

THANK YOU FOR THE GRAPHIC I was about to ask because my mom carries one around and so do some of my friends and I wanted to make sure I would do it right if I ever needed to!

[glutenfreethings]

Learn about this or get a refresher, if you’re not already familiar.

[ruby-white-rabbit]

“I don’t want to stab you” they’d be dead otherwise. Stab em.

[presentlydean]

online communities are so strange because people slip away so easily. you can be on here for years, folding people you've never met into the fabric of your daily life, and then they disappear, leaving only ghost posts scattered across tumblr behind. or their blog stays dormant, for weeks, months, years, until you're only still following them because you remember that they love sunflowers or they were kind to you when they didn't have to be or the last thing they posted was sad and raw and you still worry about them sometimes.

and sometimes they come back when you least expect it, years later, even, and there's this sudden rush of relief like there you are, there you are, even though you barely knew each other.

there's a strange kind of love to it. i don't know you and i want to hold your hand across miles and time zones and oceans. i can still see the imprint of you in this community you left. you don't think anyone will notice or care when you're gone, but we notice and we care and we wish you well.

i hope you're all okay out there. i hope the sun is shining on your face and you are breathing deeply. i miss you.

[msilverstar]

Always reblog.