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corvidcall · 1 year

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I posted 18,037 times in 2022

That's 1,739 more posts than 2021!

401 posts created (2%)

17,636 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sassytail

@omgitsseddie

@blazing-spectre

@starlit-mansion

I tagged 3,204 of my posts in 2022

#anime life - 339 posts

#hermitcraft - 176 posts

#iswm - 127 posts

#homestuck - 106 posts

#fnaf - 96 posts

#ofmd - 88 posts

#deltarune - 80 posts

#markcu - 75 posts

#disco elysium - 60 posts

#splatoon - 54 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#yucky but its fine for other people i guess. good in other things but gross as a primary condiment. yummy!!!! i love mushrooms. yucky and gi

My Top Posts in 2022:

i had a dream last night where i was in a high stakes game of magic the gathering, and even though im very bad at magic the gathering, i was extremely winning because WotC just came out with a new set of cards for like. Pride i guess? and they didnt want to seem homophobic so they were very OP.

anyway heres my best recreation of two of the gay mtg cards

(the lyrics on the lesbian card are from Dodie's song "She" - I don't remember exactly if those were the lyrics on the card but i DO remember looking at it and going "oh i guess they got Dodie involved in this? ok")

110 notes - Posted April 16, 2022

i think it's really funny when people criticize something they don't like by calling it "soulless". saw someone say that about squishmallows, and said that instead of buying that soullless crap, you could spend the same amount of money buying a real stuffed animal

now, i don't care if they do or don't like squishmallows, but i am fascinated by the premise. squishmallows dont have souls, but other stuffed animals do? is toy story real? are beanie babies going to christian heaven?

319 notes - Posted September 19, 2022

None Of You Know What Haiku Are

I'm going to preface this by saying that i am not an expert in ANY form of poetry, just an enthusiast. Also, this post is... really long. Too long? Definitely too long. Whoops! I love poetry.

If you ask most English-speaking people (or haiku-bot) what a haiku is, they would probably say that it's a form of poetry that has 3 lines, with 5, and then 7, and then 5 syllables in them. That's certainly what I was taught in school when we did our scant poetry unit, but since... idk elementary school when I learned that, I've learned that that's actually a pretty inaccurate definition of haiku. And I think that inaccurate definition is a big part of why most people (myself included until relatively recently!) think that haiku are kind of... dumb? unimpressive? simple and boring? I mean, if you can just put any words with the right number of syllables into 3 lines, what makes it special?

Well, let me get into why the 5-7-5 understanding of haiku is wrong, and also what makes haiku so special (with examples)!

First of all, Japanese doesn't have syllables! There's a few different names for what phonetic units actually make up the language- In Japanese, they're called "On" (音), which translates to "sound", although English-language linguists often call it a "mora" (μ), which (quoting from Wikipedia here) "is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable." (x) "Oh" is one syllable, and also one mora, whereas "Oi" has one syllable, but two moras. "Ba" has one mora, "Baa" has two moras, etc. In English, we would say that a haiku is made up of three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables in them, 17 syllables total. In Japanese, that would be 17 sounds.

For an example of the difference, the word "haiku", in English, has 2 syllables (hai-ku), but in Japanese, はいく has 3 sounds (ha-i-ku). "Christmas" has 2 syllables, but in Japanese, "クリスマス" (ku-ri-su-ma-su) is 5 sounds! that's a while line on its own! Sometimes the syllables are the same as the sounds ("sushi" is two syllables, and すし is two sounds), but sometimes they're very different.

In addition, words in Japanese are frequently longer than their English equivalents. For example, the word "cuckoo" in Japanese is "ほととぎす" (hototogisu).

Now, I'm sure you're all very impressed at how I can use an English to Japanese dictionary (thank you, my mother is proud), but what does any of this matter? So two languages are different. How does that impact our understanding of haiku?

Well, if you think about the fact that Japanese words are frequently longer than English words, AND that Japanese counts sounds and not syllables, you can see how, "based purely on a 17-syllable counting method, a poet writing in English could easily slip in enough words for two haiku in Japanese” (quote from Grit, Grace, and Gold: Haiku Celebrating the Sports of Summer by Kit Pancoast Nagamura). If you're writing a poem using 17 English syllables, you are writing significantly more content than is in an authentic Japanese haiku.

(Also not all Japanese haiku are 17 sounds at all. It's really more of a guideline.)

Focusing on the 5-7-5 form leads to ignoring other strategies/common conventions of haiku, which personally, I think are more interesting! Two of the big ones are kigo, a season word, and kireji, a cutting word.

Kigo are words/phrases/images associated with a particular season, like snow for winter, or cherry blossoms for spring. In Japan, they actually publish reference books of kigo called saijiki, which is basically like a dictionary or almanac of kigo, describing the meaning, providing a list of related words, and some haiku that use that kigo. Using a a particular kigo both grounds the haiku in a particular time, but also alludes to other haiku that have used the same one.

Kireji is a thing that doesn't easily translate to English, but it's almost like a spoken piece of punctuation, separating the haiku into two parts/images that resonate with and add depth to each other. Some examples of kireji would be "ya", "keri", and "kana." Here's kireji in action in one of the most famous haiku:

古池や　蛙飛び込む　水の音 (Furu ike ya　kawazu tobikomu　mizu no oto) (The old pond — A frog jumps in The sound of the water.)

You can see the kireji at the end of the first line- 古池や literally translates to "old pond ya". The "ya" doesn't have linguistic meaning, but it denotes the separation between the two focuses of the haiku. First, we are picturing a pond. It's old, mature. The water is still. And then there's a frog! It's spring and he's fresh and new to the world! He jumps into the pond and goes "splash"! Wowie! When I say "cutting word", instead of say, a knife cutting, I like to imagine a film cut. The camera shows the pond, and then it cuts to the frog who jumps in.

English doesn't really have a version of this, at least not one that's spoken, but in English language haiku, people will frequently use a dash or an ellipses to fill the same role.

Format aside, there are also some conventions of the actual content, too. They frequently focus on nature, and are generally use direct language without metaphor. They use concrete images without judgement or analysis, inviting the reader to step into their shoes and imagine how they'd feel in the situation. It's not about describing how you feel, so much as it's about describing what made you feel.

Now, let's put it all together, looking at a haiku written Yosa Buson around 1760 (translated by Harold G. Henderson)

The piercing chill I feel: my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom, under my heel

We've got our kigo with "the piercing chill." We read that, and we imagine it's probably winter. It's cold, and the kind of cold wind that cuts through you. There's our kireji- this translation uses a colon to differentiate our two images: the piercing chill, and the poet stepping on his dead wife's comb. There's no descriptions of what the poet is feeling, but you can imagine stepping into his shoes. You can imagine the pain he's experiencing in that moment on your own.

"But tumblr user corvidcall!" I hear you say, "All the examples you've used so far are Japanese haiku that have been translated! Are you implying that it's impossible for a good haiku to be written in English?" NO!!!!! I love English haiku! Here's a good example, which won first place in the 2000 Henderson haiku contest, sponsored by the Haiku Society of America:

meteor shower . . . a gentle wave wets our sandals

When you read this one, can you imagine being in the poet's place? Do you feel the surprise as the tide comes in? Do you feel the summer-ness of the moment? Haiku are about describing things with the senses, and how you take in the world around you. In a way, it's like the poet is only setting a scene, which you inhabit and fill with meaning based on your own experiences. You and I are imagining different beaches, different waves, different people that make up the "our" it mentioned.

"Do I HAVE to include all these things when I write haiku? If I include all these things, does that mean my haiku will be good?" I mean, I don't know. What colors make up a good painting? What scenes make up a good play? It's a creative medium, and nobody can really tell you you can't experiment with form. Certainly not me! But I think it's important to know what the conventions of the form are, so you can appreciate good examples of it, and so you can know what you're actually experimenting with. And I mean... I'm not the poetry cops. But if you're not interested in engaging with the actual conventions and limitations of the form, then why are you even using that form?

I'll leave you with one more English language haiku, which is probably my favorite haiku ever. It was written by Tom Bierovic, and won first place at the 2021 Haiku Society of America Haiku Awards

a year at most . . . we pretend to watch the hummingbirds

Sources: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Further reading:

Forms in English Haiku by Keiko Imaoka Haiku: A Whole Lot More Than 5-7-5 by Jack How to Write a Bad Haiku by KrisL Haiku Are Not a Joke: A Plea from a Poet Who Has Had It Up to Here by Sandra Simpson Haiku Checklist by Katherine Raine

964 notes - Posted October 17, 2022

there's a post (possibly a genre of posts?) that i see frequently where OP is mad about self care posts that are like "it's okay if you didn't brush your teeth today uwu" and op is mad because they didn't brush their teeth for a long time and now they have huge dental bills and i take umbrage with their idea that it was tumblrs fault that they didnt brush their teeth and if only people had been less nice to them, they would have known to brush more

listen, i didn't brush my teeth for many years. feeling bad about it didnt make me brush more. knowing that people thought it was gross didn't make me brush more. being shamed and guilted about it didn't make me brush more.

what DID help was figuring out what was actually the barrier between me and doing it, and then removing those barriers, even if they felt silly and like they shouldn't be barriers at all

for example:

PROBLEM: my toothbrush is too big to fit in the cabinet and I can't leave it on the counter, so I have to keep it in my bedroom and remember to bring it with me to brush

SOLUTION: buy a new, smaller toothbrush. i know i already have a perfectly good one that's nicer than the new one i bought, but a cheap toothbrush i actually use is a million times more valuable than an expensive brush i dont

PROBLEM: i dont want to brush immediately after i wake up, it feels gross and makes me gag

SOLUTION: i set an alarm for a few hours after i wake up and do it then. the teeth dont know the difference!

PROBLEM: i hate mint and i hate cinnamon. most toothpastes are mint and the ones that aren't mint are cinnamon

SOLUTION: start buying kids toothpaste. this has the added bonus of i think it's fun and whimsical

Being mad at yourself for not brushing isn't going to help. You KNOW you should be brushing your teeth. People who don't brush their teeth aren't UNAWARE that their dental hygiene is important!!! Posts that say "if you didn't brush your teeth, you don't need to feel ashamed about it" aren't hurting people, because shame and blame don't help people form healthier habits, and frankly, it's weird to pin the consequences of your unhealthy habits on people for not shaming you more!!!

27,908 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

for the record. i dont post cringe to keep the twitter users at bay. i do not post cringe at all. if you cringe at my posts, thats on you, not me. i am simply having a good time on this webbed site and if that makes you cringe, i am sorry for whatever you see in me that shames you so.

29,443 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #long post #my magic the gathering dream deserved more attention tbh. that was the funniest shit ive ever experienced

5 notes · View notes

bewitchingfanfiction · 10 months

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Homestuck Fic (2019/12/23)

"You want to play what?" Karkat questioned in disbelief, arms crossed as he narrowed his eyes at Roxy.

It was a couple days before Christmas, everyone was hanging out in John's backyard as usual. After knowing each other for so long, it became routine when it came to hanging out at each other's houses, they had a rotation with a couple exceptions (such as Dave and Dirk's house, Vriska's house and Gamzee's house).

Roxy nodded enthusiastically, a hat filled with paper in her hand. "We'll each take a card and then have to buy a gift for that person, it'll be fun!"

"Um...I-I dunno...that sounds like a lot of pressure..." Tavros swallowed hard. Vriska was sat on his lap and had her arms around his neck. She scoffed.

"Don't be such a coward Tavros, it'll be fun. Who knows, maybe you'll luck out and not have to buy me something, which would be good for me to since we both know you'll get it wrong." She smiled.

Sometimes nobody knew why Tavros and Vriska even stuck together, their relationship was barely working.

"I say let's do it, come on we're all friends, no matter who we get this will be easy." Aradia said confidently from her place next to Sollux. Most of the friends were sat on the grass, with the exceptions of Tavros (who was in his wheelchair) and Rose and Kanaya who had taken the one bench set up.

"Can we trade with each other?" Nepeta questioned.

Roxy shook her head. "No! The whole point is that we put thought into each other's gifts, as a way of showing how much we mean to each other you know? Then on Christmas we can all give each other our gifts." She grinned.

"Sure why not?" John shrugged.

"Sounds like fun." Jade smiled.

Many seemed a bit reluctant to do it, but as the others stepped forward to take a paper everyone found themselves doing the same.

"Remember, no telling each other who you got." Roxy giggled and looked at who she got. She squealed a little.

"Um, I can't read mine." Terezi spoke up awkwardly.

Karkat grunted. "Can I tell Terezi who she got?"

"Fine, but whisper it, if you can." Roxy joked, earning a glare from Karkat.

He quickly looked at who Terezi got and whispered it in her ear, she smiled a little mischievously. "Got it."

"Alright everyone, good luck finding a gift for your secret Santa." Roxy winked.

But as everyone continued thinking of ideas for each other, they realized they were going to need all the luck they could get.

~~~

"I am so screwed." Dirk commented, he and Jane were drinking coffee at a cafe.

She smiled in amusement and sipped her drink. "And why is that?"

"I got about the only person who I have literally no clue what to buy for. I- like, okay, I'm, this is not my, I'm not meant for this kind of party game." He groaned, running a hand through his hair.

Jane snickered. "You mean a game where you have to think about other people."

"Exactly."

"Look it's not hard, if you're that stuck then just try talking to them, learn about them." Jane shrugged.

Dirk sighed heavily. "That sounds like the worst time ever."

"If it makes you feel better, I got the absolute worst person too. I have no clue what to get them." She told him.

"Trust me, whoever you have isn't as bad as who I got. I guess I should get going now, only got couple days to do this. Later Jane." He placed enough money down for his drink and Jane's before heading out of the cafe.

The moment Dirk was out, Jane took out her phone and dialed a number. "HELP ME!" She hissed into her phone.

"Something wrong Janey?" Roxy asked over the phone.

"I have no idea what to get the person I got and I've gotta get help." She said desperatly.

Roxy sighed. "I'm sorry Janey, you'll just have to think about it on your own. I can't help you. Ttyl." She hung up.

Jane groaned and sunk into her seat.

What the hell was she suppose to get Dirk?

~~~

Dirk entered the house to see Dave on top of Karkat making out on the couch. "Whoa Jesus, uh, should I like, come back later?" The two immedientally broke apart when he spoke, both looking like they just had heart attacks.

They quickly scrambled off the couch and Dave tried his best to look casual. "Hey...bro..."

"...Really...we're gonna pretend that you two weren't going at it, on the couch, in the middle of the day." Dirk commented.

"Wow look at me leaving now." Karkat yanked up his sweater to cover the painfully obvious hickey marks forming on his skin and rushed out the front door past Dirk as quickly as possible.

Dirk snorted "Smooth."

"Look I'm sorry, I would've warned you but I didn't know when Bro would get back, I had to take the chance." Dave sighed.

"Welp, you walked in once on Jake and I actually doing it on the couch, so I guess we'll call it even." Dirk commented, Dave shuddered in horror at the memory.

Dirk huffed and sat down at the table. "You gotta help me, I don't know what to do about my secret Santa."

"Just buy 'em whatever." Dave shrugged.

"I can't. This one...is important." Dirk explained.

Dave paused. "...Who is it?"

"Can't say, Roxy would kill me."

"Fair enough. My task feels impossible too, and it's also super weird." Dave told him, putting his hands in his pockets.

Dirk scoffed. "Believe me, I get it."

"This was sort of a shitty idea." Dave commented.

"Yup."

Be even so, neither wanted to disappoint Roxy, or their secret Santa; it wouldn't be right.

Dave headed off to his room and Dirk whipped out his phone and opened a notepad on it. He wrote down things he somewhat knew his secret Santa liked.

After a couple minutes of silence he groaned in frustration.

~~~

"Wow, this looks great!" John beamed at his creation.

Kanaya nodded. "It does...what is it?" John rolled his eyes and face planted into the desk, covering his face with his arms.

"It's suppose to be a skirt." He snapped.

"...Forgive me John, but I don't believe skirts have sleeves." Kanaya commented.

John scowled. "I don't know what happened! Sewing machines are stupid!"

"Don't blame the machine when the creator is clearly at fault." She told him stiffly, a tad offended he made fun of her sewing device.

"Look I'm sorry Kanaya, this is literally my first time ever even touching a sewing machine. I don't know how to make a skirt." He sighed.

Kanaya bit her lip before sighing softly. John's eyes widened as she sat down super close to him, their legs pressed together and shoulders brushing. "Explain your vision, I will take care of it."

A grin formed on John's face as he explained his design. Kanaya immedientally to work and unlike John, she not only was able to make it but she made it quickly.

"Wow, that was awesome." He told her when she finished. She handed the skirt to him with a small smile.

"If you wouldn't mind John, I have to decide on a gift for the person I got." She told him.

John took the hint and left her house immedientally.

The moment he left Kanaya got to work on her gift, she had an idea of what she wanted to give she just didn't know how to make it.

~~~

"It's so cute watching them all struggle." Eridan smirked, his arm around Feferi's waist.

She giggled lightly. They were at her house cuddling by the fireplace. "We got lucky. I knew from the moment I saw who I got what I wanted to give them."

"For a split second I was a tad nervous, but then I realized how simple mine actually was." Eridan told her.

"Still, I feel a bit bad for everyone else. Equius, Sollux and Tavros have already called asking for help." Feferi said.

Eridan scoffed. "We're not suppose to help each other."

"Exactly. So what'd you get me for Christmas?" She asked with a grin.

"We did secret Santa so we didn't have to buy each other gifts, do you honestly think I went out of my way to purchase you anything?" Eridan snapped.

Feferi gave him a knowing smile. "Eridan."

"Okay I may have bought you one thing," He admitted taking a small box but long box out of his pocket, he handed it to her.

She opened it and beamed. "Oh Eridan...it's beautiful." It was a silver necklace with the Pisces and Aquarius symbols on it.

"It better be. Had it specially ordered, just for you my dear." He smiled, looking very proud of himself.

Feferi kissed his cheek and slipped the necklace on. "I love it."

"Of course you do." He smirked.

~~~

Nepeta swung on the swing at the park sadly, staring at the ground. "Why are you so depressed?" Equius asked calmly from the swing next to her, but he wasn't actually swinging.

"...I...I just really wanted to get Karkitty for secret Santa you know?" Nepeta told him sadly.

Equius scowled. He didn't blame Karkat, he couldn't, not when he knew Karkat liked boys, that was out of his control.

But he just...wished it didn't hurt Nepeta so badly.

"Am I stupid fur thinking I ever had a chance?" Nepeta asked with watery eyes.

"No, of course not...Nepeta, if I could make Karkat love you I'd do it in a heartbeat." He sighed.

Nepeta's eyes widened. "You would?"

"...Yes...even if he tears me apart inside." Equius told her simply before getting up and walking away, he couldn't face her, he wasn't strong enough, not yet.

~~~

"Okay you worthless pieces of trash, don't worry Karkat when I'm talking about you I mean it with love," Vriska winked at him and Karkat scowled. "Let's get this secret Santa shit over with."

It was Christmas day, and everyone was over at Karkat's house for it. The living room was a tad small but they all sit fit relatively well.

"Who's gonna start?" John questioned.

Roxy grinned. "I'll decide!!!" She jumped up. "Okay...I'll start!" Nobody was surprised.

They watched as she picked up her gift and rushed over to Terezi. "Merry Christmas from your secret Santa Terezi!" She handed it over.

Terezi smiled a little as she took the gift, feeling around it and unwrapping the paper, she turned her head to look at John.

"Scented markers..." John smiled a little.

"I thought you could mark stuff with them, so that you'll know what and where they are! There's 50 different colors." Roxy told her excitedly.

Terezi grinned, showing off her weirdly sharp teeth. "Thanks Roxy. Should I go next?"

"Sure why not?" Roxy smiled.

Slowly Terezi stood up and held up her present, smiling sheepishly. "Babe where's Kanaya?" John took her elbow and carefully lead her around the room over to Kanaya.

"You're my secret Santa?" Kanaya questioned calmly.

"Try not to be too disappointed." She teased, handing over the gift.

Kanaya unwrapped it and her eyes widened. "A-A signed copy of Twilight!?"

"Oh god." Karkat face palmed.

Rose smirked a little. "My my, what a nice gift."

"Not gonna lie, it was really hard to think of something you'd like...but it was worth the effort." Terezi grinned.

"Thank you." Kanaya smiled softly and hugged her.

Terezi sat back down along with John and Kanaya took her gift out and stood up. She went over to Aradia.

"Ooh!" Aradia grinned, taking it from her quickly. She unwrapped it and gasped. It was a safari hat and it had her zodiac symbol on it.

"I thought you could wear it when you go adventuring next." Kanaya told her simply.

Aradia hugged her and then sat back down. "I love it, thank you." She quickly put it on and looked at Sollux. "What do you think?"

Sollux smirked. "Sexy as always." He pressed a kiss to her neck, making her giggle.

"BLEH!" Karkat gagged obnoxiously, making them look at him. "Yeah hear me?" He did it again.

"Fuck off KK." Sollux stuck his tongue out childishly.

Aradia sighed. "Anyways, it's my turn. Tavros..." She grinned.

"O-Oh?" Tavros' eyes widened as Aradia gestured to the giant gift.

Hesitantly he unwrapped it and opened the box, he gasped.

It was a new wheelchair, and it looked like it was incredibly good quality too.

"It's the best one I could find, it should be much easier to turn and stuff." Aradia explained.

Tavros looked ready to cry. "...Thank you Aradia...please come here so I can hug you..." She giggled softly and went over to hug him gently.

"Okay that's enough." Vriska said when their hug lasted for more than half a second. They broke apart and Aradia sat back down.

"Um...okay...uh...h-here I guess..." Tavros said awkwardly, handing a box to Dave.

Dave smiled. "Aw shucks." He opened it and his eyes widened behind his shades.

"Y-You said your bro kinda trashed your old one?...well uh, now you have a new one..." Tavros explained nervously.

It was a camera, and a really fancy one at that. It was black and had a very good lens.

"I didn't actually know if uh, you even liked taking pictures anymore? And when I realized I had no idea I felt really bad cause uh, I should probably know something like that and uh...yeah..." He trailed off awkwardly.

Dave bit his lip and seemed to swallow hard before looking at Tavros. "...Thank you, Tavros. Seriously."

Tavros let out a breath of relief when he realized Dave was pleased with the gift.

"Alright uh, shit man, this is sort of super weird, but uh..." Dave looked at Sollux awkwardly.

Karkat snorted and covered his mouth. "Oh wow."

It wasn't a secret that Karkat and Sollux use to date, everybody knew it. The only reason they even broke up is because Sollux fell for Aradia. But it was partially thanks to comforting Karkat after the break up that he and Dave are together now so...

Yay?

"Let's get this over with." Sollux deadpanned.

"Sounds good." Dave nodded and quickly handed him a paper.

Sollux looked it over and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You bought me a tree?"

"A tree with a giant beehive in it. You're always saying how bees relax you and how you like time to yourself, well if you're hanging out at that tree then nobodies gonna bug you out of fear of being stung. Thought it could be like your place to go chill when you need to." Dave explained.

At the explanation, a smile started forming on Sollux's lips. "Wow, shit, that's really fucking thoughtful."

"Heh, what can I say, I'm awesome." Dave smirked.

Karkat rolled his eyes at that but didn't say anything.

"It's Christmas what the hell, come on." Sollux opened his arms. Dave shrugged with a smile and hugged him.

"Gaaaaaayyyy." Vriska whispered loudly, making some of the others laugh.

"Merry Christmas dude." He smiled, Sollux smirked a little at that and broke their hug.

Dave went and sat back down and Sollux went next. "I'll keep this brief. My gift to you John is programming lessons, you're always saying how interested you are but you fucking suck, I mean you're like awful. So Merry Christmas."

"...Thanks?" John said with narrowed eyes, then shook his head. "Feferi...here..." He practically shoved the gift into Feferi's hands.

Feferi smiled and opened it, her eyes widened. It was a purple and orange skirt, and it had her sign on it. "Oh John, it's beautiful."

"Why the fuck are you buying my girl a skirt?" Eridan snapped.

"Because I don't know how to shop for a girl." He deadpanned.

Terezi smirked. "True story, once he bought me binoculars."

Everyone stared at John in disbelief, he flushed red.

"I didn't think it through..."

Feferi giggled and spoke up. "My turn. Here Vriska." Vriska's eyes widened and she smirking, taking the small box from Feferi.

She opened it stared at the gift in confusion, then raised an eyebrow. "Oh...a key..."

"A key to my house, or, our house." Feferi smiled.

"What?" Vriska frowned.

"You're always complaining that you don't have the money to move out of your house and...I-I'm tired of seeing the bruises you have the next day after a fight with your mom. So...I want you to live with me."

Vriska's eyes widened, her mouth fell open a little. "...Wow..."

Everyone stared at them with wide eyes.

"Way to make our gifts look fucking awful Feferi." Sollux commented.

Feferi giggled at that. "...So?" She asked hesitantly.

"...My mom's gonna kill me." Vriska chuckled.

Her eyes widened. "Is that a yes?"

She smirked. "Yeah sure, why not? If you're that desperate for company." Feferi beamed and hugged her tightly, and after a moment Vriska returned the hug.

Vriska sighed. "Okay okay enough mushy crap. Nepeta, Merry Christmas." She smirked.

"Oh god." Equius cringed, feeling very concerned at whatever Nepeta was about to get.

They all watched as Vriska went over to Karkat and mumbled something to him, Karkat hissed something back quietly and they argued like that for a moment before Vriska finally exclaimed loudly. "DO IT!" She hissed.

Karkat reluctantly got up and went over to Nepeta. "...Look Nepeta, I know how you feel about me...and I can't return those feelings, I'm sorry. But...here." Nepeta's eyes widened as Karkat placed his lips over hers. Everyone's jaws dropped.

Nepeta flushed red, eyes sparkling.

He broke the kiss and smiled a little. "Now you can say your first kiss was me, that's what you always wanted right?"

"...Thank you..." Nepeta teared up a little, hugging him tightly. Karkat returned the hug gently. Even if they couldn't be together, at least she got the kiss she always dreamed of, that was enough.

"What the fuck?" Equius snapped.

"Uh yeah right there with you." Dave scowled.

Nepeta was still beaming as she went over to Jade, carrying her gift carefully. "Here you go, be careful."

Jade hesitantly opened the box and gasped as a tiny black puppy jumped out, wagging its tail like crazy. "Oh my god."

"It's so cute..." Roxy gushed.

"This way Bec will have company." Nepeta grinned.

Jade giggled as the puppy licked her face. "Oh my gosh thank you Nepeta, he's adorable."

She gently sat the puppy down and it started playing with the wrapping paper on the floor.

"Okay, my turn. Equius. You're always wishing you had more to share with Nepeta. So as your gift, I'm gonna teach you hopscotch." Everyone's eyes widened.

"YEAHHHH!" Equius exclaimed...happily?

He had a smile on his face. "I WILL MASTER THIS CAME FOR NEPETA!" Nepeta stared with wide eyes.

When Equius calmed down, he gave Rose his gift. Enjoy."

Rose stared at the photo Equius handed her with a blank face, making everyone confused.

Slowly she started blushing, making them even more confused.

"What is it?" Kanaya frowned.

A ghost of a smile formed on Rose's lips. "Just something for me to enjoy."

Vriska glanced over at the picture and snorted. "Oh wow, that's a treat."

Aradia looked over to and snickered. "Oh, a treat it is."

"What is it?" Kanaya pouted when Rose held it away from her.

"Merry Christmas." Equius told her calmly.

Rose smiled. "Merry Christmas. Now then, Jane." Jane's eyes widened as Rose handed her a bag.

She took out the tissue paper and looked inside, gasping.

It was cookie cutters, one shaped like each of them.

"This way you can think of us when you're baking." Rose smiled.

"Oh my gosh these are so cute." Jane grinned, taking out the cutter shaped like Tavros.

While the two were talking, Kanaya took the picture from rose quickly. Her face flushed red and her jaw dropped.

It was a picture of her, but she was laid on a bed completely naked, looking at the camera seductively.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Kanaya hissed in embarrassment.

"How did you even make that?" Feferi questioned with amusement.

"Lots of photo shop." Equius explained.

Nepeta frowned. "But you know nothing about that."

They all looked at Dave.

"Fuck no, that's weird." Dave shuddered at the thought of making something like that for his cousin.

Sollux rolled his eyes. "For fucks sake I made it."

"Impressive." Aradia told him.

"Okay, my turn," Jane spoke up, making them all look at her. She took a deep breath and looked at Dirk. "I...had no idea what to get you...I thought about it for a long time...and I realized I didn't know you as well as I wanted too...and that made me really sad...but then I thought 'what is the most important thing in the world to Dirk?' and well..." Jane held out a small box.

Dirk took it hesitantly and opened it, staring at it silently. "...A necklace?"

Jane giggled. "A locket," She corrected. "Open it."

He opened it like she said and his eyes widened behind his shades. One of the photos was of him, Jake, Jane and Roxy grinning, and the other was of him and Dave smiling.

"You care about all of us...but I know you care about us especially...we've known each other all our lives...I'm sorry I didn't realize how much you cared till now." Jane told him softly.

Jake teared up. "Where is the tissues!?" Vriska chucked the box at him hard, but he didn't care about the pain and wiped at his eyes.

The locket was gold and shaped like a heart. Letting out a shaky breath, Dirk spoke. "...Wow...thanks, Crocker."

Jane smiled softly as Dirk put the necklace on and then put it behind his tank top. She would bet money that he'll never take it off unless he has too.

"Okay uh, shit, I guess I'm up...god..." Dirk took a deep breath before looking at Karkat. "Sorry in advance if you hate it."

Karkat's eyes widened. He hesitantly took the box from Dirk and opened it, his face turned sour. "...A pair of shades?"

"Strider's have shades, we all do. Even Roxy and Rose who are only our cousins each own a pair, even though they never wear them." Dirk explained.

He frowned. "...Why did you give me this?"

"...All Strider's have shades...and I know that's gonna include you someday." Dirk smiling knowingly as he looked at Dave and Karkat.

Karkat blinked, and slowly the implications of the gift registered in his mind

He flushed bright red. "HOLY SHIT-"

"Wow uh, that's no fucking pressure at all-" Dave stuttered, going red himself.

Dirk held back a chuckle as the two tried to collect themselves.

"Well fuck, my gift is totally lame now, but uh, here. Merry fucking Christmas." Karkat shoved the gift into Roxy's hands.

She beamed and opened it quickly, eyes widening.

It was a scrapbook, every page was filled with photos of them all hanging out, some including all of them and then a bunch of different groups of them.

"You're always bringing us together for shit like this...so you deserve to have the most memories of us." Karkat told her in a grumble.

A tear slid down Roxy's cheek and Karkat paled.

"Holy fuck no-" Roxy hugged him tightly as she cried.

"SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP!" Karkat shrieked as she cried harder.

Everyone just smiled and watched them silently, despite Karkat's cries for help.

"This is the best gift I've ever gotten." Roxy sniffed, smiling brightly as tears rolled down her face. "Thank you so much." Without warning she pressed a kiss to Karkat's cheek, making his eyes widen.

"Uh, so what do we do now? You've already gone Roxy." Vriska frowned.

"I'll just go." Jake spoke up, they all nodded. He smiled and looked at Eridan sheepishly.

"I tried to think of something to give you...and I know how much you like bossing people around. So...for one week, I'll be your assistant."

Eridan's eyes widened. "My assistant?"

"I'll do whatever you want, whenever you want, as long as it's not illegal or hurts my relationship with Dirk." Jake smiled.

He smirked. "Interesting, I like it, very useful," His smirk morphed into a smile. "I guess I'll go next."

Everyone watched as Eridan took out a six pack of beer, making their jaws drop, he gave it to Gamzee. "There ya go."

Gamzee's eyes widened. "Yes...." He said in a weird whisper.

"Where did you get that?" Karkat questioned.

"My dad." Eridan smirked.

Gamzee looked at Jake with a lazy smile. "Merry motherfucking Christmas my man...enjoy this tasty treat." He handed three books to Jake.

Jake stared at them. "...You bought me guy on guy porn?"

"Hell yeah motherfucker...thought they could inspire you for your bedroom times..."

"Interesting." Dirk immedientally picked one up when he said that, skimming through it. Jake smacked him on the back of the head and took the book back.

Roxy grinned. "I think this went better than we all expected."

"Hell yeah." Dave grinned, playing with his camera. He took a picture of them all.

"Merry Christmas guys." John smiled.

The others all smiled, at least a little bit. "Merry Christmas!"

#fiction #cringe #homestuck #davekat #ao3 fanfic

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29pageshomestuckeveryday · 11 months

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Homestuck, page 3,033

Jade: OH GOD HURRY UP AND ALCHEMIZE STUFF GO GO GO.

Hey, calm down! Just because it's snowing outside doesn't mean it's Christmas just yet.

There are still plenty of things to do before we bother with that sort of nonsense. Take a deep breath, put the cards down, and relax.

#gif #pesterlog

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muffintonic · 6 years

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, KK!!!! (the Santa hat didn’t fit correctly because of his horns, so he’s got ornaments instead)

#he was originally supposed to be holding a present but i drew his head too far down the page so now he's a christmas card #piratespencil #homestuck #tavros nitram #hs #my art #mine #after all these years...*clenches fist* i finally managed to make a christmas gift for you

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mouseymassacre · 2 years

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holy shit!! intro since i deleted my old one!!

hi!!

-> i'm mousey! you can also call me invisibill or bill ^^

-> he/mouse/squeak/time/angel/god pronouns! i use so many neos though feel free to ask for the full list ^^

-> i'm a minor, adults can interact i don't mind just like... don't be weird.

-> i mainly write and draw wordgirl content nowadays! if you followed me before, you probably followed me from the following fandoms: vtsom, frankenstein, witches heart, or even danganronpa if you're like. from YEARS ago.

-> feel free to dm me any time about literally anything!! i love people and i care about your interests!! i have an anxiety disorder, so if i have a bit of trouble responding at first, i promise it gets a little easier on me the more i talk ^^ making friends is really hard for me so if u like. wanna be mutuals ur gonna have to reach out to me first

-> if we're mutuals i will die for you /pos

-> i have so, so many interests and i usually move from one fandom to another very quickly. i think i'll be in the wordgirl fandom for a long, long time though! i also like hamlet, frankenstein, vtsom, rpg maker horror games, slasher films (love black christmas), dbd, homestuck, danganronpa, camp here and there, IT, cookie run, genshin, etc!!! again, mainly wordgirl

-> dni if you genuinely think its okay to stalk and harass people just bc you dont like them or the stuff they ship.

-> aside from that, basic dni. proship, map, bigot of any kind.

-> byf: ask me to tag triggering content if we're mutuals! i will gladly do it ^^ also please do not use the 🪤 emoji when talking to me! thats all i ask, thank u dears ^^

-> ALSO: CARRD!! https://angxlbonez.carrd.co/# i have one now:)

#introduction post #introductory post #dni list #pinned post

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paperbagedhead · 2 years

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My Posts

Art posts None Art Posts

Original Characters/Series

All

Grounded / Jo / Zoodiac / Vapor

Mental health creatures (not my oc’s but idk where to put these doodles)

🎵📕🎮🎬📺💻

Bands and Musicals: Avenue Q / Gorillaz / Prozzak

Books and comics: Bone / Captain Underpants / Charlotte's Web / Guardians of Ga'hoole / Homestuck / Moomins / Peanuts / Pokemon Special / Seekers / Snow White / Survivors / The Last Kids on Earth / The Wizard of Oz / Warriors / Wings of Fire / Winnie the Pooh

Games: Ace Attorney / Amanda the Adventure / American Mcgee's Alice / Animal crossing / Banjo Kazooie / Bugsnax / Clock Tower / Cuphead / Danganronpa / Deltarune / Final Fantasy / Five Nights at Freddy’s / Harvest Moon / Higurashi / Jak / Kirby / Little Nightmares / Mario / Metal Gear Solid / Mother Series / Night in the woods / Pacman / Parappa the Rapper / Persona / Pikman / Pokémon / Psychonauts / Ratchet and Clank / Resident Evil / Slime Rancher / Splatoon / Sly Cooper / Sonic / Spyro / The Legend of Zelda / The World Ends with You / Tomb Raider / Undertale / Wandersong

Movies: A Monster in Paris / Akira / Alice in Wonderland / An American Tail / Aristocats / Bambi / Big hero 6 / Care Bears / Cat soup / Coraline / Elemental / Frosty the Snowman / Frozen / Grave of the Fireflies / How to Train your Dragon / Ice Age / Luca / Mr. Peabody and Sherman / My Neighbor Totoro / Oliver and Company / Onward / Rio / Silly symphony / Sleeping Beauty / Soul / The Incredibles / The Land Before Time / The lego movie / The Nightmare Before Christmas / Trolls / Turning Red / Unico / Uglydolls / Who Framed Roger Rabbit / Zootopia / 101 Dalmatians

Shows: Adventure time / Aggretsuko / Amphibia / Animaniacs / Avatar the Last Airbender / Blue’s Clues / Bob’s Burgers / Brandy and Mr. Whiskers / Camp Lazlo / Card Captor / Chowder / Clone High / Close Enough / Courage the Cowardly Dog / Craig of the Creek / Danger and Eggs / Danny phantom / Dead End Paranormal Park / Disenchantment / Ducktales / Ed Edd n’ Eddy / El Tigre / Fillmore! / Fish Hooks / Futurama / Glitch Tech / Gravity falls / Green Eggs and Ham / Hamtaro / Harvey Beaks / Hetalia / Hey Arnold / Hilda / Infinity Train / Inside Job / Invader Zim / Jellystone / Kablam! / Kappa Mikey / Kid Cosmic / Kids next door / Kodocha / Littlest Petshop / Lovely Complex / Making fiends / Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart / Mina and the count / Miraculous Ladybug / My Life as a Teenage Robot / My little pony / Ok Ko / Osomatsu-san / Over the garden wall / Pen Zero: Part time hero / Phineas and ferb / Please Don’t Bully Me Nagatoro! / Pop Team Epic / Pops and Branwell / Popee the performer / Pucca / Regular show / Rick and Morty / Riverdale / Ruby gloom / Scooby Doo / Smiling Friends / Soul Eater / Spongebob Squarepants / Spy x Family / Star vs the forces of evil / Steven Universe / Teen Titans / Teenage mutant ninja turtle / The Amazing World of Gumball / The Dragon Prince / The Fairly Oddparents / The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy / The loud house / The Magic School Bus / The Owl House / The Powerpuff Girls / Tom and Jerry / Wander Over Yonder / We bare bears / Wordgirl

Webshows:

Camp Camp / Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared / Happy Tree Friends / Hazbin Hotel / Helluva Boss / Inanimate Insanity / LPS Popular / Nya Neko Sugar Girls / Red vs. Blue / The Walten Files / There she is / Welcome to hell

#my art tags

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froggyfroo-art · 7 years

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Christmas card for my friend @inkybk based on the Felt characters from Homestuck, 2016.

#greetings card #christmas card #homestuck #the felt #my art

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hiredpencil · 1 year

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Okay guys! I got a set of new markers for Christmas! I need to test them out and see how they're working so! I have some little trading card sized heavy duty paper, and I'm looking to do some commissions where you get your art mailed to you if you'd like! My marker work looks like this:

We're doing 5 slots at $20 each for these, which includes the cost of the envelope and stamp!

I can do Furries, and Homestuck and D&D and Independent OCs and honestly anything you can get me a reference picture for.

1 2 3 4 5

#commissions #markers #traditional media #artists on tumblr #open commissions #furry art

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shakks · 3 years

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Thoughts

Happy New Years, I suppose. I’ve got a lot on my mind that I need to say, but I’ve been reluctant to do so. I’ll ramble off-the-cuff for a little bit (a LOT) down below if anyone can be bothered to listen. Just some random unedited and unformatted thoughts about what I’m doing with myself and trying to figure out how life works.

...Seriously, it’s a massive post. Don’t strain yourself if you’d rather not.

I don’t like to speak often, or give excuses. I prefer to let my work do the talking. Actions speak louder than words, right?

It’s funny, I did a search through my blog and found a post where I had celebrated hitting 200 followers two years ago. Curious, I checked my follower count now... And it’s at 206. I think it’s more than safe to say that I’m beyond stagnation. Still, I’m here to see this adventure through to the end, one way or another, regardless of how long it takes.

Actions speak louder than words... I’m sure my inaction is speaking volumes. I’ve always made it a point not to apologize when an update is missed or when I make a mistake. I have a bad habit of holding myself to unrealistic standards, and not only would I be apologizing with every update I make, I would draw attention to issues that few people would have noticed in the first place (such as me forgetting to draw Phobia’s hair in one of the panels from earlier this month). The LuFa from ten years ago would have dropped everything to fix it, and then would have combed through every other panel, worrying about every other possible thing that could have gone wrong. At this point the LuFa from today is just glad that there’s an update to post.

When I made the post last week about not being able to update, it was because just as my Christmas holidays were starting, I hurt my back. I’m not sure how (I’m guessing in my sleep or something), but I’m not able to sit at my computer for more than an hour without taking many breaks. I had intended to continue updating all the way through the holidays, but I ended up spending more time than usual resting in bed and attempting to stretch, walk, exercise, or try anything to lessen the pain. This has killed any creative drive that I had, and rather than power through it, I thought it would be better to stop trying to grind myself against it and take it easy so that I can hit the ground running. I’m starting to feel better now and hope I will be able to get back to the updates as early as next week.

This raises the question of my update schedule. Why the long pauses, and why the sudden rush of updates in December? The pauses are simple, I keep trying to outdo myself with each update. Even though I’m trying to step away from full Flash animations, I still catch myself leaning towards them. It’s not the animations themselves - I’ve caught myself designing overelaborate gifs when just a couple static images would do fine. I let myself get stuck in this spiral where I would constantly build myself up and then tear myself back down. I would get caught up in it and let entire years pass me in the blink of an eye...

I’m not old, but I feel old. I still have most of my life ahead of me, but it frankly isn’t much longer until I hit middle-age and that is no longer the case. As a child, my parents pushed me to try as hard as I can. They’re the type who want their kid to go to university, become a doctor, and make a boatload of money. I gave them a hard no on the doctor path, so they sent me to university to become an engineer instead. I went through it and got the sheet of paper, but never really figured out what to do with it. I ended up moving across the country and settling for a job that by all metrics I should be overqualified for, but I’m not too sure that I really care. I’m making enough money to live quite comfortably, but I’m still living alone, and don’t really have anything else to my name. It was always hammered into me to be successful, but I never really understood what being successful meant. Looking at other people from the outside, I can make a few guesses that success generally means owning your own place, having a family, and lots of money to make sure you’re still able to support it all. I don’t really know about all of that. I just wanted to be left alone. Mission accomplished, but I still have to figure out what I’m supposed to do with myself...

I used to run forum adventures even before I was aware of MSPA or Problem Sleuth. I remember how happy I made my peers, and how much joy they got from engaging. I started Waterworks in my second year of university, when I had moved into student housing and finally had that loneliness that I had been craving for most of my life. It was strange, but that first year of Waterworks... I don’t think I had ever felt more fulfilled. The act of telling a story to anyone who was willing to listen; it truly felt like this could be something that I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. Not as a career, but purely because of its ability to engage people and make them feel things out of the ordinary. I truly want to keep doing this, even after Waterworks is finished. I can never give a straight answer when people ask me if I’m happy, but to be frank, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier after posting an update, engaging with readers, and furthering the story. It’s a little unorthodox for a life path, but the more time I spend on this planet leaves me even more uncertain of everything. I’m going to stick to what I know.

So, aside from getting stuck in a self-esteem spiral, what prompted the surge of updates this month? Well, I had a little bit of a reality check. The company that I work for was acquired by another company. Normally I wouldn’t have cared, but this has happened several times now. In my short tenure at this company, I’ve seen it grow from a small local operation to become part of a massive conglomerate, and this latest acquisition really had me questioning what I was doing with my life and what I should truly value. My job technically requires me to help people, so I go about my day believing that I’m doing just that - It’s not about the money, or the benefits... I work because it helps others. Meanwhile, board members and investors who I’ve never met - people who control the entire direction of the company and its employee’s livelihoods - are passing it and other companies amongst themselves as if they were trading cards. This forced me to stop and take a look at what I was really doing. I thought I was helping people, but really I’m just making numbers go up and down for the people upstairs. My coworkers are only doing it to take the paycheck and feed their families. I’ve been placing a disproportionate amount of value into my day job, a place where people who I’ve never met could cut me loose in the blink of an eye just because I didn’t make the right numbers go high enough.

I’m not quitting or anything, it’s a great place to work, but it got me thinking about what it means for someone to value something. Bizarrely, my thoughts turned back to MSPA, and what happened to Homestuck. I’m not clear who owns which rights to the adventure, and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t profit off your own creation... but I DO remember when the MSPA forums were taken down, seemingly without reason, and we were all cut loose by someone upstairs, be it knowingly or not. The forums were down for many months, and now a bare bones version of the site that it used to be is up, managed by a publishing company. Thinking about all those posts that were lost still hurts a little bit.

The company I work for being acquired had some eerie parallels to not just Homestuck’s forum situation, but a couple of other projects and franchises that have grown too big and have had their creators cast their fans to the wayside... If I ever manage to rebuild my reputation, I don’t ever want to let anything like that ever happen to anything I make. If Waterworks truly matters to me, then I need to act like it.

#real life #waterworks mspa

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