Idk man I might get torn to shreds for saying this, but I simply cannot understand the new trend, particularly among younger internet users, where people write a laundry list of their triggers in their bio and then expect everyone to read and cater to said list on a PUBLIC PLATFORM.

This is the same mentality that drives people to attack appropriately tagged fics on AO3 for having x y or z content because “How dare you post this when I have trauma about this???” Obviously if someone is going to write a super heavy and highly sensitive fic and NOT tag it properly, they ought to be called out on it. But this isn’t about that, it’s about the people who don’t curate their own content, it’s about the people who enter public spaces and demand that the general public cater to THEM specifically.

Additionally: Listing out your triggers for everyone to see is just ASKING for trolls to come into your inbox and flood you with triggering content. (Unfortunately, as much as we would like to believe otherwise, the internet is full of selfish jerks who don’t give a crap about anybody’s trauma.) Not only this, but the algorithm does not read your bio. The algorithm does not care about your triggers unless YOU make sure to block specific tags and content.

YOU are responsible for curating your own content, and nobody else.

Obviously this is not to say people shouldn’t try to tag their posts for common triggers, because that’s the common courtesy thing to do. But if Becky has a phobia of bees, it is on her to block that tag and curate her feed around it, and she does not get the exclusive right to suddenly demand that nobody talk about bees within a ten mile radius of her. If Alec has a phobia of dogs, then it is well within his right to avoid contact with them, but he doesn’t get to go to a public park and yell at anybody who brings their dog there. It is his responsibility to know his own limits and seek out parks that are dog-free. (If someone brings a dog to a dog-free area, that’s a whole different issue that I won’t be getting into rn but yes, the person who does that is in the wrong there.)

The internet is widely a public space. If you want to create a safe space completely and utterly free of your specific triggers, you have to put the work in to make that space for yourself. You don’t get to ask other internet strangers to do it for you.

I’m saying this out of genuine concern (and admittedly, frustration) because there are so many young teens in fandom nowadays who don’t understand this, and they end up putting themselves in extremely vulnerable and even downright dangerous situations because they don’t understand that putting your well-being in the hands of a stranger is a terrible idea.

Please be safe, and for the love of all that is holy, be reasonable. Curating your content yourself is just as much a protection for you as it is a vital key that allows public communities to function.

Happy 2-year anniversary to my fic! 🎉

Of Sand and Shadows (OSAS) turns 2 years old today! On September 12th, 2020, I was working at a grocery store through the pandemic and was the sole breadwinner while my husband finished his last semester of school. I’d been working at this soul-sucking, abusive, stressful job for the entire year and it was starting to take a toll on me.

So we took a road trip to a small family cabin in California, and it was there that I simply…started writing. I’d been thinking about Pokémon Colosseum a lot, thinking about how I would write it if I tried to make a novelization of it, and then I realized: “Well, why *not* write one?”

OSAS has been such a huge part of my life ever since. It led me to the best fanfic community out there, where I’ve made so many dear friends. It drove me to pick up digital art and teach myself and start taking commissions. It gave me an outlet during an incredibly harsh, stressful time of my life.

So, happy birthday, OSAS. 💛 And many thanks to all of you who are reading and are waiting for updates. It brings me so much joy to know other people love these characters as much as I do.

(If you’re new to my blog, you can read Of Sand and Shadows here!)

Toying with the idea of creating a discord server explicitly for Orre fans. It would be a place to share Orre-based fanart and fanfiction, to share headcanons and chat, etc. Of course there would be places to just talk about general things as well, but the main theme of the server would be Orre and the games that take place in it.

Unsure if it would ever get off the ground, though, since it’s such a forgotten region. 😭 Thoughts??

Time to ramble about a random Pokémon headcanon!

Hoenn is the birthplace of one of the Pokeworld’s most popular aquatic sports. It involves wading through a pond and…Lotads.

It’s basically ultimate Frisbee meets water polo, and the Frisbees are Lotads.

In casual play, any Lotad can participate, and even wild ones will often line up to join in because they absolutely LOVE to get yeeted across ponds/lakes/rivers for fun. Professional games will use specially trained Lotads, however.

I haven’t thought about any specific rules or guidelines for it, only that proper handling of the Lotads is absolutely necessary for their safety, so there’s extremely strict regulations about that. Improper handling or throwing form is heavily penalized. Thankfully, Lotads are hardly little fellas, so injuries are extremely rare. (And far more common for the human players than for them.)

What is this sport called?

Lotadisc.

You’re welcome.

Idea: Orre zine.

I know nothing about making or hosting a zine so uh. I’m just gonna float this out there and hope someone bites on the idea. 😂 Please make it happen, I will throw all my money at it and contribute all the things!