Latest Posts by hill-ll-p - Page 5

a shitty guide to tumblr for people who have never been on this godforsaken website

yeah so ive been thinking about making one of these posts, because tumblr is pretty unlike a lot of popular social media today and because i lost the ones that used to be making rounds. this is mostly for my own use so i dont have to reexplain tumblr every time i try to introduce people to this website, and i can just send this post to them instead

this is more to help you get started with no context of how tumblr operates, its not really a strict guide for you to follow fyi. you could ignore this completely if you want, this is generally for people who are confused, lost, and need somewhere to start. this post also mostly expects you to know what the buttons do, or at least be able to figure out what they mean

quick table of contents for this post: 1. setting up your blog 2. how to use tags 3. tumblr algorithm 4. tumblr etiquette [as of this post] 5. common lingo [also as of this post]

1. setting up your blog

okay, so. tumblr has a hugeeeee bot problem. these bots typically have default pfps, nonsensical or overly average urls, no personalization to their blog with everything as the default, no reblogs/posts or very few of them. i, and many others, tend to block these. however, if youve just gotten tumblr and havent customized your blog yet, you might be confused for a bot. so the first thing you should do is something to show that youre a real person, like changing your banner, pfp, or blog title. people also tend to hide their following and likes, but thats up to you if you want them hidden

if youd like to add more information about yourself, such as having an introduction to your blog that doesnt fit in your bio, put it in an intro post and pin it to your blog to make it your pinned post [if you arent sure how to do that, press the three dots on the top right of the post and then press pin post]. ofc your pinned post could be some other post you really really like, such as a pinned reblog of a funny post, a post you made that you thought was a banger and encapsulates your blog, whatever. but keep in mind it will usually be what introduces people to your blog.

for me, my blog introduction has a short introduction to me, what i post, my main tags [ill get into that later], and masterposts. masterposts are posts that you use to link to other posts, typically for posts that are all connected in some way. some examples would be for an art challenge, an au, or a story that spans across posts. it just helps compile and keep track of things.

and ive seen that one repost of that tiktok post. you dont have to prep like its professional or smth [unless you want to ofc]. youre fine, tumblr is informal as hell. just be kind and respectful of others and you should be fine. also, random thing i didnt know where to put elsewhere. go into your settings. you can put stuff like a theme for your blog, add timestamps to posts (which i highly reccommend, keeps you from reblogging warnings that are out of date n such), and whatever else you can find in there.

in addition, you can make side blogs! side blogs are attached to your main blog, and are used for a variety of things. some examples include: gimmick blogs [a blog whos whole purpose is to do one specific thing], ask blogs [a blog where you rp as a character and answer asks as if you were them], au/story/comic blogs [just to keep all of it in one place, if you dont want to use tags], fandom blogs [to split up your blogs by the fandom they post about], and more!

2. how to use tags

people here on tumblr can be veryyyy particular on tags. if you misuse them badly enough, you will likely find out the hard way. so, to prevent that from happening, here a quick crash course in tumblr tags!

dont spam unrelated tags if you make a post about blorbo and tag bingus, despite him not being in the post, that is using an unrelated tag and people will probably get annoyed or mad at you. you tag what is in the post. im looking at you instagram users. you tag the character[s] featured in the post, the fandom/story theyre from, and as [fandom] fanart, [fandom] fanfiction, or whatever it is. [pssstt fyi instead of fandom in brackets you put the fandom the character is from!]

dont main tag vagueposts a vague post is when you talk about someone, without naming them. this is typically done to shit talk the person its about. if you reallyyyy need to talk shit about someone that badly, dont tag it with the main tags you both interact through. ngl i think its just petty and shitty to make vagueposts in the first place, but you do you.

dont main tag critique/hate of people, ships, or characters lets say, for example, you really hate a ship in your fandom, and it bothers you to the point you feel the need to make this dislike known. you do NOT tag it with the name of that ship. people go into that tag to see people talking about how much they like that ship. that is a quick way to get a lot of hate. if you really need to, use that tag with crit slapped onto the end of it. generally, dont walk into someones house, shit talk it, and be surprised when they punch you in the face.

dont censor tags youre not going to get murdered by staff if you say suicide in your tags. if you put tags using censored terms like sewerslide or suc1d3, that only makes it so people who have those terms blocked will get those posts on their dashes. tag that shit and dont censor it, for the sake of the people around you.

now that thats out of the way, heres the other cool thing about tumblr tags! as i mentioned in the third to last paragraph of the previous section, you might want to put your main tags in your pinned post. tumblr allows you to search blogs by tag, so if someone wants to search for all of your posts that are tagged #blorbo, they can!

as an example i have 5 main tags listed in my pinned post that i use, the tag with all my art, the tag with all my writing, my tag for random textposts i make, my tag of reblogs, and my mutuals tag so i can look back and be like yayyyyy i love my moots :3. and while i dont have one, people tend to have an ask tag, where they can put all the asks they answer

3. tumblr algorithm

hate to break it to you pookie, but tumblr doesnt really have an algorithm like other social media. i lied. im sorry. im stealing your spleen. the for you page is... there. but no one uses it most of the time. tumblr operates more like websites used to, and you have to go hunt your posts down in the wild.

here on tumblr, we have the dashboard! it shows the posts from the people you follow in reverse chronological order. this means that, as a tumblr newbie, your dash will be empty. so, go into the tags and follow people who post and reblog things you like. however, that is step one in the circle of life here. you can stop there, of course, but you must keep something in mind.

if you like a post and want to share it with your followers, reblog it. a like will not get it onto their dash. a like is more like telling the original poster you thought the post was neat or that you saw it; this would be more like vent posts, posts about their private life, stuff like that. if its a post youd like to share with your followers, you reblog it; this is usually someone spitting facts you want to show your followers you agree with, a post you thought was funny, cool art, and whatever else you might want to have on your blog.

fyi, when i reblog i typically leave a like. it lets me know that i have interacted with this post before, and helps me so if im looking through a mutuals or someones blog and theres an awesome post left unliked, i know i didnt reblog it. however, thats just how i like to do it

4. tumblr etiquette

tumblr is a very old website, and that comes with a lot of unspoken rules the community has learned over time. heres a quick list of some rules you might need to keep in mind!

dont repost/steal posts a common thing i see on instagram and twitter is people reposting art, animation, or copying posts they thought were clever to farm likes. here on tumblr, we have reblogs! if you want that art on your blog, just reblog it. for example, if you run a gimmick blog that focuses on posting about one character, dont repost someone elses art [especially without credit]. just go reblog the original post, and let them know how much their contribution to the fandom is appreciated in the tags.

dont derail/hijack a post if you see a post thats completely unrelated to blorbo and about a different character completely and go, wow this is so blorbo coded! talk about it in the tags, or go make your own post. we build posts together here, we dont tear them down.

blocking you dont like seeing someone on your dash or when youre looking through tags? dont go and yell at them or something, or make a vaguepost. block their ass. how dare you interpret blorbo in that way. explode. get out of my sight. block tags you dont like. block keywords you dont like. block people you dont like. curate your online experience.

youve dicovered youre blocked oh no! someway, somehow, youve discovered youre blocked! oh the woe. dont make a vaguepost about it. dont go and make a hate mob because of it. it was likely nothing personal. maybe they just didnt like the way you typed. who literally cares. move on.

mutuals whenever you make a mutual, you often get bonded through blood together. i may be be posting about dogs and youre posting about taylor swift now, but through whatever led us to become mutuals, we are forever intertwined through our experience. the dash needs some diversity anyways. however, if this mutual has, for example, spontaneously started reblogging and posting about heinous shit you hate? block. begone. curate your online experience

someone posts something you dont like so you dont like what someones posting? what should you do? nothing. just leave them alone. dont send an ask, dont leave hate in their replies/reblogs. just block them if you need to, and move on

replying to reblogs you want to reply to someone in your reblogs, but you dont want to make a whole reblog or separate post? @ them in the replies of that post and chat with them there, or go to their dms and talk there

5. common lingo

heres some common terms youre likely to run into on tumblr! ofc this can vary from fandom to fandom, but from my experience these tend to span across fandoms.

op - original poster. the origin. the person who made the first post youre reblogging

moot/mutual - a person who you follow and they follow you back

<- prev - used in tags, to denote tags taken from the previous reblog. this can stack, to denote prev prev prev, but just screenshot the tags and add them in a reblog at that point

<- ops tags - used similarly to prev, but specifically for ops tags

blorbo - a term to describe the character that has taken over your mind like a parasite

scrimblo (and its variations) - a term similar to blorbo, but with more of a scraggly tinge to it

tumblrina - a gender neutral term for tumblr users. its not used all that commonly anymore, but i felt it was worth mentioning

yuri - term for a ship between girls

yaoi - term for a ship between boys

headcanon/hc - an interpretation of a character that is not canon. usually is a trait that falls in line with their canon portrayal, but not always

id/alt text - an image description. it describes an image in text, so that if the image is not loading or someone is blind, they can still know what it is/what it says. heres a helpful image for how to write one

asks - when you open your askbox, something you have to do through your settings, it allows people to send you messages that when you answer it posts as a whole tumblr post on your blog. you can also customize your askbox, only by changing the text from 'ask me anything!' to whatever you want. also, it might just be a me thing, but i like to tag who sent the anon in by their url or anonymous if theyre on anon

anon/anonymous - what we use to refer to people who are sending you an ask while on anonymous. some people have them off, because many people dont have the balls to send... unsavory asks on main. this is also why when people are getting hate, anon is turned off

queue - something ive actually neglected to mention! when you add things to your queue, it will post a certain amount of posts over time at the rate you set it to, during the time range you set it to

communities - tumblr communities are a more recent thing that was added to tumblr! you can go join them if youd like. quick warning though, communities that are open tend to get the occasional porn bot posting links in it. report it to a community moderator. this also means that communities that you have to be accepted into likely arent going to reject you. its probably just there to help prevent bots from getting in

porn bots - bots that post links to porn. they spam tags, communities, and spam follow people. report the porn as spam or sexual content, block, and move on

of course, there are way more terms used on this website than this, especially fandom specific ones. i couldnt possibly include them all, but this should be enough so you can understand what people are saying most of the time

in conclusion...

thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed this post, or found it helpful. make sure to be kind to people around you, stay respectful--even of things you might think are a little odd, cringe culture is dead--, and most of all, have fun!

happy blogging :3

[pssstttt hey tumblr users, if theres anything major you think i missed, let me know in the replies or a reblog and ill add it.]

im so normal about koukane wow yay wow...

characters going “we were lovers once”: eh, it’s okay i guess. it’s nice enough

characters going “we were friends once”: absolutely devastating. one hit knockout i’m gone

tempted to add another chapter to my koukane fic...

the silliness... it compels me...

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS‼️‼️🙏

And they say romance is dead…

reblog to send your mutuals a hug. maybe just the thought is enough to cheer them up 🥺

💬 Just a Small Update, and a Big Thank You

Dear friends, kind hearts, and everyone who has stood with us,

When I first opened my heart to the world and shared our story, I never imagined the amount of love and solidarity we would receive. Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve now reached $12,837—a milestone that brings real light to some very dark days.

From the deepest corners of my heart, thank you.

💔 A Journey of Loss, but Also of Strength

As many of you know, I’ve lost 25 of my loved ones during this devastating war. That grief lives with me every single day. It’s in the silence that once held laughter, in the empty spaces where we once gathered as a family.

But through your help, I’ve also felt something else: hope. And that hope is priceless.

“21/Oct/2023 Before It Reached Us: The Day Our Neighbor’s House Was Destroyed” A quiet moment of fear, filmed just before everything changed.

“22/Oct/2023 The Morning After: Our Family Home in Ruins” This is what was left behind after the bombing of our home.

🌿 What Life Looks Like for Us Now

Despite everything, we’re still here. Still surviving. Still hoping.

But things have only gotten harder.

The war has returned, more brutal than before—and for over a month now, Gaza has been completely sealed off. No food is coming in. No medical supplies. No aid. No trade. No one is allowed to leave, and no one is allowed to enter.

We’re trapped.

🏚 We live with the fear of tomorrow, every single day. Airstrikes, drones, and the uncertainty of what might happen next. 👨‍👩‍👧 Our family is forever changed—we haven’t just lost people; we’ve lost pieces of ourselves. 📉 Basic needs go unmet—even clean water feels like a luxury now. Medicines, if they exist at all, are unreachable.

And yet…

Your support reminds us that we’re not forgotten. It reminds us that someone, somewhere, is still listening. That someone still cares. That we’re not completely alone in this.

Every message. Every share. Every dollar. It tells us: You’re walking this road with us. And that gives us the strength to keep going.

💖 What You Can Do

If you’ve already donated—thank you beyond words. If you can share our story again, it could reach someone who can help.

Even $5 means warmth, comfort, and a chance to breathe a little easier.

Chuffed

Donate to Help Mosab saving who's left of his family

My name is Mosab Elderawi, and I am a survivor of the war in Gaza. Life as I knew it has been completely destroyed. I have lost my home, my

✨ Why It All Matters

This isn’t just about reaching a fundraising goal. It’s about surviving war with dignity. It’s about believing in tomorrow. It’s about making sure my daughter grows up knowing that the world did not look away.

Thank you for your kindness, patience, and belief in our humanity. You’ve helped me find my voice—and I will use it to keep hope alive.

🙏 From the Heart: A Quiet Apology

There’s something I need to say—something that’s been on my heart for some time.

When I first began sharing our story, I didn’t know what the right way was. I was scared, grieving, and trying to protect my family in any way I could. I reached out to many people, hoping someone, anyone, would see us. In that process, I now realize I may have overstepped, and I might have made some feel overwhelmed.

If that happened, I am truly sorry.

Please believe me when I say it was never out of disregard or pushiness. It came from a place of fear—fear of being forgotten, fear of not being able to keep my family safe, fear of watching everything I love slip away in silence.

I’m learning as I go. I’ve slowed down. I’m more mindful now, trying to share our journey in a way that feels respectful of the space and hearts of those listening.

If my words ever came at the wrong time, or in the wrong way, I hope you can understand where they came from—and I hope you can forgive me.

Thank you for seeing past my mistakes. Thank you for still being here. It means more than I can ever explain.

Vetted by @gazavetters ( #309 )

With love and endless gratitude, Mosab and family ♥️

Nene in Wonderland

A girl, lost in her daydreams, stumbled upon a strange table of teacups. She reached for one, when suddenly a white rabbit, seemingly coming from the tall meadows, jumped on the table and pulls out a strange looking teapot from beneath the table.

“Apologies, the Hatter is quite late, would you like some tea?”

“… What? The Hatter? Are they supposed to be here?” The girl looks at the rabbit with confusion and skepticism. This place seems empty and there was a rabbit pouring her tea, what was she supposed to believe?

“Somewhere, somehow, something, someway, … maybe today? Who knows where or how, but time is running fast and I need to get going!” The particular rabbit grins as he quickly poured the toxically bright blue tea in her cup, “Enjoy!”

And the white rabbit speedily scampers off into the woods… Strange, the girl doesn’t know what to make of that fellow. Hopefully the Hatter won’t mind that she used one of their cups to drink this weird concoction the rabbit calls tea.

Minamoto brothers and their stupid print shirts

Terukaneaoi sirens & sea stuff AU where Teru's the heir of the Minamoto household, a noble family whose business focuses on maritime trades with overseas lands. The Minamotos have the ability to see and slay supernatural sea creatures and a secret duty to fight them off to protect civilians since ancient times. But the Minamoto siblings are affected with a condition inherited from their mother, that make their blood especially attractive to supernaturals and weaken their capacities to fight them. As their father's also partially lost his combat abilities because of a previous hunt he took part in, severe restrictions were put onto the siblings to forbid them from ever approaching the sea.

But as time goes on, the condition that translates itself by a mark on part of their body weakens for Kou and Tiara and worsens for Teru, which reinforces the supervision put onto him.

He shows himself particularly good at business though, and as his parents often go away on affair trips, he's left with most of the administrative work and kinda drowns under responsibilities, to avoid them being put onto his siblings shoulders. Slowly but surely, he makes a name for himself and people recognize him everywhere, expect lots from him and make him busier and busier, so much he doesn't have time for himself anymore. He longs for a simple life he doesn't get and freedom he can't reach.

One day though, the entire city gets attacked and the Minamotos are forced to escape by sea. His mother gets stabbed on the ship and a sea creature attacks it. They're in the middle of the ocean when she gets killed and Teru's separated from his father and siblings by the creature he somehow manages to escape from. When he miraculously survives, he makes it his goal to find his siblings back, having no idea where they went or if they were even safe after the accident. He severely resents supernatural creatures for ever touching his family.

Akane is a citizen from a coast village of another land that got into a sea accident and lost his best friend, Aoi, two years ago. He's convinced she's still alive though, trapped by the siren hoard that attacked them and cursed him to turn into one too when he touches water. His one and only goal since the accident is to find her again, losing himself in his frantic search. He stays all day at home, lost in research papers and piles of documents, only periodically going out to experiment or patrol on abandoned beaches. As fails keep piling up, he becomes a shadow of himself.

Aoi is Akane's childhood bestfriend. Of curious nature, she had taken interest in supernatural tales since young, especially those of sea creatures. She gets turned into a siren after getting caught in an accident where she manages to save Akane before her human consciousness fades away. Since then, she wanders in the deep seas, regretting things she doesn't remember and longing hard for a boy she had forgotten long ago.

She survives by enchanting sailors who can't see her with her voice, trapping their boats and draining their energy off them.

When Teru's ships crashes, she's attracted by the smell of the particular blood hidden amongst liters and liters of regular ones. When she finds the unconscious boy she at first mistakes for another siren, her curiosity is appealed and she pulls him underwater to drain off his life as she sings him a melody. But the boy seems to see her, and when she touches the mark on his neck, she can sense an electric pulse that only screams danger to her senses. But because his blood tastes delicious, because the energy she drains off him feels particularly good and because his mesmerized eyes carry a look she hadn't seen since two years ago, she doesn't kill him right away. She instead marks him as her prey and carries him to the nearest piece land, saving him for her own entertainment.

On one of his outings, Akane sees Teru's figure floating on a wooden board near a rock, miles away from the coast. Despite having gone kinda insane since his childhood friend's loss, he doesn't think twice before jumping in the water to rescue the stranger. When he makes it back to the beach, he tries to get the unconscious boy to breath again.

After he finally comes awake, Akane discovers Teru got attacked by a sea creature, surprised to meet another survivor after years. He also recognizes what he learned in his searches was a siren's prey mark on his wrist. Akane had been looking for any siren for so long, even resorting to use his own voice he hated with all his might to attract one. So when he sees Teru, hope that dimmed after months and months of failure sparks again, and he is certain that he'll find and save Aoi with this new asset. But Teru is in really bad shape, having spent weeks completely unconscious in the ocean, traveling from a land to another by the bare force of a siren that drained his already lacking energy throught the mark on his wrist.

He spends a few months resting at Akane's house, recovering slower than he would like. He doesn't manage to find any clue on what happened to his siblings, only that the connections with his kingdom had been completely severed. After the first few weeks, Teru manages to vaguely learn about what Akane is always working on, discovering that he's looking for someone. They kinda bond over that ; Teru tells Akane about his siblings and gets him to open up, although reluctantly at first, about Aoi. They also share their aversion for supernatural creatures, though Akane never actually tells Teru about his curse. Teru learns to appreciate Akane's presence, his casualness, so different from what he was accustomed to back home. He sees a shift in Akane's behavior, slowly relaxing around him, less on edge and not entirely consumed by his research anymore.

Curiosity slowly grows about the girl he tells him about; he wishes he can meet her someday. Curiosity also grows about the siren that saved him, the beautiful creature that left a mark on his wrist, as faint memories come back. He wants to find her and thank her for saving his life, see her breathtaking eyes once more before never talking to her ever again, as she's one of the beings he swore he wouldn't forgive and did leave an annoying prey mark on him that made him take so long to recover.

Teru also thinks about his family. The thoughts make him unable to fully appreciate the rest he gets at Akane's he had longed for for years, he stays up at night remembering his mother, hallucinating his siblings telling him they'll never meet again.

As soon as Teru gets back on feet, Akane leads the two of them to a clandestine ship heading to Teru's land, as its official communication ways were abruptly closed right before their meeting on the beach. Akane plans on luring the siren who marked Teru out with said guy and do whatever it takes to make them lead him to Aoi. As a bonus, he gets to see genuine excitement on the face of the boy he had kinda grew fond of.

After all, Teru gets to be on a ship and travel for himself for once, he gets to discover freedom in normal conditions and has what could be akin to a friend by his side. If his neck slightly buzzes and his mind flashes tentacles and blinding red as he gets onto the ship, he doesn't mention it.

When the trip that is planned to last about a month is well into its second week and there's still no sign of any siren being nearby, Akane's excitement considerably dims. He doesn't loose hope though, refusing to believe he had spent the past month on a false hope. And so, the lack of results and things to do make him turn to the one distraction he has. He inevitably grows closer to Teru. He feels himself being more and more like, well, himself, before the accident. His washed out personality eventually becomes vibrant again, the dullness Aoi's loss had instaured slowly washing itself away. He thinks it's for the best, Aoi wouldn't have even recognized him if he met her again like that. He cuts his hair, and decides to take control on his life back, for her.

Teru slightly changes too, a personality he never really got to express emerging along his newfound freedom. When he finds his siblings, he promises himself to take them on trips like these. He wants to experience freedom alongside them this time. He doesn't know if they'll ever want to step on a ship again though.

The both of them fall into a casual dynamic, light banter coming along their true colors. Akane learns that the calm and always preoccupied guy whose seemingly only interest was his siblings is actually insufferable and a total weirdo. He can tell him about the entire history of his land and study its economic data from the past 20 years while at the same time not knowing the rules of rock paper scissors. He can't help but find it cute.

At some point, they start to share late night conversations. Teru confesses his past struggles to someone else for the first time, opening up about pressure and expectations, how much he had wanted simplicity and freedom. And something about his smile, or the way he looks at him pulls Akane in, pushes him to grab Teru's shoulder one night and lean closer to him. He's about to kiss him when his hand touches the back of Teru's neck, and he gets zapped. His cursed senses go wild, and that takes him out of the moment, makes him realize just what he was about to do. He feels guilty. He feels like he insulted Aoi by trying to, do something, with another person. The accident makes him distance himself from Teru for a while. Teru's left confused as hell. He doesn't get to think much of it tho, as he quickly gets exhausted after unclenching the zap. Letting out this kind of energy makes him weaker, and attracts one particular siren...

Aoi finds her way back to Teru thanks to the energy he let out she recognizes. An evening, she sings the melody she sang when she rescued him to lure him out. Unsurprisingly, he comes to meet her, the prey mark on his wrist probably making him way more sensitive to her presence than anyone else. But he isn't immediately enchanted by her voice as she expects. Although, he doesn't look exactly in control of himself either, instead looking at her absentely from the boat. He's seemingly still asleep, but his body makes a point not to jump in the water. Shouldn't he be a little more grateful to someone who saved his life? How arrogant and disrespectful, to refuse her call like that. She changes the tune she sings, and this time, Teru can't resist. When he sinks, Teru awakens. He's met with Aoi's face and her angelic voice, and despite swearing not to interact with her ever again after thanking her, he can't pull his eyes off her. With no high and tiredness from a fight, weakened and marked prey this time, he gets enchanted by her voice, falling hard for her. Seeing her success, Aoi starts draining his energy, planning to turn this human with a special blood into a siren all to herself. And so, the following days, she lures him at night to drain him, taste his blood, taking the time to prepare for the transformation as she's not powerful enough to complete it quickly.

Teru gets stuck into a constant state of hypnosis. He forgets about his siblings and his goals, only seeing Aoi, wanting to be by her side, waiting for her beautiful voice to call on him. His physical condition gets even weaker, worse than when he first got found by Akane. He barely goes out of his cabinet anymore.

Days pass like that, and Akane who had completely distanced himself from Teru notices the changement in his behavior. He doesn't actually go check up on him though, too preoccupied by his guilt to confront him. He spirals all over again in his thoughts.

But one night, he remembers about his actual goal - finding a siren - and, as he didn't check for days now, he resorts to sing a siren tune, hoping to attract the one who marked Teru. What he attracts isn't what he expects tho, as it's the prey himself who comes out of his cabinet a few minutes into his melody. Akane's surprised at first, the tune only made to be heard by sirens, then he comes to the realization. He's sure Teru somehow caught on on his true nature and expects to get yelled at, or straight up attacked (fear had kinda grown towards Teru since he got zapped), knowing the boy's resentment towards sea creatures. He does none of that though. He instead throws himself in the water. Akane doesn't understand at first, but follows him anyway.

Akane despises his siren form, but he's grateful it allows him to breath underwater, as Teru swims during a long time, towards no particular goal. But when he sees his wrist glowing, he's practically sure the siren is nearby, and he picks up the pace.

Then he sees her.

Akane Aoi. The very one girl he had been looking for for so long. She's as breathtaking as he remembers, but the human glint in her eyes is gone. Akane is devastated as he finds out she became a complete siren. No way to revert back, no, he had learnt that over the past two years.

When Teru swims into her arms, he seems oddly at peace, almost drugged. Aoi's caressing the boys hair, holding his wrist and lightly piercing it. The wrist's glowing. Akane can't believe she was the siren who marked Teru.

Then he gets hit again with the realization that it is Aoi, the one he had been looking for for years, the girl he had promised himself to save. (He was too late, and oh so wrong about her fate).

And so, he bursts in, dives straight towards Aoi and locks eyes with hers, inhuman jade pupils staring into even less human aquamarines, in hopes she would remember him somehow (it is impossible). Her eyes do widen a bit seeing him, and she even reaches out to cup his face. At that, Akane freezes. Sirens don't usually do this right? When her hand touches him, he forgets everything. Forgets about Teru, about his curse, about how a full siren can't revert back to human and can't gain their memories back either, ever. Irrational, desperate, hope grows within him, hope that she does remember, that there is still part of her that's human, that there is still something for him to save, to wish for, that she isn't lost yet. He needs to believe that he can do something, even if it costs his life to bring her back.

His human part gets mesmerized by her eyes, and tears of joy - or total madness - roll of his own. The sanity he had managed to regain the past few months slips away in a go - he's completely overwhelmed by the relief of reuniting with Aoi, the birth of a new, completely insane goal, and the terrifying look in her beautiful irises, taking the shape of rows and rows of circles, akin to hypnosis spirals. Akane's getting enchanted, and his only half-siren body can't resist it, especially not since it comes from Aoi. She herself doesn't seem conscious of what she's doing, the look on her face becoming more and more confused, almost on the verge of crashing out, tumult boiling behind her eyes. The sight of this anormal siren is setting her senses ablaze, contradicting everything she is, trying to pull out a side of her that doesn't exist anymore.

A year ago, Akane skips a passage of a book. "If sirens are confronted with the deepest regret they didn't let go of , they remember, and they..."

Her nails dig into his skin but her hold somehow stays gentle. She's about to pull him even closer when they're interrupted by a flash of bright light, coming from Teru. Akane only gains the slightest hint of a clear mind when he turns away from Aoi's wide eyes to see the mark on Teru's wrist glowing dark red. His nearby veins bursts open. Akane's smells the delicious scent of a very special blood but also something akin to poison mixed in it. The blood is black. Like his. Like the siren's from two years ago. Gears of his hypnotized mind switch up. Why Teru heard the tune he was humming on the boat. Why he was loosing his energy all of sudden, just like he did himself when he got cursed. Why he is here.

He doesn't dare to take a closer look at the mark, already knowing it isn't that of a prey anymore, that it had transformed into the same he had on his torso, but complete. He can't believe he hasn't seen this coming. His friend getting transformed right under his eyes. Aoi lets go of him, but doesn't go to Teru either. Instable energy boils up in her, and she starts shaking hard. Akane is torn between staying for her or saving his friend. He fights off Aoi's hypnosis and his own mind screaming at him to stay and swims to Teru. Because Teru's still part human as of now, and he can't stand the idea of failing him again, after letting all the clues past his nose. But the blood starts forming a cage around Teru, pushing Akane away, and then his whole body starts glowing. He understands that he's witnessing the final step of a transformation. And that he can't do anything. He can't save a person dear to him, again. The only thing he can do is to wait for it to be over and hope Teru's kept a bit of his humanity. (Deep within, he knows it's too late anyway. It's impossible to turn a siren back, even with signs of humanity like Aoi. He refuses to acknowledge it.)

Aoi's shaking gets worse. Her eyes become pitch black. Seeing the siren getting away from her, weirdly makes her head ache. Her chest glows dark near her heart and her voice lets out loud, incoherent screeches to call him back.

Akane, agitated, comes back to her, and when she meets his eyes again, she remembers. Aoi Akane, her childhood bestfriend. The most important person in her life. The light glows even brighter, dark blood coming out of her eyes. The arteries flowing to her unbeating heart implode. Her hypnosis abruptly stops.

Remembering is the most dangerous thing to a siren. Never, ever, remember. You can't remember. (You can, but don't)

She finally sees him, this time unclouded, completely himself. His eyes shine in horror, and on his face is plastered an expression that has already been addressed to her once before on a certain ship. She notices he's holding her in his arms. His gloved hands aren't as warm nor as steady as she remembers.

"...They die."

That's not how she wanted their reunion to be. Two years ago, she had promised herself to revert back to human, to find Akane and tell him all the things she didn't get the chance to say to him. Two years ago, she had also forgotten who she was.

Aoi feels the energy she needs to survive leave her body as the core of the siren part of herself breaks into pieces. Akane's eyes are blown wide. Shakily, she cups his cheek again.

"Akane-kun...I..remember now.." she manages to say. Yeah, it hits her full force now. The blurred face she had unconsciously been looking for for the past two years, the regrets she had, it was all Akane. Now, she's herself again, and they could live happily ever after... But of course not. What a shame it has to end like that.

She thinks of that other boy, the human that was turning into a siren at the moment. She had enjoyed his presence. Even if he didn't remember, he had been nice to her when she brought him to safety. He probably has people important to him, family, maybe friends. One look at Akane earlier, at his eyes that were way more tired than before but just as beautiful worriedly staring at him made her understand the boy meant a lot him. She'd prefer for Akane to think only about her in what she knows are her last moments, but she can't resolve herself to condemn Minamoto Teru. So, in a whisper, as blood pools up her mouth, she tells Akane to help him, as a last wish.

It would've been better if he had given up two years ago. Then, he wouldn't have had to wear such a shattered expression on his face. But, selfish as it is, even if it hurts Akane, she can't help but be grateful to have gotten the chance to see him once more, before dying as herself and not anyone else. She doesn't say anything, but the last smile she adresses Akane is enough to tell him everything she's had on her heart since the day they parted and all the way before. No regrets anymore. She loves him.

Silently, as her eyes finally become humane again, I love you. Just like that, her lids close and she goes as the water slowly darkens.

Akane's underwater breath hitches, and he looses it. She died because of him, that was sure. She died. Aoi died. Aoi. Died. Dead. His hold on her tightens as her physical body dissipates. At some point, he's left alone with a single scale that stayed behind and grabs it as a lifeline. His hands clench it tight. Salty tears mix in the ocean water. Without Aoi, he doesn't know what to do anymore (he doesn't even know if he wants to keep on living).

Then he hears a loud thump. It is Teru's cage. The transformation shouldn't be done so soon. He remembers Aoi telling him to help him. He should do that.

Akane slowly swims to Teru's cage. He sees it dissipating, revealing an unconscious boy inside. Teru is buzzing from electricity, his skin burnt, his body electrified. His Minamoto blood combined with his condition refused the siren transformation, the opposition between the two damaging his body instead. Teru isn't breathing. His eyes don't open either.

Akane gently takes him away from the cage, into his arms, to inspect him. No response to anything he does. His face, at least, looks at peace. Akane can't believe it. He shakily buries his head into his chest. How could this happen..?

In the end, the last thing he did with him was this unnecessary kiss attempt, probably leaving him confused, then the whole ignoring thing. Teru's not going to see his siblings he loved so much again. He isn't going to live a long and free life either. It's all because of Akane. He..he should've given up on Aoi. He shouldn't have ever dragged Teru onto the boat knowing full well how dangerous a prey mark is. She wouldn't have died. He would've found a way to live, eventually. He stripped their lives away from them.

Akane stays there for hours, empty and filled with void, an unresponsive boy in his arms and the only thing left from a girl he looked for for years clutched tight in his hand.

Days pass, and he decides to bring Teru's body back to his brother. Maybe Aoi would like the travel. He wants to build her a proper tomb after that, bury her like she deserves to.

It takes years for him to find Kou. With no information aside from Teru's descriptions, it is not an easy task. He wanders across the world, a casket on his back, a necklace holding a scale in a small box on his neck. When he dives into sea, he never once meets another siren. Sea creatures avoid him, sensing the energy of a fallen comrade and the intense aura of a dead Minamoto from him. It's fine. He doesn't want to ever interact with any of them anyway.

His journey comes to an end when he finally recognizes a mop of blond hair with a red earring, radiating a familiar electric energy. He's in a city then, one that has clearly been through a lot, but is already in the middle of being reconstructed. The boy's praying to a monument for the fallen. In the entrance, three people, likely his friends and a younger girl he can't think of any name for but Tiara. Teru would've been happy with how good they came out as grown ups. Akane clutches his necklace, then slowly approches the kneeling figure.

"...Kou, is it?"

---

Yup that's it! Here are the sketches that inspired ts (I kinda strayed a lot from the original idea as you can kinda see)

Then these came after

Well huuuh thanks for reading :D

(OG draft)

This is the OG draft (the fully done one is here) of an AU concept that randomly popped up in my head, in which..

Teru is the eldest son of the Minamoto household, a renowned noble family whose fortune comes from maritime trades with kingdoms across the seas. Despite its field of expertise, it has always kept it's three children as far as possible from the ocean, as, according to ancient tales, it is home to many dangerous supernatural creatures. Most people shrug these tales off, but for some reason, the Minamoto family has always been very superstitious, going as far as to forbid Teru,Kou and Tiara from even approaching the dock.

As time went on, though, restrictions loosened up on the younger siblings while they got tighter for Teru, something to do with a mark on the back of his neck and fangs only he lacked.

As the eldest and heir of the family, Teru had always been very busy with family affairs, most responsabilites falling onto him as both his parents were often away on business trips. Tiara was too young to help and Kou had his own other things to do, school, and a habit of sneaking out on long, secret adventures with his friends Teru sometimes envied but wouldn't take from him for anything in the world.

Deep down, despite his family's warnings, he had wanted to go to the sea, travel out of the country and discover freedom for himself, his initially small desire growing stronger as restrictions were put on him. Even deeper, he had been fascinated by the tales of deep sea he's heard, those of a world so different from his, with creatures he couldn't imagine to be as bad as he was told and so many possibilities... But he couldn't be a bad example to his siblings and eventually put them in danger by acting reckless towards the potential menace, so he shoved these down, down, down.

He was twelve when his parents started to be more and more absent, leaving so much behind to handle. In a lulling tone, his mother had said something about how much potential he had, about how good he would do, praised him with the most adoring smile, then threw him cold and hard into business. He was sixteen, and as work started to pile up, as duty became heavier and heavier, threatening to fall onto his own younger brother, he decided force any hint of the desire down for good, burying it deep underneath polite smiles, layers of silk, rows and rows of meetings to attend in his calendar. He was eighteen and tired of fake smiles and strangers' praises, of parties and the too organized neighbourhood of a city he never really left, of the weight the very name he forged himself throughout the years forced onto his shoulders. Everything had started to blur and mix and become dull to him. He yearned for strong feelings, for memorable people, for experiences, for anything that would bring him out of his repetitive and tiring routine, out his loneliness, out of the bubble that isolated him from the simplicity he craved, anything that would burn the thick cotton that watered down everything to the point he sometimes asked himself why he was alive for. But he did know that, though.

His brother's smile was enough for him to bury himself into work. The mere thought of him talking to friends made his loneliness more bearable. Knowing that he and Tiara were able to sneak past the residence's silver gates and act however they wanted in the lively part of the city without people recognizing them every step they took was enough for him to shake another hand, agree to another dance, show one more of his charming smiles. He knew that as long as he could keep his siblings away from the heavy, unforgiving duty, as long as he could eat freshly baked snacks while listening to rambles about wild adventures at midnight and wake up from his naps with hair full of cute accessories, he could endure everything.

He's nineteen, when for the first time, his family breaks its own rules. He's nineteen when he discovers that the sea smells slightly salty, when he can finally listen to the sound of waves he had once dreamed of hearing. He's nineteen when his parents storm home out of breath in the middle of the night, wake Kou and Tiara up and tell Teru to pack his things as fast as possible, then ,in a tone furthest from calm, that they're catching a ship to leave before sun rises.

Teru doesn't get to appreciate the streets he's always wanted to explore or his first time on an actual ship, uneasiness and panic taking out any excitation he would've had otherwise. The ship is already pretty far from a dock he never got to visit when he turns to take a look back, only to see his city, his home, burning in bright flames. It is an attack. It must've been quite an urgence for his parents to leave by sea. He wonders how Kou would react to that, having many friends amongst the inhabitants. He's quietly glad he had fallen asleep.

After a while, the initial shock waters down and finally leaves some space for excitement. Now that they left, he would be free, right? He's already imagining the things he would do with Kou and Tiara, maybe even his parents? The aftermath of what he supposed was an attack on the entire city, the family's headquarters, would be hell, sure, but Teru still hopes, confident that a life full of open doors was finally approaching him, that his biggest dream was coming true.

However, the Minamotos' escape isn't successful, far from it.

The ship's well in the ocean when Teru's mom gets stabbed by one of the passengers, a spy from the city's attackers. They were after the Minamoto family. Blood drips down the ship, and the second it arrives into the ocean, something appears. It is the very thing Teru had been told to fear and never thought he'd see, a huge, terrifying, beautiful sea creature. The blue sky turns dark in an instant, its calm sunlight replaced by harsh and loud lightning. He's frozen in place, paranormally mesmerized, as the creature pierces the ship and grabs his mother. He feels his heartbeat on his heating neck and doesn't even realize as he takes slow and absent-minded steps towards the danger. His father is preparing a rescue boat when he's pushed aside by an agitated Kou he realizes is being caught by a tentacle originally aimed at him. This is what finally snaps him out of his stasis. He sprints on the flooding ship, trying to find anything that would let him free his brother. When he calls for help, nobody answers : the crew had long since fainted and Teru was pretty sure they weren't even aware of what was happening, that they wouldn't ever.

When he finds a relic sword in the cabinet, he dashes towards the creature and wills his untrained body to attack the tentacle holding Kou captive. The mark on the back of his neck burns, but he's surprisingly able to cut through it, small lightning sparks going off the tip of the sword. As soon as his brother gets back down, he tells him to find Tiara and run for the rescue boat as he heads towards his mother to free her.

The sea creature catches him, though, and as it does, his neck starts burning so much his whole body is unable to do anything to resist. He sees his mother being drained of her life and slowly dying on another tentacle.

One look exchanged with his father is enough for him to turn away from Teru and get the boat activated. Kou's bleeding and yelling at his father to go back to his brother and Tiara is crying. It makes Teru's heart ache but he doesn't think he'll ever escape, so he tosses the sword he found to Kou, in hopes it could help him defend the boat if another accident happened on their way back. He's never obtained freedom in the end, but he hoped that at least, his siblings would live on and remember him as a cool older brother...

The water is painted deep red as the creature kills off dozens of ignorant and unconscious crew members. When his mother's turn arrives, he shuts his eyes down and drowns the sound out in the loud storm. He could almost feel peaceful were he in any other circumstances, the ocean oddly soothing to him despite the tumult made by the furious rain and agitated waves. Dying here wouldn't be the worst.

But it doesn't end here for him yet. By some miracle, the creature seems to forget him, perhaps satisfied with the bloodbath it had already made, or maybe because it has taken interest in something else. It harshly drops Teru into the sea before morphing into a wave dangerously headed towards his father's struggling rescue boat...Too much of his energy had been drained out of him, though, so he doesn't have the strength to do anything about it, simply wishing harder than he's ever wished that what attracted the creature wasn't his brother's blood, or if it was, that the passengers of the boat would survive.

His layers and layers of clothes weight him down and his body feels electrocuted, nearly shutting down. His neck hurts. His eyelids are heavy. It takes him the rest of his energy and all his will to swim to the nearest board he can find before passing out.

In a dreamlike state, not even half awake, he feels himself getting pulled underwater. A delicate hand touches the back of his neck, sharp teeth bite down at its side. A strange melody coats his entire being. He thinks he's never heard something so beautiful. Wasn't he supposed to be underwater? He sees -or hallucinates - what could only be an angel. Deep, dark eyes bear into his, silky indigo locks floating around and lightly grazing his face as a smile nothing short of angelic sweetly reveals reddened fangs. When lightning strikes, its pupils glow aquamarine, unnatural and disturbing yet so mesmerizing.

The creature's beauty is simply otherworldly, breathtaking to the point it seems eerie, almost unreal. Its melodious voice swallows Teru whole, his energy slowly getting drained off him. He feels himself getting pushed against the current and he thinks he's never been more at peace than in the gentle and icy hold of the beautiful creature.

Teru wakes up to a mouth stuck onto his and damp hands pressing into his chest. He coughs hard and immediately sits up, gasping for air. After a while, his breathing calms down and he finally takes in his surroundings.

He's on a deserted beach of a seemingly foreign land with, sitting besides him, a stranger looking just as foreign. His brown hair nears red under the faint light passing through heavy clouds, his peculiar copper eyes and turquoise pupils are adorned with heavy bags, and his face looks as if it is locked in a perpetually tired expression. Teru finds him oddly attractive.

He notices that the stranger's catching his breath. His clothes are wet as well. He wonders if he had swam to him and taken him all the way back to the beach. He wonders if that's why there are a few scales on his forearm, just below his shirt's rolled up sleeves.

The stranger speaks some incomprehensible sentences in a harsh tone. Teru thinks his voice sounds nice. He doesn't have a single clue of what he's saying though. At Teru's complete lack of response, the stranger seems to get lost in his thoughts for a while, before sighing and spitting out "Aoi Akane" while pointing at himself. Teru introduces himself as well, while also adding the name of the kingdom he comes from. When he hears it, Akane's eyes widen a bit, then he switches to a language Teru understands (although coated in a very strong accent) to gawkily ask him how he got there.

Teru explains that his ship was attacked by a sea creature, then that he needs to go back to his kingdom. He thinks of his siblings and his mother. A headache crawls up to him. He doesn't want to think about it now.

The stranger's eyes widen more than they already had.

"You know about these..?"

Teru is surprised that he believes him, tales of sea creatures only a rumor to be shrugged off by most as far as he knows.

He's about to say more when he feels himself loosing his energy. For how long had he been unconscious? He passes out again and feels icy cold gloved hands catching him.

After that, Akane takes Teru back to his unfamiliar home where he seemingly lives alone, and Teru gets to rest for quite a long time, weirdly exhausted . A strange mark that had appeared on his wrist, near scars that took the shape of a bite seems to continually drain him from his energy. While resting, Teru mulls over the events on the ship. He remembers the creature and aversion slowly grows inside himself towards them, as he recalls his mother's helpless face, his father's panic, his brother's bleeding shoulder and his sister's tears. He has the urge to go back already, to make sure his siblings are alive (he refuses to entertain the thought they are dead), to be there for them during surely difficult times. He makes it his goal to find them again,

Akane is apparently pretty busy. Or not. He always stays home and doesn't talk to him at all except to feed him. Only goes out on rare trips from which he comes back drenched and annoyed. At home, he stays up all night at his desk, piling up books and documents and what seem like research papers, constantly tormented and tired. Teru wonders if he even sleeps. At some point, though, he AND IT ENDS HERE FOR THE OG DRAFT :D

Go check out the full concept >:)

reblog or reply with your love song. you know, the one that you think is what love sounds like

Akanene is so funny to me because that's Aoi's worst nightmare. Everytime Akane and Nene hold hands Aoi will fall to the ground in tears and pretend (not well, considering the tears and the shaky voice) that she is happy for them.

Save her.

too many stories about turning yourself into a monster as a metaphor for pretending to be something you aren't and losing yourself in the process. not enough stories about turning yourself into a monster as a metaphor for choosing to openly embrace yourself even if it's strange to other people

Hanako making himself the protagonist of the alternate world in the Picture Perfect arc will never not be funny to me.

Hanako actively makes himself the relatively popular boy who's good at sports, good at everything, gets to show off his intelligence, has a lot of friends, and those friends behave as his wingmen in helping him get the girl he wants. Because in that world, Aoi actively tells Yashiro that 'Amane' is a catch---meaning he actively set it up for Yashiro to eventually relent into going out with him. I'm pretty sure even in the anime, it even has Aoi (or the fake one anyway) say, "His height doesn't hold him back on the field"

Like bro's just making an advertisement for himself---

Of course this dude who's gone through most of his life with no one all of a sudden makes himself a beloved and well-known student who gets the girl. On one hand, it's funny---but on the other hand, it's low-key kinda sad, lol.

hananene and mitsukou parallel part 2(72538272) (maybe this one lowkey a stretch but ykw hell yeah)

wyd if your crush tells you they're okay with dying

threaten them

drew yashiro and aoi from the tbhk fish cards ^^

This is my first post so weeeeeee—💃

yuriposting

can we talk more about Tsuchigomori and Hanako because holy shit their chemistry is literally so bittersweet, like we can clearly feel and see that Tsuchigomori treats Hanako like his son and Hanako looks up to Tsuchigomori like a father figure, also the fact that just the sight of Hanako being happy was enough for Tsuchigomori to let him destroy his yorishiro like?? there's so much more to say about them AUUGGHH

This was supposed to be a simple request but it somehow spiraled into a four page comic...

Tbhk fic where the only plot is the other apparitions of the school bad-mouthing the toilet trio for always being the reasons of chaos like it's some 2000s sitcom with countless explainatory flashbacks.

completely unprompted TBHK crossover for fun ;)

wow an original post from me?

a wip but the colors look so yummy and nomnom do u see my vision like lowkey yummy yayay

this was it like 4 days before 😨😨💔 colors are more savory and warm vintage but not the wacky wonderland ykyky 😔😔

Still wondering why Kou genuinely only pierced his right ear like Kou ily but what was your thought process I'm so curious

neneen (still greening) and cat,,,,

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨

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The difference between the two "mitsukou comparing themselves to hananene" scenes is kinda funny actually

Cause on one hand we have Kou who technically didn't even bring up Mitsuba at all. No one brought up Mitsuba actually. The only explicit indication we get that this in any way relates to Mitsuba was a single panel of Kou thinking about him, and even then that was only after Nene's prompting

Then on the other hand we have Mitsuba. Who just. Brings up Kou. Straight up. Out of nowhere. Even tells Nene about their date night out to the aquarium. This mf really compared Kou to Nene in response to Nene saying she's kissed Hanako. I can't make this shit up

People used to comment on web comics.

People used to comment on fanfiction.

People used to comment on fanart.

People used to comment on OCs.

I hate "content" culture.

I hate "consuming content" and scrolling immediately to the next thing.

People used to be excited about the art that other people created.

People used to want to share that excitement with creators.

I hate this future.

"i'm tired of seeing-" use your filters.

"but there was an icky ship-!" use your filters.

"i don't like that tag-" use your filters.

don't like what you're seeing? use. your. filters.