eternally 30, self-identifying with she/they (but not picky), living under a rock (though my heart lives in Venice). Writing fanfiction since 2002 & still going strong.
(Since I’ve actually been opening some tumblr pages on mobile browser & got annoyed with how many things DON’T WORK on it, I realised I should...probably bring my about me page from a page to an actual post. ^^; Also, gonna go ahead and pin it.)
Hi, I’m Batsutousai, but answer to most nickname variations (I understand my name isn't really easy to spell at a glance), most notably Bats, Batsu, and Batty.
I self-identify with she/they, but I don't particularly care what pronouns are used for me. I'm asexual and demi-romantic. When I turned 30, I decided I will be 30 for the rest of my life. (Given the number of people irl who think I've only just graduated high school, it'll be a while before this stops working.)
I am American, but I've spent quite a few years in British fandoms, and it shows in my spelling and some of my turns of phrase. I don't, necessarily, do it on purpose (except to make my mum twitchy), but I also don't go out of my way to correct myself, unless I'm writing from the point of view of an American character.
I first started posting fanfic back in 2002, under the name Katmon, and while you can find some of that on AO3, most of it has (thankfully) vanished into the ether. After a bad breakup and a brief hiatus, I began writing under the name Batsutousai in 2004, and have no intention to change names again (even if some of the ‘04 stuff’s kinda crap, imo).
While I have a preference for male/male ships in fandom, what little original stuff I’ve done tends to be female-centric. You can find a list of all my ships here, on my writing tumblr.
In 2012, I became a Tag Wrangler for AO3, and while I fairly regularly bitch about ‘tumblr-style’ freeforms and weird ships, I actually really love the work. Unfortunately, I had to quit it summer of 2020, because I couldn't make the time while working retail during the pandemic, but I fully intend to pick it up again, once life settles back down.
I’m happy to talk about my experiences as a tag wrangler, and I don’t really hide what fandoms I wrangled for (Digimon, FMA, Radiata Stories, & some minor fandoms), but I DO NOT speak for the tag wrangling team or the archive as a whole. (I also don’t out other wranglers.)
In real life, I’m currently living with my younger sister, work at a family-owned local repair company (currently answering phones, but being transitioned into more of an admin assistant job), & occasionally catsit from some friends. I have an Etsy shop, where I sell crocheted things (nothing up there right now, because it costs money to keep things listed, & I don't sell enough to excuse the constant cost).
-
Some FAQs:
When is (name WiP series/fic here) updating?
When it does?
Look, I get that you really, really like that series/fic – I do, too – and I’ve probably reread it fairly recently, to see if my muse will behave, but he’s a little shit, and every time someone asks about an update for any particular fic, that makes him LESS LIKELY to give me ideas for it. I’m happy to hear all about how much you like it, but asking about updates is more likely to keep one from happening.
Will you write a sequel for this fic?
My answer 99% of the time: No.
If I said somewhere there will be a sequel, yes. Eventually. Otherwise, NO.
Can I do a translation or podfic of your work?
You can indeed! I do request that you let me know when/where it’s posted, so I can add it to my list of such works!
*With some cautions; I have a list on LJ/DW of pieces that currently have translations; please speak to the translators in question if you want to continue something unfinished, as it’ll be easier for everyone to communicate in their (I assume) native tongue, than for me to play go-between.
**I don’t have a listing yet of podfics, mostly because the only ones I’m aware of, are either linked through AO3, or I don’t have a public link for.
Can I make fanart/fanfic/moodboard/etc based on one of your fics?
You absolutely may!
Please do add a note somewhere (in the post/author’s note) or, on AO3, use the inspired by option, to link back to the fic that’s serving as your inspiration. & then feel free to let me know!
Can I create a physical copy of your work for my personal use?
Yes, you may. I have nothing against folks saving copies of my work for personal use, be that in the form of old-school 3-ring binders, digital copies on kindle and similar devices, or through the increasingly common hobby of book-binding.
You don't have to show me what they look like when you're done, but you're welcome to.
Do you take requests?
For fanfic? Not really. I sometimes reblog those ‘give me a fandom/pairing/character(s) and a number and I’ll write the thing’ memes, but I can’t guarantee I’ll write everything I get.
Will you follow me back?
I don’t do follow-backs, sorry. Which is mostly because I have a thing about needing people to tag – the only people I follow who don’t tag are rl friends who post rarely, or folks who only reblog a specific fandom – and I prefer people who queue things, because I’m not fond of poking my head in and finding my TL taken over by one person (esp if they’re posting for a fandom I’m not interested in :/ I’m afraid I’m a bit of a crabby old person, not sorry).
What do you tag for?
Right now, I tag for fandom/character/ship, food, USA nonsense, politics, personal posts, and video/audio. I’m kinda bad about remembering to tag triggers, but if you’ve got one you need tagged, let me know and I’ll make a concerted effort. (For example, I tag for food because someone asked me to tag for it.)
Hey, I really like your work! Can I send you money?
You can, actually! You can buy me a tea via ko-fi, or go a bit more long-term and support me on patreon (where I post stalled WiPs and related snippets/fic notes you may never see anywhere else).
I want to show you this thing!
If you’re posting it yourself, tag me in one of the first five of the post’s tags (I follow batsutousai). If it’s a reblog, you can @ tag me. (I did finally figure out how to get tumblr to send me email notifications about those.)
I don’t allow submissions, sorry.
I have another question.
Send me a DM or ask! Anon is always on, if you want to keep your identity a secret from me, and I rarely respond to asks from users publicly.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
For the fourth year in a row now, it's time for Small Fandom Summer! Join me for Small Fandom Summer! It's real easy to play:
Make a fanwork for something that has fewer than 1000 English-language works on AO3
Post it to AO3
And then you've done it! You've made a thing and you've diversified the fandom ecosystem! You're basically a hero.
Q: The fandom I want to create for has more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but the specific pairing I want to write for has fewer than that. Does that count?
A: Yes!
Q: What if it has more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but, like, just barely?
A: Okay!
Q: What if it actually has a lot more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but it still feels small?
A: Sure!
Q: What if I don't want to post it to AO3? What if I don't even have an AO3 account? Can I post it somewhere else?
A: Wherever!
Q: What if--
A: Just do a thing, friend. Make a thing. Share the thing. This is not meant to be restrictive; this is meant to be inspirational. Create the fanworks you want to see in the world. Make a stranger happy by appealing to their niche interests. Bring joy.
And if you want to give yourself some silly little Steam-like achievement badges to commemorate your accomplishments, well, you're in luck! I've made a bunch of them right here! You can grab the ones that apply to your work and paste them wherever you like and feel good about what you've done. Here's a few of my favorites:
So you see? This is meant to be silly and fun.
There's nowhere to sign up. There's nothing to commit to. There's zero pressure. You just do it if you do it, and don't if you don't. But if you do want to play (yay!), tag your stuff with #small fandom summer so we can all swoop in and appreciate everyone else's efforts.
they’re gonna kill me for this but plo koon should not be treated as a father figure to the 104th. The vast majority of clones’ perceptions of parenthood are wild and even those we’d recognize are pretty wild AND by and large the Jedi don’t go in for that kind of social link. Plo is a sympathetic teacher (on his part) and commanding officer (on the clones’ part), and boiling down situations like “these young men have never had a chance to have real lives BUT THEY SHOULD and yet it is my duty to send them to die” to “proud dad has photos in spwallet” is taking all the flavor out of that dynamic
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
#Helios was declawed by his former owners so he doesn't just slap things he dislikes like most cats#he really only feels confident in hissing at them#Especially because a lot of the thing he doesn't like are bugs and those are sharp sometimes :(#Selene has figured this out and now when she hears him hiss she sprints over the kill the fuck out of the bug#Helios has learned she will do this so he'll hiss at stuff louder and louder until she hears him#A nervous old man and his emotional support homicidal maniac
tags by @gallusrostromegalus
I couldn't reblog without the tags because the context is hilarious
A Nervous Old Man (right) and his Emotional Support Violence Machine (Left)
Yes, he is more than twice her size.
Yes, he is five times her age.
Yes, he cries like a big baby until she kills Unacceptable Scary Things (earwigs) for him.
When the health food store unionized, something wild happened that I thought was just a goofy one-off, but makes more sense now.
There was a big push to eliminate "degrading jobs" but the strategy was to eliminate the position, then create a new position outside of the bargaining unit to do the work. So like, we wouldn't have dishwashers, but we'd have people who washed dishes that weren't eligible to be in the union.
I was like A) what the actual fuck? Dish washing isn't "degrading", it's fucking vital. B) What the actual fuck? You want to create a union just to exploit different people?
There were enough of us to be like "Absolutely the fuck not," and put a stop to it, but I was absolutely flummoxed that people involved in a union would say that out loud. Working with more leftists now, it makes sense.
I think it was coming from a background that viewed labor as necessary to accomplish anything, but advocated for the equitable distribution of the gains made by labor... and then being thrown in with people who just thought labor was icky.
The first time someone told me that busing tables was "degrading", I was like "Oh, uhh, yeah, like it's very necessary work but under compensated for how vital it is?" and they responded "No, touching plates that other people have eaten off of is disgusting."
But I want to eat off of clean plates. So somebody is going to have to touch/clean those plates. And I respect that person and want them to be able to afford to live.
In bargaining, someone on the Union side suggested that we eliminate all the cashiers and exclusively use self-checkouts (they were a cashier and didn't like it). The organizer told them that the union wasn't in the habit of eliminating bargaining unit positions. (This is the same person I've talked about how said that "as a prison abolitionist" we just needed to execute most criminals.)
When I explained holiday scheduling (time off requests granted in order of seniority, shifts assigned in reverse order of seniority). Someone was angry and said that time off requests potentially being denied "wasn't in the spirit of the union". When I pointed out that our departments made like 30% of our annual revenue between Thanksgiving and New Years and that required production staff to be working, they said that we just needed to create a class of positions ineligible for the bargaining unit that wouldn't be able to request time off. (Which again, most of us figured we'd just rotate holidays or something, but assumed that some holiday production was mandatory.)
I was on leftie tiktok (as a creator) for a bit and I saw this attitude there as well. I specifically remember one argument around cleaners where someone said that employing a cleaner was, like, ethically bad, and that "after the revolution" we wouldn't have cleaners.
It got me thinking, along with Ann Russell talking about how to treat cleaners (being a cleaner herself), about how we conceptualise domestic service as particularly degrading in all its forms, when, really, why is that? Why is paying someone to do something intrinsically bad?
Like, even in a moneyless, gift economy society, there would still be people whose primary contribution to their communities would be cleaning. Some people like to clean, and are really rather good at it.
I've talked ad nauseam in the past about how British attitudes towards cleaners and other service based positions today are the descendants of Victorian attitudes. That is, both the attitudes of conservatives and many progressives of that time. The trade union movement was particularly exclusionary towards service workers.
I think people on the left thinking about forms of labour can sometimes be worse than people on the right. People who have taken these positions generally just conceptualise them as something you need to do to get by, and there are particular employers where these positions are degrading but in general the jobs themselves aren't.
Yeah, that really sums it up. There's stuff that needs to get done, so I'll never be of the opinion that it's degrading work. I worked in kitchens for a long time, and every other position is reliant on having clean dishes, so nobody can really be "above" washing dishes. The shitty thing about washing dishes or busing tables is how people treat the people doing it. The work itself is vital.
And some of those jobs are like, sure, you can throw almost any warm body at it and get it done adequately, but you still run into people where you're like "Holy shit, you're good at this."
People doing a job most people don't want to do should be paid MORE in order to get people to do it. That's how it would work if we weren't mired in a schema assuming that less-frequently-desired jobs are the province of people who "can't do better" and "deserve" poverty because they have less value as people.
Peer reviewing the tags: #these attitudes are also why ppl are weird about sex work#and weirdly enough visibly disabled people working - like esp thinking of like#places that employ ppl w LDs as workers and volunteers#what they FEEL is 'these people make me uncomfortable'#and they say 'they shouldn't have to do that'#so the solution is. no visibly disabled people getting to work#the fact that. they want to work. and want jobs#is irrelevant#too many people base their politics off their like. gut feelings of discomfort and unease#which are completely disconnected from both practicality and actual morality
for those who don't speak academia: "according to our MRI machine, dead fish can recognise human emotions. this suggests we probably should look at the results of our MRI machine a bit more carefully"
So basically, in the psych and social science fields, researchers would (I don't know if they still do this, I've been out of science for awhile) sling around MRIs like microbiolosts sling around metagenomic analyses. MRIs can measure a lot but people would use them to measure 'activity' in the brain which is like... it's basically the machine doing a fuckload of statistics on brain images of your blood vessels while you do or think about stuff. So you throw a dude in the machine and take a scan, then give him a piece of chocolate cake and throw him back in and the pleasure centres light up. Bam! Eating chocolate makes you happy, proven with MRI! Simple!
These tests get used for all kinds of stuff, and they get used by a lot of people who don't actually know what they're doing, how to interpret the data, or whether there's any real link between what they're measuring and what they're claiming. It's why you see shit going around like "men think of women as objects because when they look at a woman, the same part of their brain is active as when they look at a tool!" and "if you play Mozart for your baby for twenty minutes then their imagination improves, we imaged the brain to prove it!" and "we found where God is in the brain! Christians have more brain activity in this region than atheists!"
There are numerous problems with this kind of science, but the most pressing issue is the validity of the scans themselves. As I said, there's a fair bit of stats to turn an MRI image into 'brain activity', and then you do even more stats on that to get your results. Bennett et. al.'s work ran one of these sorts of experiments, with one difference -- they used a dead salmon instead of living human subjects. And they got positive results. The same sort of experiment, the same methodology, the same results that people were bandying about as positive results. According to the methodology in common use, dead salmon can distinguish human facial expressions. Meaning one of two things:
Dead salmon can recognise human facial expressions. OR
Everyone else's results are garbage also, none of you have data for any of this junk.
I cannot overstate just how many papers were completely fucking destroyed by this experiment. Entire careers of particularly lazy scientists were built on these sorts of experiments. A decent chunk of modern experimental neuropsychology was resting on it. Which shows that science is like everything else -- the best advances are motivated by spite.
Okay, going to get on a different soapbox from my usual response to replies here.
Academia has a massive accessibility issue, but "overly academic language" is not the problem. It would be so, so much worse without formal terminology.
I have two master's degrees - in discrete mathematics and in human rights policy. Both of these fields have their own very specific terminology, not out of some ivory-tower protectionism, but because in both of them, it is vitally important to be very precise about what you're talking about.
This is also why science communication is a different job than science - translating out from the precision needed for formal study into the popular discourse is non-trivial, for good reason! The difference between "energy" and "power" is fundamental for physics, but the layperson doesn't keep that difference in mind because they don't need to.
My mathematics thesis would have been ten times as long if I'd tried to explain everything from first principles rather than referring to academic definitions - and most of it would be reinventing the wheel, hundreds of pages shared with anyone else to ever write combinatorics. Bertrand Russell's attempt to restate mathematics from first principles famously spent 600 pages before reaching "1+1=2". I don't even want to think about how long the policy thesis would have been if I had written it for someone with no background beyond high school civics.
The accessibility problem with academic language is not the language itself; it's the paywalls around the educational materials and literature which discuss and define these terms, which often make the literature - especially anything recent - inaccessible outside institutions that can afford the exorbitant fees set by the journals.
[Image description: The title, "Fanworks Permission Statement Builder," and black line-drawing-style pictures of a hand holding a pencil and of a microphone with a pop filter, over a background of crumpled paper. End ID.] (credit to @rystonlentil for the image ID)
Hey fanworks creators!
Excited about the idea of someone creating something based on your fan creation (like podfics, fanart, translations, etc)? On the other hand, do you not want people creating stuff based off your fanworks and don't want to have to turn them down? Or do you have a more nuanced idea of what you are and aren't comfortable with people doing based on your fan creations? Don't particularly care one way or the other about what people create based on your stuff?
SPEND JUST A FEW MINUTES TO QUICKLY GENERATE A FANWORKS PERMISSION STATEMENT LETTING PEOPLE KNOW YOUR PREFERENCES!!!
What is a fanworks permission statement?
A fanworks permission statement (also known as a blanket permission statement or transformative works permission statement) is very simple: it's something you post in a publically-visible place (usually your AO3 profile) that tells other fan creators what you are and aren't okay with in terms of other people making fanworks based off your stuff. It can be as simple as a sentence or two, or as complicated as you want to communicate your preferences clearly.
Who should have a permission statement?
A permission statement is for anyone that creates fanworks! Yes, even if you don't think anyone would ever want to create something based off your fanworks. You never know! It's not egotistical to post a permission statement, it's HELPFUL. Yes, even if you don't want people making something based off your works. It means no one has to reach out to ask you, they can know your preferences right away.
Is it only for fanfic writers?
Absolutely not! It's great for fan creators of ALL kinds to have a fanworks permission statement! Fanartists, someone might want to use your fanart as inspiration for a fanfic or create fanart inspired by your work in a different medium! Podficcers, other people creating in an audible medium might want to insert clips of your podfics into their work, or copy the way you did certain effects! Fanbinders, you might inspire an artist with the way you do your binding! This is really for everyone, because fandom is infinitely creative and who knows how another fan creator might be inspired by your work!
What do I even say in a permission statement?
That's exactly why we built the Fanworks Permission Statement Builder! So you don't have to think about what to say or how to say it. Just spend a few minutes answering questions about your preferences that cover many of the common things people might want to specify, and you'll have a permission statement ready to copy-and-paste into your AO3 profile, or to edit to your heart's content!
Why use the Fanworks Permission Statement Builder?
Don't want to come up with a permission statement on your own? Not sure what should even go into a permission statement? Want someone to at least give you a starting place that you can edit to better reflect your preferences? Want someone to just hand you a ready-to-use permission statement that you can paste into your profile? Spend just a few minutes answering some questions about your preferences, and you'll have a permission statement ready to use or edit!
we’re here, we’re queer, and too confused to pick one of those other labels so you better fucking get used to us because we’re not gonna get less messy, bitches.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
jellyfish have to be kept in a round tank because if they're in a tank with corners they'll get stuck in them. I think that's beautiful. god's stupidest little plastic bags (affectionate)
Also when being bred in captivity(this is done at my work and my job is to teach people about it) to get them to reproduce from the polyp stage of life, we have to intentionally cause them enough stress to reproduce but not enough to harm them. Lately we’ve done that by cleaning their habitat extra well, makes them think the word is ending
tech news today is that Mullvad VPN has gone mask-off about being the major funding source for the Swedish Orebro party, who are racist nationalists. unfortunately all discussion of this is occurring on fucking Mastodon instances i can barely load
if you are a mullvad customer (as i am) and want to get out, here is guidance from this guy
If you don't want your Mullvad fees going to fund neo-Nazis - or @mozilla VPN fees, which is rebranded Mullvad - cancel and get a refund immediately
that's whose "free speech" the official account is talking about here, and that's where your fees go to
EDIT: Mullvad has a 14 day refund policy. But the message below is a direct call to ask for a refund if you don't want to give money to Nazis.
If Mullvad refuse a refund, call your consumer protection agency. And reverse credit card charges on the basis of deceptive refund policy representations. It's not like you ever want to be a Mullvad customer again.
archive copy of Mullvad statement: https://web.archive.org/web/2026062717
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The CDC has a decent run-down of tips on how to cope with heat, as well as specific risk factors for heat illness, and how to spot and address signs of heat illness.
