There's so many Voices...

Cat and Mouse …..

This is funny. This will spread farther than pictures/video of the flag just statically projected on the embassy would have. Instead of a basic article maybe remembered for a week, this is gonna make it immortalized as a meme.

“You don’t even know how hard this was! All the demons out for my head. No one knew. I was the best of those sons of bitches! The most loyal! Not even Alastair knew, only Lilith! Yeah, I’m sure you’re a little angry right now but, I mean, come on, Sam! Even you have to admit: I’m, I’m awesome!”

Seriously, do you know how hard that must’ve been? She basically had all of hell gunning for her for two years. Once the angels got involved, they were after her too. And it wasn’t like she was getting a ton of support from anywhere else, either— Dean was outright hostile to her, Sam kept blowing hot and cold towards her, and Lilith? Well, if she screwed up, it wasn’t as if she could count on Lilith to help her out. Ruby was literally all on her own.

And she did it. She fooled the Winchesters (Dean didn’t trust her, and even Sam was suspicious, yeah, but it still worked). She got around heaven. She survived Alastair and tons of other demons.

And that? That’s something she deserves to brag about. That’s the kind of manuevers you get serious props for.

And at this point, that’s what she’s expecting. Because she’s done it. She’s gotten Lucifer out of the cage. Azazel’s dead, Lilith’s dead, Alastair’s dead, Meg’s been essentially MIA lately, Crowley’s a turncoat— so who’s at the top of the demon hierarchy? Who’s there to greet Lucifer when he gets out of the cage? Who’s the one who got Sam to open it in the first place? Ruby.

So of course she’s ecstatic. She just brought back her god and that alone is worth celebrating. But beyond that, think of what she says to Sam:

“You set him free. And he’s gonna be grateful. He’s gonna repay you in ways that you can’t even imagine.“ 

Honestly it’s somewhat unlikely that Ruby knows much, if anything, about Sam being Lucifer’s vessel. So any thanks, any repayment she sees Lucifer giving Sam has more to do with Sam opening the cage (and possibly with him being the Boy King) than it does with Sam being his vessel. Which means that those rewards? Ruby’s going to get them too. So not only has Ruby moved up in the demon hierarchy, she’s expecting to be rewarded by Lucifer himself. 

And what’s more, I think, Ruby’s expecting to be right there alongside Sam. She talks about how he’s “angry right now” and how “it’s hard to see it now”; the entire track of her conversation at this point indicates that Sam will, at some point in the future, come to see that what she did was really for the best and that this is how things are supposed to be.

Because Ruby really did care for Sam. She’s trying to get through to him here, because she cares. When Sam calls her a bitch, she looks hurt. When he tries to attack her, and she explains that he used up all his MP on Lilith, there’s concern in her voice. When Dean bursts into the room, she doesn’t attack him, simply stands up (in front of Sam, in a protective position) and tells him “you’re too late.” Why? For the same reason she’s never been as antagonistic as she could’ve been towards Dean— because she cares for Sam and Sam cares for Dean (and, OK, yes, because pissing off Dean too much would alienate Sam and that would cause her plans to backfire but at this point that doesn’t much matter).

At one point, Ruby talks about how she still remembers being human, and that’s why she’s helping Sam. I don’t know how true that is, but I think in some ways she’s the demon (especially in the first five seasons) that is the most human, and that really comes out here.

So, yeah, this is her being revealed as a villain and, in many ways, the villain that’s been more immediately responsible for what’s been going on in S3 and S4 than Lilith. But this is also revealing so much more of her character.

When you like or reblog a post, that counts as user engagement for the person you liked or reblogged from, and shows up in their notifications.  

If the person you liked or reblogged a post from wasn’t the original poster (i.e., you’re liking or reblogging a reblog), it also counts as user engagement for the original poster, and shows up in their notifications as well.  

This means that user engagement from your likes and reblogs can potential accrue to two different people, the original poster and the person you liked or reblogged from.  

Consequently, you cannot “steal” user engagement from someone by reblogging their post.  

This is one of the very few areas where Tumblr is actually functions more reasonably than other social media platforms.  

Note that this is only true if you use Tumblr’s built-in reblogging function. If you save someone else’s content to your local device and append it to a new post, you effectively become the original poster from that point on.  

This means that on Tumblr, “reblogging” and “reposting” are two different things; if you see someone complaining about “reposting”, this is not the same as reblogging.  

Commenting when reblogging does not affect any of this – unlike, say, Twitter, where quote-retweeting causes user engagement to accrue to the quote-retweet and not to the original tweet – and you can and should do so freely.  

However, every Tumblr user can see who exactly you reblogged a post from, which functions as a soft disincentive against making inane comments; if you make a dumb comment on a reblog, people who see your reblog may “back up” one step in the reblog chain to reblog a version of the post without your comment.  

Nobody understands tags, and there’s a fair amount of evidence that how tags work changes periodically and without warning.  

Fictional babes, tropes, AU types, pairings, etc. are all general and open game, and of course there is likely to be some similarities when we’re all playing in the same shameless hoe playground with the same characters and worlds. That’s a given and something most of us understand.

However, specific story ideas, or plot ideas, or reader insert backstories, or even the very specific relationship/dynamic/details between a fictional babe/Reader are NOT up for grabs.

I’ve had people steal my story ideas that I shared with them before I had a chance to write them myself. I’ve had others rip off of specific parts and scenarios from my published stories and WIPs. I’ve also had people flat out plagiarize my stories and try to pass them off as their own.

And it all fucking sucks.

I would never intentionally steal or copy another’s idea. In fact, the very thought of even unconsciously doing so by pure honest to god accident gives me epic anxiety. I try to always think before diving into a story idea to see if I can remember reading or coming across anything like it. I have lots of behind the scenes conversations with my writing friends to check to see if a new idea sounds too similar to something that we’ve seen done before. And if I think something reminds me even faintly of someone else’s story that I’m aware of, I will reach out to them to check and see what they think.

So when I see people flat out rip off of my story ideas that I’ve put SO MUCH love, time, energy, and thought into, it makes me equal parts furious and sad.

Please stop stealing ideas and stories from others.

Please try to stop and think if you’re unintentionally replicating a story you’ve read.

This type of bullshit makes me not want to write and post my work anymore.

On a positive note, I will say I’ve had many folks reach out to run an idea by me because they felt like it was similar to my work. The thoughtfulness and care for another creator and their work that goes into that is something I appreciate so much more than I can put into words.

Just, like DAMN. Can we just not with this fuckery?!

Sorry this is kind of just a mad, anxious word vomit rant, but fuck! I love the worlds and dynamics I’ve created. I don’t care if it’s “just fanfiction.” They’re my interpretations of those characters, my blood, sweat, and tears, my hours and hours spent spitballing and writing and polishing and rewriting.