#I just don't want to use an artist's work without permission
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Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
#fanfiction#ao3#piracy#dmca#pirated fanfic#please signal boost#i'm mad but also laughing that my dmc fanfic is now a 'number one best selling novel' lol#i'm also a traditionally-published author#so this is both hilarious and deeply insulting to me
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I'm seeing some frustration over fandom creatives expressing anger or distress over people feeding their work into ChatGPT. I'm not responding to OP directly because I don't want to derail their post (their intent was to provide perspective on how these models actually work, and reduce undue panic, which is all coming from a good place!), but reassurances that the addition of our work will have a negligible impact on the model (which is true at this point) does kind of miss the point? Speaking for myself, my distress is less about the practical ramifications of feeding my fic into ChatGPT, and more about the principle of someone taking my work and deliberately adding it to the dataset.
Like, I fully realize that my work is a drop in the bucket of ChatGPT's several-billion-token training set! It will not make a demonstrable practical difference in the output of the model! That doesn't change the fact that I do not want my work to be part of the set of data that the ChatGPT devs use for training.
According to their FAQ, ChatGPT can and will use user input to train itself. The terms and conditions explicitly state that they save your chats to help train and improve their models. (You can opt-out, but sharing is the default.) So if you're feeding a fic into ChatGPT, unless you've explicitly opted out, you are handing it to the ChatGPT team and giving them permission to use it for training, whether or not that was your intent.
Now, will one fic make a demonstrable difference in the output of the model? No! But as the person who spent a year and a handful of months laboring over my fic, it makes a difference to me whether my fic, specifically, is being used in the dataset. If authors are allowed to have a problem with the ChatGPT devs for scraping millions of fics without permission, they're also allowed to have a problem with folks handing their individual fics over via the chat interface.
I do want to add that if you've done this to a fic, please don't take this as me being upset with you personally! Folks are still learning new information and puzzling out what "good" vs. "bad" use is, from an ethical standpoint. (Heck, my own perspective on this is deeply based on my own subjective feelings!) And we certainly shouldn't act like one person feeding a fic into ChatGPT has the same practical negative impact, on a broad societal scale, as a team using a web crawler to scrape five billion pieces of artwork for Stable Diffusion.
The point is that fundamentally, an ethical dataset should be obtained with the consent of those providing the data. Just because it's normalized for our data to be scraped without consent doesn't make it ethical, and this is why ChatGPT gives users the option to not share data— there is actually a standardized way (robots.txt) for website servers to set policies for how bots/crawlers can interact with them, for exactly this reason— and I think fandom artists and authors are well within their rights to express a desire for opting out to be the socially-respected default within the fandom community.
#maybe this is an ice cold take but i've been meaning to go off about datasets for a while so here we are i guess#i can respect what op's frustrations were and what they were trying to get at! but also i do not want my fic in chatgpt's dataset#regardless of whether it will make a practical difference#and again i don't think the people doing this are necessarily bad actors or having a huge negative social impact#chatgpt#chat gpt#ai#fandom#negative#(possibly! i'm trying not to be!! especially because this is very feelings-based and there are many things i am not considering)#the model may not demonstrably change because of your fic. but it does have your fic now and that does matter maybe idk
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Recognizing AI Generated Images, Danmei Edition
Heyo, @unforth here! I run some danmei art blogs (@mdzsartreblogs, @tgcfartreblogs, @svsssartreblogs, @zhenhunartreblogs, @erhaartreblogs, @dmbjartreblogs, @tykartreblogs, and @cnovelartreblogs) which means I see a LOT of danmei art, and I go through the main fandom tags more-or-less every day.
Today, for the first time, I spotted someone posting AI-generated images (I refuse to call them AI "art" - and to be clear, that's correct of me, because at least in the US it literally LEGALLY isn't art) without any label indicating they were AI generated. I am not necessarily against the existence of AI-generated images (though really...considering all the legal issues and the risks of misuse, I'm basically against them); I think they potentially have uses in certain contexts (such as for making references) and I also think that regardless of our opinions, we're stuck with them, but they're also clearly not art and I don't reblog them to the art side blogs.
The images I spotted today had multiple "tells," but they were still accumulating notes, and I thought it might be a good moment to step back and point out some of the more obvious tells because my sense is that a LOT of people are against AI-generated images being treated as art, and that these people wouldn't want to support an AI-generator user who tried to foist off their work as actual artwork, but that people don't actually necessarily know how to IDENTIFY those works and therefore can inadvertently reblog works that they'd never support if they were correctly identified. (Similar to how the person who reposts and says "credit to the artist" is an asshole but they're not the same as someone who reposts without any credit at all and goes out of their way to make it look like they ARE the artist when they're not).
Toward that end, I've downloaded all the images I spotted on this person's account and I'm going to use them to highlight the things that led me to think they were AI art - they posted a total of 5 images to a few major danmei tags the last couple days, and several other images not to specific fandoms (I examined 8 images total). The first couple I was suspicious, but it wasn't til this morning that I spotted one so obvious that it couldn't be anything BUT AI art. I am NOT going to name the person who did this. The purpose of this post is purely educational. I have no interest whatsoever in bullying one rando. Please don't try to identify them; who they are is genuinely irrelevant, what matters is learning how to recognize AI art in general and not spreading it around, just like the goal of education about reposting is to help make sure that people who repost don't get notes on their theft, to help people recognize the signs so that the incentive to be dishonest about this stuff is removed.
But first: Why is treating AI-generated images as art bad?
I'm no expert and this won't be exhaustive, but I do think it's important to first discuss why this matters.
On the surface, it's PERHAPS harmless for someone to post AI-generated images provided that the image is clearly labeled as AI-generated. I say "perhaps" because in the end, as far as I'm aware, there isn't a single AI-generation engine that's built on legally-sourced artwork. Every AI (again, to the best of my knowledge) has been trained using copyrighted images usually without the permission of the artists. Indeed, this is the source of multiple current lawsuits. (and another)
But putting that aside (as if it can be put aside that AI image generators are literally unethically built), it's still problematic to support the images being treated as art. Artists spend thousands of hours learning their craft, honing it, sharing their creations, building their audiences. This is what they sell when they offer commissions, prints, etc. This can never be replicated by a computer, and to treat an AI-generated image as in any way equivalent is honestly rude, inappropriate, disgusting imo. This isn't "harmless"; supporting AI image creation engines is damaging to real people and their actual livelihoods. Like, the images might be beautiful, but they're not art. I'm honestly dreading someone managing to convince fandom that their AI-generated works are actual art, and then cashing in on commissions, prints, etc., because people can't be fussed to learn the difference. We really can't let this happen, guys. Fanartists are one of the most vibrant, important, prominent groups in all our fandoms, and we have to support them and do our part to protect them.
As if those two points aren't enough, there's already growing evidence that AI-generated works are being used to further propagandists. There are false images circulating of violence at protests, deep-fakes of various kinds that are helping the worst elements of society to push their horrid agendas. As long as that's a facet of AI-generated works, they'll always be dangerous.
I could go on, but really this isn't the main point of my post and I don't want to get bogged down. Other people have said more eloquently than I why AI-generated images are bad. Read those. (I tried to find a good one to link but sadly failed; if anyone knows a good post, feel free to send it and I'll add the link to the post).
Basically: I think a legally trained AI-image generator that had built-in clear watermarks could be a fun toy for people who want reference images or just to play with making pseudo-art. But...that's not what we have, and what we do have is built on theft and supports dystopia so, uh. Yeah fuck AI-generated images.
How to recognize AI-Generated Images Made in an Eastern Danmei Art Style
NOTE: I LEARNED ALL THE BASIC ON SPOTTING AI-GENERATED IMAGES FROM THIS POST. I'll own I still kinda had the wool over my eyes until I read that post - I knew AI stuff was out there but I hadn't really looked closely enough to have my eyes open for specific signs. Reading that entire post taught me a lot, and what I learned is the foundation of this post.
This post shouldn't be treated as a universal guide. I'm specifically looking at the tells on the kind of art that people in danmei fandoms often see coming from Weibo and other Chinese, Japanese, and Korean platforms, works made by real artists. For example, the work of Foxking (狐狸大王a), kokirapsd, and Changyang (who is an official artist for MDZS, TGCF, and other danmei works). This work shares a smooth use of color, an aim toward a certain flavor of realism, an ethereal quality to the lighting, and many other features. (Disclaimer: I am not an artist. Putting things in arty terms is really not my forte. Sorry.)
So, that's what these AI-generated images are emulating. And on the surface, they look good! Like...
...that's uncontestably a pretty picture (the white box is covering the "artist's" watermark.) And on a glance, it doesn't necessarily scream "AI generated"! But the devil is in the details, and the details are what this post is about. And that picture? Is definitely AI generated.
This post is based on 8 works I grabbed from a single person's account, all posted as their own work and watermarked as such. Some of the things that are giveaways only really show when looking at multiple pieces. I'm gonna start with those, and then I'll highlight some of the specifics I spotted that caused me to go from "suspicious" to "oh yeah no these are definitely not art."
Sign 1: all the images are the exact same size. I mean, to the pixel: 512 x 682 pixels (or 682 x 512, depending on landscape or portrait orientation). This makes zero sense. Why would an artist trim all their pieces to that size? It's not the ideal Tumblr display size (that's 500 x 750 pixels). If you check any actual artist's page and look at the full-size of several of their images, they'll all be different sizes as they trimmed, refined, and otherwise targeted around their original canvas size to get the results they wanted.
Sign 2: pixelated. At the shrunken size displayed on, say, a mobile Tumblr feed, the image looks fine, but even just opening the full size upload, the whole thing is pixelated. Now, this is probably the least useful sign; a lot of artists reduce the resolution/dpi/etc. on their uploaded works so that people don't steal them. But, taken in conjunction with everything else, it's definitely a sign.
Those are the two most obvious overall things - the things I didn't notice until I looked at all the uploads. The specifics are really what tells, though. Which leads to...
Sign 3: the overall work appears to have a very high degree of polish, as if it were made by an artist who really really knows what they're doing, but on inspection - sometimes even on really, REALLY cursory inspect - the details make zero sense and reflect the kinds of mistakes that a real artist would never make.
So, here's the image that I saw that "gave it away" to me, and caused me to re-examine the images that had first struck me as off but that I hadn't been able to immediately put my finger on the problem. I've circled some of the spots that are flagrant.
Do you see yet? Yes? Awesome, you're getting it. No? Okay, let's go point by point, with close ups.
Sign 4: HANDS. Hands are currently AI's biggest weakness, though they've been getting better quickly and honestly that's terrifying. But whatever AI generated this picture clearly doesn't get hands yet, because that hand is truly an eldritch horror. Look at this thing:
It has two palms. It has seven fingers. It's basically two hands overlaid over each other, except one of those hands only has four fingers and the other has three. Seeing this hand was how I went from "umm...maybe they're fake? Maybe they're not???" to "oh god why is ANYONE reblogging this when it's this obvious?" WATCH THE HANDS. (Go back up to that first one posted and look at the hand, you'll see. Or just look right below at this crop.) Here's some other hands:
Sign 5: Hair and shadows. Once I started inspecting these images, the shadows of the hair on the face was one of the things that was most consistently fucked up across all the uploaded pictures. Take a look:
There's shadows of tendrils on the forehead, but there's no corresponding hair that could possibly have made those shadows. Likewise there's a whole bunch of shadows on the cheeks. Where are those coming from? There's no possible source in the rest of the image. Here's some other hair with unrelated wonky shadows:
Sign 6: Decorative motifs that are really just meaningless squiggles. Like, artists, especially those who make fanart, put actual thought into what the small motifs are on their works. Like, in TGCF, an artist will often use a butterfly motif or a flower petal motif to reflect things about the characters. An AI, though, can only approximate a pattern and it can't imbue those with meanings. So you end up with this:
What is that? It's nothing, that's what. It's a bunch of squiggles. Here's some other meaningless squiggle motifs (and a more zoomed-in version of the one just above):
Sign 7: closely related to meaningless squiggle motifs is motifs that DO look like something, but aren't followed through in any way that makes sense. For example, an outer garment where the motifs on the left and the right shoulder/chest are completely different, or a piece of cloth that's supposed to be all one piece but that that has different patterns on different sections of it. Both of these happen in the example piece, see?
The first images on the top left is the left and right shoulder side by side. The right side has a scalloped edge; the left doesn't. Likewise, in the right top picture, you can see the two under-robe lapels; one has a gold decoration and the other doesn't. And then the third/bottom image shows three sections of the veil. One (on the left) has that kind of blue arcy decoration, which doesn't follow the folds of the cloth very well and looks weird and appears at one point to be OVER the hair instead of behind it. The second, on top of the bottom images, shows a similar motif, except now it's gold, and it looks more like a hair decoration than like part of the veil. The third is also part of the same veil but it has no decorations at all. Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever. Why would any artist intentionally do it that way? Or, more specifically, why would any artist who has this apparent level of technical skill ever make a mistake like this?
They wouldn't.
Some more nonsensical patterns, bad mirrors, etc. (I often put left/right shoulders side by side so that it'd be clearer, sorry if it's weird):
Sign 8: bizarre architecture, weird furniture, etc. Most of the images I'm examining for this post have only partial backgrounds, so it's hard to really focus on this, but it's something that the post I linked (this one) talks about a lot. So, like, an artist will put actual thought into how their construction works, but an AI won't because an AI can't. There's no background in my main example image, but take a look at this from another of my images:
On a glance it's beautiful. On a few seconds actually staring it's just fucking bizarre. The part of the ceiling on the right appears to be domed maybe? But then there's a hard angle, then another. The windows on the right have lots of panes, but then the one on the middle-left is just a single panel, and the ones on the far left have a complete different pane model. Meanwhile, also on the left side at the middle, there's that dark gray...something...with an arch that mimics the background arches except it goes no where, connects to nothing, and has no apparent relationship to anything else going on architecturally. And, while the ceiling curves, the back wall is straight AND shows more arches in the background even though the ceiling looks to end. And yes, some of this is possible architecture, but taken as a whole, it's just gibberish. Why would anyone who paints THAT WELL paint a building to look like THAT? They wouldn't. It's nonsense. It's the art equivalent of word salad. When we look at a sentence and it's like "dog makes a rhythmical salad to betray on the frame time plot" it almost resembles something that might mean something but it's clearly nonsense. This background is that sentence, as art.
Sign 9: all kinds of little things that make zero sense. In the example image, I circled where a section of the hair goes BELOW the inner robe. That's not impossible but it just makes zero sense. As with many of these, it's the kind of thing that taken alone, I'd probably just think "well, that was A Choice," but combined with all the other weird things it stands out as another sign that something here is really, really off. Here's a collection of similar "wtf?" moments I spotted across the images I looked at (I'm worried I'm gonna hit the Tumblr image cap, hence throwing these all in one, lol.)
You have to remember that an actual artist will do things for a reason. And we, as viewers, are so used to viewing art with that in mind that we often fill in reasons even when there aren't. Like, in the image just about this, I said, "what the heck are these flowers growing on?" And honestly, I COULD come up with explanations. But that doesn't mean it actually makes sense, and there's no REASON for it whatsoever. The theoretical same flowers are, in a different shot, growing unsupported! So...what gives??? The answer is nothing gives. Because these pieces are nothing. The AI has no reason, it's just tossing in random aesthetic pieces together in a mishmash, and the person who generated them is just re-generating and refining until they get something that looks "close enough" to what they wanted. It never was supposed to make sense, so of course it doesn't.
In conclusion...
After years of effort, artists have gotten across to most of fandom that reposts are bad, and helped us learn strategies for helping us recognize reposts, and given us an idea of what to do when we find one.
Fandom is just at the beginning of this process as it applies to AI-generated images. There's a LOT of education that has to be done - about why AI-generated images are bad (the unethical training using copyrighted images without permission is, imo, critical to understanding this), and about how to spot them, and then finally about what to do when you DO find them.
With reposts, we know "tell original artist, DCMA takedowns, etc." That's not the same with these AI-images. There's no original owner. There's no owner at all - in the US, at least, they literally cannot be copyrighted. Which is why I'm not even worrying about "credit" on this post - there's nothing stolen, cause there's nothing made. So what should you do?
Nothing. The answer is, just as the creator has essentially done nothing, you should also do nothing. Don't engage. Don't reblog. Don't commission the creator or buy their art prints. If they do it persistently and it bothers you, block them. If you see one you really like, and decide to reblog it, fine, go for it, but mark it clearly - put in the ACTUAL COMMENTS (not just in the tags!) that it's AI art, and that you thought it was pretty anyway. But honestly, it'd be better to not engage, especially since as this grows it's inevitable that some actual artists are going to start getting accused of posting AI-generated images by over-zealous people. Everyone who gets a shadow wrong isn't posting AI-generated images. A lot of these details are insanely difficult to get correct, and lots of even very skilled, accomplished artists, if you go over their work with a magnifying glass you're going to find at least some of these things, some weirdnesses that make no sense, some shadows that are off, some fingers that are just ugh (really, getting hands wrong is so relatable. hands are the fucking worst). It's not about "this is bad art/not art because the hand is wrong," it's specifically about the ways that it's wrong, the way a computer randomly throws pieces together versus how actual people make actual mistakes. It's all of the little signs taken as a whole to say "no one who could produce a piece that, on the surface, looks this nice, could possibly make THIS MANY small 'mistakes.'"
The absolute best thing you can do if you see AI-generated images being treated as real art is just nothing. Support actual artists you love, and don't spread the fakes.
Thanks for your time, everyone. Good luck avoiding AI-generated pieces in the future, please signal boost this, and feel free to get in touch if you think I can help you with anything related to this.
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Happy Friday All!
In early 2020 (before Covid), I was painting larger paintings like this with Acryla-Gouache. I was really enjoying the medium.
I was inspired by a couple of photos by Annie Bertram on Deviant Art and asked permission to use them for reference.
Since I was just doing these for myself... I had NO plan. No test drawings. No layouts. I just started drawing on a large piece of paper and figured it out as I went.
Because of this... I never really figured out what to do with the hand on the left.
So... it just kind of disappeared.
I may go back and add it in later, I think.
But, for now... it's always a reminder of a time where I just broke out the paints and... played.
A couple months later... Covid hit and it was 3 years until I did my next large painting (the Gothic Vampire).
(Note: I can't find a reply from the photographer regarding permission or not. My memory is I heard back. But I can't find it.)
I DID hear from the model Theresa Fractale, a couple of years later, who was VERY upset that I had sold some postcards of the painting without her permission.
I was mortified. I hadn't even considered reaching out to the model. I offered her and Annie Bertram all of the profits I made from the sales, but she wasn't satisfied... and we left it at that.
These things DO happen with artists. Sometimes people claim you've "stolen" their art or style or likeness. And sometimes they have legitimate reason to do so.
Me, personally... I believe that artists should use ALL of the world around them for inspiration and if it is HEAVILY influenced by one artist or work of art... CREDIT them.
But change it. Don't directly copy it (unless you're studying someone's work... in which case... copy away).
But always credit.
I believe I REFERENCED the photos above, but didn't copy them.
But, I DID heavily reference them and, honestly, had NO intention of selling it (I still own the painting) or prints (I had only sold a few postcards before being contacted by the model... then stopped).
In any case... if the model or the photographer is unhappy with me selling prints... I don't sell prints. It's that simple.
Their work directly inspired MY work and while I feel that I've changed it enough to be unique... I don't want to cause another artist harm in any way.
Every artist is different. Some are open to sharing their art (like me) and others are very protective of their art.
But, there are no RULES to art. There is no such thing as "cheating" in art. There IS copyright LAW. And that is theft.
But that law ONLY (as far as I know) works if you are SELLING a copy of someone else's work. Profiting from it.
Not for learning. Not for practice. And not for posting online.
Just please... PLEASE credit the artist you're copying. Tell people why you are copying.
Nowadays, if I'm going to do a painting I plan on making prints of, I either use stock photography I've paid for or I get permission and pay the rights holder.
But, this is ONLY for pieces I want to sell prints of.
You do NOT need permission to use photo reference or even copy another artist's work for your portfolio or to post online.
Credit them. Share your inspiration with others. Tell them why you copied the works
But you don't need permission simply to make art. Ever.
Art should be shared. Copied. Studied. And most of all... enjoyed.
Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥
Scott
#art#traditional art#artists on tumblr#drawing#art nouveau#fantasy art#gouache painting#acryla gouache#annie bertram
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SwapOut/Webcomic/Twitch PSA!
Hi everyone 👋🏻 Zk here >< or Cats, for older followers
So I've been getting back into doing SwapOut again, but I would like to appeal to everyone who reads and loves the comic. Much love to all of you who's still sticking around 🙏🏻💙 But something has also always been bothering me throughout this journey.
As many of us know, we artists do these comics for free (especially fan comics), starting them out of love and taking a LOT of time and energy out of our lives to continue making them.
And it's amazing how many of you come from translations or comic dubs on Youtube, which are also very well-done and take a lot of effort to make, much love to them too. There is a difference, however.
Monetization.
And I'm not asking for pity! I'm appealing for understanding.
Because some comic dubbers on Youtube are able to earn ad revenue from the videos they upload. From the beginning, we artists have given them the permission to dub our works. But we don't receive anything from it, nor do we usually charge them for using our art (against our better judgement).
We let them use our comic pages in their monetized videos for free. And occasionally these videos receive thousands and millions of views, which I imagine gives a decent amount of ad revenue, while the artists themselves don't usually earn anything from their own artwork, nor do we ever want to put it behind a paywall of any kind. (we like reading free comics too so don't worry x|)
... But doing full-colored comic pages for free eventually gets hard to sustain without any income from it, even more so when we need to give our time and energy to other jobs to earn money for a living instead. We legitimately keep going on our comics purely out of love. Truly, we would LOVE to do our own art for a living. There's things like Patreon but it's only feasible if we're also able to produce bonus content or show BTS, and only people willing to spend money for them can help us, and not readers who aren't able to.
And we understand that not everyone can afford to support us monetarily. And that's okay!
But if you love these comics and want to really help us to keep going, there ARE ways you can easily support us for free!
For example, affiliates on Twitch (like myself) are able to earn ad revenue very early on (they must have at least 50 followers, quite a requirement, but still easier to obtain than Youtube's 1000 subscribers).
(my Youtube, btw. not much rn but drop a subscribe?)
But simply put, if the vast majority of readers from the yt numbers visit and stay for ads on the artists' Twitch streams (remember to have adblocker disabled for the site, if any), they'll be making an actual, physical contribution to the artist themselves, at no cost whatsoever. We earn up to 55% from any ads that run on our stream, so the more viewers, the better!
(this is my twitch on average 8 viewers, with a 3 hour stream. again, the more the better!)
(ofc you can also buy subs to watch ad-free and supports me directly, but i'm typing all this to share the free ways people can support their fave creators ✨)
And even if that doesn't work out, I'd be happy enough to see most of you there 🙏🏻💙 I've been treating my streams as work, so I'm striving not to break the streak.
So drop a follow on my Twitch, and catch the streams when you can!
They're great if you need company or background noise, and also great for co-working~
Currently streaming WEEKLY,
Mondays, Wednesdays (SwapOut) and Saturdays, 10.30AM EST
(art by @cupcakepaints)
>> twitch.tv/zkcats <<
Anyway thanks for listening to my Ted talk, please share this around for others as well >< 🙏🏻 Artists, make this a reblog chain or something! Promo your stuff!
And apologies for the essay, I wasn't expecting to type this much sdghsgh this itself is not an ad for Twitch or whatev, I'm just a little frustrated with needing to juggle all this.
I was also considering hosting SwapOut somewhere that could get ad revenue, but I wasn't sure where until I realized I can probably earn that from my Tapas now (i think?? sdfhgh up to 70% ad revenue there but i haven't seen any yet) So maybe I'll post there a day earlier than here or something? We'll see. Go subscribe there! Check it out! Reread it! Help ME help YOU!
... Much appreciated ><
#catschats#undertale#webcomic#swapoutcomicupdate#typed this out mostly for people who aren't aware that ads support streamers etc.#im super tired now wheezee but im living
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Scans ( a little long)
When I ask people not to steal my scans I assure you it has nothing to do with my ego. I have relationships with a number of people that trust me to provide full credits and copyrights and supervise, as much as possible, how things are used. And it gets a little complex, like some people will give me a photo I can only use on instagram. I have to honor these agreements.
And, Rothko paintings are copyrighted so, unlike some artists, if you make tee shirts or use it in a movie or something , it's actually illegal (without permission) They are not going to come after you for casual use of you own, but I know of many examples where people were hit with a copyright notice for trying to profit in the work.
It took me a long time to build these relationships and get all of these scans, including many i have done myself. I gave myself this Rothko job I do, and because of that I didn't have background to give me things or answer questions. It was only after years of doing it that people started to reach out to me in a bigger way and help.
The art world is strange, I was talking to a museum curator recently and there several questions I had that I was told they were not at liberty to answer. In the case of Rothko, there's nothing really cloak and dagger about it, it's just the family (who I think are great) fought really hard for these rights and spend a lot of time trying to control how the work is used and seen. It's a good thing because we get things like the Paris exhibit which took an insane amount of planning, loans, insurance etc. All the paintings had to be inspected before they were shipped over seas, in case damage was done to them over there. These paintings are BIG and in the hands of many different people, so it really took tons of effort and (sadly) money to do it, but it's something like (can't recall exactly) 179 paintings. The biggest Rothko show since 1978.
People on tumblr do sometimes (as we all know) take stuff from here or from my other social media accounts and I know it's typical social media behavior, as people like the credit and notes to their own blog, but I mention this now because I have some things coming up that almost no one has ever seen and I don't want to lose this privilege because I won't be able to show you cool stuff and big scans.
So, sorry for the ponderousness, I just thought a little background might explain that I'm not just being grumpy about it. I think people may see it as "It's the internet get over yourself" but I honestly feel a responsibility to do the best I can for people following these accounts and I am just trying to keep doing it and hopefully, expand as I go.
This blog started on out tumblr and it was the support of all of you that made me continue it, I will be 10 years in July. I can't take a lot of credit for it, it's not my art. My only idea was the once a day aspect. However, I try to do my homework and striving for accuracy is part of that, including copyrights and credits.
So thanks for everything too, people participating in this has been very valuable and educational for me.
#mark rothko#markrothko#rothko#daily rothko#dailyrothko#abstract expressionism#modern art#abstraction#colorfield#ab ex#colorfield painting#mid century#personal
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ATTN ARTISTS-- AI LIGHTING PROGRAM (AKA CLIPDROP) IS TAKING YOUR ARTWORK
The AI Lighting website is actively taking any uploaded images and training AI to make (edit: AI Generated art. Possibly NFTS, please see edit below.). I've seen some people talking on here about how there's no harm in using Clipdrop because it's teaching them how to properly light things, but nothing about how the program takes your artwork and uses it to make AI generated artwork/NFTs up to five years after you upload stuff.
Artists: do not use services like these. Always be suspicious of sites like these.
I had major hesitation and suspicion upon seeing this as is and now theres actual proof, so....
EDIT:
Sources for the threads above: 1 2
So some people have been saying that just because the co-founder is an NFT bro doesn't necessarily mean that they are using the AI for that specific purpose and I think they're right it's just extremely scummy that they can use your art to create AI Generated images and NFTs are literally AI Generated images, so that's the train of thought that me and many other artists have been concerned about.
I personally would not want my artwork to be used to teach AI how to make artwork or improve AI generation because i personally believe there's something extremely morally incorrect about taking art from artists, feeding it into an AI, using it to generate artwork, and claiming that artwork as your own. There are threads on twitter that discuss how AI is the creator, the person using the AI is actually the client, and the client in this case is absolutely horrific--
“The reason people are getting increasingly frustrated with AI "artists" is that no, they AREN'T artists. They're nightmare clients. They tell the AI what they want, demand infinite revisions of it, and once finally satisfied, claim the work as their own. I have painted characters and weapons for clients, and while yes, the cool designs they paid me to draw are THEIR concepts, they did not paint it, and they are not calling themselves the artist who did the commission!” - @Anodesu on Twitter
Recently, an AI Generated piece won a contest worth actual money, and many of the artists who lost were rightfully upset.
Something that we need to remember is to listen to artists when they talk about how AI could very seriously take over the market due to the fact that there are so little laws in regards to it, and jobs are already being lost in fields like journalism due to the use of AI generated works.
I think we need to be thinking about these specific questions?
Should it be legal for websites like this to put sneaky things in their TOS in regards to creating AI artwork using any uploaded images?
Should it be legal for creators of AI to feed their AI works that they do not have the rights to to make their AI create artwork?
How many artistic jobs are going to be lost due to AI taking the artwork of others without paying for it, and generating artwork that people don't have to pay for?
These are questions we just don't know the answer to, and with how slow lawmakers have been in terms of privacy laws online, and how slow they've been in regards to NFTs, it's going to be a while before we really see how much this will impact artists and freelancers.
To finish this off, I’d like to post this thread in regards to how AI generated art is art theft:
In my opinion, I am fully against AI generated artwork unless the creator of the AI only feeds art that they have the rights to/permission to. That being said, I believe this kind of thing needs to be an “opt-in” sort of reasoning, meaning if you want to give your artwork to AI, then go for it. But things like Clipdrop and other image-uploading sites make very sneaky additions to their TOS that artists need to be aware of.
Edit (part 2):
I want everyone denying even the possibility of this being used for NFTs to start using your critical thinking skills for just a moment. Nothing in life is going to be black and white, and no company is required by law to say exactly what they are using their tech for. This post is a means to inform artists that their artwork can be taken and used to create AI-Generated artwork, and many artists have come out with information and concerns about this technology. Please make your own decisions, but do not call this information fearmongering, as it's simply information.
#clipdrop#ai lighting#ai artwork#nfts#nft#so yes by using this you give them permission to take your artwork#terms of service are so important#i hate that this is a thing
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(If you're someone who enjoys my work, and also happens to like/support AI generated images, please give this a read? Just hear me out, please. This is not a bashing post, I promise. It's not pro-ai either though. But please hear me out)
This whole AI art stuff is just getting... Honestly exhausting. If you are someone who supports AI generated images, I beg of you, hear me out? I'm not here to bash, to say you're a bad person or a thief. I know it's more complex than that. I'm just, trying to express how I feel about this whole ordeal. I'm not here to get angry either. I don't have the energy for that. I'm also not trying to change your mind. Just, hopefully help you see/feel a different perspective? That's all.
Long rant under the cut because. There's a lot.
I'm not even angry anymore. I don't have the energy for that. But I keep seeing AI images all over, everywhere. The thing is getting better (because of course it is). And I see more and more people support it. And sometimes those people are also artists or people who like art and support artists.
And then I also see artists be laid off. I see how it gets harder and harder to make a break in the industry. And even after you make it you get laid off because... People don't wanna bother with it anymore. Corps would rather cut costs.
And then I see people defend AI images. Say it's okay, that it isn't stealing from artists, that it is just a tool, ignoring a huge part of the problem (whether willfully or not).
And it just makes me so incredibly sad. So utterly devastated.
I was angry. I really used to be angry. I'm just hurt now. Hopeless for the future. And tired. Really really damn tired.
Tired of artists having to justify their existance in the professional world. Tired of people just saying... No.
No, you don't get to thrive. And you're selfish and entitled for wanting to thrive. No, you don't get to feel hurt when your work gets scrapped without your permission to feed a data base designed to replace you. No, you don't get a say in this. Don't like? Bohoo, don't see.
Well, how can I not see when this issue directly affects how I live? How can I not see when this issue affects my future? It's not just a matter of "Don't like x kind of content, don't interact with it". It really is not. I really wish it was, I wish it was that simple. But it's not. Because this is not something like a ship or a trope that one can ignore and not be affected. This is like trying to ignore a dumpster fire in your neighborhood. Yeah, you can avoid looking at it. You can avoid talking about it. But the smoke is still getting into your house. You're still breathing it. It's still hurting you. It will have effects on your life, whether you like it or not.
I threw away 12 years of my life building up my skill to work in a field that feels like it's dying out. Am I (and countless other artists) just supposed to start over? How? Time is unforgiving.
Bohoo for your bad choices, suck it up. Your fault for pursuing art as a career.
Was I supposed to just, KNOW, somehow, that the career I choose, that used to be viable, would just... Take this turn? Was I supposed to have a 10 year look into the the future?
You should create for the joy of creating!
I do. I love creating. I love making people happy with my work. Work I spent years perfecting. It's the most beautiful feeling in the world to know that someone smiled or cried or felt something because of something I did. It makes me smile and cry too.
But I also like to be able to eat. To have a roof. To pay for my meds. And the joy of creating honestly dwindles each time I see people talk about AI images the same way they talk about a painting in the Louvure.
Becaus they do. I've seen people talk about images generated by a machine (built upon stealing artwork from unconsenting artists) like they're the work of God. And they write such beautiful things too. And I'm left baffled, confused, uneasy.
And then I go to see artists, living, breathing, feeling artists, who create marvelous pieces, who pour their heart into their work, who shed sweat blood and tears to get their skills to where they are, who are still shedding sweat blood and tears to keep improving... And they don't even get a 'nice'. They've been job searching for 3 years. They can't get a steady flow of commissions. They're scrambling to be able to get a table at a con.
And it hurts to my very core.
It hurts in a place I don't even know how to describe, because it's so deep and so personal and so raw that I don't think there's a name for it.
I love art. I love it so damn much. I love making it, I love sharing it, I love teaching it.
I think many other people love art too. I think many other people who love art don't even consciously realize they do.
And it hurts seeing art just... Become this.
It hurts seeing the artistic souls of this earth be pushed down and down again and again over and over and be told to just. To just suck it up.
To die off.
Because when people support AI images, they are telling us to die off. It feels like they are telling us to die off.
And I don't think the people who do realize it at all, because a lot of people who support AI images are not bad people. They are not. They enjoy art too. But they are, consiously or not, directly or indirectly, hurting the artists whose work made the data base AI generators use possible.
They're telling us to die off because they already have our work. And they can use it to generate new, regurgitated work faster, cheaper. They don't need us. So while they may like what us, artists, do, they're feeding a system that is killing us off. Both metaphorically and literally. Metaphorically by killing the will to create. Literally by taking our living off of us (or at least to those who's art is their living. Like myself).
And again.
It hurts so damn much.
And I don't think a lot of people manage to see the hurt past all the anger.
I, personally, have grown exhausted and there's no anger left in me, only sad and hurt.
But I promise you, behind every angry and fighting and barking and bitting artists there is out there, there's hurt. There's some form of hurt behind each and every one of them. Of us.
I really hope this reaches the right people. Whether that be a fellow artists struggling to get their feelings into words to let them know they're not alone. Or someone who supports AI images, and supports artists too, and can maybe get a glimpse into a side of this whole issue. Not necessarily to change their mind but, maybe help them understand better where all the anger from artists may be coming from.
Please, I'm not here to start any fights or debates. I really am not. I just need to get this sort of thing out there, because I think talking about it is important.
#Rambles#I know I have some followers that like my work that also like AI#I still love you#I know you don't try to do harm and are just here to vibe about the same blorbos#I know you like art in general#But I'd wish you could hear me out on this#Even if it doesn't change your perception
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Updates
Hello again. So thanks to the community I was noticed and contacted by TESO team. Thank you all ppl, really, I am a small artist and my chance to be noticed was little without your reposts and reaction.
The team assures that there was a mistake and they never wanted to use fanarts without permission.
We exchanged quite friendly messages, the contents of which I do not want to disclose yet. Now I am waiting for a second answer. It is now the Easter holidays and an answer cannot be received quickly. Let's be patient and wait. ...See the whole post to discover some more funny details. ↓
...
Well... I think particular employee just did their job… BAD. This is just my guess, I don't have an official comment.
Some indirect evidence of a dishonest work (lack of verification?) is that that set of tattoos is called "Mercymothers". The Merciful Mother is Almalexia, and the tattoos are clearly depicting Sotha Sil. You should be completely out of lore to do that… or it's a deeplore that I am too silly to understand )) (don't think so, using Occam's Razor)
...
Whatever it was, that dude (if so) did their job badly twice. Here are paired face tattoos (Mersymother's Face Art) in addition to body tattoos.
See the ponytail above the heart? And here it is on the face. So the whole set is cut from my picture. Alas.
This would not be evident if we did not know the history of the first picture.
I want to point out that I am not throwing accusations. Shit happenes even in big companies, now we need to understand who is to blame and what to do.
Any such things should be dealt with as correctly as possible. I was surprised when someone called me toxic in the comments for my first reaction. How else should I have reacted? Be silently happy?
...
And about copyrights.
I drew a fanart and I didn't monetize it, it's not forbidden as I konw :) But now company: 1. took it without asking me 2. sells it in the crownstore for real money.
All rights to the scrolls lore belong to the company! But without the consent of the artist, even fanart cannot be used. So now we need to figure out a solution that satisfies every side of the incident (I think). At the very least, I should be credited as an artist in the credits of a new chapter or such place.
...
Love you all and still love Scrolls universe, eheh.
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Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! (master post)
Hello Hello! My name is Liza (without the E)
I'm a SMG34 Shipper and a Fan of SMG4's contents!
People are only allowed at my blog if you're 13+ I cuss sometimes and well you might find other things disturbing or not on the way-
Too many tabs! Still arranging them!
My Romance Trope For these two
OFFICIAL TWITTER ACCOUNT
I do have a Wattpad account
Persona right here :>
FANARTS + SPECIAL THANKS
TOP SECTION:
"Indigo Secret":
AU and Comic by me
Flashback and plot idea by @justin-peudeau
About: "Indigo Secret":
How long was is planned?
Coffee N' Bombs / Brewing Romance AU:
Design created by me
AU and Fanfic by @shygirl4991
SMG4's Uni CnB outfit
SMG3's CnB outfit
Confused who owns the AU?
ABOUT CNB BR AU
Whats so good about it?
Pride Bombs! - aroace too
My Arts for CnB BR: CLICK HERE!
.
Snowtrapped 3.0...:
For somereason.
ITS DISCONTINUED!!!
Moving Out - A short smg34 comic
Mario and The Mysterious TV _ Marware
Hyperfixations and Research
My SMG34 headcanons
Boundaries + Shipping + Sexualities
Fanarts/Animatics I made for Fics
Artistic Family
UPDATES - LINK
My pronouns go by They/Them
Undiagnosed ADHD person
Country? What country...
Birthday:
First month of the year?
How many fingers in one hand?
500+1000+509=?
I'm Pansexual (buttt I'm in the asexual spectrum)
Gender? I have no gender I'm a blueberry
(Following gifs are from- Blinkies)
I love to illustrate and write silly fanfics and make other stuff :)
■
---
I'm currently up making my own comics called 'Indigo Secret' I'm the one and only owner who created this and no one else.
I have an artist collaborating with Idea and Art from some parts of the chapter please send thanks and appreciation to @justin-peudeau
----
Shay owns the Coffee N' Bombs / Brewing Romance AU and I draw the designs/add ideas!
This collaborator joined in to make the fic and AU please send thanks and appreciation to @shygirl4991
You can find their fics about the AU just by looking at their blog (its somewhere :))
----
I'm a Co-Designer and Collaborator of The Frog Prince AU with other collaborators Shay and Aly
[FANFIC NOT AVAILABLE - GETTING RE-WRITTEN]
The Frog Prince (Fanfic by @shygirl4991 )
Official SMG3 and SMG4 Designs
Official Mario Bros Designs
SMG3 Kid Design and bonus arts (Art by @alianarepasa )
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The A Spark Beneath Hearts is a Strange Magic AU collaborated by me and @itsajjanea
Design for EMO SMG4 is out
Same goes to TAG6
If you want to make fanarts from my works you can! Just mention me in the tags. I also can't wait to get asks/requests from you guys!
I also do bunch of researches and analytics, I'm busy at the moment in sometimes I won't be there to respond quickly!
(Again I'm a minor student who's still studying)
By the way- if you ever see my arts in pinterests, instagram, or any kind of other social platforms there is? THAT. is NOT. ME. Report it to me immediately. This account is the only social platform I use and not any other type of apps.
I've been aware that other people steal arts without permission mind doing me a favor to not repost mine somewhere else okay?
I don't do any of that NSFW crap so don't accuse me of it.
---
□□□□
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS-
- Voice Acting
I get paid to voice act
I was known for voice acting:
Secret Level - NIGHTMARE: Never Ending by Midori
Voice auditioned from the past Gacha Era
- Digital Editor
I can edit videos
- Artist
Traditional/Digital
- Music Composer
Barely written any songs and also create music but I do make them
- Musician
I do plenty ukulele, piano, and drummer
My most favorite thing of all is singing
- Research
I also make written documents about the ship or any other type of opinions- or anything at all
- Hyperfixation
Talk more about the husbands or anyother bunch of stuff about SMG4
- Collaborator
We can collab just keep things appropriate pls I don't want to get involved at people who're toxic/problematic
♡♡♡♡
I'm Semiactive- I dont mind spam likes or reblogs (well appreciated with love)
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A Callout Post
You've read the title, and Geronimo Stilton fandom, today's subject is this guy, @geronimosothercadilac.
Warnings: Misogyny, hypocrisy, crappily done suggestive art
Do not be deceived by the blog's innocent title, he is.... well, we're gonna get into it right here.
See, Cadillac, on top of the occasional post about the Geronimo Stilton movie and some nifty old illustrations of G, he also makes R-16 content of Geronimo, mainly him having an open shirt or having no pants. Viewer discretion is very much advised when browsing his blog.
Now, for some this may not be a problem, since we live on a hellsite. However, the line has been crossed since Cadillac has also been reported to have harassed fandom residents into making art that suits his "tastes". (These screenshots are from a dm between me and deadkat, and a dm between deadkat and ratonahat, respectively.)
And the line has been crossed even more with sheer hypocrisy, because he's gone on record being a prude about mundane things that have appeared in the Geronimo Stilton books.
This reply comes from a Violette sketch by melonforbrain, and yes, you're reading this right. This same guy who's made at least five MS Paint edits of Geronimo with his p$nis uncensored, is being this much of a prude over this sketch post that has since been unfortunately deleted. Have a look and feel free to make your own judgments on it (credit goes to @melonforbrain give them some love please). Please keep in mind that this was a WIP at its time of posting.
If you think the rabbit hole is done there, then you have another thing coming for you. The guy's also pulling a door-to-door salesman and sharing his posts in DMs with random people.
(Little warning for uh, his Geronimo Stilton open shirt MS Paint art)
Yes, that is him roping in people who have and want absolutely nothing to do with him! He mentions @2deadkat in these DMs and says they can vouch for him, but uh, around the same time Kat had him blocked for harassing them on similar grounds. (I've tried finding an @showdraws and I couldn't find anything, I think it might be showdrawn, who I don't think does any work for this fandom?? idk, all I know is that uh, no one's on this man's side fr.)
Also with him talking about an open-shirt G not being "suggestive"? Can I just point out that he's called this cover of Thea "sexy" and "seductive"? Do you smell the hypocrisy and misogyny yet? I sure hope you do because this man is pathetic. Do Not Interact, block this man's ass to kingdom come.
And Cadillac? If you're reading this, this is my message to you: Take down those reposts of 2deadkat and ratonahat's drawings you made without their permission, as well as these ones where you didn't even credit an artist. Leave us alone, and don't you dare say someone else is sided with you. I can assure you, no one is. Take your creepy art and your rotten vibes to R-34, you freak.
#callout post#geronimo stilton#do not interact with this guy#if you guys needed another reason to not like him#he dabbles in AI art too#good day new mouse city
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Hello there 👋
I was wondering if you could write a one-shot for Uta?? Something fluffy w/ a shy/sweet human!reader 😊
Thanks in advance! 💜
DON’T YOU DARE (MAKE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU)
Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!
__________________________________________________________________________
Fandom(s): Tokyo Ghoul
Pairing(s): Uta x Gender Neutral!Human!Reader
Genre(s)/Tag(s):
Notes: Songfic with the song “Don’t You Dare (Make Me Fall in Love with You) by Kaden MacKay
__________________________________________________________________________
When Uta first realized he was in love with you, admittedly, he panicked a little.
You were a human. He was a ghoul. It wasn’t a relationship that was supposed to work.
He couldn’t be in love. That was just absurd. He had more exciting things on his plate than love.
Don't you dare make me fall in love with you
Don't you dare enchant me with those eyes
If I fell through your skies,
There's no way you would catch me
There's a tear in my heart,
But your patch wouldn't match me
Uta first met you when he was at Anteiku, and you happened to walk in. It was busy. Most, if not all, of the tables were full, and when you began to approach, he got an idea of what was happening.
“Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full.” You ask shyly, and he gets the feeling that you’re nervous. Which is understandable with his appearance. He was used to it.
He nods once, and your expression relaxes as you sit down. The tenseness of your shoulders eases, and you pull out a sketchbook and flip to a new page as Touka brings over your drink. You smile at her and whisper a “thank you.”
You sketch in silence until he feels the need to have a conversation. It’s more of a whim, really, the urge to get to know a human to learn if they’re all like the CCG and Doves.
“What are you drawing?” He asks, and you jump. But you turn around and show him nonetheless, and he’s blown away.
It’s rough, with stray lines in some places, but it’s a perfect picture of himself, reclining in the chair and his coffee in hand.
You even got the lettering of his tattoo around his neck right.
The longer he stares, the more fidgety you become.
“Sorry, I can get rid of it if you want. I know it might be rude to draw other people without permission—”
“No, no, it’s beautiful. Thank you for choosing me as a model.” He finds himself saying, and his cold heart flutters when you beam.
You end up gifting him the picture, and after you exchange names, you leave.
He finds your number hastily scrawled at the bottom of the drawing.
Being near you still adds to the size of my sighs,
There's still seismic events at hellos and goodbyes,
And I still need reminders of why it's unwise
To stare
So don't you dare
The longer he thinks about it, the more he likes the idea of you becoming friends. You’re shy, but you’re sweet and a brilliant artist. You would be entertaining, at least.
But he’s likely never to meet you again, so that idea snuffs out like a candle. So he doesn’t text you.
At least until you walk into his shop.
You are admiring one of his masks on display when he enters the room from the back. He had heard the door jingle but wanted to finish some of the final stitching of the current mask he was working on. It was for the new half-ghoul Kaneki Ken. But that was beside the point.
What were you doing here?
Don't you dare make me fall in love with you
Don't you dare do something so cliché
Just get out of my daydreams,
You're an unwelcome guest
And stop making me miss you
'Cause you leaving's for the best
You look up as he comes in, and confusion brightens your eyes.
“Uta?” You ask, and he nods,
“That’s me. Welcome to HySy ArtMask Studio.” He says, more out of habit than anything. You offer him a smile, and he finds his heart trembling at the sight.
What was wrong with him?
“I heard there was a mask studio that could offer a lot of inspiration. I didn’t know you owned it.” You comment as you cradle your sketchbook against your chest. Your pencil is stuck behind your ear, and you’re dressed in a thick knit sweater and trousers. Your boots scuff against the floor.
He finds himself gesturing to the masks.
“Make yourself at home.” He says, genuinely meaning it.
'Cause I just couldn't stand having you as my crutch
You're a simmering stovetop I was tempted to touch
If you ever return, it'll burn me too much
To bear
So don't you dare
After the initial text, you are really the only one keeping up the conversation. Sure, Uta replies, but he keeps a certain amount of distance between you two. Mainly for your safety.
But for whatever reason, you keep coming back.
Your presence becomes a regular in his shop. You come every Friday, right after your university classes. Even though you are his age, if not a year younger, you say you are working toward your bachelor’s degree in—you guessed it—art.
You say you want to open your own shop and sell your artwork.
Much like him.
And I know it's all so shallow, but a shallow cut still stings
And before my heart becomes Amelia's heir, I need to clip its wings
So don't you dare keep mocking me with those
Thousand little things that I adore
Let me ignore you, don't let me care
He tries to ignore you the closer you two become.
For your safety.
At least, that’s what he tells himself.
And don't you dare leave me still in love with you
Nothing's fair when love is war
And I just can't endure any more of the fight
When the casualties rise with my heart rate each night
At first, Uta thinks he’s dying. Of course, that would explain why you always make his heart race and his blood run hot.
That would explain why you’re always on his mind.
Right?
Though I know I'm to blame for the glances I'd steal,
For the time I kept spending pretending it's real
And now that it's ending, I still have more feelings to spare
But don't you dare
It takes a talking to from Yomo for him to realize what’s going on.
Don't you dare
When Uta first realized he was in love with you, admittedly, he panicked a little.
But he doesn’t hate the idea.
#tokyo ghoul#tokyo ghoul x reader#tokyo ghoul uta#tokyo ghoul uta x reader#tokyo ghoul re#tg uta#tg uta x reader#tg#uta x reader#uta x you#uta tokyo ghoul#uta tokyo ghoul x reader#fairy writes
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Brinkwhump Linkdump
I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then San Francisco (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!
Once again, I find myself arriving at the weekend with a giant backlog of links, triggering a linkump, the 15th such dumpage, a variety-pack of miscellany for your weekend. Here's the previous editions:
https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/
Let's start with the latest incredible news from KPMG, the accounting and auditing giant that is relied upon as a source of ground truth for a truly terrifying share of the world's economy. KPMG has a well-deserved reputation for incompetence and corruption. They first came on my radar in 2001 when they sent a legal threat to a blogger for linking to their website without permission:
https://memex.craphound.com/2001/12/05/reason-4332442-not-to-ask/
The actual link was to KPMG's corporate anthem, which remains, to this day, a banger:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040428063826/http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/uknewsita/http://anthems.zdnet.co.uk/anthems/kpmg.mp3
Don't miss the DJ remixes (and the Nokia ringtone!) that the internet thoughtfully provided when KPMG decided that it didn't want the world to know about "Our Vision of Global Strategy":
https://web.archive.org/web/20011128153057/http://corporateanthems.raettig.org/
Now all this is objectively very funny, a relic of the old, good internet from one of its moments of glory, but KPMG? They were already enshittifying, even in 2001, and the enshittification only intensified thereafter. Nearly every accounting scandal of the past quarter-century has KPMG in it somewhere, from con-artists selling exhausted oil fields to rubes:
https://www.desmog.com/2021/06/03/miller-energy-kpmg-auditors-oil-fraud/
To killer nursing homes that hire KPMG to audit its books – and to advise it on how to defeat safety audits and murder your grandma:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/09/dingo-babysitter/#maybe-the-dingos-ate-your-nan
They're the architects of Microsoft's tax-evasion plot:
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-irs-decided-to-get-tough-against-microsoft-microsoft-got-tougher
And they were behind Canada's dysfunctional covid contact-tracing app, which never worked, but generated tens of millions in billings to the government of Canada, who used KPMG to hire programmers at $1,500/day, plus KPMG's 30% commission:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mckinsey-and-canada/#comment-dit-beltway-bandits-en-canadien
KPMG's most bizarre scandal is literally stranger than fiction. The company bribed SEC personnel help its own accountants cheat on ethics exams. The corrupt officials were then given high-paid jobs at KPMG:
https://www.nysscpa.org/news/publications/the-trusted-professional/article/sec-probe-finds-kpmg-auditors-cheating-on-training-exams-061819
I mean it when I say this is stranger than fiction. I included it as a plot-point in my new finance crime novel The Bezzle (now a national bestseller!), and multiple readers have written to me since the book came out a couple weeks ago to say that they thought I was straining their credulity by making up such an outrageous scandal:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle
But all of that is just scene-setting (and a gratuitous plug for my book) for the latest KPMG scandal, which is, possibly, the most KPMG scandal of all KPMG scandals. The Australian government hired KPMG to audit Paladin, a security contractor that oversees the asylum seekers the country locks up on one of its island gulags (yes, gulags, plural).
Ever since, Paladin has been the subject of a string of ghastly human rights scandals – the worst stuff imaginable, rape and torture and murder of adults and children. Paladin made AU423 million on this contract.
And here's the scandal: KPMG audited the wrong company. The Paladin that the Australia government paid KPMG to audit was based in Singapore. The Paladin that KPMG audited was a totally different company, based in Papua New Guinea, who already had a commercial relationship with KPMG. It was this colossal fuckup that led to the manifestly unfit Singaporean company getting nearly half a billion dollars in public funds:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/24/incredible-failure-kpmg-rejects-claims-it-assessed-the-wrong-company-before-423m-payment-to-paladin
KPMG denies this. KPMG denies everything, always. Like, they denied creating "power maps" of decision-makers in the Australian government to target with influence campaigns in order to win contracts like this one. Who knows, maybe, this one time, they're telling the truth? After all, the company whose employees gather to sing lyrics like these can't be all bad, right?
The time is now to lead the way,
We share the same the idea
That may win by the end of the day.
Our strength is here to stay.
Identity, one energy,
One strategy, with sympathy.
These are the words that will lead us into a new world.
https://everything2.com/title/KPMG+corporate+anthem
You may find it strange that I'm still carrying around the factoid that KPMG once threatened to crush a blogger for linking to its terrible corporate anthem, but that's just my "Memex Method," which helps me keep track of literally everything that seemed important to me through most of my adult life:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/
One of my favorite quips from the very quotable Riley Quinn is that "leftists are cursed with object-permanence" – that is, we actually remember what just happened and use it to think about what's happening now. The Memex Method is object permanence for 20+ years worth of stuff. A lot of those deep archives never see use, but there's a surprising number of leading indicators buried in the stuff that happened in years gone by.
Take James Boyle's 2014, XKCD-style comic about the experience of driving a notional Apple car:
https://www.thepublicdomain.org/2014/11/07/apple-updates-a-comic/
Apple, it turns out, spent the next decade working on just such a car, and while that car has now been canceled, Boyle's comic correctly anticipates so much about the trajectory Apple's products took. It's uncannily accurate – real "don't invent the torment nexus"/"cyberpunk was a warning, not a suggestion" stuff:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus
But no matter how many times we insist that the torment nexus shouldn't be created, the boardrooms of end-stage capitalism continue to invent them. Take HP, the poster-child for enshittification, edging out even KPMG in the race to turn everything into a pile of shit. After years of tormenting people to punish them for wanting to print things, HP has announced a new service that so mustache-twirlingly evil that it lacks verisimilitude:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/
Here's the pitch: HP will sell you a printer that you don't own. In addition to paying a monthly fee for your ink – which you pay no matter whether you print or not – you will also pay a monthly fee just for having HP's printer on your premises. You are absolutely, positively forbidden from using third-party ink in this printer, and must use HP's own ink, which sells for about $10,000/gallon.
But while you aren't allowed to use this printer in ways that are bad for HP's shareholders, HP is absolutely free to use the printer in ways that are bad for you. When you click through the signup agreement, you grand HP permission to surveil every document you print – and your home wifi network more generally – and to sell that data to anyone and everyone.
What's more, HP reserves the right to discipline you with punitive credit-card charges if you disconnect this printer from the internet, on the basis that doing so makes it harder for them to spy on your printer.
I'm sorry, this is just more torment nexus shit, the kind of thing you'd expect to drop on Apr 1, not Feb 29, but I guess this is where we are. I can only conjecture as to whether HP's businesses strategists are directly taking direction from my novella "Unauthorized Bread," or whether they're learning about it second-hand from a KPMG consultant who converted it to Powerpoint form and charged $1,500/day for the work:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/
All of this cartoonish villainry is the totally foreseeable consequence of a culture of impunity, in which companies like HP and KPMG can rob, cheat, steal (and sometimes even kill) without consequence. This impunity is so pervasive that the exceptions – where a rich criminal faces real consequences – become touchstones: Enron, Arthur Anderson, Theranos, and, of course, FTX.
FTX was arguably the largest-scale corporate crime in world history, stealing more than $10 billion dollars, mostly from rubes sucked in by hype and Superbowl ads. When news that FTX founder and owner Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and was in for a lengthy prison sentence made a huge stir, because criminals like SBF usually walk away from the wreckage with their hands in their pockets, whistling a jaunty tune.
One of the very best commentators on cryptocurrency scams generally and FTX/SBF in particular is Molly White, whose Web3 is Going Just Great feed is utterly indispensable. White's newsletter, "Citation Needed," dives deep into the wrangle of SBF's sentencing:
https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-52/
Bankman-Fried's parents – prominent law professors at top law schools – helped brief the court this week on their son's punishment. According to them, SBF faces 100 years in prison, but should be sentenced to 5.5-6.5 years at the most. Why? Because he is a vegan, who is not greedy, and feels remorse, and cares for individuals (recall that SBF presented himself as the avatar of the batshit "effective altruism" philosophy while privately admitting that he used this as a smokescreen).
The most bizarre note in the 100-page filing is SBF's mother declaring that her son is an "angel of mercy," apparently unaware of the grisly meaning of that term:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_mercy_(criminology)
America's prisons are a travesty and I wouldn't wish them on anyone, but that's not the argument SBF's parents are making; rather, they're arguing that their special boy doesn't deserve the treatment America metes out to poorer, less white people who merely steal hundreds or thousands of dollars. A crook who steals ten billion should be handled the way a casino handles a whale – with concierge service.
The problem is, there are so many of these remorseless, relentless crooks that there's no way we could scale up that white-glove treatment when we finally round 'em all up and make them pay. Writing for The American Prospect, Maureen Tkacik tells us about the ransomware attack that shut down America's pharmacy system last month:
https://prospect.org/health/2024-03-01-zoomer-hackers-shut-down-unitedhealthcare/
The attack brought down Change Healthcare, part of the monopolist Unitedhealth, which serves as the "pharmacy benefit manager" to a vast swathe of American pharmacies. PBM is one of those all-American finance scams, a middleman garlanded with performative complexity put there to make you feel stupid for asking why independent pharmacies all have to pay rent to this malicious, unaccountable – and now, manifestly incompetent – gang of crooks.
Tkacik's breakdown of this scam – and how it rendered Americans' ability to get the drugs they depend on to go on breathing – is characteristically brilliant. Tcacik is fast emerging as my favorite Explainer of Scams, a print version of John Oliver or Adam Conover. You may recall her work from my post last week on how private equity has taken a wrecking ball to America's hospitals:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/#charnel-house
I always try to finish these linkdumps with some upbeat news to carry you through the weekend, and this week brought two genuinely wonderful – and totally underreported – pieces of amazing news.
The first is that Starbucks has sued for peace in the war against its workers' unions. Hundreds of Starbucks stores have unionized in recent years, but not one of them had a contract. Instead, Starbucks had waged dirty war on their own workers, from denying gender-affirming care to unionized employees to simply shutting down whole stores after they voted to unionize:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/starbucks-union-company-threatens-that-unionizing-could-jeopardize-gender-affirming-health-care.html
But the workers held fast and after years of this, Starbucks has caved, promising contracts for all unionized stores and an end to its campaign of terror against workers seeking to unionize more of its stores. In a postmortem for Jacobin, Eric Blanc rounds up "seven lessons from Starbucks workers' historic victory":
https://jacobin.com/2024/02/starbucks-sbwu-contract-bargaining/
This is the kind of listicle I can get behind. According to Blanc, the Starbucks unions won by deploying worker-to-worker organizing, a tactic that many of the new unions that are shaking up formerly impossible-to-organize jobsites are using (Blanc has a book about this coming from UC Press called "We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Unionism Can Transform America," so he should know).
Other tactics that made the difference for Starbucks unions: new digital training and support tools and partnering with established unions for support and infrastructure. Blanc also calls out the success of "salting" – the venerable but largely disused tactic of union organizers applying for a job at a non-union shop in order to organize it.
Blanc also mentions government policy, including the outstanding work of NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a shrewd and committed tactician whose understanding of the technicalities of labor law have let her push for bold measures. For example, in Thrive Pet Care, Abruzzo is arguing that when a company refuses to bargain in good faith for a contract with its union, she can step in and order them to honor the terms of a contract at comparable unionized competitors until they produce a contract of their own:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth
Abruzzo is one of several smart, competent tacticians in the Biden administration who are working to kneecap corporate power. Another is Rohit Chopra, chair of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, who just announced another bold, important initiative that will help Americans fight corporate corruption and get a fair deal:
https://prospect.org/economy/2024-03-01-public-option-credit-card-shopping/
Chopra is taking aim at credit-card comparison sites that purport to show you where you can get the best deal. If you're an affluent person who doesn't carry a balance, this might not matter to you, but if you're an average working stiff, high interest rates can gobble up a massive share of your paycheck. What's more, credit card margins are higher than they have ever been:
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/credit-card-interest-rate-margins-at-all-time-high/
The most expensive credit cards come from the big, monopolistic banks, but you wouldn't know it from the leaderboards produced by Credit Karma, NerdWallet, LendingTree, and Bankrate. All of these sites take bribes from the big banks to list their credit cards above those offered by credit unions – who are typically 10% cheaper than the big banks' cards.
The new CFPB rule prohibits this fraudulent ranking, but the Bureau is going even further. They're using their administrative powers to force banks to report their rates to the Bureau, which will publish them on a publicly funded, neutral website – what David Dayen calls "a public option" for shopping for credit cards.
This policy makes a perfect bookend to the last CFPB initiative I wrote about here: a rule that forces banks to allow you to transfer your account to a rival with a couple of simple clicks, importing all your history, payees, and everything else you need to switch to a better bank:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights
Combine that ease of switching with reliable information on which banks will give you the best deal and you get something that will directly transfer millions and millions of dollars from giant, wildly profitable banks to low-income people who've been tricked into paying them punitive interest rates.
So that's it, this week's linkdump. I promised you I'd end on a high note, and I did it. The world may be full of all kinds of terrible things, but workers and regulators are scoring big, muscular victories in battles where the stakes are real and important. Have a great weekend – we've earned it.
And remember!
The time is now to lead the way,
We share the same the idea
That may win by the end of the day.
Our strength is here to stay.
Identity, one energy,
One strategy, with sympathy.
These are the words that will lead us into a new world.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/02/macedoine/#the-public-option
Image:
Stacy (modified)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/notahipster/4402860361/
CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
#pluralistic#paladin#kpmg#audits#incompetence#molly white#sam bankman-fried#ftx#crypto#cryptocurrency#fraud#maureen tcacik#ransomware#pharma#pharmacy benefit managers#intermediaries#middlemen#starbucks#labor#unions#cfpb#bribery#corruption#finance#hp#printers#enshittification#iot#unauthorized bread#james boyle
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For the event, may I request “Let me try.” with Solomon? (Not sure if that prompt has been taken already lol)
Anyhow, have a wonderful day/evening ^^
Hello, anon!
That prompt was indeed available, so you're good! I really debated with myself about whether to make this one angsty or not, but in the end I went with fluff. This is because several prompts have been chosen for Solomon and I have no doubt that at least a few of them will end up on the angsty side of things! Also I took some artistic liberties with potion ingredients, so there's that lol.
Thank you for participating!
1,000 Followers Event!
GN!MC x Solomon with prompt "Let me try."
Warnings: none!
There was something all consuming about trying to master a potion, especially when the ingredients needed to have precise measurements, the concoction called for exact swirling motions, and the complexity of it both challenged and excited you.
It was already past dinner, but you couldn't tear yourself away from the potions lab at RAD. It was your last class and you had told Belphie to go on home without you. The professor had given you permission to stay late and work on it. Neither of them had likely realized just how long you would stay there, completely distracted by your attempts to make the potion work.
The table you were working at was full of discarded bottles, bits of ingredients, and several loose pages of notes you had been making as you went along.
You had turned off the sound on your D.D.D. so that you could concentrate. It was sitting face down on the table nearby, most likely full of notifications from concerned demons. You were sure that Belphie had told the others you had decided to stay behind, but they likely thought you'd have come home by now.
You didn't have time to worry about that, though. You were going to make this potion work if it meant staying up all night long.
It wasn't that this particular potion did anything that mattered to you. In fact, you were pretty sure it was only meant to give the drinker heightened hearing. A fairly basic thing, but for some reason the potion itself was complicated. You'd likely never use it for anything, but that wasn't the point anymore.
You carefully poured a flask of sparkling liquid into the little bowl you were using to mix ingredients.
A single drop caused the potion to explode.
You yelped, backing up and waving at the air around you, which was now full of noxious green smoke.
"MC?"
You whirled around, startled. Who would be here at RAD at this hour?
You relaxed as you recognized Solomon standing in the doorway to the lab.
You let out a breath. "Solomon, you scared me."
Solomon came into the room to stand beside you. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I heard you yell, so I wanted to make sure you were all right. What are you doing?"
You told him about the potion and how you couldn't seem to make it work right.
"Hmm," Solomon said, looking over your piles of ingredients and pages of notes. "I'm sure you won't be happy to hear this, but I think you've mixed up some of the ingredients."
You frowned. "That can't be right. I've been using this list all night." You picked up a page from your pile, indicating the list you had jotted down during the lecture earlier that afternoon.
Solomon took the paper from your hand and leaned in to show you what he was looking at. He pointed at one of the items on your list. "This says you need devil grass, but the ingredient is actually devil sweetgrass. And this lists powdered devilstone, but it should be powered bloodstone."
"How did I write down two ingredients wrong?" you asked.
Solomon chuckled. "I don't know, MC, but that's likely the problem. Do you want me to help you try it with the right ingredients?"
You turned to look at him, about to refuse his help, but you paused. Solomon had been standing quite close to you so that you could see the ingredient list in his hand. Now you found yourself looking into his eyes. You took in the soft smile on his lips, the way he seemed to be looking at you with an overwhelming fondness.
And even though you were determined to get the potion right because now it was a matter of pride, you found you also didn't want him to leave.
"You don't mind?" you asked. "I know it's late."
"You should know by now that I don't mind helping you at any hour," Solomon said. "You're my apprentice, after all. What kind of teacher would I be if I left you to struggle with this alone?"
You huffed and took the list out of his hand. "I just can't believe I wrote these down wrong. I have to make the potion now or I'll never be able to rest."
"You're almost there," Solomon said, looking at the ingredients on the table. "You just need to change those two things."
Solomon found the missing ingredients in the lab's supply closet and brought them back over to you. The potion's meticulous instructions required the devil sweetgrass to be chopped in a specific way. You had been chopping the wrong ingredient, but you were fairly certain you had been doing it correctly.
You picked up the knife and were about to start, but Solomon stopped you by putting his hand over yours.
"You need to tilt the knife a little more like this," Solomon said, repositioning your hand.
The feeling of his hand on yours, the way you could sense him standing so close behind you, made you forget what you were doing momentarily.
You took a deep breath and began to chop. "Like this?"
"You're doing great, MC," Solomon said, still standing close behind you.
He lifted his hand from yours and let you continue on your own, but you instantly missed his touch. You scolded yourself mentally. You were here to make a potion and Solomon was here to help you. You shouldn't be letting yourself get distracted like this.
You were hyper aware of everything Solomon was doing as he guided you through the steps of making the potion. Every time he passed you some ingredients, your fingers brushed against his. You found you had a hard time looking away from his hands when he was demonstrating how to stir the potion properly. And he was always meeting your eyes, causing you to feel a little twist in your stomach.
You did your best to pretend that you were completely focused on the potion you were making. You hoped it was enough to cover up how distracted you were just by Solomon's presence.
When the potion was finally done, you looked down at the bowl and smiled. It was the correct shade of light green and nothing had exploded at all.
You grinned at Solomon. "It worked! Finally! I thought I was going to be here all night!"
Solomon smiled back at you. "Are you sure it worked? Don't you want to test it?"
You looked back down at the green potion. Certainly a potion for enhancing your hearing wouldn't be dangerous to test, right? But for some reason you were apprehensive. Probably because you had seen all the failed versions of it you had made previously.
Solomon seemed to know what you were thinking. He laughed lightly. "Why don't I test it, instead?"
You were about to protest, but you didn't have a chance. Solomon picked up the bowl and took a sip of the potion you had finally finished making.
You stared at him, eyes wide. "Did it work?"
Solomon met your eyes. "I can hear the clock ticking in the next room over. I would say that's a success."
You slumped in relief. You had been afraid something terrible was going to happen to him.
Solomon put a hand on your arm and smiled at you. "Well done, MC. I'm proud of you."
These words, his touch, caused a thrill to go through you. You tried to act nonchalant, smiling back at him.
Solomon cocked his head a little, as though listening. "MC, I can hear your heart racing."
All hope you had of keeping your composure vanished as you felt the heat rising in your face. You instantly covered it with your hands, backing away from him in your embarrassment.
Solomon laughed a little, reaching out to stop you. "You don't have to be embarrassed."
You peeked at him from between your fingers. "You're teasing me on purpose, aren't you? You've been doing it this whole time."
Solomon's amused chuckle revealed all. "You got me. How can I make it up to you?"
You turned your back to him, face still covered by your hands. "You can't!"
You were truly embarrassed and you didn't think your blush would be dying down any time soon.
You didn't move as you felt Solomon come up behind you, putting a hand on your back.
"Let me try," he said quietly into your ear.
That fluttering feeling returned to your stomach. You let him turn you around, let him gently pull your hands away from your face, let him tilt your chin to make you look at him.
When Solomon kissed you, you let yourself step into the circle of his arms, let yourself embrace that flutter in your gut, let yourself forget your embarrassment as you lost yourself in the feeling of his lips on yours.
You let yourself give in because you were beginning to realize just how much Solomon meant to you. When you were struggling, he was there to help you, even if he teased you along the way. It was how he let you know that despite his status as the most powerful sorcerer in the three worlds, he still just wanted to be with you. And who were you to hold that against him?
1,000 Followers Event | masterlist | Thank you for reading!
#obey me#obey me nightbringer#obey me shall we date#omswd#obey me solomon#om solomon#obey me solomon x reader#obey me solomon x mc#solomon x reader#solomon x mc#om x reader#obey me fanfiction#obey me fanfic#misc 1k event#misc writes
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This needs to stop
I really contemplated if to put these words down, but I am so angry and disappointed and sad at this point that I felt I had to vent.
Disappointed. I think that's the key word for what I am feeling right now.
I understand that people are upset/angry/enraged by the shit that followed JM's release of his first solo album Face. I understand because I am enraged as well.
I have no doubt in my mind that he was wronged.
He succeeded beyond anyone's dreams and probably kind of ruined certain dreams some of these people had of their own.
But to take that anger and to turn it on the one person that supported and supports JM beyond any of us is infuriating to me.
Turning on JK?
Because of what? A shithead called Scooter Braun, who has his own personal agenda and history shows us has zero real interest or care in the actual artists he is pushing?
Do people forget who JK is?
Do they need a reminder course here?
I guess I will have to give them one.
JK is JM's favourite person in the whole world.
And a full masterlist to show it:
JK is JM's number 1 fan and showing it to us whenever he just can, with or without the company's permission.
JK is one of the most artistic and creative people there are.
Suga about JK
And maybe read what one of the stylists working on the Seven concept had to say about JK and the concept.
JK's concept. He came ready to the table. He knew what he wanted to show, what message he wanted to send.
He was given option, other concepts, other ideas, and he chose what he chose.
JK didn't steal JM's ideas. He didn't utilize them for the lack of coming up with original ideas of his own. Don't believe me, believe JK's talent, his artistry.
JK CHOSE this. This is what he wanted us to see.
It's not about copying. It's about showing us who inspires him.
It's about showing us, not only telling us, who his catalyst is.
He CHOSE the EXACT same leather pants that JM wore.
Do you see the scribble at the bottom of the jeans?
JK CHOSE the jeans with the mud.
He CHOSE.
He did not copy or plagiarize.
He took artistic liberty to mirror JM's photoshoot to an extent.
Sending us all I'd say more than one message.
First one is what I mentioned above. JM is his inspiration.
Second is connecting himself to JM, to Face, to Like crazy.
Perhaps his way of showing us he's that person that stood by JM's side when he was struggling. The one that tread mud with him. The one that tried to wake him up, save him, but JM wasn't ready for that just yet at the time. The one that let JM embrace him while trying to escape reality.
And instead of seeing what JK is trying to tell us, his fans, Jikookers as well, are turning on him?
Making JK out to be someone that doesn't have an original idea and goes and steals JM's is disrespectful to both JK and JM, btw.
This coming from people that supposedly love and know JM and JK?
JM is a 27 strong willed young man. And evidently, JM has no issues with JK of late.
JK is a 25 yo creative artistic young man, who adores and admires and lives for JM, and would NEVER steal something from JM, never take something of JM's and pass it on as his own.
Do they not understand that JM is joking when he calls JK his copycat? Has been for years now.
Did they not see the joy and love in his eyes when JK said "I'm hyung's copycat"?
He knows that JK looks up to him.
He knows that JK is inspired by him.
He lives for that.
And to go and to make it into something ugly it's just so infuriating.
JM was wronged. We can agree on that. The COMPANY could have and should have done better.
THE COMPANY.
Not the other members.
Not JK.
I get the anger and frustration. But do we take it out on the one person that did right by JM? Do we take it out on the one person JM loves more than anything? The person that JM will stand by and support and root for to succeed? How is that loving JM?
Since when did two wrongs make a right?
Don't go around saying you won't support JK's single.
Support him all while continuing to support JM's songs.
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And in this corner of Green With Envy, we have Susi's Build-A-Yeti Workshop!
Want to make your own yeti-sona? Come on down to the Discord and join us!
You can't color for points, and your colors won't be reblogged by the main page, but non-event-participants can now take line art out of the link found here (after they join the server) and color with us!
Just remember to always credit the line artist when you color their work and don't alter lines without permission!
Thank you @tourettesdog for such an extensive, customizable line art!
It has:
30 faces
120 ears
92 horns
218 scars
151 piercings and jewelry
And thanks @trinoxtrinox for counting them all, cause I sure as heck wasn't going to. :wheeze:
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