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asura-zoro · 1 year

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ATTENTION: ART THIEF & SCAMMER [PART 2]

This is part two of the Lino/Hoelys-blog situation, I will provide a summary of the situation with this person and of the events that has happened in the original post. For the previous part, and for other posts about Lino (accounts from his victims and the original artists he has stolen from) please check out the #hoelys-blog tag via tumblr search bar, my blog, or in this post’s tags. I will be posting updates almost every day or every other day, depending on what I find or what people bring to me. So for the most recent information, check out my most recent reblogs (of this post). If you have information that you think is relevant please message me.

Before I begin, please do not message him, do not harass him! Lino is an art thief and scammer that alters art and sells it, it seems he has been doing this since November 2022. In his previous blogs, he would post stolen art and present it as his, and would even post commission posts with stolen and altered art. Lino also goes and messages people asking for them to commission him, often using emotional manipulation tactics to drive his scams. He will also try to get you to upgrade your commission and will also charge you more than once on different paypal accounts (because “the payment didn’t go through”). Oh, and Lino is not afraid to beg you for money- he has begged several people to buy him some shoes (expensive ones).

Do not talk to someone who does not have examples of their artwork on their page, or if the artwork that has been posted has drastic changes in art style, or if they message you asking if you want to commission them. It is most likely a scam, and I highly suggest you reverse image search to find the original source. Lino caters to multiple fandoms, not just One Piece, DBZ, and Naruto. I’m also pretty sure, despite me blocking every account of his that I’m aware of, that he is watching my posts about him.

Lino is like a cockroach... The sheer amount of times he has created new blogs, renamed blogs... is just astounding. Here is a list of all of his known blogs:

@Hoelys-blog ->@Reikantopeni ->@sparklyeagle1 -> @starstrucksandwichpainter [Gone]

@Kawaiibasementsublime [Still up]

@Pashnaengnami [Gone]

@lino1017 [Gone]

@iwilldrawanythingforyou [Still up]

@happyconnoisseurdestiny [Possible blog of Lino’s, new]

@dutifullysparklyheart [New]

He also has a twitter: https://twitter[.]com/dajs64027553 (remove the brackets when you use the URL) I do not use Twitter, so I am not sure how bad the situation is over there.

If Lino does scam you, please screenshot EVERYTHING, and be sure to report him on every platform you have talked to him on, and block him (he likes to harass people and online stalk his victims). On tumblr, we can report him for phishing (and artists can report him for stealing their work), you can also report him on paypal or other money sending app/sites (please get your money back). Please contact the original artists so that they can be made aware and can take action against Lino. You can send the artist(s) the posts that I make about this situation. For those who have been scammed and/or gotten their work stolen- if you need his full name and list of known email addresses, please contact me.

Before most of his accounts got deleted, Lino posted on pashnaengnami that “I am going to delete Tumblr :(” and changed his pfp and banner to cartoon open wounds lol. Then he made his new accounts and a few hours later most of his blogs were gone.

Oh, if you make a report on Lino and Staff has touched base with you, please let me know! We can make a report support group, and keep each other updated and verify information.

This is the end of my summary, anything below this will be updates!

#hoelys-blog #art thief #scammer #one piece #opfandom #scam #op #op fandom #commission scam #part 2 #long post

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indecentpause · 6 months

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Hi! I decided to check your stories on ao3 and see that you have 20?? original stories!

I am gonna start reading some but if you don't mind I have a question.

how you were able to write so much? and they seem to have similar themes but how can you write a whole different story 20 times?? that's pretty cool. I have not even written 1 yet but you inspired me now

Hello Anon!

So, the first answer didn’t come out right, and the second I accidentally deleted. Third time’s a charm? Heads up, I'm autistic and I overexplain things, so this is going to be kind of long.

Most of the stories labeled with Sheraton Academy, with the exception of two (one which is not finished yet), they were results of my wife @ohsugarfoot and I bouncing ideas back and forth on long drives. Most of those characters are from an old pbp rpg from decades ago, where we met through her character Josselin and my character Meara. We are two huge nerds who are not afraid to write self-indulgent self-fanfic! Something would remind us of a character, and we’d laugh about it, and sometimes that was it, but sometimes it would spark a conversation of ‘What if this happened? Then ‘what if this happened?’ And soon enough we have a bare bones plot, or at least some beats.

I highly recommend getting yourself a person like this! Whether you meet irl or just talk online, having a person willing to be a sounding board is SO helpful. Writing takes a long time, and it can get lonely! Having someone to cheer you on helps so much.

Some of others were often based on alternate scenarios with some of my characters (Stars in Our Hands was a genderbent ‘what if Darcey and Jordan were women, how would their lives be different in a similar setting and what would their relationship be like?) SOME were things I’d been mulling over since I was a teenager, and now I’m in my late thirties, so they’ve had plenty of time to marinate. (I wrote three chapters of the first Feeling Is First in high school, and then dropped it for fifteen years until I found an idea where the characters really worked). Most of the non-Sheraton stories were based on those initial characters and ideas, just bouncing around in my head for a decade or so! Most of them I kept to myself until they were finished, occasionally asking Sugar to look at things if I was stuck. Those were a little more lonely, but I loved the characters and telling there stories was really important to me.

In the meantime, I was sharing prompt-inspired short stories here on writeblr. I slammed them out three times a week. The first dozen or so got a lot of likes, but don’t let that fool you —most of them were people just saving the prompts I was using. I even had people reblog and delete my story so they had reblogged just the prompt (this was back when you could edit other people’s posts). It sucked! But I wrote them because I loved to write them, and I shared them here because I have a handful of friends who liked to read them. Again, look for the cheer-readers! Those are the people who will get you through the rough times.

Short stories and longform stories are totally different monsters, though, and writing something longform can take years. It’s a totally different skillset. It’s not like some other kind of art that take a few days or weeks to finish before you have something to share. That’s where things like writeblr come in! If you feel comfortable sharing works in progress, and you have a Tumblr, I’d highly suggest starting one of your own and sharing ideas! You can share excerpts, make playlists, if graphics are your thing you can make those! Involve yourself in tag games (there’s always someone making a list, and it’s a good way to meet people and make friends and acquaintances). Jump on the trends going around on Tumblr like the Comic Sans Powerpoint or the Netflix show template, off you’re able.

The internet is a big place. Eventually you will find your people. Knowing there are friends and followers and mutuals online who want to read your work is inspiring! Even if you’re a slow writer, knowing people are interested in your ideas helps so much. I know plenty of incredibly talented people who often just ramble about characters and worldbuilding ideas, too, and even that can be helpful. And it’s fun for you and for people who like your ideas to read! You can also maybe find a local writing group or discord group, although with those ymmv. There are a lot of crap ones. There are some great ones too, though! You just have to be patient and dig.

Also, keep in mind that despite the dates I posted them, I finished my first full length novel (Two Heartbeats on One Page) back in 2012. (Then of course there was beta-ing and editing and stuff, but that was when I finished the first draft.) And before that I wrote all the time in high school, even though I only finished one novel, and it wasn’t very good, haha. I had been storing these up for years (I didn’t post my first novel until 2016) and was hoarding them like dragon because I was plagiarized in high school, and I was so scared of it happening again. But then I realized that the community was worth the risk, so I jumped in.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING HERE, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH: I am unable to work a normal job due to physical and mental disability, and my wife is the breadwinner. While I am not always able to write, often because of those things, I still have more chances to pop out a paragraph here and there. If I can’t get out of bed that day I can jot down notes on my phone. When I was writing and working before all that, I wrote much much less. If you have to work, or go to school, or take care of someone, or take care of a property, it is much, MUCH harder. It’s totally doable! But it’s a difficult balancing act so it might very well take you longer than it would if you weren’t.

As for ideas, it sounds trite, but they can literally come from anywhere. Something you overhear on the train, the taste of a certain cookie from a coffee shop you visited for the first time, a song someone is playing too loud on the radio in the car next to yours, seeing something pretty at a park. Inspiration can come from not so happy places, too, bad events that happened to or around you or loved ones, things or people you’ve lost, ways your community is failing you. Not every story is happy or has to have a happy ending.

And most of all!!! Just WRITE. Write great stuff and good stuff and bad stuff and even worse stuff. Just write, and don’t delete anything. You might hate that one scene you wrote BUT perhaps it can serve some other person in a project later. I have so many bits and bats and scraps of writing saved up. Many I will probably never use! But every word you write is a good one, because you are practicing and getting better.

I’m so glad to have inspired you!! I know this was long, I hope you got to the end. ;-; And thank you for being interested in my stories. Good luck in your future endeavors, Anon!

#ask pause things #writeblr #writing is hard #writing advice #i don't know if it's good advice or not but i hope it helps #anonymous

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naktergalen · 4 years

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Rivamika Fic Suggestions List

Hello! First time posting on the Rivamika side of Tumblr. I just wanted to leave some of my personal recommendations for Rivamika fan fics on here to possibly help pass the time. I know that some people in the Rivamika chat will ask or put down some fic suggestions and it sucks that the messages get deleted after 1 week. Some of these stories are widely known in this community and some I think need a little more love lol. But I hope that you enjoy these stories as much as I have. I’ve split this list up into four categories. I wanted to let people know the status of some these fics in case they did not want to start an incomplete or in progress story. I know that many people are going to noticed that the Western Passage is not on this list. Sadly, I never got around to reading it when it was written for Levi and Mikasa and I can’t seem to find it anywhere for the life of me.

All of these fics can be found on AO3. I would link them but Tumblr apparently has an issue with links. If you guys want another list of fics, just let me know or you can tell me to GTFO and I will take the hint lol! If you have any fic suggestions for me, feel free to message me with them and I can add them on to the next list if anyone wants that. If any author sees their story on here and they want me to take it off the list, please let me know I don’t wish to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Also, last thing, I highly recommend leaving comments and kudos to the authors. I know that they greatly appreciate it and it helps them with improving their writing through feedback. I’ll shut up now.

DISCLAIMER: I know that not all of these stories are not for everyone, these are just my opinions and suggestions.

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Completed:

- Finding Comfort in Burning

Author: LittleWhisperer

Rating: Mature

This is a classic Rivamika fic and I know that the community loves it (as do I). If you are looking for superb character development, look no further than this baby right here. LittleWhisperer’s writing is so well done I can’t believe that this ain’t just a famous author writing in their spare time (oh wait I think they are). They’re so descriptive with the environment that you feel as if you are there watching as the scenes unfold. It’s a captivating story from start to finish and the building of Mikasa and Levi’s passionate relationship is soo scrumptious.

- Part of Me

Author: kenken_chan

Rating: Mature

Every Rivamika fan out there has to read this story!!! I cannot describe how absolutely wonderful this fic is! I was literally left speechless after finishing the last chapter because my mind was just blown away by the conclusion of Levi and Mikasa’s relationship. This really takes you on an emotional roller coaster and you can really grasp each character’s emotions through out the story. I will give a warning before hand, there are heavy subjects and situations presented that some people may not feel comfortable with. I personally think those subjects and how they are handled is what makes this fic such a diamond in the rough but if you are feeling uncomfortable then I understand that as well. I also know this fic has been out before and that the author had made changes to it since it was first released. If you haven’t read the edited version of this story, I would say give it another read now. I would love to hear what people think after they finish reading this gem.

- A Dangerous Game

Author: LittleWhisperer

Rating: Explicit

OMG! What a ride this story was! Once I started to read the first chapter, I could not stop! It just sucked me into the story’s world and I felt like I was actually there seeing the action and environment that the author was describing. This story keeps you in suspense and on your toes for what is going to happen next in this crazy Mafia AU. The relationship between Levi and Mikasa is magnificently done as they come to realize they have more in common than they think. I enjoy LittleWhisper’s work and I recommend checking out more of their works.

- The Taste of Pomegranate

Author: alienheartattack

Rating: Teen/Explicit

I have to say that I would have not expected me to like a Ballet AU story for Rivamika, but I absolutely enjoy every second while reading this one. The way the author creates the tension between Mikasa and Levi is splendidly done in this story. There are two more one-shots that follow after the original fic but they honestly feel like two more chapters that are just continuing with the story. I would certainly read the two one-shots after your finish reading part 1, you will not regret it!

- The Song Remains the Same

Author: MoraLeeWright

Rating: Mature

I enjoy MoraLeeWright’s writing so much! I think I binged read this story in about a day, I couldn’t stop myself. This fic does a really great job of slowly building the relationship between Mikasa and Levi. It gives their perspectives on the challenges they are facing together as well as the conflicting feelings each have about the growing bond between the two of them. I know that this is a Rivamika classic among fans but if you have yet to read it, definitely check this story out!

Ongoing:

- Who Are You Calling a Bitch?

Author: xx_ciela

Rating: Mature

I was terrified that this fic would not ever get updated again, but good news its BACK! I am so excited to see where the story leads and whats going to happen to Mikasa, Levi and the other characters that are present. WAYCAB does an amazing job of mixing and twisting many different types of lore together to pull you into this fantasy type AU. Just when you think you have finally received the answers to your questions, it only lead to more questions lol. This story will keep you pensive and excited to find out what exactly is going on in this city. Its a slow burn in regards to Mikasa and Levi’s relationship, but I have a feeling that the wait will be well worth it. Undoubtedly recommend checking this out and leaving a comment for the author telling you want more!

- I Just Miss A Good Cup Of Tea

Author: EJelly

Rating: Mature

I discover this fic because of how it was blowing up in the Rivamika tag on tumblr lol. I’m soo happy that I decided on checking it out because I binged read the 28 chapters that were out already. Attack on Titan meets The Walking Dead in this baby. The way that EJelly writes action is spectacular, it feels like I’m watching a TV show. I also love the way they write in each character’s POV in order for you to understand the mind set of the characters during this zombie apocalypse. The relationship between Levi and Mikasa is beautifully built over the course of this story and I cannot wait to find out what lies ahead of them. Again, another slow burn that I have a feeling will be well worth the wait (it already has been)! Go check it out and leave a comment telling EJelly that you are excited for more!

- Just Until The Storm Has Gone (?)

Author: MoraLeeWright

Rating: Explicit

Put a question mark by this one because I’m not sure if this is still ongoing or not. Regardless of that, I urge everyone to go read this indescribable work of art. MoraLeeWright’s writing has just blossomed into such beauty and she does nothing but keep getting better as time goes on (I don’t even know how that is possible but she doing the damn thing). JUTSHG is in a class of its own, for me, in the world of Rivamika fics. This baby is from Mikasa’s perspective and it delves into her psyche as she is dealing with the after affects of war. Her relationship with Levi is so mesmerizing in this story and the way that MoraLeeWright creates their smut scenes is so yummy I just want to eat it for lunch. I can’t even call it smut because its so much more than that. You can feel the connection of two souls finally finding the other they have been looking for as well as passion they have for each other. I could go on about how much I LOVE this story but I’ll stop. This one is on my top 3 favorite Rivamika fics of all time.

Incomplete:

- No Rest for the Wicked

Author: Hallow17

Rating: Explicit

Freaking love this story and I’m SOOO SAD that its incomplete! Mikasa has to deal with the paranormal while also running a business in this fic. The budding relationship between Levi and Mikasa is well paced and so gracefully displayed that even though it is an incomplete story, it’s well worth reading the 19 chapter that have already been published. Everything you could ask for in a paranormal story is presented; ghost, action, spirits, and lots of angst! This is such a unique story its literally burned into my brain and I will never forget it. I hope that Hallow17 miraculously comes back to finish this baby off one day!

- Romance and Rivalry

Author: AmayaOkami

Rating: Explicit

I AM SO HEARTBROKEN THAT THIS STORY IS NOT COMPLETE I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN MY FEELINGS!!! Ugh, this story is soo freakin good! I know that this is another story that is popular in the Rivamika community but I have no choice but to put it here! The build up in this story is amazing that you can’t wait to read the next chapter to see what happens with Mikasa and Levi. This is such a great take on a typical romantic trope but AmayaOkami puts so much personality into the characters that it gives off such a fun and exciting vibe. The comedy and awkwardness is displayed so well that I have to stop reading because I get bad second hand embarrassment lol! Omg please read it even though its incomplete, its too much fun to pass up on. AMAYAOKAMI PLEASE I BEG YOU COME BACK AND FINISH THIS RIVAMIKA ROMCOM I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!

One-Shot:

- Intertwining

Author: Livysan

Rating: Explicit

I’m staring off these one-shots with two of my favorite Rivamika “smut” stories. This is such a wonderfully written love scene between Mikasa and Levi. Livysan really expresses the yearning passion that Levi and Mikasa have for each and unfolds it in such a sweet and loving way. A must for any Rivamika fan to read.

- Until the Stars Disappear

Author: noiresetoiles

Rating: Mature

This is just an exquisitely done love scene between Levi and Mikasa I almost have no words for it. Its just down right BEAUTIFUL that pretty much all I can do to describe it. I really enjoyed how noiresetoiles decided to not use any dialogue in this story, it really shows how Mikasa and Levi’s actions tell how they really feel about each other. Again, a must read for Rivamika fans.

- Clean-Shaven

Author: hashire

Rating: Mature

The cute domestic fluff that we need from Levi and Mikasa! This is a one-shot but it is part of hashire’s Happily Ever After collection. The whole collection is about the domestic bliss between Mikasa and Levi after the war has come to an end. I definitely recommend reading the entire collection, you will not be sorry.

- Pure Dawn

Author: sulkyfuckingcat

Rating: Explicit

A Holiday AU that has sexual tension and smut? Count. Me. In. Pure Dawn has all the build up and smutiness that any Rivamika fan needs if they are craving it. Go check it out if you haven’t, I know that its pretty popular in the Rivamika community and I can see why lol.

- Begging for Thread

Author: villanelle

Rating: Explicit

I believe that this one has been talked about a lot in the Rivamika community but I still have to leave it here just in case someone hasn’t heard about it. Its a must read. Written from the perspective of Levi the story explores his mindset as he is trying to deal with his emotions towards Mikasa. Mikasa has some taunting tendencies in this fic which I love as well.

- Looking Into the Heart of Light

Author: hashire

Rating: Explicit

Again, another domestic bliss fic about an eventful evening between Levi and Mikasa. Its a pretty quick read but its too cute to pass up. If your looking for a quick Rivamika fix then this is the fic for you.

#rivamika #levimika #levikasa #mikasa x levi #levi x mikasa #rivamika fic #fanfic #im bored in quarantine #so im reading

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yourwitchmama · 5 years

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Tips on Having an Aesthetically Pleasing and Original Blog

I've been noticing a lot of copy cat witch blogs, so I want to give some tips I have learned and give you some insight!

When I first went on Tumblr back in 2010, I would look at popular blogs and take bits and pieces of what I liked from them to make my own. I was a copy cat blog. After doing lots of follow-for-follow and posting random pictures, I reached four thousand followers, but they weren’t real followers who followed me because they genuinely liked me. It made me feel miserable and I had no idea how my blog was so stagnant. It made me feel left out. Fast forward to 2017, and I come home from working at Peet’s Coffee and I sit down, upset. It was October and I had been working with catty girls who had no spirituality whatsoever all week. I was being bullied by them for being goth/getting frequent compliments from customers. I opened Tumblr and said “Fuck it. This is going to be a blog for me and if it looks stupid, oh well.” So I created @diamondrosegalaxy, and I pushed together my two favorite things. Astronomy, a goth aesthetic, and crystal witchcraft. I didn’t care that it would be different and I could possibly get criticism for including space in my craft since I have never seen anybody do it before. I wanted to look at it to calm my anxiety on my breaks at work. I was posting my own content and reblogging whatever I thought was cool, no matter how many notes it had. I have so many restrictions on that blog to hopefully not trigger myself. I wanted to keep my blog safe, and now that I get to share it with all of these people, I want to make everyone else feel safe by knowing my aesthetic is changing yet the rules are always the same. No pics of drugs, people, hard interior, bright pictures, etc. I wanted to give you tips on how to be your own big blog instead of copying other more currently successful blogs. It is like the knockoff brand of frosted flakes, and everyone knows it. I am a visual artist, and I am going to give you some advice on how to create a blog that is cute, yet the real YOU.

-URL: Pick anything you want, don't worry about followers. The most popular blogs are sometimes jibberish.

-Profile pic: Highly contrasted or filtered pictures are preferred since your icon is so small. People may not see the details that you do.

-Header image: I suggest using a horizontal photo. This has to match with the color of your blog, otherwise, it will clash and will be unappealing to the eye. You don't need to pick the exact color, just make sure it goes with it to make it flow. Your blog is an art piece, not just any collage.

-Header Gif: Gifs are a great way to capture someone's attention, though sometimes they can be a bit intense. Yes, I will see your blog, but will I follow it just because my attention has been drawn to it? No. Most of the time, I see lots of blogs with unmatching flashing low-quality gif header images. That's great if you have a psychedelic blog or something intentionally annoying, but picking something that flows in a loop looks SO. MUCH. BETTER. Choppy flashing images can give some people anxiety.

-Description: This is probably the most important part. This is one of the first things someone sees other than your three popular posts. If you search for your blog, you should type in your description. There are keywords that are in there, so choose them wisely.

-Color: So color is tricky because you can set any color you want to your main page, but what other users will see when your Tumblr pops up could be a completely different shade that does NOT match your profile pic or header image. You can check the color of your blog by searching keywords (like your description) and scrolling through suggested blogs until you see yours. (it's there, I promise. You need to use the right tags! You can even follow yourself.) Once you figure out what shade your blog appears to be, you can alter the shade of your blog to hopefully change your outward appearance to a lighter or darker tint. This is the difficult part. You need to make sure that BOTH of these colors (the one that appears to others and the one that appears on your home page) match BOTH the inside and outside of your blog.

-Content: I think that there should be a theme, personally. You don't need one, but a lot of popular blogs are themed and aesthetically pleasing for a reason. I created many blogs because even though I may really like something, if it doesn't match my aesthetic, I don't reblog. Keeping a theme and scrolling through your blog to see if there aren't any posts that stick out is a good way to have an aesthetically pleasing blog.

-Posts: I suggest posting a lot and posting frequently. If you post your own content, your blog becomes yours. You aren't only reblogging other peoples content anymore. I suggest posting CLEAR and high-quality pictures. You can take clear pictures by having a good light source.

-Asks: For asks you can put a TON of hashtags and do something like "free tarot readings" or "Paranormal asks". When I started out I still got asks before I got a lot of followers. If you want someone to ask you questions, it needs to be about THEM at first. If you aren't popular and are not interacting with your followers, the chances of someone asking you a lot of questions about yourself is pretty low. It isn't because you aren't great, it is because they don't know you. Interaction is important!

-Interactions: Commenting positive things, reblogging content with only a few notes, and engaging in asks and conversations is a great way to build a community!

When you stop making and doing things for other people, you start to create something special. When you let go of the ego, accept yourself, create out of joy, and implement aesthetically pleasing tools, you will always have a beautiful and original blog.

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artandhuddle · 5 years

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Artist Interview with Daphne Hutcheson

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Daphne Hutcheson, an artist I’ve admired for quite some time. Her work and knowledge in the arts has helped me, along with many other artists in the online community.

Daphne Hutcheson, also known as @paperwick on social media, has been creating artwork from a very young age, with works in both traditional and digital media. Her work covers a broad range of fandoms, original content, and client based works along with some very useful and resourceful tutorials.

K: I wanted to first ask about your experience attending SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design)?

D: My experience at SCAD was tepid at best. The teachers were good, but I mean very specifically the professors who were teaching in my major, which was sequential art. SCAD is really not a great institute for anyone who isn't rich enough for their parents' to cover the cost. That's my biggest issue with it, they will cripple you with debt, so if anyone is lower-income, I would highly suggest learning via some of great online courses or using a state college's art program to sort of direct you if you need direction and deadlines. I know I need them. SCAD's loans are no joke. The college itself was very good my first year, they do a lot to make sure incoming students feel heard and welcomed, and then after that they really don't try for you. As soon as you're a sophomore, they could care less about how you feel to be there. Their class attendance requirements are grueling and there's no room for accidents--you miss four class sessions and you fail the course. It's wild, and even if you're in the hospital, those absences will not be forgiven. If you're late, it counts as an absence.I don't recommend it. At all. All the learning I garnered there is online accessible these days, one just has to hunker down, find it, and put it to practice. My professors were great, but no education is worth that price tag. Depending on your major there, you will be treated differently by the school. For example, their fashion and fibers majors are doted on, whereas a major like animation is ground hard into the dirt. There were unrealisitc deadlines to meet for class projects and kids would be in the school buildings overnight trying to meet them. Some fell asleep in their chairs and Paula Wallace (the owner) saw that one day and had them replace the chairs with far less comfortable chairs. Some kids had heart attacks from staying up to meet deadlines. Such a bad work culture of "all-nighters". In part the students' fault, but none of the faculty really stopped it or discouraged it, save one teacher in a different major, and that being said, that teacher still gave ridiculous deadlines so we'd "be prepared for the industry". That's not at all what the industry is like (discluding the game industry right now). It is truly a hard place to thrive and everyone I've known who has graduated had months to years of burnout after finishing, including myself. I'd hazard real caution when choosing to go to a private art college, art institutes included.No education is worth that amount of debt.

K: Wow, that’s unfortunate to hear. I wonder if students are having similar experiences at colleges such as CAD or RISD?

D: I have heard very similar things about places like RISD and CAD where it’s all about the money, but I can’t point you towards any of the specifics. I really just want people to go into it with a clear head and know it’s going to be hard exiting. They really don’t prepare you for business.

K: What would you have done differently? Would you have signed up for online courses?

D: If I was to do it over, I would have liked to dive straight into developing personal projects, just making the work. Watching and reading free youtube videos and blog posts by artists. That would not have flown with my parents, they’re very by the book “go to college or get a job” type people. With than in mind, I would’ve gone to the local college I was within biking distance of as a sort of clean, and done fairly half assed studies by full assed my artwork.

K: That sounds like what a lot of artists, particularly those interested in digital art are doing. But, have you ever considered going back to school, or enrolling in a program or an atelier that you think would be beneficial to your art career?

D: Not genuinely. If I had time, I wouldn't mind enrolling in something that would teach me puppet animation, but between freelance and my day job, it's hard to find time to produce personal work and then also learn. I am pro-learning, always learning because that keeps your work fresh, keeps your mind sharp and ready to switch up on a dime. But course work is something I'm not super fond of, to be honest.

K: I understand. So, you've graduated and are currently doing freelance work along with your other day job. In your freelance work, what kind of work are you taking from clients?

D: Mostly I do storyboard animatics for a few advertising agencies, but I do some card art for games here and there, like Companion's Tale. I just signed on to do some tarot card artwork for a company called Legacy: Fables. I'll take anything that sounds interesting and that I have time for. It's all digital; traditional art is way more personal for me so I almost exclusively make traditional artwork as gifts for friends.

K: Are there any particular fandoms or genres that you tend to work more in?

D: As far as fandom work and commissions, it's Dragon Age all the way BABY! It's a good community and I owe a lot to them. I'm planning on reopening my tarot commissions here soon once I finish up a few of my freelance projects. I am an old hat with fantasy stuff and most comfortable there, but I really want to start working on robots and mechanics and cities. All that sci-fi goodness.

K: Wow, that's great to hear you've got very steady work, and they’re with industries and agencies! I hope you'll get to share that work once it's gone down the production pipeline. Have you ever considered applying for work with a company like EA/Bioware?

D: Yeah! I've lucked out a lot, it feels like all of this sort of dumped itself in my lap. My biggest resistance to applying to Bioware or any gaming industry position right is rooted in how they treat their workers. Bioware, specifically back when Anthem was released, had a nasty report come out on how management had run their workers to the point of many having mental breakdowns, and several just leaving and never coming back. They refer to those who have breakdowns while working during their months and months of crunch as "stress casualties", and I'm honestly quite disgusted by what I hear. I think once the gaming industry unionizes I'll consider applying, but the things I hear, not just about Bioware and EA... It's horrifying. Riot, Blizzard, Activision, Treyarch, Rockstar... the list could go on. Not to like tank the conversation into a dark place, I just have such strong feelings about it.

K: That's ok! It's good to hear different perspectives, especially when talking about the industry. Alright, on to the next question. Looking at your work, from sequential narrative to tarot artwork, I’m really impressed by your storytelling. When you’re creating stories and characters, do you pull a lot from your own experiences and emotions, or more from other sources such as music, film, or literature?

D: Ahh that's a hard one. I think I pull far more from outside of me than inside of me.The way things are shaped comes from my own experience, but I think a lot of my content comes from outside influences, like movies, books, music, and art.Howls Moving Castle, the book not the film, had a huge affect on me and how light I want the stories I tell to be, but I think I have a long way to go when putting stories together.I am super empathetic so it's easy to take outside influences and really feel them, but also it's hard to tell where I start and those influences ends.

K: Very well said, and the comment about the novel, I can really feel that in your personal work, especially your recent animated landscape piece.

D: Thanks!

K: The first time I came across your work was one of your Dragon Age tarot works, but also the tutorial on how you created them. It was incredibly helpful to me and I know to lots more artists. Your tutorials and words of advice have proven very successful, but have you ever received any advice or tutorials that really switched gears or level upped your techniques?

D: The answer is yes, absolutely. Let me see, I don't seek out tutorials anymore, but there was something I saw recently that was good. Sinix's head from any angle is a great approach to drawing faces at crazy angles. Also, check out Bunabi on Tumblr. Bunabi is so fast and her work is beautiful, and has great tutorials also, just incredible.

I unfortunately can’t link to any specifics, but tutorials like this one do me a lot of good.

People can just screenshot process stuff that reminds me that there are a million ways to approach art, like sketch up, grids, freehanding. I think I benefit from understanding that there are a million approaches more than following the tutorials super hard.

K: Great,thank you! I wanted to ask a few more questions, one about your Patreon. It seems like the next big wave for digital artists. How has it been creating one and keeping on top of the awards, and is there anything you would want to do differently with yours?

D: So Patreon is kind of a basket you can fill with prizes, maybe some of the prizes for money (probably prizes for money), and that works for a lot of people. I have a more of a "here's content I don't put elsewhere if you'd like it" approach to it cause I'm inconsistent with patron pay-outs. Patreon for artists with chronic mental illness is a struggle. Hands down. I started one hoping it would iron out my discipline issues a year or two back, and it didn't. It made me feel hella guilty cause I could not keep up with what I said I'd keep up with, and then I felt worse. It was disastrous. I refunded most of the pledges I got during the three months I had it open. Then I closed it for a year and brought it back online recently. Now all my content is free, it's still inconsistent, but if people want to support me I welcome it. I think Patreon is a good platform, but I will never be able to use it is intended. I respect the people who can keep up with it all, that kind of discipline takes a crazy amount of strength of character, but I don't motivate with money very well. In the end, I motivate through helping others as best I can, so it'll always be free content. I have very few plans for it, other than I want to put together a brush pack and share it there with brushes I made. I just need a moment to sit down and make that happen. I've got a tutorial for using photos to make quick painted backgrounds too, and I just have to organize that sucker.

K: Thank you for being so open about it. I think what you're doing is so insightful and helpful in what you're offering to your followers, especially those who may also be struggling with anxiety and depression.

K: Can you share what your process is like from a sketch to a finished piece? Do you thumbnail a lot before, use references to build from, and so on?

D: I like to do throw away thumbnails on notepaper.

And then I take those thumbnails and do a more thought out version digitally.

K: Wow, these are both beautiful. If you don't share these with patrons already, I would! I also like that you've given each one their own color, a good way to organize!

D: Thank you! I'll make sure to share these, I forget about them genuinely. I'll diverge in two directions from here depending on need. If what I'm working on is simple, I hop straight into color. If it's going to be complicated, ie crazy armor, specific architecture, I will do a line pass first and then launch into color. Either way, this is where most of my references come into play. Once that is solid I add detail work.

K: Reference can be so important in art; it really can bring work to a new level if used properly!

D: Yeah reference is king. I use it constantly, even when doing the most stylized thing, cause there's always stuff you forget. The waves I did for my last card, I had reference of barrel waves up constantly, and it helps a ton.

K: My last question is where do you see yourself in five years? I know this can be a challenging question, but if you had any goals or plans you’d like to see come into fruition, what would they be?

D: Five years? These questions are always a struggle for me. I try not to look past a week at a time because it's all so BIG. And my life has undergone so many huge changes in such a short period of time SO MANY times that it's hard to make long term plans. Especially when dealing with mental illness. So I try to think less about where I'll be in any amount of time, and more about what I want to progress towards achieving, it's a little easier and sets up less expectation. So this is not necessarily a five year plan, and more an eventual future plan. I want to have enough tutorial work to put together an art resources book/pdf online. I want to develop my freelance work further and create my own studio, ideally for illustrative style work, smaller animations, and maybe some classes for people interested in color and storytelling. I want to put together a small guide of sorts also for artists and people who need healing, since there's so many of us. That one is harder because it's an amorphous subject, but I think there's a lot of room for commentary there and a lot of people wanting to hear it, and I think it'll have to come from all those hurting. It's just a matter of how we'll organize that.I am a huge sap. That's my way. So in 5 years I'm hoping I'll be a better and more helpful sap.

K: Well, I hope you're able to make a lot of this happen, we need more empathy and help in the world. Thank you again Daphne for your time, this was really informative and an honest interview which I know others will appreciate.

D: Thank you, Kallie!

You can find more of Daphne’s beautiful works (and tutorials) here:

Patreon

Twitter

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writersrealmbts · 4 years

Text

Con Amore: Part 11

Bulletproof Melody Sequel

Description: Con Amore– A directive to a musician to perform a selected passage of a composition tenderly, with affectionate emotion, or in a loving manner; an instruction to the player of an instrument meaning ‘with love’ or ‘lovingly’. Three years with all seven of your loves, three years of relative peace. But now everything is threatened as darkness surges from the horizon.

Originally Posted: 12/15/2019

Tags: Superheroes, Ot7

Fluff/Angst: 2,166 words

A/N: A day after I said I would post it and almost three months after the last part, we’re at part eleven. Next part is interesting. I hope you like it. I’m just a little discouraged with this series and I’m getting stuck because there’s a lot of ends to weave in to finish this series.

You mulled over everything, making a couple notes about their plans while waiting for them to check in. They were checking the place that the tracker had traced back to.

“Tinny?”

“Here, you guys in?”

“Yeah, we’re done here. Raidho, Eihwaz, and Tiwaz are taking the equipment to another place to check it out. Sowilo and Laguz and I are going to try and pinpoint some of the people this was tracking. Raid is going to drop Mannaz back there.”

“Ok, be careful.” You sighed, feeling useless again. “Watch your six.”

“We will,” Tiwaz responded.

Raid appeared with Mannaz, quickly kissing you before teleporting away.

Jimin groaned and sat down, rubbing his legs.

You went over, rubbing his shoulders. “Usual pains?”

“Yeah. A little to the right.”

You shifted your ministrations to the right, feeling the muscle that was tense and carefully working at it. “Shifted to much?”

“Shifted into an elephant from a mouse,” He whimpered as your fingers found a knotted muscle.

“Oh, love,” You murmured sympathetically, kissing the top of his head. “You want me to draw a bath for you?”

He nodded slowly. “I think so.”

“Okay. Just wait here for a bit, I’ll get it all set up.” You pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “You’ll have to avoid the drastic shifts while I’m gone unless absolutely necessary.”

He nodded again. “I’ll try.”

You nodded and went to draw the bath. You had to figure out a way to help them one last time before you went to the safe-house.

He came in while you were testing the water. “You okay?”

“Just…thinking.”

“Your phone rang, but it stopped after one ring.” He held it out to you, his voice gentle, as if sensing you were a little vulnerable. He sat next to you on the edge of the tub. “About this morning….”

You met his eyes, reaching up and brushing his hair from his eyes. “You were worried, I understand.”

“I know you do, but I still wanted to make sure we understand each other. I…I can’t stop worrying about you. And seeing this,” He pulled the photo from your appointment from his pocket. He had a watery smile as he looked at it. “The idea that this place, where you’re here with us, possibly being just as in danger as if we weren’t here….”

“We aren’t in danger here, well, no more than before you found out about me having an issue here. The only person who could pose a threat to us here doesn’t realize who I am yet. With me gone, it’s unlikely my past will be discovered.”

He sighed. “And the boys? What do you think their role is in all of this?”

Your mind went to a dozen different places, but settled in one place. One you didn’t want to bring up right now. “I’m not really sure. But I know that they’re important.”

“Are you packed?”

“I’m always packed. At least, nowadays I am.” You got up and turned off the water. “Do you need help?”

He nodded. “My shoulders are tight, too.”

You nodded in return and helped him take off his shirt, accepting the soft little kiss he pressed to your lips with a little glow of warmth and love in your chest. But you quickly helped him undress the rest of the way before leaving him to soak in the tub after the relieved sigh he let out after settling in. “I’ll check on you later.”

“Thanks, chubbs.”

You closed the door, then looked around the room, picking up pillows and making the bed a little neater. You weren’t sure which of the boys had slept in here, but you had your suspicions. You’d have to remind them to keep things tidy. You hugged a pillow and looked around at the strange walls as a wave of nausea came over you again. But this time it was the worry, that panic of having to leave the safety that came with the presence of your boys. Your loves.

You went back to the mission room, sitting with a pen and some paper to write a few things down for when you were gone. Your thoughts drifted as you tried to keep focused on the things you needed to remind them to do when you weren’t there, but instead found their way to your father.

You closed your eyes, trying to block the thoughts.

“There are three things you should always watch out for, my little hummingbird. Our job is a dangerous one. We gather things that people could misuse. We keep them locked away. Everyone will try to break in and get them,” He whispered as he wound the music box. He set it aside, the soft lullaby chiming, and wrapped you up tightly in his arms. “So there are three things you should always watch out for.”

You looked up at him sleepily, humming along with the lullaby that was playing.

“One, is coincidences. They don’t exist. So, if anything seems like one, you know it’s not. The second is those who use the guise of helping to hide their hunger for power. And the third,” He paused to yawn. “The third…third…”

Someone clucked reprovingly, but it was an amused sound as well.

Your mother gathered you up in her arms, kissing your forehead and humming along with you as your father fell into a deeper sleep. “The third, is the unbelievable. People with stars in their eyes, or wings on their backs. You will be an archivist, you will keep their secrets and provide them with the means to continue. You will see the most fantastical things, my love. And I hope we are always there to witness them with you.” She rubbed her nose against yours and you woke up in tears.

Worried eyes met yours as you focused on the person in front of you, the reason you woke up.

Jungkook gently brushed the tears from your cheek. “Y/n? Are you okay?”

“Just a dream,” You whispered.

“Pretty lullaby,” Taehyung murmured, laying on the floor and yawning.

You sucked on your lower lip for a moment, then realized Jungkook was looking at you with a sort of question in his eyes. You smiled a bit and leaned forward to kiss him before wrapping your arms around his neck.

He easily picked you up and carried you to the room you stayed in at night, then murmured he’d be right back.

You changed into pajamas and almost went to check on Jimin, but heard him telling Taehyung to get off the floor and left it alone since you also heard Namjoon with him.

Jungkook came in freshly showered and crawled into bed with you, laying on his side facing you and looking into your eyes. “Are you going to be okay? Alone with those kids?”

“I’ll survive. You still have the talisman.”

“Yeah. It’s safe. That’s just for the dangerous archives?”

“Mhmm, it’s mostly precautionary. I think they want Taehyun because he could tell them how to access the archives,” You whispered, then actually thought about what you were saying.

“Yoongi did say his powers were a little strange, but do you really think he might be able to tell them how to access the archives?”

“He can read the past. It’s entirely possible that he could find the answer to accessing them.”

He frowned in worry, then flinched as your phone starting ringing.

You stared at it, not moving to answer it.

The other boys heard it, poking their heads in.

Namjoon met your worried gaze, then nodded. “Put it on speaker.”

You hummed a protection song as you picked up the phone and answered. “Allo?”

“Ms. Y/L/N?”

“Yes, who is calling?” You spoke with a French accent, worried about who could be calling.

“My name is Gordon Sutcliffe, I’m calling on behalf of the Moorthes Museum of Art and Natural History. Our contact at St. Kishall Treaure Institute suggested we contact you regarding the verification of a collection of puzzle boxes from a private collector that we wish to display. The owner is claiming that they are the works of Jacqueline De Torrent,” The man on the other end of the line said, absolutely butchering her name.

“How many pieces in the collection?” You asked, suspicious.

“Five.”

You looked at Namjoon and shook your head. “Are you certain?”

“That’s what he is claiming, but we were hoping you would come in to verify that they actually are works of Jacqueline de Torrent.”

You cringed again. “I can tell you now that it is highly unlikely that whoever this collector is managed to acquire five pieces of Jacqueline Torrent de Cavalier. Before I make the trip, I do require photos to verify that this collection is real.”

“Of course, and the curator at St. Kishall’s gave us a general ballpark for your consultation fees.”

“I discuss price after I have agreed to consult. He gave you my email?”

“Uh, yes, miss.”

“Send the photos to that address and I’ll examine those, then tell you whether in-person verification is necessary or not. I need to see every side of the boxes. I’ll contact you further depending on my initial evaluation and we’ll discuss my fees then as well as times I am available.”

“Yes, of course—”

“Good day,” You said, then hung up.

They quickly surrounded you, Namjoon cupping your face in his hands.

“You’re trembling,” Yoongi murmured, taking your hand.

“Do you think that’s them?” Namjoon asked before pressing a kiss between your eyebrows.

“Of course, it’s too outrageous of a claim to be anything else,” You whispered.

“There’s no way you’re going. They must know who you are.” Jimin folded his arms, still partially supported by Taehyung.

“If I don’t go, it would confirm it,” You replied. “But I may be able to put it off for now—”

“No,” Seokjin said, his voice overpowering yours. Firm. He met Namjoon’s gaze. “There’s no such thing as coincidence. We should check it out. Even if it’s a trap. It might just give us the tools we need to beat these people.”

“Hyung, it could be dangerous!” Hoseok protested.

“Life is dangerous, Hoseok-ah. We’ll protect her as best we can, and she’s not exactly weak, either. She’s hidden for this long. We know they’re looking for all three of her identities, so maybe they don’t know. Yoongi and Taehyung can go with her to protect her, with Jungkook as backup. We make sure that even if they take her we can find her.” He met your gaze. “She’s safe-guarded the vaults, right?”

You nodded. “I did. I can’t reach the artifacts right now.”

“Then we give her a temporary power suppressors, and watch every move, and she evaluates the artifacts.”

“Power suppressors?” Taehyung squeaked.

“Just to mask my powers to any sensors. I’ll still have my powers, Tae. They just wouldn’t find out about them, not easily.” You stepped over to reassure him, kissing his lips to help calm him. “Not actual power suppressors.”

He nodded, a tiny shock jumped between the two of you. His eyes widened. “Will that hurt you? Oh my God, the baby? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine, Tae. It was little more than a static shock. I’ll be fine.” You brushed his hair from his face. “And…I agree with Jin. I think we may need to take the risk.”

Jimin growled, obviously against the idea.

Hoseok wrapped his arms around you. It was his baby, and you knew that even if he was fine sharing that with the boys, he still thought of that as his. He had been carefully avoiding being overprotective, but you knew this was a little more than he could handle. Especially since he’d been preparing himself to part with you. “If she’s doing that, then I’m going to be with her. Taehyung can be by her side, but I’m on standby.”

“Okay,” Namjoon finally said. “If she needs to go, then we’ll make sure to have multiple contingencies.”

Jimin let a high-pitched sound escape him.

Taehyung, Yoongi, and Jungkook seemed equally uneasy about the whole thing.

“Are you sure, Namjoon?” Yoongi asked quietly.

Namjoon nodded sharply, face grim, chin jutting out stubbornly. “We need some sort of advantage. She can’t tell them where those boys are because the safehouse is in a location unknown to her as well. We’ll be there to protect her.”

You nodded. “I trust you all.” You looked to Tae. “You’ll be by my side, right?”

He nodded, straightening his shoulders a bit. “I’ll have to take the suppressants too?”

You nodded again, looking at the faces of all of the men you loved. “Last mission before I go.”

They all huddled in closer, settling in for at least one hand touching you.

You rested a hand over your stomach, hoping your baby knew how many wonderful people would love them.

~~~~

Part 10. Part 12.

Masterlist. ~ Series Masterpost.

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neko-shinigxmi · 4 years

Note

Hey! I want to start an f/o blog but not sure how. Can you give me some tips?

Oh, wow!! My turn for giving advice!!! Well, strap on in, buddy, cause I’ve got plenty of tips for you~!

Username. I want to bring up this tip because I’ve noticed the mileage most people have regarding these; either making it a casual username and putting “self ship” somewhere in the blog description OR putting “self ship” in the blog name itself, somehow.

I bring this up because- in my opinion- either way has it’s pros and cons. Pros is having it in the name makes it automatically easier to note you as a self-shipper! But I know the more anxious side of the community would be less thrilled about reblogging stuff from fandom and having that noted in the Activity page, so... It’s really up to you and how your needs are.

If you’re more anxious, that’s okay!! Do what helps!

(...I personally just went with something that sounded nice to me at the time, kdfjghfjdk)

F/O List. THE most important thing on your blog!!! However, please note that I HIGHLY recommend you don’t make it on a post; never put your F/O list as a post. Why? Because Tumblr’s search function doesn’t always work and if you tag with a slash or hyphen in tags?? Yeah, MAJOR good luck finding it.

When making your blog, scroll down in editing to “+Add a page”, and get to work from there. Also, make sure to click on “Show a link to this page at the top!!! If you have a theme like mine (Papercut) or the official... In short, unless you’re using a custom theme with link slots, it’ll always show up in it’s specified slot.

Rules! As someone from the RPC, I see a LOT of value in rules.... Most people just use “BYF” instead (Before You Follow) which has the same idea, but...again, I originate mostly from the roleplay side of Tumblr, so I’m stuck on the rules system.

Pages, again. Super useful for this stuff.

Essentially, you can use that to introduce yourself to start (if you don’t want to make an introduction page), and then go off about some stuff!

The most important ones would be: SFW or sometimes suggestive content (considering those who still have those sideblogs...well, use sideblogs)? Are you okay with sharing F/Os? (Or if it’s certain characters you won’t share, who are they? You can make this one easier with a certain emoji-dex on your F/O List; just be sure to have a reference for what they mean somewhere on the page!)

Encouraging questions seems to be a common thing in Rules/BYFs since a lot of the community has some form of social anxiety. It’s up to you whether you’d want to spell this out or not, though!

Tag System! In my view, there’s two types of this! Character tags and OTP tags!! (You don’t have to copy me on this, but if you like organization as much as I do, then this might be useful for you!)

Character tags are what I use for when it’s the character either in source material or fanart. This is stuff that DOESN’T involve the self-ship, but might have me gushing in the tags.

OTP tags are for the self-ship itself! This makes it easier not only for you, but for other people who’d want to check out the posts you make or the artwork you do (no matter what it is) of you and your F/O(s)!

A Reminder: A lot of people get anxious about reblogging art of their F/Os from fandom, and as someone who’s done this....for a long time now, I can say this with certainty...... THE ARTIST DOESN’T CARE, EVERYONE!!! I’ve never once had someone tell me to delete their reblog or say I’m gross for reblogging art of my F/Os! So please, don’t worry so much about it!! It’s okay!

(However, only reblog cosplay content of your F/O if you’ve asked permission from the cosplayer first. What’s even cooler, is most cosplayers don’t mind this at all! As long as you’re not being The Creepy Fan (ignoring boundries, trying to flirt with them, etc), they really don’t mind us, either!!!)

ANOTHER REMINDER: No matter which way you show the love of your F/O, whether it’s through moodboards/aesthetics, artwork (traditional or digital), writing...or anything else! Remember that you’re doing amazing work!! And your F/O(s) would be super proud of you~

Can’t really do any of those things? That’s okay, too!!! Even if you just have that one keychain/pin/plush/etc of your F/O... A folder of saved images? You love them. And they’re STILL proud of you!! They love you so much!!!!!!

Aaaannndd I think that’s about it!

A final tip for the road: remind yourself that you do this to make YOU happy. Attention that you get from others is like decorations on the cake; you made it yourself, and already put your frosting on. The rest is just really nice and cool to have~ Find happiness with your F/O(s), and keep it going in a way that suits you~!!!

Good luck, Anon~! ^ o ^

#Anon #Aki answers #self insert #self ship #self insert community #self ship community #gif #I hope this helps?? Aaaaaaaaa?????#it's so rare that I get asked for advice....#I'm happy to help where I can tho!

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owlways-and-forever · 5 years

Text

Summary: Lily Evans thought her life would be normal. Well, as normal as it can be for a muggle-born witch in England. But when her boyfriend turns out to be the prince of the wizarding world, and tensions begin to rise among factions of wizarding society, Lily must find her way in situations she never anticipated, and try not to lose sight of her identity. Word Count: 3,293 Links: ao3 | FFnet

A/N: Okay, since this is the official beginning of the story, I'll go over a few points of order now and get them out of the way.

New chapters will be posted every other Saturday. I know this is a long time between chapters, and hopefully you'll be dying for new ones as soon as you've finished the previous ones. But I've got a lot going on right now writing-wise, and I don't want to put myself in the position of having to delay posting because I haven't had a chance to write one week. So I think every other week will have to work for us, and that's just how it's gonna go.

The story is pretty fast-paced, mostly because I'm trying to cover a lot of things happening - both fluff and angst and everything in between. I'm pretty happy with it the way it is but idk, just be aware that if you're wanting a slow burn, this is not that.

Comments and feedback are ALWAYS welcome. Seriously, I love hearing anything from you guys, even if its just one word. Helps me to know that I'm not shouting into the void. Please be respectful with feedback, I don't mind constructive comments, but again, just be nice, respectful, and not hateful. I've never had a problem with this before, but I'm just throwing it out there.

Okay, that is all my points of order at this moment! I am super excited about this story, I've absolutely loved it since I started working on it, and I'm really excited to share it with all of you. My original plan was to finish writing it before I started posting, but I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer. If you check out the "atttr" tag on my tumblr ( owlways-and-forever) you might get to see some edits and artwork to go along with the story! (Also if you want to make edits/art, please do, I would love that). Okay, that's a lot of notes, so without further ado, I present to you the first chapter!

*drumroll*

Chapter 1

The entire wizarding world knew what Prince James looked like officially. He had always been somewhat tall for his age, thin but athletic as he got older, with sleek black hair and hazel eyes. Official portraits of him used to appear in the newspapers every now and then, especially after a big event. The odd thing was, however, no one knew what he looked like unofficially. There were no pictures of him at school or at a bar or anywhere other than somewhere officially planned, where he always looked prim and proper. No one ever saw the Prince out and about, or at least, no one ever knew they did.

Marlene said that when the Prince was born, the King and Queen had made a push to keep his life quite private, and no one really knew anything about his daily life. They didn't even know who his nanny was. Lily had been quite surprised to find out that there was a wizarding monarchy, but then she found out that things were not so different here than from the Muggle world. The Royal Family was largely ceremonial, while most of the functioning government was run by the Ministry of Magic. Like the Muggle world, there were some who thought the monarchy should be disbanded completely, and others who were completely besotted with the Royal Family. She was the same age as Prince Andrew, but Lily had never been terribly bothered about him, especially since she was not likely to ever meet him.

According to Marlene, a long ago, the Royal families had been one family. Brothers who wanted different things or different magical abilities. No one was really sure, it was too long ago. But the fact was that now they were very distinct, in fact the Windsor-Mountbatten family probably didn't even know that there was a whole other Royal Family in Britain.

Marlene was somewhat obsessed with the Royals, and was determined to find out who Prince James really was. She had a number of maddening theories written down in a journal, the equivalent of a board with red string all over it. There was no selfish agenda behind it, she wasn't one of those crazy girls who was in love with him or dreamed of marrying him; it was just a mystery, and Marlene loved a good mystery.

Theory 1: Prince James was homeschooled in the Royal Palace of Whitehall by his mysterious governess. Deemed unlikely on account of needing to socialize with children his own age.

Theory 2: Prince James had been sent to Beauxbatons to be educated. Deemed highly likely owing to English-French treaties and a history of close relations between the two wizarding communities.

Theory 3: Prince James had been sent to one of the other known wizarding schools (probably Ilvermorny) to be educated. Deemed unlikely due to tense relations between wizarding communities.

Theory 4: Prince James had been sent to an unknown wizarding school in one of the Commonwealth states (most likely: Australia). Possible, but not likely.

Theory 5: James Potter was actually Prince James. Deemed highly unlikely for the very obvious reasons.

The last theory had been proposed precisely two days into their first year. The girls were all slipping into their night-dresses and brushing their hair when Marlene burst out of the bathroom, long hair swinging over her shoulder.

"Do you think James Potter is the Prince?" she had blurted out excitedly, hands clutching the railing around their heating stove.

The girls had all giggled at the suggestion, but no one answered. While Lily, Mary and Alice were all Muggle-borns and knew nothing about the Prince, Dorcas simply didn't care. Marlene scrambled across her bed and pulled out a small leather bound notebook from her trunk, opening it to a recent picture of the Prince published on the occasion of the Queen's birthday a few months prior.

"Don't you think they look alike?" Marlene pressed, her eyes wide with excitement.

Lily took the photo from her carefully and looked at the picture of the Prince, waving and smiling with his parents. There was a similarity there for sure, but there were quite a few differences as well. Even though the picture was in black and white, Lily could make out that James had darker skin than the Prince. James glasses and his hair were wild, not sleekly laying down atop his head. And while the Prince had a very proper expression on his face – a smile, but not deep enough to wrinkle his handsome face – James seemed to walk around with a permanent smirk.

That had been when the conversation started, but they had all deemed it impossible, except Marlene who insisted that there was a slight possibility. Over their years at Hogwarts, it did come up a few times, mostly as a joke, but it was clear that it could not be him. Lily had even been to his house once, during their Easter holidays, for a surprise birthday party for Remus. It was a nice house, spacious with a large sloping yard, but it was hardly a royal residence. And also, there was the matter of his friends. Sirius was from a noble family – the equivalent of a Muggle dukedom – but he hated it and vocally opposed the entire aristocratic life. So she highly doubted that he would be best friends with a prince. And she was pretty sure that Remus was a werewolf, not that she had shared her suspicions with the other girls, but she doubted that a prince would be allowed to befriend a werewolf. The aristocracy seemed like that. Not to mention, James Potter appeared to be quite a reckless Quidditch player (and person, in general), and presumably the sole heir to the monarchy would not be allowed to continuously put his life in so much danger.

So when Lily Evans agreed to go to the Three Broomsticks with James Potter to have a butterbeer, she had been quite certain that she was not going on a date with a prince of any kind.

She said she would meet him there, it seemed too much to walk to Hogsmeade together, but now she was rather regretting her choice, as she sat there waiting for James to show up. Her leg bounced nervously, brown saddle shoes lightly tapping the floor. She checked her watch - it was five minutes to 3. Lily had gotten there insanely early, anticipating that her friends would be chatty on the walk to Hogsmeade, pestering and teasing her endlessly, but everyone had been surprisingly quiet. Marlene and Dorcas almost suspiciously so. So she had arrived at the Three Broomsticks more than ten minutes early, and had to sit by herself, anxiously waiting, while her friends went off to do whatever it was they had planned. Mary she knew was meeting Dirk for the afternoon, but wasn't sure what Marlene and Dorcas would be doing. No doubt something they shouldn't be. Lily hoped they weren't planning on spying on her and James.

"Been waiting long?" James asked, sliding into the seat across from Lily with a charming smile and shaking her from her thoughts of her friends. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"You made it, I was starting to worry you'd changed your mind," Lily answered coyly, the corners of her lips lifting in a smile. She wasn't sure she liked how easily smiles came to her when she was around him. He ought to have to work harder to charm her.

"I'd never change my mind about you, Evans," he said, and she felt color rising on her cheeks.

Rosmerta, the pretty, young barmaid approached them with a grin. Lily guessed she had a soft spot for James, as she paid Lily no attention whatsoever, her brown eyes fixed on him, taking in his muscles as they flexed while he removed the jacket he had on over his t-shirt. They were long and sinewy, lean, but clearly fit. Like he was built for speed.

"Butterbeer okay?" James asked, but Lily didn't hear him. She had somehow conjured up an image of his arms wrapped around her, how good and safe and strong it would feel. "Lils?"

"What?" she said, flushing darker as she tore her eyes away from his muscles and fixed on his hazel gaze.

"Is butterbeer okay?" he repeated, his eyebrows arching somewhere between curiosity and satisfaction.

"Yes, that would be lovely," Lily answered, directing her answer at Rosmerta with a weak smile.

"Everything alright?" James asked, once Rosmerta has sauntered away.

"Yeah, fine," she said. "Just… in my head, that's all."

"What are you thinking?" he pressed, grinning.

"Nothing, nothing," Lily tried to say, waving his question off, definitely not making eye contact with him.

"C'mon, Lils, you can tell me anything," he said sincerely, the grin replaced by a moderately more sober smile.

"I... just… you look very good today," she answered at last, blush staining her cheeks again.

"Thank you," he replied, reaching out to take her hand across the table. "You look quite beautiful yourself."

Lily smiled. She had tried to look nice, but beautiful was never really a word she felt applied to her. Pretty, sure, and cute. Maybe even stylish. But beautiful felt like it implied a kind of grace or elegance that she certainly didn't possess. 'Beautiful' was for duchesses who wore elaborate gowns and fine jewelry and had blowouts done every day. Not for girls who just put their wet hair in a plait and never had their makeup right and spent as little as possible on clothes.

"Did you read Maria Melendez' article in the Prophet this morning?" James asked, his thumb moving gently across the back of her hand.

"I didn't, actually," Lily answered, turning to look out the window. She loved Ms. Melendez' writing, and usually tried to follow everything she wrote. She had even been excited for this morning's piece - a scathing assessment of the monarchy's damage to feminism - and had meant to read it, but she had been sidetracked trying to decide what to wear and how to do her hair with Marlene, Dorcas and Mary. (Lily had adamantly stated that she would dress how she usually dressed, and if James didn't like it, he could go fuck a hippogriff. Marlene said she needed to dress sexier, Mary had said she should look pretty, and Dorcas said she should wear one of her political tees so he knew exactly where she stood.) After she had gotten them all off her back and chosen something she felt comfortable in, they had been running late, and Lily had barely had time to wolf down a late breakfast, let alone read the Prophet.

Rosmerta came back and deposited the two butterbeers on their table, casting a sullen look at their intertwined fingers before returning to the bar.

"It was rather well written," he said when she had gone, eyes following Lily's gaze, and she snorted lightly. "What?"

"'Well written' is what people say when they completely disagree with everything in an article but don't want to admit it," Lily replied matter-of-factly.

"That's not true…"

"Do you agree with her?"

"Not as such, no," James admitted, his hand leaving Lily's to run through his hair. Lily knew it was his tic, his way of soothing himself when he was anxious. She'd seen him do it numerous times.

"Why not?"

"How much do you know about the monarchy?" he asked with a small sigh.

"Admittedly not as much as I do about the muggle monarchy," she said. "Most of what I know is what Marlene has told me, or what I actually listened to in Binns' class. But, without having read the article, I would imagine that she has a point. Monarchies are always unfair to women, ignoring them and passing over them not only for opportunities to rule, but also for recognition for the contributions they have been allowed to make."

"There have been quite a few muggle queens," James observed, trying his best to sound off-hand.

"Yes, but they only became queens as a last resort, when there were no male heirs to assume the throne," Lily countered, color rising in her cheeks as she started to feel out a good fight. She loved a good debate.

"Did you know that wizarding queens have equal right to ascend the throne as their male counterparts? Always the eldest child, regardless of sex…" he said, hazel eyes sparkling with defiance.

"I -"

"In fact, the current queen inherited the throne over two younger brothers," he continued. "57% of all wizarding monarchs have been queens, and have served on average longer terms, which means that in the history of the wizarding monarchy, 71% has been spent with a queen sitting on the throne."

"While that may be true, when queens marry, their husbands are given the title of King, not king consort or prince, which puts them above their wives in ranking," Lily argued, but James was ready.

"The Marital Equity Act of 1432," he said, "grants the husbands of queens the rank of rex honorarium et desponsata. It means that the title is subject to their marriage. Should the queen divorce him or die prior to him, his title would disappear. In the case of divorce, he is returned to any titles he would have had prior to marriage, but in the case of death he becomes the princeps patria or, if there are no children, the princeps consiliario. He has no power over her in any situation, but gets equal weight in any decisions of house."

"How do you know all of this?" Lily asked, impressed with his knowledge.

"I'm rather interested in history," he answered with a shrug. "Have been since I was a kid."

"So you don't think there's a problem with the way women are treated in wizarding society?" Lily asked, turning her focus back to their debate.

"That's not what I said," James replied with a wry smile. "But I don't think the monarchy is the root of the problem. In fact, I think the monarchy does what it can to help improve things as much as possible. And I have hope that the next generation with do better."

"You have a high opinion of the prince then?"

"I… I just try to be optimistic," he said. "I have to believe that he understands that there is more that could be done, for women, for muggle borns, for other beings in the wizarding world."

"James… what's happening with the death eaters… it scares me…" Lily admitted, her green eyes focused on the table, and James reached out again and took her hand.

"Me too, but I can't imagine how it must feel for you," he said softly, his eyes full of tenderness. "But I can promise you that you aren't alone. I am here for you anytime you need support or need to talk, and I will offer you any protection I can give. Though I'm sure you don't need it. But the offer, at least, always stands."

"Thank you."

They spent the rest of their date talking about lighter, mundane things - Sirius' new idea for a prank, Lily's plans for Christmas break, the Quidditch season. Lily teased James about Rosmerta and he made her blush when he poked fun at her fling gone awry with Benjy the previous year. Between them, there was an easy air of people who had been friends for some time, who knew each other inside and out. But at the same time, each time James' fingers brushed her hands, Lily felt like there was electricity in her blood, and she nearly jumped when his hand lightly touched the small of her back when they stood to leave.

"Hey Lily," James said quietly, as they were walking down the street together, meandering past shops."I'd really like to kiss you."

"Are you asking my permission?" she teased, the corners of her mouth twitching upward. James had stopped walking, his hand tugging at hers while he wore a very serious expression, as though her answer would be life or death.

"I won't if you don't want me to," he said.

Lily was so touched by this that she moved abruptly, reaching up to place her hands on his face and pulling his lips to meet hers. It took him a second to respond in his surprise, but then he was leaning into the kiss, one hand splayed out across her back while the other caressed her jaw. He pulled away after a moment, touching his forehead to hers as he breathed her in. She could see the blush tinting his tan cheeks, and the way his eyes were focused on her he seemed to be quite affected. She felt like something had changed as well, like this was one of those moments that changed your whole life, and she butterflies swooped in her stomach at the thought of her and James twenty years down the line.

"Okay then," James said, trying very hard to regain his composure as he stepped back, his fingers finding hers again.

Lily smiled broadly, James echoing her, and just like that they were Hogwarts' newest couple.

#gen writes #ATtTR #jily #hp au #jily au #james potter #lily evans

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darkspellmaster · 5 years

Note

Could you explain what's happening? All I know is that Tumblr is getting rid of any explicit content, but shouldn't that be a good thing? Especially with all the annoying bots and such.

Okay so I needed to do some research about this before I wrote this as there’s a lot going on that’s being filtered around and it seems like people are freaking out and that’s not helping.

1. What’s happening?

So, basically here’s what’s been going down. A few years ago -two or three I think -Yahoo Inc. bought Tumblr from the original creator of it as he couldn’t keep up with the demand. Server space cost had shot through the roof.

Just to clue everyone up here who are bemoaning about the sale in the first place, just to buy Amazon Web servers (which I think Tumblr ran on and now runs on a different company Srimax or something like that) or AWS, cloud space, it cost (USD) $2010 monthly, that compared to Googles which is roughly $2200 per month.

So total yearly is roughly $24,000 for AWS, and $26,000 for Google (and that’s on the low end).

So Yahoo is then bought out by Verizon Telecommunication services, who owns a number of sites right now and is trying to compete with AT&T and it’s services and Comcast, and Google. A

Tumblr, when it was built, was designed as an art place, mostly for artist who were leaving Deviant art at the time due to an influx of (let’s just say) undesirable artists and art work, and for other reasons. Over time Tumblr has become very popular and mixes of people have come here because it’s become mainstream in the media. It’s used in TV shows and the demographics here have become between the ages of 12 to in their 30s. And because it’s become more mainstream this has put a spotlight on it.

So what the heck happened? Well several things.

1. There was a case here were a person, or persons, were putting up explicit child porn, and this was rightly reported. However, because of this and the infestation of porn bots and other illicit content, Apple felt that Tumblr was not a good app to have on their store front, so they removed it.

Apple is determined to “Save the internet”.

“Steve Jobs famously suggested that “folks who want porn can buy an Android phone,” and Apple has repeatedly leveraged its unprecedented power over millions of smartphones to sanitize the apps that are available on iPhones. Apple does not allow apps “that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic.” In 2016, Apple famously deleted all third-party Reddit apps that allowed users to toggle NSFW posts on and off; even now, it is impossible to access porn on an iOS Reddit app unless you jump through various hoops.” - Vice.com

This should come as no surprise to anyone that is over the age of 30 at this point as Apple has been notorious about this for years, even during the early time of the Mac computers.

I should note that Android did not, nor has Google Play as Tumblr has followed all of it’s guidelines. But, internationally, Apple is still a big name and is a highly sought after device, especially in China, and most Telecommunication companies want to invest in there because the economy is good and they can make money in sales to people in China. But because of an extremely strict policy about anything related to porn and the like, Verizon couldn’t sell Apple phones with Tumblr linked into it due to the nature of the space, along with Apple’s very strict policies.

(There is in fact a lawsuit going on right now in regard to Apple’s bans on apps.)

As seen here. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmd38y/supreme-court-weighs-whether-apples-app-store-is-a-monopoly )

So because of this Tumblr felt it needed to do something and that something was to unleash an algorithm that, unfortunately, seems to have taken on a life of it’s own. My guess, and I can only hazard a guess here is that the algorithms are taking meta key words that could be associated with sex or porn or child porn and searching these things out to flag. So like animals that are connected with the fur community will be hit, people with Chronic pain may become hit because the CP in the tag could be related to Child Porn and thus the algorithm is hitting that. Color words, association with women and men, kinks and other things that these bots tend to use are probably also in there, which means that things as simple as chicken thighs, or chicken breasts, are being hit and flagged. That’s not to say that some of this may not be connected to the issue of trolls coming in and reporting things making the Algorithm even more buggy.

See an algorithm works like this:

So what is going on here. A question is asked, in this case let’s say it’s a key word, “Does this site have the tag Bookworm in it’s tags or in it’s content?” So the program then goes and analyzes a blog, and looks for that word in the tags. If the answer is yes, then that blog is then “flagged” for having that term and can be reviewed, and the algorithm can go to the next blog to look.

If the answer is no, then the program goes to the next word in it’s list and looks again, and if the answer is yes, it can then flag and move on, etc. This is how this is working. On top of that, you again may have people flat out using this to attack others and flagging and reporting, adding to the confusion of the program.

2. Second aspect is a bit more complicated, as it’s not just affecting Tumblr but a number of sites as well. Two bills that were signed into law here in the US and other similar bills are going around the globe. These two bills, while of the right mind to stop sex trafficking and should be lauded for that idea (because it’s something we as a world need to really address as a whole), both cause a huge problem to platforms.

So you have the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" (FOSTA)Stop Enabling Online Sex Trafficking Act, or SEOSTA, or Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act, or SESTA. This act is both good and bad. The good part is that it “clarify the country’s sex trafficking law to make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking,” which means it makes it clear why sex trafficking is illegal and will allow more laws to be created to stop it from happening and helping out victims to go after those that harmed them.

The bad though is the follow up, “and amend the Section 230 safe harbors of the Communications Decency Act (which make online services immune from civil liability for the actions of their users) to exclude enforcement of federal or state sex trafficking laws from its immunity.”

So the Section 230 safe harbors allowed for platforms, like Reddit, Tumblr, AOL messenger, etc, to not be liable for these situations. However this act changes that and makes it where the owners of the platform are going to have to be the ones that are liable. Meaning that site’s like tumblr can be taken to court over what their users put up, even if they don’t know what’s going on.

3. And this is on the smaller end of things. There apparently is a lot of piracy going on in the porn industry right now. As with the cases of theft here on Tumblr in regard to Pivix and other sites, people are not happy. While the industry is smaller than mass media studios like Sony, Disney, WB, NBC, etc. they are not happy with the grand theft of their copyrighted material, and yes it is copyrighted even if it is nude video and the like. These companies are considering possibly getting into legal matters with Social media sites (like Tumblr and Twitter) over the thefts and reblogging issue of copyrighted material. Unlike Youtube, where you can just take it down, Tumblr is build on the idea of sharing so there’s that to contend with.

Because of these things Tumblr has decided to create a very strong and yet vague policy that seems to be hurting people that are original content creators rather then the perpetrators that are causing the harm on this site. The thing is that in order for Verizon to push this as a mainstream social media site, they have to create a cleaner image.

The reason for that is the same reason why you had the advertising issues on Youtube. Straight up, when things become popular and more mainstream (and Tumblr has become main stream my friends make no mistake of that, as it’s shown up in a lot of different media including ones for teens and tweens) then sites tend to have to spend more money on server space and that means ads and more people coming in to see said ads. And the more popular and mainstream a site get’s the more the site tends to want to become more all ages over a limited age group, as that means you can have more users on the platform and thus generate more advertisements.

See Facebook, instagram, snap chat, etc. All platforms that have some age restrictions, but also are designed so Little Billy and June can be on there along with Grandma and their teen brother Tommy, and mom and dad, etc.

All I know is that Tumblr is getting rid of any explicit content, but shouldn’t that be a good thing?

Okay to explain this. On the one hand certain explicit content needs to go, including things like cannibalism, extreme gore, etc. Because a lot of that shit is disturbing as hell. But on the other hand you have consenting adults that do have a right to look at art and pictures that are not safe for work.

The problem really comes down to a few things. First are the people in the video doing this of their own volition, and if not, then we’re looking at something that needs to be taken down as it would be seen as possibly blackmail porn and gather illegally. Secondly Users need to learn to actually check what they reblog and look into where the material is coming from. Just because a gif looks cool doesn’t mean that the people involved in that act are okay with it being put on the net.

It’s a good thing in a way because this means that people that have been stealing art and video from others that make money off this sort of art work and photograph, can at least now known that it’s gone off of one site, though many more still will put it up.

The problem is that people that do their own work and sell it on here are being kicked off and that means that they may have to go to more shady sites where people who are not as nice tend to hang out, which could mean some serious risks for them.

While I’m not for this whole thing. I do see both sides of the issue. Personally I don’t want to have to see video of someone jerking off if I’m not searching for it, and it suddenly showing up in the notes section. On the other hand if this is a way for someone who needs the money to create content that allows them to live and afford to have food, housing and other things that keep them healthy and safe, then that should be their right to do.

My feeling is that all artwork and the like should be behind a pay wall. And I know I’m gong to be yelled at for that, but hear me out. Artist need money to live, Sites need money to keep servers up and running. In order to keep kids and those that don’t want to see this sort of content from seeing it, honestly one of the most effective ways I can think of, is to create a pay system and create Sub area where you can have groups, and then include some sort of state or country id so that only adults can go into the adult oriented area.

It’s a good thing to be getting rid of the bots, and possibly cleaning up the issue of illegal porn and other things that could hurt not only the companies image, but also could lead to the victimization of those that are not doing this willingly. But it’s a bad thing for people who tend to make their living with art that isn’t safe to view in public.

As I said the best thing to do would be to create a pay system for those that want to view it, and have it free to everyone else. If you really want to see stuff, and help support the site and creators, then maybe it’s time to start paying and be willing to show you’re an adult.

Especially with all the annoying bots and such.

This is the sad thing. The bots will follow wherever people go. Pillowfort will get hit at some point too by these things because they will come and bother people. The reality is that there really is no way to escape them until there are regulations set in place that can be put out all over the world that stop sites like the bots and protect people that are trying to make money via their skills as an artist.

Thing is that in this day and age because people have grown up with the idea that “Everything on the net must be Free!” there’s this desire to fight against actually paying for services and we’re already seeing the down fall of that. I’m pointing to the recent outrage of people bemoaning that Ao3 asked for money to keep their servers up and running.

Personally I have mixed feelings about all of this. While I’m against censorship, I also feel that there needs to be a way for people who don’t want to see certain forms of art or the like to have that option as well. You have to strike a balance so that you can have a good community of people, and if it means either paying money or creating a second site for those that want to view this art, well then that’s what it should be.

Thing is, as Matpat said in his article 13 video, when things like this start up companies tend to pick to go after the smaller user base and use them as the main cause for change, because then it covers everything even the larger base. And I think a part of this may have to do with that upcoming issue.

We live in a global world now, and we can’t just think about one culture or the other anymore as separate things. Companies are seeing things as whole rather than singling things out, and thus the net users need to start thinking the same way.

Hope this all makes sense. there’s a lot more going on, but I’m trying to keep it easy to read.

#tumblr #discourse #situation at hand #future of the site

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lycorogue · 5 years

Text

Who Wants to Meet My OCs? (Part 2 - Gyateara)

First and foremost, I meant to have this whole series to be sort of churned out the same day/week as Part 1. Life.... didn’t let that happen. I then figured “okay, I’ll update the series every Sunday” and then yesterday came and went...

Regardless, from the NEXT POST onward, I’m aiming to update every Sunday. Now, back to the series itself.

Ever since at least November, I’ve wanted to do individual posts for each of my OCs so you could meet them all. Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and working on this massive project (we’ll ignore that I’m spending hours working on this instead of my ML fanfic.... >_>).

In Part 1, I gave a broad overview of this whole Meet My OCs series, as well as gave some generic IRL background to the two main worlds my OCs hail from:

1) Gyateara

2) Glitches

Well, in this part of the series, I’m going to stay IRL as I explain where each individual OC within the Gyateara universe came from. If this is interesting to you, feel free to check below the break.

If you’d rather just skip ahead to the character bios themselves, my first one about my Glitches character Willow should be up in two weeks (sorry for the wait).

If I’m talking about Gyateara characters, I should probably talk about the one that first birthed the world:

Amara Yori

Amara was my first-ever D&D character. I had known of the game for ages since my father used to play it frequently (and apparently roped my mother into at least running the monsters so she’d be included; ignoring that she’d rather not be included XD).

I really got interested in D&D when I was a teen and saw the gorgeously stylized covers for AD&D ver 3.5. My father had passed away before officially introducing me to the game (although we did used to play Dungeon all the time, so that was a start...), and none of my friends were going to touch that “nerd culture” with a 10ft pole, so I simply admired the books, but never actually played. Then I went to college and managed to Nerd Out.

Hubby (then boyfriend) offered to help me build my first-ever character, but in 2004 the D&D 3.5 expansions were so massive I had far too many choices to choose from.

So Hubby had me go through some of his extra minis, and let me pick out one that I really liked. With his help, I ended up with the 2003 version of the Wood Elf Skirmisher.

Based solely on this mini, I started building Amara.

Hubby suggested that I try out the Scout class for my first one, since I couldn’t choose between a Rogue, Ranger, or Druid, and Scout is sort of in between at least the Rogue and Ranger classes. For whatever reason - I can’t remember it now - I also decided I wanted to play a half-elf.

Upon reading the generic backstory description the D&D books had for the Scout class, I figured my character needed some sort of Tragic BackstoryTM that would explain her scouting skills. Things like trap finding and dismantling, masterful rope use skills, hiding and tracking skills, and connection to animals.

I was in a big The Vision of Escaflowne kick at the time - which shows up in a couple other characters’ backstories - and was fascinated with the history between Van Fanel’s parents. Van’s human father Goau stumbled upon Varie, a Draconian woman, in the woods one day. Draconians have the ability to manifest feathered wings which allow them flight. It was rare to see a Draconian, and her beauty - with her wings shimmering in the moonlight as she waded in a small pool of water - mesmerized Goau. He instantly fell in love and brought Varie home to be his wife. The duo seemed to love each other deeply. Amara’s parents, on the other hand....

I’ll get into more when I break down their actual bios, but I took the idea of “Human stumbles upon exotic non-human in the woods and instantly marries her” and twisted it slightly. Amara’s mother was very much emotionally, and possibly even physically (I haven’t confirmed this yet), abused by Amara’s father. Amara, being a half-elf, also had to deal with abuse at the hands of many of her fellow clansmen - both the human and the elven clans; pretty much exclusively because she was a “half-breed” (Yes, I was really into InuYasha then too).

As I kept building Amara, I kept adding more and more tragedy to her backstory. I do enjoy what I created, but, especially after reading a lot of posts here on Tumblr, I’m afraid her history is nothing but a giant knotted ball of cliches and tropes. For now, though, I’m running with it. Perhaps I can figure out work-arounds later....

I never did get to play more than a session or two with Amara before the game disbanded (which seems to be a repeat thing with my gaming group), but she still lives on in my mind, and eventually in Gyateara.

Natalie

As I mentioned above, The Vision of Escaflowne very much inspired me while I was working on the earliest bits of Gyateara. Therefore, Natalie is your basic Isekai protagonist.

For those who don’t know the term (I didn’t know an official genre term existed until about a year ago), Isekai refers to a subgenre of fantasy/speculative fiction where the main character is abruptly teleported from their world to a new one; usually one with a fantasy setting.

It’s a massive subgenre and includes most of the fantasy animes I’ve watched:

InuYasha

The Vision of Escaflowne

Fushigi Yuugi

The Devil is a Part-Timer

The Rise of the Shield-hero

The Saga of Tanya the Evil

The Familiar of Zero

How to NOT Summon a Demon Lord

Sword Art Online (technically)

.Hack//Sign (technically)

Digimon (first season, specifically)

Psyren (manga)

The list can go on, but that’s not the point of this post. Getting back to the actual point, I clearly enjoyed this genre without even realizing there was a term for it, and created my own Isekai story. Natalie is from our world, but is abruptly teleported to Gyateara’s main Northern Isle, where she must save the country from being destroyed by a power-hungry, put painfully charismatic, villain.

I had taken elements from Kagome (InuYasha), Hitomi (The Vision of Escaflowne), Miaka (Fushigi Yuugi), and I think I had Ariel (The Little Mermaid) in there as well at one point. She was - and still kind of is - just “Generic Isekai Female Protagonist”, which is one of the main reasons the story she was in failed so soon into NaNoWriMo back in... 2014, I think. Almost a solid decade after I started dreaming up her Isekai story. She definitely needs to go back to the drawing board a bit to be properly fleshed out.

Connor

He was from the same story as Natalie. Connor was a denizen of Gyateara’s Northern Isles, and became Natalie’s traveling companion as he helped her try to find a way home. Ya know, that old Isekai chestnut. I even leaned heavily into the cliche and had the two of them fall in love throughout their journey. Which would lead to a third-act twist of “Okay, we can defeat the villain, but then what? Could they stay together? Would Natalie stay on Gyateara? Will Connor instead try to go home to Earth with her?” Real original. I know. Add in that Connor was a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of a character. Grab a snack, this is going to take a minute...

Connor’s traits included:

The basic backstory and drive of the player character in the video game Fable, in which his father was killed, his mother and sister tortured (and presumed dead, only to be proven still alive and captured), his home village burnt down, and he was taken in by the local guild so the guild master could train Connor to become the hero the GM believed Connor was prophesied to be.

The half-demon traits of InuYasha (InuYasha), which transformed him into a sort of were-cat. His mother, a full-demon, could become a 15ft (4.57m) tall panther with split tails. Connor’s half-demon heritage was hidden from him, and he only transformed under extreme moments of stress.

Yes. The “love interest is the only one who can snap the protag back from a monstrous rage” trope was heavily evident throughout the story.

His overall look was inspired by Link (Legend of Zelda video game franchise). His basic fighting style - swordsmanship and expert archery - was a sort of tag-teamed “thieving” from Link as well as Van (The Vision of Escaflowne).

A highly resistant, and begrudging submission to become the Hero of Prophecy lifted off of Tamahome (Fushigi Yuugi).

I know he was much more influenced by Van from Escaflowne when I was first making him. I even used Van as a reference guide when I tried to create character head shots of him. I just can’t recall now what else I swiped from that character.

I feel like there are also other male anime/video game protags I swiped traits from, but I can’t recall them anymore. Regardless, I threw them in a blender, and poured out the mixture that became Connor.

Jolene Crisslebalm

Ah, the character whose last name I always have to look up, because I can’t recall how I spelled it. Good starting point, right?

I am a very reserved person. In particular, a very sexually reserved person. But I do enjoy sex, and I love the act of flirting, and the “thrill of the chase” when it comes to dating, so a part of me always wonders what I would be like if I had let go of my reservations and just enjoyed the carnal pleasures of life.

So, two characters in particular - Willow (from Glitches) and Jolene - are my exploration of that Path Not Traveled.

A friend of mine was hosting a D&D campaign via Roll20.net, and wondered if I wanted in. I hadn’t been involved in a D&D game in a year or so at that point, and I’ve enjoyed playing a couple of one-offs with him DMing, so I leapt at the chance to join. I had almost always played a form of Rogue class (hence the internet persona) in previous D&D campaigns, so I decided to stay the course, but with a twist I hadn’t tried before.

I wanted Jolene to be a sort of reluctant adventurer, preferring instead to be a cat burgler, but I also wanted that sexual/sensual exploration of character. So, she was a traveling prostitute (not exactly legal without proper ties to a brothel; much like a Sex Trade Guild sort of thing), but she also used her “alone time with clients” to scope out the place to see if it’s worth robbing.

Fast forward about 3 years, and I end up watching the first episode of the Freeform Marvel series Cloak and Dagger... where I saw Tandy doing the same thing, but roofying her targets instead of sleeping with them first... Great minds, and all that?

Eh, Jolene figures “might as well make money off of them before coming back and robbing the rest... less to carry later...”

In the end, while Jolene had an.... interesting run... and one I actually did enjoy role playing, even if it did leave me a bit frustrated afterwards (a good frustrated?)... Jolene just didn’t fit the world the DM created, nor did she fit in quite as well as I would have hoped with the other players.

They were all AMAZING players, by the way. Some of the best role players I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and such fantastic writers as well. BTW, we wrote out everything in the Roll20 chat log instead of verbally playing or using video-chat. I must admit, I was quite envious of their skills. It was just a tighter knit group, and I wasn’t able to feel out their play-style well enough to continue with the group. Eventually they all had to go their separate ways anyway when their schedules no longer lined up.

Still, I LOVED Jolene, and she was the D&D character I had the joy of running the longest, so she NEEDED to live on. She did, in my first NaNoWriMo “win”. I managed to hit those 50,000 words, but I still had about 3/5ths of her story to write.

See, while coming up with Jolene’s jaded attitude towards love and her pull towards a more hedonistic lifestyle, I went with the good old cliche of Heartbreak Was The Culprit. (With so many cliches in my character builds, is it a wonder why I just stick with fanfiction... the characters are already created...)

Jolene had her heart broken five times between the ages of 13 and 21. She was the type who fell quick into love, and fell HARD into it, and always felt intensely betrayed by her lovers when they left her. To be fair... they did routinely leave her for a woman of better social standing, or - in her youth - someone more willing to put out, or just straight up abandon her without so much as a farewell note. Eventually, she gave up on trying to find love, and joined a brothel, and then the thieves guild, and then headed out on her own from there.

The DM thought it unlikely that she was a prostitute for the better part of 5 years without a single pregnancy, so he rolled for it, and Jolene had one miscarriage, one still born, and one healthy child she gave up for adoption. I was not expecting to include that in her backstory, but it actually worked fairly well.

And all of that was the subject of my NaNo project: Lost Loves and Paramours. Jolene’s full biography leading up to the campaign: every man she fell in love with, every person she slept with, the one client who tried to murder her to avoid a scandal of his lust getting the better of him, the pain of her miscarry, the devastation of her stillborn, the heart break of giving up her surviving child, the struggles against a stalker, and her over-all YOLO attitude.

(Bitmoji is a beautiful thing...)

Well, second long post of this series is now complete. Next week, I’ll talk about the IRL inspiration for my Glitches characters. Thank you so much for indulging me on these epic ramblings.

#writing #LycoRogue writing #OCs #Meet My OCs #character creation #IRL character inspiration #writing process #cliches #long post #Gyateara #Amara Yori #Jolene Crisslebalm #Natalie #Connor #series post #2 of 17?#LycoRogue original

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loadoutlet812 · 3 years

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Time Clock 1

Time Clock 120v Not Digital

Reset Clock 1

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Electronic time clock

A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a device that records start and end times for hourly employees (or those on flexi-time) at a place of business.

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In mechanical time clocks, this was accomplished by inserting a heavy paper card, called a time card, into a slot on the time clock. When the time card hit a contact at the rear of the slot, the machine would print day and time information (a timestamp) on the card. One or more time cards could serve as a timesheet or provide the data to fill one. This allowed a timekeeper to have an official record of the hours an employee worked to calculate the pay owed an employee.

The terms Bundy clock, bundy clock, or just bundy(1) have been used in Australian English for time clocks. The term comes from brothers Willard and Harlow Bundy.

History(edit)

Origins(edit)

Early time clock, made by National Time Recorder Co. Ltd. of Blackfriars, London at Wookey Hole Caves museum

Bundy clock

An early and influential time clock, sometimes described as the first, was invented on November 20, 1888, by Willard Le Grand Bundy,(2) a jeweler in Auburn, New York. His patent of 1890(3) speaks of mechanical time recorders for workers in terms that suggest that earlier recorders already existed, but Bundy's had various improvements; for example, each worker had his own key. A year later his brother, Harlow Bundy, organized the Bundy Manufacturing Company,(4)(5) and began mass-producing time clocks.

In 1900, the time recording business of Bundy Manufacturing, along with two other time equipment businesses, was consolidated into the International Time Recording Company (ITR).(6)(7)(8)(9)

In 1911, ITR, Bundy Mfg., and two other companies were amalgamated (via stock acquisition), forming a fifth company, Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), which would later change its name to IBM.(10)

The Bundy clock (see image left) was used by Birmingham City Transport to ensure that bus drivers did not depart from outlying termini before the due time; now preserved at Walsall Arboretum.

Time Clock 120v Not Digital

In 1909, Halbert P. Gillette explained about the state of the art around time clocks in those days:

IBM time clock

Time clocks.—Such an appliance which may not, in general, be used in the field, but which is of immense value in the office and particularly in a shop, is the time clock. Various forms of time clocks are in common use, two types of which are illustrated. (The first) is a time card recorder, which is a clock so made that it will automatically stamp on a card inserted in a slot in the clock by the workman the time of his arrival and of his departure. The cards are made to hold a record covering the pay period and need no attention from a timekeeper or clerk until the termination of this period. Parallels network & wireless cards driver download for windows 10. The record of the men's time can then be compiled very readily by one who need not be a skilled mathematician or time clerk.

The time clock system has been developed very highly in shops for keeping track of time used in completing any job by workmen, but as this in a way is not in the realm of field cost keeping, it will not be entered into here.

Another form of time clock (..) has the numbers of the employees fixed on the outer edge of a disk or ring and a record is made by the employee who shifts a revolving arm and punches his number upon entering the office and leaving. The working up of employees' time then becomes simply a matter of computation from printed figures. These two types are made by the International Time Recording Co. of New York.(11)

An example of this other form of time clock, made by IBM, is pictured. The face shows employee numbers which would be dialed up by employees entering and leaving the factory. The day and time of entry and exit was punched onto cards inside the box.(12)

Mid 20th century(edit)

In 1958, IBM's Time Equipment Division was sold to the Simplex Time Recorder Company. However, in the United Kingdom ITR (a subsidiary of IBM United Kingdom Ltd.) was the subject of a management buy-out in 1963 and reverted to International Time Recorders. In 1982, International Time Recorders was acquired by Blick Industries of Swindon, England, who were themselves later absorbed by Stanley Security Systems.

The first punched-card system to be linked to a Z80 microprocessor was developed by Kronos Incorporated in the late 1970s and introduced as a product in 1979.(13)

Late 20th century(edit)

In the late 20th century, time clocks started to move away from the mechanical machines to computer-based, electronic time and attendance systems. The employee registers with the system by swiping a magnetic stripe card, scanning a barcode, bringing an RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag close to a reader, entering a number or using a biometric reader. These systems are much more advanced than the mechanical time clock: various reports can be generated, including on compliance with the European Working Time Directive, and a Bradford factor report. Employees can also use the system to request holidays, enter absence requests and view their worked hours. User interfaces can be personalized and offer robust self-service capabilities.

Electronic time clock machines are manufactured in many designs by companies in China and sold under various brand names in places around the world, with accompanying software to extract the data from a single time clock machine, or several machines, and process the data into reports. In most cases local suppliers offer technical support and in some cases installation services.

More recently, time clocks have started to adopt technology commonly seen in phones and tablets – called 'Smartclocks'. The 'state of the art' smartclocks come with multi-touch screens, full color displays, real time monitoring for problems, wireless networking and over the air updates. Some of the smartclocks use front-facing cameras to capture employee clock-ins to deter 'buddy clocking' or 'buddy punching', whereby one employee fraudulently records the time of another. This problem usually requires expensive biometric devices. With the increasing popularity of cloud-based software, some of the newer time clocks are built to work seamlessly with the cloud.(14)

Types(edit)

Basic time clock(edit)

A basic time clock will just stamp the date and time on a time card, similar to a parking validation machine. These will usually be activated by a button that a worker must press to stamp their card, or stamp upon full insertion. Some machines use punch hole cards instead of stamping, which can facilitate automated processing on machinery not capable of optical character recognition.

There are also variations based on manufacture and machine used, and whether the user wants to record weekly or monthly recordings. The time cards usually have the workdays, 'time in', and 'time out' areas marked on them so that employees can 'punch in' or 'punch out' in the correct place. The employee may be responsible for lining up the correct area of the card to be punched or stamped. Some time clocks feature a bell or signal relay to alert employees as to a certain time or break.(citation needed)

Fraudulent operation of time clocks can include overstamping, where one time is stamped over another, and buddy-punching, where one employee records time for another. In extreme cases, employees can use buddy-punching to skip entire days of work or accumulate additional overtime.

Self-calculating machines(edit)

Reset Clock 1

Contactless magnetic time clock card

Self-calculating machines are similar to basic time clocks. Nevertheless, at the end of each period the total time recorded is added up allowing for quicker processing by human resources or payroll. These machines sometimes have other functions such as automatic stamping, dual-colour printing, and automated column shift.(citation needed)

Software based time and attendance systems are similar to paper-based systems, but they rely on computers and check-in terminals. They are backed up with software that can be integrated with the human resources department and in some cases payroll software. https://loadoutlet812.tumblr.com/post/657433190171017216/download-sealevel-port-devices-driver. These types of systems are becoming more popular but due to high initial costs they are usually only adopted by large business of over 30 employees. Despite this they can save a business a lot of money every year by cutting down errors and reducing administration time.(15)(citation needed)

Mobile time tracking(edit)

With the mass market proliferation of mobile devices (smart phones, handheld devices), new types of self-calculating time tracking systems have been invented which allow a mobile workforce – such as painting companies or construction companies - to track employees 'on' and 'off' hours. This is generally accomplished through either a mobile application, or an IVR based phone call in system. Using a mobile device allows enterprises to better validate that their employees or suppliers are physically 'clocking in' at a specific location using the GPS functionality of a mobile phone for extra validation.

Biometrics(edit)

Biometric time clocks are a feature of more advanced time and attendance systems. Rather than using a key, code or chip to identify the user, they rely on a unique attribute of the user, such as a hand print, finger print, finger vein, palm vein, facial recognition, iris or retina. The user will have their attribute scanned into the system. Biometric readers are often used in conjunction with an access control system, granting the user access to a building, and at the same time clocking them in recording the time and date. These systems also attempt to cut down on fraud such as 'buddy clocking.' When combined with an access control system they can help prevent other types of fraud such as 'ghost employees', where additional identities are added to payroll but don't exist.