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iren-n-ire · 8 months

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Astrology Observation 14

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🚩 Take note that I'm not a professional astrologer, I just share what I experienced (or observed).

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Neptune in the third house can communicate to spirits, a medium or they wanna try it because it's intriguing to them.

Neptunian Aquarius talks about astrology (or writes about it like me right now lol) all the time, anything supernatural or occult. I also see this as a believer of the two sides which one of the reasons' people's beliefs are split: Science vs. Religion, aquarius are connected to the Field of Science. In short, they are 50% on both sides and sometimes it causes a chaos because we all know duality comes with a price too, below will be a bonus if the native is into occult or divination:

Neptunian Aquarius in the third house always thinks about the future and fantasizes about it. This screams a huge psychic placement. Siblings have psychic skills too and it runs in the generation of their family (Pisces in fourth house). Their neighbors experience supernatural or doing things related to it and the same goes to the native because their Pisces in the fourth house

Aquarius in the third house talks and thinks logically, after all it's an air sign. Even if the native has water placements, they still prefer the logical side (like me lol) which shows that they convert their feelings into something a else: intellectualizing, hypothesizing etc., like a genius would do🤣)

Since their Libra is in the 11th house, most of their friends may be girls or has dominant feminine energy. Again, it's an air sign which denotes that their friends maybe logical, mbti has STJ, active love life, and their friends may fall in love with them?

I have a Leo Sun friend who had a past crush on me

Uranus in the fourth house native rebels against traditional stuffs, they will call out the dirty things of the tradition of or about families such as women doing housework, men not performing home chores because they're men, and

This is nothing special because it's already obvious but Pisces or Neptune in the third or fourth house can have Pisces siblings

I have 2 Pisces Sun siblings, (I'm a Neptune in 3h Aquarius native, Uranian Pisces in 4th: Tropical)

Jupiter in the seventh house have so many crushes or people are crushing on them, they may have multiple exes too; popular people even if they keep a low-key profile

Capricorn in the second house are the provider type in the family and in their other relationships, a living maneuver. Another indicator if their saturn is in the eighth house because they may also want to manage other people's money: Gift giving and acts of service is definitely their love language.

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#astrology #ire #astro observations #astrology observations #iren #astro placements #iren n ire #astro community #neptune #pisces #aquarius

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xvxnux · 1 year

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` ♡ ~ your life in 2k23 + future spouse bonus ~ `

` pic one ,

definitely your life in 2023 will be full of wishes fulfilled. your manifestations being heard and you'll find many reasons and signs to keep believing and working with your manifestation to get everything you want. you'll discover a new mediumship skill and your mediumship was inherited from past lives (when that time comes you may have dreams about your past life and understand some things from your current life). new friends, new trips and great moments with the family, each manifestacion of yours will be a wish fulfilled and each wish fulfilled will be a reason and joy to continue living in a dignified way. i see you with money and knowing how to manage it (if you are not organized with finances, i advise you to find out more about personal finance). i don't see you being focused on your love life, and if you are, you won't be. that doesn't mean you won't have any relationship!

♡ bonus: anything about your fs

i see you might meet your fs in 2023, it’s a possibility. you may also discover that this person lives outside your city or country (probably another country or may be from your city but lives in another country), you have different routines. i see that you and this person are different from each other, yng yang… oil and wine. you have a very strong personality and can be impulsive, your person can be older or more mature than you. you’ll get along very well, your person will fall in love first. you can be reactive about your fs in the beginning, you have a free spirit than your fs and that will be one thing your fs will admire about you! your fs will be very protective of you, at times when you feel protected by that person i see that you can get emotional…. (daddy issues?). will be a patient person with you! you give me the vibe that you’re a bit rebellious and don’t accept opposing opinions very well, for you right is right and your sense of justice is huge and because of that you can go against anyone and go over anything that believe. but this with your impulsiveness can make you get hurt with people since you don’t know how to choose your fights, and you will have moments like that with your fs and your person will help you to think more before you act and know how to analyze the causes you assume.

` pic two ,

in 2k23 i see you assuming a new posture of yourself and also releasing the true essence that is inside you but that for some reason you imprison. this new year you can decide to cut bad people out of your life and also refuse to forgive someone who acted badly with you. maybe it’s common that you donate so much to help others and that may have hurt you, but you won’t allow it anymore and you won’t put the needs of others above yours. you will be happier with your self-esteem, you will feel lighter and willing to live and experience new things. it will also take advantage of opportunities more and will go after every other opportunity it can. you will do things your way and you will have more freedom and everything that you miss and hurts will no longer be part of your thoughts and feelings in 2023.

♡ bonus: anything about your fs

in 2k23 you’ll still be looking to know more about your fs, i see that if you feel curious to know about your fs you’ll stay curious. but it’s not all bad, you tend to dream about your person in 2023 and you can be bombarded with signs and dreams about it. 2024 will be an important year about your fs for you, in 2023 you’ll receive information through signs about your person and it may be like this until 2024, which is where i see things happening because in 2024 you’ll have important and decisive information in your hands and will looking for answers and that’s where you can find that person. for now try to balance and rationalize more about this, receive the information > follow your intuition > trust.

#pick a card #pick a pile #tarotblr #tarotcommunity #future spouse reading #intuitive

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mcromwell · 5 months

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Ayo! New follower here. I love your art and your mind set of just messing around to make cool stuff. but I’ve also seen you love been to at least one convention (I didn’t scroll far enough to see more about conventions) and I wanted to ask. How you did it? I really enjoy making art and I would love to make it a career so this boils down to :

how did you do it? And how can I do it too?

not just like first steps but what happens after that? I’m young enough that if this doesn’t work out I have plenty of time to look into other careers before worrying about paying for rent or necessities with money from my future occupation. I know that everyone’s experience is different but I still hoping you can give me a somewhat clear answer.

thank you for inspiring me

(sorry this ask was so long)

Hello there! Thank you for your message.

These questions are large and hard to answer. Being more specific in your questions helps. "How I did it" is very... large in scope. That question could be answered just by saying, "I did it by never wanting anything else and never losing sight of my goal." But that doesn't help you much. So I'll just try to touch on some key points and contexts.

I'm 32. Only in the last couple years has my practice been enough to make a living doing it. I've always wanted this and literally everything I've done in my life has been to get here. I've worked two jobs my entire working life (age 19-now): retail/customer service and art stuff on the side. Because of the pandemic, I got double unemployment and stimulus checks, which became my initial investment into merch and savings safety net to get started. I started therapy to address my fears of asking for help, my negative self-talk, and catastrophic thinking. (Therapy has helped me with my art so much.) Then I was laid off for real in 2020 and hit the ground running with art. I split rent with roommates, I live very very cheaply, and art is my passion. If art for a living is what you want to do and you're happy to make lots of concessions to get it, this career works. It takes a while to get momentum and regular sales/attention-- just don't quit. The more stuff you do the more people will recognize you and like your work.

It would be dishonest to not address my privilege here, too. My parents have always emotionally supported my practice, my friends too, and I got to go to art school with no debt. I did outside of school art mentorships. My art education experiences taught me a lot of art techniques and self-employed skills and that only happened due to the support of my folks. I had resources a lot of people don't. (Which is why I want to help new artists learn this stuff as much as I can; not everyone is as lucky as I am.)

My advice for you if you want to do what I do, which is being self-employed making and selling art and art merchandise for a living:

Get used to making concessions right at first. Your art career will probably not start out gangbusters, so get used to low sales and saving money and working hard. Make things within your means and grow from there.

Fuck around and find out. Try making merch, try making videos, try things you see other artists doing, try everything and see if it works for how you like to make stuff. I learn so much from YouTube, to be totally honest. Artists are good sharers.

Follow a shit ton of artists and see what works for them. Join artist groups and ask thoughtful, specific questions to learn from those already doing it.

Learn how to write about your art. Write about why you make it. It helps make it more compelling to others. "How to Sell Your Art Online" by Cory Huff is a good book to read for tips on this.

Develop a healthy relationship with art-making. If you sit down at a blank page and it terrifies you: address that first. Don't try to start a business if you're still struggling with making art regularly.

In fact, don't start a business until you're really ready. Art comes first. You can easily do art and build skills and do commissions and run an online shop along with working a job that pays bills reliably while you grow into the artist you're meant to be.

Don't pigeon-hole yourself into only one channel: don't JUST apply to cons, try street fairs too. Don't JUST sell online, get your work into cafes as well. You'll see which routes are more profitable/worth the time as you try them out. Eggs in many baskets, you know.

There's probably a whole essay I could write on this. And you're right--mileage varies between person to person vastly. The part of the world you live in, your access to transportation, education, your mental health, what type of work you like to make, etc. Art careers almost never look the same 1:1 even in fandom spaces like furry/anime. If you're self-made, it will reflect that.

I recommend the YouTube channels Rafi Was Here, Robin Sealark, Cat Graffam, and the website The Abundant Artist (again by Cory Huff) for more resources.

Don't be afraid to take leaps of faith. Try everything. Be true to what works for you and what doesn't feel sustainable. Be authentic with your art and stay true to your interests. And good luck.

#art career #freelance artist #independent artist #art job #self employed #art

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 1 month

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My friends it is time again to talk about colleges.

It breaks my heart every year to see people pushing themselves to mental health crisis as they worry about their academic status, their future, their career…at just 21.

Listen, do not choose a college based on prestige.

The days of getting a good paying job because you have a fancy college name on your resume are over.

All that is going to get you is a massive amount of debt and no better off than the guy down the road that got the same job because their dad knew a guy.

At 21, there is a very very small chance you are choosing your forever job. At 25 there is a very very small chance you are choosing your forever career. At 30 there is a very small chance you are deciding the path for the rest of your life.

I've met people that didn't find out what they wanted to be when they grew up until they were in their 50s. My own mother didn't discover she loved working as a teacher's aid for a preschool until she was 50.

Your goal on this earth is to find something that speaks to you and that you can be happy about. If this means you jump jobs constantly, as long as you aren't living in a ditch somewhere starving and sick, then jump those jobs.

What is job jumping getting you? Experience.

You are learning new skills everywhere you go and with everything you do. You are finding out the things you are willing to tolerate, the things you flat out hate, and the things you love to do.

Honestly, the same goes to college.

Junior college, community college, and trade schools are all laughed at in the Big League schools. But the people that are doing the laughing at the ones that come from well off families with too much money and a deep unhappiness.

Do you have an unsettling love for watches? Go learn how they are made. Does this mean you are going to be a watch maker? No. It means you now know how they are made and possibly a cool hobby.

Ever wondered about how to repair a bus? Go to trade school and take an auto mechanics class. You might find out you love the satisfaction of taking a burnt out old car and getting it running again.

A good friend was in a very prestigious school on her way to becoming a doctor because she thought it was expected of her and she thought she needed a job that would pay well to be happy.

At night she would go to drag races and watch NASCAR while relaxing.

After a massive break down, she jumped ship and went to NASCAR school and learned how to be a mechanic. She got a steady job at a garage, met the love of her life, got married, and now has a daughter and two dogs. I've never seen her so happy.

I can't stress enough how much your current suffering about failing out of a class is not going to matter in the long run.

Sixty year old you is watching you fail English begging and pleading with you to stop torturing yourself and stop wasting the years of your life where you have the opportunity to do things that you will love.

Oh, but what about the experiences and dorm rooms and frat parties and clubs and all the friends I could be making at the big colleges?

I hate to tell you this, but.... You can do all that any time anywhere. Community colleges have club. There are groups and conventions and clubs in the adult world too. There are parties all over if that's your jam. You can go clubbing.

I have yet to meet someone that got anything out of their college time that was worth while that says they miss the frat parties. If you want to go to college just for the party, then by all means get into super debt and go party.

#college life #Life advice #Things to know about college #School stress #You don't even have to go to college to enjoy life #Drop out and find something you love #Stop crying over degrees

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katiifaetarot · 4 months

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Hello friends, beings, and starlights! Im new to the tarot community (at least on this specific platform) and would like to help guide, give honest/TRUTHFUL advice, and be a safe space for anyone+everyone who feels safe here! 🧚🏽‍♀️✨️

My goals/intentions are always to help others through my experience, to teach/guide/EMPOWER them to work on themselves, and encourage them to find the strength, courage, discipline, and honest wisdom within themselves, without looking for outside validation! From anyone OR anything!

** I AM NOT A MEDICAL OR HEALTH PROFESSIONAL; PLEASE USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT AND DISCERNMENT TO DETERMINE IF YOU NEED OR WANT TO SEEK PROPER HELP OR TREATMENTS FOR YOURSELF OUTSIDE OF TUMBLR OR SOCIAL MEDIA!!

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My reading today is messages from The Spirit Animal YOU Choose!

It'll most definitely fall under the category of 'what you need to hear right now' so sorry for the generic and short reading today, Im feeling under the weather (×_×)

There are 4 piles and you will be picking through the Spirit Animal Card in the picture right below this text.

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✨️🧚🏽‍♀️please choose your pile and may your intuition and inner knowing guide you to the pile with the energy most suited for you and most suited to help you along your path at this current point in time, no matter what that looks like🧚🏽‍♀️✨️

PILE 1- DRAGONFLY

PILE 2- CASSOWARY

PILE 3- BAT

PILE 4- CROW

** sometimes ( most of the time ) i will pick up on multiple energies that need attention or want to be expressed during the reading so i ASK YOU TO UNDERSTAND THIS DURING THOSE TYPES OF READINGS:

depending on how the reader(YOU) chooses to look at the situation or however the situation resonates for the reader(YOU) and because this is a general reading;

⚠️you HAVE to be able to use your better discernment + better judgement skills to fully absorb the message and be able to do the necessary work to keep you on track for the future you WANT for yourself⚠️

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OKAY PILE 1:

You need to get rid of any illusion surrounding your perceptions, viewpoints, belief-systems, certain ways you may move through life, people in your life, situations around money, etc--

the only thing holding you back is yourself. But your soul / faith / HIGHER SELF!!! want you to grow, transform, rebirth yourself into an authentic version of yourself! Trust yourself and trust that whatever illusions fall away, a new, better, AUTHENTIC truth will takes its place.

try doing something new to help broaden your viewpoints or open your mind to something you never knew you liked!!

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OKAY PILE 2:

Respect yourself. 🎵"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, tell you what it means to me"🎵

You're being asked to take a look inside of your mind and ask yourself: 'Am i cultivating a safe space within myself?'

Negative self talk will ruin any chances of you standing up on your own 2 feet. Let go of the TOO critical, inner critic.

Dont let yourself disrespect YOU! because you're signaling to anyone around you, that they can disrespect you too.

Build better habits around the self talk inside of you and you will be able to cultivate better boundaries with YOURSELF! and others around you!

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OKAY PILE 3:

LET THOSE FOUNDATIONS CRUMBLE, LET THOSE PEOPLE LEAVE, LET EVERYTHING BECOME BRAND NEW AGAIN SO YOU CAN GET THE LIFE YOU DESERVE!!

Its okay that change has left you barren, left you empty, left you a shell of yourself.

This is the first step to becoming a better version of yourself, so long as you dont fall into negative patterns again.

You have the chance to change your circumstances right now by fully releasing your past, even the past versions of yourself.

Journal and Mourn what you need too.....but continue forward and start cultivating a stronger sense of self!!

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OKAY PILE 4:

"Treat others as you would like to be treated, NEVER expect others to do what YOU should do yourself, and NEVER act in ways that may cause harm to another"

-an excerpt from the animal dreaming oracle guidebook by Scott Alexander King

There might some decision(s) you are mulling over and its making you recognize how important CHOICES really are.

You've maybe been leading all your life by other peoples: values, morals, beliefs,perspectives, feelings, thoughts, actions, etc- WITHOUT figuring out if that is what resonates with you internally.

Its time to reconnect with yourself or a faith.....in away that feels more authentic, truthful, and positive. So YOU move through life how YOU deserve and WANT TOO!!

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I sincerely hope you received what you needed and released what you don't !! See you again soon!! Take it easyyy and just breathe and fllooowwww!!! you got this! byyeee~🧚🏽‍♀️✨️

**please let me know how I'm doing in any way you can! that is the easiest way to support me and also a good way to signal to me that I should keep going + any helpful advice from the community would be welcomed and appreciated because i've been off tumblr for about 5years+ now and its all different n' shizz 🥺 🥹 🙏🏼

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⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

**ONCE AGAIN, I AM NOT A MEDICAL OR HEALTH PROFESSIONAL; PLEASE USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT AND DISCERNMENT TO DETERMINE IF YOU NEED OR WANT TO SEEK PROPER HELP OR TREATMENTS FOR YOURSELF OUTSIDE OF TUMBLR OR SOCIAL MEDIA!!

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

#tarot blog #tarot reading #tarotcommunity #tarotonline #witch aesthetic #pick a card #pick a pile #tarot journal #pac #spirituality #spirit animal #animal oracle #oracle messages

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xiaq · 1 year

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(this can be answered publicly) Hey X, pardon me if you’ve answered this before, but I was just curious on how you ended up transitioning from academia to tech and what role you started with in tech? Also, so you have any advice for someone looking to break into tech from a non-STEM background? Thank you!

Hey! I haven't answered it publicly but it's a popular question, so I will now (warning, long answer is long).

So I was so fed up with academia for sundry reasons I won't get into here but I wanted a career that would allow me to A. retire some day (something that paid generally well), B. would allow me some measure of work/life balance without high stress, and C. Would ideally let me use my communication/writing/speaking/presenting skills in some way.

My parents and my partner all work in tech and were like, "did you know that we desperately need people with your skillsets in the tech world?" and my partner, who works in technical sales was like, "You would kill at my job, I am not lying." And I was like, every job listing in technical sales that I see requires either a degree I don't have or past experience I don't have, or both, and my mother was like "Do you know how many mediocre resumes from unqualified men come across my desk? Apply for the damn positions anyway." So I reworked my resume to focus on applicable skills/experiences and wrote a cover letter for each position I applied to saying "hey, I know I'm an odd candidate but let me tell you why that's a good thing." And I got a lot of positive responses!

I was interviewing at 2 different tech places when I accepted the offer for my job now. I had an initial screening call interview with HR, then a zoom interview with the hiring manager, and then I was given access to a limited demo environment and had a week to teach myself the software and put together a demo for a fake customer which I did for the hiring manager (my future boss), one of my current peers, and the VP of the org. I was offered the job the same night I did my fake demo. So in total it was a 2 week interview process, and I started working 2 weeks later. **

I'm a pre-sales solutions consultant, which basically means I'm paired with a sales guy who does all the money and business value talk with customers, while I get to learn about a customer's data problems and then demo for them how our products can address those problems.

The learning curve was (and still is) steep. But it was basically like going back to school, and I've always loved learning new things. The job is super fun. It fulfills all of my wants I listed above with the added bonus of being completely remote (aside from occasional travel to meet with customers for in-person demos). The people I work with are supportive, management is communicative and constantly giving me feedback/talking about my trajectory. I've won internal awards, already received two raises and one promotion and I haven't even been there a year. I'm making more than double what I did as a professor and the concept of retirement doesn't feel like a laughable pipe dream anymore. I miss teaching a lot, but I'm healthier, happier, and better prepared for the future now. And my work is genuinely fulfiling because I'm showing people how they can fix problems. Also, playing with data management software and putting together custom demos is neat. It's like all the best parts of a college project--research, making a preso, knocking everyone's socks off while giving the preso, but I'm getting paid for it. I'm glad I followed my mom's advice.

So I guess my advice is the same as hers: even if you're not "qualified," apply for the position anyway. Make custom cover letters for each position and if there's not a way to include the letter with the app, do some googling and find the hiring manager on LinkedIn and message/email them. The person who hired me said that my cover letter was what got me the initial interview. So that shit works. If you have friends or family working somewhere with open positions, use those connections. Having an internal referral will go a long way to getting your resume looked at. I know we're all like, boo nepo babies, but networking is a huge part of any industry. Use it to your advantage if you have the advantage (no, I'm not working for my parent's companies, but if there'd been an open position I was interested in, I would have applied for it. No shame).

**I also, on the side, applied for the Austin Fire Department because why not. After a whole lot of mental and physical prep, I was accepted to the academy (in the first class, no less, holla) right before I was offered my current job. But I had to be realistic and say that probably wasn't a good long-term career option for someone who is 110lbs and was barely meeting the physical testing requirements who also has issues with getting overwhelmed in high-input sensory situations. So. Into the tech world I went. This side note just to say, I was keeping my options very open and there's nothing wrong with that either, lol.

I hope this helps!

#answered asks #tech world things #academia #tech #career things #x abandons her dream career so that she might retain a modicum of sanity #i don't remember using that tag but I love that it was suggested to me #because yes exactly #mylife

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saintmeghanmarkle · 1 month

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The biggest man-child man of all. by u/ComprehensiveShape64

The biggest man-child man of all. Seeing photos of our Saint at the Greycroft networking thing got me thinking...How much must it suck to be married to the world’s biggest man-child? To give Nutmeg her due at least she is scurrying around trying to make shit happen, coming up with “business ideas”, going to weird meetings, hiring (and trying to hire) new staff, networking with the few people who haven’t peeled off her veneer of “wonderfulness” to reveal the narcissistic decay in her soul. Her jam plans are totally cray-cray & doomed to failure, but wtf is Hawwy doing to pull in the bucks? He is a giant man-child who‘s previous earning experience consisted of asking his Dad for money. He hasn’t got a clue how the real world works and neither the skill nor the education to make a reliable income happen. His whole life has consisted of people telling him what to do - schooling, army, Royal events - he has never had to think for, nor fend for, himself. He’s never had to earn enough money to fill his car or go to the supermarket, let alone support his family like a real father and life partner. He just doesn’t have the life skills to get by in the real world, they are outside his paradigm.We are not seeing H out there hustling for income are we? It’s all very well roping your friends in to do a doco about polo and Sentebale, but it is not going to be a big income channel is it? So far all we have seen is H cashing in on his previous life experiences- his family, Invictus, polo, and now, in 5 years, he has run out of past experiences to sell. We haven’t seen him moving forward in any meaningful way to create a reliable future income, all we see is Megs paddling her flippers frantically trying to make fetch happen. In the real world if a family was stretched financially then the nannies, the gardeners, the drivers would all be let go and the non-working partner would be filling those roles. Superfluous home expenses would be pared right back. In my younger, stupider days I’ve lived with a couple of man-child types, sucking off my earning capacity whilst they played video games and smoked pot, it sucks and it gets old really quick. I could write a novel about why I let that happen but I guess that it all boils down to poor self esteem.Respect is one of the most important things in any relationship and if one partner is not pulling their weight then the Titanic springs to mind. Nutmeg must be tearing her extensions out. I wonder if she has buyer’s regret? He looked so pretty on paper but if Megs was looking for a man to shower her with money and glamour then the reality of nursemaiding a giant drug addled man-child must bite. If she wasn’t so abhorrent I might even have some sympathy for her. post link: https://ift.tt/tuIwQRc author: ComprehensiveShape64 submitted: May 06, 2024 at 02:00AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

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ashesandhackles · 11 months

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Beyond the Veil (masterpost)

Co-written with @thedreamermusing

Sirius Black/Severus Snape. 97k.

A canon-divergent rewrite of Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows that follows the relationship between Sirius Black and Severus Snape. Think of it as mine and Dreamer's character study with romance.

Our list of chapters (and tiny previews where you can see we have experimented with multiple POVs) under the cut! Also a Snape and Lily prequel written by @thedreamermusing here: January 30th, 1975 (Happy Birthday Lily)

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Time was a standstill in these long hallways and empty rooms, full of memories that ticked under his skin like a pulse under a livid bruise.

Chapter 2 - changing perceptions

He was tempted to laugh, laugh like a maniac, at the absurdity, the injustice, out of grief--let out all his curled up emotions in a big hearty laugh. But then again, that hadn't worked out so well for him 15 years ago.

Chapter 3 - 12 Grimmauld Place meets Spinner's End

What Pettigrew lacked in skill; he made up for in malice. This seemingly pusillanimous creature hid within him a rusty sword whose efficiency lay not in the sharpness of the blade, but in the unnoticed poison of the rust.

Chapter 4- Enemy of my Enemy

"I brought him here because I finally see the advantages of being brawny rather than brainy," Snape smirked.

Chapter 5 - The Prince and Padfoot

"You disgust me.” rang over and over in his head like a church bell, a judgement in a confessional, a whisper that haunted his ears when he dreamed and lay awake, sometimes unable to tell the difference.

Chapter 6 - Monsters and Old School Friends

His wildness hung over him like an aura of a predator. Long-limbed, lax, but there was danger bubbling within him, an inexplicable ferocity that filled the air around him. How could anyone else not see that monster?

Chapter 7 - Circular Path

When Severus saw it for the first time, he was amazed. It was an answer to a question he had all his life, a representation of what could be built if he just reached out for the future and grabbed it with greedy hands. Now, as Narcissa opened the door with a stone face belied by the terror in her eyes, he was able to see the Manor for what it really was--a mouldering dump of pureblood affectations that concealed its decay as well as Grimmauld Place accentuated it.

Chapter 8 - Tale of Two Black Stars

Severus had known all along how to see who held the room. It was ingrained in him since he was a child. In Spinner's End, it was his father. A looming presence of overbearing violence that his mother, his magical mother, cowered against. He noticed it again in the playground - where Lily flew in air, in a burst of extraordinarily controlled magic.

Chapter 9 - The Wounds of Men

He did not know where their sudden leap of faith for the ferret came from ( “C’mon mate, I know Malfoy is a git but Death Eater is serious business!” ), but it made him feel stupid and ridiculous--it was almost as if he was back at Aunt Petunia’s, listening to her sweet talk the neighbours about Harry’s delinquency. ( “He told you he sleeps under a cupboard? A nasty, nasty lie! But the poor dear has got no one else; his parents didn’t leave us any money as well. It’s been such a strain on our finances…”

Chapter 10 - By The Light of The Full Moon

The first week at Azkaban was truly horrendous. Peter valued his mind - it was his best weapon and it helped him fade into the background. Losing the ability to think clearly, unable to tell dreams and memories apart; it was a sensation that terrified him. It felt like getting sucked into the quicksand of his resentment and anger and guilt that he kept at bay. He didn’t want to feel it. What use were those emotions, if they failed to help him survive?

Chapter 11 - Face Death in Hope

Death, Pain - all unavoidable things. Things he had to play with - in hope that one day, he would be able to expiate what he was carrying. He would not live to see it, he was sure. But he could hope. The only relief he had is that he would not die by his - Gellert’s- hand. “I am the only one who should be allowed to kill you,” he had said, a declaration, a threat - he wasn’t sure. “It is me that keeps you alive.”

Chapter 12 - Who Are You?

He was a son of the House of Malfoy, a noble house, one of the sacred 28, whose line went back generations. Their legacy was set in stone, the purity of their blood unquestioned. It infuriated him that nobody recognised that--that Potter, with his filthy mixed blood and mudblood mother--didn’t recognise that. And now, it had become so much worse. His father was a laughingstock. His mother looked pale and frightened all the time. It was up to him to bring things back to normal.

Chapter 13 - The Last Enemy (Part 1)

There were so many things that he thought were forgotten, so many memories whose life and colour had been drained away by grief and Azkaban. But standing here in the square, it was clear that they had always been there. He had felt something similar after walking into the doors of Grimmauld Place for the first time, but the only memories rising to surface there were of misery long-replaced. Here, every bit of youthful joy and love rose and flickered through his mind like stained-glass colours through snow, and every unremarkable step they had ever made on the square seemed precious in a fragile kind of way.

Chapter 14 - Shedding the Maker's Skin

“Lyall Lupin,” Fenrir said, smiling at the infinitesimal jerk Remus’ body gave. “I knew you came from money, boy. You’re his son, aren’t you?”

Remus went cold.

“Soulless, evil and deserving of nothing but death,” Fenrir quoted. “That is what he believes.”

A rage Remus had never felt before was travelling up his spine, fossilising hatred into the marrow of his bones.

Chapter 15 - Ozymandias

Once upon a time, Voldemort had looked at Snape and seen a mirror, a broken mirror of course, because Severus did not have even a shadow of his charisma, charm, looks, or skill. But even so, when Severus had come to him, an angry, profoundly gifted young half-blood brewing with hatred over his Muggle heritage, he had been so hopeful at his promise. They had both seemed to view the world in the same way; they both understood that magic was where power lay. Magic had made Voldemort immortal and then mortal again. They both respected it in a way nobody else did, and Voldemort had thought he found someone who could equal Bellatrix’s esteem.

But Severus’s weakness had been disgustingly banal. To think that it was lust of all things to claim him, and lust for a plain Mudblood at that. And now, it was the same, only for Lucius’s dullard of a wife.

Chapter 16 - In Noctem (Carry My Soul)

The idea of it makes me feel ill. He is no longer whole; his soul is distorted. He is no better than those vile creatures that guard Azkaban. He intended to murder Kreacher, who has been serving our family for generations. Our family, whose blood is pure and unbroken, has been used to destroy the soul of a magical being. It has become clear to me now. This monster will ruin us all more than any mudblood ever will.

Chapter 17 - Wings to the Kingdom

Until the time Death claims me, let the moth sing to your bones: I loved you since I saw you. I loved you when I hated you. I loved you when you betrayed us. I loved you when you destroyed me.

Yours, Gellert.

Chapter 18 - The Last Enemy (Part 2)

The window brought in a draft of salt as Remus cut up chicken for the Order lunch. Tonks was just beside him, mashing the potatoes with zeal, her arm brushing up against his own on occasion. He felt embarrassed, it was ridiculous the degree to which any proximity to her affected him. It was the isolation of the cottage, he thought, that seemed to keep them away from the dark cloud hovering above them. It was the rhythm of the sea, a comforting lullaby of a different world, a different life.

Chapter 19 - A Lament in the Ashes

Where is my golden palace? Where is my ivory bed? Where is the joy of my morning hour? Where the Sons of Eternity are singing, Draco thumbed through the book from the shelves in the bedroom. Years ago, he would have scoffed at the idea of perusing a book of poetry written by a Muggle.

Chapter 20 - Epilogue

“It must be nice,” he said. “To start again every time you die. You can make as many mistakes as you want and be reborn from them.”

Fawkes trilled. The corner of Serverus’s mouth lifted.

#beyond the veil #sirius black/severus snape #sirius black x severus snape #severus snape #sirius black #hp snack #snirius #final promo post on this fic i swear!#we are just really proud of finishing it #starprince #hp fanfic #harry potter fanfic

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cowboyjen68 · 2 years

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Hi Jen,

As a queer person in my 20’s I had been feeling like LGBT+ acceptance was growing through my lifetime, and that things would continue to get better, but the way hateful/violent homophobic and transphobic rhetoric have become so politically mainstream again in such a short time is extremely frightening. I’m sure it concerns you too so if you need to ignore this ask for peace of mind, I understand. But if you can talk about it, do you think there’s hope? How does it look from your perspective as someone who lived through harder times? I feel like LGBT+ support is so much more broad now, and we’re more visible in popular culture and even some public offices that it can all only be rolled back so far, but I’m truly scared. Thanks, and be well.

I again apologize for the delay and this answer comes at a weird time since the Club Q shooting is less than a week ago.

I honestly am not sure my generation experienced harder times in some ways. Just different ways. We didn't have much legal protection such as the right to same sex marriage or civil rights to housing or employment. Many states had laws making homosexuality illegal although the laws punished "acts" more than the actual same sex attraction which was just a sneaky way to keep us in line.

The laws are not in as much danger as the right and left want us to think. But when we are panicked they make more money. Not that there aren't reasons to be concerned and we certainly don't want to sit back on our laurels and think there is no threat. From experience the far edges of the political extremes are working very hard to convince us all that no one can possibly come together on anything and the divide is so great there is nothing in the middle. MOST of us fall in the middle because we are just trying to keep our family safe and fed and pay our bills without the governement in our bedroom.

Now it is not so much about fighting laws on the books but about keeping shitty laws from being added. Similar shit, different times.

This next part is from my experience and STRICTLY my opinion since I am not a political analyst nor a professional activist A little of my background: I was very active in the AIDs ACT Up movement, in producing Prides and other events locally AND In organizing trips of local LGBT people to attend larger events like Stonewall 25 and the early 1990's March on Washington. I also have consistently created small lesbian gatherings and enouraged lesbians to form intergenerational friend and mentor groups either privately or at existing festvials and venues. I was in Stonewall Democrats (a delegate for Obama) and the Affirmitive Action Chair for my County Dems for many years. I have been around the activism and political block a few times.

I can’t see the future but I can assure you we have see rough times as a community and will continue to see them but we always seem to get our shit together enough to focus energy and effort on making change. Life and politics are a cycle and history shows that. Nothing is ever a guarantee for all times. All of us live in a world where rights are always subject to threat. That is just reality. My best advice is do what you can with where you are and what you are able. We can’t all lead big protests and we can’t even all vote (age, previous felonies, mobility etc) but we all can do something.

What brings me the most joy, fulfillment and happiness is strengthening connections with lesbians and gathering to share stores, experience and knowledge, whether that means life skills or how we over came obstacles. It feels right to have those conversations and to understand younger generations and their concerns AND to be able to share what worked. I have been exposed to a very particular legacy of lesbian communicaiton and organizing. And what I was taught has helped me in so many ways.

Find what you are most passionate about and put your focus and energy into that. We can’t all change the world but we can ceate small pockets in our lives and those of others where we feel happy and welcomed and understood. And sometimes those groups end up working on change together which can be a very powerful force.

#political climate #lgbt #organzing

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isfjmel-phleg · 9 months

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Why I like it: Psmith in the City

After I read and enjoyed Mike and Psmith, I interlibrary-loaned the rest of the series and read them in rapid succession.

And honestly, my greatest appreciation for this book came during rereads and the need to overanalyze the text for annotations and conversations with a very longsuffering Allie.

Mike and Psmith's friendship comes about in the first book, and we get to see how much Psmith is willing to sacrifice for his friend, but their connection really comes to the forefront during Psmith in the City.

There's something delightfully escapist about these two friends rooming in Psmith's luxurious flat, braving the drudgeries of their shared misfortune of working at the bank by day, and living it up in Edwardian London by night. It's a setting that feels very real--and it was! Wodehouse peppers the narrative with real locations, and when I was in London, I was able, using this information, to take a little private walking tour of Psmith's part of town and experience it. Even with the reality of the locations, though, there's a certain glamorization. Thanks to Psmith's father's money, the boys are able to afford an experience of young adulthood and a first job that isn't available to most people, either then or now. And perhaps there's some glamorization of the friendship too.

Because it isn't easy to be Psmith's friend, and this starts to be evident. Psmith is a jerk in a lot of ways in this book, more so than in the others--even in his interactions with Mike. But these moments are easily brushed aside, and the friendship never really suffers. This is a Wodehouse novel, so we can be confident that when things get really bad, Psmith will come through as the good friend that he really is, and he'll find a way to save the day for Mike. The worst of his behavior vanishes by the last part of the book, never to be seen again in how he treats his best friend. Not especially realistic, but it is compelling. A real-life Psmith would be absolutely dreadful to put up with; the page, however, allows us a distance that assures us that despite it all, his intentions are good and he himself is good at heart.

And on the whole, he is. We know this because he really does care about Mike, because he's capable of dropping the flippant mask to show compassion when the situation requires. He's just...a complicated mess here. He's under a lot of stress that he hides most of the time. He's angry at his father and taking that out on his awful boss. He's an arrogant rich kid with more money than is good for him. He has one (1) and only one friend whom he's clinging to like the only thing keeping him afloat in life. (Psmith's got attachment issues, I'm starting to realize. That may be another post.) He's a very complex character, not just the comic relief or the trickster archetype, and because of that, he goes beyond hilarity to being interesting, even if he's not always easy to like.

Mike is still the everyman, perhaps even more so because his story is such a relatable portrait of what it's like to be eighteen, fresh out of school, and having to take on for the first time an adult world that you're unequipped for. Mike's classical education and cricket skills aren't particularly useful now that he has to make a living. The former class clown and jock is now an awkward mess of social anxiety. Wodehouse pokes as much fun at Mike as he does anyone else in the story, but he also takes Mike's struggles and pain seriously--because much of it was probably his own. Mike's grief at losing the glorious future he was promised, his increasing frustration and despair at being trapped in a dead-end job that stifles his talents and personality--they're very real, and poignant.

Mike and Psmith may inhabit a glittering dream world in their version of London and maintain a desirably close friendship that would have probably fallen apart eventually if it existed in the real world. Their shenanigans are sheer comedy with no grounding in reality. But the heart of the story is two eighteen-year-olds on their own in the adult world for the first time, with no support system but each other, trying to figure out life and often failing--and this is what makes the story resonate, because we've all been there.

And sure, their ending is a fairy tale, down to the final lines in which Mike imagines his future as pretty much perfect from now on (which will not turn out to be the case!), but...well, when you're a twenty-something in your first non-college job, taking the bus, feeling incompetent, dealing with difficult coworkers...a fairy-tale ending alongside a true friend is pretty appealing.

#Psmith Pseptember #I RP'd Mike on another social media site for a few years and the City plot was mostly the same year I worked in a public library #and maybe it was silly but playing that character helped get me through that year #I loved having another life to imagine in obsessive detail

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sybaritick · 4 months

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under the cut: bragging, math, life thoughts

A couple weeks ago I substitute taught an [online] AMC¹ prep class (unreasonably proud of the way I'm afaik the only one without a college degree among like 50 instructors) and while talking to a few friends about it I took pics of a couple of my middle-school-mathlete-era trophies from the AMC and Math Olympiad as a silly brag: look I'm clearly qualified to teach this I was there once and winning at it! and one's for a top score in the grade, when my graduating class/size of the grade was about 400 students. 1 in 400 at competition math!

But the thing I felt as a kid so instinctively, and still often think of now, is that 1 in 400 is nowhere near good enough for anything real. 99.75th percentile, right? In NYC alone that's 21,000 people better than you.

A one-in-400 football player wouldn't make a decent college team, never mind the NFL. A one-in-400 SAT score certainly won't get you into Harvard. (Trust me, I'd know-- 800 math / 780 reading.)

So I'd have my brief moment of pride (often not even that, lol) but like, I never forget the scale of the task. That you should search broadly for your 1-in-400 niche, and once you find it, push. Intentional, directional effort. Take what you can; ask for forgiveness, not permission; become what you are! When I was 16 this was the only thing I ever thought about.

Now, I do at least sometimes temper it with thoughts of my partner or of reading in the park. Some balance is required. I think that if I still thought of nothing but "in what areas of my life can I most effectively find success (usually meaning financial success) by figuring out what skills I am the best at" I would burn out and make myself miserable. I also care about what things I personally enjoy doing-- you have to choose goals you can at least tolerate! But for me, a big part of the joy is in the doing (one of the few people on earth who enjoys looking for jobs? I've had to do a lot of it in my life so I kind of like doing interviews. Sure, it's stressful, but it's a nice bit of controlled stress!)

Anyway, as I prepare to maybe go back to the "regular" workforce for a bit after my long stint as a joyful-weirdo freelancer, I think it does me good to remember that even the "regular" workforce is a means to an end-- it pays money, potentially provides useful experience, and gives you something to put on your resume that you can use for future jobs, and ideally the job is reasonably tolerable along with it as you inch your way closer to the sort of work you think you would truly be best at. and at each step you push the 1-in-400 towards a 1-in-10k-or-so. in the end each job is just another step, not a vital element of your identity!

#cal txt #personal

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sol-consort · 4 months

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Yes the space hamster is a Boo reference lol. At some point in 3 Shepard will tell the hamster to “go for the eyes” like how Minsc tells Boo. Also I don’t know if New Game Plus severs connection to ME1 save I never did New Game Plus. Honestly I didn’t even know it existed until you started talking about doing it for ME1. I’m still so surprised that you see Jacob as not wanting a romance because from everything I heard he comes on pretty strong to FemShep to the point that it’s one of the reasons people don’t like him. I can’t say the other reason because it’s spoiler for 3. Also I wouldn’t worry about doing the DLCs early there’s not really a reason to do them late game other than personal continuity. However there’s a Citadel DLC in Mass Effect 3 that you should do right before the last mission so you’ll get the all content out of it so ignore Anderson if he ever tells you about an apartment.

Oh don't worry, I plan on doing a lot of Anderson ignoring in the future.

And Jacob? Comes on pretty strong? I'd sooner believe Miranda abandoned Cerberus. He is definitely the least enthusiastic out of all romance options, he deliberately ignores your personal questions and answers it as a soldier. You have to call him out on it every time so you'd get a personal answer.

After one conversation, this is all you get after Horizon from him until you do his loyalty. Hell, even before Horizon, too.

"Let's not push it" ?????

No what???????????

Cut the middle sentence, and you get a perfectly nice line. "we've got a good thing, Shepard. We'll talk again later."

Fuck you mean let's not push it?

Saying how he has no time for relationships, he just wants something casual. My experience with Jacob is him failing at being playfully hard to get and instead coming off as uncomfortable and awkwardly rejecting me.

Why did I even continue his romance? Curiosity.

You initiate everything, you always make the first move, you always flirt and he only compliments you with basic words at best.

This is his answer if you ask for something more serious.

But the game does push him on you a bit strongly. You can see a video of him working out without his shirt, you can hear Kasumi talk about how hot he is. The game wants you to get with Jacob and gives you all the correct signals, Jacob himself is unsure and uninterested unless you do all the work.

In the shadowbroker base, the game even states he was deliberately put on the team just for Shepard's stability. While Miranda was chosen for her skills.

He was there for you and he wasn't even aware of it.

This is his reaction after Shepard's tells him how hard it's been having their friends act like strangers and how dying for two years made them stay the same while everyone moved on

"You know what's more important? Everything."

FUCK YOU MAN, I'M TALKING ABOUT MY FEELINGS HERE YOU STONE COLD BITCH.

It would've been a nice gesture, the first person to actually ask Shepard how they felt, wasn't it for the fact he only brought it up just so he gets to avoid talking about his father. He is more scummy than he appears to be, definitely fits into Cerberus and not the honourable fallen from grace hero his plot tries to make him be.

At stage three in the offical relationship, you can ask him if he wants to vent again because yk, he is your beloved and you worry about seeing him down.

This is his reaction.

"Don't invent problems"

"Even if you were right"

"How little do you get me"

*Breaks up with you immediately *

Now you must think, what the fuck did I say to get this reaction? Insult his mother? Piss on his dad's grave? Call his dick small?

This, this is all Shepard said.

I'm losing my mind someone get me the sledgehammer.

He is like a discounted batman without any of the money or angsty charm. He is this one bundle of constipated emotions and baggage and lashes at you whenever you suggest that maybe he should trust you a bit and talk about it.

You know who doesn't do that shit? Jack. No matter what she actually appreciates you letting her vent, especially with how much she associates it with weakness and hates feelings. She realises she needs to do that to move on.

Jacob is a massive hypocrite who keeps covering his ears and screaming about how you're wrong and he isn't living in the past and he will yell at you for it.

His flirting is really lame too oh my god- it's like he is trying so hard to appear cool and chill but instead it comes of as emotionally constipated. He always deflects and when you try to talk about his father he turns it on you instead.

This is all the flirting you will ever get from him.

"I'm impressed 😎 "

"Keep it up 🤓"

"You're a soldier that's why I like you🗣🔛🔝"

His loyalty mission was so clear either, obviously that person is a bad guy, he was a monster not just a bad guy so Jacob's choice never even seemed that hard.

Meanwhile, Miranda actually did step into grey morality. She kidnapped a child. You stop for a second and realise how far the lengths are that she is willing to reach. With Jacob the choice to shoot his dad was the easiest by far it was so disappointed.

Like there wasn't even an argument if "but did his dad love him?" No the fuck he did not. If his dad at least treated him kindly and wasn't scummy then it would've been a harder choice. Jacob finally has the loving father he wanted but can he turn a blindeye on the monster he is deep down just so he gets his own happy ending?

But it wasn't like that was it? His dad was a monster inside and outside. At least with Miranda you had to consider the fact she never knew poverty and is it worth it to keep her sister with a rich parents just so she never may feel hungry? Do you stay with an abusive father to keep a roof over your head or do you risk being homeless? To add more layers to it, it wasn't even her own life she was making the decision for but her sister's! He baby sister.

They feel like they should've been mirrors of each other.

Oh and if you break up with him? This is how he reacts.

"I hope you've got a good excuse for this one"

Who the fuck

WHO THE FUCK.

WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???

Look, either we throw him out of an airlock or I fight him, there is no middle option.

Also alien racism! The thing Ashley got burned for, yay <3

Once a Cerberus bitch always a Cerberus bitch huh.

#☆jacob slander

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universe-requests · 2 months

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Got any college tips?

Ps make it lengthy

Yeah! Note that a lot of this will be based on my own experiences as someone w ADHD at a large public university, and may not apply necessarily to you!

Academic Stuff:

even if textbook readings aren't mandatory, if there are associated sections/readings w your classes, you should read the textbook. there is a ton of stuff in there that's not gonna be covered well by your lectures, and you'll benefit from the additional context and examples you get from reading

make calendars and to-do lists weeks in advance. if your classes have syllabi with schedules, put all their deadlines onto your calendar. from the calendar, write down what you want to get done each day. i usually try to do 1-2 assignments every day. i do this usually a few weeks to a month into the future, so that i know what i need to get done each day. if you need to push an assignment, you'll know what you have to do for the coming days and can balance where best to put stuff you couldn't complete.

go to office hours! if you start an assignment and do what you can on it b4 going to office hours, you'll be able to better ask questions on what you're confused abt. for some of my harder classes, i went to office hours sometimes twice a week.

you may need to change your major! that's okay. i changed mine like 2 or 3 years in and had to do an extra year to make up for the change. i was afraid to "give up" on my first major (biomedical engineering), but if i'd switched sooner, i would've avoided needing to take extra time. if you do end up switching a bit later like i did, it's not the end of the world tho! it's more money obv, but this major has been much easier for me n i've made way more friends in informatics than i ever made in engineering

apply for disabilities if you think you'll need accommodations! i originally tried to go without them n realized that i was depriving myself of resources for no reason. having extra time on assignments n exams improved my grades bc i could take the time i needed!

Friendship Stuff:

compliment ppl on things like their fashion, hair, phone cases, pins, or backpacks! this is a great way to start a conversation and get a conversation flowing and i have had multiple friendships start just by giving a compliment and then continuing to chat from there

start/join campus discord servers! it's a great way to meet ppl in your classes or your building. i've made multiple friends thru discord servers for my classes, and you also get to work thru assignments or clarify things together

hang-outs don't have to be big plans. you can just msg ppl if they wanna get food at the dining hall n sometimes that'll evolve into a bigger hang-out if you end up wanting to go do smth after!

Mental Health Stuff:

if you're living in the dorms, you'll probably feel rlly scared/sad on your first night or even first few nights abt being on your own n such. both myself and my therapist sobbed our first nights in the dorms! but it'll get better n you'll feel more confident doing things by yourself/being away from home as you go

the first year can be rlly tough to adjust to. i was so depressed i was sometimes peeing in my trashcan bc i couldn't get myself out of bed. now, i'm doing much much better! as you go, you'll get better at your time management skills and knowing your limits and coping w frustration/anxieties

as much as possible, go to events on campus. go to plays, movie nights, clubs, concerts, craft nights, game nights etc. n don't feel afraid to do it by yourself! it's fun to have things to look forward to and get yourself out of the dorm and making sure that you're eating meals (bc if you're already out, you might as well eat)

#college #ask #long post

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tossawary · 1 year

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Hi! This is another Fandom Trumps Hate post for people who are thinking about joining up as a creator but aren't sure. I'm not making this one rebloggable because I'm going to talk a little about my personal experiences with fan events in general and FTH in particular over the years (feel free to link a friend to this post, though, if they're on the fence about participating).

About 10 years ago now, when I was very new to online fandom, I didn't know how to feel about fan charity events. Some of them seemed kind of shady (and some fan-run things are shady, let's be real, but FTH's donations go straight to the charities and the mods never touch it). But some of them seemed legitimate, and as I was spending a lot of my free time making fic and art anyway, I thought: didn't I kind of owe my creative skills to a good cause? When I did decide to refrain from joining these events because I knew that I was too busy, I still felt kind of guilty about it.

Now, a little older and a little wiser, I feel pretty confident saying that if you're really not sure or enthusiastic about participating: don't do it. I am personally handing you a "Get Out Of Jail FTH Guilt-Free" card and telling you it's cool if you're too busy. It's seriously fine.

Here's why:

Fan events, whether we're talking about charity auctions or big bangs just for fun, are often pretty significant commitments. Being "required" to write fic, especially being required to follow someone else's prompt can be a very different experience to writing whatever you want for fun. (Not not fun, just different.)

Some people write fanfiction instead of attempting to publish original fiction to become "real writers" because, as they'll talk about on their own blogs, they want to write as a for-fun hobby. Like painting for fun or baking for fun. Just because someone likes making a fancy cake every once and a while doesn't mean that they want to open a catering business, you know? Things can change when you've made a commitment and when there's money on the line, even if that money has gone to charity. There's an added layer of stress.

If you've never written prompt fic on request before, then it's hard to know how you'll find the experience, if you'll find the stress of it a light burden you barely feel or a heavy burden weighing you down every day. Sometimes, you'll end up writing something you're not 100% into. I've had artistic projects (talking mostly about school and work here, not any fan projects) where the idea was fun and I was proud of the end result, but the work itself was kind of grueling because it wasn't what I personally would have chosen to do.

My FTH bidders over the years have always been incredibly cool people who have proposed fun ideas, which I have really enjoyed writing, and they'll often work with you to find a prompt that you love. I have found my FTH projects rewarding experiences. But I'd be lying if I said that when working on a FTH fic, I've never once occasionally thought, "Man, I kind of wish I was working on something else."

You have to be able to resist the allure of your latest plot bunny and finish the current project. If you're really bad at finishing your WIPs or if you're really bad at finishing your WIPs within a time limit (FTH deadline is Dec 31st of the same year), then maybe creating for a fan event just isn't for you. And that's fine!

There's a reason that FTH recommends in their Signup Tips for First-Time FTH Creators post that new creators start with only one offer and to start small. Write a 5k fic, not a 50k one. Draw a single, cartoony drawing, not a 5-page comic in a realistic style. It's a very responsible thing to do to test the waters of an experience before jumping in the deep end.

Part of the stress of these experiences comes from the fact that if you don't fulfill your promise to create for your bidder, you can get banned from future FTH auctions. Big Bangs and Secret Santa events will also ban you (not because of FTH, FTH doesn't blacklist you to anyone or anything). And you don't want to disappoint your bidder! They seemed really cool and you can feel like you're letting them down just if you make them wait too long.

(I promise you that most bidders are pretty chill people. I personally am happy just donating to the charities and I really don't care when/if my creator gets back to me. Their wellbeing is more important to me than a fic or a piece of art.)

If you feel like you won't be able to fulfill an offer in time or if you don't really want to take a prompt from someone else instead of doing your own thing, then it's fine not to make an offer. (Likewise, if you ever have missed creating something for a fan event because real life stuff came up, then it's fine. You're not a bad person. Life gets in the way sometimes. You thought you could at the time. There are other things to participate in when you know you're ready.)

The thing is that creative skills are much, MUCH more valuable than people are putting them on auction for here. If I was charging a minimum wage of $15/hr for my writing skills for what I've done for FTH over the years, I would have made them THOUSANDS. (I doubt I've made them $1000 total.) I participate in FTH usually when I'm feeling at creative loose ends and want to work on prompt fic. I want the collaborative experience of writing something specific for someone else. It's a project that scratches a particular writing itch for me (the stress of a commitment is there, yes, but it's so easy to carry that I barely notice it), which isn't for everyone, and the fact that this event raises some money for charity is kind of just an added bonus.

If someone is donating $25 dollars to charity so that you'll write them a thank-you gift of a 5,000 word one shot that took you at least 10 hours to write, that is NOT a balanced exchange. If we take the $15/hr wage, that is $150 of labor for $25. This is NOT an efficient way to donate to charity. This is a fan event.

Now, some people require a higher minimum bid for their work than I generally do. (Which is good. They are right to do this. I should probably also do this more seriously.) Some people require $100 dollars for a 1k fic. Some people say they'll write 1k words per every $10. There are ways to bring things back into balance and make things more efficient.

So, if you think that a disparity between the amount donated and your donated labor will piss you off, then put serious minimum bid requirements. Your creative skills are valuable. It is okay to enforce boundaries on your donated time and energy so that you don't end up writing 50k of an idea you don't really like for $25, because that sounds like a recipe for resentment. (I keep mostly to myself, so I have never heard of a situation like this with FTH and am just exaggerating to make a point.)

And if people don't bid on your offer? It doesn't mean that your creative skills aren't valuable. It just means that your offer wasn't what someone was looking for at this particular time. (Honestly, as a side note, it's incredible how much the success of a pitch for a book or show or movie depends on just happening to be made to the right people at the right time. I'm serious. It's a very real thing in the entertainment and publishing industries. I have attended talks by people who say that they've had to pass on great pitches specifically because they're looking for a property to sell to 5yo boys that year and already have a property being sold to 10yo girls.)

If you need to pass on participating because you're busy: look after yourself first! Don't end up disappointing your bidder and yourself because you don't have the time or energy to spare. If you can do it, but it means really stressing yourself out and sacrificing other things to find the time: don't do it. Look after yourself. Don't hurt yourself and your creative muscles over a fan event. Breathe. Take a nap. Play some video games. Participate as a bidder if you have the spare money or just advertise the auction if you don't (if you want to). Or just cheer on creators in AO3 comments or with kudos. FTH allows you to make a donation and add it to their count, even if you don't bid or if you don't want to make a bid.

Would you be happy to know that someone was grinding themselves down trying to please you? Don't do that to your bidder. They're your fellow fans, often fellow creators, who just want to chill and donate to charity, and they'd be really upset to hear that you were making yourself miserable because of their donation.

I have never failed to fulfill a FTH offer. I have only participated in fan events when I know I can do it. I have always enjoyed myself. But I work in a creative industry and I have seen a lot of creative people hurt their own passion for something they love or burn out by trying to force themselves to work on things. (I know this sounds very dramatic. I'm not saying you will burn out. You may be totally fine or maybe only lightly stressed at the end. You'll probably be great, honestly. I bet you're a kickass creator. But it's fine to be wary of burn out until you're in a more confident place.) So, to any creative person, especially younger ones, I wanted to write all this out to tell you that it's fine not to do these things. It's not that serious.

Keep fandom a positive space by giving yourself room to breathe and coming back even stronger when you're ready, as a creator, bidder, or just a supporter. If you've already signed up but you want to pull out of FTH before bidding starts because something came up, email the mods. If this extended rambling about burn out has only strengthened your resolve to kick this fan event's ass, then that's awesome! Good for you! I think it's good to reassess your creative energies every now and again, and I think it's fine to say, "Okay, I think I need a break, I don't want to let anyone down," as much as it is to say, "Yeah, I'm pumped up! I'm good to go! Let's do it!"

EDIT: This whole post sounds kind of negative, so to add more positivity: if you really, really want to do it, then I think you should go ahead and join FTH! Just know your limits. It's okay to start small and to set firm boundaries. FTH can be a lot of fun! You can meet cool people! You can feel like you're making a difference! You may end up writing great and rewarding fics that you never would have written otherwise! Plenty of people have joined FTH for the first time feeling really uncertain and had a great time, no regrets.

Don't do FTH just because you feel weirdly obligated to participate because it's for a good cause. Do FTH because you want to do it.

There will be other events.

#ask tossawary #tossawary fth 2023

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ichnerve · 2 months

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So, I've had a dream about two dudes in their 70th. There they were closing the school in the village they built and taught generations of kids there

They first met nearby as kids. The one with glasses was known as a wild hyperactive child with weird interests. So he got exited when a kid from the city was sent there and boys started hanging out a lot together. They became called "The Idiots". One getting into trouble, and other following. Getting on trains without tickets to get off somewhere random and get lost, climb into abandoned building, go into forest and try to survive until found by adults, etc. Don't go there, don't do this you'll get hurt? Nah, kids will go and try for themselves. Both did suffer some large injuries that left impact on their lives, but they are ok

Grown up moved together to the city to get into university. Did not manage to pass for a few years, but never gave up. In their 20th realized that they have feelings for each other. There was a huge drama about admitting that, getting together, figuring things out, that lasted...a whole two month. Yep.

Graduated and worked for a couple of years at a local school, both liked to discuss their future. There came the realization that moving back and opening a school of their own is the best decision. It took a lot of time to save enough money for the ambition, but at the same time helped get much needed experience. Hard work got them both, helping to develop unique teaching styles and get just life experience.

Kids knew them as wise people, so when told stories from youth, it did make a dissonance. But, after all, showed, that you don't need to be born smart, it's something you can achieve. Same goes for talents and all. There was a lot of encouragement to develop skills in what you are passionate about or look for that thing, rather then working to get good grades in everything to end up directionless and burned out.

As time moved on, there were less and less children. Life is happening in the big cities far away, so population was visibly declining with young people moving and sometimes later being able to take their whole family with them, or, at least, who agreed. One morning, while having a lazy weekend in bed, the teachers talked things out and agreed that it's time to close their school at the end of the year. The place was dear to them and most of their students, but now it's too big for a few ones that remained there. Now they are spending their retirement enjoying living in the small house they bought long ago and refurbished to their liking, taking a long walks, having conversations with guests, slowly picking up new technology. Technology was another reason they decided to retire. Even though, never stopped learning new things, couple felt like their knowledge might not be enough for the new generation.

Oh, hello, come inside. We'll make you some tea and tell a few stories. There are fun ones, sad, long and short. Your pick.

(I told about the dream to my friend who goes by Kempast and he told me that I just have to draw them. While sketching, I refined and expanded their story. Don't think, that I'll make anything else, but it was fun)

#original character #traditional art #art #artists on tumblr #design #comics #doodle #ink #ink drawing #sketchbook #original story #short story

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