#have! and there aren't any other addresses i know of that i can email. so i guess resigning by whatsapp and somehow just swallowing

[katya-goncharov]

i'm gonna have to send one of my other managers at work a whatsapp i think because still no-one's replied to my resignation email and they didn't mention it at work so probably they haven't seen it

#why does this saga keep going on and on :( :( :( #it's because the main manager at my job is away on holiday and i was hoping someone else would read the email but they don't seem to #have! and there aren't any other addresses i know of that i can email. so i guess resigning by whatsapp and somehow just swallowing #down the anxiety it is #at least if i do it tomorrow it'll still be 2 weeks notice which is hopefully okay! #and also i won't have to face anyone till tuesday so i'll have a bit of time away from it all #(i came up with the whatsapp solution after i finally took one of my anxiety meds and was able to think straight!) #emma vents

[melannen]

How To Make Your Own Fanfiction Archive, In Just Ten Easy Steps

As the go-to "person who knows about AO3" for quite a few people who read fanfic but aren't really linked-in to wider fandom culture, I've fielded a lot of questions about how to do certain things on AO3 to which my best answer is "you should really start your own archive!" I think, in general, more fans starting their own small archives would be a net good for fandom. AO3 was never meant to be the only archive for all fandom, or even the main archive, and the more spread out and backed up we are the more resilient we are.

But of course I have to be reminded that a lot of fans these days don't really have any idea how little "you should start your own archive!" really involves. (Also, that I should practice what I preach.) So I am now making my own fanfiction archive, and writing up this post as I do it to tell people how to make theirs!

Go to https://neocities.org/ and sign up for an account. It only needs a username (which will also be your website address), password, and email. Pick a username that will be related to your archive's title!

Choose the free account option (if you ever need more than what the free account offers for a text-only archive, you should probably look into graduating from neocities.) This should take you to a menu of "how to make a website" tutorials. You should do them! They're useful skills. But let's get your archive running first.

Hit the big red Edit Site button, or open the menu under your username and select "Edit Site".

Select the "Index.html" file to edit. You're now in an HTML Editor. Congrats, you're a web developer c. 1999!

Find where it has text between the < title> tags. Delete the filler text, and put in the title of your new archive. This text will be what shows on the tab when people go to your archive.

Find where it has text between the < h1 > tags. This will be big header text at the top of your page. Put the title of your archive here again. If you have no experience with HTML, you should read over the other sample text. It covers the basic basics very well! Once you've done that, you can delete everything else between the < /h1> tag and the < /body> tag. Save your index.html file.

Get an HTML file for a fanfic you would like to add to your archive. If it's on AO3, you can use the html download option built into AO3. If you have it as a word processor/google docs file, you should have the option to save as an html file. Save that html file to your computer.

Go back to Edit Site on Neocities and go to "upload". Find the html file you saved and upload it. (You can also drag and drop files to upload.)

The file you uploaded should now be showing with your other neocities files. Right-click on the title and select "copy link".

Go in to edit index.html again. Under where you put your header text, type < br> < a href=" . Then paste in the link you copied. Then type "> Then put in the title of the fic. Then type < /a> . Then save the index page again when you're done. You can do this for every fanfic you have.

Congratulations! You now have your very own personal private fanfiction archive that you are 100% in charge of and make all the rules for. It's at least as good as half the ones I was reading on when I started reading fanfiction and will serve its function well as a way to let people read your fic. You can link to it from anywhere you want! (Including your AO3 profile.)

Blogpost version, with FAQs and discussion

Anyway, here's my beautiful new fanfiction archive made using this tutorial:

Melannen's Fanfiction Archive

(I am honestly way more disproportionately proud of finally making that than I expected to be. It's nice to have your own archive.)

If you make one, share it here ! I want to see!

#ao3 #archive of our own #fanfiction #fanfic archive #how-to #tumblr what are you doing to my angle brackets #why would you do that what's wrong with you

[livwritesstuff]

I've had a consistent thought in my head of the girls learning more about the upside down.

Like they know a bit: uncle Dustin still lives in Hawkins doing research on something, they've seen their dads and they know about the scars and their disabilities. They know something happened to their entire family and they know there was an earthquake that wasn't really an earthquake. But they've never learned more than that and they'll never know the details as long as Steve and Eddie have a say.

But at some point, each of them realizes that the monster hunter jokes that their dads make aren't really jokes.

In general, I think Steve and Eddie’s sentiment surrounding how they address the not-so-pleasant aspects of their past with their daughters is that they won’t lie (because that’ll only come back to bite them in the ass later), but they’re also only going to tell them as much of the truth as they literally need to.

Not that Moe knows any of this.

All Moe really knows is that her dads went through some scary-ass shit when they were her age and they don’t really talk about it.

Still, Moe has eyes. Maybe she didn’t realize it when she was little, but even just the sheer amount of scar tissue her dads have isn’t exactly normal. When she asks where they got them, though, all they ever say is that a monster tried to eat them.

Moe also knows that the reason Pop doesn’t usually join them on shopping trips at the mall is because they can trigger bad migraines, and she knows the reason he gets migraines in the first place is that he’d taken too many hits to the head in too short a time, but when she asks how he’d gotten a concussion and then a TBI and then two more concussions in the span of four years he always just says something like picked a fight with the wrong Russian spy, or something like that.

And it’s public knowledge that Dad was accused of murder when he was in high school and nearly died before the charges got dropped, but when she asks about what happened, he gives her some spiel about curses and demons and portals to alternate dimensions and monsters (again, with the monsters).

They’re kidding, Moe knows. They’re giving obviously fake answers because…well, for a lot of reasons, she can imagine– not wanting to relive whatever actually happened, not wanting to put their own trauma onto Moe and her sisters.

Honestly, Moe doesn’t really even bother asking about it anymore because they clearly don’t want to talk about it, and if it really was that bad, she can’t even blame them. Besides, she’s pretty sure that dads are supposed to be total mysteries to their kids, so…whatever.

The story of what happened in Hawkins, Indiana starts to gain some public attention again while Moe is in high school – one of those true crime conspiracy theory-type stories people make Reddit threads and YouTube videos about, and apparently (because Moe has no interest, but Robbie likes that kind of stuff) Dad almost always comes up in them, Pop sometimes.

Around that time is when Moe’s dads start to get all kinds of media requests – not that Pop had any idea. He’s basically chronically offline, so no one is really able to track him down other than finding his work email on Psychology Today, but he’s got filters set up to send that shit to spam so he doesn’t even have to see it. Dad, on the other hand, is (supposedly) well-known for his books or whatever, so he doesn’t have the same kind of anonymity. He got all sorts of calls and emails from people wanting his first-hand account, but he always refused to participate, told them to lose his number and never contact him or his family ever again.

That’s the kind of thing that really rattled Pop – Moe didn’t like that. He’s kind of an immovable object in that way, so seeing him rattled just seemed wrong.

They’d even needed to threaten legal action against one online tabloid who just wouldn’t leave them alone – not that Moe is supposed to know about that, but she’d eavesdropped on a phone call between her dads and Uncle Dustin, who seems to exist as a central point in it all even if Moe doesn’t know why (maybe it has something to do with how her dads always complaining about how he still works for that lab, whatever that means).

“Are you ever gonna tell us what really happened?” Moe asks one day, when it’s just her and Pop in the car on their way home from a basketball tournament in Connecticut.

He sighed, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Hon, can I ask you to stop and consider that maybe we have been?”

And for her dad’s sake, she does, she makes herself run through the mental log of all the lore or whatever she’s unlocked over the years.

Monsters, Russian spies, superpowers, demon-animals, curses, portals to alternate realities, government corruption, evil scientists.

Bullshit, she’d always thought, but…her dad had never bullshitted her before. Why would he choose to start with this?

Moe looked back at him, some kind of question on the tip of her tongue even though she had no idea what to ask, and this time, Pop spared a glance back.

“I’m not telling you everything,” he warned her as he looked back at the highway stretching out endlessly ahead of them, and Moe tried to keep any signs of disappointment off her face, “But I’ll tell you some.”

#ooh Moe-POV how do we feel about this #steve isn’t rattled he’s gearing up to defend eddie to the grave again #moe just can’t tell the difference #steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steddie dads #steve harrington #eddie munson

[mousedetective]

Disabled Mostly Queer Homeless Family Needs Help With Two Loans & Car Repair!

PAYPAL | AMAZON WISHLIST | KOFI | GOFUNDME

VENMO: @penaltywaltz | CASHAPP: $afteriwake23 | ZELLE: DM me for email address

5/4/24 - New Post

Thanks to an INCREDIBLY generous donation I got on the 2nd, I was able to pay off all the payday loans, the $1200 loan and was also able to start paying my IRL bestie who I owe, like, over $7000 to for help she's given me over the years. That leaves the $500 and $600 loans to pay off, but even if I can't pay them off right away, they aren't long term loans (one I have four months left to pay, the other I have five months left to pay) and the payments are small enough that I will still have money left over if I have to make the payments to pay it off. But any help paying them off earlier would be much appreciated.

Our car is also acting up a bit: we have power windows, and the back two windows keep rolling down and we were having trouble getting the passenger one to come back up earlier this week. My mom got an estimate that it would be $300 - $600 per window to fix from our mechanic, so while we have a little bit saved, we want to be able to put that towards housing if we can't get into the Section 8 housing.

I'm setting the goal at $2500 just so we can cover labor at our mechanic as well as the cost of fixing the windows if we need it. If the windows behave, we'll put the money towards housing. Please help if you can but know this isn't an emergency and if you find someone who needs help more, help them first.

$1700/$1750

#signal boost #mutual aid #mutual aid request #urgent #emergency #time sensitive #community aid #gofundme #venmo #paypal #zelle #cashapp #amazon wishlist #ko fi link #buy me a coffee #buy me a kofi #ko fi support #financial assistance #financial aid #direct action #crowdfunding #fundraising #please boost #please reblog #please share #please help #help needed #anything helps #bills #homeless support

[nayziiz]

Reckless | CS55

Summary: Via finds herself caught up in office politics and encounters Carlos Sainz Jr., the intimidating son of her boss. Despite her initial reluctance, she is drawn into a web of intrigue surrounding the Sainz family and their business empire. As tensions rise and secrets unravel, Via and Carlos grapple with professional challenges, personal relationships, and the allure of forbidden romance. Via must navigate the complexities of power, ambition, and desire, ultimately confronting difficult truths about those around her in a world where appearances can be deceiving and loyalties tested.

Warning: Violence, blood, alcohol, smut, fluff, guns

Pairing: Carlos Sainz x OC (Via Driscoll) - appearances from other drivers

Masterlist

Chapter 3

As Via settled into her seat, she couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had lingered since her encounter with Carlos the previous evening. The absence of Eleanor only added to her sense of disquiet, as it was unusual for the executive assistant to be late to the office.

Pushing aside the paperwork related to the gala and the information leak, Via focused on logging into her company profile. She entered her credentials with practised ease, her mind already racing with thoughts of the tasks that awaited her that day.

Once logged in, Via began sifting through her emails, her brow furrowing as she scanned the messages for any urgent matters requiring her attention. Amidst the usual stream of correspondence, she noticed a few messages marked as high priority, likely related to the ongoing investigation into the information leak.

“Yes, but we’ve paid you quite handsomely to inform us ahead of time.” Via looked up from her computer screen as Eleanor's voice echoed through the executive suite, her presence a welcome distraction from the mounting workload on Via's desk.

She returned Eleanor's greeting with a polite nod, her attention briefly drawn to Mr. Sainz as he passed by with a warm smile. Via couldn't help but feel a sense of relief at Eleanor’s arrival, knowing that she could rely on her to provide valuable guidance and support.

Eleanor placed her bag down on her desk with a heavy thud, her expression tight with frustration as she turned to face Via. She observed Via's focused demeanour as she continued to engage in the phone conversation, her brow furrowing slightly in concentration.

“So, you've been taking our money, but aren't willing to share your sources with us? How is that fair?” Eleanor's voice cut through the air, laced with a mixture of irritation and authority. 

She crossed her arm over her chest, her stance conveying a sense of assertiveness as she addressed the unseen individual on the other end of the line. Via paused briefly, her attention fully drawn to Eleanor's pointed words. She watched as Eleanor's expression hardened, her resolve evident in every word she uttered.

“I suggest you try harder to keep us happy.”  Eleanor continued, her tone commanding and unwavering. “We're the reason your business is still running.”

Eleanor ended the call with a frustrated sigh, her hand pressing the 'end call' button with a decisive click. She turned to face Via, her expression a mix of weariness and determination as she leaned against her desk.

“Anything I can help with?” Via inquired, her voice laced with concern as she watched Eleanor's demeanour.

Eleanor let out another heavy sigh, her gaze shifting momentarily to the open door of Mr. Sainz's office before returning to Via.

“I suppose I should just tell you.” She began, her tone tinged with resignation. “We have been paying a media house a monthly stipend to inform us when someone is wanting to publish information about our company, and they have not been keeping their promises.”

Via's eyebrows furrowed in surprise at Eleanor's revelation.

“It's concerning that they aren’t keeping their promises. Do we have any recourse?” Via remarked, her mind already racing with thoughts of potential repercussions. Eleanor shook her head, her expression grim.

“Not at the moment.” Eleanor admitted, frustration evident in her voice. “When you start working on this investigation, work back from the media houses. That should lead you to a clear suspect.”

Via took in Eleanor's advice, a sense of determination settling over her as she mentally mapped out her investigative strategy.

“Understood.” She affirmed, already plotting her next steps.

Eleanor offered a small nod of approval before pushing off her desk and making her way to Mr. Sainz's office. As she reached the door, she paused, turning back to Via with a solemn expression.

“And, just a warning.” She added, her voice low with caution. “When it comes to working with Carlos, just make sure you do your job and nothing more.”

“I don’t understand.” Via replied, confusion etched on her features.

“I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation, Via.” Eleanor insisted, her tone firm. “To put it in perspective, he’s similar to his father in that sense. That’s why I’ve been here for over fifteen years.”

Via absorbed Eleanor's warning, recognizing the weight behind her words.

“I'll keep that in mind.” She replied evenly, a sense of determination flickering in her eyes. 

She understood the delicate balance of her new role in the investigation, especially when it involved working closely with Carlos. Eleanor regarded her for a moment, her gaze searching, before nodding slowly.

“Just be cautious. That’s all I ask.” She advised, a hint of urgency in her tone.

A few seconds later, the office door creaked open, and Mr. Sainz Sr. peered out, his expression a blend of expectation and slight irritation.

“Is Junior here yet?” He inquired, his gaze fixated on Via, who was diligently sorting through paperwork at her desk.

“Not yet, sir.” Via replied, looking up from her work. “Would you like me to call him for you?”

Mr. Sainz Sr. hesitated for a moment, contemplating his response.

“That’s not necessary, thank you, Ms Driscoll.” Senior nodded with a smile, his harshness fading slightly.

“I’m sure he’s on his way.” Eleanor added in an attempt to ease his mood.

“He’s old enough to make his own decisions. If he chooses to not stay at home, who am I to stop him?” Senior shrugged before turning back into his office. “The boy loves making stupid decisions.”

Via turned to Eleanor, seeking clarification on Mr. Sainz's cryptic remarks.

“What's going on?” She asked, her brow furrowed with confusion. Eleanor sighed, a knowing expression crossing her features.

“Carlos has always been a bit of a wild card. He's fiercely independent, sometimes to his own detriment. Mr. Sainz may be the CEO, but even he can't control everything, especially when it comes to his son. And, all this because he didn’t come home last night.” Eleanor explained as she grabbed a folder from her desk before retreating into the CEO’s office.

As Via absorbed Eleanor's insights, she realised that navigating the complexities of the investigation would not only involve unravelling the mystery of the information leak but also navigating the intricate dynamics within the Sainz family itself.

Via found herself engrossed in the details of the investigation as the morning progressed, methodically sifting through information and piecing together clues. The office hummed with activity around her, but she remained focused on her task at hand. Eleanor and Senior headed out for lunch with the other board members, leaving Via and Carlos to themselves for the rest of the afternoon.

Occasionally, she caught glimpses of Carlos as he moved about his father's office, his presence looming in the background like a shadow. Despite his seemingly innocuous demeanour, Via couldn't shake the feeling of being watched whenever he ventured out to grab a coffee or attend to some task.

Via's heart raced as she observed the intruder rifling through her desk drawers. She assessed him cautiously, noting his youthful appearance and the nervous energy radiating from him. For a moment, she debated whether to confront him directly or to alert security discreetly.

Via left her desk unattended for a few minutes to go to the restroom and upon returning found a man crouched beside her desk, rummaging through her drawers. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Via approached the intruder with measured steps, her footsteps silent against the office floor. As she drew closer, she cleared her throat to announce her presence, causing the young man to startle and whip around to face her.

“Can I help you with something, sir?” Via asked, her tone firm yet composed as she met his startled gaze.

"This isn't what it looks like. Or maybe it is. It just depends on what you think this looks like." The man frantically responded.

Via raised an eyebrow at the cryptic response, her suspicion growing. She maintained her composure, refusing to let the intruder's evasive demeanour unsettle her.

“It looks like you're going through my desk drawers without permission.” She stated calmly, her tone leaving no room for ambiguity. “And that's not something you should be doing.”

The man shifted uncomfortably under Via's gaze, his eyes darting around the office as if searching for an escape route. He seemed to realise the gravity of the situation as he fumbled for words.

“I was hoping you had some mints or something, I swear. I'm waiting for Sainz.” The man responded.

“Mr Sainz doesn't have any appointments scheduled this morning.” Via retorted, eyeing the man from head to toes.

“I know. He asked me to pop in whenever.” He responded.

Via's suspicion deepened at the man's insistence and his vague explanation. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him. Nevertheless, she remained composed and decided to handle the situation diplomatically.

“Your name, sir?” She asked.

“Lando. Lando Norris.” Lando answers.

“Olivia, Mr Sainz's…assistant.” Via hesitates, unsure what her official title technically is in the absence of both Eleanor and Senior.

Carlos emerged from his father's office, drawn by the sound of voices outside. He approached Lando and Via, his expression unreadable.

“Lando.” Carlos bellowed.

“There he is. Please tell your lovely assistant here that I'm your best friend and by no means was I snooping through her desk.” Lando replied, his tone light but defensive.

“Why were you snooping through her desk?” Carlos countered with a raised eyebrow, unimpressed by the excuse.

“I was just looking for some mints, man, I swear.” Lando muttered, avoiding Carlos's gaze.

“Alright, come on. Olivia has work to do and doesn't have time to entertain you. Carlos interjected, attempting to remove his anxiety-inducing friend from the executive suite.

As Lando disappeared into Carlos's office, Via couldn't shake the feeling of discomfort that lingered from their encounter. She returned to her desk, her mind still preoccupied with the strange interaction. The apologetic smile from both Lando and Carlos did little to alleviate her unease.

Meanwhile, inside the office, Carlos turned to face Lando with a stern expression.

“What were you thinking, Lando?” He chided, his tone serious. Lando shifted uncomfortably under Carlos's gaze.

“I know, I know. It was stupid. I just wanted to... I don't know, snoop around a bit.” Lando admitted.

“You can't go around poking your nose where it doesn't belong. Especially not at a colleague's desk.” Carlos added, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I know, I know. I won’t do it again, I promise.” Lando repeated, his contrition evident. “Okay, but can I point out that you did not mention the fact that she's absolutely gorgeous?”

“Because it's not important.” Carlos shrugged as he studied his friend.

“My guy, seriously. How do you manage to resist? She's like a breath of fresh air in this stuffy office.” Lando continued to egg on his friend.

“It's called professionalism and boundaries, Lando. You should give that a try some time.” Carlos retorted.

“So, can I make a pass at her then if you won't?” Lando joked.

“Don't you dare.” Carlos's firm tone left no room for argument, and Lando chuckled in response, recognizing the seriousness behind his friend's words.

“Relax, I was just kidding.” Lando reassured him, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “But seriously, man, how do you manage to resist? She's like a breath of fresh air in this stuffy office.”

“She's off-limits, Lando. End of story.” Carlos sighed, his gaze drifting towards the closed door as he contemplated Lando's question.

“Alright, alright, I'll drop it. But you can't blame a guy for noticing, can you?” Lando raised an eyebrow, sensing there was more to Carlos's response than met the eye.

“No, I can't blame you for that. Just keep it professional, alright?” Carlos shook his head, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.

“Got it.” Lando nodded, understanding the unspoken boundaries.

#carlos sainz #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 imagine #formula 1 #carlos #ferrari #f1 2024 #ferrari f1 #formula one #carlos sainz jr #scuderia ferrari #carlos sainz 55 #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz imagine #cs55 #cs55 x reader #cs55 imagine #cs55 fluff #cs55 fic #forza ferrari #carlos sainz fanfic #carlos sainz smut #carlos sainz fanfiction #f1 imagines

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

wibta if i refused to help my classmates going forward?

i am in university for a science degree. i have been struggling for almost my entire degree due to undiagnosed ADHD and autism, as well as my habit from grade school of working myself too hard. i went into burnout from 2020-2022 and failed most courses i took. i had to cut down on my work significantly so i could stay in university and finish my degree. it's been 5 years and i'm just over halfway finished. the end's not in sight yet, but it's getting there.

this semester, i'm taking two courses that i've struggled in previously and am retaking actually. the term will most likely be over once this is posted. one i've finished twice but didn't have a high enough grade to move forward (chemistry) and the other i've dropped 2 times before to avoid failing (calculus). the subject areas might give more context, and my chemistry course isn't introductory. they're also notoriously very difficult, and most people end up retaking this chemistry course several times. they're both needed for my degree and a similar degree. someone in both classes (2 different people) made group chats specifically so we could help each other. at first it was a very good idea, and i myself benefitted from them, managing to get a really high mark on a math assignment because of the group chat and sharing our work/processes.

this term is the one term we have a mid-semester break, and while the details are irrelevant here, i went away during this break, and i came back in a fairly poor mental state. i didn't want to share my work anymore, and said i was uncomfortable doing so. this got me mocked (i believe, but no one's commented on it or said anything to me about it) in my math class group chat when i asked for the notes after having to leave class early due to the noise. i have misophonia, and i was incredibly close to shouting "shut the fuck up" one say when they honestly just wouldn't stop talking. it's been a problem this term in this class where several groups in the class have been chatting amongst themselves during lecture. my friend (i think we're friends?) emailed our professor (i think i was named in the email), and he addressed the class about it, but as a whole, has told me directly that there wasn't much else he could do about it since they might be talking to each other to understand better.

at this point, there's only about 3 weeks left of classes and then finals, so it's not worth dropping out, especially since i don't think i'm in danger of failing. but that was all kind of just background info. it's been a rough semester for me.

in my chemistry class, we have weekly lab reports. they aren't huge, 10+ page reports, and i can usually do them in about 2-3 hours of work total. i usually work on them in small pieces throughout the week, so i can focus on other assignments as well as lectures. they're due at the beginning of lab, and we have lab on friday afternoons. this wouldn't be an issue if not for thursdays.

at the beginning of the semester, i made myself kinda known as Someone Who Has Answers. i like to help people when they're struggling, and i know that these are difficult classes, and i have past experience taking them with these instructors specifically, so i helped in any which way i could. after our mid-semester break, i was in no mood to help anyone. but on thursday evenings and friday mornings, i would get text messages from a few people asking me about the lab report. but not just a few messages. i would get asked on EVERY BIT of the lab report. i try to be patient, as i understand hidden struggles. but i was at the end of my rope. i never snapped, and i always tried to help them, but sometimes i was very frustrated because on thursdays, i have 2 classes (doesn't sound like a lot, but at my school, my lectures are 2-3 hours long, so it's about 5 hours total of lectures) at two different campuses, so i leave at about 7:30am and get home at about 5:30-6:00pm. it's my night to clean the kitchen as well, so my patience is very thin at the end of the day. i never agreed to help them, and they are texting me. i don't know how to tell them "i'm in no mood to help" but it made me so upset to the point that i was saying that next semester, i wouldn't give my number to anyone. i'm not a tutor, and i'm struggling to stay afloat myself in these classes. i don't have all of the answers, and tbh i'm not even confident on most of my answers. i've tried to make this clear, but they still come to me for help. next semester, i'm retaking ANOTHER course that i failed (not failed, but didn't get a high enough mark to move forward) and i honestly feel like a dick for not helping when i could and should help.

this is probably a nonissue tbh. i'm on the verge of dropping out myself because i took on too much this semester and this just kinda feels like it's all more than i can handle.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[blackholeunderyourbed]

I know that two pieces of media I've seen aren't enough to declare this a trend, but. Gonna call it a trend anyway. I'm seeing a trend in the way closeted characters are treated. Late last April I watched the first season of Heartstopper right after it came out and after my second binge wrote a long post discussing how it treats being in the closet. Tldr; Nick Nelson is the first closeted queer character I've seen that wasn't demonized and in fact affirmed in taking the time he needed, and the show is very explicit and consistent about coming out being a personal choice there's no obligation to make in any particular timeframe. That's a trend that also continued in season two that dropped earlier this month.

I just watched the new Red, White, and Royal Blue movie tonight, not having read the book and being unsure how it would treat Henry once his barriers to coming out were put into focus. I was bracing myself for Henry's reluctance to come out and how he handles his relationship with Alex as a result to default back to the way being closeted is usually framed: cowardly, inauthentic, a burden to one's out partner, and a betrayal of one's self and community. As said above, I have never seen a closeted character not be demonized in one or all of these ways.

I was incredibly surprised and appreciative of how Henry was actually handled, not only because the writing avoided leaning into the demonization aspect, but because it, like in Heartstopper, made an active and conscious effort to do the opposite. There were two primary spots that stood out to me in regard to the movie's messaging around being in the closet.

First was when Alex arrived at the palace to force Henry to talk to him after he disappeared and stopped communicating. During their confrontation, I was waiting for Alex to accuse Henry of being a coward or not choosing him, in doing so downplaying the precarious position Henry was in between his station, family, and how those elements overlap. In direct opposite to my fears, Henry expressed that exact same fear that Alex would call him a coward, only for Alex to directly say he would never call him that.

Even when their emotions are running high, at no point does Alex undermine Henry's feelings or the potential ramifications of him being out. Instead he's empathetic toward him, stressing their ability to choose each other without being out right then. He's willing to be as patient as Henry requires and is the comforting and grounding force Henry needs in that moment. Being out is never a necessity for Alex; it's about loving Henry as much as he can in whatever way he can. This scene is helped by how this scene is built up to, with great emphasis on Henry's conflict, emotions, and stress over doing the best he can for Alex out of love even if it means letting him go.

The other big moment was even more explicit and came in the form of Alex's speech addressing the situation after their emails were leaked. This section could not be more clear, as if was aware of and addressing the exact history of closet framing I was afraid it would perpetuate:

"The truth is, every queer person has the right to come out on their own terms and on their own timeline. They also have the right to choose not to come out at all. The forced conformity of the closet can not be answered with forced conformity in coming out of it. This isn’t about shame."

I'm really pleased with how Red, White, and Royal Blue framed Henry's relationship with the closet. Between that and Heartstopper, perhaps it's not enough to call it a trend, but I hope they represent a beginning of a trend in how the closet is presented. We deserve nuanced portrayals of the subject, especially when the concept of coming out originated as something done between and for queer people, not for the cishet population at large.

Coming out is not owed to anyone: not cishet people, not other queer people, not your partner, and not yourself if it's not your time yet.

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #rwrb movie #rwrb spoilers #rwrb movie spoilers #heartstopper

[netherworldpost]

Hi! I followed you for a long time with alot of "jeez someday I hope that can be me some day" fervor and now I am starting my own small goth shop. Do you have any tips on reaching the alternative audience? or tips on general about running a shop I'm nervous.

1a. Protect your cash flow

This is to say constantly question "does this shiny envelope packaging pack in make people love my shop more or is it a money drain?" This is not a simple answer.

It is an answer you'll ask yourself all the time.

The answer is going to shift. Fun unboxing videos? Great for social media posts. Great to get attention. Great fun. Expensive to produce. Worth it? Constantly check.

I really want to stress this: I am not saying "do not do it" -- I am saying "do what makes sense."

In the business-to-business world (you're a business, other businesses are going to sell to you), one of the most effective/common sales tactics is "take this thing you do and make it fun."

Your product is fun.

Your product is quality.

Your packaging etc.'s primary task is to get your product to your customer efficiently (easy to read address labels) and safely (stuff does not break).

1b. Protect your cash flow part two

Evil Supply Co. was the original shop. It experimented with everything -- color changing cereal spoons (launched), temporary tattoos (launched), umbrellas (did not launch), plates and bowls and towels and toothbrushes and shower curtains (did not launch). So much more.

It was primarily a stationery company.

The experimenting was incredibly fun, I regret nothing, and it cost me giant truck loads of cash. That's why Netherworld Post is focusing far more tightly.

2. Can't meet budget? Reduce scope.

When you're talking to designers or web hosts or whatever, and they say "We want $$$" and you say "I have $," reduce your scope down. This fits into the above, you're noticing a theme maybe.

This is a business. It has to make money to continue, it has to make profit to pay you to continue, it has to compensate you for your time to continue.

OR

It is a hobby.

And it doesn't have to do any of those things, it just has to scratch that itch that made you pursue it. It can still sell stuff, it can be a shop, it can be open when you want and closed when you want.

There is no moral, ethical, social value difference between a business and a hobby.

Do what fits into your goals, and if your goals shift, change your shop to accommodate.

3. Have fun

Your biggest competitor by a factor of 1:100 is other shops:folks posting your work without attribution or links.

You've seen the videos where someone is saying "Oh you're so pretty, you're so cute? No, YOU are so pretty, YOU are so cute." That's small business life.

There is enough for us all. Just have fun.

4a. Reaching people

Post stuff. Works in progress, memes, rambles, whatever makes you "you". Pepper in shop links and email sign up links occasionally.

Just be you.

If you don't know who you are, well, that's what you should post.

There is this idea that there is a "brand" that you have to build, and you're going to get (if you aren't getting them already) a million targeted ads to help you build this brand.

"I sell stuff. It has a price range of $X. It is high quality! Or it is cheap quality and priced accordingly! It can be found at xyz dot com. It will get to you in Z days/weeks." = 99% of branding.

The other 1% is "when you think of me, you think of X." Such as, when you think of Netherworld Post, you think of atty's antics and Fang's amused exasperation and Halloween and spooky things and mail and ghosts and mermaids, etc.

4b. Decide your social media bandwith and stick to it

There are ten billion social networks.

It's common to feel like you have to be on them all 24/7. Attempting to reach this is going to burn you out and use up limited resources, it is far more effective to have an email list (this is independent of all networks) + the networks you, as a person, enjoy using and focusing there.

See #3 above. Fits here too.

5. Keep going when things are hard or convert this into a hobby You're making this shop for a reason.

That reason is more important than money, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it.

Building a shop is infinitely harder than playing video games and reading books and watching movies and dancing -- every hour you are working on your shop is an hour you're not playing video games about dancing books.

If you say "this sucks," convert it to a hobby. See #2.

The reason I'm building Netherworld Post instead of doing other business things that would make much more money is because I love it. It feeds a part of me. It makes me more "me" to run this shop than to not run this shop.

The minute that changes, I'm converting it to a hobby. Keep the door open when I want to play, close the door it when I'm tired, re-open after I rest.

If you want more money in your life, get a second job.

If you want money doing THIS -- take every problem as it lunges at your heart, take that tender in your black painted talons, look at the problem carefully, then tear it apart until you have the answers.

You are going to be doing this constantly.

It should be part of the fun.

If it's not, make this a hobby.

There is no inherent value in having it as a business.

The value is this project is it should make you more you.

Every single problem you are going to face -- every single question you are going to ask -- every single opportunity, every issue -- listen to me, everything -- has at LEAST one industry built on solving it.

Not company. Industry.

Keep going until you find someone or something that fixes it for your budget and scope.

6. You do not work for other people

You mention you've been around for awhile following me, so maybe you've seen my...

...occasional ...lack... of delicacy...

...when dealing with people who have a confusion about who is running this blog (them vs. me)

People are going to say "you should lower your prices, you should post more X, you should post less Y, you shouldn't post about Z person/ business/ entity/ thing because of Reasons."

Critiques and criticism can be valid.

They are not directives that need be followed.

There are consequences for not following them (people may leave).

There are consequences for following them when you disagree with them (your shop may feel less like your shop and more like someone else's).

This is not license to be a jerk.

It means that this is your shop and it has to make you more "you" and if it doesn't then it isn't your shop it is a pain in the ass job that pays you far less than you should be paid.

It's like dating as the most confident person in the world.

"This is who I am. Am I compatible with you? IF SO we will drink root beer and dance badly to old cartoons and dress up in silly costumes and be absurd. IF NOT then I wish you well, and the instant you are gone, I will never think of you again."

I ask no one to change who they are when they follow my blog or read my rambles or shop in my stores.

I do not change who I am for the people who follow my blog or read my rambles or shop in my stores.

You must adopt this attitude too.

Or it's not your shop.

It belongs to people you don't know who make you uncomfortable.

Which is the exact description of the world's worst paying job or second job. Which is the exact opposite of why you are building your shop.

#small business

[babacontainsmultitudes]

So you wanna sell your art on Redbubble but you don't know how?

(Or, I meant to write this months ago but better late than never lol)

OKAY okay. I have a bunch of friends as well as mutuals who have lovely lovely art and have considered selling it online (specifically on Redbubble lol that's what's being covered today anyways) but don't really have any clue how RB works, if it's right for them, or what to expect. SO I'M HERE TO GUIDE Y'ALL THROUGH ALL THE BASICS and hopefully, if I've done my job right, this tutorial will help you set up your RB shop and start selling your art online (or help you decide that RB isn't for you lol).

Table of Contents:

What the heck is RedBubble and should I use it?

How to make your account and set up payment

How to add a new work

Pricing? Markup?

Extra: Checking sales and payment history

Extra: Taxes and copyright, in case that scares you.

Extra: The Partner Program (or how to make "officially licensed" fanart)

What the heck is RedBubble and should I use it?

>> RedBubble is a site that allows you to upload your artwork and sell it on quite a variety of different products.

>> The main benefit of using RedBubble, aside from reach and visibility, is that RB handles *everything* when it comes to the manufacturing and shipment of your product. You are literally not responsible for anything other than making the art, uploading it, and deciding how you want it to look on different products. If there is any kind of problem with material quality or delivery (though in my experience they're pretty good with both of those things), it's not your responsibility to correct!

>> RedBubble does not charge you to sell on their site, but they do set a base price for all products to cover manufacturing and to ensure that they make some level of profit for each sale. We'll look into the specifics of this in a later section when discussing pricing and markup, but it would be considered pretty standard, for example, for an item to cost $20 and you to make $4-$5 upon making a sale.

>> At the end of the day, whether or not RB is right for you largely depends on whether or not you feel their pricing and payment is fair, and whether their available products correspond to what you wish to sell.

Okay, so how do I get started?

Well first you're gonna need an account!

>> Head over to the RedBubble main page and click "Sign Up"

>> Select "Artist Signup"

>> Fill in your email, shop name (this is your username also), and password

>> Click "Sign Up"

>> You will be brought to this dashboard page:

>> We will discuss creating products in the next section. Everything under "Set Up Shop" is optional and I'll let you explore that on your own so we can focus on the essentials. That just leaves... Getting paid!

>> First, check the email you used to confirm your email address. If you didn't receive an email to confirm your email address, don't worry, we can resend the form- keep going with the steps for now.

>> Then, under "Get Paid", click "Add your name & address". Note that all of the options in the "Get Paid" section actually lead to the same form, but selecting this option starts us near the top.

>> Fill out all the fields on this page. If you didn't receive the email to confirm your email address, click on this button:

Then check your email again.

>> Note when choosing your payment method: if you are from Canada, like me, then paypal is your only option. Same for parts of Europe that aren't in the UK. Otherwise, you also have bank transfer options:

>> Once you've finished filling in everything on this page, click "Save Changes" at the bottom and... That's it! Now you can get paid :)

**Note: I believe RB still requires you to make a minimum amount of money before they do a transfer (for me in Canada I believe it's $20 CAD?), so do keep that in mind!

>> Payments are made to your account monthly, generally on the same day every month (assuming you've made profits!).

How to add a new work

So you've made your account, fantastic. Now you're ready to actually add your works to RB and make them available for purchase to the wider public! To demonstrate the process, we're gonna use our pal Nicky here (who was a gift from my lovely friend @llumimoon) and pretend that we want to upload him:

Ain't he a doll? Anyways, let's begin.

>> Hover your mouse over your pfp in the top right corner to make this drop down menu appear:

>> Click on "Add New Work"

**On a new account with nothing uploaded, this will look a bit different. instead choose "Sell Your Art" from this dropdown menu, then "Add New Work" from the top right corner of the same dashboard page from earlier.

>> Click on "Upload New Work" (and note the file type and resolution requirements at the bottom. I always stick with PNGs, but in theory JPEG or GIF works as well.)

>> Select the file of the image you want to upload. In our case, that's Nicky.

>> Now write a title for your work, tags, and a description if you want. The tagging system is how people will actually find your work, it works a lot like Tumblr's! Try to choose things that are relevant to whatever your piece is. If you're uploading fandom-related art and aren't sure what tags are used for your fandom on RB, try looking some up and seeing what generates the most relevant results!

>> You may have noticed the "background color" section right below Nicky. This sets the default background color for your piece on different products. We're gonna keep this as the default white here, and I'll show you how to adjust this for individual products very soon.

>> Scroll down. This is where we decide what products we want this design to be available on and how we want Nicky to look on each thing we've enabled.

For example, if I were actually selling Nicky here (if that wasn't clear obviously I'm not actually selling my friend's art lol don't do that ofc) I would definitely want people to be able to buy him as a little sticker :]

>> In this case, "Stickers & Magnets" have been enabled by default. If you wanted to disable them, you would simply click that little "Enabled" button. Similarly, if we want to enable a product type that is disabled, just click that same button (which will be grey rather than green and say "disabled").

>> If a product is disabled and you are being prevented from enabling it, that's because the dimensions of your image are too small for the product in question! You'll wanna resize your image (preferably in a manner that retains its resolution of course) and come back.

>> Hm. Let's use the hats here as an example of how we might make edits to the layout of a specific product.

He's kind of cut off, as you can see actually that's pretty in-character, and I think I want this hat to be pink rather than this default beige-looking color.

>> Click on "Edit"

So, the first thing I'm gonna do here is use that "Scale Image" slider to scale him down a bit. I'm also gonna click the image and drag him up a bit to re-center him.

Next, I'm gonna pick from one of the default colors and choose the pink one.

>> Notice the two arrows beside the words "Bucket Hat"? This lets me go through the different types of hats available and change the background/base color for each of those, like the dad hat:

>> Before we apply our changes, click that little gear icon right under the pencil icon

>> This lets us adjust the markup price for each individual hat. It is 20% by default. Changing the markup percentage affects how much you will make off of a sale, as well as how much your product will cost. More on that in the next section!

>> Click "Apply Changes"

The "dad hat" was the last hat I had selected (when setting its color), so the display has changed to show that one in the preview. Here's our bucket hat from before:

Nice!

>> The specifics of how you can adjust your design will vary depending on the product. With pillows & totes, for example, the editing menu looks like this:

Using the "Choose pattern" option, I can make the Nicky image repeat as a pattern like so:

(note that I also scaled the image down a bit here too).

>> One last thing. See that "Replace Image" button near the top?

You can use this when you want to use a different version of your image altogether for a specific product.

>> That's the gist! Play around with the settings for each item as you see fit. You can always edit them again later.

>> Scroll down. Select up to 2 relevant media types.

I'm pretty sure this affects search results when users choose specific filters, but tbh otherwise I don't think it's all too important.

>> Let's look at what remains.

>> I have the "Who can view this work?" section set to "Only You"- THIS IS SO I CAN FINISH THE STEPS HERE AND SAVE THE WORK WITHOUT ACTUALLY MAKING IT AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. In practice, you'd only use this option if you wanted to buy your own work on something but didn't want other people to be able to see or buy it. Otherwise, you're always gonna choose "Anybody (public)".

>> Collections can be created to organize the pieces in your shop (for example, by fandom), but we won't cover the specifics of how to do that here.

>> Set whether or not your work contains "mature content".

>> If you want, you can set which product shows up in the preview for your work when people view your shop. If you think your piece looks especially nice on a mug, for example, you can make sure that's what people see first.

>> Finally, agree to RedBubble's User Agreement (read that little blurble, since that's basically all you generally need to care about when it comes to what you can and can't sell on RB, but more on that later).

>> Click "Save Work" and voila! Your piece is now available in your shop, and can be found in the search results of whatever tags you left on it (this may take a few minutes to take effect).

>> If you want to check out your design in your shop, navigate to your pfp and click "View shop"

>> Don't fret if the design doesn't appear in your shop right away! Again, this can take several minutes.

>> To edit your design again (and to view/purchase privately uploaded designs like Nicky here), click the "Manage Portfolio" option instead:

>> Here is Nicky as he appears in my portfolio (again, your portfolio and your shop are different things- Nicky will not appear in my shop at all because he is set to "private")

>> You can click that little gear icon to do a variety of things, like return to the editing menu from earlier. The three icons below Nicky refer to the amount of comments, sales, and likes your design has received in total.

>> Click on your design either from your shop page or your portfolio page. Wow! Your cool art is now available on all the products you enabled. Be sure to look through them and make sure that everything is to your liking!

Pricing? Markup? What's that about?

Well good tumblr user, RB handles everything regarding the production (and shipping) of your product, which means that they set a base (minimum) price for every kind of product to account for materials and production, and of course make some amount of profit themselves. The *markup* is a percentage that you the artist set (see the previous section on how to do so), and will determine how much you actually make off of a sale. Note that increasing the markup price means that your product will increase in price as well!

>> An Example (using hypothetical but more or less realistic numbers):

Let's say that the base price (0% markup, i.e. no profit for you) of a phone case on RB is $15. You set the markup to 30%. 30% of 15 is 4.5, so the public price is increased to $19.5, and if anyone purchases this phone case with your design on it, you will make $4.5.

And that's really the gist! Ultimately the markup price is up to you and what you feel is reasonable, though RB sets it to 20% by default.

Extra: Checking sales and payment history

Eheh, unfortunately I've reached the image limit for this post but:

To check your sales:

>> Click on your pfp

>> Click "Account Settings"

>> Under "Artist Tools" (on the left side), click "Sales History"

To check your payment history:

>> From the same "Artist Tools" menu (see above), click "Payment History"

Extra: Taxes and copyright, in case that scares you.

>> Do I need to report the income I make on RB when I do my taxes?

Yup! But dw, it isn't anything special. I mean, I'm not here to do your taxes for you, but money you make on Redbubble counts as "Self-Employment Income", same as if you sold your art just about anywhere else really!

>> So what am I actually allowed to sell on Redbubble? Is fanart okay?

Generally speaking... Yes! Obviously work should be your own, and it should not contain any company logos or names that you don't have the right to, nor photos of actual people unless you have their explicit permission.

>> Hm, okay, but what if I *do* accidentally sell something that isn't allowed?

In most cases, it'll just get taken down 👍. And no, you won't be asked to pay back any profits you made off the work in the meantime.

**A more extreme case: Story time. So, years ago a friend of mine uploaded some official Rick and Morty art that he forgot to set to "private". Overnight he made... Let's just say he made quite a bit of money. RB responded by taking down the work and banning his IP address, effectively preventing him from ever selling on the site again. But they still let him keep the money he made, and he didn't get into any actual trouble outside of that. What I'm saying is, even if you really fuck up, it'll be alright. And again, this was a pretty extreme scenario.

***Note: if your work falls under one of the brands in Redbubble's "Partner Program" (see the next section), it will be temporarily removed from the search results and your shop while it undergoes review. So don't panic if you see your fanart suddenly disappear from your shop!

Extra: The Partner Program (or how to make "officially licensed" fanart)

Very briefly, Redbubble has their partner program, which I won't explain in full detail here, but basically it means that if you upload a work and tag it as one of these brands, it will be inspected for review and, upon passing that brand's guidelines, will be considered "officially licensed" merch for that brand. Just felt worth mentioning!

So that's really the gist folks! There's certainly much more to play around with when it comes to RB, but that's all you need to know to get started! Hopefully this was useful? Hopefully lol. In any case, good luck out there!

#*breathes* OKAY #gee I sure do hope this is actually useful lol #artists on tumblr #redbubble #selling art #idk what to tag this as lmao #baba's tutorials #<- new tag ig lmao #if y'all have other questions (especially friends and mutuals and followers) feel free to reach out and I'll answer what I can! #so if you're wondering. yes I've sold on the site before. no you don't get to know what haha. #bought a lot from RB too- their shit's good quality! #but to be completely clear ofc I don't speak on their behalf haha this tutorial exists so that I can buy more of my friends' cool art lmao

[literaticat]

Hello. I know an older person (a relative) who is a very good illustrator (as a hobby). They do have an email address but don't have a website (yet anyway). I'm encouraging them to draw maybe half a dozen or a dozen illustrations so I could submit them to some publishers on their behalf (those who are looking for or open to illustration submissions). Some of these sites mention having a website, others don't. Would the person have to be a professional illustrator or would this be okay? And would it be better for me to see if I can teach them to draw on an iPad or could I just scan on their handdrawn illustrations and email them for them? They're open to the idea but don't think they're good enough. I think they have a lot of natural raw talent, just wondering would publishers be open to illustrations from an older person who is very green to this and has no experience. What do you think? And could you give me/them any other advice? Thank you so much. Happy New Year!

I'd strongly suggest you not do this. I know you have the very best of intentions, and it's lovely that you're such a cheerleader for your relative. I'm sure they are very talented. BUT. Start by finding out what their goals really are. There are plenty of other ways for them to get their work out there. Maybe there are local art classes, where they can explore different mediums and just have fun and meet other artists and potential mentors. Art contests, or local magazines or journals that might publish work from local artists. If they really want to start a little cottage artwork business from home maybe they can create beautiful cards or prints that can be stocked at a local shop or something like that, and you can help them print them out and be their 'sales rep' if you like. Investigate these types of outlets for your relative's creativity, there's no need for their fun and pleasant hobby to become a difficult, demanding career, unless that is something they are TRULY passionate about.

(Not everything needs to be monetized. Normalize just doing things because you like them!)

Because yeah - - you can't really "dabble" in professional book illustration. Either you are a professional illustrator, which means publishers might hire you -- or you aren't, which means they definitely will not. Now, you can be a NEW professional illustrator, that's a thing, people aren't born as professionals -- so, again, if that's really something that your relative WANTS TO DO, truly wants it, OK -- but they are gonna have to do the legwork. You can't be submitting work on their behalf or holding their hand the whole time. Age is not a factor, but professional illustrator is a real job, not a fun-time hobby, and they do have to be willing and able to do the work themselves.

So if becoming a professional children's book illustrator is truly of interest to them, I'd suggest they start by:

-- Taking some picture book illustration classes, whether online or in-person -- specifically those, not just general "art" or whatever. The rules and goals of book illustration are just different from other kinds of art! This is not, strictly speaking, necessary, some artists are indeed entirely self-taught -- but it would probably be QUITE helpful to make them feel more confident (or alternatively, help them realize that this is not where their talent wants to take them!). COST VARIES.

-- They should also read a lot (A LOT) of modern children's books to see what the level of work is that they'd need to be doing, and different ways to tell a story through art. Because it's not just about having pretty images -- that's great, but they have to be able to *tell a story* through the pictures, also, otherwise they have just created random images, not a book. Start with the books that have been Caldecott medalist and honor winners for the past 5 years, they should all be available at your local library. FREE FROM LIBRARY.

-- I'd strongly recommend getting and studying a used or library copy of WRITING WITH PICTURES by Uri Shulevitz. While there is one section that is quite dated (because PB illus are typically delivered digitally now, and this book is from before the digital days) -- the majority of the book, about the actual craft of telling a story through pictures, is super-informative and brilliant. FREE FROM LIBRARY OR UNDER $10. USD

-- Consider joining the SCBWI; it does cost money to be a full member, but if they are serious, it may be worth it -- there are loads of resources online and in person, conferences, local meetups, workshops, etc, where they can connect with other creators and professionals to research and learn the ropes of children's book publishing; there's also a forum where they can ask questions, etc. $99. USD

-- Alternatively (or in addition), there are also kids-book oriented Facebook groups for this kind of thing that have seasoned pros answering newbie questions -- KIDLIT411 would be a smart one to join, if your relative is on Facebook. (Kidlit411 also has a website with resources!) FREE.

Once they have done all these things, they will need a professional-looking digital portfolio -- these can be physical works that are scanned in, or works created digitally (or a combo -- physical works that the artist tweaks layers in photoshop, etc). There are other posts here about what should be included in such a portfolio, look in the FAQ. This way they aren't just sending publishers random images all loosey-goosey, they'll be presenting themselves as somebody that might actually get hired. But I really wouldn't bother with this part until/unless they've done most or all of the previous suggestions.

#how to become a professional illustrator #illustration 101

[aria-keplr]

Goro Akechi fluff ?

its been so long since I’ve consumed or made any media of P5, will try my best here 🤞

For the purposes of the story and my bad memory, Akechi is going to a private school.

Not fluff but pancake boy being caring :3

Being in the same high school with the detective prince really wasn’t all that special. Not many people cared , it was a private school after all. Fortunately or unfortunately, the choice is yours, you shared a few classes with him. Now obviously it’s not like you cared much. I mean it was cool you attend a school with this boy genius detective and what not. Albeit the only thing that was concerning is that he was falling behind. Of course being a detective and a high school student could be awfully stressful. You would always find that he would ask others for notes. Some teachers reprimanded him, some were lenient.

No matter what he had done, you now landed in a two period AP Literature class with him, doing an analysis project. The class is scattered around while the teacher does god knows what at her desk. You and Akechi opt for the small corner near the bookshelf. You and him never really interact outside of school matters. Despite not showing it, you could tell he’s frustrated. Small huffs and rubbing his face up and down as he reads the god awful 40 pages you two were assigned. Sure you have like two weeks left to finish this, but he seemed so stressed about it. You don’t really address it, probably something on his mind.

You open your mouth, thinking for a split second before speaking, “I can take care of the note taking… All you have to do is just write the essay”

It was a weak attempt at trying to relieve the workload he had.

“I’m almost done with the notes, its fine but thank you” He replies, still absorbed into the work.

You exhale softly, he had a tendency to do this, “Just share the document with me, we can work on it together Akechi,” Your tone isn’t demanding but stern.

He nods and types in your email, sending it to you and allowing you to edit it. Once you open it, it’s nothing less of what you expected. You smile slightly at this, “You know, you’re a good note writer”

You swear you left a crack in him, his eyes no longer a void, but not showing much. He nods, “Thank you”

You smile softly back and continue to work on the notes with one hour left, you won't see him again till lunch in like two periods. Your notes aren't as concise, neat, and arranged as Akechi’s is, but they’re something. As the bell rings, you both narrowly finish up the notes. You definitely lost a few brain cells. You lean back in your chair before closing your chromebook and gather your stuff to leave.

Before you could leave, Akechi clears his throat. You turn to him, looking slightly confused.

“Here’s my.. contact info I shouldn't be busy around 11 PM most days” He says while handing you a piece of paper. You almost find it strange that hes giving you his information.

“Why? Is there something you want to talk about outside of school?”

Not that you know it but he’s trying his best to play it normal, “Ah.. just in case you have any questions or concerns really”

The answer is weird, but you deem it acceptable, “Oh, alright, see you!” You turn on your heels and speed walk out the class, being a little behind schedule from the interaction between you and Akechi.

.

Shortly after school ends, you contact the number,

‘This is Akechi right?’

The reply is almost instantaneous, a buzzing from your phone is heard.

‘Yes this is’

It's a little strange, you thought he would’ve been more busy but it’s really none of your concern is it. Walking a little more, you sit down at a bus stop, waiting for it to arrive. You set your bag down next to you and reply back, only to find out he sent a second message.

‘Don't plan on taking a bus, there's been more reports of harassment and muggings on the bus’

You sigh and get up, I mean it would be foolish to not listen to a detective’s advice.Yet you find it weird that he somehow or it felt like he knew you would take the bus. You reply back finally,

‘Thanks for the heads up, I was about to take the bus lol’

Quickly you see the three bubbles as you get up and start to walk. Another buzz rattles your phone.

‘Be careful while walking too’

You raise your eyebrows and look around, wondering if he's watching you or something. You quickly shrug it off as paranoia and type back.

‘…’

‘So how tf am I supposed to get home safely 🧍’

It was a genuine question, you can't walk or take public transportation safely it seems. It's still a surprise at how quickly he responds as well.

‘I could walk you home, safer that way’

…

Then how is he supposed to be safe..?

You shrug and decide it's the best option, not like you have the money to call a cab right now, you spent it on snacks earlier. You take slow steps, sending a text back as you walk.

‘Sure, meet me outside of the Shinu Coffee shop’

He likes the message in response.

You take the short walk there, and shortly spot him there outside, almost looking stressed. I mean, it’s probably because of the public snapping photos of him. He spots you and quickly walks over, motioning his eyes to keep walking. You let out a blow of air before turning on your heels and speed walk, hoping to avoid the paparazzi. As you walk, you feel a small buzz in your phone again,

‘Uh, just meet me here, in a bit that is…’

He shortly sends a location, and within a good 20 minutes, he enters the cafe that he sent you. It was a warm small town cafe, simple yet cozy.

He smiles, lines under his eyes crease and his smile lines become apparent, “Sorry about all that,” he waves his hand as to excuse himself.

“No worries,” You reply.

You hum as you start to open your bag, opening up the small zipped up pocket taking out a thousand yen bill.

Although it seems like Akechi had the same idea.

He stares at you before you both give an awkward smile, “No I insist it's okay, I dragged you all the way here”

“You’re tired after all of it, it's quite alright,” you claim and smile.

On a normal occasion you would have let him pay, but he truly seemed exhausted.

“You like caramel lattes?”

Before you could even shake, nod and shrug, he stands up and heads to the counter to place his order. You’re taken aback by the absurdity of the prince detective actively offering you a drink. You slightly smile before he sits back down with the two drinks in hand. The smell of his coffee is strong, but he smells like pancakes nonetheless. His hair shines under the yellow light of the coffee shop, with his soft content after sipping from the paper cup, he closes his eyes.

What a charming young man he is.

#goro akechi #p5 akechi #p5 imagines #persona 5 imagines #p5 x reader #fluff

[izzy-b-hands]

"He never goes hiking alone again," Stede says. "That's thing one that we'll need to address."

"He didn't 'go hiking'," Izzy scoffs. "He ran out of gas and went walking to get more, and probably wound up going the wrong way."

"That's a kind of hiking, because this is a mountain!"

"That's...it can't work like that!"

Their Lyft driver seems all too glad to drop them off at the base of the trail. Ed's car is parked incredibly shittily (presumably because of the running out of gas, otherwise he'd better have some other excuse), but Ed himself is nowhere to be seen.

"Where does it show his phone?" Stede reaches for Izzy's phone.

"It shows as close as it can to the nearest tower, aka this mountain, the same as it did on the way here," Izzy leans back, phone in his outstretched hand. "And you don't need my phone to know that!"

"Just let me look!"

Why is the tire iron on the ground?"

Stede turns back to Ed's car. "Huh. Odd, right? The tires look fine."

"We should get going and find him. The text that he was out of gas and finding a place to stop was hours ago-"

Stede walks away from him and picks up the iron. "There's blood on this."

--

"How long has it been since you've done this?"

Of course Bonnet doesn't know. They share Ed, sure, and fuck each other, but it doesn't go beyond that, and this is why. He doesn't fucking listen.

"Last weekend," Izzy sighs. "Jim and I tried a new trail. Remember? They sent an email out with pictures to everyone?"

"Because I love a good nature walk, but this seems like it might be more intense," Stede continues. "We'll weather it together though."

"As if there's any other choice."

"What was that?"

"I said," Izzy panics. "Don't raise your voice. Um. Cougars."

"Are there any here?"

"Why would I know?"

"Why wouldn't you?!"

Izzy fights the urge to throw himself or Stede off the mountain. Besides, at such a low height, the fall would barely maim them, let alone kill them.

"Jim and I stick to trails with posted signage, so we know from that what to look out for."

"No research beforehand? That's a dangerous game, Izzy."

Again, he thinks of the brush smashing into his face, if he would simply fall over and start rolling sideways now.

"We don't have to talk," Izzy sighs.

"No, I suppose we don't. Just... it's a nice distraction."

It is. Ed is probably fine, but finding a tire iron with blood on it isn't the most encouraging sign either.

That, and he hasn't texted again. Not even after they both texted him, called, at Stede's insistence tried a video call too.

His phone might just be dead.

"I read a good book for this situation," Stede continues. "Have you ever read Hatchet?"

"...probably?"

"Then you know the secrets to basic survival as well!"

"Oh," Izzy says. "No, I don't think... it's a kid's book, right? Not a bad one, I mean, but-"

"Here in the States they have Boy Scouts, maybe Ed's run into some of them! That would be good luck."

"They don't prowl the woods in packs!"

"But they do camping trips! I loved reading about that as a kid. Yeah, we had our version, but back then the American version was the It Thing-"

Izzy splutters. "They're people's children! They don't just wander the woods ceaselessly!"

A branch snaps.

"We should probably get a move on," Stede mutters. "It'll be dark soon."

--

"Everyone is going to ask why we didn't call the police first," Izzy says. "And I do start to wonder why we didn't."

"Would they go out this soon for an adult? I didn't think the Americans did that."

"The sooner we leave this country, the better," Izzy grumbles. "I know, ultimately the work project has been a good one. But you own everything to do with it now, so you can move us back home, or somewhere that isn't here at least."

"I admit that would be nice," Stede sighs. "Should we stop, eat and rest for a moment?"

"It's getting darker by the minute, can we really afford to lose that time?"

They press onwards.

--

"If there was no sign warning of animals," Bonnet whispers. "Then there probably aren't any here. That logic tracks."

"Does it?"

"Kiss me as a distraction?"

"We don't have time for-"

A huff of breath.

"Don't run," Izzy murmurs. "Just keep walking."

"I'd really rather die making out, if I must die out here-"

"I know, but shhh!"

"Izzy-"

Something crashes behind them, and he grabs Stede's hand.

"Run ahead, and find. Well, if it's a bear actually going higher won't work and-"

Something heavy thunks him in the back.

"What the fuck?"

"Oh!" Ed's voice emerges from the shadow. "It is you guys. Oh my god! This-it'll be funny once I tell you-I thought you two were some, I don't even know, out here to murder me!"

Ed cackles, and holds up his hunting knife. "I nearly smacked this into the back of your neck, thinking I was protecting myself! Holy shit, wow, fuck, actually that. That could have been bad. Oh god-"

"Let's put that back in the sheath," Stede says softly, taking the knife from Ed. "Glad you carry it though, considering how dangerous this area seems. And right by the highway!"

"Where else would...nature doesn't-" Izzy rolls his eyes. "Never mind. But he's right. Good that you have it, though thank you for not outright stabbing me."

"What about the tire iron?" Stede asks. "We found it and I touched it and oh my fingerprints are on it, Ed-"

"There was a snake," Ed interrupts. "So I beat it to death with the tire iron."

"I didn't see any remains of a snake."

Izzy shakes his head. "Nothing. Maybe an animal-"

"Oh no," Ed says. "You know how I am with snakes. He was beaten, to death, and into pieces, and then oblivion."

Izzy blinks. "When did you last eat?"

"Lunchtime."

"We need to get out and get you food."

--

"You know," Stede says as they drive down the dark highway, towards the nearest open diner. "I didn't hate that. I hated the reason we were out there, of course, because I was worried about Ed. But the actual walk..."

"You don't want to do that again."

"Did you really hate it?"

"...no. The quiet bits, both of us not snapping at each other, those were relaxing. I'd just rather not be out there because we're rescuing Ed."

There's a snore in the backseat. Not surprising, because Ed fell asleep even before AAA got to them with more gas. He's probably out even harder now.

Stede smiles. "Well then. I'm free this next weekend."

"Oh-"

"You're free this next weekend-"

"I am-"

Stede shrugs. "If you'd rather not..."

"I didn't say no. Just...not this trail."

"Oh god, no, we'll go to a different one. A better one. With a field to lay in."

"You have a fetish for being covered in ticks?" Izzy asks. "Because out here-"

"Ah, that's right. We'll just have to fuck in the car before and after I guess."

"I guess we will."

#text post #long post #stizzy #steddyhands #they're all idiots your honour and i love them so so so so so so much

[windwardstar]

It won't be too late to transition.

Today marks my one year of being on t and with the current political climate, I'll celebrate somewhere, but that's not really where my mind is at right now. So instead I'm writing this. Don't give up hope. It won't be too late for you to transition.

You can do any of it at any age. And until recently it was usually done as an adult once you were financially independent and could afford to transition and restart your life compeltely over. You don't have to be a child or a teenager to start and see results and eventually find a body you're happy in. Until recently, transitioning that young wasn't even seen as possible for most people. There is no time limit. No countdown to when it won't help.

I know how much it hurts to have to wait. And with all of the attacks on trans right and trans existence and bans on our healthcare, it's making access to hrt and surgeries and other gender affirming care and changing names and genders on documents so much harder or impossible to get. But. I promise you, there's always still time even if you have to wait.

One day exists. One day will come. And when you get there, hormones and surgeries and changing your name and clothes and hair will still be possible just because you're not 15, 18, 25, 30...

I know how much it hurts to wait. How painful it is to have to exist in a body that is wrong and be called a name that isn't yours and have others constantly misgender you. And there is so much to grieve over the years where you want to get to be your true self but can't. And please, grieve those years. But don't give up hope and grieve your future ones prematurely.

I was 21 by the time I had vocabulary to name my experiences properly. I spent my childhood and teen years existing in unnamed discomfort because trans people weren't even a concept in the popular conciousness, much less being nonbinary. And I spent my twenties slowly trying to carve out places for myself to exist while living with family who I had to remain closeted around for my safety and unable to access care because of cost.

I'm turning 30 this summer. I moved into my own place and it took me two years to get my name and gender changed on my birth certificate and ID. I'm finally getting top surgery this summer. My first attempt at getting on t lasted three months before the pandemic hit and I lost access. I moved again to a safer place and eventually got back on hormones. My one year anniversary for being on t is today. I've seen so many changes and things are still changing and for the first time it really does feel like I have my entire life ahead of me. My life wasn't over because I couldn't transition earlier.

But also, hormones and surgery and legally changing your name and gender marker aren't the only ways to transition. They're just the ones that are the hardest to acess. Whether it's finances or safety or governments making it illegal, there are still other ways you can carve out a space for yourself to exist.

You can find a name for yourself. And whether it's something other people use, a select few, or just yourself in your head, that is still your name. (You can also try and find nicknames that are less painful to hear. Make an email address and sign up for mailing lists with your name so even if it's just automated advertisements your name is still spoken. Use the name with store rewards tied to your phone number and say it belongs to a relative if anyone asks. Online isn't real life, but you can use whatever name and pronouns you want when nobody really knows who you are.)

You can change your hair and clothes and the products you use. It might not be to the extent you want to, but pieces here or there can help. (Socks and underwear that nobody sees. Soaps and shampoo and deodorants that you can say work better or irritate your skin less if asked why you use it (usually the only difference in formula is which fragrance is added). Wearing hand-me-downs of your chosen type with the claim of saving money. Cut your own hair short and say you messed up but it will grow out or let it grow and say you're planning on donating it. Brushing or styling it differently.) Anything you have a plausibly non-trans reason for can be a small less risky way to affirm your gender.

And it's ok if you can't do any of those safely. You're not any less trans because you have to be in the closest or you're not ready to come out of it regardless of the reason.

It may suck to wait for the bigger things. The ones that will make the most difference. But it doesn't matter what age you finally get to them, they'll still help. Your life isn't over and your chances of being able to transition in a way that is happy and fulfilling don't go away because you can't do it yet. There's no age limit.

It won't be too late to transition.

(Keep your negativity off this post. If you need to vent, make your own. If this post doesn't vibe with you, just ignore it. Leave it a space for people who need the message.)

[trickscourse]

whats the deal with your kid

I'm not going to disclose the full situation because someone did start harassing them!

I've known this kid since pre-pandemic, I'm not saying where for both of our safety but we've been friends for a bit! Their friends have reached out with trans questions (like the Amazon binder thing) and the most I've done is go to a school play a town over.

Despite what Sunny thinks, it is fine for a teenager to be friends with someone a few years older than them as a sibling or mentor figure. Me being an idiot teenager 4-5 years ago who didn't understand things are wrong doesn't mean I haven't learned from things since.

This kid, someone I see as a sibling is someone I kept bumping into at my job several times over the past few years and they started following me around like a duckling, it was cute. At one point they found my instagram and I told them to ask their parents if they could follow me.

After a bit, they and their boyfriend/friend group kept calling me their dad/gay dad friend which I wasn't okay with. I don't want to be a parent, so I asked to be called an older brother or an uncle, and I asked them what they wanted to be called, and they just said "the kid" or "my kid".

Which is fine, not everyone likes certain gendered terms and it was their decision and it helps me avoid calling them by their name. A few times I've asked them if they wanted to be called something different, and they said being called my kid is fine.

I gave them my email to give to their parents, which led to exchanging phone numbers. Their parents have asked me on occasion to check in with the kid when I'm at my job and make sure they eat, where they are and how they're doing since they're allergic to using their phone, what time they need to be picked up.

My kid doesn't have my actual phone number. I have my personal one and my professional one, and we usually talk over Instagram. As much as Sunny likes to think I'm a creep, I really don't like hanging out with kids or much of a desire to go out of my way to speak to them.

I speak to their parents often, but their parents aren't great! The adopting thing happened when last winter they called me 3-4 times over then span of a few months crying really hard that their parents locked them out and took their other siblings out of state for a few days to a week, and they wanted to stay over so they wouldn't be locked outside in the New England winter.

The adopting thing was taken out of context, because I felt awful seeing this child get locked out of the house for days at a time, usually on school break, in very bad weather. I wanted to have them stay with me for a few hours to MAYBE a night so they'd be warm, but didn't want to drag them here in case their parents got upset and legal shit would be involved or I would get accused of kidnapping.

I REALLY don't want a kid staying in my apartment, there isn't much room (I know Sunny probably downloaded the fucking floor plan by now) and it would be a hassle but it's the best option between this child possibly sleeping outside or staying in a homeless shelter filled with strangers and CPS might get involved.

We don't talk much at the moment because I'm scared of people stalking them, but I don't want to be a parent, I'm terrified of continuing the cycle of abuse my parents put on me in any way and I can't afford to.

Tbh that's all I can think of from here about them? They're a good kid who bothers me sometimes to play Fortnite with them and talks to me about Omori and I talk to them about old fandom shit.

I never said Sunny contacted them, I don't think she's that much of a creep yet even though she knows my old address.

Someone asked them about one of my headmates, and I don't talk to them about my mental health stuff often so I changed the topic.

#text post #transfemmes

[lost-technology]

Issues of Fandom Past

I am sorry if I am feeling a little jumpy about blocks lately. (Turns out I solved the mystery as to why so many of my blogs are blanked out on some reblogs / replies from a mutual I've seen - the ops aren't doing it, it's because the moot apparently has a privacy setup for only moot reblogs / replies and I just realized it! Tumblr mechanics stuff. I swear, I've been on this site for years and learn something new every day. It's like playing Skyrim...) I think it's because I did run into, a couple of days ago, someone who didn't have my main blocked (didn't know about it) but had this blog / the Trigun blog blocked and I know why. I saw an old name from SPOOOOOOKY fandom-past come up on Ao3 and was all "Oh, I know that name!" and looked at their profile and saw their listed tumblr profile name, which I recognised when I tried to reblog something insightful I saw them say in terms of a '98 episode-review without commentary. And, nope, they had me blocked. I thought they would have forgotten about me or just not know me anymore / not find or care about the new username. Oh, well.

We had beef, like, 20 years ago. Over 20 years ago. This was someone who was part of a friend group in the old fandom I had a lot of fighting with and, ultimately, I came away with it feeling that I was the one who was mostly if not wholly in the wrong. My fighting started with the friend group when a then-friend of mine would antagonise people and then act like the bullied victim when they responded and would then rely on me as a "good friend" and a more aggressive person to fight their battles for them. Well, that's how it started and not where it ended. I got into it on my own with this set of friends and did my own wankery. I got into it with even more people because I used to have what I'll just lay out as "church-views" and hadn't yet accepted / contended with / or even knew it was a term - my own asexuality with mild sex-repulsion and got really pissy about people's ships and kinks in fandom and harped about the "immorality" of putting non-canon kinks into mah fandom! Yes, I was one of THOSE. But we all get older and hopefully wiser. Cringe dies (or gives way to new and hopefully more benign forms of cringe), but is forever remembered. I do remember, at some point, emailing a letter of apology to one of the friends in this friend-group addressing all and it being taken with gratitude, but I still hadn't examined everything that I needed to deal with at the time. I moved on since then, but I guess this is why my guts clenched when I saw one of the folks I used to know popping up again out of the Internet woodwork over on ol' Ao3 with updated fic-sets and on tumblr. I found out about the block when I was testing the waters on a comment-less reblog, in hopes I was forgotten, maybe, that my new username was unknown, or that we'd reached, after all this time, a level of truce. I don't want to try to be friends, but I think it would be nice if people in the old guard fandom could just pass each other in the hall, wave to each other and move on. Enjoy each others' art and insights, even. I see some people pop up from the old guard fandom. I haven't seen any of my old friends so far and have seen people I do not know who were apparently in other parts of the Internet in OG Trigun fandom who talk about it... but there are a few people who I see a name I recognize and gut-clench. No desire to fight because I'm like "Yeah, I was wrong, you were right, I've moved on," but get that clench because I am filled with shame over it all and am reminded of it. And then there's the matter of people whom I'd probably had problems with probably do have new usernames / different usernames on here and it's almost like? I'd like a list? So that maybe we can preemptively block each other so we don't accidentally share from each other and recoil from it if one or more of us aren't ready to clean-slate each other? I'd like to be clean-slated, but that is only something that guilty people want.

#personal #fandom issues

[teenwolfminibang]

Welcome/FAQ

What is this?

What is says on the tin up there! An event to create a supportive environment for authors working on long fic featuring less popular pairings and genfic for Teen Wolf!

So what can I write?

For the purposes of this event: No pairings that have had fic-exclusive events in the past two years are allowed for this event for the purpose of elevating pairings/characters less explored. This excludes Sterek, Steter, Thiam, and Steo, for example, but not Scerek, Allydia, Stalia, or individual characters.

Any rarepairs, polyships, or genfic are allowed. If you aren't sure just ask.

What Can I sign up for?

You can sign up to write, create art or beta read!

How long does my fic have to be?

Minimum word count is 10k, no upward limit.

Can I work on wips?

Yes.

If the work hasn't been posted, carry on.

If the work has been posted you may request mod approval so long as fic will be complete by the event deadline and over 10k of new words will be added to the wip.

What qualifies as art?

Drawings, moodboards, gif sets. Do you have other ideas? I'm open to listening. Many things count as art.

How much art do I have to make?

One piece of art will be required per fic you choose.

How do I sign up?

Read the rules here. And then send me a dm or email with your summary and estimated word count. Writer sign ups will run Mar 1st-15th. Artist sign ups will begin May 15th.

I missed sign ups but I have a fic and would really like to play!

Send me an email or a dm and we can talk about it!

I missed a deadline and don't know what to do.

Send me an email or dm and we can talk about it!

What email address should I send questions to? [email protected]

Rules

Timeline

#teen wolf #teen wolf mini bang #teen wolf events