#would now result in me not getting help for a completely unrelated thing that is kinda messing up my life actually

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @chaaistheanswer

Hi everyone! I am Clara, but you can also call me chaa! I am a digital artist based in Auckland, New Zealand, with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Media Production. After graduating from uni, I moved out to pursue my art career and I’ve been a freelance digital artist ever since. I love concept art, especially character design! Creating characters influenced by my love for fantasy is what I live for. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my art! And thank you, Tumblr, for this opportunity!

Check out our interview with Clara below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I specialized in art in high school and have a bachelor’s degree in Creative Media Production from Massey University with an animation pathway. For our thesis film, which I worked on with several of my classmates, I took on the role of producer, art director, and concept artist. Our short film was featured in the Wellington Film Festival Terror-Fi in 2020. After graduating, I went on to become a freelance artist, but my goal is to work for the gaming industry as a character concept artist. Ever since I first picked up a pencil, I knew I wanted to become an artist!

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

Art block is quite common among artists, and unfortunately, I too have fallen prey to the affliction. I have several ways of overcoming art block: watching movies, playing games, reading, or going out for a drive with my sister. These are just a few things I love to do to help keep my creative juices flowing!

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

I tend to obsessively research about completely unrelated topics while I draw. I find learning new things helps improve my concept designs, especially in creating backgrounds for my characters.

Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

Video games and anime were my biggest inspirations! Anything with a captivating story that’ll send me to the edge of my seat, and loveable characters. I’m particularly drawn to high and dark fantasy.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

Technology has made a huge impact on us artists over the last few years. I used to draw a lot on paper, but since getting a tablet, I find myself searching for the undo and redo buttons and even trying to zoom constantly while I draw on paper. I used to only draw for myself as well, but after posting my art online, I now have an audience to whom I can share my art. Because of this, I am able to earn a living doing what I love by creating illustrations for clients.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

I am very proud of this recent commission I’ve done for a client! Fortunately, the piece turned out exactly how I wanted it to look, and my client was very happy with the result. I am also in the process of working on a Webtoon, which is going as smoothly as I hoped it would be before its re-release!

What advice would you give to younger you about making art that's personal or truthful to your own experiences?

The best advice I would give my younger self is to never hold back! Try not to think about the negatives of creating and sharing art that you believe in. Embrace vulnerability, and don’t be afraid to dig deep into your own emotions and experiences. Always explore, and don’t limit yourself to your own bubble. And most important of all, stay true to yourself! Stay true to your values and beliefs, and never compromise your own authenticity for the sake of pleasing others. Your art is a reflection of you as a person.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@yuumei-art has been an inspiration to me since my early Deviantart days. I admire how she uses her skills to focus on environmentalism and cyber activism. @nipuni is another inspiration of mine. I found her when I was in the process of recovering from Dragon Age Solavellan hell. I admire how she manages to capture faces well while also sticking to her style. Her paintings are so beautiful and very pleasing to my eyes!

Thanks for stopping by, Clara! If you haven't seen her Meet the Artist piece, be sure to check it out here. For more of Clara's work, follow her Tumblr, @chaaistheanswer!

#creator spotlight #artists on tumblr #chaaistheanswer

[geekgirles]

Unhappy Campers: an Honest Review

I’ve been impatiently waiting for this episode all day. I even spent the last two hours before it premiered constantly refreshing YouTube to see if it had already dropped, so it’s fair to say I was very excited for this episode thanks to the sneak peeks we’ve been getting over the months. On the one hand, because it promised to introduce Barbie Wire into the show at last, and on the other hand, because it promised more Millie screentime as well. 

And while it definitely delivered on both things, I can’t help but feel Unhappy Campers is actually one of the weakest episodes of the show. Or at least of season 2. 

My main problem with the episode is that the conflict feels rather forced to me. Not the Blitzo/Barbie Wire conflict, since at this point Blitzo’s sister hating him despite how much he seems to genuinely love her and care for her is pretty much on brand with this show and his character, but the M&M conflict.

It just feels like it comes completely out of nowhere, you know? Like it just doesn’t add up with the rest of the show. At least, compared to Moxxie and Millie’s characters and interactions in every other episode. 

You could say my main problem is that what goes down during the episode would work if this were a separate episode, completely unrelated to the rest of the season, sort of like Queen Bee. But the thing is, it’s not supposed to be its own thing, it’s supposed to be connected to the rest of the story, so it ends up feeling very incoherent with what we’ve been seeing so far. 

It’s obvious from the very beginning that Moxxie is going through an Acquired Situational Narcissism moment as a result of this being his first case where he gets to lead, meaning he expects everything to go his way just because he gets to be in charge. Everything Moxxie does in this episode is a desperate attempt to reflect how important he is feeling at the moment, instead of taking the best, most practical course of action. 

That is to say, listening to Millie and take care of the murderous teenager who’s clearly very bad at keeping a low profile.

This goes from his Moxxine persona, a typical Alpha Bitch type who would have everyone wrapped around her finger...

...to trying very hard to win everyone at camp...

...especially by presenting himself as better than everyone else in order to become popular.

Only to fail miserably because these kids for once aren’t your stereotypical sheep looking for a mean-spirited leader to follow. No, they aren’t impressed by a fake attitude coupled with a presumptuous confidence and thinly masked condescension, but by actual talent and charisma. 

And who happens to have that? 

Millie, or Millerd, in this case. 

So while Moxxie’s trying desperately to get these kids to like him and become popular, Millie is achieving just that effortlessly, while making her husband increasingly envious of her popularity at the same time. 

Now, this in itself isn’t a bad premise. Most shows have at least one instance where one of the main characters is more well-liked than the other, who becomes frightenly jealous and petty as a result. In fact, this would work if it had happened between Blitzo and Moxxie, for example. 

But it’s the fact that Moxxie is feeling jealous of Millie, his wife, that to me this sort of feels like it comes out of left field. 

Basically because so far Moxxie and Millie’s marriage has been nothing but perfectly harmonious and equally loving and supportive. Moxxie has always been Millie’s #1 fan and supporter, so I find it a bit hard to believe the same guy who stood up to his intimidating in-laws because they were unfairly reprimanding his wife for a mistake on their part would now grow jealous and petty over others appreciating her many talents. 

No matter where you look at it, this is just entirely out of character of Moxxie. Not only because he would never be so resentful of the love of his life, but because Moxxie just isn’t this self-centred. Even when he was struggling to keep up with Striker in The Harvest Moon Festival, it was only because Striker and Millie’s family kept looking down on him and he wanted to prove himself. It was never a matter of stroking his own ego. 

And then, there’s Millie’s side on the matter. 

As I said, it’s great that we had some more Millie screentime and that she expressed needs and wants of her own for once, but the problem is, I personally feel like they come out of nowhere and fail to properly connect with anything that’s already been established. 

Millie says she feels like she’s important and someone to be proud of for once, which hints at some deeper insecurities that are worth being explored. Unfortunately, these insecurities are being introduced now, after a season and a half, so there isn’t really much that would make us understand her outburst here. In my opinion, it almost feels as if Millie’s character has been so perfectly content with her life overall, never showing signs of having any kind of issue of her own, that now that they need some drama, the writers just have no idea what to do with her in order to achive that. It’s like they’re now adding toppings on an already cooked pizza, if you know what I mean.

And the funny part is, this is actualy easily salvageable! 

Literally all it would take to make this more coherent and better woven with the rest of story would be to link Millie’s outburst to her family life. No need to suddenly turn Joe and Lynn into abusive parents, because we have enough of that already, but they could have played with what they already had. 

While the episode itself didn’t dwell on it, as it was a Moxxie episode, Millie’s interactions with her parents and Sallie May hint at some sort of favouritism towards the latter because she is a better assassin--in the sense that Sallie May at least doesn’t seem to get carried away with her killing and is smart enough to hide the bodies of her victims. Also, in their parents’ eyes, her life in the farm is more stable than Millie’s job as a free-lance, which they don’t even understand how it works.

 Joe and Lynn are very set on their ways regarding how people should be killed: with your bare hands or using melee weapons, you can’t be sloppy and let your guard down, be smart about it... Qualities Millie doesn’t follow one way or another: her husband isn’t physically strong and prefers guns, she lets her emotions get in the way and hinder her kills, she forgot to cover up nine deaths in the last Pain Games she participated in...

Really, all it would have taken to fix her feelings on the matter coming practically out of nowhere would have been a little mention to her home life and how she feels she never measured up to her parents’ expectations of her and now she’s finally being validated for being who she is. 

Instead, we’re left with an episode whose premise only makes sense as a stand-alone or with a different set of characters and where the only cohesive thing is another person from Blitzo’s past hating his guts. 

Anyway, this is just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. I don’t know if I’m alone on this one. Thanks for taking the time to read this nonetheless.

#helluva boss #helluva boss spoilers #helluva boss season 2 #unhappy campers #helluva boss analysis #helluva boss moxxie #helluva moxxie #moxxie #helluva millie #helluva boss millie #Millie #m&m #helluva boss blitzo #helluva blitzo #blitzo #barbie wire #vivziepop #vivziemind #vivienne medrano

[cellarspider]

This might be random and unrelated but I'm a high school senior taking my final exams which in my country determine the next 4 years of my life. it's now 4 days to the start of test season and Despite prepping well and feeling confident I woke up today to an empty mind. The mocks I took today were awful and I can't really speak to my parents about this as we aren't on speaking terms due to my grades seeing a drop before this. I'm consumed by a brain fog and lack of motivation and feel completely lost on how to get back to the way I was yesterday, feeling equipped to handle this. I'm sorry...Kindly advise

I am not qualified to speak on this subject beyond relating my own personal experience with academic stressors. If there is the opportunity to speak to a supportive acquaintance or especially a professional counselor, I would recommend doing so. Not just in relation to this particular event--life will hit you with difficult stuff sometimes. Getting through that stuff is a skill, as is knowing when and how to reach out for help. These skills can be trained, with the help of professionals.

That being said: I'd advise taking a break. Physically separate yourself from the objects and places associated with studying, and just let your brain rest. Go for a walk if you can, particularly if you can get to somewhere like a park or other natural space. The exercise really does help. Just observing something in the environment can also be good--I once spent a couple hours decompressing by taking photos of dead weeds and tiny plants in sidewalk cracks. Or watching steam rise from a sewer grate.

And if your mind isn't cooperating, don't try to force it, or push distress away. You're stressed out. Being stressed is not fundamentally good nor bad, it simply is. When stress hits me and I start worrying or feeling sick, I try to remind myself of that, take a deep breath, and simply observe the feeling. Not think about what caused it, not think about what I'll do next, just observe. The feeling passes by itself, and then I can continue on. Sometimes it takes a while, other times the feeling is gone within a few breaths. If it takes longer, it's not a failure, it simply is. If crying is part of the result, or nothing dramatic happens at all, that's how it goes.

That's been very important for me. Giving myself the space to feel these things, and separate the feelings from the noise around them. That is what I have to offer.

[juni-ravenhall]

sso's candle, and jumping into the ai bubble for publicity and investment

so yasmin told me to write about this bc not everyone might realise it. its a bit of a long topic so prepare. for legal reasons this is all my personal opinion :3

first off - the sso candle doesnt actually have anything to do with ai. i just wanna get that out of the way. i will come back to this later.

the sso candle ai promotional event is 2 things to me. one is, "probably someone at the company knew someone at the other company bc why else would this specific random collab ever happen" (and theyre not even a candle company? its a perfume company?)

but the other thing which is the main thing, is that we've entered the ai boom, or ai economic bubble. before this there was a crypto bubble, there's sort of been a mobile bubble, and we have the old classic dotcom bubble. summary of tech bubble is, a new shiny thing in tech makes ppl go OOOH!! I WILL THROW MY INVESTMENT MONEY AT THAT!! I BETTER HURRY AND NOT MISS THE TRAIN!! IM GOING TO GET FILTHY RICH BY INVESTING IN THE FUTURE!!! and many of these ppl dont actually understand the tech, and can therefore be exploited by startups or new projects targetting these investors, by just saying "we use the shiny thing that is the future and will make people rich".

just like the dotcom and crypto bubbles, everything that has "ai" in it is currently getting lots of attention both from media and from investors. things that are about "ai" are currently like "wow! youre using modern tech and this is the future!" and for all those ppl who dont know that much about ai or tech, or tech ppl who are easily influenced, it makes companies look cool and modern and forward if they include that current shiny thing.

what does sse achieve by making promotional vids and posts about an ai candle? attention from media and potential investors. the playerbase doesnt care. their target audience arent ppl who generally care much about ai, or even support its usage in creative fields.

they also count on that the playerbase wont be mad enough about it bc most players dont rly care or understand. which is prob going to be an accurate prediction. so they dont especially lose on it unless theres a genuine uproar, but even then, theres a lot of space in "genuine uproar" that still results in "no such thing as bad publicity".

so, thats my perspective on why sse did the ai candle thing. publicity for investors and the industry and media. it helps both sse and the little weird "ai" (side eyes) scent company who both get ai bubble points here. its completely unrelated to what players want or care about (and as many have said, players actually do want to buy things from sse - like plushies and other merch).

now to the last point. the candle isn't even ai, and it's really just an ai boom trending word thing for attention.

some ppl on ssoblr dont really understand what ai is or how it works, or how its already been in use for a long time. im not really gonna explain all of that but i do ask you to like... watch a video or read a wikipedia article or something and please educate yourself on what ai is and isnt. anyway,

supposedly this company feeds pictures into whatever ai model theyre supposedly using. the ai supposedly spits out things like "sunshine :) dirt :) chupacabra :)" from the customers phone pics and then actual perfumers mix blends based on what the ai supposedly told them from the pics.

idk if ur catching on here but, there are trained perfumers here who have seen the customers' pics with their own human eyes. they humanly blend scents based on the content of pics theyve humanly seen. (unless all perfumers at the company are also blind and the ai is their only way to find out whats in the pics, and if so, power to them, ofc.) and, at best, an ai has supposedly told them some generic image analysis terms, which are unlikely to be very helpful to the art of scent design.

there is absolutely nothing the supposed ai is actually doing here. theres no reason for it to be here. it contributes nothing to the process. exceeeeeppppttttt..... clicks!!!! articles. videos. wow! crazy ai scents! wow! ai horse candle!! thats crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so future!!!!!!!!!!

the scent company is a classic tech bubble startup (allegedly from my perspective in my opinion). they dont even use ai (allegedly from my perspective in my opinion). they want a quick buck for looking like a modern futuristic business to the FOMO investors who fall for this every single time theres new shiny tech (allegedly from my perspective in my opinion). and sse collabs with them for pretty much the same reason (allegedly from my perspective in my opinion).

#ssoblr #sso #star stable online

[hiswitchcraft]

im still very confused about one thing, can you just bullshit any setup to perform any effect and intention is all that binds it together? or are there some rules that always apply like "red roses mean love" or can i use a red rose to do something completely unrelated? can i grab the setup for a healing spell and craft a narrative of "this will cause my computer to magically recognize the intended function of my spaghetti code and execute it" and poof, its that kind of spell now?

Is Intent All That Binds a Spell Together?

There are probably some witches who believe intent is all you need to do successful spell work or that you could craft that narrative. I don't entirely believe that. Just like how I urge people away from general substitutions like quartz can be used for any crystal, when y'all ask me questions like this I'm going to answer based on what in my opinion will get you results. Of course I am biased towards my beliefs just like anyone else. You are welcome to decide to believe whatever you want as long as it's not harming anyone. However, I will be continuing this post without exploring the idea that intent is all you need for successful spell work. 

Intent is important but I don’t think it’s all that binds a spell together in effective spell work. I think it is a combination of solid intention but also solid spell selection, preparation, method and ingredients that makes a spell work. If you’re not familiar with manipulating energy these steps and a good physical source of it will help guide you and make sure you don’t exhaust yourself. 

I wouldn't say any certain rule always applies, but it also isn't as simple as intent is everything you need. You need methods. You need correspondences. These things will give the spell energy. But what those are? That will vary a lot depending on tradition, beliefs, culture, etc. For example a lot of other cultures have very different associations with color, or ideas about how the elements work. This will change their view on spell work, especially if they approach it the way a lot of books on modern witchcraft and Wicca do. They put a big emphasis on these things and many others that vary. 

Yes you can use roses for love. But all plants are complex, roses have other correspondences. Other cultures may have other associations and I think those are valid.

You could craft that narrative. No one is going to stop you. But I'd argue the methods wouldn't carry the same symbolism that you need. And likely a vague list of ingredients needed for a love spell would be very different than for a specific technical goal like that in many traditions. If crafting that random narrative is valid, going to work or not, and how you draw the line on all that is up for debate and going to depend on the witch.

I know you probably want a straightforward answer but as someone that's been writing spells for years, they're not straightforward. I’d love to give you that answer but spells are complicated and that’s why I love them and writing them. I hope this ramble helps anyways.  The most straightforward answer I can give is this: There are going to be rules, but they're flexible and dependent on what you were taught and believe. Only you can decide that and that's what makes witchcraft so wonderful and overwhelming! 

#witch #witchblr #witches #witches of tumblr #new witch #baby witch #beginner witch #intent #spells #spell work #magic #correspondences #witchcraft 101

[amadeusgame]

This month I've... accomplished a lot. It's difficult to communicate just how much, because a lot of the work is the kind that isn't exciting to talk about and doesn't look like much... but it is a lot, and it needed to get done. The narrative work I did this month in particular has helped me prepare to finish the full 5-episode saga, not just a new demo or the first episode.

Speaking of the new demo. I originally planned to release it by the end of this year, but it's looking like that was optimistic, considering how much I'm adding from the original demo. New goal is to have it ready for private playtesting by the end of this year, and released publicly early in 2024. Next month I'll confirm if we're still on track for that!

If you'd like sooner updates, or are interested in playtesting, you are welcome to join the Discord server.

Other resources here, including the new website. Now to the devlog!

Highlights for this month:

Updated Mechanics Implemented: I have built a test scene to triage the new mechanics I've built, and functionality is now at the point where I can start rebuilding the demo with them. I am working with playtesters to identify and iron out bugs as I do so.

Finalized Narrative + Art Direction: I have determined which art assets will be inked, and which will remain in pencil. Part of this decision involved making a lot of overarching narrative and thematic details concrete, so while I don't have much to show for it at the moment, it will really pay off when the later episodes release.

Project Management: I now have a part-time job (unrelated to games), and have spent this past month re-learning how to manage my time and keep on track while also getting enough rest. Brief discussion of navigating this adjustment as a solo dev.

Marketing: This month, I really started thinking more about the kind of marketing *I* appreciate as an audience. I've shared social media posts from other indie dev projects - what is it about those posts that communicated to me I would like the games?

Recreation: media I engaged with this month!

Details below.

Updated Mechanics Implemented

I've made improvements, changes, and additions to several core mechanics so that they are flexible enough for me to build a complete game. This has been very complicated because most of the code I wrote for the old demo was very, very limited, and was held together with duct tape that could just barely handle what I built for the demo, and nothing beyond that. So my mission has been to purge the spaghetti and make my scripts able to actually do what I need them to for a more complete game.

It's very easy to get lost on where to start when approaching something like that, so I want to share an approach that really helped me: writing out the intended functionality in just English as comments first, and THEN figuring out how to script it. It's a way of "sketching" code to break down how it will work before getting into the weeds of proper syntax and functionality.

Some specifics on overhauled mechanics:

Movement - movement scripts can now handle things like an obstacle in the middle of the "walkable" area of the screen. There is polish to do but the core functionality is there and easier to iterate on. I've also added some tweaks that make it "smarter" about handling whether you're currently using point-and-click or WASD inputs.

Screen Transitions - this mechanic is MUCH more generalized now. It can handle as many entry/exit points from a screen as needed, so scene layouts can be much more varied. A downtown screen with multiple alleys each leading to different screens is possible now.

Point-and-Click - I made a lot of changes to the point-and-click movement scheme, many of which involved learning how coroutines work; unfortunately, it's still pretty buggy and rough-feeling. I think I made a mistake by trying to make my control scheme support two completely different types of inputs, because it has resulted in two half-polished movement schemes instead of one relatively polished one. However... I cannot bring myself to axe the point-and-click movement scheme, despite WASD currently being more reliable. So I'm going to move forward with the hybrid, and workshop it as I rebuild the demo. The good news is it is at the point where I can safely implement it without breaking anything (hopefully) while I continue to iterate on it. The better news is, even if it's unpolished, I think it makes the game feel very unique.

Menus - I figured out how to track "layering" the two menus (backlog, and settings screen) so it properly handles freezing/unfreezing movement if you open one on top of the other, and I made the placeholder menus/UI nicer looking. Also added audio volume controls.

Virtually everything in this image is just a placeholder, but it's a placeholder that feels much better than what I had before. Sketching this out on paper gave me a template to start building on.

I will be utilizing the "notebook" as a shortcut to view the text backlog, as well:

I have more work to do formatting the backlog, but it works, and a scroll-bar is automatically added once it exceeds the height of the backlog window.

Thanks to building this test scene, I've got all of my test scripts to a place where I feel confident rebuilding the demo with the new mechanics. There's a lot that needs to be tweaked and changed, but it's finally at the point where it feels like replacing the existing demo with the new mechanics is pretty much a clear upgrade. So I'm excited to get started on that!

Finalized Narrative + Art Direction

In October's devlog, I wrote that determining precisely which assets will be inked and which will remain in pencil was probably this month's most important project. I debated going with a practical approach (such as "ink all assets of this type: talk sprite, interactible, etc") - but I quickly realized that I would have more fun doing something cool with it instead. This turned it from an art direction problem to a narrative problem, which forced me to answer a LOT of questions for myself that I had been putting off until later, because most of these questions will not be unveiled within the scope of Episode 1. They weren't strictly needed to finish just Episode 1 originally; but they would be if Episode 1 were to include an art direction decision that is related to very late-game concepts.

The drawback to this is it took up a lot of time and energy that could have been spent focusing on Episode 1 and finishing the new demo faster and getting a release faster.

The (huge, in my opinion) benefit to this is that Episode 1 is going to be much more effective now, as there are so many things I can set up early on because I already know precisely where I'm going with them. I also just feel more prepared to continue this momentum over the next several years and write the entire narrative, not just the first segment of it. I think the overall experience will be better and more convincing, and that this was an effective use of my time.

I fully expect some things to evolve as I make the other episodes - my experience just in creating the demo has been that some parts of the game truly do write themselves - but I still think this was a very good use of my time this month. It's going to drive me nuts keeping everything I'm planning under wraps for the years until the reveals come, though.

(Which leads me to another very important thing I did this month: called a friend and spoiled literally everything I've been planning to them. I was drawing spoilery fanart of very late-game reveals and needed SOMEONE to spill all of the beans to. The friend in question is an author so they also acted as a very useful brainstorming/sounding board for certain themes I still wasn't sure where to go with... anyway, I cannot recommend this enough. Having just One Dedicated Spoiler Friend has been invaluable.)

Since I spent so much time on the brainstorming part of this, I don't have much to show for it at the moment. I've started inking some more assets, though. Here's Solea (not yet scanned/colored):

Project Management

If you don't read anything else in this section, take away the following: I now have part-time work to offer financial stability and life experience. My real job is developing Amadeus.

Adjusting to being outside of school was difficult, and adjusting to now having a part-time job has also been difficult. However, I am really lucky in that this job is pretty much perfect - it's completely unrelated to games (so ALL of my games and artistic energy can go to Amadeus, not to work), it's part time (so I have much more time to dedicate to Amadeus than I would if I was working full-time), and I like the people there. Thanks to this, I don't have to stress about my financials or a fruitless job hunt, and can focus all of my remaining time and energy to my own projects.

However, having limited free time - even if it's more than I would have if I worked full-time - means project management is even more essential than it was before. It's not just a matter of giving myself deadlines so I get things done, it's a matter of understanding what tasks I can actually accomplish on a given day/week without burning myself out. I find that inking assets is something I am willing to do a little at a time, in bed, before I sleep. Coding is something I'm more than happy to do on lunchbreaks and on my commute. Music composition, however, requires a solid 2-hour block of sitting at my desk with no distractions, and a completely free day afterwards just in case I hit a groove and happen to bang out an entire piece in one afternoon. Learning to work with my own tendencies and not against them is essential to actually getting things done.

One more benefit of my new job is I've learned how to use project management software in a way that works for me to remind myself of what needs doing (especially regular upkeep tasks), in addition to special projects. I've started using it outside of work (on an unrelated, personal account! For the record! Asana is free for small teams!!) to manage Amadeus tasks, and I have to say it has been a game changer. It's really getting me to stay on top of everything that needs doing. I got the advice from several indie devs at SIX to use project management software, and wouldn't you know it, they were right. The folks who actually get enough stuff done to have a demo at SIX know what it takes to get your game made! Who knew??

Marketing

I've been paying more attention to what other indie devs do to advertise their own work. Many aspects of "successful" posts are beyond my control - whether something reaches a wide audience or not depends on too many factors to stress over. So I have decided to focus on what I can control: if the post reaches someone who might like this game, how do I show them that they might like this game?

For the past couple weeks, I've picked a game whose marketing posts I willingly shared on social media because I was excited about the game. I retweeted Small Saga's trailer advertising its upcoming release last week - why? Well, because I watched their trailer video and found it appealing. Why did I watch the video? I don't watch every video on my twitter feed! But something about the trailer footage reminded me of Final Fantasy IX, one of my favorite video games ever made. What, specifically? The character designs and town designs evoked that feeling for me. Then I unmuted the video and really liked the track that was playing, and I decided I wanted to share this.

As a musician, it pains me to say that the music was not remotely close to my first priority when determining whether to share this post. It was a deciding factor, but one that did not come into play until after the visuals had captivated me. The visuals showed me "this game feels like Final Fantasy IX," and that is the hook that got me to stick around for the rest. The trailer succeeded in convincing me, as someone who might like the game, that I might like it. And it did so by letting the game speak for itself. The fact that the font in the trailer matched the aesthetic of the game footage was also a nice bonus.

So last week, I put together a post with a video that was supposed to communicate: "if you like Umineko When They Cry, you might like Amadeus." The same way Small Saga communicated "if you like Final Fantasy IX, you might like Small Saga." I included more of the pure text-based visual novel scenes in this trailer than usual, because Amadeus is turning into more and more of a visual novel the more I flesh out the narrative. I don't know if this accomplished what I hoped it would, but the process of making it taught me a lot.

A couple weeks before this, I based my post off of Cavern of Dreams marketing on Tumblr. Cavern of Dreams appealed to me because its posts told me exactly who it was for: it was for people with a nostalgic love for N64-era platformers. Who is Amadeus for? Well, since I was deep in revamping the point-and-click controls to also allow point-and-spacebar for wrist ease, I made a trailer advertising this accessible input scheme.

I don't pretend to be very good at marketing still, but I've learned a lot just from seeing what other people have done that clicked with me. Marketing, as an indie dev, is really about communication. It's about showing people the heart of what you're making, in a way that lets people who share the same interests find it and enjoy it.

Recreation

3 games to shout out that I played this month:

Burly Men At Sea - an excellent reference for a game with a simple style and focused concept that is really appealing and polished. It's fun, silly, cute, and does what it wants to do extremely well. It's... effectively the opposite of what I am making, which is a game that is scrappy, overly ambitious, and all over the place. But that's okay! It's very grounding to play a game that features strengths completely the opposite of my own.

Once by Moonlight - a short werewolf visual novel here on itch. I don't pretend to think I am the first person to write a visual novel about a werewolf, so I wanted to look at someone else's take on it. I recommend it if you have a couple hours to spare. I took about a page of notes while playing it for my own reference, as both a dev and a storyteller, so you know it's solid!

Tsukihime - I only just started this, but it was a recommendation from a friend after I asked for a VN recommendation that was long enough to binge and go insane over, and preferably had vampires or werewolves. I am certain this will show up under "Recreation" for next month as well, because I can already tell this is going to give me a lot of ideas and influence Amadeus in ways that are yet to be determined. While I myself am not writing a horny visual novel, I also feel it's important to acknowledge that horny visual novels are the backbone and history of the whole genre, so why not play the super iconic one about vampires?

That's a wrap for this month! Next month, my goal is to be able to sum up my entire devlog with "the demo is remade and in private playtesting." Fingers crossed I can hold myself to it. Stay tuned!

#devlog #Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee #visual novel #indie game dev #indie dev

[spiralhigh]

i've been weird and out of it all day and also having a pretty bad pain day and then i went to the doctor and they made me redo my bloodwork because of a slightly abnormal result that was 1. unrelated to what the bloodwork was for and 2. already explained, no talk of the entire rest of the blood panel, and then gave me the same runaround i've been through before of getting referred to a physical therapist for """evaluation""" (physical therapists cannot diagnose things) (which is what i'm looking for) (i know this because i have been down this road before) and i was very brave about it. well anyway i guess i'm playing the referrals game again and i'm thinking, you know, i think my life would be easier if i just started living in complete denial of my symptoms again because then i'd be getting the same amount of help as i am now (none) with none of the added stress and work of trying to get even one medical professional to do their job. anyway

#new tab

[noelledeltarune]

raises hand. i'd like to hear about your miscellaneous headcanons :]

YAYYY ok :-] all of these are unrelated 🔥💯

i know that everyone has their own specific headcanons for who their starters are but i have always liked the idea of them having been given their haxorus as an axew as their first pokemon. i totally understand why people think of it as being ingo's with the whole mold breaker earthquake thing but especially with the whole heroes of legend and original dragon thing i think it's customary / traditional for people in unova to give children who are setting off on their journeys together a dragon to raise together. like as a reminder not to be too consumed with your goals that you lose the people who matter to you. or something. works out because i imagine dragons are typically prideful and kind of finicky to raise by nature. so making it a 2 person job is easier on all parties LMAO (their haxorus is jolly by nature so maybe less so but. yknow)

i also personally think that emmet really likes to cook. completely unrelated and i don't know why i think so but to me his love of battling translates a little as him being a guy who cares about his health LOL. he wants his team to be in good shape, so he should put in that effort too! because it's something he's very passionate about. and this applies to exercise but also food to me. it's an easy way to take care of yourself and it's nice to share food with people (<- necessary intervention to avoid ingo's 7th fast food chain burger in 4 days). + i imagine that pokemon who do a lot of battling like his do would need to eat a lot anyways, it's probably cheaper to make your own pokemon food than to buy as much as he'd need in bulk. maybe he got into making it for his team when he was younger and that translated into him learning to cook because he's already making something edible anyways LMAO, might as well do the same for himself

i think ingo likes to draw. no real reason for this one either he just strikes me as The Absentminded Doodler. never really considered himself to be super passionate about art but he is a dedicated hobbyist. in my head when they were kids ingo and emmet's parents tried to get emmet into journaling because he wasn't much of a talker and they figured it'd be an easier way to express himself. he did not really care for it and ingo took it up instead. lots of paper for writing and doodling. i imagine he sort of got out of journaling as an adult/older teen but got back into both writing and drawing more when he was in hisui. we know he's a man who appreciates physical reminders of things. less ephemeral than memories 🔥💯

i also like the headcanon that uxie is the one who stole his memories rather than it just being a result of The Dreaded SpaceTime Travel. like i know it doesn't actually make sense because how would he have possibly met uxie given the requirement of having god's blessing in your cell phone. but. OH MY GOD! IN COMES CANALAVE LIBRARY'S "A HORRIFIC MYTH" WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!!!!!!

^ i just like it. it's also the one way i will excuse the trope of zoroark transforming into emmet because the pokemon guarding uxie's cave is. an alpha zoroark. so maybe that thing has some special powers relating to the memories it steals like it can look into them to more effectively scare people away from it or whatever. because like. hisuian zoroark can't actually read minds. LMAO. but i'll accept it specifically for ingo through this

i am known to be an enjoyer of the headcanon that emmet is a pokemon breeder as a hobby. but specifically NOT just with joltik. i think he met lenora when he was younger when she helped him revive his archen from a fossil and he works with her sometimes now as a breeder aiding in pokemon restoration. i also like to ignore the fact this would likely require a lot of dedicated training and education and time on top of his job because i can do whatever i want forever. i think that elesa's tynamo is the anime was a gift from him :-]

on a slightly related note i also think that emmet and burgh are underrated "characters who have never interacted but i think they'd be friends" guys. in my head even ingo likes to draw he's not really much of an art nerd. but i think emmet kind of is LOL. (<- queen of taking that one line where he talks about wanting to go to galar to see the sirfetch'd vs escavalier painting too far). i think they'd be bug buddies. they're both a little silly in a way that i think would be very compatible and i like imagining them as friends. 2 guys who love looking at pictures of bugs and also are professional pokemon battlers. match made in heaven 🔥💯 slightly related because burgh is the one character i think emmet actually would give a joltik to. gave him a shiny baby spider at one of his art shows and their friendship was cemented when a couple of weeks later he showed up on the doubles line with a professionally trained shiny galvantula :-]

i flip flop 100000x per day over their pokemon but specifically when it comes to the haxorus mold breaker thing i want to bring up how abilities on the battle subway are randomized. meaning that, to me specifically, it is not actually an act of malice 100% of the time. i KNOW that it was introduced in gen 6 but i think that mold breaker earthquake is more often a FUCK I FORGOT TO USE THE ABILITY CAPSULE AGAIN AFTER THE SINGLES LINE than a HA HA HA. FUCK YOU, TEAMMATE! ingo is also a guy who likes a thrilling battle and likes to win. if i wasn't as fond of the idea that their starter was axew i'd say it's a brought the wrong haxorus to work accident

i think that's everything that comes to mind for now. THANK YOU :-]

#talk tag #ask tag #oh ingo and emmet from pokemon. so many random thoughts about you. and i have 1000000 more. LOVE THESE ANIMALS. THE SUBMAS 💙

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

So, I just realized that there is a thing about the readheads?? I couldn't find where the comment or issue was but either way I really don't see how anyone can come up with a valid reason for getting upset about it. Like, what's the issue? Peeta having sex with other people? Ugh I just hate when creator get hate for their content.

Anyway, I just wanted to come here and let you know that you are so talented, your stories are AMAZING and they always have that perfect I-don't-know-what that keeps us reading at 3am when we have to be at work at 4am (personal experience!)

I wish there was a way for us to help you not get those nasty comments, but since there isn't I just wanted to show some support and send some love.

Wish you the best!!

I mean… to be fair, it’s not really an issue yet with the Peeta and the redheads thing. It’s more that I wrote a piece last year that I took a lot of backlash over, and it lasted for at least six months or so. Which means that now, when I’ve got an anon or two that are interested in an outtake like this one, where Peeta would be with someone not Katniss, I hesitate to share it, because I don’t want to deal with that kind of backlash again. And yeah, as a result, I’m a little more sensitive to people saying “please don’t write that…”

Which you know… congrats to those who voiced unpleasant reactions last year for succeeding, I guess, because I’m not posting the stuff they don’t want to see, but I’m also not posting updates for stories that a lot of people DO want to see as well. You know? That kind of nastiness kills motivation and creativity across the board. It’s not selective. It doesn’t speed up or convince creators to create the stuff you prefer to see. It just makes us create less all around.

And yes, I’ve made adjustments to my account here and on ao3 because of a string of questionable anons recently, but most of those were completely unrelated to either the piece last year or this one. So I’m dealing with more of a general “people really suck sometimes” attitude that’s not benefiting anyone right now, least of all me and my writing. Honestly I feel like it’s a minor miracle that I managed two updates this month for Where the Stars…

Personally, I absolutely agree with you. There’s no good reason to be nasty towards a creator just because you didn’t like something they wrote or shared. I would love to feel like I could share the Peeta and the redheads piece free of worry, but the simple fact is that experience makes me leery of doing so. Which also means that I am so so very appreciative of you taking the time to send supportive messages like this one. Wishing all the best for you too, friend!

❤️ kdnfb

#ginarbk #look at that ask

[tomyunbornchild]

Baby,

There are many reasons I don’t want a job right now. I’m still in high school and since I’m aiming for a full ride scholarship to a local university, I am in extracurriculars that are important to me. They’re not just for the resume though, they’re fun and I love them. I want to focus on high school and getting good grades. My health has been on something of a downward spiral since I started high school, considering I had to have a surgery last November and another this January for completely unrelated reasons. I’m getting better now, but I keep getting sick as my body is recovering and I don’t think that’s a great trait for a part time worker. Plus, it makes me tired all the time and I think a job would just drain me to the point I couldn’t be happy anymore. Since I’m lucky enough to have parents with well enough paying jobs that I don’t have to work to help support the family, I want to take advantage of that and prioritize my happiness over income. A less inward reason is simply that all my family members work. My dad works past 5pm most of the time, my sister works 5-9pm every other day, and my mom has inconsistent hours since she cleans for a living. I’ve been making dinner the nights she can’t do it, and getting a job would likely make me unable to do that anymore, leaving my family to fast food or frozen food.

The only reason I can think of for wanting a job is because I like kpop and want to have money to buy albums or other related things. Eventually I’ll get a car and will have to pay for gas, so there’s that as well. I came up with this idea to make everyone happy: I start making dinner every night and cleaning the house regularly (something no one in my family does, despite my mom being constantly upset about it) and my parents pay me a relatively cheap “allowance” of less than $20 a week (probably anywhere from $5-$15) in return. I talked to my mom about it, and she said that it made her feel bad when she first heard about it. I didn’t quite understand why, but it made me think. What type of person am I for wanting to prioritize my family over work but also wanting to make money? Should I be doing this for free anyway out of the goodness of my heart? Should I not care about my family’s meals and a clean house and just get a job? Am I just saying this because I want to be seen as a “good child” or because I just don’t want to sacrifice what I already have? Should I be willing to sacrifice what I already have? Does this idea make me a selfish person or a selfless person? Was it even a good idea in the first place? But most of all, do any of those questions really matter if the end result benefits both me and my family?

Sincerely,

The confused teenager that will become your mother someday

#love notes to no one #children #parenting #love #cleaning #family

[i-kvr]

Here Comes Triple Treble

The Chaotic Coming-out

“So yeah, that’s it. That’s what I had to tell you. You can go ahead now and tell me it was obvious all along and you already knew it since, like, forever. Or that it’s actually a surprise. I honestly have no idea if you knew. You sometimes seemed so oblivious to it but then you seemed to be completely in on it the next moment.” Quigley was spilling the words straight out, barely having time to catch his breath. Afraid of what the next part of that conversation would be once he did. He was pacing the room from one side to the other looking to one wall, then to the one on the opposite side, then to the ceiling, then to the floor and all over again. “And fuck me, willyousayfuckingsomething?” He almost yelled, finally stopping his manic pacing and, in one sudden motion, turning to face his brother, whose face didn’t help.

Duncan’s demeanor was grave. He was staring intently almost at Quigley, but just a little past him. His gaze was somewhat lost, revealing that his mind was half there in his brother’s bedroom, listening; and half miles away. He then looked at Quigley. His eyes getting just a tiny bit wider.

Quiley, anxiety-ridden, anticipated a negative outcome, of course. But seeing his worst fear materialize in front of him was something he could never be prepared for. Duncan was, by the look of him, not liking the news he had just heard.

“Doyouhateme?” Quigley asked timidly, almost in a whisper. A tear rolled down.

“Quig.” For a moment Quigley doubted whether Duncan was actually going to continue talking. “What you just described.” Again that awful pause. “Is exactly what I’m going through right now.” They both had wet cheeks by then.

“Wha–” Quigley couldn’t quite process what his brother had just said. “You mean–”

“Yeah. I think I do.”

The sound of the front door being opened. Someone getting in. Door being closed.

“Dun. Quig. I’m home!”

Quigley looked scared at his older brother, expectant. Duncan’s being a full minute older was something Quigley always took as clear indication he must have a whole lot more of an idea of what to do in difficult situations. Like when they were kids playing around the house in all the rooms their mother had told them not to and they –most surprisingly!– broke something. Quigley would always look at Duncan with those same eyes he had on now. Those eyes that asked “What do we do?”

“Do we tell her?,” is what he actually asks this time.

“I don’t know,” Duncan replies simply.

Isadora found the stretched silence a bit weird. Leaving her backpack fall from her shoulder onto the kitchen floor, she called again “Quig? Dun?”

“In here,” came the answer.

She did not like how shaky Duncan’s voice sounded. So she put the apple she had just bitten down onto the counter –taking a mental note to get back to it in the next few minutes, before the ants or whatever other bug did– and went upstairs.

For the second time that day, Quigley was about to fall down to the floor, ridden with anxiety. This time staring at Isadora’s blank stare.

For a second, the absurdity of the situation seemed a little funny to Quigley. All three of them, just standing there, in the middle of his room. Isadora quite literally performing what “just standing there” looked like.

Finally movement. Her arm. Looking for Duncan’s and holding for support. She looked at Duncan, then at Quigley, then back again. The corner of her mouth twitched. And then… was she laughing?

Then the laughter burst out. Holding her stomach with the free hand –the other one still holding Duncan– and bowing down, like her legs would fail her. Finally, she deliberately sat down on the floor.

“No– What– You– I can’t breathe,” she began, but could barely finish a sentence.

Duncan began laughing, too, but not nearly as wholeheartedly as her. He was caught up between not knowing whether she was laughing at them or with them. Then probably considering she might be laughing about a completely unrelated thing. The result was an awkward laugh. Quigley thought it was funny to see his older brother in such an embarrassing position. Definitely not wearing his extra minute adequately.

“Will you tell us–,” Duncan began, “will you explain– what– you– Isadora– Why are you laughing?”

“Guys–,” she looked like she might start rolling on the floor. “I’m gay, too,” she said and a new wave of burst out laughter showed up.

And then she actually began rolling on the floor.

“Oh, damn it, I thought you were bi–”

“Wait, what?–”

“It’s what made the most sense to me–”

“What do you mean, you, too?–”

“I thought you liked boys, too–”

“Wait what do you mean you thought she was bi?–”

“Phew, I thought you were laughing at us for a moment at first–”

“You knew about her and didn’t tell me?–”

Duncan and Quigley had finally woken up from their stupor. Talking over each other, apparently to compensate for the long moments in silence. Isadora was reconciling the laughter with the breathing. Then there was more breathing. Then she –still giggling– managed to speak.

“I didn’t fully know about y’all, I mean, I reckoned Quigley, maybe, but not really you, Dun. And yeah, I am bi, actually.

#asoue #quagmire triplets #quagmires #isadora quagmire #quigley quagmire #duncan quagmire #a series of unfortunate events #unfortunate events #vfd #snicktverse #snicket #lemony snicket

[fernweh-writes]

Omg hai may I request Asa, Vincent, and Brahms with a S/O who is not submissive at all (nsfw/sfw but you can also do only nsfw) and how they'd deal with someone who's assertive and stubborn LOL <3_<3

Quick unrelated rant: I have an rbf, that’s nothing new. But when people I literally don’t even know comment on it? Yes, you know what I will be mean just because you had the audacity to assume I’m a bitch and treat me accordingly. I’m usually a nice person but like I don’t even know you, had no plans on knowing you, and yet YOU approach ME to tell me I look mean and treat me like you know anything about me. I know I’m a Scorpio rising but sheesh the audacity of people.

Anyways here’s the post op, enjoy<3!

-Fern 🌿

Slashers x Assertive/Stubborn S/O

Pairings: Asa Emory x Reader, Vincent Sinclair x Reader, Brahms Heelshire x Reader

Warnings: NSFW

Asa Emory

Asa wants to have complete control over his partner, he’s dominant through and through. Your stubbornness gets in the way of that but it’s no problem. After all, whatever Asa wants, Asa gets, end of story.

Don’t be fooled though, he loves how assertive and stubborn you can be with other people. You’re a force to be reckoned with. But whenever those traits are aimed towards him, his patience runs thin pretty quickly.

He usually gets you to submit by overstimulating you. Once you get high off of your own pleasure it’s easy for him to get you to comply to his wishes and submit.

Asa will 100% restrain you if he has to. And he’s not above inflicting pain either. He’s a sadist and he can’t help that your skin looks so pretty when it’s decorated with marks he left there. Bruises and crimson just suit you so well.

He’s a master of manipulation as well. Don’t think he won’t find a way to break you down and “train” you to be his perfect little pet. With time he’ll have you begging to submit to him.

Vincent Sinclair

Your stubbornness is going to help you survive Ambrose. After all, someone has to be able to hash it out with Bo from time to time.

Vincent is still a dominant person and he’s most certainly a dominant lover. Don’t think just because he was the “favorite” that his parents didn’t fuck him up to. He needs to have control over something and since he can’t control Ambrose, the next best thing is you.

Sensory deprivation is his go to. Having you tied up and blindfolded puts you on edge, all it takes is some pleasure and pain to break you down. You’re not so tough now are you, y/n.

He’s not above using fear tactics either. Anytime you get particularly out of hand he’ll threaten you, reminding of how quickly he could break you, how easy it would be for him to hurt you. But he doesn’t want to do that to his sweet y/n, and he won’t have to if you just submit to him.

Don’t forget that he also knows anatomy very well. He can inflict great amounts of pain or pleasure, it all just depends on if you behave or not. Vincent also knows how to beautifully combine the two and leave you an absolute wreck beneath him.

Brahms Heelshire

This can go one of two ways.

One: Your assertiveness can cause Brahms to realize that you’re the one in charge. In this case, he’ll submit to you and show you that he can be a good boy. He wants nothing more than your approval and praise. Please tell him how good he is for you when he behaves, how he’s your good boy.

Two: If he’s truly in a bad mood your stubbornness can set him off. In this case all he wants is to get his way. This can result in him being violent and physical. Throwing things and breaking them is pretty common but so is slamming you into walls and showing you who’s really in charge here.

Long story, Brahms is a switch and his reaction to you all depends on his mindset for the day. Whenever he does want you to submit to him he will simply force you to. After all, he’s big enough and strong enough to man handle you and force you into any position he wants you in.

#slasher x reader #slasher x you #slashers #house of wax #vincent sinclair #vincent sinclair x reader #slasher hcs #vincent sinclair x you #asa emory x reader #asa emory #the collector x reader #the collection #the collector #the collected #the boy x reader #the boy 2016 #brahms x reader #brahms heelsire x reader #brahms heelshire x you #slasher smut #slasher fic

[citrineghost]

Avoiding Scams on Freelancing Sites

Hi there! I almost just got scammed today, and I’m going to take the LITTANY of red flags from this interaction and use it to teach you all about how to avoid scams.

I am not making very much money right now. I just lost one of the accounts I was writing for, so I am not not even making enough to pay my rent. So I am desperately looking for work. And, like many people desperately looking for work, my panicking subconscious is willing to see a red flag and brush it under the rug because

“I’m probably being paranoid.”

So, to all of my lovely artists, writers, editors, and other types of freelancers who are desperately looking for work, I would like to create a comprehensive list of things that you should NOT FUCKING IGNORE while looking for a job. Actually, the list will be formatted as things you should expect from your employer/interviewer and if these things are missing, get the fuck out of there.

1. Reputable Platforms

The first thing you should be expecting is to use reputable platforms. If you’re being asked for a virtual interview, you should expect your interviewer to invite you via Skype, Discord, (Maybe slack if they’re middle-aged), perhaps Whatsapp, or whatever website you’re using to find your job.

DO NOT go for interviews on Telegram. This app has been reported as very commonly being associated with scams. This is where my recent experience took place.

2. Willingness to Verify Legitimacy

The first thing you should do when being in contact with an interviewer or HR is ask them to verify their identity. 

This may not be necessary if doing a video call with someone pictured on an official company website, receiving emails or texts from addresses/numbers that are listed on an official company website, or if the job you’re being interviewed for was applied to directly on the company website. In these cases, you are not likely to be scammed, as you’re working with verifiably information.

If you meet someone on Indeed, Fiverr, Upwork, or any other freelancing/job site, keep your contact within the website’s chat system, email system, or whatever. This is how you remain protected under the hiring site’s TOS/Legal whatever. If you get scammed because you took your hiring process elsewhere, they will not help you.

That being said, if you DO take your interview off the site, it should be somewhere reputable and you should ask for your interviewer to verify their identity before doing literally anything else. The best way to get them to verify their identity is to ask them to email or text you from an address or phone number listed clearly on the official company website, by asking them to show you their state ID and checking it for photoshop influence, or by asking to do a video call for the interview and seeing for yourself that you’re being interviewed by someone who is pictured on the official company website as an employee.

3. Clear and Professional Procedures

Any professional working as an interviewer or human resources personnel will have a skillset related to communication and organization. When being interviewed you should expect a number of questions about your skills and how you’re valuable to the company, etc. However, this is easy to fake, as a scammer. What you need to look out for is that they show a clear amount of structure.

If you’re asked for an interview, no real company will demand you be quick about responding. If they’re interested in an interview, a legitimate company is not likely to ask you to do the interview immediately. They will ask you to schedule an interview time with them. They may ask if you have availabilities that day, but they will not just start interviewing you immediately.

After the interview, any professional company will tell you that they will get back to you when they’ve made a decision about your interview. No professional company will tell you to wait for an indefinite amount of time while they talk to HR peers. If a company Does want you to wait, because they intend to make a quick decision, they will give you an expected wait time, as that is the courteous and professional thing to do. They will not expect you to be on-call for this period of time. A time projection is simply to give you an idea of what to expect. For example, “I’ll be in touch within the next 1-3 hours about the results of your interview. Thank you for your time.”

Furthermore, if you are accepted for a job, any professional company will make a clear outline of exactly how they plan to introduce you into company life. They will respect your time and ask you to schedule things with them. For example, “Is there a period of 2-3 hours within the next few days where you would be available for an orientation?” 

No professional company will demand you do anything at any particular time. That is not how legitimate professionals treat new employees. You will be asked to schedule things with them. Even when you’re assigned work hours, if the exact hours you’re applying for are not listed in the job description you applied for, they will ask you to fill out some kind of time sheet to outline your availabilities, then schedule you for times within that outline.

4. Doesn’t Show Signs of Money Scamming

There are two major red flags when it comes to money scams. Your interviewer should never ask you what bank you use and your interviewer should never ever tell you they’re going to send you a check, unless they send your paycheck as a check.

One of the more common scams at the moment is run by people pretending to be members of legitimate companies, hiring freelancers for things like proofreading and editing. These remote positions may require home office hardware, right? The interviewer will tell you you’re missing some hardware and software that are required for the job. Then they’ll tell you that they will send a check that you can cash and use to buy the required materials.

This is even sketchier if they email you front and back images of the check and tell you to print it and then deposit it through mobile banking. The way this works is that, if you cash the check successfully, you will then buy the list of software, which is usually completely unrelated to the job you’re being hired for, then they will cancel the check, which hasn’t cleared completely. That leaves you with ~$2k dollars less in your bank and their money right back where it started in theirs. Presumably, the scammers are the ones selling the software. So, that $2k dollars you just spent is also going into their bank account.

Professional companies will never offer to send you checks to buy products. If they have official hardware or software that they want you to use, they will buy it themselves and then send it to you. There is never a reason why a new hire should buy hardware or software out of their own bank, whether they have been given money for it or not.

Furthermore, a legitimate company will never ever pay you before you have signed and sent your contract to them. One of the obvious giveaways of the scam I was almost caught in was that I was sent the contract last night and I asked if I could send it in today, since it was getting late. The interviewer agreed. I signed it in the morning and then asked him if I should send it in a reply to the email I got the original contract from or if there’s another email I need to send it to. He completely ignored my question, asked me how I was doing, and then went into the check-related information so I could buy software.

The issue was bothering me ALL DAY. I knew there was something extremely weird about that, so I asked again a few hours later. His response? “You have nothing to worry about.” ?????? I was aghast. I wasn’t worried at all! I just wanted an answer! If he had simply told me to respond to the email I’d gotten the contract from, I might have fallen for his scam! What a terrible scammer smdh

A Non-Exhaustive List of Other Red Flags

Your interviewer shows a poor grasp on the language

If your interviewer is making frequent grammatical errors that are glaringly obvious to any native speaker, that is a huge red flag. HR reps and interviewers are hired because of their communication skills. It is highly unlikely that someone who makes non-native-like errors is legitimate unless they are actually openly non-native, in which case, it’s not so alarming.

Your interviewer is showing impatience or demanding you at certain times

If your interviewer is telling you to “report back by 8am tomorrow” without any kind of prior agreement that this is an acceptable time for you to meet, that is extremely unprofessional and shows a lack of patience. Scammers want to get to the meat of their scam quickly and will use an air of professional superiority and authority to scare you into moving faster than necessary.

Your interviewer shows a lack of opening and closing statements

Along the lines of the clear processes that I mentioned above anybody who is initiating you in the job you’re taking should show clear opening and closing statements. What I mean by this is: professionals in human resources or management positions will not keep you as a social hostage. If you’ve been discussing how you’ll begin training or somesuch, they will not just leave you hanging. You should have a dedicated time slot where you will have your discussion and, at the end of it, your supervisor should make a closing statement. For example, “It looks like our time is running out for today. What would be a good time to pick this up tomorrow?”

If you feel like you are “on-call” and unable to leave the room because the interviewer or supervisor keeps messaging, has not outlined a time slot for you to talk in, won’t seem to let you go, or shows no indication of stopping, that is a really bad sign. Either the company is legitimate and TERRIBLE at professionalism (a great sign you should run anyway), or this is a scammer intent on getting you to follow their instructions as soon as they can.

Your interviewer ignores time zones or gets them wrong

When I was contacted about doing an interview yesterday, it was 4:30pm. I did the interview and was told I got the job. Immediately after, without asking if I was free, he began listing off instructions and things I was to expect. It wasn’t until 7:30pm that he sent me the contract and asked me to review it, sign it, and send it back that I finally asked if I could do that tomorrow. The interviewer was supposedly on the west coast and knew that I was on the east coast. He agreed by saying “Alright” and then told me to report to him “by 8am your time.”

There are 3 things about this that are weird. The first is that he demanded I show up at 8am to continue where we left off. Any professional would have asked when I’m available the next day to continue. the second is that he said “your time” instead of saying EST, as most professionals in the US would be apt to do. And, lastly, I showed up at 7:50am, ready to continue, because I’m that desperate that I’m willing to be pushed around, and he showed up at 9am on the dot. He had gotten the time wrong. Nobody who works professionally on the west coast is incapable of adding 3 hours to their time. It was a rookie mistake, or a mistake made by someone in a completely different time zone than they say they are.

When asked to verify their identity, your interviewer attempts to reassure you or refuses

When I finally was fed up and knew this must be a scam, I politely asked my interviewer to verify his identity by either showing me his US ID or by contacting me from his email or phone number listed on the official company website. He sent me a photoshopped nametag with a completely different person’s name and photo on it and said it was the company ID of the HR director. 

I have never seen a facade fall so pathetically. Why would literally any even remotely legitimate person do such a thing? It was sad, really. He deleted the message in less than a minute - no doubt to keep me from looking at it long enough to see how badly it was photoshopped - and then aggressively reassured me that the company meant me no harm and would pay for everything, etc. Any real professional would have simply sent me an email from the legitimate address, stating that they’re legitimate, and then continued on with the initiation process.

Learn from My Mistakes

I hope some of this was helpful for all of you lovely freelancers trying to find work. I thought I would know a scam when I saw one, and I did have a Bad Feeling about this whole thing, because it did feel too good to be true, but I was desperate enough that my judgement was heavily clouded, and that could happen to anyone.

Don’t ignore red flags - especially these ones. Stick up for yourself. Avoid confirmation bias. I looked things up repeatedly to confirm that the company was legitimate and that it’s normal to do things like mobile deposit a printed check and so on. Every time, I found an explanation that suited me. I even tried to cash the check. The only reason it didn’t work was because there was an error with the name on the check because I recently legally changed my name and PayPal was having some kind of issue updating in some areas of its website. It was after that that I realized this was all crashing down and I needed to reassess it all. Don’t let yourself get that deep into it.

#job hunting #job #interview #hiring #scams #advice #psa #important #upwork #freelancing #writing #writeblr #editing #ghostpost

[the-dream-team]

Chlorine

A fluffy little one-shot for @efkgirldetective's summer of jily week two prompt: swimming with friends // Today we're younger than we're ever gonna be <3

“What in Merlin’s name is that smell?” gagged Sirius, bringing his towel up to cover his nose.

Mary swotted him with a bright green foam noodle. “That’s just the chlorine, you knob. It’s a chemical Muggles use to keep the water clean.”

“The water’s not clean?” squeaked Peter, his beady eyes widening.

“Take a look around Pettigrew,” laughed Mary, gesturing wildly. “There are about a trillion little kids running around with saggy trunks and juice-stained mouths, it’s not exactly the Prefect’s bathroom here.”

The group of teenagers took a moment to survey their surroundings. Sirius was right, the thick summer air reeked of chlorine wafting from unnaturally electric blue swimming pools, packed with screaming children, brightly colored floaties, and haggard parents. Behind the main pool, reaching up to the sky, stood two impressive slides, winding and bending in every direction before opening up into a smaller basin. Once every minute, the slide discarded a new, squealing child into the water with an eruptive splash.

Lily eyed the Muggle kids with some trepidation. “Are we too old to be here?” she asked, eyes shifting as she clutched her copy of Herbology for Potioneers a little closer to her chest. “It feels like everyone else is about a decade younger than us.”

“Don’t worry too much about that, Evans,” said James, a bright smile aimed in her direction. “Today we’re younger than we’re ever going to be, anyway!” He nudged her affectionately, resulting in a rosy hue that spread across her cheeks as their bare shoulders made contact.

“Alright,” announced Remus after barely dodging a rogue beach ball, “let’s find a place to put our towels before these buggers realize we’re easy targets.”

They managed to snag a row of plastic lounge chairs beside the wave pool to dump their belongings on before Sirius set his sights on the towering waterslides across the park.

“You said these slides were crazy fast, right MacDonald?” Sirius asked, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

“They’re the fastest in Britain,” grinned Mary, tossing her sunnies aside. “And you get some serious air on your way out, it’s the closest thing Muggles have to flying, I’d argue.”

Lily tensed and quickly diverted her attention to her book, though her eyes remained still as she stared at the pages. Almost no one noticed her sudden discomfort.

“That’s bloody brilliant,” grinned Sirius. “Last one to the top has to buy us a round of those mushie drinks.”

“They’re called slushies, Padfoot.”

“Call them whatever you want, Moony, but I want a blue one.” Sirius discarded his t-shirt onto a chair and kicked off his sandals in preperation. “Prongs, do you think we could convince the lifeguards to let us go down the slides together?”

But James wasn’t paying attention to Sirius. “Nah, go ahead without me,” he said, eyes trained on Lily as she continued intently staring at her book. “I think I’m gonna start out a little slower with the lazy river. Evans, care to keep me company?”

Lily’s eyes snapped up to see Sirius’ dropped jaw, Mary’s raised eyebrows, and James’ steady smile.

“Oh,” she said, her voice finding a higher octave than usual, “sure, I could join you.”

“Fine,” grumbled Sirius, pulling the others along with him, “but I’m coming to find you at that dopey river after our first round on the slides. I won’t let you be boring all day, Prongs.”

James shrugged, barely paying the others any mind as he extended a hand to Lily. She watched their friends saunter off before accepting his help to stand up.

“Hold on there, Evans,” said James, plucking her book from her hands and tossing it back onto their pile of towels, “I can’t have you doing homework; today is all about having fun!”

“Then why aren’t you going with the others to the slides?”

He paused, considering her question with a smile. “Because you’re way more fun than a couple of waterslides.”

Before she had a chance to respond, James pulled her away from the chairs and towards the center of the park, their bare feet slapping against sizzling cement as they navigated around young children and indifferent lifeguards.

The lazy river lived directly across from the concession stand, perfectly situated for parents who wanted to keep an eye on their floating kids while they enjoyed a cool beer and a basket of hot chips. The river wound itself around an impressive structure resembling a fairytale castle, complete with canons that sprayed water onto passerbys and waterfalls that poured over plastered mountainsides and into its surrounding moat.

At the water’s edge sat a pile of tubes, growing hot under the unrelenting midday sun. James released Lily’s hand to secure them two floats, missing her subtle disappointed huff at the loss of his grip when he turned his back on her. But by the time he handed over her tube, she’d managed to rearrange her face into a neutral smile.

“After you, Evans,” he said with a little bow, extending an arm towards the gently rolling river.

She rolled her eyes at the exaggerated chivalry, but stepped forward nonetheless, carefully placing her tube in the water and lowering herself into the center. The water, cool and refreshing, lapped against her backside and kissed her heels as she hung her legs over the tempered rubber.

James took a different approach, choosing to throw his own tube unceremoniously into the water before giving himself a running start to cannonball onto it. Lily screeched as he nearly jumped directly on top of her.

“You prat!” she laughed, splashing water on his face, covering his glasses in little droplets.

“You know you love me,” he teased, a glint in his eye.

The pink glow that spread across her cheeks could have passed as a light sunburn, but the way James’ eyes flashed suggested he’d picked up on the truth. His dimples appeared despite the attempt to keep his grin at bay.

“So, Potter,” she started, choosing to change the subject, “what drew you to the lazy river, other than the obvious similarities you share?”

James drove an imaginary dagger into his chest. “You wound me, Evans! But if you must know, I thought it’d be the perfect place to chat with you.”

If the river’s current hadn’t continued pulling them along, Lily might have thought time had stood still. “To chat?”

“Yeah,” he responded as though it were obvious, “the playground would be too noisy with all the kids running around, it seems like we would’ve spent more time underwater than above it at the wave pool, and the hot tubs are simply not weather appropriate.”

“With me?”

It was finally James’ turn to look surprised. “Of course! I’ve spent my whole summer mucking about with the boys, but I’ve hardly seen you since Peter’s party and I missed talking with you.”

Lily tried passing off her pleased burst of laughter as a scoff. “I always forget how forthright you are.”

“I’m an open book,” he replied, sticking her with a pointed stare she couldn’t see as she averted her own gaze, attempting to hide her growing blush he had already clocked.

“I wish I could be more like that,” she spoke to the distance, to the cloudless expanse of sky, hoping it would relay the message to the boy whose intertube continued bouncing rhythmically against her own as they traveled in endless circles.

“As a kid,” she continued, “I loved playgrounds. Gravity melted away when I sailed off swings and soared through slides, when my magic took over before I even knew what I was. But the uncontrollable flying always scared my parents, so when my family visited parks, I’d be kept on the sidelines, hidden away to avoid causing a scene. I guess I got pretty good at hiding.”

“Do you want help practicing?”

Lily jerked her attention back to James and his easy eyes, his ruffled hair. “What?”

“Do you want help practicing being an open book?” he repeated simply. “I happen to be an expert and I’d be happy to lend my talents.”

His cheeky grin earned him a light splashing and an only-slightly-exasperated huff. “You know what, fine. Teach me your ways, Potter.”

“Alright,” he said, eyes brightening as he adjusted his position on his tube to face her more fully, “we’ll start with easy questions and then get gradually harder from there. The only rule is that you have to answer honestly.”

Lily sunk slightly into the hole of her intertube, but nodded, resting her chin on her folded arms, fingers mindlessly dipping in and out of the passing water below.

“First off, who is your best friend?”

“That’s your easy question?” Lily guffawed.

“What?” asked James, watching her curiously. “I already know the basics. Your favourite colour is forest green, you like chocolate biscuits best, and your sister is a piece of work. Now, who is your best friend?”

“Mary, I guess?” said Lily, brows furrowed slightly. “We immediately clicked since we first met, what with us both being Muggleborn, and after Sev was out of the picture…”

“I’m familiar with this part,” James grimaced, his focus shifting to his fingernails. “So, next question. If you had to be sorted into a different house, which one would you choose?”

“Hufflepuff,” she responded without blinking. “Closest to the kitchens, obviously. Next question.”

“Respectable,” he chuckled. “How about… do you prefer Butterbeer or Firewhiskey?”

She paused, catching his eye for longer than she’d planned. “You probably already know the answer.”

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards with a jolt of hope. “Butterbeer spiked with Firewhiskey?”

“Butterbeer spiked with Firewhiskey.”

James leaned forward slightly, his arm extending absentmindedly to reach for the cloth handles on Lily’s tube to pull her closer. “Like the ones we made at Peter’s birthday party last month?”

Their hands mingled together in the water between their tubes, pruned fingers brushing against each other as the current pushed them together. “Exactly like the ones from Peter’s birthday.”

He was near enough to count every sunkissed freckle spattered across her nose. She could practically fall into his growing dimples.

“Oi, Prongs!” came the disappointing voice of Sirius Black from the concession stand’s picnic tables. “You can’t hide from us all day, mate!”

“Maybe not,” James called back, a lopsided smirk sliding across his face, “but I can try!”

Before Sirius had a chance to respond, James sunk through the center of his intertube and disappeared under the water’s surface. Lily peered into the river, wondering if he could have possibly brought his Invisibility Cloak with him to the park, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted when a hand grabbed her ankle under the water. It tugged lightly, willing her out of her tube and into the depths of the lazy river.

Once fully submerged in the water, Lily squinted her eyes open to see her new surroundings, blue like the sky with ripples of sunlight refracting through the flowing stream, circular shadows overhead from the tubes they left on the surface, roaming away like drifting clouds searching for different horizons. A hand found her arm and spun her around, bringing her face to face with James, his glasses attempting an escape into the river’s flow, tiny air bubbles escaping through his nose and growing smile.

He pulled her across the width of the river, through a shower of bubbles from the underside of a waterfall, and into still water again before finally leading them both to the surface. They broke back into the world with gasping breaths and laughter, finding themselves in a dark, quiet alcove behind one of the castle’s waterfall features. The lazy river continued on as they stood together in their hidden cave, separated only by a wall of tumbling water. Despite no longer being pulled by the river’s current, the two found themselves drifting closer and closer to one another.

“Do you have any more questions?” asked Lily, her whisper echoing around and joining in with the soft roar of the waterfall.

James tried to control the beating of his heart, which must have been reverberating all around their little retreat based on how loudly he heard it pounding in his ears.

He cleared his throat. “Did you want me to kiss you that night at Peter’s party?”

She inhaled sharply. “Yes. Next question.”

“Do you want me to kiss you now?”

“Yes.”

She barely got the word out before James’ lips found hers, crashing down like a wave against the shore, pulling them into a riptide of racing hearts, fluttering eyelashes, and sighing breaths. They kissed and kissed and kissed until their heads spun, either drunk off the thrill of new beginnings or thoughts of Firewhiskey-spiked Butterbeer. Or possibly it was the intoxicating combination of magic mixed with chlorine.

#summerofjily #jily fic #jily #i wanted to float on a lazy river #so i decided to live vicariously through lily and james #emma these prompts are so good!! #this was super fun #and also the perfect distraction from the excessively depressing remus chapter of tiny photographs #lily evans #james potter #yada yada yada #<3

[charlie-rulerofhell]

For they know exactly what they do

Today there was a pretty long article published in the German newspaper FAZ, written by Julia Schaaf. Since there were quite a few interesting topics raised in it and Måneskin talked about some new aspects (or in more detail), I translated the whole thing (it might also have helped me to procrastinate).

Full interview in English under the cut.

For they know exactly what they do

June 22, 2021

Four young rock musicians from Rome are today's hottest band. Måneskin are enchanting Europe. Why? We met them for an interview.

Every romance needs its founding myth, an anecdote from the beginning, something you can tell later in more difficult times for self-assurance.

In the case of the band Måneskin, who first had Italy and now half of Europe wrapped around their fingers, and who are now trying to conquer the rest of the world with their rock music, there is the story of the shoe box. Rome, around five years ago: Four teenagers who are meeting every day after school in their rehearsal room to make music together, and sometimes they play their songs on the Via del Corso in the city centre in front of a changing audience. One day they want to record their own stuff. They find a studio that they can actually afford and as they go there they bring a shoe box, with the name of the band written on it, 'moonshine' in Danish, the bassist's mother is Danish. In the box: around seven kilogram of coins. The things you get from playing music on the streets. Everyone searching through Instagram for photos from that time can find four hippies with children's faces, three boys in batik, the girl is wearing a straw hat.

As they have to pay [for the recording], frontman Damiano David, 22, says that there was this guy, Angelo, and his bandmate Victoria De Angelis, 21, is interrupting: “No, Andrea, not Angelo”, and all of them have to laugh because a rigid studio manager with the Italian name 'angel' would be even funnier for a founding myth. David continues his story: “The guy was completely dumbfounded. 'We can't do that.' We went: 'Sure we can, that's worth the same even if it's just 20 cent coins, it's still 300 euros.” Thomas Raggi, 20, the guitarist of the band, is gasping for air as he laughs, while drummer Ethan Torchio, 20, is smiling dreamily. David finishes: “And then we snuck off before he was able to count it.” [the German text says 'verdrücken' here which is just a colloquial way of saying 'we left', but it entails some sort of a dramatic exit, so yeah, let your thoughts get creative how they left exactly :D].

Four young musicians on the verge of global fame are sitting on a white interview sofa in Berlin, completely styled, babbling across each other like overeager teenagers.

Ever since the Roman band first won the music festival Sanremo and then also the Eurovision Song Contest, carried by the enthusiasm of European viewers, you could say Måneskin has become a phenomenon. “Rock 'n' Roll never dies!”, Damiano David yelled fueled by the adrenaline of winning, and the insinuation that circulated on social media of the singer snorting during the counting of votes in front of a live camera – including their strict denial followed by a negative drug test result – might have given an additional boost to their public interest, their exploding album, ticket and merch sales, and their outstanding success on Spotify.

“We think it's a shit prejudice against rock music that there always have to be drugs involved. We fully threw ourselves into our participation with the utmost professionalism. We give everything for the music. So of course we don't want people to think that we can only do that because we take drugs.” – Victoria De Angelis

Prior to Eurovision, Måneskin was more of an insider's tip outside of Italy. Handmade rock music, not creating something entirely new but paying homage to the good old times with classic guitar riffs and cracking drum beats, being a lot of fun but also quite fragile and vulnerable at times and, first and foremost, conveying a captivating energy. Finally, on the stage of Rotterdam, live after so many months of isolation and renunciation, this wave of energy spilled straight over into European living rooms. It seemed easy to (mistakenly) interpret the winning song “Zitti e buoni” (Shut up and behave) as a declaration of frustration of our youth in times of a pandemic. In fact, singer Damiano David is singing about the favourite topic of the band: the unrelenting need to, against all odds, be yourself, despite or perhaps because you are different. The message fits their provocative sex appeal, which the band uses to demonstrate their independence of gender norms at any given time. But the core essence of rock music has always been the promise of unlimited freedom.

Thus at the first moment, the meeting with Måneskin is kind of startling. It's Wednesday, we are in the top floor of the new Sony head quarters in Berlin. The four Italians have just started their two-week long promotion tour through Europe. In the afternoon there will be a live concert in a queer club [the SchwuZ, but that's not mentioned here] in Neukölln, which will be streamed via TikTok. Around one million viewers will watch the show, some of them even from Brazil, so people at Sony are pretty excited [for Måneskin to come here]. But at first, these stunningly gorgeous creatures [yes, that's the exact wording :D] are standing surrounded by an entourage of people – their management, PR team, a stylist, a photographer, people who can hold a smartphone or a cigarette if needed [this paragraph is worded a little weirdly, especially taking into account that basically their whole team / 'entourage' is just friends of them, but it seems like the journalist didn't know that or maybe they just wanted to describe their first impression]. They seem like fictional / artificial characters out of a Hollywood movie. Transparent frill blouses with blazers and flared leather trousers, even the platform boots, everything brand-new, the makeup makes their faces look like a glossy magazine cover even in person. The smokey eyes of De Angelis and Raggi make them look smug and bored. Later, on the pictures it will probably look cool.

So of course your first impression might be: This band is under contract to industry giant Sony ever since their success on an Italian casting show [X Factor] in Winter 2017. The music industry must have its hand in the game when a band is photographed half-naked by Oliviero Toscani and styled by Etro. Also, one does not simply rent a villa with a pool in Rome to produce new music there, isolated from the rest of the world. And who else went to London for two whole months, shortly before the winter lockdown, just for inspiration? After the TikTok concert in Berlin – De Angelis and David are now wearing fishnet shirts that sparkle with every move, their bare nipples covered with an X of black tape – the band is posing with a few influencers. In the world of social media you would call that 'producing content'. But what does that mean for a band who are preaching their hosanna of authenticity? How authentic is Måneskin? And is their pointedly casual approach to sexuality and gender cliches in today's pop-cultural spirit more than a marketing strategy?

We're in the interview, the recording device is running for not even five minutes, when Victoria De Angelis says: “Actually, we just try to be ourselves and do what we really want to do.” And really: The more you listen to those four how they speak about the early days of the band in their slurred Roman dialect, about the shoe box and their own experiences with being different, but most importantly about their shared obsession [with music], the more you realise that [De Angelis] is  very serious. Ethan Torchio, who got his first drum kit at the age of six or seven from his father because he was beating everything he could reach, says: “For me, music is like food. I cannot live without it.” The bassist next to him laughs at his pathos. Singer Damiano David applauds the otherwise more reserved friend for his truthfulness [it says 'klarer Punkt', meaning 'for the point he makes', but it makes it seem like Damiano is agreeing with Ethan here, although it doesn't indicate whether he agrees that yes, music is everything for Ethan or that he understands and feels the same].

De Angelis and guitarist Raggi already knew each other from middle school and they were the ones who tried to form a band at the age of only 13, a band that actually took music seriously.

De Angelis: “It's just difficult at that age to find other people who really put everything into music and who truly commit themselves and are willing to invest a lot of their time.”

Raggi: “We set strict rules and scheduled fixed times for the rehearsals, for every day.”

David: “Fever, stomach ache, there was no excuse. Even if you were feeling sick in the rehearsal room. At least you were in the rehearsal room.”

The way the four of them talk across each other, completing each other's sentences, taking turns in talking and sometimes joking about each other, seems intimate and playful. Singer David remembers how at first bassist [De Angelis] was merciless towards him when it came to her first metal band project, as she told him that he wasn't committed enough [to the music]: “Back then I was still playing Basketball. I was one of the people that Vic absolutely didn't want [in her band].” Drummer Torchio was later discovered through Facebook, even though there had already been a drummer, a close friend, but he was not good enough. It seems as if even back then music was everything for them. Even if it meant that only Raggi managed to graduate.

And why rock, why rock music of all things? Because it's great, the four of them say in unison. David adds: “Actually, it's a genre that allows you to do everything you want to do.”

When they played on the street, they were laughed at by their classmates. But not only there. De Angelis explains that she never wanted to be a typical girl: “I was always deterred by those stupid boxes that people put you in, and that are just restricting and constraining you, because something is only regarded as male or female. I always rejected that. Instead, I just wanted to do the things I enjoyed doing, I went skating and played football.” Torchio says: “Friends who are not friends anymore were already telling me at the age of ten that those“ – he grabs his long, silky black hair – “were wrong. Because I'm a boy and boys are meant to have short hair, long hair is only for girls. I was bullied a lot for that.”

“Compared to the past, people in our age became much more open-minded. It gets better.” – Thomas Raggi

Frontman David on the other hand, for whom eye shadow, jingling earrings and nail polish as well as his bare torso with the tattoos have become trademarks by now, says: “I was actually more of the average boy.” De Angelis convinced him to try out some eyeliner, which he describes as a spiritual awakening: “I liked myself much more [with makeup]. I saw myself more as myself. As if it had been a suppressed desire of mine.” On a trip to Copenhagen with the others, when he realised that it really didn't matter what people were thinking about him, he got his first fake fur [coat? the article doesn't specify that] in a second-hand shop and let his clothing style be guided by his own love to experiment: “I realised that my whole life I was just going at half speed.” When it comes to diversity all four of them are becoming almost missionary.

At the same time, their success is not only opening doors for them. Back home in Rome they are barely able to go out on the street due to all the paparazzi. “[You need a] hoodie and huge sunglasses”, David says, “the mask is quite helpful, too.” And still, none of them is complaining, and Torchio explains why: “Even if those experiences right now may have sides that are not so pleasant, we still know that for us a dream is coming true. We experience something that we always had in our minds, so we are willing to face every consequence that this entails.”

So is the band facing difficult times, is Måneskin going to change with all the success? Again, all of them answer at the same time.

David: “I'm not worried about that.”

Raggi: “No way!”

De Angelis: “On the contrary. Everything that happened to us happened because we are who we are, so we want to continue the exact same way and stay ourselves.”

Just a few hours later, they are at the stage in Neukölln, bouncing around like pinballs, hammering at their instruments, flirting with each other. “We are out of our minds, but different from the others”, David sings their winning hymn against conformism, and: “The people talk, unfortunately they talk.” Here on stage, the four paradise birds [a German word describing someone with a flamboyant personality] with their half-nude-glittering outfits are radiating an incredible energy with the utmost sincerity, and you begin to wish there was a live audience instead of the TikTok cameras, absorbing and spreading this energy. Måneskin. A cry for a life after the pandemic, a cry for freedom and a better world.

“We do what we wished for all our lives.” – Ethan Torchio

#måneskin #maneskin #måneskin interview #my stuff #i'm sorry if someone already translated it but i was working on this for the past 3 hours now so i'm still gonna share it #i know most of it is not very new but there were some quite interesting details in there #and it's just always great to read about those four dorks so i wanted to share it with all of you who wanted to read it but couldn't #enjoy and please ignore any possible mistakes i didn't have the time to proof-check everything

[chubbycatsupremacy]

❖ Yandere Mono x Fem! Reader —《When you save their life and their reaction afterwards》❖

☆『Mono』☆

Mono is always vigilant and he is also very confident in his own abilities. Mono's confidence is not unreasonable either, he has enough stamina to be able to run and climb non-stop. And don't forget Mono's superpowers, he can use it as an ace, when in danger, he only needs a TV to teleport somewhere else.

Mono is strong both physically and mentally, it's not just luck that he's survived until now, it's simply because Mono is a very resilient boy. Mono always holds his head high whenever he proudly tells you about his accomplishments, such as defeating The Doctor or The Thin Man (himself).

But no one has never made a mistake, of course Mono is not an exception. You know that Mono can be a bit subjective sometimes because of his over-confidence. And it was Mono's subjectivity that resulted in two of you almost died at the hands of The Teacher.

Mono didn't pay attention to the location he would go to when teleporting over to the TV, so instead of a secluded and safe place as usual, the two of you accidentally fell out of a TV hanging overhead. Fortunately, there are soft mattresses where you two landed. But you get panicked again as soon as you realize where the two of you are at the bedroom of The Bullies, worse than The Teacher standing right there, watching the "students" with a ruler in her hand.

The Teacher spotted the two of you almost immediately, she let out a shrill scream and The Bullies suddenly got up out of bed, chasing after you and Mono. Mono grabs your hand without hesitation and he drags you down the hallway, the two of you dodging traps and trying to find a TV or some other way out.

Perhaps your luck is still on, as Mono has finally found a TV set in the corner, flashing red lights indicating it's still working. But it's not turned on yet, there's a remote on the side table, the problem is that Mono will need time to climb onto the table and get the remote to turn on the TV, he won't be able to do it if he gets The Bullies chase.

You need to extend the time for Mono.

Your eyes move around, you are looking for something that can be used as a weapon, and you immediately notice an ax stuck on the wooden door. Without hesitation, you jerk your hand away from Mono's and run towards the ax.

"(Y/N)! It's dangerous, get back here!" Mono shouted your name in panic, pure fear taking over his mind. On reflex, Mono reached out to pull you back, but you quickly pushed Mono's hand away and pointed towards the TV.

"I'll buy you time, grab the remote to turn on the TV!" You say aloud, Mono tries to pull you back, but you don't care and rushes towards the ax.

You jump up to grab the handle of the ax, you have to swing back and forth a few times to let the ax fall to the ground.

Mono bites his lips so tightly that he bleeds, although he doesn't want you to have to fight alone with The Bullies, but Mono knows now that he has to turn on the TV, then both of you can escape.

He needs to hurry! He has to turn on that damn TV!

Mono used the fastest speed ever to climb onto the table, he tried to keep himself from distracted by you, but the noise coming from behind still made him unconsciously shiver.

Stop shaking, focus you idiot! Mono shook his head vigorously.

The Bullies surround you and try to grab you, you repeatedly swing the ax to smash their porcelain heads, you have opened a path towards the TV. Thankfully, The Bullies seem to have all of their attention on you, and Mono has smoothly left their encirclement.

Oh man! This is terribly heavy! You are gasping for breath because of the weight of your oversized ax, your wrists and calves ache after just a few swings of an ax.

You wonder how Mono felt every time he fought with his giant ax and hammer, he even had to go a long way with them in hand, and you've never seen Mono complain about that...

"Got it!" Mono exclaimed happily as he held the remote in his hand. Mono turns on the TV without hesitation, the familiar screen appears, but Mono does not immediately leave, instead, he turns his head to call you.

"(Y/N), let's go!"

You raise your head to respond to Mono, but the scene ahead makes you dread dumbfounded. The Teacher was right behind Mono, her neck stretching like a snake, Mono hadn't even noticed yet!

Mono is in danger!

"Get out of there!" You push Mono aside just before The Teacher can grab him. Mono falls to the floor from being pushed so hard by you, but right now he doesn't care about the pain.

With all the strength you have, you swing your ax to slash The Teacher's head. Unfortunately, your speed is so slow, she dodges and immediately switches to attack you. You are almost bitten by The Teacher if Mono doesn't pull you into the TV in time.

Mono took the two of you to a safer place, of course he carefully checked the place they were going this time. You both fall on the floor, you are still panting, your heart racing with adrenaline. Mono is not much better than you, what just happened still shocked him.

Lucky for Mono because you were with him then, if Mono was alone, perhaps his body would have been cold in that school.

You're really glad you have a quick enough reflex to push Mono out...

"(Y/N)! Were you injured?" Mono frantically grabbed your shoulder after he calmed down.

"I'm okay, don't worry." You replied. Except for your wrist that hurts a bit from swung an ax, you're fine.

Mono is still not assured, he carefully examines you from top to bottom once. Finally, his eyes are fixed on the bloody cut on your lower leg.

"You're hurt!" Mono spoke in a high voice, his dark eyes filled with fear.

You didn't even know about the wound, maybe you accidentally injured yourself while swinging the ax around, you were too panicky and focused only on getting out of danger, adrenaline makes you forget all the pain. Now that you're safe, you finally feel the terrible pain radiating from your shin, and you wince in pain.

"Oh damn it..." You groan, the wound is deeper than you thought.

Unbelievable you are completely ignorant of it, you even ran the whole distance with a wound on your leg...

Mono instantly turns pale when he hears you groan, he frantically searches for first aid supplies to help you stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, this apartment is nothing more than a TV, a dusty sofa and a collapsed bed.

"Wait a minute, I'll go find some medicine and bandages! Stay here and wait for me to come back." Mono gently helped you sit down on the sofa, then he hurriedly ducked into the TV again.

Mono returned after only a few minutes with a box of bandages and alcohol in hand, you guess Mono went to the hospital to find them.

"Thanks, Mono..." You say in a weak voice.

Mono avoiding your eyes.

"... Don't thank me."

Mono helps you clean your wound in silence, his movements very gentle and careful, but you still hurt to the point of shaking. You instinctively pulled your foot back when Mono accidentally grazed your wound.

"Sorry! Did I hurt you?" Mono apologizes frantically, his reaction makes you feel as if you have been amputated or something...

"Don't worry, it's just my body's natural response." You shake your head in reply and smile reassuring Mono, you don't want to make him worry.

Mono wrapped the bandages for you and chirped non-stop, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it will be alright, everything will be all right..."

You stare at Mono, you feel he's comforting himself, not you, because you're not really panicking at all, the only one scared here is Mono.

You decided not to say anything and let Mono deal with your wound, you also noticed Mono's regretful eyes, you knew he was blaming himself for endangering you. Honestly, Mono was really wrong in this case, he was too subjective and accidentally put both of you in danger. But you also don't want to blame Mono, you know he didn't mean to do it, Mono also really regrets it and will never make this mistake again.

"I'm terribly sorry, (Y/N)..." Mono bit his lip, he lowered his face, letting his long bangs cover his eyes. Mono said in a choked voice, "I put you in danger! I was so subjective, I'm an idiot, I should have paid more attention! You almost got killed just for saving me! I..."

"Stop blaming yourself, Mono. Everyone made mistakes, and we're still alive, that's the most important thing. You just need to stop being so subjective." You interrupt Mono, you don't want to hear him blame himself.

If you were injured for saving Mono, you definitely won't regret it, it's the decision you've made so you have to take responsibility for it yourself. Anyway, you feel it is the right thing to do, if you have the right to choose again, you will still choose to save Mono in spite of the danger.

"There won't be a next time, I'll always be careful, I promise!" Mono grabs your hand tightly and assures you in an affirmative voice.

"Even if you have superpowers, you shouldn't be arrogant, considering today's accident is a lesson for you. Keep in mind, we're not always as lucky as we are today." You patted Mono's shoulder, the child said nothing, he just stared at you with a complicated expression.

"Aren't you mad at me?" Mono stammered slightly.

You shrug and roll your eyes, "If I said no, that would be a lie. But you saved me anyway, I won't be angry at the person who saved my life."

Actually, you see Mono saved you so many times, you owe him too much...

Mono just stared at you without replying.

"By the way, I also want to ask you a few questions." You suddenly remembered your question.

"... Huh?" He finally talks instead of just staring at you.

"Do you get tired or hurt your hand every time you use the ax or hammer?" You cleared your throat, deciding to change the subject to make the atmosphere less tense.

Mono gets confused when you suddenly ask an unrelated question, but he still honestly replies, "Of course I do, especially since I have to use them most of the time."

As if thinking of something, Mono suddenly narrowed his eyes, "Wait, why are you asking that?"

"I used an ax to fight The Bullies today, and then I think about how you feel..." You smiling sheepishly.

"What? Did you have a pain in your hand?" Mono only notices the front side of the sentence, he immediately grabs your wrist to check. You try to pull your hand back, but Mono holds your hand too tightly.

"Just a little tired, but I realize that fighting is really terrifying and dangerous. You always protect me without ever complaining, even if you get hurt... I feel so heartless because I have never asked you about this, you must have been very tired."

"From now on, please let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Mono looking you straight in the eye for a few seconds before he lowered his head again.

"... Don't say that, I never mind, actually I'm happy to protect you." Mono shyly scratches his cheek, he averts his gaze and fixes his eyes on the floor.

You chuckle as you flicker Mono's forehead, "You didn't notice but I did! Thank you for always protecting me, Mono."

Mono was stunned, his cheeks flushes like a fever, his heart beating fast like a drum.

"Next time let me help you! We can work together to defeat monsters!" You took Mono's hand and said.

Mono's smile disappeared as soon as he heard you say that, his embarrassed expression was immediately replaced by fear, Mono raised his voice to protest at you immediately. Mono's reaction startles you.

"No! Once like today is enough!" Mono squeezed your hand, his shoulder blades shaking a little as he said, "Do you know how scared I was? Can you imagine how I felt?"

"Mono..." You spoke softly, trying to calm Mono down, but Mono didn't give you a chance to finish your sentence. He was like an angry animal, only screaming in anger.

"When you suddenly let go of my hand, I was so scared! And when you almost got killed by The Teacher... Just thinking about losing you and being alone again, I feel myself going crazy!"

Before you can comfort Mono, he jerks his head up and looks you straight in the eye.

"Promise me, never do that again."

"... But if I hadn't, you wouldn't have had time to turn on the TV." You sigh, "I have to do it for us, Mono."

"We can think of another way! We can find a hiding place or a different route! Anyway, it doesn't matter if it takes a little time!" Mono replied in a harsh tone, his eyes were bloodshot and his angry words were spat through clenched teeth. The lights in the room kept flashing because Mono's emotions were fluctuating, the air seemed to thicken, the whole room shook violently as if there was an earthquake, everything look like a slow motion movie.

You press your back against the back of the sofa and instinctively move away from Mono. Mono looks about to lose control again, this happened before when you were attacked by The Viewers. Mono has not been able to fully control his superpower, he easily loses control when he is too angry or sad, that's why Mono always tries to keep himself calm in all situations.

Mono was almost out of control, but when he saw that you were wary of him, Mono's anger immediately disappeared like a punctured balloon.

The lights come back on, the earthquake has stopped and you breathe a sigh of relief, you don't even realize you held your breath.

Mono never wants to scare you.

Mono looking down at the bandages wrapped around your legs, his voice sound low as if he was muttering, "I can't lose you, (Y/N). If you die, I definitely won't be able to control myself anymore. "

You know Mono isn't joking, because you know what kind of person Mono is.

He will be really mad.

You feel so lucky that you and Mono were able to escape The Teacher in time, if you were killed at that time, you can't imagine how Mono would react...

#little nightmares #ln2 mono #mono x reader #female reader #yandere