#And YES I know my problem is that I'm using tumblr in mobile instead of browser w/ad block. don't @ me.

[endreal]

I don't even want to block that tumblr, I'm just sick of having to scroll thru the same damn itgetsbetterproject post every 5th post on mobile!

[stuffedsand]

Wahey milgram oc time my silly guya

013 - Shiratori Masaki

My boy

- 20

- prisoner number 013 (I slapped them into base milgram cuz I don't wanna make a whole new cast)

- to quote my own character notes: cringefail specimen of a man.

-- fun name thing! His first name means "true, hope" hehe

UNDERCOVER

"Under, oh so aware of all that you say

This makes me sick, so please, go away"

Votes (fabricated lmao)

T1 - INNOCENT

T2 - GUILTY

Songs of Prisoners

+T1 – what…what are you talking about?

+T2 – no…you-you’re lying!

Voice trailer (t1)

Oh uh… Shiratori Masaki, that's my name. 20, uni student. Uhh what else … oh, sorry if I forget anything, i, ah, my memory has never been any good

If I'm being honest…I don't know what the hell you're talking about! No one around me has died recently. At least…not as far as I can recall…

*Takai? Takai! Wake up! This isn't funny..!*

Voice trailer (t2)

Hi, Es-kun, how have you been? Ah, Shiratori Masaki. You didn't forget our deal, right?

*Shut up! I don't want to listen to you and your stupid problems anymore!*

Personality

-- a timid yet stubborn man. It is very difficult to change his opinions on things. Polite, but very quick to turn defensive if blame is turned on him.

He can be a prick at times.

Extra notes

-- a man with really bad memory loss. During T1 interro, he makes a deal that he'll take MILGRAM seriously if Es can tell him who his victim is. And he has to believe it

-- not mentioned but his memory loss is a trauma response. Dead bodies are traumatic I don't think that's a contraversial take

-- the indirect murderer of the pair

Full body:

Please note -- his ugly fucking shoes were not an accident he has a horrible fashion sense

014 - Akabane Kazuko

The She

-23

-prisoner number 014

-based off one of my multifandom ocs (and my favourite of the 2)

--fun name thing! Her name means "gentle/kind/harmonious child". 子 is also(apparantly) male specific. I have fun reasons for that

UNDERCOVER

(pardon the artstyle change this was done on my tablet instead of my computer and was. Rushed💀)

Under, I don't care if I'm in the right or wrong

Songs of prisoners

Full of malice, we will waltz to our doom

Votes (edit)

T1 - guilty

T2 - (?)

+t1 – let's get on with it, shall we?

+T2 – ...you're not very good at this.

T1 – voice trailer

Hello. I am Akabane Kazuko. 24. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Warden.

I am interested in how all this will play out. But nothing will really change the impact of our actions. Remember that, Warden

* My final act… will take your breath away! *

T2 – voice trailer

Good day, Warden. Kazuko, you remember, yes? Seems your choices have caused quite the ruckus.

* You…You know what you've done! I'll make you pay for it!*

Personality

-- a calm and gentle woman. A showman at heart, she is elegant and loves performing magic tricks.

-- some are unsettled by her, but she does her best to be kind and friendly to those she speaks to

Extra notes:

-- Magician coded :)

-- because I can fabricate fan theories, es assumed they killed 2 people in trial one. They have only killed one.

-- the direct murderer of the pair

Full body: (outdated a lil, I changed her vibe. Design still stands)

Please note -- bowling alley socks

Interro qns (please give me some interro questions tho I'm very bad at thinking any up)

Also note: interros are formatted as

--

Question

Kazuko

Masaki

--

Cuz I wrote this when I labelled Kazuko as 001 and Masaki as 002. I'm changing it to reflect their new numbers but editing on Tumblr mobile sucks so I'm not changing the order </3

Q)Tell us your family structure

014 — mother, self, brother,

...it's just me now

013 — parents, me and my twin, Shiratori Takai.

Q)Is there people you hate?

014 — hypocrites.

Don't become one, warden

013 — people who always depend on you

Q)Which prisoner is the most similar to you?

014 – yuzuriha kotoko.

013 – hm...

Probably kayano. He looks like he doesn't know why he's here, too

Q)What was your murder weapon?

014 — what a bold question

It was a bottle.

013 — haha, I'll humour you for this one

Hmmmm...... My words, maybe? I've been told i have quite a sharp tongue

Q)What was your family like?

014 — kind, resilient. They were wonderful. I

loved them

013 — they're ok.

Which prisoner do you get along with the least?

014 — mr mukuhara. Nothing against him, he just reminds me of someone.

013 — …Kusunoki. No reason, but I do wish she'd stop trying to talk to me. It's annoying.

Q)How has your experience been within MILGRAM ?

014 — quite good, considering we're all in here for murder.

013 — uh… good? I still don't believe you saying we're all murderers.

Q)Do you have regrets?

014 — yes. I should have done something sooner

013 — no? I did argue with my brother recently, but it was nothing, really. I'll apologize and everything will be fine

Q)Is there a verdict you hope for?

014) all I hope for is your honest judgement. I want to see how you choose to judge

013) Well, since I don't think I've done anything… I'd hope to be forgiven, of course.

Who was your victim to you?

014) nothing.

013) eh? Warden, I don't know. We made a deal remember? You tell me!

What is your father like?

014) i dont consider him my father.

013) uh…he’s my dad. What more do you want me to say, really...

What do you think of the prisoner paired with you?

014) Shiratori? Not much opinion. I do wonder what he's done to be here, though.

013) Ms Kazuko..? Shes intimidating, if I'm being honest. Not scary, just...intimidating

[embarressment-erradicated]

if you have "top bar with useful info" which disappears while scrolling down, and immediately comes back into existence the second you scroll up. I hate you so much

so fucking much it's never coded right, you can't disable it, if your on computer it shouldn't even be a fucking thing by default, cause guess what, there is stuff on the side. tumblr you have so much room wasted on this website.

use it instead of implementing this god awful idea

also for mobile apps, I get it, understand it even, but fucking fuck please just have an option to lock it in a position, or even move it to the bottom or just something that'd be better than this

I don't want to have to wrestle with this piece of shit every time I wish to attempt to take a screen shot of a long post.

it'd be so much better to just have it locked so I'm not even trying in the first place, plus you have the problem of it suddenly blocking information that wasn't blocked before.

it's a lazy design that takes way more effort to implement than the alternatives, and actually fucking stupid.

I don't need to suddenly see "whatever ai bullshit we're peddling that actively ruins our platform in an insidious way, top, newest" or "hey you want to go to the home page of this blog, you know the one which if you wanted to go to, you could just scroll up to after reading this article?" or "a page no one in their right mind uses, the actual stuff your here for, and of course the 'wait this actually exists' tab" you shitty companies making slightly bad user interfaces for me to get irrationally mad out.

a good tip for whether or not you've made a good website is thusly "is someone's basic boilerplate forum from the early 2000's better to navigate through than our website?"

and if the answer is yes. try to fix it.

on top of that.

if something can be done better and feel better with basic html, use basic html or design something better, no "oh yeah here is my 2000 lines of javascript, it displays a comment system that when you click the buttons in the wrong order explodes, and will sometimes just not load"

also shout out to ao3 and this

like seriously, it works completely fine without it. javascript just adds a bit of feel to it, and makes things easier. but it won't break the website at all.

meanwhile tumblr?

doesn't work at all whatsoever.

now are ao3 and tumblr completely different beasts? yes, but like, one of these I can use on phone like it's nothing, like it was built for it, and the other feels like it's a shell of it's superior desktop version, and it isn't fucking archive of our own.

ao3's website is amazing on mobile and tumblr doesn't even let you be on mobile without downloading an app that's kinda sorta ok because honestly?

they don't care about you, they care about what they can get from you.

but sure I guess, the new web is better or something, now explain to me why a website from the 90's works better and runs better than you supposedly new and amazing website...

[830poll]

(Happy Saturday! Today's housekeeping is rather hefty, so let's get right into it.)

(I'm sick again. Yes, really. For the third time in as many months. And for unrelated reasons. This week's ailment is a perpetual, very sore throat. Not exhausting so much as very annoying so we'll see how my concentration levels hold up.

My work/life balance is getting shifted around next week. That sounds more dramatic than it actually is lol. Point is, I'll either have way more or way less free time soon. Won't know 'til it happens so we'll see how the ol' update schedule goes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tumblr is trying very hard to be pre-Musk twitter, and that's messing up the story's archives. Okay, this is the big one. So as you've probably noticed, Tumblr has been going hard on copying Twitter's layout this past year. Some of them - like adding polls - are great news for us! And then you get the changes to the app layout and the toolbar and this tumblr live shit and good lord just stop. What worries me most is the website trying very, very hard to pivot away from custom blog themes. Most links redirect to the in-dash browser, asks can no longer be sent from people who are logged out, and if you try to read a blog without an account it eventually cuts you off and tells you to sign up. For a webcomic - even a silly, informal one like 8.30 Poll - this is very bad. It's impossible to view the story chronologically when on mobile, and posts with polls in them are set in stone so I can't even manually go back and add in links to each update. If custom themes really are getting removed then these problems will extend to desktop as well. In short, I need to find a way to back up or mirror this story. We're not moving sites because we can't. There isn't another platform out there that has all the features necessary to run a story like this (besides maybe /tg/, but I'm not prepared to run this there lol). So instead I ask how I should go about backing this up. A plain .pdf with the text and images? The animations wouldn't work but it'd be easy and accessible. A HTML5 archive (similar to the Ruby Quest ones) would be more time consuming to put together and would be incompatible with screen readers, but would improve the pacing and allow for animations. Either way, we're almost at a hundred updates so if ever there were a time to start thinking about it, it's now. 'Cause the longer I wait the more of a pain it's going to be to maintain if/when tumblr shits itself.

...And that's about it!

Thank you as always for reading, and for your patience. Can you believe this thing's been going for six months now? Wild.

Will see you all on Monday, barring unforeseen bullshit!)

[daydreamgoddess14]

First Impressions

MASTERLIST

Ahem. Hi. I've never posted on Tumblr before. Yet here I am with a mad crush on River Cartwright and instead of working all day, I did this. I'm not entirely sure I know how to post on Tumblr so forgive me if this is all kinds of wrong! I'm a grown woman and i haven't written a fictional word in about 15 years so I'm rusty af. If you hate it then that's fine too, it'll just live rent free in my head :)

First Impressions

Rive Cartwright/OFC

Rating: general for now. I might be a smut writer- who knows!

*********

“Ma’am, I think we’ve got a problem?” The nervous desk sergeant wrung his hands as he hovered outside the open plan office door at Aldgate station. “It’s about the fella in the cells. He wasn’t taking the piss, he’s MI5. Well, sort of anyway.” DI Lexie Andrews looked up from her laptop,

“Shit. I’ll be down in 5. Move him to an interview room please. And for godsake remove the cuffs.”

River was bloody freezing, he’d been full of adrenaline – running as fast as his legs would take him

when his mark had disappeared and he was left to crash head first into two police officers helping a tourist. Heart pounding, manic eyes and sweating, he certainly hadn’t helped the cause of not getting arrested. And then there was the total lack of I.D. And the gun shoved into the back of his jeans.

Lamb was going to have a field day with this one. He was sat in the cell, legs splayed, elbows on his

knees and his head in his hands when the cell door opened with a dull clunk. The young officer

who’d booked him in was stood in the doorway with a set of keys.

“If you could come with me sir, we’re just going to one of the interview rooms and I’ll get rid of the

cuffs.” Well, that hadn’t taken too long. His watch was sat somewhere in a locker, but he knew he’d

only been in the cell for around an hour. The sun, which had been low in the sky when he was

arrested, had just settled beneath the horizon.

“You ran my name and prints?”

“Yes sir, all confirmed.”

“So can’t I just go?”

“We’ll just be a couple of minutes, if that’s ok?” the officer looked so earnest, River hadn’t the heart

to get too angry. He stood with a sigh and weaved through the dingy grey corridors. Within a couple

of minutes, the door which had been left slight ajar was pushed open.

“Mr. Cartwright? Apologies – do you go by agent? I’m DI Lexie Andrews, I’m the only one left to come with the grovelling apology I’m afraid – the officers who arrested you originally have gone back out to a disturbance.”

“River is fine, I get it – no ID, no phone, they had no way to know who I really was. Not thoroughly anyway.”

“Thank you, that’s very gracious. You may not have had a phone, but they certainly did, and they’ll

be reminded of that when they get back. It’s not like ‘I’m an MI5 agent’ is a common tactic for avoiding arrest around here.”

“No harm, gave me a chance to get my breath back.” River replied with a wry grin.

“Well, we are forever in your debt – if there’s anything you need from us in terms of feet on the

ground, just give me a call.” Lexie slid her card across the table with an additional number

handwritten across the top, “that’s my mobile number in case your request falls on deaf ears here.”

“Appreciate it, thank you.” Lexie reached into her back pocket and handed him his watch,

“I think this is all you were booked in with?”

“Yeah, helpfully my ID and phone are back at Slough House.”

“Your gun is locked away, I’ll get Lewis to give it back as you leave. I didn’t realise MI5 have an office over this way to be honest. Do you want a lift back, I’m on my way out anyway?”

“That would be great, not sure I’m ready to run back to be honest.” Lexie smiled,

********

“You head to the front desk for your gun, and I’ll get my bag.”

By the time River was back at Slough House, only Lamb remained upstairs. On hearing the front door, his signature callsign sounded through the building to summon River to the top floor.

“Did you collapse and have a heart attack or something?” he asked as River slumped into the chair across the desk.

“How did you manage that, you fucking idiot?”

“Better than that, I got arrested.”

"Ran into two coppers with my gun and no ID”

“Fucking idiot.” Lamb repeated

“The DI apologised and let me go as soon as she realised. Could be useful to have her as an ally – in

case we ever need some help?”

“You fancy her more like,” Lamb scoffed and mimicked a high pitched impression of River, “I’ll just keep her on side in case I want to get my dick wet.”

“You’re disgusting. I’m going home.”

“You didn’t deny it.”

“She was gorg- actually, doesn’t matter. I’m going home. I’m ignoring you.”

“Don’t let that phone number burn a hole in your pocket. You never know when you’ll need an ally”

********

Lamb cackled as River made a swift exit. “Fucking idiot.”

Lexie felt as if she’d been pushed out of the depths of the tube station rather than walking out. She

was shoulder barged in a wave of people into the sunlight and at once stood to one side away from

the steps. Coffee. It was definitely time for coffee. It had been a few days since she’d driven River

back to Slough House. She’d parked outside for a couple of minutes, peering up at the four storey

block which had certainly seen better days. It didn’t look like MI5. She’d dropped a couple of texts to

old station-mates and had been enlightened to the true purpose of the ‘Aldgate branch’ and

discussed the findings with her lesser-spotted flatmate the next night.

“Failed agents. That’s what they are at Slough House. No good for real MI5 – for whatever reason.”

Her flatmate, an A&E doctor, looked up from her first hot meal in three days.

“So, you think you’re meeting James Bond, but he’s actually the poor man’s James Bond?”

“Didn’t look like the poor man’s version” Lexie laughed.

“Did you get his number?” Sophie asked, abandoning her dinner and picking up her wine glass,

“what’s his name?”

“No, I was on duty. Besides, that’s a bit… I dunno. His name is River.”

“Modern, empowering? Unusual name. Does he have a surname?”

“Forward. I don’t do forward. I do shy and retiring, don’t put yourself out there, must protect self.

What do you need a surname for? Planning to authorise your own background check?”

“Never meet anyone, never enjoy yourself, never open yourself up to new friends and stay alone

forever?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sophie raised her eyebrows, “I’m joking. I’m not eternally single. I’m just single at the moment.” Lexie clarified.

“Sounds boring. You need some fun. Surname?”

“What’s with the surname?”

“I’m just curious. You never know when a tall, gorgeous man will turn up in A&E”

“I have two points there, one, I never said he was gorgeous. Two, I need some fun? Said the doctor

who works about 80 hours a week and basically lives at the hospital?”

“Ah, but there is a life at the hospital. And spare student rooms to bunk in.”

“With a very beautiful co-worker by any chance?” Lexie challenged.

“Jess and I take whatever time together we can. Would it be nice to go out, go to the theatre or for

dinner? Yes, of course. But this is our current reality, so we make the best of it. Speaking of, she’s

just about to have a pee break so I’m going to call her and say goodnight.”

“Tell her I miss her, tell her I’ll cook next time your both off. Maybe around 2025? His surname is Cartwright.”

********

“Is that the time or the year?! I’ll look out for him in A&E. Surely an MI5 agent who manages to get

arrested is bound to end up there sooner or later.” Sophie grinned as she disappeared with her

phone. Sophie had been long gone by the time Lexie had woken up that morning. Back to three days in a row at the hospital. Lexie made a mental note to text Jess to arrange dinner one night soon.

Looking after her friends, who spent their lives looking after others, was her love language and her

couple of hours with Sophie had her worried that they were both working too hard. Distracted, she found herself at the front of the queue at the small coffee shop.

“Large cappuccino please, to take away.” Lexie glanced around the room. She immediately

recognised the tall figure at the window bar, head down in the local paper. He looked a lot fresher

than the last time she’d seen him. “Could I also get another of whatever he ordered please? And one

of these.” She pointed at a pain au chocolate and waved her phone at the card machine. “Would you

mind taking it over to him, I can’t stop.” She smiled widely and disappeared as quickly as she’d

arrived. As she passed the window, she saw the waitress put the coffee and pastry in front of River. He looked up in surprise and confusion and as he turned back to the window, he saw Lexie walk

past. She tipped her coffee cup in his direction with a smile and was gone before he had a chance to process the encounter.

By mid-afternoon, River was so mind numbingly bored he was sure he could just go to sleep stood up. He’d been researching a new lead all day and his head was ready to explode. He rubbed

his eyes and when they’d refocused, he was looking directly at the business card on his desk. He

reached for his laptop and punched the name on the card into Google. Old habits – didn’t everyone

Google new people when they met them? There were a handful of relevant hits, an entirely private

Facebook profile with only the most current profile picture – looking fairly recent – visible, an article

from a local newspaper from a couple of years ago with her official comments as the leading DI on the case discussed. Nothing exciting or revealing. He decided to go to the source and picked up his

phone, opening Whatsapp.

“Thank you for the fuel this morning – they do the best pastries there. I should probably stop eating them. That or take up running into coppers again.”

A double tick appeared and almost at once went blue. The sign of someone with their phone in their hand already. He wondered what she was doing.

“Please don’t get arrested again. Little Lewis on the front desk might explode. Soon as he found out you weren’t lying about being MI5 you became his idol.”

He chuckled at the eyeroll emoji she’d added. The poor kid had obviously never heard of the rejects

department.

“Promise I’ll do my best. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“I find it hard to believe you’d disappoint anyone.”

River had just sat back in his chair with a wide grin when the follow up message appeared.

Lexie’s colleagues heard her palm make contact with her face from across the room. She screenshotted the short exchange and forwarded the image to Sophie with the caption 'Kill me now. I am literally the worst at this. The worst.' In true solidarity, she received a row of crying-laughing faces in return.

“Professionally I mean.”

He laughed, picturing her wringing her hands and frantically realising how her original message sounded. He made the quick decision to prolong her faux pas and sniggered as he responded.

“I’m far more likely to disappoint on a professional basis than on a personal one. I go out of

my way to make sure I don’t disappoint on a personal level.”

It was Lexie’s turn to sit back with a small “oof”. She didn’t have a response to that one which she

was almost certain wouldn’t escalate. Shy and introverted or not, she was still a detective. Feeling

emboldened, she furiously typed out her response and then turned off the Wi-Fi on her phone.

“I bet you do. I’m sure there are many who would sing your praises.”

*********

River stared at his phone. Was she flirting?!

Two weeks later, with a handful of sporadic and entirely conversational messages exchanged later,

River received a message so early in the morning that he wondered if he was the intended recipient.

“Are you around this morning? I need coffee and I could do with not being left alone with my own brain for a little while.”

He frowned and responded straight away. He arrived first at the café he’d been at before –

practically equidistant between the Aldgate station and Slough House as it turned out. He got two seats at the window bar with two coffees and croissants. He watched her push out of the crowd

from the tube station and cross the road, almost doing a double take. Gone were the jeans and

baggy jumper and the messy hair. She had a calf length black wrap dress with the asymmetric hem

rising to her knee where the dress tied. The dress had a deep but modest v-neck, and she wore an

unbuttoned navy coat the same length as the dress. “Shit.” He whispered as Lexie swept past the

window with a small wave and grin. He stood as she met him at the window seat and gestured to the high barstool seat.

“Will you be ok up there? You look lovely. I mean, it doesn’t look like you’re heading to the station?” he stuttered a little. She smelled of fresh air and a heady perfume he didn’t recognise.

“Oh I’m fine, thanks. I’m in court today.” She pulled herself up into the chair. “Not sure these chairs are built for me though.” She blushed. The dress certainly highlighted curves he had noticed before, but now they were unavoidable. The wrap dress exposed more of her legs than she was particularly

comfortable with but she adjusted it and reached for her coffee. “I get so nervous when I have to go

to court. I just get all worked up and anxious and if I don’t find someone to talk to, I end up with my

brain just running away with itself and I get in my own head and start to doubt every decision I made

on the case.” She exhaled with a shaky breath. “Sorry, rambling.”

“You’re ok, whatever I can do to help.” River put a reassuring hand on her arm and pushed the pastry towards her. “You should eat. It’ll help. Are you allowed to talk about it, or would you rather talk about something else?”

“I can’t talk about the case. I’ll be a mess. Sorry I called you, my flatmate is working again and it’s not the same being at the station. I need to see someone impartial. Tell me about your work, please?”

The pleading look in her eyes sent River’s stomach somewhere around his knees. He hadn’t seen her

in person in the two weeks since his arrest, but his mind somehow kept taking him back to that

interview room and the first moment he’d seen her. He started talking about Slough House, about

his failed training, his colleagues, Jackson, his grandfather. He didn’t slow down until she visibly relaxed. She’d picked through her croissant and finished her coffee. Her hands had finally stopped

shaking and she rewarded him with the biggest smile. “Thank you. So much, I feel loads better.”

“No problem, what time have you got til?” He checked his watch, it was 10am.

“Midday. I’m not sure how long I’ll be on the stand, hopefully just today.”

“Ok, still got some time. Your turn, tell me about your work?” She told him about the last 2 years

spent as a DI, the challenges of being a woman in the MET – especially at this point in time, she

despaired at not having enough time to focus on cases which she desperately wanted to attend to

but couldn’t due to firefighting elsewhere. She spoke so passionately about the sex trafficking ring

she was trying to investigate that River nearly signed up to the police there and then. “And how do

you feel about these recent cases involving officers?” He asked.

“Awful. I’m lucky enough to have not met anyone like those people. That I know of, anyway. And if I

did then I would report them internally. I’m struggling with the fact that there are colleagues out

there who probably knew all along and allowed it to continue. No wonder the whole country thinks

we’ve got a bad fucking orchard not just a few bad apples.” He raised an eyebrow at her language, he got the feeling that she didn’t just throw around bad language. “I need to go. Thank you for this, I

owe you one.” She gave his hand a squeeze and stepped down from the window seat. He hesitated

for a second, wondering whether to shake her hand? Hug her? Before his brain could function, she

gave him a very brief hug. He just about had time to catch her waist and pull her to him, probably

slightly closer than she’d expected. The blush in her cheeks was instant, and as they parted, he

noticed that it dipped down into the V of her dress. “Bye River.” She smiled and disappeared. River

spent the afternoon at Slough House in serene silence. Shirley was visibly horrified by his good

mood, and Catherine was caught completely off guard.

Chapter 2

[clarktooncrossing]

HELLO THERE PEOPLE OF TODAY AND ROBOTS OF TOMORROW! IT'S ME, CLARK!

Happy National Cartoonists Day, everyone! What, you didn't think my current computer crisis would stop me from celebrating the Holiday, did ya? Actually, it almost did. Y'see, despite this piece being drawn by hand, my computer's scanner wouldn't save the file onto my craptop. My computer's going through a processing error, meaning it's set to stop working any day now. Fortunately this hunk'a junk managed to work just long enough for me to upload the newest Sketch BOOM! Yes my friends, the Sketch BOOM is back! I figured if I could only post one thing for NCD it might as well be something covered head to toe with cartoons. Some pretty well drawn cartoons too, if you pardon me tootin' my own horn. It just feels so good to have drawn something, have it come out looking as good as it does, and to be able to upload it here on tumblr for you all to see. For the record though, screw tumblr's stupid@$$ upload size limit, I freak'n hate websites that do that! It makes me as mad as a blood-cursed Croczilla fighting a sentient mobile home, but we'll get to that in a bit. For now though, let's see what silly sketches managed to make their way onto the page, starting from the top left corner and making our way down.

Don't forget to be on the lookout for the Snow Conies, the tiny sentient species of snow cones that have invaded almost every part of the page! Can you spot all 8?

[1] DID SOMEONE SAY PIZZA? You wanna know what the downside is of drawing at the bottom of the page and working your way up is? You have tiny pockets of blank space that you're unsure what to do with. Such was the case was this corner, having been left blank after drawing #2. For a while I thought of filling the void with a cosmically charged Snow Conie in the same vein at Rosie, but the Cosmic Cutie was already part of the BOOM due to Discord shenanigans. Instead I opted for a Clarktoon that sadly hasn't been drawn in a while, that being the ever-goofy Pizza Monster. No doubt he was lured here by the scent of all the pretzel pizzas I've been eating lately. While he was here I decided to experiment with his expressions, adding more cheek to his smile. Honestly I think he looked better without them. Still, I'm happy to see him here as I hope all of you are. Now if only he'd stop hogging all the grub!

[2] EYE OF THE THERIAN Rosie isn't the only character here due to Discord shenanigans. At the beginning of every month my friend @Foxhatart opens herself up to sketch suggestions on her Kofi page. For the record, those of you wanting to help out another artist keep food in their bellies can click here. With a few of these Kofi slots still left open, Fox came to her friends asking if they had any ideas for pics involving her characters. Not knowing a ton about her characters, I joked that she ott'a draw her half-lemur girl Cath bench press a bus, her freakish strength having become a reoccurring gag via game nights. Funny as the idea was, I didn't expect Fox to actually do it. You can imagine my surprise when this popped up in my inbox a few days later. Consider this doodle a long overdue 'thank you'. Here we see the crazy Cath lifting weights with, of all peeps, Bumper! No doubt the little marshmallow's here for moral support since he can't actually build up any muscle mass. Ghost problems, am I right? Hope you enjoy this silly little sketch, Fox. Next time I'll have Cath bench-pressing your mortal nemesis; a train.

[3] TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH Despite what I said about Pizza Monster, he actually wasn't the last sketch to be included. No, that honor goes to the metal mercenary, the bodacious bot bounty hunter, the anarchistic anti-hero herself; Candy Banger! Much like the aforementioned monster I figured it had been too long since I drew Candy or really any of the robotic cast of 3K. Atop of that, Candy represented a good chance for me to use the stockpile of poses I've saved up from a thumb drive. Using one from a tumblr site called @posereference turned out to be surprisingly easier than anticipated, the only real flaw in the end being how I colored her. This is one of many coloring errors I made on this piece, Candy's hair looking more bluish purple than I had intended. Still, considering I drew her at all, I doubt Candy's complaining. Here's hoping I can draw more of her in the future, otherwise I might be riddled with bullet holes like that wall behind her. 

[4] AN AVERAGE DAY AT WHIMSYLAND And thus we've arrived to the first sketch of this compilation given to me by a friend, this one coming from @jackieariane. She and I both suffered during the Chapek administration of Disney, Jart regaling me with tales of when she dealt with rude customers at Animal Kingdom. It reminded me of when my friends AnimatedTigerGirl and RigbyH00ves worked at the Floridan Park too, all three of my companions having a surprisingly miserable experience. All these stories started melting together in my brain until I asked the question; what would happen if Brooklyn Nine Nine was set at Disneyland? Thus Whimsyland was born, albeit originally out of spite towards Chapek. I already detailed all this back in the DUDELZ from the Dumpster I posted earlier this year, but I failed to mention the human protagonist of this story, Wendy. Having been to Whimsyland once in her life at a young age, the young Vietnamese gal with OCD was immediately smitten by the place, vowing she'd someday work there. Spending the rest of her life researching the park and watching Matt Whimsy documentaries on uView, you can imagine Wendy's disappointment when she returned to the Perkiest Place on the Planet to find nothing was as perky. Whimsyland had lost its whimsy. It's here where she met Freddy Fox, the cartoon mascot of the company living in exile over how the house Matt built is being run today. In other words, what I'd imagine Mickey would be doing if he were real. Together these two kindred spirits are set to bring magic back to this wonderland! Overall I'm pleased with how the sketch turned out, though Wendy's face reminds me of my character Sue the Game Genie more than I'd prefer. Also, Fred Fox is way bigger than intended, no doubt I'll be changing that for future depictions of these two. For now though, this drawing has just enough Whimsy for my liking. 

[5] CROCZILLA: BLOOD CURSE More Discord Shenanigans! This time it's the result of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that @burningthrucelluloid somehow roped me into yet again. Instead of robots and dragons set in a medieval fantasy however, this time it's elves and crocodiles in an approximation of the American south. One ruled by Jerimiah Strahd, a ruthless blood-sucking bastard that Alec based off Leonardo DiCaprio's character from Django Unchained. If that wasn't a sign of how crazy this campaign has become, here's an actual moment from the game. The heroic but hesitant human Jason (YoungSamurai18), the loud-mouthed scaredy cat Toby (Mr-Herp-Derp), and the silent but deadly Ed (void-android), and the equally hungry and adventurous Crocie (me, of course) were hunting for a witch named Bubba Lysiga when all of a sudden the witch brought her mobile home to life in order to attack our heroes. Worse still, she put Ed under mind control to attack his comrades. Croc got the worst of it, his HP dropping to 0 due to him falling from the house and getting stomped on by its gigantic set of wooden chicken legs. Did I mention this campaign gets strange? Well it got even crazier when a dark, shadowy entity housed in Croc's body suddenly gave him a recharge, the reptile taking the chance to mix a Heat and Growth potion he obtained earlier to become CROCZILLA! It was a moment Alec was hoping would happen in game and I didn't intend on disappointing. Same goes for this sketch, it mostly going just as envisioned in my head. The pissed off look on my green friend's face, the damage done to the rusty trailer that is the witch's house, the tiny silhouettes of Croc's teammates in said home, the heavy fog, the Earth-shattering roar in the background, it all came out great. Save for one detail. You'll notice that Croc's eyes are black with red irises in this pic. That detail's due to Croc having blood curse abilities, hence the dark entity sharing rental space in his body. As such, you'd think Croc's fire breath would be just as vibrantly red, but sadly that idea didn't occur to me until after I made the fire blue as well as the shine off every surface. Spam it! Still, coloring hiccup aside, I'm mighty proud of this pic! Hopefully so are the rest of the Barovian Bozos that make up my team. 

[6] WONDER ZIGGY, CINEPHILE FROM THE PLANET GARBONZA EVEN MORE DISCORD SHENANIGANS! Cut to a few months back and I was restructuring my Discord server, cutting down the multiple move threads it had before merging them all into one. Being the story-driven bozo I am, I quickly wrote a backstory for this thread involving an alien named Ziggy falling in love with the Earth B-Movies he was picking up on his deep space probe. So much so that he came down to our planet only to discover there were even MORE types of movies for him to enjoy! It overwhelmed him so much that he blacked out, awakening the next day having purchased a since abandoned drive-in theater on the outskirts of Clarksburg. Faced with this new impulse purchase, Ziggy followed the oldest piece of wisdom known to man or alien; Screw it. After a refurb Ziggy reopened the drive-in, screening B Movies and cinematic shlock to an appreciative public. And if you can believe it, I typed all of that out after thinking about it for five minutes. My brain is weird like that. All that said, it'd take a couple of RP sessions before I got his personality down, that being an MST3K character if the show were written by Joe-Bob Briggs. In other words, a surprisingly well educated weirdo with a deep love of Hollywood history. It'd take me a while longer before finally sketching him, basing him off the titular villain from Robot Monster, an appropriate design for someone who loves old, cheesy movies. All he was missing was a pink Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat. If you think he's strange, you should meet his wife Wanda, though let's save that for a future BOOM...

[7] LOOKIN' SPAM GOOD! What better way to show my friends I care than drawing them in ridiculous outfits? This sketch, the first to be included in this BOOM, is a merging of two repurposed ideas I had for other pictures. The first would've involved the Swedish menace Finjix with a fish bowl on his head much to the confusion of Alec, the recipient of a kawaii make over. I can't remember where the fishbowl idea spawned from but Sir Alec the Adorable came from him scoffing at the idea that I could make anything cute, himself included. Just you wait Alec, I'll get you someday! For now though I swapped out making him uber-adorable in favor of dressing him up like the Wasp from Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the awesome animated show he finally binge-watched on my behalf. Granted I could've drawn him as Maria Hill, the character on the show he deemed the sexiest, but it wouldn't have been as funny. After all, all Maria's outfit is a blue jumpsuit. Far less interesting than Jart's leather jacket, an image that popped into my noggin following her telling me she's learning to ride a bike. That and me desperately clinging onto the back as she gave me a ride, but that would've been harder to draw. Instead I went for the jacket, a fashion statement that would be stupid in real life since she lives in the infamously hot country of Vietnam. Yet even in the face of logic, Jart not only humored me but encouraged me to include this in the final sketch. Thank goodness she did cuz I love how it turned out, minus the green stripes that were accidentally colored black like the rest. DRATS! Not only that but she informed me that she was no longer using her fursona, instead opting to draw herself as a human from now on. DOUBLE DRATS! Ah well, I have more ideas involving 'Trang the Tyrant' as I've nicknamed her, so chances are I'll get the chance to correct both mistakes in the future. It might also give me another chance to draw myself as Super Giraffe, which was what I originally intended to do with my own fursona. Sadly the costume still needs work so instead I opted for my classic Pagonian Wizard robes. Even in the face of all these snafus, I think we all look spam good!

[8] ROSIE STARDUST, SPACE WIZARD Turns out I'm always right even when I'm spewing nonsense. Don't believe me? Plenty of peeps have made that mistake before. Take my friend Alec for example. In the midst of him running the current Strahd campaign I mentioned earlier, I jokingly tossed out the idea of Rosie transporting our heroes out of Barovia and into another universe. A cute 'What If' scenario the Dungeon Master wasted no time in shooting down. Mistaking my silly suggestion as a legit one, Alec explained how unfair it'd be for a god to play a game with a bunch of mortal meatbags. Let the record show that I never declared the sentient Einstein-Rosen Bridge to be a deity. Some alien cultures have mistaken her from one, but Rosie herself would be the first to tell you she's no holy being. Not that any of that mattered. Alec held firm to his statement, Rosie was denied access to any dungeons. For about six seconds before my buddy realized how a depowered Rosie would make a wonderful wizard for a Spelljammers campaign. Fueling this fire was his recent watching of The Owl House, imagining Rosie rocking wizard robes similar to those worn by The Good Witch Azura. Before I could say, "NOW EAT THIS SUCKA," he was leading the charge on my server of peeps demanding I draw Rosie as a space wizard. At first I was floored at the audacity! You shoot down an idea that wasn't meant to be taken seriously only for you to turn around and do so anyway? MAKE UP YOUR SPAM MIND! Then I followed Alec's example and got over it, the idea of Rosie in wizards robes too tempting a sketch not to capitalize on. In the end the only aspect of Azura that made it into the final product was the hat, minus the cute lil' crown. Everything else took cues from the fashion of @cherrysdesigns along with a style @girlofhearts101 turned me towards called whimsigoth. All of which resulting in an costume that gave Alec 'David Bowie Ziggy Stardust vibes'. It's thanks to that comment that Rosie now has a last name. Everyone, say hello to Rosie Stardust, universal explorer and space wizard!

[9] DIREKTOR AND 3D1T0-R Is there a Hollywood equivalent in the Star Wars universe? Some sort of glamorous planet where overpaid alien celebrities are shamelessly rebooting beloved classics for a profit? All while amazing writers are getting screwed out of the earnings they deserve? This was what I asked Alec during his binge watching of The Clone Wars. Surprising me once more, the Masked Maniac revealed that he had asked SIM-N the same question before, the two creating a character called The Direktor for their Monova comics. Her whole gimmick was producing hypnotic propaganda for the tyrannical Twin Emperors, a cool concept that never went anywhere due to the robotroll cutting From Destiny's Ashes short. Being the character man that I am, I decided The Direktor couldn't go to waste. Especially when she'd make such a good villain in the world of 3K and a good addition to this BOOM. After asking SIM-N for the character's original reference sheet I set out to give her a Clarktoon makeover while watching cutscenes of The Second Sister from Jedi: Fallen Order. No doubt Elizabeth Grullon's intimidating vocal performance effected my outcome, the alien movie maker now sporting a streamlined outfit along with a smugly sinister smile on her face. As apposed to her boss, the Direktor's little droid 3D1T0-R hardly changed in the transition. He was a little creepy ball to start and he's still a little creepy ball now. One that was cooked up by Alec according to SIM-N, which makes sense given our pal's passion for film editing. Once the two were fully drawn I decided to test out my shading and lighting techniques in an attempt to make her look more menacing. If the response I got from the others on Discord is any indication, I succeeded. Indeed, this fem fatale filmmaker will fit in phenomenally as a 3K villain. Now the question is to who? 

[10] JURAKISS Finally we conclude things with a sketch somewhat prompted by @zernna. Way back in August of last year she was commissioned to draw my cretaceous crusader Saura and her girlfriend Patricia enjoying a delightful day at the pool, a pic as charming as that description would imply. In my comment thanking Ze I couldn't help but laugh at how the two had already been declared a cute couple despite how I hadn't drawn the two together in my own artwork yet. The Alien Artist than demanded I draw 'moar art of them then', prompting me to ask if that was a challenge. She said yes. Though not from a lack of trying, it took me nine freak'n months to meet that challenge. Blame that on me being a picky artist since I have been meaning to draw references of these characters in the meantime. After all, Zerna got asked to draw Saura in other pics without having any color references for the Blue Beast of Fosslin. Fortunately Saura's shown up in a number of previous Sketch BOOMs, now getting to share the spotlight with Patricia here. A Patricia that would've been notably paler were it not for Alec asking if I had any markers that matched Patricia's skin tone. I didn't, but the local hobby store did! Who knew Sharpie made skintone markers? It not only helped me color in the cute Muslim girl here, but also Cath and Wendy later on. Talk about a perfect purchase! Now if only the colors of Patricia's outfit were as satisfactory. Ah well, there's always next time, since I'm pretty sure Zerna's challenge still stands. XP For now though, I hope you all enjoy this compilations of crazy scribblings fresh from my mind. If you didn't, worry not, chances are I'll be making another one soon....

MAY THE GLASSES BE WITH YOU ALL!

[cmdonovann]

Accomplishments! Quantum Break fansite in progress!

(originally posted June 8th, 2023; crossposted from dreamwidth.)

Well, I removed Tumblr from my phone to prevent me from wasting so much time there, which means I now have nowhere to easily and quickly post my inane thoughts (at least not without feeling like I'm bothering people on Discord or in direct messages, though perhaps that's something I should work on). You know what that means! It means I'm probably going to try posting them here instead. Thing I want to post about: I'm making a Quantum Break fansite! I've been wanting to do this for ages, and actually started putting together a couple of little graphics for it during the "Quantum Break Appreciation Month" event I ran on Tumblr in April, but I hadn't made much progress on the project since then... until the past few days, anyway, when I started brainstorming what I actually want to do with the site, how I want to lay it out, and so on. Yesterday I put together some CSS for the site, and today I did The Hard Part: I set up a git/GitHub repo for the site, and got the "deploy to neocities" script working for it, so I can easily and quickly make updates to the site in VSCode, then push from there to GitHub to neocities all at once, like I do with my personal site. Was this an absolute pain to set up? Yes! Somehow, it took me even longer to do it a second time than it did the first! But I did it myself, with a lot of encouragement and rubber duck-ing from a few very helpful people in the Fandom Coders chat. Can't say I'm not proud of myself for that. I would not have had the skill or confidence a year ago to do something like this, especially not all the mucking about I did in the terminal trying to set up the git repo in the first place. Anyway, I am, to put it mildly, extremely fucking excited to continue working on this site. I've got big plans: first order of business is to get an archive set up of all the Quantum Break fanfic I can get my hands on (and get permission from the authors for). After that, I'm probably going to do the same for fanart and image edits like photosets and gifsets from Tumblr, since the CSS page styling for those will likely be similar (though I expect to run into some attribution problems with older Tumblr posts, what with so many deactivated or moved blogs post-2018). Once that's sorted out, I'm considering looking into the best way to archive fanvids, but honestly that might be put off for a while longer, as video hosting and video players are way out of my skill level currently. Maybe I'll import some of my Quantum Break playlists from my personal site, too? Oh yeah, and at some point down the line, I want to make a searchable wiki with transcripts of all the in-game narrative objects. But "searchable" is probably going to be a stumbling point there, and transcribing takes ages, so this will be last priority, I think. Wow, that's... a lot, actually! Damn! This is gonna take a while. Not that I mind spending a couple of years poking at a project, obviously. *Gestures at my longfic that took four years to finish...* I've been neck deep in this fandom for over seven years, what's another five or ten? XP

btw, since it's fairly easy to post images on tumblr (compared to dreamwidth, anyway), here's a screenshot of the section that's currently in progress: the fic archive index!

(ignore my filler text... i usually use karkalicious as my lorem ipsum, so at least i'm not committing THAT particular crime here.)

i'm still futzing around a little with the styling (negative margin my beloathed) but it's coming along pretty well! i've already got a branch where i've started... you know, actually adding fic to the site, but i won't merge that into the main and add a link to the front page until the style problems have been fixed (or at least, fixed enough to be easily navigable on mobile, which... is not the case right now, lolrip).

[kira-ani-mcgrath]

Commission Tips

First, why I feel somewhat qualified to offer unsolicited advice for commission sellers in a Tumblr post:

I've bought a lot of stuff - I have purchased about 70 commissions over 15 years

I've seen a lot of stuff - I have viewed countless works and commission info posts from a wide range of mediums* on many platforms** * (digital, traditional, writing, music, plushie, customizations, crafts, cosplay, and more) ** (Tumblr, Twitter, deviantART, Instagram, carrd, Ko-fi, Google Doc, personal websites, etc.)

I do a lot of stuff - I am a varied hobbyist creator (traditional art, digital art, comics, fanfiction, original fiction, screenplays, songwriting, knitting, and other miscellaneous crafting projects)

I know a lot of stuff - I have extensive customer service experience derived from working in various facets of retail for nearly 18 years

I've been around a while - My oldest public media that I still use is my deviantART account, Kira-Ani-McGrath, which I've had for over 18 years

So, with all those solid reasons as to why you should listen to a random internet stranger, here are seven tips I've put together in the hope of helping someone seeking to peddle their wares on the web.

Big, Bold, and BAM!

Any info-graphs/visual commission charts need to be simple, clear, and concise. I often see charts cluttered with far too many example images, making the graphic tough to read. Another problem that often goes hand-in-hand with the former is tiny example images, making it difficult to get a good idea of the skill/quality without hunting for additional information. You can always tell people where to find more examples of your work if you feel you haven't got enough room to showcase everything in the commission post (ex: "Find more examples in my 'KAM's art' tag!").

On Tumblr in particular, the above issues are compounded by a couple formatting missteps. 1) Large single images that are either too tall or too wide, thus being difficult to see (even when enlarged) due to Tumblr's limitations. 2) Placing multiple images side-by-side instead of stacked top-to-bottom. A vertical layout makes for easier viewing, especially for mobile users. Yes, one can click/tap to enlarge images, but it's best to assume people won't bother, and thus you have to quickly catch people's scrolling eyes with your best examples in an easy-to-see format. (Or, to put it another way, you have to slap viewers in the face with your awesomeness.)

The same principles apply to non-visual commissions (ex: writing, music) as well. Don't ramble on in a single long paragraph about your commission offerings. Bulleted lists and block quotes make things much easier to read and comprehend. I'm especially a fan of having a small snippet of your best work somewhere in the post, so the potential customer can get an idea of your style even before they delve into any examples you may have linked or referred them to.

Direction

Lots of things frustrate me about commission hunting, but one of the big ones is someone posting "Commissions open!" with absolutely no mention of where to find their commission info or how best to contact them (bonus aggravation if I go to the blog/profile and there is absolutely no information anywhere - bio, pinned post, tags, search, you name it).

The best option is to have a link to the info anytime you're advertising your commissions (ex: when posting a completed commission, include a link or hyperlink if mentioning or tagging that your commissions are currently open). However, sometimes a link isn't possible, whether due to the social media format or, in the case of Tumblr, links randomly interfering with a post's ability to appear in search/tags. In those cases, telling people where to find your commission info is critical to driving business. (Ex: "Commissions open! Link in bio!" or "Commissions open! See my pinned post!")

Location

A big bummer in my squirrel-like stashing of commission info is saving a link to an artist's info, only to revisit it at a later time and find the post/journal/image has been deleted. Sometimes an artist has deleted their account, has stopped offering commissions, or has changed the account username and the social media platform does not redirect the old URL. Obviously there's nothing to be done in such cases. However, sometimes the artist wanted to update their commission info, and therefore deleted the old post. Thus I'm sent on a hunt for the new info. Sometimes it's easy, and other times it's not so easy. What would be of great help in these cases is if the artist updated the old graphic/text with directions to the new info (whether by link or description) instead of outright deleting the old info.

An even better option is to have one dedicated spot for your commission info that is easy for you to update. It can be a specific Tumblr post, deviantART journal, carrd website, Google Doc, or pretty much anything with a unique URL. You can then link to the info from anywhere on the web, so that even if you stop using a particular site, a potential customer can still find your latest info.

Accessibility

A caveat to "you can put your commission info anywhere" is this: if you want your commissions to be available to the general public, your commission info needs to be publicly available. In other words, it can't be put somewhere that not everyone has access to view.

A problem I have run into is artists advertising their commissions on other sites yet putting their commission information solely in Instagram stories. For those unaware, you must be logged into an Instagram account in order to view Instagram stories. I do not use Instagram. In fact, I deeply dislike Instagram, but, despite that, I do have an account that I made because of this issue. I refuse to have the app on my phone, so viewing commission info in an Instagram story requires I log in on my mobile browser or boot up my desktop. Someone else who doesn't use Instagram may give up on pursuing a commission entirely if they find that an account is required to view someone's commission info.

Similarly, someone might advertise their commissions on Twitter, but put the commission info on deviantART in a deviation that requires being logged-in to view. Or they may put the commission info on a Facebook page or album that requires being logged-in to view. I have not personally run across these, but it's the same idea. Basically, directing potential customers to a different site that they may not be able to access is not a good business practice.

Website quirks need to be taken into account as well. Sometimes Tumblr users will put their commission information on blog "pages" that are 1) not visible on the app and 2) do not always pull up on the app even when directly linked. I have saved blog links from mobile in order to pull them up on my computer to locate commission info, but one can't count on that kind of thoroughness in a field where there's lots of competition. Also, if someone is unfamiliar with Tumblr, they may just assume the link or page was broken and move on.

Additionally, you should be able to be contacted on any site you post your info on, or, if not, have an email you can be contacted through. For example, if you advertise commissions on both Tumblr and Instagram, you should not require contact solely through Instagram DMs. If you can't guarantee being reachable through a site where you've posted your commission info, then email should be an option. Email is near-universal. [Insert particular social media platform here] is not.

As a side note, I'm aware there are cases where an artist does intend for their commissions to only be available to a certain audience. For example, some artists have their commissions available only to Patreon supporters or Discord server members. That's fine. I'm referring to artists that have their commissions open to everyone and advertise on multiple sites but don't take into account that not everyone uses their preferred site. That's just lost business.

Public Pricing

I've signed my name to more vehicles than I care to count over the years, which means I've done quite a bit of car shopping. I am a researcher, and I've had times where I have many browser tabs open, pouring over the various listings and comparing all kinds of factors - such as mileage, gas mileage, safety rating, features, and, of course, price - in an effort to narrow down my choices and arrive at the best deal possible. Sometimes in these searches, vehicle listings will say "contact dealer for pricing" for various reasons. That instantly knocks the vehicle down a slot in my rating system. I have enough anxiety dealing with certain things even when I have all the facts and know exactly what I want. It's even worse when I have to cold-call for a very important piece of information and risk getting roped into a conversation I don't want to have.

Yes, I have a point to this anecdote. I have many times compared commission shopping to car buying, even joking that I put more research into my commission purchases than I have into our last few vehicle purchases. "DM/email me for prices" is an artist's equivalent of "contact dealer for pricing," and thus is an instant back-button for me at this point. It's just not worth the hassle when there are so many other options out there that give me all the information I need front-and-center.

Clear Communication

Publicly laying out the scope of your commission offerings as well as the precise purchase process is a good way to avoid confusion and miscommunication. For example:

What are your "dos" and "don'ts" for commission types/subjects?

How many WIPs and revisions are given?

How should a potential customer contact you?

What information should they include? (Have the customer follow a basic form if that makes things easier for you.)

What is the turnaround time for communication and for the commission itself?

Through what method do you take payment (Paypal, Venmo, WesternUnion, etc.)?

What is the payment process (ex: full payment after sketch; full payment up-front; half up-front and half after confirmation of a heavily-watermarked final product with watermark to be removed after second payment)?

How may a customer use their finished commission?

Another component of clear communication is timely communication. Even if you can't actually respond to the content itself, you can say something like, "I received your message, I will review it tomorrow!" - especially if the turnaround time is longer than what is normal for you. But, again, if you set the expectation beforehand, a client will know they have to give you [x] hours/days of time before they send another message.

Tags + Text

To heighten your visibility, use a combination of common tags plus actual text, even in a mostly-visual post (ex: "commissions open", "art commission", "commission info"). This particularly applies to Tumblr and deviantART, where the search function takes into account both the tags and the text within a post. (I am not familiar enough with other social media to know whether or not the same mechanic applies.)

Also, consider using common descriptions of facets of your work, such as style (ex: realism, first-person), theme (ex: nature, LOTR), medium (ex: portrait, poem), color/mood (ex: blue, peaceful), or anything else you think a customer might search for. Just remember that only the first five tags count toward Tumblr's search (IIRC) and you don't want to unknowingly trigger any spam filters by having too many seemingly-random words in your post.

In Conclusion

If you want to succeed in selling commissions, a key component is making the process as smooth and simple as possible for your potential customers. One can't rely on casually-browsing viewers taking the extra step(s) to fill in any missing information, especially in this fast-paced world. You are the one responsible for how you present your skill and business ethic, so take the time to do it well.

Now go sell some stuff!

[This is my perspective based on my experience. You are free to disagree.]

[notesbyash]

hi quinn! apologies for the block of text, i'm writing this on mobile and don't know if the enter key is working. do you have any advice for combating imposter syndrome or dealing with feelings of shame/inadequacy bc of bad grades or not getting concepts "fast" enough? i'm in my 2nd year of engineering, but withdrew from most of my classes last sem bc of mental health, and i'm in person now but i'm struggling + feel behind. (ty + ur posts are so helpful & comforting + i hope ur doing well!)

Hello - ah yes the joys of formatting on Tumblr mobile. It plagues us all. I'm glad that my posts are useful. From this side of the screen it occasionally feels as if I am simply flinging words into the void.

Will start by saying the imposter syndrome, especially in engineering, is aggressively common though everyone is too scared to admit it. But just knowing that everyone else probably feels at least a little similar to you doesn't exactly make the problem go away so...

One thing that helped me in dealing with imposter syndrome was putting the "burden" of "finding the imposter (me)" on other people. For me, that went hand in unloveable hand with trusting others to set their own boundaries instead of taking that obligation on myself.

It's easier said than done, but once you stop caring about how other people react to you life really does gets a lot easier. Sort of a "they hired me/accepted me, they get to deal with the consequences" thought process. If I'm pacing circles outside the door of a professor's office hours wondering if my questions are stupid, I remind myself of how technically I'm paying them to teach me and how they're required to be there. If I'm worried about annoying someone, I just trust them to be able to set boundaries and tell me. Sometimes I'll directly let them know to tell me just to get that out of the way. Most of the time, people are nice and it turns out I'm simply overthinking everything.

I'm still quite abysmal at this, though I suppose *~*it's about the journey not the destination*~* when it comes to mindset shifts. Lowering the boundaries of what you consider "good" may also be helpful and play into battling off imposter syndrome. A bit more on that thought process here.

Do hope this was able to be even slightly beneficial. All the best in the future, Anon, I have faith in you!

[autumn-applepie]

Guess,,, guess who finished the ref sheet,

That's right fellas! I finished the ref sheet for a new AdventNEON OC ajdnsnd

Meet Seven! They're Golfball's twin! Obv because I'm getting completely unoriginal with OCs lmao

[Pls click for better quality Tumblr mobile just hates me]

✨Have some lore time sjfjdj✨

This will be long I warn you

This is another version of Golfball's AU. Yes ya heard me, Seven is not actually canon but I had this 3am idea and just,,, had to pls sjndjs

Anyways, in this AU, before Golfball was thrown out in the pit, he was put into this,, sort of "waiting room" to check if he was worth being kept alive. In this waiting room there was another prototype, very similar to Golfball, just a slightly different model. Golfball tries to approach them but they get scared and cover their head with their arms. Golfball notices their fabric number: LM-7-7-77. Golfball so decides to give them a name, "Seven".

Seven has the same "problem" as Golfball, they're developing free will and human-like behaviors. Although they seem a bit more mature than Golfball and understands that, if they let emotions show and/or refuse to follow orders, they will die on the spot.

Golfball and Seven get really attached to each other, they see themselves as twins, with Golfball being the oldest based on the fabric number. Moreover, is Seven that gives Golfball his name, not Neon. The people from the facility come in the room from time to time for checkups, and one day, Seven hears the two people talking about the first huge Loudmouth project, that apparently wasn't going good. Suddenly, one of the two insults the Loudmouth, calling it "Golfball". Seven doesn't understand what that means, although they like it and wanted to return the favor to Golfball for gifting them a name.

Although things start getting worse. Golfball doesn't seem to "get better", he doesn't follow orders and he completely acts like a little child. Despite Seven trying to help him by suggesting him to mimic them, the thing just doesn't work.

One day, the people from the facility come back in the room to take Golfball away. Golfball runs behind Seven and hugs them tight, he doesn't want to left his twin behind and be alone again. However, the facility people use Seven's fear of dying as their advantage. They tell both Seven and Golfball that, if they don't want to die, they have to follow orders. Seven nods, while Golfball is too scared to respond. So the facility people give Seven their first "special" order: "Take down LM-7-2-12". Seven doesn't want to, although they don't want to die. They try beg the facility people, saying that if Golfball would stay with them, they could "fix" him themselves. Although the facility people insist that Golfball cannot be fixed anymore, and force Seven to follow the order.

Seven obeys, they grab Golfball by his arm, taking a moment to look at him and say "I'm.. so sorry.." before electroshocking him.

Golfball gets thrown out and took by Neon, Seven, instead, stays at the facility. Thanks to their human-like behavior, they learn to be a perfect strategist and also how to repair themselves and the other robots from minor damages.

When Golfball returns to the facility because of the hacking problem, instead of immediately destroying him, as Golfball expected, the facility people decide to train him because they noticed the wonderful results with Seven. During the training Golfball discovers powers and abilities he didn't even think of having, the facility people are proud of the results, so they raise the level of difficulty, making Golfball battle against another prototype. Surprise, it's Seven.

Seven doesn't recognize him at first, while Golfball does. Seven beats Golfball up, making him literally snap and have their ass kicked real bad. Golfball then feels horrible for that so he runs to hug Seven and apologize. Seven recognizes him and apologizes in return.

Finally reunited, Golfball explains Seven what happened to him, how he fucked everything up by running away and how he desperately needs to get back to Neon and Oganesson immediately to get fixed. Seven is 100% willing on helping their twin in any way they can, in fact, they already have a plan, but it's dangerous. Seven knows the facility like the back of their hand, all the shortcuts, door codes, defense systems and shit. They can easily get both of them out, but it won't be easy to not get noticed. Golfball trusts his twin blindly and is ready to follow them and get out of the place.

Now. Y'know how much I love angst, right? So, this thing can have a Good ending and a Bad ending.

Good ending

In the Good ending, they both manage to get out of the facility and get back to Oganesson. Both Seven and Golfball get fixed so that the facility can't be in contact with neither of them again. New sibling joins the gang

Bad ending

As soon as they reach the exit, as the door can only be locked from the inside, Seven sacrifices themselves locking themselves in, so that Golfball can escape. Golfball gets back to Oganesson to get fixed. Seven gets destroyed because of their breaking of who knows how many rules, making Golfball lose his only change to get his twin back

Bad ending #2 (suggested by my friend Cinna on Discord)

Golfball gets caught while trying to escape and left behind with Seven barely managing to get out. Golfball gets destroyed while Seven finds shelter somewhere until they meet Neon, who is searching for Golfball, along the way

[brightblueinky]

Pardon me for the intrusion, but you're the only person I found who's still into CC and I have to ask: does the romantic aspect of Chrono's and Rosette's relationship seem lacking to you? Like I can see when Rosette starts to view him as a love interest (chapter 28), but I can't see when Chrono starts to view her as one. To me it feels like he only had an interested in Mary, and Rosette is just his very beloved friend; the kiss felt too sudden. I'm sorry, I just need a second opinion on this.

Okay I am so sorry I didn’t respond to this until now, I’ve mostly been using tumblr on my phone and using it to check a few blogs and occasionally the CC tag, and apparently tumblr doesn’t notify for asks on the mobile app? Or I’m not seeing it? Something. I have no idea how long you’ve been waiting for a response on this, so I’m really sorry! I hope you find this!

I think I need a reread of the manga at this point--a lot of the stuff I’m writing these days is going off of head canon which might not be 100% accurate anymore. So I’m just going to write this off the cuff. Gonna be a bit stream of consciousness! So this is definitely not a definitive opinion or even one I’ll always stand by, just how I personally feel in this particular moment.

So off the top of my head...

I think we see less things from Chrono’s point of view than from Rosette’s, which is part of what makes this tricky. This isn’t ALWAYS the case obviously (we see his sort of...PTSD dream flashback after Rizelle’s death, the flashback in volume 6 is basically from Chrono’s viewpoint since it’s mostly his memories, etc), but since one of the way the plot moves forward is the mystery of what happened in Chrono’s past usually the viewpoint is more centered around Rosette. I actually always assumed that Rosette was the only character that Moriyama would consider the protagonist until I saw that on a dust jacket for one of the books he said that BOTH Chrono and Rosette are (can’t remember which book, sorry! it was a fan translation).

Thinking about it, I think we see Chrono start to realize he has romantic feelings at the end of volume 6. I think that’s the first time he really, truly comes to accept his contract with Rosette as a good thing instead of just...the lesser of two evils, I guess? It’s when he goes “oh, yeah, I made the contract because otherwise she would’ve run off to solve the problem on her own, and I didn’t want to leave her alone.” I think that’s when he starts to really see Rosette as someone that’s on the same level of emotional maturity as him, too--earlier he occasionally teases her for being immature, but I think when Rosette tells him that she wants to share his pain, and Mary’s, that he sees how emotionally strong she is as a person and really respects that. Not that he didn’t see her as strong BEFORE, buuut like...he’d been so hesitant to share his past with Rosette until right then, and her response, I think, makes him realize how helpful having her support really is to him.

This isn’t really the same situation and is definitely my own personal reaction, but as I write this it makes me think of when I was dating my husband. I was initially terrified he was going to break up with me because I was bisexual--we both came from conservative Christian backgrounds and were homeschooled, and in the past he expressed homophobic sentiments--but I felt like I HAD to tell him because I couldn’t see myself in a long term relationship with someone I couldn’t be 100% honest with. His reaction when I told him was to immediately tell me he trusted me and cared about me, start to reconsider what he’d been raised to feel immediately, and he’s become one of my biggest advocates as I’ve come out to friends and family. Coming out to him was one of the best things I’ve ever done, but it was terrifying until I did. I can see Chrono having similar fears talking about his past with Rosette, and having a similar sense of relief and healing as soon as he realized how much Rosette is in his corner and how helpful having someone he can be open with actually is.

In the next chapter, Rosette holds Chrono’s hands to comfort him while they briefly talk about their current situation (Chrono being held in, uh, demon jail? and Rosette being taken off of her mission to find Joshua), then they both blush and get flustered when they realize what they’re doing. They babble small talk afterward while inner dialogue repeats Rosette’s promise to share Chrono’s pain, and Mary’s too. And then RIGHT AFTER is when Remington walks in and takes them to Aion’s old house on the beach so...that’s about it.

So I think the manga does show that, either right after he’s pulled out of his coma by Rosette or sometime in the aftermath, Chrono is starting to acknowledge that his feelings for Rosette might be more romantic. But it is VERY brief, because literally everything after that is two volumes of the big finale, taking place entirely over no more than 24 hours. Everything after that is rushing to tie up as many loose ends as possible--Fiore being Satella’s sister, saving Joshua, Joshua beginning to grapple with the gravity of what he’s done and been a part of and what’s been done to him, Aion and Chrono’s confrontation, the Order and the Sinner’s confrontation, Rosette’s near death experience, Aion’s motivations revealed, Chrono and Aion’s true relationship revealed, Azmaria finally coming into her own in terms of taking ownership of her powers, the culmination of Aion’s plans (and near-Apocalypse caused by it), the true nature of demons, the deaths of most of the Sinners, Shader’s defection, Joshua and Fiore’s relationship being somewhat resolved, Rosette and Chrono’s relationship being somewhat resolved...like holy shit there is SO. MUCH. THERE.

On top of that, I’ve got the Japanese reprints and while I can read basically no Japanese (HUGE GRAIN OF SALT INCOMING), I’ve pointed Google Translate at some of the omakes and from what I can tell, Moriyama talks in the omake in...volume 6, I think, that he basically had a whole other volume’s worth of story for the flashback that had to be cut! If I’m understanding it right, it’s like...from Remington’s perspective, and involves some Native American tribe or reservation that had connections to the Sinners, and the woman in charge of the orphanage Joshua and Rosette grew up in was a child living in a town nearby....

Basically, from what I can tell? Moriyama had a LOOOOOOOOT of background stuff he wanted to go into in the back half of Chrono Crusade that he wasn’t able to do for time reasons. I’m not sure if his editor gave him a deadline, or he realized it would be too meandering, or what exactly happened, but...have you ever heard the “iceberg” theory of writing? Basically, flesh out as much of the backstory as you can--know everything about the town your story is set in, the family of your protag and their relationships with them, what they eat for breakfast, just...every little minutia you can possibly think of, but most of that won’t get into your story. The audience will only see the tip of the iceberg, but knowing so much background about your setting and characters will help it feel more alive and inform your decisions as you write.

I think Moriyama had a fucking huge iceberg, basically, and I think he actually wanted to show more of that, but...couldn’t. So we get little pieces of art that reference this entire backstory for Satella we never see, and Aion, etc....that gets small nods but doesn’t make it into the manga.

And I think there’s a lot of things Moriyama wanted to give time to breathe in the manga but due to space limitations, couldn’t. So that’s why the second half of the manga literally takes place from Thanksgiving to sunrise on Christmas Day and is...the entire second half of the manga. He’s rushing to get in as much as possible while still letting the story flow as a story and sometimes...it’s not perfect.

So....I think unfortunately, yeah, one of the casualties of that is that we don’t get a huuuuuge amount of Chrono’s side of the relationship, because most of the moments that really shows that they’re heading in that direction is from Rosette’s POV. Other than the scene I already mentioned, I think you could argue that Chrono’s reaction to “the place that Chrono can go back to was decided 4 years ago!” might also be the first moment he starts to consider how important Rosette is to him, but that doesn’t HAVE to be romantic...Chrono’s reaction to her death (and then realizing there’s a chance to revive her) again emphasizes how important she is to him, but it doesn’t HAVE to be romantic...the kiss at the end is the only thing that really 100% says “Yes, this is romantic and not platonic” on his part. And...yeah. It feels a bit sudden. There’s some underlying hints before that but...I mean, I know about them because I’m obsessive about character growth and narrowed in on it in subsequent rereads, I’m not sure if it came through right away on my first read of the manga, and I even knew going into it that they were at least meant to be teased as a ship, so, yeah.

Also I briefly want to admit that as I’ve gotten older, the age gap bothers me a little more. Not enough for me to abandon the ship, just, you know, it’s something I acknowledge will turn some people off. I think Chrono, maturity-wise, is meant to be seen as...about 20. I think Moriyama mentions in one of the early omakes that that’s what he looks like in his unsealed form, we know that when he leaves Pandaemonium it’s right after his coming of age ceremony so he’s about what a demon would consider to be 18 in terms of emotional (and physical?) maturity, and especially since he’s been sleeping for 50 years since that period of his life he doesn’t have the experience that his age really indicates (which Aion blantantly points out near the end). So I’m not THAT bothered by it because I don’t think that Rosette and Chrono are actually that inequal in terms of emotional maturity but it’s still...there, and...I mean he met her when she was 12...so...yeah that’s a bit weird!! 

I’ve just gotten to where I shrug my shoulders and go “look, every ship in Chrono Crusade has something problematic about it, if you’re going to be a fan of Chrono Crusade you’re probably going to have to grapple with the fact that it’s messy and human and nobody is 100% good or bad in the manga, and that’s part of what I like about it, so, that’s cool, but it’s probably not for everyone.” It’s actually one reason why I’m kinda OK with CC not being as popular as some of its contemporaries because...some of the anti-shipper stuff I’ve seen online...oh boy.

So...I guess in conclusion, I think there’s stuff there in the manga to build up the relationship a little bit, but a lot of it is from Rosette’s POV and most of it is kind of subtle. I wouldn’t be surprised if Moriyama had wanted to flesh it out more obviously in the manga but the second half is stuffed full of wrapping up character arcs and questions and loose ends so it just didn’t really have the time to get as much focus. I really like the ship a lot, but a lot of it comes from analysis of the characters and how they relate to each other rather than it just being...canon. I’m okay with that, I’m the sort of person that will ship characters that never even meet just because I think the dynamic might be cool, but...I’m not surprised that not everyone would be into it, either.

And now I kinda want to make...a series of posts analyising the different relationships that are...either canon or teased in canon, see how much they’re built up, etc. Because this post makes me think a lot about Joshua/Azmaria and how confused I was by them apparently being married in the epilogue on my first read, and only seeing the hints Moriyama hinted about them possibly being a couple in the manga on subsequent rereads (and even then HO BOY it’s so subtle it makes Chrono and Rosette look really in your face aaaaaa). BUT I HAVE RAMBLED ENOUGH FOR THIS POST and, again, I need a reread. Maybe soon....!!!!

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Happy new year everyone 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I know 2020 has been hard for everyone.

And I want everyone to know, suffering isn't a contest and we all suffer in different ways. But I feel I should give my year in Review. Just some things that happened to me personally.

This was an intense, and long and spiritual and emotional journey for me...

I really discovered what it meant to have community, family and what my life means to me.

But I feel I need to get this in writing cause I can remember the year with vivid detail and I will probably forget if I don't get it down.

Do I have to share this publically online to my tumblr account for a bunch of strangers to see? not really.

Do I want to?

Yes. I think so. Just from how so many people on tumblr and real life have touched me.

This is kinda long and no one needs to read this.

(idk how to do a readmore on mobile. But this is where I would add it later. No one needs to read if they don't want to.)

January/February: (and some background on the last five years of my life cause.....well. it's important.)

As people knew, I got way into Invader Zim last summer. I spent most of my waking life working a dead end job at a grocery store. I lived a sad lonely life, going straight home to a single dark studio apartment. With not many material possessions outside of games, my laptop and my tablet to my name. Half of my material loves, such as home furnishings and books were still in boxes from when I moved in. In case I ever had to move again, or get some "big screenshot or copywriter" job in the city.

....

I lived in that city in the same dead end job and apartment for five years.

No friends. No social life. I often refused to make doctor appointments or attempt to establish myself in that city. I didn't even talk to anyone in my workplace.

Work. Go online. Go to sleep.

I lived like that for five years.

I thought it was good.

Even my therapist thought I was doing well.

When I really wasn't. My main character flaw I struggle with is motivation.

I can talk to someone about very detailed plans I have to fix a problem... But I tend to never follow through.

Just because I can describe in detail how to fix my personal problems, it doesn't mean I will do it.

(I have gotten better at this but it's a major struggle)

I might have been a Zombie during the day...

But by night I was pouring my soul into my AU and my analysis.

After being so thoughly ignored or overlooked by the Naruto fandom and the Undertale fandom, I felt like I had finally found my home and was settling into a community there.

I just loved that people loved what I had to say.

Especially my AU.

It's no secret that a lot of themes in my au revolve around found family, grief, and loss.......

Fatherhood, in particular.

What it means to be a father, how much do you need to try when you mess up, how willing should a child forgive their parent, especially those that have wronged you and how much of it is factually accurate and simply a self projection of what children want their parents to be and visa versa... What amount of forgiveness and change is nessasary...is it needed?

....

It's no secret that a lot of my AU is a giant coping mechanism for my Dad's death. Espessially the falling out and growing closer with a lot of my family members throughout the years following his death. (Most of the time I keep it ambiguous to how it relates to my personal life unless I include a readmore that states so outright. I feel my au can be enjoyed by a variety of people in the fandom who don't need to know me as a person or my life story.)

My Dad passed away in 2016 in February and my family still feels the aftershocks to this day.

It's part of the reason I moved to the city, alienated myself from my family and people that loved me and refused to experience life for five years.

My entire world was Zim, and I was okay.

March: When America finally realized and started to feel the effects of the pandemic....

A lot of people got scared.

Me included.

I didn't have any streaming services or access to the news. So I only heard accounts from my mom.

I didn't understand why the store was so dead quiet and empty for a few days, then it went into mass chaos and panic in the span of two days.

It felt like Retail black friday in the worst way. Everyone was packed like sardines. Everyone was yelling. The lines at the registers bled into the clothing department.

I was witness to customers shoving others for toilet paper, being rude to cashier's and just overall unpleasantness.

At the time, I didn't even fully grasp what the pandemic was, and I feel a lot of people at the time didn't either.

I ended up absentmindedly scratching my eyebrow in front of a customer and she screamed and villanised me for it. That they didn't want groceries touched by my "unclean hands"

I ended up breaking down into tears.

The customer behind me gave me a hug and told me I was doing a great job.

But the damage was done. It was the final straw, I couldn't stop crying and I was breaking apart.

Thankfully my Boss (the one who likes me) pulled me aside and asked what's wrong.

It was then that I quit. No notice. Same day. I had to get out of there.

I was planning to move to an apartment with my sister in the summer, but my Mom offered for me to move back in with her temperarily just so I can get out of the city and away from the pandemic.

So I did.

I got scared, broke my lease a month early and quit my job of five years that gave me nothing back.

He told me, "take care of yourself and your family, I won't keep you here, do what you need to do."

So I did.

April-June:

A very eventful few months.

My mom offered for me to live at her place, but for some reason she was acting like I would live there forever. That this wasn't a temporary arrangement, and that I didn't have an apartment set up already.

This was in large part to my sister, who had lived with my mom taking advantage of her for years.

Even though my sister and I were going to move in together, I was just never sure about it cause of how she never packed her stuff or made any effort to find a job.

My mom often acted like I was lazy and not searching and was treating me like... Well, an unruly teenager instead of a woman of 29 years. She acted like I was a failure for returning home when it was her idea in the first place.

I would have just been petrified in the city.

Like usual, I retreated to my au again.... And in the spring, something eventful happened.

In may, 8th 2020:

I was invited by @rissynicole to join an invader zim discord.

Now, I've never really used discord before. I always thought it's interface is too confusing.. and I'm a member of a few other iz discords and I usually don't follow them that closely.

Rissy assured me it was different cause some friends of thiers made it and it was smaller.

Before I knew it, I was sharing memes and getting to know everyone there.

It wasn't long after I invited my partner in IZ crimes, @paketdimensioncomic who was genuinely wary of iz servers due to a bad experience with the last one they were a part of.

But soon they were sharing memes and laughing with everyone else.

My eyes were starting to open and I was able to connect to fans of my work in an interpersonal way. And I was able to discover new artists and aus I never knew about.

I was also able to meet so many others of the community and invite them to the server myself.

The moo-ping 10 server kept me sane while I was living with my judgmental mother.

Not only that, the summer was very productive for my au.

Drawing was all I did, and it was a huge break from the job as a cashier I had.

Not only that, June came, and with it, me and Ceph's first collab fic:

A result of us just going back and forth in our DMs constantly about Professor Membrane and how he changed in ETF for the better and how much we adamantly stan "trying-to-be-a-good-dad-brane" and how much of his ETF development has to be implied off screen in order for the emotional resolution in the movie to matter.

The only reason I never professed my love for Membrane as a character in the fandom before the fic dropped was.... Well....

Membrane can be a decisive character in the fandom and I was so worried people would hate me if I did an analysis on him, simply because he's not the best parent in the world. (As an understatement)

Ceph and I really encouraged each other to scream our love for the science himbo loud and proud more frequently and so often.... I actually start to see less Membrane hate posts and breakdowns then their used to be.... I like to think it's a combination of Me and Ceph's influence, along with ETF and the Quarterly's painting Membrane in a slightly more nuanced light then he was previously.

I never wrote a collab fic before and it's such a rewarding and fun and unique experience that I don't think I'll ever have again. And I love working with Ceph on our fics so much.

So much so we did it again...

July-August:

I never thought I would be one of those people who writes NSFW IZ fic... But here I am.

The Brainbrane au started.... An au of my au where Membrane and the Computer fall in love and Membrane makes him a body.

This ship was based around the idea where we joked that Membrane and Zim's Computer would have funny interactions if they ever met, under the pretense Membrane thinks Computer is Zim's parent.

Our headcanons morphed and shifted until we just full blown started shipping them.

Just because Membrane and Zim's Computer have overall REALLY entertaining chemistry.

It's a character dynamic never seen in the show or comics (yet) and I imagine thier interactions to be nothing but entertaining banter.

The fic was also born from spite... Making fun of the troupes and cliches that we found personally destestible in some questionable zadr fics.

So an angry ace and a demi-bisexual collab on a porn and end up blessing the fandom with

Compapa headcanons,

Computer being recognized as a more common used fanon character,

The ship of Brainbrane.

The fandom having a crisis of "oh God, not only are we xenophiles we're technophiles too!!!" Or "why you gotta give Zim's Computer an ass"

More android Computer designs

It was an eventful summer.

In the midst of all this, I moved into my new place, got a new job, and I was able to see my friend (who is def my platonic straight soul mate) who lives in Indiana.

She came to visit, showed me how to decorate and how to take care of my body better! Things were looking up! It was great.

September-November:

My job was at a boat store. If was approaching the fall and my hours were being severely cut.

I was getting into a rut of depression again.

I thought things were changing but the same routine I was trying to escape from was the same thing coming back.

But instead of letting it take hold, I decided I was going to do something about it... I was gonna visit a museum and go with my sister. Just... variety stimulation.

Well that didn't happen.

I talked about this shortly in my au itself...but..

My sister had a complete mental breakdown.

She stopped taking her meds, went off the deep end and was in the hospital a total of five times throughout November.

A lot of it was acting out and the perfect storm of environmental factors that made her scream and act out so she would keep going back to the hospital.

It was traumatizing for me.

I just can't explain what it's like. For her and for me to be in that position.

I'm not telling the full story and a lot of bullshit things happened I won't share here.

She got diagnosed with bipolar one and my mom expected me to be a caretaker for her.

I threatened to disown my family and move away out of state.

It was just too much for me to handle.

So much I was a nervous wreck.

I tried to pick up a second job... Cause my sister was in the mental ward so frequently and couldn't pay the bills.

But I was fired within a week cause I was so stressed I couldn't retain the basic information they were training me for.

It was an office job.

My dream.

It could have been.

I was fired from something I really wanted.

I was only there for three days.

I could not retain any information.

I was a mess.

My sister was a trigger, my mom wanted me to live with her. I couldn't live like this.... I had to get out.

I had to get out.

December:

Remember my Indiana friend?

Well the first week of December is my birthday.

My 30th to be exact.

While I did pick up a seasonal position at Target (not my first pick)

I took the first week of December off so I could spend time with her. Cause she agreed, I needed a break from this crap.

Surviving 30 years is cause to celebrate and if I had to celebrate with my sister I would have cried.

I know there was a risk traveling out of state during a pandemic...

But I needed out, I needed a friend..

And I kinda wanted to look at the place since I was considering moving there.

My friend's mom was sick so she avoided me and her daughter and got us a hotel room.

It was fun! I got to swim in a salt water pool, we talked about Naruto, I showed her the iz and su art books I brought, also Computer and Membrane tea.

I also got to meet her other friends and get crunk. And her bf who is super nice and funny!

I had a super fun birthday....

Until her mom told my friend that her grandparents had covid and that was what she had. And my friend got sick within that same day.... As did I.

I owe so much to her family.

I was an entire state away...about a ten hour drive from home.... She let me stay at her house. "The covid house" we called it.

Cause everyone (except the father. He avoided everyone and booked a hotel immediately cus he was an ER doctor) had covid within a day.

I called in, the test results were positive and I had to stay with her family for ten days quarantine before I could work again.

Which would have been fine....

If my tumblr didn't log me out perminately of my old account. @dana-chan325 .... Which really sucked cause I had a constant headache and was too sick to engage with tumblr or much of the fandom. I didn't want to make a new account when my head was in a bad fog and I could barely breathe or smell.

It's not like I saw much of my friend either.... We all slept at different hours and she had more symptoms then I did.

It was just netflix, danganronpa v3 and cry.

I was miserable, but at the same time.... Not?

I really feel like God himself was the one who pulled me off from tumblr, and my living situation.

Maybe a whole extra week feeling like a bobblehead was what I needed.

It gave me some much needed clarity on my relationships with my mom and sis and friend.

Running away to Indiana was not the solution here.

Once I was better within ten days and no longer had a leave of absence, I drove home.

I am glad I fully recovered (but from how I understand it, my dear friend is still ill. I'm praying for her)

I might have gone to work a bit too soon, cause I had an asthma attack after trying to unload a single cart in the span of six hours.

My boss lectured that my speed was unacceptable, and even though I explained the covid situation and breathing problems many times, she threatened that I'd be fired if I'm that slow again.

Que the next few days of work where they put me on register.

Instantly I was sent into a panic remembering the last time I was on the register and how that panic attack caused me to quit.

I even asked if I could go back to stocking, since my breathing had improved. My boss assured me that I was put on the register cause they needed help and nothing to do with my covid thing.

Then as December concluded and the new year began, my boss said that this was the last shift for me cause my position was seasonal and they were letting a lot of people go.

I then asked why I was on the schedule for Sunday, and he told me to ignore it and I'm free to reapply for full-time.

I mean.... They can act smart about it...

But putting your general merchandise stocker onto register after she had an asthma attack and missed working the first two weeks of December due to covid.....

Not a good look.

So once again, I'm jobless once more.

Will probably continue to live with my sister for awhile.

But I do not feel as if it's a bad thing....

I met so many good people this year....

My friend's family even gave me 500 usd to cover my rent since I couldn't work for a majority of December.

I've seen evil and good from humanity this year. I've seen acts of god, good friends and what my real family means to me as well as friends I consider family.

This year really made me look back at the person in the mirror and say,

"I deserve better."

And actually worked for it this time.

Oh and after Christmas I got a horrible yeast infection that burns over most of my body currently.

Very accurate doodle to the pain I'm in right now.

(seriously my body is a fungus.)

But hey, good news, I respected myself enough to go to the doctor about it!!

So that's progress.

I really hope 2021 holds good things for me.

Thank you to the mooping 10 server for always being there and keeping me sane,

Thank you tumblr for liking my au and everything.

AND A SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU TO @evartandadam and her family for housing me and my dumb diseased ass. Everyone, she is an angel and I can't express how much she means to me. Please check out her art and buy her stuff on redbubble.

Anyways... Byebye 2020.

I look forward to what I can accomplish for myself this year.

[ohdarlingohsweetheart]

FOUR.

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Second time's the charm~

A casual greeting at a book store turns into so much more.

[WARNING]: This is a YANDERE story! Stalking, murder, the whole nine yards!!! Read with caution!

If you find this story on any website NOT under misfitgirlwrites/misfitgirl3390 please let me know!

Font for book cover credit (x)

   After scrolling through Cherri's Tumblr for nearly two hours, Leo found pictures of her on Halloween. She was dressed as Poison Ivy and it suited her nicely. He stared at the pictures for a while before saving them to his phone. She really was beautiful. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone vibrating.

Marcel: So I was going to pretend I didn't see you guys in the ice cream shop with some dude but I changed my mind. Who was he?

   Leo arched a brow.

Mary: His name is Leo! Cherri met him yesterday and we ran into him again today, nothing to be worried about  d a d

Marcel: Haha very funny

Cherri: It's okay, Marcel. He seems nice

Marcel: All guys seem nice when they want something from you.

Mary: He's just being friendly! Cherri is perfectly fine! And cute! I think it's about time a guy tried to sweep her off her feet! Anyone is better than Darius 🤢

Cherri: ;;;;;

Marcel: There are a lot of guys just like Darius and that's why I'm worried.

   Did Darius do something to Cherri before? Leo didn't like the sound of that. He also didn't like how skeptical Marcel was.

Cherri: ...I think he's kind of nice

Cherri: I understand why you're worried but I'll be okay

Cherri: And if I need you I know I can call you ☺️

Marcel: ...alright

Marcel: Fr though be very careful

Cherri: I will! My dad just got in, I have to go

Marcel: Ard

Mary: Baiii 💖💗💖💗💖

   Leo hummed. He'd have to look into Darius. In the meantime, he went back to Cherri's Tumblr. He could tell by a certain blog she interacted with a lot that it could possibly be Mary. That and the username seemed very fitting.

   Brattyxkitten_.

   Leo clicked on the username and looked at the bio.

Bunny 🐰 | 18 | A Princess 👸🏻 | 💚 Loki Laufeyson 💚 | 💗 Sebastian Michaelis 💗 | MANY MORE 🥵

   There were also mobile links and one of them led to her Instagram account, which wasn't private. He scrolled through and saw a few pictures of her and her siblings. He knew now that Marcel was her older brother. There were a few pictures of Cherri as well, which he screenshot to save.

Cherri: Hi Leo :)

   Leo quickly stopped what he was doing to reply.

[Text]: Hey Cherri

[Text]: Did you get home safe?

Cherri: Yeah, I did

Cherri: I just wanted to ask, could you maybe use Google hangouts?

   Leo didn't respond right away. He wanted to ask her why she was hiding her text messages. Could her father be looking through her phone? It's not like she's doing anything wrong so it couldn't be him, right?

[Text]: Yeah I'll download it now

[Text]: What's your email?

Cherri: cherriacrawford@gmail.com :)

   He knew that already and he was glad he remembered to pretend he didn't. Leo set up his own account on Google hangouts and switched over before texting Cherri once more.

[Text]: Is this better?

Cherri: Yes! Thank you ☺️

   Leo smiled slightly. He completely forgot about trying to find more on Darius. Instead they talked about books. He liked that Cherri genuinely liked the books she was forced to read in high school. The Great Gatsby was her favorite book and she didn't hate Shakespeare but made it clear that she could also live without his work. She thinks she would suck at poetry but Leo disagrees. He thinks that she'd be amazing at anything she tried to do.

[Text]: You know, I think you'd really like Little Women. Did you read that book?

Cherri: Yes!! Omg I absolutely loved it! Women are powerful 💪🏽

[Text]: Well what about the movie?

Cherri: 1994 movie? Yes

Cherri: Not the recent one

[Text]: Well what if we see the recent one together?

Cherri: I would love to do that! But I'm kind of short on money

[Text]: Don't worry about that, I'll pay for you. I'll even pick you up if you'd like

   Leo was definitely considering this their first date. He wondered if she was too. She didn't respond right away, so he switched back to her account to see her rapidly texting Mary. He quickly opened the chat.

Cherri: HE ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO SEE LITTLE WOMEN WITH HIM

Mary: uM??? DID YOU SAY YES?

Cherri: YES

Mary: Y E S

Cherri: HE ALSO OFFERED TO PICK ME UP?? DO I SAY YES???

Mary: Heck yeah!!!! This will be your real first date!!!!

Cherri: Yes and I don't want to think about Darius or Commissioner Hughes >.<

   Commissioner Hughes? Was Darius the Commissioner's son?

Mary: Tell him yes and dress cute!

Cherri: what about my dad?

Mary: Tell him that you're coming over to my place! Don't forget to tell Leo your curfew!

Cherri: Right! Okay!

   Leo switched back into his account and checked his messages.

Cherri: I'm fine with you picking me up! :)

Cherri: But my dad is a bit strict so I need to be home by 6:30

   Leo thought that was pretty early for someone her age.

[Text]: We can just hang out early. I'll make sure you're home before 6:30, I promise

   He wanted to promise that he wouldn't do whatever Darius did to fuck up her first date.

Cherri: Okay! Thanks so much! So tomorrow then?

[Text]: I wouldn't want to wait any longer

Cherri: I'll see you then, Leo 🥰

   Leo smiled. This was definitely a date. If things would keep going this smoothly, Cherri would be with him in no time. But he knew that wasn't the case; not with Darius apparently being a reoccurring problem and whatever is making her keep everything on an account in case she has to clear her phone.

   He'd focus on that later. For now, he wanted to relax and enjoy his date tomorrow.

~~~

Taglist: None yet~

[dragon-in-a-fez]

Hi! I saw your post about tantrums and I'm curious about your view about how best to handle them. Obviously we all have emotions, and older people have more practice regulating them, but when I'm angry I'm not allowed to hit people and throw/destroy things. So shouldn't that still apply to young people?

well, yes. however, some important points to consider:

(note: there’s a read more here but I’ve just discovered that it’s invisible on mobile for…some reason I guess, thanks tumblr)

most toddlers do not have the physical strength to actually hurt adults by hitting them. this doesn’t make violence an okay reaction, but it does mean it’s not as serious a problem. it makes it possible to respond to violent outbursts with gentleness. it makes it easier to deescalate the situation.

acts of violence or destruction against people or property, even by adults, are judged based on their motivations as well as their impact. this is why you can kill someone in an unavoidable car accident and get charged with involuntary manslaughter, kill someone in a car accident you caused while drunk driving and get charged with negligent homicide, or kill someone by intentionally running them over and get charged with first degree murder. extreme example, but you get the picture. you don’t respond to a two-year-old who doesn’t have the vocabulary to express their frustration verbally and throws a bowl of cereal on the floor the same way you respond to a two-year-old who throws a bowl of cereal on the floor because they really maliciously want to break something.

and really, the biggest problem is that adults, because they tend to view everything through the lens of their own experience and mindset, very often see hitting or throwing that comes as an undirected, instinctual reaction to stress and mistakenly read it as calculated, malicious action. why? because when adults commit violence it is usually very intentional and very malicious, whereas when children do it it is much more often because they simply don’t know what else to do. so parents assume their two-year-old is actually thinking “I want to hurt the person who didn’t give me what I want”, instead of the much more likely “I am upset and flailing my arms against the nearest thing”.

what does this mean for an actual real-world response to a “tantrum”?

yes, it may be necessary to restrain a child, and that’s okay. but even better, provide them with an alternate target. give them something they can throw as hard as they want. give them something they can use as a punching bag. help them learn how to direct their anger where it will do less damage, as a stepping stone to building the vocabulary and self-control to expressing frustration in words alone.

do not make restraining them physically or even ending the tantrum your goal. make helping them through their moment of stress the goal. often this comes down to helping them understand something or express something; for instance, when I was three, I had what my mother recalls as the worst tantrum of my life, wherein I was angry about being forced to put my seatbelt on. the tantrum stopped immediately when she managed to explain to me, in language I could understand, why the seatbelt was necessary.

reserve punishment for instances where you reasonably believe a child actually meant harm to another person. remember, we arrest and imprison adults for intentionally punching people in the face, not for bumping into them in the street. I once got punched in the eye completely by accident on a crowded dance floor, and I did not want or expect the person responsible to face any consequences beyond having to apologize. (fun story, we actually ended up dating for a month, but that’s beside the point.) genuine malicious intent is, at the age of two or three, exceedingly rare. in fact, psychologists have theorized that kids that young often don’t even understand that others can experience pain the way they do, so it’s a pretty big stretch to believe they’d cause others pain intentionally. and punishing people when they don’t understand what they’ve done does not change their behavior - this is well documented.

finally, recognize that a good many tantrums are caused not by toddlers being unreasonable, but by parents’ own stubbornness. if adults want to consider themselves superior at dealing with emotions and conflict, maybe don’t care quite so much about whether or not your kid zips up their coat before going outside. they’ll tell you if they’re cold. or maybe don’t get so caught up in not letting them eat a cookie before dinner, unless you can honestly say you’ve never needed a chocolate fix at 4 in the afternoon. (I’m not saying you personally do these things, btw, but honestly, so many parents could avoid 80% of conflict they have with their kids if they didn’t insist on so many little things being done their way.)

[dragon-in-a-fez]

hey just discovered your blog today and been reading through your ageism tag. based on what you've written I think I'm better equipped to spot moments of adultism and ageism and moments of adult privilege, but I was wondering if you'd be able to outline your own vision for what a world with more cooperative, respectful and equal relations between parents and adults would look like? I guess my number one question would how would families and upbringings be structured. Thanks!

okay, I’m really annoyed because I know I’ve posted about this in great detail before but I’ve been trying for like twenty minutes and I can’t find it. but anyway here are some thoughts. (note: once again, tumblr doesn’t seem to be showing the read more on mobile.)

I’m a huge believer in what early child liberationists like John Holt and Richard Farson called “the right to choose one’s guardian” - basically, the idea that yes, you’re born into a family who have the responsibility to care for you, but you should have the choice to find another family to live with by mutual agreement between you and the “adoptive” guardians without your biological parents having to approve, die, or be proven abusers first; and you should be able to live independently if you so choose, without having to prove that it’s essentially your only option as the current system of emancipation demands. Holt also talked about the idea of communal or group homes where young people, especially teenagers, could pool resources and look out for each other, maybe with a single guardian/mentor figure to take legal responsibility for them when necessary and help them with life skills, etc. we already have boarding schools, group homes, emancipation, plus informal arrangements where kids will spend summers with friends’ families rather than their own parents…the idea isn’t revolutionary in terms of the options available, just in terms of making it the child’s initiative and choice.

I think this fundamental condition of not being bound to live with your biological parents by default would solve a lot of problems. relationships that rely on consent can still, of course, be abusive, but on average they are almost always less so, and the recognition that consent is a requirement for a relationship can in and of itself make people more aware of their responsibilities to treat each other with respect and dignity.

ultimately, what I want to see is a world in which parents treat children as equals in every way possible. where kids are equal members of the family, friends and roommates, who also look to you as a mentor, instead of subjects or charges. where parents’ legal authority to “correct” children only applies when kids act in ways that actually hurt others, and parents essentially act in the place of a justice system that can’t take on every case of a kid pushing someone on the playground as if it were a real matter of assault. and yes, parents also bear the financial burdens, so there can’t be equality there until we dismantle capitalism - that’s part of a social contract over which adults, as a class, have much more control than children, so my sympathy for the “I pay for your shit you need to do what I say” crowd is minimal. but in daily decision making, in how people talk to each other and treat each other, they can be equals. I want to live to see a world where the very idea of parents telling kids what hairstyles they’re allowed to have or when they’re allowed to have a snack sounds as ridiculous to people as it would if husbands had that kind of authority over their wives.

in a larger sense, beyond the family, I think just about every sector of our society needs to take a hard look at how it excludes children and do something about it. city planners organize things on the assumption that everyone can drive or use public transit on their own. architects design rooms intended as kids’ bedrooms with fewer amenities than rooms intended for adults’ use. technology companies think “mobile devices for kids” means “cheap plastic crap filled with creepy spyware” instead of, maybe, “rugged but full-featured devices preloaded with educational software, with controls built for small hands that haven’t mastered fine motor skills”. businesses don’t let children in for fear of them being “loud” or “disruptive” rather than providing kid-friendly activities. towns adopt curfew bylaws and malls and other gathering places bar “unsupervised” minors because young people are easy scapegoats for crime. in short, our world is a very unwelcoming place for young people, and we need to change that at every level.