#Anyway you as an individual are allowed to use this site however you want obviously

[honestlyvan]

As the pendulum is swinging back to “stop shaming people for leaving likes”, I am going to go on record to say I don’t like like because they’re a purely “number go up” metric that most people do not treat with the kind of thoughtful affection people who talk about leaving “little kisses for the people they follow” treat them as. I feel this exact same way about kudos in that mindless interaction from a potential audience is a real “good for you” kind of situation that simply does fuck all for me.

And before someone can call this grind culture brainrot, I also feel this way about reblogs without commentary. Good for you. I'm glad I was a good dancing monkey, enough for you to go “hey [people following me], lookadis guy”, even if you’re not gonna actually tell me that. We can talk about our choices for engaging with things and people on this site all we want, but intent isn’t magic, and I’m gonna reserve the right to complain about how that treatment feels regardless.

[hello-nichya-here]

So I've asked you this in private, but I thought the rest of your followers should see this as your thoughts are quite entertaining.

What is your opinion on the idea of stuff like this being the only acceptable method of pornography?

*cracks knuckles* Let's get the easiest part out of the way first.

Saying Something Is "Female-Friendly" Is Just Marketing

I'm sorry (not really) to be the one to state the obvious, but at best labeling any kind of pornography as "female friendly" means "most of the people that enjoy this are women" - which is very different from saying "ALL women are into this" or "No guys are ever into this." It's the good old "this cartoon is for boys, that one is for girls."

It's not a radical statement, it's not revolutionary, and it is at best a morally neutral mention of a random statistic that is being used to find the best demography to advertise to and at worst just pointlessly trying to force people into boxes with that they are/are not allowed to enjoy based on their gender.

Don't believe me? Well, too bad because this image you're seeing is literally part of a facebook ad for a porn site. The name of the site and of the artist they were working with can be seen at the top in the uncut version. Like I said, it doesn't matter how "radical" these claims of "this product is made for/by X minority group" pretend to be, at the end of the day it's just marketing.

"Oh, but people obviously support the message it's sending anyway!" True... but that message is at best filled with poor word choices, and full on terrible at worst.

Consent - Important In Real Life, Meaningless In Fantasy

In the context of this being an ad for a porno site, I think it's safe to say "Consent-based" is just a way of assuring viewers that every actress was fully consenting to every sexual act and was not pressured into anything in any way, which is the bare minimum.

HOWEVER, I've seen plenty of people misunderstand or flat out lie about the "consent-based porn" term means. Like I explained, it is meant to be about the ACTORS consenting - but their "characters" don't need to consent to anything because they are not real. A hardcore CNC fantasy with the actress pretending she doesn't want the sex/is not enjoying it while her co-star pretends to force themselves on her is STILL consent-based if the actress playing the victim role can stop the scene for literally any reason and even walk out completely if that's what she wants.

Unfortunatelly, because kink-shaming is still very much a thing, people act like that is crossing a line and totally counts as legitimate assault - even in videos that the actors before AND after the scene mention how excited they are, how great it was, openly discuss their kinks, etc.

Nobody needs to watch something so extreme if they don't want to, but I have a serious problem with people saying stuff like that shouldn't ever happen. If the people involved in the role-play are doing it WILLINGLY and can back down at any moment, then it isn't in anyway immoral.

Sexual Attraction Is NOT The Same As Respect/Acceptance

Once again, I'm sorry (not really) to be the one who has to tell you guys this, but "representation" in porn is meaningless because:

1 - It doesn't matter how many porn videos there are of any minority group - each individual person picking something to watch will only click on the ones that show people with the body-types and genders they are attracted to, doing stuff they personally find appealing.

2 - "This kind of porn is popular" does not in anyway translate to "this is what society deems morally acceptable". A ton of homophobes LOVE lesbian porn. My country, Brazil, has always had porn with trans people and crossdressers as one of THE most popular trends - yet we are also the country that commits hate crimes against them the most, even when compared to places where being trans or crossdressing is literally a crime that earns you an authomatic death sentence. Incest porn has been obscenely popular everywhere for decades yet most people STILL find the thought of real-life incest absoutely repulsive.

3 - "I am not usually/ever attracted to people of group X" doesn't authomatically mean "I HATE people of group X." Just cause I like red-heads and brunettes, doesn't mean I'll be commiting hate crimes against blondes. If that was how things worked, sex-repulsed asexuals would hate literally all of humanity.

Wanting porn to be inclusive is utterly pointless because sexual attraction is 100% morally neutral. Which brings us to...

What Even Counts As "Objectification"?

Once again, if by "Don't objectify people" we are talking about how "Just because you hired this person to star in a porno, it doesn't mean you can just ignore their consent, comfort and safety for the sake of your fetish" then yeah, that's the bare minimum.

However, if you're saying "don't objectify people" as a way to say "Don't make the video too graphic/obscene/kinky" then we absolutely have a problem here because, my guy, it's porn. It is all about letting us see hot people looking slutty and fucking in great, explict detail.

"Oh, but these sexual acts are humiliating and gross!" To you, maybe. But not to the actors that are very willing to do it. I've had some of my fetishes be called both deeply disturbing and gross AND the most vanilla shit ever. That kind of stuff is 100% subjective, and the only people who can say "I felt disrespected/unsafe/abused" are the actors themselves. Once again, if THEY consented, there's nothing wrong with it regardless of it appealing to you or not.

"Oh, but we'd be wasting an opportunity to educate people/give X group more representation"

If I ever click on a porno and there's a two minute intro with the actors, both belonging to some minority group, talking about how one of them is also historian and the other is a astronomer, I will STILL only care about seeing them fuck even though I love both history and astronomy - not because I don't think they can't possibly know what they're talking about since they are sex workers or because of some kind of bigotry, but because, surprise surprise, I only check out porn sites for the porn. That's what EVERYONE does.

Hell, bad porn can be used to educate people. 50 Shades is awful and a ton of ignorant people think it is 100% accurate to how BDSM actually works. However, this has led to entire groups of people who are actually kinky to discuss REAL BDSM with vanilla people and educate them on how it can be a great thing. And, of course, there's people that enjoy those shitty novels/movies but KNOW they are not accurate representiation of BDSM because they are aware that PORN IS JUST FANTASY, NOT A GUIDE TO HOW SEX SHOULD WORK!

"But it's so shallow to focus only on these people's looks and know literally nothing else about them!"

Yes, and? Being "shallow" isn't always bad, and feeling attracted to someone solely for their looks is not a crime.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a goddamn fanfic writer and I was once the classic "teenager that totally thinks she'd have a chance with that famous rockstar that is old enough to be her dad", I KNOW that the thought of a real connection (emotional, intelectual, etc) CAN be hot - but there's nothing wrong with "These two people whose names I don't even know look hot, I wanna see them fuck, then I'll go take a nap and never think of them again." These porn stars are not crying themselves to sleep because people whose faces they've never even seen don't know anything about them other than how they look without clothes on.

"Female" Pleasure - Yet ANOTHER Hollow Marketing Term!

Seriously, that last one REALLY irritated me because it's one of those things that tries to sound progressive, but are meaningless at best and downright sexist at worst, because it implies:

1 - There must be a strict separation between "female" pleasure and "male" pleasure. A sexual act cannot possibly be enjoyable for both the guy and the girl, and gender prevents men and women from EVER being into the same thing (as a woman that finds more porn that fits my taste in "male-centered" sites than in most "porn for women" sites, this one gets on my nerves).

2 - Pleasuring one's partner cannot possibly be enjoyable - so, say, a girl cannot possibly enjoying giving her boyfriend head, and vice versa.

3 - Sex is a competition and women NEED to win because "female" pleasure is apparently more moral than "male" pleasure (hence the "ALL porn can and should be 'female' friendly")

4 - ALL women are turned on/turned off by the exact same sexual acts, and the level of pleasure they get is always exactly the same. Preferences are not individual and never change over time. (Seriously, a woman directs a sex scene between two actresses, the editor is a woman, and all the viewers are women - which one will speak for her entire gender and decide what "female" pleasure looks like? You see how silly this sounds?)

Conclusion

Sex and sexuality can never be over-simplified like that, and fantasies are just harmless fun.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki SSL Store Bonus Drama CD 《Their Youth~ Student Council Helper Episode～》

....Why are people subscribing to me on youtube? like i get that people subscribe for the otome stuff i translate and subtitle (which i only really do so that i can have a copy of it for myself), but i don’t really think that people should be subscribing if they expect more Gokushufudou content since I don’t have anything else that I can or want to translate for that series....

anyway, this is my translation of the 薄桜鬼SSL -sweet school life- いまじんWEBショップ特典ドラマCD「彼らの青春 ～生徒会助っ人編～」 drama. I was only able to obtain the audio for this from a certain site that doesn’t allow for sharing... so I am unable to put anything else out for this... unless someone shares the audio and an image with the cd and their username or w/e on it (alternatively, if it shows up on bilibili or something then i’ll be able to use that), though I will edit it when i make my own subtitles for this. lol. sorry but not sorry?

anyway, enjoy~  image used is from suruga-ya.

Hakuoki SSL Store Bonus Drama CD 《Their Youth~ Student Council Helper Episode～》

Translation by KumoriYami

Yamzaki: The private school, Hakuo Gakuen. The school we attend, based on the school principal, Kondou-sensei's, intentions, we adhere to his educational policy of "becoming warriors with indomitable spirit", not just while learning and when participating in club activities, but while also working harder for the community, or so it should be.... but there are always exceptions to everything in the world.

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Hakuoki SSL Store Bonus Drama CD 《Their Youth~ Student Council Helper Episode～》

 --------

(knocks)

Yamazaki: Excuse me, is Hijikata-sensei here?

Hijilata: Oh? It's Yamazaki. What is it?

 Yamazaki: Sanan-sensei asked me to bring these materials over to you. 

Hijikata: So it was like that. Thanks. By the way, Yamazaki....... Do you have a moment right now? 

Yamazaki. yes. I'm not doing anything right now.

Hijikata: In that case, sorry...... can you go to the student council to do something? Today Amagiri and Shiranui both happened to take the take the day off today, and there apparently is insufficient manpower on hand. 

Yamazaki: The student council.......is it......?

 Hijikata: Uh, the average person would react like that... I've already asked several people before asking you, and as soon as they heard "student council," they immediately ran away.

Yamazaki: I can sympathize with those students. because I am not really good at dealing with the student council president. 

 Hijikata: When it comes to that guy, I believe that if you searched the entire world, that you wouldn't find many people good at dealing with him. Nothing can be done though, I'll go help this time...

Yamazaki: Wha...!? How can Hijikata-sensei personally attend to this matter! In that case, I'll go help the student council!

Hijikata: Can you? To be frank, this is a chore.

Yamazaki: A gentleman's word is his bond!

 Hijikata: Then I'll leave it to you.... But if something goes wrong, you need to immediately report to me. 

Yamazaki: Yes! I'll be going to the student council room now!

(Yamazaki leaves)

Hijikata; Yamazaki is too straightforward... I hope he doesn't overdo it...

(student council room)

Yamazaki: (knocks on door) Excuse me. I'm the second year, Yamazaki. Hijikata-sensei entrusted me to help you.

Kazama: By Hijikata? Che, he's meddling into other people's business/can't mind his own business. He most likely coaxed you into helping, but whatever the case, if you think you can help, I will provide you this opportunity.

 Yamazaki: (Obviously he's in the position of receiving a favour, but why he so overbearing/arrogant?!)

Kazama: Did you say something? 

Yamazaki: I didn't say anything! Returning to the topic/Anyway, what can I help you with?

Kazama: here, put these clothes on first. 

Yamazaki:...What's with this collar and Japanese-style school uniform?! Our school's official uniform is a suit/Western-style clothes. 

Kazama: This uniform is of the same style as Amagiri's uniform. Although it's only temporary, you'll need it to wear this is you are to complete the student council's work [gave up rewording all of this].

Yamazaki: Even so! Modifying the uniform goes against the school rules... 

 Kazama: Hey! As student council president, I am saying that there are no problems! I am the school rules! 

Yamazaki: (How did such a person become the Student Council president?)

 Kazama: Good, now that you understand, hurry up and change clothes in the dressing room, then get to work.

Yamazaki: ( No other choice but to resign myself.... [tl uses an idiom that can mean "submit to hte will of the heavens," "resign (oneself to fate)," or to "leave it to luck"]) Understood!

(door opens)

Hijikata: Oi, Kazama! you there?

Kazama: It turns out it was Hijikata. What brings you here? If you want to leave please turn right and head straight.

Hijikata: Someone just came in, why are you already trying to chase them away! I was just worried about Yamazaki, so I came to check on him. 

Kazama: Yes. Then if you're done, hurry up and leave.

Hijikata: You bastard.... Anyway, where is Yamazaki?! I don't see him...

(door opens)

Yamazaki: Kazama-senpai, excuse me. I've finished changing clothes...

Hijikata:……Yamazaki?!

Kazama: Hrm. As expected, people rely on clothes [clothes do make the man? or clothes bring out a person? can't exactly think of an equivalent right now tho]. Such an appearance is barely passable. 

Hijikata: Wait a moment! What's with that strange uniform?!

Kazama: This is a custom-made uniform made for the student council. Since he's helping the student council, isn't it common sense to dress like this?

Hijikata: What common sense! That clearly violates the school rules... 

 Yamzaki: It's fine, Hijikata-sensei... 

Hijikata: Nn?

Yamazaki: I'll think of this as a a work uniform! Anyway, Kazama-senpai, about the content of that work...

Kazama: Che, don't tell me that you aren't able to do unless you receive orders from me? It's such a waste that you are unable to understand your superior's mind, and require someone to explain everything to you so that you can act. 

Yamazaki:...!!

Hijikata: I'm afraid that if you searched the entire world, the only person who would be able to understand your mind, would be Amagiri?!

Kazama: No choice then. I shall mercifully/gracefully provide instructions to those that are stupid. There will be a meeting to pay for club activities/budget meeting for all of the clubs tomorrow. However, only a handful of reports have been submitted, and what has been isn't sufficient to be used as materials/ a reference to approve of the clubs' expenses. In other words, you should go investigate for me to see if all of the club activities are actually being held. 

Yamazaki: Understood! Which clubs [tl is for "department] do I need to investigate?

Kazama: Needless to say, it's all the clubs within Hakuo Gakuen. The deadline is today.

Hijikata: Don't be so forceful [ridiculous!]!! Have you even thought about how many clubs there are at this school?!

Kazama: Amagiri and Shiranui would complete this within an hour, which this trivial matter cannot be considered a problem. If this can't be done, I won't force it. This only proves to me that you do not have a good eye for talent from the help you recommended to me, Hijikata [gave up rewording after 8 times].

Yamazaki:...I understand. I will certainly be able to investigate all of the clubs today!

Kazama: When the moment comes, don't go back on your word. This is a list of all the clubs at Hakuo Gakuen. 

 Yamazaki: The total number of clubs at Hakuo Gakuen is... 108?!

----------

(footsteps)

 HIjikata: Ah... it's been a while since Yamazaki darted out of the student council room... Is he really okay? I hope he didn't get involved in anything strange...

 Yamazaki: L-Let go of me! I, I hate this sort of thing!! 

Hijikata: Nn? 

 Yamazaki: Even if you say that you can't understand the specifics of this club without personally trying it, I don't want to do this...!!! Let go of me!!!

Hijikata; That voice just now.... Yamazaki? (runs over) Oi! Yamazaki!

---------

(bouncing sound [haven't listened to this drama in a while so this might not be accurate, tho the tl does say bouncing])

???: Ah....... Hijikata-sensei......

Hijikata: Oi! What's with this huge stuffed animal?!

Yamazaki: It's me! Yamazaki!

Hijikata: A-ah..... nn, nn.... I, I can hear your voice..... but, but what I hear doesn't sound like the Yamazaki I recognize...! 

Yamazaki: That's because of this [i think?]! I am the genuine Yamazaki! I'm just wearing this costume! Ah... sorry to trouble you, but can you please help me pull the back zipper down?

 Hijikata: Ye-Yeah...

Yamazaki: Hah... finally escaped from that...!

Hijikata: You... why were you dressed like that?! 

Yamazaki: Because.... when I went to the costume club, their members said they just finished these clothes, and that I had to try it on....

Hijikata:....Those animal overalls are part of a costume?

Yamazaki: No matter what happens, I never want to come back to the costume club!! But... normally I wouldn't have such a chance, and after seeing it with my own eyes, I now know that there are many clubs at our school.

Hijikata: That's because when Kondou-san was thinking about club establishment, he said to respect the individuality of the students. As long as the activities' content and purpose are clearly stated, provided that they aren't bad, and if the number of club members reaches a certain level, any club can be established.

Yamazaki: I think, by using the costume club as an example, there are actually quite a lot of informal clubs... 

Hijikata: It seems that it will be necessary to re-examine those clubs in the future.... Anyway, which club are you going to next?

Yamazaki: The mountaineering club. Judging from the club's name, the content of the activities should be straightforward. To be honest, I feel relieved. 

 Hijikata: No, that club... 

Yamazaki: Then, I'll be going there as fast as I can. I'll be taking my leave first! 

(Yamazaki leaves)

Hijikata: Eh... I remember they were supposed to go climbing today.... Going back to their activities, isn't mountaineering difficult [tl for mountaineering can be interpreted as "climbing," "to climb a mountain," and "mountaineering."]?!

------------------

 Yamazaki: (All sorts of problems kept on occurring after that during the inspection. The drama club was infected with an influenza virus [no idea how else to reword that right now], and all of their members were sick so I was unable to investigate their activities in detail; I wasted time at the kendo club because of Okita-kun's pranks; the mime club didn't speak during their activities, which resulted in even the most basic communication not being achievable... Will it really be possible for me to inspect all of the clubs today?)

-------------

(knocking)

 Hijikata: Oi, Kazama! I'm coming in. 

Kazama: Hijikata. It's really rude for someone to enter without being given my permission. 

Hijikata: Didn't I knock and say greetings in advance? It's almost the end of the school day, is Yamazaki back yet?

 Kazama: Not yet. I thought he was a bit capable, but I apparently underestimated him. 

Hijikata: I believe in him. Although he has a tendency to overdo things and often fails to get the key points, once he makes up his mind, he will surely be able to complete any task.

Kazama: Hrm~ that's the same as someone else/you're two peas in a pod. That being the case, let's bet. 

Hijikata: I'm not interested in betting with students. But if we were betting, I'd bet that Yamazaki will be able to accomplish his task. 

Kazama: Then I will bet that he did everything in vain/will be useless. 

HIjikata: I won't feel sorry for you if you lose. 

Kazama: Hmph. Don't steal my words. Look at the time, the school bell will be ringing soon. 

(Running then a door opens)

 Yamazaki: (gasping) Inspections on the club activities... it's all done.... hah....

Hijikata: That's great! Well done, Yamazaki!

Kazama: Che......

 Yamazaki: Hu..... Thank..... you..... (collapses)

 Hijikata: Oi oi!! Are you okay?! 

 Yamazaki: I..... I'm..... fine......

Kazama: Really, I'm blaming you for messing up all of the materials.... Nn?

Hijikata: What are those documents?

Kazama: They seem to be reports on the club activities.

Hijikata: Ha?! Didn't Yamazaki write the reports for that?!

 Kazama: Nn. These are all...

Hijiikata:....Oi! That can't be....!!

Kazama: It looks like Amagiri wrote yesterday. But he actually tossed them into the piles of documents of here, which resulted in no one knowing that he had written such reports. 

Yamazaki: What.....!!

Hijikata: That......!!

Kazama: Hmph. It looks like I won, Hijikata. All his efforts turned out to be worthless.

Yamazaki: Ho-How is that possible...!!

Hijikata: You're not feeling even the slightest bit guilty, are you even even speaking as a human?! This is all your student council's fault!!

 Kazama: Hmph. Go and complain to Amagiri.

Hijikata: You need to take responsibility for the lack of supervision! Besides, what the hell were you doing when Yamazaki was running around everywhere complete that task?! If you were doing a good job, you should have been able to notice this!! 

Kazama: Of course I'm working. My job is to complete the ambitious project called "Writing down all of My Wife's 100's Strengths/Virtues/Good Qualities"! These forms took me a week to complete and it is a magnificent written masterpiece! 

Hijikata: You bastard... you were doing something this stupid while Yamazaki was struggling!

 Kazama: What are you barking about? What's more important than this?

Yamazaki: I tore it up to show you————!! [im guessing this is more "i pushed myself" or "I'm going to tear that up." probably the latter]

Kazama: Nn? What do you think? Do you want to look at it? Although your efforts were futile, I will mercifully/graciously acknowledge your actions. Alright, I'll lett you look. But you have have to treat it carefully.

Yamazaki: I'm blaming this for what happened—!!! (tears up Kazama's documents)

Kazama: Stop that! My week of hard work! Hi-Hijikata! Why are you grabbing me?!

Hijikata: You reap what you sow! Obediently accept reality!! 

Kazama: My priceless masterpiece———!!!

~END~

got ME:LE working last weekend... and omg it’s like a walk down memory lane lol. finished the first game though im going to have to do an insanity playthrough for the achievement later. 

[legionofpotatoes]

I love your art, it is very detailed in a neat way. Was wondering how you got started making it as a source of income? How did you get your first paid work, I'd love some advice on how to get started, if that's ok

Thank you. Of course it's okay, although I doubt I have enough work experience in art to really delve into this. I only went full freelance this year, and had been juggling art as a side hobby until then. If you're still interested in my somewhat narrow perspective, and are okay with my long-winded rambles, I'll give it a shot:

So to answer your question fully, I'll describe how I started and move into personal advice and learnings later on. As a disclaimer, I am a white cishet dude in my late twenties with a moderate cocktail of mental illnesses, but overall I can pass for a functioning adult so a lot I have to say may come laced with privilege I cannot fully identify.

So uhh I began drawing in around 2012? I think? Maybe halfway through 2011? And I mostly made fanart for things I enjoyed and tried to branch out in communities that felt nourishing to my style and interests (I caught a bug for alt posters and enjoyed mainstream movies so I spent a long time on posterspy early on). There were a handful of opportunities that came from there but I could only accept a couple because of primary workplace commitments. Still, it showed that networking in a focused community was definitely a good place to start; I myself have huge trouble committing to social networks and really staying socially active, but I knew it was an essential ingredient in succeeding so I tried to make myself be involved in challenges and art support trains etc. as much as I could.

In parallel to all that I also ran a few third party online stores (redbubble, teepublic) for disposable income and would sometimes, if rarely, hit around $100-150 a month from those sources combined. It is a sort of thing that requires helper accounts on other social media sites to promote it on, because the stores themselves have a huge volume of content that translates into low organic discoverability. Obviously it was never gonna be the way towards financial independence through art, and with community projects being few and far between, I opened private commissions in around uhhh 2017 I think, focusing on offering a few styles I knew I could do well, and sometimes operating in individual fandoms (it was mostly a bioware thing to be frank). But I had to close them back down after a year or so, again because of work-life conflict and how badly it was burning me out. The reason I kept trying to monetize this hobby is because I honestly hated what I did for my main job and wanted to see a way out in some shape or form in the future.

And then in 2020 I had to quit my main job altogether because of *gestures at pandemic* and deal with a mental breakdown from all the wonderful things it did to us and me specifically. I took a short break and decided to give art a shot full-time, and that was around May this year. I was planning on opening up commissions again (and I still am), but a few sudden opportunities that fell in my lap moved that timetable down and now I'm grateful to even be doing something I am getting adequately paid for.

So, with that somewhat limited perspective, here's what I've learned that I'd tell myself if I was just starting out:

1. Being a fan of something can be a shortcut towards effective networking kickoffs. Which are important evidently. If you love something and enjoy making content for it, join communities, settle into a combination of social media websites that feel right for those interests + your body of work + your inner rhythm, and try to play to content discovery as much as your mental health allows you to. Like I said, I know that I myself am incredibly bad at self-motivating to talk to people, so I found that synergizing common interests into fanart - which I enjoyed making anyway - could be a way to give myself a gentle nudge forward and build those bridges leading to community activities, which then net experience and coverage. Sometimes even freelance projects from official avenues. Again; picking the right spaces for what you're after is key. Companies roam twitter, concept art recruiters scour artstation or linkedin etc, instagram can land you private commissions and collab opportunities, so on and so forth. Find your niche and try to kick up dust. However...

2. I do not believe that any social profile can replace a good portfolio. The thing that made an immediate difference to me this year was building a coherent, simple website with my best work front and center and a contact form on top. Every single opportunity I got came from that form (maybe via twitter or instagram initially, but always sealing the decision after going through the website), so I firmly believe that showcasing your skills and portfolio in a visually arresting and user-friendly way is a big priority. I had some reservations about tackling that task but fortunately I had help from a savvy life partner and we slapped it together via wordpress in less than a day. Twitter/whatever social media is prevalent in your target groups is definitely important to get the right eyes on your shit, yes, but those eyes will then look for a second stop where your work and rates are more clear and concise. Simplicity is key imo, I cannot overstate this. So make a cute, simple portfolio!

3. Your skills and rates will grow and change as you do. Let them. Over the years I built several lasting professional relationships from my obsession over mass effect and kept getting opportunities both from bioware and their partner companies, some small and some a bit bigger. A one-off job earlier this year opened an unexpected door to another much larger commitment, and then the work I did there brought some attention from small businesses looking for commercial commissions. These were all incredibly different projects in terms of scope and budget, and I've been tackling them all on a case-by-case basis and slowly coming into my own irt my needs, rates, and SOW thresholds. It is still a work in progress (and a LOT of literal work as well), and very much a thing I struggle with in publicly marketing, which is why I felt a tad underqualified to answer your question in the first place (obviously I did not let that stop me). But what it means for me now is that I am rapidly developing into whatever my "version" of a functioning freelance artist is, and when the conditions for that guy are met, I need to be able to confidently plant myself and operate from that space despite past precedents. Do not let anyone bully you into downpricing what you yourself perceive as legitimate products of personal growth and development. Speaking of which...

4. The shitty challenge of turning envy into inspiration, and paddling outside your comfort zones in full riot gear. it is hard, but realizing that being a miserable, self-hating artist in my early days got me nothing but more misery back was the first real step I took and what truly blew the hinges off. I was just not pleasant to be around, I would badmouth my work all the time, and it all somehow made sense in my broken mind because the validation I sought was purely external and the way I sought it was through eliciting sympathy via self-victimization (even when I made something objectively nice). It all led fucking nowhere. Except perhaps to my own narcissism that I one day managed to identify and start managing. So I started looking at things that made me seethe with envy and calmly deconstruct and figure out their inner workings instead, do studies, and find nuggets of inspiration or discover new ways to approach rendering or building up specific elements. It was an application of analytical diligence to what I wanted to be a purely emotional, esoteric workflow, but that I deep down knew wasn't. Art is a discipline and a skill, and maybe it isn't a straight line, but you gotta find some line to thread nevertheless. Being self-hating was almost an identity I had to break out of, and despite it still being like, 4-5% there? I realize its cause and effect on me, my work, and those around me, so it is with a conscious choice that I gently set it aside when I work and especially when I learn. It won't always stay quiet, but the effort is the difference. Your doors towards accepting true growth and venturing into uncharted territories, art styles, and networking will really open from there. But there's a huge caveat...

5. Toolsets, accessibility, privilege, and all the good things that enable artistic expression and profitability are not given equal to all. you might do all the mental work I mentioned to be ready to rock and roll and learn and draw your way out of anything, but digital art is a fucking money pit that asks almost too much at times. I don't got a good case study here but identifying and ensuring accessibility to the tools you need to do your best work is, like, super important. The ergonomics can improve as you make money and settle into the job, but the basics have to be made available to you. And some of that might not even be under your direct control. That can be anything from pen tablets to software subscriptions to opportunities in hiring sullied by sexism or what have you. You gotta navigate all that through careful networking and money/time management. I don't do a good job of devoting specific slices of time to work/study, and my primary clutch is iPad software which went from a good deal to a nightmare scenario over the years. So all I can say here is do what I didn't; network, invest in a PC/tablet, and pick a software you'll learn that won't burn a hole in your pocket.

6. Be nice to work with? This one is hard to articulate and has landed my own ass in hot water in my early years because of how socially inept I am, but nothing is more worthwhile than being.. like. a good person to work with. That can be anything like meeting deadlines, or sometimes missing them but eloquently articulating why, being generous in early stages, being communicable and not too wordy in your emails, having a good grasp on abstract artistic concepts and how to describe them in simple terms, having a clear, laid out framework of your working rates in commercial and non-commercial projects and sticking to those guns with grace, understanding when you need to say no and saying it well, the works. Just being nice. Sometimes that might mean going headstrong with something you believe in, or simmering down and sucking up to the big man, all relative and adaptive. Part and parcel of the service provision dance that we all have to do in order to make bank. Know your lines here, obviously, and don't like. work for nazis. or uh.. *shudders* exposure. but be nice and empathetic and communicable and word will travel eventually. Skill may be in abundance these days, but good people are most certainly not, and capitalism has a way of bubbling up scarcity. Grim, but uh, them's the breaks.

I know I'm ultimately telling you to like. Have a body of work, make a portfolio, grow, and network. But that's really how I see it for now. And being nice can be a cherry on top that sets you apart, along with the inherent irreplaceable voice of your artwork. I think I rambled on enough, but if there is something specific you need my help with, even if you want to come off anon and talk in private, please feel free.

[tenebriscollective]

A Response

First, before we do this, we’re going to take the liberty of posting your entire response to our review that we left. However, I do hope you are aware that we could absolutely tell that you didn’t bother reading through the whole thing. As a lot of what you say in this response is already denied in the review you were responding to. For the sake of those who don’t like long posts, however, we will be putting everything beyond this point under a read more.

The link to the site, so that you can read our original review: https://disboard.org/server/213915266554396672

This is The Megane System’s response, in full. Which we will be taking parts of to go through for our response piece by piece. One can’t say we cut context when we provide the full response and the link back to the server page to show the original review, hm?

The response: 

Posting words here instead of talking to me directly like an adult is why I'm not the dangerous one. Really don't care or want anything to do with any of you who value publicly airing dirty laundry as opposed to just talking to me so you can feed your ego feeling like a 'good person'. Sprinkling it with words that sound like understanding mean nothing when you shut down normal communication methods. This kind of cancel culture is emotionally manipulative, predatory and has endangered lives. Life isn't clean and squeaky, neither are you and neither am I. If you can't get your head out your ass long enough to realise this then enjoy your delusions of purity but I assure you everyone you have ever met and ever will meet has had dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery and vile emotions. It's part of life, denying that is denying life. I've never 'defended someone sexualising a little alter in the server' and I'm still baffled where the hell that came from?? Everything else was scraped out of personal DMs and my personal spaces I used to manage my BPD away from public spaces and only where people I thought I could trust could see (obviously I couldn't lol) but that I have zero recollection of I think you guys are just having fun giving me horns and trying to deny me any consideration of changing or improving. Because that's what this thinking does. It labels people permanently as 'BAD PEOPLE', and they can't ever grow beyond that. It makes their lives feel worthless, and they themselves beyond saving, and so they end up repeating the same mistakes, because no one expects anything more from them. I know this because I've always tried to break this in how I run my server. With the belief that anyone can become something better, that anyone who believes anything, holds any views can be helped to grow and function better among others. That's why I allow people with 'bad views' around me. That's why I talk to them, that's why I actually spend time treating people as people and not punching bags like you do. You do not help the problems in the world, you merely cement them, so I will never run my server how you want me to, because it is wrong and I won't cave to a bunch of bullies.

We are going to start off to state first addressing the very start of this. But put simply, Megane System (we will be referring to you collectively, since we have a system member who is also called Reiji, and don’t want people to get mixed up), we were never under any obligation to contact you directly. Framing it as if we’re the dangerous one because we didn’t do that is quite manipulative, and honestly quite ironic. Given you never gave us even a seconds moment to communicate before evicting us out of the server when we were still a staff member. We were trying to communicate, but were simply being ignored. The fact that you try now to weaponize this lack of communication as a method to somehow disprove and dismiss our review is honestly hilarious.

Really don't care or want anything to do with any of you who value publicly airing dirty laundry as opposed to just talking to me so you can feed your ego feeling like a 'good person'.

Airing dirty laundry implies that the accusations we outlined in that review weren’t the degree of seriousness that they were. This is honestly also the worst attempt at downplaying what we said we’ve ever seen, but it does show that you clearly didn’t read our review in its entirety, despite there being parts at the end specifically addressed to you and Alec.

Sprinkling it with words that sound like understanding mean nothing when you shut down normal communication methods. This kind of cancel culture is emotionally manipulative, predatory and has endangered lives.

Again, we were under no obligation to use normal communication methods, especially when normal communication methods in the staff room were completely shut down while you maligned everyone in the staff because we didn’t like that you had returned so suddenly and without warning, and knew that the sudden return would not mean good things for those you hurt, who were, at the time, on the server. And honestly, I think it’s emotionally manipulative that you continuously deflected questions while we were in the server about your drama and tried to frame it as something incredibly small, inconsequential, and petty. 

Life isn't clean and squeaky, neither are you and neither am I.

We and anyone who has ever called you out never claimed to be. You made this assumption because we called out your behavior which crossed lines that should never have been crossed in the first place.

If you can't get your head out your ass long enough to realise this then enjoy your delusions of purity but I assure you everyone you have ever met and ever will meet has had dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery and vile emotions. It's part of life, denying that is denying life.

We are well aware and do not have our head in our ass. But I have never met anyone but you and other awful people who would not only have, but vocalize in detail those thoughts to other people, whether those people were the target of those thoughts or not. I’ve met plenty who write journals irl to get it out, who draw to get it out, or write whump and angst fanfics in order to vent it out in a manner that doesn’t emotionally hurt anyone or suddenly shove those thoughts onto individuals who may not be mentally or emotionally prepared to hear it, even if they have them too or have similarly aligned ones. Again, there was no context that you could ever assign to the screenshot being talked about in this part that would make what you said in anyway ever acceptable, even to those who have intrusive or dark thoughts of violence, disturbing imagery, or vile emotions.

I've never 'defended someone sexualising a little alter in the server' and I'm still baffled where the hell that came from??

We have screenshots and logs that prove the opposite, and I’m sure the person we received them from would not be all that fussed if we asked for them a second time and gave them to either of the blogs that currently have callouts circulating about you. Because you did do this, you may not have recollection of it, but the non-little alters of that system and the one who tried to step in and were stopped by you certainly do.

Everything else was scraped out of personal DMs and my personal spaces I used to manage my BPD away from public spaces and only where people I thought I could trust could see (obviously I couldn't lol) but that I have zero recollection of

And as we stated in our original review, your BPD, your (suspected, but not formally diagnosed) autism, or any other mental illness diagnoses or disorder you may have does not absolve you of the fact that many of the things you did were not okay. Your continued use of “but I have [x mental illness/disability] and was managing it” or “it was personal” will not change our minds on that. We are formally and professionally diagnosed as Autistic, we know  you have attempted to excuse your behavior before by saying you might be autistic yourself. Thereby you were attempting to excuse your shitty behavior with being possibly autistic, and excuse your shitty behavior because you have BPD does not fly. Many of the people with callouts against you or who don’t like you either know someone with, or also have BPD/Autism or whatever other mental illness or disability you’re going to try excusing it with next time.

I think you guys are just having fun giving me horns and trying to deny me any consideration of changing or improving.

Another sign you did not fully read our review, or just plain didn’t believe us due to your own assumptions. As we state in the last part that is specifically addressed to you that we hope you are able to change and improve, that you are able to recognize what you did hurt people and was wrong, and that you rectify and show through your actions that you do that. But downplaying all of this as you are as just drama, or just a facet of “cancel culture”, or whatever other thing that makes it sound less significant does not prove that. And so, as of right now, as we respond to this and surely as you continue with your server and trying to twist things to fit your narrative, you have not shown that you have changed or improved.

Because that's what this thinking does. It labels people permanently as 'BAD PEOPLE', and they can't ever grow beyond that. It makes their lives feel worthless, and they themselves beyond saving, and so they end up repeating the same mistakes, because no one expects anything more from them. I know this because I've always tried to break this in how I run my server. With the belief that anyone can become something better, that anyone who believes anything, holds any views can be helped to grow and function better among others. That's why I allow people with 'bad views' around me. That's why I talk to them, that's why I actually spend time treating people as people and not punching bags like you do.

We don’t treat people like punching bags, no matter their views. We treat people as people, even if we disagree, but if those people do not treat us as people in return, it’s harder to feel empathy when they have consequences slap them in the face. I know you’re referring to our rewritten rules here, and I’m sure you’ve trashed them to make your own again, and stopped cracking down so hard on all the usage of slurs in the server once again. And if cracking down on that and keeping to our word about not allowing those on the server is what you see as treating people not as people, then I don’t know what to tell you. Slurs come inherently from bigotry, no amount of “opposing views” erases that those words come from that. Let alone that there are some views that are simply bigotry dressed up in a political hat.

We did talk to those people, we had debates, and we stepped in when people were getting too heated between each other to be considered a debate. Anyone can become better and improve, anyone can make a change to do so. But you can only do that if you put in the effort, and so far, you haven’t done that. You’re all talk, but you haven’t actually walked the walk.

You do not help the problems in the world, you merely cement them, so I will never run my server how you want me to, because it is wrong and I won't cave to a bunch of bullies.

You mean how we want you to run the server in a way that makes sure it’s not a place that lacks solace and allows bigotry to fester under the guise of different views? Or how we want you to make sure that any system littles currently in that server, if they haven’t left already, are protected so that they aren’t sexualized and that you don’t defend the people sexualizing those littles? Because from how we see it, none of those things particularly make us “bullies” like you claim, they just make us considered a decent person who has proper boundaries on what they will and won’t allow, and someone who’s willing to actually enforce them so that members don’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Anyway, as before, we doubt you’ll read all of this, but if you do, here’s a big notice, right in big big italicized letters:

We won’t be responding again, flail all you want, make a fuss, throw a tantrum that we aren’t going to give you the time of day. Because we honestly don’t care. Because we don’t and never have owed you any of our time.

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Goddamn it Kyra I wasn't even interested in the Lego Lokis before, but now that you've so rudely posted pics of the options I'm probably going to have to buy some. So, couple questions: I'm not familiar with the website you linked to (it doesn't help that I'm on my phone lol) - do you get them from that site or just Aliexpress? I've kind of poked around there but I don't think I've ever actually bought anything - do you have links to those ones you bought or any tips for finding them on the site? (or like. using the site in general without getting scammed or something? Idk much about it other than stuff being low priced lol).

😇😇😇

putting the rest behind a cut because oops this got long

OKAY SO the cool thing about knockoff Lego figures is that a) there are a ton of them, so you can probably find multiple versions of most characters, and b) they're super cheap, so if you do end up getting ripped off, you're probably only out a few bucks. plus if you don't get ripped off, you feel like a genius, because authentic Lego minifigs tend to cost way more than they should (and if you get them online, you probably don't have a good way to know that they're authentic) and here you are getting something just as good or better for way less.

the site I was getting pictures from is HeroBloks, which I only just discovered myself a couple days ago; it looks like mostly it's good for tracking your collection (and learning more about bootleg Lego minifigs in general, maybe--I didn't really realize until now how many different companies there are making Lego-like minifigs) rather than buying, with individual pages including sale links that are only mildly useful. like, the extremely sad TVA Loki has an AliExpress search link that apparently just searches for "blocks," which is the least helpful search term imaginable; the eBay link uses "xinh+xh1745+loki (tva)" as the search term and that's definitely better, although it doesn't actually turn up anything. maybe that one's too new to be widely available yet, I don't know. (I hope that's the case. I need him and his sad little face to come and live with me.)

anyway--eBay is a possible source. searching for "loki minifigure" gets me results for several of the new ones I’ve been seeing, and they all seem to be shipping from Japan or South Korea. the problem is they're all selling for $4.99 plus $7.49 shipping each, which is...more than I want to spend on something I know is a knockoff of some kind when I don't know anything about the quality control and I'm not guaranteed to get what's in the picture. (here's another listing asking $40 total for all 8 figures I bought yesterday, which is actually a better price, and I'd probably end up doing that if I hadn't found them elsewhere, but that's because I have a problem.)

this is why I like AliExpress, because the risks are slightly higher but the prices tend to be much lower, even with shipping prices having gone up a bit over the last couple years. as I understand it, the site is basically just a huge marketplace for tons of different sellers in Asia, like if eBay only allowed fixed-price listings and it was based in China. the vast majority of the site reads like it went through Google Translate, because it probably did. you can find...basically anything there. I have no idea if any of it's authentic. (I also don't know anything about how or where any of the knockoff stuff is made, so...there is that.) I would not, for instance, drop $300 on a Hot Toys Loki from here, even though I absolutely would have the option to do so, for the obvious reason that I'm not going to risk that much money on an item that might be a cheap knockoff or could arrive broken. there is, in general, a solid possibility of breakable things arriving broken, because decent packaging costs more. cheap shipping will be slow (by which I mean like...up to 90 days), and most purchases either won't have tracking at all or won't have accurate tracking, so this is absolutely not a place to buy anything you want to get quickly. you also don't want to just buy something and forget about it, because there are (variable but generous) time limits past which you can't get a refund if you don't receive your items. the site's UI is...mostly functional. you often have to get a little creative with your search terms to find what you want (and sometimes you won’t find what you want through searching, but through looking at related items on the pages of things that aren’t quite what you want or are what you want but aren’t a good price). you will, absolutely, come across a lot of stolen art on things like pins, t-shirts, stickers, and phone cases, which you might not realize until you see something you recognize from a fanartist you like, and obviously that sucks. listing photos are nearly always stock photos, so in many cases they won't tell you anything about the item you're actually getting. you know the Wish app, and all the crazy things people get from that? you can find all the same stuff on AliExpress, at similar levels of quality.

however, if you approach it keeping all that in mind, it can be a great resource. I can't make any guarantees about the site's safety, but to the best of my knowledge it's secure and I've never had any weird charges show up after buying something. it's also my understanding that Alibaba, the parent company, is more or less the Chinese equivalent of Amazon in terms of the amount of business it does, which would probably be pretty tough if customer data were routinely being exposed to thieves, you know? I've also successfully gotten several refunds for items that never arrived, which actually hasn't happened all that often--but knowing that it can happen and that the return period expires, I’ll check back on the site if it seems like it’s been an unusually long time and I’ll make a reminder for myself of the deadline so I can contact the seller in time if necessary.

so the way I shop there is, I don't buy expensive or fragile things in general, because I recognize there's a nonzero chance I'll get a cheap knockoff, or something that was broken in transit because the seller tossed it in a box with no padding and called it good, or sometimes nothing at all. but like eBay, the sellers and items have ratings and reviews from customers, so that helps avoid some risk. items with lots of reviews tend to include at least a few customer photos, which are great for getting a better idea of what the thing you're buying actually looks like. I took a bit of a risk last year buying a Hot Toys (or the equivalent, I actually have no idea) Steve Rogers head for about $20, for instance, but I wasn't super worried about it because the customer photos looked good, the seller I used had a lot of sales and a lot of good ratings, and it was still a lot less than I would've paid for an authentic Hot Toys Steve Rogers head--and in fact he got here just fine and he looked fantastic. I also spent about $20 for a knockoff Iron Studios Loki statue, because in that case it was like...yep I’d love the real thing, nope I’m not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on it, yep I am willing to spend $20 on something that doesn’t look quite as nice but still looks good enough for me in the customer photos. well, and I’ve also bought knockoffs I knew would look bad, because they were cheap and I want all the Lokis and I have enough of an addiction that all the Lokis does in fact sometimes mean “even ones that look really bad” to me.

anyway, uh, Lego-type minifigs. this is an especially good area to go knockoff, because--okay, apparently I can’t link to a page of HeroBloks search results for some reason, but it’s the best resource I’ve found for this type of thing that isn’t just authentic Lego figures. but if you go there and do a search for “loki” you’ll get a bunch of results and you’ll see that they come from like...9 or 10 different brands. Lego specifically has only four Loki options: Avengers Loki in black, Avengers Loki in gray for some reason (which, frankly, looks like a cheap knockoff but isn’t), movie-inaccurate Ragnarok Loki with the blue outfit and the full helmet, an ugly Classic Loki, and a mostly green Loki from I guess the first Thor movie (and then I think they’re going to release a TVA Loki, a Sylvie, and a Throg). all those other results--all those different outfits from every single Loki appearance, and different variations on those outfits, nearly all of them more screen-accurate and/or detailed than the Lego versions--are technically knockoffs. they’re better and you can buy them for way less. (I mean, a lot of them are new so I don’t have them yet, but I do have frost giant Loki, better Ragnarok Loki, better Avengers Loki, opera Loki who actually has another face that’s half-Jotun, and at least one chrome-helmet option, and they all look basically like the photos. so I think I can reasonably expect most of the new ones to look basically like their photos too.) 

for reasons that I don’t understand aside from a vague guess that it’s copyright-related, AliExpress pretty much no longer shows full pictures of Lego-type figures in their listings--instead, you have to pick just based on the heads. this is a problem when lots of heads look very similar to each other! luckily, the listings also typically have the actual serial numbers for each figure, as do the HeroBloks listings, so you can cross-reference them to see what you’re really getting. for instance let’s take this listing because it’s cheap and it offers most of the Loki figures that are currently available. say you’re interested in one of the horn-less Lokis. there are...let’s see, five of them, but you have no idea what they actually look like aside from slightly different facial expressions and maybe weapons. however, the first one listed says XH1359 for its color...and what do you know, 1359 is the serial number for this Loki by a company called Xinh. okay cool, how about the last one? the “color” is listed as WM2182--and yes, HeroBloks has a listing for a Ragnarok Loki from World Minifigures with the serial number 2182. (I just ordered all 8 of the new World Minifigures ones yesterday, so again, I can’t personally guarantee yet that they’ll look as good in person as in the pictures--but I think they probably will, and more importantly they cost a whole dollar each.) and if HeroBloks doesn’t have a particular figure, you can probably find something useful just by googling the serial number.

I specifically bought from this listing yesterday because they currently have a bit of a sale going and a deal for free shipping if you buy 10 figures, and I wanted a couple duplicates, so it worked out to be the cheapest option. the same store has another listing for a bunch more Marvel characters, including a couple more Lokis I already had, so it should be pretty easy to get the free shipping so the figures are less than a dollar each and you’re only risking about $10. if you’d rather try one or two and see how it goes, it looks like this listing is probably the cheapest, with figures currently going for a little over a dollar each once you add shipping (although it’s totally possible shipping is more for me because Alaska).

that’s...probably already way more information than you really wanted, but I hope at least some of it makes sense. feel free to ask other specific questions if they come up--I might not be able to give answers exactly, but I can probably tell you what my experience has been, which is better than nothing.

[amphtaminedreams]

Paris Haute Couture Week S/S 2020 Plus a Little Jacquemus: Okay, Dior DID Suck (Part 2/2)

Hi to anyone reading,

First of all, thank you! I have never had a post do as well as the part 1 of my haute couture week review did and I am so overwhelmed with the positive feedback. This is probably funny to read for those of you getting thousands of reblogs on your posts, me acting like I won an academy award because I got a couple of hundred, but honestly I don’t expect any traction when I write on here (it’s basically just me word vomiting everything I’m thinking as if people want to hear it aka. mouthing off into what I thought was the void) so if you did read it, thank you! I do spend a long-ass time on these so it means a lot:-)

I’ll leave the self-indulgent ramble there though as it’s probably not what you came for and jump straight into part 2 of my thoughts, starting with Jacquemus. Yeah, I knew what I was doing when I tagged that in my last post. Simon Porte Jacquemus is the man of the *fashion* people right now; I’ve even found myself coming round to the Le Chiquito bag despite my original thought being “well, that’s fucking useless”. I know, I know, technically it’s not haute couture; it was part of Men’s Fashion Week, but it happened around the same time and everyone was talking about it on Twitter, so I feel like I have to include it.

In a way, it kind of reminds me of Bottega Veneta’s last RTW show, in that, especially with the women’s outfits, we seem to be sticking with simple, fitted garments and chunky, more statement jewellery. I’ve got to say I like the styling here a lot more though, and in general I’m a fan of this collection. The collared tops with cut outs underneath blazers are cool and I can’t wait until it gets warm enough for me to not feel dumb wearing my headscarfs like this; there’s a LOT of summer outfit inspiration. It’s not a mind-blowing collection or anything but it is effortlessly sexy and that’s something I wish I could say about myself. Most of us can only hope to look half as good as these models do whilst making the effort but at least Jacquemus is aspirational, lol. 

I also fucking adore this colour palette. I’m sick of neutrals literally just meaning brown and white; the navy, sand and muted khaki is a fresh edition to what is usually interpreted as the colours you’d seen worn by Disney’s Riverboat Cruise staff and only Disney’s Riverboat Cruise staff. And I mean, come on-what is more neutral than typical English school carpet blue.

Next for the whole reason I had to make this haute couture week review 2 separate posts: Jean Paul Gaultier’s final show.

In the best way possible, it’s a lot. I don’t even really know where to start, except to say that I guess this is a fitting last show; a celebration of everything campy, messy, weird, performative, and punk is the perfect send off for a brand whose best known perfume of the last few years is called Scandal. More than anything, the final show represented the range of characters and cultures that have influenced JPG throughout his half-a-decade-long career, the lines that supposedly separate what is “masculine” and “feminine”, “old” and “young” and ultimately art and fashion blurred in the most exaggerated way possible. Sure, there are some looks which are individually a bit messy here but the way they were grouped into almost chapter-like segments meant that when you see them all together, they work. Nods to the patterns and structures that recurred from season to season were sprinkled throughout, from sailor stripes to corsets to the expected whirlwinds of colour. I’ll even allow the wellies in that one outfit; if I can get over bucket hats in Peter fucking Pilotto’s last RTW show, I can get over some questionable shoes here. Middle aged fishermen and boys who liked to pose with monster carp in their Tinder pictures as some weird display of masculinity everywhere rejoice.

Now onto a show that I personally found slightly disappointing: Margiela.

I think this one is a bit TOO weird for me. Like if you’re gonna go avant-garde, go all out. Chiffon gimp masks (I don’t know if that’s the intention here but that’s what I’m getting, sorry Maison) are something I’m not particularly fond of and I’ve never been a fan of the Tabi boots in the first place, let alone when they’ve seemingly been blown up to Michelin man style proportions. I didn’t find the show to be a total lost cause-I enjoyed the colour palette and I’ve always liked that contrast stitching detail, plus the bowler hats are interesting-but on the whole considering how much I liked the last RTW show, this is a bit of a let down. 

The looks I included are salvageable but (I feel mean saying this) there were genuinely a lot of pieces that did just resemble bits of fabric draped over each over with no discernible rhyme or reason, so much so that they reminded me of some of the monstrosities I saw at a Drag Race pub quiz this one time where we had 5 mins to make some garms out of loo roll and then have a team member model them for points down a makeshift runway. 

Ralph and Russo was alright. There were a few pieces that I really liked but again, I can’t help but compare this collection to the last, where it felt like the fussy details of bows and sequins and feathers and the Barbie Dreamhouse palette were utilised with a direction in mind. Here, I don’t get that. As ever, the gowns are gorgeous and I’d pay good money just to try one on for five minutes but as an overall collection I’d say there was a lack of higher vision, which is probably the snobbiest sentence I’ve ever written so forgive me.

As for Ronald Van Der Kemp, I could’ve done without including it to be honest, if it weren’t for the few pieces I’m in love with: the velvet cape, fur trimmed jacket and blue satin dress are probably my favourite pieces here.

So onto a collection I liked a lot more: Schiaparelli. 

The influence of nature from flowers in bloom to insects to the organic structure of the human skeleton is as present as ever, though this collection includes a lot more delicate symbolism than usual. Honestly, the details make it for me; the brooches, earrings and facial jewellery are other-worldly touches to outfits that could otherwise be simple fashion magazine editor on-the-go. That’s not in itself a bad thing! The suits are gorgeous. I mean, I’m talking fashion editor in New York in a power suit yelling orders down the phone while she rushes along with a coffee. A Miranda Priestley in the making type woman. THAT’S a modern take on the divine feminine that Maria Grazia should’ve been going for; our goddesses aren’t women who sit around looking pretty (though that helps too) and place curses on mere mortals anymore, they’re women who get shit done. 

With regards to Valentino, which was also a delight, let me start by saying this colour palette is EVERYTHING. It’s ugly sisters in Cinderella fantastic, and we know those 2 were the real fashion icons really. Other than that, I adore the Old Hollywood silhouettes from the gloves to the Liz Taylor-in-Cleopatra-level-dramatic earrings. Everything is opulent and expensive-looking and pretty much what we’ve all come to expect from Valentino. A strong 8/10.

For me personally, Viktor and Rolf was a standout and one of my favourite collections of haute couture week. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and I know it’s at the complete opposite end of the spectrum to what was probably my other favourite collection, Elie Saab, but this is just my style down to a T, the perfect balance of grungy and cutesy that I want to achieve. 

There’s probably going to be a lot of objections to the temporary face tattoos and I get that, but I think they’re fucking sick. I obviously wouldn’t get a permanent one lest my mother murder me in cold blood however if I did, you bet I would be pairing them with frilly-ass babydoll dresses that you could pick up in Camden Market like this. 

And last but not least (that would be Dior), there’s Zuhair Murad.

Sigh.

IDK, man. Seeing Zuhair Murad dresses on Tumblr and WeHeartIt (remember that site? It still exists!) as a 14 year old was one of the things that got me into fashion, so it sucks that almost every time a new collection comes around, I feel underwhelmed. Disappointingly, the brand hasn’t really progressed all that much since 2013. It goes without saying that the stoning and the embroidery and sequins are stunning and would make anyone feel like a princess but from a critical point of view, I’m just not seeing anything new here. Whereas I feel like Elie Saab, for example, reflected the growing fascination with East Asian fashion and recognition of the supremacy of the region’s street style in his haute couture last collection, Zuhair Murad seems to be stuck designing the same dresses he was 6 years ago. 

To pick one example, the rounded stoned necklines are so outdated that they’ve been making their way onto department store prom dresses for years. I get that it’s supposed to be a reference to Ancient Egyptian style and I respect that, I was one of those 8 year old that was obsessed with mummies and the “Curse of Tutankhamun”, but couldn’t it be done in a more interesting way? It’s Maria Grazia’s spin on Ancient Greece all over again. Now I get how how the I imagine very niche subsection of people who are into fashion and Julius Caesar (okay, so I don’t even know if they still believed in mythology and all that malarky at that point in history but just roll with my comparison here) might’ve felt going through Vogue Runway. Anyway, I hate to end on a critical note and so be clear, these are still absolutely magnificent dresses. If we ignore those ugly round necklines, that is.

So that’s it for this post! If you read part 1 and 2, I hope you enjoyed it! As always, let me know your opinions and feel free to disagree. I’m literally just about to start trawling through all the A/W 2020 RTW collections though I imagine that’s gonna take me way longer to do than this, so I wouldn’t expect that for a month or two. In the meantime, I’m trying to fit shooting a Euphoria-inspired lookbook into my days off work which is looking atm like it’s going to be the end of March, so look out for that, and also a review of the red carpet fashion from this season’s award shows. 

As ever, thank you so much for reading and again, thank you for the reception on part 1 if you were one of the people that read it. It makes staying up til 3am with the jitters seem worthwhile, lol! 

Lauren x

[mobius-prime]

254. Sonic the Hedgehog #185

Mogul Rising (Part One: Needful Things)

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Josh Ray

Mina is finally back from her world tour, having returned to New Mobotropolis rather than Knothole for obvious reasons. Sonic meets her at the airstrip to welcome her and Ash back, and she informs Sonic that she and Ash have discussed some important things while they were away. Ash reluctantly but sincerely apologizes to Sonic for his jealous behavior in the past, saying that it came from a place of truly caring for Mina and worrying about Sonic's influence in her life, and Sonic likewise apologizes for being an insensitive jerk at times. Back on good terms, Ash leaves to go check things out in the city, while Mina insists Sonic accompany her to the site of Knothole's ruins so she can see it with her own eyes. 

Mina is happy, to see Freedom HQ still standing, though currently in the process of being rebuilt due to the damage Eggman's attack caused. Sonic reassures her that there's still a room for her and Ash to stay in if they want despite not being Freedom Fighters, and they enter, greeting Mighty and Tails, who are helping to fix up the roof of the main room. Sonic and Mina enter the lab to find Nicole on screen, calling Sonic back to New Mobotropolis, as apparently, Mammoth Mogul wants to meet with him in the prison. Sonic reluctantly heads back to speak with him, and Mogul wastes no time in arrogantly demanding that Sonic surrender to him, as he claims they find themselves in a "stalemate." Obviously, Sonic finds the idea laughable, as Mogul is currently contained within a cell that blocks all his magical and psychic powers.

I mean, Mogul, can you really blame him for not taking you seriously? The vast majority of people are not gonna find any threats very convincing when they're made from within a cell. That night, Nack irritably talks about how annoying he finds Sonic's attitude, and when Mogul says he's about to be vicariously vindicated then Nack reminds him that Sonic is right and none of them are really about to go anywhere. Mogul simply informs Nack that he's had the foresight to make plans for exactly a situation such as this years in advance, and "marked" several individuals so they can be contacted by his psychic powers even from behind his cell walls. I'm… not sure how that would really work given that the walls are supposed to block all psychic abilities, but sure, whatever! First, he calls out to Mina, reminding her of a memory he erased from her a year ago - that when she was running for her life in Eggman's retaking of Robotropolis, he had projected a vision of himself to give her her powers of speed before removing that part of her memory to create an effective sleeper agent. She "lost her way" when she only used her powers to try to grow closer to Sonic, but now he's finally ready to use her for his own purposes. Second, he calls out to Mighty. We already know a bit of his past, like being imprisoned in the slave labor camp when he was a child, but now we get a little more insight into his backstory and how he ended up alone without his family in the first place.

Well, how fascinating! Somewhere out there, it seems Mighty has a sister, as well as criminal parents locked up in a jail. This is important information, as it comes into play in some plotlines later on. Finally, we have none other than Tails, whom he of course marked when he was holding him prisoner as Turbo Tails while the sentient duplicate took his place. The three individuals wake up, brainwashed and with green diamonds on their foreheads to symbolize their mental enslavement, and simultaneously head for Sonic's room - hey, good thing for Mogul that his three marked subjects and his target are all sleeping in the same general area, right?

The three brainwashed friends tell Sonic as one, in Mogul's voice, that he was warned, leaving Sonic to face off against them and try to find a way to bring them all back without hurting them…

Misfit Badniks: The Salty, Soggy Sequel

Writer: Mike Gallagher Pencils: Dave Manak Colors: Aimee Ray 

Welp, we've finally reached Michael Gallagher's final story in the comic! Obviously he hasn't been head writer for many years now, but unlike other former head writers, he's come back every once in a while to contribute a story here and there, presumably just for old times' sake. However, this is his final story - after this, we won't be seeing any more of him. While his silly style isn't much to my taste, and I've definitely had certain problems with his writing, overall he did guide the comic through its earliest years and was the driving influence behind how the preboot's story, world, and characters started out, and I think he deserves a fair bit of respect from that alone. So with that, let's read Michael's final story and say our goodbyes!

So if you'll remember from his penultimate story, the Island of Misfit Badniks has been deliberately sunk to the bottom of the sea so that the badniks and Pseudo-Sonic could continue their evil plans undisturbed. We find out that apparently, Pseudo-Sonic was equipped with a switch that would allow him to grow to an enormous size, so the other badniks flipped it and allowed him to grow outside their submerged island, before getting to work repairing him so he would be operational again. Personally, I think it would be a much better plan to repair him before making him bigger, so you would have to use far fewer materials in the repair process… Anyway, I'm sure you already have an inkling, given the setting, of who's about to come along to save the day. It's the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters, of course, ready to murder some more sentient beings, because that's what they do! Several of the badniks charge in to fight them, while the others retreat to speed along their repairs on Pseudo-Sonic so he can defeat the F.F.F.F. properly.

After a bit of fighting, all combatants find themselves being smacked aside by a giant metal-gloved hand, and the gigantic Pseudo-Sonic arrogantly claims that as the biggest thing on the planet, he declares war on all of Mobius! Unfortunately, he's forgotten that there's one last member of the F.F.F.F. that still has yet to show up…

Beautiful. Fluke orders his friends to sweep all the badniks into a pile while he rips the head off of Pseudo-Sonic's metallic corpse for no reason, because really, I cannot overstate enough how bizarrely bloodthirsty these guys are. He then uses his tail to compress Pseudo-Sonic, the badniks, and the artificial island into a single, small cube of metal that can be easily disposed of. With that, the F.F.F.F. make a few last water-related puns, and the story is over. Goodbye, Michael - we've had some good times, and we'll miss your silly style!

[evoqliving19]

Free Move Apartment Locating Companies - Know the Truth!

55+ apartments johns creek

Many of us are attracted to the term "free", as well as the proven fact that we have been getting something absolutely free. There are many legitimate free offerings available to consumers inside a wide selection of settings. For example, Apartment Locators truly offer a valuable want to all renters that are looking for a flat, and also the services are free on the renter, saving them a lot of time driving around visiting a large number of properties, and intensely probably passing up on the best deals and also the best apartments.

55+ living johns creek

However, there's also many companies who use the word "free" to entice customers, and then they might actually provide you with the service or product that they can initially promised. They get past this deception by writing countless loopholes in to the fine print of these advertisement that they can always excuse the absence of delivery. So caution is obviously as a way when you find yourself trusting service repair shop who plans to give you something important for free.

Moving is a very stressful here we are at many. Often you can find deadlines to get from your current apartment by a certain time. You can find what to sort and boxes to pack it, also to pack carefully in order to avoid anything from being broken. Then there is the careful loading and also the careful unloading and also the unpacking and placing and sorting. You need to allow time and energy to clean the previous apartment before you submit the keys, and you've got to make sure you happen to be stopping by the new apartment during business hours to help you receive the keys to your brand-new home. You've utilities to disconnect and new utilities for connecting. A whole lot is taking place at once, high always is the concern that you might have forgotten something important. You already arranged your schedule to offer the day free for moving. You have all your affairs so as, so you are just looking forward to the movers to come. The LAST thing that you'll require is really a glitch over some small detail in terms and conditions that causes your moving company never to arrive and deliver that "free" move which you were depending on and getting yourself ready.

That is just what became of a buddy of mine very recently. She used some of those apartment locating companies from the Dallas, TX area that supposedly offered a "free" move. I wont mention names here, but it's a common company. Anyway, she gets home from work and it has all of her items packed capable to go. It is a Friday evening, and he or she has had the move scheduled using the movers for weeks. She has to become Away from her apartment by midnight THAT night. They may be suppose in the future at 7:00 pm, so there is a little a period crunch but that's the sole time the movers had available. They finally arrive, take a look at her small 1 bedroom apartment and tell her "The free move only covers 2 hours price of free moving. It appears as though you've more items than we are able to move around in 2 hours" (fine print), and so they leave!!!! My buddy is panicking. Jane is one particular lady who lives through herself and it has to become from her apartment in just a few hours. If she resides in a small 1 bedroom and had too many items so they can move, it can make me wonder just who they COULD move?? Anyway, my good friend calls me at 8:00 desperate and crying. I rally up our other friends and that we manage to find a U Haul place that's still open and rent a truck. All of us go over and move her that very same evening. She got out of her apartment in time, and she got a free move alright, nevertheless it wasn't from the company who promised her the move. She did everything she was suppose to do, wrote their name for the Leasing Application because Locating Company who referred her on the new apartments, plus they GOT Taken care of THE REFERRAL, yet they didn't provide you with the move that they can promised.

Apparently a number of these "free move" companies have small print that limits just how long they are going to offer you to the move. And just what happens in the event the move goes wrong with go over that point. Can they just leave? Evidently. Or, when they look over your items and feel the job will take beyond the allowed time, they could not START the move. One more thing to watch out for within the small print....not merely may there be limits to the time they will allow, but they often limit like items and the amount of items they'll move. For instance, when you have a 1 bedroom, they often have a very specific report on the only real items they are going to move. For example: 1 couch, 1 table, one dinning table, 4 dining chairs, a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, 2 lamps, a few boxes (they frequently will still only accept move a small amount of boxes) and a lot of times that is certainly it!! In case you have a couple bedroom, they may increase the list with the help of another bed and dresser. But what if however, you have an item that's not on the list.....like a desk, or possibly a curio cabinet, or even a piano, or perhaps an aquarium, or a dresser or an extra table or a loveseat, or a recliner, or even a number of boxes compared to they allow? Don't be surprised whenever they leave all items behind that aren't on the restrictive list, and you really are just stuck determining how to deal with them yourself. If it is enough items, or things that are just right, you might end up needing to rent a truck or UHaul anyway, or call friends who are able to come help you.

Another friend recently told me that something similar became of him that happened to my first friend. He was using one of people apartment locating firms that provide a "free" move. He said they were calling him daily when he was ready for the apartment, trying difficult to convince him to maneuver into one of the few places that they recommended. Each day they called to find out if he picked a place yet if he placed their name about the Leasing Using any apartments yet. Finally he did choose a place, anf the husband did put there name there because Locator who referred him. And then, a fascinating thing happened. He could never get ahold of anyone in the apartment locating company again! Once they found he picked a spot and wrote them down (their check was guaranteed), they never called him after that. They would not return his calls anf the husband couldn't discover a real live human from the company to talk with as a way to schedule his free move. He finished up the need to hire another mover in the long run. The "free" move locating company got paid their cash and they never delivered the disposable move.

How would be the "free move" locating companies not the same as all the other Apartment Locating Companies? Well, there are several definite differences that you should know about. First of all, let's establish the fact that most Apartment Locating companies do not need to give you a "free move" to entice customers. Many experts have shown their superb customer satisfaction along with the expertise they offer will save you the average renter $500-$700.....which is considerably more valuable as opposed to price of a couple hour move. Plus, they truly be useful for finding the top and quite a few awesome apartment home. Another clear difference is that this: Not all of the apartment communities out there work with the "free move" locating companies. In fact, some of them won't. This is because of a combination of reasons.

For one, some "free move" companies do not have the most effective reputation. Secondly, many of the apartments tend not to believe that they actually earned the commission that they are wanting the apartments to spend them. Among those free move companies just have an online site where you sign on and check on your own. They only will show you information on the small selection of of properties which will actually work using them and pay them back. Once you look for a place, you go online again on the website and inform them which you picked and therefore the computer is suppose to schedule the move. Not every nokia's are similar, however this is the process for some. A true human isn't even actively involved in assisting you using your search in many cases. Many of the apartments believe just putting a website online alone does not merit earning a commission. Now you may have an online prescence. The truth is, the apartments already have their own website. While there is no problem using a Locating Company creating a website (in fact, every one of them do), the challenge arises if the locator ONLY communicates through the website and therefore are predominantly a dot.com business.

The apartment complexes don't wish to pay a dot.com for establishing a website and then only delivering what you promises the main time. They would like to pay Apartment Locators that have a brick and mortar office, who've actual live Agents who work there and who deal one-on-one together with the potential renters, assisting them to find their new rental home with customized, individual lists of apartment information. Often times these Locators even escort their customers to the properties. In the event the client carries a unique situation, the Locator can identify them which properties are in all likelihood to be effective their their own circumstances. They know who may have the very best specials on the market, or who may have the particular amenities how the renter is seeking. The renter can actually call their Locator and meet with them and get questions and create a working relationship.

What is the disadvantage for you personally, the objective renter, when they are not all of the apartments works using the "move free" locating companies? The situation arises in that the "move free" information mill only planning to recommend for you the particular apartments that occur to utilize them. Which means that you may not find out about the property that's actually the the one which matches precisely what you would like and possesses the top special. They are going to only display information for the properties who covers the cost them. Once you make use of a traditional Apartment Locator who works with All of the properties within the City, you can depend on that you will be receiving the whole picture and can honestly be known about every one of the properties that have the most effective specials. This is the distinct advantage that real local Apartment Locators have on the so-called "free move" locators. Most traditional Apartment Locators work with All the reputable apartment and townhome communities. No matter to them what one you pick in the end as long as you are satisfied, because These pays the Locator and assist the Agent. They have no need to try to steer that you one particular property over another. Their job is usually to recommend who has the best selection and appears to be the best match for you.

[ravenbloodau]

The Voyages of Ker'Tak and Skye Episode 4: Peace Gone Wrong

"Ker'Tak, can you pass me the that injector?" Skye asked as she worked to treat the Captain.

"Here," Ker'Tak was quickly handing her things as they tried to treat another crewmate of theirs.

The Kirins didn't see the couple sent to their planets as a sign of peace. Unfortunately, Mekt'Ta didn't take Ker'Tak's advice to send Sek'Fa.

"Ker'Tak, your normal resting pulse is 230 beats per minute?" Skye sounded worried now.

"Yes, why? What's going on? James is stable," Ker'Tak had James all taken care of for the time being.

"Heart rate's below average, trouble breathing, there's a large area of irritation, like they shot them with a phaser," Skye started hooking Mekt'Ta up to a breathing mask and worked to scan the irritated site.

Ker'Tak couldn't move past Skye, but they could look over her, and they saw the charred bruising of a phaser.

The ship shook for a moment and the alarm started blaring. The comm buzzed in a panic.

"Skye, go, take care of those injuried on the bridge," Ker'Tak took over, "I'll take care of the Captain."

"Alright, gotta hurry," Skye ran out carrying her bag of supplies. Mekt'Ta's breathing stabilized as the ship shook a second time.

"Godspeed," Ker'Tak muttered as they worked to lift some of the char off the Captain's chest.

The Captain's heartrate stabilized around 203 bpm. Not ideal, but better than under 150.

The alarms ceased and it got eerily quiet upon the ship. Mekt'Ta was stable for the time being, so Ker'Tak stepped back and waiting close to the door.

Skye opened the door, carrying Fekt'Ma around her shoulders. That, and a human child laid in her arms. Bloodied.

"Help," Ker'Tak didn't need to hear more, moving to get both the child and Fekt'Ma onto bed and begin treatment. They had to call in a couple other medics for the time being, so that they could work to stabilize the two.

"Bullet in their lung, they need immediate surgery," Hiashi started, prepping Fekt'Ma for said surgery.

Skye watched over Human James and Captain Mekt'Ta for the time being as Ker'Tak handled the child's injuries. They were crying a lot, so Ker'Tak also worked to distract them with their horns. The crying was a bit more controlled, but still consistent. The child would be ok, a couple of stitches along their forearm, and some tylenol later and they'd sleep for the day.

"Mekt'Ta isn't looking too hot, Ker'Tak. Has Viya been informed of her role?" Skye inquired not half an hour later.

Fekt'Ma had come out of surgery and was recovering well..Surprisingly well.

"I don't know," Ker'Tak admitted, "With all that has occured over today, I've been swept up in the work."

Skye nodded, "That's alright, I'll head to the bridge to see if she knows. Do you want me to grab anything while I'm out and about?"

Ker'Tak paused for a moment, staring at Skye. Their mind went blank for a moment. If they needed to, they could grab what they needed and be back in a few minutes, why would she offer to go? It would be awhile before she'd be back anyway.

"N-No, thank you Skye," Ker'Tak mumbled halfheartedly turning away.

"Alrighty, well, yell if you need anything," Skye seemed worried about Ker'Tak. In all honesty, they seemed exhausted, overrun already, even after their extended break the day before.

It would be hours before they had anything interesting happen.

Skye left, and her voice rang in Ker'Tak's ears. They were bothered by this whole thing. Mekt'Ta was pulling through, and the other three injured patients were going to be fine.

Human Skye, as a representative of her species, was much more surprising than anyone had predicted. The level of individuality between humans, given their limited genetic pool, was an unsettling precedent for other similar species.

Kirin were no exception to this unsettling development. Both species were *predatory* in nature, while most other species within the High Council of Planets were originally prey species.

Mekt'Ta stirred as Human Gia, Skye's twin sister, entered the Medbay. Ker'Tak looked over as Gia slowed down suspiciously.

"Is the Captain alright?" Gia asked, shakily rooting around in Skye's station.

"Mekt'Ta will recover, yes, what are you looking for?" Ker'Tak was on edge, the soft red glow from their growing horns ebbing into sight.

"She was asking for her notepad, no one else has been hurt that she can find, but something's eating at her," Gia mumbled half-heartedly, "Said something about Kirin physiology being off-put by Si'Nian nodes."

Ker'Tak looked over as Gia found the notepad.

"Kirin physiology, being off-put by-???" It clicked. It was possible that the nodes that made it possible for Si'Nians to telepathically communicate agitated the Kirin, generating hostility that allowed the attack.

"Ker'Tak?" Skye walked back into the Medbay as Gia turned to leave. Both were surprised to see her all bogged down already.

"Human Skye? Your theory, how do you plan to test how Si'Nian nodes affect Kirin physiology?" Ker'Tak took interest in their co-worker's theory.

"Oh! Gia told you, did she? Well, the plan is instead of sending the Captain back, I'll send *you* down. Your nodes are still growing in, *however* they may be in too early a stage to agitate the Kirin's sensitivity to those electric frequencies," Skye explained as she stole away her notepad from Gia.

"How do you feel about heading down there?"

"Why bother asking sis?" Gia cut in, half annoyed, "They attacked-"

"They were in *pain* Gia, it's a natural response to being overstimulated to be agitated, hostile, even, to anything and everything around," Skye cut her off, "Ker'tak, would you be ok with heading down? If you're still shaken by yesterday, I completely understand and I can find someone else."

Ker'Tak blinked. They had forgotten about yesterday for the most part, more focused on the here and now of it all.

"I'm..I'm willing to do anything it takes to ensure this treaty is signed and agreed upon," Ker'Tak affirmed his promise, recalling his *oath* to the High Council of Planets.

"But are you prepared for the ramifications if something goes wrong?" Skye shot back. Ker'Tak blinked, the red glow faded away.

"Only if you or Gia accompany me down, *yes.*"

Skye nodded as her sister quickly made her way out.

"Well, lucky us, you're one of the youngest here on ship and I've just applied to head down and it's been approved," Skye smiled as Ketti walked in and took over the monitoring of Mekt'Ta and the other patients.

Ker'Tak started on their way out, walking beside Skye toward the transporter, quietly. Quickly.

"No breifing? Sir nothing?" Warren asked as Ker'Tak stood on the transporter, "Are you sure?"

"Time is of the essence, is it not?" Skye countered rapidly, "We were briefed on our way down, Warren."

"Skye, you needn't be harsh," Ker'Tak chided the human, now reminded of her brash nature, "But we were briefed on this issue. Now, beam us down, Warren."

"Sure thing sir," Warren beamed Ker'Tak and Skye down.

Immediately they were met with weapons pointed at them. The Kirin hadn't calmed down yet.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold up! We're not here to cause harm!" Skye immediately began trying to talk them down.

They lowered their weapons, unsure if they could trust this obviously predatory female and this docile nonbinary entity.

A Si'Nain that wasn't agitating them was a nice treat however..It certainly dropped their guard.

"You want to hash out the treaty? Get it signed and official don't you?" The president of the Kirin people, Wysteria S. Illiad, stepped forward.

"Yes, we would like to do just that, may we proceed?" Skye asked calmly, confidently and collected.

"Of course, ma'am, is your assistant here simply to provide information? Or are they meant to pry?" Wysteria inquired as Skye was offered a seat at the long table, with half a dozen Kirin settling down.

"He is here to provide myself with necessary information and to help us make the best informed decisions. No one means to pry or to cause harm," Skye explained as she sat down. Ker'Tak sat beside her, quietly taking up a notepad and reading through the files.

"So they are an assistant?" Wysteria asked to clarify.

"They're my coworker, we are of equal rank and we're both qualified to take over for the other should we need to leave the room," Skye clarified and Wysteria nodded.

"Alright, ma'am, sir, we had gotten as far as just needing the treaty to be proofread and signed," Wysteria explained, "Just before your Captain started to actively pry to read the situation."

"I understand that the prying must have been very painful for you," Skye sympathized, "Reading over this treaty, it seems to be fair enough and well-written."

"Thank you, ma'am. Is there a name we can call you by?" Wysteria asked and Skye nodded.

"My name is Skye, and this is Ker'Tak," Skye introduced herself without incident.

"Hello," Ker'Tak greeted the group. They were all wary of them, watching his horn like nodes for color, for activity, "I have to agree with Skye, this treaty appears to be fair and well-written, I'd see no issue with signing it now."

"Thank you, Ker'Tak, but there is one alteration we would like to add. That no Si'Nian would forcibly probe a Kirin without consent, as it causes a considerable amount of pain and discomfort to our species," Wysertia wrote it into the treaty, and the group all nodded.

"That is fair, it is invasive to do that to someone without their knowing," Skye agreed, "Ker'Tak?"

"Agreed, if I may invite you, Madam President Wysteria, to sign the treaty, I will sign after you," Ker'Tak and Wysteria were given the official copies of the treaty. One for each side.

It was signed.

The Kirin planet of GaxTal 3 was now apart of the Council of High Planets. The Treaty was put through to the Council, and there were cheers when Skye and Ker'Tak returned to the ship with Wysteria.

She was shown around, and the tension melted between her and Ker'Tak as Skye mediated the conversation.

"Ah, so you two are doctors?" Wysteria chuckled, "For people who work with the dying, you make excellent ambassadors. Especially you Human Skye."

"Thank you Madam President," Skye beamed, "I hope your people and ours will grow in tandum, and be able to learn from one another."

"The sentiment is shared, from one species of warriors to another, now, I must return to my people and you must return to your patients," Wysteria beamed as she stepped onto the transporter.

"Yes ma'am!" Skye sent her off with a cheerful farewell. Ker'Tak was already back in the Medbay, as Skye walked in.

"That was impressive work today," Ker'Tak cheered her on, "The Treaty's gone through to the Council, and they're pleased that Humankind was able to assist in such a difficult situation, lessening the stress and distress of it all."

"Thanks Ker'Tak!" Skye smiled as she got back to work, checking Mekt'Ta's pulse and other vitals.

Mekt'Ta was pulling through, and the ship had already been repaired by those in Engineering. Everything was coming back together well.

Gia entered the Medbay again, worriedly walking up to Skye, and the two started to conversate quietly with one another.

Ker'Tak busied themself with other work, ensuring the child and James were alright to go as long as they returned the next day as a check up.

"You what?" Skye's voice spiked in tone and her alertness spiked through the roof.

"SHHHHH!" Gia hushed her sister, "But yes, I think I am, and so is he. Please don't tell anyone."

"Alright Gia, only because you asked and because he's my patient. You can see him," Skye gave the all-clear for Gia to see Mekt'Ta.

The next evening, Ker'Tak and Skye ate together in the dining hall.

"Ker'Tak, I've been reading up on interspecies relationships. Are they fully forbidden?" Skye asked midway through the strangely quiet meal.

"Yes, they are, for sake of everyone, to protect from any problematic pregnancies and prevent interspecies children from being discriminated against. Bi-racial children have always had issues, despite attempts to educate and eradicate the hatred towards them," Ker'Tak explained plainly, "Why? You know this already, do you not?"

"I do, but I wanted to be sure," Skye mumbled as Ker'Tak took a drink.

"Is there someone you were seeing Human Skye, or planning on seeing?" Ker'Tak inquired, now curious and worried.

"Me? No, no of course not. I'm.. Ah, well, I'm not looking for anybody, just, wondering out loud, I guess," Skye covered her tracks well.

Ker'Tak placed his cup down. Carefully they considered telling Skye. She took a drink as it crossed their mind that the truth best be spoken now.

"Human Skye, I understand humans can get easily attached to those they work with for prolonged periods, and over time their friendships can evolve into lifetime bonds as mates. I must inform you that I have no interest in any relationship with anyone as a mate. I am, as you humans put it, asexual," Ker'Tak told her.

Skye went red in the face as she sat down her cup and immediately began telling Ker'Tak quickly that that wasn't the case.

"Ker'Tak no! That's- no! I'm not! You're a good friend sure, but that's! Aaah, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable with that question! It's- aaah...Shit... It's Gia. I'm her sister and she tells me everything. She's..Got someone in mind," Skye admitted and Ker'Tak sighed in relief as the tension between the two of them.

"Ah, thank the stars," Ker'Tak laughed it off, a golden glow coming from their horns, "It's alright. Your familial bond to her is understandable, you want to protect her, naturally."

"Yea," Skye laughed it off, "Ugh, you're a great friend, honestly, thank you Ker'Tak. I needed to admit to that."

"No problem Skye," Ker'Tak lifted their glass to hers, "To success!"

"To success!" Skye's laughter filled Star-Forward.

The bond between the two could only grow stronger from here.

[localbizlift]

Google Alerts for Link Building: A Quick and Easy Guide

Posted by David_Farkas

If you’re a link builder, you know how tough it can be to persuade other site owners to link to your site with “out-of-the-blue” pitches. This is true even if you have great content or have been building links for years.

That’s why the mantra “link building is relationship building” exists. Often, before you build a link, you have to build a relationship with the site owner first. This means anything from following them on Twitter, commenting mindfully on their posts, writing emails to them to discuss their content without pitching links, etc. It’s a productive strategy, but also a time-intensive one.

However, there’s another — relatively quick — link building strategy. 

Is your ear itching? If you’re the superstitious type, this means that someone is talking about you.

Sometimes a webmaster will publish your brand name, products, or target keywords on their site without actually linking to your site. In SEO, these are known as “fresh mention” opportunities. These are typically some of the easiest link building opportunities available, since you don’t really have to explain yourself to the site owner. Mostly, you just have to ask them to put an <a href> tag in the code.

But how do you find these fresh mentions? There are multiple methods and tools, but today I’m going to highlight the one I use most often: Google Alerts.

Google Alerts is beneficial in a myriad of ways beyond the world of link building and SEO, but there’s no doubt that it’s the best way to stay on top of your fresh mention opportunities. Allow me to explain how you can use it!

Setting up Google Alerts

First off, the obvious: you need the correct link. To start using Google Alerts, head over to Google Alerts. You can technically set up alerts without a Gmail account, but I would recommend having one. If you don’t have one, click here to find out how to set one up.

When you have an account set up and land on Google Alerts, you will see a page that looks like this:

No, there’s not much to see. Not yet anyway.

Let’s take a basic example. Say you want to create an alert for mentions of link building. Simply type the phrase into the bar at the top.

You will see something similar to the image above, even before you click on anything else. The first box asks for which email address you want to receive the alerts (I’ve erased mine for the purpose of this article, but trust me, it’s there). Below that will be examples of recent alerts for your query.

Click the “Create Alert” button, and alerts will be sent to your selected inbox going forward. However, you can customize a few settings before you do so. Click the “Show options” dropdown next to the button to see a list of settings you can adjust:

Each item is auto-filled with the default setting. You can adjust the settings so that you only get alerts from specific regions, for certain types of content, and more. In general, I have found the default settings to suffice, but there are valid reasons you might want to change them (if you’re only interested in video content, for example).

When you’re done with the settings, you can create the alert!

Google Alert tips

Quotation Marks

From that point on, assuming you stuck with the default option of once-a-day emails, you'll get an email every 24 hours that looks like this:

Notice the returns in this example include pages that talk about each individual word from your query (in this example the word “link” and the word “building”). Obviously, this isn’t helpful, and it’s a waste of time to sift through these results.

So, how can you make sure that you only get results for an exact phrase? Quotation marks!

I (intentionally) made this mistake when setting up this alert. Notice in the image from the first section that “link building” didn’t include quotation marks around it. Without them, Google Alerts will return results like the ones in the image above.

The quotation marks indicate that you’re looking for an exact match of that phrase, so when you set up an alert using them you will get something that looks like this:

Much better, right?

Note that you can combine terms with and without quotation marks in one alert. Say for example I was looking for content related to link building around images. Instead of “link building images,” a phrase not likely to occur too often, I could use:

This will return results that include both the exact phrase “link building” AND the term “images”.

Set up multiple alerts

If you’re using Google Alerts for link building, I recommend setting up more than one alert. Consider some of the following:

Your brand name

Your products or services

Your focus keywords

Personalities associated with your brand

If you’re concerned about all the emails flooding your inbox, adjust the settings to decrease the frequency or stagger delivery days. You can also set up a separate Gmail account that only serves to receive these emails. I personally find the former to be the better option, but I know people who do the latter.

Consider setting up alerts for your competitors as well. Doing so may give you a window into their link building and publicity strategies that you can learn from. Along with that, you might find new potential target sites that aren’t mentioning you. If they mention your competitor, it’s likely they are relevant to your niche.

Also include common misspellings of any of the list items above. While Google’s algorithm is typically smart enough to correct such misspellings in its search, a few valuable results may seep through even still.

Conclusion

Google Alerts can be helpful for other purposes other than link building. Certainly, if you’re engaged in an online reputation management campaign, they’re a necessity. Some use Alerts to track the kind of publicity their competitors are getting as well.

There are other excellent link building tools out there that can complement your “fresh mention” strategy if you are a link builder, but Google Alerts is an essential. I hope you find Google Alerts as helpful for link building as I have. If you have other tools or suggestions, please mention them in the comments below.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[atheistforhumanity]

There are accusations coming against the FBI, but they’re much weaker than Republicans realize: (Long but Important News, Please Read)

You may have forgotten that Trump promised to launch his own investigation into the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s campaign members starting back in 2016. This is the old conspiracy theory invented by Trump that he was illegally spied on during the campaign. Well, this conspiracy has gained some traction and is making big headlines. If you read an article like Attkisson’s or even one by major media, you would definitely get the feeling that the FBI are in trouble and may have done something terribly wrong in their investigation. However, as usual, the details tell a different story.

This is a very complex issue, so I’m going to get straight to the point. The DOJ is now accusing the FBI of improperly gaining the FISA warrants that allowed them to survey Carter Page, and three others. For additional information, I wrote about these accusations that came in the form of the Nunes’ Memo almost two years ago. I also wrote a quick fact list that you should know about Carter Page.

The issue at hand is the legitimacy of asking for the warrants on Page and others. So I want to briefly layout why these warrants are obviously legitimate, based on suspicious behavior.

1. George Papadopoulos was a consultant on Trump’s campaign. He bragged to an Australian diplomat that he knew that the U.S. Government had been hacked by Russia, and that Hillary’s emails had been stolen, and that Russia would use this act of war to help candidate Trump. This was well before anyone in the public ever had heard anything about Russian hacking, probably even before the activity had been reported the President Obama. The point is that there is no legitimate reason for this low-level consultant to be bragging about how his boss is going to benefit from crimes against the United States. THAT is what started entire investigation, and that fact is not disputed.

2. Everything about Carter Page is suspicious. The idea that asking for a warrant on him was politically bias is ludicrous. Here’s a few quick facts that demonstrate his shady actions from the Mueller Report. Page lived and worked in Russia from 2004 to 2007. That’s fine. However, when he came back to the US he immediately caught the attention of law enforcement. Both in 2008 and in 2013 Page was under surveillance by the FBI for being in contact with Russian spies. The people he was in contact with were indeed arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, which is a fancy way of calling someone a spy. That’s actually the same crime Gen. Michael Flynn was charged with, who one of the warrants was for. Carter is woven into all those arrest documents, as his interactions served as the evidence for their arrest. Fast forward to 2016, Page still has close Russian ties. He volunteers to work on Trump’s campaign for no pay and was not recruited by anyone. As soon as he joins the campaign, all he can talk about are his contacts with high Russian officials, and suggests a meeting between Trump and Putin. Page becomes the campaign’s Russian consultant. During 2016, Page took a trip to Moscow to speak at an economic university. The University admitted that he was only invited due to his position in the Trump campaign. This trip is important for three reasons: a) Page makes a very public speech spouting anti-US foreign policy rhetoric, and promises that relations would be better under Trump. (This is really key for other reasons, but I’ll write about that separately.) b) Page admittedly was in contact with known Russian spies well in Russia. He even admitted giving US information to Russian energy companies, telling the FBI that “the more information I gave, the better for this country.” What that information is exactly is still a mystery to the public. c) Page was in Russia for a number of days, and he largely refused to discuss is actions there at all. We know he had contacts with Russian Intelligence and Kremlin officials, but on top of that there were people and actions he refused to reveal to the FBI. The FBI had deemed that his presence in Russia was mostly unjustified or explainable. You should also know that after Page made his public speech, the Trump campaign tried to denounce him and claimed he never played an important role in the Campaign. This is just like when Papadopoulos was referred to as a coffee boy, but he somehow knew about the attack on the US Gov. by Russia and Hillary’s emails. So, like I said, everything about Page is suspicious. There is more information about Page that will come up in the next section.

Read This Part ----->

The title of this article is that the accusations against the FBI are weaker than you think, and I will cover that now. If you look at the article I linked and many others on the web, what you’ll see are statements that the FBI left out information, gave incorrect information, and had contradicting information. No one is giving much detail, so I took a look at the DOJ report. As I list their complaints, you’ll see two things: 1. The FBI definitely made mistakes and should have done a better job. 2. None of their mistakes actually weaken the case to request the FISA warrants. The details are actually counter-productive to the Republican’s claim. Before I list some of the specific complaints, here are two fun facts: 1. Durham, who was handpicked by AG Barr to investigate the same issue told Horowitz, the head of this investigation, that he could not find any information to back up the Conservative theory that the FBI acted improperly. 2. Horowitz himself concluded that political bias played no role in the FBI’s investigation.

So what is all the fuss about?

Well, it turns out that the FBI did leave out some important information when requesting their FISA warrant. For instance, one of the main points the DOJ list in their report is that the FBI didn’t tell the FISA court that Page had been, and still was, being investigated by ANOTHER US foreign intelligence agency for his suspicious links to Russia! I’m assuming this is either the CIA or DHS. You think I must be making this up, but I’m not. This is one of their top complaints! Another top complaint was that the FBI did not tell the FISA court that Page was a current informant for this other intelligence agency, and he had willing made recordings for this agency.

Remember when I said the details were counter-productive to the Republican’s point? Let’s break this down quickly. Two intelligence agencies have had a close eye on Page for years because of his suspicious links with Russia. While Page volunteered to be on the Trump campaign and raved about his contacts with Russia, he was an approved informant for this other agency. Think about “regular” crime for a moment. How do you get to be a police informant? By being in the center of criminal activity! If Page was bad then why was he never arrested? Because you don’t arrest low-level criminals when they will agree to be an informant!

What about the contradictory statements? The DOJ’s main point of contradiction is this. The FBI say that Page met with specific Russian spies and Page denies it. They didn’t say that he denied it. To be clear, it does NOT say that he admitted to it. Also, to clarify with my statement above about Page meetings Russian Intelligence agents, he did admit to meeting with certain individuals and denied meeting with others.

One thing the DOJ was correct about was that the FBI wrongly reported that Steele only shared information with them. In their complaint they say that Steele also shared his information with yahoo and the State Department.

They also did not state Papadopolous’ denial of being in contact with outside agencies. As well as Page’s denial of ever meeting Manafort, even though we know he sent emails to top campaign officials to promote his Russian connections. If that did not include Manafort it doesn’t change anything.

I’m not exaggerating when I say these are the main points the DOJ’s whole case is based on. You see why Durham and Horowitz could not show any real wrong doing. At best, the FBI was lazy or incomplete in their information. I do absolutely think they should have done a more thorough job. As we can see though, none of that information actually changes the suspicion level of these men.

The Republican theory was that this investigation was politically motivated to hurt Trump in the election. That theory makes no sense for all the reasons stated above, as well as the fact that no one ever knew about this investigation until after the election. Comey through Clinton under the bus weeks before the election. This investigation never effected the election in anyway, and it continued long after the election through the Mueller Report.

These accusations are completely baseless, but if you read conservative sites like the one I linked above, you would definitely feel justified in your opinion that the FBI did something wrong, because there’s really no context or detail. To be clear, this has been denounced as a conspiracy theory for over two years now, since Trump ranted this on TV. No one, even up until now, has ever shown any evidence that shows the FBI were bias, improper, or unjustified in requesting the warrants.

[intomyarmsmp3]

Top List of Things Small Businesses Should Be Doing

Yes, this is Just Another list of things small businesses should (or should Not ) Do but they are (or are Not ) I know, I know, you can not wait to read still another list detailing what you should do or worse, what you are doing wrong. Please, place your cynicism aside for a minute and leave the sarcasm to me. 

I am not in the fear-mongering business. I am also not at the magic-button business. The fear-mongering business uses scare tactics to inform you about all the things you are doing but should not be doing because if you do them, you are likely killing adorable puppies and kittens.

I have read my fair share of these and some really scared me to the purpose of second guessing daily choice. I'm confident you've read a number of these also. Did they work? Did those fear-mongering posts allow you to take some action? Buy a service or product? It is OK if it worked. It will not make you gullible, or more gullible anyway. 

It is used a lot in marketing and promotion since it works. As psychologists, physicians and advertisers have known for quite a very long time, anxiety is a significant motivator to buy. Fear of the unknown or unpredictable (insurance), fear of being dull (style, automobile, beauty), fear of missing out (think of anything that uses scarcity as a strategy - Only 10 left!). 

Hell, even the fear of fear is promoted by large pharma. Then there is the magic-button business. This thing I'm going to sell for you will change your whole business, your whole life, even your wardrobe and just takes one click. Yeah, this type of marketing sucks and is a low blow, not only to our sensibilities but also to our own delicate marketing egos.

This marketing works because it generally uses fear-mongering and then sweeps in to save the day with the magic-button solution. Some of us are swayed by this not because of fear but because they do not need to set the blood, sweat, and tears into creating a brand or business the same way you have. They need a magic solution. 

By this point you may be asking yourself,"Do you truly have a list or was it just some cleverly worded headline to get readers?" The following list is truly about what the headline says so, the headline composed itself and is not that clever. I attempt to present these topics with no fear-mongering and minus the magic-button technique. I only need to present facts that may (or may not be) related to developing your business. 

1. Know the Benefits of On Page & Off Page Search Engine Optimization (Search Engine Optimization ) There is so much information regarding SEO that it seems like anyone that has read a few books or articles on Search Engine Land is giving you information about SEO. Like with most items that incorporate plenty of knowledge from many diverse sources, there is a great deal of out-of-date information, rumors and myths about proper SEO. I want you to have details: 

* Optimizing the pages of your site for keywords is a factor in ranking in search engine results pages (SERPS) however, it is not the only element. 

* Loading time of your site pages is a factor in rank in SERPS 

* Well written content of a specific length is a factor in position in SERPS 

* There are many factors and variables that make ranking each page unique however, overall there are common rules that can be implemented 

* Bounce Rate (how long people stay on your website ) is a factor in rank in SERPS 

* Optimizing content across the Net that is not on your Website is called Off Page SEO and will help you rank and create traffic 

* There is a lot to understand and test and you've got better things to do. This is the reason it's a fantastic idea to hire someone that does SEO for a living. 

2. Have a Responsive Website You might have seen this expression when constructing your site or when somebody like me approaches one to inform you your website isn't responsive. This simply means mobile friendly. To put it differently, your website will"respond" or adjust to being shown on a larger screen like a desktopcomputer, a smaller display like a tabletcomputer, or a even smaller screen like a smartphone without getting cut off or not loading pictures etc.. Here are a few more facts: 

* It is estimated that by 2020, only 4 years from now, the use of smartphones in America alone will increase by 6 million 

* Over 90 percent of individuals with smartphones use them to hunt and research online before making a purchase

* While many purchases are still made in shop, the tendency for online purchases continues to grow 

* Without using fear-mongering approaches I think you can clearly see that, with the increase in smartphone use and online shopping, it is critically important to make sure your website is responsive- (mobile friendly).

3. Social Media Management I've seen a great deal of small businesses with Facebook webpages, Twitter accounts, Pinterest boards, LinkedIn accounts, Instagram accounts and so forth. This is Wonderful! Except, most small businesses must believe that by simply having the accounts they have done their part. 

So a number of these accounts are such as the Sahara. Dry, nothing actually living there and nobody wants to visit. I did a spot check of several regional businesses and found that a tax business with hardly any social media property. Facebook page? 

CHECK! Last update? Uh... February? Twitter account? Apparently there's a Twitter account since it's on the site, but clicking on the link only takes you to Twitter, not their personal page. A few popular restaurants in the region suffer from precisely the identical issue. Posts are extremely spread out with 3-6 articles a month (at a fantastic month)! More details for you to digest:  

"But Jason, how does that affect me anyplace? There are not that many people in my city." I am glad you asked...

 * 75 percent of people using the internet in your city are using social media

* There are optimal times and days to post to Facebook to reach the most people 

* You will find optimal times and days to post to Twitter to reach the maximum people-and they are different than the times and days for Facebook 

* In fact, each social networking platform has certain times and days that see the most engagement 

* According to elaborate charts, you should be posting to Facebook a few times every DAY, and Tweeting 4-15 times per DAY! 

4. Manage Your Online Reputation There are a lot of stories about people taking to social media to share their love or hate for a provider. Unfortunately, the stories the majority of us recall are the ones that are bad.

The folks expressing their loathing with artistic flair are not necessarily a client or customer. Sometimes they happen to be a worker. Such as the poor sap working for an advertising agency that was hired by General Motors. He had been driving to a meeting at General Motors in Detroit when he chose to converse about the irony of the motor city with terrible traffic. 

Oh, he also used an F* Bomb. Obviously, General Motors watched the tweet, fired the agency and the poor sap was summarily fired also. But, I see a great deal of businesses that don't know whether they are being cited online unless it occurred in their Facebook page. 

[legendaryobservationpuppy]

The Most Effective FRESH DOG FOOD DELIVERY IMO: HEALTH AND CONVENIENCE FROM THE FARMER'S DOG

At an occasion years ago, I talked with somebody who was a quite pet-savvy person. We spoke about dog food, as well as I mentioned adding fresh veggies-- carrots, beans, peas, etc.-- to the young boys' food. She looked aghast. "I don't feed my dogs individuals food," she said. "I don't want to transform them into beggars."

OK, the habits issue apart, when she stated "people food," I could not assist yet question: Well, what is dog food made of otherwise ... food? A minimum of, shouldn't it be constructed from food, genuine food, like the kind individuals eat? If a bag of kibble states it has carrots in it, exactly how's that various from providing your dog a carrot?

The discussion seemed ridiculous to me, and now, say thanks to benefits, it's come cycle ...

THE FARMER'S DOG FOOD REVIEW

WHY FRESH DOG FOOD?

This is the large, underlying concern: Why feed your dog fresh dog food?

At the end of the day, food is food is food is food. What makes one meal different from another eventually comes down to just how it's made, right? Take the carrot example. Boiling and also steaming both prepare the carrots, however steaming protects its nutrients while steaming sheds 60% or more of the carrot's nutrients. Eating a raw carrot may not be best, either, though due to the fact that study shows that some food preparation techniques may really boost the carrot's antioxidant power. Basically, a steamed carrot is a carrot, a boiled carrot is a carrot, a raw carrot is a carrot, a dehydrated carrot extruded right into kibble form is still a carrot ... however they're not all nutritionally equivalent. I believe we can all settle on that, as well as I believe we can all concur that there's absolutely nothing grosser than a boiled carrot. (Actually, perhaps steamed asparagus is grosser?).

Anyway.

If you're mosting likely to eat food, which of course you are, and also if you're going to feed your dog food, which of course you are, wouldn't you want it to be the most nutritionally-rich food readily available? Obviously you do! We all do! And the advantage to our dogs is that they don't have to pick between, claim, a smoked poultry bust vs. drive-thru chicken nuggets because we make the decisions on their behalf. So, it stands to factor that if we know fresh food is best, as well as we're in position to make a decision the most effective food to feed our puppies, we 'd wish to go fresh, yeah?

There are a TON of fresh foods hitting the market (more on that particular in a minute), however we've found The Farmer's Dog to fit our way of living, spending plan, and Coop's belly peculiarities.

Backing up one fast action: When I wrote about The Farmer's Dog previously, we switched foods after getting the results of Cooper's allergic reaction examination. At the time, I really did not write a complete review due to the fact that I wasn't certain how handy it would be given that I was so focused on food allergic reactions. We were so pumped to find a recipe that really did not include a single allergen from Coop's list, and also while he's restricted to among the three solutions for that extremely reason, it's made measurable, obvious distinctions in his stubborn belly. I wanted to sing that from the roofs! However, SO numerous of you have actually connected with details concerns I really did not answer in that blog post that I believed I would certainly draw them together in a full evaluation nevertheless!

Note: Because I assume turning proteins is so very vital, we're still rotating in The Honest Kitchen due to the fact that 2 of the three solutions from The Farmer's Dog do include irritants on Coop's list.

The other large point is that our food manufacturing system is deeply flawed. Romaine lettuce, any person? I'm certain you've all seen the congeries as well as gobs of dog food remembers as a result of tainted active ingredients, too. Actually, there's a significant one underway as I kind this: FDA Alerts Pet Owners concerning Potentially Toxic Levels of Vitamin D in Several Dry Pet Foods.

It's critically essential to me that we're feeding Cooper a food where the active ingredients are properly sourced as well as the production is smaller range for much better quality assurance. I fully recognize that no food manufacturing system is excellent. For that, we would certainly have to expand as well as make our very own, which allowed's be straightforward, isn't taking place.

THE VERY BEST FRESH DOG FOOD DELIVERY.

I assume we can all concur that fresh food is the method to go, however that's not without a substantial list of pros vs disadvantages when it concerns pet food. It's not like you can stroll right into the produce area of your local pet store and also pick up a fresh dish, ya understand? Let's take a look at a few of the evident advantages and disadvantages of fresh dog food as well as fresh dog food delivery services:.

Price: Equal parts PRO/CON. I enter into this carefully below re: The Farmer's Dog, yet these services are definitely more costly than getting an average store bag of kibble (though there are several superior kibbles that are similar or even more costly). I do assume it's worth taking a look at the expense of health-related issues from fast food vs. wholesome foods. However you men understand me: I'm NOT somebody that says in a covering declaration kibble is bad. It's not. Although I advocate genuine, whole food, these solutions could not fit your budget plan. #noshame It's my viewpoint that The Farmer's Dog is priced at a reasonable worth. It's most definitely a stretch if you've been feeding normal kibble, however not if you've been feeding premium or, as we were, a dried alternative like The Honest Kitchen.

Packaging: PRO! Alright, you guys. You know I'm consumed with searching for green remedies to every animal care problem. Well, The Farmer's Dog can be found in recyclable packaging AND the insulation is corn starch that you liquify in your kitchen area sink! The brand is dedicated to sustainability, as well, so you can trust that their production techniques are gentler on the setting.

Website/ordering: CON. You can not see the formulas till you create an account. I feel like that's a disappointment for those people that have dogs that are SO sensitive to active ingredients that we can't choose till we see every last active ingredient.

Ease: PRO! Extra on this below, yet having the food automatically shipped is a life saver.

Small-batch manufacturing: PRO! For all the factors mentioned above. And also each packet comes identified particularly for Cooper.

THE FARMER'S DOG VS OLLIE (OR NOMNOM NOW, PETPLATE, ETC.).

Fresh food + shipment is the future, y' all.

Hopefully by now you're on board with the fresh food item, yet shipment?

OK, so I know that you're busy. I'm hectic, you're active, we're all essentially extended so thin it's difficult to maintain. Grocery store pick-up has actually changed my life! I truthfully can't stand entering into the shop-- really, grocery buying is my single most despised chore-- so buying online then driving over and having a person tons it right into my auto is, in my opinion, the best invention of my life time.

At the very least it was.

Till ... Delivery!

Distribution is the next wave of convenience foods, which is SO much better than "comfort" foods like McDonald's or microwave meals since you can pick all your very own healthy and balanced foods and have them given your doorstep. My neighbors, who have 5 youngsters, obtain their groceries provided, and also I'm certain it's altered their lives right! Well, that's just how I really feel regarding fresh food distribution for my pets. I think more people are demanding delivery for more and more things (I have 3 different apps on my phone for takeout/delivery services ...) so you can expect to see tons of fresh dog food shipment brands appear to fulfill that requirement.

After my previous article, I got a lots of inquiries regarding exactly how The Farmer's Dog compares to Ollie. Truthfully? We've never attempted Ollie. I did Google a bunch of the brand names that are currently around, and also almost everything I read placed The Farmer's Dog towards the top for convenience, expense, and also alternatives. Right here's a testimonial from a food blog site I like if you want to check out some particular contrasts.

Just How Much DOES THE FARMER'S DOG COST?

It varies. It depends on the dimension as well as age of your dog as well as his or her everyday calorie requirements. Let's say you enjoy a sedentary pug. Well, your price is going to be reduced-- and also appropriately so!-- than my high-energy, perma-pup Am Staff mix. He needs a great deal of calories in the day to stay up to date with his skittering as well as cat chasing!

That said, they do supply arrangements to do the dish as a mattress topper, which I believe would be an ahhhhhmazing means to blend whole foods right into a kibble or dehydrated diet plan in a cost-effective method.

My recommendations? Try it at 50% off as well as see. It's either going to work wonders for your dog as well as his diet plan (which I truly do think it will certainly) or it will not! But, it can't hurt to try, specifically at such a reduced cost.

ALL-TIME LOW LINE.

At the end of the day, every person wants to do what's finest for their pup. That's it. All of us do the best we can with the criteria we have. No, this isn't mosting likely to be for everyone. It might not be a square meal option for you, either, yet the topper situation might work. Or, possibly you're ready to dive into something brand-new. Everybody's doing their ideal, and as long as you're caring your pet dogs, you're doing terrific. If part of that includes attempting The Farmer's Dog fresh dog food shipment service, I would certainly enjoy to assist you start with a discount: Click below to try it for 50% off!

What rocks have I left unturned? I attempted to answer the inquiries I had obtained via email as well as DM, but in case I missed something, or if an additional question cropped up for you as you were reading this, please leave them in the remarks! I 'd love to supply as much info as feasible, and if I do not understand the solution, I'm always satisfied to connect to the business to find the right information!

[seungeunoh]

Would You Really Get Paid to Travel (or for Free?)

Well, I understand , I know... the pains of linking flights, delays, cancellations, lugging bags a mile across terminals... the hassle of leasing automobiles, fighting traffic in an overseas country (and figuring out which side of the road to drive) and trying to discover what the guy is telling you if all's you asked was"where is the bathroom?" ... Aside from all that, is it perhaps not the best sense whenever you can resign from the standard routine, take a few deep breaths and realize you've got nothing to do but lay on the shore... your hardest decision is if you will get steak or veggie that night... along with your main worry is if you have enough sunlight? That is what traveling is all about... when it transposes us from our regular lifestyles and places us in a wholly new culture... seeing, breathing, and eating and dancing into exactly what people 10,000 miles away from you're doing and thinking to yourself"this is the kind of stuff you see on TV". That's when it's all worth it... that's why travel is so amazing.

But, only one of - if not"THE" - biggest challenges in traveling is that little green bit (or many bits ) of newspaper named MONEY. Whether you are trying to search for a friend in Dallas or take your wife to Bora-Bora, it all costs Money-and a lot of it. The occasions of those Southwest"$49.00" fares are long gone and the small weekend getaways whack a dent in your pocketbook. There are ways to shave a few dollars in some places, but no matter how you slice it, travel is costly. Not everybody has a cush, 7 or 6 figure salary which allows them to simply take off 6 day weekends or weeks at the same time for you to party in Ibiza. So, is there really a way to travel-and I mean really travel-and either receive money or travel for"free"??

The travel sector is an $8 TRILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY. Yes, you read that right... that's Trillion with a capital"T". Therefore, aside from the hotels, airlines and bag manufacturers, how will you join up?

Let's take a look at some of the ways you can earn a living, traveling across the world:

Flight Attendant: This is actually a wonderful way to visit a LOT of places-FAST. The ordinary flight attendant makes $37,000.00 a year, with the greater degree salaries hovering from the $75,000.00-$90,000.00 range. It's certainly a bonus if you know more than just one (1) language. Flight attendants receive a daily per Diem for food, together with flexible work schedules, discounts on flights, hotels and travel expenses for vacation. The disadvantage is that after you're working, the flight program might be grueling-traveling into multiple cities at a 12, 18 or 24 hour time frame. When you finally stop to rest, the desire to go sight seeing or take a look at the city, has been exchanged out with the simple necessity to sleep in a bed. Also I forgot to mention... have you NOT seen a couple angry, annoyed or upset people on your own plane? Yep, be prepared to manage those rude customers through your 12-24 hour shift!

Commercial Airline Pilot: Same deal with flight attendants, concerning labour program, but the pay is significantly better-depending on the magnitude of this jet along with company, it is possible to be making $121,000.00 a year. If you want to head to flight school, then pass your minimum 250 hours of flight experience, then do it! Just make sure you have perfect vision and hearing. Again, if you want to earn this a career, you are going to see cities all over the country (and the world), but be ready to deal with tens of thousands of customers, weather and equipment problems, grueling schedules and also the stress that comes along with the responsibility of flying so many people to unique places.

Travel Agent: As you may already understand, traveling agents know about the greatest places to see. They are the middle men between the hotels, airlinesand tourism bureaus along with also the travelers. More than likely, they've got an chance to visit some of these places in order that they are able to see every thing for themselves-that's quite a sweet flavour, eh? Common salary are everywhere from $25,000.00 to $35,000.00 and probably be asked to register in some type of training, on average with the Travel Institute.

Freelance Writer or Photographer: What a cool job this would be... traveling all over the entire world... spending time with numerous cultures, observing how the people convey, eat, sleep and worship. You truly are"free", relaying what you visit and experience to individuals sitting on their seat, thousands of kilometers apart. Simply grab... well, it's this 1 thing we talked of a little earlier: MONEY. Apparently, you're not going to receive money until you reach such places, therefore make sure you plan this out a bit, fill up some green in your checking account and pick up some pointers about how best to express your self with the pencil & paper or with the camera. Try to produce some sort of"following" which means you have a fantastic base of individuals viewing and reading your own content. Don't attempt to fly to India with a million dollars and an iPad, looking to start a travel site that produces cash, allowing you to wander the world to the upcoming few years. You might also go for your nearest casino and play blackjack. If it's possible to pull with the occupation (also to those that currently do so ), I tip my hat to you-great work!

In case you are in between jobs, just from school or Just Want to take a"sabbatical", why don't you consider those paths in traveling the entire world:

: Speaking English can offer access to countries in every places across the world. Some businesses offer free room & board in exchange for you really to help their employees enhance their English speaking skills and knowledge. There are also programs you can locate on the internet that well set you up with a certain country and company so as to train their people English. Now that you have your room & board covered, today we just have to figure out the way we will cover food and drink...

Start Giving Back: Feeling charitable or need to help the others? Why not look to jump onto a church mission trip, Habitat for Humanity-International, or in the event that you can simply take more time off, connect the Peace Corps? Obviously, that is not likely to be as glamorous as sailing the Mediterranean, island trusting the Greek Isles, but if you want to feel good about helping out people less fortunate-and work hard pack your bags and sign up for a volunteer opportunity. You will surely see some regions without paved roads, running water and folks only searching to get a roof over their head. Giving the less fortunate the simple things we take for granted: food, shelter and clothing, can give you new awareness of gratitude, after completing one of these tours.

All of these ways traveling are great and all, however, the number of people get the chance to eliminate extended amounts of time or have the guts to walk away from their occupation and also become a commercial pilot or even join the Peace Corps? I don't know about you, but I am accountable for the spouse and three(3) children, so taking the plunge on the"unknown" is absolutely NOT realistic.

So, back into the initial question above... How do you travel at no cost? And when I say,"travel", I mean, traveling... That usually means taking a care-free vacation... perhaps not needing to be concerned about if you're able to manage to leave the resort for supper that night, or buy those additional couple of sunglasses... Care-free travel means doing exactly what you want, whenever you need and not fretting about the bill when you get back home. Let us break a couple of ways in that we can actually travel free of charge (or as near it as we can get)... or even better: GET PAID TO TRAVEL!

Use Those Points! : You know, I always knew I was going to be more thankful for all the money I used my credit card. Now that I awakened all that debt,'' I also racked up dozens of points! Points I can use towards booking a fresh airport or maybe pay for my stay at the Bellagio in Vegas... at which I could blow more money! ... I'm kidding! ... sort of. Whenever you are wanting to obtain a brand new credit card, choose the card that offers the maximum, when used. Compare the interest rate for charges and cash advances, the yearly fees and in addition the bank card that gives you the most useful rewards. If you fly into certain airline, then be sure to input your frequent flyer number to gather those kilometers. Use travel websites that allow you to accrue points once you purchase flights, hotels, cruises and rental cars. You are paying for this stuff anyways, why don't you try and earn a little more for next occasion that you want to get a trip?

[calculatingminutiae]

And Then He Was A Zombie

Ch. 1/?

You are beginning to regret your life choices. Mostly, you ponder as you sink nearly shin-deep into slowly fermenting brain, you lament your audacious decision to exist.

Not a soul has seen height nor hair of Mituna Captor for weeks, which is concerning considering that he's seldom let you forget about him before. The four sweeps you've known him have felt like a neon-coated, caffeine-laced retro fever dream, and the stark absence of that unabashed presence, that sheer bravado from someone so contemptible is tangible. You.

You don't miss him. Not really. You may have, once, but the long nights of your friendship passed as you grew up on diverging paths, as his unwavering confidence in his abilities (outwardly; you were privileged with the knowledge that his "natural psychic talent" came from practicing with his psi until odd hours of the morning in order to make his anxieties and excess energy recede until he could sleep) eroded at your patience, until his unrepentant criticism of your studies and etiquette (you are most certainly not a "TToTTal fuckiin bulgewrench hiigh off [y9ur] own ego iif you TThiink you're TThe only guy people are giiviin' 2hiiTT TTwo for b2 rea2on2," nor any variation thereof, thank you very much) became so great (why does she have to like him so much can't she see he won't treat her well, not like you can, he can't even treat himself well) that you drifted apart. You haven't spoken in at least two perigees, and even then the last two sweeps have only included game-related correspondence. Even if you find him irritating, even if his "prophecies" and grim predictions are clearly nonsensical and demoralizing, you must admit his abilities are valuable to the team. You are aware he must know that all twelve of you will be at a great disadvantage should any of his several, several deaths stick.

So how dare he? Drag you out here? (#unsanitary, #b9dy h9rr9r, #w9uld it kill you t9 have a deep pers9nal quest that includes air c9nditi9ning?)

Except he hasn't actually dragged you out here at all. His absence has started to concern your mutual friend (his datemate, somehow) to the point of anxious episodes, which you should have known he'd cause sooner or later. Selfish as he can be, you'd almost thought she meant more to him than this, leaving her high and dry in the metaphorical torrent of suspended ambivalence. He could well be fine, could well not. She has no way to know. Neither do you, but you foolishly volunteered to find out. You hadn't exactly thought about the consequences of reconciling, let alone explaining to her, what it is you really find.

Brains. Fire. Case closed. You knew that going in, of course, as did she, but the name of this planet seemed significantly more superficial before you had to smell it.

The air carries the caramelized odor of constant decay, beyond the blood of your own ironically-clad planet and into the territory of viscera you are entirely certain that no soul should ever actually witness outside of a morgue. The smog only makes it worse. Each sweltering, ragged breath is physical pain, and you are certain you've been burned from exposure within the first two minutes of your journey. Cranial nerves serve as pale-pink branches on trees formed from the wet, undulating flesh forming the islands you stand upon as not to plummet into the infernal abyss below. You need to throw out these shoes. Immediately. And your sweater, and yourself, a pitter-patter of droplets from above, finally, r

It's cerebrospinal fluid.

That is definitely cerebrospinal fluid.

God.

Damnit.

And, by the game's logic, it's flammable too, stirring a flare-up of the fires roaring near the borderline of this islet over the horizon, at which point you decide that you  can afford to burn all of your clothes after this if it allows you to sit in the dubious shelter of one of these brain-trees and wait out the storm.

The terrain directly in your line of sight is vast, but you feel an incessant need to give your status updates to the group. Calm down. Stare at your phone, your eleven (Ten? It may well be ten now, you consider, a shiver as you banish the thought) remaining followers in this post-apocalyptic wasteland will no doubt praise your perseverance. Even as your fingers become so disgustingly slick with Actual-Fucking-Brain-Juice that you have to give up your comprehensive progress report and actually bother to take in your surroundings.

There aren't any enemies on this island. No imps, no ogres, no basilisks or other "no-thank-you's" which you stopped having a use for long ago, their resources trivial when you consider yourself to have made a rightful living quarters at long last. Finally, no cullers to tell you what to do. Just a meager living, one you miss at the moment as you idly watch the glistening "rain" wash its way over small pale rocks in this sparse savannah.

You'd thought you were walking into woodland, but consider you may have been mistaken. The thick woods behind you beg to differ, however, but you elect to ignore that little fact just as well as you ignore the treads in the ground from what you are positive must have been a battle with more than a few psionic lasers. You must admit, you still aren't entirely sure how he does that.

He's always been psionically gifted, of course, for as long as you've known him, and he's always had the audacity to complain. To be culled by the empress herself, to be of the highest rank in his class, to be lauded and loved and lucky, so, so lucky, and complain. Even his headaches could reveal incredible things, privileged facets of the near-future, while yours. Yours bought you time locked up in your block, bouncing from culler to culler as your health fluctuated, so fragile, you, and nobody cared to deal with you. Nobody listened to your ideas, nobody took you seriously, no matter how hard you tried to become an educated, upstanding member of society on your own. And yet, once, you tried to vet his problems. "Problems," when he'd argue with you at odd hours about rock bands and the oxford comma, or putting on matching socks or not or the heat death of the universe. Problems when you'd stay up, some mornings, just to see when he'd finally run out of steam. Problems when you knew you'd helped him tire himself out and all that pent-up anxious energy released and sometimes you'd smile to yourself for a job well done from halfway across the district.

You find yourself laughing a little. Almost fond.

He'd trusted you with his insecurities, as you trusted him with yours. You thought you weren't tall enough, that your pants came up too-too high on you if you wanted the legs to fit. (He'd told you to wear them anyway;"iiTT'll be a TThiing by nexTT 2weep, The hiigh waii2TT. iiTT'll be, liike, riighTTeous, dude, you're a TTrend2eTTer 2o long a2 you own iiTT. TThey ju2TT don'TT geTT you yeTT." You have, truthfully, under your sweater, in spite of another dear friend telling you exactly how you dress like a travesty. You won't be controlled. Entirely.) He thought he was only ever given a second look because he has his ancestor's face. You.

You wish you would have told him n9, Mituna, y9u're a w9nderful individual as y9u are, but instead, you were too focused on his new co-op partner. The same girl playing some MMO with fanciful hats and discussing legal precedents on forums you'd found in your research,  it was far too unlikely to seem true but once you'd made the connection it was inescapable. She'd gone inactive, disappeared because of him. She gave into that anti-intellectual sniveling drivel because of him, a brilliant mind squandered, he ruined your chances with

The flames rise in the forest behind you, driving you into the clearing. At least, if you want to keep your ass firmly un-toasted. You do.

It's strange, anyway, his actual, tangible absence from your life. You're by no means co-dependent, but it doesn't feel quite right. Like a building on your commute's gone out of business, or perhaps like an old tree in the schoolyard has been hacked to the ground, leaving behind the stump where it once joined the ground, it's. Surreal. You find this surreal, but maintain confidence that you will, eventually, get over it. Life moves on. (It is Doom that lingers.)

The rain abates, leaving you temporarily distracted from the direction you were initially headed in and entirely susceptible to tripping over something in this clearing while you idly admire how nice and tan your retinas must be getting from looking at the sky so much.

C-rRck .

A trail of bone shards fly from your shoe, much to your temporary horror, until you realize the crucial factors that A. this skull is not that of a troll and B. it's actually partially buried in the ground, so it may well be a fossil of some kind, you suppose. In fact, it looks as though it's been picked clean by time, or some very efficient fungi. You almost feel bad for this poor ex. . . Snake? This may well have been a snake, at one point, you determine by looking under the hands that prevented you from faceplanting into cerebral cortex and discovering that what you thought were "rocks" are actually the ridges of a very, very large snake's spine. The ridges etched into the surrounding brain matter, truthfully, deviate from the folding pattern of the rest of the ground. There is a stick planted at the head of the site that you hadn't initially noticed, a ruler hastily wedged into the mush. Penance, you ponder, for the additional rocks washed up in this clearing. Perhaps that explains why you have failed to run into any friendly lizard civilians in this place to offer you directions. Surely, you've merely committed a lizard-social faux pas by wandering back-asswards into an Important Game Landmark. Yes. Obviously.

You decide this will not appear in your reports, and press on.

The planet maintains itself, just as before, equally disgusting in its crags and valleys and hills and rivers of you've-stopped-caring-keep-trudging. Really, if she hadn't seemed so upset, you question whether or not you could have brought yourself to look for him. He, by and large, had his shortcomings. Bouts of belligerence in violently vacillating mood swings, calloused comments with so little tact that it was hard to excuse his lack of social etiquette; he hardly seemed to be trying. Verbally belittling himself, constantly, even in the presence of those doing quantifiably worse than him in the same categories. You know social cues didn't come easy to him, he told you as much. You still don't think that's an excuse not to correct yourself the nth time you laugh at a "fail" compilation including serious injuries.

He was as sore a winner as loser, in those days, considering himself accomplished for having posted artwork before and thereby actually knowledgeable on the subject, or at least moreso than anyone who told him that he could not, for the life of him, draw properly-proportioned arms and hands. He'd repeat the same mistakes, content to call them inevitable or very much a choice. He poured himself into his favorite games, between practices, to the point of obsession. To the point of being outwardly off-balance should he be knocked from his proud number-two (for number one, evidently, was for those unskilled enough to calculate exactly where they need to be) spot on the leaderboard. Always in twos. Two different socks, two different shoes, two different bright red-and-blue eyes, always even, lest something go amiss. "The FaTTe2 don'TT liike TTwo be mocked," he'd tell you on the subject of threes and parallelisms during your early-morning chats, though you'd never truly understood his fascination yourself. It's an old legend, in the community of psionic yellowbloods, that three incarnations of fate bestowed them with the powers of electrokinesis and prophecy, "TTwo make 2ure TThe Dyiing are wiiTTne22ed when TThey, liike, reTTurn TTwo TThe bounTTy of co2miic liifeforce and whaTTever. TThaTT 2omeone geTT2 iiTT before you go, yknow?? 2o nobody ha2 TTwo be alone."

You sigh, officially Hopelessly Lost. You take a seat atop some maroon rocks, which you are absolutely confident are actually. Bricks. And scraps of drywall, the rough texture under your fingers as they drift over this cleft piece of what was part of a block, at some point. His block, from the oil pastel staining your fingers. You run like you didn't know you could before, overtaken by a sudden need to know exactly what happened here. The pastel isn't quite baked to the surface yet, and it may not be too late. You hope for her sake, that it is not too late. You hope for your sake, that it is not too late. You need to tell him something before he's allowed to leave again.

Your name is KANKRI VANTAS and you, begrudgingly, have regrets.

The hive is in complete disarray once you find it. You let yourself in, considering the entrance is missing, let alone the staircase to the top of the tower the two of you had built upon entering the Medium. You remember that he didn't want this wall here, or that block there, and his load gaper is still firmly defenestrated and stuck in the ground even though you know he could have put it back by now. It's much easier to look at that than the maelstrom of dirty laundry and magazine pages covered in ambiguous tv-dinner sauce in the main livingsblock, a proper mountain of crushed cans of toxic Appleberry Blast that nearly cancel out the smoke encrusting your lungs.  You knew he was somewhat a slob, compared to you, but if the place weren't still standing you'd swear a tornado went through here. Old microwave trays are covered in mold. There's no telling how long this has been this way.

"Mituna…?"

There is no answer. You can't say you expected one, heading further up through the vertical labyrinth.

The floors pass you by in slow motion, blurring into a singularity as you refuse to acknowledge the little things about the remains of his hive. How it feels you've walked into a ghost town, how there's a deep ochre staining the carpet at the bottom of the stairs, how the smell of decay somehow only gets worse as you ascend. Worse, and. Sweeter. Sickeningly sweet, like candied excrement, the tang of touching your tongue to an outlet emanating from a block you haven't seen in a very, very long time.

The roof to his respiteblock is missing. Entirely. It's been blown off, debris around the room, the place soaked from the rains and exposed to the enemy and yet apparently untouched. He did not come up here often, so it seems, the block mostly barren save the diagrams and prophetic scribblings on the walls, a leather-bound book and a pile of broken glass.

You, in spite of your better judgment, take a look at the book.

It's his sketchbook. One with pictures you've seen before, of )(er Radiance and Meenah, younger and almost caricatures of a happy household. It's immediately followed by Meenah's snaggle-toothed grin, by Radiance (dubbed "Radz", in these pages, the marked messy handwriting of a younger child ) and her icy, gaslighting "disappointed" pout. Abstract works, impressions of his old biclops, experiments with colors (always the primaries; he can only trust the primaries, so notes the back of the page, upon learning he is colorblind) and drawings of the psionic roundtable he was forced to sit at. A child sits surrounded by people ten times his age because of his visions of the end of days. He's exaggerated them, made fun of them, save the ones he liked. A childhood spent drawing, trying to capture the likeness of the Archiver, connector of the stars, among other things. The portraits have odd titles. "maybe ii can'TT iinvenTT The iinTTerneTT, bu7 ii'll be 2omeTThiing you'd be proud of."

There are large gaps in drawing quality, from then on, from starting and stopping and meeting new people. You find he's drawn portraits of you, even, and of Latula, so many of Latula. Never flattering ones, either, in the strictest sense; he seems to have poured a lot of time and effort into a drawing you've never seen before, a sketch of her laughing over the webcam during their matches. Her nostrils flair a bit, a few hairs out of place, and yet every freckle on her face has a degree of life to it. He may have held himself to an impossible standard, but this picture you are certain would make her cringe is so thoughtfully put together that you are positive that she has never seen it.

Then you entered the game.

The sketches rapidly deteriorate into scrap paper, holding notes and lists written in a hurry. Prophecies, you gather, in a shorthand reserved for the empress's board of elite psions. A way to convey ideas quickly and efficiently in the confused daze in the wake of a vision (a way to keep anyone from effectively snooping, as you are, since the symbols appear near-incomprehensible to you). The text only becomes sloppier over time,  to the point that you don't hazard to guess what it could possibly mean. You suppose he'd distilled the important parts into his reports in the groupchat.

The less important parts are written plainly,  without a care for who may see. Notes like "Charon ii2 a liil biiTTch abouTT TThii2 whole que2TT junk, hone2TTly," and "noTT enough iimp2 come by TTwo ju2TTiify TThe TTrap2 anymore." Like "ii2 a popTTarTT really a raviiolii," or "by TThe TTime you 2ee TThii2, ii have noTThiing for you." Scribbled prophecies in purple, drawing your attention to the pink and violet powder of pastel on the ceiling, what must have once been a drawing. A gaze staring directly into his heart, artificial, requiring him to always blink first.  Unless he could act first.

The next several pages are stuck together with a highlighter-yellow substance,  the source of the sweetness in the air. If you were to peer under his desk, you'd note the glass shards fit perfectly into the shape of an empty jar.

A sprawling note on the next available page, stained by the toxic honey and pale yellow tears. You fail to stomach reading beyond the first line.

"laTTTTiie,

    iim 2orry."

You skip to the end. At least,  the end of what you can see. It's another portrait, one of an event you recognize, of the first anniversary of your entrance into this hellhole. Meenah baked you all a cake,  as you recall. The group quickly split up and stratified, but in this sketch. In this sketch you can stand one another,  huddled together around the mystery ahead, in various stages of smiling and excitement. You all were happy, then. Most of you. Most of you were just as happy as he paints.

You realize that, in all of these pictures, including this group shot, he hasn't once drawn himself.

There is the unmistakable sensation of a hand, not gentle nor rough, planted firmly on your left shoulder.

You came to this planet alone.

The shadow looming over you does so by about half a foot, your immediate instinct to tack on "n9 matter what he says" identifying the corpse it belongs to long before you raise your head. You can tell it's a corpse because of the sudden intense smell of putrification in your immediate vicinity, of rot and decay, of something seared and burnt like overcooked grubloaf disposed of with lighter fluid and a careless match. Your epic quest, as shitty as it's been, is over, and your prize is presenting itself to you on a bloodstained, honey-soaked carpet.

It could be looking at you. He, could be looking at you, this thing that used to be a friend of yours. He could be looking above your head, for all you know, or at the glimpse of his psyche you've stolen, claws curled into fists, venom dripping from his fangs, frozen in space and time when you finally look at him. Overgrown bangs obscure his eyes. It wouldn't matter much anyway, considering you can't tell where those hidden eyes point when they begin glowing a bright, bilious green, either.

His bright yellow jacket (you should have known you'd never see him without it, even in death) is singed and slashed to shreds, more obviously steeped in dark ochre than the plain black shirt underneath. Torn jeans can no longer contain a leg broken at such an extreme angle, dragging behind him as nothing more than a counterbalance to the tall, spindly form. His ribs art particularly obvious now, looking as though he should snap in half at the waits with a breeze that, of course, never actually comes, on this planet. A hand (hesitantly?) reaches for your shoulder, calloused and scarred, showing off the kinds of skin-boiling horrors only concealed by the general unassuming dark neutrality of (most of, spare that damn jacket) his attire. Webbing red and blue scars, like veins, like lightning travel up from his fingers to his wrist, creep up his neck, epicenter unknown but almost certainly obscured somewhere in the cesspool of a body lumbering towards him. The figure-- no. The shell of Mituna, advances, pauses, and keeps advancing.

You are aware that he must know.  Must know your guilt, your conflictions, the overpowering sense of dread sweeping in with the scent rotting flesh. The bright, bright green light flickers,  flickers, and glows. You could swear you see a slight sly smile on his face.

Someone finally understands.