#I really want people to have access to this one

[whoknowsyourfuture]

So, this is a bit of a tangent, but I think it's relevant.

I grew up riding horses. My mom trained, (people and horses), and I knew a looooooot of kids between 4-H, AQHA, and the local HSET (I didn't do HSET bc I was showing a lot in AQHA, but I knew people in it).

Now, I don't remember the first time I was on a horse, because I was probably literally 2 or younger, but riding has never been easy for me. Do I love it? Yeah, of course. Have I had access to horses that you can ride for 20 min and be done? Nope. Do I have long legs and natural balance? Hell no. I was so jealous of one girl I rode with during high school because she had just started riding and could just sit perfectly straight and keep every part of her body exactly so, meanwhile I had to constantly fight to keep my body stretched to the furthest extent just to look maybe a quarter as elegant as she did.

I'm still riding, while she, as far as I'm aware, is not.

That was kind of how it went, honestly. Of course, even in the area I grew up in, there's a certain amount of 'who can afford to get their kid a really good horse and then be okay with them getting bored of riding', but by and large, the people who riding came easily to did not continue with it. (The exception, of course, were trainer's kids, but like. My siblings got the same opportunity to ride and show as I did, we even shared horses at times, but they were natural riders and I just wasn't. I have had to put in so many thousands of hours to get good at riding. Of course I kept on during my youth years for a mixed bag of reasons, some good, some ehhhhhh, but I kept on for years after my siblings quit because I wanted to.)

Ok, I think I'm getting sidetracked, but the gist of my point is, if something is easy for you, it'll get boring. If you have to work at something, you're more likely to find out if you actually enjoy it for what it is. Of course, things can also be hard, boring, and you hate doing them (a lot of jobs, unfortunately), but if you don't learn to stick with something until you can really decide how you feel about it, well.

Are you ever going to find out what you really like doing, or are you going to give up 3 seconds into doing something you could have poured your heart into?

Something I don't think we talk enough about in discussions surrounding AI is the loss of perseverance.

I have a friend who works in education and he told me about how he was working with a small group of HS students to develop a new school sports chant. This was a very daunting task for the group, in large part because many had learning disabilities related to reading and writing, so coming up with a catchy, hard-hitting, probably rhyming, poetry-esque piece of collaborative writing felt like something outside of their skill range. But it wasn't! I knew that, he knew that, and he worked damn hard to convince the kids of that too. Even if the end result was terrible (by someone else's standards), we knew they had it in them to complete the piece and feel super proud of their creation.

Fast-forward a few days and he reports back that yes they have a chant now... but it's 99% AI. It was made by Chat-GPT. Once the kids realized they could just ask the bot to do the hard thing for them - and do it "better" than they (supposedly) ever could - that's the only route they were willing to take. It was either use Chat-GPT or don't do it at all. And I was just so devastated to hear this because Jesus Christ, struggling is important. Of course most 14-18 year olds aren't going to see the merit of that, let alone understand why that process (attempting something new and challenging) is more valuable than the end result (a "good" chant), but as adults we all have a responsibility to coach them through that messy process. Except that's become damn near impossible with an Instantly Do The Thing app in everyone's pocket. Yes, AI is fucking awful because of plagiarism and misinformation and the environmental impact, but it's also keeping people - particularly young people - from developing perseverance. It's not just important that you learn to write your own stuff because of intellectual agency, but because writing is hard and it's crucial that you learn how to persevere through doing hard things.

Write a shitty poem. Write an essay where half the textual 'evidence' doesn't track. Write an awkward as fuck email with an equally embarrassing typo. Every time you do you're not just developing that particular skill, you're also learning that you did something badly and the world didn't end. You can get through things! You can get through challenging things! Not everything in life has to be perfect but you know what? You'll only improve at the challenging stuff if you do a whole lot of it badly first. The ability to say, "I didn't think I could do that but I did it anyway. It's not great, but I did it," is SO IMPORTANT for developing confidence across the board, not just in these specific tasks.

Idk I'm just really worried about kids having to grow up in a world where (for a variety of reasons beyond just AI) they're not given the chance to struggle through new and challenging things like we used to.

[thecorvidrotation]

HAPPY WHITE BOY JUMPSCARE WEDNESDAY here's my report from Maggie Stiefvater's TRB Graphic Novel portion of the Penguin Summer 2025 showcase (copy-pasted to its own post for ease of access):

Stief said she always wanted a TRC graphic novel adaptation and always imagined Sas Milledge as the artist, ever since seeing her fanart around back when Stief was more involved in the fandom, so she's thrilled that all the pieces came together to make this happen.

She's really excited to get to show details like GANSEY'S JOURNAL and have visual sequences for the action, the word cinematic was used.

One of the Penguin reps said that there IS a schedule for the other books to have their graphic adaptations 👀 So full series adaptaion confirmed???

But like they didn't give more details on the releases so only the three people who win the giveaway raffle (for attendees) are gonna get to see that schedule I guess :\ (no one in my family ever wins raffles but I signed up just in case) (I assume we'll get the release schedule at some point regardless)

I'm gonna watch the zoom recording once it's sent out in case there's anything I missed/immediately forgot! But these were my main take aways and pretty much all of the important stuff.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Aaaaa Yuuna is so cuuutee 💗😆 Her hair is so prettyyy. But with the addition of the new Yuu I’ve come up with a theory that with the pattern the mangas have taken so far, they’ll start switching back and fourth between male and female yuus for the rest of the dorms:

Heartslabyul - Yuuken (Male)

Savanaclaw - Yuuka (Female)

Octavinelle - Yuuta (Male)

Scarabia - Yuuna (Female)

Pomefiore - Male

Ignihyde - Female

Diasomnia - Male

Just something I came up with that i wanted to share with you ^^ Also who is the manga artist for Scarabia 🤔

[Referencing the Episode of Scarabia!]

Lots of Yuuna-related asks recently (and for good reason!) so I decided to lump them all into one post :DD

Yes, Yuuna is very cute~ The alternating genders of the manga!Yuus has actually been a pretty popular theory for a while now, actually! Some believe this is meant to be the Yuus having the opposite genders as the Great Seven member of their respective books/dorms. But yeah, the pattern seems likely at this point.

The mangaka for the Episode of Scarabia is Majiko-sensei! They have previously contributed a chapter to the manga anthology. You can read more about their past works here.

I'm not sure if "[taking] care of [one's] appearance" is the right phrase to use (as it unintentionally implies other Yuus are slobs/don't care about how they present themselves, when that's definitely not the case)? Maybe it would be more accurate to say, "Yuuna has stereotypically feminine aesthetic tastes", though it's more immature and preppy than Vil's is. I think Yuuna has a cuteness that's more characteristic of Cater than Vil--but all three of them definitely have overlap in their interests in makeup, fashion, social media, etc. I feel like Yuuna would get along with them both!! We do technically see her interacting with Cater (they take a selfie before he departs for winter break) and are assumed to have already known each other due to the events of books 1 and 2. Too bad we don't really get to see them interact in those books... and that we won't see Yuuna interact with Vil for the Episode of Pomefiore. We'll have a new Yuu by then (which gets into my disappointment with never being able to fully follow a single manga!Yuu and their character arc through to the end of the main story...)💦

Yeah, it's nice to have variety in the manga!Yuus' personalities, skillsets, and interests! ^^ It makes them a lot of fun to follow, even if we know they'll only be with us for the length of one book/dorm.

I've personally really been loving Yuuta and Yuuna a lot. Yuuken and Yuuka are also nice, but I find that their general characters are kind of similar (athletic and level-headed) and don't differ enough to result in interactions unique from game!Yuu (with perhaps the exception of them being able to physically contribute to battles). This is not true of Yuuta and Yuuna, whose abilities extend to other areas and therefore have a larger impact on the world and its characters. For example, Yuuta's love of food + cooking skill has him shouting at Grim sometimes for not appreciating food, but it also becomes excellent leverage for sleeping over at Savanaclaw later in book 3. You can also see how Yuuna's outgoing personality would draw people to her and allow her to make connections.

The manga!Yuus also speak to the diversity of Yuus we see in the fandom. I know a lot of us were waiting for a girl Yuu (which we got with Yuuka), a Yuu of different body type (which we got with Yuuta), and a very femme presenting Yuu (which we got with Yuuna). Yuuken is also great because he was the first Yuu we got that actually had the ability and the confidence in his fighting capabilities to charge head-on into an OB fight.

As I state in my pinned post, manga raws generally come from Monthy GFantasy, which publishes new chapters of the Twst manga online each month. You must PAY to access those raws.

In the case of the Episode of Scarabia, the full first volume was released in today. It is avaliable on Kindle through the Amazon JP store. This is still something you would need to PAY for if you're interested in seeing the full thing right away.

I cannot provide full chapters to the public, as this is paid content that I receive from my own friends who subscribe to GFantasy and/or who bought the first volume of Scarabia on Kindle. You can make your own decision whether or not you wish to purchase for yourself; however, there is most likely a scanlation team that will put out an English version sooner or later. Again though, this would surely take some time to get done, especially when there's 4 chapters of Scarabia to translate.

[aesethewitch]

Advertisement Adversaries #2: "Gender Swap Spell"

Hello, and welcome to the second installment of Advertisement Adversaries! This series aims to dissect unethical, unfair, deceptive, and just plain Not Good sales strategies found in the witchcraft community. We also cover legitimate sellers to highlight good marketing, listings, and business practices! The goal is to improve the legit witches' businesses and educate folks on scams, grifts, and marketing manipulations.

You can read more about this project here (Tumblr) or here (my website). You can also read this post on Ko-Fi or a better-formatted version on my website. (Note: Some images just wouldn't upload to Ko-Fi for some reason, so I strongly recommend using the website!)

Each entry covers one listing from a seller's catalogue. I score the listing on a scale of one to five in six categories: Clarity, Transparency, Presence, Genuineness, Verifiability, and Morality. Legitimate sellers get an extra category of Attractiveness/Advice for Improvement.

Please Note: I had so many screenshots for this listing, I've had to cut out a handful because of Tumblr's image limit. To see ALL of the images I captured, please pop over to my website for the full experience.

Now, let's have a look at today's entry into this series:

Advertisement Details

Who is the advertiser -- or who do they claim to be? Who is their apparent primary audience? What are they selling? What's their tone? What's the vibe? What are the first impressions?

Spell scams on Etsy are a dime a dozen. This one I've chosen has just about everything a scam boogeyman like me could possibly want. But let's start right from the top, shall we?

Now, this is a total scam, so we're naming and shaming, but I have another reason for naming this one. (Note that all other names, such as reviewer names, have been redacted from screenshots or otherwise omitted for their privacy.)

This listing comes from an Etsy shop called "MariahSpells." They last updated their shop announcements on September 6, 2024. The listing we're focusing on is one for a "Gender Swap Spell." Yeah, that's right, I'm fucking going there.

A lot of Etsy spells targeting trans people look like this. Many of them make it seem like it's a spell for a physical transformation, but really, you're getting an ~emotional transformation~ to help you along your ~spiritual journey~ and make you ~feel things~. But again, they market like it's a physical change and then pull this to prevent complaints or required refunds.

Not so with MariahSpells! No, no! This spell is going to change you physically. No HRT required. You want a dick? Envision it. Write it out. They're gonna make that happen for you. Let's fucking go.

God, I wish it worked that way.

No frills, no bullshit, and a 100% success guarantee. This Ancient and Powerful Spell is going to Fix You. No refunds.

Normally, I have to make an educated assumption about who these scams are targeting. But MariahSpells is doing my work for me:

Specifically and deliberately targeting vulnerable trans people who are desperate for a change. Nice. Note also the emphasis on "opposite sex" throughout this listing. We love erasing intersex and non-binary people, don't we?

But I can really see a depressed, desperate trans person buying this spell. And someone did.

Fucking tragic. This review was put up after I decided to cover this listing but before I started working on this. Someone bought this, perhaps because they can't access HRT safely where they are or because they want quicker results from their transition. I don't know for sure, but that's the kind of person this listing (and listings like this one) are targeting.

This shop, according to the main page, has received over 2,000 sales since it opened. Two thousand sales. Most of the other services in this shop aren't as exorbitantly priced as this one, but many of them are. One is, I shit you not, seven hundred dollars. ON SALE. To become a vampire -- yes, a real one, immortal and all. (But don't worry, that listing says you won't incur bad karma for it. Yippee!)

And that's all just on the surface. Let's do a smidge of digging.

Based on the shop name, you'd think that the seller's name is Mariah. But in their listing, all the way at the bottom in the "waxing poetic about themselves" section, we see this:

Why would your shop be MariahSpells if your name is Sayran? Now, I thought this was odd until I found a particular review with a link to a different Etsy shop that appears to have been forcibly shut down -- with the same qualifications listed in the description.

So, this isn't this person's name, and they've reopened a shop despite being shut down on another... which also��wasn't their actual name. It makes me wonder how many times this person has done this, and whether they have other shopfronts they're running at the same time. Classic scam behavior: Change shop names after being reported/marked as a scam/taken down and keep on selling the same empty promises.

Admittedly, I'm not super familiar with Syriac magic or its traditions, so I'm staying away from commenting on that. If anyone reading this knows anything about it and is willing to dig into it, please let me know in the replies/reblogs or tag me in a separate post - if you've got the details, I want to read them! I did a little reading, but I had to put it down to focus on the rest of this review.

However, even without knowing about Syriac magic, I can't confirm anything about this person's practice or even their existence, because they have no social media. There are no links on the shop page, in the about section, or elsewhere. Even a wider search (using the current shop name, the prior shop name, and both listed seller names) brings up nothing. This seller doesn't exist outside this shop. Red fucking flag.

The overall tone of this listing is superior. It takes swipes at "fake wizards" and "everyone presenting themselves as a witch" in order to make this particular seller appear more legitimate.

The seller also takes time to shit on other listings that rely on the buyer's "positive thinking" to make their magic work -- or, really, to blame the buyer for spells not working.

I agree with them that it's scummy to blame the buyer and use their "negativity" as a scapegoat. Hilarious to see it on such a blatant scam.

Now, let's take a second to talk about the price and this sale that's going on. I took almost all of these screenshots on February 18, 2025 (others had to be redone due to formatting issues or because I forgot to grab a couple). I'm doing a first draft on the 19th, and as of literally right now as I'm typing this, the sale has about an hour and fifteen minutes left. I'm keeping an eye on it.

This is an exorbitant price for a service where your only verification is a photo which can easily be fabricated. You can't verify the services via reviews, either, because all of the reviews for spell services are premature ones giving five stars before any results are even given. (And for another reason, which I'll talk about later!)

This is now me, a couple hours later, returning to the listing. Lo and behold:

The sale is still on. It's still 50% off. But hey, it still has that "biggest markdown" banner on it. That's strange... a glitch, maybe?

Nope. Check the prices. The seller knocked a couple cents off the original price to make the sale price the "new lowest in 60 days." They're artificially forcing that message to keep up the sale hype. It's why the price is such a strange amount; they've been doing this since at least October 2024, maybe longer.

This isn't something you'd notice unless you were obsessively checking on it... like me. Gotcha, bitch.

Overall, the impression is fuckin' bad. Obviously. Between the bootleg Sims AI generated listing picture, the putting-down of other sellers, the product description, and the "sale" rug-pull, this listing is an incredible, pristine example of an Etsy Spell Scam.

Let's talk nitty-gritty.

Clarity

How clear is the language? Does it use a bunch of obscure terms or talk in circles? Is it obvious what the buyer will receive based on this listing alone?

I mean, it's pretty obvious what you're getting on the surface. It's a spell that's going to cause a physical transformation to you based on your specifications vis a vis gender transition.

But here's the thing: You don't actually know what's happening. What kind of spell is this? What ritual is being done? What concern is there for the buyer? It says this spell is permanent, but what does that mean? Does that mean it can't be undone at all? And if that's the case, how is this spell being bound to the buyer?

The seller says they're a Syriac magician, but that's a pretty niche tradition. The average person isn't going to know anything about it. You'd think they would take the opportunity to play up the exotic, exclusive nature of their magic by explaining a little more about the spell or ritual... but that would require there to be an actual spell happening, wouldn't it?

This listing is constantly talking in circles about how great the spell is and how powerful the magic is and how the effects are worth the price. But note that it doesn't detail what effects you're going to see. Note, again, that it's just repeating the same shit over and over and over again: "it's gonna work, I'm gonna do the spell for you, it's super powerful, you want this spell, it's gonna work..."

The only proof you're going to get of this spell happening is a photo, and only if you demand one. Based on reviews, buyers apparently get a short blurb stating that the spell has been done and the picture. Immediately after purchase, you get a JPG thank you message to download. You get the rest later.

My issue with "photo proof" of spells is that they can easily be faked. They can be stolen from the internet. They can be a set of photos that are being reused over and over again for different buyers. They can be real... but the setup may not be a true spell. It would be pretty easy to light some candles and draw a circle and take a picture to claim it's a spell when it's just... candles and a doodle. You know? Clarity for this listing gets a 1/5. It gets a singular point for saying what the spell is for and generally what it's intended to do, but most of the listing is sucking their own Very Ancient And Powerful dick instead of giving actual details about the spell.

Transparency

Is the seller honest about their refund/returns policy? Is it obvious where materials are being sourced? Is the seller being honest and clear about their credentials and/or qualifications?

On the surface, this seller is upfront about their refunds policy. As in, they don't do refunds. Their policy and other disclaimers are clearly stated at the bottom of the listing.

Standard stuff overall. We love to see a 100% guarantee followed up by "but I'm not responsible if it doesn't work." It's required, yes, but it's still funny. Also incredible to have a disclaimer about not providing medical advice on a listing about, y'know, a medical thing. (They also have a weight loss spell. Take that as you will.) The swap to "we" in the disclaimers is a little strange. It strikes me as something they've copied from another seller's listings or a different source and then edited to their liking.

As for materials, I have no idea where they're getting their stuff. They say that they use only the highest quality materials, but who knows?

We don't know what materials are being used in this spell, so there's no way to fact check this. This is on purpose.

And, once again, there's absolutely no way to verify this person's credentials. I can't even verify that they're a real person who practices magic! So, I can't say one way or the other if they're telling the truth.

It really seems like their refunds policy and general disclaimers are the only verifiably transparent things here, huh? That's worth a point, probably...

Except it isn't. I took a couple hours to read through every single review this shop has ever received, because I was curious. I found a couple strange things that I'll talk about further along in this review, but right now, I want to focus on this:

(For more examples, please see the version of this post on my website.)

Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite grifter behavior, the old-fashioned bribe for better reviews. What this seller has done is offer refunds, exchanges, or other services in order to convince low-star reviewers to change their ratings. And it seems that at least a handful of people have taken them up on this offer. These folks have said that this is what happened, as you can see. I can't help but wonder how many of these other five-star reviews are fake, now, too.

Peeking at the listings those reviews are from, their prices are significantly lower than this listing we're focusing on. But you can imagine the draw of getting a $200 refund when you realize you've been scammed, right? Wouldn't you update your review to get that much money back? I would be tempted, I'm not gonna lie.

Then again, I'd probably update it again once I had my money back to be as close to zero stars as possible. Because fuck this behavior.

Transparency gets a solid fuck-you 0/5. They're actively lying about not providing refunds to cover their ass and bribe unsatisfied customers while hiding their identity and details of the spell.

Presence

Is the seller present anywhere other than their shop? Do they share anything about their process, method, or practice anywhere? Are they actually part of a community, or are they just selling something?

As mentioned way up above, I did a lot of digging. This seller has no social media that I can find. My guess is, because this is a scam shopfront using an alias, that I'm not meant to be able to find them anywhere else. Because they don't exist. This is a scam attempting to get as much money from you as possible before Etsy finds them again and shuts it down. They're not part of any community.

Also, interestingly, while I was trying to find anything about this shop, I found a couple Reddit threads that had been deleted talking about the shop. I couldn't recover any of the contents of those threads, unfortunately. Shame. It is interesting, though, that all of them were scrubbed. No idea if there's something bigger going on there or if it's just a coincidence. But it's interesting.

I found something else really interesting while combing through all of those reviews. There's a period from roughly February 2024 to August 2024 where this seller received a ton of one-star reviews in a row. All of them say that they never heard from the seller and never received their services.

The most recent of these one-star reviews is this one, followed by the reply left by the seller:

I can neither confirm nor deny the tragedy of this, because again, they have no other presence, and no lasting messages available other than the complaint reviews on the shop. And yet, I'm inclined to believe that this is at least somewhat true. Something happened in this seller's life that caused them to abandon this shop for several months. They'd been making steady sales before this with really positive reviews.

But Etsy has a vacation mode. Sellers can temporarily suspend their shops in the event of vacation, emergency, illness, or whatever else. Why didn't this person use this feature? It could be because of the "star seller" thing, since that's assessed on a three month cycle, and if a shop isn't active at all during the grading period, it'll lose star status. But neglecting the shop for seven months does the same thing! What the hell??

I'm uncertain if these people got refunds. According to the seller's review reply shown above, they apparently reached out to everyone who ordered from them. One person came back to amend their review to be five stars, stating that they spoke to the shop owner and giving their condolences.

One thing I'm certain of, though, is that this sale thing is surely a result of that low period. The shop's seemingly genuine and astroturf-like reviews resume around September/October 2024, and I know that these sales were going on then because of a review talking about "taking your $30 elsewhere." That's the approximate price of the service they bought.

So, either this "sale" tactic has been happening for a long time, or it's a newer scheme to boost the shop back up to where it was previously. I imagine the seller was desperate to get back to their five-star status after all those nasty reviews. No wonder they're bribing for stars and burying those negative reviews under mountains of premature and potentially false praise. Even if it's because of a genuine tragedy, this is gross behavior.

Presence gets an obvious 0/5. Even off-site reviews are non-existent.

Genuineness

Are listing photos genuine? Are any images AI, or is any copy written by an AI? Is this a real person selling something, or is this a bot account?

So, this listing has a bunch of images attached to it. The first one, the one you see in the Etsy search, is AI generated. Take a close look at it and note the blur on the earrings and the frames of the glasses melding into the eye/eyebrow shapes on the right.

Two of the images provided are collages of five-star reviews. I'm ignoring these, because I think it's gauche to do this when you're a legit seller. Doing it when you're a full-blown scammer is just ridiculous.

The rest of the images in this listing seem real, though! They're real pictures. What a refreshing and reassuring thing that is. (Very heavy sarcasm.)

I have three problems with these images, listed here in order from least to most bothersome.

First, these images don't really... match the spell at all. A couple seem like spells to bind two people together, like the ones with the figurine candles and the two poppets tied together. The others are generic spell circles.

My second issue is that every single spell listing in this shop has the same exact images. It quickly becomes obvious why they don't match the spell in question -- they're being reused again and again because they're eye-catching! The average consumer isn't going to be combing through every single listing, they're using the search bar to find specific spells and clicking the one(s) that catch their eye.

The third issue is that every single one of these images is stolen. Several are images that have been commonly reposted for the past decade (like the voodoo doll one). But a couple of these are kind of strange. Take this one, for example:

This image, as far as I can tell, comes from this article, which is about Syriac magic. It is, if Firefox's translate feature is to be trusted, a beginner-level article about Syriac magic. The image in the listing is the same one found on this article, just zoomed in and with a weird lightning filter overtop. This makes me wonder if this seller searched "syriac magic ritual picture" or something similar to get this image. I tried a couple ways, but this is a niche website in Turkish, so I'm not surprised I couldn't get it to populate in my search results.

Let's see this one also, since it's similarly stolen:

This one seems like it might be from this website, which is a French psychic's personal website advertising various spell services. I'm not 100% certain about this image's origins, but this one made the most sense out of the options.

A common thread between all of these images is that they were, at one point or another, reposted to Facebook. All of them, even the obscure one from the Turkish website. Not sure what exactly that means, but it is a pattern.

Well, with that reveal out of the way, let's go ahead and give Genuineness a score of 0/5. Not a single thing here is legitimate or genuine.

Verifiability

Is it obvious how a buyer will know their service is completed? Is it possible for the buyer to know? Are there any reviews verifying the quality/existence of the products or services? Are there negative reviews available?

All of the spells being provided, this one included, are "service only." That means you don't get a physical item, which means there's no tangible proof of service. You get a photo, as previously mentioned, and a reportedly brief summary of the spell's completion. I've already stated my issues with this, since there's no way to be certain that the service was done with just a short summary and an easily-faked photo.

Almost all of the reviews in this shop, and the one review on this particular listing, are positive. There are a sprinkling of negative reviews from 2024 complaining about not receiving what they paid for, a lack of detail in communication, and lack of results. The majority of reviews mention quick, attentive communication and fast turnaround for service completion.

And most of the reviews are premature. Nearly every single one of these reviews was left before the customer could see results, and most of them admit it.

I have two big problems with this. The first is that scammers like this will ask for positive reviews immediately, even when the supposed results might take months to manifest. The second is that a lot of these reviews come from the same person, all saying roughly the same thing about different services, all on the same day. It is possible that these are genuine, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to call this astroturfing. Plus, with the proof of the seller bribing reviewers for refunds/other services, this reeks of falsified reviews.

So you can't trust the images, you can't trust the positive reviews, and you can't even tell if the seller is a real person. To me, that's textbook scam material. This seller gets 0/5 for Verifiability.

Morality

Are they offering services related to health, mental health, legal services, or other dubious subjects? Are they knowingly targeting a vulnerable audience using buzzwords and inflammatory language? Is the listing sharing misinformation or encouraging belief in conspiracy theories? Does the listing contain debunkable information? Does the listing participate in bigotry, cultural appropriation, bioessentialism, or anything of that nature?

I would like to fistfight this seller behind a Walmart.

Targeting vulnerable populations with impossible magical results and charging hundreds of dollars for empty promises is deplorable. It's disgusting. The intense "BUY NOW!!!" language coupled with sales that go on seemingly forever while being teased as "limited time" just compounds the scummy nature of this listing.

Not to mention the blatant erasure of intersex people and non-binary identities! "Opposite sex," my fucking foot. Obvious scam aside, if you don't know enough about trans people and the biology of gender to realize that it's more complex than one or the other, you're not qualified to cast spells like this.

This is a scam, plain and simple. It's designed to catch the eye of someone desperate enough to take a chance on wasting over a hundred dollars on the body of their dreams. They are continually adjusting the prices and renewing the sale to keep the urgency of "this BIGGEST SALE EVER is going to end soon!!!" going as long as possible. It's a scam.

Fuck you, Sayran/MariahSpells/whoever the hell you are. Morality is an extremely obvious 0/5.

Average Score & Summary

The average of all six scores comes to a whopping 0.2/5 (rounded up). I'm not surprised. With five zeroes and a single one on the board, this scam really does have everything.

I went into this review knowing that this was going to be a bad one. I wanted to cover this one specifically because it has all the hallmarks of an obvious scam. Because we can look at this and go, "Well, who the hell would fall for this? It's so obvious that this is bullshit, isn't it?"

But people do fall for it. People fall for it all the time. I went to the listing to copy some text for alt text descriptions on February 25, 2025, and saw this:

Another sale and another review, so the listing must be gone now, right? Only one left, and all that. Nope.

Of course not, because this is a scam. This asshole is going to keep doing this as long as they can, because it's making them a shitload of money.

Knowledgeable, considerate, genuine people buy this shit, because they want to believe. They're desperate for something they can't otherwise attain easily or safely.These scams are deliberately curated to fool the unwary, the hopeful, the desperate, the naive.

You are not immune to scams.

Let's summarize, quickly, the big warning signs found in this shop that mark it as a scam:

No social media, website, or other presence outside the shop

Big promises without explanation of how they're possible or how they're going to be fulfilled; minimal proof of completion promised

High prices slashed with sales throughout the shop

Sales that don't end to create an extreme and fabricated sense of urgency

Negative reviews with five stars, reviews edited in exchange for refunds, reviews edited by other coercion

Multiple positive, samey reviews from the same person on multiple products all on the same day

A listing that is mostly bragging about power and prestige rather than explaining the product/service in any kind of detail

Mismatch between the tradition/practice of the person and the services being offered and/or the language being used (being of an "ancient tradition" and yet using very modern New Age terminology)

Stolen listing photos, AI-generated images

It's a lot, but like I said, I picked this one because it has pretty much everything.

I believe that magic can help a trans person along their transition journey. Absolutely. Sure. Make your meds work faster, prevent misgendering, protect you from harm, smooth coming out conversations, etc. I've done all of these things successfully myself.

Magic cannot force an impossible change. If something isn't physically possible, magic isn't going to make it happen for you. A spell won't change your chromosomes. In my paradigm, this is explained by knots of Fate and Being that can't be untied.

This spell would not do anything. Even if the seller was genuine, this spell wouldn't do anything for you. Maybe if it was a spell intended to help your HRT act quicker or more effectively, or help you find a surgeon more easily, or something else like that, I could believe it. But a magic spell from Etsy isn't a replacement for medicine.

It can be fun to perform these spells, though. Spells to transform yourself into a fucking dragon rule. They're fun experiments. The day one of these spells works, you'll never hear from me again, because I'll be a jellyfish floating in the deep depths of the ocean forever and ever.

Have fun with magic. Just don't spend $150 on an Etsy scam for a scrap of false hope.

And, just as a final note, fuck Etsy for letting this kind of thing go. Fuck Etsy for giving scammers like this one (and many others) "Star Seller" status. You'd think they wouldn't just award that to anyone. You'd think that kind of recognition would come with some oversight for quality assurance, but no. Etsy lets scams like this thrive because they make a huge profit. Etsy's quality has been dropping across the board for years now, and I would genuinely encourage legitimate sellers looking for a place to hawk their wares to go elsewhere.

Know that I've reported this shop to Etsy. We'll see if that goes anywhere. I'll update if it does.

Final Notes

Many sellers in this series anonymous for a reason. Please do not go find these people. Even if I'm exposing a blatant scam to warn people about it, do not harass anyone. Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. When appropriate, I attempt to contact the seller(s) to discuss their ads and listings or report them where possible. Again, do not attempt to contact or bother the sellers, even if my coverage of them is negative.

If you spot an ad or a product listing in the wild that you want me to see or cover, send me a link, a screenshot, or the name of the shop. You can send it via ask or DM on Tumblr or to thewitchaese@gmail.com. Or, if you're a legitimate seller and want me to take a look at your listings (anonymous or not), shoot me a message or an email to chat about it! Examples of what to do are just as important as examples of what not to do, after all.

And, if you enjoy this series or my other work, please consider dropping a couple dollars in my tip jar! Writing is my full-time gig, and contributions help keep this boat afloat.

Thanks for reading!

[kira-sucks-lawlipops]

I used to work the front reception desk at a hospital that charged exorbitantly for patient and visitor parking. This was an undercover parking lot with a boomgate at the exit, not street parking as in the video above. It cost $13 an hour, for everyone at all times of the day with no exceptions.

Want to wait for a loved one who will be in surgery all day? That'll be a hundred bucks. Come here twice a week for dialysis? Another hundred, but every week for the rest of your life. The real kicker was that it never reset or expired. We had people who came into the emergency room, ended up getting admitted into a ward, and didn't think to do anything about their car sitting in the parking lot for days on end, racking up hour after hour of fees. Then when they finally got discharged, they'd call us from the garage in tears because the ticket machine was telling them they needed to pay thousands of dollars just to go home.

There was one loophole to this. If a ticket malfunctioned at the boomgate, we could press an override button to open it manually. This was for "emergencies only", so we couldn't do anything from the ticket machine, and we couldn't trigger it without receiving a call from the boomgate.

For five years, anytime anyone asked me any sort of question about parking, I would tell them to ignore the ticket machine entirely, go directly to the boomgate and press the 'assisance' button. And then I would let them out of the parking lot.

I probably cost the hospital more than my salary in parking fees.

Why did I do this? Was it out of selfless love for my fellow human beings? A deeply-seated belief that charging people for being sick is evil? A desire to fight the man in whatever small way I could?

Not really.

Don't get me wrong, those things did apply. I think parking fees at hospitals are evil and should be abolished. But my strongest motivator for always letting people out of the parking lot was because that was the easiest way to solve the problem.

Basically the entire time I worked at that hospital I was always 1) too busy 2) too exhausted and 3) not paid enough to care about dealing with the parking lot. The tickets were buggy, the machine was always malfunctioning and the system was exploitative. Why would I ever make that my priority when I had access to a magic button that instantly made the problem go away?

Now pay attention class. Why have I told you this story?

Because it applies to 90% of people whose job it is to monitor parking lots.

I cannot count how many times I've been in some shopping mall or convention centre or whatever, stuck a ticket into a machine and decided that actually I don't want to pay that much for parking here today. So I just drove to the boomgate and pressed the button to call for help and then was allowed to leave for free. All you have to do is say that you already paid at the machine but now the gate isn't reading your ticket correctly. The person who has to resolve that problem for you will almost always choose to hand you a 'get out of parking jail free' card rather than actually try to deal with it.

The only time I've ever gotten challenged was one guy who told me to reverse and come into the parking office (lol no), but I couldn't recerse because there were other cars behind me so he had to let me go. If you are not one for lying just crumple the ticket up a bit or scratch out part of the barcode. Don't say you lost it (some places charge at the boomgate for lost tickets), say the machine can't read it and then say hello to free parking for life.

May 31 2016 - Collin Kennedy, who is a cancer patient, used expanding spray foam to disable a parking meter at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg where he gets his treatment. He says the fees are a tax on the sick. [video]

[ritavonbees]

Diversity is a Family Value

There's been a lot of critique of the Born This Way narrative that I won't retread, but something I'm thinking about now is how its logical implications really never got belaboured to the people who needed to hear it. The right-centrist Family Values cultural sphere settled into a kind of "well they can't help being like that but do they have to shove it in my face" reluctant tolerance. But surely if you were taking family values seriously, the next step is... someone could be Born This Way in my family. In fact, the more kids I have the more likely it is that at least one of them will be some flavour of LGBTQ. What's best for my family if it turns out the diversity is coming from inside the house? Is it having all the diversity corralled in the designated diversity area where I don't have to look at it? Or is it a community that diversity is peacefully integrated into so my kids have role models for whatever kind of adult they're growing into?

What Born This Way ultimately demanded was to fundamentally give up the delusion of cast-iron control of your own children, the kind of delusion that can only be maintained by disowning or destroying any children that refuse to be controlled. And from here it looks like that just didn't take. But with or without that particular narrative, we need to keep trying to break the delusion, because that's what stands in the way of cis, straight, etc people's love for their family turning them into allies.

This applies to disability too, btw - imagine the power of the Autism Mom lobby if they learned to listen to autistic adults instead of pseudoscience peddlers. If you fully internalise the idea that you could have queer or disabled kids or grandkids, completely jettison the idea that there's always something you can and should do to avoid it, then you personally benefit from living in a community where queer and disabled people visibly thrive. At that point, it doesn't actually matter whether your gay uncle, or the trans lady who works at the library, or the teacher in the wheelchair was "born that way"/has tried hard enough not to be/etc. What matters is accepting that your child or grandchild could be fundamentally different from you in some way, simply on account of that's how humans work, and if that happens you will want someone to ask for advice, someone who's started the work of making your community accessible to your child, someone who just by being around proves to your child that it's worth trying to live through their teens. And if it doesn't happen to you it'll happen to your neighbour or your colleague or someone from your church. So why wait?

[girlietips]

What I would do to get healthy for summer 🏃🏼‍♀️🧘🏼‍♀️

So I’ve seen a lot of summer body talk on tiktok and while I think the way a lot of people are going about it in a very toxic manner I do understand the want to get healthy and fit for summer.

Here is my routine that I am doing to get fit and healthy by June as someone who prioritizes adding value to my life instead of taking away things.

So since I am posting this late February I’m just going to say we have three months until summer. I also recommend tracking your progress in some way. You don’t have to use the scale a tape measure is a great way to measure progress. I also recommend keeping track of non scale victories such as any improvements with a certain exercise, clothes fitting different and mood improvement.

March

We are gonna start slow and mindful.

I think it is good to track your calories. Not going into a deficit just yet but tracking your maintenance calories (the calories to maintain your weight) and your protein (about 1 gram per pound of body weight). This will make you more mindful of your choices and help you understand some of your eating habits.

THIS IS NOT TO MAKE YOU FEEL ANY SHAME AROUND EATING!!! This is to show how you can fit your favorite foods in with moderation.

For example I recently was one a calorie deficit where I made great progress I still ate my favorite foods. Every Friday night me and my sorority sisters would split two medium dominos pizzas. I still wanted to enjoy that time so early Friday morning I would plug into my app that I was going to eat 2 slices of pizza. Then I would make sure my breakfast and lunch would be lighter but still high protein.

Also if you have a history of EDs follow the advice of your doctor and your plan.

Getting your steps in is a very easy way to raise your base metabolic rate (the number of calories your body uses just by existing)

10,000 is a great goal but if you find that too intimidating or you have other health concerns I recommend starting with just adding 2,000 steps to however many you normally get. So if you normally get 5,000 try for 7,000

I also think if you have access to a gym you should start going there to walk on the treadmill this way you can begin to get over gym anxiety and build the habit of going to the gym.

Water is literally so important and unless you are making a conscious decision to drink water you probably are not getting enough.

2 liters is the goal so buy a big water bottle and make sure it is always with you.

Also if you don’t like the taste of water I like to add lemon juice to mine and there are also great water flavoring options.

This is weird and might just be a me thing but get a straw I drink 10x the water if I have a straw than if I don’t.

You need protein to maintain muscle especially if you are going on a deficit. Like I said you should eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

If that is really difficult aim for at least 100 grams.

I also recommend finding a protein powder and bar that you like. Also I am not trying to sell you that they are more enjoyable than a candy bar or milkshake but I will say they are more enjoyable than eating a chicken breast. If you have a sweet tooth or don’t eat a lot of meat this is the way to go.

Also really important that you are still getting a proper amount of fiber to keep your digestion moving. Highly recommend Metamucil if this is something you struggle with. But also just making sure you are eating enough fruits and vegetables

April

Now that we have built up some good habits we are going to add some more.

Now you are going to add some kind of resistance/strength training to your routine.

If you’ve been going to the gym to walk start going to the weight room and grabbing some dumbbells. There are a lot of easy 1 dumbbell full routines on YouTube and TikTok so you can be in a corner and get a full workout.

If you go for a walk outside maybe end it with a YouTube workout video.

Start doing this 3-4 times a week on top of your steps goal.

This is also the time I would look towards your goals and adjust your diet and calories. Maybe you want to lose weight maybe you want to gain some weight.

If you want to lose weight don’t go extreme a deficit of 300 calories is still a deficit. No grown human can survive on 1000 calories or less. Also make sure you are eating enough protein and healthy fats still.

If you want to gain weight make sure you are strength training and upping your protein and calories so you gain muscle and strength.

If you just wanna maintain but improve your diet I suggest making healthy swaps (such as trying different higher protein ingredients, fun healthy snacks, or eating less processed food). There are so many delicious whole food recipes to try I recommend trying a new one a week.

May

May is about consistency and discipline. By now you most likely have a decent workout schedule and have made some real change with your diet. I recommend making a schedule for the month and sticking too it completely.

Keep track in a journal or habit tracking and see how many days in a row you can maintain your routines and health.

Also set yourself a reward for keeping up. My reward is going to be another piercing once I get back to my home state but it can be really anything that you really want.

If you mess up DO NOT THROW AWAY THE MONTH. Discipline and consistency are hard to build but your hard work does not disappear because you missed a day. The sun will set and rise the next day and it is better to start the day like any other rather than being hard on yourself. You only fail when you give up completely.

This will also be a great time to compare your progress.

Maybe you run faster or lift heavier.

Maybe you actually found healthy food that you like and enjoy making

Maybe you feel more confident in your skin and being active

Whatever it is take notice of the little wins and the big wins

This is what I will be doing to boost my health coming out of winter. I welcome you all to join me. I can’t say I’ll be the most active but if you dm I will see it quicker than my asks if you need to chat.

While diet culture seems to be getting a little extreme rn becoming more healthy is always good and that looks different for everyone.

Xoxo sorry I’m not that active been in a writers block where the only thing that comes to mind is all my chem homework tbh. The summer I should be back to my usual posting schedule but for now I’ll just post when I can. Love you all💋💋

[negrowhat]

I loved your discussion of Payu and Rain’s d/s dynamic; can you do it for Johann and North? I feel like Johann likes power play but in a really gentle way, and North might not initiate it but seems willing and responsive to that kind of play as well. It’s super cute.

Hey friend!!! JohanNorth have quite the dynamic...one that I very much enjoy. Again I would like to say I'm no expert in D/s as a kink, and that's not what this post is going to be like anyway.

I want you to know I typed this up, and deleted it, and typed it up again several times because I was starting to ramble and this was getting long af. I am going to insert a page break so people can scroll if they want to.

Let's talk about it.

I think JohanNorth's whole dynamic is very much give and take. Or more like, 'I'm giving you me please take me and give yourself to me in return.' "ALL OF ME LOVES ALL OF YOU" type vibe. Please sing that in John Legend's voice or you won't understand.

JohanNorth's beginning feels like a Dom/sub thing but in the end it changes to something completely different. Not everyone goes into a relationship feeling 100% comfortable with each other.

Johan had more time to have his feelings for North develop because he spent so much time falling in love and being there for North when North had no idea who he was. So by the time Johan was granted access to approach North he was already level-minded and clear headed. He was solid. That meant he could focus everything on North.

He was so ready to handle North's bar fight situation in away that would pull his most precious boy right into his awaiting orbit. It did help that Johan had so many people in his corner who knew the dedication he had to North.

I think once Johan got over the major hurtle of letting his feelings be known to North he was ready to play hard ball, no more holding back. He confessed and gauged North's reaction to him. North was excited about the confession. He was happy to know someone as kind and as capable as Johan would be so into him. That gave Johan the greenlight he needed to advance.

I don't think Johan's into power play exactly, I think in the beginning he asserts some level of power to draw out North's confidence in him and their relationship. I think he used some more aggressive tactics to kind of push North out of his comfort zone so he could get used to being in a relationship with him.

Like in the beginning we definitely see Johan be more dominant, and take control of their relationship's progression, but as soon as North starts to return some of that assertive energy Johan starts to mellow out. I think he was treating North how he wanted to be treated in return. And when they reach a stable emotional plane Johan becomes softer, sweeter, and more vulnerable.

Ultimately Johan wanted North to be possessive and selfish with him. He wanted North to take from him. He wanted to give himself to North. And he wanted to take North for himself in return.

Speaking of possession; Johan is physical in a way that SCREAMS 'I'm obsessed with you. I want to possess you. You belong to me.' The way he kisses North??? The way he devours his lips? That hand that ALWAYS finds it's way around his throat? The tie yanks? The hair pulls? It's like he can't get enough of North. It's like if he lets North go, he'll vanish. He's obsessed.

Also the way he just holds onto North. He wraps himself around the boy. And once North is settled there he will not let the boy go. That whole scene in the café where he pulls North into his lap and just traps him there. They would need the jaws of life to pry his arms from around that boy and what does North do? Allows it. He always does. He likes it when Johan treats him like a big ole teddy bear. Holding onto him tightly, kissing him whenever he feels like it. North loves it, he's usually smiling about it, hands placed obediently over Johan's.

Let's talk about the little transactional method Johan established with North. I love it. It's another habit he's formed to kind of pull North out of his comfort zone...maybe depend on him a little more. I love that he shamelessly offers to pay North for his time and affection and attention. A kiss? A hug? A cute lil video? Smexy time? He's willing to PAY for everything North does because he wants everything from him. He wants North to feel like he can express himself however he wants to.

Going back to Johan wanting North to be more selfish with him. I think that's why he kind of conditioned North to exchange kisses in return for him fulfilling requests. It's ok for North to ask anything of Johan but he also wants North to feel okay with being affectionate with him and asking or demanding some affection in return. Johan asks for the simplest of kisses for payment and he will fill North's every desire and answer every question.

I think Johan wanted to get out of the habit of asking North, "What do you want from me?" and get him into the habit of asking for it on his own. Like when he coaxes North into asking him to take the lead when they kiss. Instead of Johan having to ask, "Do you want me to kiss you?" he would prefer if North asks, "Can you kiss me?" You know? Be more proactive.

If North wants something from Johan he only needs to ask and be confident with it and Johan is ready to serve. He doesn't want North to feel any sort of negative way for wanting to take from him because everything he has is for North. Also this way he gets to enjoy more kisses from those lips he loves so much.

North is the kind of guy who wants to take care of himself and solve all issues on his own. He's willing to work THREE jobs on top of school to take care of his business. So of course he finds it hard to ask Johan for anything. He finds it hard to tell Johan when he's having a problem. He doesn't want to bother him, he doesn't want to upset, and above all he doesn't want to burden him. Johan treats him so well and he is too fearful to ask for more from him. And I'm sure he's worried that Johan may think he's together with him for all the wrong reasons.

Even if Johan is literally throwing money at him for existing and buying up all his workplaces so he can be the one to take care of North one way or another. Even if Johan is increasing his own workload so he can take over his father's company faster so he can provide for North. Even if Johan moves North into his condo to take away one less expense in the boy's life.

I appreciate that the people around Johan took time to explain to North about how a lot of what Johan does is for the benefit of him. And honestly it's things Johan would tell North if he just asked him. Johan doesn't seem like he wants to keep anything from North but he wants North to want to know. Like while Johan went to Boston and North was missing him so much, but he was too afraid to reach out. He didn't want to disturb Johan he knew he was working. But thanks to their friends, North got to learn that Johan was missing him just as much. Johan even cut his trip short because he didn't want North to be sad from missing him. Since North was still so unwilling to be selfish with him, Johan had to take that initiative to return to him instead.

I love that we get to see North learn that he can ask from Johan and take from him and depend on him and need him. Johan is the king of 'Acts of Service' and I'm glad by the end of things North got to see that. There isn't anything Johan would not do for North.

As North becomes more confident in himself and his feelings and his place by Johan's side we begin to see North willingly show his feelings. He begins to show his concerns for Johan. He wants to help Johan relax and be at ease, even if it means just being in his presence. He begins to show more casual intimacy. More pecks on the cheek, and leaning into Johan, and cuddling with him. He shows a softer side. A cuter side. A more docile side. He seems to be more calm around Johan and more considerate of what he wants from him.

I love when North gives Johan his gear. We all know how monumental that is. He essentially gives Johan the biggest part of himself, his heart. And entrusting his gear to Johan means that he trusts his heart and himself with Johan. He trusts that Johan will take care of his heart. It's a beautiful moment that holds so much weight, especially for someone like Johan who has been waiting for North for years. And I love that we get to see Johan proudly display that gear in a way that says, 'He gave me his heart and I belong to him in return.' The gear is not just an item to keep on a shelf or in a box. It's something he takes with him everywhere like their love for each other. Johan can't just put the gear down. It and North belongs to him now.

In that one scene where Drunk North shows his ownership of Johan, I think that day was like Christmas for Johan. To see his sweet and budding North show such strong possessiveness over him? It must have been so satisfying to experience.

And you can really tell Johan enjoyed it. He kept North's eye contact and he answered him directly and gently, just for North's ears. He didn't even pay attention to that woman. AND WHEN NORTH CLIMBED INTO HIS LAP AND SAID JOHAN WAS HIS?? To be outright claimed? I think Johan could've died and ascended to heaven. Nothing else and no one else mattered in that moment. He was North's and only North's. Oh to be possessed by someone.

I think Johan knew that from then on North would feel more inclined to express his ownership which what he wanted from day one. He wanted them both to feel like they belonged to each other.

I'm sorry this still got long.

[iturmom]

i do eat with abandon when i have access to the food i want. damn this is a complicated topic i'll address the other one later. so there's two parts to the problem: access and want. let's start with access. i survive mostly on food from food banks and churches. sometimes they have exactly what i want! but they always have edible food, it's just that i know i can't replace my favorite foods when they run out, so i ration them. i can't eat the foods i want with abandon because i can't afford to, because i don't want to exist every single day is a nightmare i have to suffer through and no one has ever wanted to take responsibility, even when i was a child, for forcing me to exist without my consent and now in adulthood i have to navigate all these problems by myself because the conservatives want more people but they don't want to take responsibility for the people they wanted so bad. so i am trapped in a world that is sick and twisted and cruel and fucked up and evil and horrific forced to take responsibility for this life i never wanted because i'm terrified of dying. ugh it's so hard to summarize concisely, you can glean information about my mental state from my blog if you're curious.

as for the food i want to eat, well my palette was formed by people who did not give a shit whether i lived or died, and were only taking care of me as much as they were required to by law, so i was fed mostly junk food especially in my youngest years before i had to move in with my grandma, and now we're discovering that the junk food is made to be addictive so we can't palette more natural food but the shit they add to it is poisoning our population that's why our society is so unhealthy. so yeah i also can't eat with reckless abandon because i've discovered that the food i actually want to eat is as addictive as heroin and would similarly but less dramatically rot my body from the inside out so. so i only enjoy junk food, if i want to eat with reckless abandon, i have to eat junk food, which will slowly kill me and also i can't afford it anyway.

on the other topic, it's really quite simple. this is my blog and i am allowed to post what i want. no one who follows me reblogged this post, so if you are seeing it you actively sought it out, or it came up on your dashboard from someone else who sought it out and if you don't like what that blog is posting then you can unfollow them. it kinda sounds like a you problem. i want to explain my thought process but you're not asking me what i meant with my words, you are telling me what i meant and you seem pretty sure of it so i don't want to waste my time to prove myself to you when it won't do any good anyway, you don't want to understand.

[midnight-bay-if]

A Tentative Update

Tentative because I don't want to jinx anything. I'm hoping very soon I will have a workable update for the second half of chapter 3. It won't include everything that I wanted, which is all three possible routes for one-on-one scenes with team members, but over 30,000 words later, and it is still a sizeable update. This will also give me time to work on the third route in conjunction with chapter 4.

I'm not going to give a definitive date since I wouldn't want to let anyone down should things go wrong, but it would be fair to say 'very soon' will be as soon as I can make it... I will still try to answer asks where I can, but much of my attention will be on jumping these final hurdles.

I have also been planning potential tiers for a patreon... I would love to hear your thoughts.

A monthly Q&A for general questions, explicit NSFW questions, and a spoiler Q&A (the only question I wouldn't answer is 'who is the bay slasher?' because the short-lived quick gratification of the answer wouldn't be as satisfying as figuring it out on your own.)

NSFW short stories with a voted character.

Fluff mini-series with characters of your choice (from characters' POV) (I would perhaps learn twine so people can personalise their MC's for these.)

Short stories written from characters' POV similar to asks on tumblr, but longer and much more in-depth.

Any and all artwork I actually complete myself or commission.

(In the future; potentially?) I saw this idea on Tumblr, but I can't remember who the original idea belongs to. There would have to be a limited number of places, but a personalised letter from a character of your choice? You could use it like a penpal service, replying to the letter or just having a one-off letter from your RO addressed to you or your MC.

(In the future) Early access to new updates of the demo, as well as continued access after the public demo finishes.

If there is anything else you would like to see, send in your ideas.

It's my dream to be able to work on The Midnight Bay full-time one day. The project means a lot to me, as do these characters. Being able to share them with you in any capacity is a privilege. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to engage with this story and its characters. It really means the world to me.

P.S. Everytime I get close to a new update, my anxiety begins kicking me in the teeth again, so it's another reason for me to step away from social media while I finish. Otherwise, I fear I will never get it done.

[lvrrgirlll]

Currently thinking about semi-arranged marriage!patrick x wedding planner!reader…

Patrick wasn’t ever really keen on the idea of marriage. He always thought it was something that just wasn’t for him. He still thought that, actually. But his parents didn’t.

He had taken some time off the tour to visit his parents after years of struggling to really get where he wanted to go. Both he and his parents knew why he was really there, though. They had frozen his trust fund.

Long story short, they gave him an ultimatum: either get married and settle down or lose access to the trust fund. And if the couple months he’d gone without the trust fund had taught him anything, it was that he only had one skill in life, and he was barely good enough at that to stay afloat. That’s how he ended up meeting you.

His fiancé, a nice yuppie who his parents had set him up with, had hired you, a wedding planner, to plan the most elaborate wedding money could buy for the two of them. Unfortunately, though, (or fortunately —depending on how you look at it) she was far too busy between wedding dress fittings, long days at the office, regular gym sessions, and shopping outings with her friends to ever actually show up for your meetings. She would always just tell Patrick what she wanted, and he would show up.

So over the months of planning the wedding, you two grew a lot closer than he felt with his own fiancé. After all, he was only marrying her for his trust fund and she was only marrying him because she was scared she was getting too old and decided it was time, no matter who it was with.

You had told yourself that whatever you felt, it would never come to the surface, but you couldn’t help all those little moments when it almost felt like you could be playing your wedding with him. Like when you two were at the cake tasting and he got a little frosting on the corner of his lip and you wiped it off. Anyone would do that though, right? Or when you two were touring venues and didn’t even realize you had started holding hands. It was a mindless thing, of course…

The worst one was when you were sampling different brands and types of champagne. His fiancé had told him to make sure he really tried them all because she only wanted the best. And somewhere in all of the tasting, you two both got a little tipsy. And maybe while you were tipsy you two kissed, which turned into making out in your car. You were both too sober to call it some drunk mistake, but you both called it one anyways.

“So what’s it like being a wedding planner,” he’d asked once, when you two were at a florist looking at different sample arrangements.

“Fun. Y’know, you help plan the happiest day of some people’s lives,” you responded simply.

He chuckled dryly. “Happiest day of their lives, huh…” he repeated under his breath, a sort of bitter, contemplative tone lingering. “And it’s not… lonely?” He’d noticed the lack of a ring on your finger long ago, when you two had first met to start planning.

You froze for a moment, trying to brush off whatever feelings his comment stirred up. “Well… yes. Sometimes.” You cleared your throat, avoiding eye contact with him as you messed with the flowers in front of you. “I mean, of course I hope to plan my own wedding someday, instead of someone else’s.”

When you two leave the florist, onto the next project, Patrick stops you for a moment. He wordlessly fiddles something out of his pocket, a small flower he must’ve taken from inside. He’s tied the stem in a ring. “Here.” Offering a smile, one of pity and longing and a sort of… sorrow, perhaps, he slips the dainty flower ring onto your left hand ring finger. He proceeds walking then.

“C’mon, our wedding’s not gonna plan itself,” he reminds you. But when he says “our wedding” you have to remind yourself he doesn’t mean yours and his. He means his and hers.

[offtorivendell]

What you all seem to be missing is that this isn't even a topic of infertility, it's of delivery. The discussion is NEVER "can Elain get pregnant" because the problem was not "could Feyre get pregnant." The plot introduced into the series was what happens after she became pregnant and carried the baby to term, could a non Illyrian safely deliver a baby with wings which has now carried over into the discussion of Elain since it's canon that Feyre and Nesta were changed while we were not told the same of Elain. It's not a reason Elain can't be with Az but it is a valid topic of discussion within this series since the author posed it as a plotline. In the real world, most women safely choose a Caesarean section if they're dealing with delivery issues in their pregnancy so acting like delivering a winged baby has real world implications is simply you jumping on a pedestal for something to yell about. That's not to say there aren't delivery issues in the real world but this scenario is not one of them.

TW: death, infertility, pregnancy and childbirth related trauma. Also a brief mention of sexual assault.

Hi anon,

Respectfully, please stop being deliberately obtuse. Let's break this down, line by line.

What you all seem to be missing is that this isn't even a topic of infertility, it's of delivery. The discussion is NEVER "can Elain get pregnant" because the problem was not "could Feyre get pregnant."

I'm aware! I assume that you sent me this ask because I reblogged an old post of mine yesterday, so what you seem to be missing is that I've already discussed this.

Here, where I implicitly acknowledged both infertility and trauma related to pregnancy and childbirth as potential triggers in the post:

And here, where I explicitly stated that we know you guys don't mean that Elain is unable to conceive at all - which is impossible to know, as per the text she hasn't tried. If you read what I wrote, you'd see I said that - assuming Nesta had not changed her anatomy and would not be able to in the future, or that Elriel would even conceive winged children if they wanted kids at all - Elain and Azriel together would be functionally infertile*, as any child with wings (which is not a guarantee, by the way, though as you guys treat it as a foregone conclusion I worked off that premise) would die before or during birth, killing Elain at the same time.

* Is it more correct to say they'd suffer from "impaired fecundity"? Yes! But please read a little further.

The plot introduced into the series was what happens after she became pregnant and carried the baby to term, could a non Illyrian safely deliver a baby with wings which has now carried over into the discussion of Elain since it's canon that Feyre and Nesta were changed while we were not told the same of Elain.

It's really not hard to understand that we are discussing a fictional woman's ability to successfully have a specific man's children, and that their impaired fecundity does not (or should not) impact her worthiness to be loved by that man; that it has been equated to the struggles that many real, living people have experienced with regards to conceiving, carrying their babies to term and giving birth; and that - while an oversimplification - all these issues are being lumped under the umbrella of "infertility struggles" to be concise and accessible.

That being said, let me correct you quickly. While you very carefully said that we were "not told the same of Elain," with regards to Nesta changing her anatomy, you neglected to mention that SJM actually had her choose wording that didn't explicitly exclude Elain from the change, either.

The brisk spring wind whipped her golden-brown hair across her face. “I gave it back to the Cauldron in exchange for the knowledge of how to save them.” She swallowed. “But a little remains. I think something else—someone else—stopped the Cauldron from taking all of it. And I made some changes of my own.” The Mother. The only being who would see the sacrifice Nesta had made and give a little back. Perhaps it was she who had peered out at them through the Mask. “What did you change?” Nesta rested a hand on her abdomen. “I changed myself a little, too. So none of us will have to go through this again.” - ACOSF, chapter 78

Also of note, Nesta specified she had the "knowledge" to perform the change, which suggests that even if Elain wasn't changed then, it could be done in the future.

It's not a reason Elain can't be with Az...

Literally all that ever needs to be said on the topic.

... but it is a valid topic of discussion within this series since the author posed it as a plotline.

You should have stopped after the first half of the sentence. Elain's lack of pliable bones - ie. the second half of the "Illyrian womb" discussion that posits Gwyn as the only logical love interest - is not even a medically accurate theory, so it shouldn't be entertained full stop. While SJM may have posed Illyrian womb/wing issues as an issue for Feyre and Rhys, she never suggested it would impact any couple's decision to get or stay together. In fact, Nesta and Cassian were mates while Nesta was still unable to birth winged babies, too.

In the real world, most women safely choose a Caesarean section if they're dealing with delivery issues in their pregnancy so acting like delivering a winged baby has real world implications is simply you jumping on a pedestal for something to yell about. That's not to say there aren't delivery issues in the real world but this scenario is not one of them.

Once again I'm asking you to put your thinking cap on.

Obviously we do not have to consider the delivery of winged babies in the real world, but if you cannot see how the frequent suggestion (that Elain's hypothetical inability to successfully have Azriel's children is a valid reason as to why an author would separate, or even hint at separating, a potential couple) could be hurtful and upsetting to the many people who have/are currently struggling with infertility - or who have lost their much wanted and loved babies during the course of pregnancy or childbirth - then I have to assume that you're either suffering from a catastrophic lack of empathy or, respectfully, you have a sheep or two loose in the top paddock.

As I mentioned in the post I linked above, if the fandom is (rightfully!) expected to handle the topic of Gwyn finding love after experiencing SA with grace - out of respect for real life assault survivors - then it is not wrong to expect the same degree of care in return when discussing the anatomy change in ACOSF, out of respect for those who have trauma associated with infertility, pregnancy and childbirth in real life. It's an incredibly simple act to listen in good faith, rather than jumping straight to accusing us of wanting to "yell about" something just because you are prioritising shipping discourse over being kind.

It's 2025, the "Elain doesn't have an Illyrian womb or pliable bones" theory is both medically inaccurate and hurtful, and it really needs to end here.

Please.

[loki-zen]

I still don't want to do the Pronouns thing at work personally... like I'm reblogging this bc it's a good post and i recognise that it's a competing access needs thing but im still just like okay but why does it matter that you don't know that person's gender. call them they. it's whatever.

it should be normalised and acceptable to specify your pronouns but the problem is that all of the shit promoting this message is promoting the message that "this should ideally be a universal practice and there are no non-bigoted/ignorant reasons to be reluctant to do this", which simply isn't true.

Yes, it's helpful for some trans people and it was a good idea to encourage some cis allies to do it so that trans people aren't outing themselves by doing it. Yes, there can also be some clarification from this in multicultural/multilingual teams working remotely.

However, at the point that it becomes something there's pressure to do, you've got a situation that really fucking sucks for trans/genderweird/questioning folk who are not out at work. Many such people are okay or at least at peace with letting people assume, but find it significantly more painful to have to actively explicitly tell people that they are something they're not/they're not sure they vibe with.

It's also entirely legitimate to simply not want to emphasize ones gender, or gender in general, at work.

when people pop off with some ass take like "why should I have to put my pronouns in my profile or signature or whatever, my name is Tom and I have short hair and am wearing an oxford shirt in my profile pic, figure it out" I always think

so do you just not talk to people from other countries for your job, ever?

like, some people don't, and you can follow the flowchart to a different part of the argument about why pushing back about pronouns is stupid, but I e-mail people in Singapore and Dubai and Japan and India every day. A lot of those people have names that are probably their local equivalent of "Tom," but I have never seen them before and I have no idea if that's a girl's name or a boy's name. They usually have profile pics too. I don't know how common short hair is for women or long hair is for men in their country. I don't know if that style of shirt is more common for men or more common for women. I'm not writing this from some homogenous whitebread oasis, either, I live in New York City, it's just simply not possible for me to know the common names in every language of every country where the people I need to work with, live.

just put your stupid pronouns in your signature, some exasperated project manager in Mumbai will one day appreciate it

[phoenixyfriend]

Feb. 26, 2024 - Status of the Colourpop New Moon Collection argument

Hi! No idea if you're a follower who's been following me and my decision to try to cyberbully a multimillion dollar company into doing the right thing. If you're not, you may be confused! I explain under the cut, including a timeline of actions so far.

If you're not new, then the latest is that they do appear to be deleting some comments on this issue, and possibly shadow-banning.

So... maybe it's working? Here are the links to the six places where they can be contacted. Pick one and have at it. Use one of my past posts (post one, post two) if you need suggested phrasing.

Email contact form: private, and slow response times, but this is the place where we can make the longest arguments/explanations of the issue and why we care. This is something you do once or twice, and keep polite, then go over to the social medias to grind them down.

Instagram: The one I've been haunting. They post several times a day, but often about specific products that I don't feel give me a segue option.

TikTok: I don't have TikTok but given its presence in the marketing world, I assume they post there as often as they do on Instagram, and with pretty much the same content as their reels. I feel like TikTok is wild enough for me to tell you to give 'em hell.

YouTube: exists, but they haven't used it in nine months, so not really on top of things. That said, if it's your ONLY social media, go for it. Can't hurt.

Facebook: I can't actually access this one so I don't know what's going on there, and the link appears to be broken. If you can find their page, go for it.

X/Twitter: Like Facebook, I can't really access this one (I'm using xcancel to see it in chronological form), but it looks like they're bragging about Chappell Roan approving of their makeup. So uh. If you follow her on any platform, ask her if she approves of the situation (also of the Harry Potter collaboration, which is directing money through merch royalties to JKR's transphobic lobbying, something I'm sure Chappell Roan would also be unhappy with).

The short explanation version: Colourpop is a cosmetics company known for fun colors and cool collaborations. At the start of 2024, they started releasing a collaboration with Twilight.* January of 2025, they dropped a New Moon collection. Given that the Quileute people have not seen a cent of the Twilight money despite the massive role their people and culture played in it, much of the fandom has decided that the best approach to any Twilight merchandise is to send a portion of the profits to the Quileute "Move to Higher Ground" fundraiser, meant to relocate their town away from the danger posed by higher sea levels. Colourpop has made no statements on donating to the fundraiser, and it's a topic I care about enough to try and galvanize people into making it happen.

The long version: here. And here. And here.

* I wasn't paying attention at the time, as I'd last purchased from them in 2020 (the Safiya Nygaard collaboration), and I'd only come back because they were having a massive sale back in early January. The New Moon collection hadn't dropped yet so I didn't see it, and the first Twilight collection was in colors I don't wear much, so I was more focused on being mad at the Harry Potter stuff.

I am not the first person to have expressed frustration about this to Colourpop, and it's not the first problematic collab they've done. However, they are smaller than many make-up companies, so it feels possible to actually move the needle here, which is what I'm hoping to do.

To be very clear: My goal is not to get the makeup pulled from shelves or to get a public apology. My goal is to get money directed to the fundraiser. That is what's important here, not any virtue signalling or grandstanding. If there is no donation, then we want a statement as to why. Those are the demands: donate, or explain why you won't. We focus on this.

Timeline:

I sent my first email on January 19th, posted about it here the same day, and then started commenting on their New Moon Instagram posts on February 3rd.

I sent a second email on February 9th, as the promised "3-5 business days to respond" had come and gone.

I was temporarily blocked from commenting on anything by instagram on suspicions of being a bot due to suspicious activity, lasting a week. During that time, I continued updating tumblr posts with links to instagram posts that I thought posed an opening (being about the New Moon collection, about sales that weren't content-specific, or that had some phrasing that I thought invited response, like 'what do you want to see?').

Feb. 10: In response to one comment where I admittedly baited them by being ambiguous enough for them to think I had a problem with an order instead of my usual comments, they deleted said comment and DMed me directly. I responded, explaining my actual issue, and they left me on read.

On February 14th, they responded to my Feb. 9th email, likely spurred by the DM conversation. I assume the folded whatever case file the Jan. 19th email had opened into that one. The response was very canned, but it was at least some response.

Since then, I tried sending another email through the contact form, and it failed to go through since I already have 'open threads,' which I'm guessing is an automatic filter and not targeted.

I have continued to comment on their Instagram posts, and have also encouraged others to do the same. One of those posts was taken down after a day, but I don't think it had to do with us; rather, they were getting a lot of flack for perceived violations of some kind of health and safety thing (iirc people were arguing over what length of beard required a net).

Today, February 26th, we have confirmation from @rairii that comments on this topic are being deleted. Not all, possibly for plausible deniability of 'see, we're not trying to hide the problem!' while still making it harder for the layperson to see, but at least one of theirs. This tumblr user also appears to have been shadow-blocked in some way, as they are unable to access colourpop's page at all on mobile.

So. That's where we're at now.

Let's hope we're getting a little closer to them making a statement on this issue.

[mariacallous]

My issue with this is not that I disagree with the points, but that it's too "Wow, a lot of us didn't expect the fate of the republic to be at stake like this when we were doing our coverage the last four years because we wanted access to Trump and his campaign! Who ever would have thought autocracy would have been a possibility like this!?"

Uh, a lot of fucking people did. At least 75 million people, even.

There's a lot of "sometimes this 'who you knew, who you had access to' kind of journalism was important and good! Sure, in a lot more cases it's also been really bad and a problem, but I never had too much of an issue with it - until now."

WASHINGTON — We are not ready for this.

The Washington, D.C., press corps, used to playing small ball for small exclusives, has been suddenly thrust into a presidential administration that appears hell-bent on transforming our constitutional republic into something entirely different.

For decades, the coin of the realm in political journalism was access. Who you knew determined what you knew, and especially what “inside” information the people you knew were willing to give you.

Sometimes this sort of journalism leads to big, important stories that bring out facts that otherwise would never see the light of day.

Far, far, far too often, though, and much more frequently in recent years with a never-ending news cycle, the “scoops” that win reporters’ attention and promotions and higher-profile jobs are stories that “reveal” news that was going to come out anyway. Sometimes you see scoops that brag about some nugget just minutes before it is officially announced.

We can debate what sort of value that offers our audience, particularly if the cost of getting it is treating the source who fed you that scoop with kid gloves. There are actually terms of art for this sort of story — “beat sweeteners,” “source maintenance” — that acknowledge the symbiotic relationship here.

I, personally, have never subscribed to this sort of reporting, but nor have I had a deep objection to it. Until now.

In the before days, if a reporter had the opportunity to get a new tax proposal from Mitt Romney’s campaign a day before he announced it, OK, whatever. If President Barack Obama’s campaign had some research they wanted to plant about Romney’s businesses, sure.

In the end, the source relationships that led to that genre of stories were harmless. Whether Obama won or Romney, the future of the republic was secure.

That is no longer the case.

Before our very eyes, Donald Trump and his administration, with what so far has been an extraordinarily pliant Republican Congress, are taking those exact steps that autocrats who were initially democratically elected take to consolidate power.

From installing people who appear to be more loyal to Trump personally than they are to the U.S. Constitution in the key national security positions, to asserting vast new powers via executive order, to telling journalists to toe the official line or else — this country has never dealt with a president and an administration as power-mad as this one since the founding.

In this environment, trading soft coverage for better access is going to fail not just our various audiences, but American democracy itself.

It was clear as day what Trump’s White House was doing when it ostentatiously punished The Associated Press for failing to call the Gulf of Mexico by Trump’s preferred name. We in the White House press corps should have understood that if we did not respond with a unified voice, solidly behind the world’s largest news organization, Trump would soon start pitting the rest of us against each other.

And, of course, he has. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that she and her assistants would henceforth choose the composition of the daily “pool,” that group of reporters who accompany the president at most events, usurping that role from the White House Correspondents’ Association, which has held that responsibility since the inception of the pool decades ago.

Hours later, they decided that HuffPost and I, personally, would be the next examples to be made. We were scheduled to take Wednesday’s slot. But two weeks earlier, I had asked Trump several questions he didn’t like during an in-flight news conference aboard Air Force One. And while Leavitt and the press shop resisted fully explaining their decision — in a brief encounter, she told me I should “be grateful” — it’s not hard to imagine the reason for what happened next.

Late Tuesday evening, Leavitt’s staff began trying to find another outlet to take over HuffPost’s pool spot. To their credit, The Wall Street Journal apparently refused to participate in Trump’s games. To their lasting shame, Axios did not.

Axios did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost, though a spokesperson gave a statement to other outlets that included: “We had nothing to do with the decision to remove HuffPost and were unaware of that decision when we accepted the spot.”

In the end, though, how the press pool is run and who participates is a symptom of the state of affairs, not the cause.

Trump made clear what he thought of democracy when he tried to end it four years ago by trying to overturn an election he had lost. Far too many of us accepted the bargain to leave out that context in our coverage for the sake of access to Trump’s campaign and the chance for an interview.

That was then, when the idea of a nation careening toward autocracy might have seemed just a wildly remote possibility. It seems neither wild nor remote now.

So now is the moment. Either we will help the nation meet it, or we won’t.

For the sake of 238 years of democracy, we should choose wisely.

[vnfadinglight]

Let me propose to you another (not really fun) way to look at ACoTaR as a series.

Firstly, forget that it's a romance. It's not anymore. Horror would be a better description.

Secondly, make few assumptions:

1) The way Feyre tricked Tarquins's mental walls to let her through and change his way of thinking without him realising? Rhysand is daemati of over 500 years, he knows it and USES IT freely.

2) Rhys lies, including to Feyre, when it suits his narrative.

3) One thing he didn't lie about? He believes mating bonds exist to produce the strongest offspring. He sees himself as the strongest High Lord so a child he would have with his mate would be even stronger than him and that is his goal.

The whole idea is sounds quite anti-Rhysand but I think it makes him way interesting of a character.

Instead of a romance we see a story of a girl being slowly manipulated to break up with her (now) ex, isolating from any support outside NC, losing own beliefs and personality and being used by a guy and believing that it was HER IDEA.

Let's go book by book

About ACOTAR

Rhys mentioned that he had dreams about Feyre hunting and he went to Calanmai to see her. Assuming that he didn't lie to her this time we can guess that he suspected a mating bond before it snapped UTM. So he went there to see his mate - someone he needs for his offspring.

Then we have all of Tamlin's storyline. But instead of focusing it on romance with Feyre let's focus it on 50 years this man spent sending his own people to slaughter. Amarantha's curse is basically psychology torture for this man whose only fault was that he didn't want her. But when he thought that all hope had died, Feyre showed up and he chosen HER over whatever Amarantha was doing to him UTM and was planning to do.

UTM happens. In there Rhysand:

Forces Feyre into a pact where she has to see him regularly, in his place, unattended

Uses his daemati powers to have her drink wine

SA her. For what reason (other than his own gratification) I don't know. He claims he wanted to provoke Tamlin to kill Amarantha but imo he would just rovoke Tamlin to kill him instead. How does it count against Amarantha? Never mind, figured it out. See later.

Don't remember if it happened in ACoTaR or later, but Rhys lies about taking away Claire's pain to make himself look better. He doesn't do it when Feyre's in labour pain, that's for sure.

Blames Tamlin for "not getting Feyre out of UTM when he had a chance". But Tamlin did - he send her back to human lands just before 50 years was over. She come back to save him anyway. He tries to paint himself as opposition to Tamlin with clear distinction of who "the real bad guy is". He basically wants to put that thought in Feyre's head.

About ACOMAF

I don't remember this book as well as the others but there are few key points.

Feyre is forced to learn how to write and read using this silly "Rhysand is the most handsome High Lord" lines. How many times do you have to write it for it to stick in your mind?

Also, while Rhys is teaching Feyre Mind Shielding he has a full and unrestricted access to her head. He KNOWS that she is afraid of closed spaces. He also knows that after all those weeks of him SAing her UTM, Tamlin is absolutely paranoid about about Feyre spending any amount of time with Rhysand. As you would be. Add to it that Tamlin seen her DYING IN HORRIBLE PAIN (were was your power to take away the pain again, Rhysand?) and I'm amazed that he didn't lock her in her bedroom earlier.

So what if... That trouble on the border that Tamlin was tending to when he locked Feyre... Was all Rhysand's doing?

I could keep going like this but I have stuff to do.

It just explains so many weird behaviours in the series. HL meeting? He used his powers to placate them.