#I want to make an informative post that explains how it works in simple terms which Ill then use to back up why image protection works

[llitchilitchi]

hi pls vote and reblog this I am genuinely interested to know how much people know about image recognition and generation because a lot of posts going around are uninformed panic and anger which will not help anyone in fighting Against all this bs. while yes the final process is a black box said black box must be assembled first and I am curious to see how many people have looked into what the black box is made of and what are the basic rules of processing stolen images

in the meantime Glaze, Nightshade and opt out of your data being included in training, and give feedback to staff that 'opt out as default' is a terrible idea and a stab in the back

given the recent developments on Tumblr, I've been wondering

please reblog for bigger sample size

[vamptarot]

What Is Tarot?

— an educational post

— ⭑.ᐟ I am aware many people have made posts like this before, however I still felt like creating my own take on it. What inspired me was a post where someone stated that tarot is fictional. Which is incredibly incorrect. Being misinformed is of course, fine, but they said it with such utmost arrogance and confidence that it annoyed me a little. If you are misinformed, not even educated on tarot as a whole, what gives you the right to be a tarot reader? You cannot guide people if you, yourself are wrong and have incorrect information and assumptions. That is what I would have liked to tell them, but unfortunately due to my then circumstances I did not. I also would like to follow the word of God, and He says to act with love, not hatred. So, instead of calling them out and possibly causing an unnecessary argument, I have decided to educate those who might be curious or confused about what tarot actually is as a whole. It’s your choice if you read this or not. I also won’t go into themes of religion, this will strictly be focused on tarot. I just wanted to share what’s on my mind. not proof read.

what is tarot?

Actually, my dearest, tarot was created in the 1430s - 1450s and was first called tarocchi. It’s a game similar to bridge.

They were created in Northern Italy, Milan. Although at the time it was a game, it was still considered a luxury. The cards were hand painted for wealthy people, not necessarily due to them finding joy in it, but rather to reflect their status. It was a symbol of being wealthy.

Although nowadays the standard of a tarot deck is 78 cards it started off with 56 cards, from which the fool was the odd one out, a wild card. - If you have a hard time understanding, think of the joker card from solitaire. -

It was only used as a form of divination at the beginning of the 18th century, aka the 1700s.

Now, there are several reasons whys this has happened, but I will try my best to explain it to you in simple terms. - Although I won’t be able to go into every detail as these topics are very complex and have a rich history behind them, so please keep that in mind. -

In the early 1700s French occultists made claims about their meaning and history. They were confident in their skills, abilities and knowledge. Due to them grabbing people’s attention this led to people making custom cards for the usage of cartomancy.

At these times Romani and Sinti people were heavily discriminated against. They weren’t allowed to settle, work, buy a house and were banned from most public spaces including ones where one can buy food and such. All because they originated from India. So, as a means to keep alive they turned to earning money with divination, creating opportunities for themselves in order to live.

Another reason for tarot in a form of divination becoming popular is due to conservative Christian’s spreading the misinformation of it being related to Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Of course, that is not true, never was and never will be. However, they are said to have some parallels. That is as far as it goes though.

Now, you could be thinking to yourself, ‘if it was a game, then it’s not a real divination.’ You are wrong! Let me explain to you why!

Remember how I mentioned that originally it had 56 cards and was named tarocchi? It also originated in the 15th century. The tarot you know of today began in the 18th century, got popular in the 19th century. There is roughly about 300 years between the two events and tarot has evolved for 100 years. So one can argue they are completely different things. Even if they are not, that’s alright.

Objects created for non divination usage can still be used for divination despite the creator’s intent. I will present you with a few examples of this fact.

Some people use their passed on pet’s bones as a form of osteomancy. You throw em, if they touch it’s a yes, if they don’t it’s a no. Sounds pretty messed up, right? For some people at least, can’t guarantee everyone thinks the same. Regardless, that was a living being, a beloved pet. Yet, you can use it’s bones in order to practice spirituality.

If you watch youtube pick a cards this will be easier to understand, regardless, charms can be used as a form of divination. You draw different categories on a paper, throw charms at them, whatever it falls on will have a meaning to your question. Money charms on ‘future spouse’? They might as well be wealthy, or at least good with their money.

Or, if that’s not good enough think about witchcraft. You think every single little thing used for spells, jars, hexes and so on was created for the sole purpose of witchcraft? It wasn’t. Yet it works because it’s intentional, because the person doing them has talent for it, because they were gifted.

how do readers read tarot cards?

I will be honest with you, not all readers are gifted with being able to do so, but they sure believe they do. - Am I saying this out of pettiness? Perhaps, let me be. -

So, if you feel like something is off such as beating around the bush, being too nice, being too mean and so on please trust your gut. Not telling you to be mean to people or accuse them unprovoked, that’s something an @sshole does, and I know you are not one. - Watch out for AI readings though, they suck. -

Moving on, I would like to say that every single tarot reader reads their cards differently. Some only do by visuals, some only does so by meaning, some do by both!

Alongside this, every reader shuffles differently. Some let the cards fall out, some take whatever is on top, some take whatever is standing out of the deck, some let them fall and then organise them neatly.

There is many ways to do this. I personally let them fall out and consider both visuals and meanings simply because I believe that is the right thing to do. - One time, during a love reading they fell out in a heart. I thought that’s cute. - At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter much. I have had several friends with different methods than me give me really good and accurate readings. - Just be catious of people who spread it out and then pick the cards out themselves. -

The most important part is being gifted with claircognizance, or in other words having hella good intuition. - or “6th sense”, whatever you wanna call it. - I believe every reliable and accurate reader is gifted with this, regardless of them being aware or not. You can’t read tarot if you don’t understand what spirit is trying to tell you, let that be your own guides or anyone else’s. Perhaps even your tarot deck.

Often times though, this is not the only thing readers rely on. For instance, I have clairaudience, clairvoyance and clairtypity. I can hear, see and feel what you would during whatever situation I read for you. This is not unique to me at all, every reader has at least one of these, and usually several. I even saw people with clairgustance and clairalience! They can taste and smell what you would! Isn’t that awesome?~ I personally think it’s fascinating, it’s not something that I have ever experienced. It’s cool that there are people out there who can do this.

So, tarot readers read your situation with the help of your spirit guides and their own spiritual gifts that they carry within themselves. As for habits and methods, it varies from person to person.

That is a reason why so many different tarot decks exist! Different people are called to different things. - Plus it’s cool -

how do tarot readings work?

This is the main reason why this post was made.. let’s get into it.

You already know how readers guide you, so I will tell you how do the readings themselves work. What else are they based on. Honestly, the best way I will be able to tell this to you is with examples, so that’s what I will do. Maybe someone else can tell you in a much more detailed and specific manner, but I am not them.

Tarot always reads your current energy. You can look into the past with it, but regardless it reads your current state of mind, thoughts, views, feelings and behaviours.

If you read a pick a card or personal reading that is based on the future - ex.; future spouse - then it will still read on your current energy.

For example let’s say you ask ‘when will I meet my future spouse?’ but you stay inside all day, then it will obviously be a few years or so. However, if the next day you decide to go out more or just put yourself out there in the world more and actually commit to it this can reduce to months.

If it’s a reading on your past then the cards will pick up on what still impacts you, whether you are aware of it or not. Let’s say you ask about your first kiss, how will it be like? Your cards could say that it won’t be as romantic as you think because this and that situation still impacts you.

I sincerely hope that you get the point, as I did my best to explain it.

Yet, there is still a question, ‘if someone is talented, why did that one reading turn out inaccurate?’ well because things change my dear.

If you were to ask me now about the appearance of your future spouse I could say they have brown hair and be correct, but they could go ahead and dye it red 15 minutes after I said that.

Things change constantly all the time and there is nothing we can do about it. That’s just life. It’s hard to hear, it’s hard to swallow, but it’s something we have to accept at some point in time. We can control some things, but not everything.

Change is inevitable.

There is good sides of it, and there is bad. You just gotta live and let others do the same.

Now, for pick a cards it’s slightly different. Maybe, genuinely, something is just not meant for you and you are just meant to ignore that. Maybe it’s for the blond teen in Canada who is asking about that one cute boy in her class. If you read a pick a card reading that is accurate but there is that one thing that doesn’t make sense, consider that means something to someone else. It’s not a personal reading.

That is why disclaimers like ��take it with a grain of salt’ and ‘leave what doesn’t resonate’ exist. Yes, some people take advantage of it and that’s bad, but they were created with a good reason.

end note.

That is all I wanted to say, I believe. Although I made this post to get something bothersome off my mind I sincerely wish that someone out there has found it useful. My goal was truly to educate so if you know who the OP of the claim was just ignore them. Hating on people for enjoyment is not only immature but is going to have a negative effect on your body, mind and soul. Which I would not like. Please take care of yourselves! Thank you for reading.

[katapotato55]

How to write a good metaphor

yall seemed to like my post on "how to write good horror" so i figured i should make another one of these.

1- do. not. explain. the. metaphor.

don't.

"oh but how will the audience know my deep and meaningful message- "

SOME PEOPLE WONT GET IT. if you explain what you mean then suddenly the metaphor won't be deep anymore. it becomes a generic forced message.

i know you are tempted to make a character infodump about everything, fucking don't.

followup on this:

2- a good metaphor should potentially have multiple interpretations.

"but i don't want people to get the wrong impression of the story!"

then you either need to make damn sure its an elegantly written metaphor, or none at all. the death of the author is the idea that everyone has their own vision of a story they read, rearguards of authors intent. you need to come to terms with this or else you won't improve your writing skills.

you need to trust that your audience is intelligent enough to understand the metaphor on their own without bashing them over the head with it. sometimes people misunderstand meaning, it is a fact of life.

The game little inferno was thought of as a metaphor about pollution, in which later the creators went out to say it was actually about capitalism and wasting your life with things like exploitative mobile games. you just need make it SUBTLE and hope for the best.

3- The story/gameplay/etc should inform the metaphor(and sometimes reference real life examples)

To mention little inferno again, the "you must wait x amount of time for in-game item to be given to you" is a mirror of mobile games in the real world that use timers to leach money from you.

another example: analogue horror.

broken old technology is scary on its own, but many good analogue horror artists tend to use this to the advantage.

analogue horror can be used as a metaphor for dying trends and technology, like how in the 30's through 70's we used asbestos in the walls. Analogue horror makes a great parralel to this idea (see Blue_channel by gooseworx for a good example.) . the audience questions WHY this is on an old CRT tv and not just a smartphone, perhaps to imply this was an event that happened years ago.

undertale is another example, where most RPG's encourage you to fight and to level up, undertale uses this as a simple metaphor about obsessive control and being cruel to get an arbitrary achievement (i recommend the escapist's video on "why i didn't review undertale" on youtube for way better examples)

tldr: a metaphor is stronger if you lightly reference real life occurances and implement your metaphor in the medium presented.

4- the curtains are blue because they are blue.

not everyone is going to understand your metaphor

and not everyone is going to notice every single little metaphor you add to your story.

remember those teachers that would constantly stretch to imply something in a story is a metaphor and that the curtains are blue because of some deep metaphor for death and sadness and shit?

those teachers are full of it. ignore them.

metaphors are allowed to be simple. not every metaphor needs to be a hyper deep depth defying world changing thing. I could even argue a bunch of small metaphors connected to each other can be better than one big metaphor depending on your story.

relax. don't think too much about it because your average audience member won't.

5- study movies, tv, books, games, etc and understand why their metaphors work.

don't fall into that "the curtains are blue because of a deep message" English teacher mindset mind you.

"but how do i tell what is and isn't a metaphor?" you may ask

simple. trust your gut. you won't understand everything you come across but the human brain has a way of telling what is and isn't a metaphor in stories.

(spoiler about bugsnax)

I could argue Bugsnax is a metaphor about drug abuse and addiction. The characters have personality traits commonly associated with people vulnerable to drug addiction. An athlete, a hippy, a married couple going through a rough spot in their marriage with the threat of divorce, a mentally ill person with trauma and paranoia, etc.

It isn't obvious, many people may disagree with me, but you can't deny that there are signs i may be right.

(end of spoiler) the point i am trying to make: don't stretch to find a metaphor when you don't see one. if you are curious google other people's theories and make your own opinion. metaphors are hard and you will learn over time. and finally 6- do not ever do "it was all just a dream" or "the character is secretly in a coma" etc this applies to writing in general but it is still related to metaphors. the only time i have seen this done well is driver san francisco, but what it did right was A- make it so the players can guess ahead of time the mystery, such as the radio saying voices of your character in the hospital, or if you zoomed out you could hear a heart monitor. and B- it didn't completely un-do the entire story. that is my core issue with this trope. it either wastes your time un-doing the entire story readers worked hard to finish, or it is just nonsensical and terrible. "dora the explorer is actually in purgatory!" "spongebob is a metaphor for the 7 deadly sins!" "ash is in a coma and that is why he never ages! " ooooor it is a cartoon and you are forcing meaning that doesn't exist in something that doesn't even imply it. the world being a bit weird is not enough to be a metaphor for anything. If you want to make a good metaphor: do more effort than just slapping a lazy "it was all a coma" thing at the end. Like horror, stuff like this needs to be built up properly. also consider authors intent. I understand death of the author and all of that, but do you really think a retired marine biologist made spongebob to be a complex metaphor about sinners in hell ? (rip Stephen Hillenburg btw. we didn't deserve him.) thank you for reading, hope this helps. and please, learn to understand the tropes of metaphors before you attempt to make the story of a generation. edit- adding a couple more things i forgot 7- "the darkness is going to destroy the land or whatever!" i see this used all the time. spooky wookey dark shadowy bits going to destroy a land and is the hero's generic bad thing to fight. stop it. it is not a deep and complex metaphor about depression or whatever the hell you are on about. its lazy and stupid. 8- a story should stand up on its own regardless if audience members understand the metaphor or not I don't like Gris. it is a very pretty game with lovely visuals But also the entire story is just the main character moping about artistically and shit and go on about how artistically sad and dramatic this all is. if i don't understand the story without understanding the metaphor, then your story and your metaphor sucks. an example of a metaphor done well: spiritfairer without the metaphor, it is a simple game about running a traveling boat. even if you didn't care too much about the deeper meaning it is a cute story and the gameplay is fun (spoiler) if you look deeper, it can also be taken as a metaphor about greif and learning to accept your loved ones will one day die. things like the boat being filled with empty houses you can't remove is a good example of this. (end of spoiler) your story needs to stand up on its own to be good. don't use a metaphor as a crutch.

[watercolorsam-arts]

Why the Minecraft Movie looks so bad

Okay, let’s see if I can make this work

Hi, I’m Watercolor, currently a student learning animation and visual effects. I’ve got some more technical explanations for why exactly the trailer looks god awful

I’m gonna do my best to explain this in simple terms, but if I don’t explain something very good, let me know and I’ll explain more. Alright, this is gonna be a long post

Starting off with the obsession with backlighting. See how it doesn’t really match the environmental lighting? That’s one of the major things that makes it look so weird to a lot of people. It could have been done to better distinguish the actors from the background, but it does that a little too well and makes them look way too out of place. The environment has a very nice constant (most likely singular) light source, which is most likely an HDRI.

An HDRI (or high dynamic range image) informs the animation software on how the scene should be lit, and is often a weird panoramic image of whatever physical area you want to replicate.

In a reverse case, adding a CG character into a real set, you could take an HDRI of the physical set, and use it to apply similar lighting. Adjustment will most likely have to be hand adjusted by the lighting team (and tbh they add a lot of extra lights in anyway. It just needs to look right) but it’s a fantastic starting point for the compositing and lighting teams.

However, the McM’s live set has way different lights set up then what is seen in the environment.

Here, for example, the live set is most likely being lit by standard 3 point lighting, which are not only the wrong color (the lighting on the environment is much more yellow) but also washes out any shadows that would help define the actors. If this movie wasn’t obsessed with backlighting, you could fix that by lighting the actors and environment from the front, but because the sun is in the back, they have to make the front of the actors unnaturally brighter to see them more properly. I have a slight idea on why the kid in red looks especially “photoshopped” in, and it’s mostly because his hoodie doesn’t have a similar reflectiveness to everyone else’s outfit, and his hair is a more neutral color, causing the highlight to be even more washed out. Also, while we’re here, the cube is a physical prop, but it was not lit up during filming, and all the light output was tossed on after. And it’s really inconsistent and honestly, lazy. For the most part they just hit it with a blue blur effect in post, it doesn’t actually cast any light.

Another major issue is the color difference between the actors and the environment. The color balancing on the actors is particularly garbage, they’re somehow desaturated while also being too saturated, I don’t know how they managed that. But the technical issue on why it looks odd, is because the physical camera cannot physically pick up the same vibrancy as the “camera” in the CG world. You might have seen an example of this when trying to take a photo with your phone, especially of a very colorful event like the sunset. It’s also why “ugly sonic” looked particularly out of place, he was 10x more saturated than anything else around him.

Having the actors on a very low effort green screen stage also completely ruins any chance of getting the proper ambient light or ambient occlusion.

Ambient occlusion is basically the bounce light from other objects in your scene, gamers might know this as a form of ray tracing (ray tracing is live changes in ambient occlusion, games without ray tracing bake in ambient occlusion to get a similar result)

When everything is CG, (again art style aside) looks pretty darn good actually!

I attempted some edits to see if anything could make it look better (left is original, right is mine), and I don’t think proper lighting or anything could actually fix what this movie has wrong with it. They should have made the whole thing animated, I don’t think any amount of bullying would fix this, the studio basically has to scrap the actors, and make new CG characters from scratch in the same style as the rest of the world.

All of this is not the fault f the animators, or any of the vfx team, they did their absolute best with what they had, this is 100% the fault of the higher ups on this project. I have no idea how this good this far into production without ANYONE saying that it was a bad idea (Either that, or a lot of people got fired, which is unfortunately a likely possibility)

[faux-ecrivain]

Welcome

Welcome, My Dearest Darlings, please enjoy your stay. This is a placeholder post, tomorrow I shall post something official. There will be rules for this blog, but I’m sure you’re big enough to handle them. Most of my posts will be yandere headcannons, stories, fanfics or blurbs. I can’t promise five star posting, but I can promise yandere that are obsessed with you! Kisses! 💋💋

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[Posting Schedule]

Sunday- 0 to 1 posts

Monday- 1 to 2 posts

Tuesday- 0 to 1 posts

Wednesday- 1-2 posts

Thursday- 1 post

Friday- 0 posts

Saturday- 1 to 2 posts

[This is my schedule, it may change but for the most part I will abide by this schedule.]

[Notice; Requests are open, if you want me to write a story, headcannon or Drabble then send in a request through the ask system.] [You have a high possibility of having your request accepted and then written, but please do not expect to be chosen and remember that I have every right to reject your request.]

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[Mutuals] @idanceuntilidie

@emxzz

@robarrazi

@i0could0think2b

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[Anons] (yes, I will do emoji anons) Anon 1

Anon 2 (Also known as 9 cat anon)

Anon 3

Anon 4 (Also known as najma anon)

Anon 5

Anon 6 (also known as Doll)

Anon 7

Anon 8 (also known as ૮₍ ˶• ༝ •˶ ₎ა anon)

Anon 9

Anon 10

Anon 11 (Henceforth referred to as Banana Bread Anon)

Anon 12 (._. Anon)

Anon 13

Anon 14

Anon 15

Anon 16

Anon 17

Anon 18

————- [Socials] Wattpad (@CuddleBuddy3) Quotev (https://www.quotev.com/ForgetfulFerret) Main Account (@circularcatinspace) ————

Masterlisturl (https://www.tumblr.com/faux-ecrivain/738086533063655424/masterlist?source=share )

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The Rules

Do not spam requests, asks or comments.

I reserve the right to reject any requests that make me uncomfortable.

Do not share any personal information on this account, that means don’t share your name, address or anything similar in a request or comment. 

If you want to request something, or send in an ask, please offer details, such as pronouns, the setting, the year and basic info about your requested yan. (Eg; could you make a yan that hates their darling and only obsesses over them because they look like yan’s ex?)

I will not do smut, I can’t write smut and the most you’ll get is a suggestive tension. 

If you send in a request, ask or make a comment, and it has triggering content, please label it with the symbol TW.

Do not send any asks, requests or make any comments that contain derogatory remarks towards a certain group. (In simple terms; no bigotry, which means prejudices towards a certain group.)

Do not rush me, but do motivate me. (which means I accept compliments, analysis of my works and comments of a similar manner)

That’s all for now, more might be added later, remember rules are subject to change.  —————————————————-

[Fun Facts About Me]

I don’t like making grammatical errors, they are irritating and embarrassing (in my opinion). However, mistakes are part of life and I have to learn to how to move on. That said; if you do see some grammar mistakes please let me no and I’ll try to fix it. (Ugh, it’s embarrassing that I was born, and live in, Mississippi yet I make numerous grammatical errors. I’m so bad, most of the time, at English, it’s hilarious.)

I have a tendency to ramble, over explain and procrastinate. I can also appear quite pushy, this is probably because of some deep seated worry that I haven’t yet uncovered.

I love mysteries, they are my favorite genre and I especially love the femme fatale mysteries or mysteries with a female lead.(IE; Miss. Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Murder She Wrote and there’s more but my mind is blank right now.)

I have a soft spot for cute fuzzy cats and I like taking photos of scenery that I believe to be beautiful.

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books, it was a childhood favorite and it still is to this day. (The animate movie and the book are my preferred versions of Alice In Wonderland.)

—————————————————- (Below are some tags that may be used in future posts)

[zoeykallus]

Hi there, i assume you're most likely flooded with requests currently but here's my shot if you feel like it : how about how the Badbatch reacting to their s/o posting simple normal stuff on their social media (like spotify links, cute pics all that)? I think that would be so cute 🥰🥰🥰 i don't think you've done something like this before so it's totally okay if you don't want to!

Aloha!

Indeed, I am, and I barely have time to work through them, but I do, bit by bit, hoping no one hates me for being so slow 😬😅 Interesting question. Let me look into this....

The Bad Batch x Reader HCs - Your Social Media

Warnings: Mostly Fluff/Maybe Slightly Angsty

______________

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

______________

>Master List<

Tech

Our shy Tech uses social media to find out things about you, even before you're a couple. Stalker? Yes and no. Basically, he just uses it to try to find out what music you like, what movies, if you like to read, and if so, what books. Tech spends a lot of time browsing.

He is looking for information about you that will make it easier for him to start a conversation with you, to surprise you in a positive way and to respond to you. Tech feels more confident approaching you when he already has some background information.

But he also likes to check in on things in the future, keep up to date. He's often in the tunnel at work, and that's how he finds out if he's missed anything when he's on a mission. Maybe you've discovered a new favorite song, or something culinary, or you're reading a new book.

Of course, he doesn't miss the opportunity to send you links to reports, documentaries and the like, about whatever he's excited about. The last link was a report about upcoming, groundbreaking new hyperspace technology.

Hunter

He has no idea about social media, he himself has had no contact with it until now, and Hunter has never been interested in it. Until Wrecker points out to him that you're on social media.

"Have you seen that funny Loth cat video your sweetheart shared?"

Hunter frowns.

"What, shared, I don't quite understand."

Wrecker shows and explains everything to him in general terms, and Hunter ends up making a social media account on the Holonet. The cat video was amusing, but not the reason. He wants to know what else you share, if maybe there are hobbies he doesn't know about, or events you'd like to attend.

In fact, three days later he surprises you with tickets to an event you're dying to attend, but can't find the money in time.

Hunter doesn't spy on you, you can do whatever you want. He just picks out a few little things, like this event, to make you happy.

Echo

He stays away from it completely. In fact, he hates this social media nonsense. There was even a whole format of its own for clones, and he remembers well how some of his brothers used to act online. He doesn't really need that.

You can do whatever you want, of course, but he won't touch that stuff unless you explicitly ask him to. Echo still won't spend much time on it, just occasionally liking one of your shared posts, but that's all you can expect from him.

Echo is not comfortable on the Holonet, it's not nearly the same, yet it always kind of reminds him of his imprisonment by the Techno Union.

"You spend way too much time with this devil stuff".

Wrecker

He is all over the place. Wrecker has an account on every social media site, and he posts as regularly as he can. Cute and funny animal videos mostly and in stark contrast, videos of explosions. Every now and then a music video and articles about guns and explosives.

In fact, he bombards his pages so hard that sometimes you completely lose track of what's going on and don't really manage to keep up. But Wrecker miraculously knows, despite his own constent-posting, what's going on with you in social media.

Among other things, you once posted a picture of him when an admirer wouldn't leave you alone. After endless attempts to get rid of him and several block attempts whereupon the nag just kept making new accounts, you shared Wrecker's picture in full gear, with you next to him.

"This is my boyfriend, if you want me, work it out with him".

Wrecker drops the holopad laughing and says, "What's going on? You didn't tell me that someone was bugging you."

You shrug your shoulders, "Always wrote to me privately. I thought it was time to expose that person."

"Hm," growls Wrecker, "Let me know if he doesn't stop."

Crosshair

One of those who talk badly about social media, very badly, avoid it for quite a while and then suddenly sink into it almost like an addict. Crosshair has his holopad in his hand every free minute, checking his messages, new links and likes.

Crosshair will never admit it, but he really enjoys the attention, being anonymous in a way and still being noticed. Of course, he also digs through your social media, and you can assume that he scrutinizes everything.

He knows the guys who are on the Internet, make immoral offers, send nude pictures and want to have nude pictures and so on. Otherwise, he flies over the things rather so casually, he's not really interested, he rather wants his contributions to be seen, shared and liked.

[malice-mercy-miracle]

I normally stay out of interpersonal fandom drama because it's exhausting, pointless, and I'm too old for that shit. But I've been in online fandom spaces to varying degrees for about 20 years, and my short stint with the Bad Omens Tumblr fandom thus far is, without question, the most toxically selfish and immature community I have every stepped foot in. And I was in the A:TLA ship wars.

I'm going to try to keep this very simple.

Don't like; don't read. I truly cannot fathom the fact that this aspect of fandom etiquette has fallen by the wayside. If you don't like fic/art/ships/tropes or whatever else, just don't look at it. It's that simple.

You are responsible for your own triggers. Now this comes with a heavy caveat, in that anyone writing dark/traumatic content should tag it as such. But ultimately each individual is responsible for their own mental health. If a fiction has dark content and has appropriate warnings, just don't read it and you won't be triggered. If a fic has dark content and it's not tagged, politely ask the author to use appropriate warnings. And if they refuse? BLOCK THEM. Because 1) that's bad etiquette on their part, and 2) blocking someone who typically posts triggering content is a great way to not deal with triggering content!

Writing about illegal things is not illegal. I can't believe I have to say this. Depiction of illegal, taboo, or harmful things in media is allowed. The only context in which it should reasonably be constrained is when the target demographic is likely to try to replicate it - AKA children's media. I'm pretty sure no one here is an eight year old?

People can have any variety of reasons to read or write taboo, traumatic, or illegal content into their fics. It's not your business why they do it. Genuinely. You are not entitled to that information. Nobody owes you justification.

Harassment IS illegal. Sending people repeated hate messages, threats, comments on their children or personal lives, etc. could all be construed as harassment and is actually fucking illegal. You do not respond to someone portraying something taboo, triggering, or "but that's illegal!" in a work of fiction by harassing them until they leave the fandom space because they feel unsafe. Given that these behaviors are typically happening on anon, I'm pretty sure you know this.

I'm coming at this as someone who is not only in fandom spaces, but also reading, writing, and reviewing outside of fandom. I have read books that contain wildly problematic content, but there's still a time and place for how I respond to that. I don't send authors anonymous hate mail because their book had a gratuitous SA scene for cheap drama; I write a professional review calling it out, explaining why it's an issue in terms of how it's framed and in context with the genre and target demographic, and I do what I can to make sure there's content warnings available for future readers.

Now you might be thinking, "This is Tumblr. We don't have any professional review spaces here."

You'd be right.

Because this is fandom. We're talking about fanfic. Something people write for shits and giggles as a hobby. For free. Chill the fuck out.

Anyway, that's my piece. Any and all vitriol or I Have Zero Reading Comprehension responses to this will be blocked/reported as needed. ✌️

Edit: Also wanted to add really quick: YOU CAN STILL BLOCK AND REPORT PEOPLE ON ANON. Here's a guide.

[hagoftheholler]

So, I wanna give y'all a bit of a life update and the future of this account. If that doesn't interest you, keep scrolling. If it does, read under the cut. Feel free to voice your thoughts in the notes.

The past five months have been a lot, in simple terms. I had to leave my previous job significantly earlier than I wanted to, move to a different state significantly earlier than I wanted to, figure out how to manage off-grid living, adjust to a new job that I must admit I'm not really satisfied with, and I've adopted a kitten that came from a cat colony (she's doing amazing, btw). There's more to it, but that's most of what's been going on.

As a result, I've had to press pause on writing more personal and informative posts. It's not something I wanted to do. I just haven't really had a lot of time to spare. I'm not kidding when I say my drafts list is long. I'm the type of person who writes better on a computer instead of a phone, so I have to hold off on writing this stuff for when I get to visit a local cafe that has wifi.

It's unfortunate. But that's just how things are right now.

So, that being said... I'm in a spot where I'm more comfortable with evaluating where to go from here. I still want to post about folk magic and my personal practice. I'm just not sure tumblr is the platform to do it on. I haven't really decided if I am going to move to a different platform or not. I was looking into making a website at one point but that's a lot of work, and I'm not tech savvy. If anybody has any suggestions on this I'm open to them.

Furthermore, it's officially been a year since I was formally diagnosed with autism. It's been a rough adjustment. It's not like things really changed, because the struggles I've had pre-diagnosis are still present. The new struggles have been trying to redirect my mum away from ableist organizations and trying to explain to people that my brain isn't wired like a neurotypical person's.

I've also been able to address some internalized ableism and have been working on being less hard on myself. Which isn't easy. I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that my limits are more narrow than what I'd like.

Things have been rough. I'm okay though.

[gacha-incels]

Hi, sorry for sending this, I'm trying to gather information on Shift UP's ideological verification of its employees, and the CEO's stance on feminism. would you happen to have sources and articles on the subject?

Thank you in advance.

sorry this is a bit late, I’ve been ill recently so I’ve had to spend my free time sleeping lol 😭

article regarding SHIFT-UP removing an artist’s work from their gacha game “Destiny Child” after she said there shouldn’t be a problem being a feminist and voiced support for the VA, Kim Jayeon, that Nexon fired for taking a photo of herself wearing a shirt that said “Girls Do Not Need A Prince”. The shirt was part of a fundraiser to help victims of domestic violence (see the npr article linked below) , the rates of which are especially high for women living in South Korea. You can note here that literally anything vaguely feminist is met with “are you megal?” (referring to the defunct website megalia) and it doesn’t even matter how she responds. This woman made some simple statements and is smeared as some feminist terrorist. tbh sometimes it’s an uphill battle trying to explain to anyone, especially on the western internet, that these women aren’t making some evil dogwhistle to the feminist illuminati when they make basic feminist statements. I’ve gotten called “terf/terf sympathizer” (???) for trying to explain that the artist Vellmori was being smeared on the western web with the term “terf” as a targeted campaign by Korean incels who know that term puts a target on your back and nothing else about it. I am of course not saying megalia was a totally unproblematic site with no ideological problems but none of these women being smeared are saying anything like “yeah the homophobia was great” they’re literally advocating for basic women’s rights. I’m also not saying “basic” in a condescending way, on the contrary I think these women are brave for speaking out and have created complex feminist ideologies and movements. “Basic” and “simple” are meant to show the absurdity in the reaction (extreme male anger, firing, censorship, etc) in relation to the original statement (molka is bad, it’s fine to be a feminist, etc).

this is an article in English regarding the VA who wore the shirt:

SHIFT-UP’s gacha game “Nikke” recently engaging in 🤏 male freakouts

article in Korean regarding this, I’ll add it but idk how “peripheral” you want to get since i don’t think it’s directly SHIFT-UP (?)

as far as more opinion pieces go, there’s this article written by an artist who was a victim of feminist ideological verification that talks about SHIFT-UP’s gacha “Nikke”

Edit- the actual post seems to have been deleted, I screenshotted and pasted the entire thing on the linked post above but idk how using this would come across since the original post is gone.

I posted some images and MTL on this post

this is a paper that goes over just some of the basics of megalia’s mirroring tactics and how it got started

If anyone has anything else specific lmk and I’ll update this post too, I hope what I’ve posted so far can be helpful

[newsiesficchallenges]

Would you maybe be willing to go over the process of tagging on ao3? I've never used it before so I can figure out most of it but the entire posting process is new to me

Of course! 

If you don’t mind, I’m just going to cover all of it, because you aren’t the first person to ask this. 

So- tagging! 

In simple terms, tags have the same purpose on AO3 that they do on Tumblr. They’re to inform you of the content, summarize and warn, and to help organize the search system. They can be complicated, and daunting, but can also be largely unique if one so chooses. I’ll explain how in a minute! 

By adding a tag, you are inserting your work into a list, or a system, of other works that fall under the same category. For example: if you are writing a Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski work, and you tag that relationship, the work will show up when you search that relationship. It’s one of AO3’s best features, and a way an author can gain popularity in a fandom. 

Now, starting at the top of your AO3 form, we have the rating. Now, I like to think of your rating as a movie rating. Everyone has a little bit of a different view on these, but for our collective purpose of explanations, let’s use this standard guide. 

The first one is general audiences. This is a PG rated movie. Minimal language, some sexual and adult jokes that might fly over someone’s head, and little to no violence. You would let your 11yo cousin read this fic and not be concerned. 

The next is teen and up audiences. This is your PG-13, TV-14. We’ve got curses going around, but not all of them. Sexual jokes, light sexual content that probably doesn’t go very far. If there’s violence, it’s Marvel movie, see blood but no gore style. 

Mature is where things get interesting. Say whatever you want, have the smut scenes, and shoot outs in the alleyways. Children aren’t allowed into this R-rated movie, but we all know it’s for the 15+ girlies who are reading on their computers in the dark. 

And explicit is anything goes, basically. If you’re reading an explicit fic, and you get surprised by what you see, that’s a you problem. ‘Tis the smuttiest of the smut, the most hardcore violence and angst, and characters run rampant in their actions and words. 

And then we have the warnings! These are what I consider to be the most important, because a lot of these things are triggers. It’s pretty self-explanatory, as you can pick and choose anything that applies. 

Fandoms is also pretty self-explanatory. You use AO3’s list of fandoms, and click whatever fandom you’re writing for. For this exchange, you would type Newsies, and select the options and forms of the show you took inspiration from. 

Categories is more confusing, I think, primarily because one can never decide if you want to click every button that applies, or just the important ones. In my personal experiences, I tend to just click whatever option represents the main ship I’m writing for, and then make sure I tag anything that doesn’t fit that category in the relationships tags. You are definitely free to select everything, though!

Relationships is pretty important, just for information purposes. Most people search AO3 through specific relationships they want to read, and so I make sure to tag everything I can, just for algorithm and accessibility reasons. You can tag the romantic relationships (the ones with the / between the two character names), platonic relationships (the ones with the & between the character names), and everything in between, depending on how you want your fic viewed, and how you want it sorted in the tagging system (by this, I mean if you want it put in the list of ‘x’ (ex. Harley Keener/Peter Parker) works, falling under a specific tag). And if you want viewers to be aware of the different relationships, especially the romantic and platonic ones, always double check that you have selected the right tag (again, for romantic there’s a /, and for platonic there’s a &).

Characters are also important, but I want to stress that you do not need to tag all of the character that appear in your fics. I would simply tag the ones the work focuses around, or that have an impact on the story. It will take you forever to tag everyone if you’re writing a longer story. 

Additional tags is another very confusing thing. A lot of people view them as similar to Tumblr tags, like I said earlier, and this is where you can have some originality, like the Tumblr tags. When I am adding additional tags, I will read the story as I tag it, and make sure I add tags that apply to the important bits. You can keep it professional, with just the tags that will help get you more readers, and trigger warnings; or you can have fun with it, and simply put your thoughts about the work there, as another summary; or you can do a mixture of both. I do a mixture, and will add tags that add the work to popular searches, and add a running commentary/summary as I do so. This part is completely up to you, and you can explore what you want to put by typing random letters or names (things will pop up by either most common or alphabetical order, depending on what you’re typing) into the search bar, just to see what shows. My main suggestion- and pretty steadfast requirement for this exchange- is that you make sure you have a tag for plot points that might be triggering for some. Other than that, the world is your oyster!

That’s it! Hope that helps! If you have any more questions, let me know! 

[hokkyokusei]

Characters' body proportions, "long legs syndrome" or why some people create hatred for the sake of hatred

First, let me explain to people who may not understand how proportions work in drawing.

I also want to remind you of a simple truth: change is not bad. Note: I took extra art classes in elementary school for 4 years and then completed 5 art classes(years) at art school. During my last years of study I had the most wonderful teachers. Still love one of these teachers so much.

And that is why I am sure that what is now considered a trend and supposedly the norm is a VERY BIG mistake.

I've noticed a trend of hate towards Onmyoji's game developers, and while I agree with some of their f#ck-ups, I still want to remind you that there are PEOPLE LIKE US working there. Hateful comments are not constructive criticism!

So who here thinks that the characters supposedly have “long legs syndrome”? Where and how did you get this information and who told you THAT THIS IS TRUE?

I was just furious when I read this nonsense on Weibo, the worst thing is that people don’t even understand this and blindly believe it! Don't blindly believe everything the Internet gives you! You can always check for yourself or find people who understand this topic!

Today I found out that the art team has changed and we can actually see that this seems to be true as the latest designs have changed.

I see a bunch of accusations and dissatisfaction against the developers that they draw incorrectly. Again, has anyone seen a sensible answer other than just a comparison of heights compared to previous works?

Secondly, I want to break down this stupid idea of long leg syndrome in characters.

The correct proportions in drawing are considered to be 7-8 heads from head to toe.

Hair growth, heels, levitation and other attributes are absolutely NOT taken into account. Only the skull and so the heads need to be counted 7-8.

There are times when artists can draw up to 9 heads in height. For example, big heroes.

Individual haracteristics, injuries (for example, a hernia in the back will make the height shorter, too tall growth will slightly change the proportions) must be taken into account.

The people “with long legs syndrome” are you and I look like in reality. Frequently, this is a European type of appearance. Asians, for example, have lower butts than Europeans (tested on Koreans lol), that’s why they think that our legs are longer, although they are also beautiful in proportion.

But another fun fact: we don’t have ideal proportions, because our fingers, arms, legs, etc. are longer and shorter by a few millimeters invisible to us.

But we're talking about basic anatomy in drawing, right? Teenagers and children have different proportions, but since they were not compared, I won’t describe them here; if you’re interested, you can find them on the Internet.

Proportions also differ between men and women.

+ in humans, proportions change with age.

For those who compare with the old character models in the game: Apparently, the art team has changed. So now they do what they want. And they do it competently and correctly in terms of proportions in the drawing. I don't judge past artists; Every creative person sees things differently. But the game continues to develop and this is ABSOLUTELY normal and natural. I don't think that old models will be remade for the sake of correct proportions, they will be optimized, but not completely remade in a new way. I think it's cool, kind of showing respect to those who originally worked on the character model.

People suffer every day and express their hatred online. I do not defend the mistakes of the developers, but I also ask you not to incite hatred everywhere without understanding the topic well.

Also remember that sometimes mistakes happen. As one wonderful mangaka said when asked about the difference in the height of characters on different pages of the manga: there was an uneven floor somewhere!

I hope this post has helped you and now you see things from a different perspective. If you have questions, you can ask them here or in DM.

And if you have the chance, send this post to people who believe in "long legs syndrome" characters, or send them to the Internet to google information about correct proportions (o˘◡˘o)

[quadrantbot]

Troll society and the original purpose of quadrants within it.

To put it in the simplest terms possible, troll romance/quadrants (yes, all four of them,) are a romance system created on Alternia to keep trolls alive. That's it. That's your simple explanation. They have evolved moreso into extra, more personal and more "romantic" definitions, but the very basis of all four quadrants is just an attempt to keep trolls alive. 

Now for the long shit.

Trolls are a naturally hateful species according to canon, and added onto that, they're stated to have a very limited range of social based emotion towards others. These emotions being hatred and pity. Pure hatred from trolls typically manifests in violent actions, most of which going as far as to kill, or at the very least, seriously harm others. Pure pity tends to lean you more into red quadrant territory. Due to these extremes, a mixture of both pity and hatred tends to make up all romantic troll relationships.

Because of the drones on Alternia, the concupiscent quadrants were brought into existence to keep trolls from being murdered. When it comes to the basis of quadrants, in the case of concupiscent quadrants and the drones, it makes up the flushed quadrant and the pitch quadrant. When the concupiscent quadrants were created, they were just based on pity for a troll leading you to not wanting them to die, so you're romantically and sexually involved with them, and pity plus hatred of a troll leading to you not wanting them to die, so you're romantically and sexually involved with them. Drones need buckets. Trolls need to fill them. Concupiscent quadrants are just built on that foundation, despite growing into far more over time, so in the case of these quadrants, they are always romantic in nature. 

But what about the conciliatory quadrants, you ask? Well, it's very simple too. Due to the nature of trolls being as violent as they are, instead of focusing on the buckets for concupiscent preserving of their quadmates lives, they focus on the pacifying. Trolls get into a lot of conflicts. Trolls get very angry, violent and oftentimes will act on those violent urges. For ashen relationships, an auspistice pacifies two trolls at risk of harming each other. For pale relationships, a moirail pacifies a troll at risk of harming others. Both of these things are extremely intimate to trolls, as the trust required between them required to both pacify and be pacified is really only reserved for their personal romantic relationships. Conciliatory quadrants are built on that foundation, despite growing into far more over time, so in the case of these quadrants, they are always romantic in nature. 

All this to say, while the troll romance system has grown past just fill buckets to live/pacify to live, the very basis of their existence is based on romance, so all trolls do and will see quadrants as inherently romantic. 

If you would like more information on how exactly they have grown and what they have grown into, I recommend my post on quadrant feelings. It's my most in depth analysis on how quadrants work, and as a bonus it explains how those with quadrant relationships/crushes tend to feel about each other.

[behindthewox]

Criticism is hard

I've been quiet for a while to allow some time to pass and the EU site leaders to work out the kinks (but also due to IRL commitments) and from what I've heard the opinions are still pretty mixed.

The new site leaders published a feedback form a while back, which is a great idea and honestly should've been done sooner, but instead of just taking the feedback to heart amongst themselves they have now publicly responded to it in a notice board post. Some users in the comment section are very appreciative of this but based on my tumblr inbox there are those who disagree and think it's pretty bad and I kind of agree that it doesn't look all that good.

Yes, it's important to respond to feedback. But it has to be done carefully and at the end of the day it's the actions that really count, not the words you respond with. Actions like arguing against the critics and dismissing opinions as lies or untruthful speaks very loudly, and throwing blame on others is just plain disrespectful and unprofessional. The lack of actions speaks loudly too, and the choice of what feedback to act first on sends a clear message about priorities.

So how do you respond to criticism?

There's no simple answer, but in my experience the following points are generally agreed upon:

§ Humility is key when responding to feedback and criticism. Pride and arrogance will only screw you over and no matter how superior and infallible you think you are, you're not. § Be honest and truthful in a neutral manner. Don't make empty promises and if you want to share your feelings try to be genuine. § Your words mean nothing if they are not backed up by action. If there's no concrete suggestion on how to do it better, ask for advice on what you need to do differently in order to improve or make the changes your critic wants to see. Asking for more input is a great first action to take. § Be objective, try to look at the matter from both sides and see if you can relate to the critic. § Don't dismiss the concerns that your critic expresses, unless you can back up the dismissal with solid reasons for dismissing it. § The feelings and opinions of your critics are not wrong: feelings and opinions are personal and subjective, there is no right or wrong there. A critic can be incorrect but you should never imply that they are wrong in what they express to you. § Your own feelings and opinions generally don't belong in a response to feedback. Feelings can be irrational and when it comes to feedback and criticism it's not about what YOU think and feel, it's about what OTHERS think and feel. § Apologies are good - in moderation. Use them wisely and phrase them carefully. Remorse and regret is overall good for responding to criticism, but keep it minimal and professional. § Explanations can easily be interpreted as excuses, so sometimes it's better not to explain yourself but rather offer to explain it upon request. Critics are usually not objective and will actively look for flaws and weaknesses. § Don't share more information than necessary and always respect and protect the integrity and/or anonymity of your critics. Don't give them more reasons to criticise you. § Don't bring other people into it, especially not to put blame on them. There is absolutely no need to put other people in a bad light, if anything it just makes you look bad. § Don't pose yourself as the victim, even if you feel like you're the victim of unjustified criticism. If your response is more about you than about the critic, it's a bad response. § Read up on terms and concepts like "gaslighting", "victim blaming", "guilt tripping", "discrimination", "self-vicimization" and "minimization/downplaying (psychology)". Not everyone will recognise and identify it but to the people who do it looks really, really bad and they might accuse you of manipulation and (depending on the severity) even verbal and emotional abuse. Learn to recognise it so that you don't do it by accident to others.

Results may vary and what works in one situation might not work in another. The advice above is pretty generic but there will be always be nuance and exceptions that generic advice can't account for. Ultimately you should ask someone to look over your response and help you identify potential issues with it and help you finetune it before you hit send.

You will inevitably get it wrong sometimes and that's okay, as long as you learn from it and put in the time and effort to improve your skills over time. There will always be flaws and weak points in what you do and say but the goal here isn't to be flawless, the goal is simply to dodge as many bullets as possible and keep the damage to a minimum.

Criticism isn't easy and it takes a lot of practise but it's an extremely valuable skill to have in life. Both giving criticism and receiving and acting on it. I'm still learning and I might never fully master the art of criticism, but I'm pretty confident that I've got the basics down and I mostly know what I'm doing. Mostly. It's a work in progress :P

NOTE/CREDIT: This post is based on an anon submission where the anon criticised the Feedback Response on WoP EU and provided a few pointers on what they did wrong. I decided to take the rather harsh criticism and flip it into something less negative and more constructive that can be helpful to everyone, not just the individuals adressed in the submission. It's a mix of anon's original points (credit goes to them) and my additions with what I've learned over the years as well as personal experience, preferences and beliefs. I'm not an expert but it should align pretty well with the general consensus among the people who actually are experts in the field. Thanks for your submission and I hope you don't mind that I Frankensteined it, Anon. Please let me know what you think about this submission-flipping experiment of taking something negative and making something more constructive out of it.

[translations-by-aiimee]

Mistakenly Saving the Villain - Chapter 16

Original Title: 论救错反派的下场

Genres: Drama, Romance, Xianxia, Yaoi

This translation is the product of my limited knowledge of Chinese characters as I attempt to learn the language. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Buy me a Ko-fi ☕

Chapter 16 - The View from Purgatory

In fact, Song Qingshi didn't like to eat mutton and spicy food even less, but his little angel wanted to eat hand-held mutton, so he had to accompany him.

The two of them finished their lunch leisurely before arriving at Tianji Pavilion.

The owner of Tianji Pavilion saw him and greeted him respectfully, but his face was hard to read.

At this time, Song Qingshi knew that the words "fear of mistakes" in the letter meant that they didn't understand anything at all, and the craftsmen were almost driven crazy. . .

"These are microscopes, transparent test tubes and flasks, distillers, fermenters, barometers, infrared spectrometers. . ." Song Qingshi was at a loss, not knowing how he was confused. He hasn't asked for the more difficult machines such as mass spectrometers and liquid chromatographs. It was all simple stuff. "A microscope is a high-intensity magnifying glass, something that can see bacteria. . ."

What the hell is a magnifying glass and bacteria? A magic weapon for murder or spying?

The owner of the Tiangong Pavilion was in a trance when he heard it and began to doubt his life. . .

The two men talked stubbornly for most of the day.

Fortunately, Yue Wuhuan studied medicine with him these days and had an idea about how these objects worked. Seeing his Master's struggle, he took the initiative to explain it for him.

Yue Wuhuan understood the thinking of people in the immortal world and communicated it in a different way. Finally, he let the owner of the Tianji Pavilion understand that the microscope was used to view the tiny poison attached to a heavenly object, the test tubes and flasks were precious decorations, and the distiller was used to extract pure water like a boiling kettle. . .

Song Qingshi sat by the side, dumbfounded and feeling weird, but nothing seemed to be wrong.

The owner of the Tianji Pavilion finally patted his chest and ensured that he could make the objects.

Yue Wuhuan started to bargain with him, and after about half an hour, he found out the bottom price of the owner of Tianji Pavilion. Then, with the permission of Song Qingshi, he also used the common elixir produced by Medicine King Valley to deduct part of the purchase price, saving a good amount of money and reached a mutually beneficial long-term cooperation agreement with the owner of Tianji Pavilion, also checking for loopholes in the contract.

He was so happy to have an all-knowing secretary at home. . .

In the end, Song Qingshi didn't even read the contract but only signed it.

He walked out of Tianji Pavilion in a daze. It was almost dark. The lights of all the shops were lit up. The guests were incessant. The red-light district and gambling house became more lively, with countless lovers and gamblers passing by. There were quarrels and fights from time to time, and even cultivators brawling.

Night Rain Pavilion is located in the red-light district, and it makes a living by selling information and posting bounties.

Song Qingshi was visiting this kind of place for the first time, and he looked around curiously. From time to time, he met a prostitute boldly flirting, and even a young lady, seeing that Yue Wuhuan was in good shape, asked for sex, which made Song Qingshi very uncomfortable, so he hurried into Night Rain Pavillion to hide. Yue Wuhuan's expression was also looking better.

According to the Night Rain Pavilion rules, those who ask for information must be alone.

After Song Qingshi told Yue Wuhuan not to wander away, he entered the inner room.

Ye Lin, the owner of the Night Rain Pavilion, received him personally.

Ye Lin was a good-tempered fat man with a kind face, smiling at everyone. The original body once healed serious injuries for him. Whenever he received news of the availability or sale of rare medicines or elixirs, he would prioritize selling them to Song Qingshi, so the two have some friendship. Now, when he heard that Song Qingshi had been working for the sake of a beauty, he had thought that information was unreliable, but he couldn't say that outright. He also knew that the method of removing the Acacia Seal was quite troublesome, so he dragged it out for a few months, lest the Immortal Medicine King does things on a whim and eventually turned his head and grow tired of playing with this beauty, minimizing how big his loss would be.

Now, Song Qingshi came to visit in person and sat in front of him to press for news.

"I only received it in the past few days." Ye Lin didn't dare to shirk anymore and handed over the method. "When the rejoicing immortal created the Acacia Seal, he didn't leave a way to remove it. There was once a demon cultivator who captured low-ranking cultivators as slaves. Among them, there were many disciples who had just entered the great sects, so the righteous immortal sects studied two ways to remove the seal - one is to be struck by a cultivator above the divine core region to directly erase it; the second is to use the Ten Thousand Spirit Marrow to make a formation, along with the seal's secret orders when drawing the Acacia Seal to eliminate it."

Song Qingshi humbly asked for advice: "Which one is easier?"

Ye Lin said with a bitter face: "My lord, it's not that you don't know that the divine ancestors are the treasures of all sects. They won't release them easily. If you ask them to dispel the Acacia Seal for a slave born as a mortal, that's a big deal. It's humiliating." He expressed it as tactfully as possible, but in fact he really wanted to tell him if someone took a pet and went to Medicine King Valley to seek medical treatment, would you beat him up?

Song Qingshi thought about it and understood: "I'll choose the second way."

He will never let Yue Wuhuan be humiliated again.

Ye Lin looked at him and said with hatred: "The Ten Thousand Spirit Marrow. . . is a treasure that is only produced once per meridian. Occasionally it will appear at auctions. The price is about 100,000 to 300,000 high-grade spirit stones depending on the quality and size. This method was developed at no cost by the daughter of Golden Jade House, who was given the Acacia Seal by evil people. Because it's so expensive, no one pays it any mind. I can give it to you directly, but every slave with the Acacia Seal has secret orders from their sealer, and the formation needs to be written with those secret orders. Xie Que is very greedy. Once they know you want to unlock the seal, they'll ask for a high price."

Medicine King Valley buys various medicinal materials at high prices for research all year round but sells very few medicines, so it's not considered a wealthy sect.

Although Mr. Wuhuan is rare and beautiful, he is just a prostitute with a bad reputation. Is it worth paying such a high price to unseal him? The Immortal Medicine King's mind was filled with confusion, right?

Ye Lin tried to persuade him: "If you really like that person, as long as you treat him well, you don't need to use the spirit bead, then the Acacia Seal will be the same whether it's removed or not. I received news that Golden Ring House is going to auction a pair of stunning siblings, both virgins, with a price of only 50,000 spirit stones, with looks no less than. . ."

Song Qingshi immediately interrupted him: "I want to buy the Ten Thousand Spirit Marrow. Do you know where it's sold?"

He didn't know how to communicate with the minds of immortal cultivators. It has nothing to do with whether he uses the spirit bead or not. The Acacia Seal itself is a very shameful brand, a symbol that represents the deprivation of human dignity and must not be left behind, otherwise, Yue Wuhuan's heart won't heal.

Ye Lin gave up on persuasion, wondering: "I know that Lady Lingmiao has collected a few, but I'm not sure that she will sell them."

Song Qingshi simply calculated his assets: "I'm willing to refine a bottle of rejuvenation pills for her and pay another 200,000 spirit stones."

Although Lady Lingmiao is very talented, she entered the Immortal Sect very late. She was in her thirties when she established her spiritual foundation and in her forties when she finished her golden core, so her appearance was much older than other female practitioners, which was the most important thing to her. She used facecare medication daily to conceal it and has been trying to seek to restore the blushing appearance of her youth. However, the formula for the rejuvenating elixir has long been lost, and the sole copy of the Immortal Medicine King is all that's left. The original body disliked the rejuvenating elixir because of the scarcity of materials needed, troublesome production, and the effect of not being very useful, so he never made it.

As soon as the rejuvenating elixir was made, Lady Lingmiao will definitely be tempted.

"I'll take care of this for you." Ye Lin felt a little heartbroken for him. He suddenly remembered something, and said, "By the way, do you know what happened to Xie Que recently?"

Song Qingshi frowned: "What's the matter?"

Ye Lin joked with him: "Didn't the owner of Golden Phoenix Manor get a new treasure? He's so spoiled, he seems to be called Bai Zihao. . . I recently found out that he's the illegitimate son of Elder He of the Pinehearth Sect in the mortal world." That unscrupulous thing was sold as a slave by Xie Que's wicked thing. This matter has been tied up for a long time without results. Pinehearth Sect can't help Golden Phoenix Manor, and now they're looking for Xie Que to settle accounts. It's a pity that this kid, Xie Que, is a quick runner. They don't know which cave he's hiding in."

Song Qingshi lowered his head and thought for a long time.

Ye Lin smiled and said: "If I find that kid Xie Que, I can find a way to get the secret order for you, and the fee will be cheaper."

"No," Song Qingshi smiled, "I'd like to pay double the fee. Just tell me his whereabouts. . ."

Ye Lin froze and then realized what was going on, and answered in a loud voice, picking up his cup of tea.

Song Qingshi bowed and left, taking with him Yue Wuhuan who was outside studying the bounty postings board.

Ye Lin glanced at Yue Wuhuan from the window, shook his head, took out an album from the hidden place on the bookshelf, flipped through a few pages, and sighed again.

Mr. Wuhuan's methods are really good.

Immortal Medicine King's reputation is about to be ruined.

. . .

All business matters have been resolved, and the solution to removing the seal has also been figured out.

Song Qingshi happily went shopping with Yue Wuhuan, buying books, medicinal materials and daily necessities.

The red brocade is very nice, and suitable for Wuhuan. Sold!

The pitcher plant might be able to make medicine for Wuhuan. Sold and sold!

Rongxing Hall's buttermilk cake tastes very good, and Wuhuan likes to eat it. Sold, sold and sold!

Song Qingshi was a person who only went out to buy things a few times a year and bought half a year's worth of stuff at a time. He purchased so much and was so happy that he bought two wine bottles from roadside restaurants. This wine is called Forgetfulness. It sounded good, and the pretty girl selling it said it would take the edge off of things. Although he did things with a purpose and nothing much bothered him, he could still give it a try.

He bought a lot of stuff in a jumble.

Yue Wuhuan helplessly put all his things into the mustard bag for him to tidy up when he got back.

Song Qingshi saw a bookstore in the alley and ran over joyfully. Buying books was his favourite, and the more, the better.

Yue Wuhuan hesitated for a moment but finally followed slowly.

This bookstore named Immortal Love House had a very good business, and there were many book buyers. Song Qingshi first bought a copy of medicine-related books and a copy of an immortal world information book and then bought whatever was popular. He found that people who came to buy books in the store seemed to like the colourful picture books in the corner, especially men, with seven out of ten of them buying it.

Song Qingshi asked Yue Wuhuan curiously: "What kind of books are those?"

Yue Wuhuan looked at him absent-mindedly, hesitant to speak.

Song Qingshi walked over directly, picked up a picture album called "Pictures of Beauty in the Prosperous Age," and smiled: "So it's a collection of prints in Ukiyo-e style. The printing is really exquisite. Is it written by a famous artist?"

He opened it and glanced at it casually. His hands released it as if they had been scalded by fire. The album fell to the ground, revealing the pictures inside. He took another look in disbelief. His whole body was as cold as if cold water had been splashed on him.

This was a pornographic book. The pictures were full of dirty scenes, accompanied by countless erotic words.

"Night Banquet for a Group of Ladies," "The Picture of the Immortal Father's lovemaking with the Unhappy Male," "The Golden Chiao's Perfect Sex," and so on. . .

In the painting, a stunning young man beneath various men in twists and turns of pleasure. His posture was extremely unbearable.

The young man had a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes, and there was a bright red tear mole under his left eye, which was so beautiful that it could arouse everyone's desire.

This is Yue Wuhuan. . .

Song Qingshi knew what Yue Wuhuan had experienced, but he hadn't faced these unbearable scenes directly. After Yue Wuhuan gradually recovered, he hoped to forget the past like an ostrich, but now, the album cruelly tore open this scar and revealed everything. The hell that Yue Wuhuan experienced was even more tragic than he could imagine.

Why can people be so cruel?

Song Qingshi was so sad that he couldn't breathe. He gasped heavily and hugged his shoulders tightly.

The ghostly fire of the underworld rose and burned away all the filth.

Then what?

What should he do? What can he do? He can't do anything.

The bookstore owner wanted to come over to greet him but fled in fear when he saw the situation. Song Qingshi stood there blankly, feeling that his whole body had lost all strength, and was finally dragged away senselessly by Yue Wuhuan.

Yue Wuhuan took his hand and walked aimlessly to the river.

As the cold wind blew, Song Qingshi's mind gradually cleared up. . .

He finally understood why those two cultivators in the teahouse discussed it like that, and why Ye Lin tried to persuade himself to give up.

It turns out that everyone knows. . .

Golden Phoenix Manor ruined Yue Wuhuan's body, and these albums ruined Yue Wuhuan's reputation.

No matter how hard Yue Wuhuan tried, the foundation building, his spiritual core, and even reaching the highest level. . . cultivating into Sword Master. Everyone who sees him will never think of his stunning talent but his body and these filthy images. His past as a plaything will always be in their minds. Even if he could burn down one bookstore, two bookstores, and countless picture albums for Yue Wuhuan, there was no way for him to prevent these picture albums from being circulated in the market. . .

Yue Wuhuan once said that he had nothing. . .

Only now did he realize the depth of despair behind those words.

Song Qingshi sat by the river, covering his face, letting the tears wet his fingers. He hated his incompetence.

"Master, don't be sad," Yue Wuhuan also sat down slowly, comforting softly, "You'll know about this matter sooner or later. . . so I don't want to hide it. These paintings were made a few years ago. A famous painter came to Golden Phoenix Manor, and Jin Feiren pumped me full of drugs and manipulated me with the spirit bead so that he could paint these and spread them all over the world. Now that I think about it, I think he sensed that I had the desire to escape and wanted to tell me that no matter where I escaped to, I could not get rid of the fate of slaves. . . So I gave up hope of escape and became what he wanted, shameless, indulging their desires, stupid and ridiculous. . ."

Song Qingshi buried his head and looked at the river, not daring to look at him.

"Master has given me a new chance at life," Yue Wuhuan said in a relaxed tone, "I have let go of the past, these things. . . I have long been used to it, and I am mentally prepared. I'll study methods of disguise and change my name so that I won't be recognized, so. . . it's okay, I'm really okay.”

Song Qingshi was still very sad because this beautiful and proud phoenix could no longer fly openly in the sun.

He calmed down and wanted to stand up but found that Yue Wuhuan's body had been shaking this whole time.

In the dark night, his expression was exposed, and those beautiful eyes were full of fear.

He exhausted all his strength to spit out the most frightening words:

"Please, don't think I'm dirty. . ."

[harper-collins]

Hello Everyone,

I come to you with news about both my mental health and the state of my writing;

First off, I probably won't be posting anything of my own for a while here. Maybe an update for a book if it happens, but not anything outrageous. It's more of a quiet one for me as I have somehow gotten to one of the worst points in my life.

I won't give too much information, but I'm currently off work and taking time for myself, and I realised I should probably do something about my writing, whether it's just finishing it off awkwardly or explaining.

I don't want to give any of my stories an unfinished ending, and I really do love them all, even if I may not be super into their respective fandoms anymore; this includes all 7 projects. (ohmygod)

I've been working on my book semi-regularly, but as it's still in the basics, I won't share anything until I've built it up more. I know I say that a lot (whether you guys hear it or not), but taking on a project the way I have done is exciting and scary.

That said, here is the list of things I will be taking from now until I decide I can either handle multiple things again or finish them.

Rewriting An Eternity To Wait

Proceeding to finish the last few chapters of An Eternity To Wait.

Finish Mission: Return Home

Finish Experiment Gone Wrong...?

Write more or finish Scar in Yandere High School (RP) (as there is only one at the moment and it's a very bare project I started on a whim)

Finish Trapped in 'Dreams'

Rewrite the rest of The Twins, The Triangle And The Magic

Finish The Twins, The Triangle And The Magic

Add or Finish Billdip Cards Against Humanity

Full focus on my book, maybe write oneshots etc

To explain, The start is simple, the least amount to do in the projects goes first (AETW, M: RH), and then finishing some long-term projects (EGW?, Scar in YHS), and then T4ATM is put essentially in the back due to the pure size of the project. I plan on it being longer than the HP books, meaning it will probably take years to complete.

I have no doubt that T4ATM will signify the end of my fanfic writing (or at least series writing). I will then focus on my book, which has its own blog. These should be primarily easy considering that I have started all of these projects, and for all, apart from like two, I have plans ready for them. All I need to do is write them.

I can't say how long this will take, and I do apologise to anyone who's been wanting an update of others etc., but I'm just so fucked that this is probably the only way I'm going to get over this heap of self-inflicted work that I want to finish.

Of course, if the entire idea of making a oneshot inspires me (this includes the oneshot series I have), then I will probably write that, but then I will go back to the list. If anything changes in the list, I will let you know.

Thanks to anyone who cared to read this; it means a lot. I hope anyone who likes my projects will wait for them to be finished or just read them as they come out, but once I get my hands on something, I will do my best to sink my teeth into it and only that instead of going around in circles.

Thanks, cya.

[happiestplacehq]

Task Eleven → Intro & Connections

Welcome to our first mandatory task! As I’m sure you have all heard me wax poetic about by now, this task has been created with the intention of helping you all connect better to your fellow writers, and to give you and your partners a head start when it comes to plotting and coming up with connections for your characters. Below you will find a list of plot and connection ideas to help you get started. Now, let me explain the task at hand.

Firstly, treat this like you might do an intro post.

Using the template below as a guide (you can set it out any way you wish, this is just to help you get started) each player must create a post detailing things they are looking for for their characters. There are suggestions in the template for what other things may be useful to include. Anything that is required is marked in bold with an asterisk*. I would then like this post to be pinned to the top of your character blog, or added in some way to your current pinned post, so it is easily accessible to all players. It is up to you if you link it in your theme.

For each character you should have a minimum of 3 connection types, and a further 3 fleshed out plot ideas you are looking for. The more specific you are, the better, but I understand that sometimes a vague title is enough. If there is a plot you really want for your character, put it here! The people need to know.

If you have multiple characters you do not need to fill this out for all of them immediately, but should all be completed by the end of next month. Start with your characters that have less connections when in doubt. Please note that your connections should be varied, and not all focus on shipping and romance, in order to get a good range to work within.

I’m borrowing one of Paige’s as an example of a more fleshed out connections & intro post [here]. This one by Claire is also in depth [here]. I know a few of you have similar posts already but please take the time to make a new post for this task so I can reblog it to @redwoodhollowreview and make sure to tag the blog as well!

Please tag your posts with #happiestplacetask and #happiestplacetask11 so everyone can see. This task is mandatory and will be reblogged.

TEMPLATE

Character Information*

Brief outline about your character, as formal or informal as you like.* Can be paragraphs or bullet points. Include Name, Age & Occupation

Outline of their personality & how they vibe with others.

Anything that you think is important about their past or present that will affect plotting.

A link to their bio on the main, or a more in depth description of their history if you want.

Wanted Connections*

Connection 1

Connection 2

Connection 3

Another? 👀 

Wanted Plots / Plot Ideas*

Plot Bunny Number 1 - Short Description, 1 paragraph. You can link inspo posts if you have any.

Plot Bunny Number 2

Plot Bunny Number 3

Taken Connections (like Naomi’s post [here])

Connection 1 e.g. The Best Friend, Name, Info about connection

Connection 2 e.g. The Enemy, Name, Info etc.

If you think a connection is important or may help connect your characters to other characters through mutuals, this is an excellent way to go.

Other

One character from the open tag [here] you would like to see taken / added to the Most Wanted page*

One Character you want to see a bio for in relation to this specific character

Plot Ideas 

Plot ideas should be fleshed, giving specifics of ideas you’ve had for your character that you want to play out but haven’t found someone to write them with yet. For example, they can be as simple as a thread idea (Muses visiting IKEA) to something more long term (Muses are mortal enemies but have to pretend they’re best friends in order to progress in their job).

[helpersofindie masterlist of plot/ connections masterlists]

[The Plot Masterlist Tag]

[More idea masterlists by winterhelps]

Connection Ideas

Childhood Best Friends / High School Best Friends

Colleagues (current or former)

Neighbours

Roommates

Ex Partners - on good terms, or bad terms

Ex Friends - on good terms, or bad terms

Mortal Enemies

Tinder / Grinder Match / Old One Night Stand

Previously been through a traumatic experience together

Previously been through an amazing experience together

The one person that just really, really gets on their nerves

The secret crush

Their school bully

Confidant

Role model

Classmates

Ride or Die

One part of a wider friend group

Secret Friends

Cousins / Aunts / Uncles / Related through marriage

Friends because their parents, siblings or grandparents are friends

Attend a club together such as bowling, swimming or yoga

First Kiss

Childhood Crush

Publicity Partner

Someone they hired either recently or in the past

Frenemies

Rivals - in the same field of work, in a club like swimming, in a group of friends, over the same love interest

Share a secret - they share a secret and both are always on edge the other will tell the secret

Study Buddies / Tutor

Have mutual friends - they either do or don’t get a long

Babysitter

Thanks to [Connections Masterlist] by shroyers for some of the inspo, [iridcscenceq] and [Character Connections] by activisthelps for more ideas.

If you need any help with this task or just want some help coming up with ideas, don’t hesitate to ask me!

Please like this post once you have read it !!