#I was not expecting to see this in my subscription tab | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beach-illustrations · 1 year ago

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Would love to hear your review of Artfol once you've settled in a bit! (Probably wouldn't hurt for me to have a more presentable art archive somewhere either, so I'm curious about the alternatives)

of course!! after using artfol for about a week, i do like it! it's still very new, so i wasn't expecting too much off rip from it but it definitely has some good potential if it gets successful!

putting this under a read more because, as per usual, this got long.

to start: the good stuff! good, robust organization thus far for artists. all the art you post gets automatically put in its own separate tab on your profile called gallery in chronological order and any other art and text posts that you share as well as your own art and text posts get put into another tab called feed. the feed is in chronological order from newest to oldest and it's suuuuper nice being able to have an easy place that contains all your original work people can go to without the hassle of punching in specific tags in a search bar (or inputting them into the website url) and hoping for the best. the feed can then be further organized between posts and art, art submitted to challenges, art submitted to submissions and reshares of other peoples stuff.

you can also make collections for your own gallery, so you can have all your fan art in one collection, ocs in another, etc. this isn't just for personal organization either; your separate collections are displayed under the about section on your profile or, if you've got them, links section! i honestly like this a lot. most of my experience of running an art blog comes from tumblr and getting separate pages set up on your blog, while not horribly difficult, does require a bit of knowledge regarding html and manually inputting website urls where you want the links to go. having all of this steam lined is much better. all of this is relatively easy to figure out as long as you're open to just clicking buttons on the website to see what they do, as far as i could find there's no official tutorial available. you can only have a limited number of these without a premium subscription but i haven't a clue as to what that limit even is.

you can also effectively pin certain art pieces that you're proud of to the top of your gallery by putting them in a featured selection. no idea how to do this yet but i do think this in of itself is neat.

customization is light but they cover the basics well. they've got a nice bio and announcement/secondary heading type feature under your username that you can customize, as well as a nice big space for an icon and a big ol' banner you can put your art in. other than that, you can choose a 'theme color' as artfol calls it but it just determines the color of the bar under your banner as far as i can tell on the website version. they also have a separate area for links that automatically turn into the websites icon you're linking back to.

custom warning tags!!! these fully blur the image and you can put as many words to warn others about the content of the art as you want to clarify what someone's getting into if they click show. at first i was worried i could only put one custom warning on an image but nope, it lets you write multiple warnings on the censored image if the NSFW and Gore filters aren't cutting it for the art.

speaking of which; artfol allows NSFW! in places where online spaces have been getting progressively sanitized because big corporations and google ad sense are the ones who can pay the bills of hosting thousands of images and videos on servers, it's nice to see that.

the challenges! other artists can issue challenges to others to either draw their characters in certain outfits, as certain creatures, drawing a piece of art in your style, etc. think some of the various art memes floating around on twitter, except this time they have their own dedicated category! i haven't done any challenges yet but this seems like a great way to socialize with other artists on artfol, as well as stretch your own art skills.

AI art is explicitly banned.

there is an algorithm however it prioritizes art made recently, so artists of all skill level and mediums get a shot at being seen on the front page which is nice! as far as i can tell, your home feed (which is very similar to tumblr's) is in chronological order and doesn't put in any suggested or recommended posts in the middle of the posts of the people you've chosen to follow. the like and share options are easily accessible and when you share someone else's art, it notifies them by telling them that you've pinged them which is... odd to me, but the website doesn't seem to auto credit them any other way in reshares (in contrast, tumblr keeps the OP's username and icon at the top of their own original post when it gets reblogged). i'm also something of a tumblr hermit so this could be a common reshare (reblog?) format else where for all i know and i'm just griping about nothing.

there is a premium subscription you can sign up for as i mentioned earlier. you get stuff like no ads (which you also get if you've got an adblocker on your browser), more collections can be made, you can upload cover art (icons, i think?) for your collections and the art you post, you can have custom profile theme colors (i guess they let you use the color wheel or a hex code instead of the pre seleced colors they already have?) you get more layouts for your featured art on your profile and you don't have to wait 60 days to change your username. oh, and you can make groups that people can join based around one particular thing, however i haven't touched any groups yet because none of them are all that appealing to me.

honestly, a lot of the premium subscription perks are very inconsequential to the core functionality of artfol which is a huuuuge bonus to the devs in my eyes. they easily could have paywalled commission pages or collections all together and them just giving you some extra customization perks instead shows me that the devs are actually focused on making an artist friendly website and app.

over all, artfol is relatively easy to navigate and upload your art to! the base features are solid however the website does have some downsides.

the bad:

the most egregious thing is that I haven't been able to and currently can't access the content guidelines or privacy policy pages. when I first signed up, artfol gave me a link to what the website claimed was the content guidelines however it just linked me to the news page and that really didn't sit well with me.

because the artfol website is so new, I am going to give them a chance and interpret this in the best faith possible and assume that it seems like this is just an issue of certain pages crashing, seeing as I used to be able to access the News page on artfol and now it's just gone like the other pages. on top of that, it seems like every link except for their twitter, android and apple download links, instagram and discord links at the bottom of the artfol website page is broken in the same way. out of all pages eating themselves the content guidelines and privacy policy ones feel like the worse ones to lose. I haven't been able to access the guidelines from the jump and it's been really frustrating. I just got done sending an e-mail to their contact e-mail, so hopefully something good comes from that. in the mean time i've also downloaded the app to try to see if i can find the guidelines and privacy policy on there. I've noticed people complaining about crashing pages in the mobile app reviews so hopefully this is just a case of a website page accidentally eating itself and it's just very unfortunate coincidence that it happens to be some very important pages affected by the crashes.

other than that, the other downsides are that the website takes like a minute and a half to load, clicking on a censored image to view it on your home feed takes you to the individual post and has you un-censor it there rather than directly from your home feed and some features are currently only available to mobile accounts such as commissions tabs, however i'm sure that will eventually be made available to the website version as well in due time. also, while uploading art, not including the custom censor tag or NSFW or gore filters, you can only put 5 tags on your art. these are all only minor annoyances and i'm sure they'll eventually be fixed in upcoming patches.

over all: asides from some concerning hiccups with missing pages, artfol seems very promising for a relatively new, bare bones website! the developers have very much taken a mobile app first, website later approach which at least to me isn't the end of the world, seeing how the website is already doing okay all things considered. the community seems nice and i'm planning on trying out some challenges soon to get more experience using it!

#pristine-starlight #hi hello thank you very much for the question! enjoy this wall of text in return <3 #if i missed anything i'll probably make another post later

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bokksu-vs-sakuraco · 1 year ago

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Sakuraco User Experience

This post is to describe what it was like signing up and navigating Sakuraco's user portal.

The website is fairly straightforward to navigate. However, placing my order proved to be more problematic than expected.

After filling in all my information at the checkout screen and clicking submit, the page seemed to freeze. The submit button stayed shaded but I was stuck on the order page. Thinking that it might be a glitch, I closed out of the page and tried submitting the order again — a mistake actually, it would have been better to check my credit card first to see if I was charged — however the page froze again. Only then did I discover that I had two pending charges on my card. I ended up opening a ticket in the Sakuraco support area and then calling my credit card company.

Above: Customer Portal

Below: My Tickets

Ultimately, both pending charges dropped from my card on their own in about a week. Customer service got back to me in 2 days though (they responded promptly when I submitted an earlier ticket asking a question as well). I suspect the freezing page and false charge may have been because I typed my address wrong (I put Unit # at the end of address line 1 instead of on address line 2, oops), which is my fault, but I also think fixing that bug so you get a proper error message or alert is important.

Now after signing up for a subscription, I have access to their subscribers forum and can see my subscription info in my portal. It shows the number of boxes to go:

After clicking View Plan and scrolling to the very bottom of the page, it has the date that the renewal charge will go through, as well as the cancel/pause subscription button. Cancelling will take you to a page where it'll make you fill out a mandatory survey before letting you 'cancel your account'.

I also unlocked the streaks tab which gives your rewards as you receive more boxes. You can use the JH points to pay for goods on their JapanHaul marketplace, and you can also get JH points by leaving reviews for their boxes.

On promotional emails: after successfully subscribing I received a proper order email as well as a Sakuraco welcome email. I'm not huge on letting my inbox get spammed so I unsubscribed. Sorry, won't be counting random emails like Gliss lol. I peeked on the forum though and it sounds like they do send plenty of emails (partly because the parent company of Sakuraco owns like 4 other box subscription box services).

—June

#sakuraco #user experience #subscription box

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jennamaertz · 2 years ago

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GRAD SHOW PREPARATION - REFLECTION

In January, I volunteered to be a part of the Web Design/Animation group as well as a floater for the Implementation team. There originally was nothing really to do for the Implementation team at the start, so I really focused on the Web Design team. Originally we started to use a program called Bubble and we weren’t very familiar with it and were struggling to do anything with it.

Some notes and plans we had from the start:

January 19th, 2023

Animate the Logo

Linkedin Website

Include Graphic Design posters on the website

Communicate with Advancement for sign outside college

Upload pictures of wireframes, moodboard, pictures of playing cards

Thursday Feb 23 website/ host purchase (reading break)

Thursday March 23 website is up and communicating

Fridays at 5:00pm meeting with the web/interactive crew

360 degree camera

Projection of the logo

January 20th 2023

Profiles open in the same tab, social media profiles open into a new tab

Clicking logo goes to home page

Email set up a google doc so everyone about the social media profiles they want to include on their profiles

360 degree video

Countdown button

Mail buttons working

Hover over photos - adds animation smooth transition

Time and date for the grad show

Each student’s artist statement included on the profile

Images on the students profiles of their work, and progress photos of them working

Animations for the documentary

January 24th, 2023

Created wireframes for:

Variety Pack Homescreen - “Choose your Grad”, maybe a stack of cards, maybe they shuffle when you click on choose your grad

Profiles Cards Page - 6 x 6 cards aligned horizontally. - When hovering over a card: card gets bigger and drop shadow illuminates. - When clicking on a card: card flips and zooms in

Single Profile Page - Photo, menu bar on the left, social media icons links

RSVP page - Reply by, include logo, Yes, No, Interested, Share event, Add event to calendar, What to expect - food, details, how many people responded, How many people are your bringing, Confirmation email/phone/text

Clea calling Julian about countdown

For next class: Look over exposed proposal, and create ours

Vote for song

Create document for everyone’s social media links

January 26th 2023

Created social media links shared document

Created single proposal with all our tasks we have to do

Created digital wireframes in Adobe XD (in wireframes documents)

This weekend: get used to bubble.io

After planning this all out, we decided to change course and go with a program we were more familiar with which was Cargo. We ended up moving really fast and understood it very well. We did our part for the proposal and paid for the one-year subscription for Cargo. We struggled to create a timer countdown for the website, but it got figured out. Any problem we came across took a little bit to understand, but we usually could figure it out. We did struggle to find a way to get orders and payments together onto the website because we had to buy into a third party. We ended up scrapping the idea because it cost too much to have installed and it was too complicated to figure out. After this, we spent a lot of time waiting on the Graphic Design team as well as the Photography/Social Media Team to get images and the overall design. We had to wait to see what design we were able to use to relate to the theme we had for Variety Pack. After we got all the images and style guides, we were rolling to get everything done. We had lots of setbacks where they were little issues but were difficult to fix at times. It was mostly just trying to fix up any profiles that had spelling errors or any of the images that would not scale correctly. We ended up fixing everything and were able to listen to anyone that noticed any errors. As this was all going on, we were creating animations based on every letter in Variety Pack using After Effects, Photoshop, and Procreate on my iPad. We were able to finish them all and were happy with how they turned out, but struggled to combine them. April ended up finding a way to fix them all up on After Effects and whipped up two different versions of the logo being animated. By the end, we plugged in the Documentary that the Social Media Team created as well as the Virtual Grad Show Tour. I was very happy with this group and enjoyed everything we did. We all worked together well and I found that we had no issues. We communicated when we disagreed with something, but overall, it went really well. I’m very proud of our Web cite and loved how it turned out.

For the implementation team, I helped when Matt asked, I only really helped out with putting up posters and handing out invitations. We only got posters the day before the Easter Break so it was hard to find places that were open. It was a bit frustrating to be running around town, yet finding nowhere to put up posters. We ended up finding a few places to put up posters and to hand out invitations, but I wish we could have had more places to advertise.

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bunnieplvshie · 4 years ago

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the raid-- where it all started

request: A meet cute with Sapnap where he raids your channel after he closes up his stream, and you don’t know who Sapnap is while ur chat is freaking out and Sapnap is still kinda huffy about it in his call with Dream and George? Maybe even to the point that he’d set up a time for you two to stream together, just so he could show off his Minecraft skills and make sure u remembered him? I crave Sapnap in denial about his feelings, dude-

you rubbed your eyes, they were burning due to the fact that you’ve been streaming for upwards of four hours at this point. “okay chat, i’m getting pretty tired, i might end the stream in about an hour,” you said, fatigue lacing your voice.

your eyes scanned the chat for their replies; some were happy you were finally about to get some sleep, others were begging you to stay on for a bit longer than what you had told them. “i know, i know, my streams are pretty cool but at this point i’ve been on for a bit too long. just for you guys, i’ll stay for just an hour and a half, that’s the best i can do.”

you unpaused the minecraft screen, continuing the build onto your farm and gathering supplies for your next build. all of a sudden, you begin to see that there is a spike in subscribers and viewers- a raid, you knew one when you saw it. “thank you to whoever sent that! it seriously means a lot,” you exclaimed, showing your gratitude to the chat.

a donation rolled onto your screen as your computer started to chant the message from some strange name- sapnap? “i like your game play, thought you deserved the few extra subscriptions.”

“that’s a strange name, cute. but thank you sapnap, it means a lot!”

your chat was going nuts, freaking out that this person had raided your channel. many were saying that they can’t believe sapnap raided you, others were starstruck that THE sapnap was actively watching your channel.

one chat caught your eye specifically, the one asking if you even knew who the mysterious user was. “no, i can’t say i’ve ever heard of a sapnap, im sorry,” you said as you were googling his name- oh, a fellow minecraft streamer, one who apparently had a lot of traffic on twitch and youtube, as well as other social media platforms.

another donation from him came in. “do you seriously not know who i am,” it read. “no, sapnap, i’m sorry! but i seriously thank you for the raid,” you laughed, that must’ve gotten under his skin. you decided to go over to twitter, following him. “okay sapnap, i followed you on twitter, i hope that makes up for my confusion.”

the chat was crazier than usual, you couldn’t even read it at this point because so many messages were rolling in, coincidentally all about this sapnap. once your phone let off an annoying bell sound, you looked down and realized that sapnap had followed you back- not only that, but he also sent you a message. you clicked on the discord link that he gave you, automatically going to the voice chat tab.

“do you seriously not know who i am? your whole chat knows me but you don't,” the man behind the screen let out a somewhat humorous grunt indicating that he wasn’t genuinely mad, he was more amused. “listen, i don’t really watch other streamers, i just stream myself and hope that’s enough,” you said, laughing along as you heard him giggle from the other side. “well, join a server with me, let me show you what you’re missing,” he said.

automatically, another user under the name of dream unmuted himself. he sounded as if he was screaming and laughing at the same time. “nick, please for the love of god stop simping over every single woman who gives you the slightest bit of attention,” dream said, while sapnap was yelling at him to shut up and re-mute himself.

(time skip)

after about an hour of playing with nick, both of your chats absolutely freaking out, you figured it was about time to hop off and get to bed. “okay sapnap, you proved me wrong, you’re actually better than i expected.” he laughed, “i figured i’d show you up at some point, but i agree, you probably need to get some rest, but tomorrow we’re streaming together again, there’s no way out of it.”

you both said some quick goodbyes before disconnecting from the discord, watching as your chat still kept rolling in. everyone was absolutely in awe that you got the chance to play with sapnap but they were even more excited that there would obviously be another stream with the new duo tomorrow. you waved, telling the chat that you would be on tomorrow at the same time, and to turn your notifications on. and with that, you were off the stream, getting ready for bed.

throughout the whole night there was no sleep. instead, you and nick texted each other back and forth, enjoying each other’s companies and aweing over the similarities you both had. you had to give it to twitter, the fan art had already been trending, they work fast. everyone on both platforms were excited that their favorite streamers were coming together finally.

you felt content, as well did nick, and from that point on you were implemented into the dream smp and everyone knew that you and nick were the ultimate duo- there was no getting in between that bond.

author’s note: okay so i will be releasing a part two where i will be showcasing nick’s point of view into this story instead of just the readers. i’ll be going into more detail of the “nick’s in denial of his feelings” part and will be extending it to where they inevitably end up dating or something. stay tuned and thank you for the support!

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miniaturestarlightsandwich · 4 years ago

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wickednerdery · 5 years ago

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Title: Out of Time: Time Out Author: @wickednerdery Fandom: Marvel Pairing/character: Loki x Stark!OC, Steve Rogers Rating: FRT Summary: “I am Loki, of Asgard.” Notes: Continuing my strange little foray into cyberpunk with Loki on a futuristic Earth (after his escapes with the Tesseract in Endgame?). This one has a bit more cursing, drinking, and original characters...and a cameo by one Captain America!

Chapter 1

Loki stays with her right up until there are boots pounding their way to the exhibit, then vanishes from human sight. He watches security rush in and spread out to secure the room, including some breaking off to investigate the hole made by the shooter’s body. He takes note of the one who takes his place at Ms Stark’s side.

“Ana?” The gentleman is older, most certainly the one in charge, as he crouches and tears the dress at the wound. “Get the fucking medics in here now!” He pulls a pen from his inner pocket and slips one end into her wound. She whimpers, then gasps. “Shhh, it’s okay, it’s me. It’s Orson. Just checking for toxins.”

“F-Fuuuck…” Her teeth grit hard, her breath a hiss as he pulls bloodied pen back out to read. She pants, her eyes darting for the mystery man in black. “Wh-where i-is…” Her head of security again encourages her to stay calm. “…The man…Where?”

Orson sighs in relief, no toxins detected. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him. Medi-!” He’s cut off as they arrive, switches to answering questions and reminding them exactly how important she is.

A medic stretches pale flesh-colored tape across her wound as another unfolds a sheet that hardens into a flat stretcher. Loki watches with interest as it hovers after she’s placed on it. It floats out, leaving the medics free to attend to Ana as security escorts them towards an emergency back exit window. He hears the helicopter, but doesn’t bother to go watch her loaded into it. Instead he teleports himself into the crowd now being forced to exit, remaining unseeable to take in the scene unbothered.

Ana’s eyes open to a white ceiling dotted with black, red, and gold. Her ceiling. “Status report?”

“Yeah, you’ll be fine,” says Tony in his usual laissez faire. “The bullet went through and through without caustic or explosive damage. Stem cell injection patched up the insides, skin patch worked for the aesthetics.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two days out at the hospitals, three days in and out at home.”

“Is the data from that night filed?”

“Filed, examined, and filed again.”

“Examined by who?”

“I’ll give you one guess - wait, it’s not me - now I’ll give you one guess.”

She knows. “Is he here?”

“Not at the moment. Want me to ring him up?”

“Fuck, no. Am I mobile?”

“Vitals say yes, but I’d take it slow.”

For all intents and purposes, her head of security aside, Tony is all she has. Her parents died in the last outbreak, she’s no siblings. What little extended family left were too busy bickering over the Stark name and fortune to make nice. And the Avengers? They were little more than a fairy tale, a myth, now. It was just her and her innovations.

She lifts camisole to examine her midsection, pulls off the now clear patch to see underneath. The skin came in well, smooth, with perfect tone match. Deep breath in, then out, with minimal pain overall. She reaches for the med pack and tears off a square to pop in her mouth. The analgesic spreads warm across her body as it dissolves. She smiles, gets up slow and ensures she’s stable, then prepares for the day.

Up on the rigging his eyes stay on the man below. So this is what passes for a knowledgeable man these days? Hardly impressive, even (or especially) with the women swarming him. Loki watches carefully as each in turn chat, some getting tabs or a tap of the wrist with his, while others leave with no contact only for the man to swipe and type a handheld glass panel after. A dealer of some sort. The god waits for him to be alone, then slips down into the bright, grubby, streets of this new Midgard. He’s surprised, impressed, when the other clocks him within four feet.

“No new clients, pal, sorry.” Cyno slips phone into backpack, then swings the mass over his shoulder.

Loki grins in confidence of his skills. “I urge you to reconsider.”

The man seems entranced before blinking the charm away. “Yeah, no. Nice try though. Haven’t had that chem mix in me before. Strong stuff, kudos to you and yours.”

The god is stunned, then enraged. “You will help me, mortal!”

Cyno gauges the other’s seriousness, then laughs. “Man desperate as you…I expect high and constant pay.”

“Then you shall have it.” Loki can’t be unreasonable, not right now.

“And what do you want?”

“I want information on Ms Ana Roget Stark.”

“Do I look like an IronMan to you? I know what everyone knows. Genius, zillionare, party girl, philanthropist.”

“Surely there must be more to her than that.” Nobody gains such a skilled assassin without cause.

“Like I said, I’m not an IronMan, I don’t know what happens behind the golden screen.” Cyno watches the other’s brows rise expectantly and sighs. “Stark International controls security for most of the world. Every aspect of surveillance, whether you see it or not, is theirs. These days Ana is the head of the family and the company, but that’s always being contested by an extended family member or business rival.”

“...Go on...”

“The rest is rumor. Secret labs making mutate super-soldiers, mutant-android experimentation camps, inter-universal trade. Hell, there’s even one of a first generation Captain America module she plays when lonely. Impossible to say what’s bullshit and what’s fact.”

The information was as intriguing as it was irritating. “Yes, well…surely you can find ways to dig through the gossip for the golden nugget.”

“What?” This guy spoke a different language to Cyno. “Who the fuck are you, anyway?”

“I am Loki, of Asgard.”

Cyno smirks, snorts. “An anarchist. Figures.” He sighs. “Well, look, Loki of Asgard, you got the credits I’ll get what I can as far as facts, but no promises. I’m no IronMan and I ain’t risking my life playing one so you can virus the Stark woman on the dark net or whatever the fuck you’re planning.”

Loki’s smile spreads slow and malicious. “Leave what’s done with the information to me, you just get it.”

“Fine, meet me at Kibishī Ākēdo Ten at 23:30 tonight. Go to the bar, order the house cider, and wait in the back. I’ll be there first.” He always is. “You pay me two-thousand and I give you a sample of information. If you like it, we can set up...a subscription, if you will.”

“I require a guide for this world, can you procure one for me?” He will not make the same mistake as in New York. He will understand this new Midgard far better than the old one before making any moves.

“Male or female or....?”

“It hardly matters.”

“You wanna be able to play?”

“Beg pardon?”

“Fuck it, guy. You wanna be able to fuck it?”

“Did I ask for a whore?”

Cyno sighs. “I’ll get you an open one, help you set it up.”

“Now.”

“Yeah, now, com’on.” Cyno shifts bag fully onto his back and heads down the street, leaving Loki to follow.

“Display layout, with guests, at the opening of the museum gala. Pull up all bios available.” Ana heads towards her main room, throwing hair up into a bun. She’s showered, dressed, but still sore, too high for the lab. Today will be a regroup and review day - she’ll go through each guest until she finds the man in black. As the hologram of the charity event populates stats on all guests she heads towards the bar of the open kitchen.

“Don’t you think you should slow down on that?” His voice is gruffly calm. “At least while still doped.”

She turns to see her head of security, in the flesh. “Tony said you weren’t here.”

“I lied,” her AI confesses without guilt.

“I made you too smart.” Ana sighs, carrying on with her plans. “And I can drink whenever I damn well please, Orson, so just move on.”

He remembers Tony like this too - stubborn, defeated, ready to slip back into the bottle - but pushes on. Now was not the time for a lecture. “We found the shooter. Dead. Blasted through the wall.”

“Who was he? Was he part of a group or lone nut?”

“Mac Headstrom, part of the Altered Brotherhood.”

“Which ones are they?” There are too many to even bother to keep track of.

“The same ones that blew our labs in Costa Rica, think we’re making an army of mutants out of the homeless.”

“Ah.”

“You didn’t tell me you rigged a charge to your ring, Ana.”

“I didn’t, I only had the taser.” She pours out liquor, ignores Orson’s sigh as she drops another analgesic strip into it for good measure. “It was the man in black. The guest.”

“The guest in black?”

The sweet rush of numbness almost causes her to moan. “Yeah. Got in via one of the golden ticket invites, but didn’t seem to understand that himself. Didn’t seem to understand much, actually. Weird thing was…” She grabs a slice of cold pizza. “I thought he used a hologram to contact me the second time, but he…he caught me.”

“Caught you?”

“After I was shot. I was going down and he was able to catch me.”

“So he actually teleported?”

“Apparently.” She stays standing at the counter, unwilling to walk away from the bottle or take it with her into the living room. “But his tech knowledge seemed nonexistent. How does a guy not even know he’s got a codes tab, but then be able to navigate teleportation?”

Orson hesitates, then proceeds. “Maybe he’s a mutant?”

“I thought most of your kind died out with the Legacy Virus.” Not the same as the one that took her parents, but just as devastating.

“Most did. But not all.”

“If I might cut in,” says Tony. He reddens one of the people in the hologram of the party, pulls aside an enlarged image of the man. “But if this is him, he’s not a mutant.”

“That’s him, yeah.” Ana pours another drink, finally coming around the counter to sit. As she does, her chair adjusts for her comfort. “You already ran checks on him?”

“He’s a core file in my coding from the original Tony.”

“Loki.” Orson sighs, jaw clenching with a tension that Ana rarely sees from him. “Adopted brother of Thor Odinson, from Asgard. Basically a god. Iron Man fought him with the rest of the Avengers when he attacked New York City in early 2010s.”

“The Chitauri thing?”

“Yeah, the Chitauri thing.”

“So an intergalactic terrorist god…” She sips. “Came from the past.” Holds up a finger when Orson threatens to speaks. “To save the descendant of his enemy?” Her finger stays up until her drink is downed.

“Ana -”

“No, no. I’m sorry, I’m not nearly sober nor drunk enough to unpack all that just now.” She waves the hologram away and gets up. “And I’m not up for the ‘shit I did wrong’ security debriefing either.”

“Ana.” Orson pleads, for what he’s not sure.

“So, you don’t have to go home…” She heads back towards the bar. “But you do have to get the fuck out. Right now.”

The man’s eyes go to the ceiling, the cameras in the black dots. Nothing. Not a peep from Tony. “Fine, I’ll check in on you later.” He stands with a sigh. “But you better not be half-in-the-bag then.”

“Half in the bag?” She smirks, he uses such old-timey turns of phrases sometimes.

“I want you clean and sober before I return.”

“Can’t be that until you actually leave.” The liquor and pain meds cause her to happily slur her words. She follows him all the way to the elevator with goodbyes, watches until his car exits the property, then goes to pour another. “Tony?”

“Yep?”

“Activate Captain Comfort.” If a disembodied AI computer program could roll its eyes, Tony did. “Have him waiting.” Ana finishes her latest glass, sets it in the sink, and heads back to her room. She doesn’t want to think about the crazed assassin, the terrorist organization he was part of, the time-traveling god, the security upgrades Orson’s no doubt already planning, or anything else. She doesn’t want to think at all. “Captain?” She calls out, already letting her hair back down.

“Ma’am?” He steps out of the bathroom clean and clean-shaven. He’s tall, well-built, with broad shoulders and ramrod posture.

She smiles. “Call me Ana.”

The phrase triggers his softer expression, going from stern soldier to caring man. “Ana, are you all right?”

“Comfort me.” She relaxes into his arms easily, smiling at the warmth and sense of care he provides. “Kiss me.”

He does, passionately, and she returns it in kind.

Sorry, I couldn’t help but make the rumor about Ana having a Captain America pleasure-bot true, LMAO!! (I may write a separate, smut, piece of their full interaction, lol!) If you’re wondering why Loki’s mind control didn’t work on Cyno it’s because - using a magic-as-science type concept here - he’s got a way to clear out drugs/toxins/chemicals from his body (I confess, I’ve no specifics beyond that just yet, sorry, lol!) and that includes what Loki’s magical charms can do to one’s brain chemistry. ALSO...Orson (Ben Mendelsohn faceclaim) is an OC from another series (not on my masterlist yet oops). He’s a mutant with super-strength who’s impervious to damage, illness, and (for the most part) aging...he also lacks touch sensation for the most part. Ana’s faceclain is Evan Rachel Wood. Cyno’s faceclaim is Ryan Gosling and you’ll find out more about him as we go, lol! ;-)

Still/Always playing with this one, feel free to share ideas/thoughts/suggestions!! 😉

Tagging: @lady-crowned-with-stars, @beccaliciooouuusss, gravitational-anomaly, @fuckthatfeeling, @v-2bucky, @ultrarebelheart, @tarithenurse @latent-thoughts @chibiyanai @lukeevansandjdmobession @sweetfictionalworld @ladyfluff @theangelsfightwithdevils @holykryptonitekitten @kpopgirlbtssvt …And I legit don’t know who else to tag anymore lol

Gifs made off ones I found on Google, then combined myself.

#loki #tony stark #steve rogers #fanfiction #marvel cinematic universe #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #Iron Man #captain america #OC: Orson #OC: Cyno #stark!oc #my writing #not my gif #kinda my gif #cyberpunk

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virtualobservationangel-blog1 · 4 years ago

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Visual Logic Pin Code

If you're using a basic text editor to create your Visual Basic code, you won't have a Debug tab. Consider opening your project in Visual Studio 2017 to debug and run the program. If you're using Notepad or TextEdit to create your code, make sure to save the final file in '.vb' format rather than '.txt' or '.text'.

A Boolean has one of two possible values: true or false. Boolean (logical) operators (and, or, not) take Boolean inputs and make another Boolean value. Comparison operators on other types (numbers, strings) create Boolean values.

Graphics of flowcharts (graphical representation of algorithm. Utility of pseudo code ( min. Syntax description of algorithm) When we think of writing a computer program, there are really two things we think about, logic and syntax. Logic is the how to we solve the problem. It is the well thought out rational behind the decisions.

PIN Codes Students obtain a license to use Visual Logic with their purchase of a PIN code from an authorized reseller. The student will browse to the visuallogic.org site where the PIN code is used to create a Signature file (VLSig) which uniquely identifies that particular student.

Students obtain a license to use Visual Logic with their purchase of a PIN code from an authorized reseller. The student will browse to the visuallogic.org site where the PIN code is used to create a Signature file (VLSig) which uniquely identifies that particular student. The VLSig file is a small, encrypted text file that is sent to the student via email and is required when the student creates original work.

These blocks represent the true and false Boolean values, which can plug into anyplace a Boolean value is expected:

The next three blocks represent the three Boolean (logic) operators:

The next six blocks represent comparison operators that yield a Boolean value. Most comparisons you will do involve numbers:

Boolean values and operators are often used with an if or while statement to determine which code will execute next. For example:

Functions that return a Boolean

Visual Logic Pin Codes

Some functions return a Boolean value, which you can store in a Boolean variable. For example, the following code gets the on/off state of point (1, 2) and stores this in the Boolean variable named on. Then the code clears the screen if on is true:

Boolean operators

Boolean operators take Boolean inputs and evaluate to a Boolean output:

Conjunction: A and B

A and B evaluates to true if-and-only-if both A and B are true:

Disjunction: A or B

A or B evaluates to true if either A is true or B is true, or if both A and B are true:

Negation: not A

not A evaluates to the opposite (negation) of A:

Example: AND operator

This example turns on LED 3 , 3, if LEDs 1 , 1 and 2 , 2 are both on:

Example: Comparisons of numbers and strings

When you compare two Numbers, you get a Boolean value, such as the comparison x < 5 in the code below:

See the documentation on Numbers for more information on comparing two Numbers.

Edit this page on GitHub Edit template of this page on GitHub Edit template of this page on GitHub Edit template of this page on GitHub

This is the last article on Azure Logic Apps. In my previous article Logic App Hands-On, we have learned how to automate workload of a business using Azure Portal but in this article, we will learn how we can create Logic Apps from Visual Studio 2019. Visual Studio lets you add your logic apps to source control, publish different versions, and create Azure Resource Manager templates for different deployment environments.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription. If you don't have, you can subscribe free 30 days. Free Azure account.

Visual Studio 2019, 2017, or 2015. If you don’t have, click here to download and while installing it the make sure that you select the Azure development I used Visual Studio Community 2019 for this demo.

Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET 2.9.1 or later. Click here to download it.

Azure Logic Apps Tools for the Visual Studio version you want that will enable “Open with Logic App Designer” option:

Let’s start to create an azure logic app using visual studio 2019.

Step1. Open Visual Studio 2019 and follow File=>New=>Project.

Step2. Search for Azure Resource Group, you will get two projects both are same but language are different one is in c# and the other one is in Visual Basic. So select with c# and click on the Next button.

Step3. Fill the few fields like project name and click on Create button.

Step4. You will get templates. So select the Logic App and click on the Ok button.

Step5. Now the project is created with few files, right-click on LogicApp.json and select the “Open With Logic App Designer”.

Step6. Next, it will ask for login your Microsoft Azure subscription credentials.

Step7. Next, it will ask for Select Subscription, Resource Group(Create a new one if you do not have already exist) and location(Keep same as Resource Group). Click on the Ok button.

Step8. You will get below screen in your visual studio, and then you can follow my previous article Logic App Hands-On from step11 to end.

Visual Logic Pin Code Tool

Step9. After completing all the workflow, you can publish this application LogicApp=>Deploy=>New. You will get the same screen as we created Logic App in my article Logic App Hands-On. So fill all the details and create it then whatever workflow we created in the visual studio will publish on that Logic App.

Hope this article will help you.

Free Visual Logic Pin Code

Thank You.

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skgway · 4 years ago

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1828 Dec., Thurs. 25

11 3/4

From 7 1/2 to 7 55/60 reading Millar articles, mesphilus, opuntia, cactus, and orchid – Went out at 8 1/2 to Lightcliffe – Got there in 25 minutes – Breakfast was nearly over – Gave Mr. P– [Priestley] M– [Mariana]’s friendly society rules to read over at his leisure, and asked him to do what he could for M– [Mariana] on the subject when I was away –

He gave me a prospectus of a collection of sacred music to be published in nos [numbers] by Mr. Hasse of Felneck – Gave my own name and M– [Mariana]’s as subscribers – Subscription 28 /. [shillings], would be a year in Bosford’s Saxon Grammar coming out on the tab[?] – Looking at a French German grammar and brought away the last Leeds, merely on account of a good speech in favour of Roman Catholic emancipation and a sermon of Warner’s –

Went to church a few minutes before 11 by our clock (service should begin at 10 1/2). Mr. Williamson did all the duty – A good sermon in 22 minutes from Joshua 1.1. Very good anthem, well sung in 11 1/2 minutes before the communion service – We all took the sacrament, 23 communicants including parson and clark –

Miss Walker of Cliff hill took Miss W– [Walker] Crownest and myself in the carriage (she had not been at church service this day year) to Crownest – Sat some time, and then left us – Captain Sutherland better in appearance and manner than I expected – Very well �� Talked about the Highlands – He brought up in Ross shire a mile from Golspie – The Stafford family had bought in addition to the Sutherland property £200,000 worth there –

Staid an hour – Then returned to Lightcliffe – Found them at dinner – Had some excellent plum pudding (made with bread instead of flour, and with apples and nice and light) and a glass of wine, and sat talking near a couple of hours, till 4 – Mrs. P– [Priestley] walked with me as far as the drying house, returned with her to their gate, and then got home at 4 40/60 –

1/4 hour at home talking to my father and Marian etc., then down the old bank to the Saltmarshes’in 1/4 hour – Mrs. Rawson (Stony Royde) and Mrs. Catherine there – Had cold meat and tea – Saw Mr. S– [Saltmarsh] too, the 1st time since my being in England this time – All very glad to see me – Asked them (the S– [Saltmarshe]s) to go to Paris – said I would do anything I could for them there – Mrs. R– [Rawson] said she and her 3 daughters were going to London and might perhaps cross over – Said I should be most happy to see them and do anything I could for them –

Talked of Catholic emancipation – Mr. S– [Saltmarshe] as well as Mr. William P– [Priestley] had just signed the petition against it – I not for signing – Talked of the Roman Catholics as they are abroad, funerals in Paris, etc. etc.

Returned up the old bank in 20 minutes and came in at 8 40/60 – Changed my pelisse – Went down at 8 50/60, sat talking about alterations here etc., and came upstairs at 10 25/60 – Then wrote all the above of today, but the 1st line which took me till 10 3/4 –

Fine, mild, soft day – Rather inclined to be frosty I thought on going to H–x [Halifax], but a few drops of rain in returning (at the top of the bank) and there had been a little while I was at the S– [Saltmarshe]s’ – 1/2 hour reading Millar articles, quercus, planting, woods, winter. Fahrenheit 52º at 10 1/2 p.m. –

#anne lister #anne lister code breaker #Shibden Hall 1828 #mariana lawton #ann walker #captain sutherland

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goddessmuacheat-blog · 4 years ago

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cindylouwho-2 · 4 years ago

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, July 19 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late June report, although some may be older than that.

I‘m still working on Etsy search testing and a few new blog posts and pages for my website, so it is still difficult for me to get this summary out more than 1-2 times a month. All suggestions on solutions to my time crunch are welcome.

If you have an questions, comments or suggestions about my Tumblr or my blog, please contact me here or on my website. I’d love to know what you think!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

Latest change from Google: the free Google Shopping listings will now show up in US organic search as part of product knowledge panels. Unfortunately, since they are only doing this for product knowledge panels to begin with, it likely won't help handmade sellers, but could be useful to sellers of vintage & supply items that are known products that will have a knowledge panel. It may be a sign that they are planning on moving free ads to more Google "surfaces" over time, however. Note that it appears that all product knowledge panel ads will be free starting this summer (US only), so that means that any Etsy paid ads for these types of items will become free ads that you won't have to pay EOA fees on if you get a sale. Google claims the free ads are bringing more searcher engagement to Shopping.

Amazon announced they will begin to show US sellers’ business name and address on the Seller Profile page as of September 1. The same requirement already exists in Europe, Japan and Mexico.

The USPS will no longer be delivering mail as promptly every day, to cut costs. This potentially affects anyone shipping to a destination in the United States.

How 7 different companies grew profits during the last recession - there will still be business opportunities during the upcoming recession, but you have to be positioned to take them.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy Labels no longer offer USPS international shipping options for all packages under 4.4 pounds other than Canadian orders, replacing them with the Global Postal Shipping Program (GPSP). Many US sellers dislike the GPSP, and have moved on to outside providers that integrate with an Etsy shop and other services, such as Pirate Ship, Shippo, Stamps, and Shipstation.

The quarterly category & attributes updates are limited to face mask & hand sanitizer attributes for July. Etsy also made some other minor updates recently, including allowing us to set a message auto reply for up to 5 days.

You may have noticed that Etsy is really pushing Etsy Ads on sellers right now, despite the numerous complaints about the average cost per click becoming far too high last year. I’ve turned mine off permanently, but if you are interested in trying them or fine-tuning them, Etsy released an article and a related podcast with a transcript.

Louisiana and Mississippi have been added to the list of states that Etsy collects sales tax from.

Etsy raised fees on Reverb to 5%, “to make further investments on behalf of our sellers.”

Etsy will release the second quarter results on August 5. We already know that April and May were record-setting, and June was also probably pretty good.

The site has continued to receive decent media coverage for the mask initiative; Etsy is mentioned in several articles/broadcasts a day as a place to get masks, including stylish ones. This article briefly interviews a seller and looks at what Etsy will do next, as the mask demand peak might be over.

Now that people think of Etsy for things like face masks, Etsy is continuing to market itself as a place to buy everyday items, something it shied away from for a few years. (Remember when Etsy was all about “owning special”?) They’ve added “Everyday Finds” links & Editors Picks pages, and have published tips on what pandemic shoppers are looking for. (Note that the year over year values compare this April to last April, and so were during peak lockdown for the US.) “Keeping surfaces clean is top of mind these days, and shoppers are searching on Etsy for many types of cleaners, from all-purpose scrubs to washable sponges...134% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “ceramic sponge holder.”...”74% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “mug”...”352% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “diy”.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but this page on the search and ads algorithms appears to be relatively new.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

The sea change in online buyer behaviour during the pandemic may mean that you need to update your keyword research. Keyword volumes have changed, some very dramatically. For example “‘adult bikes’ shows a massive upturn.This represents over ten times as many searches for this term compared to just under a year ago. If you projected this back in 2019 you’d probably be laughed at.”

Speaking of keyword research, if you need a refresher on why you should do it and how to approach it, here is a recent article.

There are many different ways to get backlinks; here are a few that are pretty easy [video & text].

Are longer blog posts better for SEO? Not necessarily, as long as you cover the topic well. The exception is that blog posts under 300 words are usually not worth writing.

Most SEOs think there was an unannounced Google update around the third week of June. Some are reporting that sites that specialize made gains, as opposed to those who have more general material. That same study reports Etsy had one of the largest traffic increases, but not as much as Pinterest (I’ve been seeing a lot more pins when Googling lately, so this seems likely.) Government websites also seem to have received better visibility. “As Google has described in their document on how they fight disinformation, they describe that their systems are designed to prefer authority over other factors “in times of crisis”. If this truly is related to what we saw happen in June, these changes could possibly be reversed once the worldwide pandemic situation improves.”

Bing released a few basic tips on how to use its keyword planner.

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

TikTok has moved out of Hong Kong, while the US government may be looking at banning them, following India’s move on July 6. With TikTok in peril, many people are now downloading its competitor Byte.

If you use Facebook for your business, please read up on the changes required to comply with California’s new privacy law.

Instagram is now testing an Instagram Shop tab, which allows users to filter by category.

Twitter is planning on starting a subscription service, but deleted some of the details from the job listing just hours later.

One of the results of the big Twitter hack on July 15th was Google removing the Twitter carousel from its search results.

Pinterest searches involving Christmas started way earlier this year, with a 77% increase YOY in April. “That includes a 3x increase in searches for “Christmas gift ideas”, while other queries like “holiday recipes” and “Christmas” were up more than 90% and 80% respectively.” These are good stats for marketers to have, helping us decide when to release and promote new products.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Spending too much on Facebook ads? Here are some common mistakes and some suggestions on fixing them.

If you already know that ROAS stands for “return on ad spend” then some of this article may be old news to you.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

If you are using Google Shopping with your website, be aware that the Google bots may be inflating your abandoned cart rate.

Google Analytics can help you track the effects of changes to your website, or other business conditions. You can also get alerts when certain types of events happen, or when traffic is abnormal.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Walmart is expected to launch Walmart+, similar to Amazon Prime, this month. But note that while many brick & mortar businesses are now doing a lot more business online, it is more expensive for them.

For those of you who use Stitch Labs, they have been purchased by Square, and the existing services will likely be cut in 2021.

Deja vu for Etsy sellers - eBay was apparently offering incentive payments for signing up for their new Managed Payments system by mid-July. (Etsy did the same with its Etsy Payments system, but only for Americans.)

Is Amazon Handmade as good for small makers as it claims? Maybe not. If you sell on Amazon, consider these strategies to protect your core business from being swamped by the big A.

Wix has introduced an ecommerce version with a lot more options and integrations.

Shopify’s new “Shop” app has some good features but also some issues. [podcast & edited transcript]

BigCommerce filed to go public, and added Ayden as a payment option. More details on the Ayden move here.

Did you know there are sites you can use to sell your ecommerce business? Here are 10 of them.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

US ecommerce sales are now expected to grow 18% this year, while overall retail is predicted to be down 10.5%. “In a pandemic economy, consumers have gravitated toward trusted and reliable retailers. As a result, we can expect the top 10 ecommerce retail businesses to grow at above average rates (21.8%). Amazon will gain US ecommerce market share this year, while Walmart's accelerating ecommerce growth will take it to the No. 2 position for the first time.”

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a factor you can use to drive sales; here are 6 tips.

Generation Z is acutely attached to internet use, and is more likely to be planning on starting their own business than any other generation.

MISCELLANEOUS

It’s possible that the increase in people working from home will lead to more work hours and therefore more burnout.

#search engine optimization #etsynews #content marketing #smallbiz #ecommerce

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thorinss · 6 years ago

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MAKING MONEY ONLINE

hey y’all. i decided suddenly to make this post because i know it could be super helpful to people out there who might be struggling for money, or even those who just want to earn some extra cash on the side. i’ve been doing this for about 6 months and while it’s not full time or even part time work, it’s extra money that you can use for food, hobbies, gas, etc.

a lot of these sites i am about to list pay very little (we’re talking pennies or dollars) but it accumulates over time if you’re willing to keep at it. in combination these are all good sites to just leave in an open browser or tab and just do the tasks passively as they come in or as you feel like it. half the time i’m playing the sims on one monitor and earning money on my other monitor.

anyways here we go! these are in no particular order; just in the order that i think of them. i will include my referral codes but don’t feel obligated to use them!

Prolific - this one is my favorite because i have had the most success with it. there are a lot of survey sites out there that will kick you out mid-survey after you’ve already invested so much time into them because you’re “not qualified” to answer the questions. prolific is the opposite. you sign up, fill out your profile, and the surveys that fit your demographic will come to you. most of them only take a few minutes to complete but the payout is better than most other survey sites out there. the surveys come from academic researchers who use your data anonymously for studies. some days you won’t get any studies, and some days you’ll get several. you can cash out to paypal once you reach $5. keep a prolific open in a tab and it will alert you when a new study is available!

Slicethepie (non-referral link) - i discovered this one recently and it’s one of my favorites. the pay is very little; i’m only making 4c per review right now but i’m told the pay goes up the more you review. all you do is sign up and get paid to write short reviews for clothing, get paid to watch movie clips or commercials, or get paid to listen to new music (whaaaaat). it’s one of the more fun ways to make money. it takes a couple minutes and you earn a few pennies after each one. those quickly add up!

Usertesting - this one is really good if you manage to qualify for the tests, which can be hit or miss (mostly miss in my case). it requires a microphone and being okay with recording your screen and sending the info to a company. basically, people pay you to test our their websites and make comments about it. they’ll ask you to go to their website and look for something specific, and you have to voice your thoughts about the site out loud as you look for what it is they asked for. the pay is $10 per test which is amazing, but you have to take a pre-screener test to qualify for them. overall i’ve made maybe $40 total by working passively (not every day) in the last 6 months but hey - that’s a tank of gas.

more under the cut!

rev - if you’re a fast typer, a good listener, and have some time on your hands, this is a pretty good option. rev is a transcription service, so you listen to some audio and type out what the people are saying, and then get paid for it. some of the audio is garbage which is why they pay people to transcribe it, but if you have the time you can make a few bucks. just make sure you take it seriously because if you somehow appear to be “below average” at this, they will terminate your account. the amount of transcriptions that appear varied so you just have to keep an eye out.

GG2U (non-referral link) - this one is pretty dope. sign up for free trials, install and play video games, take surveys, watch videos, and earn points. 100 points = $1. within 5 minutes of signing up i had $7. just be certain to cancel any trials before the trial period ends so you don’t get charged.

amazon turk - not gonna lie, i have not been able to achieve this one, but i have personally seen people make hundreds and thousands on this platform. if you don’t know already, mturk is where clients post microtasks for humans to do that robots cannot yet achieve. if you are willing to put in more work than me and figure it out, check our /r/mturk or do some googling before pursuing it.

Ibotta (non-referral link) - (get a $20 welcome bonus if you use my referral and scan your first receipt) this is an app that offers cash back for shopping at the stores listed on ibotta. you buy an item from the store listed on ibotta, can your receipt into the app, and boom you get cash back.

qmee - this one makes chump change but it’s worth it. you complete surveys for some change (50c or somewhere around that) and that’s it. there’s also a browser extension; i use this more than the surveys. the extension pops up on the side of your window whenever you search something on the internet - but only if it’s something that qmee is looking for. and occasionally it offers a few pennies if you click on the link. best part is you can cash out no matter how much you’ve made. i cashed out 32c the other day lmao.

inboxdollars (non-referral link) - i don’t know if it’s just me, but this website only works on firefox for me. my chrome hates it. but anyways, this site provides very passive income. i do not recommend the surveys; they’ll have you answer a bunch of questions and you think you’re going to finish it and get the $$$, but then it kicks you out because “you’re not qualified”. the ways to earn that i like are watching videos in the TV/videos tab and playing the games in the games tab. after you watch x amount of videos or play x amount of games, you get a scratch off ticket. i usually get about 15c from them, but it’s something. when i first started i worked my way about to $50. they send you a check in the mail.

redbubble (my shitty store) - y’all know about this one already i’m sure. if you’re creative and think you can make a design for shirts and accessories, go ahead and make an account! you might make zero money, you might make a few bucks every couple months, or you might make a couple hundred. it all depends so this one is really a gamble, but still worth looking at if you’re into that sort of thing!

crowdtap - haven’t used this one in a while but i will be getting back into it. you take surveys and answer questions for brands and receive points in return. you need to accumulate 500 points before you can begin cashing out, which will take a while. after that, you can redeem the points for gift cards to amazon/sephora/walmart/etc, use the points for a subscription service, or use the points to donate money to a charity.

swagbucks (non-referral link) - this site is wild and just like mturk, i have yet to master it, but have seen others do so. it’s another typical survey site very similar to inboxdollars listed above. you can take surveys for swagbucks (points), watch videos, use their cash back feature, etc.

vindale research (non referral link) - similar to prolific. it’s surveys from researchers that pay a few dollars for you to answer some questions. length of survey varies. each survey generally pays aroud $1. there is also a jobs tab that gives a list of jobs in your area.

submittable - this one is a recent discovery. my first article was rejected but i’d like to share this one anyways in case someone would like to pursue it! there’s a large list of writing and art contests mainly. a lot of them don’t seem to be offering pay but the ones that do offer a huge payout if you win the competition.

cambly - if you have any type of skill in teaching other languages, being a life coach, of just have any knowledge you think you can pass along, cambly might be for you. when you sign up there are two options, be tutored or become the tutor. if you want to tutor people, you need a webcam and microphone access. my connection never worked with cambly so i have not been able to personally try it, but i have seen people make a lot of money from teaching english to little kids.

ebates (non referral link) - another cash back option every time you buy something online. or you can link your credit/debit card and use it when you buy stuff in stores. so you get money for spending money. good stuff y’all.

lionbridge & appen - these two sites are basically the same thing just different companies. this is the ONLY two sites on my list that pay hourly. i believe it’s somewhere between $9 - $12? i could be wrong. but once you sign up, apply, and get approved, you could be doing a multitude of things, inducing: translation, transcription, social media evaluation, data collection, and more.

TIPS:

minimum requirements are internet, a computer, and a phone. if you have an extra laptop or computer that still works, set it up and let videos on inboxdollars or swagbucks run in the background. this way you are making money without even thinking about it. you could even just open the videos in another window and mute them, which is what i’m doing right now. you still get the credit for watching them but you don’t actually have to listen to them.

this is not a get rich quick and easy deal. none of these jobs are simple and you won’t be pulling in hundreds per day. it’s hard, annoying work. so don’t expect to be rolling in the dough.

if you can, create a second email for all those times you get asked to sign up for something or subscribe to a newsletter. this way your actual personal inbox isn’t getting spammed with ridiculous things you don’t care about. just check the second email once in a while to make sure no one has sent you anything important. if you choose to get email notifications for new paid surveys on whichever site, i recommend letting those go to your personal inbox so that you may see them. or use the second email and check it daily. it’s up to you!

even though these sites don’t pay a lot, when you use them all together you can get a decent amount of cash. i’ve seen people work entirely from home, pulling $1000-$2000 per month just by using sites like this. but obviously that doesn’t mean it will be the case for everybody. i do this stuff on the side and am happy with just making a few dollars per day.

if it ever feels pointless because you only earned 30c or $1 just remember this - it’s more money than you had five minutes ago. it’s something. it might not pay the bills but eventually it might buy you a coffee or sit in your savings collecting interest. however you want to use it!

CASH OUT IMMEDIATELY. as soon as you are allowed to transfer your money to paypal or wherever, do it asap. there have been times where sites will shut down or glitch out and you are unable to get back all that money you earned.

be careful with some surveys. if they seem fishy or gimmicky or are constantly offering you to sign up for a bunch of bullshit, exit immediately. it will get you nowhere.

do not use VPNs. this usually results in getting banned.

OTHER RESOURCES:

i cannot possibly list every single way to make money online because there is so much! i listed my favorites but please check out these other websites that provide even more information and opportunities. they’re the reason i know so much and have been able to earn money on the side.

down the rabbit hole you go!

r/beermoney (wiki)

r/workonline

r/flipping

the work at home wife

i hope this helps someone out there. i have a job but i don’t get enough hours so i try to make a little extra on the side utilizing all these sites. and i have bad social anxiety so anything i can do to work from the comfort of my own home is my ideal situation. as i said, you won’t make a lot of money to begin with, or even later down the line, but as i’ve repeated - it’s something. it’s $5 more than you had earlier.

again, hope this helps and please let me know if it does! and if you have any questions i can try to help you!

#work #workonline #this took so long to type lmao my hands hurt #please reblog and share the info because i hope it helps somebody!#i didn't know about any of this until months ago and i've made a good chunk of change since then #im gonna go lie down now lmao

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xathia-89 · 6 years ago

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Interfering Friends

In celebration of Sasuke’s route being released, a little fiction!

Natsuki was rushing through the streets, she was trying to hold her emotions together whilst she kept checking over her shoulder. All of her friends had said to not go to the specific restaurant her date had set, and even one of them had recommended a highly famous chef who was meant to be to die for, but she’d gone along with it. Now she was working her way through the rougher streets of Kyoto before a motorcycle drew up next to her.

“Get on,” the voice was gruff. “That prat has been following you. I’ll take you to the centre of town if you want.”

She was desperate, and definitely not dressed for riding motorcycles. But then she heard her name being shouted by her ‘date’.

He had some lungs on him for certain, as Natsuki squeezed her eyes shut and had her arms around the stranger’s waist.

She didn’t dare to open them again until the motor was turned off, and the man nudged her gently.

“Oh, thank you,” she smiled, her face flushed red in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I must have taken you out of your way-”

“Actually, you’ll want to thank your friends,” the man took his helmet off and chuckled darkly. His wine-red eyes lighting up in the darkness before he ran his fingers through his dark hair. “They hired me to make sure you were okay.”

“I probably should have listened to them,” Natsuki smiled weakly, fidgeting with her purse strap and dipping her gaze.

“You should, you shouldn’t lower yourself to such standards as that man,” the stranger scoffed before going to put his helmet back on, and then found himself tilting his head at the woman. “Did you eat yet?”

“Oh, no, I was going to find a takeaway, but thank you for your concern-” Natsuki was about to turn around, but found that the man had a hand on her wrist. She surprisingly didn’t feel threatened by the male, he was confident about himself, he didn’t need to beat her to feel better.

“I’ve got a friend who has a restaurant, my treat,” he shrugged.

“I don’t even know your name,” she softly said, feeling very embarrassed.

“It’s Nobu to my friends, get on,” he smirked.

Natsuki had to calm her heart from all the fluttering it was doing. The man knew how to manipulate his looks, and then he handed her the helmet.

“But-” She began.

“I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened, sorry it’s sweaty and not the best fit, but it’ll stop your head from splitting open,” Nobu was practically shoving it onto her head.

Natsuki was getting the feeling that she was going to have to get used to it.

The ‘friend’ had turned out to be the famous chef that all of her friends had been begging for her to go to for the date. Masamune Date was as reckless as the media made him out to be, but he was obviously a devoted friend of Nobu since he insisted on coming out with enough food to feed about twenty people and taking his break there with us. It wasn’t that long before another friend had joined us, and was already lecturing Nobu on bringing a random girl from his work to the restaurant before he turned to me and I had a lecture on raising my dating standards so that I wouldn’t need to have Nobu hired to look out for me. Then I got an introduction from a pharmacist who interrupted everything and told Hideyoshi that he should really introduce himself before starting to mother them and that he wanted to opt out of his subscription to the mothering. The pharmacist turned out to be Yasu, and then there was mention of the two Mitsus, but it was assumed neither would turn up.

“Nobu picking you up?” Hideyoshi had put an advert out for a secretary, and it was more than a little surprising to see Natsuki apply for it.

“The helmet isn’t very subtle,” she smiled, tilting her head at her boss.

“Has he tried to get you driving it yet?”

“I can hear the mothering, Hideyoshi must be fretting,” Mitsuhide was chuckling as he let himself in to the floor.

“It’s Nobu and me on the bike, he needs to have something to worry about, or he would be trailing after you,” Natsuki laughed, greeting the white-haired male with a kiss to the cheek. “What brings you here?”

It was impossible to not watch Natsuki walk away in her tight skirt and high heels, both men were burning through her clothes before she sat down behind her desk. She loved to know that she could draw the attention of men and women alike, but she was comfortable as she was. She lived on the same floor of a flat building as the boys, though that was more that Nobu made the decision she needed to move in for ‘protection’. Which also doubled up that any dates she’d had over the past couple of years had been scared off by the appearance.

“Has Nobu approved tonight’s date?” Mitsuhide had a sly grin on his face and made Natsuki freeze in her movements.

Hideyoshi instantly frowned before Mitsuhide had already pulled up the dating app and showed the profile of who she had been matched with. Her boss was now flicking through everything with a scrutiny that could only be expected from him, while Mitsuhide had a shit-eating grin on his face as Natsuki took to glaring at the man.

“He’s an astrophysicist?” Her boss asked, not looking up from the profile.

“Yes, just graduated and has taken on a research role at the local university,” Natsuki said, scowling and sulking that her date had been uncovered.

“Seems very different from your usual type,” Mitsuhide had picked that up.

“He likes Sengoku history, we were talking about it, and I decided to give him a date, the guy can hold a conversation at least, and not just with my tits like the last guy,” she reasoned. Natsuki rolled her eyes as she settled in for a lecture and a half, knowing that Nobu had been notified and would be on his way already.

“Give me the breakdown.”

He didn’t even need to announce himself, Nobunaga would just enter the room and take command, just as he had pretty much done of Natsuki’s life since he had been hired to look out for her. She sighed loudly and sat back in her chair, grumbling loudly at the scene unfolding before her.

“Seems clean enough, very much not the usual type, so she’s probably now learning,” Mitsuhide was a huge tease, Natsuki was his secondary form of entertainment, Hideyoshi being his first of course, and he was thoroughly enjoying this.

“He looks completely different too, and he works where he says he does too, he’s on the university website,” Hideyoshi confirmed.

“And you all wonder why I stopped telling you all about my dates,” her smile was tight before she went to pick up her leathers. “Since you brought Nobu here, I’m going to change and then we’re going home so I can get ready for my date,” she declared to her boss, who then got a slightly guilty look at the situation.

“Make sure you dress for getting on and off a bike for your date,” Nobu declared, “Like hell am I letting you go without making sure you’re safe.”

“I think Hideyoshi can take lessons from you in worrying about me,” Natsuki quipped before disappearing.

She had to change her entire outfit plan, and just braid her long chestnut hair out of the way instead of doing something fancy. Motorbikes and helmets did limit her options, even though she was used to it by now. Nobu was at home on her couch and watching tv since he had told Natsuki that he was waiting for her to get ready before finding out what restaurant they were going to.

“Come on you bum, and no coming back and eating all my food again, or I’m getting Hideyoshi to take me shopping on your tab,” she scoffed, already heading out of the door as she shouted for her best friend’s attention.

In tradition, she was five minutes late because Nobunaga had decided that being on time wasn’t something a lady should be. Which got him a scolding about what his future partner would be like of course before Natsuki had already thrust her helmet back at the man.

“I’ll text you when I’m ready,” she instructed, walking off in her tight jeans and sparkling top as her high heels exaggerated her hip swaying. Nobu had to admit it was impossible to not watch the woman, even if he had no romantic feelings for his best friend, Natsuki knew how to leave and make a man only think of one thing.

He had to give her this one, she had booked at Masa’s restaurant at least, and the chef had just come back to say he would test the boy out anyway.

Masa: She looks dressed to kill in that outfit… Nobu: I didn’t get a chance before she left the apartment to vouch for her outfit. She’s caught onto my techniques. Hideyoshi: what about the date? Masa: he’s got her talking about something, her hands are flying about when she starts discussing Pokémon and things. Mitsuhide: Did you block their order? Masa: Who do you think I am? I’m bringing out the usuals. Masa: Suki is cute when she glares. She thinks she’s intimidating. Masa: I was told off for interfering, and her date was just staring at me before half the restaurant realised I was out from behind the kitchen, and then I had to go back in. I’m interfering on dessert as well. Mitsuhide: Keep changing his drinks too. Nobu: Suki just texted me and told me that she’s not coming home for this. Mitsuhide: She knows we wouldn’t let that happen anyway. Yasu: Why don’t we just let her have a date in peace? You guys are worse than her actual family. Masa: He’s actually not tried anything on with her, they’re just talking all the time. Yasu: all the reason for leaving them alone. She’s a grown woman. Hideyoshi: With a constant stream of bad dates with womanisers, flirts, and generally awful men. Masa: Suki just moved her chair closer to him. I can’t figure out what they’re discussing. Yasu: Take. The. Fucking. Hint. Yasu: Leave her alone. She’s not Mitsunari. You all interfere enough. Nobu: Says the boy who already checked to see if you dispense her date’s medication. Mitsuhide: Naughty boy. Masa: Wait, they’re leaving. And looking chummy. Hideyoshi: I thought you’d arranged for dessert? Masa: I did!

Natsuki was smiling as she brushed shoulders with the male. Sasuke had been a random selection, she hadn’t even meant to check out his profile, but her finger had clicked on his photo instead of the man below, and then she had been drawn in by his sheer nerdiness.

“I’m sorry for my friends,” she spoke up. “They’re used to me dating womanisers and the likes, so they like to roast my dates.”

“It means they care,” the man replied.

Natsuki could see the smile in his eyes as they strolled through the nearby park. It was away from the security cameras so Mitsuhide would have a job getting a visual on them without physically arriving. Her feet were aching from the stupid choice of heels that went with the outfit before she was taken by surprise as the male pointed out a bench.

“Let’s take a seat,” he suggested.

They were sat in silence and gazing up at the stars. It was a clear night for once.

Their hands slowly crept together, before slowly intertwining. Sasuke slid a little closer to her before switching his visual focus to the woman. He was openly admiring Natsuki before the female turned her head. A faint blush had crept on her cheeks before the couple leaned in for a kiss.

They were blinded by the flashing of lights as the two froze mid-kiss.

“Sasuke! You never told us you knew such a sublime goddess,” a red-headed male swooped in, arms around them both before interjecting.

“Or that you even had a date,” a blond haired male huffed, and narrowed his eyes in a glare at Natsuki.

“You would have the same sort of friends,” the female smiled in understanding before a third male dragged himself into view. “We escaped the security cameras only to run into the paparazzi,” she laughed and kissed him on the cheek, catching everyone else off guard.

“Natsuki!” Hideyoshi’s voice could be heard for miles as he was running through the park in a blind panic, and then shortly joined by the sound of a motorbike. Nobu did like to ignore signs. “You did that on purpose!”

Sasuke was managing now to blush. Natsuki still wouldn’t give him his hand back and had gone as far as entwining their fingers with their hands sat on her lap.

“Of course I did, you never give me any privacy and Mitsuhide would have happily broadcast us over the internet,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes as Sasuke’s eyes widened. “I told you I understood the whole ‘overbearing friends’ thing,” she beamed brightly at the astrophysicist.

Sasuke couldn’t help it as he kissed her again, wrapped her in his arms and pulling her flush against him. She squeaked in surprise before slowly looping her arms around his neck, enjoying the moment until they both realised that they’d had an audience for the entire time.

“So you’re both exhibitionists?” Shingen broke the silence with a knowing smile.

“We didn’t have a choice really,” Natsuki replied with a laugh. “You all insist on hounding us both, so you get the full show,” she grinned mischievously, her head resting on Sasuke’s chest as the men had to concede defeat to the woman for once.

#Sasuke Sarutobi #nobunaga oda #masamune date #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #Ikémen Sengoku #fluff #first date

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inmyownlittlecorner5 · 5 years ago

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Moonlight Chapter Seven: Settling Up

A fanfic Novel by la-topolina

Rated for Mature Audiences

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual Content

Chapter 7/26

Moonlight Masterpost+

<< Chapter Six+

Chapter Eight+ >>

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

"Hem, hem, May I assist you?" asked a high, girlish voice.

Miranda had been accosted by the stout, pink-clad woman almost the instant she had set foot inside the massive doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She eyed the shorter woman and thought she strongly resembled a pink toad.

Miranda forced a friendly smile and replied, "I hope so. Would you mind showing me to Headmaster Dumbledore's office?"

"And what might your business be at Hogwarts?” the other woman demanded in a sickly sweet tone.

"It's private," Miranda said lightly, easy smile still on her face.

"I don't think I caught your name Miss?"

"Rose," Miranda shook the toad’s pudgy hand firmly. "I'm from the other side of the pond."

"I can see that." The other woman stared at Miranda long enough that she was beginning to wonder if the woman was ever going to comply. Finally she drew herself up to her full, if diminutive, height and said importantly, "Well, this way."

Being as Miranda did not know any of the school passwords, the pink toad accompanied her into Dumbledore's office. Miranda studied the magnificent assortment of objects with obvious pleasure as they waited. They did not have to wait very long before a thin wizard with a long white beard and bright blue eyes entered the office.

"Ah, Miss Rose, very punctual I see," he said pleasantly. "That will be all, Professor Umbridge, thank you." Umbridge puffed up as though she were going to argue—or croak—but settled for sniffing and waiting just outside the door in a futile attempt to overhear their conversation.

“I’m not always punctual," Miranda confessed after the door was closed on Umbridge. "but I wanted to make a good first impression."

They sat and tea appeared for both of them. “I appreciate the effort and the honesty,” Albus said, smiling at her over his half-moon glasses. “What brings you to my office?"

Miranda felt a bit of pink creeping across her cheeks. "Actually, my business is with one of your staff. Since I'm a stranger, I thought it best to introduce myself to you first, rather than simply barge in."

"I see. A wise decision. Which of my staff is the fortunate one?"

"Professor Severus Snape."

Albus's eyebrows raised and his eyes twinkled merrily. "Really? Is he expecting you?"

"No, I doubt it. Perhaps I should explain a bit more. I’ve been working in England for the last six months. I’m a bounty hunter and twice over the summer Professor Snape was kind enough to assist me. I wasn't able to repay him after the second incident, as term started just after it. I wanted to wait until everyone was likely to be settled in here before coming to finish up the business."

"I see." Albus steepled his fingers, "Severus is a very useful man. May I ask what he did this time to deserve such a visit?"

Miranda hadn't intended to tell the Headmaster any details, but the merry twinkling of his eyes put her at ease. Perhaps they reminded her of her own father's eyes and she found herself recounting the events of both the vampire and the werewolf case more completely than she had planned. "I'd probably be dead if he hadn't taken it upon himself to help me. He proved to be a proficient healer, much to my surprise,” she finished.

"Severus is proficient in many things," Albus observed.

Miranda's blush returned and she felt frustrated that she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. "I was thinking that if I came by on a Friday afternoon when classes were over it would be a good time,” she said.

"Well, I don't keep tabs on my staff during their off hours. Is there a reason that you didn't send him an owl?"

"I like having the element of surprise."

Albus didn't seem shocked by this answer. "Understandable. Well," he said, glancing at a clock with twelve hands and no numbers, "there is about a half an hour left in Severus's class. Why don't you go down to the dungeons and sit in on the end of it?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to interrupt him while he’s working," Miranda protested.

"I understand that, however it would be wisest if you were not wandering the corridors with Professor Umbridge again. She will be trapped in her own classroom for the next half hour as well. If I know Severus at all, he'll have you stowed away before the dear woman has a chance to catch up to you."

"Understood." Miranda smiled broadly at the Headmaster. "Thank you for the advice. And the tea."

"You're most welcome dear. Oh, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"If you intend to return another time, do let Severus know that you have my full permission to use the staff entrance."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"Of course. Now off with you!”

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

Severus sat at his desk marking scrolls, looking for all the world like a malevolent bat. School had been in session for a month and he was now sure that Miranda would not be making her promised appearance. He was displeased by this thought and angry with himself for caring. He was also angry with himself for having wasted so much time with her after the werewolf incident. He hated wasting time and he hated feeling like a fool and his anger bubbled just beneath the surface of his cold exterior. Most of his students could sense it and took extra trouble not to draw his attention. They worked quietly and tensely, dreading the time that he would rise from his desk and begin stalking up and down the aisle of the classroom, criticizing their work.

“Your potions should be purple by now,” he snapped.

“Purple, purple, has no rhyme, hope to get it right this time,” Luna Lovegood sang quietly from the back of the room.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He found teaching potions to Luna Lovegood even more trying than teaching them to Neville Longbottom. She was not a bad student per se— in fact, she was usually rather capable. However, it was impossible to tell when she would simply begin working on something completely different. She was impervious to both criticism and sarcasm and neither extra assignments nor detentions seemed to have any effect on her. Honestly, he was a bit concerned that she would blow up the potions room before she earned her O.W.L. He settled for pairing her with Margaret Baskerville, a quiet Ravenclaw with very good reflexes, and sitting them in the back of the room far away from the supply closet.

“Oh look, an American!” Luna observed, pointing at the closed door to the potions classroom.

In spite of their fear of Professor Snape, most of the students could not help looking from the closed door to Luna and giggling.

“Silence!” Severus hissed. Immediately, the offending students choked down their laughter and tried to appear focused on their work.

As soon as order was restored, the classroom door creaked open, and everyone’s heads turned to see the disturbance. Severus, expecting to see Professor Umbridge—he knew she had begun sitting in on other teacher’s classes and “evaluating” them—rose slowly from his desk and turned to glare at her. His face froze however, when he saw that Miranda Rose was standing in the door of his classroom, and not Professor Umbridge.

Miranda had the grace to blush when she realized that the entire classroom was staring at her. She put on a brave smile, entered the room, and closed the door behind her. She crossed to Severus, very aware of how loud her boots were on the stone floor, and leaned in to whisper in his ear,

"Sorry to interrupt. Headmaster sent me down so I wouldn't run into that Umbridge woman again. I'll sit in the back until you're done."

Potions forgotten, the class continued to stare at Miranda as she took a seat in the back of the room, near Luna and Margaret.

Severus barked, "Get back to work!" Then he sat back down at his desk, making a show of mark scrolls while he attempted to rein in his racing thoughts.

Miranda smothered a smile and pulled out a book, trying to pretend that she was invisible. The students were busily adding ginger root to their cauldrons and the room was again silent, except for Luna who was chanting,

“Moses supposes his toeses are roses, But Moses supposes erroneously; For nobody's toeses are posies of roses, As Moses supposes his toeses to be.”

“Miss. Lovegood!” Severus snapped. “How many times to I have to tell you not to chant foolish incantations in my class? Ten points from Ravenclaw.”

Luna stopped chanting, but did not look at all troubled by his outburst. Miranda bit her lips to keep from laughing, and tried to focus on Death Comes for the Archbishop.

By the time Severus had regained control of his mind, class was over. The stern look on his face warned most of the students not to talk as they hastily bottled samples of their potions and set them on a shelf for grading. Their eagerness to begin the weekend overcame their curiosity of who the stranger was, and they quickly cleared their desks and filed out of the room.

Luna, however, lagged behind. She had taken time to draw a few flowers on her vial’s label and painstakingly rearrange a few of the shelves in the store closet, muttering something about “good energy.” She returned to the back of the classroom, put away One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and pulled out a magazine and a spiral bound notebook with a quill attached. She approached Miranda, who looked up from her book to return the girl’s smile.

“Hello. I see you’re almost finished with your book. I expect you’ll be waiting around quite a bit this evening, so I thought this would help you pass the time,” Luna said, handing Miranda the latest issue of The Quibbler.

“That’s very thoughtful of you. Thank you,” Miranda replied seriously. She took the magazine and put it in her bag.

“I was wondering if you’d like to sign up for a subscription. Its completely secret,” Luna explained, showing her the blank notebook. “Once you put down your information, nobody can see it. And you can cancel at any time. My father’s the editor, you see.”

“I’d be delighted.” Miranda took the quill and wrote down her information, which glowed briefly and then disappeared.

“Have a nice weekend. I think it’s going to rain,” Luna said.

“You too,” Miranda replied.

Luna took her things and headed for the door. “Good afternoon, Professor,” she said, as she passed Severus’s desk.

During Miranda’s conversation with Luna, Severus had finished closing up his classroom for the weekend. He locked the door and shuttered the windows, stalking ominously towards Miranda, his face an unreadable mask.

When he got to the back of the room he ordered, “Come.” Then he turned and started striding away.

Miranda quickly put her book in her bag. By the time she had done so, he had disappeared through another door and she had to run to catch up with him. They passed through a narrow passageway filled with potion ingredients and books. This led to a tidy, if a bit disturbingly decorated office. He didn't stop there, but went through another passageway, narrower and darker than the previous. With a flick of his wand, the door at the end of the passage opened, and they entered a dark sitting room, walls lined with books. He slammed the door and locked it with another flick of his wand.

They stood facing each other, both catching their breath after the flight.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded curtly, his dark eyes unreadable.

"I came to settle up after the werewolf case," she replied. She kept her voice even, although she was beginning to wonder if coming had been a good idea. "I thought I should give you time return to the school routine before I came barging in."

He paused. "That was...considerate," he allowed. "Who else knows you are here besides Albus and Umbridge?"

"No one. And Umbridge doesn't know who I am or why I am here. Headmaster knows basically everything."

"Does he?" He ran his eyes over her body and she felt a blush creep over her cheeks.

"Well, I didn't go into all the scandalous details, but he seems shrewd enough to have inferred at least some of them."

He managed to look both amused and annoyed at this. A bell rang, magically amplified, signaling dinner and his amusement disappeared.

"If I do not appear at the staff table after your interruption of my class, there will be questions that I do not care to answer. Stay here. I will deal with you after dinner," he commanded. And, without waiting for a response from her, he strode out of the room, locking it behind him.

She felt a bit less confident now than she had when she had first arrived at Hogwarts that afternoon. Perhaps she should have sent an owl first. She supposed that not everyone appreciated being caught off guard. She started pacing restlessly around the gloomy sitting room. It had small windows, high on the walls, that seemed only to view the indoors. What little light they let in only served to make the room appear darker. There was a fire burning in the stone fireplace and one armchair covered in black leather. On one wall stood a desk with quills, ink bottles, and parchment all neatly stacked. The other walls were lined almost to the ceiling with leather bound books. She started shelf-reading and noticed that while many of them were on magical subjects--potion making, charms, dueling, dark arts--there was also Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Shakespeare, Dante, and Kipling.

After pacing around the room and resisting the urge to rifle through Severus’s desk, Miranda started looking for the washroom. There was only one interior door and as she went through it she realized she was in Severus’s bedroom. It was also dark and filled with books. There was a wardrobe on one wall and a four poster bed draped in black and green on another. A third wall held a door that led to a washroom done in dark marble and green mosaic tile. It was scrupulously clean and she again resisted the urge to snoop.

When she emerged from the washroom, she spent a few moments in the bedroom, considering whether or not she should stay. He had not seemed particularly happy to see her. Perhaps she should simply leave his payment on his desk with a note of explanation and cut her losses. While she was contemplating her next course of action, she wandered over to his night table and picked up the book that was sitting on it. It was The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe. A slow smile spread across her face and she set the book back on the table. Then she went back out into the sitting room, settled herself into the armchair, and took out her book to wait.

An hour or so later Severus reappeared, carrying a tray for her. She had indeed finished the Cather novel, and had started on The Quibbler. When he saw what she was reading he snorted and said, “That girl is a lunatic.”

“I thought she was rather nice,” Miranda replied. “Don’t you think the tray looks as suspicious as you not showing up for dinner?"

"I went down to the kitchens and returned by another passage," he replied curtly. "The house elves aren't going to tell anyone."

"Thank you. It's kind of you to think of me," she said honestly, taking the tray.

He sat down at the desk and started marking scrolls while he waited for her to finish eating. When she had, he spirited away the empty dishes with a wave of his wand. She reached into her bag and pulled out a package wrapped in brown paper.

"This is for you," she said, depositing it on his desk. She leaned her hip against the desk and tried not to look too eager as he opened it.

The book was thick, old, and bound in dark leather. He raised an eyebrow and opened it carefully. As he perused its contents he realized it was full of spells and directions for potions that he had never seen.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"More secret wisdom from the States," she replied with a grin. "And just like the Snakewood, you don't have it. And if someone catches you with it, you didn't get it from me."

Engrossed in the book, he stood and wandered over to his armchair. As he sank into it, Miranda watched him, a pleased expression on her face. Severus read for perhaps twenty minutes before he remembered her presence. When he did, he set the book down on the table next to his chair and gave her the barest hint of a smile.

"Thank you," he said shortly.

"Thank you," she replied simply, looking up from The Quibbler. She set it on his desk, crossed the room to him and took his hand. "I said it before, but I doubt I would still be alive if you hadn't helped me. And considering how I had insulted you on our previous meeting, I appreciate it all the more."

His expression turned sour. "As I recall you were not the only one doing the insulting during that previous meeting," he muttered. Her hand was warm in his and he turned it over, bringing her wrist to his lips. He smirked as he felt her pulse quicken. "I presume you are fully healed from your idiotic scrape with death?"

"None the worse for wear," she answered, her silver eyes glittering in the firelight.

"Good," he drawled, pulling her onto his lap. "Then I can do some damage of my own."

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

Much later, she lay on her stomach on his four-poster bed, practically purring with satisfaction. He lay next to her, idly tracing patterns on her bare back with a long finger and studying her in the candlelight.

"How long can you stay?" he asked quietly.

"I'd say the entire weekend, but I suppose I shouldn't seem too eager," she replied playfully.

"I think you've already expressed your eagerness," he said, his eyes gleaming arrogantly. "I'm surprised you can spare that much time from your usual sport of trying to get yourself killed."

"Oh, I have a case, but I'm taking it slowly."

He arched an eyebrow in question.

"I've been asked to take up the bounty on Sirius Black."

His finger paused on her back and he looked at her sharply. "Who hired you?"

"That's why I'm taking it slowly. Minister Fudge and someone named Lucius Malfoy put me on the job. They approached me about it while I was finishing the vampire case and were very unhappy that I put them off while I tracked the werewolf, especially since it put me out of commission for another month."

"Why are you stalling them?" He had resumed his idle tracing, but his tone sounded serious.

"I don't like Malfoy. He makes the hair on the back my neck stand up on end. I can tell when a job is bad."

"Why did you take it then?" He was beginning to sound angry.

"Malfoy doesn't seem like the sort of fellow you just say no to."

"That is true."

She shrugged, "I've dealt with men like him before."

"I seriously doubt that."

"I see that you know him."

"I do. Tread very carefully around him. He is ruthless, powerful, and extremely well connected."

"I already know all that. I'm starting by investigating him and Minister Fudge. Something seems off about the job, and I’m not going to haul someone in until I know that it's the right thing to do."

"I don't like it."

"I'm an American. They're not going to do anything to me, it would be an international incident. My family knows where I am, I talk to them almost every day. If something happens to me, they will know and they will raise hell."

"I still don't like it."

"Severus, you care. How touching."

"Why aren't you asking me for more information about Malfoy and Black?"

"I try not to mix business and pleasure. During the course of this investigation I may decide to question you officially, but for now I'd rather enjoy you. That's why I haven't been snooping through your rooms or asking you about your business."

"You mean like I am asking you now?"

"You are being rather nosey, but I seem to have less to hide than you do."

"You are a very strange woman."

"You certainly know how to make a lady feel special." Miranda's temper was beginning to flare. She hadn't really meant to tell him quite so much about her business and was irritated with herself. "Look, I can leave if I'm bothering you."

"No." He spoke very slowly, as though savoring each word. "You are going to stay." He turned her onto her back, the better to expose her to his mercilessly clever fingers. "I don't like ordinary women."

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

Severus was sorry to see Miranda go when Monday morning arrived. It was true, he had accomplished almost nothing that weekend with regards to his work, either for his job at Hogwarts or for his two masters; but he had found the time exceedingly well spent. He was, however, a bit disturbed that she was now connected to Malfoy, and this seemed to be on her mind as well.

"So, do we know each other, or not?" she asked, all business. “I didn't mention you in any of my official Ministry reports. Papa knows I had help, but he doesn't know from who and Umbridge doesn't know I was here to see you. I assume Headmaster won't be saying anything, so we can keep our lives totally separate if that seems best.”

He mulled this over in his mind. There was no longer any question that he would be seeing Miranda again, as often as possible. He told himself that it was a calculated risk. She was an outsider, and thus could not call his loyalty to the Dark Lord into question. She was simply a bit of recreation. True, it would perhaps be better if she were pure or even half-blood, but he thought the Dark Lord would only deride him for having common taste in women.

“I don’t think we should print it in The Quibbler,” he answered dryly, "but in the unlikely event that anyone is entitled to know our private business, it would be safer to be honest than to try to invent a story."

"Understood," she nodded. "So, we met the way we met, jumped in the sack together, and have been fucking like bunnies ever since?”

"It sounds so tawdry when you put it that way," he mocked. "I fear for my reputation."

"Your reputation?" she laughed merrily. "I'm the one who's going to bed with some Brit she knows next to nothing about." She kissed him hard. "In fact, I think I started this whole thing."

"You did,” he agreed. "It is, in fact, all your fault. You have no one but yourself to blame." He returned her kiss, his hands roaming freely. "And if you are not in my bed by nine o'clock on Friday evening, I will come looking for you."

"Speaking of," she murmured, "Headmaster said to tell you to show me the staff entrance."

"Meddlesome wizard," he muttered. "Give me your wand.” When she complied, he used it to unlock and lock the door of his sitting room. Handing it back to her, he explained, "Now you will be able to unlock this door. When you come, take yourself straight to the bedroom and don't get caught."

He showed her to the private entrance to his dungeon and gave her the password--"Lily." She raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't ask any questions.

"Until Friday," she said, and ducked out into the morning sun.

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

Moonlight Masterpost+

<< Chapter Six+

Chapter Eight+ >>

#harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fandom #severus snape #severus snape fanfiction #severus snape fanfic #snape fanfiction #snape fanfic #snape x oc #hogwarts #ilvermorny #american magic #second wizarding war #espionage #spying #romance #adventure

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jmtorres · 3 years ago

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Did it, because I would rather tumblr make money this way than off of post+ BS. Part of me feels like it's a high cost but good grief I pay $5 a month for MarioKart Gold, like, it's worth it to me? I am on tumblr approximately every day, it is one of the ways I feed my ADHD brain enough varied input not to crawl the walls, so it was a worthwhile investment for me.

[image description: screencap of "Ad-Free Browsing" tab of Tumblr settings on desktop/browser view, showing "Your subscription is active" in a green highlight box, describing the plan as "Enjoy Tumblr without interruptions from ads" and "$39.99/year" with a button below to "Cancel subscription"; a "Payment method" description with credit card information blacked out by the screencapper for user security, showing a date of February 25, 2023 for the next payment; and a button at the bottom to "Contact support" if you "Need some help with your subscription?" /end id]

Couldn't do it through the iOS app, had to do it in the browser, but that means apple doesn't take a (n enormous) cut, and more money goes to keeping the tumblr servers from doing a whoopsy or whatever the silly error message is.

I suspect some people are having a kneejerk negative reaction to the idea of a subscription service because we're starting to have more prominent conversations about how the digital world and digital providers want us to pay for a subscription rather than buying media outright (ie Adobe and Microsoft switching to a model where you have to pay monthly to access their software and your files, and streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Spotify, instead of just buying DVDs/blu-rays/CDs/or even non-physical purchases like off of BandCamp, although there's also something to be said about if you don't download your digital purchases and expect to be able to get them out of the cloud from whatever device then you're at the mercy of the media provider anyway). (Sidenote: is my comparison of MarioKart Gold essentially doing what Adobe does re making you subscribe for software? Sort of, but. MarioKart updates with new race tracks/variations of race tracks every 2 weeks, periodically comes out with new drivers, carts, etc, and also has a live component where you race against other users. And technically you can get most of that without paying anything! But my point is they're actually making the game interesting on an ongoing basis, rather than it being a static piece of software that COULD be a single purchase, and that's how I justify subscribing to them.)

SO THEN, Tumblr. What does Tumblr offer that makes it worth a subscription rather than a one-off purchase (possibly elsewhere)? Tumblr is not merely a media storage system, although the immense amount of images and video people upload on here is part of why they need significant funds to function. It's also (micro)blogging/interaction. Their service is a real-time, (approximately) social media service, not just media/software rental like the subscription services you may have seen rants telling you to get rid of. Tumblr is a way I get varied viewpoints and interests from users I have chosen to follow, not from an algorithm designed to get clicks out of me like on youtube or tiktok or instagram or twitter. (Obviously Tumblr does have "best stuff first" and "because you liked" which we do not want, but hey, they are settings you can TURN OFF.) Tumblr is a hub where I get to see what you are all watching and reading and drawing and making and analyzing and writing. This is not readily duplicable by following your individual RSS feeds the way something like Spotify is duplicable by buying the music you want directly from the actual artists. I mean, SOME of you have your own sites and sell the art you make, but I don't think most of the people I follow are monetized actually, and by and large, the general internet user no longer has (or knows the meaning of) an RSS feed, and I'm not sure the general internet user ever did or if I was in a weird niche in the early 2000s. I can't aggregate you all to view easily without this service, so Tumblr is actually doing me a service.

Both MarioKart and Tumblr are doing something I like: you CAN get most of the functionality for free, they're not requiring you to pay. I think, unfortunately, that also means that a lot of people devalue the functionality that's provided, because there's a mentality of, if I can get it for free, it's not worth anything, is it? But before you decry Tumblr offering a subscription for ad-free service, remember a) no one is making you pay for it, you can just choose not to spend money on it if you don't think it's worth it to you or if money's tight, and you can still get most of the functionality of Tumblr, and b) Tumblr DOES have functionality most of us like or we wouldn't be here. We like having our dashboard in reverse chronological order. We like the tag system. We like the ability to post high-quality pictures, videos, and long text posts. We like being able to reply to posts. We like being able to send asks (and some people like being able to receive them!). We like the communities of users we've chosen to follow, that Tumblr allows us to connect to. We like not being relentlessly tracked like on Facebook, and frankly, paying for a subscription DIRECTLY allows that to keep being a thing, because the other main option for income for a site like Tumblr is relentless tracking used for targeted ads. Like Facebook does.

Sure, there are problems with Tumblr. It's not perfect. It could stand improvement. It's made mistakes in the past (though not all of them are its fault--if you want to get upset about certain types images and words no longer being allowed here, you need to get mad at Apple's walled-garden philosophy about their app store, and about United States legislation limiting what's allowed on the internet. I'm not being super specific here so my comments don't get shadow-banned due to "bad" keyword usage. And that's a 'feature' of Tumblr that is super terrible but you can definitely point the finger at Apple throwing a tantrum and Tumblr trying to keep questionable posts from popping up in Apple's test searches so that the Tumblr app can stay in the iOS store. I've read about Apple/the iOS App Store limitations being extremely up for interpretation to the individual Apple tester, like, it's inconsistent and therefore extremely difficult to meet the standards because the standards are not standardized. Tumblr is basically doing the best that it can on that front).

But my point is, for all of the problems with Tumblr, you and I are still here using it, it has enough features that make it worth using to us. And it's up to you if those features are worth paying for, for your own use case and budget and priorities, but please acknowledge that there are positive features, even if you choose to take advantage of the option to continue using them for free.

And if you do become a paying subscriber? That means Tumblr is more likely to listen to you and me about future changes and future problems.

This is 100% new and 100% Tumblr with 0% ads.

If you love ads, then this post is not for you. If you love Tumblr but hate ads and want the one to continue without having to endure the other, then this post is literally for you. Hello, you.

As of today, you can set up ad-free browsing on your personal desktop computer, from anywhere in the world, and then enjoy the same effervescent Tumblr you know and love (yes, including mobile) without the interruption of ads. Scroll away.

Some caveats:

It’s $4.99 for a month of pure, unadulterated nonsense.

If you like a discount, you can get 33% off (that’s four months for free) at $39.99 for a whole year. Imagine.

This is opt-in. You don’t have to do this. We won’t make you.

How do you opt in?

Easy! Just go to your Account Settings on desktop and hit "Go Ad-Free." From there, you can choose to pay monthly or yearly:

And that’s it! You’ll be able to enjoy your favorite blogs and posts without any pesky ads getting in the way.

That’s all for now, Tumblr. Back to your blorbos.

#how to tumblr #tumblr #subscription #digital capitalism #webbed site

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