#I’m not doing all this work so someone else can profit off it

[conkers-thecosy]

I’m very sad to see Tumblr is jumping on the ai bandwagon honestly, but also I’m not remotely surprised. It’s getting harder and harder to find a bastion of creativity online these days, which is a lot of the reason I don’t share my original work anymore (I used to serialise stories on wattpad and fictionpress, but it’s no longer safe to do that).

I work hard on my writing. I pour so much of myself, my time, and my love into it. It infuriates me that I’m running out of places to share it, unless I want to monetise on platforms like Patreon and such (which I don’t, really).

Fanfiction has been the only creative outlet I have left if I want to share anything, and even that is becoming difficult to reconcile myself with when I know there are people downloading and feeding that work into these programs too, so they can belt out “their own” fics with minimal effort.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’ll no longer be sharing snippets or shorts here.

[robertreich]

Should Billionaires Exist? 

Do billionaires have a right to exist?

America has driven more than 650 species to extinction. And it should do the same to billionaires.

Why? Because there are only five ways to become one, and they’re all bad for free-market capitalism:

1. Exploit a Monopoly.

Jamie Dimon is worth $2 billion today… but not because he succeeded in the “free market.” In 2008, the government bailed out his bank JPMorgan and other giant Wall Street banks, keeping them off the endangered species list.

This government “insurance policy” scored these struggling Mom-and-Pop megabanks an estimated $34 billion a year.

But doesn’t entrepreneur Jeff Bezos deserve his billions for building Amazon?

No, because he also built a monopoly that’s been charged by the federal government and 17 states for inflating prices, overcharging sellers, and stifling competition like a predator in the wild.

With better anti-monopoly enforcement, Bezos would be worth closer to his fair-market value.

2. Exploit Inside Information

Steven A. Cohen, worth roughly $20 billion headed a hedge fund charged by the Justice Department with insider trading “on a scale without known precedent.” Another innovator!

Taming insider trading would level the investing field between the C Suite and Main Street.

3.  Buy Off Politicians

That’s a great way to become a billionaire! The Koch family and Koch Industries saved roughly $1 billion a year from the Trump tax cut they and allies spent $20 million lobbying for. What a return on investment!

If we had tougher lobbying laws, political corruption would go extinct.

4. Defraud Investors

Adam Neumann conned investors out of hundreds of millions for WeWork, an office-sharing startup. WeWork didn’t make a nickel of profit, but Neumann still funded his extravagant lifestyle, including a $60 million private jet. Not exactly “sharing.”

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of fraud for her blood-testing company, Theranos. So was Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto-exchange FTX. Remember a supposed billionaire named Donald Trump? He was also found to have committed fraud.

Presumably, if we had tougher anti-fraud laws, more would be caught and there’d be fewer billionaires to preserve.

5. Get Money From Rich Relatives

About 60 percent of all wealth in America today is inherited.

That’s because loopholes in U.S. tax law —lobbied for by the wealthy — allow rich families to avoid taxes on assets they inherit. And the estate tax has been so defanged that fewer than 0.2 percent of estates have paid it in recent years.

Tax reform would disrupt the circle of life for the rich, stopping them from automatically becoming billionaires at their birth, or someone else’s death.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not arguing against big rewards for entrepreneurs and inventors. But do today’s entrepreneurs really need billions of dollars? Couldn’t they survive on a measly hundred million?

Because they’re now using those billions to erode American institutions. They spent fortunes bringing Supreme Court justices with them into the wild.They treated news organizations and social media platforms like prey, and they turned their relationships with politicians into patronage troughs.

This has created an America where fewer than ever can become millionaires (or even thousandaires) through hard work and actual innovation.

If capitalism were working properly, billionaires would have gone the way of the dodo.

[fellshish]

I have a question, and my name is Sal.

I grew up watching Coraline as a kid. It was my jam. I loved that movie, and I will forever say Henry Selick deserved more attention for making it.

I like the Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn (Amanda Palmer projects) I still have the songs stuck in my head. You know where this is going.

I know you said that fans of works should still enjoy the work even if the creator sucks. And I can do that with Kubrick and Aaron Fechter, but that’s because Kubrick is dead, and most of Aaron Fechter’s IP got ripped away from him and is gladly in the hands of the public (despite how much he likes to sue).

Gaiman (and Palmer) are still alive and/or profiting off their stuff. Not to mention, I want to bring attention to the situation and help bring justice to the victims. Yet everytime I post about it or reblog what someone else put into words what I think, I feel like I’m virtue signalling.

How do I handle it and is it bad that I keep thinking of the art that influenced me by them instead of what they did (in a way to soften the blow to how horribly they abused these women)?

(You can respond to this publicly, as I am sure people are thinking the same thing somewhere. I am sorry for dumping all this on you.)

hi sal!

sorry, this got long. your ask was so genuine and i was afraid of getting it wrong. 

i want to start this off by saying i am not the boss of anyone’s fandom experience. everyone gets to decide for themselves how they proceed after learning about the numerous women who have come forward against neil gaiman.

the things you mention are things i’ve struggled with too — last year when i first learned about it, when i listened to the podcasts and recently again reading even more detailed (and horrifying) news reporting.

these are also struggles shared by many fans in many fandoms of creators who were accused and/or controversial and/or convicted. for example many (trans) people i know have grown up loving harry potter, and have had to deal with their favourite writer waging a vendetta against trans lives. some still participate in the hp fandom without supporting her. they can’t help their hyperfixation and still find a lot of good and a lot of friends in the fandom. 

because yes, i do believe that someone can stay in such a fandom as ethically as possible. as in: i try the best that i can to make sure no further financial gains go to the creator. that means i avoid watching official streams, buying official merch, going to official cons, going to plays based on his work etc. i also amplify the women’s voices by spreading the article. 

the thing to keep in mind is: there is a difference and a distance between a creator and a fandom of what they created. a huge wall even. fandom is about community, friendships, creativity, … i am on a playground playing with the characters with my friends. sharing art and fics and gifs etc. and what those characters and stories mean to me are positive things. 

the core is this: if you have to live your life only consuming art by morally pure people (and who determines that?!) then you will have very little left to enjoy. 

and of course i understand the urge to want to help the victims, and the guilt/worry about virtue signaling. i’m going to break those down separately.

i think the idea of ‘helping bring justice to the victims’ is good but it also puts an unreasonable amount of responsibility on your young shoulders. here’s what’s already happened: the women’s voices have been heard, there is now more widespread media covering, he has lost his reputation, hasn’t been on his platforms since last summer, he’s losing (film) projects of his work, … what else consequences are yet to come, legally or otherwise, we’ll have to see. the responsibility for that lies not with you as one single fan but with lawyers etc. and you might find it important to keep vigilant that the story doesn’t get buried (again). in that case reblogging isn’t virtue signalling but useful.

but it’s also unreasonable to expect someone to continually do that for days and days. that’s a quick ticket to depression. ultimately tumblr is, to many, a fandom space. some people use it only for pleasant fandom activities. and what if they do? you can’t know a person’s whole life: maybe they are survivors who are too triggered to participate, maybe they’ve donated to causes that help survivors, maybe they have shared the story on other platforms etc

you asked “is it bad that I keep thinking of the art that influenced me by them instead of what they did”, and i found that the most heartbreaking part of your ask. it isn’t helpful to you or to anyone to keep torturing yourself with guilt. you’re aware of the allegations, and that’s good. but don’t burn yourself out trying to live up to the impossible standard of a morally pure activist that doesn’t exist. please stop being your own thought police. 

i think the fact you struggle so deeply, shows what a beautiful person you are.

now you’re going to be reading a lot of opinions. some very different from mine. am i right in continuing in fandom? i don’t know. this is my first time living life too. but i AM right that you’re a good person.

that said: protect your heart. block freely and curate a fandom space that makes you happy. avoid engaging in endless internet discourse that is bad for your mental health. step away for a while if that is what you need.

these are some intense days but i promise it gets better. the kid who loved coraline can still love coraline, but is just more informed now. 

the main rule of fandom is: does it spark joy? if yes, embrace it, because that’s a wonderful and rare thing to have.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Copyright, Trademark, What They Do (and Don't Do)

Anonymous asked: I'm writing a comic script but I'm a slow writer/artist, so it won't be ready to post for quite a few years. Is there any way I can submit a list of character and place names and have them copyrighted/trademarked so no one else can use them besides me? I'm not talking generic names like "Thomas Bird" or "Blue Mountains." I mean very specific, unique names that I've personally created. There are a lot of names/places in my story that I’m extremely happy with, and I’m really worried someone else is will write a story before me with these names and then I won’t be able to use them, even though I’m the one that came up with them first.

[Ask edited for length]

Quick disclaimer: I'm not a copyright attorney, trademarking attorney, or any other kind of legal professional or representative. This advice comes from knowledge and experience gained in my many years as a writer and author.

Copyright, in the simplest of terms, means no one but you can copy, distribute, or profit from your work without your permission. It protects your work from plagiarism--someone else using your ideas in the exact same way you did and passing it off as their own-- but it does not protect the use of individual names, titles, fictional places, or ideas, none of which can be copyrighted.

Trademark, in the simplest of terms, protects symbols, words, or phrases that identify and distinguish your brand or business and the products or services associated with them. In order to trademark a symbol, word, or phrase, you would need to prove that consumers do (or would) strongly associate the symbol, word, character, or phrase with your brand/product/services, and that there would be confusion among consumers if this symbol, word, character, or phrase appeared in association with some other brand/product/service. So, we are talking symbols like the Nike logo, words like Kleenex, character names like Bugs Bunny or Spider-Man, and phrases like "Finger Lickin' Good," not your unusually named characters or fictional places.

The best way you can protect your unique character names and places prior to publishing is to make sure you don't share them widely, and share them only with people you trust.

Just because you have an idea now doesn't mean you're the one that came up with an idea first. For example, if someone publishes a comic next year with a same character name, they may have come up with that character name twenty years ago for all you know.

Either way, it's very unlikely someone would beat you to publication and have more than one unique character name or place in common with your comic, and even if they do have one character that has the same unique name, that doesn't mean you can't use it. Again, character names can't be copyrighted. As long as your character doesn't appear to be the same character with minor changes, you're fine. I really, really wouldn't worry about it, though.

One final note of advice... one of the hardest things about being a writer, which you must adjust to if you want to succeed, is understanding that your ideas aren't as special and unique as you think they are. I don't mean that to be mean, but it's a hard truth. You will see "your ideas" everywhere you look, because people will come up with the same ideas you do, and sometimes that means coming up with a similar unique name or location. But what matters is how you use those ideas, and how that differs from how they used them. That's what makes your stories unique. Not your ideas, names, places, etc. themselves, but how you use them. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[odinsblog]

[re: this post]

The bad news is, I’m stranded because my condo has only one road in and out, and that’s 100% underwater rn

The other bad news is, my car is flooded even though I thought I moved it to higher ground

BUT … the heartening news is this:

This condo complex is roughly 2,500 units so tons of people live here. We were all without power from around 4pm yesterday until 10:30am today

So at daybreak everyone was outside surveying the damage and trying to figure out how to get their sunken cars started and how to get out (we’re just going to have to wait for the waters to recede iMho)

I took one look at my VERY RECENTLY PAID FOR CAR as it sat submerged, and started to head back inside. That’s when a neighbor I’d never met before asked me if my phone was charged. I told her no, it’s completely dead. She then directed me to another neighbor who found one outlet that, for some reason, still had power. There were about 10 or 15 people lined up and someone had gotten probably the longest extension cord w/outlets that I’ve ever seen in my life. If you weren’t already charging your phone on the outlet, there was one outlet spot where everyone was taking turns to get a quick 10 minute charge and make some calls. Apparently everyone had already voted to use one of the extension cord outlets full time for a coffee pot (because coffee, right?)

There was someone else outside whose car wasn’t submerged who was letting people use his car to charge their phones

And then I heard someone say, “Are there any elderly or disabled people living here who we need to go check on?” And I said, “OMG, what about the lady on the 7th floor? She’s in a wheelchair!” And someone else said that the elevator was out because of no power, and I was like, “So? Are the stairs broken? I can run up and go check on her.” And then someone else was like, “She died a couple of years ago.” And we were all like, “Ohhh.”

I’m rambling a bit, but the point is, it was super refreshing to see people working together and sharing and helping each other. This wasn’t a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. At worst, it has merely been a big inconvenience. But it was still nice to see neighbors (many of whom were strangers until this morning) being nice and helpful to each other

It reaffirms what I’ve always believed: in difficult times most people WILL work together—without any personal or monetary incentive. So please don’t believe greedy ass mutha fuckers when they opine about survival of the fittest and making a quick profit off of someone else’s suffering. It doesn’t have to be that way, and most often, it isn’t that way

And yeah, I know that my small experience wasn’t a dire situation and no lives were on the line (like they are where the hurricane actually made landfall), but I would like to believe that my microcosm is the norm for similar macrocosms

I believe that most people are good at heart, or at the very least, they WANT to be good and sometimes just need a nudge in the right direction

Anyway, I guess it’s about time for me to go do battle with my car insurance company (now talk about evil entities!) to see what up with my partially submerged vehicle

If anyone has done this insurance claim dance before, I’m open to some friendly advice bc this is brand new for me

Please have a great day today everyone ✌🏿

[bogwaterparasite]

Could you please do 2004 Tord x reader, pls? He's my comfort character x(

(btw, pls make him as an adult if ur comfy with that! The TeenTord headcanon makes me uncomfortable x(

(not forced!)

Hello why of course!! I’m gonna be completely honest, last I watched Eddsworld was back in 2014?? So my interpretation might not be the best 🙏🙏 either way I hope you enjoy!!!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Pairing : 2004Tord x Reader

CW : none

Wc : 639 (wow so short)

A/N : I actually quite enjoyed this one? Im writing this at night and I didn’t have much of an idea of what else to do/ where to take it, but lowkey I can see it possibly becoming an actual story rather than a one shot. Who knows, maybe if I’m feeling inspired I’ll make it into a series

Sypnosis : You’re a mechanic working late one night when someone bursts into your workshop

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting long shadows across the cluttered garage. It was well past midnight, one of those rare moments when the world seemed to pause, allowing you a precious slice of personal time. Your own projects—the ones that never made it to the top of the priority list—were finally getting some attention.

Being a mechanic wasn't just a job; it was a calling. Each day brought a wild mixture of characters: stubborn old men who looked at you with skeptical eyes, convinced that youth equated to incompetence; entitled customers who argued over every dollar; self-proclaimed experts who believed YouTube tutorials made them equivalent to professional technicians. You'd seen it all—or so you thought.

The sudden crash of the workshop door made you jump, your wrench clattering against the concrete floor. A lanky figure burst in, light brown hair slightly disheveled, eyes wild with an intensity that immediately set your internal alarms ringing. Your gaze shifted towards the window, the LED sign with the words “Open” was shut off.. there was no way he actually thought the shop was open.

Before you even had the chance to protest, to tell him that right now you weren’t under working hours, blueprints exploded across your workspace like a paper hurricane, accompanied by several heavy metal boxes that looked like they'd been "borrowed" from somewhere decidedly official. Immediately, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, who the hell was this lunatic?

You didn’t have much time to question his theatrics as he soon began to explain his plan. Something about a robot.. approximately 10 meters tall? Looking down at the prints on your desk you weren’t able to tell if this was just some geeky fascination or something that you should genuinely be worried about. Regardless, it was something way out of your budget and league. Despite your interest and knowledge on cars, you weren’t so sure it applied to.. this..

"Look man, I dunno…" you started, your voice wavering between professional skepticism and genuine confusion. "I'm a mechanic, not a manufacturer. A twenty- thirty.. something foot robot? That's way beyond the standard automotive repair."

The stranger—dressed in a vibrant red hoodie that seemed almost too casual for the plans now scattered before you��let out a low chuckle. It was the kind of laugh that suggested he knew exactly how ridiculous this all seemed, and yet, didn't seem to care one bit.

"Not asking for mass production," he said, his accent carrying a hint of something Nordic—Norwegian, maybe? "Just one. Perfect prototype. Think of it as... a special order." His hands remained casually stuffed in his hoodie pockets, but there was nothing casual about the calculation behind his eyes.

The blueprints were meticulously detailed. Intricate mechanical designs intertwined with what looked like weaponry specifications. It was.. almost scary, how someone as simple as he looked was able to acquire such things, ones of such magnitude to say the least. This wasn't just a robot; this was something more. Something potentially dangerous.

"Split the profits," he continued, watching you carefully. "Fifty-fifty. All I need is your technical expertise and this workspace for a few weeks."

Something told you this was more than a simple business proposition. The boxes of materials, the precise blueprints, the way he'd so easily found his way into a private workshop, everything screamed of a deeper, more complex story.

And yet, a part of you was intrigued. Curiosity had always been your weakness, and this stranger had just presented a puzzle too compelling to dismiss.

"Who are you?" you found yourself asking, knowing the answer would likely raise more questions than it would resolve.

The smile that crossed his face was equal parts charming and dangerous—the smile of someone who knew exactly how this conversation would end, even if you didn't.

“My name is Tord, What about you, Stranger?”

[90shaladriel]

AI Manipulations of Rings of Power. (Longish)

Saw the AI edits of Haladriel scenes being altered by GenAI to make the characters* kiss. I have seen chatter about it and the negative implications of creating or interacting with AI generated content.

At the risk of being nuanced, (feel free to block or scroll past this) it interests me what exactly is the concern with it and why. To be clear, I do work in an industry that is both working to incorporate and profit off AIs while simultaneously my own job is increasingly at risk by the same products or we are forced to use them for productivity reasons.

Some reasons that make sense to me that you would not want AI content would be

1. Legal and copyright infringement of the ownership of the art or source material used to train the AI models. Stolen work, no credit or payment to artists

2. It’s generally shitty, sloppy, uncanny valley. Which aesthetically I think most people would be against

3. It directly competes against manual labor of a human, devalues work, replaces jobs, or floods the market so creators never can be separated, investment in a skill or art form isnt worth it.

4. It extremely energy intensive, the environmental implications can he huge with the climate crisis.

5. Its being shoveled in our faces by overhyped tech bros because they think its cool and can find gullible investors for, like NFTs and crypto curriencies

6. Deep fake abuse with AI, making up fake news, abusing a real person image in a degrading way without consent.

I think all of these are serious issues with AI.

The stuff that was shared about Sauron and Galadriel kissing does it materialize those concerns? I’m going to assume that it may for the first one, legal and copyright ownership of training data. Im not a lawyer, and there are also some AI models trained on legally owner content or public domain / open source content. I have no way of knowing what models were used by the GenAI that made those haladriel kisses, so we probably have to assume they may have questionable provenance, and I think by that alone we should boycott those.

Now what if someone used a more solidly vetted model or genAI service without those legal issues? What if the artists do get paid or some form of royalties?

The kiss videos themselves were ok, maybe halfway believable, there were obviously the weird uncanny ai artifacts and stuff. It’s objectively worse than if ROP had actually filmed a kiss with live actors in the show proper. But who am I to judge whether that slop is aesthetically pleasing to someone else or not? Sometimes I have found AI art that is truly bizarre in that this is too weird surrealness quality like looking into a dream while being awake. I’m not sure that this feeling is necessarily wrong to enjoy on its own.

Regarding the AI replacing jobs argument. I suppose it depends what we mean. They were never going to remake ROP Season 1 or 2. Morfydd and Charlie won’t be offered the same role if another company were to buy the rights and make Rings of Power reboot. We will never get those kisses on screen. Maybe you can say that if people were fed content for Haladriel you could give them that almost infinitely by GenAI and then those people would be less likely to consume or pay for some other newer media that might otherwise give a satisfactory ETL with backstory and build up equivalent to what ROP has done with Haladriel? I’m not sure how to weigh that, it might be true? I tend to think these AI kisses arent replacing any creative workers in the film/tv industry. I don’t think we say that fanfic reusing known characters competes with original written stories (or do people argue this?) although i suppose it does on some level. Do people boycott fanfiction?

Along these lines, what about the actors consent and deep fake aspects? Personally, I don’t see how the AI images are more offensive or harmful than fanart which uses the actors depictions to do all sorts of things, stabbing, killing, kissing, screwing and everything and everyone in between. Or fan edits which use clever editing and overlay soundtracks with pointed lyrics which completely change the artistic intent of the actors /creatives who made the original in a particular way, say make two characters have a romantic chemistry that wasn’t there in the original? Or even the old photoshop manipulation stuff? I thought we’re ok with this in the fandom world, is this that different?

I’m not saying I like AI or you need to. I probably wont interact with it and try to avoid it personally wherever I can. But I do wonder if the arguments people are making against ROP AI edits are actually in good faith? Because then i question why other kinds of fan creations are acceptable?

[felassan]

A former BioWare Design Director has tweeted his take on the recent BioWare and SW:TOR news. tweet compilation, as it's interesting and illuminating insight:

"My take on the SWTOR/BioWare split For SWTOR: This is a Good Thing For BioWare: This is a Big Loss A thread:

My point of view is someone who worked for BioWare Austin on SWTOR from 2009 as an Assistant World Designer through 2022 as Design Director (with some Anthem, Shadow Realms, and <NDA> years sprinkled about).

BioWare Austin (BWA) was its own studio for many years, founded in order to make that game. MMO’s are expensive, y’all.

We didn’t really collaborate with BioWare Edmonton (BWE) on the dev side much, because there was no need to (with some exceptions – they had built the original on-rails space shooting component, for example).

As a business, in this model all revenue and expenses roll up into the greater whole (BioWare), which then roll into EA’s Group, and so on.

After many years, this model shifted and changed, for a large variety of reasons I won’t get into. BWA would no longer be a separate entity, but under the same core leadership as BWE – One BioWare (BW).

What this meant realistically was you had a boxed product business that had been tried and true for years, combined with a live service MMO business that wasn’t really understood by the boxed product folks. Arguably by EA either, to be fair.

You see, MMO’s can be fairly predictable if they run long enough. We knew the SWTOR business very well. We knew how to turn every dollar invested in the game into several more. SWTOR was (and continues to be) a very profitable business, with loads of heart behind it.

But an older game isn’t sexy. It’s not new. It doesn’t get marketing orgs excited or social media teams jazzed. It’s a ‘legacy game’, despite the mountains of income coming in that other franchises are built off of.

And you FELT it, as a member of the team. It’s a fantastic dev team, filled with incredible talent. How then, with such a close-knit team, did you always feel less-than?

Well, just take a look around. Look at BW’s social media posts and count the proportion of SWTOR game/fan/anything posts compared to ME or DA. Remember that BioWare 25th anniversary book? The beautiful 328 page recollection of BioWare’s history, and celebration of all franchises?

For a game like SWTOR that had been live already for 9 of those 25 years at the time of publication, how many pages, dear reader, do you think had any SWTOR imagery or content at all? Ten. Teams notice this. They feel it, and it feels like shit.

Does BW despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – they don’t understand it, and it was someone else’s game. Does EA despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – it’s a legacy live service, and again, was someone else’s game.

As a dev on SWTOR, you feel like your game is a burden to all of the layers above you, but you persist. You put so much heart and passion into the game, and you thrive on the fans and tremendous partnership with LucasFilm.

So to bring us back to current news, imagine a team excited about a game, with incredible plans, that have felt ‘less-than’ by their own studio and company for years, being unleashed.

Being part of an org that KNOWS the MMO business, and understands those player communities and the incredible stories and connections they form.

This feels like an exciting new chapter to me, and I’m optimistic about what this means for that team and the game. SWTOR is, to the best of my knowledge, the longest-running Star Wars anything, ever. It’s a special game and I’m so happy to see where the team takes it.

As far as BW, it would have certainly be in their best interest as a business to maximize exposure and support for SWTOR publicly over the years, since the SWTOR revenue has allowed for the…unusually long…dev cycles to continue for the last several games.

But now without SWTOR, there will be less places to hide heads, R&D, and time. You’ve got blockbuster single-player experiences hitting high Metacritic scores with…2-3 year dev cycles? And the BW pattern has been…double? Triple that?

I think it will be interesting to see how the EA/BW relationship continues to evolve in this new world. /end"

[source]

[duplicitywrites]

I only really read fanfics from fandoms that are either old as hell ( so a lot of the people writing and reading in it have been here a while ) or dead as hell ( which…yeah ) so when I saw posts here on tumblr about comments and fandom engagement decreasing as a whole I did agree because, yeah even in older fandoms there’s a decrease. But man. after almost five years of staving it off I dipped my toe into the marauders fandom and a) wow this thing is popular people are posting SO MANY FICS on a daily basis on ao3 and b) nobody is commenting. It’s so weird. The fic can be fantastic and there’ll be maybe 1 comment. You can see the fic is popular- there’s kudos and hits but like. No one is commenting. I’m regularly surprised by fics where I go to read the comments cause I like doing that and there’s…nothing???? Another thing I noticed, and this is probably only a marauders thing, is that most fics are wildly long. Regularly over a 100k. And they still don’t have as many comments as they should. I’m losing my mind

that is terrifying to hear not gonna lie 😭 i fear for what the world is becoming, where people only know how to be passive readers ("consumers") and do not know how to engage or interact with a community.

fandom is homogenising much in the way that irl media is. packaging itself for mass consumption, rehashing the same popular ideas that are considered "safe", to the point where anything else is either seen as bad, or not seen at all. and on top of that, caring more about quantity, posting as much as quickly as possible to gain "views", rather than aiming to create and curate work that is unique and specific to an audience.

fanfic has always been a labour of love both ways. writers who write what they love, and readers who read what they love, and a community bonding over that mutual affection. it is not a service, not for "consumption", not for profit. it is meant to be shared! i think it's absolutely bananas that we've reached a point where someone can post 100k and not get comments 😭

i really hope some of these people will reconsider the way they view fandom, and understand that when writers ask for comments they are not just asking for encouragement but also for connection 💕

[toh-tagteam-au]

Tag Team AU Synopsis – Really Small Problems + Understanding Willow

Synopsis Masterpost Link

Previous Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Next Part [Enchanting Grom Fright + Wing it Like Witches]

This is one of the big ones. The BIG ones. Big turning point episode here. All of these End Of Season 1 episodes are going to be like that. With a LOT of script screenshots.

Really Small Problems

I… didn’t have anything written for this episode, but I should mention that Tibbles hasn’t appeared in this AU because he’s actually profiting off of selling the Azura Books due to the Azura Incident and doesn’t need to do any more schemes. 

This episode wouldn’t have involved the carnival, but instead probably would have been a Willow-and-Amity-conflict centric episode and a Gus-and-Hunter friendship episode. Originally it was going to be a “Willow gets a crush on Hunter” episode that led into the pseudo-romance arc I’d been talking about for a while, but it never seemed right to me the more we saw canon Willow’s attitude towards canon Hunter in season 3. I still wanted elements of that though, since it’d be important for the Grom episode.

I’m also realizing now that I’m writing the whole synopsis that the Emerald Trio really doesn’t hang out very much in any of the episode descriptions, so I wanted to include a thing that was like “they hang out off-camera please believe me”.

Anyway, Hunter passes out at some point, which leads us into…

Understanding Willow

Which really should be called "Understanding Hunter" at this point.

The episode starts out with Hunter falling into a magical exhaustion, brought by him over-worrying about how to heal Belos. This would have assumedly been built up over the course of Really Small Problems, which I didn’t write, but somehow Amity, Willow, and Gus are there to bring him back to the Owl House. 

Amity and Willow volunteer to go into his mind and find out what is keeping him from waking up. When they’re sent in, they see that everything is extremely cluttered and all the trees are covered in notes. They hear muttering, and come across Inner Hunter, who is surrounded by paper and chalkboards. 

Hunter is surprised that they’re in there, especially when they say that he’s fallen into a magical exhaustion in the real world, and says that he feels completely fine and they can leave. Amity says that maybe the notes are what is messing with his head, and in the process of reaching out to touch them Hunter summons a wall of ice. He warns them not to touch anything – he’s almost at a breakthrough. 

Willow and Amity suggest that they help him out – the faster they figure out how to do the thing he’s researching, the sooner Hunter wakes up. Hunter agrees, and reveals he’s trying to heal someone’s curse. Not Eda’s – someone else’s.

They go through a research montage, failing multiple glyphs and exploding a few science flasks, etc, up until they start asking him questions about the curse.

Amity asks more pointed questions, making Hunter nervously ask what she’s getting at.

Hunter gets angry at the accusation, saying that this person isn’t doing it on purpose or faking it. Amity just says that it feels familiar. Hunter is generally pissed now, and tells them to get lost. Willow doesn’t stand for it, saying that he needs to wake up.

Amity figures this is enough, and burns all the notes and work. She says he’s stretching himself thin to do an impossible thing, and that sometimes things can’t be fixed. 

Hunter doesn’t like that. The mindscape warps slightly as he turns into a goopy version of Hunter, Belos eyes and all (something something turning into the thing that scares you the most as a defense mechanism), and he starts attacking them. They hide in one of his memories to escape. 

The memory they enter is in his room in the Emperor’s Castle. They hear a younger Hunter talking to someone on a bed.

Luz is revealed, as well as her humanity AND the fact that Hunter is the other Golden Guard. They hear the Inner Hunter coming (he warps the memories with mud as he goes through them), so they escape into a different memory, this time of the fight Hunter and Luz have before they start having a better relationship (it’s the same one in the Pre-Show events post)

They leave the memory when the coast is clear. Amity mentions that when Hunter told her to stop trying to protect the person she was hurting, back in Covention, he must have been speaking from experience. Willow asks if Amity was also speaking from her experience with their friendship when she told Inner Hunter that sometimes things can’t be fixed, and Amity says yes. 

They’re interrupted by Hunter, who shows up to kill them, when Amity tells him to stop because he’ll destroy his memories if he’s not careful. She burns the notes on another tree, revealing the memory there of Luz and him learning the light glyph.

Willow and Amity get out of the mindscape. Hunter wakes up, to the relief of King and Eda. 

He drags Willow, Amity, and Gus away to talk privately, and tells them the truth about being the Golden Guard. He assumes the worst, but Willow proves him wrong, saying that Hunter comes before his mask. Willow blushes here a bit.

Privately to Willow and Amity, he also expresses worry that he inadvertently outed his sister to them, and tells them not to tell anyone or her – it’s an important secret to her, and she might freak out if she finds out anyone knows. Amity doesn’t vibe with that, but agrees.

Previous Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Next Part [Enchanting Grom Fright + Wing it Like Witches]

Synopsis Masterpost Link

[ask-postcrash-curly]

Being realistic and having in count the mental situation and the food and oxigen left in the ship... The prospects of survival are low for anyone that doesn't get inside a cryopod. If they don't die from the food or oxygen, there is a big chance they go insane (Low-key Jimmy already is going down that path)

The good thing is that going inside a cryopod is a secure survival rate. This ships is transporting cargo, not extremely valueble but is still the profits of some company. Once the date of delivery arrives and the Tulpar is not there, they are gonna be mad and want pony express to explain where is their product.

So even if they wish they could just shove it under the rough, unless pony express wants to lose more money in paying damages to the company that contract them, they HAVE to search for the Tulpar. They are probably gonna do it just for the cargo and see if there is something that can save heir corporate butt cheeks, but they are still gonna search for you all.

So even in the scenario of none surviving, at least they are gonna find the ship and be able to bring some closure to everyone's family and friends. (And hopefully drag pony Express down even more since this incident would make noticeable all the fucked up things Pony express puts their worked through.)

There is no justice for what Jimmy did, but at least is gonna be justice for Pony Express making even more difficult to help you and Anya do something about Jimmy. To Daisuke being brought here last minute as not accomodations for him. For all of you getting fired by fax. To all those years with their messed up rules.

There is gonna be some justice at least.

Justice won’t change anything. Pony Express is already going down the drain. I don’t want my crew’s deaths to serve as the last nail in the coffin. Hell, searching for us might be more expensive than coughing up the compensation.

I’m sorry. You’re trying to help. I shouldn’t be dismissive.

The cryopods... I’ve heard the crew talking about Utility being foamed up. They could be damaged, even destroyed, or completely trapped under the foam. If the crew can cut them all out without killing us and Swansea can fix them up, that’s four. One for each of them.

It’s no surprise, yeah? A captain should go down with his ship. From the start, I’ve known what would happen if we needed the pods. It’s okay. …Well, no, it isn’t. They didn’t tell me to stay behind in case of emergency, you know? (Then they’d have to bump up my risk pay. Hah.) A different crew could have broken into violence over who would be left behind. And we really shouldn’t have been in this scenario at all! There should have been five!

Sorry. Still pisses me off. Anyway, what was I saying? Right. Four pods, one for each of them. The captain goes down with the ship. I’m the most logical to leave behind, too— I have the highest chance of dying in stasis. Plus they think I tried to kill them and myself, so I’m not exactly number one on the rescue list. Maybe if they knew the truth about the crash, but… I can’t go there.

There’s one saving grace for me. I’m not all that big these days. Maybe I could squeeze into someone else’s pod. Two for the price of one. They’d have to decide I was worth the risk of making the pod work improperly, though…

Enough hypotheticals. We could be found by a passing ship any day. We’ll either be rescued or we won’t. End of story.

[alittlefrenchtree]

I obviously don't think he has to be online 24/7 so as not to be forgotten, it doesn't make sense and his job isn't even one that requires this of him. However, I think that his agent and his team are doing a poor job and should do much more. They didn't profit in the slightest by taking advantage of the hype that rwrb would bring.

I know the strike wasn't expected, but Nicholas for example was able to capitalize on the popularity due to the film with two projects he's promoting now that he's made post rwrb and his name is everywhere thanks to it. They should have done something similar too, he should be super busy by now thanks to the popularity of that movie and maybe for me it's more important what he does than how he uses social media (no hate, I just think his team should do more better)

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to post and answer your ask. There is something quite bizarre about posting something I disagree with entirely on my blog. But I’m still going to try if I can manage to answer this clearly and quickly (spoiler: it’s not quick) and if I like my answer enough. If you’re reading this, I guess I’ve managed to do it somehow.

I don’t know if you know, but people have been coming to my inbox to talk about the bad job agent and PR team were doing since 2019 or 2020. Do you know who they were talking about back then? Timothée Chalamet. Since the guy is having a pretty decent career so far, I'm guessing wasn't so bad after all. So even if I’m not comparing Taylor to Timothée, because no one can be compared to Timothée right now, you’ll understand that I’ve already learned that they aren’t many experts around here. But the thing that came off all of the talks back then is: you might not like what you see (or don’t see) but it doesn’t mean they’re doing a bad job. 

Secondly, there is still no point of comparing one people to another or to ask of someone to be more like someone else or do the same kind of things as someone else. Nick and Taylor are different people, at different stages of their careers, with different careers and backgrounds, and certainly with different aspirations and needs so wishing the people around them would have done "something similar" is a bit of a non sense for me. They’re doing the same job and worked on the same movie but it doesn’t mean they should follow similar path. To carry on with the Chalamet example, I don’t see people going around blaming Calah Lane for not being Timothée Chalamet, Hugh Grant or Olivia Colman yet after the success of Wonka. It doesn't make sense.

Thirdly, you got some your dates wrong. Nick is actually capitalizing on projects he did before rwrb right now. To be fair, he’s probably more capitalizing on freaking Cinderella than anything else at the moment. He does that beautifully but it’s really something he’s been building up from way longer than the last 7 months or so. And yes, Starz was probably delighted to see his popularity explode during the summer with RWRB and Bottoms but it means they got a few more bucks for promotion and a few more interviews requests. It didn't give the actual job to Nick. And well, all respect to Nick but I’m pretty sure Anne Hathaway and Harry Styles would have make all the buzz around pre-premiere The Idea of You all by themselves. Nick did bring most of the enthusiastic cheerleaders to the premiere but his impact on the movie and how much he can capitalize will come after the release of the said thing. For now, the project and the lead are bigger than him.

I know some people will only read half of my words but I’m obviously not diminishing any of Nick’s work or talent. He’s very talented and is doing amazingly and I’m both very happy and proud to see him shine but some of the things I read about him are clearly lacking of perspective in the grand scheme of things.

So far, post-RWRB actually brought very similar things to Taylor and Nick actually: invitations to a shit loads of fancy parties and both apparently working on unknown projects we know nothing about. (And delicate talks about a potential sequel).

People also needs to understand that Taylor’s career in movies has started in 2020. He’s a freaking baby. And since covid killed most of the impact TBK could have had and the his sister died of cancer and then the strikes happened, half of the years since 2020 doesn't really count. Thinking where he is now isn’t already huge giving the circumstances (and everything else we’ve already talked about here) is madness. And we actually don't know what his team is doing right now. Might be a poor job. Might be ok. I have no clue.

God I hate what you made me do. I might regret answering it for all the people who will read this and find nothing better to write that something like "there is this Tumblr blog saying Nick owes all of his success to Camila Cabello and Harry Styles and that he did nothing compared to TZP, imagine the delulu 💀" but yeah.

TLDR; (not specifically for you, Nonny. Just some general thoughts with way less words)

Stop comparing artists. Stop comparing people all together.

Stop asking middle schooler to be high schooler.

Stop thinking high schooler is worth more than the middle schooler because they’re in high school. They’ve been doing that student thing for way longer, it’s normal.

Stop thinking you’re the only target audience of PR work. You’re already obsessed, they doesn’t need to get you on board.

Stop thinking movies are made from scratch to finish in 5 months. Scripts go around for years. People are casted, then leave projects because pre-production takes forever, because there isn’t enough money and then other people are casted and pre-production starts again, and things get delayed and everything takes a freaking long time (and even more luck) to actually happen.

Having too much expectations will kill the fun eventually. Wait for things to happen. Go play video games or something in the meantime. I don’t know.

(I’m not sure what I’ll do with the follow up of this conversation. I’ll read everything but I might not answer to most. I’m not sure).

And like previous ask, sorry if it came out harsher that it should have been. No harm intended 🙏

[sewmice]

Thanks for the reblog, I just hope people can clear this and come away still playing… this event is enough to make anyone want to scream into the abyss. I’m almost impressed at the thought process behind this design, no wonder Broccoli changed from Shining Live, this is so much more profitable… for them.

This event being...something. The previous ones all having issues. And up until this huge login bonus, rewards just not being enough for pulls has been not a great start for the game. And with the player base, and hell just Utapri fanbase, just being lower than back when Shining Live started, it makes a mistake way more likely to ruin the game's chance at thriving. Also having a harsher event after the Session Lives and Tokiya's were pretty nice is....rough. And definitely might run people off who are already getting annoyed with the other issues.

Granted, the fanbase is still kicking pretty well, more so in Japan. The whales are still whaling. Tickets are still a fight. But like...we know it's gone down.

The move away from Shining Live is obviously more complicated than Broccoli wanting more money. The game was getting stagnant. It was developed by KLab, who was well moving away from rhythm games and have their own issues. The player base was declining. The spark was gone. I kinda wish Broccoli had leaned more into what made SL great when they took over, but the changing of games was kinda necessary. And it got Heavens fans their boys. Adding them to SL would have required heavy changes. Easier to start from scratch.

I do want to point out what has been great about Live Emotion so far! Reasons why we should stay encouraged and hope Broccoli keeps making good changes (because they have! We just had a qol update! They're giving us the 5000 login bonus too!) And this post is gonna get long lol

The boys in SL....got bland? They were only their idol sides, because even the backstage stuff was on camera. We stopped really seeing their depth and personalities, and that's the whole point of Utapri! To see them and work with them behind the screen! The idol stuff was supposed to be secondary! But since season 4 ended, all we've had is SL, movies, and other side projects that are JUST their idol side (aside from the Starish OVA).

But Live Emotion has us as Haruka again! We're by their side when they're actually being themselves! We get to romance them again! We're seeing Utapri as it was again! And as someone who has been here since 2012, god it feels so nice?? Like old times?

We're acknowledging and even having other characters in the stories. Both presidents have already shown up! And while no one else aside from them is listed in the voice cast yet, surely others will show soon? At least Ringo and Ryuuya. (they should've been in Starish's chapter at the school but whatever) Fucking Rodriguez has a mention in the event?? Like, the world is alive again! It's not just our 11 to 18 main boys (depending on content)

Old content and outfits are being used which will help with the concept fatigue SL had. And also it's just nice to see really good old designs not just be forgotten! I'm not a huge fan as to how Ultra Blast is being handled. It feels weird to have some people get SRs. In the same way I didn't like Oodorokiman and Shining Romance/Force Live being mixed SRs and URs. But I've seen other people upset and in the same way SL stopped doing that, hopefully Live Emotion will too.

And again Broccoli has been listening to feedback and making changes. There's still...a lot of work to do. But SL also made a lot of changes over time. So hopefully they keep listening and things get better. Because there's parts of this game worth protecting and wanting to continue. I loved how SL did stuff too. I wish we had everything about how SL did stuff with gachas and event mechanics, but the story and character quality of Live Emotion. We just gotta...push Broccoli in that direction.

I really hope the event doesn't scare people off! We're on 2 full months of the game. The first of this event type. Stuff can still change!!!

[sharpth1ng]

hi! so i stumbled across a post you made about how a few people have printed your fanfic (via sites like epubli and probably lulu, that's a popular one) which is awesome in theory! but also very illegal :( any money being profited over a fanfic (when names, references, etc to the original source material aren't changed) breaches copyright using the intellectual property of someone else and could get you, the author, in trouble.

of course a lot of people do it regardless, because they don't realise that it's a crime, but i just wanted to make sure you were aware! a lot of people do it without getting caught, but the risk is always there and the repercussions can be hefty.

you are allowed to print and bind a fan fiction for yourself or have someone do it for you as long as you don’t pay them to do it. its the exchange of money that is a big no-no. i just wanted to make sure your readers were aware! :)

if you still want to have it printed by one of these companies regardless i'd say just don't post about it and be careful showing people 😅 goes for any and all fanfictions

i hope this didn't come off as rude i mean no harm i just thought people might be ill-informed ❤️ i love your work

I am aware of the copyright law and I have made no profit off of my work, people who have printed it did not pay me anything for it.

My understanding is that is that it’s legal for people to print fanfics for their personal private use, it’s only illegal for me to profit off and distribute it, which I do not do. I’ve made no profit off of my fanfiction, which is the illegal part as far as I’m aware.

It’s possible I’m wrong about this as this kind of law has a lot of grey area. But yeah to be clear I am not selling printed copies of my work, I don’t do fanfic commissions, and the shirts I sell are all my own original artwork, I’ve tried to be pretty careful about that kind of stuff.

[casteliacityramen]

Previously...

Without waiting for a response, Jack sheepishly places the tip jar on the counter and steps back to Ayumi’s side. He jams his hands in his hoodie pocket, only glancing upwards to see Rio eyeing the jar without interacting with it.

“I would've gotten here sooner if I didn't have to find someone to cover my shift.” Ayumi grimaces.

“I’m sure he's given you a lot of trouble. He’s at that age where he thinks that money solves everything.”

A cold chill runs down Jack’s spine. He knows better than to talk back now, of all times, so he turns to leave. He glances one more time back at the stand.

Ayumi leans forward, adjusting so that she could fit her large frame under the curtains to hear more, but Rio kept it at that. She seemed more interested shoving her paw into the ice, nursing the burn she got earlier.

“It took him long enough to open this place again.”

“Did it, now?” Rio asks, half paying attention. Her expression softening as she feels the ice work its magic.

“You… you good?”

“I’m fine, just an accident,” Rio mutters, taking her paw out of the ice. At the speed she did so, she seems more embarrassed about showing off that she was hurt more than the actual injury, herself. 

“I’m gonna close the shop. We got a good portion of our profits back from that jar so we should be done for the day”

“Hey, it looks like ya still got a bunch of stuff left. Lemme give you a hand.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary-”

“You guys just came back in business, I ain’t about to let you guys close again if I can help it.”

Rio opens her mouth to object, but Ayumi was already up and around to the back of the stand.

“I’m gonna make up for my son giving y’all a hard time. I got nothin’ else to do today, anyway!” Ayumi spots something behind the counter. The stand’s wood and metal humming from the gravelly texture of her laugh.

Ayumi has joined the shift! She's temporarily available for asks and orders! Oh, and Rio is there, too.

[girldragongizzard]

Chapter 11: Bankruptcy

So. Daniel Säure owns the majority of Morning Glory Corporation. And by extension, the majority of all the businesses that Morning Glory owns.

But unlike the C.E.O. of Morning Glory, he’s allowed himself to become the face of the company. The president.

In the United States, corporations have this thing called fiduciary responsibility toward their stakeholders. Which means that they have to, above all else, make profits for their stakeholders’ investments. The corporation literally, legally owes them returns.

There are a number of things those stakeholders can do if the company fails to fulfill its duties.

And this is one of the biggest reasons why business in the U.S. is so fucked up. Or so I’m told by certain regulars of the coffee shop.

I’ve tried looking it up, but it’s just not my special interest. I have trouble focusing on and understanding the articles on the subject.

But it seems to be a good explanation for what’s happening.

Because, things happen to the stocks of a company when its public facing leader is seen terrorizing an entire city and threatening to crush sections of it with his enormous, terrifying bulk. His window shattering supersonic screams in the middle of the night didn’t seem to help his case much, either.

And it wasn’t just that one night that it happened.

I think we did manage to make him desperately angry. Insulted. Not me. We. I set out to do it, but wow has everyone else really done the work.

And as his own stocks start plummeting, and he’s seeing what he’s doing to himself, he’s lashed out more wildly.

Last night, we got to see what the gaming nerds call his breath weapon. There really isn’t a better term for it.

To make some kind of a point, around midnight, after strafing my building again, and setting off another one of Chapman’s traps, he hit the bay with a beam of ultraviolet light. It created a huge plume of scalding steam, and probably wasn’t great for life in the bay.

Word is, it blinded a bunch of people, and everyone is talking class action lawsuit or even criminal charges. Though no one knows how to bring him to court.

Säure has become a dangerous dragon.

He’s a whole different class of monster, and he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

At some point, he’s going to aim that beam of deadly light at the city itself.

But, for some reason, so far, he hasn’t.

Still, someone’s going to have to do something about it.

But, as a side effect, people are starting to rally around the idea that we neighborhood dragons are preferable in comparison. Maybe even beneficial, and with the hope we can protect the city.

I don’t know about that anymore. But it is a nice thing to hear every now and then.

—

“Nah,” Rhoda says. “That ‘breath weapon’ of his is bullshit.”

It’s late Sunday morning, the 29th of September.

We’re having mimosas and ham and egg somethings at the Sanctum, a weird hybrid Perisian/New Orleans psuedo-Catholic themed goth gay club on Wallace and Halley, the actual center of my territory. They’re open for gay brunch every Sunday, with half off mimosas if you flash them your gay card. A card that they give to anyone who asks for it. There’s no gatekeeping, it’s just a promotional joke and a bit of a dare.

And by “we”, I mean Nathan, Kimberly, Chapman, Rhoda, and I. 

Ptarmigan is missing. None of us have seen her since the night she last spoke to Rhoda. And I wonder if she’s doing something with Wentin, because I haven’t heard from it, either.

The others of my family are off doing their own things. We’re just who had the time and energy to meet here.

“Well,” Nathan says. “Terrifying deadly bullshit he could use to fry us all any time he wants.”

“Nope,” Rhoda says, bringing her mimosa to her lips. “Just bullshit. And I’m having none of it.”

I look directly at her and she meets both my eyes and keeps drinking, a smirk on her lips.

Chapman notices this, I can see, but doesn’t say anything.

“I’d feel better if he wasn’t out there,” Nathan says. “But, at least, we’re not alone in that.”

I have noticed, the general tension in Fairport now feels a lot like the later Cold War fear of nuclear holocaust that was instilled in me as a child by my family.

I know a lot of people didn’t experience it, but it was drilled into me. I was reminded time and again that my parents did the whole duck and cover thing, and then they’d talk about all the times the world came to the brink of self destruction. And, when I looked into it myself, later, when I had the internet and the resources and will to do so, I found they weren’t lying. They’d just underestimated the danger.

This feels like that.

But people go about their business and are mostly cheerful to each other, at least superficially, as is the habit of the typical Pacific Northwesterner.

I think Rhoda is the most relaxed of anyone in the county, and I might be the second most relaxed. And, looking at Chapman now, I may have found the third.

Unless Ptarmigan is still in the county, then all bets are off.

“Drink your mimosa, Nathan,” Kimberly says. “You need your vitamins, old man.”

“Heel,” Nathan says to her through a smirk, and then looks away and drinks his mimosa.

Kimberly throws a balled up napkin at him.

“Bad girl.”

“Woof.”

Chapman really does want to say something though, and chooses, “What did Ptarmigan say when she last saw you?”

“Oh, nothin’,” Rhoda says and pops a ham and egg bite into her mouth.

I tilt my head at Chapman and then decide to work on a promise I’d made over a month ago.

I tap my tablet several times in quick succession and then hit talk, “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.”

I listen to it carefully and then hit it again.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit,” my tablet says.

Then I look at Chapman and say, “Shit.” In my voice.

“That’s some good shit,” Kimberly says, and Nathan throws the rolled up napkin back at her.

Chapman gives me a look and says, “I don’t think that’s what she said.”

I bob my head and type, “She didn’t. She did say, ‘Holy Jesus fuck, Chapman.’”

“What? Why?”

“Your trap,” I respond.

“OK, that’s fair.”

Rhoda sighs, “Chapman.”

“Yes?” the Physicist asks.

“You’re bullshit, too,” Rhoda says. “And so is Ptarmigan.” Then she points. “But because Meg likes you, I’m gonna tolerate you. In fact, you and Meg can keep working on Säure, just so long as Meg doesn’t get hurt.”

Chapman furrows hir brows in confusion, and Kimberly catches on that something’s happening.

“Rhoda? What’s up?” Kimberly asks.

Rhoda chuckles and smirks and sips her drink.

Chapman starts to look downright unsettled, and asks, “May I? Would anyone object if I scanned the general situation in Fairport right now?”

A month ago, sie wouldn’t have said anything so blatant out in the open. Things have seriously changed. Sie has decided hir vow is defunct.

“As long as it doesn’t interrupt me or my thoughts, go ahead,” Rhoda says. “Actually. I’m very curious about the results, so please tell me.”

I glance back and forth between them. It feels a little bit like a showdown.

“OK,” Chapman says and looks at Rhoda briefly through hir brow before closing hir eyes and touching scan tattoos together.

There’s hir shift. It’s a big one, too. I feel it from tip of my snout to end of my tail. And, once again, it comes from the center of Chapman’s chest.

And then Chapman opens hir eyes and looks at Rhoda with new consideration, blinking hir eyes a few times.

“Yes?” Rhoda says.

“You’re a Bellwether,” sie says.

“What does that mean?” Rhoda prompts hir.

“Well,” Chapman says, glancing at each of the rest of us. “In the sense that I use the word, not really its original meaning, everything chaotic, everything that’s fibrillating around you within a certain radius, is being influenced by you specifically. You’re like the eye of the storm. It’s… impressive? Really dangerous if you want it to be.”

“Hm.”

“What?” Kimberly asks.

“What’s going on?” Nathan asks, finally catching up to the conversation.

“I don’t know what has happened,” Chapman says. “I can probably guess, but I didn’t see it. All I’m seeing is what’s happening now. But, for the moment, Nathan, we’re safe because Rhoda wants to be safe. And if there were a flock of birds flying by right now, she could probably wave her hand and they’d change direction.”

“Hm,” Rhoda makes that noise again. It’s sort of a cross between a hum, a grunt, a laugh, and a sob. Quiet, but it jerks her body.

I lean over and bump her shoulder softly with my brow. It’s a thing I’ve started doing in the past couple of days. She seems to appreciate it. Sometimes she’ll reach up and put her hand on my nose or the back of my skull for a moment. Which usually makes me want to push into her hand a little harder.

This time she just says, “Thank you, Meg.”

“So, are you saying that she’s keeping Säure from nuking us somehow?” Nathan asks.

“Very possibly,” Chapman says. “Along with a whole bunch of other consequences.”

“Well, I mean, I guess that’s a relief,” Nathan says. “Thank you, Rhoda. If you’re doing that.”

“I have to say,” Rhoda says. “I’m doing it for me, if I’m doing it at all. But you are absolutely welcome. Everyone should get to be safe.”

“What’s the radius?” Kimberly asks.

Chapman purses hir lips and looks around, squinting at the sky, then says, “That’s fuzzy. I think it depends on just what you’re talking about. For instance, obviously Säure was able to fry the bay.”

“And that was bullshit, and he won’t be doing that again,” Rhoda says.

“And he won’t be doing that again,” Chapman agrees.

“How long is it going to last?” Kimberly puts her mimosa down on the table and turns to look more fully at Chapman.

Chapman shrugs and says, “I haven’t seen this before. I can only tell you what it is from my own perspective as the Physicist. I’m sure Ptarmigan has other words for it. So, there’s no precedent in the entire history of the Earth. Which isn’t a surprise, because we’ve been feeling that way about the dracomorphosis. But I think I can hazard a guess by the rate of decay I saw.”

“Yeah?”

“Unless something else happens to change it all,” Chapman says. “Rhoda’s remaining lifetime. Which, if she decides that her own death is bullshit, I’m guessing could be quite a while.”

“Woah.”

“All I want is to live in a world that makes sense to me,” Rhoda says. It’s been a morning refrain for her for the past few days.

“And dragons make sense?” Nathan asks as gently as he can.

“I think I want them to,” Rhoda says. “But I don’t know that I have a say in that matter. I don’t know about any of this. But I’ll take it if it’s working.”

I bonk her shoulder again, and she pats my nose.

Then I grab and swallow a ham and egg bite. Then I drink from my bowl of mimosa that’s at my feet. The others went in on getting that for me, since I’ve spent so much of my paltry income this month.

Oh, and I did get my card back from Megan the server.

The bartender here seemed absolutely tickled to serve me a salad bowl of orange juice and alcohol. He seemed to need something to be tickled about, too. The municipal worry has affected him as much as anyone else.

I reach up to my tablet again and say, “Something need done about Säure, tho. Scaring people. Could hurt others elsewhere.”

“Can he?” Kimberly asks.

Chapman shrugs and looks at Rhoda.

“Don’t look at me, spirit. This is all your magic,” Rhoda says.

“It really isn’t,” Chapman says. “It’s currently yours. But I can help you figure it out.”

“Nuh-uh. I don’t want that responsibility,” Rhoda says. “I want to live my life. And with other people who want to live theirs. But like I said. You and Meg can work on Säure, so long as she keeps coming home.”

Chapman and I look at each other.

“How can I help?” Kimberly asks.

“Who, girl. Down,” Nathan says, eyes a little wide.

Kimberly throws the balled up napkin back at him without looking his way.

Chapman looks at her and considers the question, “Well, I think we’ve all been doing pretty well by Meg and Rhoda here already. We’ve survived the chaos of the first month of dracomorphosis, and we’ve survived the tantrums of the local billionaire. I think we start by continuing to do that.”

“Yeah?”

“But, if you want, and you have the time, you can help me research some things,” Chapman says. “Do you like digging around in the library and making the internet give you treats?”

Kimberly squints in disbelief and opens her mouth part way before smirking and laughing and saying, “Yeah. OK. I’m your girl for that.”

“Good girl,” Nathan says.

“Please stop,” Kimberly tells him.

“Sorry. I will,” he tilts his head toward her. Then he smirks impishly and says, “It’s your lead now.”

“Look,” she says to him. “The day I get to be a real live werepoodle, I’m going to hump your leg in public.”

“Ok. Uncle. Uncle for you. I’m done. Seriously,” he says.

“Thank you.”

“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?” he asks.

“Not without your consent,” she shoots back.

He just nods, and she smiles briefly at him.

Coworkers.

This makes me think of another thing, so I type one word, “Molly.”

“Huh?” Rhoda perks up a bit, and looks halfway my direction.

“How can I make sure Molly is OK? Ethically,” I ask with more care.

“Who’s Molly?” Kimberly asks.

“Oh,” Rhoda says, leaning onto the table. “Hm.” She looks at me, then at the others. “She’s a girl who met Meghan the first time she was shedding. Only, Meg got the impression that Molly was her chosen name, and that she might also be a dragon. Or, Molly said she wished she was like Meg.”

I bow my head briefly.

“How old is she?” Nathan asks, leaning forward in interest himself.

Rhoda looks at me.

“Ten or twelve. Don’t know,” I respond.

“Did you meet her parents?” he asks.

“No,” I say.

“That’s tricky,” he says. “For your legal safety, you should stay away. She’s not your responsibility, and her parents could get protective quick.”

“It really sucks,” Kimberly says. “But, yeah. Even if we were just talking about being trans, between you and her. The best thing you can do is do social work and activism and help the rest of us try to make the world better for her. But you’ve gotta look out for yourself, or you can’t do that. This world is a minefield.”

“Add in the dragon thing,” Nathan says, “and who knows how it’ll go?”

“I may have made Meghan promise me something,” Rhoda says.

“Yeah?” Nathan prompts her.

“To make sure Molly gets what she needs,” she replies. “I was distressed and in my way about my own losses. And my beef with the universe is only growing, too, but that’s between me and it now. But, I think I’d ask it again, even now. I know it’s a tall order and a tough one. But if her parents can’t accept her being trans or being a dragon, that needs to change. For the sake of her life.”

“Can you make that change?” Kimberly asks.

Rhoda shrugs and shakes her head. “I can say what I want, but I can’t make it happen.” Then she spears me with a squinty look from her sparkling eyes, and says, “She’s queen, not me.”

I bonk my head against the table, jostling everyone’s drinks but not quite spilling them.

—

If Säure and Morning Glory’s spiral continues as it is, there could be bankruptcy in their future. Either his or the company’s, or both.

Usually, on paper, that would seem unlikely. Säure’s base of wealth, invested in Pacific Northwest land holdings as it is, should be pretty robust.

But even that corner of the stock market is still a complex system and in a constant state of chaos.

And Säure’s feeling like he’s between a rock and a hard place. Being a building sized dragon is really inconvenient for him and his business. And that alone is such a challenge to keeping things stable, apparently.

But it looks like he’s also got the attention of the Bellwether of the dracomorphosis, and he lives a bit too close to her, too.

And she wants to see him go down.

So, bankruptcy for a billionaire is probably a little different than it is for a commoner, one of us plebes. But, generally, your remaining assets get divided up by the court to pay off your debts and then you are declared free of them. You’re supposed to end up free of both assets and debts, so you can start again.

So, the question we’re all faced with now is, what does a giant UV laser breathing dragon do when he’s no longer hamstrung by his own hoard?

And can the Bellwether’s influence still affect him at that point, when he’s free of some of the bigger complex systems that currently grip him?

Neither Chapman nor Rhoda seem certain of that.

And there’s sort of a countdown to that point.

A fuzzy countdown of indeterminate time.

Some of us wonder if Rhoda could just end Säure somehow, maybe by waving her hand and causing the storm around her to swallow him up in some way. Whatever that might mean.

But she just doesn’t want to do it.

Maybe she doesn’t want to prove to herself that she has that much power. Maybe she doesn’t want to become that kind of being. And I, for one, can absolutely respect that.

So, that leaves Chapman and I, and the rest of us, floundering about trying to think of something else.

And so, one day, after a short time of enjoying my new routines and respite in Rhoda’s apartment, I ask Chapman about that collaborative project Ptarmigan had proposed.

Maybe not the specific project, but the idea of doing a collaboration with her at all.

What could they do if they worked on something together that was big?

Could they focus it on Säure?

We’re sitting outside the coffee shop, and when I ask my question, Chapman stares at me for a long time afterward without saying anything.