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#and we know they will not keep the monthly payment the same if we keep leaving here giving that they've increased the amount twice already
caffichai · 4 months
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Food Bank Fundraiser
Hi everyone!
First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone who's been leaving such nice tags/comments on stuff I've posted! It's been really encouraging (o^▽^o)
Anyway, I think we all know it's very dark days on the economic front for many of us. So as such, I'd like to help raise some funds for Food Banks Canada! In exchange for you making a donation to the food bank, I will draw a character suggestion!
I know this is not really the sort of thing I normally do or post here but... many folks are struggling to put food on the table right now, and the food bank is a source of support for many and provides an absolute necessity. I've seen many people struggling in my own city, and food security has become an even bigger issue than it already was in the last couple of years with the food bank struggling to keep up with demand. Of course, food security is an issue across the whole country that's putting a huge strain on food banks, with nearly 5% of the entire population making use of food banks monthly, and 23% of the population reporting food insecurity (CBC, 2024; Global News, 2024). Unsurprisingly, those who are already most disadvantaged suffer the effects of food scarcity even more (Statistics Canada, 2023). To make matters more desperate, Canada's food bank system is on the brink of collapse (CTV News, 2024).
I know this isn't going to something big enough to change the world or anything, but being able to make even a small impact for individual people is important too!
✨Incentives✨
Of course, I'm sure people aren't just in it for a reward, but rewards make things all the sweeter, right?
For those who want to contribute, I'll take a character suggestion and add it to a poll (depending on the number of contributors, it may be split up into multiple polls), and then I'll draw as many as I can from top to bottom ranking! If you contribute, please send me a DM with your donation receipt and your character idea! They won't necessarily all be drawn in the same style, and they'll be done according to how much time I've got. (I know that commissions are probably the biggest incentive, but realistically, I struggle to get them done quickly and they're probably not that affordable to everyone)
If you prefer SFW or NSFW, you can let me know (But NSFW will be posted to Cohost). If you make a bigger contribution, I'll reach out to you and ask if you wanna see more specifics/details in your piece. How's that for sweetening the pie? :3
For those who can't make a donation (which is completely understandable), simply spreading the post is also helpful, and I appreciate that greatly as well!
Don't forget that giving a donation allows you to get a tax break based on the amount donated as well!
Alternatives?
If you'd rather donate to your own local food bank, that's great too! You can DM me and send me a pic of your receipt and I'll still add your suggestion to the poll.
If you REALLY want a commission, you can also DM me and I'll do my best to fulfil it! I won't be taking commissions for this till/if there's at least a couple of items on the poll though. The proceeds will go to my own local food bank. The commission will be done later though, and may take some time to fulfil. I take payment only after starting.
When do we start??
I guess once there's a good number of poll options? I have no idea how long that will be, but rest assured I'll keep you updated!
Where do we contribute?
You can make your donation to Food Banks Canada! They really need it!
Alternatively, you can make a donation to your local food bank or equivalent charity.
Other Questions?
Feel free to send me a message or an ask! I'll get back to you ASAP. If I need to include more details or clarify something, let me know! It's my first time doing this!
TL;DR
I want to help raise money for food banks! Anyone who contributes to Food Banks Canada (or donates to their own local food bank or equivalent charity) can DM me with their receipt and give a character to add to the poll. Poll characters will be drawn in order of their ranking, as many as I can manage, over as long a period of time as I can manage!
No pressure to donate of course, I just figured this would be a fun way of raising a bit of money to help out, and allow us to donate more than what I personally can
Current Contributor Count: 13
Suggested Characters:
Imagine your beloved, obscure or popular character here on this poll list! Oooooooh, how lucrative :3
Total funds raised:
780.36$!!!
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toms-cherry-trees · 11 months
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Don't Hold My Hand (I'll Break Your Heart) || Tommy Shelby x Fem OC ~ Ch. 2
Summary: A doctor's visit changes Charlotte's perspective of things, and she begins to worry about her patient
Word Count: 4k
Warnings: Talks of medical injury, talks of cuts and headwounds, talk of blood and medical procedures. No beta readig we die like John
Author's note: Once more sorry for the delay but I am writing so many WIPS at the same time things slip through the cracks, but I am really hyped for all the things I have planned
Requested taglist: @call-sign-shark @zablife
《 PREV PART -  NEXT PART 》
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Steam rose from the kettle’s spout, the high pitched whistle indicating the water had boiled. The teapot had been filled with fragrant tea leaves and two slices of lemon. Sugar and milk side by side in the tray, alongside a plate with homemade biscuits and a platter of elegant tea sandwiches. Two white teacups with golden rims and matching saucers, one of them prefilled with a shot of white rum. Linen napkins embroidered with an S, silverware from Italy and a touch of affection from the hands that prepared the tray.
Charlotte picked it up carefully, carrying it close to her body to bear the weight easier as she took it to Thomas’ rooms, where he currently sat with his main physician for his monthly evaluation. Doctor Foster rarely had anything new to say or any glimmer of hope to offer them; he only came the first week of every month to tell them what they already knew and collect his payment. One of the very few visitors whom Thomas didn’t welcome with a scowl, perhaps because he secretly harboured the hope of one day getting the words that he wanted from the old man.
The scent of fresh flowers accompanied Charlotte as she walked to the second floor. Ever since that conversation with Mrs. Gray, she had redoubled her efforts to brighten up Thomas’ life. Vases with freshly picked flowers decorated various surfaces of the rooms, the bouquets swapped as soon as the first petals began to wither and fall. Every morning she drew back the curtains and opened the windows, to allow sunlight and fresh air inside. She encouraged him to rise from bed at appropriate times, not allowing him to linger between the sheets for days on end. Books, board and card games and even a typewriter had been brought up, in hopes of encouraging him to find anything to keep his mind and day occupied. She hadn’t managed to do something about his hair and beard yet, but she would soon get there. 
She pushed the double doors open with her shoulder, the teacups tinkling in their saucers and the tea sloshing slightly. When the doctor came around, he and Thomas met alone behind closed doors, not even his aunt allowed in, although she always received a briefing before handing in the money envelope. Whether the man spoke or not the truth of those sessions to her, one couldn’t know.
Lottie cleared her throat, barely enough of a sound to alert them of her presence as she placed the tea tray on a low table. She tried her hardest not to snoop, but curiosity can be a wild and untameable thing. She looked through her eyelashes towards the bed where Thomas lay, stripped down to his underwear. The doctor held Thomas’ foot in his hand and urged him to push against it as hard as he could. She noticed his hand fisted on the sheets, teeth gritted as he put all his efforts on heeding the simple command. As Thomas looked down at the doctor, his gaze crossed with Charlotte’s. The blue melted to pure ice, and he grabbed the closest thing he had at hand to toss towards her, which happened to be a harmless pillow.
“Out! Out of here! Now!” 
She didn’t need to be told twice. Charlotte scurried out of the room and down to the foyer. Mrs. Gray already stood there, nervously drumming her fingers against her arm as she stared out the window. On a side table lay a closed envelope with the doctor’s name scribbled on elegant calligraphy. Charlotte noted it to be slightly thinner than the previous one she had seen, just a couple days after her arrival to Arrow House. Maybe the doctor had lowered his fees for them, or maybe Mrs. Gray had decided he got paid far too much to do nothing except bear bad news.
Both women waited side by side, submerged in their own thoughts each, the silence interrupted only by the ticking of the grandfather clock. Three quarters of an hour had passed when Doctor Foster came down the stairs. He had bread crumbs on his shirt and moustache and a biscuit on hand. For some reason, that ticked Charlotte off. 
“Well?” Mrs. Gray asked harshly, also noticing that the man had surely spent more time eating than being helpful to his patient.
The doctor had the decency at least to stuff the biscuit in his pocket and brush off the crumbs before speaking. He stood straight, arms behind his back, a nervous twitch of the lips making his moustache quiver. He appeared to be intimidated by Mrs. Gray, a feeling that Charlotte shared.
“It is all just the same. His legs are weaker than in my last visit and he has started to lose sensitivity in some areas of the soles and calves. I am afraid it’s just a matter of time before he can no longer leave the chair, not even with the cane”
The news settled in the bottom of Charlotte’s stomach like a chunk of ice. They knew, all of them, the severity of Thomas’ lesions, and the limited prospects he had of recovery. But they thought, his aunt most of all, that they had more time before the inevitable. A few more years before he became completely and irremediably wheelchair bound and maybe worse than that. Charlotte knew all too well what sort of future would await then; bed sores, loss of muscle, infections. A lifespan cut in half.
And if she had come to learn something about Thomas during her time working there, he wouldn’t stand to live needing assistance to take a piss.
Mrs. Gray’s lips tightened into a line, eyes narrowing just enough to seem darker than usual. She put her hand on Doctor Foster’s bicep,the wool of his sweater straining a bit under the strength of her grip. The man didn't show it in his face, but that surely hurt. 
“May we have a word, you and I?” Her tone sounded more like a demand than a petition, as she led the doctor towards her private studio. Charlotte waited until they disappeared from sight to release a shaky breath. She steadied herself for whatever hellstorm would rain upon her and headed upstairs slowly. But halfway up, a loud crash cut through the silence, accompanied by the sounds of broken glass and muffled words that could only be curses of the thickest calibre. She picked up her skirts and broke into a sprint.
“Thomas?!” She called out as soon as she crossed the doors.
Thomas laid on the floor amidst broken porcelain and bits of food. The tea table had been flipped over, as had the delicately prepared tea tray. His wheelchair remained by the bed several feet away, with his cane carefully propped against it. Judging by the way everything lay on the floor, Thomas had tried to leave the room alone and unaided.
“Christ in Heaven what happened here?”
Charlotte rushed to his side, her keen eye immediately noticing the myriad of minuscule wounds in his hand and face from the tiny shards, along a more concerning cut on his temple from the table corner. She tried to help him sit up, but Thomas only smacked her hand away
“Leave me, I can do it. I can do it!” He growled, fighting her off like a child refusing to put on a coat in winter, or rejecting having dirt wiped from his cheek. Groaning due to the effort he rolled onto his back, but he had not enough strength to sit up without laying his wounded hands on the floor.
She paid no heed to his stubbornness and instead hooked her arms under his armpits, putting all her strength into dragging him away from the dangerous mess before he could injure himself further. She grunted with every pull, managing to move him only a few inches at a time, her muscles straining against the dead weight.
“Do you think I am a sack of shit to be dragged around?” Thomas hissed, but at least he had stopped thrashing about like a fish out of water.
“For fuck’s sake you are as heavy as you are obtuse” She retorted back, clearly not caring about the properties of their caregiver-patient relationship in that moment. At least not enough to watch her language. She only cared about somehow putting him back on the wheelchair and assessing the damage. 
It took her no small amount of physical strength and skill to get Thomas back onto his chair, even with him doing what little effort he could pushing with his legs against the floor. By the time she had managed to prop him back into place, a thin layer of sweat pearled her forehead, and she felt the dampness of her skin under the thick fabrics of her uniform. She hastily wiped her brow with her sleeve, all her attention focused on the bleeding wound on his temple. The crimson stained the left side of his face and neck and soaked the fabric of his shirt and waistcoat. Charlotte pulled off her white oversleeves to use them to stem the bleeding, but as expected he rose to battle the second she tried to touch him. 
“I said don’t fucking touch me. Get away. Get away!” He barked the last words, his hands slapping hers away repeatedly. It would have been comical if it had not been so irritant. But Charlotte finally snapped, her never ending patience finally fading into naught as the blood continued to pour and her patient continued to fight. At last, she got hold of Thomas’ wrists and forced his hands to the sides, her grip firm but not painful. She leaned in, their faces closer than they had ever been before. 
“I am going to take a look at those cuts whether you approve or not. So I suggest you make both of our lives easier and stop being so difficult” Her tone rose steadily with each word, surprising even herself. She had never spoken to another person, let alone a patient, that way. But Mr. Shelby had effectively exhausted all her reserves of compassion and in that very moment, with him wounded and pricked with glass, Charlotte couldn’t find it in herself to coddle him. In that moment he didn’t need her kindness, he needed the firmness and determination of a war nurse.
And Thomas seemed to know it too, deep down. For he fell silent the second her words rang through the air, eyes widened and lips parted, shocked to have someone speak to him that way. Slowly, like admitting defeat, he placed his hands on his lap, fingers digging tightly on the fabric of his trousers. He evaded Charlotte’s eyes as she took a seat by his side, having grabbed a small first aid kit she kept in hand. 
It seemed that Thomas Shelby couldn’t stand up to a woman who spoke louder than him.
While he held the rolled up fabric to his knocked temple, she took hold of his left hand and held it up to the sunlight. With a pair of alcohol soaked tweezers she began the delicate process of pulling the tiny shards off. Every now and then he hissed in pain and tried to pull away, but it took only a sharp look and a tightening of her grip on him to put him back on track. The pieces of porcelain tinkled on the lid of the first aid kit balancing on her knees as she dropped them, one by one. When she finished she pressed an alcohol soaked rag to his hand, forcing his fingers to curl around it. Thomas’ jaw clenched, but he refused to display any sign of pain besides the flaring of his nostrils. 
Charlotte inspected the cut on his head next, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration as she pushed aside the blood matted hair, her face so close to him her breath fanned over his face. That close she noticed even his hair smelled of cigarettes, since he refused every effort of her or anyone to help him wash.
"The cut is not deep enough to require stitching but I will have to bandage it"
Tommy snorted "I am not going to let you wrap me up like a fucking mummy"
Charlotte rolled her eyes "Mummies have their mouths wrapped shut. I cannot afford that luxury with you" She quipped, gently dabbing at the wound with a wet gauze, being as careful as she could to spare Thomas further discomfort. But that wouldn't save him from her stern words now that they had been allowed to emerge. Gentleness had proved ineffective against him, so now Charlotte had to retort to cockiness, a quality of hers she had kept buried for being ‘unbecoming’ but which now would prove useful to crack Thomas’ stone walls.
“Deep breath” She instructed, pressing the alcohol soaked cloth to his temple. Thomas bucked like a startled horse, nails digging on the armrest of the chair and teeth gritted, his head instinctively trying to escape the sharp burning, but forced to remain still by Charlotte’s firm hold. She held him against her body in an almost maternal gesture until the pain faded into a manageable sting and he relaxed his muscles and stopped huffing. 
“Are you always this much of a brute with your patients?” He asked in between heavy breaths, although his tone had dropped some of the usual sharpness in favour of something akin to amusement. As if he saw something in Charlotte that sparked his interest.
“Only with those who deserve it” The diverted smirk made it to her lips without permission. A faint hint of pride rose upon her chest, for the very first time she had managed to make Thomas comply, even if it took a head wound and raising her voice to do so. The first step had been taken for him to finally see her as an aid and not a threat or a nuisance. And Charlotte couldn’t wait to take the next. 
After she bandaged his head, having added in between a teasing comment of how things would have been much easier if he didn’t sport the haircut of a caveman, she set up to put the room back in order. The maid brought her the broom and dustpan, but Charlotte took it upon herself to clean up, knowing he wouldn’t take kindly to having others in the room while he changed out of his blood soaked upper clothes. While she swept crumbs and pieces of porcelain, the little bug of curiosity nagged at the back of her mind.
“I take it the doctor didn’t bring the news you expected” She often spoke to him, perfectly aware he wouldn’t reply, but she did it nevertheless. She always talked to her patients back in the ward, even if they couldn’t hear her or talk back. Giving them the reassurance that they had someone at their side looking after them, even if they couldn’t see her. 
Much to her surprise, however, this time the patient spoke back.
“He knows nothing, that man. I pay that man to heal me and all he does is come into me house, eat the fucking food and flirt with the maids” He pulled out a cigarette, rubbing it against his lips twice before lighting it with a black and golden lighter “He’s not coming here again”
Lottie refrained from rolling her eyes “He has been looking after you for years. Ever since you were injured during the war. He knows you better than anyone else Thomas. He is only trying to help you” As I do, she added in her mind.
“And what a great help he has been, eh?” He drummed his fingers against his thigh to emphasise his words, his piercing eyes following Charlotte’s every movement as she rolled the heavy and soiled carpet to put it aside and set the table back in place.
“I know this concept may seem foreign to you, but I beg you to show some basic kindness to the new doctor when he comes next week. I am sure Mrs. Gray had the best intentions when she asked him here and-”
He cut her words with a single statement that completely flipped her “Oh she didn’t call him here. I did”
Charlotte felt compelled to clean her ears and ask him to repeat himself in case she had heard wrong. He? Thomas himself had called a doctor to help him? It made no sense, for the man who rejected most fervently to be helped, to ask for help of his own free will.
He picked up the astonishment in her widened eyes and continued on without having to be pressed further.
“He’s been working with many veterans after the war. He seeks them to try on his new treatments. Treatments he devises himself” He snuffed his cigarette in one of her pretty vases before tossing the stub inside, letting it float around the fresh daisies Charlotte had brought that morning “He says he’s made them walk again”
A mixture of feelings flooded Charlotte, all at the same time and with such intensity she couldn’t focus on only one. Once more she had to fight back the pity, but it couldn’t be helped. How could she not feel sorry for that man who clung to the first ‘medical miracle’ that crossed his path in hopes of restoring what war had cruelly taken from him? She had seen it before, men who drank questionable syrups and tinctures, swallowed handfuls of nameless poisonous pills and subjected themselves to the most horrid types of torture medicine could invent in hopes of regaining some semblance of a past long lost.
Close second in her heart came suspicion. Thomas had mentioned that this man, this doctor whoever he was, sought the veterans himself. Which meant he utilised less than orthodox methods to retrieve confidential medical records from private practitioners and maybe even from the war offices. And those treatments created by himself? It screamed charlatan all over, a trickster who exploited desperate men and robbed them of all their life savings and more just to give them reused saline in clean vials and sugar pills in medicine bottles with handwritten labels.
Charlotte couldn’t comprehend how a man like him, so careful and methodical, a man whom everyone regarded as possessing an incomparable sharpness of mind and an overflowing resourcefulness; the man who had Birminghan quaking in their boots at the mention of his name, could be fooled by false promises of medical prowesses that smelled rotten from a mile away?
She swallowed, trying to find how to best bring up her concerns without making it sound like a direct attack on Thomas' judgement. Lottie sat on the edge of an armchair, her hands folded in her lap, fingers intertwined as she pondered her words.  
“Thomas” She rubbed her thumb and index together, a nervous tic of hers that nothing had managed to suppress “Doctor Foster has been seeing you for years now, and he has not once changed his prognosis. Don’t you find it a bit suspicious that a new doctor just comes to you and offers you a miracle?” She watched him carefully, her head slightly tilted to the left, studying his expressions. He grabbed a new cigarette, gently tapping it against the box as he spoke. 
“Doctor Foster is old and behind the times. Did you know he was the last man in Birmingham to have electricity in his house?” He sighed and scratched his brow with his thumb, pushing the edge of the bandage out of the way “He thought the toxic fumes would poison him in his sleep” 
Lottie snorted. She failed to understand how a man scared of electricity gave credit to this new physician. “Okay, I understand it. Doctor Foster is afraid of progress, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good at what he does” Charlotte wondered if her reasoning would find home in his brain or if she just wasted saliva talking to the walls “But this man? Thomas, don’t you find it at least a bit suspicious? Did you even question him on where he got your medical file from?” Nothing made sense, that after they checked her background before even summoning her for a mere interview, they didn’t hold the same standard to the man who would be juggling Thomas’ health in his hands.
He didn’t acknowledge her concerns, obviously. In fact, he seemed to not have heard them at all. He turned his wheelchair towards the double doors, the sunrays warming his skin as he closed his eyes, dried up blood still glued to the side of his face and clinging to his beard. He brought up the cigarette to his mouth but never made it quite there, hovering just an inch away from his lips as he stared out towards the vast woods. 
“The doctors make progress every day. They create new medicines, new treatments, they heal more and more people every day. If one doesn’t help you go to another, and another, and another until one does what others can’t” As Charlotte approached him slowly, she noticed he had a sort of dreamy look in his eyes, and for a moment she worried he had gone too hard on his nighttime visit to the morphine bottle. But the dazed gaze didn’t come from opioids. It came from hope. Endless, boundless, foolish hope.
And it worried her to no end.
Charlotte crouched next to Thomas slowly, her hand coming to rest in the crook of his elbow. Surprisingly, he didn’t shake her away; perhaps he didn’t even notice her at all, lost for a moment in a daydream of miracles and a bright future.
“Thomas” Soft words, pleading even, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt “Think this through, think carefully. If something sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true. If this physician is such an eminence, then why is he not sharing his discoveries in the Medical Society of London, or being named director of a large hospital? Why is he not speaking before the King and being put in the list of honours of the year? Why is he seeking his patients instead of them flocking to him?” She shook his arm, hoping to shake his senses too “This is a scam, Thomas. He is a liar. I am sorry, but you will not get better, and you know it Thomas” 
Those last words hit the sensible fibre in him. He shook Charlotte off with such roughness she lost her balance and toppled back, landing on her ass on the floor. The dreaminess had cleared from his eyes, swapped back to his usual coldness and the everlasting hint of anger, anger at the world and destiny and everything and everyone that had led him to that state.
Thomas pushed open the double glass doors with his fingers and rolled his wheelchair forward. The sun framed him, making him seem like a shadow stepped out of golden light. He lit the cigarette at last, puffing out the smoke in rings. He leaned back his head, as if relaxing to take a nap, but his eyes remained open, focused on the clear skies. He spoke the next words softly, but they resounded loud and clear for Charlotte.
“I will walk again. I know I will” A long drag of the cigarette “And if I don’t, then there is nothing left for me in this life”
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niuniente · 6 months
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I have multiple favorite characters. They're all equally beloved. I don't get to choose which one of them is on the spotlight - they come and go on their own.
Because of this, I have assigned a personal meaning to each character: this character means have more fun; this character means that keep your eyes on the price; this character means a time of transition; this character asks to rest more. Always works!
A month ago, Dragunov from Tekken appeared on the spotlight (this didn't happen with Tekken 7 so we can't blame the new Tekken being out).
Now, the first time he was on a spotlight was 15 years ago. I was in a horrible place back then. There was a legal mess which, if the shit hit the fan, would ruin the rest of my life. Literally. I wouldn't be able to get a rental apartment, make any new contracts like electricity, phone, internet, buy anything with monthly payments, get subscription services, I would lose part of my income. I was THIS CLOSE to lose it all and the worst thing was that there was nothing I could. I hadn't caused the mess but I had no way out of it either. I even went to a lawyer to ask for a legal help but he couldn't help.
I feared for my life and future, hoping it would turn out OK. What kept me sane was playing Tekken 6. I played it hours every day and always as Dragunov. I even did my art school final thesis of fan culture and Dragunov (I had much fun with a Russian fan who drew really pretty pics of Dragunov and gave me an access to her screencapture collection of Tekken 6 for my thesis)
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Then, one day I figured what was Dragunov's assigned meaning; you will survive. No matter what the odds, even if it was the 3rd world war, you will survive and come out alive without any harm.
That's exactly what happened. Took 2 more years but I got out alive, unharmed. It was horrible time. I'm glad it's over.
So, when Dragunov NOW suddenly appeared on the spotlight after 15 years, my initial thought was "WHAT WHAT, WHAT'S THE BAD NEWS??? WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ODDS ARE HORRIBLE BUT I'LL SURVIVE????! "
Two weeks later, in a span of a week, without any prior warnings:
I got laid off because the company bankruptcy and fell on a social welfare
this happened while the current right-wing government made big cuts to social welfare and housing benefits (so I don't know if I can keep my current home)
while at the same time prices keep getting higher due to inflation
The IUD for anemia treatment came out on its own
Because of that I'm without any help to my iron anemia and the only solution will be hysterectomy in my case; doctors aren't giving those easily (even when needed)
I lost my workplace healthcare which would have been the easiest and the best way to get to hysterectomy
the sudden removal of IUD is causing me horrible withdrawal symptoms
my Japanese friend told me that she's unable to come to Finland this year and has to postpone her trip till 2025 :(((
(which also means I won't get my favorite cigarettes I smoke for fancy treats a few times a year because I can only get it from Japan - ordering tobacco online is illegal here)
noticed that wasps had made a nest to my balcony (that's being taken care off)
couldn't attend a free(!) ice-cream tasting for a feedback and for a free 15€ gift card because of the IUD withdrawal symptoms
found out that trains aren't operating normally and my home station is under construction and causes some issues
So yeah. He wasn't lying. It's been so bad that the first thing this morning when waking up was to take stomach medicine and have a smoke. And I'm not a smoker.
Horrible times are up ahead but I trust that I'll survive out of this phase just like I did 15 year ago.
(:::з」∠)
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So you wanna sell your art on Redbubble but you don't know how?
(Or, I meant to write this months ago but better late than never lol)
OKAY okay. I have a bunch of friends as well as mutuals who have lovely lovely art and have considered selling it online (specifically on Redbubble lol that's what's being covered today anyways) but don't really have any clue how RB works, if it's right for them, or what to expect. SO I'M HERE TO GUIDE Y'ALL THROUGH ALL THE BASICS and hopefully, if I've done my job right, this tutorial will help you set up your RB shop and start selling your art online (or help you decide that RB isn't for you lol).
Table of Contents:
What the heck is RedBubble and should I use it?
How to make your account and set up payment
How to add a new work
Pricing? Markup?
Extra: Checking sales and payment history
Extra: Taxes and copyright, in case that scares you.
Extra: The Partner Program (or how to make "officially licensed" fanart)
What the heck is RedBubble and should I use it?
>> RedBubble is a site that allows you to upload your artwork and sell it on quite a variety of different products.
>> The main benefit of using RedBubble, aside from reach and visibility, is that RB handles *everything* when it comes to the manufacturing and shipment of your product. You are literally not responsible for anything other than making the art, uploading it, and deciding how you want it to look on different products. If there is any kind of problem with material quality or delivery (though in my experience they're pretty good with both of those things), it's not your responsibility to correct!
>> RedBubble does not charge you to sell on their site, but they do set a base price for all products to cover manufacturing and to ensure that they make some level of profit for each sale. We'll look into the specifics of this in a later section when discussing pricing and markup, but it would be considered pretty standard, for example, for an item to cost $20 and you to make $4-$5 upon making a sale.
>> At the end of the day, whether or not RB is right for you largely depends on whether or not you feel their pricing and payment is fair, and whether their available products correspond to what you wish to sell.
Okay, so how do I get started?
Well first you're gonna need an account!
>> Head over to the RedBubble main page and click "Sign Up"
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>> Select "Artist Signup"
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>> Fill in your email, shop name (this is your username also), and password
>> Click "Sign Up"
>> You will be brought to this dashboard page:
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>> We will discuss creating products in the next section. Everything under "Set Up Shop" is optional and I'll let you explore that on your own so we can focus on the essentials. That just leaves... Getting paid!
>> First, check the email you used to confirm your email address. If you didn't receive an email to confirm your email address, don't worry, we can resend the form- keep going with the steps for now.
>> Then, under "Get Paid", click "Add your name & address". Note that all of the options in the "Get Paid" section actually lead to the same form, but selecting this option starts us near the top.
>> Fill out all the fields on this page. If you didn't receive the email to confirm your email address, click on this button:
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Then check your email again.
>> Note when choosing your payment method: if you are from Canada, like me, then paypal is your only option. Same for parts of Europe that aren't in the UK. Otherwise, you also have bank transfer options:
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>> Once you've finished filling in everything on this page, click "Save Changes" at the bottom and... That's it! Now you can get paid :)
**Note: I believe RB still requires you to make a minimum amount of money before they do a transfer (for me in Canada I believe it's $20 CAD?), so do keep that in mind!
>> Payments are made to your account monthly, generally on the same day every month (assuming you've made profits!).
How to add a new work
So you've made your account, fantastic. Now you're ready to actually add your works to RB and make them available for purchase to the wider public! To demonstrate the process, we're gonna use our pal Nicky here (who was a gift from my lovely friend @llumimoon) and pretend that we want to upload him:
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Ain't he a doll? Anyways, let's begin.
>> Hover your mouse over your pfp in the top right corner to make this drop down menu appear:
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>> Click on "Add New Work"
**On a new account with nothing uploaded, this will look a bit different. instead choose "Sell Your Art" from this dropdown menu, then "Add New Work" from the top right corner of the same dashboard page from earlier.
>> Click on "Upload New Work" (and note the file type and resolution requirements at the bottom. I always stick with PNGs, but in theory JPEG or GIF works as well.)
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>> Select the file of the image you want to upload. In our case, that's Nicky.
>> Now write a title for your work, tags, and a description if you want. The tagging system is how people will actually find your work, it works a lot like Tumblr's! Try to choose things that are relevant to whatever your piece is. If you're uploading fandom-related art and aren't sure what tags are used for your fandom on RB, try looking some up and seeing what generates the most relevant results!
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>> You may have noticed the "background color" section right below Nicky. This sets the default background color for your piece on different products. We're gonna keep this as the default white here, and I'll show you how to adjust this for individual products very soon.
>> Scroll down. This is where we decide what products we want this design to be available on and how we want Nicky to look on each thing we've enabled.
For example, if I were actually selling Nicky here (if that wasn't clear obviously I'm not actually selling my friend's art lol don't do that ofc) I would definitely want people to be able to buy him as a little sticker :]
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>> In this case, "Stickers & Magnets" have been enabled by default. If you wanted to disable them, you would simply click that little "Enabled" button. Similarly, if we want to enable a product type that is disabled, just click that same button (which will be grey rather than green and say "disabled").
>> If a product is disabled and you are being prevented from enabling it, that's because the dimensions of your image are too small for the product in question! You'll wanna resize your image (preferably in a manner that retains its resolution of course) and come back.
>> Hm. Let's use the hats here as an example of how we might make edits to the layout of a specific product.
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He's kind of cut off, as you can see actually that's pretty in-character, and I think I want this hat to be pink rather than this default beige-looking color.
>> Click on "Edit"
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So, the first thing I'm gonna do here is use that "Scale Image" slider to scale him down a bit. I'm also gonna click the image and drag him up a bit to re-center him.
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Next, I'm gonna pick from one of the default colors and choose the pink one.
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>> Notice the two arrows beside the words "Bucket Hat"? This lets me go through the different types of hats available and change the background/base color for each of those, like the dad hat:
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>> Before we apply our changes, click that little gear icon right under the pencil icon
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>> This lets us adjust the markup price for each individual hat. It is 20% by default. Changing the markup percentage affects how much you will make off of a sale, as well as how much your product will cost. More on that in the next section!
>> Click "Apply Changes"
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The "dad hat" was the last hat I had selected (when setting its color), so the display has changed to show that one in the preview. Here's our bucket hat from before:
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Nice!
>> The specifics of how you can adjust your design will vary depending on the product. With pillows & totes, for example, the editing menu looks like this:
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Using the "Choose pattern" option, I can make the Nicky image repeat as a pattern like so:
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(note that I also scaled the image down a bit here too).
>> One last thing. See that "Replace Image" button near the top?
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You can use this when you want to use a different version of your image altogether for a specific product.
>> That's the gist! Play around with the settings for each item as you see fit. You can always edit them again later.
>> Scroll down. Select up to 2 relevant media types.
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I'm pretty sure this affects search results when users choose specific filters, but tbh otherwise I don't think it's all too important.
>> Let's look at what remains.
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>> I have the "Who can view this work?" section set to "Only You"- THIS IS SO I CAN FINISH THE STEPS HERE AND SAVE THE WORK WITHOUT ACTUALLY MAKING IT AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. In practice, you'd only use this option if you wanted to buy your own work on something but didn't want other people to be able to see or buy it. Otherwise, you're always gonna choose "Anybody (public)".
>> Collections can be created to organize the pieces in your shop (for example, by fandom), but we won't cover the specifics of how to do that here.
>> Set whether or not your work contains "mature content".
>> If you want, you can set which product shows up in the preview for your work when people view your shop. If you think your piece looks especially nice on a mug, for example, you can make sure that's what people see first.
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>> Finally, agree to RedBubble's User Agreement (read that little blurble, since that's basically all you generally need to care about when it comes to what you can and can't sell on RB, but more on that later).
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>> Click "Save Work" and voila! Your piece is now available in your shop, and can be found in the search results of whatever tags you left on it (this may take a few minutes to take effect).
>> If you want to check out your design in your shop, navigate to your pfp and click "View shop"
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>> Don't fret if the design doesn't appear in your shop right away! Again, this can take several minutes.
>> To edit your design again (and to view/purchase privately uploaded designs like Nicky here), click the "Manage Portfolio" option instead:
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>> Here is Nicky as he appears in my portfolio (again, your portfolio and your shop are different things- Nicky will not appear in my shop at all because he is set to "private")
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>> You can click that little gear icon to do a variety of things, like return to the editing menu from earlier. The three icons below Nicky refer to the amount of comments, sales, and likes your design has received in total.
>> Click on your design either from your shop page or your portfolio page. Wow! Your cool art is now available on all the products you enabled. Be sure to look through them and make sure that everything is to your liking!
Pricing? Markup? What's that about?
Well good tumblr user, RB handles everything regarding the production (and shipping) of your product, which means that they set a base (minimum) price for every kind of product to account for materials and production, and of course make some amount of profit themselves. The *markup* is a percentage that you the artist set (see the previous section on how to do so), and will determine how much you actually make off of a sale. Note that increasing the markup price means that your product will increase in price as well!
>> An Example (using hypothetical but more or less realistic numbers):
Let's say that the base price (0% markup, i.e. no profit for you) of a phone case on RB is $15. You set the markup to 30%. 30% of 15 is 4.5, so the public price is increased to $19.5, and if anyone purchases this phone case with your design on it, you will make $4.5.
And that's really the gist! Ultimately the markup price is up to you and what you feel is reasonable, though RB sets it to 20% by default.
Extra: Checking sales and payment history
Eheh, unfortunately I've reached the image limit for this post but:
To check your sales:
>> Click on your pfp
>> Click "Account Settings"
>> Under "Artist Tools" (on the left side), click "Sales History"
To check your payment history:
>> From the same "Artist Tools" menu (see above), click "Payment History"
Extra: Taxes and copyright, in case that scares you.
>> Do I need to report the income I make on RB when I do my taxes?
Yup! But dw, it isn't anything special. I mean, I'm not here to do your taxes for you, but money you make on Redbubble counts as "Self-Employment Income", same as if you sold your art just about anywhere else really!
>> So what am I actually allowed to sell on Redbubble? Is fanart okay?
Generally speaking... Yes! Obviously work should be your own, and it should not contain any company logos or names that you don't have the right to, nor photos of actual people unless you have their explicit permission.
>> Hm, okay, but what if I *do* accidentally sell something that isn't allowed?
In most cases, it'll just get taken down 👍. And no, you won't be asked to pay back any profits you made off the work in the meantime.
**A more extreme case: Story time. So, years ago a friend of mine uploaded some official Rick and Morty art that he forgot to set to "private". Overnight he made... Let's just say he made quite a bit of money. RB responded by taking down the work and banning his IP address, effectively preventing him from ever selling on the site again. But they still let him keep the money he made, and he didn't get into any actual trouble outside of that. What I'm saying is, even if you really fuck up, it'll be alright. And again, this was a pretty extreme scenario.
***Note: if your work falls under one of the brands in Redbubble's "Partner Program" (see the next section), it will be temporarily removed from the search results and your shop while it undergoes review. So don't panic if you see your fanart suddenly disappear from your shop!
Extra: The Partner Program (or how to make "officially licensed" fanart)
Very briefly, Redbubble has their partner program, which I won't explain in full detail here, but basically it means that if you upload a work and tag it as one of these brands, it will be inspected for review and, upon passing that brand's guidelines, will be considered "officially licensed" merch for that brand. Just felt worth mentioning!
So that's really the gist folks! There's certainly much more to play around with when it comes to RB, but that's all you need to know to get started! Hopefully this was useful? Hopefully lol. In any case, good luck out there!
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dreambones · 1 year
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No Content November
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The goal of NCN is to show what would happen if everyone stopped creating free content.
Your dash would be empty. No art. No fics. No comics.
The idea is that for the whole month of November, creators of all kinds (artists, writers, etc) don’t post any sort of content, this to create a simulation of what happens to posts when you only like them instead of rebloging them, the art/fics/comics/ don’t get circulated, and eventually there’s nothing to see and enjoy.
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Every content creator has experienced the unbalance between Likes and Reblogs.
Likes look nice, but Reblogs give exposure, which results in even more people finding your work.
Reblogs help creators grow, and be encouraged, which means even more content than before!
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What can you do to help as a non creator (and creator)?
During November support your favorite content creators by Rebloging, Commenting or sending an Ask!
Even a short “Nice work! Love it” is great to cheer up and encourage the content creators whom work you enjoy.
(You are also encouraged to do this the whole year!)
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The long term goal is to one day, make Reblogs as abundant as Likes, plus with this small but very meaningful support, we could all end up enjoying even more content than before! 
And if you are not a creator but the content you enjoy has ever made you happy, helped you in some way, even to just brighten your day a little bit, please, consider giving those creators your support! It will be very appreciated.
FAQ bellow the “Read More”
I don’t want to participate because [insert reason here]
That’s alright! Just like any other monthly trend in the internet, you are not forced or expected to participate. It is true that the more of us that do this, the more impactful it can be, but if you don’t want to do it the whole month, or just do a couple days, that’s fine.
You are just a big, popular blog trying to trick and damage smaller blogs
I get this assumption a lot, and I am not a big blog. I have been posting my content online for about 16 years and currently have 794 followers after having to move blogs in 2021 because I found out Tumblr was hiding my content in the search engine for being a side blog (and for reference, I had around 593 last year and 150 followers the previous one). This is not an effort to “jeopardize” smaller creators, nor a sneaky way to harm others, I am doing and have been doing this because year after year, the share vs like ratio has been worsening, and I plan on keep doing this as long as needed, even if I become a big blog, I won’t stop.
I want to help but I don’t want to stop posting, how else can I help?
Reblog! This is the perfect month to spam your followers by rebloging the work of other creators you follow, you can also leave comments and send asks! This is the moment to let know your favorite creators you appreciate their hard work and presence on the internet!
Artist and creators are not entitled to reblogs, you can’t ask that
You are right, we are not entitled, nor in the right to demand reblogs, comments or any sort of support. But in the same note, people that enjoy our content, are not entitle to demand more content, specific content, or faster content when it is being given to them for free. And sadly that happens way too often.
I want to participate but I depend on my Commissions / Patreon to buy food/survive
That’s alright, you can still participate! NCN aims towards Free content that we post, the one that we share with no sort of payment back, you can still do and share paid content you do.
I participated last years and nothing changed
Unfortunately, we can’t change the world in a single month. This is NCN fourth year, and granted, it’s not abysmally different now, but the worse that can happen is that nothing changes, and I rather keep trying than sit down and wonder if maybe it could have worked. On the other hand, I’ve received and found a lot of artists that enjoy this month because it gives them an excuse to rest and not focus on their blogs and just enjoy making, and that is enough reason for me to keep trying. 
As closing notes please remember I am just another human being behind the screen. You are 100% allowed to not like this idea, you can block me and the tag if you don’t want to see any of it. There’s no need for mean messages or attacks.
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figula · 2 months
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not wanting tumblr to die isn't really a good reason to give them money considering staff actively and maliciously drives off trans women and people of colour for the heinous crime of... existing peacefully and talking about their lives. consider giving that money to the hundreds of thousands of people seeking mutual aid, or the families escaping genocide, or... literally anything else. reevaluate your priorities and your morals
ok im going to answer this one time bc people keep saying the same thing
you have no idea who i am or where i put my money. you have no idea what i pay for and what i do with my time. you see one monthly payment and you have decided you know where i put my money? you are not morally superior to me bc i pay £6.99 a month to tumblr.com lol. you have no idea who i am friends with and the conversations we have had about tumblr. to neatly sum it all up: you don't know me
of course i don't like the CEO. ofc i think he behaved awfully. punishing a CEO should not come at the expense of the communities already on tumblr. losing tumblr entirely would be an enormous loss to a lot of niche communities INCLUDING those you mentioned. you dont have to agree with me but this is how i feel and how my friends feel. and tbh i am more inclined to listen to my actual friends than random anons on the internet. you wont even put your name on your opinion? lol at least i'm not embarassed about mine
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coldalbion · 1 year
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Like Covid, climate change will force more artists away from traditional opportunities for community and inspiration. The pandemic turned drag Twitch streamer DEERE into a full-timer; as a makeup artist, her gigs vanished. So she focused on her passions: drag, horror games, and streaming. Early in the pandemic, comedian Jenny Yang created and hosted Comedy Crossing, a twice-monthly standup show streamed over Zoom from inside the game Animal Crossing. Throughout 2020, it raised more than $40,000 for Black Lives Matter. “I’m in this industry and have dedicated my life to it because I want to be part of a conversation,” she says. “To me the collective conversation is what makes life meaningful.” BOARLORD is an indie game developer who “pivoted to porn” (and Patreon) during the pandemic after working in tech, where she discovered “the naked hatred they all have for cultural production.” It was there she found her place. “I am not trying to capture the largest audience. I’m being hyper-specific, sometimes to my detriment," she says of her work. Or, to put it another way, DEERE, Yang, and BOARLORD all found their own ways of seizing the means of production, of audience-building. It's the same thing Black Girl Nerds CEO Jamie Broadnax discovered live-tweeting Scandal years earlier. “I didn’t know I was building a community,” Broadnax says. “I was tired of waiting for a seat at the table, so I built my own table.” The appeal of becoming one’s own studio head is obvious. “Take TikTok,” says Clifton. “You have teens with a more polished presence online than most companies, who have become TikTok experts seemingly overnight, and their work just keeps getting more and more professional-grade.” But in a world where everyone is a brand, no one can be a star. And influencers have discovered what porn performers already knew: Platforms are fickle. Content guidelines, corporate ownership, and payment structures can change overnight, without explanation. Much like humans have permanently altered and unsettled the natural world, online ecosystems for fans and creators have experienced rolling shocks in response to technology. Just as users find another den, it’s burned down. The story of the internet is the story of America itself: a seemingly limitless landscape transformed into a shopping mall populated by the same handful of brands, products, and voices. MacDonald tells me that what’s important about pornography isn’t what it can tell us about entertainment but what it can tell us about how platforms will treat people in the future. “Porn workers are the canaries in the coal mine. They are the first ones to be censored, demonetized, deprioritized in recommender systems, shadow-banned,” MacDonald says. And their vulnerability will soon be everyone’s. “Porn workers are at the bleeding edge of showing that if we don’t address this unilaterally and quickly, next it will be queer video gamers, and after that it will be certain political opinions, and that is alarming. That should concern everyone.” To understand how the American media landscape fractured, one must first understand the brands that forged it. According to Faris Yakob, cofounder of creative consultancy Genius Steals and author of Paid Attention, advertisers created the neutral “view from nowhere” voice in media. In the 19th and 20th centuries, national brands looking to grow customers wouldn’t partner with biased publications. But everything changed when ad tech arrived. “People started tagging their digital media buys so it wouldn’t appear next to topics like homosexuality, or Covid, to avoid getting into clusters,” Yakob says. “But that means that the news isn’t being funded. If you can pick and choose what topics to fund in news, you can distort what is being reported on, to some degree.”
This a fantastic article that touches on so much
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inkofamethyst · 7 months
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March 3, 2024
It's so weird to already know what instrument I'm going to learn next (and also to have purposefully selected a time to learn it). Like, I didn't know I was going to want to teach myself the saxophone in high school, it just kind of happened (though these days I do lowkey wish I had gone for alto rather than tenor (will not make the same mistake with the bass, will prob go for a short scale)). Same with the uke--I was just bored one summer. But knowing that the bass is coming up (but that I'll be waiting over a year for it still (not a bad thing, as I'll be able to use this summer to learn more about my community at large)) makes me a bit antsy to just start playing. I'll be listening to music and will have to make a mental note of a cool baseline I'd like to learn (the "Life Will Change" bridge !!!!!!!!! (though I'll prob have to learn something like "Mask" from P5 before that if I want to play while singing (supposedly notoriously difficult on bass which is lovely)--slower, more repetitive)) but like, that's over a year away. I mean the wait gives me time to save and plan, sure, but I also just want to play something sometimes.
Speaking of planning, when I get to that fateful day next May of picking a bass (not sure if I want to go the cheap route and grab something used online or the Main Character route and have some hot guy in a guitar shop help me pick one out based on his expertise and then offer to give me lessons and then we fall in love (can you tell that Hadestown has pushed the dial right back over to R??) (though the guitar shop plan makes more sense for my first one (of one? of many? who knows) since I don't know any bassists and I don't know what I'm doing (yet))), I'm also going to have to decide whether I want to go for lessons. Honestly? I'm considering it. I know my whole deal is like "hur hur hur im a self taught multi-instrumentalist" (!!!! I'm a multi-instrumentalist !!!!!) but also if I can't find good videos on/am unsure about technique, might as well talk to a professional.
God I'm so excited to learn that instrument. Can you tell?
Speaking of saving, one thing about my savings goals notion page is that I wish it was more.. dynamic. In that, sometimes I save extra towards a goal one month, and it'd be nice if the suggested monthly savings amount went down to reflect the new minimum needed to reach that goal by the desired date. Or alternatively, change the end date based on the amount saved if the minimum payment stayed the same. I don't know how to code either of those, but they'd be a nice touch.
Though, kind of on a similar note, saving so aggressively in January and February has meant that, after typical spending habits, I've been left with basically nothing at the end of the month lol. Everything else taken into account, I've got ~$200 for random discretionary purchases monthly. That's been perfectly fine (aka just enough) but it also feels a little tight? Idk. I suppose I can rationalize it by the fact that it will keep me from overspending and will allow me to reach other goals quicker but it still feels like I'm livin paycheck to paycheck hehe. But this will only last as long as my ultra-aggressive saving strats do, so for about another year, then I start letting up (if all goes to plan).
Also, went ahead and did the per-day calculations because I've always heard that it's cheaper to make your own food than to buy it, and I am actually saving so much by making my own meals every day*. Like, so much. Now, at my uni, getting breakfast or lunch a la carte isn't terribly expensive, but it certainly can and likely would add up.
*Granted, I do benefit from the occasional free lunch or dinner.
Can you tell I'm rationalizing anxiety with over-strategizing? I truly do not make enough money to be so focused (rationalization: start good habits early). The moneydiaries subreddit has fried my brain I think.
Thinking about putting on some fake tattoos at the end of spring break. Partly because they make me immensely, unreasonably happy, partly because I'm curious if anyone would ask about them hehe. The last time I did a full sleeve and met up with some friends (years ago) they were a lil shook.
Today I'm thankful for.. a lazy weekend. And nighttime rain storms.
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jordanrosenburg · 9 months
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I just need to rant for a second because I'm so aggravated. Amazon Prime is $139 annually or $14.99 monthly. It used to only be like $100 annually, or $50 annually if you were a student. I do the $139 annual charge because it's actually cheaper overall than the monthly plan. (14.99 x 12 = 179.88) A lot of services are cheaper annually. But most people see the "lower" monthly fee and figure that's more manageable.
Amazon Prime Video is one of the "perks" of having an AP premium membership. The movies and tv shows on there don't have commercials, rightfully so. However, subscribers will soon start seeing ads unless they want to pay an extra $2.99 a month. So, for those monthly folks, that's now $17.98 a month. FOR WHAT?!
"We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month*..."
That's funny because, they cancelled The Wilds after 2 seasons. (Netflix does the same thing! And Netflix just very sneakily got rid of their $7.99 a month low-res option. So now if you don't want to pay $11.99 a month which is the new "basic" plan, you have to pay for ads.)
"Access to exclusive and broad streaming video content (including Prime Video exclusives like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Boys, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Citadel, The Wheel of Time, Reacher, and The Summer I Turned Pretty, as well as blockbuster movies such as Air, Creed III, Dungeons & Dragons, Candy Cane Lane with Eddie Murphy, and exclusive live sports including NFL Thursday Night Football). Access to Prime Video Channels, which provides an unmatched selection of subscription channels like Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, BET+, MGM+, ViX+, Crunchyroll, PBS KIDS, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, and STARZ—with no extra apps to download, and no cable required. Customers only pay for the ones they want, and can cancel anytime."
All of those "channels" are extra costs. And they're saying this as if you can't just download the apps to your TV as if everyone only has firesticks or Amazon TVs these days nowadays.
And also, what if I don't like any of the original programming? What if I didn't care about football? All of the original programming I was invested in, was cancelled! I'm hoping The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn't get cancelled after the third season, but who knows?!
And what's different with APV as opposed to other streaming services is that this is just included with AP. This isn't something you can opt out of to save money. So, you may as well use it, right? What aggravates me the most is the fact that when I go to search for something, it'll either say, "Video not available, watch with [insert extra channel I'd need to pay for here], rent for $x.xx, or buy for $x.xx". I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY EXTRA TO WATCH SOMETHING ON A SERVICE I ALREADY PAY FOR! NOR SHOULD I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ANOTHER APP OR CHANNEL THAT ALSO REQUIRES PAYMENT.
I am so sick of having to surf between Hulu, Netflix, APV, MAX, Paramount+, Peacock, Apple TV, or Disney+. My Hulu is included in my Spotify because I was grandfathered into that option, so I don't pay extra for Hulu. However, I can't watch everything on Hulu unless I want to pay for the Hulu Live option which is $76.99 a month WITH ADS! So, between paying that or $10.99 for my Spotify/Hulu plan, yeah, I'm gonna keep the $10.99 a month plan. With Hulu Live, you still have the issue of not being able to watch everything you want to watch! There are still movies and TV shows that are unavailable. And I'm not talking about original content. I'm talking about if I have the urge to watch an old movie or binge an old TV show, I should be able to do that without flipping between services or having to pay extra!
I'm aware that rights and ownership come into play here. I know these services have to pay the networks to be able to stream certain shows. However, Amazon is a multi-BILLION dollar company. I think they can afford to eat the cost. They wonder why piracy is still a thing. How could it not be? All of this costs so much money and you still can't watch the things you want to watch!
People turned to streaming services so they could go ad-free and to save money on cable. Now, it all costs the same, even more, as cable depending on how many services you're paying for.
I also think APV is pulling this bullshit as a punishment for the strikes. "We lost so much money because the writers and actors were gone for so long, so now we need to make up for that lost time and also we have to cancel certain shows because they take months to put together and cost so much to film. So now we have to raise our prices so we can try to salvage what we can afford to do." That's essentially the message they're sending.
Amazon has generated approximately $553.7 billion in revenue over the last year. So, this is clearly just the usual corporate greed. Breaking even isn't an option anymore. Every quarter, every year needs to make more money than the last. Meanwhile, Amazon treats their warehouse workers like garbage. (I hope the workers keep unionizing because they literally keep the world running. We're able to get just about anything delivered same day or overnight because of the warehouse workers and drivers.)
The writers went on strike because they were being run ragged and so were the actors. When you have a speedy three month production, that means those people need to find other jobs for the other months of the year. That's why the next season would take a year to make because people found other jobs, so they needed to work around those schedules. And that's not to say some writers and actors and behind the camera workers aren't working multiple jobs at the same time, because they are, but this creates more and more time conflicts. They weren't, and probably still aren't, paying these people enough. So, now that things have been renegotiated, the streaming services are upping their fees for bullshit reasons all because they legally have to pay their workers more and god forbid they don't turn a billion dollar profit.
It costs more money to market towards new subscribers than it does to maintain the ones you already have. But who am I to say anything?
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slightlytoastedbagel · 4 months
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hello slightlytoastedbagel recently due to the influx of carrot growth at my house the deer in my garden have begun migrating in hoards to my residence and honestly i didnt mind when it was just a few of them but now theres quite a lot to be honest i dont know if theres enough rooms in my house for them and theres a much more suitable forest nearby and i think thats where theyre all coming from anyway i would make them pay rent but i dont know if they have jobs or the mental means to understand the concept of monthly payments and they dont tend to make a lot of noise either so its hard for me to learn how to talk to them but its nice not being so lonely i just wish they would be a little less invasive maybe i should start teaching them manners anyway keep up the great work
hey @ace-and-the-rpg-horrors I think we have the same carrot and deer anon
thank you I shall keep up the great work
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tittyinfinity · 1 year
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Went ahead and had to take out a loan since donations aren't coming in – this is the only place that would approve me bc I used them before.
My KNOWN expenses right now are $635. $300 for car insurance and $335 for this bullshit charge from my apartment complex (they COMPLETELY changed everything they told me).
I make $760/mo on disability and all the money I had put back for moving had to be spent on a $150 set of new car keys and $80 to take my cat to the vet.
I need to pay off this loan ASAP because it will be $2867 if I pay the minimum monthly payment.
Please help if you can!
P*ypal: yanidork
C*shapp: $yourdestinymae
V*nmo: nicework_bonedaddy
More info on my apartment situation under the cut
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I have argued with them that none of this is correct. I never signed anything that said that my rent would be set up this way.
I'm currently trying to find my own paperwork and waiting on more calls back. I'm going to be bringing this up with a lawyer.
First off, my rent was $635 ($665 with pet fees) and my portion of it was $210 with the rental assistance.
They said if I signed another lease, my rent would be $765 a month, or $965 a month if I did month-to-month.
I called a couple of months ago and we got it worked out to where I'd pay the same amount for this month without any increase. Apparently they didn't keep documentation of it, but I have a paper that says something about it, I just can't find the damn thing.
As you see here, it says the rent paid by section 8 was $775. My portion (minus the pet fee) being $155, this would put my rent at $930 for this month, meaning they DID charge me the extra $300 for month-to-month while also decreasing my portion of the rent. (???????)
However, it also says that there is an EXTRA $100 charge for month-to-month, bringing the rent to $1,030 + the $50 late fee for a grand total of $1,080.
Another thing that makes no sense is that the section 8 office said they only paid $620 of my rent. Which is about $200 more than they usually do, but still not $775.
I have to pay the 355 by the 10th or I get another $75 late fee. I'm trying to get it fixed before then, but if I don't, I have to bite the bullet and pay it off anyway.
If anyone else can make sense of this shit I am totally open for advice because I don't know what the FUCK is going on.
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dear-mrs-otome · 2 years
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Random PSA shill for the subscriptions in cybird games, friends. At least the ones in Ikepri and Ikegen, since they operate the exact same (god plz why can't we have these in ikevamp or Ikesen etc)
Just in case anyone doesn't know what these are - for $4.99 USD (or ¥480/$3.99 USD on the JP versions as it works out for me) charged every 30 days, you get the following over the course of every 10 days when you log in:
Coins/Gold - 5k (1k x 5)
Story ticket - 1
Gacha token - 1
Stamina item (+100) - 1
Intimacy points item (+500) - 1
Story points item (+1/+1) - 1
Doesn't look super exciting on the surface there, I know. But stick with me... because if you KEEP the sub, things change.
On every repeat of the 10 day cycle, it bumps up through 6 stages. So starting on day 51, when you've reached Stage 6 and have plateaued there, you're getting this every 10 days:
Coins: 60k (12k x 5)
Story tickets: 3
Gacha tokens: 3
Stamina items (+100): 3
Intimacy Point items (+500): 3
Story point items (+1/+1): 3
Which means that by the time you reach your third sub payment of $4.99, that gets you this every single month:
Coins: 180k
Story tickets: 9
Gacha tokens: 9
Stamina items (+100): 9
Intimacy Point items (+500): 9
Story point items (+1/+1): 9
On top of all this, there are additional continuing sub bonuses as long as the subscription stays active.
1st month: Gacha token x 5
2nd month: 4* gacha token
3rd month: 5* gacha token
And that three month bonus cycle repeats as well. So let's just, for numbers sake, break this down over a whole year. I've had my subs for a long time, so I'm past the ramping up stage, and let's see what I get for my money now in my English Ikepri (I'll use the English since it's more expensive)
Annual Cost: $4.99 x 12 = $59.88 (for JP this comes out to $47.88)
Coins/Gold - 2,160,000
Story tickets - 108
Standard Gacha tokens - 128
4* Standard Gacha tokens - 4
5* Standard Gacha tokens - 4
Stamina items (+100) - 108
Intimacy Point items (+500) - 108
Story point items (+1/+1) - 108
The ONLY gripe I have with this is that the gacha tokens in Ikepri are only good in the standard gacha. In Ikegen there is only one type of basic gacha token, just like Ikevamp etc, so the value is even more impressive (lthough the 4* and 5* monthly bonus tokens are only standard gacha). However, given the importance of having high value cards for each prince in the upcoming Ikepri birthday systems, that still isn't something to entirely turn your nose up at.
Also, that said, the value of the unexpiring story tickets (even if you paid $60 for JUST the 108 story tickets OR stamina, that's insane, only $0.55 an item) and the unexpiring stamina items alone makes this more than worthwhile to me...not to mention the nice cushion of story point items and intimacy if I want to just brute force my way through new routes. And if you prefer to play as free-to-play as possible, that pot of gold you'll build up helps with the shitty friend system in Ikepri and with buying you those extra hearts during kiss/collection events. You can also throw gold at the gold gacha and sometimes net yourself a sweet bit of stamina or diamonds or a story ticket, so there's some value in it there too.
TL;DR - if you can swing the cost of a decent latte once a month, it's more than worth setting up and keeping the sub. Net yourself some cheap swag, and send cybird a bit of love for the work they do.
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orphanedwolfandfriends · 10 months
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So fellers, I can't promise that this'll be the last post I make about them. They don't fucking listen when they're the reason why nothing's going their way. I may be petty, but blocking, reporting, and IP banning them with the handy dandy statcounter is STRONGLY recommended (if you can afford to anyway, statcounter has a monthly payment thing).
I personally suspect that they have an alt account that none of us are aware of, and I'll say with full confidence that I could be wrong.
I started knowing they existed on account of their dry writing and their godmodding, and after, they'd start to ask a mutual some intrusive and condescending messages on why they're so kind to me. Not my character apparently, me. They don't bother to learn character names and just use URLs to shit talk. They'd ask why there's fanart of my woof child and their muse, which lmao, why's that a fucking problem? Mind your own beezwax. They would also bombard that mutual with asks about their shadowban issue, why can the mutual see other people's asks instead of theirs, and the most the mutual could do was tell them what it means and how they can fix it (which they never did). And as you might've seen earlier, they said me drawing fanart of fictional characters was "weird" and talked about it like it was self insert art I was doing. Self insert art's not even an issue to begin with but yet they took it personally lmao. Perish. Also I wouldn't make my self insert be a fucking child, and the art wasn't even shippy in the slightest.
It got to the point where my mutual blocked them, and they moved onto a Vegeta blog, and really milked that cow dry for how long they'd keep messaging them and whining about them not jivin' with the godmodding, along with complaining to that Vegeta and someone else about everyone making bad comments about their oc. If you look into their blog, you'll see that this person does not have a bio what so ever. Not even in a separate post. So quite clearly they're just expecting everyone to submit to her Mary Sue powers despite the fact we know nothing about them. They even info dumped the same Vegeta through an ask which, dude. Limited text. Look it up.
And then, they would bombard a Raditz rper and bitch about how he's not submitting to their random stranger shit while Raditz accepted a fucking BLT from one of my adult muses, bombard an oc blog like "you're flirting with Raditz, I can tell, your oc's not any better than MINE", AND, try to act like they're such a hotshot at writing, which as you might've guessed, they're not. And they're actively painting themselves in a bad light instead of listening to people and accepting boundaries. They also bugged the shit out of a Beerus mutual, and another mutual who writes ocs, just 'cause the other's muse was just vibin' and giving Beerus food. There's literally nothing wrong with that, yet they'd keep bugging the other mutual with shit like "oh beerus is only keeping you around 'cause you're giving him food, beerus isn't nice blahblahblah".
Do you see a pattern here? They'll get pissy when they don't get any attention from all four of those characters, and send jealous, petty bitch-sounding messages over two friggin children that are just being nice. Imagine being jealous of a fucking child. Actually suck in that shame like a juice box, 'cause that is PATHETIC. Jealousy is legitimately not a healthy thing to have, especially over something like roleplay, and when you actively guilt trip or shit talk them just 'cause of that, that's even more pathetic. And hella possessive. Good luck being possessive when the muns aren't interested in your oc to begin with lmao.
They also chased off somebody after stalking them for a full on year, as I've been told, which from people saying "that explains a lot" when I said who they were, that's...unsettling. Not surprising, but unsettling. And they're suspected to be another individual named Skye. I dunno if that's true but that's why I say "suspected."
TLDR; Please for your own sanity, block @phoenixissims and report them for their harassment. Do whatever you can to keep them far away from you as possible. The Dragon Ball side of the RPC is not the only RPC they've harassed over the years, so it isn't their first rodeo with being annoying and creepy. Do not waste your time with a message.
Now with all that out of the way, phoenixissims, go fuck yourself with a pitchfork, and everyone else? Have a nice rest of the month. I'm going back to my usual tomfoolery.
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maysoulrose · 2 years
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The Thief and The Moon chapter 3 | Skyrim fanfic
—————————chapter 3———————————
Allustria walks through the door she believes to be her destination. A cistern pool shows itself. She sees a group of people chatting at a bar. Taking in her surroundings, she discovers that this place is pretty run down. A bouncer is waiting by the sign that says ‘The Ragged Flagon’. Accurate. He gives her a stare, and lets her in.
She sees the man she met in the market and overheard him talking about her. The people he’s chatting with both glance at her direction and kind of look at each other.  She smirks and takes her place about a foot behind Brynjolf. 
“I bet she’s on her way right now!” He turns and narrowly misses crashing right into her! His face full of shock for a split moment just before he clutches his chest as if to prevent himself from having a heart attack. He mutters something to himself. Vex and Vekel begin cackling at him.
“I can’t believe you got scared like that! Surely you, of all people, would hear someone coming from a mile away! She’s not even trying!” Vex clutches her gut in laughter.
Brynjolf clears his throat and brushes himself off. He’s now in a set of leather armor, stained black, and covered in pockets and pouches. Allustria wanted to know what he kept in each one. 
“So, you made it! Color me impressed, Lass.” Choosing to ignore the clattering oafs behind him, and that he almost shat himself moments ago. “I knew I had a good feeling about you.” 
She smirked at him, finding him ignoring his embarrassment kind of adorable.
“Getting here was pretty easy… once I opened that damnable lock..” She muttered that last part, turning her head away. 
“Reliable and headstrong? You’re turning out to be quite the prize.” Her eyes flick up at him and he gives her a mischievous smile. She suddenly felt… shy, and could feel her cheeks warming from the way he spoke to her. His accent was unique to this place. She loved it.
“Well, are you going to show me around?” She said, coyly. Pushing through her shyness with ease. “Introduce me to everyone?” Allustria bites her lip with a canine and lets the sharp tooth drag across the pink flesh as it forms a smile. Brynjolf swallowed a lump in his throat from that cheeky little lip bite. 
“Er, of course!” Brynjolf sweeps his hand through the air as he twists around to face the two behind him, who had finally stopped laughing. 
“This here is Vex. Our best at break-ins. Vekel the man! He works the bar and is dating Our lovely fence down here.” Sitting at one of the tables, Tonilia looks up.
“Keep it in your pants, I’m not interested.” Seemingly only hearing that he had called her ‘Lovely’. 
“Yeah, Brynjolf.” Vekel scowled at his flirtatious remark.  Brynjolf puts his hands up and backs off. He winks at Allustria, who raises an eyebrow paired with a smile.
“Over here is Delv- hey! Where’s Delvin?”
“Last I saw ‘em he was passed out in the back.” Vex took her place, leaning against a stack of boxes with her arms crossed over her chest. 
“Ah. Too much mead from last night? Well. He’s the one to get you some jobs. Same with our little Vex here, if she has some to spare.” 
Allustria takes in the tiny area. A dock that was basically empty, nothing much but cobwebs and forgotten crates, apart from the bar. A few tables and chairs here and there. It was quiet. There was another door that led to more of the sewers and a little back room with a couple of beds, presumably where Delvin was crashing. 
“How about we get you your first job, then we can get you fully initiated.” Brynjolf touches the elf gently on her arm to get her attention back to him. She snaps her head to look at him in response.  The sensation tingled.  
“I have a couple of patrons who are late on their monthly payments, and need to be taught a lesson.”  He continued. 
“Got it.” Allustria flicked her wrists and two daggers appeared out of nowhere.
“Woah there! Not so fast, Lass!” A little bit of panic washed over him, “We need them alive. In fact if you could do this without any bodily harm, that’d be preferred.”
Allustria squints her eyes a bit, feeling a little suspicious of their ways.
“The way things work down here is, if they’re dead, they can’t pay us. Keep that in mind.” He placed a hand on her wrist and lowered the weapon. She stared at him for a moment.
“….Alright.” Almost sounding disappointed.  Brynjolf breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing at first how trigger happy she was. He chose to trust that she’ll abide by their rules unless proven otherwise. 
Allustria slides her daggers back up into her bracers. That made him wonder what she does with the blade attached to her thigh. 
“Tell me the targets and I’ll get it done.” 
—————————————-
Allustria took care of the jobs fairly easily. Keerava caved after learning that the elf knew about her family somehow. Helga denied paying but then changed her mind as soon as she saw Allustria eyeing her prized Lady Dibella statuette. Bersi, the shop owner, had no questions when he heard Brynjolf had a new lackey out intimidating people for their debts and gladly paid up. 
Evening had come. Brand Shei’s booth was empty, most everyone was packing their wares up for the night and heading to the Bee and Barb or Haelga’s bunkhouse. Just finishing Brynjolf’s request, she decided to go right back into the sewers. Thanking her past self for lowering the bridge, so she didn’t have to go the long way again. 
Upon entering the flagon, Allustria immediately notices a jump in activity. Quite a few more people had arrived, enjoying mead and each other’s company. 
“Well, well, well, aren’t you a beaut’” A man with a shaved head was sitting at the table nearest her when she emerged from the shadows. His armor matched Brynjolf’s and he too, had a unique accent, but his was different.
“You must be the new recruit. C’mere, lemme get a look atcha.” He opened his arms and patted his thigh.
“Delvin, you’re drunk! Leave her alone!” Brynjolf yelled from his seat at the bar. But to everyone's surprise, Allustria took his offer and planted herself on his lap. She wrapped her arms snuggly around his neck and lowered her gaze to his. He was grinning ear to ear. 
“I’ll be yours for the night if you give me something worth my while. That is, if you can handle me.” Allustria soothed.
“R-Really?” He managed to say. Allustria smiled, revealing her slightly sharpened canines when she felt movement beneath her. Delvin was completely enthralled. 
“Mmm.” Allustria tilts his chin up with her fingers.  “Maybe some other time.” She swings her leg, lifting herself up with its momentum. He sat there in stunned silence, not noticing his obvious bulge.  
Laughter bursts from the crowd after witnessing her little show. Brynjolf gets up and greets her.
“So! I hear you got those errands done!” Making a mental note that she was quite the flirt. 
“Of course. Here’s the payment.” She hands it off. He gives her a proud smile.
“Everyone! Meet Allustria! The newest member of our merry little band of thieves!” He slips a hand around her waist and raises his mug, sweeping it through the air, spilling about half its contents. She felt incredibly aware of how forward he was with touching her. Even though she had just sat her rump on a complete stranger seconds before,  his tight grip on her side gave her butterflies.  
“Cheers!” Everyone Yells, clanking mugs and flagons alike. Vex hands Allustria a drink, who then clinks it against Brynjolf’s before chugging the mead down, herself. Letting her hand rest against his back for support. 
Throughout the next few hours, the party ensued. Allustria had an actual conversation with Delvin and tried to meet all the new faces. Sapphire, who was just gorgeous, Rune, who is sweet and really enjoyable to chat with, and Thrynn who used to be in a bandit group. Allustria didn’t get to talk much with anyone else before Brynjolf took her aside.
“I think it’s about time I show you what we’re really about.” Leading her to the back. He takes a side glance at her over his shoulder, and opens up the dresser in front of them. The whole cabinet unfolds and reveals a secret entrance. Allustria’s eyes spark up with obvious excitement! Brynjolf smiles and takes a step inside, turning and offering a hand. She takes it, stepping over the lip of the door frame and follows him through another door a few feet away.
Behind it reveals a massive opening. Two waterfalls are spilling down the walls, a large pool of water in the middle of the room with stone bridges meeting in the center. Beds circled around the curved walls, as well as tables, archery targets, and an alchemy table. There was no one there, apart from a man perched at a desk covered in maps and loose paper. He notices them arrive and meets them at the center of the pool, moonlight from above showered down on them. 
“Allustria, This is Mercer. The leader of the guild.” Brynjolf introduces. Mercer looks her over.
“Brynjolf assures me that you’ll be of use. I hope that’s true, for your sake.” Mercer barely even looks her over. Brynjolf clears his throat and glares at him, nudging him a little. “Oh and uh. Welcome to the guild.” 
Brynjolf turned and smiled at Allustria, but it faded when he saw her face was as stern as a rock. 
“And since you seem so capable, I already have a job for you.” Mercer continues to give her the details of breaking into the GoldenGlow Estate which sits on its own private island in the lake just outside the walls of Riften. 
“Are you sure?” Brynjolf takes him by the arm and turns him away, for a more private conversation. “Even our little Vex couldn’t get in.”
“You say that this ‘Allustria’ is promising, let her prove it.” 
Brynjolf struggled to think of an argument. Mercer turns back to the elf.
“I’ll get it done.” She says, not needing him to say another word. 
chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5
read it on the fanfiction site
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nickgerlich · 1 year
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Looking Into The Crystal Ball
There are more than three months on the calendar remaining until Christmas, and analysts are already making predictions about the most important aspect of the holiday: How much money we spend. Because—you know—any religious significance takes a back seat.
And the forecast, while in the positive direction at least, is not anything to write home about. Auditing and consulting firm Deloitte predicts that sales will increase by only 3.5% to 4.6%. While that may sound impressive, recall that the current rate of inflation is roughly 3.7%, and rising oil prices are bound to make it inch higher.That’s another way of saying that holiday retail, once accounting for inflation, will likely be flat compared to last year. And last year’s increase was 7.6%, at a time when inflation was running at about 8%. In other words, last year was flat as well.
And if sales are flat, it signals that consumers are not all that confident about their economic situation. In fact, “flat” means they are actually buying less overall compared to two years ago, yet spending roughly the same in inflated dollars. Gift recipients either received less in material items or gift card gifts, or—worst-case scenario—old Uncle Joe didn’t get anything.
There is one eyebrow-raising prediction, and this one is not bad in terms of the economy. It might cause BAM retailers to be a little more nervous, though, because the e-commerce component of holiday sales is predicted to jump between 10.3% and 12.8%, to the tune of total online sales somewhere between $278 billion and $284 billion. This one component is growing faster than the rate of inflation, meaning it is worth watching.
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I did the math. Deloitte predicts that e-commerce will account for about 18% of all retail sales this coming holiday season. Nearly one in five dollars. Well, I might be bringing up that prediction, because I suspect that least 80% of my holiday spend will be online, but that’s because I hate crowds and love convenience.
Of course, it may be just a little bit early to be making any kind of predictions. We all know from watching The Weather Channel that forecasts are educated guesses based on models that, no matter how good they are, still come packed with error terms. Look at the “cone of uncertainty” for any hurricane prediction, and you will see that it fans out steadily the farther out you go, which is usually only a week at most. Now remember that this holiday forecast is for more than 90 days out.
While I respect professionals like Deloitte, and am certainly not one to besmirch anyone with training and experience, the “cone” for holiday sales predictions may be a little too narrow. Too many things could cause sales to plummet, or grow. For example, if oil were to top $100 a barrel, that would mean an average national gasoline price over $4 a gallon. That would then cause prices of anything else that is delivered to retailers and to our homes to jump as well.
Furthermore, since labor and talent strikes are the new black, consider how little (if any) gifts those people will be buying if they are still striking in three months. For example, while the current UAW strike is technically only going on at three factories, if union bosses put all 146,000 members on the picket line, those people will only be earning $500 a week from the UAW strike fund. That’s not enough to pay even the most basic of monthly bills, like mortgage, car payment, and food.
Retail always hopes for good weather, because sunshine and mild temps mean we are likely to venture out more times, and the more we venture out, the more we might spend. Snowstorms keep us home and/or shopping online. Even restaurateurs and movie theaters like all that good weather, because we are likely to couple shopping with dining and entertainment.
But don’t ask me or anyone just yet what our spending mood might be like in 90 days. My mood today may not be the same mood I have come winter. Just like the three-month weather forecast I just saw on The Weather Channel is very promising, calling for significantly warmer than normal temps across much of the nation, there is no guarantee we’ll be running around in flip-flops here in Amarillo come Thanksgiving. Maybe, but probably not, to be honest. I’ve seen some pretty bad snows here in November, so I know it can happen. It’s just too early, and too many current predictors need to stay constant.
Ah, but it is fun anyway to extend the regression line into the future. I am guilty as much as the Deloitte people are. I studied more statistics than most people. I also know that once you get out too far, those models are about as good as the palm reader down the street.
Meanwhile, start pondering your holiday gift-giving list, and if you see any bargains come up in the coming weeks, grab them. That’s the real beauty of looking ahead, because if you wait until December to shop, you might just find yourself backed into a corner with no extra money to spend.That’s my prediction, and I’m sticking to it.
Dr “Making My List And Checking It Twice” Gerlich
Audio Blog
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classicquid · 1 year
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