#direct selling guidelines

[mlm-news-posts]

Direct Selling in India: An Overview of the Industry and its Regulatory Framework

Direct Selling in India: An Overview of the Industry and its Regulatory Framework

Direct selling is a business model in which products are sold directly to consumers, usually outside of a fixed retail location. This business model has gained popularity in India in recent years, with many companies choosing to adopt it as a way to reach out to customers and sell their products. The direct selling industry in India is regulated by the Direct Selling Guidelines 2016, which were…

[moonstruckme]

i recently started following you and i absolutely love your writing! you have such great talent!

no pressure at all and feel free to scream at me if this is out of your boundaries (i read ur guidelines so it shouldn’t be but you never know). I’m curious if you could write reader with literally anyone, just in denial that they like them. like she used to go out with really shifty guys and is just appalled that this person actually likes them

(this definitely isn’t self-indulgent at all….)

Thanks for requesting baby! (I would never scream at you lmao) I did this with dealer Eddie, hope that's alright :)

cw: weed, mention of transactional sex

dealer!Eddie Munson x fem!reader ♡ 1.5k words

Eddie’s grinning big when he opens the door to his trailer. He takes off his headphones, hanging them around his neck. You can hear Black Sabbath still playing from the speakers. 

“Hey.” His voice has a slightly raspy quality to it, and you wonder if he’s been singing or smoking. “You lookin’ for a fix, pretty?” 

You grasp the strap of your bag self-consciously, forcing a bouncy “yep” past your lips. Eddie’s got a way of saying things that makes you feel awkward and flighty, like your heart might lurch right out of your ribcage at any moment. It should be routine by now, but you’ll probably never get over it. 

Eddie only nods and opens the door further, inviting you in. He sets a hand on your back as you go by, and you try not to look as shy as the touch makes you feel. 

“Same as usual?” 

“Yeah, thanks.” You lean against the counter while he crosses the room to the drawer where he keeps his stash. 

You’ve been coming to Eddie for years now. You weren’t exactly friends in high school but you were always friendly, and every time you leave his place you’re freshly shocked by the realization that you actually really like him. You appreciate that he keeps it business. Well, as business as anything can be with Eddie. Flirting is just part of the package, but he doesn’t try to smoke your stuff after he sells it to you and doesn’t seem to expect anything other than money in return. Shitty as it sounds, a dealer like that can be hard to come by in your experience.

“I’ve been missing you, sweet thing,” he says, taking out a big zip lock bag of bud and a smaller one to portion yours into. “Thought you might’ve found someone else to keep you happy.” 

You don’t respond for a second, and Eddie’s head tilts up from where he’s picking through the bag, eyebrows going up in intrigue.

“I was seeing this guy for awhile,” you say, looking sideways out the window. “He got pre-rolls from someone else, and he’d let me have them sometimes.” 

“Well shit, I can roll for you if it’ll keep you coming over.” 

You look at Eddie in surprise. He grins at you, jutting his chin towards the couch. 

“Sit down, I’ll get you set up.” 

“You don’t have to do that,” you say. 

“Gotta keep my favorite customer happy, don’t I?” You don’t move, and his smile softens into something more genuine. “It’s no problem, just sit down. Tell me about this guy. Does he treat you right?” 

You follow directions, going to sit on the less saggy and dingy-looking of the couch cushions while Eddie bends over the counter across from you. “Not really,” you say indifferently. As if thinking about it doesn’t send a dull ache blooming through your middle. “We aren’t together anymore.” 

Eddie glances up at you, something odd flitting across his expression. “That sucks,” he says bluntly. “I’m sorry. I mean, it sounds like he sucked, so I guess I’m not sorry that it’s over even if I’m sorry that you’re sad. Are you sad?” 

A little laugh startles out of you. “Not really,” you say, and it’s halfway to honest. You’d been sad to break up with him, but Eddie is right; he sucked. You’re not really sad it’s over either. 

“Good.” He nods, appeased. “Thought I’d have to go beat someone up or something.” 

You snort, and Eddie’s mouth drops open in offense. He looks back down at the roll, sticking his tongue in his cheek as he shakes his head.

“Feels like you’re not taking my threat of vengeance super seriously.” 

“No, I am,” you laugh. “I am, it’s just—you don’t seem like someone who wins a ton of fights.” 

“Ah!” He clutches a fist over his heart, looking at you in absolute betrayal. “So little faith! I’ve fought worse monsters than your jilted beaux, okay?” 

You roll your eyes. “I’m guessing it’s a little different in real life than in your game.” 

Eddie pauses for a half a second, and you wonder if you’ve gone too far in your teasing, but then he bends back over the table, bringing the paper to his mouth. “Right.” He runs his tongue quickly across the roll. “Well, anyway, I have a spear in my garage if you want me to give it a try.” 

You smile at the thought of Eddie jabbing his (in your imagination, plastic and nerdy) spear at your most recent ex. 

“Thanks, but I think I’m good,” you say. 

He shrugs. “Your loss. I’d have taken off my shirt for the battle, but I guess you’ll have to get that show another time.” 

You laugh, crossing your legs as he starts on another roll. “Hey, you don’t actually have to roll all this,” you say. “I won’t stop coming to you.” 

“I don’t mind it,” he replies, packing the next with easy, practiced movements. “Unless you’re in a rush or something. Do you have to go?” 

“No, I’m…I’m good.” You’ve never spent this long at Eddie’s place before. It’s usually that you show up, he gives you a bag, you pay, and you leave. You’ve never taken much time to survey the trailer, the way Eddie moves around the cramped furniture with such ease or the way the windows let in just enough light to make his skin look softer and his eyes browner. “You can leave half of it, though, if that’s okay. I’ve still got a bowl at home.” 

“Whatever you want.” He keeps his focus downward, ringed fingers moving carefully. “You know, I’ve actually kind of missed having you come around.” 

“You said that already.” You tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, smiling even though he’s not looking. “I told you I’ll keep coming back, Eddie, you don’t have to butter me up.” 

His gaze flicks to you, eyebrows rising on his forehead. “I’m not,” he says.

Something about his tone has the hairs raising on the back of your neck. You keep intentionally still as a slight chill goes through you. 

“I like hanging out with you.” He shrugs, looking back at his roll. “Would you want to hang out again soon?” 

You hesitate. “I…don’t think I’ll be needing any more for a bit.” 

“Well, ideally you wouldn’t be here to buy.” 

For a second, you’re confused, and then realization and dread collide in your gut with enough force to make you nauseous. The disappointment is more potent than either of them. 

“Oh.” Maybe Eddie isn’t so different from the other dealers you’ve had after all. “Um, I just feel like I’ve always paid in cash…” 

Eddie’s eyebrows furrow, and then his entire face contorts. “Christ—no.” He drops the finished roll, holding up his palms as if to ward you off. “Not that! Ew—I mean—” His hands go to his head. “—not ew, like you’re not ew, I just—gah.” He drops his head back, and his fingers disappear into his hair, making fists. He looks almost pained. “I like you. Like, I’m not trying to have sex with you right now. Not that sex wouldn’t be cool—we could if you wanted to—but that’s not what I’m getting at.” 

He blows out a big breath, hands dropping to his knees, and looks you in the eye. 

“Can we just forget about the weed for a second?” he asks, sounding nearly desperate. “I’m trying to ask you on a date. Not to get you to fuck me for drugs.” Your mouth drops open, but Eddie keeps going. “And if you don’t want to go out, that’s totally cool. Very respectable, honestly. It doesn’t have to affect anything.” He presses his lips together. “I didn’t mean to say you were ew. I’m sorry.” 

You’re too shell-shocked to even laugh. You have whiplash. But now he’s looking at you with his big eyes all expectant, and you feel like you have to say something. 

“A date?” you ask. 

“Uh, yeah.” He leans against the counter, looking a bit awkward but somehow all the more endearing for it. “Like, to the arcade or maybe dairy queen or something—I don’t know, you can pick.” 

“And you…don’t want to have sex.” 

“I don’t not want to have sex,” he clarifies. “But, uh, we don’t have to at all. Like, only if you want to, and definitely not if you think it’s some sort of…” Eddie winces “...transaction.” 

You nod slowly, and now there’s a smile tugging persistently at your lips. “That sounds good,” you say. “The date part.” 

“Yeah?” His head picks up. “Really?”

You smile. “Yeah. Are you sure?” 

“Am I sure?” Eddie guffaws. “Yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure. I’m getting a much better deal here. But no take-backs,” he says quickly, and his grin widens when you laugh. “Are you free tomorrow?” 

“Um, yeah.” You think for a second, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve got nothing tomorrow.” 

“Great.” Eddie presses his lips together like he’s trying to contain the full scope of his smile. He pushes his fingers into the countertop. “Okay, forget everything from today. I’m gonna be such a fucking gentleman when I pick you up tomorrow, you probably won’t even recognize me.”

[stjohnstarling]

Full text of article as follows:

Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals. 

The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation we’ve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platforms’ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent.

The internal documentation details a messy and controversial process within Tumblr itself. One internal post made by Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, states that a query made to prepare data for OpenAI and Midjourney compiled a huge number of user posts that it wasn’t supposed to. It is not clear from Gage’s post whether this data has already been sent to OpenAI and Midjourney, or whether Gage was detailing a process for scrubbing the data before it was to be sent. 

Gage wrote: 

“the way the data was queried for the initial data dump to Midjourney/OpenAI means we compiled a list of all tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023, but also unfortunately it included, and should not have included:

private posts on public blogs

posts on deleted or suspended blogs

unanswered asks (normally these are not public until they’re answered)

private answers (these only show up to the receiver and are not public)

posts that are marked ‘explicit’ / NSFW / ‘mature’ by our more modern standards (this may not be a big deal, I don’t know)

content from premium partner blogs (special brand blogs like Apple’s former music blog, for example, who spent money with us on an ad campaign) that may have creative that doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t have the rights to share with this-parties; this one is kinda unknown to me, what deals are in place historically and what they should prevent us from doing.”

Gage’s post makes clear that engineers are working on compiling a list of post IDs that should not have been included, and that password-protected posts, DMs, and media flagged as CSAM and other community guidelines violations were not included.

Automattic plans to launch a new setting on Wednesday that will allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and internal documents. A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states that “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.” 

404 Media has asked Automattic how it accidentally compiled data that it shouldn’t share, and whether any of that content was shared with OpenAI. 404 Media asked Automattic about an imminent deal with Midjourney last week but did not hear back then, either. Instead of answering direct questions about these deals and the compiling of user data, Automattic sent a statement, which it posted publicly after this story was published, titled "Protecting User Choice." In it, Automattic promises that it's blocked AI crawlers from scraping its sites. The statement says, "We are also working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what our community cares about: attribution, opt-outs, and control. Our partnerships will respect all opt-out settings. We also plan to take that a step further and regularly update any partners about people who newly opt out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training."

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?”

Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believepartners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.” Automattic did not respond to a question from 404 Media about whether it could guarantee that people who opt out will have their data deleted retroactively.

News about a deal between Tumblr and Midjourney has been rumored and speculated about on Tumblr for the last week. Someone claiming to be a former Tumblr employee announced in a Tumblr blog post that the platform was working on a deal with Midjourney, and the rumor made it onto Blind, an app for verified employees of companies to anonymously discuss their jobs. 404 Media has seen the Blind posts, in which what seems like an Automattic employee says, “I'm not sure why some of you are getting worked up or worried about this. It's totally legal, and sharing it publicly is perfectly fine since it's right there in the terms & conditions. So, go ahead and spread the word as much as you can with your friends and tech journalists, it's totally fine.”

Separately, 404 Media viewed a public, now-deleted post by Gage, the product manager, where he said that he was deleting all of his images off of Tumblr, and would be putting them on his personal website. A still-live postsays, “i've deleted my photography from tumblr and will be moving it slowly but surely over to cylegage.com, which i'm building into a photography portfolio that i can control end-to-end.” At one point last week, his personal website had a specific note stating that he did not consent to AI scraping of his images. Gage’s original post has been deleted, and his website is now a blank page that just reads “Cyle.” Gage did not respond to a request for comment from 404 Media. 

Several online platforms have made similar deals with AI companies recently, including Reddit, which entered into an AI content licensing deal with Google and said in its SEC filing last week that it’s “in the early stages of monetizing [its] user base” by training AI on users’ posts. Last year, Shutterstock signed a six year deal with OpenAI to provide training data.

OpenAI and Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment. 

Updated 4:05 p.m. EST with a statement from Automattic.

[elixirfromthestars]

A Rainy Rendezvous

Pairing: Steve Rogers x CIA!Reader

Summary: On a rainy night during a mission in Poland, you "bump into" someone who held a very important place in your heart in the past.

Word Count: 3.6k

Warning(s): brief mentions of CIA operatives / a bit of angst / a sprinkle of fluff / the one that got away vibes / mentions of being followed / mentions of a gun / stays within the marvel guidelines of action + fighting

requested by @espinosaurusrexex

a/n: Hello everyone! ❤️ Thank you for being so patient with me on these requests! ❤️❤️ Life has been very hectic lately between starting an internship, being a senior in college, and my dog passing away...it's been a lot. 💔 I’ve mentioned this before, but many of the requests are close to being done. I only have a few final touches and edits to add, so look forward to that in these upcoming weeks! ✨

sequel drabble 🤎 // birthday bingo masterlist 🤎 // main masterlist 🤎

“ I’ll check out the other location tomorrow. For now, I’m calling it a night,” you hung up the call, the simple click relieving some of the tension in your shoulders. Most days as an agent were tedious, but today had been another extreme of it entirely. Your informant double-crossed you, causing your undercover identity to be potentially compromised. 

You spent the majority of the day chasing dead-end leads as to where your informant had gone to hide away. The soles of your feet ached and the rainy chill of the night was bringing in no added comfort. You buttoned up your denim jacket, stopping the icy wind from seeping itself further into your chest.

You walked the unfamiliar streets of Kraków in the general direction of the hotel you had been stationed in. As exhausted as you were, it was your first time in Poland and it was small opportunities like this one where you could take in the beauty of the countries you worked in.

After your wasted efforts of the day, you weren’t going to waste a second of this.

You weren’t alone on your nightly stroll. Locals and tourists alike bustled about, enjoying what the city had to offer—despite the weather. 

You passed by multiple local businesses and restaurants before stopping at one of the stalls near St. Mary’s Basilica. An elderly couple was selling braided bread and mulled wine. Your Polish needed some work, but you knew enough to keep up in conversation with the couple. 

Their presence was the right kind of warmth for a night like this. They bickered in a way only old married couples did. The kind of back-and-forth friendly matches you can only have with the love of your life. Little simplistic arguments ending in tight hugs and peppered kisses.

They reminded you of the time you had loved so intensely to the point of considering—for the first time in your life—growing old with someone. You pushed the memories away, deciding there was no need to revisit ghosts from the past. You could do that at some other time. 

You excused yourself, taking your bread and mulled wine, and continued your route in the opposite direction of where your hotel was located. The saltiness of the bread dissolved on your tongue while the mulled wine left you in delightful confusion as you tried to decipher the ingredients within it. There were hints of apple cider, cinnamon, and a citrusy fruit. 

You decided to enjoy your treats and what you had left of this peaceful night while you still could. 

In your field of work, being on high alert every second of an operation is crucial. In many instances, it could mean life or death for any of the parties involved. The best agents in the organization could detect danger from the most peculiar places. 

You were one of them.

You realized you were being followed the moment you stepped into St.Mary’s Basilica. Within the shadows of the night, there was one in particular that stayed trained on you. Since the uncertainties arose over whether or not your undercover identity had been compromised, the person following you could be anyone. 

As to not raise suspicion, you kept your pace the same and continued to savor your treats as if you were any other tourist. Internally, your alarms were ringing and you were trying to locate the best place to have an advantage over your pursuer, so you wouldn’t end up being cornered by them in case a confrontation occurred. 

The rain was only but a drizzle now, and the moon was high in the sky. The more you walked the fewer people there were around you. Many of the businesses you had passed earlier were now closed and you realized it was likely you might end up in a position where you were left alone in the night with the mysterious stranger hot on your trail.

This stranger was now using the roofs of the buildings across the street to continue his pursuit of you. You had to admit that was clever of him and if you had been any other agent you might not have noticed.

Your only option now was to go on the offense before the man—you had concluded was a man from his broad silhouette—ever got a chance to.

You discarded the remnants of your Polish delicacies in a nearby trashcan before dashing over to the other street, underneath the building the stranger was standing on. You knew he could either maneuver his way to the tops of the buildings on the other side of the street or decide to meet you at the bottom.

You were hoping he would meet you at the bottom. 

The building you had run to had an intricate pathway aligned with arches all across it. You used the columns of the arches to make your way to the side of the building where you would be able to get a better view of which direction the man would decide to go. If you used the shadows from the columns made by the city lights and the moon, you would be able to sneak up on the man and have the upper hand. 

  Of course, the gun hidden on the inside of your jacket would help with that as well.

You bent down and angled your body so you had a clear view of the street while still keeping yourself hidden. Adrenaline began to make its way through your body giving you the added energy you would need in the fight. 

You concentrated on the noises around you, causing you to pick up on incoming footsteps. They were light, letting you know this person must be highly trained for them to know how to mask their steps. If it weren’t for the sporadic puddles on the ground from the rain, you might not have heard them. 

You weren’t sure what organization you were dealing with, but you knew you had to be as careful and calculated as you could. Due to the possibility of your undercover identity being compromised, the person after you could be from one of many organizations you had crossed in the past.

The steps were inching closer, and yet, there was no sign of the man. You could have sworn you chose the best location to spot him, but it seems you were mistaken. Your only choice now was to concentrate on the direction his footsteps resounded from and pinpoint his location with that. 

From the sound of it, he was just to the left of you and merely a few feet away. With every inching step he took, you realized it was now or never to act. 

“ Don’t move any closer! Identify yourself!” You sprung up, pointing your gun directly at the man. He was using the shadows of the night to hide himself as he approached you, so it was difficult to distinguish his features from where you stood. 

The man froze, his hands slowly raising to a peaceful stance, “ I figured I shouldn’t have snuck up on you, Y/n.” You faltered for a second at the sound of his voice and your name dropping from his lips. It was as familiar as a déjà vu was. In your heart, there was a memory of it and yet you couldn’t pinpoint when was the last time you had heard it. 

Perhaps it might have been when he broke your heart. 

Or maybe when you had broken his. 

“Steve?” His name dropped from your lips in a whisper. A part of you thought you were losing it. Had you been so lonely these last couple of years that you were now projecting your last lover onto random strangers? 

The man stepped into the light confirming what your heart already knew. The man who had been hiding in the shadows and following you was your ex-boyfriend Steve Rogers. Although, this Steve in front of you was foreign to you.

He had grown out his beard and his hair, which was now a darker shade of blonde than you remembered. From what you could see, his face and hands were adorned with new scars and scratches untouched by your hands. There was also a gloominess behind his blue eyes he couldn’t hide away.

He dawned on a black leather jacket as opposed to the brown leather one you were used to. You had borrowed that jacket many times in the past as it became a comfort to you whenever he was away on a mission. It always smelled of his sandalwood aftershave and the smoky bergamot cologne you had given him on the first Christmas you spent together. 

It became his signature scent and you loved it.

However, the Steve in front of you resembled nothing of the Steve you once loved. How much had his life changed in the years since the two of you broke up? How much had it changed him? 

“ Hey…it's been a while,” he spoke up cautiously, glancing over at the weapon in your hand before looking into your eyes. You lowered it slowly, feeling as though you were in a dream, “ Yeah, it has. Last I heard you were in big trouble with the United Nations. Technically, I should be arresting you right now.” You said the last part in a playful tone hoping to ease the tension between you.

The night seemed to have gotten colder ever since he stepped in front of you. 

Thankfully, easing into things was the right call as a small smile appeared on his lips, “ Technically, you're right, but you would have to catch me first,” he pointed out. 

“ Oh, that would definitely not be a problem,” you boasted. 

“ Half of the Avengers tried and failed,” he informed you, holding back what looked like a somber yet smug expression.  

“ Yeah, but I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve not even Tony would think of,” you stated confidently, placing your gun back into a pocket on the inside of your jacket. Now that you no longer needed it, you didn’t want it to hinder the pleasant mood that was now finding its place between you. 

“ I’m sure you do,” he responded, a fond look adorning his features. You were sure you had a similar expression, as you ruminated on past memories of playful exchanges with Steve. Many ended in far more romantic exchanges than this conversation would.

Getting past what once was, you needed your curiosity satisfied,“ What brings you to Poland anyway? And why were you following me? I don’t know how they did it in the 1940s, but in modern times we use a thing called a cellphone when we want to contact an ex,” you teased. 

He laughed at that, a sound you recognized all too well. It made you realize that although the Steve in front of you was different, you still knew him. Deep down he still had to be the man you had fallen in love with. 

There was a conflict of emotions stirring within your heart as a result.

“ Okay, I get it. Like I said, I shouldn’t have snuck up on you. I just thought you wouldn’t want to see me,” he confessed before continuing, “ Those of us who didn’t sign the Sokovia Accords are on the run. We’ve been moving to a new city every few weeks. Right now we’ve been stationed in Kraków for two and are relocating to Tarnów next week. Sam told me you were on a C.I.A. mission here and I had to come see you before we left,” he admitted, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish manner. 

You couldn’t blame him for coming to see you. At this point, you would have to hold yourself back from “bumping into him” in Tarnów. 

 “ Sam told you? How did he know?” You asked, still not seeing the full picture. Steve cleared his throat before speaking, “ Vision was a big help with that. Between him and Sam, they were able to rework an old laptop to pick up on different signals and monitor specific ones we chose. It was by chance he picked up on a phone call you were having with an agent named Clarke a few days ago,” he explained, causing your confusion to dissipate and in its place discomfort made a home.

Knowing that what Steve said was true, that meant that Sam and Steve had heard the very awkward and uncomfortable conversation you had with your mission partner Agent Clarke a few days ago. 

Clarke had taken an interest in you ever since you were first partnered up on a mission a few months back. You never had taken a similar interest in him and always kept things professional. Unfortunately for you, this caused Clarke to think you were “playing hard to get” and this ensued a plethora of attempts to charm you.

His latest attempt was a few days ago where he insisted on your undercover identities being a newly wedded couple having their honeymoon across Europe. You politely declined and were grateful your mission supervisor disagreed with the idea as well. The conversation was overall uncomfortable and to outsiders it could have insinuated there was something going on between you and Clarke. 

The outsiders in question here, unfortunately, were Steve, Sam, and anyone else in their group who had heard the conversation. You were mortified, to say the least.

“ Oh, you heard that? About that…,” you trailed off not knowing where to start. 

Steve shook his head,“ You don’t need to explain anything. I get it. You moved on and you have every right to. This whole moving on thing, I just—I still feel like I’m stuck in time sometimes and I can’t help revisiting the past,” he stated sincerely, his eyes wandering to the ground. He frowned at it, searching for something else to say.

At the same time, his statements had brought you out of your embarrassment long enough to register what he had said. 

“ Surely you’ve moved on?” You asked him, not comprehending if you had interpreted what he said correctly. 

It took him a moment before he got the courage to lock eyes with you,“ Have you?” 

You paused, not having a straight answer to his question. Before meeting him today to anyone else you would have said you had—even if deep down you knew it wasn’t the whole truth.

You broke up with him months before the whole Ultron disaster and since then you haven’t looked at another man with romantic intentions. 

You couldn’t count that as moving on. 

Your mouth parted, but no words came out. You were still unsure of what to say. Your heart was jumping out of your chest trying to answer for you and the look he was giving you was making it impossible not to give in and let it. He was pleading with his eyes, a hopeful shimmer that maybe somewhere within you there were still feelings for him lying dormant waiting to be awakened. 

His gaze made it difficult for you to think, so you averted his eyes and looked down at a slightly large puddle on the ground. It was the only thing separating the two of you, with both of your reflections lying inside of it. You stared at the reflections, hoping to collect your thoughts better this way. 

You could see him shuffling uncomfortably through the reflection,“ I think a part of me always knew you had. I should’ve known when you didn’t respond to any of my letters,” he continued, taking your body language as confirmation you had moved on. 

At his revelation, your eyes shot up and locked on him, “ You wrote me letters?” 

He looked taken aback by your surprised expression, “ I did. Every month for a year after we broke up. There was a lot I still had left to say—and that I wanted to say to you. When I didn’t get a reply back I assumed you wanted nothing to do with me,” he admitted, his expression softening. 

You were gutted at the mental image of Steve waiting nervously to hear back from you only to receive silence in return. You spiraled at the thought of what could have been if you had read just one of those letters. Truthfully, your breakup with Steve was unwanted on both ends. However, due to the pressure and demands both of your professions required of you, you grew apart. 

For months, you were lucky to catch a glimpse of each other on the weekends before receiving your next mission or task. Evil didn’t stop, so the good guys couldn’t either—and the Avengers took up almost all of Steve’s time. The loneliness of the constant nights alone waiting for your boyfriend to come home became too much for you.

So much so, that you ended things when loneliness turned into resentment. There was only so much the mind could understand before the heart took over. 

You boiled it down to right person, wrong time. 

“ I never got them,” you finally spoke up, “ If I had, Steve, I promise I would have called you. Right after we broke up I was stationed in London for a year and I rented out my apartment to a young couple. They never told me of any letters,” you explained, feeling betrayed by fate and your tenants. 

Steve gave a chuckle, one laced with disbelief at the situation, “ No, it's on me. Letters are kind of old school, aren’t they? I should’ve picked up the phone and called you.” He shouldered the responsibility, something only Steve would feel the need to do. 

You disagreed, shaking your head at him,“ The phone works both ways, so it's on me too. And I like old school. There’s a charm to it you can’t find anywhere else.” 

You hoped the deeper meaning of what you said would get across for Steve to understand. 

It seems it did, as a comfortable silence fell between you. You stared at one another, searching for your past selves in each other's eyes. There were so many questions and things left unsaid that were waiting to be discussed.

You were eager for him to confess to you everything that was written in the letters and he was just as eager to hear your response to all those unanswered questions he had sent you more than a year ago. 

As neither of you could decide who would get the conversation started, fate decided to intervene once more. However, fate this time went by the name of Sam and his little bird-like drone Redwing.

When you spotted it approaching you, your hand instinctively placed itself on top of the gun hiding on the inside of your jacket. Upon seeing your reaction, Steve bolted over to you and placed himself in front of you as protection. The action caused your heart to flutter.

As soon as Steve spotted Redwing, his guard went down. 

“ Don’t worry about the drone, it’s Sam’s. I think that’s his way of telling me I need to be heading back,” he informed you, your guard dropping as well at the explanation. 

“ I should be heading back too. I have a lot of investigating to do in the morning,” you pointed out. 

“ Want me to walk you back?” Steve asked you in a way that gave you full control over the decision. 

As much as you wanted him to, you had to decline, “ I want to say yes, but you can’t. The hotel I’m staying at is heavily monitored and you're on the run. It would be too risky. It’s safer for you and your group if you don’t go anywhere near it.” You were disappointed at the reality of the situation and from the look on Steve’s face so was he. 

“ I figured, but I still wanted to ask,” he took a step back, making you realize how close you two had gotten when he rushed over to protect you. There was no longer a large puddle of water in between, and if you reached your hand out you would be able to touch him. 

“ Steve, that old laptop can track down any signal right?” 

“ From what I understood, yes. Why?” 

“ Well you have mine now, so I’m counting on you to keep in touch,” you let him know before planting a quick goodbye kiss on his cheek. His beard was scratchy against your lips, but you were surprised to find out you didn’t mind it.

He was stunned for a moment before a grin quickly replaced it. 

“ I will. I promise,” the sincerity in his tone and expression was all you needed to walk away knowing the story wouldn’t end there. 

“ Goodnight, Steve.” 

“ Goodnight, Y/n.”

How lovely it was to hear those words again.

The next day a package was delivered to your hotel room containing a burner phone inside and a note that read: 

I always keep my promises. :) 

The phone contained only one number on the contact list you soon found out belonged to Steve. Throughout the course of the next two weeks in Poland, you spent every night talking on the phone with him. 

You both poured your heart out to one another. Your losses, your fears, your hopes, and any other topic that came to mind. There was so much to catch the other up on that there were never enough hours in the night to get through it all. 

With every conversation, the connection you once had was slowly building itself again. A little over two years had gone by since your breakup and the people you had become since then were getting to know each other once more. 

Maybe now the timing was finally right. 

[that-ari-blogger]

A Special Kind of Hypocrisy (Stayed Gone)

If you have been following my blog for a while, the fact that I take issue with the rules of writing will probably not be a surprise. I think that there are generally accepted guidelines, but these are tools and the best stories use them in unexpected ways.

“Put your readers in the action,” Darksouls is phenomenal and most of the stuff in that story has already happened. “Make your writing flow,” Turtles All The Way Down goes out of its way to feel jagged in order to portray the discomfort of its protagonist’s mind, and that is a book that shattered me for a solid week and a half.

“Show don’t tell”. That one is tricky. If an audience sees something, they are more likely to believe it, so it isn’t a tool for good writing, it’s a tool for making writing feel real. If it’s played straight, it can evoke a feeling of safety and trust, or can evoke emotions in a reader that are difficult to achieve otherwise. If subverted, this idea can present unease, deceit, or even hypocrisy.

Let me explain.

CONTENT WARNING: Not much in this one, but a standard warning because of the show I’m analysing. Gore, foul language, etc. Read at your own peril.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Hazbin Hotel, The Family Plan)

I feel like clarifying everything I am about to say with the fact that tropes aren’t bad, and that subverting everything doesn’t make for good writing. Stories are about using what you have to build something, and if that something is just a box you can put things in, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

For example, The Family Plan is a perfectly fun movie that I really enjoyed, and it doesn’t push any boundaries at all. It’s just got Mark Wahlberg playing a cooler version of himself and some road trip shenanigans crossed with a spy thriller. It doesn’t invent at all, but its tightly written, well shot, and genuinely quite funny.

I think we look at art these days from an overly critical fashion, evaluating how it contradicts tradition or makes a point that will be remembered for generations, and some stories are aiming for that, but some just want to be a fun ride, and that’s ok.

Some stories, however, want to be controversial, and want to ask questions. Most notably in this context, Hazbin Hotel.

Hazbin Hotel’s selling point is that it dissects morality on an intrinsic level, and part of this is done by the character of Alastor, whom is objectively a villainous character, but who serves as a protagonist for the majority of the season.

Alastor has a song in the pilot, but because I’m not covering that for my own reasons, let’s talk about his musical introduction to the actual series, Stayed Gone.

This song introduces Alastor as a villain, but not an especially powerful one, and I feel like that’s kind of the point. Alastor certainly has an ego, but he’s a parasite. He works by twisting people’s intentions into benefiting him. He’s a schemer, a talker, a forger of Faustian bargains. This song sets up what kind of evil Alastor works with, and it isn’t brute force.

This is exemplified by the music choice, in that Alastor doesn’t add anything at all to it. This is Vox’s song; Alastor just changes the direction a little.

From that perspective, this song depicts Vox more than Alastor, and explores how he causes his own downfall with the barest of inputs from his ex. Remember what I said in the start about show don’t tell? Let’s observe it in action.

Starting with the runup, because this feels heavy, right? It feels like someone is marching with that Mortal Combat style of walk that lets you know they mean to mess someone up. This sound is implicitly threatening.

Part of that is that it is so calm. There is nothing going on here, no fancy movements or anything of the sorts. The base line is the same two notes played an octave apart on repeat. It’s an A then an E played twice, then a few lower notes that rise higher before resolving back to that E. It's like the creature is taking a breath as it moves. A big, lumbering breath for a massive creature. It feels steady and adds variation.

Meanwhile, the higher chords are exactly the same as each other. A Major repeated four times, then the bottom two notes shift down by a semitone each, to throw the listener off balance.

But its more than that, right? These notes make you feel unsafe, there is intrinsic malice to the steadiness. I sent a friend of mine who knows music better than I do a message to try and work this out, and they mentioned that the higher notes give add suspense, which I think serves to make the bass part feel even heavier by comparison. They give you a moment to weight for that strike, like pulling back a bow string, and they give you something higher to contrast that low tone.

Then we get Vox’s singing voice. He’s been talking and vaguely rhyming up to this point, but now we get a song.

Also, there's a drum now. You would think this creates cohesion, but its offset, adding to that feeling of unease. It matches the second note of each bar to further accent the force of that first step by giving it some backwards force, then the same drum plays twice, once off the beat, once back on. Again, we’re lurching.

But notice how Vox’s sentences interact with the bars. Vox is the only thing that messes with the standard rhythm established by the backing music. Where everything is the same beat repeated each bar, Vox talks quickly for a bar then regains composure.

This is enjambment, linking ideas between thoughts and giving vox momentum. Now that weight has direction behind it, and judging by his word choice, that being the repeated use of the pronoun “you”, that direction is towards you.

Skipping ahead for a moment, I’ve found a ton of disagreement in the online sheet music for this song as to whether there is a tempo change for when the TV goes live.

If there is, you could analyse it and point out how it portrays the superficiality of Vox as a person and how he presents as someone less in control of himself when on camera. Maybe there is a question of which the real Vox is, the composed version or the manic newscaster. Maybe.

On the other hand, maybe there is nothing there, and I am going to wield executive privileges gained from this being my blog and go with my favourite one, this one. (I also used this one, for the record, I just prefer the first)

The score I followed gets so much more complicated once the television starts going, and so do the visuals, honestly. Everything about Vox gets so much more complicated, every joke is earning your attention like a TikTok, terrified you’ll look away. This is how advertising works on YouTube by the way, at least the adds that have to contend with the skip button. They compress everything into five second chunks because they need your full focus.

There are a few jokes in here of note. I would be foolish to not mention the venison pun, but none of them are of particular importance, which paradoxically makes them extremely important.

Notice here, he presents two versions of himself. The purpose of a conversation is to have two different perspectives come together, even if they are similar. But this is the same guy pretending to be varied.

Nothing that Vox says means anything at all. It is all one liners and insults, there is nothing going on behind those eyes, and that is exactly the point. He is all talk, no show.

Vox says he’s powerful, he says he will mess up Alastor’s day, his music makes you feel scared, and yet he is empty.

There is a disconnect between what he tells you and he shows you, which is made even more obvious by his obsession with Alastor. Everything he is saying is “Alastor doesn’t matter, he’s insignificant, meaningless, that’s why I wrote this song to tell him as such.” It’s like an ex who is insisting the breakup hasn’t affected him.

Which, side note, sets Vox up as the type of villain who doesn’t respect boundaries. He’s a stalker obsessed with someone who will not reciprocate his affection.

Vox is the personification of those “I can fix him” twitter incels that view sexuality as a challenge to be overcome. He’s one of a triumvirate of chronically online villains, and trust me, there are people out there in real life who are worse than him.

In his watch through and analysis of Hazbin Hotel, @ohnoitstbskyen posited the idea that, since Alastor doesn’t sing his own song at any point in the actual series, we don’t get any moments of interiority. I would like to politely disagree.

Alastor’s entire deal, as presented in this show, is being a Machiavellian schemer. Like I said earlier, he’s a parasite. What we learn about his interiority here is that he doesn’t ever bother to create, he just steals and repurposes.

It’s that thing about Alastor where the show doesn’t tell you what he wants, it just shows you how he works as a person and how he moves towards his goals.

Case and point, here Alastor just takes Vox’s song and makes it his own, offering questions about Vox’s strengths and pointing out the hypocrisy. Although it's interesting what Alastor choses to highlight, because that does shed some interiority.

“Is Vox as strong as he proports? Or is it based off his support? He’d be powerless without the other Vees”

In other words: look at this guy, he has friends that he relies on.

Now, the Vees are awful human beings, Valentino especially but Vox isn’t too great either. But by far their least bad trait is the fact that they support each other. Again, they are cruel, vile entities, but they are cruel vile entities together.

To my knowledge, Vox doesn’t ever deny that he is working with others, or even obfuscate that knowledge.

It would seem that Alastor, in his attempt to criticize his opponent, has revealed something about himself. That sounds a bit hypocritical to me.

Speaking of which, Alastor is entirely hypocrisy. He spends the entirety of the series talking a big game about how strong and powerful he is, but he never actually demonstrates that. He turns off the electricity in the city, but that’s not strength, that’s flicking a switch. He makes threats, and yet doesn’t back any of them up.

“You still pissed he almost beat you that time?”

“Almost” is a key word in that question, it would seem Alastor has a bit of an ego problem.

Which leads me back to the concept of tell don’t show, because if you don’t show your audience something, they don’t trust it. Alastor and Vox are paired up because they both keep talking and proclaiming their intimidation factor, and yet neither of them actually demonstrate any power beyond that which is normal.

Yes, they mow down mooks, but so do Angel Dust, and Husk, and Sir Pentious.

Before I finish up, I want to talk a bit about how performance can affect personality, and with that I want to contrast a cover with the original.

This is a cover by Annapantsu, Cami-cat, and Chloe Breez. I highly recommend checking it out.

But I want to note how different the acting choices are to the original. I’m not saying one is better, I’m saying they are different.

First, Anna’s version of Vox is so much wilder than the original. Like, the version in the actual series rockets between emotions like a greyhound on skates, but when he is in control, he usually has that malevolent smile that tells you he enjoys messing with your perceptions. I don’t think Anna’s version of the character would ever smile except in that forced, news presenter way. This character seems permanently unbalanced and making only the barest effort to present as otherwise.

She also seems like a more active character than the original, who can only react to Alastor’s advances. This version of the character might make an appearance in a later episode beyond the gratuitous dad-watching-the-big-game commentary of the final fight. Maybe she rocks up to the hotel while Charlie, Vaggie and Alastor are on their quests for allegiances in order to just menace the characters in a way they are completely unprepared for.

Meanwhile, all that posturing has been put onto Alastor. Who has one main difference in performance, but one that shakes up the rest of the song. This version of Alastor is put together, just like the show. She’s casual and almost disinterested, just like the show. She’s detached and hands off, just like the show. Until that final verse.

Then she growls, and that little break in character implies that this version is concealing a much more physical menace. The best way I can put the difference is this: For the original version, it seems like transforming is an effort and something that he becomes. For this version, I think the transformation is Alastor’s natural state, and it is taking every fibre of her being to hold together the façade of civility.

Final Thoughts

I despise the concept of genre, and this is actually a good example of why, because… what is this song? Is it pop? Is it rock? Is it jazz? You could argue it is anything, but I would argue it doesn’t matter.

This song is fun, that’s all that matters. It sets up two villains, one of whom I think could have used more screen time in the series, but ho hum, and the other who got so much screen time and yet remains so mysterious.

Next week, I’ll be covering It Starts With Sorry, and I am genuinely shocked by how many people don’t like that number. I think it’s great. Stick around if seeing me argue that point interests you.

Previous - Next

[ranticore]

sorry if you've answered this before, but why were harpies engineered? i understand the motivation behind the sirens/phocids, but if the planet is covered by mostly water, what was the motivation behind the harpies?

Flight is a faster way to cross large distances than swimming, and (for longwings) far more efficient.

But that's not really why sirenian harpies came to be. They were a vanity project by someone making a bid to take over the corporation from the inside. He wanted to prove to potential investors that he had a unique selling point, a bold new direction in genetic engineering. He used very new technology to bless a basic winged human form (something that had been done before) with two new and untested features: feathers, and a genetic bottleneck eliminator. Essentially the first generation of about thirty individuals had the genetic diversity of thousands and crazy complex dna that meant each harpy had a hundred more harpies worth of dna in there and the one that was expressed (ie the phenotype) was entirely random.

Although this could have a use case in, for example, conservation science or de-extinction programs, it was not considered a mature enough technology to use on humans. Also it was considered (when used on humans) a potential vector for abuse - there was a concern that engineers would take this technology as carte blanche to linebreed modified humans now that there would be no risk of inbreeding depression, or create modified species with extremely low initial numbers (official guidelines were that if you're trying to create a population you must have at least x number of unrelated pioneer individuals etc - the fact that there was only one Ishmael was also a huge rule break lol you're not supposed to make a one of a kind human). This is why they had to hide away on Siren to try this technology on humans.

The feathers were related to this genetic randomiser effect - a very visual display showing that the offspring of a given pair could come out with an unlimited variety of markings, colours, and patterns, no longer dependent on what the parents look like. In essence the offspring is so genetically distinct from the parents that they wouldn't even ping as related on a paternity test.

Anyway it didn't work because the investors didn't like the sirenian harpies and didn't back the guy who made them

[hadrassians]

reopening comms, terms of service and additional information under the cut!

reblogs are super appreciated! direct message me if you're interested or have any questions 🦔 :)

Type of commission: As of right now, I only sell digital art commissions. Clients will receive a digital file of the artwork in .png format via email at 300 dpi. No physical copies of the piece are included.

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Please include several visual references of the desired subject and a description (body type, pose preference, lighting, mood, face claims, etc.) Feel free to include pinterest boards if you have any!

I can draw: humanoid/human OCs, pets, tasteful nudity, mild gore/injury, fanart, and ship art.

I will not draw: furries (I'm just terrible at drawing them unfortunately), mecha, explicit nsfw, or extreme gore.

Limited number of changes can be made at no additional cost during the WIP and sketch phase.

Commission may take up to 4 weeks. Client will be notified of any delays.

Simple backgrounds included at no extra charge, complex backgrounds start at $30.

+50% base price per extra character

Prices may vary with complexity

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Commissions cancelled during sketch phase will be refunded 50% of the amount you've paid. Cancellations made after sketch phase will not be refunded.

Full refund will be granted if I cannot complete the commission for any unjustifiable reason.

[wickedlyqueer]

Do you think it's possible to make Gelphie canon in the musical using no changes to the script and only direction/actor shenanigans? I feel like a goodbye kiss (like in the book) would work just fine?

Hmmmmmm. Honestly?

No.

Here's the thing. The limit of no script changes makes it really hard to make a coherent story out of Wicked-but-with-a-single-gelphie-kiss. (also - directions are technically also part of the script, so as an actor you get guidelines, but you can't strain too far from it or the whole story collapses).

The whole story would collapse in this case if you make gelphie canon, without ever acknowledging it afterwards. Say, you have them kiss right in the middle of Defying Gravity. This is what I did in Wickedly Queer Animated.

But without ANY script changes, Elphaba's motivations feel so goddamn off.

Why is she still going to find Fiyero?

Why does she run off with Fiyero?

Why does she abandon Oz together with Fiyero?

By all accounts, those actions should now revolve around Glinda. Otherwise Elphaba would feel like such a fucking bitch? Leading on Glinda, while simultaneously ditching her for Fiyero. That'd be pretty fucking shady (and considering how musical!Elphie can do nothing wrong uwu, that's a hard sell to the audience, who is otherwise 10000% rooting for her).

There is, of course, the alternate take to have gelphie kiss at the end of For Good. This already works a lot better, because it's so late in the story, it'll feel a bit more like a bittersweet goodbye kiss, without uprooting the entire story, like the DG-kiss would.

BUT.

Now you made Fiyero even more of a dick than the musical already made him!!! By having Glinda and Elphaba kiss during for good, it sets Elphaba up for also having romantic feelings for Glinda. So when she begs Fiyero that she "wished she could tell Glinda that they're alive".

And Fiyero says. No.

????????? MOTHER OF ALL RED FLAGS. YOU JUST MADE FIYERO INTO A JEALOUS BOYFRIEND WHO CAN'T HANDLE HIS GF EVEN LOOKING AT OTHER PEOPLE!!!!!

Who is like. "You want to see Glinda? Who you also have romantic feelings for? No. Absolutely. Fucking. Not. We're shutting that shit down. You're mine and mine alone. AND I'M ROBBING YOU OF YOUR CHOICE TO A ROMANTIC PARTNER. I am the one you're going to be with forever. Forget her. She's saving Oz. She can't know. Nobody can. Not if we want to survive."

SO. He sets Elphaba up for a non-choice. It's either being with him and survive. Or be with Glinda and die.

Welp. I know what I would choose in that situation, and it's not the healthy option, because survival instinct will cut even a bad deal if it means not dying.

So without any script changes can gelphie become canon? No. Not if you want the story to make sense, at least.

With a few script tweaks however? Yeah. Real fucking easy. Wickedly Queer was exactly that thought experiment and now whenever I see the musical I get all surprised-pikachu when they don't follow my homebrew gay version that I - humbly - consider the superior version lmao.

[procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics]

Game of Thrones Masterlist

my requests for Game of Thrones are currently OPEN! i love this series so much, and would love to write fics/imagines/etc for pretty much any character!!

hmu to be added to any taglist!

main masterlist | request guidelines

OC: Alethia Stahl (Woman of the Watch AU)

Woman of the Watch -  relationships: jon snow x oc, sansa stark x oc | summary: When Alethia Stahl is thrown into the world of Game of Thrones, she's super excited to be part of the fictional world she adores so much. That is, until she realizes how shitty medieval times actually are. | tags: fluff, smut, timetravel, crack (started out as it), angst

An Unlikely Friendship - relationship: grenn & oc | summary: part of the WotW universe;  He cannot be sure who she is - but she reminds him of his sisters, so he feels like he must protect her. | tags: angst, fluff, timetravel

What if...? Woman of the Watch Edition - summary: Alethia fell into another world and made a bunch of choices - some better, some worse. But what if things had gone differently? What if Alethia had made other choices?

WotW Memes

oc masterpost - tags: inspo, contains spoilers

Sequel: Hand turns Loom - keeping the summary a surprise to avoid spoilers :) | can be read as a standalone!

Jon Snow

Sold to One Direction??? - relationships: none | summary: crackfic!! evil Mistress Catelyn sells Jon to 1D | tags: crack

[starleska]

I'm not gonna lie, you're really convincing me to start writing/drawing/animating Y/N x Wally Darling stuff...

You have great concepts and the simp in me is being fed and I love it AHEGAJAGAJA I just worry that there's a chance that Clown had advised against it and I've yet to see that in a post somewhere in the past. But seeing as you're enjoying writing all the Reader x Wally Darling stuff with no worries (good on you btw!), it's all okay right?

/nm /gen

hey there Laurs!! aww, thank you very much 🥰💖 i love getting messages from people inspired by my fanworks, it makes my heart all fuzzy!! just a little endless cycle of good vibes and creativity :3c now, the bulk of your ask is a tough one to answer!! i know i've posted a lot of fanworks for Welcome Home, but at the end of the day, i'm just a fan like anyone else, trying to do my best to respect Clown's wishes. honestly, given the chance i would love to talk to them and ask these specific questions that a lot of fans have been firing in my direction. i have reached out, but understand those messages have likely been drowned under thousands of others!!

so @partycoffin, on the off-chance you're reading this: i hope you're doing well, and taking care of yourself in this terrifying, exciting time!! thank you for sharing your lovely world with us - we're all just so in love with your characters and universe 🥰💖 if you'd like to talk, please feel free to reach out. it would be great to know that you're okay, and i'd be happy to field any questions you have about your bustling new fandom (who have been destroying my own notifications for the past two weeks!!). it may be presumptuous of me, but perhaps having an inside look on what questions fans have might help make this explosive growth seem a little less scary. however, there's no obligation to reply - we're thankful all the same :3c

as far as i am aware at the time of writing this post, i don't think Clown has any problems with Wally x Anon/Reader/Y/N fanworks...or at least, i haven't come across any sources stating so.

the big thing that (if i'm understanding the guidelines correctly) is that Clown doesn't want us to be putting any NSFW Welcome Home material into the main tags. we have to remember that Welcome Home has blown up very quickly, and Clown deserves a chance to breathe and adjust to all this success before laying out those boundaries (if he wishes!). that's why, although i do write NSFW for other fandoms i'm refraining from doing so for Welcome Home until stated otherwise. i can't imagine how stressful it must be dealing with so many notifications, people impersonating, trying to sell their work, exhibiting invasive and creepy behaviour...on top of the overwhelming demand for new Welcome Home stuff. i think as fans we should just vibe and play in our own little bubbles without stressing them out too much, and adjust when we receive new information. for instance, i didn't know when i made my Wally Darling edit that they were uncomfortable with non-canon art being associated with the main game. i've since reached out to see if i should take the video down with no reply, and went with the consensus of a group of fans i asked for the opinions of - to leave it up until asked otherwise. pretty much - i don't think Wally Darling x Anon fanworks contravene the guidelines that Clown has given us so far. they aren't inherently NSFW, and i'd hope that anyone who is making NSFW fanworks is tagging appropriately, as is the courteous thing to do. i'm of the opinion that fans are going to do fandom things, and there's always going to be folks making adult-oriented works, and that's okay!! but i'm also always happy to respect the wishes of the creator in terms of how they'd like that work to be tagged and presented. i think Toby Fox did it best when he first suggested the 'Undertail' tag for NSFW works - a real stroke of genius that i see lots of fandoms still using today. again, do take this with a grain of salt! i don't know Clown, and very few of us do - we're just all interpreting his words in vastly different ways, and that must be terrifying to deal with; thousands of people getting very angry or very sad because they think they can or cannot do a specific thing they never actually said. it's not anyone's fault that Welcome Home blew up so suddenly and there wasn't time for precautions to be taken, but it is the fault of those fans who are overstepping boundaries and need to re-examine their relationship to this art. it sounds like you're good to go on making those animations, and i would personally love to see them 🥰 thanks again for being so sweet about my silly headcanons!! it's honestly been quite scary adjusting to the amount of attention, but please know i'm grateful and appreciative of every ask, reply and message that comes my way 💖

[eretzyisrael]

by Fuzzy Slippers

And it wasn’t enough for Abuhamdeh to just break off and do her own thing, so now she and a handful of Hamas-supporting Girl Scout troop leaders are actually demanding an apology from GSA and a change of the organization’s national policy that permits fundraising for “humanitarian aid.”

Fox 2 reports:

A group consisting of Girl Scout troop leaders and other advocates is pushing the Girl Scouts organization to issue a public apology to a St. Louis troop that disbanded last week and to take a stance in support of children in Gaza, among other demands. The former troop’s adult leader, Nawal Abuhamdeh, says the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri warned her of legal action over a fundraiser plan to sell bracelets and donate money to a Palestinian children’s relief fund. . . . . In previous emails with Nawal, the local branch cited concerns that the fundraiser was political, partisan, and against Girl Scout policies. Nawal’s troop has since disbanded from Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts of the USA organization offered a statement on Tuesday, noting that they “sincerely regret any hurt” caused by developments leading up to the warning. Officials described the situation as “a learning moment for our organization.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Missouri branch considers the statement a “positive first step” in addressing the situation. Nawal feels it wasn’t good enough. During a roundtable Zoom conference on Thursday, Nawal says the former troop’s girls, which included two of her daughters, “feel discouraged and unheard by Girl Scouts because no statements have been [directed] towards us, and our questions [about fundraising for causes in Gaza] were still unanswered.” “Their silence is very loud to us,” said Nawal. Tasneem Manjra, an adult leader for a northern California Girl Scouts troop also on the conference call, said, ‘To us, it looks like the Girl Scouts are backtracking because they got called out.” . . . . “The Girl Scouts celebrate young women finding their voices on causes they care about. Our council recognizes Troop 149 for identifying the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and creating a fundraiser to help. Our troops have always had the ability to support causes they care about, within the guidelines published by Girl Scouts. This has never been about the cause, but rather meeting Girl Scouts’ governing documents and maintaining our tax-exempt status. We were in communication with Ms. Abuhamdeh for several weeks and provided her with multiple options to find a way to continue the work, which are still available to this troop. We are sorry that Ms. Abuhamdeh chose to disband. We would welcome them back to the Girl Scout family.”

And of course they have a list of “demands.”

[thethief1996]

Even if Israel concedes to a ceasefire, construction materials are still considered dual usage items and barred from Gaza under the blockade. A ceasefire doesn't change the fact there's a 40 mile long wall fencing Gaza by land and sea which Israel has extensively used to starve and corner Palestinians. A ceasefire doesn't change the fact that Israel has turned hospitals into the sites of mass graves. A ceasefire is the bare minimum. Even while we discuss ceasefire, Israel destroys and bombs kettled Palestinians in Rafah, the only route for Gaza not controlled by the occupation.

Will the assassins simply go home? Will preachers sell pilgrimage trips in their churches and the murderers will walk us through occupied Jerusalem while they subdue Palestinians and Armenians out of sight? Is that what peace looks like? A world in which an army has the power to kill so many parents and children and siblings at whim with no repercussion?

I keep thinking of Rachel Corrie's letter to her mother, in which she argues so wholeheartedly in defense of the resistance: "This is not at all what I asked for when I came into this world. This is not at all what the people here asked for when they came into this world. This is not the world you and Dad wanted me to come into when you decided to have me. This is not what I meant when I looked at Capital Lake and said: “This is the wide world and I’m coming to it.” I did not mean that I was coming into a world where I could live a comfortable life and possibly, with no effort at all, exist in complete unawareness of my participation in genocide." I beg you to read it in full.

Rebuilding Gaza is not fully possible under Israel. The return of refugees is not possible under Israel. Justice for the martyrs and the survivors can't happen under Israel, because acknowledging the size of the violence commited is to admit Israel should not exist. How come Israel can execute hundreds of public workers and our newspapers hazily dismiss it because they were Hamas workers? Can you imagine if hundreds of government workers were slaughtered in your city and the local news dismissed the tragedy because they worked for the government which has ties to... the ruling party? This attempt to cloud our judgements and to cause apathy is transparent. The New York Times had a memo decrying any words that might cause sympathy to Palestine. Their goal is to desensitize us.

We have to do everything in our power to stop normalization. Deny as loudly as you can this insidious narrative that others Palestinians. We can't call ourselves free if we can't make changes. The occupation is a gaping wound in our world and we can't live in ignorance.

Donate to a vetted fundraiser to help families escape Rafah. Ask your friends to match your donations. Help save these lives.

If you have Israeli citizenship and wish to denounce it, a group of Jewish anti zionists have organized a guide on how to.

Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:

Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency, Mondoweiss

Boycott Divest Sanction Movement

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing protests and direct action against weapons factories across the US

Muhammad Shehada (twitter)

Hind Khoudary - reporting directly from Gaza.

You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. BDS explicitly targets only a few brands which have bigger impact. You can stop consuming from as many brands as you want, though, and by all means feel free to give a 1 star review to McDonalds, Papa John, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Starbucks. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting the following:

Carrefour, HP, Puma, Sabra, Sodastream, Ahava cosmetics, Israeli fruits and vegetables

Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)

If you can, participate in direct action or donate.

Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London.Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing direct actions to stop the shipping of wars to Israel. Follow them.

Find your local BDS chapter on this website and check out the ways to help them.

Columbia students are organizing in coalition with Jewish Voices for Peace to divest from Israel. Support them if you are on site.

Educate yourself. Read into Palestinian history and the occupation. You can't common sense people out of decades of propaganda. If your arguments crumble when a zionist brings up the "disengagement of Gaza", you have to learn more.

Read Decolonize Palestine. They have 15 minute reads that concisely explain the occupation (and its colonial roots) and debunk popular myths, including pinkwashing.

Read on Palestine. Here's an amazing masterpost.

Verso Book Club is giving out free books on Palestine

Call your representatives.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls, here's a document that autosends emails to your representatives and here's a toolkit by Ceasefire in Gaza NOW!

FOR PEOPLE IN EUROPE: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace targeting the European Parliament and one specific for almost all countries in Europe, including Germany, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Belgium Romania and Ukraine

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails. London Students for Palestine is also organizing encampments across Britain.

FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine

FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada. You can also email Ottawa Municipality asking for an amendment to the noise bylaw that's been used to target pro-Palestine protests.

Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

Palestinian Youth Movement's Canada chapter is organizing buses for the Nakba Rally on May 11th in Toronto, which you can sign up to here.

Another global calendar (go to the instragram of the organizers to confirm your protest)

USA calendar

Australia calendar

Feel free to add more.

[govindhtech]

UNC5537: Extortion and Data Theft of Snowflake Customers

Targeting Snowflake Customer Instances for Extortion and Data Theft, UNC5537 Overview. Mandiant has discovered a threat campaign that targets Snowflake client database instances with the goal of extortion and data theft. This campaign has been discovered through Google incident response engagements and threat intelligence collections. The multi-Cloud data warehousing software Snowflake can store and analyze massive amounts of structured and unstructured data.

Mandiant is tracking UNC5537, a financially motivated threat actor that stole several Snowflake customer details. UNC5537 is using stolen customer credentials to methodically compromise Snowflake client instances, post victim data for sale on cybercrime forums, and attempt to blackmail many of the victims.

Snowflake instance According to Mandiant’s analysis, there is no proof that a breach in Snowflake’s enterprise environment led to unauthorized access to consumer accounts. Rather, Mandiant was able to link all of the campaign-related incidents to hacked client credentials.

Threat intelligence about database records that were later found to have come from a victim’s Snowflake instance was obtained by Mandiant in April 2024. After informing the victim, Mandiant was hired by the victim to look into a possible data theft affecting their Snowflake instance. Mandiant discovered during this investigation that a threat actor had gained access to the company’s Snowflake instance by using credentials that had previously been obtained through info stealer malware.

Using these credentials that were taken, the threat actor gained access to the customer’s Snowflake instance and eventually stole important information. The account did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA) activated at the time of the intrusion.

Following further intelligence that revealed a wider campaign aimed at more Snowflake customer instances, Mandiant notified Snowflake and potential victims via their Victim Notification Programme on May 22, 2024.

Snowflakes Mandiant and Snowflake have notified about 165 possibly vulnerable organizations thus far. To guarantee the security of their accounts and data, these customers have been in direct contact with Snowflake’s Customer Support. Together with collaborating with pertinent law enforcement organizations, Mandiant and Snowflake have been undertaking a cooperative investigation into this continuing threat campaign. Snowflake released comprehensive detection and hardening guidelines for Snowflake clients on May 30, 2024.

Campaign Synopsis According to Google Cloud current investigations, UNC5537 used stolen customer credentials to gain access to Snowflake client instances for several different organizations. The main source of these credentials was many info stealer malware campaigns that compromised systems controlled by people other than Snowflake.

As a result, a sizable amount of customer data was exported from the corresponding Snowflake customer instances, giving the threat actor access to the impacted customer accounts. Subsequently, the threat actor started personally extorting several of the victims and is aggressively trying to sell the stolen consumer data on forums frequented by cybercriminals.

Mandiant Mandiant discovered that most of the login credentials utilized by UNC5537 came from infostealer infections that occurred in the past, some of which were from 2020. Three main causes have contributed to the multiple successful compromises that UNC5537’s threat campaign has produced:

Since multi-factor authentication was not enabled on the affected accounts, successful authentication just needed a working login and password. The credentials found in the output of the infostealer virus were not cycled or updated, and in certain cases, they remained valid years after they were stolen. There were no network allow lists set up on the affected Snowflake client instances to restrict access to reliable sources. Infostealer Mandiant found that the first infostealer malware penetration happened on contractor computers that were also used for personal purposes, such as downloading pirated software and playing games. This observation was made during multiple investigations related to Snowflake.

Customers that hire contractors to help them with Snowflake may use unmonitored laptops or personal computers, which worsen this initial entry vector. These devices pose a serious concern because they are frequently used to access the systems of several different organizations. A single contractor’s laptop can enable threat actors to access numerous organizations if it is infected with infostealer malware, frequently with administrator- and IT-level access.

Identifying The native web-based user interface (SnowFlake UI, also known as SnowSight) and/or command-line interface (CLI) tool (SnowSQL) on Windows Server 2022 were frequently used to get initial access to Snowflake customer instances. Using an attacker-named utility called “rapeflake,” which Mandiant records as FROSTBITE, Mandiant discovered more access.

Mandiant believes FROSTBITE is used to conduct reconnaissance against target Snowflake instances, despite the fact that Mandiant has not yet retrieved a complete sample of FROSTBITE. Mandiant saw the use of FROSTBITE in both Java and.NET versions. The Snowflake.NET driver communicates with the.NET version. The Snowflake JDBC driver is interfaced with by the Java version.

SQL recon actions by FROSTBITE have been discovered, including a listing of users, current roles, IP addresses, session IDs, and names of organizations. Mandiant also saw UNC5537 connect to many Snowflake instances and conduct queries using DBeaver Ultimate, a publicly accessible database management tool.

Finish the mission Mandiant saw UNC5537 staging and exfiltrating data by continuously running identical SQL statements on many client Snowflake systems. The following instructions for data staging and exfiltration were noted.

Generate (TEMP|TEMPORARY) STAGE UNC5537 used the CREATE STAGE command to generate temporary stages for data staging. The data files that are loaded and unloaded into database tables are stored in tables called stages. When a stage is created and designated as temporary, it is removed after the conclusion of the creator’s active Snowflake session.

UNC5537 Credit Since May 2024, Mandiant has been monitoring UNC5537, a threat actor with financial motivations, as a separate cluster. UNC5537 often extorts people for financial benefit, having targeted hundreds of organizations globally. Under numerous aliases, UNC5537 participates in cybercrime forums and Telegram channels. Mandiant has recognized individuals who are linked to other monitored groups. Mandiant interacts with one member in Turkey and rates the composition of UNC5537 as having a moderate degree of confidence among its members who are located in North America.

In order to gain access to victim Snowflake instances, Attacker Infrastructure UNC5537 mostly leveraged Mullvad or Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN IP addresses. Mandiant saw that VPS servers from Moldovan supplier ALEXHOST SRL (AS200019) were used for data exfiltration. It was discovered that UNC5537 was storing stolen victim data on other foreign VPS providers in addition to the cloud storage provider MEGA.

Prospects and Significance The campaign launched by UNC5537 against Snowflake client instances is not the product of a highly advanced or unique method, instrument, or process. The extensive reach of this campaign is a result of both the expanding infostealer market and the passing up of chances to further secure credentials:

UNC5537 most likely obtained credentials for Snowflake victim instances by gaining access to several infostealer log sources. There’s also a thriving black market for infostealerry, with huge lists of credentials that have been stolen available for purchase and distribution both inside and outside the dark web.

Infostealers Multi-factor authentication was not necessary for the impacted customer instances, and in many cases, the credentials had not been changed in up to four years. Additionally, access to trusted locations was not restricted using network allow lists.

This ad draws attention to the ramifications of a large number of credentials floating throughout the infostealer market and can be a sign of a targeted attack by threat actors on related SaaS services. Mandiant predicts that UNC5337 will carry on with similar intrusion pattern, soon focusing on more SaaS systems.

This campaign’s wide-ranging effects highlight the pressing necessity for credential monitoring, the ubiquitous application of MFA and secure authentication, traffic restriction to approved sites for royal jewels, and alerts regarding unusual access attempts. See Snowflake’s Hardening Guide for additional suggestions on how to fortify Snowflake environments.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[simpjaes]

pls give writing, maintaining motivation tips?

im genuinely the last person to ask for writing, maintaining, and motivation tips.

i tell you, i am messy in my brain. I rely entirely on energy levels to write. If i have a lot of energy, i'll write 10k in a day. The very next day i might lose all that energy and not write for weeks.

so on that front, you're shit out of luck. I do not know how to maintain, nor do i know how to be motivated if I lose it. My brain either runs very fast or doesn't run at all.

Now for writing.

+ write a loose outline so you have a general direction to go in + write whatever you want and don't be super critical. you're the only one writing it, so the only guidelines you need to follow are your own (which is why i suggest a loose outline that can be changed if need be.) you can always remove or add stuff. + if you take multiple days to write one story, when i open my docs again to continue writing, i never go to where i left off. I, instead, re-read the entirety of what i've written and edit as i re-immerse myself in the story and headspace. not only is it easier to find mistakes and re-word sentences with fresher eyes, but more often than not it'll jog your mind so that way there's no shift in your writing when you do get to the point of continuation. + if you write it all in one day, give yourself some time away from it if you want to proof read it. if you don't proof read, post that shit. someone's gonna like it either way. + don't force yourself to write if you lose interest in the plot or if you made promises to strangers online. the best fics are the ones people self-indulge in, not the ones they force themselves to get through. idc what anyone says, people can tell when an author hates what they write. if you don't love it, if you don't want to write it, or if you simply need a break from it, do it. otherwise you'll still hate it after it's posted anyway. my number one rule in writing is that i do not owe anyone an orgasm or a plot that fits their specific needs. you get what you get because i choose to share it. never write for other people unless you want to. always credit an idea, and never sell yourself short of your hard work. there will be hate, there will be competitive writers mad that you're enjoying yourself, and there will be lots and lots of self-doubt. you have to remember you chose to write for one reason or another. don't replace that reason with some bullshit someone says to you. write what you want whenever you want. take as much time as you need, and don't treat writing as a job, because you're not getting paid for it.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Knitting Pattern Writing Handbook

By Kristina McGrath and Sarah Walworth

Well written, concise, easy to follow, and very thorough information that will be useful for those who would like to write patterns for hand knit creations. I started knitting when I was nine and have now over sixty years of knitting experience. My knitting has included creating a sweater using the measurements a body builder gave me, making baby blankets and scarves and sweaters and more. I remember my first cable knit sweater and the fact that the adult in charge did not have us make gauges so the sweater ended up being doll sized instead of something I could wear. This book in the hands of someone designing and writing patterns would be a blessing.

The seven chapters are clearly labeled in bold type with subheadings underneath. Each chapter has a checklist and Q&A at the end.

* Foundations of a good knitting pattern includes information on being correct, clear, concise and consistent then goes on to mention establishing your style

* Components of a pattern  starts with essential elements, moves on to formatting patterns, and ends with accessibility guidelines

* Gauge is essential and can make or break a knitting project. This chapter gives information on understanding what a gauge is, discusses the size of swatch to make for best results, and explains how to communicate gauge effectively to the person using the pattern you create

* Charts are something not always easy to use but then written directions that are not precise are also a problem. This chapter mentions knowing your knitters, make patterns accessible, make it clear, charts for round and flat knitting projects, stich count checks, number consistently, fit, and a few other things including that you ensure the chart is readable

* Sizing: good designs start with good sizing,  ensure accurate measurements, practice size inclusivity – this section is interesting and mentions including patterns for all sizes of people

* Common sweater pitfalls hits things like necklines and shoulders, armhole depth, body and sleeve lengths and girths, upper arm measurements, cuffs that fit – thinking about the measurements I neede to make the body builder’s sweater…those biceps, the neck, and the chest to trim waist proved a bit of a challenge but I felt accomplished when I finished

* Working with a tech editor provided good reasons for using a tech editor, the relationship you should create with the person and the best way to find and hire one

* Glossary, further reading, resources and appendices, acknowledgements and an index are at the end of the book.

The illustrations were hand drawn and perfect. Checklists easy to read. Q&A interesting and informative. I found the information on blocking interesting, too. This is not the book I thought it would be but I did enjoy reading it and found the information helpful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

Take your knitting knowledge to the next level with this helpful guidebook from two professional knitting tech editors that sets much-needed standards for writing clear, accurate instructions—perfect for those interested in writing and selling original patterns. Knitting patterns are notorious for inaccuracies in measurements and confusing directions—but no more!  The Knitting Pattern Writing Handbook  sets new standards for clear, accurate pattern writing, walking aspiring and experienced designers alike through each must-have component of a thorough, well-written pattern, including how to devise and present gauge, charts, and sizing information that is correct and easy-to-follow. With a focus on how to make patterns accessible to contemporary knitters—especially beginning knitters—this much-needed reference book is destined to become a classic in an industry that is beginning to professionalize after decades (even centuries!) of informal and home-based instruction. With 90,000 patterns being sold annually on the popular knitting community site Ravelry, there's a burgeoning group of indie knitwear designers eager for this guidance, provided by authors Kristina McGrath and Sarah Walworth, who host a monthly live broadcast on the technical aspect of knitting design.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

"The federal government is giving the CRTC new guidelines for regulating telecommunications companies.

It's the first time in 17 years that Ottawa has changed its directions to the arms-length body that oversees telecommunications in Canada. 

The previous guidelines issued in 2006 instructed the CRTC to "rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible," while the new ones place a greater emphasis on regulation.

"That didn't work, and that's gone now, thank goodness," said John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa.

The new directive aims to make it easier for smaller telecom companies to enter the market alongside national providers. This includes cell phone companies that buy access to the national providers' networks and then sell cheaper service to customers.

There are also guidelines about ensuring reliable service in rural areas, remote areas and Indigenous communities.

However, Lawford said he thinks the directive could have gone further in expressing that all Canadians have a "right" to reliable access to telecommunications services, regardless of where they live in the country."

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada