#edited to add that it didn't work this doesn't show up in search or in tags

[a-very-tired-jew]

Back to back scam asks from the same account showed up in my inbox. I'm always curious and clicked on the GFM and once again it's got all the red flags. First of all, the ask did the whole "Dear Humanity" thing. We know that's a red flag.

Second, it then says to click the GFM link or use PayPal. In the GFM the organizer says they will use PayPal to send the money. Red flag number 2 as it has been well established that PayPal does not work in Gaza or the Palestinian Territories. Even Al Jazeera says it doesn't work. Then we get to the fun nugget of the ahistorical revisionism.

This is clearly a bad copy and paste. The space on the second line only happens when you copy and paste some text that is formatted oddly and don't delete the extraneous spacing. Also, this is the exact same text multiple other scams have used on their respective GFMs. I even talked about this on another post where I first encountered this particular narrative. And let's be clear. This didn't happen. The Israeli response didn't happen in any significant manner until the 9th. They were literally still fighting in Israel proper, counting the dead, going through the wreckage of the attacks, and identifying bodies. This only seeks to change the well established timeline of events. It changes it from "We were the aggressors on October 7th and cheered on the actions that occurred" to "We were actually the victims and that attack never occurred, in fact we were attacked". That's blatantly and factually wrong, and the fact that people are falling for it or not calling out the blatant lie because "something something Israel bad" is horrific. But let's continue through the story we're given. Apparently one of the children was injured some period of time ago. We don't know when. We're told it was when they went to the south. Well that was a long time ago in the context of this war, and the pictures we're given provide no context. So either these injuries happened a while ago and have since been treated or they happened recently and have since been treated (but I'm also told there are no hospital in Gaza???). Yes, continuing and more specialized treatment outside of Gaza is often necessary. But the ask literally has none of the previous hallmarks of "here's what it will take to get out and get treatment" that we've seen previously and what is now common knowledge.

And here's the kicker, If you take the images in this GFM and reverse search them they link to multiple other GFMs using different organizers around the globe, but all with the same story. All of them have a variety of copy and paste edits, and many of them have pictures of other people from other GFMs interspersed throughout. So yeah, this was a very clear and obvious scam and once again adds to the ever growing pile of why we don't trust these accounts that continuously pop up and ask for money while attempting to pull at heartstrings.

[magicbeings]

How I added "instant translation" to the non-english text on my fic: a very easy 3 step guide

Hello!

I recently posted a Wolfstar fanfic called Instance of Happenstance and received a lot of compliments on a small piece of code I used. Both @marigold-hills and @leavesthatarebrown suggested I share how I did it, so here I am, finally explaining it in a Tumblr post!

Before diving into the details, I want to clarify that I didn't write this code myself.

Initially, I tried following this tutorial, but I stumbled upon a better solution in the comments of that post. The code on the tutorial itself does work, but a) it's harder to use and b) it doesn't work as well if you're planing to have multiple paragraphs that you need to show the translation on the same fic.

The solution someone presented on the comments, however, is very simple and easy to use for as many paragraphs as you need, but the explanation there wasn’t too clear, so I decided to expand on it to make it easier for others to implement.

All credit to Ao3 users La_Temperaza (who wrote the orginal post) and Nikkie2571 (who posted this code on the comments).

What Does This Code Do?

This code adds an interactive feature to your fanfic, allowing readers to hover over a specific paragraph (or tap on it if they’re on mobile) to instantly change the text to something else — also set by you.

While this can be used for various purposes, I think it's particularly useful to display instant translations of non-English dialogue/text directly in the story. The code offers a much smoother alternative to the clunky “see end notes for translation” thing—which, let's be honest, can be a pain for readers, especially in long chapters.

For example, in instance of happenstance, Sirius discovers an old journal written entirely in French. I wanted to maintain the sense of mystery and intrigue that would be lost if I simply said the journal was in French, but wrote the text in English.

This solution let me keep the best of both worlds—retaining the authenticity and the immersion of the French, while still making the story easy to follow for the readers.

Now, I know this sounds complicated, but I assure you, it's not!

Down bellow is a quick, 3 steps tutorial on how to do it. I hope this is helpful! (:

(I'm doing this on the computer, if you're doing it on mobile, the layout of the website might be different from my printscreens)

Step 1 - Create The Work Skin

I'm gonna go right to the point here, but if you want to know about Work Skins in detail, I suggest this Ao3 Article.

On your Ao3 Dashboard, click on the fourth link on the sidebar, which is "Skins".

Then, on the page that opens up, click on "My Work Skins"

Then, on the top of the page, select "Create Work Skin"

Now, you'll see the form to create your skin, which looks like this:

Leave the "Type" as "Work Skin". On the Title, you can give any name you want to your skin, but I suggest you choose the same title as your fic or something like "instant translation", so you'll know what it's about later.

You don't have to worry about any of the other fields, except for the CSS one, where you should copy and paste exactly what I'll put bellow:

#workskin .change_on_hover:not(:hover) .on, #workskin .change_on_hover:hover .off { display: none; }

So, now, you'll have something like this...

... and you just have to click "save" on the bottom of the page, and this step is done.

Step 2 - Apply the Skin you created to your fic

For a new work, click on "New Work" as usual. If it's a fic you're already posting, you can add this as well, just click the "Edit" button.

Now, on the form of your fic, on the "Associations" tab, right under the menu where you select the language of your fic, you'll see a "select a work skin" option.

On this field, you should select the workskin you just created on the previous step, searching by the name you gave it on the "Title" field.

Step 3 - Insert the text

The code we're gonna use is this one:

<p class="change_on_hover"> <span class="off"> paragraph in foreing language </span> <span class="on"> paragraph in english </span> </p>

If you have no idea what this means, hold my hand, we're gonna get through it together!

First, copy your fic’s text into the AO3 text box as you normally would. Then, switch the text box to HTML mode so you can see the underlying code.

Now, scroll down until you find the paragraph you want to translate. After pasting, it will likely look something like this:

Note how each paragraph in HTML starts with <p> and ends with </p>. These tags indicate where a paragraph begins and ends.

Our goal is to modify that first <p> tag so it tells the browser, “Hey, this paragraph is different from those other ones. It should change when hovered over or clicked.”

To do this, we’ll change <p> to <p class="change_on_hover">. This marks the paragraph as special—one that should switch text when interacted with.

Now note how instead of having a single paragraph, we need two versions of the text:

In blue, the original (non-English) text, which will be shown by default.

In red, the translated (English) text, which will appear when the reader hovers over or clicks on it.

For the original text, wrap it inside a <span class="off"> tag, ending with </span> like this:

<span class="off"> insert here the whole text of the paragraph in the foreign language </span>

For the translated text, wrap it inside a <span class="on"> tag, also ending with </span>. This will replace the original text when hovered over or clicked:

<span class="off"> insert here the whole text of the paragraph in english </span>

And don't forget to end the whole thing again with </p>

Again, here's how it looks on my fic:

With the paragraphs that come before and after the translated text, just leave them as they are. They should still start with <p> and end with </p>. No changes needed!

You can use this method for as many paragraphs as you want, whether in the same chapter or across different chapters. As long as the Work Skin is active, the effect will work seamlessly throughout your fic.

[stephaniebrownslover]

[Kieran Valentine Backstory Headcanons—Part 1/?]

Timeline: Him becaming a vampire and his first days as one

Okay so I was thinking about Valentine's backstory before everything, and I saw someone saying he was a war veteran (?) but when I searched for it, I couldn't find it anywhere.

So. I kindaaaa designed my own headcanon backstory for him and I swear I wasn't planning to add this much angst. (if I'm not exaggerating, this one is a bit angsty)

Anyways, this is suck and so OOC and I hateeeeee it.

Edit: omggggg why this shit is pure angst I HATE it, I wanted to make hurt/comfort with some cute moments, not hurt/no comfort and this took so that I couldn't add anything nice in it and this sucks:(((

Trigger Warnings: blood, manipulation, mention of death, self-hatred, general vampire themes

Note:

Monster High wiki says this about vampires

It also says this about Valentine

So I like to think he doesn't drink blood, that's why his eyes are pink :3

How he became a vampire

Valentine hated vampires with a burning passion. His father, who was his role model, who he wanted to be just like him when he grew up, died during a brutal attack by a vampire in hunger crisis when he was just 10 years old. Little Valentine, who witnessed this with his own eyes, hated vampires.

Until he turned 17, he began to kill vampires, who stole his life from him, by his own capabilites. Although he was still very young, he was hunting vampires without caring about what would happen to himself, thanks to his heart burning with hatred.

Of course, he wasn't as good at this as an adult, he couldn't even get close, but back then, Valentine's name was easily heard at the vampire council, since no one dared to do what would happen to them after killing a vampire. Most people didn't know the existince of vampires, and the ones who knee, were feared of them.

Stoker, who was assigned to take care of this business personally, decided to pay a visit to this novice hunter.

Completely headcanon: In order for a person to turn into a vampire, vampire blood must be mixed with their own blood.

There was a fight that lasted quite a short time, in which Valentine was deadly wounded. Stoker dropped his guard when he was about to suck the blood of Valentine, who was on the verge of death. Stoker had underestimated Valentine's hate too much.

Stoker's blood dripped on Valentine, who stabbed his sword into him just as the vampire's teeth were about to touch his neck. And Valentine, who does not know how people turn into vampires, was unaware that the vampire blood smeared on his open wounds would change his life forever.

He had turned into something he hated. He had become a terrible monster that he would have preferred to die a thousand times rather than to live as one.

He hated himself. He hated that his wounds healed so quickly, he hated some of his teeth fell out and new ones came out instead, he hated that his vision was getting better and better. He hated, hated, hated it.

But more importantly, he was afraid of himself.

Valentine, who started sobbing, did not know what to do. He was frozen. He had reached his hands to his teeth, trying to make sense of what was happening. But he couldn't even think of anything.

Valentine, who accidentally turned into a vampire, did not know what to do, he was in such a scared state that Stoker decided to show mercy for the first time in the hundreds of years he has lived and will live. The main reason for this was that he was quite impressed by Valentine's stubbornness.

However, of course, the older vampire would not deign to be nice to someone who did not have his own interests for no reason.

Stoker had agreed to take the young one between his poisoned arms in order to make him his henchman, who was charged with doing his own work. And there was no need for the boy who was standing in front of Stoker's, and disgusted with himself to know about it.

When Stoker bent down and held out his hand to him, Valentine looked at the gloved hand that was standing in front of him in tears. He did not know what he was supposed to do. He didn't know what was the right decision. Time had stopped for him, and it would never flow the same way again. At least, for him.

Stoker said a few sentences to convince him. But when he saw that Valentine was still looking at him with the same confused and undecided gaze, he was sure what he should say.

He told Valentine that he no longer had a place among people. He talked about how everyone would mention Valentine's name with pure hatred and not daring to approach him out of fear.

And he didn't forget to add that no matter how hard Valentine tried, he would always be subject to prejudice. The person who told him this was Stoker himself. Valentine could never be a part of society again.

As the tears that were slowly flowing from Valentine's eyes accelerated, Stoker knew that he had put his finger on the right point. He also talked about how Valentine didn't have to live like this.

If Valentine came with Stoker, he would be accepted among other vampires. No one would judge hin and hate him just because he was a strong creature. He would be free. And more importantly, he could be himself without being exposed to fearful eyes.

Valentine took the hand extended to him. And as he walked slowly towards Stoker's vehicle ahead, he left his old life behind along with his soul.

It was not going to be easy for him to adjust to his new life. He didn't know what kind of life awaited him when he got into a luxury car that he had never even dreamed of before.

At least he wasn't crying anymore, instead, hhe was just watching out of the window with curious eyes that they hadn't managed to take away from him. He was surprisingly calm as he watched his house, which he could never return to, disappear from sight every second.

The inside of the car was quiet, too quiet. The vampire, who had radically changed Valentine's life, gave his attention only to the book in his hand. Although he seemed to be paying no attention to his surroundings, Valentine knew Stoker could prevent him from making the slightest escape move. Valentine knew this because he could do the same thing himself now. His reflexes were highly developed compared to before.

When he entered the Council building for the first time, he felt some vampires' contemptuous, some vampires' curious, and others' only pity-filled stares on him. For the first time in his life, he had become the very centre of attention and strangely, he liked this.

Stoker took him to a room, and then said he could stay here until he was done and then they could go home.

So, Valentine did as what he was told until he learned every little detail in the room. And when there was nothing left that interested him, he decided to tour the council building.

He didn't expect to see the vampire who brought him here just as he opened the door. When they got into the car again, there was silence again, but this time it was the kind of silence that was uncomfortable for any type of creature.

Valentine had given all his attention to the road, which he could still see even though it was quite dark. That's why what Stoker said caught him off guard.

They also turned his mother into a vampire. Vampires cared about traditions, and being connected to each other was one of those traditions. Besides, their population had already decreased quite a lot and they needed new nobles. Of course, they couldn't make everyone they see a vampire, but they could turn a vampire's close family member who was still alive.

Valentine said nothing, he only blamed himself. His mother's life had been ruined by his own stupid stubbornness. Ruining the lives of everyone who was near him was probably the only thing he was good at.

They didn't speak at all the rest of the way.

Learning how to get fed

When Valentine first arrived, he was bombarded with intense teaching sessions. Vampires were noble and elegant creatures, so it was more important than anything that he received a proper education.

Fortunately, thanks to his sharp intelligence, he was able to understand his lessons quickly. In fact, he was learning so fast that if he continued like this, he might even go to the Vampire Academy next year.

Meanwhile, things weren't that decent between him and his mother. It wasn't good, but at least it wasn't bad. His mother wasn't angry at him or anything, she even thanked him for saving her life.

There was just something that Valentine couldn't quite put his finger on it. She was distant. She was cold, and it was as if she wasn't there even when she was with him. What had happened to his old loving mother?

His skin was cold. His skin was as cold as a dead person's and his heart wasn't beating. He couldn't see himself in the mirror. He couldn't even go out into the sunlight without taking the necessary precautions. And he didn't like it at all.

He could have been richer than ever before, he could have had more books than he would ever get in his whole life despite his dreams, and he could have even gotten a great education, but it was all just a sweet illusion.

Still, he thought that if he kept acting, one day all this wouldn't hurt so much anymore. If he never took off the mask on his face, he could forget who he was and integrate with the mask. That's what he should have done anyway, just like his mother.

He easily adopted the aristocratic clothing style of that period. The only thing that made him feel like the person he was was his clothes, which were extravagantly stylish and perfectly groomed. Moreover, many vampires also liked the style he had. He could even communicate with them if he felt ready. At least, this could have helped him feel like he belonged somewhere a few years earlier.

After about a month had passed, everything had started to go well for him. He felt that he was getting used to being a vampire, and he was scared crazy about it. But he was learning to drown his fears.

Gradually, he also began to get rid of his timid and helpless personality. He knew he was not the weak boy he had been the day he first came to Stoker's castle. He was trying to learn something new whenever he had the opportunity. He had a really curious personality, the kind of curiosity that would put him in danger.

He might have started acting like a vampire, but there was one thing he could never do. Valentine refused to drink blood.

Strangely, he believed that if he started drinking blood, he would never be himself again. And since that's what he really wanted anyway, he should have been able to drink blood. He didn't realize that he was lying to himself.

(it's a ridiculous headcanon because I don't exactly know how emotional vampires born)

Valentine, unlike his mother, had become an emotional vampire. Stoker attributed the reason for this to the intense emotions he felt before and after becoming a vampire.

Because he hadn't been fed in any way for the last month since he arrived, or used anything to support his iron needs, he had started to lose strength more and more.

He had huge eyebags that were growing day by day, his skin had taken on a too pale tone even for a vampire. He couldn't use his powers, he couldn't go out in the sun despite all the precauiton items he used. He felt so tired most of the time.

He was desperate, he felt weaker than ever, and he never once thought about drinking blood. However, since he was an emotional vampire, what he really needed were emotions. Blood would only give him energy. If he wanted to be strong, he had to feed on emotions.

In fact, Valentine didn't actually make up the information that he had to break a heart to be strong on his own. The person who told him this was Stoker himself.

Valentine's refusal to drink blood in defiance of vampire traditions was getting on Stoker's nerves. And that's why he believed that if he led Valentine to a rather difficult way of eating, he would have no choice but to drink blood. He also used hatred because it was the most intense emotion that the young vampire felt.

According to Stoker, Valentine was a vampire who fed on hatred because of his previous life, and he needed people's hate to be strong.

Valentine, who was still very new to it and was suffering from a lack of strength caused by not eating anything, asked how to do it. He had been hungry for so long that he no longer cared about opposing his own personality as long as no blood included.

Stoker said the first thing that came to his mind, who could be more hateful than a girl whose heart was broken into a thousand pieces by her darling love?

And Valentine believed it. Moreover, for hundreds of years, he continued because no one even cared to offer him another option.

After the first heart he broke, he gained the ability of hypnosis thanks to his vampire powers. It was actually quite an ironic situation. He had acquired the ability to make people love him by making them hate himself.

Stoker saw that despite all the hearts he had broken, the stubborn vampire still insisted on not drinking blood. That's why he gave up on his goal.

He was looking with disgust at the iron supporters who entered his castle for the first time because of Valentine. Although feeding on emotions restored Valentine's strength, he still needed more blood or iron supporters for some features, such as being able to go out in the sun.

After Valentine learned to eat, he had only one thing left in front of him; getting used to his new life.

And Valentine still hated vampires with passion.

..................................................................................

Bro listens Malice Mizer because I say so(I'll say this in my every Valentine writing)

SOMEONE TAKE THE WORDS AWAY FROM ME WHY DID I WRITE THIS I HATE MYSELF I WASN'T PLANNING TO MAKE HIM SO SO MISERABLE I'M SO SORRY THAT WASN'T MY INTENTION

I KNOW THIS WHOLE POST SUCKS SO HARD I KNOW AND I'M SORRY FOR STEALING YOUR TIME

I'M SORRYYYYYY I SWEAR I'LL MAKE HIM HAPPY ONE DAY IF I WON'T STOP WRITING FOR HIM AFTER THIS

I kinda want to write him with Spelldon to make this up but I know nothing about Greek Mythology, not even the basics so it would be really weird lol

[ellestra]

Farming content James Somerton style

Edited: I cleaned up sentences, removed typos and added some links

You've probably seen the latest hbomberguy video that highlights plagiarism problem on youtube. He gives several examples many I never heard about but I've been recommended iilluminaughtii before and watched some of her stuff before getting tired of seemingly endless volume (now I know why). But then he gets to the real subject of the video and I did watch a lot of James Somerton videos. And I liked many of them. I liked them a lot.

I didn't give him any money and, as much as it came as relief, I kept thinking how this must feel so much worse for people who did. I thought about supporting him for a moment when he posted (in April this year!) how his videos are getting less views because youtube algorithm and demonetisation of gay creators (it's a real thing so it was easy to believe) and he will be forced to stop creating if people don't sign up to his patreon. But I was casual viewer and he seemed big enough so I didn't. It must feel like such a betrayal to those who created a real community around him. Just like his film production company it's clear now it was another of his scams. It's infuriating how well it worked.

Somerton deleted his patreon now (along with his twitter and discord server) so there is probably no recourse for those affected. The only good thing is that someone big enough highlighted what he did (and brought receipts) so he had to stop. When smaller creators called him out it either went unnoticed or he managed to make himself a victim (and send his fans after them). He actually did what Anita Sarkeesian was accused of and gaslighted his followers about it. His misogyny just adds an extra bitter taste to this.

At the end hbomberguy talks about how if Somerton was open about what he was doing this could've been his niche. He said it just as I was thinking basically the same thing. I'm sure there is a market for field review type of videos. Not review like movie or book review but in academic sense when you take other people articles on the subject and compare to show the state of research on the subject on at the moment.

This kind of reviews doesn't need any original research. The value is in giving people overview of where the field is at and pointing them to the actual research so they can read more in depth about the results. If you already did the search for all the sources this is a perfect format to use them. Most people don't have time or resources to comb through all the resources themselves but they like to learn about it and this is why videos like that are popular. That's why iilluminaughtii, Somerton and al. were able to cash in on it.

But of course this kind of things have to properly cited. And they cannot be just all quotes. You have to make coherent points not just make stuff up for the transitions (lies that actually made Todd in the Shadows make a video not about music). I suppose that's too much work. Too much effort when you need to crank out content to satisfy all the sponsors.

I was glad to find out I already watch most of the queer creators recommended in the hbomberguy's video (and put on this watch list) as an alternative (I would add Caelan Conrad to it - funnily enough I found them through their video about antivax movement). I trained my youtube recommendations well in which way it skews but it's easier to kick out all the obviously awful when you know what talking points to avoid. It's much harder to spot grift when it pretends to care about the same things you care about. Somerton was saying all the right things. It just wasn't his words.

Did he even believe any of it? I bet he'll insist on yes but the laziness says otherwise. It seems like it was all just for the money and fans this angle gave him. That he enjoyed being cool to the audience he built and the stuff it bought him. Be gay do crime for real. Only he didn't write that one either.

[perplexingluciddreams]

more details of experiment edits on AAC:

first i will show 3 pictures of Supercore 50:

how it looks automatically without any edits

my current grid set that i use for communication

the version of this grid set i added just to try colour changes and other visual edits.

[Image description: 3 images of the same vocabulary grid set in Grid 3, called Supercore 50. the first image has rounded corners on buttons, a white background, bigger spacing, and text labels on every button with text above symbol. second image is similar looking with same rounded buttons, but less spacing. is different by black background, text label removed from folder and menu/function buttons, text below symbol. third image is very different looking from other two. same black background, menu and main folder buttons have black background with simple coloured symbol, mainly yellow. no folder buttons have text label, and many have simplified symbol. all button colours are altered in tone and shade. all darker colours, easier on the eye. the "little words" buttons are changed from almost white to dark grey with yellow text. End ID.]

here is explanation:

added new version of my grid set (Supercore 50) to just play around with and change colours and see what works. didn't want to mess up my actual grid set with all my personal edits and added vocabulary. didn't go to bother of making it all "uniform" across the whole device (because is time consuming and i will have to do that eventually on my real grid set).

mostly just tried out different colours. and how to make home page as easy to visual process as possible. didn't change colour coding (for example pronouns yellow, verbs green, adjectives blue, little words grey-ish - that all stay. just change tone of colours to not "attack" eyes).

eyes can't cope with a lot of "whiteness" in any colours, especially on a screen where there is so much white/blue light already. makes much sensory overload and bad headaches. pastel colours or very bright neon or light blue/purple/yellow/grey... not fun. brain simply skips over any blocks of those colours cause it can't get past whiteness to see what is on the button.

in Grid 3 edit menu you can change colour of button - there is a palette of pre-made colours, but you can also do "adjust colour" and choose custom colour there. and there is something called "button styles" so you can just edit one button how you want, then say "update style" and it will change all buttons with that "style".

i worked out that turning down "saturation" and "luminosity" helps me a lot. then the colour doesn't "attack" my eyes so much, so i can actually search the screen for the symbol/word i want. better visual scanning ability.

also removed borders on buttons. just adds extra stuff for eyes to get "stuck" on. it looks cleaner without border.

On Grid 3 there is also different button "themes" available (different from button styles), which changes the entire automatic look of the entire grid set with just change that. changed from "modern" to "blocky" theme. because there is a slight "colour gradient" on buttons with "modern" theme (I think🤷🏻‍♂️). meaning there is more highlight at the top of the button on more shadow/darker at the bottom. makes it hard to see the symbols and text because it is not "flat" looking. to me the "modern" theme looks slightly bumpy and 3D, the "blocky" theme looks flat. and brain can't process 3D (especially not at same time as try to search for words and scan screen).

i also made the "menu" buttons or "grid functions" buttons have black background (to match black background of entire grid set), with symbol in yellow. and remove text labels for these buttons and some folder buttons. this helps because then only the word buttons "jump out" at brain. so there is less "bulk" of the screen to process. and the "function" buttons have only simple symbol, so can easily find!

this is all still only changed in the blank version of Supercore 50 that I added for this specific purpose. it is a HUGE change to my AAC. so i can't just change it all at once. it will have to happen in stages. and i am still not 100% sure of all the changes. (for example i don't really know what to do with the folders. don't like how they look right now...). so i have to be very confident in a change before i can make my real grid have it.

(also there is still folders and buttons i haven't changed at all. just mostly did home grid so i can see the difference. still working on it and will be long time until ready to change my real AAC).

i will keep updating on the changes!

[thebaconspider]

okay i guess people are coming to tumblr from reddit so i figured i'd make my own guide because the other ones piss me off

so first things first

you're going to want to change your pfp/header/blog description off of the defaults. tumblr has a pretty big bot problem so blogs with default pfp/headers are usually a block on sight for most people. you may also want to make a post saying your new from reddit and maybe reblog some things.

thats the most important thing the rest of this is pretty optional

you're going to want to go into settings under the dashboard tab and change some things.

Endless scrolling: preference thing, i prefer to have it on but you could turn it off if you wanted

Show timestamps on posts, reblogs, and notes.: you're going to want to make sure this is on, posts circulate on tumblr a lot longer than they tend to on other sites. seeing posts from 5+ years ago is a pretty common occurrence.

Shorten long posts: turn this on, you don't want to get color of the sky'd.

Use blog colors when viewing blogs: another preference thing, i personally have it on but there are many reasons you might want to turn it off.

Best Stuff First: you're going to want to turn this off if you want a chronological dashboard.

Include stuff in your orbit: most people will tell you that you must turn this off but you really don't have to, i turn it on myself from time to time. it just puts stuff the people you follow have liked on your dashboard occasionally.

Include "Based On Your Likes!": another one most people will say you need to turn off but you don't really need to. personally i leave it off because if i want to see stuff based on my likes i just go to my for you page.

Include followed tags post: you can turn this one off if you want, i'm not sure why you would follow a tag if you didn't want to see posts from it occasionally.

Enable colorized tags: a preference thing, you can turn this off if you want.

Snooze Tumblr Live: you probably should turn this on but i got tired of turning it on every week so i just ignore the tumblr live stuff. whatever you do don't use tumblr live it's run by another company and harvests your data. EDIT: Tumblr Live was removed a while ago

next your gonna want to go to your blog settings.

Enable custom theme: i would really recommend turning this on. it lets you do a bunch of crazy stuff with your blogs theme (including just straight up editing the html) and it also gives you back your [blank].tumblr.com url instead of your just using the tumblr.com/[blank] url.

Share posts you like: makes your likes public, i would recommend turning this off.

Share the Tumblrs you're following: makes the blogs you follow public, i would recommend turning this off.

now for some feature of the site

this is the like button, you press it if you like something. you can only like a post once. some users will bitch at you if you use it, kill them.

this is the reblog button, you press it if you want something to show up on your blog. you can reblog a post as many times as you want.

you can add tags, text, images (anything you could put in a post) on a reblog but you don't have to.

this is the reply button, you press it if you want to leave a comment on a post. it's kinda strange and i don't like using it.

tags

tags are cool, you can use them to find things or organize the stuff on your blogs.

some people say the search function doesn't work which just isn't true. sure searching for the content of a post doesn't really work but searching by tag works pretty well in my experience.

to do this type the tag you want into the search bar and then click "Go To #[tag]"

you can also filter tags if you don't want to see posts with that tag, they'll still show up on your dash they'll just be blurred and you'll need to click on them to see them. it will say which tags it has that are causing it to be filtered.

people also often use tags to leave a little comment on posts or communicate back and forth or hold additional information.

community labels

i don't really see people talking about these, i don't think many people use them, but your probably going to want to set these to either "Show" or "Blur"

note: if you set a label to "Hide" posts with that label will not show up for you at all

iirc all of these are set to "Hide" by default so remember to change that setting if you want to.

one last thing: the queue

the queue is pretty neat, if you want to reblog something later, but don't have a specific time in mind, you can queue it!

you can change how many things in your queue are posted a day and what times of day they get posted on your queued post page.

and thats everything i can think of.

apologies if i forgot anything. EDIT: Additional Information

Asks

i totally should've covered these when i first made the post, sorry.

asks are pretty cool. if asks are turned on people can send little messages to your inbox.

ask options are found in your blog settings. you can choose to allow anonymous asks, asks with media, or just turn off asks all together.

Destiel News

important news is often shared in the form of a meme from the scene in supernatural where castiel confess his love for dean, with the top image being castiel with the caption "i love you" and the bottom image being dean with whatever recent news the user is sharing as the caption.

here's the blank for your news announcing purposes

[pl9090]

Abandoned fan project: Where?

Dead due to the hush hush audio developments and my inability to write it without help, (I can lay out a framework, explain scene atmosphere and tone, and suggest dialogue but thats it). I hoped to get this one off the ground but it was not to be and is probably stupid so instead of letting it gather dust, I've decided to post everything I came up with as someone might find it useful.

Constructive feedback is welcome.

General

Title: Where?

Format: Audio.

Duration: 4 x 15 minute episodes or a NuWho style 60 minute edit and a Next Time trailer for a never to be released Hallwoeen Special sequel.

Description: A Faction audio disguised as an 8th Doctor spin off to both add verismilitude to the Companion assumption and enable the stealth introduction of Faction elements to the larger Whovian fandom. If anyone asks it's an, "ultimate 8th Doctor audio" project exploring how the novel elements might be integrated.

Synposis

Ostensibly it's a companion going on a breif tour of the .F.P. Spiral Politic and the more compitable novel and NuWho elements while searching for the 8th Doctor, who's gone missing with help from a companion of her own, (unknown to her a Faction Cousin) she dubs, "The Assistant". Naturally it's more complicated then that.

She discovers that things she remembers doing with the Doctor didn't seem to have happened or maybe have been reversed and that certain people she met don't remember her. On top of that the situations they find themselves in aren't as, "nice" or, "resolvable" as those she's used to and gradually bring her around to a more Faction compatible mindset and on the brink of a possible mental breakdown.

After loosing her ability to walk, (and becoming cooped up in a crudely modified Dalek skirt salvaged from a battlefield) she finally catches up with her Doctor only to find out he doesn't remember her nor any of their adventures together seeming more interested/concerned about her companion whom he reveals to be a Factional, perhaps dismssing her as, "another Faction trick". The mental breakdown she has been able to keep at bay/compensate for with the hope of being reunited with him occurs at full force shattering her prompting her to quickly go back into the .T.T. capsule and start crying/wailing. The Assistant watches her go in then walks up to the Doctor ranting about how much she wanted to reunite with him and had had to go through to get back to him all for nothing followed by punching the Doctor in the stomach doubling him over then an upper cutting knocking him out.

The Assistant then goes into the .T.T. capsule, quietly sets the controls with his shadow and it demterialises. The Companion flashbacks to the instances where he showed more knowledge then he was supposed to have. The two have a frank emotional heart to heart in which she works through her feelings and confronts The Assistant about who and what he is. He gives a basic summary of what the Faction is emphasising the aspects that make it seem like a group of misfits/don't fit elsewherers but not lying. She decides to join the Faction and to do it, "properly", (ie: Killing her parents erasing herself from time and causing the whole mess but she doesn't realise it and it's not spelt out for the audience).

Episodes

Ep.1:

Ep.2: Weeping angels encounter and encounter.

Ep.3: Crippling incident then the combined brooding and salvaged Dalek skirt modification.

Ep.4: Finding the Doctor and the aftermath.

Characters

Titles only until the final episode. Organically, not forced or highlighted. (A play on the .F.P.'s need to use codenames).

No romance between the two humans, they are merely comfortable enough to snark at each other.

1.The Companion: A previously unknown 8th Doctor companion who has 4th Doctor's scarf from her alternate timeline. No Faction knowledge but ends up joining it which causes her erasure from time.

2.The Assistant: Goth male. Factional wearing a symbol ring instead of robes and a mask. Knows more about the Spiral Politic then he lets on, (makes some small slips not really noticed until the end) but is genuinely swept up by events.

3..T.T. capsule: One of the many the Master had hidden away, took the form of the 8th Doctor's Tardis using the Companion's memories of what would be expected/the most wanted).

Quotes

*Tardis turbulence and small console sparks*

Assistant: "Where are the seatbelts on this thing?".

*Console spark*

Companion (Laughing joyously): "There aren't any!".

*

*Companion kicks the Assistant on the ground*

Companion: "Are you dead?".

Assistant (sarcastically): "Only on the inside".

*Companion chuckles*

*

Assistant: Ideally we'd want something faster and more manoveurable then a wheelchair, perhaps with anti gravity if possible so you can clear obstacles. Do you know anything like that?".

The Companion (Sadly): Yeah.

*Dalek Civil War battle sound effects*

[synonymouswithanonymous]

One more thing, verified badges. Skip if uninterested please. I keep seeing this thrown around and one person keeps saying she was "desperate" to get the blue check. Lol I don't think she was desperate, or she would have gotten it for being in Venus and all her other musicals before she met him. Lots of danish celebs are verified.

Here's one of the requirements to get a blue check, and considering musicals, concerts and 2 award nominations for Venus, and being all over google (her pics are many, I've posted some of them). she could have gotten it LONG before she was ever with AHA. Long before.

Via instagram: "Notable: Your account must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity. We review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and we don't consider paid or sponsored media content as sources for review."

So yea, if she was so desperate for a blue check, she'd have gotten one before then (maybe it had something to do with fake accounts popping up about her? There were 2 I recall that don't exist anymore). 8-9 years in showbusiness, and you act like she's desperate bc she didn't jump on a blue check years ago? LOL that doesn't sound desperate to me.

Just another irrational way to hate on someone and claim they're "bad." Lol 😂😂😂. Wait will they now try to say that all her successes didn't warrant a blue check until she was with him? They try to belittle her and hate on her over anything. Misogyny is real. And wait yet again, they've already said this before that she is "nothing without him" and that's why they think she's using him. 🙄🙄 ridiculous.

I can imagine it would be frustrating to go through all that education, dedication, sacrifice, work, get all these successes with movies, nominations, and musicals and then to have it boiled down to she's only famous bc of her bf. No she's famous bc she's beautiful, can sing, dance, and act. Has worked her butt off to get to where she is, pretty well known before him, but no some extreme hater fans of her boyfriend want to act like all that work means nothing and that she'd be "nothing without him". 🙄🙄😂😂😂 she got Askepot, almost 3 years ago now. Before she met him. She's awesome! 😊😊

Edited to add: even if she was a lawyer, a cook, or any other profession, it still wouldn't make her "nothing." People are more than their job title or how many movies they've been in.

And also speaking of irrationality, don't most people post breakup archive/delete/edit posts to take out the ex? Fanny B did, JM did when she and her ex did. What's the difference? Why is this a sign of "badness" it's normal to do so. They're even trying to twist that against her, like it's some evil plot from one of their shows (still 😂😂) that's just ridiculous.

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

bro, this took like three days 😅

EDIT: updated "1997" to "1994" and tweaked face a little bit AND added a little scar ref/notes

I'm not posting TJ's dick on tumblr but it is also tattooed (the pac-man tattoo is on the underside and the magic wand is on the top side)

These tattoos are, as mentioned on the drawing, a mix of DIY and professional or semi-professional work, with most but not all of the pro work done later on (post-costume update in my head but idk exact dates necessarily since I don't have a real story for TJ atm...)

So some of them suck more than others 😂 The real challenge is making them look bad in a way that looks good... lol

anyway closeups of some of the tattoos under the cut:

these are mostly the DIY stick and pokes and I tried to make some of them look like the ink bled a little (hopefully successful) — It's just random stuff, some of it TJ did himself (and that's why some of his tattoos are upside down or sideways lol) and some of it probably by friends or ex-girlfriends or tattoo apprentices who suck.

He does have a little chunk missing from his left butt cheek, yes, btw.

the masterful tiger was probably a $50 job from someone with a tattoo gun rather than stick and poke, though... like an apprentice... or someone who just can't draw tigers...

Left wrist is a flower done professionally and the right is that alien stick and poke.

Palm scars are from Snack Incidents (knife slipping while cutting various foods)

in my notes TJ lives alone with his dad, and his mom is dead, so the intent with the flowers tattoos here is that this is one of TJ's first actually professionally done tattoos that he actually spent money on to memorialize his mom.

and then as time passes he gets a full sleeve done that's also pretty good quality in stark contrast to most of his tattoos.

It's not like a super complicated, extensive one because I'm terrible at coming up with ideas to fill out sleeves like that, but he can probably add on to it later. I figure this one is at least partially done with actual dotwork, vs the DIY stick and poke stuff or cheap tattoo guns.

the firework on his elbow probably technically qualifies as either a coverup or an expansion since it's going off the smaller one he already had there and making it look much nicer.

I also decided that he has a cigarette burn scar inside of that little sun, not as a cover-up necessarily, it's just a dumb scar he got from a dumb bet (which he won) lol but I figured that would be as good a place as any to put it

and...

also these lol. obv the 10 cent ride is above his dick, and probably hidden under his underwear or pants most days... and the Pac-Man tattoo, like I mentioned before, is on the underside of his dick. You know, for presentation. Also because I didn't want to deal with trying to figure out how it would look squashed together when he doesn't have a boner LOL

the magic wand is on the top of course but like I said, I'm not putting that on tumblr, even if it's not sexually explicit or whatever.

and yes he has a pubic piercing, a dydoe, and matching prince albert with a curved barbell specifically for the Pac-Man joke 😂

TJ has most of his tattoos because he's kind of a masochist and he likes it, but he also has a sense of humor more than being a particularly edgy guy, and he likes to have fun, so I figure he would get a kick out of going to hook up with someone and waiting for them to start laughing once they get his pants off.

...wait, does that count as a humiliation kink?

obviously plenty of girls would be unimpressed by this and other times it probably just derails the whole "sex" thing because "Oh my God, didn't that hurt?!" but... I think it adds character even if I'll probably never draw it again lol

If you really want to see his dick I have a separate bluesky account where I post nsfw or suggestive art so my mom doesn't see it (lol) which you can find by searching for the username "hornygoldenirises" LOL

oh here's a bonus just showing his build side by side before and after doing lots of REfactor stuff and working out to impress-slash-fistfight a cute girl:

[tweakingsql]

So, I've eliminated a few paths already. One has nice examples that the author says are scripts. They're not Batch commands. If they're PowerShell, I don't have the right module (and it doesn't look right to my untrained eye). So what are they? Another was supposedly learning to use ScriptDOM, but no explanation of what to create is included. Maybe I'm too inexperienced to understand some stuff, but if you don't include at least a file type I'm fairly sure you skipped something.

So I'm trying this. It's worth a shot. First step, have a database project in VS. Uhm... I've never done that. I know why we should. But my work has a history of not requiring programmers to document what we do on production systems. Finally got the server admins doing it a while ago, but folks like me live dangerously. Grumble.

So - step 1, create a database. It's not a listed step, but apparently you don't do the creation in VS. There's no step for it in the template listing at least.

So instead I'm doing https://medium.com/hitachisolutions-braintrust/create-your-first-visual-studio-database-project-e6c22e45145b

Step one: in SSMS run the command:

CREATE DATABASE TCommon

T for temporary, and Common is a database I've already got going. It's for non-secure tools/programs/etc. that any of the other databases should be able to access.

Now to start up VS 2022. We begin a new project and search for database templates.

Clear the checkbox for putting the solution and project in the same directory, and give an overarching name to the solution. That way you can have multiple database projects worked on inside of one solution.

Next, we import the blank database so we have a test bed based off what is in production. Right click on the solution name, select Import, then Database.

The import database wizard looks like this after the connection is set.

Blackburn suggests that you turn off the importation of referenced logins so you don't accidentally alter permissions. Sound strategy.

Then you can click on the "Select Connection" button.

On my workstation, I have to Show Connection Properties, then change the default for Trust Server Certificate to True for it to make a connection. I'm running a test version of SQL Server and didn't set up the certificates.

Click on Connect. Then on the Import Database window, click Start.

With a blank database, it's fairly anticlimactic, but there really is a connection now to the database, and the properties are copied to your work area. The summary tells you where the log is stored. Then click "Finish" to continue on.

Next, we'll add some objects in. Right click in the Solution Explorer pane, then click Add, then New Item. Lots of little goodies to play with. Since I've been trying to match a project from another site, I need to create a schema to store the objects in. Schemas are part of Security, and there's my little object. I select the schema, give it a name down below, and click Add.

Well, not quite what I expected to happen: CREATE SCHEMA [AddSchema_Dim]

But that's changeable. And in making that change, the solution's object has the name I wanted, and the code has the actual name of the schema I want.

Now, lets add a table.

If you're like me, you've used a few of these, but not all of them. Time to do research if you're unsure, but I'm going to go with a simple table for this demonstration. Since I know the name of the solution object will take the name I put in the bottom, I'll name this one AddTable_Dim.Date, and know that I need to edit the actual code.

You have choices. If you're used to creating tables using the upper part of the pane where there is a GUI type of set up, go for that. If you're used to typing things out, go to the lower part. Or mix and match! VS will keep the two in sync.

Instead of 'ID' we use 'SID' for Surrogate Identifier. The intake process sets up the unique (across a table) SID values and follows rules that help us track issues backwards to the original location where the data came from.

Second, there's a version number in there. We have the same tables across various enclaves (groups of servers), and we keep the versions the same between all but our development enclave. But instead of forcing our developers and end users to keep up, we use views that are in the databases they work from to expose the data. Many times we don't need to change the views at all which is easier on people that don't need to memorize a few hundred tables and variations.

I'm going to cut this off here, and start working on the next post. Back soon!

[author-a-holmes]

I'm on desktop, but the falling leaves emoji for the october ask game! <3

Thank you for the ask, lovely ^_^

🍂 Leaves Part One: How does your wip typically change as you work on it?

The way a WIP changes depends on the story, but It usually doesn't deviate a huge amount from my outline. The only time I tend to make huge structural changes to the story is if I find I'm missing an element I need to tie the whole thing together. For example, Nameer Khatri didn't exist in the first outline for Changeling. I found I needed someone for Andric to bounce off in scenes without Lizzy, so that's why I added him, but once I began adding him in, I realised his character was integral to the plot.

Then I went back to my outline to see where else I could use him and realised that if I hadn't added this character, I wouldn't have been able to get Lizzy where she needs to go in the third book.

So I don't often change huge structural things after the outlining stage, but sometimes I'll add a smaller thing that becomes a new support beam, for lack of a better word, that I didn't previously realise I needed. 🍂 Leaves Part Two: What does your editing process look like?

My editing process is multi-layered, and takes me aproximately twice the time as it takes to write the book...

1) I write my drafts in 4thewords, a website that Gameify's writing, as this keeps me motivated. So my first step is I copy/paste the completed draft into a Googledoc and run it's basic spellchecker across the whole document.

2) Then I edit ONE chapter at a time. So I'll take Chapter One and I'll copy it into the HemmingwayApp. While the chapter is still in the HemmingwayApp I'll do a CTRL+F and search for each of my own personally "overused" words, and also a common list of "overused" words. (Common words: Suddenly/Then/Very/Really/Is/Was/Started/Start to/Just/Somewhat/Slightly/Somehow/Seem/Definitely) (My personal list of overused words; That/Own/Quickly/Though/Eyes) Then I check their context I decide whether I want to leave them in or rewrite the sentence to remove them.

3)Once I've finished with Overused words, I check the highlighted sections that the HemmingwayApp is showing. The HemmingwayApp highlights passages of passive voice, complex sentences and adverbs. I have a blindspot for adverbs and passive voice so having it highlighted helps me decide if I want to keep it or if I want to rewrite these sections as well.

4) Once I've finished going over all the instances of Adverbs, Complex Sentences, and Passive Voice, I'll copy/paste the Chapter into Grammarly. I don't have GrammarlyPro, I bought 1-months worth but didn't find the premium version worth the cost. Like the other stages, I look over each suggestion and make a decision based on context of the scene.

5) After I'm finished in Grammarly, I'll then Copy/Paste it into Natural Voices. This website has "natural" sounding voices that will read text aloud. Natural Voices offers 20 minutes of their plus voices for free a day, and 10 minutes of their premium voices, but I do purchase a 1 month subscription every time I'm working on editing, because it's worth it to me.

Hearing the writing read aloud helps me determine flow, natural sounding speech, and I pick up on echoed words easier when I hear it spoken too. This could be a skipped step if I was able to read my own work aloud, but I live with other people and can't quite bring myself to do that :D

Natural Readers does make it difficult to edit the words in-app, if you make changes then it will have to re-render the audio, so I tend to listen to it in Natural Readers, and make edites/changes in the Grammarly screen.

6) Once I've run the chapter through Natural Readers, made all the changes I can hear are needed, and then run the tweaked chapter BACK through natural readers, I'll copy the final version from Grammarly, and put it into a fresh, new, Googledoc. Then I'll run the spellchecker from the Googledoc again.

7) Once I've done ALL that for Chapter One, then I do the same process on Chapter Two. This process takes anywhere from 2-6 hours per chapter.

8) When I get to the end of the manuscript, I have a final version in a Fresh Googledoc, and that's the version that I'll then send off to my paid, professional, editor for a Copy/Line Edit. She usually takes a week or two to edit the googledoc, and once I get the go-ahead from her I'll go back into the googledoc and either accept the changes she's made, or I'll discuss the changes she's made over email if I'm not sure about the why, or if it's the right change for the manuscript. (Bless my editor to the sky, she actually spotted a little plothole in Changeling that I'd entirely overlooked! She's a godsend, and I adore her)

9) Once the Copy/Line edit is completed, I move onto formatting. (Ideally, in the future, I'd like to pay for a final Proofread after the formatting section is done, but for the moment my mum and ARC team act as my Proofreaders!)

[scoobydoodean]

@loppytaffy I am the wrong person to gain sympathy for this take from. It's certainly a popular take on why Castiel doesn't answer the phone, but in my opinion, absolutely the wrong one. It doesn't even make sense to argue that Castiel is so desperate to be useful to Dean who is making him feel like he needs to be useful that he... ignores his calls? He'd do the opposite if he was desperate for Dean to see him as useful just because Dean is making him feel that way? He'd be answering and calling all of the time. Cas has never been like that, though.

Castiel ignores Dean's calls when he's decided unilaterally that he needs to be the only one doing things. He doesn't like for Dean to be doing things that put himself in harms way or that might cause him pain (and he doesn't care how Dean feels about being sidelined), he doesn't want Dean to know if Cas is putting himself in harms way because he knows that causes Dean pain too. This has been true since season 6 when he watched Dean rake leaves, and it continues through.

The bit about calls isn't even true, and even if we argue it's true the majority of the time (that their calls are largely work-related), we could say the same thing about Cas—that he only called Dean when he needed something/about work. I wish people would stop treating Cas like a big sad baby who is constantly doing Things™️ because Dean doesn't love him enough. He is constantly doing Things™️ because he's a Hot Girl™️ and has been a Hot Girl since day one billions of years ago. He NEVER did as he was told—not completely (that's what Naomi says anyway). I don't actually think feeling horribly unloved is a primary emotion felt by EITHER of them in the relationship. Being made to feel unwanted—like at points? Yes. Absolutely—and certainly not just Cas. Being made to feel unloved constantly and at all times feeling unwanted and like the other person didn't give a shit? They wouldn't have been friends anymore!!!! Or everyone with this take is sliding very close to what would be the biggest incel take on the planet.

I don't think Cas would say Dean always made him feel unwanted or unloved or anything like that. He understood Dean, and Dean understood him. Castiel can sense Dean's longing, hear his prayers, and regularly sees his calls that he is actively making a choice to ignore. Dean also did check up on him when he was forced to kick him out, and then when he explained the whole thing, Castiel understood what had happened and he didn't hold it against Dean, just like Dean chose to let it go and not hold it against Cas when Cas ditched him in Purgatory then refused to come out when Dean spent months searching specifically for him, and when Cas broke Sam's wall, and when Cas came to his room under false pretenses and stole The Colt from him so he could go murder pregnant woman, then still refused to involve him and Sam when he did a complete 180. They hurt each other, but they also loved each other enough to take the time to try and understand each others actions, and when they did that, they came away with impressions of each other that left them with the belief that there was mutual care there, or else it would have ended. I barely ship destiel and don't ship it at all on my bad days, and I can understand that. How come so much of destiel fandom can't? Castiel's speech in 15.18 very much implies the exact opposite of Dean making Cas feel like he was just a useful ally.

Y'all all need to stop watching the show with incel goggles where Dean is their trope of a girl who goes on dates with a guy to get free food and the nice guy always finishes last because he's so nice and such a catch and she doesn't see it—she just wants to use his money :/

Edit: Also going to add to this that there is absolutely zero indication that Dean simply kicked Cas out with nothing. That's just a pervasive fanon presumption that is extremely out of character for Dean in addition to being needlessly uncharitable. The fact that Cas achieved some stability (something he had no luck doing before he got to the bunker), was able to get a job, etc implies Dean DID help him get set up with IDs, cash, etc. Cas had never driven a car in his life at the time iirc btw. He'd never needed to. I wouldn't give him a car either.

Deancrits: Dean made Cas feel so unwanted. :(

Cas's phone at all times:

[loveformovingpictures]

Bandolero! (1968) with James Stewart, Dean Martin, Raquel Welch, George Kennedy and Andrew Prine. 

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.

[detective-luca-montoya]

Feeling inspired, so have some Christmas-adjacent whump! Malik belongs to @lumpsbumpsandwhumps!

A virtual cookie to anyone who gets who this drabble's villain is a reference to! EDIT: It's McCracken from The Mysterious Benedict Society! I suppose this counts as my entrance into the fandom.

Warnings for gun violence, regular violence, murder, and whump. Message me to add tags or warnings!

11:17 AM, December 24th

Carjacking was not how Luca would prefer to spend her Christmas.

This was why she was doing it as quickly as possible, rifling through the mess of a trunk for the documents she was looking for, and who the hell kept loose-leaf paper in their car boot?!

Evidently, someone who was trying their very best to keep their secret files secret- it had been hard enough finding the car, let alone tailing its owner and waiting for the right time to search. She shoved aside another pile of bills and leaflets, spotting a flash of color drowning in the sea of paper. Bingo.

She grabs it, inwardly cheering. Hopefully she has enough time to deliver it to the client and she can make it back to the agency in time for Christmas day. She just hopes Jake saved her some gingerbread-

Her train of thought is rudely interrupted by a cold sensation on the back of her neck. She looks to the ground, spotting a reflection in a puddle. A man- the car's owner, probably. Pointing a gun at her back. She raises her hands automatically, turning her head just enough to show him she's aware of his presence.

"Turn around," he orders. His finger is off the trigger, but that doesn't reassure her as she turns and sizes him up. Average build, average looks. An office worker, she thinks. Glasses and all. Looks like he hasn't seen the sun in weeks. And yet his aim didn't waver, even a bit. Strange.

His eyes didn't seem to move, and yet the corner of his mouth still rose in recognition. "I know you. You're that private eye- from the papers. Montoya, was it? Yeah..."

She doesn't dare move with the gun trained on her- she's fast, but she's not the Flash. She'll just have to watch and wait for an opportunity.

Oh. He's still talking.

"...saw you following me," he says. Shit, really? She must be losing her touch. "Didn't think you'd have the guts to follow me down here, though."

"Gotta take chances in my line of work," she retorts blithely. A stupid one, apparently...

"A pretty stupid one."

Yeah, didn't need to hear it from you.

He takes a step closer, still aiming at her head. "Now, how about you give me those papers and we can both forget this ever happened."

"Why don't you come over here and take them from me?"

A dumb question? Absolutely. But she was much more likely to survive a fistfight than a bullet through the skull. If she could get him close enough...

The man raises an eyebrow, before lowering the gun and shrugging nonchalantly. "Well- alright."

She drops her hands when he advances, covering the distance between them in three steps, and makes a rapid grab for the gun. He pivots on his feet- fast, too fast for her to react- and pistolwhips her with an audible crack. Luca staggers and falls against the back windshield, clutching her rapidly swelling cheek. A hand slams down too close to her ear, and she sees spiderweb-like cracks spread from the point of impact. Above her is a pleasant man in a now-disheveled suit, who fixes his tie before smiling disarmingly at her, marred only by a single gold tooth.

"Is this rather close enough, ducky?"

His hand not currently in a toxic relationship with the windshield reaches and takes the papers from her. They're wrinkled and torn from Luca's desperate gambit, but he just makes an annoyed noise and tucks them into his inside coat pocket. "That's better."

His previous tough behavior is long gone- now he looms above her, gesturing with the gun for effect as he spoke. "Now, how about you answer my other question and tell me what a spunky little thing like you is doing with my very important papers? They're crucial for my work, you see. Not for the eyes of children."

She ignores the barb (barely) and narrows her eyes. "Then why were they hidden in a giant pile in the trunk of your car?"

Another shrug. "You have me there. So maybe they're not my papers... but they're still quite important. Which begs the question, why are you so desperate for them?"

"You first," she says.

"You're awfully demanding," the man notes. "If you must know, old McCracken was paid quite a large sum to get these papers. But they'd be worthless to anyone else, I was assured. So...?"

Alarmingly, he taps under her chin with the barrel of the gun, and Luca is suddenly hyperaware of his finger on the trigger. "Your turn."

She swallows. "Like you said. I'm a PI. It's my job."

The barrel presses into the soft flesh under her chin. The man- McCracken- leans closer, studying her expression. "You wouldn't be telling a fib to old McCracken, would you? My trigger finger gets twitchy when I'm lied to."

She grits her teeth and says nothing. McCracken's gold tooth winks at her. "Cat got your tongue?"

She purses her lips in silence. McCracken leans back, blowing a raspberry in her direction. "The silent treatment? Really? You're just that determined to make things difficult for me?" He rolls his shoulders, Luca just now noticing the muscles underneath his prim outfit. "Well, me duck, that's quite a shame. Disposing of you here would make a rather big mess... we'll continue this discussion elsewhere."

He finally removes his hand from the window and pulls a handkerchief out of his welt pocket. Luca smells disinfectant- no, that's not right-

McCracken grunts, and suddenly the air feels much clearer- Luca shakes her head and looks down to see the man lying in a pool of blood, prompted by the hunting knife sticking out of his back. Her vision still swimming, Luca blearily looks back up, words of thanks on her lips.

They immediately shriveled up and died, because Malik was standing in front of her.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." she mumbles. Malik looks up, seemingly only now just noticing she was here. "Huh? The hell are you doing here?"

"Getting threatened, what are YOU doing here?!" Luca unsteadily pushes herself up, staggering towards Malik and jabbing a finger at his chest. "Why'd you save me?!"

"I didn't do no such thing," Malik says, seemingly offended at the suggestion. "This son of a bitch cut me off during a procession. I'm just returning the favor."

"So you were going to kill him anyway."

"I'll be honest darlin', I didn't even know you were here." Malik leans down and yanks his knife out of McCracken's ribs. "Then again, someone else roughing you up lowers your value and I still gotta turn a profit with you."

"Like hell you will," she spits, keeping one eye on him as she kneels to take the papers off of the body. Malik is busy examining his knife- he doesn't even spare her a glance as she straightens up, grimacing at the blood soaking half of the writing. She unfolds it slowly, doing her best not to tear it, and reads the loopy cursive with bated breath.

9 left

Nine left.

Luca looks up, fear suddenly flooding every cell of her being. "Malik-?"

But the man was already gone, leaving Luca alone with the body- and questions that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to.

[greenhikingboots]

in your soulmate house sigil au, wouldn't Ned and Cat assume that Sansa's mark is for Viserys? Unless Rhaegar didn't marry Lyanna and the sigil comes with the colors inverted?

edit: short addition in the replies, which may pertain more to what you were getting at, anon. gotta go remind myself how sigils work in canon.  You mean the Soulmate AU I'm trying *not* to brainrot over because I need to finish Inevitable and then study for work-related certifications? THAT Soulmate AU!? Hahahaha. I have so many thoughts about it, anon, thanks for asking. So, first thing: I picture the soumark being colorless raised skin. Below is an image I found on Google which matches my imagination quite nicely. So like that but a House sigil inside a circle. I picture it showing up on the same body part of everyone who has one: on the sternum directly above the heart. Second thing: I think I'd change up Dany's timeline so that Viserys is already dead and her dragons already born by the time King Robert and his party arrive in Winterfell. Sansa would have heard rumors of dragons returning to the world. That would add an element of intrigue when she gets her soulmark. She'd be like, "Woah, dragons are back and now I have this? What is going on here!?!" And then she (and Ned and Cat, to answer your question) would learn King Robert has heard whispers of Aegon being switched and possibly still being alive. So all that to say, there'd be a lot of speculating that Sansa's mark is for Aegon not Viserys. More thoughts: basically, I'd eliminate or simplify some story lines while speeding up others so that I'd feel less pressured to follow the canon story so closely. It wouldn't be fun for me to closely rehash the story we already know and only change it by adding in soulmark elements. I'd want to do something unexpected but still believable. Currently, I'm thinking King Robert would call off the betrothal to Joffrey and threaten to send Sansa to the silent sisters, but Ned would talk him into something less severe. She'd end up being a hostage/ward at Storm's End, similar to how Theon is a hostage/ward at Winterfell. (Robert trusts Renly to do the job more than he trusts Stannis + maybe Renly and Margaery would be married already to give Sansa a friend at Storm's End). Meanwhile, Jon wouldn't join the Night's Watch. He'd officially join Ned's guard and travel with him to King's Landing. Sure, there'd still be concerns over having a bastard at court, but with Jon having Ned's approval and a soulmark that declares how loyal he is to House Stark, they'd make it work. (Jory would be Jon's new BFF and Arya would stay in Winterfell. I have additional headcanons about innocent friendship bonding between Jon and Sansa while traveling the Kingsraod together + if Sansa is allowed to visit King's Landing during the Hand's Tourney.) Without going into too much detail (partly because details are still TBD), I think I'd have Jon and Sansa reunite after the wars begin, when they think they've lost the rest of their family. They'd travel together to Essos (more headcanons about how they afford passage) and eventually end up in Asshai. There, they'd search for answers about soulmarks and dragonlore (and learn about the Azor Ahai propecy too). I buy into some tinfoil-y theories about Aegon, which would probably get incorporated into the fic. As of now, I think Jon and Sansa would actually connect with him before Asshai (there'd be some jealous!Jon action), and then Dany would get thrown into the mix once there. (Apparently, GRRM has said he doesn't plan to send Dany to Asshai, but if he's being honest about that, I think that's a bat shit crazy missed opportunity). Anyway. That's all I've got for now. Might do some more brainstorming later. Thanks, anon. Oh yeah, and the soulmark inspiration:

[thelucyverse]

How to Interact with Fanfic Authors - for Beta Readers

I wanted to make posts both for fic authors and beta readers, because I realized in several recent interactions that some helpful unwritten rules of fandom seem to have become lost to people who are new to it.

This isn't meant to be a call-out post against anyone to say 'you did it wrong!' (really, how could anyone be mad if you just didn't know any better), and there aren't even any definite rules for anything - but I just thought these things might be nice to know and helpful to share around. This part will be @ the betas, the post for authors can be found here :)

Selecting a story to beta read

If you already stumbled across someone asking for a beta reader, you can skip ahead to the next part.

What and why do you want to beta read?

Are you looking to improve your skills in finding grammar and spelling mistakes because you want to be a teacher or a parent? Are you just bored and looking for something to do? Do you want to help your friends, or anyone who happens to need help right now? Do you have time today, for an hour, or are you willing to edit 100k over the next weeks? What content are you comfortable reading and editing? Do you want to be able to show others that you beta read a story? All questions you should ask yourself and find an answer to before you go about contacting any fic authors.

If you want to practice grammar and spelling, you want to beta a story of an author who is only looking for that, and not a deeper check.

Depending on how much time you have, you should look at the wordcount of fics and only agree to beta those you have time to do in the time-frame given by the author.

To help people you know, you could ask writers you are friends with to let you know when they need a story to beta (don't ask too many at the same time, or you will get swamped in work), or make a tumblr post saying any writer mutuals of yours can ask you whether you currently have time to beta. Many fandom discords also have a @/helper role that will ping you when someone is looking for beta readers or other help. If you want to help anyone, go to the next step, otherwise skip that one.

Finding stories or authors

On tumblr and ao3, you can check out the 'beta reader wanted' tags and similar ones like 'to beta', 'fic beta wanted', 'looking for beta reader', etc. If you are looking for a specific fandom on tumblr, you probably have to be willing to scroll for a while, as most people don't tag things with '[fandom] beta reader wanted', and even if you would have to check many different tag variants to even find a single fic. On ao3, you can search for a fandom or pairing and then filter for the beta tags (one at a time).

On ao3, some authors also allow beta work of completed stories - but make sure to only do it on works of authors who are comfortable with this, do not give unsolicited advice or criticism! No matter how 'helpful' or 'constructive'! Comments with beta work without the author asking for it in notes or profile are anything but nice.

Most authors won't be mad at you if you point out a typo or two, but still check the notes of the fic and the author's profile for whether they actively state that they do not want this kind of beta work, and if you do end up leaving a comment, make sure to a) include something you liked about the story, so the author doesn't just check their inbox to get disappointed with a 'here's a typo' message, b) ask whether they want you to keep doing so in the future or rather not, and c) always stay polite.

For anything more than a single typo or grammar mistake, you should ask the author - best in a dm if you can find their tumblr - whether they are looking for a beta reader for this story of theirs that you enjoyed reading. Still leaving a nice comment on the fic first will help your beta/author relationship along, trust me :) Again, before you ask to beta, check the notes and profile or of they have an about section on their tumblr or other sites to find out whether your help might not be welcome, as perhaps for them a fic, once posted, is not going to be edited anymore.

You can also specifically look through the profiles of authors you like, to check not just for whether or not they are alright with corrections and/or constructive criticism, but also for whether they are actively looking for a beta reader!

Working with a fic author

Once you are in contact with an author, you need to find out whether you are really compatible, to then work together well.

Preparation: clarifying what you can, should and will do for the author

What does the author want you to look for? Examples can be found on the post for fic authors. Most authors will tell you without prompting, but some might not know that clarification is necessary/ are so used to their kind of betaing that they didn't think to/ plain forgot about it. In this case, you shouldn't just make assumptions - even if you worked with the author before, they might want different things for different fics, depending on length or how important a story is to them etc, so ask what exactly they want you to do.

Make sure the instructions cover the kind of beta work, the format (directly in the text, tracked editing functions, comment next to the text or direct messages), the content of the fic if there is anything you wouldn't want to read (rating, pairings, warnings), and the time frame in which they need the work to be ready to post.

Once you know what is wanted, really think about whether you are able to do as requested. If you can't - whether because you won't finish it in time or because you can't or don't want to do the kind of beta work they need (I for example hate to only beta spelling and grammar without also correcting wordflow, I would do it for a short fic but I won't agree to beta something longer if I can't bring in my own opinion at least a little), and honestly say what you won't do and why. If it doesn't work out, they will just have to look for a new beta, and there's no shame in that.

The actual beta work

Only do as much as the author asked you to, and do that well! You know what works best for you - reading the entire text first, then going through it again to beta, or starting with the corrections and suggestions immediately. Don't correct or suggest things they haven't asked for, it is not a curtsy but might even be hurtful unsolicited criticism.

If you aren't sure about something, for example a grammar rule, either look it up or honestly tell the author that there may or may not be a mistake there and they should check it out.

Be nice! Phrase your comments in a friendly way, and unless the author told you not to, you can even write additional notes pointing out things you especially liked.

Don't expect the author to accept all of your corrections and suggestions into the final text! You may think they would improve the work, but it is their decision, and maybe they have a specific writing style they want to stick to, or any other reason to ignore a suggestion. Don't argue about any of this.

Being credited as beta reader

Do you want to be credited for your beta work? If so, you should tell the author in advance so they can decide whether or not they agree to this, and to the way you will be credited, whether in name mention only, @ on tumblr or link on ao3.

Let me know if I missed anything, and I will add it to the post!

The post for fanfic authors about dealing with beta readers can be found here.