#how to make money on line

[confessedlyfannish]

Writing Prompt #12

Bruce is reading the paper when the pour of Tim's coffee goes abruptly quiet. It would be hard to pinpoint why this is disturbing if it wasn't for the way the soft, tinny sound the vent system in the manor makes cuts out for the first time since being updated in the 90s. The pour, Bruce realizes, has not slowed to a trickle before stopping. It has simply stopped. And there is no overeager clack of a the mug against the marble counter or the uncouth first slurp (nor muttered apology at Alfred's scolding look) immediately following the end of the pour.

Bruce fights the instinct to use all of his senses to investigate, and instead keeps his eyes on the byline of the article detailing the latest set of microearthquakes to hit the midwest in the last week. Microearthquakes aren't an unusual occurrence and aren't noticeable by human standards, which is why this article is regulated to page seven, but from several hundred a day worldwide to several hundred a day solely in the East North Central States, seismologists are baffled.

Bruce had been considering sending Superman to investigate under the guise of a Daily Planet article requested by Bruce Wayne (Wayne Industries does have an offshoot factory in the area) when everything had stopped twenty seconds ago. That is what he assumes has happened (having not moved a muscle to confirm) in the amount of time he assumes has passed. His million dollar Rolex does not quite audibly tick but in the absolute silence it should be heard, which confirms the silence to be exactly that—absolute.

While Bruce can hold his breath with the best of the Olympian swimmers, he has never accounted for a need to remain without blinking without being able to move one's eyes. Rotating the eyeballs will maintain lubrication such that one could go without blinking for up to ten minutes. But staring at the byline fixedly, he estimates another twenty seconds before tears start to form.

These are the thoughts Bruce distracts himself with, because he doesn't dare consider how Tim and Alfred haven't made a (living) sound in the past forty-five seconds. About Damian, packing his bag upstairs for school after a morning walk with Titus that was "just pushing it, Master Damian".

There is a knife to his right, if memory serves (it does). In the next five seconds—

"Your wards and guardian are fine, Mr. Wayne," the deepest voice Bruce has ever heard intones. For a dizzying moment, it is hard to pinpoint the location of the voice, for it comes from everywhere—like the chiming of a clocktower whilst inside the tower, so overpowering he is cocooned in its volume.

But it is not spoken loudly, just calmly, and when he puts the paper down, folds it, and looks to his right, a blue man sits in Dick's chair.

He wears a three piece suit made entirely of hues of violet, tie included. He has a black brooch in the shape of a cogwheel pinned to his chest pocket, a simple chain clipped to his lapel. Black leather gloves delicately thumb Bruce's watch (no longer on his wrist, somewhere between second 45 and 46 it has stopped being on his wrist), admiring it.

"You'll forgive me," the man says with surety. "Clocks are rather my thing, and this is an impressive piece." He turns it over and reveals the 'M. Brando' roughly scratched into the silver back. He frowns.

"What a shame," he says, placing it face side up on the table.

"Most would consider that the watch's most valuable characteristic." Bruce says, voice steady, hands neatly folded before him. Two inches from the knife. To his left, there is an open doorway to the kitchen. If he turns his head, he might be able to get a glance of Tim or Alfred.

He doesn't look away from the man.

"It is the arrogance of man," the man says, raising red eyes (sclera and all) to Bruce, "to think they can make their mark on time."

"...Is that supposed to be considered so literally?" Bruce asks, with a light smile he does not mean.

The man smiles lightly back, eyes crinkling at the corners. He looks to be in his mid thirties, clean-shaven. His skin is a dull blue, his hair a shock of white, and a jagged scar runs through one eye and curving down the side of his cheek, an even darker, rawer shade of blue-purple.

The man turns the watch back over and taps at the engraving. "Let me ask you this," he says. "When we deface a work of art, does it become part of the art? Does it add to its intrinsic meaning?"

Bruce forces his shoulders to shrug. "It's arbitrary," he says. "A teenager inscribes his name on the wall of an Ancient Egyptian temple and his parents are forced to publicly apologize. But runic inscriptions are found on the Hagia Sophia that equate to an errant Viking guard having inscribed 'Halfdan was here' and we consider it an artifact of a time in which the Byzantine Empire had established an alliance with the Norse and converted vikings to Christianity."

"The vikings were as errant as the teenager," the man says, "in my experience." He leans back in his chair. "I suppose you could say the difference is time. When time passes, we start to think of things as artistic, or historical. We find the beauty in even the rubble, or at least we find necessity in the destruction..."

He offers Bruce the watch. After a moment, Bruce takes it.

"The problem, Mr. Wayne, is that time does not pass for me. I see it all as it was, as it is, as it ever will be, at all times. There is no refuge from the horror or comfort in that one day..." he closes his hand, the leather squeaking. And then his face smooths out, the brief severity gone. He regards Bruce calmly.

"You can look left, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce looks left. Framed by the doorway, Tim looks like a photograph caught in time. A stream of coffee escapes the spout of the stainless steel pot he prefers over the Breville in the name of expediency, frozen as it makes its way to the thermos proclaiming BITCH I MIGHTWING. Tim regards his task with a face of mindless concentration, mouth slack, lashes in dark relief against his pale skin as he looks down at the mug. Behind him, Bruce can see Alfred's hand outstretched towards the refrigerator handle, equally and terrifyingly still.

"My name is Clockwork," the man says. "I have other names, ones you undoubtedly know, but this one will be bestowed upon me from the mouth of a child I cherish, and so I favor it above all else. I am the Keeper of Time."

"What do you want from me?" Bruce asks, shedding Wayne for Batman in the time it takes to meet Clockwork's eyes. The man acknowledges the change with a greeting nod.

"In a few days time, you will send Superman to the Midwest to investigate the unusual seismic activity. By then, it will be too late, the activity will be gone. They will have already muzzled him."

"Him."

"There is a boy with the power to rule the realm I come from. Your government has been watching him. The day he turned 18, they took him from his family and hid him away. I want you to retrieve him. I want you to do it today."

"Why me?"

"His parents do not have the resources you do, both as Batman and Bruce Wayne. You will dismantle the organization that is keen on keeping him imprisoned, and you will offer him a scholarship to the local University. You and yours will keep him safe within Gotham until he is able to take his place as my King."

This is a lot of information to take in, even for Bruce. The idea that there could be a boy powerful enough to rule over this (god, his mind whispers) entity and that somehow, he has slipped under all of their radars is as frustrating as it is overwhelming. But although Clockwork has seemed willing to converse, he doesn't know how many more questions he will get.

"You have the power to stop time," he decides on, "why don't you rescue him? Would he not be better suited with you and your people?"

"Within every monarchy, there is a court," Clockwork. "Mine will be unhappy with the choice I have made," he looks at Bruce's watch, head cocked. "In different worlds, they call you the Dark Knight. This will be your chance to serve before a True King."

Bruce bristles. "I bow to no one."

"You'll all serve him, one day," Clockwork says, patiently. "He is the ruler of realms where all souls go, new and old. When you finally take refuge, he will be your sanctuary." He frowns. "But your government rejects the idea of gods. All they know is he is other. Not human. Not meta. A weapon."

"A weapon you want me to bring to my city."

"I believe you call one of your weapons 'Clark', do you not?" Clockwork asks idly. "But you misunderstand me. They seek to weaponize him. He is not restrained for your safety, but for their gain."

"And if I don't take him?" Bruce asks, because a) Clockwork has implied he will be at the very least impeded, at worst destroyed over this, and b) he never did quite learn not to poke the bear. "You won't be around if I decide he's better off with the government."

"You will," Clockwork says, with the same certainty he's wielded this entire conversation. "Not because he is a child, though he is, nor because you are good, though you are, nor even because it is better power be close at hand than afar.

"I have told you my court will be unhappy with me. In truth, there are others who also defend the King. Together we will destroy the access to our world not long after this conversation. The court will be unable to touch him, but neither will we as we face the repercussions for our actions. I am telling you this, because in a timeline where I do not, you think I will be there to protect him. And so when he is in danger, even subconsciously, you choose to save him last, or not at all. And that is the wrong choice.

"So cement it in your head, Bruce Wayne," the man says, "You will go to him because I tell you to. And you will keep him safe until he is ready to return to us. He will find no safety net in me. So you will make the right choice, no matter the cost."

"Or, when our worlds connect again, and they will," his voice now echoes in triplicate with the voices of the many, the young, the old, Tim, Bruce's mother, Barry Allen, Bruce's own voice, "I will not be the only one who comes for you."

"Now," he says, producing a Wayne Industries branded BIC pen. "I will tell you the location the boy is being kept, and then I would like my medallion back, please. In that order."

Bruce glances down and sees a golden talisman, attached to a black ribbon that is draped haphazardly around the neck of his bathrobe, so light (too light, he still should have—) he has not felt its weight until this moment.

Bruce flips the paper over, takes the pen, and jots down the coordinates the being rattles off over the face of a senator. By his calculation, they do correspond with a location in the midwest.

"You will find him on B6. Take a left down the hallway and he will be in the third room down, the one with a reinforced steel door. Take Mr. Kent and Mr. Grayson with you, and when you leave take the staircase at the end of the hallway, not the elevator."

The man gets up, dusts off his impeccably clean pants, and offers him a hand to shake.

"We will not meet again for some time, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce looks at the creature, stands, and shakes his hand. It feels like nothing. The Keeper of Time sighs, although nothing has been said.

"Ask your question, Mr. Wayne."

"I have more than one."

"You do," Clockwork says. "But I have heard them all, and so they are one. Please ask, or I will not be inclined to answer it."

"What does this boy mean for the future, that you are willing to sacrifice yourself for him?"

There is a pause.

"So that is the one," Clockwork says, after a time. "Yes. I see. I should resolve this, I suppose."

"Resolve what?"

"It is not his future I mean to protect," the man says. "It is his present."

"You want to keep him safe now..." Bruce says, but he's not sure what the being is trying to say.

"I am not inclined," Clockwork repeats, stops. His expression turns solemn, red eyes widening. In their reflection, Bruce can see something. A rush of movement too quick to make heads or tails of, like playing fast forward on a videotape. "Superman reports no signs of unusual seismic activity. With nothing further to look into, you let it go in favor of other investigative pursuits. You do not find him, as you are not meant to. He stays there. His family, his friends, they cannot find him. His captors tell him they have moved on. He does not believe them, until he does. He stays there. He stays there until he is strong enough to save himself."

Clockwork speaks stiffly, rattling off the chain of events as if reading a Justice League debrief. "He is King. He will always be King. He is strong, and good, and compassionate, and he is great for my people because yours have betrayed his trust beyond repair. He throws himself into being the best to ever Be, because there is nothing Left for him otherwise. We love him. We love him. We love him. My King. Forevermore."

The red film in his eyes stall out, and Bruce is forced to look away from how bright the image is, barely making out a silhouette before they dull back to their regular red.

"I am not inclined," Clockwork says slowly, "To this future."

"Because of what it means in the present," Bruce finishes for him. "They're not just imprisoning him, are they."

"They will have already muzzled him."

Clockworks is right in front of him faster than he can process, fist gripping the medallion at his neck so tight he now feels the ribbon digging into his skin.

"Unlike you, Mr. Wayne," and for the first time, the god is angry, and the image of it will haunt Bruce for the rest of his life, "I do not believe in building a better future on the back of a broken child."

"Find him," the deity orders, and yanks the necklace so hard the ribbon rips—

Clack!

"sluuuuurp!"

"Master Timothy, honestly!"

"Sorry Alfred!"

[rainy-matcha]

Something I love about Mob Psycho is that Reigen is a fraud, but not in the way you'd originally think. He still helps people, just not in the way they think he's helping them. Any non spiritual problems he can solve for his clients, he will, and he even makes a point not to take money he feels like he didn't earn.

This applies to his mentorship with Mob; although, yes, he's using Mob's powers to his own personal gain, his original promise to help Mob learn to control his powers is still fulfilled. Mob's powers are directly tied to his emotions; and we can see that clearly throughout the series. Regulation of Mob's emotions in turn regulates his powers. Reigen's guidance is a large part of that regulation. The lessons he instills in Mob (don't use your powers on other people, your powers are just a trait and they don't make you inherently worth more or entitled to more than anyone else, and several others he learns from Reigen over the course of the series) are a huge part in putting Mob on the right path in regards to the use of his powers. It shapes his mindset and strong morals surrounding them, and this mindset shapes his emotions and power regulation. He would likely not be the same controlled and morally sound person he is by the end of the series without Reigen.

[the-everqueen]

re: lrb, so much of Sinners is about Blackness as generative - Black laborers work the vital crops, Black entrepreneurs create jobs, Black artists inspire new modes of thought. Remmick literally wants to drain the life out of a Black community for himself: Black life is tantalizing, intoxicating, but also he can't imagine any relationship to it besides possession. and in the final scene Stack and Mary are also hungering for that Black life, but it's not literal blood, it's the art, it's the music. Stack asks, "you still got the real in you," and his eyes gleam with wanting, but it's not for Sammie to die - if anything, it's for Sammie to keep on living, as a vessel for the music, because that connection to the same music that set him and the others free (just for a night! just for a moment!) is the thing that's sustained him through his whole undeath. whiteness wants to wring Black labor of every drop until it's gone, but Blackness sees its generative power and wants it to keep on living, will do anything to kindle that fire just a little brighter.

[laurellala-comics]

Hi everyone I made an ace attorney self insert for sillies... I cannot recommend this enough, everyone should join me and make a self insert.

The backstory I came up with is she had a few art classes with Nick at college and then did a total career pivot to work in a tech company after graduating. She went to the art museum across the street from her office on her lunch break as a creative outlet and witnessed a murder and art robbery, and now she's a witness for a case Nick is working! Trying to question her is a pain because every time she tries to talk about what she saw she gets interrupted by a work call :(

(The pun by the way is meant to be "You're a liar". And she's listed on my artfight for this year if you want to draw her!)

[likesdoodling]

It's been a little over a year since I started using Photoshop, this piece is from the last few days (February 2025 yeye), while the piece below is the first thing I drew with Photoshop (January 2024). A lot of stuff has happened since then (reaching the end of Ascendance of a Bookworm for example-), but Rozemyne is still a character I draw pretty often, and I still have Photoshop, so this is to see if I've gotten better art wise since then (I would say I have :D)

[asexualbookbird]

25 in 2025

Sigh. I've been bullied. I guess. I did a big swing and a miss on last years list, but I have a Plan this time. A Theme. A Goal. This will be mostly comprised of my Illumicrate books so I can decide if it is in fact worth it to keep my subscription going until the Alecto edition gets announced. If I don't actually enjoy the majority of the books in these boxes then what's the point, yknow?

So here's this years color key:

Green - Carry over from last year (not carrying over every missed book, which probably means I should just get rid of them huh)

Purple - Illumicrate books

Blue - I own these in physical form, but they're not from Illumicrate

Labyrinth's Heart by MA Carrick

The Faithless by CL Clark

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

City of Bones by Martha Wells

Witch King by Martha Wells

After the Forest by Kell Woods

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

The Phoenix Keeper by SA Maclean

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan

Mistress of Lies by KM Enright

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher

The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker Chan

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault by James Alan Gardner

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

In the Ravenous Dark by AM Strickland

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

PHEW. Okay. A fw things to note. A Dark and Drowning Tide is an Illumicrate book, but I didn't pay for it. A friend gave it to me after I skipped that month because she wasn't interested. I always look up book spoilers and skip if I'm not interested and if I'm uninterested in any of the stuff I'll skip even if the book seems neat. That month the box was full of fandoms I didn't care about, so my friends said "here, take my copy" and I said "yay! Free book!"

Cutting in during the month of April to say Until We Shatter was also probably given to me by a friend because it's NOT in my order history and I don't have the stuff in that box but it IS on my shelf?? Wild. Where'd it come from.

The Last Hour Between Worlds I think was also an Illumicrate book? They do fanart for it so I assume it was at some point. I did not get it. This is not the IC edition. I was not thrilled about The Tethered Mage so I was going to get this out of the library. Then my mom bought it for me for the holidays. So yay! Free book!

I think I would also like to keep track of books I purchase this year. I'd like to cut down on buying books that I won't love. So I'd like to utilise my library more. Win win, I think! And that seems easier than a full out ban since yeah sometimes I do enjoy little treats! Books purchased for other people do not count, obviously.

There are also some books I'd like to reread this year, mainly The Bone Maker because I've been saying that since I read it the first time. And honestly, I've been chasing the same vibes and haven't been able to match it (Godkiller got close!).

As usual, I reserve the right to pretend this post doesn't exist, but I think I've set myself up for success here :)

I don't know who hasn't done this by now @logarithmicpanda ? Have you?? Consider yourself tagged >:3c

oh right I was bullied tagged by @bigcats-birds-and-books

[orangerosebush]

IMO, Artemis i, ii, and Angeline are codependent in a way that doesn't result in yelling matches per se, but rather codependent in the sense of, “I love you so much I want to put you in a snow globe and look at it for hours in a quiet room��.

On the one hand, Artemis II acts like he's the parent despite being 15-17 — and then on the other hand, Angeline and Artemis I see every awful thing that happens with the People as if it were happening to Artemis circa age 6.

All this is complicated by Artemis being thee baby of the family/the Original Heir***. There’s a tension in Artemis thinking that he needs to puppeteer his parents for the good of The Family, whereas his parents hold that maybe the world did end when Artemis died (TLG) and to pretend otherwise is insane.

***"Thee baby" not in the sense of youngest or most infantilized. Of course, in TEC, Fowl Sr grieves at the sight of the adult-like Artemis in front of him during the hospital visit, as does Angeline in TAI during a phone call.

Rather, I joke about this in the sense that like... Angeline and Artemis I never get to see Artemis grow up. Not to mention, Artemis was born into an era of the Fowls where it would be reasonable to worry that someone would do ill by Artemis to hurt the family due to him being the only heir (at the time). Myles and Beckett are born into a wholly different world than Artemis was. So much of the anguish over Artemis has to do with that context!

[poisonousquinzel]

Paul Dini: When we came up with the origin story for her, we put it out there that maybe she was not so good a person to begin with. Maybe in some ways she was manipulative, she took advantage of people, she cut corners. She was looking to profit off of these super criminals by writing a tell-all book. She was becoming a very surface-y pop psychologist and writing a tell-all book about the criminals of Gotham. When we took that attitude with her, it made it okay for her to fall under the Joker’s sway like that. Source

who let him say this? this is so nasty what the fuck is wrong with him

"When we took that attitude with her, it made it okay for her to fall under the Joker’s sway like that. " when we viewed her as a self serving slut who was only in it for the money it made it okay for her to be manipulated by joker like that :D

"She was becoming a very surface-y pop psychologist" BUT YOU DIDNT WRITE HER AS A PSYCHOLOGIST MOTHERFUCKER YOU WROTE HER AS A PSYCHIATRIST

i dont know who needs to hear this, but being a bad person or doing shady shit in your past does not mean you deserve to be abused and manipulated or that it makes it okay for your abuser to do what they do to you. that's a really gross thing to say about what he himself made as an abusive relationship.

[jaybirdsandbabybats]

linke saying viktor is ace as an excuse to deter the jayvik shippers man shut the hell up. you can be gay and ace. you can be gay and ace and still be sex positive.

dude can just straight up say "i dont like jayvik but if you see it that way i don't know what to say" instead of starting fires with all his non-answers in interviews

[s0fter-sin]

last thing i’ll say; people aren’t owed free content but creatives aren’t owed financial compensation either

[tohruies]

hi hi mrs yao !!!! christmas is coming up, are you going to celebrate anythinf with xiangli ? :33 btw, since miss coco doesnt have a tree, here's a little something to say thank you for being one of my lovely moots 🥺

oh! 😁 hi hello mr puppetgear! 😁 christmas celebrations with xiangli you ask! 😁 well actually! 😁 you see, i was th— *dies upon seeing the image you’ve attached to this ask* 😳😲🤯😱😱😱😵💀🪦

[cowbutchranch]

.

My best friend who makes at least twice my salary is lecturing me on finances and this is rly not the vibe I was going for on this fine Saturday

[crazy-hazy-sims]

.

Well

Visted family and sat down with one of them thats actually a full on doomer end of the world type of guy that does nothing but sit around and scare people with tales of the end of the world and honestly it put everything in perspective for me despite the absolute anxiety and helplessness i feel im actually on the hopeful side of humanity im on the side of humanity thats pushing for change and restoration the ones thats hope posting thats playing the long game of planting the seeds of change now and waiting 50 years for it to bloom i actually have hope and im actually activly acting on that hope activly looking for people like me and activly believing in the goodness of people and their desire for change and that made me feel so much better it actually made less anxious and panicked

[riacte]

so hey guys i finished dungeon meshi yesterday and i'm still thinking about it

[pinacoladamatata]

Target Solas may be saving my life actually

[3416]

also i will say i love people who can't analyze the game as it relates to goaltending bc like. even if your team panics after a goal or two against and crumbles for a moment defensively... a locked in goalie can keep you in it and let you get your feet under you and recoup momentum. that's kind of the point. when the entire team drops the ball and hits the point of no return, that sometimes includes goaltending, and it's not an indictment of them as a person or saying they haven't done any good all series, it just is what it is. it's part of the game too. i'm very tired of acting like we didn't get some bad goaltending this series along with some excellent just like literally all other performances when i see ppl try to break down good performances, but even though it's a moot point now, it took actually targeting and injuring stolarz to change the feel of the series and florida are still criminals. they tried to run woll at multiple points too like damn