#i literally haven't used this website ever how does it work

[bonkbonkthebonk]

Oh yeah I figured since this account exists exists may aswell use it to post WIPS or scrapped art, or anything else I deem not worthy of going on my DA account.

I ended up scrapping this drawing due to not being satisfied with the style, I'm still working out how to draw Splatoon characters. I actually really like the shading style in this though.

[melonteee]

sometimes in your vid essays when you briefly diverge into the topic of powerscaling and such I find it hilarious in regards to One Piece specifically because that series is so allergic to that kind of discussion. like as someone who's well-versed in regards to How Powerscaling Works, OP straight up does not give numbers the way other series do and if you go to any powerscaling type wiki/website their OP pages are in fact just born from a million assumptions. One Piece will have a dude say "Im Big Dick McGee" and do one insanely cool thing that has everyone freaking out and powerscalers will be pulling their hair out because *they can't quantify that shit* and have to make a million assumptions as to how strong OP characters really are.

And i feel like Oda has the same mindset because he introduced the doriki system as an actual Power Scale System in water seven and then threw it the hell away mid arc with no reference to it ever again and YET because it's the single point of actual in-series power measuring youll find forums today still using it to make 15 more follow-up assumptions for characters in the current canon. no one can handle the silly goofines of this whole thing and thats not even counting how OP powerlevel discussions become lore discussions too bc how are they going to account for everyone being superhuman due to their planet being far more massive and thus having stronger gravity.

its so hilarious no other shonen could ever resist not introducing a consistent powerscaling system for 2+ decades

EXACTLY DFGHJKDF this is why I've been SAYING you can call One Piece a battle shonen all you want, because there ARE battles in it, but Oda so CLEARLY puts narrative over ANY sort of power system. Every time someone asks Oda any battle relevant question, he always answers with some bullshit JHKFGD like "how far can Luffy stretch?? oh about 20 gum gums" LIKE HHHH he so clearly DOESN'T care to stick to any strict power system. I mean the most recent huge fight was a TOM AND JERRY inspired fight for god's sake, Gear 5 throws any and all power scaling conversations out the window for all we know Gear 5 can do fucking ANYTHING.

I've literally seen One Piece guys and Dragonball guys fighting about whether Gear 5 could beat Goku, and it's like, mother fucker for all we know Gear 5 could just bugs bunny a kamehameha back at him JDFHGKD like we literally do not know the scale of Gear 5. Hell we don't know the scale of MOST characters in One Piece. I was SO confused as to why the term 'admiral level' was a thing cause we've barely seen the admirals...do anything?? Like yeah Akainu can turn into magma and whatever, but what else??? Why is this term even a thing if we haven't even seen the scale of what any of these guys can do JKFGDFGD I will admit I have a much more plot/narrative driven head but I truly cannot understand how One Piece power scalers get any of their arguments or data hhhhhh

[mesaprotector]

was reading recently about the "to be lawful or good" trope (follow orders/respect rule of law, or do what's right?), and it occurred to me that western values are so idealistic on the matter that "good" is almost always chosen, and a character who believes the law is the greater good is usually painted as morally dubious and hypocritical. tvtropes points out that in the parallel "to be chaotic or good" dilemmas protagonists almost always choose chaotic. i guess that makes sense from the point of view of fiction as wish fulfillment, and the ideal world for an american is one where they can do whatever they want without consequences.

psycho-pass is a really good example of media where this does not happen. anime in general tends to be more respectful of "lawful" values, sometimes to excess from my own western point of view (too many anime i've seen, workplace abuse is "dealt" with by learning to work harder). but urobuchi at least has a nice concept of what a balance can look like. (spoilers below, of course).

akane tsunemori is the most lawful good character to ever lawful good. she has constant positive intentions, cares for everyone in her society, and does so by enforcing and interpreting the law - and would not have it any other way. there's an amazing quote from her near the end of s1 (i have not seen the later seasons):

"People have always detested evil and sought out a righteous way of living. Their feelings, the accumulation of those peoples feelings are the law. They’re neither the provisions, nor the system. They’re the fragile and irreplaceable feelings that everyone carries in their hearts."

when faced with "to be lawful or good", she never once gives up on the law, no matter what. she has at least two chances to kill a dangerous villain outright and rejects both as being against orders; when the law itself tries to ensnare someone she loves, she finds a way out by following the rules instead of just breaking them like any other hero would.

dungeons and dragons kind of threw the alignment system at players and told them "you, there, interpret this". it's difficult and a lot to ask. from the little experience i have with it, most players only care about good/neutral/evil, and as for law vs. chaos they're just treated like different flavors of ice cream. it's far more compelling to treat them as equally important - a lawful good character and a chaotic good character are as far apart, morally, as a lawful good and a lawful evil one.

psycho-pass s1 doesn't have a chaotic good character. the closest it gets is kagari, who could perhaps be called chaotic neutral (though i have trouble calling any literal cop chaotic, he was essentially forced into the role). but it does have a fantastic example of a chaotic vs. lawful conflict, just on the evil side - makishima vs. sibyl.

i think where i wanted to go with this is that part of maturity is learning that two people, or groups of people, who are fighting, may very well both be righteous, and talking it out is often not a solution. i think most modern politics is like this, but that's just my feeling. there are some fairly evil people around, to be sure, but the vast majority of people are not - and recognizing that those different from you are in some ways righteous, and that you yourself are in some ways capable of evil - is really a critical sort of humility.

i might be a little too thrilled with myself for having realized this so early - i was the only kid in my class who liked "lord of the flies", and i still do like it. tumblr used to really have a thing about hating it back when the audience on this website had an average age of 16. i hope those people who insisted "but i'd never have grown up to do anything bad" have learned better since. but looking at how many older people (including apparently most writers) haven't gotten the memo, i'm not too sure.

[spamtoon]

DCRC week 3 time! ...In week 4.

you see. every time i wanted to open this comic. i wanted to do something else actually sosososososo bad. however now's the time

my history with the comics is ZILCH. i've had my friend show me a few duck comics they had in their first language and i've read some of the darkwing stuff but i haven't dived head first into scrooge's origins the way that many other duckblr members have

please note i might be off because i am very tired as of writing this. i will pass out directly after i finish this and so my judgements might be a bit. Strange

First comment I'd like to make her is how professional the comic seems, though that may just be because i'm viewing this though the don rosa archive on the definitely legal website. i'm glad at the very least that all of these like. little comics that are hard to keep track of are in one place

second off i just want to shoutout how tiny louie is here. ity bity. the 87 triplets are so small. sorry this is how it is with me i'm like wow... i appreciate these comics and all of the work people put into them and then im like oh louie little

Oh my aching eyebulbs! I did in fact misread that as lightbulbs

great panel we've got going on here. og glomgold acting quite fruity while donald needs to catch the thing... Glomgold you do understand you are also claiming other people's fortunes given the work for you in the south african diamond mines... a detail that i've only ever heard in trivia until now.

donald is so just continuously done with their garbage and he deserves to be i think. for all he's been through

sorry i just like the exaggerated poses here and the sillouettes and line effects. showcasing the them

Oh deliver us!

sorry i just love the expressions (and posing in the third) here. i know i'm mainly admiring comic panels so far but dang it. they...

aaaaand this is where the stuff that. didnt quite age starts. i've heard from chatter on discord that Things Happen in this comic and that scrooge should be wanted in Peru because of it. they way that some of the descendants are just casually helping him gnngnsn. i understand it was the 80s...

glomgold ate in this outfit and i'm sure you all agree. assuming this is glomgold i havent read that yet but look at him. that's glomgold. his goofy ahh smirk

FOEIJFIOUSGJEIAFEAFOJIUEAAEJOFEADAEFJIEA well. i did forget that glomgold held scrooge at gunpoint. and he does! i'm so . the way he's just. being held at gunpoint and scrooge's reaction is like THIS IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE i'm so. not even a gun can stop scrooge mcduck. or the triplets for that mater they also are kinda unphased at this point

another case where i just want to note these panels for the pose and expression contrast between the two of them... they

FEAHUIAOEJFEA the cogging way that the sound effects STREEEEETCH across the winds. priceless i think

i also want to note the action panels in the plane crash section i'm so. this one in particular but all of them really

Okay so i guess they were just. stuck with glomgold for multiple days. and scrooge is like where the barp is everyone ohhhh curse me cog darn kilts sorry

also omg calisota mention. calisota girls we're unforgesorry

glomgold's little happy handstand... you deserve to dark.wing cartwheel actually i think. also caro thinking about quack.erjack

parrot mention (context. im normal about that phone guy)

also please know before it registered that was a shine effect i thought the zebra's tail was a Bomb for a second and that the twist was going to be it all explodes in glomgold's face. but alas

HUIDAEJIOJFAEIJF THE WAY SCROOGE IS JUST. CASUAL ABOUT IT like dammmm you guys were slow. the fact scrooge has just had a little setup out here i'm so. yeah let's prank glomgold

im so mad... its beautiful. ive heard comics scrooge vs dt.17 scrooge described as business scrooge vs family scrooge and if this isn't way to differentiate between the two of them. the adventure's over because Business glomgold.

sorry every serious comic person that may or may not be reading this because i am. not very serious especially right now but please know i have so much respect for these and cant wait to read more. except i have to do an assignment first. two assignments. four. school is kicking my behind right now thats part of why i'm late but i will catch up eventually. now time to go to sleep

OH WAIT THERES MORE COMIC hold on wait what if you see this while i'm editing no you don't. i can't believe i actually got juked by the fake ending. i will admit i have been coasting along for a bit now but Now i am invested

the way he spends multiple panels gloating about the gems specifically... both of them are so petty here and its beautiful

rooooolling giiiiirl sorry my legitimate first thoughts. i am having an era right now. yes glomgold chase your big gem frisbee

the way that they're dragging both of them out and away from each other. like alright folks. time to break it up here. you're gonna destroy the temple. and they do!

GLEEP!

okay now its the end. this comic has made me a fan of comic glomgold and thats what i'm going to say here. good night everyone i hope this is a great start to my beautiful comic journey

[jyndor]

been on this site since 2010 in one way or another and I have seen first hand the fucking expulsion of Black people and other people of color from tumblr due to the vile racist harassment they have always gotten from white people and their big followings. people wonder where so much of the large Black tumblr community went and freaks will claim that that was all just russian psyop noise.

and while I am sure there were SOME bots and psyops, my feeling is that a lot of white liberals tell themselves that the whitening and global northening of this website - which has always had a vibrant and diverse user base - over the past several years is not the work of massive amounts of racist harassment and the failure of white moderates to do anything but the usual reflexive hand wringing over semantics and tone and respectability politics, no of course not, it's that the more radical Black bloggers were mostly just russian psyops or their useful idiots, and... I guess so many of the Black fandom bloggers and aesthetic bloggers etc, they just magically decided they didn't have any interest in this site anymore right?

and indigenous bloggers, I've seen them run off here too. and of course I've seen Latine mutuals disappear, and yeah they all must have just randomly decided they'd had enough of tumblr, or they were also psyops and weren't even real people at all.

and now during a GENOCIDE I've seen palestinian bloggers, both IN PALESTINE and the diaspora, harassed into silence. I've seen them get bombarded with the most cruel harassment I have ever seen on this website, and then again the hand wringing of white moderates. and the genocide denial: the orientalist and racist smears and hack jobs and propaganda campaigns, the apologia and obfuscation and when their backs are to the wall, the mask slipping and revealing the enraged colonial vengeance from fascists that defies belief.

palestinians are doing extensive work to vet gofundmes and fundraisers, and they have been for months now. and since I follow palestinians on here I've been aware of their processes for months. and so I've donated and shared them on here, and I've seen gofundme shut very legitimate fundraisers down for whatever bullshit reason, I've seen palestinians IN GAZA have to find a way to reach out to me, just some random us american woman, on fucking tumblr and write in a language that isn't their first and apologize for bothering ME with their fundraiser that they have to have because THEY ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE THE GENOCIDE MY COUNTRY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR.

and you're telling me that some fucking white liberal allies~ are so concerned about the possibility that these palestinians and the palestinian bloggers who have spent countless hours working to get them to safety might be some sort of scam ring??? and then when the palestinian bloggers explain once again to these ~well meaning big blogs~ how they work, and what cultural/language cues these big bloggers are missing because clearly they have no cultural competency and have never met a palestinian ever (or if they have they have never been a safe person for a palestinian to speak freely around) they hem and haw and bring out the fucking "I was just so worried that well meaning people might be tricked into wasting $5 on a tumblr checkmark I mean tumblr premium I mean a billboard for some racist gay slaver pirate show wow how does that keep happening my fingers keep slipping I MEAN on a fundraiser for a family trying to escape genocide, and I would totally love to donate too! (but I haven't and I won't)."

but the damage was done - at least one palestinian blogger WHO BTW LITERALLY IS A SURVIVOR OF THIS GENOCIDE was harassed so much that he might not ever come back to tumblr, but he definitely won't ever be doing the work to vet fundraisers again, something that has a material impact on the ground - but these big bloggers recommend donating to ngos like the red cross which ??? literally palestinians and other peoples in the global south fyi have long asked people not to support over either mutual aid (in the case of gaza atm bc it is hard for aid to even get to aid workers since you know, israel fucking bombed the rafah crossing) or local organizations that are recommended by COMMUNITIES THEMSELVES, NOT BY TUMBLR USER @PATRONIZINGWHITE (that is not a real user fyi).

if I am to believe that the exodus of Black tumblr users from this site was mostly a purging of russian bots and shit, then I could believe that this was a deliberate targeting of palestinian bloggers saving actual people from an actual genocide.

but what I'm inclined to believe is that actually white people have been spoon fed so much anti-palestinian and anti-arab racism, so much orientalist paternalism and colonial white man's burden horseshit, that it was second-nature to assume that palestinians aren't actually thoughtful enough to properly vet people trying to raise tens of thousands of dollars from strangers on the internet. and that's assuming that these white tumblr users aren't more than a bit sympathetic to israel. sike they really do just hate palestinians.

rarely ever, throughout all these years, have I experienced any harassment myself. and it isn't like I don't have a moderately sized following myself, and that I haven't for a long time.

you'll notice a lot of white western bloggers are still here and have been for years. they'll complain about censorship of fanfiction.net and porn blogs and how important ao3 is to protect of queer people like me, and im not even entirely unsympathetic because again i have been here for a long time, but it's crickets when people of color on tumblr have clearly been silenced over the years.

shameful. if something had happened to any of the people with the gfms because their donations slowed down, to me that's collaboration.

here is @/el-shab-hussein's post about this situation. please read it and if you are someone who reblogged something about scam gfms or any sort of support for the misinformation campaign that these racists perpetrated about literal genocide victims, you need to do damage control on that. delete the posts, block the ops and explain the situation to your own followers.

it's inexcusable. and all in the name of preventing the spread of misinformation.

vetted Google doc: please go through it and understand that of course there is a marginal risk, it is MARGINAL.

[calendae-creations]

Hello. Do you have any tips on getting started selling your handmade goods? I am disabled too and sometimes the only thing keeping my sane is knitting. Right now I'm knitting things for myself and friends. I think I may get to a point where I want to sell things I have knit instead of just gifting them and I was curious how you go about doing it and if you have any tips for getting started.

I'm not like, wildly successful at this by any means, so if anyone else has any tips, omfg please share your wisdom.

That said, first of all fuuuuuuuuck etsy. Not only do they have shitty policies in a number of ways (you can google it if you want; i don't feel like getting into that series of rants), I never really made many sales there in the decade or so I tried. And tbh most of the knitted things up for sale there are so disgustingly underpriced, it might be hard to get enough money from a sale to even cover the materials cost, let alone labor time.

Once I had given up on etsy, I was selling on twitter for a while? But we all know how twitter's going, so I don't even remember my login info to delete the account, lol. I did make way better money than I ever did on etsy tho! Like, twice the sales in one year than I got on etsy in ~10. Not even exaggerating. I made decent sales on facebook from a page for my business, but stopped trying after the third time they changed the interface in less than 6 months. If you can figure out how it works though, go for it!

I'm trying to build a proper website of my own for Calendae Creations, but html is hard and so is the rest of my life, so that's on the back burner for now. I'm really not sure how successful it'll be if I ever get it up and running.

Currently this is my only sales presence online, and I haven't tabled at an in-person event since 2018. I've been pleasantly surprised at being able to generate any income at all on the website famous for not making money, lol. I do really want to get into more in-person sales, but I really can't speak much to how well knitting sells at different kinds of events, because when I used to do ren faires and flea markets I was mostly selling pottery, jewelry, and live plants. I'm pretty hopeful about trying to get a table at Staunton Pride next fall though?

Tbh, as much as I love my job, I really would not recommend this as a full time primary source of income to anyone who has literally any other options. I'm just too disabled to do anything else anymore.

Related, does anyone know how to file USA income tax for this kind of thing??? I am so lost trying to figure it out.

[elistodragonwings]

I don't understand the people who say they don't trust "mainstream media" but then cite random people on twitter and small "news" sites that no one's ever heard of. Do you...think those are somehow more reliable?

Especially when the stuff they claim the "mainstream news" is doing wrong is...how responsible news works? Like saying "alleged" when they haven't been able to verify a claim themselves (even if it seems obvious to us)? Issuing corrections (instead of..what? just never making a mistake and always getting it right the first time?). Or the most baffling, "why isn't the news talking about this?!" when I literally just read it on NPR or CNN's websites and they addressed the exact same angle?

You know how many times I check the notes on some popular "the news is hiding this from you!" post and a few people actually bothered to check the sources and it's some far-right nazi thing? The left is not immune to this. Please don't reblog things without checking if the sources are actually legitimate. If you don't have time or energy, just...don't do it. No one will get upset with you for not publicly stating your position on every topic.

And maybe try reading some real news on actual news websites to get an idea of what's actually being reported on or not. Cable "news" channels are not news, some are literally classified as "news entertainment". Regular reporting does indeed have problems, not enough research, important information or perspectives do get missed more often than they should, pressure to put out content that's not fully developed, TV new reports focusing on just a narrow range of stories. I have seen this myself, I know people are not wrong to have criticisms. At the same time, we in the US do not actually live in a totalitarian state where the government controls what the news reports on, and people working in news are not mindless propaganda machines. The idea that the news can't be trusted has deep roots in far right goals of dismantling anything that doesn't support their predetermined conclusions. Please stop handing control over to them by repeating their lies and exaggerations about the extent of the problem. If your "proof" of how bad the problem is ends up just being someone else's propaganda, you're only doing more damage. To get an idea of the real extent of the problem with news, you need to actually read the news.

[derpycat02]

Hot Take

Okay so now that I've been on the website instead of the app for a few days I have things to say I think.

The app is better (for me) than the website hands down. Easy. No competition. And no, this is not just because I am used to the app version. I actually thought this out.

Things the website does better than the app (to satisfy you long term tumblees):

I can delete a poll from my post if I accidentally click it thinking it is the listing format option. I do this a lot because listing is different than font type in every document editor ever, and there is no way to remove polls from drafted posts on mobile that I have found. The website puts a big fat red X in the top corner of the poll. This is helpful

Bigger screen = less overwhelm. The information to screen ratio is smaller which is less overwhelming for my skrunkly little brain. Also, since I have the pride theme activated (which was a bitch to try and find) all the extra space is pink!

More customization options. I haven't actually played with this, but it seems to be the thing that most Tumblr users use to say the website is better than the app. I did notice there were more options for themes when I finally figured out how to do that, which was cool. (On mobile, I'm pretty sure there are just 4 themes: light mode, dark mode, tumblr classic, and pride. I could be wrong though)

No push notifications. I have notifs turned on on mobile for all of the polls I follow, so I get like over 30 notifications from Tumblr alone overnight. It's very stressful, but I put up with it because it keeps me from missing voting times and ensures that I can go through and like every post that comes out from accounts that I am invested in. I know liking does nothing algorithm wise. I just like showing support and likes are a nice, quick, easy way to do that. Anyway, without the push notifications, I'm pretty much confined to me my feed, which I've never HAD to scroll before. The way I am now consuming content has become (mostly) more relaxed and less stress inducing.

Text formatting. I like that it's a drop down menu. In the app, It's just a button, and you have to press it repeatedly to get the format you want (this is fonts and listing specific).

Things mobile does better that the website

Navigation. Oh my gosh the app is SO much easier to navigate than the website. It took me less time comparatively to figure out how the app worked than it did for me to figure out how to do most things on the website. The website has been around longer, and therefore has the opportunity to be more complicated. The whole point of mobile apps is to be a simple, accessible way to go about navigating whatever the app is for. It's just easier to use.

Typing in posts. The amount of times my laptop has just randomly stopped typing in the middle of the post is ridiculous. It tends to happen when the "draft saved" bubble pops up, which makes me think it may be a glitch with the website rather than my computer. My computer also does not have this problem literally anywhere else. Also, the "draft saved" bubble, while cute and reassuring, obstructs my vision just a bit. There is so much dead space to either side. Why is this bubble not off to a side instead of right in the middle of where I am typing? It was also difficult for me to find the text formatting option, but this is mostly because I was not used to it.

GIFs. I do lots of propaganda, and to save space on my device I use gifs instead of going on the internet and downloading pictures and finding video links. I'm not always very good with words, and find that images tend to be more convincing anyway. On the mobile app, when I search something in the GIF search bar, it stays there even after I've made a selection. Not having to re-type my search 10 times makes it a lot easier and less monotonous to look for propaganda and fill up a post. This is not the case on the website. As I learned after attempting "Kitbull" propaganda, you have to re-type your search each time you add a new GIF. That got annoying really fast, and I only wound up putting two GIFs when I would normally use all image spaces (10).

Push Notifications. But I thought you said the website not doing this made consuming content less stressful??? I know what I said, and yes, for the most part, it does. However there are a lot more areas where the lack of push notifs on the website make my Tumblr experience a lot more stressful. For one thing, I am missing out on ALL of those polls. I follow SO MANY polls, because I was able to keep up with all of them as long as I had push notifications. I have not been able to vote in many polls this last week because I would have to go through and search every single one of their usernames exactly correct to find their pages and vote in my regular fashion. I simply do not have the time, energy, or memory to be able to do this. I also do not get notified when I am sent a message. I learned recently that most Tumblr users don't use the "share" function on posts, (via) however my girlfriend and I use it all the time. Our feeds consist of different interests that we like sharing with one another, so we share posts and polls back and forth just for funsies. To show that we love each other. Etc. etc. The website does not notify me when I get these messages unless I am actively in the tab, so I don't know when she's sent me something. Same goes for any interaction with my account or on my posts. I cannot see if someone has made a comment or a silly reblog with funny tags unless I am in the app. You know what the website DOES show me? How many new posts have been made. This is CONSTATLY refreshing even while I am actively scrolling and not only shows up in the app but also in the tab information. This is why I have such a problem with this. I understand that computers in general just don't do push notifications, but usually with social media, you can see how many notifications you have by checking the tab above the search bar. There's usually a little number in parenthesis next to the title or name of the social media you are using. This is very helpful for me, since my computer doesn't always give a little sound when I get any kind of notification, so I can just look over and see what I've missed while I was queuing up Spotify or playing Minesweeper or Solitaire. With Tumblr, this number only factors in the number of posts that I haven't seen yet. This number stressed me out, has me constantly refreshing the page even before I am done scrolling, and is not actually helpful in any capacity.

Page Jumping. Both the website and the app are dogwater at not jumping around the page while you scroll. However, the app is slightly less so. Page jumps in the mobile app only happen when an ad loads in where it wasn't before. This is pretty consistent with how any webpage, crappy mobile game, or social media app works on a phone (on my phone at least). When I'm scrolling anything I have to be careful to wait until all ads have loaded before I try pressing a button or I'll accidentally hit something I'm not supposed to. On the website on my computer, Tumblr page jumps every time I reblog. EVERY. TIME. Reblogging is, like, the currency of the realm. It is how things are meant to be done. I don't have the energy for a page jump every time I try to reblog something. That's gross.

Screenshots. This is admittedly more of a device difference than a Tumblr format difference, but it is affecting how I interact with Tumblr, so I thought I should put it on here. If you actually follow me and try to keep up with what I post (which isn't much) you know about my Untitled Bots threads. Essentially when I see a bot follow me, and their name is either blank or "Untitled" I screenshot it, crop it to the word "Untitled" and add it to the thread with a silly quip or lament or goofy photo. However, to make sure I don't miss any, I don't block and report these bots until after I've gotten a screenshot of their profile. Because it is so difficult to take and edit screenshots on my laptop specifically, I have not updated this thread even after being able to access Tumblr via the website.

For these reasons, I have decided the app is better than the website. Thank you. Have a nice day.

[okimargarvez]

Times they flirt during work/about work

This is not an exhaustive post about the times Penelope and Luke flirting during or about work... because it's really complicated to identify when there are flirt shades in their dialogues. I considered it just some. Their way of flirting is usually teasing each other.

-12x8

“You couldn't find anything out with all your super powers?” “Oh, ha ha, newbie. It's not like I haven't tried." [...] .” “I'm declaring a dictatorship. You guys don't get a vote. Especially you, newbie.”

-12x14

“Exactly. They're everywhere. And they can be hacked.” “So he can hack into any one of them and watch in real time.” “Yes, he can, newbie.”

“The dating website.” “Oh. Is that what it is? Good. Maybe I should try it. Not that I'd want to join something you know about or I'd need a dating website, 'cause I don't.”

“All right. Grab your laptop, hotshot. Let's go. Come on.”

“Stop staring at me when I'm search engining! It's weird.” “I’m… I’m not staring at you.”

“Well, it looks like Alyssa managed to keep her phone. So if she has it on her, then maybe you could” “Yeah, yeah, that's helpful. You're helpful sometimes."

-12x15

“What are we gonna do?” “Oh, newbie, oh, newbie, I'm gonna tell you what we're gonna do."

“Why do you get to go see Reid first?” “Because I made the chart. And if anyone has any problem with that, tough noogies.”

-12x16

"What do you want, newbie?” “Still with that? Come on. You need some new material” “Ok, whatever you say El Nuevo. Hunky Newster. New kid on the no, that one's too much on the nose.” “All right, [laughs] whatever."

“Thanks, Garcia. You truly, you are the best.” “Really?” “Available.[laughs and hangs up]” “Newbie.”

-13x3

“Cool hand Luke, what you need?” “Wow, I like the way that sounds, Garcia. You feeling ok?” “I am naturally magnanimous in word and deed, and when it comes your way, bask in it. What do you want?”

“I am the genie in genealogy. Just rub my lamp. That came out wrong. Goodbye.” “Wow.” “What did you do to her?”

-13x10

“Bowling trophies, seriously?” “I just reports the facts as I find them, sir”

-13x11

“Garcia, are your ears burning?” “My ears are the same temperature as the rest of my body hot. Oh, that sounds like flirting. I don't flirt with you. It's in my mission statement. What do you need?”

-14x8

"So, I hear you and I are gonna be lab partners.” “Ugh! Blerg! Fleh! Whatever. If I must."

“Ok, guys, so it looks like” “Ah-ah-ah-ahem.” “Like Garcia has some things she wants to tell you.” “Mm-hmm. I'm about to say the same thing as Luke was going to, but with far more chutzpah, wit, and eloquence."

“Well, come on. Admit it. I helped.” “Oh! Heh! You'd have to torture me. You'd have to force me to wear beige, deny me of all things unicorn for me to ever admit that you helped. Excuse me.”

-14x14

“Oh, Alvez, have you heard of multitasking? It's all the rage, I'm really good at it, and I'm doing it right now.” “Yeah, I'm sure you were. Don't get me wrong. You're great, but Rossi literally just sent you that list.” “Yeah, well, I'm more than simply great. I'm entirely fantastic.”

-15x4

“Oh. Now, should we bring in the rest of the team? Because we do have that holding us up.” “Do you remember, like, 30 seconds ago, when you thanked us? Yeah. We were so young then.”

"And now we will… Wheels up.” “We're not going anywhere.” “Shut up, shut up. Just because you look like that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with this part of your face. How does Prentiss make this look easy? Ok, come on!"

-15x7

“Garcia, have you found any overlap socially?” “Do I have to start calling you newbie again?” “Ok. So you would have led with that.”

"Uh, stop smiling, Luke Alvez. I can feel it. That joke was not for you.”

“Penelope.” “New phone. Who dis?” “Thank you.” “You should worship at my throne, Luke Alvez.” “Oh, but I do. I do. You know I do.”

-16x1

“It's less annoying when he's not there, correct?” “You just couldn't wait to get started on me?”

“You know that your office is still empty? You know, the four people that try to do your job, they try to do it from home.” “Have you ever met them?” “Never.” “Do you know their names?” “Sorta. I mean, they're just boxes on a screen.” “Oh, that's weird.” “Totally.” “Is it weird that I kind of love it?” “Define weird.”

"However, Luke, in a rare stroke of genius..."

"You're the best"

-16x4

"What do you think?" "I think it's a great idea." "And the rumor is you're difficult to work with. Oh, wait. I started that rumor."

"Go talk to her." "Right. Now's the time. Come on. Let's go." "No, I'm not. You need to go and talk to her. You should tell her." "It's all right." "No, no." "It was your idea." "It's your thing. It's kind of in your house of wheels."

-16x8

"Um, is this all you could find?" "Oh, for now, my liege, but I shall keep digging." "Wait, what was that?" "What was what?" "Like, where's the snark? Like, a comment about how amazing it is that I can tie my own shoes or a question about how I got into the FBI wearing caveman overalls and carrying a big wooden club." "You're funny. That's funny. A club? No, don't be so hard on yourself."

Other pic posts

[itsnotunfinisheditsmystyle]

Thanks for the tag @esssteee

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 44

2. What's your total A03 words count? 293,192

3. What fandoms do you write for? Right now Grishaverse, in the past also One Piece, Demon Slayer, Kuroko no Basuke, Assassination Classroom, Magi the Labyrinth of Magic, Hades (Video Game),

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Interrogation (Assassination Classroom, Karushuu) ; To Be Human (Demon Slayer, Renkaza) ; Through Time and Space (One Piece, gen) ; Midnight (Assassination Classroom, Karushuu) ; Maths (Assassination Classroom, Karushuu)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Not systematically, to be fair it depends a lot on my mood / energy level, and also if I feel like there's something to answer!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'd say it's definitely The monster is you, and I am your monster (warning: non con) where Nikolai after, well, you saw the warning, definitely loses his personhood and body to the nichevo'ya possessing him.

Although I think it's interesting to point out that the other two fics I have with angsty endings are Almost, where Nikolai nearly dies and thinks he's going to join Dominik but actually he is forced back to the world of the living by...Losing his personhood and body to the nichevo'ya possessing him. And Rot, where Nikolai deals with...The loss of his personhood and body to the nichevo'ya possessing him (through the power of a nice healthy wrist stroke).

There might be a pattern

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I got so many happy endings because I am a sucker so Imma say Afterglow (Nikolai/Alina/Aleksander/Zoya) where there's literally none of that war nonsense, just four happy people in love (and Nikolai does not have to deal with the loss of his personhood and body to the nichevo'ya not possessing him).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really, happened a few times in the past

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I'd never write smut who do you think I am

(all kinds)

(except that one thing the darkolai server knows I'll never write)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

When I was 11 I wrote a Shugo Chara X Fullmetal Alchemist cross over and also one of those multiverse High school settings fics and that was it for life

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, in another life, on another fic website

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also yes in another life, on another fic website

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes, in another life, on another fic website, never again

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Probably Darkolai, but also it's hard to pick, I'm pure multishipper trash

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I am delusional enough to believe I'm going to finish them all eventually

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I have a good sense of humour and am good at characterisation

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing, nice prose like the kind I love to read.

(respecting the deadlines I myself set)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have too much PTSD from all the pseudo French I see on this website, I will not inflict this upon anyone. Words peppered here and there ok but not dialogue.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Naruto.

I hadn't read Naruto. Or watched. Still haven't.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Ironically because I should really finish writing it, it's probably A Song of Thievery But also it's the closest to original writing I have, since let's face it I'm using characters who barely exist in the original universe. I guess I love my fanfics but I also like writing my own stuff lmao

(But also Théâtre d'Ombres remains my smut magnus opus)

Tagging:

Esteee literally already tagged all my mutuals.

[machinedramon]

ok I've kind of been able to sit with my thoughts a bit (and I've just woken up so forgive ant incomprehensibility) but I am begging people to stop turning the word "algorithm" into some bizarre boogeyman of websites.

tumblr already has an algorithm. despite every single post out there claiming to the contrary. there has ALWAYS been an algorithm. it just sucks. anyone who has ever seen the For You page, or the posts below a hard link to a specific post, or seen the "we think you'll like" posts on desktop, or even been into a tag will have seen the algorithm at work.

because websites like this literally cannot function without a sorting algorithm.

the problem is that the algorithm is simultaneously inattentive AND hyperactive. trying to find specific posts by their tags is a nightmare because the algorithm ALSO reads post content AND the OP's tags including your own. trying to use the "my art" tag as your own personal art tag on your personal blog that you reblog a ton of art with? get fucked, you're also seeing anything else that the OPs of those posts ALSO tagged with "my art", AND any posts that include the phrase "my art" within the post body.

it's also why u run the risk of posts that you haven't tagged as something ending up in tags. if you write a vent post abt how fans of x media are insufferable, and use the whole name or a fandom acronym of x media, it has the very real potential of winding up in the x media tag. because the algorithm reads post content for tag sorting.

if u click on an op of a post (or to a smaller degree, even look at the post), even to block the OP, the algorithm IMMEDIATELY assumes that This Is The Content You Want To See and floods your recommendations with potentially triggering content. I can't tell you how many hours of my life I've spent mass blocking nazi and proana and terf blogs because they Just Kept Showing Up in my For You page, before they added the ability to block the OP from the post itself. Because you had to interact with those blogs to block them, and the algorithm was too stupid to account for that.

all you ppl out there saying that There Is No Algorithm On Tumblr are flat out wrong and essentially spreading misinformation. this website could not function even as poorly as it does without one. the problem is, once again, the algorithm fucking sucks.

it probably hasn't been updated in any meaningful ways in at LEAST ten years. they probably keep adding clauses to it that allow certain things (such as spontaneously reading tags AND post content to allow for word filtering) but the fact that the core is still trying to run for a website from 2013 is the issue. it very much needs a complete overhaul in order for the site to remain usable.

hopefully as well, upgrading the algorithm to one that is actually made for a more modern website will improve the search function. perhaps tumblr can even figure out how to have both word filtering AND tag-only searching simultaneously.

an algorithm update is a good and necessary thing. the thing we should be demanding is making sure that they don't target specific words for censorship to make the website palatable for advertising.

algorithms are needed for websites with user-made content to run effectively. yall are just reactionaries.

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] What's going on guys Thomas Garrett's here and in this video I'm gonna show you how to make money with Google Maps with this new secret method that's literally going to blow your mind and I might as well address the elephant in the room if you see my videos before you Know that this isn't my normal courting area and you probably can't tell from this view but this is a completely different room and this is not how it was supposed to look and if you want to like find out why I moved my room what's Going on you can go to the first link in the description join my facebook group and I just made a post about it there now if you haven't seen my videos before and you're like what is this guy talking about who is he my name is Thomas Garrett's welcome I make videos about How to make money online I would start your online business so if that's the kind of content you're interested in make sure to subscribe and hit the notification belt that way you get notified every time I come out with a new video and regardless of if you have Or have not seen my videos before feel free to leave a comment down below and let me know what you think about the new setup that you'll be seen for the next couple of weeks until mine's finished but now with that out the way if you're Excited to learn how to make money with Google Maps make sure to smash that like button and let's get into the video alright welcome to my computer so step one of this is obviously gonna be going into Google Maps right and we're gonna be looking for a very specific business That has something very specific missing from their website and that thing is going to allow us to make some money and you can truly type in any business from any city but I suggest starting with small local businesses in the service-based industry so that's things like electricians in Minneapolis now the Reason why I say that is because starting local these businesses are gonna have much more trust for someone who's local and living in their city than some random person on the internet not saying it doesn't work it does work anywhere but that's where I would start and the reason why we're using service Based industries is because these businesses the small businesses are gonna work the best like you don't want to go for like if you're doing plumbing you don't want to do roto-rooter right like I don't know if that's big in your state but it's a huge company so you Want to go for the like smaller businesses so I hope that makes sense and a ton of people commenting on the last video I did kind of like this and they're saying oh do you think this is gonna work with what's going on in the world and yeah it will Because these businesses need our help now more than ever and sure if you think after watching this whole video that it's not gonna work you could do this same strategy that I'm gonna show you for an e-commerce business so obviously it wouldn't make sense with Google Maps But you could use the strategy I teach you for any e-commerce business and there's tons of them online so just make sure you watch the entire video and you're gonna learn some insane stuff now after you've typed in your business you can either go over here and you can just Click around and find different businesses or you could go up here let me type it in again you can go up here and you can just click a business up here so let's just click this one and then what you're gonna do is you're gonna go to their website okay so you Can see if we go back to results you could just click website here or if you like clicking over here you would just go down and click their website now what we're looking for is we're looking to see if this business is running any ads for their company so how do we figure This out there's a few ways to do this and the first way I guess would be going to Facebook ad library and what you do on here is you type in their Facebook business page and then it will show if they're running in the ads and then you

Can also go to like these spy websites I don't know like spyfu I think is one and then like sim rush there's a couple different there's a couple different ones of these that but they cost like thirty forty fifty dollars a month and it just takes a little more work so the Most simple way to do this is just to go to Google in unique Google Chrome for this so you need Facebook pixel helper Chrome extension okay so you'll just type in Facebook pixel helper and download this it's completely free so definitely do that that's what I'm gonna Use now you can see I have it right here Facebook pixel helper in what the Facebook pixel does is it's just a little piece of code you put on your website and it will track visitors and you can't run Facebook ads without having a Facebook pixel so that's how You know if the company is actually running Facebook ads or not cuz if they don't have a Facebook pixel they're not running ads alright so if we go to my website right here and we refresh the page you can see there's numbers here now okay so this is a Facebook pixel Alright I have one on my website now if we go back to this website and refresh it you can see nothing shows up no pixels found on electrician - Minneapolis calm all right now this isn't a tutorial showing you step-by-step how to create Facebook ads but I will be showing you some secret Strategies and showing you how to get started with all of this but before doing any type of ads you need to actually get this business as a client so there's many ways to get in contact with them usually if you just go to the contact page you can fill out a form you Can email them you can call them and you could say something like hey I was just viewing your site and I realize you didn't have the Facebook pixel installed on your website and I actually specialized in running retargeting ads for companies just like yours and these retargeting ads not only cost Much less but they have much higher ROI than traditional ads now if you specifically don't know what retargeting ads are they're just ads that show to a specific audience so this could be an audience of people that visited the website in the past hundred eighty days Or they were on a certain page on the website in the past thirty days right it could even be a specific audience that viewed ninety percent of a video you posted on Facebook and it's super super powerful because you're showing these ads to people who already know about This business it's not like cold traffic who's never heard of this business before you know what I mean not to mention they're much easier to actually run them like for example I opened up this blog post right here this is a this is a spiral it excursion below if you Want to read the entire thing but these are statistics worth thinking about so 25 percent of online viewers enjoy seeing retargeting ads website visitors who are retargeted are more likely to convert by forty three percent three out of five online viewers notice and consider ads showing products they viewed from another page the Click-through rate of a retargeted ad is ten times higher than the CTR of a typical display ad 91% of marketers who have used retargeting ads have found it to perform the same as or better than search email or other display ads compared to other placement strategies retargeting generates the highest lift In business name searches by one thousand forty six percent thirty percent of consumers have a positive or very positive reaction to retargeted ads while only eleven percent feel negatively about them alright so you get the idea right I'll put that in the description if you want to check Doubt but that's just proof that what I'm saying it's actually legit retargeting ads are fire all right so now after you message them or whatever and they respond and maybe they're asking about cost you could charge them maybe a hundred to three hundred a month maybe just one to two hundred just for Doing retargeting cuz

it's much more simple and you're not having to like do like interest targeting on Facebook so it's much more simple if you were doing all types of ads and that's what they wanted you could charge much more maybe three hundred to a thousand some marketing agencies charge thousands of Dollars to run people's ads and if you're brand new and you're just learning you could do something like a test run you could tell them look you don't even have to pay me upfront you just pay for the ads and if you appreciate or if you approve of the Results then we can talk right and that's very powerful and of course you could always outsource this stuff on Fiverr calm or upwork.com but I always suggest just starting out and doing it yourself once you know what you're doing then maybe outsource it but doing is the best teacher and actually Knowing what you're talking about when speaking to these businesses you're gonna get much more sales because you know what you're talking about if they ask questions you know what I mean so it's just much better that way plus running ads is like one of the highest income skills out there so it's Definitely a good skill to learn and to have in your arsenal now once you actually get the business as a client or before you could actually set this up you want to go to face book business manager it's business da facebook.com/ and then this is how you can actually Access their ad so you would go right here and you would go to business settings right here and then you would go to partners all right so you can see right here partner to share assets with give them permission to work on your asset so they can help manage pages or Ads and then you could request assets from and then you could add a new partner and request asset to work on their behalf so that's what you would do you would just add their email and then they could approve you to actually run their ads for them okay so this is Business manager you could type that into Google or you just go to business that facebook.com now and you know how he's talking about Facebook pixel if we go right here and we go to events manager these are my pixels so you can see it shows you things that Page view view content leads an issue a checkout purchase so it's just it's data right they can see when someone enters their email when someone fills out a checkout page when they purchase something and this is how you can really just provide so much value to these businesses that don't even have this They don't even know about it right so I'll show you a quick little tip how to actually do it but this isn't what this video is about but we'll just hit add new data source Facebook pixel and then you would name it whatever and then you just hit continue and then you Would hit manually install pixel code to website you would copy this and then literally in WordPress they have some themes have this built in if not you just download a plug-in and you put it into the head of your blog right so this is just the Facebook pixel code right Here that's all I did is I pasted it in there and then there's some other things you can do which facebook walks you through it all so don't worry about it but it's super super simple and every builder is a little different but like things like clickfunnels it's super Super simple to actually install the pixel I have a video about it actually but you probably won't be using clickfunnels with these businesses but if you have any questions about this stuff please leave a comment below I'm happy to help now so you know how I was Showing you right here how it tracked stuff this is how we can make like retargeting ads for example initiate checkout let's say on an e-commerce website someone just wanted to buy a watch and they're checking out but then they get distracted and they start scrolling Facebook that you could be Running an ad for that business have anyone who initiates checkout will get shown this ad right when they you know in

a chez checkout and don't purchase right so what you could say is hey we just saw you we you were checking out on our website but you must have got Distracted so we saved your cart for you and that's the first thing they see when they start scrolling Facebook they're so likely to buy it's absolutely insane so you can probably see the power there right and that's truly just like one of the many many examples of how powerful Retargeting can be but like I said this isn't about creating an ad but I do want to show you like kind of how it looks so you can have like a visual of it so you do it the right way if you're learning from someone but I Just hit create add and then right here what you want to do is you want to go to traffic and then we'll name it we'll just name it test retarget and then hit continue now right inside of the ad we can actually hit create new and then We'll do custom audience so it's super cool that you can do it from inside the ad and this is what I was talking about you can do things like a video so you can do things like people who viewed 90 percent of that video or the most typical retargeting is just website and Then what you can do is you can retarget all website visitors in the past hundred eighty days right so now every time someone visits your website they're gonna see an ad of you telling them about why they should go back to the your website right so there's many ways You can do it you could do people who visited a specific page you could do people who initiate checkout and then you can exclude people who purchased right so now what you're gonna do and of course up here you want to do all they meet the criteria of all so they Initiate a check out but they didn't purchase okay so now you're retargeting the people who specifically initiate a checkout alright so basically the most simple one you would probably just do all website visitors keep it simple do you like the past 30 days and you've made the audience test free target Create audience now it will take ill say go take a few minutes for them to like populate it but you're pretty much done with that now this is test retarget you want to keep it all broad it depending on what the business is you could change it to worldwide but typically it'll Probably be in the united states if you're using the specific strategy if you're doing this for an e-commerce business then worldwide might be what you want to do you could do automatic placements but i would typically just do the facebook feed but it's up to you do whatever you want typically the feeds Are gonna be the best Instagram and Facebook but typically just Facebook and then you want to make sure that you change the budget cuz a lot of the time these companies aren't getting a ton of traffic so like literally two dollars a day can be perfectly fine like legit It's pretty insane and then after you hit continue this is where you actually make the ad I'm not gonna walk you through this but this is what you need to do it's very very simple and make sure when you're doing a retargeting ad you don't do any interest targeting that's like Typically how you would make Facebook ads but you don't want any interest just the custom audience okay and again if you have any questions feel free to comment down below I'm happy to help both that being said thank you so much for watching I really appreciate it and If you enjoyed this video make sure to smash the like button but remember to subscribe and hit that notification bell if you have not done so already and if you want to join my facebook group that's the first link in the description I'd love to have you over there with me As well and lastly if you want to get access to the program that I'm personally using and it made me 5,000 dollars last month you'll see something in the description it will say program that makes me thousand-dollar commissions so click the link below that to get instant access and learn Step-by-step how to start

your own online business and make money online thank you so much for watching and until next time [ad_2] #Google #Maps #Money #SECRET #METHOD For More Interesting Article Visit : https://mycyberbase.com/

[strawberryspence]

A chance for more Buttercups

Fluff | Spencer Reid x FEM! Reader

Summary: Spencer has an apartment full of buttercups and a heart full of confessions. How many more bouquets does he have to buy until he gets the courage to finally tell you how he really feels?

Word Count: 6,04k. I got carried away.

Warnings: a hand full of cursing, self-deprecation, self doubt, one reference to drug use, flowers?, i use the word buttercup A LOT, angst if you squint REALLY HARD.

Writer's Note: Hello! This is my first ever CM themed fanfic. I haven't really wrote anything based on a crime show, so I am still learning and still playing around the characterization. Criticism is welcome but please be soft with me. Enjoy! 💛

Buttercup.

It’s so simple, so cheesy. When you started calling him Buttercup, Spencer could literally feel his heart beating in his chest.

Where did it come from? Butter. Cup. Was it a Butter in a cup? A cup full of butter? Spencer was not one for endearments. Penelope calls him genius, Rossi calls him boy wonder and Derek calls him pretty boy. Buttercup was his favourite.

Spencer was a genius with an IQ of 187. He knows a lot of things, too many sometimes. Even with this vast knowledge, he never really learned the use of endearments or the history of them or why people use them.

That's how Spencer ends up in a 24 hour library, late at night. He wasn’t really one for technology and when he asks the librarian if they had any books about “endearments or something like that." He gets a weird look from her and she answers, "Have you tried google?" Spencer scratches his head and shakes his head. The kind librarian who is actually older than him, directs him to a computer. He would have done it at work, but Morgan always lurks around him and Penelope can see everyones search history.

Google. The bright colors pop at him and he pushes his glasses up at how bright it is. He ran out of contacts and makes a mental note to go pick up some before work.

Google: Buttercup

Buttercup. Song.

Of course, the first thing that pops out was a song. He cringes as he takes the public earphones and softly puts it over his head. He would have never done it but he wanted, no, he NEEDED, to find out the history of buttercup.

He plays the song. He was always one for classical music. It soothes his soul and calms him down. This one was... different. The first few beats was upbeat, it was energetic. Spencer can't stop himself from drumming his fingers at the mouse as the song starts. His legs voluntarily taps its self with the beat. He continues to listen to it as he reads more about the song writer. The foundations first sang it on 1968, the website says. He continues to let the song play in the background as he looks for more information.

Why do you build me up buttercup, baby.

Buttercup. Flower.

Oh. Some thing clicks in his head. It was a flower! How could he forget? He wanted to slap himself. Eidetic memory and a genius, but a pretty girl calls him buttercup daily and he suddenly forgets that it was a flower? He clicks on another tab. Reading and clicking onto more articles about the flower, buttercup.

Ranunculus was its genus name. The information locked somewhere in his mind unlocks. Ah. He finally remembers the thick book of flower species in his shelf. He knows enough about the flower and its family. He clicks a flower website, and reads the meaning of the flower.

Although there are variations, quite often the flower is said to represent joy, youth, purity, happiness and friendship.

Spencer can't help but smile. He must look like a fool but he doesn't stop himself. You call him buttercup but you were more of it than he is.

He can't stop himself as his head runs around with the thought of you and how you fit the description so perfectly.

The way you radiate so much positivity that even in the toughest cases the team seems drawn to your energy. Your smile and laugh as Derek jokes about your driving skills. The crinkle on your nose as you smile when Penelope compliments your new sweater. The kind smile and the gentle hugs you give JJ and Hotch when the case makes them think of their own families. Your dimples getting deeper as you giggle at Emily when she drinks too much tequila. The adorable smile when Rossi kisses your temples. He smile so wide, his face kinda hurts. The song repeats in the background again.

He continues his search for anything about buttercup.

Buttercup. Squash.

Ah. Yes. I know this, he thinks as the information floods the screen. He knows all of this. His love for halloween and the squash family is endless.

He smiles to himself as a picture of it pops out. Cucurbita: the genus name. A buttercup squash was basically a pumpkin's sister.

His mind shows him a picture of you, with a pumpkin. It was last halloween. You, being you, never fail to amaze him. Before this, you and Spencer had a big debate on which is the better holiday: Halloween or Christmas.

You hated Halloween. You've seen enough scary stuff on work to go out that day to celebrate more scary stuff. Spencer defends it with, "But we get so much free candy."

The two of you must be going at it for hours. You argue that you grew up in a household where you wake up on Christmas morning with hot chocolates, warm socks, gifts under the tree as the snow falls outside. You wake up your parents and you would giddily lead them to the gifts. There was a certain light in your face as you reminisce all of the memories. Spencer searches, catalogues, the Christmas themed memories in his head and he can barely count five. He accidentally lets his face fall as you tell him the stories and you catch this. You catch this so fast that you immediately change the topic to how Santa is better than Monsters, making him laugh, going into a history lesson about Santa.

On Halloween, you surprise him buy knocking on his door at 10 in the morning. In overalls, a plaid shirt and one black and one white converse.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He squints at her. He tries hard to keep the annoyed facade but you looked so cute, so cozy. He wanted to make you some pumpkin spice latte and roll you in a blanket.

"It's halloween, dork! Aren't you the one who loves the holiday?!" You say with such a joy in your voice, its like you never said that you hated Halloween.

"I know! But it usually starts at night." He laughs as he lets you in his apartment.

"Well! I planned the whole day for us! We're going to the pumpkin patch! We're gonna pick some pumpkin and carve silly faces on it! Then tonight before Pen's party, we're going to take Jack and Henry trick or treating!" The dimple on your cheek digs deeper as you smile at him and Spencer has to physically restrain himself from poking it.

"Why would you plan all this? You hated Halloween." Spencer eyes her suspiciously, but his heart grows thrice its size just with the thought of celebrating Halloween with you. You push him to his room, "Just get dressed!"

The whole day was filled with all things halloween. Spencer truly loves the holiday. The one with you was his favourite though. He loved that you tried to make the holiday all about him even when you made it abundantly clear that you hated it.

Maybe he was naive, but he hopes, he prays to some god, some entity, anyone who is listening for more halloweens, more pumpkins, and more holidays with you.

The song pulls him out of the memory, returning at its first few beats. It must have been playing for at least 5 times now. But he still smiles.

I need you more than anyone, darlin'. You know that I have from the start.

He clicks to open another tab. He must have a dozen now but he starts typing again.

Buttercup. Powerpuff Girls.

He almost laughs out loud. He stops as he looks around, there was a few students who are pulling an all nighter and the librarian, cataloguing some returned books.

Two years ago, before you joined the BAU team, Spencer would have zero knowledge of the Powerpuff Girls.

Now, he knows. He smiles more, if that was possible, as a picture of buttercup shows up on the screen.

It was one of those nights. Your apartment becomes the permanent movie night place with the large TV that you have invested in. The two of you were watching a romcom film. It was your night to choose. Spencer rolls his eyes as Adam Sandler tries hard to meet Drew Barrymore even though she can't and won't remember him.

"Hey, did you know Anterograde Amnesia is particularly affecting the encoding and consolidation stages of declarative memory. This leads to damage to the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus." Spencer sprouts out some facts about Amnesia and you nod at him as he explains more of it.

He stops when he realizes you were staring. "I am sorry, I was rambling." He says timidly. He was used to it, the looks, the pleading for him to just shut up.

"Oh no! I loved your rambling! I am learning so much, Spence!" You exclaimed, so fast he thinks it's because you wanted to reassure him. "Then why the staring?" He asks quietly.

"I was just thinking which powerpuff you were. You know you're such a Blossom, you use your mind to good and you're strong and always determined. But sometimes, you're also a Bubbles, you let your heart act out. Like removing your vest when talking to unsubs," You pause, Spencer notices the shift in your face, you look uncomfortable with just the thought of Spencer going in a scene without a vest. Why? Spencer asks himself but he pushes aside the thought.

"Hmmm... I don't know you're connection to Buttercup tho...." You drum your fingers on your cheeks as you look at him.

"Y/N, I have no idea what you're talking about." He laughs as your mouth gapes.

"Spencer Reid! Are you telling me that you don't know who the powerpuff girls are?!" You pause the movie and you look so distressed, Spencer actually worries that he was missing something important.

Spencer watches you as you pull up some streaming network and starts playing a cartoon with three colourful girls. Spencer squints his eyes on the screen.

"This is it? I thought it was something more important!" Spencer shrieks, his nervous nerves dissolving as the show goes on about sugar, spice and everything nice.

"Oh! This is important! I lived to watch this when I was young!" You were gesturing around about how they were made and this professor as their dad, something like that.

Nothing registers in Spencer's brain but the fact that you were so beautiful. You were wearing one of your older sweaters, with some blue sweatpants, your hair was in a bun but most of your hair was already sticking out. You were so beautiful and its taking everything in Spencer to stop himself from kissing you. You stop when you realize he was just staring, snapping fingers in his face.

"Now, did you listen at all?" You raise an eyebrow at him but he rolls his eyes, sticks his tongue out and shakes his head no.

"Wow, didn't know you were such a buttercup. Such a rebel."

And it sticked. Since that night, you have called him Buttercup.

Calling Spencer to come over? "Buttercup, come over, I just rented Harry Potter!" Calling Spencer over the phone when you realize that the profile was wrong? "Buttercup! It was a woman! Not a man!" Buying coffee and donuts for him every morning? "Good Morning, Buttercup!" Drunk and calling him to pick you up? "Buttercup, you smell so good. Hihihihi." Spencer is taking the case harder than the others? "You did everything you can. I am proud of you, Buttercup."

The other members of the team pick up on this too. They never said a word but shares a knowing look as Spencer anticipates being called buttercup. It was embarrassing really, he felt like a high school student, which he never really got to experience.

He stops and stares at the screen for a while. Thinking of something else to search.

What does it mean when someone calls you buttercup?

Spencer was embarrassed. He was a grown man literally asking a search engine why you called him Buttercup. He clicks on a page called Quora and someone else was asking the same question. Thank god, I am not the only fool. He whispers to himself.

"Buttercup” is an old-fashioned endearment. A hundred years ago, this would have been a compliment, like “sweetheart” or “dear”.

He feels his cheeks redden. Was he really blushing over a random answer? He stares at the screen as the second verse of the song repeats. Spencer has been best friends with you since the moment you came. He was in love with you in every way, and he wanted to tell you that. Even if it meant, rejection. He just wanted to let you know.

Maybe you'll give him a chance and he would live the rest of his life trying to show you how much he loves you and how much you deserve all the love he can give. He starts formulating plans. He starts looking up flower shops that sells buttercup bouquets. He will confess his undying (it's so cheesy, he cringes) love to you tomorrow.

No matter what happens. NO MATTER WHAT.

Okay, maybe he really is a Buttercup.

-

He was not a Buttercup.

More of a Bubbles because he chickened out the next day. Spencer laughs and berates himself for it. He wakes up late the next day. Was not able to buy the flowers, the coffee, the donuts or even his contacts. Spencer tries to comb his hair as he rides the elevator. It was so stupid to go to a library late at night then come home at 1 in the morning and expect to not wake up late the next day.

"Buttercup!" Spencer almost folds to a halt when he comes in the bullpen.

"You're late! Are you okay?" You ask him, worry in your eyes and Spencer wants nothing but kiss the worries away.

"I am okay. I just woke up late." Spencer answers, trying to smile to reassure you that he was fine. This takes away the worry.

"Okay. I bought you coffee this morning. It's in your desk." You smile as you skip to the conference room and Spencer stares at you as you walk away.

"Pretty Boy. Late night?" He snaps from staring at you and looks at Derek who was wiggling his eyebrow.

"Yes. I was reading." Reading stuff about why someone calls him Buttercup.

"Reading...? Reid, you're blushing. What the hell did you read?" Derek looks at him closely and Spencer pushes pass him.

"Stop bothering me! Go work." He says and plops down on his table. He sees the coffee and a donut.

Have a great day, Buttercup! was written on the cup and if it was physically possible, Spencer feels hotter than he was feeling before.

"Ahhhh. The Buttercup dilemma." Derek reads over his shoulder and Spencer immediately puts it down, "There is no dilemma!" Derek smirks at him, "Okay, buttercup."

"Stop calling me that!" He glares at him but Derek only laughs.

-

"Hey, you okay? You've been distracted for a while now." You tap Spencer in the back, making him look at you. Spencer was staring at geographic map.

The team was in San Francisco. The confessing and stuff has been pushed back because, well, the criminals really doesn't care about Spencer's schedule.

Its been a week since that night in the library and he can't stop humming Build me up Buttercup.

"Oh. Yeah. I am fine. Sorry. I just want this case done and over." So I can confess my feeling to you, damn it! He thinks and clenches his jaws in frustration.

"Woah! I saw that. Calm down a little. Wait here." Spencer is surprised that you notice even the slightest clench in his jaw. You sprint away from him and he stares back at the map. Where is the damn unsub and why wouldn't he just come out and do Spencer a favour?

He squints, there is exactly five bouquets of Buttercup at his house right now. Each for every day he has attempted to confess and Spencer just wants to throw them away so he can stop remembering the fact that he chickened out FIVE TIMES. You come back with a cup in your hands.

“Here. It’s tea. You drink too much coffee. Tea is better for your nerves.” You smile as she hands you the cup. It was steaming and it smelled like peppermint.

“Thank you.” Spencer smiles at your kindness and how natural it comes to you. You pat his head, your hands lingers on his head for a bit and smiles, “You are always welcome, my Buttercup.” You look away to look at the file again. He almost chokes on the tea. My Buttercup. My.

It wasn’t wrong tho, he is yours. But to hear it from you, the only thing he can think of is why? Why would you call him yours? He was so close to asking why you called him that but fate interrupts in the form of a woman named Emily Prentiss.

“How’s it going?” She asks looking at the two of us. “Still nothing. Sorry.” You answer and looks back to the list. Emily raises an eyebrow at Spencer. His face red and sipping a cup of tea.

“You good, Reid?” He nods but Emily looks at him a minute longer than usual and looks at the cup on his hands. “You don’t usually drink tea...” She states like its a fact.

“Oh uh— Y/N made it for me... You know tea only comes from one plant? Its called Camellia Sinensis. There are several different types of tea but their is only one plant. The difference is how they treat the leaves after.” Spencer rambles on to take away the focus on his blushing face. You were staring at him as he rambles and it halts him to a stop. You squint your eyes at him. Spencer can feel his heart drop, and thinks that here it is, you finally found him annoying.

“OH! OH!” You suddenly leap up to your feet. “Plants! Plants! He’s using the bodies as fertilizers!” You scramble to reach for your phone, to call Garcia.

“You are the best, Buttercup!” You quickly lean and kiss Spencer’s cheeks. You turn around dialling Penelope’s number.

Spencer is not sure what happened next. He thinks his soul left his body. His hand reaches to his cheek, where you have kissed his cheek. Spencer looks up and sees Emily biting down a smile. Spencer immediately drops his hand and glares at her, giving her a look that says Shut up. Emily holds her hands up, in surrender.

“I got a hit!” You say as you turn around. “Let’s call Hotch.”

-

The case ends swiftly after the unsub was caught. Turns out you were right, the unsub was using the body as fertilizer. The team quietly moves around the airplane. It has always been this way after cases. The way home has always been quicker, quieter.

“More tea?” Spencer looks up from his book. There you were standing in front of him in a sweater that had pink stripes on it, offering him a hot steaming cup of tea.

“Thank you.” Spencer quietly says as you seat beside him. You drape a blanket over his lap then puts other side of it on your lap.

“It’ll be better if you drink tea, so you can sleep when you get home.” Spencer hugs the warm cup with his fingers. He nods and smile.

“Do you mind?” You ask and Spencer isn’t exactly sure what you meant. But when your head drops on his shoulder, he is sure. He is sure that he wants more of this. More of you, for the rest of his life. He wants you close to him like this.

He watches as your eyes drop to a close and your breathing steadies. Some of your hair falls down on your face and it makes your forehead crinkle. It must be tickling you. Spencer puts down his cup and pushes off some of the stray hair. He tucks it in the back of your ear. You sigh at the act and Spencer hopes for a minute that its because of his touch.

He pulls aways and drinks more of the tea. He looks around and catches JJ looking at him across the aisle. “What?” He asks, trying to act as innocent as possible.

“Just ask her out, Spence.” Spencer’s mouth drops at how forward she was. He shakes his head, looking at how peaceful you are, how beautiful you are. “I can’t do it.”

“You can. You deserve to be happy.” JJ quietly adds. “I do, but I don’t think I deserve someone as good as Y/N." JJ immediately shakes her head.

“I don’t think Y/N would like that you’re thinking like that.” She says before plugging her earphones and looking away. Spencer looks at you as you sleep peacefully. He dares not to move, you deserve the rest.

The rest of the flight was quiet. He tries to read more, but he can’t move a lot, he can’t take the chance of waking you up so he drinks his tea. The tea you made was perfect, it immediately fits his preference, he doesn’t know that would be possible because he didn’t really like tea before.

It was tea. He needs to get a grip, because its just tea and you made it so wonderfully perfect just for him, he's in love.

-

Its been another week.

Spencer Reid is slowly but surely losing his mind over buttercups. His apartment is overflowing with it. The team has noticed his behaviour and how his just so damn frustrated all the time. They ask if he's okay and he answers with the usual, "I am fine." They knew something was really wrong when you ask him what's wrong and he just shakes his head. Spencer tells you literally everything even if he doesn't want to, because he just can't say no to you.

He has tried everyday in the past week. Buying flowers every morning before going to work but going back to his apartment to leave it there. The lady that works in the shop has given him a pep talk on Monday but even that didn't work.

Tonight was Sunday. They just came back from Texas for a case and they all just wanted to go home. Spencer contemplates on how to get home. Metro or Taxi? Hmm. Uber? No. He cringes as he remembers he doesn't have a phone up to date for that.

"Hey Buttercup. I brought my car before we got the case. You want me to drop you off?" You appear beside him, dangling your car keys in front of him.

"Oh! Yes, please. If that's okay? If I am not imposing?" Spencer has always been polite. But you knew that something was wrong because he's been acting weird around you.

"Of course not! You're never imposing. Come on!" You pull him to the parking garage where your car is parked. The drive to Spencer's apartment was quiet. The quiet sound of the radio in the background was the only noise.

Spencer was busy having an inner monologue with himself, that he doesn't notice you throwing him looks of concern. Spencer was not one for gods or entities but he asked for a sign, anything, something, if he should just get it over with tonight and just tell you what he feels.

"Hey, are you okay?" Spencer looks over to you and you look so pretty driving, it distracts him from his monologue. "Yes. I-I am good. How about you?" Psh. That was lame. Come on, Spencer.

"Thank you for asking, I am also good. But this is about you, buttercup. You've been off this days." You stop drumming your fingers on the wheel. Before Spencer can speak you continue.

"We've been worried about you. Just... Tell me what's wrong." Spencer's heart clenches as he sees your face full of worry. He feels like an idiot for making you feel like this.

"I am... I am okay, Y/N. You don't have to... worry." You don't answer and Spencer can clearly see that you don't want to accept this answer.

Silence engulfs the ride once more. Aside from the god damn radio, damn you.

"This is DJ L-U-V! This is my last song for the night and we're ending it with a banger classic! Have a g-g-great night everybody and fill it up with LOVE!"

The first few beats of the song starts and Spencer nearly gets a stroke.

Why do you build me up (Build me up)

Buttercup, baby

Just to let me down

The car stops at a halt. You both have arrived in Spencer's apartment.

"Okay. Have a good night, Spencer."

Spencer. His heart drops.

He nods, "Thank you for the ride. Stay safe."

He leaves the car and watches you drive away. He slaps himself, literally. He was an idiot! The universe LITERALLY gives him a sign in the form of a song and he rejects it. He whispers a simple apology to the universe.

He rubs the bridge of his nose as soon as he comes in his apartment, the smell of the buttercups hitting his nose. He needs to tidy up. He hasn't thrown any of them and there is exactly ten bouquets scattered everywhere in his living room. He knows it's poisonous, but he wasn't going to eat it or something.

He drops his bag and starts cleaning. Some were still fine, some were dried up. He really needs to get a vase or something, so he can put it on water. His cleaning is interrupted with a knock on the door. He looks at the clock. It was nearly 1:00 in the morning. He checks his gun on his holster before slowly opening the door.

"Hey." God damn it, Y/N.

"Oh, Y/N." Spencer halts the door at a stop. Only showing his face and making sure that his living room is covered. You eye him suspiciously.

"Do you... do you have company?" It comes as a whisper. "Oh! No! I-I am all alone, I don't have visitors right now." Your forehead crinkles harder.

"Can I come in?" You ask unsure of why the hell Spencer Reid won't let you in. This was the same guy who gave you a copy of his apartment key because... just because.

"Uhm... Not right now..." Spencer prays for you to leave. His living room is full of buttercups and he's pretty sure you would notice.

"Spencer, what the hell is going on with you?!" You burst, your frustrations up to the brim. You were really worried. Your head goes to the worst case scenario: was he using again? Your face drops. Oh no.

You push the door with all your might. If Spencer was prepared, he could've hold it off but he was taken aback with your sudden burst. Pushing past him, you walk to the living room but your steps comes in a halt.

Flowers. The same kind of flowers were everywhere.

"What...?" You look back at him. The door was now closed and Spencer was looking at anything, everything, but you. "Spencer, why is there a bunch of buttercups in your apartment?" Spencer still doesn't look at you.

Buttercups. You were not the best in flower names, you only really know the basics: roses, sunflowers, lilies, tulips, those kinds. You knew Buttercups like the back of your hand. You have them in a vase on your bedroom, in the corner beside all the pictures of your family, friends, the team and Spencer.

"Are you... are you dating?" You're voice was small, soft. Spencer could've missed it.

"No! I-I am not dating anyone!" He immediately looks at you. You step forward to him.

"Then why do you have all of this? How many even are there? Like, 30?!" Spencer lets out a laugh. "There's only 10, Y/N. Don't exaggerate it."

"What's happening with you, really? Is something wrong with your mom? Is this what the flowers are about? Is she okay? I am really worried, Buttercup." Spencer looks down on you and he can see the tears brimming on your eyes. One blink and they'll be running down your cheeks.

"Oh... Y/N, please don't cry. Uhm... Let's sit, okay? Would you like something to drink?" He holds your arms as he leads you to the sofa and making you sit. You look up at him and just pulls on his hand.

"I don't want anything. Just... Just talk to me, please." Spencer sits down and the tears threatening to fall from your eyes makes its way down your cheeks. He reaches over to wipe them and you instinctively lean in to the touch. It feels domestic, it feels like home to him.

"Okay, I have to say this but... can you not interrupt. I have to say it in one go or I'll never be able to say it." Spencer asks and you nod enthusiastically. "I... I bought the buttercups for you." Your mouth drops open. "I've wanted to tell you for so long. I really, really like you, Y/N. Not in a friendly way. Wait." He stops.

"You know what? Throw that away. I am in love with you. I spent one night, searching everything and anything about buttercups. I tried everyday, for the last two weeks to confess to you. I... I know we're best friends and you probably don't feel the same." You open your mouth but Spencer raises his hand as a sign of Wait.

"I never ever want to lose you. Still, I really want a chance to show you... that... even if I can only offer you what I am right now... I want a chance to make you happy and show you how much I love you. Can I... can I just love you?”

“Spencer... I...” Here it comes. The rejection. You close your mouth, stand up and ran straight to the door, closing it behind you. Spencer is left on the sofa. He wants the world to eat him alive. You literally run away from him after he confesses.

Tears start welling up on his eyes. This is ridiculous, he was ready for this. He was ready for the pain, the rejection but somehow he feels like he’ll never recover from this. He’s been shot, kidnapped, taken hostage, but this was the worst of them all.

“Stop crying!” He says to himself as he wipes the tears on his cheeks, but its soon replaced with fresher ones. He stands up to lock the door you’ve ran out from but you burst in it once again. You were now carrying your go bag.

“I am sorry I left like that I need to show you something.” You drop your go bag on the floor and started digging. “Where the fuck is my phone?” Spencer hears you whisper.

“It’s okay, Y/N. If you don’t feel the same, it’s okay. If you don’t want to give me a chance—,” You make a hushing noise and this stops Spencer.

You nearly empty your bag before your phone drops with a plonk on the floor.

“Sit with me, buttercup. Come.” You usher him to the sofa, holding his hand. A chill runs down Spencer’s spine with the contact.

“You don’t have to do this, Y/N." He whispers as you sit beside him. You put a finger on your lips,”Let me show you something.” You open your phone and shuffle around with it.

“Here.” You scoot closer to him and show him your phone. It was a bouquet of buttercup in a vase.

“What is this?” You smile at him and swipe to another photo, a different bouquet in the same vase but now it had sunflowers and buttercups in it. You swipe again, a different bouquet shows up, it had buttercups and daisies on it. You show him more of it, more than 20 pictures of bouquets, always different but always with buttercups.

“Spencer.” You put your phone down and reaches for his hand. “Every week, ever since I started calling you Buttercup, I have bought myself a bouquet of buttercups. It sits on the display on my bedroom, beside pictures of us... So... that when I wake up... every morning... the bright flowers will remind me of you, for days that I don’t want to go back to work, to the horrors of our work.” Spencer’s ears are ringing. He must be dreaming, or something.

You reach over holding his face in your hands and wiping away stray tears. He leans in to your touch. This was too good to be real.

“Buttercup, baby, you never have to ask for permission to love me because I love you too. Still, I also need you to give me the chance to show you just how much I am in love with you.”

You take your hand that’s cupping his face and Spencer softly whimpers on the lost contact. You put it back on the back of his head, using it push him to you as your lips met. Spencer almost melts from the contact.

Spencer knows its impossible but for a second time stopped. Time stopped as his hand cups your face and his other hand finds his way to your waist pulling you closer to him. The flutter in his heart has intensified, the butterflies in his stomach won’t settle down.

He wants to believe that this is a dream because no way in hell is this real. But he can’t be dreaming because both your arms are snaked on his neck and your hands are pulling on his hair. Your lips and his lips mould together, as if it was made for each other.

You pull away to breathe, to take him all in. Your arms never leave his neck and his hands never leaves the back of your waist. You stare at him and those beautiful, honey brown eyes.

“Are you real?” Spencer whispers. A giggle bubbles from you.

“I am real, Buttercup.” You remove your arms from him to caress his face.

“I can’t believe you love me.” Spencer says, his hold on you tightening.

“I can’t believe you love ME. I... I don’t deserve this.” You look around the room full of buttercups.

“You deserve the world, darling.” You bite back a smile from the endearment.

“I was... I was really sad and worried about you. You’ve been acting weird around me and I thought I did something wrong... So, after when I dropped you off I prayed that the universe will give me a sign... to... come back to you. The radio station... accidentally played Build me up Buttercup twice. So, I drive back to your place... and here we are...”

This time it was Spencer’s turn to giggle, “I did the same. Asked for a sign to tell you my feelings but I chickened out after hearing the first song.”

“We’re both idiots then, huh?” You smile as you rest your head on the crook of his neck.

“Here.” You watch as Spencer picks a buttercup from one of the bouquets and tucks it in between your hair and your ear.

“You’re pretty.” He quietly says. You can feel your cheeks heat up.

"Do you want to sleep over?" Spencer asks and you laugh as you slightly nudge him.

“Dude, take me out on a date first!” You tease him as your hands plays with his hair.

“Let me take you out tomorrow. Is a bouquet of buttercups good enough to compensate for all the worry I have caused you?” You let out a laugh.

“We’ll be responsible for the sudden increase of demand for buttercups.”

Tomorrow comes easily and Spencer brings you a bouquet of buttercups mixed with pink carnations and baby’s breathe.

The same combination of flowers, you’ll be holding as you walk down the aisle to Spencer, 3 years later.

-

(For Part Two: Click me!)

[blue-shaded]

So Sean once again is doing his stupid "Thankmas" *Charity* event on Dec 10th. His stannies are losing their minds and licking his boots so much because "He care's about helping people and he is so generous all the time!"

Y'all... Are you? Are you serious?!?!?! This man doesn't give two shits about ANY charity he uses (It's the same with every rich person YouTuber or Not. Including Markiplier and MatPat!) They don't do these Charity Livestreams to help anyone but themselves! Haven't you noticed they wait until the last moment at the end of the year to suddenly give two shits about raising money?

IT'S FOR TAX PURPOSES! These events are planned by their lawyers and accountants to make sure they owe nothing to the government and can write it off as a tax break.

Y'all ever even stop to think WHY they use Tiltify instead of having the donations go directly to the Charity's website?!?!?! It's because that money they guilt out of their fans that is collected by Tiltify is donated IN THEIR NAME ALONE! (Yes, you can claim any money you give on your own taxes) but the kicker here is all that money raised is then donated in the person's name who ran the campaign! Sean literally is using his fan base to pay his taxes for him! He got a tax credit for 5.3 MILLION DOLLARS as a write off because he was the one who gave it to the actual charity!!

I'm losing my god damned mind over how stupid and gullible fandoms are! It's not about doing the most good. It's about pressuring and guilt tripping people with less money then they have to donate as much as they can so the person who runs the campaign won't have to pay taxes. It's DISGUSTING!!!

Remember that Cloak "Donates".. Oh wait. Omfg. Okay I just looked at Cloak's website and they removed the mention of them Donating 10% of sales to the Trevor project. They now claim they are working with "Feeding America" and that "A portion (not disclosed) of proceeds from *Select* purchases will *Work towards* donating 1 Million meals to the charity. (1 dollar is 10 meals). This is absolutely bonkers!

So they have the unspecified amount of money from their Merch/Brand sales also working to give them that sweet tax write off.

Sorry about the rant. I just needed to get that out of my head. 🖤

WHY DOES LITERALLY NO SINGLE FAN UNDERSTAND THIS. We sound like broken record each and every year simply because these stans are the literal definition of 'dumbass bitches' and not in a good way.

do NOT donate ANY money to thankmas. if you want to help, Go volunteer at a shelter, Donate your money to actual people that ACTUALLY need it and not jack motherfuckin septiceye. Donate to trans people. Donate to ukraine, Donate to people living in poverty and people that will have the hardest winter ever. Give THEM your support. Not to some rich ass dumb millionaire that wants your clout. Be SMART this holiday season. Don't be an asshole. Actually help other people instead of your own need of ego inflation. Anyone who doesn’t signalboost the everloving fuck out of this PSA is in my opinion a giant fucking asshole.

[destielficarchive]

Hi, so just curious do we have an update on the deathbanjo situation? If you’re making a post about this anyhow you can ignore this - and thank you for your work btw! Really appreciate it!

Hey anon...I see you read my tags... *sweat drop*...yes, I got an ask overnight related to it, and I've done some independent research on what the ask says, and I've been waffling on what exactly to say and how to handle it, and I even DMed another archivist friend to get their opinion and was thinking I wouldn't say anything publicly until I'd had a chance to talk over the facets of it, but I haven't heard back, and you've messaged me, and...

When someone relatively unknown deletes, I generally don't have too many ethical concerns to wrestle with, and whether they say "yes, distribute" or "no, don't distribute" or never say anything at all, it's usually basically a net-neutral for me, as I'm unlikely to ever get more than a handful of requests for their works.

That is not the situation with deathbanjo. Their work is extremely popular and deservingly beloved, and the deletion wasn't announced or forecast, and a lot of readers are upset, and since neither deathbanjo nor anyone they know has said anything publicly on Tumblr, and I have said something, I'm likely to become the de facto face for whatever gets announced, and I'll have to deal with the...everything...that that produces.

Which isn't to say I'd ever distribute when asked not to, because I won't, but it is to say that it raises questions such as, "do I suggest other ways that people can access the work publicly and legally (specifically: do I link to the Wayback machine?)" and "do I go all activist and try to tamp down on other people distributing them, as I know of at least one person who has already offered to do, author preferences be damned?" Things like this are what keep me up at night, wondering what the best way to handle things is, supporting and respecting authors while also aiding readers.

So, all that said, here's what I know:

A person who says they are a friend of deathbanjo sent me an ask indicating that deathbanjo DOES NOT want the works distributed. I'm usually a pretty trusting person, but I'll own having a random stranger I've never heard of pop into my notes with something like this makes me a little leery; for a less popular author/less fraught situation, I wouldn't even worry about it - the odds that it'd matter much one way or the other would be low enough that it'd be far easier for me to just take them at their word and not distribute. However, given how wide-spread desire for these fics are, that's not what will happen this time. Many, many people want them - I've already turned down multiple requests from people who apparently have the reading comprehension level of the average half-rotted forest log. So, I spent some time investigating. Tumblr search is utterly broken on the person's blog, but I know a fair few tools for bypassing Tumblr's standard bullshit, and while I didn't find much evidence one way or the other, I found just enough to tilt me from "this ask kinda looks like BS" to "this ask is most likely legit."

I am not going to publish the ask, since I don't want to "out" the person who sent it - it wasn't on anon, but the text of it is simple, straightforward, and to the point:

Hi, I'm a friend of deathbanjo. They do NOT want their fics distributed. Thank you for understanding.

Based on the ask I received and my own research, the Destiel Fic Archive and I, it's owner (@unforth) WILL NOT be distributing deathbanjo's works.

On the secondary question of, "will I facilitate other people finding them?" Well...the Wayback Machine, also known as the Internet Archive, is a public, legal, well-known website that I've personally been using for literally 20+ years. All it does is archive websites that are fed to it, and it's archived over 632 billion sites (I first looked into it in the early oughts when Tripod deleted and I wanted to find my personal anime page...it was there...presumably still is...), including many deleted AO3 stories. When a story is deleted, it's one of the first places I personally go to try to find it, and even when I can't get the work it can often help me find titles, identify what's missing, and give me leads for getting more information. Anyone can access the Wayback Machine, without needing a log in. All you need is the link to the original work, and there are multiple ways to track those links down. Using all the strategies I personally know, I've just checked, and it looks like four of the eight works are on Wayback in their entirety. Some of the others might be - I didn't try every trick in my book, and I'm not going to, cause, well...I don't need to. That's not my point right now anyway.

No, I won't link the four here.

No, I won't (at least not right now, it's been on my to do list for a while) write up a tutorial on how to track down the necessary information and look things up on Wayback and strategies for working around the weird issues that can arise while trying to access AO3 through it.

But, if anyone reading this who loved deathbanjo's works is prepared to do the leg work, anyone who knows how or is willing to futz around and figure it out can access those four works...you do you, ya know?

Sharing that it's possible to access them is about as far as I'm prepared to stretch my personal ethics to "get around" deathbanjo's shared preference, and even that doesn't feel as "appropriate" as I'm really comfortable with, but I know a lot of people are really upset about this, and since Wayback is a known, and excellent, resource...well, now ya know, and what you or anyone does with that information is up to you.

I'm sorry that this is the outcome. It's not the one I would have wanted, but my running this project isn't about what I personally want. I just try to preserve and, when allowed, distribute, and I'll not break my word on not distributing even when I know denying access is gonna break a fuckton of hearts.

Take this as a lesson: download the stories you love, guys, cause you never know what will happen. They literally can be gone tomorrow, and you may get zero notice, so if it's something that you know you want to reread 'til the end of your days, make sure you grab a back up while you can.

It's a sad fandom day, but the stories will live in our hearts.

Lastly, while I know my saying this isn't worth much...

I can only prevent myself distributing, but I beg everyone reading this to respect deathbanjo's preferences. Fanauthors do so, so much for readers, and if they want their stories gone, that's up to them. If you have copies, please, please don't share the stories around when they've asked for them not to be. Be considerate. Think how you'd feel, in their position. Honor their wishes. Mourn, but be a good fandom citizen.

It's a huge collective loss for the Destiel fandom, but it's not the first time, and it won't be the last, and it'll be okay. Remember that, in the end, deathbanjo is just another one of us, another fan who sat at their computer and put fingers to keyboard. If you really love their work you can best show that love by respecting them and treating them like a human with autonomy who has made a choice.

Please don't contact me and ask me to make an exception for you. I won't, and I'll get annoyed at the request. I'm not going to share, so please don't waste both your time and mine.

[Image ID: a looping animated gif from an episode of Supernatural, showing actress Felicia Day playing the role of Charlie Bradbury. She's holding up one hand in a Vulcan salute, and the subtitle reads, "Peace out bitches." /End ID]

[eppysboys]

Are there any reliable books/sources on John's last five years that are easily accessible? The only book I've gotten most info from his latter years is the Philip Norman one but I'm well aware there's lots of stuff Norman's keeping from us

To be honest, I think everything that has been published about John's Dakota years has been considered controversial/unreliable in one way or another. It's either considered sanitised propoganda or trashy gossip. I can really only list what has been published and give a general thought or two, but I can't say what is more reliable than the other without showing my personal bias about what is true and what is less true. It's possible to read a book without believing everything in it, of course!

Skywriting by Word of Mouth is a collection of stories and drawings by John, released posthumously. It's worth a read, not necessarily because it reveals too much, but it's just fun to read what he was writing in those last few years.

In Lennon's Garden by Michael Medeiros, who worked for John and Yoko as a gardener for their indoor plants. You can read snippets of it on his website here. Nothing controversial as far as I can see?

The Last Days of John Lennon by Fred Seaman. Fred was John's personal assistant from 1979 and through to the end. Controversial, not really even for the content (as bleak as it is), but because of the Seaman vs Ono battles over the years that have put a stink on the book. I won't get into it, but it's worth mentioning, though I'm sure most people are familiar with it. I've only seen bits and pieces of it, but I think it seems to be one of those books with a big nasty reputation that might underwhelm you when you actually read it.

Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon by Robert Rosen. I literally know nothing about this book, except that I always laugh a little when I see the cover. Genuinely, though, I never see anyone talk about it. Supposedly written using John's personal diaries as a guide. Maybe look around, see what reviewers/beatle blogs say about it, and you can decide if it's worth looking into.

The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman. If any John Lennon book were to have flashing red lights around it, it'd be this one! :p Dives deeply into the Dakota days the way no other author ever has....is he using reliable sources? Sometimes. Is it an exhaustingly bleak read? Absolutely. I really can't tell you how much more/less truth there is compared to the 'official' narrative of John's final years, I'm just eppysboys! (hello, nice to meet you). It's cartoonish at times, and entertaining in a horrible way. If you have a dark sense of humour you'll probably enjoy it.

Dakota Days: The true story of John Lennon’s final years by John Green. No, not that John Green, John Green the tarot reader for John and Yoko. The parts I've read are wattpad fic material. Here's a review of it, for a laugh. Whatever truth there is in the book is buried underneath poor bland and impersonal writing. Goldman uses him as a source for his exploration of the Dakota years.

Memories of John Lennon by Yoko Ono. A collection of memories of John from other artists, as far as I can tell. I haven't read it and don't even know if there's that much about the last five years compared to the start of the 70s.

....and Prisoner of Love by Peter Doggett has been cancelled and will never reach the shelves :)) A shame, given that Doggett does have a good reputation as a biographer and obviously poured a lot of work over the years into the book.

Hope that helps, anon!