#if I forgot any tell me so I can delete my account in shame

[boydykedevo]

Not including any Balance cuz 1. they would win in a landslide and that’s no fun 2. I’ve only listened to like three of them and 3. There’s so goddamn many and I’ve only got ten slots

[twiceblackvelvet]

Can I request a ceo playgirl Tzuyu x fem reader ? Where reader makes tzuyu believe in love? Thank you in advance and love your writing so much!

A/N; thank you so much. i have seen requests like this before where the writer places the character insert as an employee of the ceo character but i decided to try something a little bit different. also, i’ve got to be honest, i struggled to picture Tzuyu as a playgirl so this may not be too good but i hope you enjoy🖤

For the last two years, you’ve been single. Whilst you’d love to say it’s been a peaceful time-period for you, the two girls currently sitting in front of you have made it nigh on impossible. Nayeon and Sana have been your best friends since you were children but their unhealthy obsession with your dating life is beginning to become unbearable.

Sitting down to lunch, the conversation between the three of you quickly landed on the topic of what they consider your lonely, boring life. They’re animatedly discussing a brand new dating app that some wannabe hipster rich boy has created.

“So basically, you set up a profile and decide whether you wish to be the finder or the seeker. The finder is anyone looking to earn extra money by accompanying the seeker to events, parties, galas and all those other fancy things that rich people attend. They pay you for your service as their fake date and you can decide if you wish to stick with them or move onto the next millionaire. You both rate each other based on how compatible you felt the date went, it’s all very professional.” 

Nayeon’s explanation of the application deserves to be placed into an advert, she’s seemingly looked into it very thoroughly before presenting the idea of you signing up. 

The idea of dating some pretentious, stuck up person with too much wealth for their own good does not sound appealing whatsoever, and yet as you think about your dead-end job and various bills that are quickly mounting into an enormous chunk of your bank account being whisked away from you at the end of the month, you can’t help but give it a second thought.

“We both have profiles, there’s no shame in it. You don’t have to sleep with them or anything, well... unless you want to. You’re basically just arm candy for them to show off to all of their friends that they aren’t losers who isolate themselves to their offices to flirt with numbers and stocks. Trust me, it’s sad for them not you.” Sana adds.

“Fine, but if I end up with some weirdo who tries to get a little handsy, I’ll hunt you both down.”

A high-pitched squeal is all Nayeon and Sana gives you in response as they get to work in setting up a profile for you. Surely nothing will go wrong, right?

It’s been three days since the app has been taking up space on your phone. No messages. No notifications. Nothing. It’s not like you’re mindlessly checking it every couple of hours to check that your friends didn’t include something embarrassing that has been turning every potential seeker away from you, but it is starting to play on your self-conscious every now and then. Even more so when Nayeon reveals she has been on four dates since your lunch meeting.

Just as you’re about to switch off for the night and get some well-needed shut-eye, a small vibration emanates from your bedside dresser where your phone is placed.

[YOU HAVE ONE NEW MESSSAGE]

The bold lettering alongside the app’s logo lights up your bedroom. Truthfully speaking, your curiosity is in fact piqued for a split second until you realize it’s almost 3 AM and anyone using a dating app at this hour can’t be a good sign. You decide to still check who has sent you a message but only so you can tell them to get better nighttime hobbies.

However, what greets you when the app loads the singular message is tame compared to the despicable things you expected to see. 

Hello. My name is Chou Tzuyu, I am the CEO of Chou Technology. You’ll have to forgive my being blunt but I am a bit of a newbie to this here app. If you are free tomorrow, I’d like to meet with you to discuss potentially accompanying me to a business event that I am attending the following night.  If this is something you are interested in I will schedule a time-slot and give you instructions on what to wear and where we will be meeting. I know this is all very last minute but please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you.

God, just reading the message has given you a slight headache. This girl couldn’t be any more business before pleasure if she tried. You decide to click onto her profile picture to get a better sense of who she is to help you decide whether to agree to meet her or delete the message. 

Flawless golden skin, wide cat-like brown eyes, plump red lips formed into a small smile and hazelnut brown hair accentuate all of the features perfectly. You definitely did not expect the person behind such a straight-forward and bland message to be quite as beautiful as the girl you’re currently looking at through your screen. Upon scrolling through the images, you can see her alongside a small Maltese dog, posing with several other women who you assume are her friends, in a business suit outside of her company building which reveals that she’s fairly tall and her figure is to die for. All in all, you’re sold that either this woman is a catfish with impeccable Photoshop skills or there really is a goddess-like beauty using this shady app when she could probably bag anyone possible.

Hi Tzuyu. Yes, I’d love to meet with you tomorrow, anytime is fine for me just let me know.

You hesitate for several minutes debating on whether or not to add an emoji to make things a bit more casual between the two of you. You eventually decide against it and hit send. The follow-up reply comes a lot quicker than you expected.

Great. 1 PM @ Jungsik.

A quick search reveals that Jungsik is a restaurant not far from your apartment, however, the reviews and images show that it’s rather expensive and definitely way out of your very small budget. 

Would it be possible for us to meet elsewhere? It isn’t exactly in my price-range nor will I have anything remotely fancy enough to wear to a place like that.

Three small bubbles appear and disappear several times with Tzuyu’s face beside them. You begin to worry that she’s going to cancel and realize that someone like you probably isn’t a good fit for attending the event alongside her.

Send me your address. My driver will pick you up with an outfit for you to change into and dinner will be on me.

You must be dreaming. There’s no way any of this can be real. You read the words several times to try and kickstart your brain into processing them properly and despite believing they’d disappear or change into another message, it remains the same. You consider pinching yourself to double-check but decide against it. Your fingers disobey your thoughts about it being a bad idea to give Tzuyu your address as they lightly tap on the screen to tell her where you live. 

You wait for a response but it never comes. You can see that Tzuyu has read the message though and decide to finally get some rest.

Sure enough, at 12:30 PM. the buzzer to your apartment goes off and a gentleman speaks through the intercom summoning you on behalf of one Miss Chou. Entering the sleek looking car with blacked-out windows, you quickly realize that this Tzuyu woman is from an entirely different world to the one you are used to. A white box is resting beside you and the driver instructs you to put it on. 

You open up the box and pull out a black satin mini dress. The texture of the item alone calls you broke but you also notice that whoever purchased the item forgot to remove the price tag. Your jaw almost hits the floor upon seeing that it’s worth more than three times your monthly salary. Again, you’re left to question whether any of this can possibly be real until the car suddenly comes to a stop. 

“I’ll step out now to let you change but please be quick. Miss Chou does not like to wait.” The driver says as he exits the vehicle.

You change into the dress as fast as humanly possible and exit also. You follow him through a set of doors into the stylish restaurant. This is no doubt be the cleanliest place you’ve ever eaten and worlds apart from the diner you’d regularly visit on your work breaks. Oh, how the other side lives you think.

“The table at the back, blue jacket. Enjoy.” The driver directs you towards a woman with her back facing you and hurriedly leaves. 

Your steps towards the table are hesitant and you can’t help but smooth out the new dress several times in fear you aren’t wearing it correctly or rather doing such a fancy item of clothing justice. When you finally reach the table where Tzuyu is seated you decide upon clearing your throat to gain her attention instead of sitting straight down. She stands to face you and her eyes scan over your entire body on the way up.

Even in high-heels, Tzuyu is still somehow towering above you both in height and demeanor. She’s elegant and graceful in her movements and you instantly feel self-conscious under her intense gaze. The pictures of her showed you that she is beautiful and yet here before you, they do not fully do her justice as she’s that and more. 

“Please, sit.” She motions you towards the chair opposite her own and waits for you to be seated until she herself does the same. “Thank you for joining me. I hope the dress is adequate enough, I had to guess your size based on your pictures. I wasn’t sure if it was something you’d like but it felt like a safe guess.”

“It’s beautiful, thank you.” She nods at your graciousness and moves to pick up one of the menus, when you go to do the same she grasps your hand and prevents you from doing so. 

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to order for both of us.” You drop your hand back to beside your lap and allow her to inform the waiter she’d like you to have her usual whilst she goes for filet mignon. “It’s by far the best dish, you won’t be disappointed.” 

However, when a lobster dish is presented before you, you can’t help but feel out of place. Tzuyu is quick to notice your confusion and fears she has in fact let you down before she’s even been able to present her plan for you to join her next week to you. 

“Is everything okay? Do you have an allergy? Is it not cooked to your standard?”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just, well… I’ve never eaten lobster before. I’m unsure of where to start.” A laugh lodges itself in Tzuyu’s throat with your words. “I’m glad you find my lack of fine-dining experience funny.” You roll your eyes annoyed at her clear arrogance. 

“I promise you, I am not laughing at you. I was once the same, I had no idea about any of this kind of stuff for a long time.” She offers you a genuine smile as she stands to move beside your seat to show you how to properly remove the flesh and what not to eat. “There you go, this stuff here is fine but this is the shell. Unless you wish to choke, stay clear of it.” 

Before you can truly think about it, words just begin flying out of your mouth after seeing such a kind action from by far the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever laid eyes upon.

“I have to ask, how come you’re using that app? If you don’t mind me saying, you’re a beautiful and charming woman. I don’t understand how you’re possibly single.” 

A more genuine and louder laugh exits Tzuyu’s mouth this time and for the first time, you can see that this is the real her and not the person she must try hard to present.

“Well, for a lot of years I struggled to see the appeal of commitment. I had plenty of companions to fill my spare time, however, none of them were ever the right for me. The position I’m hoping you will fill is somewhat different. As far as the women I have previously engaged with, I’d rather not show up to something like this with someone I have had casual sex with on my arm.”

Your face must be in a stunned state as Tzuyu continues to chuckle looking deeply into your eyes. Her honesty is weirdly refreshing and unsettling at the same time.

“I apologize if my bluntness surprises you, I just figure it’s best if we are both honest with each other here. In fact, that leads me to my next question,” She lightly brushes her mouth with a napkin before continuing. “Are you currently dating or meeting with anyone else from the application?”

Not willing to ruin the flow of honesty between the two of you, you tell Tzuyu that she is the first to reach out to you and that you wouldn’t be using the app if you were dating. She seems surprisingly happy with your answer though you’re unsure why. 

“That’s… good. I’d like it very much if you would keep it that way until I am sure that I no longer need your services. I don’t believe you will run in the same circles as those attending the event but I have to be sure.” You nod along not wishing to interrupt her thoughts. “Don’t worry, the event may be formal but I promise you the people attending will all be far too busy discussing themselves to bother you much. If you feel uncomfortable, simply tell me you need some fresh air and I will make sure to get you out of there.”

So far, Tzuyu is too good to be true. You will have to thank Nayeon and Sana for convincing you to sign-up for this app. 

“I will have another dress delivered to you in the morning with suitable shoes and accessories. Do you have a-” Tzuyu physically stops herself from finishing her question and curses to herself. “I will also send a stylist to take care of your hair, make-up and anything else you’re worried about.” 

“Are you sure all of this is necessary? I’m no one special Miss Chou.” The use of her family name stirs up a dark expression as Tzuyu’s eyes appear to be mentally undressing you. She shakes herself out of it before you can take notice of it. 

“Yes, you are. It may have been on short notice when I contacted you but quite frankly, you are a naturally beautiful person. I have seen plenty of attractive people within my life but none more so than you. Why do you think I have gone to all of this trouble thus far? I don’t just do this kind of thing for anyone. The majority of my relationships are a one-time thing that are not given the chance to progress further.” 

Once again, Chou Tzuyu has managed to confuse you. Your eyebrows have never felt so scrunched together quite as tightly as they are now. 

“What exactly are you saying?” is all you can whisper out in response.

“I’m saying that I’d like for you to attend this event with me. But, more importantly, I’d quite like it if you’d agree to do something like this with me more often. I will gladly pay you for your services tomorrow night in making me look good in front of a bunch of boring, old businessmen. Afterward, I’d like for you to allow me to date you. I can’t say that it will be an easy thing for either of us as I still very much so fear commitment, but I am hoping to learn, for you.” 

This time, you do pinch yourself to make sure everything you’re hearing is real and the stinging in your arm confirms you’re not currently dreaming. Your brain is running at a thousand miles-per-hour and struggling to formulate clear thoughts. 

“You do not need to answer now, attend the event with me. We can get to know each other whilst everyone else inflates their own ego. Then, we can see where things lead us. How does that sound?”

Truthfully, it sounds like a whirlwind, and yet you can’t help but agree.

“It sounds lovely.”

[winnerloser]

idk who needed to hear this today but 

if you use fanart for anything, you give credit for it.

usually i would just implore you guys to at your own discretion but. 

i think sometimes people forget that if you use fanart without explicitly asking for the author’s permission, that's stealing. but obviously no one has ill intent behind it with this hobby, which is why crediting is important. it’s the least you can do.

it doesnt matter how much you use the fanart. even if it only appears on your blog once. even if it’s just a throwaway icon for a gag. even if you replace the icon with new icons from somewhere else. if it was on your blog at some point, and you don’t intend on deleting it, and it’s still on there, you give credit for it.

there’s maybe some leeway if you commissioned the art and/or the artist already cosigned you to using it without giving permission. but that’s the only special instance i can think of.

in that same vein, please just look on artist’s profiles to see if they allow reposting in the first place. if their account says no reproduction/no reposting/DONT USE MY ART.... don’t use it. if the bio is in japanese, chinese, korean, whatever- google translate it. i know google translate can suck but it’ll easily convey what you need to be looking for. 

if you’re one to think that you don’t want to use source media like screenshots or mangacaps because fanart is prettier, don’t ignore the fact that the people providing you the luxury to do so are just that- people, who spent hours to draw what could amount to just one or two icons. who could’ve drawn what you were using as a commission for someone else. who more than likely posted the image without any idea what you’re using it for-- more importantly;

without any idea what you’re using the image to represent, what messages you’re trying to convey- with their image. the fact that the subject is a copyrighted character/isn’t theirs doesn’t change the fact that the drawing in and of itself is still their creation.

it would behoove you to start keeping tabs of the sources you intend to pull from. if you see a piece from pixiv you think you’ll consider pulling from- pluck it, save it, so later when you open photoshop you’re not sitting with the pulled image thats titled computer jibberish with no artist’s signature.

YOU KNOW WHAT? i’ll go you one even better than that.

When you save an image from pixiv - this one for example, by default it’ll save it as 78827921_p0_master1200.jpg.  78827921 is the image ID. https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/78827921 will take you back to that image. Plug in any other ID, and it’ll go back to its source. There you go. Easy if you accidentally forgot to keep tabs.

nobody is entitled to the usage of another person’s art, and if you use the excuse that [just by virtue of OP posting it on the internet, it’s free gain], that’s bullshit.

if you post anything- even a text post or roleplay thread- going by that same logic, anyone should be allowed to reblog it, remix it, go to town on it; it’s on the open internet, after all... right? No. you’re entitled to security in the things you post. you don’t really need to say “don’t/ask to reblog” in the tags for people to get the hint to not or ask first if they feel inclined to. if you believe you’re entitled to that comfort and respect, i don’t see why that mindset can’t be translated to fit the situation of artists. even if you don’t give a shit how your stuff gets circulated, at least try to look at it in the way that not everyone is you.

and not everyone is me, so some may be wondering still why they can’t just go ahead and do what they want so long as they’re not hurting people/keeping it lowkey. i mean, at the end of the day, there’s nothing i can do about it either. you can totally do whatever you want, im not denying that. but just know that you’re not 100% in the clear from getting discovered by somebody. you’re not impervious to being found. and reposting/art being used or transformed without credit or consent is a very real reason that artists get upset or even sometimes lock their profiles, delete, or stop drawing/posting, or stop making their art publically available. this is NOT just a western philosophy. asian artists do this just as well- hell, you could even say that some are even more stringent about etiquette when it comes to treating their works with respect. that includes reposting policies.

if you’re too tired/busy/lazy/forgetful/cursed to credit, that’s 100% not an excuse lol. or if you’re thinking, crap, i have all these nicely done assets that i’ve created but it’ll be too difficult to go back and retroactively find the sources!

idk what to tell u but tough titties bro thats a you problem*

uh, so to end this:

再版ポリシーが破られている場合は、お知らせください。すぐに画像を削除します。このブログから利益を得ることも、失礼することも意図していません。再版は許可されているが、クレジットがない場合は、お知らせください。修正いたします。ありがとうございます、失礼します。

如果违反了您的转载政策，请告知我们。我会立即删除图像。它无意从此博客中受益或无礼。如果允许转载，但信用不正确，请告知我们。我会马上改正的。谢谢，不好意思。祝好

this is in my credit’s page at the bottom. i can’t vouch for the japanese, but i can say with more certainty that the chinese is legible. if someone is better at japanese and has any adjustments they’d recommend, please do so! it’s just saying that i don’t intend to cause harm or disrespect by borrowing the artwork, and that at any of the artists’ discretion, whether i’m violating their repost policy or not, they are urged to reach out to me and tell me to remove their art if they don’t want it on my blog. feel free to snatch it and use it for your credits page, or write something similar in lieu of that. i’m 100% in support of that.

please be conscious and considerate of the people who work hard and do a good deal of the heavy lifting for you to be able to make your blog pretty and aesthetic in the first place. i think the bounty of beautiful and high-quality art for the pokemon fandom- or for any popular fandom for that matter- sometimes makes us forget that it isn’t a commodity. it’s something that when taken for granted, can genuinely affect others who work hard to provide content for people to enjoy. at the end of the day, they do this to make themselves and others happy. seeing others take that work without any acknowledgement to them is demoralizing, don’t think that they’ll get enough recognition from others to compensate for you. that’s frankly not how posting art on social media works at all.

i mean, even if this doesn’t convince you, i can only hope it’ll spur you to be more conscious in the future. 

*i get that things happen and this isn’t meant to shame you if you happen to be one to do any of the things other than credit. but know that you don’t... really have an excuse when there’s so many different options, shortcuts and alternatives available to you. you don’t really cite from a shitton of different sources for your paper and then go back to pick through every individual quote to find where it came from to avoid plagiarizing. you just.. make a note or works cited. it takes like, 15 extra minutes. if you’re going to spend hours on photoshop or writing fancy infoposts, you can spend an extra 15 making a works cited.

[rip-in-peace-eraserhead]

All This for a Cat Nap?

Pairing: Erasermic

AU: Fantasy/cat cafe

Summary: Aizawa Shouta owns and runs his own cat cafe which is paired up with a local shelter to get some of the cats adopted. On his lunch breaks, he uses his hidden shapeshifting powers to join the cats in the main room for a short nap. This backfires when he gets cursed by a witch for something he didn't do. Now stuck as a cat, he needs help to get out of this mess. Maybe that nice blond guy will be just what he needs.

For @gegeru within the @bnhasecretsanta2019. Have a happy holidays and a happy New Year.

Ao3 Link

Read under the cut.

This couldn’t be happening. 

Shouta hissed as the young employee reached for him again, This time he swiped at her hand with his claws, causing her to jerk back, yelping as she struggled to stay on the step ladder she had climbed while trying to reach him. 

With her having retreated for the moment, he bolted out of the cubby he had squeezed into and climbed another level to the tracks running along the upper walls. The thick carpeting under his paws along with the traction his claws gave him, he had enough maneuverability to make it to the other side of the room before she could even look for him again. 

Stupid customer. Stupid employee. Stupid witch making stupid assumptions. Stupid everything!

A new voice joined in with the assistant’s worried fretting. This one a bit lower pitched and calmer. Human words don’t translate perfectly to shifters who are in animal form so it was hard to make out. It must have been the guitar guy. He’s the very generous yet extremely infuriating guy who had decided that Shouta would make a good house pet. 

If Shouta were an actual cat instead of a shifter stuck as a cat, it would be insanely nice for guitar guy to offer to socialize an angry and partially feral cat after he paid for the cat. But Shouta isn’t a normal cat and now the guy’s offer is seriously hindering Shouta’s chance to just chill out at the cafe until the curse wears off.

With a moment to breathe, Shouta could consider his options. 

One: He could wait out this curse in the main room for weeks without interacting with a single human and hope that the curse doesn’t wear off in the middle of a busy day (leaving him buck-naked in a cat-cafe). And then pretend nothing happened when everyone asks. ‘Where the fuck have you been?’

Except that was unrealistic. The employees only put food out during the day and the other cats wouldn’t leave enough food for him if he waits. Also, he had no idea what curse he was under, so he might have to explain why he was gone for possibly months

Two: Hide under guitar guy’s couch, escape when he goes to work, find someone to turn him back, get back to his own apartment, and act like nothing happened. Then pretend not to feel guilty when he sees the missing cat posters all over town.

It was shitty, but the best option he has at the moment. Guitar-guy would still have Mochi to keep him company and if he really wanted a second cat, he could come back and adopt one.

He didn’t get the chance to consider a third option before another cat climbed up onto the other end of his perch. Happy to have found him, Mochi made a light trilling noise before mashing her face against his and starting to fervently clean his cheek. 

Being so preoccupied with the friendly tabby, he didn’t notice the hand reaching up behind him until it had a hold of his scruff. He yowled in protest but was pinned against a leather-clad chest  (impervious to wild claw swipes) and dropped into a pet tote. 

Mochi, now worried by Shouta’s protests, started to jump down the levels to reach him but was also scooped up by guitar guy who was apparently the one to use his leather jacket to knab Shouta without injury. She ended up being the one put into the temporary pet tote that the cafe offered to adopting patrons. 

That leads to another reason this situation sucks so much. The reason why the man had chosen Shouta and Mochi to adopt together was that he had seen Shouta taking a cat nap with Mochi and when Shouta ran away and tried to make himself look unappealing, the man decided to adopt both in hopes that Mochi would help socialize Shouta. He previously had everything worked out to adopt Mochi by herself and Shouta ended up being an accessory piece

Tired and frustrated, Shouta let out the loudest yowl he could muster, cursing that damned witch. So what if he had been lounging around as a cat. Making the assumption that he was a shifter who lived there as a cat just to advantage of the people’s good nature was incredibly rude. As the owner of the cafe, Shouta was the one who worked his ass off to get the place up and running and paired with the local shelter.

But now he was stuck in cat form until he could wait out the effects. 

Still not satisfied with the amount fo venting he’d done so far, he tossed his head back and made the most god-awful yowl/howl/scream he’d ever heard out of a cat’s mouth. Both humans and Mochi jumped at the noise.

Before he could muster up the energy for another, a face appeared through the bars of the cage. Vivid green eyes stared right into Shouta’s newly yellowed ones. The only thing Shouta could think was, “What a stupid mustache.”

“Hey....hey...little dude. It’s gonna be okay. Sorry for spooking ya. I know the carrier is a bit stressful but I’ll let ya out when we get home.”

Shouta ended up too distracted by the fact that he could clearly understand this guy to hear the transaction between the assistant manager and him as he was paying for their fees (and making a new account for Shouta because “His account must have gotten accidentally deleted.”)

It took until Shouta and Mochi were firmly buckled into guitar guy’s car before he said something more to Shouta. 

“I bet having a human just start chatting with you is a bit freaky, huh? I set up a spell so I could talk to Mochi and discuss her being my familiar but you ended up in the mix too. You don’t have to work as a familiar though. I just thought you needed a good home and if you like Mochi, it’d be best for you to come with her.”

Shouta said nothing in return as he began to reevaluate his life choices.

-----

Nemuri shrieked, half in laughter and half in fear, as Shouta, finally in human form, chased her around the tiny apartment wielding a mighty couch pillow. “I’m sorry!” She yelped out between laughs, diving behind the couch to get away. “I swear I thought you were just a hobo shifter mooching off the cafe!”

“I was almost neutered!” Shouta roared, trying to leap after her. Thankfully for Nemuri, he wasn’t used to human proportions just yet and landed on the couch, half sprawled over Hizashi’s lap. Hizashi just squeaked, his blush now reaching his ears as he desperately tried to avoid looking at a completely naked Shouta.

The moment it took Shouta to reboot after landing naked on top of a guy was long enough for Nemuri to make a break for it, sprinting out the door, boots in hand, with a hearty, “Good luck boys!”

With her gone, the fight left Shouta, leaving him with deep-set aches and a deeper regret towards the intense chase right after a painful shift back to human form.  

When Hizashi said nothing as the minutes stretched on, Shouta finally looked up to see him looking up and away in the most awkward attempt to avoid glancing too far down. It was funny for a second before the discomfort turned out to be contagious

Shouta readjusted so that he was sitting up like a normal person. ”Sorry.”

When Hizashi didn’t respond, Shouta awkwardly continued. “Y’know that I’m not mad at you, right? This month was batshit crazy and I’m the one who didn’t mention I’m a shifter. With the only other witch I’ve ever met cursing me within two minutes of meeting me, I was a little nervous.”

Hizashi finally uncovered his eyes, relieved that Shouta had placed the pillow over his privates. ”It’s cool, I guess. I just can’t believe I gushed about how the ‘cat cafe worker’ was to your face.”

“Well, you thought I was just a cat, so…”

They were interrupted by Mochi jumping up onto the couch between them, trilling loudly when no one began to pet her immediately. Shouta promptly took pity on her and scooped her up onto the pillow before beginning to rub at her chin.

“Speaking of being a cat,” Hizashi said, a tentative but sly grin crossing his face. “I’d better get a discount for life at the cafe after all the money I spent trying to make the grumpiest, hungriest, largest, fluffiest maine coon happy.”

Shouta rolled his eyes, trying to hide his amusement. “How about I help you pick out another cat, get them all settled, and wave any of the fees for all of that? If you want more retribution, ask your friend. She’s the one who put us in this situation.”

Hizashi pondered the offer for a bit, overexaggerating his uncertainty until it was obvious Shouta was Done. “Okay fine. But you have full visitation rights over Mochi and don’t you dare miss Christmas or I’m telling her you forgot all about her and she’s going to guilt you to death.”

This time Shouta rolled his eyes for real, shooing Mochi off his lap and standing up with the pillow still protecting his modesty. “I’m going to go raid your closet so I don’t have to do a naked walk of shame. Give me ten minutes and we can pretend this never happened.”

The humor slipped out of Hizashi’s face before he lunged forward. “Wait!”

Shouta stopped and was surprised by the hand grabbing his wrist.

“One more request.”

“Greedy aren’t we-”

“One date.”

Shouta froze, startled by the sudden boldness from Hizashi considering how blushy and embarrassed he was about his He turned fully, still awkwardly holding the pillow up, to try and gage Hizashi’s expression.

“Are you sure? Because I wasn’t acting like a dickish cat just to be mean. I really am grumpy, depressed, messy, and tired all the time.” It sounded self-deprecating even to his own ears but give him a break, he’d been off his depression meds for almost a month by this point.

Hizashi stood up and moved closer, now taking Shouta’s hand in his. “I’ve seen a bit of that when at the cafe and I think you’re selling yourself short. I don’t know if you remember this but you were the one who pointed out Mochi to me when I mentioned adopting a cat. I’ve never seen someone so compassionate and I’d like to see more of you. Please?”

A million excuses ran through Shouta’s mind as he tried to mentally work out how to say ‘I a mess you don’t want to clean up’. Before he could articulate one, he noticed the soft longing in Hizashi’s eyes, brilliant emerald staring directly into Shouta’s soul. 

“Fine but I’m paying..”

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Motherf*cking PSA about sharing art

This will sound like a rant at first but it’s actually a PSA.

This is not about artists sharing their own art - this is about everyone else. These times around, I have been constantly getting angry because people would keep on sharing art without crediting the artist. I recently joined a Danganronpa Facebook group and people are posting drawing after drawing, extremely rarely giving credit (though a bunch of people have started putting a link, either because I raised awareness or because they’re scared of the mean Jan lady). And get this: most people who do that just don’t know that they should credit the artist. They don’t think about it, because they’re not an artist themselves and they don’t realise what it implies... So you just tell them, they’re sorry, they don’t know the artist for this one, and they’ll try to pay attention next time. That’s called being a decent person. But that’s not all there is; I have stumbled upon people who refused to give credit. Some started to insult me because I dared to “make them look bad by asking for the artist” (keep in mind that since I don’t know who I’m talking to, I’m always being very careful and polite when I do so), some actually stated that they were not sharing the artist on purpose and they would refuse to ever do it. Well let me tell you, kiddo, you’re not some “cool troll on the internet”. You’re a disrespectful piece of sh*t. Disrespectful of someone’s work that you’re also stating that you like. You’re not going to have a lot of friends in life if you take things for granted. So, assuming you’re decent enough to understand, let me explain to you, person who likes to share art that is not theirs (which can be amazing if you do it right), the concept of crediting the artist.

1- Why it is important to credit the artist There is one thing I would like you to know: when you share a piece of art or fanart, you’re not sharing a “picture”. You’re sharing a drawing and someone’s time and work.

It’s not something that just exists and you can use however you want. It’s something a particular person created with their own skills and that sometimes took hours or days. In a piece of art, the artist has put their own skill and style that give it the amazing vibe that you love, oh so much. When someone draws something it’s not just a present to the world. It’s something they made for themselves (or the person who asked/payed them to) and were nice enough to share with the community. Artists. Need. Feedback. I want it to be clear that a drawing is not just something that started existing out of nowhere. It’s directly linked to the person who made it. And the artist absolutely needs to know if people like their drawing, or their art in general. They need for their profile to be seen by everyone so that they can receive good and interesting critics. Artists are people. They are not just something that makes good things. They are people with feelings and if their art doesn’t get feedback well guess what? They’ll stop making it. You won’t get any other of their drawings. Which is a shame because tons of people were sharing their piece uncredited, saying they loved it, on places they don’t know about. Plus, when you share a piece of art with credit, it’s a way to help them out! This kind of sharing is great because more people will see the good art and want to check the artist out, thus giving them more well deserved fans. And you, yourself, by knowing the artist who drew that one drawing you’re fond of, will have the opportunity to see more of their art, that you will probably love too.

2- How does one credit correctly

The best way is to directly share from the source. Reblog, retweet, share the stuff from where it was posted. But if you’re doing it on another website, well, simply enough, give a link to the original piece, by the original poster. If the only post or website you knew about was deleted, you can at least give their username (or usernames), so that people know who it was made by (in case they stumble into their new page!). If their name is written directly on the drawing (or I’ve seen people share screenshots of posts), it’s still better to give a link, but in case you reeeaally can’t find it, it’s okay as long as the writing is clear and readable (you know, if the quality is low and the drawing is all small, you can’t be able to read the name properly). This also means that if the name is written in Japanese and you’re sharing it on a group/website that speaks another language... People won’t be able to search for the artist. If on some drawing or screenshot there’s written 夜神 月 in the corner, I won’t be able to copy-paste it like text (because... it’s on a drawing or screenshot...) nor read it.

3- Common errors to avoid Simply enough, there is some stuff to remember. • Pinterest is NEVER proper credit. Artists don’t post their drawings on pinterest, it’s a website made to share “pictures” from other websites and the worst place for someone like me who wants to scream at the view of uncredited art. • All the booru (danbooru, gelbooru...) websites and zerochan are not proper credit either, because the artists don’t post their art on there, it’s being shared there by other people. Well, it’s at least better because it always leaves the artist’s name somewhere: but since it’s there, you yourself can see it and share it (or at best find their website and share it), because it’s better credit for obvious reasons. • If you see that the page/blog where you found drawing has no other art or drawings with a clearly different style, you can guess that they’re not the original poster. They’re sharing art that is not theirs. Search for credit in their descriptions or for something to punch them with. • Don’t just save drawings... Except for when you do it from some websites (if I remember well danbooru does it right, wouldn’t bet my life on it though) the name of the artist will not be in the file’s name and will be lost forever. If you really want to save a drawing, save it with the artist’s name! Name the file “xxx by [artist]”, this way you’ll be able to find them again or simply credit them if you post the drawing somewhere else. If you’re on your phone, maybe take a screenshot so that you can see the name of the poster too? But in general, I would say, don’t save drawings. Create an account on the website where you found the art and from there like it, or share it. • Instead of searching for art of your favourite characters on Google, do it on a website like deviantArt, tumblr, pixiv or something like that! This way you’ll make sure that you don’t only have Pinterest as a source.

4- What to do if you already have the picture saved and don’t remember the artist • Search for them, obviously. You can use Google Image Reverse Search but it’s not very accurate, especially because if it’s old or made by a famous artist on pixiv, you’ll only find Pinterest links. Recently someone from the same group I was talking about earlier introduced me to this amazing website : SauceNAO. It works almost everytime, you put the picture you saved (in “advanced options” you can put a link) in, and it’ll give you the “best” websites where it found it, the first usually being the one where it was posted. (It also finds it on danbooru pretty often, we’ve talked about that one already) • If you really can’t find them, well... you don’t have to share it. Remember that. You don’t have to post the drawing on that one facebook group or your twitter or I don’t know, you won’t die. Sharing art without giving the artist is disrespectful, period. Hardwork and someone’s creations are things you need to respect and not share around like it’s nothing. You’ll only encourage other people who do it too. If you really really reeeeaaaalllyyy want to share this drawing because it just works too well in a certain situation, at least make it clear that you are not the artist, you don’t know who they are and you are currently searching for them. This way, if someone knows them, they’ll tell you - and people will think of searching for it instead of taking the “picture”‘s existence for granted. And it’s at least the tiniest bit more respectful.

5- Additional info

Right now I only talked about drawings and fanart because it’s what I know the most about, but this also applies for videos, fictions, fanfictions etc. This applies to anything that was created by a particular person and required work, and/or can be considered as art. Just think about this example: Imagine if you'd written an amazing essay and your teacher found it super interesting, so they gave you your good grade but also copied the essay and shared it on his own websites, not saying that you were the one who’d written it. The essay would become famous and no one would ever know YOU wrote it. This is how it feels to have your art shared without credit. You might not even know it.

I think that’s it, and I hope it’s clear. If you’re an artist yourself or love art or are in fandom in general, please share this. Feel free to add something if you think I forgot an element! And if you have some questions, my ask box is open. I think it’s really important that everyone is aware of this and understands it. I decided to make this post because after asking 5 people to give credit to the artists who drew the 12 random different drawings they’d shared of Komaeda each (a boy’s birthday is tough), I saw that one video by Mo Selim being shared on ANOTHER group yet again and had to give credit myself yet again... And I’m just angry that people either don’t know or don’t care.

You need to know. You need to be careful. Thanks in advance for all the amazing artists you’ll give more representation to by sharing their art with credit!

[osakaso5]

Ryunosuke Tsunashi TRIGGER Police Rabbit Chat Part 5: Relaxing With Re:vale And TRIGGER!? 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Tsumugi: Tsunashi-san, good work! I look forward to your shoot today! 

Ryunosuke: Tsumugi-chan, I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused the other day! 

Ryunosuke: 

Tsumugi: I'm just glad it was resolved without any more problems! 

Ryunosuke: Tell Nagi-kun that I'll go see that anime movie with him soon, like I promised. 

Ryunosuke: But since he's having everyone who bothered him treat him to a movie, should all of us really go see the same movie with him separately? 

Tsumugi: Yes! Nagi-san says he wants to have a complete collection of the postcards that are randomly distributed at each showing! 

Ryunosuke: I don't really get why he’d do that, but if  that’s all it'll take to cheer him  up, I'm fine with it! It must be tough to have to watch so many movies just to get a postcard! 

Choices/outcomes:

1. How would you sum up that incident?

Ryunosuke: It was a rare chance for all of us to get together for drinks, so it's a real shame I can't remember most of it! 

2. Who do you think was the key player of that incident?

Ryunosuke: Yuki-san, maybe? We were at his house, and this drinking party happened because he invited Gaku, and Tenn actually wanted to join in for once. 

3. What was the most delicious thing Yuki-san cooked for you?

Ryunosuke: Ah! He served this side dish that was minced white fish stuffed inside steamed goya with a thick sauce! It was the first time I ate something like that, but it was delicious. I was going to make some myself, but I forgot... 

Tsumugi: You really had a rough time... 

Tsumugi: I managed to compile a detailed account of that incident at you and Re:vale's meeting the other day, so I'll share it with you now! 

Ryunosuke: I was so busy feeling bad about what I'd done that I had no time to put all the event in order... And since I can't remember much, I'd like to know what happened. 

Tsumugi: A dinner party begins at Yuki-san's house. Along with his home cooking, the guests are treated to wine and some sake they'd brought with them. 

Tsumugi: Urged by Momo-san, Tsunashi-san steadily empties his glass until he's blackout drunk. He begins speaking exclusively in Okinawan. 

Tsumugi: This is where Tsunashi-san's recollection of the events stops. 

Ryunosuke: Huh, already!? 

Tsumugi: So I've been told ><

Ryunosuke: I didn't know it was that early! But, I guess I'd been drinking pretty heavily by that point. 

Ryunosuke: I think   Momo-san was probably still avoiding Yuki-san, because he just kept  talking to me. 

Ryunosuke: I wanted to support him somehow, so I drank when he told me to. I know I got drunk right away, but I wonder if I was of any help? 

Tsumugi: Momo-san's key phrase was "Aren't you going to drink when Re:vale's offering? (lol)"

Ryunosuke: Yeah, the way he was offering me drinks didn't feel like his usual self. I'm worried   he might feel depressed later... 

Tsumugi: Tsunashi-san begins making Momo-san drink just as much as he's drinking. Their alcohol consumption increases drastically. 

Tsumugi: Unable to communicate due to both their drunkenness, Momo-san calls Nagi-san in to translate. 

Tsumugi: This is where Momo-san and Gaku-san's recollections of the events stop. 

Tsumugi: Momo-san's comment: "Things were awkward between me and Yuki, so I kept clinging to other people. I couldn't stop drinking. Ryunosuke turned into an alcohol beast." 

Tsumugi: Gaku-san's comment: "I had fun." 

Ryunosuke: I had fun, too! 

Ryunosuke: ...Or at least I think I did. 

Ryunosuke: I must've been a huge pain to get called an "alcohol beast"... A real pest... 

Tsumugi: Nagi-san tries to reject Momo-san's invitation, but is forced into a taxi by Yamato-san and Mitsuki-san, who tell him to spend more time with other groups. 

Tsumugi: Yamato-san's comment: "I thought I'd repay Momo-san for helping me out with a scene I didn't want to do. I messaged Yaotome asking him to look after Nagi as a fellow leader, and thought it'd be fine since he messaged me back and told me to leave it to him." 

Ryunosuke: It's amazing how responsible Gaku can act while he's drunk! 

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san's comment: "Nagi doesn't trust guys outside of IDOLiSH7, so I wanted to help him overcome it. I thought it'd be fine since Momo-san, who's good at handling drinking parties, would be there."

Ryunosuke: Is that part about Nagi-kun true!? I always thought he treated us a little coldly. I wonder if we can use this chance to become friends. But, what did he come over to translate? 

Tsumugi: Nagi-san arrives at the scene and is unable to translate the non-stop flow of Okinawan. Not being able to keep up with the drunkards, he tries to leave altogether. 

Ryunosuke: Ah, so it was me! I feel bad that he had to go through that. 

Tsumugi: Hearing that Sogo-san and Iori-san are good at quizzes, Yuki-san starts testing them over rabbit chats. 

Tsumugi: Whenever they get something right, he toasts them on his end, and eventually decides to send gifts he thinks they'll enjoy to the dorm in the taxi that is supposed to take Nagi-san home. Unable to shake off the guests who want him to stay, Nagi-san gets left behind at the party. 

Tsumugi: Iori-san's comment: "We received Tsunashi-san's clothes even down to his pants, how was he able to get home? The fountain pen that was meant for me has Re:vale's name engraved on it, so I'll return it to them later."

Ryunosuke: I wonder if they got that fountain pen to celebrate becoming a record store best seller? TRIGGER's had some made, too. 

Ryunosuke: I saw one in the box with Momo-san's stuff, so the one Iori-kun got must be Yuki-san's. 

Ryunosuke: Momo-san might've been upset that he'd give out a memento like that as a prize... 

Tsumugi: This is where Yuki-san's recollection of the events stops. 

Tsumugi: Yuki-san's comment: "They were really obscure music questions, so I was happy they managed to answer them." 

Ryunosuke: Yuki-san's so collected! I'd like for him to worry about his partner a little more! 

Tsumugi: You're right... 

Ryunosuke: Momo-san's pretty bothered by it. A few days ago, we were drinking and he kept complaining "He's acting like we're on the same wavelength, but we're actually not!" 

Tsumugi: Noticing Nagi-san's displeasure, everyone begins talking about Cocona-chan. Drunk, Gaku-san and Yuki-san try to style their hair to look like Cocona's. 

Tsumugi: Momo-san  posts a picture of it online, and although Okazaki-san rushes to delete the post, screenshots of it are still making rounds online. 

Ryunosuke: I saw that photo too, it was really funny! 

Tsumugi: Okazaki-san gives up on trying to control the situation and drowns his sorrows in alcohol. 

Tsumugi: This is where his recollection of the events stops. 

Tsumugi: Okazaki-san's comment: "We're a small agency, so I thought I'd let Yaotome Productions do something about it!"

Ryunosuke: We even caused trouble to our president... He was really mad at me and Gaku. 

Ryunosuke: At times like these, Gaku starts sulking like my little brothers do, so I'll suffer through this with him. 

Tsumugi: Around this time, an imitation contest begins. 

Tsumugi: Team Hure Hure: Kujo-san, Gaku-san, and Yuki-san

Tsumugi: Team MATSURI: Gaku-san, Tsunashi-san, Momo-san, and Okazaki-san

Tsumugi: Team L&G: Tsunashi-san, Nagi-san, and Anesagi-san

Ryunosuke: I don't remember any of it, but apparently I was really excited, probably because I always thought MATSURI looked really fun. 

Ryunosuke: Still, they didn't wear fundoshi for the grand re-opening shoots, did they? I wonder what made us wear them... 

Tsumugi: The last bastion of reason, Anesagi-san, suddenly gets extremely excited during the taking of the L&G pictures, and passes out drunk instantly. 

Tsumugi: This is where Anesagi-san's recollection of the events stops. 

Tsumugi: Anesagi-san's comment: "I regret nothing." 

Ryunosuke: I wonder if Anesagi-san wanted to sing L&G, too? That's a little embarrassing! 

Tsumugi: The topic shifts to the fact that Re:vale used to live together. Gaku-san, Tsunashi-san, and Okazaki-san keep casually suggesting that they move back in together, and they keep bashfully rejecting the idea. This goes on for the next 30 minutes. 

Tsumugi: Then suddenly, Momo-san erupts with a "Do you hate being with me that much!?", and Re:vale begins arguing. 

Ryunosuke: Here! I remember a little bit of this part, since they were arguing a lot even though they're usually so nice. It was really scary. 

Ryunosuke: Nagi-kun said it was like they were having a rap battle, so I remember trying to yell "HEY! YO!" in between their arguing. Nobody laughed at it, and I feel like the room was colder afterwards... 

Tsumugi: Momo-san declares that he will move into the IDOLiSH7 dorm, and begins gathering the things he keeps at Yuki-san's apartment. 

Tsumugi: Yuki-san responds with "I've always thought I should rescue him from the Kujo family, so I'll start living  with Tenn-kun." 

Tsumugi: Thinking that he's going too far by bringing up Kujo-san's delicate family situation, TRIGGER begins booing. 

Ryunosuke: Were we really booing? 

Tsumugi: Momo-san comes to the conclusion that  “Yuki, Tenn, and Sogo's uncle are the types Kujo will go after", and discusses forming an "Anti-Kujo front" with Riku-san and Tamaki-san. Tamaki-san agrees. 

Tsumugi: Tamaki-san's comment: "I think he's in danger, but when I told So-chan, he started scolding me and we had a fight. We still haven't made up." 

Tsumugi: Sogo-san's comment: "Although I'm honored, I think it's outrageous to compare me to Kujo-san or Yuki-san. If anything, I think it'd be an insult to them. I don’t think  I'm in the wrong here,  but I'm planning to  apologize to  Tamaki-kun."

Ryunosuke: Huh? This even made MEZZO" fight!? 

Tsumugi: As he's being asked about possible vacancies in the dorm, Riku-san finds out about Kujo-san's potential move. 

Tsumugi: Riku-san's comment: "If he can go live with Yuki-san, then he can come back home, too! He should just live with me!!!" 

Ryunosuke: Riku-kun's always so cute! 

Tsumugi: At this point, Kujo-san loses his composure. He makes everyone except Nagi-san kneel on the floor and think of what they've done. 

Tsumugi: Nagi-san's comment: "Tenn-nii is an angel."

Ryunosuke: Nagi-kun was behaving better than anyone else back there. I should treat him to some food when we go see that movie... 

Tsumugi: Final report. Nagi-san slept in Yuki-san's bed, while Tsunashi-san slept on the floor next to it. Yuki-san fell asleep while still kneeling on the floor. Anesagi-san took pictures of Nagi-san's sleeping face. Momo-san fell asleep while gathering his things into a cardboard box. Gaku-san and Okazaki-san fell asleep mid-drink. 

Tsumugi: Kujo-san's comment: "I guess you  could compare this to being a zookeeper for a day?" 

Ryunosuke: That was even more wild than I expected... 

Tsumugi: It really was... 

Ryunosuke: I never knew I start speaking Okinawan when I get drunk! 

Tsumugi: Huh, that's what you're surprised about!? 

Ryunosuke: But I guess I've been told that before? 

Ryunosuke: By the way, apparently Re:vale made up. Momo-san let me know that much. 

Tsumugi: Thankfully, this seems to have brought them closer ><

Ryunosuke: I really appreciate Tenn for cleaning up after us as the only sober person there. When I said I'd treat him out to dinner as an apology, he told me Gaku had offered to do the same. 

Ryunosuke: He made fun of us for being so predictable! 

Tsumugi: That's a good thing, so I'm sure he didn't mean it! I'm willing to bet Kujo-san's looking forward to dinner with you! 

Tsumugi: 

Ryunosuke: Thank you. Next time we should do something Tenn likes, without alcohol. As I thought, TRIGGER's the most important to me! 

Translator’s notes..? 

next up: tamaki and momo’s shuffle talk rabbit tvs! 

[bpdspyro]

i wasnt going to do this but she pissed me off so here we are

so yesterday night you may have seen some drama on this blog regarding this post. after i replied for that final time, i blocked the user and left her alone, didnt reply any longer, vented a bit to friends, and went to play some elder scrolls online with @transzero and she can even back me up on this like i was playing with her the majority of the night and then went to bed.

lots of drama ahead.

apparently that wasnt enough for her considering she continued to vague on her blog about me and call me “dramatic”: 

which is w/e it’s your blog go ahead vague about me i dont really care. people were keeping me updated on what was going on and i only have a few screenshots but this person kept vagueing about me and the entire situation even after i blocked her crying about how she cant have a simple “discussion” without getting blown up on.

so people kept sending her asks and she basically replied to everything the same way, and she also decided to throw in there that she was suicidal and that the anons aren’t helping, etc etc etc. 

There’s more but she deleted everything regarding the situation off of her blog after being called out on it and these are the only screenshots people sent me.

Some extra stuff:

So then (I still have them blocked at this point and haven’t made any effort to contact her at all since my last reply on my post) at work today I got a private message on Tumblr from someone linking me to THIS POST:

Yep folks she SCREENSHOTTED THIS POST I MADE AND ASSUMED IT WAS ABOUT HER AND DECIDED “HEY SHE BLOCKED ME SO I CAN’T REPLY, BUT LET ME SCREENSHOT IT AND REPLY TO IT ANYWAY!” and proceeded to call me toxic even though the post 100% wasn’t about her, it was about some drama I saw on my Facebook news feed a couple of hours before I made that post.

So anyway I was like “Alright this has gone too far I need to unblock them so I can tell them to stop fucking vagueing about me” cause the first few times it was whatever but now you’re GOING THROUGH MY BLOG AND SCREENSHOTTING MY POSTS AND CALLING ME TOXIC like no. Bye. I’m a paranoid fuck and I didn’t even go through your blog after I blocked you because I wanted absolutely nothing to do with you.

So I unblocked them on my main account, and sent them this: 

I was at work so I was in a bit of a rush and probably would have sounded ~~nicer~~ if I wasn’t in a hurry. And then she replied, which is what made me want to make this giant clusterfuck of a post in the first place:

There’s a lot there and I don’t expect you to read it all, but here’s the tl;dr:

- She accused me of being the reason she was getting shit.

- She accused me of sending my followers to her blog to send her hate.

- She told me that if I was actually sorry, I’d make a post on my blog telling people to stop messaging her (when I have no control over what my followers do and don’t do).

- She accused me of making my followers think it was okay to bully people.

- She accused me of vagueing about her first when I?? Didn’t?? I literally stopped talking to her/about her after I blocked her last night.

- She brought up the original drama (see beginning of the post) again and continued to try to defend her point. Basically said I overreacted to what she said.

- “You’re so toxic because you shamed me for being suicidal wah wah wah”

- Accused the one post of being about her when at that point I forgot she even existed.

- Accused me of invalidating her being suicidal.

- AND THEN TO TOP IT ALL OFF SHE BLOCKED ME BEFORE I COULD GET ANOTHER WORD IN. Of course she had to have the last word!

And get this: she’s STILL vagueing about me!! Like!! Fuck!!

I’m gonna use my voice to warn everyone about you that’s for sure lmao.

Ya’ll I’m sick and tired of this fucking drama and I wasn’t going to make a post but that last message she sent me threw me over the edge. 

All in all this person threatens suicide whenever they’re cornered, admitted to liking to create drama but then crying when people call her out on it, called the entire community toxic because a few select people disagreed with her, vagues about you even after you’ve forgotten they existed, and doesn’t know how to separate paragraphs because holy fuck that message she sent me was literally unreadable.

I had to vent this out I’m sorry I would’ve wrote more but I have to go actually have a life now unlike people who like to stalk my blog waiting to screenshot shit and call me toxic.

[ireviewuread]

The first and the last date I had in Vietnam | My Online Dating Stories | Guest post

Remember at the start of the year where I talked about my online dating horror experience? Yes, I mean the one where a guy asked to cut off my mole. Well, today I have another online dating story presented by my guest, Marya! Marya is a blogger from The BeauTraveler. We collaborated to produce her ‘Around the world with the Beauties’ post series. You can check out out collaboration here.

Anyhows, in this post, we’re not going to touch on horror stories. We’re going to touch on a positive side when it comes to dating online. Hey, the online world is not that bad alright. Anyways let’s hop in to her story!

Being single on my end 20s, I think I'm way too familiar with dating apps or dating sites on the internet because nowadays, who isn't really? :P 

Among many dating apps out there, I think the only one that sticks with me until this very day is the one and only OKCupid. I have no idea how many times I install this app and delete it only to actually reinstall it for the sake of boredom. 

One of the reasons why I like OKCupid compared to some other apps is that it enables you to actually find out the other side's personality through the quiz and questions answered by them.

I mean, even though you're not really looking for anyone to go out for a date with, it's always find to read their answer and religiously judge them just because you can. *lol*

Not only that, my opinion may be a bit bias since I had one of the best dates with someone I know through OKCupid. It happened a couple of years ago when I was in Vietnam for traveling. 

It was a 2-week trip as I wanted to explore Vietnam from the North to the South. I got matched with a guy called Aaron when I was in Hue as he asked me a question related to the thing I wrote on my profile. 

I wrote on my profile that I love country music and the sitcom Full House despite how it was first aired when I wasn't even born. And his first message was like, "It's only a little lame to love country music. And who are you more related to? DJ, Stephanie, or Kimmy?" 

Our conversation started there when he admitted that he wasn't even in Vietnam yet as he was still in the States and his flight to Vietnam was in a few days. His ETA in Ho Chi Minh City is only a day before my arrival to the city from Hoi An.

So we exchanged LINE account since as much as we both like OKCupid, the app could crash way too many times and more than we want it to. 

Long story short, we talked a few days before we actually met up in person. He still struggled with jetlag when we first met, but he told me it was alright since he needed to explore the city quite a bit. 

He's American who was planning to continue his Master's degree in Berlin. As the cost for German course at Goethe-Institut in HCMC is less expensive than most of the cities in Asia, he decided to take an intensive German course there. He used to live in Nagoya and Seoul as he was working as an English teacher in the past few years. 

We met in some Indian restaurant called Baba's Kitchen around District 1 area. He said that his roommate recommended it so maybe we could meet there. We had a late lunch there, it was okay. And we hit it off right away, as it was also his first day to join the German class. 

Funny thing was that I also took German class at Goethe-Institut in my hometown along time ago, so I ended up helping his homework. He told me that his teacher kept saying something that he didn't understand. He couldn't get what his teacher said, but it was something ended with 'spiel', so I was like, "Was it zum beispiel?"

Our conversation came so natural that we actually talked about a lot of things. About work, dreams, and even food. He told me that he just wanted to get out of the States for some reason, and Europe has always been on his bucket list.

One of the reasons why he took the German class in Vietnam, besides the fact that it was less expensive, was also because he wanted to get more sense of Asia before leaving for Europe. 

We spent half of our day together. From lunch at Baba's Kitchen, we also had some Ca Phe Sua Da somewhere around District 1, and everytime we always had something to talk about. Being a noob in South East Asia, he had no idea that there was actually some other apps like Uber, so I told him about Grab that we could actually use like Uber, except they also offered motorbike taxi. 

And since I've been told by one of my friends that it was really recommended to try banh mi in Vietnam, especially in HCMC, I told him I had to try a really good banh mi since I didn't find any good banh mi yet. Not in Hanoi, Sa Pa, Hue, or Hoi An. 

He told me that there was one that he passed and we could try to find it. So we ended up walking through the District 1 looking for banh mi. And we were not disappointed! 

We decided to take away our banh mi and find some spot in the park around District 1 to enjoy our banh mi. While sitting at the park, we also talked about some random stuff. I talked about the life in Saudi Arabia since I used to work there for 1.5 year. And I also mentioned that I used to spend 3 months in Turkey as well, yet Turkey felt more like second home for me than Saudi. 

The next thing we know, we came to talk about food and he asked whether there was any food that I found somewhere, yet I couldn't find back home. So I said yes, I told him about midye dolma, the stuffed mussels that I found in Turkey that I couldn't find any in Indonesia. 

First he was a little confused about this midye dolma until I tried to explain to him about this food. And he laughed telling me that I must really love this food because my eyes were actually glistening when trying to explain. 

There were some people playing badminton at the park so we ended up talking about sports. He explained to me about American Football, in which I still don't quite understand even until today. 

So I admitted that I would prefer classic football a.k.a soccer for the 'Murican as I'm probably one of the biggest fans. In return, he admitted that he knew some from the US National Team but internationally he was only familiar with Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Excuse me sir, but you're going to Germany... It's like a blasphemy to know nothing about football there! 

I forgot what happened but then it was quite late already when some lights at the park were actually turned off so I was like, "Jeez, is that how they tell us it's time to go home?" 

I didn't know what happened, but the next thing I knew, our lips were locked to each other. That was actually my first kiss in the public place, since I come from Indonesia where you could even get judged just by hugging each other in public. 

It was when my host called me to ask where I was since it was already late and she just wanted to check whether I was alright. As much as I really enjoyed the night, it was pretty hard when you actually stayed with your Couchsurfing host so I told him I should go back home. 

"Ouch. Heartbreaker." He said. 

So I told him that I wouldn't mind to stay, but then staying at a host place is not as easy as it sounds. So we bid farewell at the park as my motorbike taxi arrived, and that was the first and the last time I met Aaron. 

Despite how short we spent the day together, it was probably the best date that I've had with someone that I met through a dating app. 

Normally, sometimes the date would be so boring that it would only end up in bed for sex and that was all. But with Aaron, it was really nice that we actually wanted to know more about each other and it went really well. And even better, because we didn't even have to have sex to actually feel interested towards each other. 

We've still got our contact on our LINE account. And he even sent some pics of him on his early days in Berlin a few months later. I think it was quite hard to find a decent date through dating app nowadays when hooking up has become a culture. 

But then again, you'll never know you don't give it a chance, won't you? ;) 

About the author -  Marya The BeauTraveler

A sassy traveler who finds it difficult to travel light, but easy to find the cheapest way to enjoy life. Struggling to find the one, so she may as well travel from one beau to another. Check out her links: Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Aww, it’s such a shame that this fairy tale lasted for one day only. However, I love the detailed story. It’s so nice to hear that not all online dating stories are nightmares. Once again, Thank you to Marya for sharing with us her positive online dating story. Do remember to check out her blog and social media for travel and beauty related posts.

If you’re looking for more online dating stories, I’ve created this category under the lifestyle section :

You can view the section here. So far there’s only 2 stories but I will be adding more stories and hopefully invite more guests to share their stories in time to come.

[usviraltrends-blog]

New Post has been published on https://usviraltrends.com/i-never-told-anyone-5-womens-stories-of-sexual-abuse-at-the-hajj/

'I never told anyone': 5 women's stories of sexual abuse at the Hajj

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim women descend on Mecca in Saudi Arabia each year to take part in the Hajj, but in recent weeks some female worshipers have told CNN they experienced incidents of sexual abuse or harassment while participating in the five-day pilgrimage.

Five women told CNN they were compelled to share their stories after a Pakistani woman’s account of being sexually abused at the Hajj went viral on Facebook last month. That post (since deleted) prompted an outpouring of similar stories from female pilgrims on social media.

Most of the incidents of sexual abuse and harassment reported to CNN happened during the tawaf ritual, a counter-clockwise procession around the Kaaba shrine. Only some of the women who shared their stories with CNN reported the incidents to police in Saudi Arabia but those who did said their complaints were ignored.

Responding to CNN, an unnamed Saudi official familiar with Hajj affairs said the Kingdom does not tolerate this kind of behavior anywhere, especially at holy sites and added that allegations made by the women were being taken very seriously by authorities.

“Anyone found guilty of committing these acts faces serious consequences including imprisonment and caning,” the Saudi official said. “By Royal Order, female police officers and investigators are now being added to the police force and security services including the Public Prosecution Department, so there will be a greater female security and police presence within the country and at the Holy sites to handle any issues that may arise.”

Saudi Arabia already issued a royal decree in September 2017 to outlaw sexual harassment. A new law is currently being drafted.

Below are the five women’s stories. They have been edited for clarity and length. Some women requested to remain anonymous because they fear a backlash within their communities.

Asra Nadeem, a Pakistani woman living in the US

I was 21 years old in 2006 when I did the Hajj for the first time.

First, I got stuck in the 2006 stampede during the Stoning of the Devil in Mina and that itself was very traumatic. It was horrible.

But a few days later I went back to Mecca to perform Umrah (a shorter form of the Hajj pilgrimage that can be performed at any time of the year). During that time, I was on my own, doing tawaf around the Kaaba.

The closer you get to the Kaaba, the more crowded it gets. Everybody wants to touch the Kaaba. I wanted to get closer to touch it, and in the last circle the crowd was moving really slowly.

I was next to the Kaaba and somebody grabbed my bum. I thought it was just the crowd; everyone was pushing. But then, when I moved up, somebody grabbed my boobs.

I turned my head and I saw this guy just smirking at me. I couldn’t do anything, and he was still holding my breast. So, I yelled at him, and then people started pushing me forward, shouting “yalla” (“hurry up”).

I reported the incident to the first two guards that I saw but both of them did not speak English and told me to move along.

I’ve met a few people who messaged me the same experience but in 2006 you didn’t want to talk about it, before Facebook or anything.

Hajj is a spiritual experience — you’re in a different state of mind. You’re praying for things, it’s very Zen-like. Your first instinct is that it cannot possibly be happening, but it’s there, in your face

I didn’t go back to do Hajj. It was very traumatic, first the stampede and then the harassment.

Anonymous British woman, now living in Asia

I had never been sexually assaulted before I went to Mecca, in 2007 when I was 32. The first time it happened I was heading into the Grand Mosque to perform tawaf. A man was heading out, towards the courtyard, and as he approached me he outstretched his arm and grabbed my breast. It wasn’t a clumsy brush. It was a grab. It was forceful and it hurt. He didn’t let go immediately. He squeezed and was looking at me the whole time.

The second time I was in the courtyard of the Grand Mosque and I felt something pressing into my lower spine. It was crowded and lots of people were bumping into each other. But the pressing continued. I turned around and saw it was a man and realized he was pressing his erection into me. He was pushing against me so hard he was almost driving me forward. He too was looking at me and holding my gaze. I ran off and found a policeman and told him (in English) what had happened. He shooed me away. He had no interest in listening to me. I even pointed out the man in the crowd and the policeman still ignored me.

The third time I was in a side street looking at Hajj-related merchandise. I felt a sharp jab from behind. An old man had put his hand between my buttocks with such force that his fingers were almost inside me. It happened really fast and I cried out in shock. He looked at me and smiled and said “Alhamdulillah” [“Praise to God”]. The person at the stall had his back turned and didn’t see anything.

I was assaulted each time in broad daylight with thousands of people around me. I was amazed at the audacity of the three men and I was angry that there was no recourse.

I was told before I left that I might get touched inappropriately. But it didn’t prepare me for the shock. I think assault happens a lot more at the Hajj than people — Muslims — would like to believe. It is the holiest place in Islam, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Talking about sexual assault is difficult enough and talking about it in connection with the Hajj, which is a pillar of Islam, is even harder because it is sacred.

I did return to the Hajj a few years later…but I was militant about my personal space. I would almost run to where I needed to be so nobody could touch me and did a lot of my work late at night or early in the morning when it was quieter outside. I didn’t perform tawaf and I would zip through the courtyard of the Grand Mosque. It was my second visit so I knew all the tunnels and shortcuts.

Anonymous woman, Indonesia

I am from Indonesia and I was going to Mecca for Umrah in 2011, when I was 17

First, I got catcalled. I was waiting in the hotel’s lobby for my room and there were two males that started to stare at me and laughed. I ignored them and they started to call me “cantik” (Indonesian for “beauty”), with smirks on their faces.

When I did tawaf around the Kaaba, another pilgrim walked behind me and stuck his erect penis into my back.

I felt angry and unsafe. I could not complain about it to anyone because of the situation and everyone thinks “it is the holy city — who would do that?”

I haven’t come back for Umrah/Hajj. I am not sure that I would. Even after it happened I could not focus on my prayer and worship, just counting down when would I leave Mecca.

It’s a terrible situation when you are in a mosque, in front of the Kaaba, where you should feel the closest to God and the worst thing happens.

I’ve told no one about this one until today. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t want to remember the situation or I didn’t like that people would be asking “Why are you walking alone?” or “Why you are not using a black abaya?”

Anonymous woman, Egypt

I was harassed two times, one verbally and the other time physically.

The verbal was while I was walking with my sisters and mom during Umrah. Heading back to the hotel after prayers, a shop clerk said something with the implication of “come over here, pretty girl.” Mind you, I was 13, I never forgot it. I was very confused and disgusted with myself.

The second time was during Hajj, at the Stoning of the Devil area in Mina, just east of Mecca. In the midst of the crowd, I felt someone grab my boobs, I looked back and it was a man with his wife next to him. He didn’t respect his wife nor the holy city so he won’t respect me either.

Again, I was confused and disgusted with myself and I was just 17. For years after I’ve always said it might’ve been by mistake or unintentional since it’s the holy city and Hajj — but Twitter made me realize I’m not the only one.

Anooshe Mushtaq, a Pakistani woman living in Australia

When I was 10 years old my family was posted to Libya. My father was in the Pakistani air force and was posted there for four years. In 1980, my parents decided to perform Hajj.

I remember I was very excited as performing Hajj is a privilege. My parents traveled to Saudi Arabia with their two daughters. My sister and I were looking forward to going to Mecca and seeing the Kaaba for the first time.

When we entered the Kaaba it was very crowded.

Suddenly a young man groped me from behind. I felt extremely uncomfortable. I grabbed my mother’s hand and moved in front of her. I didn’t know if I should tell my mum or not so I just kept quiet.

During Hajj we were supposed to travel on a bus from Mecca to Medina. As we sat in the bus my sister and I sat next to each other and our parents sat in the seats behind each us.

The bus conductor was checking tickets. The bus conductor stood beside my seat and acted like he wanted to fix something on the inside of my seat. He moved his hand on my chest and groped my upper leg and he would not leave it. I felt angry and disgusted but didn’t know what to do. He then reached out as if he was fixing the curtains while thrusting his groin in my face.

I didn’t tell anyone due to shame and honor of my family and I kept quiet. I never told anyone what happened during Hajj until I recently saw the sexual assault post.

If I get a chance I will perform Hajj a second time in the future.

— Tamara Qiblawi contributed to this report.

The As Equals reporting project is funded by the European Journalism Centre via its Innovation in Development Reporting Grant Programme. Click here for more stories like this.

[alicethruthelookingglass]

Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients

If you were committed to a psychiatric institution, unsure if you’d ever return to the life you knew before, what would you take with you? That sobering question hovers like an apparition over each of the Willard Asylum suitcases. From the 1910s through the 1960s, many patients at the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane left suitcases behind when they passed away, with nobody to claim them. Upon the center’s closure in 1995, employees found hundreds of these time capsules stored in a locked attic. Working with the New York State Museum, former Willard staffers were able to preserve the hidden cache of luggage as part of the museum’s permanent collection.

“There were many patients in these asylums who were probably not unlike friends you and I have now.”

Photographer Jon Crispin has long been drawn to the ghostly remains of abandoned psychiatric institutions. After learning of the Willard suitcases, Crispin sought the museum’s permission to document each case and its contents. In 2011, Crispin completed a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first phase of the project, which he recently finished. (Crispin’s current Kickstarter campaign would help him to finish the project entirely.) Next spring, a selection of his photos will accompany the inaugural exhibit at the San Francisco Exploratorium’s new location.

Crispin’s photographs restore a bit of dignity to the individuals who spent their lives within Willard’s walls. Curiously, the identities of these patients are still concealed by the state of New York, denied even to living relatives. Each suitcase offers a glimpse into the life of a unique individual, living in an era when those with mental disorders and disabilities were not only stigmatized but also isolated from society. (All photos by Jon Crispin.)

Collectors Weekly: How did you come across this collection?

Jon Crispin: I’ve worked as a freelance photographer my whole life. In addition to doing work for clients, I’ve always kept my eye out for projects that interest me. In the ’80s, I came across some abandoned insane asylums in New York State, and thought, wow, I’d really like to get in these buildings and photograph them.

So I applied for a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, got it, and spent a couple of years photographing the interiors and exteriors of these buildings. When the psychiatric programs moved out and shut things down, they basically just closed the doors and walked away. They left all kinds of amazing objects inside these buildings, including patient records in leather-bound volumes.

In the mid-’90s, I heard that at Willard—one of the asylums in which I spent a lot of time photographing—the employees had saved all the patient suitcases that belonged to people who came to Willard and died there. Starting around 1910, they never threw them out.

“I don’t really care if they were psychotic; I care that this woman did beautiful needlework.”

Craig Williams at the New York State Museum fights an ongoing battle to bring objects like these into the collection, and that’s what happened. Willard was being closed as a psych center and converted to a treatment facility for criminals with drug problems. So the New York State Museum received this collection of suitcases, and displayed a few of the cases in 2004. I asked Craig if I could photograph these things, and he said, “Go right ahead.”

Collectors Weekly: Why do you think the suitcases survived so well?

Crispin: Willard is this tiny town where multiple generations of people worked in the asylum, like a father would work there and then his daughter would be a nurse there, and so on. I have a theory that the relationship between the patients and the staff was so close, that the staff couldn’t just throw these possessions away when they died. There’s a cemetery on the grounds, and most of these patients were buried right there. And they kept storing their suitcases and moving them around as certain buildings were closed. Then, of course, with de-institutionalization huge numbers of patients were basically turned out onto the street.

Collectors Weekly: Why were the suitcases left untouched for so long?

Crispin: Willard was a facility for people with chronic mental illness. Originally, doctors thought that all you had to do was remove people from the stresses and strains of society, give them a couple of years to get their life together, and they’d get better. Eventually people realized they needed facilities where patients could come and never leave. There’s some question as to whether or not the patients themselves packed their suitcases, or if their families did it for them. But the suitcases sent along with them generally contained whatever the incoming patient wanted or thought they might need.

Collectors Weekly: What makes you think the patients had access to their suitcases after they arrived?

Crispin: There were many levels of mental illness in these places. Some people were in really bad shape, and sometimes had to be restrained, completely unable to function in any kind of society or environment. Those people probably did not have access to their suitcases.

“It wasn’t some hellhole where people were chained to the walls.”

But a large number of people at the asylum were ambulatory. They were out and about; they worked at the farm; they did artwork. Some of these places even had their own dance bands. The Utica State Hospital had a literary journal. There were many patients in these asylums who were probably not unlike friends you and I have now. The reasons why people were put in these facilities ranged from everything to serious psychoses and delusions to people who couldn’t get over the death of a parent or a spouse. Other people were institutionalized just because they were gay.

Initially, my idea was to pair the suitcase photographs with some indication of why these people were in Willard. As the project evolved, I found I wasn’t that interested in such a literal connection. The suitcases themselves tell me everything I want to know about these people. I don’t really care if they were psychotic; I care that this woman did beautiful needlework. I’m much more interested in the objects themselves and what people thought was important to have with them when they were sent away.

Some people at Willard definitely had access to the things they brought with them. For example, one case was filled with what look to be leather-working tools, and it’s pretty clear that this person used those tools because these facilities had time allotted for arts and crafts. The suitcases also contain lots of letters received by people while living at Willard, and there were lots of letters that were written at the asylum but never mailed. There were also examples of things written by people who were obsessive-compulsive, like the guy who wrote down the name of every railroad station in the United States on page after page of his notebooks.

Collectors Weekly: Can each suitcase be traced to an individual patient?

Crispin: I have access to all the names, and New York State has the medical records for anyone admitted to these hospitals since the 1850s, so their histories are well-documented. I would like to use their full names in the photographs, but because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the laws about medical records and privacy, there’s some question as to whether or not I could be vulnerable to a lawsuit by the state.

Here’s a weird story: When I do the shooting, my digital photographs are labeled with what’s called IPTC information. It’s all the camera metadata stored with each photo, and you can add whatever you want. I typically add my copyright information, and also the names of the Willard patients for my own records. But when I upload photos to my blog, I strip that out.

For one person’s suitcase, I forgot to delete their name. Two days later, I got a call from someone who’s desperate, saying, “Do you have the objects of —?” and she gave the name of the person. And she said, “That is my grandmother. We didn’t know anything about her.” She had Googled her grandmother’s name and came across the Willard suitcases on my site. But even in this situation, the woman had to prove to the state that she was not only the granddaughter of this person, but that she was legally the recipient of her estate. So, in other words, if the grandmother had willed her estate to the other side of the family, this woman would not have been able to get access to her things.

I’m still trying to figure out how I can name these people, because I think it dehumanizes them even more not to. People who’ve been in mental institutions themselves have said, “Your project is very moving to me, but I’m very disappointed that you have to obscure names.” I think the stigma of mental illness has evolved from something shameful to something that’s much more medical and much more accepted. It just happens to people. But I’ve been very careful at this point in obscuring names, because there are many documents within the cases with names on them. I’m not showing their medical records; I’m only talking about the fact that they lived at Willard.

Collectors Weekly: Why weren’t these suitcases returned to family members when these people died?

Crispin: They tried, and again, the issue had to do with HIPAA laws. Contacting people with the information that their suitcases were in possession of the state was complicated by HIPAA. But the other problem was that a good number of these people were basically abandoned by their families, and their relatives showed very little interest in receiving their things after they died.

Collectors Weekly: What was the process like to shoot the suitcases?

Crispin: Well, when I originally shot the asylums, I would walk into a building or into a room, and I wouldn’t move anything. I prefer being honest in documenting what was already there. But in this situation, you might have a suitcase filled with 30 individually wrapped items that I had to unwrap and position.

The museum had three interns go through every case to catalog the contents and preserve them, essentially taking things that were floating around loose inside the cases, wrapping them, documenting them, and then put them back in the cases. So when I open a case, I’m also recording the way the museum did this, unwrapping the items, photographing them, and then putting it all back.

It’s a little hard for me because I don’t like to spend a lot of time laying things out, so I basically try to put the objects in a situation that looks as natural as possible. Especially hard were the suitcases filled with clothing. I’m not one of those studio guys who loves to set stuff up and get the lights perfect; I would’ve preferred opening up the case and photographing the inside exactly as I saw it, but that wasn’t possible.

There are still empty cases that I haven’t photographed, but even those are interesting to me just as suitcases, and there’s a whole group of people that love old suitcases. I think one of the reasons the project has been so successful is because it appeals to people in very different areas. It appeals to people who had family members in psych centers or who worked in psych centers or who are interested in old Greek-revival architecture. I was posting a lot on my blog, and I got messages from people interested in fabric or needlepoint and ephemera like toothpaste tubes and stuff from the ’20s and ’30s that doesn’t exist anymore.

Collectors Weekly: Was there any single suitcase that stuck with you?

Crispin: One of the last cases I shot was from a guy named Frank who was in the military. His story was particularly sad. He was a black man, and I later found out he was gay. He was eating in a diner and felt that the waiter or waitress disrespected him, and he just went nuts. He completely melted down, smashed some plates, and got arrested. His objects were particularly touching because he had a lot of photo booth pictures of himself and his friends. Frank looks very dapper, and there are all these beautiful women from the ’30s and ’40s in his little photo booth pictures. That really affected me.

Dmytre’s suitcase is another that I really like, it’s the last case I did. Dmytre was very moving. He was Ukrainian and clearly brilliant. He had notebooks filled with drawings of sine waves and mathematical things like that. There’s a wedding picture of Dmytre and his wife, and she’s holding a bouquet of fake flowers, which were also in the case.

Dmytre was interesting because he got arrested by the Secret Service because he went to Washington, D.C. and said that he was actually married to President Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman. And what’s great is there’s a little Washington monument thermometer in the case, so clearly he bought a little tchotchke on his trip to D.C. and then later got arrested for saying that he was Margaret Truman’s husband.

Obviously, some of the cases were a lot more mundane than others. There was one that had syringes in it that were so beautiful and old, and small drug packets with pills still in them. There were combs, books, bibles, clocks, and an incredible Westclox Big Ben alarm clock in its original box that’s unbelievably pristine.

There was lots of expensive stuff, like perfume bottles from Paris that were worth tons of money. People wonder, how is it that a woman who’s committed to Willard has a bottle of perfume, which even at the time was super expensive? Mental illness doesn’t target any one particular group of people; it takes all kinds.

Collectors Weekly: Did stories often emerge from the objects you found inside each case?

Crispin: You could tell a lot about a person by what was in their case. One of the most touching letters I read was written to a woman who had been in another asylum and then released and finally sent to Willard. There was a letter from her sister, saying, “You could come back to Erie, but I don’t want you living in the YMCA because they’re still really upset with you for trying to stab that girl.” That one letter tells you a ton about what this woman’s life was like.

But every case was different; I was constantly blown away. It was very important to me not to carelessly rifle through these things and forget that they were somebody’s personal belongings. And I really have a lot of respect for these people as well as the nurses and doctors who worked at the facility. I came away from all of this and the asylum work I did in the ’80s thinking that the state was actually trying to help people. It wasn’t some hellhole where people were chained to the walls. They tried to help, and I think it’s important to keep that in mind.

While I was reverent, I tried not to be overly serious. I actually laughed a lot. If you’re ever around people in psych centers or even psychiatrists and nurses, a lot of their experiences are funny. Some of the items were amusing, but some made your heart ache, and others made you go, holy shit, what is this about? I was constantly affected by the items, and that’s my goal with photographs.