#it's time for open commissions now since i'm really needing to earn money

[sanctus-ingenium]

we need to talk about Inprnt.com

Following a really good post with more screenshots and evidence by @dynasoar5 i'm going to talk about my own experiences with @inprnt and why I am about to put my shop on indefinite hiatus from Monday the 14th of August.

First of all I'll say that since starting my print shop last year it has been a significant help to me financially - I was able to not worry about affording car insurance or motor tax (together commonly over a thousand euro) when I bought my first car, for example. I am immeasurably grateful to anyone who chose to buy one and I treasure all the pictures I've been sent of my prints hanging up on people's walls. Right now they are displayed in a real (if small) art exhibition in my home town.

(top right print is not from inprnt though)

They're great prints. Never had any complaints about them. But here's what's going on behind the scenes.

Earlier this year, around March or April, Inprnt sales started increasing in regularity. I'd made as much as $600 a week during previous sales when I made proper promo posts here, but with this increase in regularity, I felt that I couldn't make promo posts every single week. And then one day, I'm not sure when tbh, the sale just never ended. It just didn't stop having that "Ending soon! 15% off your order" banner at the top of the site. Right now it says "Final Hours: $5 Worldwide shipping and save up to 35% off your order!" and not even for a second do I believe in this final hours bullshit. It's been 'final hours' for weeks now. Months, even.

Why is this a problem? Well, how tf am I meant to make a promo post for a sale that is always "ending soon!!" and then never ends. One week it'll say "this weekend only!!" and then when the weekend is over, the sale banner just changes its wording and the sale doesn't end. I can't promo this, it makes me look like a liar and a skeevy salesman by association! It makes the site look like it's 1 week from crashing and burning, and the site owners are just scrabbling to suck as much money from artists as possible before they drown.

And they are sucking money from us. To peel back the curtain, Inprnt money can only be transferred to my paypal account 30 days after the sale is made, just in case the order is cancelled and refunded. This means I used to make one withdrawal every couple of months, when there was enough build-up of money to make it worthwhile. It also forbids withdrawing any sum under $50 btw. I would make a withdrawal request and then, after a 10 business day wait, it would reach my Paypal account.

Not anymore! The past few withdrawals have taken over a month to complete. They are straight up keeping my earnings from me for longer the agreed period. This was my last fulfilled withdrawal:

Note the date.

Almost two months.

And here is the latest withdrawal request that still has not been fulfilled.

It's coming up on 1 month and if the pattern continues, it could literally be November or December by the time I fully clear all sales.

So what's going to happen to my print shop? Because my art is currently being exhibited with a QR code linking to the shop, I can't close the shop this week. Instead I will close it on Monday the 14th of August, next week. That means that on the 14th of September, I can withdraw all of the remaining money without having any left over. My account balance will go to 0 and stay there. Although I'll de-list my prints I will leave my account there, because at the end of the day I don't want to leave Inprnt. It still offers the best artist margins and as I'm now unemployed after graduating, the additional support is such a load off my mind. So this is a chance to wait and see - if they improve their services, I'll happily re-open.

It's a big deal to me because selling prints is sort of my ideal life as an artist. I never had the attention span or self-discipline for commission work and I found that it left me creatively stagnant. I always want to try new things, new concepts and ideas, and being able to think "yeah, people will like this as a print" while I experiment is honestly very reassuring. And I know that in going on hiatus, it'll break a lot of "buy a print" links in my circulating posts. Oh well lmao. If you want to buy a print right now - go ahead, it might be your last opportunity. Another way to support me would be to check out my ko-fi for once-off donations or some nice sketchbooks/comics/book samples you can buy, or subscribing to my Patreon.

As of right now, Inprnt owes me $381 (the unfulfilled request submitted above for $186.60 and my current standing balance of $194.80 which takes 30 days from each transaction to clear).

[goatpaste]

Alrighty, this has been something I'v been putting off for awhile because I really just wanted to save all the money myself but I just dont think its gonna be able to happen anytime soon and I'm tired of putting it off for Daisy's sake

but this is officially the Donation Post for us to start pooling together money to move daisy up from Texas to Pennsylvania. I'll bore you with the details under the cut but in the mean time here is links and info on the ways you can support the move!

[My commissions are Open] [My Etsy is Open]

[My Kofi were i offer PWYW commissions as low at 3$]

[My Toyhouse has designs for sale on it]

[You can Donate here and all the saving made toward this will be going directly into savings]

These are all the ways you can directly support us and help us work toward the goal of getting Daisy into a safe and better environment! I know not everyone is going to be able to chip in but anything helps even reblogs and sharing around! We've been talking about this move for over a year and I want to try and move her by the end of this year at the latest.

For more info on our specific situation and bit more details, please read under the cut

Daisy has been my friend since we were 6 years old, she is like a sister to me! We've been at each others side through thick and thin and I care about her so much.

Daisy's home life has never been the best and her parents are nightmare people who are a blight on the general public but as well as Daisy's home life.

Daisy doesnt have the ability to drive, work or save her own money even when she did work as her mother would take the money she earned constantly, and was ultimately the reason Daisy was unable to keep her job.

So for Daisy's end she has no ability to save and moving funds, it will primarily be on me to round up the money.

We are not 100% sure how much we are going to need at this moment in time but have a rough estiment.

Were hoping to get Daisy's mother on a good mood and have her pay for Daisy's plane ticket. We are going to be unable to move all her stuff and will just have to pack as much as she can into a large suitcase and fly up. So we will not have to pay for the plane, but will have to pay for bedding, and everything else she will need once up here. we have some temporary arrangements Via my bed and couch and potentially picking up a blow up mattress. But my current apartment is extremely small and not much room for two people let alone just me. Not sure how long I will be in this space while Daisy is up here if at all.

I may potentially reach out to my step father and ask him to dip into the savings he has kept for me to get Daisy furniture and necessities. But im avoiding that for as much as i can as im not on the best terms with my dad.

I will start looking for a bigger place for us to live together once we start getting in a comfortable area on savings. As the only money maker currently i will be needing savings to afford a place for us to share that will of course be much more expensive than where i am right now. Daisy will start looking for a job once she is/has moved up here and hopefully we will be able to support ourselves at that point, it will just be the first little bit of time we will need a cushion.

this is one of the areas im not 100% sure how much were going to need but certain in the thousands area knowing rent for a place big enough for two individuals.

after that its just gonna be us figuring it out.

but this is the situation as it stands right now, we are trying to help a trans woman out of her shitty living situation and across the country where her friends who love and care and want to support her are. We dont know exactly how much its going to be, but its going to be a lot and were really just looking for a bit of support!

thank yall so much!

[victorzhuzhakin]

CARTOONY SKETCH PAGES COMMISSIONS [OPEN]

Hi friends! I can't find a job now so my only way to earn money is commissions :[Sharing is highly appreciated!

I have open commissions for sketch pages! Unlimited slots!

I only accept payments via PayPal. I can't use the invoice feature since I'm from Ukraine, so I'd appreciate it if you don't mind sending the money yourself. Also, I only have the "friends and family" function available. I can give you plenty of feedback about my work if you're worried!

TAT: 1 week - 2 months. Due to my poor mental state, the work may take a long time to complete, but I will try to finish as soon as possible!

Full prepayment or partial payment! We can split the payment if it's a large work, but I accept full prepayment for simple sketch work.

I draw anything! I have no restrictions unless it concerns problematic things. Human, humanoid, furry, anthro, kemonoimi, inkling, closed species (humanoid body). Any body type, race, gender, species. Really old people and small children, beards and body hair. I also do ship art (oc x canon too) and NSFW art for sketch pages!

TOS:

-There can be a maximum of 4 characters interacting in one sketch, but these can be different characters for each sketch if you want.

-Please provide a fullbody, colored image of your character (if you chose the color option). If you do not have a color image, you can provide a photo example of clothing. Please make your image clear enough to work with.

-If your character has a complex design, I may ask for an additional fee for complexity. But this only applies to color sketch pages.

-You can provide references for poses or leave it to me. I will show you a sketch of poses in the form of mannequins for approval. At this stage, you can ask for changes to the pose. Once the work is completed, you cannot ask for drastic changes, but you can ask for small interventions (close an eye, add a small object, change the color of an object). It is free.

-Small objects (book, cup, phone) are free. The price of large objects (bicycle, table, weapon larger than a gun) is discussed additionally.

-The price for coloring a sketch is divided for each character. For example: you chose the option for three sketches with two characters on each sketch, then coloring a sketch will cost 4 USD. You can ask to paint as many sketches as you think necessary.

-Usually I make the background white, sometimes I add colored geometric figures to the background. If you need a file with a transparent background, you can ask for it.

-I usually post the finished result on my toyhouse and sometimes elsewhere, so if you want to keep your commission private, please let me know.

Below you will find links to other useful resources as well as some examples of completed commissions with sketch pages! You can contact me here for orders, but I prefer discord. My username is the same as here if you are going to send me a friend request.

Art examples: https://toyhou.se/18535229.art-examples/gallery

Special examples (different species etc): https://toyhou.se/18535229.art-examples/27083087.specific-examples

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not having a job despite having time for it?

🍏🥝🍏🥝 <- to keep track of this when it posts,

My family really loves talking about me(20) when they think I'm not listening. I've heard them on multiple occasions say that I need a job and that I should just start working part-time while I'm going to college. The issue with that is that while other people can do both pretty decently, I dont feel like I'm capable of doing both part time and college without one of them suffering a lot because of the other.

My family is pretty financially stable, and the fees I owe never go over 900 dollars and sometimes I even make my own money off of commissions to help pay for things. I actually did have an actual job during my classes for a while filing things and remote video editing work (for the same job) but one of my family members worked with me there as my boss and I decided to quit after they decided to ask if my mom would've rather died than had me after I told him she called trans people abominations (I am trans, I'm only out to that family member and my brother). I haven't found a consistent thing to do to earn money since but I've been trying really hard to advertise my commissions since then.

The part where I feel really guilty though is the fact that I've been going to a community college for almost 3 years now (with my family supporting me money wise) and know I'm only going to come out with a one year certificate because of how fucked my schedule got in my first year. I didn't meet some prerequisites , and despite the course I wanted being a 2 year degree it was worth almost 80 credits, which felt insane as I went into it. 5 classes a term, some 5 minutes after the other, all based on pouring hours and hours into artsy projects (video, audio, 3d modelling, painting, 2d animation, ect...). I broke down within my third term after I started failing some of my classes. I was still trying for my 2 year degree up until 2023 where I decided that getting a certificate that was similar and getting a job after would probably be better for me at this point rather than spending ANOTHER 2 years struggling OR straight up giving up and dropping out with nothing.

I'm also home a lot when I'm not in class (I'm only taking 2-3 classes a term now). I do little things sometimes like take out the trash and pull dishes from out the washer and so on but it's all only when no one is home because the place where things generally need to be cleaned up is all in our very small kitchen AND the fact that I'm scared of them poking fun at me for "finally doing something for once" because it makes me feel terrible when they do. I end up chilling out in my room completing work and desperately finding work arounds for projects to only ever really need done in my room or on campus- generally anywhere that's not going to worry my grandma too much.

I've told my family that their teasing doesn't make me feel good but it just gets responded with "that's just how we show love!" when I know it doesn't have to be that way! My boyfriend teases me pretty often but the difference is that he actually listens to me when I tell him something he said didn't feel very good to me and we talk it through, and then he doesn't make that joke again or i feel better after knowing the context of it!!! A lot of my family members will bicker until another one ends up crying and it's horrible to watch how petty and bitter everyone can be.

Don't really know what else to write, AITA guys? I know I could be doing a lot more around the house instead of working but I'm scared of being touched (my aunt randomly spanked me as hard as she could one time last year) and scared of more mean comments being thrown my way. I already have a plan to leave this home and have been open about it to them, but I don't want to rush it if I don't have to and want to spend a few years saving money up so that I'm not in a horrible situation if things go awry.

What are these acronyms?

[nananarc]

Gonna disclose my income as a freelance artist because I feel like it might give some perspective. And mostly bc I'm feeling a bit burnout and I want pity points ok? Lol.

Context 1: For sake of simplicity, all figures are net income (minused all fees, charges, insurance, benefits, etc)

Context 2: I live in a big city in Việt Nam and the cost of living is relatively low. A salary of 1000$/month is considered really good for someone living alone with one pet, no family or children, no debt or other liabilities. Entry level jobs usually start at around 200-300$/month.

.

Let's start in 2021 because that's when it can be considered when I started doing art professionally.

In 2021 and 2022, I was juggling between art school, a part-time online side gig, building social media for my art, and of course try to get commissions. But coms were few and far between, mainly because I didn't have an online present before and I only hang in relatively small fandoms. So all I earn through side gig and art were only some change, in total avarage to about 40$/ month. Some months made up for no income months.

In 2023, things starts to be a bit better as I get more confident in my skill, but coms are still few and far between and months with no income is still common. Side gig was few and far between too and pay less. Overall I'd say it goes up to about 80$/month.

This year 2024, art school is done, I can finally do art full time. But I was severely burnout because all the accumulated stress since waaaaay before catch up with me and i couldn't cope anymore. I have to spend a lot of time resting instead. Fortunately, I received a decent amount of coms each month, and the new patreon surprisingly got a few supporters (I fully realistically expected it to sit at 0 for at least a year). Overall, I have an 8 hours 4 days work week: 4 hours a day on com and managing social media and other stuff that actually makes money; 4 hours a day on my own projects and personal indulgence that doesn't directly make money. As of now, my income is about 180$/month.

.

You are probably wondering how the fuck do one live like this in this economy.

It's because my family is middle class and can afford a freeloader like me in their house, receive their pocket money and tuition fee. I'm privileged.

But of course my family isn't rich and if just one catastrophic event happens to us, we'd be in bad shit. I'm constantly in anxiety of money, work, and the future. It doesn't help that I'm late 20s and many people around keep reminding of how I'm not making money yet still leeching off parents. It doesn't help that, for years all i hear about art is it will just lead to failure and no money.

.

But still, I am thankful of my family for letting me stay here. And all my friends and supporters for giving me money oc lol, but more importantly, believing in me more than I ever do in myself. I read all of your little tags, your keysmash and compliments, and I keep them all dear to my heart, and I went back to them everytime I need motivation. I can't see where my future as an artist will be, but I cling to your support and love as the will to keep going. Thank you all so, so fucking much. I'd have been literally dead in a ditch somewhere without you guys.

Anyway, idk, I've always been adamant about wage transparency (especially in a corporate setting) but I rarely see this in freelance artists. except to flex, to promote the hustle culture, or to sell some courses they made. Most of us don't want/can't subscribe to the grind and have nothing to flex either. All we have is this shit economy. I'd wish we could have been more open about this and many of us wouldn't have to feel so lonely and despair all the time.

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #35 | 09.26.23

Hi everyone!

Hope the beginning of Fall has been kind to you all <3 To be Frank, it has not been Kind to me LMFAO. But I'll get into that, so let's dive in yippee!

Before I do, someone liked this post recently, which was such a throwback. It was before the full demo was out and everything!! I was so young and full of life. I'm going to sprinkle some comparison shots of the new assets with the old ones to break up the text and also walk down memory lane with me! (Full GUI not shown as I'm still waiting on the assets)

Chapter Cards (Left: After | Right: Before)

The "Progress"

I'm going to structure this devlog a little differently from the usual template. The main reason being, for those of you who didn't see, I have not been feeling Myself recently.

This month I found myself all out of sorts. While I felt like I was making progress and doing so much everyday read: fighting for my life, when I looked back on things at the end of this month, I didn't feel like I really did much.

On a higher level, I finished fulfilling Kickstarter physical rewards, opened a Kofi shop of the remaining merch, edited Druk's route and continued writing Etza's route, updated assets and code for the updated demo, and then general commission stuff (BGs from Vui, soundtracks from Peter, etc.).

But overall, Alaris felt largely like it was kinda sitting at around the same spot as it did when I entered this month. Which made me a little sad! I had wanted to make So Much Progress on Alaris because next month I won't be able to work on it really. Then, I realized I haven't taken a break from game development since I started it two years ago HA!!!

The Real Progress

Development for me has been back-to-back. Chapter releases every 1-2 months during my first half year of development, Full Demo release shortly after, Kickstarter shortly after, Full Game Development shortly after. When I was feeling burnt out from Alaris, I made intertwine. Then I was Heavily Involved in the development of two games shortly after.

All of this on top of my IRL responsibilities, which include a job, PhD school, and well, functioning as a normal human occasionally.

And then here we are at the end of September 2023, and I'm wondering why even though I creatively want to work on Alaris, I find my brain literally just getting too tired to think.

Etza CG (Left: After | Right: Before)

I think ever since the Kickstarter, I've put a lot of pressure on myself to consistently put out LOTS of updates for each monthly devlog. I don't want people to think I'm not working on things or I'm not committed to delivering after giving me their hard earned money. But now, with two years under my belt, I'm realizing that is... HMM maybe too high of a standard to put on myself for my first game ever. There are many much more seasoned developers than me who don't put that pressure on themselves (which is Good and Healthy).

So this month, I debated scrounging around and gathering all my crumbs to give you all a devlog that you'll be satisfied with. But I decided ultimately that wouldn't be good for me and would honestly not be the most transparent way to present the current process of things.

And so. Here I am. Head in my Hands. Letting you all know that while I'm not "burnt out," I am.... only human LOL (one human at that). And so some months, like this one, will just not have much progress to report. Not because I'm not working on it or any other deeper reason. But because it's physically impossible and unreasonable for me to be continuously pushing out a steady stream of content.

In-Game Sprites & BGs (Left: After | Right: Before)

Next month, I'lll be taking a vacation. It's actually my first Big, Official one in a Long Time! I'm very excited for it. And while I did initially think about working on Alaris while I was traveling on trains or things like that, I decided to respect my own need to be a Human and just take a break for once in my life. I don't even want to say I Might work on things, because that sentiment alone will pressure me to make some progress. So yes. Next month, there will be no devlog or updates. But please rest assured, I am "working on Alaris" by letting myself just Exist and Rest Up!

Not an Alaris screenshot but it is market research that deserves to be included because I played House in Fata Morgana recently and it was Phenomenal!

Thank you all for understanding and your continued support. I'm extremely appreciative to have such a kind and patient community. Hope you all have a wonderful October filled with Fall Treats, and I'll see you in November! <3

[fattlestacks]

The Future of Support on Patreon

I've been doing a lot of consideration about how to proceed with Patreon due to their new community guidelines...

I'm planning to proceed with business as usual for April because honestly they didn't really give us much time to plan for this or anything. Just "you're suddenly breaking our rules"... but I don't want to do that to y'all so assuming I don't get the boot sometime this month, things should be relatively the same. Going forward however (post April) I will no longer be able to post exclusive content to Patreon. I'll still be working of course, and I'll still need support but my work will just be posted publicly to my socials. My Patreon will still remain active (assuming I don't get kicked off or something like that) so I can still collect earnings there but I won't be posting work or polls there. I'm hoping despite my art and polls being open publicly that y'all will still consider supporting me so I can continue to draw cute tummies and such. I appreciate all the support you've been giving me all these years!

There will be some changes on my creator page, reward tiers will be coming down (including monthly commissions) so this will be the final month for those rewards. Please plan accordingly and make any adjustments to your pledges that you need to this month! Especially monthly commission rewards since I know those are a bit pricey.

My work will be posted to my Twitter, Tumblr, Blue Sky, Furaffinity and Pixiv accounts as well as the Choose Your Own Adventure polls and I will be opening commissions periodically so if you want one please keep an eye out for announcements on those sites! It really sucks to have to make this decision, I won't blame any of y'all for deleting your pledges without exclusive rewards/content. As of right now I don't really have any better options (open to suggestions though).

I'm just so tired of companies riding the backs of sex workers and kink artists until they no longer need us and throw us under the bus. When I stop to think about the really popular kink artists on that platform and how much money Patreon has made off them it makes me sick, honestly.

But I digress...

I hope everyone is having a good day regardless. I will keep fighting the good fight and keeping the love alive for cute tummies. <3

[kkori-deeznutz]

Commissions are open!!

Was hesitant to post this here on Tumblr, but I'm taking emergency(-ish) commissions!! Everything's explained at the end of this post for those who don't wanna read my long rant LOL

If you're taking the time to read this, first of all, thank you so much! I may be pushing my comms a bit more now, which I am really sorry about, but I'm genuinely afraid for my future. As most of you know, I'm a trans guy, but what most of you don't know is that I was born in a Catholic family in the Balkans, the two most non-supportive lgbtq+ groups💀 So where am I going with this? I plan on coming out to my family when I move out for college (I'll finally be able to live freely then) and I know pretty well how it's gonna fold out: they won't accept me and maybe not even see me as part of their family anymore. It's pretty obvious since my mum won't even speak to me when I dress more masculine which is like damn ma, I'm your kid lmfao. Knowing this, I probably won't have enough money for college and an apartment. Even though I am most likely going to move in with a friend, I do not want to live off of her hard-earned money. So I'm kinda making this emergency comms to ensure I actually am able to continue my education and manage to finally live for once. If you think my comms are too expensive, but still wanna support me, you can just donate, if not, that's fine too. There's no need to donate or commission me if you don't want to or if you don't have the money for it, but I do appreciate sharing this. If you read this till the end, once again, thank you and thanks so much to anyone who's willing to commission me!

Much much love🫶

Also lil update: whoever just donates will get a doodle of a character of their choice so it doesn't feel one-sided!

[shytastemakerthing]

I saw that your match ups were open and wanted to give it a shot. May I request a romantic twst matchup? I’m a Implagender omniromantic person that usually struggles a lot with my identity and personality, I’m south East Asian with tanned skin, dark maroon colored jellyfish cut, (but I usually put my bangs in a similar way like Haruka from pjsk cause I like putting on cute hair clips and head accessories). I’m usually pretty quiet around everyone but those I’m close to, I’m pretty loud and outgoing when I’m with people I get along with. I like to draw, play violin, cook, bake, and sew a lot. I’m really good with kids and bunch of other household tasks and I’ve done a lot of babysitting + doing a bunch of commissions for drawing and sewing things to earn extra money for myself since my family isn’t well off it also adds work experience I can put on resumes for the future. I’m pretty decent in school, although recently I’ve been doing a bit terrible since my motivation for school is going down and only finish stuff I feel like is easy/quick to complete. My love language is words of affirmation plus acts of service. I’m also really into fashion (specifically agejo hime and rokku gyaru + Ouji Fashion as well) and I love styling outfits. I want to become a kindergarten teacher in the future, and I’ve also composed a few songs on violin.

Hello! I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to finally get back to answering these! Thank you so much for your patience!

Now, onto our match up!!

I match you with.......

Lilia Vanrouge

🦇 Okay, look, someone has to be able to ame care of the Diasomnia family and make sure none of then get killed because of Lilia's cooking and here you come in like an angel sent from above!

🦇 No, seriously, they all love you, they live your cooking, Malleus especially loves hearing you okay your violin (as someone who also plays violin), he finds it rather comforting, and he is extremely happy that Lilia has found someone after so long.

🦇 The fact that you love children has Lilia falling even harder for you. He has Silver, and while it took him some time to get used to raising a child, liking children, let alone one that was human, after fighting in a war essentially most of his life and seeing how you are so easily able to care for others, how you are with children, how it just comes so naturally to you? He feels his heart swell and warm up at the sight. It also makes him wonder how different things could have been without the war and all. But, what's done is done.

🦇 Okay, back to the happy. He LOVES seeing you interact with children. How they always are so quick to warm up to you, the smile you have on your face and thr laughter? He smiles every time.

🦇 As for motivation? Who better than Lilia? Between raising Silver, training he and Sebek as knights, taking care of Malleus, Lilia knows his way around how to best keep someone motivated. Are some of his methods out there?........ most likely. But he really does mean well and everyone can see that.

🦇 If words of affirmation are what you need, then words of affirmation you will be getting. From the moment that you get up to the moment you go to bed, he will be sparing nothing. You have woken up many times with a simple rose near you with a heart felt letter or even a hand written poem about all the things he loves about you. And acts of service is something he does in his day to day life as it is and it only intensifies when he is with you.

🦇 Now, Lilia is rather old, meaning he has seen a lot of fashion come and go throughout the centuries, and he has worn and tried out many of them. If you ever want him to model, feel free and ask him, but also expect him to send out a flirtatious remark or two. But he absolutely loves this either way. Meaning he will also help supply any materials you may need. You'll never run out again.

🦇 Money is not an issue with him, and even if so, he basically raised Malleus. Malleus sees you as a parental figure. As soon as he catches and kind of money and financial issues, literally the issues will evaporate.

🦇 Overall, bat dad can and will provide. He will help you through it all, and give you as many affirming words that you will need, he will help you with modeling your clothes at time just to see that smile on your face. Just save Diasomnia from his cooking and all will be well

[nillisaie]

Back again with another vent post but also hoping maybe someone could help me out.

Long story short: I got denied twice at a credit union bank and they couldn't tell me why and I don't know what to do now

This whole situation is just so frustrating since I was really counting on being able to open a bank account so I can start trying to earn some money by doing art commissions and or selling some things i don't need.

And this specific credit union was in a super convenient location for me too. The only other credit union that I know of is over an hour away from where I live (they have atms near me though apparently). But I don't know if they will even accept me so I don't know if the trip will be worth it. I mean, I guess I can apply online and see if this one accepts me but what if they don't?

I just feel like I've been screwed over. I have zero experience in any kind of adulting since I've basically been a house wife for most of my adult life and I feel like I've just been thrown aside. From being made to move across the country before I was even ready to move to basically being kicked out and sent back without any time to really process or organize anything beforehand. I've basically lost everything and I don't see how I'm going to make it with no experience or anything. I'm too disabled to drive and probably too disabled to even work assuming anyone is even willing to hire me with no experience or college education. And I don't really have anyone to really help me aside from my parents but there's only so much they can do. My mom can't really help me with this stuff and my dad doesn't seem to k kw as much as he claims to.

I just don't know what to do. My dad is saying I should just go to a regular not credit union bank but I don't know if I want to. I've only ever heard bad things about for profit banks. I don't know anything about any of this and it's so overwhelming and I just wish I had some help

[electrospherevaults]

'ello again! It's been a month! What happened to the stories? Well...

(explanation below the cut - tl;dr: writing has continued but I had to focus elsewhere and not original works here. I am trying to edit and publish the current roster on magazines to earn some money through my writing. Publishing on tumblr makes it impossible to submit for literary magazines. Might open a patreon/commissions too. Also the Signalis Zine release in two days oh boy 👀)

Truth be told, I've kept writing all that time since the last promised update! But I have not been writing short stories for the weekly challenge because I've hit a couple of snags with it.

The biggest issue is that all the stories uploaded here so far are completely unusable. They are original stories, and I could theoretically submit them to scifi magazines and be picked up for publication. Unfortunately, publishing them on tumblr means they are automatically excluded because these stories have already been published - and because most magazines want the exclusivity of publishing an author's story first before everyone else, this renders them nonpunishable.

This is very unfortunate, especially because I feel A Dance With My Clone and Sorry About The Inconvenience have potential and could be enjoyed by a much greater populace. They are some of my favourite pieces I've written this year, and I sadly cannot show them to a wider audience, not unless I aggressively advertise them online. I also cannot sell them and earn some money from them, because not gonna lie I'm still unemployed.

So, if I am to continue my writing endeavours, I had to refocus elsewhere. The Signalis fandom is wonderful, and I've had considered starting writing fics there, and I am currently an editor for ECHOS: The Silicon Queen fic, found over on AO3. Hanging and seeing people discuss Signalis over on socials has given ideas about some stories to tell in that universe as well, and I need to find the time to write them.

But, ultimately, I more want to tell my stories, and stories from my worlds. The Defilerverse is very dear to me; this is evident as at least 4 of the 6 shorts published thus far are connected to that universe, with Friends And Foes being the most explicitly connected one. I've been unable to really get people interested in this universe thus far sadly (I suck at self-promo lol), and it is hard to build a fandom for your original work on socials in general, especially when your original work is only available in text format. And I do not got that much money to spare so I cannot commission a piece for each short story I write.

So... what now?

Well, I reworked A Dance With My Clone into something bigger and better. I've not had success just yet into getting it accepted, but I feel I am on a good track and it's been growing into a bigger story. I do want to share more of it, but unfortunately I really cannot if I want to have any chances of publishing it around.

Besides that, I've gone back into working on the main trilogy. Defiler Draft 2 is currently on hold whilst Maiden Draft 1 is being written. If all goes well, that one should be finished by the end of the summer. It's been legitimately a lot of fun working on this book, and I might start sharing excerpts and scenes, but as of now it's suffice to say this has been the main focus of my writing.

On a positive note, in the next two weeks there will be two new shorts out from the Signalis Zine I participated in! One I have already shared an excerpt from - it concerns Lilith Itou and Alina Seo and the fighting on Vineta. The second concerns a Kolibri and the Imperial Spy on Rotfront.

I cannot promise as of yet that the shorts will return, but we shall see! I might open up commissions and do stories for folks but that needs research.

That is all for now, take care y'all, and read Defiler!

2024 Friday Writing Challenge Masterpost

Each Friday, at (give or take) 6:43pm (UTC+2), a new short story will be posted and shared here. Those will vary in themes and genre and worlds. Each one should be enjoyable without further prior knowledge. Enjoy!

Stories list:

Imbalance

Mostly Harmless

A Dance With My Clone

Sorry About The Inconvenience

Friends And Foes

Blossoming a wilder flower

Coming Friday 5/4!

[To read my other stories, check here]

[gojosattoru]

Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well and being safe *hugs* I want to apologize for not being too much active these days, as I told you guys me and my dad had covid three weeks ago and we have been isolated for two weeks... Fortunately we got better and tested negative but I’m still isolated cause my cough doesn’t go away. I’ve been feeling super frustrated, irritated lately (and if it weren’t for some friends I have been talking I have been dead of boredoom) so my mood isn’t good tbh... My family had to spend a lot of money in medication and groceries so that me and my dad would recover... not to say we spent a lot of electricity and other stuff, it will be tough to pay the bills this month... so I’m doing this post to announce that if you could donate something for me even the smallest thing, it would help me a lot and I will open commissions for headers, icons and colored manga caps. The prices are bellow hope they are okay for you guys and the payment will be through paypal: 

Headers alone are 10$;

Icons (anime and manga) alone are 3$;

Batch of both they are 11$. 

If you are interested in my colorings, so: 

Each Manga Cap colored it will be 20$.

It would be awesome if you guys could spread this post around as much as you can... Life is not being easy for me for some time to get a job here and the older I get more difficult can get. I really love what I do here on tumblr and if I could earn some money from it it would be amazing for me :’) Even if you’re not interested in any of this you can support me a lil on ko-fi :https://ko-fi.com/gojosattorus or just rebloging this post is enough ^^

I also have my sideblog art, I do chibi commissions on there, if you are interested too, come by @letsbeeart hope you like my art! 

Thank you for all your support, love, kindness and for liking everything I do guys, makes me really happy whenever I see your tags and messages ; U ; I will keep doing my best to create them and to make you guys enjoy it as much as you always do. Thanks for reading and to reblog. Anything you are interested in, you can always message me and we will talk things through. Wish you all the best and I love you very much!! 💖💖💖💖 Have a nice day/night! *chu*~

[coffia]

Villain Sbi and Civilian Tommy AU Idea

It's your usual au where Wilbur, Techno, and Phil make up the Syndicate, the most feared and notorious villain group in the city. But they weren't always famous, they had to start somewhere. Starting out in the villain scene was hard as pay was sporadic. They were reliant on commissions from people before they could do whatever they wanted. Even that relied on luck as you could get low paying clients to big shot companies that want to target their rivals. Being a villain was not a stable source of income so all three of them needed a job.

Enter Tommy Innit, owner of a bakery in the lower districts of the city.

He's anything but legal. Forged documents so he can own the business. He just so happens to have spare rooms above his shop and needs to hire people.

With the promise of cutting rent in half in return of their help. Innit bakery opens (soon to be SBI bakery after a whole found family arc).

They got attached over the months. At some point, they started making a name for themselves as villains and was earning so much more than their salaries from the bakery. Though the refuse to quit, their excuse being "Tommy might have a hard time finding people to hire,,,,"

In hindsight, they kept their secret for a good while. Tommy hadn't suspected their night time jobs for about 2 months. He does notice how they would escape through the window (they weren't exactly the quietest) but he doesn't judge as long as they do their job and pay rent.

By the third month, Tommy pieces it together. He realizes that only Wilbur would wear such atrocious villain outfit and that Techno would be dramatic as fuck with his costume. He also had a run in on them once when he was heading back from hanging out with Tubbo and Ranboo.

Wilbur, as siren: To- you! What are you doing late at night?!

Tommy: Are you going to rob me? Listen man, I would love to give you my money but I kind of need it. I'm treating my tenants tomorrow to some food, kinda been saving up for months now.

Wilbur, touched: Don't worry! I Wasn't planning on robbing you... do you need someone to bring you home? In case someone tries to actually rob you

Tommy, deadpanned: Aren't you the only one that's been causing shit in this city?

Wilbur: Well- yes but-

Tommy: Let's go then, bitch. I don't have all day. (He totally sounds like Wilbur)

He was tempted to call the police. But then again, he himself is not the most legal citizen out there. He faked his age to start a business, changed his last name after his parents died. Not to mention, he's kinda on the run from heroes since he has healing powers.

So when a hero comes into the bakery for question about villain activity, he acts clueless.

Dream, a hero: So, have you seen any villain activity in these parts?

Tommy, acting dumb: No, would you like a cinnamon bun with your cupcake?

Dream: But there's been sightings-

Tommy: Sir- Big D, this is a bakery. Why would villains come here?

Dream: To get food? I don't know, but have you seen them?

Tommy: No, now pay up or I'm calling the police

Dream: IM the police?!

It takes one nasty hero run in for Tommy to reveal his powers to them. Techno gets hurt and they can't really go to the hospital without being questioned. Here comes Tommy, their landlord and boss busting through the door, worry stricken as he saw the fight through his TV. He offers his help and they have a long emotional talk. Found family ensues and then it's now SBI Bakery.

**I plan on writing this btw

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Personally I think Lily can keep on living perfectly comfortably by her own standards as she claims she has been living. As far as we all know her number of subscribers hasn’t changed since she hid the number and well her view counts for the year never equal the number of her subscribers (often times at best getting one half to three fourths of her subscriber audience to watch her latest videos in their first month of being out) her add revenue is still steady, even if it the revenue is held up mostly by the Korea and Steven video essays. Still between at least having some form of ad revenue on every video she has ever posted, and earning however much she does monthly on Patreon, I truly believe Lily’s financial means to be stable and rock solid. Especially since in all my research on Lily Orchard I have never seen her once complain about not having enough money to cover her basic needs. Based on all the information I know Lily Orchard should be able to earn a comfortable living solely off YouTube and Patreon for the rest of her life without ever needing to do sponsorships, open an online store, commission herself, or get any kind of job that doesn’t involve creating videos and fan fictions/comics for online public consumption. I truly don’t understand what all the blogs are getting at when you all speculate that Lily’s final situation is worsening when I don’t see any evidence to back up such claims or speculation?

Alright, so the first thing to concider is that the Legend of Korra video and Steven Universe video are both over three years old. That means that those videos, despite their high view count, aren't recent enough to really bring in the big numbers anymore. Their becoming obsolete, and just relying on those two video's to finance yourself is fool hardy.

Secondly, Lily's channel has been stagnating heavily. Most of her video's don't really bring in the sort of views her subscriber cound suggests. She's getting, at best, 50K, which is good... except that's not every video. Most video's only get about 10K, and Mikaila's video rarely get 20K. Which again, should be more concidering just how high her subscriber count is.

But then, Lily herself has stated that she's been bleeding subscribers:

Which means that people are leaving her youtube channel, and causing her to lose more and more viewers. That isn't a thriving channel. That's a channel on decline.

(To put it another way, less viewers, means less revenue/patrons, which slowly impacts her quality of life.)

The bigger issue is, the price of living is only going up. While Lily may be fine right now, with the way things are going on in the world right now, it's very possible that she won't be able to continue supporting herself on such meager revenue.

But, even more then all of this, Lily wants to bring Mikaila to live with her, and she can't afford it:

That doesn't speak of someone who has a healthy amount of savings, but rather of someone who lives paycheck to paycheck.

Adding onto all of that as well, if Lily can't afford to bring her wife to Canada, how can she afford the cost of having to support another abled person for an indeffinite period of time? It takes time to get the right visa and to find a job; and that's assuming Mikaila even plans to work once she's up here. If Lily can just barely manage to support herself, with a small amount of fun money to spend, how on earth will that work when Mikaila lives their full time?

I hope this explains my thought process when it comes to this topic. I can't speak for the other blogs, but this is where I'm personnally coming from.

[whitehairedclea]

Red Roulette part VIII

Helena sat in her office remembering Chang's words from last night. “As if I didn't know about my intuition, if it wasn't for my intuition I wouldn't open casinos in the States or raise such amount of money, you idiot” she thought. Then, for a split second, she remembered his hands holding her hand and her waist. Gently, yet firm enough to keep her from talking any more. She lit a cigarette and tossed the lighter at the corner of the desk. She quickly dispelled her memories, returning to the issue of the diamond. From the words of Chang showed that the guy did it on behalf of someone, and so probably the diamond has already been transferred to the client.

"Sebastian!"

A seconds later he appeared in the office waiting for an order.

"Bring the Spider over here immediately, maybe he will know something today that will be helpful"

"Of course, I'll get him right away," he replied and left the office quickly.

If someone did order the theft of the diamond, there must have been some trace of it on the streets. So many informants were fooling around deceiving every single profitable handful of information that such a fact of handing over the diamond could not have escaped them.

“ Mrs. Roulette! How nice ... "Spider began as soon as he entered, but Helena quickly cut off his greeting. 

“Okay, finish this cirrus. Fast. Have you heard of any strange meeting last night? "

"Virtually every one in this city, as if you could be more precise"

“It's mainly about the diamond, so focus. Whatever you heard, whatever you know "

“Let's start 600,000,” he smiled.

She had no desire or time to bargain with him, so she just nodded, trying to trust her intuition that he was the only person who could move her search forward.

"I heard one guy brag about a huge amount of money earned for one thing, just one Job. Maybe not a diamond specifically, but quite a similarity"

"Well, who was it then?"

"One of the people coming to the Yellow Flag, long brown hair, possibly American, weird that’s why I remember and that's all I know."

This was more than she could figure out so far, so she thought she had found the lead. All she had to do was find this man and find out who told him to do the job. Time was running out and there was also a risk that someone would want to sell this diamond abroad. Probably worth more than all of Roanapur .

***

  Sebastian headed for the Yellow Flag, a dingy bar on the main street. Inside, it was swarming with suspicious curiosities - dealers, bounty hunters, dirty workmen, prostitutes who could be hired upstairs. In all this hive, he was looking for an American with long hair. 

"Hi Bao " greeted the owner "how's the deal?"

"So far so good, it's only been a week since the last damage, how r you ?"

"It's pretty good to say the casino is spinning somehow, little problems"

"Problems? What, boss has her period? " laughed, but after Sebastian's expression he retired to safer topics "so what problems?"

"I'm looking for a new stranger, he must have arrived here about two days ago, a long-haired brunette, an American, have you heard something about it?"

Bao rapped on the counter to indicate that nothing is for free. Sebastian took a bundle of money out of his pocket and asked for a mug of beer for that.

"My dear, if any connoisseur from Uncle Sam is going to roll through this town, he is sure to look into a lovely restored place like the Yellow Flag!" Bao moved closer to him so that no one would hear what he was saying "... how to tell you, the girls upstairs are definitely perfect"

Sebastian didn’t need more. He jumped up, throwing an additional tip to the bartender, and ran upstairs. Already on the stairs there were crowds of women who were Whiting for the client. Mixed voices of men and women came from everywhere. Every room felt occupied. Sebastian had to choose one to find the American.

One room caught his attention as there was no sound. He decided to try and blew the door open. Inside, a white man sat on the couch, counting quite a large mountain of money. It was obvious this guy was the one he was looking for.

In an instant, he took out the gun before he could react and pointed it at him.

"Dude what are you ?!"

"I would advise you to start talking before your brain will be on that wall over there!" he shouted.

The gun was now right at his temple.

"Who did you sell the diamond to?" Sebastian asked the distressed American.

"It's nothing personal man"

'I don't care, you stole my boss's diamond, who's not a very patient woman. If you want to get out of this, I advise you to talk, we will probably manage without you, but it will be faster,' he replied, unlocking the gun.

The American, feeling the barrel of the gun against his temple, understood how much he did not care about keeping the client's secret. He had money, keeping his life was a priority. Later he talked more than had to.

He was commissioned by an Italian named Dotti right after his arrival in Roanapur. He escaped from the Italian mafia and hid somewhere in the city, gathering his strength to take over the position of the then mafia boss. He couldn't announce his great comeback yet, so he decided to start marking his grounds with minor intimidations. Defecting Helena was to scare her and take over the casino as a new home. The plan might have worked if it had happened to someone else. Helena wasn't going to let go of such an insult, she would have pulled information about him from the city's canals to get him.

"THIS IS ALL I KNOW!" he shouted "really even the pasta makers don't know where he is. NOBODY knows, I got the money a moment ago together with the key to this room!"

There was nothing else to ask. He sheathed the gun and grabbed the bag of money, then threw them all out of the open window. Hundreds of dollars scattered across the crowded street. Seconds later, there were shouts of surprise and fights for every dollar.

"FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER WTF ?!"

'Enjoy you're alive. I'd rather blow your head off now" Sebastian replied and left.

He returned to the casino as soon as possible. It was the most important piece of information, the main puzzle to solve the whole case. They might have started working before it was too fast to spread around town that the Roulette casino could be brazenly robbed.

Sebastian shared with Helena all the clues he had obtained. Without a moment's thought, she rushed to the phone and started calling known informants if anyone had heard of Datti's location . Unfortunately, silence, no one knew him and no one heard of him since he hid from the Italian mafia.

"The little fish don't know anything or don't want to sprinkle ..." she said, looking out the window. Sebastian had the impression that she was running out of ideas on what to do next.

'Maybe actually wait for an intimidation attempt? There is a chance he'll reveal himself. ”Helena didn't let him finish, she held up a hand to silence him.

'I won't wait, Sebastian. It's a perfect night to spill some blood, "she said with a slight smile on her face, then added," If the little fish don't know anything, let's see what the shark says. "

'It means ?'

'We're going to talk to All-Knowing-Mr-Chang , I think it might be a good move.' her green eyes flashed.

Sebastian felt as if she was getting excited about this whole situation.

***

The private line telephone began to ring. Chang picked up "Cho , if they're Cubans again with cocaine in their veins, fire them, I won't play business with junkies," he dropped after a hard day. From this morning, one of the cartel people wants to sell him the idea of cracking down on cocaine in Japan. Like a drugged man, full of vision, he only wasted his time.

'Of course boss, it's just ... they're not Cubans. Red Roulette and Sebastian are here asking for a meeting'

Somewhere in the background you could hear Helena's voice, who didn't like the phrase 'ask'. She clearly tried to correct that she required this meeting.

'Let them in'

Chang began to believe that this evening was not going to be written off after all. "But there are still people in this town who can keep me entertained," he thought. A moment later he heard the clap of heels and a knock on his office door.

'Come in'

Cho entered first and signaled that they could enter. Helena straightened her red hair quickly and walked in with a serious look.

"Why do I owe such a great visit," he asked, comfortably leaning against the desk.

'I'll be short because I don't have time. I know who ordered the theft and it was Dotti , a former member of the Italian Mafia, but I have no idea where he is ' she came close enough to rest her hands on his desk. The red nails tapped gently impatiently. Her green eyes, full of fury, waited for his reply. It was only then that he noticed that there was a tiny mole on her face next to her left eye. Right at the tip , as if it was waiting to be spotted under the cover of red waves of hair. The long black dress sparkled softly in the light, and Chang wished she would take a few steps back to see her leg emerging from the slit. The louder tapping of her nails brought him back to reality. He wanted to laugh at wandering his mind, but quickly gathered his thoughts.

"Of course, I know where he is. Boss of the italian mafia still makes me laugh that he can’t find this Dotti guy. I'll help you with him, " he replied, standing to put on his jacket.

'You misunderstood me, Mr. Chang. I don't want you to help me deal with him. Just give me his location, I'll do the rest myself. '

It made the corner of his mouth turn into a devilish smile. The predator's gaze shone from behind his black glasses . 

'Sorry, I misinterpreted your intentions. Then let me accompany you on this journey ”he offered her a hand, lowering his head as if inviting her to dance.

He was eager to see this confrontation unfold. And most of all, what she can do. As a new fish in town, she had to show that she could do more than sell information, otherwise it would be difficult for her. She could slide quickly to the very bottom of that Roanapur abyss .

'In that case, let's dance tonight' she smiled malevolently.

[kes-au]

The Wooden Chest

Ally had just been looking for something to add a bit of character to her new home. The notice board outside the library was advertising a car boot sale that weekend, it was a perfect chance to pick up one or two things to counter the Scandinavian minimalist aesthetic, otherwise known as Ikea, that currently dominated. She locked up the cottage, hopped in her own car - boot empty - and headed off in search of treasure. The sale was being held in a field next to the local primary school and she stopped off at the school's cake stall for scotch tablet, the likes of which can never be found in shops. The trash and treasure clothing area yielded some possible gems in the form of Indian silk skirts, rather the worse for wear, that could possibly be made up into vibrant, luxurious patchwork cushion covers. The rest of the areas were less inspiring. She continued to wander toward the far end of the field. A farm truck stood at the end of the line, with an odd collection of old furniture and ornaments, and some truly lovely new wooden chairs and tables. Most of it was well out of her price range, they really were beautiful pieces, but a slightly battered old wooden chest, caught her eye. It was in quite good condition and very well priced, to the point she wondered what was wrong with it. As she was considering the chest, the stall holder finished up the sale he'd been in the middle of when she arrived and came over. "Oh, yeah, that'd be great-grandfather's old sea chest. He was one of those who went to sea to make his fortune and supposedly brought it back in that. It's been locked most of my life, that's why it's so cheap, whoever buys it will need to work out how to get it open." Ally turned as the stall holder was speaking and blushed slightly as she realised he was quite a lot taller, an awful lot younger than she'd assumed from a distance and all up, rather disconcertingly handsome. "It may be a good challenge for me, and if it stays closed, I could always upholster the top and use it as a bench." The stallholder looked at her properly for the first time, "I never thought of that. Although I'm not sure I'd trust my abilities with a needle. Woodworking is all well and good but fabric is a touch too flimsy for my comfort." "Did you make all the furniture here?" "Made or restored, yes. Great grandad's chest is the odd one out and I'll likely catch hell from grandma for bringing it here today but it's just taking up room and seems to deliberately jump out and bite toes if you're not paying attention around it. I think it needs to be put to some use to make it behave again." "Do you treat all items of furniture as if they're alive?" He flushed, "Um, not really, but sort of?" "I like it", she smiled, "It shows a craftsman who's properly in touch with his creations." His grin made her heart skip a little. "So, would you like to rescue this sadly neglected chest slash bench?" "You know, I think I would." She handed over the money for the chest and then realised it was probably a bit too large and heavy for her to carry back to the car. Thankfully her hunky stallholder also proved to be a bit of a mind reader. "Would you like a hand getting that back to your car, you've got your hands a bit full there and it's not exactly the smallest piece to tote about." She smiled gratefully but stopped on a sudden concern as he bent to pick up the chest, "but what about your stall, don't you need to stay here to keep an eye on things and serve customers?" "That's no problem at all. Hey Timon," he called over to the jovial-looking retiree in the bay across the walkway, "I need to make a delivery, can you keep an eye on things here?" Timon waved in acknowledgement and encouraged them both to take their time and enjoy the occasion. That easy-going camaraderie and community connection was a key reason she had run from her high energy life in the city and found her new place in this pretty village. She hoped she'd be able to earn her way into the fabric of the community in a year or so. She'd heard stories from city friends of people who'd tried to make the lifestyle change never being accepted in their new homes, but, having met some on their return to city life, she wondered how hard they'd actually tried. Her stallholder, (she really needed to get his name, he wasn't 'hers' but try telling that to a certain, mushy section of her brain) was greeted with waves and smiles from the people around them the whole way to her car. Once there, he helped her push down the back seats to better fit the chest and her other purchases. Once everything was safely stowed, he looked at her assessingly, "I'm  guessing you're the one who's moved into the Johnson's old place, Willow Cottage?" "Yes, how did you know?" "I recognise the car from driving by most days, how're you settling in?" "Very well thank you, people have been so kind." "Have you managed to get the attic door open yet?" Dear lord, the man WAS a mind reader, that door had been stubbornly stuck closed since the day she arrived. He grimaced at her shock, "It's just that Mrs J used to get me down around this time every year otherwise it'd be stuck closed all summer and half of autumn." "Ah, so you're a door doctor then. Yes it's stuck, I haven't been able to open it since I moved in and everything that's meant to be up there is currently creating a major shipping hazard in the sitting room." "If you'd like, I can drop by tomorrow and take a look. If it's not inconvenient, I mean I don't want to intrude on your weekend and home space." "It would be a huge help, please do." "Right-o, would 2ish suit? I need to deliver a commission in the morning and can drop by on the way home." "That sounds fine. I'll see you then. My name's Ally by the way." "Oh, sorry, it's Chris, Chris Whittaker. I live up on Somers Hill Farm." He nodded a little awkwardly and turned way with a half wave. Ally hopped into the car and grinned all the way home. The chest proved something of a challenge to get out and into the sitting room, she ended up edging it onto an old blanket and used that to drag it into place. She then settled down in front of it to examine the lock. The whole thing reminded her of an Indian puzzle box she had picked up on a business trip to Bangalore a few years before, just on a much larger scale. Sure enough, after a bit of nudging and coaxing on one of the upper panels it slid to one side and let her push up the lid. The inside was surprisingly fresh and clean given the number of years it had apparently been closed. Ally wondered if Chris's Grandma had used the secret lock to keep inquisitive youngsters out of clean linens, Christmas presents and suchlike. It was starting to get late, and she needed to log on and deal with some work issues before the Sydney office came online for Monday morning, so she contented herself with dropping that evening's purchases into the chest and closing it up before spinning into the workstation that should have been in the attic, but was currently dominating her downtime area. That door couldn't open soon enough. The next morning, after checking in on work progress and setting up the next stage of projects for India and the US, she had lunch, then tidied her work area, ready for its move upstairs and realised she was clock-watching. Chris was admirably punctual and had the attic door open within minutes. Unfortunately it looked like the office move would not be taking place that day. The supposedly empty attic was full of boxes and old furniture. Ally looked at the hoard in dismay. What was she supposed to do with all this? The previous owners had sold her the cottage and moved to New Zealand to be nearer their daughter and grandchildren and had told her that anything remaining in the house when she moved in was hers. Chris whistled in appreciation, "That's some beautiful woodwork you've got there! Where did you find it?" "I found it sitting in my attic when you opened the door." He turned to look at her in astonishment, "The Johnsons left all this and didn't say anything?" "Yup, they told me anything in the house was now mine. I'm not sure if this is them thinking they're doing me a favour or some weird revenge." "I'd go with favour knowing those two." "I feel better knowing that but it doesn't solve the issue of where I'm going to put my home office." "I was thinking your sitting room was looking a mite crowded." He paused, then went on a little diffidently, "I don't want you to think I'd be taking advantage or anything but, as I said, there's some nice work here. I could see what I could take off your hands if you're interested, for a fair price of course." "That would be a huge help! I'd be happy to hand over the lot but I probably should go through and see if there's anything I could use downstairs. It's likely to look better, and more in line with the whole cottage thing than the Ikea stuff I have at the moment." "Do you want to make a start now?" "I can't, I've got a conference call in twenty minutes - I work for a tech firm and because I deal with all our international offices, I'm able to work from home, but I do very odd hours. Would you be able to spare any time later in the week?" "Well, I don't work to the same type of meetings and deadlines as you, so might be easiest to work in with whatever you have happening." "In that case I'm fine any day this week, it's only really Mondays that are silly with meetings." "So Tuesday then? Same time?" "That would be great. Oh, and I managed to get that chest open" Chris' jaw dropped, "You did? I got a rare hiding from grandma on the phone last night when I mentioned I'd passed it to a new owner, she was making no sense at all." "It's like an Indian puzzle box I own, come and take a look." She led the way down to the corner of the sitting room where the chest now sat and pushed the panel across, satisfied with the exclamation behind her when the lid popped free of its catch. Pushing it up, she revealed, a chest empty of the things she'd put in the night before.