#like they have different personalities obviously but there's just something about these key similarities

[borgialucrezia]

and if i said that alex vlahos' philippe i, duke of orléans, has similarities with david oakes' juan borgia? hedonistic second sons and younger brothers who are overshadowed by their more famous older brothers whom they wanted to be loved and respected by....a flavorsome pattern

[cacodaemonia]

AO3 / ff.net + Artstation 'concept artist' scam

FYI, I personally know two people who got scam comments from the same AO3 account today alone. They were very similar to the ff.net comments in this reddit post, and go something like:

As a concept artist, I really enjoyed your story! The characters were compelling, and the plot kept me engaged from start to finish. Your writing has so much depth, and I could really envision the world you’ve created. While reading, I got some ideas for potential artwork to bring your characters or key scenes to life. I’d love to chat more about a possible collaboration if you’re interested

The main difference between this and a previous wave of similar comments is that this is from a logged-in account as opposed to a guest.

I can't send a support ticket because I haven't gotten any comments from this particular account. Obviously, AO3 volunteers don't need to be flooded with more support tickets right now, anyway, and I'm sure other people have already reported this user. But do yourself a favor and just block Evelynaddison92 on AO3 like I'm about to. The account is 100% a scammer, and there are certainly more accounts like this on AO3, but that's the only one I know of atm.

[tsxkkis]

omg omg can i request? pls ignore if you dont!

s3 of haikyuu will always be my favourite season, maybe due to the fact that tsukishima realizes his potential in playing volleyball? (him having his MOMENT is my favouriteee scene)

so could you write gf manager reader x tsukki, where reader witnesses him having his first moment (blocking ushijima's spike), injuring his hand etc etc up until they receive their throphy and medals in the end ?🥹🥹💕 shes a proudddd reader and literally just smooch smooch hug hug tsukki because hes the mvp of karasuno x shiratorizawa 🥰😤

i realized that theres nobody includes this scene in their fics and i wonder why? 🤔🧐

# tsukishima kei - mvp

a/n: i am terribly sorry anon bcs this took so long T-T i'm not quite sure about some parts of this fic but overall i really enjoyed writing this request!! tsukishima is my fav for many reasons, one of which being the fact that i see myself in him a lot, and the particular moment during the shiratorizawa vs karasuno match is also my fav from the entire series!! i hope u enjoy reading this fic^^ i feel like it's not exactly what you asked for, so i'm sorry if i went too far away from your idea....

summary: tsukishima finally regains his love for volleyball.

warnings: a few swear words here and there, the fic doesn't exactly portray what happened in the series (i switched it up a bit)

'are you stressed?'

'not even a bit.'

'you're lying. i can read you like a book.'

tsukishima kei let out a deep breath, rolling his eyes as he looked away from your face. you were obviously right; there was no way he wouldn't be stressed before the game that determined whether or not karasuno would go to nationals. as much as he hated to admit it, he was almost as stressed as others. he was just better at controlling which of his emotions are shown.

you squeezed his hand, his fingers instinctively intertwining with yours. all it took was a reassuring smile from you to help with his nerves, his muscles finally relaxing after being tensed up for the last twenty minutes or so. he still tried to get used to you being more than a friend. your relationship was quite awkward and fresh, so much so in fact that you never even had your first kiss yet.

'i'm sure you'll do great.' you stated calmly, trying to hide the fact that you were even more stressed about the match than him. 'in fact, i'm positive that you'll win.'

'even if we do, it won't be because of me.' he mumbled, letting out a silent laugh when he saw the angry look on your face. 'oh, come on. it's not like i'm the greatest player this team has.'

'you know i hate it when you talk down on yourself.' you said, the tone serious and sharp, rather unusual for you. it stayed like that for only a short while, taken over by a softer, understanding one. 'you're a vital part of this team, tsukishima. winning this match is not up to a single person. it's a team effort. your input is as important as that of kageyama or hinata.'

he opened his mouth to say something but was instantly stopped by the voice of his captain, daichi, calling the team up to quickly warm up as the match was about to start.

you smiled at the boy, letting go of his hand before lightly patting him on the back.

'do your best for me, alright?'

'i will.' a barely noticeable smile appeared on his face, his hand affectionately ruffling your hair. 'don't worry too much about it.'

you finally realized why tsukishima kei never tried more. why he would never stay longer like other karasuno players to polish his skills, why he didn't truly seem to love the sport he chose to play in high school.

'you're insufferable, you know?' his words sent shivers down your spine. 'why don't you leave it the fuck alone?'

opposite forces, some might say. no one really knew what drew you and tsukishima to eachother - both of you completely different from one another, and yet oh so similar at the same time. frustration took over you every time you looked at him, and now you knew why.

he was like a mirror in which you could see all your flaws, and it irritated you a great deal.

his outlook on life and the way he viewed himself made you furious. how can someone be so full of contradictions? so cocky and confident, and yet so vulnerable and self depreciating at the same time. so full of himself and yet so hateful towards the person he saw in the reflection of every window, every mirror.

how can someone so great at what they do, so intelligent and talented, be so critical?

'because i can't! i can't leave it alone, you absolute moron.' the thought of how loud you were didn't stop you from continuing to shout, a mixed look on your face that tsukishima couldn't quite decipher. were you angry or sad? and why the hell would it bug you so much to evoke such strong emotions within you?

'you're saying i'm insufferable? from the moment i laid my eyes on you, you've been nothing but insufferable. so much so, that i want to gouge them out every time they spot you.' you ignored your watery eyes and tsukishima's surprised face, almost as if he didn't expect you to blow up like this. 'it pains me to see you be so full of doubt and hatred and i- i can't understand why you would think so lowly of yourself, why you feel inferior to the other guys in every way possible, when you could be so much more than them. do you even realize your potential, tsukishima?'

he stayed silent. for the first time since knowing you, tsukishima kei did not have an answer to your words.

'your doubts are so irrational i don't know if it makes me angry or sad. you're truly incredible on the court. you're intelligent, you can read the opponents well, you have the physical predispositions for volleyball and a natural talent that you choose to ignore because-'

'but what is talent without passion?'

that singular sentence managed to catch you off guard so much you had no idea how to answer him. such a simple question, and yet such a philosophical, confusing one.

'why should i put my all into something i'm not even passionate about, huh?' tsukishima tried to keep his composed nature, but it was hard to stay intact after what you've said. as much as he did not want to admit it, your words hit him deeply. 'why waste my time and energy for something that does not give me any satisfaction at all? tell me that, because i have no fucking idea.'

'passion is not something that dissapears once and never shows up again, you idiot.' you took a step closer, as if that was going to help you get your point across. 'if your passion is genuine, it will always be there. whether small or big, it will always crawl around in the back of your mind. if you ever truly loved volleyball, the moment where you fall in love with it again will come sooner or later.'

your words were met with complete silence, but you didn't mind. tsukishima slowly processed your words, a focused look gracing his face, lips in a tight line. even though it was only a couple of minutes, for you it felt like hours - awaiting an answer, any answer at all.

tsukishima moved closer, his tall frame hovering over you as he wrapped his arms around you, catching you in a tight hug, much to your surprise.

'thank you.' he mumbled quietly, glad that in this very moment you couldn't see his face, and the stupid smile plastered to it.

the moment where you fall in love with it again will come sooner or later.

tsukishima's mind lingered over these words whenever he played, awaiting this moment to come almost eagerly. the match was particularly hard - with ushijima wakatoshi as their opponent, the chances of winning were incredibly slim. every spike of his went through the block, his serves were absolutely killer, and his teammates did everything to deliver the ball to him at all costs.

what a hassle.

you noticed that his demeanor on the court changed from what it used to be. tsukishima seemed more invested now - almost as if he was trying to impress you, to keep his word. as happy as it made you, you were still anxious about the match and it's final score, hand shaky and a bit sweaty as your eyes followed the ball flying around from one side of the net to another.

another spike from ushijima, it'll probably be another point for shiratoriza-

and that's when you realized.

you saw the ball hit the ground on shiratorizawa's side of the net surprised gasps from everyone watching the match. you saw the shocked look on ushijima's face, the horror in the eyes of his teammates as the ball bounced off of the floor for the second, third, fourth time.

silence took over the court for just a mere second, quickly interrupted by tsukishima's triumphant scream.

he looked more than content with his performance. he looked... happy.

the rest of the boys joined him, screaming in unison. it was just one point, right? but for some reason, for both you and tsukishima, this one was worth a thousand.

for the first time in years, tsukishima kei felt that his spark for volleyball came back.

you noticed that his eyes were now focused on you, a full, cheeky smile gracing his face, and it only made you tear up. a short moment, probably insignificant for people around, but for the two of you it was like a breath of fresh air, like getting rid of the shackles that once held you in place, enabling you from moving forward.

'y/n, are you... alright?' coach ukai looked with his brows slightly furrowed, confused by your teary eyes and big grin plastered to your face.

'yeah, yeah, i'm fine. sorry, coach.' you mumbled, bowing a little as your eyes focused on the court. 'actually, could kiyoko replace me here for the rest of the match? i'm not quite feeling well.'

'tsukishima is injured.'

'what?' akiteru spoke in unison with you, terrified voices mixing together as you looked down from the stands to see the boy walking off of the court and rushing to the medical office along with kiyoko. your instincts took over you - feet moving on their own as you quickly ran towards the same place.

the two blondes followed right behind you, stopping only when in front of the door to the medical office, gasping for air after such a short run. as athletic as your boyfriend was, you were quite the opposite; getting tired after a little to no physical activity at times.

tsukishima saw your head peeking through the doorframe, a small smile on his face the moment he laid eyes on you.before you opened your mouth to say something, he already gave you an answer.

'yes, i feel fine.' he stated quietly, sitting down on the edge of a chair. 'you don't need to worry.'

'are you going back on court?' he only gave you a small nod in response, seemingly feeling better already as he stood up, his hand taped up.

you looked up at him, taking in the expression on his face, just how focused he already was. he looked almost as if he already had a plan to defeat shiratorizawa in this match. seeing him so eager to go back and play almost made you laugh a little - you swore you never saw him get this invested into something ever.

'go and win then.' you mumbled, patting him on the shoulder as he headed towards the gym hall.

'oh don't worry. we will.'

you couldn't stop the tears rolling down your cheeks as you saw karasuno emerge victorious from the hardest volleyball match they had to play this year, hugging yachi tightly as both of you celebrated the win of your team.

the triumphant screams filled the gym hall, the team emotional after doing what many deemed impossible. as most of them enjoyed themselves, not planning on leaving the euphoric state for a long while, tsukishima could only think of doing one thing - going to you.

you were the only person he truly wanted to celebrate with.

after the ceremony of getting the medals, to everyone's utmost shock, considering your relationship wasn't exactly public, tsukishima went up to you almost immediately, a cocky smile on his face as he ruffled your hair, looking down at you from behind his glasses.

'you didn't exactly look quite as content with your performance before getting the prize.' you mumbled, looking at the blonde haired boy with your head tilted to the side.

'well, i could've blocked more of ushijima's spikes.' he started, rolling his eyes at the sole idea of not being able to do that during today's match. 'i only managed to block one and-'

you decided to use the only method that was for sure going to shut him up in that moment, lightly grabbing him by the tshirt and pulling him closer, lips clashing for a split second in a short, sweet kiss.

'no talking down on yourself today, kei.' you said, unconsciously smiling as you saw his face getting red at what you just did, cheeks covered by a tomato-like red colour. 'i'm proud of you no matter what you think about today's match.'

he stood still for a few seconds, as if processing what had just happened seconds ago, the redness on his face deepening with each passing moment. his hand was quick to grab yours, almost dragging you away from the team and to a more private, less occupied area of the building.

'do that again.' he mumbled, after he finally led you to a quiet hallway.

'huh?'

'it was... nice.'

your eyes lit up, a cheeky smile gracing your face as you finally realized what he was on about.

'ohh, you want another kiss?' you said teasingly, eyes quickly glancing from his face down to his lips. he rolled his eyes, unamused by your act of playing dumb.

'come on, don't make me repeat myself.' still somewhat embarrassed of what he was asking for, tsukishima stood in one place, awaiting your next action.

a sigh left your lips as you took a step towards your boyfriend, standing on your tippy toes to be able to reach his face.

'alright. i guess you deserve it, match mvp.'

your arms were wrapped around his neck in no time as your lips gently touched his, tsukishima immediately kissing you back, hands positioned on your waist as you felt a smile creeping up on his face. he let out a short laugh, seeing your face being just as red as his was moments ago, hand reaching to squeeze yours.

'what?' you mumbled, as he hasn't spoken a word since breaking the kiss.

'that's surely the best prize i got today.'

taglist: @moonswolfie @wyrcan @kitsune-kita

[stitchau]

————————《《FAQ》》————————

This post will be updated over time.

Main artist account: @centfornothing (both tumblr, twitter and soon bluesky)

Currently, i am very busy with university, and I'm not gonna be free any time soon...(except holidays, obviously) BUT I am really trying to put at least SOME time into what I've created here, so there's that. (Hopefully I'll survive all that)

— Usage of Stitch/Fanart

1. Q: Can I create fanart of Stitch?

A: Yes, I'd be more than happy if you do! ^^

Also, do not be shy to tag me! I will, from time to time, check if i was tagged somewhere.

2. Q: Can I use your character in my comic/animation/fanfiction?

A: Yep! I don't see why not.

3. Q: Can I ship *insert character name here* with Stitch?

A: Sure, have fun! But I sure do hope that the character in question is not a child. I am strongly against it.

4. Q: Can I create NSFW🔞 content of Stitch?

A: Yes, unless it involves children/incest. Do not draw stuff like that.

5. Q: Can I voice act your comics?

A: Any day!! Just don't forget to put credits, everything else is up to you! ^^

— NOT ALLOWED

I'm being repetitive here, but whatever. These are the only things I don't want people to do with my character, and I hope you understand why.

DO NOT create content depicting Stitch engaging with children in sexual manner.

DO NOT create content depicting Stitch endorsing incest/racism/f*scism/n*zism or anything similar to that.

As advice, I'd kindly ask you not to create stuff like this at all. Please be a better person and be responsible with what you create and put out there on the internet.

— About asks/questions

Questions that I have already answered won't get a reply.

Not all the questions will get their answers. Either because it's not the time for the answer yet or because it's irrelevant/not a question at all.

If there's too many questions, yours might be missed/might get a late reply(currently i have 70+ questions, no joke, and i just cant answer all of them, especially when there's more of them every day). But don't be shy asking questions anyway!

Other reasons for your questions not getting an answer:

I might be busy because I also have to live a life.

If your question is something like "I love your au sm," then thank you. I really appreciate your kind words, you are making my day💞

I might not want to answer your question for reasons. (Provocative questions, personal questions, etc)

If you are asking something related to YOUR OWN mental health. Please, PLEASE, if you have real problems, do not try to find a solution for them from internet strangers, go and talk to a real, qualified professional.

Please do not vent to me, I am not qualified to offer you help. I wish you the best, please stay safe.

And just a separate point about roleplays. Sorry, but I don't really do them. I can play along to something unserious and small, but whole roleplays are not for me.

— About Stitch

Stitch uses any pronouns, but they/them is a preferred one.

They are aroace.

The place they live in is called "Treatment space"(the info on what it is will be elaborated on sometime later). It is accessible for anyone in Omega Timeline at any given point through a door. But it can also be accessed from anywhere if you have one of 2 special keys: small red key that will create a door for 1 person leading to the Treatment Space or the bigger dark red key that will create a much bigger door, also leading to the Treatment Space(backyard). Keys can be mostly found in Omega Timeline, but some are scattered throughout the Multiverse.

They mimic the voice according to the form they have at the moment. So Sans' voice for a form of Sans, etc.

For all the different parts of plush bodies and clothes, there is a separate big room in Treatment Space.

Stitch doesn't need to sleep, eat, or drink.

Their most preferred forms are Toriel(convenience) and Sans(frequency of use).

The forms they don't like to use the most are the ones that are small(like Temmie, annoying dog, Flowey, etc.)

— The Lore(WIP)

Prologue

Chapter 1: Lucky streak — part 1

— Stitch's forms

I have some forms drawn separately, and some that I drew with some other sketches. I MIGHT be a bit too lazy to draw every from individually for now, so here's what I have:

Papyrus

Muffet

Mettaton

Alphys

Gaster

Monster kid (MK)

Grillby

Frisk and Chara(want to change them)

Toriel(if you can't tell, I like this one a lot)

Asgore, Flowey, Sans, Undyne, some stuff

More info will be added later

[avatar-anna]

Love on Tour: The Documentary

we all know harry is working on a documentary, so this is my take on how young dad!harry would approach it!

Young dad!Harry x Young mom!Reader universe

and now a little key:

bold and italics: camera directions, or what you would be seeing as a viewer of the documentary in person

just italics: interviewer questions, or people who are speaking off camera

Part 2 Part 3

Harry jogs off stage, his mask wrapped securely around his ears as he leaves the sounds of thousands of screams behind. Even so, his squinted eyes make it obvious that he’s smiling. He walks into his dressing room and shuts the door with a soft click and immediately starts to change out of his concert outfit. After shimmying into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Harry grabs his phone and sits down on the couch.

“Hi, Mama.”

“Hi, baby. How was the show?”

"Amazing. I feel like we get better with each performance."

"Aw, H. I'm so happy for you!"

Harry grins at his phone while resting his chin on his hand. "Missed seeing you. Missed seeing all of you."

"We're so proud of you, baby. No matter how far away we are," the voice on the other side of Harry's phone says. "In other news, the bub has been quite active today."

"Yeah?" Harry says, and his demeanor immediately visibly brightens. "Hope she's not giving you too much trouble."

"We don't know if it's a she, H."

"I do. I have a sixth sense for these types of things."

Cut to Harry sitting in an empty room for his interview.

“So, why did you decide to talk about all of this now?”

Harry rubs his chin as he ponders the question. “I think…I think it’s hard not to. When I think back on my career, I think about how old Simone was or how Jules had just begun walking or sneaking to a courthouse to get married. My family is a part of my life and has been a part of most of my career. My kids, my wife...they mean everything to me, and I—I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I can’t imagine my life, my career any differently. I wouldn’t want to do this without my family.”

The camera cuts to a series of home videos—Y/n and Harry sharing a kiss in a courthouse, members of One Direction celebrating around them, a toddler in Harry’s lap as he plays the piano, Y/n on a tour bus with a small bundle in her arms, Harry catching a little girl as she jumps into a pool, a little girl with dark curls playing with all members of One Direction backstage at a concert venue, Harry asleep on a hotel bed with his face covered in play makeup, a three year old sleeping next to him.

“Should we start with when you met Y/n?”

His grin is immediate. “I was seventeen years old.”

Harry’s voice becomes a voice over as clips of him and the members of One Direction film their music video for What Makes You Beautiful. 

“It sounds cheesy, but I’ve always thought it was fate that we met. Her friend was an extra in the video, and she happened to tag along. I was immediately taken with her. We got along really well and talked long after I left LA.”

The camera cuts back to Harry.

“Just talked?”

Harry blushes. “Obviously not, but I’m a gentleman. All I’ll say is, kids, understand the importance of practicing protected sex.”

A cut to a similar room where Y/n sits.

“He said that? My husband, everybody.”

Everyone behind the studio laughs with her.

“So you got pregnant.”

Y/n nods. “Oh yeah.”

“Was there ever a moment where you didn’t want to tell Harry?”

“It definitely crossed my mind. We were so young and we didn’t see each other very often in the grand scheme of things. No one ever expects something like this to happen to them, but it happened to us.”

Back to Harry.

“I was terrified. Mostly terrified to tell my mum, but it…it changed everything. Here I was thinking my life had already changed drastically with the band, and then Y/n is pregnant.”

The camera cuts to Anne’s interview.

“I mean, I think the possibility is in the back of parent’s mind,” she says, shaking her head a little. “But you raise your children to be smart and responsible and hope for the best.”

“How did that conversation go when Harry told you?”

“He was practically crying over the phone, which made me…less angry, which isn’t even the right word, I don’t think. Poor Harry was so scared, and all I kept thinking was, ‘I send my son to Hollywood and a few months later he gets some girl pregnant.’ I didn’t even know he was dating Y/n.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, so that made the whole thing even more surprising. But he kept saying, ‘Mum, she’s not just some girl. She’s really special.’ Things like that. But I won’t lie, it was a lot to digest.”

Back to Y/n.

“What was it like meeting Anne for the first time?”

“Oh God,” Y/n says. “Mortifying. I was already showing when we met, which made the whole thing that much worse. We couldn’t even pretend we were meeting under normal ‘meet your boyfriend’s mom for the first time’ circumstances. But she was really nice. She asked how I was feeling and helped me get set up with the right doctors. She made me feel welcome, which I appreciated.”

Back to Harry.

“Her parents weren’t as supportive as mine, and she was feeling kind of isolated and overwhelmed, so I convinced my mum to let Y/n live with her.”

Back to Y/n.

“You lived with Harry’s mother?”

Y/n nods and smiles at the camera. “It felt like the right thing to do at the time, and I stand by it. Things were really tense at home, and I just thought it would be a little easier going through everything with people who were completely on board.” Y/n shrugs. “I was young and scared and needed a maternal figure. I tried to think of it as going off to college.”

“But no one had a clue about any of this.”

Back to Harry.

Harry shakes his head. “My management at the time wanted to make this go away as quickly as possible. They tried to pay Y/n off so she wouldn’t contact me again or say anything about it.”

“Really?”

Back to Y/n.

“Yeah, but I told them to shove their offer up their asses. It wasn’t nearly as much as I would’ve gotten from child support, first of all.”

“Did you ever consider taking the offer?”

“Of course I did. I had to consider all my options.” Y/n is quiet for a moment and doesn’t look at the camera. “I eventually decided to stay with Harry and have the baby, but, you know, I had my whole life ahead of me. Both of us did.”

Back to Harry.

“Did you know about that?”

“The payoff? Yeah, she told me shortly after. As for the other stuff…I knew. And I would’ve respected whatever decision she made. But when she decided to keep the baby and keep me in her life, I told management they would have to figure something else out, and keeping her and the pregnancy was their solution.”

“What was it like to be in One Direction while having a baby at home?”

“Strange,” Harry says. “Like, some of the best moments of my life were in the band, but then I would get a text from Y/n and it would be a picture of Simone in the bathtub covered in bubbles, and I would want to be there all of a sudden.”

A series of videos and photographs of Harry and Y/n in 2012 appear. In hotel rooms, backstage at One Direction concerts, homes. With each image, Y/n’s baby bump grows.

(Voiceover) “It was this weird mix of having so much fun and feeling bad when I realized Y/n was at home by herself with a newborn. She’s never blamed me or never asked me to stop what I was doing, but this tiny seed of guilt was always in the back of my mind.

A video of a young Harry and Y/n appears. They seem to be in a dressing room. Y/n lays against Harry while his hand rests on her baby bump. Y/n looks up at Harry and smiles, and he smiles back before he looks up and realizes they’re being filmed. “Oi! Get out of here, Louis!” Louis laughs from behind the camera and says, “You’ll thank me later!”

“We were faced with a lot of decisions, none of them easy. And sneaking around had its drawbacks, especially when my management team wanted me to start doing all the fake dating and stuff.”

Harry stops talking, as if recalling a memory, but he doesn’t share it. “But one thing was easy at least. When we first met, we bonded over our love for Nina Simone. When Y/n suggested it, it just sounded right.”

Back to Harry in his dressing room.

“How is everyone?” he asks Y/n over the phone.

“I have four little monkeys that should be asleep, but they wanted to say goodnight first.”

Harry’s grin widens as a chorus of hellos echoes from his phone. From a different angle over his shoulder, four faces can be seen on his screen. “Hi, hi, hi, hi. Are you all being good for your mumma?”

“Dada!”

“Where are you?”

“How was the show?”

“Hi my loves. The show went really, really great. I miss you all so much,” Harry says.

“When are you coming home, Dada?”

“Soon, Maeve, I promise. Just a couple more nights and I’ll be home.”

“Can we get ice cream when you come home?”

Harry laughs. “Yes, peanut, we can get ice cream. Now go to sleep. It’s past your bedtime.”

There’s lots of protesting from the four children on the phone, but one voice pipes up above the rest. “Can you sing us a song?”

“Of course, JuJu. How could I forget? What would you like?”

Back to Harry’s interview.

“So, how many kids do you have now?”

“I am a proud father of six. Five girls, one boy, one set of twins.”

“Full house then.”

Harry nods and makes a mock-exasperated sigh. “Oh yeah.”

“What’s that like?”

“There’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure. Y/n’s the real marvel, though. I don’t know how she does it.”

Back to Y/n.

“I’m not gonna lie, there are times where I don’t even feel like a person, but Harry works just as hard to give our family the life we have. And he’s an incredible dad. He’ll come home from tour, clearly exhausted, and he’ll still be the first one out of bed to get the kids ready for school and make breakfast and change diapers. I mean, the man doesn’t stop.”

“You’re a team, then.”

Y/n smiles. “Yeah. We’re a team. All eight of us.”

“Did you see yourself ever having six kids?”

“I mean...technically we were supposed to stop at four.”

“So what happened?”

Y/n sighs and shakes her head exasperatedly. “The pandemic happened.”

A home video begins to play in the Styles’ living room. Harry is filming and Y/n is in front of it with her hands behind her back.

“Alright. Tell me why the camera’s out, Mama. Where are the kids?”

“They’re building a pillow fort for us in our room, but first…I  have a surprise for you.”

Y/n leans past the camera to give him a small gift bag. Crinkling is heard as Harry pulls tissue paper out of the bag. “Are you serious?”

Y/n nods, a large grin on her face. “I’m about six weeks along.”

Harry laughs, and the camera wobbles as he rushes over to Y/n to pick her up. Their giggles and cheers of excitement can be heard offscreen.

“We’re having a baby!” Harry says.

Back to Harry.

“Are you gonna go for lucky number seven?”

Harry scratches the back of his head. “Currently up for debate. The missus is apprehensive, but I think I’m wearing her down.

Back to Y/n

Y/n scoffs and shakes her head. “He can keep on dreaming.”

“So you’ve had this discussion before?”

“It’s…been mentioned once or twice. But any time he brings it up I threaten him with no sex for two weeks. Am I allowed to say that?”

Back to Harry.

Harry opens his mouth to speak when a small hand tugs on his shirt. Looking down, he smiles. Harry bends down and picks up a little girl. For privacy reasons, her face is blurred. She wraps her arms around his neck so she’s in his lap and her back is facing the camera.

“I’m hungry,” the little girl says in what can only be described as a “monster voice.”

Matching her tone, Harry asks, “What would you like, GiGi?”

“Grilled cheese.”

Harry shakes his head and kisses GiGi’s temple. He covers the microphone clipped on his shirt so he can talk to his daughter privately. With another kiss, he lets go of the mic. “You got it.” Harry shrugs at the camera with a smile. To the camera, he says, “Can we finish this later? Duty calls.”

[inmyheaddd]

your lips my lips, apocalypse - jameson hawthorne x reader

wc: 2.3k warnings: kissing, friends to lovers, very fluffy masterlist

you were two young and dumb teenagers, finding solace in each other's company.

your relationship with jameson was a long one, stretching back years into early childhood.

you two never really talked before; you both assumed the other was like all the other people in your social circle. too rich to care, not a worry in the world, and about as deep as a kiddie pool. 

that all changed one night a year or two ago, at a fundraiser event your family and his were hosting together.

you hated things like this sometimes—the way your parents showed off as something to look at, a trophy, instead of someone to know.

after one too many introductions and sticking to your mom's side feeling like a lost child, you excused yourself, and maybe the tears that flooded your eyes wouldn’t have been so immediate if you didn’t see the relief that washed over your mothers face. 

you walked to the one place that was yours, tears threatening to spill with each step. it felt stupid, really. nothing particularly bad happened, so why did you feel bad? 

you finally reached the bottom of the stairs of the wine cellar, only to find a figure sitting on the last step. 

what?

the person's head turned immediately, hearing the clicks of your heels. 

even in the faint lighting, you recognized the boy. jameson hawthorne.

the troublemaker of the hawthorne grandsons, endless green eyes, and a charming smile that could kill. 

his eyebrows raised as he noticed you, holding a bottle of something in his hand. "what are you doing here?" he asked, his face otherwise expressionless.

your sadness made way for frustration. who did he think he was, sitting in your spot, asking you what you were doing?

“this is my house?” 

“okay. what are you doing here?” 

you scoffed, “i could ask you the same thing. all your brothers are upstairs, why aren’t you?” 

he turned to face away from you, taking another swig from what you now recognized to be a flask. “well i’m not my brothers, aren’t i?” 

you stayed silent. 

he must’ve realised how hurt he sounded, so he spoke again, “just needed a breather, that’s all.” 

maybe he wasn't as shallow as you thought.

you had so many questions, one of them being “how the hell did you even find this place?”. after a few beats of silence, you settled on a different one.

“well, mind if i join?”

he gestured to the spot next to him, “be my guest.” you tentatively took a step closer, smoothing out the bottom of your dress before sitting down on the step.

“aren’t you my guest? you’re in my house after all.” you fought the smile that found your face, then he turned to look at you, a similar grin on his face as well. 

“you’re not what i expected,” he said, tilting his head to the side, slightly narrowing his eyes. 

now it was your turn to turn away and look forward, shrugging your shoulders as you did so. “i try.” 

minutes turned to hours, and you found out that you and jameson were actually quite similar. 

as cliché as it sounded, you often felt older than you were. adults didn’t take you seriously, but kids your age around you didn’t get you. 

jameson did though, and he found himself actually being understood by anyone other than his brothers for once. you found comfort in eachother, and soon enough your bond was unbreakable.

you and jameson running off from events together became a common occurrence.

one particular time, the event was at his house. 

your cheeks began to hurt from all the fake smiles you’d been giving out. that was one of your key signs it was time to leave.

after a few minutes of mindless strolling around the hawthorne house, you settled on sitting by the pool.

you couldn’t swim right then, obviously, but it felt heavenly to take off your heels and dip your feet in the water.

god knows how long you were out here for. it was completely dark now, apart from the lit-up pool and windows from the house. 

you took your gaze up to the sky, leaning back on your arms to fully see the stars. 

when you looked back in front of you, you noticed jameson 50 feet or so away, walking towards you.

you look back at your lap, only letting your eyes find his once he sat beside you, rolling up his suit pants to dip his feet in the water. 

“hey, stranger,” he said to you, his grin starting to make an appearance.

“hey there yourself,” you responded back, slightly nudging your shoulder with his.

“what finds you here on this fateful night?” he eyed your high heels you placed on the floor then looked back to you.

you snorted, “you really want an answer to that?” 

“not really,” he grimaced, “i can assume it’s the same reason i’m here.” 

you looked back at your lap, "yeah, you’re probably right on that on that.” your fingers were mindlessly fidgeting with your skirt that ended just at your mid thigh. 

he noticed the sadness on your face; he couldn’t take it anymore.

he gasped dramatically.

“you’re also here as an underco-“

“—please don’t finish that sentence,” you said with a laugh. 

you always knew when he was going to make a stupid joke to make you feel better. or maybe it was the dramatic gasp, mixed with the mischievous glint in his eye, and his widened grin that you noticed all before he spoke, that gave it away.

but hey, he made you laugh. mission accomplished.

“sorry, cinderella, not in the mood for jokes?” 

he started calling you cinderella a while ago, because “you’re always mysteriously running off from parties early.” you asked if that would make him your prince charming, to which he shrugged and said, “i’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

you responded, “i’m in the mood to get the hell out of here, then maybe a few dumb jokes wouldn’t be so bad.” you tilted your head as you spoke, and you couldn’t help the smile that found your face when jameson's hand laid on top of yours, his thumb drawing small circles. 

“then we’ll get the hell out of here.” 

you looked down at your knees, noticing how yours and his were touching, but neither of you made an effort to move them apart. 

you also noticed the soft hum of the music coming from inside the house, the warmth coming from jameson's side, the dim lights, and how everything felt so still, your previous worries long gone. 

you wondered why you only felt this peace with jameson next to you. 

“actually i changed my mind, we don’t have to get the hell out of here. 5 more minutes?” 

you looked up at him expectantly, and you were pretty sure a smile was permanently etched on your face.

well, atleast that's how it was with jameson. 

“whatever you want. 5 more minutes it is.” he replied with a wink.

“actually, i wanna go.” 

“then let’s go.”

“i changed my mind, i wanna stay.”

he chuckled, “then we stay.” 

“are you seriously doing whatever i say?” 

“of course i am, why wouldn’t i?” he responded without missing a beat.

“you’re crazy.” a light giggle escaped your lips, and you leaned your head on his shoulder.

“only for you.” he responded half jokingly.

you weren’t too sure when you and jameson got like this: jokingly flirting, meaning nothing on the surface, bearing your soul and deepest secrets to each other, not seeing each other for days— weeks even, then meeting again feeling like no time has passed.

maybe soulmates were real.

or maybe, you were just two good friends. 

maybe, he was just a nice person to talk to. 

or maybe, you were falling for jameson. 

jameson's arm around your shoulder and the trail of his hand running up and down your arm brought you back to the present moment. 

with your eyes trained on your legs that were now pressed against his, you mumbled, “you know, i made progress today. i didn’t stick by my parents the whole time. i actually tried to make conversation with people.”

you took a deep breath in before continuing, exhaling as you spoke. “granted everyone was like 40, and i was deeply uncomfortable, i still made progress.” you couldn’t bite back the sarcastic undertone in your voice.

jameson seemed to find that funny, or maybe he just wanted to make you feel better, either way, you felt his chuckle vibrate through his chest. 

“hey, any progress is still progress. if it helps, i only did three things possibly detrimental to my mental and/or physical health this week instead of my usual 7.” he added casually.

you wish you could take away all of his hurt, to kiss him all over until he felt a little better. 

but friends don’t do that. 

you knew he hated feeling like he was broken. so instead of telling him every little thing you love about him and how he deserves better than how he’s treating himself, you just laughed along. 

“how motivating of you, thanks.”

“of course, cinderella.” 

you turned your palm upwards and intertwined your fingers with his.

you squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. 

in his eyes, that was consolation enough. you never saw him any differently, even after everything he’s been through and everything he’s told you. you were quite possibly his favorite person. what did that mean? 

when you decided it was a good time to get going, jameson got up first, then put out a hand and helped you up. 

you dried off your feet, put your shoes back on, and he did the same.

“where do you wanna go?” he asked, briefly glancing down at you as you walked together. 

you hummed for a second before an idea sparked up in your mind. “why don’t we go to that one ice cream place?”

“is it open this late?”

“pretty sure it’s 24/7.”

“perfect.” he responded. 

then he had another question, “isn’t it a 30 minute walk?”

you smiled at him, “perfect.” you echoed.

he laughed at that. but honestly, he was as glad to be as far away from his house as possible. he wanted to spend as much time with you as he could.

your hand was brushing against his, and in an instant like he knew what you were thinking, he subtly grabbed your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours once again. 

30 minutes of breathless laughs, butterflies in your stomach, stupid jokes, and random questions later, you arrived.

you two got an oreo milkshake, instead of getting one each, you decided to share.

jameson got two straws and put them both on the cup at the same time. 

he angled one towards you, then you realised what he was trying to do.

“there’s no way,” you almost snorted.

“what?” he looked at you with a smile. 

“i’m not doing that, jameson.” you stated. but inside, you were screaming. you swore your stomach did 50 flips. 

“just this once?”

“no.”

“suit yourself,” he grinned at you, and then took a sip of the milkshake. 

you gave him a fake dirty look, which he returned, before you both starting laughing.

20 minutes later you two were in deep conversation, the milkshake long forgotten.

you two were talking about everything and nothing. from your moms, times you met but didn’t even realize it, childhood stories, debating if avocados or mangoes are better, to “if you could be a planet, which one would you be?”

that’s how it always was with jameson, there was never any pressure. talking to him was the easiest thing in the world.

the air conditioner was hitting your table directly, and you didn’t have a jacket.

jameson eyed you, cutting off his sentence. “are you cold?”

“no, i’m fine.” you wish your body didn’t choose right then to shiver. 

without hesitation, he got up from his seat and sat next to you in the booth.

jameson wanted to slap himself for leaving his jacket back at the house, but it gave him an excuse to wrap his arms around you. 

the laugh that left your lips when he did so made him feel like his heart was on fire, and his face too. 

you noticed the milkshake on the table, and noticed how jameson had barely even touched it. 

“you know, im kind of feeling that milkshake now.” you mumbled. 

“yeah?” he leaned forward and grabbed it with his free hand and handed it to you.

the two straws were still inside, and you angled your body so you were facing jameson. 

you tilted milkshake towards him, and then he started to take a sip. 

you leaned in to drink some as well from your straw, your foreheads were basically touching now.

then he smiled at you. 

god, his smile was dangerous. 

and it was damn near impossible not to smile back. 

you both finished the milkshake with slightly too much eye contact to only be friendly, and jameson took the cup from your hand, placing it back on the table without tearing his face away from yours. 

your gaze landed on his lips, which were slightly parted, then you looked back up at his eyes. 

his hand found its way to your jaw and he captivatingly held your gaze, asking a silent question.

you answered by leaning in, finally crossing that boundary of friends-or-something.

your arms wrapped around his neck, and your head tilted to the side.

he tasted sweet, the remnants of the milkshake still in his mouth.

every single nerve in your body heated up, you felt like you were burning, despite the freezing temperature. 

you pulled back with a smile, and he chased your lips. you let out a chuckle, and then your forehead was resting on his. 

the walk home was even better this time.your hand in his, talking about how stupid you both were to not see the obvious feelings you had for each other.

when it was time for you to go home, he kissed you once again. 

you officially discovered your new favorite activity.

[charmedreincarnation]

Fulfillment x I am technique

(Logical mind edition)

Are you looking for a way to have all your desires and manifest your dream life before the end of summer? Are you also going through a period of unclenching doubt that you can’t seem to scratch, no matter what? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Today, I’m excited to introduce you to a simple and fun technique you can add to your current regiment, or use as a separate technique alone to help fulfill your desires for the summer. Especially since a lot of people struggled with their circumstances this winter/spring and experiencing the wish fulfilled, I hope this can help someone on their journey. Obviously there are no “shortcuts” or “key to manifesting” but regardless this personally helped me a lot.

Fulfillment

As you know, it is important to focus on the feeling that comes with achieving our desires, rather than getting stuck in the physical form of it. Therefore it's important to understand the difference between the physical existence and the energetic vibration that comes with achieving our desires. However, sometimes we can get caught up in how/why our desire may look/ appear in the physical realm. But if we are too focused on the 3D appearance of the how/why our desire may manifest, then we can become stuck in the physical realm and limit our own ability to fully manifest our desires.

I know as we “fulfill” ourselves, we doubt that it will work or we believe we’re just trying to delude ourselves but I promise it’s the opposite. The brain is incredibly powerful; more so than most of us are even aware. It doesn’t know the difference between what is reality and what is imagined. What this means is that when a person focuses on something and imagines it, the brain will be tricked to believe that it is true and will begin to take actions to create that thought into a reality. let’s take a look at the science behind this. When we imagine something we want, a set of neural pathways are activated in the brain. When that pathway is activated and we attach feelings of joy or gratefulness to our desired outcome, our brains actually release certain hormones and neurochemicals like adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin. These hormones and chemicals work together to create an overall sense of wellbeing and positivity.

The interesting thing here is that these same pathways are activated when we actually achieve our desired outcome. By introducing the feeling of appreciation into our minds, we can activate the same pathways as if we had already achieved the outcome. This creates a similar feeling of joy and satisfaction as if it had been achieved in reality.

Now why is this important? It’s important because it allows us to increase our chances of achieving our desired outcomes. By introducing positive feelings while visualizing/ think/scripting (whatever) about our desired outcomes, we just convince the doubting side of our brain how real it is, no matter how illogical it seems.

I am

When we repeat “I am” throughout our day, we are Truly reminding ourselves of the message that not only are we are worthy of having whatever we desire, but it is already ours. By repeating this phrase in our minds, we are effectively affirming it into reality.

The Power of “I am” is not only taught through the lens of the law. I am not religious anymore but The “I am” was famously taught by Jesus Christ himself, who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” This phrase teaches us that whatever we want in life - be it financial freedom, a happy relationship, or even spiritual enlightenment - begins with our internal affirmation that “I am” capable of achieving it.

Goddard recommended that we use this phrase with emotion and conviction in order to fully absorb its power within us. He said, “If you can say, feel and believe ‘I AM’ as though you already possess it or are in possession of it, then you will bring it forth from its subjective state into objective reality.” To put it simply, if you can confidently declare out loud “I am wealthy” or “I am loved” then you will start to bring about positive changes in your life. I used this myself with theta waves but I think there are better ways to incorporate into a method hence this post.

Why repetition works

I’ve realized sometimes it helps to address the doubt logically before experiencing it spiritually just because we’re still human. This doesn’t mean anything negative about you, or your reception to he law. It again just means you’re human which we all are so it’s not that serious tbh. Anyways You should do this technique once a day or (more if you want) but I only did it once a day. I’m sure you know the Loa perspective of why persistence works… but repetition never fails though a neurological standpoint either. From a neuroscience perspective, repetition triggers changes in the brain that produce a positive effect. When we repeat positive thoughts and affirmations, our brain produces the neurotransmitter, serotonin, which is responsible for creating a feeling of happiness. On the other hand, when we repeat negative thoughts and affirmations, our brain produces hormones like cortisol which can create a feeling of stress.

On the surface level, repetition creates familiarity. And when we’re familiar with something the easier it becomes to do it. But the truth is that there are deeper levels of repetition that can produce real, lasting effects. For example, when we think positively, our brain produces certain hormones, such as dopamine and endorphins. The more often we think positively, the more hormones our brain will produce and eventually, our mindset will become wired for positive thinking.

From a physics perspective, repetitive thoughts produce energy waves that move outward from our body. When these energy waves come in contact with other objects in the universe, they carry our intent with them. For example, if we practice repetitive positive affirmations daily, our energy waves will travel outward and carry our intent toward success.

The method

Ok now the method itself is pretty simple. You can do it anytime in whichever position, for however long you want, using whichever fulfilling method you like. Please feel free to cater it to your preferences.

Now…

1. For me, I first mentally compartmentalized my desires into categories. E.g: spirituality, social life, beauty, school life, family, house life, and etc.

2. I would lay down however I felt was the comfortable. Next, this part is optional but I would play reiki music! feel free to use anything you want (brown music, theta waves, subliminal, nothing, whatever it’s up to you!) and just relax.

3. Then I would use a section of my desires to loop scenes. For example I would think “I have amazing friends,” and loop multiple scene of late night drives with my friends, us on a shopping spree, my friends throwing a surprise party for me etc. then I would keep going. I’d mentally affirm “I am gorgeous.”then I would loop multiple scenes of me waking up looking gorgeous and seeing myself in the mirror, me blowing up on Tik tok and getting you’re pretty comments, my phone blowing with compliments, and people approaching me on the street to compliment me. Then next, “I am a master shifter,”and it would be a looped scene of me going or my wr, waking up in various drs and etc.

4. The point is, it becomes natural and free flowing. You loop and mentally affirm what comes to mind. It isn’t forced and you aren’t really thinking after a while. You just become so immersed in your desires you become fulfilled. You don’t have to fall asleep, you can fall asleep, you can do it for a minute, you can go it for an hour. It can be done in your bed,in your car, it could be 400 desires or just two. Just do it everyday! That’s all that matters.

[the-smut-analyst]

Making Characters That Make Sense

Walk-through character template & "how to" guide for writing complex, original protagonists.

If you google "character templates for writing", you'll get a lot of very basic examples that read like a grocery list: eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, positive traits, negative traits, etc.

And sure, filling out this kind of template isn't completely useless - but it's also not particularly useful, either. Choosing whether your protagonist has blue eyes or green eyes isn't going to determine whether readers connect with them or not.

Instead, I prefer to use the below template:

There's some fairly left-of-centre categories here, so in this blog post I'll be creating a character from scratch to demonstrate what each section means and how to use the template effectively.

Primary Goal & Raison D'Être

Fantasy Romance is having a bit of a tournament-to-the-death moment right now, with Hunger Games-inspired stories like Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass, The Savior's Champion, and The Serpent and the Wings of Night in high demand - so that's what we're going to work with in today's blog post.

The story premise and primary goal of the protagonist are almost always interconnected. In this case, the story premise is a tournament to the death - and the character's main goal is to win that tournament, obviously.

But where there's room for some originality is in the raison d'être. This loosely translates to "reason for being" or "purpose". It's the why of it.

For example: what motivated this character to risk their life by entering such a tournament in the first place?

It is sometimes helpful to look at similar stories when thinking about this category. Not so you can copy their protagonist's motivations - but so you can do something different.

The whole selfless-self-sacrifice thing, for example - that's done. At least in relation to this particular sub-genre. We can do better for our hypothetical Maera Mystfang character.

Actually, let's really turn the trope on its head and make her raison d'être incredibly self-centred.

Already, this is character is shaping up to be something a little bit different within the niche of tournaments to the death. Which goes to show how putting a little bit of thought can go a long way, even with something as simple as identifying your character's initial purpose.

Primary Obstacle

Every protagonist needs a goal - and every goal needs an obstacle. This is what gives the story some tension and keeps readers turning the page.

An obvious choice of obstacle for this hypothetical character, since we're dealing with a fantasy romance, would be that Maera starts to develop feelings for one of her fellow competitors.

This concept has definitely been done, but that's okay. Not every section of this list has to break the mould. Tropes exist for a reason and it is totally okay to lean into them sometimes.

However, just for funsies, I'm going to try and put a slightly different spin on this one too.

Instead of the obvious "I love one of the people I'm meant to kill", let's make Maera's (previously dormant) conscience be the problem. Her reasons for entering the tournament may have been self-motivated, but as she gets to know her fellow competitors - admires some of them, even - she starts to second guess those reasons.

Core Traits

A lot of character templates will divide personality traits into positives and negatives - but I don't think this is particularly helpful. It is far too one dimensional - not to mention unrealistic. The key components of someone's personality aren't usually so black and white.

In fact, most core traits are both good and bad at the same time - it just depends on the context.

Instead of being wholly positive or negative, try to think of three core character traits that can serve as two sides of the same coin, with both positive and negative implications to each.

For Maera, I've given her these core traits:

Self-reliant;

Rebellious; and

Good-humoured.

Her self-reliance means that she is incredibly capable - but it's also the cause of her selfishness. She's always had to look after herself, so she expects others to do the same.

Her rebellious attitude means she isn't willing to accept the status quo. But at times she is also a rebel without a cause, causing trouble just for the fun of it.

Her good sense of humour means she is fun to be around, but she also tends to not take things as seriously as she should.

Thinking of core traits in this multi-faceted way not only adds realistic complexity, but it also sets you up well for showcasing character development and growth throughout the story.

Fatal Flaw & Character Arc / Growth

You've probably read negative reviews that throw around terms like "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu". People tend to be over-zealous with these terms, especially for Mary Sue, but the gist of it is that the character in question is "too perfect".

They're the chosen one, they're good at everything, all the boys like them, etc.

Some characters can get away with this just fine. Look at Aragorn. He's the ultimate Gary Stu but I still swoon every time he opens those damn doors. You know the scene I'm talking about.

Ooft.

But for the most part, you want to incorporate a fatal flaw into your protagonists - because this is what gives them room to grow.

And, no. "I was born to be King but I don't wanna" does not count as a fatal flaw.

Instead, think bigger. Think worse. Think about where your character starts versus where you want them to end up. Think about how you want the events of the narrative to change their world view - or even their initial goal.

For Maera, her fatal flaw is pretty obvious, given her initial motivations for entering the tournament. Similarly, her growth/arc is linked to her primary obstacle, which is developing a conscious.

Her journey throughout this hypothetical story might be learning to appreciate how her past shaped her, while also acknowledging that there are things she can do to ensure others don't have to go through what she did. By being shown acts of kindness, she learns to appreciate their value.

First Impression

Now that we've covered all the "big picture" stuff, let's get into some of the smaller details that give your character some texture.

The first impression category is a hypothetical exercise where you image how your character might appear to a room full of strangers. In dual, multi, or omniscient POVs, you might even get the opportunity to include this impression somewhere in the story.

But even for first-person narratives, it is still worth thinking about, because it will help to inform how other characters interact and respond to your protagonist (at least at first).

For Maera, I've written this first impression as: a fun person to have a few drinks with - so long as you keep a close eye on your wallet.

From this description, we can guess that Maera probably likes to have a good time, but also comes across as untrustworthy. Whether that impression is deserved or not is up to you, as the author, to decide.

There's also a lot of deeper directions you can take this first impression category, too. Like if most people react to Maera this way, but one particular character doesn't, then your readers are going to sit up and pay extra attention during that interaction. Especially when that person reacting atypically is the future love interest.

Spirit Animal

Ah, this one is a fun one!

I always encourage my authors to assign a "spirit animal" to their characters - especially when they're doing multi-POV.

There are two main reasons for this:

It will allow you to assign some very distinct adjectives and verbs with that particular character; and

It is an opportunity to flesh out some additional character traits beyond the core traits.

For Maera, I've chosen "spider" because she is solitary by nature, opportunistic, and patient.

But, more than that, I also like the idea of Maera being the kind of person who knows how to watch and wait. While her first impression might be "here for the good times", her joking façade is actually a mask she wears while carefully observing others.

For example:

Her words were laced with venom. She crawled her way across the rooftop. At some point, weaving lies had become more of a past time that a necessity. Her thoughts were a tangled mess. She didn't bother to conceal her predatory gaze. Inch by cautious inch, she crept forward. Her sanity was already hanging by a thread. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was spin a good story - truth be damned.

I've never outright compared Maera to a spider in these examples, nor have I made it blatantly obvious that that's what I'm doing. But by peppering these kinds or words throughout the story, I'll be able to subtly create a very distinct kind of impression for her character.

For comparison's sake, let's assign "cat" to the love interest. Examples of possible words to consider in this instance might be:

He clawed his way through the bushes. "What are you doing?" he hissed. The comment had some bite to it, that was for sure. He slunk away into the darkness. His still, unwavering focus was unnerving. He prowled towards her. In a few quick, agile steps, he'd made it across the parapet. He yawned and stretched out beside her.

Of course, not every single word you use in association with a character needs to be related to their spirit animal. But keeping a certain type of animal in mind - and finding opportunities to throw in some subtle messaging through language choice - can be beneficial on so many levels.

It helps to distinguish your characters from one another through the kind of language you use to describe them - but it's also just really, really fun way to add some bonus texture to your characters. Giving your readers some little easter eggs like this is never a bad thing.

Love Language

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of the five basic love languages, then here's a quick visual overview:

Love languages aren't a consideration that's specific to romance. They're important for friendships and familial relationships too.

Because thinking about what your protagonist values most in love is going to tell you a lot about who they are. Especially when you take the question deeper and think about why this is something they value.

For Maera, I've chosen "Acts of Service" because this ties in quite well to her character arc.

In terms of Maera's why, I could easily go with "because this was how she was shown love as a child" - and this is a good enough option most of the time. However, since her love language is very much tied into growing out of her fatal flaw, then I actually want to do the opposite.

Maera winds up valuing acts of service because this is something she craved - and wasn't given - as a child. She had to do things the hard way instead. Hence why she ends up appreciating the kindness of others so much. Such generosity is new to her - and precious.

Conflict Response

This is potentially one of the most overlooked character components. Conflict and tension is central to story telling, yet there is so little attention given to creating authentic, original responses to conflict.

The way I see it, there are three main considerations in regards to conflict response:

How your character reacts in the moment;

The unhealthy methods they use to deal with the aftermath; and

The healthy methods they use (or discover) to self-sooth.

When faced with conflict, Maera's immediate reaction is to antagonise. She doesn't like to back down and enjoys creating trouble.

However, in the aftermath, the conflict affects her more than she lets on. She stews on it - and her solution to that is to get drunk until she can forget about it completely.

But even though she sometimes forgets it, Maera has a more healthy coping mechanism at her disposal. When she is surrounded by nature - in the forest, by the sea, whatever - it calms her.

In addition to identifying your protagonist's various responses to conflict, it is also helpful to think about why. Again, this is a great opportunity to insert something unique into their character backstory.

With Maera, for example, let's think about why she finds nature so soothing. Perhaps, amidst a very bleak childhood, one of her fondest memories is of picking grapes in a vineyard.

Perhaps the elderly woman who owned the vineyard was very rude and abrupt - but also quite kind to Maera in her own way. Maybe she would sometimes stitch up Maera's clothes or feed Maera a hearty, meaty dinner - even though she didn't have to.

If you're struggling to think of a real, tangible, unique memory such as this - then it's always helpful to go back to the old classic of write what you know. Think of a real life moment or memory - something that's stuck with you, no matter how simple - then adapt it to your character.

To create this vineyard example, I simply drew on my experience of picking strawberries with my Nonna after school.

Mentor / Idol

I could write an entire thesis on mentors. Or, more specifically, the "death of the mentor" trope - both in its literal and metaphorical interpretations.

But, for the sake of brevity, let's save that sh*t for another time and focus on what's important for a basic (yet complex) character template. And that is:

The Formative Mentor (past); and

Transformative Mentor (present).

The formative mentor (or idol) is someone who influenced your character prior to the events of the novel. Sometimes they're a character the reader will meet, or other times, they're long gone before the novel even begins.

The transformative mentor is a much looser term. It doesn't necessarily have to be a traditional mentor character, but rather it is a character who heavily influences or changes your protagonist throughout the events of the novel.

For Maera, I want her earliest idol to be a random female sell-sword who she crossed paths with. Prior to meeting this sell-sword, Maera was living without hope for a future, surviving on scraps and petty crime.

But after seeing an independent and moderately wealthy sell-sword in her local tavern, Maera got a glimpse into the kind of life that might be possible if she learned to fight. With the right kind of skills, she might be able to earn some decent money for a change - and travel the world.

This is an example of how "mentors" don't always have to be a wise wizard who oversees your protagonist's training and education. Young minds are impressionable - and even distant figures can have a lasting impact.

Just look at all the women who cite Legally Blonde as the reason why they were drawn to law. Elle Woods wasn't even real - but for plenty of young girls, she made an impact.

Similarly, your protagonist's "present" mentor or idol doesn't necessarily have to be a wise wizard either. It can simply be someone who motivates them to change their world view or strive to be better.

In romance, it is more than acceptable to have the present mentor coincide with the love interest - especially in standalone enemies-to-lovers. I know this seems counter-intuitive, since the word "mentor" implies a power imbalance, but it makes more sense if you readjust your definition of mentor to be "inspires change".

However, for Maera, I kind of like the idea of pairing her up with a love interest who shares some of her flaws. I vibe with the idea of making him a bit self-interested too, although for different reasons.

So in her example, I've listed the present mentor as a selfless secondary character. The way I would envision this going is Maera and the love interest team up early on - but somewhere along the way a secondary character saves them both. They're both heavily influenced by this character before this character sacrifices themselves. The aftermath of this incident rattles both Maera and her love interest, and serves as the spark for growth.

I hope you found this template - and very long explanation - useful!

[aingeal98]

Since you mentioned Reverse Robins au.

I was wondering, if Cass was around for Garzonas incident (happening mostly the same as canon) and had somewhat bonded with Jason at that point.

How do you think she would react to it? Especially since Jason is claiming he didn't kill him?

(Something I am weirdly invested in my own brain's Reverse Robins AU)

Ooh really good question! The immediate thought I have is that Cass would change the nature of the story significantly, because the initial emotional hook relies on the uncertainty of whether or not Jason killed that man. He claims he didn't, Bruce isn't sure, the first big crack in their relationship is formed.

But Cass just... Wouldn't accept that ambiguity. She'd read Jason's body language and decide for herself whether he was lying or not. And so you end up with two potential storylines.

Option 1: Jason didn't kill Garzonas. The man fell to his death. Bruce being Bruce he could find a way to still make this about how he doesn't trust Jason even though he believes Cass when she tells him he's innocent. Because while Bruce and Cass are similar in moral code they do have a key difference with how they approach others with that moral code: Bruce treats his allies as a part of his mission to control. If Jason failed to save that man that means Bruce failed in trusting him. Jason wasn't good enough and Bruce is doing something wrong because Robin should be good enough always. There's a core emotion here of a father genuinely concerned with the mental wellbeing of his son after a traumatic incident but the chances of Bruce actually being able to address that instead of processing it through the lens of The Mission and Batman and Robin are uh. Slim. Meanwhile Cass... Doesn't really expect the same of her allies? If Jason failed to save Garzonas then that's not on him for not being quick enough to save him, it's on Cass for not being there. Jason is Jason it sucks that he wasn't quick enough to stop Garzonas from falling but he's not a good enough fighter to be responsible for every life. That's on Cass. Equally as unhelpful to Jason emotionally but this difference in viewpoint means there's likely to be friction between Bruce and Cass because Cass would feel compelled to defend Jason. He tried to do good, doesn't that count for something? And Bruce would point out that a man is still dead and Cass would take that to heart because she takes everything related to death to heart. Meanwhile she'd be utterly useless at comforting Jason because Jason would be feeling incredibly hurt and angry that this was even a point of contention when the man was so horrible and Cass would do her usual "Maybe he could have changed 🥺" and Jason, hurt and defensive, would snap that he didn't kill the man but he's glad he's dead. So ultimately you end up with all three family members upset and betrayed and not talking to each other until someone (probably Damian) comes around to lecture some sense into Bruce before he loses two more kids.

Option two: Jason did kill Garzonas. Bruce immediately starts spiralling and getting concerned about how Jason is doomed by his bad childhood to be innately violent and evil or whatever classist bullshit he tends to fixate on instead of showing concern for what his son has just been through. Meanwhile Cass... Wouldn't be as betrayed as she was when Kate shot Clayface but she still would be hurt because Robin killed a man... Robin thought this man deserved death, does he think I deserve death too? (The answer is obviously no because no one except for Cass would argue that she and Garzonas are morally alike but lol. Lmao. Good luck getting her to accept that.) She wouldn't be on board with Bruce's concerns because she believes that everyone can change but her insistence of this combined with Bruce's attitude would probably grate on Jason because why does he need to prove himself a good person for letting a rapist fall to his death? Maybe Garzonas should have had better balance if he was going to be such a piece of shit.

So interestingly enough despite Cass removing the ambiguity from the situation I don't think there's a way for her to make the situation better and not worse. Especially since she would be around the same age as Jason. Even if she wants to support him and tell him he's not a bad person she wouldn't have the emotional clarity or the correct mentality at that age to comprehend the root of his hurt and would probably just make him even more depressed because not only is Bruce judging him but Cass is supporting him for all the wrong reasons. Because the point isn't about whether Jason did or didn't kill Garzonas the point is that having to confront and then try to save such an evil man before watching him fall to his death is a very traumatising situation for a child to be in and the last thing he needs is judgement on his morals, regardless of whether it's Bruce's concern over Jason's true nature or Cass's self assuredness that what happened was Bad but it doesn't mean that Jason is Bad. There is no one in that house who would go "Hey maybe this evil man's death really wasn't the main problem here and wasn't a definitively Bad thing that Jason must be judged for one way or another." and so Jason would likely feel the same way he did in canon even if the insecurity was no longer from Bruce not believing him, but instead from his reaction to the truth.

Thanks for the ask! I hope this makes sense lmao I had way too much fun teasing through potential outcomes.

[venuscnjunctpluto]

Astrology Observation pt. 2

(Thank y’all for all the support on my first one❤️🙌🏾)

*as a sag Venus sag mars pls stop asking me why I’m laughing…I’m not laughing at YOU I’m just insane😝

*moon in the 1st synastry is so therapeutic you just feel really comfortable opening up to the 1st house person and as the 1st house person I feel honored someone trusts me enough to share their feelings🫶🏾

*people w aqua and libra in their big three are the chillest mfs you’ll ever meet. Even though I’m very chaotic anytime someone describes me “chill” just seems to be thrown in there. We space out ALOT and it’s honestly embarrassing😭 Ex: Alicia keys, lil Wayne, Harry styles, Rosalia. Harry gives such himbo energy in interviews and they drag him for it in the comments but he’s probably just thinking about multiple things at once. Alicia keys didn’t even realize lil mama was on that stage and went on performing lol. Obviously lil Wayne smokes but something about his energy…he’s on cloud 9. And just go watch Rosalia’s chicken shop episode💕😂.

*honestly Aries mars aren’t that bad when it comes to temper because usually they find ways to manage it. Now mars-Uranus aspects is a completely different story. I have late mars-Uranus and it takes me a while to get mad but when I do I can’t even think anymore. My old roomie had a tight square and she would blow up on people for no actual reason like girl sit down😭

*something about Scorpio mars men is just😮‍💨 they have such a sneaky energy to them that makes them stand out. Virgo mars are fine too they’re just so skinny and no matter wtf they do they’re always nerdy ugh (ex: Matthew gray gubler, Lucky daye, Dylan O’Brien, Jeff Buckley)

*i noticed Aries moon don’t really get along w each other. They find their own energy to be too mf much (which it can be) so they prefer being around more calmer people *coughs* libra moons like me. They wanna be bouncing off the walls 🤪 while their friend is just like 🙂.

* fire risings do a lot of things fast. As an Aries rising, I walk fast, get happy fast, eat fast, workout fast. My cousin is complaining her sag rising toddler eats and drinks way too fast.

*venus in 11th…how many tiktok drafts do y’all got😭

*i talked to this guy who had similar placements as me (Venus in 8th and moon in 6th plus Aquarius and Aries placements) It was so chaotic it was literally us going back and forth obsessing over eachother while trying to keep it lowkey. But also the amount of anxiety we are naturally incline to have made the whole situation too mf much.

*i have mercury conjunct my friends mars and for years she tells me the things I say can take people there and make them wanna fight me. It’s in Capricorn and so I was confused before I knew we had that aspect

* i noticed rappers whose lines always stick out to me have Gemini mars or mercury- mars (central cee, king von, tupac, kendrick , j. cole)

*i was talking to this guy and I had Venus and mars plus pluto in his 4th house. Months after we stopped talking our friend groups meshed and he would tell me non-stop I reminded him of his mother. He said she was the same height as me and y’all I was scared to ask what she looked like cause 😫 y’all remember that episode of family guy when Chris dated that girl that looked like Lois yep 4th house synastry.

*im a true crime whore and two women who killed their bfs had sun-Uranus aspects. Their energy was erratic and very off putting in videos. I can’t remember the other one but Courtney tailor/clenney was one.

* More spilling my business on the Internet😍 i think I’m done entertaining people my age. Pluto in the 8th, Lilith in 1st, and Venus conjunct Pluto synastry has been hell. Where’s my sugar daddy/mama?? It’s ghetto out here

*gemini Lilith generation whose a year younger than me is nasty asf😭 esp the tauruses they have their Lilith conjunct their Gemini Venus and opposite their Pluto. One said he had a slept w two girls at separate times. He didn’t know they met until the girls posted a selfie together and tagged him. They later told him they wanted a threesome and he did it😭 knowing astrology I believed every word

* sidebar Neptune-asc people and trying to give off innocent vibes ugh annoying asf to me. I can see right through their bs but they’re able to fool most people.

* mercury-Pluto aspects are in fact LIARS and throw a Scorpio placement in there😮‍💨

[pingpongbqll]

So, I wanna give my thoughts about the situation that's going on right now.

TW: Please do not, NOT, harass anyone I mentioned in this post!

To give a short recap about all of this, there's a ranfren content creator, just like me, named @lorrainailurophile who is being accused of copying potato's ranfren OC, Murderer. Someone called @sweetswirlybread made all of these false claims about Muri "copying" Murderer.

So, let me break through all of them and prove why this dumbass is wrong with the claims and evidence I have.

This is going to be a long post, so if you don't want to read all of this and want more depth into this, go to Muri's page or Swirly's to find all of these stupid claims.

Before we get into this, let's talk about what the difference of copying and inspiring art.

When you're inspiring art, you mostly get the idea from someone else and make it your own. That's totally fine because you're using other's ideas into making something that's your own work and mostly using your ideas for it.

However, when you copy another person's art, it's obviously stealing. You're basically making it obvious by tracing over the character body, coloring in the places that's already been colored, and making some uncanny versions of the design that you stole.

Okay, now, let's take a dive to the accusations.

So, number 1!

The Facial Expressions

This first claim comes from how similar Murder and Muri's facial expressions are because of the squinted eyes and the sly smile.

These facial expressions are usually the key point to ranfren characters' designs.

Here are a few examples:

Nana, the one and only glorious snake queen, also has squinted eyes. Although the smile is different, the eyes are just like Murderer and Muri's.

And let's not forget about Randal himself.

Funny enough, he also has the same kind of expression with the eyes and mouth.

Not only with these expressions, there are also some images of the 'oval eyes'.

These are some of the many examples that showcase these eyes. If you want to see more, just go to the official website to look for yourself.

Number 2!

The "Copy" of Murderer

Now, this is obviously really ridiculous to me.

Saying that someone's oc is a copy to another person's oc is kinda ridiculous to me. And let me say why.

The images that Swirly provided show Muri in a worn-out and dirty t shirt and Murderer having the same kind.

Huh, what are surprise! So, people can't wear worn-out and dirty t shirt? Cause I've also seen a lot of ocs wearing that kind of clothing as well!

Another claim they made is that even the outfits for their current design are also similar, and Muri copied that as well.

So, basically, if someone is wearing a black bodysuit with something on their head, is automatically a copy of Murderer?

There are a lot of ranfren ocs who have a bodysuit as their design, and they also have something on their head!

Like, take Carpet Kitty, a canon ranfren character, as an example.

Do you see how she's also wearing a bodysuit with something on her head?

Man, I'm sure that's just a total coincidence.

Number 3!

The Chibi Artstyle

This is another claim that is also obviously stupid because the fact that the two arts barely look alike.

I mean, just look at the chibi art that CaptainHowdie, THE creator, made!

Oh, wow, this looks so similar to the art that Potato made!

Notice the head, the body, and the style itself?

Notice how so eerily similar that looks?

I'm sure that's just a total coincidence.

Number 4!

The Height Character Data

This just made me roll my eyes.

I knew there was going to be a claim about this, so I did a small comparison on my own

Now, can you explain to me how does this look similar?

The facial expression may look a little similar, but look at the size, the body proportions, and the details in general.

Before you say anything about the size, I did make the two images aligned together, and they still ended up being totally different sizes.

Also, Swirly added something about the knife.

Like, again, ocs can't use knives? They can't use knives as a weapon or like an accessory or something?

Does that mean Nyen can't use a knife cause he also uses that as his primary source?

Again, stop claiming whatever a character has as their own. Anyone can use that.

Number 5!

The Background

This claim shows how Muri traced the background that another ranfren oc creator was using for their art. This is again false because it's confirmed that Muri did drew this while taking inspiration of the background.

I won't go too hard on this claim cause I kinda understand why they would see this to be traced.

Number 6!

The Name

At this point, I believe Swirly's account is just rage bait.

The name.

Murderer and Muri.

You're claiming that Muri is copying Potato because of their oc's name?

I'm going to say this one final time, stop claiming whatever things a character has on their own!

Guess what people who have a name that starts with 'Mur', you are a copy of someone's oc!

Now, my thoughts about all this is that Swirly just made all these claims cause they might want attention or something.

Please do ACTUAL research before you start pointing fingers at someone.

This could be a serious risk as someone who is just trying to show their skills on the internet get basically blasted off for something that they didn't try to intentionally do.

And also, you can't fight all this back by drawing r34 of that oc without the creator's consent and dismissing it by saying you don't care if they're a minor.

So, please, stop. Just stop.

Muri, I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. Just know that you're not alone and there are people like me and other people who support you, who'll stick by your side. So, keep on doing what you're doing and don't give up!

[3hks]

I write fanfics but I was wondering if you could give some tips for writing angst? Or like just how to write angst in general

Thanks in advance if you do

-anon

Yes, of course! I LOVE angst so much, so thank you for asking! There's a lot of different types of angst, so I'll briefly go over several and give you some advice on how to make it hurt!

First of all, let's talk about the two different types of angst briefly (I'm sure there are more, but I think these two categories cover most of them!). In the first half, I'll roughly cover the internal/emotional one, which is pretty much a one-man-show for angst!

Let's start with the emotions involved with this group. There are a few key feelings--besides depression--that you'll want to be able to utilize because they are the foundation of good angst!

Emptiness: Not necessarily sad, but it's emotion where there's nothing except for a hint of melancholy and perhaps loneliness or a lack of fulfillment.

Numbness: In all honesty, numbness is essentially the same as emptiness but it's usually the result of another emotion. (Grief, shock, stress, etc.)

Regret/Guilt: This hurts A LOT. The feeling of regret for something you did/didn't do is incomparable. Painful reflections, agonizing over a sorrowful mistake, and being forced to accept it knowing there's no going back is absolutely HEARTBREAKING--which is why it makes good angst!

Loneliness: Being isolated and/or feeling alone makes one feel disconnected from everyone else. This is a common factor in depression.

Self-Hate: A traditional one; nothing hurts more than seeing a character beat themselves up when they shouldn't.

Despair: The feeling of excessive hopelessness leaves your character feeling powerless and in a metaphorical sense, drowning.

Internal angst can create highly pensive situations while involving one person! Thus, first person point of view or third person limited (to the character) is the best option because focuses and highlights the character. Not to mention, thoughts are crucial to angst for it offers insight to their person and obviously, first person is the best at accomplishing that goal, but third person limited can also achieve a similar effect!

Next, there's the romantic/platonic type of angst. This not only relies on the emotions and thoughts of the characters, but is also subjective to the situation they're in, which means there's more freedom to explore around! Again, let's look at some emotions that are commonly used!

Hate: Hate is frequently found in problematic and/or toxic romance tropes. Sometimes it could be one-sided hate, where one resents the other, but the other holds absolutely no hate, and sometimes it's mutual animosity.

Fear: This fear is typically along the lines of being afraid of rejection, so much so that it feels difficult to make a decision and progress forward. Fear can easily delve into anxiety.

Longing: Unrequited love hurts a lot, but it doesn't always have to be one-sided. Both sides pining for each other unbeknownst to them also makes a good story.

Grief: The loss of a loved one is hard to cope with yet relatable, generating a lot of empathy and empathy from your readers

Hesitation: In particular, when the ship or close friends are hesitant to get close. This could be due to outside factors, fear of opening up, or self-doubt.

Additionally, the emotions I listed in the previous division still applies here! Contrary to the internal angst, this type works better when both perspectives are written to fully demonstrate their current circumstances and dynamic. Third person is recommended!

But on top of emotions, the situation matters a lot too, so I'll quickly go over some examples of situations that can induce angst!

Anxiety/Panic attacks: This includes a lot of intrusive, scattered, and overwhelming thoughts. Description-wise, make sure to focus on their senses! (Ex: Breathing: heaving, struggling to breath, etc.) Chest/heart: tightening up, pounding loudly, etc.) Eyesight: Blurring, unfocused, etc. Hearing: Too loud, drowned out, etc.)

Final Messages: Did your character die or leave? Their final messages matter a LOT. After all, that's they last thing they're remember by. Sometimes these messages are kind, but they can also reveal confessions (love, regret, mistakes) that hurt, and they can even completely change how your character views themselves and the world.

Misunderstandings: Misunderstandings can go from innocent mistakes to detrimental oversights. Many romantic slow-burns incorporate this tool, as a matter of fact!

Coping: For the most part, it's good if someone's able to cope with a devastating situation, but sometimes these can be quite painful. For example, maybe a character's coping mechanism is to avoid all topics of their previous love, preventing them from facing the issue head-on.

In conclusion, writing angst involves a lot of aspects! From start to end, there will be a huge mix of emotions and thoughts. It may be hard to figure everything out, but try your best to apply your past experiences and do what you think fits the best!

Happy writing~

3hks <3

[para-dweller]

Privacy is in a terrible situation right now.

Especially on the internet. You know, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter(X), Apple, and even Tumblr all collect information about you to show you scarily accurate advertisements among other things.

Why does this matter?

This isn't about hiding information, it's about protecting information. You wouldn't let me know your entire life, your diary, all your photos and text messages, so why do you let random companies do the same?

Privacy Guides - Why Privacy Matters

So how do you stop this?

You can't. But you can lessen this. So I'm going to show you a non-exhaustive list of what I've used and what I know of that may help your privacy. I would recommend you go to privacyguides.org after if you want a better explanation. I'm just here to show you cool things.

Disclaimer

I am not a library on this sort of information and this is what I choose to use. I may be incorrect and you may have differing opinions. Also, this may be too extreme for everybody. Use what works for you. Again, I would recommend you go to privacyguides.org after you read this for a more in-depth and better explanation.

VPNs

You know what a VPN is. You've seen the sponsorships. VPNs are one of the most popular privacy tools, but know that they are not the only tool that you'd need. This list is evidence of that.

I would recommend Proton VPN, Mullvad, and IVPN for most users, as they provide a far better amount of privacy and features than VPNs such as Nord VPN, Surfshark, and Express VPN. If you really want unlimited devices go with Windscribe.

I personally use Proton VPN due to the fact that I use their other services.

Browsers

You should probably know that Google Chrome is basically spyware at this point. The issue here is, almost all Chromium-based browsers are. These include, Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi. The only real exception would be Brave, but they've got leadership issues, which may not be a deal breaker for you.

So what do you use? A Firefox-based browser. This obviously includes Firefox, but most Firefox-based browsers are privacy-focused. The browsers that I recommend are Firefox, Librewolf, the Mullvad Browser, Waterfox, and Brave.

There is also the Tor Browser, but that is a whole 'nother can of worms that I will not go into. All I will say is that if you are in a high-risk environment(such as an oppressive regime) or you need absolutely no one to know that you searched that one thing, you may want to use the browser for anonymity.

I use Firefox as my main browser, with Brave as the browser that I use if something doesn't work on Firefox. I also use Tor if it is a high-risk situation.

Search Engines

Google, Bing, and Yahoo! all log your searches, you need alternatives. This is relatively straight-forward.

I recommend, Qwant, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, Brave Search, and Startpage. Both Qwant and DuckDuckGo are fairly similar as they both use Bing search results and say that they don't track you. SearXNG is more complex, and I will not go into detail here. If you really want Google search results, use Startpage. And if you don't want your search to rely on Bing or Google, use Brave Search.

I use Qwant, mainly just cause its European.

Passwords

Passwords are the keys to your digital life. And most of the time they're not that great. You know the drill here, make passwords like this- XmaE7PEj2hq9ed$w - but you can't really remember them. For that you need a password manager.

I recommend Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and KeepassXC. Bitwarden and Proton Pass are more convenient, but you are trusting a single entity, reputable ones, but still. KeepassXC isn't as convienent, but you have near full control over what happens to it.

I use Proton Pass, as I use other Proton services.

Email

Email is identity, you almost always use your email in order to register for sites like Tumblr, and sites that aren't anything like Tumblr. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! all use your email inbox in order to gain more information about you for their companies. There are quite a few email providers, but I've only used and recommend two.

I recommend Proton Mail and Tuta Mail. Both are good email providers, although Proton would be better if you use other Proton services, like I do.

I use both Proton Mail and Tuta Mail for separate email addresses.

Aliases

Email Aliases are also very important for private email. Your email is your name, if you want to private, you'd go under pseudonyms. That's what email aliases are.

I recommend and have used Simplelogin and Firefox Relay. Email providers like Proton and Tuta also give you aliases when you pay. I don't know how well these work, but I assume that they work the Same as Simplelogin and Firefox Relay.

I use Simplelogin.

Devices/OSes

Phones

Now let's turn up the extremity to 11 as we look at your devices. Phone-wise, avoid Apple, they say that they care about your privacy, but they don't. Apple is better than Google, but I'd only recommend using an iPhone if you already have one, and it still has support left. If that's the case, then follow privacy guides like this one by Techlore(His channel is also really great for privacy guides). You should probably use a Google Pixel. Sounds weird as it's owned by GOOGLE, one of the companies that we don't want to be tracked by, but if we go with the Pixels we can use custom ROMs.

Most ROMs exist for your privacy, they are based on the Android Open Source Project(AOSP) which means they can run most of your favourite Android apps without messing them up with Google. In order to run most of your apps however, you're going to need some way of running Google Play Services. This is a backbone black-box that Google forces most of your apps to use in order to function. CalyxOS and LineageOS with MicroG both have MicroG, an open source implementation of Google Play Services. GrapheneOS just straight up uses Google Play Services but sandboxes it so that it can't get its tentacles all up in your phone.

I recommend going like this:

You have a modern-ish Google Pixel phone, go with GrapheneOS.

You don't have a Google Pixel, but your phone is still supported by CalyxOS, go with CalyxOS.

Your phone isn't supported by either of these but still is supported by LineageOS with MicroG, go with LineageOS.

Your phone isn't supported by any of these, you can do as much degoogling as you can.

Techlore also has a fantastic guide on Android Privacy.

Desktops/Laptops

Apple isn't actually that bad here, its better than Windows at least. But Linux is KING when it comes to privacy and security. There is definitely a learning curve here. Pin the terminal, you're going to use it a LOT. Also be aware that on Linux you won't have every single app that you're used to. If you don't really want that hassle, just go with Mac.

Linux distros that I recommend(for beginners) are: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, and Elementary OS.

I use Ubuntu as it's the only one that I could get working on my computer.

Other Pieces of Advice

Use an Ad-blocker! Ads are terrible for privacy as companies can get their trackers in completely unrelated sites via their ads. I use and recommend uBlock Origin.

Don't use any personally identifying information online. Don't use your real name, a picture of you, your voice. The less you give to the internet, the more private you are.

Mix and Match! Explore what works for you. You might be okay with changing OSes but you might be a bit too reliant on GMail. That's fine! Just use what works.

Again, please go to privacyguides.org after this. This did not even scratch the surface but I hope this was useful to you in some way.

[riverofrainbows]

Ok so the black book episode.

I finally watched it.

It could have done with a double feature. There was so much going on. And it worked, emotionally, but it was a lot. The plot was so fucking condensed.

Fuck when they do something they do it right, don't they. The deaths of the three were fucking harrowing. No fanfare or dramatics, just realistic and dead.

I'm so goddamn impressed by Sophie playing 12 different people. I love her. I know she gets a lot of recognition, but she deserves some more. Holy shit her voice training skills must be off the rocks.

I thought they would have hired Quinn for the police officer, he looked kind of similar, and then i thought it was him and Tara. But with Sophie being on phone theatre, of course Nate was free.

I wonder how fast Sterling figured it out. I think about half a minute into the room with Nate. The rest was just playing along, and hesitating whether to actually go through with the con, while setting up an outcome for both decisions. Usually i really don't think he has it all immediately figured out, but usually he isn't at quite that high alert, and the target isn't that clear and big a deal.

It really should have been a double feature, or a movie length episode. There needed to be more time, to really lay it all out.

I like what they used as the contents and method of collection for the black book. I watched another show (can't remember which) where it was some unsourced collection of various evil people, and that was soo shady and frustrating.

I've come across a bunch of Sterling/Nate shipping by now, and I'm starting to agree. Like that is genuinely a love story for the ages. However i am firmly convinced that it is entirely mental and intellectual. I just really can't see them having any relationship type. Not that Sterling wouldn't fuck Nate but that's just Mark Sheppard's insane gay flirting aura. But mentally, those two are having mind sex, and are tragic soulmate lovers. Also because they have divorced vibes. I'm convinced of the headcanon that they were in a couple friendship driven/held up by their wives socialising, and played 6d time travel chess mind games over barbecue (aka having a mind sex love affair right in front of the salad) (but really low key because they wouldn't actually cheat on their wives).

The way the con failed and they died was really realistic and well done and really stressed me out :(((( not over that.

Also the way this confirmed the Hardison-Eliot ship (platonic or romantic) was. Very much canon thank you. Not to mention the "till my dying day". Like hello??? Also the ice cave and rundown job train scene having already confirmed the depth of Eliot-Parker's bond earlier in the season. (But toxic masculinity and being a show from 2009 impeding the Hardison-Eliot part till the last episode/them dying (rituals to touch other mens skin etc etc flashbacks to superhell love confession sth sth bury your gays (except they lived bitch)).

Also the setup with "do you think you could live a normal life" earlier in the season. Also², annotation to that one: Eliot talking about having to help Hardison's restaurant, as if Hardison didn't buy it for him.

I liked the part about order vs justice. Very 'keeping the peace with an abusive person causing more harm than upsetting status quo'.

It's a good ending for a show. Seriously, it's both end of an era and not destroying everything that was before. Still glad we got leverage redemption tho obviously.

Parker being the new mastermind is great

Her monologue ajsbsjjd. I was cackling so bad. It was a fantastic way to really cinematographically tie up the show though, and she is great for the job. Both Hardison (who already has enough to do) and Eliot (who really doesn't like leading) always get way too deep into stuff, including their respective jobs for it, which is one reason why they're so good though don't get me wrong.

Why did she have slicked back hair with no bangs, and weird eyeshadow :( Awful 1/10. One point for her clearly thinking she needs to put on hair gel for stepping into a Nate role for a con, like that is exactly a logic she would have.

Eliot's blue tinted glasses, love it.

I like that they're not having one of the guys do it just for misogyny reasons, and that at the same time her doing it is very well supported and set up by their characterisations, and not as some sort of disrespectful shoehorned girlboss feminism move. Which ends up with a woman being the new mastermind being actually well done too. Because they never do annoying stereotypes at leverage, and thank fuck for that.

I love that Sterling was there for the last episode. Also, i swear, getting used by Nate for a con (while getting something out of it himself) is a kink thing for him. It happens genuinely almost every goddamn time we see him, while he knows and actively plays along.

I want to see more of Sophies telephone theatre :(

How the fuck did they fake the car accident, they should have shown sth on it.

Only because i knew very securely that they were fine did i not get completely freaked out at Hardison lying there on the ground. And i never ever want to see Eliot gargle up blood ever again. :((((

I was 100% convinced that Parker can hold him with just one hand, i was so shocked. Honestly one of the first clues from the story itself that it was fake. Yes i have that much trust in her. Second clue was the balloon.

No actually, first clue was Nate looking at the cameras. Can't remember which first clue came first in the episode.

I thought Nate gave Sterling something when he distracted him from the trio, and clearly Sterling also thought so, he probably took like several seconds to check if he had gotten anything slipped into his pockets afterwards.

I wish we could have seen more of the "you lied to us?" conversation at the end. Not that that wasn't the tldr of it or needed change, but i want to see the whole conversation.

The tunnels were great. I again wish to have gotten even a crumb more information on that.

It might have done well, and I'm just throwing out ideas here, to be a two parter episode, they could have really used some extra space. The plot was really condensed.

It was q good episode, and a very good ending, something oh so rare in tv shows.

[atopvisenyashill]

Feed my delulu bestie… Sansa & Theon book canon??? Your posts give me hope when I shouldn’t have it lol.

there's so much canon evidence dammit! i always get a lil put out when people say it’s a show only thing. certainly the show made it more popular but you can say that about like 90% of the ships in the fandom! and there’s a lot here already without the obnoxious sansa bolton show arc!

For one thing, theon straight up dreams about marrying sansa-

Sansa was the pretty one. He remembered a time when he had thought that Lord Eddard Stark might marry him to Sansa and claim him for a son, but that had only been a child's fancy.

I think this is very similar to Sansa’s fantasies about Willas Tyrell-

She pictured the two of them sitting together in a garden with puppies in their laps, or listening to a singer strum upon a lute while they floated down the Mander on a pleasure barge. If I give him sons, he may come to love me. She would name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon, and raise them all to be as valiant as Ser Loras. And to hate Lannisters, too. In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya.

For both of them, they dream of a marriage that signifies a return to the safety and welcoming of childhood, of home. Notice the focus for both of them on Stark Identity - Theon wants to be accepted as true kin by the family that raised him in an attempt to cope with his status as a hostage while Sansa focuses on the idea of having children named for her lost family members in an attempt to cope with her continued instability also as a hostage.

Which brings me to their shared status as child hostages! While not a unique social status in the world of Terros, they are unique in being our only two PoVs that really dig into the harm of being a hostage. From Theon’s longing to be a Stark and the way it's held against him by Balon to Sansa’s longing to be Joffrey's queen turning to resentment over being “made a Lannister”, both of them go from a sort of rose colored happy go lucky outlook to an extreme drop into brutal reality as Theon reckons with his trauma while sacking Winterfell and Sansa is shoved head first into the danger of politics and intrigue.

As their time as child hostages morphs into a status that is more murky but considerably more dangerous - who knows what the fuck Littlefinger is planning, and whatever Ramsay has cooking it's obviously nothing good - both of them take on another identity in Alayne Stone and Reek. They are both forced into this identity by the person in control of them, becoming subsumed into this new identity. Here is, imo, a very interesting aspect of both their characters as they exhibit a sort of...mental break of a sort when they change identities. They "kill" their old identities and truly become this new person; they act different, they speak different, they actively reject reminders of their former identity, with their chapter names even changing from "Theon" and "Sansa" to their new names. And yet that former identity is a key part of who they are and it cannot stay buried for long-

I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. She did not say it, though.

The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name. I was Theon of House Greyjoy. I was a ward of Eddard Stark, a friend and brother to his children. "Please." He fell to his knees. "A sword, that's all I ask. Let me die as Theon, not as Reek."

Again, both Theon and Sansa focus on their connection to House Stark - Sansa as the blood of Winterfell, Theon as a ward of Ned. For Sansa, it’s about going to the home she took for granted, the home Theon years for; a place she felt safe, a family that loves her, a space she can reflect on her memories and grief with peace and understanding. For Theon, that home never existed at all! It was something he made up in his head, cobbled together from half remembered feelings of love from his mother, a dream of what it might have been like to be an older brother and beloved son. Ultimately, Winterfell and the North represents to both of them the concept of reconciling reality with the dream & delusions they’ve built up in their minds, taking a step forward and growing into adulthood.

Now….the thing about adulthood is it typically involves marriage and that is something I think a lot of people don’t take seriously when it comes to Theonsa - oh theon is too gross or whatever. But the thing is that Theon experiences this kind of sexual violence and helplessness that he himself visited upon others and enabled and I think it puts him in this interesting and unique place of finally understanding a) how gross he actually is and b) connecting to Sansa through a shared sexual helplessness. Now I’m not saying like, ~theon being reek’ed was narrative setup and punishment for theonsa~ but i AM saying this is a natural stepping point (imo) of Theon’s arc.

Think about like. Theon looking the other way while his men rape the women he’s captured, uncomfortable but feeling like this is what is necessary to be seen as A Man (and pay no mind to what they means To Be A Woman). Bedding down with the miller’s wife just to enable the very brutal murder of her sons. Taking his frustration and powerlessness out on Kya sexually. And Kya still tries to escape with him (who else could have possibly helped her?), and he dwells on the ways in which he helped lead her to her death. Dwells on the boys whose bodies he hung on the walls. Dwells on the similarities between his own falling apart body and Jeyne’s bite marks and injuries from Ramsay. For me the next step is - Theon forced to see his own helplessness as a hostage of the Starks and then a captive of Ramsay’s when he confronts Sansa, who was a hostage of the Lannisters and [wild gesture] like the kept pet of Littlefinger’s. I think seeing his own suffering so acutely reflected in the girl he projected his idealistic fantasy of happiness and home onto would be fascinating!

And equally fascinating is Sansa’s perspective - I’m sure she WILL initially see his torture as some sort of cosmic retribution for betraying Robb! But the same as she ultimately only saw another child suffering when Joffrey died in front of her, I think she will see that whatever Theon deserves for what he’s done, being flayed and tortured by Ramsay is not retribution, it’s just more suffering. And once she starts to see past her anger, Sansa too I think will be quite disarmed by the similarities between them. To have been a hostage, to have been some sort of captive under an identity forced on you, to have that captor use his power to force sexual situations you are not asking for onto you, I think it would make Sansa wrestle more with her own place In The System - similar to how being a hostage makes her realize how fucked up her conception of knights and chivalry and court is when compared to the reality, seeing the effect she herself helped have as A Good Hostage Taker will make her reflect. Theon realizing Sansa is her own person with her own inner life and Sansa realizing the same about Theon!

Once again, its about what I talked about re: Sansa and Arya being the only Starks left in Winterfell or Sansa and Jon meeting first! To grow up and embrace adulthood by growing to appreciate the reality in front of you and not the fantasy you conjured up as a child. For Theon to love Sansa for who she is and wrestle with the REALITY of what marriage would be like - both in a sense that he’s physically traumatized & no longer “handsome” but also like, having lived through the concept of “They will make a STARK out of me” and thinking about what it means in the context of sex and relationships. For Sansa to love Theon for who he is and wrestle with the reality of, like, herself in the Lannister shoes in this position, and what being an heiress and marrying actually means for her going forward. Two people who are defined by their identities being eclipsed and overlooked, wrestling with whether they’re repeating that pattern on each other or actually healing and grieving and figuring out how to define themselves on their own and not against someone else.

[skeletoninthemelonland]

hey starbs! I was wondering something, I know you are studying biolgy in uni and as someone who wants to be a biolgist but has been told im too "artistic and creative" to spend my life working with such precise things. I know you are also and artist, obviously, how has it been for you that you are a creative person, yet working with a course that is so strict to what it is (like not incudlign the different types of biolgist, like how you work there you rcant do what you want like you could with art or writing etc)

do you have any advice on how to reach for this goal or how youve felt just wanting to be a biolgist? im struggling alot with future stuff and it would be nice to hear from a fellow artist. (keep up the great work)

I'll be honest and say that studying Biology was a bit of a rushed decision (?)

I had no idea what I truly wanted to do while studying for the entrance exam. I knew I enjoyed different subjects and could work flexibly, but depending on the path I took, things would become either enjoyable or difficult for me. Biology has always been a subject I loved as a kid, but never something I was constantly interacting with growing up. With art that was different. I was definitely more passionate and skilled at art than at anything else.

I would have choosed to work with art, if only I had scored higher in the entrance exam and if only it was easy to make art for a living. Still, I don't regret choosing to study Biology.

It was a little discouraging in the beginning with how little I knew about the subject. Some students had far more knowledge than I ever had growing up. Some of them know exactly how a biology major will help them in the future. There were also people like me who had no idea what they wanted to do, but were willing to learn.

Turns out that Biology is one of the least precise things you could ever work with. Sciences in general is a subject that functions on uncertainty, and is what brings people forward to gather more information. My Plant Anatomy teacher often says "Mas é isso né gente, as plantas não lêem livros" (Which can be translated to "But yeah, plants don't read books"), because very often you'll find exceptions and unexplainable occurances everywhere (In this case, students are taught not to make assumptions about certain morphological characteristics that are present in plants... but not in all of them).

Artistic and creative are traits that are incredibly helpful and often necessary as skills. In a more literal approach, it might help you understand illustrated examples and "train your eye" for the tiniest details. Using your creativity as a tool to learn will immediately make things easier for you. I can't always draw and paint like I used to, but I can say that "motor proteins travelling along microtubules look like tiny people going for a walk :D" and never forget the information.

Being creative helps you make analogies with already existing information, so it's easier to retain it. I could also say "motor proteins travelling along microtubules remind me of Michael Afton walking down the sidewalk :D" and it's even easier to remember! Play with the information like it's a toy. If you can explain it to a 5 year old, that's because you learned.

But of course, there will always be classes that are more difficult than others. Mathematics will always be that one for me. You can't escape the challenging parts ^^'

Overall, it really depends on the person. It might work for me, and it might not work for you. The key is to explore and experiment on your own pace. Answers will come to you if you keep searching for them.

My best advice (in any major you're choosing), which will likely save your time, energy and sanity, is to find people like you. Not necessarily people who share similar interests as you, but people that you can count on and share your struggles — and they'll sometimes share their own. Befriending people often keeps you grounded and less anxious about how you'll perceive yourself and the future. It's a win-win interaction. Everyone is struggling, so we'll help each other out.

Remember it's okay to not know things right away. Remember it's okay that you're not as skilled as x person. Remember it's okay to be kind to yourself.

I could be saying all of this, but every day there's a huge effort to remind myself to take it slow. Reality oftens becomes skewed when we don't give ourselves a break.

I hope I helped you somehow, with the little to no experience I've had over the past few months. Wishing you and any other person reading this and who's in a similar situation good luck.

-----

One last advice.

Please, SLEEP!

SLEEP. SLEEP. SLEEP.

Don't even think about staying up late. SLEEP. Eat healthy whenever you can. Carry a banana with you, they have potassium — which is fucking great for your organism !!!

CARRY WATER. EVERYWHERE. TAKE 💧💧💧💦💦💦💦💧💧💦💦

How is anyone supposed to make good decisions while exhausted, grumpy, dehydrated, overwhelmed and hungry? THERE IS NO WAY. TREAT YOURSELF WITH CARE !!!! NOOOWWWW