#royalty-free rights agreement

[l-a-hughes]

[jeonggukookies]

crown's kingdom || three

summary: jungkook doesn't know what to do or how to feel when you try breaking up the alliance.

– genre: royalty!au, enemies to lovers!au, prince!jungkook, queen!reader, arranged marriage - fluff/angst

– word count : 4,999

index || one || two

The following day, Jungkook ran. 

When the Queen of Aurum told her son that the Queen of Calestia broke off their engagement and was arranging a marriage with Prince Dasher, he ran. 

Before his mother could even elaborate further details, Jungkook sprinted out of bed and headed towards his father's study in his oversized white silk pajamas. He was like a bolt of lightning, moving at fast intensity and taking giant strides. Somehow, without his shoes on, Jungkook was outrunning all the guards. 

"Is it true?" Jungkook asked when he bursted through the conference doors. He was panting, out of breath. His breathing became small gasps, filling up the room. "Tell me, is it true, Father?"

"Well, good morning to you too," the King quipped, looking up from his desk. He laughed when he saw Jungkook barefoot. "You must've been so excited that you had to run all the way here to hear the news yourself."

"Is it truly so?" Jungkook asked again, ignoring his father's remarks. He was panting and taking big breaths after each word. "Doth it be true?"

As the King scoffed at Jungkook's question, the guards finally caught up and entered the room along with Jungkook's mother. She immediately ran up to her son, patting his back in comfort. "Guards! Bring me water!" 

"Is it true?" Jungkook asked again. 

"You really couldn't have waited a minute longer. You did not need to rush over here without putting clothes on!" Jungkook's mother scolded him. "Are you hurt?"

"Aren't you happy, my dearest son? You got what you wanted," Jungkook's father said. 

The Prince stayed silent, trying to catch his breath. His father is right; he got what he wanted. Jungkook was free from you. 

"I did," Jungkook said. "You're right."

An unfamiliar feeling was growing in Jungkook's gut, twisting and turning all his insides. It had been the same feeling he had when greeting Prince Dasher with you. Jungkook didn't know whether he was hungry or if he sensed there was something wrong. But he knew mentioning his concern would ruin his freedom away from you. He should be happy, but oddly enough, he felt some disappointment.

"Drink this." The guards handed Jungkook a glass of water. 

In one gulp, he drank the water and finished it quickly. Still struggling to take air in, Jungkook took some deep breaths in and out from the cup as if it were a paper bag, trying to regulate his breathing back to normal. Jungkook noticed his hands violently shake as he held the glass. "Thank you."

After a moment of silence, the King continued. "They requested the wedding to be hosted in Cometes—" 

"Cometes?!" Jungkook interrupted the King mid-sentence, something he had never done before. Though Jungkook may be defiant and go against his father's wishes, he was taught from an early age not to interrupt his father, as listening was a sign of respect. "Are you allowing the wedding to be there?"

The King stood up and walked in the direction of where Jungkook and his mother were. His father raised his eyebrows at Jungkook and then at the Queen. They had stared at each other for a quick moment, exchanging no words. But one look can truly say a thousand words; Jungkook could read his parents' confusion by his sudden reaction and interest in your politics. "Is there a problem with that?"

“No, Sir,” Jungkook said. He stood straight up, his whole body going rigid. "There is no problem." 

"Well, the newly-crowned Prince requested the wedding be there, but that would be a stupid idea. We've protected this girl for almost all her life. Before you came rushing in, Y/N and I came to an agreement. The last condition I asked for is to have her royal wedding here in three days' time, where she will be safe and comfortable," the King explained. 

"In the end, Aurum will still benefit with all these royal and noble guests coming in," the Queen added. "Perhaps we can find a new engagement and alliance for our country during this wedding." 

"I don't care about that," Jungkook snapped. "What about her borders? Her troops? Are they going to help her?"

"With the announcement of the wedding and their alliance to Cometes, Luxuria has kindly pulled their troops away from the Caelestia border…for now." 

"That quickly?" Jungkook asked, trying to understand how it was possible. "Isn't that suspicious?"

"Let it be their problem whether they rule," the King dismissed, waving his hand away in the air. "Either way, the girl is safe." 

Jungkook said slowly, "Therefore, Queen Y/N will have protection and will not be harmed if she were to travel back to her royal court or Cometes." 

"Yes, that is correct," both his parents answered. 

"She will not be harmed," Jungkook repeated, enunciating each syllable. "She will be safe."

Annoyed, his father sighed as he returned to his desk and sat down, resuming the work. "Yes, Jungkook, she will be safe." 

Her country and her people will be safe too, Jungkook thought to himself. And that's what mattered. 

But when midnight came, Jungkook couldn't sleep. 

Jungkook was twisting and turning in his royal blue bed sheets, replaying his last moments with you in his head. He's never had a problem with sleeping until now. When he was younger, he would always be the first one to be heard snoring during nap time while the rest of the kids barely closed their eyes. 

All his thoughts kept back to you. He just kept seeing the look of pain on your face from the night before. It somehow became a memory he could not erase from his mind; he couldn't even hit pause either, hoping this feeling would be forgotten after a deep slumber. 

"Why did you summon me at like 2 in the morning?" His best friend, Amicus, asked as he entered Jungkook's room to find him on the couch, angrily staring at the brick wall in front of him. Amicus sat on the couch adjacent to Jungkook's with a look of worry mixed with confusion. "You good?"  

"I fucking hate Y/N," Jungkook spatted. "I hope her bed ends up in the river tomorrow morning."

"Nothing new." His best friend was unphased. "Is that it? This is what is keeping you up at night? You demanded your guards to drag me here so that you can talk about hating Y/N?" 

"But this time, it is different!" Jungkook insisted, finally facing Amicus. Amicus's curly blond hair was out of place, parts sticking out as if he had bathed and forgotten to dry his hair before sleeping. Jungkook figured that Amicus must have rushed out of his room as there was a small drool stain on the left corner of his mouth and some on his red nightwear. 

"Ever since she came to Aurum Court, I have never once felt bad or thought twice about what I do and say to her. But some things happened, and I feel wrong if I were to sleep." 

"She's probably not even thinking about it," Amicus tried to reassure the crowned Prince. "Besides, I bet whatever happened is just the normal banter between you. It is just how you guys are. I think she knows the both of you are assholes." 

"Okay, I like to think I'm not a total asshole." Amicus raised his eyebrows at Jungkook, looking at him with a look of disbelief on his face. "Are you fucking serious?"

"You're my best friend and everything," Amicus paused, trying to choose the right words carefully. "But personally, if someone tried to ship me back to my country in a crate with no breathing holes, I would probably say they are an asshole for the rest of my life." 

"We were eight!" Jungkook tried defending himself. "Why must everyone still make such a great deal about it?

"How many years has it been? I believe she's still waiting for an apology."

"Well, she'll wait a while for that one, as what I did the night prior is worse than what I've done before."

"Jungkook, get to the point." Despite being a calm person, Amicus lost his patience with his best friend. Usually, Amicus was by Jungkook's side, listening to the same old drama without a single complaint. Still, with Prince Dasher at Aurum Court, he had spent the whole day with Dasher's noblemen and knights, entertaining the other royal guests. Unlike the Prince, Amicus was not born to talk to others and be the center of attention. From a young age, Amicus was brought up to the castle and grew up by Jungkook's side, and he liked it that way. He swore to himself that he would love to listen to all his best friend's curses for the rest of his life as long as this night could end.

"I might have been nice to her," Jungkook mumbled incoherently, not wanting to admit what happened entirely.

Anicus raised his eyebrows. "You what? I don't know what you said." 

Jungkook released a forced chuckle, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He then looked at the ground, breaking eye contact with Amicus. "We both accidentally became…friends? And while we were in our new level…of a relationship, I might have accidentally said I will never want her and that she should leave this country." 

Even without looking, Jungkook knew Amicus had a dirty look. "How do you accidentally do that? What the hell does that even mean?! How is that even possible? Did you just stop hating her randomly for fun?" 

"Of course not!" The Crowned Prince explained all the events and all his feelings to Amicus, finally processing everything said and done between the two of you. 

Although there was no verbal confirmation of a truce, Jungkook felt like he had stabbed you in the back with his words. The two of you might have cut each other in the past, but it was never a wound that could be this deep. He was afraid of the wound, and it ached him as if he were the one stabbed. 

"Why do you hate her if you were the one to say those things?" Amicus asked, surprised by all the information. "Why did you even say that to her?"

"I don't know." Jungkook buried his face in the palm of his hand, elbow leaning on the armchair. "I mean, I guess we both want out of this arranged marriage. This was an easy out that she wasn't taking, and maybe I just thought hurting her would get that help. She shouldn't have to wait and hope for Aurum to help her when we don't give her anything. I helped her, but she hates me, and I hate her for it." 

"I'm sure she knows you did this for both of you guys."

Jungkook ignored his comment, not finding any comfort in it. "What am I supposed to do?" 

Amicus was silent for a while before speaking. "So what? Why are you overthinking this? She probably didn't take it personally, and it'll all return to normal in the meantime." 

Jungkook sighed in defeat. "I suppose you're right." 

Little did Jungkook know, you took it by heart.

Although your schedules lined up with each other, you have tried to avoid him at all costs by changing your schedule and having your ladies-in-waiting accompany you to every single event, never leaving your side. Since your conversation with Jungkook, you didn't want to be alone with him, wanting your friends to protect you away from him. With them there, you knew Jungkook would not try to approach you. 

"Are you seriously considering this offer?"  Lady Adoree asked. "We can figure out a way. You don't have to do it."

Before you could answer, your other two ladies-in-waiting, Lady Dal and Lady Haenim, arrived at the round lunch table, sitting next to you and Lady Adoree. 

"Do what?" Lady Dal and Haenim asked at the same time. 

Despite being identical twins, they couldn't be more different. 

Lady Dal was free-spirited and confident, often complimented for her charming aura. Often, she would ignore her duties at royal court and sneak off to buy the most expensive and luxurious gowns, specifically white and pink ones; however, she would only wear these dresses once, not wanting to repeat the outfit twice. Dal was impulsive and unpredictable, not caring about authority or the consequences of her actions. Though her actions may come off as vain, undaunting, and irresponsible, you knew Lady Dal would protect you and her loved ones with her life. 

Unlike her twin, Lady Haenim always hid in the shadows and stuck her nose in a book, often enjoying religious texts. Lady Haenim was always praying, thanking the divine spirit for allowing her to be born into a noble family and that her status was able to offer her an education. Although she was more reserved than your other ladies-in-waiting, she always spoke out for her beliefs and moral convictions. 

Their parents were blessed with daughters and were proud to have an accomplished, humble daughter like Haemin and a beautiful, charismatic daughter like Dal.

"My options are limited, Adoree." You sighed.  "We all know I have to accept his proposal for Caelestia." 

"What about Prince Jungkook?" Haemin asked.

"What about him?" You gave a warning glare to your ladies as you knew Jungkook was at a table behind you, possibly trying to listen to the conversation in front of him. The twins gave you a confused look while Adoree looked down at her plate, trying to act normal. 

"Lower your voice," you warned in a low voice. "There are people nearby who can be listening." 

Haemin looked at her sister and mouthed Jungkook's name. Dal took a quick look at his table, made awkward eye contact with Amicus, and tilted her head slightly down to apologize. "But have you really not talked to him since? Would you not care for the reason for his behavior?" Haemin asked. 

"Even if she is curious, this is Jungkook we are talking about," Dal said with a bitter tone. "He may see no wrong in his actions." 

"Perhaps he does not, but there is a possibility he does see some wrong if he treated Y/N with kindness earlier that day." 

"Please, that boy has been a menace his whole life. He probably was acting nice because of forced proximity. Once he found an out, he then reverted back to his old ways. A tiger doesn't change its stripes." 

Haemin rolled her eyes at her sister. She picked up the little fork and placed it into the salad bowl. "But would you really marry a total stranger than someone you know?" 

"It isn't what I desire, but what choice do I have?" You exclaimed. "I have already arranged to move to Cometes in the next two days." 

"Then we must be ready as well," Adoree decreed.

"I cannot ask you guys to come with me when you've been here most of your life. You will not accompany me and will be free of your servitude."

"It's an honor to be in your servitude. We want to be there for you, our best friend," Haemin insisted. 

"Besides, we cannot pass up an opportunity to travel and find new interesting suitors," Dal giggled. 

"Have you no more guests to entertain? Did you finally go through all the gentlemen of Aurum?" Jungkook asked as he was now beside your table with Amicus.

"Seems like you are out of company as well if you're over here," Adoree sneered. "Disappointing that you would consider us your last option." 

"My apologies, but I ask for you to listen to me very carefully. If men in this palace had to be with ladies like you in order to stop you from becoming a pumpkin at midnight, we'd rather be alone."  

Before Adoree could respond, you cleared your throat and gave her a death glare, signaling her to back down. At first, a scowl was on her face, but when Jungkook and Amicus took their leave, Adoree clenched her fist on the table. "How can anyone stand him?"

"Why would he come here and say nonsense like that?"  Dal asked. 

Jungkook and Amicus exited the lunch banquet room at a steady pace, walking through the castle's hallways. They usually never exited through the north side, as they hated the dark, narrow hallway, but it was a shortcut to Jungkook's chambers.

"Why did you need to talk to her again?" Amicus asked as they walked.

Jungkook shrugged. "In a few day's time, she will be out of our lives forever. I suppose giving an apology wouldn't hurt." 

"Better late than ever." 

"What did he say, Edward?"

Jungkook immediately halted as he heard Prince Dasher's voice. Before Amicus could ask what the hell he was doing, Jungkook took some steps to his right, standing close enough to listen to the conversation behind closed doors. He beckoned Amicus to come by his side to do the same.

"The King of Cometes wouldn't take no for an answer." 

"This is where the Cometes people are," Amicus mouths, "Edward is his page." 

"Are you an imbecile?!" Prince Dasher raised his voice. "Do I perhaps need to slap more sense into you?"

"My Prince, I've tried," Edward pleaded. "Your father is very reluctant to have the wedding in Caelestia due to our alliance with Luxuria. They would see it as a threat rather than a peaceful alliance." 

"That's the whole plot." At this point, Dasher was screaming at Edward. Jungkook thought Dasher must have taken a breath to calm down as he returned to his normal voice volume. "I asked the Queen to frighten them and take their troops back once I was able to secure an engagement to Y/N. Then, once we are wed, she will be assassinated by our Luxuria allies, and we will rule Caelestia with Luxuria."

"You're talking about murder, Sir," Edward cautioned, reminding him of the severity of his future actions. "Of a monarch!" 

Amicus looked at Jungkook; eyes widened at the information they had just heard. "They're going to kill her?"

"How many slaps does it take for you to learn?"

When Jungkook heard Prince Dasher threaten to slap some sense into his squire, he didn't literally think Prince Dasher would PHYSICALLY slap him; Dasher had to. It sounded like a whip, but Jungkook was still listening through closed doors and didn't know what was happening. 

When he was engaged to Princess Comet of Cometes, she talked about how her half-brother Dasher was manipulative and had anger issues. But this whole time in Aurum, Jungkook hadn't seen or heard of it until this moment and thought maybe she was exaggerating. Dasher had been calm and diplomatic, almost as if he were a prince his whole life. But Jungkook realized Dasher had to have a facade in order to get what he wanted. "So this is his true colors." 

"Persuade my father to change his mind, but do not tell him about the marriage statement or the hidden clause. I will make Cometes and Caelestia rightfully mine." 

Amicus quickly glanced over to Jungkook and read him like an open book, knowing his next move just by the expression on his face. He put his hand on the Prince's shoulder to keep him still. "Don't." 

"Let me go," Jungkook angrily gritted through his teeth, trying to escape Amicus's firm grip. "To Hell if they think they could get away with assassination." 

"Jungkook, stop before you do something you regret," his best friend urged. "Going in there is just going to make things worse."

"I cannot be responsible for her death!"

Amicus pulled Jungkook away from Dasher's room, taking him into the stairwell. He let go and looked around to see if anyone else was there with them. "Didn't you want her dead last night?"

"She's still an ally to Aurum," Jungkook exclaimed. "I just didn't want to marry her, not want her buried six feet underground!"  

"What are you going to do, Kook? Will you march in there and ask them politely not to do it? And you think they will just change their mind and listen to you?" 

Jungkook groaned as he considered his two options. If he did nothing, he could marry literally anyone else, someone who didn't make his blood boil. He could find love with someone else, but he wasn't sure if he could live in peace, knowing the feeling of guilt would be with him for the rest of his life. However, a whole world war between the countries was likely to occur. To prevent that, he would have to be married to the person he didn't want: you. 

"You know what you need to do." 

Jungkook scoffed, shaking his head. "It's not like I have a choice, really." 

"There's always a choice." 

"Whatever decision I make won't make me happy." The two started walking down the stairs, approaching the outside stables. "I'm just doing what is best for Aurum." 

"Right," Amicus said sarcastically. "For Aurum."

__________

"Please be in a good mood," Jungkook whispered to himself as he entered the stables, crossing two fingers behind his back. 

Around this time every day, Jungkook's father would be found in the stables, either brushing one of his favorite horses's hair after a successful hunting session or he would be complaining to the guards, threatening to cook up their horse if the next day they couldn't find any food. The last few days, the King had been doing the latter. 

Jungkook sighed in relief once he saw the King smiling beside the white horse. "Did you catch anything today?"

"Plenty of food to last us for the next month." 

"It's been a while since you've allowed me to hunt with you," Jungkook pointed out.  "Perhaps you can take me again one day, but with Queen Y/N."

The King's smile quickly disappeared. "Excuse me?"

"We need to reinstate the alliance with Caelestia." 

"What's the sudden change of heart?" 

"This Caelestia alliance is not worth losing." 

"My boy, you do realize this alliance did not end; it changed. You shall already know that alliances shift easily. Now, this is the end of the discussion." 

As the King started to walk away, Jungkook clenched his fists and bit his lower lip, trying to hold any curses in. 

"Cometes has plotted the assassination of Queen Y/N. Their new Prince has decided to turn their back on all of us. They plan to rule Caelestia with Luxuria, and Aurum can and will easily be the next target." 

Upon hearing the information coming from his next successor, the King stopped in his tracks, still his back facing towards his son. "Did you find the proof?"

"I schemed a plan to find the marriage contact to find the hidden clause. It won't be that hard to find the assassins as well." 

"You have no evidence?" His father scoffed. "We cannot do anything."

"I know about the firstborn," Jungkook blurted. "I know that the Queen doesn't know what really happened."

Even without looking directly at his face, Jungkook knew terror was written over his father's face, especially since the King stiffened at the word "firstborn." 

"Are you threatening your own father?" The King questioned. "Do you really want to risk casualties over a stupid, pretty queen and a country you've never been to?"

"You and I know that keeping her alive is much better than fighting three countries and their armies," Jungkook said. "How will you handle a war and the wrath of the Queen of Aurum?" 

The King sighed. "Queen Y/N will get our support, and we will negotiate the alliance."

"And she will be included in this conversation," Jungkook added. 

"A lot of work for someone you claim to not care about," the King paused to look back at his son. "Do not forget you cannot lead with your heart. Or must you trust your heart, you will lose your country…But finally, my son is acting like a king." 

_________

The transition to Aurum was a lot harder than you'd thought it would be. During your first week at Aurum Court, you refused to leave your bedroom chambers, pulling the blankets over her head, acting as if the blanket could turn you invisible. Already at seven years old, you wanted to disappear away from your royal responsibilities, overwhelmed by all the events that happened earlier that week: Your Royal Taster died, you were practically exiled from your own country, and another country wanted you dead. The only person that was allowed in your room was the Queen. She never tried to talk to you, but whenever she came to bring food, she held your hand or rubbed your back when you cried, showing comfort through physical touch. 

By the second week, you were still glued to your bed. However, the Queen finally allowed servants and guards to enter the room to serve you. But when the servants came to bring changing clothes and some food, they noticed how oddly silent you were, as if nothing was wrong.  

But that week, in the middle of the night, in the period when they were changing the guards, you would sneak out into the courtyard garden by your room and sit by the pumpkin vines. You had promised yourself that you would stop crying in your room and cry secretly at a specific time and different place so no one could see you. 

A day before it had been exactly three weeks since you had moved to Aurum, and you did your usual routine. But as soon as you got up and turned around, a boy in silk pajamas stood before you, holding a stuffed bunny with a crown. 

There was no need for introductions. 

The boy knew he was staring at the Queen of Caelestia, and you knew you were staring back at the Prince of Aurum. 

And he had embarrassingly watched the whole thing.   

"Royals never cry," Jungkook said. "Let me walk you to your room." 

No other words were exchanged, and no other words were needed. 

Perhaps he was being an annoying seven-year-old,  scolding you that royals shouldn't be emotional. 

But you interpreted his words differently. 

His words reminded you about the fact that not everyone has the fortune of being born into royalty, but one must be prepared for difficult times. This reminder gave you comfort and inspired you since.

Earlier, when Dal didn't understand why Jungkook had come to your table, you said nothing because you knew exactly why Jungkook had said those things. It was a message to you and just you: Place. Pumpkins. Midnight. Alone. 

It was something only the two of you knew about. 

"Hello?" You called out, setting your lantern onto the ground as you sat on the stone bench, waiting for your rendezvous. "Are you there?" 

From the shadows, a tall figure wearing a black cloak stepped into the light. He held a lantern in his right hand while the handle of scrolls was in his left. Pulling down the hood, Jungkook revealed himself. "Hey." 

Jungkook sat down next to you and sat his lantern down on the ground as well. He handed the scrolls to you, but you arched your eyebrows at him instead, not taking them from his hand. "What is this?" 

"I have the original marriage contract, which was agreed upon and written before you. But this one is Dasher's copy, which differs from yours and the original." 

"Where did you get this?" 

"That's not important right now," Jungkook uttered. "He wants to sign and officiate his copy because a hidden clause allows him to rule Caelestia if you were to die without an heir." 

Quickly, you grabbed the papers from his hand, but you still needed to unroll them to read it. "How do you know?"

"His page willingly gave up these papers in exchange for his life. Though Prince Dasher must have realized what happened when the papers were missing, he has been on the run since. The guardsmen are finding him and the assassins as we speak. They couldn't have gotten far." 

Everything started to feel unreal at that moment. The person who hated you most was actively trying to save your life, and for that, you believed him. You didn't need to read the contracts, trusting every word Jungkook said. 

"If this is true, why not let me die? Why did you choose to do this? If this falls apart, the King will force our engagement once again."

"Okay, I'm not that shitty of a person." Jungkook groaned. "Why does everyone think that?"

"How do I know if this was the truth?" You asked once again, wanting to understand his reasoning and actions." Do you plan on embarrassing me by being engaged again and then breaking it yourself this time? Do you want me to lose my country and my people?" 

"Absolutely not!" Jungkook shouted. "That's why I'm telling you this." 

"But you hate me." 

"I do not hate you. I will admit there were times when I prayed to the Gods and asked them to take you out of my life, but I never asked them to take it from you. I couldn't live with myself if that were to happen, and you especially do not deserve that." 

Not knowing how to respond, the two of you sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the crickets and wind. While you stared at Jungkook, his eyes sparkled as he looked up at the full moon, appreciating how it illuminated the dark sky. He noticed that you were staring at him, but he held himself back, forcing himself to look elsewhere. 

"Is that all?" There was a little voice in your head, whispering to you that there's more to it, that maybe he cares. "Nothing else?"

"I don't hate you," Jungkook said once again. Sighing, he then picked up his lantern and headed back towards the palace. "Far from it." 

___

a/n: hello! this isn't my best work���i am so sorry, but i wanted to publish this before i start law school! --am also sorry for the jungkook point of view, but i think it's a good way to see his motivations and how he struggles to know what he wants. as always, thank you for reading. stay safe and healthy wherever you are. 

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

All or Nothing and lowave records

Strap in because this is gonna be a long one. This post will try to shed some light on how the whole lowave records thing works, how you can use this music, how it is being distributed, and what all a contract with lowave would include. All this and more below the cut!

Let us start with the basics: What is lowave records?

Quite succinctly summed up on their website as follows:

They make and distribute royalty-free music for content creators - specifically video-format content creators like Youtubers and streamers - they share some streaming revenue (30%, we'll get into that) with the creators who are labelled 'co-artists' and get promotion of their music through the content creators.

So, that brings us to the next big question: What is royalty-free music?

This is music that is free to use. Yes, by anyone, by Dan and Phil, by other creators, by you and me, any of us. This is by no means a new thing of course, anyone who has created content online would have come across other such services. just as an example, bensound.com hosts a large library of royalty-free music which you can use in any video by simply crediting the site in your description. Lowave works in a similar fashion. The music is not copyrighted. However, the rights to the music are held by lowave records and there are limitations on its use, which we will get into ahead.

How is the money working (preliminary edition)?

I will add details to this later when I discuss the contract, but let's see the info we get straight away from the FAQs: You do not have to pay them anything to make music for you

The money is coming in from the streaming platforms, depends completely on amount of streams, and is shared between lowave and the creators

Also from the FAQs: how can this music be used?

Anyone can freely use any of the music from lowave records, which means that yes, you can use any music from All or Nothing for your purposes with credit, it will not be taken down

Is this the only music we will hear on dapg now? Will there be more albums?

Not necessarily! This isn't an exclusive deal, DnP can use any music they want on the channel. As for new albums, seems like it depends on how this one does (and it seems to be doing quite well!) which will unlock future avenues for more collabs with lowave

Okay BASICS DONE if you're still reading you're probably here for the real meat so let us get into it

How is the money working (director's cut)?

Let us start with the terms on the partner agreement:

Content Creators get 30% of the 'remaining income'. This basically means any costs that streaming platforms are deducting, any processing fees, taxes etc will be deducted before the 30% share is calculated. The second point there basically means that the deductions here do not include business expenses of the label itself, ie when the label calculates its own profit production costs and various other expenses are deducted from the income, but these costs will not affect the revenue received by the content creators (You are probably already thinking 'how is this company earning enough to keep going?' and I will touch on that later as well)

Payment installments are simple enough but here we see a third party enter the chat: DistroKid. Who is DistroKid and why are payments going through them, Hazel? I hear you ask. Well I'll tell you dear readers:

It is basically a service that takes a yearly fee for putting your music on streaming platforms efficiently and then pockets 0% of the royalties. The royalties go from the streaming services (eg Spotify) to DistroKid who then send it to the rights-holders (in this case, lowave records). lowave records is using this service for a yearly fee to upload all their music through.

But wait! If DistroKid is working with lowave, and lowave owns all the rights, why is DistroKid making direct payments to the content creators?

Well, over the years they have offered a bunch of services:

I am guessing lowave is making use of the teams feature to send royalties owed to content creators ("collaborators") directly from Diskworld, which makes sense, the less people money goes through the less chances of mishandling.

People have of course been talking about what percentage Spotify even pays for many many years. The short answer: we don't know for sure because it is confidential, Spotify won't tell and artists aren't allowed to. The longer answer: people have estimated from a bunch of publically available data that the share seems to be 70-30 (rights-holders- spotify).

However spotify is not paying per stream anymore so that makes these figures harder to pin down. they are using a 'streamshare' system which is much more convoluted:

That was all about the money, now let's talk Licensing

Creators can use this music in any capacity, and do not have to share any of the revenue from their own content with lowave. They have put a stipulation that it may not be used in a way that is "illegal, immoral, discriminatory or derogatory to [lowave]" but what constitutes 'immoral' and 'discriminatory' is not really defined.

The other limitation applies to the contracted Content Creators only as far as I can tell: they are not allowed to remix, sample, or edit these songs without prior permission. This probably only applies to altering the songs and playing under the same name, so fan remixes should not run into issues here, as long as they are not monetised. (thanks kate @goldenpinof for making me think about this part a bit more, I think it should be safe, but even royalty free music cannot be transformed without permission at least in a commercial capacity)

They will also make more music free of cost if the streaming targets they set are being met by the albums produced. The process:

Other services they provide will be handling the creator's account which they set up (DanAndPhilBeats in this case) on streaming platforms and making changes as required, so the Cheeky Banter -> Project X thing was probably done from their end, possibly an older change that they forgot to update?

Also below are promotional obligations:

The promotion wasn't a one-time thing, it is expected to be ongoing, so we will probably be hearing about this in future videos as well. However, later in the partner agreement it is added that this has to be done as often as possible in a way that is "natural and appealing to their audience" which again, is pretty vague wording

Also the licensing goes both ways, so lowave can also use segments of the content DnP make that has the music in the background to promote their music:

Additional stuff from the contract:

lowave takes the guarantee of creating original works that it has the rights to and which do not infringe on copyrights, and the creators likewise take the guarantee not use the songs in content which infringes copyright. If there are any disputes regarding such infringement in the future the record and the creators have to back each other up (including sharing legal fees)

I mentioned before some parts of the agreement being written in vague language. There is also a clause that says if any provision ends up being illegal/not possible to enforce by a court (eg if a court were to it's impossible to say whether content featuring the songs was 'immoral') then only that provision will be removed, the rest of the contract stands.

The waiver part basically means that if any of the parties decide to not sue or forgo a complaint about breach of contract, that does not mean that those provisions are now unavailable, they can still sue later on or for some other breach if they wish.

That's the contracts done. Some of the framing there makes it seem to me like it's a pretty small company. The revenue they hope to generate does not seem to be very sustainable, especially since the revenue is being shared with content creators but the cost is not and they are additionally paying for other services like DistroKid.

So I looked more into this record label: they started business in 2022. If you go to their socials though, twitter and instagram they have followers in double digits and post very sparsely. Their tiktok seems to have nothing on it at all (thanks @lesbiandanhowell for the screenshot) and you may have noticed, Dan did not tag the lowave account at all when he announced the album on twitter

The agreement never mentions creators promoting lowave's social channels or tagging them either (and it is quite odd, I have worked with a bunch of organisations in their infancy and this is, now more than ever, a common requirement from collaborators). lowave records does not seem to be actively working towards promoting themselves on social media or building an online presence, even though they have been operational two years producing music throughout.

There are three people involved with the company on public record:

Benjamin Johnson listed as 'Head of Production' is probably the 'Ben' Dan has been talking about who made the songs. Seems like their scale of operations is not very big and possibly not a lot of producers in the records at all (despite the spotify page saying they have 'producers' plural, but that doesn't have to mean a lot many lol). Anyway, that would solve the mystery of 'how are they playing their employees?' if there aren't many employees to begin with (not even an intern to manage their social media it seems).

Look at the last person in the screenshots though: Robin. I looked at what other companies Robin is associated with and several of them - yeah several different operations that he's involved in - have the same correspondence address of '60 Thorpe Road...', so probably operating out of a ghost office (just to have a registered address and receive mail at etc). And one of these businesses that Robin is associated with is RWD, the business that made lowave records' website for them:

The no-cost production of royalty-free music, little attention to social media presence, vaguely written contract, seemingly small scale of operations with technical assistance like website design coming from an affiliated organisation makes me think that lowave records might be a side project. A labour of love, possibly, hoping to sustain itself enough to keep putting out royalty-free music in a time of extreme crackdown on copyrighted music use.

It makes sense to use content creators for promotion, gets you way more streaming than making your own music and putting it out. And the incentive of unique but guaranteed royalty free music at no cost is great for content creators of all sizes. It is far from sustainable on its own though, especially with streaming revenue being basically peanuts, and I do not think there's much interest in gaining a following or putting in that effort either, so it's probably a very small business by a few people. How long it manages to sustain itself as a project I am not sure, but it certainly isn't looking like something particularly geared towards profit and growth in its current state.

We are at an end! If you read this far, leave me like an A+ or a star for my essay so I can have academic validation from this please. Of course I probably have not covered everything possible in connection to this so if anyone has more info feel free to add on! And if this was all very long and there's something particular you wanted to know you can drop an ask into the inbox about it!

Thank you for coming with me on this journey! Back to the important things, which was your favourite song from the album? I think mine is Arcade Admission

[rembrandtdesigns]

Important Notice:

Copyright Infringement of Custom Content

Dear Equestrian Sims Community,

I am writing to bring to your attention an ongoing issue concerning the misuse of my custom content by another creator who is falsely claiming it as their own.

Ironically, I've made this mistake myself in the past. I publicly apologised and took every step possible to correct it, ensuring that I created original work that I could be proud of. Now, the person who ridiculed me for my mistake is repeating it themselves.

*The mesh is exactly the same*

**About the Perpetrator:**

The individual in question has consistently violated the terms of use set by me and other creators by uploading our work to their server without giving proper credit or providing links to the original creator's pages. This not only disrespects the hard work and creativity of the original creators but also misleads the community.

Recently, this individual has escalated their actions by stealing creators' meshes and claiming that they have the right to use them because "all custom content is owned by EA." This claim is false.

**EA's Policy on Custom Content:**

EA does not claim ownership of custom content created by players. According to EA’s User Agreement, while creators retain ownership of their content, they grant EA a non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license to use, distribute, and modify it. This means creators own their work, but EA can use it as per their terms.

The perpetrator's claim that EA owns all custom content is incorrect and misleading.

**Why This Matters:**

Custom content creators dedicate significant time and effort to enhance the gaming experience for all players. Plagiarism not only disrespects the original creator but also disrupts the integrity of our creative community.

**How You Can Help:**

1. **Report Infringing Content:** If you come across the content in question or other similar instances, please report it to the respective platform.

2. **Spread Awareness:** Share this notice to inform others and prevent further misuse of content.

3. **Support Original Creators:** Encourage proper attribution and support creators who contribute genuinely to the community.

I appreciate your understanding and support in this matter. Let’s work together to maintain a respectful and creative environment.

Thank you for your attention.

Links :

My grooming box " maple collection"

https://www.patreon.com/posts/104156977?utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_source=android

Links to Cath creative corner

https://www.tumblr.com/cath-creative-corner

https://cathcreativecorner.wixsite.com/shop/product-page/grooming-box

[clairefey]

RFQ (Request for Quote) for Fanfic Illustration Project

Update: I have found an artist! Thanks to all who applied.

Hello! I am a fanfic author looking to commission 6 illustrations to appear in an upcoming fanfiction. My tentative/negotiable budget for this is $1650 USD or $275/illustration. I wish them to be done by 24th September. I am looking for illustrations that are fully shaded, and in color, suitable for appearing inline both online (via AO3) and in print in B&W. I am an amateur fannish creator, and this is the first time I've ever done something like this, and have no contacts to which to rely upon. As a result, I'm also offering a $50 finders fee for any good-faith tip, recommendation, or referral that ultimately leads to a successful agreement.

About the project:

Nature of Work/Quality Requested: Each illustration will involve two canon Stargate SG-1 characters that require, shading, detailing, and coloring. Each illustration also requires a background that effectively communicates the scene geography (ie, where the characters are in relation to eachother and their immediate surroundings). However, generally, the backgrounds do not require complicated shading and detailing as long as they get across the general idea - with the exception of a landscape background for one of the six illustrations. The backgrounds are: medical lab, briefing room, daylight forest, hillside overlooking river, underground cave.

Fandom: This project deals with the Stargate SG-1 fandom, and the characters of Janet Fraiser, Jonas Quinn, Samantha Carter, and the Goa'uld Nirrti. Someone familiar with this fandom would be preferred, but if you are not, substantial high quality references will be provided.

Controversial/Squicky Elements: These requested illustrations do not involve any kind of erotica or ongoing/imminent violence/gore and are SFW. However, of note, a few of the desired illustrations require an accurate reproduction of automatic firearms typical of Stargate SG-1 (specifically, the M16A2 and the MP5, references will be provided), and one of the desired illustrations involves an injured and bloodied person.

Revisions/Alterations requested? Due to the expedited nature of the project (just under two months to finish), I don't expect there to be time for any significant alterations. All I would request is a sketch copy of each illustration before major detail/shading/color work is undertaken, so I can verify the scene geography and major components are correct. If there is time, I may pay extra for alterations should I want them.

How you will be credited:

In-story, online: Your name and a hyperlink to your website/social/portfolio (as desired) will be attributed in the author's notes of the chapters in which your illustrations appear. Your name will also appear at at beginning/foreward, credited as "Illustrator"

In-story, in print: Your name and printed URLs/@s will appear in the beginning or the end of the story, at your choice, credited as "Illustrator"

In other situations, online, e.g. social media posts: A named link to your webside/social/portfoilio (As desired)

Nature of product+license I am intending to purchase:

In general, high quality sources I can freely distribute, and which other can freely redistribute (so long as you remain attributed, and the following terms are attached). Specifically, I am looking for:

Source quality without visible watermark

Time-limited right of first publish: You will withhold publishing copies of the commissioned works on your own socials/website until the final fanfic is posted, or the date February 1st, 2025, whichever is earlier.

A non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable license with the following terms:

In general, unlimited noncommercial reproduction with attribution.

Limited derivative works, including, color re-grading, cropping, addition of titles or text bubbles, extraction of individual elements without modification (e.g. characters), for the purposes of creating covers, memes, compositions, promotional material, and general shitposting.

Sublicensible without penalty under identical terms, for the purposes of allowing others to distribute the story with the illustrations intact, so long as attribution is preserved, a copy of these terms provided, and no cash or other cash-equivalents exchanged.

How you will be paid:

I am willing to pay via Pay Pal (G&S), Bank wire, CC payment to online shop, Bitcoin/Monero or any crypto listed on Bitstamp supported by Ledger. I am willing to sign up for any online service that does not have onerous verification requirements, as long as such service does not require the use of a proprietary app that can only be installed on a smartphone.

Payments will be in installments as progress is made, or via escrow at the artist's request.

Price negotiable?

Yes. The listed budget is what I believe this project is worth based upon my very limited knowledge and experience, and the money I have available to pay. As the title suggests, please send in your own quote as you feel is fair compensation for your labor. However, cards on the table, price will be a significant factor when discriminating between bids and I may reduce the scope of the project rather than incurring cost overruns.

Is the deadline soft or hard?

Hard. I need the illustrations by the given date for printing in order to give a copy to someone I know (it's a surprise).

How can I contact you?

Please direct all inquiries to bythemorningstar@protonmail.com. If you wish to make a bid, please include the following information.

Your tentative bid, in converted from your currency to United States Dollars

Your estimated lead time

A portfolio of recent work, with at least a few examples of the quality you are willing to work at for the given price.

Any additional stipulations or limitations the listed terms that you wish to request

Whether or not you are familiar with Stargate SG-1

Who you were referred by, if anyone

Your timezone

Whether you would prefer discord or signal for real-time communication

[fili-urzudel]

Hello!! Could you do 14, 15 and 31 with Fili? Romantic or platonic, up to you. Thank you 💜

13. Sitting together

14. Handholding

15. Sharing a blanket (potentially violent)

31. Stargazing

This combination is classic and oh-so-fluffy, and with my favorite Dwarf to boot! I went ahead and added another prompt as well.

Everyone lives AU, because there is no other ending in my mind.

BTW I'm sick :( but I'm going to try to get at least one other prompt request out this week

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.8k

Moonrise - Fíli Durin x Reader

The Durin's Day festival was always fun, but it was all the more spectacular in the newly reclaimed Erebor.

"The first autumn equinox since the mountain was reclaimed, can you believe it?" Fíli said with a bright smile, looking with pride at the crisscrossing bridges and vaulted ceilings of the entrance to the mountain. There was still plenty of work to be done, to be sure, but its improvement was impressive regardless.

"And in a couple days, the anniversary of when it was reclaimed," you nodded in agreement. "A few months after that, the anniversary of the first time you walked around by yourself."

"Hush, I'm trying to enjoy this," Fíli gave you a fake scowl, unconsciously probing the scar hidden beneath his tunic.

You changed directions. "Of course, my Prince," you teased. "You look very nice today."

You meant it. His hair was freshly washed, the slightly damp strands frizzing out in the cool morning air. Each bead was carefully placed, a few decorative gold ones added in place of a crown. His tunic was a smooth yet understated silk underneath his leather vest and wool coat. Every detail was precisely placed, the burnt oranges and browns blending seamlessly. He had clearly been seen to with the utmost care. He looked like royalty, even without the royal garb. Most importantly, he was healthy.

His smile softened, his cheeks turning a bit pink under his mustache. "Thank you," he glanced to the ground before looking back up at you. "And you're beautiful as ever."

You blushed deeper than him, unused to compliments. You plucked at the placket of your own wool coat, dyed a deep woad blue. It was your favorite. "Thank you," you said, choosing for once to believe him. "What duties do you have today?"

"None, surprisingly," Fíli breathed. "Thorin's let me have a break, so I can enjoy the first festival in our new home right alongside you." Something about that little word, our, set your heart ablaze. "You want to stick with me?"

"If you'll have me," he smiled again. That smile was impossible to resist.

"Of course I will."

Erebor had been steadily growing over the past year, but that day, it seemed more alive than ever. The market squares were full, overflowing into the wide side streets. Jewelry, blades, shields, ceramics, sculptures--anything made out of earth or in forges were certainly found somewhere in the expansive space. The Ereborian dwarves' tentative friendship with the Men of Dale caused new, less traditional stands to pop up as well: flower stalls, street food vendors featuring fish dishes, and clothing and homeware shops full of bolts of linen. The mountain had only dwarves—and Bilbo—in its halls, a presently rare occurrence, and so you were all free to speak Khuzdul, the sharp sounds ringing pleasantly in your ears.

The two of you strolled as quickly as possible through all the markets had to offer, determined not to miss the afternoon's performances. You exercised exemplary self-restraint, only stopping at one of every five stalls that caught your eye.

"No," became a very popular word as well, what with resisting Fíli's unceasing offers to purchase anything you liked.

"Well, if you will not spend any of your share of the treasure, I must spend some of mine and relieve what must be the terrible, stifling boredom of your living quarters, my friend," he teased, mustache beads swinging from side to side.

"I will have no prince wasting his money on me."

"Oh, it's never a waste if it's you," Fíli told you surely.

There he went again, saying things that made your palms sweat and your cheeks flush. "You're too kind."

Fíli smirked at the way you diverted your gaze. "Well, if I cannot buy you a rug, at least allow me to buy you lunch," he gestured to a permanent restaurant on the corner that was swarmed with dwarrow.

You couldn't help a smile at that. "Hot stew?" You asked, referring to the almost overpoweringly spicy meat-and-potato stew that was a dwarven classic. Benron's was your favorite.

"As hot as you like, of course," He agreed, guiding you forward with a gentle hand on your back.

The stew made your eyes stream in the best way, and you pulled Fíli out of the restaurant scarcely once he was finished eating. "We have to find good seats!" You reasoned as he raised an eyebrow, still wiping his mouth.

"You do realize that Thorin has the best seats, and by extension, we do as well?"

"Right," you said. You had forgotten. Somehow, none of the Durins were royalty in your mind. They were still your traveling companions, dirt poor and looked at as crazy.

"Still, it is sort of nice to take a seat before everyone starts filtering in and it gets too loud," Fíli reassured you. "After you."

The grand presentation began with a song to the mountain. In the ancient tradition, singing was a way to ask the mountain to reveal its secrets, a careful gathering of tones that would uncover its nature.

This song, however, was made more to please the ears of the listener. It was a song of thanks, of hardly believing that this mountain was once again the shelter for her people. You tried your best to control the tears that rose to your eyes.

Fíli leaned over, bumping your shoulder with his. You gave a small smile that he returned, and you could see in his eyes that he was thinking of all that it took to get there.

"We did it," you whispered.

"Yeah, we did."

The opening songs were followed by traditional dances, a speed-forging competition, and a few spars. You cheered on the brothers as they fought each other, with a healthy dose of brotherly teasing. Fíli let his little brother win, or so he told you. The look on Kíli's face was more than worth it. You congratulated him and let them both clean up as you headed to the gates.

The gates were still open, cool air pouring into the mountain as the sun dropped in the sky.

Dale was dimmer than usual—the city was empty. The men were lining the edge of the water with candles. This equinox now also marked the anniversary of the fall of Laketown and many of their loved ones. The dwarves tried their best to be respectful of their vigil.

You leaned against the wall and watched. You hoped they found peace and remembered to enjoy their new lives. Bard, standing at the back of the group, turned around. He caught your eye and nodded.

"Come with me, I think we should see something," Fíli's low whisper startled you from your reverie, and his hand wrapping around yours even more so.

"Where are we going?" You asked, not that it mattered. With his hand in yours, you'd probably follow him anywhere.

He led you on a trek around the front of the mountain, the setting sun turning everything orange and making his hair appear as flames as you went.

Caught in the daze of bliss, it took you a while to notice what was draped over his other arm. "Wait, is that—I told you not to buy that!"

It was the woven blanket you had noticed earlier, the tapestry depicting sunrays falling through a thick forest of firs. "And what if I bought this for myself? I have uses for it."

"Then it's alright, I suppose."

"You can keep it once I'm done with it, though."

"Sly fox."

"Coin pincher."

"Seriously, though, where are we going?" You asked.

Fíli smiled at you. "A certain very large staircase."

You gasped. "Leading to a secret doorway?"

"The very same. I figured, since we were both trying to help Kili, erm, not die, we missed the excitement, and now we can see it for ourselves."

"That's extraordinarily thoughtful of you."

"Eh, I'd say averagely thoughtful at best," Fíli shrugged.

"Perfectly suitable for me," you told him.

"Good."

The achingly long trip up the staircase was rewarded with a very nice sight: another, less decorative blanket spread across the stone, a couple flat pillows, and three lanterns, already lit and ready to face the darkness.

"When did you find time to do this?" You asked Fíli, grinning from ear to ear.

"I have my ways," he said mysteriously. "And help."

"That's where Bofur, Bilbo, and Dori disappeared to," you observed. "I see. Well, it's very sweet of all of you."

"I'm glad you think so," Fíli said, still holding your hand as he guided you to sit on the blanket with him.

The stairs had taken longer than anticipated, so the sun was already almost gone. You quieted as you realized how close the time was. The two of you watched in quiet admiration as the moon rose, bright and perfect, into the sky, before you turned, hoping to catch a glimpse of the door.

You gasped. "There it is!" The moonrise revealed the shape of a perfectly hidden keyhole. "That is very neat, indeed."

"Mmhm," Fíli agreed. "Beautiful." The keyhole was not what he thought was beautiful. He wasn't actually looking at the door at all, but rather you, and the way the moonlight reflected off every spectacular detail of your face.

He had never known quite when he started to feel this way, only that he didn't in the Blue Mountains, when he barely knew you, and he did now.

You turned your gaze from the keyhole once the wonder had made a comfortable space in your heart, and looked to the stars, all too aware of how close Fíli was.

You read out the constellations to yourself in the comfortable silence, assuming the prince was doing the same. You then heard him shift.

"Lay with me," Fíli offered, and you turned around in record time, cheeks blazing and eyes wide.

"What?"

He was already lying down with his head on one of the pillows. "To watch the stars more comfortably."

"Alright," you said, voice quiet. You scooted down until you could lay your head on the other pillow, before changing your mind. You decided to take a risk and settle your head on his chest instead.

"Is this alright?" You asked immediately. The last thing you wanted was for him to be uncomfortable in this situation.

"Of course it is," he said softly, his arm raising to hold your waist. "I enjoy being close to you."

It wasn't quite a grand confession, but it was good enough for your heart to begin hammering in your chest. "I enjoy being close to you, too."

[melrodrigo]

Lovesick - W.A.

Wednesday Addams x Fem!Reader

Summary: You and Wednesday are polar opposites. Do they really attract?

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: Request from ages ago, I didn’t proofread this. Please excuse any mistakes. Happy reading! <3

Wednesday had a problem.

When Wednesday had first transferred to Nevermore, and gotten the infamous Enid welcome and introduction, she couldn't have cared less about you.

"That is Bianca Barklay, the closest thing to Nevermore royalty they'll ever be."

Then Enid pointed to a girl sitting next to Bianca, staring at the bubbles in the water fountain with intrigue.

"And that, is YN. She's the school heartthrob. It's just impossible to not love her, you'll see."

"She looks like a mushroom." Wednesday replied dryly, swiftly turning on her heel and heading back to her dorm.

"She's a sweetheart. Everyone likes her. You'll find out what I mean. I'm always right!" Enid shouted out, before quickly catching up and walking side by side with the goth.

Enid had warned that this would happen. God, how was Enid right?

Wednesday's frown only grew deeper as she thought back to the moments you've shared over the past year.

-

"Hey, you must be Wednesday right? New girl?"

All you got in return was a curt nod.

"Allllright, I get it, you don't wanna talk. Trust me I get it, I was so silent the first week here, some people thought I was mute!"

Silence.

You frown a bit but redirect your focus to the teacher emerging from the door.

-

"Enid I do not understand why I have to suffer not only with you, but her. I was content just sitting down in the dorm and practicing my cello."

The werewolf had recently gotten three free passes to Jericho, and decided to drag both you and Wednesday out for a cup of coffee.

"I hate to agree with her Enid, but I really have a lot of biology homework to do." You mused from behind, still sore from fencing class you had that day.

"Oh come on! It's good for you two to bond. My two besties, we're gonna be so cool together!" Enid makes an excited sound, "We should come up with a group name!"

When Wednesday quips back that she'd rather die in a long long torturous death (which she'd probably enjoy) instead of have a group name, you can't help but snort in agreement.

You shoot Wednesday a look, small smile playing on your lips.

-

Ever since that first day at Jericho, Enid had you guys connected by the hip. Unwillingly.

But as the days went on, Wednesday found out you weren't so bad.

She was particularly late to lunch today, catching up with updates on the hyde case.

In fact, she was debating skipping lunch all together. But as she glanced over to the pentagon, a hand shot up along with a shout.

"Wednesday! Over here!" You were waving your hand wildly, gesturing for her to walk over.

Wednesday bit back a sigh as she moved towards you, and to her surprise, there was one empty seat opposite of you, plate full, apple on the side.

"I got some lunch for you. Oh and a plain granola bar, I see you always like eating them." You tell her absentmindedly, munching on a sloppy joe.

Wednesday hesitates, before saying a quiet thank you.

"It's my pleasure Wends. So, how's the hyde case going?"

You both don't mention the fact you used a nickname to address her. She sighs, she supposed it was nice of you to get her lunch, so she tells you about the case.

"It's going well YN, I've just had a breakthrough......"

-

"Come on Wends, pleaseee? I really really really wanna go to The Weathervane."

You stare at Wednesday with your famous puppy eyes, and see Wednesday's glare soften just the slightest bit.

"I....suppose we can go in a few hours. After I've finished my writing hour, I have hyde business to do there anyway." She says, even though she'd already taken care of the issue already.

"Could you help me study for midterms? I do not understand anything for the life of me." You whine and throw the book back on her bed. Flopping onto the soft fabric dramatically.

"Bring it with you to the Weathervane." Wednesday says sharply, and returns back to her typewriter.

-

"Sucky Birthday to you Wednesday! Come, follow me." You squeal excitedly, reaching for the goth and pulling her by the wrist.

Physical touch has come sort of, natural to you with Wednesday. You were a naturally touchy person anyway, but when you were around Wednesday everything felt very...heightened.

Hm, I wonder what that is.

Wednesday was constantly complaining about your intense need to be touching her at all times, but she never actually pulled away when you did; and you're well aware she could if she wanted to.

"Where are we going?" She asks, tone somewhat annoyed.

You turn to her and smile; so bright Wednesday swears light shone through your teeth.

"Grave digging!"

Wednesday's eyebrows twitches in amusement, a small but noticeable movement. You've become sort of professional in her mannerisms over the past few months.

"I knew you'd like it. Come on." You say, practically sprinting to your destination. It's not a smart move, and you stumble over your own feet; arms still connected with Wednesday's.

You fall flat on your back into the soft grass, Wednesday on top of you.

She looks so good, the moonlight shining on her face. You steal a glance at her lips.

She's staring at you with wide eyes, arms on both sides of your face. Her braids frame your head a little.

She coughs awkwardly, then gets up and looks the other way.

You follow suit, trying to calm down your racing heart.

"Ooookay. Let's- let's get grave digging now." You say finally, watch as Wednesday walks toward you but avoids your eye.

She's grateful it's dark out, or else you would've seen the red coating her ears. And when you reach for her wrist she pulls back, afraid you'll be able to feel her racing heart.

-

It's parent's day. The long awaited dreadful day where Wednesday has to talk to her parents.

They'll be able to tell right away, she has no doubt. She's lovesick.

They’d see right through her. They're like magic love wizards in that way.

"You ready Wends?" You muse from behind her, take her hand in yours. You were currently situated in her dorm room, the two of you alone; waiting for your parents to come.

"No." She replies, but not in a sarcastic or dry way. She sounds kind of...scared.

You poke her cheek and watch as she tries and swat your hand away.

"You look a little on edge." You observe, staring at the hairs on the back of her neck.

She's a little afraid if she tells you why she's nervous for this specific meeting she'll let it slip that she might've accidentally caught feelings for you.

Ugh. Feelings.

It's come to the point where she can actually say she has feelings for you. It’s pathetic, and quite frankly sickening.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with." She grumbles, and bursts through the door; leaving you standing dumbly in her room.

"Wednesday, darling how have you been?" Her mother drawls, smile on her lips as she speaks.

"I've been good mother. Apart from the gigantic monster that's trying to kill me. Actually, I think I'm having lots of fun." Wednesday says, looking over her moms shoulder to spy on you.

Just a little bit.

You look lively, and happy. It makes her feel weird in her tummy.

"My little storm cloud, what are you looking at?" Her father asks, watching Wednesday with keen eyes. It wouldn't be obvious to anyone else, but Addams were very observatrice people, and he could tell straight away when Wednesday has lost focus.

He follows his daughters gaze to a certain werewolf. He has to blink one more time to make sure he's not seeing things.

“Oh," He smiles, soft. "I see what's going on."

Wednesday turns sharply, face impassive.

"You don't see anything." She says hotly. Too fast for her normal speech.

Her mom smirks, catching on quick.

"Oh sweetie, we think it's cute. Our little storm cloud is in love." They coo, leaning forward to whisper with Wednesday.

The black hair girl scoffs, and folds her arms in front of her chest.

"I am not in love. I do not know what you are talking about." She replies.

"Sure you don't." Pugley adds, peeping in between his parents.

Wednesday suddenly feels hot underneath their gaze. She gets up abruptly, tilts her face up in hopes for some high ground.

"You all annoy me. This is why I don't write to you." She says before turning on her heel and heading over to you.

You stare at her with curious eyes as she walks toward you. Stops in front of you, hands stiff like a soldier.

"Hey? Whatcha doing?" You ask, pat the seat next to you. She ignores the feeling of something fluttering in her stomach when you accidentally touch fingertips.

"I would like to stay here with you. If you do not mind. My parents are being...unreasonable." She says, picking her words carefully.

You chuckle, smile softly.

"Of course you can stay here Wednesday. Come, come meet my family."

Wednesday’s heart almost jumps out her chest. She's really not one to be scared easily, but this was easily one of the most intense moments of her life.

She usually didn't care if anyone didn't like her, but there was an underlying nagging feeling that told her this was important. Your family was an essential part of you, and if she wanted to win you over; she had to win over your family too.

"I can't wait."

[spitdrunken]

Bestie I just read your cannibal town fic and am here to drop you some ✨romantic/thirst ideas✨ This is really long-

(warning for period and ovulation, just in case)

So imagine you’re a human who fell into hell, right? You’re not really sure how, a soft spot or crack in time and space maybe? But anyways- how lucky that you practically fall right into Rosie’s lap! Another second out in the streets and you would have been torn to bits! Who knows what those other sinners would have done to you, a human, and a defenseless one at that? Well, don’t you worry, sweet thing! Rosie here is going to make sure you’re all taken care of, *and* under the protection of the towns residents! There’s just one teeny tiny thing that needs discussion… how exactly you plan to earn everyone’s favor and maintain your place in the community.

Rosie basically offers you the same deal as she does in your fic, but with a few ✨twists and kinks✨ to it. Obviously, since you’re just a cute little human, they can’t exactly amputate on you because one, their food source is finite with you having no regeneration abilities, and two, the risk is too high for their comfort level for your safety! As odd as it seems, you’ve definitely been able to win over the towns residents and Rosie all in one fell swoop! (Some of them do experience a little cuteness aggression though-) So Rosie proposes a deal;

Every month, beginning at the start of your ovulation until the end of your period when your libido is high and your bleeding, you agree to let Rosie or a trusted member of the community practically milk you for orgasms and your menstrual blood. They have their methods of collecting said liquids, whether they finger you or use toys, but in the end all that blood and wetness is made into the cannibal town equivalent of fine wines or other adult beverages (for obvious reasons), and marketed at an extremely high price, so much so that you think you could buy a whole months worth of groceries if you had that kind of money. The beverages that have a combination of your cum as well as your blood somehow are even more expensive than that. Of course, you’re practically treated like royalty the whole time, during and after. You’re the town’s sweetheart, who are they to not treat you right?

And occasionally, those who are willing to pay an extra pretty penny get special permission to taste straight from the source, lapping furiously at your entrance as they try to drink up all you have to possibly offer. What’s better is that Rosie agrees to let a portion of that extra money go to you, just in case you see something you like and she’s not around to buy it for you! Unlikely. And what’s more, you tend to be flooded with gifts from the towns residents and practically have your pick of any romantic partner you want! However, like that pack mentality shown in the series, if you pick one you usually end up semi dating the whole town. It’s actually kind of like a whole sugar daddy/mommy buffet.

Of course, Rosie gets a free pass because she’s the one so generously providing you with house, food (that’s not from demons, at least not that you know of), and frankly lavish clothing that makes you feel rich just by looking at it. It’s not too long after you’ve established yourself in the community that she starts trying to get you to move in with her, however.

that’s all! Sorry for the long post, but I just had to get this out of my head, and you seemed like you might (hopefully) like it!

I really REALLY do like this... It has been sitting in my inbox for a while because I simply cannot find anything to add to this!! It's so good!! Obsessed with the thought of a cute little human somehow falling into Hell, and the type of agreement that's ahred here <3... The open relationship and you semi-dating the whole town is sooo good!! You would be spoiled rotten by everyone <33 Sighs longingly

[yelenasdiary]

could you do a yelena royalty au?

yelena’s not the crown princess so her role in the royal family is to marry well and make connections with other influential families.

(nats already married to wanda (the second child of the sokovian royal family))

reader is either just a diplomats daughter and yelena isn’t allowed to marry her but falls in love when reader spends so much time at yelenas home, OR reader is from a very influential family and yelena is pushed to marry her even though she doesn’t want to marry anyone.

idk if you’ll find this interesting but i love the idea

One Day At A Time

Pairing: Princess! Yelena x Princess! Reader

Summary: Life for Yelena is changing as she is pushed to marry another princess from another royal family. 

Angst | Teeny Tiny Fluff | Forced Marriage | 1.3K | 

AC: This is my first royal AU! I hope you like this & I do apologise if the setting wasn’t that great! I am open to a part 2 of this, if you or somebody else has an idea! X

"Do not argue this Yelena! We need you to do this." Alexei spoke sternly, his wife Melina beside him nodding her head in agreement. "Natasha is married to Wanda, surely that I more than we need!" Yelena couldn't help but bit back at her father. 

Melina stood up from her chair before Alexei snapped in anger, "Yelena, take a walk with me" she insisted. The blonde rolled her eyes before following her mother down the hall and into the garden. 

"I know this isn't easy for you and you don't want to marry but sometimes in life, we have to do things we don't want to do. We don't do this out of hate, we do this to help. We want to leave you girls with everything you'll ever need and maybe one day you'll pass that onto children of your own" Melina spoke, earning yet another sigh from her youngest daughter. 

"I simply do not care to marry. I am happy with my life the way it is. Things might have been easier for father when it came to Natasha but she was already in love. You are asking me to marry somebody I have never met" Yelena explained. 

"You know, I never met your father either" the two walked through the garden at a calm pace, "I was forced to marry him to save his fathers kingdom" the brunette added. 

"But you seem so in love with him" Yelena frowned.

Melina chuckled, "over time, yes, I fell for him and his kindness. Then we took you girls in and I was glad I married him. I'm not saying it will be the same for you but family is the most important thing"

"You mean the kingdom is the most important thing" Yelena once again rolled her eyes. Melina stopped in her tracks and turned to Yelena, gently brushing her thumb over her daughter's cheek. "Do you remember when you were young and would play pretend with Natasha?" She asked. Yelena nodded, "that is all we are asking. Marry this princess & play your role as her wife when it sees fit. Other than that, you are free to do anything within reason" 

Yelena sighed heavily knowing there was no way out of the situation. "Fine, I'll do it" she said with defeat, her mother smiled softly and placed a kiss on her cheek "you're a good girl Yelena"

——

The wedding was a grand party for all who attended but Yelena and yourself. A few soft, friendly smiles shared between you both and a quick "I do" but neither of you seemed happy about the arrangement. Unlike Yelena, you had enough energy to smile and look like you were enjoying yourself, it wasn't the first time you had to attend an event you wished to avoid. 

To both of your relief, night came quickly and the wedding wrapped up eventually. You were staying 1 night at your wife's kingdom before the two of you would make the travel back to your kingdom. 

"You may take the bed" the Russian spoke, breaking the silence in her bedroom. It was the first time you heard her accent, it was thick but you liked it. 

"Oh, please, don't be silly. I'll take the settee" you replied. "This is your kingdom, your bed" you added. 

"You're my guest, it's only right for you to have the bed" 

"Wife..technically…we'd share the bed but I feel that both of us didn't like this arrangement. So to save an argument, I'll take the settee. When we return to my kingdom, we shall take turns. Does that seem fair?" 

The blonde didn't say a word in reply, she nodded before excusing herself to change into her night gown. 

You lay awake thinking of this new life your parents married you into. It was clear the woman you married was not a fan of you just as much as you were of her. 

"Did your father force you to marry as well?" Yelena's voice broke your train of thought. 

"Yes. I mean no offence by my answer, but I did not wish for this" you replied in a soft tone. 

"It's okay" you heard the woman sit up in her bed, "I didn't want to get married at all" she admits. You took the opportunity to sit up and face her for the late night conversation. Looking at her, she seemed different than before.

 "Do you not believe in love?" You asked. 

"I have no reason to believe that love is real" the blonde replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Love is all around you, your parents love you, your sister loves you" you reminded her. 

"That's not what I meant. Have you ever met your person? The one you would do anything for? How are we supposed to love freely now? We are in an arranged marriage, do you know how badly it would look if it was known that one of us was fooling with somebody else?" Frustration filled her voice, the same frustration you had expressed to your father when he told you that you'd be marrying somebody you'd never met. 

"No, but I believe that love comes unexpectedly, my parents married just like us but they found love in each other over time an-"

"If you think I'm going to fall in love with you over years of this joke of a marriage, you are wrong. I am happy on my own and I hope that you will understand that" Yelena snapped, interrupting you as she jumped out of bed and grabbed her robe before turning to you, "I will play the role of your wife when needed but I do not wish to know you outside of that" she added before leaving the room, the door slamming shut. 

----

The next day, the only time Yelena would talk to you was when others were around and when you were both alone, it was silent. She was mad but so were you, you just had a different way of dealing with it. The journey back to your kingdom was silent, only words were spoken to the guards that accompanied that two of you, Yelena could barely look at you and when she did, all you could see was anger. 

Once you both arrived at your kingdom, you requested that the guest room would be made up for your wife, explaining to your mother that you planned on doing things differently and that you wanted to give the Russian space and time to process things. 

"I thought you might find it a better fit if you had your own room" you spoke to her, breaking the almost endless silence between you two. Yelena finally looked at you for longer than a second, "You do not have to do anything that you don't want too. If you rather eat your meals alone, that is okay. You are free to make this your home as well, as hard as I know this is not your true home, I am glad to have you here" you added. 

"Thank you" she replied. You gave her a light nod, "if you need anything, I will be in my painting room" you turned to walk away. 

"You paint?" Yelena asked, stopping you from taking another step. You turned around to look at her once more, "I do, do you like art?" you questioned. 

"I also paint, sometimes" she replied with the smallest smile tugged at her lips. 

"Would you like to join me?" you asked. 

Yelena took a moment to think about it before nodding slightly, "sure" she spoke before following behind you. It may take some time but you hoped that with each passing day, Yelena would open up to you more and maybe a friendship could form.

Taglist: @red1culous | @bentleywolf29 | @jeyramarie | @lissaaaa145 | @high--power | @parkerdaramitzzzz | @mmmmokdok | @wackymcstupid | @kiwiana145 | @valiantmugcowboyscissors | @observeowl  | @nattyolw | @ripofflizzie | @get-the-fuck-outta-here | @goofy-goonie | @makegoodchoices | @apollo2907 | @marvelfan98 | @wandaroman0ff | @dumb-fawkin-bitch | @lovelyy-moonlight | @santana1437 | @fluffyblanketgecko | @puta1 | @inluvwithfictionalwomen | @tintedrose12 | @jaymieflorissssssss | @tita001 | @youralphawolf72 | @crescent-witch | @randomnessbecausewhynot | @natashamaximoff69 | @a-dorkier-book-keeper | @hehehehannahthings | @secrettoallofyou | @romantic-slaps-on-the-asss | @marvel-fan-2021 | @mmmmokdok | @riveramorylunar | @ripofflizzie | @toldthatdevil | @itsmv3 | @katiemay-025 | @maria-403 | @boredandneedfanfics | @wandamaximoffspuppup | @xox-little-troublemaker-xox | 

[spotlightlowlife]

Stolas Missed opportunity. He's a Helluva good villain.

Imagine a story where we have a someone who is respected royalty but doesn't hold the same degree of responsibility of others, a nepo baby who doesn't run a region and doesn't appear to run a business, free to chill in his palace and deal with his boredom and frustration by abusing his power and status, by calling on someone to entertain him, entertaining being of the sexually nature and the entertainer being of the uncomfortable corner commoner trying to better his life variety.

Once an innocent child who made a friend for a moment with a kid who was paid to hang out with him, he would form his first ever connection with another, however after decades of absence this one sided friendship would escalate to the transactional exchange mentioned, initiated by him when he was sad and mad and could do with a pick me up. He had no issue using someone he had a taste for but was ultimately disposable as a springboard to cause a scene and fallout.

This same someone grew up in his palace void of any parents but with servants who, are as far as this society is concerned, a social class just a step up from animals who superiors are welcome to treated as objects.

The awkward fuckbuddy is of this class.

All this alone would be the making of a great powerful villain. All this is Stolas content.

Only there's much more to it and it only makes things worst.

His backstory that was clearly intended to make us sympathize with and like him more, only it all added to his villain origin story.

There is no sex positivity surrounding his character, he was betroved as a small child following rare quality time with a powerful, very out of touch parent who just got done buttering him up, he was forced into a marriage where there was mutual dislike and forced to have a child as a teenager. This chaos was bought into his home. He remained in this marriage where he is regularly berated because he wanted his child, the only person he's decent to aside from his superiors, to live a normal life..

What does he know about normal?

At this point his perception of every and any relationship could be off.

Stolas is a lot like two fictional villan characters the audience root for dispite their victims being totally innocent.

Stolas is pretty much Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) and The Beast (Disney's Beauty and the beast).

With Patrick, so many similarities, hanging out at the social mixers he has no place being at, decadence and superiority, existing to work, the meaningless sexual relationship, sex negative interactions with sex workers, zero relationships with family (excluding Octavia who Stolas was made to have), many acquaintances to tolerate, zero regard for those with nothing and little proof of self awareness and understanding decency because both are very privileged and powerful individuals living in a hell like place where they can do whatever they want with no consequences because those they hurt don't matter.

Only this Patrick has had a spark light in him when he finally saw a plaything as a person and someone heroic, this was after Blitzø helped find Octavia, not that he had any choice in that matter, not like he was ever at fault for her absence i the first place that occurred on Stolas's watch at home as he entertained himself bickering over the phone during a visit and the grimoire she stole is her dad's property which he fails to safeguard away from home.

Accountability is lacking with him and generally highlighted when it comes to Octavia, the previous occasion he failed to hear his daughter the first occasions we saw him think about his ways.

His love for his daughter is evident, yet these examples show how much she is needed in his journey to decency.

Still there's a common audience trigger right there, he's not a great dad.

Stolas is comparable to The Beast as someone else who grew up in his own castle being raised by the workforce who would one day have an 'agreement' of sorts forced upon him. Years pass by and it takes that one person who he trapped but began to warm to for him to learn some decency, over time he wanted the best for this person even if that ment giving them freedom.

Though Disney's Beauty and the beast is child friendly, the beasts was pretty ferocious (totally lost in that bland live action) and Belle did have few options but to reluctantly be in his company. Belle, like Blitzø, is a strong willed and quick thinking individual (with an attraction to books), they may not seem the typical victims but this doesn't take away from their situation.

In other news.

Stolas has the most beastly looking transformation.

Mammon has been put forward as the leading powerful villain and as interesting as whatever his revenge could be, he's quite frankly adorable in comparison to Stolas. Ozzie, Mammon and Bee pretty much got bigger and a little more detailed whilst Stolas has the most intimidating looking transformation, one that appears to step outside of the artstyle.

His other form also got the most sinister introduction, he truly got to be creative and show us how twisted he was when he went to rescue I.M.P, the company run by his plaything who has his grimore, the transaction for sex.

He has been right there the whole time. It's unfortunate that the tone and a lot of the audience seem so opposed to a character intended to be a loved and charismatic figure also being controversial and certainly in the wrong. We have a sympathetic predator who appears to be learning and growing.

[angelsmist]

UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES - HBCU!SHURI X READER

prompt: a leak in your residence hall calls for unexpected pairings…

contains - cursing, shuri x fem!reader,

disclaimers - this is not my idea!! all credits to @vargskelegore for hbcu shuri. it is an amazing idea. however, the storyline is mine. also, i would prefer if only black people read this story, simply because it is a reader insert specifically for us. thank you <3

this will be a continuous story that i use, but with different prompts. but it will follow about the same storyline. feel free to request !

“Girl, are you fucking serious?”

“Look, my girlfriend offered and I have no reason to decline. I’m sorry.”

You resisted the urge to lunge at your roommate. There was a monoxide leak in your dorm, meaning that you two were kicked out of your housing, amongst many, many others. Both of you agreed that it’d be better to just get a nearby hotel for the time being, but at last minute she switched up and decided to stay with her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s roomie.

You knew you wouldn’t be able to find anyone else on such short notice because, who the hell would accept a third person, especially a stranger, into a dorm meant for two?

“So, what am I supposed to do then? Nobody’s gonna wanna room with me, and I don’t have enough money to pay for any hotels nearby right now,” You argued, practically fuming. The agreement was to split the bill, but now that she had backed out, there was no way for you to pay solo.

“I’m sorry, (name). I’ll try and ask people if they have room to squeeze you in, but for now, just worry about finishing the rest of your classes. We’ll talk later.”

You shut your eyes, huffing loudly. “Okay. But I swear, if I can’t find a place to stay tonight-“

“Chill,” Your roommate, Tati cut you off. “We’ll figure out something.”

“We better,” You grumbled, readjusting your laptop and notebook in hand before turning on your heel to get to your next class.

You had history next, a class that you were dreading simply because your professor was an absolute snooze fest. Nothing in that class was enjoyable.

Well, scratch that. There was just one thing to look forward to in that class.

That happened to be because of the girl who sat next to you during that class. It was none other than the princess of Wakanda herself.

Towards the end of freshman year in college, there were rumors that the Princess Shuri would be enrolling there. It was all just talk, though, so you never really trusted it. Plus, out of all places, why would literal royalty waste her time at a college when she could be traveling the world?

You had moved back in a few weeks before the first day and thought your mind was playing tricks on you when you saw her while you were trying to figure out where your dorm was supposed to be.

You hadn’t even realized you were staring until her eyes eventually met yours. She offered a smile, but you stupidly stared back at her dumbfounded, still in shock. That got a laugh out of her as she walked away, leaving you feeling incredibly stupid.

That encounter had lived freely in your mind for a long time. You even told Tati about it, which only made her laugh at you and mock you for actual months about it. She couldn’t blame you, though. The princess was fine as hell.

What you didn’t know was that you’d get a second chance later to make a better impression.

Surprised would be an understatement when you saw Shuri enter your history class. You hoped your mind was playing tricks, but looking around, just about everyone had the same reaction as you.

You looked away from the princess, not wanting a repeat of last time. Everyone else in the class silently hoped that Shuri would make the choice of sitting next to them.

It was when you heard shuffling on the opposite side of you that you realized someone had taken the seat on the very end of the row you were sitting in.

The seat next to you.

And well, the rest was history. Heh, get it?

“You look stressed,” Shuri noted, snapping you out of your thoughts. It was like your brain had been in auto-pilot while you were walking to class.

Shutting your eyes, you grumbled in frustration. “Is it that obvious?”

She hummed in response with a nod, sitting up from her chair to shift closer to you. “What’s wrong?”

“Nah, we can talk about this later. We got a presentation due like next week and we’ve barely started,” You dismissed, pulling up Powerpoint. You two had been paired up for a project.

“Yes, but I know you, and I know we won’t be able to do this assignment properly until you tell someone why you are so tense.”

“Okay, first of all, you don’t gotta call me out like that.” You narrowed your eyes at the princess. “Second of all, you heard about that leak in one of the residence halls?”

Shuri’s nod was your signal to continue. “Yeah, so, I was living there. And my plan was to book a hotel room with my roommate until the college can get us a more permanent place to stay, but she just backed out at last minute because of another offer. A free one. I can’t afford to buy my own room, so as of now, I literally have nowhere to live. Like, most of my stuff is in my locker in the locker room.”

“You should’ve said something sooner,” Shuri chuckled, tapping her pencil against her notebook. “Like texted me, or something. You can room with me for tonight. Or however long you need to.”

There was no way you’d turn down that offer. “Seriously? You’re okay with me crashing for a little?”

“Of course. It gets lonely every once in a while and I have enough space for two. Consider it a thank you for helping me adjust to college in the first few weeks,” Shuri confirmed, a smile playing at her lips.

“You are a lifesaver,” You breathed out, nodding at your friend. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Once class ended, you told Shuri you’d meet her in the quad as soon as majorette practice ended. Unfortunately, it was a whole lot longer than you had anticipated. The worst part was, it was an outside practice, so not only did you have to work your ass off, you also had to do with the heat of the sun basically frying you.

Practice could not be over soon enough. By the time it did end, the sun had already began to set and the sky turned a cool blue. You hadn’t had the chance to tell Shuri you’d probably be a little later than you told her because you didn’t have time.

You grabbed your water bottle, wiping sweat off your neck. When you felt a tap on the shoulder, you turned around to see Tati. “Hey, you know Kendall? That junior who bombed her tryout for the team? She has a free spot in her dorm cause the last girl moved out.”

You furrowed your eyebrows suspiciously. “Why’d she move out?”

Tati shrugged in response. “I don’t know, but I could ask her if you want.”

“Nah, I think she has like, a personal vendetta against me. Pretty sure I took her spot this year,” You replied.

“Girl, that wasn’t her spot. She messed up that audition all on her own,” Tati spoke, only half-joking.

You laughed at her harsh, but true words. “It’s all cool, though. I found a temporary roommate, anyways.”

“That’s good! I’m sorry again for bailing on you at last minute.”

“Don’t worry, I get it. We don’t got the money to be booking hotels when there’s a free option. You’re good.” You smiled, closing your water bottle.

You and Tati looked at the other group of majorettes socializing and noticed they had stopped talking to stare at something. Or rather, someone.

“Is that the princess?” You heard one say.

Tati turned to you. “Quick, look away before you end up staring at her like a deer in headlights again.”

You narrowed your eyes at your roommate. “Funny.”

You looked to the entrance of the large stadium that your group was practicing near and you couldn’t say that you weren’t surprised to see Shuri coming through them, looking around your group as if searching for something.

Once her gaze met yours, her eyes lit up as she began to walk towards you. It was like she didn’t even notice the entire team gawking at her.

“Hey, I was getting worried,” Shuri greeted you with a grin. “Are you ready to go?”

You looked at her slightly confused. “Wha…oh! You here for me?”

The princess looked at you as if you were crazy. “Who else would I be here for?”

“Right.” You mentally face-palmed, shutting your eyes for a moment in embarrassment. “I’ll be ready in a second, can you just meet me in the locker room so I can get my stuff out of there?”

Shuri nodded silently before turning away and heading towards the locker rooms just like you had asked.

When you turned to Tati, her eyes were practically bulging out of her head. “You didn’t tell me your new roommate was the princess!”

Tati must’ve said it too loudly, because her word quickly attracted the attention of your teammates, who began to walk towards you.

You knew exactly how this was gonna end. You’d be bombarded with questions you didn’t feel like answering, nor feel comfortable answering. You sent a wave to Tati before jogging towards the doors Shuri had just left through.

“You better tell me everything!” You heard Tati yell before exiting.

[blue-grama]

A little Film/Jam requeim

Upon the news that these two are not planning any projects together in the future, I was pondering Thai actor pairings and why I liked this particular one. First let me say I'm very in favor of actors not getting joined at the hip forever -- I doubt that's why anyone gets into acting, and while I get the financial reasons this happens in Thai entertainment, I'm generally in agreement that it tends to limit creativity, since the brand often has to come before the story. My only gripe is that now they're off doing lakorns that will never get subbed in English and it's not fair and look, I need to see The Empress of Ayodhaya ok?? I don't think it's a bad thing to have actors with great chemistry appear together in multiple shows, however, and I wanna say that I think these two used that opportunity right. Look, we have Tian:

Utter cinammon roll, too pure for this world, total sweetheart. He's a little scared and a lot beaten down, but he still has a burning spark of respect for himself that he doesn't let extinguish. He spends 73% of this show in the throes of a mental breakdown but still manages to take control of his narrative in the end. It's actively insane that the murder glitter show has such fantastic characters.

And then you have Charn, who is...

... also beaten down by this world, but evil about it. It's all manipulation, manwhoring, and complicated smiles belaying his real feelings with this guy. Refreshingly, he only has to reform himself a little bit to get his happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jiu. Assassin, kind of a tsundere. Marshmallow center, obviously. I'll never be over how after he and Tian first had sex (under the influence of a beetle fungus, OBVIOUSLY), he got deeply hurt that Tian said it was a mistake and accused Tian of doing this to all the boys. Possibly my favorite Jiu moment. ANYWAY.

There isn't as much distance between Jiu and Tinn as there is between Tian and Charn (from what I've seen, Jam maybe doesn't have quite as much range as Film, or at least hasn't been asked to demonstrate it). But Tinn is a more open and straightforward character, the moral center of Laws of Attraction versus a guy who assassinates several people with scissors without remorse in Khun Chai.

Point is, we don't always get this with repeated actor pairings. A lot of the time, you have an underlying dynamic that comes through in all the pair's shows, and it can't wander too far from its origins - I was thinking about this specifically with regards to Only Friends after listening to this excellent debut of the Part 5 (of 4) podcast, which talks about the way Force's Top turned into a completely flat character, possibly because "interesting" would conflict with the whole True Love ForceBook dynamic that GMMTV needs to sell. An appealing dynamic can be great -- hey, I read fanfic, I get the joy of putting the same guy in situations -- but I really liked how Film and Jam went with/were given quite different characters in their two projects together. This could be a lakorn vs. BL thing, but it'd be cool to see more paired actors take on more disparate roles together!

My disappointment over no more shows from these two comes down to wishing I could see what else they might pull off. Jam as the rich jerk instead of Film? Both of them playing morally grey? It could have been fun.

Oh well; I'll just be over here lighting candles for English subs from One31, because at least this hot murderous royalty nonsense looks exquisite.

And if you've read this far, please feel free to drop me recs in the tags or comments of other pairs that have played really different roles or dynamics with each other. I love seeing actors show their range!

[writerthreads]

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED WORK

1. Read through the terms of your publication

@ kayespivey (tumblr) got into details about this. As an author, you need to protect your work and make sure that you know what rights you’re giving to your publisher. @ kayespivey mentioned looking at the publishing company’s Copyright policy to check for any red flags like “non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free”, etc. If you agreed to that, I guarantee that your book would no longer be yours.

Instead, what you should look for, if you’re in North America, “First North American Serial Rights”, which gives you the right to be the “first publisher of your work one time”. It varies depending on which country you’re in.

2. Copyright your book

The process takes about 6-13 months. You’re supposed to already be protected by copyright laws the moment your write your book, but… eh. From a quick Google search, this seems pretty straightforward in the USA, by going on the U.S. Copyright Office website, going under “Literary Works” (of course, you’ll have to fill in a bunch of forms). Overall, it depends on your residing country, but protect your work!

The Berne Convention is an international copywrite agreement that removes the need to apply for domestic copyright in 164 countries, but this doesn’t apply to the US. If you’re living in one of those 164 countries, lucky you!

There’s a couple of terms you’ll need to know when applying for copyright. I found a website that does a thorough job of explaining the process, which I’ll post on our story, and will be in a highlight.

3. Know your worth

When you’re going through options for publishing companies, check the royalty fees, and how much you’re going to get paid for every copy of the book you sell, or whichever method the publishing company prefers. Evaluate your options!

4. Choose where you want to publish

u/alyssa_wilde on Reddit was happy with their Kindle Unlimited program with Amazon, which pays authors monthly based on the number of pages read. I’ve heard about extremely low royalties from Amazon so Kindle Unlimited could be a better choice. Other options, like Kobo, Apple Books, Barns and Noble, are also reliable choices.

u/alyssa_wilde did an incredibly detailed post about self publishing (particularly for the romance genre) on Reddit, I’ll link it onto the story and make it into a highlight… it’s worth looking at.

———

So this wasn’t a post on how to edit your manuscript for self-publishing, but hopefully it clarified some scary things about your rights as an author. As always, if you think you’ve got some pointers that would help others, feel free to comment!

[wingdingery]

for @anawrites3, the deleted intro from once upon a time (BruDick Cinderella AU ft. Slade as the fairy godmother)

__________

It’s not just that he can’t buy the dress.

Dick’s resourceful, and he has friends—he’s sure he could convince someone to help buy it for him, if he really wanted. So he can’t use that as an excuse for why he’s just standing there, staring at the dress instead of making a plan to purchase it.

The real issue is what he wants the dress for.

A carriage clatters down the street, and he jumps and hurries away from the dressmaker’s window before anyone notices him, only to slam face-first into someone solid enough to send him sprawling backward. Hands grab him and pull him up, and he finds himself face-to-face with the king of Defiance.

Slade raises an eyebrow, looking between Dick and the dress in the window, and Dick fights back his flush as he yanks himself out of Slade’s grip and marches off.

Slade catches up with him easily. “Not very polite of you.”

“Like you’ve ever been polite,” Dick says without stopping. “What are you doing here?”

“What is everyone else doing here?”

It’s a fair response—it’s only a few days before The Ball, after all.

That’s how Dick’s thought of it, since he first heard of it. The Ball. The one where King Bruce—thirty and five, this year—will finally choose someone to rule by his side.

Invitations were sent to nobility and royalty far and wide—within Gotham, to Kandor and Themyscira, even to Defiance and Nanda Parbat. In some ways, it’s more of a political event than anything else, bringing in powerful people from far and wide to make connections and strike agreements. One will make the most powerful connection of all.

Dick doesn’t need a crystal ball to know that it won’t possibly ever be him.

It doesn’t mean he can’t dream about it, though; doesn’t mean he can’t let his eyes catch on a shimmering flash of blue and look at it and think, what if.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d be interested,” Dick says. “It’s not as though it’s a tournament.”

“You think I would turn down the opportunity to become King Consort of Gotham?”

Dick gives him an unimpressed look. “Yes.”

He first encountered Slade three years ago on the battlefield, trying to finish the war his son started. It ended in a truce after his second son died. Dick thought, then, that Slade was more interested in having his son back than in power, and it seemed he was right—Defiance had been a quiet neighbor ever since.

Slade smirks slightly. “My daughter was interested in the ball. I was interested in what had become of you. But it seems you have your eyes on someone else.”

Dick scowls. “Shut up.”

“I could have your tongue for that,” Slade says idly.

“Not in Gotham, you can’t.”

“Perhaps not.” Slade’s eye flashes. “Are you intending the ball as a candidate?”

“You know I can’t.”

“But you want to.”

“What I want doesn’t matter.”

“And if I could make it happen?”

Dick’s steps stutter, and he looks sidelong at Slade, who seems serious. It’s… worth considering, honestly. Slade has access to money, and magic. He could get Dick into the ball as part of Defiance’s entourage. He could give Dick everything he needs to pull this off.

But he won’t do it for free.

“What would you ask in return?” Dick says.

Slade smiles. “I’ll do everything in my power to give you every advantage you’d like,” he says. “But if at the end of this, you still aren’t the future consort of Gotham—you’ll become the future consort of Defiance instead.”

[feyofmay]

The Righthand Man

Laurie x March!Reader Summary: Assisting in making the costumes for Jo's upcoming show, Y/N, who is love with Laurie, is forced to spend time with Laurie, who is in love with Jo. Angst ensues. word count: 2.8k Warnings: Fluffffffffff, all platonic, angst, reader gets called "Ducky"

This story is a snippet from my longer Laurie x reader story, Foolish, Honest Love on ao3.

Also, I am taking requests for Laurie x reader drabbles/minifics in my asks!!! :)

STORY STARTS UNDER THE PAGE BREAK

A trickle of syrupy scarlet begins to pool and form a bubble on the tip of the young girl’s finger. However, the sight of blood does not squeeze even a squeal out of her. Rather, all she does is sigh and place the finger between her lips. Between her lips, a row of pins rest beside her finger like a line of spiked fences, a warning to wandering souls. With her free hand, she guides the loose fabric to curl around her waist. 

“I must be the prettiest. I am the princess,” her younger sister declares like true royalty as she remains still under the middle March’s touch. Humming in agreement, she pulls her finger from her lips and leads the needle down a familiar trail. Although the house is always a little bit of a mess, in the most recent days it has grown into a beast of its own. Pieces of fabric are strung about everywhere, and loose pages of noted and edited scripts cover the floor as a gray and white layer of snow in autumn. A sheen of dust and the stink of old paper and musty fabric smothers in the autumn air. Without a knock, a boy enters, carrying the autumn breeze on the edges of his footsteps. Lost in her work, the middle March doesn’t pay any mind to anything outside of the glimmer of her needle as she works to avoid the wrath of her younger sister. If the needle is to even brush against her skin, the younger March will inform the whole neighborhood of the atrocity her sister has committed. Adorning a heather gray wool skirt, of which some other sisters have surely worn in seasons past, her heather purple bolero pinches around her collar and floats over her white collar shirt and black bodice. 

“I’m sure you will-” She begins, speaking around the pins in her mouth.

“Ducky, how’s the costume coming along?”

“- be. Just don’t paint the fabric without asking me first again,” Ducky continues while their older sister speaks around her. Like a knight in battle, the eldest of the three forces through the chaos of their home.

“Jo, you better have removed the part where I have to kiss a toad!” the youngest of the present sisters yells out to Jo. Ducky places her palm against the youngest’s stomach as a way to calm her and tell her to refrain from moving.

“Amy, you have to stay still, or I’ll poke you,” Ducky reminds her before returning to sewing the draping robin blue fabric. All of their conversation overlaps and forms a symphony of dissonant harmonies.

“I’m nearly finished with Amy’s, and all I have of Meg’s is final fittings, she’s putting hers on right now -” Ducky begins as she begins looping the thread into itself, forming a knot. 

“Perfect, we’re just behind schedule!” Jo continues her own tangent while she stations herself besides Ducky and begins to digest Amy's appearance.

“- and then all I have left is to make your jacket, and figure out Laurie’s ensemble, and I’m unsure what you want for me, regarding ‘my part’ in the show, itself,” Ducky trails off as she picks up her scissors and frees her needle from the taut thread caught in the knot of Amy’s dress. A heap of  tulle the color of a robin’s egg and a mellow baby blue silk cascade from underneath her beaded white bodice like a waterfall. Hours and hours have been spent on beading the bodice, alone, and, with sweat, time, and a minimal amount of blood, the middle March has managed to piece together the costumes for Jo’s newest and best show. 

“You’re going to be the wise old witch who lives in the forest -” Jo starts to fall into her tangent as she waves her hands. In her right hand, the newest version of her script resides.

“I’m only acting because Marmee’s done getting involved in your shows,” Ducky confirms.

“- Well, yes, but that doesn’t make your role any less important,” Jo reminds her as Ducky rises to her feet and brushes off her skirt. Blood rushes into her legs and feeling finally slips back into her feet after sitting for hours on the rickety wooden stool. As the teen boy discards his jacket, Jo is alerted of his presence and her attention shoots over to him. Rushing over to him, her arms shoot out to greet him. 

“Teddy!” Jo shouts when she’s engulfed in a hug. The two prattle on in a quick back and forth of banter and quips, and Amy waddles off to the mirror so she can properly admire herself. Leaving Ducky all by her lonesome, she sets down the pins between her lips and straightens up her makeshift sewing station. As she collects the spools of thread that had attempted to escape the nest of odd bobbins and spools of an assortment of colors of thread, she can't prevent her eyes from glancing over at the teen boy who’s attempting to swallow Jo in a hug. While she’s too young to wade deeper into her own emotions, she’s perturbed by the small pest named Envy that nips at the walls of heart. She’s not mad, not angry at either her sister or the boy, but she wants to be hugged like that. She wants to be seen & touched with the same feeling of “I feel you, and, therefore, I know you”. For a brief moment, the stories of far fetched courtship and romance are a faint taste on the tip of her tongue, real and tangy. Seeing her younger sister and being old enough to swim in the depths of her own feelings, the eldest March strolls over as a wreath of wisdom hangs around her head. With a knowing gaze and sturdy smile, she bends down so her lips are the same height as Ducky’s ear.

“Do you think he’s handsome?” she whispers to her younger sister as her words bubble up into a giggle. Ducky’s head shoots around to look at her older sister. A similar shade of red to the wound on her finger soaks into her entire face. Her nails dig into her palms, and her chest shutters from the pounding of her heart.

“Shut it, Meg!” she mutters out while gathering the last bobbins and placing them back into the small heap of thread. Laughing over the embarrassment of a young lover, Meg presses a hand against Ducky’s shoulder before gliding over to assist in admiring Amy’s dress by the mirror.

“Ducky, what have you planned for the right hand man to the hero, the protagonist, of my tale?” Jo enthuses as she rushes over to the younger sister’s station. Scooping up a pile of concepts and measurements all messily scrawled across different sheets of paper in looping, unfocused handwriting, the middle March digs through the loose scraps of paper until pulling out several ideas all scribbled on with a stick of graphite and colored pencils. Jo leans over to peer at the drawn figures, and the teen boy mirrors her movements. Sketched onto the paper in coagulating shapes, a drawing of a man clad in a puffy nectarine orange jacket in gold trim and forest green waistcoat dawns the garments over a pair of orange slacks in a matching shade and white high collar shirt with a forest green and orange striped cravat. 

“Perhaps the costume will make up for the fact that you can’t act,” Jo quips out as the two gaze at the young girl’s sketches. Teddy whips his head around to glare at the elder sister as she begins to leap away. Never does Jo simply “walk”, rather, her spirits carry the heels of her weathered leather boots just an inch above the physical Earth. To Ducky, Jo is beyond what any human can promise to be. After all, no mere human of flesh and blood could survive carrying the weight of tenacity and creativity like her sister does. Jo flings her body around and contorts it like a hanging rag left to dry in the wind, and the taupe skirt of her dress wrings her as she flips around to face Teddy.

“You wound me so,” he replies with a filling smile. Jo’s hand flies up to smack Teddy’s forearm. 

“Good, make use of that anguish in scene fourteen,” Jo quickly snips back as she starts to float away with the spirit of genius, her true paramore, “Now, stand here and do whatever Ducky tells you to do without any complaint.”

“What if she stabs me?” Laurie whines while he finds his place where Amy had recently stood before him. 

“I don’t want to hear any of it! You most likely deserve it, anyways,” Jo declares before rushing away to join her two other sisters by the mirror. A squeal of delight leaves Amy’s lips as she scampers away, chasing a distant thought that rattles around in her head.

“I’ll paint my shoes to match!” Amy giggles as she rushes off, leaving the two other sisters to follow her in quick pursuit. With a small smile, Ducky attempts to silently apologize for her sisters’ behaviors.

“Never a dull moment, eh?” Teddy eases her with a knowing glance, and she shares the look while flipping to a blank page in her notepad. Grabbing her measuring tape from around her neck, the middle March brushes back a few strands of hair that had escaped from her makeshift updo, kept together only by a single piece of loose, pale pink ribbon. Lightly gripping his forearms, her fingers sink into the billowing fabric of his watery gray shirt. 

“I’ll need to take your measurements. If I touch you in any way that’s discomforting, let me know,” she explains to him as she guides his arms up to extend out like a child’s when they’re pretending to be an airplane. The tips of his fingers brush against the fading cream and pink flowers that orner the sage green background of the wallpaper that, over the past years, has been dented and scraped from calloused yet tender fingers of youth. Nodding in reply, he stands stalk still as she wraps the measuring tape around his arm before jotting down the measurements in her small notebook. 

“Jo told me that you're some sort of expert seamstress,” Laurie informs her, speaking to try and swallow the silence that the two of them are sinking in. As the tips of her fingers brush against his, a pursed smile tucks itself into her lips. 

“I’m nothing close to that, but I do sew,” Ducky corrects him while she slips the tape around his neck, continuing her work. 

“Is that your big dream? Jo will be a writer, Meg will act, Amy will paint and Beth plays, and you’ll sew?” he asks with a sense of genuine inquisitiveness, tilting his head back as she leans in to better see the faded numbers, leaving about a hand’s width of space between his face and hers. However, as she’s consumed by her work, she isn’t sent awry by the lack of distance between the two. Whispering the measurement to herself, she ushers back to her notepad and copies down the digits, pausing from the conversation to focus on her craft. 

“No, no, that’s Jo’s dream for me,” she admits while shuffling to loop the tape around his bust. 

“Well then, what will you be?” Laurie continues as he raises his hands above his head to allow Ducky to reach around him comfortably. She pauses for a moment, both engulfed in her work and unsure how to answer his question. Tendrils of sunlight begin poking through the window as the sky starts to fade to a rusty hue. 

“I’m not quite sure,” she begins as she turns to copy more digits before adjusting the tape to next measure his hips, “Far. Free, not depending on any man to live how I want to.” Listing off her floating aspirations, Teddy gazes down and watches her precise fingers whisper a secret against the rippling powder blue, silk fabric of his waistcoat.

“What about you? What’s your dream?” she swings the question back to him, and he’s slightly taken aback by her forwardness. Often entranced by Jo and her wild acclaims of the future, he’s yet to think about what it is that he wants. Pursing his lips, the boy considers several archived visions of an ideal future that he’s contemplated in the past. 

“Well, I want to marry a woman. I want to spend my days free from tutoring, content to do whatever I please whenever I’d please. Maybe I’d settle down and put my musical talents to some use, as they’re the only talents my grandfather thinks has worth,” Teddy admits, and, as he discusses his aspirations for his future, a dull ache washes over Ducky, and she’s faced with an answer that’s unfamiliar to her. When her sisters are faced with the question “what do you dream?” every single one of them has a secret truth that is inlaid in the very foundation of their mind. They dream of safety. Of a home that is good enough, and a husband that is kind enough. Of a life that is fulfilling enough. They dream of the brink of enough, of simply a little more than bearable. A man can dream of happiness, but a woman only hopes for enough. Only has Jo honestly strayed from this path, as even Amy, with age, begins to share the three other March’s mindset. Jo continues to strive for greatness, and Ducky can do nothing but admire her for it.

“I sincerely pray for a safe and speedy recovery to any woman who falls for your ‘charms’,” Ducky retorts, and, for a second, her own tone reminds her greatly of Meg. The eldest sister always spoke with a sense of grace and intellect that Ducky found surreal. How could one speak like a bubbling brook flows? For a moment, as the words dribble out from her lips, Ducky is filled with the same rush of ease that she often feels when Meg is teasing Jo. As if called on by a greater divinity, just as Ducky finishes her measurements, Jo and Meg rush back over, with Meg sporting a new, oily black mustache painted onto her face. 

“Teddy, come quickly,” Jo commands to her companion, snatching his arm and dragging him along before he has time to digest her words. There’s no goodbye or reply as he follows behind Jo like a puppy on her heel. As he’s hurried away, Ducky’s eyes linger on his stumbling frame as the timid smile from her lips falls. The middle March begins to curl into herself as the eldest ushers across the dining, over to her sister. Meg rests her cheek against the side of Ducky’s head as, with her embrace, she shields Ducky from the world’s eye. 

“Ducky, tell me plainly and you mustn't lie. Do you fancy him, Teddy?” she asks her younger sister, but both of them already know the answer without speaking. Closing her notepad, Ducky doesn’t even glance up at her sister as she presses her weight into her older sister’s frame. The younger March curls up into her sister’s embrace and folds herself into the young girl that used to hide in Meg’s nightgowns as shrieking thunderstorms raged through the night.

“It doesn’t matter how I feel. He’s already in love with Jo,” she mutters into her sister’s chest as she wallows and wades in her own misery. Of course he loves Jo, who couldn’t fall in love with Jo? When she’s basking in the light of her own flowing talent and erudition, everyone falls in love with her. Jo is everything every mother never wants her daughter to be, and, in that right, she is what every mother prays her daughter becomes. She has never changed and, yet, is constantly born anew with each day. Never a lady, but yet an adult, wise yet naive to the weight of the world, everybody is in love with Jo, and this love holds no romantic intention. Rather, it is a deep well of devotion to a person that fills a lover’s stomach and renders one completely whole. To love someone entirely is to find peace within yourself and be content with one’s nature when in the presence of the one you love. So, in this manner, Ducky is entirely in love with Jo.

“It matters a great deal to me how you feel,” her older sister reminds her while strands of Ducky’s hair begin to curl around and hug Meg’s finger, “I’ll always want to hear about your feelings, no matter how large or pointless they may seem.” Silently, the two of them bask in each other’s embrace, and, without a word, Ducky knows her older sister understands her emotions inside & out. In her arms, she feels protected from everything, come snow or hail. In her arms, she is safe to be a young, scared girl.

Please comment & repost, & check out the whole fic :)). If you want me to add u to a taglist, lmk, & please send any laurie x reader drabble/fic requests my way!! I'd love to hear y'alls ideas! Have a lovely rest of your day, friends! &lt;3

[cryptidplays]

So I've been seeing a lot of folks talking about moving to Cohost.

Particularly artistic/creative types. So please, everyone, read the terms of service. This is a literal section of their ToS

that's really, really iffy at best. But a vast majority of social media sites will say that you still own your content.

Please consider pillowfort. Please consider Blue Sky. Their ToS do not have a clause like that in there, and do actively say that you still own all content that you post. (At least last I checked.

Blue Sky does mention using user content for making improvements/changes to their app and AT Protocol, and they also mention modifying user content in-so-far as resizing and distributing it to other folks on the app. But that is waaaay less iffy and way more informative of what they do with your content than cohost's ToS.

And yes, there is a chance cohost means it in the same way as Blue Sky, but they don't exactly word it as such and that sort of muddles the whole "you own the content you post here" thing.)

Adding this addendum from my reblog so people maybe see it on the original post, because the original didn't state the entirety of my worry:

I think what worried me is that unlike on Bluesky and Pillowfort, Cohost does not have the line that says "You keep ownership of your content." and just the agreement to the license itself. Cohost only says that you must have the rights/permission to post the content that you do post, and then they go into their spiel about the license of how they can use and redistribute your content.

While both Pillowfort and Bluesky do say you still exclusively own your content.

Pillowfort: "Pillowfort shall not lay claim to ownership of any content submitted by any member or user."

Bluesky: "You keep your ownership of Your User Content, subject to the license below. Bluesky does not own rights to your User Content except as provided in that license."

Which, Cohost should definitely add a line saying the same because it would remove liability from them, and explicitly state that people still own their IP (plus the "irrevocable" placed into the line about the "royalty free, perpetual, etc" when it comes to their license to use and distribute user content is somewhat worrisome... especially if someone wanted to delete their account and have their content removed)