#and so are all those who are to nervous to actually interact with the community

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #49 | 6.24.25 ๋࣭⭑

bb i did fckn WORK THIS MONTH U LITERALLY DONT EVEN KNOWWWWWW (but now u will)

MONTHLY DEVLOG TIME!!!

And I have been EAGER FOR THIS ONE. When I say I locked THE FUCK in this month..... OUGGHHHHH.... LET ME SHOW YOU!!!

This month, we had the usual progress on Kuna'a's dev edits (slow but steady) and Etza's line edits. But ON TOP of those edits going on in the background w the editing team, I also had time to go through every single route in the EA build and do the final edits on them. Just to give context, this means I edited 200k words this month, AND BOY WAS IT WORTH IT.

This editing journey included A LOT of things, not just little tweaks to wording here and there. It included polishing the prose, really strengthening character voices, adding more personality branches/choices, and A LOT of reworking for different scenes that I was okay with, but not completely happy with, in the beta versions of the individual routes. On top of reworking scenes, a lot of the routes also got some extra tiny scenes to showcase more cast dynamics, AND because I implemented a shiny new communicator system (which I'll talk about later), there's a lot more messaging conversations going on that I think add a lot more fun and character to your interactions with different LIs.

sneak peek of a new chat convo as an example

I'm really, really, really happy with the writing of the routes now. The characters feel stronger, scenes feel more organic and natural, and the pacing feels much more intentional. And overall the routes just feel a lot more fun!! While I don't think the writing was bad, by any means, before, I do think it's a lot stronger and cohesive now!

I was also able to calculate word counts across routes within the game script, using a Lint feature by another dev. It was a lifesaver because Google Docs gave me just an estimate, but by calculating the word counts within Ren'Py, I have a more accurate word count across the routes. Using this, I adjusted different routes so that the word count is much more even and there's no one route that feels significantly longer than another!

If you think I was making cracked progress on writing, ehehehhee.......................... WAIT UNTIL I TELL YOU ABOUT THIS!!!!

First art accomplishment: I finished THREE sprites for the game!!! (so I only have TWO left now!!!!). I'll showcase one here since I've featured them before, actually. A long, long time ago for those who were here during the Kickstarter ages.

everyone, meet KILUM

Kilum was a stretch goal to have their own route. Unfortunately (for you, but fortunately for me LMAOOOO), we didn't meet that stretch goal. You might remember they look a bit different from the original concept art, and that's because I reworked their color palette after finishing the rest of the Dusk Court's characters so that side of the cast looked a little more cohesive. I'm in love with their design (thanks to bestie @/saffein-e as always), and I hope you're excited to meet them in game! They are certainly A Character!

The other two sprites I finished were actually our two queens HEEH. You will not be meeting them, sorry! Guess you'll have to wait for EA to drop \o/ Anyways, I was really nervous about finishing the sprites in time for the EA build since I had 5 sprites to make, and before this month I had only finished 2 sprites in the span of like 4 years aofsdjaiosjdfaiojsdfioajsdf. So I'm really proud of myself for the sprite progress this month (I always hate making sprites)!

sneak peek feat. eyes. my beautiful children....

We also made CG progress. A LOT of CG progress HEHEHE. Before this month, I had only finished about 26 CGs and that was over the course of like 2 years. That being said, that was while balancing coding beta routes, writing routes, editing, and whatever else I had going on. Now, because I'm locked in on art progress, we have.... *drumroll please*....... 38 CGS FINISHED!!! And that is actually ALL of the ones we need to have done for the EA build!!! So this month, on top of sprite and editing progress, I also finished 12 CGs YEEEAAAAAAAAAA.

Finally, I made some headway on other things this month: one of the biggest being a revamp of the communicator.

my children..... stop fighting....

Big thank you to (@/robobarbie and @/windchimesgames) for the messaging system asset HEHE. now in the game, you will be able to have separate chats for each character and group chats!! I'm still ironing out some kinks with the system and figuring out how to best implement it in the game, but for now, here's a sneak peek of what it's looking like!!!

We also have finally reached a point where we can move forward with voice acting in the game!!! I'll be preparing the lines to send out to the VAs over the next couple of days, but it's so exciting to reach this point since VA is usually what i associate with the Final Stages of production.

I've played a couple of games recently but honestly, so much of my time has been dedicated to Alaris that I haven't had time to do anything like fanart. It's been an ALARIS MONTH BABY!!!

CGs and sprites were the biggest things that I was worried about finishing on time, and given the amount of progress I made on them this month, I think we're in really good shape for EA release!!!

All that's really left for me to do with both editing and like 85% of the art assets out of the way are to finish up the last two character sprites, flesh out the sprite expressions and code those in, and VA! After that, it'll be cleaning for bugs and polishing, so I'm extremely ecstatic over EA progress this past month and hope you all are excited to have it in your hands Very Soon! ^^

Until next time, hopefully I'll bring more exciting news then. Stay cool, especially for those getting hit by the heat waves and general summer heat! <3

[a-chaotically-small-lunta]

You know how you look up to someone and how someone looks up to you? Okay, now make it g/t

Lemme explain via example: Imagine a writer who types all their stories on their computer. Maybe they share them online maybe they are way too nervous to do that, and just keep it a secret hobby. Anyway, one day they leave their desk to do something only to come back and notice that their writing document moved to a different page, and their computer didn’t fall asleep like it usually did. This confuses them but they brush it off, telling themselves that maybe they were faster than normal and maybe accidentally moved the page.

However, it keeps happening. Each day they walk away for a moment or even longer, their computer never falls asleep and is on a completely different page. This starts to freak them out. So, they decide to walk away and then sneak back as quietly as possible. When they peek their head inside, they see a tiny little person at their computer, just staring at the screen. The writer watches as the tiny continues to read their story, and that’s when they realize, they’re reading the writer’s story. They walk in, spooking the tiny. The tiny is in shock, they can’t tell if it’s just fear of being seen or getting the chance to actually talk to the writer whose work they adore, perhaps a mix of both. Maybe the tiny gets overwhelmed and before the writer can ask the classic “What are you” question, the tiny burst into a bunch of questions about the story the writer is writing. The writer taken aback by this, just awkwardly answers them and tries to ask them a question only for the tiny to continue asking questions. Eventually the tiny remembers that “Oh right… I’m not supposed to be seen…” and cautiously asks if the writer is upset with them and whether they will hurt them. The wrier assures them that they are mad and won’t hurt them and are honestly glad that their computer wasn’t hacked or there was a ghost or something. Also, how could the writer ever hurt their biggest…well smallest fan?

Maybe they build a friendship where the tiny helps the writer with ideas and getting over those writing hurdles. Hell, maybe the tiny even was inspired by the writer and tried writing their own story and shares it with the writer. Maybe the writer gains the confidence to share their stories online or even publish their work all because one little person loved their work. Perhaps the tiny, with the help of the writer, shares their own stories while hiding their identity as a tiny from everyone. So many possibilities! Just tiny little fans, forgetting they should probably focus on not being seen and not “What is Character’s favorite thing to do when they are bored?” Like sweetheart probably not the best time, but go for it.

[blakeswritingimagines]

Dating Yandere Art The Clown Would Include:

Basically, if you befriend him be very kind to him, and show him how you care and love him, Art will develop a massive crush on you, and be very overprotective, jealous, and possessive of you.

Art will get jealous easily if he sees you interacting nicely with another person, Art will go berserk, and brutally torture and kill the person. Art's yandere personality would be somewhat similar to Victor Zsasz, from the Batman series.

Art will be very clingy and very loyal and love you more than anything else in the entire universe. Art would get extremely angry, upset, depressed, and sad if someone says anything about you. If you leave him, or hurt him, his anger and hurt can be even more terrifying with his yandere side. He will be very devoted to you, and even worship you, like a God.

No matter where you are, or what you are, Art will always find you. Art will stalk you. There won't be anywhere where you can hide, and he will always be watching you, even when you are alone. Art loves you very much and will show his love by hurting you.

He is completely obsessed with you, as he won't hurt those who are rude or cruel, but he'll be very kind to you. Art will be extremely devoted, loyal, and lovesick towards you, and will love with all his undead heart.

Art is mute and can only communicate with non-verbal communication, so he is unable to fully express his feelings for you. Art feels insecure and vulnerable for not being able to fully express how deeply he loves you.

Art will constantly need physical attention and reassurance from you, whether that be hugs, head pats, or hand-holding. He needs constant reassurance from you to remind him that he is the most important person to you. Art will always stand by you no matter what and will want to spend every single moment with you.

Art can sometimes give you little gifts. The gifts usually consist of him showing you his undying love and loyalty and can be a lot of things, like writing notes to you, hugging you tightly, or holding you closely as if he's afraid you'll disappear, etc.

Art gets very possessive and can lash out and hit out if his love is threatened. Art will get extremely upset if you talk back to him or hurt him. If he sees or hears you insulting him, or being rude to him, he'll be pretty upset. But, Art actually has pretty thin skin, and he can get his feelings very hurt if you say stuff that hurt him and his sensitive emotions. If you really hurt Art, he will lash out at you by slapping you so hard that you will be knocked down.

Art is very affectionate and loves to display his love as much as possible, especially if you accept it. He needs a lot of attention and physical touch from you, and will crave it. Art absolutely loves to cuddle with you, and give you lots of kisses and hugs. Art really wants to hold you close to him and never let go.

Art would love to go on a date with you. He would dress up all nice and neat for you, and would probably also be a little nervous. He can be a bit shy, but he'll try his best to be romantic and sweet for you. But Art is not exactly someone who would take you to a fancy restaurant, but more of an unconventional and casual date. He can be a weird and unique romantic, so the dates will be very special and one of a kind, just for you.

Oh, yes. Art is very protective and extremely possessive of you, so anyone who he sees as a threat to your well-being can be at risk. Art can be especially dangerous when he is threatened, and will do anything to protect and keep you safe. Art will literally kill anybody who makes you uncomfortable or hurts you.

Art is not someone who will let you go that easily. If you wanted to break up with him, he will be upset, sad and devastated. Art will refuse to let you go, and will try everything possible to keep you by his side. He will do anything to make you stay. He will get on his knees, if he must, just to keep you with him. Art can get very desperate to keep you if you try to break up with him.

He hands down does have a shrine. Art has a collection of stuff about you; your pictures, your belongings, your things, etc. Art spends a lot of time in that room, and he's very attached to it as it reminds him of you. He can stare at it for hours, and will sit in the shrine room, when he feels especially lonely. That room is like a treasure room to him, as it represents his love and dedication to you.

While Art may be a killer and a yandere, he still has a sense of morals, and would never want his precious darling to be in any harm or danger. He doesn't want to let you get hurt, and will always try to prevent you from getting hurt. Art also doesn't want you to witness his vicious and brutal kills. He doesn't want you to see him in that state.

Oh, marriage is one of Art's greatest dreams. He desires to marry you more than anything else in the world. He wants to be your husband and wants to be attached to you forever. Art wants to be your forever guy. He'll do anything for the chance of marrying you. He'll even kill anyone who gets in the way.

Art wants children. He desperately wants to have a family with you. Art wants to create children together with you and watch them grow. He'll dote on the kids and treat them like little angels. Art's protective and possessive nature would increase by ten-fold, knowing that you are the mother of his children.

While Art would be a little disappointed if you didn't want kids, he'll be willing to respect your choice and decision. But if you can’t have kids, Art would be very upset. He would be frustrated that you wouldn't be able to have his kids together. He would be angry that your body won’t allow it. Art’s frustration would be directed at your body, more than at you. He would be absolutely furious that your body is the thing stopping his dream of having kids with you.

Punishment - Administering painful discipline or punishments to those who disobey or fail to meet his expectations adds an extra layer of intensity to your interactions.

Voyeur cameras - Installing hidden cameras in private spaces allows him to secretly observe and record intimate moments with or without your knowledge or consent. The thrill of surveillance and exhibition adds layers to his arousal.

Body worship - Taking his time to explore and appreciate every inch of your body with hands, lips, and tongue is an act of sensual reverence that he thoroughly enjoys.

Sensation play - Using various tools like feathers, ice cubes, or vibrating toys to stimulate different parts of your body in unexpected ways is a great way to keep things fresh and exciting and he loves how responsive you are.

Masturbation competitions - Racing against you to reach orgasm first, either individually or cooperatively, is an exhilarating game of who can last longer.

[suzukiblu]

How did you spread your Ko-fi/ comms? I've had a Ko-fi of my own set up for a little over a month now but I'm struggling to get any commissioners. Do you have any tips?

disclaimer: This is what worked for specifically me and my specific situation/style/etc and I don't know your specific audience or how you typically interact with them, so take or leave what I say in terms of what seems like useful or helpful information to your own situation. I do have some more specific advice for you in the back half, just I'm gonna be starting out with the "this worked for me" stuff.

Anyway actual answer/info behind the cut, hah. God, this is so long and only mostly organized, I apologize, I just get INTO it sometimes when I get asked this kind of thing.

First and foremost, for clarity's purpose and all: I have been on the internet for literally twenty-five years and am WELL established in fandom, as well as someone who has been reasonably popular and/or well-known in multiple fandoms on multiple sites at multiple times. There are literally people following me who were reading my stuff ten or fifteen or even the full twenty-five years ago. Given your profile says you're in your twenties I may have LITERALLY been online longer than you have been alive, haha.

So like, I've been at this a minute and have a LOT of experience in engaging and maintaining an active audience because that's a thing I value having and therefore do my best to encourage; it just works best for my process. So if you're feeling a little vexed with the response you're getting, know that this is all coming from a much-experienced Old(tm) who has had issues getting commissions and attention several times themselves and just currently has a decent chunk of followers and a very communicative "yes and" writing style and is, as a writer, WILDLY prolific. Like. WILDLY prolific. Genuinely, I am not trying to brag or talk myself up here or anything, I just straight-up feel like I haven't written at all if I don't break 2k in a day ( and even 2k feels kinda low to me at this point ), and I write EVERY day.

Literally. Literally every day. Like I missed two days after I got COVID and solo-drove four hours and needed to sleep for a week to recover, and I missed one day at the beginning of this month because I was real burned out from writing 32k more than usual last month and just needed to veg for a day. That's it, that is it all. Those are literally the only days that I have not written in like, the past SEVERAL months. Like, the high end of "several", to be clear. Occasionally I have a lighter day and only write a few hundred words, but typically I do somewhere in the range of 2.5-3.5k, and on my more productive days I can break 5 or 6k easy. That is the kind of person that you have asked for advice here, haha. 😅 So like . . . I'm low-key a freak, productivity-wise. Like I am the living embodiment of that one interview where George R.R. Martin is staring at Stephen King with visible fear in his eyes as the dude describes how many billions of pages he writes a day like it's no big.

tl;dr: I write SO. SO. MUCH. So much, and ALSO I have a backlog of something like two million words on AO3 and definitely hundreds of thousands more words under my tags list on here on top of that. People get a LOT of content when they get into me, I am MADE of content. I have built up a lot of momentum over time, that's just what's worked for me personally.

Also I'm cheap, ngl. I'm just--I'm very affordable, Ko-fi-wise. So I am sure that helps, considering!

ANYWAY. Some of this advice is not going to sound relevant to Ko-fi, but it is relevant to how I personally use Ko-fi, so yeah, here we go:

Always remember: everyone on the internet has social anxiety. Yes, even the people who don't actually have social anxiety. Just go into everything assuming most people you meet on here are gonna be shy or nervous or just feel awkward striking up a conversation with you out of the blue, especially if they've never really spoken to you before. It doesn't matter if they don't actually have social anxiety, thinking that way just puts you in a mindframe to be mindful when you're talking to them and being mindful in your communication makes people more comfortable with things like messaging you with questions and the prospect of going through the commission process with you.

Generally just assume the best of people's intentions whenever possible, and when their intentions are clearly not the best, just move on and don't engage. It is a lose-lose situation; you are not gonna convince them of anything and you're just gonna look like a dick to people who don't have the context and leave a sour taste in their mouths. Which, long story short, people are just way more likely to enjoy your stuff and WAY more likely to commission you if you're putting your best foot forward whenever possible. I definitely try not to get too negative on here myself; like I'm not doing any toxic positivity or anything, just I am here to vent some feelings and make some friends and enjoy the process, and I wanna cultivate a setup where other people can benefit from that too.

Link. Link link link. How easy is it to find your Ko-fi link? Make it easier than that. Keep it in your pinned post and on the front page of your actual blog and in your back pocket and stapled to your sleeve. When you post a commission, link your commission info in the description. When you talk about your art in general, link your commission info in the body of the text--like for example, "I'm trying to use my Ko-fi more" or "I finished up my last commission, I have some slots open again". ( used my own Ko-fi links for reference here, obviously, hah, but specifically linking to your main page OR just straight to your actual commissions page are both useful options. linking your main page introduces you as a person more effectively, while linking straight to your commissions page removes a step for people and makes it easier for them to find the info they're looking for. )

Communicate! Remind people that your Ko-fi/your commissions exist every now and then. Like, definitely not daily or weekly, but depending on how often you update your blog in general, maybe once every month or couple of months give people a heads up if you've got commission slots open/available. That way they're not awkwardly peering at the pinned post you put up months ago wondering if you're still actively open or just forgot it was in your pinned, and also it gives a heads up to people who might've been thinking about or meaning to commission you that you're available for work.

Post consistently in general; not just about commissions or Ko-fi, obviously, just like making yourself available and open to people and hanging out WITH people. Answer as many asks as you have the spoons to. Talk about stuff you like and stuff you're excited by and into. Like obviously not everyone can do this but I personally post a lot on here and I definitely UPDATE a lot on here; generally speaking if someone swings by my blog once or twice a week, there's gonna be at least a few hundred to a few thousand words of new stuff for them to read ( or SEVERAL thousand, even ). Or to look at, when I'm feeling arty.

Answers asks and make personal posts. Like I'm not saying trauma-dump on your followers or use Tumblr like a diary, definitely, but it's a good idea to give people a bit of an idea about yourself in terms of things like talking about your dog being cute or if you're going to be out of town on vacation or how your process works or just new or different things that you're trying out/experimenting with/interested in. Bluntly put, you want people to remember you are a person who wants to hang out with them and not just a Content Generator to be "liked" and then scrolled on past, and you want to engage with them and try to talk to them when they talk to you and generally be, like, approachable. In my case I just do my best to assume the best of every interaction and try to notice who's regularly popping up in my notifs and remember what I can about them. This does not always work for me because my memory is swiss cheese, but I do what I can there because I very much appreciate people engaging with my stuff ( and also my me, haha ) and I think communicating that kind of thing to people usually makes them feel good, and in turn you feel better about what you're doing and how people are responding to your work, and then you're more motivated TO work and maybe they catch some mistakes for you or have good ideas that vastly, VASTLY improve what you had in mind. The circle of fandom! The life cycle of a WIP!!

Which leads us into: you need to be doing things that are very recognizably You(tm) and cannot just be picked up for free just any random anywhere. Which like, that can be an issue with fanart, obviously, because the internet is FULL of free fanart, so what you probably want is to be looking to court people who are looking for art of their fics/AUs or their own original characters. Like your style is very distinctive for sure, that's definitely a good thing, so leaning into your personal interpretations of characters is a good idea, and it does look like you're doing that with the stuff of yours I've seen. I would just say lean into your own designs and own little quirks of styling and stuff you really love to draw and go hard on all of it. Once you really feel it out, the stuff you are REALLY vibing with is the stuff that is gonna resonate with people the most significantly in the long run, in my experience. Even if it doesn't always get the same level of response as less niche stuff does, it'll very likely get a more DEVOTED response, and people who'll come back for more of it. I did not write so dang much of Darcy Lewis in my MCU days because her fans were uninvested in seeing new content for her, put it that way.

Also, I AM in fact cheap; I have a few different price options on my Ko-fi and two-thirds of them are five bucks or under. The nature of how I personally do Ko-fi means I'm adding words to already-established stories, though, so people are coming in invested and more willing to donate so they can find out what happens next. Which, like, is obviously not something that works with art commissions, unless you're doing something like "when I hit this donation goal I will draw the next page of this comic script I have written in thanks for hitting the goal". But honestly, sometimes doing a limited amount of projects and getting people interested/invested in said projects is more cost-effective in terms of your time and energy and less overwhelming than doing a million different things all at once. Plus it gets your audience more story to chew on in the long run and I have NEVER met anyone who complained about a fuller narrative happening to them.

Mind, I don't actually know if you're the comic-making type, comics are just the first example I thought of, but also you do have to make sure you're giving people enough content to be invested in to begin with. Sticking with the comic example, people aren't gonna donate to see more of a comic if they don't know they LIKE your comics, so doing some shorter ones and posting a nice selection of those first and THEN doing a donation goal is more respectful of your audience because you're clearly actively interested in them and want to make things you can share with them, not just, like, collect their Ko-fi donos, and at the same time it's also just better advertisement for you. Ethical marketing, basically; there's plenty of content you shared freely, and you're also posting the things that get crowdfunded for everyone to see and not paywalling anything, and ideally building some community and making some friends along the way. Which, like, obviously substitute whatever works for you for "comic" here; I personally just find having overarching narratives/stories/settings helps people get invested and enjoy themselves more with your stuff, and also be likelier to REMEMBER your stuff. Come up with an AU, do some little comics or illustrations in it or some design work for it. Just make a thing that is very specifically YOU and what you like.

On that note: get niche. Get weird. You REALLY don't wanna be making stuff that is not as You(tm) as possible and can just be picked up anywhere. You wanna make the kind of stuff where people go "I wanna see more like this, fuck, who else is even MAKING this, alright OP please do me a solid and have more of this on your blog--fuck YEAH you do, look at all this, okay I live here now". In fandom terms: yes, everyone loves Timkon, Timkon'll get likes, it'll probably even get comments, but if you really want to find the diehards who are gonna lock in and ENGAGE, you wanna make sure you also do the niche shit that you're telling yourself everyone else is gonna think is too weird or just not be interested in. Shut up, imposter syndrome, people LOVE weird! People WANT weird, this is fandom, we're a largely queer subculture that's reclaiming our modern mythologies from capitalism, we're not here for the normie shit! We'd be rereading canon again if we just wanted the normie shit!

Seriously, being openly weird and leaning into said weird is a VERY definite reason that people recognize and remember my writing as opposed to, like, just consuming it and moving on without even noticing there was an author involved. If people vibe real hard with the themes you get really into working with or really like the unique parts of your style/voice or appreciate the way you handle certain subjects/characters/weird niche shit, they're a lot likelier to remember you and either come back or just stick around from the start. Like attracts like and your "like" will be delighted to have found you, and you will get to enjoy the benefits of BEING found by your fellow niche weirdos and all be thriving together! Everyone wins!

Also, I have some more specifically tailored practical advice/critique that is based off my immediate reactions to what I saw when I clicked over to your blog/Ko-fi, which definitely take with a grain of salt because I am giving it without being familiar with your process/situation/audience and from a different position. I'm just trying to be less general and offer some stuff that might be more specifically useful to you. So like, please feel free to hit me up in DMs or asks if you wanna talk about any of this in more detail or get some clarification on anything I'm saying here, this is just what I've got from my initial impressions and off the dome.

Also-also, again, this is all based on what's worked for me personally, so I'm sure there's some stuff that might not be applicable to or just not vibe with you because of that. So like please don't take this as me trying to smack down what you've been doing so far or anything, I'm just trying to be thorough in building on it and also, like, my graphic design experience definitely slipped into some of this, hah.

So to start I took a quick look at your blog to see how easy it was to find your Ko-fi and then a quick peek at your Ko-fi itself to see how it was set up. I found your Ko-fi immediately, which was good! Having it in both your bio and your pinned is definitely the right idea. I did have to expand your bio to find the link that was listed in there, which not everyone will do while scrolling past, but that's just like, nitpicking on my part since you do have the pinned post directly beneath it. I just am very much "make literally everything as easy as possible for everyone ever in every possible way".

It'd probably be helpful to mention that you're open for commissions in the "about" on your Ko-fi's front page so people don't have to scroll too far or click any links to find that out/have that confirmed. You may also wanna either slim down the descriptions in your commissions listings or break them up into paragraphs; you wanna do your best to avoid big solid blocks of text because people are likelier to only skim those and therefore less likely to absorb the information.

Skimming is also bad because it means people are less likely to notice that something you're describing appeals to them, and are way MORE likely to end up confused. "Confused" ups the chances that they just decide they don't wanna bother you by asking for clarification, given they might feel stressed by asking or pressured to buy or just like they're bothering you.

Avoiding text blocks is also just gonna make your descriptions wayyyyy easier to read for people who are dyslexic or have vision problems or possibly didn't learn English as their first language ( depending on their fluency for that last one, obviously, but you never know so yeah ). Basically you wanna make the commission process as quick and effortless and A-to-B as possible for people; your goal is "how can I make this process as close to one-click shopping for people?" Your goal is to become the Occam's Razor of commissions.

Your promo sheet on Tumblr I'd say could be an issue in the sense that it's a little difficult to read; you want people to not have to think about it to clock it as what it is. I only immediately knew it was a commissions sheet because I went in looking for one, and you want people to INSTANTLY know it is a commissions sheet. Like, before they even process anything about it, they should have the instinctive recognition of "this is a commissions sheet" and be primed to read a commissions sheet.

The main issue I see is that the sheet's layout is pretty dense and lacks visual flow in its composition; the prices are scattered and the font on the header is hard to read at a glance; my reflexive assumption from the moment it took to recognize it as text and the overall layout of the graphic was that it was a border, not a header. And like, I figured it out like half a second later, yeah, but that first couple of seconds can disorient or confuse people or just make them just scroll by without stopping to read, because it's not a tall image and the image is ALWAYS your best chance to catch somebody's eye, especially when deliberately going for art commissions.

The first thing I actually read off the sheet was "X no NSFW GORE", which I was initially unclear on the meaning of and had to reread to realize what you meant, but either way is not the first thing you want me to read; it should definitely be on the sheet and very visible, but not positioned to be the first thing someone's eye goes to. It belongs off to the side in a lower corner or just over on the right-hand side. Right now it's too high and too emphasized in comparison to the actual header, which is very much what you WANT people reading first.

There's almost no negative space on the sheet and some of the example art you've included is shrunk down so small that it's REALLY hard to read unless you've seen the larger pieces before, so I think considering doing two or three complementing slides so you can spread out your offerings/pricing and make your examples bigger would really be helpful there. I think it's a really good idea to include multiple pieces as examples, it shows your range and makes it clear what people are gonna be getting for their money; that's definitely the way to go imo. You just also wanna be sure that people can see the details and get the full vibe of your art and the work you put into it. Like, I REALLY love that pic of Match you have down at the bottom, full disclosure I realize we have like never spoken but it is literally my phone background and has been since the day I first saw it ( my lock screen being the complementing Kon pic, natch ), but you can't see any of the cool little details I know are in it with it shrunk down that small. I wanna see his eyes and the detail in his hair and the phone cord wrapped around his throat and the heart freckles, I LOVE those dang heart freckles! And like, those are also interesting little quirks and creative things that will make people think, "oh, I like how that looks, if I commission this person I'll get a cool pose or creative styling or fun details out of it!", so they are definitely the kind of thing you should make sure to show off when you are showing off your work.

I personally tend to go for vertical posts over horizontal ones, given Tumblr is meant to be scrolled and it's more important that people's eyes get caught by something in the scrolling process than that your graphic expands across the screen in the best fit; a lot of people won't even click on the image to expand it anyway. You do want to make sure it'll stay readable if they DO click, of course, so I'd personally recommend stacking two or three horizontally-composed sheets on top of each other to make the POST'S composition vertical. Scrolling down is how people traverse this site; you want to lean into presentations that read well when they're being scrolled down.

The accompanying text below the actual sheet is also not as neatly balanced/formatted as it could be, so it looks less . . . hm, less INTENTIONAL, maybe? Less thought-out than it could be, at least. It makes it harder to read at first glance and doesn't give off a professional vibe. Using bullet points or indents or headers can help with that kind of thing and just make it easier for the eye to follow along and for people to read/focus on what you're saying. ESPECIALLY when you're doing promos/price lists you want to have the most stripped-down and functional version of the text you can manage. You wanna get your point across as clear and succinct as you can and make sure there's negative space around your text so the words can be read quickly and the text itself can breathe, visually-speaking. Negative space is your friend.

Yes I realize talking about the VISUALS of text is a little weird but listen man, you're an artist, you get what I'm saying here. You wanna make the actual first-glance look of your text aesthetically appealing and easy to follow through at the pace and in the order you want it followed. Which like, takes some practice, obviously, but again, I have been here for twenty-five years, haha. Just this is a very visual site and very scroll-oriented, so you wanna do your best to be eye-catching! That's why I frequently post my finished fics with a little accompanying image, just to make sure they stick out to people in the tags.

uhhhhh okay this was a lot, lol, sorry for dumping a ton of info all at once there, but hopefully some of it will be helpful to you! Even if some of it probably sounds weird and way too concerned with curb appeal, haha. Sometimes you just gotta put in some grind and build your momentum, sometimes it's really just that; in the meantime, just try to be approachable and enjoy yourself! If you build it, they will come.

[curseofhecate]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, I MISS YOU | LN4

an: This is based on Merry Christmas, I miss you by Alex Crichton. It can be read as part to to merry christmas, please don't call. Again, depressing but I can't help it. This is Lando's point of view.

w.c.: 1.3k

December 25th, Christmas.

The view from the cabin was captivating. Especially now that the sun had gone down and it was snowing again. Everything outside seemed so calm and peaceful, the complete opposite of the war that was currently going on in Lando’s mind. 

His plan hadn’t been to spend Christmas in a cabin somewhere in the french alps. It had actually been Max's idea, to make their annual ski trip overlap with Christmas this year. He knew his friend very well to know that if Lando was left alone this year on Christmas day he would have ended up wallowing in his sadness. 

The whole day had passed by in a blur. Presents, skiing, food, jokes, card games, it had all been a well revised plan to keep him distracted. And it had worked. Up until now.

It was late in the evening and everyone was off doing their own thing. Lando was sitting on a couch, half watching the snow fall outside through the floor to ceiling window and half watching the movie Pietra and Max, who were cuddling on the other couch. 

Love Actually. He remembered when his girlfriend had forced him to watch it with her around this time last year and how he had complained it was a dumb movie without actually having seen it. Well, ex girlfriend, because he had ruined that.

He hadn’t really meant to. It was something he either did subconsciously or it was out of his control. Usually, he likes to blame their falling out on the distance, on his job, on his career. And while all of those things had played their role in how things progressed between them, what had really destroyed what they had was their communication. Or better said, their lack of. And it killed Lando to admit that his inability to let someone see him for what he really is, had ruined the best thing he had ever gotten hold of.

It is weird how quickly things change.

Exactly a year ago, he could have sworn they’d be infinite. It was the day he had taken her to meet his parents. She was nervous and he had spent the whole car ride down to Bristol reassuring her that his family would love her. What she didn’t know was that they already did. Lando hadn’t stopped talking about her since the day they'd met. 

He had convinced her it wasn’t that big of a thing. Which was a lie because Lando never introduced his girlfriends to his parents. Mainly because most of them couldn’t even be considered girlfriends and fit more into the ‘casual hook ups’ or ‘friends with benefits’ categories.  

He remembered how he had spent most of his time watching her interact with his family and feeling proud about how well she fit in with them. That was the moment that solidified for Lando the feelings he had for her. And as he sat there and watched her interact with his niece we thought about how Christmas would be ten years from now, when they’d be married and have a family of their own. 

It was the moment that made it clear to Lando that this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The girl he was going to marry.

If he were honest, he always knew. From the moment he first saw her, at the back of that party on Christmas day two years ago with a drink in her hand and looking awkward, he knew that something was different about her. 

When he first walked up to her, Lando was nervous. Which was the most unlike Lando thing ever. Normally he was really open and comfortable around people, the definition of an extrovert. But for some reason this was different.

The first thing he told her was some lame joke about both of them being out of place since they knew no one and their friends ditched them, He didn’t get much of a response, except for a forced smile, and for a bit lando felt as if he was having a one sided conversation. But the longer he kept talking the more at ease she started to feel around him. 

The walls didn’t really come down until Lando made another joke about something stupid, what he couldn’t remember. What he remembered though was the way she had thrown her head back laughing. And from that moment, he was a goner. 

It was crazy to think how two years ago they didn’t even know each other and last year at this time she was curled up against him, head on his chest with his arms wrapped around her and watching cheesy Christmas movies. And now she is gone. He had lost her. 

Sometimes he wondered what he could have done differently. He knew it wasn’t entirely his fault and some things were out of their control but he couldn’t help but want to go back and change everything. 

What he had felt for her, he hadn’t felt for anyone else before, and he was convinced he wouldn’t feel for anyone else in the future. 

Usually he tried not to think about that. During the season it was easy. He was preoccupied with races and the possibility of winning the drivers championship. Being a formula 1 driver didn’t allow him much time to wallow in his self pity. 

But now, it is really difficult. Especially considering how he kept thinking about the Christmas they’d spent together last year. The look on her face when he’d told her it was too early to blast Christmas songs on November 1st, the domestic feeling it brought him decorating his London apartment together, the way she’d force him to do silly childish activities, like baking cookies and decorating gingerbread houses and how he’d complain even though he always ended up loving it.

Waking up with her in his arms on Christmas morning and pretending to be asleep as soon as she started stirring, just to make the moment last longer, knowing well that she wouldn’t have the heart to wake him up. It all haunted him.

But most of all, it was the what ifs that tormented him.What if she has moved on? What if she’s with someone new? What if he’s nothing but a ghost that lingers in her life?

But then what if she was lonely? What if she missed him as much as he missed her? What if she had realised how big of a mistake this had been? What if she wants to reach out but is afraid to? What if the reason she didn’t is because she thinks he has moved on. 

Lando thought about this far more often that he would like to admit. All he could think about lately was her. And even though he appreciated how his friends tried to distract him he couldn’t help but feel suffocated. 

He missed her. He missed her a lot. How could he not? He was in love with her, he still is. And so he can’t help but wonder whether she would answer if he called. 

He hoped she would. 

Sighing, he picked up his phone and tapped on her contact. He typed out a paragraph, explaining how much he missed her and how he wished he could have her back. His finger hovered over the send button but he hesitated and erased the message, turning off his phone frustrated.

He couldn’t go on like this. 

If she didn’t want to talk then she wouldn’t reply. But if still cared then maybe she would. And for once in his life Lando Norris had nothing to lose. 

He turned on his phone again and typed out another message, hitting the text button and turning off his phone before he could overthink it.

[numberonetacostan]

Do you have any post Finale Taco angst?

I love my baby and I want to hear more of herrrr

I’m sorry if you’ve gotten this before… (*๓´╰╯`๓)

Hi Odyssey!! Welcome, and thank you for sending in an ask!! :] I don't...think I've gotten this before? I don't tend to remember what I'm asked very well. But even if I have I'm happy to share more!!! (*๓´╰╯`๓)

Do I- do I have any post finale Taco angst? Do I have any post finale Taco angst!? /lh

yes, yes I do!!! Chionophobia is post finale Taco angst, my current wip is post finale Taco angst, I really like post finale Taco angst a whole lot!!!! So please enjoy some post finale Taco angsts!!

So, Taco is super nervous to be around everyone now, yeah? And a lot of them really don't like her and would remain quite suspicious of her. But Taco is one of if not the only ones who has a lot of the knowledge and survival skills they'll need for building their new community. Foraging and farming? Everyone else has had groceries from the hotel or food provided by Mephone during the show. Some goes for hunting. Making basic tools? Only something Taco would have to do. Making a proper shelter that will keep them safe before they're able to make actual buildings? Again, Taco has already had to do that, so she's their best source of knowledge for it. They don't have much of a choice but to take her advice on things, but most of them don't trust her, or like her for that matter. So she ends up being stuck constantly interacting with everyone instead of being able to fade into the background behind Mic, constantly getting met with suspicion and scorn, regardless of her intention to actually help.

I'm not going to touch too deeply into her grief for Mepad here, since again that's what my current wip is about so I don't want to accidentally spoil everything, but I don't think she's gonna handle it well. Mepad was the only object she'd properly expressed her true feelings to, yeah? And with Mic, she's going to be walking on eggshells for quite some time trying to make sure she stays on her good side. She wouldn't be comfortable enough to talk about those feelings yet, at the very least until she's sure Mic won't leave her again. Pickle is out of the question of course, and she doesn't really know anyone else. She... really doesn't have an outlet for her grief.

I think Taco's reaction to meeting both Silver and Blueberry would be an interesting one. She'd be smart enough to pick up on the parallels, yeah? Since they know that they were made by Mephone now. Another british antagonist? Another very small contestant that winds up being a twist villain? That's got to be rough to see. Similar to how Box might feel if she ever puts together that Suitcase was a version 2.0 of her. Honestly, I can't even get into all my thoughts about how Taco is going to feel with having been made by Mephone, since I will never get off my soap box about her being one of if the most mistreated of all the contestants by Mephone. It would take me hours to write it out and I don't think anyone wants to hear that because I am very biased lol.

So, in Truth or Flare, Taco is very much aware that she is going to die. She doesn't believe Mephone will recover her, she is very aware that her injury is progressing to a dangerous state, she fully thinks she's going out permanently very soon. That my friends is called a dangerous disregard for personal safety, and happens often to people with very poor mental health and high amounts of self-loathing. Mepad had certainly helped but... he and Taco never did get to discuss how she'd been made. She'll always be wondering if Mepad would still believe in her like he had. And she's in a high-stress situation at the moment. The gist of what I'm trying to say is that I highly doubt Taco cares much more about her own well-being/life at this point than before. Her uncaringness before still applies, because she still thought she'd be dead forever.

Relating back to my first hc about Taco dealing with a lot of dislike from the others and suspicion when she tries to help, think about if something went wrong. If she gathered some berries that she'd grown a tolerance to intending to be the only one to eat them, but they're mistaken by someone else and a few unlucky objects end up vomiting. Even though she hadn't intended to cause harm and there had been a simple mistake, it would be taken by quite a few of the others as a sign that she's still trying to cause harm and isn't to be trusted. She has a long road ahead of her, yeah?

[ohthethingswedoforlove]

Yandere!Matsuno brothers headcanons

My favorite group of insufferable bastards! This part two of two posts, with this one's being about Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu.

Warnings: yandere characters; descriptions of violence; stalking; manipulation and blackmailing;

Ichimatsu

💜 If the other brothers haven't already given you enough reasons to run for the hills by this point, then rest assured that Ichimatsu is here to give you a few more.

💜 He's definitely the creepiest, even if unintentionally a lot of times.

💜 You'll probably feel a bit alarmed right from the very first encounter with him.

💜 He's quite intimidating, after all. The "I feel like this guy might just stab me as soon as I turn my back" kind of intimidating.

💜 But, hey, at least he prefers to keep to himself. He doesn't exactly go looking for trouble.

💜 Most of the time, anyway.

💜 Your relationship with Ichimatsu is going to take the longest to develop.

💜 He likes to keep himself isolated, and has a hard time both communicating with and trusting others.

💜 But your first interaction probably had something to do with cats.

💜 He spends most of his time surrounded by them, the times he even bothers leaving the house are usually to go see his alley cat friends.

💜 He either found you interacting with or taking care of a few stray cats yourself, or you just happened to see this guy completely surrounded by cats and got intrigued enough to strike up a conversation. 

💜 Or attempt to anyway. He most likely didn't humor your attempts a whole lot, leaving you to interact mostly with just the cats.

💜 But either way, he can't help but feel a bit intrigued. He was still nervous, sure, but... You didn't seem too bad.

💜 So, now that he's curious, what's he going to do? What's the next logical step?

💜 Well, stalking, obviously.

💜 It all started on a whim.

💜 He saw you once again after that fateful day, and felt inclined to see where you were going and what you were doing. But he didn't want to directly approach you in any way. Of course he didn't.

💜 And after that, his curiosity only grew.

💜 He feels... A certain connection with you. He can't quite explain it. 

💜 And in the beginning he didn't want an explanation anyway.

💜 This is all a big hassle. It's stupid. Why is he even bothering? It's not like someone like you would even want to look at garbage like him.

💜 But he can't find it in himself to stop.

💜 No matter how many times he insists to himself that it's pointless, no matter how many times beats himself over the idea that you would never even care for him in the first place.

💜 He can't can't stop thinking about you.

💜 He can't stop himself from trailing right behind you every time he even just notices you from the corner of his eye.

💜 Now it's part of his daily routine. He seeks you out, he has your schedule memorised from the top of his head.

💜 Which resulted in you two interacting quite a few times, actually. He tends to follow way too close by and freeze up when you look at him, leading to you both "bumping into each other" more than he planned to. 

💜 And you keep coming back for the cats as well, which kind of cemented him as a... Friend of yours. Or at least as that guy you know that's always surrounded by cats. Hey, probably means he can't be that bad despite the intimidating look, considering how much those little guys like him. Right?

💜 Right.

💜 Actually, it's kind of funny. Because you definitely have nothing against him, but he has convinced himself that you must hate him. Why wouldn't you, considering who he is?

💜 And in turn you're convinced that he's scared of you. Which is not too far off from the truth, to be honest.

💜 If it isn't you starting conversations, he's content with simply observing you as you do your thing, watching and following from afar.

💜 Though, given enough time, he might actually start to warm up enough to try and be the one who approaches first.

💜 Ever since that day you first met him is like you can't really stop encountering him.

💜 And he hates it when someone else steals your attention away from him.

💜 Is it selfish and weird? Yes. Does he care? No, definitely not.

💜 Anyone else he sees you with is in almost immediate danger.

💜 Because while he's very reserved and even soft spoken around you, with others he doesn't even hesitate to get aggressive and confrontational.

💜 Because he definitely can't stop this unbearable, boiling rage every time he sees you so happily talking and spending time with others.

💜 It's not fair, is it?

💜 The way they so easily get what he struggles to have.

💜 He's easily the most violent out of all of them, contested by Choromatsu as a close second.

💜 But unlike Choro, he doesn't try to keep up appearances. He has no reason to. After all, why bother pretending to be better than the horrible, horrible person he already is?

Jyushimatsu

💛 Jyushimatsu... Oh boy, Jyushimatsu.

💛 He's weird.

💛 Well, all of them are, but Jyushi is an entirely different breed of weird.

💛 First impressions might scare you off a bit. He's loud, chaotic and just straight up nonsensical in a lot of the things he says or does.

💛 But if you stick around, you're quickly going to find out that Jyushi is easily the kindest out of all of his brothers.

💛 Careful, though. He's also the most detached from reality, in a way that gives the word "delusional" a run for its money.

💛 Jyushimatsu goes by whatever he thinks is right. It's more of a "feelings" based system than "morals" based one.

💛 And while that can translate into his bordering on naivete cheerfulness most of the time, it can also translate into a less pleasant and surprisingly violent path.

💛His intention might not be to hurt or scare you, but collateral damage is nearly impossible to avoid when dealing with Jyushi.

💛 He's kind of unpredictable in that regard.

💛 Sometimes it seems like he genuinely doesn't even think that what he did would be considered wrong, while other times he appears to be perfectly conscious of what he just did but simply doesn't care about the consequences.

💛 He doesn't even do anything out of malice, at least most of the time anyway; it's just what he considers to be a reasonable response or solution to whatever current problem he's facing.

💛 Though, he might start to understand that something's wrong when even his brothers started to call him out for being way too weird about this new "friend" of his.

💛 The other five might take a bit to realise just how attached he is and what he's willing to do for you, but it will reach a point when not even his own brothers will try to entrevine.

💛 They know better than that. They know that he doesn't really work by "normal and reasonable" logic. They don't really need or want an aggravated Jyushimatsu at their throats.

💛 This is your problem now.

💛 And, well, he might be unpredictable, but he's still extremely loving towards you.

💛 He really does adore you.

💛 Jyushi will always try to make you happy, to leave you laughing at his jokes and antics.

💛 If you're happy, then he feels like he can be as well!

💛 Just as long as you're also willing to spend 24/7 with him, then everything's going to be perfectly okay!

💛 Oh, yeah, about that... Jyushi might as well just be physically glued to you now. Because he doesn't really let you go anywhere without him.

💛 It reaches a point where it feels like you can't have your own personal life separated from him anymore.

💛 Again, This doesn't really feel like it's coming from a place of malice or intent to control you, Jyushi just doesn't see the need for you two being apart.

💛 I mean, you two love each other! So shouldn't you always be together, then?

💛 Just... Don't outright reject him, and specially don't do it too harshly.

💛 The poor guy might not take it too well.

💛 And trust me when I say that the last thing you want from Jyushimatsu is an emotional meltdown.

Todomatsu

🤍 This cheeky, manipulative little bastard.

🤍 He might proudly hold the title of "cute youngest brother" of the group, but this guy is everything but the sweetheart he passes himself as.

🤍 He's cute, he's sociable, and he's the most well adjusted out of all his brothers. What's not to love, especially when compared to the others?

🤍 Well, not much, actually.

🤍 Todomatsu acts, more often than not, like a two-faced snake until he gets what he wants. 

🤍 And when he doesn't? Well, you can bet that he's more than willing to step over others until he does.

🤍 Though, he's the easiest one out of the Matsuno brothers to befriend, if that serves as a positive point.

🤍 Well... Kinda. He's the easiest one to hang around with, sure. But if he considers you his friend or much less someone he will bother with, that's a completely different story.

🤍 He probably won't see you as much in the beginning.

🤍 Especially if he also doesn't really find you all that attractive at first glance.  

🤍 All of the brothers all tend to be a bit shallow when they first meet you, but Totty might just be the worse one.

🤍 But when you do catch his genuine interest... Then, well, good luck getting rid of him.

🤍 Totty is a jealous prick. Once he decides that he likes you, it doesn't take long until he also decides that all of your attention should be directed to him and him only.

🤍 He already acted really polite around you, as he does with nearly everyone except for his brothers and the few he really can't stand at all, but there's going to be a noticeable shift in his behaviour when he's around you.

🤍 He's going to get a lot more affectionate, clingier, and he's going to make sure to double down on his cuteness, especially if he sees that you seem to like his whole "adorable" act.

🤍 He's also going to make absolutely sure that his brothers won't even get an opportunity to breathe in the same room as you. He knows from experience what happens when his lovely family finds out that he's interested in someone.

🤍 The last thing he needs is that group of freaks getting in between him and his plan to make you love him.

🤍 Oh, and you will love him.

🤍 It's not a "if", it's a "when", as far as he's concerned.

🤍 It might actually take you a while to realise that something's... Wrong.

🤍 But you will notice at some point.

🤍 Todomatsu is known for... Throwing tantrums, after all.

🤍 While he's just as quick to anger as most of his brothers, he's actually the least likely to take a physically violent approach. He knows that he can't and won't do much in a fight.

🤍 But that doesn't mean he can't ruin both your life and the lives of everyone who gets in his way!

🤍 Though, he's definitely going to target you over others. For practicality's sake, he likes to think. After all, getting closer to you has multiple advantages.

🤍 He also likes having leverage over you. Especially in the form of blackmail.

🤍 And, oh boy, is he good at blackmailing you!

🤍 He doesn't even care if you no longer see him as the perfect and sweet guy anymore. As long as you stay with him and play nice, he won't have to act like this anyway, he'll tell you.

🤍 The more you play along, the more affectionate, caring and willing to spoil you rotten he'll get.  

🤍 He might even get a bit too over the moon about you supposedly loving him back... Maybe you could use that to your advantage? Yeah, he's the most cunning... But he still has his moments of being as much of a dumbass as the others.

🤍 But if you don't want things getting out of hand... Just do as he says. He promises that you'll adore being with him, if you just give him the chance to show how much he loves you!

🤍 You'll be seeing things from his perspective soon enough.

🤍 He's sure of it.

[cupsofcoffeestains]

shifting vent/potential motivation??

hey gang-

tw: minor mention of dissociation

so ive been making some positive developments in my shifting journey, and I hate to say it, but things really are starting to "click"

I always hate seeing those videos/posts from experienced shifters being like "i cant explain my mindset change, it just started to click" but now im eating my hatred and realizing what these people were talking about.

unfortunately, i do not have the words to fully explain what i mean but dw im gonna try.

For me, mindset shifts and my shifting journey advancing has kind of been like growing up, or maturing. You know how you see all those videos on tt saying "me when i wake up on a random tuesday and realize my frontal lobes are developing" etc. that (for me, at least) has kinda been similar to my shifting journey.

What this has looked like for me, as someone who has been trying to successfully make it to my dr since 2020, was being less angry with myself, with the universe, with others in the shifting community for my not shifting. It has come with time. Again, it has come with so so much time spent growing as a person, growing spiritually, and growing as a shifter. Taking breaks, learning to appreciate my reality (i know this is a privilege, to actually enjoy my life in my home reality/my cr) but learning to appreciate what is good even amongst all the bad that is and could be happening. As someone who struggled in the beginning of my journey, actively disassociating and basically working against what my body and mind actually needed.

Shifting can look different for everyone, and thats why ive decided to post about my mindset a little more. Sometimes its hard for me to find people who have spent so much time shifting and are still optimistic about their journey, so i guess this is me putting in my little shiftblr application to be that person for anyone who this might benefit.

also, just a last little note, for those of you who do not have anyone to talk to about shifting, who aren't making shifting friends online or in person, writing out about your journey on a blog like this can be so helpful. For me, I am a solo shifter (through circumstance and just the fact that I cant upkeep friendships online, only moots), and writing on this blog has helped me feel like people are hearing me (even if no one interacts with this). Just knowing my thoughts are somewhere other than my head and my private journal has made me feel less alone in my journey, and i highly encourage that if this resonated with you to try blogging. keep it anonymous if you're nervous! pretty sure none of my profile is accurate to who i am irl, and that has really helped me let stuff out about shifting.

anyways, i hope this post was helpful! much love to all my shifters, especially those of us who have been here for what feels like forever <3

[swerveposting]

what's the plot to your story with swerve? i wanna know how your selfship and him fall in love!!!!!

your art is super cute by the way! i love the soft colors and lines

HHUHH?!?!? what the hell sure /ref /pos

[ excuse me in advance for my post not being cohesive, im a horribly anxious person and tend to babble (real swerve kinnie) (i start to forget proper english grammar too but im not sorry for that one). ]

so, since im cringing and not putting literally myself in the story ive come up with a codename idea for my selfinsert. shes a human liaison, kind of—she's a part of a team that gathers information about cybertronian language and culture. i will refer to her as gertha (sometimes).

swerve is a part of another team, the one that helps gertha with managing stuff like going to the stores on cybertronian-friendly planets or navigating the ship or even providing some material. swerve thinks his decision is very stupid because he's NERVOUS and actually applied for it not even thinking about interacting with real humans

well fear not! there are two losers now who definitely know how to navigate their relationship! (they're both neurodivergent and traumatized) (they do not know)

the story that i WILL write (maybe, one day, some day) is supposed to consist of small slice of life scenes (interrupted by the plot of mtmte) where they both learn how to communicate with people around them with it slowly developing into— i don't think i can call it only romantic, i don't really know. i have a lot of thoughts on how cybertronians perceive human body and human emotions and how differently their metal bodies experience those emotions.

anyway, they are both stupid and ridiculous (and gertha may or may not lose some of her organs in this adventure who knows)!

some stuff i want to add for funsies

- swerve uses his holomatter simultaneously because he thinks it will "connect him to the human". gertha just so happened to have his appearance as her type so it worked.

- she tried to flirt with him by ordering romantic songs but he didn't get it

- since cybertronians don't have a concept of gender gertha feels very conformable among them and doesn't feel like she needs to fit in any standard

umm i think thats all i can say for now, anyway thank you cool anon :3

[bronx-bomber87]

First off thank you much for the lovely response to my last thoughts. I was very nervous about posting and got a lot of good replies, notes and reblogs. This fandom is the best. I think it's important to see both sides and I wanted Tim's to be represented in a way that gave insight without condoning what he'd done. (Cause our boy done messed up.) So giving a little of myself achieved that I believe.

I didn't know a ton about this ep cause I’m a square who stays away from spoilers haha So let’s get started.

6x08 Punch Card

Ugh my heart Tim got a reminder for Lucy’s Bday. Instant heart stomping already….I love that he had a reminder set up though. Making sure he would't forget. I’m crying already. Even though I'm so very sad. I love that he had this setup. When the elevator opens the amount of tension is palpable. Something felt very wrong. Good thing Tim was lost in his Lucy moment or he would've picked up on this sooner.

Poor Tim just wants to explain himself to Mad Dog. To explain what happened. The man is not in a place to receive it and we see later why. That look said it all though when Mad Dog departs. When Dr. London said she just took the wrong elevator my red flag gut was going off.

Now that I've see the episode as a whole I can see Dr. London's play here. She seems to use flirting as a defense mechanism all her own. To protect herself and manipulate those around her. I mean they brought her flirt fest with Aaron in the recap back for a reason I think. She's worried Tim read into something about her interaction with Mad Dog. I mean Tim is clearly upset about seeing him and she uses that to deflect attention off herself. My off meter definitely was kicking on with her. Especially with how flirty she was being I didn't like it.

Now some may see Tim's response as him flirting back but I think he's investigating her. Also he's being a little sassy because he's not comfortable with her doing therapy outside the office. I mean his face when he leaves that elevator is not of a man who just flirted. It's one who is one still hurting and two his cop gut is going off but he isn't sure why....He seems conflicted by what just went down in that elevator. Just like us he was feeling off about her.

This scene was very cute with Grey. I loved him anointing her to be a T.O. LOL Also once again showing the faith he has in Lucy. To train Celina and know she would do a good job. I was excited for this opportunity for her. For her to tap into leadership. Honestly it shouldn't have taken this long for Lucy to get to show her chops with this.

Tim is so busy trying to delete his Lucy reminder he runs into the physical version of it without realizing. Andddddd it’s still awkward af between them. How could It not be? No communication between them so naturally it is. Stilted awkwardness. Lucy got out of there so fast. Even with Tim making the all powerful joke. Trying to make it less awkward. Ow. Couldn't get away fast enough. The way he watches her go. *sigh* Like he's watching his entire heart depart the room.

This hurts you guys. No matter how much I know it’ll be ok at some point this hurts to watch. Grey not pulling any punches noting how very awkward that was. Tim telling him that's actually better than it's been....Makes me wonder how much time has passed between 6x07 and now. Wade not caring that's progress to Tim. He is not messing around....

Just wants Tim to fix is ASAP cause of the team dynamic. He's not wrong. Man isn't wrong. Rarely if ever is. Saying if Tim can't there’s gonna be a transfer and it won’t be Lucy….I mean I LOVE Grey siding with Lucy on this one. Not a doubt in his mind if it shakes out that way it'll be Tim. That being said just hearing that. Ugh. Deep anxiety pit of my stomach. And of course it would be friggin North Hollywood. That damn station been haunting them since S2. Looming over them ready to take one of them away.

Lucy being Celina’s T.O .for the day I love it. She is so excited to be her leader even if it's just for this shift. Just wants to 'Invest in her success.' You know Lucy's leadership is pretty damn identical to how I am with my team. While I am mostly Tim there are pieces of Lucy in me as well. I related to her style of leadership quite a bit.

Aaron and Tim in the surveillance van is hilarious. Their dynamic has always entertained me. I truly adore these two goobers together. Tim is trying so hard to keep his shit together. Aaron dying of ask him if he finds it hard to surveil his old team for an OP? Tim of course gives him the company line. Doing what he is told without complaint. Pulling out some S1 Tim with that reply my love.

Tim then telling him he needs a stronger deodorant LOL It's too funny. What a boring assignment for them both. Tim went from running that entire team. Doing ops and making decisions on the fly to this….Also Aaron being too distracted by his deodorant comment to pay attention is the most Aaron thing ever haha

What I love the most about Lucy with Celina is her correcting without crushing her confidence. Once again reminding me of myself when I'm correcting my work kids on stuff. She is kind but confident in her assessment of what she did wrong in this moment. Celina receiving it well because she handles it this way. Lucy out here crushing it already with zero T.O. training. Just going off instinct and what she would want if she was a newbie still. Once again her and I very alike.

Oh Tim getting that reminder again. *heart clutch.* Sigh my boy. Aaron offering to turn it off for him. I love that he was gonna have it remind him through out the day. Pre-breakup Tim clearly didn't want to forget. Wanted to make sure he not only knew it was but to make sure to make a big deal of it. That's just an assumption on my part but man would've wanted to do that. it's the way he has 'TOMORROW.' Wanting to make sure he didn't forget such an important day. *screams into a pillow.* Aaron asking if he’s gonna get her anything? I’m sure he had stuff in mind. But yeah bad form indeed…

Tim’s sweet smile when he finds out what Aaron got her. Knowing how perfect of a gift that would be for her. That sweet knowing smile makes me wanna weep a bit. He knows his girl so well. Lot of sadness attached to the smile though. 'Can I ask why ya’ll split up?' 'No.' LMAO Took it too far Aaron....You're lucky you got that much good sir.

This scene with Mad Dog hurt my heart for Tim. No matter how wrong he was for what he did I still hate seeing this. This was what I was worried about with him working with Metro. Picking at the wounds he hasn’t even begun to heal about how he left. I knew him making notes on the OP was going to come back and bite him in the ass. Watching all his repercussions is painful to see I have to say. Knowing what we know about Mad Dog later I think that's part of why he goes off on Tim. Doesn't make it any easier to watch though...

Friggin Love Lucy being a BAMF in this episode. Especially in this moment. When she once again corrects but doesn't crush Celina about her gun. It's the way she guides Celina and has control over every situation they encounter in this ep. Proving herself a worthy teacher and leader. Also she was a better teacher to Celina in one episode than Nolan has been her entire career. Dude is a stinker of a T.O. It shows in how Celina makes basic mistakes Lucy had down pat long before this time in her rookie year.

Too bad Lucy can't finish out her training and Nolan is booted. But that'll never happen nothing sticks to that man. Not since S3 premiere. The rules and repercussions are rubber and he's glue. What doesn't stick to him does to everyone else... Grey should really evaluate his teaching skills. But that'll never happen. But she deserves a better teacher than him.

From the minute Tim entered the room something seemed very wrong. From the way Mad Dog was just expecting Tim to flog him. Like he wanted Tim to ream him out for how the OP went down. Also how Mad Dog seemed nervous af to see Dr London. I mean look at that man above. He is scared shitless she is there to see him. The way he watches her though out the scene. Especially when she leaves.

Tim's cop gut is going off like crazy when she enters the room. Wondering how the hell she even know about this? He seems to take her answer at face value because honestly its pretty good considering it's a bold faced lie. Tim once again feeling like something is very off but isn't sure why.

First let me say once again I feel personally attacked by the choice in song once again. lol I couldn't find the song to save my life. The lyrics are *chef kiss.* They're painfully accurate for them both. Think they've been very intentional with their ending music and just in general this season. These lyrics filled me with some hope as well. Jotted down the lyrics since couldn't find the song.

‘When the sun won’t shine and the words don’t rhyme. And there’s mountains you can’t move. Somethings on your mind and it’s been some time-since you felt like you were you. When it all caves in feeling paper thin. And the pain might cut right through.

Oh child, Lift up your head. All this trouble's only gonna last for awhile.’ Yeah we’re gonna be all right oh child. Lift up your head. And the light's gonna find you. When you feel like you ain’t got a friend. And you’re wondering if you ever gonna smile again. Every little thing gonna be ok. I know that you gonna see better days.’ *heart clutch.*

Damn smart of Tim saying happy birthday from Kojo and not him. I’m not crying you are. This was so so sweet. Lucy's reaction to Kojo got me all in my feels. She's so excited to see him. Then that excitement melts into sadness. Because he's an extension of Tim. The way she pet's him and says how much she misses him ugh.

Seems there is a double meaning going on there. We all know despite the hurt how much she misses her person. Tim just standing there only imagining her reaction when Kojo makes his way back. What a way to bring that sweet boy back in. I'm so happy about it. Tim is respecting her space but couldn’t let her bday go without doing something. Had to let her know her was thinking of her still. The fact that it’s happening in the hallway where so many seminal moments have played out for them.... I wanna cry.

I LOVE that Tim got Kojo to put his little paw in ink for the card. It is so sweet. Their fur baby. He put serious thought and effort into this. This was so well done. Only Melissa and Eric could have chemistry without even seeing each other. This is the first time we've really seen Lucy cry about them. 6x06 she was in complete shock. 6x07 was her processing her thoughts/emotions. She was on the verge of tears but we didn't see her cry. This was first time we've seen her shed tears on screen at least since the break up. Wanna hug her so much. She deserved this card and more. Like a real conversation with him but this is a good start.

She knows this is Tim reaching out without physically doing so. Showing her he still cares. I mean he clearly very much does. You don't put thought and effort in like this if you don't. It's a huge thing for him to do right now. Lucy recognizes the effort in this adorable act. Tim's face after she reads the card. Ripping my damn heart out. The absolute regret splayed all over it. Like it’s finally hitting him what he’s done to her. What he’s lost in the process. He gave up his favorite person. His happy place and just it’s hitting him square in his chest.

Like a freight train that’s run him over. It's the way he shakes his head. Kicking himself. Knowing he hastily threw them away. What a mistake he’s made in his irrational decision making. It’s written all over his beautiful face. He may not fully understand yet why he did it but the regret is evident. Eric be killing me. His face screams all that. Knowing he should’ve been with Lucy for her birthday. Hell probably sharing that bath bomb she brought up with her. Killing me softly. Hurts so good. Damnit writers... This is being handled so well though. So hats off to them. They both needed this moment more than either of them knew.

Mad dog killing himself....jesus H Christ. Poor Tim the last thing he needs is this. It explains why he was extra nasty to Tim though. Tim saw the flaw in his play and freaked the hell out. Also for Tim to see someone he once trusted with his life compromise themselves. Compromise the safety of their own men. Gut punch. And for what? Money? Power? We won't know till more of this unravels. Whatever it is won't be for a good reason. I know Tim hates himself for his mistakes. But those mistakes always had some form of honor attached to them.

He may not see that but I do. Now the op where he got his men killed no but what he did after was honorable. What he did for Mitch came from a honorable place. I just wonder how seeing Mad Dog doing something so very un-honorable is gonna affect him moving forward...Oh my lord I’m so mad about Dr London not because I liked her. But because I didn’t want it to derail Tim’s therapy in any way. The man needs it. Here’s hoping he continues in s7 with someone better.

Everyone was right she’s a dirty birdy. I was just hoping she wouldn’t be. But my ick and uncomfortable factor went WAY up in this ep with her. I knew it was inevitable. It's not that I didn't want to be wrong about her. It's the fact I didn't want this to hurt Aaron and I definitely I didn’t want her to be dirty for Tim that was it. For his therapy and the progress he's made. I hope this doesn’t affect his therapy journey and he can find someone not compromised in S7.

That promo for next week oh my lord….the hug! The hug! "This doesn't change anything." Then pulls him right in like nothing's changed. I will be living there from now on. Or until next week lol Love the Finale being a 2 parter as well. Phew this is gonna be an intense ending to this season. Gonna be chomping at the bit for S7 once it's done I know it. Like the song stated we're gonna see better days. I truly believe that. We got this my lovely fandom. Thank you for always being so wonderfully receptive of these reviews. Appreciate any likes, comments or reblogs that come my way.

~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Angela shooting Monica down with Wesley. She's an Epic Queen and I adore her.

Dr London is in alliance with Monica. That's super great….cool cool cool……I have a feeling and D and I discussed this earlier. Reminds us of Armstrong. This feels more like a she's been forced into it a situation. Because its obvious she's good at her job.

But the way she freaked out about the cops being hurt clearly shook her. She looked on the verge of tears in Mad Dog's room. So do I think she's a bad person? Unsure at the moment. Do I think she was once a good person who was manipulated into whatever this alliance is? I do. Be interesting to see how her SL unfolds.

[aro-culture-is]

I've been questioning if I am aro or not for the past year, previously I identified myself as a lesbian because I dont have an interest in men, and I usually feel more comfortable on women. However when I try to imaginr myself in the future I dont see myself being in a relationship in the future, like I am wondeeng "how the hell does one manage a relationship"

But I dont know if I am really aro because when I was in middle school I had a sort of "crush" on a person but I was mostly thinking "Hey this girl is really nice and the only person that understands me maybe I have a crush on her" and I really love the idea of romance and shipping characters and seeing other aromantic people being repulsed by the idea made me question even more.

hi! thanks for reaching out. since it's been a while since I've answered stuff like this, reminder that all asks of this nature are filed under the tag 'am i aro'

Your first paragraph is such a common experience in a-spec communities - initially, most folks start from "well, i'm not attracted to x gender, so I must be attracted to y?" or "well, I'm equally attracted to all genders, so I must be bi/pan?" when the problem is, 0 attraction to one gender is not related at all to how you feel about others, and 0 = 0. You're in very, very good company among a-spec folks, including yours truly - who rotated through the whole of LGBTQ before realizing aromanticism was an option that actually fit very well.

With regards to the second paragraph - first of all, mood! Personally, that "crush" was something we'd later identify as a squish, or friendship crush. Hilariously, we no longer like this particular person at all, as becoming friends led to us discovering our specific neurodivergent flavors interacted to constantly frustrate us. Enjoying - or not enjoying - romance and shipping is not at all something inherent to your attraction.

Plenty of outwardly aro folks talk more about our experiences with romantic repulsion and frustrations with shipping culture because we are in aromantic spaces and talking about the sociological implications, but - personally? I adore shipping, dislike seeing irl romance, and think it's mostly interesting to talk about how romance interacts with expectations and laws in society. I don't like to call myself romance repulsed, romance favorable, any of that - I think those are personally limiting to my identity and how I interact with those subjects. Other folks find it useful as a shorthand to explain how they feel, and that's great too!

I can't tell you what your identity is, but I think it's useful to say this: you've described to me a very, very common story to many a-spec folks. You're seeking advice from me, which tells me it probably matters a lot to you, and I wouldn't be surprised if, in some ways, you feel like you need permission, or verification, or any of those sorts of things.

I think, rather than relying on that - what would happen if, privately, you give yourself permission to explore what it feels like to say "I am aromantic", or "I think I'm aromantic"? How do you feel? Nervous, anxious, bubbly, weighed down, vulnerable - those are all common. But the thing is, if I think of an identity I am 100% sure I do not belong to in that way - I certainly don't feel a little flutter of hope. I don't feel like I might be onto a scary new journey. I just feel like I've said that the world is shaped like a rabbit - nonsensical and wrong. If you feel like there's a possibility - does it hurt you to say, "I might be, and what does that change?" The worst that happens is, quite literally, you learned something about yourself.

-- mod axel

[zoieru]

HELLO MY PRECIOUS ZOIE i got distracted but i have returned for your event 💖 keeping it predictable i fear but i shall ask for w + i from the nsfw and b from the sfw alphabet with PHAINON HSR 🤑💪🏻 CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MILESTONES I HOPE YOU HIT MANY MANY MORE!! and a happy happy early birthday to you !!

miraaaaa~ *i sing* and with a Mr Phainon of HSR fame and fortune (in terms of moni we have no moni, he probably gets pocket money from aglaea dsjksdjkjk i joke i joke)

you know I was rather happy to see his silly butt here actually mhm, lets dive in >:3

ask event ~

SFW B - BEHAVIOUR (how do they behave when you first meet / are getting to know eachother at first?)

Phainon is just... so gorgeously polite, isn't he? Meeting him is the same, he probably greets you with the grace and politeness of a very upstanding and respectful stranger (especially if he is in full chrysos heir mode) but he has this playfulness to him which is instantly evident even through his niceties. Depending on the circumstances that you meet he'll probably be a little teasing, but so subtle and charming with it its hard to be irritated. Just look at his face >///<.

He's attracted to you, but it doesn't penetrate that behaviour much, not in front of others. He has a responsibility, a role to play, and while his eyes probably linger and there is a faint little smile playing at his lips wider than usual while meeting you in public and seeing you interact with others, he won't jeopardise that with some weird crush behaviour.

The likelihood is, he'll volunteer himself to assist you !! say you're having a meeting with the chrysos heirs for some reason, he'll guide you, aglaea !! he is a helpful boy !! if you squint you might see a long white tail wagging behind him ~ but really he wants to spend time with you <3

I can see him, now and when you are getting closer, being just...so playful. He'll walk in this way where he is very upright and sensible in his role when there are others about, but as soon as you dip into somewhere without eyes he'll wander around you a bit, lean in and over, walk backwards a little, swing his feet a bit idly. His boyish nature comes out and he's cute and playful and teasing and soooo attentive like he is LISTENING to you ~

'what are the chances that those plants are the same colour as your eyes? it must be fate, us meeting here~'

'do you believe in fate, phainon?'

'if it is here, guiding us, it's been nice to me, today~'

cringe !! hes so cute~

NSFW I - INTIMACY (how romantic is it? What's the mood like?)

He's a romantic, isn't he? I think that would only increase when it comes to you, and this. It's very likely that he's not very experienced in this department, because of his journey so far and his responsibility. I think the overwhelming feelings are excitement, nervousness, and just this...need, yearning, to please and show his reverence.

I think he really is the type of guy to be like, in his head or maybe out if he's feeling comfortable enough, 'I can't believe we're doing this' / 'I can't believe you're letting me do this to you.' Honestly i think he's just happy to be there >///< cutie~

But don't mistake that for him being all shy. Nuh uh, being reverent and excited and nervous =/= silly uwu bashfulness. He'll have a pretty pink splattered lightly across his cheeks, but while he does his hands will be steady and sure - yet exploratory and gentle - and he manages to be just effortlessly charming and make your knees weak as if he's done this a million times before and knows EXACTLY what will make you crumble~ (still in his teasing playful polite way, its an intoxicating mixture)

So yes, it would be romantic. He's a guy who tends to make love, do it for pleasure and fun but ultimately for the shared experience. But I think its also...very natural, with him. It's not like some sexy movie where both of you just do things silently and know what the other wants. I think he is talkative, communicates with you, and maybe you have some giggles in between ~

hm im falling in love writing this okay okay stop

NSFW W - WEAR (what do they like to wear before/during, and what do they like you to wear before/during?)

AND WHAT IF I SAID YELLOW TOP PURPLE PANTS COMBOOOO 🤑💪🏻

ahjasjhasj yes that is probably canon (welp), but we have this cute little thing called artistic licence luckily for snowy~

I think he is a comfort guy, when he is out of his armour (have you seen althat? i feel sorry for him having to wear it all day), so he likely relaxes (when comfy with you) in a top and loose trousers/boxers type deal. So when you get jiggy, you just take em off !! he likes skin to skin, i think~

BUT EXTRA, i have a littol headcanon mhm (she says, as if she hasnt just written hundreds of words of headcanon so far) that maybeeee it gets him offfff when he stays in his chrysos boy armour and you get undresssedddddddd~

oh yea <3 it might projecting, but im allowed to do that because its my hands on the keyboard (one hand now because im talking about this HA IM JOKING PLS)

but yes i think he didn't know, didn't expect it, but maybe it just turns out that way some time where he's fully dressed n you arent, or you tell him to keep it on. I think it makes him all blushy and breathy and his eyes darken guhhhsdjd

AND YOU

i think he just loves you being comfy, honestly. he'll find you radiant in literally anything. though if you did get dressed up for him i think a part of him inside would cry with happiness and feeling all wiggly and special

here are some tings off the top of my head i think he might enjoy

for some reason i think he might like those lil strap things that may or may not go down to the legs yk? idk why its pure vibes >:3 AND a sort of nighty type deal, i feel like his fingers would loooove drifting under the hem of that at your upper thigh mhm

[kiirostarz]

That interaction between Rhys and Kulu was soooo adorable 🥺. Especially considering that Rhys almost never gets the spotlight or any real focus… it felt like a little unexpected gem. And… I’m gonna take this chance to do a lil' mini-mini Rhys analysis.

I think the intention was to connect Kulu with a more central character, and now that I think about it, with Rhys' young, explosive, and slightly chaotic personality, it's actually not such a random combo. I would definitely give them a little mini-ship—though more from Rhys' side, because that conversation didn’t feel entirely casual… at least not from him. I know that boy. That’s not a normal talk for him. It was genuine, nervous, sweet. Like he was surprised by her. Kulu might not actually be interested (she's a Hypogean who's who-knows-how-old), but it was Rhys’ reaction that really caught me off guard.

And on top of that, I realized something: right now, Rhys is probably the only teenage (boy 🚹) character in AFK Journey. Well, you could argue Ludovic too, but since he’s Graveborn, technically he lived much longer—he did die young, yes, but he doesn’t really count as a "kid" anymore (even if he still feels like one to me 😆). So that leaves Rhys as the only one.

And not only that—he’s also the most solitary child in the game. Here’s what I mean:

Damian has Korin,

Koko and Satrana have Antandra,

Daimon has Niru and Shemira,

Rowan and Cassadee have family (even if they haven’t appeared yet),

Fay likely has Valen,

Marilee lives with her grandparents and younger siblings,

Hewynn is with Florabelle and the rest of the Forest folks,

Alsa and Soren are orphans, yes, but they’re older and have support from Brutus, Kruger—Soren even has Walker. And when they were younger, they had their father too, so they weren’t completely alone.

But Rhys… has no one. The closest thing is that little group of kids we see in Song of Strife, but even then it’s unclear if he has any adult figure in his life. One girl mentions her house being a mess ever since her mom left, which implies that she might return—or maybe she never will. Same with many other adults around there.

Rhys is described as a kind of “hero” to those kids. Someone who helps them survive. But that can also create distance. Being a protector isn’t the same as having a home. It’s not belonging—it’s responsibility. And no kid should have to carry that alone.

In the first season, he showed up briefly. And for a character that’s been around since the beginning, that felt like a missed opportunity. We know he used to be part of the Quicksand Claws, but not how he ended up there. According to his affinity stories, he doesn’t even like hurting people. Maybe his ability to communicate with birds is what kept him around. Not because he wanted to be there, but because it was survival. And in the Ashen Wastes, hugs and kindness don’t keep you alive. Sometimes not even adults make it. Let alone a kid on his own.

Another thing that stuck with me was the part where we follow Soren and meet Walker. It wasn’t bad, really. But I think that dynamic would’ve worked even better with Rhys. If one of the goals was to bring down the Quicksand Claws, why not use someone from the inside? Even if he was just the bird feeder, that could’ve opened up so much more for Rhys. Rhys and Walker together would’ve been such an interesting combo—both lone wolves, tough on the outside, soft inside. That kind of emotional connection did get explored with Soren, but I think it would’ve hit even harder with Rhys.

Not saying I hated what we got—this was just the first season, after all. It’s just my little opinion.

[redbecomesher]

GRACE UPON GRACE E:12

Ministering To Others

Hi y’all, today we are going to talk about ministering:) as Christian’s we should preach the world (Bible) to unbelievers because it allows God to open their heart to Him and just be more educated on Jesus. We are going to talk about 1. What is ministering 2. Leading by example 3. Speaking with love not judgement 4. The power of testimony 5. Trusting the Holy Spirit 6. How and Where To Minister. <3

What Is Ministering?:

You might think that ministering is only for priests, but it’s actually for every type of Christ follower, whether you’re a priest or regular man/woman who loves God! Ministering is so beautiful because it’s lovers of Jesus spreading His love. You don’t need anything to minister, it’s not even a job, it’s a type of conversation with unbelievers in all types of places, never get nervous or embarrassed of the reactions you might get, because it could lead to them thinking about your interaction later in their day.

Leading By Example:

Just living for God in Godly ways is enough to lead by example, others seeing your “Jesus Glow” can make them think about opening the Bible or pray because you look so happy and fulfilled. It’s so important as Christians to not just preach about living for Christ but actually acting out our words so we don’t look hypocritical.

Speaking With Love, Not Judgement:

I see so many beautiful preachers go to the colleges or parades/events on the internet like e.g. Nicolas Bowling or Cliffe Knechtle, to spread the word of God and answer unbelievers questions. But sometimes I come across preachers who are aggressive and looking for an aggressive debate, which isn’t going to lead anyone to Christ, but maybe further away. When you minister, it’s important to have grace by speaking with kindness, listening, non judgement and sharing your testimony, so they feel comfortable in your presence instead of scared.

The Power Of Testimony:

Sharing how and when you encountered God is so powerful! They show God’s work in a real and personal way. When we share our testimony, we aren’t just telling our story—we’re revealing the love, mercy, and transformation that Jesus brings. Your testimony is hopeful to others that need to hear to believe that God can help them too, also people may argue about theology, but they can’t deny your experience with God. So when you share, share honestly (no sugar coding), focus on Jesus, keep it simple and trust the Holy Spirit to guide you while speaking. Never underestimate your testimony. Even if you think it’s small, God can use it in a big way. Your testimony could be the light that leads someone to Jesus!

Trusting The Holy Spirit:

To trust the Holy Spirit is to rely on God to guide your words and actions. Ministering to others can feel overwhelming. But God never intended for us to do it alone. The Holy Spirit is our guide, giving us wisdom, strength, and the right words at the right time. We need the Holy Spirit because we shouldn’t rely on our own understanding but on the Holy Spirit who is our teacher. Another reason is, the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts like e.g. wisdom, discernment, teaching, and more to equip you.

Where And How You Can Minister:

• At Home: Minister to your family by showing Christ’s love, praying together, and leading by example.

• At school or Work: Your kindness, patience, and willingness to share God’s truth can be a testimony to those around you.

• In Friendships: Encourage and pray for friends, and be a light in their lives.

• Online: Social media, blogs, or messages can be powerful ways to spread the gospel.

• Church: Leading Bible studies, mentoring new believers, or teaching children’s ministry.

• Community: Helping the homeless, visiting the sick, or volunteering in community programs. Or praying for others, whether in person, over the phone, or online.

I hope y’all enjoyed and learnt something new with this subject, God bless you and remember God loves you! Read you bibles,pray and worship Jesus today:)

MATTHEW 28:19-20

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

2 CORINTHIANS 5:20

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

COLOSSIANS 4:6

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

1 PETER 3:15-

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

[santae-salt]

Seeing those "stop the negativity" post inspired me: let's try and put this into perspective. This is a beta site, and just at the top of my head, this is the "negativity" that these anons want us to stop talking about:

- The Story and News Post are bad: It's an accessibility nightmare, numerous people have said it's difficult to read due to color shifts, the formatting, etc. there's to many, it's overwhelming. It's boring, and new players will have to backread far to much to understand the site lore.

- The use of AI: there are not enough updates and transparency about the progress of AI assets being updated, it feels like the site is actively trying to hide the fact it's used AI via unpinning the AI megathread, many believe that it should be more of a priority then what it is, it makes certain users feel like CJ doesn't really care about the AI usage- which goes back to the hiding AI. There are also accusations of the writing being done with AI as well.

- The website is to demanding. There's too many events, without enough time for people who can't spend all day on the website to actually get things. Everything is way to grindy, it takes to long to complete, and the nightmare pvp shopping makes all of this worse, you're fighting other players to get the supplies to do this nightmare grind. It shouldn't take 2-3 hours to get through this all, it leaves no time to play other aspects of the game, no time to get resources, nothing- especially when events are so often. It leads to mass burnout, and strong feelings of FOMO. Cj often uses the "no retirement" policy as a reason people can't feel FOMO- which shuts down the conversation, and ignores the core issues.

- The cash shop: this game is in beta, but to many items- especially collection items- can only be obtained with the cash shop or freemiun currency. Adoption certificates and Name certificates can only be obtained with the cash shop or the freemiun currency- which takes to long to get, as sandust items are to expensive and regular site activities don't reward enough to get all the cash shop items fast enough. Again, cash grabby.

- CJ is unprofessional, catty, and dismissive- to the point certain players are nervous to share their thoughts and criticisms on site, and they feel like those thoughts and concerns would be ignored anyways. He has left rude, dismissive comments on forum suggestions, and often it seems like it just... Missed the point, and he will argue why things shouldn't be changed- even though we're in Beta. That's the entire point of us.

- Ember is... Ember. Admittedly, I don't know much with Ember, I've only had good interactions with him, but there are screenshots of him being unprofessional in chat, and his coding skills need some work, from what I understand?

- Loot Boxes: I have not forgotten about this. CJ said there wouldn't be any loot boxes and less then a week later, introduced a loot box. We all know the shady techniques used by lootboxes to prey on children, people with mental health issues, addiction problems, etc. There has been no transparency about the supposed solution to this, but allegedly staff was discussing one? This got such backlash, we should have got an apology, anykind of anything to show the community was heard, and it won't happen again, however, considering how dismissive CJ was during the entire thing, I'm not sure.

- Accessibility in general: players have wanted accessibility options, and these are being added to various things around the site- this is good. However, there has been some concerns about how accessibility should have been thought about sooner rather then later. I can only hope accessibility will be considered less of an afterthought in the future.

This is the "negativity" on this blog- real, genuine criticism of the website, that players do not feel safe sharing on the actual site, because it gets shut down or ignored. If staff listened to us, then this salt blog could have normal salt blog things- instead of being used as a safe place to put our concerns and feedback about the website.

like, let's get real, we all realize how weird that is, right? That so many don't feel safe to put feedback as beta testers on the website, because we don't want to be shut down, we can't be silenced here, and we're not even sure there's a point because we get ignored so often?

Anyways, sorry for the long post- I'm certain I missed some stuff! Rather it's other things entirely or criticism of the things above... This site is in Beta, god.

☁️

[weaselle]

Dog Walking Post 2 of 3

In the last post, i answered @hatchan by telling the story of Jim, who, because he let one of his 8 dogs get loose, dropped the leashes to his other seven dogs to go retrieve her.

The point of that story is that even though Jim was good with dogs and loved them, he wasn't a good dog walker, because a dog walker needs to have a good head in an emergency.

One of the other guys we hired (who still works for us actually) lets call him Dave, loves dogs and has good calm energy, and he has another trait that is very important in someone who works with dogs: patience. But he's still not ideal for dog walking.

It took me a few months to understand why that was true. See, Dave is kind, and patient, and calm, and that works really well for dogs, so it really seems like Dave is very good with dogs.

But Dave doesn't actually know dogs very well. This finally clicked for me when i was finishing up my early morning walk one day as Dave arrived for work. So as we said our good mornings, i mentioned that i have been working with one of the smaller dogs (that he'd never met) on that walk because she was kind of a nervous dog who barked at pedestrians because she got anxious when we walked by other people. I asked if he would greet her because she could use a positive interaction with a stranger i could trust, to set her up for success by giving her an experience that would not set off her anxiety which would help reinforce the idea that the people that walk by us are nothing to worry about.

I said that exact thing to him, almost word for word. And he, eyes full of sympathy, heart brimming with patience and kindness, with all the best intentions in the world, greeted this small anxious dog by bending at the waist to loom over her and reaching directly for the top of her face.

That's when it clicked for me. See, even though he has a lot of qualities we look for in a dog walker that make his interactions with the average dog go really well (which fooled us into thinking he is really good with dogs) he actually doesn't really understand dogs very thoroughly. He's not able to see things from their point of view enough.

The point of these stories is that when you hire new people, it can be really hard to tell the difference between someone with good qualities for being around dogs in general, and someone with good qualities for being in charge of dogs with various needs in various situations.

Dave and Jim both had a lot of qualities you would think to look for in a dog walker. But while it can be tempting to focus on hiring someone who gets along with dogs really well, what you're actually looking for is the kind of person you would trust to take a classroom on a field trip, who also intimately understands dog behavior. They have to keep their head in an emergency, maintain control of a rowdy group, and they have to know what is going on with a dog the instant they look at that dog.

They have to be able to look at a dog and know right away "that dog is getting ready to be upset about that bike rider" or "that dog is irritated by that other dog" or "that dog sees something they think they might want to eat" or "that dog is nervous and overwhelmed". And the dog walker has to know what they are going to do about those things. Nobody is going to get this right 100% of the time, but they have to be good at it.

In my experience, if they have a basic understanding of dog behavior, if they have a knack for picking up on basic dog communication and can see things from the dog's point of view, they can develop that further on the job. You can point out the nuance of dog behaviors and communications, things like stiff body language or dog facial expressions, and just being around so much of it has honed my own aptitude in this area. If you start with a bit of talent, you can train it into skill.

But you can't train someone into being empathetic enough to see things from a dog's point of view, and you can't train someone into being the kind of person you'd trust to lead a class field trip.

to be continued on another post