#and the different combinations of notes in different people

[greenwitchfromthewoods]

box of ice-cream. l Harry Castillo

bio : Reader and Harry meet on a date. She thinks they come from different worlds and it doesn't make sense, but he wants her to give him a chance.

requested by : anon thank you!

warnings: fluff, self-doubt, some wine, Harry is sweet, they are just talking, Reader can seem unpleasant and judgmental

[Harry Castillo [The Materialists] - masterlist] [my masterlist]

“I’m just here to prove to you that you don’t really want to date me.”

The man sitting across the table smiled, his brown eyes sparkling in the dim light of the restaurant.

“You can try, but my instincts tell me otherwise.” Harry replied in a warm and polite voice. You had known each other for a few weeks, and ever since then this man had been very insistent on meeting up with you.

It seemed strange to you. You had nothing in common, except for a cup of coffee he accidentally spilled on you at one of the local coffee shops. And yet, you were sitting with him in this fancy restaurant that you would definitely never go to alone.

Harry was observant and immediately noticed that you felt uneasy in such a place. A quick mental note to remember to avoid exclusive places if you were to meet up again. Even though he was casual, you felt like you were at a job interview. The young waiter poured you some wine, and you thanked him with a nod and a gentle smile. There was something charming about it.

“Your hunches can be wrong.” You replied, twirling the long stem of the glass in your fingers. “Besides, you shouldn’t send flowers to my workplace either.”

A small wrinkle appeared between Harry’s dark eyebrows. “You didn’t like them?”

“It’s not like that.” You smiled, shaking your head. “It’s just… People like to gossip, and I don’t need it. Unlike you, my job is normal.” You saw Castillo raise his eyebrows in surprise. “I’m sorry,” you said quickly. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I didn’t mean to… Damn it.”

“Don’t worry,” he raised his hand in a gentle gesture. “I’m curious that you think my job isn’t normal. So what is it?”

You knew he wouldn't let up until you answered his question. You wanted to bury your face in your hands, finish your wine and leave, but you were still sitting at that table with Harry. He hadn't done anything wrong or offensive, he had just continued talking to you. So you took a shallow breath.

"Yeah, I think your job isn't normal, not really. I mean, my only contact with finances is when I get paid from payroll. You probably spend that much on a suit and shoes. And maybe a coffee on top of that."

He smiled again and leaned in slightly. "I think you're overestimating me."

"Oh, really?" you replied and probably his answer gave you more confidence because the next words started to flow from your lips with more ease "So you had to finish one of the local schools, combining it with a part-time job. Then you looked for employment and started at the entry level, so that after a few years you were still earning... as much as I earn. Harry, we are from completely different worlds. Now I'm sitting with you in this restaurant that I always passed by without looking in its direction, afraid that they would charge me just for looking. This is not normal, this is not how most people live."

"But you can experience it with me. Is that a bad thing?"

"I'm not a damn Cinderella, Harry." You snorted "I don't even like those fairy tales where they convince little girls that a prince on a white horse will appear and give them a new, wonderful life. I work for my own life. And I like it simple."

Despite your words, Castillo didn't seem offended, on the contrary, he watched you with interest, a gentle smile on his lips. Finally he spoke.

"What do you like?"

You frowned. “Excuse me?”

He took a sip of wine and smiled again. “What do you like to do that’s simple and so different from what I do? You talk about it like I hunt ducks in the morning, servants wait on me, and I own a stable full of unicorns.”

You barely held back a laugh, and he was pleased to see your eyes light up. He wanted to hear that laugh, he knew it would delight him. The waiter appeared next to you and you fell silent for a moment as he placed the food you ordered on the table. When he left, you spoke again.

“I definitely don’t eat at restaurants like that.”

Harry bowed his head. “But would you eat if you earned more?”

“Probably? I’m not sure.”

“Okay. What about traveling?” you looked at him like he was joking. “Don’t you have vacation time from work?”

“I do. But I don’t travel anywhere, I mean I rarely leave the state. I once went to visit my aunt in Florida, but I was a kid then. We drove for two days, but it was so exciting.”

“That sounds great.”

You smiled. “That’s how it was. My family didn’t have much, they had their flaws, but they were the ones who shaped me. I work hard, I know my worth, and I don’t delude myself that some prince will save me one day.”

"You see, my family worked hard for what I have now. You shouldn't judge me for the fact that my parents were able to give me all this. You would probably do the same for your child. But I grew up believing that there were standards I had to reach, that I had to show my best side, that I couldn't let anyone down. The pressure was really high, even though my parents really loved me and my brother. We had the best, yes, but we also had to be the best."

"I'm sorry, Harry." You replied quietly, but he just shook his head, smiling.

"There's no need. But I know how easy it is to judge others, it's our nature."

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat. For the first time, you thought that you might have been tactless and offended him. You didn't mean to, Harry was a really nice guy.

"Anyway, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. I... I haven't been on a date in a while, I'm out of practice. I'm not like that in everyday life."

“I believe that you and I would like to see what you are really like. On our next date.”

You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t hide your smile. Dinner was a lighter affair. You talked about trifles, things you had seen recently, things that made you happy or sad. Harry confided in you that he liked to watch some weird reality show late at night, and to you, that sometimes, when the day was really hard, instead of dinner, you would sit on the kitchen floor and eat ice cream straight from the box.

“We should do this again.” he said as the waiter took the bill, which he paid, and you slowly got ready to leave.

“That would be nice,” you replied automatically and you immediately noticed Harry raising his eyebrows. “You know, if you want. I know I could be a little…”

“You were wonderful. And please don’t be so hard on yourself, because there’s no point. But you have to know that I feel honored that a woman like you agreed to go out with me.”

You rolled your eyes again but felt warmth creeping into your cleavage and neck. One look from him, a few words and the butterflies in your stomach started flying like crazy. You didn’t know what it was about Harry, but he drew you closer with every minute spent together.

You let him drive you home and even kissed your hand goodbye. There was something about this gesture that made you feel really important. He didn’t push, didn’t ask if he could come in for tea or wine. His warm and affectionate gaze followed you to the door and he only got into the car when he saw the light in one of the windows turn on.

The next evening, the doorbell tore you away from your evening activities. You put the book down, a little surprised because you weren't expecting anyone.

"A courier with a package," the voice on the other end sounded.

"I didn't order anything," you replied, surprised. "It must be a mistake."

However, the man gave your name and everything was correct. You let him in, and a moment later he stood in front of your door with a strange box.

"Can you sign for this, ma'am?" he pulled out a small tablet, smiled and quickly ran down the stairs.

The box was strange, not very heavy, but there was definitely something inside. When you opened it, you saw a Styrofoam container with cooling packs inside. Between them...

You hadn't smiled so widely at the sight of a box of ice cream in a long time. You didn't need a note, you knew perfectly well who you got it from. However, you didn't have time to put it in the freezer when you heard the sound of an incoming message.

Harry C. - I hope I've hit the mark for you. Can I count on Thursday night with you? Nothing special. Maybe a movie?

You bit your lip, feeling a smile grow on your lips. You knew from that dinner that you had been too quick to judge Harry, but that little gesture was really sweet and showed that he was really listening to you. So you typed a response without remorse.

You. - Sounds good. Around seven?

The reply came a few seconds later.

Harry C. - I can't wait. I'll pick you up. Enjoy your ice cream.

You couldn't wait for Thursday.

☆☆☆☆

Thank you for your time.

[rainbow-banana-slug]

[id: anime style drawing of colorful pastel person with long hair sitting in fantasy manual tilt/rotation-in-space wheelchair.

in terms of details: they long blue hair in two low pig tails with stars in them, hair long to ground n go beyond frame. rainbow horn with rainbow shapes (crystals) on it, light skin, long ears. they wear pastel purple lolita jsk dress with carousel motif, n white long sleeve blouse with pink translucent short sleeve over blouse but under dress. they wear mismatch stockings, one side blue sky n clouds, another side rainbow. they wear pink platform mary jane.

wheelchair: seating is pastel pink arm-chair like with diamond tufting. headrest is similar but wing shaped. the frame / foot rest is shaped swirly n pastel rainbow gradient colored. tilt in space mechanism shaped like rocking horse with galaxy n roses. base is green. yellow wheels they can self propel with. end id]

——

literature ✨

(they/them)

artfight character profile

——

Record No.: [#####]

Date of Record: [xx/xx/xxxxx]

Diagnosis Summary:

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 3 (“Requiring Very Substantial Support”) — Nonverbal; high support needs

Congenital Wing Absence — Diagnosis: developmental disability syndrome, as observed in certain crownwing* variants

Mobility & Communication Aids: Custom manual tilt/rotation-in-space wheelchair with adaptive seating (full time); Symbol based AAC device, speech generating (full time)

(*crowning = (technically hybrid) species with horn + wings. think combine unicorn + pegasus but people shaped)

——

design notes

design elements: carousel, rocking horse, dusk/dawn, stars, pastel

symbol based AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) reference: proloquo2go

manual tilt/rotation-in-space wheelchair reference: quickie iris

why specifically rotation in space vs just tilt: bc center of gravity not change when u rotate (“tilt”) (website linked above have better explanation lol) :>

note the advanced seating position needs support!: lateral support wings on each side of waist (the white literal-wing-shaped things! that technically part of wheelchair n not clothing), headrest, “stroller” style push handles for easy caregiver propel

if u recognize the design have deja vu yes it bc it a giant redesign based on older character that’s technically different person but also not different person ✨ mm

——

[id:

1: character sheet. text mostly functionally described above.

2: their wheelchair. described above. lateral support wings not pictured. end id.]

[aniflowersartblog]

Well, this is a first! But since I really liked how “Waking Nightmares” turned out, and since @fishymom-art expressed interest in reading this, I decided to ramble a bit about the writing decisions I made in the fic! ^^ 

I can’t tell if most of these are too obscure for people to have noticed, or too obvious for them to have been missed. So this is literally just me having fun sharing what went into the fic xD

I hope you’ll have fun reading it! :3

1st: The “bird-motive”

During the fic, there are recurring moments of Burning Spice referring to Golden Cheese as a “bird” through the narration. 

These are always moments in which Golden Cheese shows herself “vulnerable”, and most importantly: moments in which Burning Spice thinks of himself as a potential threat to her.

This is most obvious in the very first use of that motive:

Directly followed up by:

Less obviously:

Followed up by:

And the third time (becouse I accidentaly used the “rule of 3”, I guess xD) :

The entire thing is based on Burning Spice calling his fight with her “bird hunt” when he tore of her wings, which is so far shown to be the leading subject of his nightmares in the “Nightmare” comic.

2nd: Mozzarella Cookie mentioned!

There isn’t to complicated or intriguing of a thought process behind this one xD

It has been confirmed that Mozzarella Cookie is around, but just doesn’t really have a part to play in the AU. So, since she is one of my favorite characters in the game, I simply decided to give her a small part in my story! ^^ 

3rd: Burning Spice never refers to himself as “Auspicious” here

During writing, I like to use a different array of synonyms to replace characters' names by. Sometimes, it’s for the narrative, like I did with the howl “bird-motive”. Other times it’s simply to make reading more interesting, and indirectly give some insight into the characters or how they are seen by others. For example, me using things like “advisor”, “right hand” or “cunning” as stand ins for Smoked Cheese's name.

So naturally, I was tempted to use “Auspicious” as a stand-in/synonym for Burning Spice's name, since that is the title he gets after his awakening.

I ultimately decided against it though, for two reasons.

Reason number 1: Skill issue, I guess!

 English isn’t my first language, and I just couldn’t figure out how to properly use that title without it sounding weird to me, since the word, as a noun, itself is still new to me xD

(I totally could have figured it out had I truly wanted to, but than reason 2 came into play~)

Reason number 2 (the actually interesting one): Headcanon fueled character drama! >:)

Since Burning Spice is still, quite literally, haunted by his guilt, I developed the headcanon that he does not truly see himself worthy of the title “Auspicious” yet. After all, hs nightmares literally tell him that, no matter how much he changes on the outside, at his core he will still be the same monster who killed countless people and ripped out Golden Cheeses wings.

Because of that, he himself and the narration only ever refers to him as “beast”, “former/tamed beast” or “harbinger” during the fic.   

Here are some examples, but not all, since it turns out that I used those three so often, one could probably make a drinking game out of it (disclaimer: please don’t!) :

On that note:

4th: other fun little synonyms I used for names! (Without screenshots. Because I’m to lazy at this point xD)

-”tamer” for Smoked Cheese, in combination with “beast” for Burning Spice, because Smoked Cheese used to be a beast tamer in the virtual Golden City. Plus I just found the idea cute that Burning Spice, a beast cookie, is now “tamed” and in a relationship with a cookie who’s literal job was to tame beasts! 

-”reborn queen” for Golden Cheese, since her kingdom was destroyed and later reborn, and because she herself was sort of reborn in her fight with Smoked Cheese.

-”greed” for Golden Cheese and “cunning” for Smoked Cheese should be self explanatory enough xD  

5th: Golden Cheese using her wings to emote

During the fic, I use Golden Cheeses wings as a way to show her emotions or mood. Similar to how cats use their tail and ears to emote. It’s a trope I learned from anime, where it is also often used in hair, and which I’m very fond of! I just think it gives more personality and expressiveness to a character! ^^ 

Her wings shift around uneasily when she is uncomfortable or unsure, the same way someone might fidget with their hands or bounce their legs. They puff up when she is offended and her feathers raise when she is tense, the same way animals raise their hackles when angry or threatened. But they also fluff up when she is happy or excited, the same way someone might sit up straight in excited anticipation, or how a dog would wag its tail happily!

6th: other random things

-I often listen to music while writing, most of the time to stay in the mood of the scene I’m writing. While writing the last half of the fic, I had “Will you fall in love with me” from “Epic: the musicall” playing on loop. I don’t even know why that song, I’m not even sure if I’d say it “fits” the characters dynamic or story. But it was the only couple/love song that seemed appropriate to me at the time xD

-I have a deep urge to draw the end scene, but probably will never actually get around to doing it, because I’m terrible at putting my drawing ideas to paper. (Fun fact: that’s also why I got back into writing, since I simply couldn’t manage to draw my ideas as comics xD) 

-I keept re-reading the "Nightmare" comic for inspiration whenever I took a biger break from writing, to A) get back into the mood, and B) keep the idea properly present in my mind

-One day after finishing the fic, I already got an idea for a new SmokedBurningCheese one. But if I’ll get to writing it will completely depend on if I get an answer to a question I have, and what said answer will be, when @fishymom-art opens their ask box the next time

And that’s all the “talk worthy” stuff I wanted to talk about! ^^

Thank you, to all of those who read to the end! :3

[1caru]

PSA: Tumblr DMs Art SCAM

This scam has been widespread for a while now and many of you likely already know about it, but I've seen a few people fall for it recently so I thought I'd make a PSA explaining the scam and how to recognize and avoid it. Please share this around so that more people can see it!

How the scam tends to work:

If you post art here on Tumblr, you may have received comments that read "Hello, do you offer commissions? Dm me!" or something similar. Unfortunately, these comments are scams.

If you DM the scammer, they will request artwork of something fairly generic, such as a family pet, before asking for contact information such as your email or PayPal.

If you give them this information, they will then send you a fraudulent email claiming to be from PayPal that claims the scammer accidentally sent you too much money. They will then request that you "refund" the extra money that they sent. In reality, the scammer has not actually sent you any money, and they are hoping to trick you into sending them your own money so that they can cut contact and run off with it.

Please keep in mind that the scammer's tactics may vary from case to case! I've seen some emails that claim you don't have the right kind of PayPal account to make or accept the transfer, or that the amount being sent is greater than your account's max limit. Keep an eye out for scams regardless of an email's content! Please also note that, while many of the indicators I will mention are not proof of a scam on their own, a combination of these indicators should definitely raise suspicion.

How to recognize and avoid these scams:

If you offer commissions, have your request form readily available on your blog and only accept commissions through that form.

Check a potential commissioner's blog for activity. Scam blogs will often have very little activity, and that activity will often be very recent. They may also have generic profile pictures or usernames, such as selfies or first/last names followed by a few numbers.

If you believe that you have been contacted by a scammer, do not respond. Instead, block their account and report them to Tumblr staff.

If you receive an email claiming that there has been an issue with a commission:

DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS IN THE EMAIL. This is the easiest way for a scammer to access your information or install malicious software on your device.

DO NOT send any personal information such as your legal name, bank name/numbers, passwords, etc via email.

Carefully check the sender's email address, as well as the grammar, capitalization, and punctuation of the email itself. Scam emails often have strangely formatted and broken wording, and the sender's address will be very slightly different from the actual address of the person or company they are attempting to impersonate.

If the email urges you to act immediately to avoid consequences such as losing your PayPal account or encountering legal trouble, it is almost definitely a scam. Scammers use urgency in order to make you panic and think less critically before acting.

If you believe that you have been scammed or are in the process of being scammed:

Cease all contact with the scammer immediately. Ignore any frantic messages or threats they may send you.

Record information such as the scammer's usernames and email addresses, as well as screenshots of any conversations you've already had with them. These should be shared with any customer service representatives you contact.

If they have requested money, or you have already sent them money, contact PayPal customer support through their official website and explain the situation to them. Again, DO NOT click any links in the scammer's emails themselves even if they claim to link to PayPal's website!

Block and report the scammer on any site that they have contacted you through. You may also want to change your PayPal and/or email passwords just to be safe.

Stay safe out there, fellow artists! <3

[unhonestlymirror]

Why did Rumi lose her voice here?

Rumi, as a vocalist, is committing several important mistakes, which lead to sudden loss of voice, coughing and/or "rattling". The voice actor has done it all on purpose, which proves their incredible control over the whole vocal apparatus. Respect.👌

No, Rumi didn't lose her voice because of the demonic blood. The marks spreading was just another symptom of the main reason for her loss of voice. And the name of the culprit is: Stress. Which leads to:

1. Loss of control over the diaphragm, back, shoulder and neck muscles. Singing is like building: to grasp a really high note, you must have a very stable "foundation", formed by your tense abdomen and back muscles under shoulder blades. Once you start thinking not about the song, losing your head in the clouds, you lose this ab tension even for a moment - poof - the note is gone and you're coughing like a Monty Python peasant, like we see in the beginning of the video.

There is a way to fix it (and it's not grape juice XD). Ab workout and push-ups. You can just turn to a wall and sing the phrase doing wall push-ups. I've heard Miley Cyrus practices a daily vocal routine right on a treadmill, but it sounds a bit extreme to me. Anyway, it's a bit strange that Bobby didn't yell "Hey, what's going on with your core, take a proper breath and sit on your diaphragm muscles!" XD because taking a rest only will Not fix it.

2. While stress makes us lose control over our bodies, it also makes some of our muscles constantly unnecessary tense. Like a part of our diaphragm (to me, it's right under the solar plexus), which sort of prevents us from taking a proper breath, makes it sharp. This gives an illusion of our core not having enough space, tenses our neck and back muscles way too much, which makes us want to push too much air through our vocal cords at once, which leads to coughing and voice rattling (somewhere around 00:50 in the video). Can be improved by 10 minutes of pilates or breathing with a heavy book on your abdomen.

3. Improper oral cavity position. Tense tongue is also the reason for voice rattling. When you're really stressed, your tongue flexes and forms an "arch", closing your larynx, preventing the sound's liberation and guides it where it shouldn't be (back at your throat, stuck in the mouth, going up through the nose, etc). To make a note full, you need to relax your tongue and make it flat (which Rumi does only when she gets mad, lol, because that's how our vocal apparatus naturally works. If you fail to feel the proper sound, you need to get really angry, and you'll notice the difference.)

Rumi also makes her voice so full and thick thanks to making the vowels a bit round, like in academic vocals. Which is really cool but... It doesn't work with really high notes!!! In K-pop, like in every pop singing, you pronounce every word "with a smile". Aka, you open your mouth to say "A" and you say "O"; you lift and stretch your upper lip, pulling the corners of your mouth outward. Rumi can't take that note at first, and why? Because she doesn't feel like smiling.

4. It's really important not only to control your micro-mimics as a vocalist, but also to be psychologically happy and satisfied with your current state. Only emotionally stable, experienced in life people, confident in themselves and in those close to them, or people who have nothing to lose, can sing a happy, energetic song when they feel like crying cause the world is falling apart. When you sing, it's 10 times harder to hide your true feelings.

Obviously, if your job is to kill someone everyday, it will overstrain unnecessary muscles and make your blood pure cortisol, which will have a huge negative effect on your vocal apparatus. In fact, combining daily deadly combat with public singing is not a great idea for someone who doesn't udergo daily psychotherapy. For Rumi, it was just a matter of time when such an insane routine would lower her immunity, leading to demonic birth marks spread. Still, she could have had it way worse. She could have gotten viral laryngitis. Now, that would be deadly for the new release.

For Rumi, as someone with a lot of money, it would not hurt to do monthly blood test check-ups. Maybe, a week or two with B group vitamins would lower her stress.

Proper nutrition, proper sleep, proper physical activity and, of course, proper psychological support are the foundation for our mental and physical health. If there's a lack of any of them - no magic pill will help. Sometimes, constant stress makes us lose control over all of these four aspects, dragging us to this neverending cycle of worsening. You need to stop for a moment to be kind and truthful to yourself.

[bluejay-flies]

Something I’ve noticed recently is that fan comics/fan fiction are often seen as lesser to original creations. While I get where this idea comes from, as a (mainly) fan artist it hurts a lot to see people talk about fan work as if it doesn’t take the same amount of effort, skill, creativity and commitment to make as original stories. I feel pressured to make ocs and draw them/write about them/make a comic because fan work is “invalid” in some way. Hell, I’m starting to realize that’s part of why my motivation has been so bad recently. I have so many ideas for aus and stories for different fandoms, but as soon as I start creating I start doubting myself. I start thinking “what if people say this is stupid?” “What if I’m just creating the same trope everyone else has done already?” “Has the fandom truly exhausted every idea, enough so that mine is completely unoriginal?”

It’s hard to keep motivation with these thoughts plaguing your mind. Now, that’s not to say fan media isn’t popular. I know it’s very common for people to post their ocs and get like 5 notes, then post art of Spider-Man and get 100. I want to make it very clear that this post is not shaming people who make original stories and characters. Character creation is a fun process that also requires a lot of skill. Fan work is based on a pre-existing story/character, which can seem like less work than starting from scratch. In reality, there’s a lot more that goes into fanart than most people realize. You can try to stay true to the character, or throw them into situations so insane they act completely differently. You have to work hard to translate their design into your own style when drawing them. And you have to come up with your own ideas of various scenarios, alternate universes and timelines, and even different versions of the story itself. Fan work is essentially taking a piece of playdough and working it into a shape you enjoy more than the regular shape it comes in, the shape it makes when still in its little plastic container. You can make lots of different shapes, can combine different colors and take away part of it to make something else. It’s supposed to be fun, and it requires creativity to think of what you could do with the bare playdough, as well as executing it.

So, all that to say, if you only make fan work and feel bad about not making original characters/stories or feel like your ideas are worth less, know that I see you. It sucks to feel that way but if you enjoy something, the best you can do is ignore what others might think and create purely out of love for the fandom. Keep going, I’m proud of you!

[howlingday]

Out of all RWBY and JNPR who would Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja get along with the most in your opinion?

On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being mortal enemies and 10 being the best of friends...

Ruby Rose - 10/10: Ruby is a fan of three things; weapons, fighting monsters, and heroes of legend. The Ninja is an awesome combination of all three and she would probably start her own Ninja fan club. In terms of her and Randy, I can see them also getting along with each other, though I doubt Ruby would be able to discern Randy is The Ninja.

Weiss Schnee - 0/10: Weiss has heard stories of The Ninja's heroism, but seeing him in action is more than a little disheartening. She expecting someone more mature and refined, like The Rusted Knight, but she sees a childish prankster at best. Randy is no better, either, and finds him so uncouth and immature. No wonder him and Ruby get along so well.

Blake Belladonna - 5/10: Blake is a huge fan of The Ninja and has been a big follower of the stories as far back as she could read. This new Ninja is definitely just starting out, but she can see the opportunity for him to improve, and I can even see her and Ruby collabing on The Ninja fan-club and making suggestions on him improving, Blake using her own training as experience. Randy is... a guy at school. Nothing really out of the ordinary to her. He's better than some of the other guys, but he's not really different from guys like Sun or Jaune.

Yang Xiao Long - 3/10: Yang isn't really as big of a fan as Ruby and Blake for The Ninja. Sure, he's cool, but he's not quite as cool as her sister. Randy's not so bad, either, even if he's probably a bad influence on Ruby. But you can never be too careful with those high school boys. He's a good egg, sure, but Howard... not so much.

Jaune Arc - 7/10: Much like Ruby, Jaune is also a big fan of The Ninja. If there was a better hero for him to look up to, Jaune hasn't found him yet. Him and Randy might get along well, too, though Randy might be a bit too lax to really appreciate compared to Ruby.

Nora Valkyrie - 6/10: Nora, much like the rest of the school, is a fan of The Ninja. Not as much as the rest of her peers, but she does think he's really cool and likes it when he destroys robots and monsters; especially when he goes for the legs. Randy, much like for Blake, is just another guy at the school to her. Nothing too worth noting.

Pyrrha Nikos - 4/10: To Pyrrha, The Ninja is an example of someone who lets their fame precede him. True, he's learned his lessons each time, but he constantly slips and lets his ego take over. That said, she does see why others revere him as a hero, though she wouldn't usually say the same thing. As for Randy, he's a lot like Jaune, albeit much more lax than her leader. In a way, he's like Jaune if Jaune didn't have a mentor like her.

Lie Ren - 7/10: Ren sees The Ninja as a hero, the same as Nora, and supports her in their shared celebration of the hero in black and red. He even recognizes some of the movements in The Ninja's attacks as similar to his own. Randy is also a friend, and Ren finds a sort of solidarity in being best friends to a chaotic figure like Nora and Howard.

Oscar Pine - 9/10: Oscar is a huge, huge, HUGE fan of The Ninja and is excited to see the hero any chance he can get. Randy is also a pretty nice guy; someone who doesn't pick on Oscar for his age or size. Oz, though, seems to have his own thoughts on The Ninja. Usually a comparison between the original Ninja and the current successor. As for Randy, well, Oz doesn't really give his opinion on Randy other than him being "more than what he seems".

Penny Polendina - 1/10 10/10: The Ninja is a hero. He saves people being attacked by robots. These are facts. However, The Ninja is also irrational, impatient, and often quick to make mistakes. Ruby is a huge fan of The Ninja, though Penny isn't exactly sure why since Ruby is a much bigger hero than him. As for Randy Cunningham, he's a kind boy, but he's also flaky, lazy, and far more obsessed with video games than his academic studies. When Ruby introduced him, she called him as her friend before introducing Penny as the same. When Randy said, "Any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine!" This is acceptable. Parameters changed.

[quijotine]

it is absolutely wild to me that the untimely passing of a pedophile and abuser causes more discourse in tumblr than an actual fucking genocide.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

If someone had told me three years ago that Emmanuel freaking Macron, of all European leaders, will be the one who becomes one of THE leaders of Europe and will have that development, especially when it comes to Russia ... I would not have believed it. But bravo. Honor whom honor is due.

[surgepricing]

I think about Azula shooters often and their common refrain of "if Azula hadn't had a mental breakdown, she would've won" and I'm here to tell you that no, she wouldn't have.

There is no universe in which Azula was winning that fight with Zuko (or Katara, for that matter).

Azula spent so much of Book 2 being built up as this deadly terrifying force against whom the heroes are badly outmatched that it can be difficult to catch exactly how quickly Zuko is advancing.

Back up a bit to Book One. For the fearsome exiled crown prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko's not that impressive a firebender. He's not bad by any stretch, and he's able to lay the untrained Sokka and Katara flat pretty easily. Then he gets in the ring with Aang, who is an airbending master, and the difference between a regular bender and a master becomes apparent when Aang literally puts his ass to bed:

People have attributed this to the fact that no one's fought an airbender in 100 years, but I think it's also worth noting that Aang (a 12 year old from a pacifist nation) has probably never fought anyone before. Like, ever. And yet the second Aang thinks "okay, I'll attack back", the fight's over.

Zuko's got the same genetic predisposition for firebending talent that Azula does, yet it never seems to manifest because of his mental blocks. At the beginning of the series, he's already so beat down that all he really has is conviction, pride, and anger, so even with training from Iroh (the firebending master, thank you very much), he struggles. Yet throughout Book 2, when he has no time to train because he's on the run, he actually seems to advance faster. The fact that his bending is literally tied to his character arc (as his morals become tangled and he has to fight off aforementioned mental blocks) is pretty brilliant. Like, by the time of the Crossroads of Destiny, Zuko getting his ass handed to him by Aang is a pretty consistent feature of the show--he just can't match wits with him.

Hell, at the beginning of the series, he and Iroh (again: the actual firebending master) launch a combined power surface-to-air attack...which Aang casually swats away into a nearby ice wall. Come the Crossroads of Destiny, however, and Zuko by himself launches this bigass fireball that blows through Aang's defenses.

Zuko advances so quickly that it's scary. That prodigious talent is in him even if it doesn't come through as cleanly as with Azula. Who, by the way, was busy about to get flattened by Katara some few dozen feet away, until Zuko took over and then effectively stalemated her himself.

All of this in retrospect makes it abundantly clear why Zuko's firebending seemed to skyrocket so much when he learned true firebending from the Sun Warriors: it was really the only thing left. He's hard a hard road learning how to fight waterbenders, earthbenders, and airbenders, and even if unconsciously, he's applying the philosophy Iroh taught him about augmenting his bending style with aspects of other styles (see also, the waterbending-like fire whips he uses in the above gif). Once he actually understands fire and how it works, he's got it mastered. Hence why any gap between him and Azula effectively disappears as soon as their next fight--before her friends have betrayed her and her stability goes out the window. There's no real sense of urgency to their fight at the Boiling Rock prison. True, Sokka's presence with the sword helps, but Zuko doesn't look remotely worried and he counters Azula's every attack perfectly.

All her life, Azula only ever learned fire. She was taught by the best people the fire nation can employ, so she knows all the cool tricks, but she's still poisoned by the corrupted firebending practiced in the modern ATLA timeline. Unlike Zuko, who managed to get the basics if nothing else from Iroh (fire comes from the breath, and can be used to survive as much as to kill), Azula has always used fire as a weapon and a means to hurt others. She has no true knowledge of the craft, meaning she's got the same weaknesses as Zhao, she's just better disciplined to the point she can make up for it.

Zuko's victory was a given considering Azula's complete loss of control by the time of Sozin's comet, but even had she been in a perfect mental state, she'd have lost, because in many ways Zuko is simply the better firebender.

And that's the truth of it.

[ai-art-thieves]

It's Time To Investigate SevenArt.ai

sevenart.ai is a website that uses ai to generate images.

Except, that's not all it can do.

It can also overlay ai filters onto images to create the illusion that the algorithm created these images.

And its primary image source is Tumblr.

It scrapes through the site for recent images that are at least 10 days old and has some notes attached to it, as well as copying the tags to make the unsuspecting user think that the post was from a genuine user.

No image is safe. Art, photography, screenshots, you name it.

Initially I thought that these are bots that just repost images from their site as well as bastardizations of pictures across tumblr, until a user by the name of @nataliedecorsair discovered that these "bots" can also block users and restrict replies.

Not only that, but these bots do not procreate and multiply like most bots do. Or at least, they have.

The following are the list of bots that have been found on this very site. Brace yourself. It's gonna be a long one:

@giannaaziz1998blog

@kennedyvietor1978blog

@nikb0mh6bl

@z4uu8shm37

@xguniedhmn

@katherinrubino1958blog

@3neonnightlifenostalgiablog

@cyberneticcreations58blog

@neomasteinbrink1971blog

@etharetherford1958blog

@punxajfqz1

@camicranfill1967blog

@1stellarluminousechoblog

@whwsd1wrof

@bnlvi0rsmj

@steampunkstarshipsafari90blog

@surrealistictechtales17blog

@2steampunksavvysiren37blog

@krispycrowntree

@voucwjryey

@luciaaleem1961blog

@qcmpdwv9ts

@2mplexltw6

@sz1uwxthzi

@laurenesmock1972blog

@rosalinetritsch1992blog

@chereesteinkirchner1950blog

@malindamadaras1996blog

@1cyberneticdreamscapehubblog

@neomasteinbrink1971blog

@neonfuturecityblog

@olindagunner1986blog

@neonnomadnirvanablog

@digitalcyborgquestblog

@freespiritfusionblog

@piacarriveau1990blog

@3technoartisticvisionsblog

@wanderlustwineblissblog

@oyqjfwb9nz

@maryannamarkus1983blog

@lashelldowhower2000blog

@ovibigrqrw

@3neonnightlifenostalgiablog

@ywldujyr6b

@giannaaziz1998blog

@yudacquel1961blog

@neotechcreationsblog

@wildernesswonderquest87blog

@cybertroncosmicflow93blog

@emeldaplessner1996blog

@neuralnetworkgallery78blog

@dunstanrohrich1957blog

@juanitazunino1965blog

@natoshaereaux1970blog

@aienhancedaestheticsblog

@techtrendytreks48blog

@cgvlrktikf

@digitaldimensiondioramablog

@pixelpaintedpanorama91blog

@futuristiccowboyshark

@digitaldreamscapevisionsblog

@janishoppin1950blog

The oldest ones have been created in March, started scraping in June/July, and later additions to the family have been created in July.

So, I have come to the conclusion that these accounts might be run by a combination of bot and human. Cyborg, if you will.

But it still doesn't answer my main question:

Who is running the whole operation?

The site itself gave us zero answers to work with.

No copyright, no link to the engine where the site is being used on, except for the sign in thingy (which I did.)

I gave the site a fake email and a shitty password.

Turns out it doesn't function like most sites that ask for an email and password.

Didn't check the burner email, the password isn't fully dotted and available for the whole world to see, and, and this is the important thing...

My browser didn't detect that this was an email and password thingy.

And there was no log off feature.

This could mean two things.

Either we have a site that doesn't have a functioning email and password database, or that we have a bunch of gullible people throwing their email and password in for people to potentially steal.

I can't confirm or deny these facts, because, again, the site has little to work with.

The code? Generic as all hell.

Tried searching for more information about this site, like the server it's on, or who owned the site, or something. ANYTHING.

Multiple sites pulled me in different directions. One site said it originates in Iceland. Others say its in California or Canada.

Luckily, the server it used was the same. Its powered by Cloudflare.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do with any of this information.

If you have any further information about this site, let me know.

Until there is a clear answer, we need to keep doing what we are doing.

Spread the word and report about these cretins.

If they want attention, then they are gonna get the worst attention.

[marzipanandminutiae]

thinking about the infantiliztation and/or formalization of 19th-century women's clothing to modern audiences

like

our entire reference point for "wearing long skirts and outfits with decoration like lace, embroidery, appliques, etc." is either formalwear or fictional characters in children's media like Disney princesses. women's clothing is just so radically different now- not that those elements don't exist, but they're much less common in everyday clothing than they once were. some form of simple trousers and an equally simple top are de rigeur for everyday attire, and anything else is Fancy

combined with the fact- which is true! -that a lot of what survives to end up in big museums belonged to wealthy people, this ends up in wild assumptions like "basically our entire idea of what the Victorians dressed like is just Rich People Clothes really"

which has led to the eternal cry of "but what did NORMAL people wear?!?!?!" that will not be satisfied with real examples of middle or even working-class everyday clothing because it still looks too "fancy" to modern eyes

not Victorian, but a great example of this is what Abby Cox wore to portray a milliner (hatmaker) in Colonial Williamsburg. a working, middle-class woman:

(ignore the facial expression there)

this is the exact outfit she sported in a video that apparently got responses like "but that's just what rich women wore!" and it is, in fact, everyday attire for a working person. a person who worked in the fashion industry, it's true, but still

I had someone ask me about how to find examples of casual Victorian clothing because they were at their wits' end trying to research it. and I had to tell them that...what they were looking at WAS casual. in the sense of Clothing For Everyday Wear That's Not Especially Formal. there's nothing inherently formal, or exclusive to the wealthy, about a matched bodice-and-skirt dress, instep-length, with some trim. or even a trimmed blouse and skirt. obviously women working the absolute hardest outdoor, physical jobs might have adopted occupational trousers or similar, but we don't all dress like construction or farm workers all the time nowadays. why would they have back then?

Laundresses, probably 1850s or early 60s. Note that I can STILL date the picture based on their outfits and hair, and these are the furthest things from wealthy socialites.

Maid scrubbing steps, probably 1870s or 1880s. Note pleated trim on her skirt and what appears to be a peplum at the back of her bodice.

also, not all working women worked physical jobs any more than we do today. here is a teacher around the turn of the 20th century:

Teachers, 1887

"Breton Seamstresses," 1845, by Jules Trayer

were there differences in quality, type and quantity of trim, fit, etc? obviously. but some people are convinced that the basic outfit format can't POSSIBLY have been something ordinary women wore, because it looks formal and/or princess-y in a modern context

[thebibliosphere]

The TikTok Benadryl + ibuprofen ‘trend’ to treat anaphylaxis is distressing on multiple levels because it shows not only a blatant disregard for medical information but also how a little bit of information applied the wrong way can have disastrous effect.

The spiel I kept seeing from one creator whose videos I now can’t find (please god let it be because she got taken down and not simply because she blocked me) was that allergic reactions are an inflammatory response.

Which is correct! It is an exaggerated immune response to a foreign substance that can lead to swelling at the site of exposure.

However, not all inflammation it treated the same way and leaning towards the camera to say, “now, this is what doctors don’t want you to know,” as you explain that Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory—which it is, you are again correct on that point—and then urging people to use it as a cost effective way to treat allergic inflammation is going to get people killed because no!!! No, no, no!!!

Different inflammation pathways are active.

The ibuprofen might reduce swelling and pain from a bug bite but it’s not blocking the allergic response of the immune system. In fact it may make it worse because as I already noted in my previous post, ibuprofen can liberate basophil cells which are also liberated from mast cells during allergic responses.

Telling people to combine it with Benadryl only further risks the chance of mortality because Benadryl only treats some allergic mediators, and cannot reverse anaphylaxis once it’s started, and as I also previously pointed out can mask symptoms of shock because it can make you sleepy.

Just because something is cheap and readily accessible doesn’t mean it’s safe for you to concoct your own treatment for serious ailments based on the most basic surface level understanding of word definitions.

Inflammation has many mediators. You can’t nod and wink at the camera like you’ve hacked big pharma when you don’t understand that.

[esleep]

i actually do kinda like delivering groceries on the side because it gives me such a unique cross-section of the community. i never know whose groceries im shopping for until i finish the delivery and see them/their home and it's like it adds more detail to the picture of who they are. the baby supplies going to the apartment that i know for a fact is one bedroom (they'll be moving soon - i bet they're apartment hunting, i hope they find a place). the new cat litter box, bowl, and kitten food going to the house covered in "i <3 my dog" paraphernalia (a kitten definitely showed up on the porch recently and made itself at home). the fairly healthy boring grocery order that includes an incongruous tub of candy-filled ice cream going to the home of an elderly woman with toddler toys in the yard (it's clearly for her grandkids, whom she sees often).

shopping for someone else's groceries is a fairly intimate thing. i've bought condoms and pregnancy tests, allergy medicine and nyquil, baby benadryl and teething gel, a huge pile of veggies paired with an equally huge pile of junk food, tampons and shampoo and closet organizers and ant traps and deodorizing shoe inserts and a million other little things that tell a million different stories in their endless combinations. one time someone had me buy one single green bean. i messaged them to confirm that's actually what they wanted, and they said yes - neither of them liked green beans very much, but they had a baby they were introducing to solid foods, and they wanted to let him try one to see if he liked them. another time i had someone request 50 fresh roma tomatoes - not for a restaurant, but for a person in an apartment. the kitchen behind them smelled like basil and garlic when they opened the door. another time i brought groceries to three elderly blind women who share a house. that was one of the few times i have ever broken my rule and gone inside a place i've delivered to, because they asked if i could place the grocery bags in a specific location in the kitchen for them to work on unloading and there was no way i was going to refuse helping.

i gripe about the poor tippers, but people can also be incredibly kind. one time i took shelter from a sudden vicious hailstorm inside an older lady's home in a trailer park, while i was in the middle of delivering her groceries. we both huddled just inside the door, watching in shock as golf-ball-sized hail swept through for about five minutes and then disappeared. she handed me an extra $10 bill on my way out the door.

when covid was at its deadliest, people would leave extra (often lysol-scented) cash tips and thank-you notes for me taped to the door or partially under the mat. i especially loved the clearly kid-drawn thank you notes with marker renderings of blobby people in masks, or trees, or rainbows. in summer of 2020 i delivered to a nice older couple who lived outside of town in the hills, and they insisted i take a huge double handful of extra disposable gloves and masks to wear while shopping - those were hard to find in stores at the time, but they wanted me to have some of their supply and wouldn't take no for an answer.

anyway. all this to say people are mostly good, or at least trying to be, despite my complaints.

[valiantponds]

[ID: Image 1: A shutterstock image of a priest in a confessional, looking shocked.

Image 2: tags that say: “# thinking abt how i was reading how they just kinda stopped doing phonics in american gradeschool at some point # smiling serenely.” End ID]

learning that apparently several hundred people have been pronouncing 'miette' as 'mighty' has actively worsened my day

[coquettebratzdoll]

HOW I SHIFTED FOR THE FIRST TIME

I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. For some context, no, this isn't literally my first time shifting (we shift all the time, remember?) as I've shifted to countless parallel realities and a couple random realities. However, this was the first time I shifted to a reality where it was supposedly fictional (MHA).

So, what did I do?

This. Exactly what I'm doing right now.

You see, every time I was going to bed or idle with my thoughts (doing chores, walking, etc), I would imagine myself writing a success story or telling a friend (luv you @vixilic) about my successful shift. I'd think about how I'd decorate it, how I'd word my sentences, the feeling I'd get from it, things like that. In the time between my last post and now, I had managed to shift by (mainly) doing that.

Before you say, "Isn't that similar to the xyz method/a combination of abc and qrs?" Congratulations! You know so much that you can actually see the different aspects of Loa/shifting being applied. I'm not gonna pretend like I invented this approach, but it is what worked for me (and perhaps for you too).

So, for those who want a coherent, step by step guide on how to do this, look below:

1. Pick a reference Pick something that you're going to base your visualisation off of. Are you going to tell a shifting friend? Your favourite blog? What about writing your own post? Don't stress, you can use more than one

2. Do the damn visualisation Everyday, imagine what it'd be like to tell your success story. What did you do during the day? How were the people in that reality like? How did it feel? Were you nervous, excited, scared? Do this when you wake up and when you're going to sleep. Bonus points for doing this at other times too.

3. Relax This doesn't have to be an instantaneous method and you may not see "results" right away. The whole reason I started doing this in the first place is because I'm pretty busy with school currently and I wanted to do something related to shifting which I didn't have to think about much. Hell, that shift happened on a night where I had no plans, I didn't "try", I just wanted to sleep 😭

Tips:

- this can be compounded with other methods if you wish: subliminals, robotic affirmations, sats, etc - don't stress if your visualisation isn't perfect, feeling is much more key here - on that note, don't try and force a "feeling" either. maybe you're overthinking it or just not in the mood, you don't have to literally feel it - go with the flow and personalise this to yourself. this is a Tumblr post, not a military boot camp - this can be applied to more than just shifting, too

Special thanks to the following creators who really helped me get out of a shifting slump recently: @scentedpeachlandcreator @hrrtshape @h1biscusgal (and @premiumbitch too but they deactivated 💔)

Moot tag don't mind me: @jealousmartini @livingmydreamlife5555 @xstrawberryshiftsx @vixilic @luckykiwiii101 @multiversal-wanderings @reiashiftsrealities @livingsecret @astrstqr @zomb13pup @zipper-is-ranting @theshifterbride @kimasoft

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