#recommend yourself

[taffywabbit]

reminding myself there are no truly "bad days", because every single day, someone somewhere in the world has taken a photo of an extremely tiny animal and shown it to someone else, and that's very good actually

[fosliie]

The best friends, the pals, the rotten soldiers, the sweet cheese, the good-time boys

Just finished watching the gameplay of the 1st telltale game of theirs! Took quite a bit but was worth itttt, here’s some doodles while watching through it

[leveragehunters]

Google Germany blocking AO3 in search results

I haven't seen anything on this cross my dash, and I thought it was worth bringing here with as much accuracy as possible. (I first encountered it on Reddit.)

Currently (24.12.2022) Google is blocking AO3 from search results in Germany as a result of a complaint.

It is only Google, not other search engines. The government did not request it. It has nothing to do with copyright. It does not impact access to the site itself. ETA: If you use Chrome, it may not let you bookmark AO3 URLs (reports are mixed).

I tested it using a VPN set to Germany, searching for my AO3 username. This is a Google search for leveragehunters showing no AO3 results while connected to a German VPN:

The same search from Australia, with the first result AO3:

A DuckDuckGo search for leveragehunters while connected to a German VPN - AO3 is the third and fifth hit.

The bottom of the Google search using the German VPN states:

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 2 results from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at LumenDatabase.org. This is the link to read more: https://lumendatabase.org/notices/9415.

What was the complaint? You can read it here (and it is seriously light on information): https://lumendatabase.org/notices/9415, but it says:

A URL that otherwise would have appeared in response to your search was not displayed because that URL was reported as illegal under German youth protection laws.

Ihre Suche hätte in den Suchergebnissen einen Treffer generiert, den wir Ihnen nicht anzeigen, da uns mitgeteilt wurde, dass die entsprechende URL rechtswidrig gemäß deutscher Jugendschutzgesetze ist.

Like I said up there, this was not a government request. Government requests to remove material from Google say so on the notice (see, for example: https://lumendatabase.org/notices/30045178 or all of these).

Anyone can make a complaint to Google and ask them to remove something for allegedly violating local laws. I suspect what's happened is that someone has reported the top level AO3 URL to Google through their procedures and that Google, being the knee-jerk risk-adverse devil company that it is, has blocked the site pending investigation (AKA lawyers saying yes or no) or just went stuff it, a shoddy complaint's good enough cause we don't actually care.

The Reddit thread is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/zsgt6v/is_ao3_blocked_from_being_displayed_in_google_in/, but mixed in with the reports from German users is a lot of maybe not so helpful/accurate information so, you know, grain of salt and all that.

@ao3org

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Smell Check [Easy: Failure]

MDZS Disco Elysium AU part 1 (part 2 - part 3)

[alienwlw]

ALIENWLW’S TOP QL DRAMAS | Love for Love's Sake (2024)

[wittyworm]

The linktree is live! @lovingthyneighbor was put together by me and my sister

We are going to be spreading stickers of these all over my town. a lot of people don't know what is happening in the world aside from what they see on the news. so i created a concise list of resources including videos and ways to help out, i want to help give people a better understanding of how it effects them and their neighbors.

I myself am Afro Boricua , and I live in a mostly Latino populated area aside from heavy tourism. It is important that we learn from our history. people think it cant happen to them, but it already has.

if you think this will be helpful to you and your neighbors, feel free to use the link and the QR code and the art yourself! no credit needed. lets get educated !

#Landback

[peaterookie]

erm... ahem.....

coughs coughs

[bixels]

I'm so in love with everything about your art!! I wanted to ask something about your MLP human designs in particular. all of them have really lovely and interesting face shapes/details. even though all the pony designs have the same head molds (save for eye shape), all the unique characteristics you gave them just... look RIGHT. is there a particular method or design principle you used? thanks for your time!! I can't wait to see more of your work!

It's all about shape language and how they inform a person's read on the character.

I talked about this before, but each of the Main 6 were paired together so I could design them in contrast with each other. For RD, I wanted her short hair to have a wind-swept look, as if she's constantly running. So bare forehead and hair spiking out at the bottom. She contains lots and lots of sharp lines and shapes to give her the look of a speeding arrow.

Felice, on the other hand, droops down a lot to reflect her solemn, shy disposition. I didn't want her hair to be perfectly straight though, as that'd suggest she spends a lot of time fretting over it and isn't outdoorsy, so I made it a bit of a tangled mess too.

In short, RD's features are sharp and point upwards, Felice's features are round and droop downwards. (Think Joshua tree vs. weeping willow.)

For these two, I specifically wanted to include non-Western facial features, as I found I haven't really included them in my character designs up until now.

Pinkie's bold and loud, so I gave her bold eyes, bold eyebrows, a bold nose, etc. I worked on Thea's nose for quite a bit and ended up abstracting the shape a bit to look more cartoony, borrowing from Pixar's Soul's character design notes. In cases like these, I recommend finding ways to simplify features and break them down into easily-recognizable shapes and forms (Cartoon Saloon are masters at this). The less visual noise, the easier their expressions are to read! And it's generally more fun to draw.

In short, diversify, exaggerate, and simplify. Figure out what works for you and get a little wacky with it. Character design is all about finding a balance between maintaining your voice and vision and creating something unique and lively.

[blakbonnet]

Fic Recs For Getting Over Writers' Block:

To me, the only way to get over the writing horrors™️ is to read some good fucking prose. Even if the summary of these fics doesn't appeal to you, I'd suggest reading them purely for their tactile prose that somehow gets the brain working again.

General Block Breakers:

Magpie by yellowmustard

Skirts and Barbells by @petrichorca

Malleability by jazzxdaffy

The Nest That Hope Builds by @red-sky-in-mourning

Grounded by @forpiratereasons

So Long Seabird by @adamarks

Find Your Stede Voice:

Adventures of a Leggy Blonde by @palavapeite

Find Your Ed Voice:

You Belong in that Home by and by by @alchemistc

Stealing Romance by skrifores

[aniseandspearmint]

About covid being over: are we just meant to put our entire social lives, our entire society on pause forever? My mental health plummeted during lockdown and will take years to recover. Now that there's vaccines and crowd immunity and less deadly strains we ARE meant to learn to deal with it as a given, the way we have with many deadly diseases in the past, and move on. So for the sake of life moving on at some point it's **normal** to treat it as a cold, and I'm saying this as someone who's lost people during the pandemic too. Please do not fear monger.

No, but you SHOULD care about other people enough to still mask.

I am NOT fearmongering.

Covid is still dangerous, especially to the many MANY people who are immunocompromised and people who cannot get the vaccines (for whatever reason).

I know several people who THIS YEAR caught permanently disabling covid, despite all being fully vaccinated.

I am not saying you have to quarantine yourself anymore. That was NOT a thing I said. There is a world of difference between wishing that other people cared enough to MASK, a thing that is NOT HARD AT ALL, and demanding that people still observe full quarantine protocols.

Plugging your ears and closing your eyes and refusing to listen when people are still justifiably worried, and not listening to experts that haven't been pressured by the government to say 'COVID IS NOT A THREAT ANYMORE YAAAY!!!' just makes you a fool.

I know that's harsh, but it's the truth.

Hospitals are no longer required to report covid cases and covid deaths as such. This is a GIANT RED FLAG that people are happily ignoring so they can feel safe.

[foolishlovers]

MUTUAL PINING FIC RECS: Below you'll find a list of Good Omens fics in which Aziraphale and Crowley are pining for each other.

You can request more fic recs here.

you play with my feelings (right from the start) by PenroseSun (G, 3k)

There were three things of which Crowley was absolutely certain: 1. Aziraphale, being an angel, was required to be kind and loving towards all things, even when those things were flawed or sinful or fallen. 2. Notwithstanding that obligatory kindness, Aziraphale would never, and could never truly love a demon, in any meaningful sense. 3. Despite this, Crowley was desperately, hopelessly, in love with him.

For To Quench My Thirst by apliddell (G, 6k)

After moving to Sussex with Aziraphale, Crowley is trying so hard to be satisfied with friendship and the suddenly beautiful life he already has.

Slow by write_away (T, 9k)

It started like this: A boy with the ability to warp reality met an angel and a demon and he made assumptions. You might say it started like this: An angel and a demon found a marriage contract hung on the wall of the angel's bookshop. They didn't question it. It also could have started like this: Once upon a time, the angel told the demon he went too fast. The demon took it to heart.   Aziraphale and Crowley find themselves somehow married. Crowley fears going too fast. Aziraphale forges ahead. Neither know how to ask questions of each other.

got a pretty face, pretty boyfriend too by KissMyAsthma, leukozyna (T, 9k)

Aziraphale and Crowley are next-door neighbours. They’ve been attracted to each other since they met. The only thing keeping them apart is a thin wall between their bedrooms and Atticus and Freddie, Aziraphale’s and Crowley’s respective life partners… or are they? A human AU glued together by misunderstandings and wet food.

speed limits (and how to break them) by darcylindbergh (E, 13k)

There is a trick people do with a mint candy and a bottle of cola which results in a small eruption, and something very like it, for much higher stakes than a laugh in a car park, is about to take place in Aziraphale’s back room. Or: what happens when you finally unscrew the cap on a six thousand years of repression, and drop in Valentine’s Day.

Something We Were Withholding Made Us Weak by triedunture (M, 17k)

"Yes, exactly. Retire." Aziraphale reaches for the last remaining tartlet brimming with summer berries. "Somewhere along the south coast, perhaps." Or: Crowley and Aziraphale learn to move in tandem.

32 Questions That Lead To Love by ffonippop (E, 32k)

”First formulated in 1997, [32] questions to fall in love is a study by psychologist Dr. Arthur Aron which took place at Stony Brook University, New York. The aim? Speeding up the creation of intimacy between two strangers.” The Cosmopolitan Okay, fine. Crowley was 32-Questions-That-Lead-To-Love-ing Aziraphale. Sue him. He had no expectations, all right? Just, an innocent curiosity.

Flowers From The Grave Of Our Friendship by WaitingToBeBroken (E, 50k)

Crowley is very good at temptation, not so good with what comes afterwards. Aziraphale knows demons don't love so he is happy to take anything Crowley would give him. Both of them are too blind to realize the thing they want is right in front of them.

Fledging by FeralTuxedo (M, 53k)

Cool Dad was at the school gate again. Clambering out of his ridiculous sports car like a great big spider, all black denim and designer sunglasses. What a prat. He made his way towards the entrance, followed by his equally lanky son. All the mums' eyes were on him. Which was fine. At least they weren't staring at Aziraphale for a change. Cool Dad high-fived his son goodbye, because of course he did, then sauntered back to his car. Making it look so bloody easy. Aziraphale Fell is much too young to be looking after eleven-year old Pepper. He barely has his life together as it is, with his minimum-wage job and a half-baked dream of trading rare books for a living. And as if adopting a recently bereaved pre-teen isn’t enough, there are some rather more adult problems to navigate: playground politics, the shadows of his own childhood, and the growing question of how Crowley, the only other dad at the school gate, feels about him. A human AU/kid fic.

Style and Substance by Cabernet_Woebegone (E, 89k)

“But y’know, if my boss finds out I’m helping you even a little, they’re gonna throw me out on my ass.” “Yes, I understand it is a bit of a conflict of interest for you… Is there something I can offer you in return? Something you would like?” Aziraphale questioned hopefully. You, Crowley thought loudly as he took a second sip. I want to know if you moan when you kiss the same way you do when you try something delicious. I want to know if your lips taste like Zinfandel. “Yes, actually.” Aziraphale is having difficulty running his restaurant, and it isn't helping that he believes the place across the street is trying to sabotage him. To his surprise, chef Crowley comes to him on friendly terms. Together they come up with an arrangement that could benefit them both.

On Espionage and Prophecy (or How to Accidentally, but Wholly, Fall in Love With a Soho Bookseller) by RockSaltAndRoll (E, 133k)

1941 is the London Blitz and the year that MI5 really comes into its own with the now infamous ‘double cross’ system. The service keep tabs on suspects, root out enemy agents and try to turn them into doubles. Anthony J Crowley is fucking great at this job. He can be sneaky, underhanded and damn ruthless but also charming and kind. It’s what makes him good at turning. Aziraphale is just a regular Soho bookseller who loves his shop and books and good food and wine when he’s approached by a woman claiming to be MI5, wanting to recruit him for espionage. The poor man is too trusting and gets the shock of his life when he’s approached by a charming but dangerous-looking man also claiming to be MI5. Crowley recruits Aziraphale to double cross a double crosser and Aziraphale takes to espionage like a duck to water. Danger, hijinks, and sex ensue.

Old Vines by sevdrag (E, 189k)

A.Z. Fell, one of the most respected names in wine and food blogging, has been sent on assignment with his assistant Warlock Dowling to spend six months in California Wine Country. Under direction (by his boss, Gabriel) to use this experience to double his blog followers and write a novel, Aziraphale is both excited and anxious about the opportunity. Anthony J. Crowley is the owner and viticulturalist of Ecdyses, a winery that unexpectedly fell into his lap eleven years ago when he hit rock bottom. He may be in debt, yeah, but he’s paying off his loans — and despite pressure from his lenders and their team of inspectors, Crowley has found a kind of contentment tending his little corner of terroir and producing extraordinary wine. Crowley’s old vines are the heart of his vineyard, and he’s never let anyone in. Crowley finds Aziraphale intriguing; Aziraphale finds Crowley enthralling. Turns out a famous wine expert and an experienced viticulturalist can still learn things from each other. The summer of 2019 unfolds.

[spacealien-afterdark]

"Most of tf fanon is abt sex and reproduction :/"

Yes, the nsfw side of the tf fandom's fanon is mostly about sex and reproduction (and by extension, romantic/familial relationships)... because we're horny about them and want them to fuck each other pregnant.

But the tf fandom isn't all horny people posting constantly about how down bad we are. There is fanon that isn't sex or babies, I promise.

[allastoredeer]

Do you have any headcanons about Alastor's participation in WW1? The Selective Service Act of 1917 made it mandatory for men aged 21-30 to register for military service and was later expanded to include men as young as 18, so if the stream saying that Alastor was late thirties to early forties when he died is still canon he'd have lived through that

So, I hadn't gotten to this part in my development of Alastor's backstory, but it got me thinking because, huh, how DID Alastor manage to get out of that?

Unless he just served in WW1. Which...I find oddly funny. I don't know why, but the the image of Alastor in the trenches...

But anyway, you got me curious so I looked into it. You're 100% right about the Selective Service Act of 1917 making it mandatory for men aged 21-30 to register for military service, and they even came up with different "classes" of the men who qualified, and if they exhausted one class, they'd go down to the next.

However, even with the Selective Service Act, there was still a lot of draft evasion going on. In fact, a significant amount of draft evasion happened in the South, which, as I'm sure you know, Louisiana is part of (some of it was in part of Southerners not having documentation, and thus, unable to even legally draft, which would probably give them a whole other slew of problems).

So, I was looking into how people evaded the draft. A lot of it is split up into different groups, like draft avoidance and draft resistance, with their only little list of things, but that's a lot and I don't wanna get into all of that. But my bet is on Alastor doing draft avoidance.

And there were actually quite a few interesting ones, like:

Claiming to have a mental or psychological problem (if you could find a doctor willing to certify that for you)

Student deferment, when someone is primarily in school to learn and study (or obtaining one in an effort to avoid the draft)

Deliberately failing the military intelligence tests

Professing sincere or religious ethical beliefs (join a church, avoid the draft!)

Bribery

and my personal favorite:

Being homosexual.

Because, as you know, the government can't allow the gay in the military!

And look, I'm a silly goober, so of course I immediately went to Alastor claiming to be homosexual. But the thing is, I kind of do think that is something Alastor would do for a majority of reasons.

In the 1920's, social values were evolving, and a lot of postwar "youths" began questioning traditional concepts of family, sexuality, and gender. There were "little Bohemia's" around the US, including in Manhattan and San Francisco, with communities and groups like this, and they weren't exactly unknown.

Back to Alastor, he lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans (or, at least, that's where I think he lived as a majority of mixed-raced Creole people lived there, which we know Alastor canonically is). And it just so happens, that it became the birth place of New Orleans gay community in the 1920's. There were entire gay neighborhoods, there were clubs where people dressed in the clothing of the opposite gender, they had parties and bars, and while it wasn't "the norm" to live this "lifestyle," and there was still a lot of harassment, it was still fairly normal to see. (Of course, then came what we can call the "gay panic" where government started cracking down on it, and claiming the gay community were all predators and pedophiles, and - well, you know. You know.)

But that was after/close to Alastor's death, so...

Anyway, I 100% believe that Alastor did take part and lived in communities like those. Names and labels for those things didn't exist at the time, so it's not like he knows what they're called, but homosexuals, cross-dressing, drag queens, they were normal to him. He's lived with them, partied with them, maybe even tried a few things out himself(so many headcanons, guys. So many).

This is to say, I think Alastor would 100% be comfortable claiming to be homosexual to avoid getting drafted. You've seen getting married for tax benefits, now consider becoming gay for draft evasion! I actually had a pretty fun talk about it with a friend in Discord, which only cemented it in my mind LMAO.

I have SO many headcanons around Alastor and him living in the French Quarter, in gay communities, where they challenged social norms (and we all know how he feels about challenging status quo's 😏)

But if not that, my runner up is that he totally bribed his way out of it. I don't know how he got the money, maybe he killed someone and stole their wallet, IDK, but bribery is a yes from me.

And if not THAT one, then he joined and church and claimed to have sincere religious and ethical beliefs 😇 🙏 (Yes, this is inspired by Nun Alastor, and no, I do not take constructive criticism. That's what happened guys, I was there). Besides, New Orleans was pretty Catholic, I'm sure he could find a church somewhere.

That's my take on it XD I think the one closest to Alastor's canon character would be bribery, but this is fandom, and if I say he claimed to be gay to get out of going to war, then goddammit he claimed to be gay to get out of going to war.

[galacticsabc]

Self care is realizing you can do whatever the fuck with you art skills, even make the tropiest, most self indulgent character design ever.

Is he just another swashbucklin' rogue with gumption? yeah. Is he cool? fuck yeah.

[echosong971]

I DONT KNOW WHAT LIES OF P IS BUT KEEP DRAWING THAT BOY PLEASE I BEG

OKAY o7

[monstrousproductions]

im listening to monstrous agonies while i do some boring copy-paste work and not to toot my own horn but.... it's pretty fuckin good lol