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unlockthelore · 4 years

Text

whether good or bad

Part 7 of Know-It-All a.k.a the modern AU snippet series that no one asked for. To find other parts of the series, follow the know-it-all tag.

In hindsight, Amane knew that he was worrying for nothing but seeing her profile picture pop up in his DM list made his anxiety spike through the roof. The glow-in-the-dark stars provided a bit of solace but when they started spinning and blurring, he squeezed his eyes shut tight and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. Asking himself where he went wrong was pointless, he knew the cause of all this —

The damn confession tree.

Day after day, he ran that moment over in his mind but the part that stuck out most was her eyes. Wet with tears rolling down her cheeks, scarlet-red staining her skin and the corners of her eyes as she wept, the unanswered question of why as she looked at him. The satisfaction that he felt shriveled up into dust, non-existent as he was crushed beneath the weight of her sobbing. Each cry grating to his ears, pressing the knife in his chest deeper and twisting as she said she’d go home.

All he wanted to do was help her. There was no reason that she had to go through rumors and laughter behind her back. Yashiro was too good for that. True, she had her faults. But her idea of love was fairly harmless. Someone who returned her affections. Something she told him in confidence and he just —

Amane laid still for a few moments until he groaned and threw down his hands on either side of him. The warmth from where she laid was long gone, honey and strawberries still pressed into the sheet of his pillow. He nestled his cheek against it and closed his eyes, curling his fingers to brush against the palm of his hand. It wasn’t the same but if he imagined enough, it was like she was there with him. In the darkness, he could admit his deepest fears and his good intentions. Hope that she would trace his jaw with the tips of her fingers, wind her arms around him, keep him close to her heart —

Everything that he didn’t deserve.

Yashiro didn’t know and if she did, would she still look at him the same?

Would any of them look at him the same?

His own fingers weren’t like hers. Yashiro knew how to hold his hand just right, make all of his doubts and fears disappear with the squeeze of her fingers, the pressure grounding him to the moment before he slipped into the atmosphere. Her voice, quiet and imploring, reassuring like a lullaby and wrapping around him — a song that he would never grow tired of.

Amane forced his eyes open before he lingered too long in the fantasy. Yashiro wasn’t here and though he knew, he trembled as if a cold chill ran down his spine and the knife twisted deep in his chest to where his heart was aching to snap. He reached for his phone, curling his fingers around it and pressing the cool screen to his palm. It dispelled the heat, made him shiver, but he needed the brush with reality.

Lifting his phone overhead, he frowned at the screen then turned it on, scrolling through his new notifications to find her name.

Why was she still online?

His gaze flicked up to the tiny numbers in the UI.

10:58 reflected back at him and he frowned, glancing at her icon. To his surprise, she still hadn’t changed it. A daikon drawn by Shijima with Yashiro’s trademark hair clips and their school uniform. It was a joke that he played, changing her icon to it and it took her a few days to find out. He smiled to himself, remembering sprinting down the hall as she chased after him with her fists waving in the air.

When she caught him and squished his cheeks, musing up his hair, and he laughed all the while as she threw half-hearted punches at his stomach.

Returning to reality, Amane inhaled deeply. He felt like he took a punch to the stomach even seeing it. Would it mean something if she actually changed it? What would it mean for them?

He tried to tell himself that he wouldn’t get answers like this. That beating himself up wouldn’t bring him any closer to understanding — any closer to her either. Squeezing his eyes shut, he felt along the side before letting his eyes open as he clicked the icon.

nenehime#1113 — direct message with hanako#0724

nenehime no stargazing tonight I guess

nenehime amane

nenehime about earlier can we talk?

nenehime …please

Amane stared at the line of messages. Reading them once, then twice, then a third time for good measure.

“What the hell…” He muttered aloud, bolting upright and shuffling back until his back was pressed against the wall, his knees tucked close to him, and phone cradled in his hands.

She wanted to talk to him?

Why would she want to talk to him after all of this?

And she was worried about stargazing? Wasn’t that what caused this the first time? The two of them watching the sky, falling asleep at one another’s side, waking up and talking — he set it in motion with telling her how he felt.

Even if it was indirectly. And Yashiro — good, sweet, idealistic, silly, nurturing, present Yashiro had simply told him they could. She didn’t run from him then, stayed long enough to eat breakfast and talk with Tsuchigomori before leaving.

The next day at school, all was normal, they laughed and talked. He hung off her like a barnacle, ignoring the way her fingers brushed against his elbow or her head would tip back to rest against his shoulder.

When no one else was around and it was just them, and his hold on here would linger. Wrapping her arms around him and tucking her face against his shoulder, letting him stand as long as he wanted. Quietly reminding with gentle sweeps of his fingers along her back that they had to get to class.

The halls would be fairly empty and no one would notice their hands linked at the pinky. Stealing those tiny moments with her at his side, it felt selfish, as if she were just humoring him because she was Yashiro, and her friends were important to her. She would give all that she had for any of them.

He’d seen her do it time and time again.

So perhaps she was just entertaining him. Trying to do this to make him feel better.

Because she’s pitying me.

Amane shook his head vehemently, pressing the top of his phone against his forehead, as he took deep breaths. Trying to fill his lungs with as much air that his head wouldn’t have time to think those poisonous thoughts. Yashiro didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve doubt and skepticism and belligerence and poison.

She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.

Part of him wanted to put down his phone, ignore that he saw it, dismiss it and hope that she would do the same. Closing his eyes, her own tear-filled ones could be seen at the back of his eyelids and his heart clenched.

Amane?

He gritted his teeth and curled his hands tighter around his phone. He never wanted to hear her sound like that again. Confused, hurt, practically falling apart at the seams and turning into sea foam right before his eyes when she was just here — and it was all his fault.

Dragging in a deep breath, Amane sighed heavily and his vision was blurry as he tried to squint past the moisture on his eyelashes and the heat pricking at the corner of his eyes.

nenehime#1113 — direct message with hanako#0724

hanako yeah

His phone dropped to the comforter and he buried his fingers in his hair, pressing close in on himself until he was curled in a tight quivering ball. Wasn’t this familiar? Shuddering and shivering in the dark, his nails pressed to the crown of his head, pain sparking through him and barely registered against the torrent of thoughts.

Where did he get off asking for something like this or allowing something like this?

What would she say?

Out of the corner of his eye, a little sunspot showed and he pulled his hands away, dragging his wet palms against the side of his pants. Hesitantly reaching for it and his heart seized at her name, and the part of a message.

nenehime i know that the way i left was kind of weird. well no, it was really weird. do you mind if I call?

Well, at least they were both acknowledging that what happened was odd. Although he couldn’t blame her. If someone sang-said that they loved him, he would’ve been skeptical too.

For entirely different reasons but nonetheless. Did he want to call though? He didn’t trust his voice at the moment or his ability to not laugh it off, potentially hurting her and himself even more. And it was one thing to poison himself but he wasn’t going to poison her too.

Turning his phone over in his hand, he sighed and pressed the back of his head to the wall. Staring up at the constellations, his gaze lingering on Gemini.

The stillness of his room was almost suffocating, the darkness encroaching on him and he’d never felt this alone. Inhaling deeply, he held his breath until his heartbeat was pounding in his ear coupled with a scratching noise. Even as he took a breath, the scratching continued and he frowned, glancing his door.

Brushing his fingers along the darkened phone screen, he shuffled to the edge of his bed and stood up, padding across the cold floor to the door. Opening it, he glanced down at the rabbit staring up at him curiously with a twitching nose and perked up ears.

“Mokke…” Amane sighed, smiling faintly as the rabbit hooked his claws in his pants legs. Thankfully, they weren’t too sharp or it might’ve hurt. Reaching down to gather them up in his arms, Amane brushed his cheek against their fur and sighed. “What’re you doing up here? Did Tsuchigomori go to bed already?”

“Nope,” said a smoky voice from down the hall.

Amane peering around his bedroom doorway at Tsuchigomori leaning against the wall, his unlit pipe between his fingers and resting at his hip. He half wanted to ask what he was needing but Tsuchigomori had a way of silencing him with a glance. Studying him quietly then averting his gaze, bringing his pipe to his lips despite the lack of smoke coming from the opening.

“Mokke’s running low on food,” the wiry bespectacled man said after some time, turning on his heel and starting down the hall. “He’s your responsibility, Amane.”

“I know that,” Amane grumbled, tucking Mokke close to his chest as the rabbit licked at his chin. He couldn’t stay mad at him. Besides, it wasn’t his fault that he relied on Amane for food. Although Tsuchigomori did spoil him now and again, even if he wouldn’t admit it. “It’s late though, so I ca—“

“Nope,” Tsuchigomori interjected, leaning against the banister. “I need you to go to the Bookstacks, Yako left her portfolio and Misaki’ll have her head if she doesn’t bring it in.”

Amane huffed, narrowing his eyes. “Tsuchigomori, I’m —“

“Sulking?”

Neither of them said a word. Amane’s eyes wide and his vision blurring as he stared at Tsuchigomori. The latter looking back at him impassively, an unreadable look in his eyes as he held Amane’s gaze for a moment then slowly turned away.

“Food for Mokke, Yako’s portfolio,” Tsuchigomori’s voice carried up the staircase, bouncing off the walls and reverberating in Amane’s ears shaking him down to his core. “You know where the spare key is. Take your bike.”

With that, he was gone with only Mokke and the lingering smell of stale smoke to show that he had been there before. Amane’s heart hammered in his chest and his steps were robotic, his body numb as he walked in his room and set Mokke down on his bed.

Flicking on the lamplight on his desk, the dull orange-yellow glow chasing away the shadows across his desk. It was bare. But he remembered all the books that were lying there before and his door opened enough for him to see the hall. See her reaching for the string for the fold-down latter, that look of determination and her tongue poking at the corner of her lips.

He could’ve said something sooner but he just watched. Her determination was always a bit charming even if he felt it was misplaced sometimes. Maybe because where he would give up, she would keep going and he wanted to know how he could do the same.

Tearing his gaze away from the lonely hanging string, Amane looked at Mokke curled up on his bed. Their ears flopping and brushing against the screen of his phone, likely cuddling closer for the warmth.

She’s waiting.

He took a step, then another, his legs feeling like lead and it was times like this that he wished he was in the atmosphere. At least nothing could weigh him down. No past, no present, no future, no emotion, he’d be entirely free to just be.

But none of them would be there. It’d just be him in the vast emptiness of space.

And she wouldn’t be there to bring him back to the ground.

Standing at his bedside, his gaze transfixed on his phone, his fingers twitched and opened then closed tightly in a fist — caught between reaching and staying where he was. Questions of if he deserved if, if this was right, if this was something he could do were forced to the side.

How many times did he have to remind himself that Yashiro didn’t deserve this?

And he had to face up to the music.

Reaching out, he scooped his phone in his hand as carefully as he could without waking Mokke. Opening the direct message thread and staring at the message that she sent, the insertion point blinking at him curiously.

nenehime#1113 — direct message with hanako#0724

hanako meet me at 4pm

He locked his phone and shoved in the pocket of his jeans, searching the floor beside his bed for a long-sleeved shirt and tugging it over his head. Shaking out his hair when it fell in his eyes, his bangs pinched between his index finger and thumb as he lifted it and brushed it away from his eyes.

He’d have to cut his hair again.

Or you could ask her to do it.

Amane pocketed his wallet next. He would trust Yashiro to cut his hair, wouldn’t he? The last time someone tried to cut his hair, he’d been spitting mad, batting away and the whole thing was a shitshow. Would he just sit there for her and let her run her fingers through his hair? Snip away the pieces that grew out too long, comb through what was left, dust off his shoulders then show him his reflection with that little triumphant grin?

He would.

And he smiled at the thought, petting Mokke’s head and leaving his door ajar to let him out when he needed to explore. Pocketing his bike lock key, taking the steps two at a time and peering into the sitting room where Tsuchigomori sat by a lamp light with a book in hand. He didn’t look up but he pointed forward, the line of his finger connecting with the web-shaped bowl on the cabinet by the doorway.

The keys to the 4PM Bookstacks on a keychain with a little medallion shaped like a cup of hot chocolate, its pristine and frozen smiling face making Amane smile in return. Scooping them up and tucking them in his pockets, he pretended to miss the way Tsuchigomori eyed him as he left. From the corner of his eye, he saw the bespectacled man lift his hand in a half-hearted wave but there was nothing but silence between them.

It was comfortable like this. Amane wasn’t used to grand shows of affection and displays of care, and Tsuchigomori was cagey at best. But they understood one another and he knew somewhere that Tsuchigomori cared.

As ornery as the old bastard could be.

Stepping out into the front yard after toeing on his shoes, Amane embraced the cool air as it pricked his lungs with every deep inhale. The door creaking shut behind him and the lock clicking into place before he slipped the keys in his pocket, jogging around the side of the house to find his bike propped up on its back wheel against the gate. It was still locked in place as it’d been before, looking like a rocket preparing to take off with how it pointed toward the sky.

An image of jumping on and pedaling, taking off into the skies and far away from his neighborhood and the world below crossed his mind. But he had somewhere to be, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

Undoing his bike chain, he hid it in the bushes and walked it out onto the street, hopping on and starting his ride through the streets. The streetlamps dotting the roadside both ways lit his path like a runway and he pedaled harder, half-lifting off his seat and tipping his head back, the wind whipping back his hair and for a moment he felt weightless.

As if he were flying, and the sky was all that much closer.

The moon hung heavy in the sky and the stars twinkled overhead, the fluorescent lights engulfing him made it harder to see but the shadows made them brighter. He coasted around the corner, checking about the intersection before crossing, the streets quieter aside from the stray cat or chirping insects. Tires screeching against the pavement, his chains rattling as he stopped halfway down the block and his flight came to an end.

Standing outside the bookstore, piles of dusty old texts piled high to the windows until they were completely entombed, only the faintest glimmers of sunlight would make it through, and she was just a tiny light outside of it. Her hand clasped around her other wrist, rubbing up and down her arm, likely to ease the chill. Her other hand occupied with a shopping bag dangling by her side. Dressed in the same soft white blouse hemmed with pink lace and blue shorts, her sneakers hastily tied instead of double-knotted. Amane smiled, leaning against his handlebars, his arms crossed and chin resting atop them.

He was sure that he was making that face. And was thankful for the lack of a spotlight on him. At least she didn’t see him just yet but —

What was she even —

He pulled out his phone, glancing up at her before checking the screen. A number of messages from both Tsuchigomori and Yashiro herself filled his screen.

Oh.

He totally forgot to check it. Pocketing his phone, he gripped his handlebars and slowly dismounted, walking it over. Her gaze flicked from one end of the street to the other before she noticed him, her eyes widening.

He froze in mid-step, the rubber digging into the palms of his hands uncomfortably and the burning sensation set in. His knuckles straining with how tightly he held onto them, searching her gaze with his own. She said nothing for a long while, the distance between them felt like an abyss and he swallowed thickly. Unsure if he should step forward or keep it where it was, a stiff breeze nearly threatening to knock him over with how stiff he was.

“Tsuchigomori said that you were going to forget to pick up food for Mokke,” Yashiro said quietly, lifting the shopping bag.

Amane blinked slowly. Was…

Oh.

This was it.

The olive branch.

Amane’s eyes widened and he lowered his bike to the ground, numbly stepping toward her as he reached out to take the bag. The colorful packaging of Mokke’s usual brand of food catching his eye and his breath hitched in his throat. As the bag slipped past her fingers to his own, he let it fall between them, taking her hand instead. Her eyes widened and he saw it in the low lighting from the nearby street lamps.

Unshed tears glazing ruby eyes, worry and vulnerability coupled with uncertainty, and he wondered if she could see the same in his own. His hand trembled as she grasped it tighter and tugged him forward, his face pillowing against her shoulder.

Breathing in honey and strawberries, along with something earthy, melting as her fingers curled in his hair. Her arm winding around his back and clutching the sleeve of his shirt, pinning his left arm to his side. His right hand resting against her lower back as he hugged her tighter, pressing their bodies together and muttering muffled apologies against the lace of her collar.

“Amane…” Yashiro muttered after sometime, and his name never sounded so sweet and treasured before. Her hand settling on his shoulder as she leant away from him, brushing her fingers against his cheek and the underside of his jaw. Her eyes drooping at the corners and lips pressed together in a frown. Oh no, what’d he do to cause th— Her finger swiped at his eyes and pulled back, the moisture catching on his skin chilling him.

Was he..?

He pulled back his hand hurriedly, scrubbing at his face.

His hand wet as he pulled it away.

Fuck.

“Amane…”

He rubbed at his eyes furiously, trying to erase any evidence that they were —

“Amane!”

Hands seized his wrists and his heart leapt into his throat as they were guided away, Yashiro staring up at him with a worried look that made his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

“I…” He was breathless as he spoke, his eyes misting and he lowered his head, tucking his chin. “I’m sorry…”

Yashiro lowered his hands and he could hear her sigh, her hands clasping his own. “Key please?” she prompted, holding out of her hands as she let go of one of his own, keeping the other interlaced with hers.

Amane barely registered the question but Yashiro was patient, holding out her hand mouthing the words until her voice caught up with his brain and he nodded slowly. The key was somewhere in the jumble of his pocket and bumped against the inner lining of his pants, its jagged outline grazing his outer thigh through the cloth before he pulled it free. Gently pressing it into her hand and dropping his gaze to his feet as she turned, the lock to the Bookstacks turning with a loud click and a humming chime as the door opened.

Yashiro returning the key to his pocket and taking his hands in her own, leading him inside. The Bookstacks were daunting in the dim lighting, towers of books surrounding him on either side, placed in large bookcases and stacked along the windowsills blocking anyone from peering through the pane. Even the view from the door’s mosaic glass provided only a sliver of a walkway but Amane knew the path through the veritable maze. Finding several of the makeshift lanterns and lighting them, the jingling of his bike’s chain catching his attention as he peered around one of the bookcases at Yashiro wheeling his bike through the door. The shopping bag in the basket and the door closing and locking behind her with an echoing finality.

When she glanced up, their eyes met and he felt his heart skip a beat. Stepping around the bookcase he’d been peeking from and pressing his back to it, the cobwebs tickling the back of his neck and his heart pounded.

Was she still here?

Did that mean she was going to stay?

Chancing another look around the bookcase, his heart leapt into his throat as he found her looking back at him. Yashiro shrieked, the sound echoing off the walls and his bike nearly falling from her hands before he grabbed it by the handlebars, effectively bringing his face closer to hers. He never really liked when she was afraid. To say that he hated it wouldn’t be an understatement.

Her hands clasped tightly to her chest, eyes searching his face just as much as he was searching her own.

“What are we doing, Amane?” Yashiro asked after some time, breaking the silence between them and posing a question he had no concrete answer to.

What were they doing?

Amane shook his head, unable to voice a reply. His eyelashes felt wet against his cheeks as his eyelids shut tightly, his lips pressed together as he fought not to say the wrong thing. But there was so much that he wanted to know.

What did he do wrong?

How can he fix it?

Did she know how sorry he was?

Would she forgive him?

Did he deserve her forgiveness?

None of that was her fault. It all started with him.

Amane propped up his bike against the bookshelf, opening and closing his hands at his sides before inclining his head further inside. Leading the way to one of the sitting areas where lo and behold, a folder with Yako’s familiar scrawl was sitting on the coffee table between two arm chairs and across from a couch. The couch itself looked like it’d seen better days but it was so comfortable that Tsuchigomori didn’t want to throw it out. And he said that it gave the room character.

What kind of character the dusty old brown thing could give, Amane wasn’t sure, but he never failed to throw himself onto it every time he visited. This time no exception but instead of sinking into the quickly warming fabric, he sat upright. Yashiro’s presence felt close at his side and with a sideways glance, she was sitting beside him, nearly pressed against him with the closeness between them.

There were arm chairs, foot stools, even the table but she chose to sit right beside him. Amane swallowed thickly, emotions bobbing in his throat, and bitterness on his tongue as he focused on the flickering light from the lamps reminding him of flames dancing in the open air.

“When you confessed to me then that day,” Yashiro said with a mixture of bitterness and fondness in her words. “I was happy.”

Amane swallowed, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her hands clasped tight in her lap, one over the other and squeezing until the pale skin of her knuckles was turning red.

“It was perfect… like a scene from a movie, and you sounded so genuine,” she laughed breathily, blinking rapidly as she tipped her head back. “I wasn’t sure… we’d been friends for awhile and I… I… wasn’t sure if I’d be good for you. To you. You… you always pointed out how I was… about crushes and love. That anyone would do as long as they returned my feelings and that…”

Her voice trailed off and Amane tried to spur her into talking with his mind, staring at her intently, trying to find the words that she was holding back. It was true that he often called her out on it. That she didn’t truly love the people that she claimed to. It was an obsession and sometimes, she caught herself by saying it outlaid. Only to realize after several failed attempts at gaining the affections of Minamoto Teru, Kou’s older brother and their upperclassmen, that the problem therein lied with her.

And as satisfying as it was to see growth in her, the loss of her fairy tale innocence cleaved his heart in two. Hurting her wasn’t his intention. And she’d harm herself if she wasn’t careful. Yashiro’s soul was good, her very being was good — sometimes a little overzealous but at the core, she had good intentions. In love, she could’ve been manipulated to do anything.

The idea of someone taking advantage of that kind heart made Amane’s insides burn. Irony creeping up on him, wrapping around his shoulders in a taut cape, and clinging to him like a second skin. Wasn’t that what he’d done?

When he “confessed” to her that day.

Yashiro lowered her head, shadows darkening her eyes and her hands trembled in her lap. “Not just anyone would do…” she whispered, splintering his heart into pieces as she looked at him fiercely. The unshed tears glazing her eyes with a thin sheen making him forget how to breathe. “And I was happy, Amane. I was happy it was you.”

A dam broke and the tears rolled down her cheeks, her voice echoing off the shelves with her quiet sniffles and he was painfully reminded of that da.

“And then you laughed like it was a joke. Said you were right, that you weren’t my type and that it proved the others wrong…”

Her chin tucked, her tears fell and dotted the couch, the small space between them filled with tension that he felt if he reached for there’d be a wall there. A barrier keeping him from her like always.

But that wasn’t true. It was just his own indecision and the pain twisting in his chest, keeping his arms pinned to his sides, wound tightly with thread made from his guilt.

“It was a joke to you,” Yashiro muttered, the betrayal quieting her voice but he heard her loud and clear. She shuddered and curled her fingers in the hem of her shorts, keeping them there for a moment before unhooking one to pound her fist against the back of the couch. “Ah! I wanted to hate you for it.”

He startled at the burst of anger, the furious look in her eyes quickly dying as she met his gaze. Her eyes drooping at the corners and her face scrunching, crescent fallen as she turned away from him.

“I wanted to…” She murmured, setting her hand over the damp dark spots on the couch as if trying to hide them from view. “I just… I wanted to know why you did that to me.”

A thousand reasons quickly lined up for a chance on Amane’s tongue but they died one by one. None of them were good enough. And whatever excuse he came up with, it wouldn’t heal the damage that he wrought.

“… Then you told me why. People were spreading rumors, talking about me because of what I did for Minamoto-senpai and the other senpai and… and…” Yashiro chuckled weakly, brushing her fingers through her hair and combing it to one side. “You were trying to protect me but…”

He wanted to ask bitterly if he was trying to protect her. The real reason was —

“What hurts the most is that you were trying to protect me from you.”

His eyes widened, the poisonous words corroding and he looked at her with wide eyes. How did she…?”

“It kills me inside…” Yashiro lifted her head, her gaze flicking in his direction and holding, and it was like she was seeing through him. Her eyes creasing at the corners with worry and his lips parted, trembling. No, not that look. “How much you hate yourself. And how far you’d go to protect me even if it means you’re hurting yourself.”

Amane pressed his lips together, the slight twitch in his lips and he wanted to look away. His chest swelling and his heart aching, the burning behind his eyes that he tried to blink away before she saw. But she did see. The distance between them closing as she inched closer.

“Amane…” Yashiro sighed, his name said with such care as if it would break if spoken any differently. As if he would break. Her hand lifting from the damp spots, fingers gliding over the back of his own, not minding the stiffness and reflexively he turned his palm upward to lace his fingers with hers. “When you sang with me, when we woke up together, every day since that day…”

He almost wanted to beg her not to ask. As it was, he wasn’t sure if he could keep it at bay.

“What were you trying to tell me?”

Amane wasn’t sure what expression he was making but her other hand palmed his cheek, and the wetness smeared cross his cheek let him know what it might’ve been. Squeezing his eyes shut would’ve deprived him of the view of her face and only filled him with the one that he saw in his nightmares. The pain that he caused because he cared, and the feelings that she had were put to the side in comparison to protecting her.

He’d been wrong.

He knew that well.

To hear it from her only slammed the last nail in the coffin.

“I didn’t care if anyone else thought it was wrong,” Amane admitted, his voice straining and on the verge of breaking. “I just… I wanted them to stop talking about you because I didn’t want you to hear that and be sad or…” He panted, breathing raggedly, shaking his head minutely.

His chin lowering but her hand kept his head leveled, her lips moving and mouthing for him to keep going. His vision was swimming and he leant into her hand, blinking and the tears tumbled down his cheeks, soaking into the space between her palm and his skin.

“I’m fine with being your friend,” he nodded shakily. “I am.. I am but… I do. I do and I… putting my friendship with you at… I didn’t want to hear you say…” He cleared his throat, grimacing. Her thumb brushed against his cheekbone, catching another stray tear and he squeezed the hand clasped with his own.

“I didn’t want to lose you because I told you the truth and I almost did because I covered it up as if it was a lie…” He spat the last word out with a huff of a laugh, blinking rapidly to try and clear his vision. “And I’m sorry… Yashiro, I’m.. I’m so…”

Her hand fell away from his cheek, resting at his shoulder and guiding him closer. Smoothing over his back like the tide and the tears came anew, his shoulders trembling as he buried his face against her neck. Letting go of her hand to wrap his arms around her and hug her close to him. Her hold him anchoring him to this moment and keeping him on the shore rather than letting him slip below the tide.

The silence was punctuated by his sobs and her soft whispering, her fingers combing through his hair, tangling in it and her lips brushed against his ear as she rocked him to and fro. It was only after he calmed down did he hear the melody being hummed in his ear. His face warming as she sang softly.

“In other words,” she sighed, her breath warming the shell of his ear as she shifted to press a kiss to his temple before pulling away to hold him at arms length. “Please be true…”

He gave another ragged sob as she cupped his face in her hands.

“In other words…” She gave him a watery smile, leaning forward until their foreheads pressed together and their shadows melded into one person. Her eyes locked with his own and there was nowhere else he wanted to look. “I love you.”

He sniffed harshly, dropping his head to her chest and hugging her tightly, shivering as her arms wrapped around him and her hair draped over him. The ashen teal locks tickling his cheek and her presence shielding him.

“Thank you, Nene…. Thank you.”

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #yugi amane #yashiro nene #hananene #know-it-all

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starshipsandsuperheroes · 4 years

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1) i accidentally unfollowed you while trying to send this ask, thanks tumblr ui 2) regarding top dnd moments: have you had any moments where you suddenly realize something big about your own character? or like, a moment that sticks out as when you realized that the character had really come into their own and was something more than just you playing the role?

1.) that’s hysterical omg

2.) Yeah I actually do, weirdly enough? (Also ty for indulging me on this alsdkjfasd ily) I’ve actually got one who this happens to all the time - she really kinda lives like, independently of my immediate intent, and I feel like I’m constantly surprised by her.

For those that don’t know her, the character I’ve played the second longest is a rogue assassin named Amelia. Her original name was Amelia Shepard, she started out neutral evil, and the only thing she really cared for was whatever it was gonna take to keep herself alive (yeah i went edgelord rogue it’s fine she’s working on it). Currently, she goes by Amelia Foster (Foster being our party’s “family” name, which is of import in the world of the campaign), she’s a true neutral character, and while she still prioritizes her own life, she’s been known to take a few more risks for the party.

I remember sitting in Denny’s with my party a few months into playing her and the DM looking at me and saying the words “I don’t think Amelia is capable of love.” At the time, I agreed with them, and as far as I could think ahead, that was gonna remain true. She definitely got away from me though, and without me noticing, started taking steps closer and closer to true neutral.

There are two moments that stand out in particular on that path - the Tetanus Orb Incident, and the Karl Marx Incident. It’s some of the most connected to a character I’ve ever felt while playing D&D, and I’ll detail them below a cut for anyone curious about what those were (to save dashboard space).

(also side note: it’s weird as shit in a very fun way to talk about my own pcs, because i feel like i usually end up doing so in a way where i frequently deflect to the rest of my party, so the last few days have been really interesting in reflecting on like, my own personal experiences dsjfalsdkfjas)

Curious about any of this? Come ask me about it!

The Tetanus Orb Incident came at the end of a rather weird session. We were playing in a room we’d never played in before, the majority of the party had been asked to leave the room for like a half hour and go sit out in the freezing cold hallway while the DM and one party member had a talk (in character about things we Couldn’t Know), and then we had come in and to make a very long story short gotten chased by a Rakshasa through a church while ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man played for literally two and a half hours straight in the background. For the most part, it was a really good time, it was just a lot of weird energy that ended up combining to, I think, set the tone in a very specific way.

We also had these things our boss had given us that, as far as we could tell, were little chalky orbs that could cause rapid onset tetanus. Amelia was the most bound to our boss, and also deals primarily in poisons, so she ended up carrying them. Generally the use seemed to be to put them in water and then cause rapid onset tetanus in everyone who drank of it.

There’s a scene that would pretty regularly play out. Our boss was a terrible person, and hated us all, but for various reasons had it out in particular for Amelia. We’d get back from a job, get a debrief, and the party would get into an argument with her. She’d snipe at them, they’d snipe at her, this would go on and she would get more and more agitated, Amelia would say one thing in contribution, she’d set Amelia on fire (long story), the group would get her to let Amelia go, she’d drop it, and we’d go our separate ways until she singled people out to torment individually. Sometimes she’d set other folks on fire to change things up, but it was a pretty cut and dry encounter we came to expect. That scene started to play out when we got back from the Rakshasa chase - Elle (our boss) was already agitated from the incident at the church, so it didn’t take her too long to get worked up.

This time, though, she didn’t outright target Amelia. It was sammygiddings’s Satomi that she turned on. The room was shaped differently than we would normally have to play, and the physicality of the scene had increased a bit - people were standing, and our DM as Elle was walking between people. They approached me in character and demanded one of the tetanus orbs. It was technically hers, so I mimed fake obliging. And then Elle told Satomi to open her mouth and moved to have her swallow it.

I was in motion literally before I realized what was happening. By the time I focused again, I was standing too, my hand on my DM’s wrist, knocking it away from sammygiddings’s face. At first I was embarrassed, because I hadn’t meant to get so into it that I actually, physically grabbed them to stop it, but the scene continued to play out without a word or anyone seeming weirded out. Elle ripped her hand away, tossed me back the orb, called me names, and all the other fun stuff we were used to from that scenario played out accordingly (hope she’s rotting in hell, even though I know she’s not).

It wasn’t until later that I realized that Amelia had moved, not me, and for the first time ever had put her own neck on the line for someone else.

The Karl Marx Incident was the final domino in the line that started after the Tetanus Orb Incident and ended in... well, character development very few saw coming. To make another very long story as short as possible, the campaign is an exercise in anti-capitalist theming, which is fucking delightful but also can get very dark, and one of the ways it got very dark was the sudden need to move around five million people out of one of the parts of the 50 million-person city when one of the powerful corporations tried to take over their part of the city via martial law.

Originally, the people in the area wanted to stay there and fight the corporation off, reclaiming the third level of the city as their own. We went to find them to either see how we could help or talk them into something better.

It probably would have been a good idea to let wizardcowpoke’s Junie do all the talking , in hindsight. The situation was far more of a setup for her to shine, and she was far more prepared for any sort of charisma skill check (especially at the time) as compared to my Bastard. I found myself talking before I realized quite what I was doing, though - talking to the people to convince them their ideas of reclaiming the space were bullshit.

The primary group affected were a union of what the city calls “divers” - the city tends to build on top of itself, and the divers were the ones that maintained the structural ruins that now acted as supports for the current “upper” city. The group working to take over their level? The corporation whose primary strength comes its monopoly on the train out to the desert. Amelia, before I even realized what she was doing, began to rally the assembled group. They were skilled, she reminded them, and they were survivors. Fuck UMIC. You’re stronger as a union than they could ever hope to be. Go out to the desert, to the mountains. Commandeer the train, start a new commune, and when you have the strength and resources to do so, build your own fucking railroad. Take their greatest strength from them, but be patient about it. You’ll wound them much deeper that way then trying to just kill every base level employee you come across. With wizardcowpoke’s help, as well as the rest of the party, we managed to convince them to try it the long way.

We ran into other problems from this, including a false hydra later down the line. But at the time? The session finished, and the DM took my character sheet for a moment, erased something, wrote something new on it, and passed it back over to me. My alignment had changed and I hadn’t realized it.

#ty for the question!!!#a very cool question and a fun excuse to revisit two of the wildest experiences i've ever had playing dnd #i've had several super impactful in-character moments where i felt really into it #but only a few where the character like truly developed without me noticing and these were them tbh #wizardsoup #ask

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vroenis · 4 years

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The Internet Is Not Remarkable | Which Is Why It’s Remarkable

Oddly I’ve not ever felt the need to unplug. I don’t have a sense of separation between life happening away from the Wire and life happening on the Wire or the Wire not being life. It was never a distinct thing I ever had to decide was or wasn’t life or became life, either. Being born in the early 80′s, I guess means the Wire wasn’t always there as a salient presence, integrated into the fabric of life. Heyo I had a Nokia 3210. That doesn’t mean anything, by the way, it just places me on a timeline. Nostalgia sucks and is literally valueless. Let’s make art you can steal.

Anecdotally it means I saw the internet happen as a Thing. It’s less important than it sounds. Also the internet going from not being a Thing to being in our pockets. OK. But honestly it’s not very important. As in the transition isn’t important. There were a lot of people there when it happened and I think a lot of us if and when we’re honest will tell you now, in retrospect, it’s not a big deal. People older than I am and some my age and younger who have an ignorant and uninformed understanding of life and experience will go on about life being better or significantly more meaningful before or without the Wire but honestly they’re wrong. I’ll come out and say it’s flat better. Sure it makes misinformation easier as much as it makes all the good things better but wow media control and information mass-dissemination before the Wire? Are you kidding me?

On the topic of unplugging and digitally detoxing and I realise The 1975 just made a video all about it that was overly cute, yes, but still pretty fucken’ great. Let’s link it because honestly, it’s a wonderful snapshot of its time that they’re unquestionably aware will date immensely and that is a big part of the point. The 1975 hardly need any more promo but what can I say, I’ve no problem being part of an adoring fanbase and adore them we do. Let us adore.

youtube

That it’s so on-the-nose and that it’s a big part of the point is going to anger and frustrate people so much, moreso that exactly that reaction is a part of being caught-up in the inevitable participation in what the song and indeed, what Matty as an individual and what the band as a commercial and cultural entity are. The too cool thing to do is say you didn’t know anything about it, you didn’t watch it, you don’t care for it, you’re immune to it and continue to be ignorant of it - sure, I used to be cool like you. The thing is I both care less and more about being cool.

I love this song, I love what it’s doing and what it means. I love being a fan of and loving things. I love that other people love things I love. I still love loving things no-one knows about but I always love other people finding and loving my things, even if and when some of them behave badly because as an adult and an individual, I understand that participating in one cultural activity doesn’t mean I’m fully represented as a whole cultural entity.

Coming back to unplugging and that not being necessary for me, it connects to not being overwhelmed by it, which connects again, to the Wire not being separate and distinct from what I see as my experience of life. If the Wire is a mundane aspect of life then it’s unnecessary to disconnect from it. I engage with it as much as I engage with other things, that is to say I’m fascinated by, obsess over, and grow bored with things on it as much as all subjects, objects and activities in life equally. I don’t think this is unique to me at all, I suspect it’s quite common.

As it happens, I got into Instagram in a big way around the same time I got into contemporary board games. Both of these things I’ve almost wholly discarded. Almost, but not quite. I still maintain my Instagram account because I’ve made some valuable and enduring connections on it and as a platform I seem to have nurtured some semblance of an audience for a sprinkling of subjects and visual motifs. As for board games, I’m actually still quite interested in them but there’s so much about them as an industry and culture I actively dislike and have also grown bored of that I’ve consciously disengaged from them.

Facebook as a culture has always been weird to me, I can’t say I’ve ever understood it as a platform. Primarily it seemed to function as a space to connect with people you already know - OK. So then we’re encouraged to engage with one-another on... topics we may or may not already be engaging with either in our physical time together in which case, it’s redundant? Or we post articles we expect others to read which mostly they don’t unless aaaaaah - they’re short, reductive and in simple language and now the exercise is hazardous. The platform then actively co-opts strangers into discussions by facilitating cross-posting intra-sharing articles, which to be frank is about eyes on ads and ad-revenue, here we get to the ultimate objective of Facebook as a platform which I guess is why none of it makes any sense. Engagement at all costs. Of-course Facebook doesn’t care about racist groups and the real violence it precipitates, why on earth would that matter to them? The only thing that matters is capitalist gains. As long as it doesn’t directly cost them and as long as there are no economic consequences for them, they will proceed, and this is pervasive and transparent in the way all actions are facilitated and encouraged on the platform as a utility.

There’s more to discuss about Facebook but you’ve had those discussions before and they’re boring. Facebook is boring. The way people use Facebook is boring. Many of my peers ported to Instagram because as many of them said “It’s like Facebook but just pictures” and something along the lines of “It’s just pure” and there’s a high degree of truth in that. The sense of purity comes from the feeling of positivity in that thumbs becomes hearts - the likes an image gets. Engagement is fairly low-level. People express their endorsement of an image or do nothing at all. Occasionally there’s discussion, predominantly positive and for the most part I’d agree it’s wholesome. You can find toxicity easily enough and all of it is bad, but there are whole spaces on Instagram where you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a platform free of it altogether.

I guess it’s worth mention when I was peak Instagram, I was producing a super lo-fi but passionate board games podcast I recorded with R and we were also running several public and private board games groups around Melbourne. There was a lot of good about that sense of community and some of those people are still in our lives now. Platforms like Instagram are great for celebrating many of those aspects, I’d still say better than Facebook. Instagram is more approachable and simpler for just showing a thing and liking it - the engagement is direct and the commitment level (sign-up, visual clutter, privacy concerns, settings digest etc.) is minimal.

There are some Instagram Stories (read: Snapchat clones) there listed under This Account that briefly go thru the effective mothballing of my account. To have a different discussion here, I know how much and what kind of work it takes to build and maintain and audience on Instagram and it’s not interesting to me any more. It’s boring. I don’t mean to disrespect the audience I have there, all audiences are made up of people. Their behaviour on the platform is indicative of the cultural space that Instagram is, not their respective characters and that’s fine. That I’m bored is indicative of my feelings towards the platform and the culture it fosters, not how I feel about the people themselves. I still really like most of the people I’ve made connections with on Instagram and ping them DMs about beer, Lego and art once in a while. Instagram is about keeping it light - or lite is perhaps more appropriate - and I’m happy to keep my engagement level likewise.

That makes it extremely strange that I chose tumblr as a cultural space for my long-format writing, then, hey. Sure does. I did write about tumblr as a cultural space and honestly I still feel the same way about it - I absolutely love it here. Even tho I don’t engage in tumblr at all in the way the culture here utilises it, oddly I still feel right at home, fitting that one of the titles of the entry is Hiding In Plain Sight.

I don’t effectively have an audience for my writing here, tho, and that certainly is different. There’s a certain buzz missing from seeing a post light up with hearts, but then I think - a post gets a tally of hearts, of likes, so the people around me - my audience - likes an image and/or the accompanying text I’ve written tho that’s unlikely as the ratio of viewers to readers is likely to be extremely low. So if I think about how meaningful the text is to me versus the image, sometimes it’s split down the middle, but often the writing is far more important or at least there’s massive intent for gravitas to the image. Without the text, the image would be pleasant at best, and I realise that’s what people are engaging with and throwing a heart at, and I’m not interesting in doing that. I’m interesting in writing and expressing because I’m doing that anyway. I’m talking to and for myself regardless which I’m very happy to do, so if I’m going to do that, I’m happy to do it on the assumption of no audience and just express freely without restraint on subjects that interest me the most.

I either will or won’t develop that audience, but it will have to be with people who are dedicated enough to read and that might be a thing just yet, but who knows, there may be coming a time when people realise it’s not the Wire they need to unplug from. I’m not spinning up theories because it’s less complicated than that. I still operate a Facebook account. There’s a lot to hate about Facebook but of itself it’s mostly banal. Sure its UI and UX both are horrors that precipitate actual nightmares (unrelated but recent: none worse that iTunes MY GOD WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) but from a utility perspective it can be useful in the least. I have connections with a handful of people and communities which are useful to me for the moment so until they’re not, I’ll use the platform - but my weekly usage would be measured in minutes, I’m not sure I’d make cumulative hours in seven days.

When I moved away from Twitter and Instagram, I wanted a more considered approach to everything including images. I did once take long walks in Melbourne and photograph things that I found aesthetically interesting and under the circumstances that isn’t possible. I did stop doing that much earlier than Covid19 tho but that’s due to family circumstances alluded to in other posts. I still think if I ever take up photographing things with the same regularity, those images will end up here, simply because if I want to cut in with text, I can with better control. But also because it’s more meaningful if I don’t, and also as an artefact, a html page is something that invites a more static approach to the scrolling endless feeds of Instagram and Facebook. That design is absolutely intentional to promote short engagement and continued dismissal and that’s not something I want to encourage, with mine or anyone else’s art, thoughts, responses and engagement.

I don’t think I’ve addressed how The Internet Is Remarkable, but it’s pervasive in much of what I do on and with the Wire. I think accessibility is one of the most powerful things we do as humans. I’m sure there are folks who are sick of Margaret Mead’s healed femur anecdote or at least people quoting it. I fucking love that quote. I might not like people not fully comprehending it but I sure love what it truly represents. I think something people may be surprised to hear from me is that I will never say that I don’t like people. I really don’t like the quips and memes about hell being other people or I don’t mind going outside, it’s the other people ad infinitum. It’s easy to look at a large representation of behaviour and say “People are stupid” but it’s much more difficult to sit in a room of people you know and tell them they’re stupid. I might find it increasingly difficult to find other adults with which I can engage, on subjects I and they both can and enjoy engaging on, but I both have the willingness to and the optimism that it will and should happen. A part of that is the exercise - the practice of considered expression, of thinking, language and performance. Some of that for me is writing here, some of it is in the musical instruments I play, some of it is in the oral auditory words I speak.

Fucking around is good fun, we don’t always take life too seriously - sure, but we also don’t just fuck around. If that’s all you end up being able to do, there’s so much you end up not doing, not seeing and experiencing. Imagine the only form of expression you have is to tap a heart. That’s not to diminish the power of tapping that heart - mate, smash that shit - did you see that last picture of the beers we bought? DID YOU SEE MY BEERS? Those are some champion fucken’ beers, follow my Instagram.

Look you might need to unplug occasionally or partially or permanently or whatever. This isn’t a sermon, I’m not talking at you, I’m talking to you or rather I’m talking to myself. I’m telling you about myself because like everything I do and typically will always mention, it’s a provocation but also an invitation to talk about yourself. We share with one another to learn about other experiences and grow perspective on our own - you get all of that. That’s why the Wire is a good thing. Accessibility to broader experiences is a good thing.

This mass documentation we’re doing? Even if no-one reads it, even if only a tiny shred of it is shared... do you realise how immense that tiny shred is? Of a billion billion billion terabytes of unread, unseen, unknown data, the tiniest fraction that gets shared between humans is still huge were it to remain hidden and secret - all the wonderful art, the ugly horror, the juvenile silliness, the unending pain and sorrow, the saccharine sweetness, the lilting playfulness, the nonsensical vagary, the bare minimalism, the overbearing eloquence, everything subjective and argued and agreed and ignored.

The internet is an ordinary book of everything made of electricity and you carry a copy of it in your pocket.

I’ll echo similar sentiments to those in the feature on Jeremy Blake. You can be an arsehole, or you be awesome and kind and we can do amazing things together.

#internet #chrono #2020 #nostalgia #nostalgia is pointless #no really nostalgia has no value #steal this art #The 1975 #The 1975 The Birthday Party #NOACF #Facebook #Instagram

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khaanshahrukh-blog · 3 years

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Top 10 Skills to be acquired before 2025 for a Freelancer

Newbies in the market of freelancing always look towards highly paid skills in the coming few years. Some skills those are highly paid and in demand in these days, may be out of demand in coming few years. Replace and re-learn is always a process to stay up to date in the Freelance market places. Hisham Sarwar highlighted in his recent blog about the top 10 skills to be learned before the 2025 as given below with the details of those skills. As he is one of the top and leading freelancers of Asia, we’ll follow his recommendations for freelancing market world.

According to studies, the Guru Hisham Sarwar said, few years back, the Macromedia Flash was most in demand skills for website development to showcase one’s website with amazing flash animations, but now it’s completely off from the sight of developers. There is always one step to re-learn and to upgrade skills with passage of time. See the Nokia or Motorola companies, just few years ago, their products were high in demand and most marketable, but now android mobiles are in demand. Similarly in future there will be another product with other features for uses will be high in demand. Time Flies but it makes many changes to so many things.

In my article, I’ve study and make a list of 10 top in demand skills for freelance market published by world’s top freelancing websites and agencies based on trending in their marketplaces along with the most services ordered. However, I have seen there are some skills that have always been in demand and somehow by highlighting new, emerging skills — these skills don’t get odd and find a place in the list.

After some studies from different blogs and newsletters, I have came to the point that the freelance market skills those are in demand for high pay and most buying services of skills are here listed below with short description of their nature. These skills do not necessarily depict the number of orders and projects. The list is organized on the basis of my studies and observation on the world’s top freelance marketplaces including Upwork.com, Fiverr.com, Freelancer.com, Guru.com and PeoplePerHour.com etc.

Data Entry/Virtual Assistant

Data Entry Expert or Virtual Assistance are most common words used in freelance market in these days. Have you every listen about Amazon Virtual Assistant? Actually the data entry expert or virtual assistance is the workers who work as typists, managers and store incharge etc from their places via internet and some specialized software being used for virtual assistantship. Unlike the regular employee who is working for you, a data entry or virtual assistant does not work for monthly salary. He and She is working for you on hourly basis or on whole project completion basis. A data entry or Virtual assistance doesn’t take sick leave or other. If he/she does not fulfill the project means no money to be spent. With passage of time, new trends are being set to hire freelance data entry expert or virtual assistance instead of hiring a regular employee, especially when the burden of data entry tasks fluctuates. Unlike your regular employee, a data entry virtual assistant doesn’t want any type of leaves or any employment benefit. He/She is being paid for his/her completed work. No work done means no need to spent money. One of the best thing about hiring a virtual assistant, you will not have to deal with taxes. While on anther hand regardless of any major technical skills, it is always in demand skill and no need any college or university degree to be sale in freelance market.

Creative Writer

When you search “writer” in the freelance marketplaces like Upwork, Guru, or Fiverr, you’ll see people are looking for creative writer for their website content, blog writing or any type of assignment. The creative writing skill is type of skill in which you are required as freelancer to write up for stories, website content, academic writing, script of video or drama, article for blogging and copywriting for sale. Creative writing means any writing that is beyond the normal writing. The creative writing is a high demand in freelance online market places as well offline.

Usually a creative writer writes the article on any topic after well research and with SEO keywords inputs to make it sure that the article is searchable on specific SEO keywords. The article may ranges from 500 to 5000 words depends upon the demand of employer and nature of the topics to be used for. Mostly, the employer mentions the keyword search for write up to be ranked when published.

Animations/Video Creation

Animation is a way to express the whole idea of product/services in video format as moving pictures or character made by different software. Images are made and colored with the help of software to make it a video for advertisement purposes. Animations and Video Creation are most in demand freelance market skills after the social media revolution. People prefer animation over text or images on their websites and social media platform. As they get more engagement and attention of the audience. There are many reasons a video editor or animation creator are in demand. Youtube and other video provider places raised the industry of animation and video creation. People are looking for video editor and video creator for their channel to be run for their business purposes or marketing. Wondershare Filmora, Adobe product premier are software that are being used for these purposes.

Digital Marketing/Social Media Marketing

Have you information that the 75% of American goes online daily? Out of them, 43% go on more than once a day and 26% remains online almost anytime. Digital Marketing (DM) is also known as online marketing, is actually the promotion and marketing of product/services to connect with potential client while using internet. DM includes the use of email, social media, web store ad. Simply If the marketing involves the digitalization, it will be called as digital marketing.

If you are using social media such facebook, twitter, Instagram etc, then you’ll get exactly what I am saying. In recent decade, the social media get more fame and many of us are there. That’s it is easy to reach your product/service to the potential customer via social media.

The rise in usage of social media tells us that such skill hold a prominent place in the future market. Small businesses are looking for DM and Social Media Marketer or Marketing Agency to help them for online shopping.

React Native/ Angular JS/ WordPress

Website Designing and web apps development is most common skill in this era but still in demand for freelance projects/ If you are from technical background of academic, then it will be easier to learn and to earn form this freelance skill. There are many projects posted on freelance websites from different areas and business of the world. They need to be showcase their businesses for marketing.

SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most top emerging skill in these days to boost the web content in the search engines. Every business, public figure and company need a website with traffic. The site without SEO is good for nothing. SEO expert help the employer to rank the website on desired keyword in major search engines especially Google.

There are a number of courses available on the internet, paid and free. You can master the said skill within the 3 months to 6 months. You have to keep yourself up to date with new strategy for SEO as algorithms changes frequently.

Mobile App Development

Have you ever listen about the Mobile App? This question is ridiculous as most of us are familiar with mobile apps. According to a survey, the 80% of the population is using smart phone to perform daily activities. That’s why there is a huge traffic of projects for mobile applications developers. Client needs such mobile apps developers who can develop both iOS and Android.

Graphics Designing

Graphic Designing is a vast in demand skill in the freelance market-places. Every time you need graphics to express the idea you want to put on. The graphic may be used for websites, Apps, Software, marketing purposes and to advertisement any thing. There are many projects available in the market now a days. There is more demand of UI/UX designer. You’ll find any good graphic designer in the market of freelancer with lot of experience.

Software Development

Are you ever worked on software? Every digital machine need a software to run the command of human. The software development is onw of the top skill and highly paid. There are a lot of projects available on different freelance market places. Software development is going to advance. Now there is a rise in cloud based software development. They are good for working interface. The software mostly kept as user friendly interface.

Website Development

Website development is always, from decades, in demand and highly paid freelance skill. It’s still a time to learn and to earn from this skill. Every business either small or larger needs a website to show the business in the world for more market. After COVID 19-, the ecommerce websites demand is increased.

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shytiff · 4 years

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Small Nov Wins

1 - cant bring myself to study, got out of bed 10:30-ish am. While lazing around i read royal servant and do random internet stuff and watched romee's vlogs. Ate breakfast and i somehow has no appetite?? This is rare. e, cicil kompre began at 15:30 pm (i know, i waste my time a lot). Pengumuman wahana mpi wow yay kalideres makara and budi asih

2 - the weather was pleasantly cloudy. poli anestesi anak, simul. went to what used to be calais, its called flavola now. at this point i quite need some calories because i only ate bubur ayam and its like 2-3 pm ish. Eventually the hunger is gone, arrived home at about 4-ish, drank protein to curb my hunger (nanggung dinner). dad said sumn that annoyed me so after maghrib i just lazed in bed, not feeling like doing anything (even though there’s lots of exams and hw lmao), fell asleep

3 - woke up at 2 am, prated, randomly searched for angel - chancellor and taeyeon’s lyrics and i basically wept at 4 am. i assumed the song was just like,,, a guy talking to a girl, his angel, you know. EXCEPT,,,,,,,,. the 2 MVs was also rly222 beautiful 🥺. Poli geriatri today, didnt even see patient because there was no more at that time (status salin nadia). ate ichiban salad (surprisingly quite good) at dm bcs i rly do be functioning better outdoors, made matcha latte with full cream milk ((powder)), cicil PT

4 - can finally wake up late. finished 1 sitasi pt, made ikk ppt, bujing lina called about diarrhea and nausea meds, laddered the leader for tomorrow’s exam and it,, was,,, me,, group call with shiko. frantically studied for EA

5 - PT (finished in 45 mins), simul as a leader, with STEMI, VF and hypoglycemia case. somehow made it through. i suck at dosages omggg. PP by car with mom (not rly that tired) but i SLEPT after i got home and had no mood to study helpppp

6 - did my first swab test today. i pushed the doctors hand when she’s doing oropharyngeal swab im sorryyyy 😂. slept. matcha. cicil kompre

7 - still havent finished ikk (deadline: today), and still havent studied for geri and ikk AND i still managed to take a nap. why. Read a bit of kompre. Not sleepy after matcha, but insted i reread bj alex and tsubaki chou lonely planet until 2 am the next day #rippriorities

8 - im having matcha latte seven days in a row as of today :))))) woke up at 10:30 am, went to flavola with atikah and got strawberry yakult (tasted like es mony), arrived home at abt 7-ish am and there no dinner, so i drank protein and ate japota honey butter. My breakfast was chicken porridge, so my diet is sooo liquid today. Rip proper nutrition (ate buryam, lumpia, japota for the whole day and drank 3 beverage). Cicil kompre and studied geri

9 - suma geri, slept, cicil kompre, ny head kind of hurts

10 - my head still hurts, suma ikk with dr herqu and dr retno, didnt take swab result by car because the TRAFFIC in soetta so my brother took it. Thankfully negative.

11 - lulus kompre alhamdulillah, the examiner were Prof Saptawati and dr. Dani from THT. Dr dani still remembered me :"") they were very kind. Went to tamel for first wahana: klinik makara UI. Picked up masker first at mahmudas place, and then went to depok. On the way i was interviewed by maba 2020 wtf im so old. Cleaned up my room with the fam, printed sumn in barel (its quite empty there)

12 - first day at klinik makara ui. i WALKED. such wow. fixed my shoes in kutek. had breakfast in barel and bahari for lunch-dinner. somehow i felt very drained. bought Dapur Alya (nutella and regal) and 2 salads from Salad Point since there was 11.11 promo. Put all of them in the fridge. Read Fools and its sooo good omg

13 - had salad and left over bahari rice for brekkie. went to clinic by grabbike :)))), had my first teleconsultation experience today, a chemical trauma case. suma ea with the help of shiko

14 - woke up at 5:20 ish and i jogged a bit at ui lmaoo. fisip - ft - fisip. By 6:30 im already back at my room. 1 hour can be spent a lot of different ways, it turns out. Washed my clothes. Ate monstercheese pizza. Slept a bit. Went to blok m with ara (she was late as always, surprised her with koi milk tea), ate futago ya (greasy cheesy milky goodness, enak tapi eneg afterwards), bought red bean bread at la mouette, bought discounted onigiri bento box at papaya. We went to m bloc space, looked around, ate gelato at kebunide (blueberry: yum, fresh, kiiinda feels artificial, salted caramel: delicious but makes me thirsty) and did photobox at connectoon. Walked to mrt asean but turns out!! for weekends mrt is closed at 8pm. Took grabbike to sudirman, seeing the pretty city and people just hanging out, playing skateboards on the wide sidewalks.

15 - planned to go jogging with salemba frens but i woke up late (06:45), so i just lazed around. Ate onigiri bento (super worth it for 25k for the proteins), fell asleep again 10ish to 14:30 lmaoo. The doms from yesterday was present even on the right side of my lower back 🙂 the red bean bread made me feel full, and the red bean was not too sweet, which i love. Reviewed some meshwork materials i missed. Fianti called and we talked abt her and hari

16 - had mujigae for sahur and fish bite for iftar. The fish was not as soft as fish streat, but the flour was definitely better and crunchy. But it doesnt have the seasoning micin like fish streat do. The pasta was quite a lot im in food coma afterwards. Fell asleep, and my stomach was so gassy that i woke up in the middle with a headache that does not play around. Fortunately it dissapeared in the morning

17 - breakfast is rice kimchi and abon lmaoo just pretend it makes sense. The scrubs i ordered finally arrived. I fell asleep AGAIN, WHYYYY. Lost my streak in DL, i guess i can stop using it for now.

18 - finished reading blood link, girlll i thought the human died at the end. Did not buy food today wow. Took a nap and cicil kompre.

19 - brekkie at barel. Helped measuring antropometry today at clinic, and also measured my own. The fucked up thing was that i THOUGHT my body fat is still at 28% compared to the past (dr rina's research). So i looked at the old paper AND. I USED TO HAVE. 35% FAT 🙂 even my memories are in denial and are fooling me. All this time i thought i was at 28 🙂 did swab at rsui. The one swabbing was from fkui 2012 and we had small talk. It hurted more than lmk :( now this does feel like drowning in water (cause before i said "nah its not like water in nose"). Took angkot back to tamel, bought piscok lumer pocin and its soooo gooood ugh

20 - i feel like if i have breakfast with leftover rice and abon and sozzis i get hungry faster lmaoo. Ordered ken karaage from kukusan, yaa okela for 25k with ongkir. Did online posbindu education through wa. BTS BE COMEBACK 🥺 i maximized my wifi time (no wifi at tamel) so i listened to the whole album. My mobile data is at 200MB lol. Read a good longreads from the atlantic, about down synd and genetic screening. The writing is so so good im just blown away. And teary eyed.

21 - ran a bit, solid class (gastro, rheum, infection), embryo, webinar about sleep by dr Gita Anindyajati, SpKJ, bought ayam geprek gold chick (lotsss of oil since i ordered tempe, jamur, egg, bought pop cookies. matcha cheese was actually better than i expected (the combination somehow fits), dark chocolate and marshmallow is very chocolatey like mom’s brownies, and vegan strawberry cookie with a hint of mint. i wonder how they replace the egg. I wonder why after i run i dont feel hungry for a moment. bloating just gooes away

22 - joined kris' healthy weekly event (lmao) in tamsur. They went to epiwalk first. Its difficult for me to run w mask, ngl. Went back to tamel, embryo, ate leftover meal from gold and chick, felt somehow drained to the bone so i just laid in bed and lazed and lazed. Theres no soreness, but the weakness was generalized lmao. Ordered bbq chicken almond salad from salad point, it was actually quite fulfilling and delishhh (added chili sauce to the dressing). Literally laid in bed from 7 until i fell asleep and woke up at 6 the next day. Finished readin shame application lmao

23 - i still feel tired ckckck. No doms, but i feel like i just want to lay down. got DV patient today at clinic, its most likely derm numularis??? Ate salad and dark choco marshmallow cookies in the evening and that cookie. Is so damn sweet im just thinking about the increase in my blood sugar. And i like sweets so!!! Never thought id find sumn too sweet. Washed my clothes and cicil ukmppd (i put things about studying ukmppd in habitica now)

24 - ate tanoshi sushi and ufo ramen for bfast, ate the sushi again for lunch and after waking up from my sleep i tried kokku ramen (so so, but the egg yolk's good)

25 - bfast: superbubur, protein shake and cookies. (did not make me feel full long enough). Ordered burger from EATG (so so, burger bener is better) for lunch. Last day at makara ui. Ara arrived coz shes staying here in tamel. Waiting for mom to arrive from cibubur, she arrived at about 20:30. I passed out at home

26 - first day in pkm kalideres, i volunteered to be pj to avoid RSUD. my room is a mess, i feel tired after i go back. maybe its the physical withdrawal (?) because i dont walk like when im on klinik makara. came to pkm thinking i wont do anything (orientation only) but the 6 of us ended up going. i was at igd. i saw nail extraction and injected ats for another patient

27 - talked for almost an hour with the doctor at poli lansia. went home, felt sooo tired, i slept and actually showered after maghrib. originally planned to go to sbux but i was just tired af. my mood was horrible at home.

28 - turns out i started my period today. i havent studied at all during pkm kalideres era. embryo. slept again. read some manga by nishin something with the psychological and BL genre.

29 - embryo. cut my hair, showered, and felt better. fell asleep on dr gita's lecture. Drank cimory banana milk with a bit of matcha powder. I dont know if its the sleep, or a bit of caffeine, but my mood feels better and im more awake. Cicil ukmppd with a slow pace. Read itasaku ff. Slept at about 2 am

30 - surprisingly, i dont feel sleepy when i wake up. poli anak today, surprisingly i got perinatology case (jaundice). presented it on pleno. for bfast i ate 3 slice of bread (2 with meat and cheese, 1 choco and cheese) and protein shake, lunch: a slice of choco cheese bread and a banana, fell asleep, dinner: 1 bakwan, a banana and nextar. i can feel that the calories i got today is even less than what i usually got (and usually i already try to limit calories that i am counting the intake amout and made sure im not too far from my bmr lmaoo (~1100)

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jesawyer · 7 years

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Balance in Single-Player CRPGs

Someone on twitter asked me this question and I think it’s worth answering in a longer form than twitter allows. I’ve already answered this question in brief and in video form at various points, but I think it’s important to address here:

Something that bothered me from PoE was the constant updating to classes and races to balance them. Did you guys worry about this>

In Baldur's Gate I or II or even the Icewind Dale series? I mean really who cares if one class is OP or Race or Hybrid class? >>

You guys are making a single-player RPG not an MMO or game with a online multiplayer component.

Variants of this question are common in single-player CRPG circles. The implication is that balance is important in an MMO/multiplayer environment but it is not important (or so much less important that it doesn’t merit addressing in patches) in a single-player CRPG.

I would like to repudiate this in two general ways: 1) I will argue that overall balance is important and valuable for players in single-player CRPGs 2) I will argue that individual CRPG players and CRPG communities overall do not present consistent objections to tuning and this undermines the general complaint. It is not the responsibility of individuals or communities to be consistent in their feedback, but it is the job of the designer to design, which means considering the needs of the audience by listening to and interpreting feedback on a broader scale.

Yes, Balance is Important in Single-Player CRPGs

I think it’s easy enough to make the first point through reductio ad absurdum: why not give AD&D fighters 1d4 hit points per level, a worse THAC0 than wizards, and worse saving throws than any other class? Obviously it’s because playing them would feel terrible. Why don’t we give all of the enemies attacks that do 1-3 damage, a quarter of the hit points of the PCs, and rock-bottom defenses? Because playing through that would feel boring for anyone who had the slightest interest in combat content and systems.

Some may say, “Hey, no one is arguing that balance isn’t important at all,” but in fact that is what many people directly say or suggest. Maybe they don’t really mean it (which I will get to later), but that is often what comes up. If we can agree that some degree of balance is important, then there’s no point in suggesting anything to the contrary and we’re really just debating to what degree is balance important and worth a) design consideration pre-launch and b) patching.

In my view, balance in a single-player CRPG is important to the extent that it allows players making different character and gear choices to be viable through the content of the game. It is always important to remember that system design (including class, race, ability/spell, and item design) is one part of the equation. Content makes up the other big part (setting aside UI/UX for purposes of this discussion).

When our area and system designers build encounters, they have to be built around an understanding of party capabilities: their overall statistics, their available gear, their consumable items, and their various abilities. In a traditional D&D-style CRPG, this spectrum of possibility gets wider and wider the higher the levels get and the more gear becomes available to the player. The less balanced individual choices are from level to level and item to item, the more difficult it is for area designers to design content that works for a spectrum of choices.

It Was Actually a Problem in the Infinity Engine Games

One of the questions was, “Did you guys worry about this in... even the Icewind Dale series?” Well, no. I certainly didn’t worry about it in the original Icewind Dale. I assumed everyone who picked up the game was as conversant as me in AD&D 2nd Ed/Forgotten Realms rules and lore, had played hundreds of hours of it in tabletop with similarly aggressive psychogamers, and had weathered fair but diabolically brutal DMs whose scenarios demanded quick thinking and ruthless min-maxing tactics.

You might not believe the number of Black Isle QA testers (and developers) who yelled or cried in anger, virtually or in person, about how difficult some of the IWD scenarios were. One in particular was the Idol/priest fight in Lower Dorn’s Deep. I had a tester hootin’ and hollerin’ about how it was “impossible”, how he had tried to beat it for two hours and couldn’t make any progress. It was a scenario that I and my office mate (Kihan Pak) both beat on the first try.

On Heart of Winter, Burial Isle practically split QA in half. One half thought it was a cakewalk. The others acted like they were being forced to dive into a swimming pool full of razor blades.

The dividing factor was system mastery. AD&D 2nd Edition (and 3E) are systems with a boatload of trap choices, inherently bad builds, garbage spells/feats, and generally inferior options. They’re not presented as inferior options to the player. They’re presented as options... that turn out to be implicitly awful even in the best circumstances. To the next part of the question, “I mean really who cares if one class is OP or Race or Hybrid class?” The answer is, “The person being brutalized by content designed for the OP classes/races because they picked the ‘bad’ option.”

The broader that spectrum of choices is for players, the more difficult it is to design content that will be at a similar level of challenge for those players given any given combination of choices within that spectrum. And to restate what I wrote before, the balance is mostly important to the extent that viability, i.e., the ability to get through the content, is supported. BG, BG2, IWD, and IWD2 often failed that test. Once viability is addressed, I’m not particularly concerned about balance.

Tuning Down High-Powered Outliers

The exceptions are abilities and items that are so incredibly powerful across the board that it’s almost impossible to make any content challenging with them in play. If we design content to be challenging with those abilities/items in mind, any players who lack those abilities and items will effectively be crit path blocked. Their game has either ended or become so incredibly difficult that it’s no longer enjoyable. And if we don’t design content with the overpowered abilities and items in mind, any player who coincidentally or intentionally uses those items effectively no longer has any challenge going through the game. It becomes an unlabeled Easy difficulty slider rendering all other options/choices irrelevant.

In those cases, I advocate reducing the power of the abilities/items so players don’t trip over “Hey I guess I win” options and our testers can still use them in playthroughs and give meaningful feedback. There is one salient example I can think of: sniper rifles in Fallout: New Vegas. In Fallout 3, Bethesda had given sniper rifles a x5 crit rate modifier. Keep in mind that any attack from stealth (e.g. shooting an unaware target with a sniper rifle from long range) is automatically a crit. The x5 multiplier made even standard/close range combat shots have an incredibly high chance of critting. I didn’t notice that sniper rifles had that multiplier and it didn’t come up in testing prior to release. In release, players noticed it quickly and sniper rifles became the de facto way to handle most encounters. Why use a 12.7mm SMG or hunting pistol when any shot from a sniper rifle was likely to crit and do 90+ damage?

In one of the first patches, I reduced the crit rate multiplier to x2. There was initially a lot of complaining about it, as there always is when anything is tuned down, no matter how overpowered, but the sniper rifle retained its role and continues to be used in that role. It’s a sniper rifle. It’s good at sniping. It doesn’t need to be great at close range.

Inconsistent Player Feedback

There is one trend about player feedback regarding tuning that’s hard to argue against: communities generally complain about tuning anything down but applaud (or at least do not complain about) tuning things up. I can tune up 10 things in a patch and detune one thing and will hear far more feedback about the one thing that was detuned, no matter how marginal or necessary that detuning was. If there’s negative feedback about tuning something up, it’s usually because players feel it needs to be tuned up more.

In Patch 3.03 for Pillars of Eternity, Matt Sheets and I tuned up seven rogue abilities, five barbarian abilities, and a variety of other spells and abilities. Players generally seemed to like this, though some wished the rogue abilities had been tuned up more.

In Patch 3.04, the soulbound dagger The Unlabored Blade had a bug fixed where its 10% Firebug proc was never firing. Two weeks later, Patch 3.05 reduced the 10% proc to 3%. This was a change I had requested for 3.04 but it had been overlooked. I requested the change because daggers have a fast attack rate and that dagger has a +20% attack rate enchantment.

Which set of changes do you think I heard more feedback about? If you guessed the marginal drop in proc rate on the soulbound item that had only worked properly for two weeks, you’d be right. The rogue and barbarian changes affect far more players and more significantly, but “loss” (even if imagined for most players) weighs more heavily.

Despite having a reputation for only detuning, I tuned many more abilities and items up in PoE patches (and in F:NV patches, as well as the JSawyer mod) than down. Players remember the losses more than the gains, but both are a necessary part of the tuning process.

I could abstain from tuning, but I don’t think most players would benefit from that. Players remember early Diablo 3 tuning as particularly bad, but the game at launch (especially the economy and itemization) was poorly balanced, as Travis Day elaborated on in his 2017 GDC talk. In the long term, Diablo 3′s economy and itemization today are much better than they were at launch and I believe most players benefit from and appreciate that. Even if you effectively never played D3 as a multiplayer game, you still benefit from that.

I don’t expect players or communities to be consistent in their feedback, but as the director and, in many cases, the lone system designer, I have to make decisions on more than just the volume of feedback on any particular topic. Changes that make bad options better are almost universally good. Changes that make overpowered options worse are often still a good idea if I believe more players will benefit from the change. I didn’t hesitate to reduce the Petrified damage bonus from x4 to x2 in Pillars of Eternity because that affliction was far and away the best way to deal with difficult encounters, either through the Gaze of the Adragan spell or trap.

I Will Tune Again

Just to make this clear, while there will always be a point where I stop tuning a particular game, I’m never going to stop using patches as an opportunity to balance items, abilities, classes, encounters, enemies, etc. I’ve been house-ruling and tuning games since I noticed trap options and OP garbage in 2nd Edition AD&D in middle school. I re-wrote 5th Edition Ars Magica’s certamen system because it’s a cool idea that’s really uninteresting in play. I re-wrote Pathfinder/3.X’s armor system because, as many players have noted, it doesn’t actually provide many interesting options.

If I think players will benefit from adjusting the rules or the content and there’s an opportunity to make those changes, I’m going to do it. I certainly don’t expect players to like all of the changes I make, but if you object to the idea of post-launch balancing, you should probably never play any of the games I direct. I’m always going to tune them, if possible.

Thanks for reading.

Portrait by Jason Seow.

#game design #pillars of eternity #fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout 3 #icewind dale #baldurs gate

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nerdarchy-blog · 5 years

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Fantasy art influences my fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games to an extraordinary degree. One of the themes running strongly in the great documentary Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons is how playing D&D gives us an opportunity to discover what would our characters do in these fantastic settings. The fantasy art inspiring our D&D games also provides a tool to help us vividly describe the creatures, places and things adventurers see. For players and Dungeon Masters alike, the fantasy art that speaks to us leaves an indelible mark on our gaming. And for my money, there’s no better place for unending discovery of amazing fantasy art than Pinterest. It’ll improve your D&D games as a player and DM, I guarantee. So let’s get into it.

Tell me your D&D game wouldn’t benefit from Fuzzy Cloud Worms. [Art by AndrewMcIntoshArt on DeviantArt]

Fantasy art for worldbuilding D&D

Concept art for Knight Hood by Janice Chu, a UI/concept artist at Blizzard Entertainment. Click the image to find more amazing art — and then pin it for your D&D games! [Art by Janice Chu]

The world of D&D might use the terrestrial Earth we know as a template, but as weird as the natural world can be here at home it doesn’t hold a candle to a D&D campaign setting. If you’re starting a new campaign, or looking for creative juice to invigorate an existing one, you’re in for a treat. Create a Pinterest board and start pinning.

Here’s an example. One of the D&D settings I enjoy worldbuilding is a frozen world called Rime. I started searching for things like “fantasy art tundra” and the like. When I see an image that I imagine could exist in the setting, or simply have a strong reaction to, onto the board it goes. A picture is worth a thousand words, and very quickly you’ll find many thousands of words worth of D&D adventures waiting to happen.

You’ll want to know — how will the party react when they see the bones of a titan frozen to the mountain side? What will they do when a stag made of starlight crosses their path on the tundra? Will they be in awe when they finally reach the city built on a gargantuan spire of rock overlooking the turbulent sea?

Artists who create fantasy art include the small details that help your broad stroke ideas come alive. A cloaked and hooded figure with a small, heavily armed humanoid might sound ominous or suspicious. A humanoid wearing a cone-shaped headdress topped with a carved face, their face concealed behind a pattern of eyes on the fabric, with a round, etched brass plate on their belt and carrying a staff topped with living branches approaches. With them is a small humanoid creature with thin arms and legs and a huge round head with a single eye, armored and carrying a sword and shield. Which sounds more likely to elicit engagement from the players? Side note — that little sprout fella looks like a perfect reskin target for the alliumite out of the Creature Codex.

And your D&D magic items will for sure come across way more magical and special to the characters when you have a reference to describe their magical cloaks, staves, swords and other magical accoutrement. That goes for you too, players. If you don’t think there’s an image out there perfectly illustrating how you imagine your D&D character, you are wrong. There’s over 70 million Pinterest users, trust me. I’ve found more than one bearded female duergar. There’s art out there for you.

Maps!

Oh, I love a good fantasy art map. Give me a map with a dozen or so rooms and some notable features, and a Monster Manual, and we’re set for at least two sessions. A boundless atlas of maps awaits you on Pinterest. Maps with grids, maps with hexes, isometic maps, hand-drawn maps, hand-painted maps — you name it. Pressed for time (usually due to procrastination) I’ve found a map 15 minutes before a D&D session, came up with one or two ideas to fall back on, and improvised the rest.

When you find a map you like, and take your time to describe what you see vividly including all five senses to the players, they’ll want to know more about their surroundings. They’ll ask questions, investigate and explore. They’ll roll some dice and before you know it, the session is wrapping up and the players can’t wait to come back next week and find out more.

The real treasure map is the only you want the characters to be as excited to explore as you are to guide their way. A monster here and a trap there when it feels appropriate provides tension for the adventurers, and more than likely the players will concoct their own ideas about what’s going on in this dungeon. Listen up, because this info, along with the extra time you give yourself to think while describing things the characters explore, can go a long way toward constructing a narrative from your 15 minutes of prep time. Let those players do some of the work!

To this day one of the most memorable — and impactful to the party — adventures took place in a map I found called The Trickle. It’s a very vertical, isometic map of a cavern system built into the stone behind a massive waterfall. I imagined this cliff face was many thousands of feet above the ocean below, so the waterfall surges off the edge and cascades down. There are little balconies here and there along the outside leading into different levels within the cavern system. The party adventured in there for days! Meaning several sessions of D&D!

The Pinterest DM Experiment

I was talking with a player in my group the other night and said I wanted to try running a D&D session using nothing but Pinterest. So, the next day when we got together to continue the adventures of the Adventurers of Adventure, I did just that.

Three of the images I pulled are down below. There is a fourth, but it’s a map and the party hasn’t gotten to that part at the time of this writing. And the players read this stuff. Sorry, Adventurers of Adventure — no spoilers for you.

There’s no real powerful reason I chose these particular pieces of fantasy art other than they captured my interst (my Pinterest?) at the time. Paired with the map, I had the skeleton of a story for the party to explore. During the session, the cloaked figures became reskinned harpies. I changed their claw damage type to necrotic and otherwise they’re straight out of the Monster Manual. The players were curious, and very wary of these creatures that seemed to be billowing cloaks being blown in a strong wind.

The owl-themed figure is a reskinned siren, and the map is the siren’s lair. Along with the “harpies” there’s a strong avian theme, and a fey quality of whimsy. The siren’s lair really ties this theme together.

Lastly, there’s a weird black potion with what looks like a blue dragon eye floating inside. But the black liquid can take the form of a sword blade, with the vial as the handle! Things like this can be as simple as a +1 longsword functionally, but visually quite different. Or if could have no bonus to hit or damage but do necrotic damage instead of slashing. It could be like a Rod of Lordly Might and form sword, axes and all sorts of things.

There is a neverending trove of creatures, characters, magic items, magic spells, amazing vista and locations and anything you can dream of when you explore the fantasy art through Pinterest. Just yesterday, a player showed me the map he’d be drawing of the unexplored region they adventure in, and it looked exactly like the map from Pinterest I use as a reference. He made the comment I describe things really well, and maybe that’s true…but it helps when I’m looking at the unbelievable fantasy art and just telling them what I see.

If you’d like to check out one of the Pinterest boards I use to find inspiring fantasy art for my D&D games, check it out here.

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Are you gonna tell me you DON'T want Fuzzy Cloud Worms in your #DnD game? #Pinterest Fantasy art influences my fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games to an extraordinary degree. One of the themes running strongly in the great documentary…

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kalza · 5 years

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Been trying out some other sites since Tumblr banned NSFW content, and here’s my thoughts:

I’ve tried out Newgrounds. Though I do love the unlimited file size feature (that Tumblr, Twitter, and Furaffinity lack) there’s more cons than pros, and they’re pretty serious.

-they allow pedophiles to do whatever they please and don’t care if there’s pedophilia on their site. The biggest factor into this is that Sha//dm//an, a very well known pedophile, is one of the BIGGEST artists on there, and it’s obvious what content he posts. This was one of the reasons Tumblr had this purge and ban to begin with (plus the bots, which are more abundant than before).

-it is WAY too easy for underage people to access the adult content. Usually sites that allows porn have a birthday fill-in on the sign up sheet that dictates whether you’re +18 or not (though if you were one of the many people like me who lied about their age when signing up for these type of sites, then it’s you’re own fault if you come across porn you’re uncomfortable with) and if you’re under 18, you won’t be allowed to view the adult content. Newgrounds does not have this feature. All you need to sign up is a username, password, and email. No way to validate if your an adult or not. You can be under 18, sign up, and turn on the adult content for viewing. The only way you can show people your age is when you customize your profile after you’ve created and vertified your account. And that...is not good. There’s a huge list of reasons why that’s bad but that’s for another day.

And considering how much I make sure my adult content is hidden away from being easily found, I don’t think I’ll use Newgrounds for that purpose (I’ll think about it).

Another site I experimented with was one I’ve known about for awhile was SoFurry. I’ve already had an account since 2013 and it was one of the few furry site that allows NSFW content and some content featuring human characters (they mainly encourage to keep it mostly furry orientated, but unlike Inkbunny they’re okay with some human content)

I haven’t uploaded anything there in years so I forgot how the upload system worked, but it does have some cool features other furry sites like FA doesn’t have. And they are strictly against underage porn. Which is a better thing than what Newgrounds offers.

HOWEVER, as cool as I make it seem, the site....kinda sucks. The UI is bad and it’s just...not a good site to use if you really wanna share your art. If anything it’s more like a RP site. So I don’t really recommend it as a good alternative to post NSFW art....unless you’re really desperate.

Lastly, I recently made an account on Weasyl. I think it might be more of a furry site, but like FA, you can post whatever kind of creature you want, human or furry. In a lot of ways it’s like FA, but I literally hear NO ONE talk about it. It’s pretty decent so far, but I haven’t uploaded anything on there yet to really confirm how I feel about the site. If it works out, I’ll have another platform to post my more adult content.

Anyway, again tumblr fucking sucks and made everything worse by banning adult content. So I’ll continue my search to find a new home for any other porn artist out there.

Sorry for any typos; I had to type this all on my iPod since my computer isn’t hooked up yet (it needs a new plugin for the monitor)

#chaotic ramblings #long post

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jessette20 · 6 years

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twitter-button

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What is Twitter advanced search, anyway?

Beyond a straight-up hashtag search, trying to find what you’re looking for with a normal Twitter search is like finding a needle in a haystack.

On the flip side, Twitter advanced search makes the platform more akin to a social search engine. Starting here, you can comb through billions of tweets based on specific parameters.

All of these words (results include all terms searched)

This exact phrase (results will only include “exact match” terms)

Any of these words (results includes all any combination of search terms)

None of these words (removes results based on these terms)

These hashtags (results include specific #hashtags)

Written in language (results are pulled from a specific language)

To these accounts (results only specify tweets sent to a particular @account)

Mentioning these accounts (results highlight any @account mentioned)

Near this place (results are confined to a 15-mile specified by the user)

From this date (results are produced from a specific date range)

Let’s look at Twitter advanced search in action.

Here’s was the first result that popped up for #WorldSeries. Topical and viral, it’s no secret why this particular post topped the search results.

Hey @Dodgers, the support group for back-to-back #WorldSeries losers meets on Tuesdays.

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) October 29, 2018

But let’s say I’m interested in something a bit more specific about the World Series. Running an advanced search that includes the #WorldSeries tag and includes the terms “stats,” “average,” or “statistics,” I can zero in on tidbits of info like this:

This game has now taken longer than the game time of the entire 1939 #WorldSeries.

That year, the Yankees swept the Reds in four games that took a combined 7:05.

— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) October 27, 2018

See how that works?

At a glance, you can probably see how Twitter advanced search can help you tap into finding specific Tweets or real-time information.

For example, let’s say we remember that somebody made a really good point during a recent #SproutChat but can’t pinpoint the specific date. By specifying a date range, we can dig through comments from the most recent sessions to find what we were looking for.

What about Twitter search operators?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of advanced search, we need to talk for a moment about Twitter search operators.

The platform’s standard operators work similarly to Twitter advanced search but can be entered into the normal search function.

For example, let’s say you’re planning a Disney vacation and have a family member with dietary restrictions. Maybe you want to see what the Twitterverse’s experiences with Disney’s dining options, so you search “Disney” and “allergy” (in quotations, separately) to score some real-time information and feedback.

ICYMI: Food-Allergy Friendly Options Available on Disney’s Mobile Order https://t.co/acTJDznJhg pic.twitter.com/Uxg9zuBiWk

— The DIS (@TheDIS) October 25, 2018

There are a number of Twitter search operators and queries out there that brands can use for everything from customer service to competitive research. Whether you use these operators in the standard search field or the advanced search UI comes down to your preferences. If you’d like a handy reminder your options for Twitter search operators, check out the cheatsheet below.

And hey, that leads us right into our next section.

How brands can use Twitter advanced search

From a marketing perspective, there are tons of advantages to using Twitter advanced search.

Want to be more diligent amount monitoring your mentions?

Or are you interested in your industry’s top-performing content across Twitter?

If so, you need to familiarize yourself with a few particular Twitter advanced search tactics and operators. Below are some examples that brands should familiarize themselves with.

1. Spot positive customer comments

Brands are rightfully concerned about their reputation to fans and followers.

You can conduct a surface-level sentiment analysis via advanced search by tacking on emoticons such as “:)” and “:(” when searching your brand on Twitter. These mentions are prime examples to either share user-generated content or response to an unhappy customer.

Appreciate when a brand can have fun 🙂 and we know @DavidKHarbour appreciates this @SouthwestAir gate at BWI #Halloween pic.twitter.com/KXHc9U2bs6

— Clinton Bonner (@clintonbon) October 28, 2018

2. Monitor conversations between customers and brands

Maybe you had an interaction with a fellow brand that you or want to highlight.

Or perhaps you’re trying to recall a back-and-forth conversation between yourself and a customer.

Searching by account makes finding those interactions so much easier. For example, the folks at Brafton often offer some nuggets of wisdom during our #SproutChat sessions. Through advanced search, finding those comments doesn’t require any digging.

A4: Depends on who your audience is. For B2C brands catering to the millennial and Gen Z demographics, networks like Instagram & Snapchat provide high value. If you're targeting Boomers, Facebook is where it's at. #SproutChat pic.twitter.com/te3ib87eYw

— Brafton (@Brafton) May 30, 2018

3. Find relevant industry influencers

Want to know who the biggest players in your industry?

Or who’s content is totally killin’ it?

Searching by parameters such as retweets or favorites can help you do just that.

Here’s an example of a recent social roundup we found through the #smm hashtag. Using the hashtag alongside the operator “min_retweets:10,” we can see recent tagged posts that got at least ten retweets. That number could likewise be bumped up to see who’s scoring the most shares in your space.

29 of the Best #SocialMedia Marketing Blogs of 2018 https://t.co/HQ1iLCjmhv – thank you @HubSpot & @Kippbodnar for the mention! Honored to be alongside:@PegFitzpatrick @socialmedia2day @SocialMediaHats @SMExaminer @SproutSocial

and so many more! #digitalmarketing#smm pic.twitter.com/Z9RlS3fSui

— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) October 28, 2018

4. Discover educational industry content

How-to and educational content is all the rage in just about any industry.

Including “how to” as part of your query alongside a relevant keyword or tag, you can see what’s next and cook up some relevant content ideas of your own.

Keep customers happy and loyal by optimizing both your product offering and customer experience. Not sure how? Here is the complete guide to ecommerce personalization: https://t.co/QBlXieExuX pic.twitter.com/U3NuMMoh6q

— BigCommerce (@BigCommerce) October 28, 2018

5. Never miss another mention

Spoiler alert: not everyone talking about you online is taking the time to tag you.

Saving a Twitter advanced query which includes your brand name, common misspellings and your website is a good start to monitoring your mentions more diligently.

Sleeping on such an interaction could be bad news for your business, especially if it’s a customer complaint on the line.

6. Zero in on customer questions and concerns

As noted, Twitter is the go-to channel for customer support.

To prioritize your fans’ issues, advanced searches including your @account and terms such as “help,” “support” and service can help clue you in on anyone having a problem. Additionally, you can tack on a question mark (“?”) to that query to spot anyone who has a question for you.

Please DM details (a short description, your Evernote version numbers, email address, etc) to our support account, @evernotehelps –– a member of our support team can take a closer look at what's going on.

— Evernote (@evernote) October 29, 2018

7. Pinpoint fans and followers by location

Searching by location is especially important for tracking interactions before, during and after events or conferences.

Specifying a location ensures that you’re seeing posts from people at the event itself rather than those just talking about it.

Getting more out of Twitter advanced search

Even though Twitter allows you to use search operators for complex searches including @mentions, hashtags, keyword groups and exclusions, there are more operators out there to narrow down the search even more.

This means that you need to have a strategy for not only figuring out relevant searches for your brand but also organizing them.

That’s where Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox and Keyword Search tools help you find exactly what you’re looking for on Twitter, while putting everything together in a single-stream inbox. Through Sprout, you can also save your search results in the platform so you remember which operators were the most successful at bringing you to your audience.

Again, let’s say you want to do a deep dive of relevant industry content on Twitter

Through Sprout’s API, you can search for content that is either related to your industry or that mentions your brand name in the URL. These searches are great to see what businesses or blogs are talking about you. Additionally, it can help you find what influencers are saying in your industry.

You always want to know what others in your field are saying so you can stay abreast of trends and news to create your own content. Sprout’s Twitter management tools can be used for “how-to” searches associated with a major keyword in your industry. For example, you could use the operator:

(how to (social media engagement OR twitter engagement))

This will help you discover stories about engagement and social media content while staying in your Sprout single-stream inbox.

Twitter advanced search for local businesses

With Sprout’s advanced keyword search, you enter a Twitter keyword and simply click “near this place” in the right menu on the messages tab to enter a location and mileage near that specific area. This will help you get as specific as you want with the location you’re monitoring. You can search keywords like “hungry,” “recommendation,” “restaurant” and “food.”

Then, you can easily select the “near this place” category to find tweets near that location about the above keywords without all the noise of other tweets.

If you were looking to host an event in a different city, these types of searches could help you find what people are saying about your brand before and after the event and in that specific location.

Why brands must step up their social monitoring

Here’s some food for thought: modern customers want to reach out to your company in the easiest way possible.

The problem is many companies are not seeing or responding to those who have questions or concerns. If you’re solely tracking tag mentions, you’re inevitably missing out on opportunities to engage with your customers.

Don’t put yourself in a position where customers having conversations about you instead of with you. When brands value social media monitoring, they’re opening the door for the social conversation. This means customers will feel more appreciated when you’re able to easily search, find and respond to conversations about your brand.

Monitoring the Twitter landscape can be challenging, but with Sprout’s reporting features, you can collect contextual insight on topics, hashtags and trending Tweets that surround your business.

To get your feet wet in social monitoring, try Sprout Social for free for 30 days!

<h2=”#infographic”>Twitter Search Operators Cheatsheet

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<h2=”#infographic2″>Sprout Social Twitter Search Operators Cheatsheet

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This post Here are the Twitter advanced search techniques brands need to know about originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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