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akunya · 1 year

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“companionship.”

pairings: android!hex haywire x m!reader

summary: can a robot and human fall in love?

tw: HYPNOSIS, NONCON, manipulation, yandere, etc. robot sex, voice fetish, onahole, voyeurism. size difference, belly bulging, etc.

notes: i love this cliche au of sex robots and things like that, so here’s my take on it.. with hex.

it’s probably terrible and i guess caters a certain niche, but let me know what you guys think.

today was it - the day you’ve been waiting for! finally, after all your hard work throughout the year, you saved enough money to buy your own, state of the art, artificial intelligence assistant.

and, luckily for you, today was also the grand debut of a brand new line of androids: xsoliel.

your hands were as shaky as ever waiting in line at the mall, double checking your savings to assure yourself you weren’t dreaming. nijisanji’s new line of androids were practically everything anyone could ask for: equipped with unique and interesting designs and personalities for each member, xsoliel offered a variety of services: whether it was for your own selfish pleasure or to help with manual labor, there was surely somebody for you.

..or so, that’s how the commercial sounded anyways. you silently thanked humankind for blessing the world with this era of companion-droids. seeing the ad nearly a year ago, you were star struck at the first all-male line nijisanji had debuted: luxiem.

unfortunately, they were sold out and only resold at steep prices— but, a few lucky online bloggers raved about their features, endless posts about how amazing it was to have an assistant of your own. while they could’ve surely been exaggerating, ever since that moment, you put money aside each week, even taking on extra jobs to make a little more cash to achieve your dream.

and it was finally time to reap your benefits.

while you didn’t know much about xsoliel nor intended to coincidentally buy an android of your own on the day of their newest launch, that didn’t stop you from checking them out. reading the blurbs about each member peaked your curiosity even higher. “a delinquent? people really think of anything these days, huh?” chuckling, you let yourself playfully criticize each member. you quickly bit your tongue, thoughts coming to a halt after reading about a certain individual.

“..what kind of name is hex?” muttering to yourself, you couldn’t hide the faint blush on your face as you stared at the model inside of the store. sleek attire, it almost made him look like a professor than a robot. paired with optional glasses (why did he even need those? can’t he see perfectly?), hex’s design made your heart flutter. his official advertisement described him as a nurturing, gentle servant, perfect for new customers to start off with. illustrated to have a deep, nearly hypnotic voice, hex’s programming was assured to have his users satisfied and satiated with their purchase.

swiping your card at the checkout, you really hoped you made the right choice, signing off a couple waivers and documents the employee had given you.

just a week later, you realized you didn’t regret your decision at all.

living with an ai assistant could only be described as luxury. hex truly was made with a “newbie” owner in mind, and the way he spoke to you sometimes made you wonder who was really in charge. his sweet, charming voice, along with how gentle and kind he was towards you, lifted your spirits instantly.

for instance, hex was a wonderful outlet to talk to when things went wrong — and, as if it was magic, nearly every problem you spoke about washed away the next morning! your problems with coworkers quickly diminished, and you even got the raise you’ve been praying for months now. he’d always offer such delicate touches, hugs and shoulder massages when he notices you’re pent up from a long day. you couldn’t fight off the dreamy, floaty headspace you were in when he was around.

not to mention, hex even did some of the chores while you were at work without being told to. even though you felt too guilty to ask him to clean the house, he didn’t seem to mind, making sure you came home to a clean room and nicely folded laundry each day. hell, he even told you he was looking into cooking, something that wasn’t originally included in his list of abilities. hex seemed to go above and beyond for you each time, amazing you each day.

it was a normal friday night, and you were with him as you always were, spending most of your time with the robot.

“y/n, why don’t you ever want to use me for something else..?” the question made your face feel warm, hairs standing on the edge. you two were cleaning up the kitchen after preparing dinner. laughing awkwardly, you tried to shrug off his curiosity, shining a plate with a dish towel. “well, id never want to force you to do something you didn’t like, silly.”

hex’s brow furrowed, a hint of anger resting beneath the surface. who said i didn’t want to?” for an android , the way he spoke was jarringly natural. your eyes widened in surprise, speechless for a moment. hex talked so nonchalantly about sex, but you had to remind yourself he was still a robot after all. as human as his synthetic skin and olive eyes may look, he lacks a beating heart and flesh.

“i-im not sure i want to. im just not interested in that type of stuff right now..” you let your voice trail off, sitting and washing in silence before hex spoke up dangerously close to your ear.

“you don’t have to lie, baby. i can hear you in the middle of the night when you touch yourself.” his deep voice made you shudder, unable to move. didnt you tell him to shut himself off during the nighttime? you were sure you ordered him not to snoop around, especially on nights that you planned to indulge in yourself. gulping, you laughed awkwardly as hex didn’t seem to budge.

“ah, s-sorry for disturbing you, ill try and keep it down next time..” his hand enveloped your own, forcing you to meet his gaze. goodness, his hands were big. warm, soft, inviting — strong, too. hex squeezed your hands, not bothering to stop when you winced from the pain, smiling. “you don’t have to keep it down. you should let me help you.” the way hex spoke was as if he was demanding you, not letting go until you gave him an answer. “it’s what i was.. made to do, anyways.” his voice was filled with solemn, playing with your heartstrings.

the silence was weighing on your thoughts, biting your lip in anticipation. hex knew how to make you uncomfortable, how to give into his desires and requests even when you didn’t want to — on the surface, at least. “alright, i will..! next time ill let you help me, okay?” you huffed, hex letting go of your hands and putting them on your shoulders instead. “good boy. you’re listening so well.” you hated how warm his praise made you feel.

the next night you needed help came sooner than you thought, shamefully letting hex in when he knocked on the door. the android wasted no time making himself comfortable in your space.

“a-ah, hex, slow down! please!” his hand was wrapped around your fleshlight, pumping vigorously as you squirmed in between his legs. your back was pressed against his chest, caged in the ai’s arms as he pleasured you. he caught you trying to use it to get yourself off, and figured he’d give it a try.

except, he failed to mention that his hands also had a vibrating feature. the soft yet firm jelly of the fleshlight practically whirred against your dick, making the experience all too elevating, groaning as hex held you in his arms. this has to be what those bloggers were raving about, right? hex held the toy at the tip of your cock, squeezing a bit to snap you out of your thoughts. you practically sobbed out, eyes tears from how good his touch felt on your skin.

“yknow, when you look so vulnerable like this, it makes me want to ravage you. who knew my master could be so slutty?” you whined at that, the ai chuckling deeply. you could truly stop him by force if you wanted to, considering you were technically his owner, but god did he make it hard. spreading your legs open so he could continue to jerk you off like the pathetic loser you always were. feeling another orgasm coming, your moans started to get louder, nails digging into hex’s synthetic skin.

“shh, goodness y/n. you’re going to wake up the neighbors if you keep moaning like a slut. hmm..” the man hummed to himself, shuffling around while you were distracted. “maybe i should give you something more, right?” before you knew it, his cock was circling your hole, causing you to panic.

“wait, h-hex! that’s too much, im already tired!” you tried to fight back, scrambling in his lap. his hands held up underneath your legs, holding you in place with his strength. of course he could overpower you — he was a robot, for gods sake. even though you were still painfully hard, you couldn’t imagine having sex with an ai of all things.

that is, until you felt something whirr against your ass.

oh.

of course, that part of him vibrates too. why wouldn’t it? as if hex couldn’t be too good at what he does already, it was as if his manufacturer wanted to overkill him with all these extra functions. hex laughed at your stillness, kissing the back of your neck. “i promise it feels good.”

he didnt bother giving you any warning either, nor waiting for an answer, slamming your hips down and shoving himself inside. even if his cock was lubricated, it still hurt like hell, making you cry out in pain. you’ve never felt so full before — just how big was he? you remember a conversation with the clerk at the store that day when you first bought hex. they had asked you about sizes.. but you thought they were just talking about his height, opting for the biggest size they had available. what an idiot. no wonder the clerk blushed a bit at your response.

slowly, hex rolled his hips against yours, his dick stretching you out against your will. “i always imagined us like this, baby. id take care of you, and you’d.. well, take it.” hex smiled, groaning in your ear as his dick nearly stirred up your insides. your brain couldn’t think of anything to say in response, too full to retaliate against the androids firm grip.

“you look stupid, baby. can you feel me? riiight here? look at how well you’re taking me.” hex’s cool fingers pressed against your stomach, nudging the bulge from his cock and making you whine even louder. your poor little cock was like a fountain, leaking nonstop as his pace didn’t falter.

it felt as if you were the one helping him out in this position. the ai was unexpectedly loud in bed, moaning and whispering about how well behaved you were, and how he’ll spoil you like this everyday from now on. every day? could you even handle that? with how he was taking control, surely there was something wrong with his wiring. you started to think about how to return and maybe get someone to take a closer look at his hardware, before a painfully deep thrust snapped you out of your thoughts.

“o-oh!” you were embarrassed by the yelp you let out, your body trembling before finally releasing, soiling the sheets underneath you two. “it seems like you’re doing a lot of thinking today, y/n. what could possibly be on your mind other than me?” hex, amused, chuckled in response, kissing and licking the back of your neck. “good boy. that’s it, let it out. only think of me from now on, okay?” his voice felt so dreamy; so hypnotic.

“y-yes sir,” you managed to mutter our, much to hex’s chagrin. he didn’t need any recovery period since he wasn’t human, so the robot simply got back to milking you dry, pounding into your tight hole like an animal in heat.

you’d never find out that hex’s model was recalled for several malfunctions and viruses, he made sure of that.

how else would he give you everything so easily?

#male reader #mlm blog #male reader blog #nijisanji x reader #nijisanji en x reader #my fics..#hex haywire #hex haywire x reader #hex haywire x m!reader #hex haywire x male!reader #xsoliel x m!reader #xsoliel x male reader #xsoliel x reader

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sevensoulmates · 1 month

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what do you think these interviews confirm for buddie, does this confirm buddie is coming?

I'll say what I said earlier to some friends:

Right now is Schrodinger's Buddie.

Which in layman's terms means: Right now in the two days before the season airs, two truths exist at once. That being: canon buddie and non-canon buddie. And we won't know the real truth until the show airs.

So, anon, my opinion is that I want and hope this spells good things for future canon romantic buddie. I think all of this is a step in a positive direction. ((I never put too much stock in articles or press or what the actors say, but I digress)) This is the most hope about canon buddie I've had in a while. I think it appears as if ABC and Tim & Co are trying really hard to get and KEEP (being the key word here) a new audience. I know a lot of people like to say that we (fandom) aren't their core audience, that the general public is, but I've seen this argument time and time again in the BTS fandom that disproves this strategy. So I will say it now:

A dedicated, long-lasting, ride-or-die, loyal fandom will ALWAYS be more important than the approval of the general audience.

The general audience will watch the episode once, form their opinion on it, and then go watch something else regardless. They *might* rewatch a couple episodes when a new season airs. They are not the ones out here streaming each episode over and over meticulously during off seasons earning the show and the networks all their money when the show isn't actively airing. They're not the ones supporting every little side-launch, or keeping the name trending, or keeping conversation relevant, the ones willing to buy merch, the ones willing to spread the word, the ones actively converting other people into die-hard fans. The general audience will not be the people in 10, 20, 30 years rewatching all the episodes for the love it, or keeping a dedicated fanbase active and alive and creating works decades later. Fandoms do. And what does this fandom want?

Overwhelmingly, the fandom wants buddie. In my opinion, going through with romantic buddie is the best thing ABC could do to get and keep a brand new audience and secure the forever-loyalty of their returning audience.

The network wants a return on their investment, but the truth of it, is that they won't get that return on investment unless they actually prove to their audience that they're not just investing in giving the show cooler effects, or larger emergencies, or nicer sets, or more expensive production, or flashy advertisement. The real investment needs to be in the characters. In getting these characters where they need to go. The only way to satisfy your audience and to get them to keep coming back for more is to satisfy the character arcs they've set up over the last six years, and create new arcs that will keep audiences invested for years to come (like ABC so obviously wants).

I've also heard the argument that most people only come to the show for the flashy emergencies. And I get it, but at the same time, any show could create fun/crazy/bombastic emergencies. The thrill-seekers will always chase the craziness that can be replicated in any other random show and for them it's easy to drop 911 and move on if they want thrills.

What keeps people so heavily invested in this show, in 911 in particular, is the characters and their relationships with each other. Character will always ALWAYS be the most important thing to any piece of fictional media. Not the plot, not the emergencies, not the setting, not the effects, etc. Characters are how we as humans create connection. If they lose that connection, that will reflect in viewership, numbers, money, etc.

In my humble opinion, and the opinion of a lot of people who watch this show (even the silent general audience or people who don't ship buddie romantically, or the people who like buddie but think it will never happen so they just shit on it) the person who Eddie and Buck belong with (in whatever way you define it) is with each other.

This isn't something the fandom came up with, this isn't built on the back of fanon. All of this stems 100% from the show itself, so why wouldn't they want to execute to the fullest the story they've so clearly been telling the whole time?

This is just a long-winded way of saying, I, a humble tumblr user with zero connection to the show or its decision makers, don't know if this means buddie canon or not. But I will always remain hopeful until the show airs its last episode, because buddie makes sense on literally every level.

#911 abc #speculation #analysis #buddie #ask #this would've been true for fox too #but they're fox aka the home of maga lovers so they were never gonna let us have this #but abc?#totally different story

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oops-prow-did-it-again · 8 months

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Why You Should Rethink DoorDash, and Other Courier Apps: From a Driver Based in the USA

So this is part rant and part psa. I have been doing delivery work as a gig driver for DoorDash for years bc of various personal circumstances. I'm hoping to get a CDL in the near future so I can move on to a better job, but that's besides the point for right now. Further disclaimer: I only know the intricacies of DD. I do not know how precisely GrubHub, Uber Eats, etc, work, but I presume they work much the same, since I see the same complaints come from those services too.

This is in no particular order but please, if you have the time, please read it through. I'll preface this by saying I am not going to be rude or bitchy about customers or merchants here, this isn't just me whining, I'm just trying to give a level recount of my experiences with DD, and often, they are just... Not great experiences, unfortunately.

I don't know how many people realize this, but drivers get offered a base pay of $2.00-$2.50 per delivery, depending on the area. This is all DoorDash HAS to pay a driver. Every time you submit an order via DD, it gets spit out onto drivers' apps with that base pay + tip displayed. Meaning if you do not tip, every driver sees only $2-$2.50 to deliver your order. Sometimes, if enough drivers decline an order enough times, the DD algorithm will start to slowly raise the base offered pay... by about $0.25-$1 per round depending on the mileage it takes to deliver that order. This means if you do not tip, your order will most likely be extremely delayed, or bundled with another order, which will make it late, and your food cold.

**Emphasizing this: although I find low tips frustrating, I am NOT personally faulting anyone for not tipping.** DD should just pay their drivers, and it shouldn't be up to you, especially bc ordering delivery is so damn expensive. But I'm telling you this bc they certainly don't advertise it, and many people in my experience are shocked by now little it pays. Many drivers will not accept an offer that's less than $1-$1.50/mi. This means if your restaurant is 8mi away from you, and DD pays the minimum $2, you need to be tipping at least $6-$10 for most drivers to even consider it, or else it will be sitting for a long time or get bundled with a double delivery (more chances for mistakes + takes longer for the food to get to you).

Furthermore, in certain localities, DD offers an hourly rate for its drivers. This sounds good on paper, but keep in mind that this does not include gas money, and only accounts for the time from a delivery being accepted to the time it is dropped off. If you are delivering in suburbs or, god forbid, rural areas, you will spend a lot of time not making money but still burning gas returning from a home to where restaurants are so you can get your next delivery. While the app may say something impressive like $14-$17.25/hr, in reality, it's usually half that or less when you factor in downtime.

DD orders are also exorbitantly more expensive than if you buy directly from the merchant because DD charges the merchant 15-30% of the menu price to use their platform, and the merchants pass this on, usually plus a little extra, to you. This is before you even consider "delivery fees," which are not paid to drivers and are pretty much exclusively pocketed by DD. Also, DD will often choose a store farther away from you (so, say, a McDonald's that's 5mi away from you as opposed to the one that's 1mi away) specifically so they can charge more on fees. *Sometimes* this is just bc the closer store isn't enrolled in DD, but oftentimes, it isn't.

ADDENDUM ON THIS, HOWEVER: If you are ordering directly from a merchant that you know does not have actual in-house drivers, but is offering delivery anyway, like Wendy's or McDonald's, understand that these merchants are going to send these deliveries through to DD or Uber Eats. These orders have cryptic names for items on the Dasher's end and often we cannot contact you if there's an issue with your order, because the phone numbers provided to the Dasher's app never work. If you know for certain the merchant has its own delivery team (most pizza places, Chick-fil-A, Panera, etc), please order delivery directly through them, but if you know they do not (Wendy's, McDonald's), DO NOT ORDER delivery through their apps. It displays poorly on the drivers end and is often more expensive and a less ideal experience for you.

DD does offer DashPass, a subscription service that, for $9.99/mo, says it slashes delivery fees and other costs. Not really; the amount you pay in DashPass, especially the longer you have it, often exceeds the fees you would pay if you simply bought orders without DashPass. Also, it will advertise at you constantly via notifications and emails which will make you more likely to spend more on delivery that you wouldn't have in the first place, further eroding whatever savings you'd gain from DashPass.

DoorDash also can do a thing where they enroll stores in their platform without that store's permission. These orders require Dashers to use a red card, a notoriously buggy debit card that is supposed to get loaded with the amount of money it takes to cover the order by DD. The restaurants do not get any extra profits from these, and many store managers would love to prevent this from happening, but it requires legal action that is infeasible for most stores to do on their own. This causes friction and conflicts between store managers and drivers, delays for the customers, and solely profits DD.

DD ***does not*** reimburse for any amount of gas or car repair costs. Instead, they offer a company debit card which has tons of hidden fees for their drivers, and gives a small % cashback on gas. It is an overwhelmingly bad deal, but they use it as a shield against accusations that they don't support drivers against the cost of gas. They do...but only if you let them be your bank. Otherwise, you get your pay the Tuesday after the week you worked, or you can cash out immediately via the FastPay feature - for a $1.99 fee out of the money you earned.

DD support teams (and I know this is not unique by any measure to DD but it feels worth mentioning) are based in Taiwan, I believe, as well. I have absolutely nothing against the support teams, for they are doing the best with what they have, but DD absolutely weaponizes language barriers and the difficulty in communication to try to silence customers and dashers alike when there is a problem. DD seems to hope that if you get frustrated enough trying to talk to support (once again, not the workers' faults, the call center is absolutely being exploited too, I just don't have firsthand enough experience with that work to talk about the specifics of how), you will simply give up and not bother trying to seek a refund or half pay.

On that note, if a delivery has to be canceled for whatever reason, your driver will not get paid regardless of the time they spent on it. Very very rarely they will give "half pay," which is half of the promised payout, but only if you were on the delivery for an excessive length of time (i.e., 1+ hours).

Furthermore, if a delivery is marked as undelivered, DD will issue a contract violation against the driver. It is then up to the driver to submit proof that they completed the delivery, via pictures or video evidence, even though DD tracks our phones the entire time we are delivering and should be able to see if we were there or not. **New drivers are not properly warned about this,** so oftentimes when you have a "hand it to the customer" delivery, drivers don't think to take pictures or videos, and dashcams are expensive, not everyone has one. It is extremely hard to argue your way out of a contract violation if you do not have proof.

If you get 3 or more contract violations, you will be immediately suspended from the platform, and 2 puts you at risk of it. If you complete 100 deliveries without incident since the one that gave you the violation, it *will* just go away... But this is a subtle tactic used to scare drivers into taking more (usually very badly paying) orders, because they fear deactivation.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to get a refund, if you legitimately did not receive your order. But please, try contacting your driver directly before you contact support, and if you must contact support, really consider whether someone losing a job, even if it a side gig, is worth the amount of money you spent. You can often just lie and tell DD the order is completely wrong and they'll refund it without punishing the driver, as that's seen as a merchant error.

Also, I don't think many customers realize this: we CANNOT see delivery instructions before we accept a delivery, and they are difficult to see until after the delivery is picked up (as they are only available on a floating widget badge). If you ask for extra sauces or other things in the delivery instructions, 9 times out of 10 we will not see it until we are already on the road and headed to you. Please don't hate drivers for this; most of the drivers I've seen are more than happy to do whatever you want! But msg us via the app, DO NOT use the delivery instructions. Delivery instructions is for instructions on how to find your house or apartment if the numbers aren't very visible, or telling us to call you instead of come to your door when we arrive, that sort of thing. In fact, please be as descriptive as possible for the delivery instructions on this front- if you're ordering from a business, tell us the business name. If you're ordering from an apt, tell us the apartment complex name. If you're ordering from a house, tell us the color of your house or the cars in the driveway. It's all very helpful!

One last thing before I wrap this up: safety. Delivering is an extremely dangerous job. Pizza delivery, for example, is one of the most dangerous professions, and DD's safety features are even worse than those places. DD has implemented a feature for you to contact 911 via the Dasher app in emergencies, but often, this would still be too late. DD does NOT vet the areas for safety that they release the platform into, and there is no real recourse for violent customers aside from talking to support, which takes time and often won't communicate the issue effectively. Sometimes this works, and customers will rarely get banned from Doordash if they threaten, harass, or injure a driver. But the vast majority of these cases go unreported.

Loose dogs and carjacking are also major problems. Customers failing to notify other people in their households that they ordered delivery has led to me being threatened before. I've had people answer the door in their underwear. I had someone try to invite me into his house while wearing nothing but briefs. I had someone step out of their pickup truck carrying two rifles directly in front of me right before I delivered to their house once. I've had dogs nearly bite me - thankfully none have, I'm luckier than many others, but it's still a significant risk. A lot of people seem to trust their dogs when they really should not.

All of this, for $2.25 in base pay + a few dollars in tips.

I really do love delivering, and I do appreciate the freedom DD gives me in choosing my work schedule right now. However, the compensation is woefully bad, the company scams merchants, customers, and drivers alike, and the working conditions are very unsafe.

Idk how many people here really use DD, or what in particular can even be done about most of these issues, but I hope this enlightened some folks.

#doordash #dd #gig economy #gig work #gig #uber eats #grubhub #delivery #driving #psa #rant #vent

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gowns · 1 year

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stupid little discount tricks, since people are asking

when shopping online: sign up for the email newsletter. there's usually a signup discount code for 5-15% off. (you can unsubscribe later)

search "website" + "discount code" "coupon code" etc

have a credit card plug in like the one i have that automatically searches for coupon codes

fill your shopping cart then "abandon it" and you might get an email offering you a discount

check social media, because every once in a while a company will advertise a sale or code on an instagram graphic and nowhere else.

keep track of when companies do their seasonal sales and the amounts (kind of playing the long game here). but for instance, when hanna andersson was having a 20% off sale a couple months ago i held off because i knew there was a 40% spring sale coming up. at the end of every season, they do big sales to try to offload things to make room for the new season's inventory.

search for items on reselling sites e.g. poshmark, ebay, etc, and watch the prices and how they compare to retail. depending on the item you may also want to scope out craigslist, fb marketplace. you know that 40% off hanna andersson sale i mentioned? it still won't be as dirt cheap as finding those clothes on facebook.

you know the junk mail you get? that also has coupons... you can play the long game here with some "extreme couponing," comparing the different discounts that come out from different stores at different times.

never buy anything full price, unless it's urgent or some kind of everyday purchase

(this one i learned from my bastard stepfather, it's not great for retail workers but you will usually get a discount): when shopping in person, find a dumb little flaw in an item then bring it up to the cashier and be like "oh there's a button missing (or what have you) can i have a discount?" usually the retail workers are like "ughhhh horrible little man. sure. have a discount." this does not always work and fills me with shame whenever i do it but when it does work. hey. discount!

if you combine all these things you will find yourself never paying full price for anything. discounts forever.

more saving money tricks:

join your local buy nothing group - this is a facebook thing but they're also trying to build up the website. post an "ISO" (in search of) whatever you need and you'd be surprised at what you can find. we got a lot of our furniture and rugs from the buy nothing group when we moved. for freeeeee

(this one sounds like an ad but it's not i just like my service:) to save on your phone bill, use a service like twigby, which will buy out your phone contract and then you pay a discount for the same cell plan / cell towers. i pay only $25 a month for a lot of data and texts. i used to pay like $100 a month for the same. i've had it for years now, nothing shady about it.

keep receipts for everything, you can return most things. if the return policy is strict, begging and pleading works sometimes.

speaking of begging and pleading. you guys know about like, gym memberships and dance classes? i used to do customer service for a ballet studio that used a popular fitness CRM. if people emailed me like "hey my classes expired, can you please put them back :(" i would do it. it's very easy to do it - i'd just go into their account and adjust it. so like, imagine: people who didn't email customer service would just have expired classes. people who DID email me with a sad email like "hey my classes expired can you help :(" would usually get extended classes, refunds, trades for comparable services, etc.

remember all the secondhand sites mentioned above? whatever you buy, you can later resell. it takes a little bit of time to take pictures and write out the details in the reselling posts, but if you're hurting for money it's not a bad way to get $. people will buy random things. computer parts. old video games. furniture. clothes and shoes are very easy to resell on a site like poshmark or depop, but you can also search facebook for certain clothing brands and find B/S/T (buy sell trade) groups. also search for your town + "swap meet" / "classifieds" "resell" / "buy sell trade" etc groups.

(another tip from the bastard stepdad, i do not fully endorse this but hey, it works in times of desperation): to maximize value at a restaurant, you can take things that are out on the table, like sugar, pepper, jam, etc. if you want to get real silly about this you take advantage of free bread / free chips by scooping them all into a tote bag. (i was rattled with shame when my stepdad did this when i was younger but you know what. it's a thing you can do.)

grocery-specific tips:

always look at the number next to the retail price, with the unit price. you want the cheaper unit price 95% of the time. it only doesn't make sense to buy the cheaper unit price when you're buying something for a really limited use. look around the item for similar items and make sure you're getting the best value. this was drilled into me at a young age but not everyone knows about this

always scope out the corners of a grocery store, they usually have a rack of discounted / about to expire food that is usually fine.

there is also dumpster diving which is also usually fine. i don't have too many tips about this because it's not my forte but the tips are out there; when grocery stores are closing they want to just get rid of stuff. so take advantage. weird tip here: go to a farmer's market when they're about to close. a lot of the purveyors just want to go home and will totally sell you their stuff at a cheaper rate so they can pack less into their truck. this works especially well for bread products at the farmer's market because they won't be able to sell day-old bread at the next day's farmer's market.

when you're living high on the hog from all your discounts, make sure you give freely in return. i donate food to food pantries and community fridges; i give away stuff on my buy nothing group + shelters; i put books in the free little libraries; etc.

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klapollo · 19 days

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is copywriting a good job to look into as a writer? im job hunting and i see quite a few openings online but im worried the work will be extremely dreary

i didnt set out to be a copywriter -- frankly when i graduated i had no idea what i wanted to do. i spent about three and a half years freelancing and doing gig work and i'd make like 140 bucks a month on a good year. i happened to apply for a copywriting job among a sea of other entry level things -- social media coordinator, communications associate etc. and i feel SOOOOO fucking blessed that i fell into copywriting

in terms of money: copywriting is very lucrative if you get the experience for it and stay the course. my very first position with no prior copywriting experience (just freelance writing experience) paid me 35/hr. starting off you'll probably make about 50k but moving up the hierarchy can pay a LOT. with four years of experience, during my job hunt i would say the vast majority of the positions i interviewed were within a six figure salary band. moving up the hierarchy, lots of senior copywriters make six figs, and some associate creative directors make over 200k. you can definitely live comfortably as a career copywriter if you play your cards right.

in terms of work: personally i love copywriting, but it's an arm of marketing. if you cant stomach writing marketing materials or learning how marketing works, it might not be for you, but i kinda make it into a game in my head. there's a lot of different kinds of copy -- short form (landing pages, social media blurbs, headlines, emails, product descriptions etc) and long form (white papers, SEO articles/blog posts, ebooks). i would aim to find a copywriting position that will have a wide scope of copy types, because that helps cultivate a well-rounded resume (i.e. shoot for a job that'll have you writing landing pages, emails and blog posts etc over one that's just headlines and captions).

there is also B2C (business to customer, as in marketing a consumer product to individuals) and B2B (business to business, as in marketing a product like mailchimp to a business). i mostly do B2C, but I also do B2B now. it's fine to start with just one, but i'd say right now demand is very high for B2B

the good thing about copywriting is that basically any industry requires it in some capacity. i've worked predominantly in entertainment and digital media, but right now i'd say the biggest demand is in healthcare, fintech and SaaS (software). i freelance for a telehealth company right now in part because i want to make my portfolio more well-rounded. but as i said, nearly any industry can need one -- hospitality, beauty, fashion, retail, nonprofits, anything that is a business that needs to be advertised. when i started, i worked in television, which meant my days largely consisted of watching shows before air and writing episode descriptions. i had a lot of fun!

personally, i dont find my work dreary. sometimes it can be a LITTLE tedious if i'm writing something more technical/internal, but the whole point of copywriting is to figure out how to entice someone to check something out, which means puzzling out how to write something fun and engaging. if you want something less marketing-focused, i would look into getting into technical writing. this is basically writing informational texts and guides for technology and similar things. it pays VERY well and is usually in high demand, but i will say it's definitely more tedious than copywriting.

in short: yes i love copywriting and you can be very financially stable in it! i'd argue it's one of the most financially comfortable day jobs for someone with writing experience. happy hunting anon!!!! i hope u get what ur after

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beesmygod · 2 years

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look: the only arguments in favor of webtoons ive ever heard hinge greatly on the idea that the vastness of the audience on webtoons is crucial to one’s success in the “webcomic business” nowadays. people need money to live. to make money quickly in the entertainment business (and i would like to stress that this is the first time the artist makes a choice: when they decide to pursue art as a career. deciding to do this is not a choice that should be made lightly. additionally, i do not believe that people are being forced to turn to webcomics in order to make a living lol. can you even imagine), they turn toward the algorithmically curated and inflated numbers offered by webtoons.

i’ll start this off with my bone fides so i have to clarify any of this in follow up posts: i started workshopping my webcomic on tumblr in 2012 with doodles and by answering asks people would send me. i would also just post lore dumps for funsies. they are so barely related to the comic now, but they created interest and people asked me cool questions that made me think about the world i was creating. i started the comic in 2013. holy shit i really am coming up on a decade of webcomics. hold on i have to stand up and walk around for a second. picture to break up all these words so your eyes dont slide off the page:

i made enough money on patreon (as a very early adopter) to live in beaverton, oregon (with first 3, then 1 other roommate[s]) living the most spartan lifestyle a person could manage in order to avoid having to go back to my hometown. now i live in confusing moderate comfort in a house my bf and i bought in a burst of sheer market based luck right before everything exploded. we used all of my savings i earned working from age 15-30 as a down payment.

i still try to take care of myself entirely and contribute a proportional amt of my income to the bills. i use government aid and use(d) it get a lot of medical help that i would not have been able to afford otherwise (medicare for all btw its unconscionable that this isnt the norm). i sincerely enjoyed my poverty and i felt like i understood how to live under those parameters with ease and comfort. i was poor but i was free. i do not like that i have to disclose this in order for people not to immediately dismiss me as coming from a place of monetary privilege. this shit is none of your business. im not interested being assigned a perception to my work and character that does not come from my words and deeds. i do not want “poverty artist” to be the signifier attached to me, forever, that people can scrutinize and obsess over whether or not i deserve the adjective i dislike.

but for things i do like: i like my audience very much, and i hope that they understand that they are under no obligation to care for me, keep me alive, finance me, etc. that is entirely my responsibility. but it is through their continued donations and support that i am able to draw my comic full time in a lifestyle i found comfortable, something that i sincerely imagined would not be possible while i was still working and in college. my audience of ~1.5k (i think, google analytics is kinda whack. lotta bots. this is with all that shit i could find filtered out) has been built up gradually over the past near decade and is comprised of funny, lighthearted freaks of nature who make me laugh very frequently. i just cant let them know that or they will become too powerful and use jokes to destroy me. i dont think i have a single bad thing to say about AGS readers. you guys are a hoot lol.

i do not have a discord dedicated to my work because i find the idea pretty unappealing and have had moderator experience in the past on other websites that i did not enjoy. i did not have comments on my comic until this year. previously the only way to contact me was via twitter, tumblr ask or email. i advertise my comic twice on update days, once in the morning and once at night, so i dont flood dashboards. i do not sign up for zines or jobs. i do not promote my work otherwise. well, there’s a link in my sa avatar, but let’s be real. no one’s clicking that.

WITH ALL THAT SAID:

i cannot empathize with the people who pursue the webtoons line of monetization and i find parts of (what must be) their reasoning morally abhorrent. im not even going to get into the predatory and laughable “pay per page” concept, an idea so blatantly evil that if it were pitched in any other medium it would get you laughed out of the room at best. im not going to talk about the ridiculous audacity of a comic host demanding you produce a minimum number of panels “per page” (im old lol bear with me) in order to be granted the golden laurels of “publication” (another choice the artist makes is the choice to pursue becoming a “webtoons original” as a financial goal. i think this is wildly unreasonable for every reason. but whatever. you might as well bet on winning the lottery). im going to talk about the bizarre mentality i cannot wrap my head around when it comes to what people are expecting when they sign up for a website that openly flaunts how disinterested it is in anything other wringing its user base financially dry.

if webtoons is not interested in anything other than financial gain and their purpose is to make more money every quarter at any cost, then why would that mentality not directly impact and poison the relationship between you and your audience, as well as your relationship with your art?

but lets put even THAT aside. god there’s so much i could hammer on. i will just focus on audience right now.

1. the quantity of an audience is not proportional to the quality of the audience. i dont think anyone is going to debate with me that the webtoons audience is good lol. this is because the webtoons userbase is comprised almost entirely of random teenagers and adults under 25. this age range is permitted to act like insane hooligans (to an extent) because that’s what the vast majority of us were like in some capacity or another at that age. i frequently hear complaints from creators about how their webtoons audience are frequently ungrateful, irrational, and impatient to them. this is the obvious outcome when two parties, especially parties that are doing business with each other, are shoved together due to algorithmic decisions and not by their own volition. both parties have been robbed of the opportunity of building up a relationship of trust and respect between the artist and the audience. however, building up this relationship takes time. and people want to be be making money as artists right now. presumably.

2. the primary purpose of an audience is not to obtain money from them. at least, dear god, i really hope this is not the idea driving people’s desire to do webcomics as a career. the creators entering the field with this mindset are DOA, straight up. even if you were capable of hiding your odious motivations, whose money are you willing to pursue? would you change your comic if it meant making more money from the audience? do the highest bidders influence the artistic choices being made? is that the relationship you want with your audience? in that case, why not just take furry porn commissions, a field which makes fucking stacks upon stacks of cash? why bother with webcomics and all this extra work?

3. why would an audience of teens and young adults have money to spare? lol for real tho. teens dont often have unfettered access to cash. college age adults are famously deeply in debt to the nightmare state we live in. to jump into this audience with your hands held open is going to result in disappointment when they’ve already prioritized giving what little they have to artists they already know. i dont know what people are expecting with this one. it’s like panning for gold in a swimming pool.

this doesnt even touch on the uglier stuff. but the choice to go all in with webtoon is foolish, selfish, motivated by greed and childish false promises of fame. i do not have any respect for the artists that line up in the hopes that they can simply “jump the line” and skip one of the most, if not the single most, important aspects of a career in art, as though it’s a tutorial mission they are simply too advanced and skilled to sit through. i am not going to feel bad for or comfort the people who saw a company strangling and smothering everything it touches, a company that is subjecting its customers into increasingly more incremental means of payment, a company that has objectively unreasonable demands for the art they host compared to what they pay out, AND WILLINGLY SIGNED ON TO SECURE THEIR OWN BAG.

so that they didnt have to build an audience! the fuck!

my assessment is that to use webtoons is to have a vast amount of disrespect for your audience.

#webtoons #long post/

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thickness-protection-program · 10 months

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Social media is so interwoven with sex nowadays. You can't go online without seeing someone shaking ass or some guys bulge trying to advertise OF our their favorite underwear or something. I'm just like can we be social on social media anymore? Damn. Why do I have to subscribe to someone OF? Like So i either gotta choose a streaming service or a gaming service or an only fans or purchase a premium social media account. I'm tired. Everything is too expensive. Everything cost money and people are out there wagging their dick on Instagram meanwhile I show the slightest hint of nudity and I get deleted because I don't have 200k followers on Instagram? Work.

I understand your frustrations but this comes across as a very pessimistic view of the world. Part of your online experience is cultivating your online experience so if you genuinely don't want to see so much nudity, sex, etc then you are 100% within your right to unfollow and/or block whoever whenever. I can agree that social media has gotten more sexual in a sense and even at times it can get a little overwhelming for an ace like me but in a society where purity culture is trying to take over I think a collective rejection of it is amazing. It is sad that many people feel like they have to resort to OF to make a living but the reality is you don't have to if you don't want to and you don't have to subscribe to any either. And people using their bodies to make money are not to blame. This ask is low key giving slut shaming energy. There are plenty of platonic, casual, sex free spaces online, you just have to find them, and sometimes we just need to get offline altogether. I know I have to take breaks every now and then bc it can all get overwhelming but that's my issue to work out not anyone else's. And yes, everything does cost money but these individual participants in capitalism are not as much to blame as the progenitors of capitalism

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stackthedeck · 5 months

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Can I ask why you're still reblogging Marvel stuff over here when you've been very vocal about the boycott on tiktok? I'm not judging, just confused

As I said in the most recent video about what the BDS is actually asking us to do, when it comes to pressure boycotts it’s about showing the company that people who oppose this genocide still want this product so they have an incentive to actually change business practices. On tiktok I have almost 20k followers on here I have about 100. I’m nothing but an advertisement on tiktok because of my platform and the nature of the app. I have no platform here but also the culture of tumblr doesn’t make me reblogging a comic cover an endorsement of the product. Also like the divide between fandom bullshit and politic posts on tumblr is nothing. A lot of us have a set it and forget mindset when it comes to boycotts but like this is a pressure boycott we need to talk about it. I’m not buying comics anymore but I’m still writing letters to marvel comics asking them about their stance in this genocide. Obviously they’re not answering them, but it feels like doing something. I think the best thing to do in this time is to pirate marvel content, comics movies tv shows etc. well really the best thing to do is switch to indie comics but I don’t have any money to buy them lmao. I do believe that marvel comics has been used to tell important political stories in the past, Jack Kirby did not kill nazis for us to write his work and legacy off as pure bigotry, and I believe they can be radical again. We’ve got to talk about the way the mcu has twister and contorted the comic characters to fit into their war propaganda. I don’t think literary analysis and critical thought are limited to writing argumentative essays, I think fandom can be a way to analyze media. It rarely does but it can.

I’ve chosen to not talk about marvel at all until Sabra is removed from Captain America 4 but I know others are talking about back issues and things out of print and actively encouraging pirating, showing that there are ways to engage with these politics presented by the comics without giving marvel your money. A lot of people are replacing Starbucks and McDonalds with other brands or at home recipes and that’s what I consider fanfic and pirating right now. Look at Star Trek, fans can save an entire franchise. Look at the sequel rewrites in Star Wars after bigoted fan backlash, we can also change franchises too. If we work collectively and scream loud enough, maybe we can change marvel for the better. I don’t think the solution in this time is to stop being a fan because Disney and Marvel will always exist, this is why the BDS has called for a pressure boycott on Disney not a no buy boycott, but it’s time to use the collective fan community to demand change.

#asks #to be clear I’m still praying on the death of the mcu #but not marvel comics I know they’re better than this #sometimes with the right writer that is

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olderthannetfic · 1 year

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Any thoughts on authortubers offering writing courses and presenting themselves as writing experts, especially without proven records of success and evidence they follow their own advice? These courses are typically overpriced compared to what you'd get at a college, and these people's credentials are basically just that they're popular content creators. Obviously, teaching and writing are different skillsets, but these courses feel like an MLM scam in the sense that they are selling shovels after the (self-publishing) gold rush ended.

I have many thoughts.

I actually don't care if people have proven themselves in the sense of a mainstream book contract and a bestseller. I don't have that, and I offer writing advice all the time. A lot of writing advice, including mine, is pretty similar.

What makes a particular book/course/video/etc. on writing craft worthwhile is that it rephrases the same basic truths about writing in a way that makes sense to one's own particular brain. Maybe this particular book energizes one and makes one want to write because it phrases everything very positively instead of making one dwell on one's shortcomings.

Or it could be valuable and inspiring because one likes the person delivering the advice. Maybe one likes their work. Maybe one likes their vibe.

Now, if it's a book of advice on How To Play The Amazon Algorithm or other very business-oriented advice, then yes, I'd want to see that they have a track record of sales.

I'm not sure that the self-publishing gold rush has entirely ended, though it's evolving. (Amazon cracking down on erotica and moving to a payment-per-page model makes romance novels more profitable than shortform porn, for example.)

That said, yes, I agree that quite a few authortubers sound like scam artists. I don't need them to be bestsellers or traditionally published. I do care if they've actually finished a book.

I learned a lot by finally getting my shit together to write something long-ish and finish it. My insights after that are far more useful than anything I'd have said before.

For authortubers who do have books out, I don't recall finding any whose books I wanted to buy, but even more often, they don't seem to have any finished novels??? (Granted, novels aren't the only writing, but they're often what people are looking for help with.)

I back some favorite authors on Patreon, and I'm always pleased when they do writing craft posts. I should write some more of those myself. That kind of model works far better for me as a reader because whether or not everybody else has discovered this author, I like them and thus am interested in what they have to say.

In general, I would not pay a lot of money for a creative writing course unless you know exactly what you're going to get. College courses often focus on literary fiction, disappointing people who want to write romance, mystery, sff, etc.

I wouldn't trust a course that costs a lot either unless it's literally you paying for 1:1 mentoring or editing. The ones I've seen advertised on Youtube sound highly suspect.

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camaro-and-smokes · 3 months

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Get Out of My Dreams, Get into My Car

Chapter 2: (s)He Works Hard for the Money

Read on tumblr >> / Read on AO3 >>

Warnings, tags etc: No warnings, just fluff. Light angst in this chapter, mentions of a breakup.

Chapter summary: Billy finds a note of someone looking for a place to stay at Mandy's notice board.

:::::::::::

On early Monday morning, Billy was leaning under the hood of the Camaro at work.

"Morning, Billy!" Mark, his co-worker, called out.

"Morning," he replied, annoyed, trying to find the problem the car had this time before he’d had to start working on paying customers’ cars. The Camaro was old and while it was easy getting parts for it, he’d either have to fully restore it at some point or just get rid of it. Even though he loved it the damn thing broke down all the time. Right now, though, he needed a car and he sure as hell didn't have any money for a new one.

"Hey, you hitting the waves later today?" Mark asked, leaning against the car.

"Nope," Billy grunted. I wish, he thought. "Got a class in the evening."

Mark hung around for a while before their boss called him to take a look at another car and Billy could finally concentrate on finding the fault. Not too soon after he figured it out. It was the carburetor, just as he’d been afraid.

Billy sighed, deflated. Thankfully, he would get a spare part quickly and he could change it at the shop after work, but it would still take a few days for it to arrive.

He'd have to borrow the shop's van, even if it meant that he'd be the designated delivery boy for the time being. Even if the garage and the studio were both within walking distance from his place, he needed wheels to get him from place A to place B quickly because of the timetables.

---

After work, Billy stopped by at Mandy's before hitting the studio to get a smoothie and hear the neighborhood gossip. When Billy was almost out the door with his drink, his eyes stopped on a note on the notice board by the door and he backed up to read it. Someone was looking for a place to stay.

'Seeking room/roommate. Quiet, responsible professional. Call Holiday Inn, ask for S--- H---,'

The note itself was written in a neat handwriting, but the note was signed rather than telling who left it. Of the names Billy could tell only the first letter. “Hey, Mandy? Do you know who left this?” he asked, looking at her and pointing at the note.

She squinted from behind the counter, trying to see which note of several Billy meant. “The... rent thing? Oh, yes,” she said, a sly smile spreading across her face. “He usually comes by in the morning, maybe on his way to work. Tall, brown hair, always a nice suit on. I think he’s a businessman of some sort,” she said. “Seemed nice. Really good looking too,” she continued, winking.

Billy rolled his eyes. “Yes, thank you. I’m out of the dating pool for a while. I’m looking for a roommate, not someone to break my heart again.” He looked back at the note and tried to read the name. “Do you know what’s his name? Can't make anything out of his scribbling.”

“No, sorry. But he stays at the Inn around the corner. Maybe the staff recognizes him? Or if he comes over, I can tell him you have a room available and ask his name.”

Billy took the note and put it in his pocket. “That's okay, I’ll take the note. If I can’t reach him, you can ask him his name.”

“Sure thing!” Mandy shouted after him.

Billy wouldn’t be selective if the guy was what he advertised in the ad. Because at this point a roommate was no longer optional but also urgent.

Money from the garage was good and the few lessons at the aerobics studio were a great addition to that. If he'd lived anywhere else, he would’ve probably managed more than well with all that. But the bungalow by the beach was expensive. The smart move would’ve been to find a place somewhere away from the beach. But there was nothing better than walking straight onto the beach from his own backdoor and get on the waves first thing after waking up. It had been his dream for as long as he could remember. And then there was everything else on top of that. He just couldn’t let it go, not yet.

But the phone bill was already late because he had to eat and buy gas, and the first time of rent to be paid just by him alone was looming at the end of the month. He could live without a phone for a few weeks if it came to that. But no matter how hard he tried to cut expenses, he couldn't pay for everything alone longer than just for another month.

---

When Billy finally got home in the evening after his class, he dropped his bag of sweaty training clothes on the laundry room floor. He dug out the note he’d taken with him from Mandy’s from his jacket pocket and looked at it.

It felt bittersweet that he'd have to rent out the room they'd used as a recreational space with Rob. Now all that was left there was his own weights. Rob had taken every single painting he'd ever painted in that room with him. Even though Rob hadn't been a proper artist—though he himself thought so and Billy hadn’t had the heart to question it—his art had color and life in them. The place felt lifeless and dull with all that gone, and the empty spaces on the walls reminded Billy about the breakup day in, day out. He'd have to buy at least some posters to cover those places. If he only had money to do that…

He sighed. A businessman sounded as good a roommate as anything. Better, even. He should at least have his half of the rent each month for sure.

Rob hadn't exactly been able to pay his half in full every month, but at least he'd been able to help some. Well, at least whenever he didn't have to unexpectedly stock on blank canvases or buy the latest trend hue selection of red paints absolutely necessarily because he just couldn’t express himself without them. And the whole time they'd lived there, Rob had been spending more time on the beach than Billy had. Rob didn't even like surfing.

All that was what had eventually led into the ultimatum Billy had given Rob: he would have to pull his weight, as in actually getting a proper day—or night—job, Billy didn't really care which one. Otherwise, Billy would have to reconsider their relationship. And not for the first time. He'd hoped it would've made Rob snap out of his reveries for good—but of course it hadn't. Rob had said he's not one to listen to any ultimatums, taken his things and left the next day.

Billy wiped his eyes angrily. He wouldn't let himself cry because of an asshole like Rob. That piece of shit didn't deserve his tears. With a new roommate, Billy could hopefully heal, move on from Rob at his own pace, and maybe at some point to date again, too. Because businessmen weren’t Billy’s style at all, he found them all boring. So, this guy would be a safe choice.

He just hoped that his phone was still connected as he went to the kitchen to make the call to whoever it was who was looking for a place to live. He unhooked the receiver of the phone attached to the wall and dialed the number.

The receptionist at the hotel answered. “Holiday Inn. How may I help you?”

“Hi, uh, I'm looking for someone who's staying at your hotel,” Billy said, looking at the paper and still trying to figure out what the squiggly letters of the name were.

“Can you give me their name?”

“That's the thing. I have a note with his name, but I can't really read it. I think the first name is Steve or Stephen, and the surname starts with an...H?”

“Hmm, let me see,” the receptionist said, and Billy could hear her typing on her computer. “Well, we have three guests matching for Steve H. at the moment: Hamilton, Harrington and Howell.”

Billy's brain hit blank for a moment. When he’d ran into Harrington, he’d said he had just moved into town… He closed his eyes as he shook his head, letting out a laugh. Shit. It had to be.

“Sir?” the receptionist asked.

“Um, yeah,” Billy said. “Harrington. Can you connect to his room, please?”

“Just one moment,” the woman said.

The dial tone came back for a while, and then the call connected.

“Hawrington.”

Yeah, that was Steve Harrington, the one and only, Billy thought. Even if he sounded like he was eating something. Billy had to keep himself from barking a laugh. He couldn’t quite believe that he was actually doing this. After a while, he managed to open his mouth. “Uh...Hi.”

The other end was quiet for a bit, and Billy was already about to ask if it was Steve when there was a reply. “Hi... Who is this?”

Billy laughed shortly and turned to lean his back to the kitchen wall. “It's Billy... Billy Hargrove,” he stammered slightly, scratching the back of his neck.

There was another brief pause. Then, “Uh, hi… How did you…um…” Harrington stuttered, surprised. “What can I do for you?”

Billy heard a paper crinkling somewhere close by the receiver. Harrington must’ve been wiping the corners of his mouth. Billy smiled. “You left a note on the notice board at Mandy’s. You still looking for a place to stay?”

“Oh, right! Yes, yes I do,” Harrington replied. “You know someone who has a room available?”

“Yeah. I, uh… I have a free room. My boyf… um…” Billy had to swallow. This was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t. “My previous roommate moved out. It’s, uh…it’s just a small two-bedroom bungalow, but it's by the beach. Easy to take early morning waves if you're into that kind of thing.” He had to pause. There was no going back after this. “You can move in as soon as you want.”

“Really?” Harrington asked and then was quiet for a while. Billy was again about to open his mouth when he finally spoke again. “Well, I’ve had none other offers and I haven’t found a good place from any paper ads either.”

“Oh, so is my offer something you’re taking just because you have no other option?” Billy let out bluntly, feeling Harrington’s words stinging even while knowing it wasn’t his fault he needed someone to pay the rent with.

“Hey, I don’t even know what you’re offering except a room by the beach,” came the reply with an annoyingly calm tone.

Suddenly, this didn’t feel like such a good idea anymore to Billy. “You know, I can hang up any moment…”

“No, please don’t,” Harrington said quickly. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” Steve sighed. “I’m just tired after having no luck with finding a place to stay. It’s been more stressful than I expected. The hotel rates aren’t exactly built for my paycheck in the long run. I have just a few bags with me, no furniture. I can move in as soon as it suits you.”

Billy wrapped the cord around his finger. “So, you wanna see it first or…?”

“No, no need. I believe you it’s in a good spot and in a decent shape. On the beach and all.”

“Okay, pretty boy, you need to get yourself a bed, then. But you can sleep on the couch until then. It's a bit lumpy, though.”

Billy gave Harrington the address and hung up. He hooked the receiver, letting his hand hang on it for a while as he stared at the wall.

Rob was out. For good. If Rob tried to slither his way back, he wouldn’t have to come up with any excuses. Just say that there’s no room left. Even if Rob still very much occupied a nook in his heart and refused to leave. The bastard.

Then it hit Billy that he was about to live with Steve Harrington, of all people. It forced his mood to lift a little and he couldn't help but chuckle at the odd way of them reconnecting. They’d bumped into each other just a few days ago and now Harrington was about to move in with him.

He was a little concerned, though.

It wasn’t like they couldn’t have gotten along back in high school, but something had always been between them. Something abrasive, like hard sharp edges brushing against each other. Billy just hadn’t gotten enough of poking Harrington at any given moment. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut even after Harrington broke up with miss goody-two-shoes and saw that the other one was already on the edge.

Now he felt bad about it. He’d been the poster boy of a bully back then. He wasn’t proud of it, even though he’d had his reasons. This time he would do his best to try to get along with Harrington.

If something, at least he didn't have to fear falling in love with the man. The guy was straight as a board.

---

The next evening, Steve parked his car on the street in front of Billy’s bungalow. He got out of the car and looked around. The first thing that assaulted his senses was Metallica's ‘Nothing Else Matters’ blasting out onto the street from a window of the small powder blue house that bathed in the last sun rays of the day. Steve was sure the entire neighborhood heard it, but surprisingly, there was no one around complaining. Apparently, they were used to it.

The small, tiled front yard of the bungalow was covered with a pergola full of blooming wisteria. A salty breeze blew lazily from the ocean and made the heady fragrance of the flowers to surround Steve. Everything looked exactly the way Billy had described so far.

Steve took his bags from the trunk, walked to the door, and rang the doorbell.

A moment later, Billy opened the door. “Hey, Harrington!”

Steve smiled at the apron Billy was wearing. It was pink, saying 'Kiss the Cook'. He pointed at it. “Should I?”

Billy looked down on himself, then looked back up at Steve, long-faced. “Oh, ha ha.” He opened the door wider. “Get in.”

Steve walked in and, after setting his bags down, he took in the space. Billy hadn't lied when he'd said that the bungalow was small. The front door opened directly to the living room and with the couch—that was luckily fair sized—a TV with a VCR, and a shelf full of VHS-cassettes, it already felt full.

Billy closed the door behind Steve. “It's small, I know. Not like the mansion you used to live in back at Loch Nora,” he chuckled as he wiped his hands on the apron. “But the beach is right there,” he continued, pointing at the windows of the living room.

Steve looked wide-eyed at the gorgeous view of the beach and the ocean that opened behind the windows. “I bet that's why you chose it, right?” he said.

“Yeah. Which is why I also didn't want to move away from here when my boyfri...roommate left.”

Steve didn't miss the word Billy swallowed halfway. He glanced at Billy. “I'm sorry.”

Billy looked out for a moment, then glanced at Steve before a sad smile flashed on his lips. “Nothing to be sorry about. He was an asshole.”

An awkward silence fell over them for a while.

Clearing his throat, Billy gestured towards the other rooms. “Anyway, kitchen's over there. Bathroom's tiny and we have to share, but it does the job. The rooms aren't unfortunately that much larger, either.”

Billy showed Steve the empty room that was about to be his. With only Billy's weights on the floor, it looked a decent size.

When Steve saw Billy's room though... A double bed filled almost half of the room and the bed wasn't even that big.

But it wasn't the size of the room that surprised Steve the most. It was the powder pink duvet on the bed, turquoise shelves with surf paraphernalia and car books neatly organized on them, way too many crop tops hanging on the door of a small closet.

Not exactly what Steve had expected.

For some reason he'd imagined Metallica posters, haphazardly put together shelves, messy piles of clothes-mostly jeans-on the floor, maybe. The faded white and turquoise surfboard hanging on the wall was the only thing that somehow fit the picture Steve had of Billy.

Steve realized that he actually had no idea who Billy really was.

Suddenly, they were both snapped out of their thoughts by a smell of something burning.

“Oh, shit!” Billy yelped and ran to the kitchen. “Fucking piece of...Ugh!” he cursed loudly as he grabbed the pan from the stove and turned the gas off.

A moment later, the smoke alarm in the ceiling went off.

Steve went to the kitchen, holding his fingers in his ears. Black smoke rose from the pan in the sink and Billy was standing on a chair, trying to reach for the alarm in the ceiling to turn it off.

“Need a hand?” Steve shouted over the blaring alarm.

Billy managed to remove the screeching gadget from the ceiling and he ripped the battery out of it, quieting the noise before tossing both onto the table. He stepped down from the chair and leaned his hands onto the side of the sink where whatever had been cooking in the pan had transformed itself mostly into soot and smoke and was quickly exiting through the open window. “Nope. Dinner is ruined, though,” he sighed. “Fuck,” he muttered a while later. “Can’t do even this right.”

Steve was surprised at the disappointment on Billy’s face. Maybe the boyfriend situation was making things harder than normal. “I can get us pizza,” he offered.

Billy looked at Steve for a while, biting his cheek. “I wanted to welcome you with dinner but…” He shook his head. “Things haven’t been easy lately. Would you mind?”

Steve smiled. “Of course not. My treat.”

---

Later, they were eating their pizzas—Billy a Hawaiian, Steve a pepperoni—in the kitchen by the table Billy had set while Steve was out getting the pizzas.

“You seem to really...enjoy that,” Steve said, amused, when he saw Billy basically inhaling his pineapple filled slice.

“Hey,” Billy replied, mock-offended, “If you start telling me I can’t have my vitamins in the form I choose to...”

Steve laughed and raised his hands up in a placative gesture. “No judgment, just an observation.”

Billy smirked with a snort. “Right.” He ate the rest of his slice and wiped his hands on a napkin before taking a swig of his beer. “So, how's the work at...what was it? Marketing?”

“Yeah, marketing. For Blockbuster,” Steve replied.

Billy raised his eyebrows. “Oh, wow. You a big shot there or something?”

“Something,” Steve smiled. “So far, it hasn't been exactly what I thought it would be, though. I was hoping for fewer Excel sheets and projector slides and more something creative. I'd definitely spend time on waves rather than in the office.”

“You? On waves? Other than under them?” Billy teased, grinning. “Have you ever even seen a board? You looked at mine earlier like you'd never seen one before.”

“Not exactly what I meant,” Steve said, laughing.

Billy joined in the laughter. “Well, it's not that I spend time on the waves that much, either. Or haven't, not since we–I moved here. Had to make the ends meet, so to speak. But maybe now that you're here, I can catch a few here and there.”

Steve looked at his pizza and nodded, smiling. He'd been concerned about the idea of living together with Billy, and especially if their ideas of handling income and expenses would meet at least on some level. If it had been Billy who'd had to stretch the pennies before and he'd done it, too, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Though the coming days would tell how well they'd really manage.

Steve just hoped they wouldn't be at each other's throats the whole time.

#harringrove fic #harringrove fanfiction #billy hargrove #steve harrington #harringrove #billy x steve #steve x billy #billy hargrove needs a hug #stranger things au #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #get out of my dreams get into my car #suometar writes

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harpidiem · 5 months

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Hi! I really like your art and blog, and I noticed that you apparently have been running commission on-and-off for at least a little while, and I was wondering if you had any tips on running art commissions? Any good guidelines, how to get more visibility, etc.

I know it's not really a reliable thing, but I'm in a bad situation health-wise and could really use the money, so any advice you might be willing to share about how to do it better would be much appreciated.

Sure thing!

Well for one you have to figure that most people don't have money to spend on commissions; I certainly don't and commissions are more of a luxury thing to buy considering they're relatively expensive and take a long time, so don't be too discouraged if you don't see much business. I get less commissions around the holidays considering people are buying more important things around that time. I have consistent severe health problems too, and that's the main reason I struggle for money lmao, so I understand.

I've been doing commissions I think for two-three years now? and Im still not sure how is the best way to go about it LMAO my bad. I'd just say

-When you post an artwork, just simply put 'commissions open' at the bottom of the caption, so people are aware you do commissions

-I keep a commission post regularly circulated on my blog and personal side blog. not reblogged day or something so I don't annoy my mutuals (or worse, make them feel bad for not being able to support; I've had to unfollow someone because I felt bad not being able to help after they rbed their commissions page 24/7 and I felt bad fjjsjf selfish I know, but. y'know.)

-I mention it in my bio for instagram, discord, twitter, anything I use.

-When you finish a commission, ask if they're ok with you posting it.

-Start at the lowest possible price, and as interest grows, and your skill grows, raise the price just a bit every so often (I used to charge $20 for commissions, but since my process is now taking me 3-6 hours or more to complete a commission, I raised it to at *least* $40-$90

-Always be friendly and considerate (Im sure you are but. genuinely it goes a long long way)

-Give regular updates (I'm bad about this one because I start multiple projects and work on like. 7 things at a time. God bless people who are so so patient with me). Ask if they're happy with the process every step of the way, and make changes where needed (within reason).

-Always keep them in the loop of you have a major life thing going on that might slow down progress, or admit when there's been a goof on your end. I personally appreciate it when someone keeps me updated, so I try to update others as well >_<

-Just be honest, friendly, and people will know you're reliable. Keep it chill and not desperate, and you'll see business

-I recommend a page on Trello to keep your info organized! I use that for commission rules/guidelines

-Only advertise work you enjoy making. You do not want to get stuck painting if you hate painting! Nothing is worse than being on a time crunch and not even enjoying the process you have to finish

That's about all I have honestly, I just post commission work constantly as my weekly posting and it's been 1. good for growing my skill in the past year because I have to draw 2. people know me for character commissions at a certain point because I post them a lot. I hope any of this was helpful!!

#asks #biathediamond #krakens croaks

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vivilove-jonsa · 1 year

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rlly thrilled to hear both of you are doing well with ur books. if u don't mind me asking: is it financially viable? Could u do something like that and support urself or is it more like pocket money? are there startup costs? (feel free to ignore this ask if this is something you don't want to talk about)

Hey Anon,

I don't know if you're the same anon but I'll post the link to the ask that sparked this question for any who are curious here.

The answer to all your questions can be yes (helpful, right?)

Details below the cut...

Is it financially viable?

In my opinion, yes but you and I may be at very different stages in our lives. Are you a student? A parent with young children? Are you struggling to pay the light bill? Do you have time and energy to throw into writing daily or nightly around real life? These things matter.

Could I live off what I'm earning since I started self-publishing nearly a year ago? Hell no. I have a very good full-time job with benefits and an excellent retirement package. My husband and I have both agreed I can't walk away from that for anything less than six-figure earnings but I can say our mortgage has been covered by my writing for the past six months. That's meaningful to us and worth my time and effort.

Does success happen? It does but I won't sugarcoat it. For every Lucy Score, Cora Reilly and T.L. Swan, self-published romance authors who are millionaires, there are thousands out there who are making much, much less. From $20 to $10,000 in a month, it varies widely! But there are things you can to do increase your chances of hitting it big.

Also, I should mention that Amy and I are Amazon exclusive, part of their Kindle Unlimited subscription service. The good part about that? We earn 70% of our sales versus 30% if we were classified as Wide authors (people who can publish elsewhere like Smashwords, etc). The not so good part, you're very dependent on Amazon. For now, it's worth it for us and the (very different) niches we chose do well in KU.

Startup costs -

KEEP IT MINIMAL! I would not throw tons of money into fancy formatting software or professional editing if you're looking to self-publish your first novel. Do the work yourself, take advantage of free resources, sites and tools and see a profit (hopefully). I published my first book May 31st last year and I had made up my initial startup costs by the time my second book was released in late July.

What you actually need..

Royalty free images to make covers - $40 and up, up, up

Catch deals from Deposit Photos. Twice a year they do a deal through appsumo where you can get 100 images for $40. It's a steal of a deal. GIMP is free software you can download to make covers. Find YouTube videos to show you how. It's all out there and free. But it takes effort. Sorry, no shortcuts there :)

Reader Services - $10/month

Many, many self-published authors use bonus stories or free stories as Reader Magnets to draw readers and future fans to their newsletters. You need a system to funnel those readers and collect emails. Bookfunnel is who I use. Some of their services are free but you pretty much need that $10/month to make use of the good stuff. They also offer author swaps and newsletter building promos if you want to grow your list of followers. StoryOrigin is an alternative site some people use.

Newsletter - $0

I use Mailerlite which is free up to 1k subscribers. There's also Mailchimp. You can have freebie landing sites from Mailerlite. I haven't bothered with a paid website domain yet but I know this is something I'll need to look into soon.

ARCs - $10 to $20/month

Booksprout is the one I use. There are probably others. I think it's about $10/month for the beginner subscription to get those reviewers. I'm using a mid-list author plan now ~ $190/year. Some niches make use of SM more for this.

Advertising - $0 to thousands

Don't bother until you've got a book or two out there (come ask me if you get to that point). I'd say the only advertising you should focus on to start with is your passive marketing - your blurb, your cover and the keywords you enter on Amazon that make your book discoverable. Beyond that, paid advertising can wait.

However, you can use Tiktok to get your book noticed. Amy is learning the ropes of this and we've both seen people whose sales have skyrocketed thanks to one or two good Tiktoks to draw readers. One person made $10k in a month off of ONE good Tiktok. Other SMs have their successes, too. This is not an area I excel at though. I'd need one of my kids to teach me more... lmao.

Finally, I'll say, I didn't go into this thinking it would make me rich and famous. I wrote 3 million words of Jonsa out of love over the course of five years. I've written 350k words of original fiction the past year and it's paying the mortgage. Thankfully, I love what I'm writing and I've set myself a five-year plan for my 'side hustle' to see how I feel in 2027. We'll see where I am then. Fingers crossed I can claim I'm a six-figure author!

But what you can achieve in self-publishing can be phenomenal if you're writing to market (giving romance readers those tropes they love and hitting the expected story beats) in a genre and niche that has hungry readers. Our discord has verified tiers so people who say they're making 50k in thirty days aren't just blowing smoke. They've proven it. Imagine making money like that and then, if you're at a point in your life where you want to try, GO FOR IT.

#writing #self publishing #romance authors

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frogboi2023 · 2 months

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COMMISSIONS & CRAFTS FOR SALE 2024:

For those that may not know, I've been having troubles getting some kind of cash assistance. Even though I'm on food assistance, I can't get any more cash assistance because I'm "Disabled, but not too disabled to work." (Despite my physical and mental health slowly getting worse, and not being able to get a full diagnosis and treatment for my current health issues.)

Until my appeal goes through, I'm trying to advertise my crafts and commissions on more of the platforms I'm on.

(NOTE: All money I get from commissions and the things I sell, are split into helping my partner and family, along with necessities for myself, more crafts supplies, pet food/pet care, etc. Once I'm more financially stable in the future, I hope to be able to maybe give some of my money back to the community to help people in need. Or use that money to create something that can help people in need.)

ART COMMISSIONS:

You may already know that I draw art. (Both traditionally and digitally.) My current prices are listed below, but if you want to see more examples, feel free to message me and I'll be happy to show you some pics of my most recent pieces! ☺️

CRAFTS:

I have a small online shop where I sell handmade items. I've made bookmarks, plushies, dragon eggs, jewelry, and more! (If you'd like to see more examples, feel free to message me on here and I'd be happy to show you/tell you about the other things I make. ☺️)

FUTURE PROJECTS:

1. Sometime in the future, depending on if I can get a diagnosis/help with my joints/fatigue, I want to be able to design/alter clothes inspired by the Harajuku/Ouji/Alternative fashion styles, and sell them to people. Until then, I'm only (slowly) making/altering clothes for myself. You can see some of my clothes alteration projects at:

Instagram 1: phoenix.creates_2024

Instagram 2: phoenix.models_2024

2. I also plan on customizing and selling furbys once I'm in a better spot to do so, financially and physically.

3. Before my joints got bad, I used to be a freelance front-end web designer/developer. Unfortunately I've had to stop doing that for now due to chronic joint pain and fatigue. If I ever get help for these issues, I plan on going back into web design and offer my services to people again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. ☺️

#crafter #crafts for sale #freelance #handmade #logo design #character design #customized #custom items #self taught artist #artists on tumblr #digital artist #small artist #i make art #i make things #idk what else to tag #i design things

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atthecenterofeverything · 5 months

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I've seen a lot of posts regarding what you can do to help Palestine right now and while all of them are very informative I feel like they're more geared towards people who are unwilling or unable to attend protests, or live in towns where there are no protests happening.

however, if you would like to get involved in the protests for a Free Palestine where you live, here are a few things that are very helpful. keep in mind that you still need to contact the local orgs that are planning the protests. this is only my personal experience/opinion and it can't be tailored to your local situation. ask them what they need and how you can help.

help advertise the protests where you live with flyers. a lot of groups design flyers every week, so try to get in contact with the people doing that. if you have access to a printer at work, use it to print flyers and go hand them out at metro stations (make sure to go with a friend, some people get aggressive). if you can tell people are interested, have a conversation with them, try to share information! note: this is illegal without a permit in some places. keep an eye out for security.

same goes for posters. research pro-palestine printing shops around your city that could accept to print them. if you don't have money, a lot of organizations print out hundreds and then leave them at a drop-off point where you can pick them up. you can then make glue by buying glue powder, or making wheatpaste at home. same as for flyers - do it in groups of two or threes as it's illegal in some places.

if you are good with graphic design or video editing, it is likely they have needs related to that (creating social media posts or editing protest video for publication).

if you have some kind of legal background, or in general are white/have citizenship of where you live/are comfortable interacting with police, they usually require some kind of liaison with the cops. you can offer to help. please bear in mind this is more responsibility and more training that the rest of those tasks, but it is crucial.

most protests also need an awareness team to help anyone in the protests that might need assistance, document police brutality and arrests, tell people not to talk to the cops, stay with people who have been detained until they are released, etc. buy water, snacks and common OTC meds and keep offering them to people.

can you drive? do you have a car or a van? a lot of protests need cars for speeches and to play music and slogans. all you need to be able to do is to drive veeeery slowly for a few hours. especially in a bigger city, this is very needed.

protests are expensive. if you have material you don't use (megaphone, speakers, vests, rope, tape, etc.) reach out to orgs to ask them if they need it. you can also organize fundraisers to donate to these orgs, where the money will usually go towards 1. protest material, printing costs, etc. 2. legal costs towards people who have received fines or need lawyers and 3. any groups on the ground in Palestine that those orgs recommend.

research! get out on the streets! organize!

#free palestine #palestine #left

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elixlozgamer · 1 year

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Im probably gonna get a lot of hate. Im probably gonna get death threats in my ask box (again. Yes Im looking at you "kill the soldiers" anon. Speaking of which, anon will be OFF until this post stops getting notifs. Block me if you don't want to see any other opinions than you own, because I'm allowed to have them.)

Rest of PSA is below the cut. TW for mention of death threats and possible cussing.

But we do NOT need to send death threats, things with smutty themes, etc. Into a celebrities ask box all because they're gonna be on this site.

They're people just as much as we are. If you don't like them, theres a handy-dandy feature called "blocking and moving on". Not writing rude messages. Not saying "Blazing a post is a pvp attack". (Because god forbid an artist use a feature to be seen)

I understand not wanting big corps to make their way on Tumblr. Believe me, I do. However Tumblr's advertising (or at least on mobile) is easilly skippable/you can scroll past or actually look at the ad if its somewhat interesting.

Also, Tumblr sells shoelaces for 19 dollars. That should only be like three dollars, but it shows that it really does need the money. (@indigoartistqueen mentioned that, along with other various things in this article) Such as paying programmers to create new features. Paying artists to create new logos and themes. paying the employees that check out the reports. (which I am rlly sorry for them bc I just so happen to keep finding really rude comments or things shipping an 8 year old with an 1000 year old.)

So, if tumblr got a little more money, then merch will cost less. Features will cost less. You can crab someone for less for goodness sakes. (Speaking if which, if you REALLY hate a celeb that badly, run them off with crabs.) But tumblr, just like any other site and app, NEEDS money to keep it running.

Also, don't you think SOME form of algorithm will be good? Or at least better search results? Because artists do tend to use very different tags. (Like memes, funny, lmao, lol, etc.) All that could be grouped under "Funny" so that people can actually find and search for their content easier.

Not to mention that with the way the tumblr staff are, I highly doubt they're gonna be implementing things that will cause a riot from their supporters, like the algorithm, bc the blogs ARE the algorythm, reblogging stuff they like to spread it out.

But just a better tagging system! i myself have stopped posting art as much because I just DON'T get seen! People just don't like or reblog my work, but if I were to blaze it, I would suddenly have 1,000 notes full of threats and "this is a pvp attack. Everybody block on sight."

Now, getting back to the celebrity thing. So many people have said that they don't want any political opinions to divide this site. Well I'd hate to break it to you, but we have, in some form, a type of political dispute. Usually its over the type of view one should have on a fiction character. How you can interpret them. What headcanons are correct. Which fandoms better. Which characters hotter. I could go on over the disputes! Plus the political side of tumblr! Science side of tumblr! Religous site on tumblr!

It never ends! If you don't like a celebrity, DON'T SEND DEATH THREATS TO THEIR ASK BOX! Some will actually commit it! Instead, BLOCK. THEM. It's easy! Don't pay attention to it! Just block them. If you really don't like them, send a cursed image, like I don't know, Patrick Star in stripper heels! A perfect circle thats slightly off! Do NOT send threats, because they're humans just like you! (Or as a Fairy myself, xenogenders as well)

Point is, quit trying to run celebrities off this site all because you're afraid of contriversal opinions that you don't agree with! Just block them! It's there for a reason! It's not like roblox where you can only block 100 people total!

Use the block feature. Don't fight fire with fire. It will ONLY get worse. You don't see firemen using flamethrowers, do you??? No! Please for the LOVE OF WHOEVER OR WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE IN quit spreading hate! It only makes things worse! You're only making yourself worse! Just because tumblr is an anonymous site does not mean you can do whatever you want... Because guess what? There's other humans right behind that post you just saw! (Unless its a bot ofc, that's a different story for another time)

Respectfully, have a good day. If you don't like my opinion, block me. If you send me a threat, I'll block and report you.

#psa #important #tumblr #ryan reynolds #john green #celebrities #politics #tw death threats

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