Antisocial Socialites

AN II Not sure what this is, but I might expand on it at some point.

Reader who somehow is an impeccable judge of character. Reader who deescalates situations before others notice it's going off the rails. Reader who draws the attention of Price when they come to stand behind a child whose guardian took a menacing step towards them, face more threatening than he has ever seen it. Reader who, after months and years of working with Price, still surprises him with their instinctive ability to be at the right place at the right time. Reader whom he sees flinch for the first time when their family comes to tap them out for the holidays. Reader who comes back from the holidays quiet and jumpy. Reader who shrinks at harsh words. Reader who falls into blind panic when Soap pins them down during training. Reader who breaks his nose to struggle free. Reader who cant breathe. Price whose heart breaks when he realizes why reader is so good at predicting chaos.

Surviving the Cold: Tips from an old hag

I'm hearing some of ya'll are losing power when it's below freezing. This is terrible, and I am sorry.

If you have time to prep, do it. The Red Cross has several excellent pages on this stuff. If not, work with what you have.

As someone who has survived being snowed into a house without power in subzero temps, here are some suggestions (generally useful even if your power is on):

Light candles: I suggest sticking to small tealights, tapers, or jar candles to avoid building up smoke. Keep them ON a table or tray and AWAY from anything that might dream of catching fire (remember, kids, dust is flammable... as is pet hair). These won't provide the heat a fireplace would, but they will do SOMETHING.

Don't take off your shoes unless you're putting on thick slippers: Frostnip is a bitch and I get it every other year because I'm a dumbass. Learn from my pain.

Cover windows and doors: You know those heavy carpet wall-hangings that are so popular in the northeast parts of Europe and Russia? Those bitches are functional. If you have spare area rugs, comforters, or blankets, tape or tack them over the Ice Portals.

Don't run down your phone battery: Yeah, it's boring, but don't scroll TikTok unless you KNOW you can recharge at will. I had a friend get trapped on the road and I had to organize a whole rescue posse in the dark of night. She only had enough juice for one call. That call probably saved her life.

If it's safe, spend time elsewhere: Become Walmart's resident ghost. Inspire dread in your small town coffee shop's baristas. The library always welcomes hapless ghouls. Better to haunt public spaces with hair you haven't been able to wash for two weeks and smelly clothes than become a statistic.

Layer the fuck up: Multiple socks. Fingerless gloves over regular gloves. Two undershirts, a long-sleeve concert crew neck, you highschool spirit t-shirt, that shirt your friend keeps forgetting to pick up, a thin sweater, a thick sweater, the Horror Your Loving Auntie Knitted Just For You, your old button-up, and a coat. Get a hat. Add a blanket - it's a cloak now. Be ridiculous. Make it weird. Be the junk lady from Labyrinth.

Do not drink booze: Alcohol will make you feel warm while compromising your actual body temperature. Save the schnaps for the party when the power's back.

Ask for help if you need it: Remember how I mentioned the Red Cross? If you need a warm place to shelter until the power's back and you don't have safe family/friends, they can help. Your county may also have emergency shelters in place. Those aren't just for unhoused folks. If you need them, use them, and ASK FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT.

rule: go to Pinterest, search “[your name] core aesthetic” and create a moodboard from the first nine images. no need to mention your name!

This.

Can you do something for me, please?

I want you to reblog this if you believe that two people can be very close and physically affectionate with one another, but still have a completely nonsexual, non-romantic relationship. 

Even if the two people in question are capable of being sexually or romantically attracted to one another. 

Because the friendship I share with someone I consider family in a way that transcends blood has been typecast as a romantic relationship ENTIRELY too many times, and I’m beginning to get sick of it. 

The Reluctant Victor, inspired by The Reluctant Bride by Auguste Toulmouche - I just thought that this painting was SO perfect for Katniss and I had to draw it!

Do you have any ways to check in a fanfic is written by AI? I have no trouble detect if a work email is written by AI but when it comes to fanfic, I just can't. English is my second language too. There are a bunch of fics of this one author on Wattpad that when I was reading, it feels weird? A little bit uncanny. I don't want to misunderstand them if it's just a me problem but I also hate everyone using AI to write so I'd appreciate a method or a tool to check. Thank you.

I don't have any solid indicators, however, if it feels off, you're likely noticing something off about the writing. The "em-dash" claim (that AI uses em dashes a lot) isn't really something to rely on.

(A better way to identify AI is an overuse of bullet lists, which, uh, I'm about to do, so here goes.)

Inconsistencies and repetition. This is a tough one right out of the gate, but all writers have a style. There's a turn of phrase, sentence structure, or common words that tend to pop up in their writing again and again. AI, on the other hand, does not stick to a distinctive style. It may repeat the same sentence structure over and over, or seem overly formerly written, especially in dialogue. The longer a document/fic, the more repetitive writing structures you will see.

Lack of depth or subtlety. Do the descriptions feel stilted or odd? Are the metaphors mixed together in a way that doesn't make sense (describing something dark using a comparison to something bright, odd comparisons that you've never heard before, etc)? Does it feel like the emotions are flat and not connecting to the story? All of these things could be things to watch out for.

Perfect grammar. I'm still finding grammatical errors in stories I wrote years ago. No amount of spellcheck will save me from a typo. AI never has that problem, but it also won't use punctuation to make a point (like using commas to indicate a speech pattern).

Updated too damn fast. If someone is uploading thousands of words a day, there's no way they're writing the story themselves. Massive, rapid-fire updates are something to keep an eye out for.

Now, all of these things alone do not indicate someone is using AI. Everyone's written a bad metaphor before, some people are great at grammar, and folks new to writing may have an inconsistent writing style. As you have noticed, speaking English as a second language makes folks overly prone to being flagged as using AI, which is also not helpful.

There's also no perfect AI checker, as most tend to throw up false positives. But the longer the story, the more indicators will pop up. Scenes might get repetitive, or sex scenes start to feel the same.

I also, unfortunately, don't have any advice for what to do if you feel like AI is being used to write fanfiction. You certainly don't want to falsely accuse someone of using it publicly (though I'd reach out to friends to see if they have the same suspicions). Ultimately, the best case scenario is that people will identify when they use AI (there's a whole tag for it on AO3), but I don't know how common that will become. In a pinch, when I suspect something has been plagiarized or written by AI, I shift the writer to my "do not read" pile and move on.

A dating service where matching is based on people’s search history exists. You’re a serial killer. You go on a date with a writer.

This man (thatgreygentleman) is one of my favorite creators and his hot take on Zuko’s coronation is amazing