AS Afflatus: Issue Nineteen

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If you are a new reader of the Afflatus, welcome! This magazine is meant to be interactive with our members, meaning submissions, suggestions, and nominations are encouraged! For each contribution to the Afflatus, points will be awarded to the house! Through this magazine, we aim to provide tips and inspiration as well as updates regarding the site. To make a submission, you can do so by using this form or even posting directly to the thread.

Submissions that are meant to be shown for the next issues are: Dear Stag, Featured Writing, & Anonymous Compliments/Critique.

Afflatus Contents: Title Post, Updates, Dear Stag, Writing & Life Tips, Character Interview & Prompt, Member Corner, Featured Writing, Adventure Story, Activity Center and Anonymous Compliments and Critique.

Current Staff/Team Members: Rakuen, Thunderofthedrum, Commander Shepard, Snow, Lost, Ichor., Kami, Blue, NeverNever, Cerise, Darkness, Chemically Poisoned. Here is our team page.

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Gift Exchange & Next Event: The gift exchange event is now over! All participants were to have messaged Snow to confirm they exchanged gifts with their assigned partner in order to earn their house points. With the conclusion of this event, this month will be a rest month. The next event will be the 1x1 Competition and will begin in February. More details on this event will be provided later this month, so keep your eyes out for a new announcement!

Staff Changes: As many of you may have noticed, we have lost a few staff members and also have some new faces. Meraki, caim, Night Fury, and important have all chosen to step down from the team. They have done a lot for the site during their time on staff and we thank them greatly for it! We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate NeverNever, our new Overseer, Lost, our new Global Moderator, and chemically poisoned, our new attendant, on joining the team!

Afflatus Changes: As you will notice, some changes have been made to the Afflatus! We hope you guys enjoy the new sections. Please take a moment to read each section to understand what will be present in that section.

House Point Totals: We are wrapping up loose ends for the House points and will be posting the results and winning House soon! Please keep your eyes open for the announcement!

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The Dear Stag segment will work as it normally does. If you have something you want to ask, you can submit it through the Afflatus's Google form which is linked on the very first post. Even though the writing tips and life tips sections have been removed, you can still ask questions that would fit in that section. Please keep in mind that we are not professionals, so serious matters should be talked about with a trusted adult. We will try to answer all the Dear Stags. Please have Dear Stag submissions in by the second week of each month to give time to answer in an adequate manner!

Dear Stag,
I have two roommates who are constantly on my nerves. They are both lazy and never clean up after themselves (I'm talking piles of dishes in the sink and on the stove to the point that I cannot cook or clean up after myself), and are going so far as to steal items of mine and claim that they have no idea where these items have gone. This includes my work clothes, which, I very obviously need to wear to work. I've tried notes, speaking to them directly, and even hiding my items in my room, but working long days and/or nights has me out of the house a lot so I cannot keep things monitored. Unfortunately, I cannot just kick them out, or anything of the sort, as rent is high, and I would not be able to afford it alone, and with my line of work, roommate seeking is very very very dangerous. I also cannot look into other places -- as I am in a year-long lease, and I have two fur babies and most places around my city do not allow pets. What can I do? Please help me out here, I'm at my wit's end.
- Anonymous Wyvern

• Hey there! This definitely sounds like a tough situation. From the looks of it, you've done everything that I would have suggested or would have done if I were in your shoes. Something you may want to try is investing in a key based lock. This way you can lock up your belongings in your room and take the key with you. If you think they may try to force the door open, get long screws for the lock to make it harder to do so. Additionally, the next best thing is to be assertive and to put your foot down. If you threaten something, follow through with it so that your roommates know you're serious about what you say. Maybe try talking to them again and emphasizing how frustrated you're feeling. If it helps, maybe a chore chart or some general guidelines to follow in the house - especially the common areas, like the kitchen and living room.

Dear Stag,
It's that time of year again. With every new year comes a new resolution for that year. What are some tips to stick to your new year resolution and accomplishing it?
- Anonymous Wyvern

• First of all, be specific about your goal(s). Don't keep them broad. If you want to lose weight, don't just say that. Set up a specific goal for yourself, but make it a reasonable goal. For instance, losing a pound every week. Perhaps even outline what you will do to achieve your goal. Another good idea to think about is to do a "habit tracker." Research suggests that it takes about 21 days to form a habit. So, for 21 days, track yourself and make sure you accomplish what you're trying to do. Once you've fallen into a habit, you'll likely be able to stick with it for the rest of the year.

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This was a popular request and so we have decided to add in this new section! Each month will feature 15 questions members can answer about themselves. We will try to keep them themed so that they're not terribly random! If you would like to ask your own questions, you are welcome to suggest them through the Google form, linked on the first post of the Afflatus! Each Google form entry is equal to 5 points, so to keep things fair, when submitting your own questions, please submit at least 5 in order to get the full 5 points!

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1. How did you get into roleplaying?
2. What was the first character you ever made? Do you still use them?
3. What is your favorite character you have made so far?
4. What tip would you give to other role-players?
5. What is the longest running role-play you had?
6. At what age did you start roleplaying?
7. Were/are you into reading other people's roleplays?
8. Did you start with a group rp or a 1x1 rp first?
9. What fandom or genre did you first love to rp?
10. Looking back, what was a Mary Sue/Gary Stu characteristic you often gave to your characters?
11. What website/forum did you first start roleplaying on?
12. Have your typing skills changed over time from roleplaying?
13. Has roleplaying affected what you want to do in the future?
14. What are your favorite things to roleplay today? Are the same as the past?
15. Do you think you'll continue roleplaying when you're older?

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This section hasn't changed terribly much! The only difference is now that there will be two prompts provided every month. Additionally, every other month the character interview questions will be OTP based questions, similar to the activity done last month. The point system for the character interview and the prompts will work the same. You can only choose one of the two prompts to write, but are more than welcome to use the prompts for personal threads or plotting.

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1. What is your character's zodiac sign? Do they fit it?
2. Name three things your character fears. Is it irrational? Is there a story behind it? If so, tell the story.
3. Name three things your character likes and three things they dislike.
4. What are their turn ons and turn offs?
5. What is their ideal first date?
6. How do they listen to their music? Loud or reasonable?
7. What is their opinion on drinking, drugs, tattoos, piercings?
8. What is their opinion on religion? What religion do they follow or raised with?
9. What is their relationship like with their parents?
10. Where do they see themselves in 5 years?
11. What is the first person they notice about someone new?
12. What is the pettiest thing they have done?
13. What is the nicest thing they have done?
14. What is the meanest thing someone has done to them? How did it affect them?
15. What is the nicest thing someone has done to them? How did it affect them?
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Pick one (1) of the two prompts.

She is as beautiful as she is deadly.

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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” - Maya Angelou

This quote is meant to be a prompt to explore new characters and their deepest, darkest, angst-filled secrets

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This section hasn't been utilized to its fullest, but we hope to change that soon! This section will feature suggestions/feedback made through the Google form and will also include things such as book reviews, recipes, coding tips, and so forth. Members are more than welcome to submit anything to be featured here in the member corner, within reason, through the Google form!

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Would love more OTP quizzes! That was so fun!

Can we have another OTP character questionnaire, but for the February issue? It would be so cute!

• Really glad that you guys enjoyed the OTP questionnaire and will definitely try to do them more often! Perhaps it can be rotated out with the character interviews. Having an OTP quiz in February sounds like an excellent idea, thank you for that suggestion!

can we do another member questionnaire? like, centered around how they first got into roleplaying, their first character they have made, their favorite character they have made thus far, a tip they would like to share to other roleplayers from their experience, etc. I think it would be super interesting to see how everyone started out! :o

• Member questionnaires will now be a new segment of the Afflatus! Thank you for the theme suggestion and if you have any other ideas or questions you'd like to include for future member questionnaires, don't hesitate to submit/share them!

for one of the articles in a future afflatus, can we have a thesaurus but for rpg terms? ex. instead of using 'eyes', like using an alternative such as 'orbs'? or instead of "look", use 'glance','flicker', etc? I think it will be super helpful.:)

• We can definitely look into doing that! We also have a Writing Resources forum where you can add any resource you think may be beneficial to yourself or other members that can then be featured in the Afflatus! We will certainly look into creating a mini thesaurus however! Thank you for the feedback/idea!

I sometimes have difficulty in finding the contest schedule on AS as to see what event is next. Can the schedule be moved/placed somewhere with more visibility and more easily accessible please? Thank you.

• We will definitely look into this! Thank you for bringing this to our attention as we plan on reorganizing a few things in the next few months. We will keep this in mind!

for an activity idea, what if we did different trivia questions based on popular series (hunger games, divergent, harry potter, etc.) or like something like clues (kinda like guessing the staff activities previously) to different series or something? i think that would be so fun.

• I would love that! I'm not terribly familiar with a lot of fandoms or such lately, but since I know who you are, I would love to work on this with you! It's a great idea and can be used several times!

Do you have ideas as to what you would like to see here? Don't be afraid to share through our google form!

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This section has changed a bit. It will now feature personal writing, roleplays, characters, art, and other things. You are welcome to nominate things through the Google form. We will try to make this more diverse in terms of features. Most things featured here are from the nominations you submit yourselves, so don't hesitate to send something in! Also, please try to keep your nominations diverse and not the same person every issue! I will be working on bettering this system and will share it soon.

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and they poison your children by nantoka

Hidden text.

She couldn't set the book down. It was heavy in her hand, worn down from years upon years of use. There had been dust on there just a few days earlier, showing egregious signs of neglect ever since its existence became unnecessary. Until today. Today, all of the dust has gone and settled elsewhere, allowing her to thumb through it and keep turning it in her hands. Reading those same few lines, over and over again. Soulmate. Noun. A person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner. Flashes of black would occasionally blur her vision, causing her to reel back and blink until her gaze cleared again.

There weren't many people in her life that she'd tag the word perfect to, but Gracyn was definitely worthy of it. The woman was beautiful, black hair carefully parted to frame her dark gold skin just right, bright black eyes shining back at her. The way they'd glow when she'd get happy or excited. It wasn't hard for Saadi to admit that she fell in love with Gracyn almost the exact moment she saw her. She'd known her for almost her entire life, but didn't realise just what Gracyn meant to her until just a few years earlier. Saadi wasn't the one between them who had the courage to speak up about how she felt, instead Gracyn making that first move, confiding in her about their mutually shared feelings. And gods, their relationship was perfect. They never fought, always spoke calmly between one another to sort through things, and took care of issues in a mature manner. Everyone that knew the couple envied them. Soulmates.

Now? Gracyn was behind bars, serving the sentence that she deserved. Did Saadi miss her? Hell yes. She visited her every chance she could, but the daily calls made between the thick glass wasn't enough. How could she have known so little about her best friend? Her lover? Her soulmate? It was a punch in the gut, a stab in the heart, and the more and more time she spent reading over that definition, the more she twisted the knife.

untitled by Shudderfox-

Hidden text.

“What happened to you?”

The question makes him scoff in the most dismissive way. Does absolutely nothing to dismay his companion’s distress, but makes all the difference to a man slowly losing his grip on the world. France was always something of a menagerie of his own creation, every creature possessing its own thoughts and feelings but never completely out of his reach. Out of his control. And now…

Would France miss him? The thought brings the corners of his lips up into the briefest of smiles, something decidedly out of place for the moment, but the answer is obvious. An apparition of a human being -- each step a mangled confession that would never see the light of day, let alone a courtroom, let alone a church...

Not him. His hands, perhaps. They're just as empty as his response and too many questions are being thrown his way. The how's and why's and when's. Answers Ray can't give. He's got some thoughts of his own, though. The kind that's got him itching for a blade, maybe a contemplative set of daggers.

People die, but habits don't, and she's never surprised at his standoffish nature, just all too willing to fight for what she's owed.

There's just nothing to give.

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The Activity segment will work as it normally does. If you have suggestions for future activities, please let us know and we will see if we can make it happen! We will be working on making them more diverse!

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This month's activity is a word search featuring literary terms! There are 20 words so you can earn a total of 20 points. Each word equals 1 point. Please send finished crosswords to me and title your PM Afflatus Activity Submission. Include your house name in the PM title! Thank you.

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x Have suggestions for future activities? Don't be afraid to share through the google form!

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This section has a minor tweak: there will no longer be any critiques. It was a feature that was hardly used, so it was decided to leave this section as a compliment section only. We typically get quite a few of these each issue and thus decided to leave it as its own section! You can submit anonymous compliments for any user through the Google form.

Snow is such a doll. Admittedly, it's been a few years since we really talked, but I'm so glad we are talking again. She's one of the sweetest friends out there and always thinks of others before herself. She deserves some love and compliments from everyone <3 You are so appreciated. Thank you for being you, Snow.

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Just a couple of reminders for the Afflatus! x

1. Any entry submitted through the Google form is worth 5 points. Things that will be submitted through the Google form are:

xxxxxxxa. Dear Stag submissions
xxxxxxxb. Prompt Suggestions
xxxxxxxc. Featured Works Nominations
xxxxxxxd. Anonymous Compliments
xxxxxxxe. Member Corner Submissions
xxxxxxxf. Question Submissions
xxxxxxxg. Suggestions/Questions for the Afflatus or site

2. Dear Stag can feature anything you want to ask. This can be writing tips, life tips, advice, and so forth. Keep in mind that the Afflatus is posted once a month, so things that need to be answered urgently are not best to submit. Additionally, we are not professionals, so heavy matters should be discussed with a trusted adult. We will do our best to answer each submission every issue, but may have to save other matters for later issues.

3. Dear Stag submissions should be submitted by the end of the second week of the month, so that there is enough time to provide an adequate response to the submission.

4. The Featured Works segment can feature anything from the site. Roleplays, characters, art, personal writing. When submitting a featured work, please include the member's url, the url to the post and post title, and state what it is that is being featured. I will notify users that their work has been featured.

5. When submitting an anonymous compliment, please include username and link to their profile. I notify these users after each issue is posted so that they know they've received a compliment and it makes it easy to track them down in case usernames are changed!

6. When posting submissions to the thread, please make sure the name of the submission is in the title. So, if it's a character interview, please mention that in the title. If it is an activity, please put that in the title. However, it is not a big deal if it is forgotten, though it can clear up any potential confusion.

7. Please post each submission to the thread in separate posts. This makes tallying points much easier.

8. Remember, you can post up to two (2) character interviews/otp quizzes per issue and only one prompt per issue.

9. You are welcome to submit anything to the Member Corner, within reason. Book reviews, recipes, and anything else you can think of. Not everything will be able to used, but will certainly still count for points and saved for future use! The Member Corner will also be used to address any feedback received through the Google form.

10. At the end of the month I will post the following on the thread: "Any posts made after this will not count towards points." I will be trying to stay consistent with this and plan on doing this on the last day of every month by 11:30 PM CST time. Please note that if this doesn't happen for a day (or more) then you can assume it's fair game to submit more things to the thread, since it is likely taking some time to get the next issue out. The Google form, however, will be closed the night before the next issue.

x Points System x Through Google Form

Dear Stag Submission ……………………....................................... 5 points
Featured Works Nomination ………………................................... 5 points
Future Prompt Suggestion ………………...................................... 5 points
Compliment Submission ………………......................................... 5 points
Member Corner Submission ………………................................... 5 points
Character Interview Question Submission (min 5) ……........... 5 points
Member Interview Question Submission (min 5) ……............. 5 points
Feedback Submission ……………….............................................. 5 points

Through Thread

Character Interview/OTP Quiz Submission ………… 10 points
Member Interview Submission ………...................… 10 points

Prompt Submission
0-500 words ………………………. 10 points
500-1000 words ………………….. 20 points
1000-2000+ words ……………….. 30 points

Activity Participation - will vary depending on level of difficulty