Deimos oh please do!
Bit of background is necessary for this.
Back in January of this year, I was gifted a plunny by Almond [same username here and on FA. I'd rather not ping because of how ugly things have gotten]. I was also given money by my at the time fiance [Alysthene on FA/MidnightQueen here] to buy a kindling spot - that money came from my account, not anyone else's, though it was gifted to me first. The first one was freely given to me. I have proof of original ownership in screencaps, which I've included below, as well as the updated records page for the designs.
In February Almond moved in with myself and Alysthene. My relationship with Alysthene ended on April 1. Things went sour very quickly and I moved out. I did not think it would be an issue that I was keeping a design that was gifted to me, as it's pretty common knowledge that you can't take back gifts as they are no longer yours. While things had been quite sour between Almond and myself, I had thought things were relatively civil between my ex and myself. When she asked me about giving Apollo back, I said no. You can see that here: http://i65.tinypic.com/16c2tl1.jpg
I have proof of them originally being mine here: https://i.gyazo.com/cacecb9bfc3a33ff5697260ff9d0529f.png and https://i.gyazo.com/6ef464c710ad1dedd766f9edb4952758.png
I was on the forums the species has not too long ago to update the new info I had for Apollo. Earlier I noticed some new members I'd not seen before and decided to see which ones they were on the records page the adopt owner keeps. Imagine my surprise when not only Bound Spirit, but Noble Spirit were listed as having different owners. You can see that here: https://i.gyazo.com/19e4d7782bce0db284cd53b72e19db52.png My ex was listed under Bound Spirit's owner and Almond was listed as Noble Spirit's. I then realized I'd been booted out of the discord server they have when I went to go ask what was going on.
While I don't know the exact details of what was said to HoneyKing [here and FA] and Starprince, the former is upholding Almond's claim to Apollo even though he was gifted to me, citing that legally she still owns him [I disagree with this - a gift once given is no longer the first person's property. I wish to point out that I gifted one to her and could therefore use that logic to revoke her rights to him, though I won't as I find it petty] and that Barrett would belong to MidnightQueen regardless of the fact that the money came from my own account. I do not agree with this. Whether or not my ex gave me money to buy a slot should not matter. The money was in my account and I was the one who paid him. I have since been given a refund for the slot, though this was only accepted as he refused to give me back the rights for the characters in question. You can see the initial communication here: http://oi65.tinypic.com/66hop3.jpg And a note back from him here, in response to my protests: https://i.gyazo.com/92e40e0fe2896cf33e08aeb46a0e6b3f.png I did warn him at this point that I would be making a PSA. There is another note, but this was stressful enough and I have no wish to talk to them further so I've not opened it or been back to that account.
MidnightQueen later sent me an angry email over another situation and said she was unaware of the plunny issue and hadn't had anything to do with it, but if you note the screencap included above - HoneyKing directly contradicts this by stating they'd stated they'd not been able to contact me and had gone to him to gain control of designs they never had a right to - this was a clear lie, as proven by the screencaps of contact I provided earlier.
Due to both MidnightQueen and Almond taking designs that they had no rights to, I cannot recommend doing business with them either as buyer or seller.
I also cannot recommend doing business with HoneyKing as he has proven untrustworthy and I feel this is just bad business practices. Taking a design that was gifted to me and giving it to someone who is known to be a close friend of his [he's acknowledged as much in streams and so has Almond] simply because of a falling out is not right, nor do I think the majority of the adopt community would agree with it. Likewise, taking a design that I paid for from my own account, regardless of where the money originated from, and giving it to my ex is outright theft. Had I not approached and protested I might never have gotten the refund. At the point that it was paid for, we were a couple still and the money was given to me willingly.
I had hoped to avoid a PSA but as things became unpleasant and I could see I would not be able to sway HoneyKing with any sort of appeal regardless of the proof I provided, I felt that a PSA would at least save others from having to deal with this sort of situation with these individuals.
Edit: Since there's been some concern raised, here is an email thread with most of the conversation [it has nothing to do with the plunny situation until the end] and dates provided. http://i68.tinypic.com/j0yvlv.jpg
You know what's funny about that? I wasn't kicked out. I am still technically on that lease while she was not at the time I left, and I could have stayed til the end. I left because they got so hostile and mean that I'd had enough and packed up and left on my own. Kicked out, my ass.
I'm not surprised by the snarky response or the continued lies, however. It's exactly what I expected.
I don't have to smear their names. They've all done a wonderful job of smearing things themselves. I simply provided the proof of what's going on because people deserve to know that gifts can be taken back, an artist can and will revoke designs that were legally mine, and even give a design that I'd paid for to an ex simply because she's friends with Almond, and Almond's friends with HoneyKing.
EDIT: Forgot to add. Basically - if it could happen to me because I had a falling out with a friend of the artist [Almond], it could happen to others. That's why this is so important. It's not likely a one time thing. Yes, there are other circumstances involved here - the ex-fiance and the roommate thing, but the bottom line is that there was a falling out, there was no effort to talk things over with me after I initially told them no - or to even communicate with me on the part of any of them [none of them were blocked until I got that last response from HoneyKing], and there were multiple ways to reach me, and designs that they had no rights to were taken.