likelyamused

[likelyamused]

BEAUTIFUL PERSON AWARD! Once you are given this award you're supposed to paste it in the asks of 8 people who deserve it. If you break the chain nothing happens, but it's sweet to know someone thinks you're beautiful inside and out 💜

🥰

Thank you for thinking of me! This is so sweet! I think you're a beautiful person too! ❤️

[likelyamused]

Another one from the drafts from awhile ago, I have no words 💀

[likelyamused]

Ut Supra, Sic Infra: Prologue

TW/CW: Blood, gunshot wound, death by gunshot/murder

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[likelyamused]

Just when you get on a roll, oh, here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again. ~ OK Go, 2005

Oh my god, I said with a happy sigh. How'd you know I've been dying for pizza? The prosciutto, the grease, the gooey cheese. I could eat this every single day for the rest of my life and I would be so happy.

Really? Every single day? Um...is there a chance you might be pregnant?

What? Because I'm having a little craving...oh. I paused, as the possibility hit me. I'm craving. I don't normally do that.

And you've been kinda cranky, Nine added.

I have?

You asked if we were planning to claim the dust bunnies on our taxes, he said. Then snatched the dust buster right out of my hands.

I'm sorry, I said. Now that you mention it, I've been feeling extra overwhelmed lately. Etta's care is getting easier now that her motor skills are catching up, but I'm still so exhausted. I guess I should probably take a pregnancy test to be sure.

How are you feeling about the prospect?

It's a bit soon, but I guess I'm good, if you're good.

Nine smiled. I'm good.

[likelyamused]

Radio plays I Couldn't Love You More by Sade

Prev / Next / Beginning

Transcript under the cut

Nancy Narrates: [Was I ever allowed to pretend? Am I allowed to rejoice in an answered prayer that brought her back to me, even if only for a moment? Even if I can never have this feeling again, I would still want to love her loudly, without restraint or hesitation. Because when I look at her, I want to scream. And maybe, just maybe, this time no one can take this feeling away from me.

-

Radio plays I Couldn't Love You More by Sade

I couldn't love you more If time was running out

Couldn't love you more Oh, right now, baby

Take me by the hand, come on Be my darling, be the one

I wouldn't want to lay or ever love with another

Vanessa: Hey. Don’t look at me like that, I need to focus.

If everyone in the world Could give me what I wanted

Nancy: I can’t help it. I love looking at you. You’re so beautiful, Vanessa. You’re so perfect.

[mattress creaks slowly]

Nancy: Do you remember that night in my dorm room, when you had me pinned to the floor like this?

I couldn't love you more if I tried

Nancy: I wanted to kiss you. I wanted it so bad that I could feel the want in my teeth. I wanted to touch you. I wanted to feel you.

Nancy: [panting] I wish I could have spent all that time apart touching you like this.

Vanessa: Does it feel good to say it out loud?

Nancy: [swallows] Yes- yes, it feels good.

Nancy Narrates: [Once. If I could have her just once, then maybe-]

[phone rings]

Vanessa: Fuck! [laughs breathlessly] We’re a couple of horn dogs, huh? I gotta get that, baby. It’s work.

Vanessa: Yeah? You got the location? - The Lucky Rabbit? That’s a little on the nose. I’ll be there in an hour. Oh, also, I have a plus one. Tomorrow’s her birthday.

Vanessa: Hey.

Nancy: Hi.

Vanessa: Come on. It’s showtime.

-

Nancy Narrates: [It didn’t take me very long to figure out what it was that Vanessa did for work]

Vanessa: [over the music] You can relax, no one knows you here! Stay by me, ok?

Nancy: Ok! I’ll follow you anywhere!

Nancy Narrates: [Given her family history, it’s no surprise she remained tied to a dubious business]

Nancy Narrates: [I wasn’t put off by the idea of it]

Nancy Narrates: [If anything, I was curious]

Nancy Narrates: [Still, nothing could prepare me for how well our worlds knew one another]

Vanessa: So, I feel like you and I have some unfinished business, Blondie.

Nancy: Is that right, Red?

Vanessa: Are you going to finish what you started?

Nancy: You’re not making this easy. I’m trying very hard to be good.

Vanessa: [laughs] Yeah, I don’t believe that. Want to know what I think? I think you want to go crazy.

Victor: [mutters] Fucking hell..

Lily: [sighs] What now?

Victor: That Landgraab bitch is here.

Lily: Nancy?

Victor: She’s trying to move in on our deal with the Usagi-gumi. We’ll have nothing to our name if we don’t win back their trust.

Vanessas: Listen, babe. I have to start work. It won’t take long, ok? Grab us some drinks at the bar and I’ll find you.

Victor: Keep her busy and out of the fucking way. She doesn’t leave your sight until I’ve talked to the boss.

Lily: Nancy Landgraab! Well, you sure do know how to bruise a girl’s ego. [coos] Why haven’t you called me, huh? I didn’t show you a good time?

Nancy: [chokes] Lily?! W-what the hell are you doing here?

[likelyamused]

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Transcript below the cut:

Li: I guess I should just go up and do this? Asher: Whenever you’re ready. How long does it usually take? Li: Just a few minutes. Atlas: Wow. That’s quick. Li: Yep. [deep breath] Okay. I’ll be right back.

Atlas: Are you nervous? Asher: Very. Aren’t you? Atlas: A little. Excited more than anything, I think.

Asher: Since when are you the more optimistic one?

Atlas: [shrugs] I don’t know. I guess I’ve always been the type to believe in destiny, that what’s meant to happen will. I just spent most of my life believing I wasn’t meant to be happy. Until I met you. And, until I met Sadie, I thought I wasn’t meant to have a family of my own either. I don’t know how, but I know we’re meant to have these kids. As much as I try to keep my expectations realistic, I can’t.

Asher: I guess I’m not used to trusting anyone, or anything, outside myself to make things happen. And there’s still so much that can go wrong. I don’t know. I keep going back and forth between being certain and being terrified. I keep replaying my dream in my head over and over again. I wish I could’ve asked his name. More than anything, I wish I would’ve hugged him back.

Atlas: No matter what happens today, I promise, one day you will.

Li: Sorry to interrupt. Are you ready? Asher: Ready as we’ll ever be.

Li: Congratulations

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[likelyamused]

Part 2 1.06 Judgment Call

10 Years Ago

While Paul was enjoying his last summer before med school, my life was business as usual.

At work, Lucy was already planning ahead for her maternity leave. With her being gone for a couple of months, that would leave Sunny Side short one producer.

She’d let me know that I would likely have to take on some extra tasks while she was gone, which I was more than happy to do.

However, I was a bit surprised when I went over the list of tasks she was requesting from me. 

“Uh, Lucy, are you sure you want me to do all of this stuff?” I asked her.

“Sure, why do you ask?”

“Well, some of this is stuff the producers do,” I explained. Usually I was relegated to tasks like distributing call sheets and taking inventory, but the items on Lucy's list involved me being more involved on set and collaborating with the production team.

“Yeah, I don’t want to throw everything onto the other producers, but if you’re not comfortable with it, I can figure something else out.”

“It’s not that,” I told her. “It’s just…are you sure you trust me with this? I’m just a PA.”

“Of course,” she responded. “I wouldn’t have assigned those tasks to you if I didn’t think you could handle them.”

I didn’t quite know what to say. I’d definitely been working hard at my job, but I wasn’t used to being treated like a competent adult. 

“Johnny, I trust your judgment,” Lucy reiterated. “You know how I do things better than anyone else, and you’re great at figuring things out.”

“Thank you,” I said finally. “I won't let you down.”

“I know.” Lucy smiled. I remembered what Paul’s friend Wesley told me–that Lucy had spoken highly of me and he wouldn’t be surprised if I got a promotion.

When I started this job, it was just to get my parents off my back, but I was starting to feel like I had a future here.

Previous | Beginning of story | Beginning of chapter | Next

[likelyamused]

Jude looked over as Gemma approached the gate. He recognized that look of determination. It was like Chessie's when she'd decided to pry information out of him. Or convince him to do something he hadn't planned on. There was no point in trying to resist. While Jude could easily stand up to ninety-nine percent of the world's population, Chessie was a force of nature. And apparently, it was genetic.

Gemma: I brewed a pot of tea and made your favorite apple cake.

Jude grinned. Oh yeah, he was gonna be here for some time. But he would have good company and delicious food. It wouldn't be a hardship.

Gemma: Want to sit on the dock?

Jude: Sounds good.

Gemma waited until Jude ate his cake before starting in on him.

Gemma: Tell me about Chessie.

Jude: What do you want to know?

Gemma: I guess, just start with your first memories of her.

Jude: I don't remember when I didn't know her. She spent most of her summers at Lydia's before we were in high school. Then, she was here for about a month during her summers until she married Marcello.

Gemma: They married young?

Jude: Yeah. It was about the same time Tinsley was pregnant with Sybil.

Gemma: What was she like?

Jude: Fun, annoying, feisty, mischievous, and always drawing or painting. As kids, we rode bicycles everywhere, stole crops from gardens and orchards to have picnics, and pranked people along with each other. We had a small gang we hung with, and we thought rules were for boring people. We took risks during our Truth or Dare games. Chessie was the only one that ended up at the doctor. Most of us just went home sporting scrapes and bruises.

Gemma: Tell me something stupid the two of you did.

Jude: (laughing) Only one stupid thing? Ah, Chessie dared me to rappel down a pine tree taller than a two-story house. I found a long rope and used her as a counterweight. I tied the rope around her waist and told her to sit still. Vivi and my mum walked up as I leapt from the tree. They freaked out, only to lose their minds as Chessie flew past them, with my weight and momentum dragging her across the grass. Chessie was laughing so hard that she peed herself, and we were both grounded for two weeks.

Gemma laughed until she cried. Then, she wiped her eyes only to start laughing again as she visualized the event once more.

[likelyamused]

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Transcript below the cut:

[music: “With a taste of your lips, I’m on a ride; You’re toxic, I’m slippin’ under; With a taste of a poison paradise; I’m addicted to you; Don’t you know that your toxic?”]

Atlas: What is that? Asher: [snickers] Your phone. Atlas: What? [laughs] Did you change my ringtone again? Asher: [giggles] Atlas: Fuck it. I’m keeping this one.

Atlas: Hello? [Li: Hi, I didn’t wake you, did I?] Atlas: Don’t worry about it. How are you? [Li: Good. I just, um… This is going to sound so silly because our appointment is in two days and we’ll find out then, but I just have this feeling, and I’d like to try taking a pregnancy test today.]

Atlas: You want to take a pregnancy test? Asher: [sitting up] Wait, what?

[Li: If that’s okay with you?] Asher: [whispers] Yes. Atlas: Sure, yeah, that’s okay with us. Do you want us to come over? [Li: If you can, yes. I have to take Mei to preschool, but I’ll be home any time after nine.] Atlas: Okay, we’ll see you soon.

Atlas: I guess we’re going into the city today. Asher: We should temper our expectations, y’know. It’s still so early. And the test might come out negative either way. Atlas: I know.

Asher: Then why are you looking at me like you’ve got your hopes up? Atlas: Because this time next year, our family will be complete. Asher: That’s not tempering your expectations.

Atlas: Shhh.

[likelyamused]

Good vs Evil - 2 Board Room Tables for Up to 12 Sims

These Tables are something I made for myself a long time ago and have used in my Spy vs Supervillain themed Legacy for a few years. I recently got a request from @tina46850 release them, so I thought everyone else might get a kick out of them too.

SPECS:

💎: Two Matching but Different Tables, both Base Game Compatible 💎: Seats up to 12 sims, 5 on both sides, one on either end. 💎: Both Glow in the Dark!

TERMS OF USE

SIMBLR | TWITCH | TWITTER | BLUESKY

SNATCH EM OFF MY PATREON

[likelyamused]

◁ || ▷

Mortimer: As I’m sure you’re aware, I go through countless stories, many following the same shell of what is palpable to others. Oftentimes I don’t see enough risk but it makes total sense. We consume media to get away from our problems. Not to be reminded of them. Which leads me to my next question. A sapphic love story set in gritty fantasy. The heroine loses her love in the end. The ultimate sacrifice. What made you decide that?

Taryn: Because neither concepts can exist without one another. To have someone is to be willing to lose them. L'amour et la mort. Love and death. 

Mortimer: Have you ever lost someone?

Taryn: [ remains silent ]

Mortimer: Pain recognizes pain, Taryn. My wife… She went missing nearly ten years ago. Vanished without a trace. All that was left were her items, physical remnants of who she was.

Taryn: I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t know.

Mortimer: No need. I lost myself for a good while. Being the father of two wasn’t enough to pull me out of it. Time passed by and well, here I am. I’m not sure if I’ll ever find someone again, as for you, you will learn how to love again. I believe this story could help a lot of people in their grief.

Taryn: You really think so?

Mortimer: Mhm. So if I signed you on, are you willing to commit on this journey with my company and I?

Taryn: Y-Yeah. Absolutely.

Mortimer: Congratulations, Taryn. 

-

Kai: How do you think it went?

Alex: Judging that it’s almost been an hour, great. 

Kai: Cool.

Alex: Are you nervous for her?

Kai: I- Yeah. I am. 

Alex: She’ll be okay. He was already planning on signing her.

Kai: Why did you say anything?!

Alex: It’d ruin the surprise and there’s no fun in that.

Kai: You’re awful. She was so nervous! Literally almost crashed the car.

Alex: She was, wasn’t she? My bad. 

Taryn: [ silent yelling ] Hola muchachitos.

Kai: ] I am so proud of you! 

Taryn: Thank you! Also I have you to thank!

Alex: Nah, I just sped up the inevitable process. That book was bound to get published. I read it, I hope you don’t mind.

Taryn: Alex!

Alex: Whu? I liked it!

Taryn: Hmph. Come over for dinner?

Alex: I’d like that, if Kai’s alright with it. He did tell me how terrible I am earlier.

Taryn: Would you stop being mean to the man?

Kai: Maybe… But I guess it’s fine if you came over.

Alex: Sweet. I heard your cooking is divine.

Taryn: I know a trick or two. This one could learn.

Kai: I almost caught the toaster on fire.

Alex: Sounds about right-

Kai: Rude!

[likelyamused]

Zoe told him she had done this before, about three times - "not including hand stuff." But it was all a bluff, a means to seem cool. Zoe felt Abhijit probably had a ton of experience from college. She heard all theatre kids did was sleep around with each other and Jesminder always said he was going to be a hoe once he saw how accessible all sorts of girls from Del Sol Valley were. In his bedroom she tried to act natural whilst simultaneously wondering if she was making a big mistake. What if this hurt like hell all because she lied about her experience? What if there was blood? That'd be so embarrassing to explain, but she couldn't back out now. Thankfully, Abhi had a sense of perception. He noticed the shaky way she breathed, trembled, how her playful facade cracked and was replaced with fleeting moments of shyness. Zoe was never shy. After calling her bluff with a little teasing thrown in, he only touched her sweet and tender.

Prev

[likelyamused]

Beginning / Previous / Next

Transcript below the cut.

Alejandro: This is the hour you show up at?

Celia: We just stopped at the Bubble Tea shop on the way home... It’s just 5.

Alejandro: From now on and until your grades are up, you are to come straight home from school. Any outing needs to be preapprouved by your mother and I. Understood?

__________

Alejandro: I’ll pick you up here at 5. Hurry up when your class is over. I’m on the night shift.

Celia: I can take the bus. You don’t have to-

Alejandro: So you can waste time loitering around? No. I’m picking you up and bringing you home where you can do something constructive.

Celia: So, according to you, I’m supposed to be studying every waking moment of the day now? Is that what they taught you in med school?

Alejandro: Med school taught me perseverance and hard work lead to success. Without my success you wouldn’t have the leisure to have extracurricular activities. You’d be working and studying just like I was at your age.

Celia: Maybe I’d prefer that actually...

[likelyamused]

It is by coincidence, not intention, I join the meditators. The sign, soul healing meditation, only happened to invite me down a pathway, shaded, winding through the banyans. I followed it to escape sun that beat so intensely into my head I thought I’d faint at the beach, and has me missing the downpour of Bangkok. It is not out of curiosity I followed the sign, for I’m not, and never have been, curious about spirituality or any vaguely mystical practices. It was a need to cool down. And now I have, actually.

The meditation studio is cool and shaded, the trickle of water from a fountain outside on the lawn, birdsong in the trees. The others shuffle around, get seated on the floor. They’re Buddhists, aren’t they? People who meditate? Well, I’m a protestant, and not even an acceptable one; unable to recite even one complete verse of The Holly and the Ivy at the Church of Ireland Christmas service by heart. I stay at the back of the room by the door, close enough to my shoes, beaten up white runners among a pile of leather sandals, in case someone will be able to tell by looking at me I shouldn’t be doing this. An imposter amongst them.

God, they move glacially, these people. Dyed silk scarves thrown across their chests, serene looks on their faces like they’re floating in the clouds. Nine others, a combined age of one thousand. These are the kinds of people I get trapped behind on the street when I’m running for the train, ambling along in groups, aimlessly gazing at the architecture. Or in the supermarket, not getting out of the way of the fridge, too busy contemplating different salamis to let me grab what I’ve already decided I want. Is it places like this, meditation retreats, where they learn to be so slow?

Ah, there he is, speaking now. The bald man with the interesting face. The guru, or whatever. Nobody has explained to me what I should call him, and I say guru, because of this rumour I heard about a lad from school. Did too many magic mushrooms and got obsessed with some spiritual bigwig in Costa Rica. Made him the lock screen on his phone. His guru, he says. Wears wooden beads around his neck and let his hair get all long allegedly. My hair’s all long now, too, actually. Maybe it’s fitting I’m here, finding my guru, too. This could be the beginning of a life changing, enriching kind of relationship. 

“Just breathe,” he’s saying. “Feel the breath as it enters. Let it soften you. Focus only on it, and let other thoughts go.”

Breathing is extremely easy for me. I just do it, like, there it is in my nose and all. Going into my lungs. I can feel that like I’m supposed to.

“Imagine you are a tree with roots deep in the earth, grounding you where you sit.”

Right, yeah. I can imagine I am a tree too if I want to. This is like drama in primary school, when the teacher put us into groups and had us pretend to be the four elements. “Jude, into the wind group,” she said, and I pretended to be a tornado until I accidentally knocked the drying art projects off the rack, getting wet paint on the side of my uniform. Insisting I did it on purpose, she sent me to the principal for a telling off. Years later, I’d feel bad for ruining the fun. I was like that; always getting too carried away with myself, taking the fun too far. Probably still am. 

“Watch the thoughts come and go like clouds. Try not to follow them.”

So what am I supposed to do, then? Just sit? Sit and breathe? I do sit, but soon the floor is uncomfortable. I shift, and the boards creak under my weight. There I am, making noises again, shifting around too much, my clothing the only clothing making any noise in a room of people, and by the way. There’s an itch on my eyebrow. What do I do about an itch? Scratch it, or mindfully observe it until it goes away? 

 A mosquito. My senses are fine-tuned to the presence of them now, three weeks in Southeast Asia having primed me for hypervigilance. Surely another person is bothered by the presence of a mosquito. It buzzes. If it bites me, can I open my eyes or move, or do I need to mindfully observe the biting?

Guru is still on the tree thing, I think, though I lost track of what he was saying. “...like the roots. In stillness, you are both grounded and free.”

I am meant to be thinking of the present moment, and I am thinking about mosquitoes. This wasn’t supposed to be hard. I shift again, in frustration this time, the discomfort secondary. I peel one eye open and peer at the others. All of them serene, hands in their laps, backs perfectly straight, their breath slow and even. Are they having some sort of experience I am exempt from? I think, annoyed, actually, at their engrossment in the process. This is it? All that meditation is, is breathing and sitting and thinking about how I’m doing just that? I expected something more, as much as I expected this to be simpler. I can’t sit for three seconds without my mind wandering. There it goes again. Wandering, thinking about itself wandering. Fuck sake.

I take a deep breath, shuddering with emotion, closed eyes twitching. Of all the skills to be bad at, I am bad at doing nothing. My life is a joke. I was good at school without wanting to be. Maths, even, a subject everyone automatically assumed I'd be shit at. Tutoring Jen back then, Pythagoras theorem and so on, all of it falling into place in my head without effort while she struggled to the point of tears. Art, brilliant. The way the tutors at college fawned over my pieces, saying things about how wonderful I am, what vision, what creativity, what skill. Extraordinary talent. And people. I excel. I wish I was confident like you are, they say, up in my face at the pub Fridays after school. You just know what to say to people, you know how to make them laugh. Funny boy, clever boy, lucky boy, so bloody gorgeous. You know I fancied you for ages, Jude, was too shy to say something. I shouldn’t be saying it, so drunk, but you’re beautiful. I’d say people tell you that all the time, don’t they? Dangerous beauty. When you look at me like that, I forget my own name. A natural leader, you are, man. You just say what you want and everyone runs to give it to you. You’d do serious damage with that personality if you wanted to. Could lead people astray. Cult leader, Turner, that’s you! Ha!

“...Continue following the breath. Now, let it flow through your arms. From your shoulders to the tips of your fingers.”

No. Sorry, no. I can't. I untangle my legs from underneath me and get up. Loud, obnoxious creaks on the floorboards which no one reacts to. The guru’s eyes remain closed and his lined face tranquil, likely treating the disruption like a passing cloud, as my stockinged feet pound across the floor to retrieve my shoes. The pile of leather Jesus sandals topples, while I smash my feet into my old runners and yank the laces into submission. I am noisy, not just now, but intrinsically, shamefully. Even the way I open the door, which squeaks on metal hinges, swishes and bangs shut behind me, reverberating through the hallway.

I pass the sign, the arrow in the opposite direction. Face hot, teeth clenched. Meditation hour, it says. It has been seven minutes. 

“Did you ever go to the mindfulness session?” Jonas says later, lying in the bunk above me, triumphant since eating a banana and not vomiting it back up. 

“Yeah, actually,” I say. “It was shit, though. Not going again.”

“Thought so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hm.” Outside, the night is alive with crickets and insects that hit against the mosquito nets in pursuit of our light. “I guess you would struggle with meditation.”

“Well, no, because I struggle with nothing.”

A sleepy chuckle. “Okay.”

Too hot. I kick the covers to the end of the bed. “I can do anything I want.”

“Whatever your ego needs to believe, but nobody is good at everything.”

I grunt. 

“Does it bother you to hear this? Or do you not believe it?”

“Actually, I’m too tired to talk, Jonas. Go to sleep.”

And he does. The bed jitters as he rolls onto his side and drifts off, soon snoring contentedly while I stare at the slats above me. Think of the present moment, Jude, go on. Think of your breath. The way the bed feels. The lumps inside the mattress, and the existence of your little toe.

But fifteen seconds of trying, and I am a thousand miles away again, thinking of everything and everyone instead. Sleeping, eventually, only to escape the racket in my head. A horrible meditator. Useless. Good at everything, it seems, but the simplest thing in the world.

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[likelyamused]

Thanks for the tag @azoressims4 🥰

the rules are simple: go to pinterest, search "your name + core", and post six pictures. then tag six people.

hahaha! this came out pretty accurate!

I'll tag @weirdosalike @tikay21 @igotsnothing @soursuki ­@jarakio @zosa95

As always, feel free to ignore for whatever reason, I won't take it personally. Promise ❤️

[likelyamused]

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Courtney: I thought you’d quit again? Oscar: No one likes a quitter, Cookie. [Courtney hummed in faint disapproval] Oscar: I could take up some more nefarious things instead? Courtney: Yeah, no. … Oscar: What’s on your mind? Courtney: This n’ that. Oscar: Do I gotta tickle it out of you? ‘Cause I’m still due a little payback. Courtney: [sighs] I’ve been thinking about trying to find out who my parents were. Oscar: Seriously? Courtney: Maybe, yeah. Oscar: Wha-… Courtney: I don’t wanna talk about it. Oscar: Bu-… Courtney: Nope.