#(edit: changed the tag for LS)

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

Techno has the lowest self-esteem ever in a LOT of my WIPs & it's honestly kind of funny

[lindenattic]

l.s. dunes playing grey veins at sad summer fest, jacksonville FL, july 6 2023. from @xtakemyfcknhand on twitter

[welcometololaland]

10 things - 2024/2025 edition

happy new year, everyone! 2024 has been a year of change for me in so many different ways, and i've posted very little fic this year, mostly due to writers' block and time constraints. so, instead of doing the writing round up i thought i'd list 10 things i'm grateful for in 2024 (fandom edition) and 10 things i want to do in 2025 (also, fandom edition). please feel free to make your own if you wish! consider this an open tag 🏷️

2024 - things i'm grateful for (in fandom, in no particular order)

1. my ride or die friends who deal with my self doubt and breakdowns and (being 100% real) paranoia about situations that simply don't exist - @rmd-writes @celeritas2997 , the popcorn squad and others. wouldn't be writing without your support!

2. the writers who have trusted me to beta for them - @heartstringsduet @basilsunrise @rmd-writes i think i'm forgetting some (so sorry if so). michelle, being with you through first aid was such an amazing experience, and i feel so lucky to have seen you develop as a writer!

3. the people who have read my fics and encouraged me including the wip wednesday and seven sentence sunday tags! - i literally would not be anywhere without you. you actually give me life.

4. the friendships i've made on discord with people who just wanna know me for me and share little snippets of their lives - @reyesstrand and @heartstringsduet the little squirrel photos y'all send me are soul soothers for real! @st-elle-ar and @clottedcreamfudge and @lightningboltreader and @birdclowns for the cat pics! @howtosingit for your commentary and spoiler services 💜

5. the grace given to me by @carlos-in-glasses and @actual-sleeping-beauty - you two are so kind and encouraging and tell me all about your knitting projects even when i go missing for weeks on end. thank you for being my friends <3 and i don't even think you guys know you are both my yarn obsessed friends but you ARE.

6. everyone who has trusted me enough to collab with them on projects - the legends on never the same twice, @rmd-writes @strandnreyes. i loved working with you and i hope you had a positive experience! looking forward to more collabs in 2025.

7. the document gremlins, betas and sensitivity readers i've collected this year - @rmd-writes @strandnreyes @lightningboltreader @celeritas2997 @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut ty ty ty ty some of those fics were in danger of being lost forever but we revived them!

8. @she-walked-away for making me laugh with your hilarious posts and olympia2997 who apparently doesn't exist on tumblr but leaves the most unhinged comments of all time on my fics.

9. everyone who has translated my fics or made art or gifs this year! inspired by you and in awe of you! @donghaian @whatsintheboxmh @heartstringsduet @guardian-angle22 i know there are more i'm so sorry if i've not listed you here!!!

10. everyone in the various fandoms i'm in who have created brilliant works in 2024! i am inspired by your work more than you know <3

2025 - things i want to do (in fandom, in no particular order)

1. read more, and read more broadly. expand my horizons a bit. read things that are a touch outside my go-to zones just to test the waters. read stuff by new authors!

2. spend time co-writing because that's actually my favourite thing to do. i have some things in the pipeline with a couple of people which i hope work out!

3. finish. the. damn. fic. (eurotrip). IT'S SO FREAKING CLOSE.

4. spend more time with my 2019-2021 beloveds - alex and henry. write more rwrb fic. engage in the fandom a bit more.

5. finish the ring-in 2.0 within 1 month of the LS finale (weep).

6. take one hand off the wheel with fandom relationships - my therapist tells me i need to stop trying to control how everyone feels about me and instead let people show me the kind of friendship they're interested in maintaining. scary because i think i may lose some people along the way but OH WELL WE BALL.

7. worry less about the engagement! god! i need to stop looking so much! *shakes fist at self*

8. write a little more regularly with less word count expectations.

9. learn how to be okay with smaller comments (from myself). sometimes i feel terrible if i don't write a damn essay but sometimes it stops me from reading which is horrible!

10. be a better fandom contributor than i was in 2024 - i think continuous growth is important and i'm always open to feedback (as long as it's constructive and genuine)! my mission is to always make a positive contribution and to make people feel good about themselves, and if i can even do that for one person in 2025, i think i will achieve this goal.

ty for the 2024 wrapped tags @hippolotamus @rmd-writes @reyesstrand @emsprovisions @nancys-braids @carlos-in-glasses @lemonlyman-dotcom @alrightbuckaroo @strandnreyes @thisbuildinghasfeelings @whatsintheboxmh @heartstringsduet @firenati0n @cha-melodius. you are real ones! consider this a tag back if you would like to do a 2024/2025 10 things edition.

[pkmnirl]

Info/Mobile Directory

EDIT 3/12/25: Blog restructuring in progress, some links and content on this post may be outdated! Please be patient and shoot us a message in our inbox if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!

Hello everyone and welcome to pkmnirl! Our goal is for this blog to serve as a central hub for people who are planning events or searching for events to participate in! We also plan to be an archive for starting resources and other material folks might find useful when running their blogs.

Our community has been rapidly growing, which while exciting can make it difficult to network and know what's going on. The introduction of stakes tags have been a huge help, though folks still may become discouraged if they struggle to find out about events before they're truly happening. A lot of planning goes into these things behind the scenes!

This post will serve as the directory for mobile users, though on desktop we have a handy navigation page that should remain up to date! If any links are broken or outdated please don't hesitate to let us know!

Directory | Prompt Events | Current HS Tag | Current LS Tag | Current NS Tag | Starting Resources | Ask/Reblog Games | Promos | Reblogs | Our Tip Jar

For an explanation as to how our tagging system works and how to submit an event check the read more.

Tag Explanation:

Event tags are to follow the format of MonthYearStakes, meaning if for whatever reason we are having an issue with updating our tagging system on our various pages you can manually look up info about current, past, or future events if available!

Ex. June23HS would be our tag for High Stakes events in the month of June 2023

Stakes abbreviations*:

HS - High Stakes (The fate of a region or the world is at stake. Grievous and even fatal injuries may happen to people and Pokemon. These often have a great deal of planning going into them, so please keep that in mind when opting to participate.)

LS - Low Stakes (May also be referred to as Drama Stakes. Meant for higher stress events that are not necessarily life or death for participants or their Pokemon.)

NS - No Stakes (These events are meant to be relatively stress free! Conflict may still arise, but nothing intended to have a lasting negative effect on participants. All in good fun!)

*Subject to change as needed for organizational or clarification purposes

How to Submit an Event:

When submitting an event to us it's extremely important that you include a link to at least one blog involved with the event (preferably the "host") and the dates that the event will be taking place. We understand that sometimes these dates may move around, and if need be we are willing to adjust tags but it's important we know where to sort it to begin with.

Please also specify if your event will be High Stakes, Low Stakes, or No Stakes (you are free to clarify as much or as little as you want here as there are other types of tags our system doesn't include).

Finally, include a description of what your event is. You don't have to spoil major plot elements, but at least give people an idea of what they're getting into. The use of keywords may also help people manually searching through our blog!

We may eventually provide a template for event submissions to follow, depending on the general traffic this blog gets. As of right now we do not see that being necessary. However, if your event submission does not include at least these things we will not post it.

Remember that when it comes to crossover events communication with your RP partners is key! Be respectful and do not spring major plot elements on your fellow roleplayers. Try not to become discouraged and importantly have fun!

[chicgeekgirl89]

Tag Game Tuesday: 911 Lone Star Fandom Edition

Thanks to @strandnreyes for the tags!

When did you first start watching Lone Star? Who or what introduced you to the show?

I was watching the OG, so when it rolled over into the pilot for LS I just...kept watching lol.

Which season is your favorite?

Oh god. Season 1? 😂 I always love the early days of relationship stuff and the Tarlos flirting and nonsense was peak amazing during that time. Season 2 is also pretty up there.

Who is your favorite character? (Bonus: If you answered TK or Carlos, who is your favorite besides them?)

Sorry, here for the Tarlos lol. But probably Tommy or Grace. I love how badass they are and how they take no shit!

Top five episodes. Go!

Push (3x04)

Yee-Haw (1x02)

The Big Heat (2x12)

Bad Call (2x08)

Down to Clown (3x15)

I KNOW I DIDN'T PICK THE WEDDING EP I CANNOT DEAL WITH THE GABRIEL OF IT ALL OKAY?!

If you could pick any character to be given a "begins" episode, who would it be and what would that episode look like?

Buttercup

What is a scenario or storyline that you would like to see in season 5?

I want more shenanigans. The Lou stuff of "Down to Clown" is so good and it lets our people shine in a really special way. Like just give me the 126 prank war or Carlos losing his wedding ring. Nonsense stuff that is just fun!

What do you think is going on in this still?

Pretty sure it's a lead on Gabriel's murder unfortunately. But could be that Tarlos was about to get it on when Andrea called because she needs help changing a lightbulb and Carlos is like, "Mom, now is NOT a good time." Lol!

We all know about the elusive 5x05 spicy scene that has been teased, so what is your prediction for how it could possibly top 1x02?

SHOWER. SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER. Like they're just at home, getting ready for the day together with some steamy (pun intended!) shower sex that's just sooooooo much better now that they're married!

Where was the Tarlos honeymoon in your mind?

I sent them home and then to Mexico in my fic lol. I don't think they went too far. Just somewhere all inclusive where they could relax and be alone.

Shoutout one of your favorite fan creations.

Gotta be TK Strand's Sweet 16 (times 2) (minus 2) by @lemonlyman-dotcom and the wildest winter by @strandnreyes. These fics live rent free in my mind!

Tagging @lemonlyman-dotcom, @ladytessa74, @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad,

@carlos-in-glasses, @carlos-tk, @welcometololaland, @heartstringsduet,

@whatsintheboxmh and anyone else who would like to share!

[chenfordswopez]

My current feelings on the T9S ships

I made a list like a year ago but I can’t find it haha. And my opinions have changed a lot so I'm going to be doing an update. If I missed any ships, please let me know!

Jay/Leia - My favorite canon ship out of the newbies. Granted I’m not AS emotionally invested in them as Gwen/Nikki, like to the point of constantly thinking about them and writing for them (which is weird since they might be the ship I make the most edits for haha). I've written so many fucking metas on them it’s not even funny haha (check my #jl meta tag & also my #jled tag). They’re just so pure and cute together and super overhated imo. Love seeing these two young teens in love.

Gwen/Nikki - Otp of otps. They’re my Jackie/Hyde in this show. So much chemistry, enemies (well frenemies) to lovers. Even though I don’t like that the scenes with them lessened post-Step By Step, I still see signs that they’re endgame. I just hope the writers don’t queerbait me and have them be endgame haha. Also check out my #jhgn tag for parallels :)

Gwen/Leia - Even though Gwikki is my heart and soul, I love Geia too and their parallels to Formciotti (check out my #gled tag). Gwen is legit the girl next door and not to mention, besties to lovers! There’s clearly something between them. Imo, I think they’re the most queer coded dynamic on T9S. The idea of them being platonic hurts my soul.

Nikki/Leia - Even though are only a few fans, I couldn’t help but put them. They’re just very cute and I love their scenes in Summer Storm. I think they could been a really cute college romance sort of thing. Also the love triangle trope where both girls ditch the guy for each other is A+.

Jay/Ozzie - I'm putting them here because of Ozzie's reaction to Jay's flirting in the pilot 😂. Same as Nikkeia, I see them as a cute college romance but also lowkey endgame in a universe with Neia & Gwikki/Geia & Niknate as the endgames. Their energy gives me Fez/Kelso (Hannah has a post talking about it and I see tbh). Plus they were GIVING old married couple energy in Summer Storm.

Ozzie/Etienne - Perfect bbs no notes. If someone can make Ozzie smile the way he did in LS, then they’re a keeper. I hope we get to see Etienne in s2.

Jay/Nate - Also my personal Fez/Kelso. To me, they’re just as gay as Gwen/Leia and I wish that was acknowledged more. They’re just so funny and cute. Even though I ship Nate/Leia now, I wish that the triangle was Leia/Jay/Nate instead since Nate is basically in love with Jay. I mean it’s canon that Nate always lets Jay ride shotgun. Plus Nate literally ditched his girlfriend to go with Jay to see a used hot tub. Now you can see that as Nate being a good friend, I see that Nate wanting to hang out with bf and do something fun.

Nate/Leia - Talked about it here. While I still have the same issues with them (giving off plot device, screwing over Nikki, very few scenes of them alone), I realized that that’s moreso on the writing and the way it was executed. But I really love them and want to see more of them in s2.

Nate/Nikki - Had potential early on and some cute moments later, but they ended up being a mini J*lso. 1 & 2

[kindaeccentric]

Frerard this, franthony that, peterick, rayrard, whatever... listen, to be honest, if I had a space where I could indulge some of my impulsive thoughts about benevolently harassing my friends by kissing, soft biting, pushing my head and whole body against theirs, then I, too, would do the things these guys did and keep doing. It's free real estate of instant dopamine. You just have to direct the pent up energy from performing towards something and my man, if you have a friend who's game, then you play. It's as simple as that.

[formulaoneisajoke]

INSIDER: 2021 Spanish Grand Prix

[alkaysani]

alkaysani >>>> thisisdiaz

in celebration of 9-1-1 month, i’ve changed my url for september

why yes it’s based on eddie begins and i’m not sorry

still in semi-hiatus, but very excited. still business as usual, so:

hi i’m L

tracking #usernicolo

the old guard, 9-1-1, 9-1-1 lone star

will tag for the old guard 2

liveblog tags for 9-1-1/9-1-1LS is #911 spoilers and #911 ls spoilers

L writes things for fics and meta

L edits things for gifs and edits

tagging some folks below

@nilefreemans @bookersebastien @starksresilience@strangehighs @kate-sheffield @oneawkwardcookie @djdangerlove @lesbiandiaz @lucydonato @evanbukley @jddryder @guerin-michael @evandiaz @queerdiaz @captain-hen @captain-hen @bieddiediaz @bigfootsmom @bitchhans @buddiemidnights @aa-lionheart @prettyboyandthekid @madsbuckley @madneyfiles

[exolssecretsanta]

Hello EXO-Ls!

Welcome to the “2021 EXO-Ls Secret Santa (SS) Online Gift Exchange.”

We had such a wonderful experience with last year’s EXO-Ls Secret Santa (SS) Online Gift Exchange that I have decided to do it again this year.  I have made some changes to this year’s rules so please read closely.  I hope the 2021 project helps bring you all lots of joy and holiday fun.  

Please join me in this EXO fandom online holiday gift exchange.  How does it work? You sign up to make an online gift for someone and someone else makes one for you.  Simple and fun! Everyone will receive their gift the week before Christmas!  You don’t have to have a EXO blog to join.  If you are a fan - then you can join.

This is a tumblr online gift exchange so all gifts must be digital.  Gift examples: fanfiction, gifsets, playlists, mood boards, photoshop edits, tumblr icons/headers, etc. (If you want to try and make some edits/mood boards here is a website that offers a free editor. https://www.canva.com/create/mood-boards/

The first thing you need to do is sign up HERE .  Once I close the sign up window I will randomly match you up with someone else based on the criteria you filled out in the sign up form.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT:  SECRET SANTA is to be kept a SECRET.   Do not tell the person you are making the gift for who you are.  It’s a secret until you reveal yourself when you post their gift on tumblr.  

Last year we required participants to send Anonymous messages (of positivity or questions to personalize their gifts, etc) to the person they were making the gift for, but there were difficulties with that.  So, I am not making it a requirement this year.  If you still wish to do this, please do.  I will however require participants to turn on their ASK inbox and allow for Anonymous messages.  That will help those who do wish to send anon messages. 

You’ll have a lot of time to make your gift.  I will have one check-in date to see how you all are doing.  I understand that real life can get in the way, so this check-in date is a way for you to let me know if you can complete your gift on time.  This secret santa exchange is meant to be fun and enjoyable - not stressful so, you do not have to wait on the check-in date to make your gift.  Make it sooner rather than later and all you have to do is post it during the post date period below.

Here are the important dates:

Sign Ups Open: 7 September

Sign Ups Close: 10 October 

Gift Assignment notification sent to your tumblr direct message: 14-17th October. 

Check-in : 4 December

GIFTS POSTED: you can post your gifts any day during 16-18th December. 

Here are the RULES: *** THESE HAVE CHANGED FROM LAST YEAR ***

You must follow this blog and please reblog/signal boost this informational post.  

Please tag your Gift post with the following: name of the blog receiving your gift and our blog name: @EXOLSSECRETSANTA (the reason I ask you to include our blog name on your post is to help ensure I get the notification. I will be re-blogging your gift to our blog for everyone to enjoy.  Make sure you have the tag EXOLSSECRETSANTA21 in your first 5 tags. 

 Make sure your blog’s ASK inbox is ON and TURN ON/allow anonymous asks.  

All the gifts must be NEW CONTENT.  Please do not recycle a previous fic, gif-sets, etc.

Fanfiction gifts must be 1K+ words. If it will be a WIP you must post the first chapter as your Gift.

Gif-sets: 4+ gifs

Fanart: 1+ 

Tumblr icons or headers : 4+ icons/headers

Edits: 4+ small pngs or 2+ large (540x?)

Playlists: 10+ songs

Mood boards: 2+ boards

Let’s all have some fun!! 

XO your Secret Santa moderator: @mel-loves-kdramas

[welcometololaland]

almost uploaded a picture of my bank statement instead of this header! happy days!

thanks for the tags @hippolotamus @kiwiana-writes @happiness-of-the-pursuit @rmd-writes

@nancygillianmvp @terramous @tellmegoodbye @freneticfloetry @beautifulhigh

@orchidscript @myheartalivewrites and @strandnreyes (don't think that was a real tag but i'm taking it anyway to force you to love me).

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

49 (last time it was 46 but i feel like that isn't enough of a difference? disappointed in myself dfhskjh)

2. What's your Ao3 bodycount word count?

1,119,086 which does include some co-writes, but I also have around 200k of unposted WIP in my google docs so i'm counting it (including a fully written fic - someone put their hands around my neck and force me to edit it PLEASE).

3. Which fandoms do you write for?

red white and royal blue, 911 lone star, top gun maverick (flirting with winter's orbit always)

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

the order of these has changed but not the identity:

Speak for Yourself (RWRB) (you know when eminem said he'd never be able to top My Name Is? this is my version of that)

Fifty First Dates (RWRB) (oodie agenda reigns supreme)

The RIng-In (Lone Star) (otherwise, lone star is in danger of being eviscerated from this top 5 lmao)

(Not) A Cinderella Story (RWRB) (NDAs are hot, apparently)

Cursed is a State of Mind (RWRB) (cursed caffeine is the main drawcard let's not lie)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i try my absolute best to. i am currently really behind and i apologise for that (the problem is, i reply to comments before i post anything and i haven't posted anything in ages).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

serious answer - Contaminated

my answer - oh baby i'm a fool for you because we never find out if they actually watch twilight and that's a damn shame

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

literally everything else - i don't really do open endings or sad endings! in the words of the great philosopher, skepta: "nah, that's not me."

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i used to, but i haven't in ages! thank god for that.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes, although i have to say i've been moving away from pwp lately. i feel my best smut is written into longer fics where the sex serves a plot or characterisation purpose within the frame of the overarching narrative.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

yes, a RWRB/LS but i never finished it. ALTA is a veronica mars inspired tarlos fic which kind of feels like a crossover at times.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge :)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! Phonography (Lone Star) has been translated, as has Baby, Make Your Move (Lone Star) and Warm Whispers (Lone Star). I'm very grateful to the incredible people who have made these translations happen - you are so talented.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

yes, many with @dustratcentral. I also wrote a chapter of a co-written fic with a whole bunch of incredible RWRB authors called never the same twice.

@rmd-writes and I have created (Un)Professional Services and (upcoming) Call Me (By Your Name).

The Rainbow Fish was co-written with @strandnreyes.

I love co-writing so much and I am always open to anyone who wants to give it a go!

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

me + my unposted wips.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

probably the aforementioned crossover which was apparently also my answer last time.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i'm allergic to giving myself compliments but i would say maybe dialogue/banter and worldbuilding.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

keeping things short. also, exposition.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

kinda scared to because i don't speak any other languages and i'm so hesitant to annoy my very talented multi-lingual friends with my annoying questions.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

we don't talk about that.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

probably still Love Game because the experience was just so amazing and i never wanted to stop writing it.

heaps of people have already done this so leaving an open tag and also a couple of suggestions under the cut but apologies if you've already participated or been tagged 7 million times:

@bonheur-cafe @theghostofashton @thebumblecee @indomitable-love @eclectic-sassycoweyes

@tailoredshirt @vineofroses @liminalmemories21 @mikibwrites @birdclowns

@ladytessa74 @basilsunrise @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @rosedavid @sanjuwrites

@alrightbuckaroo @three-drink-amy @marjansmarwani @dumbpeachjuice @doublel27

@lemonlyman-dotcom @blueink3 @ambiguouspenny @clottedcreamfudge @emmalostinwonderland

@sail-not-drift @inexplicablymine @celeritas2997 @cricketnationrise @reyesstrand

@goodways @carlos-in-glasses @heartstringsduet @sunshinestrand @sherryvalli

[duskcowboy]

Let’s talk about the lightsinger theory…

[If this theory isn’t your cup of tea, I recommend you keep scrolling. You’ve been warned.]

Per my last post, I recently dug deep into the Lightsinger Theory tag which can be dangerous territory. I suppose for many Gw*nriel shippers, this theory feels equivalent to how many Elriel shippers feel about the Evil Elain Theory. So I get it, it’s not fun or easy to hear theories that somewhat paint a character you like in a bad light (especially when the people doing so use said theory as reasoning for why your desired ship won’t happen). However, after reading many “debunking” posts about the Lightsinger Theory, I want to address something:

Many anti posts use the “definition” of a lightsinger provided in acosf to prove the theory wrong because it doesn’t outright provide details used in the LS theory such as “glowing” or “singing”. Let’s review what was said in acosf…

Now, idk about you, but this isn’t really a “definition”; it sounds to me more like a story—some may say even a myth, or a legend. It basically sounds like something you’d tell your kids to discourage them from going near the deep end (a “boogeyman” of sorts). And the thing with myths and legends is that they are based on truth, but they evolve and change over time through the process of word of mouth.

Take these excerpts from the article, “How Great Myths and Legends Were Created”:

“It began with a real or imagined incident…It was passed along by word of mouth from person to person and from generation to generation until it had been told and retold millions of times and existed in a hundred different versions around the world.”

“There is also a tendency to exaggerate or minimize, to glorify or ennoble, to idealize or vilify. Beyond that, there’s a natural, unconscious tendency to analyze things, to take them apart and put them back together in different combinations and a natural tendency to simplify or edit.”

Therefore, what Cassian provided as information on a lightsinger could potentially not be wholly correct. So, we have to decipher what we anticipate to be truth and what could be embellishments added over time (or what’s been left out). This is why I believe that Gwyn possibly being a lightsinger doesn’t necessarily imply that she’s evil or manipulating anyone on purpose. The story of what a lightsinger is can very easily be based on a truth that has transformed into a “mythical creature”, and has a high chance of not being entirely accurate anymore. Additionally, the absence of seemingly “key words” such as “singing” or “visions” could have easily been lost in the process of retellings.

But if you disagree that what Cass said is a myth or legend, I’ll reel it back a bit and continue calling it the description of a lightsinger. Now, with descriptions, they typically highlight characteristics to create a basic overview. With this, you are not going to get every last detail. For example, a suspect’s description usually entails the following:

Gender, race, age/height/weight (estimated), and maybe some other vague descriptions of eye & hair color, clothing, etc.

So if a suspect description says, “white male, mid 30’s, average height, sandy blonde hair, and wearing black overalls,” and I see someone matching that exact description (down to the color of his overalls) driving a red car, NO ONE would argue I can’t call it in “because the description never said he was driving a red car”.

My point being that: the absence of certain details does not automatically mean they are a falsehood.

“It doesn’t say lightsingers sing”

True. But let’s draw an educated guess from surrounding evidence: “singer” is in the literal title, just like “shadowsinger”; the only shadowsinger we know of confirmed he sings.

“It never says lightsingers glow”

Again, educated guess. Power is consistently described as “glowing”. When Gwyn sings, she glows. It’s not a large leap in thinking to conclude she may be using some sort of power. If it’s not as a lightsinger, what is it?

“It doesn’t say they can induce visions”

It does say that “they appear as friendly faces” when in fact, they’re not. That seems to me like a manipulation of sight. Not a far leap to guess they could maybe induce other manipulations of sight such as visions.

An easy answer to all of these is also, “it also doesn’t say they don’t” but I suspect that’s not a good enough response. All I know is that this argument is teetering on argumentum ad ingorantiam…the “appeal to ignorance” fallacy of “it can’t be true because it doesn’t explicitly say it’s true”.

Just because the description didn’t lay out every detail, doesn’t mean it can’t be true. If SJM literally wrote “lightsingers are ethereal beings who lure you by enchanting songs” wouldn’t it have been too obvious? She might as well have just said “Gwyn is a lightsinger”. What we’re doing with this theory is piecing a puzzle together using legitimate excerpts from the text, and in this process, we acknowledge that we could potentially be wrong.

The description of a lightsinger may not explicitly say a lot to outright link Gwyn, but you know what it does say? That they lure people. And what does it say in acosf?

That Gwyn’s grandmother “seduced” an autumn male. What’s a synonym for “seduce”? LURE.

That Gwyn’s singing “beckons” and “draws Nesta in”. What’re synonyms for “beckon” and to “draw in someone/something”? LURE.

I think you get my point.

Look, I’ll acknowledge that all these “conclusions” and theories are unconfirmed. We’re well aware of that. But to insinuate that our logic is implausible when we use text from the book to build it is what’s nonsensical.

Whew! Two long posts in one day 🥴 sorry about that haha as always, lmk what you think!

[all credit to @silverlinedeyes for the OG lightsinger theory! Check them out for more detailed evidence!]

[maxismatchccworld]

Patch Notes

PC: 1.71.86.1020 / Mac: 1.71.86.1220 Console: Version 1.38

Coming of Age at 21 in ‘21

As of February 4th, The Sims™ is officially 21 years old. To be quite honest with you all, I have a lot of feelings regarding that as not only it confirms that I'm getting older, but also it makes me think about everything that The Sims has meant to so many people over these past 21 years.

My own personal - professional - journey in The Sims started in 2010 and since then I have seen every pack, every feature, and every comment from our wonderful community. Most importantly I have made great friendships with coworkers (former and current) and I have enjoyed a lot of the content our community shares and talks about on a daily basis.

This year we have nine amazing creators from The Sims community sharing their talent with all of us in honor of this joyous occasion. As of today, you can see in your game 21 new creations present in your game, some in Build Mode and some in Create a Sim, designed by these members of our community. They are in both game areas with a Green Icon representing a present and they are tagged with the Special -> Birthday filter.

We have partnered with the wonderful

HeyHarrie, peachyfaerie, storylegacysims, peacemaker_ic, Luumia, icemunmun, grimcookies, FeralPoodles, andAHarris00Britney. They have created unique and fun items for everyone to enjoy, so we hope that you like them as much as we do.

Along with these items we have a number of fixes and tweaks that we managed to deliver in this update. So thanks as always for your patience and support in reporting and helping our Live Operations team review and set these fixes in motion.

On behalf of Maxis I want to wish everyone a Happy 21st, and remember that You Make The Sims!

Happy Simming,

-SimGuruRusskii

Bug Fixes Console

Fixed an issue in the control scheme screen - if you are not familiar with this screen, press L3 (Playstation 4) or LS (Xbox One) it’s awesome... anyway! The issue is that the screen did not display the “Edit Color” option when in Create a Sim. We also fixed an issue in which the options for the L1 (PlayStation 4) and LB (Xbox One) were not showing up on the same screen.

When randomizing Skin Tone colors, pressing the X Button (PlayStation 4) or the A Button (Xbox One) will select and apply the correct tone.

We have cleansed the Create a Sim of the “Play button” control option that would appear randomly in the dynamic controller layouts.

Made some alignments on the Main Menu Home and Packs tab as they were not looking quite right when Simmers switched to Mouse and Keyboard.

Sims 4

Fixed an issue in Create a Sim that did not allow Body presets to be present as an option for Children and Toddler Sims.

For Simmers that experience a Last UI Exception error in Create a Sim while selecting Skin Tones, the issue has been resolved.

The UI team has fixed a few imperfections in Create a Sim/Pet:

Gallery Notifications on the Main Menu needed to be more opaque as they were a bit unreadable and quite… ghostly. Good to know that was the resolve because this editor was second-guessing her contacts’ prescription for a while there.

As always this editor and the Localization team made some adjustments and perfected some of the text in-game across all packs and previous updates.

Pet breed’s thumbnails will no longer look disproportionate in the Coat Color/Pattern section in the case of Simmers that own Cats and Dogs.

Sims’ makeup sliders will no longer overlap with color swatches and highlighting color swatches will no longer make them look offset.

Fixed an issue in which the Skin Tones sliders didn’t appropriately hide when changing to other parts of the Sims to customize.

Saving customized color swatches will no longer create duplicates of the base color swatch used to create the custom color.

The Save button will no longer function inconsistently when utilizing the opacity sliders. Did it save? But did you save it? Did it actually save? But did it save?

Get to Work

We were contacted by the Aliens, and they have helped us reinstate their missing Skin Tone color in Create a Sim. Now all 8 Alien skin options are visible again.

Cats and Dogs

We did some maintenance on all Robot Vacuums so now they will actually clean up messes instead of just roaming around your Lot. Especially those created by Children and Toddlers - Big Yikes! Glad that the warranty was still in place though.

Seasons

Was your game save feeling the pressure to not continue with the Winterfest spirit? So were we. We have applied a fix that should help with the culling of extra Father Winters... affecting some saves. The Culling (it’s like The Happening, so something will happen… we hope) should start when loading into a Lot. Simmers with low-end machines and many, many Father Winters... in saves, may take some time (possibly hours… that is real-life hours, not Sim hours… just in case) for The Culling to complete. Afterward, Simmers should see an improvement in performance when playing these saves.

Eco Lifestyle

The “Store No More Home Fabricator” will now properly display the number of Bits and Pieces that are owned by Sims.

Nifty Knitting

Children will no longer look like they have put a leg through a rocking chair when reacting happily to rocking. Nothing to see here… nothing to see here folks.

[petitemingi]

─ ੈ༊ ateez's reaction to you being an exo-l (requested)

i wouldnt say this is entirely ateez reacting to you being an exo-l, it's more, finding out you're an exo-l and fanboying cuz they're exo-ls too like ;;;-;;; have you seen them?

𝒔𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒘𝒂 ─ ੈ༊ 

seonghwa would find out as you were face calling your best friend. you were both so excited about something, and seonghwa was eager to know what it was. when you timidly revealed that you were next in line to get tickets to an exo fanmeet, seonghwa got excited too: "wait! can i come? please, ___? pleaaaaase?" it didn't take much consideration, and later that month, seonghwa was tagging along with you - a happy li'l bean

𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒋𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒈 ─ ੈ༊

it didn't take long at all for hongjoong to find out you were an exo-l; you had a photocard in your phonecase, an entire album in your gallery of chanyeol, and whenever you had your headphones in, it was usually because you were listening to exo. honestly, he would be kinda happy about it?? he could talk to you about planning cover songs, about dance covers and he'd share it all with you. what he loved most though was sharing a headphone bud so you could both listen to love me right ~

𝒚𝒖𝒏𝒉𝒐 ─ ੈ༊

probably found out around the same time as you: you'd probably only just started really getting into exo's music, perhaps you'd changed your phone's wallpaper to an image of kai and sehun, just because it looked aesthetic. he'd probably be the one to tell you - "uhh... ___, are you by any chance an exo-l?" you might've been a little confused, before he pointed to the wallpaper, mentioned the downloaded albums and gestured at the tv as it played lucky one at volume 30. would take it very well and would laugh at how cute you were realising it

𝒚𝒆𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒈 ─ ੈ༊

you would've been using one of the dance practice rooms at kq to prepare a dance cover for your growing youtube channel. you'd chosen to cover exo's 'call me baby', as it had grown to be one of your favourite songs, but it was as you were about finished that a chorus of applause came from the doorway. there stood yeosang, as well as the rest of ateez, all in awe at your skills, but it was yeosang who asked if you were an exo-l, seeing how flawlessly you'd pulled off the choreography. i think he and the members would definitely ask to be part of the dance cover ~

𝒔𝒂𝒏 ─ ੈ༊

i think san would find out about the whole exo-l thing while you were vacuuming the living room: the majority of your playlist would've consisted of exo's songs. it just so happened that while power began to play that he walked into your shared apartment as you were dancing along to the song. would definitely join in i mean have you seen him? before bursting into a fit of laughter because it you were so cute ~

𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊 ─ ੈ༊

maybe mingi finds out as you run into the living room with a freshly delivered package. with the expression of excitement clear on your face, he asks what the package is. naturally, you're quite shy about it, before revealing that you'd purchased exo's lotto album a few weeks ago, and it'd finally arrived. within a few seconds, he too was practically bouncing off of the walls, begging you to open it: "which photocards did you get?????" baby

𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 ─ ੈ༊

see, i think wooyoung would find out when he went over to your house for the first time. upon seeing rows upon rows of exo's albums, lightsicks and plushies, he'd grow wide eyed and start jumping excitedly "___, you never told me you were an exo-l??? how long were you gonna keep this a secre- IS THAT A LIMITED EDITION VIVACE VERSION OF TEMPO??" yup... i think he'd react well...

𝒋𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒐─ ੈ༊

hm... i think jongho would find out one day as you were lay down on the couch. jongho would have his head resting on your chest as you both watched the television in front of you. you were both watching some youtube videos; some calm songs, though, as you'd both had quite a stressful day. it's as "that's okay", one of kyungsoo's solo songs comes on, that you decide to sing along, word for word. jongho would be suprised, i think: "___, you have such a beautiful voice... and there's no way you aren't an exo-l... who's your bias?"

@okiebloq

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4: New Game Patch (February 25th, 2021)

There’s a new Sims 4 update available for PC/Mac and Consoles. 

 Remove all MODS and Custom Content before updating your game

PC: 1.71.86.1020 / Mac: 1.71.86.1220 Console: Version 1.38

As of February 4th, The Sims™ is officially 21 years old. To be quite honest with you all, I have a lot of feelings regarding that as not only it confirms that I’m getting older, but also it makes me think about everything that The Sims has meant to so many people over these past 21 years.

My own personal – professional – journey in The Sims started in 2010 and since then I have seen every pack, every feature, and every comment from our wonderful community. Most importantly I have made great friendships with coworkers (former and current) and I have enjoyed a lot of the content our community shares and talks about on a daily basis.

This year we have nine amazing creators from The Sims community sharing their talent with all of us in honor of this joyous occasion. As of today, you can see in your game 21 new creations present in your game, some in Build Mode and some in Create a Sim, designed by these members of our community. They are in both game areas with a Green Icon representing a present and they are tagged with the Special -> Birthday filter.

We have partnered with the wonderful HeyHarrie, peachyfaerie, storylegacysims, peacemaker_ic, Luumia, icemunmun, grimcookies, FeralPoodles, and AHarris00Britney. They have created unique and fun items for everyone to enjoy, so we hope that you like them as much as we do.

Along with these items we have a number of fixes and tweaks that we managed to deliver in this update. So thanks as always for your patience and support in reporting and helping our Live Operations team review and set these fixes in motion.

On behalf of Maxis I want to wish everyone a Happy 21st, and remember that You Make The Sims!

Happy Simming,

-SimGuruRusskii

Bug Fixes

Console

Fixed an issue in the control scheme screen – if you are not familiar with this screen, press L3 (Playstation 4) or LS (Xbox One) it’s awesome… anyway! The issue is that the screen did not display the “Edit Color” option when in Create a Sim. We also fixed an issue in which the options for the L1 (PlayStation 4) and LB (Xbox One) were not showing up on the same screen.

When randomizing Skin Tone colors, pressing the X Button (PlayStation 4) or the A Button (Xbox One) will select and apply the correct tone.

We have cleansed the Create a Sim of the “Play button” control option that would appear randomly in the dynamic controller layouts.

Made some alignments on the Main Menu Home and Packs tab as they were not looking quite right when Simmers switched to Mouse and Keyboard.

Sims 4

Fixed an issue in Create a Sim that did not allow Body presets to be present as an option for Children and Toddler Sims.

For Simmers that experience a Last UI Exception error in Create a Sim while selecting Skin Tones, the issue has been resolved.

The UI team has fixed a few imperfections in Create a Sim/Pet:

Gallery Notifications on the Main Menu needed to be more opaque as they were a bit unreadable and quite… ghostly. Good to know that was the resolve because this editor was second-guessing her contacts’ prescription for a while there.

As always this editor and the Localization team made some adjustments and perfected some of the text in-game across all packs and previous updates.

Pet breed’s thumbnails will no longer look disproportionate in the Coat Color/Pattern section in the case of Simmers that own Cats and Dogs.

Sims’ makeup sliders will no longer overlap with color swatches and highlighting color swatches will no longer make them look offset.

Fixed an issue in which the Skin Tones sliders didn’t appropriately hide when changing to other parts of the Sims to customize.

Saving customized color swatches will no longer create duplicates of the base color swatch used to create the custom color.

The Save button will no longer function inconsistently when utilizing the opacity sliders. Did it save? But did you save it? Did it actually save? But did it save?

Get to Work

We were contacted by the Aliens, and they have helped us reinstate their missing Skin Tone color in Create a Sim. Now all 8 Alien skin options are visible again.

Cats and Dogs

We did some maintenance on all Robot Vacuums so now they will actually clean up messes instead of just roaming around your Lot. Especially those created by Children and Toddlers – Big Yikes! Glad that the warranty was still in place though.

Seasons

Was your game save feeling the pressure to not continue with the Winterfest spirit? So were we. We have applied a fix that should help with the culling of extra Father Winters… affecting some saves. The Culling (it’s like The Happening, so something will happen… we hope) should start when loading into a Lot. Simmers with low-end machines and many, many Father Winters… in saves, may take some time (possibly hours… that is real-life hours, not Sim hours… just in case) for The Culling to complete. Afterward, Simmers should see an improvement in performance when playing these saves.

Eco Lifestyle

The “Store No More Home Fabricator” will now properly display the number of Bits and Pieces that are owned by Sims.

Nifty Knitting

Children will no longer look like they have put a leg through a rocking chair when reacting happily to rocking. Nothing to see here… nothing to see here folks.

[mycelier]

My name is Simone and I would like to tell you a tale!

I will not have access to my laptop for some days more and because writing on my phone is kind of painful (physically, because I am working on hand mobility now), this may end up in drafts and taking a while to post. I am going to share what has been happening the last 2 months because I feel like everything went from 0 to 100 in the span of a few weeks and its been really, really wild.

So!!! LETTUCE begin!

For roughly 5 years I've been struggling to get a diagnosis on an extremely painful area of my arm. There was literally nothing visible; no lump, discoloration or any other physical abnormality to indicate anything was wrong. I spent thousands on pretty much every kind of imaging you can do, and was told time and time again that there was nothing wrong and, perhaps, it was psychosomatic and I needed therapy or, more often than not, I was given a shrug and a vague "i dunno" response.

This year, something changed. I deal with chronic pain (my spine is congenitally fused in my neck and lower spine and I have baby bone spurs all over), and in the process of trying to work on that I brought up my arm again to a dr I no longer see. He'd told me my arm was SEVERAL things over the years I had been seeing him but this time said it was a fibromyalgia knot, something I had been told by a team of doctors some time before that. I said okay cool and was sent to a physical therapy rehab center where the dr worked with myofascial release and stretches to help with injuries. This amazing man fixed my plantar fasciitis and helped get my chronic headaches under control but NOTHING we did helped my arm pain. Within a month he was worried bc we had started to notice that there was a hardness to the spot that never changed with any exercise or massage.

Worried that there was a nerve being trapped or crushed (another diagnosis I'd gotten over the years), this amazing man sent me to a neurosurgeon who immediately frowned and said he didn't think my neck pain and my arm pain were connected. He ordered an MRI of my arm and despite it not being visible on an MRI 2 years before, he found something PHYSICALLY THERE where I said I had pain. He considered doing the surgery to remove it (despite being a neurosurgeon he was fascinated with this weird horribly painful spot) but eventually sent me a surgeon for an oncology center, assuring me it was because this new surgeon was one of the best in Texas for removing soft tissue tumors, not because there was any thought of cancer.

I met with the surgeon who gave me one more diagnosis of an AVM (arteriovenous malformation), snd said they were benign and not necessary to remove as well as the possibility that if removed it would likely return. Truly, at this point after 5 years of constant nauseating horric pain when someone brushed against me or if I gently brushed against ANYRHING, a pain so bad that it had basically made me stop using my right arm as much as possible (of course I'm right handed lol), I said GET THAT FUCKER OUT OF THERE MAN and my first surgery was scheduled.

Surgery one occurred Nov 5th and was an out patient event. I went home and passed out. At some point my mom said that while I'd been in recovery the dr said the thing in my arm hadn't looked like what he expected so he had sent it to pathology. I went back to work and was hanging out until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving when I went in for a super immediate meeting with a different doctor who told me that what had been in my arm was a synovial sarcoma, aka, cancer! He, this incredibly kind man I did not know, gently discussed chemo and told me I needed to have a CT scan immediately. Based on the CT, i was either in stage one or stage four if it has spread to lungs. The day before Thanksgiving I received the news that it was stage one, it had not spread, and i was so fucking happy.

Then it was time talk about next steps. My surgeon marked out a circle on my arm to indicate how much he was gonna remove in order to guarantee clear margins..but it was not enough of a meeting for me to grasp the surgery I was about to receive.

The day of my second surgery, dec 8th, came quickly and i met with the plastic surgeon, the kindest, most patient man. He moved my arm around and explained how he was going to hijack a vein from my forearm in order to keep the blood flow health to the flap he was gonna take from the donor site: My inner thigh.

It has been 11 days and I am living in an inpatient rehab facility, working on dealing with the nerve damage/pain, the EXTREME pain of my donor site, and the lost mobility that I am working on getting back, both in my leg and my hand. The majorities of my arm is numb...except where the nerve pain burns my wrist and forearm and makes it painful to wear my arm sling (I can't fully extend my arm, nor can I lift, push, pull or use my arm in any way that would stress out my new arm flap). Also may have a brand new urinary tract infection but as I write this I'm chugging water for a urine sample to hopefully get that treated. Below are some pictures I have taken/had taken of my arm! Im not ready to look at my leg outside of the bandages (which, since having the wound vac removed today, hell yeah, will need daily dressing changes).

EDIT: I tried posting pictures of my arm last night and my post disappeared immediately so I will try to make a new post with these photos in case the whole post was erased because of them. I will tag them as post surgery photos. I do not consider them gory or excessive but hey that's just me.

I intend to post more things as I keep healing and as I gain more mobility. I was given "independence" in my room yesterday which means I can officially get up without any assistance needed (using my badass new cane to help me lift my foot in and out of bed)!!!! Which also means I can get up whenever I want without the bed alarm going off. I have a badass cane that has been the best tool in helping me get around (and has inspired my mom and others to suggest and look into getting me a cane sword which makes me laugh REAL hard). See below me using the cane to move my foot in and out of bed!

Part of why I'm posting this is because I really needed to talk about it and while later posts may not be this long or expository but I wanted to have a base post to explain other ones related to this one!!!

I will update with some newer pics tomorrow night when my mom comes by to help me take newer pics. The arm flap looks super healthy (according to the drs), and when they changed my leg dressing they said its looking really good and healthy!

I......also really wanted to post my Amazon wishlist. Due to this stupid wild bad lottery ticket, I've been struggling to pay my bills and rent but!!! I have good insurance, thankfully (since I live in the US and my hospital stay and this rehab stay would have more than bankrupted me), and im hoping my disability checks will get here in time for rent!!! I'm putting up my wishlist bc I can't afford some of the "essentials" on there and, also, because I havent been able to have any kind of comfort during any of this. I never ask for anything for holidays because usually i...dont want to burden people with spending money on me since I know how hard money is, especially right now. And if I don't have enough for rent later I might have to create a go fund me...but right now everything looks good for rent and bills just...not for anything fun.

Thank you so much for your time!!! And happy holidays you wild bastards!!!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/36PG6BAYD18U7?ref_=wl_share