#Going through youtube shorts is a nightmare sometimes

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi prompt from @dirigibird:

I've been looking at investment options but I don't want to be messing around too much with the stock market, and a co-worker suggested exchange traded funds. Would love to know your opinions!

LEGALLY NECESSARY DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed financial advisor, and it is illegal for me to advise anyone on investment in securities like stocks. My commentary here is merely opinion, not financial advice, and I urge you to not make any decisions with regards to securities investments based on my opinions, or without consulting a licensed advisor. I am also going to be talking this all over from an American POV, which means some of these things may not apply elsewhere.

So instead of letting you know what to pick or how to organize your securities, I'm going to go through the definitions of what various investment funds are, how they compare functionally, and maybe rant about how I disagree with the stock market on a fundamental ethical level if I have word count left over.

If you want more information, and are okay with jargon, I'd suggest hitting up investopedia. That is where I will be double-checking most of my information for this one.

I also encourage folks who know more about the stock market specifically to jump in! I like to think I'm good at research and explaining things, but I'm still liable to make mistakes.

Mutual Funds: A mutual fund is a pool of money and resources from multiple individuals (often vast numbers of people, actually) being put together and managed as a group by investment specialists. The primary appeal of these is that the money is professionally managed, but not personally so; it gives smaller investors access to professional money managers that they would not have access to on their own, at cheaper rates than if they tried to hire one for just their own assets. The secondary appeal is that, due to the sheer number of people, and thus capital, that is being invested at once, the money can be invested in a wide variety of industries, and is generally more stable than investing in just one company or industry. Low risk, low reward, but overall at least mostly reliable. Retirement plans are often invested in mutual funds by employer choice, through companies like Fidelity or John Hancock.

Hedge Funds: A hedge fund is a high risk, high reward mutual fund. Investors are generally wealthy, and have the room and safety to lose large amounts of money on an investment that has no promise of success, especially since money cannot be withdrawn at will, but must remain in the fund for a period of time following investment. It gets its name from "hedging your bets," as part of the strategy is to invest in the opposition of the fund's focus in order to ensure that there is a backup plan to salvage at least some money if the main plan backfires. Other strategies are also on the riskier side, often planning to take advantage of ongoing events like buyouts, mergers, incumbent bankruptcy, and shorting stocks (that's the one that caused the gamestop incident).

Private Equity: Private equity is... a nightmare that got its own incredibly good Hasan Minhaj episode of Patriot Act, so if you've got 20 minutes, an interest in comedically-delivered, easily-digestible, Real Information, and an internet connection, take a watch of that one. (If it's not available on YouTube in your country, it's originally from Netflix, or you can probably access it by VPN.) Private equity companies are effectively hedge funds that purchase entire companies, rebuild them in one way or another, and then sell them at (hopefully) a profit. Very often, the companies purchased by private equity are very negatively impacted, especially if the private equity group is a Vulture Fund. Sometimes, it's by taking it apart to sell off; sometimes it's by just bleeding it for cash until there's nothing left. Sometimes, it's taking over a hospital and overcharging the patients while also abusing the staff! (Glaucomflecken has a lot of videos on the topic of private equity in the medical industry, check him out.)

Venture Capital: In contrast to private equity, which purchases more mature companies, venture capital is focused on startups, or small businesses that have growth potential. These are the kinds of hedge funds that are like a whole group that you'd see some random tv character calling an Angel Investor (they're not actually the same thing, but they overlap by a lot). I'd hesitantly call these less ethically dubious than private equity, but I'm still suspicious.

And finally, to answer your question on what ETFs are and how they fit into the above.

Exchange Traded Funds: ETFs are... sort of like a mutual fund. Sort of. You are, to some extent, pooling your money... ish.

An ETF is like a stock that is made out of partial stocks. So instead of paying $100 for stock A, and not getting stocks B/C/D that all cost the same, you buy $100 of the ETF, which is $25 each of stocks A/B/C/D. You are getting a quarter of a unit of stock, which isn't normally an option, but because you are purchasing through an ETF that officially already bought those Whole stocks, you can now purchase the partial stocks through them.

They buy the whole stocks, then they resell you mixes of those stocks. They still officially own the whole stocks themselves, but you now own parts of the stocks. Basically, you own "stock" in a company that owns stock in other companies, and in that process you own partial stocks in those other companies.

I'm going to re-explain this using fruit.

Imagine you can buy apples, oranges, melons, grapes, etc. You can also buy fruit cups. You can only buy the individual fruits in big batches or you can pool your money with a few other people, hand it to a chef. The chef will decide which fruits look like they'll taste the best by lunch time, buy a bunch of those fruit pallets with your combined money, and plan out the best possible fruit salad for you to share with a bunch of people once lunch rolls around.

You could also buy a fruit cup. You don't have a lot of control over what's already in the fruit cup, but there are a few different mixes available--that one has strawberries, but that one over there uses kiwi, and the other one that way has pineapple--and you can pick which mix you want. It's a pretty small fruit cup, and it's predesigned, but you can choose the one you want without having to pool money with everyone else. You just first have to let someone else design the fruit cups you choose from, and you don't know which ones are probably going to survive the best to lunch time unless you ask a chef (which defeats the purpose of buying a fruit cup instead of pooling your money, and asking the chef costs money).

That's the ETF. The ETF is the fruit cup.

The upside is that you can now just track the prices of your fruit cup, instead of tracking the prices of four different fruits, and so if the price of one fruit drops, you can just... let the other three buoy it.

Of course, in the real world, there are more than just four stocks involved in an ETF. This part of the Investopedia article lists a few examples, and they're usually themed and involve anywhere from 30 (DOW Jones) to thousands (Russell) of shares by stock type, or by commodity/industry. So with the ETF, you can invest in an entire industry, like technology, and just keep track of that single "stock" in the industry game.

They do cost less in brokerage/management fees than regular mutual funds, and they have a slightly lower liquidity (slower to cash out). There also exist actively managed ETFs, which are basically mutual funds for ETFs. You are paying the chef to buy you premade fruit cups.

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

[merriway]

Do you have any tips for how you developed your style? I want it to be like yours :3

OH my style has been developed over the course of many years through many different inspirations. I dont really have a name for it either per your other ask its more just like a hodge podge of all my favorite things. I can list some of my prominent inspirations for you to look up as well as list some of the things I focus on when arting!

For inspiration I'd have to go back to elementary school and say that my first creative inspo was probably the Nightmare before Christmas. I think that really encouraged a love of weird and whacky shapes in character design. Anime was obviously also a huge inspo and I love a lot of retro anime from the 80s/90s. Ranma, Moomins, Add in some PS1-PS2 era platformer mascots like sonic, spyro, crash, and klonoa. If we're talking video games too i gotta bring up pokemon cause thats been my obsession since the games first came out. From highschool through college I really studied a lot of art from classic disney and I'd say one of my favorite book series is "They drew as they pleased' I think studying that gave me a love for gesture drawing and acting. I think there was the show Wakfu which had a lot of art from Gobi and Bill Otomo and I loved how they pushed shapes in their character design. Takashi Nakamaru is a big inspo for me in how he stylizes and animates. He has such a level of volume and weight that what he animates feels so real but his style feels so cartoony and whimsical. Yuasa Masaaki headed one of my favorite anime, Kaiba. Which had a very stylized toony look but held a lot of darker heart wrenching themes. I really love cute/fun aesthetics mixed with heavier topics. Yoh Yoshinari is another major artist I reference a lot. Hes a major hitter at Trigger and I love the way he has blended both western and anime styles together. Also his extreme poses are so fun. I particularly love his book of sketches he did of Osamu Tezuka characters. Very toony but animated stuff. There is probably a lot more but I would say thats a erally good starting place to know where Im coming from. As for how I approach drawing. I will echo this as long as I live but gesture drawing gesture drawing gesture drawing. I took several life drawing classes in college and my favorite thing was to do short timed drawings of people and animals. There are so many videos for free on youtube about the Line of Action, about how to start gesture drawing as well as so many resources to find models/reference to draw from. Do 5 second gesture drawings where you can only get like three lines on the page, that helps you to focus most on the feeling and energy of a pose. Then 30 sec, 1 min, etc See how people do life drawing too. I really like Heinrich Kley and he was a huge inspo for many of the classic disney artists. You keep practicing that and it'll start to show up in your more stylized work. When you learn how to twist and bend shapes it starts to show in your personal art. For my personal art I tend to have a lot of mood boards, pinterest boards with artists I like and work that inspires me. I sometimes just spend 15min-30min looking at my favorite art, injecting the things I like about them into my brain and getting hyped to draw! Draw all sorts of styles, all sorts of things! Experiment with a variety of styles and eventually you'll start to create your own signature look. And dont be afraid to make a bad drawing!! I made so many! I drew on notes in class, on napkins, on post it notes, you name it. Just doodle and sketch bad things then try to figure out how to fix them through reference and learning. But remember to just stop and think about what you want! For example, what do you like about my art? is it the posing the shapes, the energy? Think about those things. Take a moment to ask yourself questions like 'what am I going for?" "why?" I think having a motivation, a drive, or something similar to that helps you want to draw and not get caught up with social media and trying to compete with your peers. Overall enjoy the journey! You're your own unique person and all your own personal experiences can feed into your work in a way others may not! And good luck with drawing, I hope it stays fun for you!!

[outpost51]

The 51 Post

Figured I'd start some kind of digest!

Contents:

Things You Might Have Missed

This Week's Jams

WIP Breakdowns

From the Skwad

Around the 'Blr

Things You Might Have Missed:

I've got a taglist form now! Because who doesn't love a good form?

BRHP: Chapter 14 posted; Atria learns the meaning of touch starvation and really, really misses her dad.

WIP Intro: Caught in the Crossfire (18+)

WIP Intro: The Arsonist Chronicles (18+)

WIP Whenever (Open Tag): BRHP chapter 15 snippet; pop pop is having a time time

Crossing Over: the 5th entry into the Lighthouse in the Fog shorts; a new player has entered the fray, and a familiar face reappears.

Vampire Council lore and vampire origins lore

Aria/Omega snippety snip

This Week's Jams:

friends like these || Brassie [spotify/youtube]

Little Girl Gone || CHINCHILLA [spotify/youtube]

EVERGREEN || PVRIS [spotify/youtube]

Eyes on Fire || Gold Souls [spotify/youtube]

WHEN THE PARTY'S OVER || Cami Petyn [spotify/youtube]

Lizard Lady || Laura Doggett [spotify/youtube]

WIP Breakdowns:

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter 15 should be coming out later today, with 16 slated for release sometime late this week or early next week. I'm finally in the chapters that don't require a ton of rewrites; most of what I've been doing is adding content. The whole thing is outlined through chapter 30 though! Since this is my entry for WIP Big Bang, updates will "stop" at chapter 18, since that's what I had published before the rewrites. After that, you'll have to wait for the release date! Which also means I have to wait for the release date for the serotonin, and that's going to be a nightmare.

Unlikely Adventures of Bitchface and Go F*ck Yourself

At this point, it's just a matter of making myself work on it. About a third of chapter 9 is written and the entirety of Act II is outlined.

Blinding Neon, Shades of Grey

nervous laughter

Stellar Parallax

Fuck, I missed this WIP. I missed Jane especially, she's so fun to write -- I'm about a third of the way into chapter 9 and it seems to be flowing pretty well? I just wanna get to the part where she and Saren beat the shit out of each other LMAO

Lighthouse in the Fog

Dunno if y'all saw, but the lighthouse keeper stories have a tag and a tentative title now! It's going to remain as a series of loosely connected shorts, and that may very well be what I end up doing with Xatal as well. Anyway, we have some lore groundwork laid! Look out for the 6th short later today!

In the Works

I still have questions in my inbox that I am absolutely getting to! I've also got a bunch of unanswered tags in my drafts and Notion. Losing a week and a half of planned answer time threw my schedule WAY off. Submission for SSSC #006 is in the planning stage. Hannah and the MILF Squad Get Up To No Good is about 30% written and fully outlined. I have... so many Kryterius prompts left to fill, and so many more spotify wrapped prompts left, send help. Still working on separating out the Daddy Issues smutshots, hoping to finish up the rewrites for the F!Shali one before the end of July. TIPYNTS is most likely going to come out in October, and by then I'm hoping to have a backlog of chapters to make posting more consistent.

From the Skwad:

Door's always open! 18+ writing server for both fanworks and original works! Camp is starting soon! We also have a flash fiction challenge and three bingo cards running until the end of the month!

@teamdilf continues to absolutely baffle me with her productivity here we go: A Cheesy Situation is now complete, ch 16 of Alice's Adventures in Andromeda is live, ch 18 of The In-Laws and the Grandparents is live, A Night in the IKEA dropped which I'm absolutely dying over, and that's not even all of it. holy shit J i don't know how you do it but i'll have whatever you're having thx

@thetrashbagswasteland dropped ch 4 of the Sunseeker rewrite and I'm adsfdafdadsf yes. thank you king

@sparatus is tearing me to fucking pieces with Make Less the Depth of Grief. i hate you (i love you)

@uraniumwriting also obliterated me with their FFF entry.

@wrathbites is back and I'm literally beside myself I missed the Vampire AU so fucking much.

oops @commander-krios got me invested in Star Wars please look at this.

@starknstarwars updated Smuggler's Ruin aaaaaaaaaaaaa

A few of our members participated in Shenko Summer!! @dandenbo wrote Volta and @mrsd-writes wrote both We Got Here the Hard Way and Forever Home!

@regalbois dropped a new original oneshot and has been going bananas over Bioshock lately and gifting us MORE mlm deliciousness, ch 3 of Magnum Opus went live last night.

@inflarescent has a new wippppp aaaaaaa -- intro post for The Roulette Paradox here!

@discoeffect updated Far From Any Road and I am devouring the first book so I can read this one!!

Around the 'Blr:

Have you checked out the Writeblr Directory or Writeblr Cafe yet?

I'm literally still thinking about @captain-kraken's Heitha translator.

@void-botanist dropped some witch lore I'm eating with a spoon.

@tc-doherty ALSO popped off with the conlang.

The dates IRL are lining up with the dates in @elshells's Agent Ace EXCITING also a new chapter is dropping probably by the time I post this lmao

@liv-is dropped this GOLDMINE of relationship writing tips also TIL what Liv does for a living not sorry

@writernopal first of all made me absolutely CRY being sweet in the tags last night and also dropped an aasoaf 3 sneep while i was composing this thank you my friend i needed the energy snack

did y'all see Find the Word XVIII from @artdecosupernova-writing i'm going FERAL

@tabswrites's Silver Sentinels has a second chapter, I am VIBRATING

@oh-no-another-idea just slid in with this little diddy that i LOVE.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Outpost Updates Taglist: @tabswrites @writernopal @freedominique @asher-orion-writes @liv-is @starknstarwars @captain-kraken

Ask to +/- in the tags, replies, DMs, or HERE!

[unagidevi]

Welcome to unagidevis page

this is an introduction post! (and a very very long one.)

–

Table of Contents

-Introduction

-Tags and Meanings

-Art Rules

-Social Media

-Conclusion

–

Introduction

Hello there! My name online is unagidevi but please refer to me as Devion, Devi or Dev. Often people use Devi or Dev for short as it is easier and shorter to type. I have high-function autism, ADHD, and short-term memory. I like the color green and I have many, many pets. I also like Gacha and Art, as I do both as well as writing and animation. I'm a big fan with making my own OCs and I really like Dreamswap even if the creator is a little shaky. My birthday is August 21st.

I usually add my own spin onto Dreamswap characters like Dream now is a brunette otherwise he looks like a highlighter as well as other designs being altered. I don't stick to one ship, I ship multiple things.

Some fandoms I'm in currently in 2023/2024 are:

Warrior Cats

Undertale AUs / Dreamswap

IBVS

The Umbrella Academy

Gacha Games by Lunime / Luni

I won't exactly post many other fandoms besides Undertale AUs and Dreamswap or a little bit of Gacha sprinkled here and there. Often for my art I use Gacha Club for reference and hues in my artwork, as of currently the tints. I play the Sims 3 mostly and I have around 6-7 expansions for it with no regret. Umbrella Academy is one of my favorite medias due to the story-building and characters in it.

I have a few AUs I own myself, some are: Dreamsleep and Ampletale. Despite Ampletale having barely any content here it is being reworked and redesigned while Dreamsleep has an entire story and such.

Even if Dreamsleep has canon ships, people are always welcome to make their own.

–

Tags and Meanings

–

I have plenty of tags, there is going to be a very long list listed here. Of course, I'll be using normal tags like #dreamswap, #undertale or #art but this list is for my very own. They will all be color-coded; Pink is main tags and ask tags, Purple is for shipping or certain asks, Blue is for stories and OCs, Red is for tags relating to me, Green is for a list of characters in Dreamsleep, Orange is for Other. Now that we have the colors, let me explain the tags.

dreamsleep explanation - explaining dreamswap or for the characters references

dreamsleep - a story in the works that follows two trainee sorcerers through their journey of dreamsleep and it's lands

asks for dev - you asking me questions and getting results

devs anon asks - anon asks that will sometimes have this tag if I remember

dev rambles like a lunatic - me rambling on about something stupid or nothing important.

undertale yt au / youtuber au - an au that revolves sans aus running youtube channels

whimsical dreamswap - a fantasy au based off dreamswap with elves, creatures, and other things

fastfood dreamswap - mcdonalds, starbucks and elsewhat based on dreamswap lmao

spikes 'n commentary - youtuber au commentary squad team name

little distractable men - our youtuber au markipiler/distractable squad team name

legion of starry smp - youtuber au minecraft group team name

finchfeathers - a dreamswap ship that ships Finch and Dream

bluetooth - a dreamswap ship that ships Blue and Hacker

paintedwings / fink - a dreamswap ship that ships Ink and Finch

burntstring - a dreamswap ship that ships Finch and Error

tatteredwings - a dreamswap ship that ships Finch and Cross

skullcandy - a dreamswap ship that ships Hacker and Cross

terrorvisions - a dreamswap ship that ships Randy and Dream together, as some call them 'gay dads'

stellars jay - a dreamswap ship that ships Blue and Finch

starryskies - a dreamswap ship that involves Hacker and Nightmare, a reference to starryelem

redsoul - redsoul is a ship in dreamsleep that canonically ships Error and Cross or better-known Mal and Klaus

arella - a ship that canonically ships Blue and Ink or known as Arledge and Ornella

riclydei - a poly dreamsleep uncanon ship that ships Horror, Killer and Dust which are known as Ripple, Lorelei and Clyde

cedarnu - a dreamsleep ship that uncanonically ships Farmer and Swapfell or Dinu and Cedar

hatobias - a canon dreamsleep ship that ships Harrow ( Nightmare ) and Tobias ( ? )

nich - a dreamswap ship that ships Nightmare and Finch

noelzzy - a ship that just ships two of my ocs, izzy and noel

izzy coleman - an oc that just has two characters in it

noel barker - an oc that just has two characters in it

dakota feverview - a dreamswap self insert elf character thats mostly as a side

rory caskey - a ibvs oc

casimir dream - whimsical dreamswap au dream

swindler ink - whimsical dreamswap au ink

cobalt!blue - whimsical dreamswap au blue

anwar bobby - whimiscal dreamswap bobby

azeban cross - whimsical dreamswap cross

kamaxe hacker - whimsical dreamswap hacker

rana randy - whimsical dreamswap randy

akli nightmare - whimsical dreamswap nightmare

arc error - whimsical dreamswap error

lorcan finch - whimsical dreamswap finch

dev the simp - a tag some people use for me simping for said character

devs pets - some photos or drawings of my pets

dev ideas - ideas put into paper or in a written post

dev links - i link something or someone

dev makes fanart - rarely use this tag, but for fanart not from a fandom

dev ao3 - i link my ao3 posts

harrow deskin - dreamsleep nightmare, a trainee sorcerer and main character/protag

luka deskin - dreamsleep dream, a trainee sorcerer and antagonist

malifunction crimewave - dreamsleep error, an elfin demon

klaus silk - dreamsleep cross, a vampire who is siblings with ink/ornella

tobias harrison - a dreamsleep character made for fun and put into the story as a friendly character

arledge fernfield - dreamsleep blue, a jackalope character

ornella silk - dreamsleep ink, a scorpion

resign shadowsong - dreamsleep science, crazy science guy

erie skies - dreamsleep outer, a science experiment which was originally a sparrow

cerasus vi kiao - dreamsleep nim, a dead sorcerer with many good folktales around

tove deskin - harrow and lukas grandmother, plays the role of maybe neil

esadora davis - dreamsleep character, mentor and mother of main character and antagonist

robijn highlock / robbie highlock - dreamsleep fell, the princess of the ruby kingdom

atasi nevada - dreamsleep crow/bird, the mayor of skystead and a bluebird

vesei redwood - dreamsleep geno, an immortal stuck in the passage of time

grim robinborn - dreamsleep reaper, a grim reaper thats here and there

kendall locket - dreamsleep ccino, plays the role of keeping a safe place for the main character and friends. you never know who they may know or have relations to

cedar key - dreamsleep swapfell, a blood elf

dinu maverick - dreamsleep farmer, an elf farmer in the cherrytown farms

cashew fernfield - dreamsleep honey/carrot, a young weredeer and little sibling of arledge

jasper crimewave - dreamsleep core!frisk, little sibling of mal and a varying demon

ripple chunkfoot - dreamsleep horror, a werewolf

lorelei enida - dreamsleep killer, a human

clyde ninya - dreamsleep dust, a sun demon

icterid 'starling' fink - dreamswap shipchild of paintedwings shared with @starryelem

nolan 'peridot' silva , nelson 'ruby' silva - dreamswap shipchildern and twins of ds errormare, shared with @starryelem

western 'cypher-text' bradford - dreamswap shipchild of bluetooth, share with @starryelem

hypno carmine - dreamswap shipchild of koriot and cross, shared with @starryelem

lavender von licht - an adopted child by dreamswap dream, shared with @starryelem

any youtuber au character - like cace levi, or issac soar, or ezra philip. it'll say youtuber au in the tags

– Art Rules

–

What are art rules? basically rules if you use my art for anything, all i hope is you follow one or more of these. I'm sorry if these are strict but it seems to be often needed.

~Do not steal my art and call it your own, i don't appreciate any of this and it takes quite a while to make a big piece.

~If you use my art as profile pictures or background, please credit me.

~Don't repost it and call it 'exposure' or anything else. Though reblogs are welcome and don't count.

~commissions and requests are always very welcome here on tumblr or instagram.

~Please do not trace my art, thank you! Though putting bits and pieces of my style in yours is okay!

– Social Media –

I don't really post many places often besides Tumblr or Youtube, however I have some social media.

–Youtube, where I make art and gacha videos

–Ao3, where I sometimes write stories

–Come support me on Patreon!

–My instagram, where I make some art pieces I post here and sometimes don't.

–My twitter I sometimes forget I have

–

Conclusion

–

This is the end of my introduction post, this is a remake of my old one and I'm very proud of how it came out. I would appreciate lots of support on my posts in the future but for now I'm okay with where I'm at.

[emma-is-swaggy-and-epic]

Y'know what, since i've fleshed out my new OCs a bit more i think it's time to explain them more in-detail! Starting with my danganronpa OC: yuriko togami (so needless to say: SPOILERS FOR DANGANRONPA AHEAD!!!)

I have complete character sheets of her as well as my other OCs on arts and OCs amino (my username on there is VixinTrix)

Oh, and also i feel i need to prefice this by saying that the only danganronpa game i've played so far is trigger happy havoc. I've watched a youtube video a long time ago explaining ALL of the lore but i've tried to forget most of it so that it doesn't ruin my experience playing through the games so i may get some stuff about the game's lore wrong with this character, like i'm not sure if byakuya actually DID rebuild the togami corporation or if people just SAY that he did as a joke considering i only ever see people mention it in the comment sections of meme videos....but i mean...either way i guess it doesn't matter considering yuriko's mother CANONICALLY DIED BEFORE SHE COULD EVEN BE CONCIEVED so she's already not following established lore in that regard...

Yuriko (yuri for short) comes from a danganronpa AU where celestia ludenberg never died (how and why that is the case is up for your interpretation) and she eventually got married to byakuya, resulting in them having a daughter....that daughter, of course, being yuri!

Yuri was born as the heiress of the togami corporation, she lived a sheltered life so she never really had any friends aside from a borzoi puppy she got for her 13th birthday. Growing up all people could really see her as when they met her was just the daughter of celeste and byakuya so she felt the need to prove to the world that she was more than that so she took up chess and constantly practiced every chance she could, which eventually earned her the alias of the ultimate chess master

Personality-wise, yuriko comes off as very cold and harsh much like her parents though it's less "i'm so much better than you and i don't think you deserve my respect" but more "i genuinely do not care about anything that's going on and i just want to be left alone" which means she doesn't really emote much, but when she does she looks absolutely unhinged (think omori's battle portraits in omori)

Despite this however, yuri is very gentle and is quick to crack a joke when she needs to...though it's kind of hard to tell considering she always talks in a very monotone voice (my voice claim for her is simGM's portrayal of kourtney kardashian) plus she LOVES dogs more than anything and will sob uncontrollably if she sees a puppy

Due to the stress of being the heiress of the togami corporation and nobody seeming to care about her aside from who her parents are, she took up smoking weed sometime later in life and she became almost dependant on the substance (and yes, while i know smoking is a VERY SERIOUS thing, i feel like i need to mention that i got the idea of making her a stoner because before i actually drew her design, i liked making jokes about her recreating the "420 gucci gang, my mom took my vape" meme and stuff like that and it kinda just stuck)

Also like, a few days after i made her i realized i accidentally just reinvented my little nightmares OC myrtle soooo.....

Though in my defense, myrtle and yuriko MAY look similar and have similar character motivations but I ASSURE YOU THEY'RE TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!! See, myrtle is a pretentious emo brat who takes things way too seriously and her whole story is her trying to fix the universe after she created a dimensional merge with her reality bending powers. YURIKO is a dog-loving stoner who plays chess and simply doesn't give a shit about anything

Also if you think about it, yuriko is pretty much just shaggy from scooby doo....they're both stoners with pet dogs who come from rich families....not only that but considering yuri is a DANGANRONPA OC, that also means she probably solves mysteries....god fucking dammit...

[spacecadet-ticklesinspace]

Since you're taking prompts, maybe something with Steven and Layla where she's giving him a massage and he can't stay still because it tickles too much?

Field Trip Day

Summary: Steven suffers through Field Trip day and Layla tries to help him relax.

(Aww! This was a cute idea! 😁 Hope you enjoy Anon! ❤️ :))

Steven sagged into the couch. It had been a long day and he was exhausted. Today had apparently been the dreaded field trip day for what felt like a dozen or more schools. Kids in brightly colored matching shirts swarming the exhibits and frazzled teachers asking if they'd seen a particular one fitting this description. Steven never knew, they all looked the same!

The youngest of the knights rubbed his eyes. Kids were cute, but hundreds of them was a nightmare!

However, the Brit's brooding was cut short by three voices entering the apartment along with the scent of food from the group's favorite Mexican place.

"Hola hermano!" Jake greeted, the first to spot Steven slumped onto the couch.

"Hey."

"Te ves bien."

"Thanks."

Layla handed her bag of food to Marc. "Are you sick?"

"He's not sick Lay," Marc assured his wife. "Today is what we have come to learn is Field Trip day."

"Ah." Jake squeezed Steven's knee. "El día del tormento."

"El dia de la muerte is more accurate," the youngest knight muttered in response.

"Bein hecho."

"What's field trip day?" Layla asked.

"It happens a few times of year," Marc explained as he stepped over to the kitchen to set the bags of food down. "It's a day that every school in the area decides is the best day to bring their students to the museum."

"Nariz mocosa preschoolers and teenagers wander los pasillos while los empleados ensures they'll still have exhibiciones tomorrow," Jake added.

Marc ruffled Steven's messy curls. "One day, the museum almost lost a diorama because a group of teens decided to recreate a scene from Night of the Museum."

The youngest knight groaned. "Donna still references that one."

"Si." Jake lifted his hands and wiggled his fingers forward as if he was telling a ghost story. "It's like la mordedura de jacksepticeye de '97."

"It was '78," Marc corrected.

"It's actually '87." Steven added. "And it's Markiplier, not Jacksepticeye."

Layla's looked between the three. "Who?"

"Two YouTubers who play scary games," Marc explained.

"Si, and one of them gritas the entire time."

Layla turned to Steven. "I thought you didn't stray away from Eygptology?"

"Sometimes, at the end of the day, you like to choose who yells in your ear," Steven quipped.

Jake patted the youngest knee as he chuckled. "Guardamos tu comida en el frigorífico por ti hermano."

"Gracias."

As the two older men stepped into the kitchen, Layla stopped her husband to whisper, "Will he be okay?"

"He will be. He's just worn out." Marc gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Just give him a little time."

With that, Marc turned to walk back into the kitchen.

However, Layla turned back to look at Steven. Concern still laced her features as she studied his exhausted form. "Do you need anything?"

Steven shifted to a new spot and rubbed his shoulder. "No thanks Lay, I'll be alright."

An idea crossed the curly haired woman's mind as she crossed the room back over to the youngest knight. Layla stepped behind Steven and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Here, maybe this will help."

He tiredly looked up at the curly haired woman. "What are you---?"

He was cut off when Layla gently massaged her thumbs across his shoulders. "Helping you relax."

However, instead of relaxing, Steven squeaked.

Layla immediately removed her hands. "Sorry, was that too much?"

"No! Urm." The youngest knight cleared his throat. "You just startled me! Y-you can keep going!"

"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."

"It's fine!" Steven immediately leaned back. "I-I'll be fine! I'm fine even now!"

"Okay." Layla hesitantly placed her hands back onto his shoulders. "If you're sure."

After a bit of readjusting, Layla restarted her massage. This time, Steven didn't squeak. But he did bury his face in his hands.

"Are you sure I'm not hurting you?"

"Positive!"

"You still feel really tense." The curly haired woman moved her massage closer to his neck.

Steven started to squirm.

"Odd, it's almost as if . . ."

A tiny giggle slipped through Steven's tightly clutched fingers.

That's when realization began to dawn for Layla. She purposefully started to dig into his neck. "You really need to relax Steven."

The youngest knight's shoulders began to shake as he sank down further onto the couch. "L-Lay!"

"Not quite what I meant." Layla moved her hands down to massage Steven's shoulder blades. "But you're getting the idea."

A loud squeal erupted from Steven as he sank all the way down to the floor.

In response, Layla scaled the back of the couch. "Won't escape that easily!"

"WAIT!"

Immediately, Layla resumed her attack. Her fingers wormed their way into his sides. "Let's massage here next."

"Nohoho!"

"See? Now you're nice and relaxed."

"NO! Yohou prahat!"

"Wow." Layla moved her fingers up to Steven's ribs. "And here I thought you only sassed Marc and Jake."

"NAAAH!" Steven snorted as he fought curling on to his side. "JERK!"

"I always forget how ticklish you are Steven. You are just too precious." Layla wormed her fingers under the youngest knight's arms. "Must be the accent."

Steven immediately rolled over on to his side and squirmed out of the curly haired woman's hold. However, as he tried to jump to his feet, Layla snagged one of his ankles and sent him right back to the floor. "Oof!"

"Good idea Steven."

"Oho bullohocks!"

Layla scurried her nails across the trapped foot. "A massage here would help too."

The youngest knight broke into loud laughter as he hugged his torso. "LAYLA!"

"Wow Steven, you look totally relaxed now."

The brit kicked out his other foot, almost nailing Layla's shoulder.

"Hey! Watch that other foot!"

While Layla kept up her tickle attack, Marc and Jake moved closer to the couch to watch.

"Ahare yohou done torturing him yehet?" Marc asked his wife.

"Oh come on Marc. Look at how relaxed he is!"

Jake nudged the older American's arm. "Hehe dohoes look pretty contento hermanoho."

Marc raised an eyebrow. "Slightly forced happiness?"

"Eh, todavía."

While the two went back and forth, Layla paused her tickles. "If you two are done bickering, I could use an extra set of hands here."

"No!" Steven tugged on his still trapped foot. "Don't encohourage thehem!"

"Aw what's wrong?" Layla scurried her fingers across his foot. "Nervous?"

Steven's laughter picked back up again. "NO! NOHOT THE TOHOES!"

Marc chuckled and moved forward. "Ahalright Lahay, let him breheathe."

Layla looked up at her husband and pouted. "Aww, but Marc!"

"Noho buts." The older American gently pulled her grasp away from Steven's foot. "He's already exhaustehed."

Layla turned to study the giggling Brit. He did look pretty tired. "Aw, I guess you're right."

"Oho bullohocks!" Steven playfully kicked Layla. "Yohour nahails are awfuhul!"

"Hey!" Marc squeezed the youngest knight's knee. "No kicking."

"Squee! Sorryhy!"

"Alright el menaje. Vamos!" Jake moved back toward the kitchen. "La comida se está enfriando!"

Marc helped Layla to her feet. "Come on troublemaker."

"Rude!"

Steven pulled himself up to a sitting position. "But truhue!"

Marc chuckled as he then helped Steven to his feet. "Come on you."

After a final poke to Steven's side from Layla, the three made their way to the kitchen.

[yournightwish]

Hello again, naturally!

Good morning, Good afternoon and Good night. And welcome to my blog. Check my Fandom list here

I'll introduce myself:

I'm Nyx, a 22 year old brazillian fandom lover, I write fanfictions for a long time now. You may know me from my other account @villainsletter.

Recently I got into a year of writing block, a true nightmare!

this is a new account but I'll still post there, don't worry.

I go by any pronouns.

Now we'll have some quick rules but nothing too restrictive 😋

DO NOT DO!

Interact with my stories being a MINOR.

Well, my stories are aimed at an audience over 18, please if you are under 18, please do not interact.

HAVE SENSE!

Any prejudice, no matter what, will NOT be tolerated here, in short: OUT.

ABOUT THE BLOG

This is a fanfiction blog, and please make yourself at home here, no need to be ashamed!

We all share love for fandoms and characters!

I've been writing for a few years, but I took the courage to post on tumblr now.

I write shipp fanfiction and here we are kinkfriendly.

Don't worry I'll always put TW in my fanfictions, and sometimes I explain the kinks that are being used.

I love music, so most of the stories I write will have references to one or two songs that helped me through the creative process.

The songs will always be available in playlists on youtube. The playlist update 1-10 songs per day

CONTENT WARNING

NSFW & SFW :

The blog is NSFW content (+18) This means that, as already mentioned, the target audience is precisely people over eighteen years of age. Sometimes we'll have a headcannon here or there that is SFW but remember it's pretty rare.

If you are underage, get out of here.

KINKS, FETISHES, BDSM AMONG OTHER PRACTICES.

Yes, this is a totally free space, talk to me, ask for what you want, we will make your wish come true. The rare are the ones that I don't write about, I don't write cnc fanfictions.

SONG:

As I said before I love music and yes, you can send me your favorite ones!

PERSONAL SPACE:

The box is open, you can say good morning, tell me something, you can always talk to me!

FREQUENCY:

EVERYDAY: NSFW Headcannon usually shorter, over some random character.

ONE OR ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK: Fanfictions or a more elaborated headcannon.

TWICE A WEEK: Open box for confessions (a lot of 2015 tumblr on my mind) confess things you've thought about a character or a scene from movie, game, animation, anime, series.

THE GOOD OLD REQUEST RULES

Here is a very open blog, we are sexfriendly and kinkfriendly (as already mentioned).

But I have some rules:

I DO NOT WRITE FANFICTIONS WITH UNDERAGE CHARACTERS

I don't write about sexual abuse, sexual harassment, incest, abusive or violent relationships, drug abuse

As described before the blog is NSFW and SFW content is also allowed.

[pinewoodpipit]

call it fate, call it karma - Fic Meta

So, my angst fic, aka call it fate, call it karma (sometimes also known as Nathan fic), is DONE! Here's some meta.

I'll leave it under a cut, since these posts are often quite long.

Chapter 1

General Thoughts

I really didn't expect this fic to turn out this long. I expected it to be a 4 chapter ~40k work, but it surprised me, added another chapter, and doubled the word count. Lovely! I should stop estimating word counts at this point because I am NEVER right.

I really enjoy fics that fuck with format a bit. I remember from my time in the Good Omens fandom that you can get some beautifully made ones, telling a story through forum posts, tweets, YouTube comments, etc. I love it and I think it's SO fun and creative to see what people come up with when they do things like this in their fics. This love of fucking with format inspired the theme of emails in the first two chapters of this fic, and it ended up being a pretty significant tool in the storytelling. I really enjoyed writing the emails in particular.

-

The Breakup

Fade didn't go into her last night with Neon intending to sleep with her. She wanted to tell her she was going and hold her until she went to sleep, but she couldn't find the words to explain to her that she was leaving, and Neon started to push in her usual way which she did when she wanted more, and Fade couldn't say no. She couldn't go through with it while looking at Neon's face, though, which is why she had her turn over. It would have broken her heart to look at her when she was planning on leaving.

Omen's assessment is right, in the end. Fade didn't tell her because she loved her too much. She was terrified and couldn't find her words, and she was afraid that telling her she was going would only have broken her resolve, when Fade legitimately saw no other choice except to leave. She didn't want to go, but she felt it was her only choice.

-

Chapter 2

General Thoughts

I pushed the fucking with format idea a little further in this chapter, and I'm REALLY pleased with how it came out. I really enjoy the structure of it, with soft gentleness from Neon as she watches her son grow juxtaposed with Fade pushing herself into an early grave.

I didn't go into the details of Aykut's death on purpose. I didn't think it was the point of the story. It happened like Fade breaking into Omega's base, at which point they dragged Aykut out in front of her and killed him where she could see, just to taunt her. They opened fire and she was forced to flee before she could grab his body. They let her get away - they were punishing her for her arrogance in coming alone and choosing to be cruel, not trying to kill her.

Nathaniel Valdez is the best. I love him dearly. This is a Nathaniel Valdez stan account.

Fade mentioned this slightly off-handed, but in this fic, she's lost the ability to discern between what are horrific nightmares and visions of the future. She could regain this ability, but she's tormented and traumatised by what happened to Aykut, and as of now, it's lost to her.

Nathan's eyes looking like Fade's is something I decided very early on, and it's part of what ties it so well to one of the fic's main theme songs, Youth by Glass Animal. I made a short comic about this song, and it shows Fade leaving, as well as first realising Nathan has her eyes (even if it's not exactly how it happened in the fic).

-

Chapter 3

General Thoughts

Fade didn't mean to be as cruel as she was when she first found out about Nathan. Her words were harsh, but they came from a place of actual trauma and terror. She has significant trauma related to her childhood and child-rearing in particular from parents who were very abusive, to the point of abandoning her as a teenager, and she hadn't worked through it even a little bit at this point. She dehumanised Nathan because it helped her cope to pretend that he wasn't a real person she'd inevitably ruin, but she knew this was wrong and apologised as soon as she calmed down.

Neon had been on birth control before Fade left, which Fade assumed she'd kept up. As it was, though, Neon fell into depression after Fade left, and it meant she stopped taking care of herself, which included stopping her birth control. She was so distraught it was just simply not a thought in her mind at that time.

Cypher sees a lot of himself in Fade and took her in as a sort of daughter figure after they found her in Istanbul. He was fighting to execute her but then saw her, realised she's essentially a wet cat who was born in a cardboard box, and decided "yep, this one's mine, I'm taking care of this one, thanks". He knows she and Neon can make things right, so he went out of his way to encourage her to try, even if she was scared.

Nathan struggles to pronounce the "l" sound in Fade's name. It's not made a big deal of, but there's a point in this fic where he stops calling her Hazah, even if it takes him a little while to get there.

Some of my favourite scenes in the entire fic are present in this chapter. The conversation where Neon points out Fade is a victim to her Radiance, just like her, and the conversation where Fade talks about wishing they'd met as kids are two which stand out to me in particular, and I even made a comic about the childhood scene.

-

Neon has a different hairstyle in this fic to show that she's older. It was designed by my friend Uni, and it looks something like this - a half-up style with a little bun or ponytail.

-

Nathan started to trust Fade after she took care of him while Neon was out on the stakeout. He doesn't really know why. He just intrinsically knew she could be trusted, and chose her. There was no magical criteria to winning him over.

Fade kissing Neon after the conversation about their childhoods was something Neon really enjoyed, but just wasn't quite ready to reciprocate. She's confused because she knows logically it would be a bad idea to get back together with Fade, but she also know that she wants it desperately, despite the risk.

-

Suicidal Thoughts

This chapter is probably where I was most explicit with the themes of suicidal thoughts and ideation. Fade is struggling with it hard in this fic, fuelled by her grief, and she eventually manages to start feeling better with the help of her grief counsellor, but it is a very present theme throughout her POV. This chapter was hard to write because it hit extremely close to home in places, but it honestly felt really good to explore these thoughts from the perspective of someone who loved the person going through it, and knew they could heal.

Her running into fights with Omega, knowing she'd lose, was basically Fade's own way of fucked up passive suicide. Self-harm was also a theme in this fic with how she kept her injuries and refused medical help as often as she could, but she got better with this over the course of the fic, and at the end of it, she's actively communicating these thoughts and habits with Neon, and accepting that she'll heal eventually.

-

Chapter 4

General Thoughts

Chapters 4 and 5 were supposed to be a single chapter, but when I was writing it it looked like it was going to be extremely long (it would have been 33k if I left them together). So, I split it in half, and I think this works better.

Sova's a bit of a distracted babysitter. Neon handed him over because she had a migraine and desperately needed a break, and Sova was the only one around who was willing to take him. He did try - he's not neglectful and did try to keep an eye on him - but Nathan just managed to slip away from him while his back was turned. Sova was very apologetic later and probably baked them a cake with some of his babushka's jam to apologise for losing him, especially since losing him ended up with a big mess Fade and Neon had to clean.

Fade getting an idea when she saw Nathan enjoyed scrambled egg was her realising he'd probably enjoy menemen. Her making menemen for her loved ones is a bit of a running theme in my fics by now, but I really enjoy how it was used in this fic, personally.

Astra and Harbor 100% got the train set for themselves. They think it's really cool. They basically bought it with the excuse of it being for Nathan's birthday. Brimstone agreed to clear out a smaller break room for it but this was also 100% just because he thought it was cool and also wanted to play with it. It's a big and very fancy set, with a decorated diorama, hills, a looping track, etc. It looks something like this, and is really big.

Fade putting a nazar pin on Nathan is a way for her to feel like she's tying raising her kid a little with her culture, since he hasn't really got much from her, in that regard, since she wasn't around for so long.

Neon's pretty good at hiding that she's upset, but Fade knows her extremely well. Even without her abilities of being able to feel what other agents are feeling, she could tell she was upset. Her going over to comfort her meant a lot to Neon, even if she was reluctant to talk about it at first.

In my hc for her backstory, Neon was cooped up a lot just because it was so risky for her to be around other people. When a single sneeze could accidentally kill another kid, I imagine her parents wouldn't be overjoyed about the idea of letting her run wild around the place. She's choosing to send Nathan away to protect him from what she went through when she became an adult and realised she had piss-poor social skills, which have left her bitter, pessimistic, and oversensitive about the risk of her accidentally hurting people if they touch her, and affection-averse in general. This is shown in canon through multiple in-game voice lines (being reluctant to admit she's glad her teammates are there with her, telling people not to touch or hug her, saying she hates making new friends, etc).

Fade suffered heavily from frequent panic attacks when she was a young teenager. Her abilities were suffocating, and Nathan's going through something similar as his power grows along with him and he uses it more often. Fade knows what can help, but it's a source of self-loathing that she passed it on to her kid. She sees it as her hurting an innocent boy, even though she didn't choose to pass her Radiance down to him, and Neon is just as guilty of passing down her Radiance, too. Helping to figure out exactly what his Radiance is, is important to Fade as it feels like a way she can apologise for doing this to him and take a step towards helping him cope.

-

Nathan's Radiance

I deliberated with some friends for quite a while over Nathan's abilities. I knew I wanted him to be a Radiant, especially considering his parents are both incredibly powerful Radiants, but I also wanted to combine their abilities somewhat to make something comparable to them both.

I toyed with a few ideas, including the idea of him being an empath who could alter emotions using the electrical frequencies in the brain - this would probably let him control people physically, too, almost like a cordyceps infection - but in the end, we went with him being similar to KAY/O in being able to sense Radiance.

He can tell most agents apart from the feeling of their radiance. He likes Yoru because his Radiance is related to rifts, just like Neon's, so they feel similarly. He likes Omen for a similar reason.

When he's older and can get some training done, he'll be able to do things like suppress Radiant abilities, and I'm tempted to also give him a stun ability where he absorbs the power from said suppressed abilities and throws them back at the user.

-

Chapter 5

General Thoughts

At this point in the fic, they're very in love, even if they don't admit it yet. They're also horny, because there's quite a bit of sexual tension in sharing a bed with your ex long-term girlfriend who you have a kid with and never stopped loving.

Big thank you to Soya for helping me with the butchered Tagalog! Them speaking each other's languages badly is something so special and silly to me. You can expect to see this trope return in my gamer au, and I've made a silly sketched comic about it before, too, with Neon getting lied to and accidentally threatening to fuck Fade's entire family instead of saying something cute.

-

Neon is slowly learning that she was traumatised by Fade leaving the way she did. Her panic attack when Fade was showering was brought on by a flashback, even if she couldn't recognise it for what it was.

I don't really have anywhere specific to put this, but here's a meme which got made very early in to the process of writing this.

-

Their ages and fic timeline

I worked out their ages at various points in the storyline, since it's a little confusing from an outside perspective. I have a sequel fic planned showing Nathan growing up, and I've shown their ages during this time, here, too. Here's my guide:

Canon/current day ages: Neon 22, Fade 26

They break up after 5 years of dating: Neon 27, Fade 31

They reunite when Nathan is a little over 2: Neon 30, Fade 34

Nathan turns 5 and needs to be sent away to school: Neon 32, Fade 36

Nathan turns 16: Neon 43, Fade 47

Nathan turns 18: Neon 45, Fade 49

Nathan turns 21: Neon 48, Fade 52

In this fic, Neon has her birthday in April, Nathan in July, and Fade in September.

I should also note that in this fic, Neon found Kidlat (her dog) as a puppy when she was 15. When Nathan turns 5 and is sent away to live with her parents, Kidlat is still alive and kicking, but he's a whopping 17 years old. He's blind, mostly deaf, but he likes Nathan all the same. I won't say much more here, as I'd rather save it for the sequel fic.

[dat-carovieh]

White Wolf ASMR

Ship: Geraskier

Rating: T

Wordcount: 3.1k

Chapters: 3

Tags: Youtuber Geralt, ASMR Youtuber Geralt, Modern AU, Office AU, co-workers, Programmer Geralt, horrible IT security, please always lock your PC, or I will come for you, Getting Together, Getting together speedrun

Read on AO3

Chapter 1

It was time for bed, already way too late for Jaskier. He had to be up at five but he just hated going to bed, because usually it doesn’t equal sleep and if so, it’s mostly riddled with nightmares. Jaskier hated sleeping and the need for sleep at all. But there wasn’t really anything he could do about this, if he wouldn’t sleep, he would feel even shittier and at least he’s found something that will make him fall asleep, even though it can’t get rid of his nightmares.

He put his phone on the charger and started YouTube. WhiteWolfASMR got immediately recommended to him. There is no other channel he watched as much as this one. Each night before he went to sleep, he would put on a Playlist of this guy’s videos to fall asleep to. This deep gravely voice relaxed him like nothing else. It was a mix of growling and whispering he did as he was reading. Mostly poetry but there were some videos with short stories. Jaskier had been subscribed to the channel for a year now. He had discovered him when he uploaded his second video. Back then he had tried every ASMR video he could find in hopes he could find someone who would do it for him. And when he had heard the White Wolf for the first time, he had known it was him. He had immediately subscribed to his channel. It had been him who had suggested he would make a Patreon and then he had immediately subscribed there as well.

He basically knew nothing about the guy except that his voice was the most beautiful Jaskier had ever heard and that he had a Scottish accent and seemed to like poetry. Also, Jaskier was absolutely in love. He had seen his hands in a couple of videos, holding a book and they looked strong and amazing. Jaskier has had many indecent thoughts about these hands since he’d first seen them.

Jaskier usually called him Wolf for short since he didn’t know his actual name, he did so in comments as well and Wolf hadn’t objected. Since Jaskier had been one of his first subscribers they had exchanged some private messages as well. Nothing too personal but Jaskier had suggested for him to read some Edgar Allan Poe. Not what he usually read but Jaskier loved the short stories and Wolf had agreed and done some. They had gotten more hits than most of the other stuff Wolf had done. Not that his other videos went over badly, he was totally a name in the ASMR scene by now. Jaskier listened to the Poe stories at least once a week. For now, he settled on some poetry, he started the video and settled into bed. Blanket pulled up to the chin, eyes closed he started to drift off with the gravely voice filling his brain.

---

Geralt browsed through his bookshelf, deciding on what he wanted to read today. He would have never thought he would actually like doing this. Or be successful. He had only tried it because he had lost a bet against his brother Lambert, after his brother Eskel had told him again and again that he deep growly voice would be perfect for this. His first video had already been pretty successful, even though his equipment and the quality had only been mediocre. He had a pretty decent headset back then and had just started to read some poems in a relaxed and deep voice. After he had gotten his patreon account, where he asked his followers, what he should read next and sometimes uploaded special patreon only videos he had been able to get professional equipment and since then his channel had grown a lot. It’s been a year now and Geralt had a pretty decent extra income through it.

Some people had stuck around from the beginning and had supported him on patreon for the whole time. Especially someone with the name Dandelion had stuck around and been active for most of the time. It had been his suggestion for Geralt to read Edgar Allan Poe which had turned out to be his most successful series. For today Geralt chose a book filled with different poems and put it down on his desk. He turned on the lights and set up the camera and microphone. He might not want to show his face but he knew people liked seeing something. People did like seeing him holding a book and Geralt didn’t think too hard about the reasons for that. He got himself some tea and settled into his armchair. One last time he checked the camera, microphone and recording software, it had happened once that he read for half an hour before realizing nothing had gotten recorded, then he took the book, opened it and started reading.

[irregularbillcipher]

I've watched a few starkid plays, and what you've posted seems interesting. How would I go about getting into the hatchet field extended universe?

hatchetfield actually has a pretty easy point of entry, i’d say! the nice thing about starkid is that outside of a few smaller projects that are kickstarter backer exclusives, they publish literally everything to their youtube channel for free!

the first hatchetfield installment is “the guy who didn’t like musicals,” which was released on the channel in 2018. it introduces us to the town of hatchetfield, either directly shows or mentions some of the characters who pop up quite a bit in the multiverse, and lays the groundwork for a lot of the deeper lore

“black friday,” another full-length musical, released in 2019, and is the next installment. you’ll recognize some characters from tgwdlm, but there are also some newcomers, and a whole new vibe, soundtrack and plot, just set in the same weird little town

the next things in order of release were the “nightmare time” mini-sodes. they’re not completely necessary to understand what’s going on in the musicals, for the most part, but they follow various characters of hatchetfield on their own weird adventures, and also delve deeper into the history of the town, and the overarching villains, so i recommend them heavily. a lot of my favorite little details and character moments and “ah-ha!” moments in the series would not have happened for me if i hadn’t watched nightmare time

i will warn you that the initial nightmare times in the first “season” are a little rough— they were pretty much just zoom calls done during the pandemic and it took a minute for them to figure out how they wanted to format it, and for everyone to get a good mic, camera and general set-up, but I really do recommend them. if you’re really struggling with the quality of the super early episodes, i’d say the hatchetfield apeman, while fun, is pretty skippable, but don’t miss the second story of that episode, watched world, because it’s a really good one. there’s seven episodes total, some of which have two stories in an ep, some of which are one long story. it’s a bit of a time commitment, so i don’t personally recommend binging them

(there’s also a special called “hey, melissa!” that is technically another nightmare time, but i’ll be real, it really delves into the horror aspect and has some tropes that personally squick me out, so i have not seen that one and have just heard people talk about it. it’s not an official nightmare time episode, but i figured i’d mention it just in case you wanted to check it out, even if i personally don’t have the stomach to sit through it)

the last thing released was their latest musical, “nerdy prudes must die,” in late 2023, which finishes off the official “hatchetfield trilogy,” and is a LOT of fun. i recommend watching it after the nightmare times to get the most out of it, but if you decide against watching the nightmare times, you won’t be lost or anything. you just won’t understand a few jokes and very minor references/plotpoints, everything else can be inferred

there’s also a short film called “workin’ boys,” but it was only available to kickstarter backers. i’m lucky enough to have gotten it for backing them in the past and it’s a lot of fun, but you won’t miss anything lore wise by not seeing it, i just wanted to mention it in case you see it being talked about

there’s a possibility that more nightmare times might be released in the future if people keep giving the older ones some love, but for now that’s all that’s been released in the hatchetfield saga, at least to my knowledge! if you do check it out, i highly recommend doing it in the order i have so everything lined up, and so you understand why the audience will sometimes lose their absolute shit at certain lines and reveals

[memoirs-of-learning-dad]

So many things on my mind today. This is a safe space for me - it's my journal, memoirs (the hint is in the name)! I suppose I can talk about anything here? One common theme in all the things on my mind today? My mental illnesses.

Number 1 in that list of things on my mind, parenting. It's tough being a parent. It's tougher doing it with absolutely no support system, no breaks & no days off. Let's make it more interesting, and throw in a little bit of bipolar and ADHD, and things start getting really interesting. Time to dive deeper?

Not having a support system sucks. Do y'all know the first time I ever held a baby? My own daughter - I read up so much before, watched so many videos, about parenting and pregnancy etc etc. But nothing prepares you for the real thing. I will honestly admit, before my daughter was born, this is how unprepared I was - I had never seen a diaper in my life, I didn't know what formula was. And then there was this person in my arms. Thanks to COVID, we had no one helping us - like literally, it was just paapu, partner and me for almost 13 months. Even now, we are just teaching each other along the way, figuring it out as and when a new challenge shows up; reddit, YouTube, video calls with parents. But it's not the same as having someone help you or teach you. One of the worst things about living as an immigrant is being completely cut off from your old life, in a sense. Granted, we are lucky that technology has now given us tools that I'm able to see my parent's faces live everyday. But it's not the same. As an immigrant, your friends become your family. We need to get over our introversion and go ask for help from friends sometimes.

It's exhausting as it is, and with my mental condition, it is just draining. Mentally, emotionally, physically. If you've never interacted with a 2 year old toddler you'll not know what I'm talking about. it's called the "terrible twos" apparently, now I know why. One moment they're the cutest, sweetest beings on earth, and the other, your worst nightmare. The look in her eyes, when she walks up to hug or kiss me, just holding her in my arms - best feeling ever! Holding those tiny arms, that feeling when she's sitting in my lap and reading a book? No words to describe it. But then, they know exactly what buttons to press to upset you as well. As I said, I haven't seen many babies - but all my relatives or friends who have, tell me that my daughter is a bit extra rebellious, hyperactive, and wild. Sometimes, it scares the s*** out of me. Are bipolar and ADHD genetic? Experts don't know for sure, what if? I really don't want to go down that rabbit hole. Even typing that sentence, and my heart rate is up, I'm shaking my legs nervously. God please spare her from all these struggles.

I have known about bipolar for a couple of years now so I have some grip over the way my bipolar affects me. I have very little patience, I'm short of temper. But therapy and constant practice in coping mechanisms help a lot. But ADHD? I got diagnosed just 3 or 4 months back. I'm just now learning about all the symptoms - some things I am aware of are a compulsive need to put stuff away immediately after using them; uneasiness when daily routine changes; irritated by having to tell the same things repeatedly; if something is not going according to plan or according to how I expected it, I start freaking out. Imagine all these triggers with a toddler. The medications and therapy helps with coping, to a great extent, but y'all have to understand. I have lived my entire life undiagnosed - "prior to therapy" way of thinking and coping was normal for me. I thought literally everybody goes through the same feelings and emotions, so wrong I was. So suddenly being conscious about these illnesses, seeing those patterns in behavior, understanding what the triggers are, figuring out what parts are the disorder, what parts are actually me? It's a long process. Understanding my mind and being in peace with it.

And then there's my partner. She is a perfectionist. She wants only the best possible upbringing for our daughter, to the point that subconsciously I think I'm putting too much undue pressure on myself to make everything perfect. We both make mistakes, I make them more. My threshold for patience is lower, so I tend to walk away more often. But yes, when I'm walking away I'm evidently upset - either cursing under my breath or ignoring my daughter's calls. Today this exact thing happened and partner doesn't like it. When I do calm down I come back to my daughter and apologize for my behavior and explain to her what upset me. I don't know how much a 2 year old retains, but that's a healthy way of coping, no? After paapu slept my partner told me she specifically had a problem with my cursing. She doesn't want "our family to use that kind of language". I felt like it was a bit much, paapu hardly heard me. And also I wasn't going off like Tupac's Hit 'em up either. I think I muttered "f this, get lost". I mean I agree with her in the overall idea, but it's not easy to change the way I speak overnight, or even in days. Look, I'm no street guy in the real sense, I work a desk job in a top organization, but I grew up in a tough environment. I mean, I'm still privileged, my parents gave me a good education, good values, set me up for a successful life. But I still grew up with folk who weren't necessarily cultured. I have had a very wild college life. Skipped every lecture, got into drugs, alcohol, partying, and did some real f'd up s*** I'm not proud of. So it's going to take time to unlearn and learn a new way of speaking. Is this my justification for cursing around my toddler when I'm upset? Maybe? I'm not convinced by it though, I have had 2 years to work on this. I don't know the point of this, I'm upset at my wife? I'm going to speak with her about this anyway, maybe tomorrow morning? She'll understand I'm sure. But what really has gotten me so upset? Maybe we can both work through it. Amazing, how my emotions go from 0-100-0 in a matter of days/hours. Is that normal? Or is it bipolar?

I also want to write a little about this awesome post I read on reddit the other day. Somebody had posted a question about "weird intrusive thoughts that ADHD/OCD folk have that they think are completely normal". The responses blew my mind. There were so many comments summarizing exactly how I felt - and it's both encouraging and disappointing. It feels good to know that there are people out there thinking the exact same way, no matter how weird it might seem to the outside world, if you knew you knew kinda thing. Then there's the other side, some of those things and thoughts? I thought they were my things, unique to my personality - things that define me somehow. Is it all just a symptom of an illness? Do two illnesses describe such a big part of me and my personality?

Anyway, there were so many things there, that made me go like OMG that's not normal? Like, someone had posted about how they go through an entire scenario of physically painful circumstances and actually imagine those things - like looking at a car crash or reading about an accident and thinking about how the injuries would feel to me if I was in there and then suddenly freak out because I could actually imagine it in third person perspective. Before, even small routine things like going to get my blood work done freaks me out and I used to trip for a couple of days prior at least. Like what if the needle is infected? What if they puncture my vein or something? Blood spurting everywhere! Sounds ridiculous? Tell that to me when I'm wide awake late night tripping about it the day before. But now when such thoughts come, I just push through the scary part of imagination and then there's literally nothing else next in that scenario. Like keep asking yourself what next? And at some point the story becomes ridiculous.

Then there was this other thing which was so relatable. Going on a highway at 70mph and suddenly there's a thought or urge to just abruptly jerk the steering wheel around. I mean I'm never doing it consciously but that thought just pops up and immediately goes away. And I'm like what was that all about. I tried to show that to my partner thinking she would relate or understand what I'm saying or feeling. Guess the first thing she said? That if that's true I shouldn't be driving with paapu. Huh? This convo was on text, so I really couldn't figure out if she was serious or sarcastic, I seriously hope it's the latter. Am I mad at her because I think she meant the former? That's another thing I want to ask her tomorrow. I mean it's normal for me, these intrusive thoughts, and I know they just come and go, I never act or anything on them, but does she understand that? How does a non-ADHD mind process intrusive thoughts like that, do they even get them?

BTW everything I wrote above? Someone had mentioned this too. Taking a tiny thought or a small thing somewhere and the mind just spirals out of control. Future tripping as my therapist calls it. But that's why I'm here writing this journal to let my thoughts flow naturally and that helps me put things into perspective and come out of this with a better mindset.

One last thing, about how a small part of a song like one sentence or a couple of bars gets stuck in your head? In a loop? For hours? Ya, I thought that was special about me. Your see, I'm not educated in music. Like I don't even know the basics, I tried my hand at self teaching guitar once. But I listen. Like I really love listening. Listening. Trying to listen to the different sounds, trying to figure out the instrument, learning the lyrics to selected songs. We humans have such a deep connection with music, it's one of the most beautiful things that we as humans have ever created. My relationships with music is a different post on its own (some day), but let's focus on the thing about small parts that get stuck in my head? They're usually these small tiny details in songs that I catch after listening to a song on repeat for hundreds of times. Like obsessively listen to that full song to catch that one or two bits I like. My taste in music keeps changing, some day I'm into classic rock, the next day listening to gangster rap. and the immediate next song will be a foreign language love song. Currently, I'm in nostalgia mode. I am listening to the really popular radio songs from the time when I was 18 (for some absolutely unknown reason). If anyone is reading, here's three songs and the bits that are stuck in my mind, and I'm obsessively listening to are

50 Cents - In Da Club. The stanza where he raps, "my flow, my show, got me the dough" until "Look *****, I done came up and I ain't changed"

Akon - I wanna love you. Now this one will be tricky to describe, it's not a lyric or a tune that I'm stuck on. it's just the sound of one instrument that is going in a loop the entire song. It is the keyboard/Casio sound, I think? If you pay close attention, for the first three notes there's echo, then there's no echo for the next three notes. I don't know how else to describe it. It would be amazing if you know what I'm talking about and noticed it after reading this, please comment if you do!

Usher - Yeah! This one is also a specific sound that you can hear during certain times of the song. It's a flute like sound that plays faintly when the chorus is playing the first time around the one minute mark. When the words "Yeah!" is being sung, you can hear the faint flute like sounds which has roughly about 5 notes.

What do I conclude with? What has this post been about? Just a rant? Parenting struggles? learning about ADHD? The weird relationship between music and mental illness? All of them? For me? Work on cursing less around my daughter, maybe replace those words with asked words to express intense emotion? Like Darn blah blah. Keep exploring and learning more about ADHD.

Until next time Tumblr!

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #103

The Passion According to Andrei is the complete (3 hours and 26 minutes) version of Tarkovsky’s ‘Andrei Rublov’, about the life of Russia’s greatest icon painter. A biblical cinematic Tour de Force, which is No. 26 on the S&S Director List of greatest films of all time.

Russian film studio Mosfilm has uploaded the 4k extended version of Andrei Rublev to Youtube (together with many other Russian classics).

🍿 

Going through Kogo-nada’s ‘Oeuvre’:

🍿 After Yang is the acclaimed Near-Future sci-fi story about love and loss around a racially-mixed family whose robotic child malfunctions and can’t be repaired. It’s a very slow, low-lighted, low-key (too low key!) and very slight, where so much is left unsaid. High up on ‘Gentle Cinema’ lists, it is indeed melancholy and introspective, subtle and lyrical, but without a payout. The little girl who played the adapted Chinese daughter was fantastic.

🍿 Kogonada chose his pseudonym from a screenwriter who frequently worked with Yasujirō Ozu. He started his career as a video essayist, and made the leap into full feature making. Breaking Bad // POV was his first, breakthrough video essay. Hands of Bresson, a beautiful short for The Criterion Collection. Wes Anderson // Centered is perhaps the best short introduction to WA style. And Way of Ozu makes clear his spiritual connection to the Japanese master.

More of his earlier shorts are on his old Vimeo stream.

🍿 But my biggest discovery was his dreamy debut feature, Columbus which he also beautifully-wrote and edited. (Slideshow Above). This was an intimate, modern Ozu-inspired tale about spaces, deep and quiet and emotionally fraught. Strangely, I looked for it on movie-lists for architecture nerds, and didn’t find it on any. Pure & unforgettable, it’s a 10/10 for me.

🍿

Marty, Paddy Chayefsky’s 1955 Oscar drama about an ugly, “stocky” butcher Ernest Borgnine looking for love. It’s hard to imagine his greatest role to be a romantic lead, but there he is, a 34-year-old Bronx bachelor who’s routinely rejected and is tired of looking for a girl. A sweet look at the type of people not usually depicted in movies. 7/10.

🍿

First watch: Roland Emmerich’s subversive big-budget spectacular, The day after tomorrow. Maybe because I haven’t see many disaster blockbusters like this, i found it terrific from the very first majestic moments of the opening spot. A prescient scenario that looks today less science fiction, and more as our near-future global collapse. 8/10.

🍿

My first two by Czech renegade Jan Němec:

🍿 The whole nearly-wordless, harrowing nightmare Diamonds of the Night follows two young concentration camp escapees, as they run from the train taking them ‘there’, through woods and marshes, trying to evade a persistent shooting party of old farmers, and all the while haunted by memories and hallucinations. With an opening shot that is considered ‘the longest tracking shot in the Czechoslovak cinema's history. Ambivalent horror - 8/10.

🍿 His most famous satire A Report on the Party and the Guests, as if Kafka were to start shooting comedies. A group of jolly party goers are trapped by another group of bureaucrats while frolicking in nature. Anti-authoritarian political allegory.

🍿 

Sometimes I love luxuriating myself in a sappy, obvious and uncomplicated romance story, especially if it stars Diane Lane. Paris can wait is Eleanor Coppola (Francis Ford’s wife) in her narrative directorial debut. 50-year-old Lane is such a babe, so following her on a road trip from Cannes up north with a flirtatious gentlemen, one of her husband's French business associates, is good for the eyes, and good for the heart. 7/10.

🍿

2 with David Bowie and 2 with Derek DelGaudio:

🍿 I read that composer Ryuichi Sakamoto just released his "last" streamed home concert as he struggles with terminal cancer, So I hurried to re-visit Nagisa Ōshima’s classic Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence for the first time in 40 years.

Not only did Sakamoto composed the terrific score, but he also played the only interesting character in this stilted war film, Captain Yonoi, who falls in love with the Bowie character, a blond Adonis rebel without a real cause. Takeshi Kitano was in it too. It did not age well. 3/10.  🍿 “I am The Roulettista”... 3rd or 4th re-watch of Derek Delgaudio’s In & if itself, a 2021 interactive staged performance / personal discovery / art installation, centered around magic and identity. Enigmatic exploration of personal pain. With cameos by Marina Abramovic, Bill Gates, Tim Gunn, others. 8/10. 

🍿 The Prestige is Christopher Nolan’s ‘mystery’ movie a bout a rivalry between two magicians, which Derek Delgaudio “consulted” for. Bowie played Nikola Tesla sporting a big mustache and a bad accent.

I didn’t like the few Nolan’s films I saw (except maybe ‘Momento’), and I started watching this twice before. But the atrocious acting, dreadful script and bland story made it very hard to finish, and I had to bail out in midpoint. 1/10.

🍿

Three short films by experimental pioneer Maya Deren:

To be honest, I never heard of this avant-garde artist, until seeing her name on the new Sight & Sound poll. Meshes of the Afternoon is the 16th best movie of all times? The 40th Best American film ever? A 1943 silent surrealist done by a young Hollywood outsider, who claimed that "I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick”? I didn’t expect to like it that much, but then I wanted to see more:

At Land, another 15-minutes silent, experimental film, very “artsy” and modern, 100% noncommercial, and so Not-American.

A Study in Choreography for Camera, a very short glimpse of an abstract dance piece.

🍿  

Related: Agnès Varda 2015 short Les 3 boutons. A 14-year-old girl, her three goats, and abstract dreams. In colors.

🍿  

2 Without Adult supervision:

🍿 Boys alone & Girls alone: What Happens When a Group of 12-Year-Olds Is Left with No Supervision for Five Days? As part of a British reality TV series in the late 2000s, two sets of 11-to-12-year-old children, one group of 10 boys and another group of 10 girls, were left by themselves in a house for 5 days. They had food, bedding, games, paint, toys, bikes, furniture, etc. They had each taken a cooking course beforehand. None of the children had met before. So what happened?

🍿 That BBC series reminded me mostly of the ‘7 Up series’ and the story of Lord of the flies. Peter Brooks adaptation of the novel was a grim and smashing of the ‘Noble Savage’ myth. Kids become little fascists, if nobody stops them.

🍿

Antonio Marziale's unsettling debut short Starfuckers, about a Hollywood director with a habit of inviting pretty male escorts to his house for paid sex and unfulfilled promises of stardom. An intimate power-play revenge thriller.

🍿

First watch: Charlie Chaplin’s A Burlesque on Carmen, the 2-reeler version from 1915. Edna Purviance is the girl, and Chaplin is not the tramp, but a silly officer. It ends with an untypical murder-suicide!

🍿  

"Just one more thing"... I didn’t know that just before he did ‘Duel’ and among his early television work, 24-year-old Steven Spielberg directed the very first episode of Columbo: Murder by the Book. A 100% competent debut that included Peter Falk making an omelette to the victim’s wife.

🍿 

Sammy challenged me to watch the new Mia Goth slasher X (2022), and predicted that I won’t last more than 30 minutes. Since I usually refuse to watch horror movies, I was surprised how low-key “normal” the first half of it was, and was able to finish the whole lot. It leaned heavily into classic horror tropes, like ‘picking them one by one’ from ‘The Texas Chainsaw massacre’, The ‘Grande Dame Guignol’ from Psycho, The old ghost lady from ‘The Shining’, even the alligator attack from ‘Jaws’. 2/10.   

🍿   I should watch Chungking Express again! Also the few of Wong Kar-wai’s films that I haven’t seen yet (’Happy together’, ‘The grandmaster’, etc.)

🍿 

Throw-back to the art project:

Russian icon Adora.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[kashas-stuff]

Get to know you meme

Thanks for the tag @sergeantnarwhalwrites!

Tagging: Anyone that wants to do this!

Relationship status: *finger guns* complicated. Long-term domestic thing but like, open and such. Not actually looking though.

Favorite Color(s): I like them all a ton. But peachy-orange is lovely. There are butterflies from my hometown that were the colour of orange marshmallows and they always made me happy when I spotted them.

Favorite Food: Cheesecake. Or fried chicken. I also like a mountain of salad.

Song stuck in my head: My brain is blending a few songs by Bug Hunter. He has a very TZ feel:

Last Thing You Googled: a bed a bath and a ghost to get the link for the previous answer. The others are:

Time: 6:37pm

Dream Trip: I wanna tour a few different countries to taste the regional food. I don't really wanna do the "tourist friendly" side of things, I like legit want to try the local cuisines of a bunch of places. But like, ethically/respectfully.

Last Thing You Read: Battleborn fanfic that a buddy of mine wrote.

Last Book You Enjoyed Reading: I don't remember.

Favorite thing to cook/bake: Anything I can shove in the oven and get good food out of really.

Favorite Craft to do in your free time: Writing, art, etc. I used to sew too but I don't have the space for it anymore.

Most Niche Dislike: Christmas music. It's a legitimate trigger of mine due to auditory hallucinations. It doesn't get stuck in my head per se (the sensation is different), but it becomes intrusive thought at full volume for weeks afterwards. So yes, I'm kind of a grinch but suck it up every year.

Opinion on Circuses: Conflicted. Animals don't deserve to be mistreated and the concept of "circus freaks" treads the light of "giving opportunity and community to those who otherwise may not have it" and "abject exploitation and objectification of human people." However, I like clowns, trapeze, and other "stunt" style performances and I also like the general sense of wonder that particular form of entertainment brings. I think it could be done ethically with minimal loss of spectacle tbh.

Do You Have Any Sense of Direction: Kind of? Like, I can get completely side-tracked and lost on the way back from anyplace in town, but I eventually find my way home.

[timelesslords]

9: why are you awake right now? 🫶🏻

send me prompts!

Annabeth’s eyes snapped open, the nightmare she’d been having abruptly cut short. She stared at her ceiling, giving herself a few seconds to adjust back to reality. She was in bed, in her and Percy’s apartment. And Percy was right next to her… except, as she rolled over, she realized he wasn’t.

Her heart rate immediately started to pick up again, even as she did her best to calm it. He’d probably just gotten up to go to the bathroom or get a glass of water or something. She could see light streaming out from under the bedroom door, so he had to be out there.

Still, she grabbed Riptide from Percy’s bedside table before she opened the door. 

She needn’t have bothered. The light was from the TV, and Percy was sitting on the couch in front of it, wrapped in a blanket, knees to his chest. He didn’t even seem to notice the door opening, at least not until Annabeth stepped into the room. 

“Why are you awake right now?” she asked. 

It was a stupid question, and they both knew it. Not in that she knew the answer, exactly— there were a dozen reasons why sleep might’ve escaped him tonight, and none of them were good. Really she was asking if he wanted to talk about it, but the half-shrug he gave seemed to answer that question in a very definitive no.

He wasn’t looking away from the TV either, which was muted and playing what looked to be a YouTube video of someone’s personal aquarium. Fish silently darted around the screen, throwing blue light and shadows over his face. 

“Want company?” Annabeth asked. Percy shook his head, but she could tell from the slight grimace on his face that he didn’t really mean it. 

“You should go back to sleep. You have work tomorrow,” he said. Annabeth took that to mean he did want company, but didn’t want to admit it. So she sat down on the couch next to him, sliding half his blanket over her lap. Percy sighed, giving her an exasperated look.

“Beth,” he said, “You have to be up in like four hours.”

“That’s why coffee exists,” Annabeth said. “What are we watching?” 

“Fish,” Percy said simply. He seemed to have accepted that Annabeth wasn’t leaving, because he scooted closer to her, their sides pressed together.

“Can you hear them?” Annabeth asked. She knew Percy could talk to most sealife, but she wasn’t sure if it worked through a screen or not. Percy shook his head. 

“Nah. I wish I could. Their tank looks kinda small.”

Times like these Annabeth wished they lived closer to the ocean. She loved New York, loved being close to Sally and Estelle, and she knew Percy loved the city, but sometimes she thought it might be easier to snap him out of these moods with a little salt water. 

“It is a lot of fish,” Annabeth agreed. They were bright and colorful, tropical looking. The camera didn’t show all of the tank, but they were darting in and out of frame enough that it couldn’t be much bigger than what was shown. 

Percy nodded listlessly. He looked tired, dark circles running under his eyes. Annabeth had thought he’d looked a little tired the past few days, but it was only seeing him now in the middle of the night that she realized just how exhausted he seemed.

“Have you not been sleeping all week?” Annabeth asked. Percy glanced over at her, a little guiltily. 

“On and off,” he admitted, sinking a little lower into the couch. 

“Percy, why didn’t you say anything?” Annabeth asked, trying not to sound too scolding, or too dismayed. He just shrugged, still staring at the TV.

“Didn’t want you to worry. Or keep you up with me.”

“Hey,” Annabeth said, nudging him with her elbow, “I wanna know these things. You don’t get to keep them from me because you don’t want me to worry.”

“Beth,” he sighed, but Annabeth wasn’t done.

“If I hadn’t slept a full night in a week you’d want me to tell you,” Annabeth insisted, “right?”

Percy grimaced, probably knowing he was trapped. “Yeah,” he admitted.

“So how is this any different?” she asked. 

“It’s not,” he sighed, “I’m sorry. I should’ve said something. Next time I will, promise.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said, snuggling a little closer to him. He nodded, setting his head on her shoulder.

“You’re very pliable when you’re tired,” Annabeth noted, and she felt the short huff of laughter from him more than she heard it.

“You’re being mean,” he complained, “I’m sleep deprived and you’re bullying me.”

“Guess you’d better get some sleep then,” Annabeth said lightly. Percy just yawned, nodded. 

It wasn’t the most comfortable position Annabeth had ever slept in, but she didn’t care. Especially not when Percy’s breaths started to even out, his heart rate slowing and steadying. It was only when she was sure he was asleep against her shoulder that she closed her eyes, letting herself drift off again.

[fruitcoops]

i would love to read coops doing one of those lie detector youtube videos!!

This was such a fun fic to research! I highly recommend watching the Try Guys Lie Detector videos if you'd like some context. Coops credit goes to @lumosinlove!

“Why are there so many of these?” Remus muttered, shaking his hand around. A series of multicolored wires smacked the table and Marlene rolled her eyes as she passed. “Sorry.”

“Welcome back to Lion Pride!” Sirius said as he turned to the camera with a smile. “I’m Sirius Black, and I’m here today with my husband, Remus Lupin, to get some answers.”

“We are also joined by Mark, who is an expert at reading polygraphs,” Remus added.

A middle-aged man in a blue shirt raised his hand in a slight wave. “Thanks for having me. Since you’re already hooked up, you’ll be going first. This machine measures your sweat, your heart rate, and a couple other common tells for liars. Do you lie often?”

Remus hesitated; Sirius hid a smile in his hand. “No, since I suck at lying, but I’ll do it if it makes somebody feel better. I think I’m pretty good at that.”

They stared at the polygraph for a moment before Mark nodded. “Checks out. Take it away, Sirius.”

Sirius cleared his throat and took a notecard from his stack. “Was going to college worth it?”

“Yes,” Remus answered almost immediately. “I don’t know what I would have done without getting my degree and staying close to hockey. Wouldn’t have met you, for one.”

“True,” Mark said without looking up.

“Do you like my playoff beard?”

“I do, yeah.” Mark raised his eyebrows and Remus pressed his lips together. “Okay, sometimes it’s a little much, but you’re pretty good about keeping things under control.”

“Alright,” Sirius said with playful skepticism. “Good to know. Who’s your favorite Lion?”

“Besides you? Talker.”

“Yeah, we don’t need a polygraph to know that,” Sirius laughed when Mark nodded. “Did you like my last haircut?”

“Oh, fuck,” Remus said under his breath, looking away.

“I knew it.”

“It wasn’t bad—”

“He’s lying,” Mark interrupted.

Remus turned to him with betrayal written all over his expression. “Dude!”

“You are.”

“Answer the question, Loops,” Sirius said, leaning back in his chair. “How did you feel about my last haircut?”

He bit his lower lip. “It was a little too short and really threw me off for a couple days. But you didn’t like it, either.”

“I didn’t,” Sirius agreed, grinning. “But I vividly remember several ‘no, honey, you look great’ conversations.”

“Next question,” Remus sighed.

“Ha! This one is self-explanatory. Have you ever lied to me?”

“Yes, but only when I knew it would make you feel better.”

“True,” Mark confirmed.

“Do you think you’re a better dog owner than me?”

Remus thought for a moment. “No.”

“True.”

“Do you think I’m a better dog owner than you?” Sirius asked.

“No. I think we balance each other well, and we wouldn’t be as good apart.”

“True again.”

“Interesting.” Sirius surveyed the cards. “Do you trust me?”

“A hundred percent,” Remus answered without hesitation. Mark nodded.

“Do you think I would be a good dad?”

He rested his chin on his hand, then smiled a little. “I do, yeah. I think you know what to do and what notto do, and you’re very protective without being controlling. So, yeah. You’d be a good dad.”

Mark glanced over. “He’s telling the truth.”

Sirius leaned across the table and kissed Remus on the cheek. “Merci. Oh, this’ll be fun. Is any of our relationship just for show, especially on Lion Pride?”

Remus narrowed his eyes with a hum. “Yes and no.”

“Pick one,” Mark said.

“In a general sense? Yeah, sure. We’re not perfect all the time, but we pretend to be. The specifics stay honest, though. None of our relationship is based on building clout. We keep the core genuine.”

The polygraph beeped for a moment. “He’s telling the truth.”

“This one is super morbid. Ready?” Sirius rested his elbows on the table. “You are Spiderman, and you’re holding two trolleys over a lake. One holds me, and one holds Jules. Which one do you drop?”

“I love you, but I would absolutely drop you,” Remus said after only a brief period of thought.

“Oh, thank god,” Sirius huffed. “I would be so upset if it was the other way around.”

“Right? I love you more than anything, but it’s Jules.”

Remus turned to Mark, who shrugged. “True.”

“Do you think we live together well?” Sirius asked.

“After a full year of it?” Remus laughed. “Yeah, I do.”

“True.”

Sirius checked the list and his eyebrows rose. “You’re going to hate this one.”

“Am I?”

“What do you really think about my parents?”

Remus’ smile turned thin and Sirius spread his hands in a see? motion. He was quiet for a few seconds, then ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t think I’m allowed to use those words on this channel. Um, I don’t like them.”

Mark snorted. “Very true.”

“Last one,” Sirius warned, though his eyes crinkled happily at the edges. “Do you know how much I love you?”

“That’s cute,” Remus said. “And…yeah. I think I do.”

“Wrong,” Sirius said before Mark could answer. “You have absolutely no idea.”

“Sap,” Remus scoffed. His cheeks were pink, and he pressed a quick kiss to Sirius’ temple while they swapped chairs.

“He was telling the truth,” Mark informed them as he helped Remus untangle his arm and hand, then transferred the devices to Sirius. “Though I am interested to see the flipside. Do you lie often?”

“Not anymore. I’m pretty good at it, though.”

“First one: have you ever had a crush on one of your teammates?”

“Oh, for sure,” Sirius said with a light laugh. “I never did anything about it, but I was the king of pining for a solid decade.”

“True,” Mark affirmed.

Remus cocked an eyebrow. “Who is the handsomest Lion?”

Sirius bit his lip, making a thoughtful noise. “That’s a tough one. I’m assuming a player other than you?”

“Yes.”

“In that case…I think Dumo is the classic definition of ‘handsome’ even though he is so not my type, but Kasey might be the most attractive.”

“Not Pots?” Remus teased. Sirius pulled a face and flicked him on the arm.

“He’s being honest,” Mark said.

“Do you think you’re the best player on the team?”

“…no.”

“He’s lying.”

“Shit.” Sirius sighed heavily as Remus looked at him over the edge of his notecard. “Look, it’s—it’s not an ego thing.”

“It’s the captain thing, isn’t it?” Remus sounded quite amused.

“Yeah,” Sirius said, defeated. “It’s stupid, I know.”

Mark nodded. “He’s telling the truth.”

“Oh, another parent one,” Remus remarked. “Did my parents scare you?”

“Not really.”

Mark furrowed his brows. “You’re right in the middle.”

“Huh.” He thought for a few seconds. “I think seeing you all together was a lot like meeting Dumo’s family the first time. You’re just so…normal. And you genuinely like each other. So I wasn’t scared, but it was definitely an adjustment.”

“He’s telling the truth.”

Remus nodded. “Yeah, they adore you. I’m glad we didn’t chase you off, though. Does it really bother you that I leave my socks around the house?”

Sirius pressed his lips together as several people off-screen began to laugh. “I can’t answer that.”

“See, that’s all the answer I need.”

“Fine. Yes, but only because I don’t know where you get them from. You don’t actually own that many socks, and I still find them every-fucking-where.”

“True,” Mark said.

“I’ll try to keep a better eye on things,” Remus assured him, smiling. “You are Spiderman, and you’re holding two trolleys over a lake. One holds me, and one holds James. Which one do you drop?”

“Goddammit,” Sirius muttered, tilting his head back. He thought for a long, long moment. “I can’t answer that.”

The polygraph buzzed. “False.”

Sirius shook his head. “Neither of you. I wouldn’t drop either.”

Mark raised his eyebrows. “True.”

“On a much lighter note,” Remus said with a cough. “Which of us is lazier?”

“Me.”

“True.”

“Really?” Remus gave him a baffled look. “You work so hard all the time.”

Sirius shrugged. “Agree to disagree?”

“Fine, but I hope you know taking time for yourself doesn’t mean you’re lazy.” He shuffled through the cards. “Oh, this’ll be very interesting. Do you think I talk too much?”

“No.”

“True.”

Remus sat back in his chair, a pleased blush coloring his cheeks. “Wasn’t expecting that. Good answer, I love you. Do you think we’ll get divorced someday?”

“Oh, god, no.” Sirius’ previous self-satisfaction turned to revulsion. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

“True,” Mark said again. “For someone who said he was good at lying, you’re very honest.”

“No point in lying with that thing around, is there?”

Remus shrugged. “Saves time, for sure. Have you kissed any of our friends?”

“Yeah,” he snorted.

To his credit, Mark didn’t even let a smile slip through. “True.”

“Do you enjoy getting stopped in public by fans?”

“Fans, yes. Ex-fans who take it upon themselves to explain why I shouldn’t be gay, no.” He paused, then shook his head with a smile. “I’m not good at talking to people, but I do like it when people say hello. It’s cool.”

“True.”

Remus raised his notecards. “Two left, and the first one is hella morbid.”

“Hella,” Sirius murmured, earning himself a teasing glare.

“Watch it. If I died, how long would you wait to get remarried?”

The playfulness dropped away. “What?”

“If I died, how long would you wait to get remarried?” Remus repeated.

Sirius looked horrified by the very thought. “I wouldn’t.”

“True,” Mark said, seemingly uncaring about the alarm on Sirius’ face.

“Even if it happened tomorrow?”

“First of all, thanks for my new nightmare. Second, no. I wouldn’t get married again.” He kissed Remus’ forehead gently. “Let’s not test that, though. Like ever.”

“Deal. Ready for the last one?”

“As long as nobody else is in danger of death.”

“I dunno, it’s a tough one.” Remus gave him a solemn look across the table. “I need you to be really honest with me on this one. Do you think you have better hair?”

Sirius blinked at him, then burst out laughing. Even Mark’s lips twitched into a suppressed smile. “Oh my god.”

“What’s so funny?” Remus asked, completely poker-faced. “This is important, honey. I’m really counting on you to be genuine with me here—”

“You can’t even—” Sirius broke off again and gestured to Remus’ face, which turned steadily pinker as he bit down a grin. “You can’t even keep a straight face.”

“My face is the only straight thing about me. You know this. Answer the question.”

“He’s trying so hard,” Sirius managed as he looked to the camera. “So hard, mon dieu.”

“Shit,” Remus muttered as he finally gave in and hid his laughter in the crook of his elbow. “We were doing so well until now! It’s the last question, just answer it!”

Sirius wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and nodded. “I do think I have better hair, but I love yours, too.”

Mark chuckled. “True.”

“It would help if you finally got a haircut that was different from the one you’ve had since you were thirteen.”

Remus closed his eyes, sighing. “Y’know, exposing my haircut choices for the entire internet to mock really wasn’t how I planned this day going.”

“Isn’t that the point of this whole video?”

“Mark, I’m not sure if we owe you an apology or not, but thank you for putting up with us.” Remus turned back to the camera with an easy smile. “Thanks for joining us today, everyone. Make sure to like and subscribe to Lion Pride for more videos like this!”

[thefanficmonster]

Lucky Me (Sequel To Unlucky)

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Fluff

Summary: You aren’t always born with luck. Sometimes, you meet people who bring it to you. In short, they are your lucky charm.

Requested: Yes, but not in a typical way. A big thank you to all the wonderful people who read, liked, reblogged and commented on part one - Unlucky.  

@susceptible-but-siriusexual  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @hacker-ghost  @itsminniekat  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  and many more ❤❤❤

They are the reason this story is being written. What was originally supposed to be an elaborate one-shot turned into the most liked piece I’ve ever written. I can’t thank you enough, guys. You are amazing and I hope you like this one just as much or even more than the previous. Love you ❤❤❤

Y/N’s POV

I’m grinning at my reflection in the mirror as I put on a pair of earrings. My face is already touched-up with a little make-up and my hair is looking on point. I can almost see my own reflection in the shine of excitement in my eyes. I take in my upper body via a quick once-over in the full body mirror opposite me, and I finally relax my muscles that I didn’t ever realize I was tensing.

“OK, now I’m ready.“ I say as a form of encouragement as I reach behind me for my phone that’s sitting on my bed.

You might be wondering where I’m going? Who I’m going with? What’s the occasion behind this many preparations and pampering?

The answer: Nowhere. No one. Nothing. I’m literally not even going to leave my house.

It might seem ridiculous to someone else, but to me, to my hypnotized mind, it’s perfectly reasonable to be getting so amped up over a FaceTime call. Yeah, you heard me correctly - a FaceTime call. 

Well, you see, this isn’t the first time we FaceTime, but it will be the first time we’ll see each other’s faces. I wanted to level the field so I didn’t let him on to what I look like, where exactly I live, etc. Basically, he only knows my name, which I am still prepared to call unfair, considering I don’t know his real name. 

A brief backstory to my first ever real interaction with Corpse: I was introduced to him by my friends. They are the ones I always turned to with all the scary shit happening in my life. Often times they didn’t know weather to comfort me or laugh at my curse. My friends suggested I start sharing it to a youtuber named Corpse Husband. You see, I love YouTube narrators and I’ve always been a fan of Mr. Nightmare and I, to be perfectly honest, always kept the idea of sending him my stories in the back of my mind. Nevertheless, I bit the bullet and checked out on of this Corpse Husband guy’s videos. And then another. And another. And before I knew it I was having a marathon after which I was too paranoid to get online, walk home alone at night, leave my curtains open etc. It wasn’t all thanks to the stories themselves. A lot of the fear factor these stories strike with should be credited to the way they are read. Let me tell you, this guy had it all figured out with the reading. Not sending him my stories would just be wrong. So I did, I sent him my first ever creepy encounter which was with a stalker from my high school and it took me only two days to forget about it. It only crossed my mind when my friends blew my phone up, demanding I watched Corpse’s new video. I kid you not, I got more scared by the story when he read it than when I lived it. That’s what settled it for me - I decided to send him each and every story.

And then one day, out of the blue, my life changed for the better in more ways than one. It got turned completely upside down, like a rollercoaster, and I just had to hold on and enjoy the ride, embrace the adrenaline rush and excitement, knowing full well that I chose to get on and there’s no way I can get off halfway through. 

I’m being too metaphorical. He sent me an email. He freaking reached out to me. And I was posed with a rough choice. Took me a minute, but I chose to reply to him, I chose to trust him, and I couldn’t just leave him on read one day simply cause I chickened out. Yes, I’m unlucky and these things don’t happen to unlucky people. I mean, they do, but they are nightmares disguised as a dream come true. I’ve lived all my life cautiously: if something sounds too good to be true it’s either not as good as marketed or not true at all. If it’s dark and late and there are no people around, FaceTime someone. If your Uber driver’s sketchy, cancel the ride. I take all the precautions and I still find myself in the worst situations. Or at least...

My thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of my phone. A simple ringtone I hear every time he calls me. A simple sound that causes me butterflies when I hear it and ultimate devastation if the caller ID doesn’t read the name I want. It always gets me excited, probably more than it should. This time is different, however. It’s scary almost. I’m nervous, anxious, scared, hesitant - all things I never feel when I’m about to answer his call. 

With shaky hands I pick up the call and find myself looking at the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. Now I know why I would have never initiated this meeting, because I know what color my face is right now. I know my voice has let me down before I even attempt to speak. I know I look like a mess. I know my obvious crush is showing.

Corpse initiated this meeting. He said he was getting too curious and he wanted one of his best friends to see him and for him to finally see her. It’s been about seven months since we first started texting and I haven’t let out a single peep about it to a single soul. It’s just between him and I. We are each other’s safe space away from the rest of the world.

“Thought you weren’t gonna pick up for a second there.“ His voice is not as confident as other times when we’ve talked. His trying to hide his own nervousness and all I wanna do is hug him and tell him he doesn’t have to. I kept telling him over and over again that we don’t have to do this if he’s not sure that he actually wants it. I even offered to show him what I look like, not expecting to see him in return but he declined, saying it was now his turn to even the field.

“I was in another room.“ I manage to say, my voice only shaking a little.

We spend a few moments just looking at each other. Admiring one another. For someone who prefers digital interaction, I am surprised to realize I wish he was actually standing in front of. I wish I could hug him. A long hug of comfort, mutual understanding and hidden feelings.

He lets out a short laugh, shaking his head which causes a few strands of hair to fall over his eyepatch, “I’m sorry...It’s just-...Fuck I’m stumbling.” He chuckles nervously, “I just...can’t believe you are real. You are a real person. And the most beautiful person I’ve seen. That’s corny, isn’t it.” He looks away from the screen, his face now a shade of red. “But I mean it. I’m embracing my corniness. You are beautiful, Y/N. Not that I’m flexing or anything, but I’m lucky to have met you.”

I laugh, feeling my eyes stinging from the tears that have suddenly formed. I don’t want to let them fall, but I don’t have much say in that. “Well, mister Corpse, I can’t begin to compare. I mean...that hair! I still cannot believe it’s you. You are not just a deep voice in my mind. You are....you are...”

“Everything you imagined and more?“ he jokes, making my whole body heat up. “I told you you could trust. I mean, if the hair doesn’t confirm I’m who I say I am, I don’t know what will.”

“Actually, I never tried to imagine what you looked like. I knew those visions...I knew they didn’t matter. Faces don’t matter to us, Corpse. I think you realize that.“

And just like that, all I’ve been keeping hidden is pouring out. I don’t try to stop it - you can’t stop a hurricane with bare hands.

“I never needed a face to imagine us. I always saw as talking on the phone, playing Among Us. Reading scary stories to each other on Discord. I never needed a face to imagine your company. To imagine what we could be...“ I trail off, letting the first tear slip down my cheek.

The most sincere look appears in his eyes, “Fuck, I wish I could hold your hand right now. Never mind, I wish I could hug you, Y/N. Hug you and not let go for a long time.”

I laugh halfheartedly, my chest burning from the intensity of this moment’s intimacy, “I can always tell you where I live.” I’m only half-joking. I really want to see him in real life, not just through a screen, but even this call is out of his comfort zone, let alone a physical meet up.

He surprises me yet again, “Saturday. I’ll bring the take out, you pick the movie.” he says with a smile that is literally saying ‘you didn’t see that coming, did you?’

“How are you sure I don’t live in a different state, or a different continent all together?“ I tease, making an attempt to put my composure back together.

He smirks, “I pay way more attention to your stories than you’d think.” I laugh, shaking my head as a pointless method of fighting the pesky tears that he has 100% noticed by this point. “By the way, just because we’re....” he thinks for a second, “in a weird zone between friendship and...something more, doesn’t mean you have to stop sending me stories. I absolutely love reading them for my audience. They love em too.”

I just realized I am yet to tell him the crazy miracle that has happened. “Well, the thing is...I don’t have any.” His eyebrows shoot up in shock which makes me laugh, “Yeah, I know, it’s crazy. Since the day we started talking I have not experienced a single scary thing. Deadass. I swear on my life.”

If I wasn’t so head over heels for this man already, the baffled expression on his face would definitely send me falling for him. He’s just that adorable. “Wow.”

“I know right.“ I nod, “Seems to me you have enough luck to share with me.“

His eyes light up at that comment, showing just how meaning full it is to him.

“You’re my lucky charm, Corpse.“

“I will never be more proud of any other title, Y/N. That I can promise you with no hesitation.“

“Deadass?“

“Deadass.“