#I added them up like 4 times and got a different result each time but I chalk that up to typos or missing numbers on my part

[purplephloxpress]

Another year, another Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day!!!! If you are a writer of fanfic, please know just how appreciated you are!! Fandom would be such a different space without your creativity and labors of love. 💜

Holidays are all about making traditions, and the bookbinding friends with @renegadeguild once again came together to bind copies of fics for their authors as a show of our appreciation. This year I had the absolute joy of binding Emergency Help Wanted by the wonderful @piyo-13 and even got to collaborate with her on some of the design elements! It's a Modern AU Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen fic that starts with a "help wanted" ad.

EMERGENCY HELP WANTED

I lied when I got my job. I told them I had a kid so I could leave early from work to pick him up from daycare, take him to doctor's appointments, and occasionally miss a day when he's sick. Long story short, I'm in too deep. I didn't think it through. Looking to rent a kid for bring your child to work day. Must be a boy ages four to six, longish dark hair, likes soccer. Must also be artistic as the macaroni noodle paintings I made seem a little advanced for his age. Also, I will pay extra for someone willing to play the role of husband when dropping him off. He's a prosecuting attorney who often brings his work home. Message me for further details. Serious inquiries only.

Ok. So. I may have gone a little feral with this one. Online "help wanted" ad spiraled into loading wheel scene dividers, spiraled into fake Google search result headers, spiraled into FULLY committing to those authentic looking text messages. In full color. (There are so many. I typeset in MS Word. It was SO worth it, but god what a struggle at some points.) And don't forget the "recent searches" title page! Or the computer cutout on the cover! (It's bluescreening, just like Lan Xichen through this entire fic!) Also that cover/title page image that I just kept adding details to. (It's supposed to be Lan Xichen's desk, so it simply didn't feel right until it had sticky notes on the computer, #1 dad on the mug, scissors and measuring tape, scribbles on the sticky notes) Did I have a ton of fun designing this one? Perhaps. Couldn't say. Maybe just a tad. (This is a lie I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST!)

Historically, I've waited until I finish at least the typeset before reaching out to the author, but not so with this one! I got the idea for the fake google search results from Piyo's authors notes, teasing the contents of the next chapter. But! Those didn't start until about chapter 4! So I reached out and asked if we could collaborate and I'm forever glad I did! Not only does this have teasers for each chapter, I also got to bounce design ideas off of her, including what shade of blue and purple for the text messages. Because my friends, that is a serious matter and changed SEVERAL times throughout the process.

Also shoutout to all my Renegade friends who gave input and encouragement over the past year while I worked on this (what endpages to use? how to make this shade of green perfectly Nie Huaisang? how do we feel about this text message design? or how about this one?) - I love you all dearly and appreciate you so much for putting up with my nonsense at all times.

Binding details below the cut!

Fandom: The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi

Pairing: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin / Lan Huan | Lan Xichen

Bookcloth: Aqua/Purple Dubletta from Colophon Book Arts

Endpapers: Craft Consortium Ink Drops - Ocean pack

Textblock paper: short grain cream from Church Paper

Titling: We R Memory Keepers foil quill

Endbands: leather cording core, DMC embroidery floss for the bands

Body Font: EB Garamond

Title Font: Berlin Sans FB

Text Messages: Roboto

Additional fonts: Times New Roman, Kunstler Script, Magis Authentic

Title page image from Rawpixel and designed in Canva

Various computer graphics from The Noun Project

Tumblr insists on eating and doubling text in this section at its own whim, so if there's something missing that you're curious about, feel free to DM me an ask!

[character-fan19]

So I calculated the exact screen time of all the love square ships in season 1

Yeah, it's exactly what it says. With 99% accuracy I went through all the episodes of season 1, calculated the exact screen time of ever love square ship in every episode, added them all up and made charts to compare them.

But first of all, where did I get the idea to do this? Well, I was looking through Tumblr and I so a post by someone called purrincess-chat answering an ask about Adrienette in Season 5 and in her reply she mentioned how Ladynoir and Adrien have around the same screen time in seasons 1-4 with Ladynoir having slightly more and that is simply reversed in season 5 with some Maricat and Ladrien sprinkled here and there. So that made me wonder: how much really is the distribution of screen time between the love square ships? So I did this, starting with season 1. But before we get into the results...

Some Ground Rules

What does and doesn't count as screen time for a particular ship? Here are the rules I laid out:

Both characters of the ship must be present in the scene for it to count. That's means no scenes of Marinette fawning over ads and pictures of Adrien or Adrien swooning over the fact that the love letter he found in "Dark Cupid" might be from Ladybug.

At least one of characters of the ship must be reacting to the presence of the other character for it to count or at least doing something together. We can't have Maribug and Adricat both just doing their own separate thing acting like background characters and call that shipping content.

If one or both of the characters believe that there are speaking with the alter ego of the other character, then it counts as screen time for that ship. Meaning when Ladybug goes to check on Adrien in "Volpina" and Cat Noir pretends to be his civilian self taking a shower, it counts as Ladrien screen time, not Ladynoir.

Now that that's dealt with let's get into the distribution.

Screen Time Distribution

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Ladynoir dominated season 1, having 76% of the total love square screen time. Makes sense, right? There's an akuma every episode so there's Ladynoir ever episode and since this is season 1, it's more focused on the strict formula rather than some actual development between the other ships.

Coming in a definitely-not-close second is Adrienette with 18.5% of the total love square screen time. No surprises here. Adrienette along with Ladynoir are the main 2 ships while Maricat and Ladrien are simply the side ships. Plus, it's not often for just one of them to be transformed.

Speaking of which, Maricat and Ladrien come in 3rd and 4th with 3% and 2.5% of the total love square screen time respectively and pretty close to each other, Maricat having a slight edge over Ladrien.

Now let's see the trend across the episodes.

Screen Time Trend

For the most part, Ladynoir is on a completely different level than the other ships, only temporarily being dethroned for one episode- that episode being "Gamer"- by Adrienette which was the episode they both practiced for the Ultimate Mecha Strike Tournament and we got some Adrienette bonding with Marinette giving Adrien her lucky charm bracelet. Other than that, it's been on top the whole time, with there even being episodes with solely Ladynoir screen time and having an average of 4 min 22 sec of screen time per episode, with most screen time being in "Animan" (8 min 28 sec) and least being in "Pixelator" (1 min 3 sec) a.k.a the episode where Adrien was stuck in the titular villain's prison dimension for most of the episode. It mellowed down a little towards the end of the season due to there being more plot relevant stuff in those episodes than akuma battle but picked itself right back up for the finale.

Adrienette stayed fairly low in screen time and having screen time in most episodes having a huge spike in the episodes "Kung Food" to "Animan", even temporarily dethroning Ladynoir like I mentioned before with 6 min 28 sec of screen time.

Finally, Maricat and Ladrien had a few small to moderate spikes here and there with some even being two episodes in a row and Ladrien having most of it's screen time towards the end of season 1.

Conclusion

Yeah, so that's it. I'm going to be doing these after I complete every season so keep a look out.

[ranharrafantasy]

See Ya' Around - [Wolf TF Story] [Fur Pills Part 1]

"Hey, man! Thanks again for spotting me on the bench! I haven't seen you around before, is this your first time? Oh, it is? That's great, well, welcome! I come to the gym almost daily so if you keep coming, I'm sure we'll run into each other again. I'm taking off now but before I go, I didn't catch your name… Cool! I'm Brayden! Well, see ya' around!"

---

2 Months Later

"Hey! Cool to run into you again! It's been awhile. Oh!? My ears? Haha, yeah… I started taking Fur Pills. Have you heard of them? They're these pills that can turn you into an anthropomorphic version of basically any animal you want! The entire transformation process takes a year to complete, though. Yeah, yeah, I know it's different, but something about it, when I saw the ad my gut told me I needed to do it. I've been taking them for about 2 months now. I like waking up and seeing how much I've changed. I just finished my set here, maybe we can spot each other next time? It was great bumping into you again! See ya' around!"

---

2 Months Later

"Dude! We keep running into each other as I'm on my way out! That's too bad, I'd love to do a set with you sometime. I show up around 6 everyday if you're here. Yep! Transformations still going strong. I'm growing fur like a mofo and I think something in the pills makes by beard grow like crazy, too! I practically have to shave everyday! Oh, did you have something to say? Oh, of course, you can ask me anything. No worries, I'm an open book, ask away!

"Haha, no, I'm not afraid of what other's think. I'm still me, they're still them; we just look different. Being furry isn't just about sexuality, it's about being your true self and expressing your person the way you want to. In the same way that celebrities get plastic surgery or bald dudes get hair plugs, we are all just trying to exist in a body that make us happy. If others can't see that, then they need to take a look in the mirror.

"I'm glad you asked. I hope that helps. Yeah, I have gotten a few snide comments from a few people. It doesn't bother me. I'll never see them again, and after everything is said and done, it's them who's going home with resentment in their life, not me.

"It was cool catching up with you, I got to run! See ya' around!"

---

2 Months Later

"I'm glad we ran into each other on the way in! It was great to workout with you! My workouts sometimes can be a little intense so I'm impressed you were able to keep up. Oh, my fur? Yeah, it's coming in still. Hopefully soon I'll be seeing more drastic results that show I'm a wolf. People keep asking if I'm a husky. What was that? Um, no, not really, I doesn't get too hot to bare with all this fur. I can be a little sweaty after a workout, but I just shower afterwards and it's no big deal. Do you want to feel? Soft huh?! Well, speaking of which, I'm going to hit the showers. Thanks again! See ya' around!"

---

2 Months Later

"Hey! It's me, Brayden! I was waving at ya for like 2 minutes, don't you recognize me?! Haha, no worries! My face started to turn shortly after I saw you last! What do you think, not bad, huh? I think I officially look more wolf than human, now! I've been loving it! My tail has been coming in and I'm not going to lie, it wagged when I saw you! Haha!

"The name of the pills? Oh, they're called Fur Pills! They have pills for basically any animal! Bears, tigers, lions, meerkats, horses, you name it! No, it doesn't hurt, on the contrary, it feels good! I'm open to answer any questions you have! Nothing else? No, worries! Great to see you! See ya' round!"

---

4 Months Later

"Oh hey! It's you! Bold of you to come up and tap me on the shoulder, what if I were somebody else? Haha, you're right, there aren't many other wolves at this gym. Yup! I'm fully wolf now! My 1 year of transformation ended two weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! Being a wolf is incredible! I love my fur, my ears, my tail! Every part about it has allowed me to truly be me.

"Thanks for supporting me through this. I know we don't know each other well, but still, running into you the past year has meant a lot for me through this process… Uh… Um… There's actually something I've actually been meaning to ask you… Would you maybe like to grab dinner together sometime? I know you still hardly know me and I don't know if you're even into guys… or wolves for that matter, but I just wanted to shoot my shot and-, oh?! You will!? Awesome! Great! Hey, I'll give you my phone number and…

"Well, well, well. Do I, by chance, spot some fur growing from under your shirt? C'mon, don't be shy! Show me! Congrats dude! I'm so happy for you! And if your curious, now that you're becoming furry, you're definitely even more my type, haha! How does Friday sound? Good? Sweet! See you there!"

---

Thanks for reading! <3 More transformation content at link in bio.

[lazywitchling]

The Three-but-actually-Six Card Spread

I vote that we call this one Schrodinger's Spread, because I don't know whether I'm gonna draw three or six until I've already pulled the cards.

So, I used to try to do the usual three card spread. You know the one. Every tarot book lists it as Past Present Future, unless you have a quirky deck, and then they've probably rebranded it as something else. You can find lists of three card spreads with different questions to ask. IT'S A WHOLE THING. There's like. a whole three-card-spread industry or something. But anyway: it always confused me.

I am absolutely not a tarot expert. I put down three cards, and then I can stare at it for an hour going "I have no idea what this means." The standard guidebook keywords float through my head, but I wasn't sure how to make an actual READ out of that.

I started following @unhelpfultarot, who is anything but unhelpful. Seeing the daily two card pull and the way that the two cards are connected into (usually) a single sentence made the lightbulb come on. "Oh THAT'S how you do it!" So I started just reading two cards at a time, but as a single unit, like Lenormand. And once I got a handle on that, I started adding the third card back in. Then I'd have two pairs of cards to read! 1>2 and 2>3.

Well, at some point, I was like "Hey what happens if I put a card down below those three, and used that as a sort of connection-between-them card?"

So now it looks like this:

1 2 3 4 5

Where "4" is not its own answer, it's just what connects 1 and 2. The same thing for 5: it just connects 2 and 3 without being its own answer.

WELL, then I'm looking at that, and I said "Hey, now I've generated another pair, so I can lay down ANOTHER card to connect those two!

1 2 3 4 5 6

"Hey, Jes? That's... that's a six card spread..."

Shhhhhhhhh. Who asked you.

"Crow did."

Hush, imaginary reader.

Anyway, so now what I've got is the original read, the three most important cards, 1 2 3. And btw, this whole thing is usually to answer ONE SINGLE QUESTION, because-- actually, @windvexer explains it better than I can here. (HEY. YOU. DON'T SKIP THAT LINK, ACTUALLY CLICK IT, THANK YOU.)

So what I have now is one question that is answered by a sentence (1-2-3), with two cards that don't tell me NEW information but that tell me what each pair is saying to each other (4 and 5), with a final one that's sort of a TL;DR card (6).

"Jes. That is a six card spread."

CORRECT, and as @upthewitchypunx and others have said, if I were charging money for this, yes absolutely this is a six card spread, and you're not getting it for 50% off.

BUT HERE'S HOW THE WHOLE THING HAPPENS IN A REAL WORLD SCENARIO

I pick up my tarot deck. I think "I'm going to do a three card reading." I pull three cards, lay them down, read. If they make sense, cool, I put them away and move on.

If I get confused though, then it's upside-down pyramid time, and I'll lay down the other three. This either results in "Ohhhhhh okay, THAT'S what it's saying," or I confuse myself EVEN more (which is very easy to do).

In that case, it's still living in my head as a three-card-spread, because that's the important part that I'm actually reading. But if I set out to pull the inverted pyramid from the get-go, then it's a six-card-spread.

This is where I'm legally obliged to put PREMEDITATED in all caps for @friend-crow

My joking answer, which wasn't FULLY a joke, is that nothing I do is premeditated. I don't MEAN for there to be six cards, but here they are now, and I've got more important questions than "is this still a three-card-spread or is it now a six-card-spread?"

At that point it's like the tarot equivalent of "Is a hot dog a sandwich" and would just trip me up when I'm just trying to eat a hot dog. The answer is "WHO CARES! I got things to do."

(@asksecularwitch 'cause you also had thinky thoughts about all this, and I wanted you to see the upside down pyramid!)

[ipso-faculty]

A review of intersex/intergender flag mashup techniques

I really like it when I can figure out what a new pride flag means just from my knowledge of other flags, and I know I'm not alone on this. For example, here are some flags other people have made that I could immediately figure out were <thing> plus intersex:

So, I've been thinking about how we as intersex flag creators can create hybrid flags in consistent way. I'm most motivated to figure out a recipe for intergender flags: genders that are connected to being intersex.

I assembled a spreadsheet of 66 gender flags, and wrote a Python script to take my csv file, parse it, and use the drawsvg library to draw the different flags in different ways. And then I stared at the results, showed them to friends, and discussed what would be both reliable in terms of producing clear, decent-looking results. (A subset of the results are under the keep reading cut.)

In this post I'm gonna review five mashup techniques that I automated and talk about advantages/disadvantages to each. But first a TLDR: adding yellow border stripes is a simple and reliable way to make an intersex-hybrid flag that is now my favourite (and recommended) way to make a new intergender flag.

For example, here's the interfluid flag (genderfluid in a way that is specifically intersex):

***

Method 1: put a ring on it - advantages: simple to do, simple to understand - disadvantages: incredibly dependent on how well the ring colour works with background stripes, and the number of stripes. Would very roughly estimate only ~20% look decent.

Here's a subset of the results. Some, like genderfaun, look nice, but most look awkward:

A yellow ring is even worse:

I think the purple ring has a bit of potential, but I think it's not really viable for being used as a consistent, procedural way to make intergenders. ***

Method 2: stick a belt on it - advantages: already used for some existing mashups - disadvantages: some other genders are doing similar things, like voidpunk, and a white belt has been used by tons of groups for their mashups (e.g. neurogender).

It looks better than the ring alone, but I was still kinda underwhelmed because of how much it depends on the background stripes to not clash. Very roughly I'd say about 40% of the total results look good. Again, here's genderfae through paragender for comparison:

Using a purple belt helps in some cases but makes for some visually busy results:

The purple ones make me think of pokéballs. Again, there are some nice looking ones, but the effect over the whole group was underwhelming. ***

Method 3: inset into the ring - advantages: it's the most clearly "intersex plus X" - disadvantages: hard to read flags where the stripes are similar to each other; might clash with ring colour

When zoomed out like this the results aren't always super easy to read, but overall I'd say this is a reasonably reliably method - very roughly 60% of the results look good to me.

Playing with lightness and contrast on the inset flag likely would improve that number, but my goal here is to compare methods without tweaks.

Insetting into the intergender flag has similar results:

Method 4: add intersex-coloured stripe to the middle - advantage: seems like it would be simple - disadvantage: yellow middle stripe used for pansexual mashups; purple stripe is used in a bunch of of existing mashups - also disadvantage: turns out to actually be complicated in how to do it. Many flags have an odd number of stripes, not all flags have equal-length stripes, etc. I got buggy results on a whole bunch of flags like hijra and hypergirl and honestly if it takes dedicated debugging to fix it's probably too complicated.

When the original flag has an odd number of stripes, I doubled the original middle stripe up and this only works if there's a symmetry to the flag and all the stripes are of equal size.

The results are kinda busy. It looks good to my eyes very roughly 1/8 of the time (~12%) (I did an alternate version where I doubled the purple stripe around the original middle stripe and it's way worse.)

Purple stripe:

Yellow stripe looks less busy but more confusing:

Method 5: add border stripes with intersex colours - advantages: simple - disadvantages: maybe not as obviously intersex

I honestly didn't expect to like this one, but it has turned out to be my favourite. It works really reliably, like ~90% of the time, and it's distinctive.

Surprisingly, using purple gives a really different vibe. It kinda makes me feel claustraphobic:

Method 6: change the colours

This one I don't have automated results to share (at least not yet). Right now there are flags like how ultergender recolours the trans flag, that could serve as a template for recolouring.

This is much more complex computationally - I spent a bunch of time playing around with different colourspaces (HSV, LCH, oklab, okLCH) to try to do this automatically and have concluded that this actually a difficult computational problem and not feasible as a widescale recipe.

Part of why the ultergender recolouring works is there are just two colours to recolour. How should one recolour the genderfluid flag? The demigender flag? It's possible to create a convention but not something I'm up to this moment.

I think recolouring is better suited to creating entirely new identities (like ultergender) rather than intergenders that are "<gender> but in an intergender way". ***

Discussion

My goal in all of this has been to try and identify some reliable recipes for creating hybrid flags particularly for intergenders.

My entirely subjective and imprecise estimates of how reliably each method yielded a decent-looking result were: 1. Add yellow border: ~90%-ish 2. Inset: ~60% 3. Belt: ~40% 4. Ring: ~20% 5. Add middle stripe: ~1/8-ish

I was honestly surprised at how much I liked the yellow border method and the friends I've shown it to so far have liked it as well!

I'd like to propose adding yellow border stripes as a recipe for creating intergender flags. This is already in use for interfluid (genderfluid in a specifically/uniquely intersex way):

Indeed, it's the only one of the mashup functions I wrote that yields something for genderfluid that I actually like:

Extrapolating, here are examples of some gender coinings that I think would work: Interdemigender: demigender in a specifically/uniquely intersex way and/or demigender in a way linked to being intersex/intergender

Intervaguegender: vaguegender in a way that is specifically intersex, such as in a way that is connected to being intersex (i.e. one's gender is vague not just for being neurodivergent but also intersex)

I think it works well! I hope you like it! Let me know if you have any feedback. If there are other mashup techniques I didn't think of, let me know. :)

[a-lonely-dunedain]

you know what you're right! I had a lot of numbers to sort through but it came out to roughly uhhhh

289 days or 6936 hours!

man you would think I'd have more than one character at the level cap at this rate 😬

ok well I kept saying "one of these days I need to log into all of my alts to run the /played command and calculate my total play time in LOTRO" and I guess today's the day! time to really see how much time I've wasted running aimlessly in circles on these guys

[ladelinee]

Authors note:Hi! Sorry for any grammar mistakes. It took me a while to finish, but I really enjoyed writing this. Hope you enjoy it too 🖤

Word count: 3,3K

Warnings: SMUT! +18 language, p in v, oral, mixing fluids, intrusive thoughts, and a bit of fluff.

All shook up

Part 4

As we waited patiently for the housekeeping ladies to leave the room, the silence was broken by my frantic breathing and rapid heartbeat. The temperature difference between the heated room and this closet was stark, sending a chill down my spine. The mist rising from my breath made the air thick and damp, and I could sense Elvis's warmth spreading throughout the closet.

On one of my breasts, exposed to the cold, Elvis placed his hand. I could feel his warm breath against my neck, while his nose hovered over my ear, tickling me with his touch.

Elvis's hand began to stir beneath the fabric of my panties, igniting a rush of anticipation. With deliberate slowness, his fingers traced the contours of my slit, delicately exploring the tender bud of my clit. Its swollen state made it an easy target, throbbing with desire.

“Mmm… what do we got here?” he asked with a husky and sensual voice, slowly tracing circles over my clit, causing my panties to become see-through with wetness.

I was in complete ecstasy as I felt Elvis touching me for the first time. In turn, he continued pinching my nipple, sending a wave of excitement and pleasure coursing through my body. His touch was so gentle yet so stimulating, and I could feel my body responding to each touch.

I could hear the cleaners chatting with each other, their voices fading into the background. My concern was far gone while I was enjoying the excitement of Elvis's touch. His body language and the sensuality he emitted could not be resisted. The warmth of his touch and his gentle strokes set fire to my desire, making me crave more and more.

Elvis continued stimulating me in a slow and steady rhythm. While the torture-like pace felt like a drawn-out process, it also added to the intense pleasure. The sensation of being touched and stroked with such gentleness yet so passionately was driving me wild. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing heavily, and let out a soft whimper, anticipating what was next. Then both of Elvis' hands placed on the sides of my panties, slowly pulling them down.

“Don’t let ’em fall to the floor yet,” said Elvis, referring to my panties with a mischievous smile. That prompted me to spread my legs to prevent them from dropping.

“Like this?” I whispered, awaiting his approval.

“Good girl” Elvis added. He knew perfectly how to seduce a woman. I could feel the tingling in my core from those words. One of his hands touched my breasts again, while he trailed small but deep kisses along my neck.

Then I felt him caressing my clit with his other hand, making direct contact this time. His fingers ran through my folds. Elvis stopped kissing me to lean forward and see my pussy in the only line of light emanating from inside the closet and his fingers getting wet in the process.

“All this wetness f’me?” he grunted softly, his breathless smile following suit. With his middle finger positioned at my entrance, he slowly slid it inside. My response was a deep breath, while Elvis observed my reactions with amusement.

I felt the coldness of his belt against my butt, along with his hard bulge, eager to be inside me. Leaning forward, I arched my back, making my butt stick out, drawing closer to him.

"Damn baby" Elvis whispered between gasps, his tone of voice made his excitement evident. He was enjoying the situation and how he wasn't able to control his eagerness to be inside me.

As Elvis was taller, he leaned forward, arching his back slightly to reach and insert his finger completely inside. He began to withdraw and slowly push it back in. As a result, my breasts wobbled, causing one of them to receive a gentle slap. I furrowed my eyebrows, leaning my head back against his chest.

His movements continued slowly as he used the wide palm of his hand to massage my clitoris. I was so needy for him that I unconsciously began to move my hips.

I let out a soft moan of pure ecstasy.

“Did you hear that?” one of the housekeeping ladies asked, pausing in her cleaning for a moment.

Elvis's hand pressed firmly against my mouth, muffling any sound that threatened to escape. At that moment, I froze, every muscle in my body tense with anticipation. My breath caught in my throat, afraid to make even the slightest noise. Despite not being able to see her face, I could feel the tension radiating from the maid, her presence looming over us like an unwelcome spectre. And yet, it was the sudden shift in Elvis's demeanour that truly set my heart racing. The playful seducer was replaced by a man gripped with urgency, his eyes darting around the room, searching for any sign of danger. In that tense silence, every second felt like an eternity, the weight of the moment hanging heavy in the air.

“Hear what?” came the response from another lady.

A heavy silence enveloped us, stretching for what felt like an eternity as if time had halted its relentless march forward.

“Nothing. I reckon I’ve just been putting in too many hours… Must be my mind playing tricks on me” the lady mumbled, her tone tinged with confusion, before shaking off the moment and getting back to her chores.

Elvis breathed a sigh of relief, as did I, and whispered, “Ya’re a noisy, naughty girl, ain’t ya?” smirking.

Then he withdrew his finger, which had been buried inside me, to gently slap my clit before rubbing it. Despite his hand still covering my mouth, my gasps escaped through my nose in rapid bursts of air.

Elvis approached the entrance to my vagina again, this time with two fingers. He began to insert the tips of both fingers very slowly, feeling how he opened me up.

Suddenly, we heard the voices of the employees walking away from us and the door closing.

Once room service had left, silence enveloped us. I could only hear Elvis’s laboured breathing in my ear. After a few seconds, Elvis gently pushed the closet door open.

“Darlin’…” Elvis sighed in my ear. At that moment, I thought he was going to give up and suggest we stop, considering the craziness of our situation.

“Bed. Now.” he continued in a deep, low voice, this time without whispers.

I began to walk slowly towards the bed, still with one of Elvis’s hands covering my mouth and the other hand buried inside me, while my panties remained halfway between my thighs and my knees.

Once we were in bed, Elvis let go of me. With deliberate slowness, he turned me to face him, undoing the buttons of his shirt until it dropped to the floor. I couldn’t help but be captivated by the sight of his tanned, bare torso. While not overly muscular, it exuded a sense of firmness and tone that intrigued me.

Sensing my distraction, Elvis gently lifted my chin, his gaze locking onto mine with a blend of tenderness and longing. Then, he kissed me passionately, his lips conveying a deep need that echoed my desires.

As he kissed me, Elvis slowly guided me to the edge of the bed, his touch gentle as he caressed my shoulders, removing the unbuttoned shirt that still draped over me. With a deliberate ease, my bra followed, joining the discarded clothes on the floor.

Elvis gently guided me onto the bed, his hand supporting my back, culminating with a tender kiss.

Pausing for a moment, Elvis stood by the bedside, his gaze fixed on me as he began to unbuckle his belt. His eyes lingered on my skirt and my closed legs, anticipation evident in his longing gaze, eager to discover what awaited him.

With a smile playing on his lips, he unbuttoned his pants, letting them fall to the floor.

Once he dropped his pants, his cock sprang forward and hit his stomach. I started rubbing my legs together at the sight of his pulsing length. I wanted him inside me.

Elvis slowly approached me and began to climb my body, kissing my abdomen and ending at my nipples. His fingers slowly slid down my skirt and my panties, removing them.

Once he had gotten rid of them, Elvis came up to kiss me again, our tongues intertwining. My cheeks began to blush, his kisses adding to the wetness between my legs.

His warm torso pressed against mine, and the sensitive peaks of my nipples brushed against his hairy chest.

Elvis started a trail of kisses, tracing along my chin, neck, collarbone, breasts, abdomen, and navel.

"Darlin’ Spread your legs f’me," he said, his gaze fixed on me.

I let out a sigh; I was nervous, excited, and at the same time, shy. Despite my insecurities and uncertainty about whether Elvis liked my body, my desire for him burned intensely.

Slowly, I prepared to spread my legs, exposing my pussy to Elvis for the first time. He admired it with his mouth open, biting his lip in anticipation. My clit was swollen and glossy, surrounded by a distinct wetness.

Elvis started what we had left inside the closet and gently inserted his two fingers into my vagina. I let out a soft moan as he pushed them all the way in. With increasing speed, I felt his warm breath against my skin.

“Elvis…” my moans grew louder, the pleasure was becoming uncontrollable.

Elvis withdrew his fingers from me, and I watched as he examined them, glazed with my fluids, before putting them in his mouth.

“Fuck honey, ya taste so damn good,” he exclaimed once his fingers left his mouth.

Elvis’s arms wrapped around my thighs, his shoulders positioned just below them.

Then, unexpectedly, his tongue ran through my pussy in one smooth motion. I couldn’t help but squirm with pleasure at the sensation, my breathing becoming laboured.

Elvis began to trace circles with his tongue around my clit, alternating between firm and gentle pressure. The pleasure intensified gradually, my moans went in crescendo with each passing moment, and my back arched in response.

As the intensity grew, Elvis inserted his fingers into my vagina, simultaneously sucking on my clit with his mouth. With each movement, his sucking became more intense, his fingers curling inside me.

“Elvis… p-please, stop... I'm about to cum," I gasped, the pleasure overwhelming as Elvis expertly worked his magic, causing my legs to tremble involuntarily as I gripped his black hair.

Ignoring my plea, Elvis only quickened his pace, his fingers moving with a practised rhythm and his suction becoming more intense.

Then it hit me, an orgasm like a tidal wave, building and building until it flooded the room with my ecstatic cries. I couldn't help but cover my mouth, muffling my moans as I rode the waves of pleasure, while Elvis continued to skillfully play with my clit, his gaze fixed on me, enjoying every moment of my blissful surrender.

Elvis’s arms released my thighs as he knelt on the bed, still positioned between my legs.

“You shouldn’t have covered your mouth. Now, I’ll have to make you cum again,” he declared, his blue eyes piercing me slyly as his hand wiped the remnants of my moisture from the corners of his mouth.

Elvis began to touch himself, revealing a glistening tip as he pulled back his foreskin. His cock was so hard that it arched upwards slightly.

Elvis started to caress his tip between my folds.

“Ya want daddy to fuck ya, lil’ one?” he said as he hit his tip on my clit.

“Yes please, fuck me Elvis” I opened my legs even more for him. My pussy was wet again.

He had a way of knowing what I needed; it was like a gift, his eyes lasciviously fixed on me while he lubricated his cock with my fluids.

Then, he began to push the tip at the entrance of my hole, and it slid perfectly inside. Elvis let out a grunt of pleasure as he narrowed his eyes.

After inserting the tip, I began to notice how the walls of my vagina gradually opened. My eyes widened; it seemed like it was too much for me.

“Wait” I gasped, feeling the need to catch my breath. It had been so long since I’d had sex that my vagina needed time to adapt to the thickness of his cock.

“God, you’re so tight, baby” Elvis remarked with parted lips, his expression relaxed with half-closed eyes as if he were on the verge of fainting. But it wasn’t from that; it was from the overwhelming pleasure he was experiencing.

His expression of pleasure caused my pussy to lubricate even more. He continued to insert his large length until he filled me. I could feel a slight but pleasant pain when he reached the bottom of my uterus, eliciting a small moan from me.

Elvis kept his cock inside me for a few moments as he adjusted his position. Leaning forward, he positioned his body on top of mine, sinking us both into the mattress as he rested his weight on his arms above my shoulders.

His hips began to move slowly back and forth, pumping his cock into me with long, slow thrusts.

I started to whimper but Elvis inhaled those whimpers with a kiss.

I felt the hair on his pelvis brushing against my clitoris, sending tingles of pleasure through me.

The thrusts began to increase in speed, causing my chest to vibrate against his with each of his harsh grunts. The pleasure was slowly intensifying.

Suddenly overcome with pleasure, I wrapped my legs around Elvis’s waist, allowing his cock to penetrate even deeper, eliciting more intense moans from me.

Caught off guard by my sudden movement, Elvis released my mouth with a light moan. The pleasure was so immense that he grabbed my hips with one hand to fuck me more intensely.

His sideburns grazed against my rosy cheeks as they moved up and down, and his hot breath tickled my ear, causing it to turn red.

I could feel myself teetering on the edge, my mind clouded with desire as I uttered, “E-Elvis, fuck, I think I’m going to cum.”

I could feel Elvis’s smile against my ear. “My lil’ one wanna cum?” he said between gasps, sending a surge of horniness through me.

Elvis buried his face in my hair, gripping my ass tightly as he thrust his cock into me even harder.

My abdomen began to tense, building up to a second orgasm. I held onto Elvis’s back tightly, releasing all the pleasure in the form of loud moans.

Elvis continued to move vigorously, prolonging my orgasm.

“Fuck baby, Daddy is gonna cum in that sweet lil’ pussy of yours.”

His muscles tensed, each powerful thrust driving the pillow hard against the headboard. I could sense Elvis’s intense focus; he held his breath, his mouth silent as he approached climax. Finally, he lifted his face, releasing a guttural moan of pleasure. His nails dug into my skin, his cock pulsating with desire deep inside me.

His face was flushed, a bead of sweat glistening on the tip of his beautiful, perfectly sculpted nose. His plush lips were red and juicy with ecstasy and his black hair stuck in his wet forehead. Then, his piercing blue eyes met mine, observing as my blush faded and my breathing gradually steadied. He smiled back at me and kissed my lips so intensely that he sucked on my mouth. I laughed, I hadn’t felt this good in years.

Elvis slowly leaned back. I could see that his chest was sweaty, just like mine. He reached down, gently withdrawing his cock from my still-spasming vagina. His pelvis was glistening with my fluids.

Without hesitation, he inserted one of his fingers inside me after noticing his cum flowing from my hole.

“This stays where it belongs” he said, winking at me.

In a playful attempt to tease him, I grabbed his hand by the wrist and brought his finger to my mouth, tasting both my fluids and his.

“You taste delicious” I said with a mischievous smile.

Elvis bit his lower lip and shook his head.

“Damn… I could keep ya here all day, ya know that?” He said with a smile as he kissed me. I smiled back.

We gazed into each other’s eyes for a few moments, happiness and satisfaction filling the room.

Gently, Elvis gave a small pat on my leg.

“Let’s get ya cleaned up, darlin’” he said with a voice full of sweetness, an intimate tone that I had never heard from Elvis before.

I slipped out of bed, wrapping myself in the sheet, but before I could even adjust, Elvis playfully whisked it away with a swift movement.

“Now, if ya don’t mind, I’m gonna enjoy the view. Yar body is incredible, baby, and it would be a crime to put clothes on ya” he declared with a wide smile, his eyes sparkling with mischief and admiration.

The moment felt surreal, like a scene from a dream I never wanted to end.

—————————————

Doris's hands were clammy with sweat as she approached Angelica's office door, her heart pounding in her chest. Each step felt heavier than the last, her breaths coming in shallow gasps.

With a trembling hand, she knocked on the door, the sound echoing in the empty hallway. “Come in,” Angelica's voice cut through the silence, sharp and commanding.

Doris hesitated for a moment before turning the doorknob, her pulse racing with nerves.

“Good afternoon, ma'am,” Doris greeted, her voice barely above a whisper, her eyes darting nervously around the room.

Angelica's office was bathed in shadow, the only light coming from the lamp on her desk casting eerie shadows across the walls. Angelica sat on the couch, her face obscured by the documents spread out before her.

“What do you want, Doris?” Angelica's voice was cold, her eyes glued to the paperwork in front of her.

Doris swallowed hard, the lump in her throat making it difficult to speak. “It's about the ladies who went to clean Mr. Presley’s suite, ma'am. They found something” she began, her voice trembling with apprehension.

Angelica let out a scoff, her disdain palpable even from across the room. “Let me guess, another mess in Presley's suite? Broken furniture? Bullet-ridden walls? Please, not another monkey” she sneered, her frustration evident in every word.

“No, ma'am. It's Miss y/ln jacket,” Doris replied, her hands shaking as she held it out for Angelica to see.

Angelica's demeanour shifted, her interest piqued by the unexpected news. “And where is she?” she demanded, her gaze piercing through Doris like a knife.

“I-I've looked everywhere, but I couldn't find her,” Doris stammered, her voice barely audible as she placed the jacket on Angelica's desk.

A heavy silence hung in the air as Angelica examined the jacket, her expression unreadable. After a moment, she looked up, her eyes softening ever so slightly.

“Thank you, Doris. You may go,” Angelica said, her tone surprisingly gentle compared to before.

Doris nodded, relief flooding through her as she turned to leave the office. But as she reached for the door handle, she couldn't shake the feeling of unease that lingered in the pit of her stomach.

“Y/n… what are you playing at…” Angelica's voice was barely a whisper, but the words sent a shiver down Doris's spine. Beneath her composed exterior, Doris knew there was more to this than met the eye.

Need to recap? Part 3 here

Part 5

Tags: @msamarican ❤️

[absolutebl]

This week in BL - I am all over the place, But Laws of Attraction is Phenomenal af

July 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat iQIYI) 1 of 8 - Icky picked it up but it’s not airing for me until Sundays so I held this post specifically to watch and talk about this show. Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD Y’ALL. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister). Corrupt police. Spoiled rich kid evil. Ambitious politician. Tragic death. Terrible subs.* This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story. It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you shoudl watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT. On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY. Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back.  (* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 12fin - 2 years pass and no one’s hairstyle changes? Srs. Them meeting again = hella AWKWARD. Both still pining & hurt. NO SINGING. The reconciliation scene was great. I enjoyed that on the “do over relationship” they went with phi/pom (instead of the super formal khuns). So cute and so much more relaxed. Also lots of neck kisses! Charming final ep. It’s only flaw being they dropped the side couple, but I wasn’t really into them anyway. Ultimately? This is what Boss & Babe should have been and could we please have Up lead out another BL? I miss him and he only gets prettier. Full review below.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 12fin - I adore the tiny little baby GL thread that we almost got. And I wish we had had more of it throughout the show. The side couple turned out to be good too. Emotional crying kisses are my favorite. Sunshine netted himself an earnest serious romantic boy, we likey. As for the main couple? Well... Tai’s search story arc was dull and dragging in a final ep and it felt bloated and slow as a result. It was a good confession reunion with Tai figuring all of his shit out, not surprising but fine. Kind of a a weak final ep. Full review below. 

Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - JoonDunk are back and we have all seen this a million times before, but Thailand never executed a successful formula it didn’t want to repeat a million times over, drunk bathroom and everything. Welcome (back) to Thai BL (and back and back and back). Basically they just added glasses, a new 1-shared-brain-cell friendship group, and different uni departments. Ah GMMTV, forever trying to recreate the magic of 2gether. But also I’m enjoying it. I’m a simple person. (Hi Jamie! Still in college since 2018 I see.) Anyone else notice that Chinese phrase that they did not translate for us? Mmm hum. Cute. Still... NO SINGING. 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 8 - Thames is in coma and getting slagged off on the socials. It’s moving a bit slowly but the premise is interesting despite the poor quality of the execution. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 8 eps - Major trigger for self harm depicted on screen in part 2/4. I skipped it. Then there is assault and verbal abuse. I told you Ultimate Troop is NOT to be trusted. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 2 of 12 - Look, I don’t really mind this show but I also don’t like second hand embarrassment and I sense a metric butt ton incoming.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 8 of 12 - I was not best pleased with this episode. Ya’ll round the tumblr-sphere seem to be enjoying it but I have officially hit the wall on Kawi. There is not enough booze for me to cope with his shizz. I may be alone in this. But gotta say how I feel... Unlike him. Trash watch here.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - Poor Ren, he feels compelled to take on the burden of protecting everyone from sexual assault because he blames himself. And he can’t even talk to his boyfriend about it. Oh fuck me the pair of shoes at the door. And neck kisses? TOO MUCH. Argh. Japan. Why must you hurt so good? 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 3 of 10 eps - It’s a very cute show. All the tropes and archetypes with no fuss or attempts to be clever, just executing them (sometimes over and over again). Even hiccoughs as a result of flirting! I haven’t seen that one in ages. The show feels old fashioned as a result. Nostalgic. I’m good with that. 

Tie The Not (Pinoy YouTube) ep 6 of 8 - Sad boys still sad now drunk. (Noooooo shoes on bed! Argh.) Finally kisses! Also good ones for a large portion of this ep. Plus hair pulling. And verse rep! And after sex convo. Then side dishes have a whole proper gay ax covo about top/bottom. Everyone say thank you Philippines! get down with your queer selves! 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 6fin - I believe this was the final episode. It was cute. This is a standard sort of semi-crappy VBL high school drama. Enjoyable in its floppy friendliness, weirdly like a queer after school special promoting education. Dead fish kisses but fine for what it is. 7/10 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 2 of 12 eps - Activate cohabitation trope. They okay bfs. Minato not as frustrating this week, but still frustrating for me and Shin. Next week = cute outfits and dumb miscommunication yay!

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 11 of 12 - again it didn’t show up on my dash in time for this. I’ll pop it into next week. 

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Ended This Week

Step By Step Series Review  

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie Series Review

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:  

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL side dish? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not? That is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. Trying to decide to trash watch or not... 

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT! So excited for this one. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

FYI roselle juice is made from hibiscus (a flower) so technically neither a tea nor a juice. (Hidden Agenda)

Tie the Not = all the verse rep this ep. I love this for them. 

The giggling was SO DAMN CUTE (Step by Step, na?) 

We all guessed it but it was still fun. (Stupid Genius) Also miracles of miracles, two actors who actually look like they could be brothers play brothers. 

First time I’ve seen faen translated as significant other. (Laws of Attraction)

THE PAIN! (Tokyo) 

(Last week.)

[twinsimming]

Pasteurize Milk Mod by Twinsimming 🐄

I was heavily inspired by the cows from The Sims 4: Cottage Living and wanted to flesh out the Milkin’ It Dairy Corral cows from The Sims 3 Store to provide more gameplay options.

Requirements

This is a script mod that requires CCLoader and the Milkin’ It Dairy Corral from The Sims 3 Store to function properly. If you want to create all of the flavors of milk available in this mod, the following packs/store content/mods are required:

The Sims 3: Late Night

The Sims 3: Showtime

The Sims 3: Supernatural

The Sims 3: Seasons

The Sims 3: University Life

Bohemian Fruits and Nuts from The Sims 3 Store or Strawberry Plant - v1.2 by douglasveiga

Interactions

Pasteurize: A new inventory interaction added to the Milkin’ It Dairy Corral milk bottles that allows you to turn the three existing milk types (regular milk, chocolate milk, and soy milk) into milks that actually sell for simoleons!

Each type of milk sells for a different price, and the selling price increases the higher the quality of the milk is. Sims can also drink the milk and each milk flavor has their own moodlet!

Pasteurized Milk (Got Milk?)** §10

Pasteurized Chocolate Milk (Chocolate Chuckles) §15

Pasteurized Soy Milk (Plant Power)** §20

**= custom moodlet

The quality of the milk also affects its moodlets.

Normal quality milks will give a +10 or +15 moodlet

Nice quality or higher will give a +20 or +25 moodlet

Bad quality or worse milks will give your sim a custom negative Spoiled Milk moodlet of -10 or -15, as well as a -10 Nauseous moodlet, so they'll throw up after a period of time.

Add Flavor: A new inventory interaction added to the Milkin’ It Dairy Corral milk bottles to combine certain harvestables and regular milk to create several different types of flavored milk. These milks are also drinkable and give the following moodlets:

New Flavors:

Strawberry Milk = Regular Milk + Strawberry (Social Strawberry) §30

Fire Milk = Regular Milk + Ghost Chili (Spicy) §60

Golden Honey Milk = Regular Milk + Honey (Life is Sweet) §50

Pumpkin Spice Milk = Regular Milk + Pumpkin + Cinnamon (Cinnamon) §75

Obsidian Milk = Regular Milk + Midnight Bean (Midnight Buzz) §45

Rainbow Milk = Regular Milk + Wonderpetal (Blizzard) §50

Banana Milk = Regular Milk + Banana (Bananah) §20

The quality of harvestables must be Nice or better to add to regular milk. Flavoring milk will always result in Nice or higher quality milk and will match the quality of the harvestable used.

The selling price will always be higher than selling the harvestables by themselves.

The moodlets given are also a bit stronger than if your sim gained them through other means.

Drinking any flavor of milk will remove the negative Too Spicy moodlet if you have The Sims 3: Supernatural installed. It also hydrates Plant Sims and Mermaids.

All flavors of milk can be purchased at the grocery store and will be Normal quality.

Turn Milk Into Butter: Requires two Milkin’ It Dairy Corral milk bottles and produces a new Butter ingredient. Butter can also be purchased at the grocery store for §5.

Turn Soy Milk Into Tofu: Requires two Milkin’ It Dairy Corral soy milk bottles and produces a Tofu ingredient.

New Moodlets

Got Milk?: Given when sims drink Pasteurized Milk, lasts 3 hours, +20 mood

Plant Power: Given when sims Pasteurized Soy Milk, lasts 3 hours, +20 mood

Spoiled Milk: Given when sims drink Bad or worse quality milk, lasts 3 hours, -20 mood

Cooking Overhauls

I created this mod with Cooking Overhaul mods in mind, to add things like Pasteurized Milk and Butter into existing recipes, but they are not required to use this mod.

For those who do have a Cooking Overhaul mod installed follow the instructions in the text file titled "For Cooking Overhauls" to enable Pasteurized Milk and Butter to be used in recipes.

Personally, I added Butter to the Grilled Cheese, Cookies, and Lobster Thermidor recipes.

Conflicts & Known Issues

- This is a new script mod, so there shouldn’t be any conflicts.

- The qualities of the milks will revert to Normal if you travel to other worlds with them in your inventory. This seems to be an issue with all non-harvestable ingredients, so I don’t know if this is something that can be fixed.

Credits

EA/Maxis for The Sims 3 and The Sims 4, Visual Studio 2019, ILSpy, SmoothJazz, Notepad+++, CCLoader, Blender, s3pe, TSRW, Sims4Studio, Milkshape, and Gimp.

Default cow texture is by aminovas here!

Thank You

To @greenplumbboblover, Battery,  @zoeoe-sims, and TheSweetSimmer for helping me with the code and prop animations. This mod would never have gotten this far without you all.

To @puddingface1902 for your custom moodlet templates.

To @flotheory for your wonderful animation converting tutorial.

To douglasveiga for the amazing CCLoader tool.

And to @puffkins2000​, @phoebejaysims, @misspats3​, @bietjie​, @simsdeogloria​, and SonyaYU for testing the mod and providing invaluable feedback!

Download @ ModTheSims

[ellraiser]

Mudborne Devlog #6 - Garden Variety

Hey friends! The last month I was able to work on Mudborne pretty much full-time, so I got a whole lot designed and implemented - let's get into it all.

Biodiversity

After finishing the designs for all of the mechanics, I also spent some time trying to design how each of the 5 main regions would look and feel.

Originally when doing the overworld design I didn't think much more than what the waking vs dream world, but now I knew roughly the size of the world and the areas in it I knew I couldn't get away with just using the same "biome" style throughout the game - sure I could do a few different flora/fauna and setpieces to match the utility of that area in-game, but I wanted to make each of the regions more unique and interesting.

I went through a lot of different styles before settling, here's a few of them!

1. Initial idea, blue/greens for waking and then more vibrant for the dream

2. More detailed flora + grass that you can see in the first two green areas, can also start to see more interesting tree designs + stone decoration for the islands

3. Settling on the third "residential" area and the dream counterparts for the first three regions, plus starting to narrow down the snowy + central region styles

4. The current designs, with the first 4 regions implemented while I still tinker with the final central region

Lots of the color changes were tweaked slightly over time too - the first concept was drawn towards the start of september, the fourth one is what is currently used in-game (although still working on the 5th one)

The main thing I wanted was to have lots of variety and interesting plants and flora to make each region feel more unique outside of just palette changes - some areas also go a step further with some larger unique stuff, like the algae in the swamps or the flooded rooms in the residential district.

As I was designing them I changed the grass style to be an actual texture - darker blades that are part of the tiles themselves, and then lighter blades that I actually individually place.

I think this was a nice middle ground as I can get some unique grass patterns that are not tiled and dont look too repetitive. I also added a lot more stone tile decoration stuff, like the bricks or the vines - just to help make those sections more interesting as in contrast to the water they were very flat and empty.

For comparison this is what the demo had for a standards building:

And here is a normal building in the full game with the newer designs:

It's a bit more work to create the levels now as I have a lot more stuff to place manually - but I think the end result is worth it and let's me have much more interesting and pretty areas to explore, which is important for a game where I want players to explore and find all the secrets.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Spore Printing

While working on and off on the actual world style, I started to work on implementing some of the new mechanics for the full game - the main one not really covered by the demo in any way is spore printing and hybrid mushrooms.

As it stands in the demo you farm mushrooms, each with a special effect to modify traits. You can then combine 3 of these together into 1 "magic mud" to modify your frogspawn.

With hybrid mushrooms the idea is that you can combine any two standard mushrooms together to make 1 mushroom with the effects of both - this means you could have up to 6 modifications within one generation!

To do this you collect spores from either natural spawns or your farms, and then you make 'prints' of the spores to paper, which lets you print two different mushrooms to the same piece of spore paper.

You can then use this paper in your farms - so instead of waiting for spores to form naturally you can just set the spores you want. You wouldn't even need to use a hybrid spore paper for this either, so it's a bit more control on exactly the spores you're farming.

Once the mushrooms bloom (as hybrids either mushroom's conditions can be met), you gather them as normal and grind them into powder as normal - but they are now a hybrid mushroom/powder with both effects applying to them when used.

This will get a bit complex, but it will be useful for a bunch of reasons - you can counteract 'bad' modifications you don't want into one mushroom, you can do more changes quickly in less generations, and then the main reason to solve more complex genetic puzzles.

It also gives the player a lot more options to approach making a genetic key, as there will be more than 1 'correct' answer or combination to meet the trait changes required across generations.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The Kindergarten

In the demo you're just in an area based off the 'Spawning Pools'. In the full-game, after leaving this area to a central hub region, one of the first main regions you can go to is the Kindergarten.

This is the region where frogspawn+tadpoles are raised at the pond, as well as where mushrooms and bugs are farmed for resources and food.

Because of that the gameplay focus of this area is on learning about hybrid mushrooms, getting some better farming options, and upgrading the bug collection mechanics to make it easier to get bugs en-masse - like the bug traps that let you use extra-stinky frogs to attract and catch bugs automatically while you're away.

It also introduces the first overworld "obstacle" (not counting the puzzles like the gates or the pressure pads or lilypads) - algae blooms.

These deadly blooms can't be crossed, so you need to clear them. Luckily you have a whole hoard of frogs at your disposal, and by boosting the "Edacity" trait you can make some very hungry frogs that'll eat anything not nailed down.

Placing them in filters will slowly clear the algae nearby and let you pass through to the areas they're blocking off.

When you come to this region you'll get to learn about how to handle algae and given the tools to clear it - but you would of already come across some smaller blooms in other regions. So once you have the machines and the frogs from this region you can go back and explore those other areas.

I also wanted some stagnant water pools to this area as it seemed fitting with the theme that certain areas would be blocked off to make stagnant pools for certain bugs or flora to grow in - not entirely sure what I'll use these for yet but it's nice to have some stuff open ended for when I come to the actual real world design and playtesting to tie everything together.

While testing all of this I've been using a "dev" map - which is just a bunch of different regions slapped together each with a mini-island.

It's helping me visualise the look+feel of each region and means I've already implemented the gruntwork for adding that region - when it comes to designing the map of the full game I won't have to do much more work outside of just creating the areas, the rest is ready to go.

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Residential District

Moving onto the next main area, the residential district - this focus on two main things, Saturation, and Croakwork. Saturation is one of the frog traits, the higher the trait the wetter the frog, the lower the trait the dryer the frog.

This is taken to extremes in this region, as you will get the ability to make a 1S frog that is so dry it absorbs water, and a 7S frog that is so wet is seemingly makes more water. Together this frogs can be used with a Dehumidifer + a Hydrator to effect the nearby environment.

This is hinted at in the demo with the standard cultivators - that there'll be mushrooms that require the extremes of moisture and temperature, and this is the first region to cover those extremes.

Using these machines lets you make the environment a lot wetter and dryer than it should be - for example making extremely damp indoors regions, or extremely dry water (has science gone too far?).

An even more extreme use of this trait comes in with "croakwork" machines - automated machines powered by the sound of frogs, created by the Engineer. The first of these machines is the Drainer - a powerful croakwork machine that uses minimum saturation frogs to drain the flooded rooms of the residential district.

You can enter these rooms at first, however you can't interact with any of the flooded objects until you drain the room - revealing the objects plus anything else that might have been hiding under the water...

By draining the rooms you're helping to restore the region ready for the hibernating frogs to return, as well as uncovering some pathways to get around the area and find other secret places or basements.

Other croakwork machines introduced here include the "Masher" - an automated grinder upgrade, and the "Harvester" - an automated machine that will harvest nearby blooming mushrooms and renewables automatically.

There's not a lot in Mudborne that needs to be automated, so there's not too many machines, but there's a few that should be useful and as I play more I'll be able to spot any processes that might need an upgrade that can be added to the Engineer's stock.

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Fancy Flooring

While implementing these two regions I was also messing around with some flooring designs. Both the algae and the flooded room water are types of flooring, so I was already having to implement that system and the auto-tiling stuff, so it was easy enough to then start adding more decorative flooring.

These will go alongside a whole host of decorative items and furniture to allow you to make any area you're own.

I tried to give both the wooded flooring and wooden piers a bit more interesting textures to them too rather than being perfect repetitive planks, as the original texture (ripped from APICO) no longer matched with all the new design stuff I'd done with the environment.

I had to do some messing around with the flora in the water and the new grass, as due to how I render the order of certain things the flora would be on top - so when placing tiles you temporarily disable any flora underneath so it's not causing issues.

This is similar to how the algae disables any plants underneath it, meaning that you can't get bugs or mushrooms on any areas of water covered in algae - and also what I'd use with ice to decide whether to show a frozen/snow covered variant of the sprite instead of the default one.

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Ice Frog Cometh

After finishing up those two areas and all the mechanics in them, towards the end of this month I started working on the icy region, Cold Storage.

This is where the residents of the research pool store their food and genetic materials, using the cold to keep things preserved. This area introduces temperature extremes (hot+cold), as well as ice that can be thawed out - or created to allow you to cross deeper water by freezing it.​

I've only just now started to get the region loaded into the game - there was a lot of design stuff I was doing first. However now it's here I can work on the new machines that utilise the temperature and let you freeze water or melt ice. There'll be other things to unfreeze too - frogs, gates, and NPC...

As it's the region themed around storage you'll also get a whole bunch of new storage themed upgrades and advancements, like a big box to store all your frogs and search them easily, or an upgraded cauldron that can store all of your powders inside.

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While doing all of this there was a few other odd bits and bobs I was working on, like polyps which are growable jellyfish for the dream world - or huge mangroves which will have a special use in the dream.

I was hoping to have done all the mechanics this month and implement them all, but I ended up not getting through them because I was sidetracked by adding the actual regions themselves - I didn't need to for most of the mechanics (and even flooding/ice I could of tested without the region itself), but I think it helped me see how the region would look and tweak things with the mechanics to fit better into the world that I wouldn't of done otherwise.

Over October I'll be finishing up the cold region and the central region, and getting through the last lot of machines to implement (orange, purple and brown sections below)

With that done I'll then be able to leave the developer map behind and start designing the actual world itself - which is going to be most of the game development time I think!

~ Ell

[itsclydebitches]

I think one of the things that bothers me most about the way RWBY has handled the whole b/umbleby thing is the fact that volume 9 kind of puts paid to the idea that their relationship was a 'slow burn'.

If it were a slow burn, if their relationship had been steadily growing and changing over the past few volumes and according to their experiences, then that burn ultimately resolving and becoming explicit and them getting together would have been a significant milestone that changed things between them so completely they could never go back to how things were before.

But... nothing changed. If you took out the confession and the kiss and Ruby's (understandable) anger... you'd never be able to tell anything had changed between them. They have the same level of physical affection and tenderness they've had since volume 6. They don't talk to each other any differently. There's been no change in their behavior, no evidence they are now a couple in a way that they were not before except their one single kiss. And that's just deeply unsatisfying to me.

This criticism popped up after the episode aired and I came across a couple of posts that, with lesser and greater respect, pushed back against it. One in particular was rather snide, asking what RWDE folks expected to change: for them to be kissing non-stop? Declaring their undying love at ten-minute intervals? Pulling out a ring for marriage? People are still themselves while dating, you know. Besides, they're a little busy at the moment!

Now, I personally believe that yes, there should be changes to their behavior. I likewise believe that this could have easily been accomplished if a) Blake and Yang hadn't already gone through the physical displays of affection that RWBY uses to confirm a romantic relationship (primarily hand-holding) and b) if they hadn't jumped straight to "I love you." Removing the numerous moments of hand-holding since Volume 6 would have left that as an easy, visual indicator of the change in their relationship (rather than the confusing "So are they canonical or not??" we got for three years). Likewise, having them admit to having a crush could have opened the door to actually dating which in turn could have eventually led to the big "I love you" moment. That's how you do a slow-burn post-confession: breaking up all those relationship milestones and thus making time for the characters to run into obstacles and celebrate the success of each step forward. The way bumblebee has been written, it simultaneously feels far too slow (why did it take 4+ years for them to admit they like each other?) and simultaneously way too fast (they don't actually admit that they like each other, but that they're IN LOVE).

Beyond what all might have been added though, I think it's worth considering what might have been lost in a better written romance. Slow-burns, as mentioned above, thrive on obstacles. There has to be a reason why the characters don't get together, whether that's internal ("I'm too afraid of commitment to date them") or external ("Our families will lose their shit if we date"). Seriously, this is like writing 101, yet Bumblebee gave us NOTHING. For literal years there was no reason, internal or external, why they couldn't/wouldn't admit to their feelings, which not only begs the question of why in the world it took a magical prison to force them to confess, but ensures that their relationship doesn't change as a result of that weight being lifted from their shoulders. If Blake was scared of what it would mean for her to love a human, or if Yang was scared to commit after losing so much else in life, or if there was homophobia to deal with in Remnant, or if they both wanted to wait until the Salem fight was over, or if they honestly didn't realize they had romantic feelings, or if one of them needed to come to terms with being queer first, or if there was a literal curse at play that hindered the relationship somehow... there are a HUNDRED ways to provide obstacles and the removal of any one of them would have changed both the character(s) and their relationship with each other.

Not to continually bring up my blorbo Trent Crimm, but Ted Lasso does this beautifully. With the removal of his obstacle (inability to admit that he's gay) Trent becomes a radically different person from who he was in Season One; a more authentic person. His style changes, he smiles more, his conversation becomes more "dorky," and his relationships with the rest of the cast likewise develops. What would Yang look like if she went on a journey of coming out as queer? What would Blake look like if she kept her activist roots by fighting for the right to date a human? How would they both act post-kiss if they'd been afraid, for whatever reason, to show that level of affection in public before? Something like holding hands could have been a radical act -- it IS for real queer people!! -- rather than a generic, cutsey detail we've been getting for years now.

Instead, as you say, anon, literally nothing changes. I am 99.9% convinced that Ruby wouldn't even know Yang was now dating Blake if they hadn't exited the storm still kissing because them sitting close and occasionally holding hands has been their norm since VOLUME SIX. Nothing changes because RT didn't do any of the work to write an actual, romantic relationship. They wrote a couple of years worth of implied queerbaiting and then confirmed it when it looked like RWBY would be cancelled. We don't know anything about them in regards to romance and/or sexuality. When did Yang realize she likes girls when she started the series only appreciating guys? Is Blake expected to marry anyone in particular given her status as the pseudo-princess of Menagerie? Have either of them ever been in a relationship before? Do they have any idea what they want out of a relationship? Does the fact that they're on a supposedly doomed quest with their world hanging in the balance have any bearing on their long-term plans? There are fictional couples who avoid admitting feelings because of the presumed hopelessness of their plot and there are those that grab at a relationship and hold on with both hands because they're determined to live and love for whatever time they have left. Bumblee offers none of this. Their love exists only between the two of them, primarily off-screen, separate from both the plot and the rest of the cast.

The fact that Yang never once talks to Ruby about her feelings and then the Volume drops Ruby's annoyance really says it all. Of course nothing changes. RT doesn't want to write a Blake/Yang subplot. They just want to have a queer couple among the main team to bring in viewers and sell merch. The fandom has done ALL the work to make Bumblebee a nuanced, heart-felt love story. It literally, barely exists on screen and what little we have gotten often makes no sense. They hide their feelings when they have no reason to. Yang is worried about a fight with Blake that never happened. They both say they love things about the other that sound like a list of generic Good Characteristics, rather than traits that actually align with these characters. They're caught kissing thanks to the magical world they're in and the characters treat this as a given, giving the story an excuse not to engage with their reactions because again, the story isn't interested in that. One reaction is tossed in for the drama? Don't worry, the tree will cure Ruby of her understandable anger that Yang is more concerned with holding Blake's hand than her sister's tragedy-inducing depression. Everything is only canon in the moment.

Outside of the kiss checkbox there's no romance here and, thus, no reason to show its development. All RT needed was to get one kiss on screen and then boom, their merch sells out and (they hope) Volume 10 is greenlit. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pleased it's actually confirmed now, but it's nevertheless the fans who are doing all the work to make this an epic love story, not the writers.

[autisticjoys]

Inside Out 2: Thoughts and Speculations (long post)

New Emotions: Why Them and Why Now?

While the trailer has only shown 1 of the 4 new emotions, the comments got me thinking about why these specific 4 were the ones added as Riley hits puberty.

Anxiety

I've seen a lot of comments after the first trailer asking about the difference between Fear and Anxiety and based on definitions from the internet, Fear is essentially a response to a perceived threat that is present at the moment, while Anxiety is a response to "What if?" type scenarios that may or may not happen or even be realistic.

When I gave that answer in the comments, many people told me that Fear functioned as both in the original film, and that brings me to the "Why Now" part. I think Anxiety appearing after puberty is meant to represent how, when we're younger, fears that might seem irrational or unrealistic to others (adults especially), feel real to us (if a kid believes monsters exist, the fear of a monster in their closet is very much rational in their mind). But, as we get older, we start to learn the difference between things we should be afraid of (or at the very least more aware of/careful about) and what are unlikely events that our minds simply obsess over, hence the appearance of Anxiety.

As for the other 3, tho we haven't seen them, based on the nature of the emotions, in my opinion it also makes sense why they specifically only appear after puberty hits.

Embarrassment, in my own definition, is the feeling one experiences when they think they've said or done something that makes them look "uncool" or "weird/odd" (this also applies to things others say/do that makes you or themselves seem "uncool" or "weird/odd"). While this can also happen to younger kids, I feel like it's more so teens that have very rigid definitions of what counts as cool or not, as well as being real jerks to anyone not meeting these rigid definitions (kids can be really mean too, but i think they're more flexible about what they consider cool), and therefore Embarrassment is much more likely to occur strongly in teenagers.

Envy, is also an emotion that, in some form, exists in younger kids, however the biggest difference is, I think, in the focus of the emotion. When we're kids and we see someone have something we don't have, but want, our focus is on the thing (which is almost always material), rather than the person ("I want to have X too!). However, as we get older, our focus shifts to the person who has that thing (which can be material or immaterial) we don't have, but want ("Why do they have X?). Notice how, in the first instance, our reaction is a desire to possess that thing (it's less about someone else having it and about us wanting it), and in the second, it is a questioning of why someone else gets to have that (it's more about why they are the ones who have it, than about us wanting that thing). The latter is what Envy is.

Ennui is a form of dissatisfaction with the way things are, that mixes boredom and tiredness. Children often live in a world that is full of fun, adventures and magic, however the world of school gradually loses these qualities and issues can pile up on top of each other. Riley turns 13 in the film, which is around the time (at least in my country) when kids enter high-school, which is progressively less about fun, even compared to earlier forms of school. This is also the period in many teens' lives where they start questioning why they need to do things and things such as existential crises or depression can come in, both of which can lead to things feeling pointless or meaningless, which coupled with burnout from expectations, can result in Ennui.

New and Old Emotion Pairings

Aside from Joy (who is the only positive emotion in the bunch), I think the 4 other old emotions could each pair well with one of the new ones.

Fear and Anxiety

As mentioned above, the two fulfill similar functions, and at Riley's age it's probably really hard to clearly distinguish between them. So I can easily imagine one of them freaking out, which freaks the other out and so on, so forth.

Disgust and Embarrassment

More so as opposites compared to the previous two. As mentioned in the first film, Disgust's role is keeping Riley from being poisoned (both physically, but more important to this point, socially), which includes keeping her from doing things that are seen as "uncool" (like when she wanted to tell Riley's mom that she shouldn't take her to school). And what exactly did I say Embarrassment is? The feeling we get when we have said or done something "uncool". Basically, I can imagine Embarrassment tailing Disgust, preemptively worrying about the outcome of any situation where Reily might say or do such a thing (especially if socialising or romance are going to be topics in the film, which I'd assume they'd at least partially be).

Anger and Envy

If you think about it, this combo makes a lot of sense too. Anger has been shown as the one who seeks justice and fairness. Envy (as per the definition I gave), includes a feeling of unfairness about someone else having something you want to have too and if you dislike that person or simply think you'd deserve that thing more because of y, it can easily lead to feeling "rightful" Anger (at that person, at your parents, at the world or even yourself). So I can see Envy riling Anger up at different things, both material (like a new phone) or immaterial (like popularity).

Sadness and Ennui

Sadness has been depicted as someone who likes to engage in deep thoughts. Due to the nature of Ennui (as I described above), it would make sense to me if they were deeply philosophical, after all, their existence is partially borne of a questioning of one's existence and purpose. So I can just imagine the two of them engaging in deep conversations, even about hard topics like death or the expectations and hardships of adulthood, maybe even gender, sexuality, discrimination and depression.

I don't want to make plot predictions, but I think the positive to negative emotion ratio will play a part, and tho I don't necessarily think Joy will go back to how she was in the first film, I can definitely see her treating the new emotions (Anxiety in particular) similar to how she treated Sadness, at least initially. I also think that Anxiety, who I think will kind of act like the leader of the new emotions, might get antagonised, perhaps even more so than the rest (just like how Sadness was in the first one). I also think that perhaps Joy will kind of get pushed out by the other emotions, as Riley might go through some of the rougher parts of teen life. I also think that after the initial shock, Sadness in particular would be the first to open up to the new emotions (she's been shown to be empathic in the first one with Bing-Bong).

[mrvelocipede]

Notes on the multicolored doily

Ovale Decke: Ravelry link, Ramona French charts

Knitted using three colors of crochet cotton, on US size 2 (2.75mm) needles. Finished dimensions about 24x18 inches.

The hexagonal units are reasonably straightforward to knit, although I had some questions about the chart. There’s a triple YO that turns into 7 stitches, which is clearly visible in pictures of the finished doily, but which is charted in a way that looks like it would result in two groups of three and a single stitch. Historic Niebling patterns tell you to alternate knits and purls in the same stitch for those huge increases, but I usually alternate knits and YOs instead. It makes fewer twists in the yarn.

Then there’s a round of purl stitches, and I can’t figure out why. The pictures from the original magazine don’t seem to have them, and some of the Ravelry projects don’t have them either, but some do. At what stage of things was this variation introduced? It is a mystery. I swatched it both ways, and decided to leave them out.

Ultimately, I made my own version of the chart, and used that. Here it is, for the record. In the hexagon chart, I included every round, because there are a couple of things that happen on even-numbered rounds, and I didn’t want to lose track of them. The border charts use the more standard notation of only showing odd-numbered rounds.

The 1x1 cable crosses may have all gone the same direction in the original, but I decided to mirror them, and also to not do them as actual cables. Instead, I did a mock cable that I think of as a Fake Decrease, but which is maybe officially called a Twisted Stitch (or Traveling Stitch?) and which I got very tired of by the time I was at the end of the border. All the border leaves are outlined in these crossed stitches as well. There are a lot of them. Bah.

I made four hexagonal units and grafted them together. Then I put all the remaining stitches onto a 24 inch needle, and considered the border.

The hexagon sides each have 17 stitches. In between the groups of 17, you either add a YO or you don’t, depending on whether that corner is convex or concave. I made a little diagram for both the 4-unit and the 9-unit versions, to show the placement of the in-between YOs.

I used several different colors of stitch markers to keep track of which places had the YOs and which ones didn’t. The YOs eventually expand into the triple-leaf shapes, but at first they’re easy to lose sight of.

I re-charted the border as two parts, A and B, and made a few small tweaks. When you’re using chart A, instead of repeating the chart exactly, you work whichever bits apply: the leaf increases happen at the corners where you’ve added a YO, and the former hexagon sides are gradually decreased away.

So you work rounds 1-8 of chart A, knitting any ktbl stitches through the back loop on the plain rounds as well. Starting with round 9, the part of the chart inside the orange outline gets repeated three times. Those sections get much wider very quickly, and it didn’t take very long before I had to switch to a 32 inch needle. And eventually to wish I had a 40 inch one.

On round 19, there are some places in between the leaf sections where there’s one stitch, and some places where there are two. To start chart B, you need three stitches in between the leaves, so you either do one YO (in between), or two YOs (one on either side). On round 20, I decided to knit those single in-between YOs through the back loop, because they seemed a bit too open and gappy. I suppose that more or less turns them into a M1.

I used two different double decreases, as follows:

The angled double decrease is slip 1 stitch, knit 2 together, pass the slipped stitch over: the central stitch ends up on the bottom of the stack, and the diagonal decrease lines are emphasized.

The centered double decrease is slip 2 stitches together knitwise, knit 1, pass both slipped stitches over: the central stitch ends up on top, and the vertical line is emphasized.

The 5-into-1 decrease goes like this: first you slip 2 stitches knitwise, exactly like you would for a ssk. Knit the next 2 stitches together, and pass one of the slipped stitches over. Then move the stitch over to the left needle, and pass the next working stitch over it. Move it back to the right needle, pass the other slipped stitch over it, and you’re done.

Chart B is pretty much normal lace knitting (except for the interminable 1x1 crossed stitches). After round 31, the marked groups of stitches are gathered with crochet chains in between.

The ones on Ravelry all seem to be diamond-shaped, but I blocked mine into more of an ellipse, and it’s kind of interesting to see how it distorted the central hexagons. Dealing with all the loose ends was exactly as terrible as you think it was. Writing the notes took nearly as long as the actual knitting. Hooray!

[romancemedia]

Winx Club and Young Justice Romances - Original Endings

One of the reasons why I love Young Justice and Winx Club so much is because of all their epic love stories among the shows main couples and funny enough, I discovered they shared a strong similarity when both series originally ended. 

Winx Club originally came to an end with it’s fourth season while Young Justice was cancelled after it’s second, until both series were revived a few years later. However, when both shows initially ended at the time, I discovered the main series romances had each received a similar conclusion/development to their love stories.

On Winx Club, the series originally ended with the tragic death of Nabu after he sacrificed himself to save the Earth Fairies from the Wizards of the Black Circle. Aisha was left completely heartbroken and devastated as a result of his death, especially since the two had plans to spend the rest of their lives together.

At the same time after being broken up for the entire season, Musa and Riven were finally back together again and with the tragic end of Aisha and Nabu’s love story, it only just made them realize how truly precious life is and they should spend it together.

On Young Justice, the second season ended with the loss of Kid Flash aka Wally West after his sacrifice saved the world from the Reach’s Endgame, but leaving his beloved girlfriend and crime-fighting partner, Artemis brokenhearted by the loss of her soulmate.

Meanwhile, Miss Martian and Superboy were finally beginning to at long last reconcile their own romantic relationship with each other after they were broken up for the entirety of season 2.

True Love Forever Separated

Originally both these couples had a very rocky start to their relationships, but by the following seasons, they had developed a serious and committed romantic relationship with one another to the point they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and loved each other with all their hearts.

Aisha and Nabu

Aisha and Nabu were one of the most stable couples during season 4 of Winx Club. In the time since they got together since season 3, Aisha and Nabu were shown to have formed a very strong, healthy, loving and committed romance between them to the point they were the envy of the other couples like Musa and Riven and even Bloom and Sky! When Aisha and Nabu officially got engaged on their own terms, they were excited to be planning not only their wedding, but their future together with the added desire of living a life on Earth! They had soon many hopes, so many plans, they had everything they wanted and more until the day Nabu lost his life in his heroic act of saving the fairies of Earth.

Wally and Artemis

Wally and Artemis’s relationship had grown significantly since the first season of Young Justice. By season 2, five years had passed, they retired from the Team and were now living a happy life together while attending collage with their love stronger than it’s ever been. However, their newfound life was interrupted when Artemis was recruited to take part in a deep cover mission with Wally aware of the truth and worried for her safety. They were reunited in the last remaining episodes with plans to once again retire and resume their life together, but sadly never got that chance when Wally died saving the world.

Wally and Nabu both died at the end of their seasons, but the difference, Wally died in the final episode while Nabu passed away 2 episodes before the season finale.

Both the couples lives and futures together were taken away from them. Wally and Artemis’s normal/hero free life and Aisha and Nabu’s engagement/future married life.

By the time the series ended, Aisha and Artemis were left extremely heartbroken and upon the series revival, they each had a season to heal, move on and find the courage to fall in love again after losing Nabu and Wally.

They Lost their Way, but Found Each Other Again

Despite the tragic and sad ending for one half of the Winx Club and Young Justice romances, the other half of the couples were each given a second chance. Musa and Riven as well as Miss Martian and Superboy were all broken up from each other and after a long hard rocky road, both couples managed to find their way back together again.

Musa and Riven

Musa and Riven are the couple who have had the most problems on Winx Club, but they always seemed to work things out until they faced their greatest challenge yet in season 4.

In the beginning, Musa and Riven were still together and things seemed to be going great between them, but upon arriving on Earth, Riven became jealous and untrusting when Musa began to pursue a music career and started receiving attention from a lot of guys, especially the eye of music producer, Jason Queen. Because of his lack of support, trust and encouragement, Musa broke up with Riven in the 10th episode and their relationship became extremely tense and strained. Riven worked the whole season to win back Musa by improving himself to become a better person for her and by the end of the season, they had gotten back together with a much healthier and stronger relationship than before.

Miss Martian and Superboy

Miss Martian and Superboy are the power couple of Young Justice until they were revealed to have recently broken up by the start of season 2! 

The truth behind their break up was as devastating as it was shocking. Superboy broke up with Miss Martian when she began abusing her powers and left the bad guys in catatonic states, without feeling any remorse or guilt over her horrific actions until the final straw was when she attempted to tamper with Superboy’s mind and make him forget he was ever upset with her. Following their break up, M’gann and Conner’s relationship became very strained, but it was also clear they were both still very much in love with each other. Eventually after finally realizing the error of her ways, Miss Martian and Superboy at last began to repair their relationship in the final episode.

One of the main reasons behind both break ups was Trust. Riven didn’t trust Musa when she began spending time with Jason Queen while M’gann had destroyed the trust between her and Conner after she tried to erase his memories.

Both involved a love triangle. Following her break up with Riven, Musa developed a crush on Jason, only to find out later that he was getting married. M’gann pursued a romance with Lagoon Boy until she later came to realize she was only with him to make herself feel better and he was nothing then her rebound guy.

It took Riven and M’gann a long time to realize it was their fault that lead to their relationships ending and take responsibility/apologize to their partners.

In the final episodes, both couples each take a moment to acknowledge how short life can be in the aftermath of the deaths of their friends and the resulting heartache of their loved ones, which helps to bring Musa/Riven and Miss Martian/Superboy back together.

Musa and Riven are officially back together by the time season 4 ends while Miss Martian and Superboy are on the verge of getting back together. (They officially become a couple again in the Torch Song comics)

[coolpixdump]

do you edit your photos at all?

nope! i shoot on a nikon coolpix 3200 set to -1.7 exposure compensation. sometimes i go up to -1.3 at night, but rarely above that. i underexpose because the nikon is like many digital cameras in that its automatic settings are too bright, but underexposing makes the colors pop. since sometime in 2020 i have been experimenting with setting the white balance to the 'incandescent' preset - this emphasizes the blues and cooler tones in the scene.

i'm glad you asked this, actually, because it gives me an opportunity to talk about why i chose this specific camera.

i come from a background of shooting film - at the time of this writing i have a bag with 216 rolls left to process, shot between 2014ish to 2021. i was attracted to 35mm and 110 film because i was sick of computers and wanted something with that elusive x-quality, a warmth/intimacy that i saw was lacking in the images from my digital camera. i shot a cornucopia of film throughout high school, on a million different point and shoots. (the highlight of my life at that point was when i bought 5 olympus xa's for a dollar each at an estate sale - the deceased was a camera collector & there was a canon room, a nikon room, an olympus room...)

but i look at photography as a diary, and the detail with which i document things was adding up to an overstuffed carpetbag of film to develop. around 2018 i began to wonder if i could exploit the very thing about digital images that i was trying to avoid, the cold, clinical look. i began looking at product photography (the canned food isle in your grocery store is pure unadulterated inspiration if you pay attention to the label designs), kitchen disease and a whooooole lot of the new topographics photographers.

at the same time i was sifting through the local thrift stores searching for the perfect digital camera. i first found a sony dsc-s750 at a pawn shop in 2018, and liked the images it gave back a lot. (different looking results than the coolpix, and 7 megapixels, but equally compelling - i would totally shoot one again) but i wanted something i could run on rechargable aa batteries, and that was a tad less - for lack of a better term - modern. eventually a quick 'test' flash shot of the glass countertop revealed to me my new best friend and constant companion, the nikon coolpix 3200, which i took home for $6. folks, this is from that magical era of ccd digicams when they got everything right. i didn't have a computer for a couple years but i would take my coolpix and a littany of 1 gb sd cards to the local library and dump the .jpgs directly to tumblr/flickr. if you set the exposure compensation to -1.7, you won't need to do any editing. this camera manages to be digital and still cater to the part of me that doesn't want to deal with computers by giving natural looking, soulful colors right out of the gate.

a word of warning to anyone looking to follow in my footsteps: there was a later model coolpix that looks like the 3200 but is 4 megapixels. the noise reduction nikon used in this camera makes the jpgs look wayyyy too soft. if you're looking to get one of these cameras the 3200 is where it's at. it's served me well - i've ran through four of them so far. (it's a very tough camera, but it was also released in march of 2004 and sometimes they develop trouble extending the lens after being sat on, moshed into or otherwise mistreated.) also, be sure to set the quality of the jpgs to the highest setting in the menu and the (gorgeous, borderline 16mm-like) video setting to 640x480.

happy shooting! thanks for your message ~.~

[hadit93]

Hi, thanks for answering my ask.

I have been practicing for 3-4 years and mostly worked with planetary forces and the angels associated with them. This was my first Evocation. I don't have any previous experiences with any kind of spirits. In fact, there have been instances when people around me felt some kind of presence (while exploring haunted houses or graveyards) but I have always been completely oblivious.

I did not follow the proper Goetic method. I fasted for 6-7 hours, bathed, and did the purifying breathing exercise in Jason Miller's Consorting with spirits. I gave offerings to Jove and Hermes on my altar and prayed for the Evocation to be successful. I drew 3 circles and set up offerings (incense, candle, water, and caramel icecream) for Bune. I started with an orison from The Book of Oberon, consecrated the dagger and wand, drew the circle using the script from Consorting with Spirits and called the four kings. Then I read a prayer of receptivity, drew the sigils of Bune while chanting Bune's enn. I read the conjuration script from The Sorcerer's Secrets thrice while walking around the circle and then read the two conjurations from Modern Magick. I then welcomed the spirit, tried to communicate with a scrying mirror (I am really bad at any kind of divination) and after a while told them what i wanted. I bid them farewell, closed the circle, thanked the 4 kings, and ended with the QC. I didn't feel anything the entire time, the only proof that something happened is that my chronic backpain got better immediately which I've been struggling with since January.

Fyi: I never said I command thee. I said I ask thee instead. And I smoked a blunt before the ritual to alter my mind.

It is not the worst method, there are things I wouldn’t do or do differently, but our practices are all going to look different. My advice is always to follow the original method as closely as possible and you are comfortable with first prior to making changes. I also don’t command spirits unless I need to- and that has been a rarity.

I would say that results matter more than psychic theatre- you have gotten what you wanted so it counts as a result. You didn’t experience bells and whistles, but that doesn’t matter. You may just need to develop your psychic senses which is work you can dedicate a small amount of time to each day. I’ve heard Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn is good in this regard. I myself utilised Christopher Penczak’s Inner Temple of Witchcraft back in the day and things really opened up for me when I began astral work as part of the AA system. Hermes should be able to help in this regard too.

The one thing I would avoid is the use of Enns. Perhaps I am a little too avoidant of the demonaltry crowd because their work is normally ridiculous and they half of them are neonazis. But I just feel they simplify things too much and aren’t really adding anything useful. A blunt statement, but it is what I believe to be true.

If you are working with the Graeco-Roman deities already you may want to look into working with Hekate as an intermediary force for the spirits. I believe Jason has a section on this in consorting with spirits and the late Jake Stratton-Kent also wrote about this.

But as I say it sounds like the spirit turned up and has helped already. So it has been successful. Perhaps try working on getting those senses a little more open and an ability to tune in to the planes beyond the mundane.