#I didn't put titles or descriptions because I thought that would be more fun! lol

[widebrimmedhatsblog]

Happy WIP Wednesday!

a variety of WIPs today: each number is a different fic i've been working on

1.

“Xaden,” she says, suddenly urgent, because he’s making sense. He’s making too much sense. The impulse is always there, to tell him things just because she loves him. She wants to be talking to him all the time, and she wants him to know every part of her, every inch, every curve and bend, and stay. She wants him to see what she’s hiding and she wants him to stay.  She needs him to stay more than she wants him to know. 

(more below the cut)

2.

Violet still can barely see the inside of the cave, with the water on her goggles, so she hears his voice before she sees him.  “I didn’t know we were having company.”  She flings her goggles from her face with such haste, they fly from her hand, then smash into the cave wall, glass shattering.  “Well,” he notes, “someone’s a bit violent, aren’t they?”

3.

“Oh…” Ridoc says, slowly, “This is about your mom.”  “This,” Violet declares, “is about an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Ridoc, how do you, as a taxpayer, feel about my mother wasting the money of hard working Americans to make this guy follow me around?”  Xaden looks at Ridoc with thinly veiled suspicion. Maybe he doesn’t believe Ridoc is a taxpayer. Violet wouldn’t blame him. 

4.

He walks faster, taking the stairs two at a time. Violet’s raised her shields, which also cannot be good. He prods at them, not hard, but just enough to demonstrate that he is prodding. He would like to speak to his wife.  She drops them an inch. “I want to talk about it in person, Xaden, and I can’t keep it in, otherwise.”  She raises them, right back up, and he tries not to let himself sink. It’s fine, probably. She just wants to talk to him about something upsetting, but they’ve been through upsetting things before. They’ve won wars, and they freed his country, so they can do this. Unquestionably, they can do this. Whatever this may be.  And she wants his help. That has to count for something. When she needs something, she calls for him.

[kellymaher]

December Portfolio - Entry 1

Title: Snowman Pull apart Cake

Date created: 12/19/22

Materials: Vanilla Cake Mix, Eggs, Vanilla Extract, Milk, Canola Oil, Powdered Sugar, Unsalted Butter, Cupcake Wrappers, Premade Blue Fondant, Premade White Fondant, Food Coloring Markers, Food Dye, Red and Blue Fine Sugar Sprinkles, Chunky Decorative White Sprinkles, Cupcake Tins, Plastic Baggy, Scissors, Flat Icing Knife, Rolling Pin, Cutting Board, Two Mixing Bowls, Butter Knife, and a Hand Mixer

Description: A pull apart cake made by gathering cupcakes into a shape and frosting them as if they're one cake and decorating them to look like a snowman's head and top hat.

Inspiration: I've always loved watching those crazy cake decorating shows, they make me happy but they also always impress me with what they're able to do. So I found out about pull apart cakes and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to give it a try in a manageable way, but also to give everyone in class a tasty treat to celebrate our last class and a good semester.

What I learned: Murphy's Law, lol just kidding! No but unfortunately a lot of people weren't feeling well and class was cancelled so I didn't get the change to bid everyone adieu with a (hopefully) tasty, fun cupcake. Thankfully, it's not a total loss as I'm going to bring them into work tomorrow and I hope my coworkers enjoy them!

On a more serious note, I was shocked at how well it came out. I used premade fondant because I've heard it's very finicky and difficult to make but thankfully the premade was forgiving because I had to ball it up and re-roll it out several times when I kept messing up the sizing and/or trying to get it from the cutting board over to the cupcake formation. I might keep playing with fondant in the future or even (if I'm feeling brave) try to make it on my own.

How this could be used with a client: Personally, I find baking relaxing. Anecdotally, I've found most people are either cooks or bakers. Cooks like to improvise and do whatever they can, usually without a strict recipe while bakers like having a set of instructions and knowing they will achieve a certain results each time. Ironically, as much as I like spontaneity, when it comes to food, I prefer baking. I like having instructions because (especially when it comes to food) too many options makes me grind to a halt with indecision.

If a client is a baker-type, (aka maybe they have anxiety, ADHD, find patterns soothing, or need rewards to encourage them to follow instructions) then this may be a good exercise for them. There is something soothing about just following instructions, not having to think or guess about how something will turn out, so there is consistency, positive reinforcement, and there can even be an aspect of mindfulness or relaxation to adding the ingredients together and stirring them up. Also, once the cupcakes themselves are made, there can be fun to deciding on a design and getting to personalize your own cupcake, or create cupcakes for someone else -after all, when has a cupcake ever put a frown on someone's face? No matter what, it's a bonus that they wind up with a sweet treat afterwards!

[ghost4ghosts]

okay whatever here are my s2 bingo cards

[ID: a bingo card titled "ofmd s2 NORMAL version" with the following squares highlighted in blue: spanish jackie (gets more hubbies); sexy stede with a sword; ed covered in blood 💖; ep 1 ed goes batshit; more british nonsense; FREE; revenge crew boat re-acquisition montage; lucius lives; jim becomes lucius (fanon relationship advisor); izzy hands smackdown; more. buttons; "i love you"; jim + frenchie leather fits; izzy catharsis (NOT DYING) and underneath in bold the word well. a square with "ends in a cliffhanger" has a transparent question mark as the background. end description.]

[ID: a bingo card titled "ofmd s2 bingo not a chance in hell version" with the following squares highlighted in blue: c j comeback in ANY way; pirate drag; MORE ASIAN PIRATES (FILIPINO??); Izzy saying I love you (IN ANY WAY); FREE; idk onscreen torture; stede kills someone on purpose; word of mouth homosexual izzy confirmation. a square saying izzy dies with a crying emoticon has the transparent background of a meme of mr. incredibles shaded in black and white and looking messed up and scary. end description.]

more chatting under the cut:

thoughts:

the only two squares i thought were guaranteed going to happen were 1) BB breakup crew leather outfits and 2) another cliffhanger ending. idk it just felt inevitable. otherwise this entire season was a wild ride

i wrote "jim becomes lucius" in the sense of turning into the New Relationship Advisor-- i imagined them talking to ed about stede or whatever, NOT them telling izzy he's in an unhealthy relationship 0_o

i feel fucking terrible for putting "izzy hands smackdown" now 😭😭 because i was expecting a fair fight that he loses, NOT, like, the entire fucking season.

also i filled in "izzy catharsis" after ep4 when he got his leg with no clue how the season would end. i'm still counting it anyway.

stede's shitty pirate disguise was inspired by the fic #gentlebeard is trending! by regional_catastrophe because that fic was funny as hell

even though i knew about zheng yi sao before geting into ofmd, i just didn't think we would get a major asian character (lucius voice: the bar is on the floor). except i'm kinda iffy on her relation to the plot so idk. diversity win? the asian character is less of a character than a plot device? :/

^ my real dream come true would've been a filipino character played by a filipino actor but that almost never happens

izzy telling ed he loves him was nice.

re: word of mouth gay izzy confirmation. i thought it would be funny if he looked into the camera and straight up said "i'm gay" because half of this fandom wouldn't be able to recognize him as an older gay man without him doing so LOL. confessing to his captain is close enough

DRAG!! that was super fun at least. wee john and izzy were so gorgeous.

the torture scene?!?! that was my throwaway square, the whump fodder square, the absolutely 0% chance of it happening square. it should've been longer but that's because i'm sexualizing it. i'm not sorry.

i don't have much to say on izzy's death that wasn't already said in the 24 hours after ep8 aired. this was the one thing that i seriously, genuinely didn't think they would do. i put that square in for a laugh (the same way ed cuts off people's toes, i guess). "con said the show is kind," i thought, "there's no way they would do major character death in the pirate romcom." oh how i was wrong.

[windsofregretandmistrust]

I read the ninth chapter and I OBVIOUSLY have some thots to share:

"He thought of things that he would perceive as a turn-off. Old people, Mattia Binotto, even Guenther, for fuck’s sake."- HEAFGZSKYDUV HAHAHAH STOP IM DYING and it didn't work as well💀 princess's powers are unmatched😌💅

"The Brit licked the Spaniard’s lips and, without wanting to, realised that the taste of Mick’s lips was much nicer."-Nothing to see here, just ✨teammate tings✨ honestly I cant blame him

"Callum fell in love with avoiding problems, and that was the problem. Even more so, when you don’t precisely know what the root of your problems is. Or, at least that’s what you tell yourself."- Callum is me, I'm Callum... 🤧

I HAVE to ask because of typical twitter callum's response (which was so good honestly): what do you think mick smells like?(at least in the fic I don't want to sound like a creep lol)

Your descriptions of the landscapes and Barcelona in general were just so beautifully written I'm in awe

WHEN CALLUM PUT THEIR PIC IN HIS PHONE CASE I DIED PLSS( needless to say I 100% believe this to be an actual thing between them irl)

I also need to acknowledge the fact that you included some schulott shoulder touching moments🙈 IT IS THEIR LOVE LANGUAGE so when I read it I was like: yeah that has definitely happened irl too👀

and although I am a sucker for intimacy and all that I appreciated the fact that you kept it realistic and made them be awkward about it rather than turning it to smut💕 (let us burn slowly with a few intimacy crumbs until the real deal queen, it's more enjoyable like that🤧)

and LASTLY the metaphor at the end-- I SWEAR YOUR MIND IS BRILLIANT you are 100% a natural at writing and I want you to know that 💖💖

This was a super long ask and I'm so sorry! But Im really stressed lately and these fanfics are really helping me escape a bit, I'm off to study now, thank you again for this beautiful chapter and i can't wait for more! Love you soulmate🥰

HI bestie! thank u so much for reading!! 

• YESS princess’ power is indeed unmatched, unparalleled, unrivaled and all that 😍 callum is so DOWN BAD for mick, trust me. i can’t wait to write the parts of when he will finally express it (because he will ;) yeah this is a spoiler, sorry lol)

• AHAHAH ALL CALLUM CAN THINK OF IS MICK and i wanted to make tht clear, even with a hot (milf) person all over him, mick just occupies and lives in his head rent free. in a way, it becomes overbearing for callum, because he didn’t anticipate himself to be this down bad at all 😳

• ME TOO i relate to my fic’s callum as well, big time. fun fact, the first sentence of that quote, “Callum fell in love with avoiding problems. And that was the problem.” was actually stolen from this song in my schulott playlist (47 + 53) titled “come on mess me up” by cub sport, and omg bestie, i swear that song is one of the best, if not the best (mr perfectly fine by taylor swift being the exception), schulott anthem, EVER, period. 

• MM WELLL in my fic, i imagine mick smelling like strawberries. at least, most of the time. to be honest, i can’t really give you a specific answer bff buttt, think of comfort, like the season fall, LMAO. he smells like comfort, and like someone who just got out of the shower (except not only does he smell like this post-shower, but all the time). 

• THANK U UR SO SWEET

• RIGHTT i can sooo see it happening irl as well LMAO like smth thatd happen during their prema teammates era or smth HAHAH. polaroid taking, it’s always such a cute headcanon (i’m considering make this a frequent thing in this fic, maybe polaroids could be their thing AHHH)

• YES YES YES omg, im a sucker for like small physical contact like that that may seem meaningless to many ahaha. and shoulder touching is DEF their “love language”. that’s it, you worded it perfectly. it IS their love language omg omg omg (cue my mind playing all the schulott gifs of them making contact)

• bestie, i’m a sucker for intimacy too and affectionate moments in fics but thank u sm for understanding and appreciating the slow burn approach! 

• THANK U THANK U THANK U ur the sweetest PLS, MWAH 

I’m so so happy to hear that these fics are helping you!! reading these fics and engaging in fandoms, like our schulott one, comfort me as well so i understand you big time lmaoo. good luck on your studies!! dont forget to take care of yourself, love you so much more soulmate ❤️ have a good day :)