#I got a budget to follow

[suicidalgamergirl]

Somebody’s Told Me

Finally getting to names. Typed most of it on my phone. I have bad addictions.

****

Curiously, the vampire looked at her. He can sense the blood flow, coursing through her veins. Quite a delicious treat. She looked flustered and…

Sad.

Her cheeks were flushed.

“Perhaps we should get to know each other?” he asked, looking at her.

The minute she heard that, he noticed her short breaths and her trying to calm herself down. She is quite the peculiar treasure.

Crap. Think, if he knows her real name…he can control her. This was even worse than staying in a loveless relationship for five years.

Then again, this was the first person of the opposite sex that actually acknowledges her.

A vampire out of all things.

“Oh darling,” he continued, “don’t be so coy. Regardless of the venom, you seemed to enjoy my bite on your soft tender neck.”

That did it. Her face was completely red, head feeling dizzy due to the rush of blood to her head. He seemed to enjoy toying with his prey. Just use the right words and she’ll fall into place.

Unlike ungrateful Tav.

“I-I….I” she stated while looking nervous, “I need an adult!!!”

Appearing closer to her and cupping her flustered face, he forced her to look into his crimson eyes.

“But we are both adults here,” he replied calmly to her, “you don’t need to hide anything from me. So tell me your name, darling.”

His sweet words were making her feel weak. She wasn’t showing herself to feel excited. Could being touch starved for decades be the reason why she’s acting like this? Sure, the aphrodisiac didn’t make her want to lust for the vampire. His hands were cool to her face. They were warming up with her flustered blood flow in her cheeks.

Why can’t she just give in? You have no relationship with a cheating boyfriend and no family that even supported your decisions anyways. A fucken vampire is into you because your blood tastes great to them.

She felt defeated. She just had to tell everything. Maybe it’ll save her life.

“The name is Vanessa,” she said, “Ness for short.”

“Now that wasn’t too hard?” he cooed, “since I know the name of such a beauty in front of me, you should know who I am.”

Beauty? That caused her cheeks to be red with embarrassment. He enjoyed the blood flow. Was she dreaming? Goddamn that vampire.

As he let go of her face, he placed a hand on his chest to properly introduce himself to her.

“My name is Astarion Ancunin,” he began, “the one and only Vampire Ascendant that you’ll ever meet.”

****

Goddamn, I don’t know where this story is going. Help plz. Need help.

-V

[tangledinink]

Wait wait wait

You do witchcraft???

That's so cool! I had no idea there were other witches in the TMNT fandom!!!

What kind of witchcraft do you practice?? Personally, I deal mostly with divination, but I'd love to hear more about other people's crafts!

I do! ^^ Though admittedly my practice has been a little bit dormant as of late because I sort of fell out of habit after An Event which was a Bit Disruptive to My Life lol. But I guess I kind of dabble in a bit of everything? I dunno if I could pin myself down to just one kind of practice yet, I still sort of consider myself a Baby Witch. But I really like making little spelljars and casting candle spells and things of the like, and I've been trying to learn tarot for a while now! I also really like making and drawing sigils... For a while part of the joy for me has been just Learning New Things.

^ ft. gecko enclosure and tail lol. BoS and altar not pictured.

[ethosiab]

If anything there might be a rule put in next session where everyone gets 1 life back cause it feels bad especially for those who died because of the snails water breathing mechanic

yeah, my only worry is that... the mechanic was put there on purpose? so it feels a bit iffy that they'd retcon something like that. I understand that the snails not swimming/going through water to follow the players could definitely have been some sort of mistake with the pathfinding ai, but the drowning mechanic wasn't the sort of thing that could happen on accident lol

[bunnymartens]

Since moving in with my best friend, I’ve saved so much money and my spending habits have lessened every month! W’s in the chat for RESPONSIBLE ADULTING!!!!

[broken-clover]

I loveeeeee caring about things that don't matter what the fuck do you mean there was an extended version of the opening to the janky veggietales spinoff flash cartoon that literally only got four episodes made in 2002 that was considered unfound lost media for 15+ goddamn years until someone found the downloaded audio file from before the show even released and what do you mean I was absurdly hyped learning every single one of those facts

[yellowloid]

only way i'm accepting the apology video that's no doubt going to come from watcher in the next few days is if ryan and shane decide to throw steven out altogether

[inhiswill]

Imma be real guys I enjoy terrible writing on tv shows and some movies but this is losing me

[spacedlexi]

is anybody else out there still creating twdg fanworks 😭📢 where is everyone please dont say reddit i cant go back there

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia :) Does the Gary and Efnisien tier in Ream give access to Underline the Blue chapters 5 to 8? Thank you, I love your writing! <3

Hello anon!

Here's what you get on Ream in terms of specific stories depending on the tiers! (the tl;dr is YES you absolutely do, but I'll put it out in a lil more detail for you):

Following (Free):

This will give you access to all public posts, and is completely free. It's like a 'newsletter/news' tier.

Mallory & Mount ($3):

This is like the 'tip jar' tier. Nothing specific happens here except for access to public posts and the occasional poll. And my eternal gratitude.

Mosk & Eran ($5.00):

This introduces chapter commentaries! (x2 a month) And poll access.

Augus & Gwyn ($9.00):

This is chapter commentaries, as well as the majority of early access chapters, which include Underline the Blue, Underline the Red and Underline the Gold, as well as The Nascent Diplomat. It includes these for ALL previous months, and not just the current month/s you signed up for. Access to a special Discord channel (you must tell me your username on the Discord, it's not automated).

Gary & Efnisien ($17):

This is chapter commentaries, as well as the majority of early access chapters, which include Underline the Blue, Underline the Red and Underline the Gold, as well as The Nascent Diplomat.

It now also includes Constellations, and likely Vexteria and Mallory & Mount early access too!

It includes the Game Theory edits, and any new scenes I add, so you can all see in real time how (slowly) I am altering this story and keeping it faithful at the same time. It includes these for ALL previous months, and not just the current month/s you signed up for. (you must tell me your username on the Discord, it's not automated).

Vexteria & Evan ($44)

ALL previous rewards from the earlier tiers, but starting around November-December will also include merch about once every 4-6 months. These will include things like notebooks, stickers, tote bags, magnets, diaries and more (it will change depending), and each will be themed to certain characters. The first one going out this year will be Augus and Gwyn. But people will need to be on that tier for at least 3 consecutive months before I'll start sending the first package, due to shipping and well, merch costs, lol.

~

Note: The prices are more expensive on Ream because a) you are only charged once a month there, b) it's been 10 years since I set my prices and a slightly higher price range adjusts for a decade of inflation.

Also: Highly recommend the Following tier to folks! You'll still get notifications, but I'm thinking about transitioning my newsletter here. I might also put daily excerpts here too, though it will be a mirror to my Patreon (and maybe my Tumblr), I'm really enjoying all the extra options I get there!

If you have any more questions I'm always here to help! A huge benefit to Ream is simply that they're not being as ridiculous as Patreon right now who is blocking a lot of folks from signing them up, or kicking them from a subscription, also it allows explicit taboo/problematic content like noncon etc. and wants to make a safe space for it, almost similar to AO3 in nature, but for commercial writers.

And frankly that's something I really want to support!

[strayteezsimp]

Thank you guys for 100 followers!! 😭❤️ all of you are so great 🥺❤️

[floraleevee]

The international carnivorous plant society is having their meeting in Austria this year and I want to go so bad 🥲 I’ve been wanting to do a solo euro trip for years and this would coincide with my main interest. It could also be a great way to network with botany/ecology professors in Europe since I’ve all but decided that, should I do a phd, it’ll be in a program abroad.

But on the other hand, I dislike a large portion of the carnivorous plant community that’s super active on social media. At least, those here in the u.s. I don’t want it to just be a bunch of assholes who promote unsustainable practices (if I read someone say “seed grown is ALWAYS better than tissue culture” one more time, the muscles holding my eyeballs in place might rip from how hard I’m rolling them) and have price gouged the market the past 4 years. I want it to be an academic conference, but I’m worried it won’t be that.

Also. Money. I’m hoping to move into a new position by then that’ll pay better, but spending that much money on a holiday seems so irresponsible.

[knightofleo]

Awww ¡me alegraste la noche!

Hace muchos años borré mi blog por algunos problemitas y perdí todos mis seguidos. Entonces estuve buscando mucho tiempo tu blog, porque ¡me encantaba! Y recordaba que era Knight... Pero más nada, y ahora te encuentro luego de tantos años. 🥺🥺

I don't speak spanish/portugese so I had to google translate this, but I'm glad you found your way back! If I understood that right. Hope you're doing well!

[protectcosette]

do you ever start a new job and have a new pay cycle and you think you should have been paid by now but there is a Mistake

[monsterfactoryfanfic]

if I've learned anything from grad school it's to check your sources, and this has proven invaluable in the dozens of instances when I've had an MBA-type try to tell me something about finances or leadership. Case in point:

Firefox serves me clickbaity articles through Pocket, which is fine because I like Firefox. But sometimes an article makes me curious. I'm pretty anal about my finances, and I wondered if this article was, as I suspected, total horseshit, or could potentially benefit me and help me get my spending under control. So let's check the article in question.

It mostly seems like common sense. "...track expenses and income for at least a month before setting a budget...How much money do I have or earn? How much do I want to save?" Basic shit like that. But then I get to this section:

This sounds fucking made up to me. And thankfully, they've provided a source to their claim that "research has repeatedly shown" that writing things down changes behavior. First mistake. What research is this?

Forbes, naturally, my #1 source for absolute dogshit fart-sniffing financial schlock. Forbes is the type of website that guy from high school who constantly posts on linkedin trawls daily for little articles like this that make him feel better about refusing to pay for a decent package for his employees' healthcare (I'm from the United States, a barbaric, conflict-ridden country in the throes of civil unrest, so obsessed with violence that its warlords prioritize weapons over universal medical coverage. I digress). Forbes constantly posts shit like this, and I constantly spend my time at leadership seminars debunking poor consultants who get paid to read these claims credulously. Look at this highlighted text. Does it make sense to you that simply writing your financial goals down would result in a 10x increase in your income? Because if it does, let me make you an offer on this sick ass bridge.

Thankfully, Forbes also makes the mistake of citing their sources. Let's check to see where this hyperlink goes:

SidSavara. I've never heard of this site, but the About section tells me that Sid is "a technology leader who empowers teams to grow into their best selves. He is a life-long learner enjoys developing software, leading teams in delivering mission critical projects, playing guitar and watching football and basketball."

That doesn't mean anything. What are his LinkedIn credentials? With the caveat that anyone can lie on Linkedin, Mr. Savara appears to be a Software Engineer. Which is fine! I'm glad software engineers exist! But Sid's got nothing in his professional history which suggests he knows shit about finance. So I'm already pretty skeptical of his website, which is increasingly looking like a personal fart-huffing blog.

The article itself repeats the credulous claim made in the Forbes story earlier, but this time, provides no link for the 3% story. Mr. Savara is smarter than his colleages at Forbes, it's much wiser to just make shit up.

HOWEVER. I am not the first person to have followed this rabbit hole. Because at the very top of this article, there is a disclaimer.

Uh oh!

Sid's been called out before, and in the follow up to this article, he reveals the truth.

You can guess where this is going.

So to go back to the VERY beginning of this post, both Pocket/Good Housekeeping and Forbes failed to do even the most basic of research, taking the wild claim that writing down your budget may increase your income by 10x on good faith and the word of a(n admittedly honest about his shortcomings) software engineer.

Why did I spend 30 minutes to make a tumblr post about this? Mostly to show off how smart I am, but also to remind folks of just how flimsy any claim on the internet can be. Click those links, follow those sources, and when the sources stop linking, ask why.

[radrobotz]

did i only watch the avgn movie 2 days ago thats fucked up its already felt like a week at least. but anyways i am still thinking about it i dont know why the practical effects were really goofy but charming i liked when you could very clearly tell when something was a miniature. and that fucking puppet

[7loveneverfails]

I have food in my house.

I have a plan for dinner. I have real food ready to eat. Chicken salad, a rotisserie chicken (my husband was confused that I didn't turn the rotisserie chicken into chicken salad but it just did not occur to me that I could do that) and fresh fruit.

I am exhausted and running on prayer and too much caffeine and the house isn't particularly tidy, but I think I am doing better keeping my home as of late.