#I would try to make myself believe i've ended up a decade and a half in the past but mortifyingly

[seithr]

Accidentally clicking the wrong part of a page during a wiki dive of a series I loved when I was younger, and being sent back in time and space as I see people organizing massive closed rp roleplay families events [PINGLIST FULL], posting fursona redesigns, fursona vent gore, colouring in bases for ocs and coming out as gay to each other all in the same feed for a series that, i promise, does not involve any of these . Not even the gay part. Someone is posting splatoon yuri. Where the fuck am i

[genderqueerdykes]

Hello, I’ve got a long winded request for advise that I’d like to ask from you (if you’ll give me a year in advance to ramble lol).

Would just like to state first off that this was something I spent half an hour on cycling between the thoughts of “this is horribly offensive” and “who better to ask” due to some of your posts and because I commonly enjoy and trust your opinions to be at least honest. I know you aren’t obligated to answer this ask but I’d really appreciate it even if it’s simply just a “AITA?” “YTH” situation.

I’ve had an issue recently where I am being ridiculed for making choices for my body and its appearance. The choice is losing weight. I’ve lived my entire life so far as a fat person, for the last 13 or so years I was well above the “class 3 obesity” threshold, right now I’m sitting in the low end of the first class. I don’t really like it, but when I was in the overweight category (I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5, a little more on that later) I got told that by losing weight I was being inherently fatphobic and making other fat people uncomfortable.

I know dieting and the likes can be an uncomfortable topic in general but I never brought it up except for rare mentions of my weight loss, mostly because I was proud of my progress. I’m not wanting to be “thin, “skinny,” whatever etc etc, I would just like to be in the middle of the average category with some visible muscle mass. I was shamed so much that I put myself back up into the obese category, and I’m all for body positivity but it’s not working for me when I know what I want my body to look like. I’m neutral on my body and its functions in general but I’m uncomfortable with the gain I didn’t want and the knowledge that I was on my way to a point of comfort.

As I said before, I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5. That’s because I developed severe binge eating disorder due to trauma. My weight gain was uncontrollable and made me uncomfortable for over a decade. Now that I have some control and a sense of body neutrality, I would like to lose what I gained from my disorder. Not all of it ofc, I’m an adult now and I want a healthy adult body, but I want to be able to make the choices and changes to put my body back into the average weight that I feel was “stolen” from me.

I suppose those thoughts could be considered fatphobic from a certain viewpoint but to me my binge eating disorder and obesity are/were things that I feel the need to heal from. I don’t have these thoughts about anyone else. I don’t want anyone to lose weight if they don’t want to. I love fat bodies. I just want to have the choice to lose weight myself without being considered a bad person.

Do these thoughts and feelings make me a bad/fatphobic person? Does losing weight make me a bad/fatphobic person? I genuinely just want what I believe is best for my body.

Thank you for your time. Stay well.

i have a lot of feelings on this sort of topic, so i appreciate you sending an ask like this, because it's one of the most nuanced, complicated discussions i've tried to have with people recently and a lot of people do not understand the distinction. i'm going to try to break this down to have it make sense to as many people as possible

first of all, people have the right to choose what weight they want their body to be at, so long as it's not causing genuine harm, especially permanent harm. losing weight is not inherently evil, the thing is, a lot of people either need to lose weight or choose to do so for good reasons. i was very heavy at one point, 360 lbs, and i was starting to get new pain i hadn't experienced before. it was hard to stand for any period of time. i couldn't walk much.

after i started walking around the neighborhood and losing that extra weight, that pain went away. i feel a lot better having less of that weight on me. i gained weight in a very unhealthy manner during this time, mostly by not eating well for my dietary needs, sleeping excessively, no exercise, and so on. the thing is that we have to take care of our total health and not everyone who is fat is unhealthy, but some people can and do put on weight that impairs their functioning or health and it's not good to ignore that this is a thing that can and does happen

you're allowed to decide what you feel your body should look like especially if you are not taking this to extremes. i like to keep my weight below a certain range, myself. i keep a close eye on it. fortunately it's easy to stay around a certain healthy range for my body because i cook a lot of meals at home and i mostly eat vegetarian food and fish due to allergies and digestive issues. i'm still about 311 lbs but it's in a much healthier configuration for my body

weight is a complex conversation. both thin and fat bodies are stigmatized. we need to drop our obsession with body image and let people be the arbiters of their own weight, at least, letting people express what they want and helping them reduce harm and find ways to achieve that goal realistically in a healthy manner. shaming people doesn't work. we've proven this decade after decade. shaming skinny people doesn't work. shaming fat people doesn't work. shaming anyone doesn't work

dieting is a very specific thing. everyone's diet is 100% unique to their body. your digestive system works different than the person next to you's. you may not metabolize nutrients as well as someone else. you may process fats and proteins differently. you may need a lot of electrolytes. you may not be able to digest fiber. you may struggle with fructose, glucose and other sugars. you may not be able to eat any meats at all. you may need lots of fruits. it will depend greatly on who you are

it's best to work with your body than against it. you are allowed to decide what weight range you want to be within. best thing you can do is attempt an elimination diet to see if there are foods that just don't do your body any favors, these can and should be done very slowly with one food at a time. but i'm not a health professional, so that's just a suggestion.

either way good luck, i don't like when people try to boil this down to "this is good" or "This is bad". there are good and bad things to all of this. it's worth discussing both sides of that. i hope this helped you in any way

[tothosewholisten]

Forever Healed | TUA Insert

Chapter: 14

<<previous chapter | next chapter>>

Masterlist

Disclaimer: B/n = birth name

…

I once again repeated the question I've asked Five three times already. “What did you do?” But again, it was to no avail.

“Your questions will be answered in time Number Zero, but for now pick up the pace!” Said the woman with an unusual, cheery voice. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to piss me off by calling me that, but I had a feeling she was. I stopped thinking for a second and took a look at her. Her attitude was very snarky, and she was strangely dressed, but who am I to judge?

With her platinum, gray hair and posh walk, I knew she had to be the leader of whatever hellish organization Five deserted.

Which led me to think of more questions. Where are we? Why am I here? What happened to the others? Did these people cause the end of time? And then the one question still left on my mind, who is the girl I said would end the world..?

As I thought about it, the woman started talking to Five, and I walked behind them like some servant. We were walking fast and away from the place where I first landed on the grass. Going towards a large gray block building with a plethora of people walking in and out open. They held briefcases and chatted like this was a normal occurrence.

They were all dressed in a similar fashion in old outfits you used to see in magazines from a different decade. It was obvious to me now that we were in the past. And as people passed us, they greeted her with a sense of priority. They called her The Handler, the name so unimportant that I’d forgotten Five told me earlier.

“I must admit Number Five, in all the time I’ve been here I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” The Handler’s praise was off-putting to me, and I could tell it was off-putting to him as well. “Hazel and Cha-Cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but.. they can’t see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well, remind me a great deal of myself, if I may be so vainglorious.” She wrapped her black coat-covered arm around his shoulder as she spoke almost like a mother but creepy.

This was all getting very tiresome. I had half the mind to say “You guys know I’m here, right?” And I guess I ended up saying that because she turned to me. As well as Five who had a blank expression on his face.

“And you, my dear, I believe you are the key!”

My confusion could be felt around the area. “The key to what.”

“With your unique skill set the two of you could be, how do I say this? Unstoppable.” She finished with a whisper. My head started to spin at her words as I opened my mouth to protest her words, sadly no one responded.

I started to feel a sort of hatred towards five. He drags me through yet another thing just because I survived the apocalypse and gives me no explanation. Why can’t anything ever be simple? Why can’t we ever just communicate?

As we entered the building, the layout made my nerves skyrocket. It was very claustrophobic. There was a spiral staircase, where workers upon workers would travel up and down. And there I was out of place when Five seemed to just fit right in.

“You know if things work out for you here you could potentially make a fine successor, Five.” Still, there was no mention of me. The Handler shed her silk coat to reveal a sleek black gown with several different red designs. A perfect gown for an unhinged woman.

The people around us stared at me and whispered good things from what I heard, but it was a scary thought to be the center of attention. Even though the actual people's attention I wanted were too focused on each other.

“I’d like to discuss the logistics of my family's safety at your earliest convenience. as well as this body replacement.” Five said in an almost robotic tone.

She laughed. “Such chutzpah! It’s refreshing I’ll admit. Slow down five. all in good time.” The Handler continued speaking when we reached the top of the staircase. “Now that you two have agreed to work with us. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

I stopped. I froze. Whatever I did. They seemed to notice that I ceased moving. The last thing she said didn’t make any sense to me. “Stop it, just stop this. Look, I didn't agree to do anything. I don’t know why I'm here. I can't get a straight answer. I rejected your company once so why do you think you can just have me now?” I raised my voice, which caused workers to stop and stare.

All The Handler did was smile, she did not react to what I had to say. She looked at a worker nearby, and he left and reappeared with some woman. She was tall, and her hair was kept old-fashioned in an updo. She carried a book in her arms. “Dot.”

“Yes?” Dot spoke with a sweet tone.

“Would you please show Number Five where his new headquarters is?”

“Of course!” She ushered for Five to follow her but before he left he gave me one last glance, I couldn’t even look at his eyes though. Once he left I thought for sure I was dead. I offended her and this is the end unless I fight my way out of this.

The handler looked at me, almost like she was sizing me up. “Walk with me,” she said softly. The anger I expected was nowhere on her face. She looked almost happy, something that felt out of place in a building like this.

..

We walked in silence for a bit as she led me down the hall. “What is your goal in life, Number Zero?”

“Y/n, my name is Y/n.”

“I’m sorry. What is your goal in life, Y/n?”

My mind went back to the conversation I had with Vanya, about feeling stuck. I have nothing to say to her because I don’t have a goal in life. I spend every day trying to just get past it so I can see the next morning. Except for when I hang out with Klaus and now when I’m running around trying to help solve the apocalypse.

I say nothing back.

"That's all right dear that’s why we’re here.” She shoots a caring look at my sad face.

But then I go from pitying myself to remembering I’m basically being held captive. I need to remind myself that I need to get out of here. “What do you guys want from me?” I said, plainly.

The Handler looks a little bit annoyed before answering. “We want you to reach your full potential.”

I scoff. “And what is that?”

We stop at a door. “Before I answer, would it be easier to talk sitting down? Let’s go into my office.” I only nod at her. Whatever gets me more answers I guess. As soon as I entered the room, I was filled with an immediate sense of dread. The room itself was fine, almost every wall was covered in bookshelves, it almost made me forget that this was an office and not a library.

Her desk was large, as large as her personality. It was neat, yet unorganized with a bunch of things on it. She quickly sat down in her spinny chair as I looked around the room.

“You’re a fan of books, right? You could read anything you want in here.”

I turn my head towards her. “I never told you that.” I snap.

But she ignores me. “I have all the greats, dating back from Shakespearean times, I’m a bit of a collector as you could see.” She giggles.

I once again had to refocus myself as I sat down in the chair directly in front of her.

“Right to the point I see, well I’ll try to be quick. We have other tasks to do together.” She grabs the glass of water on her desk and takes a big gulp before getting started.

“The truth is Number Zero, we’ve been watching you even before the apocalypse date. The Umbrella Academy itself is a bit of a local celebrity to us. But you in particular could make this place so much better.. We need people like you, not only for your powers of regeneration but your mindset. Back when you were a child, you used to be a killing machine. I mean nothing Sir Reginald made you do would phase you!” My face dropped as she went on.

“As you can tell, I run a tight operation here and just between you and me some of these people are emotional, but if we had more soldiers like you.. well, let’s just say there wouldn’t be any desertion.”

“So what do you say? Come work for us? Of course, you get all the benefits. Health care, not that you need it. Housing, meals every day, hell, I’ll even throw in a new job title. How would you like to be the head of the department?” She was practically buzzing with excitement that I would say yes to this horrible agreement.

As I listened to her words I started picking my skin on my fingers, and it started to be very hard to breathe. She wants me to do the thing I ran away from? No. I can’t go back.

“Y/n?” She calls out.

My lungs felt on fire.

“Y/n? Darling”

My head was spinning.

“Speak to me.”

My eyes were darting around the room.

“We can do this together.”

My ears are ringing.

I think I was having a panic attack.

I was so sick and tired of the false comfort I was getting. I was tired of five. I was tired of thinking of Ben. I was tired of thinking of the apocalypse. So many things were circling my mind, so many people needed me to help them

I needed to look out for Klaus. I needed to look out for Diego. Where is my comfort? Who is looking out for me? I can’t be on my own. At first, I thought that person was Ben but then I lost him too. I need someone. And then I thought it was with him. I needed someone to fall back on but now he’s gone. And it was all my fault.

I opened my mouth, but only shrieks and whispers came out. The handler looked dazed, almost thrilled that I was freaking out.

“No..“ I whispered.

She raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“You can’t put me back there. I can’t do this again.” My throat let out an awful voice crack. “I’m not a soldier, I’m a person. I will never be a soldier not again doesn’t matter if it’s for you or if it’s for the greater good, I was already lied to about that once. My answer is no.” I glared at her.

I whispered, “And if you don’t get me home. I will stop every organ in your body from working, don't test me. I’ve done it before.”

She smirked. “Trust me, I know you have. That's why I know you won’t do it to me. No. I remind you too much of your mother, the woman who gave you away. That’s why you were staring at me so hard and also my pretty dress, just like hers. Lovely isn’t it?”

“That's not true!” I yelled.

“I know everything about you, B/n. That’s the name, isn't it? The one your mother gave you? You were such a cute kid.”

B/n? Who's that?

There's no way I'd forget my own name.

“No matter how much you try to trick me I won’t do it.” I cried out.

She slammed her hands on her desk, while never breaking her smile.“I don’t need to trick you. This is what you want. You want purpose, after you left Reginald there was no one to tell you what to do, that was until you found your boyfriend and after he left, sorry! Let’s not lie, we both know he didn’t leave.”

“You know, you and Five just have to be related, you're the same person. You two both need purpose and I can give it to you here!”

The happy woman had disappeared. Now I am seeing her true nature; she's conniving she only wants power. She wants my power.

“Excuse me, I am a fan of the dramatics. I don’t know why we're even doing this. You have to do this.

My stare falters. “What?”

“In order for some sort of sanctuary from the apocalypse, which we both know will never work. Five promised the both of you two to work here, to save your glorious family.”

“Fuck you! That’s not true.” I stand up from my chair.

“Go ask him yourself. I'm not holding you hostage in this room. Or better yet check my body, if I'm lying my heartbeat should falter or something like that?” She sips more water.

I try my best to find a lie in her senses, but she’s telling the truth. “You're right.” I gasp.

She grins. “Honestly that is just astounding. Your powers are amazing. This is exactly why we need you!” She claps her hands.

I don’t feel the same sentiment. My brother, adopted or not, is going to force me to work here away from my home, away from my semblance of reality for an apocalypse we probably can’t beat for the apocalypse, where I am the only one destined to live by myself forever away from my world. Why am I always destined to hurt?

“All right, enough of that, come now we need to get your uniform. I hope you’re okay with a suit after all that’s what everyone wears. And oh! I can get your first assignment. This is going to be wonderful. I see a future for us, together.” The Handler gushes

She stands up and walks to the door. “Are you coming? Number Zero.”

This will never be over. I don’t know why I followed her. My body moved on its own following its commands, like it always has.

She led me to the suit department of the commission, where a man and his late fifties worked. He looked at me with some bit of sorrow, but I just looked at the floor as the handler told him my measurements. Which she knew, I’m guessing from watching me.

..

She then pushed me into the bathroom and told me to get changed. I slowly put on the uniform, shedding myself off my normal clothes the last bit that made me, me. I walked out of the bathroom like a zombie.

“If it’s perfectly my, you're quite beautiful in a suit. One last thing, though I’m sorry your hair is amazing, but is sadly against the code. If you’re working, your hair needs to be up in a ponytail. Once you do that you’ll be done.”

She waits for me and expects me to do it myself, but I stare at my reflection in the mirror just like I have so many times before. “I can’t.”

“Oh! That’s my fault. I almost forgot.”

She grabs a brush from her dress pocket and does my hair for me. When she’s done she looks at her work. I look like I’m back in the Academy because it's the same way Gracie used to do my hair. This sick fuck probably memorized it.

I try to bite back my sobs, The Handler’s pale hand, holds onto the side of my face.

“Perfect.”

...

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[mxaether]

MITCH MARNER -VS- TORONTO MEDIA/TORONTO FANS/HIMSELF/EVERYONE (a playlist for when you love a thing so much, and it bites you)

track list and selected lyrics for each under the cut ❤️

1. I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe - OK GO i want you, yeah, i want you/ i want you, yeah, i want you bad/ so bad i can't think straight/ so bad all my bones shake / so bad i can't breathe 2. Careful What You Wish For (the doctor said to) - Jack Harris something is missing/this predisposition/i feel like i'm living inside of my head 3. Who Made You A Monster? - Hael tricking the world to trust you/but everything that you say/is some kind of sordid lie/who taught you how to lie so well? 4. GOSSIP - Maneskin, Tom Morello welcome to the city of lies/where everything's got a price/gonna be your favourite place -- so sip the gossip, drink till you choke/sip the gossip, burn down your throat 5. Don't Be Nice - Watsky false modesty is a guilty habit/some people simply have it/but the fact is i would not have spent a decade doing this/if i did not believe i was at least a tiny bit ridiculously filthy at it 6. JEKYLL & HIDE - Bishop Briggs sweet and then you're sour/changes by the hour/never know which one i'll taste 7. End of It - Friday Pilots Club it's cruel you know/the way they've been treating you lately/get you real messed up on the daily 8. Nowhere Kid - Des Rocs inside of a maze you hide away/where nobody cares who you are/caught in a lie you can't escape 9. All For Us - Labrinth, Zendaya guess you figured my two times two/always equates to one/dreamers are selfish -- i'm taking it all for us, all/doing it all for love 10. Cruel Devotion - Night Club do you want me? tell me true/on my knees and now i'm begging you/loving you is such a cruel devotion 11. Who Are You, Really? - Mikky Ekko i have nothing left to prove/cause i have nothing left to lose/see me bare my teeth for you/who, who are you? 12. Heartbreak Feels So Good - Fall Out Boy is there a word for a bad miracle?/nobody said the road was endless/nobody said the climb was friendless 13. Some People - Dan Mangan cause it's too easy to be righteous when you eat what you've been fed/some people don't question what they've read/some people should 14. SELF-SABOTAGE - Waterparks i'll self sabotage/if you like when we talk i'll dislocate my jaw/what the fuck is wrong with me 15. Matches - Huxlxy bring me the ashes/set me alight/i'd rather burn than say goodbye 16. SICK - Chandler Leighton never let anyone see your guard down/too proud, just stop, keep my frozen/iced out, i'm six feet underground 17. Black Wave - K. Flay shaking in my own cage/what do i believe? i believe/waiting on a black wave/living under bad days 18. Middle Finger - Bohnes you show me love and then spit in my face/making your money off all of my pain 19. still feel. - half-alive when i'm furthest from myself/feeling closer to the stars/i've been invaded by the dark/trying to recognize myself when i feel i've been replaced 20. Rather Die - Barns Courtney i came to kill 'em, now i'm/wipin' the spit from my eyes/i take a beating but i/i'll never give up 21. Lake Effect Kid - Fall Out Boy oh i've got the skyline in my veins, forget your night time/sumer love on a gurney with a squeaky wheel/and joke us, joke us til Lakeshore Drive comes back into focus/i just wanna come back to life 22. Stronger - Kanye West n-now-now that, that don't kill me/can only make my stronger -- do anybody make real shit anymore?/bow in the presence of greatness/cause right now thou hast forsaken us 23. Bulletproof - La Roux, GAMPER & DADONI i won't let you turn around/and tell me now i'm much too proud/all you do is fill me up with doubt/this time, baby, i'll be bulletproof 24. What Do You Want - Nico Vega you can go ahead and hate me/for bringing in news, but you could still choose/ain't going to be a party/but you turn it all down, down, down/say, what do you want?/what do you want from me? 25. I'm Gonna Win - Rob Cantor you've seen me before, you'll see me again 26. Hero - Martin Harrix, JVKE

a thousand voices whisper noise/they plan my fall from grace/whoa-oh, i know/you say you want a hero, you don’t

[afniel]

Hi there's really vague (but kinda heavy?) Third Novel stuff under the cut, so don't spoil yourself if you don't want to know anything. Because there's a liiiiittle something something in there plus some art.

Man I'm like. Writing on chapter 2(?) of I Can't Believe It's Not A Trilogy (ICBINAT...world's worst working title) and this story is gonna need such a ridiculously huge content warning for suicidal ideation, way more than the first two, and the second has more than the first, so you know this one has got it bad.

And yet this is just kinda Where X Is At Right Now at the start of it, for Reasons (that I can't say further shit about until Outcome Unpredictable is all online, lol). I have a chapter and a half of, I dunno where or when it fits, just kinda disconnected noodling, and they were hard to write in the kind of way that's warning me that I don't really know what I'm doing with a character, just kinda slapping events together without much emotional weight to any of them or any real direction.

Then I kinda had a few revelations in a row, realized I was trying to lean way too hard on X to Just Be Better Already Dammit, and he was just coming out flat because he's not better already, dammit. Reploid Grandpa is 100% a fucked-up old veteran who's barely out of the hell he came from so yeah, he makes huge strides in his mental health, but he started at the bottom of a really deep hole. That's not a quick climb! It takes real life people decades to escape that hole, and they usually didn't go through it for 80+ years without a break. He's just gonna be down there, even if he's a lot higher than he started. (IRL veteran suicide rates are absolutely dismal too, and yeah, X's mental state very much reflects this at the point that I'm writing.)

Once again all I can actually do is write down the words as they happen and trying too hard to steer it myself only makes it stop working. Am I ever going to stop writing about this old man's mental health struggles? Uhh. Well, I've tried to stop twice, if that tells you anything. I swear he does get a happy ending and keep recovering. Well, maybe not that much physically, because Protagonist Who Stays Disabled And Isn't Magically Fixed is still a primary goal, here, and the story agrees with me on that, but even given that he could stand to be more comfortable even if he's not magically fixed. I dunno why this is where it's going but I think it's just my extreme commitment to What If This Stupid Video Game Plot Was Realistic Though. It's definitely realistic now! Maybe sometimes a little too much, but honestly, that's what makes it work, I think. It would never stick the landing if I stopped short of 100% painful sincerity, even if it's hard to look at sometimes. Feeling a bit like you're being invited to see and feel vulnerabilities that maybe aren't entirely your business when you're reading fiction is the secret sauce, if you ask me.

(At this rate I'm gonna have to update the author's notes at the end of Outcome Unpredictable because I'm making myself a goddamn liar. I straight up say I have no intent of writing a third one, but here I am, evidently doing that before the author's notes even hit the internet.)

I'm not gonna explain shit past that at the moment, so just feel free to conjecture amongst yourselves at the one thing I've kinda drawn in the ICBINAT era. This is about a year and a half from OU and 2 years from FtC, for the record. It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you leave an AU running unattended for long enough, even the canon characters will eventually turn into OCs.

(Also that if my coloring style gets any more rim light I'm going to be in Sonic Adventure style coloring territory...which would fuck severely, actually.)

[lostsbooks]

At the End of it All (Wattpad|Ao3)

use their human names in this, so the characters here are: Arttu = Tornedal Otso = Forest Finns Muuna = Kvens

 Story is set sometime in the 1960's

Also wrote a continuation to this, my oneshot Rememberances

━━━━━━━━ ✠ ━━━━━━━━

"You always said you wanted to die alone, Just you and the wilderness, One last hike before the end." I sighed, rubbing the palm of my hand nervously, trying to shake off the dread creeping in.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring myself to let you do that, old friend."

The dying man laughed a little. It was an odd sound, in his predicament, but I could understand. He looked up at the log ceiling, carefully handcrafted decades ago.

"I don't blame you. But-" a frown flickered across his face, as if a thought had struck him, "Muuna's not here right now, is she? And you didn't tell her? I don't want her to be here."

"It's bad enough you didn't tell me sooner, but no." I lied, knowing full well that my daughter was in the other room, likely listening to the conversation at hand, "She would've bitten my head off if I'd told her but not let her visit."

"Sounds like her. She never changed much, did she."

'says the stubborn fool' I wished to say, but just shook my head, "No, but Otso, I wish I'd been here, Known."

"Ach, Arttu, there's nothing you could've done." He spoke dismissively. Struggling to sit up in bed, but clearly trying to hide that. "Would've happened in time, We all know it. And I've spent my sentence in this hell. Knew I'd be here sooner or later."

"We'll miss you, you know." I said, and meaning it. "You've been here a long time, it's not a light thing to go."

"You don't mean that, I'm barely a footnote in the history books."

A faint smile appeared, "Just take care of the cabin, I'd hate to see it fall to ruin. And keep that bloody Sweden's paws off my property. I've had enough of dealing with her type."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Fair enough. I'll see to that. Anything else you'd like to say?"

He looked toward the window, covered in blankets to shield from the winter cold, "No. Just- move the blankets, would you? And put another log in the fire."

I nodded, getting up to do as he asked, the moon was almost full in the sky, filling the yard with light on the illuminated, sparkling snow. The wood crackled in the fire as it started to burn. Tall shadows danced on the walls from the fireplace, the flickering light making him seem older than he was. It still seemed like yesterday that we first met.

"Never thought I'd see the day where I outlived you." I sighed, "Feels like I'm older than half the world at this point."

"Least people still say your name," he scoffed, his face darkening "Only a few left out there who know my face."

Kneeling down beside him for a second, I took his hand in mine. It felt eerily cold.

"If there's anything left after this life, Wait for me. Even if it takes another thousand years, we'll see each other again, I won't forget you that easily."

He didn't react, just turning to look away, "You should get going now, It's gotten late. You have a long trip home in the winter."

I gave up, the conversation wasn't about to go any further. I knew him too well to try otherwise. Resigning myself to that fact, I left. Only briefly looking back before leaving the room.

"That bastard." Kvens whispered the moment I rounded the corner, "Who is he to tell me what I can or can't do?"

"He means the best," I said softly, taking my boots from by the door, "He doesn't wish to hurt you."

"Hurt me-? How? He's our friend. I practically grew up with him! We have a right to say goodbye. I just can't believe-" her voice caught in her throat, struggling between grief and anger.

"I know, it's hard. But it's what he wants. I'm sure the old fool would've kicked me out if he'd had the strength to do so." shaking my head, I put my hand on Kven's shoulder.

"He deserves the peace, he's more than earned it."

[whoa-its-dani]

Some quick life-updates from yours truly:

Realized I was, in fact, nonbinary. Being honest with myself and being away from the internet really helped me figure that one out. I'm still largely in the closet, but I'm planning on where I go from here. I know I'm going to get top surgery or at least a reduction eventually, but that's a Future Leigh thing.

I developed a shellfish allergy which is a thing that can happen. Your body can just... decide it's allergic to shit. I know it's an immune system overreaction but wtf wtf wtf we've eaten shrimp and clams and crab our whole life wtf wtf wtf There's the slight possibility it was a spice or the ramen I was eating them with but like. It's more than likely the fucking shellfish.

I'm currently outside of the US right now and FAR away from home. I'm not immigrating, I'm just helping a friend with some housework and also getting my first vacay in like a decade. Also I dealt with quite a bit of ableism and assumed misogyny (bc still in closet) with immigration to the point they had to bring two different women officers to deal with my sitch. Like I don't wanna spread the stereotype of men being insensitive and women being "more compassionate" or w/e but yikes. I'm struggling so hard right now not to let that asshole taint all men. I'm beating that sexism back with a fucking bat.

My cynophobia is in severe decline, at least with smaller and some medium sized dogs! Anything bigger than like a corgi still triggers me (shaking, crying, panicking, etc.) but smaller dogs are so fucking cute and fun and snuggly!!! I love when they curl up in your lap and when they roll over for tummy rubs!!! I really miss my mom's dogs right now 😭 but I have a cat here so it's kind of ok

Had some True Crime shit happen to my family. My aunt (who's always been in poor health) passed away in her sleep. Her husband had her cremated asap, threw out all of her stuff, repainted the room she slept in, and then waited a week to tell the rest of the family... by text. Originally it looked like she had died in her sleep while he was at work, but then he admitted to his daughter (who then told the fam) that he had been home all day, that he lied to police about being at work, and that he was glad she was dead. So it's looking more and more like he killed her, or at least let her die. Like... he's always been an asshole. It's totally believable he killed her, but I hope (for everyone's sake) that he didn't and he's just being a selfish jackass who doesn't understand how sus he sounds.

My mental health has been the best it's been in years. I still have bad days (esp right now bc of the shit that happened with the border officer) but I'm kind of in awe that I'm like. Alive? Like I'm entering my late twenties. My first suicide attempt was when I was 11. I never imagined I would make it past 21. Bitch I'm still here!!! Life is not my problem, I am LIFE'S problem!

I learned how to make stroganoff and became mildly addicted to it for like a month.

Lived to see cicadas in the summer! Saw SO many!!! I think about them when winter makes me sad. They're my light at the end of the tunnel.

I ALSO SAW A BABY (ok more like a young) POSSUM!!! My dad discovered him in a box of apples we had outside. He was havin a FEAST lemme tell you. Boy went through like four apples that were about half his body size. Hell yeah.

I've currently been trying to exercise and strength train because I tried to climb a tree to get a cicada shell and yeah. I didn't even make it off the ground. Spaghetti ass arms. Right now I'm too sore from the travel (& stress & panic attack due to border issue) to see if my strength has improved, but I can definitely tell there are muscles in my arms and not just mush. Human bodies are so fucking weird and cool and shit.

I still remain uneducated and unemployed, but I actually checked out the GED study guide from the library earlier last year. I had a panic attack and ended up returning it, but... it's progress! A few years ago, I would've just passed it by. I actually opened it and looked in it and shit! Give me some more time and I'll actually be able to USE it and then get my GED and then bitche!!!! :D I've also decided I'm going to try to become a mortician. I doubt I have the patience to become a medical examiner, but I'd still like to work with the dead (not in a creepy way, I'm just better with dead folks) AND I got some family in the business back home (here's hoping I can use nepotism to my advantage teehee) so it's a good idea. I'm not saying it'll work out, but it's a plan.

I beat Pokemon Diamond again, and Skyrim. I made like four new characters but only ended up completing one (and they became a sneak archer because of course.)

I've done a little more sewing! I'm still kinda sucky at it and my brain can not figure out how the hell a back stitch works but I'm having a lot of fun!

Ok that's all I can think of right now but yeah. I'm surprised I haven't completely lost my mind yet but hey. There's still time 😌

I'll hopefully be more active on here in the upcoming days (bc I've missed my sweet little garbage trash site and all my gay little mutuals), but right now I'm just trying to exist in as little pain as I can. Very fatigued but also incredibly sore (shoulders, back, and legs).

I'm so grateful to all the kind messages and asks you guys have sent me while I was gone, and I hope your lives have been going well. Things are tough right now for everyone, and I hope you find the strength and support you need to go on. Fucking love you guys.

[comidyye]

ranting about my ryou bakura playlist <3

in terms of artists i think ryou would really like mitski,, hmm Evanescence??? he would really like old obscure creepy vocaloid songs. i dont have much 2 say 4 genres ,, just generally angsty sad slower songs remind me the most of him, But def some more ramped up angry songs too !! he deserves them !! Talking about specific songs and lyrics ↓ (lotso text)

"Please believe me when I say I've poured my whole past down the drain, say that a second chance is a chance I can take! But I can't make amends for things I can't remember, I can only say I'm sorry and occasionally pray..." (Half-Decade Hangover - Will Wood) "But I'm losing myself, and I'm afraid you're gonna lose me too. This magic keeps me alive, but it's making me crazy! And I need to save you, but who's going to save me? Please... forgive me for whatever I do." (Remember You Omnichord - Trillian) "Something dark is following me here without a trace... Is it real? Or in my head? I guess I'll find out when I wake up back home or dead. (THATS SUCH A BANGER LINE) ... With a piece of my mind as I'm caught, intertwined, Between the roads, of what's modern or old..." (Into the Pit - DHeusta & Dawko) [ oh fandoms colliding ! the song fits too well i Couldnt resist ] " 'You're not like me! I'm not like you! I'm not who these things happen to!' And that's exactly what you say before they do!" (BAD LUCK! Jhariah)

"There's a ghost, in my home! But it's better than being alone... Yes, my house is haunted! That's the way I want it!" (Ghost - nelward)

"My thoughts are filled with cruel intentions! Maybe my conscience is possessed! It's no use I can't control it! Maybe it's a sign not to quit.." (Bad Blood - Creature Feature) "I'm just a side character to your main spotlight... ...You'd be nicer to me, If you saw the true me, But you won't get woke to that 'til I'm gone." (Side Character - Cloudfodder) going more in depth with these songs:

The entirety of PHANTASM - JACK THE STRIPPER (( heavy cw for suicide )) heavy bakura vibes, the way it references the horror genre so much and casually referencing (( suicide ) with such an upbeat tone, very much reminds me how even though how we usually see bakura so happy or just goofin off and stuff , but Really the entirety of his story and what's going on with him is ... Really sad. I think it was someone else on tumblr? it was someone somewhere that pointed out hey 'freeze your brain' Reaaly matches ryou. and they are SO right! How both of the characters switch between schools constantly. And how both of their moms died. both of which are explored in that song, and also its just generally sad and angsty !! "Forget in six weeks, you'll be back on the road! When the voice in your head, says you're better off dead!"

Also the entirety of Ugly Story - Phemiec (( thank u homestuck if only for this persons music) reminds me very much of bakura's and yami bakura's dynamic. Ryou is being controlled and used when he doesn't want to be "I might be a killer but one day I shall be queen, and put an end to slaughter... In someone's spider web, or net I could be caught... But I'm too bitter, better off alone, guess I forgot..." Also generally sad and somber (this song is a duet i imagine between ryou and his yami .. ) "A parasite needs a host- I'm only trying to do what is best for us! Well I never asked for this, I never wanted this! All that I want is some time to myself! ...I'm just just reminiscing, (Just STOP reminiscing!) I just want you here with me! (I just want my privacy!) God, can't we just get along? (God, won't you LEAVE me ALONE!)" (Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn) (highly recommend <3) other songs of note that are so made for him Familiar Haunt - RL Another Song About Ghosts - Joy Again Exorcism - CreepP, Lollia (!!!!!) What The Water Gave Me - Mishkin Fitzgerald Watch Your Back - Junie & TheHutFriends Friends. - Omori (also some other omori ost songs, esp ones associated with basil Because they are so the same.)

In all i love him and only wish the best for him. im going to explode the millennium ring for traumatizing him : o) Also.. i have a yami yugi (season 0) playlist ill probably also do this for <3

[lovefromyouryoungmom]

4/4/23

Sofia,

Your dad quit his job yesterday, he'd been there almost a decade. To be completely honest he shouldn't have, we don't have the money for it and rent is two days away. However we pulled everything from his 401k and it should be available soon, I just hope soon enough. I'm saying this in hopes that in the years to come we never find ourselves here again, but I want you to know where we come from. If your dad's new business works out and this leap of faith was the right move, I want you to know it terrified us both.

We've been trying to say when, more often. When things work out, not if. Things have no choice but to work out. When, because the universe doesn't like lying and therefore hopefully won't make liars of us. When, because your future depends on it.

We've been jokingly calling cleaning up after you go to bed "the night shift", but it's less of a joke and more just true. Obviously I expect nothing else, you're only a year and a half, you get to make all the mess in the world- your dad, however. I don't know what I expected, well I do but I don't know why I expected anything different. I hoped he'd quit and come home happy finally and we'd spend at least the first day afterwards together, but he spent all day gone just to go to sleep at 4:30pm while I did bedtime and bath and now the nightshift section of the night.

I hope that things are so different as you read this that what I'm saying is laughable, but sometimes I wonder if your dad was the wrong choice. I'm so grateful to him for you and for giving me the ability to be home with you this long, he's a wonderful dad and I'm sure still is, but as a partner, at least in this phase of life, it's complicated. He's just not right, he doesn't fit where we both hoped he would.

Alternatively though, sometimes I think it's just me, that I have higher hopes and expectations than I should. That the idea of a Disney prince is still lingering. And even farther still, he's a good friend. We laugh often and he tries hard to be the person I want him to be. Or maybe all the pain and mistakes we made because we're so young just put a crack in the middle of everything and I haven't given it enough time to heal yet.

I talk often and loudly about changing cycles and breaking generational curses, but maybe your grandparents believed they would too and even if it wasn't enough, maybe they still broke some curses and that's where I find myself as well. I parent better than my parents but my choice of partner followed that same line of bad partners. I don't mean any of this to slander your dad or twist him into a monster, but if we run from the man he used to be and you find those thorns in yourself later without knowing who he used to be, maybe you wouldn't tell us. Maybe you'd think we couldn't possibly understand when really the vines are there from our mistakes.

By the time you read these we'll have long since told you that your dad was an alcoholic, we'll have done our best to teach you about addiction and how heavily it runs on both sides of what made you possible. You'll know the things he did that he regrets and can't take back as a cautionary tale, but I also know you'll be too young to think of me as anything but a mom- I won't exist in the idea of how hard living the other end of those things was. None of this is for sympathy, I don't want you to hate your dad or hate me, but the other side of the cautionary tale of addiction is how much you hurt the people you love, and frequently, how that pain never goes away completely.

But maybe I feel differently in your time. I'm what now, 42? 43? Older? Tell me, my love, did I get wiser? Am I less incredibly dramatic? Did I do a good job being your mom? A secret from future to past, a whisper, a thought, was I the mom you needed? I have this foggy idea of you, criss cross on your bed reading these and rolling your eyes at how dramatic I was when I was younger. All those times I've probably called you dramatic, I'm sure a phone call or text to tell me I was really the dramatic one isn't far from your mind. I hope you do, I hope you call me and laugh at me and call me ridiculous and I hope I remember standing here, in our kitchen with soap on my hands, KNOWING damn well I am dramatic and knowing that you will be as well. I wonder how close the image in my head is to what's happening right now for you. Do you have someone with you? A partner? A friend? Are you loved and cared for and do you have someone to love and care for? Are you gay? Straight? Asexual?

It's nothing to you, the blink of an eye. But my god my way around is going to be quite long and also far too short all at once. I want to know you so badly. Do you have short hair? Long hair? Did it darken with time? What do you do? Are you in college or a career that you enjoy? Are you happy? I worry about you so much. All the time. Every second of every day and in every dream I have. I guarantee that even in your time you're still in every dream I have. You are so beautiful in yourself right now, I can't imagine how blindingly amazing you are reading this.

I love you so much. I hope you're happy, I hope me and your dad are happy.

I'll see you on the next page my love

[amethystamanda]

1300s

I'm going to be trying more or less the Ultimate Decades Challenge, originally by MorbidGamer https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VKVvnDblpT2ngUs9JE9VcFyfhK9ZKXyqrYYaSun1pl4/edit, using modified rules by Several https://sites.google.com/view/severaludo/home?authuser=0, and possibly others that I can't remember (sorry, I've been doing a lot of planning), with tweaks for myself and my gameplay. Like teens start at 13 (because autonomy is a thing) and end at 20, but won't marry until at least 16, because of my own ick factor.

This save mostly started while I'm waiting for a reliable and safe computer to arrive (https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-hate-to-do-but-109385513), and while I've been waiting for mods to be updated after the Lovestruck Patch, and for bugs to be fixed following that patch. I miss the Samuels, but I'm not playing them until I get a new computer. They're safely stored in the cloud, and will not be touched until then.

A lot of people seem to base things on real events. And I kind of will, in the broader sense--there will be famines and wars and the plague and things like that--and I started to do that, but I prefer to do things in a sims way. Windenberg is ruled by King Jacques of the House of Villareal, for example, with Crown Prince Hugo, Princess Royal Luna, and young Prince Max. Maybe one day my sims will be royalty, maybe not, who knows.

Trigger warnings for the entire save include: death, child death, child loss, miscarriage, illness, mentions of war, mentions of religion (sims religion, but there are monks and nuns), I don't know what else. There's a brothel, which I assume will be used at some point. If it's something unique to a certain post, I'll tag for it, but I don't think I'll be able to tag for everything. You might want to block the tag #ultimate decades challenge if you don't want to see those things or other common medieval gameplay issues. Still no racism, and less sexism than more modern decades until a few centuries in--no idea if I'll make it that far.

So.

My founder couple is Abraham and Leurona Roake. They're serfs, living in the shadow of the summer residence of the royal family, in Windslar, in the northern region of Windenburg. Their lord was generous enough to allow them to marry, and now they will be starting a family together on the site that Abraham's family has lived for as long as he can remember.

Abraham: Traits: Green Thumb, Woodworker, Loves Outdoors, Does Not Want a Child Right Now, Believes in the Occult, Family Member, Domestic Aspiration: Successful Lineage (using NeedCoffee4That's aspiration overhaul)

Leurona: Traits: Family-Oriented, Neat, Horticularist, Does Not Believe in the Occult, Would Be Happy to Have a Child, Family Member, Collector Aspiration: Fabulous Farmer (from JaneSimsten)

One of them should end up happy with their fate, I guess.

They're starting with no money. Their lord took their last simoleons as a fee for their marriage, and takes half of anything they harvest or gather. To make it out of serfdom, they have to pay the value of their land (3000 simoleons) to buy their freedom from it, and survive long enough to do that.

Most lots are from ParadiseBeach90 on the gallery, but some are from other people--I filled Windenburg, and then had more lots to place so I mostly filled Newcrest too (once they're allowed to travel, those are the worlds they can go to because I haven't touched the other worlds except to delete some sims and move one family in). I have not built a thing, but I've slightly edited some of them. The lot I'm starting on is 1300 Serf House by Jesj7, which I edited a decent amount.

Plumtree link: https://theplumtree.app/public/66ba5a971668a919c190a4e0

This is going to be fun and/or terrible. Wish me luck!

[safyresky]

Frostmas Year 6: Behind the Scenes

Prologue | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7 | Y8 | Y9 | Y10 | Y11 | Y12

[To Read Frostmas: From the TOP on ao3 | ff dot net]

Holy shit. Year SIX. This one was a DOOZY and NOT for the reasons you think. For those who don't know, the year it was published (2016) was deffs one of if not THE worst year I'd had. 2023 was brutal too but 2016 was fifty shades of FUCKED UP.

Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one with a whole ass diary entry before we even GET to the proper BTS notes!

I was having a bad go of it in general because:

I was forced, after a year out of my parent's house and half a summer away, to move back for the next summer and that was a terrible environment at the time

(it still is but I have had THERAPY and have COPING MECHANISMS and RESOURCES and I know HOW to take myself OUT of the pattern and that walking away ISN'T a bad thing)

(still have ways to go, espesh after last year, BUT WE WILL GET THERE)

My mom essentially strong armed me into working with her for the summer and I fucking HATED IT

I wanted to find a job here in KTown and stay away but she managed to set me up with a job and I couldn't take no for an answer because I had just gotten back from the UK and I had SO MUCH TRIP RELATED DEBT TO PAY OFF, AND NOBODY IN KTOWN HAD CALLED ME BACK!

Richard was away in Europe for half the summer and we had our first really big test of the relationship (AND WE DID IT WE MADE IT THRU)

I finally had had eNOUGH of cramps that were almost killing me dead and decided to go on the pill, but getting the right dosage/brand was a TIME and it seemed every one I tried made me want to straight up DIE

If ANYONE is ever like "oh, Birth Control Pills don't make you depressed" THEY ARE. LYING. Some do!

All of this was one thing, but the pièce de résistance was this: my laptop fucking DIED. It FELL off a KITCHEN PENINSULA, ONTO A STONE FLOOR HARD DRIVE SIDE DOWN.

It blue screened. Then black screened. And would not boot up. And my writing wasn't saved to the cloud bc the cloud kept draining my laptop battery (she was old), so I was saving locally.

I lost everything.

All of Crystal Springs, all of my notes, old WIPS, and all of the progress I had made on Frostmas Y6 at the time (and I had just cracked out like 3k the week before!) and the Winter's Birthday oneshots. Not to mention, my photos from the last 5 years up to that point! And while I did manage to recover Frostmas and make it BETTER than it was before, Winter's Birthday is still hanging by the wayside and this was almost a DECADE ago! There are STILL photos I lost that I will NEVER get back bc the hard drive itself is FUCKED!

So the wait between Y5 and Y6 was nearly 3 years. Almost as long as the wait for Y11 is shaping up to be, though that's for whole other reasons! My laptop did NOT fall and I save everything to the cloud now, I'VE LEARNED.

Anyway, I managed to recoup most of my loses but I did lose: a soulmate au wip, a baby Dite wip before she was developed more as a character and became Hedone, Winter's bday outline, a rewrite of an old fic I thought had potential (so I decided to rewrite it for my me to enjoy), old Jacqueline and CHARLIE shipping oneshots if you can BELIEVE it (one of which was HELLA ANGSTY and involved him DYING of old age and her trying to avoid him about it) and I think Into the Shadows? It was still up at the time tho so I was able to download it and my other stories from fanfiction dot net and I sorta. Started back up from where I left off.

And I HATE to say this bc it SUCKED so much (I was a mess, I couldn't even explain to my parents why I was so upset—I mean, how do you? How do you explain to your emotionally immature parents that you had built this entire little world that ended up being your way of healing your traumas, made so many amazing friends from it, and had just lost all of that because THEY were FIGHTING? How do you cope when your own Mother says "I can't deal with you when you're like this" as you are BAWLING your EYES OUT at this loss, and she straight up WALKS OUTSIDE TO SIT IN A LAWN CHAIR AND AVOID YOU INSTEAD OF COMFORT YOU AND TRY TO HELP YOU EXPLAIN THINGS? AND YOU'RE NOT QUITE 21 YET? AND YOU'RE ALREADY HAVING SUCH A SHIT TIME?), but it's true: after the laptop fell, my writing took an ASTOUNDING upswing! It improved SO MUCH! And Dite became Hedone and had a more developed back story that made SENSE and Frostmas Y6 turned out WAY BETTER THAN IT WAS and I managed to plot out the rest of the Years (I had not written down notes for what would happen until halfway through Y6! By June 2016, about 3 months post-harddrive gate, Y12 notes were DONE) and I only went UP FROM THERE

But it still SUCKED to deal with all of that.

I felt so bad that Y6 took so long to go up, and when I did post it and it was (checks notes) 14,206 words (we'll see if that changes as I read through it and prep it for cross posting next week) I decided to put the AN in my profile and wrote this at the very top of Year 6:

A/N-14,206 words sans these blurbs. Sorry for the length, and for the delay! I have the explanation on my profile page, under the PSA and Frostmas Year Six AN. Please enjoy this mess of a year! Here is a previously on Frostmas for your convenience: Previously: Jacqueline revealed her decision to freeze as a farce. She showed Bernard and they decided to test it on Jack, who seemingly accepted it. Jack made a deal with Jacqueline for bygones to be bygones, so she could stay at the Pole and help him instill some order. Instead she, aided by the Elves, sabotages the Pole, deciding to be Jack Frost in all ways—including the pain-in-Santa's-neck way. Jacqueline takes to exploring the Workshop when she's not following Santa around, and discovers an old area, stumbling upon Jack's secret rooms…and making a shocking discovery.

I EVEN INCLUDED A PREVIOUSLY! BC I THOUGHT IT HAD BEEN THAT LONG! I think a few reviewers mentioned having to go back to reread so I figured this'd be way more convenient for them! :) (And me too, tbh)

The A/N in the chapter was as follows:

A/N-You can see my full author's note on my profile, I think this chapter was long enough. Thank you for reading it! Please please PLEASE do review! I cannot begin to tell you how much going back to these reviews helped me keep writing Year Six and getting over the hump. I look very forward to your thoughts! And thank you all for your patience :D PS-The breathing trick is legit. Try it, it works wonders.

And the long one I put on my profile RIGHT AT THE TOP for people to see and read it (bc I really didn't wanna bog people down with what was going on in my life. FUNNY bc nowadays I get on hellsite dot faesite and I'm like BUCKLE UP COWPOLKS BECAUSE YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT BULLSHIT HAPPENED TO ME TODAY) was as follows:

Frostmas Year Six AN: My heart is racing, I finished year six like 10 minutes ago (1:48 AM December 16th, 2016) and it is 14188 words. I am honestly so sorry about the length and hope that if anything, it is at least a decent apology for the long break in updates. Year Six took me much longer than I should've to write, because I had to rewrite the bit of Year Six that I already had written prior to the death of my laptop. I started rewriting it when I got mad at myself for being so sad in August, but then ran out of steam and just couldn't do it because I kept comparing it to what I remembered having already written, and thought that it was not as good as it originally was and never would be. It wasn't until I got back to my home (i was staying at my parents house which is never a Fun Time), fixed my prescription and began taking the time I needed to help myself feel better (seriously my Summer was a train wreck) that I was able to slowly trudge through what I began to call the hump—everything I had already written and had to rewrite. After getting through the semester, in November I began planning the Years again. And I was determined to get through the hump. I had already written stuff for Year SEVEN and had Year Eight basically written in full in note form. I just had to get through the hump. And so by the first week of December, I did it! And then just had all the new content to write...which was a LOT especially because Jacqueline decided to break into Bernard's house! I promise, Year Seven won't be as delayed as Year Six. And I really hope you enjoyed all 14k of that Chapter! And most importantly thank you for sticking around this long, it really means a lot to me :D

And my heart WAS racing. I cannot begin to describe to you guys how it felt, after ALL OF THAT BULLSHIT IN THE SPRING/SUMMER, finally seeing Y6 go up after ALL the struggle. My god. I was flying high. I may have cried. I was so, so relieved and so, SO proud of it and let's get into this behind the scenes now to see if I still am proud of it—survey says yes, I think I will be!

And thank you for reading this lengthy prelude to the Y6 BTS. NOW, without FURTHER ado, THE BTS FOR THE INTRO AND ON!

--

Intro

Okay so the decision to have, not only Jack almost discover her, but her parents also discover her dumbass plan, was brilliant on my part

The DRAMA this 900 word intro has! AH!

It didn't even need much work—just a bit of sentence spacing and some awkward turns of phrase fixed and that's that on that!

I can definitely tell I was marathoning Doctor Who for the first time at this point, given Jacqueline's repetitive "I'm so, so sorry"'s as she is RUNNING AWAY from very confused Blinter

Who promptly give her space after THAT

I'm not sure how she managed to avoid them through to FEBRUARY tbh

ALSO it just occurred to me. Upon rereading. Jacqueline being like AM TRAPPED! Oh wait. I'm MAGICAL is a clever bit of foreshadowing on my end for the REST of Y6 lol

It's funny, reading this a wee bit older I'm like. WOW. I feel so bad for blinter—they're trying so, SO hard and poor Jacqueline! She knows she could go to them but she is so, so afraid

I'm a WORDSMITH

Anyway. Onto scene 1!

Scene 1: You won't be in trouble, I swear! Jack lied.

Because he totally did. He is a liar. (smacks head of Santa Jack) this baby can fit SO much malice in him

I wonder if he waited for Jacqueline to be around just to try and catch her up. I'm gonna say he deffs did. And that I totally planned that (I did not)

In terms of references, there isn't a lot! this whole scene is msotly me being a Bernard stan in the "I love the way he acts with the elves and how he cares about them all and how he is able to placate a huge crowd every god damned time", not the usual "I want this elf" kind of way

I do not want him. I want to see him grow strong and be safe and that's that on that

And I also want to see him bug Jacqueline. And be bothered back in return lol

BUT YEAH I really love Bernard as a character, espesh the leadership bits. the scene in tsc2 where he talks to the elves? the smooth, nervous cadence and silly "and do not use the word "plastic" bit? This blorbo has EVERYTHING—anxiety, sass, jokes, AND great public speaking/charisma skills!

So this whole like. Getting into gear bit? SUPER fun to do.

Especially with him consistently not letting Jacqueline say HEY MAN HE'S BRINGING BACK THE FUCKING THEME PARK IDEA! Writing her get consistently more and more irritaited and frustrated was delightful >:)

The BIG bit here is CURTIS!

So like. He gets all. Manager-y and very into his role when we see him at the Theme Park in the Frostmas bit in the movie, right? So the whole time I wrote this I was like, okay. How does Curtis get from wanting to help and be progressive to capitalist hellscape master? How?

And that's where this bit came in—along with the list reading bit back in Year 2? 3?

Which is why, when Jack is like "hmm I need to keep track of theme park related things without giving it away—ah yes! Curtis!" is what comes to mind

And why he's so ACTIVE in the Resort, you know? If that makes sense. Idk, I wrote this bit at 3am.

BUT YEAH. CURTIS IS A LIL GUY. JUST A LIL GUY. TRYING TO DO HIS BEST! AND NOT EXPLODING!

Scene 2: A cold front heart-to-heart

Jacqueline and privacy. Hehe. I loved carrying that bit over from CS.

She's awful, just. BARGING in places with little to no warning!

I'm sure she'll mellow out with age

Unless you are Jack

She'll probably bug him forever.

ANYWAY.

This scene DID need a little reworking! Jack read as slightly OOC and there was some weird repetitiveness. Which checks out—this scene was the scene I wrote days before the laptop ko'd

This scene also felt like what I imagine an elaborate game of chess feels like. Trying to think of what Jack does and doesn't know, and what Jacqueline does and doesn't know, and both their motives, ALL WHILE WRITING FROM JACQUELINE'S POV? My god. Brain exploded

But it reads much better now! Their motivations are way more clear!

Poor Mason. He's a good kid! Unfortunately for the plot to continue on I needed SOMEONE to come forward to get their ass FROZEN

It's funny bc like, reading it again (and I don't think I ever reread this chapter after posting it! I think this is my first time since it originally was written reading it again!) the ideas were THERE! Just…not fully formed. And given everything I was going through slash dealing with at the time, that checks out.

Scene 3: NO RUNNING IN THE WORKSHOP

I briefly had this whole dilemma about if Jack freezing the elves was Too Much. Then I remembered a number of things: he canonically freezes two whole ass people. He tells Lucy he's had people beg him to freeze people for them. The whole POINT of putting him post-Frostmas and post-tsc3 in a redemption arc is to show CHANGE so YES, mans could, would, and has frozen people before and will do it again

or in this case, make Jacqueline do it

and of course she'd agree to it bc. y'know. she's trying to keep her cover going and what happens if she says no? and gets banished? then what? what will Jack do?!?!

she's caught in quite the conundrum, isn't she?

anyway I remember when I wrote this scene I wasn't expecting Judy to pop into the scene but she did and I kinda like that that's how it went

Jacqueline ending the section saying "B-Man location secured" I think is also me reminding myself what the purpose of this scene was, lol

Scene 4: Bernard's Office

not me doing the bts read-through and realizing that Jacqueline acts like she had 0 idea Mason was there, when Judy JUST TOLD HER he was heading that way. FIXED, LOL.

I am referring to the carnival in Quebec when Jacqueline says LIKE QUEBEC. I've been a handful of times and the ice/snow sculptures ALWAYS got me. They're gorgeous.

The breathing trick was the very first one I learnt that year (for obvious reasons lol) and it worked every time! I was excited to use it and share it as it'd been helping me quite a bit. Twas one of the ah, early tumblr mental health posts I had seen AGES ago!

“It’s too bad we can’t take Mason and push him somewhere else,” Curtis mused.

^This is a meme reference, yes indeed!

"I’m not great at clandestine operations," Jacqueline says, as I yell through the screen, "YOU AIN'T SLICK GIRLIE! YOU! AIN'T! SLICK!"

(she's really not)

"An airline? Like planes? Air planes? In the frostbitten sky? He bought an airline?!”

This is a NEWLY ADDED reference! From this post :)

Believe it or not, Bernard saying "wait and see" was NOT a reference to Mr. Gaiman's famous refrain regarding Good Omens spoilers—but I thought it was hella funny with that context rereading it in 2024 now lol. (It originally went up late 2016!)

The evidence bit is new too—makes much more sense now, why they lollygag enough for Jack to initiate Lockdown lol.

I GOTTA BE THREE STEPS AHEAD OF TEAM JACQUELINE AND FOUR STEPS AHEAD OF SANTA JACK

IT'S A STRUGGLE

Hence the long gaps between years, too, it's a LOT of info to churn through and back referencing and such

but damn if it isn't a fun project >:)

Scene 5: Time Out/Lockdown

So this is where I picked up POST laptop falling. I could only recover Year 6 up to the office scene, I believe

What I lost? A whole scene after it where I had written nearly 1400 words about this whole subplot I had in mind involving how Jacqueline's frozen elves would look more sculpture like than Neil and Laura did when Jack frosted them up

There was this whole bit about her lamenting on how it looked different, more opaque, and Jack would be able to see right through it (pun intended on my part) because he'd KNOW it wasn't done properly, the way he did it? I think it involved a story about a frozen squirrel?

I had started writing it, went back and read it, went "huh this makes no sense"

Moved on the plotting out Winter's bday before bed

The next day I stationed myself in my parent's kitchen, and before I could even LOOK at the document and what I'd done before, my laptop crash landed on the stone floor

yeah

ANYWAY I obvi AXED that scene, it wasn't making sense then and when I finally got back into it, I didn't even BOTHER attempting to recreate it, just skipped it and went right into the freeze day

anyway, I'd like to take this moment to recognize Mason. He is taking this like a CHAMP!

I'd always pictured him as one of the elves in Porkchop's squad, lol

"Get my nose right" is a Tangled reference, lol. Fun fact! It's one of my top 3 disney princess movies (the other two are Moana and Princess and the Frog :)

I just strongly relate to Rapunzel (given the mom-nanigans I mentioned in the diary entry before this you can see why) and Eugene makes me laugh and the soundtrack SLAPS

Kingdom Dance? HELLO?!?!?!? THE MUSIC AND THE ENTIRE STORY TOLD IN THE SCENE IN THE SCORE? AH

okayokay. frostmas time

Perhaps one day I will write the little silly thing that explains why Jacqueline insists Jack taught her everything despite not being around for most of her formative years! Maybe one day :)

Lockdown is also NOT a reference to OS CORONAS. This predates that, too, lol. It was an idea I'd been sitting on for Into the Shadows (Dark Shadows at the time), and I was excited to use it (and have Jack abuse it) in Frostmas!

I had to keep Jacqueline from going to the Council, after all!

“Because it’s exactly what I would’ve done.” The full impact of what he said hit as he turned around, surveying me with an unreadable look. “And you did it.” I came to a grounding stop, my heart falling in my chest. Jack chuckled quietly to himself. “Exactly. Now, I’ve got tons to do! We will chit chat later, Jacqueline—I’ll make sure your rooms are done up for your stay. Ciao!” And, shooting me a smile and double finger guns he disappeared, leaving me alone in the corridor as the crushing weight of what I had just done—and what I had agreed to do—came falling down on me. I stood in the hallway, motionless. The sounds of the chaos of the Workshop dulled before disappearing completely, nothing but a white noise as the world faded out from me and I realized that yes, Jack would've done it. And I had done it. I was turning into Jack.

NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH GAS! THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT! THIS IS WHAT FROSTMAS IS ALL ABOUT BABY! WOO!

Writing this scene was so fun. Jack's little villain monologue after he figured he'd one? EXCELLENT. I'll take two, please.

Scene 6 (5.5 really): BREAKING INTO B-MAN'S HOUSE

I couldn't believe Jacqueline did this, lmao. But I absolutely LOVED it

What's breaking and entering to a sprite who does not give a shit about privacy on a good day? 🤭🤭🤭

This whole brandy bit is once again brought to you in part by how much I love love love Just An Elf, and am once again STRONGLY ENCOURAGING YOU GO AND READ IT. They're such good oneshots, my GOD! PRIME B-Man characterization and I will shout it to the moon and BACK

"Point being, you wouldn't have frozen them. See? That's the thing. You're not Jack. You're Jacqueline. You think and act differently from Jack, and that's what makes you you"

Bernard is out here spitting facts that take Jacqueline a whopping 12 plus years to learn 🫠🫠🫠

"It's what friends are for"

Oh my god I have some fun BTS for this. Okay, so, I NEVER planned for Jacqueline and BMan to be buds. In earliest drafts of CS (and I'm talking EARLY, the notes I made while posting MtF early) the MOMENT Bernard clocked Jacqueline he'd march her to Santa like LOOK WHAT THE POLAR BEAR DRAGGED IN

But THEN Jacqueline managed to invade shittyelfwriter's brain and made her way into Rules of Engagement (The Emissary Clause, at the time) and she and BMan like, vibed in that fic

So THEN I assumed they became pals after all THIS in Frostmass, right? And had this whole passage initially showing that yeah they had become friends because of this, and it came over into Crystal springs and that's why they were so buddy buddy

But man. The more I wrote them, the more I went "B-Man wouldn't look at Jacqueline and judge her because of Jack. He just WOULDN'T."

And then When Bernard Met Jacqueline happened (I really oughta post that to ao3!) and I realized okay, they've. They've been friends for a hot minute

SO upon crossposting to ao3, I have properly edited this WHOLE PART to just further underline how much of a TIME Jacqueline is having

Forgets she has a whole ass friend

Also has had a rough go of it with friends growing up, but that's neither here nor there right now lol. She explains it well enough in the next bit and of course, I myself had to tease her about the Dite thing :)

I am once again mentioning Elle and her status as ??? purposely to hurt shittyelfrwriter >:) it's okay tho it's a friendship stab, don't worry about it! :D

Sleepy Jacqueline just happened this edit. I don't know why, but I love it. It had me wheezing. "hot diggity dog" lmao

Newfies comment: fun Canada fact for you: most of the stereotypical accent, the HEAVY one, is because in Newfoundland and the Maritimes they sound like that, lol.

We sound sorta like that here too the farther away you get from Toronto! A lot of my friends in uni were from small Letterkenny towns so they have that Canadian lilt going on and now I find myself sounding more like that some days too 😅

Scene 6 (for real): Plan Time

"My hair a half frozen, half thawed mess": FUN FACT! This is the first in your face hint I've dropped at the freeze becoming real! Were she fully thawed, her hair would be the next day too...but it's not 👀👀👀

The TUNNELS! I've always thought they had tunnels under the Pole, and I've read a few fics where they do, and it's one of my favourite tropes in this fandom so I used it for Frostmas! :D

Also a gr8 excuse to drop CS lore re: Kringle Elves >:)

Scene 7: Dig a tunna, dig dig a tunna~

I started condensing things when I got to this point bc it was at the time approaching 15k and that was way too long by my books at the time

Now, post refinements for ao3/2024 glow up, it's a solid 21.6k words

WHOOPS!

I didn't even add anything crazy new! Just dialogue!

The mental image of Jacqueline, Bernard, Curtis, Quinitin, and Mason tossing pencils and shit into the ring and nothing happening is hilarious

The mental image of Jacqueline conjuring a little snowy guy, and gesturing to the elf ring, and it standing there like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is somehow funnier (and new!). I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did :)

For all you non-metric system users: 5km is equal to about 3 miles, I believe.

Scene 8: in which Bernard comes up with a brilliant idea that Jacqueline simply cannot resist acting on >:)

On that note, I vaguely recall doing a HECK of a lot of research to see how feasible it was for 5 magibeans to be able to dig one kilometre with just shovels mostly

I don't remember my results at all. I remember chatting with my housemates and with the husbando about it and the conclusion I came to was "yeah. makes sense" or "SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF" if it was my friend near!

Which is a good lesson we should all keep in mind when reading fantasy/sci-fi and fiction and the like in general. Anyway

Jacqueline is losing her mind digging, I'm losing mine writing this whole thing, we are ONE

Scenes 9-whatever: In which Jacqueline does her own version of Super Giant's hit rogue like dungeon crawl Hades

Oh this was the BEST montage I ever got to write. EVER. I genuinely don't think I could top this!

I did tidy it up/refine it! I added more dialogue so Jack was in character and increased Jacqueline's annoying Jack stat tenfold! VERY fun to write!

Needed to do some slapstick bc it's fun to slapstick Jack

Jacqueline HAD to extract revenge bc her snow cloud ideas was GREAT (I concur)

This whole myriad of scenes had me thinking of what ways my siblings really annoyed me and turning the dial UP on them as I wrote Jacqueline's bits, lol.

YER A BLIZZARD, SANTA is an outdated reference to YER A LIZERD, HARRY. I really should like, axe it, but it makes me giggle. Anyway, jay kay arr sucks and Jacqueline Winter Frost HERSELF said TRANS RIGHTS, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

Candyland, I am proud of myself for THAT reference

Half of writing Frozen?Jacquie is me trying to think of the most JACK LIKE THING she could say, and then having her say it

Foolproof formula, 10/10 would recommend.

"The physical appearance of the please makes no difference, Jacqueline.”

Despicable Me reference, It's one of the husbando's fave movies and that is my fave line in it I think, and there are a lot of bangers tbh

Jacqueline would think stopping snow was an actual crime

Her least favourite movie is probably Frosty Returns bc of the asshole adults who make the snow-be-gone spray and try to murder frosty with it and also, all the lovely SNOW

also, did not mean to indirectly quote frozen in this last bit? But the "it's a green christmas everywhere. EVERYWHERE?!" bit is really giving "You kinda made it Winter everywhere. Everywhere?!?!"

Hallmarkian isn't a word but I will damn well MAKE IT a word

And finally! She escapes!

And I leave you with this fact: Jack only lets her go because in his heart of hearts he knows it's too late. She can come and go, but nobody else can—she can tell everyone what happened, what's going on, but only she can go in and out. So what can they do? Nothing, tbh

I explained this bit to the husbando and he was like >=O that SUCKS. That's SO frustrating

That's the point >:)

Oh how fast a glimmer of hope can be snuffed out.

ANYWAY! If you read all the way to the bottom, thank you! It means a lot. Enjoy the BTS, the Dani lore, and enjoy the freshly swept Frostmas! I'm gonna try to actually have Y7 up on the 13th of July, lol, but we'll see how that goes. Trying not to rush but I just. THE AESTHETIC, YOU KNOW? I MISS POSTING ON THE 13TH!

[crazy8diary]

The last few days have been better than the days before... Enjoying my home and time to myself... Glad to see family and friends and know I need to socialize but want to better prepare myself for what's in my near future...

I want to impress people women mainly by making them laugh and giving them my thoughts experiences and heart 💝 wrapped all up as a gift

Privacy is important to me and I don't want to distance myself from interaction with others for mental reasons... I do well joking with these people... Maybe it helps me maybe it makes me look like a fool but idc because I'm just being my true self and showing out is my way of flirting 😜

I may find reasons to message some women that I make take interest in on different sites but mostly waiting to answer messages because I know some women are lonely looking for a man that's right for them at the time...

I just want someone to step in and help...

I would step into someones life but very weary of the consequences that could come from that and I don't go to party's, bars, strip clubs, tha club or any of that bs because I'm trying to make it till tomorrow my friend...

Afraid of most human get togethers or large gatherings but if I know everyone I get along fine.

Been watching my regular line up of shows on few channels... Ready for smackdown and wanting to start watching raw again when I get Hulu and wifi here at my home in February I hope.

I've got to get my birth certificate, new ID, resend for my EBT card because it's damaged and taped...

Still need to look up how to sell on ebay and get my shit together... Those delicious peppers should sell themselves if I have enough and I'm sure I will... Not look to take up to much dirt and wanting to keep my property looking good...

Supposed to have someone bring some bricks and start cooking food outside like a grill... A make shift cooking station... Definitely doing steaks and ribs and probably veggies and beef cobbobs... Would love to cook breakfast on a fire or by heat lol.

Life is good and only getting better ...

I'm in a good place in my life and I don't want it to end... My whole life has built up to this and I don't want to see myself unhappy especially after all that's happening and happened with family and friends... I'm always happy and that matters most to me besides my pets and what my family thinks of me and others too... Won't a good portfolio and not a poor one ...

I ate at Jersey Mike's and have to say their spicy big kahuna Philly cheese steak was hot right out the oven and delicious as a mf... Mnnnn... I may go back and try to find some spicy chicken sandwichs or get the big kahuna again... Damn it was huge and delicious man...

I will always love the way I care for myself... I do better than I ever have and I'm proud of myself and hope I can look back proudly on my adult life as an old man and love each sec, minute, half hour, hour, 12 hours, day, night week, month, year, decades and life

Log #5 I believe...

(A beautiful life)

Thank you for all the views

[marsupieaux]

Using this inaugural grad school tumblr post to just yell about my woes bc idk, life is objectively not bad but I am really feeling the frustrations of living in a new city and the time crunch of only having 2 years in this mf.. mostly just feel old and lonely, and I can't think of a sadder more pathetic combo ~

on the plus side: i've never been hotter in my entire life, i finally found a groove and a crumb of inspiration in my coursework, arguably had the best summer of my life meeting new friends, and even more debatedly experienced a type of romantic connection for the first time in nearly a decade that i actually believed in.

what sucks is a lot, but lets start with that this masters program is presenting a lot more annoying and (frankly) heartbreaking challenges than i anticipated that have fractured my perception of this place and my purpose being here. i had such high hopes and expectations and truly just fantasized about this opportunity for years, and now that i'm here, i just feel more let down than inspired. at least for right now. i don't know if this is for me; i feel like i can be successful at it, forsure, but i end most days feeling empty inside. at least a little bit. i'm adding all these caveats bc it's true, some days and mb even quite often i can find something positive about this experience and how i'm growing bc of it, but good lord.. i do not fuck with at least half of the people im obligated to interact with in this program, everybody kinda already has their own people and i don't feel like there's opportunity for me to actually find friends to be with, and the coursework itself was off to a bumpy start and is just not giving what i thought it would. i'm mustering up the patience to push thru this bc i know it's not even a month in, but fuck! i'm lonely and old and i only have 2 years here to make the most of it.

secondly, and i'm probably gonna just word-vomit right now bc i'm still not entirely sure of what to make of things, but i definitely got my little heart broken recently. i started going on dates with a guy in an open relationship, and long story short, i for some reason was led to believe that maybe i could be his boyfriend too. it turns out that was never the case and probably won't ever be the case. i'm trying to make peace with that fact bc, like, i obviously respect that boundary and the kind of love that this person and their partner have with one another, but fuck! what the fuck were we doing all summer long then? just opening up our hearts to one another, sucking each other's dicks, going on picnic dates, kissing and cuddling in our beds—doing all of this just for fun?

i'll forever be grateful that this person touched my heart and helped me unearth a side of myself that i hadn't experienced in so fucking long. like, just genuinely grateful bc romantic love has felt so weird and shameful and like something i had to forbid myself from experiencing. and so when i got to really feel that feeling again... i felt so lucky and so happy and so grateful. but fuck! now i'm left with lingering hopes and mixed emotions about it all. did he lead me to believe that this could've been something greater? or is it more that i walked into this blithely ignorant, setting myself up for disaster? idk what version of reality stings the most. i wanna believe in not just the goodness of this person's heart but also the righteousness of it, idk. if i liked him so much.. if i trusted him like i did, then how could he do this to me? i say this jokingly but also not, i am just a baby when it comes to dating again. and i also wanna believe that i did the right thing, chased after love rather than ran from it. that i was brave and gentle and that it was okay to let my guard down for once bc i was gonna get the ending that i deserve. i spent years, especially the last 1.75, building myself back up to a place to let this kind of romantic love back into my life. i finally felt confident and ready. to think that i myself made a mistake and played with my own heart... that just makes me hate myself with how much disappointment I feel.

just so im clear with myself, i do believe that i'm coping much better with these stresses in my life much better than i ever would have before. *screams internally* but it sure as FUCK isn't any easier. i think i would be in a much better head space if i felt like i had a stronger network of friends here, but i just don't have that. and my own network of amazing beautiful loving friends and family—they're just so far and have their own things going on. with time, they're all growing more in their romantic partnerships and other friendships nearer to them in a way that's so cool to bare witness, but it also means that i get left further and further behind. im not asking to be more of a priority in their lives by any means, but shit i guess i wish that i even had anybody that saw me in that way. someone or some kind of community that i can feel connected with and love on back. i fear that i don't rly have that anymore. it's hard to find that again in new places, too.

i'm cautiously optimistic. i've been hurt and scorned and disappointed, but i don't think i'll turn (prolongedly, incessantly) weak or sour. life is always gonna remind me that i can't have it all, but god damn it, this is all that i got. i'm gonna find the wherewithal to persevere even if it means fashioning out of my ass the inspiration and purpose to keep going. like mitski said, you kinda just have to buckle up and take the good that comes with the bad. so if these first few weeks i find myself white knuckling my way to peace and happiness, then so fucking be it. by any means necessary, im gonna be okay.

i'm gonna be okay.

[queerloquial]

thoughts so far

- being a drow fucks

- being a paladin Really Fucks

- I'm actually tempted to use the worms?? like normally when games do the "ehehe here's an option to acquire Power but it has A Cost" I'm like lol no thanks idiot but. I keep finding myself going "maybe a little illithid power could be okay..." Slippery Slope, Babes

- general party setup: me (ancients paladin) + astarion (assassin with bow) + wyll (fjord criticalrole really opened my eyes to how warlocks can be useful) + karlach/lae'zel swapping out

- i'd thought i'd like shadowheart more than I do. 90% chance it's just her early personality not vibing with me, but also getting her approval is super slow for me bc. I just never take her anywhere. don't need to. I've got heals + potions, the party has 3 melee fighters, and there's not a lot of utility magic in this game so that's half the point of a cleric out the window (at least compared to what I prioritize when making actual-dnd clerics)

- did Not expect to like lae'zel as much as i do. it's partly bc I know already that she Can Get Better but also I find her directness and intensity relatable

- gale is alright, but like shadowheart suffers from "sorry we've got two casters in the party already" and "jfc are my only spell options to deal direct damage to one (1) target or to waste a slot on something useless in combat" (I want utility! crowd control! set up environmental or status conditions that the others can exploit! aloth pillarsofeternity was a permanent fixture in my party not bc he could kill things real good but bc he could hit a whole cluster of enemies from forever away and set things up for my fighter pc to McFuck Everyone Up)

- i went into this believing wyll and karlach would be my faves and i am correct

- have not met halsin yet, much less any other companions

- this camera is so finicky s2g. I almost got stuck in this gnoll cave because I was underground but had somehow managed to get the camera above ground and could not for the life of me return it to the party. it took three solid minutes of trying to find the precise angle and zoom level to reach a point where i could get any reachable ground on screen to gradually direct the party to the surface

- I didn't realize that the party supply bag in my inventory contributed to my encumbrabce for the longest time. I am a terrible hoarder and will pick up Every Lootable Item so you can guess how frequently I was popping back to the grove to try to regain a few pounds of inventory space until I discovered the problem (and the Send Item To Camp option...)

- I pushed the maturity slider in chargen all the way to the end and my pc still looks like. mid 30s. maybe 40 at worst in certain lighting. hashtag just elf things ig?? I've seen other people's characters, i know they can look sufficiently aged!

- mmmmm i like my pc, haelra. big tol beefy drow enby

- I think they were originally a mercenary, probably classed as a fighter, though with a quiet interest in arcana and a fascination with the mages employed by their company. eventually crossed paths with a sunny purple tiefling, a devotion paladin, who caught not only their interest but eventually their heart. over time they grew close, enough that haelra left the company to marry them. several decades of settling and asventuring and settling somewhere new, until the spouse aged and died naturally. imagine it's been another decade or so since then, and haelra returned to life on the road, leading to whatever got them on the nautiloid and started the game. the guardian, naturally, took the shape of their spouse, later in their life but still strong and healthy and with a soft, comforting smile

so my partner came to my state this week + i spent a lot of the time playing bg3 on xir laptop

might have to bump it up my priority list, this shit is fun once you've got your feet

[a-mended-pact]

Let the Right One In

A/N: So this is for @boldlyvoid 's challenge. I had so much fun writing this. Even though I'm still super anxious about posting my stories. It's been a pleasure and an honor getting to know you Em. Congratulations on reaching 2k! 🖤

Warning: Mentions of insecurities. Maeve Donovan. Faking a death.

Word count: 2,082

It was midday when I heard knocking on the front door. I was half tempted not to answer. Spencer was away on a case and neither him nor I were expecting anyone. Anyone that would come over at all was away on the case with him or states over. So who could be coming over unannounced? I clumsily headed towards the door. My fuzzy socks are making it difficult to stay balanced on the hardwood floor. A knock came again. It was gentler this time. 

I looked through the peephole and saw a small woman looking around nervously leaning from foot to foot. “Who is it?” I wondered if I could at least get a name. 

“I’m here to see Doctor Spencer Reid. I got his address from Aaron Hotchner.”

  My face blanched at the sound of Hotch’s name. It had been quite some time since anyone had mentioned him. After he went into protective custody with Jack even though the reaper was dead he still chose to stay away. Contact with him was rare and slim. I quickly opened the door and watched her jump back slightly. 

“Who are you?” she asked. She looked around the same age as him. She is actually quite beautiful. I wonder how Spencer knows her? 

“ I’m Y/n Reid.” She tilted her head to the side as she studied me.

 “I didn’t realize Spencer had a sister.” She finally met my gaze and smiled.

 “Is he here or do I need to come back at another time?” A small laugh escaped me 

“No, I am not his sister. I am his wife.” I crossed my arms over my chest and locked my foot in place behind the door keeping it only slightly ajar not letting her see into our home. 

Her face shifted to one of slight surprise. “Oh well I better just go then.” She went to turn away. When a thought crossed my mind.

 “Wait, I can call him if you’d like and let him know you are looking for him. What’s your name?” I was wondering whether this was a good idea or not to even call him but i had already offered and i am already in far too deep to turn back now. 

She stopped not turning to face me again. “My name is Maeve. Maeve Donovan.” 

Maeve. Why did I know that name? Why is my brain going off with alarm bells? But why do I know that name? I watched as she vanished from the hallway down the flight of stairs never turning back around to look at me. 

I slammed the door shut as I racked my brain on if I should mention this to Spencer at all. Especially while he is away on a case. Maybe I should wait until he gets home. He should be home later tonight. At least if the weather was alright over in New Hampshire. He had left me a message earlier this morning to let me know the case was solved and it had started snowing there but their flight wouldn’t be ready till a little later. 

He should be home in about an hour now. I will wait. I’ll definitely wait.

 

~

When Spencer walked through the door he looked sluggish and about ready to just collapse. The exhaustion clearly got to him from not getting enough sleep while he was away. He took off his satchel and his suit jacket. He began undoing his tie as he walked his way into our bedroom. Not even making eye contact with me. 

He came back out moments later in nothing but his flannel sweatpants. “Sorry I know I should have said hello to you. I just felt like I was suffocating in my clothes today.” As he spoke he made his way to the couch where I sat at one end.

 Once he sat down he leaned down and put his head in my lap. I gently started running my fingers through his hair while scratching his head. 

“That feels really nice.” His voice was soft and he let out a quiet sigh as he relaxed into the couch and my lap.

 If I wasn’t petting his head I was gently caressing his back with my fingertips. I know I needed to tell him. I was just so nervous. I knew somewhere deep down this would be stressful to him. The day already has worn him out so completely. It was like he needed my touch to recharge himself. I began biting my lip as my hand stopped on his lower back. 

“Hey, Spence, A woman came by to see you today. She said she got your address from Aaron.” He made a humming noise to let me know that he heard me. “Her name was Maeve Donovan.” I felt his back muscles tense at the sound of her name. He sat up immediately. 

“Wh- what did you say?” He looked at me as if I had just grown an extra head or as if I had just spoken another language.  “Mae-” He cut me off. “No, I heard what you said. I don’t need you to repeat yourself. It’s not possible she was at the door. She is dead. She’s been dead for years.” 

He pushed himself up off the couch, the muscles in his arms flexing more than usual. He was more tense than I have seen him in a long time. The last time I saw him this upset or stressed was when he first came back from prison. We were just dating back then.

“I am going to go call Hotch.” he moved quickly to grab his phone when he finally reached it. It began to ring. He looked at it for a couple of seconds before he answered.

“Hello?” His eyes widened slightly. I watched as he clenched his jaw and tears brimmed his eyes. 

“M-m-maeve?” He leaned himself back against the wall. His breathing became irregular as he slid himself down the cold panel. At the same time I saw a couple of tears leave his eyes.

I sucked in a breath and sighed. Was this going to be the end of us? Now that all the stories Spencer told me of her came back once he said that she was dead.

She was his first love after all. It would only make sense right?

====Spencer’s Pov=====

My vision was blurred beyond recognition. I could hear my blood pumping in my ears as the sound of her voice drifted in and out. This isn’t real. It’s not possible. I watched her die. I saw her. She was pronounced dead at the scene. I mourned her. It’s been years. Nearly a decade.

“Spencer? Can you hear me?” I felt my tears stream down my face, nodding as if she could see me. 

“Yeah, Yeah I can hear you.” My voice cracked as I answered her. 

“Just like old times huh? It’s so nice to hear your voice. I’ve missed you.” My breath hitched at her words. 

I felt my heart hammer in my chest. I glanced up to see if I could find my wife. She was watching me with concern but otherwise she hadn’t moved not yet. All the guards Y/n had torn down throughout the years started building themselves up higher and higher. 

"H-how are you alive? I watched you die." The horrible memories of that fatal day still haunted me. What am I supposed to do now?

Do I still have feelings for her? Is it wrong if I do? I don't know how to handle this. What should I do?

"That's why I came to see you earlier.  It was an idea that I came up with at the last minute.  So I faked my death." Her voice was calmer than my breathing.  I felt the walls Barricading around me to keep me safe. I was suffocating.

I wasn't sure I had heard her right. I could feel my ears ringing as the blood in me ran cold.

"You faked your death and made me believe for a decade that the first person I ever loved died a brutal death because you wanted a new life?" My tone was harsher than I anticipated.

I felt my wife's hands run through my hair in a comforting manner as she lowered herself to the floor with me.

I glanced at Y/n as tears streamed down my face. The memories of Maeve and my feelings for her wreaking havoc on my heart.

"Darling, I think you should hang up. For now anyway." She whispered it as her hand lowered to the back of my neck giving me a gentle message. 

My back stiffened. I was so caught up in my own nightmare I hadn't realized that this is probably a living one for her.

"Spencer. I can expla-" I cut off the call before she could even finish her sentence.  Y/n was right.

"You have a lot you need to process and I'm sure you didn't want to say anything you would regret. I'm sorry if I've overstepped." She looked a little nervous as if I was gonna snap at her the way I had Maeve 

I gently grabbed the hand that was touching me and brought it up to my lips placing a kiss on it.

"Nonsense. You are my wife. You were right. I should have hung up. I just. I don't know how to explain what I was feeling." I could feel my breathing begin to slow slightly as I tried to match her breathing to get mine back to normal.

It was like my world paused for a moment and began to spiral faster than I could catch my balance. I felt air fill my lungs when I heard her voice but yet I was left gasping for oxygen. 

The very thought of Maeve brought back so many things I thought I had dealt with prior to now.  I leaned my head against my wife's shoulder as I just let the tears fall.

I felt awful having her comfort me over another woman. Yet I couldn't bring myself to completely care. She was the one offering me comfort.  

She held me in her arms. Whispering to me that things will be okay. That we'd figure things out.

I truly didn't deserve her. She loves me so unconditionally it's unnerving. That's when my phone went off again.

It was the same number Maeve had called me from.

I glanced at my wife. Who just watched me. That's when I fully knew and decided something that had been bothering me for over the past hour or so.

I let my phone continue to ring as I cupped her face. 

"You...you make me feel special and good and all these things that I still don't have the words for yet— good things… things I never thought I deserved to feel.” I pulled her in closer letting our lips caress one another.

"I love you Spencer.  You don't need to say all of this right now. I know you are still-" She tilted her head to the side as if she were trying to figure me out.  "Cluttered and that's okay."

I kissed her harder than I've ever kissed anyone before.

"I’m not in love with her, I’m in love with you”

I have no real idea on if she needed this reassurance all I knew is that I did. I wanted her to know out loud what she meant to me. I couldn't imagine a better partner. A better lover or a better best friend than her.

 I wasn't going to have her doubt everything about us. Not for anything.

I stayed close to her as my phone kept repeatedly going off until eventually it stopped. I was still figuring things out. 

Knowing that Maeve was alive before I met Y/n would have changed my life completely but now? I didn't want anything to change.  For once I was happy. I had someone in my life who put me first. Who cared about me. Who wasn't afraid to hurt my feelings as long as it kept me safe. She loved me for me and all the mess in between who I have yet to become.

She saw me for me. I wasn't Doctor Spencer Reid.  I wasn't a federal agent or a professor to her. I was just Spencer.  The man for some ungodly reason she chose to love. 

[thekingofthieves]

When did you realize you wanted more than friendship with Hiei?

Hm, well... I suppose that depends on if you consider "wanting to have sex" consituting as "more than friendship." Sleeping with friends and allies was basically the norm for me before I took this human form. I never experienced romantic attraction before Hiei, so I was pretty casual about sex back then.

I was physically attracted to Hiei from the beginning, honestly. He has this captivating impish beauty to him I noticed even during our short spar upon our meeting. And then, even though his torso was wounded when I removed his cloak and shirt to heal him, it was hard not to fixate on the shape of his body and lean muscles... It was also difficult to keep my thoughts from wandering when I had such a hot demon lying in my bed after I tended to him. 😅 Thankfully I had myself under control by the time he woke up...

Considering I was going through a second puberty at the time because of my human form, was simultaneously too young physically but too old mentally for any humans around, along with not having sex for over a decade when I used to have it practically all the time, and I killed most other demons I encountered in the Ningenkai due to their hostility... Hiei, well, ended up as the sole subject of my desires. 😅

I flirted quite heavily with him from the get-go, to which he initially just rolled his eyes at and assumed I was just messing with him. Though after some months went by, once he realized how serious I was- or perhaps it was when he started returning my desires- it was very amusing seeing him fighting to remain stoic when he was so clearly getting flustered. Hiei blushing so hard but acting pissed off to try combating his feelings is incredibly adorable. ♡

Though, ah, to be honest, when it came to realizing the romantic attraction I later developed for him, I was... not the sharpest about it. 😅 I've been under the assumption for all my life that I was incapable of developing romantic feelings (and I'm still not really sure how I fell for Hiei so hard and so easily). So when I was having clear signs of crushing on him, I simply just... didn't think much of it. I chocked up the giddiness I felt around him- and constant thoughts of when I'd see him next- to me simply having been incredibly lonely before we met. My nonsexual desires to be close I had figured was from my physical attraction mixing with lonliness and being touch starved. When you've never been romantically attracted to someone your whole life and assume you never will, it makes it a little hard to spot if you actually develop a crush on someone. 😅

Funnily enough... my mother realized I had feelings for Hiei before I did. Apparently she had long suspected I may have been gay, considering I always attracted a lot of girls in my class but never pursued anything with them. Which... the situation was more complicated than that- what with my true age, demon energy, and aromanticism- but she ultimately wasn't wrong about me preferring men.

It was I believe around half a year after I met Hiei when my mother had sat me down one day to talk. She told me that there's nothing that could make her stop loving me, that I don't have to hide anything from her, and asked me if there's anything I wanted to share... which made me freeze in place, because I thought she might've somehow figured out I was a demon, and I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that she could be so calm and accepting if that was the case. I cautiously asked her if there's something she thought I was hiding, to which she sighed and gave me one of her usual loving smiles as she brushed some hair from my face, then left her hand on my shoulder. She said she saw the way I am with Hiei, and that I don't need to hide it if we're dating because she has no problem with me being gay... To say I was shocked at that turn would be an understatement, frankly. I told her that we weren't dating- though, with quite a bit of stuttering as this completely blindsided me.

Though, it was nothing in comparison to when she asked next if it was a crush then, and suddenly things in my mind started to click and... lord, I can only imagine how red my face must have suddenly gotten. And judging from the way my mother started giggling, it must have been quite a bit. Even in front of her, it's not often I lose my composure like that. 😅

I couldn't believe I never realized before then that I had developed a crush on Hiei- in hindsight it was so unbelievably obvious. And I also couldn't believe that out of everyone in all of the worlds, the one exception I have to my aromanticism is someone that's even worse with feelings than I am. It was already hard enough to get Hiei to simply concede to us being friends, so with this new knowledge of my attraction, it was... a challenge threading the needle between displaying this unfamiliar interest of mine, while also trying not to come on too strongly with genuine emotions and make Hiei run for the hills. It wasn't until a while after our heist in the Reikai that we finally started dating.