#I'm running on lack of cc but anyways

[simmingonthelow]

Here's my take on @kissyck's Base sim challenge!

[c6jpg]

this wriothesley hyperfridge gameplay OUGHHHHHHH HE LOOKS SO FUN I CAN'T WAIT

[nonsensical-pixels]

THE LINDASIMS2 RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION: PART FIVE

no more disclaimers im shit tired of this. no more proper grammar too, you get nonsensical grammar and vocabulary now.

this an alert to everyone who's keeping up with my lindasims2 research saga and might not see my reply to her because they have her blocked:

linda is blaming her 'leaker', @caramelsmiles12, who used to run the nomoresims2patreon account, corrupted her cc. because of course she is.

she even made a comparison between the files! how lovely! and for her, of course there's no benefit to releasing corrupted cc to a patron she knows is leaking it, right? right??

major /s

from what i can see, linda's corrupted files follow a pattern. they were all released almost around the same time...

seems kinda fishy for the leaker to corrupt ONLY those files and not the rest of it, right?

here's linda's defence for her not possibly being the one who corrupted the files. well, actually, linda, you DO somewhat know your way around more than just clothing. because you made nail files, and objects, which use 3DID reference files and OBJDs and a whole lot more. but that's not even half of it, because it's so easy for you to merge a pollination technician into a sim file with simpe by extracting and importing files, or just using lazyduchess's cc merger! which, of course, existed at the time these files were released :]

yeah, thanks linda, i'm not paying THAT much to you to get 150k poly hairs. i guess you must've missed at least one of my posts, because while you can add plenty of stuff post-production to cc files and still have them function, you can't really change something's polycounts.

so, at the end of this, we have 2 options for who did these files so dirty: @lindasims2 herself, who has so much simpe knowledge and a hate for people who pirate her 'hardwork', or the person who paid linda to share her files with everyone else.

linda, of course, wants you to go for the leakers, who also have had their games corrupted. coincidence?

here's my hot take:

who would you rather believe: the paywaller who breaks people's TOUs and steals from others, refuses to lower their polycounts, and refuses to actually help fix the problems that THEIR LACK OF ADHERING TO EA'S TOS have caused...

or the person who helps to share stolen files FOR FREE at their own cost? to a public that for some reason, still blames them and has never thanked them for their efforts?

at the root cause of this issue, is linda. because as all of you know, it's illegal to paywall sims 2 custom content, which is why we're all trying to pirate it anyways :] thanks for making our lives harder in general, linda!

a reminder to NOT send any anon hate to linda or the person who leaked these files. because although this is dumblr, we're all going to try and be the bigger people and be civil here. no death threats, no personal insults, nothing, got it?

[cartoon-buffoon]

Random HC time with Toon Buffoon: The Cartoon Cat edition (technically The Cartoon Dog edition but they are tangent to each other)

Now awhile back Mr. Henderson made a list of canon monsters because he makes so many horrors he himself forgets some.

Now as you can see the list is a bit—just a wee smidge—dated over 3 years ago, almost 4 years ago to be exact as the date of the 11th of November 2020 shows. Now since it's listed separately I'm gonna assume The Cartoon Dog is a seperate entity from The Cartoon Cat yet the question mark is odd and implies it may or may not be canon?

(real quick: I'm gonna abbreviate Cartoon Cat as CC and Cartoon Dog as CD from here on out)

But assuming it IS canon I think the existence of CD kinda ruins CC's shtick. CC is an enigma that has only taken the form it currently has in order to latch onto the mortal plane in order to do whatever the hell it wants because it's a cosmic horror hiding behind the mask of a cartoon cat. That's about all we know about it—to my knowledge—yet still IMO the scary part about this is ya know, the entire lack of knowledge. We don't know what it is or where it came from, the only thing we do know about it is it's really fucking powerful and despite being so powerful it chooses to dwell in abandoned buildings and make people disappear who are unfortunate enough to stumble across it. The fear of the unknown is one of the scariest things to me and having CD be of the same species would kinda ruin this mystique because if there's two of them it messes up this "boogeyman" aesthetic CC has going for it.

Now just to preface—ya know—Mr. Henderson can come up with whatever lore he wants for his creatures and my opinion means fuck all because it's his world. He's the creator not me, I am but a peasant yelling on a bale of hay and if he says it's the same species as CC there's nothing I can do and that would be the hard cemented canon. That being said I just wanna share my personal head canon and idea of what CD could be while not ruining the thing CC has going for it. Now while I've seen a lot of cool ideas of what CD could be and his relation to CC with some people coming up with elaborate back stories for the two, or some just choosing to use the idea that CD is just CC disguised as a dog because why not really? CC can do whatever. I like to believe CD is a seperate entity and it's like one of those poison dart frogs using camouflage although a bit different. CD is similar to CC in the sense that it's a leech and latches onto this world, the only difference being it's a byproduct of CC. CD would be a leech that sucks on an already existing leech, it basically mimics CC's form (although ya know changes it's body so it stands out) yet it still looks close enough to the real thing that gives it leeway against other cryptids and monsters. Assuming CC is as strong as one could imagine it is, CD's mimicry would give it the benefit of looking like this powerful cryptid in order to avoid conflicts with other cryptids.

Now this isn't to discount it's power because I imagine if you saw it ya know, you're dead. No amount of running, screaming, praying or anything really would help. Your insides are gonna become your outsides, that's a fact and make peace with it because it's still a force to be reckoned with and no way in hell will you live to tell people what you saw, yet it still isn't as strong as CC at the end of the day. This idea is essentially a fucked up creature leeching off the fame and terror another fucked up creature causes yet doesn't step on the toes and maintains the original creature's status as a mystery.

Anyways stupid ramble over, I'm sorry and farewell.

[anachronistic-falsehood]

Hi Weird Question, but how many followers would you ballpark say you have gotten from posting about qsmp?

I ask this because Ive been on tumblr for a LONG while, I have run multiple fandom blogs and this is the worst follow to notes ratio I have ever gotten for a blog (it is relativity new as well though). I don't want to sound weird and complain about the number of followers I have, but of the 523 posts in my blog, 38 are original posts. I have 236 notes total from those 38. and zero followers. compared to when one of my other blogs was at this size I would have somewhere of a ballpark of 10ish especially with a few posts chilling way above the average of 6 notes

I feel like this could be an issue much like the issue pertaining to people not reblogging stuff, but also I may need to reevaluate the way im interacting with people on this site >_<.

that's kind of a hard question bc i was gaining followers from the trigun fandom very shortly before i started posting about qsmp, so there was a period of overlap, but i guess when i switched to posting primarily about qsmp i would say i've gained approx. 350-400 followers. i typically get anywhere between 100-1000 notes on any qsmp post i make (excluding liveblogging) and i am apparently a more popular blog because i write fanfiction and make analysis posts on occasion which has made me weirdly well known in some places of the fandom and that is terrifying i hate being perceived HELP

ANYWAY i think a better blog to use as an example would be when i had to use a new blog because this one was unfairly flagged for a couple weeks. i used a previously unused sideblog to liveblog and make posts on since posts on my main wouldn't show up in the main tags. i typically got a fair amount of notes, anywhere between 50 to 200 on each post, but i only ended up with maybe 4 or 5 followers on that blog (excluding mutuals i had advised to follow that blog as a backup in case my main went down forever [which it didn't thank fuck]).

honestly?? i assume the lack of following is because a lot of people in this fandom are very wary. qsmpblr likes to hail itself as better than twitter (and it is in some respects for sure, i'm not denying that), but it feels like everyone in this fandom has some kind of Opinion on Something at all times. there's always something to complain about or criticize about anything, whether it be the admins, an event, another cc's character, a cc themself, etc etc. if you follow a person you will be subjected to all of their opinions on every single issue that pops up, even if it's just a dismissal of whatever current discourse is making its way through the tag (and i'm guilty of this myself sometimes, i'm no angel here). there is not a single day that goes by without something negative crossing my dash regarding something that's going on with the smp. doesn't matter what it is, someone will have something to say about some kind of issue no matter what, and that shit gets tiring. sometimes it's better not to follow people lest you find yourself bombarded with opinions. that way you can still scroll your dash without worrying about seeing untagged discourse and infighting and criticism.

[rockethorse]

Get to know you: Sims Style

I was tagged by @goatskickin

Yippee! Talking about myself!!

Q: What’s your favorite Sims death?

Probably running with scissors. It's really just dying of fright (like when a ghost gets ya) but it was such an easy way to cheese the "defeat Death"/"be rescued from Death" Knowledge Sim Wants. Electrocution also feels kind of rare to me, though I'm sure it's far less rare than other deaths, and the yellow ghost is radical. Death by flies is also a classic.

Q: Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

I think I'm known as a Maxis Matchhead, and I do love MM, but it's not because I dislike realistic CC. I actually really like it when it's well-done and I respect realistic CC makers a bunch. When I first dipped into CC, I played a more semi-realistic game myself. I love how flexible and adaptable every Sims game is depending on what CC you load yourself up with. But, MM always has a special nostalgic place in my heart.

Q: Do you cheat your sims weight?

Only when I'm making a Sim to be a Townie or NPC or some other sort of character. If I'm doing regular gameplay, I won't use cheats, but I might put a Sim on an enforced pizza-and-cookies diet if I feel like my neighbourhood is severely lacking in minuscule body diversity.

Q: Do you move objects?

I literally can't play without it any more, lol. I'm always stunned when I pop in to a lot to "just quickly make a minor edit" and realise how soon I need to turn moveobjects on.

Q: Favorite Mod?

Hands-down, it's Shiftable Everything. It completely changed the way I decorate since not only is it less tedious than fiddling around with OMSPs but it allows lots to stay CC-Free and thus more easily shareable. I adore that mod lol, and buyable accessories + Nopke's walk-under spiral stairs mods for the same reason.

I also really like Phaenoh's holiday calendar (which I consider to be a mod, even though it's purely flavourtext and doesn't affect gameplay) and the version I use with modified holidays. It gives me mini goals to keep my gameplay exciting and I haven't taken it out of my game since I found it.

And lastly, it's not an exaggeration to say Meduza's mod to make hobby blogging increase social as well as fun made my week when it was shared. It may not be the most game-changing mod in the world, but it scratched an itch I had been holding in for DECADES.

Q: First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

I strongly remember my first - and, for a while, only - TS1 expansion pack was Superstar, and I hardly learned how to properly use a lick of it. I was young and TS1 was ridiculously hard for a sandbox game. But sooo many of that game's objects and functions and songs are instant nostalgia bait for me because of it, moreso than TS1 already is. (Also, like many it seems, I was never allowed to get Hot Date, LOL. I remember my mother promising I could get it when I turned 13 and then chickening out of that promise when the time came.)

I played without any TS2 EPs for an unnecessarily long time. A friend at school who also played TS2 mentioned something about Lifetime Aspirations and I had no idea what they meant, which was highly confusing to the both of us. I think my first Sims 2 EP was possibly University...? I remember the first time I got the "your teen can go to uni!" message I panicked and thought it meant right now, so I sent my poor Sim off to Young Adulthoot on, like, day 2 of teendom. The guy never got to let loose! Nowadays I don't let move my Sims off to college until they're on their final day of teendom anyway.

Q: Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

I always and still do pronounce it in my head as liv(ing). On the one hand, (a)live mode - as in, the game is no longer in stasis, and time has resumed - makes more sense and is probably what the devs intended. But in my defense, build and buy are both verbs, so to me, it makes sense that "live mode" is where you go after building and buying to live in the house that you just set up.

Q: Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Most of my favourite Sims tend to be born-in-game, so not really ones that I've "made"... I do like the townies I've made with the semi-randomised method, though. It was always hard not to keep them to play with myself, but so far none of them have had great chemistry with my Sims to become playables, LOL. I'm gonna have to say Iris Kopper will forever be special to me. (Not that the Koppers are done yet!)

Q: Have you made a simself?

I tend to make a Simself first in every new Sims game I play as a way to test the system, but I usually don't play them. I had a Simself running around in my old TS2 'hood as a Townie, and I let myself wander around unbothered in TS3 until "I" aged up into a hot pink minidress and I had to interfere.

Q: Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I like making MM black hair recolours because they're the easiest and soooo satisfying, but I think my favourite is brown, especially the more complex ones that have purple/blue cool undertones. It's always struck me as such a tasty mahogany treatment that bown hair usually doesn't get.

Q: Favorite EA hair?

Since there are so many to choose from, let's go by age group!

For EYAM Sims, it was hard to pass up the classic Rocker, but i think Caesar is a very classy handsome hairstyle that suits a wide variety of Sims, and it's nice to have been given the option by EA.

I've always really liked this TM hat-hair from TSS and the fact that it came with a matching hatless version too. I like teens having their own styles, I just wish EA had given it to us for TF Sims too.

For EYAF Sims it was a difficult skirmish at first - I've always had a soft spot for the silly pointy-ear hat that came with M&G, and the matching hatless hair it came with, but that's so similar to longpart from BV I also enjoy - but in the end I realised it was clear;

Sweep sweep. It's versatile, it's nicely modeled and textured, it can be sexy or professional, it's as gender as you want it to be, it's TREMENDOUS on Elders, and it reminds me of Sailor Uranus. What's not to love? Other than its lack of age options.

For TF, JUST LOOK AT THAT. How perfectly Y2K! The fact that it reminds me of Minako "PGSM" Aino is just an added bonus.

Combining CU into one tier - look at these. Look at how precious the little doggy face is. Augh.

And finally, for PU, the most perfectly darling hair in the entire game they knew they had to limit to toddlers or else nobody would ever bother to use anything else. No wonder we all immediately converted it for other ages. It's the perfect boho pigtail look. No notes, Maxis. (Wait, it was introduced in Nightlife?? Why? Whose baby is that on the dance floor?)

And an honourable mention for updo, which would be my favourite EYAM hair, if not for the fact it's technically an EYAF hair.

Q: Favorite life stage?

Probably teens, because they were such a fascinating introduction to me when I shifted from TS1 to TS2. Sims aging and passing away intrigued and terrified me all at once, but the unique middle-ground of autonomy vs. immaturity of TS2 teens must've resonated with me. They could have a job, but not a great one. They could date and go steady and make out, and it could be deathly serious to them, but they couldn't cross the line or get married or start a family. They could look after younger Sims and drive and drink (probably illegally) and buy things and run the household if need be, but they were still trapped with limited freedom or opportunities.

I know other games have given teens more agency and there are mods to do the same in TS2, but as a pre-teen who was just playing TS2 for the first time, it was a really perfect encapsulation of the middle-ground between adulthood and childhood and the excitement but frustration it brought.

I also really like Elders for similar reasons. In many ways, they often have more freedom than Adult Sims, but they can also be harder to play in other ways. Plus they get the short end of the stick in terms of content so I gotta cheer for them.

Q: Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I used to hate building (or at the very least, think I sucked at it) and was 100% dedicated to gameplay. Gameplay is still important to me, which is why I'll probably never move on from TS2, but these days I've really been enjoying building and decorating a lot more. It's also something I enjoy being able to do in TS4. Setting myself limitations like "CC Free" also adds interest to the challenge.

Q: Are you a CC creator?

Yep! Try to be at any rate, lol! It's interesting to see how I used to almost exclusively make build-buy content and now a lot of it is BodyShop CC.

Q: Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

Not on a private/personal scale. I have lots of people I recognise from Simblr who I chat with and reblog from frequently, and I think we have a good rapport, but I'm not around enough to really engage 1:1 with other Simmers like that. But I'm also really happy and proud to be a part of the little TS2 Simblr community and always smile when I recognise the same URLs and new posts popping up.

Q: Do you have any sims merch?

Other than physical copies of the games, not really! I've been meaning to invest in some fan-made merch like a pair of earrings or something. Any recommendations? (I also want that unofficial cookbook so bad.)

Q: Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No, but I keep thinking about it...

Q: How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I've always been a rotational player, whether it be a specific challenge or not. I think the most interesting change in my style has been my intentional choice to cut CC back as far as possible. It's really pushed me to not only embrace a Mega Maxis Match aesthetic but it's also encouraged me to get more creative with the content already in the games.

Q: Who’s your favorite CC creator?

If I listed out all my favourites I'd be here all day and then I'd forget someone and feel terrible. I'm so lucky to be around at the same time as so many incredible CC creators, builders, storytellers, and modders here on Simblr who still make for TS2, and trust me, if you're here still posting updates for TS2 in the year 202X, I see you and I love you and I'm sending you all the positive energy you could ever use.

As a CC creator, though, I'd say my biggest inspiration is @crispsandkerosene. Their textures, models, animations, and especially their eye for the Maxis Match aesthetic are everything I aspire to some day, especially in their authentic TS1 recreations.

Q: How long have you had Simblr?

Since 2011... wow.

Q: How do you edit your pictures?

With The GIMP mostly just to resize. If it's an important screencap I might edit lighting/saturation for clarity, or mess around for storytelling purposes, but mostly it's just to crop and resize, lol. You guys all have to put up with my game's borked lighting.

Q: What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

For TS1, I never had Makin Magic, so probably Pets. The animals themselves were fun but I was always transfixed by Old Town and gardening. Vacation is pretty close in my nostalgia, though.

For TS2 it's Bon Voyage. It's just such a jam-packed and well-thought-out EP, and you can tell it was Maxis's final love letter to the Sims franchise before they knew EA would put out their fire. Obviously I love Seasons and OFB as much as the next guy, but I think BV adds a surprising amount of replayability.

For TS3 it's 100% World Adventures. I love those gimmicky little tombs, lol. I always yearned for more life sim/time management elements to other exploration games, but I had never considered adding exploration/puzzle elements to a life sim instead. It's the perfect balance for me, lol; the tombs themselves may not be the most difficult puzzles, but having to manage your Sim's needs, finances, time, etc on top of those puzzles is exactly the kind of gameplay I was waiting for. (Why is the vacation EP basically my favourite for all these games?)

I don't have any TS4 EPs and I doubt I'll ever buy any, simply because I don't play the game enough, only decorate, but the one I'm most tempted by is the Tiny Living pack. I think I like the concept of it more than I like any of the objects it actually comes with, though, and technically I don't need an EP to make a tiny home.

Thanks for letting me ramble so much! For anyone who wants to do this, I add the following new questions:

What's your favourite in-game Sims food/meal?

What's your favourite supernatural life state?

What's your favourite way to grind for each skill?

If you haven't done it already then I tag @sixamese-simblr, @persimmonthusiast, @vegan-kaktus and @tvickiesims!

[animentality]

I've been doing baldur's gate 3 on tactician mode which isn't so bad most of the time, but can be brutal every once and a while.

But I had this really good team comp that's carried me through half the game.

I'm a warlock, so I'm the ranged spell caster although I sometimes use eldritch blast to push people away from me or teammates, or you know, go for those easy environmental kills.

I have Assassin Astarion who is a goddamn animal and whose sneak attacks and assassinate ability really fuck enemies up at range and up close. Plus i've given him all stealth and dexterity bonuses and equipment that does extra damage and makes use of dual wielding.

I also have Wyll, who I changed into a cleric. But he's a godly cleric because unlike shadowheart he can hit sacred flames and I've built him for healing duty. Plus spirit guardians is so fucking good. All Wyll has to do is bulldoze through enemies. Plus he has items that heal him when he heals.

Then I have Karlach, and I've made her an absolute beast, by giving her all movement and speed abilities, so there's nowhere she can't be. She also doesn't take opportunity attacks most of the time, has charger so she can move even further, and she has that awesome githyanki sword with some nasty damage modifiers.

But I was devastated the other day because I really wanted Halsin on the party.

So I had to say goodbye to wyll.

But I was seriously thinking about turning him into a cleric...and then I thought no.

No, let's see if a druid is as good as a cleric.

I think it is. Druids have a support/tank sort of role, and I loaded Halsin with all cc and area control abilities.

I admit that I cheese the fuck out of fights by simply not allowing the enemy to get close without struggling through fifty different obstacles.

Case in point:

But anyway.

That's my strat for tactician if anyone out there was interested in doing a tactician run just for fun.

Ranged spell caster, cleric or druid support/tank, DPS, and someone who just whales on everything.

My last campaign was similar. I was a sorceror, had Astarion again (of course), had Lae'zel on whaling duty, and had Karlach up until I had Halsin.

I was lacking in a healer but in challenge mode it's fine.

Anyway.

Long ramble that no one cares about but I'm having a good time with my personal challenge run.

It's ironically the run that I'm enjoying the story the most too.

[yinyuedijun]

this will just be my two cents for the gepard vs aventurine thing but i think the thing that makes aventurine better in an acheron team is his talent that gives allies with his shield 50 effect res, which lets you run aven as solo sustain (the only healer or shielder on the team) whereas with gepard you'll still need someone to free acheron from frozen/dominated/rampaging

also aven's shield is stackable and is not reliant on the ult (meaning you don't have to go for er rope) and you can also get the shield from when aven triggers follow up attacks

(just sent you a friend request in eu btw)

hehe thank u! I will accept when I log in :3c excited to be hsr friends!!!

also I wrote a WHOLE ESSAY in response to your thoughts I'm so sorry 😭 putting it below a cut:

I agree aventurine is overall better in an acheron team, and for me it's because of the ult rotations and dmg amplification, but in the context of general moc teams, I think a well-built gepard can compete with an e0 aventurine for most situations specifically in terms of sustain, assuming they both have around ~4K DEF. my gepard's shield is about as thick as aven's 200% shield, and he's usually fast enough to ult before my team takes significant damage. I agree though that shielding via skill is WAYYY more comfortable than ult, but if for example your DPS is named daniel heng imbibitor lunae then you can't be skilling too much anyway 😰 <- dhil main angst

this also might be because I have skill issues 💔 but I actually don't love the eff res mechanic on aventurine and you can usually cope with gepard's lack of it. even with cc bosses, gepard can usually solo sustain in my experience - his taunt with his LC is so high that he's always the one getting cc'd so my DPS is fine. this current moc 12 is the exception, but in the half where he can't solo sustain specifically because of crowd control, aventurine ALSO can't do it 💀💀💀 I think fu xuan and luocha are much better suited to cc situations, I wouldn't depend on aventurine for them unless you like to gamble (LOL)

tl;dr aventurine skippers you are valid 🙏 but all that being said. I hate playing gepard LMFAOAOA if aventurine hadn't come out my ass would be saving for huohuo rn 😔

[king-tower]

playing the sims on my laptop because i don't have access to my pc while i'm in europe. basically cc-less except for the absolute essentials. it runs so well ;-;

anyway i'm doing the Every Lot Challenge thang that James Turner is doing on YouTube because that man somehow makes ts4 look fun. lack of reshade is going to make it hard to produce screenshots but just know that i adore this sim even if she is 99% vanilla.

[bemtevis]

Yessss to everything you said!! Like it was the best book in the series, but I feel like maybe the focus on a certain kind of romance and the abundance of characters really led everything else to be sort of brushed aside or easily sorted out??

Struggling to put it into words but I think it boils down to cc having these cool concepts but just not delivering. One of the reasons the way Elias' death happened in choi was so pointless was because we didn't get to see Cordelia interact much with her father beforehand, it was just an oh no! he's dead! moment for her to feel sad about and cause conflict with James, when it could have really made Cordelia grapple with realisation that her father was not who she thought he was, and had her deal with that face to face. While handled a little better, the lack of mourning for Christopher really just exposes how his death was just there for the sake of it, and there was so much more that could have been explored, and emotions that could have been drawn out if she'd focused on the grief for him??

Other than mentioning that he has experience looking after drunk people because of his dad, and the little bit about not wanting to run away like his father, Alastair as far as I remember didn't really speak about his trauma and seems great by the end and,,, happy for him!! but would have liked to see his traumas talked about a little more and taken a little more seriously by the narrative tbh. Idk, as I write this I'm like maybe I'm being super picky with this one but I guess I will always want more Alastair content lol

Thomas' character is also just a giant example of cc underutilising what she's created, like you've presented this character and set up for him to be a little resentful of the one-dimensional way he's viewed as the kind one. That's so interesting!! Lean further into that and show that that's why he appreciates how Alastair used to speak his mind and stand up for himself at the academy, and use it to inform their relationship and Thomas' own personal growth! She tells us he's grown into himself more at the end but she doesn't fully explore it or show it. Would have liked to have seen more recognition of his talents with language as well but she literally seemed to gift his farsi skills to James lol

Also making everything about Charles' sexuality and having to come out felt really weird, as him wanting to stay in the closet is honestly the only thing I have sympathy for. And Ari and Charles being mentioned to be friends, we were robbed

And also can't believe no mentions of Thomas' tattoo throughout like it just seems a little weird considering there is some build up there of its emotional significance and link to Alastair?? Anyways chot was a good experience but there are just so many things cc seems to have forgot about, sorry for the rambles lol I really should just make my own post

I come across as so negative here lmao I genuinely really enjoyed the book

Managing that many characters, plus their individual relationships, is extremely difficult to pull of, and it's clear that CHOT fell short on many aspects. An easy way to fix the aftermath of Kit's death was just not to kill him! It was so unnecessary! Or at least spare us a few more paragraphs to grieve him properly, ffs.

On paper, I can see why his death (and Elias', as you said) would be impactful. But you can't just have something that big happen without building up to it and giving it a proper conclusion, which neither of them had! With the CHOI deaths specifically, it seemed obvious to be that CC wanted to kill some beloved characters but not any of the main ones. That's why she hit us in the head with the 'Italian Shadowhunter' thing; so we'd create a connection to her, but it didn't work! We barely knew Filomena, and Elias, and that lady who was nice to Thomas! It just doesn't work, and it was such a waste.

No, I totally agree! I don't remember any specific quotes, but it felt like every time Alastair mentioned his past, no one even acknowledged it. I don't expect a whole section where he goes to therapy or anything, but it'd would've been nice to hear Thomas say "you didn't deserve any of that, you're so strong but you shouldn't have had to be, you can rest now" instead of a thousandth Thomastair make out scene.

Thomas was so underutilized! Once again, I understand the whole book couldn't have been focused on him, but Matthew's reaction to him being in love with Alastair felt like such a cop out tbh. And an easy way to solve it would've been not to have Matthew be so bad to Alastair in the first place! He can still deflect his own guilt and hatred onto him, I know that's a part of his character (that was also brushed off), but maybe not treat him like the Devil himself. Thomas' annoyance with being 'the kind one' was completely forgotten, when it could've been one of the best arcs in the series.

Absolutely, yes! It's like CC forgot what her own character was like. Harassing and cornering Alastair? Disrespecting his boundaries? The fucking age gap? Charles' choice to stay closeted was the only thing I respected about him, and yet Clare's vendetta against closeted people continues. It's a pattern and it's not a great one.

And Thomas' tattoo, yeah! CC gave Thomastair way too many things (the tattoo, songwriting, Paris, farsi speaking, Alastair's hair, the list goes on) then realized she couldn't possibly fit it all in one book so she just abandoned most of it. Also, I really wish Thomas would've given Alastair one compliment throughout the book. His inner voice tells him to shut up when he's being cheesy, but I wish he would've let something slip and Alastair would've been glad because cheesy is exactly what he needs, okay! Someone read poetry to that boy!

KJfjskdfjsd I get you, I bitch a lot but it was legitimately the best book in the trilogy. Thank you for the ask!

[crowteeths]

I got Balder's Gate. Most my time has been spent on remaking my guy until he looks right. It's left me limping along in the starting bit, having only just gathered up some companions. That said these are my impressions so far; CC is fleshed out enough that the ways in which it lacks become much more glaringly obvious. Please let us edit characters after entering the game. There's so much inane stuff to click on and inspect and mess with. This is completely positive I love doing this shit hell yeah let me break things for no reason. Gale reads like a dragon age character. I think it's the combination of visual pun introduction + snark. Also, he keeps pvping the party with his spells. Lae'zel has no idea that she's the funniest character in the game so far. Shadowheart is interesting but she won't let me look at her mystical rubic's cube : ( Astarion is the most sopping wet pathetic beast I cannot believe so many people have told me he's their dream suave sexy man. This man reads like he plans every sentence and then doesn't know what to do when he runs out of script. I like the amount that I can just lie. I can just make shit up. Nobody can stop me doing this. It doesn't matter if they believe me or not, I'm doing it anyway. Gameplay is confusing as hell. I don't really understand when I can or cannot keep casting magic missile. Movement and the camera both are janky. However, I am having great fun with my tactic of cast grease in doorways. I bait the enemies into chasing me then when they hit the grease I cast fire on it so they go up in flames and then I keep shoving them back into it if they try to get out. Optimal gameplay, I'm sure. that's all for now!

[1-danid]

No cause why am I replaying this idea in my head with all my ocs and cc.

Imagine working in the palace, your mother is the housekeeper and you're the head maid or princess' lady in waiting. You've been working triple time to prove your dedication to your mother and the queen to ensure you become housekeeper like your family always has. Now your best friend the princess' personal guard has noticed your tired gaze and distant look, she's worried about you and after days, with your continued lack of self-regard, she confronts you about it. Thing is the two of you have always wanted to be more than friends, but the law forbade that and that meant your mother would too and while the princess shipped the both of you, you valued your mother's approval way more. Anyway, she confronts you whilst you're at the palace study/library. Her patrol has just ended and she's been given the night off by the princess’ herself, however you were not privy to that infomation. So when you bumped into her chest with a book in hand (imaging she’s like 6’0ft or something [my 5’0 ass really be looking at a giant]) you were certainly confused.

"What are you doing here? Nevermind that I must go and attend to the princess I have been gone for an hour. You should be guarding her door, not lottering in the libary." 

The stress in you voice was clear as you tried to walk past her to find the door only to huff in frustration when you found it locked. Wiping your hands across your dress as you calmed your quick temper turning to face her.

Voice steady you pestered her with a series of questions,

"Why did you lock the door? We need to attend to the princess. Look I love you but I can't lose my job because of you. Don't you have a partol to do or something? Do you even have the key? You're infurating sometimes you know that right."

The poor girl couldn't get a word in so to guide your silence she rasied the key, to your freedom above her 6'0ft of height.(Honsetly a meanie move) A smile on her face as she did so.

"I'm here to help you relax and more importantly rest. We're all worried about you, the princess ordered my to leave my partol and attend to you. She said that she was going to go to bed early so that you won't have to worry about her. And to answer your final question I do indeed have the key, if you want it you'll simply have to get it."

She finsihed with a smirk on her face as she wiggled the key way above your reach. Refusing to play her game you went back to the desk you were previously working at. Neither relaxing or resting as you previously hidden frown grew back on your face. At this your friend was upset, usually you'd be glad to be in the library, a smile never leaving your face. Sometimes you would even read the lastest ficitional piece to her, but instead you buried yourself in stress and responsiblity.

Now she wouldn't have this so your giant did the first thing that can to mind putting the key in her pouch she slowly and silently strode to you. Before you could react she grabs the book your reading and runs. This is where you lose it, instead of chasing her, you walked straight to the closed door. Searching your pockets for your library key, given to you by your mother with the Queen's approval.

You turnned and said 1 sentence with the powerful words,

"Goodbye *name*. I can't do this with you I need to focuss, I need to make her proud. I've moved on and grown up you should too.  I'll see you tommorow goodnight." 

With that you leave and the princess your dearst friend, who did not get an early night but watched the scene unfold from her fathers study, wondered if this was all her fault. And where things had all gone wrong for them to have lost you. 

So please tell me why am I imaging myself as the princess for my ocs and the lady in waating for my ccs. Please explain why.

[fincalinde]

What if Meng Yao had died taking down WRH? Plus points if his last words were something heartbreaking for Lan Xichen and Nie Minjue. Outwardly, it looks like everything is great if you hate JGY! He's dead, but he hasn't done any of JGS' dirty work and the shitshow that led to, he's now a martyr hero etc. But obviously things are going to not be great as JGY wasn't the root of all evil and JGS is still up and running.

The Nie and the Jin would have ended up at war, that's what would have happened.

Like, this is not even ambiguous. If JGY kills WRH and dies in the act, presumably because WRH gets in a retaliatory blow as he goes down, there is another war in the jianghu within a few years.

I don't think I'm going to win the plus points for heartbreaking last words, since LXC isn't present when JGY kills WRH and NMJ is unconscious/so out of it he doesn't witness the moment either, but maybe I can make up for that by pointing out that if JGY dies in the act of killing WRH then NMJ is going to come to and see them both dead and still think JGY is a traitor. Then LXC is going to arrive and have to explain things through his own grief.

But anyway. No JGY means no recruitment of XY to the Jin. It means less expert handling of the Jiang to undermine the JC-WWX relationship while WWX is in exile, and it also means JZX doesn't end up at Qiongqi Path. There's a sliver of opportunity here for the Twin Heroes to limp along for a while longer. Hurrah!

Except there's also no mitigating influence on the Jin-Nie conflict. JGS is going to press on with his thick-faced attempts to become Chief Cultivator. He's going to press on with his experiments in demonic cultivation and he's going to keep undermining JC and demonising (ha!) WWX. And it's all going to be done with a hell of a lot less finesse. Which is going to enrage NMJ further. NMJ thinks the Wenmants need to be taken down and he's not hugely interested in the internal politics of the Jiang, but he sees the Jin power grab and he hates it. And because he's NMJ he doesn't think about the most productive way to deal with that. He goes straight to yelling and waving his sabre around.

There's a key line (EXR translation, Chapter 106): "To this father of mine, I once had hopes as well. In the past, as long as it was his command, whether it be to betray Sect Leader Wen or protect Xue Yang or remove anyone who disagreed, no matter how foolish it was, how hated I'd be, I'd obey regardlessly."

NMJ is a massive thorn in JGS' side. NMJ is toast. But because JGS lacks JGY, he lacks the means to take out NMJ effectively and the result is that sooner or later tensions between the two sects are going to boil over. NMJ, almost incapable of nuance at the best of times, is degenerating further thanks to the exacerbation of the sabre spirit by several years of intense warfare. Cleansing can only do so much and buy him so much time—remember, the vast majority of his violent outbursts in canon are prior to being exposed to the piece blended with an extract from the Collection of Turmoil. This is a recipe for open conflict.

As for who wins that war, my money is on JGS. He can easily paint NMJ as the aggressor since he just has to hold his ground until NMJ makes the first move. JC is busy rebuilding the Jiang, and in this scenario while LXC is NMJ's friend he is not his sworn brother as the sworn brotherhood was proposed by LXC for JGY's sake. LXC also has a lot on his plate and would likely attempt to mediate rather than join any fighting. Remember, in this divergence the Lan are rebuilding without rivers of Jin gold!

For the majority of the other clans, while they won't be huge fans of JGS they are also trying to recover from a devastating war and won't be too enthusiastic about NMJ disturbing the peace. There's a bit of NPC discussion about this where they observe the same few people are competing to be CC and NMJ is the main obstacle for JGS to lock down the position. Even if it's a cold war rather than one with actual battles, the Jin even without JGY just have too much momentum and the fact is that NMJ is going to die in the near future and NHS is in no way equipped to continue his vendetta.

Of course JZX is still alive, but even if JGS pops his clogs within ten years or so, his son will pretty obviously make a terrible clan leader. JZX means well, but he has no idea what's going on around him. He is simply not up to the task, even though he's obviously preferable to JGS. But by the time JGS dies of dissipation or old age or whathaveyou, the task of straightening out the Jin is going to be even more gargantuan. And, as JGY himself rightly points out, WWX is still running around as a loose cannon about to go off at any moment. And when that situation blows up in everyone's faces, JZX might well still end up dead.

So that's what I think we'd end up with: the Nie led by an unprepared NHS, the Lan without financial backing for their rebuilding efforts, and the Jiang still mired in their own rebuilding and the WWX PR nightmare. JGS is going to end up as Chief Cultivator, just by far less elegant means, and there will be no one to take him down and extirpate corruption in the Jin and instate a watchtower programme to benefit remote and dangerous areas. The outlook is pretty bleak.

[krabmeat]

SNOWBALL FIGHT DOESN'T MATTER WHO OR WHAT I'M JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE

𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 - 𝚌𝚌!𝚓𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚡 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: cc!jschlatt

𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜: they/them

𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: yelling (not angry yelling though!), censored cursing

𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜: YOOO I GOTCHU BRO I GOTCHU!!! this fic is also meant to answer @dawnfallx 's ask as well!! thank you for requesting ALSO AYYYYEEEE I FINALLY POSTED A FIC YUHHHHH!!! ITS BEEN A WHILE-- ANYWAYS ENJOY!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s too f-cking cold to be walking, Y/n, Jesus Christ.”

“Oh really? How about you cry about it, then?”

Casual banter flows out between you and Schlatt, but for the most part it was just him complaining about how cold it was. The previous night it had snowed all night, leaving around 4 inches of snow dusting everything in sight. There wasn’t any important reason as to why you and him decided to go out, you were just really craving a snack from the convenience store and didn’t wanna go alone- hence why Schlatt is to your right on the sidewalk. 

“I hope that snack is worth it. I’m freezing my f-cking balls off.”

You roll your eyes at Schlatts off-handed remark along with what seems to be his millionth complaint about the cold. The snow on the ground has yours and Schlatts footprints indented into the powdery snow. By the looks of it, it seems that no one else wanted to go on an evening walk in the biting cold. 

“In fact, it was worth it! Plus, it’s not like you can even talk, you hypocrite. You bought sh-t too!”

Schlatt unzips his coat and shoves his bag of Baked Lays in, promptly zipping his coat back up. There’s a lump over his stomach where the bag of chips is. 

“I’ll talk all I want!”

Schlatt says, kicking the snow up and watching it fall as he walks past.

“Oh really? I don’t think you will. Not if I can help it, at least.”

By this time, Schlatt is already a couple feet in front of you- and therefore you are out of his view. 

“Yeah? What’re you gonna do about it, then? You gonna- WHAT THE FUCK!”

Schlatt pats off the snow from the back of his neck. He spins around to see a dent in the snow and you wipe your hands off on your coat. 

“Oh- oh okay so we’re playing like this now? Then you better start f-ckin running. Yknow what- I’ll even give you a head start! You’ve got 10 seconds.”

Schlatt starts slowly counting down, making direct eye contact with you as he crouches down and gathers up a snowball. Immediately you start running. You make sure you’re a good distance away from Schlatt, his counting getting louder the wider the distance between the two of you grows. 

“FOUR! THREE! TWO…”

You spot a wide tree and dive behind it, packing together as much snow as possible into balls. 

“ONE! WATCH YOUR F-CKING BACK, Y/N!”

You hear Schlatts bulky Timberlands walking through the snow. The crunching of his boots against the snow gives away his location, so you pick up two snowballs and throw them haphazardly in Schlatts general direction. Because of your lack of aim, the snowballs only land on his ankles, barely hindering him. He cackles, basking in your sorry attempt at hitting him. 

“That was a sh-t throw, Y/n! If you stop hiding then I can demonstrate what a good throw looks like!” 

His mocking words fill you with determination, your sights now set on destroying Schlatt in this damned snowball fight. Quick thinking leads you to stashing a few snowballs with you and sprinting to another tree. You stomp the rest of the snowballs before making a run for it to the tree you’ve deemed as adequate enough for cover. But the crunch of the snow under your boots gives you away immediately. Schlatt spins around and his snowballs rail into your side before you could get behind the tree. 

Schlatt cackles loudly, an evil and slightly unhinged edge is somewhere in his voice. 

“It’s over, Y/n! You’re DONE!”

As he makes his way towards you, you’ve gotta think quick. Even though he’s spotted you, his throws are out of range since you’ve taken cover behind the tree. You can hear just how far away Schlatt is to you, but you don’t have enough time to make enough snowballs to secure an escape. If you don’t win this, then there’s no escape. You lose the snowball fight completely. 

‘If I can’t make enough snowballs, then…’

A small pile of snow catches your eye and gives you an idea. You scoop up a bunch of snow in one of your arms and stand slowly. As Schlatts footsteps approach you, you circle around the tree as he is met with nothing, to his surprise, and you are met with the back of his coat, not to your surprise.

“Huh-? What in the- AAAH! HOLY F-CKING SH-T!”

Schlatt jumps up in surprise, the snow you stuffed into the back of his coat melting into his shirt. He grabs at his coat, desperately trying to get as much snow out as possible. He can’t seem to set aside the excruciating chill to catch up to you as you run away, laughing and yelling in victory.

“F-CK YOU, Y/N! THAT WAS A BULLSH-T MOVE”

You yell back to him, still running away, 

“HOW ABOUT YOU GET GOOD, LOSER!”

[waheelawhisperer]

Integrated Strategies Unit Review: Siege

Now that I've had some time to play the new game mode, I figured I'd share my thoughts on how various units performed. I'm not doing this to create any sort of tier list, nor am I trying to set the meta. I'm just reviewing the units I've used based on the criteria I set out when I posted my initial impressions. There are people with larger brains than mine who can figure out the meta much faster than I will, nor am I an expert on Integrated Strategies, so I'm just taking the chance to use units I like.

I'll be rating operators purely on the strength of their base kits rather than taking into account any synergy with items. This game mode is such a crapshoot that you can't reliably supplement your units with specific relics most of the time anyway, and an individual operator's effectiveness can vary wildly based on the contents of your inventory. I will consider each operator's Versatility, Self-Sufficiency, Dependency Upon Promotion, Sustain, Crowd Control/Utility, Range, Cost, and Boss-Killing Capability and assign each category a score of Poor, Adequate, Good, or Excellent before giving the operator an overall score.

Let's start with one of my old favorites, Siege. Saber Lion is the reason I started playing this game, and though Margaret Nearl has supplanted her at the top of my list of favorite units and the Vanguard meta in the main game isn't as friendly to her as it is to Bagpipe and the flagbearers, Siege is still very fun to use and has proven to be effective in the new game mode.

Versatility: Excellent. Siege is remarkably versatile for a Vanguard, with three solid skills that offer different things to a team. You'll probably get more use out of her S2 than anything else, since that combines high damage output with the ability to generate DP, but S1 has its uses on certain maps where positioning melee units to attack the enemies consistently is annoying and you just need DP to get your damage-dealers and medics out, and S3 lets her play the role of a Guard at need. Being able to flex roles is very valuable in a role where basically everything is a crapshoot, so Siege's adaptability is very nice.

Self-sufficiency: Good. Siege doesn't need a whole lot of help to do her job. Her high stats for a Vanguard let her serve as an early-game frontline while you build up your squad. Keep her HP topped off and she'll keep generating DP or caving in the skulls of particularly dangerous enemies.

Dependency Upon Promotion: Excellent. Siege benefits from access to her third skill and any masteries, but she doesn't need it. If you just need her to pump out DP, she'll do that just fine at E1. She benefits from access to additional stats

Sustain: Poor. Siege lacks any form of sustain and will require a healer in the long run.

Crowd Control/Utility: Good. It's not as reliable as some others, but a 40% chance to stun is nothing to sneeze at and can be layered on top of other CC if necessary. Her passive also gives a small stat buff to other Vanguards, which can be nice if you're running several of them.

Range: Poor. Siege is a melee unit and cannot attack aerial units.

Cost: Poor. Siege is a six-star unit, which means just recruiting her onto your team costs 6 Hope, and it's another 3 if you want to promote her.

Boss-Killing: Good. She's nowhere near as impressive as operators like Surtr or Schwarz, but Siege can serve as a boss-killer in a pinch with S3. The multiplier on that skill is absolutely massive, and if you give her a buff or two and let her go to town, she can take beefy enemies apart surprisingly quickly.

Overall: Good. If you're playing purely to maximize effectiveness and have an extensive roster, Siege is unlikely to ever be your optimal pick, but she's an interesting Vanguard and will pull her weight. I'll admit I have a soft spot for her, but I've been enjoying incorporating her into my team during my IS runs.

[offtorivendell]

Skincare routine?? I know some of it, but I want all the deets

To be fair it's not really interesting. It's more a very long and convoluted story haha, but I'll be brief¹ ish².

TL,DR: acne + sensitive skin is a fun combo, and less is more, imo.

I was wrong.

Very wrong.

I've always had sensitive skin, but adult/cystic acne hit me hard after I changed my birth control in the second half of my 20s. Most acne products I tried were too harsh on my skin - I've reacted badly even to "sensitive" products and had to run back to the makeup shop after ten minutes for a wipe to remove whatever it was I'd tried and still ended up with a layer or two of skin burnt off and bumps all over my face for a few weeks - so while the benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid etc may have worked for others, for me they just destroyed my moisture barrier and left me with acne AND extremely irritated skin -> worse acne than I had to begin with.

After a year, I went to a dermatologist - cystic acne isn't just a knock to your self esteem, it can actually hurt - and the topical clindamycin helped a bit, but it wasn't enough. The oral antibiotics I was prescribed just made me vomit (hooray, new-found allergy) and the differin gel made me peel like crazy, as we've established my skin had no moisture barrier left.

Eventually, after maybe another year, I tried one of those online prescription delivery services for skin concerns, because I was desperate and figured why the fuck not? I couldn't even wear scarves in winter because they hurt the cysts, and I couldn't cover the acne with makeup, because it just highlighted everything and made my face look ten times worse. I'd tried everything else, nothing worked, and I was miserable.

The prescription worked.

Honestly I cried at one point, I was so relieved. When you have awful cystic acne, you feel gross (or I did, anyway), as if you are being judged for a lack of hygiene when you probably put more effort into keeping your skin clean than most people out there. 😅 It took a wee bit over 6 months, but it eventually cleared up by about 90% (the last 10% healed as the scarring and red marks etc faded). Obviously cystic acne is far from the worst thing out there, but it's still not fun, and some of the looks and questions from strangers - "have you tried drinking ACV?!" - get old quickly.

So, what worked for me back then?

A super duper gentle face wash, no exfoliants or anything else fancy.

The cream I was prescribed was really gentle, too, with small doses of clindamycin, azelaic acid and zinc pyrithione. Once a day.

A light moisturiser over summer, with SPF, or a richer moisturiser over winter, also with SPF.

What works for me now, a few years later?

I still use a gentle face wash - 'La Roche Posay hydrating gentle cleanser' - once a day (or twice if I'm wearing makeup). If not, I use a microfiber towel and water to wash my face before bed. As much as I'd love to steam myself in the shower, too much washing irritates my face in the long run.

I tried a slightly different formulation from the same prescription service for 6 months, with retinol instead, but I was always slightly peeling, my skin never got used to it, so I'm back on the original formula, once a day, and my skin is still clear barring the occasional hormonal pimple.

Over winter I'll add in a serum to boost the hyaluronic acid, because I get very dry very quickly. I really like the 'Intraceuticals' brand, though they aren't cheap, but one bottle lasts me 6 ish months, so it's not awful and I'm happy to splurge.

Currently liking 'The Ordinary Natural Moisturising Factors + HA' over summer, or 'Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre' for winter.

Neither of those moisturisers have SPF, so I use IT Cosmetics CC cream with SPF 50+ for the day and/or Bare Minerals SPF 25 year round, because when you grow up in Australia you learn not to fuck with sun exposure. If I need a normal/untinted sunblock for my face, 'Cancer Council' brand for sensitive skin is good (and I use their regular mineral sunblock for the rest of my body, too). If I'm going out at night, I use a Charlotte Tilbury foundation, which doesn't have any SPF but I still love it. I've been okay with other mineral sunblocks, but some of them leave a white cast even on my pale skin, which isn't ideal.

I tried 'Dr Dennis Gross's Alpha Beta Exfoliating Body Treatment' wipes - I think we spoke about them a while back? 😅 - and they're good! A bit pricey, but luckily I don't need to use them constantly. Still, bacne sucks over summer.

It's not skincare, but skincare adjacent: in terms of makeup, I don't wear a lot, but I like Glossier (mascara, brows and blush cream), Charlotte Tilbury (foundation, eye shadow, blush powder, bronzer, mascara and lippy), Bare Minerals (mineral veil finishing powder and eye shadow), Stila (colour correcting primer and eyeliner). And paw paw balm for lips, of course lol. I tend not to be all that adventurous once I've found something that works, for obvious reasons.

So basically, I do the following:

AM

Wash/cleanse

+ HA serum in winter

Moisturiser + sunblock (then maybe makeup)

PM

Wash/cleanse

Prescription cream, + HA serum in winter

Moisturiser only

So yeah, no 27 step beauty regimen for me, because firstly I can't be arsed, and secondly, chances are I'd react to something and spend a month babying my skin back to baseline. I'd love to be one of those people who can use all natural skincare or try almost anything once, but unfortunately it never works.

Stay tuned for me spending my time and money figuring out how to fight the inevitable fine lines and wrinkles without retinol. 😂

Weirdly specific asks.