#and then sometimes I'm the person posting on a Sunday! feels great

[searchingforserendipity25]

I do love that Sunday vibe when my inbox ticks away with new ao3 updates, but only when I'm looking away. Life-saving on those intolerable slow Sundays and a nice respite during busy Sundays. Win-win. And the knowledge that there are people motivated enough to write, edit, and post (on a Sunday!) is the creative equivalent of watching people walk their dogs out of the windows of an empty house sometimes. Life is out there! Reassuring.

[pubbamoon]

Sun signs and your core identity

Hey! It's been a time for the Western astrology, right? I've been thinking about it for a couple of days. This next post is going to be about the Sun in signs. The Sun is the most important planet in Western astrology and it represents our zodiac sign. It can also represents our identity, who we are outside, our external world, what makes us seen or shine, how we attract attention, this and that. Hope you'll find it interesting. It's Sunday, the Sun-ruled day, so I think I couldn't choose better day for this post. Take is as it resonates and leave the rest, as you already know. Why am I even talking about it? Anyway, let's just get into the topic!

Sun in Aries: Well, you may attract attention by just being yourself. Aries rules over the 1st house of self, personality and body, so you are someone who has a strong personality and are mostly authentic. The Sun is exalted in this sign, which is a great placement for this planet in general. You might be the type of person who always put yourself first over anyone and are really confident, unless you have some air or water placements in your chart. I'm about to stop it there, 'cause i don't want to tell you what to do. I know you don't like that, hahaha.

Sun in Taurus: I sense that you're calmed individuals and you don't like to rush things. Stubbornness is a characteristic which always reminds me of you, since Taurus is a fixed earth sign, which goes hand in hand. You may also like expansive and luxurious things which are mostly related to drink and food. Taurus is being ruled by Venus which represents pleasure, so you might be hedonistic and seek for pleasurable moments. You might even be lazy sometimes with this placement, but it depends on other natal placements of yours. You just seem to be normal people who like when things are going as they should do.

Sun in Gemini: This placement tells me that you're communicative and like to discuss about everything. Mercury is a planet of communication and intellect, so you might be extremely smart too. Mercury also represents controversy, so you might say things which aren't that comfortable to the average people. Other people like your presence and it's easy for you to make friends with everyone, sine Gemini is the air sign. You're father might be communicative as well. You might also be duplicitous, say one thing and then do another thing, 'cause Gemini is a dual sign represented by the twins. Or you're just versatile in general. It really depends.

Sun in Cancer: You might be naturally sensitive and emotional is what I'm getting. You're someone who is inclined into family, nostalgia and you might share love to your own home and land. The 4th house is associated with the home and childhood after all. You may be a kind of person who rules over your own family or simply a provider for your partner or any other person, since Cancer is the water and the cardinal sign at the same time. You might not be into a career that much or you might be worried about your career path. I feel like you may be a great parent because of your caring nature, but it depends on your Moon's placement too.

Sun in Leo: The Sun is in domicile and in its own sign in Leo, making a Leo sign the best placement for the Sun possible. Whatever you do, you may attract attention easily. Leo rules over the 5th house of creativity, stage, fun and children, so you might be seen by using your creative abilities, being into a spotlight, having fun or even act childish. There's also a potential for you to be a highly spiritual person, 'cause 5th house also represents spirituality. Creativity and spirituality usually goes together pretty well. This is an individuality placement at its finest, I would tell, and this is the moment where I see similarities between the Aries Sun and the Leo Sun.

Sun in Virgo: I don't know exactly why, but whenever I hear about this placement, it reminds me on anxiety at some point. Maybe you feel this way often. This sign is being ruled by Mercury, but here comes the analytical version of the Mercury. You might have a great sense of working and reading the people as they're open books. I sense that you may struggle with confidence because of your overthinking tendencies or you may be seen as nervous and anxious individual. You may encourage people to work and to not be loose all the time. I know one person I met online with this placement and this person is very judgmental and has a natural critical thinking, so you might behave like this person too. You may also have a great eye for details. Your father could be a doctor or work at any other health industry.

Sun in Libra: I find people with this placement really beautiful, which is kinda obvious, 'cause Libra is being ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty and love. You may be doing well while interacting with the other people, since Libra rules over the 7th house of other people and even the long-term relationships. The Sun is in fall in the sign of Libra, which is not a good placement for this planet, 'cause the Sun represents individuality, while Libra represents collectivity. But the positive side of this placement could be that you may have a good relationships with almost everyone and that you might be likeable a lot. Great placement for any artistic endeavors. It can also tell that your father might be a lawyer, but it doesn't have to the case with all of you.

Sun in Scorpio: You may naturally give off dark and mysterious vibes or you just present yourself this way. I feel that you could have deep emotions within you that need to be expressed. You may get successful after you do something what you're passionate about and maybe that's what makes you shine and seen. You might also be interested in criminalistics, criminology, forensic science or your father may work in these fields. This sign goes after Libra, so you may also hang out with others easily and you likely interact well with them. You attract attention while you stand up with your own power or when you embrace your mysteriousness. You may also be very intuitive, interested in occultic or have some kind of a hard life, 'cause the 8th house represents challenges, occultic and spirituality.

Sun in Sagittarius: This is such a fun placement to have. Whenever I was with these natives, I had such a good time. Having fun and partying is the best with these natives, for sure. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, which is the planet of luck, so you might be naturally lucky and express joy with this placement. You are naturally adventurous and you may find happiness in foreign lands, since the 9th house is related to travel and abroad places. Sagittarius and Jupiter both represent wisdom, so you might love having meaningful conversations about the meaning of life or about any other philosophies. There can also be a talent to teach other people. We can learn almost everything from you.

Sun in Capricorn: You guys could be very ambitious and career-oriented. This may be a great placement for entrepreneurship or for anything related to leadership. Whatever you do could be successful, but it will take time, 'cause Saturn represents hard work and time. Your life might become better when you get older, especially in your 30s, but we need to look for your Saturn's placements to clarify that. your teeth, bones and nose might look beautiful or may be prominent in your body, 'cause these body parts are ruled by Saturn, but I think people with Capricorn Rising may resonate more to this statement.

Sun in Aquarius: This may be one of the weirdest placement to describe it. Well, you may be one of the most unique people out there or you can be the most average people out there. You stand out from the crowd by you being different from the rest, no doubt about it. The Sun is in detriment position in Aquarius, which is not a great placement for this planet. Aquarius rules over the 11th house of friendships, masses of people, finances etc., so you get along with people well and you care about how much money you make. Let's be real, Aquarius people can be materialistic, 'cause they're also ruled by Saturn. Your father might be a founder of some kind of organization or he might have a lot of friends.

Sun in Pisces: You might be very creative, sensitive and intuitive with this placement. There's a natural inclination to spirituality and foreign countries, since Pisces is ruled by Jupiter and it rules over the 12th house of spirituality, foreign lands an even isolation. You could isolate yourself from people around you and you don't mind to be alone. I sense some kind of introvert and old soul energy here. You can adapt yourself into any situation or to any people, since Pisces is a mutable sign, which makes sense. You might be naturally wise from your age and you can share your knowledge to others. I also feel that you are altruistic and you love to help other people and give yourself to people unselfishly.

Well, that could be very everything for today. I really hope you enjoyed it and that you could resonate with these messages. You can ask me which topic you would like me to discuss on if you want to. You can also book a reading with me. The link is in the 'Masterlist' post. I'm sending lots of love to all of you. Keep rising and shining!

Best regards, Paky McGee

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/06/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; New Events calendar; A Safe Space Ship Event; Watch Parties; Reminders; Cast & Crew Sightings; Clowning; OLD SPICE!; Stats!; Market Research?; Articles; Personal Update; Love Notes; Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika

== New Events Calendar from SaveOFMDCrew! ==

More events happening throughout the week! Tumblr Post

Tomorrow is Cosplay Day! Show off your cosplay and OFMD-Inspired outfits with the hashtags: #WearFineThingsWell!

= New Upcoming Event: A Safe Space Ship! =

Sunday, February 11th - Star of India in San Diego, CA! Museum Hrs: 10 am - 5 PM 1/2 Price Tickets!

== Watch Parties ==

Today's WWDITS watch party went great!

Lots of people had fun pointing out our lovely characters from the show (Mads, Taika, Rhys)

It actually went so well the SaveOFMDCrew twitter got banned! It's back though! If you can, please be sure to follow their backup account in case it happens again.

== Reminders! ==

Muppet Treasure Island - Feb 7th 2024 4PM EST, 1PM PST, 9 PM GMT

Watch Party Hashtags:

#MuppetPirates

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

This was technically the 5th, but I don't think the excitement happened mostly today so I'm gonna throw it in! So Chaos Dad popped his head out yesterday just long enough to like Samba's BTS post on twitter and then also Samba and Rhys' little exchange.

And of course that triggered clowning since anytime Chaos Dad pops in we don our clown shoes. Thank you to @merryfinches for catching some of the discourse!

== Old Spice! ==

Well well well, we're back to polite menacing brands until they respond to us!

Looks like another Astroglide is starting up, the Crew is out there matching deodorants to characters. Thanks to @brainfugk for calling it out!

== Stats! Stats! Stats! ==

So close fam! Let's keep pushing that UK viewership if you have the time/spoons!

= Market Research Campaign about OFMD Potentially Going On? =

There's some speculation around the market research company YouGov potentially conducting research on OFMD. There's a big thread. Why is this important? Well this company works with streamers to measure viewership data, and if OFMD is in there...and someone's interested, that could be a good sign.

Some folks signed up, and if you're interested in doing so too, you can here.

== Articles ==

Some fun articles tonight, including Hard Drive again!

Joke Article: HBO Max Unveils Ominous New “Don’t Get Too Attached” Category

Our Flag Means Death and 9 Other Best TV Shows and Movies About Pirates

Our Flags Means Death fans get TV licence just to watch pirate show

== Personal Update ==

Some of you have heard, I got the COVID so I may be in and out over the next several days, I'm still trying to make sure I get to recaps though so don't worry! I'll let you know if I can't. Remember to mask up if you can and stay hydrated out there luvs!

== Love Notes ==

Alright lovelies. We've run out of Rhys videos for a few days so you're back to me being irritatingly loving at you! I saw this today on The Latest Kate's instagram and it reminded me of a few things I wanted to say. My brain is a bit covid-fogged so apologies if it's a bit wibbly wobbly.

We all struggle with so many little and big things in our lives. Whether it's mental health, self esteem, a physical ailment, love, lonliness, self-identity, family, friends, world conflicts, or anything, I could go on and on.

I know sometimes it feels like you are pushing so hard and you start making so much progress-- and then something, big or little stalls everything and you feel like you're having to start from scratch again.

I just want to send you a gentle reminder that progress isn't always linear. Just because you have lost momentum doesn't mean you've lost your progress. Every single situation is a learning opportunity and every time you run into a new hurdle, you learn from the last one.

You are wonderfully intelligent, kind, precious, complex people and no matter what you're dealing with, no matter how small or how big, you are moving forward and making headway bits at a time. Remember to be kind to yourself and don't beat yourself up for bad days.

We are so proud of you lovelies, remember that.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's gifs are courtesy of the glorious, brilliant, talented, ever-enabling @celluloidbroomcloset from her post over here.

Ok, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Goodnight all! <3

[nerdieforpedro]

Weekend Update 03/10/2024

Made it another week Nerdie.

That I did. I believe today is Sunday. Too much time in this chair. I think I slept in it before. Too many times.

Nerdie, don't you have a bed?

I do, I don't always make it there. I've usually zoned out and nodded off, the wake up when my neck hurts. 👀 I'm not always writing either, just thinking sometimes.

Couldn't you think in bed Nerdie?

I could, but I don't. That sounds like a good idea. My ideas aren't always great. But I did have a few this week.

My March Spring Prompts continue. I was able to do ten of them without repeating a character! 🤗 This upcoming week we'll see some Pedro peeps come back. Key words: gas station sushi, angst, oil and bath. Remember this is Nerdie 😎, it could be any and everything, but my prompts are mature and not explicit. I do write about some heavy subjects, fluff, a few giggles, and have some innuendos, but my main masterlist is 78% smut so just go there.

The WIP I’d been mentioning for the last few weeks or months (could be either) is finished and posted : Diddle your Dieter to Disco. My first Dieter smut actually which is hilarious at least to me. 🤣 The rest of his Masterlist is fairly fluffy. I would check the warnings on it, I put a lot in it. 👀

Part Two of my series The Lake Between Us is up. Make sure to read the warnings. Ezra introduction has a lot going on. It's an AU so he has both arms but that doesn't mean I didn't torture him other ways. 👀 I do love that ya'll love the taglist name "Taste-testers of Ezra's gumbo." 😆

I finally wrote the follow up to He told me his name called She made me feel. I think I enjoy mentally torturing Pedro characters at this point. Poor Din is so anxious and touch-starved. As always with Din = HANDS. A Nerdie staple. This is The Way.

Now for everyone's favorite (and mine): Fic recommendations!!! (Yes I did type and do a little yell, fanfics are serious. Pfft.) 😄

Confetti by @secretelephanttattoo (Marcus Pike x f reader) The Quiet Moments Collection

Adrift with you by @morallyinept (Frankie Morales x Jude OFC) The Prologue “I’m behind”’😭

A Real Man by @pedroshotwifey (Frankie Morales x female plus size reader) my request - stay self indulgent everyone! 🥰

Tick by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin (Frankie Morales x wife reader) The Mistress of Angst!

A Bronx Tale: Part Deux - A Chicago Tale by @justabovewater20 (SydCarmy)

Love’s a weed:  just ripe by @tinytinymenace (Frankie Morales x ofc - Ruby) Fruits are essential.

Second Chances part 2 by @pedroscurls (Marcus Pike x fem reader) Such a cute series 💕

Cigarettes After Sex by @immarocketman (Awesome artist I follow. 💜)

Promise by @criticallyacclaimedstranger (Ezra - dragon x fem reader) The only Pedro character that can pull off being a dragon. 🐉

Please Mister Please by @grogusmum (Joel Miller x fem reader) The fluff 🥹💕

Unconventional Location by @winniethewife (Abel Morales x fem reader)

Personal Shopper by @huntingingoodwill (Dieter Bravo x reader)

Enjoy the Silence by @strang3lov3 (Joel Miller x fem reader)

Spicy Ask #68 by @kewwrites (Din Djarin x reader) Say it with me: HANDS 🙌🏼!!!!

Reminder by @criticallyacclaimedstranger (Tim Rockford x fem reader) Sometimes good things happen in Tim’s office.

Forever Starts With You Masterlist (Frankie Morales x chubby fem reader) @criticallyacclaimedstranger I loved all three parts I read 🥰🥰 (A Good Start, A Strong Finish and A New Beginning). It looks like there more to their story so much more reading for me. ❤️

some good friend by @covetyou (Tim Rockford x fem reader) TIM DESERVED THIS ❤️ That is all.

Sanctuary by @thefrogdalorian (Din Djarin x GN reader) Din fluff forever. 🤗

We got your back chapter 1 by @softpascalito (Javier Peña x fem reader)

The Sweetest Melody by @noisynaia (Din Djarin x afab reader)

Rise by @sp00kymulderr (Joel Miller x afab reader) ALL THE FEELS 😭

Falling for you by @fhatbhabie (Joel Miller x plus size reader) Part One - The drama!

Just look at You by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin (Poe Dameron x fem reader) The Poe Dameron smut we deserve. 🍆

Chapter 3 - Here’s a health to the company… and one to my Boss… by @inept-the-magnificent (Tim Rockford x ofc Jane Nebbie) I just think about this series and I start giggling. Sunshine Nebbie and grump Tim - he is a super grump. But he is also me. 🤣

To the Flame chapter 6.5 by @pedroshotwifey (Dark Javier Peña x fem reader) So sweet out of context.

To the Flame chapter 9 by @pedroshotwifey (Dark Javier Peña x fem reader) The slow decent begins...we're just at the start of the ride. 😈

Between the Sheets by @saturn-rings-writes (William Tell x fem reader) Reminded me of an Isley Brothers song. I feel like we're headed toward that song. Please with this direction.

Hiccup by @morallyinept (Javier Gutierrez x fem reader) A whimpering Javi G. What an evening. 😘

A New Home by @charethcutestory02 (Frankie Morales x Benny Miller) Budding feelings. 🤗

Special shout out to Ms. Payday - Le Poet and lover of da words: @maggiemayhemnj They seek her out, have brunches and nightcaps. It's what all writers long for. She checked in on me along with @megamindsecretlair @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @magpiepills @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin and @lady-bess

I've been not as active - mainly due to work, school, and the insomnia. But still writing. 😄 priorities. lol

New appreciation for Javier Pena. well not new, re-newed. Maybe am working on a few things. None are good, none are final. Still need polishing. Also need to give Javi G's outline another look. I might...👀 have a chapter for him this week. I hope. @goodwithcheese was pleased with this. @undercoverpena was Luke-warm. I think she thought I was taking something, but if Javi P has shown us anything, sharing is caring. 😘

Stay well, sleep in your bed (unless you're planning not to) and be hydrated,

Love Nerdie 💕

[nervosims]

my gameplay rules

I constantly allude to the existence of gameplay rules, but I've never outright made a dedicated post about them... so here it is! I'll make a dedicated video for this at some point, but enjoy this lovely wall of text <3.

link to the dedicated video: here!

general gameplay style

I'm quite fast and loose with my gameplay. I'm primarily wants-based, but sometimes I want sims to do certain things so I'll just make it happen. If a sims doesn't roll a want to do certain things, however, then I won't make them do it (i.e going to college). If they roll the want to skip work, sometimes I'll let them do it 'cause it brings chaos.

So, basically, if anything sounds fun, I'll probably do it. I find it hard to stick to rules that are too strict, so most of mine are general rules of thumb. If I ever find myself getting bored, I rarely ever blame the game. The game is pretty kooky, so if nothing crazy is happening, it means I'm simply not allowing anything to happen.

I play with 7 day rounds! Using this mod that makes seasons 7 days long, I just play the whole week. Plus, any holidays I may want my sims to celebrate will be on the Sunday!

🧓 aging and death

Marticore has a great video on Sims 2's aging system, so I pretty much abide by that. Aging sims up when they receive that one day until their birthday notification. I use the Nice Lifespan mod, which adds a bunch of days and makes things make a bit more sense. I also edited the mod to age them up at midnight (because 6pm aging makes no sense).

Because my lifespan is so much longer, I recently started playing with slower skilling all-around. Using the 6-hr version of this mod.

Also, a higher a witch/warlock's alignment is, the longer they live (with the help of BO's slow aging controller). That's why Olive is still very much alive in my game, she's max alignment so she ages once a week.

When a sim is nearing death, I keep in mind inheritance. I use SimNopke's Inventory Inheritance to give away any stray items to their next of kin. If the sims owns a house, then the ownership goes to the child with the highest relationship. If the sims doesn't have any kids, then it goes to their spouse. If they aren't married, it goes to a very close friend. If they don't meet any of those requirements (bro how?!), then I sell the house and give the money to the orphanage.

I also really like playing with trans sims! I'm nonbinary myself so I need to project, obviously <3. So I roll a 5% chance of transing their gender... as a little treat. I'm still in the process of figuring out this mod, that'll let me have the memory of transitioning.

Death is also final in my game (with some extreme caveats). So, sims can't get resurrected unless the sim resurrecting is lvl 10 paranormal, and max witch alignment. And, anyone who's besties with tha sim gets to resurrect a sim of their choice. It's sort of a punishment for letting a sim die.

🌠 aspiration and personality

Sophie the Puffin has an absolutely killer aspiration calculator. I calculate everyone's secondary aspiration, and usually set them. Though, this can change depending on how I'm feeling. If I feel like it doesn't suit them, then I simply just won't set it.

I use the aspiration calculator to age up sims from child to teen as well! Using this interest age mod, it allow child sims to have more varied interests. I kinda stick to their secondary aspirations, because I can't be bothered to change it.

💼 career, education, and finances

I tried using Edukashun is Gud and… it just doesn’t make sense that I can’t be a Lvl 10 Criminal because I don’t have a degree. Like, that’s so silly. So I use Doctors Need Degrees that’s way more detailed. 

Unless a sim wants to go to college, I won’t make them go. They need to roll the want on their birthday (or the day before). Once they do roll that want, I note down the day they moved out and play the family as normal. I play a whole round before I move the sims back in, to simulate time passing while they were in college. College is free, because you should never pay for education, but accommodation isn’t so sims will probably need to take out loans (4% interest rate)  to pay for bills and the like. If my sims don’t want to pass the year, they won’t (but if they roll a fear of failure, they can pass). I just play it by ear.

Of course, semester changes is used… I’m not a lunatic.

No 20k handouts is an absolute godsend, so that’s an absolute must for me. Usually, graduates move out into apartments, but with the Tenancy and Landlord mod by Monique, I can have them rent out a house. This is what I’ve currently been doing with my La Fiesta Tech grads.

Child support is also a thing! It’s super handy, and also adds some challenge to managing finances.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family

Romance sims have a 35% of giving their child up for adoption (or giving their child to their partner). They don’t wanna get bogged down with responsibilities! Similarly, they can’t try for baby (unless secondary family). Unless they roll a fear for having a baby, I won’t put them on birth control. And I’ll only take them off of birth control when they roll a want to have a child. If they roll this fear while pregnant, I terminate the pregnancy (1st trimester only).

I also nabbed this rule from a reddit thread:

Though, I’ll still give the child away, family sim or not. I think it’s pretty realistic to feel in over your head with something as major as a child.

Getting your child taken away is also harder in my game, because I play with kids and pets unattended. You actively need to be evil for your kid to be taken away.

Aliens can impregnate/be impregnated regardless of the situation. They’re aliens! Don’t think about it!

I don’t have a hard and fast rule for number of children permitted (how dystopian), but I have a general rule of thumb. A romance/pleasure sim won’t want to have 3 kids probably, so 1 or 2 is alright.

No super fertility because I love my life! And I play with a quads mod, so I truly do not need it.

And if a gay/infertile couple want a genetic child, they need to either be lvl 10 of the science career (or be best friends with someone who is).

💞 romance

ACR my beloved &lt;3. And romantic standards! I find ACR makes everyone horny freaks, so having romantic standards adds some challenge. Plus, it makes it much harder to just force a relationship. I don’t play with teen/adult romance — nor do I play with teen pregnancy. There’s no rush to have kids! They have the rest of their lives.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Anyway hopefully this adds some context to what I’m thinking of when I play the game. Maybe you’ll adopt some of these rules too? Maybe I’ll add some more? I’ll be sure to update when I do!

[jedidryad]

Six Sentence Sunday: Conversations that should have happened.

I don't do this particular tradition much. I have enough trouble managing WIP Wednesdays, and I'm pretty sure this segment is more than six sentences so I'm messing with the tradition as I attempt it which might be poor form.

While working on this Mara memoir, I have sometimes found my brain wants the story to go in a different direction than canon allows. Some of these imagined sequences can turn into other "Luke and Mara get together stories" and some of them don't really merit that but still demand to be typed into a doc in black and white so I can stare at them and think of how different canon would have gone if the conversation had happened. This one is a brief snippet from a far more rambling discussion that might have happened if, instead of scolding and abandoning Mara after Kyp stole her ship on her first night at the academy, Luke had the insight to pull back after his outburst and ask Corran to escort Mara to his office and get her a cup of tea. If he had promised to meet her there after he calms the students and does post-Kyp damage control.

Maybe something like this could have happened...

Mara glanced up from the cup of elba she’d been holding in a death grip.

Luke stood in the doorway, robe hanging off his shoulders. His white sleep clothes made him look less imposing but also reminded Mara of just how good he had looked in an undertunic on Myrkr

He hesitated at her baleful expression but didn’t let her continued silence deter him. He entered his office, and sat down in the chair next to hers rather than circling around to his desk.

“I thought when I sensed your emotions that it was a…” he paused, clearly choosing his words carefully, “more the sort of danger that meant everyone needed to evacuate,  instead of something more personal.”

“So you sounded the alarm.”

“Yeah. and then I had to come up with some sort of explanation…”

“I embarrassed you.”

“I embarrassed me, Mara.” He sighed, “I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I’m not really feeling much like a confident Jedi these days.”

“Great,” she muttered, “Karrde sent me here because he thought a confident Jedi could help  me with my mess. Now what’ll I do?”

Luke’s gaze dropped to the floor, his shoulders drooping. He seemed  to fold in on himself.

Mara grimaced and set her mug on the small table between them: “Okay, not funny then.”

He glanced up at her, clearly trying to read her gaze from under the hair that was now falling into his eyes.

“You were trying to be funny?”

“I’m not my best self right now, Skywalker.”

“Neither am I.”

“Great."

“The whole galaxy knows what’s wrong with me. What’s up with you?”

“They don’t." She picked up her mug again and tried to let the warmth soak into her, "they really don’t. No one who didn’t sense you had any idea.”

“You sensed it?”

She nodded: “You and Kyle took a dip at the same time. I was with him. I sensed you.”

“I wish you hadn’t.”

“Why is that? You want to be some all-powerful master?”

He snorted ruefully.

“No, but I didn't particularly want to lose your respect.”

“Skywalker, I served a Sith Master for my entire childhood. Do you think slipping for a little while would be enough to lose my respect?”

“I wasn’t sure. Master Yoda said ‘if once you start down that dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny’.”

"And he never did anything wrong?"

He smiled. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

“You are?”

“I meant it when I said it earlier.”

Mara took a deep breath, “I don’t think I’m in any state to train to become a Jedi.”

He looked at her for a moment.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

“Sure, it’s not like we can fly anywhere.”

[wildflowerteas]

I HAVE BEEN FREED!!!!

oh.my.goodness.The exams I've been fretting over for almost two years are finally over, and I am just so happy I was able to reach my personal goal of reading TSP after they were done, and damn, it was so worth it!! TSP I HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED AT MY DESTINATION😆

...28,12 for the ask game.

Have a great day(or night)!

CONGRATULATIONS Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!! I know you were really stressing out about them and working super super hard I'm so proud of you. I hope they went well!! That post-exam emptiness feeling is so distinct, i hope you're filling it with lots of fun things and doing what you love now that you're free :) <3

Also I can't believe you jumped to TSP 😭 !!!!!!!!! I hope you enjoyed it >:) I'm starting my writing for the next chapter tomorrow and I'm super nervous about it.

28. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

That fully depends on where I'm at in my process. Back during spring semester, I'd sometimes get a whole chapter done friday/saturday, and spend the rest of my weekend editing. but as I got busier and busier, i averaged about 5k a day? maybe? ish? when I was especially swamped ( and i feel so bad about this ) it looked more like 0k Friday, 2k Saturday ( Saturdays are for chores and rotting in bed ) and getting like 7k done on Sunday between the hours of 5 am and 3 pm.

12. how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

i don't really know, honestly. all of my original stuff--my poetry, ocs, and whatnot--i've kept pretty close to my chest and not shared them with other people so I'm not really used to getting support or feedback. I don't really know how i feel about feedback, especially unwarranted feedback, but the support I've gotten really means the world. it's made the experience of writing a lot less lonely, somehow

[voylitscope]

Stucky Recs: Timeline Jumping, Time Loops, and Alternate Selves

My birthday is this Sunday, so I thought I'd celebrate by sharing some fic recs. I'd like to do a series of these highly themed rec lists, and my birthday week seemed like an ideal week to get started.

So: twelve fics I love that play with time. (I realized I was making this that three of these fics are, at least partially, also Shrinkyclinks fics. Because, you know, time travel. Bonus?)

Note: As part of my personal campaign to combat the persistent idea that every great fic in this fandom was written in 2015, I'm now marking recs of fics written post-2016 and recs of fics written post-Endgame.

Timeline jumping

🌙 After You're Gone | SD_Ryan | Explicit | 7,229 words

A timeline jumping fic that is also both a post-TWS recovery fic and a shrinkyclinks fic. Do you want to read about a fiery pre-war Steve popping up at Avengers tower to the surprise of everyone, including a sad-eyed post-TWS Bucky? Of course you do.

Quote:

He pulls Steve close, palm pressed to the base of knobby spine, rolling them until Steve is on top. He likes the slight weight of him, the easy way Steve spreads his legs around his hips, hands cradling his face while they kiss. He’s got the theory down but doesn’t remember specifics, and he wants Steve to run this show.

The man doesn’t disappoint.

Steve kisses like he’s leading an orchestra, all confident grace and subtle notes of whimsey, playing Barnes in a way that suits them both. Barnes even learns to follow along. It comes back to him in surprising flashes, the way Steve keens when Barnes sucks on his bottom lip, the soft groan drawn out with a scratch of stubble against Steve’s cheek. Muscle memory. History built anew.

🌙Cheat Days | Chicklette | Mature | 2,033 words | *Post-2016 Rec*

A quick read that might make you cry. Perfect for times you're already having feelings about Steve being lonely waking up in a new century.

Summary:

Other times it’s something else  - something more cruel – a joke that he knows Bucky would find hilarious, a movie that Bucky would have loved, a book.  Sometimes Steve is just so goddamned lonely that he feels like he’s going to come out of his skin.  Then he has what he calls a cheat day.  A day when he closes up his apartment and uses the coin, and sighs into Bucky’s embrace. 

🌙Strangers in the Street | Crinklefries | Teen | 15,304 words | **Post-Endgame Recs** |

This fic is so romantic that I don't really know how to handle it. Featuring a Bucky who is doing pretty okay, a Bucky who even makes it back to Brooklyn after the war, but also a Bucky who is achingly lonely — except during those brief moments in time, every five years, when Steve pops into his life.

Quote:

Steve says nothing. He lifts both dog tags to his mouth, presses a kiss or a blessing to them, and tucks them back against Bucky’s chest.

Steve leans forward to kiss him again and this time, he hasn’t even pulled away before Bucky is left aching for more.

Between one breath and the other, Steve leaves him. Bucky doesn’t see him go, but he feels him disappear. When he opens his eyes, it’s just him on his cot, with the lamp flickering in the empty quiet of his tent. Bucky takes in a hard, painful breath, and then, with devastation, presses his palms into his eyes until, eventually, he stops feeling Steve’s hands carefully worshipping his tired body.

🌙the time that's slipping | its_tortle @its-tortle | Teen | 4,585 words | **Post-Endgame Recs**

Listen, I just really think we all, as a fandom, need to read about Steve going back in time to talk to his mom about everything that's happened to him. I know I needed this fic in my life. Steve and Sarah's relationship in this fic is gorgeous and perfect, and their conversation feels so important.

Quote:

“Steven,” she says quickly. “No. Listen to me.”

His Ma sits up in her bed a little further, ignoring the way he reaches out to steady her. There’s a sudden urgency to her movements, a determined passion pumping energy through her tired bones. Her big blue eyes are alight with the fire Steve knows he himself inherited.

“Mo stór,” she starts. “You have the biggest, bravest, and most beautiful heart anyone could ever dream up. It’s not perfect, none is, but if there’s one thing I know it’s that it’s good. That it loves in its entirety and always stands up for what it believes in. If you followed your heart, Steve, you made all the right calls.”

🌙It remembers you | often_adamanta | Teen | 13,585 words

This one is: Timeline jumping, Post-TWS recovery, Shrinkyclinks, and Pre-war. Yes. All of that. Featuring the very most endearing pre-war Steve handling a traumatized and barely post-TWS Bucky in the sweetest way possible. Also featuring a pre-war Bucky who keeps going, "Steve, what the hell do you mean it's completely fine for this guy, who has my face, to just come into our apartment while we sleep? That's terrifying???" And a post-TWS Bucky who keeps saying things like, "You definitely shouldn't trust me because I am dangerous, but also I think when I was that guy you live with I was in love with you? But also I was never him. But also I brought you this bread? Wow, you're so good at art. I'm terrible and scary. You should tell me to leave. Oh hey, that cat on the fire escape is so pretty." This fic is so very darling.

Quote:

James yanks the earpiece out as quickly as he can with his unsteady hand, gripping it tightly in a fist against his chest. He can’t listen to Steve say good things about him, especially since they aren’t true. He can’t listen to Steve list all the ways he’s failed, the ways he’s not Bucky. He just can’t listen anymore.

When he goes to find food that night, he goes out even farther than usual. For the first time, he takes something with him that might be missed: a single glass tumbler, heavy and cold in his hand.

Steve and Bucky are sleeping in the main room, one of the mattresses pulled onto the floor so that they can curl up together. It makes it harder to move around the small room, but he sets the glass next to the sink in the kitchen and leaves again without waking them.

He puts the earpiece in when he returns to his spot across the street, able to rest easy knowing they’re safe, Steve’s head pillowed on Bucky’s chest as he drooled and kept Steve close with an arm around his waist.

🌙to memory now I can't recall | Etharei | Explicit | 102,600 words

A WW II Bucky and a post-TWS Bucky switch places, and two storylines take place. This fic will break your heart approximately twenty times. This fic, like a lot of fics on this list, follows rules of time travel that actually make sense, so WW II Bucky's actions in the future and post-TWS Bucky's actions in the past directly affect each other. They both know this the whole time, and they each know that they are the other and that they will be switching back. So, in a lot of ways, this fic is about Bucky's relationship with himself — about Bucky reconciling who he is before and after Hydra. It's honestly stunning.

Quote:

Steve's fingers twitch hard against his palm. Steve's face can occasionally manage to remain impassive when he's lying; it's a real pity he has about two dozen other tells.

Bucky stares at him. Steve practically flinches, at the same time as his grip on Bucky's hand tightens to the point of pain. Bucky feels like something is carving a chunk out of his insides.

"I died," he says, quietly. "Oh, Stevie. I died on you, didn't I? In the war?"

🌙wash the blood from your bony fingers |  newsbypostcard | Teen | 63,134 words

You know how sometimes it's 2018 and you think a Hydra operative has de-aged your longtime super soldier boyfriend, except, surprise! It's actually that weird comic-science time travel has transported the younger version of your boyfriend out of 1936(and you guys hadn't talked about feelings yet in 1936)? And being the human that he is, the 1936 version of your boyfriend doesn't understand why, as a 5'4, 18-year-old, with asthma and a dozen other health conditions, it's not the best idea for him to immediately charge into battle as an Avenger or to, very literally, climb into your lap? Yeah, Bucky is facing some serious challenges here, okay? And that is just during the first chapter of this fic.

Quote:

"Why would you…" He gestures at himself, coughs out a laugh, and looks at Bucky with the kind of pure vulnerability that always knocks him flat. "Bucky, come on. Why would you…?"

Bucky feels the tension drag out of him, ebbing away into sympathy. "Come on, Rogers," Bucky says, softer than he'd like. "You know better than that. You're -- you're a force of fucking nature." He gives a fragile smile and swallows; clasps his hands together, nerves clustered in his throat. "There's nowhere you could go that I wouldn't follow, just to watch you try to take on the world. Including the future, apparently, god help us both."

🌙The Kinder Thing | Stele3 | Mature | 27,474 words | *Post-2016 Recs*

I don't think I've ever been as surprised by a fic as I was by this one. This fic does have all the things the tags and summary say it will. There very much is, of course, time travel! There absolutely is an age difference going on here — for most of the fic, anyway — because of the time travel! But, at its heart, this fic is about how there is literally nothing that can keep these two apart. It's shockingly beautiful.

Quote:

Bucky peers up at Steve through his eyelashes. “And how much longer have you got?”

Steve has no answer for that, either, and so he pulls Bucky into the bedroom. If this were someone else, he’d be barking at them to get their head on straight, he’s on a fucking mission right now, but all of that fades into the feel of his fingers skimming over Bucky’s chest as he pulls his shirt out of his trousers. It used to frustrate the hell out of him to watch movies where characters make terrible mistakes because of sexual desire; he’s never felt anything that strongly, certainly not enough to ruin his whole damn life, let alone jeopardize the space-time continuum.

When Steve bites down on Bucky’s shoulder, he gasps loudly in his small bedroom, his narrow body arching up against Steve’s, and Steve thinks, Yeah. He gets it, now. He thinks he’s been missing Bucky his whole life without even knowing him.

Time Loops

☀️offer me that deathless death | canistakahari | Explicit | 10,656 words | **Post-Endgame Recs**

Bucky relives the day he falls from the train over and over. Exactly as painful as sounds (but with a canon-divergent post-TWS ending, so we're okay.) Wartime Steve and Bucky romance that absolutely guts me. I can't overstate how much I love this fic.

Quote:

He reaches for Steve impulsively, cupping his jaw in his hand. “I can’t stand you,” he murmurs.

Steve raises an eyebrow, keeping still in Bucky’s grip. “Is that so?”

He really is unbearable. It’s hard to look at him directly, to see his smooth, earnest features screwed up with gentle concern. Steve’s mouth is soft and vulnerable and Bucky is helpless to give into the urge to press a kiss to his lips. The shape of him has changed in so many ways, but his eyes and mouth, his crooked nose, all remain achingly familiar.

☀️I can't remember how this started (but I can tell you exactly how it ends) | gwyneth_rhys @teatotally | Mature | 12,391 words

A time loop fic that sees Bucky continually reliving the day of the Project Insight launch and remembering/recovering more and more each time he does. Angsty and romantic and so beautifully done.

Quote:

When he opens his eyes, Bucky wants to cry. Maybe he is crying. They’re all staring at him as if he’s suddenly started tap-dancing and singing a song. He wipes at his eyes, and yeah, there are tears there, so of course they’re completely panicked. Codename: Winter Soldier isn’t exactly programmed to cry, so this is a major failure of the conditioning. He kills them as quickly as he can, because it’s just annoying to be stared at like that.

There may not be many good things in this day, but being able to kill some of the people who’ve tormented him for so long over and over and over again is definitely helping him work out some issues, as they say nowadays.

Bucky gets twelve more delirious, wonderful, hot days with Steve, rediscovering everything he loved about loving him. Sometimes it’s slow and tender and sweet, other times they fuck like rabbits in heat, but then it all goes pear-shaped.

Alternate selves

➿Asymmetry | Candlemaker | Teen | 46,423 words | **Post-Engame Recs**

I feel like this is fic on this list I've most often seen rec'd by other people, and I get why. This fic is a delight. Steve and Bucky, along with Sam, Clint, and Tony, find themselves in another timeline — a timeline where Steve and Bucky are married. Alternate timeline Steve and Bucky's relationship is unbelievably sweet, and this way of getting main timeline Steve and Bucky together is such a great balance of angst and fun. I also love this fic for using a trope I normally don't even like and managing to make me enjoy it very, very much.

Quote:

Steve watches them go in muted disbelief, eyes flicking from the back of his own head to their joint hands, metal and flesh fingers intertwined.

“You’re kind of adorable,” Clint coos to Steve and Bucky once their doppelgangers have disappeared down the hall, hands pressed to his cheeks and eyes wide like he is looking at a particularly cute puppy. When Steve can draw his eyes away from his own retreating back (there's no way his shoulders are that huge, right?) to risk a glance at Bucky, he finds his friend resolutely avoiding his gaze, arms wrapped around himself and hair shielding his expression from view.

“Clint-“ Sam warns, levelling the archer with a dangerous look and flicking his gaze pointedly between where Bucky is visibly distressed and Steve just looks lost.

“No, really, the cutest. I didn’t have you pinned as the settling down type, Barnes, but-“

➿Forcing All These Hollow Hearts to Feel Again | paperstorm | Explicit | 12,175 words | **Post-Endgame Recs**

Okay, so, I very much appreciate the way people take the — honestly incomprehensible — concept of timelines/time travel in the MCU as presented in Endgame and use it to write fic involving multiple Steves and/or Bucky in which: a) A large part of the premise is Steve and Bucky are together in all timelines b) There is a threesome/foursome/etc but everyone involved is Steve or Bucky. I'm very fond of this because: a) the 'in every timeline' thing is just ridiculously romantic, and b) I feel like the MCU would hate this particular use of their own time travel rules — and, whatever, but that brings me a little bit of joy.

Anyway, I've read multiple fics that fall under this general premise. For the purposes of this list, I'm rec'ing this very, very soft and lovely hurt/comfort one. This fic does a gorgeous job with Steve's guilt and grief, and also works as an Endgame fix-it of sorts.

Quote:

Steve nods. They walk, hand in hand through the mud, and slowly Steve pulls back the flap on the tent. His former self is on the cot, now, curled up with his arms wrapped around his knees and his face pushed into the meager pillow, his big body tucked into as tight a ball as he can manage. Steve distinctly remembers, after the serum, missing being small in moments of sadness and wishing desperately he could curl up in Bucky’s lap like he used to, safe and protected. He doesn’t remember if that’s what he was thinking about in this exact moment, but given the circumstances, wouldn’t be surprised at all.

Fic Rec Series

[dasboligrafo]

7 Takes on The Double Life of Veronique

You know the thing where you like the same thing as a terrible person?

I guess even Lear-esque cringey edgelords like great movies and Keith McNally is not wrong about Sexy Beast and definitely definitely not wrong about the Double Life of Veronique, a movie I've now seen 3x, 2 of which ended in helpless tears (the only way I know if something is art).

This movie was a selection by McNally at a Roxy Cinema mini-festival in October 2023. As I told the crew who I invited (tricked?) to see the movie: now it's your turn to think about it for 15 years!

I love the moment after the movie when people are asking helplessly -- but what does the movie mean?!? And I really, really love the moment when people get angry at the end of the movie. These are real emotions! What's the last time a movie made you think anything other than "god, that was 45 minutes too long?" (The Double Life of Veronique is under 100 minutes! yessss)

[I didn't hear it cause I was, like, weeping, but my friend said at the end a guy behind us was angrily griping that the movie was too slow? Huh? Stuff is literally happening every moment of the movie? There is not a single wasted scene, line or frame? What even are these senses whose proofs we can so liberally ignore?]

Since it might be another 15 years until I see it again and I don't have the benefit of just having written a college thesis that was mostly about Lacan via Zizek, I thought I would type out a few thought exercises/interpretative frameworks that I think apply to this movie:

The contingent nature of the universe/the senselessness of existense -- probably the easiest to justify, especially in the context of Kieslowski's complete ouevre, in consideration of his personal history, based on the interviews he's given, etc...

What to do about emotional apocrypha — what do you do with and about feelings that seem to come from nowhere? Feelings are "real" and we know now (i.e. the science is now there to tell us, eg Lisa Feldman Barrets's fascinating work) they're not in any way subservient in value or usefulness to "reason"; like if anything the opposite, emotions are the "why" and reason is the very patched together and incomplete "how" behind what we are and what we do. Worth thinking about why it is Kieslowski's most compelling films have female protagonists given the historical association to the binary genders for emotion vs reason.

The duality and dichotomy of post-war East/West Europe -- I think this one is sorta obvious but not less resonant? There's a good article out there about how the film predicted a lot of the consequences of the EU. Elsewhere I've read that Polish critics pilloried Kieslowski for a traitor to his kind over this theme, which reminded me of the story about how Bach's works were sometimes not well received by the church patrons who got to hear a lot of it first because they thought it was too dour -- imagine you have the greatest musician who will ever live as your church musician and your biggest peeve is his music isn't fun enough for Sunday. In any event this is a major theme in Three Colors, and I'm sure there's no accident that this movie and the Trilogy are connected by the same fake composer (key work = "Song for the Unification of Europe"...)

Return to theory in film (Zizek) -- he wrote a whole book about it. I'm not sure I agree Kieslowski's films make the case for the return to Theory (ie I think you can interpret his movies without it.) But the fact that you can so unbelievably seamlessly integrate his films to a Lacanian framework gives me that feeling of the inevitability of Lacan.

Art Cinema's enduring interest in interrogating the limits of its medium -- which of course is also present in art literature for its own medium, and frequently not only present but foregrounded in theatre. The Puppetmaster is a clear analogue to the filmmaker (and of God, lmao...they can't help themselves), but also all the unbelievably uncomfortable sex scenes in this movie are a masterclass on the male gaze and how you constitute and undermine it...etc.

Space-time Travel (Zizek) -- right away, I'm going to say I don't think this one is all that interesting, but it's what Criterion chose to accompany the 15th year re-release of the movie. So...ok 🤷🏽‍♀️ I'd say that listening to physics podcasts has convinced me of the value of a literary education (those hermeneutical skills come in so handy), so I see the relevance of thinking of these two together, but I also feel like the fake math is the part of Lacan I always found a little too silly to stand.

The agony of art as vocation -- I'm sorta lazily splitting this out from #5 just because when I originally wrote this post I had 7 points and now I can only remember 6 of them, and I like the resonance of 7....There's a Badiou-esque invocation of the four types of truth procedures at work in this movie that could easily fill the pages of another unread senior thesis: science -- the zizek time travel thing, the way the movie is, actually, concerned with the explanation of what is happening and why, rather than just accepting as a premise that there can be doubles in the world; politics -- the scene where Weronika meets Veronique is at a political rally, the east/west thing mentioned above, etc; art and love, obviously.... But the key to the "plot" of Veronique's life is "Does she keep singing, even if it kills her?"

Random closing thoughts:

I'm still thinking about and cannot resolve the mystery of the subplot about Veronique testifying in her friend's divorce(?) trial. What does it mean?

One thing that always bothered me about Kieslowski is a feeling i have that his movies are slightly (high key???) exploitative of his actresses, which seems like shabby repayment for their taking considerable artistic risks. Maybe I'm just getting this feeling from applying Lacan and Zizek to his movies though (that's two dudes who definitely don't understand about women...). I'd like to think I'm wrong about this, his masterworks are all with women and "about" women. I don't think he doesn't get this, though, see again the Puppetmaster (surely one of the creepiest dudes to ever grace an art film and that's saying a lot).

[lantur]

updates,

I was pretty stressed last Saturday because I was feeling mentally burned out and exhausted and had to work for part of the day, representing my organization at an event and making a presentation :/ It ended up going well, I met some nice people, and got an interesting idea for my next work project. The rest of the day was wonderful - Derek and I played board games and went out for dinner at our favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant. ❤️ We've been eating out a lot less over the last six months or so, just like once a month, so it was a special treat.

Sunday was a great day. I had a fun morning workout and went to a horror play at Theater Mu. I love them - they're the largest Asian American theater company in the Midwest and their shows are always so well written and acted. I'm really happy to have been able to attend more plays over the last six months or so. Living in a place with so many local theater companies is my favorite part of living in the Twin Cities.

I also made a new recipe for dinner that night that turned out super well - hot honey crispy baked salmon bowls with broccoli. :)

I have been limping and crawling through this work week. Work has been overwhelming for almost a month straight. I'm grateful to have a leadership role, but it's challenging and exhausting to not just work on my own solo projects and to-do list items, but to lead and support others every time they have a problem or need something, which is often.

This week also became challenging because my mom reached out to me on Tuesday night (a day after my last post on here where I said that I was sure I hadn't heard the last from her yet, ironically) and told me she was planning on moving to India later this year. I had to handle that conversation in a more polite way than "don't let the door hit you on your way out." Talking to her, as always, brought up a lot of negative feelings. She said she wants to see me before she leaves, but I held off on committing to that - partly because of the reason below.

On a more positive note, I had my long awaited appointment with my new OB-GYN yesterday :) I really like her. She's experienced, she's from the same culture as I am, and she left me feeling with a sense of knowledge and optimism about this whole pre-conception and conception process. I'm going to go off the pill when my current pill pack is over at the end of March and then start tracking my cycle to see what it is like, if/when I ovulate, etc. I have PCOS, so the question of whether I ovulate naturally is yet to be determined. I've been on the pill for my entire adult life and during my teenage years to treat PCOS, so I'm curious and a bit nervous to see what happens when I'm off it. I'm curious and excited to see if/when I could conceive this year.

I'm writing this while I wait at the airport for my flight to Tokyo. This trip snuck up on me after I booked it. As recently as last week, I thought that my trip was 3 weeks away - even though I theoretically knew it started on March 7. Then I realized March 7 was next Thursday and not 3 weeks away. 🤦🏾‍♀️

I'm really excited to have this time for myself. I push myself really hard at work, at home, and with personal development goals. I enjoy what I do. I like grocery shopping and cooking, I like working out, I like studying Spanish every day. I even like my job, most of the time. But sometimes it just feels exhausting to juggle it all, and it's so nice to take time where I'm not doing anything for anyone else but myself. :) It feels especially timely because I hope to start my master's in social work program in September, and I hope to possibly be growing the family by then too!

[wildoceanstarz]

The Valkyries friendships

Someone asked about it and i got way too much into it so i'm also making separate posts lol (you can find the original post here)

【 The Valkyries 】

Extra headcanons

☆ Roommates

☆ Thigh knitted group, wouldn’t let a man destroy their relationship.

☆ All equally friends but with completely different dynamics, if you asked them who their best friends was, Mary and Lily would probably say each other’s and Marlene would say Pete. That doesn’t mean that Marlene doesn’t feel included in the trio. Sometimes she jokes that she’s Marylily kids, when they had a big argument, she Really felt like a child of divorce.

☆ They would have sleepover parties every Saturday, because Sunday was the day Lily would take the afternoon off from studying. They would get food from the kitchen and play Mary’s record player. Sometimes they played cards, others than would braid each other’s hair or play with Mary’s makeup.

☆ Sometimes Lily would read them a story and Mary and Marlene would sit and listen entranced. That was when Lily would be fully confident, making different voices, moving her arms, she was spectacular to see. How much life there was in this adorable little red haired girl.

☆ The numbers were off and so they got one of the three person room. The last bed was used as a bazar and the closest was used by Mary who would always bring extra clothes so she could lend them to Lily and Marlene. The bed was full of books and art projects and random class reports (Marlene).

☆ In first year, Mary had asked the house elves to not clean their room because it made her feel weird, and so they would spend the morning of Sunday just cleaning up so the room would have a fresh start for the new week. Lily was the one making sure it would be done, Mary and Marlene would complain, but end up doing it while playing music and talking about the week to come.

☆ Marlene got really into Ancient Greece mythology after Lily brought back a book and would read only the parts about the girls, skipping all the rest. She especially cared for Medusa and Hated Zeus. Mary had little interest but sometimes Lily would told her some story so she wasn’t fully out of the loop. They all became Zeus haters and even made a club as a joke.

☆ After the marauders gave themselves a stupid name, they were all having one of their sleepovers and judging how stupid it sounded. Marlene said she would be way better at naming them if they let her, only to propose the shittiest name known to men. After making fun of her, Mary and Lily also gave it a try. They thought it was kind of fun and the conversation shifted to band names and so the three of them thought about how they would name their band; because, of course, they would be together. After a few fails, Marlene had the best, for the only time in her life, name idea, and said “The Valkyries!!!”. Lily quickly gave a definition of them, and Mary sprung herself from the ground to jump because it was a great name. They never said it to anyone, but secretly they would call themselves the Valkyries.

☆ When Lily discovered Abba one summer, she immediately showed Mary and they spent the summer saving up money to buy records player to bring back for Marlene. She Loved it and it became their music of choice anytime they would organize a party. Their favourite song was Honey, Honey because it was the first one they spent endless afternoons dancing to.

[espurr-roba]

You've reached my blog! Check out some general deets down below~ ↓

☆ I'm espurr, she/they, mid-twenties!

★ This blog's my main/personal, so you'll find a hodgepodge of all the types of media I like. Usually I'll post Kingdom Hearts, Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Persona, and Pokemon. But mostly Kingdom Hearts lmaooo, the hyperfixation is strong. I try not to post heavy spoilers about any of these, but it's not my highest priority, so filter tags if you gotta!

☆ Speaking of tags, my art is the go-to to find all of... wait for it... my art! Includes illustrations, animations, writing, and pretty much anything that I create.

★ Speaking of tags but again, I go back and forth between tagging something with its full title or its initials (eg. kingdom hearts and kh), so apologies in advance if any slip through the cracks in a tag search lmaoo.

☆ I love interacting with people! I'm not the best at responding, but feel free to hit up my asks for anything. DMs are chill too, especially if we're mutuals/I follow you!

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☆ Really, consider this just catch-all permission to interact with my blog however you please. Just no NSFW or hateful behavior and you're golden!

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☆ Linktree for any other misc. places to find me!

★ god i love khux. who said that

☆ If you made it this far, have a great day! Or else! :D

[kitkatt0430]

Six (Or More) Sentence Sunday!!!! Remembered to do this before getting caught up doing other stuff today.

“It’s a timeline based off what I remember strongest for the through-line life that would have made it to the version of the multi-verse crises that led to this multi-verse rebooting into the next,” Barry said. “There were a lot of timelines to sort through and reject in my memories. Still an ongoing project, getting my closet in order.” Eobard rolled his eyes. Of all the inane things to turn into his mind palace… an infinitely large closet. “Next up on the ‘who’s that criminal meta’ game, should be Danton Black. He’s going to be gunning for Simon Stagg. The way this timeline would have played out if I hadn’t gotten my head crammed full of future events? I’d have stopped him, barely, but Danton commits suicide rather than let me stop him from falling out of what should have been shatterproof windows. A gunshot won’t break that glass but a handful of determined clones can? Someone committed fraud with that install,” Barry rambled and then shook his head. “Sorry. I’m a bit talky today. Anyway. You killed Stagg anyway in that timeline. I’ve never been sure why, but no great loss there. Met enough alternate versions of him that for a half decent reason I’d happily drop him off the nearest cliff and call it a hiking accident.”

No one likes Simon Stagg. Especially not 'brain full of infinite realities' Barry Allen.

This scene is from the first part of the tentatively named fic 'Networking' for the Timeless Nonsense series. Barry was getting a little more work in on sorting out the timelines and plotting his next moves when Eobard dropped in to see how it's progressing. This fic will contain Barry heading over to Starling to drop in on Oliver, Felicity, and Dig. But also... Eobard winds up visiting someone he hasn't seen since before the accelerator explosion after learning this person is essentially on Barry's hit list for easier timeline management. He doesn't realize he's having a bit of an ethics crisis, but Eobard is totally having a bit of an ethics crisis. (Don't worry, it's not Simon Stagg. He's gonna die in the fic after this one and no one is gonna feel sorry about it.)

I also finally made some progress on The Story of HR Wells as a sort of back and forth between past and present that'll end either with Cynthia arriving on Earth-1 of HR lending Cisco the original copy of his World War M historical accounting. It's part of Coffee, Drumsticks, and Social Revolutions and I'm doing some world building in here that'll mean I need to go back and do a bit of editing on the fics already posted. Mostly minor things - Earth-19 refers to it's doctorates a bit differently now and other stuff that really makes it feel a bit more like a close-but-not culture over there.

By then it’s time for lunch with Caitlin before the apartment hunt began. He keyed Caitlin into the transmogrifier so that she sees him, not the part Randolf and part HR blend that he was wearing for the rest of the world. They chat about nothing in particular really, but HR can’t help but notice she’s hiding a second patch of cut-short hair with her barrettes today. Maybe it’s time to try the whole reaching out thing. Even if she doesn’t reciprocate, at least HR would have tried to help her. And she might still reach out in return down the line. He started with a mild complaint about his shoulder. “I’m glad I’ve got you along or I might just take the first apartment I see so I can put a mattress in it that won’t cause that nerve in my shoulder to pinch. Messes up my whole arm for the day when it happens. Or more than a day sometimes.” “Oh no,” Caitlin frowned, going into doctor mode. “You’re sure it’s just a pinched nerve?”

HR is trying to help Caitlin deal with what he still currently thinks is just PTSD problems, but it turns out the things he's about to tell her about his struggles with coping with the aftermath of brain damage from a war wound - in the first conversation they have here and a few subsequent ones - help her with her fears about how different her own thoughts become whenever her powers try to become active.

Obviously, what Caitlin's going through is quite different from HR did, but she's still struggling with her brain chemistry changing on her, altering the way she thinks and feels about everything. And HR understands how upsetting and frightening that is in a way no one else on Team Flash does.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

01/27/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Adopt Our Crew - Adopt Our Quiz!; Queerties Reminder; Cast & Crew Sightings; How to Help W/New Stuff; Hunt for The Pirate Home Twitter Watch Party; Articles; OurFlagMakesADifference; Love Notes; Goofy Shit For Morale

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Had some fun stuff going on across the platforms today with Adopt Our Quiz hosted by @adoptourcrew! You can still go do them! I'm including them here for those who don't have the platforms. Ordered from left to right 1, 2, 3. You can see the answers here on twitter (which have cool animations)

Answers below in picture form:

Twitter Thread Instagram Story

== Queerties ==

Just a reminder to vote for the Queerties if you're up for it!

TV Comedy Best TV Performance Wanna help another Taika/Rhys verse Queertie? Vote for Kaimana for Best Film Performance in Next Goal Wins!

== Cast And Crew Sightings ==

It's the weekend so as you can imagine there aren't many sightings. Definitely some personal stuff posted but nothing campaign related so I'll leave it out. Couple things I didn't know you could do was look at peoples likes on twitter, and now I know how to be a proper stalker if I ever wanna get into that kinda thing, which I don't, let me tell you. That being said, these are to make people feel warm fuzzies so here we are! Alex Sherman is out here liking our tweets all over the place! He's been doing it for days, just sweet to see the support.

Kristian Nairn sending love and support to fans on their art!

== How To Help ==

How To Help Save OFMD Task List - US

How to Help Save OFMD Task List - Outside US

Some new stuff added to our usual How to Help Lists, feel free to check them out!

== Talking About the shows Creativity ==

If you wanna talk about the shows creativity, referencing some of the awesome show-crew like Ra Vincent, Production Designer for OFMD can be great! Here's Ra Vincent's site Great inspiration and pictures to use to show off to the networks. Please be sure to credit them just like anything else you're using. Other great crew members for inspiration: Gypsy Taylor Costume Designer/Stylist!

== RADIO! ==

Some awesome new suggestions from @AdoptACrew Check out the thread here. Link to the NPR suggestion site: Here

== Reminder - Twitter Watch Party ==

=HuntForThePirateHome=

HuntForThePirateHome Watch Party Starts Sunday Jan 28 at 3 PM EST, 12 PT, 8 PM GMT. Hashtags for that event are:

#HuntForThePirateHome

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

== Petition Update ==

We hit 82,000!! Definitely things slowing down, but I think in generally we're focusing more on going after specific platforms (not saying more signatures isn't good, just saying we seem to have shifted priorities)

== Articles ==

I didn't see any new articles today, but I did see one I didn't notice the other day so I'm including it now:

Why Our Flag Means Death’s Cancellation Should Make You Angry

==OurFlagMakesADifference==

I had a couple people ask about what's going on with some fan led Palestine Efforts so I'm linking the current thread from Our Flag Makes A Differences Resource thread on Twitter. I know there is a great tumblr thread but tumblr search sucks so please share it with me if you have it!

== Love Notes ==

Just a little reminder for tonight--- you deserve happiness. You deserve kindness, and grace and you deserve a break from all the stressors that bug you on a day to day basis. Sometimes it's other people who can give you that break, and sometimes the only person who can give it to you is you. If you can, talk a little nicer to yourself today, give yourself a little extra time curled up in bed, or watch an extra episode of your favorite show. Remember to give yourself some love too, lovelies. You deserve it. You're gonna be okay.

== Goofy Shit for Morale ==

So I'm gonna combine a couple things tonight and end tonight with some fun goofy shit also feat. Rhys, Samba, and Taika

@buckrogers2491's post

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samba Schutte (@sambaschutte)

Alright, night lovelies! Let me know if I missed something or made any mistakes! (I think I double checked everything this time!)

[dreamweaved]

THE HARMONY, AND IT'S EMANATORS

2.2 spoilers below , also insane rambling sorry

so i'm really happy actually that sunday did not turn out to be an emanator. because honestly, it defeats the purpose of harmony to make a singular person an emanator. to grant their power to an individual. instead, their emanators are tools that i assume can be used by anyone who's able to attune to them. to harmonize with them...

A plural Aeon from multiple harmonious worlds. The glorious Xipe of thousand faces is chanting songs of joy and happiness. To battle the brutality of the laws of the universe, intelligent lifeforms must discard their cowardly selfishness and the differences between individuals, fusing into one singular melody — to have the strong help the weak, and to protect life with death.

tbh there's a lot to unpack about xipe, and ena, and the ways that order and harmony are similar. how order can live without harmony but harmony could not live without order. but... this is about emanators. and the thematic beauty of it's embodiments being instruments. and it isn't just xipe that this resonates with, but ena too. melody and music are important to both of them conceptually. and are actually used in a similar way by both aeons. granted, ena was absorbed by xipe... so you could argue that being why that is. but i feel it's been made very clear in lore that their similar paths are why the newly formed harmony was able to take over order. they were the same, harmony just happened to be a broader path.

now, dominicus being a conductor? don't ... don't even get me started okay like oh my GOD. conductor of hymns, of music, of wishes & dreams. with a little choir that SHARED a health bar with them-- that resonated with them. their designs too are really intentional, like every detail is so intentional.

now i'm intentionally not really talking about sunday in this. because honestly a breakdown of him deserves it's own post. and his and robin's characters were written incredibly well. touching topics i connect with a great deal honestly. and handling the concepts really maturely, and appropriately. religious trauma and horror is pretty tricky sometimes, and one note. so i'm happy it wasn't here.

in pena/cony, the instrumental designs and themes are really well chosen too. cellos, violins, organs, harps, ect ect. there's others, but these stuck out to me a lot. again i repeat, the intent was clear from the very beginning. this is an area with a lot of religious themes, and will deal with a lot of existential concepts. and the way they'd incorporated so many of these instruments into landscape, enemies, characters, and even the final boss. ... im floored. im speechless....

to finish. again. i am so happy that the emanators for each aeon are different, and they all follow the themes of their aeon. sometimes in ways that are not what you expect. the way that harmony AND order were incorporated into the theatre, and the design of the choir boss and the music and-- lordy i'm losing it.

[marleighdrinkscoffee]

Hi! I’m so glad you’re here.

You can call me Marleigh! I don’t want to disclose my actual name because, y’know, identity safety something something.

About me:

I'm unhealthily obsessed with the Beatles

And the Monkees, though to a lesser extent

I have a cup of coffee in my hand almost constantly

Jesus is #1 in my life

George Harrison is a close second (Well, not THAT close, I suppose, but you get the point)

I'm a writer, which means that I procrastinate and look at memes instead of actually writing

I love all things history-related

I read books

Archery is the one sport at which I’m any good

I listen to all kinds of music (no genre is safe)

Sometimes I try to write poetry

My favorite fandoms are:

Star Wars

Percy Jackson (and all other Riordanverse)

Ranger's Apprentice

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Ascendance Series

The Green Ember

Harry Potter

I post about all of the above, with the addition of memes or other random things of interest. On Sundays, I take a break from Tumblr, so I probably won’t respond to mentions or messages until Monday. But feel free to mention or message me anyway, because I love having a bunch of notifications when I come back!

I try to keep this blog clean from inappropriate content. I personally don’t curse, but some of the users I reblog do, so some of my posts may include swearing. Hate is not welcome here, except for the Peter Johnson movies (iykyk).

That's about it! I hope you have a great day