#and you can message and ask questions and stuff

[harrywavycurly]

Loving a Killer: Mistakes in a Hardware Store

Pairing: Killer!Harry x wife!reader

Masterlist: Here

CW: Harry is a tad bit over protective in this, threats of violence, semi angsty bits, language.

A/N: Harry had done something wrong and shockingly enough it has nothing to do with what he does for a living, so enjoy him trying to get you to forgive him✨

“Looking at it every five seconds isn’t going to make it magically start ringing you know that right?” Harry just ignores Mitch’s comment as he looks at his phone for the sixth time in the last five minutes, letting out a sigh when he all he’s met with is the date and time on his Lock Screen, no message from you or your name flashing across it like it normally does when you call him. “Trouble in paradise?” Mitch asks as he looks over and watches Harry run a hand through his hair as he tosses his phone onto his desk.

“She’s not talking to me.” Is all he says before he stands up and begins pacing the length of his desk while Mitch spins his chair around so his back is facing his own desk allowing him to watch his bestfriend have what he could only describe as a breakdown of some sort due to not having heard from you all day. Harry pauses and runs a hand over his face then just looks at Mitch over his shoulder. “I think she’s mad-”

“What did you do?” Harry lets out a groan as he walks over to his desk and places his hands flat on top of it and Mitch raises a brow at him when he notices him look down and close his eyes while letting out a deep sigh. “Harry tell me you didn’t-”

“You’ve got to stop assuming I’m walking around killing people without telling you.” Harry jokes as he lifts his head to send Mitch a glare. “I didn’t even really put my hands on anyone this time.” He explains making his friend just roll his eyes as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Then what exactly did you do?”

“She went with me to get some stuff so I can fix the shed door in the backyard and while we were at the hardware store some dude came up to her and started chatting her up so I might’ve threatened him a little.”

“You’re such a hot head man you need to relax and realize your wife is a catch so dudes are going to want to try to flirt with her.”

“What the hell did you just say?” Mitch doesn’t even flinch at how harsh Harry’s tone is as he straightens himself up and takes a step towards him with a quirked brow, Mitch is extremely familiar to this side of his bestfriend. “I’m just supposed to let people flirt with her and think they have some sort of shot with her?”

“They’ll know they don’t have a shot with her because she’ll let them know. She doesn’t need you to do it.” Mitch casually explains as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world but Harry just lets out a scoff and throws his hands up in air, clearly annoyed at the idea of having his wife be the one to tell creeps to leave her alone.

“She shouldn’t have to worry about telling wanks who want to chat her up to fuck off.” He snaps while he walks back over to his desk to reach for his phone. “I’m her husband it’s my job to do that for her.” Mitch rolls his eyes at his explanation as he watches Harry tap away on his phone.

“No it’s your job to trust her and let her handle herself in situations like that.” Harry can’t help but feel his heart sink as Mitch’s words hit him, he knows he can be a tad bit overprotective when it comes to you and that often leads to him overreacting in certain situations but he’s never thought about how him reacting the way that he does could make you feel as if he doesn’t trust you or think you can’t handle yourself.

“I do trust her.” Mitch just nods as he uncrosses his arms so he can stand up from his chair. “I just-you know how I am with her.” He says with a sigh as Mitch takes a step towards him so he can place a hand on his shoulder.

“I know how you are with her and I know it’s because you love her but sometimes it’s a little much. But the real question is how are you gonna fix this?” Mitch asks as he gives Harry’s shoulder a squeeze before letting it go. “I hear flowers work wonders.” He suggests making Harry send him a glare making Mitch chuckle because sometimes it’s glaringly obvious how single Mitch is compared to Harry.

“Already had a bouquet delivered to her office this morning since she only works a half day today.” He mumbles and Mitch just gives him a nod of approval as he watches Harry tap a few things on his phone before he locks it and slides into his back pocket. “I have to go. You good to handle the rest of the day without me?” Harry questions making Mitch just brush him off as he turns to head back towards his desk.

“Yeah I’m fine we have that Gavin guy tomorrow and today is just paperwork.” Harry just nods at Mitch’s answer before he gathers his keys and tosses his work bag over his shoulder. “Good luck.” Mitch says with a smile as Harry gives him one more glance before turning and heading out their shared office door and down the hallway for the door that opens to the stairs leading up to the lobby of the building the two of them work at.

Harry hates the feeling he gets when he walks inside the front door, he’s not met with the usual warmth that always radiates off of you and seeps into his body and relaxes him as it makes its way from his tired feet all the way up to his sore shoulders. Today he’s met with silence and the utter coldness that comes with it and it’s almost enough to send a shiver down his spine, but the only thing that keeps him from turning around and leaving is that he knows you’re home because he parked next to your car in the driveway and he is willing to do anything get your warmth back into the house.

He knows where you’re at, it’s just something that he can’t help with what he does for a living he knows how to keep track of people when they’re in relatively close proximity to him. So as soon as he walked in the front door he could see your foot hanging off the love seat tucked away in the corner of the living room near the bookshelf next to the floor lamp that you opted to turn on instead of the main light. He acts as if he didn’t see you as he drops his keys in the bowl by the door and slips his shoes off before he makes his way into the kitchen where he places his work bag on the table, he can feel your eyes on him from the living room and he takes that as a decent sign that you’re even wanting to look at him.

He runs a hand through his hair as he contemplates his next move, he knows you don’t like confrontation so you won’t be the one to tell him you’re mad at him so if he wants this to get resolved in a timely manner he’s going to need to be the one to initiate the conversation but he’s just not in a hurry to hear you say you’re upset with him. So Harry does what he thinks is the best thing to do in the moment because he knows you, he knows what you really need from him in this moment and he’s more than willing to give it to you if it spares him, at least for a few minutes from having to hear you tell him how unhappy he made you the other day. He turns around and quietly heads into the living room, he watches as you close the book he knows you stopped reading the moment he walked through the front door and place it on the side table near the lamp. As soon as he’s in front of you he reaches down and grabs your hands as he drops to his knees, he looks at you as he brings your hands to his lips and places sweet kisses to your knuckles and he doesn’t miss the slight shade of pink your cheeks get at his actions.

“I’m sorry baby.” He makes sure his words come out nice and clear so you don’t miss them between little pecks to your knuckles. “I know I made you upset yesterday and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have threatened him or-”

“We’ve had this conversation before haven’t we Harry?” You ask making Harry just swallow before nodding his head and he swears he feels his heart drop to his stomach when you turn and look away from him. “I know you want to protect me from all the creeps and jerks but Harry yesterday you-”

“Don’t say it.” He cuts you off as he lets your hands slip out of his as he stands up. “Please don’t say it.” His voice is low as he takes a small step away from you as he feels as if his world might be crumbling down around him as the thought of you telling him you were afraid of him bounces around in his head.

“Harry look at me.” He can’t help himself as he does what you ask because even though his whole world may feel like it’s on the verge of falling apart he’s still your husband, the man who hasn’t ever really been able to not do whatever it is you ask of him. “I’m not afraid of you.” He feels your hands on his arms slowly running up until they are cupping the sides of his face making sure he can’t look away from you. Your words take a moment to sink in through the layers of sheer panic and anxiety running through his mind but when they finally do Harry lets out a deep breath and feels as if his legs could give out at any moment with the amount of relief that washes over him.

“I was going to say that in that moment you were being one of the jerks you try to protect me from all the time.” All Harry can do is just nod because you’re right, he was being exactly the type of person he tries to keep you away from and honestly Harry is still recovering from the fact you admitted you aren’t afraid of him so a nod is the best he can do in the moment. “You threatened someone’s life all because he was asking me if I had any recommendations for a good weather resistant wood varnish.” When Harry rolls his eyes he instantly knows it’s a mistake because he feels your hands drop from his face making his lips turn downward into a slight frown while you take a few steps away from him.

“I’m sorry sweetheart but that was clearly a line and he was trying to flirt-”

“So him flirting with me means you need to come in and grab him by his shirt and tell him that if he so much as looks at me again the next project you’ll be working on will be his coffin?” Harry can count on one hand the amount of times you’ve raised your voice since he’s met you, each time has almost always been towards him and he hates that he’s the one who gets you to the point where you lose your ability to speak in your usual soft and gentle tone and are left with no choice but to make your voice louder and a little meaner in hopes it’ll help get your point across more clearly.

“I didn’t mean to grab him. That was a mistake.” He doesn’t make an attempt to get closer to you even though every part of him wants to reach out and pull you into him, he wants to give you the space you need to tell him exactly how his actions made you feel and he knows you won’t be able to do that if he crowds you. And as much as he normally loves to play dirty and use his knowledge against you, this time he wants you to get everything out because he wants to be better for you so if he has to stand here and take it for a few more minutes then so be it.

“Was that the only mistake you made yesterday?” He wants to say he really didn’t make any mistakes yesterday but he doesn’t, he just rubs his lips together as you place a hand on your hip letting him in on the fact you’re getting annoyed at this conversation.

“Please just answer me because I don’t want to argue with you anymore but I need to know if you really think that’s the only mistake you made yesterday.” Harry can tell by the slight pleading tone of your voice that you’re beginning to break, your walls of anger are starting to crumble and he can’t help himself but feel a small sense of relief because he can work with this, he can find a way to make your walls come down and get you to forgive him.

“No.” He answers as he takes a small cautious step towards you making you raise an eyebrow at him as a signal to have him elaborate on his answer. “I shouldn’t have threatened him or raised my voice in the store because I know how you feel about causing scenes in public.” He adds as he takes another small step towards you and he can’t help the small smirk that forms on his face when he sees your hand drop from your hip as you playfully roll your eyes at the mention of causing a scene.

“Anything else?” Your voice is much softer now and Harry feels like this is a good time to take a chance so he reaches an arm out so he can place a hand on your hip and he smiles when you don’t make any moves to wiggle out of his grasp or bring your own hand down to push his away.

“Letting you give me the silent treatment for the rest of the day. That’s probably the biggest mistake I made because you know how much I love hearing you talk.” Now normally you’d take that as a tease of some sort but Harry’s not an idiot, or at least not in this moment so he’s sure to sound as serious as possible without ruining the lighthearted mood that’s beginning to form between the two of you.

“You love hearing me talk?” Harry just gives you a smile as he ever so gently pulls you closer to him by his hold on your hip.

“Your voice is one of my favorite sounds.” He admits without a single drop of hesitation because it’s the truth. “Especially right before you fall asleep and it’s this mixture of a whisper and just mumbles of nonsense.” His eyes stare into yours as he raises his free hand so he can brush a few strands of hair out of your face and back behind your ear. “But my favorite is when it’s got this hint of excitement to it like when you’re telling me about a new book you found that you’re now obsessed with or better yet the rants you go on about books you hate those are very fun and your voice gets this almost twinge of absolute disgust to it that I always find entertaining because it’s so rare you find something you don’t like.” He keeps his hand on the side of your face cupping your jaw, gently running his thumb over your cheek.

“So really baby it about killed me not getting to hear your voice for a whole day all because I was an asshole and couldn’t handle some guy flirting with you in a Home Depot.” He wants to pull your face towards his and seal his words with a kiss but he doesn’t, he’s a gentleman after all and knows it’s only right to let you decide when he’s earned his kissing privileges back sees as you just broke the day long silent treatment you were giving him not even five minutes ago.

“His name was Brad.” Harry’s grip on your hip tightens a little while he other hand falls from your face as you give him an unwanted detail of your encounter yesterday. “Maybe if you knew that before you went all crazy on him you would’ve reconsidered? Because who’s going to pick some dude named Brad over their hot husband named Harry?” He just chuckles as you give him a playful smirk while reaching your hands up to grab both sides of his face.

“Well when you put it like that.” He jokes as he feels you begin to pull his face down towards yours. “I really am sorry sweetheart I swear it won’t happen again.” He whispers as he bumps the tip of his nose into yours making you smile.

“I know you are and that’s why I forgive you.” That’s all Harry needs to hear before he allows himself to close the gap between his lips and yours, he feels you smile against his lips as you pull him even closer to you when you feel him try to pull away.

“I love you.” He mumbles between kisses making you giggle as your hands go from his face down to his chest so you can grip onto his shirt while his hand holds onto the back of your neck.

In this moment Harry knows that the two of you are going to be okay, that while you may hate how he over reacts and gets a little too protective at times, you still love him and haven’t decided to give up on him or at least not yet. So Harry decides right then and there that he’s going to actually try to be better, but while he really will try he can’t promise he won’t mess up every now and then because he’s still Harry, and when it comes to you he doesn’t think he’ll ever be okay with people getting too close or being too friendly.

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #1: DYAD

(also on spotify!)

Hello everyone!! It's been a couple weeks and change since Constant Companions, my newest album, was released unto the world, and I've been genuinely blown away by the response. Genuinely, thank you to everyone who's been streaming, commenting, making mashups, changing their pfps and usernames - it means the world to me!

I wanted to give some of that love back with something people have been asking me a lot about - and, admittedly, something I love doing. Song explanations! Deep dives! Dropping the lore! Welcome... to the Constant Companions Closeups...

For the next eleven days, I'll be going into each track one by one and babbling about the process, inspiration, details, feelings, and thoughts behind each one! We're getting sappy. We're bearing our hearts. We're telling unfunny jokes. And we're starting with track one - DYAD (featuring unit.0)!

---

Naturally, since this is the first track, it also serves as a great point to talk about my intention with this album as a whole!

I'll elaborate more on this with future tracks, but to me, there are really two main things that define the sonic progression of this album versus my previous work - guitars and vocal synths. Obviously, these things have been present in my work since I first started calling myself Jamie Paige, but Constant Companions is intended to be my overwrought, sappy confession of love to these two things that time and time again have made me simply want to make music. I love rock and I love Hatsune Miku dammit!!!

I had originally written this song in February of 2023 for a game-jam-esque online festival hosted by my friend Loni called HAPPY PARTY TRI, and at that time, I had found myself at a major crossroads. I had put out People Posture Play Pretend and :women_wrestling: the previous year, and while the response was nice, I was feeling listless and lost.

I love singing. I like my voice well enough. I certainly love writing music with lyrics!! But... there was something uniquely electrifying about using vocal synths. Amidst a lot of insecurity and emotional turmoil surrounding the process of making art and putting myself out into the world, it was one of the few things that just made everything feel right. Suddenly, I was making the same kind of music that had touched my heart so many times over.

Would it alienate people, though? Would I lose longtime listeners? Yes, that weighed on my mind more than I'd like to admit, but even more than that... I was worried I'd lose some part of myself, as silly as it sounds. Maybe what I thought was a bridge would become a barrier, and the messages I wanted to send across the gap would never find their way.

Ultimately, I felt that Dyad was the only kind of opener I could've possibly given this album, and a perfect fit for the album's motif. A dialogue between myself, stricken with loneliness and a lack of inertia running in circles, and that synthesized voice (ANRI Arcane my darling), grabbing the outstretched hand and asking a question I already know the answer to -

"Baby, do you know what you wanna hear?"

Yes, it's a love song, but it's not just for a person - it's a love song for the creative impulse, and for the places I wanted it to take me.

im resisting the urge to be jokingly dismissive of myself to diffuse tension but i still need to signal that the emotionally bare part of this is over so pretend im doing a funny little dance Anyways let's talk more technical stuff

---

Like many of my songs, Dyad came together from a patchwork of different snippets and ideas I had laying around. The back half of the chorus - "dream together, we can dream together" - originally came from this idea I had jotted down something like 9 months prior, but ended up being a perfect fit for Dyad in basically every way. The verse snippet that I'd written to go with it got reused for a later song on Constant Companions as well! (I say without naming it, as if it isn't literally lifted wholesale from this demo and thus incredibly obvious)

I wasn't originally planning on brazenly quoting the bridge of a Tally Hall song when I set out to write this song, but while toying around with a bridge idea involving a shortened version of the pre-chorus melody, I realized I had inadvertently copied it anyways. I was going to scrap it... but at the request of my dear friend and certified Tally Hall lover Marcy Nabors, I made it an explicit reference. Which I'm fine with, personally! The first CD I ever owned was a copy of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum my sister bought me all the way back in 2006 - You can pry that sentimental attachment from my cold, dead hands, TikTok kiddies.

Lastly - not really behind the scenes so much as just a shoutout - thank you to unit.0 for the lovely lead guitar work on this song!! He's been a beloved collaborator of mine for many, many years now, and one of the people who ultimately convinced me this direction was the right one to go in, so it means a lot to share this song with him. Go listen to his music!!! Now!!!!!!

That's about it for this song! Not to sound like a fucking YouTuber, but genuinely, if there are any details you'd like to hear more about, let me know and I might made a bonus post at the end of all this. Otherwise, thank you for listening! Tomorrow: Not Quite There, featuring telebasher!

❤️💚

[16mistypaw]

I borrowed the lovely @skyloftian-nutcase Healthcare boys for a short thing I wrote while feeling miserable from a flu shot reaction. Featuring a feverish Sky, a concerned Legend, and father figure Time.

The song in this fic is There Will Be a Day by Jeremy Camp. I had that song stuck in my head while writing this

---

Legend walked into the staff break room, heading to his locker to grab a new handful of pens to stuff in his pocket. He still didn’t know how he could start the shift with a full pocket, and have none left when he was barely halfway through.

Someone sat at the table, resting their head face down on their crossed arms. All he could make out was the fluffy, dirty blonde hair and rumpled uniform. A white cloth with blue highlights poked out from where it rested between arms and face, and Legend recognised it at Sky’s beloved scarf.

“Sky.” A muffled grunt was the only acknowledgement he received. “There’s better places to take a nap. Like home, didn’t your shift end a while ago?”

“Yea. Jus’ needed a minute.” Sky replied, lifting his head. The pilot’s face was flushed and damp with sweat, his expression more tired than usual. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on Legend.

“Are you sick?” Legend asked, straight to the point. “You look feverish.”

“Not sick, yes I have a fever. Flu shots suck.”

“Ah. The traveling cart found you huh?”

“Yeah, this morning. They asked if I got it, I said no, so they did it. Kinda hard to refuse at that point.” Sky plopped his face back into his scarf, energy seemingly spent. “I should head home.”

“Yeah, you should. Go sleep it off.” Sky sighed, then heaved himself to his feet. He wobbled for a moment, grabbing the back of the chair to steady himself. Then he straightened up, brushing past Legend to grab his clothes from his locker before heading to the changing room.

Deciding to keep an eye on Sky for a little longer, Legend busied himself straightening up the breakroom as he waited for Sky to return. He returned a few minutes later, grabbing his bag and then just… stopped, staring blankly at it for a moment before snapping out of it and gathering his stuff.

Legend didn’t like that.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t think you’re okay to drive, spacing out like that. Can anyone give you a ride?”

“Ah, the rest of my team went home a while ago… and the rest of you guys are either still working or at home sleeping.”

“When does Time finish today?” Legend knew Time had a soft spot for Sky, and had on more than one occasion taken the young man home with him when he was unwell.

“In like,” Sky checked the clock on the wall, brain stalling on trying to read the hands before checking his phone instead. “An hour?”

“Come on.” Legend took Sky’s bag, prompting him to follow as they left the break room. He pulled his phone out with his other hand while they walked, sending a message to Time. Sky didn’t question where they were going, until Legend led him down a hallway he wasn’t familiar with.

“You’re going to rest in one of the empty on-call rooms until Time is done. Then you’re going with him and sleeping this off.” Legend nudged him inside, placing Sky’s bag beside one of the beds. Sky sat on the mattress without protest, still holding his scarf in his arms as he lay down. He was out almost instantly.

Legend turned the main light out, leaving just the small lamp on the nightstand. He paused in the doorway for a moment, looking Sky over once more, before closing the door and hurrying back to his unit.

~~~

The knock on the door didn’t wake Sky, nor the light being turned on. Time gently shook Sky’s shoulder, and after a few moments the younger man blinked blurry eyes open.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” Time asked.

Sky stared at him, processing, then, “Like crap. ‘Not exempt because it’s not an allergy’ my ass. Not all reactions are from allergies.”

“Yeah, that’s frustrating.” Time agreed. “Let’s get you home. You’re off tomorrow, right?” Sky only nodded in response, picking up his things and following Time out the door. The walk to the parking garage was short but tiring, and Sky gratefully slipped into the passenger seat, resting his head against the cool window. The rumbling of the engine nearly lulled him back to sleep, but random thoughts kept drifting in, keeping him awake.

“Have you ever thought about why our jobs exist?” Sky suddenly asked. Time glanced over, surprised at the unexpected question.

“Because people get sick and hurt?”

“Yeah, but like. Why?” At this point Time decided to just let the boy ramble, curious as to where his fever-addled mind was wandering.

“I mean, why do people get sick? Why do bad things happen? Because people made it that way. Those things weren't supposed to happen. The world was made perfectly. And then humans went and ruined it. We live in a fallen world of our own making. If that didn't happen, there would be no reason for what we do.”

“And yet here we are, making the best of what we've got in this fallen world.” Time replied. Sky didn't respond, and for a moment Time wandered if he'd fallen asleep. After a few minutes, he was surprised to hear Sky start singing softly.

“There will be a day, with no more tears,

no more pain, no more fears

There will be a day,

when the burdens of this place,

will be no more

Troubled soul don't lose your heart

‘Cause the joy and peace He brings,

and the beauty that's in store,

outweighs the hurt of life's sting.

But I hold onto this hope,

and the promise that He brings,

that there will be a place with no more suffering”

Sky trailed off as the car came to a stop, realizing Time had brought him to his place instead of taking him home.

“Come on, let's get you to bed.” Time steadied him as he stepped out of the car, leading him inside and to the guest room that was unofficially his. Everything was just as he had left it, making it easy to settle in for the night. Time left briefly, returning with a bottle of water, medicine, and something wrapped in a small towel.

Sky accepted the water and fever medicine, before laying down in bed. The towel wrapped object turned out to be an ice pack, which felt amazing on his hot skin. Something small and soft was tucked against him, and he was mildly embarrassed to see it was the worn red bird plush Sun had made for him many years ago.

“I don't need a plushy.” Sky protested. “I'm not a kid.” Despite his words, he held the treasured toy against his chest.

“There's nothing wrong with you having a stuffed animal. Just because you're an adult, that doesn't mean you can't have things like this, especially if it's something that brings you comfort.” Time shook out Sky's oversized scarf, draping it over him like a blanket. “Get some rest. I'll be down the hall, so just call if you need anything.”

Time flicked the lights out as he left, leaving the door cracked in case Sky called for him. He didn't think that would be necessary though. He could already hear soft snoring as Sky slept the fever away.

[witchermonstermayhem]

A Witcher Event for December! Instead of something with monsters let's make a Witchery Yuletide Calendar together with one or several nice surprises every day. Claim a day/prompt (or more than one) and post something for it before your day, tagging @witchermonstermayhem and #yuletidecalendar so that I can find and share it with everybody on the day the calendar door opens.

What can you share? Fics, Poems, Art, Edits, Recipes, Mood boards, whatever you like! It should fit the prompt and the season and must be related to The Witcher somehow.

Do I have to create something new? - No! You can also share an old work of yours or recommend somebody else's work. The only thing that's not allowed is AI created stuff.

How do I claim a prompt? - Please send me a message to let me know which prompt(s) you'd like to share something for until November 24.

Is NSFW allowed? - Yes! Just tag it properly.

Are modern AUs and crossovers allowed? - Yes, definitely!

I missed the deadline to claim a prompt. Can I still participate? - Yes, no problem! Just post before the day of the prompt and tag me so that I can share it. The claiming is just so that I can see which days have not been claimed and can put them up for 'adoption' on the 25th.

Can I combine this event with other events? - Yes! As long as the other event allows it, combine as much as you like. For example there's @fluff-cember, @whumpcember, @hurtcember or maybe you have a bingo card that is not done yet.

Can I combine different days of the event? - No, not really as each entry is for one specific day only. If you want to write a single fic for several prompts, it will work only if the prompts are used in different chapters and in chronological order.

Can I be a completionist? - If you want to share something for every day, that's awesome and then you're definitely a completionist. But it's also great if you share something for just one day.

Is there an Ao3 collection? Yes, it's here: WitcheryYuletideCalendar

(You can already post to it, but it won't be revealed before 1st December)

The overall goal of the event is to have at least one entry for every day that other people can enjoy during Yuletide as their daily does of The Witcher.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to send an ask!

Please share this post so that many Witcher fans can join the event. Thank you!

Below the cut is a written list of the prompts:

1 - cold / freezing

2 - (shooting) star

3 - old friend / friends

4 - shelter

5 - hot beverage (coffee, tea, cocoa etc.)

6 - fire (place) / hot

7 - cat

8 - flowers / bouquet

9 - hot spring

10 - tree / forest / Christmas tree

11 - dog / puppy

12 - mistletoe

13 - snow / snowflake(s)

14 - lips / kiss

15 - (Christmas) cookies / baking

16 - moon / moon light / night

17 - snowman

18 - wool / knitting / crocheting

19 - dice / game

20 - unicorn

21 - gloves / mittens

22 - sleigh / sled / sledge / toboggan

23 - present

24 - heart / love

[vidavalor]

Amazing question & I absolutely think they saw one another because there's stuff that suggests that they did. While I love the fanfic, the idea of a massive breakup that lasted decades between 1862 and 1941 goes against other stuff presented in the show already & doesn't sit right to me with these characters and what we've seen of their love and their history.

-The script book says that Crowley & Aziraphale haven't spoken "for a hundred years" in 1941 but that violates S1's canon because it would mean the early 1840s was the last time they spoke... but we saw them speak in 1862. So, it's already not literal-- it's the figure of speech use of "for a hundred years", which just means "for awhile." Script books aren't the final canon anyway as stuff can change from script to screen as production happens.

When someone says they haven't seen or spoken to someone "for a hundred years", it just means for what they consider to be a long time-- which is wildly subjective. For some people, that might be years. For others, it could be just too long by their own mutual standards.

So, the real question would be: how long is "for a hundred years" to Crowley and Aziraphale prior to 1941?

Other scenes we've already seen indicate that this is not very long at all:

-In 1601, the dialogue at the start of the scene indicates that, while Aziraphale picked the location, Crowley is the one who asked to meet. During the course of the scene, he and Aziraphale find out that they've both been assigned to Edinburgh the following week. While they both knew they each had been assigned there, neither of them knew that the other one had been assigned to Edinburgh... not until the conversation we watch unfold at The Globe Theatre. This means that setting up the one-of-them-doing-both-of-their-work-assignments thing-- that aspect of The Arrangement-- wasn't the reason why Crowley wanted to meet and wasn't what Aziraphale was thinking when he agreed to do so. So...

...since Crowley is the one who asked Aziraphale to meet, when he says this...

...he's saying that he found out he had to go to Scotland for a work assignment in a few days and messaged Aziraphale because he wanted to see him before he left for the trip. They both have assignments that are within the following/upcoming week, which means that they are seeing one another regularly enough by 1601 that finding out that one of them soon has to be away on Heaven or Hell business and might not be able to the other for even just a few days means wanting to see one another before they do.

-Then, Aziraphale's journal in 1827 is worded in such a way that, when you match it with the date Aziraphale writes, it is saying that Crowley was gone for less than a month after he was dragged to Hell in Edinburgh before Aziraphale next saw him again and Aziraphale considered that "quite some time" gone by without seeing him. So, in the 1800s, they are down to trying to see one another at least once a week, unless one of them is on assignment. They have the bookshop by this point so that makes sense, as it's a little easier to manage meeting-- which is one of the reasons why Aziraphale built the shop in the first place-- and while they are struggling a bit by 1862, they're still meeting up and still together.

In the 2008/2019/2023 in S1 & S2, they are seeing one another with the same frequency as they were in much of the 1800s and the few centuries prior to that, if not even more so. By S2, it appears to be daily with Crowley basically living in the shop, per Aziraphale's "plenty of use" comment. The bandstand breakup lasted, like, a couple of hours lol and Crowley was back at the bookshop within the same day as the argument over Gabriel in 2.01. The 1862 Holy Water Argument might have been a really bad divorce-- it could have lasted 3, maybe 4 whole days-- but they seem to be colossally bad at really breaking up with one another and that's very sweet.

I also think that saying that they broke up for decades after 1862 when Aziraphale knew that Crowley was depressed to a point that Aziraphale thought him potentially suicidal seems unlikely. Storming off in a huff in a fight, sure, but I just can't see Aziraphale thinking Crowley might be wanting to harm himself and then just not talking to him. I feel like they would have actually talked, agreed to disagree about holy water, and continued seeing one another for the decades that followed and I think there's enough already to suggest that that's what they did.

-Aziraphale wanting to dance with Crowley in S2 then retrospectively hints at him learning to gavotte with that idea in mind. That was the 1880s-- just 20-ish years after the holy water scene in 1862. If they were still broken up by then, why would Aziraphale be having romantic dreams about dancing with Crowley? Not to mention why have the 19th century euphemistic speak in The Meeting Ball? Yes, it was Jane Austen-centric and prior to 1827 but if the 1800s were a complete disaster for them after Edinburgh, it'd hardly be the most romantic thing to make that era a center point of a romantic night that we all know was designed more with Crowley in mind than Maggie and Nina.

-In 2008, Aziraphale mentions the dozen cases of Chateauneuf-de-Pape that he picked up in 1921 for their "special occasions." Why would Aziraphale be buying 144 bottles worth of wine for the two of them in 1921 if they weren't still seeing one another regularly? This is the very early 1920s and would then mean they were together in at least the 1910s, if not also prior to that.

-Maggie's great-grandmother & her shop in the 1920s... Plenty of theories exist about this but it's unlikely that Crowley doesn't have a role in this story. (He has a rather sizable role in this story if you are someone who thinks he and Aziraphale are Maggie's great-grandparents.) When you factor in the 1921 Chateauneuf-de-Pape purchase, it's even more likely that Crowley was around in the 1920s. Plus, Aziraphale was not missing flapper Crowley, ok? No argument would be worth that much. 😉

-The 1930s are mentioned in S2 twice in relation to Crowley & Aziraphale: Shax first hearing the rumor about them "80, 90 years ago", which puts it prior to 1941 in the 1930s, and Aziraphale referring to being licensed to drive The Bentley since the 1930s. Yeah, that scene is euphemistic as all holy hell lol but it's also a reference to Aziraphale being around when Crowley bought The Bentley in the 1930s and of course he was because can we even imagine Crowley getting that car and not immediately showing up to take Aziraphale for a ride in it? Aziraphale is also not surprised by The Bentley in 1941 (or Crowley's hat, which was also in style in the 1930s and which, based on how he kept leaving it on when alone with Aziraphale in Part 2, he wore that night because he knew Aziraphale was into it.)

-"A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" was written & first performed in a bar in Le Lavandou, France in 1939. There are suggestions in a couple of places that Aziraphale might be the true lyricist in the Good Omens universe. It might be that what people are waiting to see happen with this song in 1941 is actually connected to 1939... which is only two years prior to 1941. It could be that we end up seeing not only a Part 3 to 1941 but also a 1939 scene that gives context to what of 1941 we've already seen.

The "hundred years ago" in 1941 could wind up being not more than a couple of months, or even less. That's especially true when you consider that nothing in the tone of 1941, Part One suggests that they haven't seen each other in decades-- the opposite is actually true.

If you go in the opposite direction, too, and look at the later time gap of 1967-2008? The gap in which the only things that exist so far seem to be the Disco Tony flashbacks? There's that Crowley's answering machine is from the early 1980s but we see in the 2019 present of S1 that Aziraphale has never heard it go to voicemail before. Crowley wouldn't have had a cell phone until sometime circa 2000-2004-ish so that's 20 years right there of not only Crowley always picking up within a few rings of Aziraphale calling him but likely with Aziraphale not having to call him that much at all because he saw him so frequently.

Add in the Into the Woods playbill mentioned in 2008 in 1.01 and the first night performance Crowley's referring to was in San Diego in 1986. (At that other Globe Theatre. 😊) The implication in the scene is that Crowley and Aziraphale were at that performance together, so that puts them as being together during the 1980s and suggests they just continued it through what we saw in 2008 and beyond.

They have ups and downs and disagreements and makeups like everyone else but there's likely enough already to suggest that they've never actually really stopped being together in secret with any real sense of permanence. They've had periods of depression and fasting a bit but they've never really left each other. They had an argument in 1862, not a break up. I think there's enough suggestion already to say that they saw one another through every year of at least the last few hundred years.

Good Omens season 3 finale movie thought of the day:

Do you think there was another time that the Ineffables saw each other between Crowley asking for holy water, and then saving Aziraphale at the church in 1941? If yes, do you think we’ll get a flashback to it in season 3? (Edit: again this was written weeks ago before the finale announcement and then queued. I do not think we’ll get this kind of flashback now) Or was that the last time they saw each other between those two moments?

Personally I think they caught up during the roaring twenties. Because honestly how could they not have.

[lesbianphan]

Review of ii please? 🎤

Hi Cal! Took me a while to get to this message cause I felt like I wanted to write a longer reply.

I feel like I need to preface by saying I'm not a big tour fan in general when it comes to youtubers. I know Dan and Phil do it like no one else ever dares to do, but I still don't really enjoy the format very much, especially since it feels exclusionary to people who can't be there when the youtube channels get dead for tour reasons (which means I might get more annoying during tour again whoops). So prefacing as well with the fact that tatinof makes me want to die inside and is maybe my least favorite thing they've ever done, I didn't have that high expectations for II.

That being said, I liked II way more than I thought I would! It's like the teenage version of dnp content, I suppose! TATINOF felt like it was made for 10 year olds, and even though introverts didn't feel mature or adult like I hope TIT will be, it was still fun enough! Phil especially did much better with this format (and maybe some more experience) and didn't make me want to die from second-hand embarrassment as much asdkj (sorry I promise I love him, hard to watch him act though).

I found it to be like an internet variety show of sorts, and was overall pretty enjoyable to watch. It felt more Dan and Phil than overly scripted TATINOF. They vibed more with the public, they felt more comfortable in their skin and on stage. Overall a better performance, and a more interesting show imho. It was still a litttlleeee too long imho, their shows tend to drag on a little too long for my taste (even WAD, which I absolutely LOVED, could be much shorter to pack more of a punch, so the message doesn't get lost in the amount of content in it).

I find it funny that it was supposed to be the last Dan and Phil thing, because idk if it's because I'm watching it now, but it just has middle child energy. It didn't feel like an ending at all to me! I found the theme interesting as well, about giving people what they want / doing what they want, but once again it might have been better communicated if the show wasn't as long.

Tldr: I really liked Interactive Introverts way more than I expected, I think they did a good job with it even if it does have some transitional energy that is hard to explain, and it's very of its time, as all of their projects seem to be.

I feel more ready to face whatever the fuck they'll do during TIT now that I've seen all their shows, but I do hope they throw out the booklet and let loose a little more on this one. I'm intrigued to see what an actual adult Dan and Phil show looks like (not onlyphans lol).

[boxwinebaddie]

an uncle nina check in <3

hi team! thanks for sticking around! i know my blog isn't always the most exciting and enriching place in the world in terms of content, but i am very /content/ to have you all here. <3333

i promise, oddly enough, i have A TON of inspiration and ideas for all my weird styles ( if you're curious about anything please lmk! i've been trying to flesh out my aus out lately ), i've just been in a major bummer depression era lately, so it's hard for me to get my asks done and i'm having a hard time committing to finishing my writing. :<

i think it's because of stress and my bipolar, but i am trying to get back on the horse! ( are we all laughing at the idea of me trying to get on a horse? i'd start crying help city girl fail moment for me ) yeehaw!

and while, unfortunately due to the instability ( fabulous legendary iconery ) of my pretty girl popstar personality, i do not know whether i will be answering almost no questions or one million, regardless of that, i just wanted to let you know, i'm still here, still kicking my feet, twirling my hair, cooking...i'm just really trying not to force myself to put out anything i don't like...and only do what makes me truly happy.

however, nothing, my dear sweet e-darlings...

makes me happier than coming home to all of you. <333

so thank you for flooding even the darkest corners of my life with bright light, supporting my phantom fics and being wonderful,

uncle nina xx

[bangcakes]

.

[rachielynne728]

I’m thinking I seriously need to write down the scene in my head for my novel because I’m so excited about it! Send me some encouragement please!!!!

Ooh, I can't wait to read your novel!! I have faith that you'll be able to get the scene down

[pepprs]

idk how to reconcile my new self with my old self. also i fucking hate waiting. GRAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[quietmarie]

What is Async Anyway?

Explaining async/await and general concurrency concepts in programming languages.

A lot of modern languages have async/await syntax built directly into them, and the construct can be extremely useful. Examples of languages that include these concepts are JavaScript, C#, Python, and Swift, and even modern relatively low-level languages like Rust have this syntax. Even though it's usually thought of as a more advanced feature, I think it is really not that hard to use once you get the hang of it, and it is super useful and rewarding when you really understand it.

This is going to be a bit of a long and pretty technical post, but I hope it can give you some confidence to know what async/await really does when you use it, and maybe it can help you use it more effectively. Keep in mind that I will not be able to go over everything in super deep detail, and that I am going to simplify stuff, but it should give you an idea how these systems work.

I am a little curious about eventually following this up with a post looking at how these systems compare under the hood in different programming languages, so let me know if you'd be interested in that.

Big post under the cut.

Parallelism and Concurrency

Computers today can do many things at the same time. And I mean that literally: in one instant, a modern CPU can be working on multiple instructions. That's because a single CPU has multiple cores that can all execute code (mostly) independent from each other. This is called parallelism, and the way we as programmers interact with that is through threads. Most programming languages, especially "lower level" ones, have a way for programmers to create a thread that will run some part of your code. Creating a thread is telling the computer that it can, and should, run the code in your threads in parallel (although various systems such as the OS still have discretion over when and if that actually happens).

Parallelism is not quite concurrency tho. Where parallelism is about your computer literally doing multiple things at once, concurrency is about your computer doing multiple things, but not at once. With concurrency, you kind of pretend you're doing a parallelism. But in reality, stuff doesn't happen at the same time. Instead, your system (runtime) does some work on task A a bit, then on task B, then maybe again on task A, etc., but doesn't work on the two at the same time. So, in a concurrent system it might look like task A and B are progressing simultaneously from the outside, but work actually only happens in sequence.

Let's Talk About I/O

I/O stands for input/output and describes data in your program that comes from elsewhere, or that gets sent elsewhere. So for example, user input is I/O. And similarly, a web request can be I/O, whether you send it or receive it. So let's use that as an example: you send a web request to some API to fetch you the cutest bunny images and facts:

But the service is taking its sweet time to respond.

Fact: Loading bunny fact…

With how we did it here, we halt execution of the entire thread until the response comes in (at least in most languages, more on that later). In this case, we call get a blocking method because it, well, blocks the thread without actively doing useful work.

What if we could instead use the thread for other tasks instead of just sitting there, twiddling our thumbs and waiting on the server? This smells of concurrency…

Callbacks

Callbacks are a way for programmers to avoid that period of thumb twiddling. The new getWithCallback function now returns immediately, but it doesn't return a value. Instead, we have to register the code we want to run once the server responds with the function:

The function we pass to getWithCallback is called the callback, and it gets called by the client* only once the response arrives. Oh look, here it is:

Fact: A rabbit's life span is about 8 years, though sterilized rabbits (those who are spayed/neutered) can live as long as 10-12 years.

*"The client calls it" is a big simplification, there might be a lot more stuff happening here. But the important bit is that the client magically does not need to block to wait for the response.

Promises and Futures

What JavaScript calls Promises and what a lot of the other languages call Futures is essentially sugar sprinkled on callbacks - it makes our callback code a little nicer. Callbacks can commonly create a concept called "callback hell", where you have to call a function that takes a callback inside the function that takes a callback inside the function that takes a callback…

(Code modified from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_promises)

To avoid this, functions now can return a Promise instead of taking a callback. Promises represent the promise that, while a concrete value might not exist right now, it will in the future. Once the value exists, we say the Promise resolves. The code above with Promises would then look like this:

It still doesn't look perfect, and there are things you can do to make it look a little nicer, but it's so much less nested. The callback in the then function will be called once the value is ready, and the callback itself can also return a Promise. The then function then returns a Promise which will get resolved once the future from the callback is resolved. Many other languages have a concept similar to JavaScript's Promise, and it's often called something like Future or Task (because it would be too easy to have consistent naming across languages).

Now keep in mind neither of those solutions above are really "concurrency" in the definition we used above. This is because the thread we call, for example, getWithCallback on still completely belongs to us. We could keep using it, and we would not get interrupted to execute the callback. Depending on the language and runtime, the callback might get executed on a different thread, or the runtime might have to wait until we are completely done with what we were doing to then use our thread to call it. The same thing goes for the callbacks in the then method of promises.

Async/Await

And async/await is just some sugar and magic fairy dust on top of Promises (or Futures or whatever). It makes our code look like it should be blocking, but in reality it isn't. Here's what our bunny image code looks like with async/await:

So here, a couple things happen. First, the Promise is created and the web request is initiated. Then, the Promise is awaited. For that, (if the Promise is not resolved at this point already,) the task first yields, meaning it tells the runtime that it is not doing any useful work at the moment, and that the thread it ran on can be used for other tasks. The runtime then makes a note of where to continue execution when that Promise resolves, and looks around for other tasks that currently need executing to put them on that thread. After a while passes, the Promise resolves, and once the runtime has some resources available for us (maybe because another task just yielded), execution on our original task is continued with the API response.

Fact: A rabbit's teeth never stop growing! Many people believe they need to chew to keep their teeth short. While they do enjoy chewing, it's the normal wear from where their top and bottom teeth meet that keeps a rabbit's teeth short.

This is more in line with the concurrency we sought out above. We can interleave other computations while our task is still running, but during times where it is not doing any useful work. (Still, because you may have multiple threads your tasks can run on and move between, it might not always be 100% technically accurate to call this system concurrent.) This is also why it is important to not block for long in async contexts: if you're hogging the thread for too long, you're stopping other tasks from progressing and throwing a lot of the benefits you gained from doing it concurrently in the bin. Most async runtimes will give you some option to run expensive or blocking code elsewhere, so that you can keep the benefits you gain from async.

So that's the explanation what async/await does, and the broad strokes of how it works. If you have any more questions regarding the topic, feel free to ask! I think it'll be fun to occasionally write a longer post on interesting things I've learned, so if you have topic suggestions, don't be afraid to tell me!

Further links and sources

Don't Block The Event Loop! - Why you should avoid blocking in Node.js, and what pitfalls to look out for.

I got the bnuuy images and facts from the animality API. The licenses on the images are not super clear, but I'll assume it's okay for me to use them here with credit because it's an open API.

I lifted the definitions and some of the explanation for parallelism and concurrency from Steve Klabnik's talk on Rust's Journey to Async/Await. The talk is more technical and very focused on Rust, but it's a great talk.

I referenced the mdn web docs at various points, they're a great resource.

I created the code screenshots using the carbon app.

[skywitchmaja]

sometimes it does feel like everyone in world is conspiring to piss me off. but at the same time.. people also say nice things to me, so it’s hard to say really

[eve-is-a-terf]

this tumblr popped up on my feed last year about October and I thought I’d give it a hate read and then I was like. Hm. Damn this makes sense. And that’s what peaked me lol.

wow, congratulations on being radicalized into our cult lmao!! jk, i love to hear other people's peaking stories, and so many come from hatereading. i always wonder how many TRA lurkers on radblr eventually become radical feminists themselves haha

[neon-angels-system]

anyway. sometimes the meowtuals posts and it is a Battle not to respond with a very long infodump about mental health

[ichigosoju]

🍡

[killmymind]

about to overthink for a second.