#but in the end i know it'll make me so happy to have this journal to look back on

[seeinganewlight]

just realized i still haven't finished setting up my theatre journal from the shows i saw in february 😭 i wanna do that and add a spread for the b&c pro shot. i won't get it done before my trip next month, but i do want to get it done

[being-addie]

Morning Routines

We're all looking at those Instagram influencers who somehow manage to wake up at 5 am, do meditation, journal, do a 15-step Korean skincare routine, and go to the gym. And then they make a green smoothie and avocado toast, get dressed in a Chanel outfit and then sit at their fancy desk with a vanilla latte and a croissant.

This is not realistic. You probably already know that, but it likely won't stop you from trying to change your routine bit by bit to look a little like theirs. That didn't stop me, at least.

But now I've come to realise that no matter how much I try, I'll never be able to have a routine like the ones I see online. Because it doesn't exist. It's all curated for aesthetic appeal and generates a sense of false productivity in the watcher's brain. We feel motivated looking at those videos and never get around to changing our own life because we're too busy living vicariously through our phones.

Here's some things you should add to your morning routine, not to be fancy, but to feel better. This is coming from someone who's tried the unrealistic routines, and I now incorporate all of these into my routine. You can skip or add things according to your schedule.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H: Do your body a favour and loosen up your muscles. Nothing better than having a good stretch that wakes your body up.

Drink water: Before you put anything in your system, drink water. Not coffee, not tea. Plain warm water. And I don't mean lemon water. Some people might not agree, but lemon water strips your teeth of the enamel. It also is acidic, so all that bullshit they talk about it being "alkaline and pH balancing" is nonsense. Warm water is the way to go.

Make your bed: A clean bed should be the first thing you do after you wake up. At the end of the day, you'll thank yourself because it will be clean, and fresh and you can fall into bed immediately.

Hygiene: Wash your face to get rid of crusty eyes and sleep. Do a basic skincare routine (cleanser, moisturizer) so you'll feel fresher. Brush your teeth and hair.

Move your body: It doesn't matter what you do, even if it's for 15 minutes. Go for a walk, do a Zumba workout, or squeeze in a HIIT session. You can find lots of tutorials on YouTube (Caroline Girvan, growingannanas, Chloe Ting). Either way, working out will help you feel more motivated and happier. It's the endorphins.

Clean yourself: Set aside some time for showering, slathering on lotion, and doing your (real) skincare and makeup routine. Pick an outfit that makes you feel good about yourself.

Eat something: ALWAYS make some food. Your body has been famished for hours on end, give it some fuel. Make a healthy breakfast, or prep one the night before. If you don't get very hungry in the mornings, have a banana, and pack a mid-morning snack beforehand so you don't reach for chips.

Do 3 things: Make a to-do list of everything you need to do today. Don't overwhelm yourself. Then, knock off 3 easy tasks from the list that you can do quickly. You'll be filled with a sense of motivation, and it'll be easier for you to complete your list. It can be chores, it could be some assigned reading. Just get it done.

Gratitude or prayer: You don't need to sit for 15 minutes to practice gratitude. You can think of things your thankful for on the way to school or work or practice deep breathing/say a small prayer on the subway or bus. You don't HAVE to do it, but it definitely makes you realise how much you have in life and appreciate it more.

Kindness: Start your day with kindness. Compliment your barista, smile at the old lady on the street, pet the stray cat. There's so much love in the world, and you have so much love inside you, and it's beautiful to be a part of it.

No longer will I be stuck in a rut. I cannot be confined to being a bitter, unhealthy person when I know there's a smiling, healthy, happy version of me in the future. Deep breaths. You'll get there babe.

<3

[lucifugousart]

"DIO's Heaven" A jjba world building theory no one asked for that has been TORTURING me for years.

❗❗ SPOILERS FOR PARTS 1-6❗❗

OK LET'S GO "The Heaven pertaining the soul, WHERE it'll go." Tl;dr: Heaven is a place. Here's how:

We know that in the Jojo universe Hell and Heaven are equally talked about as a religious belief. In part 1 young Dio was sure his Father was going to end up in Hell for the atrocities he committed his whole life.

And again, in part 6 Dio specifies that the Heaven he talks about is where the human spirit will go after death. With the introduction of stands, the visual personification of souls, we clearly see this happen multiple times, especially the ascension to Heaven, where they'll finally find peace.

In part 5 we'll also see how, ironically, dying is the only way to escape the chains of Fate. The same Fate that has been object of both oppression AND obsession for Dio since his young age. He believed it was in his Destiny to accomplish his early goals, being Jojo also part of this bigger plan. Of course he was wrong.

Failing to realize how Jojo was the closest person to him (and how attached he was), this dumb man ends up killing him and then regretting the act. I don't wanna go too much in detail about it because we all have read the manga and perfectly know what happens, so, Dio just lost the most important person in his life and had 100 years to overthink about it at the bottom of the sea. Perhaps, taking jojo's body wasn't what Destiny meant for them as "being two that make one" and this dumb dumb can't go back in time. ...or can he? Let's proceed in order

All Dio wants is happiness (relatable, i know) that can only be found in Heaven. Why? We'll see this later, i wanna focus first on how to get there. Because as we said, Heaven is an actual place. But reaching it isn't very easy, especially if you're not dead. Also there's another MAIN issue: Dio isn't human. By rejecting his humanity through the stone mask he basically lost any little chance to ascend to Heaven, because believe it or not: vampires may have a soul, but they're damned. After death there's absolute nothing, no Hell either. Just this:

But Dio knew this well. His death was a temporary but necessary phase, he'll write about it in his journal (he simply wasn't expecting it to happen like THAT, sigh) and his plan is safe also thanks to an unexpected gift, a little trinket, that carries his consciousness and dna.

Let's recap Dio's instructions to get to Heaven:

-A trustworthy friend. “He must be someone who is not interested in political power, fame, wealth, or sexual desire, and who chooses the will of God before the law of humans.” I will talk about God a lot as ideal, but even if we have a tangible proof of saints existing in JJBA I still don’t wanna claim God’s existence as certain. We have Dio doubting it himself (“If God exists”) and sure there is a force ruling the events, but I have a quite different view on what this force actually is. Let’s continue;

-His stand, The World, and “courage”. “I must have the courage to destroy my Stand momentarily. As it disintegrates, my Stand will absorb the souls of the 36 sinners and will give birth to something utterly new.” -The souls of 36 humans who have sinned, “because those who havesinned harbor a strong power within.” It is said that we, humankind as a whole, are “sinners who need God’s grace” and that the true distinction between a bad person, worthy of going to Hell, and a good person, worthy of Heaven while being forgiven for their sins, resides in the ability to feel “regret” for their own actions. I believe the sinners being from the Green Dolphin street Prison’s lowest circle was providential: they’re all criminals who voluntarily rejected God, their soul already belongs to Hell. So why? There’s a deep symbolism in this.

The sinners are a reference to Dio’s past identity, the man who rejected humanity in favor of world domination (Actually not just that, but now it’s not the time for an in-depth analysis of Dio’s psyche). Such a person would never reach Heaven, right? Well, the key is in “regret”.

Exactly because Dio regretted his actions attaining Heaven it’s not impossible, just very difficult. We said he was gonna use the souls of sinners, but sinners go in the opposite direction, to Hell. So how is it possible? The trick is in the number: 36 has a double meaning. If we look at it mathematically, the sum of the integers from 1 to 36 is 666, the number of the Beast (and Dio was referred to as the Evil in opposition to the Good, with a name so contrasting to make everything even more interesting). On the other hand, 36 has also very positive meanings: the actual number of texts in Holy Scriptures is 36, it’s said that in every generation there are exactly 36 perfectly righteous people alive (we could easily also call them saints) and the world only continues to exist in their merit as they contain a spark of the Divine Light within them, that same light that first shone for 36 hours after its creation and before being replaced by the Sun… But most importantly, 36 has a meaning of rebirth. It’s two times 18, which carries the meaning of “life” (from the Hebrew letters that spell “chai”, meaning "living") so 36 translates into “two lives”. Thinking about it, it’s exactly what happens through the Green baby: Dio reincarnating as someone new, a new pure lifeform free from his sins, no more damned.

-The cryptic 14 phrases, engraved into The World, so that he couldn’t forget them. I believe these phrases carry Dio’s past but also his Future. Something that after his rebirth would let him not forget where he came from, but also remember where he’s going. Which is why they’re so important and spark a reaction in the Green Baby:

“Whatever is born will "awaken". It will show interest in the 14 words that my trusted friend will utter... My friend will trust me and I will become his "friend".” We’ll witness the first Gravity-induced fusion in the entire series, something that will become more familiar later in Jojolion.

-”Lastly, I need an appropriate location. North latitude, 28 degrees, 24 minutes, West longitude 80 degrees, 36 minutes. Go there and wait for the New Moon. That's when Heaven will come.” AND THIS, RIGHT HERE, IS WHERE WE START. The foundation of how Heaven, Gravity and Fate, Souls and Stands work in the Jojoverse. And also where things start being complicated. The best way to explain everything is starting from Pucci and his role in Dio's plan, then moving back to the first manifestation of Stands. As i said before, in PB the existence of God is in doubt because we don’t have any tangible proof, it's simply an idea sustained by faith. What if i tell you that God, as an actual figure, is actually a product of human actions and everything is governed by Gravity/Fate instead? We know that Dio and Pucci encounter was a product of Gravity, and so was their fusion: there's a reason why he tripped on him, of all people.

It's exact after this moment, when all left to do is "waiting for Heaven to come" that we get the first actual manifestation of the Divine: the recurrence of number 3.

Biblically, the number 3 represents Divine wholeness, completeness and perfection. If there ever was a desire to highlight an idea, thought, event or noteworthy figure for their prominence, the number 3 was used to put a Divine stamp of completion or fullfilment on the subject.

Now i'm not saying that Dio is God or became one (THAT would be interesting and i already valued the possibility some years ago), but seems like in the Jojoverse there's no room for coincidences and everything happens as planned by Destiny, so these 3 people being the sons of Dio and drawn to Pucci are exactly where they were meant to be. If God doesn't exist, this is still the proof of how Dio is getting closer to the ruling force of the Universe: Gravity. And through it, finally find happiness. So, we're waiting for Heaven and we have a very specific place where to go for make it happen. Cape Canaveral: the most optimal place to launch a rocket. But what does this have to do with Heaven? OH, MORE THAN YOU IMAGINE. Because it is a place. But i never said it was on Earth.

To understand our destination better, i wanna make a step back. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” We said we don’t have real evidence of God, but spirits DO go somewhere. Foo will say it clearly: the spirit/soul can’t stay on Earth for long, with the only exception of a sudden or tragic death, tying them to a specific place. In most cases, they have unfinished business as the deceased person does not accept the way in which they died (like Riemi or Kira and his father). But once this soul is freed, and if they're worthy, they all go in the same direction: up in the sky, welcomed by a very bright light.

Heaven is often described as the "highest place" and in the Scriptures, in both Hebrew (shamayim) and Greek (ouranos), it can be translated as "sky".

The first line of the Bible also states that Heaven is created along with the creation of the Earth (Genesis 1). SO. We're looking for a VERY bright something in the sky, created post Big Bang and as old as the entire Universe, which is also deeply subject to Gravity. I already have a very clear idea in mind, but let's also drag in the mix what Pucci knows: the World, a stand involved with the manipulation of TIME, was NECESSARY for reaching of the conditions to attain Heaven. Who's that pokemon? It's a Quasar!

An astronomical object of VERY high luminosity found in the centres of some galaxies and powered by gas spiraling at high velocity into an extremely large black hole. SO IS HEAVEN A QUASAR?!? Ahah no, but there, at its core, that's where our bus ticket is.

Quasars are some of the brightest objects known, able to outshine all the other stars and can be trillions of times brighter than the Sun. They were much more common when the universe was young, must have been able to form after the universe began to expand. But any simple one won't do, no. To find Heaven we must identify the first, oldest quasar in the Universe, which hosts a very peculiar and unique, primordial, supermassive black hole: the gate for true, unfettered happiness. I'll try to make this as simple as possible leaving out every superflous notion or math about general theory of relativity or we'll NEVER be able to get to the point. At the start i hinted to the possibility of going back in time. Yes and no, it's a bit more complicated than just press rewind but Pucci was right, it IS involved with attaining Heaven.

In astronomy, a black hole is a physical location of no return because Gravity is so strong that nothing -not even light- can escape. As you get closer to it, the flow of time slows down progressively to the extreme. From an outside viewpoint it's like time stops.

At its center, a black hole is thought to have a singularity point: a location where matter is compressed down to infinity and all conceptions of time and space completely break down. Some even call it "Reverse creation". But as we said, to reach Heaven we seek something way more specific.

As far as we know distant objects are seen as they existed in the past and quasars are the most distant and oldest that astronomers have been able to detect. The most distant quasars are seen at a time when the universe was one tenth its present age, roughly a billion years after the Big Bang. So we're not fully able to find our special primordial black hole, unless we have a way to get closer in a matter of time: Made in Heaven's ability to accelerate time to infinity through gravitational power manipulation will be providential in this. By moving back in time we get to reach and go over the Cosmic Microwave Background, a remnant from an early hot, opaque plasma stage post Big Bang and an evidence of it being the origin of the Universe, the beginning of time. We have zero knowledge of what's behind it as we can't observe it.

Assuming that Made in Heaven brings us there, what now? In the designed location, moving at infinite speed towards the singularity point of a black hole as old as the Universe itself, and with time SLOWING down once we meet the Singularity point, WHERE are we going? Incredibly, our answer can be found in the Book of the dead. In Ancient Egypt it was believed that the afterlife was a mirror image of life on Earth. Death was only a transition, not a completion, and opened the way to the possibility of eternal happiness. So let's consider this:

An entire universe behind a black hole, exactly like the one we know, but unaffected by the laws of Gravity as the Fate we know that keeps everyone in chains. Where a soul lives like any their normal life on Earth, but free to act outside any binary AND with the lack of the "Evil" that messed with their previous life, with the promise of a happy otherworldly existence. A chance of rebirth, staying true to yourself, but aware of mistakes you won't commit again. Now if this isn't Heaven i don't know what it is... It makes sense that through Made in Heaven only living organisms could reach such place, as the dead are already subject to the laws of Gravity in their predestined travel to either Hell or Heaven. But things got messed up by Pucci's intentions, as his stand ability is subject to his own belief, desires and psyche.

It is possible that "knowing your future in advace resulting in peace of mind and happiness" belief caused Pucci and Emporio to travel back in the course of Time jumping in a new world where destiny will repeat itself, hence the ability to see the nearest future as vision. And this is anywhere near to what truly Heaven is supposed to be. Happiness won't come from reviving your life exactly like it was (in fact the sole differences we spot are due the people that were already dead being replaced by their own version belonging to that world) but as we said it's the act of being FREE from the laws of Gravity. I believe this shift of intention is what caused Pucci's demise and Emporio's travel to a secondary parallel universe, hinting the existence of a multiverse where every world is connected to the others through the numerous black holes that reside in them. But neither of them would lead to the afterlife except for one. How much does this complicate things? Very.

Probably if Dio and Pucci were able to spend more time together, with Dio explaining better his view and belief, nothing of the canon timeline since before Pucci's death (his death included) would ever happen and everyone would be living their best life in Heaven. Or even better, if Dio were able to realize his plan before the events of part 3... (all the pain of SDC... gone, never existed. Sigh.)

Identifying Heaven as an Universe (including space and time, planets, stars, galaxies, all the forms of matter, energy, the souls of every creature and humanity) makes everything extremely interesting when we look at how the Jojoverse works.

Given that the gate for Heaven is a Quasar, it's known that sometimes they shoot out pairs of straight jets, containing matter moving close to the speed of light in a tight beam, to distances far beyond the galaxies they live in: how does this affect the worlds these beams reach?

For a start, we can assume that with Creation every living creature is born with a soul, that is shaped after the individual's choices, experience and psyche. In various religions it's attribuited to the Divine spark gifted by Gods. The references to light are so many that is difficult to call them a coincidence in a setting where "coincidence" isn't really something possible with Gravity's laws. Back to our matter escaped from Heaven, if it were to get in touch with a normal soul, we'd probably have an evolution reaction: natural born stand users.

I believe that the particles coming from Heaven, engaging with the soul that originated there, would trigger a violent reaction shaping the original soul into something more complex (and i would say dormant) that always belonged to the user. We'll learn with part 3 that not everyone has the spiritual strenght to bear this evolution, like when stands are induced later on. So are stand arrows involved too? The answer might surprise you.

Let's take a step back and move to the Poles, approximately 50k years ago, when a meteorite crash-landed on Earth around Cape York, Greenland and later on, in that same site, a misterious disease was found, leading to the creation of stand arrows 2to acquire the powers of Gods".

The fact everything happened at the poles is very relevant to this theory, especially a certain discovery. Let me introduce you to Neutrinos: a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass, it was almost believed they didn't have any at all. There are different types of neutrinos and they're the most abundant particles in the Universe, although very difficult to detect too. It is possible that a large fraction of the dark matter of the universe consists of primordial, Big Bang neutrinos.

The type that is relevant to us is high-energy cosmic neutrinos that are born in the CENTER of quasars, expulsed by jets and able to cross the Universe without interacting with matter and without any delays on their way. But at the Pole was found a particle that "shouldn't exist" shooting straight up out of the ice and seems to move straight back in direction of the quasar that originated it. Some scientists dared to call it "a ghost particle". Let's add this up to the evolution of the soul, the rules of Gravity and the guys that wanted to gain the power of a God: if the metallic material of the meteorite, infused with the ghost particle, were to come in contact with the organism where the souls resides... Did i already mention that they interact through Gravity?

Lastly, this whole system would give us a reasonable explanation for certain stand abilities, like Vanilla Ice's and Okuyasu's (being possibly connected to a black hole's singularity point, allowing them to destroy the matter they absorb with no turning back) or others, seen afterwards, capable to move objects or people through different dimensions and/or parallel worlds. Lastly, i wanna spend two words regarding Dio's resolve and why i firmly believe that he regretted his actions. Dio's a person who tends to live a lot in the past and lets it influence his future. I don't think though that his search for Happiness was meant for the whole humanity, like Pucci tried to achieve. Dio's wish was more selfish and limited to himself, perhaps to his trustworthy friend too, but nothing more. He sacrificed himself for something once, that didn't lead him to happyness as he might have thought at the start of Phantom Blood, but is ready to give up on everything a second time with no hesitation. No feelings of grandiosity or power, he recognized his mistakes and wanted to restart everything once again.

And maybe living a normal life for once. Who knows, maybe letting people be close to him without paranoid tendencies too... True, unfettered happines probably lies in the simplicity of conducting your life following your own decisions, and not Fate's. Or your abusive father's.

So this is Heaven. I know it's long, delirious at some traits and all, but i thought these corrispondences were neat and worth of being shared. So if you got till here and enjoyed it, thank you for your time!

[ice-cream-writes-stuff]

Cheshire's Chase

《Catlad/Stray x Reader! HEADCANONS》

More Catlad Tim! HEADCANONS! Mini fic at end! Slight Robin Au too!

Tim is obsessed with the Batfamily (Regardless if you are Robin/Vigilante! Reader)

Tim often writes in a small journal about the crime-fighting family!

He looks up to Dick since he met him before at Haley's circus before his parents had became a bit detached.

Jason never met Tim as Robin, but did look up to him! Finding this Robin a tad bit cooler than when the first Robin was taking crooks down.

Nightwing on the other hand babies Catlad when Tim is first starting out! The two would even sneak out from their parents- *ahem* "parental guardians", to get some air and just talk. [Tim just straight-up fanboying and trying to play it cool. He asks questions about Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and etc.

-

Sighing stupidly at your phone, you felt your cheeks, warm as an oven and your heart all mushy. A small squeal leaves your lips as you twirl about on your way to Wayne manor. A skip in your step without a care in the world as you ring the doorbell.

Instead of Alfred greeting you, Bruce Wayne meets you at the front door. 

"Ah, (Y/N), thank you for arriving in such short notice."

"Of course Mr. Wayne!" You yell, a bit too much excitement in your voice.

The play-boy billionaire eyes you with a questioning look. "Alright.. Well, I must head off now. Alfred and Dick will be back to the manor in a few hours. You know the rules, so I'll be off. Take care of Damien, have a good one!" The CEO waves goodbye as he heads to his garage.

You do a small wave back, soon heading inside the lustrous manor.

Your feet tapping against the cold floor as you wander around the manor for the "baby" you were supposed to be "sitting".

"(L/N)." Damien calls out to you from the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms. Ace and Titus sitting beside him with straightened postures.

You smile at the tiny kid, waving at him to come down. He does so, with a eye-roll and a click of his tongue. The two dogs following behind him like soldiers.

"You seem in good spirits (L/N), more so than usual." The boy said, the two of you outside in the ginormous backyard as you pick up a toy ball for the dogs. 

"Ooohh... Yeah, I-I guess something good did happen today...!" You state, your voice becoming higher pitched and faster. Ignoring Damien's cold stare as you throw the toy ball, Ace runs after it, while Titus looks at his Master for confirmation. Damien nods, smirking a bit at his animal companion as he runs off toward Ace. 

"Well what is it?"

""Scuse me?"

"What made you this "happy" today?" The young Wayne reiterates, petting Ace and Titus once they brought back the ball and another ball?

Where did they find the other one??

"IT-S Uhnnn, teenage stuff, it'll make you SO BOreeed, don't worry about it, kay?!" You grab one of the balls and chuck it so fast and far it flew outside the gardens.

"Damn.. I mean! DANG!" You try to censor yourself, forgetting there was a child present. 

"(L/N), I know what cursing is, your just like Grayson whenever he loses his balance." Damien scoffs, and you chuckle at the oh-so "perfect Garyson" falling on his face whenever he tries to black-flip to impress you and Damien.

"I know, but your still a ity-bity tike! I don't wanna ruin your child like innocence!" You whine dramatically, attempting to go in for a hug as Damien expertly avoids your hug attack.

"Augh, your worse than Garyson!" He hisses, this time changing his route to inside the manor.

"Come on, we need to get that ball back!"

"Fine..!" You groan out, pouting. "But I think it's an accomplishment that I'm worse than him!"

Wandering around the Crest Hill neighborhood, you stare in awe at the pristine houses and ginormous manors and mansions of rich households.

Damien nudged your leg when he noticed the stupid expression on your face.

"You've seen Wayne Manor before, these buildings aren't as amazing. That one over there isn't even old, it's rather plain too."

You eye the one Damien pointed out curiously, "who's home is it?"

Damien shoots you a look, which you could only offer a timid smile.

The boy sighs and names all the residents on the street, explaining to you the reasons he even knew were due to his father's connections with the higher upper-class citizens of Gotham. Most of them attended the charities they frequented.

"The newer building is Drake Manor-"

Damien becomes quiet as he turns around, you following his position.

A familiar teen walks up to the two of you...

Oh.

SHIT-

"(Y/N)? What are you doing here?"

Your body trembles in place as you turn around, Damien who notices your frightened stance. Glares at the newcomer that decided to approach the two of you.

"TIM- I-I mean! Hi-! Drake, Tim Drake??" You babble, wanting to find the nearest rock and crush it on your skull.

"Uhm, yeah, that's me.. Why are you in Crest Hill? I thought you... Wait, do you live here?" Tim coughed, realizing his slip up.

"OH-ya see.. I had.. A baby-sitting gig, so that's why I'm here. BU-Ut... No, I don't live here, in this area, or neighborhood."

Tim's eyes don't meet your own, he rubs the back of his neck and apologized for the assumption.

"No! It's fine, really!" You honestly were just more focused on the fact Tim even knew you existed. The two of you didn't really talk with each other, except on the occasional "hi" or nod in greeting when seeing each other. (Which would always light up your day!)

"And the one that does live here is standing beside me." You gestured to Damien, who squares up in front of Tim. 

Not frightened or shy by the lanky looking male in front of him.

"It was nice seeing you, Drake. But we have to keep looking for our ball, excuse us." 

Damien, grabs your hand, trying to tug you away, but you stay rooted on the sidewalk.

"W-well I guess will see each other later?"

" Definitely," Tim said. His slips form into a grin as he walks back to his destination.

"Yeah.." You giggle stupidly. 

Once Tim was out of sight and hearing, you stumble forward as Damien pulls you along.

"Wait! Damien! Calm down! My legs are asleep right now!" You cry out, he ignored you as the two of you find the ball and head back to the manor.

-

Mini Catlad And Other Batbrats HEADCANONS

Nightwing babies Catlad when first meeting them. Red Hood shoots at him, Robin tried to kill him.

Robin in this Au has a fun rivalry with Catlad, the two often bickering instead of fighting, or both at the same time.

I would like to think Catlad has intentionally flirted with you while babysitting Robin or Damien just to piss off the kid. But I can see that the two respect each other. But won't admit it unless they were both about to die.

"What's wrong?" Catlad smiles evilly at the two of you, or rather, mostly towards Robin. Who seemed fed up with the thief's antics. While you and Damien had decided to go to the museum to check out a new exhibit. (Dick had begged you to take Damien in his steed because of reasons.)

But, the two cat burglars had decided to make an entrance...

Batman was off running after Catwoman, while Robin stood protectively in front of you. Glaring at the cat-themed villain, while you smile at Catlad. Remembering the two of you rendezvous on apartment roof-tops a few days back.

You started to pray for his safety when Robin threw out a flash bomb at your friend.

-

[Hope you guys enjoyed it! I need to start thinking about making a bat-brats as villain series. Also, hint for the next one, it's gonna be a hoot! Get it?]

[cloudmonarch43]

[ID in alt text, repeated below the cut]

My to-watch list is pretty short now and it's not especially satisfying to write about movies while trying not to say too much about what happens in them, plus I barely like Instagram anymore (where these posts are focused), so it'll probably at least be a while before there's another post like this. But never you think that I don't want to talk about movies!! (Oops, I never noticed I wrote the wrong year for Alien. It's right in the alt text because I typed it all first and then copied it down!)

Image 1:

Saw (2004) is a very silly movie that manages to stay enjoyable the whole way through. Aside from a few good bits, I didn't like Saw II (2005). There were too many characters, underdeveloped, so that even in context it just felt cruel to kill them off. I like engaging with the mechanisms of the games, and yeah the point of the games is violence, but the second movie felt like it didn't care about the game part. It made some good moves as a sequel, but the first one was a lot more fun.

Rather than telling me a story, Dirty Dancing (1987) felt like it was telling me about a story. I liked watching the dancing, and I liked the story that was being summarized, so I liked the movie, but it was strange how much of it just felt like information. Even though the plot was a bit convenient, the great variety of relationships made it feel like a genuine world.

The first time I watched I Saw the TV Glow (2024), I didn't know what I was in for; I kind of stumbled home in a daze of delight and sadness. Movies are such a capacious medium and I love it when that potential is actually used. It also feels good to watch something where the queer interpretation is not just a side effect yet it's still abstract and metaphorical.

We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021) is a super effective movie about watching other people's videos. In reviews I saw, I thought people credited it with a lot that wasn't actually there—only a place was set, which the viewer automatically filled. It didn't resonate with me as much, but I think it's cool to be put through the same sort of process as the characters.

[pencil sketch for Dirty Dancing of Johnny and Baby dancing]

Image 2:

Pretty much everything I wrote in my journal about The Sixth Sense (1999) is using it as a comparison to clarify other things, so I don't know what to say about it on its own. I enjoyed watching it.

After that I rewatched some stuff.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is great. It really lets you sink in, and there's a lot to sink into, both visually and conceptually.

Blade Runner (1982) seemed more self-contained and a lot easier to follow this time through. I liked it overall but it's so bleak. I guess it's supposed to make me think about what it means to be human but "either you're a cop or a little guy" is the undisputed thesis statement I heard.

The Thing (1982) remains one of my top favorite movies (which is a list I haven't written, but "I Saw the TV Glow" is on it too). I hadn't even remembered a solid half of the great special effects moments because there's just so many.

Alien (1979) didn't work out as well. I still think it's a good movie, but it turns out a lot of what I liked about it was the suspense that doesn't hold up when I know what's going to happen. I know people love to analyze this movie but it's just not catching me that way.

Challengers (2024) is all about three random people I don't have any reason to care about... plus I don't care about tennis. It's not really my kind of movie. That said, it's just about as satisfying as it could possibly be.

[pencil sketch for 2001: A Space Odyssey of an EVA pod]

Image 3:

Pulse (2001) is really sad. What if the loneliness was never ending! It's a high quality, coherent representation, and then it just exists and there's nothing you can do about it. (Also it definitely should have been called Circuit.)

I watched Happy Death Day (2017) because I love time loops a lot. It didn't give me more than that, but it was easy enough to sit through. I think it could've pushed its concepts further but at least it didn't fall apart.

Of course then I had to rewatch Groundhog Day (1993), which I'd mostly forgotten, and I was delighted to discover that this movie rocks. It's efficient, covering a lot of ground without feeling distant or dense, and it really felt convincing.

Nightcrawler (2014) is brutal, unforgiving, and a great movie. Lou isn't a defeatable villain; he's a concentration. This movie refuses to lie, and that feels good even though the things it's saying don't.

[pencil sketch for Pulse of Ryosuke kneeling next to Harue, who is hugging herself]

[arokel]

10 questions for 10 writers

thank you so much for the tag @strangethings-everywhere ! secretly I've always wanted to do one of these

1. Is writing a hobby or a way of life?

Way of life for sure; I'm basically never not thinking about it. I start to feel awful and purposeless if I go too long without writing at least something.

2. A journal full of notes or a clean completed manuscript?

Clean completed manuscript, unfortunately. I wish I could be less persnickety about my first drafts but so far that hasn't happened. I do sometimes make extensive outlines though and those are always by hand, but they're usually pretty clean too :/ no scribbly scribbly for me

3. Who or what inspired your writing?

I've been writing since I was five years old and telling stories since I could talk, so I guess I'll say that when I was first reading chapter books I asked my parents why books always have a few blank pages at the end and they said it was so you had space to continue the story yourself if you wanted. They made it up on the spot and they don't remember saying it at all, but it's always stuck with me.

4. Which is worse: Someone you ‘idolize’ reading your first draft or listening to you sing?

Listening to me sing, 100%. I post my barely-edited first drafts on ao3 all the time lmao. But I also feel like with a first draft it's easy to say hey this is a first draft, if there's stuff you don't like I'm happy to hear criticism! Whereas with singing, that's just your voice. You can practice the song but at some point whether they like it or not just comes down to something about you that you can't change. (Although I am a hashtag classically trained singer so my feelings of needing to live up to that might not be universal.) (Don't ask me to sing opera for you because I don't actually like opera.)

5. Has writing from someone else’s POV changed your perspective?

I think most of the perspective changes that have come out of stories have been from reading for me? Like the first time I was really exposed to the idea of transness was a Harry Potter fic (suck on that, JKR) and that obviously really stuck with me. But I think the desire to write from queer povs really helped me come to terms with my own sexuality, maybe more than actually doing it. I guess writing narrative essays, which I do less frequently than straight up fiction, is usually a way for me to explore things I feel about myself and about the world.

6. Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN?

AO3 foreverrrrrrr. I was on ffn in my misspent youth and Very briefly on lj, but ao3 has been my home since 2014 and it would take a lot to get me to move.

7. AO3 word count? And are you satisfied with it?

646,046, and soon enough it'll jump another 100,000. Honestly not sure how I feel about that.

8. What movie/book gripped you irrevocably?

I will never not love Tamora Pierce's Tortall series. I know they're kind of dated and don't hold up in some places, but they've been in my bloodstream so long that they're basically a part of my understanding of the world. They shaped so much of my ideas on literature - how to create compelling characters and relationships, what makes a world believable, what fantasy even is - and honestly I think they're responsible for about 50% of my sense of humor and at least a quarter of my relationship to gender. They were my first fandom and in the end I'll always come back to them.

9. What’s the highest compliment you could ever be given, and have you been given it?

One of my plays deals with a very difficult emotional subject and is quite frankly pretty depressing the whole way through, and after the premiere a friend of mine came up to me and said "it was so so funny; I was laughing the entire time." That's what I always want my writing to do, not so much in fic but out in the world - I want to give people catharsis, and I hope they leave the reading or viewing experience feeling a little better than they did going in. And also I want people to laugh at my jokes.

10. What defines your writing style?

Can I say inconsistency? No but really it's definitely dialogue. I struggle with descriptive prose sometimes, but I never have to work at dialogue. I think it's my strongest area and people always tell me it's snappy (thank you Tamora Pierce). Other than that uhh... too many commas probably.

tagging @violasmirabiles @fregata-magnificens @kjxlll @borealopelta @uwu-dowoon @teaforarteza @icegreyrose @shadowquill17 @ris-d-deridex and using my 10th tag for anyone else who wants to participate!

[scarlettrose567]

MyHouse.Wad: What a fucking trip

Just finished MyHouse.wad. And goddamn, just goddamn. First of all, it is a fucking fantastic game let alone considering it's a free mod, easily on par with the original doom in terms of quality.

My overall impression is that this is a type of game that could ONLY come out as a mod. I mean, can you imagine say the next Call of Duty game where you can beat the whole thing as normal, but if you dig deeper it has a whole separate game exploring an endless house?

That all being said, two main gripes

The final fight was waaay too large/long, and if it was half the size it would be twice as impactful imo.

Ending is somewhat underwhelming, although that's somewhat inevitable since it's not going to straight up tell you what happens.

Oh yeah and 3) The labyrinth.

I love the idea of the labyrinth, however wish it was developed slightly more. I don't want there to be any enemies, but maybe a scrap of story or flavor would've been warmly welcomed. As is it's completely optional and you can't do anything apart from leave. However, it is indeed very unnerving (loved the touch of having the doors you open while inside being louder than average when they close by themselves).

Oh yeah, plus the blood appearing in the airport's bathroom did feel a bit janky/random and somewhat frustrating to trigger.

But in general it's all in the spirit of what it is trying to accomplish, and it absolutely excels in making you feel on edge, like the House is trying to get you to leave while drawing you in further and further.

But, you may be asking, what about the central mystery? What the heck is MyHouse.wad about anyway??

So, I won't rehash the exact wording (you can find that online easily enough), but to put it simply the creator of the mod is allegedly brushing up an old .wad file found in the floppy disc of a deceased childhood friend, and a journal as a word document plus some photos are attached to the mod when you download it.

Reading over the journal, a few odd section stuck out to me. He mentions that an old childhood friend passed away, and yet the very next day he writes "I never imagined that I would be saying goodbye to my friend so soon." Not something you would say about someone you only knew when you were a child, and hadn't been in contact with for years.

He starts working to restore and add things to the .wad he found. Over time, he becomes increasingly obsessed with it and it starts to affect his dreams.

He dreams about a house burning down, and finding a still born baby in the attic, of being hunted and finding refuge in a cave...

Something *very* strange happens on Dec 16. He seems to revert to a childhood persona, writing "it'll be nice to have some time away from the school", despite mentioning his job earlier, and "i'm sure they'll be a lot of fun and there wilL be plenty of laughter and good times". The day after he makes a comment about lack of sleep.

He dreams more. He dreams his reflection winks back at him, that he enters his bathroom mirror and finds comfort in that strange world.

He dreams he is in a car crash, then a plane crash. He survives the car crash. He does not survive the plane crash.

Valentines day: "Happy Valentines day to the only person I ever loved. For a short time, you brought a little happiness to this painful existence called life. I hope we can be together again one day. In the meantime… I’ll keep looking for that other someone who can be the ray of light in my life that you turned out to be."

He mentions how "After 13 years" he finally has the skills to finish the map, despite him mentioning he worked on it first 20 years ago with his childhood friend, according to the original description for the .wad.

He writes how the map is altering code by itself, growing when he's not looking;

"Without my guiding hand, the map doesn’t know what to build. But I can help it. Guide it. It seems to respond to my designs, changing them to match my emotional state. It knows what I’m feeling. It knows how Thomas felt."

He dreams of lying on a beach, safe and content, only to realize it is all fake. He writes about the agony of a heaven, and eternally being tormented by your own anguish, and how lucky his winking self is, to live a mortal life on a real beach, finding happiness in the small things he can control.

He finally publishes the mod, with no further entries apart from how he managed to publish a "safe" version. He won't allow the House to corrupt anyone else.

So, what to make of it all.

First and obviously, he clearly knew his childhood friend a lot more recently than his childhood, and the Valentine's Day strongly supports the fact they were partners - however, I do think they weren't in contact for at least a few years before his friend died. The "13 years ago" comment, plus the fact that items in the mod state "It was not to be" when picked up suggest that they were together for a time after, but then broke up. Both the crash and plane crash suggest something went wrong - maybe they fought, maybe there was an actual physical action - who knows. The airport section of the map further suggests that perhaps one or both of them traveled away from where they grew up? Moreover, the creator's comments about a "mirror version, happy on that other beach" suggests that maybe he made a mistake, and he's tormented knowing in another universe he could have been happy with his partner.

During the Brutalist area of the mod, you find two dogs - one completely harmless, the other a two headed monster that can kill you relatively easily if you aren't careful. But if you kill one, the other dies as well. Similarly, they can never meet each other. That could be a metaphor for their relationship - they couldn't be together, but couldn't bear being apart either.

However, there is of course a far darker possibility. A few items in the mod tell you "I want pop", and "The boy deserves a milkshake." This suggests a father-son relationship of some kind. Indeed, the very first area outside the house itself is a nursery for very young children, suggesting at some point he and his childhood friend adopted a child at some point. However, the fact that the house can burn down at some point, plus the constant dreams of disaster and the stillborn child could point to the fact that the child died somehow, possibly in a violent manner. If this is true, this would explain why they broke up, and why the original creator buried the memory - it was simply too traumatic to think about, until the death of his former partner forced these memories up to the surface, leading to him creating this mod as a coping mechanism. His comments about dealing with his own thoughts for eternity also suggest this - he could not bear to think about what had happened over and over and over again without being able to change anything.

The constant use of mirrors within the mod also tells us how much he wishes things had turned out differently - how he wants to live in a different dimension altogether, where this didn't happen, where he remained with his partner. The fact that if you leave the house without grabbing all the items might suggest they also sold (and potentially demolished) the house itself.

The house that can never leave his mind.

[nidianddeepspace]

Sneaking Out at Midnight for Snacks

I wrote a short little story in my journal with Xavier in mind today. Don't know if it'll get any traction, but I'll share it anyway. Note: I used Mickey D's because it's related to specific memory of mine. I'll be changing it slightly for the written version.

Sneaking Out at Midnight for Snacks ✧ Xavier x OC ✧ Fluffy, Falling in Love, Sweetness ✧ Maybe a College/University/School AU?

The night I knew I wanted to be with him forever was the night he offered to go with me to a nearby restaurant at midnight, in that dark cusp between late Friday night and early Saturday morning. I was hungry for French fries and apple pies. You weren't hungry, but you also didn't want me to be out late, on my own. So you met me at my door, and we walked side by side to the restaurant under the bright glow of the street lights.

The city streets were alive with life, cars whizzing to and fro, going who knows where. People were out and about, looking for ways to have fun on the weekend. Clouds were thick and gray, but you could still see stars peeking out, shining proudly, the moon a silvery whole of light high in the sky.

Taking in the sight of your silvery blonde hair and blue eyes walking beside me...I felt like I could walk on air.

You sat across from me and watched me eat my food, bite by bite. I tried to offer you some, but you wouldn't take any - you said you were fine. "I'm hear to make you that you eat your food and that you get back home safe and sound" - that's what you said. You watched me with this soft smile, your blue eyes so calm and soothing, a healing balm to my soul. You could be so mysterious sometimes - a handsome of enigma difficult to solve - but in that moment, there was no mistaking your care for me.

Though you stole a few friends when you thought I wasn't looking. I did see it - I just was too happy to care about what you did. You deserved them. I never bothered to tell you that. Do you know what else I didn't get to tell you? That I never wanted that night to end.

We took our sweet time getting back to my house. It wasn't far away, but it felt like we walked for hours. You told me to call you whenever I wanted to go out for a late night snack again. I promised you I would...and I did.

Now, every time we go out for midnight snacks and you steal some from me, I think of the first time we went out together. You stole more than just a few fries from me that night. You stole my heart as well.

[studentbyday]

☕ december study challenge

i didn't do much schoolwork on friday, so i need to catch up! 🥺

📈 study stats (30 min):

S: 🍅🍅🍅 Su: 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

🎒 school/cs50:

finish reviewing biochem module 4 ✅ (i have a little more than 1 section left)

finish reviewing 4 pages of mol bio module 3 ✅ (😬 let's hope i remember it. out of all the courses i've taken this semester, i have the least solid background knowledge for this one...i haven't repeated the info enough times over a long-enough time period to be sure it'll stick yet 😅 at least for biochem, i have some "pegs" of solid background knowledge from physiology to hang the new content on...)

finish remainder of flask lecture (~50 mins) ✅

🩺 self-care:

physio exercises ✅✅

full body floor workout ✅

journal ✅

meditate ✅

🎶 winterstella - stella jang / appassionata, 3rd movt (piano sonata op. 57 no. 23) - beethoven / my day in music, sunday edition

💌 uuuuugggggghhhhhhhh lately not been feeling too good bc the dictionary of lost words is depressing ("poignant" as @zzzzzestforlife described it) and it makes me feel lonely along with school and whenever this happens (or i otherwise feel like a mess) i get in a philosophical mood. i have been in this mood for at least a month now (before i started the book but after midterm season). it used to only last about a week or 2 (every month, mind you 😂). i can't wait to take philosophy so i can hopefully fix my brain by practicing being more rational and critical about *waves hands* whatever things my mind drifts to, to try to piece myself back together (which sometimes pulls me back apart with an existential crisis) 😅 (i also think the fact that some of the same thoughts i'm thinking have also been thought many times by others would be some comfort 🙂) but i think i'll only be able to take it the year after next bc of other (technically higher priority) subjects (for my field 🧬🦠) which...in better days i would be really excited about. i comfort myself by thinking the christmas break will restore me.

💌💌 also i'm not going to officially finish the dictionary of lost words anymore. i've slowly been reading the ending out of order so i basically know what happens and i saved the final major happy event for last. my final thoughts are that i want a relationship like esme's and gareth's but i want it to last longer than theirs did 😭 that's it. i can't deal with this depressing stuff anymore. maybe someday i'll come back to it, but right now i cannot. sometimes i ask myself why i feel so fragile these days...i'm not sure i know why... sometimes i get a feeling that smth is missing, but it will eventually pass as i fill my cup in other ways.

💌💌💌 recently discovered this channel and loving their hyperspecific titles that tell me exactly what vibes i should expect from the music. i especially like the chemistry playlist for studying (hot take but i'm not a huuggee fan of ludovico einaudi, but for studying, it's okay) and the playlist for "making your brain shut up"

[astraysimp]

Inspired by the wave of depression that hit me just now.....here's a little fluff

Imagine it to be any member you'd like.🫶🏻

🫶🏻also know that you never have been and never will be alone. Even if your mind is telling you otherwise, you are never fighting in your corner alone. I will always be here to talk vent listen , anything 🫶🏻💜

🫶🏻💜🫶🏻💜🫶🏻💜🫶🏻

Silent Cry

Mental health sucks and the battle was raging on in your head. Mental struggle never eased its way into your life, instead choosing to crash into you like a tsunami crashes on land. Bathing its way in with, what seemed like, no end in sight.

That's what lead you to where you were now, under the covers of your bed , curtains drawn making your room pitch black and tears silently paving their way down your cheeks . Sure, the covers were warm but you felt cold. He wasn't there, busy at the studio. He was the only one who was able to light a candle in the darkness of your mind and pull you from under the darkness. But, he was working , right now. So , all you could do was cry silently, feeling too broken to make a sound.

You doing know how much time had passed before the front door creaked open. "Jagiya? Jagiya where are you? I'm home," he called out, into your dark and quiet apartment. He was confused, not being greeted by a hug and kiss or the smell of dinner . But , your brain couldn't process it, too many dark thoughts clouding your mind. So, you laid in bed , tears still flowing like a river , with your eyes clenched shut. He knew of your mental struggles , seeing how you would shut down when the world or your mind became too much to bear, how you cried at night while he was asleep and thought he wouldn't hear. He knew about it all, but he knew that you thought you were broken, too broken. He disagreed, saying you weren't broken, that we all have our struggles but you never are in your corner alone. He was always there, always has been and always will be.

Padding his way to your room, he quietly pushed the door open, being met with darkness. "Oh my sweet jagi." He whispered with a pained voiced, seeing the covers over your shaking frame. So, he quietly laid on the bed, pulling you into his arms." My baby. What's wrong? What can I do to help?" He whispered, not wanting to startle you with his voice. "Dunno....dunno baby. Feel so lost." You whispered, tears still rolling down your face. Wiping the tears, he sighed, kissing your forehead." It'll be okay. I'm here, never leaving you. If you're lost, we'll find our way out baby. You and me." He whispered as he sadly smiled at you. Nodding your head, you sniffled. "Promise?promise you won't leave me?" You whimpered out, voice shaking. "I promise baby. I'm never going anywhere. Can't live without you." He smiled, pulling you to bury your face in his chest and laid the two of you down.

You felt your breathing even out and tightly wrapped around your arms around him. He wasn't going to leave you, like others did. He loved you, despite seeing you so broken. So with a small smile on your face, you fell asleep, safe in his arms. "I love you."

Sorry this isn't my usual happy fluff I'm just having sad girl hours and writing is like a form of journaling for me 🥹🥹🫶🏻🫶🏻🤧🤧

[kamiversee]

AAA okay thoughts, why do I feel like there's so much HINTS dropped in this chapter but my smooth brain isn't picking up on much?? well ill just let other theorists pull it out for me :D maybe it'll show to me in a dream tonight or something

Geto is a WHOLE menace but idk who he's even rooting for anymore, as you said he has been on the fence for this whole thing but he betted for us and Choso but also made the situation chaotic for Gojo, it's weird but he did say it will be a win-win no matter what (idk what that means hopefully it's not a win-win for Gojo as well) but I mean he did kinda make it better?? Reader wouldn't be able to tell some truth to Choso because she would hate to hurt him. Maybe Sugu deserves a pat on the head, that's it

Also Gojo is so hot like i know he's being a bit of a pervert this chapter but GOD his neediness, gotta get some of that lanky D- 🧍‍♀️ anyways as much as i love him, i cannot deal with him still lying to us. I can't believe he's been pining for THREE WHOLE YEARS 🗣️ stop being a coward gojo look what uve done

I JUST realized you meant a motorcycle for Yuki cause I was thinking like JUST A BIKE LMFAO and then i realized that one episode where Yuki appeared for the first time and it all made so much sense to me now

This is genuinely the calm before the storm because the reader is still SOMEHOW on the fence about Gojo and Choso so im kinda scared what will happen once she meets Gojo to burn the journal now that she's looking to make it official with Choso (I don't wanna hurt Choso anymore pls his poor heart :()

Appreciation for my favourite author because this chapter was a masterpiece like the previous chapters! I love how there's still tension in the air even if it SEEMS resolved, I love feeling on edge like something will break the seemingly almost perfect happy ending.

Also pls do not be like a mappa animator, rest when you need to 🙏🙏🙏 Burnout is NOT fun and ignore the anons who wanna rush you, there's not a lot of authors who pump out chapter after chapter every single day and YOU are a blessing. The real ones will always wait, we know how life gets :D so pls eat, drink, sleep well, and feel the amazing summer sun coming.

Slight yap ><

1. The hints dropped have actually been pretty mild recently ^.^

2. See? Someone gets that Suguru was looking out for both the reader & Gojo, either way he’d have a way of explaining himself for bringing up Sukuna 🤷‍♀️

3. Hey he wasn’t pining for three years perse, just talking about the reader >< Maybe we’ll get more lore on that another day tho…

4. HELP I MEANT MOTORCYCLE YES

5. I love how everyone’s still tense even tho nothing crazy is about to happen fr 😅

6. IM TRYING NOT TO BE A MAPPA EMPLOYEE BUT I GOT THE DRUGS & SOME PPL ARE ADDICTS APPARENTLY😭🙏

Anywho, ty for the appreciation ^.^ I’ll make sure to take care of myself dw!! <33

[amaiguri]

heyy, happy last STS of the year!! it's hard coming up with an original end-of-year ask, so I'm just gonna shoot off a bunch of questions, and you feel free to answer whichever you want/haven't already:D are you satisfied with where you're at right now in your writing journey? where do you hope to be at this time next year? do you have any Must-Accomplish 2024 writing goals? anything new you'd like to try in your writing (technique-wise, story-wise, scheduling-wise, structure-wise, etc.) next year? any stories you'd like to start? end?

My Yssaia writing is a hobby so I try not to put time-based pressure on myself long-term -- only short-term goals. If I'm not writing, it's probably because I'm doing something else "productive" -- whether that is other hobbies, hanging out with friends, or focusing on my health! Obviously, at my job, all my writing is dictated by the needs of the project -- so of course, I want to keep up with those.

I am perfectly happy with where I am -- and I have worked really hard to ensure I am generally content with myself and love the journey. So, I am proud of my mindset, even if that, too, has more to go. I have written more words this year than almost any other that I have tracked. I have ACTUALLY made new friends, just like I've wanted -- now I just gotten deepen my relationship with all of them! And I have reached by 1k subscribers on YouTube -- now I just gotta get those 4000 watch hours for the passive income. And eventually, convince all those subscribers to buy my games someday 🥺🥺🥺

I have started to frame my hobby goals as "accomplishments that I have pre-emptively listed". This makes it feel like there are no minuses if I don't make it -- I am Enough as I am. Everything more is extra. So, I have nothing I must accomplish because existing happily in this economy? That's the biggest and most important thing I can do.

In my dream world, I would finish the rough draft of Yssaia's whole 300k+ word plot but that's not gonna happen with my continued focus on YouTube and a full time job and my attempt to focus on my friends. So, I will just try to get to 150k words in this most recent act by July 2024.

(If you don't know, Currently Untitled Yssaia Game is about world of fated heroes and abyssal machines -- born both of Kings and Philosophy --, in which a burned assassin girl must find new purpose when the War ends. Right now, it's a writing project but it'll eventually be a narrative-focused, hand-drawn adventure where you navigate an assassin through her delicate, brutal world after the War annexed her homeland. You'll delve deep into political dealings, your past trauma, and the Abyss beneath the world!)

((How's the marketing pitch? I'm still workshopping it!))

I would like to try to write every day again, cuz in CalmWriMo November, that did, in fact, improve my productivity without spiking my stress. It didn't happen in December but as we leave the holiday season, I want to pick it up again. And journalling or daily posting, lol, I already slipped on that again 😭😭😭 It's so healthy for me. It helps me see time pass. I just need to do it.

Thanks so much for asking about my goals/pre-listed accomplishments! I look forward to a post about your goals floating across my feed 🥰

[whencallstheheart]

The reason E and L fans are upset is not because she's most likely getting with N or because we we didn’t see the signs. We saw E and N getting closer together this season and the distance between E and L. We would have been fine with N being the choice in s8. The problem lies with the inconsistency in writing. In the season 8 finale, in E’s monologue, she says she never intended to mislead anyone. Yet we’re supposed to believe the next day she gets in a relationship with a man she doesn’t love to forget a man she does love and even writes in her own private journal that she’s only meant to have a friendship with N. Because based on the writing this past episode she’s known she’s loved Nathan all along. Why then didn’t she stay single and work through her issues before getting with Nathan? We could have supported that storyline but the writers didn’t write it that way. The writers have jerked around Jack fans, Nathan fans, and Lucas fans and every group has a right to be upset. But at the end of the day, it's just a show. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. ❤️

I do think the writing could've been better. We weren't always privy to what Elizabeth was thinking and that obviously created a lot of these issues. Personally, I think she lies to herself a lot. She wants to present things in a certain light that isn't necessarily the full truth. She rarely spoke with anyone about what was going on in her head or her heart either. We would only get bits and pieces of information that sometimes contradicted each other but that all goes back to her not handling her emotions well. She's confused and still grieving and whatever else you want to classify it as.

I think at the end of season 8 she felt like she just had to end the drama and pick someone once and for all so she went with Lucas because he wasn't as scary emotionally to her. She dove into that relationship and was happy. He's a good man and he treated her well. Things were fine... until they head to deal with important things and have hard conversations. Not to mention the Nathan of it all.

I don't see a lot of people really analyzing Elizabeth and trying to understand. I feel like I get what happened with her and it makes sense to me. It goes back to what one of the writers said about giving Elizabeth some grace. She's been through a lot and she probably made the choice to be with Lucas too soon. People like to bring up that she didn't pick Nathan because she saw Jack in him but she picked Lucas because she didn't see Jack in him and was safe. It's two sides of the same coin, you know? She still made a choice out of grief in a way. I don't know. I understand where she's coming from with it... and I think it's easier for Team Nathan to make sense of it because we've had to since season 8, right? Team Lucas hasn't had to because they won and trusted nothing would change. We've been questioning her decision this whole time.

[pastel-rights]

"…"

"…"

"Is this working?"

The camera fizzles and sparks, the video feed struggling to process what was going on. In the midst of static, a voice can be heard— one that belonged to a familiar detective.

After a few buzzes and the static clears, the feed shows the familiar sight of Verity. Yes, they were in a different attire, but they were in a different train entirely… And one that was, unfortunately, snowed in.

"Oh! It's working. Thank God."

Verity clasps their gloved hands and sighed in relief, their gaze turning to the person recording. With a nod, they face the lens once more.

"If you're seeing this, Lee, I'm sure you must be confused on what's going on. I can't blame you if you are, after I've left with only a journal for you to find."

They chuckled, but they sounded sad. Bittersweet, even.

"… I'm sorry, Lee."

…

"I… Wanted us to leave. Together."

They paused, closing their eyes for a moment.

"… But as fate would have it, I have to abandon you for the sake of the truth. That man wouldn't let me on, and if it wasn't for that enigmatic worker on the train, you would've actually saw my dead body for the first and final time."

The feed seem to lose its focus, but it regains after a while, making them chuckle nervously.

"While I'm not one for… Celebrations, I remembered that today is your day of birth. Forgive me if this is a bad time for this, but if you're seeing this now, I must be right."

They grabbed what seemed to be a box, and opening it was a birthday cake. It was… A little toppled over, some of the frosting and decorations already moved to God knows where, but the look of pride from them was enough to show that it was their own effort to make it.

"… Happy birthday, Lee. I, Orfeo, and the others in the train made this for you. I reasoned with Andrew to have us make something… Edible, and after a bit of confrontation, he helped out."

They paused when they heard him speak, "That's because you'd force me if I tried to deny," and they scoffed and muttered, "And you know I will."

Coughing, they gave the camera a smile.

"I don't know where you are. You could be gone, dead, or— heaven forbid— you may as well have been consumed by something, and I would've done this for nothing."

Turning their head down to the cake, though, Verity sighed. Their shoulders slumped, and they adjusted the jacket on their person.

"… Wherever you are, if you ever get to see this… I hope you're safe."

…

"… I wish I can celebrate this day with you, and have you meet everyone. It would be like old times, my friend, but… Things have changed."

…

"I hope… Today will be the day life will be kind to you. I doubt it will for me, but I know you would kill me if you heard me say it."

… They sighed.

"… Please, stay safe. And thank Sam for me."

…

…

The video ends there, and the gift next to the camera was but a stitched doll of their friend.

Despite how worn it is, the two dolls are joined together— she can recognize the attire of the detective she met on the train, and herself back then. Back when things were... Not as cruel.

...

Where could the detective gone?

Only God knows the answer to that.

———

Happy Birthday, my dear friend, Yami.

May the years be as kind to you as you were to me, and may life give you the strength to when things get you down.

Things don't last forever, but I hope with this drabble, it'll make things feel like they would.

(P.S.: feel free to yell at me for the amount of hurt I put you through this one, I deserve it lol)

— Navina

“… it’s already that time of the year? bah. Cake? Haven’t had one of those since my last meal. Death-iversary and Birthday, it’s quite a combo. Cute video, Ver. It’s… not really the same cake you tired so hard to make, but, I wouldn’t have one otherwise… so, thanks for that, I suppose. That’s a lotta cake though, Ver, not sure what I’m supposed to do with it, though.“

———

Oh

My

GOD.

NAVI…

OH...

OH! I'M. NAVI??????

OH THAT VERITY FIC...

OH THE DOLLS...

AND THE CAKE...

AND NOT THE TRAIN CONDUCTOR ANDREW BULLYING BWAHAHAH

OH...

OH NAVI...

I'M.

i'm in shambles /pos

why must you people hurt me so on my birthday arc 😭/lh

[mangoisms]

hi!! i'm a fan of your fics and your writing and im so curious to know your writing process? like, how you outline, the programs you use to organize chapters, etc etc. would u be willing to explain it? i've been trying to organize my stories better and u seem to have a great grasp on it. i'm also willing to come off anon if you'd prefer to answer privately or smthn lol!

hi!!! thank you so much!!!! i have no problem explaining everything here, no worries! i'm happy to talk about it if it'll help out others ^_^ it'll be under the cut since this got long... sorry T_T

so, for me, when it comes to fic ideas, i usually know it's something feasible if i have more than a few scenes in mind, along with maybe some pieces of dialogue, and i know i can sit down and actually outline. for, say, wwt, i got that idea when i was writing dgfh and i knew immediately it was something i wanted to do and go in more depth on. (but some stuff is just a passing interest that i can talk about it but not something that i can actually do, if that makes any sense? like when i'm done talking about it, that's pretty much it.)

then with outlining, i like a concrete layout for things. i tend to have my outlines in notion for quick reference anywhere. i have a specific brainstorming template that i used for frmb, dgfh, wwt, and the others and it looks like this

(this can be edited, of course, with things added and things removed) another part of my process -- i tend to need a general scope of the landscape but it's not as hard as it seems. usually i just google [city name] neighborhoods and i'll have the city itself pulled up in maps or something to get a handle on directions.

aside from that, i've also found it incredibly helpful to outline/write out specific beginnings and endings. the beginnings are easier but endings are wayyyy harder and i know i need to put something done otherwise it might not come together how i want it. it's not necessarily a specific point, but rather more of a scene, like a vision for the end.

(i don't know if ANY of this makes sense btw so if you have any more questions, please feel free to let me know!)

but ok, back to outlining. one thing for me that i did for wwt and then again with that new tim fic (that i still need to make an acronym for...) is that i actually wrote out a rough outline in my journal and then i copied it to notion and elaborated more on certain points as more ideas came to me.

sometimes i have the urge to outline strictly in notion -- which is what happened with frmb -- but other times i like to actually write things out and then i'll copy it to notion just because i don't always have my journal.

alongside this, i also love making playlists! playlists are soooo central for my fics! genuinely i can't have a fic without a playlist LOL.

once all of that is fulfilled -- i can start writing! for me, i use a combination of google docs and a writing program called scrivener. google docs is mostly for when i'm writing on my phone. when i'm on my laptop, i will use scrivener 95% of the time.

i bought and downloaded scrivener from here. it's $59 USD but they have an education discount that's based on an honor system, so you don't even have to be a student/prove you are a student and it's $50 USD.

the good thing about scrivener, though, is you're buying a license to it, which means once you buy it, it's yours forever. no subscription nonsense or anything, which i really like. for that, i think it's super super worth it to get it. i also think, with all the capabilities scrivener has (which i'll get into), it's not as expensive as it could be. but of course, it still is an expense, but i've had it for four/five years now and it's absolutely paid for itself.

so, within project files, you can do things like set word count goals for chapters, keep track of your statistics and writing history, organize folders, etc etc. this is what frmb's project file looks like

and i kept dgfh and wwt in one project file since they weren't that long/big on their own, so this is what their project file looks like

there is just. SO MUCH you can do and i haven't even really figured out how to use everything or what tools there are. literally right now as i'm typing this and clicking around on scrivener, i apparently discovered that it has. a whole ass name generator

this certainly could've have come in handy earlier.... but now i know. and now you and everyone else knows! so. i write primarily in here and i also do my editing here. i won't get into the editing but scrivener also has a tool that lets you compile chapters into an epub file, which i've utilized to edit/read much more closely in book format.

so that's really it. i use notion for outlining and then i use scrivener for writing and organizing everything else! i hope this answered your question and i'm terribly sorry this got so long but if you have any other questions/i didn't cover something, feel free to let me know ^_^ i don't mind at all!

[notmyiclea]

hello i need to, uh,,, vent online

Normally I'd just write about this in my journal. But that isn't enough right now. I want to post this online because it's exciting to think that it'll be seen and read by someone, anyone, and my emotions will be felt by someone other than myself.

tl;dr: I'm ready to spend my life with this man.

Over the last 3 months, I have been consistently experiencing the kind of love I've always dreamed of. I've had the grand honor of getting to know a man who is everything I could ever want. The kindest gentleman, the strongest provider, the [redacted for being nsfw], and the most romantic lover.

I met him during a time where I hated men. The men in my life at that time were toxic and selfish. I was being used and toyed with and unappreciated. I had been r**ed by someone I thought was my friend, and had since denounced intimacy and thought it would be literal years before I even considered dating again. I'd just removed them all from my life and was trying to focus on myself when we met. And, at first, I didn't even have a romantic interest in him. I admit that I felt an instant connection with him and wanted to know him better, but I didn't recognize it as attraction. It wasn't until our next chance encounter that I realized I had developed an interest.

He was different. I knew that the moment I first spoke to him. He was like me, and we got along easily. Yet, when we eventually admitted to having an interest in each other, I was hesitant. I was afraid that it wouldn't go well. I was skeptical. I was worried he might end up being like all the other men. But I decided to trust him. He had been so respectful in every interaction with me, even after I intentionally tried to get a rise out of him, so something in me knew it would be alright.

tl;dr for the remainder of this post - I think it could be summed up in this sentence he used a mere week after our first kiss, 3 days after our first date: "I'm definitely excited for our future."

If you're still reading, I imagine you're invested. So I feel comfortable telling you this: I genuinely believe this is it. I was locked in immediately. We went on one date and I knew I wouldn't want anyone else to have him. I could already see myself being upset if I ever saw him with another girl; I knew right away that I wanted him, forever.

So... It's been... REALLY hard... to be "normal" about it all. And he hasn't been helping. From the beginning, he's been doing and saying things that feed my resolve. Before we'd even kissed, I think even before acknowledging the mutual attraction, I'd borrowed a sweater of his and he joked about me "already stealing [his] hoodies". And he seemed to really want me to actually steal it lmao! Then after we began seeing each other, he made more and more jokes and comments that suggest he regularly thinks about a future with me. He's alluded to things like living together, buying land together, getting married, having children, growing old together. And I eat it up every single time. The most recent one happened this past weekend, where he pretended to be slipping a ring on my finger. We weren't even talking about it, and he didn't say anything as he did it. He just took my hand and made the gesture, and reveled in my immediate embarrassment as I pulled my hand away and hid my face while giggle-screaming once I realized what he was doing.

I love him so much, and I want to do everything I can to add to his happiness. I would do anything for him. I want to shower him with all the love and care and affection he could ever wish for. He hasn't been loved properly in the past, so it is my greatest honor to have this opportunity to show him how deserving he is of deep, divine love. It is my wish that he never spends a single day questioning my feelings for him. He treats me like a queen, an angel, a goddess, and I want to make sure he always knows how much I appreciate him and everything he does for me. He takes such beautiful care of me in every aspect, so it's only natural I care for him in return. Every single day, I am constantly thinking about how much he means to me and how extremely grateful I am to have met him. I am so blessed to have been placed in a position to cross paths with him. I am so thankful to the people in my life who made it possible. Fate was really looking out for me here, because it is absolutely wild that we even ended up meeting. All the different things that had to happen in order for this to come to fruition... Insane.

I know three months sounds like nothing, but this is truly everything I've ever wanted. "When you know, you know." 1.5 months after it started, I looked up a hundred accounts of people Knowing quickly and it working out well for them, just to try and not feel alone in my decision.

I'll stop here. It's only a fraction of everything I wish I had the time to put into words. Thank you to anyone who reads this. I am just so overwhelmed with emotion right now that I had to share it. I can't keep it to myself anymore.