#but still a huge thank you to those who do

[sillylotrpolls]

Normally in these results posts I include some interesting/amusing analysis of the results, but as seen in yesterday's post I'm not really feeling it this week.

Instead, let's talk about something else interesting that happened with this post: it was my first experience with Tumblr's Blaze platform!

A whole bunch of information about that below the cut. ( @staff, if you're reading this, I have some ~burning~ questions for you. 😁)

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but much to my surprise this poll was blazed on November 5th courtesy of @katco-cereal, who runs @silmarils-for-breakfast. They thought the poll was funny and had a free blaze thanks to Tumblr's new ad-free -> premium system, so why not?

What happens when your post is blazed

When someone else blazes a post of yours, you get a notification in your activity feed as well as an email. However, I first noticed because the poll had a little "fire" icon right above the notes.

So, if a post of yours gets blazed, you'll definitely know about it so long as you check tumblr and/or your email regularly.

Clicking the icon got me this notification:

As you can see, anyone can blaze a post as long as your blog settings permit it and it passes moderation. However, if you blaze someone else's post they might choose to "extinguish" the campaign before it starts or is over. If this happens, you don't get a refund or your free monthly blaze campaign returned. So, be sure the original poster isn't going to be upset at being blazed or else be comfortable being out the princely sum of $10 (or however much you spent).

Why you might want to check before blazing a post

I was touched that someone found my poll funny enough to reblog, but there is a reason I might still have extinguished the campaign early: you can't edit a blazed post while it's blazing.

Obviously you already can't edit polls (a fact I approve of, actually), but I do often go back and add context to posts or links or just fix a typo or whatever. Even adding a new tag would have required ending the campaign first.

This makes sense! The post has been through moderation, and it would be a huge loophole if you could submit something unobjectionable, like Gollum singing about how he likes it raw and wriggling, and then edit the post to feature hardcore Gandalf/Balrog porn after the campaign starts. But it's something you should be aware of before blazing.

The report and how to interpret it

Here's a copy of the report I was emailed after the campaign ended. It was sent pretty quickly; clearly Tumblr puts some effort into providing a good experience for users willing to actually give them money unlike the vast majority of us.

Something I have frequently lamented while running this blog is the lack of detailed stats. In particular, I would love a time-stamped breakdown of votes, so I can see exactly when a certain option took off or how getting reblogged by a certain popular blog affected things. With this report I still don't have that, but I did get some impressions stats.

As it happens, I have experience marketing and running ads on other social media platforms (mostly Twitter (RIP) and LinkedIn), so I had no trouble interpreting this. If you don't have that specific experience, however, let me break it down for you.

About impressions

According to the report, I got 3,677 impressions, 277 of which were "earned." An impression is when someone sees your post. Or, more accurately, an impression is when Tumblr puts a post on someone's dash. It's entirely possible for Tumblr to do that but for users not to actually see the post because they have some sort of ad-block in place. How exactly a platform determines if a post was seen is generally kept secret in hopes of preventing exploitation.

An "earned" impression in this context means someone saw the poll because it was blazed and decided to reblog it. Then, additional users saw their reblog. Those additional users seeing it are the "earned" impressions. Same for the other stats in this report.

Note that this report is only for impressions and other stats related to the blazed version of the post. If you saw this poll because you follow @sillylotrpolls or because someone who does reblogged it, that impression is not counted in this report.

Something else to notice is that the campaign promised that the post would be shown to "at least 2500 users." Why not make that exactly 2500 users? A few reasons come to mind. This is educated speculation as I do not work for Tumblr, but it's very likely a combination of:

Not being able to be 100% certain each user actually saw the post for above ad-blocker reasons (or if their dash just glitched for whatever reason, or the power went out as they were scrolling, or whatever).

The blaze system lags in counting how many impressions have already been served, so it's simpler to just show the post extra times rather than constantly checking to see if the count is at 2500 yet.

It's marketing technique meant to make users feel good about choosing Blaze because Tumblr is being generous with the impressions (which is fine to feel! there is nothing wrong with appreciating something nice!)

Votes = impressions?

Finally on the topic of impressions, one thing I really love about running polls is that they are a good proxy for measuring impressions without an ad campaign. When you scroll through your dash, you probably vote in most of the polls, right? Even the ones you don't like or reblog? (Actually, now that I'm saying it, I realize I'm not sure and would dearly love some stats on this.)

If you look at literally any poll on this blog, you'll see the number of votes is much higher than the number of notes. Since each user can only vote in a poll once, it makes a good estimate for how many people saw your post even if they didn't otherwise interact with it.

On the other hand, sometimes I have a poll that gets very few votes compared to other polls posted in that same time-frame. When that happens, it's probably not that I'm getting less impressions, since I can generally assume about the same number of followers are seeing each of those posts. Instead, it's much more likely that people just didn't want to vote on that particular poll.

A good example is this poll on dwarfism. I know it got at least 85 impressions, because it got that many votes, but generally other polls that didn't do well in that month got at least 200 votes or so. So votes can be a quick proxy for a proper impression count, but you have to be aware of complicating factors.

What about those other stats?

An engagement means someone interacted with the post. This includes clicks, follows, shares, replies, reblogs, and likes. It does not include votes.

A click means a user clicked on a link in your post. This is an important measurement in most "real" campaigns because you make the post trying to get people to click a link to the page selling your product or whatever. If there's no link (as was the case here), this stat will be zero no matter what.

A follow is pretty self-explanatory, but I will mention it can be difficult to capture all follows as a result of a campaign, especially if a user has turned off tracking cookies. If a user follows directly from the blazed post, of course that will be captured in the report. But what if a user sees the blazed post, then goes to check out the blog and see if they like it before deciding to follow? Depending on how the system is set up, that may or may not be reflected in the report.

The other stats I'm guessing you're familiar with if you use tumblr in any capacity at all. XD Once again, "earned" means the engagement happened on a post that was reblogged by a user who saw the post in blazed format. Interesting to me was the high ratio of reblogs to likes in the report. I'd have to see reports from additional campaigns to have any insight into whether that's common for blazed posts or specific to this one, however.

Something else I'm curious about is if any of these engagements are "hidden" in the notes until after the campaign ends. It's not going to be noticeable with reblogs or likes unless you're very meticulous, but I noticed right off that the number of replies the poll theoretically had (6) wasn't matching the number of replies I could see in the notes (4).

Usually if there's a mismatch like that I would assume it's because either I have a user blocked or visa versa, but that shouldn't be possible on my own blog, right? And if I go to check now, there are indeed the number of replies the notes say there should be, and they're timestamped Nov 5. So, I guess they were hidden? But I have no idea at all why that would be, as it would require extra code to make that happen, right? Very odd.

Is blazing a post a good idea?

Sure, if you like a post and want it to get more attention, why not? Just be sure the author (if not you) is cool with it and doesn't have plans to edit that post. However, it's also the case that a good post will probably spread around Tumblr anyway.

If I were making the call and had a set budget to work with, I'd blaze under some combination of the following circumstances:

The source blog doesn't have very many followers so the post isn't likely to be seen otherwise

The source blog has followers, but the post to be blazed would be popular with an audience beyond the typical demographics of those existing followers

Getting only a few clicks is enough to justify the cost of the campaign

Getting the post in front of users, regardless of any engagements, is enough to justify the cost of the campaign

In this case, Katco had a free blaze to burn (heh) and it was worth it to them to share the post with no potential personal return simply because they thought the post was funny and should be shared. And as a bonus, we got to learn about the Blaze process together, which was neat.

Generally, just keep your expectations realistic and remember it's only Tumblr, after all. $10 to have a little fun is perfectly justifiable if it brings you joy.

Okay, fine, a LITTLE bit of poll analysis

I said I didn't want to dig into the results, but I think we can all agree that "The monarchy is fine, but city-states like Rivendell aren't" getting 0.3% of the vote while "City-states are fine, but Galadriel should face re-election every 500 years" got 10.2% is pretty interesting, right? Can we get a Political Science major in here to dive into that result?

And how about the notion that monarchies are great so long as you like the guy in charge (17.2%)? And yeah, the Shire has democracy, but it's limited and both Merry and Pippin are part of aristocratic lines and inherit (not earn) positions of power...

Apparently even when I'm depressed, I just can't help but be interested in data. It is a sickness gift.

Finally, I'll leave you with these tags from @narcissusneverknewme:

#honestly this is a case of 'any system can fall to corruption'#our government sucks not bc it's a democracy but because its corrupt at every level of governance#lol#the bureaucracy and the fact they can just lie to citizens and do horrible harm. like red hill#or flint mi#this wouldn't happen under aragorn#not bc he's a king but bc he isn't corrupt

[mind-intheclouds342]

A new ladder - Reader x Curly

Previous - Part 3 - Next

"What would you like to do today?"

You leaned against the back of the sofa to look at Curly, who was attentively watching the news.

Curly: "Is there something we can do?"

"We could do something like physical therapy... is that what it's called? So that you can use those prosthetics, wouldn't you like to be able to walk again?"

Curly: "You look enthusiastic."

"I'm bored"

You let out a sigh of pure sincerity as you lay down on the sofa, head bowed, barely four days into being with him and hardly ever leaving the house.

Curly: "We can chat."

"Seriously, don't you want to do something?"

Curly: "Of course, but... I don't want to bother you, you're already doing too much."

"You could ask me to tap dance on the table and I would do it just to laugh at something."

You raised your head and stared at him, waiting for some kind of response.

Curly: "What do you want to do?"

"Have you ever ridden a horse?"

Curly: "....No?"

Before he could realize it, you had already made the trip in your car to take him to a field outside the city.

There you had met with a friend of yours, who welcomed you warmly and guided you to an area where there were several horses.

Curly was able to see how your friend helped you get on one of the horses, you had a huge smile, and then he helped him get on with you, ending up in front of you.

Immediately, you put your hands around his waist to hold him close to you, while the horse began to gallop slowly around the meadow.

Behind him again, I could hear your little laughs, this time more relaxed, just a sound of the pleasant moment you were having.

Curly was observing his surroundings, feeling the movement of the animal. The place was beautiful, the trees, the bushes, the flowers, the sky, the clouds, for a moment he had forgotten how incredible the world was, feeling a lot of tranquility.

You spent at least half an hour riding and walking around that field, and at one point you almost fell off the horse because there was a little colt that wanted to bother the one you were riding, until its mother arrived and scolded it.

When you returned to the car, after thanking your friend for the experience, Curly felt that the day had ended and they were going back to monotony.

But he realized that the path you took was not the same one to return home.

You drove up a small hill and parked where the car wouldn't cause too much trouble.

"Do you want to climb?"

Curly: "Do you think I can-?"

He couldn't finish the sentence because you had surrounded him with your arms, forcing him to get out of the car. The prosthetics on his legs barely kept him standing, and he leaned against your body to avoid falling.

You closed the car door with your foot and waited patiently for the man to stand up.

Your arms were still around him, preventing him from falling completely. He tried to hold onto you as he straightened up, finally standing, swaying and looking at your face.

Curly: "Don't do this to me..." He sighed, lowering his head.

"Am I hurting you?"

Curly: "Emotionally"

You felt how he rested his forehead on your shoulder, standing there without moving, with your hands clasped together, forming a ring around his waist.

Curly: "I can't... I don't deserve it... All this... The surgeries... The attention... The prosthetics... I don't deserve to stand up again or take a step forward myself-"

You let go of him at that moment, causing him to fall to the ground, sitting and looking at you confused.

You crouched down to his level to closely examine his face.

"It's going to relax you to walk a bit, let's go again."

You said to him with a smile and helped him stand up again, this time putting his prosthetic arm over your shoulders and keeping your arm around his waist.

He felt strange being accompanied in that way, it made him feel so vulnerable, reminding him of the fragile condition he was in.

You didn't stop holding onto him for a second while you took short and slow steps, being as careful as possible.

It was just a few meters to reach the top where there was a beautiful meadow, but it took you several minutes to get there due to the pace you were going.

You made Curly sit among the grass and tall flowers of that place, soon you sat down beside him, reclining there immediately.

He kept looking at you, how you just lay there with a smile on your lips, your eyes closed, and breathing deeply.

Slowly, he lay down beside you, observing the sky; the clouds in that place looked different from those in the city, it seemed that by raising your hands you could touch them.

Curly: "Why did you bring me here?"

"A place so beautiful must be shared, so more can appreciate it."

Curly: "...Why are you doing this? You should just give me my medicine, you could leave me locked up at home if you wanted, and go out on your own."

"You think too much. Just relax"

You placed your hand on his chest to give him a couple of pats and then put your hands behind your head, enjoying the sun on your skin.

The warmth of the afternoon sun, which would soon set, was pleasant on his wounded skin. Despite having received a graft, his skin remained too sensitive, but those gentle rays of sunlight provided a pleasant warmth.

He decided to listen to you and relax; maybe that was what he needed.

[botanical-babes]

hey jumblr, we gotta talk about some things.

in no particular order

we HAVE to stop calling events and people "barbaric" or "barbarians." It has a long and dirty history of being a slur (meaning primitive, uneducated, savage, etc) against Imazighen, Turks, Arabs, Native Americans, -- ancient Greeks used it as a word to denote "everyone Non-Greek that's acceptable to put into chattel slavery." It's a word we should not have in our vocabularies, and we can use so many other words to describe heinous, atrocious, unforgivable events, and people who have done terrible things. We need to remember that everyone we are talking about is human and dehumanization leads to evil outcomes.

the whole "you wouldn't treat XYZ other racialized group like this!" rhetoric discourages solidarity with other groups, and is flat-out wrong. I'm a mixed Rom and I can tell you we get about the same treatment. We should handshake and join arms, not bicker and waste time arguing over who gets better scraps. It might actually really help build bridges if we connected Jewish oppression to others, because it IS connected. Let's throw "you wouldnt treat XYZ other group" in the recycling bin and turn it into some better rhetoric + solidarity discourse. It hurts because nobody has allowed us any space to heal our trauma. That makes sense. It's ok. We can still build bridges instead of isolating further, and hopefully those bridges will lead us closer to healing as a People.

I'm seeing a concerning number of Jews in my life falling for more conservative sources and information, giving in to their trauma response and unwittingly believing + sourcing information that reinforces their biases, but comes from unreliable or bigoted sources. It's normal. It's understandable. It's also Not Okay. Please double-check the biases and financers of sources that talk about the Israel/Gaza war, or campus antisemitism, or how marginalized people believe this or that thing based on this study (and double check the study if it's worth the time) because you might find a lot of snakes in the grass trying to take advantage of Jewish pain and trauma for their own causes.

I am NOT saying Jewish people uniquely do these things, not even a little. It's just that I'm part of this community, and have noticed this in a number of Jewish spaces, and wanted to comment. This is NOT an invitation to harass Jewish people, discourse about the war in Gaza, or otherwise act in ways that would upset and "dunk on" some specific group or idea. If you're here to hunt for (((zionists))) then I'll just block you if you interact. I'm writing this disclaimer for any non-Jews who may see this and think they have a voice in the matter -- u do not -- Unless you're a jew of color or non-jew person of color who wants to talk about solidarity w/ Jews, that's ok. Even if it comes with messy feelings. Just keep it productive, and as compassionate as you can manage.

I just wanted to call out some trends I'm seeing that aren't HUGE issues by any means, but I see them often enough that I wanted to mention it and get it going in the minds of other folks.

Thanks for listening. All love and respect. <3 Am yisrael chai.

[skeptical-lynx]

Can I just say I LOVE the subtle way you use color for the blush in your drawings 🥹 it’s minimalist but adds so much life!!

Also I know you said you don’t draw the comics chronologically but do you have your own head canon of the timeline of events? Does Astarion just live with Vapula now or does he have his own little bat house (nest?) somewhere lol

thank you so much!!!

First thing I want to clarify just in case, the arts I make with no AU name are set in canon (like the latest art with some ear play hehe). The “Accidental boyfriend” comic series have this name when I post, of something like “Batstarion boyfriend” and the “parts” to keep them all counted (the latest art made for it is prt.7 art). All the Batstarions I draw randomly are mostly set in canon, but could be freely inserted in those series in viewers mind

Now for the series lore itself! ✨

Astarion lives rent free in Vapula’s home, because he decided so haha. Vapula tried to shoo him, but with no luck. He mostly uses his bat form and chills, feeds from blood bags, sleeps all around her place and tries to flirt with her to win her heart. His motives are not malicious. Although he’s still manipulative little shit bat, his crush on Vapula is genuine. I am yet to decide how he ended up a bat, does his lore has canon bits here, and I will put more info in the zine I’ll make for these series

Vapula lives alone in Baldur’s Gate (although it might have semi-modern vibes like Far Far Away in Shrek 2 in this AU). She studies magic, loves to work with TAROT, lives on family money sent to her from Neverwinter and just has the time of her life enjoying solitude in huge house. Until one day she discovers an injured Bat and finds herself a future boyfriend who’s already crushing hard while she is in total denial

The series show their dynamic from denial to flirting to romance. And I’ll make them make more sense once I gather them in one work 🤍

[slaaverin]

I have only known BTS for a few years (since 2020). I believe that Jimin and Jungkook are in a relationship. It’s not because of the big, loud moments, but the small, soft, subtle ones (not just actions but also words, looks, and touches).

What moments, big and/or small, convinced you that Jikook are in a relationship?

Oh I'm glad you noticed jikook even from 2020!

When I became an ARMY, I noticed them right away. There was already something sus to me in the touches and the glances.

Then I went into the rabbit hole to understand and find out more.

I think many things convinced me, first it was the whole push and pull era.

Jimin so vocal and obvious about his crush on Jungkook, and the whole dynamic coming from this. The way Jungkook was unsure but later started chasing Jimin. I don't know but everything was so crystal clear.

I will put one of my edit on this era as a reminder:

This already somewhat convinced me there was definitely something going on.

And then I saw GCF Tokyo and it solidified it for me.

Jungkook was clearly in love with Jimin. The video screamed it.

Then I was very lucky to be around when 2 significant moments happened. And when they did I already had a bit of comprehension about those two but this was just the nail on the coffin.

This moment was so incredibly huge when it happened, it was something never seen before. I already suspected they were together, but this moment screamed boyfriends so loud that I couldn't doubt it anymore. Plus all the little moments from those specific concerts where Jungkook was seated. It all came together when Jimin sat on Jungkook's lap.

And the last and definitive thing that made me go "Ok this is bigger than I ever imagined" was this one:

This whole evening right here is always going to be iconic for jikookers. When I experienced it with everyone else it was absolutely mind-blowing and earth shattering. They were both in their own world that night not caring one bit about anyone around them and their love was shining through soooo strongly that I thought "Ok, I get it, they are together, they are in love, and it is very special"

That night I will always remember with such a fondness as a jikooker. Staying up late to watch the award ceremony with everyone and getting glimpses of jikook as the night went by. It's making me emotional to talk about it.

I know it is debated whether Jungkook truly said he was Jimin's husband that night, but personally I believe he did (surely in a playful manner because Jimin smacked him right after) but this felt like a decisive and important moment.

Also in this period, they were on tour so we kept getting small moments all the time.

This plus that and this and that I was like??? It's not possible they are not together.

And the vlives were also incredibly telling.

The tension was so unbearable and I always felt like I was thirdweeling and I was holding my breath because who could predict what those two might do?

And as time went by I learned about so many details from them, so many little things, but everything added up. It just all made so much sense.

After that there was no denying anymore, I was fully convinced. Then we had Rosebowl and everything else but it was just furthering everything I already knew.

It was just a matter of enjoying and celebrating their bond.

I always loved doing this with my edits. I came in the game "late" but still I wanted to share with people what jikook made me feel. I wanted to share their story and their love with everyone.

This has been my greatest joy ever since.

I think as an ARMY from 2018, it was way easier to become a jikooker back then, because as I said there were so many moments happening all the time that their relationship was really in your face. I feel that now people really need to go dig up everything to find the original content, and so many jikook moments that many jikookers still have in mind might remain forgotten and never discovered for many which is a shame.

Thank god we have channels like best of jikook to help gather the moments all in one place.

I've also been thinking of putting something together myself for next year before they come out of MS, but I'm still pondering it.

Anyway, I think you're right, I pointed to you two big moments for me, but it is not *only* those moments that convinced me. It was everything in between. The small things. So when the bigger ones came it was just like "of course". Everything was only further confirmation. And it really never stopped until this day.

That's why I never understood the doubters. I think so many of them forget everything that happened. 10 years of content of jikook being in love. If anything their love has kept getting bigger and bigger over time.

And AYS was on a whole new level.

I honestly can't wait for them to come out of MS to be here for the rest of their story 💜��

Thank you for your ask anon and take care 🫂

[ravetamer]

thank you op for indirectly inviting me in the tags to rant about horror movies and analyse characters from my favourite autism game MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!!!

starting off difficult with jesse. they would probably be turned away from extreme splatter but i can imagine they’d enjoy getting shocked by the occasional gore. it’d probably need some level of depth to it too so they can make excuses and say they watch it for the plot and not the visuals. i don’t think they’d be the type to go out of their way and pick up a horror movie so i’m gonna go with the mist or mulholland drive or sinister because they’re relatively well-known and jesse likes feeling things in the media they watch. cus BOY do those films gutpunch the viewer.

i know axel would love psycho goreman. it’s chaotic, hilarious, bloody, and it doesn’t take itself seriously at all. it’s a great romp but absolutely fucking insane. either that or some other ridiculously over the top thing like thankskilling or terrifier. crazy shit filled with ludicrous amounts of guts. he’s in it for the fun! sometimes he even watches hilariously shitty horror movies for entertainment's sake, like jaws 3d and jason takes manhattan.

olivia would love dystopian themes and cosmic horror hands-down. visuals that absolutely blow your mind and amaze you. the plot can’t be too weak however because she LOVES getting invested in well-written/likeable characters and rooting for them, cheering when they win and freaking out when they die. she also likes sci-fi, particularly complex machinery (as an engineer) and finds great joy in picking apart the devices in poorly-made sci-fi films to defend the genre’s honour. she would love 28 days later, the thing, and ex machina because you KNOW she needs dramatic flair in her movies

petra would probably like high-intensity films that have a ruthless protagonist and lots of blood in their action scenes. i also think she’d be put off by heavy fantasy themes. because of her nature she could also be a huge sucker for revenge films where the protagonist bites back at the people who wronged them. when she watches horror, she mainly watches for the violence and loves well-choreographed fights. still, the movies should be intelligent, not having bad writing that's just 'kill kill kill' so i’m gonna say mandy, lady snowblood, and i saw the devil because they’re all intense and have a protagonist who KICKS ASS

lukas wouldn’t watch horror movies (he’s more of an epic saga/documentary guy) but he might be willing to watch old ones such as jurassic park (which isn’t really horror) and gremlins and the exorcist (and secretly enjoy them on the odd occasion). nothing to genuinely scream about, just some fun to pass the time and appreciate the effects cus that man ADORES the art of cinema. if you took him to terrifier he’d never touch horror again. i can imagine axel forcing him to watch it with the gang lmao

Olivia: Favorite horror movie?

Jesse: It.

Axel: Saw.

Petra: Annabelle.

Lukas: High School Musical. after watching it I spent all my school years terrified that the everyone would start singing something and I’d be the only one who didn’t know the lyrics.

[monstersandmaw]

Seeing the tags that people put on a story when they reblog it is better than almost literally anything in the universe ever.

Glimpsing how you feel in the moment when you finish reading a chapter and hit ‘reblog’ and add all these thoughts and feelings and reactions and keyboard smashes underneath it is just... *insert feral chomping noises as I bite my desk like a tiny little gremlin and dangle off it waving my arms and legs around*.

Thank you for making it worth being vulnerable enough to share a piece of my soul work on here with you.

(People who reblog all the chapters as they go through a story are extra wonderful. And this isn’t meant to guilt trip people into reblogging if they don’t feel like it - it’s just a thank you to those who do!)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for an incredible 500 days of love and support. I offer you: answers to questions that no one has asked.

(As always, more can be found in the tags <3)

[scary-monsters]

personal update: work doesn't wanna let me switch departments bc everything else in my life is a bunch of question marks rn (and also i think my current department is terrified to lose me 💀) so PLEASE forgive me as i continue to be very inactive and flighty and tired

on a more FUN note.. my headcanon bday for diego is in less than a month HEHEHEHE... i need to figure out what to draw for him...

[compacflt]

Fully support your desire to cut down on the extras as they're already so long, but as someone who was also looking forward to the sickfic section and is sad to hear it's been taken out, I will simply have to ask you about it instead! First off the discussion of home in the snippet you shared was delicious - when do you think Mav started thinking of the house as 'their' home? And Ice taking Mav to the hospital has a lot of crunch there around how they're seen and how they act in public, especially if Ice was worried and Mav was kind of out of it. Do you think Ice would have taken Mav in to the hospital if he'd really been spiking a fever and decided he needed it? How would he explain themselves? And I suppose a separate, related question: who are their official next of kin/emergency contacts?

the reason i got rid of the sickfic is cause all those questions were answered better elsewhere in the extras ❤️

i was kind of annoyed that the house inconsistently appears to be the property of whomever the plot calls for at the moment -> another reason to cut the sickfic

Yes Ice would take mav to the hospital. it happens elsewhere LOL, maverick is extremely incident-prone

obviously a fun surfing injury with friends != the sickfic’s ice taking “a friend” to the hospital in the middle of the night for dangerous levels of illness-related dehydration… implies familiarity, intimacy above everyone else… the hospital staff would probably assume they’re together, yes, & i don’t think ice would challenge that at all, especially if he had to make sure all the paperwork was filled out right. just not worth the effort. “is there anyone else we should call for mr mitchell?” / “Um no. Just me.” Yeah i took him to the hospital at 4am bc i love him and im worried about him what r u gonna do about it 🤨 violate his hipaa rights? It’s 2009 gay people exist grow up🙄 hospital staff isn’t gonna tell anyone, so who cares

(Luckily for ice in the sickfic he didn’t have to take mav to the hospital)

the point of the sickfic was to establish a precedent for one of them voluntarily taking care of the other who is unable to take care of himself, to set up the parallel of maverick taking care of Ice when he Really gets capital-s Sick. but then i still can’t bring myself to write ice actually being capital-s Sick because i have some weird neurosis where i simply dislike thinking about ice (powerful guy) being helpless or incapacitated or, um, dead. so the mav-sickfic isn’t really relevant anymore because i haven’t written (and never plan on writing, besides that one half-assed one-shot) the corollary ice-sickfic. so the sickfic became the Nixed-fic ❌

And according to this wip wednesday snippet, they are each other’s emergency contacts. don’t ask me how that works or how they figured that out, idk. some stuff you do have to talk about for logistics purposes i guess. which is kind of the point of all the house-related/money-related discussions I’ve written throughout my fics—they Have to talk about the logistics because that’s real life. But they don’t INTERPRET those logistics or assign them a normative value.

for instance debriefing presents (maverick’s) death & taxes as the only two things that ever get them to actually talk to each other lol. logistics become a vessel through which they can talk about their situation without actually talking about it. The state of being each others emergency contacts might be a death-and-taxes discussion—acknowledging permanence without acknowledging permanence

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

So I was just flipping my shit because my lavender seeds have sprouted and for some odd reason that made me think of lavender brown, which made me think of pansy, then petunia, then Lily, then fleur….what the fuck is up with JK and female characters named after flowers?

[cowardlylearningtobebrave]

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[mintjeru]

2022 art year in review!!

more thoughts under the cut!

in comparison to last year, i made digital art every month this year, so i was able to make a year in review ^^ my lineart hasn't changed, but i started trying out the gouache brush around summer, and that changed the way i color. i've tried the painterly style before, and i didn't really enjoy it, but now, i think i have a better grasp of shading with color, so i'm happier with the results even if it requires more time and effort. as for burnout and feeling like i have to fulfill others' expectations, i'm still learning how to deal with them. hopefully by reflecting on why i want to draw a piece before i start it, i'll be better able to cope with these issues.

[smol-bean-of-the-smols]

sometimes i think about how whatever my brain does makes me unable/unwilling to return to old media that used to affect me because of the likelihood of it affecting me again

[our-lady-of-mcr]

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[beloveds-embrace]

part 2 of baker!reader + do not ever ask me to write accents lmao i suck at those 💀😭 and a huge thank you to all the sweet and dessert suggestions! i couldn't add all of them, but oh my god did i love all of them and choosing between them was sooo hard (that's what she said). if your dessert didn't make it here im soo sorry 😭

It was a quiet morning when you finally decided to reopen the bakery. The town had been whispering, speculating about the sudden disappearance of your husband—tragic, they said, to be found mauled by a bear in the woods. You hadn’t shed a tear, hadn’t flinched at the news. Maybe that was cruel of you, but after what you had endured, you couldn’t bring yourself to feel anything for him anymore. Not fear, not sadness—just relief.

And now, with the bakery open once again, you felt lighter. Freer.

The 141 boys were there first thing, as you had hoped. Each one walking into the cozy space like they belonged there. Their heavy, winter boots made the wooden floors creak, their towering frames somehow making the space feel intimate rather than intimidating. You smiled as the familiar smell of fresh bread and sugar lingered in the air, the warmth of the ovens cocooning you and the rest of the bakery in comfort. Free from that terrible man you’d called a husband, it was as if the world itself was taking on a more vibrant color.

“Morning, sweetheart,” John greeted you, his eyes crinkling beneath his hat, though there was something watchful in his gaze.

“Bonnie,” Johnny chirped, leaning on the counter, his eyes sparkling as they usually did when he spoke to you. “Place smells heavenly as always.”

“You’re open today, huh?” Kyle said, grinning as he eyed the display of pastries lined up neatly behind the glass. “Missed our favorite baker, honestly.”

Simon didn’t say anything at first, just gave you a long, steady look from behind his mask. You knew he had seen the signs. He was the only one who had seen the bruises, had taken your hands so gently that day and whispered that promise. You hadn’t asked for it, hadn’t said anything in return, but you had trusted him all the same. You are glad you did. You are so glad it’d been him to see.

Now, as you wiped your hands on your apron and stepped out from behind the counter, your heart was lighter than it had been in months. “Everything’s on the house today,” you said, your smile wider than it had been in ages. “For you guys, at least. After all… I’ve got a few new things for you to try.”

Soap raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Is that so? Then we’re in for a treat, eh boys?”

You went back to the counter, pulling out a few trays and plates, your hands moving quickly as you started setting them down in front of the men, watching their eyes light up at the spread. “I’ve been experimenting,” you said, your voice light, almost teasing. “For John, I’ve got pecan pie. Thought you might like it—something a bit rich, a bit warm.” Like you, goes unsaid but you hoped he still heard it.

John’s eyes gleamed as he accepted the slice you placed in front of him. “Always knew you were a mind reader,” he murmured with a chuckle, cutting into the pie and taking a bite. The smile that spread across his face was slow, but appreciative.

“For you, Kyle, lemon meringue tarts. Something sharp, refreshing. A little tangy,” you said, setting the plate in front of him. “And a bit sweet, too. Had a feeling you’d like it!”

Kyle laughed, picking up the tart and admiring it at first. “You know me too well.” He took a bite, his eyes widening at the burst of lemon on his tongue and then groaning in delight. “Perfect, as always.”

Simon watched you closely, and when you placed a plate of apple fritters in front of him, his gaze softened just slightly. “Made these with you in mind,” you said, your voice gentle. “Thought you’d appreciate something classic, Si. Simple, but comforting.”

He didn’t say anything at first, just nodded in that way of his, taking the fritter in his gloved hand. When he took a bite, his eyes closed briefly, and you could see the silent approval in the way his shoulders seemed to relax ever so slightly.

“And for you, Johnny,” you giggled, setting down a small bowl of Cranachan in front of him. “Thought you might like something traditional- whisky, raspberries, oats, and cream. Feels like a bit of home, doesn’t it? At least I hope so. It was my first time making it.”

Johnny beamed all the same, eagerly reaching for a spoon. “Ah, bonnie, you’re spoiling us.”

But it wasn’t just them you were thinking of. You had made a fresh batch of focaccia bread for yourself, but this wasn’t just any bread- it was bold, spiced with rosemary and topped with chilli flakes and garlic. It was a reflection of your own newfound boldness. You’d been quiet, subdued for so long. Now, you wanted to feel alive again.Perhaps it might seem corny, but this focaccia bread meant to signify that for you.

You set a slice of the focaccia on a plate for yourself, taking a bite as you sat with them, your smile not faltering for a second. It was savoury- settling warmth in your stomach. “I think this might be my new favorite, actually.” you said with a soft laugh. In your mind, you were already thinking of making and selling more of it.

They didn’t say much in response, still tasting their own desserts, but you could feel their appreciation, their understanding, in the quiet way they accepted it.

The rest of the bakery was alive with the smell of freshly baked treats: rich brownies, soft sugar cookies, fluffy cronuts, and delicate eclairs. Tres leches cakes sat next to pumpkin pies, while apple and custard empanadas filled the air with their sweet, warm scent. Cheesecakes, cardamom rolls, strawberry lamingtons—the selection was almost overwhelming, but everything sold well. Especially the bear claw pastries. You smiled softly to yourself at the irony. The bearclaw pastries might also be your new favorite, right alongside the focaccia.

Johnny noticed it immediately, the little twitch of your lips, and raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny, bonnie?”

You waved him off, shaking your head. “Oh, nothing. Just… the bear claws. They’ve been selling really well lately. Thought it was… fitting.”

Simon’s eyes flicked to you, then to the bear claw pastries sitting neatly in a display case. A slow understanding crossed his gaze, but he didn’t say anything. Just a slight nod, the corner of his mouth twitching, the silent acknowledgment of the truth that you all shared. You had no doubt the others knew about it as well- maybe even had a hand in it. Such incredible men.

And for the first time, standing in your bakery, surrounded by warmth and the quiet camaraderie of the men you had come to trust, you felt a sense of peace wash over you. The past was behind you. Now, you had a future to look forward to—one filled with new beginnings, layers to unfold like a mille-feuille crepe cake, and the quiet reassurance that you were no longer alone.

“Here’s to new beginnings,” you said, raising your cup of coffee, your smile bright and genuine.

The boys raised their cups in return, their expressions soft but full of unspoken promises. “To new beginnings,” they echoed, and for the first time in a long time, you believed it. Especially because you could see the way they were looking at you.

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