#edit: changed a few of them and added 30 more. again i need to do these

[joannechocolat]

Content Warning: contains scenes of graphic kindness; wokery; tolerance; profanity.

A few days ago, I posted a little Twitter poll, asking readers (and authors) what they thought of trigger warnings. I followed this up with a short thread, outlining my own thoughts on this, and how they have changed over the years.

The Daily Mail immediately seized the idea, and without contacting me, or asking for further clarification, published an article quoting my words, under a headline that was both inflammatory and untrue: Trigger warnings should be put on EVERY book to make readers feel 'safe', Chocolat author Joanne Harris says.

Predictably, this caused a frenzy of reaction from Daily Mail readers and Twitter trolls, including accusations of censorship and “pandering to moronic snowflakes”. Several people (who I suspect, have never even picked up one of my books) swore never to read them. One charmer wrote: “Fucking pathetic. What a dick the author must be.”

I don’t blame the writer of the article; most clickbait headlines are added by someone else - in this case, by someone who couldn’t even be bothered to read the article, let alone my original thread. It has since been quietly changed, presumably in response to my comments, although once again, without any communication with me. But as a result of these comments (and some more polite ones from people asking about the poll), I think it’s time I made it clear, both where I stand on trigger warnings, and why the public perception of them, fuelled by culture wars debates, is both skewed and inaccurate.

First, the result of my poll: about 35% of the people who answered were in favour of some kind of content warning. About 30% were against, and the rest were undecided, curious about the result. To me this suggests that most people are generally positive or undecided on the subject. From the comments, it seemed to me that many of the people who were against trigger warnings were afraid they might lead to censorship, or spoilers, or editing of the classics, or stopping people from reading the classics, or authors losing the right to free speech.

But here's the thing. Trigger warnings are nothing to do with those things. Here’s why people have been misled, and why it matters to put things straight.

First, this expression; “triggered.” Like “woke” and “snowflake” it has been weaponized to mean something like “upsetting the libs.” Reader, that's not what it means. The concept of triggering only applies to someone with PTSD or some kind of serious psychological trauma. That makes it irrelevant to politics. Anyone can have trauma. Anyone is potentially vulnerable to mental illness. And that’s why trigger warnings exist; to warn people who might suffer a relapse, or some other kind of serious harm, if exposed without warning to certain images, scenes or narrative strands. Some of the obvious ones might be sexual violence; graphic images; mental illness; eating disorders; suicide. I’m sure there are lots more. But we’ve had content warnings (if you prefer) on films for decades without any resistance, and TV shows routinely flag up scenes with flashing images, etc. that might trigger (that word again) an epileptic seizure in anyone susceptible.  

And yes, it makes sense. I mean, why would you want someone to have a seizure if you could just warn them against it? Who but a sadist would argue that people with epilepsy should be forced to have seizures, or that having regular seizures will make them more resilient somehow, or that people afraid to have seizures should just stop watching films and TV altogether, or that warnings against flashing lights would somehow spoil other people’s enjoyment of the show? And yet those are all things that people have said to me recently about content warnings.

To me content warnings in books are like content warnings on packaged food. Most people don’t read them, unless they have a special interest or need to know. Why do they need to know? There might be any number of reasons. Maybe they’re vegan, and want to avoid eating animal products. Maybe they have a religious dietary restriction. Maybe they have a mild allergy to peanuts or to shellfish. Or maybe it’s a more a serious allergy that could even result in their death. Either way, details are useful. Content warnings in books are the same, except that instead of triggering a physical attack, certain things trigger a mental one.

I'm not talking here about things that might simply cause offence. I sometimes use profanity in my books; I sometimes write about topics that people may find challenging. That's not going to change. I won't add content warnings for swearing, or nudity, or paganism, or LGBT issues. None of those things cause trauma, though I'm willing to believe they may in some cases cause offence.

But mental trauma is just as real as any physical injury. It’s not just “in your head”. It requires adjustments in the same way that any other condition may require adjustments - whether that's a wheelchair ramp, or subtitles on TV, or studs on the pavement to help the blind.

And yet, the culture wars narrative – led by a right-wing media - is leaning increasingly towards a “survival of the fittest” mentality; repeatedly encouraging able-bodied people to question disability, white people to question racism, rich people to question poverty, and urging those who have never experienced mental trauma to dismiss the needs of those who struggle with it daily. Empathy and kindness are presented as political gestures, earning “woke points” (whatever they are), rather than the elements of basic human decency. And of course, people who talk about “decency” in the context of nudity, LGBT issues and profanity often see no problem in labelling themselves “anti-woke”, or sneering at the “Be Kind brigade”, or making dismissive judgments about the lives of people they will never know. Somewhere along the line, somehow, basic human kindness has been reframed as a tool of the left, and those who hold right-wing opinions are encouraged to reject it.

Well, fuck that. People are better than this. Some people need content warnings, and it’s not up to you or me to decide whether their need is valid or not. That’s why, from now on, I’ll be adding including content warnings to my books, and to my author website. Ignore them or not, as you choose.

But to those who are offended by the concept of inclusion, here’s a trigger warning just for you: Contains tolerance; scenes of moderate kindness; depictions of graphic wokery. Read my books at your peril. Or don’t. Isn’t freedom marvellous?

[vicsims3]

Welcome to Riverview Reimagined - A complete overhaul/redo of Riverview as you know it!

" Riverview is a flourishing riverfront town with a diverse population nestled in the beautiful rolling countryside. The town was founded by the Harrington family some 200 years ago, and it has since grown significantly and begun to truly flourish, with a great sense of community. This is the ideal small, yet lively town to call home for a variety of reasons, including stunning panoramas from nearly every angle, a wide range of activities to do and sights to see, and interesting individuals to meet. Riverview is undoubtedly a remarkable town! "

WARNING:

The world may be laggy at times and take a while to load, depending on your computer specifications, but then again, The Sims 3 is a rather poorly optimised game.

Here are some general 'stats':

103 lots in total

55 residential lots (7 empty)

48 community lots

150 sims (including NPCs, role sims & animals)

30 households

This world has been PLAYTESTED by 5 other people, so no major issues should occur when playing this world, at least not any issues unheard of when generally playing this game.

REQUIRED:

ALL Expansion Packs

RIVERVIEW (Free)

Since it is somehow not possible to include the bridges and distant terrain in the exported world, that metadata will not show up and you will need to download them and place them in your mods folder to appear in-game. Technically, these are not required, however, without them, parts of the town will not look very good. Luckily simsample on ModTheSims has our backs! Get them HERE

Scroll to the bottom of the page and download the following 2 files:

Bluefunk_Riverview_Bridges_InGame.package.zip

Bluefunk_Riverview_DistantTerrain_InGame.package.zip

Then, simply place them in your packages folder within your mods folder. If you do not have a mods folder, please refer to THIS easy tutorial.

They should show up in your game now.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

NRAAS MODS

NRAAS Mods are essential to a smooth, significantly less buggy game, as they assist in dealing with errors and things that cause performance issues in-game. - NRAAS Master Controller - NRAAS Overwatch - NRAAS Errortrap - NRAAS Register (optional) - NRAAS StoryProgression (optional)

HERE is a fantastic, in-depth explanation video of the NRAAS mods and what they do/how they work by the lovely acottonsock

FOR CAMPGROUND I could not find a way to place functional tents on the campground without them disappearing once the world was exported. There are a few workarounds, though.

1.) Simply type in the cheat "buydebug" and look for the tent/s that come with World Adventures. Purchase it for your sim, have them manually place it in their inventory, and from there you can place the tent/s on the campground for your sims to use. Alternatively, you can use the tents that come with Island Paradise, found in the miscellaneous part of the comfort section in buy mode. Do the same as instructed above and place the tent/s on the campground.

2.) Download this mod that enables the World Adventures tents from buydebug. In Edit Town, edit the campground and navigate to the community objects icon in build mode. From there, click on the infinity sign to load all community objects and rabbit holes. HERE you'll find the unlocked tents. Place them on the campground and they should be functional once you enter live mode.[I used the first option, "Tents as Community Objects"]

(NB!!! IF YOU INSTALL THIS MOD BEFORE LOADING THE WORLD, FUNCTIONAL TENTS WILL SHOW UP ON THE LOT.)

I'm really sad that I couldn't include the tents already, but I tried several different methods and none of them worked.

The world is populated, with 30 households in total, but there are plenty of houses available for purchase, as well as 7 empty lots.

CHANGES MADE TO THE WORLD ITSELF:

I manually replaced and added trees individually. It's a bit cluttered, but more lush, especially in the area around the campgrounds.

I manually replaced all the roads, intersections, and sidewalks. Credit goes to GrandeLlama

Added a small bay in the lake into which the river flows to add a campground with a pier.

Swapped the bridge near the campground with the green one found in Twinbrook.

Small changes and additions to some sidewalks.

Some lots were added and/or changed.

Some street addresses changed.

Other minor details.

~ I really wanted to add ghosts to the cemetery and some other lots, especially to add to the lore, but unfortunately it is not possible when exporting a world through CAW.

~ Most of the interior tips and tricks I used to make custom furniture/unique decor were my own, but for a few of them, the credit has to go to the wonderful and talented @theplumdot.

DISCLAIMERS/ISSUES:

~ I had several issues with the apartment lots but managed to fix most of them, except this one... The apartments are set to 'EP09 Apartments', which I accidentally set and even if I changed them to regular residential, they reverted back. This means roommates will appear after a while, but BEFORE you move your sims in, you can fix this by going into Edit Town, clicking on the lot, and changing it to 'Regular Lot'. If roommates still show up, you can cancel roommate services by clicking on your sim's phone and going to 'Real Estate and Travel Services'. Also, choosing where to move your sims in, two apartment lots in the central town area will be available for rent that is actually occupied and will add the existing sims as roommates. The only unoccupied apartment in town is the "Midview Apartments".

~ Some female sims have the weird two-tone blue and green lipstick from Into The Future for some outfits, mostly swimwear. I have no idea why this happened, but I tried multiple times to get rid of it but it keeps showing up again.

~ Pretty much all of the sims have gloves for their outerwear. I have this glitch where even if I remove them, they somehow show up again. Hey, Riverview gets cold in the winter!

~ The female butler, Arasha Shreshta's face goes all EA's "pudding face" when she is in her career outfit, but normal/the way I made her in her normal outfits. I have no why idea why this happens.

~ Some role NPCs might get stuck in the apartment buildings, but a simple reset should fix them. I've tried several workarounds to stop this from happening but to no avail. This tends to often occur in Bridgeport and would generate NRAAS "Unroutable Sim" popups.

~ Upon loading the world (no fly-in, unfortunately I'm not that technically inclined), you might notice the household thumbnails taking a while to load and pets showing up pitch black, it's just a simple graphical issue.

~ Most of the big houses are quite expensive, which I apologise for. I'm quite the perfectionist and detail is very important to me, which means it doesn't take much for my builds to become quite pricey.

CREDITS & THANK YOUS

Testers:

ShanFindsPixels YOUTUBE / TWITTER

@cowboysimmer YOUTUBE / TWITTER / TWITCH

@plantyl-m TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

Z_C0SM0 (Zach) TWITTER

MorningDew YOUTUBE / TWITTER

A special thanks to @theplumdot (YOUTUBE / TWITTER) for inspiring me to always try new things with builds and interiors and for the support!

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

If you want to install the .sims3pack version, simply click on it and install it through the launcher. Alternatively, if you wish to bypass the launcher, you can install the .world file by placing it in the Worlds folder within your root Sims 3 directory, and depending on what platform you play from, it will differ;

For Origin/EA App it will be 'ProgramFiles(x86)/OriginGames/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

For a disc/retail installation, it will be 'ProgramFIles(x86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

For Steam, it will be 'ProgramFiles/Steam/steamapps/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

If you encounter any issues with the installation, like the world not showing up in-game, please contact me on Twitter.

↓ DOWNLOAD ↓

IF YOU DOWNLOADED THE WORLD BEFORE MAY 24TH 2023, THERE IS AN UPDATED VERSION WITH MULTIPLE FIXES, MAINLY THE ISSUE WHERE EXISTING DOUBLE BEDS WERE UNUSABLE. LINKS ARE UPDATED.

Alternatively, you can fix this issue with the old version by installing the NRAAS SleepFreedom mod, although it does not apply to existing saves with the old version, unfortunately.

- (.sims3pack) SFS - (.world) SFS

MIRROR: - (.sims3pack) DRIVE - (.world) DRIVE

I hope you enjoy it! My amazing friend ShanFindsPixels made a world overview on his YouTube channel, please go show him some love!

[little-miss-moonstone]

The Red Thread (Carmy x OC)

Chapter Two | Somewhere Between

Previous | Next | Series Master List

Summery: After Natalie begs Rori to help with some paperwork at the restaurant, Rori and Carmy come to an agreement.

WARNING: Anxiety, blood, almost vomit?, brief mention of past depression, very little editing. I think that’s all, once again just let me know if something needs to be added :)

Fear consumed Carmen as he watched Rori lying on the floor of the kitchen blood pooling by her side. She was struggling to breathe almost like she was drowning. He could hear everyone around him panicking, Sugar screaming for someone to call 911. It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion around the two of them. He didn’t notice when, but he was now on his knees by her side holding her hand as the blood soaked into his jeans.

“Help me, Carmy. Please, help me,” She begged.

He tried using a rag to apply pressure to the wound and the sound of her wincing through sobs broke something deep within him. How could this be happening? Hadn’t they all been through enough? Her whispering for help was all he could hear as he stared into her eyes, praying they didn’t close for good. He leaned in, noticing an orange glow in her irises. He wondered if that was what happened when someone was dying. He leaned in closer than before to see the reflection of fire dancing in her eyes, and the moment he turned around the fire alarm was blaring.

“Fuck!” Carmen cursed as he woke to realize he had almost set his apartment on fire. He opened the window while using the fire extinguisher to put out the blaze on his stove. He began fanning the smoke out the window and the alarm soon stopped. He sat on his couch with a glass of water seeing it was 1:30 in the morning. His breathing was starting to slow down from his actual nightmare and the one in his kitchen, glancing over to the journal on the coffee table, he leaned forward to grab it. He flipped it open, studying the polaroid that lay inside. He and Rori from Christmas 2018, or from what they called it, Fishmas. It was a candid shot neither of them had known was taken until Mikey had given it to him at the end of the night. The two of them were standing in front of the pantry, she had just arrived and greeted him with a hug. She pulled back and he said something that had made her laugh, his arm was still around her waist and she had put a hand on his chest as she smiled. If any stranger saw the photo they would have thought the two were a couple. He admired the picture for a few more seconds before putting it back and flipping to a blank page when his pen acted as a bookmark.

Dear Rori,

I saw you today for the first time in 3 years. You took my breath away, but you’ve never had that problem. I didn’t know what to do, or say, I thought I would never see, or hear from you again. That is my fault, I know, but I couldn’t risk you leaving me. I wish I never shut you out, you were all I ever truly had that was mine. You could have actually been mine and I ruined that too. I miss you, I miss you more than I ever thought was possible, and it's weird now because you're here and I saw you, but I still miss you. I guess that's because nothing’s changed and yet everything has changed. I used to know everything about you, your favorite song, color, flower. How you always prefer waffles to pancakes and when pinks and blues paint the sky at sunset. You’re scared of the dark and you can't sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door and the TV has to stay on. You adore dogs and you used to cry when we would pass the animal shelter. You hate summer and when Mikey and Richie would pin you down and tickle you and these days I would assume you hate me too, and I can't even blame you for it. I want to fix this, I want us to at least be friends because I can't imagine that you still love me, and I can’t stand for you to haunt another one of my dreams.

Yours forever,

Carmy

He closed the journal and moved it back to its spot on the coffee table, before lying back down on the couch and letting the TV lull him back to sleep.

Natalie invited Rori over to her house for breakfast in hopes of guilting her into helping find the missing tax forms at the restaurant. Rori almost choked on a piece of French toast at the idea of being around Carmy. She tried to voice her opinion but Sugar began to ramble on.

“No, Rori I need some help, and if it's you that helps then Carmen can run the kitchen so he won’t even be in the office. I have to find these documents or the IRS will cease my fucking home, please Rori, please, please, plea-“

“Fine! I’ll help,” She sighed.

“Thank you,” Sugar smiled. A comfortable silence fell upon the room for a brief second before Sugar spoke again, “Would it honestly be a bad thing if you and Carmy became friends again?” Rori sighed again, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

“No, if we’re being honest, I would love that, but I doubt he would ever open up like that to me again. And, for shits and gigs, let's say he did, it took me months to cope with him cutting me out of his life. I-I don’t know if I could handle that again, I’ve never been so depressed in my entire life,” She paused. “You know how I feel about Camry, I don’t think there will ever come a time where I don’t feel that for him. It’s been three years, and when I saw him yesterday it was like the last 30 years flashed through my head, like everything came back to me, and despite the instant panic I just wanted to hug him because it actually felt like I was finally home.”

Nat’s eyes were glassy and she tried her hardest to hold it in, while another part of her couldn’t believe how much of an idiot her brother was. She had known since they were 10 that they were the perfect pair, not to mention both sets of parents often joked about the two growing up and getting married. Everyone expected it, so much that when Rori came home for Christmas in 2019, Mikey, Natalie, and Richie were shocked to hear that the two were no longer on speaking terms. She now hoped that if the two could just talk things out, maybe one day Rori would get to be her sister, like how they used to talk about as teens.

Rori became more anxious as they parked in the back of the restaurant, she was just thankful Richie was the only one taking a smoke break. She wiped her palms on her jeans before they started walking towards the door. She decided she was going to be cordial, she didn’t want to push Carmy away any further than he had already pushed. She was just going to stay in the office with Sugar and try to find this stupid document as quickly as possible.

After greeting Richie she slipped inside behind Sug and tried to keep her eyes on the ground. Carmen’s voice quickly got her to glance up as he was talking to Marcus a few feet in front of her. Their eyes met for a moment before she darted into the office and was quickly greeted by the poster of Fenway Park. A shiver went down her spine thinking about Micheal and how much time he spent in the office. She wondered if this was the last place he was before he went to the bridge that day, and she knew it was stupid to wonder things that were facts.

Two hours later they were still sifting through the never-ending paperwork. They were both growing frustrated and the office looked like a wreck. Rori was so grateful her phone began to ring. She noticed it was her publisher and quickly stepped out into the back alley. It was only a few moments later when Richie stepped out for a smoke break. He could tell it wasn’t a pleasant phone call from her constantly furrowing her brow and pinching the bridge of her nose. He took another drag just as she hung up. She looked at him and then at the cigarette he loosely held by his side.

“Can I?” She asked, gesturing to the American Spirit. He lifted his hand to offer the cigarette to her with a perplexed look on his face.

“When did Rori Bear start smoking?” He chuckled as she took a drag.She could feel her stress levels decreasing, even though she knew cigarettes didn’t help. She gave herself a moment before answering.

“Uh, I don’t know, about three years ago. I don’t smoke all the time though, it’s more of like an “I’m really stressed, or I have writer's block, or I just got off the phone with my publisher and they're bitching for a sequel” thing,” She shrugged before taking another drag and handing the cigarette back over.

“I’m sorry by the way, for calling you Rori Bear, it’s just habit y’know,” He apologized. It made her heart drop a bit that he felt the need to even say that. The nickname had always made her laugh, at least when she got older.

“No, no. It’s fine, I promise. Mikey always called me that, even after Carmy and I stopped talking so it’s okay,” She assured him with a smile. It wasn’t much longer before the two headed inside and she went back to the office to find Carmen and Natalie going through the mess together.

She went back to her spot trying not to focus on him too much, it was hard, but they all had their separate piles they were working out of. There was small talking happening mostly between Rori and Natalie or Carmy and Natalie, but that was better than silence. She got stuck on a piece of paper, it had MIkey's handwriting all over it, and then she noticed her handwriting. She remembered it from when she helped out during the pandemic. She had gone into the office and left him a note to remember to call the fridge guy and it ended up with them having a whole conversation every time one of them replied. She smiled brushing her hand over the ink, unaware that Carmen was glancing over at her.

“Oh, shit. I forgot to call Pete,” Sugar announced before slipping out of the office before either one of them could say a word.

Rori and Carmen both looked from the door and then to each other, then immediately to the papers they were both holding. He wanted to say something, but he thought he might vomit, or stutter, and that made him want to vomit more. Just say something, say anything!

“Uhh, so Book of the Year, is that like a big deal or?” He asked and then immediately regretted it.

“Kind of. I mean, yeah. I don’t know.” She settled on an answer all the while feeling like an idiot.

Carmen chuckled a bit, “You don’t know?” Despite him thinking he could’ve asked a million better questions he didn’t think that one was hard.

“Yeah, it is a big deal, but being the youngest to ever win a Pulitzer stunts your judgment on what is a big deal or not, y’know?” She explained trying to sound as humble as possible. Carmen just hummed in response, he did understand, which is why he didn’t care for awards all that much. Rori now realized it was her turn to ask something and she felt like there was a lump in her throat. She could ask all the questions she had been dying to know. Why did you push me out? Did our friendship ever mean as much to you as it did to me? Was there ever a point where you could have loved me?

“How has it been running this place? I mean besides all the shit that became yours and Sug’s problem.”

Carmen began to fiddle with the paper in his hand, trying to calculate a response that wasn’t completely unhinged. I’m so stressed I almost set my apartment on fire. I feel like one more thing might make me crumble.

“I-it’s definitely a change of pace from New York, but it’s not bad,” He tried his best not to lie. The room became quiet, but the tone wasn’t clear, it lingered somewhere between comfortable and awkward. They both knew it wouldn’t take much to make it flip, both of them grabbing folders to keep looking. She wanted to carry on a conversation with him, connect with him about something— anything. She opened her mouth to ask if Mikey ever got the fridge fixed, but he spoke first.

“Yo, I think this is it,” He leaned toward her to show her inside the blue folder labeled “Shit”. She met him halfway taking in the tax document not realizing how close their faces were.

“Yeah, yeah that’s it,” She smiled looking over to see his face an inch or two away. She glanced to his eyes wanting to burn the shade of blue even further into her mind, it was her favorite. He had always been a hard person to read, but not for her, she could practically see the gears in his head turning, he was trying to think of something to say.

“What is it, Carmy?” She asked, trying to pull the thoughts from his head. Say something, tell me anything, anything at all.

“Do you, uh, do you think we could talk, y’know about,” He paused to collect his thoughts again, “I think we should talk about things if you’re up for it. We’re both home and it’s clear that we’re going to see each other a lot. I just don’t want anyone to feel like they have to tiptoe around us.” I don’t want to tiptoe around you.

“I agree. Can you come over after work tomorrow?” She asked. Can you come over? I've wanted to show you my house since the day I bought it.

He agreed as Sugar came back into the office, the two shuffled apart proudly presenting the document to shut down anything she might say. After she and Natalie got the office back into some kind of order the two girls left, making an impromptu stop at the farmer’s market. Natalie obliged because she had nothing better to do, and after being stuck in the restaurant for hours the outdoor air seemed nice. They carried on a conversation about the “What ifs” in life coming to a bunch of unserious conclusions, laughing as Rori picked up some vegetables.

“What if you were picking up ingredients to cook Carmy dinner?” Natalie asked. She knew it was a bold assumption, but the mood in the office seemed lighter when she returned and she saw how close they were. Rori froze her hand going to pick up a tomato, she felt her cheeks warming up, and she just prayed her face wasn’t red.

“Well, I am picking up ingredients to cook dinner tomorrow night. If he eats, that's his decision,” She replied in a matter-of-fact tone. She didn’t have to look to know the grin on Natalie’s face stretched from ear to ear. She figured she had better do some damage control before Natalie got her hopes up. “We’re going to talk about everything. We figured it was better to get it all out there than to keep dancing around it. It does not mean anything is going to change, it just means we’ll be on the same page about all of it.”

The smile was still present on Natalie’s face, she knew this could only go well— no, this had to go well, for everyone's sake. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like if it went wrong, she would be stuck facilitating every interaction the two had, not to mention what it would do to both their mental health. She pushed the thought as far back as she could. This was Rori and Carmy and she knew their story wasn’t over yet.

Chapter two!!! Please like, or reblog, or something! I hope you’re all having a wonderfully week!! My birthday is Saturday so I’m hoping to have another chapter out before then, or at the latest Sunday:) I going to do flashback I just haven’t decided if those are going to be actual chapters or like sub chapters, or maybe apart of chapter… ugh anyways, see you soon!

[nathank77]

5/27/24

7:50 p.m Added to/Edited

Last blurp: I am worried that if I drug myself with 2mg of Melatonin, 25mg of Hydroxyzine and 1mg of xanax at 3:30 a.m I'll struggle to sleep bc by the time maximum effectiveness hits it'll be 6 a.m and I'll have only been up for 12 hours and 30 minutes... I shouldn't have let myself oversleep.

Maybe I'll take it at 4:30 or 4 a.m. I should pass out regardless but I mean I want to make sure. I don't want to have to take a second Hydroxyzine or one 25mg of Benadryl.... I don't want to be overly sedated. I mean I already overly sedate myself on the 1mg Xanax days cause when I see myself falling asleep at 8:30 a.m... it's like my circadian rhythm is getting worse... I got to be asleep by 7:30 the latest... I don't want my life to become more dysfunctional. I got a lot of phone calls to make and I can't be waking up at 5 p.m although I don't think that'll be a long standing issue. It's just between yesterday and today, I woke up yesterday at 4:48 and today at 5:15... also I fell asleep closer to 9 a.m both days... tomorrow I will probably wake up around 2 p.m or 3 and it should help reset everything.

I won't have another 1MG Xanax day until my t-shot next week. Everything should go back to normal tomorrow.

Beyond that I wish my family did something for memorial day. My family is so fucking dead. We have a pool and everything and we planned nothing. I'm going to get ear plugs on the 1st so I can swim. Whenever I decide to do that which won't be often but- when I want to if I don't have ear plugs I get water stuck in my ears and it drives me crazy! So I wont swim until I get them.

On Thursday after therapy I plan to watch movies with my mom. Wednesday I'll go grocery shopping if I don't tomorrow and then I'll have therapy at 7 p.m on Wednesday. I prob will wait on the gym. Once I get the oil change out of the way, my next big thing is the apple store for apple care cause of my quicktime player taking years to add videos together.

I don't want to get ahead of myself. All I have to do this month is the oil change/car wash, my t-shots, bloodwork for my thyroid, the dentist on the 11th assuming he doesn't cancel again and get the estimate on teeth sealant cause I want to move on that and then the cardiologist on the 26th. The gym is going to fit in nicely and I'll have time to game at least once or twice a week. Of course I want to move on glasses but the money makes me want to wait... I'll consider the teeth sealant Cost versus the glasses... if I could get the bad tooth done for 150$ or less tbh it's more important than my glasses...why? It's fucking BROWN in the corner and nothing gets it off. And it's significantly cheaper than glasses...

Of course I could game after therapy or something too but I care about immersion... and tv time and sleep is my only escape from this shitty hallucination. Despite that I want to game and I figure if I cut out a day or two a week I can enjoy it...

I really want to go up 3000mg of white mulberries a day but I'm waiting until the 13th of June cause it'll be a month as of that date since I went to 2000mg and it has been well tolerated...

I got to get cbd on June 1st which I'm not happy about but I said I'd give it to June 26th at least 2 months on 100mg... I may give it to July 26th cause I feel the need to up my white mulberries. They really do seem to work as an antipsychotic.

I also got to call about disability a few times this month so I can either keep my appt in July or reschedule it depending on my dad cause I want my backpay as soon as possible but another worthless phone appt to accomplish nothing makes no sense. So I should call prob every week until I hear he is receiving disability and cancel/reschedule depending on that.

[dogtoling]

Splatoon OC Questions!

hi. So i made a bunch of questions to help develop mine and other people’s OCs i guess. these come in several tiers based (roughly) on how much you’ve already developed an OC, but in reality it’s a pick-and-choose thing,

NOTE: these are mostly applicable to cephalopod OCs. But if you pick and choose they’re fine for literally any OC, I guess. Most of them are gonna be under the cut!

Surface (Basics, Tier 0)

1. What is their full name? Do they like it?

2. Do they have any nicknames, and where do those names come from?

3. What species are they? Any special notes?

4. What time of day are they usually active? Are they diurnal or nocturnal or maybe in-between?

5. Any particular reason for their schedule? Biological clock? Work?

6. Living situation; where do they live? How did they end up there?

7. Do they take part in ink battles? What kind and how often?

8. Favorite weapon class and why? 

9. Main tentacle color? How did they pick it?

10. Any hobbies? Where did they begin?

11. What do their hobbies mean to them?

12. Favorite type of music? Why does it resonate with them?

13. Any favorite bands or idols they look up to? Would they consider themself to be a fan, or just a listener?

14. Are they acrobatic? Can they pull off impressive physical maneuvers, or is a backflip WAY too much to ask?

15. What is their main weapon? How did they pick it and why?

16. Languages they speak? Any that they’ve learned or want to learn?

17. What is THE THING that they’re recognized as being good at by others? Do they recognize that skill in themself?

18. Are they more positive or negative? How does it show?

19. Their BEST FRIEND, if they ABSOLUTELY had to choose one? 

20. What size are they? Are they average size for their species or not?

21. What is their relationship to ink battling? Is it a hobby, profession or just the occasional sport?

22. Do they have an ego? How easy is it to get on their bad side?

23. Do they have a daily routine? Do they enjoy it, did they choose it?

24. What would their Splashtag title be?

25. What is something they REALLY invest in?

26. Are they temperamental? Short fuse or never frazzled?

27. How are/were their teen years?

28. How did they do in school? Did they like it or were they a professional class skipper?

29. What makes them cry? Is it a common sight?

30. Are they easily amused? Or is it a lost cause trying to entertain them?

Sunlight Zone (Tier 1)

1. Any pets? Do they want any?

2. How social are they?

3. What is the inside of their house like?

4. Any peculiar decoration preferences? Is there a theme?

5. Main source of income? How is their money situation?

6. What do they do for a job? What do they think of it, if they have one?

7. What’s an everyday skill they’re unexpectedly good at?

8. What’s an everyday skill they DO NOT have?

9. Any weapons they struggle to use and why?

10. How much does it take to trigger their Special Rush state? Do they get pumped fast?

11. Are they a good Super Jumper? Do they land their jumps?

12. Weapons they wish they could use but can’t? Why? 

13. Favorite clothing style? Do they care about comfort or looks?

14. Do they have a favorite clothing brand? Are they picky?

15. Their favorite way to listen to music? Headphones, radio, et cetera?

16. Favorite kind of food? Do they like fresh foods or prefer fried?

17. Can they cook, and how do they prefer to?

18. Do they care for fruit or vegetables?

19. Any food they REALLY don’t care for? Will they still eat it?

20. How many friends do they have? Are they a social butterfly, or do they let new people in their life sparingly?

21. Do they ever make art? What kind and why?

22. Are they expressive? How?

23. Can they drive? When did they learn or are they going to?

24. What’s their usual role in conversations? Are they a listener or a talker?

25. How do they handle crowds or groups of people?

26. Are they good at reading between the lines? Or totally clueless?

27. Do they drink coffee? If so, what is their go-to?

28. Anything they have too much of?

29. What are their priorities in life?

30. What kind of body type do they have? Are they strong, or are they frail?

Twilight Zone (Tier 2)

1. Dream house? Is it likely to happen?

2. Dream job? Are they working towards it? Do they even know?

3. Favorite subject at school? Any effect on modern day?

4. Are they prone to holding grudges? Any petty opinions that they still stick to?

5. Any phobias? How much do they affect their life?

6. How are their tentacles styled? What does that facet of self-expression mean to them?

7. Preferred way of transportation; train, car, bike etc?

8. Any details about their appearance that they’ve put a lot of thought into?

9. Do they Super Jump outside of Turf Wars? How often?

10. How often are they in swim form? How does it feel to them?

11. Are they familiar with Grizzco? Have they worked there?

12. How do they sleep? How much do they usually need to sleep?

13. What weapon did they start with? Have they changed their main over time?

14. Any particular Turf War skill they are good or bad at? Do they have good aim, for example, or are they really fast at swinging a brush?

15. Favorite time of year? Why?

16. What is their sexual/romantic orientation? How did they come to a conclusion?

17. Are they in a relationship? Do they want to be?

18. Any past relationships? Why did they end?

19. What do they order at a café if they go?

20. Are they prone to arguing? Or do they settle?

21. Do they travel? Do they want to, and where?

22. Have they had notable injuries in the past? What happened?

23. Are they open about their thoughts or do they keep to themself? 

24. Do they keep up with news or the media? 

25. Do they play any games? What kind and when?

26. Do they care about “being fresh”? Have they ever cared and how did it show?

27. Any body modifications they have or want to get? What’s the story behind them?

28. Can they play any instruments? How did they get started?

29. What is notable about the way they talk? What would people stress when imitating or parodying them?

30. How much do they swear? Any specific circumstances?

Midnight Zone (Tier 3)

1. Opinion on Splatfests; any that they’ve been part of or remember fondly? Or bad memories, even?

2. How and where did they grow up? How did that affect their current life?

3. Any siblings? How are their relationships?

4. Childhood habits or hobbies that stuck?

5. How are their ties to their family? Are they close, or maybe the opposite?

6. Any found family or “school”? How important are they to them?

7. Have they ever Krakened before? Why?

8. How do they feel about being splatted? Are they used to it or is it agonizing?

9. Are they sensitive to violence? Or totally desensitized? Does it depend on the context?

10. Something they feel is extraordinary about themself? Is it a source of pride?

11. Something other people see in them that they don’t really see?

12. What kind of neighbors do they have? Do they get along?

13. Fight-or-flight response? Which one do they usually default to?

14. Any specific goals they have in life? Why, and are they realistic?

15. Any prominent interests? How do they show?

16. How do they celebrate Squidmas? Or do they celebrate some other winter holiday, or any at all?

17. Where do they shop? How often do they go to the store and what do they usually buy?

18. If they could be any other species, would they? And what would they be?

19. How is their vision? Do they have or need glasses?

20. How do they handle stressful situations? Are they prone to worrying?

21. How do they relax? Do they struggle with slowing down, or the opposite?

22. Do they use social media? What do they do there? 

23. Favorite snack or candy? How much do they indulge?

24. Do they enjoy “alone time”? Or is it insufferable to them?

25. Any habits they want to kick but can’t seem to?

26. What do they have for breakfast? Do they usually have breakfast?

27. How do they deal with fights or arguments? Do they lose their cool or handle it by talking?

28. Are they a leader type? Or do they see themself as one?

29. Which victory pose is in-character for them?

30. Based only on their personality and skills, what in-game abilities would that give them?

Abyss (Tier 4)

1. Have they ever done anything criminal? Why?

2. Have they ever intentionally hurt anyone? How do they feel about it?

3. Any scars? How did they get them?

4. Pain tolerance? Is it good or do they cry on the floor over paper cuts?

5. How is their overall health? Are they prone to any issues? 

6. Who do they live for?

7. Do they have conversations in their head? What is their relationship with themself?

8. How confident are they in combat? Are they strong at all?

9. Any short-term color change? Which emotions trigger which colors in them?

10. What would they change about themself if they instantly could? Anything?

11. Would they survive out in the wilderness? Do they have the skills?

12. Are they selfish at all? Would they put others in harm’s way for their own benefit? 

13. What kind of morals do they follow and where did they learn them?

14. Is there anyone they would risk their well-being for? Why?

15. How was school for them? Do they miss it or are they glad it’s over, if it is?

16. How do they type? Are they the type of person to text a lot, or is it all one-word replies?

17. Do they have any kids? Do they want any?

18. What are their earliest memories?

19. Do they make decisions based on heart or logic?

20. Any regrets? What would they do differently if they could? 

21. What do they find attractive in somebody? 

22. Are they easy to understand? Are they good at expressing themself?

23. How do they deal with bad emotions? Do they have any tried-and-true coping mechanisms?

24. How often are they sick? How do they handle it?

25. Are they more or less empathetic than average?

26. Are they one to ask for or accept help? Or do they deny it altogether?

27. Do they believe in supernatural or spiritual things? 

28. Are they a person that gives or takes more? Is it intentional?

29. Are they judgmental when it comes to other people? Or do they not really care?

30. Who is the person they text or call most often?

Trench (Tier 5)

1. Any specific events from their life that changed them as a person?

2. Anything they are dreading or horribly afraid of in their current life?

3. Have they had any traumatic experiences? How are they affecting them in the current day?

4. Do they have recurring dreams? How do they feel about them?

5. Anything from their childhood that they still have? Why have they kept it?

6. Have they cut ties with people before? Why?

7. Any common thing they really struggle with?

8. Are they a good liar? Do they lie often or are they strictly against it?

9. What determines how they feel about somebody? 

10. Do they respect other people as a given? Does their respect have to be earned?

11. Any medications? How long have they had them?

12. Do they adjust their personality based on the people they’re around? How does it show?

13. How hard is it to get to KNOW them? Are they an open book or does NOBODY really know them?

14. Does true love exist to them? Or is it just a stupid myth people are obsessed with?

15. Do they have a “signature” article of clothing or item that they treasure? How did they get it and why is it so important to them?

16. Do they forgive? How much can they forgive before it’s impossible?

17. How is their comfort zone? Do they like trying new things or are they strictly a homebody?

18. One thing that will always make them happy without fail?

19. What do they usually spend spare cash on?

20. What’s their favorite place they’ve been to? What makes it special?

21. Is their life generally going how they’d expect it to be going?

22. Who were their role models growing up? Are they still their role models or have their views changed?

23. Are there any people in their life who they have complicated feelings toward? Are they still part of their life?

24. Have they ever killed? What would it take for them to do it, if at all?

25. How much are they willing to give up to help another?

26. Is their trust easy to gain? Is it easy to lose?

27. Are there any sounds that they particularly like or hate? 

28. Has their appearance or character changed over the years? How and why?

29. How do they feel about life as a whole? Has their perspective changed over time?

30. How emotionally stable are they? Do they control their mood, or does their mood control them?

Seafloor (Tier 6)

1. Are they good at making friends? How do their friendships usually start?

2. Are they good at maintaining friendships? What kind of effort do they put in?

3. Do they have close friends? How many, and how close?

4. How is their relationship with their body? Have they ever had body image issues?

5. What do they care about? If anything?

6. What is their preferred weather? What is the worst one?

7. How do they generally carry themself? With confidence, or hunched over trying to avoid attention?

8. What is their first language? Is it the one they speak the most?

9. How often do they use vending machines? What do they usually get?

10. What is their overall attitude when it comes to drugs and alcohol? Do they use any substances, and how is their relationship when it comes to the stuff?

11. Are they doing alright mentally? And is their “alright” ACTUALLY alright?

12. Can they put their full trust in others? How easy is it? Or do they always keep a healthy slice of skepticism in the mix?

13. What is their average, everyday energy level?

14. How good of an understanding do they have about themself? Are they a stranger to themself? Do they even think about it?

15. If they won the lottery and became an overnight billionaire, how would that show? Would they tell people? What would they do?

16. How often are they out of the house at night?

17. Is there anything that causes them to mentally unravel and spiral? How likely is it to happen?

18. Do they have any plants at their house? How did those get there?

19. Anything they’re ashamed of? What do they hide from friends and family and maybe even themself?

20. When something is pressing on their mind to the point of turmoil, who do they confide in?

21. Are they a good shoulder to cry on for their friends? Do people feel comfortable coming to them, or is it out of the question?

22. Are they emotionally vulnerable? Or do they strictly keep to themself and suppress?

23. Do they have any interest in nature? How deep does that interest run?

24. Are they a good liar? Do they take moral issue with lying, or is it their normal?

25. Have they traveled the world? Ever been outside of Inkadia, or even the general area they grew up in? Do they want to?

26. Do they want to settle and start a family? Have they done it? Does it sound exciting and comforting, or literally the worst thing imaginable?

27. How readily do they commit? Or do they run from responsibility?

28. How often do they make promises? Can they keep those promises?

29. How independent are they? Can they handle any hardship, or do they need their hand held through most things?

30. Are they a good person? In their own opinion.

[shotorozu]

‘photoshopping my boyfriend’

(tiktok prank)

character(s) : bakugou katsuki, todoroki shouto, midoriya izuku (bnha)

PART TWO — PART THREE

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns used, quirk not specific

headcanon type : crack, fluff (x reader)

note(s) : inspired by this tiktok— it was too funny to skip this chance of making this post 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

bakugou katsuki

you wanted to do this prank, because you wanted to see if he’d notice even the most subtle of changes to his face

again, it’s a pretty harmless prank— plus, you wouldn’t actually post the edited picture online anyway 💀

it’d be funny to see it

so, you slightly alter the selfie of you and katsuki, by enlarging his forehead ever so slightly— and you’d only alter it more from that moment onwards

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N : “kats, i found this picture in my camera roll, should i post it? you look so good ! (๑>◡<๑)”

and katsuki being well,, himself— responds rather quickly to your message even though he kinda wanted to leave you on read

kats ♡ : “ain’t that your fucking wallpaper 🤨”

Y/N : “nah this is a different one, should i post?”

he leaves you on read for a bit, and it seems to be that he was typing for quite some time

kats ♡ : “abso-fucking-lutely not. i don’t remember looking like that.”

Y/N : “but you look fine! want me to change it a bit?”

kats ♡ : “do whatever 🙄”

and because you’re an absolute menace to your boyfriend, you make his forehead bigger— not to the point that he’d notice though

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N : “how’s that now?”

and then you were left on read 😔 because katsuki was currently on his way to your room and he’s not pleased

“DID YOU PHOTOSHOP MY FOREHEAD?” he slams your door open, and you swore you could’ve heard it crack just a bit

“no??”

“stop fucking lying- i have that exact photo in my gallery, and it looks NOTHING like that atrocious thing”

you burst out laughing at his reaction, and he’s just standing next to your bed like 🧍‍♂️

“i will never take another picture with you again if you—”

“as if i was actually going to post that picture” he wasn’t serious when he said he won’t be taking pictures with you

but at least he’ll sleep well knowing that you won’t post such.. horrendous picture of his massive forehead on the internet for the world to see

but you posted the tiktok anyway and it blew up to katsuki’s distaste

todoroki shouto

okay okay, so you think that this would be absolutely hilarious— but you just wanted to see if he’d notice if you photoshopped him

but a part of you thinks he wouldn’t, or if he’d just pretend that he didn’t notice— regardless, it would still be funny

so, you select a random selfie of you and shouto (one that you both looked good in) and you ever so slightly edit his forehead

you kind of wanted to edit his scar but for many different reasons, you decided not to

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N 🤍 : “shou 🤩‼️‼️ look at what i found, should i repost this as a throwback? you look so good it’s not even funny”

he replies rather quick, i mean he always does— but he replies after 30 seconds

shou, the lover boy 🤍 : “you mean we. we look good.”

Y/N 🤍 : “oh, we look good 🤠 so?? what do you think? repost or nah?”

shou, the lover boy 🤍 : “sure thing.”

shou, the lover boy 🤍 : “hm, something looks different. i just don’t know what it is. could you add a small filter to it?”

and you think, ‘oh! so he does notice’ which is quite interesting

Y/N 🤍 : “sure ^^”

you edit his forehead even more, the original picture looking a lot more different compared to the edited one but for some reason, it didn’t look unnatural

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N 🤍 : “so, i added a small filter onto it, does that look better?”

he’s seen typing for a bit

shou, the lover boy 🤍 : “hm, no filter it is. i think the unfiltered one is better.”

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N 🤍 : “i removed the filter, does that look better?”

but then you edited his forehead even more 😭 please this was killing you, you were wondering if you didn’t edit the picture enough— you’re just glad you aren’t in the same room as him

shou, the lover boy 🤍 : “perfect. see you tomorrow <3”

you posted the tiktok’s results, and it blows up in less than a day— gaining a lot of views because

a. it’s shouto— a common guest on your tiktoks, b. his ‘obliviousness’ c. because of the way you edited his forehead, and how it just got bigger and bigger 💀

the comments were really funny, and nice to look at “PLEASE IS HE THAT OBLIVIOUS??” “bruhh he definitely knew something 💀” “there’s no way he wasn’t playing along”

turns out, shouto knew you were photoshopping his forehead for shits and giggles— it’s because he has that exact selfie as his wallpaper

he’ll get you back ;)

midoriya izuku

your boyfriend is insanely observant, so!! you wanted to test if he’d notice even the slightest of changes to a picture

and plus, you think it would be funny to witness

you select one of the better pictures of you and izuku— but most especially, a picture where izuku looked phenomenal

compared to the other two, you edited his freckles— you’re basically going to gradually add more freckles to him

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N 🍀 : “hey zuku! look at what i found deep in my gallery. should i repost this as a throwback? i wanna know your thoughts <3”

your notification makes his heart race faster, so he’s quick to reply

except,, it took a bit longer for him to hit send

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “you look so good <3 but hm.. something looks different ^^; i just can’t put my finger on it..”

Y/N 🍀 : “oh— perhaps it’s the lighting?”

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “maybe it is! could you maybe put a filter on it? i mean,, if you think there should be one! not that the picture needs one ;;”

cute.

you add more freckles to the picture, and added a slight filter to make it less suspicious, and you hit send

[you’ve sent an attachment]

Y/N 🍀 : “there! i only added a slight filter to it, is this okay?”

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “oh no, i look like a kardashian now ^^;; definitely not myself.”

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “i’m not sure what’s different! i mean.. the picture couldn’t have been taken that long ago for me not to remember what i even looked like— omg, what if i did forget 😦”

he sounded so concerned about the slight changes— which is to be expected of him

he was actually freaking out through the screen 💀

so then, you decided to add even more freckles to his cheeks

Y/N 🍀 : “ok ok sooo— i removed the filter, does this look better? lmk <3”

it takes a moment for him to finally respond, and he’s seen going on and off with typing— since the typing bubble kept disappearing and reappearing.

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “Y/N..”

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “is it just me or”

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “do i have more freckles in this picture 😦”

you flop onto the ground in hysterics, laughing at his message and you’re hoping that he wouldn’t hear you laugh this hard

after a few hours, you post the tiktok— and it blows up, gathering a good amount of likes and views

the comments consisted of “the fact that he was he thinking so hard about the picture 💀” “LMAOO WHY CAN I IMAGINE HIS REACTION WHEN HE REALIZED” “nooo the way the typing bubble kept disappearing and reappearing 😭”

your boyfriend sends you a text after the tiktok blows up— basically, he saw the video (somehow 💀)

zuku (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) : “i’m glad i wasn’t imagining things ^^;; turns out you were just editing more freckles onto the picture 😃 it looked so real!! oh, and i’m coming over to your place, see you!! <3”

basically— having an observant boyfriend like izuku is fun

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[henrysglock]

okay okay i love talking about dnd - dnd anon back again

just general fyi, there's multiple editions for dnd. new monsters get added over the course of them, some stats change, game mechanics get reworked ect. we're on E5 right now. the party in ST would be playing with E1 which came out in the early 80s (E2 came out in the late 80s and is definitely relevant to anything S4 and onwards). i know most of the original 80s stats, but just mentioning here that some numbers went up or down a few digits over the years

okay and now breaking this down:

in dnd you have CRs (= Challenge Ratings) which are a number between 0 and 30. those give you an idea of the general strength of an enemy, the higher the stronger. that's generally how you as a DM decide what to throw at your party since you don't want to give and absolute BeastTM to you Lvl. 1 party (CRs also aren't always 100% reliable since DMs can tweak stats slightly to fit their parties better, but CRs DO give you a pretty solid idea of how fucked you're going to be on average going into an encounter)

and long story short, a Mindflayers CR is 7. Vecna's is 26. and yeah that'd basically already be enough said, one of these is Not like the other. Tldr: Vecna is an absolute Unit and wins this competition every time

but now also, more in depth:

first more stats: CR only give you the General difficulty of an enemy. you also have AC (Armour Class) and HP for every enemy for example:

AC -> MF: 15, V: 18

HP -> MF: 71 (potentially up to +13 with additional roles when creating the enemy), V: 272 (with a roll up to +128)

Vecna, again, unsurprisingly given the CR, wins everything here BY FAR. but besides stats, the actual game lore is also interesting:

for one, i said A Mindflayer intentionally because there's actually multiple. it's not a unique enemy type (it's still rare though). they're also called Illithids and are actually much more human looking than on the show -> a bit of a wizard type - also much more human sized than the one in ST. their faces are very much spider tentacles tho so I'm guessing that's from where we got the visuals for our favorite Big Guy. (also, fun fact: Illithids/ Mindflayers tend to show up in combat with a handful of followers they're mindcontrolling, very similar to the plot of s3 actually, just think that's neat :D)

and then there's VECNA. THE Vecna. the ONE and only (ha). totally unique. actually, as of E1 Vecna wasn't even a fightable enemy with stats yet. he was only Referenced in the monster manual (where all the dnd enemy lore at the time came from) + his eye (or arm actually? sorry not sure which one it actually was) were super strong items you could find. but no Vecna in the flesh yet - he was just this elusive evil in the background. only in E2 did Vecna actually get a stats sheet and was something you could actually try and fight. and Vecna is Big in dnd, a bit of a staple figure actually - especially in E2 at the time. Mindflayers may be more of an enemy class than a given "name" for one specific person/monster. but oh boy did Vecna sure make a name for himself alone. multiple names actually, that's the guy people call "the Arch Lich" and "the Undying King" to name a few, if there's One wizard you're going to be sweating to fight in late 80s dnd it's THIS guy. Hard as Hell to beat! and a dnd icon on top of it!

and even the fighting in itself is going to be an absolute Bitch, so here a general idea of how combat works:

aside from attacking, you constantly roll saving throws. that's how you avoid dying/ taking damage/ suffering negative effects like poison or burning etc. the saving throws are all in a specific attribute so Intelligence or Wisdom for example. you roll with a D20 and need to get something higher than a certain predetermined number to actually get the save and avoid whatever made you roll for the save in the first place. depending on the stat you're rolling in, the numbers for the MFs are basically all between 6-7. but for VECNA they're all between 12-15.

the combat system in E1 and E2 is slightly different than today and i'm not Totally in tune with it, so i'm not Completely sure if/how saving throws might have worked a bit different back then,

but the HIGH requirement for saves (consistently rolling over 12-15 with a D20 is Fucked btw) is also why we see the game in S4 go down the way it does. the entire group makes it to the final boss alright but then starts falling like flies. because you'd have to consistently roll REALLY high to keep hitting saves and not chip your health down slowly or get CRIT'ed in one go. and even if you're lucky with rolls, the longer the combat goes on the more likely you are to start missing saves and either die from a direct hit or get a negative effect that kills you over time. which is why we see the entire party go down alongside Mike during Eddie's game, except for Dustin and Erica who are both still 1 hit from death.

even the parts of the game sequence we actually get SEE on screen in s4 show us this directly, when we see Mike going first in the combat order and look upset immediately when he presumably fails his first save right away (unlucky) -> i've seen people confused why Mike looks upset but an Enemy figure gets knocked down on the board instead of his paladin. this is why as far as i can tell here. he might have still won against whatever he was fighting but took massive damage or got a passive negative effect from failing his first save. he zero'd out later at some point, since only Erica and Dustin are left by the end, but i probably wasn't Directly after the first hit he took (even though it could obviously be Because of that hit, since it might've been a passive effect which can kill you with a few rounds delay)

so Yupp, that's the general breakdown here! so tldr Again: if you had the choice between facing the Mindflayer or Vecna on the condition that everybody sticks to dnd rules you do NOT go for Vecna. Ever. that guy is Horrible to beat. literally the chance of fucking up like Mike here and missing your FIRST save right off the bat is 60-75%, that's BAD, that can KILL you

me with my melted ice cream brain: yeah what u said

but actually yeah looking at the numbers it’s v clear who’s the big bad even from the dnd framework. and it also makes sense why El et al. are able to defeat the mindflayer twice but not Vecna/Henry even once

[naturallytom]

Mending a Broken Heart (Tom Holland x reader, alternative part)

a/n: me? writing? unheard of. jk im tryin to get back into the groove!! this is an alternate version to Mending a Broken Heart, so some parts are the same and some I’ve edited or added some things! hope u enjoy!! 

warnings: language, angst, mentions of cheating

please reblog/leave feedback!!

picture not mine!

You had noticed it for months. Tom has been pulling away, spending more time out with the boys than at home with you. His kisses became forced and the words ‘love you’ slowly stopped falling from his lips. 

Most days he would leave for work before you woke up and on the rare occasion you were up when he left, he would mumble a ‘goodbye’ before walking out the door. Sometimes, if you were lucky, he would press a gentle kiss to your forehead. Most times, though, he would just leave. 

You did your best to keep the love alive, you were still madly in love with him. The wedding band that sat tightly on your ring finger mocked you. A symbol of what was love has turned into one sided love. Hell, you weren’t sure if Tom wore his wedding ring anymore. 

A quick glance to his left hand would reveal that he didn’t. 

You spent your nights wondering if it was something you did. Were you too clingy when he left to film? Was he just tired of you after four years of marriage? Did he find someone else?

No. You shook your head to yourself one night as you laid in the bed by yourself, the space usually occupied by Tom cold. If he found someone else and if he cheated, that’s on him. Not on you. 

Still, the thought plagued your mind. Did he meet someone else? Was she prettier than you? Is that where he was when he said he was out with the boys? Was she able to give him something you couldn’t give him?

The door opening and shutting alerted you that Tom was home. You sighed, knowing it’d be another night of sleeping on opposite sides of the bed. 

The door to the bedroom opened and in came Tom, Tessa jumping up to greet him. 

“Hey girl, hey love, how are you, hm?” He whispered, petting Tessa as his eyes flickering over to you, who was visibly awake. “Thought you’d be asleep by now. ‘S late.” 

“Couldn’t sleep.” You replied simply. “Hey so I was thinking, we haven’t had a date night in a while, maybe you wanted to go out to see the Halloween decorations around town and get dinner tomorrow night?” 

“Can’t,” He shook his head as he got ready for bed. “Harrison wants to watch the game. Told him I’d go.” 

“Didn’t you just see Harrison tonight?” 

“Yeah, and?” 

“Nothing.” You sighed, obviously upset. “Nothing, Tom. Goodnight.” 

“Night.” He responded, turning out the light and climbing into bed, falling asleep with his back toward you. 

-

The next day, you were surprised to see Tom already awake and waiting in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of tea when you got downstairs. 

“Good morning.” You smiled softly. 

“We need to talk.” He told you. You felt your heart drop and your palms get sweaty, but you wiped them on your pajama pants in an effort to seem totally calm and not panicked. 

“A-About what?” You asked, your voice coming out shaky. 

“I think,” Tom started. “I think we should get divorced.” 

It was then, at 8:30 am that your world came crashing down. 

“W-What?” You whimpered out, your voice weaker than before. “Why?”

“I’m not happy with you anymore.” He said simply. Your eyes flickered to his left hand, noticing the absence of the golden wedding band, making your heart ache. 

“We can try couples’ therapy. We can go on dates like we used to, Tom, please! We can fight for this, Tom. Fight for us.” You cried, your heart shattering into a million tiny pieces, each one puncturing your lungs as you struggled to keep your breath under control. 

“No,” He shook his head. “My mind is made up. I’m sorry, y/n. Um, I found a lawyer at a firm, they have a lot of other lawyers there you can contact. I’ll just, uh, leave their card here.” 

“So that’s it? Three years of dating and four years of marriage down the drain?” You sobbed, holding your knees to your chest as you sat on the kitchen floor. 

“I’m sorry, y/n. Truly, I am.”

He placed the small business card on the counter, grabbing the bags you didn’t even notice, mumbling an ‘I’ll be staying with Haz,’ before walking out the front door, like he did every other day. This time, though, you had the sinking feeling he was leaving for good. 

-

It was only three weeks that your lawyer came over to meet with you, joined by Tom and his lawyer. You kept your eyes focused on the table as you signed the paperwork, wanting to get this done as soon as possible. 

As soon as everyone left, you shut the door, slid down the back of it, and cried. 

-

Nearly two months after the worst day of your life and it was time for a self care night. The ring that once sat on your left hand was buried away in your jewelry box somewhere and you were finally starting to feel free and somewhat happy again after crying yourself to sleep and wondering where it all went wrong for months. 

After the divorce you buried yourself in work, using it as a distraction from going home to an empty house. You also moved out of the house you once called home. Not only was it too painful to go home to an empty house, but it was too painful to go home to a house that held so many happy and loving memories. You took the necessities along with some things you wanted with you and set yourself up in a hotel room for the time being. You treated it as a vacation. Except only a few people knew where you were. Your family knew, along with your friends, including Harrison, on the condition he didn’t tell Tom where you were. You started making time for yourself in your little hotel room and you became happier. 

Tonight, after a long day of work, you ordered your favorite Chinese food, played your favorite songs, and ran yourself a bath with a vanilla scented bath bomb. You were enjoying a glass of wine, the hot water of the bath soothing you when the music playing from your phone was interrupted by a call coming in. 

To your surprise, it was Tom. You contemplated answering it, but instead, let it go to voicemail. However, you were curious as to why he called, though you were also 99% positive it was a pocket dial. So you played the voicemail, the familiar voice ringing throughout the bathroom. 

“Hey y/n, um, I hope you’re doing well. I just called because I wanted to tell you something. I um, I miss you. A lot. And I know I don’t get to feel that way but I do and I just wanted to tell you that and I guess ask if there was any possibility of meeting to talk? Uh, call me back if...if you want. I don’t blame you if you hate me. Bye. Love y-” 

You turned off the voicemail before the phrase could be finished. Millions of thoughts filled your mind, ranging from happy ones to ones that made your heart ache and tears fill your eyes. 

You decided to ignore it, pretend it never happened, and enjoy your self care night. 

-

When Tom pulled up to his former house with flowers in his car and a pit of nerves in his stomach, he expected to see your car in the driveway and at least one light to be on. He was greeted with an empty driveway and a dark house, which confused him. It was the weekend, so you weren’t work. Maybe you had to run an errand? 

But after 20 minutes, he gave up hope that you were home and tried to call you, which to no surprise, you didn’t pick up again. He instead called Harrison in an effort to try and find out if he knew where you were. 

“What do you want?” Harrison answered, half concentrating on what Tom was about to say and half concentrating on the game in front of him. 

“Do, uh, do you know where y/n is?” Tom asked, taking Harrison by surprise. 

“y/n?” Harrison paused the game, suddenly not able to concentrate on it. “Why d’you want to know where y/n is?”

“I just want to talk to her.” He mumbled. 

“If I knew that’s where you were going I wouldn’t have let you go.” Harrison sighed. “Listen she made me swear that I wouldn’t tell you-” 

“Please Harrison? You’ve seen how much of a mess I’ve been. I just want to see if I have a shot.” Tom begged, making his friend cave. 

“Fine but if she moves again I won’t be telling you shit.”  

-

The next day you were enjoying a cup of tea and reading your book, getting some relaxation in before your week began when a knock on the door interrupted you. Confusion filled your body, you weren’t expecting anyone to pop by. 

Looking out the peephole, you froze at the sight that greeted you. Tom was standing outside your door, a bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hands. 

“Hi.” He breathed out, his nose and the tips of his ears red from the harsh winter air. 

“How the hell did you find me?” You asked, keeping your eyes focused on the ground. 

“Harrison. I begged him to tell me.” He answered. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” You muttered. “What do you want?”

“Can..Can I come in?” He asked. 

You wanted to say no, that he could say what he wanted to say outside or just not let him speak at all. But you wanted to be courteous to the other people on your floor and part of you was curious as to what he was going to say. So you wordlessly opened the door slightly, letting him in and closing the door behind him. 

“Now what do you want?”

“Did you get my voicemail?” He responded, hope filling his eyes when you nodded. “Um, I brought these for you. I was hoping we could talk.” 

“I don’t want your flowers. Why should I talk to you? We’re divorced, just like you wanted.” Tom winced at the words. “Nothing to change.” 

“Actually, we’re not.” He corrected. “I called the office the other day. Um, it’s not official yet.” 

“Well then they should make it official. Maybe I can call them and make it happen as my very last Christmas present to you. Just what you wanted.” You snapped. 

“No, this isn’t what I want, can I speak, please?” He pleaded, his eyes resembling those of a puppy. 

“You’re speaking already.” You answered, gesturing for him to continue nonetheless. 

“I- How have you been? I stopped by the house-”

“Tom I’m not gonna listen to your small talk. Say what you have to say and leave.” You told him. His heart broke but he couldn’t blame you. 

“Um, so I thought I wasn’t happy with you but um, as time went on, I realized how much I miss having you in my life.” He began, visibly nervous. “I was just looking through our pictures and how happy you looked and I just, I guess I realized I wanted to be the one to make you that happy again.”

“You haven’t made me happy in months, Tom.” 

“I know.” His heart clenched. “I know and I’m so sorry, y/n. I really am.” 

“Was there someone else? Did you cheat on me?” You asked. 

“No, no absolutely not, y/n.” He answered before adding; “I went on a date with someone after we split up but it didn’t work out. I realized she wasn’t what I want.” 

“Of course she wasn’t.” You scoffed. 

“I want you, y/n. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy again.” He told you, tears filling your eyes. “Is there..is there any possibility you could love me again?” 

“Again?” You seethed. “Tom I never fell out of love with you! I never stopped loving you! That was all you! You stopped loving me and you wanted this stupid fucking divorce!”

“I..I don’t think I ever stopped loving you either.” He whispered, tears falling down his rosy cheeks. “Please, y/n, if there’s even the tiniest chance..” 

“Of what, Tom? Of going right back to being married? Of you making me happy? I don’t know, Tom! I don’t know anything except that I hate you right now.” You sobbed, crying into your knees while Tom let out quiet sobs of his own, his heart clenching at the lack of wedding band on your left hand and the lack of love in your voice, but especially your eyes. Your eyes, which once held so much love and adoration for him were now full of anger and resentment. 

“Of..anything, y/n. Please, I just want a second chance to show you how much you mean to me, to make you happy again. I will do anything to save us, anything you want. And...and if it’s not working or you just really hate me, I wouldn’t blame you. Not at all.” He begged, his eyes puffy and red. 

“I tried to save us, Tom. Don’t you remember? I begged and pleaded with you to do couples therapy to go on dates when you were breaking my heart into a million tiny pieces. I begged you to try and fight for us, for our marriage, but you just walked out the god damn door!” You spit through gritted teeth. 

“I fucked up, I know. I fucked up so badly.” He cried, wiping his tears away. 

“And if leaving me wasn’t enough, you took Tessa too! I was left completely alone in that big fucking house that was haunted by you. I couldn’t stand it.” You sobbed. 

“I’m..I’m sorry, y/n. So so fucking sorry. What do you want me to do?” 

“I want...I want you to hurt. I want you to hurt the way you hurt me. I want you to know how this fucking feels.” You said, your voice getting louder with each word that fell from your lips.

Tom could only cry. This was ripping him apart, he couldn’t even imagine what the whole thing felt like to you. 

“I’m gonna need time to think, Tom.” You finally mumbled, Tom nodding in response. 

“I’ll give you all the time you need. I promise you-” 

“Don’t. Don’t promise me anything.” You spoke, your voice low. “You won’t be able to keep it. You promised you’d love me forever four years ago and look what happened.” 

“y/n pl-”

“You don’t get to do this. You-you don’t get to just waltz right back in here and ask for a second chance to fight for us when I didn’t even get a first chance. How do I know this won’t end like it did before?” 

“y/n, I swear to you, if this isn’t working out, you can leave me. I...I just want a chance to prove myself to you.” He begged. 

“God, Tom. You don’t get it! I’m not going through this again. Do you realize how much you broke me the first time? Fuck, you had a chance, Tom. And you threw it away.” You muttered quietly. 

“I regret that every day. Every god damn day.” He told you honestly.

“I don’t know, Tom.” You sighed. 

“Talk to me?” He tried, knowing you were hiding something deeper than an ‘I don’t know.’

“Don’t know what else there is to say.” You mumbled. “I don’t trust you, I-I can’t trust you. I hate you.” 

“Why’d you get a hotel room?” Tom sniffled, changing the subject. 

“I told you. I hated being in that house. Hated being surrounded by the happy pictures and memories of us.” You told him honestly. “I want to start over.” 

“What?”

“I want to start over. I can’t go back to being emotionally married to you even if we’ll still be married legally. I’m talking starting from scratch, as if we were meeting for the first time, the whole deal.” You told him. 

“That sounds perfect, y/n. Thank y-”

“Get out, Tom. Please. I just want to be alone and not with you right now. I’m still not happy with you.” 

“Okay.” He breathed out, hope filling him once again. “You won’t regret this, I promise.” 

“What did I just say about promises?” You asked tearily. 

“I know, I know. I’m determined to keep this promise, though.” He told you. 

“Fine. Whatever. Just please leave for now.” You whimpered, watching as he walked out the door, just like he did when he broke your heart. 

You decided you needed another self care night. Another bath was run, another vanilla scented bath bomb was used, more wine was consumed. 

Tom texted you right as you got out of the bath. 

Tom: hey y/n, it’s tom, just incase you don’t have my number saved anymore. I just wanted to say thank you for the second chance. I really am grateful. I hope you have a relaxing night, you deserve it. 

You rolled your eyes and tossed your phone gently on your bed, though you could feel your heart rate pick up and butterflies fill your stomach. 

-

Tom began texting you sweet little things each morning, whether it was to let you know that he’s been thinking of you or to tell you that he hopes you have a great day. At first you ignored them, but then you began responding in short answers of one or two words until the two of you were texting every day, like when you met for the first time seven years ago. 

-

Over a month after you started texting again, Tom took you on a first date. Pulling up to your hotel, Tom felt the nerves fill his body as he walked up to your door and knocked, another bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hand. 

He felt all the air leave his lungs as you opened the door. You looked absolute stunning. You were wearing a navy blue dress that reached down to just above your knees, one Tom bought you one year. 

“Wow, hi.” He breathed. “You look stunning.” 

“Thank you.” You smiled, accepting the flowers he handed you. “I’ll be right back.” 

Tom took you to your favorite restaurant that night, one that the two of you frequented when you (formerly) went on dates. 

When he took you back to your hotel, he walked you up to the door, where he nervously asked if he could kiss you. 

You said yes, and that was all Tom needed to press a soft kiss to your lips. The kiss was magical, both of you felt the sparks between the two of you. 

“God I missed doing that.” Tom mumbled as he pulled away to breathe. 

“Then do it again.” 

-

A couple months after that, Tom moved back in with you. You had gone back to the house every now and then, to slowly acclimate yourself to being back in the once happy house, only fully moving back when Tom moved back as well. The pictures of the two of you were dusted off, making your heart race instead of hurt at the sight of the happy memories. 

-

Finally, after a year, Tom proposed to you (again). You hesitated a little bit, still scared it would end in heartbreak again, which broke Tom’s heart, but said you yes in the end. 

The two of you renewed your vows, putting on the golden bands that were once again a symbol of the love the two of you shared. 

You had a small party back at your house after the ceremony, your families joining to celebrate. You found Tom alone in the kitchen, grabbing a beer for him and Harry. 

“Hey.” You greeted, fiddling with your fingers as tears of happiness filled your eyes. 

“Hey, what’s wrong, my love?” Tom asked, concerned as soon he saw the tears filling your eyes. 

“Nothing, nothing. I, um,” You started, wiping your tears away and wrapping your arms around Tom’s neck. “I’m really glad we made it back to this.” 

“Me too, lovey. I love you so much.” He whispered, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead.

“Hey, Tommy?” 

“Yeah?” 

“You kept your promise.” You smiled softly, making Tom’s heart ache at the memory of you not being able to trust him. 

“I told you I would.” 

Your moment was interrupted by Harrison, who entered the kitchen, smiling at his two best friends happily in love once again. 

“Aren’t you so glad I told him where you were staying?” He joked, making you roll your eyes. 

“Shut up, Harrison.” You smiled. As your eyes flickered between Tom and Harrison, though, you knew you wouldn’t have been in this position if Harrison didn’t spill the beans to Tom. 

“Hey Haz?” You called, as Harrison went to leave the kitchen in fake offense. He turned at the sound of his name, knowing what was coming. 

“Thank you.” Tom nodded in agreement, his arm slipping around your waist. 

Harrison just smiled even bigger, all three of you knowing everything would be okay from now on.

[love-archon]

A Day With The Genshin Characters: Liyue Edition

Today's going to be a busy day! Check your planner for who you'll be meeting with- as one of the esteemed members of the Liyue Qixing, you cannot afford to be late to any appointment. 

• 6:00, Ningguang: Morning Tea 

Although you say you love your job, waking up at un-archonly hours has to be the part you like the least. Even getting up at five in the morning, the hour when tigers prowl, is still not enough time to prepare for a meeting with the Tianquan. You rush around frantically choosing the best outfit, fragrance, and hair arrangement to present yourself to Lady Ningguang, and you're halfway out the door when it hits you- you forgot to bring a gift with you!

"Right on time," Ningguang says, pleased. You smile, hoping she won't hear your heart beating from anxiety. "And what a lovely present, too... is there any doubt you were appointed as one of the seven Qixing?" (You can't tell if it's her rare praise, or the sheer altitude you're at within the Jade Chamber, that's making your head spin).

• 7:00, Keqing: Business Meeting 

You barely have time to rest before Keqing whisks you away to Yuehai Pavilion. You're very close friends, and you admire the girl for her tenacity and diligence. The conversation flows easily as you walk to your destination under a cloudless sky. It's a wonderfully sunny moment, but the moment the doors lock, you mean business. In the next two hours, you conquer matters that would normally take days to resolve, and the two of you exchange grins. 

"There we go!" Keqing breathes a sigh of relief, pushing away the last stack of papers. She holds up her hand, and you high-five. "You know, I like how easily you keep up with me. You even caught mistakes I would have missed... things like this make me even more certain Liyue is better off in human hands."

• 9:00: Check In With Ganyu

With such a hectic schedule, Ganyu is your saving grace. It's always important to check in with her, just to make sure nothing you have planned catches you by surprise, and sometimes you wonder why others rarely do the same. She's quite lonely, and often mentions how nice it is that you speak with her every day and bring her gifts to help with work. It may be part of your job to be courteous, but... it does help her feel less lonely and conflicted with herself. 

"Qingxin flowers? Thank you so much." She accepts them gratefully, smiling at you with warm eyes. "I still have that new stationery you gave me, too. You're so kind for remembering the things I like!"

• 9:30: Talk to Beidou

The tea in the Jade Chamber was just a front for Ningguang to spring a request on you- meet with the captain of the Crux Fleet to discuss her... recent smuggling habits. But Beidou merely laughs heartily when you arrive. A crewmate tosses her a sack of Mora, and she slits it open, letting the payment shower over you in a spray of gold. And then, before you know what's happening, you're roped into helping them find a treasure rumored to be lost beneath the waves. 

"So, Ningguang though sending her star diplomat would get me to let up, huh!" You blush, wondering how you could be so easy to read under her ruby eye. "I was impressed by your words, and how well you fought by my side. But the annoyance of the Liyue Qixing is of no concern to me."

• 12:00, Tartaglia: TEACH HIM A LESSON!

As the member of the Qixing that oversees diplomacy and foreign relations, it's you that must meet with the Fatui Harbinger. He's quite good at playing pretend- all your underlings believed he was a naive, careless young man, and easily manipulated, too. And all of them ended up suppressing the urge to break something after they were done conversing with him. On your honor as one of Liyue's seven stars, you vow to not make their mistakes. 

"You're asking why I don't try to drive you mad?" he said, setting down his fork. You'd caved in and given him one after watching him struggle with chopsticks for far too long. "You're the only one who isn't a bore to talk to, that's all-" so this was on purpose?!- "and besides, I want to challenge you to a fight afterwards! Your vision's getting quite dusty from neglect, comrade. Let's fix that!"

• 2:00, Yanfei: Discussion of Legal Matters

Yanfei's counsel is an invaluable treasure. Especially when dealing with an opponent as vicious as Snezhnaya's Fatui, who deserve to have her wrath unleashed upon them. You walk to her office with a gleam in your eyes, and are delighted to see an equal fire already blazing in hers. For the next few hours, you two take the "suggestions" Tartaglia passed on from the Northland Bank and scheme on how to best tear them to shreds with the law.

"That man-childe's been giving you trouble again, huh," she giggles. "What did he come up with this time~? I've been waiting for an excuse to bring out the latest edition of my lawbook!" And with that, Yanfei slams it down, and the sheer weight of it nearly cracks her desk. "He won't know what hit him!"

• 4:00: Free Time

Of course, "free time" simply means that you have no meetings scheduled for this hour, which lets you adequately prepare for the next day's events. Tomorrow is your appointment with the Feiyun Commerce Guild, which you already know will require great patience and strength of mind. Because the head of the guild, and his eldest son, the future head, are- to put it mildly- not very bright... it's fortunate, then, that the second son Xingqiu has a good head on his shoulders.  

"Tomorrow, you should go straight to me instead," Xingqiu informs you cheerily, handing you a popsicle. Apparently, he keeps them around for his friend Chongyun, who's off to complete another exorcism. "I'll be sure to set everything in order." His eyes gleam. "And then, I can tell you the latest developments in 'A Legend of Sword'!"

• 5:00: Catch Xinyan's Concert!

Liyue's one and only rock musician isn't hard to find, thanks to the designated performance spots scattered around the city. You stop by at the raised platform where she's rocking out, where other people are listening as well. Xinyan strikes a peace sign in the air, and her vision glows with energy before the stage erupts with pillars of fire; her audience bursts into cheers and applause, and she's beaming as she leaps down to meet you. 

"Wait, seriously? You really changed up the rules a lil' so it'll be easier for me to hold concerts here?" Her eyes shine as they scan the papers- one of the many results of your work today in Yuehai. "Thank you so much! Wait-" she picks up her guitar again, giving it an experimental riff. "Let me think up a quick song for ya as thanks- I insist!"

• 6:00: Wangsheng Funeral Parlor 

Lately, you've been sent particularly determined requests from the other nations about allowing tourists to observe the ancient funeral rites. You already know the answer's gonna be a hard no, but the laws written by Rex Lapis state that you must check with the director anyway. She's not there when you arrive, so a consultant, Zhongli, brings you tea while you wait for her. You sit together in the fading sun, waiting for Hu Tao's familiar song to rise above the hill. 

Zhongli takes a quiet sip from his cup, closing his luminous eyes. "Although it was Rex Lapis who created the laws, they are not meant to be set in stone. Humans must revise the contract as they see fit, so that it will not erode with the passage of time." Something makes you feel as though it's more significant to him than you know. Then, he smiles slightly. "But, just looking at the people leading the way in his absence, like you... there's no need for me to worry."

• 8:00: Dinner; Request Chef Xiangling

The Wanmin Restaurant, run by Chef Mao and his daughter, is a breath of fresh air. While the rest of Liyue is divided between the "Li" and "Yue" styles of cooking, Xiangling pays the conflict no mind. Instead, she's not afraid to be daring and experiment, blazing ahead without worrying about what others think. You can see some similarities between her and Keqing, but it's best not to mention it after that disastrous banquet they organized together... 

"Had a rough day, didn't you?" Xiangling asks, her golden eyes twinkling as she hands you the steaming hot bowl. "Well, for you, I made sure to prepare your favorite dish! I hope you don't mind if I added a lizard or two this time- I'm kidding!" she adds quickly, upon seeing alarm flash across your face. 

• 9:00: Return Home

After everything that happened, you're eager to collect the reports from your subordinates and head home to draft new revisions for Tianquan Ningguang to look over (and then, hopefully, get some rest). But as you're walking on the path to your neighborhood, you spot a little girl sitting in the grass, clutching her head. Alarm rises in your chest as you rush over to see what's wrong, and why she's alone- only to realize with a start that she's the child that returned from the dead.  

"Thank you for taking Qiqi back to Bubu Pharmacy," she says, reading solemnly from her notebook (where the entire thank-you script is written). Even when you set her down, she's still reading the pieces of paper. "Will you tell Dr. Baizhu where I got lost? Please and thank you, again."

• 10:00: Sleep

In the end, you never did get to those revisions. You can hear your fellow Qixing scolding you in your head, but at least you got plenty of other things done; the well-oiled machine that is Liyue will still keep running on thanks to the tasks you accomplished today. Someday, even the adepti will have to acknowledge the ability of humans... you turn in your bed to feel the coolness of the other side. Speaking of adepti... the night air coming in... reminds you of... "Xiao..."

"I thought you were in danger," the adeptus huffs. The moment you said his name, you'd finally fallen asleep, but it still brought Xiao to you- balanced on the windowsill, hair waving in the breeze. "Still... I'm... glad that you're alright," he admits, glancing at you to make sure you're not awake to hear. "Rest well, bright star of Liyue." And then, with a sound like a sigh- or was it the wind?- he's gone.

[shieldedsouls]

droppin a lil psa

i was planning to do this more Formally, but honestly this blue hellsite doesn’t really need Formal because we’re all gremlins doing as we do for the fun of it 

anyway, the actual point: i’m doing a soft reboot/refresh for this multi.

longer bits under the cut.

this includes a new blog with different url, new gdocs with updated information, new organization, clean slate for following, all that fun stuff. and it’s been coming for awhile, as its something i’ve discussed doing on and off at various points, but really it comes down to needing to refresh my own stuff to feel comfy here again. 

 a lot has changed in dumblr rp, especially after the mega-crash that followed IW and EG releasing. this community has been around for a long time, and i’m hoping it’ll stay around, but there comes a point with canon material (this is for every fandom btw, having been thru quite a few) that it Peaks and then dramatically drops off for whatever reasons. and i need to adjust myself and my approach on here if i want to keep writing my muses and keep writing with people, which i have been very reluctant to do, as anyone who has known me the whole time or a long time can tell you.

i thought it was a step i had at least sorta taken when i deleted a bunch of my archives/old solo blogs. but it didn’t. not really. that was my choosing to not give myself a way to back into having a million blogs again, so i could try to focus here and in having everyone in one place. that was part of my process of allowing myself to fully embrace being a multi, and adding to the fact i could more easily craft separate spaces by having my muses separated by fandom for a total of a few blogs rather than 30+.

but i’ve spent so long on here that i realized something: i hadn’t actually gone over my own rules and disclaimer information in a HOT minute. just copy & pasting from myself to set stuff up quickly and kinda keep organized. and some of that needed editing, updating, removing, the works.

and my alternate timeline? listen, i love that project. but at some point i got so set in going THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED ACTUALLY that i stopped allowing spaces for being able to wiggle around with other people and their timelines, their muses, their crafted spaces. i was cutting potential partners and current partners off, i was limiting myself, by sticking more and more rigidly to the timeline (which i’m going to keep in a doc somewhere but i’m not making it the Main Point anymore). universe 77483 is my baby, i’m proud of it, i love it. but its so categorically huge and overwhelming that it’s more suited to say fic worldbuilding than for rp worldbuilding.

i have a lot of headcanons that, honestly, same thing: i’ve been copy/pasting from myself for years and not really reading over the information anymore. its just rote movement of text thrown into the tags. and i stopped writing verses because i was bogging myself down with other elements, and getting caught on needing them to be perfect rather than letting them be blurbs to serve as baselines.

somewhere along the line, i genuinely got sidetracked from the crafting and writing with other people part, and focused on the detail-building and setting up things like i’m the only one writing or involved. rp is not a solo project, and i am dealing with the repercussions of behaving like its one. my dash slowed down because i did. my threads dwindled because i stopped reaching out as much, stopped being as available or open to things, beacuse i focused on the wrong aspects. that is entirely on me and my choices, my behavior.

so this reboot is needed, desperately. my attitude and approach needs to change from what it was, because that wasn’t working. i’m hoping that this, that acknowledging that i chose wrongly and repeatedly, will bring back the joy i’ve had and the joy i miss in writing with all the lovely people out here. i miss the energy and enthusiasm i would have here.

[writing-in-april]

Cinematic Coincidences

Spencer Reid x Gender Neutral Reader

(Spencer’s POV)- listen I just love his POV lol

Summary: Spencer can’t bring himself to go on another date that’s been set up for him- so he stands his date up. Spence seemingly can’t catch a break and runs into the date he stood up.

A/N: Hey heyyy- here’s my seventh fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April!! This one was requested by @andiebeaword (I added a reference for your love of hallmark movies in this hehe)- this is the original request- I tweaked the characters involved just a small bit lol I accidentally end up defaulting to using the people on the dream team lol- im going to start working in later characters in the show into some stuff in upcoming works (I’m also rewatching the later seasons so that’ll help get me inspired) Im always looking for feedback on my fics or really to talk about anything with my followers so feel free to drop into my inbox- here!! Thanks for reading- y’all have been so sweet 🥰 and hope y’all enjoy!!

Warnings: Insecure Spencer, Getting stood up for on a date, Morgan and Garcia (just the team in general) not really understanding Spencer fully, one tiny sexual innuendo- I think that’s it nothing too bad this time around

Main Masterlist Word Count: 2.4K

This was not what I wanted to be doing today. Garcia had once again inquired about my love life- along with Morgan of course, wanting to find out about all the juicy details. I didn’t know why they continued to ask when it was obvious that my love life was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I gave my normal response to these types of inquiries, brushing them off without sounding too hurtful. Unfortunately Garcia would not be satiated by my response, apparently she was now fed up with my dull love life and felt like she needed to be personally involved. Garcia was very near and dear to me, just like Morgan, but I couldn’t deny that this grated my nerves.

“We’ll make you a dating profile too! Maybe you’ll find someone cute to date- or maybe get some?!” Garcia was chipper as usual, with her eyebrows wiggling at her suggestion that I should have a one night stand. All that I felt from her words was dread.

The dangers of online dating swirled in my mind and I tried to protest, it came out more like a stammer though. Morgan then patted me on the back and piped up, giving his own opinion, “Yeah- I think it’ll be good for you, pretty boy.”

Again I wanted to protest, beginning to stammer out another reason why I didn’t think it was a good idea. I sighed heavily when I was cut off again, by Morgan and Garcia already planning on what pictures they were going to upload of me. At least I knew that they had my best interests at heart, they wanted me to be happy with someone- or get some like Garcia had mentioned earlier. Still, it didn’t change the fact that there was no way I’d ever want to go willingly on a date with someone I had met on the internet.

—-

My thoughts had not changed since Morgan and Garcia had set up the dating profile for me. There hadn’t been any person I had been on a date with that had successfully been able to keep me interested beyond a few conversations.

“No luck with the online dating?” Morgan had teased when I had walked in with my head held low. This endeavor was just making me realize how picky and undesirable I was. Why couldn’t I just find someone pretty and be happy with it?

Morgan’s face twisted from a smile into a frown when I didn’t answer him, making my way silently to my desk.

For the rest of the day the team tiptoed around me, sensing my sadness. There was part of me that was angry at them for thinking that I couldn’t handle a few bad dates. But, they were right. I couldn’t handle the sting of rejection or the disappointment of a date that didn’t live up to my expectations.

Emily always seemed to know how to cheer me up, so I did attempt some small conversation in the break room while we were both getting our coffee. She never gave me any pity like the others who just flashed me sad looks, unwilling to make any effort to help- or like Garcia and Morgan, they helped in the wrong way even if their intentions were pure.

Her solution to my problem did make my ears perk up a bit, “Hey- I saw that you’ve been down and that it’s been about the online dating Morgan and Garcia made you get into.” I nodded my head in confirmation then gesturing for her to continue while I poured copious amounts of sugar into my drink. Emily opted for mostly cream instead of sugar, stirring her coffee a little, then continuing her thought,”I wondered how you would feel about being set up on a blind date. It’s someone I know so maybe that would make you feel better about going on it? Instead of having to deal with technology that I know you despise.”

Emily had a way of seeing exactly how I was feeling and not just spitting out facts without solutions like the others. Her solution made me nervous of course, there would probably never be a date that I wouldn’t be nervous for. However, this option made me feel a little bit more hopeful about my prospects in the dating pool. It was someone that she knew and trusted enough to suggest them as a potential match for a coworker. Emily didn’t trust easy, I could trust her judgment on this despite my nerves.

I gulped down a large sip of my overly sweetened coffee, collecting my thoughts before then answering, “Alright- I’ll go.”

—

The date that I was supposed to go on was at a quaint cafe near work. Emily had even made the effort to make sure that I had been there before so I might be more comfortable.

At first I had been extremely excited for the date, even going so far as to pick out my outfit. I would have worn my purple button up, that was the one I got the most compliments in. Emily had told me some stuff that my date was interested in so I made sure to brush up on my knowledge by reading about the topics. I had even called back to the restaurant menu in my mind, preparing myself by picking out what I wanted beforehand. On one of my dates set up through the dating app I had stumbled on my choice for food, making the person unnecessarily snappy. I had to cover all my bases to minimize potential awkwardness on my part.

Self doubt began to creep in after I had gotten fully dressed. I had gotten ready way too early in anticipation for the date, now sitting on my couch tapping my foot impatiently. I looked at my watch that sat over my long sleeves watching the clock tick closer and closed to when I was supposed to leave.

Biting my lip in worry, my mind couldn’t help but wander over into my self doubts. I couldn’t help but ask myself why anyone would want to date someone as tall and lanky as me- or why would someone want to go on a date with someone that couldn’t keep their mouth shut about random topics that no one cared about.

My self doubt swallowed any confidence that I had begun to build up in preparation for the date. I knew Emily would be furious with me tomorrow when I went into work, I didn’t want her to find out through her friend though. Deciding to get it over with I pulled out the phone I never used and texted her, telling her that I wasn’t coming. I told her to give my regrets to my date, who at this point was probably waiting patiently for me at the cafe. Sighing in defeat I then retreated into my bedroom again, crawling under my covers.

——

Emily hadn’t been furious with me- well that was a lie, at first she had stomped up to me the next morning to chew me out. She became more disappointed than anything when she found out my reasonings. She hadn’t mentioned anything about how the person I was supposed to be going on the blind date with felt. Not that I really wanted to hear about it, it would only make me feel worse. All I got from her was a small remark mumbled under her breath, “Idiots- the both of you…”

For the next few weeks I tried in vain to push thoughts of my failed blind date out of my head. I had avoided going in the general direction of the cafe. Luckily I took the metro everyday to work otherwise I’d have to drive by it every day, and I already hated driving.

I was at the bookstore for used booksjust around the corner from the cafe that was supposed to hold my date a few weeks ago. This was the closest I dared to go near it in a while. Since then I hadn’t been able to go there anymore, even though I loved the coffee there. Immense guilt had wormed its way into my brain when I had tried to order something there a week ago. All I had done was stammer at the cashier before bolting out of there, just another addition on the list of embarrassing things that I’ve done in my life.

I was flipping through an old edition of pride and prejudice out of boredom, there hadn’t been anything interesting stocked on the shelves since I had last been here. Then a voice piped up through the air that had a bit of dust flying through it,

“Excuse me, sir- if you’re still looking at that book would you mind if I looked at the ones on the shelf behind you?”

It took me a second before I realized the person was talking to me. I then removed my eyes from the book to blink up at them a few times, then registering what they had said to me and moved out of the way.

Their eyes were still glued to mine, the bookshelf behind me that they had wanted to look at forgotten. An awkward chuckle was all we both could seem to manage as we looked each other up and down. Emily had shown me a picture on her phone of my date so I would have been able to spot them at the restaurant. My cheeks flushed hard once I realized who was standing before me. There was no doubt who this was, the date I had stood up the night before.

Silence then fell between us and not the pleasant kind, it was most definitely awkward. I couldn’t imagine how they must have been feeling after I hadn’t shown up last night. They probably had sat

“Um- hi…” They spoke hesitantly, wringing their fingers in trepidation. My jaw opened and closed a few times, trying to come up with anything to say.

“Hi!” Was all I could manage to squeak out, plus a small wave in their direction.

They wrung their fingers a few more times, seemingly trying to come up with a response. I was surprised they hadn’t hit me with one of the books near them out of anger. It would be a normal response to being stood up for a date, the trepidation and silence just served to unnerve me further. Eventually they spoke again, saving me from anymore awkward silence which in my opinion was worse than awkward conversation, “Um- sorry for um, standing you up uh- a few weeks ago.”

That made my eyes bug out of my head- they had done the exact same thing as I had? Insecurity soon swept in, trying to tell me exactly why they had not shown up without hearing their side of the story. I looked down at the book I was holding, reading a few words for a moment of reprieve. Taking a deep breath I asked quietly, not admitting to my own faults yet, “W-why did you um- not go? If you don’t mind me asking…”

A deep sigh was what I got at first, one that obviously had a lot of stress in it. They then did provide me with an explanation, despite their obvious embarrassment, Well- It had nothing to do with you- a simple explanation would be saying it was my insecurity’s fault.”

Not that I would ever want anyone to feel insecure, but I would admit that them saying that did make my own stress melt away. They had not gone for almost the exact same reasons that me. I decided to be upfront, giving them my own reasoning- though I wasn’t even sure they realized that I hadn’t gone as well. “I don’t know if Emily told you, but I um- stood you up as well. It wasn’t because of anything bad! It was really for the same reason as you.”

They then broke out into giggles after they had processed my words for a second, which were much more relaxed than the awkward ones from before. I didn’t blame them, it was a pretty funny coincidence that we’d both stand each other up only to run into each other not knowing what we had done.

“I feel like we’re in one of those cheesy Hallmark movies right now…” Their comparison only confused me, I had no clue what they were talking about.

“What’s a Hallmark movie?” More giggles came from them at my questioning, though for once I didn’t feel like I was being laughed at. I felt like they were laughing at the whole situation, not at me specifically like so many people had often done. Also, I couldn’t help but admit to myself that their giggle was very cute.

Once their giggles had subsided a little they asked me something that almost no one would ask the person that had stood them up, “Maybe I could tell you over a coffee? If you want to of course- Emily told me about how much sugar you like in it.”

My interest was peaked, making me further regret having stood them up in the first place. Though I tried to push that thought out of the way considering we had both done the same thing. It was time to let that go so I could go on a date with them finally. Seeing them in person and being able to glimpse part of their personality made me want to know more.

“Alright- sure.” I set down the book I had been passively reading, now completely disinterested in it. There was something far more interesting in front of me now compared to a classic book I had read over ten times.

We both walked around the corner, to the cafe that we had originally had our date scheduled at. Conversation flowed easily between us, showing me that Emily had been totally right to set us up initially. Her words now made sense to me, we were both a couple of idiots.

We then got our coffee, which had been much smoother of a transaction compared to the last time I had been here. I took note of how much sugar and cream they liked, just in case we were going to do this again. Sitting down at the closest booth I then asked, “So tell me about Hallmark movies?”

Ask Me Anything

—-

Tag lists (Message me if you want to be added):

All works: @shotarosleftpinky @oreogutz @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg @takeyourleap-of-faith 😡😡😡

All MGG characters: @muffin-cup @willowrose99

Spencer Reid/CM: @calm-and-doctor @destiny-tsukino @safertokiss @slutforthegubes @onlyhereforthefanfics @jareauswifey

[paradigmaticsims]

Rented Space’s Completely Classic and Strictly Business skirt suits with undershirts and stockings for AF

I only have boring bodyshop previews cause I’ve been a lot more inspired to make things for Sims atm than I am to go through the effort to actually play it or I’m worried I’ll completely lose myself to it again :/

I was a month or so ago years old when I realised that there was more to Rented Space’s 5th Avenue conversion set than is pictured in this post. How deprived my past self was. So then I realised that the Completely Classic Suit, and the Strictly Business Suit were within the ‘close enough’ range to work for my 1930’s game (Completely Classic’s skirt is too short but oh well). But like just about everything they needed stockings but also undershirts. I think Completely Classic’s jacket is too low not to have one for 30s daywear. And Strictly Business... it has a scarf. It just looks cold. So that’s what I have added to both the AF outfits and tops. And I offer them to you in case you wanted a bit more accurate looking mid-century-ish game or just any reason :)

The shirt texture I used for both is by Katsurin I can’t find where it is though, I think it might be a pre tumblr download. If anyone knows where it is that’d be great. EDIT: it’s here. There is a little bit of a range of colours on the tops for Completely Classic and not much on the outfits.

...

Completely Classic

A few little changes: I removed the brooches. I like the idea of them, but they were ugly in my opinion since they weren’t as realistic looking as the suit and therefore clashed. I also darkened the light blue suit a little bit (and maybe others? I can’t remember). And I added a pink recolour!

There is an issue with the mapping (I think?) or something and it was impossible for me to find how to cover the whole chest/neck area without leaving these little gaps. If anyone knows how to fix that you’re welcome to. It can’t really be seen unless it’s up close so it doesn’t bother me that much but it’s there.

The outfits are categorised as everyday and formal. The tops are just everyday. Meshes are included. Files are compressorized.

Swatches: Outfit, Tops, Download

...

Strictly Business

I decreased the saturation on a few of the scarves cause they were too bright for the otherwise muted colours imo. I darkened the light blue and light tan suits as well. Idk about you but ever since I got a new laptop my game makes the light colours really over exposed and I have to darken everything. I gave these more opaque stockings so it would look warmer. The texture for which I was sure was from a pencil skirt by Io but now I can’t find that either and I’m starting to question myself.

This also has weird mapping and while it didn’t have gaps the wonkiness of the collar is really weird and this is the best I could get. It doesn’t bother me that much because it’s mostly covered by the scarf, but it’s there.

Outfits categorised as everyday and outerwear. Tops are everyday. Meshes by Rented Space and Bunhead included.  Files are compressorized.

Swatch, Download

...

I do plan to copy-paste them for teens and elders but I’m not sure when that will be so if anyone else wants to do it that’s also fine by me.

Credit: Rented Space, Bunhead, Katsurin, Io (maybe other people?)

[stephspurs]

A Family Affair | Euro 2020 Football Fanfiction

Life is beautiful and life is cruel. A window into the souls of the victorious and the vanquished. In a way, football did come home during the summer of 2021. Follow along Amelia’s journey, navigating the football world as a tactical analyst for the italian football team, with a brother and father part of the three lions. Will Amelia leave Italy and come back to England? Will she leave the Serie A for the Prem? Will she set aside the bianconeri stripes for new colours, leaving behind friendship for love? Maybe she can have both...

Hello my lovelies!! Part 3 sees a whole lot Amelia's beautiful brain & you get your first slice of interaction with the british boys - leading up to an all important Mykonos adventure (part 4 - out friday). As usual, please let me know your thoughts and feelings, and let me know what you want to see happen with Amelia and her story! Updates have increased to 3/week! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!

Love always,

Steph xx

UPDATE as of 31/07: I've made some additional editing changes due to some feedback about the confusion between ben white (her brother) and ben chilwell (not her brother LOL). Nothing has been added to the story, just the addition of either surname has been added where i think it could be more straightforward - for future readers!

Part 3. | parte terza

warnings; none - just a whole lot of feels.

word count; 2081

writing tools; third person until dashed line, first person thereafter.

next update; Friday 30/07 5pm AEST. Updates are three times/week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday)!

Tags (as requested by users); @footballffbarbiex @obsesseds-world @abysshaven

link to fic masterlist here

It was the day after the final match and Amelia should be nursing a hangover due to the large amount of red wine she consumed with her Italian counterparts the night before. However, she finds herself at St. George’s Park before 9am, meeting one of her father’s colleagues who directs her to the recreation room that she remembers from a few days prior.

Standing outside the door, she assumed she was just waiting for her dad as agreed on the phone an hour earlier. As she was waiting, she could hear Gareth Southgate give a team talk to the players, praising them for their ability and pleading for them to bounce back from this defeat and use it to push on. The next voice she could hear was that of her father, giving them the tactical run through of the game. She listened to the points her father made, and both agreed and disagreed with some. Unexpectedly, the man sent to collect her opened the door and ushered her inside.

She stood at the back of the room, facing her dad and Gareth, whilst the team and other management staff had their backs to her. Making eye contact with her dad, he smiled slightly.

“Whilst I can offer you my opinion on the match last night, to better prepare you for the next time, there is no better opinion to learn from at this moment than that of your opponent. Amelia, would you please come up here” Dean really threw her into this situation, that again, she was not prepared for nor did she want to participate in. However, the 30+ sets of eyes that had currently turned around to stare at her didn’t exactly inspire a choice to be made here.

_____________________________________________________________

“Lads, this is my daughter. I taught her everything she knows, which was probably too much considering I can now recognise that it was her signature plays that the italian side used to their advantage last night. Treat her with respect, or I will let her at you. Which i’m sure you all saw a few nights ago in this very room” My dad spoke as I walked up to the front area, weaving in and around beanbags with players occupying them.

Standing in front of the Three Lions was more nerve wracking now than it had been when she was confronting her brother, maybe Fede did offer her protection as his bodyguard. Either way, she put her big girl pants on (figuratively speaking, literally she was wearing her official puma tights and Italian polo) and got on with it as if she was speaking to her team.

“Thanks Dad. Hey guys, I think the first thing I would like to say is that you’re allowed to feel exactly how you feel right now. There is no rush to ‘get over it’ or ‘push on and learn’. You need to feel this now, feel it throughout your body, understand the pain and then turn it into motivation.” I speak to the group, trying to accurately express how sincere I am to this group of heartbroken men.

“As for tactics, I can stand here and praise you for how good you really are but that's not how you are going to learn. You came into the game hard and fast.” I paused, understanding the innuendo just as it was flying out of my mouth. I pursed my lips and tried to hold my giggle in, however some of the boys seem to have the same sense of humour as I do. My brother, face of steel and eyes that burn into any man that tries to joke with me.

“Sorry, can’t help myself. So yeah, you took charge of the game from kick off and we were not ready. You had the aggression and desire to push from the start and that's what you did, Shaw, you really surprised me with that goal. Not because I didn't think you could do it but because I wasn’t anticipating you being someone we had to watch so closely.”

“Again, something you guys need to keep in mind is that it is literally my job to know everything about you and how you play the game, what foot you prefer, who you pass to, how long you hold the ball before you pass, do you like to assist or score...all of these things make a massive difference in each play we make.”

“The error you made came around the 25th minute of the game, we had settled into the game and did what we do best - we slowed you down. In Italy, in the Serie A, which is where most of my team play, the game is a lot slower. There is more skill and tactic used to ensure a favourable outcome. Again, i'm not saying you all don’t have skill, but the Prem favours pace over tactics and strategy. The only way we were going to be able to win was by making you play our game, but in your half of the pitch.”

At this point, all of their eyes are trained to me and the more senior players of the team, like Henderson, Walker, Coady, Kane, they understand what i’m trying to say. Gareth, my dad and other members of staff are sitting to one side, arms folded and a slight smile on their face at the simplicity of my approach to such an important game. I direct my next question to them.

“Can I ask - have you already selected your man of the match?”

“Off record, yes we have. Before I announce to the team who it is, can I direct the question back to you and find out who you would award it to?” Gareth poses back to me, interested to hear my opinion.

“While the obvious choices would be Kane, Sterling, Maguire - your players who perform week in week out and are consistent and no doubt deserve an award as such. I would recommend Declan Rice. Personally, he was the most instrumental in the match last night. Every time we turned to attack, he was there to stop it. He was a player I was confident that I knew the extent of his ability, when it was obvious that I didn't.”

The boys around him, Mason Mount & Ben Chilwell, offered him a gentle shove and ruffle of the hair, to show their encouragement to the bashful boy who seemed surprised at the praise he was receiving.

“The other player that I think deserves a bit of a shoutout, and not because of his hair, is Jack Grealish.” I spoke, looking around the room until we locked eyes. I wanted him to understand how serious i was about my next words.

“You are so dangerous on the ball, you are an asset as a team mate, you aren’t guilty with the ball, but you have the power behind you to score when the opportunity presents itself. The moment you were subbed on I pulled Jorginho to the side and told him to treat you like Chiellini and Bonnucci were handling Sterling and Kane. You were one of my players to watch, and for good reason”

At the end of the little session, I said thanks to the boys for listening and that I hope to see them again in a tournament. The only way to be the best is to beat the best. After a quick round of applause that made me feel more special than I am, I walked past my brother, gave him a quick ruffle of his hair and met my dad at the back. Gareth dismissed the boys and they all stood up, breaking away and grabbing some breakfast that was set up to the side of the room, for one last team meal.

“Mills!! I’ll get you an almond croissant and a coffee, come sit with me!” Walker shouted from across the room.

“Oi mate, she’s my sister not yours” Ben counters from the back of the line.

“Yeah she's your sister by blood, mine by choice.” Kyle firmly states and begins his way to one of the tables.

“I suppose i better join Kyle before he drowns everyone in his tears” i joked with the england officials i was standing with before walking over to Kyle and a few of his team mates.

“Sooo am I supposed to pretend I don’t know who you all are so you can introduce yourselves? Or do we just mutually agree that I know too much about each of you and not bring it up?” I question the boys, jokingly. They all laugh and I sit down in the space Kyle left between himself and John Stones. I sat there and got to know some of the boys on a less competitive level, working out who was a leader both on the pitch and off it. After listening to the boys joke around and just be mates, rather than teammates, I leaned over to Kyle.

“Hey, before I go, do you think you can introduce me to Bukayo? I want to speak with him for a moment.”

“Yeah sure, I'll take you over there. Why are you nervous? You've never been shy before” Kyle questioned back at me.

“I’m not nervous, I'm just hyper aware of the sensitivity of the moment. Last night would have been tough”

Saying goodbye to the boys, Kyle directed me over to a table that was sitting my brother Ben White, Kalvin, Ben Chilwell, Grealish, Saka, Sancho & Rashford.

“Hey boys, Ben, I just wanted to come say goodbye before I head off.” I directed towards my brother. He pulled up a chair and asked me to sit for 5 more minutes, claiming he deserved it after months of no contact.

“Ben here didn’t let us know he had a sister as smart as you...what happened to you Ben? Did you miss that gene?” Jack Grealish poked at my brother. With his signature scowl on his face, Ben White let his mates laugh at his expense.

“Oh don’t make fun of my brother Benny, that’s my job!” I joked back, setting the boys off again with my brother’s childhood nickname. It was nice to hear some laughter again from a side that looked so solemn the night before.

“No in all seriousness boys, I especially came over because I wanted to talk to you Bukayo - what you did was so impressive. In a final, as the last penalty taker, to take on the responsibility of the nation at the age of 19! Not many players would dare to do that. You have earned a lot of respect, particularly from the Italian camp.” I spoke with a smile on my face, directed at the young boy.

“The same goes for you two” Now looking at Sancho & Rashford.

Bukayo looked down at his hands & smiled, before getting up and walking to my side of the table. Anticipating what he was going to do next, I stood up and welcomed him with open arms. Grateful that he understood my message and was beginning to accept the praise he so deserved. Stepping back from the hug, I turned to address the group of lads one more time.

“If any of you fancy a change of pace and want to come over to the Serie A, just give me a call - Benny can give you my number!” I start to speak, before I'm cut off but my brother.

“Stop poaching my mates! I’ve already lost you to another country. I don't need to lose anyone else” He jokingly says while standing to walk me out of St. George’s Park. I know it was a joke but I can't help but think there was some truth to that.

It had been more than 3 years since I moved out of our family home to start my life in Turin, and not one moment had i regretted it or thought i made the wrong decision. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I wished I was closer to my family, but I know I had to make that move to prove to myself I am just as successful as I hoped I would be. Not saying I have learnt everything there is to learn with the Serie A giants, Juventus, but maybe it's time for a new challenge? Maybe I can bring the strategic spin on the game to the fast paced action of the premier league?

Part 4. | quarta parte

[saved-for-me-own-stories]

OC-Tober! Days 6-9: Application, Recognition, Kids, Elevator

So I may be pretty bad at keeping up with things. But I do have more of the snippets! And they're a little more diverse (meaning they're from multiple different projects) this time.

Also, with my main project (which by the way is called "The Prometheus Curse"), in order to get a draft finished by Christmas, I've given myself permission to write the stupid version and not bother about editing or making it good. Just so I can get it all down on the page in time. So watch out for poor writing there.

Now, on to the snippets!

Day 6: Application (Day 30: The Good End)

[For context, I was working on one of the last few days of another challenge, which I mostly finished. It's called "AU-gust", and I posted that on one of my other blogs. Yes I'm painfully slow]

Now, with these AUs, timelines can be pretty subjective. Some might say that an event happened, some might say it never did. Some might put the happenings in some vague whenever, some might place it in and around specific points in the story, it might not even matter to others! Some might bring in characters from all over, like I seem to have been doing, and some might just stick with characters who would logically be here at this time. It can be anything.

So with Baron, it could really be a lot of things.

It could be in this vague, indeterminate time, where everybody is there and are happy together, and the plot of the book doesn’t have any application to what’s going on.

Or, it could simply be the timeline of the book, and the characters who would be there are the ones who are there, but things are changed.

Day 7: Recognition (The Prometheus Curse)

It was then that the door opened, and a head popped out once more. “Melisande, d’you think—” The face on the head was flooded suddenly with joyful recognition. “Baron! There you are! And you’ve brought the rest of our guests—that’s perfect! I’ve a surprise for them.” He began to retreat back through the door, then looked back out. “Oh! Hullo, Travers, good man!” And in he popped yet again.

Day 8: Kids (Players)

[This is a more vague project in my mind, and "Players" is more of a working title. But it caught my attention. There may be more from this one later on.]

The little girl burst out giggling, and her parents laughed aloud.

The woman, still catching her breath back, offered Lenny a hand up. This he took. As she was helping him get steady on his feet, her husband and child chattering together, she whispered, “Thank you, Lenny. I think it’s very sweet what you do with these kids to brighten up their day.”

He may have swelled a little at the words, but he only smiled and bowed his head.

Day 9: Elevator (The Prometheus Curse)

(The third speaker is Ruth, by the way. Very sweet little eight-year-old. And Travers is a ghost.)

Travers nodded, but his head was tilted, trying to catch her eye. It was no surprise to Melisande that she soon heard a soft whisper in her mind—is everything all right?

Her mouth shifted ruefully. “Is it ever?” came her whisper in return. As his expression deepened to concern, she added, “Yes, things are fine. I’m only worried about—”

“Ooooh, does the little food elevator come up to this room?”

She almost smiled. That was the same way the last child who came here described the dumbwaiter, in the very same words. “The little ones,” she finished.

That's all I got so far. I will get to Pie, because Pie is good, I need to make Pie. Hopefully more soon!

@carsgeek24

[dilexit]

To be Young and Dumb ~ Karl Jacobs Edition

Summary: In which (Y/N) and Karl forget their 22 for a minute

Pairing and Pronouns: CC!Karl x GN!Reader (preestablished relationship). Reader is mentioned to have a brother but that could be changed to sister or friend easily

Each edition to this series has a different plot just under the same name and same idea of safe spontaneous things

Hey so I’ve been a little bit MIA but so I’ve been having a wave of depression especially due to the school year ending and my fear of change and stuff like that so I’ll be writing a few imagines titled To be Young and Dumb just about doing so safe spontaneous things that I do during these episodes so I hope y’all enjoy and know that if you are struggling rn you are not alone in this and we believe in you

Warnings: Cars, Depression (not mentioned but implied), Self Doubt, Talk of growing up, Angst to Fluff, probably swearing, Not proof read

Requested: Yes No

(Y/N) had a love hate relationship with adulthood. They loved the freedom it gave them, but also missed the ability to just be childish. (Y/N) had just got back from visiting the house they grew up in, and couldn't help the feeling of sadness grow in their stomach. Walking around and looking at all old memories and photos made them think back to all the things they could have been. These episodes of self doubt have happened before, and they always hurt. The easiest way to get rid of it was to distract themselves, but their favorite distraction was in the other room streaming. (Y/N) turned on the TV and wrapped up into their favorite blanket watching nostalgic movies to feel like a child again, waiting for their boyfriend to end stream and spend time with them. For (Y/N) nostalgia would present itself in less of a joyful way and more of a longing for it to be the present again way. Giving in to it always feels great in the short-lived moments, but (Y/N) just longed for Karl to help them take the pain away. As if the universe could hear their thoughts, the sound of Karl's door opening followed by footstep could be heard from above. When Karl made it down stairs, he immediately noticed the way (Y/N) was laying on the couch surrounded by their blankets and stuffed animals, and the land before time on the TV.

"Hey baby," he said sitting down on the end on couch near (Y/N)'s feet. "Are you ok?". Karl knew they weren't, and that and just sitting here would be much help. As Karl suspected (Y/N) shook their head no and leaned in to bury their face into Karl's shoulder. Karl look over their head to see the sun was still up and shining, thinking (Y/N) could benefit from the fresh air.

"Why don't we go for a walk, it's warm out," Karl offered, to which (Y/N) let out a groan, but got up anyway.

"Fine, but let me change first," they said stretching a little bit. They went upstairs finding their clothes and deciding on some black shorts and their favorite shirt to wear in the 77 degree heat. Walk back down the stairs, they saw no sign of Karl, but the front door open a little bit. Heading out the door into his driveway, they turned to see Karl standing in the open garage. (Y/N) started walking towards him, but as they got closer, they noticed something behind him. Walking past Karl much to his dismay (Y/N) landed at the green box on the shelf.

"Do we have to walk?" (Y/N) asked, pointing at the container of chalk.

"Oh, I guess we don't," Karl responded, and (Y/N) felt a wave of happiness rush over them.

"Can we use?" (Y/N) asked, still pointing towards the large container of sidewalk chalk.

"Yeah Jimmy used it for a video and left it with me I never thought I ever get rid of it." He said walking with his SO and taking a seat on the driveway. (Y/N) reached for the red chalk and started drawing. Karl watched over their shoulder ad they started drawing a rose. Karl went a grabbed a purple piece of chalk and started absent-mindedly drawing. When (Y/N) had quickly grown bored with their rose and turned to Karl. He didn't really know what he was doing, and it showed. (Y/N) let out a giggle and scooted closer to him.

"Whatcu drawing?" (Y/N) asked catching Karl off guard.

"Oh! I don't really know, to be honest." He said and (Y/N) leaned over and drew a big red heart in the middle of Karl's doodles. Karl looked up at them and giggled, leaning in to give them a quick peck. A small breeze rustled the leafs of nearby trees a blew around loose chalk particles. The couple went back to drawing together mainly hearts and smiley faces as they made some conversation.

"You know my brother and I would make obstacle courses around our drive way on days like these," (Y/N) laughed.

"Corry, Sean and I were much more boring we would just go on like bike rides together if we even wanted to spend time with each other." Karl retorted.

"Yeah (Y/B/N) and I really didn't hang out much, but sometimes we would have fun. It was mainly competitions and stuff like that. But every now and then we would just sit aa draw a bunch of random stuff," (Y/N) felt much better while they passed stories back and forth.

"My mom wouldn't let us have chalk because we were too messy with it." Karl joked back looking down at his chalk covered hands. (Y/N) also took not of the chalk covering their hands and quickly rubbed their hand in to a red heart.

"You know what our favorite thing to do with chalk was?" (Y/N) questioned

"No what was it," Karl asked leaning forward a bit.

"This," (Y/N) giggled lightly hitting Karl's chest leaving a red handprint on his shirt. Karl opened his mouth in slight defense while giggling at the gesture reaching out and leaving a green mark on (Y/N)'s shorts. Karl then reached for a few more hearts covering his hands, while (Y/N) grabbed a stray piece of chalk and running away. Karl quickly noticed their absents and chased after them. He caught up to them quickly and grabbed their waist pulling them close. His hands left blue marks on their waist, and their hands were covered in the green chalk they had picked up before. (Y/N) wriggled into Karl's arms, facing him again, taking their chalk covered fingers and running them on his face. After (Y/N), brought theirs onto Karl's arms, that were still on their waist. Karl looked at their face and brought his hands up to their cheek pulling them in. The minute their lips touch and chill went down (Y/N)'s spine, the bits of wonder they had shared in the hour of messing around was all (Y/N) needed to remember why they loved who they are now. As the kiss kept on going (Y/N), was sure both parties were covered in chalk. They didn't know how long it would take for them to pull apart. Instead of stopping by choice, they were pulled apart by a car horn and Chris yelling from the car window.

"We've been waiting for you two for 30 minutes. Now I see you were busy, but go change and hurry up."

"Crap! Let's go," Karl said pulling (Y/N)'s arm, leading them back instead to get ready for the video they forgot about.

[bucksblr]

#showyourprocess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you so much for tagging me @lan-xichens​, I’ll try my best to explain how I made this set from start to finish hehe ♡ and also a big thank you to @suibianjie​ @highwarlockkareena​ @nyx4​ @aheartfullofjolllly​ and you as well Kris for putting this all together! Content creators get a lot less recognition than they deserve for all the time they put into their content, so getting everyone to see the (sometimes excessive) process we all go through to put our content in our blog, I hope it creates a positive change!! 💖

1. Planning

The set in question was actually requested by someone so they could celebrate their friend’s birthday! At first I wasn’t entirely sure if I was going to be able to finish it on time (college is very hectic right now) but I was able to finish it three days before the deadline which was may 1st! ^-^

The first thing I did was decide what characters I wanted to use in the set, I first reached out to the person who requested the set if there were certain characters they wanted me to use but they said they didn’t know enough to really give me any directives outside of the quote. I decided, since the quote is applicable to the entirety of the show, that I would try to put in as many characters as possible.

Thus, of course, came the hunting for scenes. Those of you in the net discord surely know I came into the content help channel a few times to ask for certain scenes here and there, and eventually I had to download an additional 10 episodes to the back then 20 or so episodes I had in my CQL episodes folder.

As you can see I have 30 random episodes of CQL downloaded (slowly but surely getting to the point where I have all 50 episodes downloaded) and I think I ended up using scenes out of at least 20 of those episodes.

I planned out beforehand what characters I would use per gif. I knew obviously I would start out with Wangxian, them being the main characters of the show, and then would work my way down the list. The second gif consists of Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning. They’re all family pairings, two being siblings and one being a married couple. The next gifset consists of the Yi City characters, then the fourth gif consists of the juniors, and the final gif has Jin Guangyao, Mianmian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Xichen in it.

I have to admit though that when I had made the first four gifs I’d forgotten who I would put in the last gif and the when I thought about it the first time around I could only think of Lan Qiren and the very cursed Yaoyang ship 😭 it was only at dinner time that same day that I remembered I hadn’t put Jiang Cheng in my gifset yet and that’s when I thought of the other characters as well.

I had already made my first two gifs when I went to check Hanyi’s blog for layout inspo and eventually I decided I wanted to try a triangle-ish layout, which I doodled below. I eventually ended up changing the layout of the last gif in the final design. It was also the first time I would work with a triangle-ish layout so I was a bit nervous as I was scared it wasn’t going to work out...

2. Creating

I use Avisynth 2.5 and Adobe Photoshop 2021 (the paid version, unfortunately, I need it for school except I didn’t need it this year but I wanted it so I paid for it with my own money ouch) to make my gifsets! I always start out with trimming down all the scenes I’m going to use into three to five second videos and putting them through Avisynth. This time around I did it separately for each gif I made, simply because I needed so many scenes. I would include a screenshot of my “gif vids” and “temp” folders but I’ve already deleted all the videos, which is what I usually do immediately after a set is posted.

I’ll try my best explaining this gif by gif since each one had a different layout!

2.1 Wangxian

I think I had up to five different designs of this gif 😭 it started out with the gif on the left originally being more centered and the quote right smack in the center but somehow it felt a bit too... empty? I changed up the design and pulled the gif over to the right and put the two closeups on the left, the exact opposite of the gif I eventually ended up with. I switched things around one more time and saved the gif as you can see it right now, except I didn’t include the lines yet. It was only as I finished up my fourth gif that I decided this gif needed lines as well so I added them ^-^

2.2 Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning

I got the inspiration for the font layout on this gif from this Wenzhou post! I hadn’t tried it before and when I did for this gif I was very happy with the way it turned out :D I wanted to portray that life is a pile of good and bad things, as the quote says, in CQL by mirroring these happy scenes side by side with the sad scenes

2.3 Yi CIty

My first time working with the triangle layout!! Putting in the lines and making sure they would line up with the second gif took me the longest of all actually  😭 I think once I got the line on the left in I just copy pasted it and flipped it horizontally so I didn’t have to fiddle around with angling it anymore :’) my original idea was to get a happy Song Lan scene and a sad A-Qing scene, but when I stumbled upon this A-Qing scene in ep38 I just had to put it in there because her smile is so precious 🥺 Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen in the center are also supposed to be mirrored, with Xue Yang embodying the “bad things” and Xiao Xingchen the “good things” ! I also think the Yi City characters fit this part of the quote very well!!

2.4 The Juniors

Ah yes, the junior quartet!! :D I had this planned out from the very beginning, that I would include happy versus sad juniors in the “vice versa” part of the quote, and I think it worked out quite well! My first idea was to put the “vice versa” completely in the special font and have it typed out over the gifs like I did with the “vice” but as I typed out the “versa” I realized it had one letter too much to be able to do that 😭😭 it took me a while to come up with how I would position the “but” and “versa” and after some moving around I decided to just place them the way I did in the final gif! For the font, I duplicated the “vice” and added a stroke to the duplicate, then I changed the fill setting to 0% so I could slightly drag the duplicate away from the original layer to create the effect that’s in the gif — also, finding a scene in which Jin Ling smiles is really difficult.... he barely even smiles in the scene I ended up using :(

2.5 Jin Guangyao, Mianmian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Xichen

The final gif!! I feel like this might come a little across as “I promise I didn’t forget these characters” because they’re a very odd quadruplet to put together, but they were the most important characters left to put in the set! I was thinking of putting Nie Mingjue in here together with Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, but I did feel he fit more with his brother up in the second gif. Mei @mylastbraincql​ cheered me on making this gif for which I was very grateful :D <3 the layout came to be after I googled “how to evenly split a rectangle in four” because I didn’t want a repeat layout in the set  (*/∇＼*)

2.6 Coloring

For the coloring I pretty much did all of the tweaking on the first gif and then copy pasted all of it onto the second, third, fourth, and fifth gif. This is usually the way I go about my coloring, I will always edit certain gifs if necessary but I don’t think I had to change the coloring much on any of these gifs? Maybe I added in a curve layer here and there, but nothing major! This is really one of my preferred coloring styles, even though I try to step outside of my comfort zones with other sets ^-^

3. Posting

I will always upload sets into my drafts and edit the caption in there as well, clicking on “preview post” a couple times to check everything looks good on my blog as well, before I post a set. However, this time, since there was a deadline and I finished before the deadline, I put this set in the queue so it would automatically post on the 1st of may! Knowing myself, I would’ve forgotten to do so </3

Whew that was... a lot 😭 did it make any sense? Probably not, but it was fun to ramble （ ´∀｀）

I’ll tag

@blinkplnk​ with this set !

@wuxien​ with this set !

@wendashanren​ with this set !

@wanyinxichen​ with this set !

@yibobibo​ with this set !

@mylastbraincql​ with this set !

@sugarbabywenkexing​ with this set !

@yiling-recesses​ with this set !

@jiancheng​ with this set !

Please feel totally free to ignore this if you’ve already been tagged and don’t want to do it again!! <3