#edit: changed some of the wording because I wrote this at 2 am and it needed editing

[drill-teeth-art]

Wow! Here’s something incredibly personal.

This is Good Bi Gender. A comic I made to express some feelings I have about my gender. I don’t really have that much else to say about it. Here it is.

[Image Description: A digital comic made with sharp, angular abstract lines and only the colors white, blue, pink, and black. The featured character is all white, except for facial features and hair colors, which changes from panel to panel. The comic reads: Cover Panel: The text "Good Bi Gender", the words colored with the trans flag. It shows a glitchy person's face, half pink and half blue. Panel 1: White text reads: "Hello. My name is apparently irrelevant. And my pronouns are he/him and she/her. But you can't call me she/her. And here's why." Someone with a half-pink and half-blue shirt looks to the side. One eye is covered with hair, and the other eye is pink while the iris is blue.

Panel 2: The character sits happily, imagining facial hair and a masculine voice. "I don't want top surgery. I love my chest. And I dream about being on testosterone someday soon." The character looks at a phone, frowning. The phone shows the male symbol with an "X" through it. Text next to it reads: “People don't seem to think that the features I dream of are very pretty though... Or they think even worse of them than that…”

Panel 3: The character’s features are all pink, and sits in a blank frame. The character reaches over to a blue frame, frowning. “I don't like the animosity. I really despise it.” A photo of the character shows an all-blue frame and blue hair, with pink outlines and facial features. “To be a boy... I aspire to be one. I aspire to be masculine in all its handsomeness. All its prettiness.” Panel 4: The character sits in an all blue panel, but reaches back out to the pink panel. “And I'm still a girl too. I was so excited to have both. To love both. To have handsome femininity. Beautiful masculinity.” The frames break and connect, and pink and blue swirl together. The character smiles in between the frames, with one pink eye and one blue eye. “So excited. And yet I get asked…”

Panel 5: Two hands hold out two different pills to the character, one blue and one pink. They ask “Male? or Female?” using the male and female symbols.The character, facial features an array of pink and blue, looks between the two hands, distressed. “It's both! I'm both! They're not opposites. Not narrow boxes. I say I'm both despite the insistence that I can't be. And I know what I look like. I know I look like a girl to most. I know that if I say people can call me she, that's all I will get from most. Because it's "easier". It "makes more sense". To have my masculinity, I am often forced to be unflinching in it and it alone. To never use she. Because if I don't, I will never get to have he.” [The words "she" and "he" are italicized.] Panel 6: Text reads: “I'm still very happy to be so comfortable in my identity. To know, despite all that, that I am indeed a boy and a girl and both. But you know. Telling people to only use he/him for me. Guarding my masculinity all just to have it. All at the expense of the part of me who is happily and unashamedly a girl.” The character cries from one pink eye, the other hidden. The character holds a pink girl in a sea of blue, the girl crying out. In the midst of the blue, text reads: “Well, it fucking breaks her heart.” End ID]

Edit: @starberry-skies wrote an ID for the comic, so I added it to the og post with its permission!

[wolfcracker]

OK so I don't know if anyone has pointed this out already but

This is how the screen looks like for the most part of the show:

It's not at the aspect ratio of 16:9 so there's this black bar on top and below throughout most of the show (when the coven is not stuck in a trial and on The Road)

BUT the show would shift into "fullscreen mode" closer to 16:9 (without the black bars) in these scenes:

ONLY when the coven is going through their trials in the houses

The weird thing about today's ep is that during the trial the aspect ratio did not change at all (you can still see the black bars!):

so my theory is that MAYBE today's ep was never a trial but could be a trap, an illusion set up by the Salem Seven? Especially since the witches have crashed into the creepy bug lady which could explain why they got captured into Salem Seven's trap

TLDR: the aspect ratio in today's ep could be hinting that our dysfunctional coven might still be on The Road, trapped by Salem Seven, but not inside a trial

AND most importantly if this is all Salem Seven's doing, then maybe Alice is indeed still alive!! I am not delulu I swear!!!

Edit: and yes this could also explain why everyone is acting so weird in this ep because it could be agatha's illusion and she's reenacting her trauma of being abandoned & betrayed by her original coven with these new people she met (except for Rio of course because they're wives)

Edit 2: fixed some wordings because apparently when I wrote this I wasn't in the right mind and forgot the phrase "aspect ratio" exist💀 thank you reblog tags

[thenightling]

I am very disappointed in the people praising the censoring / editing of Roald Dahl's books.   Let me tell you a little story.   About five years ago I decided to re-visit Treasure Island.  I found an unabridged version.   I was surprised to discover that Long John Silver had a black lover.   Because the book used the term "n--ress" the mention of her was removed from many American editions of the book when I grew up.

Note: I am not saying they removed the N word.  I am saying they removed her *all together.* I didn't know Long John Silver had a love interest until I was in my thirties and read an unabridged version of the novel. It revealed so much about the story that I hadn't noticed before. 1.  That Long John Silver believed in love despite what was considered a cultural norm of the time.  He didn't care about what others considered proper and he was in love. 2.   It shows that even Robert Louis Stevenson acknowledged the existence of interracial couples and yet no movie version I can think of addressed this until the TV series Black Sails. 3. It helped remind me of the culture of the era in which Treasure Island takes place and when it was written, the stigma against interracial relationships that existed in America right into the twentieth century and in some places is still a thing. Sometimes books tell us more than just a story.   They show us how a world was once viewed.   I felt like this was an important discovery, that Long John Silver had a black lover (or wife).   And I was even a little angry that I had been robbed of this in previous readings of the book.   I think the removal of words like "Fat" and "ugly" from Roald Dahl's books does us a disservice.   It "cleans up" the past and denies a chance for us to learn some of the less pleasant aspects of the past and how and why language has changed since then.    What should be a teaching point and experience is lost in the name of sensitivity.   I felt cheated and it even felt a little racist that Long John Silver's love interest isn't mentioned in many editions of Treasure Island.  And I feel that one day there may be similar feelings if people discover they aren't reading the original versions of Dahl's books. Try to remember the original reason Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit  451.  It wasn't about an evil government taking away people's blooks. It was about this group and that group getting offended at various titles until they just banned everything to try to make everyone happy.    

[tranceinnumerabletabs]

When Jonny Comes Back pt.2

A/N: Thank you all so much for your likes!!! WOO 100 notes in like 2 days?! I'm so honored!! =D

I know this one is short but that's because of the change in tone of part three. Which will be made soon after this is posted

Edit: I added more to the story

Click me! I'm part one!

Ugh!

You checked the mail again

Nothing!

Why nothing? Was it the contents? Was it the postage?

You’re upset at this, more than you’d like to be. You sigh and growl. Fine! you’ll go home, write another stupid letter to that stupid handsome bastard. You stomp home and sit at your desk. You pull out a piece of paper, upset, antsy and confused.

Why hasn’t Johnny written back?

Should you write him another or ask him about it when Johnny comes back?

You sigh, you miss him.

When will your precious Scotsman come home? You’re really looking forward to watch some movies with him!

Sigh….maybe the package was cancelled after they caught the scotch. Yeah…yeah that makes sense. It’s not his fault. No he’s just sitting there awaiting a word from you!

You pull out a piece of paper and start writing to him again, this time your tone is a bit softer, asking him how are things, how is he? Is he okay?

You finish it up and make it a proper letter.

And for added bonus, you send a picture of the cat Simon and yourself in his clothes on the couch you two watch movies on, with the words “Simon can’t wait for you to come back :)” written on the back.

And….well…you’re not wearing any lipstick but….for good luck, you kiss the picture. You feel stupid now but you have a feeling you’ll be a lot more okay with it when Johnny comes back.

-----

A letter came in! No hold on. Two letters came in! Good! Serves him right to write two letters after you wrote two. You hurry to your living room and eagerly read it.

Reading the letter was worse than waiting for it somehow. You rolled your eyes at his words till they were sore, it sounded just like him with all the flourishing to match, the handwriting shows he’s someone forced to be neat and legible but it paradoxes his doodles. He even drew little hearts.

You chuckle, forgetting he’s even in the military. No way the same people that wake up at 5 AM to exercise to defeat regimes contain the guy who just told you the shampoo was shit and made his base think he smuggled alcohol -_-

But you can believe it’s the same people who contain the guy who asked you to send your underwear next time -_- Being surrounded by men probably just does that to you.

But…strangely enough…the letter just…..cuts off? Like it doesn’t seem like he finished writing it? The letter wasn’t even full and he never signed off as “Your brave babygirl, Johnny” Maybe the second letter explains it? You look down at it and it’s addressed to you but……that’s…that’s not Johnny’s handwriting? The pen seems to dig in the page a lot more and without a heart doodle in sight. You open it and….it’s not written by Johnny. It’s by his Lieutenant.

“This is Sergeant Soap’s Lieutenant talking about the situation on his behalf”

Oh shit. Are you in trouble? Is Johnny in trouble? You frantically read it.

Hey at least it starts off well with “I know who you are."

Good? You mean no harm.

"You must be the barnacle that he can’t shake off right?”

Nvm it starts off awful.

“And also the cat’s mom, he showed us the picture of his so called son.”

Oh god Johnny is talking about you. Was it seriously not enough to embarrass you in front of your friends?! Now he’s gotta tell the world that, what? Your the president of his fan club? If his ego gets any bigger it’ll be nicknamed Tsar Johnny or Soap-o-Nova.

“Sergeant Soap didn’t continue his letter so I’m sending the draft.”

Why couldn’t he finish it?

“This isn’t an official statement but he’d want me to tell you” …..this…doesn’t look good

“Unfortunately-“

oh oh

Don't Click me! I'm part 3!

[wingzie]

Speaking to the media as a UK Army

Earlier in the week I mentioned in a local group chat that the UK’s attitude towards BTS and KPOP overall had changed. It felt like everyone was excited during Dynamite and then interest was quickly lost. Things got worse after the Festa Dinner. Because of previous experiences with a certain boy group, it was reported that the members would never return. These stories were soon edited, but it was obvious that there was a certain bias against the members now. The previous hype posts for them and their new releases were less present. Instead, we have gone back to having to do everything ourselves during chapter 2. 

As I am sure many of you are aware, it has already been a tough week for UK Army. We found out that MUSE had inclusions, making it harder to chart. We got backlash from solos for something that wasn’t our fault and the emails we sent were ignored or received weird responses. We are a resilient bunch though and we continued to promote and gain more funds. I figured that things for us couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong. On Sunday I was sent an article from the BBC by a friend. They asked my thoughts on it and I quickly understood why. Something else worried me though. I recognized the journalist. He is someone that we have history with. He kindly wrote about Persona and Wembley in 2019, but he also sneaked in a line that he thought that the members were miming through the concert. At the time, a few Army tried talking to him about it on Twitter and he was receptive to the feedback. I decided to try and do the same and to do it privately in the DM’s. Something which he told me himself that he appreciated. I spent a good amount of time drafting my message. I made sure that it was polite, but also included the reasons why a certain part of the article was troublesome. During this, a friend of mine also made a detailed thread correcting the misinformation. Once the message was sent, I went on with my day and waited to see if I would get a reply. Much to my surprise, I did indeed get a reply. I don’t have consent to share our messages, but we replied back and forth a few times and he said that he would look into changing the wording. I quoted my friend's thread, explaining that I messaged him privately and that he was working on it. As someone who posts about Jikook on a regular basis, you could say that I am used to getting unnecessary abuse. However, I was not fully prepared for the response to this. As more hours passed and there weren't any changes made, the more anger and hate I received. This greatly confused me, as I wasn’t the one who wrote the article itself. I just wanted to try and help and we had to be patient. 

A day later the edit was made. I messaged the journalist again to thank him and he responded back, explaining that the reason it took so long was because there was a debate internally about the best way to respond. I then shared on TL about the edit being made. It wasn’t the best edit, but that’s all we got. Unfortunately, the hate towards myself increased even more. Some said that the article was my fault, that I failed BTS or that I was an anti. Plus a few words that I daren’t repeat here. Some saw what was happening to me and sent kind support. These included people who I have never interacted with before and I will be forever thankful for that. I also spoke with some about the response of the general public towards the article. The article was heavily advertised so there were discussions in relation to Seventeen going to Glastonbury. This hasn’t been done before so some were curious and some were confused. It was interesting to see the reaction to it, even if it was poorly written. I was personally exhausted though.

This whole ordeal started on Sunday and I woke up on Tuesday still feeling a bit wary of receiving more hate. On top of this, I had gained around 300 more followers from all of this and didn’t know how they would react once I started posting Jikook. If I’m honest, I felt a bit uncomfortable with everything going on. What did shock me though, is that some of these new followers were going through my “pinned” post and liking the threads on Jikook. It made me a bit self-conscious, but I didn’t want it to overcome me and Jimin’s promotions though, so I came up with an idea. 

July is my Birthday month and to celebrate I am doing a giveaway for other UK Army. This gives them a chance to get any albums they currently do not own and to try and boost sales for Jimin at the same time. The UK fanbase don’t really want to be associated with me because of my account, so I decided to do everything myself. To help boost morale, positivity and the community spirit that Army has. Overall, I do not regret reaching out to the journalist. He was rather difficult to speak to, but an edit deserved to be made for the way in which it was written. I appreciate the discussion we had and those that supported me. My focus will continue to be on Chapter 2. Look after yourselves and each other. 

[rjalker]

Flatland: An Adventure in Many Dimensions, a 2024 translation into casual English, is done!

You can read and download it completely 100% for free on the Internet Archive!

When it's done loading, you will be able to read it directly online, and the Internet Archive will automatically generate audiobook versions with text to speech.

You can also download and torrent various versions as PDFs, epubs, and editable documents so you can change the font, paragraph styles, and do anything else you want with it, like give everyone neopronouns or turn them into unicorns!

I will also be making my own audiobook version at some point. but that's gonna take a while since this is around 38,000 words long. You can make your own too! And you can translate this into other languages!

Edit: The "lazy" (unedited) audiobook is now available on youtube! It is in two videos, since my computer wouldn't let me combine them lol.

“https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpFcEwm88RUsMYmhY6DBYZcIvvKv6_ZS3”

Did I mention this is public domain? Because I hate capitalism and I'm poor and I want other people to also be able to enjoy books for free.

Buy the cheapest possible print version for $7.45 (I get $2).

This version is a paperback with no illustrations, no prefaces, a greyscale cover to make it as cheap to print as possible, so that more people can afford to buy it.

Buy the regular print version for $22.17 (I get $5).

This version is a hardpack with illustrations, the preface from the original author, and one from me.

You can also download all the HD illustrations included in this story here on the Internet Archive.

If you enjoy reading it, you can also donate directly to "TinyelFlatland" on paypal!

And if I haven't made it clear yet, this is Public Domain. You are 1million% encouraged to download it, print it, share it, do literally anything you want with it. I am 100% serious.

Now you can all join me in laughing at the narrator :)

Edit: oh wait lol. I realize I wrote this post assuming only people who already know what Flatland is will see it.

Uh so people who have no clue what Flatland is, here's a quick summary:

The narrator, who hides his identity using the alias "A. Square", is a resident of a world called Flatland, a world that only exists in two dimensions, where every person is a flat geometric shape. A. Square tells us the history and culture of his world, which is rife with bigotry that he buys into without question. Until New Year's Eve, before the first day of the year 2000, when a mysterious stranger claiming to come from the third dimension appears in his living room, and starts saying things that sound absurd, and performing what seem like magic tricks.

The original Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, was published in 1884 by Edwin Abbot Abbot. It is both a scathing political satire criticizing the systems of bigotry in Victorian England, and an entertaining introduction to the concept of more than three dimensions.

Edit: Now there's an itch.io page too!

Edit again: And you can read it here on tumblr now! @flatland-a-2024-translation and on Pillowfort!

[fluentmoviequoter]

Hey, I just got another idea: Deacon introducing his new girlfriend to his kids over dinner and game night.

But from the point of view from one of the kids (as a little challenge😊)

- 🥰

This is such a cute idea! I wrote it from Lila's perspective (1st person POV) and it was certainly a challenge; I haven't written 1st person in a while. I hope it turned out alright, and thank you for the request and the challenge, I enjoyed writing this! Please let me know what you think and enjoy! :)

Warnings: slight angst, fluff, I imply that Annie is dead but I think you could read it differently. bad writing?

Word Count: 2.2k+ words

EDIT: Part 2 Here

A/N: Writing from Lila's POV was harder than I thought it would be, but I kind of like how it turned out for some reason? Feel free to send feedback or constructive criticism; I admit that this isn't my usual writing style but I'm open to suggestions for improvement!

Picture from Pinterest

Masterlist Directory | Deacon Masterlist | Request Rules & Info

The Kay Princesses

Dad has been smiling more. Matthew thinks it’s because his friends at work are doing a good job, but I don’t know if that’s it. Sometimes, when Dad gets home after work, he isn’t smiling, but then he looks at his phone and gets all smiley. Maybe Dad likes his new phone. Or he found a new game!

“Hey,” Dad says as he opens my door. “Ready for dinner?”

When we walk together, Dad always holds my hand or carries me. Today, he tosses me over his shoulder and makes me laugh. Whatever it is that makes him happy, he's more like he used to be.

“Before we eat there’s something I need to talk to you about,” Dad says as he puts me in my chair. “So, a few months ago I met a girl.”

I knew it.

“She’s… she’s amazing. We’ve been getting to know each other and doing fun things. But she and I think it would be nice for her to meet you.”

“Are you replacing Mom?” Matthew asks, crossing his arms. (I want to kick him. Can’t he see Dad is happy?)

“Not at all,” Dad says, smiling at Matthew. His face changes as he adds, “If you don’t like her, then nothing else will happen. Okay?”

Matthew nods, but Dad’s smile is gone.

“Dad? Is she like mom?” I ask.

“Kinda. She’s also smart and beautiful, but she’s different.” His smile is back. “She likes different things, she talks differently. But she is going to love you guys.”

“We might not love her,” Matthew grumbles.

Dad takes a funny breath before tapping the table and walking to the kitchen to get dinner.

“Stop being mean,” I tell Matthew.

“He shouldn’t be talking to someone else. She isn’t Mom and I don’t want her around.”

“She’s not replacing Mom,” Samuel says. “Dad said so.”

“Well, he is. If they’re dating and they get married, then she’ll be our stepmom, meaning replacement,” Matthew says meanly.

“Dad said he’d stop seeing her if we wanted,” I remind him. “But we should meet her first. We might like her.”

Matthew rolls his eyes, which makes him look weirder than usual, and nods. I’m excited to meet her because if she makes Dad smile, she must be extra special.

“Here you are, Samuel,” Dad says when he sets Samuel’s plate down. “Matthew, Princess Lila.”

“Hey, why is she a princess but I’m just Samuel?” Samuel pouts.

I laugh at him, and Dad says, “Why am I not King Dad?”

“Wait, can I see a picture of her? What’s her name?” I ask.

Dad tells us her name, and it’s pretty. Then he shows us a picture of her, and she’s as beautiful as her name.

“She looks like a princess!” I say.

“No, she doesn’t. Princesses wear big dresses and crowns,” Matthew argues.

I want to kick him again, but Dad smiles at Matthew and puts his phone away.

✯✯✯✯✯

Matthew and Samuel are in my room with me when she gets here. I watch out the window as Dad opens her car door and squats to talk to her. 

“I’m going to meet her,” I tell my brothers.

“Dad will introduce us,” Matthew grumbles.

I don’t listen to him, so I walk down the hall but stop when the door opens.

“What if you’re wrong?” she asks.

Dad closes the door and laughs. “I’m not,” he answers. His voice sounds different, happier.

“They’re going to hate me, David.”

Dad laughs again, and I peek around the corner. His arms are around her, and she’s leaning against him.

“They’re not. Everything will be fine.”

“I just want them, and you, to be happy,” she says quietly. “Even if that doesn’t include me.”

“Hey,” Dad says, the same way he does when I’m sad or after I get hurt. “I want you here. I’m happy with you. And the kids? The kids are going to love you.”

“Even Matthew?”

“Especially Matthew.”

She laughs at that, for some reason, before she steps back from Dad.

“We’ll be right back,” Dad whispers. He steps around the corner and stops when he sees me, shaking his head and smiling. “Go say hi.”

While he goes to my room, I step out and wave at her.

“You must be Lila. You’re even prettier than your dad said,” she says. She’s kind, like Dad said.

“I am Lila. My dad says that you’re smart and beautiful and going to love me and my brothers.”

“Well, he’s right about the last thing.”

“How did you meet my dad?”

“We just ran into each other one day. He was working and I was nearby.”

“Can we be on a team for game night? I haven’t been on an all-girls’ team in a while.”

She smiles, which makes her even prettier, and says she would like that. My brothers come back, and Dad introduces everyone to each other while I sit beside her.

“Why do you like my dad?” Samuel asks.

“He’s really good to me, and for me. I think he’s the best guy I’ve ever met.”

She looks at Dad while she talks, and he smiles at her. I like her. She doesn't treat us like little kids, and I like that.

“Why do you want to replace our Mom?” Matthew asks.

She looks at Dad before she answers. “I don’t, Matthew, I promise I don’t. Your dad has told me about your mom, and she sounds amazing.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I want to be with your dad and try to make him happy like he makes me happy.”

“By replacing my mom,” Matthew says as he gets up and walks away.

She looks up at Dad, but they’re not smiling anymore. Dad raises a hand and nods before he follows Matthew. I put my hand in hers, and she looks over at me.

“Do you love my dad?” I ask her.

Her smile returns as she says, “I do. More than anything.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Dad hugs her tightly on the porch before she leaves. I stand beside the window so I can see and hear them.

“If they don’t want me here, I understand. They’re the most important things in your life and they shouldn’t be uncomfortable or upset. I understand if you don’t want me to come back and we can be friends, right?”

“That’s not going to happen. We’ll work through it. Lila loves you.” That’s true. “And Samuel thinks you’re great. Matthew, uh, Matthew just needs some time.”

“I get it. Take all the time you guys need. You’re worth waiting for, Deac.”

They get quiet, and when I look outside again, Dad holds her while they kiss. He pulls back and wipes her face. I think she’s crying.

I decide to help Matthew with his time and walk into his room.

“We need to talk.”

“You always need to talk,” he says.

“Why don’t you like her?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Lila.”

“Who says? You won’t let me try.”

Matthew sighs and rolls away from his comic book to look at me.

“No matter what they say, even if she isn’t a replacement, she’ll end up in Mom’s spot. And I don’t want that.”

“Why not? She’s nice and she loves Dad and he loves her.”

“What are we doing?” Samuel asks as he comes in and sits beside Matthew.

“Talking about Dad’s girlfriend. Matthew doesn’t like her,” I answer.

“She’s nice, and super fun,” Samuel says. I nod and look back at Matthew.

“I never said I didn’t like her,” Matthew says quietly. “I just don’t want her to replace Mom.”

“She can’t replace Mom. They’re so different. It would be like another Mom, not a new one.”

“She even said that she can’t replace Mom and wouldn’t try to. She wants to make Dad happy, which involves us being happy,” Samuel explains. Matthew and I look at him, confused by his wording. “That’s what she told me,” he adds.

“So, you do like her?” I ask.

“I do,” Matthew says quietly. “I’m just scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared about. Dad loves us and would never do anything without telling us or making sure we’re okay. That’s why he brought her to meet us. You should give her a chance.”

Matthew nods and stands up. “Let’s go talk to Dad.”

We walk together to the kitchen, where Dad cleans up after dinner and game night.

“Dad, can we talk?” Matthew asks.

Dad dries his hands as he nods and waves his hand toward the couch. When we all sit down, he sits on the table in front of us.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

I look at Matthew because I know he’ll answer the question. “We like her,” he admits, “and I’m sorry for being mean.”

“It’s okay, bud. This is a big change and you’re allowed to have questions and need time to think,” Dad says, putting a hand on Matthew’s leg.

“Is she coming for game night again?” Samuel asks. “Because I want to be on her team this time.”

“No, I do, she’s good,” Matthew argues.

Dad laughs and pats their knees. “If you want, she’ll come for two game nights so you can take turns.”

We nod together, and Dad smiles. She said she wants to make Dad happy, but I think she already is.

“Thank you for meeting her and being open to new things, guys. It was very grown up of you.”

“I didn’t get to tell her she looks like I princess,” I remember.

“You can tell her next time, munchkin. Maybe she’ll even play dress up with you… if you ask really, really nicely.”

That sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see her again. Maybe getting a new mom could be even better than I thought.

✯✯✯✯✯

I can hear Dad talking after he tucks me in. Dad says her name, so I must check if she’s back so soon. Creeping down the hallway, I realize I can only hear Dad.

“I told you Matthew would like you. He just needed to figure out that you’re not trying to replace Annie,” Dad says. “They really, really like you; they want you to come back for game night so you can be on Samuel and Matthew’s team next time.”

He’s quiet for a while before he asks, “Are you crying?” And then, “Are you sure? Because even when you said no it sounded like you were.”

Dad laughs like he used to, but a little different. I guess that’s how the whole thing works: he’s happy but differently than before because you’re different, and now he’s different.

“I told you they’d love you,” Dad says, “just like I do.”

They really do love each other. Dad made a good choice, and we did too.

✯✯✯✯✯

It’s finally game night again, and Dad and Matthew have decided to treat it like a “do over,” so they’re acting like they haven’t met her before. I think that’s funny, but I’m glad that she’s coming back either way. I’m by the window watching for her while Dad and Matthew set up the board game.

“She’s here!” I tell Dad.

He thanks me and then walks to the door. Matthew follows him, and I turn to watch. Dad opens the door and smiles.

“Hey,” he greets, a weird tone he only uses for her breaking through. “This is Matthew.”

Matthew shakes her hand, and they smile at each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Matthew says. “Sorry about before.”

“No apology necessary, Matthew. It’s very nice to meet you, too. Your dad has told me lots of good things about you.”

“Really? Like what?”

“He said you’re really good at tonight’s game. So, I was wondering if you’d want to be on my team? I need a lot of help.”

“Sure!”

Matthew leads her to the table where the game is and shows her where he’s sitting. Dad looks at me and winks.

“Dinner first, Matthew,” he says as he walks by. He drags his hand across her back as he passes her. He never did that with Mom, but she isn’t Mom.

“Will you be on my team next time? I get to choose the game next week,” Samuel tells her.

“I’d love to!”

While we eat dinner, she answers our questions and asks us some too. She tells us about where she’s from, her job, her favorite food, and (my question) who her favorite princess is.

“Who is your favorite princess, Lila?” she asks.

Dad smiles at her every time she asks us a question. By dessert, it feels like we’ve known her forever. She agrees to come over just to hang out with me, and I feel great; I stick my tongue out at Samuel, and he laughs at me.

“You take the first turn and I’ll watch,” she whispers to Matthew when we start playing his favorite game.

She watches him and asks him a few questions, then watches Dad as he takes his turn.

“Hey, when do I get to be on your team?” she asks Dad, smiling at him.

“You’re always on my team,” he answers, winking at her.

“Gross,” Matthew whispers.

His eyes widen, and he apologizes quickly before she and Dad start laughing. She tells him it’s okay and asks for his help with her turn. When she’s not talking to us, she looks at Dad.

As he walks her to her car, he kisses her, and spins her around. She’s always been pretty like a princess, but Dad loves her enough to treat her like one, too.

[bueckers-sturniolo]

i have literally been begging for someone to write a paige fic based on “Slut!” by TS like the parts that’s like “if i’m all dressed up, they might as well be looking at us” where reader is famous and gets like hated on for being a “slut” 💁‍♀️💁‍♀️

“slut!”

paige bueckers x female!reader

a/n: hi guys!!! sorry it took me so long to edit this and actually post it. i don’t have much to say but THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE ON THE ALCHEMY!!! i promise part 2 is coming soon!!! ps: this may suck a little but i wrote it in an hour and a half so im sorry!!! also, this hasnt been proofread bc its 6 am and i havent slept! hope u somewhat enjoy!!! love uuuu!

warnings: naur, just swearing :)

word count: somewhere around 1k-ish

-

got love-struck, went straight to my head. got lovesick all over my bed. love to think you’ll never forget. we’ll pray the price, i guess.

you had been dating paige for 5 months, now. she was the best person you had ever met, and an even better lover than you could have ever imagined. but, being in the public eye isn’t necessarily ideal, especially when you’re queer. paige was a basketball player at uconn, and you had been famous for a few years. you had been famous before you knew paige, and even before paige was famous. it’s awesome, and you love it. the lifestyle can be very rewarding and enjoyable.

but, being ‘famous’ comes with its faults. as most things do. over the years, you had developed this sort of…. title. this title being that you are some kind of insane serial-dater. it was pretty ridiculous. of course, paige loved you for you, and didn’t really give a fuck as to what people had to say about you. but, it’s still obviously hurtful, and paige gets that.

present day, the epsy’s were coming up. this is something that meant a lot to your girlfriend. and, quite frankly, you’d do anything to make her happy.

until that thing was going as her date (or +1) to the epsy’s. not that you didn’t want to, not that it was because you were gay. but, because you knew how much this could mess with both of your careers. you didn’t really care about your own, cause people are gonna talk about you regardless, but paige’s social presence made it hard to just come out and do whatever you guys want.

“i mean, i’d just really want you there. we can like…. coincide outfits ‘n shit.” paige says, looking over at you, eating a bite of her cereal.

“yeah, p. i understand.” you say, sighing. you look down at your hands, acting like you were paying attention to anything to distract her (and yourself) from the fact that you really just do not know how it would go, and that fact is stressful in itself.

“baby, if you don’t want to go, it’s fine. im just saying it would be cool.” she says, and you meet her eyes again.

you know she’s right. it would be really fuckin’ cool. but like, at the same time, you really didn’t want to have to receive all of the texts from your publisher of news articles with pictures of you and paige where they essentially just put your name in bold letters then talk about how much of a slut you are for dating 4 people in your approximate 5 years of being famous.

yes, it may seem like a lot. but, also, most of these relationships only lasted a few months. you never necessarily wanted them to go public, but, they almost always did. that’s why you and paige took extra precautions.

obviously, one day, you wanted to tell people about you and paige. but, you wanted it to be when you guys had atleast made it past the new relationship stage.

but, if im all dressed up, they might as well be lookin’ at us. and if they call me a ‘slut,’ you know, it might be worth it for once. and if im gonna be drunk, i might as well be drunk in love.

you couldn’t help but give in. there was exactly a week before the epsy’s, and even though you’d kept telling paige you really didn’t think going was a good idea, you felt so bad for saying it that you randomly changed your mind.

“p, come here.” you say, calling from the couch in your living room. she walked in the room, hands on her hips, sleeves rolled up. she was loading the dishwasher for you, as the ‘gentleman’ she was (in a world of boys, (s)he’s a gentleman.)

“yes, baby? what’s wrong?” she says, walking toward you and sitting down, resting an arm on the back of the couch behind your head. “i wanna go with you, p. ill go with you to the awards.” as you say this, you fiddle with the hem of her basketball shorts.

“you wanna go with me? seriously?” she perks up. her whole face immediately lights up. this was the reason you were doing it. that reaction right there.“yes, love. i want to go with you.” she grabs your chin, pulling your face closer to her and gently pressing a kiss to your temple.

“you know, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. i know you don’t want to read about all of the stupid shit men online say about you. they don’t even know you and it’s so infuriating that they think they can talk about my baby like that. my sweet, sweet girl...” she rubs your side, kissing your temple gently a few more times while babbling a few more sweet names in your ear.

“i know, p. but, i also know i don’t owe anyone shit, and if i want to go out in public with you, i shouldnt be scared. i mean- it’s just…. like, i don’t want to keep hiding us because of the fact that people always have some stupid shit to say. you know, if they call me a whore or if they call me a slut, it might be worth it. it may just be worth it this once.” she smiles ear to ear as you say this. seconds after this, she tackles you onto the couch, pecking all over your face as she tickles your sides.

half asleep, takin’ your time in the tangerine neon lights. this is luxury. you’re not saying you’re in love with me, but, you’re goin’ to. half awake, takin’ your chance, it’s a big mistake. i said, ‘it might blow up in your pretty face.’ im not sayin’ do it anyway, but you’re going to.

the night finally arrives. you guys are both getting your hair done. paige is wearing a lilac suit, and she looks ridiculously attractive. you were wearing a white dress with lilac heels, to coincide with her.

you guys get to the carpet, and it feels so surreal. you guys are finally out together and it’s just fucking insane. she does a few interviews, and they even ask you for your own pictures (even though you’re not an athlete)

the awards themselves are good, paige presents and even changes suits. she looks fuckin’ phenomenal.

but, then the after-party comes. the lights are tangerine and kinda dim, everyone’s drunk, and some people are even outside in a swimming pool. (???)

you had been to award shows yourself, but this was so cool. paige grabs you guys drinks throughout the night, careful not to get too wasted, but enough to get a little tipsy. by the end of the afterparty, so many pictures of you guys had been taken you felt like it was kinda too hard to hide your relationship from the world anymore.

while this wasn’t the main goal of tonight whatsoever, paige decided it was time to make your relationship social media official. she thought you deserved to be loved out loud, and honestly she couldn’t give any less of a fuck who said what. you loved her. she loved you. that’s all that mattered.

@paigebueckers

liked by kamoreaarnold and others

paigebueckers: Cats out of the bag I guess 🐈👜

view all 2,405 comments

kamoreaarnold: Photo creds on slide 3

> paigebueckers: @kamoraarnold Best photographer 🙌

yourusername: wow she’s cute who is that

> paigebueckers: @/yourusername Idiot

>> yourusername: @/paigebueckers 😁

Load more…

[burning-academia-if]

Hello, I am mostly back and recovered at the time of writing this lol. June wasn't very productive writing wise (...for BA), which is fine because I needed that break! Look at everything I did do in June:

RELEASED CHAPTER 2 FINALLY

Spent like 2 weeks fixing bugs (dw chapter 3 I'll get beta readers so it doesn't happen again LOL)

Participated in the Raffle for Palestine + wrote and sent out the story to the winner!

Wrote about 5k words of Chapter 3

Wrote and edited Zoe's back story

Wrote most of Lars back story because I was inspired (sorry you won't get this until after Chapter 3 drops)

I'm pretty happy to have released Chapter 2! I'm gonna be honest, this felt like such a daunting release lol When I started BA, I was expecting no one to read it save for a handful of people and I'd just be chilling and writing mostly for myself like usual, so releasing it with over 1.5k followers was very daunting. With that said, I am glad people overall enjoyed the new chapter! The plan is for Chapter 3 not to take as long, but life is still hectic so we'll see. At the very least, it hopefully won't be any later then October (BA's one year anniversary month!).

I also just want to give another shout out to everyone who participated in the raffle for Palestine! Raising over two thousand euros in two weeks is still amazing to me, and I'm happy the IF community could come together like this to help out a cause! This was lowkey another thing I was nervous about since I've never really done anything that's felt like a personal commission before (asks definitely feel different lol), but other then my initial nerves the whole thing was a really nice experience!

Now, going into July, I want to focus on the UI updates I want to make. I have some things I want to shift around and change, and since coding is my biggest weakness I know it's one of those things I'm going to have to focus on. If things go well, I'm hoping to do a pure UI update by August. It'll mostly be the menu pages (achievements/stats/relationships/etc), but there are a few other things I want to add in and adjust outside of it. As for Zoe's backstory, that should be out soon, so keep an eye out of that! Finally, I also might not be too active in July. For personal reasons, July is always a hard month for me. Hopefully it isn't obvious, but just in case I'm not around as much as usual, that's why!

OH and before I forget, here's this month's chapter preview ft Angry Rook:

Lastly, I made the questionable decision to make a side IF. Updates will be very sporadic since BA is and will always be my main project until its completion. But if you want to follow it, it's To Taste Sweet Silver. An 18+ gaslamp fantasy about trying to steal the Fruit of the Old Gods in order to bring the world to an end. It's a little more niche I think, but feel free to check it out! The demo shouldn't take too long to get out since I did accidentally write most of opening already.

[sundrop-writes]

Over the past few days, I have not at all been feeling a good creative flow, and it's really been throwing me off. I have really been trying to work on the winners of the last polls - I think the longer Daryl fic is tabled for now. I wrote out the entire plot for it, all the details of my ideas so that I can come back to it later. But when I was actually trying to write it out, I was having 0 flow with it. I am still trying to work on the Rosita PWP fic because it's something I really want to do.

But I also want to work on a longer oneshot, and I was thinking that something that would be really creatively fulfilling for me would be to do a remake/repost of one of my older fics. I have several fics for The Walking Dead that are currently on AO3 that are not on Tumblr, and I think that those fics could use some editing and improvement and then they could be brought to Tumblr all new and shiny and amazing.

Two of these would be more of a repost - most of the fic would still be the same. One or two scenes will be added to enhance the story and most of the editing will be around grammar and slight sentences here and there, but I do mostly consider them up to my current standards.

And the other two fics will be complete remakes (I think I will still have the old versions present on AO3, and upload the new versions as completely new fics with the same title, or possibly even change the name, who knows). These fics were written a long time ago, and they are written in my old style, so I want to overhaul them completely to put them up to my new standards. (Especially the Glenn x Reader fic - it would be completely unrecognisable compared to the old version. The only thing that would be the same is the bare bones plot.)

So, out of these four fics (and I do encourage you to go and read the fics if you haven't before to better inform your decision) - which one would you like to see a shiny new version of?

And, keep in mind, because I will be working on this fic and focusing on it, I am likely to write a continuation of the fic beyond what it had before, because I am focusing on new ideas for it. (Yes, even Hold Me Tight Or Don't might be getting a continuation - I have something up my sleeve inspired by a really amazing commenter.)

Potential Reposts (fics that will be slightly edited):

The World Is Ugly - Maggie Greene x Fem!Reader. Strangers to Lovers. Angst and Smut with a Fluffy Ending. Set during Season 2 and Season 4. When you arrive at Hershel’s farm with the group, you are hiding two very important secrets: you are a lesbian (which is very controversial in the religious south) - and you self harm. Eventually, Maggie finds out both of these things, and despite your first impressions of her - doesn’t judge you for either of them. In fact, she falls deeper in love with you. (21,400 words.)

Hold Me Tight Or Don’t - Glenn Rhee x Fem!Reader x Maggie Greene. Established Poly Relationship. Smut and Heavy Angst. Set during Season 3, Episode 4. After being bitten while trying to help get Glenn and Maggie to safety, you are facing your last hours of life. And in those last hours, you only have one wish - to have sex with your partners one last time. Luckily for you, they would do anything for you, and they can’t help but to oblige. (7,200 words.)

Potential Remakes (fics that will be completely overhauled):

Day and Night - Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader. Strangers to ‘Lovers’. Fluff and Hurt/Comfort. Set Pre-Season 4. When Daryl gets into some trouble on a hunt and gets shot, a random stranger comes to his rescue. He doesn’t expect that stranger to be beautiful, kind, and to make him a candlelit dinner after treating his wounds. (Wait - is this a date?) (5,000 words.) - NOTE: this fic is the only one of the four that does not feature smut, and I'm not sure if a remake would include smut or if I would keep the rating and the vibe the same.

State of Emergency - Glenn Rhee x Fem!Reader. Strangers to Lovers. Smut. Set in an AU of Season 1. When Glenn encounters his first zombie, he knocks on your door for help. Because you’ve seen all the zombie apocalypse media, you’re well prepared. The two of you decide to wait out the end of the world together - and you warm up to each other very quickly. (3,400 words.)

[anilyan]

Venti theory before i go to sleep

Edited 30/7/2024: I wrote a proper theory post here

Not so crack theory: Venti is Phanes and is the androgynous being born of the alchemical marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth, before she was betrayed by the Sinners

(I should really go to sleep)

Also yes, I also think Istaroth has the ability to create alt looms of fate through those seeds she gives away, those basically grow into trees that are databases not controlled by Celestia

And I am using this lore in my old mondstadt fic, Nameless (actually soon to turn into trilogy, since vol 2 is about venti rewinding time and vol 3 is present time story and I took so long to plan all the lore with all the canon crumbs and theories we had...)

Here is extra stuff I claimed in my fic and repeat in the notes of chapter 14, that basically got confirmed in some of the next videos:

Teyvat is theoretically 2 worlds, the version we know and the mirror world. Not sure if the mirror world is the abyss but I chose to go with that for the fic. But it’s likely, and we can even see similar world structures in Honkai Star Rail, especially in Penacony, where the world there is literally mirrored and a dream too.

Cycle: People die » are absorbed by the roots » are supposed to travel to the top of the world tree (inverted, so top is in abyss) to become Irminsul fruit / stars » said stars form constellations that determine people's fate, or more accurately, since they are all in a dream, are data that allows the tree to predict their fates » it’s because people exist as stars that their fates and presence can be summoned in the form of shooting stars

Dainsleif confirmed that the leylines can be woven to determine Fate / have their records changed. The Loom used to weave them is a Symphony, or in other words, Remus’ Symphony of Fate is very similar or the same thing as the Loom of Fate. Add to that some Penacony’s parallels, and you can infer that the Symphony is controlled in the floating palace , that is actually a Grande Theater, by the Sun(day) (potentially Phanes), and it’s reflected by the moons (Aria, Sonnet and Canon, so the musical associations are fitting). Considering that the 3 moon sisters are also probably the mythological Moirai who weave Fate, yeah, that tracks.

I made up the part about the seeds given by Istaroth being used to create an alternate database that can contradict the information on Irminsul, but who knows, maybe I got it right. I mean, just recently I saw people associate her with Khaenri’ahs soldiers because they used the 8 pointed Ishtar star in their uniforms, so with her, anything is possible. Venti got a badass mom.

Some videos I suggest that basically confirmed some of the ideas I am going for (and that explain several of the reasons I say what I say):, from most recent and relevant to oldest and not so relevant

[fourthwingfanclub]

Violets Second Signet **Spoiler Warning**

Ok, after a long time thinking about this, and reading Iron Flame 4 times I think I am ready to theorize my idea for Violets second signet.

Let's start by summarizing what we know.

I have seen that some people have speculated that her signet is Distance wielder because she asked Xaden if that was his. While I don't think that was just brought up without a purpose, I don't think that would be her signet. (I think Aaric might end up being that).

I also think Violet's signet is going to be something that either we have never seen before, or very rare. This power comes from Andarna, she's a special breed of Dragon that has been basically extinct for 650 years.

Signets are based on the rider, and what they need most at their core. Violet needs information, Facts.

It is also mentioned many times that Violet has a mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider. I think this is important, more important than we know yet.

I think Violet can process events and information in slow motion. I think she can see everything around her happening, giving her time to process and record the events within her mind. While this doesn't seem significant, to Violet its everything. There are a few events that's stood out to me that made me think this.

First, when she reviews what Aiofe wrote and admits she missed some things. Also, Jesinia mentions that stories can change depending on who is transcribing them. Violet is mad about the amount of information that has been forgotten or changed due to scribes hiding the Venin from Navarre. She would want to recount everything correctly.

“Absolutely.” I nod, then take the notebook and skim Aoife’s neat handwriting. It’s amazingly accurate, with little details I’d missed, like the two infantry cadets who’d offered to be the healers’ aides because that’s their job for the squad. They have designated roles for each mission. I set it down on top of the book I’m returning to sign. “This is incredible.” “Glad to hear it’s accurate.” She glances over her shoulder, as if checking to see if we’re alone, which we are. “The tricky thing is to capture the truth and not just an interpretation. Stories can change depending on who tells them.”

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 224). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

Second, the way some of the events and wording were portrayed made me suspicious that these were written a specific way. They were very detailed catching events that were happening in seconds or described as happening in slow motion. I think we see some clues to this being her signet once we get to Part 2 of the book and Andarna is awake and Channeling. We know Violets first signet showed up right after she started channeling with Tairn (that first kiss with Xaden), so it would make sense that she could have been showing signs of her second signet without realizing it. I don't think she was fully able to wield until the final battle though. My reasoning for this is if she was, even if she was unaware, Tairn would have sensed her pulling power from another source and wielding. If he did during the battle, we won't know that until the 3rd book since we don't get much info on events once battle has ended.

Examples of her signet showing up prior to final battle as follows...

Time slows to sluggish heartbeats as I watch him reach for the ground.

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 567). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

Everything somehow slows and yet happens at once.

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 597). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

Time slows to heartbeats, my breath freezing in my heated chest. Then the wyvern crosses the invisible barrier, and my heart stops beating altogether as its wings flap once. Twice.

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 745). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

During the battle, two events really stood out - when Violet was waiting for the Venin to come upon them and worried about her friends. She says they have 10 seconds maybe. It is then described in detail all the events taking place a second at a time. Shes following this dagger being repaired while simultaneously aware of everything and everyone around her. She is able to gather copious amounts of information in a short, small amount of time.

One. Ridoc waves his hands at my right, holding a dagger that’s been snapped in two. Shit, if his only remaining blade is broken—I blink when the pieces disappear. He wasn’t waving at me. Two. Snapping my head to the left, I find the pieces already in Rhiannon’s hands as Feirge dives to where Sliseag hovers beneath. Three. Feirge flies alongside Sliseag, and Rhiannon tosses the pieces. Four. To Sawyer’s credit, he catches them. Five. Sgaeyl rises to take Feirge’s place, and I lock eyes with Xaden only long enough to see that he’s unharmed. Blood both drips from Sgaeyl’s mouth and runs in rain-driven rivulets down the side of Xaden’s face, but I instinctively know it’s not his and focus on the imminent threat. Six. Breathe. I have to breathe through the firestorm in my chest or I’ll burn out. It’s not that I don’t recognize the signs: the trembling, the heat, the fatigue. It’s just that they don’t matter. Everyone I love is on this field. Seven. They’re almost on us, and I look down at the ward chamber, where Marbh stands watch with a Blue Clubtail I don’t recognize and a vague shape I hope is Andarna, and when a flash of sunlight reflects on the dagger in Sawyer’s hand, it disappears again, Feirge already on the move. Eight. “Dajalair is frustrated by the unflyable conditions,” Tairn relays as Feirge rises alongside Aotrom. Nine. “Tell them they’re more efficient guarding the courtyard and incoming wounded than struggling with waterlogged wings,” I note. “They’d be a liability up here right now, not an asset.” The dagger changes hands, and Ridoc is once again armed. I grin at how seamlessly we work as a team, then face the coming tidal wave. Ten. “You’re beginning to think—” Tairn starts. “Like Brennan?” I suggest as the wyvern enter our airspace. “Like Tairn,” Sgaeyl answers,

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (pp. 827-828). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

The last scene that made me think this was when Sawyer and Aotrom was being attacked by multiple wyverns. Violet is able to assess the situation, gather the information, which gave her the opportunity to save her friends. I think this speaks directly to the battle at Resson, her world had been so turned upside down with the realization that everything she knew was false she was unable to fully piece together the information she did know about how wyvern is made from Venin, she feels responsible for Liam.

We’re almost there, but everything happens so fucking fast that it’s as if the rest of the world slows down. In one heartbeat, the closest wyvern opens its jaws. In the second, it blasts green fire across Sliseag and Sawyer dives backward out of the seat, narrowly avoiding being burned to death and rolling down Sliseag’s spine with a smoking boot. In the third, it completes its assault, snapping at Sliseag’s exposed side. Sawyer kicks at the gaping jaws to save his dragon from the bite, but in the next, he takes it himself, his leg disappearing between the wyvern’s massive teeth.

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 833). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

With that I leave you with this blurb from Xaden

“You have to find your center again, Violet. I can’t do it for you.” He holds my gaze, letting his words sink in, before adding, “You are a creature of logic and facts, and everything you know got turned upside down and shaken. You’ll never know how truly sorry I am for that. But you can’t just sit there and hope. You want it to change, then you have to figure it out, just like Gauntlet. You’re the only one who can.”

Yarros, Rebecca. Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) (p. 663). Entangled Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

[wc-confessions]

I hate WC discord servers.

Like one thing will set me off into just leaving it completely and never turning back

Something I just did was leave a server,

Not because the rules were bogus or anything,

Not because the mods were rude or anything,

because of my simplified backstory, while yes, I said it was a simplified backstory, the length of which I wrote it would be practically equivalent to 3 paragraphs within itself. Which no, I'm not willing to extend 3x further just because I said it was simplified. And by simplified, I literally just told the most important parts that had happened, what he's good at, and even the events they decided to put before the roleplay even happened as lore parts that they need people above a certain moon-age to write down because it was important events. I simply don't have anything else to put down in the backstory. That was everything life changing that happened. What am I supposed to do? Make a whole biography instead?

Just to be clear, they wanted us to have General Information, Characteristics (Positive, Neutral, and Negative personality traits, Flaws, Talents, Quirks), a relationships file (which they allowed me to have completely blank because new players don't have any access to being able to message in adopts, oc discussions, or anything UNTIL they submitted a character.) a Physical description, even if you had a character reference, I'm pretty sure you would still need to fill out some things that wouldn't be clear with it (they asked things that honestly didn't make sense to me? Like canines.. claws.. ??)

I did that. I did all of that.

But the thing that had my cat sent back to re-edit for them to review was.. a simplified backstory???

After I saw that message that was just 'Hey we don't do simplified backstories, re-edit their form and tell me when you're done' I just cut my losses and left.

I don't know, I'm frustrated. I spent around 3-4 hours straight making this character. I shouldn't have overreacted this dramatically for something I could've put maybe 40 minutes-2 hours into just to get it over with.

I don't know why I keep trying to come back to things that once made me happy; ae: roleplaying online, that have just been spoiled rotten of things that just set me off so easily.

If you are a moderator of that server seeing this and was able to connect the dots about either who I am, or this was the server I'm talking about, I'm sorry, it's not your fault, really, Don't feel bad. You have a decent amount of numbers and I'm sure people genuinely like the roleplay you have made. It's just not for me and I just wanted to vent my frustration in words.

Lichenbark (hope I'm spelling that right), may you please tag "-🦖" under this? Maybe after some time I would like to look this over and reflect on my words or thoughts that I said here.

Thank you.

Keep safe, make sure you prioritize your mental health over anything else.

-🦖

.

[haztobegood]

⭐️ Annual Writing Self-Evaluation 2024 ⭐️

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 16

2. Word count posted for the year: 43,087

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction, BBC Radio 1 RPF, Music RPF (The Snuts)

4. Pairings: so many!

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson

Louis Tomlinson/Jack Cochrane

OT5 girl direction

Zayn Malik/Louis Tomlinson

Niall Horan/Greg James & Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson & Zayn Malik/Liam Payne

Zayn Malik/Harry Styles

5. Story with the most: Kudos: Figure This Out Bookmarks: Figure This Out Comments: Louis and the no good, very bad day

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): Stronger Than the Tide was written for the @1daroaceficfest this year. I started writing a different fic but that one got to be much longer than I had time to write, so I quickly changed course, found new inspiration, and wrote this one so fast. This one proved to me that my fics don't have to be long and complicated to be very meaningful.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): I am honestly super proud of everything I posted this year. I feel more confident in my abilities and enjoyed writing so much that I couldn't single any out.

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: This year I took a writing course and practiced what I'd learned while writing a horror story. Sisterhood is so different than anything I've posted before, so I was a bit nervous to post it. The comments were really great, especially this one from @disgruntledkittenface, "Jinny, I'm so impressed! Your prose is so evocative, and the story gave me chills. You gave such a full, rounded picture of the setting and all of the girls' relationships that I felt like I was there. I admit, I hesitated when I saw the cannibalism tag, but I'm really glad I read this!"

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: This spring was difficult. March and April are always busy and stressful, and then I broke my ankle, had two surgeries, and moved back in with my parents while I healed. Toward the end of May I really wanted to write for @wankersday so I forced myself to try despite some severe writer's block. I drafted Louis and the no good, very bad day entirely on my phone while lying on a couch.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: The ace of clubs in Stronger Than the Tide was my favorite surprise. This wasn't a part of the original draft at all, but while editing it felt like something was missing to indicate that the cave was siren!Harry's home, so I added Harry's collection of human objects. Because this was an ace/aro fic it felt right to put an ace card in. I found out after that the ace of clubs can represent growth and tending to relationships, which fit the theme perfectly.

Louis looked around the empty cave awkwardly. The bright sunlight illuminated some shiny objects laid out on natural ledges in the stone walls that he hadn’t noticed the last time. He slid his hands into the pockets of his red trackies and wandered closer. Shiny agates, broken seashells, smooth sea glass. A fork with a bent tine, dried wildflowers, a bobbin of old thread. A collection of jewelry. A large scallop shell filled with coins from all over the world. A corked bottle with a piece of paper rolled inside. Louis reached out and picked up a single red playing card. He turned it over: the ace of clubs. “That’s my collection. When I find something unique I save it.” Louis had been so intrigued by the items he hadn’t heard Harry come out of the cave. He set the card down carefully where he'd found it. “You keep your collection here in a cave?” “The cave is my home.”

More under the cut.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: Niall naming Louis' soulmate goose after Bruce Springsteen in Louis and the no good, very bad day will always make me laugh

Niall and Louis walk down the pavement, with the goose strutting a few feet behind Louis, beak held high. “Did you name him?” Niall asks. “What?” “The goose. Did you name him?” “Why would I do that? He’s not a pet.” “Because he’ll be with you for an unknown amount of time. Seems like he should have a name. Like Horace. Or Lionel. Or Bruce! Bruce the Goose.” The goose lets out a short burst of little honks in what Louis can only describe as a happy goose noise. Louis shakes his head. “No. I’m not naming my Soulmate Goose. He’ll hopefully be gone in a few days and then I can get on with my life.” Honk! Niall says, “Maybe. But I’ve heard that some people are stuck with their Soulmate Goose for almost a year.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: This year I took a writing course because I wanted to intentionally work on writing as a craft. I learned a lot from the course and enjoyed dedicating time to practicing and improving my skill.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: I am working on a Pride and Prejudice adaptation and learning a lot from studying the source material. Taking a deep dive into such an iconic novel is teaching me a great deal about what makes that story and its characters so compelling.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): @lululawrence's @wordplayfics was a huge inspiration. I wrote 5 fics, 3 of which had been sitting in my drafts folder for years. I had so much fun seeing where each random word would take me each week.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: Greg twisting his ankle in The Grundy County Corn Maze Incident was inspired by breaking my own ankle. Unfortunately the strong Irish man that helped me get to a car was not Niall . And The Kiss of Sleep that I wrote for @1dtrickortreatfest was inspired by the one and only time I tried melatonin.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Keep all your unfinished drafts, even if it seems unlikely you will ever finish them. You never know when the inspiration will strike.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I signed up as an author for @onedirectionbigbang for the first time this year! I am also an artist for two others and can't wait to see what these collaborations will bring

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

I tag @disgruntledkittenface @lululawrence @allwaswell16 @voulezloux @red-pandaaa @reminiscingintherain @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed @homosociallyyours @justanothershadeofblue @uhoh-but-yeah-alright and anyone else that wants to do this!

Past years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

[ckret2]

Actually, that other anon makes me wonder how that whole plot line will be effected when everything is edited for compatability. If it's not to spoilery would you be willing to share what you have in mind? Will it be a significant change?

Nah, barely changed at all. For the statue, only a couple small things will change:

In earlier chapters i'll insert a couple mpments of Bill thinking "i can get out of this if i can find my statue, wherever it is, and get my soul back into it"; that way in ch 44 i can change his outrage from "you knew [that it exists]?!" to "you knew where it was?!" with only slight wordinc changes; plus it'll punch more if people remember he was holding onto that as his guaranteed escape just to find out it doesn't work

MAYBE, insert a stinger line to the effect of "Ford tries not to feel guilty about the unicorn hair barrier he and Mabel put around the statue last year, since that's prob why Bill can't get into it but he's totally not about to tell Bill that." There's a few issues with that though:

We know ford wrote about this incident in a journal. It probably wasn't J1, 2, or 3, because they're probably mostly full. I wrote that ford's J4 got stolen by Shmebulock in the fall and he started writing J5 then; next summer Bill stole J4 from Shmeb and has been using it since. So this incident CAN'T have been written about in J4 or Bill would know about the unicorn hair barrier & that Ford knows where his corpse is. Did Ford write it in J1 or J2 before tossing them into the void? (Can't be J3, i think we're all out of Secret Lost J3 Pages thanks.) Did Mabel (and Mabel's brother) take a trip back to GF in the fall after Ford had lost J4, and that's when Ford & Mabel made the barrier? This is an annoying detail i'll need to resolve.

when Bill finds out about the unicorn hair barrier, obviously he's gonna wanna go back and break that barrier and try shaking his hand again; and like, that's just gonna result in exactly the same thing we already did in ch 44, with him trying to shake and being devastated it didn't work. We only need that scene once. It's not heartbeaking the second time, it's just tedious. Gotta figure out how to make it non-tedious.

I can't NOT have him try again though, because if I don't, then readers will go "ooOOoo the only reason it didn't work is because of the barrier, so we're obviously building up to the big moment where he tries again and this time it works!!" Which we aren't, obviously. My original writing plans never included the unicorn hair barrier because it didn't exist yet, i'm not building up to the reveal that the statue actually works.

And I'm not interested in making people think it'll work the second time, 44 was MEANT to be the It Totally Doesn't Work scene. A red herring is only a red herring if you put it there on purpose; otherwise it's just a dead fish distracting everyone with its dead fish smell.

So the barrier's annoying. I'll solve it when I get to it.

For the overall plot arc (not just the statue chapter), the only thing I need to change is rewriting "Bill's scared the Axolotl's coming for him because maybe he wasn't supposed to come back to the 21st century even though he wasn't told not to" to "Bill's scared the Axolotl's coming for him because he escaped Theraprism." Which is WAY WAY BETTER. Honestly I thought Bill's motivation for thinking the Axolotl was gonna Get Him was the weakest part of the eclipse arc, so I am deeelighted that the Theraprism gives me something so much more frightening to substitute in. It'll also give me an opportunity to begin working in some info about the Ax's own character & motivation that otherwise I wouldn't be able to include until way into season 2.

This will require me to substantially rewrite Bill's conversation with the Ax—for the better—I've already rewritten like 70% of it. And... basically rewrite nothing else.

That's it. A tiny tweak to Bill's wording in ch44, MAYBE throw in a single line about the unicorn barrier once I decide how I'm going to handle it in the rest of the fic, rewrite his conversation with the Ax, the end.

All the other edits will be fluff from TBOB plumping things out and tiny nudges toward better TBOB compliance—slide in a hint of medical trauma to Bill's refusal to let Ford call a doctor, make a mention during the chess scene that sometimes Bill used to let Ford win, that sort of thing.

[voidedaurora]

Hello, hello. You can refer to me as the “🥩” anon, if you’d like. Before I get into anything, I wanted to say that I was originally going to send this to your blog that’s about the Mel situation, but I couldn’t find an option for sending messages anonymously—I deeply apologize for the inconvenience.

Two, this isn’t me harassing you or anything along those lines. I respect you as you’re a person behind the screen who has your reasonings for not liking Mel. I just want to ask a few questions.

1) What is the current status of the situation as the last thing you posted about it was a statement from you and Clover clearing things up based on what Mel said on their stream? Have things calmed down or are there still issues arising that are either public or private?

2) Are you aware of how Khai and Mel are friends again despite the fact that Khai made an entire video (with you in it) going against Mel? Is this more serious than how people are taking it?

3) This is just being genuinely curious—why does your OC, Clara (or Clem?), look super similar to Mel’s OC, Razz? This may just be me personally, but they look eerily similar to me based off the colors that are more desaturated and such, not to mention the similarities of the charms. I know this was an issue with Khai’s OC looking similar to your OC, Iris. I may just be digging into things considering I understand that artists don’t own things like a certain color pallet or anything like that, it just feels odd to me.

Ending off, please note that you don’t have to respond to this if you are not comfortable at all—that is completely okay and I’ll understand. Again, I respect you, I just have my questions considering I’ve been a bystander since Mel posted the “Honest” animation. I wish you well and please take care of yourself.

I'd prefer if people asked questions in the archive blog as I asked but once this has been seen I'll delete it on main n archive it since I really don't want to be further involved in the situation as I have been anymore, trying to just live my life since Mel clearly wont change, no matter what

1: The current "status" of the situation is pretty much a loss/stalemate, I've stepped back because Mel started airing out personal business between my ex-partner and I + stuff that was generally really private that she just put out there, and I just don't want anymore of my business put out there that doesn't need to be, because she's already proved behind the scenes she WILL harass people and dredge up whatever she can, private, unrelated or not.

Things haven't calmed down per say, and I would say issues and private have kind of been occurring </3 Just don't wanna say anything bc she is 100% willing to weaponize her fans and "friends"

2: Yes, I am aware that Khai and Mel are friends again, I of course am not happy about this because I had re-befriended Khai (foolishly </3) fully trusting her word that she wouldn't talk to mel again because of all the things she'd done to/near her and everyone else, she of course did not stay true to this.

About the video, Khai has been going around saying that I FORCED her to make the video she made, this is not true and I don't even know why she's trying to spin it that way.

Copied script from her original doc link since I site it as proof :

[ this is worth a glance since some things did NOT make it into the video ]

side note! she wrote 99% of this script herself so I don't know how she can paint this as me forcing her??

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uwMC1kIP0KaDMciwX1ZhPlkqRQNd_kNrnL_5drvX5zQ/edit?usp=sharing

From what I remember, after Khai had left Mel she obviously told me about a lot of generally gross and bad things Mel were doing to/around her, Such as ,sending her barely censored NSFW as jokes on both TikTok and Discord, venting to a (then 15?) 16 yr old about how she wants to be sexually abused, allegedly would scream at Khai, and generally bad behaviors. This upset me a lot! and I had suggested to her to make a doc/video talking about what happened because it wasn't fair, nor okay for Mel to do those things, she then made a script around Sep 21st, 2024. Later on I'd noticed she was a bit slower in progress for the video and seemed to be getting unmotivated, this prompted me to ask her if she wanted help, she agreed and wanted me to help her out, from that point on I helped.

Past that point whenever she seemed unmotivated I had stepped in and would give her light pushes to finish it, if she was uncomfortable with any pressure I put on her to finish it she could've told me, with this type of stuff I tend to overthink aswell so I don't doubt at some point I'd literally went "hey, sorry if im pushing you too hard! "

Asides from that, I didn't know she was associating with mel until a whileee after she had randomly blocked me under the reason that we "didnt talk enough" and that she didn't agree with some things of mine. She'd been talking with her behind my back for weeks which is awesome.

(which btw! what she "didn't agree with" is her stance that a 16 yr old and someone 18+ is completely normal and okay, which I obviously OPENLY disagreed with when she'd spout that bs. About a week or so before she left she was being super weird towards me actually, Trying to guilt me into telling her about my sex life by taking an edible under the reasoning "I wont remember if I take this!" despite me telling her flat out I would not tell her no matter what she did. She'd hit me with the "im legal in my state!" shit and it made me sooo fucking uncomfortable </3)

Proof for each main thing I mention:

Doc creation date

barely censored gifs

Mel snapping at her (this account is her alt)

Mel Being agressive/manipulating her feelings

Ss provided by Khai herself

Mel Venting to a 15-16 yr old about how she wants to be used n shit (why are you telling this to someone khais age!!!)

I wont share more atm but I believe people should be taking this more seriously, Khai who IS a victim, quite literally a mentally ill teen who cannot get the help she needs right now has now gone back to one of the WORST people she could be around for her mental health right now </3 ESPECIALLY with the fact Mel is a huge enabler for bad behavior and toxicity. I am worried for Khai, also angry but I think that's understandable </3 No-one likes being lied to

also, I have reason to believe Khai is mainly there friends with Mel because they enable her bad behaviors, sexual, substances, etc. which is just so sad honestly :/ I had a feeling but wasn't originally gonna mention it, but i got confirmation of just that so <//3

Ss provided by clover

#3 Did Mel say on stream Clara looked like Razzy or something? i've actually never had anyone compare them before today, not even Mel!

Shes not inspired by Razzy at all, I make/made ALOT of goatasus, mainly based off of the fruits, symbols, or flowers I'd use on the Brooches. In Claras case I used a plum, so her colors are purple, yellow, green, and tan mainly.

I actually made her entirely on stream from the sketch, to the colors with all the refs I was using on stream lol, If she's saying I copied Razzy thats just straight up copium </3 whils Kaia (khais "iris clone") was inspired from Iris and my art n stuff from the BEGINNING

Stream should be timestamped in the link itself but just incase, start at 3:03:04 to the very end to see her designed :)

https://www.youtube.com/live/3tgKGeBYFd8?si=IstfFW6d9-OpCpDH&t=10984

Just to add to it! heres a chart of their respective main colors compared, which arent similar! other than the fact they're both pinkish purple themed ??

Idk how people can even compare them bc Clara has SOO MUCH more in terms of actual design aspects and complexity so lollll

additionally, I dont remember 100% but brooch designs could be 5% similar because there's a chance I helped her redesign it from the old one since she had me design brooches for her a couple times

Hope that clears things up, please ask questions on the @thequartelzsituationva account from now on, thanks!