#fun work at least! but in hindsight it was definitely more work to make it flow properly.

[afniel]

Maaaaaaaaaaaan, come on.

(the post has ended up in the tags btw. I am not changing this and I need you to understand that it is just me talking to myself semi-publicly)

[badbugbotblood]

WH- ME? And my tiny account? Getting tagged in something neat out of the blue? Well I'll be!

(pspspsps @king-candybug-backup)

As for my results:

A perfect 50/50 split between these two, which on the surface level does make sense.

Hey everyone!

I just made a Core Four-themed personality quiz!

@bashfulgnome

@thebluejetpack

@sadboytristan

@sgtcalhouns

@junkkey

@badbugbotblood

@speared-mint

@wreckitralphrestart

@wreck-it-hell

@ask-icancraft-it

@therockyroadster

@randomalistic

Reblog this post with your results!

[cyberels]

later, loser.ᐟ ᯓ★

˗ˋˏ 𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐒 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 ˎˊ-

☆ ellie discovers the quickest way to get a girl underneath her

daily click! palestine masterpost

☆: sometimes i start writing without a plot in mind to get myself out of a funk and and and this is what i came up w lol so sorry if it’s doodoo ass

☆ warnings -> mention of blood, injuries, all that good shit that comes with skateboarding, probably really inaccurate skating talk, drugs, tbh probably really bad writing but bare with me here, no concept of stranger danger from reader when she sees a hot girl (ellie) for plot reasons lol

☆ skaterboarder!ellie yayyy she wears glasses because i said so &&&&& also ellie works at a vinyl shop and reader works at a bakery :)

☆ ☆ ellies playlist! ☆ ☆

u don’t have to listen but i made it to listen while i write and i thought it’d be fun to add

my masterlist

ellie was no stranger to making mistakes, she’s human, it happens… however, she usually doesn’t make this many stupid choices within the span of one single hour.

today, ellie was running late.

mistake number one.

she practically flew out of the door and hopped on her board, mumbling a half assed apology to her neighbor who she accidentally shoulder checked on her way out when she put on her headphones.

she’s probably going way too fast, but she’s been skateboarding for years, she can handle it. she still has the penny boards that she started skating on when she was 12 hanging up in her living room, right beside some of her other boards she’s had since then that she’s either destroyed or replaced. she weaved in and out of the people walking practically effortlessly, not caring if she was pissing anyone off, they’d live. she’d never have to see them again, anyways.

she opened her phone to turn on her music.

you, on the other hand, were taking your time; you had a good while until you had to be at work. you’ve created a habit of looking for ladybugs in the bushes outside your apartment complex after you noticed that the plant is home to many of the little insects. usually you just glance at the plant as you pass by, but today, you fully stopped to look.

unfortunately, you were unaware of ellie being just feet away from you.

guess you’re no stranger to mistakes, either.

granted, ellie would have had enough time to stop… if she was paying attention.

which she was not.

mistake number two.

you hear a string of curse words behind you. you barely manage to turn around before you’re pushed into the bushes by a girl who promptly lands on top of you. her skateboard rolled away pathetically. it’s almost like it was embarrassed, too.

if there had been any ladybugs, they were definitely squashed now.

you open your eyes slowly to find the other girl hovering just above you. her necklace dangles temptingly close to your lips as she pushes herself up. she's still on top of you, her face just inches away from yours. she blinks a few times, slowly taking in the situation. she seems lost in thought, the wheels in her head turning painstakingly slowly as she tries to comprehend what's happening and her part in it.

she’s taking way too long to get off of you, though, which only serves to frustrate you more.

“hellooo? can you get up?” you mumble through gritted teeth to the girl above you, turning your head to the side to avoid her gaze.

in hindsight, you probably should’ve asked if she was okay, but right now all you wanted to do was get up and pretend like this never happened.

you don’t even want to know how many people saw you fall.

“oh— oh fuck.” ellie stuttered, taking one last glance at you before she moved herself onto the sidewalk, not finding the strength to stand up fully just yet.

she grabbed her headphones that had been flung off in the impact. small scrapes lined the side of them, but at least they probably still worked. she put them around her neck, letting her head fall back in her hands. she took a deep breath, trying to get a grip on her emotions and the situation.

you sigh as you get up, and ellie can tell you’re mad based solely on how the exhale of air sounded.

“uh… you good?” you ask after an uncomfortable pause, eyeing the other girl. it was obvious you didn’t really care, but at least you tried to be polite.

you were still taking your time collecting yourself, brushing leaves out of your hair and wiping blood from your hands onto your jeans (thank god you wore black jeans today). you were definitely going to be sore tomorrow, but other than your scraped up hands, you were fine.

just really pissed off.

ellie looked up at you and then immediately looked back down, running her hands over her face once more. “yeah, i’m… good.”

you roll your eyes as you hold your hand (the one with the least amount of scrapes) out towards ellie, offering to pull her up. you can't help but feel pity as she sits on the sidewalk. not in a sympathizing way, but more of a "damn, this girl looks pathetic" way. she hesitates for a second, but then grabs your hand and smiles weakly.

“thanks.”

as much as you know that this situation partially is your fault, you’re still annoyed. you had spent so long getting ready today just to have some idiot push you into dirt.

when you speak again, your words come out harsher than you intended… not that you minded. “yeah. watch where you’re fucking going next time.”

ouch.

okay, maybe (keyword: maybe) ellie had caused the worst part of this, but she wasn’t going to sit here and take you blatantly being rude when you’re just as much to blame as she is. “maybe if you didn’t think you owned the sidewalk, i wouldn't have ran into you.”

you reach down beside you and grab her, now shattered, phone and her (also shattered) glasses. you raise your eyebrows as you look over the broken screen.

“maybe if you were paying attention.” you pause, wiggling the phone in front of her face. “you would’ve realized i stopped walking.”

she snatched her things back, she didn’t have a comeback for that.

her phone was fucked… usable, but the screen was shattered so badly that if she scrolled on it she’d probably slice open her thumb. small price to pay, she figures.

it’s not like she’s gonna buy a new one… but she would have to cough up the money for new glasses, though. damn it.

“why the hell did you stop walking anyways?”

you hesitate, looking back at the bush sheepishly, vaguely gesturing towards it as you speak again. “i— not that it’s any of your business— i wanted to see if there were any ladybugs on the leaves.”

“…oh.”

well now ellie just feels like a dickhead, because that’s actually really cute. that was not the answer she was expecting.

you continue looking away and ellie sighs, attempting to push past you to grab her skateboard.

mistake number three.

the second she takes a step, she falls into you again, her ankle completely giving out underneath her. you catch her, your arms wrapping around her hips as you hold her up.

ellie has never wanted to die more than she did at this moment.

her face was literally sandwiched in between your chest. she pushed herself back, hopping slightly.

what the fuck just happened?

“oh my fucking god. i’m so sorry. i– oh fuck, this is so awkward.”

yeah, awkward was one word for it. you stare at her blankly for a moment before you kick her skateboard towards her.

you could feel her touch lingering on your body like she was still there. if your hands were just a little lower you would’ve…

“its– it’s fine. dude, are you sure you’re alright?”

you sound more like you care this time, at least.

not that you do care, or anything,

just trying to make sure she wasn’t seriously hurt.

that’s all.

“i’m fine.” it was an obvious lie, but she was preoccupied with thinking about how she was going to skate to and from work if she could barely walk… she’d have to deal with it, she decided. there wasn’t any other option for her right now, she was already late.. “i’ll be fine.”

“very convincing.” you reply, looking her up and down. “you’re not seriously about to get on that thing again, are you?”

“not that it’s any of your business, but i don’t have any other choice, i’m gonna be late to work and this is all i have to get me there.”

you narrow your eyes at her.

no way this girl was reckless and stupid.

“what? you can’t be serious… you’re still going to work? are you an idiot?”

ellie doesn't answer right away, glancing down at her skateboard for a bit. you’re right, she should call out, but she hated the prospect of missing a day of work. money had been tight, even one missed day would be hell for her and her bank account.

“you gonna give me the money i’d lose if i called out?”

you opened your mouth to reply, but she was already flying past you, very clearly having a hard time but also very clearly not caring.

“don’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk next time, dumbass!” she yelled, leaving you standing in the same spot just watching her leave.

…and kinda wishing she’d come back.

just so you could get the last word.

when you walk into work, it’s unfortunately obvious that you’re pissed off, if the way your manager immediately asks what happened as soon as you clocked in was anything to go by.

you’re thankful for the excuse to rant, though.

“god, abby, where do i even start? i literally just walked out of my apartment and some girl on a skateboard slammed into me and we both went flying into a stupid plant. got a face full of bush and not even the good kind.”

“jesus,” abby laughed, picking a leaf out of your hair. “was she hot?”

“was she hot? is that seriously all you’re gonna say?”

“...well?”

“i hate you so much… but yeah, she was.” you admit, defeat obvious in your tone. you’re well aware that this would’ve been a lot easier for you if you didn’t find the dumb skater attractive. you’d been close enough to her face to see every detail… her freckles, her eyes, her lips— damn it. you couldn’t get her out of your head.

this felt like a sick joke.

abby clapped her hands together. “this isn’t a completely bad thing! did you get her number?”

“no, abby, i didn’t get her number. i was too busy trying to get her away from me because she was stupid and annoying.”

“you’re no fun, could’ve got yourself a skater girl.” she frowned. “are you okay though?”

“you should’ve led with that question, you know?” you huff, looking at the scrapes on your palms again. “i’m fine.”

“yeah, yeah. i should’ve.” abby tosses a pastry towards you. “here, for your troubles, on the house. go sit down in the break room for a little bit, you look like a mess.”

“gonna ignore the last part. thanks, abs.”

──── ✧《✿》✧ ────

──── ✧《✿》✧ ────

“jesus fucking christ.” ellie mumbled to herself, hopping off her board before she opened the door to the small vinyl store she worked at.

“late again, williams— oh. oh wow. you look like shit.” austin, the owner of the shop spoke, nudging ellie as she walked by. he was wearing a stupid smirk on his face which made ellie more aggravated.

asshole.

“real nice.” ellie grumbled, putting up her skateboard and backpack. “sorry for being late, won’t happen again, i just— some people are so stupid, you know?”

“by ‘some people’ do you mean you?” he laughed, spinning on his chair. he mocked the way ellie spoke, doing a high pitched voice that sounded nothing like her.

god, he was a 30 year old man-child, but he pays her… so… whatever. she’ll deal.

“ha-ha. good one.”

“ya gonna tell me what happened or are ya gonna leave me guessin’?”

“what happened is people don’t know how to walk anymore.” she scoffed, taking stock of the money she had to count before putting it in the drawer. “so fucking stupid.”

“by the looks of it you don’t know how to walk anymore, either. you gonna be able to work? i’m not payin’ ya to sit around, so if i need to call someone else in…”

she glared at him, trying to see if he’d explode if she stared hard enough.

he was right though, unfortunately, ellie was walking like she had just learned how to. it wasn’t the worst injury she’s ever got from skateboarding, but it was definitely inconvenient.

“yeah, i’ll be fine.” ellie snapped, shifting her weight to her good foot to avoid making her injury any worse. “jesus christ, it’s a twisted ankle. i’m not missing a limb.”

“but—“

“drop it.”

he put his hands up in mock surrender, the smirk still on his face. “oooookay, okay. whatever you say williams. you were still late though, let’s go back to talkin’ about that. what’s the count at now? is this the fifth or sixth time this month?”

“i’m sorry, i’m sorry. shit’s hard when you don’t have a car.” ellie sighed, punching in the numbers on her register. “i’ll do better. today was not my fault, though.”

“am i gonna have to be more strict with you? everyone else shows up on time, you know?”

“yeah, yeah. whatever.” ellie rolled her eyes, trying to focus on work and push the pain out of her mind. “everyone else has a car.”

ellie really did not like austin. his whole holier-than-thou attitude irked her to no end.

still, it beat being jobless, so she knew she shouldn’t complain.

“don’t let it happen again.”

“i won’t, i swear. i’m really sorry.”

“right, okay, i’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick, you alright out here?”

she bit her tongue, holding back a groan.

austin ‘going to the bathroom’ was his way of saying that he’s gonna get really fucking stoned and then sit around and do nothing all day. this was a daily occurrence, at this rate.

“yeah, yeah, i’m good.” ellie mumbled, shoving away the annoyance she felt when he walked past her.

austin was a dickhead, but he was never outright mean, not really. he just… he thought he was better than everyone. a classic ego-centric prick.

as much as she hated him, she did like having a job— and being able to afford a place to sleep at night.

“ohhh, ellie, i gave you more shifts, like you asked.” he said before he walked out, smiling at her. “take a look at the schedule when ya get the chance.”

he has to be kidding.

she’s been begging for more shifts since god knows how long ago, and he decides to give her more now? when she doesn’t even know how she’s gonna be able to make it to work?

amazing. just what she wanted!

“great.” ellie muttered, shooting him a glare even though he was already gone. “more hours that i don’t know how the hell i’m gonna get to.”

she shook her head, austin wasn’t worth getting this pissed about— especially when he did try to do what she asked.

the store was never busy in the morning, so she sat in austins chair, finally taking a second to herself. she went over her options on how this was going to go.

she could have asked dina for a ride, if dina wasn’t off on some work trip about three hours away for the next two weeks, taking her and jesses shared car with her.

terrible timing.

she’d take public transportation if it was reliable and also if she didn’t have a few bad experiences with it already.

that wasn’t really a good option.

uber was definitely not an option. she already was going to have to buy new glasses and eventually pay for her phone to get fixed, she wasn’t about to drop $50 a day on ride.

she was screwed.

nothing was working out for her right now— the universe was laughing at her, just like it always did.

she wanted to kick and scream, but that wouldn’t help anything, plus she wouldn’t be able to kick very well right now.

oh well… she’d be fine, she’d just have to push through it.

her phone buzzed in her pocket and she winced when she seen the cracked screen again, it was so wrecked that it barely let her type in her password.

──── ✧《✿》✧ ────

──── ✧《✿》✧ ────

was ellie stupid for agreeing to go out of her way when she was already struggling to walk? yes.

does she care? no.

jesse was a good guy, he’s done a shit ton of favors for her, so this was the least she could do.

she’d never been to the bakery, but she always smelled it when she’d pass by, and it always looked like it’d be good. she did deserve a little treat after the day she had, anyways.

thank you jesse and jesse’s money.

when ellies shift is over, she feels so much worse than she did earlier, and austin repeating that ellie looked like shit over and over again wasn’t helping.

ugh.

“you’re a wreck, williams—“

“—goodbye austin, byeee. i’m leaving, out the door, shifts over. see you tomorrow.” she slammed the door shut, letting out a frustrated sigh as she got on her board again. “god. fuck off.”

the bakery wasn’t far, it was literally right across the street, but it felt like it was miles away to ellie. she leaned on the wall for a second to catch her breath before she walked inside.

it was a cute shop, one of those places you see on pinterest or instagram, with the led light signs and fake plants, it was actually really nice. she doesn’t know why she never came here before.

“let me know if i can help… oh god. it’s you.”

she looks over at you and she starts to wish the fall had just killed her on impact.

“please… pretend like this morning didn’t happen. i don’t want to deal with arguing right now.” ellie sighs, not giving you time to reply to her before she goes into saying her order.

she looked at your name tag as she paid, she could barely see what it said, her eyes squinting slightly as she tried to make out your name.

you scribbled little smiley faces and stars around your name, which was cuter than ellie would like to admit.

“go sit, i’ll bring your stuff to you after i box them, ‘kay?”

“i can wait here.“

“sit.”

“fine.”

she sat at one of the booths, attempting to use her phone without losing a finger. she wasn’t even paying attention to the content, just scrolling mindlessly as the memories of this morning replayed in her mind over and over again.

she was hoping to never see you again.

maybe coming here was a mistake.

“here.” you say after a few moments, placing the boxes on the table. “enjoy.”

you were being kind, but she could read behind the curtness of your tone.

you thought she was dumb. she could always tell by the way you talked to her; that look of disdain on your face.

“thanks.” she said, and then the silence took over again. it was obvious that neither of them wanted to start another conversation after the way the last one ended.

ellie couldn’t help but notice how just scraped up your hands were. you had bandages on them, but the blood that seeped through was bright red, like it was demanding to be looked at.

demanding ellie to feel bad for what she did.

damn it, she really should’ve just paid attention this morning.

would’ve saved her a lot of trouble.

she got up, sucking her teeth and hissing as she shifted her weight. she leaned on the table for balance as a few curse words left her mouth.

“god, you’re the dumbest person i’ve ever met.” you declared, confirming her suspicions.

she scoffed, trying to shake the pain away from her ankle.

man, this sucked.

“shut the hell up.” ellie snapped. “you don’t have to be so snarky, you know? i’m already dealing with the consequences of my shitty morning, you can drop the whole, ‘i’m better than you’ bullshit. if you listened earlier, you’d have known i said that i have no other choice.”

“i did listen, idiot. i don’t mean to sound like i’m trying to be better than you, okay? i’m sorry. but you seriously don’t have anyone that can help you out? do you have friends?”

“i have friends, asshole. they’re just either busy or i don’t want to inconvenience them. what’s it matter to you anyways?”

you don’t really have an answer, you’re not sure why it matters. maybe it’s because ellie looked really miserable, or maybe it’s because it had been partially your fault that she’s hurt… or maybe both. but you couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt about the situation she was in.

“i have a car.”

ellie paused, looking up at you. she wasn’t sure if she heard you correctly, or if this was just some weird, shitty joke.

“okay? congratulations?”

“don’t make me spell it out.” you reply, annoyance clear in your tone. “i’m saying, you’re obviously hurt, and it’s kinda my fault, so… if you needed a ride…”

“no.”

“don’t be stubborn. look, i get it, we’re not on the best terms right now, but i can’t just let you go like this without at least offering, y’know? plus, you seem like you could use the help.”

ellie’s mind was screaming at her to accept— it was logical. you offered a ride, she needs a ride, she should accept your offer.

“i could be a serial killer for all you know. you don’t even know my name.”

“yeah, okay. you? a serial killer? i’d just run away. not like you’d be able to chase after me.”

“hey, i can run pretty damn fast, you know?” ellie hissed. if she wanted, she could definitely chase you down… but she’d rather not do that at the moment. that was probably not a great idea. “hell, i could be an axe murderer.”

“what’s your name?”

“huh?”

“are you dumb?”

“…it’s ellie.”

“‘kay, ellie, now i know your name and if you’re observant— which i doubt but i’m gonna play devils advocate— you know mine. nice to meet you. now we know each other. i’m not gonna sit here and play 21 questions, do you want me to take you to your place or not?”

“what if you kill me anyways?” she asked, she was kidding, she just wanted to piss you off.

“i am not gonna fucking— you know what, you’re annoying. never mind.”

“wait. i’m sorry.”

fuck.

maybe this whole thing about you wasn’t so bad. you were just— abrasive.

she swallowed, forcing herself to stay calm. “i’ll take a ride.”

“what’s the magic word?”

“die.” ellie hissed. “you’re not funny.”

“almost! that’s four words. do you want a hint?”

ellie stared at you blankly for a few seconds before answering. “i am not saying please.”

“you just said it.” you grinned. “look, i get off at 6:30, that’s like… 20 minutes from now, if you don’t mind waiting. i’ll come get you when i’m off, sound good?”

“yeah. that sounds good.”

this is such a bad idea.

[adventuringblind]

Drive With You Forever

Chapter 12.1: More group texts

Max Verstappen x Charles Leclerc x Lando Norris x Reader x Oscar Piastri

Chapter summary: some more chaotic group texts for your enjoyment

Warnings: Sexual innuendo and utter chaos

Notes: My notes are screaming at me to stop

Previous <-

Masterlist

Oscar the Unfazed

Y/N: Lando, I swear on your favorite McLaren hoodie that if you don't fix this right now, I will not hesitate to break your bones.

Maxy: care to share with the group?

Lan: I may have sent a few messages to Oscar from her phone 🫣

Charlie: and you did this why?

Lan: Because I want my girlfriend and my teammate to get along?

Y/N: Lies and slander

Y/N: it's fine now though

Y/N: he said thanks for the compliment

Lan: That's it?

Charlie: wdym that it? What did you say?!

Y/N: he called Oscar the 'epotime of male physique'

Maxy: lan...

Maxy: you out yourself in these situations and now I have to do something about it

Charlie: I have so many ideas after the stunt he pulled with Carlos yesterday

Lan: before I get my ass whooped can we all agree that Oscar is unfazed by everything???

We should start a band

Lan: So here me out

Lan: we should start a band

Maxy: I have no musical talent

Y/N: Charlie would be sore from carrying us

Oscar: I can play the kazoo

Charlie: I forgot he's here now

Charlie: genuinely panicked

Oscar: I feel so loved -_-

Charlie: What would we be called anyway?

Y/N: Charlie and the untalented

Lan: the music man plus friends

Maxy: Charles and the Ferrari strategist

Oscar: why that one?

Maxy: Because similar to them, we also would not be helping Charles in any way

Oscar's first post race celebration

Y/N: I feel like at this rate Max is going to get a complex

Y/N: And it's not fair. I don't even get to join in anymore :(

Charlie: But you like being told what to do? So Max winning is a good thing, no?

Lan: He makes a point

Lan: Last time I placed higher then them you cried

Maxy: We all cried because you tease for to long

Oscar: I've been informed I'm invited to whatever this is?

Charlie: 👀

Charlie: did Lando explain?

Oscar: Indeed, he did ;)

Maxy: whatever he told you is a lie

Maxy: he's not innocent

Oscar: as I've found

Y/N: 🫢

Charlie: oh please share, Chéri

Oscar: I think you underestimate me

Oscar: I may be the youngest, but I am certainly not fazed by Lando

Y/N: Did you actually manage to make him behave???

Y/N: Oscar has my respect

Lan: It's not what you think it is

Maxy: and here I thought those marks were from us

Maxy: Nice work Oscar

Y/N: Lan... there's three of them now

Lan: means triple the fun ;)

Oscar and Daniel

Oscar: I have a question

Lan: yes?

Oscar: Does Daniel know?

Charlie: unfortunately yes

Charlie: he lacks any kind of boundaries

Maxy: If he touches you, I'm obligated to throw punches

Oscar: Do I want to know what happened?

Y/N: Max and Charlie traumatized him

Maxy: well deserved mind you

Maxy: he ignored boundaries and hurt Land and Y/N

Oscar: ohhhhh

Oscar: Lando mentioned this once

Oscar: I remember it vividly because he didn't say all the details, but I got mildly protective

Lan: It was his quartet awakening

Lan: if we're not careful we're going to get the entire grid

Charlie: Absolutely not

Maxy: Daniel is a no

Y/N: good thing he's not on the grid then 👀

Y/N: For now at least

Maxy: WHAT DO YOU KNOW??

True Crime

Lan: I'm scared

Charlie: why? Did the cats get mad at you again?

Lan: No

Lan: Y/N and Oscar are watching a true crime documentary and it's scary

Maxy: we're living with a superhero

Maxy: I promised Charles we'd have dinner tonight

Maxy: well be home in a couple of hours so play nice until then

Y/N: Lan, in hindsight, this helps protect us if you think about it

Oscar: exactly because we'll know what to look for

Oscar: and how to hide a body

Someone is late

Maxy: the jet was supposed to take off ten minutes ago

Maxy: explain to me why Y/N and Charles are the only ones here

Lan: uh.... Oscar overslept

Lan: definitely no other reason

Y/N: you stayed in Oscar's room last night

Y/N: did you nit wake him up?

Lan: but he looks so peaceful

Os: I'm litterally awake

Os: don't pin this on me

Charlie: somone better explain

Maxy: at this point I don't care

Maxy: just get here or I'm leaving you two behind

Os: it's Landos fault

Os: Someone decided to try something ridiculous

Charlie: what else is new?

Maxy: estimated time then? Do you two need help?

Os: with help maybe 10 minutes. Without help then possible another hour

Y/N: I saw you two just now and Lando I don't understand how you managed to bend like that

Y/N: you're so lucky I lobe you

Maxy: next time please pull stupid stunts when we're home

I'm still learning

Y/N: when were you guys going to tell me that school lasts all day?

Y/N: I wish I could've gone to school

Os: I won't speak for everybody, but my school was good aside from the part where I wanted to do anything else

Lan: it's not as good as you might think

Charlie: Most of us didn't go to regular school or had to drop out

Maxy: Seb used to make me and Y/N do some sort of educational activity together

Maxy: So I'd say my school was great later on.

Os: Wait, did you not go to school Y/N?

Y/N: Did I not tell you guys?

Y/N: I didn't leave my property for 15 years

Max: she was really clueless

Charlie: Actually, how did you learn? Like to read and write and do math?

Y/N: As much as I hate him, my dad is incredibly smart

Maxy: no your dad is evil

Lan: try disturbed

Charlie: should be burned at the stake

Os: slowly cut up into tiny peices

Y/N: you guys are scaring me...

Sweatshirt roulette

Maxy: remember how we said we weren’t going to put Oscar in a compromising situation?

Charlie: Yes

Y/N: Yes

Lan: Yes

Os: Yes

Maxy: then why on earth have the lovely papaya duo swapped sweatshirts?

Lan:…………..

Os: in out defense our sweatshirts are practically the same

Y/N: aren’t you four in the driver briefing??

Charlie: Yes and Logan has been snickering behind them nonstop

Lan: I was wondering why it smelled different

Os: and you didn’t say anything?

Lan: Idk maybe you slept in it or something?

Maxy: Logan whispered something… tell me what it was -_-

Os: He started singing the Pokémon theme song

Os: Then he said I’ve been caught

Lewis & Seb

Lewis: Can you come get the kids? they are being chaotic again and its scaring me

Seb: Your an Adult

Seb: Just tell them to stop

Lewis: Max is chasing Daniel through the paddock

Lewis: Nvm

Lewis: He caught him and is dragging him off somewhere.

Seb: Not surprising

Lewis: that’s concerning…

Lewis: I swear they are like hormonal teenagers

Lewis: And your daughter is collecting drivers like Pokémon.

Seb: and you weren’t like that at their age?

Seb: I remember a few times where I caught you doing things

Lewis: I thought you said you’d never bring that up!

Seb: Yet here we are

Seb: complain about them again, and I won't hesitate to tell all five exactly what you were like

~

Next ->

@styles-sunflower @purplephantomwolf @boiohboii @reblog-princess-blog @jjsprobablywrong @jayda12 @faithm120601 @eugene-emt-roe @lpab @yaaadii @80sloverry @spongebeck3101 @eviethetheatrefreak @chanshintien @vellicora @hollie911 @pretty-little-bunny382728

[smallplaceinthecosmos]

With wild life completely finished now I feel like I can say definitively that, while all the different wild cards were VERY technically impressive and I absolutely appreciate all the work that went into them, for something like the life series they did take over too much and got in the way of people having fun I think. Impulse said he'd enjoy doing a series that went back to basics with just the three lives again and I agree that likely would have been more engaging to me personally. I caught myself dropping off watching some folks for some of the later episodes - and granted some of that was also a combination of Skizz being my main pov and finals coming up so I'm busier right now! But a lot of it was just that the wild cards kind of took over and it just wasn't as engaging as the earlier seasons were to me.

The only exception to this I think is the superpowers one, and I think that could've been a gimmick for a whole series all on its own and it would have been more entertaining to me. Getting to see people get used to their powers and learning how to use them creatively, maybe with a lot more time and effort put into developing and adding features to the powers to make them more interesting - especially adding more weaknesses and such, maybe making ways for specific people to counter each other or something similar - would have still left room for a lot more character interactions, rivalries and alliances to become more solidified, and still been a very fun new twist on the series to watch. (Maybe that's too similar to the origins mod, but I digress.)

I'm VERY sad to say the snails were the wild card that makes this issue the most obvious. Lots of people died to their snails, in ways that were inevitable (BigB) or unsatisfying or excessive - and a lot of people died to them during the finale (BigB AGAIN poor guy, but also Scar and Impulse for his yellow life I think?); a lot of the wild cards, but especially this one, would have been VERY entertaining for one off videos, but were ill suited to a life series.

Honestly if this life series had been a series of single unconnected videos without the life series stakes attached i think that would've made it a lot better. There was nothing added to these videos being interconnected, and in fact I think having them be, say, single unconnected hardcore challenges would've added to the entertainment value because there wouldn't have been the frustration of getting killed by your snail or dying of starvation multiple times in a row putting you at a disadvantage for the whole rest of the series. I'm thinking of Skizz and Pearl specifically when I say this, but I think unsatisfying deaths like that - ones that were inevitable given the nature of the wild cards and not just bad luck - happened to every player except maybe Gem and Joel.

Less catastrophic wild cards might have worked too. Like the shrinking/growing one was of appropriate magnitude I think, or if the one where you could eat anything had only been randomized once or twice, that might have been good. The time dilation one and all the mobs getting randomized were also ok but I'm pretty ambivalent about them personally. The food randomization as it was, the trivia, and the snails monopolized things too much to let anyone get anything done i think. And as aforementioned the superpowers should have been a longer series on its own imo.

Although honestly I don't know if these issues were forseeable? Or at least if someone presented the concept for wild life to me - even with all the wild cards coded and playtested, with everything ready to go - that I would have been able to predict how much they would take away from that player interaction aspect. This may be one of those things that could only be learned in hindsight. I'm still very much looking forward to any future life series and I still enjoyed this one despite my nitpicking! At the end of the day I just hope Grian remembers that bigger isn't always better and this series was good evidence of that, at least in my personal opinion.

[moongothic]

So, back in early 2023, our local yarn shop sadly closed down, and I got some Really Nice Yarn at a really, really good discount. Like I would not have bought this Malabrigo yarn ever had it not been on discount. And, because it's nice yarn, I had been saving it up for a good, long while. Mainly because I had other projects I wanted to finish first, but also because this Really Nice Yarn, and I wanted to make something really nice with it, with care.

I wanted to make something wearable with this yarn, but at the time I had little knitting experience. I do love making things in crochet, but I don't like crochet on wearables, and crochet eats up so much more yarn I did not want to risk running out of yarn. So yeah, I left the yarn to wait, and over 2023 I got better at knitting by just knitting a lot of small shit, and this year I made my first knitted sweater. With all that I did finally get enough confidence to finally get working with this yarn. And over the last year I had had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to make with it specifically.

I wanted to try to make a colorwork sweater.

Now specifically, I wanted to practise doing colorwork. A traditional colorwork sweater (with colorwork all across the yoke and maybe even the whole thing) seemed like too much for me to figure out, like that's a lot of floats to manage and tension to figure out. For a long while I was thinking a peppermint themed sweater with vertical stripes could be super cute, and relatively simple (at least in design) but also the floats of that intimidated me a lot. But also, I'm working with red and white here, what else can I do with this color palette? I did also think about knitting like a ribcage pattern on the sweater, but that also intimidated me a little bit.

Then I had another idea; what if I do a sweater with an intarsia section? That would allow me to practise doing colorwork, managing floats and figuring out my tension, but at a smaller scale. I can just do a topdown raglan like my previous/first sweater, and amp up the difficulty just a little bit (instead of a lot) And... yeah, with this colorpalette in mind, I had one idea for what I could try to knit; a bleeding, anatomical heart.

So I bullshitted a chart together

(Blew it up to a bigger size when actually using it)

And I just. Got to knitting.

Honestly I don't even have much to say about the knitting process, it went smoothly and I had fun, although I was very worried about my tension the whole time, unsure if I was knitting it too tight or too loose, and praying blocking the sweater would help it in the end.

But yeah, once the knitting was done, it was time to block.

Took one photo of my floats before blocking

And then. Disaster struck.

Now, in hindsight, thinking about it deeply, I think the seller at the yarn store might've actually warned me about this, but I had completely forgotten about it until now. But the red dye started bleeding from the yarn while blocking. I had a fucking meltdown y'all. Like I started seeing the water in the lil tub I was blocking the sweater in turning a little pink and I was getting worried, I pour the water out and rinse the sweater with running water hoping the red dye hadn't stuck to the white yarn, but it had. In utter desperation I flung this thing straight into the washing machine (either a wool cycle or a quick wash), hoping a quick rinse would help the red dye come off. I did so much shit, in complete panic, just desperate to make my sweater not pink.

But it was too late, I had been too slow to react.

The white yarn, previously a stark white, now has a pink undertone to it.

Okay it's not so bad, you can definitely see it better in person than in the photo, but regardless, after all the time I spent working on this damn thing the dye bleeding really did just wreck me, to the point I left the sweater to sit by itself for a month, still kind of unfinished, because I could not bring myself to even look at it.

But yeah, eventually, I got over the yarn staining, and returned to the sweater. I had some loose ends that needed to be weaved in still, yes, but also.

My colorwork was kind of shit and I had to do something about it.

I had done a decent job with the red floats, maybe a bit too tight in some places but not too bad. The white floats however, were far too fucking loose, and so there was massive gaping on the sides of the colorwork. And while I could kind of pull the white floats inwards, they would come loose again and the gaping holes would return.

A normal person would realize you just have to frog the whole sweater and redo it because there's no fixing shit tension like this. But, look. If there's something I've learned from doing comics, it's that while I could spend months trying to master this one thing, I could also, instead, just call it a day and move onto the next thing. Or, in this case, try to bandaid the issue and improve my tension with my next colorwork project (whenever that may happen).

So I did spend some time trying to find any suggestions on how one could try to "fix" this shit tension, but I couldn't really find anything. But after futzing around with the yarn and the floats, I wondered... If I somehow managed to hold down the white floats on the inside of the sweater, could I not artificially tighten the tension and fix the gaping?

So I grabbed a small crochet hook and...

You know when you drop a stitch when knitting and then rescue it with a crochet hook, looping each round of yarn with the next? Yeah, I just. Did that. Creating a little chain stitch. And just to hold THAT down and keeping from unravelling, I grabbed a little bit of sewing thread and knotted it at the top of the stitch so I can't fall out.

Yeah, this is not an Elegant Solution, this is an Improper Knitting Technique and Most Shameful, I should just frog the project and redo it and Git Good.

But like.

It kinda really did work, man.

Now I did pull the chain a little too tight in a few spots so I created new issues (in the form of buckling) lmao, but like. There's no more gaping holes. Like, I dunno what to tell you man, it kinda worked, the main issue I was having and most unhappy about is gone. Like I wanna take that W, man.

Anyway, there were other issues with the sweater, a quick rundown:

I made the sleeves too long, the yarn switch was meant to happen at the same height as the torso but the sleeves really stretched the fuck out when blocking and so not only is the color change in the wrong spot but also they're just too long. Whoops. (Thankfully I can just fold the sleeves over, it's just the ribbing won't be the same lenght as the bottom of the sweater)

I dunno what I did but the sleeves are a bit too big and so the fabric of the sweater just kinda creates these weird folds in the upper arm that annoy the shit out of me (I'm just confused because I did it the same as my previous sweater but I didn't have this problem with it??)

The yarn is thin, and so the sweater is shockingly seethru. Like, you can see the black Roadhog Overwatch t-shirt I'm wearing underneath it, which is mildly annoying. Just, gotta wear white and/or plain t-shirts underneath this thing, I guess.

When bullshitting my chart together I may have stretched the heart out a little too much so it looks maybe a smidge too elongated, and generally speaking the heart looks a bit off (but that's more of a "I don't know how to create an image that reads nicely when knit" problem) (Also I could fix some of it by duplicate stitching on top, if I felt like it)

In hindsight, maybe using this superwash wool wasn't a great pick for colorwork since the yarn won't stick to itself (which you would want with colorwork, right?)

So the human heart lies about in the center of your chest if a smidge to the left, and so I tried to do that "just a smidge to the left of the center" positioning. And like, while the pattern did go exactly where I wanted it to go, I did the math right, maybe in hindsight I should've moved it just a little bit more to the left because right now it looks like... unintentionally off-center??? Like had I moved it 5 more stitches to the left it'd probably look more intentional (despite the position being intentional to begin with)

Aside from that though, it turned out Relatively Decent. Not as good as my previous sweater, but it's fine, I'll wear it, and I learned a lot during this process. And that's what really matters, doesn't it.

[technicianuprisingau]

Kirbtober 2024 Companion Pieces - Week One

A companion lore piece to the ongoing Kirbtober, using the list by @paintpanic. You can see the full art collection for this week here, or by clicking read more after scrolling through.

Day 1: Dream

Something that Kirby has always wanted to have was to have a biological family. His parents were killed off by Nightmare's forces thanks to a traitor destroying the base they were all in - he was one of countless children sent into separate spaceships in hopes that the GSA would be able to track them. As the result, he grew a bit lonely despite the amounts of friends and chosen family around him.

He has very little information regarding his parents - all he knew was that Popopo was a great person, really, from Dedede ironically enough. But even that wasn't enough. Kirby wished he would know more, but most of that data regarding his parents have been deleted by the NME long ago, further complicating things.

And thus, there were times when he would sleep and dream regarding the existence of those parents. He would play with them, or at least what he THINKS they'd be like. Those dreams are, at times, dreams he wished he didn't have to wake up from. But...

It does make him wonder if things would've went differently for him, had that fateful betrayal and attack never happened.

Day 2: Revenge

3 years since the Technological War and Team Starstruck are now full-time members of the Galactic Soldier Army. They have been known for being impressive new meats for the most part, and Kirby is still working very hard. He still longs to know what kind of people his parents are like.

But the thing was, that became the least of his problems.

Without his knowledge, the same traitor who caused the death of his parents returned to the organization... disguising himself as a different person. The two were a bit close as fellow recruits, until once again, just like his parents, he was betrayed.

The traitor was here to finish the job, and also to avenge Nightmare. He even boasted regarding the puffball's parents dying by his hands. And so, for the first time in such a long, long, long long while...

Kirby saw red.

As if all the love and kindness in his heart were drained off, with a flick of a switch, Kirby went from the friendly ball of hope into a killing machine driven by hatred. It was an unnerving scene, watching as the kid went from being so chippy and happy into a silent, merciless fighter. The rest of the team tried to stop him - not just the fact that they should've been arresting the traitor, Kirby was rushing at the traitor when he was at his full power. But everything didn't go smoothly, Kirby shrugged off and even attacked his allies back when they try to reason or intervene to get him to stop. And eventually, it was too late.

There was a murder happening that day, and Kirby ended up being demoted for that.

When he recovered from it all, he felt regret as he essentially broke the rules of the organization, and additionally, had he opted to just arrest the guy, he would perhaps even be able to lick more information regarding his parents. Heck, he would've died, but he didn't. He got over it eventually, and took a while to be re-promoted, but he has been trying to reign in his inner rage since then...

So yes. This is what the team calls The Incident(TM).

Day 3: Song

Mike Technician Mode, huh. Never really posted this (alongside other Technician Modes - should have done so!), so consider this a teaser. Yes, you can connect analog devices in there too, like a wired microphone.

Definitely a fun thing, especially when this mode is powered by sound.

Day 4: Headcanon

On hindsight this might be better off for OC... But oh well.

Bandana's family name is Servician. This family are coincidentally working in food producing and manufacturing of sorts - basically, they cook and bake and make drinks. Working in the culinary industry of sorts. Despite their contributions there, their business has purposefully chosen to remain small.

This art shows some prominent members of the family, from top left to bottom right we have:

Cloche Servician: also known as Hat Dee. The head of the family and known to not be too noticable - I think we know where Bandee's 'mundaneness' comes from. He may look like nothing special, but he is the jack of all trades. A decent cook, gardener, and accountant.

Sieve Servician: also known as Sieve Dee or Baker Dee. Bandee's mom. She does most of the baking in the family, and is pretty sweet. She tends to be a bit doting towards kids, so you bet Bandee and Kirby got smothered by her love a lot. It was her strawberry shortcake recipe that made Kirby love that specific cake.

Canopy Servician: also known as Parasol Dee. Yes, he double duties as the 'Parasol helper representative'. Bandee's uncle from his father's side. He is a bartender who works in Orange Ocean, setting up a bar near the Comet Harbor where Meta Knight's crew lives. Calm, can be just a tiny bit cranky, the team thinks he is pretty cool. There was one time Bandee and Robobot did a part-time job at the bar. It was kinda funny.

Cleaver Servician: also known as Butcher Dee or Cleaver Dee or Meat Dee. Bandee's aunt from his father's side. This one's a riot, pretty much the cool aunt. She sets up a butcher's shop at Floria, selling various types of meat - anything that has legs, apparently are applicable to be sold except actual living people so she has everything from the mundane (chicken, beef, fishes) to just straight up weird (snakes, bisons, etc). She sources these from hunters usually, but does raise her own chicken and eggs. Is married to Punnet.

Punnet Servician: also known as Basket Dee or Gatherer Dee. Bandee's aunt from his mother's side, and is Sieve's twin sister. Punnet sets up a plant produce shop in Floria, just a few blocks away from Cleaver's shop, consisting of fruits and vegetables and miscellaneous plants that can be eaten or used as materials to cook or make medicines out of. Shy and a bit of a scaredy cat sometimes, which makes others wonder how did she stands being around Cleaver, but honestly, it's opposites attract at its finest.

The Servicians still use the Waddle Dees' old method of naming their child - if you are familiar with doljachi tradition that korean parents do to their kids, this is exactly how they used to be named. The first item that a waddle dee finds attachment to when they are still very young becomes their name. The names that came out of it tend to be weird however, so slowly in the modern era this tradition is either downplayed (by finding less weird names/synonyms of the chosen item) or just erased in its entirety. This is why we have Bandana Servician, because Bandee's item of attachment was a blue bandana.

Day 5: Royal

Oh hey, a headshot of Dedede without his hat. Yes, this AU Dedede has a beard and a small tuff of hair on his head. The latter used to be much longer though in his hey-days.

I should post the rest of refs I have made of other characters - old as they may be, but they are reliable. I may no longer do the Meet the Cast thing honestly, too exhausted, but uh... We will get to that, someday.

Day 6: Ancient

Ah, the Mistilteinn sword...

This blade is one created by, ironically, the Jambastians. Before the great dark incident and the big war that separated them from the Halcandrans, this strange relic was crafted due to assimilation with the Halcandrans' own magic. It mysteriously went missing during the big war itself.

This blade is particular uninteresting on first sight, but those with extensive knowledge of magic knows that SOMETHING is just off with this blade, and they'd be right. This sword has the ability to turn into any weapon based on one's memory. Essentially, as long as the wielder remembers the appearance of the weapon and how it works, the Mistilteinn can copy the appearance and even powers of the weapon, albeit a bit weaker.

...Magolor found it by sheer f^cking luck and guess which sword he decided to mimic with it for the first time because he was desperate as hell to kill the literally corrupted tree.

Since then, the weapon has been his "in case of emergency break glass" card. Or at least one of them. It's weird, okay. Trust me, he had lots of explaining to do when Kirby and Meta asked him about it. Oops.

[thesims4blogger]

In Other News: “Life By You” Is Officially Canceled

Less than a month after having its release delayed for a third time, “Life By You” is now officially canceled. The news was shared on the game official forums.

The open world life simulator had been in development for years by Paradox Tectonic, led by former The Sims head Rod Humble. The final announced release date was June 4th, after a series of videos with videogame influencers showing off its features.

You can read the whole post below.

” Hi all, Sadly, we’ve decided to cancel the release of our long-awaited life sim Life by You. This was an incredibly difficult call to make and is a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community’s expectations. We realize this raises some large questions; here we hope to shed at least some light on why we opted to cancel, rather than delay as we communicated earlier. Life by You has been in the works for a long time and we’ve been very excited about the promise and the potential of this game. Our hope was always that it would be able to leave a mark in this exciting and new genre for us. That’s why we’ve opted to delay it twice, to give the studio and the game a fair shot at realizing the potential we saw. For each delay we made, we’ve seen incremental improvements, which in hindsight may well have led us to focus on details rather than the whole picture. A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas. Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game, it became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain. This is not to say the game has not shown any promising qualities; Life by You had a number of strengths and the hard work of a dedicated team that went into realizing them. However, when we come to a point where we believe that more time will not get us close enough to a version we would be satisfied with, then we believe it is better to stop. This is obviously tough and disappointing for everyone who poured their time and enthusiasm into this project, especially when our decision comes so late in the process. At the end of the day, our job is to release games that are fun, interesting, and challenging for our players, and our every decision should be taken with that purpose in mind. When we get that right, we earn our pay. So, how do we ensure we don’t find ourselves here again? Honestly, there are no real guarantees. Games are difficult to get right, and we’ll definitely make mistakes, which, as these things go, always become painfully apparent in hindsight, but still shouldn’t reach this kind of magnitude regardless. We have to take a long and hard look at what led us here and see what changes we have to make to become better. In the end, our mission remains the same, and we’ll continue to take whatever steps we need to do just that. Sincerely, Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive “

[snowyrey]

looking back on after hours:

it’s beennnn what, 3-ish months since i released after hours publicly?? twas definitely a fun ride and im glad people liked the game as much as they did ^^

it was the 2nd game listed under the “new and popular” section of itch.io and was one of the top visual novels on the site for a while which is kinda crazy to me lol

thaaaat being said the game is far from perfect(i think a lot of people noticed lol) so i kinda wanna go over what stuck out the most to me personally- i guess as a personal guide for whenever i release another game

obviously the biggest issue was the fact that it just didn’t work for a lot of people- some people would get an error message right before the final hour and couldn’t make any progress from there, which meant they couldn’t get any of the endings

in hindsight i probably should’ve gotten even more people to playtest the game than i did, just to get more input and make sure i covered all my bases

that was probably the biggest issue gameplay wise, but ofc there were little things that piled up like the lack of a skip button and an unreliable save system that a lot of people expected to work like renpy(alas i was not using renpy and literally did not know how to implement an identical save system so L for me)

as for the story- the two things i wish i could’ve done better were making vanny more of a present and real threat, as well as making the ending more climactic(looking back on it uh yeah, basically nothing happens in like, half the endings)

that’s mostly what i’ve gotten from seeing people play it, soooo i wanna try keeping that in mind for next time, whenever that may be

as for after hours- again i don’t plan on making a continuation or anything for the game(at least not for a while)

might revisit it for bug fixes but that’s kinda it

[princesscolumbia]

Pride Month 2024 - Day 13

I swear the longer I work in a corporate environment the more I want to be an independent author.

Double Isekai

Summary:

We all know the isekai, the most common being a person dies in our universe and awakens in another, often fantastical universe, very often in their favorite fiction media. To even have an isekai event, the multiverse must, by definition, exist. And in the multiverse, if something can be imagined, it exists somewhere in the multiverse. So what if one person who's an avid fan of Ranma 1/2 dies? What if they die in two separate timelines? And what if both deaths triggered an isekai? And what if both variants wound up isekai-ing to the same timeline of Ranma 1/2, but in different people? ...and what are the odds of that? i = infinity ^ 4 ^ infinity:1, repeated infinitely. Welcome to the Double Isekai.

This was, in retrospect, a big-ass indicator of the emergence of Christy and I into a system. The parallels are there, though certainly not 100%. I'm not Nodoka nor do I pretend to be, but the concept of "one person being the foundation for two people heavily and inextricably linked" was, in hindsight, kinda obvious.

One thing I'm really enjoying exploring is the neurodivergencies as they existed in the culture of the 1980s through the lense of someone from The Current Year™️. Having lived through the time period as a ND person, myself, with my own diagnoses happening in the latter half of the decade...it wasn't a fun time. All those awful things modern ND people deal with where people refuse to make accommodations or exhibit even a fractional understanding of our situation? It was systemically worse, as in there's so much of that old culture that automatically equated any neurodivergence as [R-slur] that when I sit in on a parent-teacher conference for my autistic daughter and listen to the teachers talk about the steps they took when my daughter wasn't having a good day or how they worked within her hyperfixations I've caught myself crying tears of happiness and relief that she'll never know the struggle of going through all 12 years of American schooling with no support and the default assumption that you're either stupid or being intentionally problematic.

People who've already read what I've put up so far will notice as early as Chapter 3 that I was dropping hints that Akane is on the spectrum, at least this variant of her. I was inspired to write the character as a 'high-functioning' autistic person by a conversation I had on Discord with another Ranma 1/2 fan who lamented that they had once read a comprehensive point-by-point breakdown showing how canon-Akane was a typical example of an undiagnosed autistic girl. Unfortunately, thanks to the absolutely suck-ass search on Tumblr and the enshitification of the search engines, we haven't been able to locate it.

(If you happen to know what we're talking about and have a link, please drop it in the comments or on a reblog 🙏🏻)

[coriander-candlesticks]

I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate religious practice into my life & trying to get over the fear of being...annoying? If that's the right word? It feels a little like tugging on the gods' sleeves when I make more than one offering a day to them even though I know I'm not, like, being rude by *checks notes* giving them things or dedicating time/activities to them. Today I made a dessert in preparation for tomorrow's Pathfinder game and dedicated that time spent baking to Hestia and Aphrodite, and it was really nice! I feel like I'm starting to find my footing despite my worries. I'm also trying to make sure I take time where I'm not thinking about religion at all so that I don't start to ruminate/spiral. It's happened a few times already to varying degrees and it's! Not fun!

It's possible it's hindsight/confirmation bias, but I do think the vibes of my tarot deck changed when I started reaching out to the Greek deities. It makes sense: I was using my deck to reach out to a completely different deity/deities before I started exploring Hellenic polytheism. And it's definitely not in a bad way, just more energetic and...light? When before it was heavier (in a comforting way). I've gotten consistently coherent pulls, too, which is nice.

I've been trying to remember to pour a libation to Hermes at certain street corners when I'm out & about, but I have to make a game plan for when other people are also in the area, even if it's just psyching myself up so I don't look awkward while I do it. I have a pendant that I keep in front of his altar/shrine jar that I try to remember to take with me when I travel, and it's been cool having something in my pocket that's consistently reminding me of him because I check so often to make sure it's still there. There were some...issues with my commute on Monday (a true comedy of errors on the city's part) but the change in routine was a *lot* easier to handle in the morning. Of course, the unusually cool temperature helped, but I do accredit the smooth transition to Hermes because I wasn't stressed at *all* for the vast majority of my commute when I usually would have been wiped from the mental/sensory strain of having to pivot & kinda just hope I guessed right on what to do next. The commute home was a nightmare but I didn't have a whole-ass work day ahead of me after that so the stress didn't matter as much (and I was able to get through the last bus ride & walk from the stop which I wasn't sure I'd have the mental fortitude for).

I'm almost done with the statue of Hermes I've been working on, and I finished a set of alphabet oracle "stones" (squares made from air dry clay...would that technically be closer to potsherds?) tonight. I'll share a picture of them once I finish their bag- I have some leftover green cotton yarn from a recent project that I think will go well with them. We'll see how well they hold up, though I'm not planning on doing the "shake them until one falls out" method so hopefully they'll last a while. I worked on them in the living room this evening, instead of in my room. I'm getting more comfortable showing little elements of what I've been exploring to my housemates; it was nice to be able to sit & paint & listen to the iliad while my friend did his own thing next to me on the couch.

I'm still trying to figure out how to gauge each housemates' potential reactions. It'll probably be fine: friend 1 actively has an altar-esque space and uses tarot cards and a pendulum and friend 2 is friend 1's wife. I'm a bit worried about friend 3 being weird about it, at least at first, but considering he was experimenting with witchcraft-esque things a few years ago (I distinctly remember charms & him discussing which of the wheel of the year days he wanted to observe) I think I'm overthinking things. He's an atheist & his view of witchcraft was, at the very least, *similar* to the psych model, which I think is where the hesitation has been coming from on my end. I have therapy this weekend so I think I'll start bringing things up then. The office my therapist is in openly advertises all sorts of alt/witchcraft things so I think I'll be safe there lol

[loremaster]

GOOD NEWS!

wicked movie… good

ok first of all i gotta say… i shipped gelphie before i really understood People Can Be Gay And I Can Be One Of Those People. i saw the musical on stage and was like. huh…. these two girls should have ended up with each other instead of fiyero. they give me soft feelings. baby’s first yuris…..

i went in with low expectations of course because as we all know movie adaptations of musicals can be very hit or miss, and film adaptations of anything lately have been mostly garbage it seems. but thank GOD they delivered on this one (or at least the first half).

- Honestly out of everything my favorite part has GOT to be the set design. the village, the school, the city, the miniature city, the tower, the FUCKING ROTATING LIBRARY?!?!?!?! coolest shit ever. knocked it out of the fucking PARK.

- costume design was also phenomenal. love all the funny little outfits. the gowns, the shoes, THE shoes, the variation in the school uniforms, the glasses, the sheer amount of Pink Things in glinda’s wardrobe (and the choices of which scenes to wear which shades of pink? spot on)… i’d unironically wear that Froat. gorgeous needle felting. and of course all the funny outlandish costumes in the One Short Day scene were amazing, especially those bouncy men, and those twisty ribbony skirts…

- also speaking of student uniforms i LOVED seeing visibly queer people at shiz. that half-skirt-pants thing was iconic. loved every instance of gender nonconformity, no matter how small. i’d love to rewatch the movie just for that. of COURSE this colorful magical musical world is filled with people like us and thank GOD the director + cast + crew had the brains/heart/courage to display that on screen.

- special shoutout to jonathan bailey whom once again has baffled me with his ability to convincingly fall in love with women on screen… but this time he gets to be a little bi with it! he managed to seduce practically every single student in that school, even boq, hot damn

- loved boq’s little quirk of standing on things to make himself taller. and - can’t remember if this was in the stage version - the line about the hankerchiefs “i cry a lot.” all those little foreshadowing moments made me chuckle. “Get Stuffed.” can’t WAIT to see fiyero get stuffed in part 2 ;0

- side note, i heard they might be adding a new musical number to part 2?!?!? and if it were up to me… i’d love to see some fun scarecrow/tin man/cowardly lion three-part harmonies. they probably won’t do that though since it’d be hard to do so without making dorothy an Actual Character and i like that she’s a faceless plot device in this version of the wizard of oz story. time will tell

- i thought the whole thing was very well cast. even though there were some cases i wish they had gone with better vocalists… (michelle yeoh and jeff goldblum) their acting chops did definitely make up for it so i’m satisfied

- one little detail i really really loved is there’s this illustrated poster of the wizard you see in the background in several shots throughout the movie - and it looks like a bland generic white man… but once they reveal which actor is actually playing the wizard you realize in hindsight… hey it DOES kinda look like jeff goldblum. not super recognizably, but the facial proportions are there. they got his wide set eyes. whichever illustrator did that, you toed the line between accurate and vague soooooooo well. hats off to you

- the one thing that kinda irked me acting wise was ariana grande’s lack of facial animatedness…. i’ll begrudgingly accept it as a Character Choice since she rocked the vocals and the body language (and i know she worked her ass off for her dream role) but oh man. would have loved to see her wrinkle up her face a bit more. sigh.

- cynthia erivo fucking KILLED ITTTTTTT in all respects. i got nothing negative to say about her at all, mwah mwah mwah. she’s gorgeous and she has such a great voice and was such a good choice for the role.

- hair and makeup crew for elphaba killed it too, awesome wig, awesome nails, awesome shades of green in her skin (and the cute little freckles!!!!)…. beautiful. selfishly i thought she looked better with the glasses but that’s a Me Thing. i think everyone would look better with glasses

- staging and choreography was awesome. every number was great. they even managed to make everyone’s least favorite song A Sentimental Man entertaining! the power of cinema! and shadow puppets!

- loved the addition of the other animal characters to Something Bad. aging mustachioed snow leopard…. call me

- and fiyero’s banter with his horse… great way to show what kind of person he is right off the bat: snarky and playful but also got a kind heart and doesn’t look down on anyone.

- i had heard a negative comment (on xitter of all places, should have known) that they padded out the runtime with a bunch of stupid filler but honestly i didn’t think it was stupid. i guess it was frustrating from the point of view of someone who wanted to sing along to the songs as i know them from the obc soundtrack but, like. it made sense. the pacing felt good.

- of all the New Additions to the film (and besides the aforementioned badass rotating library) my favorite was probably glinda’s two besties. they probably had names idk. LOVED them. great comic relief without taking too much attention to themselves. looking forward to seeing them again in part 2…. and i love having no idea what’s going to happen to them. will they recede into the background? get mini character arcs? split apart or stay together? either way they’ve gotta stick around because they are so entertaining to see on screen.

- i can safely say i’m shipping gelphie again. they are very important to me. love this beautifully tragic doomed yuri.

- the little smiles… the gestures… the development of their relationship… the part when they’re laying in bed together looking at each other… AAUUUUGGGHHHHHH MY LITTLE GAY HEART CAN’T TAKE IT

-Do You Think They Explored Each Others’ Bodies Flushed Emoji

- ok but this time. im smart enough at media now. i recognize that fiyero is a Good Character and not just getting in the way of the girls. he can be part of this relationship too. in a perfect world the three of them could all get married together………… but this is not a perfect world

- god. what a great movie. i’m really eager to watch it again already. the level of detail and love that was put into this production is so, so, so clear. thanks to jon chu for recognizing this story is so important to so many people and transferring that onto the big screen with not only fidelity but creativity and passion. from the producer to the director to the cast and crew - especially the crew and ESPECIALLY the section of the crew specifically dedicated to covid management. everyone involved gave their all and, pun intended, i couldn’t be happier. thank goodness!

- oh wait never mind i forgot my least favorite part of the movie. the kristen chenoweth idina menzel cameo was stupid as hell. like they were funny and all but the meta humor was so out of place it took me out of the moment. if i were a kid watching this and i didn’t recognize those people i’d be confused. …they did have cool outfits though.

- ok. can’t wait for part 2. i will wait as long as i need to for it to be Good

[feralkwe]

For the WoL ask

6. how does your wol feel about romance? are they a hopeless romantic, waiting for The One, or are they more casual? do they believe in soulmates?

9. what's in your wol's travel bag? any trinkets? any vital items they cant go without? do they travel light and figure stuff out on the fly, or do they bring way too much with them? (bonus points if you have images!)

why do these always feel like precision strikes from you? (affectionate)

under a cut for your protection.

6. how does your wol feel about romance? are they a hopeless romantic, waiting for The One, or are they more casual? do they believe in soulmates?

i wish kit liked romance a little less, tbh. there is a definite line between romance and love she hasn't yet worked out. she loves easily. romance is harder because it takes work. she's (too) good at one, and so incredibly inexperienced at the other. her young age definitely plays a role in this where what she wants and what she needs may very well be separate things, and they may be incompatible with one another. which makes it all fun to write, but hard to see her go through sometimes, especially the way that being kit and azem and warrior of light are all separate yet the same for her.

she wants romance. she wants to be swept away in the feeling of being wooed and loved and wanted for being her as she is now and not who she once was or the titles she carries. she definitely wants The One (or The Two as her case may be). by the strictest definition she thinks elidibus was her One, which has taken a toll on her. she wants her life with urianger and thancred because she at least has the awareness to know that is the way forward for her if she has any shot at being happy in the here and now. the former was fast and intense and everything she craved (a whole post all on its own), but it is very much colored by hindsight despite how real it was. the latter she has to work and now fight for. i think she's idealized romance in a way that is probably not conducive to realizing it in a functional, stabilizing manner, and that is a lesson she is apparently going to have to learn the hard way. i hope she does, and that the grief passes to let her do so.

she does believe in soul mates. the short answer is 'it's complicated'. the slightly less short answer is 'it's emet-selch and hythlodaeus' in the very literal sense that it's connected to her actual entire soul, but her sundered and partially rejoined self has different wants and needs. the long answer requires a separate post should the mood or an ask strike me.

9. what's in your wol's travel bag? any trinkets? any vital items they cant go without? do they travel light and figure stuff out on the fly, or do they bring way too much with them? (bonus points if you have images!)

kit left golmore with the romantic notion that she would be an adventurer on the road, ready to pick up and go at a moment's notice. falling in with the scions and becoming wol has really allowed her to realize that, and in many ways it suits her. she travels as light as possible. for the most part as long as she has her axe and survival needs, she can handle the rest on the fly. there are very few things she keeps that she can't part with. her axe, an astrologian card (the spear) that urianger gave her when he was trapped on the first and she had to go back to the source, the convocation memory crystals (obviously with one she specifically keeps on her), and most important to her, the azem's crystal.

i don't really have any images. or i have too many that would work that would make an already long post longer. choose whichever suits you lol.

[raitrolling]

📝 Velour

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

The notifications on Velour's phone had been non-stop for the past week. Such is what happens every time this season rolls around.

The kitsune troll, on the other hand, was ignoring them for the time being. He didn't need to respond immediately, as all he could say was a generic response that he currently was not taking reservations for ball outfit slots, and that he will announce when commissions are open and how many he will be taking once the theme is revealed. He'd already posted that on all of his social medias, and while normally he would take the time to respond individually, all he could hear was the tiny voice of his moirail in the back of his head going 'Who cares? Their fault for not reading! Ignore those idiots!'

And, for once, he agreed. He guesses this is just what it means to practice self-care?

Speaking of self-care, that was something he was currently indulging in - If one could call practicing magic a form of self-care. He certainly does, when he's found inspiration to try out new illusions.

Velour's new spell had received praise from everyone he had showed it to so far. Which was only Hazard and Jamie, but still! They loved the floating word illusions! And he thought it was fun too, but... How could he make it better?

Or - what might be equally as fun, - how can he turn it into a prank to impress his mentor?

Kizuna was a lot more difficult to please, especially when it came to minor illusions like the sparkles that Velour enjoyed creating so much, and easily saw through his more complex attempts. It seemed like the more difficult the illusion was to create, the more likely the other kitsune noticed the smaller things that he had overlooked: The texture of an apple disguised as an orange being incorrect, the light hitting a projection of a spooky ghost incorrectly, and Velour's general inability to create illusions with weight and sound.

But, while planning out his design for a poncho he was making for Hazard, Velour had gotten an idea. What if he was able to combine his textiles knowledge with his illusions as a base, just like how he can use ink and paper to write wards? Now that has to impress his mentor, surely!

The cuspblood was sitting at the desk in his sewing room, carefully hand-embroidering a small strip of black fabric with bronze thread. It appeared to be an ordinary bundle of thread upon first glance, but he had asked Jikiro to enchant it for him so that he would be able to channel his own magic through it, similar to the ink pen Jamie had made him. It was only a hunch, and he wasn't sure how well it would work, but it was worth a shot.

If it didn't work, at least Kizuna would have a pretty scrunchie with an interesting pattern on it, he guesses?

Once the elastic is fed through and the loop is sewn up, it might be difficult to tell that the embroidered design is a repeating pattern of the kanji for talk: 話. Or, at least, a very close approximation to the kanji, it was rather difficult to get the strokes correct at both a small scale and using thread.

Not that the symbol mattered, as the entire time he had been sewing the scrunchie together, he was pouring his magic into the threads, weaving the spell into the fibres. He wanted the spell to last as long as possible, even if the scrunchie got no mileage out of it outside of the initial prank.

He stifled a yawn as he fed the elastic into the fabric tube, then used his sewing machine to finish the final steps. He'll definitely need a nap after this, but for now...

"There, done!" Velour exclaimed to himself, looking proudly at his latest creation. "Now, let's try it out!"

He stood up, and made his way over to the full-length mirror so he could witness his own magic in action. As he walked, he took the scrunchie and tied his hair back with it to the best of his ability. In hindsight, maybe a scrunchie wasn't the best idea since Kizuna's hair is about the same length as his own, but he has seen people wear them as bracelets as a fashion statement before. Maybe he can present it to his mentor and say it's that instead?

Anyway, staring at his reflection while feeling glad he cannot see the sad attempt at a ponytail from this angle, Velour took in a deep breath.

"Ah, maybe I should have prepared a proper speech to test, or somethi- Oh!"

As the cuspblood spoke, letters began to pop up and float around him, forming every word that left his mouth. There was a slight delay between what was said and what he could see, but otherwise the spell functioned exactly how he wanted it to.

"Oh! Yes! It's working! It's- Ah, it's taking a while for the words to fade away, maybe I used too much magic after all."

The reflection in the mirror would have shown Velour's embarrassed expression, had it not been for the fact that there was now words floating all around his head and blocking his vision. He waved them away, using another spell to force the illusion to dissipate.

There's definitely a lot more work that'll need to be done with the enchanted thread once he makes a start on making the ponchos for himself and Hazard, but for Kizuna? This prank is annoying enough to be perfect.

[imaginespazzi]

BESTIE! It is good to have you back around. Anything new or just crushed w school work?

First of all, happy W Playoffs Semifinals Day 1 ! And lets go Liberty! (though in all honesty I like all the teams left overall). Cant wait to watch and Im just hoping for no sweeps after the 1st rd provided no 3rd game. Which, if youll allow a soapbox moment, all the series should be at least 5 games and automatically have games at both places! Hill I will die on

Argh. Yeah my final Mystics thought/sentiment basically boils down to ~well better than nothing~ Really curious to see the rules/system the leagues organizes re expansion along w the next draft! Ok slightly surprised by Curt getting the axe but was really floored by Spoon. I guess those organizations seem known for some odd, not necessarily beneficial decision making though.

Its so odd to see her in action in Kentucky gear! Superficial, and maybe Im still just adjusting, but I feel like the VT colors suit her appearance more than the royal blue. I do feel like the weirdness and finality of the change is probs kinda hitting Kitley as official practices for next wcbb season begin, so funny that you mentioned. In fact I saw somewhere on here that she was listening to what was formerly her "Georgia" playlist recently. Though w this girl and her emo ways w music, I dont really know how much meaning to quite attribute to that. And at least just going off my personal observation within the general world of college athletics, this is def the time of year where the recognition of change/a fresh start really sets in for players. And Im sure its true in a sense for Liz, as she realizes that its the fall but for the first time she isnt going back to school. Would think that the playoffs and knee rehab are a providing a decent distraction though!

GH Ch 10 🤌. Possessive Stephie was a great laugh and the beginning of Pookie dramatics + contract discussion have me eager for the next read! (Uncle Drew 🥹)

BESTIE HI so I'm like years too late to answering this but hey at least I'm here!

Lmao choosing tonight to answer this is actually really funny cause in hindsight you did get half of your wish! The Liberty made is so fun to root for them in the semis and have now decided they are going to make is so difficult to root for them in the finals. I was a little conflicted to begin with an after this first final...yeah maybe I need to cool off lmao.

Also a great day to answer this cause we do know the rules now and well....was that late run that established absolutely nothing worth only having ~10% of a chance of getting Paige Bueckers, Mike??? T-Spoon getting the Axe was an insane choice and I have no idea what the Sky is thinking with that. Curt was also such a random choice but mayhaps LA will get Stephanie White now (I say because I can't stand the idea of her going to the Fever)

It's definitely strange not seeing her in the VT uniform and the blue is pretty but just doesn't feel like her yet. And while not the biggest thing, I'm sure it's one of those tiny changes that adds to Liz probably feeling a little bittersweet about this whole time.

Ah yes...the next read that I totally have made so much progress on mmhm

[dirtyoldmanhole]

today in "krad continues to be very normal about gunter fire emblem" i hyper-analyze 3H's teatime preferences to divine up gunter's favorite teas and a few other fun facts ~ :D

so, context:

in Three Houses (FE16), there's a teatime minigame where your avatar drinks tea with selected characters, and try to guess their favorites / favorite conversational topics / etc for bonding points. FE's pretty big on character archetypes across the games (nabarls, jeigans, etc); while it's never a 1:1 as the series does like to subvert the stories and character arcs in some fun ways, you can generally trace a pretty direct line across them a la 'wow innes and shinon sure share more than a few surface-level similarities' and 'man OG!Jeigan, Gunter, and Marcus are cut out of the same cloth at least appearance wise huh'.

tl;dr -- it's easier than you'd think to pick a few 3H characters that echo gunter's archetype/arcs.

since i've played through 3H a few times, the three characters i figured gunter would share at least a higher-than-background-average similarity in archetypes + taste were:

Hubert - loyal advisor that does the dirty work behind the scenes in black to a charismatic royal. definitely holds a not-entirely platonic flame for said princess who had a Fucked Up past. has a tendency to be the disciplinarian for the others. (also both characters are hellaciously kinky bastards but that's just me)

Jeritza - strict instructor turned surprise(!) villain yandere paladin with a more complex backstory than you'd think. even has the black armor in his alter ego, and dislikes talking to others / prefers being alone. (seriously does that sound familiar or what.)

Hanneman - older (ie, definitely over his sixties versus all of the other babies in age) classic jeigan archetype and another instructor, kind but keeps to himself as well.

I could see people debating Hanneman vs Gilbert on technicalities but whatever, this is my post, I'm sticking to this list. :P

so, next step! looking at serenesforest.net's teatime preferences chart, we find out the favorite teas of the previous characters are (common teas in bold) ...

Hubert - Dagda Fruit Blend, Cinnamon Blend

Jeritza - Albinean Berry Blend, Southern Fruit Blend, Honeyed-Fruit Blend, Sweet-Apple Blend

Hanneman - Bergamot, Sweet-Apple Blend, Honeyed-Fruit Blend, Cinnamon Blend

... and surprisingly, there was a very high level of crossover! :o holy shit i was kind of not expecting that lmao. I checked a few of the other characters just to make sure it wasn't the same 5 teas over and over again, and no, these were pretty rare. that to me, reinforces that hunch that says looking into these patterns was worth it.

therefore, it is in my very humble opinion that (in 3H's style), Gunter's favorite teas would be generally the fruitier-sweet flavored ones, plus cinnamon.

subjectively?

fucking hell i love this so much. omg.

it makes so much sense in hindsight; i mentioned before how FE has a lot of fun playing with the archetypes/subversions, and there's something kind of hilariously adorable about the old strict "traditional" masculine dude fucking loving his fruity teas :D;;

gunter's already (ime) an interesting case of wildly subverting his archetype expectations so this is just yet another fun super-stealth easter egg nod.

to that note---you know what that reminds me of? this meme (below) of the bodyguard and the chick swapping drinks so he can have the fruity one and she can have the beer. :D

...

absolutely hilarious fun bonus fact in hindsight:

i almost had this as a scene in the gunter x fcorrin slowburn fic a while back, (yes, seriously, even before this post) but it ultimately got cut out for being ever so slightly gimmicky/meme-y in tone versus the rest of the fic which is played more seriously.

... this would make for an A+ drawing shitpost or a standalone fic tho. :D

no i'm not secretly smug af my instincts were on fireeeee why r u asking lolololol

/fin!