#i have already invested so much time and energy in this process

[hauntedwoman]

u ever get so anxious that if u move u might throw up

[regulusrules]

FIC RECS: Tore apart my sanity edition

Missed doing those, especially that the brilliance of this fandom is quite endless. You'd think you've read everything, then a fic comes and makes you stare two ceilings above. I think we all have PhDs in ceiling reading at this point.

1. through storm and hellfire by @prattery.

Look, I know I scream a lot about fics, but this time it's so rightfully, I swear. There is something about this one that just unravels you so fully, so reverently. It was a spiritual experience; reading this fic. Anything written by this author is a spiritual experience. If you're new to my blog, you will soon know that I fall apart for such beautiful prose so easily. And the way Arthur was written here.. holy lord in the sky. I haven't survived this fic as of yet (weeks later). It was not Merlin who got kidnapped here; it's our literal hearts.

2. you hold a knife at my throat (i tell you exactly where to cut) by @nextstopparis.

All I can say is that I found this one on the night of my final MA exam and risked failing because I stayed up till dawn reading it. And guess what? I'd do it a hundred times over. Because this fic killed me 🤩 With a knife knowing exactly where to cut 🤩

Whenever it's Protective!Arthur that is as much consumed by Merlin's safety as Merlin was with his, then know I am absolutely and utterly gone. And everything that comes with Arthur teaching Merlin how to wield weapons and its close proximity trope. Oh boy. I was literally killed, I'm telling you.

3. Of Course Falling in Love is Awful. Why Else Would They Call It a Crush? by watchriverdale.

Respectfully, how does this marvel of a fic have less than a thousand reads?? If I may, it's one of the best AU - Canon Divergence that I've read in so long! Merlin being an actual physician, Arthur making silly excuses to go visit Merlin and it ending up for him falling head over heels, BAMF elements of both, just everything! Absolutely AMAZING. And the full circle at the end; what an icon.

4. The Walls of Camelot by spqr. (@andthepeople)

I'm literally not joking when I say my brain function grew and developed more after reading this fic. It was so fully-fledged in a way you don't find in literal published books. The amount of creativity and research combined in this fic.. WOW! You just literally live the war with them, all emotions entangled, all thoughts experienced. I think I had the hardest time processing that the fic ended more than anything else because of how invested I was in the story. I didn't want it to end. It was a wonderful, wonderful ride.

5. I suppose that I look different (without the robes and crown) by WingedWolf121. (@lancelotofthelake)

You know when fic writers begin to narrate Arthur through Merlin's eyes and describe him as golden? That is what I would say as the overall feel of this fic. I felt it radiating gold and beauty. It was unmatched, truly. From the AU idea to its execution.. I was hooked all 18K. I'd give it 18K kudos of my own alone. And the way it was written !!! Please. Any Arthur who just loves Merlin a tad too much is unparalleled. And when the same energy is returned by Merlin >>>

Oh and lastly: “Ask me who you were there to me, Merlin.” I'll leave you at that.

+ 1: My heart is readily yours by yours truly.

Have I mentioned how much this one tore my own sanity apart while writing it? (yes. yes I already have like a thousand times, tell me to shut up about it already). But it's for good reason. I am a changed human being after this fic. For better or for worse, I'm still not sure about that.

[fiercynn]

some of the shit thats being demanded of an archive run by volunteers is more than a little ridiculous. Putting the onus on, amongst other things, not having a timeline for when emails will be responded to- and not seeing that a quintupling of their usual attendance in a discord meeting would cause things to get a little crazy- does little more than reduce the feeling of seriousness for the rest of your cause. Cmon now

i mean, i do hear you on things like responding to emails. what was frustrating in that board meeting was that they didn't have a good process for taking questions and made it incredibly confusing to know how to do it, and then, when people would ask for a better process/clarification, board members would simply say, "then use our contact us form!" despite people knowing that they don't have time and energy to respond to those promptly - or, possibly, to even read them. so it felt like they were trying to just push us off either way.

i disagree with you on preparation for the meeting, though. there was just no way they couldn't have expected a much bigger meeting than usual, because the issues that have come up in the past couple months have covered such a range of issues - from racism to AI stuff to mistreatment of volunteers - that there was bound to be interest. the board had been receiving tons of messages via that contact us form. their own volunteers warned them that it would be a big meeting. @end-otw-racism was publicly encouraging people to attend and even shared what kinds of questions people could ask about racism! there was no reason not to be better prepared.

i also want to emphasize that there otw does not have to be a scrappy, incompetent organization. they have over a thousand volunteers and more than a $2.5 million budget surplus. meaning that money is not needed for their next six months of operating expenses, nor has it been dedicated to anything else (at least publicly). they have so little idea what to do with that money that in 2022 they only earned ~$90 in interest income, meaning that money has not even been invested prudently. it's ludicrous. and it's not unreasonable to expect that an organization use its resources properly. i know tons of nonprofits that would be thrilled to have $2.5 million (which is five years of otw's operating expenses - an absurd amount to have in reserve!) that are far smaller and scrappier.

back to this meeting - there were lots of very simple things they could have done differently. they could have appointed other otw volunteers to moderate the channels so that the board members could focus on actually answering questions. they could have frozen messages in the main channel earlier when it was already looking chaotic (they did not do so until halfway through the meeting), but simultaneously had a separate channel for questions so that those were not lost. they could have made a policy of only one question per attendee so that some folks were not hogging the conversation. all of these things could have been done in the moment when they realized how much of a shitshow the meeting was becoming.

when an organization that people are supporting and donating to cannot adequately respond to constructive questions and feedback, that is pretty unacceptable. and so many of us are coming in with a lot of distrust because otw has failed and delayed on so many of their commitments to fans of color in the past. i'm not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt - they have to earn people's trust back. this meeting was not a step in that direction.

[kvetchlandia]

Time For...

One of My Occasional Rants.

So, we in the United States are on the verge of a presidential election. I'm sure all of you lovely people already know that. This particular election is beyond ghastly and grim in its implications. You have one candidate who is a representative of the long term status quo and another who is more dangerous not only to the people of the United States but to the people of the entire globe than my own meager command of words allows me to express.

I'm no particular fan of Kamala Harris. As a lifelong socialist, I see her as a candidate of capitalism, and a socially moderate one at that, essentially a Clinton Democrat, the sort of Dem who would have been a Republican 60 years ago. In other words, the sort of candidate that under normal circumstances I'd never consider for one moment voting for. However, her opponent is a veritable monster; a multiply convicted felon; a man found civilly liable for sexually assaulting a woman and then libeling her after his conviction; a serial liar of astronomical proportions; a man who is supported by open fascists and KKKers; a man whose own open racism and antisemitism is decades old; a man who bragged on television about assaulting women; a man who coddles autocrats and openly aspires to be one; a man who urged his brownshirt wannabe followers to commit a putsch against the legally elected government then referred to those putschists as "heroes" and has promised, if elected, to pardon those convicted of their violent crimes; a man so self-interested that the only thing he really accomplished during his previous presidency was to give himself (and, as an after effect, his fellow billionaires) a whopping tax cut, paid for by raising taxes on the working class; a man who bragged about depriving women of their right to control their own bodies; a man void of culture and knowledge and one so ego-damaged that his own aides admitted that they had to place his name in huge all caps in his daily briefing books to get him to even skim them, since the only thing he was interested in was himself; a man who completely botched the response of the United States to the COVID epidemic and who then recommended to his followers that they inject bleach and that they shine lights on their bodies to cure the virus while he, when he contracted it, of course got state of the art medical care; a man who will reshape the courts, as he's already done to the Supreme Court, so that they're little more than a voice of medieval religious obscurantism and political reaction and a man who has already promised to use the military to quash demonstrations against him and his policies and to go after those who have or who continue to oppose him. I could go on and on, but you get the point. If Trump is elected, which is a distinct possibility, that's the end of American bourgeois democracy, always a limited and partial thing at its best.

Trump has promised to drill for even more oil and to end this country's investment in alternative sources of energy, thereby all but ensuring that complete environmental collapse due to global climate change will take place in the next few decades, if not sooner. It's already an ongoing process.

If Trump is elected, he's promised to deport more than 10 million people. That, of course, is nearly impossible, but that won't stop him from trying. Should he really undertake that blind, racist endeavor, it would of course be politically and morally wrong, but it would also cost trillions of dollars to do (where would they be placed before they were loaded on trains and deported? Camps would have to be built. Who would guard those camps? Tens of thousands of people would have to be hired, trained and armed). And then, of course, the American economy would collapse, since it's those people who do so much of the work that keeps the economy running. I don't see many Americans lining up to harvest the fields or work in the garment sweatshops for starvation piece-work wages, nor do I see many Americans willing to work at the tough, usually non-union, low skill construction jobs that keep the economy rolling. Needless to say, those millions of deportees won't be buying any of the commodities they now purchase on a daily basis to support their families. Bye bye, profit.

All of this is well known. None of it takes any research to uncover. The voting age population has lived through it and everyone is aware of it. Nonetheless, and this just boggles my mind, the polls keep telling us that the race is a toss up. That means that tens of millions of people either don't care or support the horrors that Tump embodies and stands for. That is truly frightening. I'm not convinced that Trump is a fascist, for a number of historical and analytical reasons that I'm sure none of you are interested in, although a number of his supporters are members of fascist organizations. Fortunately, as of right now, the United States still doesn't have a mass fascist movement and I don't see one developing soon, for reasons related to why I don't consider Trump a fascist. He is, though, openly disdainful of the bourgeois democracy that is represented by the American status quo and he's both expressed his desire to be a dictator and has said he made a mistake by leaving office in 2020, despite losing the election (which he pretends was rigged, although he damn well knows it wasn't). If he's re-elected, the only way he'll leave the White House is when he's rolled out on a gurney. Yet this is all OK with millions of Americans. I don't like to draw inappropriate analogies with the catastrophe that befell Germany starting in 1933, but it's hard not to see similarities despite the very significant differences. One of those similarities is the passivity of that part of the population that might not be hardcore MAGA cultists and worshippers of their bloated demigod, but will nevertheless vote for Trump, for whatever reason they cite. That's how Hitler came to power and many of those passive non-nazis had no problem when the Nazis began the roundups of Jews and political opponents of the regime. As a person who has long been politically active, I don't think I'm being at all paranoid when I say that I fear, soon after a re-elected Trump took office, that we would quickly start having those midnight knocks at the door and disappearances into the night and fog.

OK, rant over. Now I've managed to depress and terrify myself even more. I need a stiff drink.

[mookymilksims]

🌟 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲: 🌍✨ 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 💖🎭

What's good MooMoo crew, welcome back to my channel! And if you are new thanks for stopping by! I hope part 1 gave you all enough to think about and you're ready to move onto part 2

So,let's talk about curating your sims worlds:

As promised in the last part, we are going to steam roll through so let's begin!

Remapping Your World

Setting up your world in The Sims 3 can either be a fun or frustrating process, but with this guide, my goal is to make it an enjoyable and easy experience!

I always recommend building up your world before you start actively playing in it. This approach helps prevent early-game burnout, boredom, or the temptation to scrap your save file because you've accomplished too much too quickly. By taking the time to build up your world, you'll commit more deeply to your save file because of the passion, creativity, and energy you've invested in crafting it perfectly to your tastes and needs.

Why Build Before You Play?

Longevity: You're more likely to stick with your save file because you've made it uniquely yours.

Purposeful Design: Not a single space in your world is wasted; everything exists for a reason.

Endless Possibilities: You'll never run out of ideas or places to send your Sims because you've given yourself so many options. Focus on Consistency

Aesthetic Consistency: Keep your lots on theme with your world's style—whether it's a city, small town, forested area, Italian-inspired, African-themed, etc.

Lot Functionality: Make sure your lots serve a purpose and provide activities for your Sims. Avoid the typical EA community lots that lack functionality or cohesion.

Opened Rabbit Holes: If you're like me and find traditional rabbit holes to be the bain of your existence, consider replacing them with interactive lots that fit your theme.

For example, in a medieval-themed world, replace a modern grocery store with specialized shops: a meat shop sold by hunters, a marketplace for produce, and a general goods store for items like pet food or household supplies. Other themed replacements could include:

Tavern instead of a bar

Brothel instead of a strip club

High-society tea club instead of a coffee shop

Castle instead of City Hall

Apothecary instead of a hospital/pharmacy

Tailor shop instead of a fashion boutique

These specialized lots keep you immersed, encouraging you to see the world from your Sim’s perspective instead of having to imagine it.

Choosing the Right World

Select a world that already runs well on your system. Small worlds perform best for everyone, while medium worlds provide more space without compromising performance. Large worlds can be hit or miss, depending on their optimization and your computer’s specs. My favorite large worlds, such as The Big Apple and Fairhaven, run smoothly thanks to well-done street routing and the use of decorative buildings instead of active lots.

Remapping Your World

This is the most creative part of the setup. You can design your world however you want, with a lot of freedom to explore different layouts. I recommend building lots in a separate, optimized builder’s world like Rosie’s, then placing the finished lot into your main save. Save frequently, and decorate the surrounding areas to “lock in” your progress.

To help organize your world, consider dividing it into different districts:

Wealthy Neighborhood: A gated community of mansions.

Middle-Class Neighborhood: Suburbs or other moderately priced housing.

Apartment Complex/Starter Homes: This could be a slums area, basic apartments, or smaller starter homes.

Downtown District: Include essential lots like opened rabbit holes, nightlife spots, and specialty shops.

These divisions help create a balanced and complete world. When paired with NPC households, you’ll find less pressure to fill every home, allowing you to focus on the most important spaces.

I want to add that if you are following my NPC Household method, then you don't need to have any empty houses during this process. All of your houses should either be filled or deco. Especially if you only plan on moving to another world at some point in your save file. SP will try to find sims to populate these empty houses which can cause lag and eventually an overpopulated world as more sims have been added who will eventually have children. Removing empty homes prevents both of these issues. And if you do plan on moving in-world at some point, and you're like me, then you would only leave 1 empty mansion, as the only reason I would want to move is because my sim has now made a lot of money and wants to enjoy the benefits of that in the world.

Debunking Myths About CC

It’s possible to have a detailed, CC-heavy save file without lag—optimization is key. The right mods and CC can ensure smooth gameplay, even with lots of detail. If a particular lot crashes in one world but not another, consider adjusting the lot size or the CC used. Test your lots thoroughly to find what works best.

Designing Lots for Your Active Household

If you’re unsure what kinds of lots to add, consider the traits and interests of your active Sims:

For my vampire Sim, Pandora, I created an underground rave in an abandoned greenhouse as a secret hangout for vampires.

My scientist Sim, Solomon, works at a custom science lab and gathers herbs from an apothecary for his potion-making hobby.

For my chaotic Sim, Moon, I revamped a dive bar lot to serve as a seedy hub for his illegal activities.

These personalized lots add layers to your roleplaying experience, providing endless opportunities for storytelling.

Opening Up Rabbit Holes

Replacing traditional rabbit holes with functional lots can add depth to your gameplay. Use a hospital lot for pregnancy roleplay, a police station for criminal activities, and a City Hall for bureaucratic errands, such as getting a license or applying for family services. You don’t need to be a master builder—download lots from the community, or re-decorate existing shells to suit your needs.

Section 2: Functional but aesthetic lots

While creating a visually stunning world in The Sims 3, you might find that a lot of EA lots were very empty, oversized, and boring. This quickly prompted players to fill this space up with a bunch of deco, leading many lots to be primarily for taking pictures and lacking actual playability. However, you can cleverly incorporate functional elements into these decorative spaces to enrich the Sims' experience without compromising their visual appeal. Aim for 80% decorative features and 20% functionality. If you remember my populated world guide, then you know that fewer functional objects on a lot can lead to better optimization and smoother gameplay. This balance makes decorating and building lots a more manageable and creative process! Here’s how you can achieve this:

Maximizing Functional Value in Decorative Lots

Integrating functional elements into decorative lots allows you to create engaging spaces that serve a purpose while maintaining their visual appeal. By adding a small percentage of functionality, you enhance the gameplay experience without sacrificing aesthetics.

Examples of Combining Decoration with Functionality

Coffee Shop:

Decorative Elements: Fill the coffee shop with deco Sims in seats to create a bustling atmosphere. Use stylish furnishings and art to set the scene, you don't have to be able to sit on all peices of furniture, you can easily set up deco purses, books, or deco sims in it's place. You can also place deco cafe food at a table where your sim can sit. Since drinking coffee doesn't actually require a table slot. The only open table slot you would want on this lot is for sims who have laptops.

Functional Enhancements: Incorporate the UNI coffee bar to allow Sims to order and enjoy coffee. Use Flo Theory’s relax-to-sit mod to let Sims sit comfortably at various seats, making social interactions more fluid. This way, your Sims can have a pleasant outing while still interacting with the environment in a meaningful way. You won't have to worry about sims you came to the lot with sitting seperately from you, you can just have them all sit at a table together using this mod, and watch them talk and slowly build relationship as they sit.

Park or Plaza:

Decorative Elements: Fountains, flower beds, tree's, flower's, bushes. You can become a real landscaper, even adding a fake creek or river running through the park.

Functional Enhancements: Place a few functional items like picnic tables or playground equipment. Sims can use these items for activities such as eating, playing, or socializing. You don't always need a chess table. And you can even just design this lot as a year round seasonal festival lot, with a functional carousel, haunted house, ticket booth, etc.

Art Gallery:

Decorative Elements: Most of this deco will be in paintings and sculptures of course. But did you know your sims can view cc paintings and sculptures and still gain the art museum buff on these lots?

Functional Enhancements: I usually love putting a souvenir shop and mini Art cafe on this lot. This makes this lot perfect for family or date nights. You can add romantic lighting for the night time, a little lobby with dining chairs and little tables. View art with your date or sim by setting up a bench in front of exhibits and talking on them using Flo Theory's relax to sit mod. And then ultimately ending the date or family gathering with a savvier seller gift shop you can gift to the other sim or sims you went with! You can also add a little wine and painting class somewhere in the lot, somewhere you can sample nectar and then paint on the lot with other sims.

Fashion Boutique:

Decorative Elements: Design a chic boutique with stylish displays, mannequins, and fashion déco.

Functional Enhancements: Include a fitting room where sims can check themselves out in the mirror. You can use Ani's ITF mod to make some mannequins functional, and add more than 3 outfits to your sims "closet".

Design Tips for Balancing Aesthetics and Functionality

Strategic Placement: Position functional items in less conspicuous areas to maintain the decorative focus of the lot. For example, place the coffee bar in a corner of the café where it complements the overall design.

Use Mods and CC: Leverage cc and mods to integrate functionality seamlessly. Mods like Flo Theory’s relax-to-sit make it easier for Sims to interact with various parts of the lot without disrupting its decorative theme.

Minimal Functionality: Aim for about 20% functionality in decorative lots. This small but impactful addition ensures that the lot serves a purpose without overwhelming its visual design.

Benefits of This Approach

Enhanced Immersion: Adding functional elements to decorative lots enhances the overall immersion, making your Sims’ interactions more realistic and enjoyable.

Increased Versatility: Functional yet decorative lots can serve multiple purposes, allowing Sims to engage in various activities while maintaining the lot's aesthetic appeal.

Creative Freedom: This approach provides creative flexibility, allowing you to design visually stunning lots while still offering practical features that enrich gameplay.

By incorporating functional elements into decorative lots, you can create a world that is both visually captivating and interactive. This balance ensures that every lot contributes to the gameplay experience, offering your Sims opportunities to engage with their environment in meaningful storytelling ways.

Section 3: Curating Households

So again, if you watched my Populated world guide then I breifly touched on the technique of mixing official townie households and NPC households in your world. I have always wanted to dive further in depth with this technique so let's do that here!

Creating a set of unique, official households is essential for bringing life and personality to your world. These households can be filled with dynamic characters who have distinct backstories, relationships, and daily routines that align with the overall theme of your world. By thoughtfully designing these Sims, you can foster engaging neighborhood dynamics that encourage players to interact with and care about their townies.

Designing Diverse and Engaging Households

Aim for 10-12 Households: To create a lively and interconnected neighborhood, populate your world with 10-12 households that feature a mix of personalities, aspirations, and relationships. Here are some ideas for structuring your households to create a balanced and engaging community:

Random Families: Include families that feel authentic and relatable, complete with quirky traits and unique personalities. Think of creating a mix of traditional, unconventional, and blended families that reflect the diversity of real life.

3 Neighbors: Design households that live near your main Sim’s home or have storylines that overlap. These neighbors can be friendly, flirty, or even hotheaded, providing opportunities for interactions ranging from casual chats to petty rivalries.

3 Potential Lovers: Create Sims who could be love interests for your main Sim. Whether they are charming, awkward, or mysterious, these Sims can add romantic intrigue and plot twists to your gameplay.

3 Potential Enemies: Introduce households with clashing personalities or conflicting interests that naturally lead to drama. This could be the rebellious teen that your Sim's parents despise, a rival co-worker, or a former friend turned opp.

3 Friends: Develop friend households that align with your main Sim’s personality and goals. These Sims can be classmates, co-workers, or simply kindred spirits who share similar hobbies and interests.

Flexibility in Design: Remember, you don’t have to limit each category to a single type. For instance, a household meant to be a potential friend group could consist of three siblings, two of whom might get along great with your Sim while the third becomes their nemesis. Mixing up traits, aspirations, and personalities keeps interactions fresh and engaging.

Creating Connections and Dynamics

Neighborhood Dynamics: Think about how each household interacts with others in the community. Who’s the “wealthy family” that throws extravagant parties? Who’s the “eccentric artist” whose quirky lifestyle intrigues the neighbors? Who’s the “troubled teen” seeking acceptance? These roles help shape the world’s story and create opportunities for roleplay.

Roleplay Inspiration: The dynamics between households can inspire various roleplay scenarios. Maybe the artist’s daughter is secretly dating the son of the uptight politician next door, or the town’s most notorious slacker finds himself working at the café owned by his worst enemy’s family.

Tips for Making Townies You Care About

Unique Backstories: Giving each household a rich backstory adds depth and makes interactions feel meaningful. Consider each Sim’s past experiences, dreams, and secrets. Even a small detail—like a lingering high school rivalry or a secret talent—can make a Sim memorable.

Defined Roles in the Community: Assign roles that affect the world’s story. For example, a “troubled artist” household might be at odds with the conservative neighborhood watch leader, while the “aspiring chef” could be the go-to Sim you invite for neighborhood gatherings.

Personalities that Pop: Use traits and career paths that complement or conflict with other households, ensuring a mix of harmonious and challenging interactions. A mix of friendly Sims and Mean-spirited Sims creates a more dynamic and unpredictable world.

Household Rotators: Special Note

If you rotate your households you may already have a natural connection to the Sims you create since you’ll be actively managing their lives. However, even rotators can benefit from carefully designing each household’s role in the neighborhood to ensure every play session feels fresh and interconnected.

Backstory Generator:

To make the process easier, I’ve made a backstory generator that can be used to quickly develop engaging backstories for your active households and official townie households. This tool will help you add depth and personality to each Sim, making your world feel rich and alive.

NPC Households and Defining Their Need

The Role and Impact of NPCs: NPC households add flavor, depth, and unpredictability to your Sims 3 world. They can serve as the town drunks, rivals, eccentric loners, or just that quirky neighbor who always seems to show up at the wrong time. These Sims bring an extra layer of storytelling that enhances the overall roleplay experience, making the world feel alive and filled with unique characters outside of your active household.

Strategies for Placement and Management: To keep your world optimized, consider placing NPC households in lower-functioning homes like basements or tiny apartments. This encourages the game's engine to push these Sims out of their homes more often, making them more active participants in the community. Another tip is to convert their homes into apartments using NPC doors; this setup not only increases the number of visible Sims around town but also creates a larger pool of bin townies that you’ll see around your world.

NPC Household Concepts:

Potential Lovers, Enemies, and Friends: Create a mix of 8 single male and 8 single female Sims who can serve as potential lovers, enemies, or friends. These Sims add a dynamic layer of spontaneity because even though you may initially label them as potential enemies or friends, gameplay might surprise you. A planned enemy could become a lover or vice versa, adding a twist to your story that reflects the unpredictability of real relationships.

Teen and Child NPCs: If you’re interested in family play, consider setting up NPC households of teens and children. These Sims will help populate your high school, giving your teen Sims more peers to interact with—whether it's friendship, rivalry, or romance. You could even theme them as “Class of [Year]” to create a sense of time and narrative progression.

For smaller towns, consider fewer households, like 4 male and 4 female teens in a single home, creating a tight-knit yet diverse school community. For child NPC households, you can include a Nanny or Adoption Agent adult to add context and provide adult supervision.

Toddler Households and Daycare Setup: If you plan to set up a functional daycare, NPC toddler households are essential. By including toddlers in a daycare run by an NPC adult, you can add adorable chaos to your world. Place 5-7 toddlers in a household along with daycare staff, and watch as these little Sims are occasionally taken out on outings, adding to the town’s realism and charm. I’ll be releasing a guide soon on setting up a fully functional daycare that can include these NPC toddlers as well.

Maintenance Townies:

Savvier Seller Cashiers: For those using Savvier Seller items, NPC cashiers are essential for running various shops like grocery stores, boutiques, or arcades. Create a household of Sims with the last name “Savvier” to easily identify them when assigning them roles. These NPCs ensure your businesses are always open and thriving without pulling from your core storytelling townies.

Business Sims for UC Mod Players: If you use the UC (Ultimate Careers) mod, adding a household of business-oriented NPCs can populate your offices, adding a sense of busyness and realism to your community lots. These NPCs can actively work alongside your playable Sims or simply populate the area, making it feel like a bustling, lived-in environment. You can also alternatively just use Deco sims to achieve this but I still wanted to give you guys some examples of how you could embellish this category.

So for a themed world:

The big Apple NYC world I recommended could have a:

Hispanic/Latino NPC Household

African-American NPC Household

Asian-American NPC Household

Starving Artist NPC Household

Political Activist NPC Household

Civil Service NPC Household (half could be police, other half could be first-responders)

Homeless camp/shelter NPC Household (you could make a homeless camp district for them to live)

Criminal NPC Household

And you can just keep going with this. Make the NPC households fit for your theme or story.

In a Life-is-Strange Core small town kind of world:

Indie Music lovers NPC Household

Mine Workers NPC Household

Starving Artist NPC Household (this household could easily fit here, you wouldn't even have to make a new one just drop them down in this world)

Motorcycle Gang NPC Household

Indigenous NPC Household (Maybe the town is located near a heavy indigenous population?)

And again, just to give you some ideas to string along.

Let's do a Fantasy Supernatural themed world:

Elves NPC Household

Witches NPC Household

Dwarf NPC Household

Orc NPC Household

Barbarian NPC Household

Werewolf NPC Household

Vampire NPC Household

Fairy NPC Household

Mermaid/Siren NPC Household

Now let's try a medieval themed world in general:

Nobles NPC Household

Royalty NPC Household

Merchants NPC Household (can also be your savvier seller cashiers)

Hunter NPC Household (these could easily be your love interest household with some hot hunters in the mix)

Peasant NPC Household (with some torn rags)

Beggar NPC Household (for your homeless population, optional)

Pirate NPC Household (move them into an IP pirate ship kind of boat)

Knight NPC Household (could also be your "police" population if you want to establish that)

Theives Guild NPC Household (your criminals)

Mage's Guild NPC Household (could also be your witches and wizards)

Slore NPC Households (these are for your brothels if you establish that, you could alternatively just use Arsil's custom generic role mod to place them).

And as a final example let's do a Cyberpunk/Scifi themed world:

Robot NPC Household

Hologram NPC Household (dead robots will have a holographic effect in game)

AI humanoid NPC Robot (I like to use the Detroit Become Human blue circle cc accessory)

Alien NPC household (there is plenty of cc to make all kinds of aliens so you can stretch this across various "species")

NetRunner NPC Household

Corpo NPC Household

Outskirts Gang NPC Household

So as you can see, the NPC household making process is pretty simple and very fun. And as you go through these households and plop them down in your world, you will find your world very quickly becoming more alive and more immersive!

As a pro-tip. consider changing the look of your bartenders and various NRAAS Register assigned role sims, just to make them look the part of the world's theme.

Custom Role Generator

Creating and Assigning Roles: To bring a fresh, dynamic feel to your Sims 3 world, consider using Arsil's custom role generator mod. These roles can range from regular customers, librarians, to strippers, adding depth and intrigue to your gameplay. By defining specific roles for certain Sims, you can create more immersive and interactive storytelling opportunities that push your Sims’ narrative beyond the typical game mechanics.

Arsil's Custom Role Generator: Arsil's mod allows you to assign unique roles to NPCs, enhancing the realism and unpredictability of your game. Here are some creative ways to use it:

Park Rangers: Assign Park Ranger roles to Sims for your camping lots. These Sims, equipped with the “Loves the Outdoors” trait, add a touch of realism to outdoor adventures. Another sim you could interact with on your camping trips outside of yourself or who you brought with you.

Librarian: Use Arsil’s generator to assign a librarian role, complementing Olomaya’s Library mod for extra immersion. A dedicated librarian adds a layer of interaction to your Sims' visits—whether it's asking about book recommendations, renting out study rooms, or simply catching up on town gossip. This little touch transforms a simple library visit into a social experience.

A Mayor: A Sim who can fill your city Hall, placing down a UNI podium you might even find them making speeches every now and then.

A manager: Give your uptight sims someone to insult and complain to when you're not happy with a bussiness' services.

A regular customer: A Sim you always see hanging out at the bar after work. I remember when I played a save file where I won a Daycare in China, I ended up making one of the customers (assigned by arsil's mod) a roommate, then I randomly decided he had a brother who needed a place to stay as well. You can easily transfer any of these sims back into your gameplay for an engaging story!

A therapist: A sim you can assign using Olomaya's medical overhaul mod, someone your sim can set up appointments with and go speak to when they need to unload something off of their mind!

Deco Sims

Bringing Worlds to Life: Deco Sims are a fantastic way to make your public spaces feel lively and engaging. By populating areas like parks, cafes, or arcades with these decorative figures, you can transform static lots into vibrant, bustling community spaces. Deco Sims give the illusion of a thriving world, helping to fill in gaps and make your builds look and feel more dynamic, especially in screenshots or videos.

Using Deco Sims Effectively: Placing Deco Sims strategically is key to enhancing your lot without overwhelming it. I've optimized Deco Sims specifically for The Sims 3, ensuring they won’t lag or crash your game even when used in larger quantities. Here are some tips to make the most of Deco Sims:

Placement and Density: Be mindful of how many Deco Sims you place in a single area. Aim for a balance that creates the illusion of activity without cluttering the space. For example, a bustling café might have 3-5 Deco Sims scattered around, sitting at tables or standing by the counter, whereas a quiet library might only have 1-2.

Theming and Storytelling: When placing Deco Sims, think of how they contribute to the story of the lot. A Deco Sim reading a book in a library, teens playing arcade games, or a couple chatting at a park bench can create a narrative that makes your lot feel alive. Don’t be afraid to mix it up; these figures can add character and ambiance, blending seamlessly with your active Sims during gameplay.

Creating Immersive Scenes: One of my favorite ways to use Deco Sims is to set up scenes that tell a story. You might have a Deco Sim “waiting” at a bus stop, another browsing magazines in a shop, or even someone appearing to make a phone call. These setups might seem static on video, but they add so much visual interest when you’re actively playing or capturing screenshots.

Gameplay and Interaction: Though Deco Sims don’t move or interact, they can still play an essential role in your gameplay. For example, in an arcade filled with Deco Sims, it may look like they’re enjoying games, which makes your lot look lively even when your active Sims are there. In photos, Deco Sims appear as though they’re fully part of the scene, letting you capture moments that look vibrant and social without the need to pause and manually set up your shot.

Technical Tips for Seamless Integration: Use the OMSP (One More Slot Please) to position Deco Sims on furniture, ensuring that active Sims don’t route to these spots, maintaining the illusion without disrupting gameplay.

Place Deco Sims in front of decorative objects rather than interactive ones. For example, setting a Deco Sim in front of a deco arcade game rather than a playable one ensures your active Sims won’t try to interact with them, preserving both immersion and routing.

Deco Sims are a simple yet powerful tool to enhance your Sims 3 worlds, making each lot feel vibrant, dynamic, and always photo-ready. Incorporating them strategically can significantly elevate the atmosphere of your builds, offering a richer, more immersive experience.

Showtime Crowd Cheat with Fog Emitter

Simulating Crowds and Events: The Showtime crowd cheat, combined with fog emitters, is a powerful way to bring more life and energy to your public spaces. Whether you’re looking to simulate a bustling marketplace, an active concert crowd, or a vibrant downtown scene, these tools allow you to create highly atmospheric environments that feel lively and dynamic.

Creative Use Cases: The Showtime crowd cheat generates ambient Sims that act as part of the scenery, enhancing the immersion of your builds. Here’s how you can use this effect creatively:

Bars, Clubs, and Concert Lots: One of the best uses of the crowd cheat is on nightlife lots like bars, clubs, and concert venues. By combining the cheat with fog emitters, you can create a dense, energetic crowd that perfectly captures the chaotic fun of these spaces. The fog emitter can add layers of special effects, such as smoke, flashing lights, or even fireflies, making the environment feel alive.

Marketplaces and Festivals: For outdoor settings like farmers’ markets, festivals, or community fairs, use the crowd cheat to simulate large groups of people wandering, shopping, or enjoying the entertainment. Placing deco Sims strategically among the crowd adds to the illusion, making these spaces look packed and vibrant without heavily taxing the game’s performance.

Busy Downtown Areas: For bustling city centers, set up clusters of crowds in specific areas—around cafes, bus stops, or shopping districts. By placing fog emitters and deco Sims in key locations, you can turn an ordinary lot into a lively downtown scene where your Sims feel like they’re part of a larger world.

How to Use the Showtime Crowd Cheat:

Activate the Cheat: Open the cheat console by pressing Ctrl + Shift + C and type testingcheatsenabled true, followed by buydebug on.

Fog Emitters for Added Atmosphere: Find the fog emitter in the BuyDebug catalogue, it's a green circle that looks like this. Now you shift+ctrl click the circle and pick "Set Visual Effect". A box will pop up prompting you to type in the code.

ep6crowdposreaction_main ep6crowdposreactionb_main ep6crowdnormal_main  ep6crowdnormalb_main.

This generates this moving crowd effect, now you can shift+ctrl click it again and select "Clone", and just place as many as you like to tell a story!

Combining with Deco Sims: Mixing in deco Sims among the crowd adds a diverse visual experience. For instance, in dark settings like clubs, the lighting effects can obscure the fact that some of these figures aren’t animated, making the whole scene feel full and immersive.

Tips for Optimal Use:

Strategic Placement: To avoid overcrowding or performance issues, be selective about where you place crowds. Focusing on key hotspots—like dance floors or near stages—ensures that the crowd feels dynamic without overwhelming the entire space.

Dynamic Movement: Because the crowd cheat creates non-interactive Sims, you don’t have to worry about them being pushed to the lot by the game’s routing system. This can be a relief if you’ve tweaked your mods or settings to increase foot traffic, as the cheat keeps the lot visually busy even when not all active Sims are present.

Atmospheric Storytelling: Use this setup to tell visual stories within your gameplay. Crowds at concerts create the feel of a real event, while a packed bar makes social outings more vibrant. Even when your active Sims aren’t interacting with every person present, the background noise and movement add depth to the experience.

Using the Showtime crowd cheat with fog emitters creates an illusion of activity, turning your Sims 3 worlds into lively, engaging spaces. With this method, your lots will always look full, fun, and photo-ready, enhancing your roleplay experience without the need for constant manual adjustments.

Conclusion

So in general,

If you follow all of the suggestions in this guide, by the time you start your gameplay you will have a completely revamped world and households with optimized population. This will all intertwine and interconnect with each other.

This process can last as long as you want it to last, it can be time consuming but it really depends on how much detail you want to add.

The sims 3 is also a building game, and it hangs a lot of it's merits on creativity. Which means you could spend a lot of time creating before playing.

I also find this process to be quite soothing as I often turn on some music, bring some snacks, throw a netflix show on in the background, bring my iced coffee and water, and just go silently crazy with my idea's.

If you have ever built or decorated in the sims 3 then you've probably hit that creative spark at some point in the game, where a build could initially start overwhelming or even boring, but the further you get into it you just started feeling the vibes out and throwing things everywhere like it was just supposed to be there.

I personally enjoy decorating and roleplaying so that is why this process moreso excites me, however, if you're not a builder and you just enjoy gameplay but you still want beautiful cc builds in your game, consider searching the community for their uploaded lots, and if you stick around I have big plans to upload my own cc lots to the community as well.

As I convert more cc I get inspired and like to build from what I have converted, so I plan to do speedbuilds and tours and then upload those lots for download. I offer this as an alternative because you don't have to build or decorate if it's a stressful process for you.

While I highly recommend it, because you get a better sense of what you actually like in the game, what your aesthetic truly is, you can also just plop down community projects all the same and jump right into the game.

Combining this with official households and NPC households just ensures your world is already full once you actually hit play, and sims will start being sent out into the world immediately.

I want to thank you all so much for joining me in this video today, and for the wait, guides like the topic I am doing have to be made very carefully and are a bit more time consuming than my other guides, since I have to visually show you many examples for the information to connect and to prove that this is even doable in the game. So I really appreciate your patience, and I will see you all in part 3! Bye MooMoo's!

Disclaimer:

I have no issue with you sharing this information on your platforms, and in fact, I would prefer it. However, I do ask for proper credit, as I believe it’s important to respect the original creators of content. I’ve put a lot of effort into developing my tips and techniques, which I’ve shared publicly in very specific ways. These concepts predate your "guide," and the only other place you would find this information is in my own work.

It’s particularly concerning that, as a creator, you privately asked if it was okay to credit me when using my techniques in your guides, yet you proceeded not to credit me and even claimed to have discovered these techniques "on your own". This is especially frustrating considering you directly asked me to explain my concepts in more detail privately.

The community we're part of values ​​sharing and collaboration, and when a creators' work isn't respected, it discourages further contributions. If this continues, creators like myself may be less willing to share ideas, which ultimately harms everyone.

I’ve received messages from many in the community who recognize where these ideas originated, so the situation is becoming increasingly embarrassing (for you). This will be the only time I address this publicly. If you’re reading this, I imagine it’s because you’re seeking more ideas to steal for your “groundbreaking guides.”

Yes, everyone knows, please stop. :)

Resources:

Custom worlds for CC builders

NPC Household guide

Decorating Tips and Tricks for Community Lots

How to Upload sims 3 lots with cc

Building Inspo To-Do List

Lots for travel roleplay

NPC Door

CC and Mods:

Alien cc

Forsworn armor

Relax to Sit mod

Functional Ferris Wheel

Ani's ITF Stands

Arsil custom generic role mod

Backstory Generator

Credits:

FarfallaSims

Galladriehel

CJ Plays

House of 84 Sims

Ani

Sims

ATS

SlytherSim

Sims2EPer

SimmerKate

DonSalami

Callia-Evergreen

Girls Meets Pixels

LegitLovely

Simstiful

EllieSimple

pitheinfinite

nightosphere

JuliLux3

AuroraEternal

Clumsypxel

Aurora

Pelixel

VixenSims

Simplicity

Cleotopia

StarrySims

MythicalShoes

S-club

Yellow Ninja

Severinka

Carl's Sim Guides

ButchSims

Murfeelee

PuddingFace

BeoCreations

Brennachan

NG Sims

SaterlySims

FairySims

LadySpira

Simarex

Sprinkle of Gaming

Insomnia

LizzieLilly

[breelandwalker]

so, I know you've been vending at a lot of different craft fairs and witch markets for awhile now (sadly, too far away for me to attend!). would you happen to have any tips for someone looking to do the same at their local fairs? thanks!!!!!! ❤️

Sure! To start, brush up on three things - networking, recordkeeping, and people skills. Get an idea of what's going in on your area, talk to the organizers, see what the particulars are for the events. Here are some questions to ask:

What's the venue like? (indoors, outdoors, parking, accessibility)

Do I need to bring my own table and chairs?

Is there electricity / wifi available?

What is the table fee?

When is the event and how long does it run?

Is there a theme or target audience?

Is there advertising being done for the event? (Signal boost!)

Based on the answers you get, you can start putting your stock and setup together.

Do as much as you can WAY ahead of time. If you need to make things, start now. If you need to buy things, give yourself at least a month before an event to make sure everything arrives in time. Get yourself a 6-foot folding table and a comfortable folding chair or camp chair for events where they're not provided by the venue. Sign for Paypal, Venmo, and Cashapp as well as a card payment processing service like Square to give your customers the most payment options possible. And of course, plan to carry some small bills for cash patrons. (You don't need a register or cashbox, a simple bag of appropriate size will do. I literally use a pencil case that says Resting Witch Face. Works great.)

You'll want to get some displays for your merchandise. The type will vary depending on what you have, but it should be simply and sturdy and preferably easy to pack in and out. Vertical visibility is important at these events, so if you can find some kind of stand or tiered display, that will help you get noticed. I'd also suggest some simple clear plastic standups that you can put a printout price list and a basic sign in. A table banner helps people notice your table from afar and you should definitely have business cards to hand out with your shop info and socials. (I use Vistaprint for both.) Decorations are nice, but don't overload the table with them. They should augment your setup, not overwhelm it.

You may also want to get an 8x8 or 10x10 popup canopy and canopy weights if you plan to do outdoor events. Also, GET A COLLAPSIBLE WAGON. Best investment I ever made was a $45 collapsible wagon. It fits in my backseat and makes hauling things in and out of venues SO much easier.

Keep track of everything you spend related to your endeavors, including event fees, supplies, stock, setup items, displays, signage, business cards, and gas and food on the day. Keep those receipts - you can deduct them on your taxes later to offset your earnings. (Because registering as a business can be a pain and comes with fees, but if you don't do it, you may owe money for not collecting sales tax. Put aside some money for that tax bill, just in case.)

Prep your setup and stock the night before an event. Check your merch, charge your card reader (and bring a fully-charged auxiliary power pack and cord, just in case), make any updates to your inventory or pricing that you need to. It really cuts down on stress when you're loading up if you know you've already get everything set. I suggest reusable shopping bags or clear plastic bins to make things easy to haul, plus they can double as storage.

Plan to leave as early as you need to in order to account for traffic and pit stops. Pick an outfit ahead of time so you don't have to dither over clothes. It should be something appropriate for the event and the weather that looks neat and clean and is easy to move around in, including comfortable shoes. (Look to other vendors for examples.)

Make sure you bring water, snacks, and anything you'll need to get through the day, i.e. medicine (headache pills and stomach medicine at minimum), energy drinks, a fan for hot days, an extra layer for cold ones, etc. Get to the venue as early as the organizers allow. The more time you have to park, load in, and set up, the less stressed you'll be. Make sure things are arranged in a way that's accessible and makes sense. Place signage where necessary to explain items and pricing.

GO TO THE BATHROOM BEFORE THE EVENT BEGINS. TRUST ME.

During the event, you're gonna have to do a LOT of socializing, so prepare for that as best you can. Try to stand if possible when there's a lot of foot traffic so you're more noticeable. Be personable - you don't have to grin constantly, just try to keep a pleasant expression and greet people as they pass, especially if they look in your direction. Don't be afraid to invite passersby over if they pause to check out your setup. Welcome them in, invite them to check out your stuff, and let them know you're happy to answer questions. (And ALL questions are good questions. There are no dumb questions. Even if the question is the dumbest thing you've ever heard or it's the fifteenth time you've been asked that day.) Chat and banter a bit where possible. If you can get people smiling or laughing, they're more likely to stick around and possibly purchase your wares. Make sure as many people as possible take your card when they leave.

Yes, you will be exhausted when the event is over, even if you're a naturally outgoing person, and you'll still have to break everything down, haul it out, load your vehicle, and drive home. If you happen to have somebody who can help you out, that really comes in handy.

In any case, know your own capabilities and personal limits and plan for that when you're deciding where to vend. If a venue is too far away for your comfort or doesn't have what you need or the table fee is too high (be wary of any thing over $75 for a single day event), don't sign up. If an event is too long or too far outside your target audience, don't sign up. If you don't have an appropriate setup or don't have the stock / can't get it in time, don't sign up. If something about the event or the venue or the organizers rubs you the wrong way, DON'T SIGN UP. Talk to other local vendors to get an idea of where to go and what to expect. Most will tell you right away what works, what's good, and what to steer clear of.

This is all just the basics. You'll learn a lot more when you start to vend, as far as what your individual needs are, where to go to find reliable business, and how best to connect with local venues and customers. Keep records of everything you do (spreadsheets are your friend!), network with organizers and other vendors, and practice that sociable game face.

And trust me - if a disorganized introvert with social anxiety and ADHD and absolutely NO sales experience can figure out to do this, I think pretty much anyone has a chance.

Good luck!!!! 😁

[yannaryartside]

SYD DEREVES AN ACTUAL MENTOR

One of the funniest excuses Sydcarmy deniers use to say the relationship will not make sense is because Carmy is supposed to be a "mentor" for Syd. The reason why I think that is funny is because Carmy has not been her mentor for a whole second in the series. I speak about this as someone who had art mentors and teachers:

A mentor is supposed to be able to see the raw talent in their students and guide them to polish it and discover their artistic voices. The key to the whole situation is the word "guide." They are an external observer, providing clues, instruction, and evaluation but not pushing their voices so the students will become like them instead of following their own artistic impulses

Now, if I am honest, I don't think Carmy has been a mentor for a single character in the show. Maybe he recognized Tina and Richie's potential by sending them to places where they could learn new skills based on their previously displayed talents. But the only one actually supporting Marcus in his journey is Sydney, it is not like Carmy ever stopped to ask Marcus if he had any doubts about the fancy pastries he was making. Sending Marcus to Coppenage was Sydney's idea, which makes me wonder if he ever thought Marcus was ready for an experience like that or if he just approved it because he trusted Sydney's judgment. Besides recipe overview and leader of the kitchen flow, Carmy is not a teacher, and certainly not someone who has invested time in guiding people through individual creative processes.

Carmy has acted more as a counselor/motivator. He comforted Marcus on his mistakes. He has encouraged Sydney on her menu ideas (s2 only, we will talk about that later). He showed his belief in Tina's talent by gifting her the knife.

But he has not been a mentor, in the sense that Sydney's artistic voice is forever silenced by his lack of interest in deep collaboration or exploration of Sydney's unique talents. She provided a couple of recipes of her own creation, with some of his suggestions. But all of it has more the tone of a partnership than an actual mentorship. They were supposed to have equal weight on the menu before Carmy called it quits; he even let her suggest ingredients and finishes. He values her opinion. He is not trying to teach her things, if anything, he hired Sydney with a solid idea of her talents and used them to put keep his shaky shop afloat.

In season 1, she had to put all of her energy into guiding a staff that Carmy had previously failed to dominate, and it is not like it was easy, but she managed to put everyone on the same page. When it was time for her to show her skills in providing a simple and efficient menu idea, Carmy made a whole effort to introduce a complicated plate to the staff. It is almost like he is competing with her, but again, we will talk about that later. Needless to say, nothing in s1 was mentorship at all in my opinion. She managed with all the skills she already had. Even Carmy mentioned that managing the staff was something she had previously done but didn't like to do, and Carmy never provided them with support or advice, is almost laughable. The story repeats itself in 2 when he ignores how much she needs her presence at the restaurant; he was supposed to be a leader, and he wasn't.

Probably the thing that Carmy has taught Sydney the most is how much he believes in her, wich helps her to belief in hersef, even if his behavior rarely provides her with support for her to flourish as an artist. In 2, she picked up Carmy's work like crazy, which is not a space to create; she was merely surviving and going through a real creativity crisis.

All of this to say is that I really hope she gets the opportunity to shine in another place, even for just a bit, and maybe get another mentor, someone who recognizes her knowledge of chemistry and encourages her to explore her voice, a resolution to her creative block in s2. This is not something bad or something to think Carmy failed Syd; artists and mentors can be a rare match, and maybe because Carmy never wanted a student, he wanted a friend/partner, and ironically, he is not very good at that dynamic either. God, when defining their relationship, Syd is the first to say "partnership," I don't think she expects him to "molde" her or mentor her. Equal creative weight.

They have introduced other chefs that I think could be the mentor Syd actually needs. I am partial to Olivia Coleman's character because I think they have a lot in common. But these other two will be cool, too. Or any other chef they could introduce.

To finish here, I will say the only type of "teaching" I will like Carmy to give Sydney, will be of this nature:

Anyhow, thank you for reading. Nor credited gifs in order: @chefkids, @songkangsbottomteethcirca2020

[seafoamreadings]

week of february 11th, 2024

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: mars into aquarius makes you (more of?) a genius. really! but you can't expect to just know everything all at once. little downloads find their way into your brain without you knowing how you know them but it doesn't change the fact that you know. not everyone will listen, but at least you know.

taurus: this extremely aquarian week puts your reputation and public image into focus. it may clash with the way you actually intend to present yourself or the way that you see yourself. if you find that's the case and you're not happy about it, it is safe to make changes to either arena, although uranian involvment does mean things not go quite according to plan. ultimately it ends up in your favor most likely anyway.

gemini: air sign vibes continue to increase dramatically this week. it's especially aquarian so ideally your focus is on haute intellectual pursuits; the mental equivalent of junk food and tabloids is all well and good but it simply won't suffice this week.

cancerians: if you've been wanting to try your hand at the occult or something that is a bit socially taboo, this week is the right time for it. especially by the weekend, but you could start early and build up. alternatively pay off debts, take out loans if necessary, invest, etc. if that suits you!

leo: if pluto entering aquarius did a number on your partnerships, increasingly aquarian vibes help you get back out there, and/or heal things, and/or come to terms with how much you love being on your own, or whatever the case may be; there's also a good chance of new love or commitment entering your life in the next three or four weeks.

virgo: if you haven't already started such a process, tear down your entire daily routines, diet, and/or exercise plans and rebuild. don't forget either step! it isn't going to work to try to start new on a pre-existing foundation, and it isn't going to work to tear something down that isn't working without replacing it with something better.

libra: the steadily (actually rapidly) increasing air vibe does a lot for your fun and romance. don't stifle it with obligations and responsibilities; do what you absolutely have to do, and then do more if it lights you up truly, but other than that, do what brings you bliss this week. especially if that involves any form of flirtation.

scorpio: you're one of those lucky signs with, arguably, two chart rulers. they are mars and pluto, and they meet up with each other in your 4th house, aquarius, today. if you have planets or angles in the first few degrees of scorpio or last few of libra, this can be quite challenging and i suggest being very careful to avoid accidents for possible violence, but for the most part this can be empowering to you, especially if you channel the vibes into your physical home as a sanctuary or, in this case, more of a lair.

sagittarius: if you can participate in any sort of positive activism or a cause you sincerely care deeply about, this is the best time to do it, especially the closer to home you can keep it. at the same time, be cautious as accidents and even violence are probably more likely under these influences.

capricorn: the world order's shift from earth to air really finalizes and hits home this week. you're out of the spotlight in some way, but it probably suits you. maybe it is more like escaping from a search light.

aquarius: yet more ingresses into your sign are poised to occur. it is mostly beneficial for you. the only caveat is that when mars conjoins pluto, you will be more prone to bodily or mental harm or injury. so go the extra mile to care for your corporeal form and enjoy the aura of magnetism you're to be granted.

pisces: when things pile into aquarius, the sign right before yours, for most people it's a simply aquarian time. for you though, since that's your 12th house, it's... almost piscean. be sure to do your shadow work, dream practices, and any other suitable 12th house activities this week with both mars and venus joining the party in that part of the sky.

[cheshirecatuniverse]

Todoroki Falling for You

featuring: Daruma Ikka! Reader (She/Her)

notes: my works can be gorey, violent, and other mature themes!

For you and Todoroki to meet it would have to be purely by chance.

One of the first times Hyuga had decided to align with Sword was at the fight between Kohaku & the Mighty Warriors. You were buzzing with eagerness the whole ride there.

So much so that Ukyo and Sakyo kicked you to the back of the car. Sitting on the trunk of the car wasn't as bad as it sounds. You had a solid grip, so you wouldn't fall off.

Sakyo even lit you a hand sparkler for compensation. Yay! But honestly, you don't know how Hyuga falls asleep on the hood of the car.

You had a lot of energy for the fight. You pushed around to make sure you were at the front of the action. At one point, you literally dove down on a group of guys and smiled at the sound of broken bones. Everything went by too fast for you, the need of adrenaline driving you to fight with Sarah. It seemed like you were the only person around to keep up with her.

When the word spread that Kohaku lost you groaned. No! What the fuck? You had to sadly wave Sarah goodbye, you really thought you could win. Bring back some pride for Daruma Ikka.

Sulking dramatically, you found something on the ground. Eh, who brings glasses to a fight?

"Hyuga look," You waved the pair of black glasses around, "Nobody stepped on these."

"What does that have to do with me?" Hyuga dismissed it with an eye roll, "Get in the car."

Laying on the trunk of one of Hyuga's cars, you wiped the lenses with your red sleeve. You didn't wear them but looked through them for a couple of seconds before rubbing your eyes. Man, someone had to be blind to use these.

"I think you have something that belongs to me."

You sat up, processing the Oya High uniform faster than the guy's actually face. You grinned, fiddling with them before throwing them into his hands.

You watched how quickly he glared at you, "So you're the weirdo who brought glasses. Have you ever thought about contacts?"

He inspected his glasses carefully. Then putting them on when he realized they were okay, "Not going to take advice from a Daruma girl."

"This Daruma girl saved you a lotta money," You remarked, hopping off the car, "Are you challenging me? Do you wanna fight? Cause I still wanna fight-"

Hyuga shut that shit down with a yell. You were back to sulking, but not before you told Todoroki, "Bye, school boy."

The next times you'd meet it would be the times Sword would get together. Which typically would be in a urgent or bad situation so you wouldn't get much time to talk to Todoroki.

You would, however, tease him as many chances you got. Even if it was just flicking his forehead as you were walking with your group or jump scaring him mid-fight.

Then there was another time at a Sword fight that he had forgotten his glasses. But the Oya High trucks had left already.

So when there was another time that you were bored at the Daruma Temple (which was the next day) you walked over to Oya Territory.

You snuck in the High School, even with your bright red jacket.

When you found Todoroki, you popped out of nowhere.

You made Tsuji and Shibaman scream.

Todoroki could tell before you pulled your hood down it was you.

"I'm telling you," You huff putting his glasses down on a desk, "Invest in contacts."

He actually smiled at you with his hands in his pockets, "I'm fine with these."

Todoroki would never tell you he left his glasses behind on purpose.

Because you are younger compared to a lot of the guys from Daruma you tend to get bored a lot.

Since meeting Todoroki, you go to the Oya district a lot. You get to do a lot of things you don't normally do, like CAT CAFES.

As soon as you saw the cats from the window, you gasped. The look on your face had Todoroki opening the door, waiting for you to go in first. You look at him with a "Really?" and he just nodded.

Before you know it you're going out with Todoroki almost daily.

He likes having you around, but it would take him a considerable amount of time to truly get close to you.

You text Todoroki a lot. Starting with a 🥹 emoji.

It gets to the point Hyuga asks if you're dating him, you scratch your head and say no of course.

But you do notice how you like to grab onto his arms more than anyone else. When he laughs at a joke, you squeeze his bicep in happiness.

You notice how often your stomach seems to flutter whenever you're around him. Still, you don't connect the dots.

Todoroki walks on the roadside of the sidewalk when you're together. He's slick with it to, you don't even notice.

If you're ever surrounded, guys trying to take you down, on instinct, you shield Todoroki. Which his heart gets all mushy for, until you punch someone's teeth out, then he's reminded to fight.

Todoroki knows he treats you differently from the rest of his friends, but it takes a long time to realize. He likes you.

At the realization, there are some days where he skips on hanging out with you. But then he misses you and immediately starts talking to you again.

You know how girls like to give guys their scrunchies? You gave Todoroki one of your red and white bandannas. He has it neatly folded in his pocket forever and ever.

Any event, occasion, achievement, you bring the fireworks. Murayama leaving Oya? You made sure you got at least a dozen huge fireworks. Todoroki won a fight? 20 huge fireworks, and 10 small ones tonight and some poppers to top it off. Hand Sparklers, just for when you want to feel happy.

When you go shopping anywhere you're always looking for science books or journals. Anything that looks like a world wonder or cool for Todoroki because you knew he'd like that sort of thing. You really like how happy he gets each one you get him.

Sometimes, you help Hyuga take his cars over to a Daruma-friendly shop and work on them yourself. Once, you told Todoroki, Tsuji, and Shibaman to come over so that you all can have lunch after.

What Todoroki wasn't prepared for was how hot you looked working on a car. Oil stained white tank top with some old grey sweats and your signature silver chain around your neck to top it off.

You've called Todoroki multiple times, he doesn't answer immediately to your surprise.

"Todoroki?"

Tsuji has to elbow him in the ribs to bring him back to life.

"-Hrgnh, um yes?"

Okay, so you don't really have any friends outside of Daruma and Oya, but since meeting Todoroki and the rest, you actually feel more confident. When you mentioned trying to talk to people from your own school, Todoroki is really supportive. Encouraging to not let any anxiety or insecurity to get the best of you.

One time, you two were out at a cafe. You insisted on buying and getting the drinks this time. Which, Todoroki fought for a good minute until you said this was for passing the exam he was working so hard to study for.

While you were waiting for the drinks you ordered, a girl went over to flirt with Todoroki. You didn't even notice until you had both drinks in your hands and you turned around.

The girl could not stop giggling, and you couldn't help but notice how disinterested he was the whole conversation. Todoroki looked almost uncomfortable.

You felt hot, like a weird burning fever in your chest. Not staying still any longer, you walked over, right behind her. Todoroki's eyes immediately brightened up at the sight of you. The poor girl thought her endeavors were working and tried reaching for his hand-

"Wow! I totally don't remember inviting you with us," You smiled stiffly and eyes on fire.

She turned around, silently scoffing as she got up. You immediately sat down, sliding Todoroki his coffee. Her eyes focused on your bright red Daruma Ikka jacket, silver chain, and the bandanna hanging out of your pocket.

"Thug," She spat out and flipped her hair before walking away.

Oh. That may have hurt a little more than it should have.

"Then I guess I'm a thug too," Todoroki tried to cheer you up.

You forced out a laugh, hating the way your eyes stung. Todoroki wasn't having it, he grabbed the bottom of your chair and dragged you closer to him. He moved his arm around your shoulders. That strange flutter in your stomach came back.

[i-sveikata]

Hey!

I’ve been reading your fic for a year now—I used to comment as Jackdaw but recently changed my nickname. It always brings me so much joy to see a notification for a new chapter. I can’t even express how happy it makes me! I really admire your work. I wanted to ask you two questions; how do you stay on track writing this fic for such a long time? And do you have any advice for a starting author? Stay blessed and merry Christmas, Jackdaw/Sarina

Oh hello! God it’s so crazy that I’ve been writing it for that long but thank you so much!

That’s a really good question! I’d say it’s honestly a few things but the main fact is I’m interested in the pairing and how they might possibly fall in love after such a messed up start and that’s kind of been the driving force of the fic. So even though I’m posting chapter by chap I’m also writing future scenes past the current chap which kind of always leaves me with somewhere interesting to write in the story? Like say if I’m doing plot heavy stuff and I’m not feeling very invested or have the energy I’ll instead move down the doc and write a tension filled scene that captures my attention and keeps me engaged even if it’s happening way in the future. It’s very easy to write when you have so many scenarios on the brain at least for me.

But keeping it up means having to write character or fact notes at the beginning of the fic so I don’t forget them and even writing plot points of things that need to happen at the beginning of every chap before I continue writing it. When I feel like I might be losing the thread of the story I just go back and read what has already been posted (and what stuff I might have forgotten about lol terrible memory here) and that will help keep me on track.But yeah it’s also very very important to take breaks.

This has been a huge undertaking and if I hadn’t allowed myself the time to rest when necessary I might not have felt inspired to keep going tbh so that has been a pretty crucial part to it. The interactions with the readers make it especially fun but I’m also very very careful not to get too reliant on the response/ comments because whilst great and encouraging and really makes it feel worth it- that’s not enough to keep me motivated. Every time I’m writing a story it’s for me and how everyone receives it is just a fun bonus at the end and that makes it very easy to focus on the journey/ joy of it rather than the end result (ie how quickly people get to read the chaps, many people engage with it and like it and comment and how many kudos it gets etc)

For a starting author my best advice would be to sit down and consider what you like to read first and foremost because I truly believe if you’re not being engaged by your own story it’s so much harder to even get the thing finished and you might not love the end result in the same way as you would if you were following what appeals to you about a story first. If you’re unsure of what you like in a story then you need to get reading!!! And start reading as much as you can from a range of different genres. It’s so so important to read if you want to be an author because the more you do the more obvious it becomes to you what can really work for a story and what doesn’t. Then it’s just about finding or creating a story that really speaks to you.

It’s like working a muscle honestly and you’re not going to build that muscle or finish the work out if you get bored in between it- the whole process needs to be fun for you not a chore!! My second bit of advice will be just to write as fearlessly as you can. You won’t learn how to be a writer or how to get better at it if you don’t first put something out into the universe (and that doesn’t even necessarily mean you have to share your first story if you don’t want I just mean you need to create it first). And you won’t do that if you’re too focused on making it perfect and trying not to fail. But you have to fail to write! You have to write cringy sucky stuff until you find you’re own groove and begin to develop your own skills and preferences in a story but if you’re too bogged down in the ‘making it perfect’ element you won’t write anything at all! So my second piece of advice is truly don’t be afraid to suck. Just finish your story and then wait for the next lot of brainworms to inspire you for another and then keep going!! Write write write!!

[kidstemplatte]

Terzo becoming a dad of twin girls!! Pweaaase? 🥰

dad! terzo w/ twin daughters

(implications of female reader)

this was so fun to write! thank you, anon! 🥺i hope you enjoy and it didn’t disappoint! <3

he absolutely cries when he finds out you two are having twins.

he’s so nervous. worried he won’t be a good father. these babies haven’t even been born yet and they’ve become his whole world.

you have to eat more during a twin pregnancy. this man FEEDS YOU.

i feel like he can cook. he’s always making you the best (italian) food, making sure you’re eating enough.

he does so much research he ends up knowing things YOU didn’t know.

he’s always nose deep into some parenting book or staying up in the late hours of the night reading articles.

soon he has mastered the art of carrying two babies at once.

he is such a funny dad. so funny. will do ANYTHING to make his girls laugh.

they love playing dress up!

except he’s the one being dressed up.💀

he makes an absolute show of it. he loves hearing his daughters laugh and he’ll do anything to make it happen.

“you know, you kind of rock a tutu.” you say, walking in during one of their makeovers.

to save time getting ready in the mornings, he learns how to do their hair, and before you know it, he’s a BEAST at it and can braid hair in a matter of seconds.

god forbid they get a hold of his face paint.

he leaves them alone for ONE moment. ONE minute. he comes back. they are both covered in black and white paint.

“ay, nononononono, not before school!!”

the girls want to be ghoulettes for halloween. every year.

“girls, what about something else? we can get you any costume you want. anything in the world.”

“ghoulettes.” they’d say in unison.

he spoils them rotten, buys them endless toys, matching stuffed animals, dolls… but in the process, falls in love with a specific brand:

i don’t even know how i came up with this, but i feel like terzo would love monster high dolls.

he’s in the store… mindlessly walking through the toy aisle. vet barbie, pilot barbie, pool party barbie, doctor barbie...

when all of a sudden, he lays eyes on something new. something exciting.

a “monster high” doll.

now that’s cool.

probably keeps two in his office, each of his girls’ favorite characters.

i lowkey feel like he enjoys some of the shows they watch. i can see him rocking with my little pony.

he loves playing with the girls. he loves their imagination.

gets VERY invested in the barbie storylines they come up with. does high pitched voices when he’s acting out the girl dolls and it makes the twins laugh until they’re rolling on the ground.

he also keeps all the drawings they make him, every single one. they’re also on display in his office.

he knows what it feels like to feel unequal to his siblings so he is very careful to make sure they both get the same amount of love and attention. ❤️

if they fight as they get older, he doesn’t get involved. he knows girls are scary when they’re mad. he lets you handle that. 💀

very invested in the school gossip when they get to that age. when he picks them up from school he’s always eager to know what happened.

protective. VERY anti-boy.

“wait, you said… DATING?” he says when the girls mention a new couple one day.

“yeah dad, we’re in 7th grade now.”

“yeah, dad.”

“NO BOYS! not now, not ever. they are stupid and ugly and think about nothing but themselves.” (he knows this because he was one💀)

(you know the scene from the movie “coco” where the grandma says “no music” over and over again? yeah, replace “music” with “boys”. same energy.)

teaches them about girl power from an early age.

of course, their mother leads the conversation, but he’s so dedicated to help these girls understand their worth. that they can be anything they want.

he already considered himself a feminist before having his daughters, but after having them, he is THE #1 feminist.

when they start talking about crushes, you have to explain to terzo that it’s normal and bound to happen one day.

he just loves his girls so much, he doesn’t want them to grow up🥲

but, uh…

god forbid any boy breaks one of their hearts.

oh, he is not above pulling the satan card on a 13 year old boy.

but you know, one quick google search of “emeritus” will do the trick. any boy will be sure to understand why messing with either of terzo’s girls is a death wish.🥰

___________________________________

i hope you enjoyed and this brought some light to your day!!! honestly i’m a little obsessed😭 hope you’re doing well!! remember you’re loved!!!❤️❤️❤️

[yupuffin]

No but I'm actually so salty about just how deeply entrenched amatonormativity is into our society, about the tendency to underestimate just how harmful it is to aroace people, and about how widespread the misconception is that simply being queer is enough to combat it when the process is really quite a bit more active than that.

There are so many financial, social, and other privileges I'm effectively locked out of due to being aroace -- something entirely out of my control -- even in a primarily queer social circle.

I have to work a strenuous full-time job, to the detriment of my health, in order to make ends meet, due to not having a spouse with whom I can split most costs of living and/or who is willing to help cover some essentials (such as unexpected medical bills) so that I can afford to dedicate less time and energy to employee work and more to (potentially monetized) hobbies.

Socially, I will never be any individual's "default" or "go-to" person, as that position, from an amatonormative standpoint, is reserved for spouses and significant others. Even if I did take matters into my own hands to fight amatonormativity and personally delegate such a person for myself, that relationship would be inherently unequal, balanced against me, so long as that person also subscribes to amatonormativity, even if they aren't currently partnered. My bids to socialize are subject to the availability of the other party, dependent on whether they've already committed to a significant other they will, by default, prioritize more -- and because I'm not part of their in-group by default, anything I want to be included in for certain, I have to expend the time and effort to assemble the plan myself, which is not the case for anyone who can count on being included on anything their partner plans for or with them.

These are just a few of the countless impacts of amatonormativity on my daily life -- and the thing is, on their own, as numerous as they are, they're not particularly harmful. As an aroace (and possibly not yet schizoid) adolescent with no desire whatsoever to find a life partner, I was optimistic, figuring it wouldn't be too much of a problem so long as I maintained a robust network of platonic relationships to serve as the equivalent of the material and social safety nets enjoyed by those with partners -- and in theory, this works excellently. In practice, though, such a situation is exceedingly rare and difficult to execute; in my adolescence, I gravely underestimated the sheer abundance of people who are either partnered or actively seeking partnership, or who misunderstand that combating amatonormativity, like other forms of allyship, is a process that must be conducted actively and deliberately, rather than something that can be done simply by existing and maintaining the status quo, so to speak, even as an aroace person. As an adult, I struggle greatly to locate, much less form a relationship with (assuming we're even compatible, platonically speaking), anyone available and willing to invest in to the relationship to the degree that our priorities will be effectively mutual.

Being aroace and unpartnered in an amatonormative world, thus, is a paradox, as I'm less financially and socially available than those with dedicated life partners due to lacking support I would typically get from such a partner, to which the system operates under the assumption I have access.

Exacerbating the isolating effect of amatonormativity is the tendency to be often labeled and thereby dismissed as merely petty, jealous and/or insecure, implying that the obstacles I experience due to being aroace and unpartnered are entirely internal and simply need to be overcome, rather than direct effects of an amatonormative society with tangible detriments to my quality of life -- implying that, were the emotional aspect resolved, the aforementioned practical disadvantages would likewise disappear on their own (they wouldn't).

And now I'm pondering the relationship between placement on the aroace spectrum and schizoid personality disorder, because whereas the former is usually listed as a symptom of the latter, I'm starting to think that, in reality, the relationship is more reciprocal than that. For example, I think it's fair to say that I choose social isolation and solitariness as a result of being schizoid to about the same extent that I'm isolated into a schizoid lifestyle as a result of being aroace, for the reasons listed above.

[leoascendente]

PAC/ Blessings from spring 💐

Hi my loves! Welcome to this new PAC about the good things coming your way this spring.

Decks I used: Goddess guidance oracle, work your light oracle and spirit animal oracle.

Take a deep breath before you choose your pile, remember to keep what resonates with you and leave what doesn't

Pile 1 Pile 2 Pile 3

Pile 1:

❤️ Take a leap of faith with that idea or project you have, Universe will provide you, don't worry because luck is on your side

❤️ You'll be overcoming many fears and limitating beliefs, self confidence will be high this spring, you start your Empress era

❤️ Start doing things outside your routine or comfort zone, start a new hobby, do something spontaneous and you'll see how good you'll feel

❤️ You'll be more sensitive, ground yourself and connect with nature when you feel you need it

❤️ You'll be feeling an unknown feeling of excitement, you'll have a lot of energy you will invest well, make some sport too it will help you release energy and relax

❤️ You'll have a nice surprise, little insects like ladybugs will come to you before that big surprise comes

❤️ Spend time outside, wind and fresh air will clear your mind

❤️ Someone you know can be pregnant or get married soon

❤️ Number 33, 10 and 41 will be relevant signs, swallows, nightingales and horses too

❤️ For those with children they will come with a good new that will make you so proud

❤️ Be careful, someone wants just casual sex with you, if you feel in the mood remember to use protection because ypu are in a moment of fertility in every sense

Pile 2:

🔮 You'll free yourself from toxic people and enviroments, you'll have to leave bad habits or codependency too ( I hear procrastinating too much)

🔮 You'll be gaining a lot more confidence and hope in yourself and your abilities, you'll feel like you have a lot of posibilities and the resources to achieve them. You are capable of everything you want, just trust your talents

🔮 Don't let other's opinions bother you and don't tell no one about your ideas until they are a reality

🔮 You have great creative ideas, start making them practical plans and take things more seriously. Make a list with your ideas no matter how unrealistic they could seem, Universe will give you the answers in the perfect moment

🔮 Hold your vision of future and what you want to manifest, you are really close to ahieve a major goal, keep faith

🔮 Someone from your past, possibly a past romance will communicate with you, it's a test so don't let this person fool you because they haven't changed the same way you did. They come in an energy of remorse but you are not their therapist

🔮 Do some shadow work, you need to release some negative emotions

🔮 Your signs will be swans, sequences with number 5, arrows and the goddess Artemis

🔮 Feeling independent, free and comfortable with yourself and your life, the word satisfaction keeps repeating

🔮 A deep sense of relief and not needing anybody's approval

Pile 3:

🍀 Something you wanted to manifest is about to come, don't rush the process

🍀 A period of lack of motivation is ending, you'll be feeling a lot more powerful and driven torwards something you really want

🍀 Your mimnd will be more clear too, you'll see solutions easilly. If you deal with anxiety you'll feel how it's releasing progressively, be gentle with yourself meanwhile

🍀 You'll be putting yourself and your needs in the first place, some could call it selfishness but it's the purest manifestation of self love and you know you deserve it

🍀 That change or new start you were praying for is already here, don't miss the opportunity because there's a karmic test behind scenes to prove you really want this, don't be afraid of change.

🍀 Stronger intuition and finding your soul purpose, you can also meet people from your soul tribe to help you with your goals. For some of you, you'll be meeting your true soulmate or twin flame (whatever you resonate with)

🍀 Self esteem issues will be dissolving fast, try to avoid overthinking and nurture you mind, soul and body with healthy content

🍀 Move more your body, put nice music and dance (I keep hearing bam bam by camila cabello), let the energy move through your body and this will help you to balance your sacral chakra

🍀 Owls and lizzards will be signs, shooting stars and number 44 too. You can also be receiving messages through music lyrics

[bumblequinn]

Hi! Medium time listener (I followed after slarpg altered my brain chemistry), first timer asker! What is your process when it comes to composing for games? Is it any different when the subject changes (personal, commission, etc)?

hehehe, well i hope that alteration was a positive one! 😋

so i think there's kind of two sides to this: there's the creative process, and the collaborative process.

The Creative Process

my creative process is actually pretty similar whether i'm working on contract or for personal enjoyment.

first, i consider:

the needs of the prompt in front of me (is it a save menu or a boss battle? is it a tense scene is or a tender one?)

how it should fit into the bigger picture of the whole project (mood/tone, genre, leitmotifs, instrumentation, production style, etc)

what tools i will need to use (subtractive synth or sampler or soundfont or live recording?)

then, i typically write what i call a "skeleton:" just the barest bones of a piece of music. i almost always do this on piano, dividing the bass, harmony, and melody into very distinct registers. i do it this way for several reasons learned the hard way:

first, by dividing parts into clearly delineated registers, i'm saving myself a whole lot of trouble down the line. i have long had a bad habit of over-crowded arrangements, which besides being weaker from a composition standpoint, are also notoriously difficult to mix. and mixing is already hard enough as it is! so writing a strong and well balanced composition from the outset is the best way to go.

second: when you jump into arranging or mixing before the whole piece is written, it's much easier to get stuck. where should i take this track next? i dunno, guess i'll fiddle with the mix. suddenly a week's gone by and i'm still working on a half-written track. if i require myself to write the whole piece out first, then this bottleneck is almost always eliminated.

sometimes you can get really excited about an idea, get carried away with arranging and producing a whole track, get to feeling really attached to it—only for your collaborator to say it's just not the right direction. by limiting myself to one instrument, i don't put in a disproportionate amount of work before confirming whether or not the piece is actually a good fit. and bonus, if it's not a good fit then i have a piece of music written that can serve another project later (or another part of the current project, if i'm lucky)!

of course, i'm not always perfect about this. even very recently, i got really stoked about a track i was cooking up for susan taxpayer and went BANANAS with it—only for punkitt to say she loved it but it wasn't at all the right vibe. a hard but necessary reminder of why i try not to get carried away prematurely!

(don't worry, the one i made to replace it fit like a glove, and the first attempt is gonna be used elsewhere. love wins 😌)

once i do have confirmation that i'm headed in the right direction with an idea though, that's where i really get into it with choosing instruments, designing synths, figuring out the production style, etc. and there's where the real back-and-forth with my collaborator begins, to make sure things are staying on track every step of the way. that leads us to:

The Collaborative Process

for starters, and probably most obviously, different people are different to work with. everyone has different strengths and challenges both creatively and interpersonally, so i try to meet my collaborator where they're at and tune in to their specific needs, vision, and communication style. within reason, i try not to look at these things as being "better" or "worse" with one person versus another, just different!

i think the biggest differences for me as far as how much time and energy i invest into a project are A) whether it's paid or pro bono, and B) my own level of personal excitement about the project.

if i'm doing something purely for fun, it's pretty exclusively because i'm really hyped about the project. because, well, it wouldn't be fun if i weren't, right? and in that situation, i enjoy giving it my all! susan taxpayer falls firmly into this category, and i'm having a blast with it.

SLARPG started out pretty similarly, but as the scope of the project grew, it evolved into more of a pro bono arrangement; bobby and i drafted up a contract and negotiated on how we would split earnings from the game once it released, and that's where i've gotten the vast majority of my income this year. it remained a passion project til the end, but i could not in good conscience put that much of my life into a project of that size unpaid, no matter how much i loved it! (maybe one day, if we collectively defeat capitalism and i no longer have to worry about such things... 🥲)

things get a bit different when you get into strictly contract work, though. when it's something i'm doing for a client who's paying from the start and it's not for my own enrichment, i have more hard and fast boundaries on how much of myself i put into the project. i have specific rates, and offer only so many free revisions before charging additional fees. sure, i can be horribly particular and will revise something a bazillion times to get it "just right" if i'm working on a passion project, but i'm not about to do that for like. a corporate commercial or whatever lol

whether it's for fun or all business, though, i always try to make something i'm proud of. because i want whomever i collaborate with to have something they're happy with in the end, of course! plus i'm kind of allergic to phoning it in, i'm too extra for that 😜

________________

i'm sure i could go on, but i think i'll leave it at that! pardon the slow response, it took me some time to formulate my thoughts for this one. thanks for the question, and take care ^^ 🎵

[youyedesiyuyan]

Assuming that time and space are broken, in order to seek stability, a global retrospective is conducted. 16-year-old Danny suddenly falls into the hospital bed of 24-year-old Vlad, who is still one night away from discharge, due to falling into a crack in the retrospective process?

At this point, Jakr and Mads had already given birth to Jazz. However, due to Danny's intrusion into the timeline... on that day, which was also the day Mads became pregnant with Danny, the timeline backtracking determined an automatic repair for the same existence, allowing Danny, who had previously existed on Vald's bed, to continue to exist There is no medal to contact the mainspring, unless there is a malfunction, the mainspring cannot actively intervene in the timeline to find Danny, and there is no available Ghost Gate in this timeline. Without an artificial Ghost Gate to provide spiritual energy to the atmosphere, there will be a shortage of Turin energy here for a long time, which will prevent the emergence of a natural portal - Soooo... Danny can only be a half ghost like the one in front of him at the moment, seeming to be as poor and penniless as himself (if the pile of documents on the bedside table are not hospital and school loan bills), but Vlad, who has not done irreparable bad things, relies on him for survival (happy)

As a hero of justice, Danny has an obligation to watch Vald not do anything wrong; After spending 5 years alone in the hospital, I finally came into contact with a fellow Vald. I don't want to be lonely anymore and want to be in touch with the only other half ghost Danny... The two of them hit it off and started living together as roommates, penniless but at least having each other. In order to live a good life, they decided to fight together

Despite the hardships of life, Danny urged Vald not to use ghost power to cheat money and rob banks. This was the bottom line, otherwise Danny would leave him and make a living on his own. He believed that they could do well without using this power to do bad things, and had confidence in us. Vlad agreed, and the two of them worked together to start a small business and repay the debt (Danny was from the future, at least knew something was about to become popular, and had paid off the debt in just a few months). One and a half years later, after Danny's 18th birthday, the two of them made a lot of money through stock trading (Danny really knew they should invest in Microsoft and Apple). With startup capital, they started a company. Danny After the company started to operate well, three things were discovered: 1. Vald didn't just become a billionaire because he manipulated people to steal money, he has a natural talent for doing business - so on another timeline, he still lives in that castle 2. He succeeded in doing business much more times than he did as an evil villain - Vald's evil plans were always foiled by Danny kicking his butt 3. I am actually very good at being a secretary - the original purpose was to observe Vald's every move and prevent him from accidentally following the previous path, but now it feels great to be able to contribute more to the company

(Vald and Danny control several replicants working frantically in the office together)

Danny experienced for the first time since becoming a half ghost that he didn't have to start ghost battles at any time within seven days and 24 hours. However, the people around him are like half time bombs, and we can't let our guard down. Vald needs Danny to keep an eye on him to prevent him from going down the evil path, and watching his former archenemy look young is really strange. It makes people want to observe the difference between him and him at that time But in Vald's eyes, he was a teenage boy who was almost reaching adulthood, staring at him with focused eyes all the time... Danny had no reason to pay attention to himself at all times. When he was caught staring at each other, Danny would blush awkwardly and turn his head in a panic, so the only reason was

——This is the first time in many years that Vald has not spent Christmas alone, and it is also the first time Danny has spent Christmas without arguing. That year was also the first time that the two of them did not hate Christmas... and the first time that the two of them started to hate Christmas at the beginning of the New Year with a bottle of Panqu liquor

——————————————

hi， This is my first time posting here. My English grades are not very good, and I have used machine translation for all the text content. Please forgive me if the semantics are not appropriate hi，这是我在这里第一次发帖，我英语成绩并不是很好，文本内容我都是用机器翻译的，如果语义不当请原谅

[miru667]

How do you manage to stay in a fandom for so long? I'm always mario jumping from fandom to fandom every 3-6 months

Oh, so many reasons. I think I've answered this before but in a much more concise way so idk what happened here when I tried to answer again from scratch but uhhh I wrote a lot lol?? Long ramble time. 😂

I found this fandom at a point in my life when I really emotionally needed it, so I got really attached to it. I stayed because of the friends I've made in it and because of the OCs I got invested in, both mine and other people's, and every so often something invigorated my interest like a new roleplay I got to join or new concept art that got discovered.

I'm also just a really dedicated person (for better or worse) and I still have ideas that I want to get out there creatively. I don't get a lot of free time, and I rarely have energy for hobbies after work so my time passes slowly in the sense that I may still be in the middle of appreciating a thing, meanwhile everyone else has already sped through and processed it and moved on.

So I've gotta be really careful about choosing what to spend my limited time and energy on. It sometimes takes me a whole month to draw a piece of art that I'm proud of. It would be a huge waste of my time to spend so much energy on a fandom that after 3 months I think I might not care about anymore.

And like, if it's going to take me a month to draw 1 thing, what am I going to choose? Fanart of a character from a show that I just finished that I might possibly move on from in 3 months? Or art of my darling Audrey OC that I've been developing for years and whom I know will always bring me joy for the rest of my life? It's not a hard choice! Like I'm sure it's obvious by now but I really love my oc. It's gotten to the point that I look for her in every media I consume. I like characters because they remind me of her, and I like plots because they remind me of her. When I watch a movie and end up loving it, I'm not going to be drawing fanart for that movie, I'm more likely going to be drawing Audrey Grace in some way that's consciously or subconsciously inspired by that movie. I'm sure other people with beloved ocs can relate to that, too.

Back to media consumption: I'm constantly watching new things, shows, movies, letsplays, and I'm able to love them just fine, but I never participate in their fandoms (unless you count reblogging fanart as participation. I personally don't). I just don't feel motivated to and I feel like it's unnecessary. I shouldn't need to prove anything. You can appreciate media without engaging in fandom. In fact, I encourage it, because a lot of what I see in fandoms these days is just stressful, at least to me. And I don't want that stress. I'm much happier as a person when I don't have to read other people's opinions, discourse and drama over some show's themes or ships or whatever. I can just quietly revel in my own enjoyment of the show without being tainted by anything else, and my love for it is not any less valid than the person who's livetweeting their loud emotions while watching the same show and putting out fanart 1 hour after every episode. Bless them, though.

And I guess that's mostly what I do these days with the Onceler fandom, too. Appreciating it more quietly these days, I mean. It's just that...I have a fandom related oc so I draw her. And I have friends here so we do stuff together and we reference fandom inside jokes no matter what activity we're doing. If I encounter art that deeply moves me personally, I reblog it, just like I reblog art for other media on my sideblog. When anyone has a fandom history related question, I'm eager to answer because I don't want the past to be misrepresented or misunderstood. And also, since it's been over a decade, this fandom has long ago become my daily normal. I can do whatever I like but I can't really "leave" this fandom unless I delete all my social media and cut off all my online friends. And delete my memories of the past 12 years of my life as well. Just become a completely different person.

So I guess I can reverse the sentiment: I can't relate to people who hop fandoms every 3 to 6 months. 😭 All the power to you, but that's just not the way I happen to live my life, nor the way I engage with the media I consume! The Once-ler fandom was the one exception. It was special.

But who knows, anything can happen in the future. I'm not so proud that I'm purposely blocking myself from looking at other fandoms or anything. I just go with the flow! Right now I'm slowly making my way through jjba, an omori playthrough, a Plague Tale playthrough, and urusei yatsura season 2 (the new anime). Probably nothing will come out of any it except for a bunch of Audrey inspos, but again, who knows. XD I'm also going to an idkhow concert soon, and I've bought merch from their store already. Does that count as participating in a fandom? Maybe not. But now that I think of it, even if I "join" another fandom, it doesn't necessarily mean I'd leave the onceler fandom either, so maybe it wouldn't matter haha.

Thank you for the ask and thank you to anyone who's read my entire answer!