#i might as well share it when asked...

[wawek]

Like 3 weeks ago ive been asked my pronouns irl in polish for the first time since forever and it was so weird and funny internally. This is our first meeting so i guess its not appropriate for me to tell you im not quite a person and you can call me a thing. But on the other hand you did ask. But also thats gramatically annoying in polish. So lets just say im cisgender

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

Running into a dating dilemma issue I have not encountered in quite some time. Starting talking to two different people on an app at around the same time, went on a date with one of them last Saturday. It went surprisingly well, even fooled around a little for the first time in a long while. We have a second date at an arcade planned for this Sunday.

Other person was a little slower on the draw (not as timely with responses) and has offered to meet up this Friday. They seem nice enough, but now I'm kind of focused on the first person- but obviously that connection is also still in the exploratory stages and there are no guarantees that anything else will happen with them. I'm not great at dividing my attention when I'm interested in someone but I also don't want to count any chickens before they hatch (the chickens in this case being a meaningful or at least ongoing sexual relationship 🐣)

So the dilemma is: do I still go on the date with person #2? The way I see it I have three options- agree to the date and see where it goes, decline the date, or put it off until next week and see how I feel after the second date with the guy that I already met. I feel like I should make a choice soon but I truly don't know which one 😬

[edge-oftheworld]

I don’t really talk about it much on here because I’m extremely lucky to be able to understand exactly what’s going on in my body, but it’s scary to live for years as someone who Gets Things Done in a way your peers don’t really understand, be putting effort into so many things you care about, and then suddenly lose the ability to do not only that but also basic tasks overnight after a deadline, and bit by bit after many. it’s scary getting really irritable sometimes to the point of violence, just when you were meant to be celebrating the rewards from your hard work, the only impact of the work you did that you can see is that you overdrafted your ability to do anything. including have a basic conversation without getting grumpy or crying. and your body is going to make you pay it back with interest, you already know that, but you don’t know how to start filling yourself back up. you’ve only ever enjoyed being on the grind, hard at work on exciting things.

I don’t know how many of you have been through the kind of burnout that’s years of needing 12hrs of sleep a night but with terrible insomnia, waking up to what feels like a hangover for weeks on end with little relief then rinse and repeat without having a single drink, feeling too sick to eat and needing to exercise to emotionally regulate but being unable to, anxiety that doesn’t come from worry but you’ll pick that up too at some point, dissociating every time you try to do mentally taxing tasks that you’re PAID for so it takes an hour of grounding yourself just to get five minutes worth of productive concentration, falling asleep the minute you feel a little safe by being in the presence of loved ones. but I suspect I’m not the only one.

I’ve had songs for the energetic and angsty times leading up to this. for the exasperated times and the brain fog and the times where all my limited energy is tied up in feeling things. that I need to, need to acknowledge, but it’s overwhelming and I live in a haze for weeks as a result of. songs telling of the kind of youth I wish I had, even when I was sold something else. songs for the months spent as a teenager trying to be there for my friends, worrying for them, distracting me from worrying for myself, trying to cling on to positivity and hope amongst it when I had to choose to make a discipline of always seeing that. I’ve had songs for healing and when healing is harder than expected and songs that have the right level of musical complexity to capture the layers of everything that’s happening in my head, making it sound good, telling me it’s gonna be okay.

I don’t know how I could ever say thank you for this. but I do know that I see parts of myself in the people behind these songs, of course I do, and I worry for them as a result and ache for them because it’s hard enough to feel this way when no one knows me or feels the need to control me or mould me into what they think I should be. I’d do anything to keep them all healthy and happy and all of their loved ones too and I don’t think it’s strange as a fan to take that seriously. I hope we can understand the need to treat them gently, and to while not questioning their privacy and the fact that they’re never going to tell us everything they go through, listen to our intuition when we catch something we relate to and treat what they’ve shared with us or hinted at with the dignity we would if someone we love told us something vulnerable. be kind in our expectations and be intentional in the fan culture we create because it does make its way back to them.

and the same goes with all of you. we’re bonding over the same things. I know a lot of this fandom is in the stage where interpersonal relationships are hard. we don’t mean to be grumpy of frustrated but we are. and I’m sending love to all of you. we can get through this together. it’s what they’ve always longed for isn’t it?

[thelonelyshore-if]

Hi, hello! You've hinted that you'd like to read about people's MCs, so I decided to stuff my terrible shyness into a shoebox for a moment to ramble. Hope it's not too long aaa

My MC Theo (it took me an awkward amount of time to realize I accidentally made him your namesake lol) is a tall, handsome firefighter, because it's not an option you see that often, I feel like, so I had to go for it. And just because I can, I also have him wear these thick, black glasses, as he's a far-sighted, blind bat. Now I realize they were probably swept away by the lake, so the poor guy's vision is twice as fucked due to the fog. Overall, I imagine him to be this super chill dude everyone generally likes because even if he gets beaten down to his knees he still chooses kindness and respect.

He adores his sister Wills and he was totally the "okay, fine, just don't tell mom and dad" kind of brother. Their childhood was full of good-natured teasing (he swears Willow just makes it so easy). Nowadays he finds he's more worried for her but tells himself that she's an adult now and that if things really went south she'd reach out. (In the light of recent events, he no longer thinks that.) He needs to find his sister asap and give her the longest hug ever, both for her and his sake.

Upon waking up in Easthaven, he chose to stay at Ravi's, though he's not so sure about his decision anymore. Sometimes that man gives him the creeps for reasons he can't yet understand. Unnerves him, but not entirely in a bad way. You know, the "A chill just ran down my spine, but I kinda liked it??" He thinks Ravi has pretty hands.

He used to be kind of a nerd in school lol he was ridiculously good at math and chemistry and all that, and for this reason he's very set on finding logic behind everything, no matter how absurd it may be (or so he thought). Which is whyyy at first he thought nothing of this whole "inescapable" Easthaven shebang. Very much "People here are just quirky like that, there's nothing wrong with that."

However, his stance on this takes a radical turn after he (and Jay and Ravi who he dragged along because he wanted company) nearly gets killed in a cursed, endless forest (??). He was keeping his marbles together quite admirably up until that point, but after that experience his thoughts started a war in his head. One side is adamant that there simply must be an explanation to all of this, while the other is slowly but surely turning against him, going "But what if? What if there's more to this?" which then makes him go eerily quiet. He's starting to have doubts, and that terrifies him more than he's ready to admit. At the moment, he's not necessarily angry with anyone, just very "don't touch me or talk to me for a while please and thank you," probably because he's still trying to piece together what the hell just happened. (Also, that new chapter sneak peek was great! "Oh, that gas station that literally teleported from across the town? Sure, let's go in. We might even get to buy a slice of Invisible Pie.")

He very well might choose to stay at Jay's for a change if given the chance, mainly because right now, even despite everything, she appears to be the sanest out of the trio. Plus, he finds he's drawn to people who are especially caring and would do anything to help others, since he feels the same way. It's the reason he chose to save people for a living.

Can I just say the Jay/Ravi/MC poly is going to be a blast? Yeah, I love my girlfriend--she saved my life, she's so selfless and drop-dead gorgeous; and I love my boyfriend. He… genuinely scares me sometimes, but it's also kinda hot, so.

And lastly, while MC's magic powers have not been really brought up in the story so far, I imagine that once they start manifesting, my MC is going to be absolutely terrified. "I don't want this. Why is this happening to me? How do I make it stop?" I can see him fighting and resisting it every step of the way, at least at the beginning, but then something just snaps and it takes over. Currently I'm thinking The Fog has called dibs on him first, but I might go for something else in the future. Whatever happens, it'll probably be perfectly fiiine =)

Thank you for taking the time to read all this yapping! Take care!

thank you for sharing omg it isn't too long i love this ask.

Theo sounds delightful!! I love love love MCs with a close relationship with Willow, and his sounds so sweet. I have a soft spot for firefighter MCs too tbh (I will allow myself this one bias) I think they're fun. And oh noooo not the glasses 😭 His poor eyes.

One of my favorite things is seeing what the breaking point for skeptic characters is. Like...at what point is it just too much to keep refusing the supernatural?? And the forest is definitely a good one lmao. (also losing it at invisible pie thank you for the laugh)

Eating up all of the details about him and Jay and Ravi, and your thoughts on the future magic development!! The idea of 'here's my beautiful wonderful girlfriend. here's my boyfriend who legitimately scares me' is delightful ty for sharing it.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[incomingalbatross]

Top 5 things to cook or bake.

Thank you for this ask! :) I'm mostly going with dessert baking here, since that's what I tend to like best.

Fudge, specifically the hard, crystally kind from this recipe. It's delicious. And it impresses people, so bonus. ;P

Brownies! These are on the easy end of things, but are also delicious, which makes them my favorite choice for impromptu/low-effort desserts that make people happy.

Biscuits (American, drop). We use the Joy of Cooking recipe. They're so basic and they usually come out great.

Gingersnaps. I think this recipe's from Fannie Farmer? They definitely don't snap -- they're thin and soft and chewy, and spicy, and I make them every Christmas at minimum.

Mint chocolate cookies that I also try to make every Christmas -- they're more work than anything else here, so sometimes I cave and make chocolate crinkles instead, but they're so good. Like thin mints but better. I even bought actual peppermint oil last year to flavor them correctly, despite the cost.

[tariah23]

Man, I still remember participating in one of the many jjba zines that I took part in and how my piece was placed as the first page (for the second time) and how one of my mutuals/artists that I’ve always admired, hit me with the “oh… you’re on the front page again… 😅…” like man, that kind of killed me lmfao. I never got over it like man, what was that about.

[haarute]

it's amazing how almost all of my friendships (and by almost all i mean Every save like three) are ruined by my own self essentially swerving into a wall and crashing on purpose due to my inability to believe my company could ever be even slightly desirable to anyone and i'd rather just burn it all and die than see myself as someone who intrudes and abuses people's kindness out of my own selfish desire to want companionship.

[windmaedchen-oceanhorn]

in your valen hc post, you talked about other reasons why he might be holding onto his sword. while I have my own ideas (knows he has a sister and is holding onto it in case he were to come across her (unbeknownst to him its faye and he's a little bad with faces)) what other ideas did you have? if any?

Dear Anon, first of all, thanks for the question! I am always thrilled to hear any question you may have and will definitely give it a thoughtful answer. <3

... okay, done. Here's my result:

When I began to think about it, I was troubled by Valen's current situation of being permanently employed in Holistone. It does not sensibly match the need to carry a useless sword around when he could easily store it safely at home. It would make much more sense to carry it around, however, if he was still the roving mercenary which he was initially planned to be, due to lack of storage options. But since his background story changed/wasn't implemented, yet his design remained unchanged, we ended up with this tricky situation.

However, I think I found a wonderful explanation, one I am actually very happy with! I hope you enjoy it also. ;-)

Mercenary's Past Option

In his first years off the island, he was part of a certain mercenary group (Gray Foxes). He would form strong bonds with many other members there, but I think one particular old hound impressed him particularly. Being only 16 years old still at that time, he found in that man a role-model he never had before or since (even Hogan, whom he still greatly respects!). The sword in question was already dangling the man's waist as a secondary weapon and Valen kept asking about it. Eventually he got a response:

"That's a man's life-line. You can have all your favourite weapons and believe to be an invincible warrior, but eventually will come the time when you are down on the ground with everything lost - then remember this. It was with you at all times, it carries the power of everything that you have seen and done, and when the time is right, it will serve you as the last true victory over your adversary."

Considering it a silly superstition at first, one day Valen witnessed that power first-hand. They ended up in an ambush of some sort and got out of there alive only because that old man gathered the strength of his life-line when Valen thought all was lost. When the old man died (at least not connected to that or any other battle), he handed that sword over to Valen. Unable to forget that fight and their survival, he adopts this tradition as his own, forever honouring the man who saved his life once.

This requires Valen to actively carry the sword with him at all times and explains why it's not the right time yet to use it. It shall never be used casually.

"Always carry a second sword, as to never be defenceless".

This is a rendition of the habit to "always carrying a penny in your purse so as to never be penny-less". Valen actually does that, also, with one of the first coins he earned as his own man and he has never worried about his finances since. ;-)

Lavinia's Option

This second option involves my OC Lavinia. When I created her, I also considered the second sword Valen carries. It used to belong to Lavinia's father, a renowned HO knight and soldier, but since his death, it was kept as a keepsake. Lavinia wanted to step into her dad's footsteps, so her mother thought it was going to be in her hands eventually but Lavinia herself gave it away.

Valen and her were inseparable friends for 3 or 4 years, sharing the dream of becoming the greatest swordsmen, knights and warriors, before she had to move to the Capital. Even though Valen had access to his own real weapons, he always admired that sword, due to the stories about her father's successes using it. So she gave it to him as a parting-gift, for when he needed "a secret super-weapon to defeat his enemy in the face of death". He accepted it only on the condition that they'd meet again so he could return it and additionally promised to use it only when the situation was dire.

(In return he also gave her his old self-made wooden sword (a replica of the beloved Stoutstone Isle treasure Stormcaller, which he no longer used at that point, as he was about 13/14 then). Lavinia kept that sword until it was burned in the arson destroying her flat (aiming to get rid of all evidence she might have collected against her superior). This happened just a couple of months before meeting Valen again.)

Valen usually had other weapons, but on the rarest of occasions, he was forced to use it, after all, as the only weapon he carried. With success, of course. He also loved to practice with it (and still does), for it's perfectly weighted and moves as smoothly through the air like no other. Stormcaller is a much heavier sword and although it suits him perfectly in all regards, its power comes at the cost of that teeny tiny bit of ease and grace when wielding it.

So even though he eventually had the best sword there is, due to the promise given, he could never bring himself to discard it even as the years passed.

Frankly, with this option, I imagine that when he settled in Holistone, he would actually just store it at home rather than carry it around all the time. But I can't much change the design choices, can I? xD

Fay's Option

Anon, that is YOUR cue. What did YOU have in mind here?

But let me tell you, I 100% agree with you: Fay and Valen are siblings that, due to circumstances just don't recognise each other well enough when they meet in Remnant Peaks. I elaborated on that here.

Since Valen left her behind, I can very well imagine some scenario where he carries the sword "for her" in some regard. Since in my headcanon Valen's mother died after giving birth to Fay, it could have been her parting gift to her, to be handed over eventually. Or she had Valen promise to protect her with the sword. His decision to leave was a no-brainer and essential to him, but unable to fully ignore his promise to his mother, he at least takes the sword with him so he CAN protect Fay should the need arise.

Given that he's got no sister currently to protect when Merlin asks him about the second sword, naturally he would say "not the right time".

With this option, I again consider it more likely that he'd keep the sword stored at home. Even though he should always carry the sword with him just to be ready to protect Fay when needed, I feel it's strange that with such devotion to carry he sword, he wouldn't also wander around actively looking for her, too. Sooooo... I'll have him keep it at home. :-P

[spilling-blood]

might i inquire about your opinion on bears (the real kind, possibly some fictional iterations you can think of, teddy bears mayhaps) on this year’s world bear day?

Well they're animals so I think they are neat. I used to be super afraid of the idea of running into grizzly beers when we went camping when I was a kid. Probably the influence of, national geographic magazine or zoobooks, they technically existed in the general states and provinces we camped in but like, we weren't really hiking and camping in their common territory I don't think.

I was very insistent on reminding everyone to play dead if it's brown to the point of probably being irritating, like quicksand I thought a grizzly bear attack was an inevitable consequence to life as a kid, and I was not going to be unprepared I guess. I am glad nobody explained to me the usefulness of bear spray or a rifle if you actually are staying in grizzly territory, I def would have been begging for those things the threat was real to little me lol.

I saw black bears a few times, once on a trail (we kept going and I was excited but I am guessing my parents were not lol) and then a couple times because we ended up camping next to ppl with no sense that left food out overnight, those times I only caught a glimpse once for just a second before the tent window got zipped up, because we had to stay in the tent with my mom and be super quiet until they left. I wasn't as afraid of those because they weren't *grizzlies*, I probably should have been more tho lol. The noises they made were so cool too and deep.

Polar bears are so cool and gorgeous, obviously can never see one irl without dying, but still. Hell of a way to go though maybe by some chance if I make it to 70 and am not broke too I can go on an adventure and die by polar bear if the ice caps haven't all melted. Pandas are cute esp the babies, I guess my feelings are apparently more mid on them since they aren't as dangerous, which I only realized writing all this rn lol.

I can't think of any fictional bears off the top of my head other than Yogi bear and I guess Panda from Jujutsu Kaisen, and I have no thoughts really on either of those guys lol.

[pencap]

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[arolesbianism]

I've been doing a casual second lob corp playthrough for fun and one thing that I've really come to adore is how the different success rates can paint a pretty cool image of how work with it looks like at different levels of each work type and while I think it's kind of sad that base game you can't see the work percentages I also think it in a way adds a fun game of is this marginally harder at level five than four or is my guy just being bad at their job

[melverie]

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh today I've been constantly experiencing the urge to un-private today-in-the-devildom & start writing for it again

[herbofgraceandpeace]

😅

[just-some-random-blogger]

You really have a tendency going on 😭

🧍‍♀️why are you in my tags tho 🤨 what I have to say in there is between me and my inner monologue, but I guess you can spectate 🙄✋ Besides, I hate to be a home wrecker. Why steal a daemon when I can get a rhaenyra? Sharing is caring amirite?

[airenyah]

so for the past 2ish years that i've been taking this thai course i've been the youngest participant by far and also (mostly) the only girl

and because of that, even tho it's an online course so we're not super close with each other, despite that i still often feel like i have a bit of a status as the group baby (affectionate). and it shows in moments like earlier in class when someone asked about the word "inspiration" and then, when asked to give an example sentence, without batting an eye went "[airenyah] is my inspiration to learn more thai"

y'all. this man is one of the best (if not THE best) student in our course 🥺