#i would add a read more but apparently you can't with links?

[celestiababie]

A Handful - K.MG

Pairings: Stay at home husband! Mingyu x fem! reader

Genre: fluff, highly suggestive (18+), domestic!au, established relationship!

Warnings: PREGNANT READER, chest fondling (m and f receiving), cursing, Mingyu is a little shit, reader is hormonal and easily annoyed, Mingyu possibly has a breeding kink, reader is shorter than Mingyu, let me know if I need to add anything else!

Word Count: 915 (short but I was on hiatus and this is the first thing I'm writing in MONTHS)

Summary: Your husband is no stranger to being touchy and clingy, but he's been especially annoying ever since you gave him the big news.

A/N: I'M MOTHERFUCKING BACK!!! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing this. For reference, this acts as a small prequel to a small series I have about stay at home husband/dad! Mingyu. You don't have to read the other parts, but I will leave a link to the series masterlist just in case people want to read it. Please leave feedback, I'd really appreciate it, especially since I'm a bit nervous about posting again haha.

Series Masterlist

A pair of warm hands suddenly wrap around your growing stomach, engulfing you as a gigantic presence looms over you. 

The shriek that escapes your lips is embarrassing, but not nearly embarrassing as your hands lose their grasp on the plate you were scrubbing, dropping it in the sink and causing the fine porcelain to shatter. 

"Shit—are you hurt, baby?" Your husband's voice echoes through the not yet completed kitchen, irking you more than it normally would. 

Spinning in his hold, you wipe your damp hands on the sides of your sweatpants before shooting him one of the deadliest (and sexiest) glares he's ever witnessed.

"No, I'm not hurt, but I keep telling you not to sneak up behind me when I'm doing the dishes! I don't even understand how your tall ass is that fucking quiet," you start, your brows furrowed as you hold your glare.

Mingyu opens his mouth to reply but can't get a single word out before you shush him with a single finger to the lips. 

"I'm not finished. And this is the fifth. No, the sixth time a plate has broken since we've moved here." 

"That's not that bad, Y/n," Mingyu defends with a pout accompanying his words.

You cock a brow at the tall man, scoffing at his pathetic defense, your tongue pressed into the side of your cheek.

Six plates is a lot for any man, but it becomes comical when it's only been a month and a half since moving into the new house with your klutz of a husband. 

"You've also spilled drinks. Many times. Dropped multiple glasses. And don't think that I'm stupid and don't know you dropped the bottle of wine Minghao gifted us. I was looking forward to drinking that. That's pretty bad, admit it, Gyu," you list off, enjoying how a deep rosiness reaches the tips of his ears, almost as deep as the wine you'd never be able to appreciate. 

Mingyu slowly turned your frame back around to face the sink once again. His hands roamed across your stomach, which was getting bigger and bigger with every day that passed.

 Like always, Mingyu felt his heart racing in his chest as he caressed your stomach, his body flooding with that overwhelming emotion he could only describe as true unconditional happiness and love for both of his girls. 

Okay, maybe he didn't know the sex of the baby yet, but his gut was telling him he was gonna be a father of a little baby girl, and he was sticking to it for now. His intuition rarely failed him, and if he hadn't stuck to his guns, he would have never got together with you. 

"You wouldn't be able to drink it right now anyway, baby. Let's focus on things I'm good at, hm? The kitchen is almost done, and the living room looks beautiful, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty good at painting, so I'll have the nursing done in no time. I just cooked my beautiful wife a wonderful meal that she was moaning about the entire time," he shamelessly declares, the smugness apparent in his voice. 

You bite back a sassy remark when you feel his hands traverse up your abdomen, gently grabbing your swollen breasts in his large hands to massage them carefully. Your head relaxes against him as you let out a deep sigh, your husband's skillful hands rubbing away the ache and soreness. 

Mingyu studied your blissful expression for what felt like the millionth time. He'd never grow tired of how your eyes would flutter shut, eyelashes resting on the tops of your cheeks as your pretty lips parted, taking deep breaths as you savored the feeling of his hands on your body. 

He tilts his head to bring his lips closer to your ear, "And I'm really good at making mommy feel good, isn't that right, baby?" 

Your eyes roll behind your eyelids as you let out a breathy laugh, amused but not surprised by your husband's antics.

"You're so annoying, Mingyu," you moan, practically purring your husband's name, which only inflates his ego more.

"How convenient for me; you've always looked so damn sexy when annoyed."

A light bulb lights up in your head as you watch your husband's back muscles as he walks over to the kitchen sink to set aside the dishes. 

Let's see how he likes it.

A Cheshire-like smirk paints your lips as you slowly come up behind your half-naked husband to wrap your arms around his waist, your stomach pressing against his tanned skin.

But much to your disappointment, Mingyu didn't give you the reaction you hoped for. 

"Gonna keep me company while I wash up?"

You frown and deeply exhale as you crawl your hands further up his torso. Your nails drag along his skin, which generates a shiver throughout his entire being, goosebumps forming on his skin. 

"No, I'm trying to give you a taste of your own medicine, but you're enjoying this too much," you reply, your fingers inching further with every word.

A low moan rumbles out of Mingyu as your hands feel up his sore chest from working out right before waking you for breakfast. 

Shit, his chest got even bigger. Damn, that home gym he insisted on. 

You watch as Mingyu writhes against you as your fingers trail over his nipples, a shaky breath forced out of his body as he grabs the edge of the sink.

He's so annoying.

[esamastation]

Part thirty-six of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five

-

What do you get when you take the random encounters of a turn-based RPG and add a hefty dose of action RPG, and then turn that into a semi-realistic world? You get absolute shitton of critters.

There's so many. Not just types, of which there admittedly aren't that many. There are lizards called Tail Vaults that try to headgrab you, there are huge beetles called, weirdly, Bizarre Bugs that either try to body slam you or poison you, depending on whether they feel like flying or not, there are birds that try to electrocute you, which are, disappointingly, called Thunderbirds - disappointing, because they're barely the size of falcons and something called Thunderbird should honestly be bigger…

Sephiroth is really starting to feel at home here! While the monsters of Final Fantasy VII so far aren't exactly impressing him with their variety or imaginativeness, they're just about on par with PIDW with how fucking annoying they are.

Because they never fucking stop coming!

"You know, I was really enjoying this," Sephiroth comments after another random encounter with half a dozen or so mixed mobs. "I was having such a good day. But these things just don't stop coming, do they?"

"Welcome to Wutai, it's all bugs and angry grasses from here to the bitter end," Angeal agrees. "Just be glad there aren't any Adamantaimai here."

"What's that?" 

"Big turtle with a bunch of shield magic that throws all your attacks back at you."

"Ooh, I want to see one!" Sephiroth says excitedly.

"Sephiroth, no," Angeal says firmly.

"But -"

"Firstly, they live in the northern end of Wutai, so it would be a week's trek there, and for two we have our hands full here," Angeal says. "We're not going to see Adamantaimai."

Sephiroth sighs. "Fine," he mutters and looks ahead. "Oh, look, more bugs."

"Back to it, then," Angeal agrees, adjusting his gloves.

Though they can't seem to take more than twenty steps before running into more monsters, the fights themselves aren't hard. It's actually really cool, to just mow them down in single swings like he can! The Liu-shidi vibes are incredible, just, ten out of ten. And the more Sephiroth fights, the more comfortable with his body he becomes. He can almost feel his meridians unwinding!

It's really quite something to be in a body that feels so at ease, swinging a sword around. Though he could've done without the whole villain alien hybrid who will one day try to destroy us all thing, there's something really nice about fighting now. Like Shen Qingqiu felt at ease reading or painting or playing music, Sephiroth's feels most comfortable swinging a sword.

It's really becoming more and more apparent by the moment that Sephiroth's body is best suited for physical cultivation. He can just feel his stress levels coming down!

Ah, but he would really like a little break to take in the rest of what Wutai wildlife has to offer too! The forest around them isn't just a backdrop in a battle screen, there's all kinds of interesting plants, and he's pretty sure he's seen some familiar trees, and Sephiroth would really like to take a closer look!

"Can we take a break?" he asks, trying not to sound too plaintive after the umpteenth fight against endlessly spawning mobs.

"Are you getting tired?" Angela asks, alarmed.

Honestly he doesn't even feel like he's been exercising. Sephiroth has a fucking golden body, it's ridiculous. "No. I just want a break."

"Yeah, sure - we'll take a break," Angeal says and deals away with the rest of their most recent patch of enemies. "What's going on - are you alright?"

"I'm fine - I just want to take a look at that tree over there," Sephiroth says, nodding. There's a really huge tree a little ways from them, big enough that it's visible at a distance and past the other trees. 

"Huh? I mean, sure?" Angeal says and looks. "I guess it's pretty impressive - is there something wrong with it?"

No, it just looks like a ginkgo tree. Sephiroth shrugs and, after making sure they're not about to be stormed by another swarm of low-level mobs, walks over to the tree.

It is a ginkgo tree, a really old one - old enough that if it was in PIDW, the locals would've already started giving it tributes in expectation of its awakening. It's so big it's starting to push out other trees around it, outcompeting them for space and sunlight, and so creating a clearing around itself.

It really… looks like a stray piece of home. Though there weren't that many ginkgo trees on Cang Qiong Mountain, there were some - including one really impressive one on the Beast Peak, which they were expecting to awaken any year now. The disciples used to hang charms from its branches.

Sephiroth puts his sword away as he approaches the tree. Feeling a bit silly but also not wanting to be rude, he bows to the tree before going closer. Gently, he rests his hand against the tree trunk. It takes some effort… but he can feel the Qi flowing in the tree trunk. There's a lot of it, too.

The tree is not awakening - but at the same time is not… not awakened already? 

Probably something to do with the cyclic nature of souls in this world. Everything is sort of reincarnation of everything else - so the Qi in the tree is thousands of years old, thousands of lives lived.

"... Sephiroth?" Angeal asks quietly. "What are you, um…?"

"This tree is old. Very old," Sephiroth says - then bites his tongue on the natural conclusion of that statement in old as balls. Trying not to lose his composure, he looks up. "No trees like these near Midgar."

"... No, there aren't," Angeal agrees, eyeing him. "Can you… feel something from the tree?"

Sephiroth looks down at him. "You mean the Lifestream coursing through it?"

Angeal looks a bit startled at that before shrugging, uncomfortable. "I know they all say that Lifestream is just a bunch of nonsense - but it's like you said," he says. "No trees like this around Midgar."

"Mn," Sephiroth hums.

"You know, sometimes I wonder what might've happened if they built a reactor in the Mideel Islands," Angeal says, considering the tree. "They say the ground is too unstable and there's too many earthquakes, but… if they had…"

Mideel is this world's version of the Pacific islands, right? "All your weird apple trees would've died, probably," Sephiroth muses.

"How dare you call our apples weird, sir," Angeal says, mock offended. "I would have you know, Banora Whites are my hometown's main export!"

"Don't you call them stupid apples or something?"

"Dumb apples," Angeal says with a huff.

"I rest my case," Sephiroth snorts and looks up at the Ginkgo tree. Sunlight is screening through the leaves, like dancing sparkles of gold, and if he was Shen Qingqiu, he'd try his hand at a poem for it just about now. Maybe he could do a bit of meditation here…

And of course that's when there's a sound of twigs snapping and leaves rustling somewhere behind them as something large and probably angry comes their way. Damn.

"I guess break time is over," Sephiroth mutters and grabs his sword. "I know there's an Enemy Lure materia - is there an Enemy Repellant one?"

"If I ever find one, I'll let you know," Angeal says, putting his fists up.

And they're back into the fray.

[sunnydayaoe]

Off Schedule

[CCCC FIC] Contains: Platonic Soul, Heart and Mind, Pet regression, [~4,000 words]

Stressed petre!Mind + Caregivers Soul & Heart! From the request "s.so. so puppy mind after a stressful day with heart and soul as caregivers,," Mind can't complete its normal nightly schedule, and gets super stressed because of that... Luckily, Soul and later Heart help him relax :]

Fic under cut! or on AO3

It was hard to understate how much of Mind's, and really all three of their, mental state was linked to their physicality. Sometimes, this worked in his favor. Indeed, today was one of those days, at least, he'd thought it was.

If it tried to ignore all the strife and focus entirely on getting things done, it could set aside... most of the annoyances. His body was more machine than flesh at this point, and any phantom pains could easily be ignored for the Whole. He didn't want to disappoint his Soul [or his Heart], after all.

It wasn't thinking today was a good day now, curled up in bed, an hour before it'd regularly turn in for the night. He had started lagging earlier in the day, but had decided against slowing down his usual schedule; if he was feeling bad, that just meant the whole was having more intensive thoughts and needed him more than ever. Rest was not an option.

This had gotten him only though most of his routine, but, annoyingly, he couldn't get done with his last step. Every night, he'd read for about an hour before bed. This usually helped him wind-down and get relaxed and into the proper headspace, but his head was too scattered. That really was the last nail in the coffin.

He could stand an increased workload, the impending dread that something was Wrong, but his schedule... God, he didn't even know why he was so stressed out. He'd finished everything actually important, had finished everything that would actually help the three of them. The only thing he couldn't get to was some frivolous wind-down time, truly pathetic that that was what had done him in.

To add to this horrible mess, he couldn't even get to sleep. There was a buzzing under his skin, a restlessness he couldn't shake. He wanted to move. He also very much Didn't want to move.

A knock at his door startled him out of his curled up ball on his bed. He grunted an acknowledgement, hoping they wouldn't come in. He was... not presentable. He knew he'd probably be mean and unsociable, and that would just get so tiresome when it made the other, whoever it was on the other side of the door, inevitably got annoyed with him.

Apparently that wasn't enough for them, [figures, he was never enough.] because the door creaked open. It was Soul.

"Mind...?"

He turned away with a growl, hoping Soul would get the message. It was not in the mood.

"You okay man?"

Clearly, it didn't. Figures, Soul could never mind his own business.

"Yes. I'm... Fine." The words were slow and stilted, like it was pulling teeth.

Even without looking, he could tell his host was narrowing its eyes at him. The bed dipped with extra weight; Soul had sat down at the bed's foot. He was just getting ready to tell him to fuck off when he felt a hand reach over and settle on his forehead. Oh. Soul was in a touchy mood today. [Those were always nice days.] Maybe it could... wait a little bit, before kicking him out. Just a few moments, of course.

"Not too warm or hot... I guess, if you're sure you're fine, I could leave." Soul had become a bit of a worrywart in concord, caught up in attempting to make sure everything was running smoothly. Still, it backed off if one of them started getting snappy. a good call, because usually, Mind found the mother-henning kind of annoying [it was, after all, the one supposed to be keeping things in order. Any more than the base worry started feeling suffocating.]

Today, however... the idea didn't seem too bad. It was selfish to consider, because it knew it was liable to lash out like this. That wouldn't be a good ending for any of them, for Mind to snap at Soul only trying to help. Still, the temptation.

"No."

"You want me to leave?"

"No." It growled, frustrated with its inability to talk clear and the fact Soul misunderstood. God this was already getting it angry; this was definitely a bad idea.

It rolled over until it was back to facing Soul, squinting a bit at how light it was; his dear host had left the door open, and the hallway light was on. Annoying. Worth it though, because he could push against Soul's side, making it very clear he didn't want him to leave.

"Okay, okay, I get the message." Soul giggled. His hand gently carded through Mind's hair, "Think you could tell me what's wrong? Sick, tired, stressed-"

Mind nodded at the last one, careful not to dislodge Soul's hand, before contemplating for a second and holding up two fingers for the second option: he was also pretty tired. Soul's eyes softened a bit at that, drooping in the corners [reminding it of the portraits of Him Soul hadn't covered up].

"Want some help relaxing?" the words were a tad hesitant, and they were paired with gentle hands sliding behind his ears [something it leaned into easily. Again, touchy days were Always the best.] It didn't sound like it knew if it should be offering and it took Mind a moment to realize, exactly, what it was suggesting; usually he was the one asking, albeit awkwardly, if Soul could look after him while regressed. Even then, Mind hadn't really done it much...

It nodded, after a few silent moments weighing the pros and cons. It didn't have to talk, or make any decisions, or do any work, and it could just have Soul dote over it... it figured it had done enough productive work to earn itself some pampering. Probably. Maybe. Anyway, Soul was offering; to not take the opportunity would be... illogical.

Seeming satisfied with the confirmation, Soul pulled away. Before Mind could get snippy and whiney about it, he quickly explained himself, "just getting your stuff... unless you want to do it without it?"

That was logical enough, still a bummer though. It just huffed, "Fine."

His host rolled its eyes at him, but made quick work of sorting through Mind's drawers and pulling out its collar, along with its dog themed socks and gloves. He made a quick detour to the door to close it as well. [Much to Mind's gratitude. The room was now lit by a slightly dimmed light: pleasant.]

Mind didn't really have much he did with regression, so new to it; Soul easily kept track of everything it did, usually the one with him during. He was back in moments. Still, the sun took each item from its host to put on itself; it had already submitted itself to enough vulnerability, it could put on its own socks.

Now finally ready, and already feeling the tiniest bit better, it felt all the antsy-ness and over-energy come back with force. The buzzing underneath its skin was getting hard to ignore. He hoped Soul would be fine with a more playful session than usual.

"Now who's my good puppy?" Soul cooed hands reaching out to cup its face, like, well, one would do with a puppy. It wasn't really a puppy just yet, but the sweet words usually let it fall into it more easily. While definitely a tad embarrassed, it relaxed almost instantly into him. It knew it would feel great once the first little bump was gotten over. Just needed to let go a little [a Lot].

"Good boy!"

It shifted a little further into him, letting itself fall almost into his lap, nodding. Talking always got a bit hard like this, and it was already having a difficult time beforehand. That was fine though, his Soul was definitely expecting it.

"Want to play, or nap, Apollo?"

Oh the nickname was definitely the last straw; he was wholly in puppy-space now. It wanted to play, and it let him know with a playful yip and pushing its full weight into him; wrestling was always its favorite.

Not expecting the switch to such loud enthusiasm, Soul staggered a bit and nearly fell over when Mind bowled into him. He chuckled a little, hands gently pushing at its shoulders to get it off of him.

"Sorry puppy, I'm not the most into contact sports," he summonsed a chew-toy, characterized like all his summoned objects by a solid red color, "Wanna tug-a-war instead?"

Well, it wanted to wrestle, but... whatever; tug-a-war could probably be just as fun. Grabbing onto the toy, it gave a harsh tug.

With that, the game was on; Soul made sure not to pull too hard, not wanting to hurt Mind's jaw or teeth, but Mind had no such reservations. It growled around the toy, teeth sinking in further than it probably should let them. It could let out way more of that nervous energy it had had throughout the day like that though.

Soul didn't seem that happy with its disregard for propper safety, "Hey! Drop it boy, drop it."

Normally it would heed the call, it always adored the way Soul would coo soft praises when it did as he asked, but today it needed to get out these feelings. Shaking his head like a dog, it gave another sharp jerk at the toy. Its teeth hurt for a moment, probably why Soul let go.

Later it would recognize letting go as not an unsound decision, [Mind's jaw Had hurt for just a moment before Soul released the pressure, and it definitely would have hurt more if Soul Hadn't let go.] but in the moment it just went flying backwards and off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thump and whine. The fall was onto carpet, and didn't even hurt that much, but the betrayal certainly did.

He heard a muffled "shit" overhead, but that was quickly ignored in favor of whining as loudly and pathetically as possible. This sucked, its back Kind of hurt, and Soul had just been incredibly horribly mean to it. That was such a mean way to win tug-a-war, cruel and unusual! Everyone in a fifty-foot radius Needed to know that. Immediately.

Soul was on the floor with him in an instant, cooing soft words and shushing gently, like that would earn him forgiveness for what he'd done. [It Did forgave him, but Soul didn't need to know that!] Its tantrum was definitely stressing Soul out more than the fall hurt it, but that serves him right! Being mean to a puppy is crime punished ten-fold.

It seems it’s wailing had gained it more than just Soul’s frantic attention; loud footsteps echoed from the hallway. Heart, probably, but in the minuscule off chance it wasn’t, it shoved itself right into Soul’s unprepared lap. He could make up for being so mean to it by protecting it from any monsters that may or may not exist. [That was definitely why he went into its lap, and not because Soul was very comfortable.]

The door creaked open yet again, and Heart peaked in. “Everything okay in here? I heard a thud and ah, a lot of noise.”

Soul was quick to answer, “ah, yes. Everything is fine. Mind just took a bit of a tumble.”

As if to accentuate this Mind let out a little whimper, needing Heart to know he was having the worst time in the world [or well- it was actually having a rather nice time, but it was ignoring that]. The moon would have sympathy, wouldn't he?

Heart seemed to need a second to realize what that sound was, and when he did he let out a little giggle. “Do we have a puppy in here?”

They didn’t wait for Soul’s “yeah” before going on, closing the door behind them. With a few directions from their host, he settled down on the floor beside the two of them. “Mind if I join you two?” The question seemed mostly in jest, Heart had already sat down next to the two of them, but there was an underlining genuinity.

Mind heard none of this, and was warring between two decisions: one, stay in Soul’s lap [rather awkward, because it hadn’t been prepared for him to just crawl on,] or jump at Heart and see if he wanted to play wrestle. Soul was very warm, and past a bit of squiring, pretty comfortable, and had even started giving it pets, but Heart would probably take him up on the offer of wrestling…

The two had moved on in conversation while it considered its options. Soul was answering a question it didn’t catch: “I really don’t know why he’s being so loud… the fall was pretty short. Do you think it might have landed wrong?”

Heart was making considering noises, but Mind was fuming. The two having conversation overhead didn’t bother it at all [it rather liked that they didn’t expect or need it to contribute] but Soul didn’t even know why it was mad at him?

That was definitely the last straw, and it wriggled out of Soul’s gentle hold to run into Heart. He didn't bowl them over, but that was only because Heart was a brick wall compared to Mind. There was a giggle, and large arms wrapped around it in a hug. It squirmed for a moment in the hold before leaning up to lick a stripe over Heart's cheek.

This very heartfelt show of affection earned him nothing but a few snickers and getting pushed back a little. Nobody here appreciated him as much as they should. Still, he stopped whining; Heart wasn't the one who let it fall off the bed, after all.

"I think Mind was just mad at you..." Heart said, shoulders shaking with silent laughter now that they'd figured Mind wasn't actually in any pain. "Was Soul being mean to you, puppy?"

"uhuh!" Mind agreed, easily. He wouldn't really say Soul was being Mean, per se. but he wanted to be mean back anyway. It usually didn't like talking like this, but it was going to make a small exception, just for this."B-bad at... playing."

It shoved its face right into Heart's chest now that it had spoken its piece, that was enough of that for now! His Heart didn't immediately react besides shift Mind into his lap more comfortably, face tucked into his neck. After a moment of adjustment, he was immediately on Mind's side; the way everyone Should be.

"Soul did you really fuck up playing so bad you made him mad at you? When he's like this?"

"Don't swear in front of it!" Soul, sidestepping the question, interjected.

There was a moment of silence, with the exception of the rhythmic thump of Mind's tail, before Heart burst out laughing. "You, my Soul-" He couldn't finish, giggling and wheezing way too hard. He tried again, "You censor yourself in front of Mind?"

[Mind knew Soul Tried, he was just very very bad at it. If he had any of the want to count he's sure its pretty high in the double digits, and they've only started doing this for a couple weeks at this point.]

"Yes! I do!"

"He's- He's still Mind. I don't think censoring swears will get it more into character either..." They considered it for a moment, like a thought had just occurred to them, "Unless you censor yourself in front of pets normally...?"

More silence, followed by breathless giggles. The sound made Mind want to laugh too, contagious. Soul didn't answer, turning away with a huff.

"Mind's not some delicate little thing like this, Soul." Heart said, turning his attention back to Mind. "isn't that right buddy? You're a big dog aren't you?"

Mind nodded against Heart's chest, giddy at the praise. It liked where this was going, quite a lot.

"Wanna show him how to really play?" His Heart gently shoved him off their lap and grinned down at it, sharp teeth on display. "Know you like wrestling, Apollo."

It lets out a happy yip, wasting no time in engaging in the fun. The two are grappling around the floor in moments, Soul's surprised yelp background noise.

Heart was always fun, never missing the opportunity to stress out Soul or let Mind have some more rough playtime. Not to say they were it’s favorite… just that, sometimes, maybe Mind preferred their treatment to Soul’s.

Like now! Tumbling about the carpet hit the exact itch Soul couldn’t. There was action, loud and aggressive, and it could really get its adrenaline pumping. Best yet, Mind could just let itself sink into it all without having to worry about things going south. The others would never hurt I a puppy, after all.

The thought brought on another wave of giddiness, and it threw its weight at Heart with rendered vigor, finally pinning him to the ground. Victory was his, at last!

Heart didn’t struggle much, a bit out of breath and mostly happy Mind seemed satisfied. At least, that's what it thought. “Ahh how terrible, to be bested by this awful beast…”

[Mind preened at that, for it Was an awe inspiring creature.]

His Hearts mouth turned into a sly little smile, before he was curling up with a lunge and grabbing Mind in a hug, warm and constricting, but not too tight. He laughed, big and loud and exaggeratedly evil, “or so you thought!”

It squeaked and squirmed and made a big show of Not wanting to be caught, but didn’t actually struggle too badly. Playtime had tired it out a little, and it was definitely not at 100% beforehand. Not a good mix for a puppy… Plus how awfully nice it was to be in Heart's arms? He didn't stand a chance.

Yawning, it let it’s chin hook over Heart’s shoulder, attempts to escape his arms short lived and abandoned. The moon was very very warm, one of the many things that made him such an appealing caretaker. How could it not adore someone so warm and snuggly.

There was a concerned noise behind it, and it could feel it’s ears perking up, trying to figure who it was. Soul, [obviously [there were only the three of them here, after all] but it liked having to puzzle it out. Smooth and angelic, with a hint of static, of course that was his Soul.] tinged with only a hint of worry, “was he too rough?” It asked him, before quickly changing gears to address Heart, “It looks tired.”

“It looked like it had too much energy when I got here, just tired it out enough for bed.” Heart’s easy response, self-assured. His grip tightened around Mind and he shifted it a little, like a man presenting a fish they’d caught, “worked like a charm!”

Mind only struggled a little bit at the handling, but rather liked it. There was just something so pleasant about being… a prize. Observed and adored and pampered like a treasure, but any contributions it offered were incidental to it, the machinations of another. Mind could just doze off in Heart’s arms and the soft cooing just came rolling in! It was living the dream.

Soul made a considering sound but didn’t fight him further. It tapped Mind’s shoulder to gain his attention. It to glanced back, eyes already half-lidded and tired from the adrenaline rush of its game ending so quickly.

“Mind…? Want to go to bed a puppy?” His hand was already hooked under its collar, ready to take it off. Usually the sessions weren’t so close to the time it turned in for the night [Mind liked having its before-sleep reading time], and it usually liked to get out of puppy-space an hour or two before bed. Soul probably assumed it wanted out before getting to sleep.

Mind growled, the sound at odds with its earlier good mood. What would have been a squeaky puppy growl on anyone else came out deep and crackling from the sun.

Soul pulled his hand back, palms free, “easy puppy! Was just a suggestion.” Heart was laughing at him.

Satisfied its point came across, it nodded. Going to bed actually did sound pretty nice right now…

Heart seemed to sense its thoughts, because he lifted it off the ground as he stood, gently setting it back on its bed. Like an evil creature that fed off of only suffering, however, he did Not crawl in bed with it.

Letting out a loud whine, it stared between Soul and Heart with a wide eye, glassy with what would be tears if it had any. It earned him a startled sound from Soul, “I thought you were enjoying cuddling with Heart…?” And Heart’s feigned resignation, “well… I guess I have too,”

It turned away from Heart with an annoyed huff. He should’ve been grateful and humble! Not resigned; Mind was a wonderful puppy, to cuddle with him was a gift, or a burden. Eyes drifting right over him to look at Soul instead, it gave a few paws at the air, tying to get him closer without Actually getting out of bed. He let out a laugh, a little indulgent, crawling in bed with it. "Fine, but only if you take off that collar. We don't want it poking you in your sleep, right?"

It huffed, annoyed at the fact Soul was right. Getting pricked in the neck by it's spiky, crown-shaped tag seemed like a recipe for discomfort though, so it presented its neck. Soul made quick work of removing the collar and it wasted no time in tucking itself into his side when he was done. Soul was still moving around a bit, putting the collar on the bedside table and getting comfortable in Mind's bed, but it was still nice.

"Am I still expected to join in?" Heart asked from behind, though he didn't sound too dejected anymore. "Or have I been rejected from the cuddle pile."

Mind considered shooing him away, but ultimately the idea of cuddling both its Heart and Soul sounded too nice. [And maybe.. it didn't like the idea of excluding its Heart from all the fun.] It made sure not to wriggle out of Soul's arms but it did wave him over with its free arm.

His Heart let out an amused sound, "Am I not even worth turning around for?" but crawled in bed beside it anyway, squishing it between themself and Soul. It arched its back a bit, so it could press against both its thirds, earning another amused noise and arms wrapping around it.

Its host didn't really cuddle back, but he did let it snuggle up against his side. His Heart, seeming to have discarded all his feigned reluctance, holding it close to his chest in a firm hug.

All in all, it was perfect. It almost forgot about what had stressed it out, tomorrow would probably be similarly difficult...It tucked itself closer, face shoved into the cook of Soul's neck.

This earned him a concerned coo from its host, "What's wrong buddy?"

Even after all that, it still wasn't in the mood for talking. It just shook its head, wanting to ignore the problem and focus on cuddling. Soul's hand lifted to its hair, lightly scratching its scalp. From behind, Heart cooed little comforts into its ear. The two working in tandem to distract it from its worry.

Soul could never leave well enough alone though, and asked anyway. "Was it what got you so stressed in the first place...?"

It nodded, hesitant. Soul probably wouldn't be dropping this unless it admitted that much, at least. His visible eye softened at that, "Don't worry about that. We can help you out with whatever it is tomorrow, okay?"

That actually sounded pretty nice... It didn't know how much help the two could actually be in the things it normally did, but even the knowledge that they would try was... appealing. Comforting. The thought of tomorrow didn't seem so stress inducing with the two of them around it.

It could feel itself relaxing back into their embrace, the stress lining its figure draining. Its eyes drooped further, the lack of worry and warm bodies around it making it difficult to stay awake. It tried to keep its eyes open though, it wanted to enjoy this. It wasn't common for the three of them to get together like this, warm and safe and without any argument.

One of them, and at this point it couldn't tell who, gently shushed it, "Go to sleep buddy, we'll be here tomorrow."

That was the last thing it heard before the world went dark, the need to rest winning out. Maybe... this wouldn't be the last time they did this.

[otterloreart]

Art Prompts: 

1-TV Headed Men

2-Moth Dolls

3-Planet Themed Mermaids

4-Milkshake Dragons

5-Ice Cream Themed Superheroes

6-More Magical Pony Art (I Love Them!!)

7-Ocean Themed Space Aliens

8- Sea Snakes (They’re awesome! Here’s a link to an article about them: https://blog.padi.com/sea-snake-facts/) 

9-Snakes With Prosthetic Arms

10-An Otter With A Cute Little Bow In Her Head

I got way inspired by the sea snake prompt apparently and spent way more time than I meant to on them! I included the whip snake (highly stylized) as an example of a "land snake" (opened up one of my herp books to a random page).

If they were toys like the other snake designs they would include stands to represent the fact theyre "swimming" whereas the land snakes would have slightly more flat bottoms so they can "stand". The sea kraits have round bodies with flatter tails while the seasnakes have vertically oval bodies.

These designs are not 100% accurate to real snakes, obvi, they're artistic reinterpretations of the snakes design. For ex: the whip snake has a stripe, but also has very distinct scales, so I made them diamonds. And the eyelash shapes are just for cuteness.

ok facts about sea snakes I want to add to clarify some things stated in that article (just adding my own knowledge/clarifying things (PLEASE do not take offense to this i am glad to read facts about snakes i just have brain worms when it comes to snakes))

put under cut because it was getting too long

"to keep things simple" isn't... right: theyre split into different categories because they're separate evolutionary lines! And there are a handful of other differences (although the article does go into those later, but ngl thats why i dont like lists organized this way). Anyways, it makes it sound like these categories are not relevant to the evolutionary history imo

I would have clarified that while they all do have paddle like tails, the kraits actually have bodies more similar to land snakes, whereas the true sea snakes have vertically elongated bodies to make swimming easier and are bad at being on land.

Okay so this is true mostly EXCEPT we built a huge canal through panama and there have been sightings of sea snakes on the "wrong" side of the panama canal, specifically yellow-bellied sea snakes which live on the pacific side. There are no breeding populations, but due to human intervention there's potential risk of them being introduced.

See this is why I was like the categories aren't for "simplicity", the sea kraits are separated from the other sea snakes because of their many differences: a major one being that they come on land to lay eggs! A number of snakes all over the world give birth (though yes, not in the ocean) to fully formed (not "nearly") babies!

I would just add that this is part of why they can't cross over to the Atlantic! here's a paper!

...all snakes are carnivores (hence, weird thing to say)? unless you count eating eggs as being "not a carnivore". in which case this would be untrue because the turtle-headed seasnakes (genus Emydocephalus) eat primarily fish eggs!

and this one isn't quite right because of turtle-headed seasnakes again! They have almost no teeth except tiny fangs and as far as I can find are either mildly venomous or nonvenomous. since they dont hunt their venom glands are vestigial.

Sea snakes and kraits are elapids, which include other highly venomous snakes like cobras, coral snakes, and all of the highly venomous Australian species!

While doing research on realistic snake plushies, sea snakes made by WildRepublic were one of the major clear attempts at a retailer trying to be scientifically accurate.

Kraits DO actually look like cartoon animals

and yeah the olive sea snake does really look like that:

(although the olive one has apparently been taken off their website?)

although the way they title and tag their products continues to piss me off to no end, like this is an EEL not a SNAKE, they're just out here spreading misinformation and confusing things.

they completely rebranded in like 1999 because their wildlife plushies took off so personally I think they have a responsibility now to scientific accuracy since they took on that mantle. but i digress.

[the-alliance-maker]

More art from my younger sister, yay!

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) looks like that because he's worn the Fierce Deity Mask too many times for extremely long periods, and now it's started to stain/scar his skin.

I'm also putting her little doodle she made me bellow too.

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) has a/his shadow following him around. This is apparently my sister's view of their relationship.

(She was nervous about letting me post the gif and required that I clarified that it's a low effort, quick animation she only made to get a laugh out of me, lol. She was correct about making me laugh. I was in tears for, like, an hour.)

More explanations (And lack there of?) about it under the cut.

These pieces of art are both from an AU of mine that we roleplay a lot.

I'd explain more, but it's built off an alternate timeline/universe of @wutheringmights story "Call them brothers". And I'm not sure what her rules are about fanart or fanfics, mostly because I never asked or looked into it and I never intended to.

I make AUs for the fanfics I read, write fanfics for those fanfics with thousands upon thousands of words in them and then never post them or do anything other than hand them to my sister to read. She does the same with her art.

...Fandoms are messy enough without me accidentally stepping on someone's toes. (I think my sister doesn't post her art because she's too unconfident though.)

That aside, Call them brothers is literally my favorite fic I've ever read. I know we like to throw that phrase around in the fandom a lot, but I have every intention of getting that sucker printed and bound once it's finished. I've been reading Fanfiction for nearly a decade and this is the first one I've wanted to do that for.

If you're a person who enjoys darker stories and want a story line with some actual consequences for the characters, I'd totally recommend it. The last time I was this gut punched over characters and their development was Red Rising by Peirce Brown (My favorite published book series ever), and Wuthering's descriptions of a war ravaged country and all it's horrors is fucking immaculate.

I found Call them brothers through my desire to see a longer fic that had Spirit Tracks Link, and it did. not. disappoint.

Wuthering's takes on what Spirit's abilities, character traits, and game culture/lore are currently my favorite I've seen from anyone in the fandom, and I would doubly recommend the fic just for that.

That said, it's not a story for the faint of heart. It's Dark. With a capital 'd' for a reason. Wuthering doesn't add all those tag warnings for no reason. Also, if you can't stand to see one of the Link bois written as anything other than what the mainstream interpretation for them is, this isn't for you. War isn't out of character, but he's certainly a bold take. A fantastic one, but bold none the less.

Plus there's mild mentions of Links being interested in other character's that aren't their Zeldas or their typical love interests. There is NO shipping of the Jojo's characters amongst each other, but if you're the kind of person who can't stand alluding to characters having crushes that aren't Link x Zelda, it isn't for you.

I know there's some people in the fandom who don't like that kind of thing, so I thought I'd mention it. Also, you've been warned so no being mean to Wutheringmights about it!

If you're okay with the things I've listed, please, please, please give it a read. @wutheringmights deserves all the love for writing something so good.

(Anyway, I could ramble for hours about all the reasons Wutheringmights is my favorite Author in the LOZ fandom, but this was supposed to just be a post about my lil sis's art that got waaaaay away from me.)

[luciluck2046-utdr]

Welcome to the (non) official

BLOG!!! (For short LUW)

This AU is my own idea. There may be some questions you may ask yourself, but first let me explain what this blog is for.

This post is the main one, I recommend checking it if you're new to this AU. Here I'll post everything Luci's Underwitch related. Or almost everything. I'll try. (I may have missed some art from my main acc, it is @artsycrow46)

Also, if you want to ask any character anything, on @lucisunderwitchasks you can ask them! Edit: The account was deleted and moved here(i have way too many accounts so I need to do some cleaning from time to time)

Let me give you a brief explanation of the AU. Luci's Underwitch is an AU where all monsters are actually humanized, being called Witches. Frisk is 12 during their travel around the Underground, doing the Pacifist Run, and in the end, accepting the job as the ambassador of Witches, but going 'home' to their dad. Chara fallows them pretty much everywhere, and likes Frisk very much, being besties.

Now several months fast forward, Frisk lives with the Dreemurr Family. Asriel (11 y/o) and Kris(5 y/o) are their siblings, and Toriel takes care of all of them, dating Sans (mhm, I'm one of them Soriel shipers).

Ten years later, Frisk and Asriel are at college, and Kris found out about the Dark Worlds!.. The year now it's 2025, and Kris with Susie are now at their homes, waiting for their siblings to come back from college for Easter! Scarlett is one of Frisk's best friends, maybe even more than friends! And Asriel is still single since he's autistic as fvck.

Toghether, Frisk (with Chara ofc), Kris, Asriel, Susie and Ralsei are going into a steampunk adventure in Frisk's closet.(all of this is happening after Chapter 2. I am going to play the next Chapters when they're out, and add them to another fanfic)

Under the cut you'll have more, and at the end there will be the questions.

'kay, the explanation wasn't that brief. I am going to make a comic about it, but I am still learning about how to draw perspective and hair sooooooo y'all won't get this soon.

I have two fanfics on the way with this AU, and a third one might appear after I finish the second.

The main fanfic is called Lost Souls, The First Part explaining different events from Frisk's life after they got out of the Underground, and The Second Part is going to fallow the two humans into the closet adventure! (The closet has nothing to do with lgbt, but the fanfic surely has a bunch of lgbt in it)

I might upload several chapters in a day, or forget about it for weeks. If anyone wants to read more and I haven't uploaded a new chapter in a long while, uhhhhh tell me? (My dumbass my forget fast)🫡🫡🫡

The link to it? I might add an AO3 link too after I figure out how to use that website-

The second fanfic is called Underground Adventures, fallowing Frisk trough the Underground. This one will be out all at once, not by parts, so it's no worth to put the link here.

Now the third fanfic. It's going to be called Runes And Adventures. It's going to be abt Kris in the dark world, during Chapter 1-2. The Chapters 3-4 are going to get a separate fanfic, since they're gonna be AFTER the steampunk adventure. I am not even working on how to write it or any ideas, since it's going to take a long time, and it's not the biggest deal. I might not write it at all, since you get to see most of Kris's interactions in the game already, but who knows?

NOW!!! The possible questions(since I can't say FAQ)

1. Why is it called Luci's Underwitch?

Well, it was supposed to be called Underwitch. But apparently that exists already so I had to add my name to it. TwT

2. How do the characters look?

Well, if you've been on my main, @luciluck2046, you would see a bunch of fanarts, but I'll post them here too a bit later.

3. Comic?

Not yet. I suck.

4. Inspiration?

I got inspired to make this AU after I finished TOH(The Owl House), and also I liked the idea of humans with magic that UnderMate has. So yeah, I kinda combined those two with Undertale and my creativity, and I got this AU!

Reference sheets

Welp, it seems you got to the end of the main post! I might update this often, but who knows? See you later my friend, and have fun reading!

[3liza]

I've been discussing with my friends and personally mulling over the New Yorker article about the elimination of phonics based reading instruction in many American schools since last night and I want to bring up a few things.

1. the author of the New Yorker piece starts the article by reporting apparently without self-censure or reflection that she has never attempted to teach her kindergarten-aged daughter to read, nor asked the kid to read aloud. this writer is apparently a fully self employed author of books and articles and i don't know what her home life is like but you would have to physically restrain me from teaching my own child literacy at home. the fact that she goes the entire article without apparently linking the fact that she was completely unaware that her 5 year old has no phonics education with the fact that she personally has not taught her daughter any literacy skills would be hilarious if it wasn't so fucking awful for the little girl. i cannot imagine leaving the education of my children to a school of any kind, regardless of my personal employment situations but especially not if i was a self employed writer, presumably working from home.

2. this pattern is noted in the article itself AND IN THE TUMBLR COMMENTS: the single consistent difference between children who can read well and children who can't is whether or not their parents intentionally and directedly teach them one-on-one at home. in real life this usually translates to socioeconomic differences. poor kids get less teaching time with their parents

3. lots of people in the Tumblr notes as well as multiple references in the article to how difficult and nonsensical English is, as a language. that is a commonly-accepted truism about English, but it isn't true. the third part of literacy teaching, after phonics and grammar, is etymology. this part is ignored because it's considered "humanities" and useless. it isn't. Greek, Latin, and proto-Indo-European word origins are how you teach children why words are spelled the same and sound different, or spelled differently but sound the same, why letters are shaped the way they are shaped (alpha is from "aleph" which means "ox", which is still what A looks like when you rotate it around to its original orientation), where words come from and more importantly, when they come from. all the "nonsensical" parts of the English language are not nonsense at all, they are the stories of how we got those words and how we have used them for thousands of years. you cannot skip etymology and have a complete mastery of a language. teaching children stories about words will help them remember everything else about words. you cannot crowd out information with other information, information only reinforces itself the more you add.

4. a couple people in the notes brought up something interesting which is that they were people or knew people who had been taught the shit way of reading as kids, had always been bad at it, and then learned phonics as adults and suddenly got way better at reading as a result. that's fantastic. it means you don't have to be stuck at the level of reading you are at now if you don't want to. you can go back and learn the right way if you feel like it and if you have the capability

5. speaking of capability!!! I've done a lot of reading about dyslexia because my partner has a severe, life-altering case of it that, speaking of school incompetence, no one fucking noticed until i diagnosed him via sheer observation at age 30. he's spent his whole life masking and covering for his disability and just not knowing he even had it. in my reading about dyslexia I've read a lot of descriptions of how dyslexic reading works, especially in the book The Gift of Dyslexia, and i know everyone with dyslexia isn't a monolith so I'm sure it varies, but i talked to my partner and described the process in the book and he agreed that was how he "read" things. the dyslexic reading process was extremely similar to what is described as the "vibes-based reading" in the New Yorker article. specifically, the way that dyslexics are extremely visually oriented and so will try to sidestep the confusion of reading series of letters and words by looking for visual cues: words that have a certain shape, or start or end with certain letters (because the letters in the middle can get switched around by their brains), and also just vaguely scanning text and getting the gist rather than trying to interpret its actual meaning. this process has to be untaught to dyslexics who have taught themselves to read this way because it's useless for comprehension, speed and fluency. this really caught my attention because it means the Calkins method of teaching reading is teaching a method so awful it is recognized as medically and neurologically dysfunctional and considered a DISABILITY when children with dyslexia teach themselves to do it as a way to cope with the way their brain has trouble with language.

6. i read /r/Teachers a lot and although the sub is mostly full of people who hate children and are very stupid, one thing that seems true everywhere is that schools are fucking desperate. if i was a teacher right now i would just be teaching whatever method i knew actually worked and not bothering with dysfunctional syllabi because what are they going to do, fire me? from reports, it seems like a great many public schools actually cannot fire anyone who is even vaguely showing up on time and putting any effort in. i hope the teachers working in places like this are taking advantage of their defacto tenure and doing away with bad teaching plans. all the BEST teachers of my life have been rogue teachers who just ignored what the administration was trying to get them to do.

[teacupballerina]

What about Aku specifically do you find so interesting?

Thought about giving a short answer, meme or even a link to an old FAQ post but if I'm not writing a big ass Aku essay then I'm dead.

The first thing we see about Aku is that he wants revenge for his past, and that, if fired upon with arrows, he will return them. Hateful, menacing, terrifying, towering over the tallest mountains. The castle he wants to burn to the ground is like a pile of blocks. Everyone who slights him will suffer.

We see why he is angry in his special origin episodes. I, too, would be angry if hunted by gods, attacked by my creator and left to rot with hatred while my brother has a nice childhood. To be silent and powerless for so long, and suddenly gain voice and strength only to have it torn away, must have been frustrating.

Then in the far future, we see a different side of Aku who, despite his evil deeds, is goofy, petulant and almost childlike in his ignorance of common sense. A derpy despot. A weird little troll! He has won, but he can't have the things he seems to actually want; He is literally incapable of getting them because he is so prone to self-sabotage. He doesn't hurt kids. He bargains with people. He apparently reads books and collects treasures out of genuine intrigue. He's even the first to extend his hand in his endless battle with Jack, offering a potential solution--a very far cry from the destructive tantrums he was introduced to us with.

The immortal Aku clearly changed with time, and one wonders if he was always so affable, if that side lay hidden beneath painful fresh wounds.

Did Aku feel the sting of the sword and remember being hunted? Jack is hated because he wields the sword, he is blessed by the gods that nearly killed Aku. It isn't even the sword that Aku truly hates, it's what the sword represents: trauma, pain, the threat of death. It's the divine bounty on his head, declaring that as long as he lives, he will live in fear of death.

Is Aku not what we are?

Are we not all wounded children in a body capable of killing one person with our hands, two more with bullets and millions with the push of a button? We aspire to be like Jack, but really, most of us are like Aku. We are lazy, complacent, probably a little too rude and wrapped up in our ego. We plaster our faces everywhere and want people to love it, to love us for our faces and the things that we do, even when most of those things are self-serving. And in the end, despite our best efforts, we will die, most likely small and afraid. Aku knows he lives on borrowed time, and he still doesn't change. He doesn't think he needs to, and no one else expects him to. But we know he's capable of it.

Aku is the futility of the human condition, personified. The worst of us...and some of the good, too.

There's an esoteric element of his appearance echoed across ancient civilizations, but a cuteness in its eyes-to-nose ratio that's expressive and endearing. There's the whole thing with the crossover element that adds a new layer onto his character. He steals every scene he's in. Perfectly casted with a once-in-a-generation legend. All while having one of the most perfectly engineered character designs by Tartakovsky and Rudish.

He's fun to write. Fun to draw. Fun to think about.

Sir, that's my emotional support treedog.

[geneeste]

I’ve been ranting about this in the group chat, but the more I think about it, the angrier I get.

So J, our 10yo, took state testing before the break and apparently scored high on one of the reading sections. Now I put almost zero weight on testing like this, but this was a win for J in particular because she’s always struggled mightily with reading. But she did well on the test, and it was a confidence boost for her, but I’m fully aware she managed that because of reading interventions, and not because of “gifted” instruction.

Anyway, we got this email before the winter break:

So this is…weird. Especially this part:

Your child's performance on the CogAT indicates a need to gather more information in order to support the school team in making instructional decisions. Student scores in the 95th percentile or above initiate the Gifted Identification Referral Process, which includes gathering additional achievement, performance, and behavioral data for a comprehensive body of evidence.

All of the other kids save our youngest have been in gifted programs at some point, and in all of the seven school districts we’ve been in so far, I’ve never been asked to justify their selection for the program. Add to that, a 30-minute questionnaire seemed excessive, but I thought, hey, maybe this is just a standard I haven’t run into yet. (Also, neither linked letter elaborated on this; one was related to testing, and the second was this email in PDF form).

And then we got into the survey, y’all. Y’ALL.

I ran into the image limit for this post, so I can’t post the whole questionnaire, so I tried to pick the most egregious parts:

So. We start going through this thing and to say I was (am) livid is an understatement. Just. What the fuck.

Asking me to justify my kid’s specialness

Basing giftedness on totally irrelevant and also classist, ableist bullshit things like vocabulary, how quickly they learn something, attention span I COULD GO ON AND ON

Asking my kid to design instruction?? She’s ten fucking years old?

Asking my struggling reader, whom you’ve already identified as both needing reading intervention and having demonstrated huge growth, to give a fucking reading list to justify access to services?

I’m seriously so mad about the last part because talking about that question made J feel ashamed about how she dreads reading so she doesn’t actually read much, so when she does it’s short books and graphic novels, and we lost a lot of ground we’d gained about how she should be proud of her ability and progress. Fuckers.

So. We were not pleased. Here’s what I wrote back, which was almost certainly not as mean as I should have been:

My husband and I started this survey and although we completed it, I found it frustrating and prejudiced and genuinely insulting.

It is not at all clear what relevance many of the questions have to J’s academic ability and frankly with 4 neurodivergent children, 3 of whom (including J) having been in gifted programs previously, some of these questions were worded in ways that implied that a child had to think in a certain way in order to be gifted. For instance, why would a child needing some repetition to learn something mean that they can't be gifted? It's insulting and neuro-normative, to say the least.

I have never been asked to fill out a survey justifying my child's intellectual ability in order for my child to get access to educational services. I mean, what parent would answer otherwise? And what child wouldn't flourish when given engaging content?

I understand that district resources might be limited, but surely there is a less prejudiced and discriminatory way to screen for access to additional educational resources.

Here’s what the coordinator responded with:

Thank you for filling the survey out and for the feedback. The purpose of the survey is to gain valuable insight from parents about their child's strengths, interests and abilities that may not be evident in a school setting. We are looking to build a comprehensive portfolio of information to be used in the Gifted Identification Process to inform our programming and align it with student needs. The responses on the Gifted ID Referral form are not "weighted" or assigned points or used in any way that might preclude a child from Gifted Identification. They are used for informational purposes to gain a deeper understanding of a child.

Which is, frankly, total bullshit. Remember up there where the initial email where it said the survey was for instructional decisions and gathering a body of evidence? And the survey itself says:

Once this form is complete and submitted, your school's Gifted Education Facilitator will be notified. They will then gather additional necessary evidence/data to complete the process.

The coordinator has been so persistent since this reply - 4 emails asking us to talk about J’a participation when we’ve already made it clear that if the qualification process is any indication of how the gifted program is run, J’s much better off staying in class with her peers.

Anyway. Phew. I’ve been stewing about this and just writing it down has been very cathartic.

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Important announcement. Please read carefully

Some people might want to resubmit their request

For future reference and I know I've said this multiple times but apparently I need to do it again. Please do not just copy and paste links for photo reference. They will not be honored for reasons I will list below.

First of all, They rarely work. I don't know why but if I have had terrible luck if people send more than one link through an ask. Because if it's more than one they seem to break. Don't ask me why I could be cursed for all I know

Two I know I've said this but I am dyslexic. So all those links just add a lot of unnecessary text that throw me off and can make your request completely illegible to me. I know you're not trying to do that deliberately but it just happens sometimes.

Three I only use photos from official sources. So why are people using links to Facebook and Pinterest and considering them sources for official photos, I feel like a college professor when I have to say this but those are not official sources. I normally get photos off the wiki and you guys wonder why I don't have a lot of options for some characters and I rely on the generosity of people like you to send photos sometimes

If you're going to go through all that trouble, please just download a photo and send it that way. Now I know you can't do that anonymously but if you send in a picture that way I'm not going to ask questions where you got it unless it's obviously fan art then I will pick a different photo.

The only other way you can link things is if you embed the link. A few people have done this. I don't know if you can do this anonymously but So far none of the links have broken and I have accepted all those photos so that's how we're going to need to do things going forward

Because again, if you just copy and paste a bunch of links it just creates a wall of unnecessary text that can make your request illegible. Because it will trigger my dyslexia in ways you cannot even imagine

So if you sent links and would like to send in photos or try to embed links. You can resend in your request even though they're closed. Just put in your ask that it is a resubmission to fix formatting. I will not hold that against you

Resubmitting your request is mostly for those who anonymously submitted a request with 3 or more links that are just copy and pasted because those requests run the risk of being deleted

[fantomette22]

E-EXCUSE ME?! (That drawing also made me think of how Ludwig's eyes were growing on his right shoulder too, so it could really be Moon's side effect but) EXCUSE ME! This theory sounds SUPER interesting?? So you think there were many Dolls mass-produced, and the one we meet in the Hunter's Dream is just one that "survived"? Or like what? Can you please elaborate, this sounds like a really unique take?

Oh you mentioned it on your reblog but yeah it is reminiscent of Ludwig! It's also really interesting how he's the only beast that obtain additional eyes... but instead of being in his head it create another head- ok anyway we'll talk about it another day let's go winter lanterns theory! XD

This time I will "try" to not divague too much on all the other theories & interpretations I know/have or we'll still be on it tomorrow 😂(sorry I failed)

Because if you ask me seriously what I think are the winter lanterns well I don't know 💀 I'm not sure at all what the hell are they, why they're here and how they came to life. I have/know tons of possible ideas. I guess for a fic I could choose but canonically I really don't know what they are for sure. (I won't be referencing the demake versions that is really cool btw or the comics ver because I haven't read it yet!)

So well I think everyone who played Bloodborne know what this abomina- I mean enemy is.

They have a part of the doll body (form, clothes, wooden joints hands and fingers like the doll) they're made are made of messengers and have eyes (like mensis brain) and inflicted frenzy like the giant brain. + they have those horrible little jaws... and they sing this...

I'm unsure some say it's Mergo's lullaby other said it's the hunter dream music, some said it's neither... so if someone know... because really idk. It's beautiful yet disturbing. the voice is too deep and distorded.

(Did you know the doll was supposed to hum a lullaby in her sleep? When she nap there's black corner on the screen like there's a dialogue but there's nothing, it's the last thing remnant of this cut content. it's actually in ver 1.00 apparently)

They can be found in the nightmare frontier (3 of them I think), the nightmare of mensis (5?) and the fishing hamlet (2) in the hunter's nightmare (dlc). (Ok 10 of them, add the doll 11, add Maria 12, like the 12 hours of a clock. COINCIDENCES?!?! cough couch sorry yes it's probably the case but still hahah it's funny)

Ok so about the theory I was referencing here and referenced once in a while. I originally saw it on reddit but sadly I can't find the link anymore 😞

Basically, the original speculation said that the winter lanterns could have been created by Mensis (eventually healing church), to take care of Mergo, if I remember well. And then they become corrupted by the nightmare.

After thinking about this and other theories I read concerning the doll (that she could have been created by healing church originally and Gehrman recover the doll after/was given to him and then he made the clothes etc) and the extra knowledge I have on Japanese dolls (yes I made researches oh jp doll and it's even more interesting than the European victorian era one ahah) I could share the following ideas :

That maybe the winter lanterns were originally created by the church/mensis to help them + hunters in the nightmares. Because it was too dangerous to let humans go there for too long. But eventually, because no one cared properly for them, after a while, they become corrupted (or after Mensis did their ritual) and well become like this*. They would have been created after the original dolls because that had lot of potential or smt. They have clothes really similar to the doll but also the black church attire and without the dlc they are highly associated with the lecture building aka linked with church & mensis.

It's interesting to note 2 thing :

Their name come from the alkekengi plant (more explanation on reddit). they are called Hozuki in Japanese. (they even made little dolls with the grain hehe)

*So about the dolls in general. I believed the doll in Bloodborne is highly inspired by the mourning doll from victorian era (I explained here a little) but it's interesting to see how they traditionally view dolls in Japan (because the devs are Japanese). If you're familiar with the culture/legend in shintoism/buddhism, they believe that objects and especially the one we cherish the most, have a soul. So they think dolls have a soul and they have special ceremonies to dispose of them when they aren't needed anymore called "ningyo kuyo". A way to thank them to have been there during childhood and to free their spirit by purification (burning them in a ceremony with prayers etc). But why? Well if it's not done it's believed that the soul stay but would become an evil spirit. because they were abandoned and not taken care of anymore. there's Yoke who might come from here or another good exemple : branette/banette the Pokemon

So... I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they turned into nightmares monsters. The doll was actually treat with care and respected, was loved. Not the others. They probably didn't even have a face...

---

There's really tons of other speculations on them so have a few others here as well :

Some people think it's failed attempt to the doll creation and they were discarded/abandoned but it don't make sense to me, are at least not like this. it's also highly possible that's it's some kind of "echo" of the doll + messengers. the 2 thing that are supposed to be to always be safe and nice. Some think only the hunter/us could see them or see them like this. It's unclear.

Also I do headcanon in part that they could have been Maria very own nightmares (they do have horrifying similarities with the patients of the researches hall... and some they are always in the nightmares).

The patients head (alone) cause frenzy as well. I feel like if the experiments had succeed (obtained additional eyes on the inside, for the patients), it would have been way too similar to a winter lantern. + they look similar to the doll and if we go on the headcanon that Maria used to wear smt really similar to the female black church attire during her time at the research hall well...they're based on her too. I imagined she could have been plague by nightmares of those but it's really headcanons territory.

Another theory I saw earlier while doing researches : they could have been human actually who transformed, past black church female doctors or hunters, but that don't explain the wood hands or why they transformed and all the other guys just died.

So yeah there's way too much thing it's always really interesting to know what people think

Next time I might share my more detailed headcanon concerning their creation + the doll hehe.

[milk-and-violets]

hello please give us your soup recipes ( ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)

apologies to anyone who has ever sent me an ask please know I read them and weep and then forget to answer them

if anyone has questions about these soups, please feel free to ask in the replies or dm me!! also, you are welcome to reblog and add your favorite soups, I would love to see what other soups y'all enjoy :)

ANYWAYS here are some of my favorite soup recipes (part one ? I may post more if people like them)

This soup. This soup. Several things to say about it. Firstly, it benefits greatly from buying the nice crushed tomatoes, like the $5-6 cans if you are able to. The tomato makes up a lot of the broth flavor, especially if you want to make it vegetarian and thus leave out the sausage.

Secondly, double the garlic cloves (eight garlic cloves? yes, I'm serious) and use canned brown lentils. A whole can. Two if you feel like it, I often do. It's really very little detriment to the recipe over dried ones, and the soup comes together much quicker when you're not waiting for them to soften. You will need to decrease the cook time, or it will become mush.

Lastly, replace the water with chicken or vegetable broth, it's just better, and the celery is optional, especially if you're allergic, since apparently that's possible.

I acknowledge that this one is a stew, not a soup, however...

This dish is a delicious cross between a more English beef stew (see: NYTimes Beef Stew if you're interested, I highly recommend) and french Coq au Vin. It calls for boneless pork shoulder, but if you can't find that, bone in is fine, just more work. You will need to cut out the bone, which can then be roasted in the oven, I like to use the preheat time (this recipe requires some oven braising) to do so -- just pat dry, coat with olive oil and salt. You can also save the bone in a zip lock in your freezer, for making tonkotsu ramen broth, if you're like me.

Martha uses a pound of "small shallots" which I really find to be a bit much. Use that many if A) they're on sale, B) you've replaced them with pearl onions, or C) you really really love shallots (I respect that.)

I like to add eight cloves of smashed garlic to this, and 4-5 yukon potatoes, washed (but not peeled) and sliced into 1.5 inch cubes (you can assess their size based on vibes and how long you want to cook them for, approaching two-bite sized is generally good).

You can reduce the garlic cloves by half if that's too much for you, or if you're adding a significant amount of shallots still. I've used only 3 large shallots ones before and found it to be enough, so use what you've got. The potatoes add texture and body to the soup, and something to chew on other than the pork, which balances the dish.

Also, Martha suggests you cut your carrots lengthwise, but I personally prefer medallions, as they're much easier to serve and eat. If you're very worried about overcooking your carrots, maybe do large chunks.

This recipe does call for hard apple cider, which it really does need, but if you have to leave it out due to allergies or food restrictions, I suggest adding an 1/8 cup or so (maybe less, that might be a bit sour) of nice apple cider vinegar, and substituting the rest of the liquid with more chicken broth. Serve with some nice crusty bread! Or maybe egg noodles, if you leave out the potatoes and want a really Coq au Vin-esque experience.

Alright, so I think I did the formatting correctly, and you should be able to click this image to access the recipe link, but just in case:

https://sharedappetite.com/recipes/rustic-tuscan-style-sausage-white-bean-and-kale-soup/

Anyways, this recipe calls for 2 cans of cannelini beans. If you can't find those, great northern beans are basically the same. For the sausage, it may also be sold as mild italian sausage, and you do not need to buy it in links, buying loose ground sausage is much easier.

It also calls for two bunches of kale, which is frankly a ridiculous amount, I would only put in that much if this is the only source of vegetables you'll be getting for a month. One (Large!) bundle of kale should be fine. After rinsing, you can simply rip the leafy parts away from the stems, and then discard the stems, or steam them if you really want to eat them. Personally, I don't think they belong in soup.

The onion you use for this should be a yellow onion, maybe white if you're desperate and fear no onion. It calls for 1 potato, you should use 3-4, medium to large sized (Russet!) potatoes. Use your heart to decide when it's enough potato for 52 oz of broth. Likewise, you should consider doubling the amount of garlic that goes into this.

If you don't want to do the math, 52 oz of broth is a little less than 2 whole packages of store bought broth. You may find that you want to add the last bit when you add the potatoes, just to give them a bit more liquid to cook in, since you should use more potatoes than the recipe calls for. If you make your own chicken stock (which is quite easy, and I do recommend it, but it's not essential here) 52 oz is about 6 and a half cups of liquid.

The serving suggestion is to top with cheese, which is really up to you. If your spice tolerance is in the negative, like mine, you may enjoy eating a nice cheese on the side with your bread. Port Salut is a very good spreadable option, or perhaps an aged gouda or white cheddar. Having bread alongside this is really a must.

I suggest making a garlic oil to top the soup, to replace the plain olive oil for drizzling. To do this, simply mince another 2-3 cloves of garlic (more depending on how much oil you want to make), heat generous amount of olive oil over medium heat, then add garlic and saute until fragrant. Do not let the garlic get completely golden brown, unless you really enjoy it crunchy. This is going in soup, and should be minced fine, so having slightly raw garlic will not be an issue. You can store this in an air tight container in the fridge, just scoop some out to top your soup before reheating.

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 49 of Harrow the Ninth

So this seems to be a continuation from when Ortus was trying to get Abigail to summon Nonius based on the fact that his sword was once briefly in Nonius's proximity nine generations ago? And also, this seems to be the part of the Noniad where Nonius faces down the Lyctor (= Gideon the First, apparently)

I'm not sure what the role of the recitation of the poetry is here. It can't have any necromancy involved, because Ortus starts out with it, and Harrow doesn't know what she's doing it for when she continues it. Is Abigail actually drawing on the words of the Noniad the way she would on a physical object like the sword? The Noniad definitely never coexisted with Nonius, if something that's merely written about someone thousands of years after their death can be used to summon their ghost, this seems like it would have amazing implications for this universe, and especially for someone like Abigail, who studies history

I would really like to hear this chapter from Nonius's perspective. Like, he was a skilled swordsman for sure, and fought a Lyctor once, but I think it's clear he never really thought he was all that, and after thousands of years of being dead he's summoned to a place he's never been by people he's never met to fight in the service of a Reverend Daughter he doesn't know and he's now bound by the rules of this probably at least partially fictionalized epic poem that someone from the far future wrote about him and is restricted to speaking in meter, and his enemy is calling him "wizard filth" and trying to fight with weapons he's only seen used to hunt animals and this is probably such a surreal experience for him

They've been running around in the same body for the entire book, and now, as soon as they get separated Gideon is like "where is Harrow, I bet Harrow would do something smart and cool here" every five minutes, and Harrow is like "where is Gideon, I bet Gideon would do something smart and cool here" on her end also

And you know, this fight was pretty cool, and I think it was like half the length of some of the other fights that weren't

You know, I'm not entirely sure why Ortus disliked Protesilaus in the first place, but I'm glad he doesn't seem to anymore

Another possibility, I guess? Ortus was just so obsessed with Nonius that it created some kind of link?

You know, I thought this was just going to turn out to be "A. Wake" with some odd kerning, but I have read the first part of the next chapter, so I know now that it's nothing remotely so normal as that

I feel like we're making up new rules based on how much narrative tension they create rather than whether or not they actually make sense with the current worldbuilding. All of the dead ghosts in this bubble will have their souls permanently destroyed if they die in it, and the same thing applies to Harrow, who is an actual living person attached to an actual living body. But somehow, this rule doesn't apply to Wake, who is a dead ghost who's merely haunting a dead body. She is a revenant, but so are the resurrection beasts, and it's been repeatedly established and reestablished that they can be 100% totally killed completely gone in the River without anyone having to touch the physical body they're inhabiting

Love this exchange. I wonder if Ortus would consent to add "Chickenshits don't get beer" to the Noniad based on it

I love how Magnus is just Magnus. Does he really need to be anything more than just Magnus? I think not

I love how they all go off to help Gideon the First fight the resurrection beast. That's another perspective I'd like to see: you're fighting a resurrection beast all by yourself because all of your fellow Lyctors have abandoned you, and then suddenly the long-dead ghost of a cavalier you dueled absolute yonks ago shows up to fight alongside you and actually scares away the resurrection beast

Because now that she remembers Gideon, she'll continue absorbing her soul via the normal Lyctoral process, I guess?

This book ends with Harrow leaving her body and going out into the River, right? That's got to be how it ends, even though she told Magnus and Abigail she would go back, there's no way she actually does that, right? And I don't think she actually precisely said that she would go back, she just sort of implied it. And based on tumblr spoilers, Gideon gets resurrected. So then what happens to Harrow's body? Is this where Nona comes into it? The next book is called Nona the Ninth and we're almost at the end of this one and Nona has still not been mentioned once yet

A nice counterpoint to Ianthe's "Harrow didn't love you because she didn't keep anything of yours around" speech. Also, Magnus, with all due respect, your analogy is crap because Abigail did come back to you and you did get a happy ending and you're using it to tell Harrow she can't have that

I'm dying to know what Dulcinea has to tell Harrow. I don't think there's anything she would know that Harrow doesn't that would be relevant to Harrow right now?

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay Visuals - what I got wrong (and other cool BTS stuff) (part 1/3)

So for those of you who still are unaware, I'm currently a member of VoicePlay's Patreon (and Geoff's too) (just for a few months), and I've been having an absolutely great time so far, especially in now having access to Behind-The-Scenes (BTS) content of each of VoicePlay's videos!

However, as I was whizzing through the BTS stuff, I was thinking about my VoicePlay Visuals posts, and about some things I said that weren't entirely true - whether I said something I believed to be correct that wasn't, or whether I simply made a wrong guess. I wanted to share my newfound knowledge with all of you (which is fine btw, people share this sorta stuff in the comments section of reaction videos all the time), but I didn't want to go back and edit a bunch of posts or reblog a bunch of them to add addendums, so I thought I'd do a sort of "addendum compilation" instead! (In three parts, just to keep these not too long). I'll also share some stuff where my guess was right, and additional interesting things I didn't originally know/notice. And you don't have to read a bunch of my previous VoicePlay Visuals posts before reading this (and I won't be mentioning every single post/video anyway), but if you wanna find the original posts I refer to, they're linked in each title.

Part 1 below the cut!

This Is Halloween: "I don't really have anything to say about J's full transformation, but it would be unfair of me to not include him as well, and it's definitely a very impressive costume. Almost like one of those rubbery fully-covering-the-head costume mask things, but like it's his actual face?" - I was pretty close! For the "full Wolfman" look, J was wearing a special prostethic face/mask thing, specially sculpted to fit his face, with just his mouth/chin area left uncovered! - Additionally, Eli's fake chin prostethic thing actually also goes up and over his cheeks, making them look puffier and making them look puffier and "blending" it all together more effectively. - And bonus fun fact: It was apparently Earl who carved all those pumpkins, except for like one that was done by Geoff 😁

Bang!: - Found out what leopard-print article of clothing Layne was wearing! His belt is leopard-print, apparently! (Okay, I can't actually take credit for this one, someone in the comments of the BTS pointed it out and I took their word for it as I forgot to look myself, lol) - The place they filmed the video really did have all those cool backdrops, and so many more, split between two large rooms! - J was the one who got to throw the giant rubber duck at Layne 😝

Butter: "Geoff is looking at his phone, Layne is taking selfies on his phone!" - Not quite! They were both filming! (At one point in the video anyway). The footage they took got included in the BTS video, it's great 👌 - Also the reason the height difference between Layne and Eli in the group shots doesn't look quite as stark as in something like the Wicked Medley is because here Eli was standing on a short wooden box or something like that, not even kidding 😂

Halo Theme: "Those shoes are definitely cool. Who was wearing them, I wonder?" - It was Scott! - Also when that blue pulsating light thing landed on Scott's shoulder in the video (the "red team! blue team!" bit), there was actually a blue light being shone on him from the side to get the proper lighting effect. - (Also did you know that Rek Dunn (whom the video is dedicated to) used to help film some of the BTS content? I realised when I was watching the BTS for the Panic Medley that he was the one holding the camera and talking to the guys for some of the clips)

Wicked Medley: "Love the giant clock backdrop, very cool" - Yeah, turns out the whole background is one giant flat backdrop, and it took like 4 hours to full set up! Man!

"I adore Emoni and Rachel's makeup looks in this one." - The makeup looks even better in natural light! - All VoicePlay videos are filmed after the audio of the covers has been fully recorded/completed, obviously, duh. Often the vocallists will be properly singing at least some of their parts during videoshoots, but the audio all gets dubbed over for the final product. Rachel was purely lip-syncing in this video, because she had lost her voice! Thankfully/obviously it happened after she had finished recording her vocals, but she still did a great job of making it look "realistic" in the actual video.

The Dragonborn Comes: "Apparently what Cesar is wearing is like legit chainmail or something and was fairly heavy. Go big or go home I guess?" - Yep, it weighed 20 pounds apparently (approximately 9 kilograms). In between takes, Cesar would often just lie down on the floor on his back to try and rest/not have to feel so much of the weight, rip - The metal-looking gloves were real as well - they came coated in some sort of anti-rust oil that had to be wiped off prior to filming - And yeah Layne's hair really was a vibrant blue - I'm guessing Rick did it with coloured hairspray or something.

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), Early April 2024

Welcome to my coverage of all the important Etsy and other ecommerce news that microbusinesses need to know! It's been a few weeks since my last update, so there is a fair amount to report.

Want to get the news more often and in a more timely fashion? Please sign up to support my Patreon site, where among other features, I will soon be starting periodical live chats on important topics. (I promise there will be one the day Etsy announces a fee increase)

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy has made changes to how processing times and estimated delivery dates work; I covered everything you need to know in this post. 

Etsy seems to be sending more Messages to the spam folder, so you may miss a real message. After reading that thread, I checked, and there was one from another seller needing help from just 5 hours ago. Etsy did say engineers are looking into it. 

UPS has won the USPS air cargo contract, currently held by FedEx. It kicks in at the end of September. “As of May 31, 2023, FedEx counted the USPS as the largest customer of its Express unit.” 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy is rolling out a new seller pricing tool, and it is just as useless as the old version. I posted some early thoughts (with screenshots). 

Some shop owners are struggling to cancel Etsy coupons, while others are not having the same problem. Support says the company is aware of the issue. 

If you still can't access most of the Etsy forum after the changes on Tuesday March 26, post in this Technical Issues thread so that your account can be fixed.

Periodically, some shops suddenly stop getting deposits. If your shop has recently had a security warning, you may want to check to see if your bank account is still verified with Etsy. 

Looks like Etsy has an issue with misrepresenting how many items are left for each listing on the app; I wrote about it here.

Canadians getting harassed by Etsy to sign up for TurboTax should know that the company has told a seller that it doesn’t import Etsy data into your tax return for you; that is only available for Americans. [If you can’t import your info from your various platforms, my suggestion is use a free online program to file instead; I’ve used Wealthsimple for several years with no issues filing small business taxes; the T-2125 is part of the program.]

Etsy’s activist investor seems to think that the marketplace can “…add more buyers and increase the amount of money they spend on the platform”. But “monetization opportunities” were also mentioned. 

Etsy is yet again called out for allowing AI-generated porn on the site. “Several of the available listings also appear to violate existing trademarks — TheStreet identified listings that sell NSFW (not safe for work) AI-generated, suggestive images that appear to mimic Rapunzel from Disney's "Tangled," Princess Jasmine from Disney's "Aladdin" and She-Hulk from Marvel's "She-Hulk."

Etsy has been talking a lot about "image quality" lately, but doesn't really define the term anywhere. While I agree with those that say it is more than image size - Etsy would not have humans curating images to train its AI if "quality" could simply be measured by pixels - note that Google Shopping Ads describe image quality as size. “The resolution of your product images determines its quality. Google considers images with more than 1024 pixels as high-resolution images.” 

Apparently Etsy CEO Josh Silverman likes to make “unorthodox, downright risky career decisions” that often involve a ton of responsibility. [Link to podcast in article; I haven’t listened to it]

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Patreon’s live chats are now accessible on the web (instead of just the app). A creator can assign moderators, and have chats for different categories of members. 

Canadians: beware that new tax rules requiring digital platform operators to report their users’ income to the Canada Revenue Agency are expected for 2025. These laws would make Canada similar to the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. 

Amazon

Amazon is struggling to verify the VAT status of many UK sellers, and the fact the company holds all funds until the process is complete means many sellers are without income. 

eBay

eBay is offering 3 free “express payouts” to select US sellers by email only, available until June 30th. Money is paid to seller debit cards and can take a half hour or more to receive. (The usual cost is 1.5%.)

If you use eBay For Charity, you may want to check to see if the charity is getting paid, as some apparently are not. 

If you advertise on eBay, or just list inconsistently, you may be interested in the marketing trends calendar for 2024. It shows you when certain types of searches peak. 

Michaels Makerplace

The landing page for Makerplace sellers doesn’t provide a lot of hard details; some of the actual policies appear once you begin to sign up. Here’s how they define handmade: 

Thanks to Bluesky user Brushfeather for the info.

Shopify

Shopify is putting more effort into large businesses these days, despite its core offerings targeting small and medium-sized businesses for years. [soft paywall; Business Insider] The company “...has made a concerted effort over the last 18 months to introduce more software solutions to win over larger merchants. It has enhanced Shopify Plus, a higher-tier subscription with more features, and launched Hydrogen, a more custom framework geared toward retailers with more complex needs...Shopify introduced Commerce Components, an offering that allows merchants to integrate parts of Shopify's software into their existing tech stack. Mattel was its first retail partner for that product, and Everlane has since adopted Shop Pay as a stand-alone component.”

CEO Tobi Lutke recently received almost $200 million CAD in Shopify stock options, “one of the largest compensation packages in Canadian history.” As company founder, he now has around $8 billion worth of Shopify stock.

CIRRO Fulfillment now integrates with Shopify. 

Squarespace

Squarespace is rolling out Squarespace Payments to sellers in the United States, and they expect to add more countries later this year. Fees are in line with other payment processors. 

All Other Marketplaces

Mercari is following Depop and is ending seller transaction fees while adding a buyer fee. There is now a seller earnings withdrawal fee of $2, however, plus the pricing only applies to items listed after the announcement on March 27th, and sellers now have to accept returns for any reason, within 72 hours of receipt.  I suppose this fee might work for buyers if many are also sellers on Mercari or elsewhere, and are buying stock. If you see a good deal you know you can flip with a good margin, you might not mind paying a buyers fee on top of the listing price. The only other way I can see being willing to pay a buyers fee is if you are so enamoured with the platform and its culture that it is worth paying more for. Or maybe I am just out of touch… The Mercari CEO basically calls out Etsy for raising seller fees too much [soft paywall; Modern Retail]: “I’m not going to mention them by name, but you have marketplaces that have a lot of makers, a lot of people that create things, and the fees around selling on those platforms have just been going up a lot very aggressively”. [my emphasis] Mercari wants fees to remain competitive while attracting better inventory. Another article on Mercari’s announcement mentions Etsy by name when discussing seller fees. 

Mercari might want to consult lawyers the next time the site makes changes, though, as many sellers were furious that their existing balances were now subject to withdrawal fees without any warning, leading some to file complaints with the FTC. That led the company to announce that “On March 27, 2024, Mercari announced that it would begin charging a $2 fee(s) (“ACH Charge”) for all ACH direct deposit requests. Effective immediately through April 3, 2024 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time (“Waiver Period”), Mercari will waive the ACH Charge for ACH direct deposit requests made prior to the end of the Waiver Period for all eligible account holders.” Those who already incurred withdrawal charges will get refunds.

And because apparently you can never have enough Mercari news, they’ve introduced a listing importer for eBay and Depop. It uses AI. 

AliExpress will now do livestream shopping events in the UK. 

Payment Processing

PayPal users in the US will soon have only 30 days after delivery to file a significantly not described claim in most cases. Items not delivered by 180 days will still have the full 180 days. 

Shipping 

UPS is planning on closing about 200 facilities in the United States, and hopes to save money by instead using more automated hubs. Having fewer employees and consolidating locations is expected to save the company around $3 billion by the end of 2028. 

FedEx is continuing to combine its Express and Ground pickups and deliveries, both to save money and to make pickups easier on customers. 

[irepostedthistweet]

On this blog, I repost the same very popular Tweets dozens of other users have also reposted. My goal is to exclusively embed those Tweets, which automatically adds the accessibility feature that is alt text + a link to the original (with few exceptions in which I write the alt text myself, if I feel like a Tweet is notable enough but has apparently been deleted.)

By doing this, I would like to make those popular posts and memes accessible to more people. I would also like to show to more people that Tweet embeds are an option, to hopefully encourage them to use them in the future.

As a reminder, in order to embed a Tweet, all you have to do is paste its link onto your post.

You can easily copy the link of Tweets on either desktop or the app. (The placement can sometimes change on mobile from update to update, but the option should always be accessible via one of the buttons around your Tweet.)

Then open your fresh tumblr post and paste the link.

(Link to my post with only this Tweet, in case you like it and want to reblog it.)

If you're sourcing your own brand new Tweet to share to tumblr for any reason, this is arguably quicker and easier to do than taking a screenshot and re-uploading it to tumblr. Please consider this option whenever possible - it's very convenient.

In my case, since my goal is to repost Tweets that are already popular on tumblr, I use Twitter's search function, which works very well (contrary to tumblr's).

If you already have a screenshot with the person's username, unless they deleted their account or changed their username, you're certain to find the original. Of course, this is only needed if you're looking for a Tweet to repost, and you won't need to do this if you just happen into a new Tweet you want to share to tumblr.

I encourage anyone to use this instead of screenshots whenever possible, because it's more convenient than having to type the alt text yourself! Even if you don't usually provide alt text, there's no reason not to let it be automatically written for you when it can be. Plus, it leaves a link to the original Tweet, which I feel like makes it more respectful to the user who wrote the funny joke.

Alt text is an accessibility feature that mostly benefits people who use screen-readers because they, for one reason or another, can't read the words on their screen. Especially when the image is the right size - so the "alt" button doesn't come in the way - as it is automatically generated by pasting the Twitter link, there's no harm in having it there whatsoever. All it does is include more people.

Accessibility isn't a one-size-fits-all. Some users may benefit more from Image descriptions that are written in the body of the post. However, alt text is a commonly accepted and convenient accessibility feature. On top of that, accessibility for the disabled can oftentimes wind up benefiting everyone - for example, being able to click the "alt" button allows people to see the contents of the image even if they have a poor connection and the image won't load. Having a text description of any image also makes it easier to find in the future, even with tumblr's terrible search function.

I hope this post can encourage more people to include alt text and/or image descriptions more often. Even if you don't have time to include alt text all the time, you should take advantage of these embeds, which do it for you. A funny Tweet repost is the type of post to become very popular, so it's sure to land on someone's feed who wishes they could know what it says but can't when it's just an undescribed image.

(PS: as of currently, there is a slight issue in that the contents of described images included in the Tweet, or Tweets being quoted, aren't copied. Now that you know about the Twitter embed option, consider contacting support in one way or another to let them know you'd like these contents to be added to Twitter embeds. It's a really great option for simple text Tweets, and it could easily include even more Tweets. I know you just found out about it, so if you just want to use the function for those text Tweets for now, it's okay - please just consider it!)