#it was Mostly done a few days ago and i made final edits and was going to post it just before i rushed out to work

[restinpeacesensei]

traditional style 💖

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #41 | 5.28.24 ๋࣭⭑

It's hot girl (/gender neutral) summer season

HAPPY MAY!!

Hope you're all doing well <3 We're already getting into summer, which is a little crazy to me. The year is flying by! Before I get into what we actually did this month, it wouldn't be a May devlog without our annual Mermay celebration!

Look at those locks. His Ariel/Rapunzel era fr

Since I already had updated Mermay pieces for the Alaris LIs, I decided to do one for our beloved Van this year ^^ Hope you all like it!

For writing this month, I spent a lot of it catching up on Etza edits. Being totally transparent, I wasn't Completely Happy with their route when their draft was finished. But now that I've started the editing process with Wudgey, I'm really excited to see how their route is shaping up!!! We've been fleshing a lot of little interactions out with their route, and I can already see Etza's character really starting to shine with these edits ^^

I've also been chipping away at Kuna'a's route! While it's nowhere near finished, I'm hopeful that this upcoming month will be the month of Kuna'a now that I don't have a bunch of releases I'm trying to balance. His route is also one of the ones whose outline is more fleshed out (Druk and Etza I would say were the least fleshed out, which might be why they also took a bit longer). So I'd love to see Kuna'a's first draft complete/almost complete by the next devlog!

This month, I had to dust off my art skills tbh LMFAOIJSDF. It's been.... a WHILE since I've made CGs since I've been in the writing and coding dungeon for so long. So most of this month's art updates are me getting tilted from redrawing an ugly sketch over and over.

I DID manage to get the Van Mermay piece out. And I also was able to sketch out Kayn's Tragic End CG; that leaves only one CG that has to be sketched out! Currently, six of their CGs are finished, two need to be rendered, and one needs to be drawn still.

And since Kayn's CGs are mostly done, I've started drawing Fenir's. I was actually able to finish one because I basically Locked In when I made it, so here is a sneak peek!

Kisses his little pink nose

You might notice there's not toooo many updates on this month's devlog. The reason for that is because this month, I spent a lot of it recovering both mentally and physically. April shenanigans and those back-to-back releases took a lot out of me, and after going full speed basically since this year started, I learned I REALLY needed a break. That coupled with the concussion I got made it so that most of this month was focused on recovering and then getting back into the groove of things.

Another thing I tried to focus on this month was finding a balance in my workflow. Going into this month, I felt like I was on the verge of a mental breakdown almost every day, in large part because I have a lot of big things I'm trying to accomplish this year. Between finishing my dissertation, Alaris, and a personal big event that I have to plan, I have a lot on my plate this year, and it's made it easy to get overwhelmed as the months pass by. So I wanted to find a balance between all three that didn't make me feel like I was also falling into insanity. After talking to beloved Wudgey of @herotome fame, I've started adopting a schedule that gives me enough structure and flexibility to feel like I'm making progress without going crazy and getting lost in the sauce.

While it's still early in the process, I'm really happy with the balance I've hit, and I'm feeling much more like myself now compared to a month ago!

I caught up on quite a few things in my backlog this month, which made me happy ^^ I always like to learn from and support other devs, so finally being able to return to that helped with the recovery process <3

I don't have any actual fanart pieces, but there are a couple of games I'd like to highlight!

First of all, of course I must talk about our hot girl (/gender neutral) summer cross-promo. If you haven't checked out these games, I can't recommend them enough!!

Links to each game can be found on the Alaris Game page under the magic and mystery otome section!

Specifically, Save the Villainess, The Good People, and Thorn for the Villain are amazing games if you're into thriller/political games layered with mystery

The Silent Kingdom (which I played recently and is AMAZING) and Dual Chroma (Otojam 2023 ALLY) have added mechanics of RPG for exciting action-adventure fantasy stories

Lost in Limbo, Obscura, and Snow White Ashes are BEAUTIFUL dark fantasy games. I've played all three of these and they have some of the most beautiful writing and visuals... BIG FAN OF ALL OF THEM.

Mask Beyond Lies and Sigh of the Abyss have that epic fantasy adventure appeal to them, in a way that I think is similar to Alaris! And Pearlglow Cafe (another Otojam 2023 ALLY) is a very lighthearted and charming game for those of you who like the comfy vibe that most of my stories have!!

Some other games that I played are Favor (@favorvn) by beloved @concreteparasite which is SOOOOO stylish. If you've played Binary Star Hero by Connie, you can expect that same stylish, dark, sultry vibe from Favor. If you haven't checked out either of those games by Connie, I can't recommend them enough, especially if you like yanderes. There is so much aesthetic and atmosphere to them!

I also played Where Winter Crows Go by @prikarin who is a VERY talented developer (and one I'm sure many are familiar with). I had a lot of fun romancing Crowe and both the MC and him have such strong personalities, it was so fun seeing their dynamic!!!! The CGs were also made by anta, who is the dev behind Thorn for the Villain, and they're BEAUTIFULLLLL. Each one has so much style and rly has a professional look to them. Can't recommend enough if you haven't played already ((heads up that it is another yandere game for those who can't do yandere!))

Okay I've yapped enough. If you've made it this far, you are god's strongest soldier LFMASLDIFJ. See you all next month with hopefully some exciting progress!

[don-dake]

So I've been playing around with Cāngjié…

And I thought a post like this (similar to a post on Zhùyīn done by linghxr) may be of interest to some.

Edited: 10 Sep 2023

This post has gotten a little popular lately and on scrutinizing my own post again, I've come to the conclusion that I had made some mistakes in my given character examples.

Amended now. Namely, 「唔」 and 「龍」 have now been swapped over in the examples.

「唔」 is really the “3-parts”, and 「龍」 is indeed a “2-parts” character! Amendments are reflected in orange.

What (and who) is Cāngjié?

For those who may not know, Cāngjié is another way to input 漢字/汉字 (Hànzì — Chinese characters). It is way less popular than Pinyin (or even Zhuyin) but it still has its fans, and has a few advantages over the other two.

Cāngjié is also the name of the mythical figure in Chinese legend who is said to have been the inventor of 漢字/汉字, for which Cāngjié (the input system) was named after.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, if you think you have already acquired a good (enough) understanding of 漢字/汉字, and/or just like a new challenge.

(TL;DR at the end)

Why am I learning Cāngjié (and why you may like to, too)?

1. Mostly for fun.

Have long been intrigued by both Cāngjié and Zhùyīn, and since I finally mustered up the courage to tackle Zhùyīn not too long ago, I thought I'd finally give Cāngjié a try.

While learning Cāngjié does require more effort than learning Pinyin or Zhuyin, it can also be really fun! Inputting 漢字/汉字 with the Cāngjié method is almost like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

The euphoria derived from figuring out and piecing together the radicals that make up a word is something that learning Jyutping (Cantonese equivalent of Pinyin), Pinyin or Zhuyin can't quite match.

And while I know I'll never be as adept with Cāngjié — my knowledge of 漢字/汉字 is nowhere near good enough to ever use Cāngjié efficiently — as I do Jyutping or Pinyin (or to some extent, Zhuyin), it'll still be fun to use Cāngjié every once in a while!

2. Helps with thinking and typing in Chinese.

The upshot of relying too much on using Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin is, I'd tend to think in Roman letters or ㄅㄆㄇㄈ before I'd even think about the actual 漢字/汉字.

But with Cāngjié, because it's based on knowing radicals and joining them together to form actual characters, it'll encourage thinking of 漢字/汉字 first, so I think that would help some with 漢字/汉字 memory retention.

Now you may be thinking, why not just you know, practise actually writing then? That is the tried and proven method to better remember 漢字/汉字 after all?

Yes, of course I can do that — and am doing so occasionally — but we live in a digital age now, and the probability and opportunity to type things out is much higher than actually writing stuff by hand.

The idea here is, more looking to think of and envision characters fully in my head, and trying to lessen over-reliance on Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin.

And this is where I find Cāngjié can be useful, which leads to my next point…

3. Haunted by “What if” scenario.

What if there comes a day (however improbable) where I'm presented with only a Cāngjié keyboard to use for typing Chinese? It has happened with Zhùyīn for me!

That means, no Pinyin or Zhuyin keyboards, no Handwriting tools/touchscreens to write with fingers/mouse, no speech-to-text, and no option to copy-and-paste characters from somewhere else either! What then?

4. Able to type without knowing pronunciation, and with more accuracy.

Cāngjié is shape-based. Unlike Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin, where you have to know what a character sounds like before you can type it out, with Cāngjié, you can type out (again assuming no Handwriting or other tools available) characters without needing to know how to pronounce them at all.

With shape-based typing, you'd also get more accurate hits in the first few 漢字/汉字 that show up, versus sound-based methods like Pinyin where for e.g., typing out “wan” will get you a whole list under the same sound and you may have to scroll through a whole lot to get the exact “wan” you need.

You can also type both Traditional and Simplified characters without having to toggle something or switch keyboards.

So how does one begin learning Cāngjié?

Install a Cāngjié keyboard.

Duh…but of course! Heh! Gboard offers one, banded under Cantonese language input (Android user here, don't know about iPhones, sorry).

There are two versions of Cāngjié that are prevalent currently. Cāngjié 3 and Cāngjié 5. Cāngjié 5 is supposed to be an improvement over version 3 but I don't find there's much; having a slightly altered version just adds to the confusion and unnecessarily complicates matters, in fact!

If you have a choice, I'd recommend selecting Cāngjié 3 as that is more supported. Some operating systems may not be too compatible with Cāngjié 5 still, for some strange reason.

You may also come across something called “Quick” (速成) aka, “Simplified Cāngjié”.

This is simply a scaled down version of Cāngjié, it's still based on Cāngjié's formula. So you still need to know how Cāngjié works in order to use “Quick” efficiently.

You'd then need a chart like this. ↓

* the 重 (Z) key doesn't really come into use. I don't really know what it's for, but it seems to be used (paired with other keystrokes) mainly to type out various punctuation marks.

There are variants out there, some having a little more, or less, radicals shown than in the above example, but I'll say the chart here is one of the more comprehensive ones I've found so far (and sufficient enough) — other charts often fail to highlight the 難 (X) key and what it corresponds to.

You don't have to memorize the chart all at once. Just always have a chart like this on hand to refer to and with enough typing practise, you'll eventually remember which key corresponds with which radicals.

Remember the rules. ↓

“1 part” character (e.g. 寫) = first 3 & last (radical).

“2 parts” character (e.g. 唔龍) = first & last, first 2 & last.

“3 parts” character (e.g. 難) = first & last, first & last, last.

e.g. 寫 ↓

With radicals 宀，丿，臼 (first 3) and 灬 (last).

Corresponding keys: 十，竹，難 and 火。

寫 → 写 ↓

With radicals 冖，卜，㇆ (first 3)，一 (last).

Corresponding keys：月，卜，尸 and 一。

e.g. 龍 ↓

With radicals 亠，月 (first & last), 卜，コ (first 2)，ヒ (last).

Corresponding keys: 卜，月，卜，尸，and 心。

龍 → 龙 ↓ (Simplified 龍 → 龙，a “1 part” character)

With radicals 丶，ナ，ヒ (first 3).

Corresponding keys: 戈，大，and 心。

e.g. 難 ↓

With radicals 廿，人 (first & last)，亻(first & last)，土 (last).

Corresponding keys: 廿，人，人 and 土。

難 → 难 ↓

With radicals ヌ (first & last)，亻(first & last)，土 (last).

Corresponding keys: 水，人，and 土。

Occasionally, you may get a character that looks like a “2 parts” but is actually a “3 parts”. ↓

e.g. 唔 ↓

With radicals 口 (first & last)，一，一 (first & last)，口 (last).

Corresponding keys: 口，一，一 and 口。

Or looks like a “1 part” but really a “3 parts”. ↓

e.g. 奪 ↓

With radicals 大 (first & last)，亻，土 (first & last)，丶 (last).

Corresponding keys: 大，人，土，and 戈。

奪 → 夺 ↓(Simplified 奪 → 夺，a “1 part” character)

With radicals 大，寸 (first 3; the 丶 is the 3rd component).

Corresponding keys: 大，木，and 戈。

But these are exceptions, and don't occur that often.

And you can start practising!

You can try out this pretty good app called 『五色學倉頡』 (learning Cāngjié with 5 colours), for practise. It's on Playstore, just search for “Cangjie Dictionary” and it should show up.

You have to pay to unlock higher levels, unfortunately. ↓

Anyway, each character comes with colour coded hints and you can opt to turn them off if you like more of a challenge. There are also hints (提示) and the chart (字根表) to refer to if you're really stuck. Also has a dictionary component (查字典) to check out the Cāngjié input for characters.

Another option would be a website called HKCards. ↓

You can use it to check the Cāngjié input for any 漢字/汉字, and there's section for practise (倉頡輸入法練習) as well. After inputting your answer with Cāngjié keys (手田水口廿卜), you can click on the “Answer” (答案) button to see how right or wrong your answers were. ↓

There are 8 characters each time, and you can just hit “Practise Again” (再做練習) to refresh for another 8 to practise with. I've yet to hit a limit.

Unfortunately, this website has lots of ads popping up. And it only supports searching in Traditional characters (Cāngjié was initially catered more for Traditional).

Or you can just try practising randomly with a Cāngjié keyboard and check for mistakes with a Cāngjié dictionary (『五色學倉頡』 app's dictionary comes in really useful here — it appears to support searching in Simplified too).

TL;DR

Cāngjié could be useful (and fun) to know if your 漢字/汉字 knowledge is already adequate, and/or you just like a new challenge.

And if watching videos is more your thing, here's a really helpful YouTube tutorial on how to use Cāngjié (has English subs)!

[otomegamesandme]

Otome/Amare Games for Pride 2024 Edition

Hey hey, I'm back with more pride rec games in the realm of otome/amare/dating sims! I haven't done a rec list in a hot minute, and I'm glad I finally have time to make another one! I have two other lists similar in theme, which I'll link in a reblog! With that said, here's some more recommendations!

Heart Fragment

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: Book one is free, Book two is 2.99 USD

I know I posted this in my 'otome/amare games where you can get the girl' post, but I want to shout it out again because I love it a lot. This is a soft sci-fi/mystery/paranormal genre blend where you follow Xani (renamable and gender selectable) as they learn about themselves, their strange powers, and the mystery around their mother. I love this game so much, mostly because of how much I related to the main character as well as the love interests. It's a solid game, and one I replay often.

Obscura the Dark Descent Chapter 1

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: Chapter 1 is free

This is still in development and pretty popular in the indie space, but I thought I'd shout it out just in case. I love the atmosphere of this game, and I like the concept of it. You're dying so you go into the mountain where everyone wears masks, searching for a cure. The feeling of it is so oppressive and all the love interests feel really unique. I also love the MC in this, they're so funny to me.

Pitstop in Purgatory

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: 4.99 USD

A weirdly comforting game about death. You play as a young woman named Astrid who died, but has no memories of it. As you interact with those also stuck in purgatory, those memories start coming back to her. I think the art style in this really helps with the feeling of this, and it's one of those games to kickback to over the weekend.

Titan Arum

Platform: PC [Itch.io]

Price: Free

I was so obsessed with this when it first came out. You're a failed writing whose back in your childhood home trying to finish a manuscript. However, weird things keep happening, and you're sanity might just be slipping. The art, the atmosphere, the references to the King in Yellow? 10/10. The fact this was made in ten days just makes it all the more impressive and I highly recommend it.

Breathless Winds

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: 12.00 USD

Poppy is a closeted trans woman who has just recovered from a boating accident. As she readjusts to life again, she has to find a way to save her home, and discover who she is and who she wants to be. The full game just came out a few days ago from posting this, so I've only played the demo but I loved it so much and I'm so excited to play the full game the second I get a chance. This is one of the only games where the main protagonist is a canon trans woman (if you know more dating sims like this please let me know lol), and the demo was lovely as well.

We're Women, After All

Platform: PC [Itch.io]

Price: Free

I'm cheating with this one because it's not in the realm of dating sims but shhh. I loved this game so much I had to shout it out. This is a sapphic horror game about a woman wanting to escape from an oppressive family and her conversation with the mermaid she loves. It's short, so I don't want to spoil it, but it was such a great experience. I enjoyed the characters and writing, and the art was stunning.

[aaronstveit]

i would loooove to hear more of your director's commentary about deep end! <3 not sure how much you can say without spoiling but did you make a lot of changes from the original draft? and are there any scene that didn't make it into the final fic? thank youuu <3

omg hi anon this question made my entire day <3333 gonna answer beneath a read more as always because when talking about deep end i am this trc meme

okay so firstly! i wrote deep end 3 times. the original draft had a final wordcount of 126,978 words. the middle draft had a final wordcount of 175,065 words. the final draft's wordcount is not finalized yet because i am still editing & still adding one scene to the epilogue, but obviously we've already surpassed the first draft's wordcount, so that's fun.

as you can see, about 50k words were added in the middle draft! there are a lot of reasons for this. chapters 8 & 9, as well as about half of chapter 10, did not exist in the original draft. i added them during rewriting because i felt we hadn't spent enough time with enjolras & cosette.

combeferre and éponine were almost nonexistent in the original draft. not just as a couple, but individually as well. every single grantaire & éponine scene was added in the middle draft, and most of enjolras & combeferre's scenes as well.

i actually didn't cut any full scenes out! there were quite a few though where i started writing a scene, realized it was wrong, and erased what i had written and started over. for instance, this bit in chapter 18:

in the original draft, i tried writing enjolras turning to grantaire at this point and saying, "I think I'm in love with you," before cosette answered the door. obviously, i ended up deciding against this, mostly because i decided the kiss scene would pack more of a punch if enjolras realizes he's in love with grantaire right when he's in the middle of their argument.

i also deleted soooooooooo many arguments. this is probably surprising considering how often they argue in this fic, but at least once a chapter i really had to stop myself and say, okay no this is getting unhealthy. i enjoy writing arguments too much apparently - which is good for writing exr, but only to a certain extent.

originally, grantaire was not going to have a sister. it genuinely did not even occur to me until chapter 11 (which was chapter 8 at the time), but once it did occur to me, i couldn't not do it. his grief plotline became way too dear to me way too quickly.

the biggest changes i made during writing all had to do with reordering events!! originally, karaoke happened somewhere around chapter 8. i ended up moving it wayyyyyyyyy back because i felt like their flirting was out of place so early in the story.

i also moved enjolras' arguments with cosette and grantaire to an earlier point than i originally intended. at first, i thought they were going to happen around the second-to-last chapter, but i moved them forward a lot earlier because i thought more work needed to be done with enjolras.

the chapter that underwent the most changes from the middle draft to the finished draft is chapter 24. obviously i can't say just yet what those changes are, but i'm really really happy with how that chapter turned out and i hope you all will be as well <3

several of my personal favorite scenes in this fic are actually cannibalized from something i tried writing and gave up on a few months ago. marius getting mugged in chapter 4, the hamlet conversation in chapter 7, and enjolras tending to grantaire's broken nose in chapter 14 were all taken from the same abandoned wip.

as for some more random tidbits that i find fun:

a fun fact for everyone is that cosette did not pull the phrase "who has a flag where he should have a heart" out of thin air! she takes this from courfeyrac in chapter 13:

which is why courfeyrac winces when enjolras says it in chapter 19:

also in chapter 19, enjolras means to say that Train to Busan is his favorite horror movie ending. i didn't just choose that because i love that movie (although i really really do) but because. well. i'm not going to spoil the ending for you if you haven't seen it, but... it was very deliberate is all i'm saying.

i really cannot overstate how much of this fic only exists because of cossette notebookmusical. for starters, i only even attempted writing it because she said "jamie if you don't write this." she also got to spend months listening to me bitch about it and receiving so many horrible snippets from the original draft so coco, if you're reading this, thank you from the very bottom of my heart 🫶🏻

more specifically, the entire beginning sequence of chapter 17 with grantaire staying the night at enjolras' apartment was inspired by cossette! i was asking her for situations to put the blond man in and one of her ideas was that he loses his keys. so everyone say thank you cossette!

also the bit in chapter 19 where enjolras thinks about combeferre a psychology minor is the worst thing to ever happen to you was added after i said something to cossette and she said something along the lines of, "would you like to elaborate on that?"

the ending bit of chapter 23 is also inspired by and written for cossette. you'll see what i mean in a few weeks.

there are a lot more bits and pieces inspired by things that cossette has said and done, or added just to make her laugh, but if i listed all of them i would be here forever. just know that this entire fic is cocoservice and it is only because of cossette that it exists at all <333333

there is also a collection of scenes i'm considering writing as "bonus content" for when the fic is fully posted - mostly scenes that already exist, but from another point of view, and a few that are only mentioned in passing.

okay i'm cutting myself off now because this is a lot of yapping even for me but you may always ask more if you're so inclined <3333 thank you sm for asking i had so much fun answering this! i really can't tell you how much it means to me not only that you're not only reading but also enjoying it so much that you're asking about it like... this is literally a fic writer's DREAM. thank you so so so much <3333

[morganski-19]

The One with the Late Night

Argyle walks into the kitchen to get a drink, eyes fighting to stay open. The small lamp is clicked on next to the couch. Jonathan sitting there with his legs crossed, laptop resting on his legs. He should be asleep but isn’t. Never is. Argyle places his empty glass on the counter, his body finding its way to the couch. Flopping down next to Jonathan.

“It’s like four in the morning,” he mumbles out.

Jonathan rubs at his eyes. “I know.”

“One of those nights?”

He nods, “One of those weeks.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Argyle pulls the blanket off the back of the couch and drapes it over himself.

“I knew you had a busy week this week, didn’t need you staying up with me every day.” Jonathan messes with the photo he’s editing, trying to fix the lighting.

Argyle yawns. “So, what if I have a few extra shifts than normal. Doesn’t mean I can’t do something nice for my best friend,” he gently pushes Jonathan’s arm.

“I just don’t want you to feel like you have to, that’s all.” Jonathan yawns, body relaxing further back into the couch.

“Ha, five minutes with me and you’re already half asleep. It’s working.”

Jonathan looks at Argyle. “What’s working?”

“My glorious presence, that’s what.”

“Whatever,” he snorts. “One yawn means nothing, I yawn all the time.”

Argyle shrugs, leaning over to see what Jonathan’s working on. Practically leaning on him. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t cause it. What’re you working on?”

“Wedding I worked a few weeks ago. They’re mostly done, just some that need more fine tuning.”

“I like the background, it makes their dresses pop,” Argyle points to the bushes covered in flowers behind the couple.

Jonathan nods. “It’s actually where they got engaged. They wanted it to match the engagement photos I took for them.”

“That’s sweet. Speaking of sweet, guess what your mom told me when she called me today.”

“Why did my mom call you?” Jonathan turns toward Argyle again after saving and shutting his laptop.

Argyle scoffs. “Because your mom loves me, duh. Said your families going to come up next week for a visit. I offered to let them stay here but they refused, as always.”

Jonathan sinks further into the couch, leaning towards Argyle. Yawning again. Argyle fixes the blanket so they can share.

“It’s almost like the forget we got the pull-out couch just so they could stay here.” Jonathan pulls the blanket up to his chin, eyes starting to droop.

Argyle’s not sure what does it, but every time he catches Jonathan staying up, he almost always falls asleep after talking a little bit. Sometimes he can’t, and they stay up for another hour. Or until Argyle falls asleep again and Jonathan stays up for longer than he’ll admit. But most of the time, it just takes another person in the room to get him to go to sleep. Or really, another person next to him. Still doesn’t help him until the after-midnight hours. But it’s something.

“Yeah. And that you could bunk out in my room to give them another bed. Be like college all over again.”

Jonathan snorts. “And deal with your snoring, no chance. Best part about not sharing a room with you anymore.”

“Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“The neighbors complained to me one time. Told them I’d tape your mouth shut.”

Argyle laughs. “Like you’re any better. When you’re out, you’re out. Snoring and all. And it’s not quiet.”

Jonathan’s head falls on Argyle’s shoulder. “You could’ve woken me up if it was too loud,” he slurs out.

“I’d never do that. I knew how little sleep you got back then, you deserved whatever you got.”

“Thank you,” Jonathan says with a deep exhale. “For always staying up with me. It makes it a little more bearable.”

Argyle looks down at Jonathan’s face, studying it. His eyes finally closed and breaths slowing down. It was a simple choice to stay up with him. When they got to be like this, and no one was around to tell them that it was weird or unusual. That two friends couldn’t just act like this without feeling anything.

Even if it made Argyle feel something he know he shouldn’t. Because the other person didn’t feel the same, and that was ok. But he could never stop himself from indulging in what he could get.

“It’s no problem. Do you want to head to bed? It’s better than the couch.”

It falls on deaf ears, Jonathan finally falling asleep. Argyle smiles softly. He gently stands, holding Jonathan up before laying him on the couch. Gets him in a better position so he can sleep more comfortably. Before heading off to his own room.

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or taken off) @slowandsteddie, @annieofhearts, @cacdyke, @ubpd, @captain--low, @thespaceantwhowrites, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @anne-bennett-cosplayer, @lunaticparisianlady, @apomaro-mellow, @dolphincliffs, @dragonmama76, @maggiebug417, @stevesbipanic, @fearieshadow, @eightpackdiaz, @au79burger @bookworm0690 , @practicallybegging, @potato-of-the-lord, @autumncrocusandladybug, @estrellami-1

[12timetraveler]

Something In The Orange

Chapter 13

Summary: In the aftermath of the big reveal, reader finds herself at a crossroads.

Notes: Hey all. I just wanted to say thank you all so much for your constant support. Just a few days ago marked one year since I posted the first chapter of this story. I honestly never expected so many loyal readers who comment every chapter. I get so excited to read your reactions every time.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Especially after the pain of the last one.

As always, blame typos on my phone's autocorrect system. One day I'll go through and edit all of it.

As per usual, below is a little sneak preview. Read the full chapter and the full story on AO3

You must be logged in to an account to read my works on AO3. Blame AI Scraping for that.

You'd think that returning to the place that you'd called home for a decade would be comforting. But all it did was serve to highlight how lonely you were.

It reminded you of how you'd felt after your granny passed. Couldn't even hold a funeral due to the pandemic. Just hired some grave digger to bury her in the family plot and that was that. You were all alone.

Going to university, making all those friends, meeting Hosea, it had saved you from that lonely feeling. You'd finally had a herd of people who cared about you. You had a family. But you'd gone and ruined that, and now you were alone again.

You were convinced it was your punishment for some unknown wrong: loneliness. Now you'd ruined your found family, possibly destroyed an actual blood family too. You had a hard time imagining a world where Arthur could forgive his father. The two had been thick as thieves but now they were separated but this giant rift, with John likely caught in the middle.

And the loneliness was your reward.

The friend group of course was blowing up at the drama. You couldn't stand to look at the group chat, but they all sent you private messages (except Arthur, though that was no surprise). Their reactions ranged from shock to concern. None of them seemed outright angry, though you wouldn't have blamed them if they had.

Sadie was the most persistent of all of them, texting you nearly every hour for three days just to try to find out if you were alive. Finally you texted her back, if only to stop her from calling that reality show bounty hunter guy to come and track you down.

This satisfied her for about a little while. At least she knew you were alive. Though she made you check in with her multiple times a day.

Your first week back in Brandywine was mostly a blur. You spent most of it crying, occasionally cracking open a bottle of liquor and downing it at an alarming rate. Though there wasn't much alcohol in the house, and you ran out pretty quickly.

After that you hardly left your bed, alternating between fitful sleep, hysterical crying, and long stretches of dissociation. You knew you should try to pull yourself together. This wasn't healthy. You should get it together and do something instead of just wallowing in your mistakes.

But the loneliness had a grip on your heart that rivaled anything else. Like shackles chaining you to a prison wall. You were unable to do anything to help yourself. Could hardly remind yourself to eat most days. You'd try to watch something, read something, do anything but lay there. But you were held down by the monster tendrils of your depression.

The first time you really managed to snap out of it, even for a moment, was when you were pulled from your dissociation by a knocking at your door. At first you felt nothing but confusion, almost like you didn't even know what knocking at the door meant. Slowly you seemed to come around. Though you were now confused as to who may be knocking at your door.

You considered ignoring it. You didn't really have the energy to entertain. Or to face what you'd done. But still the insistant knocking finally dragged you out of your bed. Slowly you descended the stairs, not sure who could be knocking.

“Dove, please,” Hosea's muffled voice carried through the door.

[eljeebee]

📩 Simblr question of the day: Do you have a process for making your simblr posts?

- an anon ask contribution for @simblr-question-of-the-day (Hi squat!)

I decided to do a separate post, just like what @changingplumbob did a question ago!

Since I mostly do story posts, here is my workflow:

a.) I draft the next story updates. Nothing serious, nothing deep. Just a rough draft that I want to happen. I have drafts in my laptop,

as well as in my phone [spoilers? lol]

Sometimes just one paragraph, or two, as long as I get the gist of it. This draft will be the basis when it comes to shooting the scenes.

b.) Before taking the scenes, I make sure that I have the poses and some specific clothes that I want and need. When it comes to clothing, it's rare that I use specific clothes on some scenes, because I have tons of CC in my mod folder, but I download it in advance. Some of it are already download in advance (that is not yet needed now, but is used far in the future)

b.1.) Sometimes, when I need a certain portrait of a character for a scene that is from a different save file, I make sure I do that first before I load the main save.

b.2.) When I need a certain build for the scenes, I have to build it myself. This is evident with the Strauds' nightclub and the Beau-Asvang's penthouse. It took me weeks to finish these. This is tedious for me, so some updates gets delayed, especially when I feel overwhelmed or bored.

c.) After that, I shoot the scenes. I base my scenes on the draft. This is another tedious part for me, especially if it involves a lot of characters. Sometimes, it has to be in a certain time of day. I don't mess time in that save, because I fear I'll mess up the calendar, so I rely in the fast forward function. The only thing that I mess with it is the weather. It can take me a whole IRL day, or a few days to finish this step.

d.) After taking the scenes, I choose which shots are the best, then delete the rest. I don't edit the photos because the reshade preset I use was made to skip editing it, but will only edit if necessary. No resizing is done (sorry if I'm lazy ;-;).

e.) In this step, the draft that was written before will be finalized once the scenes are done. Most of the time, the drafts get changed, because I change the parts of the story based on the scenes I took. The whole essence or message of the story doesn't change, only the flow and how I structured it will be modified. The finalized script is written in MS Word. A tip for everyone: type the tags you're going to use for the post in the document, so all you have to do is to copy the tags and paste it here in the text editor!

f.) Next, I'll upload the scenes and the script here in my Tumblr drafts. Sometimes, I break the scenes in separate posts, but sometimes I post it in one, depending on the story and the flow.

g.) Finally, I either: queue the posts, or I post it myself. I post the posts that has the "previous | next" links myself, because I want to quickly add the links as soon as I post it. I only queue on some posts, namely Beneath, and New Beginnings.

Again, this is my workflow when it comes to story posts! Gameplay posts like The Life of the Hatcher only get captioned based on the shots, and is not as heavily planned as the DLU (Davis Legacy Universe).

If you've reached the end of the post, thanks for reading! I hope you find this helpful!

[greatsylveon2007]

"Kids with passion to play make-believe;

Will become young adults with the will to achieve"

Alright, so I figured I wanted to make this eventually. I finally finished my part for the Guaraná MAP a few months ago after like, almost two years of having it lmao, and those two years were wild and included a bunch of different versions of the part which would never see the light of day outside of the map server, so I figured I should put them all here :)

Here is the finished part which I am very happy with honestly, love some Hollyleaf angst

So now let me tell you about how the part used to be IWKFOLSPS

To get the part I actually had to fist fight a friend because it was one of the few really simple interesting parts and we both wanted it pretty badly

When I eventually got the part I made two storyboards for it, and my idea was for it to be very limited animation with mostly tweening, as, in my head, it would make my life easier

The first storyboard I was not happy with so I threw it out the window and made another soon after

This one I was way happier with and is the storyboard I used for most of these two years, here you can see a little light/shadow behind Hollyleaf that, while I liked, was really out of place so I didn't keep it in the end :(

What followed was multiple months of me chipping away at this part and telling myself every time that it would be easy to do because it was pmv, I got pretty far with this, making the assets for all of the cats and only needing to shade Hollyleaf, finish the backgrounds and guaraná plants and edit

At that point however, despite being almost done, I really couldn't bring myself to work on this part anymore, I'm not sure what exactly it was, but messing around with all the assets and tweening and all that just wasn't fun for me at that point and I just began stalling to avoid having to open the file again

Eventually in February a light shone upon me, if I wasn't having fun with PMV then screw it AMV was my new best friend

In a few hours I made a new sketch, skipped the rought animation stage and finished Holly's entire animation (don't do this ever, don't be like me)

I had also started on Lion but I was struggling on what to do with him because of how I animated Holly lol

I don't remember the exact plan but originally the character acting was:

Holly and Lion are looking up, Jay is a little frustrated. Holly talks to him to cheer him up and he looks at her, feeling a bit more encouraged. Then she would look at Lion, he would reassure her, and they'd all end up happy

Somehow though, while animating Holly, I ditched the plan and made her be surprised by Lion and look at him, so I struggled a bit trying to figure out what Lionpaw could do to get her attention, and spent a good while trying to figure out the solution to a problem that I created in a few hours of not following a simple plan ISMOCKSKKDS If you plan something, preferably follow it, don't be like me²

I could have just remade her animation so that would have been solved but I liked her animation I didn't want to redo it :(

Anyway, eventually I figured he could say something stupid to help cheer up Jay or something and I like his and Jay's new movements so it all worked out :)

After making the first shot, I caved in to something I wanted to do for a while which was a transition between the shots, instead of having it cut to the second shot or move the characters around a little bit.

I didn't know if I wanted to do a transition with stars or with the fire scene, until eventually I figured that the fire scene and Ashfur's... thing was what really affected the siblings, especially Hollyleaf. The part also follows a sequence of Hollyleaf feeling guilty for what she did so in general I thought that Ashfur would transition well

You may also notice that I hadn't splattered blood all across Holly's face in the second shot and that was because I forgot she was supposed to have blood on her until I read the script again for some reason and realized I forgot ISNKCKAKDLSL

So, what did we learn? PMV sucks, animate it all at 24 fps in one sitting instead/JOKE

This is all I have about the Guaraná part, it was pretty fun to work on and I loved joining a map about my country, this map lives in a little part of my brain rent free <3

Might do this for other parts that have a bunch of wips or something I'll think about that, it's kind of fun to just lay out your process like this, would recommend 10/10

[bikinizagel]

I had this posted on my other account, but I like it enough that I decided to repost it here as well!

A while ago, I found an unfinished Sable Able/Tom Nook fic I began writing but abandoned (mostly because I was too busy to finish it). It’s an AU where Tom didn’t meet up with misfortune (or Redd... yet...) and actually succeeded at founding his business in the city. Of course, he still longs for the countryside, or at least for certain animals (👀), but his full intentions for returning out of the blue one day aren’t entirely clear.

This is the first draft of the first chapter (I cleaned it up a bit with a little editing, but it’s still pretty drafty, so sorry for any weirdness). If anyone’s interested, maybe I’ll post up the second one, too (or maybe even just finish the whole thing if people enjoy it?).

Dreams Before Money – Tom Nook/Sable Able: Chapter 1 🍃

(honestly that’s a working title lol does that sound dumb i think it’s dumb i might change it… anyway… please read on!)

“Yes, yes, welcome all, welcome all! I do hope you’re enjoying your shopping experience!”

Tom strutted down the wide corridor of his extravagant store, a spring in his step as he tipped his hat and waved to passersby. A few of them gasped when they met his gaze, almost dropping the items they were perusing in their surprise. There wasn’t a single frown to be seen on any of his customers’ faces, which made his heart skip a beat or two (maybe even three!).

It had been a success! He had finally done it! The pride brimming inside of him hadn’t gone away since the day his department store had opened a few months ago, located at a prime location right in the heart of the hustling, bustling city. Many animals had said it couldn’t be done, that he was a fool to believe he could ever open such an establishment. Ho ho! How wrong they had been! All of his determination and hard work had paid off. His dreams had come true, even bigger than he’d imagined, and he couldn’t be happier.

As he reached one of the grand lobbies of the department complex, he couldn’t help but tilt his head towards the ceiling and marvel at how beautiful the construction had turned out. Of course, he had been through this section many times before, but the white marble walls and golden gilded accents – not to mention the grand, glittering chandelier hanging above – were so striking that… well, he chuckled to himself, he was just so pleased that everything had turned out just the particular way he had planned it. It was almost like he was living inside of his own fairy tale, and here he was: king of this glorious castle, built entirely by his own design.

“Mom, Mom, over here!”

Tom turned around to where he had heard the voice. A young cat was excitedly jumping up and down as she pointed at an extravagant mountain of teddy bears on display. His staff was so very talented, he thought with pride. They could make the simplest products look so incredibly tempting.

The girl’s mother, in comparison, looked worse for the wear, pushing a stroller with a baby kitten sleeping inside. She sported an exasperated expression on her face, her ears dropped in exhaustion. Her eyes traveled almost immediately towards the price placard on the display.

“Oh, sweetheart, they’re very lovely,” she sighed. “But we came here for a new pair of school clothes for you. You don’t need any more toys.”

The little girl pouted as she looked back and forth from the bears to her mother, slumping her shoulders as she began to step away.

Well, well! Tom shook his head. This just simply wouldn’t do. He breezed over to the mother and her daughter and, plucking the object of her affections off of the table, he knelt down to the girl’s level and held it out to her.

“For you, young lady,” he smiled, “This fellow is on me.”

Her eyes widened as she grabbed the bear from him. She hugged it so tight that he swore the stuffing was about to pop from its seams.

“Oh, sir,” her mother began to protest, “That’s very generous of you, but we don’t–“

“Nonsense, nonsense, it’s quite all right. I only want my customers to be happy!” he chuckled, standing back up. He took out a green ticket from his suit’s inner breast pocket and handed it to her.

“Once you make your way to the children’s department, please, let my staff know that Tom Nook himself has given you a 50% off discount on any article of clothing you choose to buy.”

To say that the expression on her face changed dramatically would be an understatement as her jaw dropped.

“Th-the Tom Nook?!” she stammered, inadvertently wrinkling the ticket as she clutched it. “Why… why, you’re as generous as they say you are. Thank you so much!”

He nodded, and tipped his hat.

“No trouble at all! Have a good day, yes yes!”

An extra spring had been added to his step as he made his way back through the corridors of his store. This was how one should run a business, he thought to himself. For his whole life, he had ascribed to one motto only: dreams before money. One could have all of the riches in the world if they so wanted. They could bleed their customers dry and swindle them out of their hard earned savings just to get the money they coveted. But dreams? Dreams were priceless. His dream had come true in a very big way, so it only seemed fitting for him to grant the dreams of others in return. Besides, he couldn’t stand to see a frown on someone’s face. It just didn’t feel right. Some had chastised him for having such a generous spirit in the past, saying that others might one day take advantage of him for it, but he didn’t know about any other way to act. And so far, it hadn’t hurt him, so why should he act any other way?

Ah, yes, he sighed happily as he entered one of the executive elevators and made his way up to his office. His life was almost like a fairy tale. Almost. There was another reason why today was such a happy day for him: he was determined to change that “almost” into an “entirely.”

“Good afternoon Mr. Nook!” his secretary chirped as he exited the elevator, a clipboard in her wing as she followed him down the hallway. “All of the arrangements have been made and your limousine leaves in 15 minutes.”

“Excellent!” he beamed. “And my luggage?”

“It’s with Mr. Lyle at the north exit. That’s where they’ll be picking you up.”

“Wonderful! Absolutely splendid, thank you!”

His secretary laughed as they entered into his office, light pouring in from the large window overlooking the rest of the city.

“Well you’re certainly in a good mood!”

“Is there ever any reason not to be in one?” He made his way towards his office desk, circling around it. “I’ll make my way downstairs in a moment. I just need to get the rest of my affairs in order first.”

“Absolutely!” She began to leave, but poked her head back in after a moment. “Don’t forget to really enjoy that fresh country air while you’re gone. They say it does a body a lot of good!”

He chuckled as she left for the hallway, and began to stack some papers he had left on the top of his desk. Most of the matters that he needed to take care of before he left were complete, and he made a mental checklist of some of the essentials he had packed. Phone, wallet, watch, extra shirts, and had he remembered to bring a toothbrush? Of course, he was sure he had. He opened up one of the side drawers of his desk and rifled through some stray notepads and pens until he found the last item he needed. Quickly he replaced it with the last few discount vouchers he had had as he dropped it into the breast pocket of his suit… and paused. His heart began to pound in his chest, and he clenched his fists as he looked out the window at the streets below. He couldn’t help but smile.

This was happening. Another chapter of his life was being written, and he was more than sure that it would be the most splendid one yet.

🍃

The sun was beginning to set, and warm rays of pink and orange were beginning to shine through the windows on the clothing in the shop. A handful of customers still milled about as the hum of the sewing machine filled the room. Sable bit her lip as she finished the hemming on a periwinkle colored dress, pulling it from the sewing machine bed as she began to snip off the stray threads.

“Whoa, that is SUCH a pretty color!” exclaimed a white rabbit, her eyes shining as she checked out Sable’s newest creation. “I want it soooo bad, but I pretty much just blew all of my bells on shirts.”

Sable chuckled, smoothing out the fabric.

“This one won’t be done for a while, anyway,” she said, picking her scissors back up again. “I still need to add some lace to the hem and the sleeves, and a bow in the back, and–”

The rabbit gasped so sharply that Sable jumped, almost cutting the fabric of the dress in surprise.

“That. Is gonna look. So. CUTE! I hope I’m able to buy it once you’re done.“ She squirmed in place worriedly, a tiny sweatdrop forming on her forehead. “How many bells is it?”

Sable hesitated for a moment, holding the dress up as she considered its worth. “Well… hmm…”

“Two thousand!”

Mabel skipped next to her sister, beaming at the rabbit as she held out a small cloth bag.

“By the way, Ruby, you almost forgot to take everything you bought!”

“Ugh, I’m SUCH a space case lately. Thanks Mabel!” Ruby took the bag and rose her paw to her chin, considering the price of the dress. “Two thousand bells isn’t that bad, I guess.”

“Sable could always make another for you special later, if you weren’t able to buy it right away,” Mabel cheerfully offered. “Isn’t that right Sable?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” Sable nodded.

“That’s good to know. I hope I’m able to snatch it up before anybody else, people would be SO jealous of me!” Ruby laughed, and walked towards the exit as she waved. “See you later, girls!”

The two hedgehogs waved back. One by one the other customers in the shop began to leave, and when the last one had gone, Mabel hopped over to the front door and turned over the wooden sign in the window to read “CLOSED.”

“Phew! What a day.”

Sable let out a loud sigh, stretching as she stood from her sewing stool. It has been a particularly busy afternoon, and she had hardly taken a break from sewing. …well, who was she kidding, she thought. She rarely ever took a break!

She grabbed a pile of clothing from the back closet to restock the shelves with, handing a few to Mabel as they began to tidy up the shop together.

“Boy, it must have been quite a day if you forgot what day it even was,” Mabel grinned at her sister as she buttoned a shirt on a mannequin.

Sable turned from folding a stack of pants and eyed Mabel suspiciously.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know!” Mabel laughed as she finished buttoning. “Come on, you couldn’t have forgotten, right?”

Sable looked up at the ceiling in thought. Today was a Friday, which meant that there would be more customers during the weekend. Was there a festival going on in town that she had forgotten about? Ugh. Sable was so bad at remembering dates. She had even forgotten her own birthday a couple of times. Her mind was always so laser-focused on her sewing work that sometimes things tended to slip from it, no matter how important they were.

She was about to give up on guessing when she turned back to Mabel, who was sporting one of the toothiest grins she’d ever seen. Her sister began to giggle, and it suddenly dawned on Sable what day could possibly make Mabel so giddy.

“No!” she shouted, and abandoned her folding as she dashed up the stairs of the store to their home above. Mabel cackled, chasing after her as Sable fled to her bedroom and looked in the mirror.

“Ohhhhhh, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a week. I look like a wreck!” The rings beneath her eyes were way too dark, and her complexion was so pale from being cooped up in the store this summer. She threw off her work apron and ran to the closet, frantically trying to find a dress to wear that wasn’t too wrinkled.

Mabel sat herself on the corner of the bed, kicking her legs as she watched the entertainment playing before her.

“We even closed early today. I can’t believe you forgot!”

“I can’t believe it either!” Sable yelled from the closet. Finally, she emerged with a pink striped dress that she had begun half putting on, fumbling with the zipper on the back as she looked in the mirror.

“You know,” Mabel said as Sable fussed with her outfit, “Tom’s not going to care what you look like.”

Sable shot a look at Mabel.

“We haven’t seen him in a while,” she countered. “And I just want to look my best. Is that such a bad thing?”

All Mabel responded with was a sly smile. She jumped off the bed and wandered out of the room as Sable turned back to the mirror to fix her collar.

She began thinking about the last letter she had received from Tom. He’d told her that he’d be visiting the town later that month. It came as such a surprise to her that he’d even consider coming back, what with everything that was going on with him. He had apparently had lots of luck living in the city, and had opened up a giant multi-level department store that carried more products than she had ever thought possible to sell in one place. Tom had even sent photos of it as it was being built, and she had to admit that it looked incredibly elegant and luxurious.

But she was thrilled that he was visiting, even though he hadn’t told her how long he’d be staying. After he had left, she had prayed for him every single day, asking whoever was listening that he would be kept safe. She was very grateful that her prayers seemed to have been answered. Admittedly, she had missed him very much, and a small part of her was dismayed when he had finally told her of his store’s opening. Of course she was immensely proud of his achievements. What kind of friend would she be if she wasn’t? But so many people had been lost to her because of the city, she thought, a feeling of sadness beginning to creep up on her. She hadn’t wanted to lose her best friend as well.

…and that was something she was still worried about, despite everything. He seemed like the same old Tom in his letters, but almost three years had passed since they had last seen each other. Three years was certainly a long enough time for someone to change. She glanced at herself in the mirror and smoothed a stray quill back in place. Part of her hoped she hadn’t changed too much, or at least that he wouldn’t notice any drastic changes in her that she hadn’t paid attention to. In those three years they’d been apart, she had worked very hard to make her parent’s old store even more of a success, not to mention that she had single-handedly taken care of Mabel in the process. All of that work felt like it had taken such a toll on her, mentally and physically, and from the stories she had heard, the city was filled with tons of beautiful, glamorous animals. As she looked in the mirror, her reflection frowning back at herself, she felt far from glamorous.

“There’s a limo outside!”

“A limo?!”

Sable ran downstairs to find Mabel, but she had already left, the front door of the store swinging behind her. There was a limousine parked outside on the road across the way, and Mabel had run out to greet it. Sable peeked from behind the open door as she saw the limo driver rush out to open the passenger’s side. Her eyes narrowed: was Tom really coming back to a humble little town like this in such an ostentatious way?

“Mabel!”

Tom excitedly leapt out of the passenger door as he picked Mabel off of her feet and spun her around, the two of them laughing. Sable quickly hid herself behind the door. Her stomach dropped, and her heart began to pound a mile a minute – it was him! She was so nervous that she had to pause for a moment and take a deep breath. It’s okay, she thought. Tom’s your best friend. He’s not a stranger. You know him. He’s practically family, and he’s kind and sweet and…

“Where’s Sable?”

“She’s inside. I thought I heard her following me.”

Sable mustered up enough courage to emerge from behind the door, taking a step outside as she nervously strayed in the doorframe. Tom’s eyes met hers, and suddenly all of the feelings of her happiest moments with him came flooding back: playing games together in the forest, goofing off at all of the annual town festivals, watching the stars past midnight and sharing their dreams together… his eyes still sparkled like they did the day that he left to follow those dreams. Her heart felt like it was radiating happiness through every single inch of her body.

Before she knew it, he had ran up and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She threw her arms around him too and hugged him back, a laugh escaping her lips.

“Oh, Tom, I’m so glad you’re back!”

He couldn’t help but laugh too, and finally let go of her, looking into her eyes as he grinned.

“I’m glad I am, too.”

🍃

Tom had completely forgotten just how delicious the apples from his hometown were. They were so good in fact that he felt a little bit greedy as he wolfed down the slices that Sable had cut up for him. He couldn’t help it, though. It had been so long since he’d eaten one! Nostalgia swelled inside of him as the sweet but slightly sour taste of the fruit hit his tastebuds. Of course he had purchased many an apple in the city – he even had a cafe on the lower level of his store that prepared gourmet dishes using all varieties of fruit – but there was just something different about a freshly picked apple from a local tree compared to millions of wax covered ones picked days or weeks ago from farms far, far away.

The three newly reacquainted friends had spread out an impromptu picnic on the front lawn of the shop. They had all agreed that the summer weather was much too lovely to waste, so the girls had brought out a couple of containers of food and fresh fruit, and set up an electric lantern nearby for when it began to grow darker. Wispy streaks of clouds lit orange by the setting sun peeked from the leaves in the trees while, high above, the purple sky was only just allowing some of the stars to begin to shine. Even a number of fireflies were starting to make an appearance, the soft glow of their blinking lights slowly emerging from the woods and surrounding the house.

A slight breeze rustled through the trees as Tom took in a deep, refreshing sigh. It was so nice to be back home like this, surrounded by familiar sights, sounds, tastes… and surrounded by two of the animals he loved the most in the world, ones hadn’t seen in years. But strangely enough, despite the fact that he had been gone from them and from the town for so long, it kind of felt as if no time had passed at all.

“Sorry about all these leftovers,” Sable apologized, loading up a small plate with a mix of vegetables. “We’ve just been so busy that I had forgotten to make something special for when you arrived”

“Oh please, don’t worry. This is wonderful! I take it that the shop is doing well then?” Tom asked.

“We’re doing great!” Mabel exclaimed behind an open mouthful of potato salad. “We have tons of customers. You should see the size of some of the crowds that come in. Sable’s even been teaching me to sew so we can start making twice as many clothes!”

“Mabel, honey, chew,” Sable sighed.

“I am!”

Tom couldn’t help but laugh at their banter. Time may have felt like it hadn’t passed, but at least Mabel was there to remind him that it certainly had. She seemed to be getting even more outspoken since he saw her last. …goodness, she had only been 8 years old when he had gone to the city. She was so much taller now, but still just as much of a chatterbox as always.

And Sable… well, so far she seemed to be the same caring and hard working hedgehog he’d always known. Before he left, Tom was worried that things would seem weird between them after having only corresponded through letters for a few years. But from the moment he had hugged her, his worries had instantly melted away. Talking to her was as natural as anything. …of course, he thought as he took another apple slice, at first he was so taken aback by how much prettier she had become since he’s last seen her that he’d been afraid he wouldn’t even be able to move.

“So…” Sable began, pausing for a moment as she hovered her fork over her plate. “…I don’t think you said in your last letter how long you’d be visiting for.”

“Oh, about a week or so. Maybe a little longer.”

“Where are you staying?” Mabel asked.

“In a house not too far away from your shop. It was actually quite fortuitous,” he continued as he loaded his own plate with some of the potato salad Mabel had been enjoying. “The last owner had recently decided to leave town for a fresh start, so the place is furnished. I decided to rent it while I’m here.”

“Awwww!” Mabel stuck out her bottom lip and frowned. “You could have stayed with us!”

“I didn’t want to intrude,” Tom replied, shaking his head. “Besides, I have some business while I’m here in town, aside from the business of visiting the two of you, of course.”

“Hmm,” Sable wondered aloud, “And whatever could that business be?”

She pressed the tines of her fork to her lips thoughtfully as she looked off into the forest. He could have sworn she was looking in the direction of Town Hall. If that was the case, he thought, she might already be on to him. She knew him best, after all, better than himself sometimes.

Tom smirked, and gave her a wink.

“It’s a secret.”

He went back to eating his food, and for a moment she looked as though she was about to press him more about it. But she stopped, and continued eating as well, a smile slowly forming on her lips.

They continued their meal and their conversation, and it was filled with tons of laughter and fond memories. The girls gossiped about what had gone on in town while he had gone, and he in turn gave them gossip on how things were back in the city. He told them all about his adventures: reaching the city almost penniless, meeting new people who gave him information on what investments to get into, and his stroke of luck reaping the benefits of their advice after he had finished his third odd job in the city and almost lost all hope. They were all stories that he had written in his letters, but now he could see their reactions to it in real time. Sable seemed a little indifferent to his stories about city life, although Mabel listened to everything he had to say with rapt interest.

The sun finally set and the food disappeared. The three friends began cleaning up, bringing all of the dishes and picnic accessories back inside, and Tom helped out with some of the washing up in their kitchen.

“I suppose I should probably leave for tonight,” he said as he finished drying off one of the last plates.

“Do you need the lantern for your way back?” Sable asked as she took it from him and placed it back in the kitchen cupboard.

Tom considered it for a moment, and nodded. The three of them went back downstairs, and Sable grabbed the lantern she had left outside and handed it to him.

“Be careful, it can get a little hot,” she warned.

“Make sure to stay safe!” Mabel said. “We’ll see you tomorrow, right Tom?”

“Bright and early!” he confirmed as he started making his way down the front walkway. “Have a good night, ladies!”

He watched as Sable and Mabel waved to him from the doorframe, then turned back to begin down the road to his rented home for the week. What a great day, he thought to himself, and took in a huge, refreshing breath of air, sighing it out happily. Luck must have really been on his side with everything going so well already. Hopefully the rest of his time here would continue to go on just as—

“Oh, wait, Tom!”

He hadn’t even made it that far when Sable came running after him, and he turned to meet her as she finally caught up with him, huffing and puffing in exhaustion.

“I… I just…”

She hesitated for a moment, not saying anything as she continued breathing. He studied her and noticed that, even with just the glow of the lantern lighting her face, her cheeks were beginning to turn a little pink. Was it from running, or…? Suddenly he began to feel a twinge of nervousness, hoping he didn’t seem flustered to her in any way. It had been so long since he had hung out with Sable and her sister, but it had been even longer since he had spent any sort of time alone with her.

“…I just wanted to let you know that the lantern knob is a little finicky.” She took the lantern from him and pointed it out. “Sometimes it gets stuck and doesn’t turn off all the way.”

“Oh! Yes, yes, I see.” He fiddled with the knob a little bit before taking the lantern back from her. “I’ll be sure to not let the battery run down.”

She nodded, and hesitated again, twiddling her fingers together.

“And you… wouldn’t be meeting with Mayor Tortimer tomorrow, would you?”

He’d been right. She had been looking towards Town Hall earlier.

“Well, not tomorrow, but–“

She surprised him with a little gasp as she smiled, clasping her hands.

“So you’re thinking of meeting with him? Does it… would it have anything to do with your business?”

It was impressive how close to the truth she was getting, but how could she ever know what his plan really was? And what could he say? He had it in mind to tell her after the next few days, after they had finally got time to be alone together again, but he had to admit that now he really wanted to just tell her and be done with it.

Now it was his turn to hesitate as he felt his own cheeks reddening, fiddling with the lantern’s handle. He finally took one of her hands in his, and smiled softly.

“You know what I’ve always said: dreams before money, right? Well… I’m preparing for another dream, and that’s all I can really say right now. But I think it’s going to be wonderful, absolutely wonderful… for both of us.”

Her smile fell a little bit as she gave him a puzzled look, and he swore he could see the pink in her cheeks growing. It also felt like the gaze between them might become inescapable, and he knew he had to tear himself away. He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back before they both let go, even though he desperately didn’t want to.

“Have a good night, Sable.”

“…you too.”

[becomingkatie]

Saturday morning at 10am I was stomping around like "the weekend is half over and I haven't gotten anything done yet!" Clearly I was feeling more than a little stressed about maximizing the weekend, lol.

Saturday morning I baked a loaf that I'd mixed up Thursday night and shaped and popped in the fridge Friday morning. It's got fish peppers from my garden and cheddar cheese in it - a nod to a jalapeno cheddar loaf, but I didn't have jalapenos. The fish peppers are SPICY. Like, I cut a slice of bread and my hands tingle and then I scrub them with soap and then if I rub my eyes it still burns them. Soooo, maybe not the best? If you've ever wanted to sweat and cough from eating spicy bread, I have succeeded in making the spicy loaf for you.

Saturday night I made marry me chicken gnocchi soup. I'd say it's medium. Good enough to happily eat the leftovers of, but probably not so tasty that I'll make it again. Well, I say that, but Ken has been saying, "Next time I think I'd (insert small change here)" so I think he actually really enjoyed it and might want it again. Anyway, it's gone well with a slice of toast on the side.

We had a big finances talk Saturday, too, since even over 2 years of marriage the only joint finances we have is a credit card I got where he's an authorized user so we can have a "joint" card. We're going to be moving to a fully (or at least mostly) joined approach (with some separate savings and investments) so we are getting ready for that.

Sunday morning I was in a MUCH better mood and we went for an "easy" gravel ride where I cried on the side of the road and nearly puked in someone's driveway because it was such a challenge. I haven't been riding much, and I haven't been challenging myself much either. Combine that with having covid a few weeks ago, and it was a shock to me how hard this ride was. Ken signed us up for a "mini" 25-mile gravel ride in about 6 weeks, so I have some work to do to make that an enjoyable experience and not a sufferfest. I've done a 40-mile gravel grinder ride a few times and loved it - it just makes me really sad to be in such worse shape now than I used to be. At least I genuinely enjoy cycling so the climb back to where I want to be is something I can have fun with.

After the ride we got bagel sandwiches in the town near the start/stop point. Mine had sausage, egg, cheese, and apple butter. I'm a sweet+savory gal so it was AMAZING. And then we showered and I napped on the living room floor for half a football game. ("Ken, can you put on the football channel so I can take a nap?") After dinner I made a blueberry muffin recipe that uses sourdough discard. I'd been meaning to make them for ages and finally had discard in the fridge and time to whip them up. It said to divide into 12 muffins... I am not sure that was the right move. But they taste great.

It's going to be a busy week. Plenty of work, a vet neurologist appointment for Theo, both individual and couple's therapy on Tuesday (I hate double-therapy days ugh), and trying to stay up late and push hard to finish editing this book so I can publish it before the end of the month. This weekend we want to bike again, and I want to do some training stationary bike workouts during the week, and we also both need to make sure we have clothes (or, more likely, get some clothes) for the two October weddings we have coming up. So I am Stressed but it'll be a good time if I can manage to enjoy myself through all the busy. And people add kids on top of this??? Howwww???

[artastickk]

I probably should’ve done a separate post for Bruno, but oh well 🤷‍♀️ On to the triplets!

Karina and Julieta used to be somewhat close before Bruno left. She was the only adult left in the house during the day who wasn’t completely accident prone (Agustín I’m looking at you bud). But Julieta has always been one to easily bend to Alma’s will and that caused a lot of hurt for Karina. One minute they would be having a fine time talking and cooking together and the next minute Alma would come into the room and it would go stale and awkward. Like Julieta had been caught hanging out with a “bad seed”. After the events of the movie Karina doesn’t fully trust Julieta anymore. And any time they spent alone for the next few years Karina would always be secretly waiting for her to switch up like she used to. But, Julieta is a sincere person and she took the new changes very seriously and put in the effort to make it up to Karina. They aren’t close, but they are family.

Pepa on the other hand always made Karina nervous. She hates loud abrupt noise and Pepa’s constant mood shifts put her on edge. Karina relies heavily on pattern recognition to gauge how to act socially and Pepa is a hard card. Pepa never really tried to make any sort of relationship with her mostly because she was always fighting with Bruno and anyone on Bruno’s side was against hers. After the movie though she comes to terms with the fact that that is not true and Karina learns to be more at ease around her.

Karina and Bruno’s relationship is very special. They’ve been each other’s safe haven since they were kids. They spent so much time together that once they were married they hardly had anything to ever share. They were content enough just being next to each other. They felt like home to one another. When Bruno left, Karina felt very lost. Like someone had torn a piece of her away. She spent a lot of her time in and out of disassociation. When he came back into her life she was at first ready and willing to try and pick up where they left off, but she quickly learned she wasn’t as ready for that as she thought she was and neither was he. It took a few months for them to finally open up. Which also accidentally ended up with her pregnant with the triplets (carnal desperation type thing y’know how it is sksks) Both had been given a new goal in life and that motivated them to put in the work. Once the kids are grown, things are even better than they were before. They both have stopped having nightmares years ago. Bruno has a much more regular sleep schedule. Nobody in town knows him for his “bad luck” anymore and they’re finally given the chance to flourish.

@encanto-extended-edition

[04dissection]

I've been a bit too drained to work on any of my actual theories or detail catching(there's a yuno draft I keep staring at) so with that said, I may or may not have been listening to the entire Mili discography and couldn't help but assign MORE songs. I've previously assigned Yuno(Camelia), Mahiru(Rubber Human), and Mikoto(Sleep Talk Metropolis) songs. So they don't get any. Yeah.

Haruka: Extension of You

There is me, and there is you Who knew everything, teach me how to sing Teach me how to sing, teach me how to sing

I learned the good and the evil Learned your boundaries, learned your mortality You're out of service, out of service

There are still many things that I want to know Stories left untold Does it feel good to love? To hand out your own? To hand out your own? Does it feel good to hate? To shelter one's self? To shelter one's self?

Note: Vibes.

Fuuta: Painful Death For The Lactose Intolerant

Cleanse up your body, cleanse up your soul

Perfect life for you and I People who's trying to get by Painful death for the lactose intolerant For you there is no lament

Begin the revolution!

Note: Technically is the one that gave me the idea to actually make this list, though I came up with Kazui's WEEKS ago, and Amane's I gave to her basically as soon as it was released- which was a few days ago. Either way, Fuuta fits the allegory of this song for me- the disdain for people who 'can't change' in his view. I think his views of change are... changing now, so this is definitely for before he was injured. Yeah.

Muu: GIVE ME RICE

Honey This is all, this is everything All the things you want All you'll ever need

The entire 'give me' section that I am NOT pasting. It makes more sense listened to.

Note: I'm not entirely sure how to explain this song. While the song is mostly of just wanting things, there's elements of the singer knowing that this isn't what they need. It feels like a song of just not knowing how to end a cycle that is actively hurting you, even if you want to, and ending up perpetuating it as you give up. Maybe my explanation of why doesn't entirely make sense as to why I'd give it to Muu. I think with Muu, she didn't really want to break the cycle in the first place- when she was on top, of course- and that she simply fell into her role when she was no longer in that previous position. Muu is fairly passive, and I feel as though this song is better for the Muu shown in It's Not My Fault.

Shidou: Nine Point Eight -special edit-

Please don't leave me behind, leave me behind So you held me tight And said I will be just fine

Take me to where your soul may live in peace Final destination Touch of your skin sympathetically brushed against The shoulders you used to embrace

Note: I don't really have anything particular to say. I don't think it fits well per se, but I think the softness of the special edit over the original better fits Shidou. There's also a lot of flower imagery, so.

Kazui: From A Place of Love

There's just so much work Too much work to be done Committing to commitments Hiding my indulgence The freedom we sacrifice for love

You're a nice girl I'm just not ready now But then mommy said It ain't family biz Get over it Toughen up Just like the man we expected

I know that I agreed to this myself (Myself, myself) I wish it was their fault

Note: I was so tempted to paste all of the song lyrics. I also hope that all Library of Ruina fans that see this post take sanity damage from seeing THIS song here. I don't think any arguments can be made here. There's so much about getting into a relationship that ends disasterously because of being pressured into it, and then the blame that the singer puts on themself, that just works so perfectly for Kazui's story. The version specifically posted here is the battle version, not the Key Ingredient version, because that version leans more into some of the other elements of what this song was made for, elements that just don't fit. Either way. Kazui song. Don't read the comments.

Amane: Duetting Solo

(Holy land, with Her we stand) The love we teach, violence we preach (Knives in hand, we're innocent lambs)

My hands are red, my heart is black

I cried I screamed I slept I woke up mad

Note: Duetting Solo is a song of revenge, one that just so happens to have a heavy layer of religion on it. I know nothing of the source material, it is just kind of there. But yeah, to me, at least, this song feels very similar to Purge March in tone to me. Amane doesn't completely respect the beliefs she's been born into, even if she uses them to justify herself.

Kotoko: Rosetta

For everyone everywhere everything Will betray your innocent heart All of them

Vile, vile Shield yourself Mind my words Don't let yourself corrupt

Come back to me Rosetta No-one nowhere nothing will take anything anything anything from me

Note: There's a certain... anger to Rosetta that I can't really explain. It's just one of those things you feel, you know? Anyways, this one is a Kotoko and Lucky one. The song is so concerned with Rosetta remaining 'pure' and 'uncorrupted.' It's so distinctly paranoid that she will be hurt in some way. I have more reasoning but I began writing it and quickly realized 'oh! I should save this for my very complicated thoughts on what Kotoko and Lucky's relationship was, WHICH I WANT TO HOLD OFF ON BECAUSE LUCKY IS DEFINITELY BEING ASKED ABOUT.' The not-really summary on that though is that the singer of Rosetta, in my personal analysis, seems to be an overprotective/helicoptor guardian of sorts, paranoid of what the world could do to their child, and so paranoid that they end up being left behind by Rosetta anyways. The last lines of the song to me indicate that the singer saw Rosetta less as human, and more of something the singer 'had' in some way- just like how Kotoko seemed to treat Lucky like something she needed to protect and not much else, regardless of her genuine thoughts on her. Please do not make of that what you will I have a lot of thoughts and it's VERY hard to elaborate what I mean. Just. Rosetta. Kotoko and Lucky song.

[budstiel]

okay seeing a lot of basketball championship and dnd final session discourse on twitter and let me tell you why any of you hating any of the kids for anything they did that night is stupid.

edit: this started as me trying to explain what was going through Lucas mike and Dustin’s head that day but devolved into me writing a mini essay on their mental states leading up to that day BUT STICK WITH ME IT’S ALL CONNECTED

Was Lucas right to ditch the dnd final session for his championship? Absolutely yes. Should mike and Dustin have shown up and supported their friend? Yes. Did they skip just to be spiteful and because they hate Lucas having other interests? NO

I think a big part of why Mike and Dustin reacted the way they did was because they perceived Lucas as going over to dark side. Becoming a part of the people who had made their lives hell for the past 13 years. All three of them had endured bullying all their lives and the way they reacted to it had been different and they didn’t always understand the motivations behind why they were acting the way they were.

(going to go a little off track here but stick with me this is all context)

While a lot of their bullying revolved around being targeted for similar things like their interests and probably their looks some things were more specific and targeted each character in a way that only really they understood.

Lucas, Dustin and Mike’s ✨T r a u m a✨

Mike while himself mostly dodged the queer allegations witnessed Will take the brunt of it and while always stepping up to defend his friends he internalised the things they were saying and did everything in his power to hide the things about himself that could put an even bigger target on his back while he still struggled to be true to other parts of him that made mike Mike. While mike suppressed parts of himself that he had been made to believe were wrong he salvaged other parts of him that he tried to wear with pride and with which he also delineated himself from the people who had made his own and his friends’ lives hell.

Lucas along with Will was affected by the most overt of taunts and insults. Along with the overt name calling and targeting came the ignorant actions and words by the kids his age who didn’t know better than what they had heard their parents say at home. Lucas loved his friends and they had been through middle school bullies And other dimensional monsters together but after so many years he had understood that this one thing he really truly was alone in. He wanted to be understood but he also wanted to just be like everyone else not have to go through things so much harder and not go through things alone.

Dustin wore his personality, his interests and his disability with a pride that only came from having had those things weaponised against you all your life. He hasn’t done it alone. Some of it he’s admired his friends for and learned from them. He’s seen Steve change and be true to himself and seen how happier that makes people. When he was targeted and ostracised with a whole new intensity upon entering high school he met Eddie who was disruptive and weird but willing to accept him and give him a space where he didn’t think he’d find one. Dustin’s radical acceptance came from unfortunately, his trauma and fortunately, some very good role models.

Now ALL this plays a role in how things went down in their first year of high school. But this alone in my opinion wasn’t enough for the three friends to have reached the level of disconnect they did.

The other part was change. And not your average raging hormones, changing schools and losing friends. It was all that ON OTHER DIMENSIONAL STEROIDS.

They’d lost Hopper to a combination of gruesome monster and government assassins. All of whom had been gunning for their lives too some six months ago. The dust from this didn’t even get a chance to settle down before their two best friends left them alone in the town which had been trying to kill them for the last few years. Dustin had witnessed a drugged and beaten to an inch of his life Steve and managed to save his life a few hours after saying that if Steve dies so would he. Lucas was slowly witnessing the girl he loved lose herself after a loss that he couldn’t possibly understand. He never wanted Max to feel that alone. He didn’t know what to do. Mike had lost his girlfriend and his best friend in a single moment and he didn’t know what to do with that. He didn’t know his feelings and the ones he did start to know he intensely wanted to forget. He felt wrong. He needed something to hang onto.

Lucas joining the basketball team didn’t really have a single clear reason he had in mind. It was because it felt good to not be the the only black kid around; to have that part of him understood. It was because unexpectedly he actually liked the game. He didn’t feel defined by it. And it was because it proved to an extent, to be a good shield against the kind of experiences that he had always felt othered by. It felt like enough of a good thing to ignore some of the bad that it came along with.

Mike and Dustin were coping with things they had been through and the changes in their life to some extent with intensely sticking to the things they knew and they didn’t understand why Lucas wouldn’t want to do it with them. They felt like the were losing their friend to popularity and it seemed like it could be one or the other.

The Night of the Basketball Championship and DND Final Session™️

Now this situation along with their own particular brands of ✨trauma ✨ and the changes in their lives in the past few months didn’t really create the most conducive path for communication. Had Lucas told them that it wasn’t just about popularity and that he actually liked the game and shared the good parts of it with his friends things might have been different. They might’ve shown up because they’ve proved again and again that the well being of their friends is more important than anything else.

Had mike and Dustin told Lucas that they could see that maybe Lucas isn’t being completely honest to himself since he’s been around the popular crowd, Lucas might’ve felt more comfortable to share with them that Yes the game has come with some complicated feelings for him. There are good things and bad. He might not have felt so defensive and actually shared that everything wasn’t right either. If they’d told Lucas about how they’d been feeling about their friendship he might’ve had the chance to reassure them. If they hadn’t had this distinct cocktail of circumstances, any one of these things could’ve changed and have lead to a different outcome where The Night of the Basketball Championship and DND Final Session™️ might never have happened the way it did.

TL;DR they’re kids in a very bad place get off their asses

[twofee]

Sims tag

Thanks for tagging me @episims :)

1. what’s your favorite sims death?

old age with the hula dancers welcome but mostly i try not to let anyone die!

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

i’m somewhere in the middle, i have a game thats more heavy on the semi realistic content and another that’s more maxis match-y.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

i wouldn’t say i cheat, but i do have them work out a lot to change back

4. Do you use move objects?

of course but i usually wait until the end of the decorating stage to do that.

5. Favorite mod?

i don’t use a lot of mods but i guess whatever one adds custom sliders or at least the bodyshop sliders to regular CAS

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

Well my simming career started back in the sims 1 release days and I got double deluxe base game followed quickly by unleashed shortly after it’s original release.

7.  Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

like LIVing

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

i am very partial to Malle, Echo, Abba, and my legacy founder VJ!

9.  Have you made a simself?

in the past yes but i never really did much with her. there might be a saved file of her stashed away somewhere...

10. What sims traits do you give yourself?

very few outgoing points, plenty of nice points, a good handful of active

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

umm i tend to make lots of blonde sims but not with EA’s yellow blonde...so Brown I guess??

12. Favorite EA hair?

The shaggy surfer dude one

13. Favorite life stage?

Adult I guess

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the game play?

i’m more in it for sim creation and decorating that playing or building.

15. Are you a CC creator?

yeah i’ve got a whole downloads tag worth of it but i wouldn’t say i am good at it and i don’t do it very often.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sims squad?

i’d like to think you’re all my friends but a few are closer/more interactive than others

17. What’s your favorite game (1,2,3,4)?

TS2 forever, with a special space for sims 1 in my heart

18. Do you have any sims merch?

no, not really my thing

19. Do you have a youtube for sims?

i tried dabbling in sims machinima at once point way back in the day, even had a couple voice actors record lines for the start of my little story. i made a little prologue video that i posted on youtube. not sure if it’s still around in some dusty corner of the internet....

20. How has your “sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

while i have embraced and started leaning a little more maxis match since coming to simblr wayyyyy long ago, i would say it hasn’t changed too much, it’s still a mix of everything that i like and falls victim to my current mood and whims, but it’s maybe a little more cohesive now. i’d like to think someone could recognize twofee style decor or sim.

21. What’s your origin ID?

i don’t need it for sims as my install is off the discs but i think it’s twoffee

22. Who’s your favorite cc creator?

everyone who makes cc!! no way could you narrow that down!

23. How long have you had a simblr?

my archive says January of 2013 is when i finally gave up lurking!

24. How do you edit your pictures?

wow it’s been so long since i’ve done it, but i’ll crop, run a super old action i got from another popular simblr, then resize and be done. if i feel fancy i might add a little boarder shadow thing. but really not much.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

i just want more content of any variety. new hairs and clothes, new decor items, floors and walls, conversions from other games, new recolors of everything. maxis match and semi realistic. or even bringing back some long lost content. I have an entire folder of 2000s content on an old external HD that I would love to just plug into a fresh game folder and see whats in there. it was all stuff i downloaded to save while i was in college and not able to play but didn’t want to lose or forget.

i’ll tag: @charmandersims, @holleyberry, @ove51, @simmer-until-tender, @lurking-lilibeth, @andrevasims, @lifetime-want, @simoleontree, @grilledcheese-aspiration, and anyone else who wants to participate!

[sophsicle]

The world juniors have been so bad for my country :(( I'm from Latvia, and we've only won against Austria. Im just mostly sad for the boys (i literally can't watch sports games, i get way too sad for the losing team lmao)

AnYWay, do you remember the 2021 world championship where Latvia WON in the opening game against canada?? Bc that moment is just BURNED into any Latvian's dna. Like we WON against CANADA. THERE WERE CELEBRATIONS IN THE STREETS (we probably would've partied in the streets of Rīga the whole night, but there were covid restrictions, unfortunately, so it was kept to a minimum. BUT THERE WERE PEOPLE IN THE STREETS)

AND, fun fact, Latvia is one of the only three countries in the world where ice hockey is the most popular sport!! The other 2 are Canada and Finland obvs. So like. We LOVE hockey too, but our souls hurt every day because we aren't as good as you guys. (Except that time we won in 2021)

ALSO a game burned into every latvian's memory FOREVER is that 2014 Sochi Olympics game against Canada. Like. I cried so fucking much that night lmao. EVERYONE was watching the game. And we ALMOST won. Like the pure fucking suspense of sitting through that game, most of the time on 1-1. And that one moment, where Gudļevskis made an insane save to begin with and then Kristaps Sotnieks just fucking reached and pulled the puck away from the goal line??? When he couldn't even fucking see anything? And the puck was already ALMOST over the line??? Core memory of mine. Literal chills just thinking about it. Insane.

And im so close to crying just THINKING about how we lost it. Like. WE WERE SO CLOSE. JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES. Like if we had gotten to the shootout im CONVINCED we would've won. Gudļevskis was a freaking awesome goalie and i WILL fight anyone who disagrees.

And like worst part is that we really did our fucking best and all the guys played as well as they could. There's no one to be angry at. No one even thought we'd do that well. Everyone was surprised by the 1-2 bc it was expected that we'd lose by so much more. It was a good game. That doesn't change the fact that everyone in Latvia cried afterward. LIKE AHHHHHH

Okay long story short, our hockey history against canada is a SENSITIVE TOPIC. We will fight you if you imply anything bad about our boys in those games. Not a threat, just a warning (itstotallyathreat).

anyway, now that I've ranted for god knows how long, um... good luck in the juniors game against the USA? Im rooting for you guys (but full disclosure. If sweden plays for gold against you, ill be rooting for sweden. Bc I'll never forgive that Sochi game)

Also im aware that games against latvia are probably like. very insignificant for canada. BUT LISTEN THEY'RE IMPORTANT FOR US

Ok sorry for yelling in your asks. Im done now. Hockey brings out the passion yk

I want you to know I enjoyed every minute of reading this.

Also i totally get having loses that you can't let go of. My NHL team is the Habs (Montreal Canadiens) and like two years ago they went on a cup run and lost to Tampa Bay and like. I have never recovered. I hate Tampa Bay an unjustified amount. Also any time I see edits from that season I cry. Like. They got so close. And Carey Price DESERVED THAT CUP. HE DESERVED IT. UGH. And yeah, honestly I always feel bad for the teams when they lose no matter who they are (unless they're America, sorry I can't, the rivalry runs too deep, but literally everyone else), like you see their little faces, and they're so sad, they tried so hard, and I just wanna smush their lil cheeks and be like "buck up buddy, you'll get 'em next time" Honestly, so pumped for the Czech Republic and their win against Sweden, because they haven't won gold in like twenty years (I don't think they've played in the finals either) and I don't think anyone really thought they were gonna do much in this tournament (everything I heard was all Canada Finland USA) So like yes, I want Canada to win gold, but if the Czech Republic pulls this off I will honestly be a little proud of them - I love an underdog