#my big piece of advice on the situation is that if you're worried about how your parents will react is that it's never a bad thing to keep

[tigerdrop-official]

Hey I’m a transguy and I haven’t come out to my parents yet because I’m worried about how they’ll react. They know I’m a huge fan of you and your work but when they found out you were trans they got kinda weird about it. My older sibling is nonbinary and I’m worried my parents will think I’m copying them because when they came out my parents kind of ignored it and still call them by their deadname and say they’re my big brother and still use he/him for them and I’m scared to come out. I haven’t even told my sibling because I’m worried they’ll think I’m copying them or they won’t believe me and I just don’t know what to do. I haven’t told anybody I just figured it out two weeks ago and I’m telling you first. Sorry to clog up your inbox you don’t have to respond to this or anything I just needed to vent

hey man, i want you to know that you don't ever have to come out if you don't want to or don't feel safe to. i'm very lucky to be publicly out and face as little discrimination as i do especially as a sex worker and people can absolutely be nasty sometimes

if you wanted my advice i think you should sit on this for a little bit longer, maybe make some trans friends online who you can be yourself with. or even friends irl who are cool and won't out you to your family

if you do really want to come out to your family i might recommend coming out to your sibling first just because it sounds like they have a way better chance of being accepting than your parents do

and my absolute biggest piece of advice. queer to queer. never care what other people think about you. some people are going to hate you for being trans. some people might think you're copying or hopping on a trend. let me be the first to tell you those people don't matter. what you know and care about and how you feel about yourself are the ONLY things that matter. fuck anyone who treats you differently

[cilil]

Hi, do you have any advices for budding writers on AO3 or here?

Hey! :)

I've given this some thought and compiled what I hope might be some helpful pointers, but if there's anything else or anything specific you want to hear more about, feel free to ask again. Also I'm assuming this is about the amazing craft of fanfic and not, uh, building a platform or whatever (I wouldn't be very helpful with that, I'm a nobody x)).

Share what you feel comfortable sharing.

So since you're asking about budding writers on AO3 and Tumblr, I take it you're at a point where you feel comfortable sharing your writing online, which is amazing. Nevertheless, I feel the need to once again mention (just for anyone who may be in the same or a similar situation) that it's completely alright not to be comfortable with it (yet) or not to share everything you write. I share almost everything simply because I'm annoying and it makes me feel accomplished and since I've grown pretty comfortable with it, I might as well; but not everyone feels that way and feelings also change. It's completely alright to write just for yourself or a small circle of friends.

Don't worry too much about "being good".

I will be the first to admit that I deeply relate to struggling with perfectionism when it comes to writing (and other creative pursuits). However, as someone who's been reading fic for many years, tends to be into quite niche and obscure things sometimes and is rarely spoiled by big fandoms' abundance of food, I want all writers, especially new ones, to know that you don't have to write the most amazing, perfect, publishing-ready pieces. What matters is your passion and creativity, which will show in your writing regardless of skill level. Not to mention that fic is free and in fact a tool for many to experiment.

That's not to say you can't strive to improve or be good - by all means, I find it admirable if you want to hone your craft and make progress as you continue to write. Just don't let perfectionism ruin your fun and stifle your creativity.

How to get better without trying overly hard.

Aside from just writing, writing and writing (that is the most important part though), how do you improve without making it a point to do so? Well, if it works for you to read/watch guides or you enjoy specific writing exercises, that's great, but one thing that I find gets overlooked a lot in writing spaces is simply: Reading. Just reading for fun.

I find that I often discover little things in other people's writing that I really like and then I think to myself "wow, that's really neat how they did that, maybe I could take a page out of their book" (pun intended) and make it a point to pay attention to these things when I write. Essentially, it's like creating a nice patchwork blanket which is your style, made up of your own voice and preferences as a writer and cool stuff you picked up on the road.

Let me just name some examples, which, yes, are also an excuse to shamelessly blow some writer friends of mine a well-deserved kiss of appreciation. @sauron-kraut writes incredibly polished short stories with beautiful wording and atmosphere that have a lot of little hidden things to discover and dissect, and I want to steal her ability to set the stage and hide those easter eggs. @a-world-of-whimsy-5 is an absolute legend when it comes to writing medieval and medieval-adjacent stuff, and I learned so much from her fics. @i-did-not-mean-to has a way of writing with such esprit and wit that I always end up in a good mood after, a style of narrative voice I've adored for over a decade, and I've greatly improved my humorous writing in particular thanks to her. @crackinthecup has the marvelous ability to craft extremely emotionally evocative scenes, which have encouraged me to be more courageous and experimental in my sentence melody and structure. @tragedybunny has a way of writing that reminds me of coming home to a warm and comfy place, and I will find out how she did it and how I can do it as well.

So as you can see, it can be super helpful to compare notes with your fellow writers. Never be discouraged by someone else's ability; instead learn and expand your own.

Feedback, criticism and community.

Let me just get one thing out of the way: You don't have to take criticism from everyone. Or at all. As far as I understand, the fanfic community has come to to agree that we're doing this for fun and don't give criticism unprompted/when we aren't sure it's wanted or welcome. As a general rule: Take criticism from those you would also seek advice from. Ask for feedback if you feel comfortable, and if not, that's a valid boundary to have and I will gently smack anyone who presumes to pick apart writing that was made for fun and generously shared with the community for free.

The community aspect, however, should be taken into account on other fronts. While I won't tell anyone they have to interact and believe that, in an ideal world, everyone's writing would just speak for itself, it is helpful to engage with the community. Things you can do (both on Tumblr and AO3 if also applicable/possible) include: Respond to people interacting with your works, interacting with other people's works (for example while you're doing your reading sessions and looking at other writers' styles) and just overall being present, being talkative, going with the flow.

Again, this is not a must. But I will say that pretty much all of us want positive responses and interactions on their work and that just won't work if you expect everyone to show up for you all the time and never show up for anyone else. Engagement, passion and community are our "currency" in the absence of money and reciprocity is an important element of that. A lot of friction and complaints in the fanfic community regarding lack of interaction or entitlement are rooted in misunderstandings of this fundamental principle.

But don't take this in a cynical manner. Seek out what you enjoy, share the joy and passion and you'll make friends just accidentally - which is the part that I find makes fandom on AO3 and Tumblr so much fun! (I don't even want to be a "traditional" author anymore, I want this instead😁)

Find your groove and groove along.

Lastly, make sure your writing is fun for you or else it'll become a chore and eventually get ruined for you as a hobby. This is unfortunately a continuous task as your needs and interests shift - for example you might be in the mood to do an entire drabble challenge one month and during another month you feel so drained that you couldn't do another one. Or you might want to write something different for a change. Or whatever it may be.

Either way, one recent lesson I've learned is that I got too tied up in obligations and it left no space for spontaneous inspiration, so I never got to write what I wanted to write in the moment and it pushed me quite close to burnout. Do yourself a favor and always hold that space for yourself. In practice, this could for example mean that you do one event and on the side write this cool new idea you had, instead of doing three events - which is fun and games until it starts getting too much and you don't have time for your passion projects.

Finding your groove also includes the whole technical aspect, such as which writing programs you use, which device (or none at all), where you write, how to make yourself comfortable, how to get in the right headspace for things. I would also like to encourage all of you to be a bit crazy and whimsical about this: For example I've gone to the perfume store, picked out a scent for a specific character in a specific scene and sniffed it while writing the description several times now. Do what it takes. And say goodbye to your squeaky clean search history - you will research some weird stuff just to get that one line right.

So yeah, these are just my random thoughts on fic writing and what has been helpful in order for me to have lots of fun with this hobby. Happy writing!

[cyverrieee]

I have an idea from Ask, how about a Reader who has strong anxiety, but ironically that's their power, so when they get anxious they start to act faster and start to create clones ,then when they reach the "Maximum Level" of anxiety they explode and deal massive damage EVERYTHING AROUND. So everyone on the express tries to keep them calm in stressful situations (bonus if Reader just asks for a hug to calm down)

HELLO?? THANK YOU FOR BEUNG MY FIRST REQUEST ASK!!!! ILY omll!!! I hope you like this hahahshshs, i wanted to do headcanon format sorry if that isnt your taste

TRAILBLAZER

So basically there a self exploading bomb on board? Well thats normal here. I mean if you ever make clones of yourself and now there are multiple self exploading bombs on board (Pom pom is scared but frustrated at the same its pom pom's job to be the conductor and make sure the passengers are safe and all but pom pom still allows you since you asked to, but pom pom doesnt like when you're about to self destruct)

At first, they wondered why there are clones of you everywhere around the express

It took a while you actually find you since well, you were basically making clones left and right

You were found at last, biting your nails or fidgetting with your hair with your finger

They asked whats wrong and you explained your problem and how you just needed a hug, they did give you one. A big bear hug for youuu!!! <3

They give a souvenir from one of their trailblazing trips

DAN HENG

He would try his best not to technically make you nervous, his calming voice helps

Actually hes just doing this so the whole train doesnt expload and people dying. He knows when you reach full level of anxiety you just, well you might just burst a whole planet in to pieces if you want to actually.

Gets kunda frustrated trying to find you in the sea of your clones, surely theyll disappear once you calm down? (Yeah)

Gives you some tries to give semi-comforting words (it ends getting weird) but still helps

He doesn't know if he wants to give hugs but he'll just give you a pat on the back

MARCH 7TH

She freaked out of excitement and confusion and worry. You cant really tell which one weights more

Takes silly pictures with your clones if she ever finds one

Shows it to you afterwards to make you smile

Will also give you souvenirs from her trips as well! Mostly cute things

She'll definitely try to be comforting, but it ended becoming drastically funny

She explain how your clones are so dead and soulless like Dan heng or how Dan heng— okay yeah #danhengslander

She gives a big big BIG hug for you since you asked!

HIMEKO

Comforts the reader by making coffee/your favorite drink

Says comforting words how everythings going to be okay and all

If you asked to hug her, of course she'll allow it. A big huggg and now she can't let go

You can tell her your troubles and would give advice

I love her voive AAA

WELT YANG

Probably the most logical person to help you with your powers

He would find so fast its honestly astonishing that you just appear next to him

Would observe your behavior for future cases again

If you asked him for a hug, he would. Not infront of everyone though, he cant stand the nagging from march and the teasing with himeko

“ 💜 ” Hope you enjoyed :)))

[moistreicher]

Lies of P

Pinocchio own headcanons.

• I kind of imagine that P is a very curious puppet (like a player in game exploring) and he would always bring something back to the hotel Krat after mission and Gepetto would see his son piling up things on his table. A broken doll in a red dress. A small piece of screw that shines so brightly like it was newly made. A cowboy hat which Gepetto wonders where did he get it and small few jewels which resembles Gemini's color and his eyes. However, P has been collecting so many things and piling it up on Gepetto's table, forced the old man to get a chest for P to put his treasure (mostly junks) inside.

• P doesn't seem to talk in game but characters in game acts as if so I think, P doesn't usually talk. He only talks when spoken too like an actual puppet with corresponding lines but P can make his own replies and he chooses a word or sentence that would only be a brief response. Gemini once tried to make the boy talk more than he usually does by striking conversation and question but it seems like P got annoyed that he eventually ignored Gemini for the whole mission (still listening to Gemini at least)

• despite he had fought big monsters and big hostile machines, P is afraid of cats at first. When he was curious and tried to touch the feline, it launched its claws to his hand and hissed which caused him to startle. Confused and unable to comprehend what happened, it feared the small creature temporarily as Eugene showed him that cats aren't terrifying creature. Although sensitive, cats are surprisingly affectionate in their own way. But he wishes that the cats would at least trust him and let him touch their soft fur.

• P is fascinated by his own limbs. How it bends and straighten. How his arms are able to move in rotation motion and how his fingers folds in a curl. Gemini taught him how to make a heart but unable to understand as it is not the shape of a heart (he thought literal shape of a heart) and Gemini had to go through explaining him how it is a heart. Then Gepetto gave P a show where he'd use shadow of his hands to imitate the silhouettes of animals. P was amused.

• P purrs. Or so what it sounds like. His springs inside make a sound when he feels pleasant, comfortable at certain someone or simply enjoying the pat on the head from Gepetto. They thought that spring sound is only natural but they don't mostly hear it when P feels neutral till Sophia noticed how the springs started to shift inside him when Sophia and P sat down together to enjoy the rain at the garden.

"Oh my, you sound like you're purring, oh clever one" and then smiled. P doesn't know what it means but kept quiet as the spring sound continues. Sophia thinks that he must have gotten it from the cats as he observed them without touching.

As for P's situation, he does feel warm inside or what he would try to describe it as best as he can. He also feel a small vibration inside. Only vibration and nothing else that is worrying so he lets it without telling Gepetto or Eugene.

• Puppets don't need rest however, P started to like his leisure time. He have no mission? He would stay in Hotel Krat and sit down simply and enjoy the structure of the interior. He would explore the Hotel and look at the painting. Check some corridors he hadn't seen yet. He would also look at the cats. Sits in front of them and simply observe them with a small smile which Eugene found adorable feature from the puppet.

After a mission, he wouldn't go back to the Hotel Krat immediately. He will take his time to go back there. Walking in the alley, roadside, other paths and trying to picture the place before the puppet frenzy had happened. He would ask Gemini about the buildings and structures about what it used to be.

• Missions can get P really dirty. He don't sweat but the muds and dirty water can get to his boots, clothes and skin including his hair so whenever he gets back to the hotel Krat, he is adviced by Gemini to go straight to bath immediately.

P can also feel temperature and he likes the coldness of the clean water. He would always let the cold water run and get into the tub willingly. Gepetto had once reminded P not to use too cold water and don't stay too long there to protect his P-organs from freezing. But P can be act like a child still and insists on using even colder temperature to test how he can go on until it actually happens. Almost freezing his P-organs and thanks to Gemini to call out for Gepetto which saved P from freezing all over.

P got a lot of scolding from Gepetto and after that incident, Gepetto would check on him if his staying longer in bath and sometimes would come in and help P to wash his hair thoroughly from the dirt that is in blindspots.

[chaifootsteps]

Rewrite of the Seeing Stars episode :

Instead of the Episode kicking off on Stolas' side of the story, have it start on Blitz and Loona's argument. Have Blitz wait a few hours before looking for her after she stormed off only to find out Loona had packed her stuff and left their home. Have him worry and look for clues before realising the Grimoire was also gone. He doesn't hesitate, he knows he'd be in big trouble and the whole situation would be more awkward after what went down at Asmodeus but he doesn't care, and calls Stolas to ask for his help. Stolas doesn't answer his phone right away which was strange but Blitz chalked it up to what went down a few days prior. Stolas picks up after a few rings

"Blitz, I don't know what you're calling me for but you have no idea how much this came at the right time. There's a dozen of things I want to tell you, I know I have to tell you, but right now I need your help. Octavia, my daughter... I think she ran away from our home. I need you and your team to cover more ground than I could in Hell to find her. I think she went to an event, something big happening today. I don't know where but it's at nighttime and... She's gonna stay out all alone that late. Who knows the number of people who'd try harming her for being my daughter... Loo Loo Land was a close call on more than one time and she doesn't have half of my magic powers-..."

Blitz relates to Stolas' predicament and reassures him that he'll send M & M's to check on the biggest teen hot spots in Hell for him. They got a big contact list from all the places Loona often started brawls at... He then drops a bomb on Stolas about the Grimoire and how he thinks Loonie used it to head to Earth and how he needs to find his daughter before anything bad happens to her too. Stolas agrees to help Blitz because, the sooner his hellhound daughter is found, the more people could help find his daughter. Loona's sense of smell could help retrace Via's steps ! (He'll bring a few of her belongings with them on their trip to Earth so she'll start right away once they find her!)

They make their trip to Earth and land in Los Angeles where they get mistaken for some human super stars. Blitz is about to explain that this is a big misunderstanding to these folks when Stolas gets a genius idea : If they perform together well enough, they could use the TV broadcast to send a message to Loona, convince her to return back home and get her to meet somewhere so they'll all be able to go back to Hell. Blitz has left his acting career way behind him but for the sake of Loona, he'd have another go at it, no questions asked. It was a bit hard at the start but he found his footing again and gives some pieces of advice to Stolas while at it. They perform well enough but Stolas suddenly gets very distracted during break time and nearly blows their cover... It's because during break time an announcement was made for tonight's big event : Meteor shower. While he rummaged through the few things he brought with him from Via's room, he took out the calendar and finally understood that the date circled was tied to an event not in Hell but on Earth. (Cue to the Stolas and Via flashback from the start of the canon episode here)

Their daughters were actually together on Earth.

So how did things go on Octavia and Loona's side of the plot this whole time in this rewrite ? Octavia couldn't really go around Hell as a Goatia so she was disguising herself as a normal hellborn all the way to I M P to get the Grimoire from there and was basically using that fake identity when she crossed paths with Loona. She knew how to use the Grimoire better than her and decided to make a deal with her : They go to Earth together and in exchange, she'll show her a cool place there... Loona isn't convinced. Octavia pulls out a wad of cash from her shadow hammer space and says the expenses will be all on her. Loona is convinced.

They genuinely have a good time together in their girls' day out, discovering Los Angeles, going on restaurants but eventually Blitz and Stolas' broadcast reaches them and while Loona's surprised, Octavia runs off to the Observatory before Loona notices her being gone... Loona finds her and Via starts off by apologising for lying to her this whole time. She then explains her situation with her family and why she ran away. Loona does the same. Octavia adds that she left before Stolas could finish his apology because she learnt his routine. He pretends to care about her, messes up big time or doesn't notice her discomfort, goes after her when she runs away and apologises... Only to do this all over again. At this point she knows he just apologises to feel better about himself without realizing what he needs to apologize for or knowing what wrong he did to her. "It's the same thing here : He really doesn't know what he did wrong. He just apologised for show... Heh. Literally on live TV." ... But Loona tells her it's not the case this time. She knew she'd find her at the Observatory because Stolas said he'd join her there himself. "High ground, no trees, little to no city lights, ... All for the most perfect view."

Blitz and Stolas reach the Observatory on time and while Stolas and Octavia are enjoying the meteor shower on the dome in silence, Blitz and Loona have a chat. Blitz tries to apologize but Loona quickly changes the subject to his performance in the sitcom they used for the broadcast. She is... Complimenting him. He is flustered and deeply touched to hear these words and especially from his daughter. She then reveals something to him : She always wanted to be an actress. Sure it's not a job for hellhounds but it has always been something she wanted to do herself.

This is Loona's way of opening up to Blitz after their fight earlier and her rather standoffish, closed off attitude and why she hates working a desk job (even if IMP is Blitz's dream business come true), really seeming to enjoy herself the most when she is pretending to be someone else, like for the contract kills at Verosika's concert.

The episode ends with Via and Stolas fulling their promise for a dream they share together and on Blitz and Loonie's side, they are making their own promises for the future and are each building their own dreams. The meteor shower seals the new promises and the wishes that go with it

Thank you for the beautiful rewrite. Helluva Boss if it had character bonding and empathy in it.

[brokebonewritings]

All My Battles

Matt Murdock x Reader

Tags: 18+, fluff, slight hurt/comfort, making a home

Summary: A trip back to Bar Harbor creates a summer a new memories as you and Matt renovate your childhood home into a place to spend your future summers. Song: Lover, You Should've Come Over by Jeff Buckley

Word Count: 3K

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“Don’t worry! We will make sure both your apartments are safe and sound!”

“And we promise no major ragers while you’re away!” Foggy quickly said after Karen’s initial reassurance.

“Ha Ha, You’re hilarious.” You say with a deadpan expression.

Both you and Matt were packing for the summer to go up to your childhood home and fill it with your own furniture. Thanks to your wonderful team of attorneys, you were able to expedite the paperwork of signing the house over to your name.

It was a long battle, but your mom was out of the house at the beginning of the summer. Though it didn't come without a fight. She was very slow at moving the process along until you finally sent Foggy up to Maine with eviction papers.

"I just can't believe it's finally over!" You sigh as you close the trunk of your car.

"I'll drink to that, serving your mom that eviction notice was the best theatrics I've seen in a while, and Marci took me to see Phantom of the Opera last week!"

All three of you laugh, as you wait to finish locking up his apartment. You see him step onto the sidewalk and make his way towards the group.

"Okay, ready to go?" He asks.

"Yep, I just closed the trunk so we're all good here."

Karen is the first to step forward and give you both a big hug. Foggy being the last and stepping away with tears in his eyes.

"Don't you forget about us here in the Big Apple." He says tearfully.

"I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow." You respond playfully.

The man wipes his metaphorical tears, and turns to Karen. "She thinks I'm a Scarecrow."

"Yeah, probably the lack of brains." She snarks.

"Hey!"

This earns another group laugh, as you and Matt get into the car. It was going to be a long summer, but it would be worth it. You get to redecorate your family home, even though you thought the previous decoration was perfect. Your mom took most of the furniture when she moved.

As the car pulls out of the city, leaving behind the familiar hustle and bustle, a sense of sadness fills you. "So, any ideas on what we should do with the place?" you asked, eager to hear his thoughts.

"You're asking the blindman for decoration advice?" He smirks, which pulls a giggle from your chest. 

"Well this is gonna be our summer home, so I just want to get an opinion of someone who will be spending every year there."

Matt paused for a moment, his fingers tapping rhythmically on his knee as he contemplated. "Well," he began, "I think we should start by repainting the walls. I know your favorite color is orange."

"You remembered my favorite color?" 

"Of course, maybe a soft shade of blue to give it a more serene atmosphere."

You nodded, imagining how the color would transform the space. "And what about the furniture? I know we'll have to buy new pieces, but do you have any specific style in mind?"

"God, just anything without plastic wrap on it." He laughs.

You laugh along with him. "You really hated sitting on that couch."

"It was an overstimulation nightmare."

"Yeah, well, no more plastic-wrapped nightmares," you reply with a grin. "We'll find something comfortable and stylish."

As the two of you continue to discuss ideas for the house, you feel the excitement building up inside you. This summer was going to be a fresh start, not just in terms of your living situation but also in your relationship with Matt. It had been a long journey to get to this point, but now that you were finally together, everything felt right.

The landscape outside transforms from towering skyscrapers to vast green fields and rolling hills. It's as if the world itself is mirroring the sense of calm and new beginnings you feel in your heart.

With the passing hours, you make sure to stop frequently so that you both stretch your legs. Soon enough you enter the Bar Harbor limits and begin to recognize your surroundings. 

As you approach your childhood home, memories flood back — running through the fields, chasing fireflies on warm summer nights, and sitting on the front porch with your dad and a big cup of iced tea.

The familiar sight of the white picket fence and the old oak tree in the front yard is a relief to see. It hasn't changed much since you were last here, except for the overgrown grass and faded paint on the house. But that's all about to change.

You and Matt step out of the car, taking a moment to breathe in the crisp sea air. The scent of wildflowers and fresh pine brings a smile to your face. This place holds so many precious memories, and now it's time to make new ones.

"I can't believe we're finally here," you say, your voice filled with wonder.

Matt reaches out to take your hand, his touch grounding you in this moment. "Ready to get to work?" He asks and you reply with a soft 'yes'.

Together, you approach the front door, pulling out the key and inserting it into the lock. The door creaks open as you step inside, dust particles dancing in the sunlight streaming through the large bay windows.

As you make your way from room to room, deciding on furniture layouts and discussing which pieces to buy, the house starts to feel like home. Matt's fingers glide over the surfaces as he senses the textures and dimensions, his uncanny ability to visualize the space turning into an invaluable asset.

The next day you and Matt set to work immediately, armed with paintbrushes and a vision for transforming the old house into your dream summer retreat. The walls soon shed their faded colors and come alive with the soft shade of orange you chose. The air is filled with the scent of fresh paint, invigorating and promising.

Days turn into weeks as you tackle each room with determination. The living room is filled with cozy furniture, perfect for curling up together with a book or watching movies on lazy afternoons. The kitchen becomes a vibrant space, adorned with colorful tiles and filled with the aroma of delicious meals being cooked. And the bedrooms become sanctuaries, personalized with photographs and cherished little touches.

As the final touches are being made, you and Matt stand back to admire your handiwork. The transformation is remarkable, a testament to the love and care you poured into this project. The summer home now radiates warmth and comfort, a haven from the outside world.

You begin to cry as you both stand in the middle of the parlor. Matt's arms wrap around your waist as he pulls you into a tight hug. It was all finally done, and you couldn't feel the overwhelming sense of sadness. The very same you felt as you left the city.

"It's alright, sweetheart. I got you." He whispers as you continue to sob.

You hold onto Matt, feeling his steady presence anchoring you amidst the waves of emotion. The tears flow freely, a mixture of relief, joy, and a bittersweet longing for the old memories that haunted these walls. You couldn't wait to bring your friends and family here in the future summers, and make new memories that were happier than the old.

After a while, the tears subside, and you sniffle, wiping away your damp cheeks with the back of your hand. "I'm sorry," you murmur against his chest.

He pulls back slightly, his hands cupping your face gently. "There's nothing to apologize for," he says softly. 

You nod, taking a deep breath to steady yourself. "You're right." You pause, feeling a surge of love radiating from the man in front of you.

"We made it," he says softly, his voice filled with reassurance. "We turned this house into our own little sanctuary."

"I love you," you whisper, burying your face in Matt's chest.

He holds you tighter, his heartbeat reverberating through your body. "I love you too," he replies.

That night you decide to have a picnic on the porch. You turn on the fairy lights, and set the radio to the local classic rock station. As you set up outside, Matt was in the kitchen preparing the meal you both were going to enjoy. Everything was perfect.

As twilight settles in, casting a soft golden glow over the porch, you light a few candles and spread out a cozy blanket. The scent of freshly cut grass mingles with the aroma of the meal Matt has prepared, creating an intoxicating symphony for your senses.

After dinner, you both clean and decide to stay outside for the rest of the evening and bask in the romantic setting you had set up. He notes that he forgot to bring the best part of dinner and runs back inside to grab dessert.

Matt emerges from the kitchen, carrying a basket filled with delicious treats. He carefully sets the basket down and joins you on the blanket, wrapping his arm around you.

"This is amazing," he whispers, his voice filled with awe.

You lean into him, feeling the warmth of his presence enveloping you. "I wanted to create this special moment for us," you say softly, your gaze fixed on the flickering lights.

The two of you spend the evening laughing and reminiscing, savoring each bite of food and each tender moment shared. As the night deepens, you find yourselves lost in conversation under a sky sprinkled with constellations.

Matt's fingers trace patterns on your arm, creating a soothing rhythm that matches the cadence of your conversation. You pause for a moment, overcome by a wave of gratitude. Gratitude for this beautiful night, for the love that fills your heart, and for the journey that has brought you here. You lean in closer to Matt, resting your head on his shoulder.

"I never imagined we would be here," you say softly, your voice filled with wonder. "Creating a home together, filled with love and happiness."

Matt squeezes your hand gently. "Life has a funny way of surprising us," he replies, his voice laced with sincerity. "And I'm grateful for every twist and turn that led us here."

As the hours pass, you find yourselves lost in conversation, delving into topics ranging from childhood dreams to future aspirations. Each word exchanged deepens your connection, solidifying the bond you've built over the years.

Eventually, the conversation mellows into comfortable silence, yet the electricity in the air remains tangible. You nestle closer to each other under the blanket, feeling the warmth of his body seep into yours. With every passing second, it becomes clearer that this is where you're meant to be.

You look up at Matt, gently grabbing his chin and pulling him in for a kiss. As your lips meet, a surge of warmth courses through your veins. The kiss is gentle yet filled with a quiet intensity, a beautiful reflection of the bond you share. Time seems to stand still as you savor the taste of his lips, the feeling of his arms wrapped around you.

When the kiss deepens, you feel a sense of belonging and contentment settle within you. Under the soft glow of the moon, you and Matt continue to share sweet, lingering kisses, each one filled with an unspoken promise.

Eventually you both feel the exhaustion from the long work day, and decide to head inside for the night. Matt is the first one to head inside and as you pick up the blanket and turn off the lights on the porch. 

You linger long enough for Matt to come back out and wrap his arms around your waist and kiss your neck lightly. "We have a lifetime of moments like this ahead of us," he says softly. "Come inside now."

Nodding, you follow him back inside for the night. Inside, the house is bathed in a soft, inviting glow. The scent of freshly painted walls lingers in the air, a gentle reminder of the transformation you both undertook together.

Matt leads you upstairs to the bedroom, where the moonlight spills through the open curtains, casting ethereal shadows on the hardwood floor. He pulls back the covers and invites you to slide into bed. You nestle against the plush pillows and feel the weight of the day slowly melt away.

As Matt joins you under the covers, he wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you closer. His touch is gentle yet possessive, a silent affirmation of his love for you. The room feels hushed, as if it holds its breath in reverence for the intimacy shared between two souls.

You close your eyes, letting the tranquility of the moment wash over you. The sound of your steady breaths fills the room, creating a soothing rhythm that lulls you closer to sleep.

The day before you leave is filled with eventful commotion as you invite some of your neighbors over for a small barbecue. You and Matt spend the morning setting up the backyard, draping string lights across the trees and arranging tables and chairs.

The aroma of grilled burgers and vegetables fills the air as the food sizzles on the barbecue. You decided to man the grill to give Matt a break from all the cooking he insisted on doing. The neighbors arrive one by one, carrying dishes to share. Laughter and conversation fill the backyard as everyone gathers around, sharing stories and exchanging smiles.

Another car begins to pull into your driveway, and you realize who it is before you see the two figures step out of the vehicle.

"No fucking way" You say as you turn to Matt who has a huge smile spread across his face.

"I called them last night when you went out to pick up dinner." He replies.

You start sprinting towards the car as Foggy steps out and walks around the car. Once he sees you running, he mutters an 'Oh shit' as you jump into his arms. He catches you and spins you a bit before setting you down. You give a gentler hug to Karen.

"I can't believe you guys drove all the way out here!" You say happily.

"We had to come see this house! Especially if we're invited here every summer." Karen says while lightly nudging your side.

Leading your friends to the picnic area, you introduce them to your neighbors and some old friends from high school. The backyard is filled with the joyful chatter of voices, as everyone embraces the sense of community and love that permeates the atmosphere.

As night falls and everyone leaves, the four of you gather around a crackling bonfire, its dancing flames illuminating the faces around you. Matt sits beside you, his hand entwined with yours, as you listen to Foggy telling one of his infamous stories. You all add in little quips to enhance the story as everyone listens and drinks.

The crackling sound of the flames blends with the soft hum of laughter, creating a harmonious symphony of friendship and love. As you look around at the faces illuminated by the fire's glow, you can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Gratitude for the unwavering support of your friends, who have stood by you through thick and thin. Gratitude for this beautiful home that has become a haven, a place of solace and happiness. And most of all, gratitude for the love that surrounds you, weaving its way through every moment shared.

As the night wears on and the fire begins to die down, you find yourself lost in a comfortable silence. The embers glow softly, casting a warm light that dances across your friends' faces. Karen leans her head on Foggy's shoulder, while Matt rests his chin on top of your head.

"What a great night, amongst friends." Foggy sighs.

"I'm really glad you guys came out here to see the house." You begin. "It's like this house was built for our family."

"You wouldn't have this house if it weren't for your dad." Matt reminds and you nod in agreement.

"To Tommy!" Foggy says while raising his beer can.

You smile as the rest of you raise your drinks and cheers to your dad. A tear rolls down your cheek, but Matt wipes it away before it's able to fall from your face.

"You know," Karen says, breaking the silence, "your dad would be so proud of you right now. Look at what you've built, what you've overcome. It's truly amazing."

The moment is bittersweet, as the memory of your father tugs at your heart. It's been years since he passed away, but the house stands as a testament to his hard work and love for his family, a symbol of the legacy he left behind.

As the night winds down, you and your friends gather up the empty beer cans and remnants of the barbecue feast. The fire has dwindled to mere embers, casting a soft glow upon the yard. 

With a final round of goodnights, Foggy and Karen retreat to their respective rooms. You and Matt finish cleaning in the kitchen and make sure everything is put away before you all leave in the morning.

As you climb into bed, exhaustion weighs heavily on your eyelids. Matt wraps his arms around you, pulling you close and pressing a tender kiss to your forehead. The warmth of his embrace soothes you, easing away the worries and stresses of the day.

"Thank you for everything," you whisper, your voice barely audible.

He tightens his hold on you, his voice filled with affection. "I would do anything for you. You know that."

With a final sigh, you surrender to the gentle embrace of slumber, knowing that tomorrow will bring new adventures and challenges. But for now, in this haven of love and sanctuary, you find solace.

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[ghostofacrow]

Crow plays Gubat Banwa Pt 2: The first Violence

I'll have to write this one in two parts because I briefly want to go over my setup, but I don't have time for the battle itself today, especially because I'm sure it'll take longer since I still don't know what I'm doing.

So here it is! The moon is bright tonight, watching over the Kadungganan trying to escape the forest's demon infestation. Unfortunately, they have been cornered by a riverbend - the bridge leading back to the coast has been destroyed, so now the only way out is for these three strangers to beat back the demon hoard advancing on them.

I don't normally like using Tabletop Simulator for roleplaying games - the physics can be a bit wonky and it's really bad for sheet management, but it was the easiest way I could think of to make 3D terrain. The rulebook suggests using colors for terrain height, which is very good (and actually how I do it normally for other games) but having a map in actual 3D, even if it's digital, does look pretty nice.

It helps that I'm playing alone, so sharing sheets isn't nearly as important, and that we're still at legend 0, so there isn't that much information I even need to have at hand. I also realized at this point that all the discipline information you need for a legend 0 character is contained on one page, which is very handy. So I just had to import that single page per character and their prowesses.

I probably should have at least given the drawings a flat color tint so they're easier to tell apart but I didn't think of that until later. The balancing advice in the book suggests to use the number of Kadungganan + 2 as a base, which would be 5 in this case. I settled on six - I didn't know what enemies to use so I just picked the first one in each style and added the demon warrior from the demon's unique units. This also means they're pretty easy to color coordinate since the styles already have associated colors, except for the extra demon warrior

Behold, the meeple I stole from a different game gruesome visage of the terrifying demon warrior. Finally I looked through all of the status effects I was actually going to need and made little tokens for them, and added a bowl of go pieces to use for counting things. That's the setup done so far, I think. I probably missed something, but I'll see that when the time comes. There was one other reason I decided to use tabletop simulator for this, and it's that the design feels (and I mean this as a compliment) boardgamey. The abilities generally have straightforward effects, and status effects are a binary affair - either you are poisoned, or you're not, so they're easy to track with tokens, and most of the abilities have straight forward effects like "push the enemy 1 tile" or "if the enemy is aflame, deal 1d4 extra damage". These secondary effects have no saving throw-like mechanic either, unless the enemy evades the attack outright or is immune to the effect, it's going to happen, which should make most of the effects here very easy to track visually. Last last pregame observation - I notice while writing this that demons are immune to aflame and resistant to fire attacks and uuuhm

This makes the Baril Witch situation even worse then I was worried about initially because it makes half of their abilities and their thunderbolt gain condition either not work or very bad. It's not that big of a deal since I'm playing every character, but if this was a normal game with one character per person, I'd be a bit disappointed as Nasirakna's player. It happens, not everyone is good in every fight, but that does mean I'll have to vary up the enemy factions going forward.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm back a day later, time to actually start now! Everything below this is a play by play of the first resound of combat - the next post after this one will be the after action report, if you want to skip to my general observations (this part is might be annoying to read and hard to understand, I honestly can't tell). I already rolled the divination dice when I did the setup earlier and got 1, 5, 8, 7 - the odds outnumber the evens, so the enemies go first. I'll keep the victory and defeat conditions simple for this one, the Kadungganan win if they defeat all enemies and loose if all three of them get defeated.

For some reason, the figures clip into the tiles, but only on some of the tiles. I don't know why this happens other then tabletop simulators janky physics but I also don't care. Everything is set up now, the enemy sentinel moves first.

The enemy types have these tables to determine what they do on their turn if you play without a GM/Umalagad, here's the one from the Demon Guard, the enemy sentinel (the blue enemy on the map here):

This is the first time I've seen pseudo-AI like this in a tactics ttrpg and I'm honestly a bit skeptical of how well it's going to work, but the idea is so good that I really hope I'm wrong here and it functions well. One of the benefits of this being a tabletop game is that, if you roll something silly here, you can always just ignore it and do something that makes more sense or is more fun, and the rulebook is open about this too.

I got a 6 so Rush + Shield Charge + Inflict Violence and it turns out I am proven wrong immediately because this is a solid turn (I'll put the exact riff breakdowns in the alt text)

Yes the wide open token is a door, this is because I couldn't think of something less stupid looking yesterday.

Nasirakna gets to deal 1d4 (4) Damage to the Guard from her Overwatch Aura ("While you have Thunderbolts, you have an Overwatch Aura 3. Any enemy that moves into or leaves a tile in this aura you may deal d4 DMG against, once per enemy per Riff.")

Dranreb goes next and moves around the enemy like this, allowing him to flank and ram into them from the side using his "Shield Charge" Inflict Violence, pushing the enemy one tile away and moving after them.

I get to roll 2 violence dice and pick the highest one because of the flanking here, and I got a 1 and 2, which is a dogshit result, but very useful here for demonstration purposes. The damage of my attack here is 2 (from the die) + 3 (Dranreb's Ferocity) and this gets reduced by 5 (the Demon Guard's Parry). 2+3-5 is normally 0, but damage can't fall below 1, this means the secondary effect (pushing the enemy) still happens anyway. The secondary effects are only avoided if the enemy dodges the attack completely, which usually only happens if you roll a 1. For reasons that you can probably figure out by looking at the map here, the push is more important to me in this situation then the actual damage. I really appreciate the lack of a saving throw-like mechanic here, non-damaging effects like applying poison or moving the enemies around is what you need for combos or to set up cool plays by your friends, so just letting them happen avoids a lot of frustration. You also gain a thunderbolt if your attack gets evaded or deals minimum damage, so being one point off from snakeeyes was maybe ... good? actually?? in this specific situation.

Dranreb has 1 more Beat left, and originally I was going to use his Shield Bash Inflict Violence, which also pushes the target 1 tile (and would push the enemy into the river here) and would give Dranreb d6 Block. Unfortunately, its violence die is a d6 and because this would be my second attack in this riff, I'd have to make it at 2 demerit - roll 3d6 keep the lowest one. If I land a 1 on ANY of the 3d6 here, it means the attack fails, and that's a bigger risk then I'm willing to take. Thankfully, Shove (push an adjacent fighter 1 tile) is also a basic technique that everyone has access to and doesn't require to roll anything, so I can just push the enemy into the river anyway.

Goodbye. The Guard has jump 1, so he can only move one terrain height up at a time, which means they can't get back up here and has to walk all the way around. They also take 2d6 (4+4) damage from the fall. Really fun and cool move! In retrospect, it would have been smarter to move the enemy to the tile below Haraw to make pushing them off like this slightly harder, but I genuinely didn't think about that until I started planning Dranreb's turn. The decision to combine to hit and damage rolls into one removes a lot of the more annoying randomness in tabletop games (well, in D&D and its children specifically), but I don't know how I feel about attacks with lower damage potential also having a higher chance to miss completely, especially when the attack is already at demerit. It's only a difference of about 12% at 2 demerit between d6s and d8s, which isn't that much, but worth keeping in mind if you're attacking more then once. The demon Raider (a Lancer) is going to go next and I got Rush + Inflict Violence + Rush on the Gambit table. This is pretty straight forward so I'm not going to break it down in detail, they're just going to move in and attack Haraw, who is the closest to them, and then retreat back up the hill. Nothing too complicated except

Rolling the maximum value on a melee attack means it combos and gets rolled again and added together. They also gain an extra 1d6 bonus damage to their next attack after rushing their full speed, which puts us at a whopping 8+4+1+FER(7) = 20(!) damage. Haraw's PAR is 3 so that's 17. This early and she's already at 9/30 POS.

Haraw is also going to go next and she's still taunted by the Guard that fell into the river, which means all her attacks against enemies other then the Guard suffer demerit. Thankfully, she has other options!

Not an attack, so it doesn't count towards the number of attacks per Riff, and nothing to roll here. Dropping the raider enemy into the river is going to be less effective - their jump is 2, so they could get back up easily and wouldn't take fall damage. But the map does have a dangerous terrain spike growth, so I'm going to knock him in there instead. The description for dangerous terrain says that it deals 2 damage every time you enter it. I'm not sure if multiple connected tiles of the same type of dangerous terrain count as entering it once, or if it means every tile you enter, but I'm interpreting it as the latter because it works in my favor here it makes more sense to me that continuing to move through a spiky undergrowth would keep dealing damage repeatedly.

The Corpseflower Curse is the most interesting part - its violence die is a d4, which means the chance to miss is pretty high, especially since Haraw is still taunted by the Guard and has demerit from it. But sliding the enemy down into the bramble first means Haraw is at a higher elevation now, her ranged attacks gain merit against this demon. So at least I'm rolling the d4 normally, get a 3, and put down the field. Flower Balyans gain a thunderbolt from putting down one of the flower fields, which I immediately spend on

...and end her riff. Ending a riff cleanses Wide Open too, and I'm just noticing now that I didn't remove it from Dranreb after his riff. The annoying thing about writing this down as it's happening is that I'm immortalising all the small mistakes I normally wouldn't catch or quietly fix later. The enemy Witch goes next, rushes (through the dangerous terrain) and dazes Dranreb and Nasirakna. Daze gives all of your attacks demerit and all attacks against you merit, but this could have been worse.

Nasirakna is up next and uhm. She doesn't have a lot of options here due to the enemies all being resistant to Fire and immune to the Aflame status effect

They're weak to Soul at least but that still means the ideal strategy is to get into a high position and snipe repeatedly. He's going to spend 1 beat to climb up into the tree next to him, and then use Bala Osuwang on the Raider - the height advantage nullifies the demerit from dazed. Aaand I rolled a 1. The next attack would be at 2 demerit, but at least I can spend 1 thunderbolt on Joss Reloads (see above) so my chance to hit looks slightly less bad....aaaaand I got another 1. This does at least mean I get the thunderbolt back and can use Joss Reloads again to gain 1 Merit for their next riff. I was really hoping I might be able to finish the Raider off but it wasn't meant to be.

The enemy archer gets into a tree of their own and shoots at Dranreb twice (and unlike some fighters here, hits both times). The Warrior Demon rushes twice, taking 8 damage from the dangerous terrain, and attacks Haraw, which is enough to defeat her, and also inflicts bleeding. This doesn't mean she's out of the battle, she's just debuffed until she recovered, Kadungganan don't risk death until they get 5 wounds, and you get one every time you take damage while at 0 POS. Getting knocked out and having to sit on the sidelines for half the fight sucks ass, so I appreciate not making characters drop unconscious. They only get 2 beats so their action economy is still being taxed, but they still get to do stuff, which is the important part.

I might have bitten more off more then I can chew with the enemies here, but what I've played so far already looks really promising. The random enemy behavior works surprisingly well, and the player abilities are very fun, but if I want to finish this battle in a reasonable amount of time, I'll have to stop writing down every move. The next post is going to be a highlight reel and my overall thoughts on how this battle went. It's not looking good!

[cryptidsurveys]

Wednesday, October 16th, 2024.

What’s your best tip on being a better listener? Do you consider yourself to be a good listener? I don't have any genuine tips because I'm kind of a terrible listener. I'm often either thinking about what I want to say, or fumbling to come up with an appropriate response. The former is more related to people I know well (ie. hurry up and finish your thought so I can contribute mine), whereas the latter is more related to people with whom I'm not as comfortable (ie. you caught me off-guard and I'm struggling to formulate a sentence that doesn't sound stupid). The obvious advice is to slow down and don't worry so much about saying anything in particular - because if you're actually listening and taking in what the other person has to say, then chances are a response will come naturally and you won't have to dedicate half of your brain power to rehearsing something that merely "sounds good."

What’s something you do less and less as you’ve gotten older? Delight in the magic of existence. I was such an imaginative and whimsical child, but I feel like I've lost a lot of that spark as I've gotten older. Childhood had such a dreamlike and mysterious quality to it, but adulthood feels so solid and certain. I do try to revive that energy and immerse myself in small, beautiful moments, but it's just not the same. Maybe my problem here is similar to my listening problem above. I'm so busy trying to force things to feel magical or wondering why they don't that I miss out on what made those moments magical in the first place. Experience and enjoyment without overthinking.

Do you believe in your intuition or logic more, and why? My intuition is a piece of shit. Of course, if it's screaming at me to not go down some dark alley, then I'm going to listen. But if it's whispering that so-and-so doesn't like me, then so what? Is giving in to speculation and acting "accordingly" going to accomplish anything? Absolutely not. It's going to send me down a negativity spiral that can only end in disaster. I have to rely on what little logic I have.

When was the last time you acted irrationally? What happened? A few weeks ago, when I thought I was going to be fired from volunteering over the Alex situation. It wasn't even close to that serious. This is why I can't rely on emotion or intuition - they will almost invariably lead me astray.

Are you scared of being lonely? I've spent a lot of my life feeling lonely, so while it isn't a nice feeling, it doesn't scare me. I'm much more afraid of being truly alone and incapable of functioning independently. There's feeling alone in a crowded room and then there's having no one to call when your whole life is crashing down.

Do you often feel jealous? If so, why? Yeah (or envious, resentful, etc). I'm somewhat better at reasoning with myself and refraining from acting on those emotions, but they're still there.

How do you react to criticism? It really depends on how the criticism is delivered and what it's targeting. It can be anywhere from no big deal to soul crushing.

What has made you laugh out loud in the last week? Joking around with River, Kristen, and Natasha. I nearly puked because I was laughing so hard. It feels good. I haven't laughed this much in years.

What gift have you gotten in the last year that brings joy to your life? It brings joy with a whole lot of guilt because I'm not the reader I once was, but my mom gifted me all of the James Harriet books for Christmas last year. I'm only part of the way through the first one and I feel inclined to lie whenever she asks because I don't want her to think I don't appreciate the gift. I do, I really do, I'm just in a horrible reading slump and I don't know how to get myself out of it. I thought I was doing better when I was getting into Sci-Fi novels, but that trailed off after just a few books, so…hmph.

What is something you’ve learned in the past week? My therapist asked me earlier if I'd had any "aha moments" recently, and yes, I have! I went into one of them on a recent survey. Basically, bad things aren't necessarily some sort of karmic punishment. Sure, there is an element of cause and effect in life, but you can be the best person in the whole world and bad things will still happen to you. Some things are simply inescapable, but they aren't your fault. You didn't bring them upon yourself. Which leads into the second realization. You can stew on those bad things for as long as you want, you can spend eternity in self-righteous indignation and resentment, or you can practice understanding and compassion and set yourself free from that self-imposed hell. Sometimes negative emotions are natural and expected, but they shouldn't be indulged to the extent that they consume you. It might not be satisfying in the moment (especially when all I want to do is literally or figuratively kick and scream - like with the recent family drama), but it's much more satisfying in the long run to look back and realize how much I was able to learn and overcome.

What are some things you have now that you didn’t have five years ago?

The ability to drive.

The ability to volunteer 30+ hours a week.

A relationship with my mom. I always say it's complicated, but it's positive enough to be worthwhile.

A much deeper understanding of my mental illness and how to cope in helpful and productive ways.

A better handle on my eating disorder. I still struggle to an extent, but I don't think an outsider would ever guess.

A small social circle of people who appreciate my presence.

Basically, I feel like I have the beginnings of a life that I once believed was impossible, maybe even a future worth looking forward to.

What is a quality you have that you consider negative? Now what is something positive that comes out of that quality? People-pleasing mixed with FOMO. "If I'm not there, if I don't do this, then I'll miss out, people won't like me as much, and I'll fade back into obscurity." Along with a determination to improve my life and push myself out of my comfort zone (good qualities), it's helped me get where I am today. I would like to ease up on the people pleasing tendencies because they definitely have their drawbacks, but I can't say that absolutely nothing good has come from them.

What is a small win that you accomplished in the past 24 hours? I drove to therapy, even though certain merges make me anxious. Nobody honked, nobody died. ;D

Describe a small, everyday thing that you enjoy with a special person in your life. Evening chats with my dad. We talk randomly throughout the day, of course, but in the evenings we really sit down and TALK. Not about anything in particular, often about nothing much, but it's just nice to have that time set aside.

Look around the room you’re in and list 10 things you’re grateful for. My kitties. Computer. Phone. Drawing tablet. Migraine medicine. Bed. Clothing. Books. Blankets (lots of blankets). Food (I'm currently eating a late lunch).

What is an emotion you try to avoid? Why are you afraid to feel it? Many of the emotions I've talked about throughout this survey. Jealousy, resentment, anger, misplaced fear, shame, etc. I'm not necessarily "afraid" to feel them. In fact, until relatively recently, I've felt them often and intensely. Still do sometimes. It's just that I've realized how much of a hindrance they can be, and I've found ways to combat them or lessen their impact on my life. It's also not about never feeling them; it's more about keeping them in proper check.

Are the people in your life bringing negative or positive energy? I'd say it's mostly positive. Some neutral. And a very small percentage of negligible negativity.

[gothhabiba]

hey, no worries if ur not up for answering this for any reason. but i wondered if you might talk a bit how ur in some way coping with being bedbound? i am currently struggling a lot and i can be out of my bed for a bit but im in a lot of pain and rly fatigued so not for long/not consistently. i also wondered specifically [idk if u experience this so obvs if u dont thats cool] about if u get pain ~from being bedbound? bc i do in some ways so it's like a constant catch 22 or whatever lol but i just thought id ask whether you have any tips/advice/things u do in order to combat that if u also have that experinece? hope this makes sense am fatigued a l o t !! sending u solidarity ! <3

I don't know exactly what your situation is, but I've had to come to terms over the last year or so with the prospect that I may be in this situation for the rest of my life. Treatments that usually work on people with my condition haven't helped me, and there's no cure. Life goes on. The lives of disabled people are often hidden from the public eye due to the inaccessibility of public spaces & narratives that centre the abled and the convalescent--but there's creativity in bed. There's still joy and social connexion and good books and good food and learning new things in bed (yeah yeah, ha ha). People frequently connect humanity, life being worth living, &c. to activity and to mobility, and it's useful to be able to articulate to yourself that that's bullshit

I try to differentiate between sleeping and waking hours as much as I can. If you have a couch or other piece of furniture that you can make it to and lie down on so that you're not in bed all the time, I'd recommend doing so. I also open the curtains during the day and close them at night, and switch out the pillowcase on my pillow (I only have one that's the right height so I'm using it all the time) just before I go to sleep. I sleep in a different position than I spend waking hours in. Things like that

I know this is easier said than done, but I try to keep a regular sleeping schedule. I find that things like fatigue, nightmares, insomnia, and sleep paralysis are worse if I don't. Any schedule you make should have enough hours of sleep nightly built in (don't try to say it will be eight, it very well may be 10-12) as well as any naps you may find yourself needing.

After spending a few months supine more or less constantly, I did start to notice some lower back pain and inflexibility in my spine that I hadn't experienced before. I try to spend a couple hours per day actually lying down on the floor rather on a soft surface, which mitigates a lot of this.

If it's a possibility for you, look up a few youtube videos for floor yoga and try to do a few of the stretches whenever you feel up for it. I rotate between boat pose, universal spinal twist, corpse, cobra, butterfly, child's pose, happy baby pose, bridge, sometimes cat/cow, anything else I can do without too much weightbearing. Which poses you feel comfortable doing will of course depend on the location of your pain and what worsens it. But especially when you're lying down all the time, it's important to do what you can to stretch your spine and shoulders and keep your core from weakening.

I'm not sure if you can sit up at all or prop yourself up on pillows--I cannot, so it really helped me to get a laptop stand, and a laptop that was built such that the keyboard is at the right spot under my hands with my shoulders and wrists relaxed. A separate keyboard that connects to your laptop via USB or whatever may be helpful if your laptop isn't the right size to allow for that.

Relatedly, it is always worth it try to rig something up to make tasks more comfortable. It doesn't matter if it "should" be easy (for whom? according to whom?). Prop things up at the right angles, rubberband or pin things into the right position (e.g. to keep the pages of books open while they're resting on a stand), &c. This makes a big difference, especially with things that you tend to spend a lot of time doing.

If there's anything that you used to love to do that you can't do anymore, find something else. I can't play an instrument anymore. I used to play viola, guitar, and ukulele, I had just started on mandolin, I had concrete goals on all these instruments, I wanted to learn piano. It sucks a lot. But I've started learning more music theory and music history, transcribing and analysing music, composing, ear training to be able to read music with my voice. Life goes on.

Talk to people! If you're comfortable with it, get visitors. It may seem difficult to meet people when you can't leave your bed or your home--when becoming disabled you learn that a lot of your old friends are no longer interested in being your friend if you can't keep up doing x y and z--but there are maybe people in your city who will come over if you explain your situation. I have a new friend who helps with housework and brings me food and is content to sit in my living room with me whom I met online... it IS possible

Otherwise, talk to anyone else you know. Voice call or video call. Join a discord or a subreddit for people in a similar situation as you, or a community for an unrelated interest you have. Disability of any kind (or rather, how people treat you when you're disabled) is isolating. It's worth trying to counteract that.

Start a project that you care about. Start two. Finish both or neither of them. It matters to keep doing and learning things that you care about, at whatever pace you can.

Some days are easier than others. You're not betraying yourself by feeling upset or discouraged. You're not betraying yourself by not being upset, either.

Orgasms can improve mood, relieve pain, take up time when you don’t have the energy to do much, &c. It’s worth looking into whatever kind of motorised sex toy would be useful for you if sex in general is something that you have interest in.

Understand that nothing about the concepts of "progress" or "convalescence" or "healing" or "stagnating" work for you anymore. Not even to the limited extent to which they work for the able-bodied. Even (and especially) medical fields still try to fit our bodies and minds into these frameworks that don't fit. There doesn't need to be directionality. There's just time, and enjoying it. (The disabled and chronically ill tend to understand this intuitively. Try to get more friends of this sort.)

Check out @energysavingselfcare

[dexr-jan9am1]

Demon Slayer!MC part 3

(You are going to be portrayed as one of the butterfly sisters here. your speed matches shinobus but the way you act doesn't since you believe that what kanae wants is for you all to move on from her death even though it stills leaves a mark.)

A/N-> I forgot to mention this but mc is from the taisho era just lik in the anime and manga but the brothers and purgatory hall boys don't know this yet only the royals. (i know it sounds confusing but i will try my best to make it understandable in the series)

Italic = thinking

**whispering/muttering**

*actions*

part 1 // part 2

Diavolo , Barbatos , Lucifer , Mammon , Leviathan , Satan , Asmodeus , Beelzebub , Belphegor , Luke , Simeon , Solomon

First person POV

After a short walk to the supposed destination, HOL, it looked nothing like the houses/minkas you were used to seeing back in the human world suddenly Mammon came to a stop

"**ugh I don't believe this, all this rotten luck and now I have to take care of this pesky human to top it all off if it wasn't because of that rotten bastard I would've never have to take care of a human, does he really think scaring me would do the trick**" "is something wrong? you have suddenly come to a halt" "GAH! Don't scare me like that human! anyways this is the house of lamentation its one of the dorms here at RAD and its not just any dorm, its a dorm reserved for only the members of the student council. the others would take any chance they get to insult me callin' me scum and saying that I'm a money grabber and stuff but I'm an officer of the student council, same as the elite of the elite, the top of the RAD social pyramid in other words I'm a big shot" "But from afar you don't look like one that would hold such a high position? just from the way you immediately obeyed Lucifer when he threatened you after you tried to go against his orders as if you are a slave cowering down in fear when your master orders you to do something you're against with but you can't do anything about it or am I wrong?" "how dare you insult the great Mammon like that?! *huffs* come on lets get this over with human" both of you walk inside, from your perspective it looked quite fancy just like you expected it to look like as this dormitory was reserved for members of the student council. "come on human I'll bring ya to your room" "...*has been staring at the bulletin board for some time*" "oi what're you doin just standing there with your jaw open*looks at the side to see the bulletin board* oh you're just looking at the job-listing poster, you know you can also look at it in your DDD right? just go to ':D jobs' " "..." "now listen carefully I'm gonna give you a piece of advice, if you wanna survive even a day here in the Devildom you BETTER listen carefully to what I'm boutta say, if it ever looks like a demon is gonna attack you run away..... Either that or die." "You don't have to worry about me I'm capable of handling that type of situation with or withou-" "How about this I vote for YOU to die, Mammon" "D'ah!....Levi! listen up human this is Leviathan or Levi for short, he is the Avatar of Envy and third oldest of us brothers...... now let's just move on-" "Mammon give me back my money, then go crawl in a hole and die" "It seems like those two have quite a complicated relationship" "I told you already I don't have the money with me right now, I just need a little more time" "A little more time? You've been telling me that for the last 200 years! you're a lowlife and a waste of space" "Hey, come on! that's way worse then what you usually call me!" "Whatever..... just give me my money back, I need to use it to buy Blu-Ray box set of Journey to the Devildom: The tale of a little she-devil and her reluctant companion! The official round of copies includes tickets to a special live event as a bonus" "I have no idea what you're talking bout but like I said I don't have any money with me right now!" "Oh? so you're actually a low-life, Mammon?" "Hey, don't call me a low-life.....remember that advice I gave you? well you're bout to witness it for real so...... time for you to die! it's either you or me and it ain't gonna be me so bye! *runs away*" "..." "..." "when he said you all would call him such names I didn't understand why but now I do" "I'm glad we both can agree in that but did you realize what he did? he used you as a sacrifice" "I'm well aware of what he just did and how he used me as bait *sighs* I can't believe he will be my assigned caretaker throughout this program *lightly frowns*" "LOL but anyways are you free right now? you gotta be, you know what never mind just follow me.."

Second person POV

you followed right behind him as he led you to a room, upon entering, you were amazed by this sight in front of you, the room is decorated in a blueish-green hue with a large fish tank upfront, there was a SMACK of jellyfish floating close to the tub filled with with pillows and blankets but one pillow stood out from the rest, it had the body of a girl imprinted on it...

"Who's that?" "EH?! you don't know?! that's Ruri-chan!" "Ruri-chan? "she's the main character of the anime 'The magical Ruri-Hana: Demon Girl' she's so cute! you should know who she is!" "anime? I'm pretty sure I have heard of such term but although I never indulged myself in such activities" " *sweat drops*not even manga?" "I have heard of it and have heard quite the number of manga's back in the human world and I must say, I do enjoy the different genres of manga" "so you know what manga is but YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ANIME IS?!" "I told you that I have heard of anime but chose not to indulge myself in it"

You walked around the room and suddenly stopped in front of a shelf that contained books of different volumes you took one out of its place, you read the title 'Tales of the seven lords', you were certain that you have heard of it before so you opened the book and read a little bit of the story until you were sure that this was the one.

"This series.....I have seen these before..." "You know TSL?!" "TSL? are you talking about the tales of the seven lords? if you are talking about such a stupendous series then yes I have read almost all of the volumes" "almost? you must've finished it by now and might be waiting for volume 9's release" "I still didn't finish it because my profession refrains me from doing so as I am really busy during long hours of the day" "well not anymore! now that you're here you have all the time in the world to finish the current volumes and I will make sure you get to know the joy of watching anime!" "I see.." "alright enough talking about all this, this isn't the reason why I bought you here" "It isn't?" "Nope, I wanted you to follow me because I wanted to tell you something that you probably know is true: Mammon is a complete and utter scumbag. it's very important for you to understand this so I'm gonna repeat myself one more time, Mammon is a Hopeless. Worthless. Scumbag" "I can already see in the way he acted earlier when I first saw him he stopped me from doing further damage on the others, I actually thought he would be like those knight in shining armors everyone would here about from certain fairytales but now with how he just ran to get away from paying his debt and using the one person he was entrusted to protect as bait, he is the perfect image to represent a wimp" "LOL" "but I can't help but wonder....how did you two become like this? you both are brothers right? why are you both bickering around like children and you're talking bad about him too?" "Well... it's a long story so you better get yourself ready to hear it, Once, a long time ago, Mammon won a prize in a convenience store promotional campaign. If you bought something then they will let you reach into a box and pull out a piece of paper that told you what you won. And the prize Mammon won is a Seraphina figurine, something I would've died to have. But despite the fact that Mammon had no interest in it all, he refused to give it to me. Why? you may ask? Because I wanted it........thats right, thats the only reason. I wanted it and he said no just to torment me. I mean, how awful is that?! So, I got to thinking...........Mammon's gonna end up treating Seraphina like some random piece of junk. That much is a given. I can maybe handle it if he at least leaves her in her original packaging, but what if he actually takes her out of the box?! He might just do it! And if he does, he'll get dust on her, won't he?! I decided I had to save Seraphina, so I snuck into Mammon's room in the middle of the night. And what do you think I saw there?! You're not gonna believe it. He didn't open the box......No, it's way worse than that. He hadn't even taken it out of the convenience store bag, which he tossed on the floor of his room. THE FLOOR! He actually left SERAPHINA on the FLOOR! The Queen of High Elves Herself! Sure, she seems cold and prideful at first, but once you get to know her, you'd find out she really wants affection, she just doesn't know how to admit it, it's sooooooooooooo cute! Yet Mammon just threw her on the floor! And I don't think he'd cleaned his room in three months. It was covered in junk. empty ramen cups, used tissues. stuff was strewn everywhere . And there......"

Timeskip cuz author-san is lazy af

"quite the adventure you had,but was it really neccesary to also kick him? I mean, you only went in there to grab the figurine not to cause harm to Mammon" "But he deserves it! he's a scumbag you know" "alright then, have it your way" "But you've seen how fast he is yourself right? but not as fast as Lucifer or Beel. But if, let's say a human made a pact with Mammon and bound him to there service...." "If you're trying to imply that I should do this 'pact' thing with Mammon then you can use it to your advantage then I won't" "Why not?!" "I don't even know what a pact is....." "A pact is kinda like an agreement when the demon will lend their strength to a human in exchange for their soul, the demon will also be bound to serve their said master" "So you want me to make a pact with Mammon to have him at my every beck and call? Is this your way of trying to get what you want from him? through me?" "That's right! and I don't think it would be that bad for you, to have someone serve you, It's gonna be a win-win for us both!" "I will see what I can do but I don't think he will agree that easily so you better have a plan set so you we can finish this up" "you're right and I do have a plan it's simple, If you go up to him and ask him to form a pact with you he won't do it so we gotta do some form of negotiation with him and we will have to find something to give him that will draw into making a pact, something.... he can't deny" "Mammons the Avatar of greed right? so we need something to activate his greed something that is worth a lot..." "ooh I know! his 'precious' credit card Goldie! he got it confiscated by Lucifer weeks ago cuz he was spending too much grimm, I bet he would do anything to get it back but..." "But?" "Lucifer hid it somewhere and no one knows where he hid it" "If the card is all we're missing then leave it to me, I might be able the location of the card out of him then we can move on with our plan" "Great! now we can focus on the important stuff" **I hope nothing bad will come out of this.....**

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting with part 3 it's just i've been caught up with a lot of things in my personal life rn so i wasn't able to do part three for a long time. But it is finally here! i hope you enjoy this and i have been getting into the twisted wonderland fandom lately so i might start posting content relating to twst.

[amourology]

hey, lizzie 🤍

this is our first time interacting, and even if we are not yet acquainted in the least bit, it really disheartens me to see someone i could easily give the tiniest bit of guidance to that might assist you on your journey. it sucks i only saw this just now but TT i'll save the proper introductory for a later time if you want to talk ! no pressure :)

i understand the situation you are currently battling is an extremely tricky one, so you are more than welcome to answer this privately, or not at all if it makes you uncomfortable, but maybe (?) this could push others to achieve their goals too... idk― but just know, you are not obligated to anyone but yourself and your needs.

all i want for you to take away from this ask is a more optimistic and positive attitude towards yourself, and the obstacles life throws at you sometimes.

firstly, i think it'd be a little more appropriate to state the context or a little background of why a random person like me is sending you an ask lmaoo: i am a criminology major (1st year) too who has undergone/undergoing similar subjects by the ones you stated previously.

for me, jumping into the field of criminology (or the land of fucked up like i call it WHWHW), was a more personal thing that i held close to my heart. helping friends/family/strangers of victimisation almost felt natural, and more so in the sense that i think everyone can be a victim to something― small or big, we're not always the bad guys in others stories.

in the light of your ambitions, i think no one has to have an overly ✨ spectacular ✨ reason as to why they enjoy the things they enjoy, or, want to do the things they find the tiniest bit interesting. if you're intrigued by the criminal mind, or how aspects of it work they way they do, and finding ways to help victims and offenders cope, i think thats more than enough to be justifiable. and honestly? we need more people like that in this world.

to me, i feel like the most important thing is to have that preconceived notion― you want to help others, understand, feel, and maybe come to terms with your own personal beliefs on it.

it's a pretty crazy thing, really, whenever i mention to strangers that i'm undergoing an undergraduate in criminology, they always act surprised... because it is surprising! how many people do you think would willingly jump into the mind of someone who has undergone years of trauma? or would want to understand the fundamentals on why we act the way we do? it's a pretty scary place, more so when many people are still yet trying to figure themselves out.

i think the only piece of advice i can give you is that you have to be willing to take risks, do what makes you happy, and most importantly, find solace in yourself. if this isn't the right direction for you, so be it. if you'd prefer to take something that's more focused on the psychological spectrum of it all, even better! because years from now, if you don't make those choices, you're most likely going to dwell on them.

i'm sorry if this got hella sentimental PFFT but i truly hope you find the courage to do what drives your happiness to its wits. you shouldn't be concerned of others judgements, you're already 10x smarter then those fools! :)

hi, love! dont worry about us never having talked before (im kinda shy towards people on here so i dont approach often) but i’d love to talk with you more & could use some friends <3

i relate with everything you said, and its really really what i wanna do. the criminal mind is so interesting and i would wanna jump into it to see how i could perhaps help the person & prevent any more people from falling victim to them…the problem is that my uni teaches criminology wholly differently than what i had in mind :(

they really focus on crime in itself & the reaction of people around it instead of the offender and/or the victim. its heavily law based, like 4/8 of my subjects for this year are about the dutch law. there’s hardly and psychology at all unfortunately, i had like 1 psychology-based course last year but it kinda disappeared in the 2nd year it seems :/

the only reason why im considering going through with it rn is bc i only have this year (which is almost over) and another year left before im supposed to graduate. so i could just endure a bit longer & go study psychology after this — i feel like a psychology & criminology degree would be better when i start looking for a job?

then again, idk if i actually want to continue bc this doesn’t interest me much at all (specifically the law subjects) and its only giving me a bunch of stress and anxiety atm

so yea that’s it ig, so cool to see someone with the same major tho! i haven’t seen that on tumblr before :) hope you’re doing alright & id love to get to know you better!

[tsubaki3192]

No worries :) Your post actually triggered me to express my opinion ahaha... It's the whole "Oh thank god I'm not the only one who thought this" situation with me too! But also, thank you for responding too!

I will admit to one thing before I actually begin though: It was 7am when I first responded and I'm actually surprised I was coherent enough to do an analysis xD I also realise I did forget about Sugishita and Umemiya's relationship until sometime later in the day before I saw your response xD

(Spoilers for both Bleach 1000 Year arc + Post S1 Windbreaker under cut!)

... Apologies for the jumbled mess of thoughts xD I don't think I can make anything particularly connected for now, so I'll just leave my thoughts as is ahaha...

You're right though: I do also think the biggest thing we're missing is a lot of connecting points/points we, as readers/viewers, could see as a connecting point for further arcs/the final arc: Take Bleach as an example—Quincys were introduced very early on, and even the point of discourse between Reapers and Quincys were also introduced almost simultaneously.

Wind Breaker lacks that sort of "Ah. That's a possible ending" moment that we can see in a lot of major Shonen animangas. (e.g. One Piece, finding the One Piece/Zoro defeating Mihawk; Naruto, Sasuke vs Naruto fights... That kind of thing, if you get what I mean. A bit of predictability or even just information that gets us thinking.)

Even in this arc, it's very difficult to see exactly who will win, and who will lose. It's not actually entirely obvious. Sure, Bofurin itself might win against the mass going against them, but the real kicker here is Endo and Takiishi. Especially since we don't know how strong Umemiya or Takiishi is, and Endo is already terrifying on his own.

Re: Kotoha + Backstories:

I was actually really surprised to not see her (as in very obviously/as a major side character) in Umemiya's backstory. As you said, Kotoha is very obviously a major person in Umemiya's—and the rest of Furin's—life. She's oddly mature for a 16-year-old, and gives really good advice. Something has very obviously happened both to her in general, and between the two of them for Umemiya to be so defensive about her. Not to mention, those two actually do have a very wholesome sibling relationship, which implies that they're quite close to one another... I'd argue even more so than the other kids at the home Umemiya lived in, though at this point in time it's very difficult to tell since presumably none of the other kids have appeared yet.

(Again, with the way there's omitted information about her, I feel as if it's another relatively major arc in the process.)

(Just as a side note, I do think that if we do get arcs/backstories about Suo and Kiryu, I do think the difference might be that Suo would probably be a major character arc vs. a more minor character arc for Kiryu—and Sugishita, maybe; an arc length akin to Tsubaki's? Though again, this is just an assumption, so don't take this to heart xD.)

(Another backstory we might get in this arc might be Takiishi's: We got Endo's side of the story, but what about Takiishi? We know next to nothing about him, or his relationship with Umemiya. Especially why he's so obsessed with Ume-chan and fighting.)

Re: Story length:

I'm actually a little like you in this regard: I've somehow talked myself into believing that this manga might reach somewhere between BNHA's 450+ chapters and Bleach's 500+ chapters and be much heavier content-wise later on.

Minor arcs aside, this major arc, which I agree is maybe about 75 to 80%-ish complete (Umemiya's fight hasn't been mentioned at all in the newest few chapters except for a falling chair lol), is already roughly 70 chapters long, with a very big potential to reach maybe 90 chapters total. At the pace it's going (with world building, character development and all), there is a very big potential for the entire manga to reach even 600 chapters if there are even 3 major arcs (and intermission arcs) of roughly the same length. .... Though in saying this, I think it'll be more similar in length to BNHA. It's just a hunch, that's all.

This... doesn't really consider the content of the story, I'm aware.

Because if this is just an "opening act" how many other acts are there? And how long will those acts be?

Not to mention, aside from all the other characters we don't really know about/haven't recieved backstories for, Sakura's really only interacted with Tsubaki and Hiragi from the 4 Heavenly Kings. Sure, he's spoken to Mizuki, but it's not the same as actually interacting with him. And Momose has the potential to have his own arc (similar to Tsubaki's) as well, with how little we know about him.

You make an interesting point too though: I do wonder how the author will make the other major arcs as exciting as this one/how will they change it up so it doesn't feel like a regurgitation of previous arcs.

.... I think I've basically run myself dry and risk repeating thing we've both said, so I'll stop here xD

If I do end up writing an analysis for Suo (I actually want to do one for Sakura too, because I'm just a little bothered—it's not serious, dw—by his slight mischaracterisation in fics xD) I'll be sure to tag you in it, if you're okay with that! :3

so I'm reading the Wind Breaker (Satoru Nii) manga... and uh... I'm in the 120's for chapters and this feels.... like a final fight kinda? Do we know if we're already gearing up for the end?

[howlsmoving-blog]

Hihi, I hope I'm not bothering you, but I wanted to ask for some advice. ;; I've lately been having lots of problems with uncontrollable vent regression, to the point it's getting in the way of all the big responsibilities I have. It's stressing me out more because I can't get things done, and it's stressing out my partner who isn't accustomed to being a carer and can't handle this constant slipping. I don't have time to just let it happen and ride it out, and even if I tried, it wouldn't help much because the whole time I would just be anxious about all the things that need doing. I see posts all the time about people struggling to regress, but I don't know what to do to make it stop... ;; (by teenie side blog is polkadottedpie btw)

Hey there sugar plum 🌌

You're never a bother! I'm always here to help when I can! 

I'm very sorry to hear about all the trouble you're having, little one. I know vent regression can be scary and unpleasant and I can't imagine how stressful it has been for you and your partner. There's a bit to unpack here so I'm putting it in the undercut!

To start off I need to make sure you understand that it's not your fault! I feel like when you said "slipping" there's a lot of guilt and anger there, so I just hope you don't blame yourself.

My first thought is: have you been under a lot of stress lately, without recovery time? I should say specifically, before the vents started happening more frequently? Or is it a safety issue, where you're not feeling safe or cared for? Like anxiety, vents are more likely to happen when stressed. 

Vents should be treated as any type of anxiety attacks, ptsd or breakdowns are treated. Because essentially that's what it is. So giving yourself that time is actually very important to your overall mental health and well-being, little one. You need to talk it out or comfort yourself. And I know you said you'd just worry about all your big responsibilities, but think of this situation like a puzzle. 

The whole completed puzzle is your life! And there's all these different pieces that go into it. Your little side is a very important piece of it, but if you ignore that piece to focus on all the other pieces, maybe you'll get further completing the picture… but you'll never get to finish the whole puzzle. 

But when you give yourself the time and mental space to really get into the headspace, vent or play, and fully ride it out, your body is actually healing itself and the puzzle can be complete!

If you're starting to see regressing as a chore, it's not going to really be the therapeutic experience it should be.

And as a caregiver, It discomforts me to hear that your partner can't handle it. And I make no judgments because it's definitely not my place and I don't know either of you personally nor your situation! But your little side needs special care and attention and if that stress is being projected on you it definitely can make the whole scenario rougher than it needs to be. This goes for everyone, if you're a little and your partner is aware of it/agreed to be a part of that side of your life, they should be fully aware of all the ups and downs.

Anyways, my advice as a caregiver in summation is: 

Give yourself the time you need! Because it's obviously not going anywhere and Normally with mental health, the longer you ignore something the worse it gets. 

Make sure you're feeling safe! Because safety is a huge contributing factor to vents! 

Give your little the love it needs and deserves! The baby should be baby'd! Even if you feel you don't have time. Maybe take a bath instead of a shower and play with some toys! 

Draw out your emotions! Or get a big pillow and scream out all those bad feelings! 

The more you can express your emotions, the more they can leave your body and you can replace them with good ones! 

I hope this helps sunshine! If you need more advice or have questions I'm right here. I really hope you feel better and things get easier for you!

[wanderinginksplot]

If you're still taking requests, can I request either Echo or Tech with hurtReader + fluff? 👀

(your writing is amazing and it melts my heart sndnfjdjdb)

Hi, friend! Thank you for the compliment - you're so sweet! I went a little lighter on the fluff than I meant to, but this is what I ended up with. Thanks for the request! Enjoy!

Tech + Injured Reader + (Minor) Fluff

*WARNING: Slight mention of gore. Nothing graphic, but a head's up.*

Watching the Havoc Marauder touch down was a ritual you followed every time the Bad Batch went anywhere without you on board. Tech liked to believe he was an excellent pilot, but you were of the opinion that flying took more than encyclopedic knowledge of a ship’s internal systems. It took instinct, a feel for the ship’s personality, and a good bit of luck to fly in a war zone.

Tech disagreed vehemently, but you had been assigned to them for a reason. Even if he had found your belief in luck - okay, slight obsession with luck - to be ridiculous, Tech admitted that you were an excellent pilot. It hadn’t been enough for you to accompany them on their mission, but it was something.

The real problem was that the members of the Bad Batch were insanely protective of anything or anyone they saw as ‘theirs’. Privately, you thought it was because they hadn’t had any personal belongings on Kamino. And they definitely hadn't had friends outside of their group. Unfortunately for you, you were also considered ‘theirs’ now and the Batch could be… restrictive when they felt you could be in danger. And since you were assigned to help them fight a literal war, you were always in danger and they were always protective. Especially Tech. You had been dating in secret for a few weeks now - too short a time for anything serious, but Tech let you take absolutely zero chances.

“Sir, we need to get you inside,” one of the troopers on deck told you, his light touch to your arm pulling your attention away from scanning the star-littered space above the hangar bay. The trooper's regulation armor looked oddly plain to you, even with the medic's symbol and the touches of gray that told you he was a member of the Wolfpack.

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?” you asked, partially to stall and partially because your luck senses were tingling.

“That isn’t important right-”

“Please?” you asked again. It was another quirk of luck. If a trooper touched you, you needed to know their name or they ended up dying. Statistically, you knew that probably wasn’t true, but who really wanted to mess around with fate if they didn’t have to?

The trooper blew out a sigh that crackled his annoyance through the speakers of his helmet. “Curl, sir. We really should be-”

“I’m sorry, Curl,” you apologized, interrupting the poor medic again. “I got separated from my team and I need to see that they’re back okay before I can leave. Does that make sense?”

“What team isn’t back yet?” Curl asked, seeming concerned. “I thought Commander Wolffe said that everyone had checked back in?”

“I’m with the Ba- with Clone Force 99,” you told him, changing your explanation to use the group’s official name at the last minute. Professionalism never hurt anyone.

“You’re with the Bad Batch?” Curl asked, sounding impressed despite himself. Without waiting for an answer, he gave a curt nod and lifted his wrist toward the speakers of his helmet. “Sergeant Sinker, Medic Curl.”

“Sinker here,” a voice answered immediately.

“Do we have an ETA on Clone Force Nine-Nine?”

“Hold.”

“Copy.” Curl glanced at you and you nodded to show that you were following the conversation.

“Curl, bridge says they’re inbound, expected to hit the hangar in about a minute.”

“Copy,” Curl said again. “Thanks, Sarge.”

“I’d stand clear,” Sergeant Sinker warned. “The good pilot isn’t on.”

“Are you the good pilot?” Curl asked you. You swore you could hear a smile in his voice.

You smiled back and nodded. “That would be me.”

“Understood, I’ve got the good pilot with me,” Curl replied over his comlink. “We’re gonna spectate, make sure they don’t scratch the paint job.”

“There’s no reason to worry,” Sinker said consolingly. “The GAR stopped springing for paint two months ago. There’ll be none left on that ship.”

Curl laughed aloud at that, shaking his head.

“Cut the chatter,” a harsh voice reprimanded. “This is an official channel. Save your jokes for the clubs on the Triple Zero, Sergeant.”

“Yes sir, Commander,” Sinker agreed chipperly.

The Solidarity’s deck shuddered as the hyperdrive activated, ready to take off as soon as the Havoc Marauder landed, and you stumbled with the movement. Curl caught you - his grip uncomfortable given the harsh plastoid planes of his armor - and shook his head.

“We really need to get you inside, sir,” Curl said again, sounding reluctant but concerned. “You have an appointment in the medbay with me, and I’ll be very offended if you’re late.”

You were about to point out that he would be late, too, when the Marauder zoomed up and around the Solidarity, clearly following a path to land.

“Wait, they’re right there,” you protested. “Give ‘em ten seconds to land and a bit longer for me to gloat, then I’ll gladly go to the medbay.” Curl hesitated and you pressed your advantage. “I’ll be a model patient, Curl. No arguments, no debates, no complaining.”

“I never believe anyone when they say that,” Curl said dryly, “but I guess you’ll survive without treatment for a little while longer.”

“Thanks, Curl!” your enthusiasm was a little… off… but you blamed it on the pain you were finally beginning to feel.

Tech was flying, you knew that beyond a doubt. Not only was he the only person allowed to fly, but the landing performed by the small cruiser was proof that the wickedly intelligent trooper was behind the controls.

As soon as they had landed, Wrecker burst out of the side door. “Ha! Told ya we would make it back in one piece.”

“More luck than skill, that,” Crosshair countered sourly, slouching from the door as well with Hunter behind him.

“As I said multiple times, everything was under control,” Tech disagreed. He caught sight of you and started in your direction, eyes taking in the way Curl’s gloved hand was still gripping your bicep.

“There, you saw ‘em,” Curl muttered to you. “We really need to go now.”

“I beg your pardon, but where exactly are you trying to go?” Tech asked sharply, glancing between the two of you.

“Medbay,” Curl replied, slipping into the vocal brevity of a career soldier. “Your pilot was injured, but wouldn’t accept treatment until you had touched down.”

“Luck, you know,” you told Tech, who was already scanning your form with his goggled gaze. You smirked at him and shrugged off Curl, who seemed ready to tow you to the medbay himself. “Also, statistical likelihood be karked! I stayed in the ‘safest possible place’ like you told me and I’m the only one who ended up injured! You should listen to me from now on.”

“What?!”

“Injured?”

"How? Where?"

The rest of the Bad Batch had surrounded you and Curl in a moment, all asking different variations of the same question. Hunter’s voice cut through them all. “Trooper, why is she not in the medbay?”

Curl held up his hands as if despairing of the entire situation. “Sorry, Sergeant. Your pilot refused to leave until we saw your ship land. It would be a big help to me if you would just issue an order to report to the medbay so I can start treating the injuries.”

For all that he liked to take a laid-back approach to non-combat leadership, Hunter took the safety of his team seriously and you knew he was about to do as Curl had suggested.

“It’s not even that bad an injury,” you argued before Hunter could speak. “I just got hit with some debris."

You tugged up the rough, canvas-like material of the uniform pants you wore while you weren’t actively flying and showed them your lower leg. You were busy looking at the faces of the Batch rather than the injury, but you knew something was wrong when Tech swore. Tech never swore.

With a frown, you glanced down at your leg. Your mind refused to make too much sense of things, but you saw smears of crimson and a pale flash of something before the dizziness returned worse than ever.

Fortunately, Curl caught you before you could actually fall and Wrecker scooped you up a moment later. He was already muttering soothing nonsense as he lifted you, and it was almost enough to keep you from noticing the pain. “All right, here we are. Everything is fine. Just don’t puke on me.”

“Medbay,” Hunter ordered severely. “Now .”

“Yes, sir,” you agreed, your voice more weak than you liked.

“Finally,” Curl muttered.

“Tech, go with them,” you heard Hunter say from a rapidly growing distance.

There was a sound of jogging steps, but when you tried to look for Tech’s familiar face, the Solidarity leapt into hyperspace and you felt like you might actually pass out.

“What will treatment consist of?” Tech asked. He was trying to mask his worry by being professional, but you could hear a hint of it in his voice.

“Some stitches, probably an antibiotic shot since the debris was metallic, and a check of the nerves in the area of injury,” Curl answered easily. The lack of concern from the medic was comforting in a strange sort of way.

The silence hung for a few moments, interrupted only by the sound of everyone’s footsteps. Eventually, Tech admitted, “I should have been able to calculate the risks more closely. This never should have happened.”

“Aw, how were you supposed to know?” Wrecker asked loudly.

“That’s right,” Curl agreed. “This is war. Unexpected variables are the norm and there are no safe spots. My only advice is to take all of your people with you. After all, your pilot accepted the assignment to be part of your team. Trying to keep people out of the action never works. Take the lesson, learn from it, and make adjustments in the future. You don’t need to do anything more than that.”

“He’s right,” you agreed, the sentiment muffled against Wrecker’s broad chestplate. “Let me do my job and trust that I’ll do everything I can to keep us all out of danger.”

You blindly stuck your hand out behind Wrecker’s back, searching until you connected with Tech’s familiar fingers. His grip was hesitant but steady, and you gave his hand a squeeze of reassurance.

“It’s probably true,” Curl said, apparently backing you up. “Pain is like a truth serum. And with that gash… it’s probably the truth. Even if you did lie about being a perfect patient.”

You chuckled at that, despite the discomfort from your injury, and relaxed a bit as you felt Tech press a kiss to the back of your hand.

---

A/N - This chapter could realistically be called 'Ink will do anything to avoid using the y/n designation'. For those who are unfamiliar, Curl is my OC medic for the Wolfpack and you can read more featuring him in Just for Kix on my masterlist. As always, I'm still taking requests! Thanks again, Anon, for this idea and I'm sorry again about skimping on the fluff! If you want me to rewrite or expand on it, please feel free to let me know.

[angeloncewas]

Dont really know how to start this but I need your advice if you’re willing to give it so I’m just gonna jump into it

I walked in on my little brother watching cmc then morning so I say down with him and explained why he’s a bad person. He then told me that cmc has been donating all his streaming money to charity (I asked if it was to a charity that help minors who’ve dealt with grooming to which he said no). So now we’re at a stand still, my brother’s not going to stop watching cmc and I don’t think cmc should have any platform at all. I don’t really know what to do because I don’t think anything I can say would change his mind and I don’t think my brother is a bad person, just that he should be more cautious about what he sees online. Any thoughts?

Hey anon, sorry it's been a bit.

There's a couple of things, though I'm not sure which (if any) will be helpful.

Is there any proof that cmc has been donating "all his streaming money" to charity? If so, that's nice I suppose (in the sense that people who need money are receiving it), but that's a very easy thing to say and a very difficult thing for someone to actually do. I could say I donate all of my paycheck to charity right now, but that wouldn't mean anything. And it especially wouldn't mean anything (imo) coming from someone with a track record of lying like cmc. I don't know how old your brother is (presumably old enough to understand cmc's actions on some level) but that might be something worth discussing (don't if he has provided proof though lol, because that might turn your brother the other way)

I hate to bring up the past, but have him watch the weekly slap video. It really makes what he did clear in a way that I think is more tangible as it was made by someone who was close to him. I don't doubt your account or your brother's understanding of it, but sometimes it's hard to put the pieces together and really conceptualize something that you have not and likely will never experience.

Ask him if it's worth it. Are those streams really so important to his life that he can't stop watching them? Is there no other content that's funny? Don't do it in a guilt-trip-y way (unless you want to lol, you two are related so the cards you feel comfortable drawing are up to you), but I think it's worth recognizing point-blank that a big part of what allowed him to do what he did was his platform. And returning it to him shows him that there are no legitimate consequences for his actions.

None of this might help, and if so all you can really do is talk through it and hope he considers it going forward. I would be super alarmed if anyone in my life still watched cmc, but I also understand that if you weren't in the midst of a situation, it later can feel like nothing but the past. If you can't change his mind, you can't change his mind, but it's very likely that he'll be over it in some time. Keep him from giving the man any money other than inevitably through ads. Hope he grows to understand.

Don't worry too much. I agree with you and you're in the right, but sometimes people have their mind made up and it's not your fault or even responsibility to try and make them think differently. I hope you're doing alright n all.

[pacifymebby]

Hiya girlie! Do you have any advice for getting back into reading? I was a big reader as a kid but obviously that doesn’t directly translate into adulthood and as much as I enjoy reading I’ve found it hard to call myself a reader as I seldom read and I mostly reread books from when I was a child. I’d like to get into reading literature and more adult books but I know how harshly new readers of literature can be judged especially on taste. I’d love to get your input on this situation and see where you think I should start out! If you’ve got any book recommendations for newbies or tips or something that would be greatly appreciated! Have a great day lovely ❤️

Oh my god so, first of all, people who judge adults that don't read, or are new to reading or who don't like reading certain "high class" literature are jerks. You gotta ignore them and just read to enjoy reading. Also don't feel bad about reading books from when you were a kid, I've been reading the dark materials trilogy again recently, it's one of my favourites.

Second of all, read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, I was reading it not that long ago and was amazed by how incredible a story teller she is, but also by how accessible she is. She also writes those in your 20s feeling naive and in love romances beautiful, there's a whole paragraph about how Max lends her his coat because she's cold and she feels completely smug and full of pride that she's wearing his coat. And like, idk, she captures stuff perfectly. Multiple times reading it I was just dead for how called out I felt by it, like she's just like me fr.

I feel like you also can't be judged for reading Du Maurier, she's one of the greatest story tellers of all time, this is the woman who wrote The Birds. Hitchcock would be nothing without her (this is probably a hot take a million people would argue with but idc lol) Also other books that I've really enjoyed but which didn't take horribly long or too much effort (so like, good to ease yourself in and enjoy reading again)

Good Omens / Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - this is just, funny and interesting and dramatic and the characters are likeable and good.

Carrie / Stephen King - short and sweet for a Stephen king horror but also probably my favourite one of his.

Normal People / Sally Rooney - this was good, not the best lit fit ever but it was good and it influenced my own writing style a lot so it must stick with people in a way.

The Virgin Suicides - this is again, it is lit fit but it feels coming of age and cool lit fit as opposed to boring adults talking about buying bread and disappointing sex lit fic lol.

In the Miso Soup - this ones just gripping and dark and there's a strong sense of plot which I find helpful when I'm trying to get back into reading having not read for awhile.

Drive Your Plow - Olga Tokarczuk - this is just SO good

Despair / Vladimir Nabokov - if you're worried about being judged by readers you can't go wrong with Nabokov, you can also be pretentious to people who might talk down to you by telling them this one is, in your opinion, much better than Lolita (which is also good tbf) This ones like, a mystery, a tragic comedy, a nihilistic/ despair piece, its brilliant, I loved it.

Steinbeck is good for like, warm, slow but sad stories to read in dusty heatwave season, Jack Kerouac / Tristessa is a good one for like, if you're feeling down and want to read something miserable haha.

Anais Nin - Little Birds or Delta of Venus - Erotica but like, its cool to say you've read Anais Nin, she's Respected ya know. Also you can tell BeamMeUpSoftBois that she's way better than Henry Miller and watch their heads explode. Anyway I loved her.