#my ex got to read this first

[lochallthedoors]

The Times, 8 October 2017

[illyrianbitch]

“rae why do you like writing friends to lovers so much” because these are texts between me and my ex guy best friend of 5 years

[fandom-is-my-drug]

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2770048

Reading Broken Timeline by CipherWrites (such a great author and I’m obsessed with their take on unhinged/feral Adrien and Marinette) and reading this scene could only make me think of this meme:

So I just HAD TO make it with Adrien:

Give this poor sentimonster his carbs PLEASE. Anyways I love Chat Noir (in the fanfic a bit less in the show because the MLB writing team is… they’re certainly a writing team… for MLB…) and he’s such a goofy and pathetic little meow meow (affectionate)

[thelaurenshippen]

Hello, The Lauren Shippen! I'm a long time fan, first time caller...

I've been listening to The Bright Sessions for the past 11 days, for the first time in 7 years. (I've also listened to the first two episodes of New Year's Day!)

Back in my early days of discovering my love and obsession toward audio dramas, (a decade ago?! 🫨), I was so delighted to have The Bright Sessions recommended to me by a now-estranged ex-best-friend's ex-boyfriend.

He also recommended I watch the show Shameless, and accompanied me to my first show seeing my favorite band, The Mountain Goats. He once came over to my place and built a Christmas tree out of my books with me. I maintain to this day, more than any other friend I'd had in my early 20s, he had fantastic taste in great stories full of complex and desperately human characters. I'm grateful to him, in any case. I think I would have found you anyway, as immersed as I've been in brilliant fiction podcasts, but he certainly sped along that process.

I have since also listened to all of Bridgewater twice. I know I'll eventually make my way to Breaker Whiskey and the sundry other projects you've made and been a part of.

But this message is particularly about episode 50 of The Bright Sessions, Rose, which I listened to tonight as I went through the process of making my dinner.

Thank you, so much, for your characters and their various flaws. All of these gorgeous songs broke my heart all over again on the relisten - and honestly, it was probably even harder this time around. I've lived in 5 different places and traveled through what has felt like a life's worth of personal growth and relationships changing. I even have a more special relationship to episode 49's feature presentation, Singing In The Rain. I wish Rose could help me spin my dreams into anything quite so cathartic or self-revealing, especially if she could make my voice sound as nice as all of your actors, yourself quite included. I wish I couldn't say that I understand and empathize with Mark now better than ever.

I took my mother-in-law to a local bookstore for the first time 3 days ago and just happened to find The Infinite Noise there, so of course I bought it. And Frank's character arc and storyline became relevant and poignant at the same time I was reading my second-ever comic series, and discussing it with a friend.

It seems like that happens to me, repeated synchronicities, as if the Universe is trying to instill me with themes. As your friend and fellow storymaker Gabriel Urbina asks over and over in his podcast Unseen, my experiences with fantastic audio dramas always seem to echo "Are you paying attention?"

Thank you, for helping me pay attention. Thank you for every intersection I've ever gotten to have both with, and because of, your stories. Thank you for helping me cry so much listening to this episode after days of desperately needing to. ❤️ Thank you for all the ways your words have helped me see myself more clearly.

Whether or not you publish this, or even read this, I hope you often hear, and really believe, how appreciated and necessary you and your stories are.

wow. thank you so so so much for this message. it is so beautiful and moving and you have me tearing up on a tuesday morning! where do I even start?

I'm really glad you've found TBS again after so long (and that you've listened to NYD and Bridgewater!!). it continues to knock me over that it's been a decade of audio drama for me, and knowing that I made something that people revisit means the world to me. every now and then I'll go deep into a fandom I was active in years and years ago and there's something particularly special about doing that.

I also so relate to the ex-best-friend's ex-boyfriend thing because I've had so many people come in and out of my life and leave big impressions or introduce me to something that ends up being crucially important. it's really strange when those pieces of art linger when the person doesn't, but I also think one of the neatest parts of life is that you don't need to know someone for a long time or in a particularly deep way to have them make an impact on you.

thank you for all your incredibly kind words about the musical episode!!! it's still one of things I'm proudest of making - it's SO rare that you have an idea, a big idea no less, and then actually execute it the way you want. there's always a gap between what you want to make and what you're capable of making, but that episode is the smallest that gap has ever been for me. so it means a lot when other people love it too.

I love all this synchronicity in your life, that's always such a special, cool feeling. and thank you for buying TIN! I don't know that anyone has ever thanked me in this particular way before (and gosh, I love a good Urbina reference) and I'm really grateful to you for it. and thank you for helping me pay attention - I think sometimes, when I'm not actively putting something out, I get discouraged and detached from the fact that my art is out there and people can interact with it. you've helped me feel more connected, and I can't thank you enough for that.

I hope the universe continues to surprise you in the best ways <3

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

today just will not let me rest huh. reasons are in the tags but i get very emotional just be warned

[sxlphie]

Disc 1 of my European copy of FFVII just won't read for some reason. So now I'm playing the Japanese version instead (I have no idea what's going on.)

[onlykiwi]

If I had a nickel for every time someone started being backhanded to me for liking 5sos I'd have 2 which isn't a lot but I hate that it's happening for a second time

[impostorsshow]

"It's You!"

"Dispite everything, it's still You."

[fingertipsmp3]

Yes I like musicals yes I was kind of a theatre kid back in the day no I don’t particularly care about Wicked one way or the other. We exist

[templeofshame]

sorry to bother you about this if you are actively an ex ph*nnie who doesn’t like them anymore whatsoever. But can I ask you what made you leave/ not come back? (I just randomly found you in my following list and remember you from back in the day)

I don't think there was A Thing necessarily, but a lot of my phan community dispersed or wasn't on good terms, my bestie got bullied off tumblr, and honestly I gradually realized that a lot of what had engaged me was gone. At the time, d&p weren't really active and the research and analysis wasn't as appealing since we'd already gotten our confirmation of their relationship... I guess I was still doing #justexthings memes, but I wasn't finding writing fic to be satisfying either and I was enjoying the It fic I read more than phan. (I started writing reddie specifically as a present for said bestie, for whom talking about phan was no longer fun, although she lost interest in reddie by the time I finished my first fic.)

I still watch their vids sometimes, but it doesn't do as much for me as it used to. Some of the initial things that hooked me, like the idea of a friends-to-lovers dynamic between them that was ambiguous, had fallen apart as I'd learned more and knew that they weren't friends first and I was projecting meaning onto them that wasn't there. I also felt an aesthetic attraction in the beginning that dissipated over time.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find something else to fill all the spaces in my life where the phandom used to be. I still follow a lot of phandom folks and I'm in touch with 2 of my phandom friends off-app (met one a year and a half ago!) but I haven't managed to get into a different fandom community in that way. Fortunately, I'm doing better with myself, therapy and my irl friends (and hobbies such as those showcased in @eatfreeordie and @unstyleable) etc. since we do happen to be repeating the circumstances that led me to jump into the phandom as escapism in 2016...

Sorry I def went off there. I miss the community!

[johntorrington]

transcribing my diary from a year ago onto a google doc like some sort of historian specializing in theater major relationship drama

[impossible-rat-babies]

ough finally got my bluefeather book today !

[dawnpours]

Some of you guys were really nice about my Ez art so I decided to go ahead and post these! Some are very sketchy and/or only make sense in the context of our game, sorry about that! I'll put a few explanations in the tags for fun

Also can you believe that last one is the only in-game canon kiss? That said, play a drinking game with Zone of Truth activated, 11/10 best way to get npc lore and/or try to uncover if your cleric is indeed a werewolf.

[actual-howlinglikeaseaturtle]

0.5 seconds later

[wandering-free-and-queer]

Here's the screenshots from Kiddo's reading earlier. This was actually what inspired me to do the Litha one card readings today. Thank you to all who sent me an ask, and made this day a bit more magical. I wish all of you the best as we enter into the next season of life. May the sun shine bright upon you each and every day.

[kitchensinksurrealism]

okay but I am genuinely so unwell about numbers and dates and ages and time and years etc. so I'm blaming all my bad luck on the number 23