#post editor beta

[rpschtuff]

What is going on with cutting posts?

You may have seen some posts floating around lately about the beta editor and trimming reblogs, and possibly found yourself extremely confused trying to figure out what this tangled web of editors, extensions, and add-ons even means. I’ve been on this site for years, and I still find the whole thing terribly confusing.

So this post is my effort to explain everything -- legacy vs beta, New XKit vs XKit Rewritten, editable reblogs vs trim reblogs -- everything. This also doubles as a tutorial for the various methods of cutting posts.

TL;DR

Tumblr is in the process of switching to a new post editor that some old users have opted into, while new users have been forced into it.

The old Editable Reblogs extension does not work with this new editor, requiring people to use a new extension called Trim Reblogs.

Trim Reblogs and Editable Reblogs are not compatible. If your partner uses Editable Reblogs, you cannot cut their posts properly using Trim Reblogs (unless you’re willing to do some tedious and frankly unreasonable workarounds).

The only way for everyone in the RPC to cut their posts properly and efficiently is if everyone moves to the new system and uses Trim Reblogs. Clinging to the old system with Editable Reblogs is actively creating issues for the people using the new system -- some of whom do not have a choice.

Cutting Posts

Cutting posts is the act of removing older replies on a thread when reblogging it. This goes by several other terms, including trimming replies/reblogs or any variation of that wording, but I will be referring to it as cutting posts to avoid confusion with the Trim Reblogs extension, which will be coming up a lot.

Typically, when cutting a post, you only keep your latest reply and the reply from your partner that immediately precedes it. This means that instead of a thread looking like this...

It would like this:

Or like this, depending on the method used:

In either case, the first post is gone while the second and third post remain.

Cutting posts is done so that threads aren’t all extremely long on the dashboard. When there’s three short replies like this sample, it’s not that bad. But imagine a thread with twenty replies where each is several paragraphs long. That would require people to scroll and scroll and scroll to get past it. And since the same thread would be reblogged multiple times, your dash might become the same posts, over and over and over again, with only one new addition at the end each time.

Cutting posts is extremely common Tumblr RP etiquette. Many people won’t follow you if you don’t regularly cut replies, due to how irritating the alternative is.

Copy and Paste (Outdated)

Once upon a time, you used to be able to cut replies without any kind of extensions. Unfortunately, those days are gone.

That method worked as follows. You would go to reblog as usual...

Copy and paste the last reply, putting it in a blockquote (or using any other formatting you like, really), then add your own reply underneath.

Then you can simply hover over the older replies and click the red X in order to remove them.

And this used to work. But now, the very first post in a thread cannot be deleted -- only later reblogs can. This means that the first post will always stay above the others, no matter how far along in the thread you are.

So since cutting posts can’t be done normally, we have to rely on browser extensions. This is where things get complicated. And also where I need to explain the different editors.

Legacy vs Beta Editor

Every time you make or reblog a post, you are using Tumblr’s post editor to do so. This is the area where you type up your post, add images, etc. Tumblr has been using the same editor for several years now, and it’s called the legacy editor.

However, Tumblr has been slowly rolling out a new text editor, called the beta editor. You may remember the beta editor when it was first rolled out a couple years ago as a buggy, unstable mess -- that’s not the case anymore, and it’s no more buggy than the current editor. For text posts, it’s functionally pretty similar, and even has a few features that some of you might want, such as easy colored text and the ability to make posts non-rebloggable. (Photo and other posts are fairly different, and I know gif makers have some pretty understandable reservations and complaints about it, but I won’t be covering that here.)

Older users have the option to toggle between the legacy and beta editors at will, while new users (starting around November/December 2022) are locked into the beta editor and cannot switch back to legacy.

To check which editor you have, go to make a new text post and look in the top right corner.

If you see either of these:

You are using the legacy editor, with the option to switch between the two.

If you see this:

You are using the beta editor, with the option to switch between the two.

If you don’t see anything at all, you are using the beta editor, and cannot switch.

While the text interface of the two editors isn’t terribly different for roleplay purposes, the methods by which you need to trim reblogs are entirely different. Each requires a different extension -- specifically, a different version of XKit.

XKit

XKit is a browser extension designed to add features and functionality to Tumblr. It includes many quality of life features such as a mutual checker, better tag tracking, queue improvements, ad blocking, more detailed timestamps, and so much more. (It was preceded by a similar extension called Missing E, if you’ve been here long enough to remember that.) And among all of these many features is the ability to cut replies.

The original XKit is no longer in use, having stopped updates in 2015 and being entirely unusable now. However, a few new versions of XKit have popped up throughout the years.

New XKit & Editable Reblogs

A different team created New XKit as a successor to the original, a similar extension designed to restore many of the same features.

New XKit’s feature to cut posts is called Editable Reblogs. It works by adding a pencil button to the left of the post when you reblog.

Clicking that button will break the post’s formatting -- actually changing it to how Tumblr posts used to be formatted -- but allow it to be edited however you wish.

So in this instance, I could simply select the first reply and delete it before adding my new reply underneath.

Editable Reblogs is only available if you use the legacy editor. It does not work with the beta editor and does not even appear as an option.

XKit Rewritten & Trim Reblogs

In 2020, Tumblr began to roll out its updated dashboard, which is now permanently in effect for all users. While the new interface looks very similar, the code was actually entirely redone, and behind the scenes functions very differently from the older dashboard. As a result, some of New XKit’s features no longer work as intended -- though a few still do, such as Editable Reblogs.

In response, the New XKit team decided to similarly start from scratch and created XKit Rewritten, another iteration of the add-on with similar features once more. However, not all New XKit features are available on XKit Rewritten, and vice versa. Many people are running both extensions simultaneously to take advantage of features on both.

XKit Rewritten’s feature to cut posts is called Trim Reblogs, and it works completely differently than Editable Reblogs. With this, you first need to save the thread to your drafts with your reply already written.

You’ll see a scissors icon appear along the bottom of the post. Clicking that will open the trimming options, letting you select which previous reblogs to delete.

Clicking Trim will remove the selected reblogs.

You can then click post. You’ll note that this method preserves Tumblr’s formatting, as opposed to Editable Reblogs, which breaks it.

EDITED TO ADD: Apparently you don’t need to already have your reply written in your drafts anymore. You can save the post to your drafts without adding anything, use trim reblogs, then edit the post to add your reply. Either works fine.

This method does have two major issues, though. First, if the first post of a thread was created in the legacy editor, then the system gets really buggy and just doesn’t work.

This is what happened when I tried it out. Initially, it seemed to work as expected.

However, when I posted the reply, or simply refreshed my drafts, this happened.

Attempting to trim again simply caused this to repeat. There is no fix for this. This means that for this method to work, both you and your partners need to be using the beta editor.

EDITED TO ADD: You can fix this double posting by either using trim reblogs before adding your reply, or by adding your reply, using trim reblogs as intended, refreshing your drafts, editing the post, and clicking the red X to remove the first of the double postings. I have a better guide here.

The only other alternative is to move the thread to a fresh post when you reply, so that the new first post was made with the beta editor. Then you can cut future reblogs of the post using Trim Reblogs as normal.

However, the other major issue is that if your partner uses Editable Reblogs, you cannot use Trim Reblogs as intended. Let me show you why.

Say I want to reply to this post.

I’ll add my reply and save it to my drafts, as before.

You may have spotted the issue already. The first and second replies are now “combined” so that Tumblr sees them as a single post. We want the post to be interpreted like this, so that I can remove the oldest reply while still keeping the one immediately prior to mine.

But Trim Reblogs can only see it like this.

When I go to trim reblogs, I can only remove the previous replies as an entire unit. I can’t remove just the oldest reply and keep the one immediately prior -- either it all stays or it all goes.

This is admittedly better than nothing. However, most people do want to keep their partner’s previous reply for reference, and just to have on their blog. This means a lot of people using Trim Reblogs simply don’t cut their partner’s posts at all.

You might be able to get around this issue by combining it with the outdated cut and paste method I described above. When saving to your drafts, paste your partner’s last reply above your own, using a blockquote or whatever formatting you like to separate the two.

You can then use Trim Reblogs to remove the first post, leaving only your copy pasted reply. The formatting is broken, but it’s at least workable.

However, this will only work if the very first post of the thread was made with the beta editor -- since people using Editable Reblogs have to be using the legacy editor, you’re likely to still run into issues on a lot of posts. Which can again be solved by moving the thread to a fresh post made with the beta editor, but at this point we’re stacking so many issues on top of each other that I really can’t blame you if you just don’t want to bother with any of them.

All of this brings me to...

It’s time for the RPC to collectively switch to the new system

I’ve stuck to the legacy editor myself due to the issues described above -- using Trim Reblogs when everyone else still uses Editable Reblogs is an enormous pain that I don’t want to deal with. Even as I make this post advocating for people to switch, I’m dreading actually doing it, because I know that most of my partners still use the old system and I will have nothing but headaches.

But the thing is, everyone refusing to switch is what’s creating the headaches in the first place. If we all moved to the new system together, these issues would simply disappear, and we would all be able to effortlessly cut our posts using Trim Reblogs without ever having to worry about it again.

The RPC needs to collectively make the switch, for two reasons.

First, Tumblr is going to switch everyone to beta eventually. Refusing to switch now is really just delaying the inevitable -- it’s not a question of if you’re going to be forced into the new system, but when. By switching now, you can go ahead and get used to it and start giving feedback to both Tumblr and the XKit Rewritten team if you find anything buggy or broken.

Second, as I said above, new users are locked into beta, with no option to switch back to legacy. Trim Reblogs is their only option for cutting posts -- and as long as most of their partners are using Editable Reblogs instead, they cannot cut their posts properly. Their only option is to use a series of increasingly ridiculous workarounds that most people won’t understand. The fact that it took me 1500 words just to explain everything should tell you how confusing the whole thing is -- you can’t be that surprised when a lot of people, upon realizing that they can’t cut posts without a whole lot of tedium, decide to just not bother cutting them at all. The best way for everyone to be able to cut their posts properly and efficiently is for everyone to be on the same system.

Yes, the beta editor is different. It has some weird quirks. It will be a bit of a learning curve to get used to a new system of replying to threads. But this is a change that’s going to happen eventually, and is a change that needs to happen for a lot of people to able to cut their posts properly.

(It’s also worth noting that -- assuming you still have the option to switch -- you may be able to toggle between the two systems during the adjustment period. I haven’t been able to test this yet, but I see no reason it wouldn’t work. Use Trim Reblogs whenever possible, and especially for the partners that have already made the switch. But when you get to a reply that it just won’t work for, toggle back to the legacy editor and use Editable Reblogs just for that thread. It’s a bit annoying, but it could be the middle ground needed to help people start making the switch. And once the majority of the RPC is on the new system, then this won’t be an issue anymore.)

[hazuknagisa]

[thomwelling]

EVERY EPISODE OF BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ↳ 1.03, Witch

I’ve been slaying vampires for more than a year now, and I have seen some pretty cringe-worthy things, but nobody’s hands ever got toasted before.

[fakehelper]

✦ Okay, I give in. Let's upload our gifs on the beta editor to prepare for a gif pack page. Resources are available at the bottom, so lets get started !!

So first things first, you can only upload 30 gifs at a time. Now for me, I will always upload as I gif, around every 20 gifs, then upload to the page (this also ensures I don't skip any or have doubles) and keep gifing. That used to mean that I don't have to wait for tumblr to load 300 gifs and die from impatience. For the rest of y'all that means you're going to have to batch upload. I know, I'm sorry.

Note: With the help of @nataliealynlind we discovered that the daily limit is 250 gifs! So if you have more than that, prepare to upload your gifs over the course of a couple days or use a second blog. (imo this is another great reason to upload as you gif! that way you don't have to get stuck at 250!)

So after you upload your gifs (in this case I only did 10)*, you're going to go to the gear at the top of your post and click it. Then scroll all the way to the bottom where it says Text Editor. This looks familiar, right?

*Note: If you don't save it as a draft first, your gifs will be in .gif format, not .gifv. This means you can skip removing this tag later on, but I'm not sure if gifs that are uploaded but never saved/drafted will later disappear at some point. To be safe, I would save it as a draft. I just forgot at this part tbh

Well the good news is, you only have to change this once! The bad news is, we don't do Markdown then HTML anymore bc Markdown doesn't strip any of the code anymore 🙃 So just change it to HTML

Now it should look like this! Fun!

Okay, now we're going to copy that text and take it on over to our new best friend, the HTML Cleaner! So you're going to want to paste it on the right side of the screen. Your gifs should appear on the left side. If both sides have text, that's how you know you pasted it on the left.

So in order to get ride of all this extra code, it's going to take a couple extra steps. First, you're going to check these boxes on the left hand side.

Now, on the right hand side, you're going to enter these under Find and Replace (copy/paste section below!!). I know you're like, uh what? Where the hell did you get those numbers? Well, I got them from our gif post code!

For easy copy pasting:

Find: <figure> Replace: (leave blank)

Find: </figure> Replace: (leave blank)

So after you add the specific widths for your gifs, you're also going to want to add the following:

Find: .gifv Replace: .gif

Find: alt="" Replace: (leave blank)

Find: /> < Replace: /><

NOTE: If your gifs are usually the same size, I would recommend saving these snippits above on your computer's sticky notes or a draft to copy/paste for future uploads! While I do appreciate the viewer traffic, I'm sure coming to this tutorial every time is gonna get old real fast.

After all that, click Clean HTML

And now, your code should look like this! If there's still a space between your image links, just click Clean HTML again and it should get rid of it!

Now your code is nice and clean to put into your gif pages! Not quite sure how to do that? Read the Setting Up Your Sidepage section in this older tutorial!!

Resources

HTML Cleaner

My Gif Pack Page Codes

Recommended Gif Pack Page Codes (tag)

Previous Tutorial (How to upload to a Standard Sidepage)

Barebones Code (for previous tutorial)

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Eulogy, sketch by Peter Mohrbacher

[sneeg-snag]

OKAY OMG my @jrwi-art-exchange gift for @ethantheannus!!!!! Heard you liked armored pheasent and I figured I'd write a little smth for them for pride month!!!!! I really hope u enjoy!!!!

[gatheredfates]

Hi, my name is Sea, and welcome to my general FFXIV blog where I cry over my six-billion ocs! While this blog is mainly used as a repository for my character aesthetics / personal work, I also reblog other peoples' edits, art, shit-posting, events & resources — among other things. ✨

You might know me from my various projects including, but not limited to; Sea's Community Compendium (with updates posted here); Sea's Character Questions, including my single-word fic drive; and The Fireside! I'm also an officer of Firelight Trading Company <FTC> on Balmung and run a casual Tumblr Community / Discord over at SEAFLOOR!

For an overview of all my characters, you can check out my dossier here. I also have a permanent interaction call you can like here!

Below are a list of links for easy navigation through my blog and its contents. If you'd like to follow my personal blog, that's over on @abyssine. I hope you enjoy your stay! 🪸

This blog runs permanently on a queue.

CHARACTER LINKS. Please note, unless specified with ‘my screenshots/commissions’ etc., all content within is considered inspiration and not a direct representation of my ocs.

ASHLEY / AZUMA / KORET / SARRAI / ELANDERVIER / ALAICE / EVELYN / SEELU / Z / ARYELE / ROWAN / NYX

OTHER LINKS.

SEA SPEAKS ( my ramblings ) / SEA ANSWERS THINGS ( inbox and/or meme replies ) / MY EDITS / MY WRITING / SCREENSHOTS & EDITS BY OTHERS / ART / WRITING ( by others ) / BOOSTING ( for events/resources/misc )

[steadfvsthearts]

Tutorial: Cutting Posts in the Beta Editor

hello everyone !! i am certainly not the only person to write a tutorial like this, but i'd thought i'd try my hand at writing one. this tutorial covers how to cut your replies in the beta editor using xkit rewritten, as well as how to remove those pesky gif source links. read on for the tutorial !!

keywords: beta editor, xkit rewritten, cutting posts, trim reblogs written 12.09.2023.

Step 1: xkit rewritten

the beta editor requires a new browser extension completely different from the previous xkit ( the one that showed in your tumblr settings ) called xkit rewritten. if you have not done so already, go ahead and install xkit rewritten for chrome or firefox.

xkit rewritten shows in your browser task bar along with your other extensions. i like to pin mine to always show. it is through here that you control all the settings.

Step 2: enable "trim reblogs"

the setting in xkit rewritten that will enable you to cut posts is called "trim reblogs". to turn it on, click the extension icon. a menu will pop up where you can toggle on and off various settings. scroll until you see "trim reblogs" and toggle it on.

you can check this is properly enabled by going to your blog page and looking at any post you've made. at the bottom of the post with the editing, reblog, and like options, there should now be a scissors icon which is the trim reblogs option !!

Step 3: cutting/trimming replies

we are now ready to write and trim a reply !!

Step 3a: write and draft or queue/schedule your reply

write your reply below the other two previous replies.

you do not need to copy or paste anything from the previous replies. simply write your reply in the editing space and put in your gif or icon if desired. when you are done, draft or queue/schedule your post.

**note: as someone who doesn't draft replies first, i'm partial to scheduling the post for a few minutes in the future as a popup like the one below shows at the bottom of the screen when you do this. you can click this pop up to take you directly to the post in your queue which just cuts out having to manually navigate to your drafts or queue.

Step 3b: trim your post !!

navigate to your drafts or queue and find your post. scroll to the bottom of the post and click the scissors icon. this is the trim reblogs icon.

you will see the following pop up. the checked box is the reply that will be removed. classically, the first box is the one you want checked as you are removing your old reply.

make sure the correct reply is checked, then click trim !! you will now see the post has been trimmed to just the proper two replies.

that's all !! you are now ready to post.

**note: if you forget to draft or schedule your post, you can trim reblogs directly on the dash too !!

Bonus: getting rid of the gif source link

if you are seeing the source link show beneath your gif like above, there is an easy way to get rid of it! in the post editor, hover over the gif and click the link icon:

delete the text in this field and click done !! that's all !!

this concludes this tutorial !! one last note : if you are an android user, you are also able to use xkit rewritten to cut posts while mobile. for a more detailed tutorial on how to set that up, see here. please consider giving this a like and/reblog if you found it helpful !! happy rping !!

[hailtothepumpkinqueen]

(Oh holy moly this turned out a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be. But, uh, I wrote a thing? Nothing graphic, just a little smidge of angst but it ends happy? *tosses it and runs*)

It was supposed to be a quick little excursion into the mines.

The mayor had asked her for help, because an increase in the red slime population was making things unsafe for less experienced spelunkers(the fact that she could be considered an "experienced" spelunker would have been a wild concept to her a few years ago). Of course she accepted. The idea of one of her friends getting hurt exploring made her anxious, and slimes were easy enough for her to deal with. It would take an hour, maybe two tops, and she could be home before it even got dark out.

What Lewis had neglected to mention, the bastard, was there was ALSO an increase in the Void Spirits making the mines even more unsafe. Shadow Brutes and Shadow Shaman far out numbering the supposed red slime problem.

So what was meant to be a quick trip turned into a five hour slog she hadn't properly prepared for. Maybe he thought she wouldn't have agreed if she knew how dangerous it really was, but a fucking head's up would have been nice. Then she could have at least packed better supplies beforehand and maybe not gotten her ass handed to her as badly.

But, by the grace of Yoba and a warp totem to the farm, she made it home in one piece. Bloodied, bruised and covered in sticky red slime from head to toe. Honestly, a little pissed at Lewis, but she'd deal with that later.

Right now, guilt was starting to settle heavy in her stomach when she saw all the lights in the house were dark, and her dog had fallen asleep by the door dutifully waiting for her to return. Yoba, just how late was it?

The oven clock said 12:50 AM. Shit. It was REALLY late. Shane, her husband, would be dead asleep by now. Blissfully unaware of the trouble she had gotten into and back out of. Maybe she could keep it that way. What he didn't know couldn't worry him, right? She just had to be sneaky...

Kicking off her boots, and shrugging off her backpack, she creeped through the quiet house and up the stairs to their bedroom. Carefully padding across the room towards the bathroom, desperately needing to shower off all the gunk before even dreaming of crawling into bed. So close to her destination before being sabotaged by a creaky floorboard.

"Chickpea?" Came Shane's tired voice in the dark almost immediately, accompanied by the sound of fabric shifting and the mattress squeaking with movement. "S'late. You just get home?"

"Sorry, hun. I lost track of time." She called back gently, inwardly cursing the old farmhouse. "I'll be there in a minute, I just need to shower first."

"Without me?" She could hear the smirk in his voice, amused with his own joke.

"Go back to sleep, doofus." She chuckled, shaking her head.

"Come to bed. We'll shower in the mornin', s'fine."

"I can't. I'm covered in slime, and I'm not getting that on the sheets."

She saw his silhouette sit up straighter in bed immediately.

"Why are you covered in slime?" His voice more awake now, more serious. The guilt twisting her stomach in knots to the point of nausea now.

"There were slimes making the mines unsafe. Mayor Lewis asked me to help make the mines, well, safe." Trying not to feel like a child being reprimanded for misbehaving as she continued to inch towards the bathroom. Definitely not running away from what felt like a brewing confrontation.

"Are you okay?" He threw off the covers and started walking towards her, arms outstretched to pull her to him.

"Don't! I'm slimy and gross." Putting her hands out to stop his approach. Thankfully, he acquiesced and stayed put for the moment. "And I'm fine. A little banged up, but fine."

"Banged up?? You're hurt, and you didn't lead with that? Yoba's sake, Kat.."

Dammit, why did she say that? Her plan to not worry him was going horribly wrong. And now not only did he sound worried, he sounded upset. Which was worse.

"Please don't shout. I promise I'm fine. We can talk about it later, I just...I just really want to get out of these gross clothes and shower, okay? Please?" Trying and failing to keep the emotional wobble out of her voice. She could feel the prick of tears in the corner of her eyes and was thankful Shane couldn't see.

He sighed heavily and his posture deflated, taking a step closer to her despite her protests.

"Okay.. You get the shower started, I'll be there in a minute."

"You don't have to..."

"I WANT to. I'm going to. So there."

She sighed this time, stepping to meet him and carefully press a kiss to his lips--that she could feel were set in a frown--without getting any gunk on him. Scurrying to the bathroom before her eyes could adjust enough to the dark to see the expression on his face.

The bathroom light was blinding and made her wince, far brighter than the dimly lit mines or the dark bedroom she was just in. Making her feel exposed in her own home. She tried not to think too hard about it, peeling off her sudden clothes and letting them drop to the floor with a disgusting squelching sound. Actively avoiding her reflection the entire time.

But she must have been a sorry sight, given the horrified gasp her husband let out behind her. She heard his footsteps get closer and felt his arms encircle her waist, pulling her against his chest. His body still sleep warm and like a hot pack on her sore muscles.

"I'm going to kick Lewis's ass next time I see him..." he growled, the sharp anger in his voice juxtaposed by how carefully he held her.

"Hey, now. That's not a nice thing to say about your Aunt's secret boyfriend." She teased, entwining her fingers with his and squeezing his hand.

He groaned in disgust and buried his face in the back of her shoulder, making her giggle.

"Buh...don't remind me.." he grumbled, keeping his face hidden. Squeezing her a a little tighter. "...why did it have to be you, huh? Why couldn't the 'good mayor' deal with it himself? Or Marlon? Isn't that his job? Why do YOU have to be the one put yourself in danger?"

"Because I didn't want anyone else getting hurt." She admitted quietly, looking at the floor. "Seb and Abby go exploring in there and don't have the experience I do. Plus the mines are close to Linus's tent and Seb's house. What if monsters started spilling out of the mines?"

"Well, they're not you, so I don't care." He huffed.

"Shane." She admonished, very gently elbowing his ribs. Not really upset because she knew he didn't mean it, but still.

"Katherine." He shot back, putting his chin on her shoulder now.

"Uh oh. The full name. Am I in trouble?" Still teasing but inwardly a little worried he was actually mad at her. Old habits die hard.

"...I didn't even know you went into the mines tonight. What if something happened? What if you were..." He hid his face again, the only way he could be vulnerable right now. "I can't go through that again. I can't...I can't lose you. I won't."

His voice cracked at the end, and she felt her heart break a little. Of course he was upset, of course he was. After what happened with Jas's parents, how sudden it was and how badly is wrecked him...of course he wouldn't want to lose anyone else. In that moment, she felt like the worst spouse in the world for almost putting him through more heartache.

She twisted around in his arms to face him, pressing her forehead to his.

"I'm sorry I worried you, love. I'm sorry my self preservation skills are shit, and that I didn't tell you where I was. That wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry. there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

He hummed in thought, lower lip jutting out as he did so. The humming going on long enough for her to catch on that he was doing a bit for comedy's sake, and she giggled again.

"I can forgive you...IF.." He paused dramatically, pulling back to arch an eyebrow at her and smirk mischievously.

"If?" She prompted, mirroring his expression.

"If you stay home with me all day tomorrow. Doing nothing but eating mountains junk and watching movies on the couch in our underwear. Aaand if you help me put chicken shit in Lewis's mailbox without getting caught."

She laughed at that, feeling the weight of guilt and exhaustion fall off her bones. Yoba, she loved this man.

"I think I can agree to those terms."

"Yeah?" He grinned, putting his forehead to hers again.

"Yeah." She breathed, leaning to seal the deal with a kiss. One that was reciprocated this time and held an unspoken declaration of love.

"Then let's hit the showers and hit the hay. We got a long day ahead of us~."

[hamletthedane]

Speaking of casual academic flexes in author introductions:

[impawsiblecat]

100 Days of Deathduo

Day 4- Sacrifice au

TW for human sacrifice, as well as main character death because of said sacrifice. Please take care of yourself! <3

Gods don’t need sleep, and yet Icee feels so incredibly tired. The hours are ticking down, down, down, for the ritual that they can watch, but not touch. Sometimes, they think, it would be so much easier if they were human, if they were able to interact with the mortal world outside of the weather they were given control of. 

    They would give up their immortality and powers if it meant no one else had to die in their name, for a pointless reason.

    Icee knows the stories, of course. A companion, given to them to ease the loneliness of the winds and prevent the blizzards from lasting forever. They know the corruption underlying the tales, they can see the leaders using the people’s beliefs and fear to twist the situation at the cost of so many lives. 

    When Icee looks down upon the mortal plane, they can see the unlucky chosen one this time. There is a girl there, her eyes downcast, and she has so much life to live. And yet, Icee can see her counting down her last few minutes. If they pay enough attention, they can hear the pleads the girl is thinking, asking them to stop this, to save her. Icee’s heart aches, hearing her jumbled thoughts. If they could help, they would. 

    They know the girl, of course. They know all of their people in their village, and they watch as the people grow up and find their own way. They mourn for who the corrupted could have been. They cry for the Chosen who are given. They rejoice when the innocent find ways to smile. Icee wants, and wishes for their people to have long, happy lives. They grieve when they are unable to stop the early deaths from happening.

    They have tried before. They have tried to show their displeasure with the ritual, have caused long snowstorms and freezing cold. It didn’t work. More souls came into their possession through unnatural means, because of a sick, twisted corruption, and the freezing temperatures of their rage had caused the people to grow sick and the crops to grow stunted, taking more of the innocent lives they had tried to protect.

    And so Icee watches. Unable to touch. To interact. And when this poor soul came into their care, they would allow her to pass through, and make the afterlife as pleasant as possible, just as they have with all of the other people that had passed through, people chosen to die a pointless death.

    The girl is being led by the leaders to the familiar altar. Icee wants to turn away. They always wish to, but it feels like a disservice to the chosen to ignore them. Their lives are unwillingly taken from them, and it’s because of Icee. And so, they watch, and vow to remember the girl as she is, alive, living. They remember her as a baby, smiling at the flowers blooming outside.  They remember her as a child, creating a snowman and staring in wonder at the snowflakes that Icee had gifted. They remember her as a teenager, praying that the storms would stop scaring a kitten that she had found. They will remember her now, as she walks with her hands clenched tightly to her sides up the stairs leading to her death.

    The memories join those of the other chosen, and Icee will not let them be forgotten. They will not allow their people to disappear, forgotten as a tragedy that never should have happened.

    The girl is standing in front of a small crowd, and Icee can see her parents in the front row. The crowd is somber out of respect, with sad eyes and hearts too full of fear to speak out against the injustice. Icee tunes out the speech of the corrupted. They are no longer worth their attention, and Icee does not wish to hear the lies in every word spoken.

    The hours have become minutes so quickly, and the minutes have become seconds, and one of the corrupted brings a knife out embedded with sapphires and quartz, its decorative nature attempting to overshadow the deaths it had caused. Icee watches as it’s brought up to the girl’s neck, and vows that this time they will honor the girl by watching the entire thing. 

    They do not. They close their eyes when the knife starts to move, just as they always have. Perhaps next time, they will not be a coward, and as they turn away from the scene, disconnect from the mortal realm, they can feel snowflakes drifting down on the altar, on the village.

    Icee focuses on guiding the soul to them, taking care to make sure she does not get lost along the way. The soul is theirs now, even more than she was before, and it is Icee’s duty to make sure she is taken care of, just like all that had come before her. Icee brings her to their temple, with its icy floors and empty hallways, and places her in a bed, in a room filled with all the comforts they can think of. They wait for the girl to arrive, to wake up, in a sense, wake up as much as a dead person can.

    The girl yawns when she sits up, a painfully human trait, and Icee watches as she looks around, her eyes widening when she catches sight of Icee. She tilts her head. She is curious. She has not yet realized what has happened.

    Icee gives her a shaky smile. “Hello Clover.” They say, and proceed to explain, just like they have so many times before. 

[avengerdaisy]

Beau Arlen & Jenny Hoyt in Big Sky [100/∞]

[lavenoon]

Accidentally Undercover - Being a secret agent is a risk, and not a small one

But of course, the story doesn't end there:

It’s still rather early in the morning when his phone vibrates - twice, so not work. That’s something. Everything else can’t be too terribly urgent, so Sun takes his time buttoning up his vest. The matching jacket completes the look, and a glance towards the mirror proves it’s a good one. Perfect. 

Now it’s time to see just who texted him - there aren’t too many options, really. Apart from various automated messages, the only one occasionally texting him would be - 

You.. 

Hi Sun, sorry to ditch you for a while, I’ll be at the hospital for a couple days at least. Appendicitis - hurts like a bitch. If anything happens at home, if it’s not urgent I’ll handle it when I’m back. If it is urgent, you have my express permission to handle it however you see fit. Just don’t burn the house down. 

Toodles,

And signed with your name. So the house being quieter than usual wasn’t just his imagination, or Moon’s, well… He’ll forgive the cursing, too, considering the circumstances. While they fortunately are exempt from ever experiencing appendicitis, they do know just how debilitating the pain can be. For a civilian at that! Maybe he doesn’t know what you work as exactly, but he doubts you encounter pain at your workplace. Hopes it, too.

He types a quick reply, wishing you a speedy recovery, and that he has the house handled - it’s in good condition, so really, a few days will be nothing. 

Finally, Sun addresses the silent presence in his head with a thoughtful hum. 

“I wonder if we should organize a get-well-soon basket. Should I ask what hospital they are staying at?” 

‘...’

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. But at past 8am Moon still isn’t in rest mode - if he insists on staying awake, he can suffer Sun making conversation.

“I know you two never personally met, but they are still your landlord, too!” 

And still Moon remains silent, heavy tension settling in their head. Of course Sun knows what this is about. He may have gotten only a rather clipped rundown of last night’s events, but he knows why they would weigh on his counterpart. 

“Or perhaps you are still worried about someone else?” 

It’s not quite movement, trapped within their thoughts, but he finally feels Moon stir. Got him.

‘I’m not worried.’

Sun doesn’t even consider entertaining that notion. Just a little more…

“No, you’re just brooding so much the entire house feels like a nest. Someone missing his pet bird?” 

There he is.

‘I am not brooding! I’m angry, because the idiot got hurt - they should have been more careful, they know better! They’ve been at this for so much longer than us, as they so kindly remind me almost nightly, and still -!’ 

Wordless frustration saturates him, and only the thought that it isn’t his keeps him from falling down the same rabbit hole of negativity Moon is currently residing in. As it is, Sun gives him the space, and after a moment the emotional wave ebbs away. Still lingering in the far corners of his awareness, but no longer threatening to overtake him, too. 

‘... I’m angry at myself, too. I was right there, I saw, and I didn’t - I didn’t do anything. Just let them get hurt. I should have done something, anything. Pull them away, knock out the guy who literally took a stab at them, I don’t even know - something! And now I won’t even know what happened to them after I took them back to headquarters, because of these stupid secret identities, and I have to wait for them to come back, and… And that’s if they come back.’ 

And Moon wonders just why Sun doesn’t care much for this alleged rivalry - the care with which he speaks of Robin is palpable even under the most mundane circumstances. After all, there really isn’t a reason even Sun would need to know the history behind all their scars. (He is somewhat impressed - their little rival has racked up quite a record on their skin. But he has no doubt that this stab wound will join the list of “tried to kill them and failed”). 

He sets in for a reply - but then Moon interrupts him, subdued. 

‘They have to come back. They have to. This wasn’t supposed to happen.’

Sun rotates his faceplate with a click, then hums again. 

“I’m sure they will be fine, and you can discuss sharing your secret identities during your next shared mission. Quite the intimacy, if I do say so myself ~”

He can feel Moon bristle, and squints happily. Got him. 

‘Wha- We’re not sharing our identities! That’s against the rules and you know it!’

Continuing to hum, he pats down his pockets and looks around the room for the last of his necessary gadgets. 

“Well, you’re the one complaining about the inconvenience. Would rather spend the nights at their bedside -”

‘Will you shut up!’ 

By now he’s laughing freely, glad to have distracted Moon from his own gloomy thoughts. Now he’ll at least be receptive for reassurance. 

“You can always ask the higher ups to deliver a message for you, and who knows, maybe you’ll get one back. Or a gift basket! I’ll go buy some things for our dear landlord after my shift, I can wake you then, and you can pick some supplies for your little bird!” 

Hard to keep a secret when you share a mind - Sun can feel him consider the suggestion, though his continued silence does its best to convince him otherwise. After a long moment, a sigh echoes through their head. 

‘... Fine. But I need you to stop by the pet store, too, and buy some bird food.’

Sun chuckles, but doesn’t get to tease - Moon is in rest mode before he can get another word out. Amused, he shakes his head, leaving the house with still a few minutes to spare in his schedule, despite the delay. 

Rivals, of course.

Y/N, high on painkillers while recovering from a stab wound, receiving two gift baskets: What.

[moonlit-han]

run to (you)

genre: romantic fluff, husband!jisung, est. relationship pairing: han jisung x gender-neutral reader word count: 650 warnings: one (1) mildly suggestive comment, swearing request: no a/n: it’s loving jisung hours (as usual) <3 title references skz’s time out. and just a gentle reminder to please reblog the fanfic you read. it’ll make someone’s day—i promise. thanks!

↠ masterlist in bio  |  comments & feedback appreciated! ↞

↠↞

The rush of the waves had sunk into your bones the moment you stepped onto the sand. You’d never before thought of yourself as a beach person, but the ineffable solemnity, vastness, and calm of the sea had gathered you in its embrace and made you whole. The wildness, the intrinsic untamable nature of the sea spoke to that same part of you that wondered with awe when you gazed at the stars at night. It was as if some part of you that you hadn’t known was empty suddenly filled with the thunder of surf and smell of brine. Looking out over the water all the way to the horizon, you felt so small yet entwined with the fabric of the universe around you more than ever. You felt at peace. You felt at home.

That your husband stood by your side watching the light of the setting sun burnish the waves a brilliant gold only intensified to this feeling. Anywhere Jisung was instantly became home to you—because of him, because he was your home and you were his. Fuck, the fact that Jisung was your husband still took some getting used to. Not that you were complaining. You were the happiest you’d ever been with Jisung by your side. 

As the two of you paused before a breakwater, you swung Jisung into your arms, startling a laugh from your him. With his balance regained, Jisung smiled at you, forever content to let you do whatever you liked. 

Momentarily ignoring the beauty of the sea behind you, you passed your knuckles over the smooth plane of your husband’s cheekbone, then cupped his cheek. In all honesty, all you wanted to do was take in each and every detail of Jisung’s features, to marvel that he was yours. Idly, your thumb gently stroked over the same spot your knuckles had traced as your Jisung leaned into your touch. His eyes fluttered shut until his eyelashes brushed his cheeks with a delicacy you could only hope to achieve. 

“Have I ever told you your hair looks like the waves out there?” You murmured, a small smile growing on your lips. “And that you’re much prettier than the sea?”

“Baby,” Jisung said, eyes opening, “I think you know that’s not true.”

“It absolutely is true,” you countered, shuffling closer to him until your bodies were flush with each other. “I’ll even name all the ways.”

“No, please don—” Jisung began to protest, scrunching his nose.

Staring into his eyes, you mused, “The way your eyes sparkle is even brighter than the sun glinting off the ocean.”

“Cliche as hell, babe.”

You rolled your eyes and continued. “Your hair, as I said, has such pretty waves, just like the curls of those waves out there. And it’s so fucking silky, too, sweetie,” you added, gently threading your fingers through his hair a few times.

Before Jisung could interrupt, you hurried to say, “Your skin is the same honey-gold-brown as the sand.” You took the opportunity to kiss a slice of that skin peaking out between his tank top and over-shirt. “And just as glorious."

“And your voice is just as lovely as the soft susurration of the sea.”

“Baby…” Jisung breathed.

“And don’t even get me started on how your hips can roll like the tides,” you smirked.

Jisung blushed, shaking his head. “You’re too much, Y/N,” he said.

“Nothing I said was a lie,” you insisted. “You’re fucking gorgeous and deserve to hear it all the time. Maybe I’ll capture these words in a conch shell for you to listen to when I’m not there. So you’ll always know you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen and that I love you.”

Even in the soft evening light, you could see the sparkle of Jisung’s eyes as he blinked back tears. He didn’t bother responding, simply leaned in and kissed you with such tenderness, it nearly took your breath away.

[spottedenchants]

Relationship: Essek Thelyss ~ Caleb Widogast

Additional Tags: Established Relationship, POV Caleb Widogast, Post-Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Domestic Fluff, Kissing, Sexual Tension, Puns & Word Play

Words: 1.5k

Summary:

Essek is well-read, yes. Well-spoken, too.

Even still, he doesn’t have the sound quite right on ‘quiche’.

-

AKA Essek mispronounces a key word, and Caleb decides to do a few things about it

[aluneposting]

what do you MEAN i have to edit 20k of porn by MYSELF 😭😭