#sorry for the delay in posting this. I have been VERY busy lol

[chuunibyou-showdown]

And so, the champion of the 2023 Chuunibyou Showdown is the our Main Bracket winner, the Sinful Crimson Fallen Angel of Judecca himself, Anghel Higure! Congratulations! Our other winners are as follows:

Loser’s Bracket Victor: Grimnir (R2 Loser’s Bracket Winner) Round 1 Loser’s Bracket Winner: Ichiban Kasuga Round 3 Loser’s Bracket Winner: Rintaro Okabe “Too Old For This” Bonus Poll Winner: Don Quixote

This concludes 2023’s Chuunibyou Showdown! Fear not, for this is not the end of all things — Fate decrees that this clash shall be held once more in a year or so. Not only that, but I shall maintain this venerable blog to rally forces to vote for chuunis in other battles!

[amakumos]

CUPID’S CONFLICT — eighteen ; is there hope for jakey/n

as the new admins of cupid’s corner, gunwook and eunchae make it their mission to get back some of the couples that jungwon’s girlfriend had unintentionally broken up. one of the couples on their list are you and jake sim, also known as the self proclaimed “rizzler of oz”. you haven’t talked to jake since the breakup — because one, you don’t think you’re quite over him yet, and two, you have zero reason to speak to him! that is, until eunchae works her “magic” — she decides to post a confession (apparently coming from jake himself), saying that he still loves you.

eighteen－is there hope for jakey/n! previous ☆ next ♡ masterlist

author's note. sorry for the late delay in posts :( i've been busy lately and i know ive said that id post soon all the time n im very sorry for not sticking to what ive said :/ its quite hard since im struggling to motivate myself to post lol... cupids cure will probably be my last smau ever lol bc i dont think ill even be able to put out fics starting from next year due to school

CUPID'S CURE! a jake smau. genre: smau, crack, fluff pairing: non-idol! jake x non-idol! reader warnings: swearing, ignore timestamps taglist is CLOSED!

[cowboybarzy]

Can you write something where Mat and his girlfriend get pregnant and it’s not bad but it’s super unexpected and they are very surprised and unsure about everything when it comes to a baby?

unexpected - mat barzal

thank you sm for the request!! loved thinking & writing about this!! sorry for the delay, this has been written for a long time I just delayed posting this lol

word count: 1.5k

PART 2 OUT NOW PART 2.1 PART THREE

Pregnant. Not one, not two, but four tests confirmed it. Crap.

Tears escaped your eyes, the anxiety eating at you until you ended up crying on the bathroom floor. You were not ready for a baby at all. You loved your boyfriend a lot and had just moved in with after two years together, but both of you were still young and your careers were just really taking off. You had finally gotten your masters and years of hard work and landed a good job and Mat had just signed an amazing deal with the Islanders that would put his career on another level. Throwing a baby into the mix, when you were both so busy already, was not ideal. However, picturing Mat with a little baby in his arms made your heart melt.

After you calmed down and processed the information with a clear mind, you had a couple of hours before Mat would be coming home from a road trip. No matter how many times you played out telling him the news, you got more and more anxious. Mat was a sensitive person and you knew he wouldn't get angry or leave you, but this was huge news at the wrong time.

"Babe? I'm home!," Mats voice rang through the apartment. You hadn't heard him come in or even checked your phone where he'd let you know he was on his way. You smiled softly at him from the couch you were sitting on when he stepped into the living room. He sported a big smile on his face and held a small bouquet of flowers in his hands. "How are you?"

You stood up to hug him tightly, burying your face in the crook of his neck. He was only gone for a few days, but you'd missed him terribly, especially now with you being unexpectedly pregnant, you really needed that hug. You pulled back to kiss him and thank him for the flowers.

"Maty? I need to talk to you." You suddenly got serious, sitting back down, not being able to keep this news bottled up inside you any longer.

"What's wrong?," he asked with concern in his voice when he heard how chocked up you got. With a deep breath and nervously fumbling with your hands, you just blurted it out: "I'm pregnant."

You looked up at him and saw his face go blank. He stared at you for a few seconds before sitting down next to you. "Wha- I- How?"

"I don't know," you whispered. "I guess when I was sick a couple of weeks ago I missed a day or the meds messed with it, I don't know."

"Fuck." He slid his hands through his hair. After a long nervous pause, he broke the silence again. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." You exchanged a glance. "I mean it's not like we're in a bad place right now, but it's not how I pictured us having a family."

"So you wanna keep it?"

"I don't know," you answered. "I think so."

He nodded, buried his face in his hands and then finally got up. "Ok. I- I need to process this." Then he turned around and left. You broke down crying the second you heard the apartment door slam shut. You knew he wouldn't be thrilled, but you didn't think he'd leave you.

But not even a minute after you heard the door slam, Mat came rushing back and wrapped his arms around you. "I'm sorry," he whispered against your head. "That was such a dick move. I'm sorry."

You cried more, clinging to his body for comfort. "Please don't leave me again. I'm scared. I don't know how to do this."

"Fuck, me too. I'm sorry, I panicked. But I won't leave you again. I promise," he mumbled and kissed the top your head. "We'll figure it out, eh?"

You nodded, staying silent, kind of just processing the fact that you were going to be parents.

***

Over the next couple of weeks things were definitely a little bit awkward in your relationship. You didn't really know how to act around each other, still adjusting to the enormous news you got. But you shared small gestures, glances, and kisses to reassure each other you were in this together and that you wouldn't leave the other.

Today, you had your first doctor's appointment, and you were definitely nervous. But the idea of having a little Mat walk around definitely grew on you and as scared as you were, you couldn't wait to see the little baby.

And you were glad Mat got to be there as well, holding your hand and asking the doctor just as many questions as you, if not more. "So it's ok to have sex?"

You turned red when he asked that question, but the doctor just chuckled. "Yes, that's perfectly safe."

"And there's some foods she can't eat, right?"

"Yes, I'll give you some brochures that will outline what's not recommended and if you still have questions you can always call and ask. Want to see the baby now?"

She got everything set up and walked you through whatever was showing on the monitor. You were shaking, anxious but excited at the same time. When you finally heard the heartbeat, your heart burst. But it wasn't until you looked over to your boyfriend and saw the huge smile on his face that you started to tear up. You squeezed his hand and his eyes wandered to you. You shared a meaning look, before looking back at the screen, watching the baby.

"Looks like you're about 9 weeks along. The heartbeat is strong, everything looks good." The doctor ran some more tests and took some pictures, before giving you a couple of minutes.

As soon as the door closed, Mat leaned over and kissed you. Surprised by his abruptness, it took you a couple of seconds to adjust, but then you kissed him back with just as much passion. Seeing your little baby and hearing it's heartbeat made you overcome with so much happiness you could burst. "We got this, eh?," he laughed, pressing kiss after kiss to your lips.

"Yeah, we got this."

***

Later that night, you woke up by Mat shaking you awake. "What?," you asked groggily, slapping his hand away.

"Should we get married?" Well that question certainly woke you up.

"What?," you asked, finally opening your eyes and looking up at him.

"Should we get married? I mean, we're having a baby. Shouldn't we be married? And a house. We need a house. This apartment isn't big enough. The little guy is gonna need space and a yard and-"

You stopped him with a soft chuckle by placing your fingers against his lips before he hyperventilated. "Maty, relax." You sat up and turned your bedside lamp on to be able to see him better. "We don't need to get married, not right now. And how do you know it’s going to be a boy?"

“I have a feeling.” He shrugged with a grin.

“A feeling? Okay. What if we have a girl?”

“A mini version of you? I don’t mind that at all.” You leaned against him with a smile. “You don't want to get married?"

"Of course I do, but this isn't how I imagined it. I don't want to get married because we have to. We can take our time, no rush." You stroked his cheek and kissed him gently, before falling back into your pillows.

"Ok, so no wedding any time soon, what about about a house?”

“Ma-at! I’m tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?,” you groaned. He laid back down behind you, but hovered above you, holding himself up on his elbow.

“You’re saying no to marrying me and me buying you a house?,” he teased. A small grin formed on your face.

“I didn’t say no to the house.” He chuckled in response.

“So you’re gonna let me buy you a house?”

“I mean, I’m not gonna stop you, but we can take our time with that, too. Babies don’t walk until around their first birthday.”

“No, I’ll buy you a house. You’re carrying our kid. Seems like a fair exchange.”

You opened your eyes and turned to look at him. “Yeah, it does sound fair, huh?” He chuckled and tickled you, before calming down to kiss you. “Now will you let your pregnant future house owner sleep in peace, please?” You turned back around, getting comfortable.

“You could also be a fiancée,” he said to which you kicked him in the legs. “Ow! I’m just saying.”

“You can propose to me, but don’t do it because you think you have to,” you explained again, hoping he would let you sleep now. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close to his body. His hand slipped under you shirt, nestling on your lower stomach, right where the baby was.

“Okay, we’ll talk about it again soon.”

“Mhm. G’d night.” You placed your hand on top of his. You were suddenly filled with so much warmth and happiness and you knew everything would be fine. You might have a lot of learning to do when it comes to raising a child, but you’d figure it out. Together. “Love you.”

“Good night. I love you.”

[sgiandubh]

Mordor says He returned only for Visa reasons. They did some math and understood that Sam had been there for almost 90 days, só It was time for a quick walk home.

Dear Visa Anon,

Which Mordor luminary came with this idea? The MENSA-level CRT Clique or Miss Marple, who thinks I know nothing (the Dimwit from Madrid is still learning how to spell, so I can't believe it's her)?

Regardless. These people should immediately stop watching Ninety-Day Fiancé on their cable network, following a severe overdose on Uzbek midgets and Egyptian gigolos 'looking for true love' stories.

Maybe they could also have checked their facts before solemnly stating bullshit, since they clearly think all the visitors to the wonderful U S of A are tourists and as such, entitled to a maximum 90-day stay at a time (and then a short hike to Tijuana or Canada and back on tracks: not EDI/GLA, FFS!).

Incidentally, may I remind these geniuses that S has been spotted only near EDI, which of course would mean for them he'd be getting his visa there. Unless...

Unless you know the US General Consulate in EDI does not issue any type of visas - LOL, idiots. And unless he'd need to be in LHR for the pre-appointed interview and then another 7 working days delay for processing and 1-3 working days for passport delivery by mail only (never in person, chickadees). Doesn't really click with timelines, Madam Expert.

Because they are all very intelligent, they also forgot everything about/never bothered to look for the new-ish ESTA system (https://www.handyvisas.com/esta-us-visa/british/), especially designed for Visa Waiver countries' citizens. So I insist: if traveling as a tourist, S does not need a visa to enter the US for up to 90 days - that is correct, but by no means applicable to S's reality. And if he knew he'd need to stay more than 90 days, he would have applied for a visa - mandatory - in London before the Summer of Sassenach tour.

But he is not traveling as a tourist and very probably not under another type of non-immigrant visa, simply because he has businesses there and he is also involved in the OL project with *** (d'oh!).

Let's unpack:

As per US current regulations, S cannot apply for a B-1 (business non immigrant visa). To understand why, kindly refer to the US Customs and Border Protection FAQ (https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/B-1%20permissible%20activities.pdf). I already munched it up for you:

He could only apply for a O-1 B immigration visa, for which his agent or employer should mandatorily petition the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. These are special visas designed for the individual who (...) has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements. This is very subjective and a contract with * should be enough - I was in a taxi when I received your ask and immediately checked with a friend from the US Consulate, to indulge you. And all this hassle just because a Tumblr Nobody has flatulent opinions, huh?

According to the USCIS's own regulations, not Dutch fantasy or Belfast sagas, the authorized period of stay and possibility of extension are as follows (https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/o-1-visa-individuals-with-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement):

The good thing about getting this visa (and I think * sorted it out a long time ago for both of them) is that it helps tremendously with the Green Card procedures, something I bet the farm both S & C already have, by now.

So doing the maths was perfectly inane and useless.

Does that answer your question, clever Anon? Can I go back to the Quaich post I must finish (it will be VERY long, beware) today?

Thanks for asking and I am sorry for the length: this fandom being paranoid, I had to include all the tedious details. I hope we can put this idiocy to rest, now. Parochial twits.

[thiscomicruinedmylife]

Yello, first of all, thank you for fueling my seven/eight years long obsession because you're one of the very few content creators about Zombillenium. Second of all, completely unserious question, what do you think Léonie and Blaise's (It's his name in french I dunnae ken if you're french or not but it's the werewolf) baby would be named?

Ayoooo glad to bring some joy to a fellow fan!!!

(Let's imagine that's me bringing you some joy, I never figured how and why would I post these specific images, so it's nice to finally solve this riddle out) ((Also sorry for the delayed answer! Life's been kinda busy and merciless to me these past few weeks)) About your question though uhhh damn it I can't come up with anything to be honest :D (I'm no french but I do know who Blaise is, sadly I was (is?) THAT obsessed with the comic to know characters' original names) Sorry to disappoint but I think the kid would be named something basic and/or boring lol. Andrew seems like a very responsible and decent (were)man and Leonie also seems like a no-nonsense kind of woman. Orrr maybe they'll come up with something sophisticated, also 'cause they're both so responsible and serious. Could be anything really. Now that I think about it some more they could do the most basic thing ever and name the kid after Gretchen or Sirius or something lololol. Let me know your thoughts, maybe you have some ideas? Now I'm curious... Tell you what though, back in the active fan days my friends and I were cooking a lot of headcanons, and we came up with the idea that some werewolves were having kids while working in the park, and Francis had to come up with some sort of activities for the lil' were-shits, since I assume they'll be quite destructive while young. We thought it would be funny if the little werewolves had a hockey team and kid Astaroth would also be there and be as destructive and aggressive if not worse lol. The funny part is the kid's team would be put out against grown ass zombies or vampires and kids would kick their rears every damn time. I even wrote a ficlet and all ha I'm realizing that's not answering your question AT ALL, but I've wanted to ramble with someone who's been in this swamp for as long as I so forgive me :D

(That's how 2017 me imagined lil' Astaroth would look like btw)

[subwaytostardew]

Update: One year on the tracks!

It's been a year (and a week) since we first started working on this mod! April 25th is when I first started working on this project! Terrible timing since that's literally the day before my birthday and I'm too busy to make anniversary updates the day of. Thank you everyone following this mod despite how slow we chug along!

If you see the first ever post Thylak did over on his main - you will just see my little comments discovering his work and instantly being like

*Fast excited ADHD typing* I GOT IDEAS.

Rest is history....

We've been hard at work trying to get the mod complete enough for a (still unfinished...) release! It won't have everything we have planned (marriage events, Elesa events, platonic route, roommateable Cilan, etc.) because it would take forever otherwise (we keep getting ideas for additions...)

So many ideas. Sometimes we have to dial it back...... The amount of times events had to be cut down for concision... and we still struggle to keep them under 8 minutes...

1.6 broke a lot, so sorry for the delay in updates! (WHY CA WHY!) We've been having to do a lot of backtracking and behind-the-scenes work. (SO MUCH BACKTRACKING) Pretty much every event broke. I have to resprite all the portraits to match the vanilla-size because HD Portraits is still not updated. The schedules need fixing.

But despite all of that, the station bundles are done! We also redid the house exterior for submas because it was ugly. I did not know how to do pixel art a year ago. Nor did I know how to decorate maps. They have a whole new area off to the side of the Railroad now!

We hot potatoed that map so much. First Thylak would work on it. Then I did. Then back to him...

Still need to get around to adjusting their schedules to switch their coordinates to the new map when they're working on the Railroad. Previously, they were just pacing around in the various empty areas of the Railroad. Now they have trains.

The house itself was actually two different structures with a seperate clock tower but then we decided it looked better overlapping the bit of roof peeking out. It's much less flat now.

Submas have a mailbox that adheres to Stardew's perspective.

No longer is the house a cardboard cut out with shading and lighting. LOL (I didn't know how to sprite buildings!!! I put all my effort into Emmet's walk cycle!)

Also speaking of mail boxes... since it been a year; I'm sure all ya'll are curious to how we do our modding, story, etc. We encourage you to hit the mail car button and ask away (so many of you already have) But since it's been a year. Go Crazy.

But I will nip the common asks tho.

Some Common Asks.

"Is this mod SVE (Stardew Valley Expanded) Compatible?"

No.... Unfortunately due to the complexity of both mods. (Ours due to railroad being used. And SVE already expanding on a bunch of stuff) It will just be compatible with vanilla and any mods that does not replace or edit the railroad (majorly).

We did move submas's house over to the side so it won't overlap the farm it adds or impede any space that you want to use the Railroad's empty spots of land for, but it's still very much a "play at your own risk" type of thing. I'm not familiar enough with SVE to code compatibility for it (not familiar at all actually... I don't play the game enough! All my time is spent working on the mod! All I do is stare at google docs and type walls of text! I'm not interested in SVE anyways for personal reasons.)

SVE is infamous in the modding scene since it changes pretty much every map and steps on other mods with incompatibility. I don't want to deal with making two seperate events with the coordinates/movements edited for compatibility. It should be compatible with most other expansion mods like Ridgeside Village or East Scarp since they mostly keep to their seperate areas and not edit things unless necessary (like submas do now)! SVE changes too much to gurantee compatibility and for the sake of my sanity I won't provide it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, pick and choose for that save.

So.. SVE and our mod. Incompatible....

"Release Date?"

Unfortunately it is still undetermined! (Due to our busy schedules.)

(For example - I myself work 2 jobs and currently going through a lot of chaotic life stressors.....)

However, we will make a progress post soon about how much left on our list where we are satisfied with moving onto the next stage of our mod which is.

There's actually not much new content planned until we're ready for initial release, we mostly have a lot of behind the scenes cleanup and backtracking. I still have portraits to do (I took a break... switched off to mapping). Event-wise I want Emmet's 10 heart event to be done and a few station/side events we have in the drafts. We'll need more festival dialogue (since... they don't show up unless if I have stuff for year two for some reason). After that, we get into more fun stuff! Patches!

PATCHES! Oh we love a good mod patch! And we have a lot planned. Meaning there's still more ahead on the tracks!

"Are they romancable?"

Yes. Yes they are. HOWEVER! WE DO SEE YOU AROACE COMMUNITY! And we will be making a route that will be planned in the next comming phase to make them platonic relations as well!

It's the first stop on our intinerary! We'll release the platonic route alongside the marriage event update so there's something for everyone.

We are just following vanilla format at the moment as it is easier coding wise. And also a good place to start planning where the branches are going to happen. Making roomates is a bit more complex... I have to make a custom item for "proposal" much like the void pendant.

I think that covers the common asks... OH!

Also! Since we have released the Joltik Adoption aspect as a separate mod as well as a little fun tease (And test run) - before we actually drop Subway to Stardew. So sorry the event didn't work at first! I was testing on the main expansion mod. Should be fixed now!

We recommended that if you find any JOLTIKS. Scurrying around. Causing trouble. (Aka Bugs.) Please send in an ask! Or head over to Nexus to drop a bug report! It will help iron out some things that we may not be aware about before release!

And when we do release we HIGHLY encourage the bug reports cause it's just two of us... <_< and those Joltiks get into everything! (Doesn't help that THYLAK KEEPS THROWING THEM EVERYWHERE! I find them in my paperwork... and Atwood's bedding.... My poor Phantump. He can't catch a wink without a Joltik scurrying all over the place!)

It's just me doing all the coding (All. Of. It.) so I hope you all can continue to be patient while I work on things! Sorry if I miss some things! We probably won't playtest too extensively before the initial release, so please do report any bugs you find then!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[rickie-the-storyteller]

Steph's Crew - Book 3 Summary

I was meant to post this last year to sort of close the Steph-related content and focus more on other projects. Actually, I was meant to post a lot of things last year...

Bretanie analysis (on here)

Season 1 of AU (on my second blog)

Jekyll and Hyde, but in the modern world (I've been working on that for fun on the side, and I've decided to post the full story on Wattpad)

Revealing the identity of the secret blogger (I'll probably do it in this post, since it is relevant to this part of the story as well)

I've been so busy, y'all. Sorry for the delays.

I just want to make sure I have time to do everything as best as I possibly can, so you can enjoy it. I think it was less pressure posting the Steph's Crew dialogues and snippets because they were old pieces of work, and since the time I first wrote them, I've neatened it up and made it considerably better than it was... I know that the stuff I've shared isn't the final product, so I don't feel the urge to make it perfect. At least not to the extent that I do with all these other projects lol.

Hopefully this can help make up for lost time. I'll get to the other posts mentioned on that list as soon as possible, but until then... here's a summary of the third and final instalment of Steph's Crew!

Enjoy!

Keep in mind that I'm still working on this one. It isn't finished yet, but I wanted to give you guys a rough idea of how it goes. And prepare for this, because it's pretty unhinged lol. I collaborated with my sister on some of the wackier ideas...

Book 3 is titled "Story of a Broken Thing." It picks up where Book 2 ends off, more or less (or at least, it fills us in on what went down since the end of Book 2). If you can't remember how UVC ended, then here's a link to that summary:

But to put it briefly, the crew have successfully solved the mystery, Brelise have split up again, Bret's gone on tour with his band, Dalice are together, Bephanie is over, and Stephanie got arrested... but then escaped from holding. Nobody knows where she could have gone.

Which leads us to Book 3. It is set a couple of years later (I think about 5 years after Book 2 ended), and a lot of stuff has happened in all that time...

Dylan and Alice have broken up. Wasn't meant to be, I guess. But don't worry - they're still friends, and there's no bad blood between them or anything.

Victor and Jen have unfortunately split up as well, leading to Jen moving back to Texas. Alice decides to go with her. She's doing alright - currently taking some classes at a local college, and helping out at her old dance studio in her spare time. She's also still making YouTube videos.

Bret's band is still doing well. They're not touring anymore at the moment, but they are super busy recording a new album, and filming music videos. Plus, they have been asked to perform at the Jingle Bell Ball towards the end of the year, which is very exciting. Even though he has moved back to the UK, because of the nature of Bret's job, he can't just stay in London with his aunt anymore like how he used to... but he still comes to visit her as often as possible. And he and Elise are still close friends, so that's cool. He's been seeing other people over the past couple of years, though.

Elise and Charlie are together. She decided to give him a chance. They're really happy together and they seem to have a pretty healthy, solid relationship for the most part (they've been together for two years straight by the time Book 3 has started). Charlie still harbours some degree of jealousy/wariness towards Bret, though, since she's still really good friends with him. He's never once brought it up to her, though. But it becomes a big deal in this part of the story... more on that later.

Ben isn't really in this part of the story... at least not until towards the end, when Stephanie randomly decides to call him for some reason. But he's doing fine. Moved back to his cooking job from Book 1 lol. It was good money, and now he doesn't have another person to share it with! Wait, that sad-

And by now, Dylan, Connor (who has finally moved on from Daisy! Thank God), Elise and Charlie have all finished their university courses. Yay!

In fact, this is what kickstarts the plot. Dylan's family (we get to see them again in this one! Specifically his mother, her new husband and his younger brother Sam. I feel like we didn't get enough of them last time) is very proud of him for finishing such a long, tough course (3 years, + 1 foundation year + 1 year of masters), and they decide to reward him with an epic summer trip to Australia. And it is during this holiday that he sees Steph again (she's not in Australia btw - he sees her when he goes with a family friend to the Samoan islands).

She fills him in on how she got there. I haven't neatly worked this part out... but basically, Reggie helped her leave the country (idk whether to make him a villain or some kind of loose cannon/antihero type of guy. Like, he's awful most of the time, but he's also one of Stephanie's oldest friends, and he can be genuinely nice when he wants to be. Especially to her. He needs to be in trouble tho lol. I think the thing about him is that he gets away with his awful behaviour easily, whereas Stephanie is kind of forced to be held accountable, even if she actively runs away from the consequences of her actions sometimes...)

After that, she was stuck on her own again for a while and needed a job. So she applied for a job at a local Natia hotel (Natia is a famous line of hotels... kind of like Hilton, to give a known real-life example). She didn't have enough money for a cab or bus, so she had to walk the whole way there through heavy rain. By the time she got there, she looked terrible lol. But when she arrived, she bumped into a handsome young man who kindly helped her out. He got her a room and some clothes to change into, which helped in making a good first impression and whatnot. She got the job!

Later, she found out that the guy's name was Jordan Natia. The son of the hotel line founder (he also owns the hotel she got a job at). She thanks him for her help, and he invites her for dinner... and the rest is history.

And by history, I mean she ends up marrying him lol. Dylan finds out that she now lives at the resort that he and his family friend are currently staying at. She also has a baby daughter named Mia (short for Miranda. Not suspicious at all). She loves her life so much right now. She's always prided herself on being a strong independent woman who can take care of herself, but she's surprised at how much she's enjoying being a stay-at-home mother and housewife lol. She loves spending time with her baby, and she loves her husband a lot, too. He takes good care of her. However, similar to Ben, he doesn't really know all that much about her (Jordan goes through a similar arc to Ben's in Book 2, where he finds out the truth about Stephanie, and it changes the way he sees her. Minus the cheating lol).

Dylan is shocked at how much Steph has changed since the last time he saw her, but he's happy for her at the same time. He can see that she's genuinely happy and seemingly at peace, which is great.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Charlie has decided to propose to El. He's taking it VERY seriously - even asked for her family's blessing and everything. They all said yes... even Adam lol (he's grown to like Charles by now). One summer evening, he pops the question (in a truly beautiful and romantic way btw), and Elise says yes in the moment, but she doesn't know if she truly feels ready for marriage yet. Something about the situation feels wrong to her, but she doesn't know what it is. However, instead of communicating her mixed feelings to her now fiance, she decides to distract herself with hangouts with her family and friends, as well as getting into her work and other hobbies, preferring to think about anything other than her problems (man, does THIS sound familiar lol). Charlie starts noticing a change in El's behaviour and it begins to really upset him (especially since Bret is one of the people she starts spending more time with, and we all know how she feels about him), causing more strain in their relationship. It only gets worse when they find out about Stephanie's whereabouts...

Dylan messages the others about his trip everyday through a group chat. One night he reveals that he's reunited with an old friend of theirs and sends a picture of him and Stephanie hanging out. The others are shocked. Elise especially.

The situation started becoming somewhat of a controversy in the news... people started talking about it more online, many blogs and news websites (including The Looking Glass) started covering it. Alice made a video on YouTube talking about it (and it came from the unique angle of her knowing the person from school and being their friend and everything. She didn't mention Steph by name, though). It blew her channel up.

The story of Stephanie's escape was quickly resurfacing back into people's minds after being forgotten for such a long time. And this wasn't good for Steph lol. Especially after finally making a life for herself that she was genuinely truly happy in.

But that's not the end of the story.

I'll tell you the rest in part 2 of this summary!

[emeryhiro]

Thank you so much for answering my questions last week!! Your answers were so insightful and interesting, and have made me even more excited for the book of carol!!

That's awesome to hear that you're more confident about caryl canon after watching ep one. I totally agree with you about how them being alone will open up opportunities for it in a way it never has before. And i agree that if it doesn't happen, it's probably because Melissa & Norman don't want it (which I'd be super disappointed about but would respect their choice). But from everything I've seen, i also think they do want things to go in that direction!

Haha emotional and unhinged are great words to describe caryl in general! And I'm excited for nostalgia. The emojis are intriguing! They're making me think Carol blows up a plane, hopefully once she's safely in France lol! And that's interesting about how the people at the nest treat Daryl, that also frustrated me in s1!

I had a couple of other questions but no worries if you can't answer any of them:

1 Do we see anything specifically relating to Carol from Daryl's pov in this ep? Or is he talking generally about 'people at home'?

2 What did you think of the opening credits?

3 Did you see the ep title? I'm really curious about what that might be!

4 Where would you rank the ep in terms of your fave twd eps?

Thanks again for everything you've shared! I love how you've given us hopeful teasers without spoiling the details!

Hey Anon ♡

You're so welcome!!! I've been having a lot of fun answering your questions, so feel free to let me know if you have any others, and to be honest, I'm happy with any excuse to talk about Caryl 😅

Mild spoiler warning for my response to question 1 ♡

1) No, there was no situation where Daryl directly spoke about Carol. However, I do think there's a good reason for it, which I've spoken about in detail in a previous post [HERE]. It's also important to note the screen time division; episode one is about 85% Carol and 15% Daryl, so we don't get many scenes with him and very little dialogue. The dialogue that we do hear from him sounds very frustrated and resentful as if he's tired of being held back by the Nest and wants to leave as soon as possible (like he's rushing a resolution for the conflict in France).

The line below that we hear in the teaser is actually in episode 1, and it's the only time he references anything about home.

"I don't know if this is the place I'm supposed to be. I've been thinking about all the people I left behind, wondering if they're still thinking about me."

This is then followed by a few other lines where, in no uncertain terms, he says that he doesn't think he'd ever be happy at the nest.

2) I loved the opening credits; there were some really nice animated scenes of Carol that I really liked, and my favourite is the closing shot of the opening credits which is one of Carol and Daryl together. 🥰

3) No, unfortunately, I don't remember seeing or hearing anything about the episode title. But I think they'll announce the title either during San Diego or the following week, but most probably during the next screening of episode one that's being held on the 26th of July (tonight).

4) Honestly, episode 1 is now my favourite episode of TWD. It hit all the right emotional notes and delved deep into Carol's mindset, which is way overdue. It also had the walker action and suspense that left me on the edge of my seat (literally) the entire time. Melissa is incredibly talented and has everything it takes to play a leading character, especially one like Carol, who has so much depth and layers.

I have no doubt that the rest of the episodes will be just as good, if not better, especially the reunion episode!! And I'm confident that this season will be my favourite of all time, from any show.

~~~~

Thanks again for the questions! Once again, they were a joy to answer😊🩵 I'm sorry if this was a little delayed. I've been very busy with my uni finals during the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to wait until I had enough time to give your questions proper responses.

Also, I can't believe today is the day we finally see the trailer!!! I'm SO EXCITED, and my brain/emotions are already on overdrive. I also apologise in advance 'cause I already know I'm gonna be over analysing it and sharing my thoughts as soon as I can 😅

[frickatives]

[ch1] against better judgement: the blunder [f!reader bounty hunter x mando]

[read on AO3] [masterlist] [previous chapter] [next chapter]

[a/n] thank you so much for the love on the first part of this story!!! I haven't shared my writing in forever, it was really lovely to see people having fun reading it. Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out -- I was originally planning on updating every monday, but given that orchestra season is starting back up (and has already caused me to fall behind lol), I may only be able to aim for every other monday. This chapter is a lot of setup (and hardly any dialog, which is very odd for me) -- I promise chapter 2 will be packed with reader x mando interaction, but wanted to establish some things about our mc to start with 🌝

if you missed last week's post, you can find the intro/prologue here!

also, if you'd like to be added to the taglist please leave a comment saying so, I'll happily tag you when ch 2 is out (and thank you for your interest in my lil fic!!) ❤️

[warnings/tags] canon typical violence, gore, mentions of death and injury, use of drugs that cause loss of consciousness, stabbing, too many hours spent on wookiepedia, thirst for sweet vengeance, fem!reader, no use of y/n, the slowest burn, enemies to lovers, bounty hunter reader, comically hostile workplace

[wc] 3k

Chapter 1: The Blunder

When you look back over the rock, he's gone. 

You take a deep, shaking breath, forcing air around the lump of rage lodged somewhere behind your tongue. You can take him. He doesn't have his little gang to back him up, this time. You have the element of surprise on your side, and it'll be one on one. Him versus you. 

Well, technically, him versus you versus a bunker-full of unfriendly goons and the bounty, but they're inconsequential. You can handle goons and bounties in your sleep. This one was human, and some kind of smuggler – you hadn't read the details closely. Small payout for a small-time crook, not worth paying much attention. They all start to blur together, anyway; one bounty is as ill-tempered and violent as the next. You only hope this one won't talk too much on the transport back to Coruscant, after you dispatch the Mando and finish the hunt.

Tracking the bounty had been easy enough. He's sloppy with his long range comms, and you know he's here, in this particular bunker, to pick up some cargo. It's a popular spot for smugglers, and likely full to bursting with people who don't take kindly to a couple of bounty hunters conducting business and settling scores in their midst. Definitely a high likelihood of violence, even before you go head-to-head with your competition. 

You tug your linen mask up over your mouth and nose, securing it to your helmet. No sense in flashing your face to a bunch of lowlifes, or in giving the Mandalorian the opportunity to recognize you – at least, not before you've got your knife buried in his heart.

You take another breath. Steadier, this time.

Your blaster is gassed-up and fully charged. Your blades are sharpened and freshly coated in your homebrewed millaflower concentrate. Your glaive – useless, probably, in a cramped bunker – is collapsed and strapped across your back. You have a respectable arsenal at your disposal. You can do this.

You're doing this.

Keeping low to the ground, you cover the distance between your temporary hideout and the door to the bunker. The metal is scorched, and there's a blasted-out hole where the locking mechanism should be. Completely inelegant. It hadn't even been a complicated lock – easy to pick, if he'd bothered to try. 

Faint sounds of violence escape through the damaged hatch. Blaster fire, and shouts of pain and panic. You pry it open and let it fall aside, sending whorls of fine dust curling around your boots.

You kneel and swing yourself through the opening, down into the bunker. Muted sunlight collects in the small chamber below – not much more than a vestibule and a single door. 

The air is significantly cooler and more damp even a few feet below the surface. Most of the walls are covered in formations of foul-smelling mold, painting the bunker with bright greens and pinks and yellows. You tug your mask a little tighter over your nose and grimace, heart pounding in your ears.

The noise is louder now. The door recessed into the wall bows in the middle, like it was recently forced open and struggled to close itself as programmed. Inelegant, you think again. Clearly, this Mandalorian's style is much less stealth-and-surprise, favoring the shock-and-awe approach to bounty hunting. 

As if to punctuate that thought, something explodes in the next room, igniting a new series of frantic orders and blaster repeats. You suppose, if you were covered in mystical armor and strapped with muscle from a lifetime of training, you might be louder about your work, too. 

As it is, though, you leverage your own skills to your advantage: an uncanny knack for tech that once carried you through one of the Core Worlds' top universities, and a commitment to discretion. Your former mentor once described you as having "a quiet step, a face people forgot the second they looked away, and an unchecked penchant for petty theft." You still don't know if it was a compliment. It's always hard to tell, with him. 

The door leaps against its frame when something big slams against it from the opposite side. It groans like it wants to give up on being a door entirely.

You tuck yourself against the slick, rotting wall and draw your blaster, flicking the safety off with your thumb, eyes pinned to the door, waiting for more movement. The tracking fob clipped to your belt blinks patiently.

A long, quiet moment passes. Almost enough to convince you of the door's innocence. 

Just in case, though, you activate the Knock protocol you built into your personal comlink. ("Comlink" is selling it short. At this point, the thing strapped to your wrist is a homunculus of ongoing pet projects.) As designed, it sends a wide-range ping and opens data-only connections to any nearby comlink receivers, displaying the results as flickering dots on the cheap, glitchy little display you attached to it.

Dozens of dots are down here with you, some moving and many sitting still, including one just on the other side of the door.

Finger easing towards blaster trigger, you elbow the door control and it reluctantly trundles open. Someone's body – a Mon Calamari with a significant blaster burn in the center of his chest – slumps through the doorway. One unmoving comlink dot accounted for.

You draw one of your twin knives and test the weight of it in your free hand.  

If the student you were a decade ago saw you now – holding a sizable, serrated knife and a blaster pistol, creeping your way into an active bunker fight with a healthy case of bloodlust for a Mandalorian – she'd be horrified. You're nothing like the future she envisioned for herself. You don't live in the same galaxy she did – so much shifted in the intervening years, warping you into a person with far fewer compunctions about violence.

Speaking of violence: to business.

None of the excitement beyond is aimed in your direction, so you breach, stepping over the motionless Mon Calamari. 

You don't see the Mandalorian. You don't see much of anything, at all. The air is thick with smoke and debris, and the low-ceilinged room is a labyrinth of crates and cargo. It's all illegal or stolen (or both) goods – bricks of spice plasti-wrapped together in massive bales, weapon crates decorated with Imperial designations, even a cage containing some kind of exotic and infuriated animal whose screeches underscore the chaos unfolding inside the bunker. 

People are yelling in a variety of languages, most of which you don't understand. Even so, you can tell from their clumsy overlapping cadences that the smugglers have been caught off-guard, and that their response to the other hunter is severely lacking. 

Something acrid stings at your eyes. You can hear your mentor's voice in your head, going off on one of his tangents about the "smell of a good fight – blood, bile, and bowels." Whatever it is, it's wretched enough to make you wish your mask was thicker. Maybe you'll steal the Mandalorian's helmet, when you're finished.

You jump when an alarm sounds – someone must have enough of their wits about them to call for help – and the room is bathed in red and yellow light, alternating in time with the klaxon. You need to move, before reinforcements arrive.

You focus on your comlink's display, taking the first corner nice and slow. 

The wall mold is aggressive, covering large patches of floor and even some of the stashed goods in nasty, cheerfully-colored growth. It squelches underfoot.

In front of you, the corridor of contraband is littered with bodies and their corresponding comlink dots. Most are blatantly unconscious, maybe dead. One isn't – he snarls at you as you pass by, though he's too injured to do much else about you. 

Still, it's bad form to leave threats un-neutralized. This one is kitted out in the livery of a local merc group – an expensive merc group, too. He's wearing several pieces of armor which, individually, cost more than your entire cobbled-together armorweave get-up. You're not going to leave the window open for him to show you why he and his ilk are worth so much coin. 

You check up and down the corridor for more movement, and finding none, you crouch to meet the man on the floor. You catch his weakly-swatting arm in your blaster-holding hand and nick his exposed wrist with the tip of your knife. Then the millaflower does its part of the job: the merc's eyes droop and his head swoons, and then he slumps forward as his body slackens completely. All tucked in for a nice, long, drug-induced nap. 

Dipping your knives in millaflower concentrate had been your idea, back in your early hunting days. Orys, your mentor, thought it was simultaneously lazy and overcomplicated in that way older people often think younger people are, but he couldn't deny that it at least compensated for your mediocre fighting ability. ("Scrappy," he'd once called you when he was feeling uncharacteristically generous – usually he trended towards comments like, "you're lucky you're smart, kid.") 

It's true that the concentrate gives you an advantage in any fight. All you have to do is land a single blow, as shallow as a scratch, and your opponent is down for the count. You make sure your millaflower concoction is just shy of lethal; strong enough to force even a hutt-sized person under with a few cuts, but not likely to kill. It's not that you have reservations against ending a life (especially not with the promise of vengeance nipping at your heels), you simply prefer to avoid it, if possible. Deaths tend to spur people to come looking for the murderer, even if that murderer had a perfectly legal bounty contract. Plus, bodies are heavy, and they involve a lot of annoying paperwork when you need to move them cross-system to collect a bounty. 

The fact remains: sometimes killing is unavoidable, in your line of work.

This is the first time you've been hungry for it. 

Before leaving the slumbering merc, your hand slips into his pocket of its own accord and snatches his comlink. Theft is second nature to you, after relying upon it for survival post-Alderaan. You pry open the device with your knife and rip out the infochip, pocketing it. A fancy merc may have previous communication with his fancy bank stored on his comlink, you reason. Maybe you can misappropriate some data to your advantage.

You make quick work clearing the rest of the underground warehouse, knocking out any smugglers, mercs, and other various miscreants left conscious in the Mandalorian's wake. There aren't many. His technique may be as unsubtle as they come, but it's thorough. 

You hope it's also wearing him out.

Several more overpriced mercs decorate the moldy ground, here and there. All out of commission. Certainly not worth whatever the smugglers paid to hire them.

As you move deeper into the facility, your focus narrows to a single point. The slime molds and alarm klaxons fade. Your eyes catch on every shiny surface, in search of your quarry. Each crumpled body, each twisted limb, each bloodied face cast in dizzying red-and-yellow light spurs your heart to beat faster in your throat. You can do this, you remind yourself. You can do this, you can do this, and more importantly, you want to do this. You want it so badly, your blood sings with it. 

At the end of the maze you find another door, prised open. Your display shows you two comlinks in the next room, so close they're overlapping.

You hear voices. Not screaming, but arguing loudly. 

"Get your hands off me, you chuff-sucking son of a bitch," one says.

"I gave you the option," another replies coolly. "You chose the hard way." This voice stops you in your tracks. It's grainy, modulated by a vocoder. 

It's him.

You've caught up with him.

Moving as silently as you can, you pass through the ruined door and hover in the entryway of a dingy office. The Mandalorian has his back to you as he forces a man – your bounty, judging by the frenzied flashing of your tracking fob – head-down onto a desk, shoving his face into the wooden surface with a gloved hand. The bounty wrenches his head to the side, spitting more obscenities up at the wall of beskar. 

You take aim at the pair with your blaster, but continue into the room instead of firing. Better to take the Mando down with the millaflower and then kill him, rather than risk a blaster shot ricocheting off all that armor. You'd worry about the bounty, later.

Your grip on your knife tightens like a snare.

Time to die, Mando.

The bounty manages to turn in the other hunter's hold, lurching upright and swinging at unforgiving metal with his fist. You take advantage, closing more distance while the Mandalorian is distracted. 

Over the Mandalorian's shoulder, the bounty sees you, and he stops thrashing. His gaze slides down to your tracking fob. Disgust pinches his expression, and then, oddly enough, he smirks. His eyes land on something behind you.

"You should be keeping a closer eye on your friend," he sneers at the Mandalorian. 

That stupid silver helmet whips around to look at you, and then several things happen very quickly. 

First: you forget how to move. 

It was one thing, seeing him at a distance. That distance left plenty of physical space for your anger to vine and branch and root in your body. Now, with only a few steps between you, it feels like that same anger has been forcibly uprooted, tearing itself up and out of your arms and legs, burning and ripping all the way. The pain of it blinds you – infuriatingly, it paralyzes you. You look at his helmet, but all you see is that demon with the sword on Nevarro, swinging his blade and ripping you in half as easy as paper. 

You want to hurt him, hurt him like his people hurt you. End him like they tried to end you. Do it. Do it, damn it. But you can't move, not an inch, so you just stand there, staring numbly at the both of them, your mind screaming. 

Which leaves a long and awkward pause wherein (secondly) the bounty makes a run for it. He lunges towards the exit, immediately drawing the Mandalorian's attention back to him. 

You probably would have kept better track of their skirmish, if it weren't for the third thing that happens. 

Someone grabs your other knife out of its sheath at your waist. 

There's another merc standing behind you. One of the convincingly-unconscious brawlers in expensive armor you hadn't bothered to dose. Stupid. Sloppy. You don't know how you hadn't noticed him behind you sooner – no, that's a lie, you know exactly how you hadn't noticed him, and it's very shiny and currently elbowing your bounty in the throat – but it doesn't matter, because before you can react, the merc buries your own knife in your side up to the hilt.

Pain rams clear through you, striking deep, punching all the air from your lungs. Serrated metal shreds armorweave, muscle, and viscera alike. 

If the stabbing doesn't kill you, the humiliation just might.

Stabbed with your own kriffing knife.

You stumble away from the impact, your blaster and non-traitorous knife clattering to the floor. You follow them a few seconds later -- your legs don’t seem to work anymore. You can't breathe. You can't kriffing breathe. 

Worse, the millaflower is already working. Fast. Your head spins. Your eyelids are so, so heavy, already. It would be so easy to just sleep. 

You're pulled in two directions. Violently jerked towards the pain in your side, towards the struggle to breathe, to live, to fight. Steadily pushed down, down, down, into a gaping maw that promises you serenity and smells just like the meadow outside the tiny cabin you keep on Batuu. Home. You swear you can feel summer sunlight warming your face. The nose-itching tang of blooming grasses tangles with the survival instinct clawing at your brainstem. 

Your hand wraps itself around the protruding grip of the knife instinctively, and you whimper when the blade nudges against something soft and vital inside you. You will yourself to yank the dagger out, to use it on the bastard merc in front of you, but you can't. Your vision blurs with spots. Every nerve ending in your chest burns white-hot with pain, even as your thoughts drunkenly slur sleep, sleep, go to sleep.

You look up at the merc through fluttering lashes, and you know you've lost.

He looms over you, snarling down at you, his own blaster in-hand. You wait for the killing blow, or for the rushing wave of unconsciousness to sweep you away and drown you. Either way – oblivion. 

All that borrowed time, since Nevarro, wasted on the floor of this moldy bunker.

And then something runs the man through. 

A sword, but not -- it looks like the absence of a sword. A plane of darkness pierces his armor and sweeps an arc clean through his torso like it’s nothing.

The merc, probably even more surprised than you are, keels over beside you in pieces. Your nose fills with the stench of charred flesh, grasses and sunlight forgotten. You retch, and the agony in your side floods your eyes with tears. 

Your lungs stutter and fail. No air is coming. Your mouth tastes like copper. The room around you is a dream. 

The Mandalorian is standing before you, now, brandishing– well, brandishing something impossible. A black blade curves out of a baton in his hands. Its edges distort and vibrate, intensely enough that being this close to it feels like you've licked a battery. Such a shame he's going to murder you with it before you have a chance to steal it – it’s just like the energy weapons you heard about in fairytales as a kid, come to life. 

Or maybe you imagined it entirely. One final absurd hurrah for your oxygen-starved, millaflower-coated synapses, because it’s at this moment that your brain gives up and you slip away, into the black.

[continue to next chapter]

[taglist] @orcasoul @djarins-cyare

thank you so much for reading!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[sageking]

!! GRUMBO SHOUJO MANGA UPDATE !!

IM SO SORRY EVERYONE IM SUFFERING FROM SUCCESS RN

(TL;DRs at the bottom)

I KNOW ITS LITERALLY BEEN MORE THAN A MONTH SINCE IVE ORIGINALLY ANNOUNCED IT WAS HAPPENING BUT OH MY GOD WHY DID I HAVE TO GET HIRED WHEN I WAS LITERALLY MAKING IT IM SO SORRY EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN WAITING PATIENTLY AND EAGERLY IM SO BUSY NOW😭😭😭

————————————

(For easier understanding and typing, Grumbo manga = GM // Manga I was hired for = PM)

FOR COMPENSATION, HERE ARE SOME CONCEPT STUFF IVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PM SO YOU ALL KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE IN THE GM!!!

IF YOU ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE GM, IM PREDICTING A JANUARY-FEBRUARY PART 1 OF CHAPTER 1 RELEASE (OR MAYBE EVEN CHAPTER 1 ALL TOGETHER)!! BUT PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY WORD CUZ IM SO BUSY NOW😭

BUT EVEN IF I AM NOT ABLE TO DO THE FULL THING, I WILL TRY MY BEST TO GET THE FIRST CHAPTER OUT FOR ALL OF YOU!!!! AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT, I WILL BE POSTING THE SKETCH VERSION (w/o text to not give away story too much lol) OF THE FIRST 2 PAGES ON DEC 25 AS A BIG SORRY FOR THE DELAYS!!

————————————

TL;DR: I suddenly got hired to draw for a manga right after announcing I'm gonna start working on the grumbo shoujo manga, very sorry about it, heres some stuff from the manga I was hired to do, predicting a January-February 2024 release but do not trust my ass to actually pull thru cuz im busy and my autistic ass cannot manage time properly

TL;DR for the TL;DR: Im stupid and successful. Look out for the grumbo doujinshi early next year, but don't be too expectant lol

[iicheeze]

HI GUYS

im so so so sorry i went to get milk again 😭

ive been very busy with exams and studying along with my part-time job

UHHH BUT IM SURE MY SCHEDULE WILL CLEAR UP NEXT WEEK AND ILL POST CHAPTER 5 OF 3M3D33M SMAU I PROMISEE

also i downloaded stardew at my new pc thanks to the money from my part-time job LOL

TYSM FOR BEING PATIENT WITH ME YALL THE BEST FR 😭

also my notifications have been blowing up from comments of the new masterlist of the househusband scara

SORRY BUT IT WILL BE DELAYED 😭😭

IM VERY BUSY IDK WHEN THE FIRAT CHAPTER WILL COME OUT THE PROFILES HAVENT EVEN BEEN POSTED YET 😭😭

THATS ALL I THINK THANKS SO SO SO SO MUCH FOR BEING PATIENT

[yayninjabob]

I had a chance to start rereading Villain Redux from the beginning recently (since you are on hiatus I figured I had time) and I just wanted to tell you how much I admire the crazy amount of detail you put into your writing. I realize now that there was so much on my first read through that I never noticed and so many nuggets of foreshadowing that went over my head that I can really appreciate more on my rereading. (1/2)

Plot points I never saw coming like Bubble's power growing and also becoming ill from her own power malfunction I realize you had been laying groundwork for since the start. Buttercup/Joey is my favorite so I paid less attention to Bubbles and Blossom parts during my 1st read but I have a deeper appreciation for them now especially Bubbles. Please take all the time you need writing. It's worth the wait.(2/2)

OK, first of all, SORRY for the delayed late answer and THANK YOU SO MUCH for the kind message and encouragement!

I can't tell you how giddy I get hearing people say they're re-reading or have read the Redux multiple times.

I do try to layer my writing and all the foreshadowy bits are usually me just feeling sneaky during writing time haha and thinking about where the story is going. It's so fun to think about which sneaky bits reveal themselves to readers on a revisit to the earlier chapters, ha!

AND YAY BUBBLES! I'm so glad you now have a deeper appreciation for her and Blossom on your second readthrough!

And thanks so much for the encouragement with taking my time and all! Ugh, that means so much. I have been taking my time with it but at the same time my anxiety to GET IT DONE has been through the roof lol, so encouragement like yours certainly helps.

But yes, as of this morning (3/9/23), I've made far enough progress in writing that I can say we will be resuming updates very soon. I'm just SO busy in my everyday life as of late, and I know my writing time is going to remained limited for the majority of this year SO I'm trying to basically FINISH our entire story before I start posting so we won't have another hiatus/break again.

RN I'm looking at third Wednesday of May to share 24 and then new chapters every third Wednesday after that till Chapter 28 and... we're done. :')

[tolbachik]

Hi! This is Cube/🎲! This is my main blog, but I mostly post on @junecast-moonfast nowadays :D

Don’t worry about the delay, this is a very busy time of year! I hope you had a good Christmas ^^

The main universities I’m applying to are Rutgers, Syracuse, and Drexel! I’m also just thinking of just applying all over (as long as the application fees aren’t too high) to see if any schools give me scholarship money lol

Conlangs have always been super interesting to me! I’ve considered trying my hand at making one, but I think I’d need to get a better grasp on linguistics before I do that. Are there any conlangs in particular you’d be interested in taking up? ^^

Pieeogis are great! My mom and I were supposed to homemake them for Christmas, but unfortunately we didn’t get around to it. We still have the filling, so we might make them some time this week :]

Swedish seems like such an interesting language! Also, your reason for learning it is so sweet. It must be a lot of fun to be able to learn a language with a friend who’s a native speaker :D

Arabic is also a fascinating language! The place where I grew up has a pretty large arabic population, so a lot of my friends growing up spoke it. Unfortunately though, I never picked up on any of it.

The math class I got to miss because of choir was applied math, so it was all word problems. In hindsight, it might’ve been an interesting class, but also I know that middle school me would’ve hated it haha

I looked up the erhu, and the sound is so pretty! I imagine that it sounded especially beautiful live, I feel like sometimes music just cannot be entirely captured through video. You can’t really go wrong with string instruments, they all sound so nice :]

I’ll be honest, I never realized how weird our focus on Mars is until you pointed it out! You’re totally right though, focusing on Mars seems entirely arbitrary considering that other planets were also candidates for being habitable in the past. It seems like sometimes in science, we get stuck focusing so hard on one discovery that we lose sight of the bigger picture!

Yeah! I tend to be a bit of a pessimist, but you’re right that a better future is possible if we work together for it! It’s sad to think about what could’ve been, but we also have the chance to make change now!

If I could see any dead musicians live, I think I’d have to go with ELP (Carl Palmer is still alive, but unfortunately the other two members have passed), David Bowie, or David Berman. Keith Emerson was a wonderful showman, and a wonderful musician! Same for David Bowie. David Berman’s music is just so beautiful and hard hitting that I imagine it would’ve been an amazing experience to see him perform live. As for living musicians, I would’ve loved to see Eno on the recent tour he went on, but unfortunately the timing just wasn’t right.

One thing that I found particularly funny about Caligula is that when he invaded Britain he had his soldiers collect sea shells. There was some logic behind why he did this, but I’ve since forgotten it. It’s just a little silly to imagine Roman soldiers just frolicking on the shore and grabbing sea shells haha

Another nautical Caligula fun fact is that he was rumored to have declared war on Poseidon. Assuming the Greco-Roman gods are real, this would’ve been a particularly bad move considering that when Odysseus pissed off Poseidon, it didn’t turn out particularly well for him lol

I’m in a similar boat to you in regards to religion. I haven’t moved out yet, but I’d still consider myself agnostic or an atheist. However, I still celebrate Christmas.

Happy holidays! It was great to be your Santa this year, I’m so glad that we got paired up! I wish you well for the coming year ahead. Take care! :D

- 🎲

Hi!! So, so sorry for how late this. I appreciate your patience! I hope you had a lovely holiday season, and a great start to the new year as well. I hope that this year goes exactly how you want it to! Wow, that's quite the list!! Which one are you hoping to get into the most? Sounds like a real exciting time, I really hope you can get a nice scholarship!! I get that! What sort of conlang do you think you'd try to make, if you had the time and resources to do so? Hmmm... I'm not sure, there are a lot of options out there! I'll have to do a little shopping around, I think. I do kind of have one main for my story, but it's very... Nebulous. I just kind of make it up as I go along, really! Aww, I'm sorry that you guys didn't get to it! Did you end up getting to them, or nah? I hope you did, it sounds like a lot of fun! I think I tried myself once years ago, but I don't think it ended up going very well lol Aww, thank you! I haven't really talked to her much in Swedish, as my grasp is still very tenuous, but it's a fun little goal to work towards! I think I already said it, but I really love how similar it is to English. Language history is always so neat! I agree, Arabic is really neat! Ahh, I get that though. It can be hard keeping track of that sort of stuff sometimes! I had a friend who's mother was Russian growing up, but I couldn't ever remember what any of the words she said meant 😭 Ahh, that's fair! I guess singing really was the best bet then, huh? I hope you were able to enjoy it then, at least! I'm glad you enjoyed it! If you want, I think I might've actually recorded her performance. It was a bit ago, so I'll have to dig through my files to find it, but I can try to share it with you then if you'd like! It was very small; it was just her, a few people from her class, and some of their friends and family. Maybe like, 20 people total! It's a shame; there's so much more out there we could explore! But, such is life. At least we're doing anything at all up there, I gotta count my blessings for that! Thankfully, other space agencies seem to be picking up the slack, and there's been a bit of a shift in our own space agency as well it seems. Here's to hoping for more widespread exploration!

I get that, it's hard looking on the bright side sometimes. There's a lot of pain and suffering in our world, it's not something one can really ignore. But, there are tons of like-minded people out there! We'll get there someday!

That's a great list! I'm sorry you didn't get to see Eno though 😭 Maybe if he tours again you could catch him that time? Either way, I hope you can get to see him & all your other favorites, if possible!

Oh wow, that really is quite the mental image lol I wonder what the reason was? Was it for trading, or perhaps for a source of minerals? Either way, I'd love to see a painting of it; sounds like such a silly thing to do lol

Man, they really did just do anything when it came to it back then, huh? I guess, comparing then to now, we do stuff they might have considered silly or weird as well. Something something constant in human history lol Ahh, I gotcha. Religion can be such a personal thing, so thank you for sharing! If you don't mind me asking, what lead you to where you are today with that? Thank you for being my secret santa, I had such a great time talking with you! So sorry again for the delay with this reply, here. I really appreciate your patience! I hope you've been enjoying your 2024 so far! :)

[living-d3ad-gh0ul]

Tuesday 29th August 2023, 05:48am

I've been trying to figure out a way to start writing my next post to you for a couple days now. I keep coming back and writing and then deleting everything. Right now, I just want to sigh very deeply. Things are just.. I don't even have a word to describe them, I just want to do a big sigh.

I'll start off with some nice stuff. London was lots of fun, Joji was amazing. I'm gonna attach some pictures of the concert and places I went and just some other random pictures of my trip. My little mini holiday started with something really cool actually, I laughed when it happened. I went to check in at the airport (cause I had a checked bag and I hate doing it online when I have one of those) and I give the guy my passport and stuff, tell him my name, where I'm going etc. And he just goes "Oh.. how about that" and immediately I'm looking at him like 👀 how about what? What does that mean? And I start panicking thinking my flights delayed or cancelled or I booked the wrong fucking date or something. And he just says "Well it says here 'Thank you for flying with BA, enjoy your upgrade' so it looks like you've been upgraded". I swear to you E, I looked at the man like he'd grown an extra head LOL. I was all like "is this some like.. ploy to get me to pay for an upgrade? Cause it's not happening lol" and he's like "nope, you've already been upgraded, you're in business class now, you get extra luggage allowance, here's your boarding pass, go to priority security and head on up to the lounge for free drinks and food". So I just stood there and laughed and shook my head and asked him if he was serious, and he absolutely was. Thank god for the extra luggage allowance btw, because I had absolutely overpacked. I think I always worry I won't have enough or that the weather will suddenly change or something and I won't be prepared. Which, is actually a very valid fear when you live in the UK lol.

So.. I went on up, went through priority security.. and I got fucking stopped didn't I? I sat there like "shit what did I leave in my bag? Did I not do my liquids right?". The guy pulled me over.. and it turned out it was my dad's jacket that they had flagged. He passed his leather jacket down to me, his proper real leather biker jacket. It's too big on me, but I love it and I really wanted to take it with me. Now.. I'm not sure if I said before or not.. but my dad was a fond man of the devils cabbage. So I *immediately* started panicking, thinking there was some hidden pocket I hadn't found that had some in it.. or that he'd just stuffed some in the lining or something, because that was a very my dad thing to do, I honestly wouldn't have put it past him. So I'm standing there, watching this guy look through all the pockets and almost fucking sweating at airport security lmfao. Then he just goes "ah okay, our scanner just didn't like the zips for some reason" then he SWABS it and my backpack and I was like OKAY YEAH I'M ABOUT TO BE DETAINED LOL. But it came back fine, he handed me my stuff and off I went to find the fancy lounge. I literally looked up at the sky as I walked away and I laughed and was like "fuck you". I'm honestly convinced that was my dad totally fucking with me, just playing a prank on me and winding me up like he always loved doing. He'd have been pissed himself laughing at me.

God, I just realised how much I typed already, jesus. This might be long, because I'm sure you're aware of this by now, but I tend to ramble and drabble on about stuff. I'm sorry I just.. idk, I like giving you as much detail as possible, I like fully explaining things to you like we're actually having a conversation and not just writing letters to one another, it's just.. nice and I just want these to be like.. totally organic and not heavily edited or anything. I just wanna talk to you like I normally would.. if that makes sense. I hope it does.

So I managed to find the lounge, went and sat myself down, I had like.. an hour and a half before my flight so I grabbed this wrap thing and there was free drinks including alcohol so of course I poured myself one lol. I sat there in a nice comfy booth by myself, charging my phone, eating this tasty random wrap I picked up and drinking expensive whiskey, all because I could thanks to the random free upgrade I got. I then went and got on the plane (I was one of the first to get on too) and oh my god I had so much room. I was sat on the aisle and there was a table between me and the person in the window seat, I could properly stretch my legs out and everything. It was.. amazing. And then we took off and we got drinks and stuff brought to us. And ACTUAL food on ACTUAL plates with ACTUAL cutlery. Let me tell you, I was absolutely fucking AMAZED hahaha. I think the flight attendants could definitely tell that I had never experienced that before. I was like a kid in a candy shop haha. They gave me a gin and tonic with my little plate of food, which was SO fucking good too. And then came back and asked me if I wanted some CHAMPAGNE. So I was like UH FUCK YEAH OF COURSE I WANT CHAMPAGNE hahahaha. And it came in a REAL glass. Honestly, I've never experienced anything like that before on a plane and honestly, coming back home in economy sucked after having that lol.

I got there all good and my bag came through almost right away so I wasn't fucking about at the airport for ages, I hopped in an Uber and went to my uncles. It was really warm and the drive took a while because of traffic (I also was going from one end of London to the other tbf, but I was far too tired and warm to be dealing with the London underground, I also hate getting the tube when I have a case with me, people just look at you and give you the dirtiest looks). The first evening I was there was super chill and low-key. Me and my uncle nipped around to his local pub which was only 2 minutes around the corner from his place, we had a couple drinks together and actually bumped into a Scottish guy who was there on his own, we got chatting to him and he was quite cool. Him and my uncle were talking about being teachers and me and him had a chat about music and stuff. He didn't stay long though, but it was nice to talk to someone from the same country I am when I was away from home haha.

The next day was the Thursday which was the day of the concert and I basically had the flat to myself all day. My uncles flatmate (who is also his ex partner who I've known since I was a kid, they're still really good friends though and still live together) was gone to see family and my uncle was going to see friends on the coast that day, so we had breakfast and coffee together before he left. I chilled in the morning, put some music on and just.. enjoyed the sun. I had the balcony door wide open and just sat there playing music and relaxing. It was the most chilled out I'd felt in months. I ended up picking up my uncles guitar and playing that for a little bit too. I'm so fucking rusty haha. I hadn't played for quite a long time, so I was trying to remember stuff but some things just came back to me, like total muscle memory almost. It was so badly out of tune too but I just tuned it up by ear, I'm still really glad I can do that. It was just really nice to have that little bit of time before I had to get ready for the concert and make my way across London again. But I did and I actually met up with someone from the discord server we first met on! A guy called Zach from London and his girlfriend. Me and him are still friends and have been for years, but I'd never met his girlfriend before. She was so nice, she even got me water when I thought I was dying of heat stroke at the concert lol and I had a really cool day with both of them. It was just soooo busy and sooooo fucking warm at the concert. So much so I ended up buying a fucking hat lol. I don't ever wear hats, but I really needed one. Even when I had sunnies on. I ended up buying a t-shirt too, which I'm actually wearing right now. I ended up I was so warm and drank soooo much water, genuinely thought I was gonna keel over at one point, but I was okay and I had fun.

The support acts I didn't really know, but they were quite good. I really enjoyed the first support, he was really funny and really got the crowd involved. Omg and he sang Gary Come Home from SpongeBob hahahahaha. I was absolutely pissing myself laughing when he did that, but it was a good rendition hahaha. Then obviously Joji came on and I was absolutely in my element. He was amazing. He sang one of my favourite songs first too. He actually sang quite a lot of my favourites of his, and even some old ones too, and I mean like.. songs from his SoundCloud days. It was really great. And there was two fucking mosh pits haha! He basically paused the concert halfway through and went off stage, then came back on and him and his hypeman or whoever started doing a fucking DJ set in the middle of the concert hahaha. They also had a Jack Sparrow lookalike competition on stage and called it a Jack Off lmfao. Oh and they literally brought out a blackjack table too and started playing that hahaha. You could tell he really wanted to appeal to all of his fans and wanted to make people laugh, FilthyFrank and Pink Guy are absolutely still in there haha. I honestly had such an amazing time at the concert. Getting out was an absolute pain though, they stopped and started us all leaving so many times and had like.. police blocking off entrances and stuff for no reason other than it was busy. I remember getting asked where I was going about four times and I was just like "um.. to get the tube home? Same as everyone else?" Lol.

The Friday I was there was more low-key. I stayed at the flat and chilled with my uncle for a few hours before I got ready and headed into Soho. I ended up going to a pub my uncle recommended me and had a few drinks. I got talking to two older ladies who were really nice and let me sit with them and chatted away to me. I also met up with a friend who had moved down to London once they finished work and we had a couple drinks there too, before we moved on to a different pub that I'd been told about. I really liked that second pub, it's actually apparently really well known and a lot of famous people go there. But I didn't see any famous people haha, or not ones that I knew anyway. My friend recognised a relatively famous ex-manager of one of the biggest Scottish football teams though in the first pub we went to and I made them take their picture with him lol. Well, I say I made them, they were like "should I ask for a picture?" And I just whipped my phone out and was like "excuse me, hi, you were just talking to my friend, do you mind if they have a picture with you?" And the guy was happy enough to do it. We then ended up having a walk around and going to another couple of bars. So many people instantly gravitated towards me because of my accent and kept telling me how amazing it was and I was just like "it is?" Hahahaha. I didn't stay out too late though, I was still tired from the concert the day before and I think I was home and in bed by like.. 1am haha.

The Saturday I just went around some places locally to my uncle. There's a cool little old cemetary nearby him that they're doing a lot of restoration works on, but you can still walk through it. So I had a wander through there, it was really nice. I then found this nice little cafe and had some lunch there before I went back to my uncles place. He'd gone out and his flatmate was still away, so I just chilled and listened to some music again, before I had some dinner and then I got ready and went to a goth club that night haha. My uncle had got back before I went out and he was telling me how he'd been to the same club I was going to before, but it was back in the 80's and was telling me stories and stuff while I did my makeup. We also had a little drink together before I headed out and it was nice. We're really similar personality wise and he's honestly really cool. We sat and listened to The Cure and Cocteau Twins and Lebanon Hanover and Siouxsie and stuff like that while I got ready and we drank together. Then I went off to the club MYSELF might I add. That was a really big thing for me, going to a place like that alone. But I ended up I just got a drink, found myself a seat near the dancefloor and just chilled for a bit. Again, I ended up opening my mouth at some point, I think I was ordering myself a drink, and some girl asked me where I was from and said she liked my accent. I told her and we ended up chatting for a while. She introduced me to her friends and I ended up tagging along with them for the rest of the night. They were all really nice and took me under their wing and we even took pictures together haha. I got drunk with them and danced with them to music similar to what me and my uncle listened to before I went out haha. I got really excited when Depeche Mode came on and basically just put myself right in the middle of the dancefloor haha. I have a tendency to do that when I'm drunk lol. I didn't get home til 5am, I had been having that much fun haha. The club didn't close til 6am too, so I really could have stayed until then if I wanted to haha.

The Sunday was just really chill, we went for some lunch and we chilled in the flat, I was a little hungover so my uncle just told me to relax and take it easy. I had been really busy tbh, so it was only natural I started feeling it a bit by the Sunday. I also ended up getting bitten on my arm and shoulder by mosquitoes or something on my first day there and by this point the bites were really itchy and irritating, so I kept having to put stuff on them to soothe it. I ended up I sat and talked to my uncle til about 9 o'clock before I got really tired and went to go crash out early. I woke up really early the next day and had to pack everything away for leaving that afternoon lol. It was sad saying goodbye to my uncle, cause he's one of my favourite family members and he really sympathises with me on the bullshit with my mother. He was really shocked when I was telling him all about how she'd been acting when my dad was sick and when he passed. She actually hadn't spoke to me for like.. 3 weeks after her birthday at the start of July. She didn't even send me a text on the day of my dad's funeral. Not a word. Didn't hear from her for like another 2 weeks after that. It's actually been like a month since she's even made any kind of attempt at contacting me. She's just.. she's really shown her true colours with all this and it's sad, because I feel like I've lost and I'm grieving for both parents almost. Just in different senses of the word, I guess. It's a whole thing spanning years, I won't get into it cause this post is long enough. She's just not a very nice person and I'm slowly starting to realise that, when I used to idolise her. It just hurts.

I was supposed to get home at like.. 6pm on the Monday evening, but our plane ended up delayed by 2 hours so I didn't get picked up by my sister at the airport until like 8pm. There was some issue with the planes navigation system that didnt happen until we got to the runway and were just about to take off. So we sat there for like.. an hour, while they tried to fix it. They managed to sort it out.. but then we had to return to the stand because they had wasted all the fuel just sitting there lmfao. So I was just like ok lol we're not going anywhere anytime soon, put my headphones in and just chilled. They refueled the plane and eventually we were on our way. I didn't get any fancy drinks or food this time, just a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels that tasted really bad hahaha. I got off the plane and, as usual for me because I always seem to have shit luck when I land at Glasgow airport, we'd landed at the furthest possible gate and had to walk aaaaaaaaall the way through the airport to the baggage carousels and so I could leave. Then there was an issue with them too. No one knew where our bags were lol. And then suddenly we were being called through to the other room which had one carousel thing. Another 2/3 flights landed at the same time as us and the baggage people put ALL of the bags from ALL of the flights on one belt. It was fucking chaos. And there ended up being a massive pile up of bags and the airport people had to press the emergency stop button. It was just a total fucking clusterfuck lol. They said that one was only supposed to be for the Dublin flight, but apparently the baggage people just went "lol no" and put all the bags on the one. Luckily, I could literally see my bag just before the pile up, so I managed to grab it (after I made sure I wasn't gonna make anything worse) and quickly make my way outside where my sister was there ready to pick me up.

I got home and had a long ass shower and just relaxed for the rest of the night. I was off work the rest of the week, so I didn't have to do anything and took my time doing laundry and unpacking and getting back into a routine a bit. I'm actually still off work right now, before I went away, me and my manager had like.. a little meeting thing. She was concerned that I hadnt had enough support at work because I'd had loads of time off dealing with stuff with my dad etc. So she wanted to like.. restart me? If that makes sense? So I took some holidays and some unpaid leave (begrudgingly, but she said it would do me best) and I'll start back from my training weeks on Monday 4th September. She thinks if I have all my training again and have a proper chance and a proper start at things without the stresses of having to look after dad or any of the other stuff I'd had to deal with, that it'll make me feel more supported and I'll do better this time around. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, cause I kinda feel like it's being forced upon me against my will? But I kinda need the job and they do keep saying it's for the best so.. I'm not gonna argue with them too much about it. Especially if they really are just trying to support me. It just means I'll be able to fly through all my training and stuff and hopefully get really good marks on all my assessments if I remember everything haha.

So um.. now comes the kinda bad part. The bit that's been making me want to just.. *big sigh*. The weekend after my dad's funeral, my aunt was pretty insistent on coming to see me. I was kinda like wtf why? This is my aunt on my mum's side btw, the one who I'm close with and who really understands my situation with my mum and stuff (and really does not agree with how she's treated me at all). She also lives with my gran, who is my mum's stepmum, but she's always just been my gran cause her and my grandad had been together since the late 70's until he passed away in 2020. So.. yeah.. I was a bit worried as to why she wanted to come over and I had asked her if it was important. She turned up at my door like 20 minutes later, telling me that it was and she wasn't going to stay long, but she just didn't want to tell me over the phone or anything, she wanted to tell me in person. Immediately, I panicked. And I was right to. My gran had been sick for quite a few months. Unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite and energy and stuff, some other really weird things that they couldn't explain. They did so many tests and scans and everything and they couldn't find anything. That was, until she had another follow up scan the week before and they called her with the results a couple days after my dad's funeral. My aunt just wanted to give me a couple more days, because she knew I was already upset, that's why she waited to tell me. But um.. yeah.. what they told her is that she has pancreatic cancer. My aunt started telling me this, telling me that they were looking at all available treatment options and that surgery was potentially going to be happening and stuff. The whole time I just stood there staring at her in complete shock. All I kept thinking to myself was "really? Again? Already?". This is now the fourth close family member of mine to have cancer. My stepmum who passed in 2014 (it was actually her anniversary yesterday on the 28th, my first one without dad), my grandad (my grans husband) who passed in 2020, my dad who got sick really suddenly and passed this year.. and now my gran.. so soon after my dad. I really got upset. I can't remember much of that evening because I think I just broke down. They've basically said that they're going to do this really intensive and strong round of chemo to try and get rid. They may also be doing surgery to remove things too. Unfortunately though, this chemo and surgery plan is like.. a one time deal. So it HAS to work. If it doesn't then.. I don't wanna think about the "if it doesnt" right now tbh. I dont know if I'm strong enough to. She started her chemo on 17th August while I was away, but I've been texting and calling, checking in on her and stuff, seeing how she's doing, even while I was away. She's been okay, but over the weekend just gone, she was feeling really sick and dizzy, not eating much or drinking, they nearly took her to hospital because she was dehydrated, but thankfully she's perked up again. She's eating and drinking and feeling a little bit better. She has to get the chemo treatment every 2 weeks and she gets 6 treatments. So there's 5 more to go. I hope her body gets used to it and she doesn't feel as bad as she did over the weekend just past again. But if she does? I'll go help her if I need to. I haven't been able to see her since I got back because I got sick with a cold or flu or something again, so I didn't want to risk passing it on to her, especially when she's going through that and her immune system is already low.

I've been feeling a bit down since I got home too, I'll be honest. This town is just.. it's so shit, there's nothing here and it's honestly just.. bleh. That's the only way I can explain it. I haven't been seeing people much either. I just feel like everyone's too busy for me. I try and reach out and make plans and stuff, but everyone's just.. idk if they're busy or just cba with me. I really hope it's not the latter. But it's kinda shit. Considering everything I've been through this year and am still kinda going through. I also keep thinking more about saving up and moving away from this shithole town I grew up in. I just want to move somewhere where there's more to do or a better life to be had or where there's more opportunities. Idk, it's definitely something I might look into. But right now, I need to be there for my gran, get started with work again and just.. breathe a bit. I can think about all that bigger picture stuff soon. I just need to look after myself and my gran and just.. idk have some kind of normality for a little bit I think.

I really hope you're doing okay too. I hope your doctor's appointments have been going well. I swear to god, if they don't let you keep the piece of your rib that they cut out, I will come over there and I will riot lol. It's your fucking rib, they better let you keep it! Haha. I'm glad you managed to figure out the monitor thing too, that would have honestly driven me mental. I think I'd have also went a bit crazy with that going on, I'm sorry you ended up getting migraines and stuff from it, that really does not sound fun at all. I really hope you're feeling a bit better though and that you've been able to have some good times and some good rest too, considering you've had a lot go on this year too, with all your health stuff and having to move back home and stuff. It seems like we've both had really busy and stressful years so far. Let's hope that the rest of the year is nice and uneventful and has some happy things for us both, I really honestly do hope that for both me and you. We both deserve a bit of a break, let's face it. If I could, I'd come steal you away for a few days so we could have a break together. We could maybe go to Tasmania and you could show me those little markets and stuff you talked about before. That would be really nice I won't lie.

Oh, I also had a dream about you a few nights ago. It was only like a two second thing, but we were standing in a shop and you were laughing at me cause I wanted to buy peanut M&M's? Lol idk why but you were like "Don't you know what they put in those things?!" and I was genuinely so confused and just wanted peanut M&M's lol. It was one of those ones where I woke up and was like "huh?" Hahaha. You weren't being mean or anything, you were saying it more in like a.. jokey concerned way it seemed.

I really really hope you're doing good, E. I really can't wait to hear from you again. And I'm sorry that this is so bloody long. I guess I just wanted to tell you everything and do it justice, tell it like I would if I was sat here talking to you in person or on the phone or leaving you a voicemail or something. Idk it just feels better than way.

I had woke up and couldn't get back to sleep when I started writing this, but now I'm starting to get tired again. It's 7am here now, but I think I could probably get another couple of hours sleep. Hopefully. My sleep hasn't been too good since I got back home again. Probably because I don't really have anything to do during the day other than things around the house etc. So I end up getting bored and napping. Which isn't good but sometimes I just get so cosy lol. I wish I had a cat like Chonky to snuggle up with and nap. I hope she's doing good too. Please give her some pets and scritches from me. Belly rubs too, if you're feeling like a gambling man.

I really look forward to hearing from you, E. I hope you like the photos and stuff of my trip to London.

"If you ever go, all the songs that we like will sound like bittersweet lullabies"

P.S, it was only gonna let me upload one video, so I put them all up on my YouTube. There's a couple different ones, but here's the link for one of them, you can have a look at the rest if you like

and heres the pictures..

[kookablarn]

Progress Update~

Hiya!

First of all, I really want to thank the people who left those nice comments on my last post! I wish I could do it individually, but I cant? I thought that was a tumblr feature to quote replies?? Am I just that old and they removed it??? Anyway! You're all so super kind and I'm so super glad that you enjoy my save file. Really, I appreciate it so much. I will continue doing my best for all of you!

That said, I have just a little progress update today!

I've been working on the 'Refreshed' version of the save file. That is, saving every sim, moving them to a new save file, and resetting each of the families to make sure they have the correct jobs, relationships, funds, and everything! Luckily they keep their skills and preferences, so I don't have to fix that. The hardest part is connecting them between households.

I'm almost done! I just have to go back through and fix clubs, holidays, and the homeless sims. Then I'll have to run through one last time and change the days left in the lifestage for everyone. I'm waiting until the Infant update comes out to do that because I know it'll mess with the days.

So, I'm very close to finishing what will essentially be v6.0! I'm shooting to release it that Wednesday right before Growing Together comes out so that anyone who wants to use it for that pack can! (Like me. I want to use it lol.)

Sorry, I know I always have so much to say for these! Main takeaway: Look out for Wednesday, March 15!

(Update: I really wanted to be done by today, but I had a busy day yesterday and that pushed my plans back a bunch 😭. I’m going through and changing all of the days left for everyone, but now I’m shooting for a weekend release! I’m almost done, I promise! Sorry for yet another delay and thanks for your patience!)

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you mrs. traveling iced coffee drinker honey nut cheerio lefty eyebag 😌

How are you this morning? I'm not sure if you guys have left Oklahoma or have already arrived in CA, but I hoped you guys had a safe flight! 😅 hopefully not much troubles during the TSA stuff.

I've read the fic before. I'm really not a big fan of dark Wanda lol I can't see her as evil, even after MoM, I can't see her as the villain. But I like the story! I like how you incorporated the stuff from the movie. Although, I did wonder back then if you were going to make a part 2.

Yeah I'm on wattpad, but not very much. The people I follow haven't posted much. But I found your stories on tumblr. I don't remember how though.

I'll give them a listen. Do you have a favorite album by Glass Animals?

For your questions about my crush, I should really say crushes ahahaha but they are from real life and tiktok. I think I have a tumblr crush too, but I'm not sure yet.

That's cute. I'm like your husband. When I was with my ex wife, I would always sing to her when I bring her breakfast. Or when I'm being silly.

Any big plans for the day when you're in CA?

-CuriousGeorge

Hello corn-punn!

Hahha it's funny that u used ice coffee drinker nickname today.. because this morning it was like 20 degree outside n i ordered cold brew with salted caramel foam . N i was so happy because it was so good.

So we woke up at 4am to get ready but my flight got delayed. It was supposed to be at 8am n it was delayed to 1h40minutes. The Oklahoma airport was surprisingly not that busy. I wrote a bit in flight but then fall asleep for like 20minutes.

Anyway, how r u? Hows ur day today? Sorry for the late reply..it was a very very busy day. Spent time with the family, been talking with the in laws n i finally got some time alone just now.

We got here like 10.40. N we got at my in laws at 1.15. Im so tired right now..

N the weather here is so much warmer but we brought mostly warm clothes, i can only pray it will be cold. I hv vbeen sneezing. I think it's because the extreme difference of the temperature. I was in 15 degree this morning n end up in 70ish sunny weather. N on christmas here it says it will 80 degree.. 😩😫

Haha yeah i got what u meant.. i never see her as villain either but not gonna like, dark wanda / scarlet witch is hot.. 😅🤣 n i love that kind of dark fic that has obsession or stalking or jealousy in it. I like movies like that too.

I dont think i would make pt. 2 for that fic.. i actually have another my own idea and i have 2 more requests of dark fics wanda. So i probably gonna scratch my own. Haha. Or atleast postpone mine for a while.

Ah i see. Im in wattpad too n i havent really update there.

I havent really listen to all their albums but i know some of my favorite songs which i think they r from different albums.

1. Gooey Rework

2. Gooey

3. Youth

4. Your Love (Déjà Vu) and this one inspired me an idea of a fic which i havent write it yet.😅

5. Tangerine (with Arlo Parks)

6. Hazey

Ouh about ur crush... interesting! It gets my attention! 🤭😆 okay, so currently u have a crush with multiple people? Or some of them r past crush?

Alsooooo... u have tumblr crush?? N what do u mean with u r not sure yet? Why? (Sorry for the rows of questions. U dont have to answer it if u dont want to. Didnt meant to cross the line or anything.)

Wow, u sound like a romantic person.. that's adorable.. i would prefer small gestures like that than any jewelry money can buy.. 😊

Since i answered this too late. Im just gonna tell u, how was my day whn i got here.

I bought lunch from the chinesse place near where i used to live before we went to my in laws (we used to live like 5 minutes away driving) then i have been talking n talking with the in laws. We catched up. N we went for dinner with the brothers, nephews,his parents n his mom's husband, one of the family friend also came to see us n joined the dinner. There were 12 of us. We had pizza but i ordered spicy wings and spaghetti meatballs. Was gonna order spumoni ice cream but i forgot.😒🙄 i was craving it.

I bet u r asleep now but feel free to leave me next questions? N i will reply as soon as i can.

Cheerio!