#they haven't posted part 2 yet but I'll probably post it whenever i see it

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

Who is who in "Cats: the Jellicle Ball" aka Cats PAC NYC (part 1)

x

[monsterkin-culture-is]

10 Monster & Mythological Kintypes You Might Not Have Kinsidered!

Quick intro! I want to do some more monsterkin related original blog posts & content to make this blog more of a community hub for the monsterkins of tumblr. I'll be using #thebitingblogger for these posts! TW for some very mild mentions of gore in the context of mythology.

10. Haunted Dolls: There is definitely a large dollkin community on Tumblr but I haven't seen many haunted dolls/plushies. They're such a staple of horror media & spiritual subcultures - I'm so surprised by their absence!

9. Werecats & Other Werebeasts: The werewolfkin community on here is already limited but the werecat tag is tiny (and I don't think there even are tags for any other werekintypes)! Maybe the concept just hasn't been explored enough yet but given the popularity of other feline kintypes I wouldn't be surprised if there were some undiscovered werecats. I'd also like to add on about hellhounds & hellcats! Plenty of mythology there but a rather empty part of the kin community.

8. Revenants: Revenants are reanimated corpses revived to haunt the living. They're most prominent in Western European & Norse folklore. I can see some similarities to ghost & zombie kins but given we already have other subtypes & related kins (phantomkin etc) there is definitely a place for them in the kin community. Honestly as I'm writing this I'm starting to kinsider whether my skeletonkin might be a revenant...

7. Headless Horsemen: I suppose this is technically a human but I'd consider them a potential type of undead or spirit! The headless horseman is a recurring myth in a lot of Western Europe & America. My favourite version is the Dullahan from Irish folklore. The Dullahan is a mysterious omen, causing death whenever he stops riding. He carries his head in his arms and wields a whip made of human spine. The most famous media depiction is probably Disney's "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad." I think you can tell I'm a little bit in love with the horseman mythos...

6. Minotaurs, Centaurs & Fauns: I'm not sure I'd consider these monsters but they fit with the themes of the rest of the list! A minotaur is a man with the upper half/head of a bull, a centaur is a man with the body of a horse and a faun is a man with the legs of a goat or deer, often accompanied by horns or antlers. Man is being used without gender here. I originally was only going to write about Minotaurs as I've seen plenty of centaur & faun kins but there's no harm in including everyone! I'm not going to type out the entire mythology of these creatures but a fun fact for you is that the Minotaur of Crete's real name was Asterion!

5. Selkies: Again, not sure if these would be monsters but they fit the list & some retellings portray them as such! Selkies are humans (by appearance, not species) that can take the form of seals using their fur coats. If their coat is stolen, they can be forced to marry the person who has it.

4. Gorgons: Just talking about these as a species rather than their specific Greek mythos. Gorgons are humans with hair made of snakes. Often different interpretations give them patches/designs of scales, snakelike markings and/or fangs. My favourite modern depiction of a gorgon is Viperine from Monster High!

3. The Grim Reaper: I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been kinsidering this for a while! There are hundreds of personifications of Death throughout the history of humanity but the Reaper is probably one of the most recognisable in modern times. The Grim Reaper is most frequently depicted as a skeleton in a cloak, suit of armour or robes, bearing a farmer's scythe (it harvests souls like crops). I've been talking about media interpretations of these throughout so shoutout to Discworld Death, one of my favourite comfort characters! I love the animated version of Soul Music.

2. Shade: Finding information on this one was a little challenging! Shades are the spirits, ghosts or apparitions of someone currently residing in the underworld.

1. Custom Monsters: Got a bunch of phantom limbs that don't match a different kin? Have memories of being/feel like a cryptid that doesn't currently exist as a legend? Be your own monsterkin. Be a kin of your own species. I have one! I just need to actually draw them...

That's all folks! 10 more niche monster & mythological kintypes for you to kinsider! Please send me an ask (anon is enabled) or reblog or whatever if you're any of those kintypes, I'd love to hear from you! As always, please do your own research on these species & their folklore, I've only done some brief googling to add some more context to this list. This blog is for entertainment purposes, not educational! Let me know if you guys like seeing this sort of content though, I've really enjoyed researching this so I might start doing some more in-depth and well-researched posts on some of these.

[wonderlandisatsomewhere]

Five ultimate signs that a guy is into you❤Revising Phum's pining era

A Phum appreciation post as i haven't seen one. Personally simp Phum was what got me really hooked in the first place. Watching ep 16 makes me really sad so I need to relive the series.

I read the novel other day and it was nice that the script dragged out a bit before PhumPeem became exclusive which I totally loved.

I know Phum had shown nothing but interest on Peem. But it kept reminding me of this chapter. I'll skip the part that they made out on the first unofficial date and focus on the subtle signs LOL

1. He's always, always up in your business.

It was on the verge of stalking actually.

To the point that he'll be wherever Peem is.

He's like I won't hesitate to ditch my year long friends for a boy I knew for like a month who I still am not sure I have a crush or not.

2. He'll never run out of excuses to touch you.

Hand grabbing was his love language before he even realize it himself.

You can turn pillow fight into gay so you can ACCIDENTLY smooch the boy you enslaved just to be close to him.

3. He might laugh a little harder than he probably should whenever you open your mouth.

All he does was smile around Peem.

Not sponsored by colgate.

When the sight of a common soda cup reminds you of BABE.

And this is his default RBF btw.

4. He would sometimes look at you... like he's silently asking for a kiss, but is too proud to actually say it.

The way I see it, it's damn close.

GOSH, the amount of butterflies I got watching those episodes. 🤒

That lips staring tho. It could be Phum, it could be Pond who knows.

5. He'll say it to you. In more ways than one.

Indirectly,

Directly,

The fact that he also never forgets to appreciate Peem.

I love that their dynamic includes lots of verbal reassurances.

Finally the I LOVE YOUs.

This scene OMG.😥

(They say it doesn't count if it was before or immediately after s*x) but well...

What I also like is that Phum's fixation didn't turn into toxic and overbearing. But rather about being insecure, attention seeking and touch starved sorts. It was balanced out because Peem's character is someone who is well loved and has plenty of affection to share in return and it makes them great together. I need to read the book a bit more the said drama came which i still haven't reached yet.

In conclusion, I definitely can relate Phum.

I mean look at this boy, just look at him. (He's so angelic in this shot)💗

God, I'm gonna miss we are and Wednesdays so much.

We are the series (2024)

Quotes are from one of my fav bxb books on wattpad "On my way to you" by @apparentlyelle which you definitely need to check it out! There's link on the name. 💗💗💗

[emeraldmew]

Hey, sis.

#also someone remind me to make my Cosmic Horror Toddler theory into something coherent

Whenever you have the time.

Okay. So bear in mind we're only like seven episodes in and I have no evidence and really no thought behind this beyond "would that be fucked up or what?" and "ooh I'd love to see what an eldritch abomination growing up is like."

There are also like, all of the spoilers for the original TMA below so like, if you're just listening to Protocol you might want to skip the rest of this post.

Tenuously connected point 1.

One of the things from what Jonny and Alex have said about Protocol is that it's supposed to involve exploring "what makes a person" right? And we also already know Jonny's answer to this question from his, uh, cannibalism discussion.

Short version: a "person" understands their actions as something that actually does things to the world around them beyond simply fulfilling a want like hunger/capable of choosing to do evil.

Tenuously connected point 2.

In the Archives universe, a point is made that the Fears "don't think. Not like we do." They work off instinct.

Tenuously connected point 3.

While I never looked into the ARG before Protocol's release I have since looked into the summaries of what it revealed. Among other things the ARG revealed Magnus Institute of Protocol was studying children via... psychological experiments of dubious morality. Aside from this being why Sam is snooping into the Magnus Institute (for those who haven't looked into the ARG yet, his name is among the children researched) the experiments are pretty much looking into how children at various stages of development display empathy and whether they conform to orders or choose not to and stuff like that (I'm sure I am not wording this part right someone with a better background in psychology can probably expand further).

Anyway, my point is the idea of choices and such is being studied in relation to psychological development in children.

Tenuously connected point 4.

The way the cases so far have played out in Protocol does seem to show a difference compared to Archives.

Smirke's original categories don't seem to fit quite right anymore as each of the cases seem to have stuff that doesn't cram into the original boxes. As the blurry categories were already a major point in TMA regarding creating the Eyepocalypse and even Sam calls out the categorization the OIAR use in the first episode this isn't surprising. But it does suggest that the Fears have changed from what they were before.

Quite a few people have also suggested that in the cases we've seen sometimes the incidents seem to fulfill a desire (in a monkey's paw way, of course) rather than simply finding a random victim. This might suggest the presence of intent rather than only instinct.

So what?

I'll admit it's just sort of my own "ooh wouldn't that be messed up? let's explore that further" thought process doing the talking here, but The Thing that was Fear has existed since things could feel afraid. It's ancient. But it's also a cosmic horror entity that has been shown to grow from it's initial state to what we saw in Archives (see ep 200).

It's something on a cosmic level. Maybe it wasn't done growing. The Fears don't think "like we do"...

but neither do babies.

What if by Protocol the Fears have developed more after leaving their cradle? To a point where they can at least begin to think or choose.

What if the Fears are eldritch toddlers and they're learning how to play?

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Make Use Of Me (chapter 1, preview)

Dec. 7 EDIT: ONCE MORE, WITH BRAVERY THIS TIME. No more chickening out. You can read this thing FOR REAL now. Sorry for being weird, and now....sorry if this wasn't worth it. XD

O-OK...here goes....

First thing's first: I am not expecting a lotta people to read this. I'm not asking people to read this. At this point, I'm making this mostly as a passion project, and if anyone enjoys it, it'll be a really cool bonus. My writing style isn't gonna be for everyone, and the characters I write aren't the most....popular characters in the CRK X Reader community, and I imagine this isn't really something a lotta fans'll be demanding more of.

This is LONG. This one chapter is 56 pages long. I am a VERY wordy writer,

So......why'm I posting this preview? Well....partially as an interest gauge for people who WOULD wanna read it, but...mostly as a motivator. As something to remind myself of whenever I get lazy. After all....I can't quit after I made the first chapter public, right? By doing that, I put myself out there...And, hey, I even tagged it, so, if by the off chance, someone did read it, I'm basically promising them more eventually.....

But, again, I'm not forcing anyone to read this.

Not only is it long, but.....This first chapter is probably my least-favorite thing I've ever written. By posting this chapter by itself, I'm testing to see if it does its job of making people wanna read the rest, cuz....right now, I'm not so sure how well it succeeds at that.....

This is the boring part of the story. It's a bunch of setup, and me jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop to just get everything started. I know setup is important and all, but....I'm already a very wordy writer, so....oof....There is some interesting stuff that happens, but it takes a while to get there.

I-I....kinda hate it, actually. The only reason I didn't scrap it is that I didn't realize I hated it until I was about halfway through it and the "good part" hadn't started yet. And I still spent a month writing the thing, so....I finished it.

I'm tagging this...as an experiment. If you wanna read this, go ahead. W-well, read my tags first, THEN go ahead. XD

All I can really say in this chapter's defense is that....I do try my best to salvage it. It's just setup, but I TRIED to make it interesting. And everything that seems like it didn't go anywhere, will later. This isn't the whole story, it's just the beginning of what's gonna be a BIG story. Anything that seems weird in this chapter, gets explored in the other chapters. This does set up a bunch of stuff that becomes important later (The friend character shows up later, the Colosseum becomes relevant later). This chapter is boring, but I tried not to make any of it pointless.

For the future: I'm aiming for five chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 will be a series of smaller vignettes that take place over the course of a few years, chapter 4 will be the climax, and chapter 5 will be something of an epilogue. After that, there will be two endings to choose from (which will make sense when we get there).

This probably won't be my favorite thing I've ever written, but it will be the most ambitious thing I've ever, and probably will ever, write. I haven't written something like this before, and it's all to flesh out this story and make it believable.

Right now, I.....I want to finish this. I'll probably still be writing this in February at the rate I'm going, but...at this point, I've put too much into it to give up on it. However, I'm STILL not completely ruling out the idea of my motivation dying before then. It COULD happen. So, what I'm planning to do is...setting a short-term goal of finishing chapter 3. After I do that, I'll post the first three chapters on AO3 together, and work on the rest. That way, even if I don't finish it, I'll at least have it over half done, and chapter 3 will end on a somewhat high note.

So, yyyyeah....Not a lotta people will read this preview. Overly wordy writing style + boring setup part of story + 56 pages long + assumed lack of interest for X Readers of this character (At least, I haven't SEEN many simps for her, m-maybe I'm wrong, I might be, I-I haven't checked any tags cuz I've been nervous, b-but it doesn't make my writing any better. In that case, this is my first time writing her so I'm trying super hard to do her justice >//////<)

I-if you wanna read this, and see if this first chapter does a good job of making you wanna read the better chapters, then...Go ahead.....

Some notes:

-This is still not the final draft. It's finalized enough for me to share, but I'm still not considering it finished. Even tho I'm working on chapter 3 right now, I STILL go back and edit this, even very recently. So, chances are, even if the story is finalized, small details and sentences are still subject to change. I know for a fact that there are still SOME placeholder bits in here that will change after I get some stuff cleared up. Recently, I even considered chopping off an entire section to make it shorter. I decided not to, but hey, it could still happen. I don't wanna waste anyone's time. The first chapter of a story, even if it's boring, is still very important, and I wanna make sure it's the best version of itself.

(A-and yes, this means that I've finished chapter 2 as well. The reason I'm not sharing it is that, unlike chapter 1, it was finished VERY recently, so I might still need to give myself time to edit it. From what I have, tho, I do like it a LOT more than chapter 1. There are some parts of chapter 2 that I'm legit proud of.)

-Even tho this first chapter is completely clean, I-I should mention that....this fic is for adults. The full version, at least. Chapters 3 and 4 are gonna contain some light N/S/F/W moments (the "fade to black" variety, so nothing explicit) and there'll be other slightly racey comments here and there. Just a heads-up. I'm gonna be uncomfy with minors reading this.

Th-that's all? I-I think that's all.......O-OK, so......h-here goes..... E-enjoy....

[cerealmonster15]

[background template source!]

hmm yknow what. maybe i was supposed to describe the unique magic in that bottom box. oh well teehee!!!!!

updated references for twst rsa ocs Char and Dañarte!!!!! for now. i'll add them to artfight soon!!! I was gonna do another one for Dañarte's Scarabia Era but I worked on these all week.... so i'll just do that one separately sometime maybe lol. anyway i've posted about these guys a lot as u can see from the tags i gave them on my blog, BUT my main origin post about their soap opera lore is really long and intimidating to read.... I have a shorter lore post here, but JFKSJLDJFKLDS.... finding these templates made nice, more condensed intros for them lol. and I [slightly] updated their looks so they aren't just carbon copies of what the seven dwarf characters are wearing!!!! but i'm bad at clothing design so i didn't really change them much!!!!

also i tried to be careful but my handwriting is Bad so i'll retype the info / talk more under the cut.

First guy: CHAR

Age: 18

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Birthday: March 19

Class: 3-C

Club: Fencing [does rsa have a fencing club. idk. they do now.]

Height: 175 cm

Hobby: Horseback Riding

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Arts & Crafts, Shellfish

Dislikes: Keeping Secrets, Beets

Unique Magic: Unknown [I haven't decided one for him yet, and I may simply make him a late bloomer who hasn't discovered his yet lol]

Extra info:

Favorite Stones: Pink Opal & Chrysoberyl

Older Cousin to Dañarte

Long-lost childhood friend + new love interest to Cater

Source Character: Prince Charming from Cinderella

Second guy: Dañarte*

Age: 17

Best Subject: Ancient Magic

Birthday: February 13

Class: 2-C

Club: Equestrian Club

Height: 182 cm

Hobby: Writing Speeches

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Planning, Grain bowls

Dislikes: Tenderhearted people, Undercooked meat

Unique Magic: Kiss of Frost: He kisses something or someone and temporarily freezes them ICY STYLE!!!!! or something like that. idk it doesn't kill people[???? maybe it could. idk.] but it don't feel good. Perhaps the area of frost can vary as well, like a small smooch spot vs spreading through the whole body? We gotta workshop it a bit more I'll get back to u on that someday. maybe.

Extra info:

Favorite Stone: Apatite

Char's younger cousin

"Love interest" to Cater + later on, Jamil...

Source Character: Hans from Frozen

RSA -> NRC -> Scarabia [He gets expelled and/or leaves RSA for whatever reason, I still haven't come up w/that part LOL... and ends up at NRC post breakup with Cater and gets sorted into Scarabia.]

* Disclaimer bc I feel the need to point out whenever I bring him up about his name lol- Dañarte isn't truly a name, it's just a spanish verb that's like "to hurt you". his character literally spawned from a convo I was having with a friend when I was trying to think of a name for Char, and something I said got autocorrected to Dañarte, and we made jokes about an evil princely character... so he became his own thing and I just kept that as his name lol.

anyway. i like talking about them but i also get shy and embarrassed about it klfjslfjks. also i probs did not draw them to scale bc life is hard. so are colors. i went very basic bc im scared but im trying to remember how colors work again in our year 2024 or whatever. WAHOO FUNNY LITTLE GUYS!!!!

shoutout to op of this template [@unfinished-projects-galore] making me sit here and consider the lives of these boys a lil more w/that bio layout. i was tempted to put summoning as Char's best class but WHAT do they summon. tell me idia what does that MEAN - jk it's probably like how juice bb summons cauldrons lol. I also considered Potionology for Dañarte but I think he'd like stuff like history and all that jazz and older [perhaps FORBIDDEN] ways of doing things.

[thequietkid-moonie]

mooniee, hiii~ 🥺❤️

i feel like it's been forever since i texted you, i'm sowwy-- i saw your messages, but i figured i'll just write back one bigger messages rn! :)

first of, i wanna ask how your playthroughs of persona 3 & xenoblade 2 are going! i feel like i'm way too late on this, but hey-- who are your fav characters from each game? and for xenoblade, any favorite rare blades? story blades and the ones from corecrystals! :D

alsoooo, did you see that xenoblade chronicles X got announced? 🥰 i haven't played that one yet but i know a hell lot about that game and can't wait to finally experience it for myself! if you decide to ever get that game, we def need to play it together!! (there's at least a bit of multiplayer in the original X, so i'm assuming it'll return for the X remake/remaster)

anyways, i hope you are doing alright! i missed talking to you & sowwy it took me so long to respond 😔✌🏻 i'm gonna try & reply faster from now on! love ya <3

V-CHAAAAAAN !!! I MISSED YOUUUUU !!!

I been so worried about you but im happy to heard from you 🎉🩷🩷🩷

I'll pry to god for you to have more time for yourself and peace soon 🌸

or fight them, both can work!

Don't worry, im happy now that i finally have news from you! Take your time 🩷🩷

I been enjoying A LOT Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 3 <333 sadly I haven't get the oportunity to play them myself so im watching a gamplay (a pretty good one because it has almost all the content of the game :D)

I hope one day I can play the games personally, but if Xenoblade Chronicles X has multiplayer I will do everything in my power to get the game <3

i got the news for your post and I was excited too! This is the perfect oportunity to get in the game too, besides Xenoblade Chronicles is PEAK FICTION so i will love to get in the X too!

I already finished the story Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and I! was! in! tears! That fight take too much from us to dont even be the last fight and not even be inside of the world tree!!! Seeing Klaus again make me feel angry but also happy haha, his desing was AMAZING! and the way it conects the story to the first game makes it an absolute masterpiece!

im currently on the Torna the Golden City ✌🏼

For My favorite characters I had to say that in the top of the list is Zeke and Pandy, I absolutely both those two and their dinamyc, having a friendship as caotic as that one is one of the most valuable treasures you can have in life <3 also I like Adam just as much as I love Zeke, both are so silly thats it is even cute and funny, of course Vandhan and Jin will forever live in my heart, and Mikhail, and Akhos, and probably Malos too I love him bit also hate him

I LOOOOVE PYRAA!! im down bad for her, she is incredibly cute <333 im half way to get to know better all the blade but I love how diferent their stories and desings are!! I think i can't choose one a my favorite (but Wulfric is living on my heart and mind, he is way too cute)

For Persona 3 im right after the travel to Kyoto, right in the grief for Chidori 🥺(im still crying) I been enjoying the story a lot! The gameplay is so cool! I love how the importance of the social links <333

For My favorite characters first of all Junpei, I dont know why but I absolutely love him! He is so silly and adorable and dumb and silly 🥺 (he is so cute whenever he is with Chidori <333), i love a lot Ken too, but like my cutie patootie, I love how mature and determinated he is and yet he is still a child, I love him, I will take him as my baby 😺🌸 (also Maiko, she is so cute <3)

I absolutely adole Akihiko but he brings one of the worst part of me, idk why but whenever i saw him i feel the need to be silly and make self-depracation jokes, maybe because he is too serious? haha, Shijiro and and Makoto will live forever in my heart! and Aigis and Fuuka and Elizabeth and Theodore and Rioji and Chihiro and Yuko and Bebe

Haha i think i fell hard for the characters 🤭

[kaija-rayne-author]

I'm doing a series of reviews as I play Dragon Age Veilguard. One or two posts a day, whenever I can play.

This is installment one.

Can't remember if I mentioned that a lovely person gave me a copy of DAV. And I'm so very grateful I can play close to release. So I can do an unbiased review series.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

I'm seven hours in. (2 in CC so 5 playtime.)

Spoilers for DAV. Dragon Age Veilguard

Also, this is all my off the cuff writing. I haven't the time, energy, or desire to edit them.

Five hours in... I can confidently say welp, it's a game. It is indeed a video game.

I don't hate it? Most of it? Can't say I love it, either.

Background and environment folks did a fantastic job. And I was pretty sure they would. That part feels like Dragon Age. Except for the floaty spaceship thing in Minrathous. Intentionally not saying what it's supposed to be, because they do tell you.

Baddy design is as bad as I feared. If not actually worse.

I totally called it on several points, which gods escaped, for one. The fact that those 'demons' were gonna give me a headache, too. And the whole Solas Varric sitch.

CC is pretty good. Nothing ground breaking, but people should be able to make a character they like? You can make a good redhead.

I like the new codex design. I still preferred DAO for that one. Aaaannnnd I've already caught a couple editing errors in the text.

Extremely thrilled that my non-binary ass can be non-binary.

Yes, you can actually make a (slightly) pudgy character.

That is still not Solas. And you can't try to tell me I'll probably like him once I see him in game, anymore. I don't. He does still move the same, so they got that right. Still has the subtle humour, too, which, since Weekes wrote him, makes sense.

They were right, the characters do look better in game.

AND THAT IS STILL NOT A FUCKING DARKSPAWN.

My youngest kid just glanced at my screen and did a double take with a 'Ma? Why are you playing Fortnite?'

From the mouths of babes. He's right in that Fortnite player age bracket, FWIW. And no, he has no interest in playing Dragon Age. No matter how much they made some of it look like Fortnite.

Not feeling any of the romanceables, yet. But I've only met Neve, Lace, and Bellara. Alas my poor bisexual heart. None of the women do it for me. That may change, it's still very early as per in-game events.

I'm going to stick with it to see if it'll actually catch me up. Because it sadly has not, yet. By an hour in on my first playthrough of DAO, I was head over heels for Alistair. By 1 hour into Awakening, Anders had me. By hour 3 in DA2? Anders and Isabela both had me. By seven hours into DAI? I was very much in love with Solas, though I was playing a guy because I wanted to Romance Dorian first. (Still really loved Dorian.) But yeah, that bloody elf had me first, and I think it was at the first damned scene with him in it. Which is roughly an hour or so in?

I'm intensely curious about the story, and it's why I was so desperate to play it. So unless it somehow utterly offends me, (worse than those not-fucking-darkspawn and what-the-actual-fuck-are-those-demons already have) I'll finish it. Unless I lose interest. It's at least worth playing so far. I don't feel like I wasted the seven hours.

Fighting is reasonably easy to adjust to. And it'll be more fun when I get the hang of it. (For me, I usually don't have a lot of trouble picking up new fighting systems in games.)

Oh, and it took Astarion BG3 half an hour. 🤣

Please no spoilers if anyone responds. As I said, only seven hours in.

In case you're interested, here's my predictions piece.

And here's the second part in my ongoing review as I play series.

[thesunw1tch]

Moving-In Ritual

Goldie's Guide To Witchcraft: A Tumblr Grimoire for the Masses

Hello All! It's me, The Sun Witch! I figured that since my Moving-Out Ritual post did so well, I might as well post a template for what to do once you actually move! I'm actually moving into my next apartment in about a month, so I'm in the same boat with y'all.

I believe that you can implement your path as loosely or as strongly as you like in the following phases. I didn't quite recommend it last time since the goal was to create a blank slate, but this time? You kinda go wild, it's your new space, let it get to know you!

For example, in my new place? I'm an eclectic but primarily a Sun Witch, so I will line up the following steps with specific times of day if I can. My exact move-in and move-out time has not been expressed yet by my building, so we'll see if I can make my plan work. Anyhow, you could do the same, but I encourage you to get creative with it!!!

Phase 1: Physical Cleaning

I bet that once you get to your new place, you're going to need to do a few things before you start unpacking boxes. Start by...

Check for cobwebs, overly shadowy undercarriages, rust, mold, lime or calcium build-up, etc. Not only are these things just a plain eye sore, but they can cause you to feel negatively towards your new home, which in turn could welcome negative energies.

Do your best to fix these issues if they will obstruct your ability to be comfortable or will make the moving-in process strenuous.

Organize your boxes of belongings! This may be common sense, but please place boxes for specific rooms in those respective places. It'll just make it easier in the long run.

This is just a personal touch, but I like to keep the doorways and windows open whenever I clean to air out any lingering dust or chemical smells from a previous tenant or what have you. This can also help with the next step...

Phase 2: Spiritual Cleaning

Hopefully, you've listened to step one and haven't jumped straight here. Hopefully, all immediate physical abnormalities have been fixed, or at least accounted for. Additionally, you'll want to unpack before continuing on to make things a little easier. This may take a while, but there's no pressure to rush through it - take your time and organize your new space, let it get to know you, and find ways to best serve you. I've found that when you treat a place nicely, cleanly, and with purpose, it'll do the same to you!

Our next phase is dedicated to spiritually cleanse the space. There is an abundance of banishing, warding, protecting, cleansing, etc materials out there for y'all, so I won't include many specifics in this next portion.

Cleanse! Personally, I can't use smoke in my complex, and since I know this is the same for many others, I suggest using other elements! For instance, I'll probably use salt water or a method of wind cleansing to clean the slate! I can make a post on wind magick in the future if someone wants

Protect! In my own practice, I like to use sigils and the element of fire when possible. Now, I know I said we aren't going to use smoke, so instead I like to incorporate solar energies or visuals into the space. Ward and Banish however you feel comfortable as well :)

Flourishing! This is the fun part!!! Personally, I use air freshners for practicalities sake but you can use anything you'd like. Ask yourself what vibes you want to attract into your space - love? Sleep? Happiness? Choose a fragrance or make your own Flourishing spray and get to it! You can even take it a step further and use bundles of real dried herbs and flowers to really Amp it up!

Phase 3: Personalize

Everyone's practice is going to look different, as I have stressed throughout my posts on this blog, but what I'm going to add here is that it is crucial you personalize your space in a witchy way as well. Whether this means following traditional rituals or house warming customs of your practice or familial culture, or even just making a new ritual in your space is up to you!

I am a firm believer in the idea that your space isn't yours unless it feels like yours. Make sure your energy is flowing throughout your new home, that you're attracting that same sort of energy - you can do this anyway you please! If anyone wants specific examples or what I do, just let me know and link a post here :)

a n d that's pretty much it! I tried to condense the information here rather than in my previous moving post, so I hope you find this helpful :)

[the-mehlwurm]

INTRODUCTION POST YIPPIEH

HI HI!!! My name is mehl or mel or whatever and I don't really care what pronouns you might use for me, though I usually go by they/she/he/it :))

I am 18 years old (yippieh, I guess)

My first language is not English and I often don't read my posts before I post them so there are lots of typos everywhere and probably a lot of grammatical errors :3

My favourite favourite bands are bears in trees, los campesinos!, mcr, hot mulligan and charmer but I'll pretty much listen to everything, as long as it tickles my brain in a fun way :D

In general I am in love with stardew valley, playing the bass (and SOMETIMES guitar) and pill bugs

I also sometimes draw (which WAS originally the reason I started posting on this account), but i kinda needed a big break after school. I am trying to get into drawing again, tho.

Random fun facts about me, i didnt quite know where else to put: I have 2 piercings (+earrings, so 4, if you count them), I am bi and ace (and incredibly single), I sometimes feel like I don't have a personality, I feel like I often adjust the little personality I have for literally everyone and that the rest are just symptoms of my adhd, i am vegetarian (which always surprises people that know me irl, not sure why), i have a jar in which I put nice things people said/wrote to me so I can look at them when i feel weird about myself and my favourite trees are birch trees :D

Also PLEASE feel free to message me or sending me asks (and/or recommendations for stuff (for example movies, music, manga, books) and I will love you forever). Though, little disclaimer: I AM awkward and WILL probably make you cringe (if you haven't killed the part of you that cringes yet. No shame tho. Because same. Though it IS sad.) Whenever you talk to me. But I LOVE interacting with people (if they are nice, if you're mean to me, there's a 90% chance I'll cry). :3

I want to start tagging my non-art related posts with 'the Würmer are talking' might change it or not. We'll see. (Maybe I'll use different verbs for whatever the Worms are doing idk)

And, most importantly, if you know me irl, please don't.

[birlwrites]

I was wondering what Dumbledore's role as chief warlock of the wizegamot means in this universe?

ok the short boring answer is that i forgot that was a thing 😬

the LONG MORE INTERESTING answer is going to be me talking through how i can retcon that - which i absolutely can because we haven't really gotten into wizengamot politics in ttdl yet!!! so the only people who will know that i totally forgot will be the people who see this post afhslgkshkgjskhldjfs

SO. my immediate thought with 'chief warlock' is that dumbledore is kind of a master of ceremonies. he's not a wizengamot lord - his job is to introduce bills, hold the votes, and all sorts of things like that which are mainly ceremonial/logistic but in the hands of someone particularly motivated CAN be political tools. once again taking inspiration from the united states congress because i know how that works and i don't know how other governments work, dumbledore can control what order bills get introduced in, whether they get introduced in the first place, etc.

now, there's definitely a failsafe. the wizengamot would not stand for some plebeian controlling what they get to vote on. so if they can get together a critical mass of lords, they can force through a vote even if dumbledore doesn't want to introduce the bill. it means there's a tug of war between dumbledore and the dark lords for power

next question: how did dumbledore BECOME the chief warlock? my guess is that it's an appointed position by the minister of magic. at the moment, that's harold minchum, i believe, soon to be replaced by millicent bagnold (probably as the war gets worse). idk when exactly that will happen, i'll figure out a moment that works with the plot

dumbledore's been chief warlock for a WHILE, though. minchum reappointed him because he's functionally an institution. once he defeated grindelwald, plenty of people were calling for him to run for minister - he didn't do that because he's smarter than that, but he did accept the position of chief warlock when it was offered to him several years later, and that's a big part of how he stays in the public eye. (i think he probably also writes op-eds whenever there's something Sufficiently Important to write about)

in atfhv, wizengamot sessions happen twice a year, in fall and spring, and they run for exactly 2 months each (march 7 to may 7, september 7 to november 7). in that time, dumbledore's quite busy, seeing as he has that AND a school to run. plus a war to fight.

and that means that orion knows dumbledore PERSONALLY. as does pretty much the whole wizengamot, and not just because they were students when dumbledore was a professor

which now makes me really want to have orion do a take your child to work day in which regulus casually shows up to a wizengamot session and stares dumbledore down the entire time. the dark lords are pleased with this behavior. he clearly knows who the enemy is

[melkstudio]

JULY PROGRESS

Remember I said that Miwa's solo ended up being longer than anticipated?

Now, guess what happened to Masa's solo? Also, it's more emotional than I thought. Very interesting. Can't wait to explore the repercussions sometime, probably chapter 3.

It's funny because Masa is obviously losing their mind with what's going on (and with reason, after everything they see and experience) but since Miwa has grown wise over the years, certain things don't take her by surprise. Also, if this is what Miwa and Masa are like, then I don't want to even imagine what Hazuki will end up like...

And that's all I'll say about it.

Anyways, I still haven't posted the progress update on Patreon but patrons will be charged during August! I will be posting a small oneshot around the 20th and the alpha update on the 15th (over on Patreon, of course. Also, not the solos, the solos won't be added yet, I don't think).

Expect a public update during September. Patrons will continue to get small updates until I advance some with chapter 3 (whenever I get there), and the public demo will continue to get updates before a certain moment, when that certain moment in chapter 2 arrives I'll probably wait until I have made progress in chapter 3 to publish a big update. I don't want to ruin the emotion of the latter part of the chapter by cutting it down.

Anyway, back to finishing masa's solo. I'm happy that I made so much progress, but I will have to return to work this week and will not have much time, have to make the most of these last few days.

[01turnkill]

2024 Media Post Time - Master

5. Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC

Side Order! Like everyone else, I'll be comparing this to Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion DLC..

I loved Octo Expansion a lot, I even 100% completed it (every stage with every weapon) and I intend to do that for this DLC too. I've finished it with every palette so far but I haven't maxed all my chips yet.

I'm a big roguelike fan. Love Hades, Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, Darkest Dungeon. They're fun to play and a lot of fun to watch. Before Side Order, I haven't played a proper 3D shooter roguelike before so it was a fun experience. Well... Side Order is a roguelite so a lot of these elements but not completely random, since the levels you play are from a set.

Side Order is a lot of fun for me. It definitely feels closest to Hades of all the roguelikes I mentioned. With the different weapon selection, selecting from 3 upgrades at the end of each level, the same few bosses, Marina's hacking shop is JUST like Nyx's darkness. Some of the upgrades are similar too and the Danger floors are like Chaos' upgrades with a benefit but a sacrifice for a limited amount of time. I played a round of SO with dualies, and damage whenever I dodge rolled and it felt exactly like some of the dash boons in Hades.

This isn't a bad thing and it's still unique being 3D, the different tower and zone modes, limited colour chip palette. Maybe other stuff.

To be honest, Octo Expansion trumps Side Order lorewise.. And gameplay wise too it was more diverse.. though not replayable the same way. I 100 percented it, every level every weapon and it was pretty fun. but I didn't go back. The story is quite simple and not too dark, and for some reason with the trailers I thought the tower would be MASSIVE. Near 60-100 floors, PMD feelings here. Especially since we get told the "danger" levels will be more common if we go a while without playing one.. Maybe true but they're also completely avoidable. I was also really surprised to see that we get Marina with us immediately after the tutorial part of everything and she's just there the whole time like, cool but I thought it would be deeper than that.

The levels definitely get repetitive and I end up mastering them very quickly. My first time on Cruel_Sisyphean_Eight-Shaped.Floor for instance, took me over 12 minutes on a casual run. Now, even without hacks I can do it in a couple minutes (not tryharding). Then theres On-the-Run(Circles)_Eternally-Hunted.Floor. It's a grind but this one I had in the bag easily after probable my second time and those were probably the only levels I had trouble with first time at all. Some levels stayed fresh every time I played them, especially with low hacks, but not those two even though they were challenging and stood out to me at first.

At least the colour chips and palettes can make each run crazy different. My first run with brush was insane, I regained ink fast enough that I never needed to recover in swim form. Just endlessly attacking. I didn't have too much difficulty with any weapon except for the Octoshot of course as it limits the amount of chips and hacks you can have at once... and I'm not sure if it was because of the low hacks but I failed it a TON, especially on the smollusk fight which was annoying. Most of the palettes were a first time win for me and if not it was on my 2nd try and I only added hacks when it came to my last few palettes so I don't know if I was just fumbling or what but I eventually did it with one hack for damage resistance and one for life I think... can't remember. I tried a couple things.

Smollusk is kind of cool once you finish visiting them and I feel like there is more to think about and potential with their circumstances, I'd like to see more. I just crave suffering you know how I am. I'd like to see it more painful and conflicting. There's some reading between the lines to be done also with Acht and the Marina dev logs and the way octolings are as a whole. Might write my thoughts on them later.

[forthesanityofstorytellers]

Author Ask Tag

Ooo I haven't done this one yet 😁😁 Was tagged by @anyablackwood (here) and @gummybugg (here), thanks you guys!

I mean technically you both tagged my main but this is my author profile so there, lol

ANYWAY

A quick light tagging of @moonluringfrost @adie-dee @astellarium @bloodlessheirbyjacques @winterandwords @afoolandathief

and on we go! Using Abracadabra for any WIP-related questions

1. What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

Be annoying a do crime? lol Ehhhh don't really have one. Though Rod (MC) does muse at the end:

My mother survives through me because I choose to remember her traditions. Whenever it is that I truly die, I will only live as long as my stories do. Beings, Terrans and otherwise, are easily forgotten. Stories and traditions are not. I guess that’s all any of us can truly strive for.

So...ig if there's a lesson of Abracadabra it's to make your story a good one? As in one that you like and are proud to have been a part of, one that those close to you will want to tell and close to them will want to tell, etc etc

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

I'd say 'not a lot' but in all honesty I took inspiration from probably a thousand different things and each bit was a thought or idea or small detail or something similar, and so I can't point to one thing and say 'yes, this inspired the world of Abracadabra'. Plus it's set on modern-day earth, so...I feel like the snippets of inspiration would be evident to those who watch/read the same things I do, lol

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, and help readers grow as a person?

We both have very simple aims; to be entertained, to tell a good story, and to maybe play a trick or two.

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

Right now it's standing at 29. I was hoping to get it up to at least 30 initially, and hopefully with the re-write I'll manage to get it up there. If for no other reason that to make it a nice round number, lol

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original content. I plan to self-pub once it's done, but...I dunno, I'm entertaining other options. I mean I'm still going to self-pub once it's done, but I'm waffling between doing things like putting up done chapters on Tumblr. I also entertained the idea of using Neocities to make a blog where you can read all the stuff for free, using Substack for chapter releases before publishing, posting on Royal Road...etc.

6. When and why did you start writing?

In general? I started writing when I was 12 (I think, may have been before that) and it was legitimately reading Lloyd Alexander and thinking, "can I do this? Can I write like this?" and no one told me I couldn't, so I did. And now here we are.

For Abracadabra? I think I started writing it in 2016 as a part of a trilogy where each book followed a different MC with one large overlapping plotline so you got to see what the others were doing when they ran into a different MC. And said trilogy started because I began working with my dad (one of my biggest fantasy/storytelling influences) in my first actual collab. We were about halfway through the first book when he got diagnosed with cancer. By the time I got to the third book (now Abracadabra) I was on my own and felt I needed to finish the story. Possibly why Abracadabra has the 'lesson' about our lives being stories that live in other's hands.

7. Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers on Tumblr do you follow?

My dad had a saying. "I didn't cheat, I used all my resources to the best of my ability."

While hilarious and also said to cover up the fact that he was, in fact, cheating (and I can hear him saying that to me now, because he insisted to his dying day that it's not cheating and it's a mantra I'll adopt at opportune moments) man was also a genius, observant, and hacking computer systems in high school. In the 70s. So when we accused him of cheating on computer games, what he was saying in a hilarious and quippy way was "I figured out how to reprogram the game to bring my desires of how I want this game into the parameters of how it functions because I that is a thing I know how to do."

Point being, to other writeblrs...don't be afraid to use all your resources to the best of your ability. Cheat the hell out of the system.

...

Also back up all your digital shit. Save it in at least three different places, make sure one of them is in an offline format or - even better - an offline removable format (like a portable hard drive or usb, or even written down on physical paper). My first book took two years longer than it was supposed to because the laptop I was using crashed two days after I finished the first draft and three years of work went down the drain and the only thing I had left was about three pages of a cut scene I wrote in the middle of history class. I had to rebuild it from memory.

I mean, it turned out better I think, because I had at least three years of writing experience to build off of at that point and that's also likely why it went faster, but I also had a panic attack when it happened and that wasn't fun.

Also the writeblrs I follow tend to be a) ones that followed me first and b) ones that I looked at and went 'oh yes, I can be friends with this person' (usually because I have begun reblogging a bunch of stuff because it made me laugh or think or nod along or I agree with it or thought it was interesting or). Not always in that order, tho lol more of a social follower ig.

[librathefangirl]

Love your fics btw 🥺❤️

But 🦈 and 🍬 for the ask game ❤️

Thank you!! 🥺❤️ And thank you for the ask too :)

(Also can I say that I'm impressed that I've gotten 7 emojis for this ask game now, but none have been duplicates)

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Ooh. For nnt I gotta go with daytime Escanor and Diane. I just... don't really know how to handle those two.

I much more prefer writing wimpy night Escanor than arrogant day Escanor. Although both will show up in an upcoming fic of mine (day 21 of my Febuwhump series, whenever I get to that one). So, we'll see how that works out.

As for Diane, I don't know, I just struggle a lot with her character. Which is probably why I have never actually written from her perspective yet.

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

I mean, technically yes? If we're looking at both my early fanfic days over on FF.net and my current ones on ao3, I've got 60 fics across 12 fandoms. Although, this year I've only posted fics for nnt. Which I don't mind actually, I haven't been this inspired to write since I started writing fanfic (for Lab Rats) back in 2016.

Only 5 of my written fandoms have more than 1 fic posted, so let's look at them, shall we? Going oldest to newest:

Lab Rats - Betrayal

I guess it would be cheating saying my entire A for Always fic, since it's my advent calendar fic and is thereby a collections of 24 fics? (Actually that advent calendar was fun to write, maybe I should do something like that for nnt this year?). So let's go with chapter 2: Betrayal. This one's actually a bit different from my usual stories. It's more of an introspection and deals with Chase's (canon) experiences of betrayal and the emotional impact these had (that was't explored in canon). Over 6 years later I'm still proud of this one.

Lab Rats: Elite Force - Her Baby Brother

This one's a set of three drabbles, showcasing Bree's relationship with her little brother during different stages of their lives. I like this one because writing drabbles is not always that easy, plus at the same time I managed to make them feel like three parts of the same story with a similar structure. (Not a story for people who don't like main character deaths.)

Glee - The Boy with the Christmas Sweaters

Okay, looking back at my Glee fics was actually kinda hard, because the ship I loved back then I can't stand anymore. But I do like this fic! It's a Samcedes fic based on a Christmas prompt. Just some fluff and humor (a rarity for me).

Stranger Things - Trust and Needles

I have a total of 3 ST fics. All of which less than 700 words. All of which Stoncy. This one's just fluffy ot3 shenanigans combined with Steve whump. It might leave a smile on your face (unless you don't like needles or stitching, then you won't like this fic).

The Seven Deadly Sins / Nanatsu no Taizai - Who'll Hug the Prince of Hell?

This one wasn't easy to choose. They're all so new and all so loved. I think I'll have to go with this one though. For starters, it's my first nnt fic, the start of a new era and all that. It also includes a lot of things I love to write about; Meliodas angst, the relationships between the Sins and Meliodas, Meliodas getting the love he deserves, Merlin knowing his whole story, Meliodas and Ban being Meliodas and Ban, King dealing with his feelings and actions towards Meliodas after the reveal. Also, who doesn't love a story where Meliodas gets hugged repeatedly? (I should make Mel get hugged more often)

Anyway. Here's the list for the ask game, if anyone else wanna send me something :)

[rhythmgamer]

not completely a vent more like musing over my thoughts but. I'd say do not open if you don't want your mood ruined/are already in a bad state mentally

sometimes i wonder that the way i feel when I'm writing is. probably not normal.

like, I've written essays before. and they've been self studies. but most of the times i cannot being myself to read what i write. and if i do, it seems as if... i didn't write it. it feels as if a different person left it there for me. in my handwriting.

as bizarre as this may sound, it feels as if i destroy a part of me whenever i write?

now, the yuushino fic was different. it was a simple, cute, easy to imagine scenario. i was done with it in 2 hours. can i see myself writing something like that again? probably. it doesn't take much energy.

however, there's something else I'm writing rn, and... even though I haven't written the angst part of it yet, even I'm simply writing the soft part still, it's so taxing. because what I'm writing is lowkey (highkey) related to something i struggle with myself irl.

and I'm conflicted on how to proceed. i can give the story a "pure", wholesome finish. or... i can continue on the "impure" path i originally intended. i know, it's my story, my rules, and i want to go the impure path, so i should probably listen to myself.

but the problem is. that I'm scared of losing a part of myself again. I'm scared of putting so much of myself in it that whatever of myself i put leaves my physical sense and becomes imprinted on those words forever, never to return to me again. I'm scared of putting so much of myself in it that i can never bear to see or read it again.

ironically, i don't feel like I'll be able to read this post itself more than two times. maybe i just have an aversion to baring my own vulnerability towards myself.

words express me the best. but alas, words scare me the most too.

i doubt anyone has read this far.

in any case, I don't think it is normal to feel like you're destroying yourself every time you write. Writing hurts, but i need to write. because, for many reasons, I can't scream verbally. it's... poetic in a way