#this might be my last batch since i don't really feel like doing any more attacks LMAO

[misty-wisp]

more artfight attacks!! this time with vienne by @1humanbeans and viina by starhSAMA

[rainydaydream-gal18]

hi! I don't know if you take requests, but if you do may I request a Tech x f!Jedi reader where they sort of acknowledged their feelings for one another during the era of the clone wars, but never really acted upon them. then after order 66 happens, they somehow reunite and ofc Tech is super happy to see her again, then on pabu his brother have to convince him to act and kiss her since neither of them know when or if they will see one another again, and he does?

thanks!

(Bad Batch) Tech x Reader: Ghost

Author's Note: Consider this a late Tech Tuesday! Enjoy!

Word Count: 3,108

Warnings: Fluff, some angst, kiss

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

Tech tilted his head to steal a sideways glance at Hunter through his goggles, brows furrowing over his narrowed eyes as his mind considered a million and one possibilities.

"One might say I have," he answered cryptically, not wasting any more time before pursuing the figure.

It was evident that Hunter was puzzled by the reply, but he knew better than to ignore that look in his squadmate's eyes. He reached out with his senses in hopes of noticing anything in particular.

But even he has difficulty finding something in a bustling square when he hasn't the slightest clue of what that something is.

Tech was determined to track down his target. It was only a fleeting glimpse... But he was sure he'd seen it. His brown eyes scanned the crowd of faces as he shouldered his way through in the most polite way he could in such a hurry. A chorus of, "excuse me"s and "pardon"s left his lips. He even had to utter a full apology after stepping on a bystander's foot.

Then, he saw it again.

This time, he wouldn't lose sight of it. His eyes remained locked on it- on her.

It was her, he realized.

She had joined a small crowd in the main square to observe the festival performers.

She wore dark clothes- very different from her robes.

But of course, Tech thought. She was in hiding. Obviously, she would have to protect her identity after Order 66 occurred.

Tech looked over his shoulder to see Hunter with widened eyes. He'd finally seen you too. They both locked gazes and nodded, mutually deciding to approach with caution.

For once in his life, Tech wasn't entirely sure how to proceed. The last thing he wanted was to startle you. After all, it wouldn't be unheard of for your instincts to kick in, especially towards clones.

By the time he reached you, he was even less sure.

Hunter took the liberty of greeting you simply and in a light-hearted way in hopes that you'd be put at ease.

"Fancy meeting you here," he rumbled.

Tech's eyes flickered back to you, watching as you turned around. The way your face lit up at the realization of who it was warmed Tech's heart. Your smile grew wide, and your eyes began to glisten with tears that welled up.

He waited, even as you threw your arms around Hunter in a gleeful embrace, to see if any fear or uneasiness registered in your expression. Your body language toward the squad leader showed no indication of anything other than relief and familiarity.

You pulled back from Hunter, sharing a meaningful look with your friend, before turning to Tech.

"Oh, Tech." you practically launched yourself into his arms, and he took a second to process the action before tightening the embrace. "Do you know how much I've missed you?" you whispered into his neck.

His heart fluttered at the feeling of your lips against his skin as you uttered the most sorrowed question in a barely-audible voice.

She's here, his inner voice kept saying. She's here. She's here in my arms. Nothing is going to harm her. I will never allow it.

Tech squeezed tighter, swearing to himself that he'd never let you go again. It was duty that had separated you during the Clone Wars. But now that the Republic had fallen, this duty no longer existed.

The embrace was long, but not nearly long enough. You pulled away, wiping the wetness from your cheeks with a sleeve, sniffling.

"I knew it," you said shakily, your voice breaking off into a laugh. "I sensed you when I landed. After the Order, part of me hoped beyond hope... But I wasn't sure I'd find you either way."

"Small Galaxy, I s'pose," Hunter joked. "Still, how'd you know we weren't going to..."

"Blast me to smithereens?" you finished with a grimace. "Well, this planet doesn't seem to be occupied by the Empire. I figured if you were here, you weren't likely to be under the influence of chips."

"Still," Tech spoke up again, meeting your gaze. "We could have in theory been doing recon work for the Empire. Hunting undercover. "

"I guess that was a chance I was willing to take," you said, your own gaze unwavering as it bore into his soul. A flood gate of memories opened up as he looked own into your eyes.

Suddenly, he saw you on the battlefield, standing right at his side with your lightsaber in hand, deflecting blasts. He saw you in the cockpit of the Marauder, your features shadowed beautifully by the light of stars streaking past in hyperspace. He saw you seated on a crate, the sleeve of your robe rolled up to reveal a wound that he tended to with a bacta patch. He felt you press against him as the two of you made your way through a dark cave back-to-back.

He saw your downcast expression as you waved the squad farewell after being transferred to another system to aid a fellow Jedi in the War effort.

"Hey! Look who it is!" The booming voice of Wrecker sounded over the commotion of the festival. You looked over to see him approaching with a small girl on his shoulders, and Crosshair in tow. Another soldier was following not too far behind.

"Wrecker! Crosshair!" you greeted. "Am I glad to see you!"

Wrecker set the girl down to hug you properly, and Crosshair begrudgingly accepted an embrace from you. The girl was watching you curiously. The other soldier also seemed intrigued by your familiarity with the squad.

Finally, Hunter continued with introductions. "Omega, meet ______, an ally and good friend of the squad."

He didn't dare use the word "jedi" in a crowd, not even in a place as safe as Pabu.

You hadn't expected to see her face light up in realization, as if she knew all about you.

"And this is Omega," Hunter continued. "It's...a long story. In short, she's-"

"Our sister!" Wrecker finished.

You couldn't help the awed smile as you greeted her properly. "Wow, it's wonderful to meet you, Omega."

She was beaming up at you as she stepped forward to shake your hand. "You too. I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh yeah?" you shot Wrecker a humorously suspicious look. "All good things, I hope."

"Mostly," he guffawed.

"This here is Echo," Hunter said, motioning to the other soldier. He seemed to know who you were already because he saluted with his scomp arm. Touched by the gesture, you saluted back. "He joined the squad shortly before the War ended."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ma'am," he said.

"Likewise," you replied.

Tech had been unusually silent the entire time, and you found yourself glancing his way, hoping to get a read on what might be going on inside that mind of his. His gaze was already locked on you, and his lips were pursed, a sign that he did have loads to say. The sight nearly made you laugh.

Same ol' Tech.

The group naturally made its way out of the crowd, heading for the beach so that you could all talk openly and get caught up. Each of the squad took turns recounting in their own words some of the adventures that took place after Order 66. They were beyond curious to know the events that transpired in your escape and evasion of the Empire in the following months.

For the first time in a long time, you felt like you were home.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"You can't stay, can you?"

The question wasn't wholly unexpected. Hunter's heightened senses allowed him to see more than what was around him. Sometimes he saw into you just a little too well.

You let out a sigh, looking out over the perfect view of the island from your spot on the porch. It was almost painful to confirm Hunter's suspicion when you were gazing at blue water shining in the sun, waiting for the rest of the squad to return to the neighborhood after their work was done for the day.

After over a month on Pabu, you couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

But the fact of the matter was, there was some unfinished business to take care of.

"I need to go away for a while," you admitted.

"Are you sure?" Hunter asked, brows raised. "You're safe here."

"I know." You closed your eyes, breathing the salty air into your lungs peacefully. "But there are others who aren't. I can sense it. They're lost and confused, and...afraid. They need me."

He nodded gravely. As always, he respected your judgment. He honored your sense of duty to others, despite his concern. If there was anyone who understood, it was him.

"I'll be back," you told him. "In a little while. I will return to you all."

"We'll be waiting."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Breaking the news to the others wasn't something you'd ever want to do again. Omega and Wrecker were downcast. Crosshair voiced his disapproval in his own way, flicking a toothpick onto the ground. Echo wasn't happy to see you go, but he seemed to understand. Duty to his brothers would soon to call him away also as it had before, or so he'd told you.

What you hadn't expected was Tech to fall silent. His expression didn't exactly betray frustration or displeasure, but you'd always known him to express emotion differently. After all, as you'd come to find out from the others, your departure from the squad during the Clone Wars had affected him more than he'd let on to you.

Just when you thought that maybe Tech's feelings didn't go as far as you once thought, he broke the silence.

"Leaving the safe haven of Pabu is most unwise."

The entire squad froze at Tech's version of an outburst. It wasn't a shout. It was controlled, but each word was laced with a tinge of bitterness- something you'd rarely ever heard.

At that, suddenly the others felt the need to excuse themselves, for one reason or another. Wrecker out of the blue remembered that he and Omega needed to go see Shep about...something. Echo was adamant about joining them. Hunter excused himself to finish a household chore. And Crosshair just up and walked away without a word.

When just you and Tech remained, you responded to his statement calmly.

"I know, it's a risk. But it's one I have to take. I'd hoped you would understand."

"Forgive me," he said curtly, turning his face away, putting his chiseled profile in full view. "I do understand."

Your heart broke at the sight. "Tech..."

He faced you again, an unreadable expression crossing his features. "I understand perfectly."

Before you could say anything more, he walked away.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Tech paused tinkered adamantly with the device in his hands.

He felt like an adolescent. Like some young cadet.

When Crosshair had gone his own way, seemingly lost to the squad, Tech found a way to rationalize it. When Echo departed from the squad for a time, Tech processed the shift in his own way.

Adapting was the name of the game. Tech always felt that finding a way to adapt to changing scenarios would mean a higher probability of survival for himself and the squad as a whole. Rather than wasting time trying to change things according to his own wishes, or longing for things to be different, he found the rate of success would increase immensely if he simply, "rolled with the punches."

So, why did he act contrary to that belief just now? Why didn't he simply shake your hand without so much as a nod and let you continue on your way?

Perhaps it was the environment. The peaceful planet of Pabu, where the squad lived out its days safe and sound- having long since abandoned the life of soldiers and mercenaries- brought about a softer, gentler existence. Survival was no longer something that the squad struggled with.

The lack of a need to adapt perhaps left room for Tech's true emotions to shine through- a luxury previously unheard of in his mind.

"Let me guess," Crosshair's coiled voice interrupted his train of thought. "You didn't tell her how you feel...again."

Ah, fantastic. This was just what Tech needed at the moment. A dose of his brother's difficult and unyielding character.

He adjusted his goggles, resuming his tinkering as if he was unbothered. "I fail to see how that is relevant."

"You know, if you tell her, she might stay."

Tech paused. "I do not see why she would. She had made it quite clear that her mind is made up."

"Is it now?" Crosshair leaned against the doorway of Tech's quarters, crossing his arms. "And how do you know she won't change it?"

Tech didn't reply. Perhaps his brother would give up and leave.

"She deserves to know."

...But of course not.

"What makes you say that?" Tech looked up.

"Because it's the sort of thing people do." Crosshair placed a toothpick between his teeth. "When they care about someone, they tell them. They never know when they'll get the chance to...or if."

That one sent Tech's mind reeling.

Regret. As much as he tried to distance himself from it, as it was another hindrance to adapting to the situation at hand...he knew it would be something that he'd be faced with if he left things the way he had...

But telling you how he felt? Tech wondered how he could even begin to do so. He was eloquent in matters of machinery. Science. Technology. Those were languages he spoke fluently.

Telling you that he cared for you?

Loved you?

That was a foreign concept entirely.

. . . . . . . . . . .

The time of your departure had come all too soon. The squad was gathered around your ship on a rainy afternoon to see you off.

You'd be back soon, you kept reiterating to each of them. Tech watched as you hugged Hunter, and the leader wished you well. Wrecker picked you up and spun you around. Omega, who'd come to admire you so, wrapped her arms around you in a heartfelt hug. Crosshair once more allowed an embrace, bringing his hand up to awkwardly pat your back. Echo, in his fashion, saluted you before you laughed and embraced him also.

Tell her how you feel. Tell her how you feel. Tech kept telling himself that over and over again. It didn't seem to make his next move any easier. Even with the hours and hours of thought he put into it, the task of telling you that he cared for you still seemed monumental. Impossible even.

But his brother's words rang true.

He had to let you know. Somehow.

You were standing in front of him, concern etched on your face. It was evident that his last interaction with you left you unsure as to what his behavior would be. Tech hated that he'd caused that uncertainty.

He opened his mouth, but for once in his entire existence, nothing came out. There was no spew of information. No explanation rolling effortlessly off his lips. Not even a peep.

You were waiting patiently for him to get his bearings- though your uneasiness seemed to increase.

His brain shorted out, and then suddenly everything became crystal clear. If he couldn't begin to tell you how he felt, perhaps it would be best if he didn't tell you.

Tech's resolve cemented, and he closed the distance between you with a single step. Your eyes widened as he stepped into your space, and your hand came up to rest on his chest. When it registered that there was no force behind it, that you were not trying to push him away, Tech placed a hand on each of your shoulders and leaned in.

Your expression melted before his very eyes. With no further thought to your surroundings, you leaned in the rest of the way.

Your thoughts were racing as Tech's lips pressed warmly against your own.

The determined look in his eyes had made your heart flutter. The way he'd so decidedly stepped into your space, how his hands held you in such a way that you doubted anything could move you from that spot... It was captivating.

You recalled the time when thoughts of kissing Tech were the sort of thing that used to keep you up at night.

During the War, your familial affection for the squad would have been questionable in the eyes of the Council, if they'd known. But your attachment to Tech in particular would have been considered dangerous. Absolutely forbidden.

But love is a force of its own.

You were certain of that more than ever, with Tech tilting his head to deepen the kiss, his arms sliding around your form to hold you tighter as the rain pelted you both from above.

What began as a fervid gesture rendered something softer, sweeter in the end. His lips brushed yours tenderly one last time, feather-light, as if savoring the moment, before pulling away.

You tugged him back before he got too far, holding him in an embrace as you buried your face in his chest.

"Stay."

There was no edge to his tone with the request. It broke your heart all the same to hear it.

"I can't," you whispered.

"Perhaps I can accompany you, then." There was a waver in his exhale from the chill of the rain.

"There's no need. Besides, I'll be back faster than you can say, 'Marauder.'"

"I highly doubt that you will return that quickly."

You chuckled, reaching up to wipe some of the drops from his goggles. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"This. I needed it."

The two of you parted, and Wrecker whistled jokingly. Crosshair gave Tech a nod of approval, and Echo was shaking his head in amusement. Hunter merely looked at you with a raised brow, and suddenly your shoes became very fascinating to you.

"I'll see you all soon."

"Keep us updated, will ya?" Hunter asked, giving you a nudge.

"Absolutely. Bye, everyone!" you gave one last salute before boarding your ship. As you engaged the take-off, Tech received a variety of shoulder-pats and nudges of sympathy from the squad.

And when your ship disappeared on the horizon, he found himself glued to the spot for several minutes.

"Don't worry," Hunter assured him. "She's strong. Skilled too."

"I am aware," Tech acknowledged. Another moment of silence passed. "Her engine sounded strange. Perhaps I should comm her."

Hunter chuckled, clapping his hand on Tech's shoulder. "Knock yourself out. I'm sure she'd be glad to hear from you."

[nonsensical-pixels]

exactly what it says on the tin title! after watching @skittlesplays manually resize hundreds of recolor files on stream (and trying to do it myself...), i decided that the only solution when it comes to editing textures for ts2 was... photoshop! here are 9 photoshop actions geared towards 4t2 conversions, but hey, maybe you could use them for other stuff too 💖

i made these for personal use and have been using them on and off for the last few months, so i suppose you could say they've been sufficiently tested... the actions included aren't final though, i might go back and add a few more as my areas of expertise expand 😅 more info and instructions under the cut, long post warning! 👇🏽

DOWNLOAD: SFS | MF 📄

if you encounter any issues with these actions, please do reach out to me and i'll try my best to help! or if you'd like to add on to them, edit them, etc. in any way, please feel free to 😀

How to Install These Actions

open up photoshop and click on the big 'play' button in the corner. that's the actions tab. then click on the little down arrow and 4 lines in the corner of that subwindow.

select 'load actions' from the list, and navigate to wherever you've installed my .atn file! then that's it, you've got them installed, easy-peasy.

How to Use These Actions (1 at a Time)

open up the texture that you want to edit in photoshop; for this example i'm using a dress i'm 4t2'ing from the throwback fit kit. now it's time to decide which action you're gonna use to make this texture compatible with ts2!

as the texture is 1024 x 2048, i'm gonna use the 'texture clothing: 1024x2048 to 1024x1024' action to downsize it.

ta-da! now it's a reasonable size!

How to Use These Actions (Dozens at a Time)

now for what this set was really made for: editing a ton of textures at a time! just go to file -> automate -> batch...

and navigate to the textures you'd like to batch-edit. here's a few things you should probably keep in mind: - checking 'include all subfolders' will edit ALL the textures from that filepath onwards. - if you set your destination as 'save and close' as pictured, all your files will be autosaved after the action has been run. - so if you don't want to live on the edge, like me, and are afraid of running the wrong action, just open up one of the files you're batch-editing and check which action should be run on it before you do the other files.

and behold! all of my textures have been cut down, and a bunch of my time saved 😎

Examples of Stuff Each Action Can Be Used For

in case you were curious! the first two actions, i mainly use for objects. a lot of ts4 cc creators have their texture sizes set to 2048x2048 or even more, which is way more than (my) ts2 can normally handle. i mean, that much for a candle? geez! so these two actions are used to cut down those textures and not kill your graphics cards.

these are for cas stuff, like clothing, hairs, and accessories. alpha creators tend to have larger texture sizes, but ea's are almost always a cool 1024x2048. just make sure you check before you run the actions!

trim is... i honestly can't remember the last time i used trim, just... if you need it, it's there

the last two actions are for floors and walls! floors are set to autosave as .bmp; walls are up to you. the texture sizes are made to match homecrafter's.

and... that's about it! lol. i know this isn't normally what i post, but i figured that since a lot more people are getting into 4t2 converting recently, these actions might help y'all.

have a great day, have a fun time simming, and keep being awesome guys 😘

[shoneslifeincathay]

Day 1: Training day

 

For the next four months in my third semester, my goal is to complete 150 hours with Cathay Pacific, I will be learning some new skills and apply what I have learned from my courses at Seneca. 

January 13, 2025, marked my first day of placement with Cathay Pacific. There were 8 other students along with me that day. For our training, there were two students from the last batch of the co-op program from Seneca. My first shift started at 0900 with a briefing, which was a unique experience for me. Unfortunately, on my first day, the flight was delayed by 20 minutes due to technical issues.

Now, most of you might be wondering what I am doing there or what my roles are. At Cathay Pacific, customer ambassadors are assigned to three different sections in front of the counter: Queue, Kiosk, and SSBD. On the first day, I was assigned to Queue. My housemate and senior, Neha, was among the trainers helping the new students. She explained all the duties and responsibilities of working at Queue. We mainly greeted Cathay Pacific customers and assisted them in finding their designated counters. While working there, I realized how older people face challenges in navigating airports and their procedures.

While I was working at Queue, I met an elderly couple from China who hadn’t traveled by flight in the past 25 years. They told me they were nervous because everything at the airport had changed compared to the last time they flew. For instance, in economy class at Cathay Pacific, passengers now have to get their boarding passes and bag tags from a kiosk—something that wasn’t common in the past. I helped them get their boarding passes and bag tags. They were very happy with my assistance, as the technological barrier could have made it difficult for them to manage on their own.

At 1300, we closed the counter, marking the end of my first day with Cathay Pacific. After reaching the office, I saw Cathay Pacific’s B747, which is one of the iconic aircraft in their fleet. Even the first flight between YYZ and HKG was served by a 747. In the end, I felt that helping people and seeing the happiness on their faces is incredibly rewarding and joyful.

January 17, 2025

This is the third day I am working with Cathay Pacific for my co-op. Even though I haven't completed much of my required co-op hours, I have already started to feel tired due to my packed schedule. Since I am an international student, I have to keep my part-time job along with college and co-op. You might be surprised to know that I don't have any off days in a week for the next 4 months.

This is what my schedule looks like for the next few months:

Monday - Airport 0900-1300, school 1700-1900

Tuesday - School 1000-1900

Wednesday - Airport 0900-1300

Thursday - School 1000-1900

Friday - Airport 0900-1300

Saturday - Part-time job - 7 hrs

Sunday - Part-time job - 7 hrs

I am kind of stressed because I don't have any scheduled day off to plan something for myself. Moreover, I have to travel 2 hours by bus to reach the airport because I live near a town called Whitchurch-Stouffville. But I believe that all of my hard work will pay off in the end.

On my third day, I was working from 0900-1300, and I was assigned to work at the kiosk. It was the last day of my friend Neha's placement; luckily, we were both assigned to the kiosk. We took some cute pictures together and took a picture of our name tags, which have our mother tongue on them. When talking about working at the kiosk, compared to the queue, I had to work more because at the kiosk I had to help passengers get their boarding passes, tag their bags, and direct them to the bag drop area. Even though I have to work more, I really like working at the kiosk. It's so fun and enjoyable because we can interact with lots of people.

At 1255, we closed the counter, which marked the end of my third day.

For me, my third day was really good because I helped a lot of passengers who faced technical barriers. Their happiness made my heart joyful. But I feel a little sad because I couldn't work much with my friend.

[jackdanielsripper]

ART SUMMARY 2024

I figured why not, because I want to show off how I've improved. It should be prefaced that this first batch from January aside from the first image was mostly me tracing for practice as I was extremely novice at the craft and needed to learn how to properly use the tools for digital art. Take those pieces' quality with a grain of salt. Also keep in mind I am mostly a horror artist and my artstyles aren't "pretty" or clean by normal standards. January looks the worst so bear with me.

JANUARY

January was interesting, I rarely went outside of the one artstyle I was doing, rarely experimented, likely because I was still learning at the time. The one time I did was that not-so-great portrait of Jonathan Banks. In a year's hindsight I don't really know why I kept the border around his features, but I didn't know what I was doing back then so oh well.

MARCH

We skipped February because of personal reasons. If you've been following me since before then you might have figured out some stuff is missing. That's because of said personal reasons.

March sort of marks a bit of a mental decline for me and a bit of a decline in productivity along side it. A few months might be missing.

I'm isolating this one to talk about it. This is one of the first appearances of my OC "Deathwish". Edgy name aside, this post has sort of marked a cornerstone in creativity for me, this is possibly my favorite piece I've done and the one I'm most proud of.

That's really the only notable thing about march.

APRIL

Shit hit the fan for me hard in April. I didn't really do any digital drawing in April, pretty much all of the art I did was with pens on a sketchbook. Most of it is too personal to show, but there's some I can. Namely some art of my OC Mr. NastyBags and some celebrity caricatures.

MAY

I seriously lament the fact that I wasn't able to really continue working on Project Pinhead, I wanted to keep going but developing a game while having issues with committing to long term projects sucks bad, frankly. Here's some promotional art. I'll pick it back up eventually.

JULY

I don't think I did anything in June, so here's what I will show from July:

Welcome Atymede!!! An OC from a failed project called Tower of Revelations. I was really sleep deprived one morning because of insomnia and I got really weirdly inspired to make a fucked up medieval fantasy universe. As I'm writing this I realized that this dude later became another oc that I made last month by the nickname of Fundead, with the medieval fantasy being replaced by a more grounded wild west comic book feel.

AUGUST

July into August and onwards for a time I was dealing with some stress related hand cramping I mistook for carpal tunnel. So productivity slowed down a lot more. I made One (1) drawing in August. Mina from hit game Noita. I was pretty into that game for a bit, it was fun!

Something weird happened in September

I also got my wisdom teeth removed in November, nothing noteworthy in October.

DECEMBER

Here's the most recent stuff!!!! Plus a sneak peek at a new comic thing I'm working on with Fundead, it's a rough sketch and improvements should be made. Note that the stuff I made with Fundead already are largely not going to reflect his final design fully, The comic version will probably be more accurate to what I want him to look like.

Thank you, everyone, and have a wonderful 2025!!!!!!!!!!

[teaguehq]

For @josephafq at Christmas.

Joseph,

Merry Christmas, firstly! It makes me so happy that we're celebrating the day together, and I have to admit I've been wondering a little while if we'd end up doing that or celebrating with our families. I'm glad it went this way when it feels a little more intimate, and for all intents, you're my family, too. Just something I've realized over the last months, just how important you've become to me, and how happy and grateful I am to have you in my life. You honestly and genuinely make everything in my life so much better for having you around that it's sort of difficult to even think about going back to a time you weren't in it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't want to, and that I want to hold onto you for as long as you'll let me. And since you haven't gotten the idea to run so far, I can say that you feel the same way about me, right? I can sense you rolling your eyes a little as you read this, like of course I do, silly, and giving me that smile I've never been able to resist, even before this. I suppose it's all just a bit surreal when I never expected anyone to just walk into my life and completely change it the way you have. And that's just what you've done since that day we met at the bar, that you were someone I felt so comfortable around immediately that I couldn't help but gravitate towards you. It was why I was so quick to say yes when you invited me to that Metallica concert, and I was certain I knew my feelings for you then, that being around you was something special, and sort of hoped you could read it in the guitar pick I sent afterwards. And I was happy to know it wasn't all one-sided when we went camping and you kissed me. I still laugh a little thinking about trying to play mandolin after that and utterly failing, though honestly, the last thing I wanted in that moment was steady hands. It's been the same even now, although you don't even have to kiss me to completely level me since most times, you can just do that with a look. I wouldn't have that another way, and of course there's no way I'd rather be celebrating Christmas this year than celebrating it with you, love. Thank you for making it so special with the decorations, especially knowing how much I love red. And thank you for just being the most amazing boyfriend I could ask for. I hope we get to celebrate this holiday again, along with so many more.

Love, Owen

Hope you don't mind that I snuck and made these brownies so they'd be a surprise! If it matters, they felt unnatural to make without you, so I think it just means we'll have to make a batch together, too.

I know how much you love knitting, and I wanted to get you a kit to encourage the hobby of yours! And naturally, if you wanted to make me something else in the meantime, I'd naturally have no arguments.

I went back and forth on buying you a guitar, although I kept coming back to getting you a mandolin so I could teach you how to play one. Ultimately, that thought won out because I think you'd be so talented at playing! Not to mention this is the most unique one I've seen.

Okay, so I know that I might be operating on rumors here, a little bit. If said rumors end up being true, you'll have a formal congratulations from me, and maybe a little trinket for your trailer. And even if they don't, you'll still have a cool music box that plays some Beatles songs.

I wanted to get you a nice piece of jewelry, since I know you like the more simplistic style the way I do. And I can't deny that this would look amazing on you.

We've attended some cooking classes and have plans to attend more, not to mention that we love cooking together, so it just felt like a natural thing to get these to highlight any favorite recipes we end up really liking! That way, we'll have them on hand, and since we are a little family, it just made sense to me.

[dreamingofmuses]

New Year's Resolutions: RP Edition

Howdy all, Ash here. I've been having a think while with family this week, and I've decided I'm going to implement some new 'resolutions' to try and help make writing in 2024 be way more successful than in 2023. This will include things from the running of blogs to jobs I really want to get finished. I'm putting them under a read-more to keep the dash nice and clean.

I will say, this has taken me an hour to write up, and I'd recommend you doing likewise if you think there's little ways you want to improve.

-

Overall Running of Blogs

I'm going to experiment a new approach to running the blogs. For this, I'm going to put all active blogs to low-medium activity. In other words, even if I am personally lurking on mobile, I won't be constantly writing things if I'm not able to. (Work is just about to get super busy and I'm anticipating chaos)

A queue/schedule function will be used for all blogs. I intend to dedicate one weekday evening to working without interruption on replies. Taking commutes to the city and family visits into account, this is looking to be a Thursday, which is the only day I am neither travelling to the city nor have a guaranteed family visit. Of course, this may fluctuate, but that's what I'm hoping to work with, assuming those things stay as they are.

However! What all this means is that I am going to tentatively take skullandbowties off hiatus. With that blog being quiet, it should be possible to juggle it better now. Plus, it's officially off-season so the demand for him from new blogs ought to be low. I'm very smart :D

I also plan to update all pinned posts. I am aware some of them are marking a vacation from months ago.

Individual Blog Maintenance

Create "New Here?" posts to add to the pinned posts/info tags. This is going to be a very quick crash course on what to expect from the blog, especially where some characters might diverge from fanon expectations.

FINISH. WILF'S. BIO. It's not actually relevant to anything being written on the blog itself at present, but I really want to flesh out his character and show that he was stuck in stories for years, decades even! The doc has the word count to 4,888 at this precise moment. This is a mix of summary and brainstorm. Since it's getting a 'little' out of hand, I intend to have a 'tldr' at the start that people can read, and then longer versions if they're curious to get the full story. Maybe even have it that they can jump to particular parts but... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Likewise, Noah's version of Space needs to be finished. This one is going to be a summary, but it's a case of making sure the pieces are in place sufficiently to have parts match canon Space, but also make it clear that there is a lot of differences between canon and what he went through, with his plot entirely spiralling away for 'Part 2'. This is at 5,794 words, and the ending has yet to be ironed out...

(I am going to stop creating needlessly long-winded projects for myself that realistically add nothing of value to my blogs. These two projects are exhausting...)

Theauthorlives is returning to a very small multimuse. Any muses that aren't ones I genuinely enjoy writing are being fully archived, unless they are muses that get no traction but I want to keep the possibility open. Details of that will be shared when I do this.

Redo some muse icons (not all of them!). Though the selection I have for particular sets is a lot, I still feel like I'm missing some expressions or poses. I would like to remake one batch of icons for three characters, and finish iconning a third. Replies seem to be shifting toward iconless, but I like them for asks or IC commentaries.

OOC/Mun Related stuff

Following matters that have happened both online and IRL, I've decided to take a step back from actively engaging with people. My focus will be people that I have been in good communication with for the last twelve months (as well as people I don't talk to frequently but am on friendly terms with) rather than people I feel I have to 'chase' after. Saying that, I'm going to try and not let past experiences meddle with anything in with new writing partners - whether these are brand new to the community or people I've not had the chance to properly interact with prior to this. Just be aware that I might not be super outgoing at first. (This is where setting limits and boundaries is good practice, everyone! Don't sell yourself short, and don't spread yourself out too thinly!)

Which is where I now say I want to send even more asks! Not just memes or sentence starters, but general questions about headcanons or muse opinions. I want to get people thinking more.

My stance on Discord still stands, in that it's solely for OOC stuff, but I'm not giving it out to everyone. However, I have been in two group servers that have little-to-no connection with writing rp threads in them. I would hope that I can fully regain my sense of comfort using Discord as a whole.

Art related

Despite socially stepping back, I still want to keep some semblance of 'community' where my blogs are active so people don't feel isolated. For instance, I want to do something that encourages invasions of ask boxes. That was good fun to watch as the chaos began to spread, and when people are good-humoured to go along with my silly ideas.

I want to have one huge art-related event at some point this year. I'm not entirely what or how to do it, but I think it would be a great excuse to practice something. Portraits, comics, something like that. I'll have a think. (For those who remember, the water gun event was supposed to have an art conclusion but plans for that fell through.)

I want to try and upload drawn responses to heythereneighbor once a week if I can. Obviously, this is depending on how busy it is.

I'd also like to try doodling more on other blogs? But I'm not sure if this is even something people want to see anymore. People might prefer I focus on writing if I have free time instead of doodles or little comics.

... the writing blog. I need to do stuff with that in general. Whoops.

Finally, I want to do what I can to the best of my abilities on a particular day. I've always told people over the years that real life comes before rp, and I still stand by that. Whether I'm around or not every day isn't the end of the world. The communities I write in are a lot slower paced than they were when I started, which is great! I need to remind myself that I don't need to be writing just because I have a bit of free time.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Greenwich Market

So. Laundry's in the dryer cycle, the last batch of cookies is cooling (I just decided to bake, like, all of them), I used the kitchen time to boil some more potatoes for potato salad and those are also cooling, so now I'm going to take a minute to explain my Adventure from yesterday. And coincidentally also explain why my feet hurt so very much.

See, there's this place in Greenwich Market called The Fudge Patch. An old friend of mine who I mostly see on Facebook these days recommended it - apparently he goes fairly regularly and last month they had a deal on delivery fees, so I tried some and I loved it. Then I discovered that some of the flavours they have in store were not available on the website - specifically, coffee fudge. Which ... well, you guys know me well enough to know I just simply had to have. So I decided to look up how one might get to Greenwich from my little chunk of London. Turns out it's not that far - only takes a couple of buses. So I decided that if I was having a not-too-bad day Saturday and if the weather was decent, I would go and get this coffee fudge.

Yesterday, as far as I could tell when I woke up, was sunny and bright and I wasn't feeling too bad. So I thought, "Great! I will go to Greenwich Market". Even checked to see if there were any pharmacies in the vicinity so I could pick up the mallet meds I needed. There were, in fact, two. (This will come into play later.) So off I went on the bus.

Decided to do the pharmacies first, and discovered that neither of these two chain pharmacies had a pharmacy counter at those outlets. I mean, I guess it might have something to do with the fact that the place is very much for tourists - the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark are both there. So I sighed a little, and decided to take a quick trip to local bookstore. Bought a Neil Gaiman short story anthology and a copy of Max Brooks' World War Z (far superior to the movie, as far as I've ever been able to tell), and then went to the market.

Greenwich Market is ... squished. Cramped. Lots of lovely things in a very small space. Which was not precisely easy for me to navigate, especially since I made the tactical error of entering via the food court and an awful lot of people were standing around eating while blocking the entrance into the main market. Then I had to hobble through very small aisles between stalls. I did look at some of the pretties, but not too closely because too many people. So I decided that, while the market proper would get a decent look on some other day when we're not at the start of a bank holiday weekend, I should just get my fudge and be on my way, preferably via a pharmacy.

The shop was also small, and a lot of it was devoted to the area where the fudge slabs were sliced and stored (and also probably packaged for delivery). There were a couple of people in ahead of me and the first thing I heard from the guy running the shop (mid-60s minimum, one of those wiry guys who gets tough and leathery-looking when they get older, long hair, receding hairline, big beard, very engaging grin) was, "No, seriously, take a sample! We are happy for you to taste everything!" and talking about how even if you don't want fudge right now, and leave without buying anything, he's happy to give samples because you might think of the place the next time you want fudge, or a gift for a fudge-lover on holidays, or when you're recommending a treat to a friend. Good way to do business, frankly. So I tried some of the lemon sherbet fudge he was offering (which was really good; I decided at that moment to go for a five-slab box again, and that to be one of the five) and told him that I was very specifically there because I'd ordered some for delivery but the flavour I was most interested in wasn't available online. He asked which one, and when I told him, he went, "Oh; we will definitely rectify that!" So I might be responsible for the coffee fudge hitting the delivery list. Huzzah!

Anyway, he practically insisted that I try a sample of the coffee fudge, since I'd come there especially for it, and in the process he noticed my pin badges. As I ordered my selection (coffee, lemon sherbet, raspberry sorbet, cinnamon swirl, and peanut butter), first he said, "Decisive person; knows what they want. I like it!" and noticed my pin badges - specifically the D&D themed ones. He said he didn't play but that he was peripherally interested in the whole thing and I told him that the fudge was at least partly gaming snacks. To my utter surprise, he asked what I was throwing at my players this weekend. No stranger has ever asked me anything that specific about my gaming before. So I told him and that was a thing.

That brought us to Warhammer, and sideways into books - apparently he's at the penultimate book of the Horus Heresy. Since we were recommending books and he was almost at the end of an apparently very long series, I made a recommendation of my own - the Locked Tomb. When trying to tell him what it was about, the best I could come up with that was short enough not to be too spoilery or involved was "necromancer lesbians in space". The young woman who was packaging up fudge looked up for the first time at that point, going, "Oooh!" and the guy slammed his fist on the counter in a very Thor-like kind of way (you know, the "I like this! ANOTHER!" thing) and said, "YES. Why has no one done this before? I need this!" So I wrote down the title of the first book for him; he can get the rest from there.

Last little bit of discussion was Patrick Rothfuss, who I told him I only knew from his time on Critical Role, and described the letter he wrote to Keyleth in-character a bit. And by then, my fudge was packaged and it was time for me to be on my way. But I think he sincerely hoped I'd be back sometime. Which was nice. Either way, one of the best shopping experiences I've had in a long time.

Then I had to find a bus stop to head in a home-ward direction. This took awhile, because that particular bit of Greenwich has a lot of one-way streets. Finally found it after a bit of a walk, during which I noticed that the sky was going from sunshine and blue to dark and grey. Well, fuck. Waited a bit for the bus, and didn't notice until I was basically on it that it was only going halfway to where I needed it to go. However, it was stopping at New Cross, so there might be a pharmacy there. Even if not, there's a big Sainsbury's, and the start of a bus route that takes me past at least two pharmacies and about a block closer to home than the one I would have taken if it'd stopped at Peckham like it was supposed to. Unfortunately, it let me off a fair distance from the big Sainsbury's, and there were no pharmacies. Woe.

Stopped at the big Sainsbury's, picked up some vegetables and treated myself to a can of root beer, and waited for the bus. That's when it started to rain. "Fuck", was my only real comment to that. There is nothing more annoying than standing at the start of the route, weighed down with shopping, watching the bus driver fuck around, and knowing you can't complain because they are entitled to breaks too. Honestly, I would have just been happy enough with a bench. But nope.

Anyway, bus finally got moving, got as far as Dulwich, got off near a pharmacy, picked up my mallet meds, back to the bus stop, ten minute wait for the next bus, and finally home - tired, sore, but triumphant.

...Then I started cooking dinner, which was roast chicken. I did really well, too. First I discovered that sage and lemon balm are a nice combination of herbs to stuff into the cavity; gives a really nice flavour to the meat, especially in combination with an onion and an entire bulb of garlic. Then I discovered that whatever I did to that chicken (might have been the slight oiling and salting of the skin before I put it in the oven, or maybe the herbs, or both), it resulted in the chicken being exceptionally juicy and tender. As in, when I went to carve off a leg for dinner, the thigh bone just kind of ... fell out. So ... that was good.

Boiled up the carcass, too - onion, garlic, herbs and all. May have boiled it too long, mind you. Or maybe not; what I have is a highly concentrated stock-jelly, of sorts. I figure I do what I would do with stock cubes or those little pots of jelly stock you can get at the grocery store - water it down and heat it, and stock will ensue. Which is good, because the leftover chicken breast is going to be risotto later.

But not today. Today I have done enough, and on top of what I did yesterday, I deserve more of a break. But that's why I have so many reheatables - on days when I have simply Ceased To Can, I can stick a thing in the microwave but still have home-cooked niceness.

So that was my Adventure. The lemon sherbet fudge is already gone, sad to say. But I still have more fudge, so that's nice. No major regrets for the Adventure, but man do I hurt, especially on top of the Adulting. I mean, hell, I mopped the kitchen floor today. Which would be more impressive if the kitchen weren't the approximate size of a postage stamp, but there we are. I have leftovers and fudge and cookies, plus still a lot of my proper American Sour Patch Kids, and I will have potato salad, and eventually some chicken katsu curry and risotto and chili and...

Look, if it's going to hurt no matter what I make myself to eat, I'm going to make sure the things I'm hurting myself to make are fucking worth it.

[notdogice]

So I want to show off some of my Pony Town cosplays because I just feel like doing so. This first batch is just going to be various one off cos' that I've made over the years that I haven't made any others that would justify a tag ingame. Some of these are old and probably needs an update while others are ones that I've made more recently.

Gohis. While I do have have Deltarune and DBZ tags in Pony Town, I'd rather just stick this one here. Made this in 2022 to match my pfp, if that wasn't already obvious.

Aku. My oldest cos coming from 2017. As you can see here, I have actually updated him over the years for he is one of my beloveds.

Chuck Quizmo. He's the newest cos in this bunch as I made him a few months ago. Also don't mind that one green dot, didn't realize it was there until after I finished writing this post. It's fixed now.

Fern. I originally made her back in 2018 and updated her around 2019. Might update her once more.

Zolo. Yes this is a 4Kids One Piece dub cos. If you seen the clip, you can hear this image. This cos only works ingame. Made in 2022.

Hawkodile. Made him in 2019 when Unikitty was a fandom that you could see a fair sized group of on PT.

Hermes v1. Originally made in 2018 that I've touched up a little sometime in 2021(20?).

Tight Pants (Leslie Hall). Truly an icon. Made in 2022. Might update her.

Linebeck. One of my beloveds, and I can't believe that it took me until 2022 to make him in PT.

Lord Betrayus. Another beloved. Made him in 2021. Fun fact, this isn't the first Betrayus cos I've made. The first one I did was in Creatures of Sonaria of all places.

Lord Dominator. Made her in 2022. Meant to be a show accurate cos. Actually, a lot of my cos' are made to be accruate to the source material, no matter how difficult it may be. There are a few exceptions though.

Lord Kogane. Holy fuck it's another one of my beloveds, but this time from a show that I literally have not seen anyone else have a cos for. I might evetually make one for Tengu, but I still have flashbacks to when I was trying to find reference pictures for Kogane. Obviously made in 2022.

Mira. A 2019 cos that I have updated since then. She might need another one though.

Mohawk Cat. I struggled a lot while making this one, and those reasons aren't very obvious from the final product. 2022.

Nezuko. Can't remember if she was December 2021, or Janurary 2022. Either way, I might update her, but I really don't want to either.

One Winged HHGreg. He is the perfect fusion. Very much December 2021. I have him fliped here because you can't see the wing the other way. Also if you know the video, you can here this image.

Pink Sheep. Woah, another 2017 cos! I have updated him, but a part of me wants to update him again.

Pinkie Pie. That's right, this is my only cannon MLP character cos on PT. Made her in 2017 and I have updated her, but only barely.

Rosemary. High Guardian Spice Abridged made me want to make a HGS cos. Another 2022 cos. Possibly might make more of these cursed beings.

Samurai Jack. This dude has literally never been touched since 2017. Haven't played as him since then, and never been updated. Absloute raw 2017 PT energy. If I wanted to work on him, I wouldn't even bother with this relic and just make an entire new pony.

TBH. Last but not least, autism creature. Technically only works ingame with a custom expression just to move the eye highlights up, but still works just as fine in the editor. 2022.

[sydnycvwrtes]

congratulations on getting an agent! that’s amazing 🎉 do you mind sharing your querying journey (what was it all like? when you started, how many queries you sent, how many full requests, and other stats? things you expected about querying? things you didn’t expect? lessons you learned? etc?)? just whatever you feel like sharing 😊

Yes!

So tbh I feel like I both had an easier but longer journey. I didn't send too too many queries (in contrast to some folks) but I was querying for a long time. I started when I was 18 for reference, so I queried for almost four years exactly (3 years and 352 days lol) but I took long pauses to overhaul the novel between query batches based on any feed back I'd gotten. I sent queries in batches of 4-6 and didn't send more until I'd gotten responses from everyone from one batch.

So:

33 queries sent (I resent edited queries to the same agents 4 times which feels a little 🧍🏿‍♀️)

6 partial requests (quick bit of advice: different agents have different specific ways they want you submit. It might be annoying to reformat everything, but just do it)

4 full requests (and let me tell you, when I sent fulls to "famous" agents, I was waiting for upwards of half a year, which can also account for the time gap)

1 offer of rep (woohoo!!!!) from an agent I feel really understands my vision for the book, and will be a great representative for me when sub time comes. For revisions, I'm not having to change any plot points, just explain a little bit more stuff so they're not too grueling. Plus I write super fast and that helps lol.

I think querying for so long definitely toughened me up. I was really expecting for the first agent I queried, who I considered a dream agent at the time, to adore my book, sign me immediately, and offer no critiques before we went on sub for three seconds and scored a billion dollar deal (and I queried her TWICE because I was just that hooked up on it lmao). As you can see, that didn't happen. I got some rejections after months, and some after only a few hours. And at the begining? Oh they HURT. They hurt BAD.

And then you get another and another and another, and the sting lessens over time.

I became a lot better at being critical of myself, which I feel like is the most important skill in querying- understanding that you are going to have to make heavy edits, kill your darlings, and just overall refine you book in ways you didn't see before. Even the version I sent to the agent I signed with was far from perfect, and I'm making revisions. And that's okay. It's a step to getting published.

It... Was hard. I had a friend tell me it was just not the right time for my book and to shelve it. I think that hurt more than a rejection. But I knew I wanted to be an author, and I knew I wanted to tell these character's stories, so I just kept working. I rewrote my book more times than I can count since I started writing it at 15. It's just all a very long process, and you have to be patient, and you have to KNOW that this is what you want to do and you're going to do it.

Last weird little tidbits of advice:

I had one person read a very old copy of my book. I had no beta readers. I never hired an editor. Don't do what I did. Beta readers can help you so so much. If you can find someone willing, have them help you!!!

Query that agent! I almost didn't query my agent because they said they were a fan of beautiful prose, and I didn't think I had that. But, after mustering the courage, I finally did and look what happened. Just send the query!! The worst they can say is no!!

If you get personalized feedback from a rejection, that is still really helpful. My book is better now mostly because of my rejection feedback because it was all telling me the exact thing to work on. For me, the writing was fine, but I tended to under-explain things. I got that feedback.... A lot. And I was able to fix it and eventually get an agent (woo!)

(even though my revisions are still centered around explaining oops-)

Anyway, I hope this was helpful! I hope I was able to give you a pretty good picture of my querying time! It was... Definately something!

[kyogre-blue]

meanwhileinaditch

Unfortunately, NPCs hold a decent chunk of world-building lore you need for plot context. This game's construction, I s2g. I think the calendar and 'home base' are also holding this game back more than helping it. Iirc GD gets some bonus scenes of Claude investigating Fodlan/Relic Lore in the library the other routes don't get.

Yeah, I just got one scene with Tomas jumpscare to talk about how there were previously loads of books about the dark history of the Relics, but now they're all gone, how sus of the church, etc.

tbh my bigger takeaway was the jumpscare itself. Byleth and Claude both do the little flinch in surprise animation, and Claude looks quite uncomfortable when he says that they didn't notice Tomas. They don't react this way to Edelgard barging into the... same scene? next scene? So the whole thing makes Tomas look unexpectedly sus (which makes sense, given that he's a villain or something).

I'm not talking to NPCs tho, absolutely denied. It's so tedious, and I'd have to take notes to even remember anything because this game is just stuffed to the brim with Proper Nouns of plot relevance. I feel tired just thinking about it.

Regarding the calendar and home base, I think they are concepts that could have a place in an FE game, tbh. The visual indication that, hey, these characters have hanging out together for months is helpful to smooth out them getting closer together, and the home base gives you a setting for various scenes and activities.

It's just that 3H is very underbaked. As the video game reviewer Youtubers like to say, "it's a proof of concept game" and needs a more polished next entry. But instead FE has been changing up on every entry, so...

The problem with the calendar is that they didn't put enough on it. It's a repetitive system of explore to get your plot quests and pick up any new items/dialogues, then just grind for four weeks, until it's time for the plot battle. Repeat. It forcefully spaces out the plot events, but also forces them to clump together in big batches... while you might end up forgetting what even happened in the last set since you had a huge block of grinding between them.

imo there's two major issues: you can't choose when you do the main plot battle, and there's too little on the calendar. Birthdays happen, but you don't even get a little scene with the character (tea time is generic if you do it). Holidays happen, but you just get the, again, generic singing at the cathedral scene. All the "events" are functionally just an additional grinding spot. Instead of dumping all things into the explore Sundays, imo they should have separated them out more and made the events feel like, well, events.

Also, visual changes to the monastery would have been really great. As it is, they sure made fancy insert cards for the months, but they couldn't make alternate season visuals in the actual setting. I'm not sure we even have an explorable nighttime version.

As for the home base, the biggest issue is probably that it limits the kind of story you can write. Most older FEs are journeys where your geographic position is tracked, which helps give a sense of the world layout. But in those cases, there wouldn't be anywhere you could return to (unless you compromise into an actual camp that is implied to be pitched in different locations but has the same layout).

But seriously, they're not bad systems per se. They just needed a whole new game to get polished into something that does more than technically function.

The actual biggest problem is what they did with the route split. The systems you can probably live with, but the route structure... yikes.

[elminx]

Thoughts on my practice, August 2023

Note: As you might imagine, this will not be a full accounting of my practice as there are things that I cannot share for any number of reasons including but not limited to: you wouldn't understand, it's not mine to share, and it's ongoing magic.

I have been slowly coming out of magical hibernation as I get farther away from taking the awful meds (awful FOR ME) that made me so depressed that I was struggling to live, let alone do magic. There was a reckoning that had to be done. Everything was a mess - my altars, my relationships with my spirits, and the cobwebs inside my mind and spirit.

It was about this time last August that they upped my meds and as the months wore on into winter, my practice became virtually untenable. I have to forgive myself for that: both for agreeing to take meds that I knew from experience might be Bad, for continuing to take them as long as I did, and for falling off of my practice. I'm...working on it.

June and July were about playing clean up and catching up.

I had been doing a lot of work around my mindset and changing the way that I notice and experience the world. Though this is strictly "magic" in the sense that I don't normally cast spells toward this goal, it is unquestionably a part of my practice and my current path as a witch. So this month, feeling like I have the bones of my practice righted, I returned to this work.

Our month began with a full moon in Aquarius on the 1st. My intention for the month is: No matter how my day goes, I return to my heart. I tried to solidify this intention by focusing on my gratitude practice for the first eight days of the month - each day I came up with eight unique things that I was grateful for which I recorded in my witch journal. This is a reminder for me to look for the good things in life rather than focusing on the bad.

This is important for me because I have an anxiety disorder and tend to catastrophize - returning to my heart and being present with my body is my best method of alleviation. I was especially worried about this Venus retrograde which squared off with my Sun, Ascendant,y Mercury, and Chiron. Leo season is often a bit of a struggle for me since it activates so much of my chart (and I'm not fond of the summer heat either).

It happened that coincidentally on the 9th day of the month, my partner and I got into the car for the long trek north to visit his Grandmother. This was very path-affirming for me as, on our way, we got to stop and walk on the beach we used to stay at for all of my childhood. I'm deeply in love with the Atlantic Ocean (she is my deepest and truest love) and it was wonderful to return to the place where this affair began so many years ago. We spent the week wandering back and forth from Nana's house in the mountain to varying parts of the coast and it was wonderful and unquestionably heart healing.

Now, back home, I have had a week to return to my craft in earnest. I did some cat magic under the energy of the Leo new moon and then set to work on the harvest. It is August after all!

As a kitchen witch who likes to can and preserve food for the winter months ahead, August is go time. So far I've made and frozen tomato soup and tomato confit, and we've dried a bunch of onion, herbs, and hot peppers. Next on the docket is some salsa verde and then hopefully another batch of tomato soup and some red salsa as well. If I'm extra lucky with tomatoes from the farm, I'll end up with some marinara sauce as well because we really enjoyed ours last year.

This week begins my regularly scheduled work with Mercury Chthonia during their retrograde cycle and I'm actually pretty excited about this. The deeper that I get into self-exploration and shadow work, the more that I have learned to enjoy the deep slowdown of retrograde season. I have a bunch of half-written blog posts to edit, so this seems very Right On Time to me.

My other plan for this week is to clean off and rearrange my Earth Altar (see also: plant stand). The seasons are starting to change rapidly here and I am so ready for many Autumnal harvests. I might do a bit of work with my bestie goldenrod but otherwise, I intend to take it easy and, as I said, return to my heart with every opportunity.

[spadesolace]

okay so after rereading the prev chaps until the latest one , im officially stumped hsjsksksk- the more i read , the more i question bout lots of things 😂 (sorry bro , i aint the brightest)

first chap, u mentioned how with a click of her name , people can find out who yn was yet people still dk anything bout her priv life which prob meant that she only posts/people post bout her school life . she's also friends with sullyoon (is there gonna be a backstory bout her or was that just a filler?)

anw, let's try this hsjsksksk-

1. yn just enjoy teasing hanni bcs of the thrill . as u said, she doesn't even have to try hard to be on par with hanni . so , she prob don't care much bout the grades and only does it to annoy hanni since hanni is so competitive (ofc she is, her chances to get into her dream college/uni is at stake) . she find it fun, which something that she prob never felt before. or does she has an attachment issue? 😂

2. yn notices the small things bcs that's something that she wishes to have been b4 . something bad might have happened or it's bcs of her parents as well (?). like how she wishes her parents would do to her (pay more attention to her, etc).

3. regarding her life ... my theory would be something happened to her sibling hence why their parents r so protective and secretive of them (wdym except their father tho?) . yn's sibling is probably not in the picture anymore (hence why she moved school so jihyo can look after her). but that also the cause of her parents being neglectful bcs they're tryna busy themselves with work to forget bout it i guess.

4. yn doesn't feel like trying hard at school (take the top place) bcs she feels unnecessary to do so. her parents prob won't even bat an eye if she does so , that's why her coping mechanism is more into being playful and all cuz she just tryna live and have fun.

5. old money rich and food industry... why do i feel like there's something fishy bout it? 🤔 could it be that it is just a cover or her parents own like a multimillionaire company that has a lot of competitors tryna bring them down ...

bro, this is the longest I've ever wrote and im 100% sure it's not even close to the plot hajsksbdksk- 🤣🤣

also, would u be surprised if i said hanni fell first but yn fell harder? 👀

i hope my failed attempts on trying to guess entertains u enough so that u wont be too stressed out for ur exam ksksksks-

On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

HEAVY SPOILER CONTENT FOR DRAG ME DOWN 👀

also THAT LAST LINE IS FROM LITTLE PRINCE, RIGHT? ANON, BUBS, YOU KNOW THE WAY TO MY HEART

ok let's get this bread

she has socials but very private family, so anything about her family is hidden but school life such as events, that’s the only thing she allows to be public, and on top of that, she doesn’t really accept followers that fast

yes, sullyoon is her actual best friend, the only person she truly trusts with any information about her family and traumas. there's an entire chapter that would go in depth with yn's life as she opens up to hanni

1. yes, she really enjoys messing with hanni not only for the thrill of it bc we all know hanni is competitive but we’ll get there. yn doesn't try that hard to be a top student, just a little bit of effort here and there, as her future is sort of planned already but she's still given a choice. it's fun for yn cause she doesn't have that much friends who would tolerate with her teasing and she only jokingly flirts with hanni

2. yn is observant, she focuses too much on the small details, the patterns. like clockwork, she knows her family's schedule of when they're visiting them or when sakura needs her (little things chapter) she sort of got it bc of negligence from her parents but at the same time, like oh, the flowers were changed or a new batch of coffee beans at home that's not local?

3. OK HHAJDHASJKFHKAJHFA, I ACTUALLY ENJOY THE HISTORY OF THE PARK FAMILY ITS LIKE HOW WIL!YN IS VERY PROTECTIVE AND DOES NOT TAKE ACTION RIGHT AWAY BC OF HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER FATHER.

the park family, yes, jihyo was the cousin that is keeping a close eye on yn but she transferred for the sole reason of having someone she is close with (sullyoon and jihyo). they're well-known, the parks are big bc one is in the music industry, another in the food world, some are in fashion, then you also have lawyers and judges, and the fact that no one knows they're connected makes it intriguing.

that's why yn has a choice, its nepotism baby (if yn chooses to work or take over the family business then that's when her parents would publicly announce that she's their daughter)

4. YOU'RE CLOSE BUT IT ACTUALLY IS SORT OF THAT. she doesn't care about grades, as long as she's not failing then she'll be fine bc her parents gave her a choice of what industry or corporate she'll work in

5. LAST ONE, BINGO. people are trying to find some sort of connection regarding the park industries, like are they connected or is it bc the surname is that common that people would assume they're related or what.

hahahaha I WONT TELL WHO FELL FIRST AND WHO FELL HARDER

[copepods]

hey, I’ve heard over the grapevine that you’re a fan of Star Wars. I’ve only ever watched the first released movie and the first season of Mandalorian, but I would like to get more into it. However, I don’t know what order to watch the movies and all of the tv shows and extras etc etc. do you have any recommendations?

sure!

if you're interested in watching the movies, i'd recommend watching them in the order of release- A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, then The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, then The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and the Rise of Skywalker. some of the movies are definitely worse than others, but i'll leave it up to you to decide which ones you like more lol. if you want to watch shows, i'd recommend watching the movies first, since everything uses them as a basis. there's also Solo and Rogue One, which both take place in between the prequels and the original trilogy. you can watch those after if you want, or not at all if you aren't interested.

the Big TV Show in my opinion is The Clone Wars, which has 7 seasons and takes place in between AOTC and ROTS. the creator, dave filoni, is the big guy behind shows like The Mandalorian right now, so i'd recommend watching that first if you want a reference for some of the characters that appear in the later shows. of course, TCW is pretty freaking long, so if you don't want to watch all that there's plenty of watch guides on google that give you the most relevant episodes and what order to watch them in. if you give the show a go and don't like it, that's fine! it's not required viewing, it just gives some added context to everything that happens in later shows. it's also really really good, esp after the first 2 seasons.

there are a lot of other tv shows as well, and you can kind of pick and choose which ones you want to watch (or all of them!) but it's definitely up to you.

Star Wars Rebels takes place shortly before the original trilogy (ANH-ROTJ), so if those end up being your favorite movies, check Rebels out! the new Ahsoka series is going to be a sequel to Rebels of sorts i believe, so it'll give some context if you want to watch that too.

Star Wars Resistance is one that takes place during the sequel trilogy (TFA-TROS), so if you're a sequels fan, that adds some new characters and fleshes out the resistance a little more! i haven't seen it so i can't speak for its quality but there's not all that much supplemental content for the sequels, this is pretty much the big one.

The Mandalorian takes place after the original trilogy but before the sequels. if you're interested in watching more, go for it! it's not required, though. a lot of characters in the 2nd-3rd season are from Clone Wars and Rebels, though, so keep that in mind!

The Bad Batch takes place after the prequels, centering around some clones that made a brief appearance in The Clone Wars. if you want more clone-centric content, you might like this one! i haven't watched it for personal reasons (a lot of the clone designs were horribly whitewashed) but feel free to check it out.

Tales of the Jedi is a relatively new one, that adds some supplemental content to characters from mainly the Clone Wars and the prequels. episodes kind of span all over the timeline. it's relatively short, so if you like the Clone Wars, feel free to give it a shot!

Kenobi focuses on Obi-Wan, and takes place before the original trilogy. to my knowledge there's really not all that much stuff in here that comes from other shows, it's a pretty self-sufficient one. if you like obi wan (i certainly do), give it a try :D

Andor centers around a character from Rogue One and takes place before it. i haven't watched it yet myself, but i've heard it goes into a lot of deep and interesting territory about fascism and how the Empire works, and Rogue One was one of my favorite movies, so i'd definitely recommend it!

edit: I KNEW I WAS FORGETTING SOMETHING there's also The Book of Boba Fett! has characters from both the original trilogy and The Mandalorian, id watch if you're a fan of those :D

that's all the main stuff out right now to my knowledge! there's also a ton of books, video games, etc that i'm not even going to begin to list off, and then the whole Legends canon that disney retconned (which i know next to nothing about), etc. i hope this suffices!

[purplesurveys]

1808

How you doin’ on this fine Friday morning? It's a Saturday morning now, but I am doing okay. It's a long weekend because of the Chinese new year so I'm giddy that I got one extra off day yesterday; and while I know this calm feeling will immediately evaporate by Monday, I'd rather be in the now.

If you could pursue any hobby, career, dream right now, which would it be? I'd love to start vlogging as kind of like just a creative outlet. You just point a camera towards where you're headed, no one even has to watch it, and you get to archive your life. But it's also an expensive hobby and at this point in my life I just can't drop everything and get the equipment for it - a good camera, a mic, a new laptop for editing, lighting etc.

What do you look for most in a friendship? A low-maintenance personality. Someone who won't flip out or leave me in the dust when I can't reply for a few days at a time, or like someone who's okay with seeing each other just 5 days a year.

What’s the wildest hairstyle you’ve ever had? Probably going a vibrant purple! It's also still my favorite style I've ever had.

What would be the wildest hairstyle you’d go for? ^ Still that. I'm long overdue for a new dyeing job, and when I do I still plan on going back to purple.

Do you ever feel like breaking boundaries in any way? This is such a broad question but no, I guess not. I know I hate it when others overstep my boundaries, so I try not to do that.

Or are you more rigid, set in specific ways? You can say that.

Do you value tradition or are you one to not give a damn? It's not black and white. I definitely respect tradition to an extent, but I recognize when something is super outdated and that it would be better to go the modern route.

When buying clothes, do you care which department you shop at? Sure. There are brands I don't like.

Do you ever spot memes from shows and movies? Occasionally, yeah. I remember the excitement I got when I was watching Citizen Kane and saw the clapping meme haha. It was at a film class in college and I know I wasn't alone because I heard a bunch of people snickering too.

What was the last thing you baked? I haven't baked since I was like 13 lol. I still remember what I made – a batch of chocolate chip cookies that tasted like nothing.

If the Internet never existed, what do you think you’d be doing now? Watching TV, most likely.

What’s something you’ve been putting off today? I have a minor work task I should be doing but hoooooly shittttttt do I not give a fuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkk. Maybe after finishing this, just so it's out of my hair and I wouldn't have to think about it anymore.

Do you know how to thworp? I don't know what that is.

Have you tried something new at a restaurant lately? I had Mary Grace for the first time ever last Monday; Leah and I got a mushroom and garlic pizza. It was okay but not life-changing, which was fine because MG never claimed to be the home of pizza anyway lol. I also hate garlic so I was relieved that the garlic came off super weakly.

What’s the most boring flavor you can think of? Underseasoned chicken.

Have you been having any crazy weather lately in your corner of the world? Not really, it's been the usual.

Which place have you been to that’s the farthest from home? Malaysia.

If you could, would you rather go back in time or forward? Why? Forward. I'd like to see what technologies would emerge.

Do you think in words or images? Words.

If your skin could be any color of your choice, which would it be? I'm okay with mine.

Is there something you’d like to be doing instead? I wish I was in UP reading a book under a tree and unbothered by the world right now but 1) I'm too lazy to drive at the moment and 2) it's gonna get super hot in an hour or so anyway so I might as well just do this in the late afternoon.

If so, why aren’t you doing that now? Whoops I got into that already hahaha

[zerohourdiary]

A Chain of Thoughts

2-09-23

I don't think you ever check this blog, but who knows. Don't know if what I post is something I want you to see or not. Not even sure what I'll post. Let me know if you do find come across it, ok? I know you've sent me messages on Skype, I'm just afraid to read them. We've been in this kind of limbo since last summer and I feel like going through those messages might make it hard to stay in that space. We probably shouldn't be in this limbo, but it's been nice, for the most part.

Read your pinned post on tumblr earlier. A little suprised you didn't tell me about posting it. Some of the posts you were tagged in are gone when I searched your username. I wonder if you're deleting stuff again.

You're also posting more than I thought, though it looks like most are scheduled posts. Didn't love your shout out to Taylor. Must still be talking to her. Reminds me that you haven't responded to my email and I wonder if you ever will. I have another email with even more questions. Had it since not too long after the last email, but it has felt like sending it would just make you spiral and it's never felt like a good time. I need to just send it. They're questions that need answers and maybe a new batch will get you to actually respond.

I'm sure you haven't finished going back to read our old messages or anything that you wrote at the time. It's been almost sixteen months since your first Florence excursion, I think you've had enough time to process. You made me answer your questions over and over when I was right in the middle of everything. Doesn't feel like too much to ask to have you give me a clear picture of how everything went town. Help me understand it. You know I need that but it feels like you're just hoping I'll just drop it or forget about it. It also feels like you think I'm trying to punish you but I'm not. I just need to make sense of it all .

I actually pretty surprised that you haven't really asked about my stbe. I'm sure you've wondered. No, nothing is official yet. She's not in a good place financially to file the paperwork, but it's all prepared. We still talk almost every day, but not much. Just little life updates or videos from snapchat. She sends me pics and videos of the cats, which is nice. But we can go several days without any messages and most of the time, there aren't many messages on the days we do talk. It's nowhere near how much you and I talk and not the same kind either.

I went most of the fall without seeing her in person. I grabbed some camping things in August and didn't see her again until I had to pick up some mail in like December. Then saw her a few weeks ago because I had to sign away my rights to the car because the lease was up and ahe was buying it and putting it fully in her name.

I'm not sure what kind of relationship she wants. I offered to take her to the movies because she wanted to see a movie but didn't want to spend the money, but she said she didn't think it was a good idea. Not sure why. We're friends, but incredibly casual friends at that. She knows I still talk to you, so I know that affects what kind of friendship she wants with me, but I don't think she knows what she wants in that regard at all.