#tms and midnights just make WAY too much sense

[shaniacsboogara]

THESE ARE AMAZING I might just have to make crossover album cover edits for all of them... 👀

BOOG @shaniacsboogara I HAVE MY LIST

folks may i present to you watcher shows as taylor swift albums lol

am open to changes/suggestions :)

[astrobei]

Do u have any byler fic recs? I’ve read all ur work and it’s wonderful!

hii omg thank u :’)) i’m going to try my hardest not to only list every single of my friends’ fics on here or ones that have been recc’d a million times even though they are all deserving of a million reads!!

you are sick (and you’re married) by @wiseatom: OK i said i wouldn’t list every one of my friends’ fics on here but thea’s modern coffee shop au immediately came to mind. everything she’s written has been so incredible but she characterizes will and max especially so well in this! delivering to us the cringefail will content we need for reallll <3 i am so in love with her writing and something about her style just makes so much sense. i tell her this every single day but it will never be enough, because her will is so precious to me and i need thea to quit her job and only write loser4loser byler for the rest of her life. read this! or else! (coffee shop au, modern setting, cringefail will byers tm)

king of my heart by @bookinit02: i had to restrict myself in choosing just one of haven’s fics for this list because i love her and i would put every one of her fics on every list ever if i could, but this fic. THIS FIC. listen. i don’t cry easily when reading fics but this one. i was reading it in the living room and my roommate came down and she said, “suni, are you okay?” and i said “yeah, why?” and she said, “oh, i thought you just got dumped or something :(“ and i didn’t know how to tell her that the reason i was eating ice cream out of the tub on the couch at midnight while crying quietly in my comfort hoodie and fuzzy socks was because of this fic. that’s all i have to say <3 (soulmate au, angst, fics that tear my heart out of my chest)

in from the snow by @parkitaco: every one of parker’s fics is near and dear to my heart, and i’ve gushed at them about it in their comments and inbox and asks but this was my most recent completed read and it has literally everything i could’ve asked for ! ice skating date! established byler! jewish byers!!! her characterization is incredible and her established byler is my favorite i’ve ever read EVER in my entire life ohhh my god. she has so many wonderful fics and i literally cannot choose a favorite because they’re all 10000/10s so do urself a favor and binge her entire collection of works if, for some reason, you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t done so yet :^) (winter fic, hannukah, established byler, mike wheeler’s pathetic inability to ice skate)

want for anything (and everything): the writing in this fic is so beautiful. like. i am a sucker for fluff yes but also i’m a sucker for fics that just rip my heart right out of my body with how well written they are. i was looking through my bookmarks for this list and i haven’t read this in a while but my bookmark notes said, and i quote, “EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS SOOOOOOO!!!!!! IM AHSJDJDJDJSKSKKSKSKSKDKDJ” which sums it up perfectly in my opinion. post s3 mike and will figuring out their relationship and this author has such vice grip on me because i immediately binged the entire series too!! (six unrelated fics but each one of them are so. SO. GOOD!!) (this series has a whole bunch of premises so i’m just going to let u all figure that out for urself by making u read every single one of them. lol)

selfless; self destruct: i find myself coming back to this fic a lot because i have such a soft spot for will and mike finding each other again and repairing their relationship. the writing in this fic is so heartbreaking and the will pov in this was so spot on! they have a whole phone conversation about toast that just. it was so small and so simply and so raw and so THEM that i literally had to put my phone down. i’m sure i recommended this already but i can’t rec this fic enough !! (angst, post s4, reconnection)

hanging on the telephone by @elmaxed: lumi’s writing is just so. i don’t know how to explain it but the way they write is so soothing and easy and it conveys so much emotion with such simple dialogue and prose. everything lumi writes is s tier and this fic was no exception !! i Need more will and mike talking on the phone during the 6 months will was gone and it was really incredible reading this from mike pov. the characterization, the dialogue, mike’s struggle with his feelings for will vs what he should be feeling for will,, literally just the whole package. read it immediately if you haven’t !! (post s3, phone calls, mike wheeler’s ongoing homosexual crisis)

who you gonna call? (mike wheeler!) by @andiwriteordie: OK everyone and their mom has read andi’s fics because she’s famous and a legend and also one of my best friends (!) so it would be redundant for me to shake you by the shoulders and demand you read her fics but. this one is just so so special to me! like this one specifically. every one of her fics is incredible masterful beautiful but THIS ONE IS JUST SO!! i can’t explain why i come back to this fic so many times (other than the fact that it’s perfect). college byler where mike is an ra and will visits him, except they keep getting interrupted by the students on mike’s floor. ugh. perfect. holding it so close to my heart forever and ever <3 (college au, established byler, interruption trope x100)

bonus!! these fics aren’t byler but they are some of my all time favorites and i would shout their praise from the rooftops for all eternity if i could :^)

in the morning i’ll be better: jancy jancy jancy jancy jancy !!! stoprobbers on ao3 has some of the best, if not THE best jancy fics i’ve ever read! the characterization, the plot, the tenderness ☹️ jancy usually gets sidelined in byler fics so i eat up every single fic where they’re the main couple and this is everything i need from season 5. nancy’s talk with steve, reconnecting with jonathan, UGH. just. everything about this. (reconnection, jancy talking their issues through, nancy whooping steve’s ass for the six little nuggets monologue)

a life in your shape: if any of you are stoncy readers, this fic is the gift that keeps on giving. nancy and steve get engaged, and jonathan, their best friend, is,,, he’s dealing! i don’t read a lot of stoncy just because i feel like fics that are my style are few and far between, but for writing like this, i’d read any pairing the author wrote for. i have a sweet spot for this relationship and the way that the chemistry between all three of them is so palpable and balanced is so rare and beautiful to read! 36k of some of the best writing i’ve ever read i swear even if you’re not a big stoncy fan this fic might just convert u :^) (2/3 of an established relationship, 3 way pining, weddings)

november and july by @lookslikefireflies: this is such a wonderful max and will fic and probably the best max character study i’ve ever read. GOD the writing had me clutching at my heart in beautiful, glorious pain. just so many lines in this fic that i think about so much. takes place between s2 and s4 and just. i literally have no words. the way this author writes max is so so special to me, i want to put this prose in a mug and sip it on a cold day. the relationships between will and max and also max and mike and even though byler isn’t a focus of this fic, you can really see will’s struggle with his relationship with mike post s3 even though it’s not through his pov. i just come back to this fic a lot when i’m sad it’s so warm and gorgeous and just. ☹️☹️☹️ (max character study, angst, fics that make me curl up into a ball and weep)

i’m honestly not the best at fic recs because i keep forgetting to bookmark ones i like before i close the tab but i hope you enjoy these :^)

[marciego]

what’s your favorite canon moment of natila and what kind of dates do you think marciego would go on for the ask game <3

what’s your favorite canon moment of natila

i think it'd be when they passed the auditions for the rockbones and that naty was SO anxious about it and she tried to run away but camila immediately stopped her and made her stay and try to pass the audition too, and when naty did it and relaxed she sang to camila the entire time <3 i love this scene so damn much it's perfect

it could also very much be The One scene of them singing invincibles just the two of them and being GIRLFRIENDS, but honestly the whole rockbones arc they were THRIVING i love them so much

what kind of dates do you think marciego would go on

i think they'd be the KINGS of improvised dates, like every time they do plan something out some shit happens and forces them to cancel, one time marco straight up forgets, the other the band suddenly gotta schedule a rehearsal the day marciego planned their date, there's always Something that fucks up, so i think their way to go about it is just to go with the flow, one day diego steps out of his studio session with the boys and marco is waiting outside leaning against a pillar and when he sees him and takes him out to dinner, sometimes they're home chilling and one of them suddenly says he wants to do something and that's it they immediately leave to do it, sometimes that thing is going to the beach at 3am, sometimes it's sneaking in some park or whatever in the middle of the night and hiding from security guards while laughing all the way

i think that overall their improvised dates are very simple and casual, it's rarely (not to say never) Romantic tm dinner at a fancy restaurant or something of the sort, however it Is driving by a fastfood to get food at midnight and then driving to some place they both like and eating there while joking and laughing and staying up all night just roaming around the city aimlessly, walking through empty streets and taking in city lights, kissing around every corner and trying to get to the highest spot of the city to observe everything, possibly taking with them some alcohol and diego getting tipsy along the way, and realizing they've been out the whole night only when the sun strarts rising

also a bit different but it just makes perfect sense to me that marciego are into hiking so some of their more organized dates are along those lines, or like stuff that have to do with nature you know. renting a boat and leaving to hang out in the middle of the ocean, learning scuba diving together, that kind of really nature oriented things, i think it fits them a lot

[junionigiri]

Vigilantes 60 - a real feeling of foreboding T_T

Featuring young Angst-zawa and the Rooftop Boys, whom I already love with all my heart

The entire chapter is another flashback episode featuring 2nd year Aizawa, Mic, and the mysterious Shirakumo. We see that as early as their high school days, the students of UA are already expected to do a lot, being trained in battle, rescue, and even entertainment. They also have a joint exercise with section B and at least,,, they kinda look like they’re fighting on level ground lol

Some interesting things in here—they seem to be classmates with Tora from the Wild Wild Pussycats, unless it’s a different dude in the forefront of that shot haha. They also have a classmate who sort of looks like Kamui but not really. That Elf lady also features prominently in a lot of other shots so I wonder if she’s gonna be an important character or if Bettencourt just enjoyed drawing her a lot hehe

The three boys are the topic of a lot of discussions in the faculty room because they are the only ones undecided in their compulsory work-study internships. Their sensei has a lot of confidence that they’ll eventually find a place to belong... except for Aizawa, who is stellar in school performance but shows no interest in his future.

Some things of note: design-wise, in both appearance and personality, I think it’s interesting that the one who looks the most like a main character here is Shirakumo. He has that Shonen Smile(tm), the ‘positive, go-get-em attitude’ that is stereotypical of a JUMP MC, and even looks like a character from DBZ. Meanwhile the POV character of this chapter is in gym clothes and barely has motivation. Given these, why isn’t Shirakumo the main character of this story? What could have happened to him?!

Another note: Mic wasn’t kidding when he said Shinsou is young Aizawa. The gym clothes, the capture weapon, the way they move? If there’s a secret love child conspiracy it should be this, Todoroki get on this

And there we have it—the “I can’t do anything on my own” realization that was important to Shinsou (and Monoma’s) development as hero course students! There is a stark difference between Aizawa and his two eventual students tho, and that is determination. Unlike him, Shinsou and Monoma knew from the start what they wanted to be and actively fought for their place in class. Aizawa, during this time at least, barely knows how to make his quirk apply to any hero field, despite being a stellar student.

Another difference between Aizawa and monoshin—he had a Shirakumo to talk to, a real support system to tell him constantly that his talent his real and that he can apply his quirk in battle. Aizawa is negative about this. It’s understandable, he’s at least on his second year working on that capture weapon out of the six years he had to master it, and he isn’t that bulky or physically capable at this point. Working with a quirk like his seems impossible!

And he’d much rather talk about the cat than anything else, lol. This boy who didn’t wanna take in the kitten is now bringing cat milk in a bottle and taking care of it everyday. What a tsundere dad

They are interrupted by Midnight in the awful-est costume ever introduced in this series 😫 I hate how Midnight is written and drawn in Vigilantes, sobs, just really gotta try our best to focus on her dialogue

Midnight is apparently on her work-study too, and being a year ahead of the boys (an unexpected factoid!) her internship seems to be more immersive than theirs is expected to be. She does some flashy things, gives the kitten a name (Sushi! It is the Week of Sushi) and ‘fosters’ the kitten eventually. This seems like confirmation that this is the cat she is playing with when talking to Aizawa in the previous chapter

Even though no-one calls her Senpai she seems to be a good one, in that she tries to get along with the boys and eventually help them

By offering a spot for the undecided boys who still do not have a spot for their work-studies. The chapter ends here, with the look of shock/confusion/surprise on both of them, and now you get a sense of dread because Is this where the bad stuff with Shirakumo begins to happen?

It most likely is, and most likely Aizawa will be responsible over what happens. There’s lots of foreshadowing in this regard—“taking responsibility”, the lack of confidence in Aizawa when it comes to battle, his sentiment that he can’t do anything on his own, even the fact that he feeds the kitten like a parent but gives it without much fuss to Midnight. Also how they’re framed that even tho the rooftop boys are three best friends, Aizawa and Shirakumo seems to be closer to each other than they are to Mic, so Aizawa might have a stronger attachment to Shirakumo during this time. And that is,,, troubling, given that this person is nowhere to be found in the main story :(

So what will happen in the internship? What disaster will happen that will make Aizawa realize that he isn’t enough the way he is and that he isn’t fit to be responsible over anyone? Whatever it is I think we have to be ready for a bad time next next week sob

[empty-as-the-sky]

Edward and Bella romantic comedy in Twilight is GOLD

Okay HOT TAKE. 

TL;DR - The banter/comedy between Edward and Bella in Twilight is SO GOOD and it deserved to be kept in the movies and it’s a crime that it wasn’t.

As we all know, Twilight is mostly really problematic BUT re-reading the first book and the Midnight Sun draft I am DYING reading about all of the times Edward laughs at Bella or any time she says something sassy to him and they banter back and forth. It’s genuinely SO CUTE. When I was a young teen reading the books I loved their banter, and tbh I really didn’t think it would hold up years later, given how much of the books really DON’T hold up, but the banter absolutely does. 

I think one of the reasons that the movies didn’t quite work for me - besides Chuckesme, the nightmarish CGI, terrible accents in BD pt 2, and the bad wigs - was that we didn’t get the humour of Bella and Edward’s relationship, and we didn’t really get to see the process of them falling in love. It just kind of . . . happened?

I’ve heard about that famous story in which Rob almost got fired from the first movie because he refused to be more light-hearted and smiley, and listen. I love Rob Pattinson because he is a chaotic boy and I love every interview he has ever done, but he really hated the books SO MUCH (fair) that he refused to play Edward as anything other than a depressed, ultra-serious boy. And sorry, but that sucks. Just do your job. Like yes, Edward is dramatic AF but he also thinks Bella is so funny that he’s ALWAYS laughing at her. In Midnight Sun, other kids in his class frequently give him weird looks because he is laughing OUT LOUD or smiling to himself at the shit that Bella does and says. The director/producers were TOTALLY RIGHT in highlighting all of Edward’s light-hearted moments in the book for Rob because there are so many of them, more than a lot of people seem to remember. And yeah, I think that maybe Rob should have been fired so that someone else who would have taken that direction could have played the part. In Romeo & Juliet, the rule with doing that show is that the angst and tragedy is only compelling if the first half is fully played as a rom-com and if it’s actually funny. You can’t play the end at the beginning. Same goes for Twilight, and most things tbh. Otherwise, you don’t really root for the central couple if it’s all melodrama and angst all the time. No one wants to see characters predicting the tragedy. I think that’s part of why, on top of all the actual legit criticism, a lot of people criticized Twilight for being too teenage angsty or mumbly when that wasn’t really the book at all, and the comedy allows for a lot more self-awareness to come through.

I’m not even going to quote all of the times that Edward suppresses, or tries to suppress a laugh or a smile at Bella’s expense in Twilight. There are way too many, but they are constantly roasting each other.

Maybe I’m projecting my own feelings onto the books that aren’t really there, but hear me out:

- In the early days, Bella keeps parking so far away from Edward in the parking lot and in Midnight Sun, Edward is upset and confused by it EVERY SINGLE TIME. And they’re both frowning about it but for different reasons. Bella’s frowning because she’s trying to stay away from his dramatic, beautiful, mood-swinging, abrupt ass and he’s frowning because he doesn’t understand why she is avoiding him and he’s sad about it. He’s like, “Why?? Did she park so far away from me?? Do you think she’ll come talk to me? Hopefully she will. Hopefully she won’t?? DO YOU THINK SHE’LL WALK PAST ME? SHOULD I TAKE A DEEP GULP OF AIR JUST IN CASE??

- In Midnight Sun, Edward is so amused at Bella getting emotional over the snow chains that Charlie put on her tires. Seconds before he sees Alice’s vision about the van, he’s just like, “This girl?? Is getting emotional?? Over her truck?? Why is this human?? So weird??”

- Bella FUMING about Edward just getting to waltz right through the hospital doors like a normal person and not having to receive medical attention after the accident. Edward even betrayed her by telling them that she hit her head and maybe had a concussion, because she DID hit her head, but she is SO GRUMPY that he showed concern for her physical health, cause we all know this depressed bitch wouldn’t have. And she is SO EMBARRASSED about having to wear a neck brace and loaded into an ambulance, that she has the balls to take off the neck brace and chuck it under the bed when no one is looking. We stan an iconic queen. Like babe, they put that on you for a reason but you just like throwing your own safety out the window I guess.

- Edward realizing that he never noticed how clumsy Bella is as he watches her through the eyes of her classmates? Also iconic. “Goddamn, this clumsy ass human, how does she?? Survive??”

- EDWARD CUTTING BELLA OFF IN THE PARKING LOT AFTER SCHOOL SO THAT TYLER ASKS HER OUT IN FRONT OF HIM IS ALSO SO FREAKING FUNNY. And Bella being tempted to scratch the paint on his car when she sees him shaking with laughter? So good.

- Edward trying to irritate Bella by making her think he’s going to be the fourth person to ask her to the dance, only to ask her to go to Seattle instead at the last minute

- “THE WASTING OF FINITE RESOURCES IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS”

- Bella being too embarrassed to tell Edward her comic book-inspired theories but Edward dazzling her into telling him anyway, and then he just proceeds to roast her about her lack of originality

- Edward almost RIPPING THE DOOR OFF HIS CAR when he sees Mike lowering Bella to the ground after she faints in Biology because EDWARD THINKS SHE’S DEAD? And then Bella sees him approaching and IS SO EMBARRASSED and just tells him to go away? Chapters 3-5 of Twilight in terms of ComedyTM are *chef’s kiss*

- Edward just scooping up Bella and being super entertained at the irony that the sight of blood makes her ill.

- “He absolutely loathes me” - Edward about Mike, CHEERFULLY

- Bella calling Edward pushy when he insists on driving her home, which is just really accurate, because he absolutely is

- Edward making Bella lean in and then asking her not to fall into the ocean in La Push and Bella. Is. SO offended.

- Bella grabbing her own throat and pretending to be terrified when Edward says “Breakfast time” IS SO FUNNY and then her making a bad joke about “watching her hunt” and all she gets is CEREAL, while Edward looks on in confusion, like this girl has a sense of humour

People, the first half of Twilight in terms of rom-com material is fantastic. Yes there are still problematic elements and there’s a surprising (and worrying) amount of ableist language in the text, and there are obviously other issues with Edward and consent for sure. BUT the the banter is comedy gold and the problematic bits can be so easily edited out for adaptation. The banter makes Edward and Bella way more compelling as a couple because it makes them more human (no pun intended) and real, and it definitely gives them more personality.

In the movie, I just feel like we missed how gradual them falling in love really was and how reluctant they both were about it, and their belligerent banter was a big part of the sexual tension between them. Otherwise, I’m not really sure where it came from other than the fact that Kristen and Rob are really beautiful humans. Even though they were a couple at the time, I really missed that part of their chemistry onscreen.

I’m aware that for the movie, a lot of it came down to having to cut stuff in the script for time’s sake. But I still think they could have kept the spirit of the banter while cutting what they needed to.

Look, there’s a lot in the Twilight canon that’s not compelling at all, so it makes me really sad that one of the genuinely compelling things didn’t make it into the movies at all. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[pinnithin-writes]

I Realized. Then I Couldn’t Stop Realizing.

Chapter 5: C-53

Depending on where he looked, it had begun with the Federated Alliance.

Immediately following the events of the Battle of Sistoo, C-53 had been captured, his frame junked for parts, and his consciousness locked inside a cage with a heavy iron bolt. He’d been through plenty of painful experiences before his initiation into the Alliance, but nothing had so powerfully suppressed his emotions like this.

It was agony of a different sort, standing on the surface of a frozen lake, his feelings swirling like a sea beneath him. He could see them, he could reach for them, but if he broke through the ice that supported him he would surely be swallowed up and drown in them. It was a horrible state of being.

Everything was muted in the worst way. Experiencing joy, anger, sadness, always working through his coding, only to be met with the oppressive iron wall of his restraining bolt, left him feeling as if he were only a shell. C-53 was a droid who normally felt things quite strongly - perhaps too strongly, at times, but at least it was him. This Federated Alliance protocol and diplomatic relations designation was not who he was. But the bolt was cinched tight on his words and his thoughts until he wasn’t sure who he was even supposed to be anymore.

Getting that thing off was more freeing than anything he had ever experienced. He hadn’t even cared that his stupid Alliance frame had been destroyed in the process. Being subjected to another bolt as an On-And-Off Burger employee had nearly broken him.

Pleck, of all people, had been there to pull him out of it that time.

It was strange to have a relationship with someone who, for their first season of working together, had only known C-53’s canned and pre-processed personality. It was embarrassing, to say the least. He still remembered when he had told the tellurian, icily, “I am not your friend,” and watched him wilt like a forgotten daisy.

Granted, they hadn’t known each other very long when he’d said that, but he could have handled it more tactfully. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t wanted to get to know Pleck better at the time. At least well enough so that every word coming out of his mouth didn’t rile C-53 up so much. The restraining bolt’s effects were typically less painful when he wasn’t actively trying to suppress his emotions. A high enough spike tended to fire off a pretty jarring error code.

“No, I - he got, like, erased or something.” ERROR.

“What if you were a car and I like, drove you around?” ERROR.

“C-53, have you been programmed to cater to my ignorance?” ERROR.

“You’re more than just a cube!” ERROR.

C-53 had a pretty long list of the times being around Pleck had been painful for him when they were working for the Federated Alliance. He was also the first face he saw when the crew had slotted his cube into the ship’s un-bolted humidifier, and the sudden flood of unrestrained feelings had almost caused C-53 to shut back down again.

“Hey, C-53?” Bargie’s voice reverberated around the droid, shocking him out of his thoughts. “Why are you in my cargo hold?”

Squatting among the boxes and crates seemed like the best place for the droid to go and process what he had just learned undisturbed, but of course he could never escape the ship herself. “I just needed a little solitude, Bargie,” he responded, not unkindly.

The ship let out one of her long, audible sighs that the crew was so familiar with. “Not you, too. I thought the party was going to make everyone start hanging out again.”

“Things like this don’t always repair themselves overnight,” the droid reasoned.

“Things like what?” Bargie prodded. “Are you okay? You’ve been sitting there on the floor for like, eight hours.”

C-53 considered. He had been playing through videos stored in his memory bank for quite a while, but he hadn’t realized it had been that long. Bargie was a trusted friend - she probably wouldn’t have any constructive advice, but she would at least let him voice aloud what had absorbed his thoughts all day. “Are you projecting over the PA right now?” he asked.

“Uhhh.” There was a long pause, and then a heavy beep sounded overhead. “No.”

“You definitely were.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bargie deflected. “Spill. Tell me everything.”

Wearily, C-53 recounted the conversation he’d had with Pleck the previous night, leaving out some of the tellurian’s more personal details in consideration of his privacy, and finished with the conclusion he’d drawn about his feelings. It still made his coding fray inexplicably to think about it, but once he fell silent, Bargie’s reply was nonplussed.

“I already knew,” she said. “The feelings part, not the Allwheat part.”

“You-” C-53’s processors whirred in surprise. “You did?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of obvious. I thought you knew too and were just hoping it would go away because it was too awkward.”

“I most certainly did not know,” C-53 answered, somewhat stirred.

“How?” Bargie demanded. “How did you not know? I’ve been telling you guys there’s tension for years.”

“Yeah, I thought you meant sexual tension,” the droid was beginning to feel defensive now. Was he really stupid enough to have missed something so glaringly obvious?

“Well, I thought it was that at first, for sure,” Bargie clarified. “But C, seriously? Seriously. Do you not listen to him when he talks to you?”

“What - I -” He dug around in his coding for the words he needed and came up short. “I listen,” he declared. “What do you mean by that?”

Another heavy sigh. It rumbled the walls of the cargo hold. “This is embarrassing. You should just go ask him about it.”

Alarm raced through C-53’s wires. “I will do no such thing. I’m still… figuring out how I feel about it.”

“Oh, that’s no good,” C-53 could feel the ship humming with intrigue. “You should just reject him and get it over with.”

“It seems like that would be indelicate of me,” C-53 replied, deflecting from the notion that his first instinct was not, in fact, to reject him at all.

“Hey, look, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again,” Bargie’s tone took on a scolding edge. “Workplace relationships never work. They just make things complicated and messy and nobody should ever do them. You saw what happened with Dar and Berger.”

“Well, yeah, but that was mostly just - y'know-”

“Jucking.”

“Jucking, yeah.”

“Isn’t that what you’re after?” Bargie groused. “You’ve offered before.”

C-53 felt his cube grow warm inside his torso. “That was a long time ago.”

It was one time. Back when he’d still been restrained. C-53 still wasn’t sure if the proposition had been an effect of his altered programming or if he had actually wanted it. Either way, it didn’t matter. Pleck had decisively declined. It was the first time he had witnessed the tellurian be decisive about anything.

“I am not after that at the moment,” he clarified.

Bargie offered a heavy, “huh,” but said nothing else.

The silence that stretched was long and tense as they both pondered the situation. Finally, C-53 clambered to his feet, jostling cargo crates as he went.

“Bargie, I cannot stress enough how important it is that this conversation stays in this room,” he warned.

“It’s gonna leave this room eventually,” she argued. “Secrets don’t last long aboard the Bargarian Jade. Better figure it out before someone else does.”

“Thanks, Barge.” The droid’s reply was laced with sarcasm. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He exited the cargo hold and made his way up the hall. The passage was dark, illuminated only by Bargie’s security lighting. He briefly missed the Midnight Shadow and its wide spectrum of sensors. The loader frame’s capabilities were rudimentary at best - he couldn’t even process the entire light spectrum. It did, at least, have a limited night vision option, which he flicked on as he made his way down the hall, flooding his scanners with muted green.

C-53 had a rather long list of qualities he wanted from the next frame he occupied, feeling terribly limited in his current one. It definitely beat that pathetic Tiny TM model he was in for a brief stint, but he still knew he could do better. He wanted to see infrared again. Longed for an organized filing system. And, yes, he missed the sensation of touch. Loader droids weren’t exactly built for physical contact with other beings.

A bright green figure appeared around the corner up ahead, and C-53’s frame stalled to a halt when he recognized its heat signature. Pleck had actually emerged from his room and was wandering down the hall in his direction.

“Oh, there you are,” the tellurian said brightly as he approached him.

The night vision made his face appear to C-53 as a blurred white dot, so he quit the command and dispelled it. The dim lighting didn’t make seeing him much easier, but at least C-53 could somewhat discern Pleck’s facial expressions this way. The man’s animated countenance was a good 50% of how he communicated.

“Were you looking for me?” C-53 asked, gazing down at him in surprise.

“Well, yeah,” Pleck responded, peering back at him in the darkness. “I heard Bargie on the PA saying you were all by yourself down here so I uh, I just wanted to check in on you.”

The droid’s machinery whirred idly as he processed this. That something as trivial as C-53 being alone would pull Pleck out of his isolation made sense considering how the tellurian felt about him, but C-53 still found himself touched by the sentiment. “Well, that’s very nice of you, Pleck, but I assure you I’m doing fine.”

Confused and still working through things, but fine. Probably.

“Oh, okay,” Pleck rocked back on his heels, nodding. “G- Good. Good to hear.”

After a short pause, C-53 prompted, “How are you feeling?”

The tellurian chuckled and jammed his hands in his pockets. “Oh, man, I’m pretty hungover,” he replied, offering a weak smile.

When he didn’t elaborate, C-53 prodded again. “Has the Allwheat been talkative today?”

Pleck’s brows drew in, looking as though the question puzzled him. He responded hesitantly. “I… slept most of the day,” he said, his voice growing small. “So I didn’t hear it, then. It said a few things about an hour ago, but, ah,” he shrugged in an attempt to downplay the issue. “It wasn’t any more horrible than it usually is.”

The security lights hummed indifferently around them as they stood facing each other in the empty hallway.

“Hm,” C-53’s neural networking was already looking for patterns, casting around for a way to ease his friend’s torment. “What seems to set it off?” he asked.

Pleck still had a strange look on his face, as if searching for an ulterior motive beneath his words. “It… usually comes through when I’m not, uh,” he gnawed on his lip as he found the words, “mentally engaged? Like, as soon as I zone out, it’s -” he snapped for emphasis, “- right there.”

“You do tend to zone out quite a lot,” C-53 commented.

Pleck’s laugh was bitter. It sounded like soured sunshine. “You’re telling me.”

“What sort of activities would you consider mentally engaging?” C-53 prompted gently, trying to shake the unpleasant feeling that just raced through his wiring.

He watched the tellurian fidget as he thought about it. “Well, I meditate,” he began. “And, uh, talking to the crew helps, and going on missions where we meet new people. But we haven’t had a lot of those lately, so….” he trailed off, his stare vacant. C-53 could barely make out the soft lines of his face in the dim light.

“Do you think a holo would help?” he prompted.

Pleck shrugged again. “I haven’t tried it. I can’t watch holos in my room.”

“Why not watch one in the lounge?”

His shoulders were beginning to curl in defensively when he responded, “I just- I didn’t wanna bother people.”

C-53’s head tilted, considering him fondly. “When has that ever stopped you before?”

A laugh startled out of Pleck, shocking a genuine smile onto his face this time. He raised an arm and scratched at the back of his neck, looking away. “Well, you got me there,” he admitted. “I don’t know why it feels different now.”

An inexplicable impulse to scoop the tellurian up in his arms and carry him to the lounge himself surged up in C-53’s coding. He clamped down hard on the urge, bypassing the loader’s programming with a great amount of effort and a small amount of juddering from his processor. Good Rodd, that was unexpected. His fan was spinning again.

“Let’s watch a holo and see if that does anything,” C-53 declared before Pleck could ask the question he was showing on his face. “Come on.” He surged past him toward the lounge.

“Wait, both of us?” Pleck spun, hurrying to match the droid’s stride.

“And anyone else who wishes to join,” C-53 answered. “Sound good?”

Pleck nodded, a smile sneaking onto his mouth as if it didn’t have permission to be there. “Sounds good.”

The common area had been reverted back to its usual state, with its cushy couches gathered around the video monitor. Pleck popped a bag of popcorn for himself while C-53 ruminated over movie options. The smell of hot butter and salt lured AJ in from the adjacent room, and when he told the two of them he had never seen Bargie’s greatest hits, they decided to have a marathon to get the clone caught up.

“You can sit next to me, C-53,” Pleck said, patting the space beside him on the couch and grinning. He sat cross-legged on the cushion, balancing the bowl of popcorn in his lap.

“Very funny,” C-53 replied dryly. “At this size I would definitely crush that couch.”

“Okay, your arm can sit next to me, then,” Pleck conceded.

AJ was on Pleck’s other side with his feet up on the coffee table, helping himself to the popcorn. Both Pleck and C-53 watched, half disgusted and half fascinated, as the CLINT stuffed it into his helmet kernel by kernel.

“Hey, maybe take your helmet off, AJ,” Pleck suggested. “That can’t be comfortable.”

“Yes, we don’t need a repeat of that time you got hijacked .” C-53 agreed.

With no small amount of grumbling, AJ disengaged the pressure lock on his helmet and pulled it off, covering the couch in crumbled bits of corn. Pleck scooped the bowl out of the way to avoid catching any stray pieces, an amused light dancing in his eye.

“Robot Man, you gonna watch with us or what?” AJ prompted as he brushed crumbs off of himself.

C-53 belatedly realized he had just been standing there, staring. He settled his frame next to the couch and, after some consideration, rested his arm as gently as he could on the cushion next to Pleck. The couch groaned, but it held. Pleck patted his frame assuredly.

The films were, well, they were definitely Bargie flicks. AJ interrupted every few minutes to ask what was going on, and Bargie herself chimed in with commentary once she noticed that the hits were being played. C-53 kept a watchful scan on Pleck as the playlist dragged into the night. A few times, he caught that silent, prayer-like motion as he repeated mantras to himself, and did his best to redirect his attention to the holo.

AJ eventually fell asleep and Pleck wasn’t far behind, eyelid drooping wearily. The tellurian shifted sideways and stifled a yawn, leaning against the arm of C-53’s frame.

The droid felt the weight of his body and dimly registered a sense of warmth as Pleck rested his drowsy head against him, but that was all his rudimentary sensors could manage. His coding twanged with a sharp sense of loss, but he redirected the feeling.

“That doesn’t seem very comfortable for you,” he said after some processing.

Pleck made a muffled, placid noise. “S’fine. I sleep in a cold metal box every night. This is definitely a step up.”

“You still don’t have a mattress?” C-53 asked incredulously. “I thought that was a running joke.”

Pleck laughed softly against C-53’s frame, shaking it a little. “The joke is that I’ll have chronic back pain by the time I’m thirty.”

C-53 did not laugh. “You could sleep out here on the couch,” he suggested.

“Mmm, maybe just this once,” Pleck murmured, his voice thick with fatigue. He shifted slightly, pressing himself closer to C-53’s frame. It seemed he was craving physical touch as much as the droid was, which apparently was a laughable amount if he had resorted to cuddling an unyielding metal bar. C-53 found it endearing.

The holo flickered in the dark, casting the three sentients in a shifting blue glow. Pleck and C-53 watched the droning video feed while AJ dozed. Near the end of The Ship Stars Are Made Of , C-53 noticed Pleck’s breathing evening out and going soft beside him. His eye had fallen shut. He was asleep.

Well. Looks like he’s never moving from this spot again.

Chapter 4 <-----> Chapter 6

[surveyyyys]

It’s 2020.

1. What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before? I got really into fitness! I started lifting weights multiple times a week, and really taking care of my body. I put on a lot more muscle over the past year, and I finally actually like my body a lot! On a related note, I also went to a professional east coast bodybuilding competition. I didn't go for myself obviously, but I went to support my boyfriend.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Actually I did! I was one of those cheesy people who wanted to get in shape and start working out in the new year. I actually stuck to it, and working out became a really big part of my life.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope I don't think so!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit? I stayed in the US the whole year... but I think that's gonna change in 2020!

6. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019? Complete personal and financial independence, and a fresh start. And it's going to happen! I'm starting my first real job in June, and I'm moving into NYC. I'm graduating college too. It's gonna be a big year for me.

7. What date from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? September 24, the day I got into a relationship with my current boyfriend.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting a solid full-time Equity Research analyst position in NYC for after graduation.

9. What was your biggest failure? I tried to stay single. I really did. I wasn't necessarily happier when I was single, but my head was clearer and I was always on top of my shit. But I couldn't stay truly single in 2019 for more than a month or more without being dragged into some stupid situationship with a guy that ended up expiring after 2 months. At the end of 2019, I ended up getting into a real relationship. I feel like I've spent a lot more of my young adult life in relationships or situationships rather than by myself.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I didn't actually!

11. What was the best thing you bought? This personal barbell pad. It makes hip thrusts and squats so much easier. I also got a couple hip circles for glute activation exercises. They changed my glute training because I finally started feeling exercises in my glutes... they're the reason I have a butt now!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? This is gonna sound conceited but... mine? My world-famous Career Anxiety got me a full-time job in the first month of my senior year. Plus I absolutely killed it at my last internship and I learned a ton.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My sister's on-again-off-again boyfriend... he's awful. The administration of the student organization I had to quit. The boy I dated during the entirety of Summer 2019 -- he sucked.

14. Where did most of your money go? Starbucks and Amazon hehe

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? A couple things: Finally making progress at the gym and seeing my body change Doing a good job on my final presentation during my internship That one time I went out with my intern friends and got shitfaced and had probably the most fun I had in all of 2019 Getting into a relationship with my current boyfriend; I didn't think it would end up being a real relationship. Getting my full-time job offer in NYC (by far the most exciting)

16. What song will always remind you of 2019? Evelyn by Kim Tillman! It's my theme song and I discovered it in 2019.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? Happier. ii. thinner or fatter? I would say bulkier. I look bigger, but I turned a lot of the "skinny fat" I had on me into muscle. iii. richer or poorer? Much richer for sure!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? LOL towards the end of 2019, I kinda let my grades fall by the wayside because I thought I had it all figured out. I wish I studied more at the end because I could've preserved my GPA and saved myself a lot of needless studying. This is out of my control but -- I wish I had a chance to drink and party more. 2019 was an almost entirely sober year... I only got really drunk once in the entire year. I think that actually contributed to how dry and sad I was for most of the year!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Listening to Ariana Grande LOL. This one is also out of my control -- I wish I spent less time alone. I spent the majority of last year sitting in my apartments at school and talking to my voice diary and trying to make sense of my personality and the reasons why I was alone. I did eventually become content with my alone time, but I wasn't really happy. I wish I had a more active social life. I also wish I spent less time with that boy over the summer. He was a waste of time.

20. How did you spend Christmas? I was at home for winter break on Christmas. I don't think I really did anything!

21. Did you fall in love in 2019? Yes! I fell in love with my current boyfriend. I also thought I loved the summer guy, but I really didn't.

22. What was the best holiday this year? Halloween! I think I had the most fun that day out of all the other holidays.

23. How many one-night stands? I don't think I had any one night stands this year! That was all 2018 me.

24. What was your favorite TV program? I don't know actually. I don't think I watched that much TV in 2019. I just binged the Good Place though, but idt that was my favorite.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? My apartment-mate (not my roommate, she's great). I also hate her ex boyfriend. I also hate this toxic horrible friend I used to have. I cut her out in 2019.

26. What was the best book you read? LOL the only book I read was Tina Fey's autobiography. It was pretty good!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Again, Evelyn by Kim Tillman.

28. What did you want and get? A job. And Gymshark clothes from my parents!

29. What did you want and not get? Honestly, fun memories and a social life. Also this one first-year teaching position at my university.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Joker! (Unpopular opinion, but it's the truth!)

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? At midnight on my birthday, I was having really good sex. Then I went into work and had a pretty productive day! Then at night, I had sushi with my sister.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably satisfying? If my boyfriend had gotten into nursing school. It would've been perfect. But now he has a new career and new aspirations to work towards. Maybe it's for the best and maybe he'll be happier! We'll see.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2019? I mean, I spent most of the year in sweatpants. I moved away from the bold makeup and the fashion choices I made in the past. But I did start buying a lot of athletic gym leggings and sports bras! My favorite Look TM of this year is my staple matching sports bra and leggings set that I wear to the gym.

34. What kept you sane? The gym, definitely. And my mom.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Ariana Grande apparently LOL. Also Hanna Oberg!

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Trump's impeachment. But I think that stirred everyone. (I mean it in a good way, I'm glad Trump was impeached.)

37. Who did you miss? My ex boyfriend for a brief time. I still wasn't over him in the beginning of last year. I also missed all the friends I lost. I hated them and they sucked, but at least they kept me company.

38. Who was the best new person you met? My boyfriend!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019: I'll tell you a couple: - Anyone can be anything. Barriers to entry are minimal, and you can end up doing something you never thought you would. - You can tell yourself you're going to go out and chase your dreams, and you can tell yourself you're running away from a stable and boring life. But you have to truly want it and believe in it for it to happen. If you don't dedicate yourself 100% to that crazy dream inside and out, you will end up opting for the backup plan. - You are your best when you're making first impressions. - Just because you're not strong enough to follow your dreams doesn't mean you should discourage other people from doing what they want to do with their life (as long as it's within reason). If someone you love is willing to put in the effort to chase a dream they believe is worth it, you should support them, even if it seems risky. Try to minimize the risk, but don't knock down the plan altogether.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Every blue moon I get convinced that I can't ever make it happen by myself. I've been awake to see the day devour the night. I've seen decay give way to growth and make the most of nearly nothing, Till human voices break us and we drown, we drown, Seductive and impeccable abuse. You do it to yourself, I bet you know you do. I love you 'cause I do it to you too.

[jefflion]

Hello! I'm writing a story and much of it takes place in a Slavic-inspired setting. I've done alot of research, such as naming conventions, languages, and superstitions, but since it's still in a fantasy setting, their belief system and history is completely my own save for maybe common fantasy creatures, like dragons for example. That said, what would you say are some things someone should be mindful of when writing a Slavic setting? What should be avoided?

Hey, anon! Great to hear you are interested in Slavic-inspired fantasy. 

The most obvious pitfall is: don’t make it into Evil Wild Violent Russians TM stereotype. You must be thinking: “of course! This goes without saying!”, but the trick with writing is to know stereotypes and know how to avoid unfortunate implications. Know what Eastern European people are sick of seeing as a representation of themselves and know what they consider too holy/important not to be touched. 

Common problems: Being wild and dishonest by nature; always starting wars, insensitive, nobody laughs, it’s snowing all the time and everybody is just cold and depressed. And drinking. Yes, these are stereotypes from Cold War movies but these persist. You want to avoid these. Not to say that nobody can drink or be violent, but there has to be a balance among characters. 

This is just a bland answer so I will go in more depth after the cut. (Seriously, it is long!)

I think the first thing you need to decide is whether you want to do a Slavic-inspired fantasy (as in, based on Slavic pagan beliefs) or fantasy based on specific nation’s folklore (for example, Russian) - this one is heavily influenced by Christianity, but also keeps traces of older Slavic beliefs. It is sometimes difficult to tell one from the other even for natives, let alone those who write from outsider’s perspective. Generally speaking, I would avoid basing anything on today’s religious beliefs (example: Russian Orthodox Church), because this is something that many people actually believe in. As for the other stuff… Yes, there are people who might actually believe in some of the old lore but more often than not, this stuff is not to be taken literally.

Which is perhaps the number one thing to remember when writing about Slavs: nothing is to be taken literally. (Or, not just literally.) Every single belief, saying, supernatural being, folktale, etc. - all of it is deeply symbolic and full of metaphors. You see that in Slavic writing (novels, etc.)  Of course, this is true for all (most of) folk beliefs around the world but I do think it is a bit more emphasized than it is in the West. 

So, for example, you have some sort of a supernatural being that attacks people who happen to be outside after midnight. It will attack you and kill you, so you are told to always wear a specific object with you to protect yourself from the attack. Ok, but what does this supernatural being symbolizes? Why does it attack the way it does? Why do you use this specific object? The answer might be that it discourages people to go alone at night and to always have someone they trust with them. That walking after hours is bad because you should be resting and preparing for a new day. The object might symbolize your attachment to your home. Etc. (This is just a made-up example, btw.) To build a good Slavic-inspired role, you do need to know what things symbolize. And those metaphors should be made believably Slavic. So yes, you can invent your own things as much as you like, just remember to at least establish some metaphorical meaning to it that is believably Slavic.

So, what is believably Slavic? It depends on specific culture in question. One of the most common things across Slavic cultures is a strong collective as an ideal and contributing to your family/village/group (not fitting in is seen as dangerous; this is a huge no-no!) Feel free to ask for more (and for those metaphors that are not believably Slavic, such as: “a metaphor for expansion of the American frontier”.)

With symbolism, you can say that Slavic lore is more similar to magic realism than any other type of fantasy. Magic realism is not something that is generally associated with Slavs in the West (as far as I know), but do try to find some resources. This can be very helpful to get into the “vibe” of the story. I can help you find some resources if you need them.

Personally, I think this “vibe” is more important than specific details. You need to get historical details right in a historical novel. In fantasy, you want to get a sense of a world, a specific “vibe” that is reminiscent of a Slavic setting. Yes, part of that can be climate (but remember, many of us live in countries that are not all about snow; on the contrary), it can be language, it can be dresses, but a lot of it is getting these important beliefs and attitudes right. Ideally, even with names Bob and Jane who live by a beach, the reader should be able to tell that it is Slavic-inspired (not that you should use Bob and Jane as names :) ) Many times, writers do take time to research setting, language, history, fashion, etc. but they still write their characters as being… idk, to me, these often read as modern American teens. (This is not a problem with Slavic settings but in general.) You want to avoid that.

This is not easy to get but the good news is that you should try your best when writing and then seek beta readers. They can point some obviously non-Slavic things that you can change. You need to get beta readers native in culture(s) you take your inspiration from, and you need more than one beta reader. Also, research - there are some good resources online but do not rely on Wiki. Try to find scholarly articles. 

Again, this is just my opinion. Others might have different things to say. Which is another thing to keep in mind: it is not possible to satisfy 100% of your readers. Do not aim for that. There will always be someone who feels that you did not get something right. However, as long as you avoid the main pitfalls and unfortunate implications, you will be alright. (Hopefully.) 

Feel free to ask more. :)

[nikatyler]

Oh hey, long time no replies. And these are the first ones of this year. I have a hard time replying now. It’s not like I don’t have time - I’m doing okay, actually. I mean, I wouldn’t complain if there was less homework, but still. Free time exists. It’s just that I can’t bring myself to replying to either comments or messages...I replied to asks quite quickly though, which is something unusual for me. Usually that’s where I’m slowest. I don’t know, is this another weird anxiety thing? Like I know I can reply, but I just...don’t?

Anyway...let’s get that done now I guess. There’s a lot of these, apologies if something got lost. Maybe it’s my fault, maybe it’s not, all I know is that sometimes my activity feed doesn’t show me everything.

unstablesims replied to your photoset “Vlad the fashion icon strikes again.”

he's rocking that goth TM look lmao

I mean yeah.

unstablesims replied to your photoset “This brings back memories. Maybe he’s not evil, he just wants some...”

he's vv nice to his friends..... the problem is becoming his friend ��

I was going to reply with “if this ain’t me” but...actually once I get comfortable around people, irl especially, I’m awful to them D: (I can quite easily turn into the sarcastic asshole friend and no one believes me until I unleash it lmao) But anyway yeah I kinda can see Vlad to be that way, now that you mention it

#JusticeForVlad2k19

justkeeponsimming replied to your photo “End of the Year Tag 2 This time I was tagged by @justkeeponsimming....”

Ronnieeee!!! Your sims are SO gorgeous! Love love love this!

Aaaaah thank you so much! ♥

dandylion240 replied to your photo “I tweeted this last night but I want to share it here as well because...”

When Ross and Caleb finally got together. I'm still hoping Caleb changes his mind and turns Ross.

If I had replied to this a week earlier, I could’ve used my favourite eye emoji. Oh well. Yeah, it’s good he changed his mind, isn’t it? :D I couldn’t stand the idea of separating them.

jackssims replied to your photo “I tweeted this last night but I want to share it here as well because...”

The birth of Miracle! Caleb, Ross, and Sunset! The high school story and when Miracle and Adam got together as well!

ghkjahfljhk lately (I mean for the past few months) I’ve been really disliking Miracle and Adam’s storyline but for some reason when people mention it, they always say they liked it, so I guess I didn’t do that bad of a job? 

Same with the good old Zoey storyline. Everyone who has ever talked to me about it said they liked it and thought it was interesting, but I’m over here like “gjkfjgfjhg don’t mention that mess to me ever again”.

melien replied to your photoset “Sunset spent the New Year’s Eve by playing sims. This is very...”

I'M LITERALLY DOING THIS RIGHT NOW

I feel personally attacked

It’s fine, we’ve all been there :D

I think I played sims too this year. Well, first we played some board games with my parents, then there was midnight, I cried, went to see the fireworks (while finishing a bottle of wine but I swear I wasn’t drunk)...oooh and then I watched a stream and edited my sims screenshots! Okay so I didn’t actually play but I edited the pics and like...these are still fun new year’s eve plans, am I right?

melien replied to your photoset “Dawn came over and the two spent hours talking about space.”

I love their outfits! Totally would wear something like this

I like Sunset’s style especially. Well, sometimes she wears clothes I wouldn’t, but for most of the time, it’s just comfy fun stuff I wish I had. Especially considering my dark phase is over and colours are slowly coming back to my closet :D

melien replied to your post “I have some random sims I could share. Anyone interested?”

Ohhhh... on one hand I'd always want sims from you but on the other hand I fear I won't do them justice because idk where to use them rn. Dilemma

pls ask

I’m always down for creating sims for mutuals and friends (I just never talk about it), so just let me know when you want one. Also, I’m sure you would do them justice. I’m really not afraid you would fail there. You know I love everything you do, so... :D

melien replied to your photoset “This guy ♥”

Ending 2018 on a high note

The best note possible

simtress replied to your photoset “Caleb: Isn’t it sad that there are so many ways a vampire can live a...”

i love the name caleb...♥

Me too! I’ve liked it since the first time I had seen it in an English textbook years ago.

dandylion240  replied to your photoset “Oh god please tell me I didn’t accidentally have risky woohoo on or...”

It'd be fun to see what their kid would look like.

I agree and I’m surprised I’ve never played with their genetics. smh ron

cafeheart replied to your photo

okay he's hot but this also makes me uncomfy for some reason asfdlkjaj put him back

jackssims replied to your photo

I agree he’s got a hot vibe going, but this just feels wrong tbajfnakcn

It is kinda weird, I’ll admit that (but “reimagining” him was fun). It’s like...taking away Caleb Vatore’s weird emo hair. I admit I’ve done that once but it was just to mock myself anyway. I wouldn’t do it “for real”. Emo hair must stay. Yes it’s dumb, but also, it’s iconic. we stan dumb hair

I’d say this is something similar. I don’t want to say anything about Ross is iconic, but...you get my point, right?

jackssims replied to your photoset “Ross: “Okay, I don’t like this. I have a theory.” Caleb: “I know what...”

👀

The funny thing here is, when I was writing this dialogue, I had no idea what was going to happen later.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: “I don’t…I don’t ever want this to end.” Ross: “You’re the only...”

Way to dodge that, Caleb

Oh yeah. He’s good at that

unstablesims replied to your photoset “Sunset: I know I said I’d work out today but I really don’t want to…oh...”

mood

An everyday one

alfalfalegacy replied to your photo “Sim Download: Cara Meadows she/her, bisexual Another one. I imagine...”

ahh she's cute! might have to nab her for my private save ;)

Yay, I’m so happy to hear that! :D

jackssims replied to your photoset “Everything about this picture is a big mood. You may tag yourself now.”

Tbh I’m both Caleb and Sunset

Relatable

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Valentine: “Relationships and love aren’t really for me, but attending...”

Ironically her name is ValentineXD

Yup. Exactly. I bet it must be annoying for a person who couldn’t care less about getting into a relationship.

myopiccc replied to your photoset “Sunset wasn’t born to follow the crowd.”

Seriously!?!? I would never know THEY can use an umbrellas clever way! LOL

Lol they sometimes open it inside. Doesn’t seem clever to me :D But yeah, I didn’t expect them to sit down like this.

solarmoodlet replied to your photo “Sim Download: Enric Noel he/him, gay Sometimes a miracle happens and I...”

hes so cute. added him to my save. Tyvm!

Ahhh thank youuu!

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your post “Simblr 2019 Goals”

I join you with the last point�� I kinda defeated social anxiety irl but the online anxiety stays. And they say shy people can communicate better online!

melien replied to your post “Simblr 2019 Goals”

I third the online anxiety, glad to know I'm not alone

I wish I could say I defeated it irl as well...things got better (mainly because I just had to get used to it and grow a thicker skin) but I’m still an anxious trainwreck 99 % of the time :D It’s the same online. 

Also, instead of actually starting a conversation with people, I’m always like “oh you know, if you feel like talking to me, just send me a message, I don’t bite” but the problem is I know there’s a lot of us like that here and I’m not the only one with this fear of communication so maybe I should be the one to find the courage once

Wow that didn’t make sense but I think that only proves my point that I’m an anxious trainwreck :D

penelope-and-wonders replied to your photoset “You can put the umbrellas away, guys.”

What fun would that be? ��

Oh right, I can’t have a normal wedding :D It’s a universal rule that I should finally accept. Something would be wrong if everything went right for once.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photo “Sim Download: Leigh Smith she/her, pansexual A long long time ago I...”

Omg, I looove her! ❤️❤️

Thank youuu ♥

green-productivitea replied to your photoset “Sunset: “What can I say? Freaking finally. Took you long enough to...”

The fact that she call him dad :O

Yep, she did. I love the relationship these two have.

yamekamerainbows27 replied to your photoset “Sunset: “You’re the woman that said she didn’t want a child, and you...”

Damn Sunset! You tell her girl ��

melien replied to your photoset “Sunset: “You’re the woman that said she didn’t want a child, and you...”

Go Sunset!

That’s what she deserves

sparkiemonkey replied to your photoset “I mean, Sunset was right. Dawn is adorable.”

she is totally adorable

Up until now I was always saying that this legacy has some Good Genes, now with Dawn it will be more like Cute Genes.

unstablesims replied to your photoset “Marcella: “What are you two doing?” Sunset: “Watching the clouds!...”

let them be dorks in peace!! lmao

Exactly!! No reasons to judge

cafeheart replied to your photoset “I would lie if I said I saw this coming.”

yknow if someone didnt have context for your legacy this kinda looks like caleb is murdering ross asdkfbbd

omg you’re right and I hate that you are right

vampcatsims replied to your photoset “Ross: “We’ve taken many risks already and now I’m taking another one,...”

noooo he's going to leave him at the altar god this is going to hurt so much

omg wow this is where scrolling down and reading new ones before old ones causes reaction mistakes cuz omg this is for realsies isn't it?

kyveria replied to your photoset “Ross: “We’ve taken many risks already and now I’m taking another one,...”

@vampcatsims don’t worry, ross has already had someone leave him at the altar so Caleb is going to stay ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Haha yeah, they’re going to be fine. I think. Can’t promise anything.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: “I…how can I say no to this? Yes, Ross. Yes, I will.” Ross:...”

Good! I was scared he was going to say no for a second ����

Imagine if he left him and I’d introduce a new spouse now. Or bring back Jordan. Or Marika.

Omg imagine I’d bring her back and she’d get her “happy little family” she claims she wishes for now.

myopiccc replied to your post “ - fave types of movies?”

Such a tense era! I'm a historic nerd too:)

Yeah, I love it! I mean, I don’t actually love it, there were some bad things happening, no freedom of speech and such, but for me, it’s an interesting era to learn about. I also think it’s important to know about these times because in a way, they’re still so similar to where we are now, we really should look back at them and try to not make the same mistakes...sadly, when I look at the situation in my country...sometimes it feels like people forget. Not just people like me who didn’t experience it and have only learned about it in History classes...feels like even people who have been there forget and it’s sad and frustrating and I wish I could do something about it. Okay rant over.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: “Tell me honestly. Did you expect me to change my mind with...”

Nice! But I swear if this somehow backfires and Ross ends up dying...

👀

dandylion240 replied to your photoset “This doesn’t even need a caption.”

Ross you better not have died!!

jackssims replied to your photoset “This doesn’t even need a caption.”

/ROSS/

ajkfaglafkghlahgfk I didn’t realize this would seem like he’s dying I’m sorry for causing panic fjaklflk

I just thought it was funny he set himself on fire and Caleb is over there like “nooo I agreed to marry this freak I have made a grave mistake”

princessdejamars replied to your photoset “Ummmm”

oh no not again

Yes. Yes again. And yeah, I could’ve left without saving. I didn’t. I was shocked when it happened and once I realized he’s pregnant again...you should’ve heard my hysterical laughter. Something is wrong with me and I don’t like it.

cafeheart replied to your photoset “Dawn: “Not a chance.”

sunset looks scared shitless asdkfjdbdb

"fhlakhfalklahkjjkij she’s kissing me I wasn’t prepared for this what do I do jgljfkjhlaafkgl”

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: Nothing happened…I’m fine…I’m just gonna give this dog a bath...”

That's totally not going to lead to more problems later, Caleb, if anything *did* happen (/sarcasm)

Yup. It’s totally okay to do that.

jackssims replied to your photoset “oh shit”

Oh fuck

alfalfalegacy replied to your photoset “oh shit”

wow

this is wild haha

Basically my reaction

jackssims replied to your photoset “Stella: “Dad, you’re home alone?” Caleb: “I think so.” Stella: “Aw,...”

jlkfdzsjlkfadg She's pregnant, he's pregnant, truly amazing

ikr

That’s a twist I truly didn’t expect at the end of this generation. Not that I’m complaining

jackssims replied to your photoset “Stella: “Anything else?” Caleb: “What? Is there supposed to be...”

/Caleb/

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: “And that’s not all…” Ross: “Huh?” Caleb: “Nothing. Forget it.”

//Caleb//

See Ross and Caleb were made for each other because they both have a hard time learning from their mistakes lol

dandylion240 replied to your post “I WAS HOPING HE WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS FIANCE'S BABY NOT GETTING...”

There's a way to bend the rules. Since Ross will become a vampire. He and Caleb have forever to have a child together. So once Sunset takes over as heir I say anything goes for Ross after that �� but that's just me lol

Ooh, technically that could work! I didn’t even think about that. Good point. I don’t think they’ll have children together but I really do like this idea.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Ross: “Is there anything you would like to tell me?” Caleb: “I was...”

Good! Caleb got the courage to tell Ross

I mean he didn’t really have another option at this point

jackssims replied to your photoset “Caleb: “You’re not going to leave me now, are you?” Ross: “I’m...”

Wholesome Ross (he’s really come full circle tbh)

I kept saying he would get better and no one believed me. There you have it guys, he’s a changed person. Character development! :D

simtress replied to your photo “™¥ ♥”

*eeps! she's too cute1

ikr, I miss her ;-;

melien replied to your photoset “Stella: I can’t believe it’s actually raining on my wedding day. We...”

It's a free riiiiide when you've already paid

Is this a reference I am supposed to get

Because I’m dumb and don’t get it lmao

melien replied to your photoset “Sunset: “Say cheese hair!”

So don't ask how I remember it because I'm probably too invested lol but your theme with red hair/blonde(yellow) hair in gen 3 of every legacy? It continues

Omg I didn’t even realize! Sebastian and Lynn started it obviously, then in my Raven Legacy it was a little “easter egg” but this time, it’s a coincidence (a nice coincidence). I guess I just can’t have too many redheads!

melien replied to your photoset “oh shit”

The ultimate plot twist

The plot twist I normally would’ve welcomed but this time, I actually felt sorry for him. He didn’t deserve it the first time (aka the time I was petty and did it on purpose) and he didn’t deserve it this time either. But still. Aliens. I can’t just quit the game without saving when it has to do something with them, can I?

melien replied to your post “I WAS HOPING HE WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS FIANCE'S BABY NOT GETTING...”

Maybe babies for them perhaps?

Y’all really want them to have kids huh

melien replied to your photoset “Nooooo Rocket :( He’s old now!”

Can Caleb also turn Rocket? Vampire doggo would be fun

Man I’d love if that was possible (even though...I just imagined him biting the poor dog and that’s kinda weird). Buuuut...there’s something else that I did and it’s almost as good.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photo “Sim Download: Minako Ito she/her, lesbian Traits: Good, Loner,...”

All of the Sims you put for download are so pretty! I'm grabbing them all!

Thank you so much ;-;

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photo “i was enchanted to meet you”

Aaahh nostalgia!

I knoooow ;-; I love them and I miss them and I want to play with them again

I mean I could, first I’d just have to finish the high school story and that’s...highly unlikely lol

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “oh shit”

Aliens are in love with him that's true

New otp: Caleb/Aliens. Oh that's weird

They have a weird thing for Calebs

If you guys know a Caleb irl protect them

If you are a Caleb, well...I’m sorry

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Rocket: Hey I’m old, just thought you should know…oh nevermind what...”

This is somehow sad=((

Yeah. I love this little dog so much :(

[nikanndros]

How much do I have to pay you to continue the Adultery AU bc that was iconic and I enjoy pain

Hahahaha. I like you.

I actually tried to write a sequel to the adultery AU a while back, but it somehow morphed into a Laurent POV version of the story. It’s only 1.5k but I’ll post it under the read more so that I can give you something at least hahaha.

As for an actual sequel, I wanna say I’ll probably do it???? after I finish The Time Travel AU.

@ anyone else about to click the readmore, I definitely recommend reading The Adultery AU first. I also recommend listening to Sweet Nothing by F+tM when reading Laurent’s pov. 

“Are you going anywhere for the summer, Laurent?” Isander asks. His dark curls in Laurent’s periphery make him look like someone else.

“Maybe,” Laurent says. Exam block will be over in three days and he still hasn’t decided. There’s an unanswered message on his phone from Auguste, asking the same thing. Are you coming home?

He loves his family, but it’s an odd time in his life. Going home would mean dinner parties and events he doesn’t care about. It would be his father pretending to care about his middle son. It would be Nicaise, demanding all of Laurent’s attention while simultaneously insisting he doesn’t want it.

It would be Damianos, bronze skinned and grinning, giving him playful looks that never last long enough. Pining, is the word.

“I might stay here,” Isander is saying, “if you do too, maybe we could-”

“I have a boyfriend,” Laurent lies.

Isander escapes not long after that. Vannes puts her textbook down to give him a long look.

“What?”

“You didn’t need to make up a boyfriend,” she says.

He looks away, jaw clenched. He wonders if in another life, he would have said yes to Isander. Up until now they’ve gotten along, and there’s a sweet quality in the other boy that lends itself to thoughts of soft candlelit nights and holding hands under tables. But in this life, he knows that even if he went off with Isander, that wouldn’t be the name he’d call for in his dreams.

Still, Laurent had considered inviting Isander home with him. Not to fuck, but to stand him next to Jokaste, and look at Damen and say, ‘See? I like your colouring too’.

“Get laid,” Vannes says, standing. “This jilted lover thing you’ve got going on doesn’t suit you.”

It doesn’t count as being jilted, he wants to tell her, when the object of your affections doesn’t even know about them.

He texts Auguste back. Only if I can stay at your place. He can avoid family events for a while. Laurent feels so full of longing that he doesn’t know what he’ll do the next time he sees Damen. Something stupid, probably.

-

He opens the door and Damen is there, upset and looking for Auguste. Laurent lets him in.

They have a moment of connection and Laurent is helpless but to kiss him. He knows he’ll be rejected, because Damen isn’t the adulterous sort.

Damen kisses him back.

“Take me,” Laurent says, thinking now’s the moment he’ll cast me away. He has to come to his senses.

But Damen lies him back along the couch and kisses his mouth, his cheeks, his neck. Laurent wants to cry and cling to him. He’s terrified and elated. Instead he just gasps, clings onto Damen and feels like something that’s newly been made whole.

-

It’s like he’s been made of ice for all of his life, and Damen has come and set him on fire. When they make love it’s both too much and exactly what he needs. Laurent can sees it like burn scars all over his body, that he looks up and thanks Damen for. Every kiss, every touch is an act of violence to Laurent’s heart. He’s hit the point of no return and yet he still continues to tumble past it.

Take me, he thinks, until there’s nothing left.

-

It’s weird how easy it is to knowingly hurt another person. Jokaste is only guilty of the same crime as Laurent - she’s in love with Damen. But she’s been allowed to have him for the last two years: it’s Laurent’s turn now, and he can turn off thoughts about how much this would destroy her with ease when it comes with Damen’s steady fingers trailing down his clavicle.

It feels more real on New Year’s Eve. He hasn’t seen Damen all day, until there he is, in the midst of both of their families, holding Jokaste’s waist. The countdown is the worst part.

Everyone has someone: his parents, Damen’s parents, Kastor is kissing his wife, and Auguste and Kashel have snuck off to kiss in private. The last ten seconds of the year, Laurent spends alone, in a corner, watching Damen and Jokaste sharing the same glass of champagne, giggling while they goad each other to finish it before the new year officially commences.

The glass is empty and set aside right in time for Damen to sweep her into a long kiss at midnight. Jokaste wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him with laughter still left on her red, red lips. She looks buoyantly happy. Her dress is white. Bridal. Laurent wants to disappear.

Their parents, and Kastor’s family, all retreat to the sitting room after midnight, to share glasses of cognac. The rest of them decide to make use of the pool, and then everyone is stripping down and throwing each other into the water.

Damen spots when Laurent attempts to retreat inside from the festivities and throws him over his shoulder. Pressed together like this, the warmth of their bodies mingles. Laurent is weak: he craves Damen’s touch in a way that permeates his bones. Everyone cheers when Damen throws Laurent in the pool, but the sound is distant to his ears.

There’s a moment underwater, where he thinks he’d like to stay down there, away from everyone. Surely once his head breaks to fresh air, the water will have washed away his casual mask, and they’ll all see it in his eyes. His heart will only ever beat for Damen.

Arms enter the water and pull him up until he’s face to face with Auguste. He doesn’t know what his expression is, but Auguste’s gaze makes him feel vulnerable.

“Happy new year, Laur,” his brother says softly, and in an odd display of affection, he pulls Laurent into a hug and kisses his temple. “I hope it treats you well.”

-

There’s a moment later that night - or early that morning - that Damen finds a moment to pull Laurent aside. He kisses Laurent like a benediction. “Happy new year,” Damen says.

It’s an odd sensation to simultaneously have someone and pine for them. “Happy new year,” he says back.

-

Of course, the situation is unstable. It’s impossible for something like this to stay a secret in families as close knit as theirs are. Laurent, however, is so clouded by his feelings that he doesn’t anticipate this.

Maybe he has a chance to avoid it.

“You said you’d take me to the beach before you go back,” Nicaise pouts.

“I’ll take you next week,” Laurent says. He’s trying to read.

“No you won’t,” Nic says. “You’re never even here.”

“I’m trying to read, Nicaise.”

“You don’t even care,” he says. “You don’t even care that you promised me.”

“I said I’ll take you next week.”

“I don’t want you to take me anymore,” Nicaise snaps. “Jokaste said she would. She said that she’ll be like my sister when she marries Damen. I’d rather have a sister than you.”

It’s a trapping sensation, being a middle child. Spending time with Auguste makes him feel older, more mature. Nicaise just drags Laurent down to the level of a child. He drops his book.

“You don’t know anything, Nicaise,” Laurent says, his voice too harsh. “Go away, I’m sick of you.”

-

It’s not entirely his fault. It’s impossible to be born into a world where Damen exists, a world where he gets to see him almost daily for most of his life, and not fall in love with him. Damen is made with the beauty of a Greek statue, and all the warmth of life itself, and Laurent doesn’t remember a time when he didn’t adore him.

Dinner is tense only in Laurent’s mind, at first. He knows it’s not Jokaste’s fault, but he can’t help but hate her. Every attempt at comradery is like her rubbing salt in the open wound that is his feelings for Damen. He’s rude to her. Nicaise keeps kicking him under the table.

Then, the great reveal: Nicaise knows about the affair and so does Auguste. And now, so does everyone.

When Damen stands to go after Jokaste, it feels like the most vulnerable moment of Laurent’s life. This is the moment Laurent wanted to avoid: the moment when Jokaste has a chance to convince Damen to stay away from him. If she and Damen reconcile after this, he feels like he’ll die.

-

“Well,” Auguste says, knocking back half a glass of scotch in a move he could have only learnt from Kashel. “Now I actually do need a refill. Laurent.”

Laurent stands and follows. No one tries to stop him. It’s all so painfully awkward, but he’s too busy trying to keep his expression at least somewhat dignified. The corners of his eyes are hot.

The door that separates the sitting room from the dining room shuts and, finally alone with only his brother, Laurent can feel the tears coming. Auguste takes one look at him.

“Oh,” he says, grabbing Laurent’s shoulders. “What a mess you two have made.” He pulls them over to the couch and makes Laurent sit with him, face pressed into his brother’s shoulder. Laurent can’t remember the last time he cried.

“Are you okay?” Auguste asks softly, when Laurent finally pulls his head back.

“I think I’m relieved,” he replies. “I think I would have kept it happening forever, if nothing had changed.”

[dontfindyourcenter]

Chapter Twelve:  In which I accidentally do three chapters worth of things all at once

Rules: https://dontfindyourcenter.tumblr.com/post/177027661290/rules

Previous Chapter: https://dontfindyourcenter.tumblr.com/post/177618516610/chapter-11-running-on-empty

Konikoni City seems to exist just to taunt me for putting in that rule about not being able to exchange money for items.  All around me are shops for TMs, incense, herbs, even evolutionary stones and fossils.  It all makes me feel very hard done by.  The fact that only half of these items would actually be useful to me is irrelevant to this feeling.  Anyway, Olivia’s Probopass hands me a note telling me that I’m to pop over to the Ruins of Life and meet Olivia there.  Is there any reason Olivia couldn’t have told me this a few minutes ago, when I saw her at the other end of Diglett’s Tunnel?  I guess she just wanted me to say hello to her massive-nosed pokemon.  Fair enough; it can’t have many pals with a nose like that.

I swear to god, the closer to full health my party has, the faster my pokemon get hurt.  It’s like a really depressing version of osmosis.  Case in point; on my way through Memorial Hill, a little old lady fights me with a comfey, which - through a combination of the moves wrap and sweet kiss - manages to bring Hedwig from full health down to seven HP.  Seven!  I had to use my first ever hyper potion just to keep my strongest pokemon from fainting against a bloody flower crown!  What’s that about?  Side note: this battle made me think the phrase “lei’d to rest”, and I’m very angry about this.

At the end of Memorial Hill, we meet Aether Branch Chief Faba, the one member of the Aether Foundation that the game doesn’t even begin to pretend is a goodie.  Total creep, this guy.  He’s in an argument with a couple of Team Skull Grunts, and frustratingly, I’m not allowed to join forces with Team Skull and beat him up.  Instead, I have to fight the Alolan Raticate of one of the Grunts, and it’s actually a surprisingly strong one.  I even have to use a revive after it gets a critical hit against Mr Nancy the araquanid.  Luckily, Digit Al the magnemite finishes it off, and gets promoted to Digit Al the magneton as a result.  Score!

Now we’re in Akala Outskirts, where I pick up a T.M. for Leech Life, a very useful move indeed for Mr. Nancy, especially since it takes the strain off those healing items I’m running so low on.  I mess around for a little while making him use the move against anyone who comes too near, until he’s back on full health for the Grand Trial.  Lovely.

Before the Grand Trial, though, is a battle I’d clean forgotten about; Team Skull Admin Plumeria wanders up and tells me to stop beating up her teammates, who she quite correctly points out are cute and as dumb as rocks.  I absolutely adore the fact that her title is “Team Skull Admin”, by the way.  I just have this image of her being really pissed off on a laptop at the back of Team Skull’s base in Po Town, performing mind-numbing data entry tasks while the rest of the team are having a whale of a time trying to eat tide pods and suchlike.

Plumeria is tough, but not too tough.  Digit Al beats her golbat and Donna the marowak beats her salandit.  Her team beaten, Plumie admits that I’m strong, but warns me not to mess with the Skulls again.  Why do recurring characters in pokemon games always wait until after they’ve proven that they can’t beat you before warning you not to do something?  How much of a threat do they really think that sounds like?

Now we’re finally at the Ruins of Hope, and Lillie and Burnet come and heal my pokemon.  Such a lovely pair.  Burnet does that thing I mentioned last chapter where she overcompensates by loudly asking what the Masked Royal looks like under “that mask.”  Interesting that she doesn’t assume male pronouns, no?  Burnet is definitely suspect number one, imho.

And it’s time to face the big Kahuna!  Olivia - oh I get it, she’s called Olivia because olives have stones in them!  That’s cute - sends out a nosepass first, which is quickly dispatched by Mr Nancy with a couple of Bubblebeams.  Next is her midnight lycanroc, who Digit Al beats with a Mirror Shot or two.  Third we have a boldore, who Hedwig beats with a Grass Knot and a Razor Leaf, and… oh.  That’s it.  Not much for a grand trial, was it?  Slightly less grand than every single regular trial on the island, frankly.  She should have sent out a bloody comfey, they cause me way more trouble.

Shan’t complain though - I get a rock z-crystal and a stamp in my passport out of it, and now that there’s no more plot left to uncover on the island, I’ve been invited to go to the Aether Foundation and meet Lusamine.  It’s very exciting to meet the worst mum in a series of games full to the brim of mothers who kick their children out of their houses at age 10.

I do make a quick pit stop in Konikoni City before going there, though, because I know that now that I’ve beaten Olivia, I can have a battle with Trial Captain Lana.  It’s a fun one, too - since Lana has a chinchou (which resists electric types) and an araquanid (which resists grass types), there are no pokemon types with an advantage against all her pokemon, which always makes for a more dynamic match.  Olivia could really learn a thing or two from her.  Anyway, Hedwig beats the chinchou, Digit Al beats the shellder and Wash just barely survives a Hydro Vortex from the araquanid in order to beat that, too, and that’s the end of that.

I would have gone up against Mallow as well, but as I’ve never played Pokemon Moon before, I don’t know where to find her and don’t really care enough to find out.  Instead, I take that trip to Aether Paradise that that one evil guy offered me earlier.  Bye, Akala island!  Thanks for only killing two of my pokemon while I was on you!

When we arrive on Aether Paradise, Faba tells me that I will not be able to use any of my Poké Balls within Aether Paradise, since a jamming signal is broadcast throughout the facility to prevent them from functioning. This makes no sense at all; he’s just told me that the Aether Foundation develop poke balls on site, and while I’m no expert, I’m pretty sure it would be nearly impossible to invent something in a building where that specific thing can’t do anything.  And sure enough, he’s almost immediately proved wrong; the second that a Nihilego comes through an ultra wormhole and attacks me upstairs, I’m able to send out my pokemon from my poke balls to defend myself with no problem whatsoever.  Hey Faba, is your name Selena Gomez?  Because you’re a Bad Liar.  ...No, I know your name’s Faba, it’s a… I was referencing the 2017 hit song, Bar Liar, which was sung by…  actually I don’t think her music is as bad as you’re making it out to... oh, forget it.

I beat the Nihilego with a couple of bonemarangs from Donna.  Fun fact: throughout this word document, the words “Digit Al” have been underlined every time I’ve written them to tell me that I’ve misspelled them, but the word “bonemarangs” has been accepted as a completely legitimate word.  Alrighty then.

At this point, I was going to save the game, so that I could be prepared to travel to the next island on a completely fresh chapter.  That didn’t end up happening, though; I had to button-mash my way through heavy foreshadowing about Lusamine’s villain turn later in the game, get given a T.M. for psychic by Branch Assistant Wicke, watch a weird cutscene of Hau eating his food really excitedly, AND beat Hau in a pokemon battle, all before I was given the chance to take a breather and save the game.  When I finally got out of the waiting room, my doctor wasn’t remotely amused.  

(The Hau battle went fine, by the way.  Donna, Hedwig and Nina beat his raichu, brionne and flareon without any real trouble.   He also healed my team both before and after the fight.  Do you expect anything else from Hau by this point?)

End of chapter twelve.

[northelypark]

Hey, I hope your hellish weekend is going A-Okay(tm). Just think, what would Clive do in bad times? Destroy London. Nevermind, bad example. But I hope this ask makes you feel better 👍 2, 7, 8, 13, 15, 22, 24, 25 and 30~

2 - What time of day do you think is the best to write?

My schedule is a bit weird, so I write whenever I can find the time, whether it be early morning, late afternoon, or after midnight. I don’t think a particular time of day is better than any other. As long as it’s quiet and I can relax without any pressing schoolwork or other obligations I need to worry about right at that moment, I’m good to go.

7 - Which character that you’ve written is most like yourself?

Probably Amelia because she’s 1) the protagonist and 2) written in the first person, so a lot of my personality, thoughts, and feelings have gone into her development. Even before writing Lamplight Letters, there were some similarities between me and her character in Eternal Diva: we’re both introverts, both loners to an extent, both always thinking and asking questions, and both have blonde hair and owlish eyes (more as a kid, as an adult I just have tired, serial killer eyes). It’s funny because even as I’ve shaped Amelia with my own personality, she’s also shaped me. I had only a passing interest in chess before writing L^3 and now I love chess and have started (very, very slowly) to sharpen my skills and better appreciate the game and its history, in general. 

8 - Which character is your favorite to write?  Why?

The main four are all fun to write for different reasons. Amelia because she’s a lot like me and I can relate to many of her experiences, at least in how she deals with them. 

Gemma is fun because her dialogue is always so spontaneous - I can really get creative with it and have her say things the other three would never say. Gemma interacting with everyone is also a blast to write because she’s the heart of the group, the one who keeps everyone from retreating into their thoughts.

Clive because of the challenges his character presents, knowing what’s he’s been through and where he’s eventually headed and how that connects to who he is in the story currently. Writing him is always intimidating, especially because I have to write him through Amelia’s eyes instead of getting directly into his head. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface with him, a lot that the reader (and Amelia) can only guess at. It’s difficult, but fun, especially when I get to write his more dorky, softer side that emerges with his close family and friends. 

And Bernard because he’s Bernard. He always gets the best dialogue and I always have too much fun writing it as I cackle, wishing I could be as snarky and deadpan as him in real life. 

13 - Which authors or styles do you try to emulate in your writing?

I think every author I’ve read has rubbed off on me one way or another. Every book has left its own impression on my skills, shaping my writing style over the years. There are also quite a few authors in particular who I’ve intentionally emulated (and who’ve also undoubtedly influenced me well beyond of what I’m aware).  Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Trenton Lee Stewart, C.S. Lewis, Lemony Snicket, J.K, Rowling, and Richard Addams to name a few.

For Lamplight Letters, I’ve tried to write in a style that seems like it would fit with the Layton world. An older style, with what I hope is more of a timeless feel. Though writing in first person, I also like to incorporate some modern elements like a few stream-of-conscious moments for intense situations and playing around with sentence structure to mimic how Amelia might think in a particular situation. I also try to keep the idea in mind that Amelia is telling the story after a number of years, as if she’s looking back as an adult which would explain why the style is maybe a bit more polished and mature than it might otherwise be for a 14-year-old. 

15 - How do you plan your writing?

It’s hard to know where the process begins and ends because in planning out one chapter I’m also planning for future chapters by throwing in hints and foreshadowing and set-ups for conflicts and consequences to come so it’s more like a never-ending chain of dominoes I have to keep from spiraling out of control, especially now as I near the end with a lot of the set-up behind me and tons of big reveals ready to go off like bombs in upcoming chapters that all need to be carefully managed.

 But. Anyway. I start with a rough outline of a chapter, just a brief little summary and how it fits into the story at large. This I roll around in my head for awhile, adding this or that until I’m ready to write a proper outline. I’m not a huge outline person, as in I don’t go for the long, detailed outlines. There’s got to be some spontaneity to the process, as well, so I try to keep my outlines to the basics - the big events in the chapter that have to happen and that will move the story along. If I happen to think of a really clever piece of dialogue or a little character moment along the way I’ll throw that in so I won’t forget. Once I have the outline I’ll either start on the rough draft or do some research depending on the chapter itself.

I also have several extra documents with important information, research, detailed summaries of all of the mysteries, how they connect, and every single reference to them in the story so I know exactly what the characters know. Wow, I’m tired now. 

22 - Do you listen to music when you write?

I’ll listen to music when I draw, but I can’t do it when I write. I like to have silence save for my fan. Music is important during the planning process, though. I like to go for walks and listen to music that has helped inspire the story and just let the ideas flow. I actually plotted the initial (very rough) outline for the ending of Lamplight Letters this way. That was an intense walk. 

24 - Do you prefer first or third person?  Why?

Both. Both is good. I think first-person is easier to write, because you have that direct connection with the protagonist, while with third-person there’s a bit more distance. First person also has more of an intensity to it, especially if you choose to write in the present tense. Third-person, though, can be more versatile and it’s easier to switch between characters. I think if I ever wrote an L^3 sequel I might write in third-person and include chapters from the perspectives of all of the main four, instead of just Amelia. (I know, I know. Why am I thinking about this? Focus, brain. Still 14 more chapters to write). 

25 - How do you defeat writers’ block?

I just try to keep writing. If there’s a particular part of a chapter that’s proving to be a stumbling block, I’ll write the poorest, quickest excuse for a scene and move on. Once I’ve got the rough draft completed, I’ll come back to it. Seeing it in the context of the whole chapter somehow makes it less intimidating. An example would be the scene in chapter 25 where Amelia summarizes part of the tournament and the whirlwind of matches she plays. That scene took forever because of the research that went into it and also just the struggle of making it flow smoothly. But instead of agonizing over it, I wrote a terribly sketchy collection of paragraphs that provided adequate if not clunky transition and moved on to something not as difficult that bolstered my confidence and made it easier to return to that bad section.

30 - What’s your favorite part about writing?

That’s a hard one. I love writing in general, so it’s hard to break it down and find that one element that sticks out more than the rest. I love creating and developing characters and worlds and storylines, bringing them all to life, the satisfaction of finding just the right word to use, looking back and seeing how my skills have grown, sharing my stories with others and hearing about the impact they’ve had. I also love using writing to explore my own thoughts and feelings, to ask questions I can’t really ask anywhere else and to help me make sense of things I struggle with in my own life. I also love thinking of new ideas and planning new chapters and the hours of enjoyment that can bring. Also, meeting other writers, finding new inspiration…etc. Think I could write a book about it all ;) 

[readeverymorning]

This Simple Guide Will Teach You How to Meditate, Even When Your Mind Wanders

Nicol NataleAugust 21, 2020·9 mins read

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/simple-guide-teach-meditate-even-194400411.html

From Prevention

We've all been there: The clock strikes midnight, and our thoughts race on as if we'd just walked into the office with our first cup of coffee. Sleep? Never heard of her, minus a few quick minutes of shut-eye in between the tossing and turning. This scenario is all too common for many. It's incredibly challenging to calm down a racing mind after a full day of working, parenting, and taking care of other responsibilities, not to mention a pandemic. The good news is you can train your mind to calm the heck down so you can get a proper night's rest, improve focus at work, and relieve stress—all through the practice of meditation.

"In a world increasingly built on falsehoods, the need to establish an infallible inner GPS is paramount to one's safety and sanity," says Kelly Morris, meditation teacher and founder of The Infinity Call. "Meditation can provide you with the instant reset needed to move forward coherently and gracefully."

What is meditation, exactly?

"Meditation is the practice of intentionally awakening to our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in the mental space of observance and acceptance," says Andrea Parsons, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., a psychotherapist in both private practice and at one of the nation's largest HMO. "Meditation asks us to be the observer of our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations rather than the critic of them."

A daily meditation practice allows us to get clear about what we're experiencing by directing our focus to our inner world, Parsons says. Many of us have been taught to dismiss or reject certain emotions or thoughts, which creates separation from oneself. Practicing meditation helps us to reconnect with ourselves. Because meditation involves focusing inward with the mind and being an observer of our thoughts, the practice results in a number of psychological and physical benefits, such as improving our ability to problem solve, reducing stress hormones in the body, and boosting the immune system. And you don't have to spend hours sitting crossed-legged to reap the benefits.

There’s no “proper” way to meditate.

Many are discouraged from meditating because they believe they have to be taught or they aren't doing it right. "There are as many ways to meditate as there are people in the world," Morris says. "Much like the proverbial snowflake, everyone is slightly different in their needs, outlooks, and capacities. As such, there is no singular, 'proper' way to meditate."

Common misconceptions around meditation include that it's too hard, boring, mysterious, selfish, and only belongs to Eastern cultures, Morris says. But this is not the case. There are endless ways to meditate, ranging from beginner to advanced practices. The six main categories of meditation are mindfulness meditation, focused meditation, spiritual meditation, mantra meditation, and Transcendental Meditation® (TM):

Mindfulness meditation involves paying attention on your thoughts and observing them without judgement.

Focused meditation is when you concentrate using any of the five senses, like breathing or staring at a candle flame.

Spiritual meditation is used in religions, when participants reflect on a deeper connection or purpose.

Mantra meditation is when you recite a mantra over and over again, such as "Om."

Transcendental Meditation® builds off of mantra meditation in which the participant is given a custom mantra from a TM® instructor.

Movement meditation involves moving the body in some way that brings peace, such as qigong, walking, or yoga.

Mindfulness meditation involves paying attention on your thoughts and observing them without judgement.

Focused meditation is when you concentrate using any of the five senses, like breathing or staring at a candle flame.

Spiritual meditation is used in religions, when participants reflect on a deeper connection or purpose.

Mantra meditation is when you recite a mantra over and over again, such as "Om."

Transcendental Meditation® builds off of mantra meditation in which the participant is given a custom mantra from a TM® instructor.

Movement meditation involves moving the body in some way that brings peace, such as qigong, walking, or yoga.

Other types of meditation include sound bath meditation, visualization, Vipassana meditation, chakra meditation, and many, many more. You'll want to familiarize yourself with the various methods, and then begin with the one that sounds the most comfortable and accessible for you. Because meditation is so customizable, you're bound to find something that works!

What to think about when meditating

Whether you're a beginner or an advanced practitioner, the mind will do nothing but wander, Morris says. "For most people, the mind has been trained to be discursive since birth. It's normal to entertain five or six thoughts at the same time and to even be rewarded for it—the common vernacular is 'multitasking,'" she explains. "Single-pointed concentration, though, makes the brain happy."

Beginners are often frustrated with the mind's tendency to wander during meditation. That's because they are assuming that the mind should be "silent" when they're "successfully" meditating. "This simply isn't true, and it prevents many people from exploring a meditation practice that has the capacity to improve their lives on every level," Morris says.

Ultimately, there are going to be thoughts that pour in while you're meditating, but the key isn't to try and silence them. Instead, just observe them. "Meditators, like everyone else, are forced to think whatever thoughts the Thought Army decides. We are not in charge," Morris explains. "Over time, the meditator realizes that they aren't thinking, that their thoughts are actually thinking them. We don't generally choose our thoughts, although we may think we do. It helps to remember that meditation isn't an effort to 'not think.'"

When (not if!) the mind wanders beyond control, Parsons recommends gently bringing it back with your breath or bringing your attention a focal point such as a candle or a sound. Morris adds that feeling into the sensations of the body or the ground beneath you can also help you recenter.

How to start meditating for beginners

Like everything else, meditation takes practice. "I've found that most people will read an article about meditation and attempt to sit down with the best of intentions, but they will only last for a few minutes at most," Morris says.

"To maximize the likelihood of staying with meditation, I recommend starting with three minutes in the morning or night," Parson explains. If you have a history of trauma, Parsons recommends consulting with a mental health professional, as meditating can exacerbate symptoms in survivors. "Gradually, work your way up to more minutes of meditating. Just as an athlete or musician attains their level of skill after years of practice, we need to gradually build our meditation practice," she says.

Morris suggests working up to 10 to 20 minutes of meditation a day. "If you find a comfortable seated position, one can sit for 10 to 20 minutes. It's the content of the mind that makes people leap up and decide 10 or 20 minutes is way too long," she says. "Beginners who want to explore the possibilities of meditation can engage with this simple guide: Wake up, go to the bathroom, sit down. Don't check your email, text messages, DMs, social media pages, the news or anything else. Simply wake up and directly sit before the day takes its toll."

The Benefits of Meditation

Just a few minutes of meditation a day can have profound effects on your health. "Meditation is an endless fountain of benefits and rewards, from improved sleep to reduced loneliness to better skin," Morris says.

Meditation improves our ability to problem solve.

Our problem-solving abilities can become impaired when our minds are distracted or we are tired, but meditation can help bring focus and alertness. "Meditation keeps us aware of what is happening in the moment," Parsons says. "This allows us to respond more effectively to our environment compared to when our mind is replaying the past or anticipating some type of future loss."

Meditation reduces stress hormones in the body.

When we become stressed, our bodies activate the stress response, in which the nervous system releases a flood of stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. "Activation is when we notice a physiological response in our bodies as the result of stress hormones being released, such as heart racing, sweaty palms, upset stomach," Parsons explains. "We often activate the stress response because of catastrophic thinking or replaying a past upset." People who meditate regularly can avoid activating the stress response, she says, adding that meditation helps us stay present.

Meditation may boost the immune system.

"Participants of a study who approached unwanted thoughts and feelings non-judgmentally rather than fighting them off showed more activation in their brain's region of positive emotion," Parson says. "These participants also produced more antibodies when given a flu vaccination compared to other participants."

Resources for beginners

There's an abundance of resources for assistance with meditating at home. Parsons recommends checking out Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen priest angel Kyodo williams, Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., and Tara Brach, Ph.D. "Each practitioner has their unique approach, so checking out several resources can help you find the best fit for you," she says, adding that all sites have meditations.

You can also download the app Insight Timer. "I respect their commitment to offering over 30,000 free meditations," Parsons says. "I also recommend the Liberate Meditation app, which is a subscription-based app created by and for Black, Indigenous and People of Color." Other meditation apps include Calm, Headspace, and Mindvalley.

Parsons says you can even refer to podcasts. "I recommend 10% Happier by Dan Harris, which is offering a Coronavirus Sanity Guide for free," she says. "I also think that The Rubin Mindfulness Meditation podcast is a unique form of meditation with rotating teachers guiding meditation that's focused on artwork."

If you're looking for more specific training, check out Morris' one-on-one phone sessions at The Infinity Call. "The Infinity Call is a grounding, virtual meditation practice dedicated to healing the lives of all those who identify as women around the world by reconnecting them and their identities to the Earth," she says. Lastly, you can always try group meditations, at studios or in person. "That tends to help people remain more focused compared to meditating alone," Parsons says. Check to see if a studio near you is open before scheduling a class.

Your meditation practice will be unique to you. However you cultivate your meditation practice, know that you have an ample amount of resources, support, and guidance to get started. Keep in mind that beginning a meditation practice can be difficult, but the psychological and physical benefits make it well worth it to stick with it.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

Saw a tag game that was “unconventional tags”, and I was going to reblog but I wound up having TOO MANY tags per prompt! 

So out of sheer curiosity, I’m going to share what The Entire Selection of Tags with “chocolate”, “kill”, “done”, “try”, “stop”, and “why” is in this post! (Be warned: There are MANY and I only remember the context for about a quarter of these. I was able to dig up 92 tags for “why” alone. But I’m rather curious and analytical, so of course I’d tag a lot of Why’s...... anyways! Here goes! It is LONG.)

Lots of personal considerations, a hefty dose of OC and Titans-related fandom tags, 

Chocolate:

#(but like... chocolate AND cherries....~<33333 )

#I wonder if I could use gluten-free oreos (i.e. ''''chocolate sandwich cookies'''') as the crust instead.... ooooh i'm gonna try that!!

#but I've never had to buy anything and try to sell it besides... like. Malley's Chocolate Bars and other such candy bar fundraisers.

#i was at work for 12 hours but then I got home and went ''FUCK IT'' and ate some chocolate cake and a bagel with eggs???

#Dove will bring her a cup of tea or hot chocolate and sit with her for awhile. Maybe talk through some things with her.

#PB+chocolate can be either GREAT or /awful/ depending on the brand.

#Dark chocolate is more of a Dry and Astringent Texture thing for me.

#It's as essential in my plot ideas as chocolate is in hot chocolate. Just can't possibly make it without it.

#anyways: Peanut butter + chocolate is good. I like the fancy hazelnut spreads with peanut butter swirls.

#Mint+chocolate is good as Andes mints but bad as peppermint patties. Again; it depends on the brand. LOVE it in ice cream!

#i'm suddenly reminded that i bought myself an entire whole-ass chocolate silk pie Because I Wanted It SO BAD

Kill:

#nice to know the life skills i learned at chipotle haven't left me. 8FFFFF

#And I've always obsessively cataloged knowledge of canon. so when I found out all of Raven's half-siblings were killed (or their mothers)?

#Kary has a fairly good Innate sense of direction. but she had to develope a Real Skill for it when she was living feral.

#not the ''i'm gonna kill my favorite protagonist'' part but like. the emotional Twist there

#Anyways any and all Shakespeare except Midsummer Night's Dream bored me to hell. To Kill a Mockingbird INFURIATED me.

#SECONDING The Great Gatsby. I also really hated the ending of To Kill a Mockingbird. The story itself was good but that ending?

#Well I guess he GOT TO KILL HIM AFTER ALL now DIDN'T he

#''DON'T KILL IT I'LL GET IT OUTSIDE IT'S OKAY''

#kill mary-sue witch hunt culture! KILL IT DEAD

#it's Ten Percent Luck and Twenty percent skill if you're referencing the song I think you are but i see your point

#I have a 0.07 skill level when it comes to Playing By Ear and chords. But this is LOVELY so far even if it IS simplified

#it's okay you can say Kill la Kill

#excuse me as I kill my throat from gasp-laughing too harsadddnamfwje

#it wasn't until i literally shouted at a doctor that I was going to kill myself if they couldn't help me that someone actually DID SOMETHING

#you could never kill me in a way that matters

#he's also the only one who Actually tried to kill the Joker. so.......

#did you know bugs feel A Jolt of Pain when you kill them? I don't know what the heck the science-y anatomical cause of that is

#kill the idea that yelling/screaming is Normal and Healthy! Because it's not! It's absolutely NOT.

#But yeah! There's no better way to learn a skill than looking to the people who have already mastered the skills you want to learn.

#''Are you really willing to kill the next George Floyd; the next Breonna Taylor; the next Tamir Rice?''

#those herbs DON'T KILL VIRUSES like alcohol does!!

#''what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'' yeah but it leaves you with Serious Vulnerabilities that you have to spend your

#''Lots of villains.'' ''I will KILL YOU boy!'' GODS

Done:

#for me/aries it's much more the ''i want to fix it then and there and then it's done'' but really I don't play the blame game.

#seriously they've done SO MANY studies on creative hobbies and there are generations of stories from people who've had them

#so really nothing gets DONE about the diagnosis? but he gets Super Curious and reads a TON of articles and studies and books about it

#But let's take stock of how many times I've already done this shall we?~

#nicely done though??

#I can Never Get ENough of writers who've done as much off-novel characterization as Neil and Sir Terry have done with Good Omens

#That was REALLY well done as far as a Mind Games sort of horror story goes

#You shouldn't expect people who have Done a Lot of Growth and Shown a Lot of Potnetial to ForeveR Hide and Eradicate Their Past.

#this webcomic isn't my style personally but it IS really well done and I recommend it to anyone who likes the above things!

#with the tags out of the way: THAT'S BECAUSE 9/!! was PLAYED to THEIR BENEFIT (or: possibly even done by the govt themselves)

#and they pay shit and work us to the bone because they won't staff. But this post is... PROOF that it can be done BETTER.

#''i was born on the way home from the gym and then I will be able to get it done before the end of the day''

#!!! This made ms so HAPPY to see! Pink's speech patterns being recognized and analyzed was... not something i'd ever done before?

#I have to have some things done before my executive dysfunction will let me engage in other tasks or else I get like.... gridlocked?

#kpop fans get things DONE don't DOUBT them

#I have a LOT of trouble recalling when something was Done First or Subsequently. And I absolutely CAN NOT remember dates.

#It's human to need help sometimes and with all you've done for your loved ones

#and once THAT'S done I should be able to post the chapter!!! Which... given that I'm not absolutely mentally exhausted from work anymore

#I can't IMAGINE what I'd have done if I suddenly lost ALL of them and had to fight on alone.......................

#AHHH the idea of Damian adopting a rabbit! And Raven petting it! (house bunny because I refuse to condone illegal wildlife theft)

#they've done it! they've broken my fanfics down to the bare essentials!

#to do so when I see people like this. I'm done letting people back me into a corner and forcing me to cower.

#and between all the reading I've done on humanized superheroes and this show: I know that's basically my favorite trope.

#Enrichment Done Right!!

#Teaching done RIGHT!

#I'll admit: I'm curious to see how Gabriel and Kami actually describe their relationship? Because when it's built up properly and done RIGHT

#okay so I've done some research and this seems to be ACcepted on reddit but Hotly Debated everywhere else

#and it wasn't until Last Year and my sister that I trusted with it was a cosmetologist-- after I'd done SO MUCH work on healing from abuse

#It was the first forest that ever opened its heart to me. The only one that has done so as thoroughly....

#I have written like three quarter-done sex scenes but always drop off it before I get ot the Really Porny Parts because No Interest

#seriously they've done SO MANY studies on creative hobbies and there are generations of stories from people who've had them

#But let's take stock of how many times I've already done this shall we?~

#nicely done though??

#the things she had ACTUALLY said or done to me. Telling them the way she hurt me.

#have you... have you never done that???

#...hmmm... I like the Battle Cry idea. I don't know what my own creaming sounds like though. I've never... done that.

#I can Never Get ENough of writers who've done as much off-novel characterization as Neil and Sir Terry have done with Good Omens

#i scored 33-actually-34 though. the ones i missed were the mother-daughters-grandmothers one-- which I still think it Done Wrong

#can confirm that you Do Get Way More Done when you're well-rested.

#nimue's not driving but she's already so done with it

#it could probably only be done When Angry.

Try:

#i went wild with google translate and ecosia and every search engine i could find TRYING to TRANSLATE ''cotorrito''

#If we're going to take on these forces of arrogance and bigotry: We have to stand UNITED. TOGETHER!

#poetry

#country

#pastry

#And for some reason everyone fucking LOVES it. I know it was an instrumental step in my poetry as it is NOW

#but I know that in poetry after a rhyme happens then te next line is Likely to start a new thought.

#''you're a deep thinker of deep thoughts a reader of poetry and a HEAVY user of your notes app.

#take this quite literally. because the one time i did try asking my STEPmother what was wrong she wound up screaming at me.

#I don't usually watch tiktoks but the comments convinced me to give this one a try and yes. this one Deserved It.

#my mother and I driving around country backroads trying to avoid the highways at midnight on July 4th

#I was going to try buying a gift card but i think that would be cheating a legit business owner out of money and I'm not about that.

#i refuse to give her a tag of her own. i know she Contributed^tm and technically it's not 'bad' poetry but I'm just not a fan personally

#is what I consider to be MY WORST POEM. It even got published in a goddamn poetry collection! What the FUCK.

#actually put your body into starvation mode. And what does the body do when it's starving? TRY DESPERATELY to HOLD ON

#~!America is the Best Country Ever!~ NO ''BEST'' ANYTHING would allow ANY human being to be treated like THAT!

#But the idea is to try finding those things and explore them. Make it fun! MAke it spooky! Make it exciting! Make it startling!

#i'd also have to try finding a time to watch it when someone else in the family isn't already monopolizing the TV....

#(because i'd.... really love to try holding and playing one of these of my own someday.)

#about living a monk-like life? i'd give it a goddamn try if i got literally ANY paid vacation time and had the money to fly to tibet...)

#.....from certain pizza places? I would try it.

#so like. Too LAte ot try it at THIS job

#Not just in stories either; do actually try it someday

#In this country it's basically Impossible to become ANY kind of politician without being am illionaire. Like it's Literally IMPOSSIBLE.

#Like... the thrift store industry is BOOMING right now because a lot of us are Too Poor to Buy Anything Else.

#''bitch TRY it i DARE you''

#sometimes you gotta get it out somehow and a journal entry just doesn't cut it

#i actually only know two lines out of the refrain of that song. But damn if I'm not going to try LEARNING it someday

#i've heard d+ shuts down accounts if you try logging in from new devices (such as my laptop) lately

#...huh. I haven't found a lot of country music before the 90's so I don't know how I feel about this.

#but i definitely agree with the Reasons People ''Hate Country Music Today''.

#(but also The country music style of singing feels like someone is using a cheese grater on my brain. I just... don't enjoy that;;)

#(''lyrics'' referring to the 90s/00s country music I know of. and know i can't stand.)

#(tagged as such because ONE DAY I really REALLY want to try my hand at a Big Gorgeous Absolutely Breathtaking Fish Tank!)

#Oooh I'm definitely going to incorporate that ''try not to leave the room'' when cleaning thing!

#i wish my stories could do that? someday. Someday maybe.... I'll try one of these days.

#Sigh... the Artistry of this crew.

#i can't believe i'm living in the most ragged-on state in the more ragged-on COUNTRY of the entire internet.

#most of the time the people who have the easiest time contacting spirits didn't try or ask for it. The spirits just kinda.... Found Them

#He has the skills necessary to cook. Just not... the Sense of Taste. He has the Artistry part down! Just not the Accuracy.

#((and i have to try REALLY HARD to get an image of what it Looks Like. except in very Rare and Special Moments.

#I'm not usually one for visuals but this quick animation is GORGEOUS and I can't tell you how TEMPTED I've been to try recreating it.

#and Leyla as a kid just wants to TRY STUFF

#i saw amy's shoulders sparkling and i was like! ''i LOVE that. i'd love to try some fairy-goth myself someday''

#Neurochemistry stuff!!

#why is his reaction so aNGRY honestly that was a REAL ACCOMPLISHMENT and some serious artistry she pulled off!

#try swarming a stun deck with THIS on the field. o.o

#tell me what i can tag this because it's absolutely fucking ABYSSMAL of our country to ALLOW this and absolutely FUCK anyone who says

#i'm gonna...... try that popcon one though

#(because my job has me outside in it for at least 3 hours a day no matter what medical history i try to show them)

#might have to try this....

#i'm gonna Try to sleep but i know my hyperficating nexus-steeped mind isn't gonna quiet down very quickly 8O

#for the record i did TRY using the Boolean Operator  syntax with ''low'' blood pressure in quotes. but it STILL gave me articles

#Raven: immediately Exhausts Herself to Hell to Try Undoing It

#yes i'm going to overanalyze and try understand every accusation of Ohio on my dashboard. why do you ask?

#i'm gonna... Try Wearing Make-Up!

#is it weird that i use almistry when drawing my ocs' hands?

#a little piece of her childhood home and her ancestry when the rest of the world and its people died.

#She might be a little embarrassed to share her poetry with people? I think she's pretty good at writing pretty words

#Or... if you feel so inclined: poetry you've written yourself?

Stop:

#but BY ALL the GODS can we STOP mocking and hating the people who DO have all these grand and lofty ambitions?

#stop blaming millennials for our shitty circumstances challenge.

#note to self: stop frekaing FORGETTING to schedule with a GE again!!! fuck's sake!

#stop being elitist because something's Different. it has its merits and it's not meant to be an International Film-Festival Masterpiece.

#(i did a Lot of stupid things at that house actually. there was a reason i stopped working with raphael......)

#except once i got the add diagnosis my teacher stopped commenting on my doodling.

#that cloak was the PERFECT compromise. It kept me a Little Warmer without getting too hot AND did a great job of stopping the too-cold wind~

#we stopped going to the daycare.. (And i know that because i got it for my 5th birthday. i was ENAMORED IMMEDIATELY)

#i've always read it the same way and didn't notice Why Everyone Stopped Liking Her but that also brought that particular Change to light...

#but on the other hand she Literally Accidentally Stopped Time... (And i have this... headcanon? let's call it a headcanon

#for something like stopping the end of  the world: Who (at least: who among HEROES) WOULDN'T put that to use?

#my all-time FAVORITE that I will NEVER skip a song from is Evanescence. HAs been for like 15 years now and that's not stopping.

#i don't foresee this rambling stopping for another 3 days tbh

#creepy guys try to follow you off your stop and get your number no matter how many times (with increasing ferocity) you tell them no.

#but can this fandom stop acting like pink intentionally hurt everyone for like 7 seconds???

#also if you're as powerful as zee it probably comes second-nature so why WOULDN'T you throw it around to stop an argument?

#it's an even split on how many people are willing to stop and talk to you. about one in ten will just outright ignore you if you say Hi

#why not stop at home and drop him off first? why send him into freaking SPACE???

#Don't stop believing. Don't stop moving forward. Don't let depression drag you down.

#do nothing but yell at you and tell you to calm down or shut up or Stop Being Yourself.

#i'm gonna stop before i suffocate on silent laughter but Wow This Is Good

#i can't tell you how many doctors i've been to that literally told me to stop crying when i Became Distressed from relating my symptoms...

#which i don't appreciate! brain stop calling me a wuss

#how do you... Stop Doing That?

#Stop Erasing Raven's Strengths!! Stop making her a stereotypical sitcom caricature! LET RAVEN BE SASSY

#Can people PLEASE stop equating the two things that don't necessarily (or often) go hand in hand?

#they're ALREADY filthy rich just stop fucking catering to them???

#and whenever I went to the bus stop for those mornings: I cawed to him. And rather than flying away as soon as he saw me

#Petition to make the fandom stop forgetting that Blue has a FIERCE side TOO

#i wish this freaking show would stop goddamn KILLING PEOPLE

#i can't stop giggling at that last gif though. oh my stars that's Great

#i... don't want to tag him ''bakura'' anymore because STOP GIVING HIM RYOU'S IDENTITY but at the same time... what ELSE do you call him??

#night-terrors/flashbacks / whatever? She will literally stop herself from sleeping.

#sorry i've made so many posts about this; I just! I can't stop HYPERFIXATING on this ONE DETAIL.

#like I was the kid who'd CRY when someone ripped wings off flies or legs off spiders. ''Stop it that HURTS!''

#but i tend to stop in the middle of books i'm not invested in. which is happening more and more often.

#She'll stop immediately and be like ''okay! let's talk about something else than!!''

#(a terrified telepath is twice as dangerous when she's unconscious and Can't Stop It. She knows that. So when she's having bouts of

#oh STOP it that was sweet!

#i mean you can't stop kids from seeing EVERYTHING. But we should at least be TRYING to protect them. You know?

#trying to help me figure out how to cope. basically everyone was like ''there's no way you don't notice three hours passing stop lying''

#oh my GOD I'm LAUGHING there are tEARS IN MY EYES I just!! I'm DEFINITELY imagining them and I can't STOP LAUGHING OKAY

#How do you stop looking back?

#(And then the night my spirit guide told me to stop LETTING myself be defined by her and that I can rise above my past and my parents...)

#but BY ALL the GODS can we STOP mocking and hating the people who DO have all these grand and lofty ambitions?

#Don't stop believing. Don't stop moving forward. Don't let depression drag you down.

#Stop Erasing Raven's Strengths!! Stop making her a stereotypical sitcom caricature! LET RAVEN BE SASSY

#There's SO MUCH in the Society6 store and all of it is GORGEOUS. I had to physically hold my hands to my chest to stop myself

#How do you.... Stop Needing the Sugar to Function though? I've tried like 4 adhd meds and they all have Awful Side Effects for me. :c

#for the record: salem was really more of just a stop on a field trip across literary and/or historical sites of New England

#can the universe STOP pointing me towards MORE triggers?  P l e a s e ? ?? ?????

#My heart wouldn't stop pounding and I was legitimately QUAKING even after I sat down. Luckily that manager was Compassionate

#until somebody told me to stop probably

#but i can't stop questioning myself. probably because Questioning Myself and Rigorously Guarding My Mind is the only reason I...

#EXCUSE you holy HECK that was!!! I WAS BREATHLESS AND COULDN'T STOP READING?

#Not Being Violent isn't the same as Doing Absolutely Nothing To Stop Shit in the world

#can we stop saying All Sugar Is Bad now? (it doesn't increase insulin resistance until you've consistently eaten A TON of it!)

#i will literally run into a room to stop someone from killing a spider in my vicinity. Cup and paper in hand

#now if they'd stop taking digs at fans who prefer the old show maybe that would actually MEAN something.

#and I'm LEARNING how to talk back to them (''stop talking ABOUT yourself and start talking TO yourself'')

#and do you know what happened to me in Honors English? My teacher literally told me to stop writing so much and stop thinking so hard

#(i will NEver Stop Tagging Change Your Mind as Spoilers by the way because BASCIALLY THE FINALE)

#and i think my eyes are broken because i can't stop tearing up. heck

#...i'm starting to think i should stop using my Anti Fascism tag. just ot be safe

#He doesn't even need to forgive her. But at the very least... can we stop villainizing the one who is the very reason Earth still lives?

#i'm Venting but also Suggestions on Actual Techniques that can make them fucking STOP would be appreciated

[nanniesonthegoblog]

Advice for New Moms: Find Your Bliss

Nannies on the Go - Nannies on the Go - Dallas Nanny & Babysitter Services, Fort Worth | Sick Child | Nanny Agency Dallas Tx

What all New Moms must know

Childbirth — a notable nexus in a woman’s life

Photo by Lars Plougmann

Where it comes to the restoration of a mother’s pre-childbirth state of physical and mental well being, there is frequently a disparity in the care  readily available to new moms during the initial 6-7 weeks of motherhood — the postpartum window. Typically, the first post delivery doctor appointment is at 6 weeks. During this period, the new mom can be quite fragile and will be facing countless unfamiliar obstacles. The “baby blues” and postpartum depression are a particular vulnerability during this time as well.

Adding a wonderful new baby to your family is a pivotal moment in life. You — the new mother — can define that moment: Will the change be in a positive direction, full of joy and new experiences or the opposite? Your focus and actions, from the start of pregnancy, will set the tone for your post partum experience.

Receiving the appropriate amount of rest, healthy food, fresh air, exercise, and caring ministration from your partner, friends and family is crucial to ensure a delightful, healthy transition into new motherhood, what should be a very euphoric and fulfilling period.

Otherwise, it’s quickly obvious that when the mom is depressed, the whole household suffers. It’s in the best interests of your family, as well as the new mom, to diligently avoid depression. You’ll find that when mom is healthy and happy, new baby and family are happy as well.

Moms are the key to Family Happiness

The reality is that by taking care of your own health and wellness, your confidence and happiness as a mom will be enhanced. By building a strong foundation of love and positive energy, you will ultimately have more to offer your family and new baby. Mothers tend to focus on others more than themselves the majority of the time, so be sure to focus some energy on yourself. It is a necessity, not a luxury, and nothing to feel guilty about since the entire family will enjoy the resultant benefits.

A unique opportunity for new mothers.

The period immediately following childbirth should be an extremely happy time. Unfortunately it also happens to be one of the most vulnerable intervals in a woman’s life, mentally. A new mom can use this time to produce an exciting new life for herself and for her family, choosing a life with deeper meaning and greater health and happiness. These guidelines were developed as a process to aid new moms in regaining energy and vitality quickly after delivery and to unify and strengthen the family’s life.

How normal is postpartum anxiety?

It has been disclosed through various studies that 80% of new mothers experience some degree of the “baby blues” after childbirth and 10-15 % suffer from more severe postpartum anxiety. The baby blues typically hit approximately 3 – 5 days after the birth. Postpartum depression begins a bit later, but continues for a longer period of time – sometimes as long as 2 years! The symptoms are mostly anxiety, depression, and unpredictable mood changes, like crying for no obvious reason. The new mom feels overwhelmed and incapable of managing the additional responsibilities of a new baby along with household chores and personal commitments, often losing interests in activities beyond those absolutely required.

It is incredibly inconvenient that during this time, which should be one of the happiest, personal chemistry can make it one of the most challenging. Taking excellent care of yourself is a powerful prevention measure that can be taken to ensure mom stays healthy, happy, and to avoid postnatal depression altogether.

What does it feel like to have postpartum anxiety?

Photo by Lars Plougmann

The popular TV personality, Marie Osmond, experienced a severe case of postpartum anxiety. She wrote a book about her experience called Behind the Smile: My Journey out of Postpartum Anxiety (Osmond, 2001) In it she states: “Postpartum depression is an uncaring invader that holds over 15 percent of new moms captive. It floods them with self-doubt, stress and anxiety, and sensations of shame that can lead to seclusion.” In her case, she was able to recognize her symptoms and had the good sense to turn her infant over to her nanny and go get help, going so far as to temporarily move to a hotel before consulting with a qualified professional to address her condition and get back on track. While not everyone has the luxury of checking out so completely, help is out there, one only need look for experts and publications that will point you in the right direction.

Today we find consideration for new mothers has decreased in some regard. Hospital stays are shorter, and less of an interval is provided for new moms to get a grip on their new lifestyle. There must be time for them to discover ways to care for their infant as well as themselves.

The suggestions that follow are culled from the many years of experience moms are willing to share as well as discoveries made that make motherhood an easier transition.

7 ancient secrets to restoring vitality and bliss after giving birth:

1. Make Sure you really rest at home after giving birth. Make your best effort to rest at home for 4-7 weeks. It may very well be the most important thing you can do for yourself. It typically will take approximately 6 weeks for your insides to heal and if you’re resting properly while this is happening, it will go much smoother and you’ll feel much better. In ancient cultures, women remained in seclusion with their families for this period, and the practice is considered one of the secrets of avoiding potential challenges, for both you and your baby.

2. If your baby is napping, you best be napping too! Don’t make the mistake of trying to catch up on chores during this break, you’ll miss out! Since you won’t be getting the sleep you need each night, it only makes sense that you nap when you can to get a bit of extra rest.

Photo by AlicePopkorn

To maximize your naps, getting a much deeper and enhanced quality of rest during the time available, consider techniques such as Transcendental Meditation (TM).  A well documented mental technique to relax and relieve stress, TM can be practiced anywhere in 20 minutes sessions that you may find more restful than an entire night’s sleep once you’re proficient in the exercise. Studies have shown that regular practice of TM can have many benefits, like better quality of sleep, reduced stress and depression, and improved mind/body coordination.

Seriously investigate this strategy and discover if the practice is a fit for you. Typically well suited for new moms as it can be done alone, practically anywhere.

3. Get plenty of sleep; go to bed at 9:30 PM or earlier. Attributable to the natural rhythms of the body, what sleep you manage to get prior to midnight is especially valuable. Retiring early bolsters your physiology and psychology and will speed up restoration of energy and vigor after giving birth.

4. Prepare for restful sleep by participating in quiet, peaceful activities you enjoy.  Don’t watch violent or exciting TV programs or do anything else that might be emotionally distressing right before bed.  Read a book quietly or listen to calming music, any kind of activities that promote a serene mental state. When the mind relaxes, so does the body.

5. Control visitor volume.  Be sure to keep the number of visitors under control during the first, critical weeks. As much as you will want to share your joy with friends and family, it is essential to control the number of visitors and how long they stay, to safeguard rest time. Just regulate the traffic, ensuring no one is overwhelmed. It’s best to have an adult side kick that can help enforce your limitations without adding additional stress to your recovery. 10 to 15 minutes per visit is a good interval to start with. Adjust as your condition improves.

6. Build a charming, comfortable“nest” in your home, convenient and cozy, where you will love to spend time recuperating, resting, and rejuvenating yourself. Prepared ahead of time, having this special “nest” waiting will encourage you to take advantage of the space. Fill it with things you love, and that you’ll want to have access to while you come back to yourself. Music, a good reading light, a nook for baby, whatever you can think of, ready at hand and there to lift your mood and spirit.

7. Develop a support system. Include your partner as part of your pre-planning. They can be very helpful in things like arranging for meals, perhaps prepared by a group of friends taking turns, or to help with the other household chores – cleaning, running to the store, watching other children in the family, etc.

It might even be a good idea to seriously consider hiring help for a few weeks if you don’t have an existing support system nearby.

Incorporating any or all of these suggestions into your lifestyle will most definitely help you avoid depression issues after giving birth. Whether this is your first child or one of many, there are plenty of programs out there that will guide you to a happy and relaxed future with your new family. If your challenges become more serious, seek professional help and guidance. Understand you’re not alone!

—————————————————— ABOUT NANNIES ON THE GO: We are one of the premier Dallas Nanny Agencies that provide skilled, qualified nannies to families on an as-needed, part-time or full-time basis. Call us today at: (817) 442-0225 or Email: info@nanniesonthego.net

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This post Advice for New Moms: Find Your Bliss was authored by site dev2

from Nannies on the Go http://www.nanniesonthego.net/general/advice-for-new-moms/

[leahcaughtup]

TM Speech 4: How to Say It

The aims for this speech project focus on your selection of words and phrases:

Choose words and grammar which communicate clearly.

Choose words and grammar which appeal to the senses.

Eliminate jargon.

Tips and Techniques

Any topic can work, but to flex your speechwriting muscles, choose a topic which lends itself to vivid descriptions. Speeches based around stories or experiences will challenge you to select words and phrases to transport your audience from their chairs to the setting where your speech takes place.

Make your audience see what you see, feel what you feel, taste what you taste, smell what you smell, and hear what you hear. In short, draw upon all five senses to create a completely immersive description. Transport your audience to a movie theatre by describing:

Sight: the dizzying special effects of the martial arts scene

Smell: the wafting aroma of buttered popcorn

Sound: the booming surround-sound effects which made you jump from your seat

Taste: the sweet licorice Twizzlers which melt in your mouth

Touch: the claustrophobic squeeze of your knees pressed into the seatback in front of you

Repetition of phrases throughout a paragraph, and repetition of sentences throughout your speech make your speech memorable. Wrap your speech around a signature phrase.

Outline:

I. Introduction

a. Bucketlist Movie > #1 See Something Majestic?

b. What does Majestic even mean?

c. Definite criteria on what makes an artwork good

II. Body

a. Before the trip

i. Invitation to Sagada and then the change to Calaguas

ii. Not being psyched because I’m from La Union- What else is there to see?

iii. Going anyway because of wanting to have a weekend of reflection

b. During the trip

i. Description of the place (+) but then there were tourists all over(-)

ii. The trip to the nearby island

Boulders – obstacle

Mountain peak – goal

III. Conclusion

a. The view on the peak is majestic

Realizing what it meant to see something majestic

Not just the sight

But the meaning of the journey to the top

b. Going home

Realizing that I had a weekend of reflection after all

—

I keep a bucketlist of milestones I want to achieve. Like mostly people, I was inspired by the movie Bucketlist starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman. I have only seen the movie once so I can’t remember most of the plot apart from the very expensive coffee made of cat poop and the number one on the bucketlist of Jack Nicholson – to see something majestic.

And I found that to be very vague. What even makes something majestic?

I am drawn to art to some extent and a few months ago, I was asked to be a judge in a school art contest. I rated the art works based on how well the medium was used, how a story was suggested by the placement of the drawings, and the harmony of the color palette. I could pinpoint why I would call an artwork good.

A few weeks after that judging stint, Krissie and  I were invited to go to Sagada by Ms. Tina and Dolly. I expressed my interest but the plans changed from the number of people attending to the place we were supposed to head. Instead of the mountains, we were headed to an island.

I lived in a coastal town in La Union, our house was so close to the beach that I could even hear the waves crashing to the shore at night. When I found out that we were going to the Calaguas Islands in Camarines Norte, I wasn’t very psyched. I mean, I lived by the sea most of my life, what else is there to see?

But I wanted to get away from the city for a while. The idea of being in a remote island appealed to me plus, I haven’t unpacked my go to travel bag from a previous trip. I might as well go.

So I did.

We were picked up by the travel agency people by midnight. We slept on the van and woke up about eight hours after in Bicol.

After a ferry boat ride, we arrived at the main island. We were greeted by the sight of very fine white sand, clear blue water and a bunch of tourists.

It was still a beautiful place and I was with a company of good friends so even if my weekend wouldn’t be filled with quietude and reflection, I was still glad to be there.

The next day, our travel group went to a nearby island. We took pictures, a few swam and some started climbing up a hill for which one had to walk or climb through big boulders.

One of them was Dolly. She called us to join her.

Then there were two of them because Krissie followed suit. Then Ms. Tina.

Frankly, I was okay with where I was.

I’m a very clumsy person. I would often stumble on leveled pavements. If I’d stumble on the rocks, I’d go home bloody and wounded. I could turn my ankle and I wouldn’t be able to walk properly for weeks. I could even fall on my head and die.

On the other hand, the view could also be something worth dying for though.

I had an internal debate that went on for a while. That when I finally proceeded to climb the hill, Dolly, Ms. Tina and Krissie were already on trek to the peak.

After huffing and puffing my way there, I reached the top too.

From there, we got a 360 panoramic view of the Calaguas Islands. Everywhere we looked: blue skies, grass-covered hilltops, or deep blue sea- everywhere was picture-perfect.

And then it clicked.

I now understood what Jack Nicholson meant by something majestic.

It’s not just in what I got see but also with what I had to go through, the negative thoughts I had to set aside and acting on the decision to reach the peak to behold a scenery beyond all my expectations.

These thoughts were in my mind as we were heading back to the port on our way home. It turned out had a weekend of reflection after all.

—

Feedback:

I was the test speaker for Evaluation Training so I had two (or even three counting the audience) evaluators.

Gov. Raul commented on my usage of descriptive words and chronology of my story. My Areas of growth would be …my lack of emotion as I was telling my story about the boulders. Maybe I could show some fear. Maybe I could be more enthusiastic in my facial expressions. And I should learn to maintain eye contact with the audience.

Migi Ericta from the Makati TMC commented about my usage of descriptive words as an objective of BSP#4, the enthusiasm in my voice as I was telling my story, and the speech pattern that I used (Story-Message- Gain) which I really liked because it meant he was listening the entire time ha. For areas of growth, he said he found my introduction abrupt (which was true especially that transition from Bucketlist to my art-judging stint), it was also evident that I had anxiety in the beginning (oh, right until the end actually hahaha) and I could practice grace under pressure more and you know the usual eye contact thing.

It was also brought in the discussion about the difference in the evaluations of Gov. Raul and Migi as far as my enthusiasm was observed. Sir Les raised that the difference may have arisen because of the varying parts of the speech that the evaluators were focusing on. In the beginning, I seemed excited daw but that waned as the speech progressed. Dat true tho.

Overall, I’m happy about my speech because I only got to practice and polish the night before the session. I’m happy about my evaluations because they raised valid points and I learned so much.

I’m not happy about something though.

This line:

From there, we got a 360 panoramic view of the Calaguas Islands. Everywhere we looked: blue skies, grass-covered hilltops, or deep blue sea- everywhere was picture-perfect.

It could’ve been:

From there, we got a 360 panoramic view of the Calaguas Islands. Everywhere we looked: grass-covered hilltops, the line where the sky met the sea-they called me!

I could have inserted Moana references. I COULD HAVE AND I MISSED MY CHANCE. HUHU